ã€ŠYama Risingã€‹


 Chapter 1: A Different 6 P.M.

    <h4>Chapter 1: A Different 6 P.M.</h4>

    ¡°June 2, Southcloud Province, Nanjiang City, Second High School. Three girls were dabbling with a ouija board in their ssroom at 10 p.m. at night. Girl A was found dead in her ssroom, while the other two girls were found dead in their own homes the next day. Just before she died, the family of the deceased Girl B received a phone call from their daughter, iming that there was someone in their home. She didn¡¯t know who it was; she had never opened the doors; and the windows were still tightly shut and locked. She had checked every single one of the doors and windows, and she couldn¡¯t see any signs of a person at home. However, she could still clearly hear the sound of ragged breathinging from behind her.¡±

    ¡°Two hours before the death of the deceased Girl C, her father received a phone call from his daughter as well, simrly iming that there seemed to be someone at home. She was doing her homework beside her windowsill, and for some strange reason felt that there was someone looking at her from the other side of her window - almost as though that person were standing motionless, staring intently and silently at her. However, she lived on the sixth storey. Three hourster, she was found lifeless and limp on her table, and her face revealed an expression of extreme terror just before she died.¡±

    Rows and rows of words gleamed in a pair of pristine clear eyes. The owner of these eyes possessed pleasant features and decent appearances. Hisplexion was smooth, and he touted an air of youthfulness about him. His thick eyebrows looked sharp - but not too sharp - and he had a reasonably ordinary hairstyle with bangs on the slightly longer side. This man stood at approximately 1.75m tall.

    With a book standing tall on his desk, he continued to flip through the news articles on his phone as his slender fingers slid dexterously across the screen. His eyes were transfixed on the screen of his phone.

    ¡°July 8, Gan Province, Paulownia High School. A ckout struck only the second and third ssrooms for exactly three minutes. No other location within the district faced any simr issues. Investigations revealed that there were no issues with the power lines. Later, within three minutes from the end of a period of self-study in the evening, nine students were found dead with smiles on their faces.¡±

    ¡°June 12, ¡­¡±

    Swish¡­ The phone in his hand was snatched away before he could finish reading the next article. Qin Ye lifted his head slightly, taking in his surroundings for the first time in a while.

    Westriver Province, Xiajiang City, Qingxi County. Qingxi High School was the only high school in the entire county. A ckboard stood stoically at the front of the brightly lit ssroom. It was filled with several eye catching slogans, such as ¡°365 days to the college entrance examinations¡±. Other messages sprawled ringly across other parts of the ckboard, reminding students to work hard to improve themselves.

    The tables in the ssroom appeared somewhat old and dated. The old yellow paint was peeling slightly, revealing the dark brown wooden materials beneath.

    The time now was 5 p.m. Thest ss had just ended for the day, and there were already few students remaining within ssroom 3-2. In fact, apart from him, there were only two other well-built students idling around on their desks to his right.

    The student on the left sported a buzz cut. The top buttons of his uniform were undone, revealing a cheap silver chain within that had a slightlycklustre sheen to them. The student on the right wore a premium-grade uniform. Yet, even though he appeared prim and proper, there was an obviously artificial ruthless and hostile expression on his face replete with a sneer on his lips. Both students were evidently crooked sprouts.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart thumped heavily.

    Zhang Yilong, Wang Chenghao - both of them were notorious problem kids in his ss. They did everything you¡¯d expect - from fighting to smoking, to even teasing girls. Qin Ye had never mixed with them, and he had consciously steered clear of their way as much as he could. Yet, in his moment of fascination by the news articles on his phone, he overlooked the time and failed to leave with his other ssmates.

    It was a ubiquitous problem that gued all schools, regardless of ss or status. These hooligans posing as students would make trouble out of nothing, yet the average student could do nothing more than gnash their teeth and curse at them under their breath. School violence was a blemish of the education industry that was a topic of taboo for many.

    Click. A cheap stic lighter lit up.

    A stick of cheap, Red River brand cigarette. The pungent smell of smoke caused Qin Ye¡¯s brows to furrow slightly before rxing once again. Zhang Yilong took a puff pretentiously, before exhaling the greenish-blue smoke smugly. Then, he looked at the phone in his hands and mocked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you a stupid fool?¡±

    ¡°Ouija board¡­ nine female students died tragically¡­ tsk tsk tsk, whoever believes in these things are idiots. How can such news make headlines these days? Don¡¯t the editors have anything better to do?¡±

    ¡°I hear you sell wreaths at home?¡± Zhang Yilong nced at Qin Ye. Qin Ye genty pursed his lips, ¡°Return me my phone.¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell...¡± ¡°Return it to him.¡± Before Zhang Yilong could finish speaking, Wang Chenghao sat aggressively on the table, cing one foot on the chair and red at Qin Ye with a slightly raised eyebrow, ¡°This kid¡¯s got a temper, doesn¡¯t he? Do you think you¡¯re like that fatty in our ss? Can¡¯t even let out a muffled fart even after a beating?¡±

    ¡°F**k!¡± Zhang Yilong blew out a breath of smoke onto Qin Ye and turned his head around. The phone flew through the air with a parabolic trajectory, and Qin Ye casually grabbed it in his hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Qin Ye ced his phone into his pockets and asked as he forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his voice.

    ¡°Nothing¡­ nothing much.¡± Wang Chenghao red at Qin Ye for a few seconds before jumping off the table and cing his arm around Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Little Pasty White, there¡¯s really nothing much. But you see¡­ today, Zhang Yilong and I are on cleanup duty. However, we¡¯ve got something urgent to attend to. You¡­ aren''t you willing to extend us a favour?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze quivered as he surveyed the ssroom. Everything was a mess, and even the ckboard had not been cleaned.

    ¡°What are you guys going to do?¡± He added, ¡°Under the school¡¯s regtions, everyone absolutely must leave the school before 6 p.m. Haven¡¯t you heard the announcements that have been ying at half hour intervals over thest three days? Those found flouting the rules will immediately be expelled. I don¡¯t have time for this nonsense.¡±

    Before he finished speaking, Wang Chenghao¡¯s arm tightened slightly, and his voice deepened to an imposing boom, ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Qin Ye was unable to finish his sentence.

    Wang Chenghao leaned closer and spat some smoke directly at Qin Ye¡¯s face, causing Qin Ye to cough several times. Wang Chenghao continued disdainfully, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? Don¡¯t you know that your brother¡¯s already asking for your help nicely?¡±

    ¡°6 p.m¡­¡±

    Before he could continue, Qin Ye felt the arm around his shoulder flex immediately, constricting his neck. Qin Ye¡¯s disposition paled, and he forcibly suppressed what he was about to say. Zhang Yilong was already walking back with a broomstick in his arms, and he shoved it into Qin Ye¡¯s arm as he bellowed imperatively, ¡°Sweep!¡±

    Themand echoed in the still surroundings of the ssroom. Qin Ye gnashed his teeth as he wrested free from Wang Chenghao¡¯s grasp. Seething, he muttered, ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ sweep. But you must all help out. Otherwise, we¡¯d never finish by 6 p.m.¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously such an idiot?¡± Wang Chenghao spat out more smoke as he snuffed out the cigarette forcefully, ¡°6 p.m. means 6 p.m.? So what if I don¡¯t leave at 6 p.m.? They ask you to leave and you leave? Are you a fool?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a bloody idiot. You¡¯d better relish the face I¡¯m giving you right now! I¡¯m only asking you to sweep because I approve of you! How dare you continue to mumble and grumble there?! Sweep!!¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, before continuing, ¡°Don¡¯t you find it strange?¡±

    ¡°The number of supernatural urrences reported in the news has increased quite substantially sincest week. But this kind of thing had previously beenpletely taboo in the entire country!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, even the Ministry of Education has dictated that all sses must end at 4.30 p.m. School used to end at 5.30 p.m. in the past! And they¡¯ve time and again reminded everyone to be home by 6 p.m. Even if you¡¯re not home, you¡¯ll have to be with others at all times!¡±

    ¡°Then, there¡¯s still the school¡¯s announcement that has been yed on repeat day after day. Do you really think that the school is just pulling a prank on you?¡±

    Overwhelming silence.

    Zhang Yilong and Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye as though they had just seen a ghost. Then, several secondster, they burst out into an uproariousughter.

    ¡°Hahahahaha! Hahaha!!!¡± ¡°This is too damn funny!¡±

    ¡°What time and age are we living in now? Are there still any fools who believe such things?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­ I can¡¯t take this anymore¡­ I really can¡¯t! I¡¯m dying ofughter!¡± ¡°The school¡¯s rules were actually used to interpret today¡¯s uninspiring headlines? I¡¯ll be damned! This is pure genius!¡±

    The twoughed like toads, gasping for breath as they leaned on the table. Qin Ye remainedpletely expressionless as he watched the two, before finally adding, ¡°Today is the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar.¡±

    ¡°So, what are you trying to say?¡± Wang Chenghao wiped off the tear in his eyes as he responded.

    Qin Ye shook his head and spoke solemnly, ¡°Mid-seventh month, ghosts run amok. The gates of Hell open, and the ghosts are free to roam the streets at night. This happens to be one of the three major ghost festivals, the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    ¡°Puhahahaha!!¡± ¡°Hungry Ghost Festival, hahaha! Bloody hell, I¡¯ve not heard that in such a long time! No wonder you run a wreath shop!¡± ¡°Hahaha, Brother Wang, that¡¯s not a wreath shop, it¡¯s a funeral parlor! You don¡¯t know shit¡­ I really can¡¯t take this anymore, I¡¯m dying ofughter! Hahaha!!¡±

    Qin Ye grimaced bitterly.

    Regardless of whether others believed in the supernatural, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he was one in this line of business, and he would much rather err on the side of caution and believe that they were real. But what about now?

    How many people were there who still believed in such things?

    He picked up the duster silently and began to clean the ckboard. Wang Chenghao and Zhang Yilong were still guffawing on their desks, and it was evident they had no intention to help out to begin with. Instead, they picked up another cigarette and continued to make fun of what Qin Ye had said earlier. Qin Ye vaguely overheard some derisory phrases such as ¡°stupid idiot¡± ¡°looks just like a ghost¡­¡± and the like.

    Time trickled by. Qin Ye had no expectations that the two other students would help him out at all as he continued to sweat profusely from the menial work. They were drawing close to their graduation, so not only was the ckboard covered in all forms of scribbles and marks, there were also innumerable sheets of rough paper used for calctions and other tattered practice papers scattered all over the floor. There were even broken pencils, bits of erasers and other stationery strewn around. It was aplete mess.

    ¡°Whew¡­¡± He finally straightened his back after what seemed like a long time. Yet Zhang Yilong simply called out impatiently to him, ¡°Can¡¯t take it anymore? How long more are you going to take? Why is something so simple like sweeping the floor taking you such a long time?¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the school¡¯s speakers coincidentally began to st its usual announcements.

    "Fellow students, it''s 6 p.m. again. Once again, the school solemnly reminds all students to leave the campus within ten minutes. This is the final warning. Any students who are caught flouting these rules will immediately be subject to expulsion. The school disims all liability and responsibility in the event of your breach of the school¡¯s rules."

    Qin Ye stood up. The announcement echoed throughout the cold corners of the school. Yet, Wang Chenghao and Zhang Yilong were simply indifferent.

    ¡°To all students who are still on campus right now, please leave the school by 6.10 p.m. Additionally, kindly avoid any locations with mirrors or rooms that have not been opened for a long time.¡±

    ¡°This is a further reminder that you should not approach the old school building either. Construction works are currently in progress, and these warnings are for your own safety.¡±

    ¡°All personnel on duty are reminded to be deployed in groups of five. The school guarantees that electricity will continue to be supplied to the school throughout the night until 5 a.m. All security personnel are to leave the schoolpound with immediate effect. There is no need for night patrol.¡±

    What Qin Ye and the others didn¡¯t know was the fact that the exact same announcements were being made across the entire country of Cathay, spanning 23 provinces, 661 cities, 1636 counties and 41636 towns and viges.

    At this very moment, in a country with over one billion citizens, apart from exceptional areas that had no ess to electricity, all taxis, cars, trains, televisions, radio channels were ying neither news nor music - even the hottest stars and artistes had to give way to the most important announcement. For the next five minutes, the same announcement would y over and over again on repeat.

    ¡°Attention, all citizens¡­ kindly refrain from leaving your homes after 6.30 p.m. Please secure your homes¡­¡± ¡°Attention, all members of the county, kindly ensure you have put up at a suitable lodging by 6.30 p.m. Those who are sharing rooms or premises are reminded to ascertain your roommate¡¯s identity as well. Additionally, please ensure that you are not alone in your room after 6.30 p.m. You are to remain in groups of three at the very least¡­¡± ¡°Attention, all vigers¡­¡±

    For no apparent reason, Qin Ye suddenly felt chills go down his back.

    Then, for some strange reason¡­ as soon as the announcement began ying, they felt their surroundings suddenly be cold and chilly.

    It was a peculiar chill. The coldness did note from the air about them. Instead, it was aherworldly chill. It felt as if the chill came from within, almost as though someone who had been dead for a long time were leaning in close to their necks, breathing out the stale, cold air from his nostrils, sending goosebumps creeping all over a person¡¯s skin.

    ¡°Run!!¡± Without anything more, Qin Ye grabbed his schoolbag and motioned to leave.

    Unfortunately, his schoolbag appeared to be caught by something - it remainedpletely motionless on the table.

 Chapter 2: Supernatural Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 2: Supernatural Encounter</h4>

    Wang Chenghao pressed his hand heavily on Qin Ye¡¯s schoolbag and nced at him, ¡°What are you trying to do? Do you want the teacher to scold us tomorrow? You¡¯ve still got thest two rows of tables. Clean them before you go!¡±

    Zhang Yilong blew out another puff of smoke, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? Have we been too nice to youtely? Don¡¯t our words carry any weight at all?¡±

    Yet, Qin Ye simply couldn¡¯t appreciate what they were saying, because he could feel the chill around him intensifying¡­ His hair stood on end, just like how a rabbit¡¯s ears would perk up when it discovers a tiger approaching.

    It was abject fear stemming from a primal instinct for survival.

    That¡¯s right - he believed in these things.

    Regardless of whether it was a figment of his imagination, or¡­ whether it was true, he sincerely believed that he was quite sensitive to these changes. Therefore, as the inexplicable sense of fear washed over him, he immediately thought to flee - as far as he could!

    ¡°Let go!¡± With one powerful tug, he managed to wrest his schoolbag free of their grasp. Wang Chenghao¡¯s expressions immediately darkened, and he kicked ferociously.

    Caught off guard, Qin Ye cried out in shock as he was knocked back a meter by the powerful kick, crashing into three desks behind him. Crash! The textbooks that had been ced neatly into each of the desks were instantly strewn all over the floor once again. All of his hard work had gone to waste.

    ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Wang Chenghao kicked again as his face contorted menacingly, ¡°I gave you face, and you trampled on it!! I¡¯ve been spoiling you too damn much! Go f**k yourself!¡±

    Crash! Yet another desk tumbled to the ground. Just then, a bolt of lightning shed across the sky.

    Rumble!

    What was once clear skies had suddenly be overcast, like the underside of an urn, whilst greenish-white coloured lightning streaked across the sky like a dragon¡¯s majestic dance. The shadows of the three students in the ssroom extended ominously.

    Bzzt...bzzt¡­ As though suddenly gued by an electrical surge, the lights in the ssroom flickered several times. Wang Chenghao was unable to hold back his anger. His wrath was stirred by the sight of Qin Ye rubbing his back and catching his breath. His anger burgeoned, and he grabbed a nearby textbook and motioned to charge at Qin Ye once again.

    Suddenly, an ear-piercing sound of a cell phone rang out.

    Three kinds of sounds rang out three times each.

    Wang Chenghao was taken aback. Zhang Yilong was stunned. Qin Ye also froze on the spot.

    Bang bang bang! At the same time, windows and doors which were originally open were immediately mmed shut. Papapapapa¡­ It was as though an invisible person were pushing against it.

    In that moment, the ssroom was engulfed with a pin drop silence.

    An empty school; an empty ssroom; windows and doors that suddenly shut on their own; overcast skies; and dim light within the ssroom. All the works were present, save possibly for the sound of tolling bells that signified the end of a person¡¯s life.

    The silence was so oppressive that a person¡¯s breath sounded almost deafening and harsh on the ears.

    At that moment, Wang Chenghao and Zhang Yilong exchanged nces and gulped uneasily.

    Gulp¡­ The otherwise discreet sound of swallowing saliva was now so loud that they inadvertently jumped at it. Wang Chenghao immediately switched on his phone. In the next moment, he let out a shrill cry and almost dropped his phone.

    Qin Ye switched on his phone and looked at the screen.

    He owned an old-fashioned Nokia phone, the kind that could be used as a brick. At this moment, the ck-and-white screen of his phone...was presently disying 7 numbers - ¡°4444444¡±!

    Death, death, death, death, death, death, death! (TL: in mandarin, 4 sounds like death)

    ¡°This...this...what kind of a j-j-joke is this¡­¡± Zhang Yilong¡¯s voice trembled. His grip loosened, and his phone fell straight to the ground.

    ¡°Run!!¡± Goosebumps emerged all over Wang Chenghao¡¯s skin. Too weird...what the hell is going on?! Without any other thought on his mind, he turned around and motioned to leave.

    However, just as he attempted to leave, Zhang Yilong grabbed tightly onto Wang Chenghao¡¯s sleeves.

    ¡°W-w-wait for me, Brother Wang.¡± His earlier imposing disposition waspletely gone, and his face was pale and drained of colour. Then, he turned his head stiffly and stared at Qin Ye, ¡°You¡­ you!! Go pick it up for me!!¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you do it yourself?!¡± Qin Ye continued to massage his waist as he mbered up from the ground, made a beeline for the door and grabbed the handle hastily. Unfortunately¡­ He first shook it, and then began to hammer it. Yet, despite the loud, thudding sounds resulting from his efforts, the door remained firm and unyielding.

    ¡°Qin¡­ Qin Ye, y-y-you¡¯d best not be scaring me.¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips quivered. Even though he was already on his feet, he was still huddled close to Zhang Yilong at this moment.

    ¡°Who the hell is trying to scare you?!¡± Qin Ye turned around and bellowed with bloodshot eyes, ¡°The door won¡¯t budge!¡±

    ¡°What do we do?! What do we do?!!¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s voice grew shrill. He had never encountered something so bizarre in his entire life. The anger that gued his heart just moments ago had alsopletely dissipated as a deeper, intense chill shot down his spine.

    Terror?

    Perhaps. But an overwhelming part of it was simply the fear of the unknown. Could¡­ could there really be something like the supernatural?

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that bullshit!¡± Qin Ye clutched desperately at his hair as he wracked his mind. Three secondster, he yelled, ¡°Smash the windows!¡±

    The other two were momentarily taken aback. Then, Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes brightened as he picked up the closest chair and motioned to smash it at the window. Just then--!

    BZZT!! All of the lights went out.

    Dead silence.

    It was a deathly silence.

    The entire school waspletely engulfed in darkness. Nobody dared to make a single sound. It was as though someone had their fingers wrapped tensely around their hearts, and the only thing that could be heard was the faint breaths of the trio in the ssroom.

    ¡°Smash it!!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth as he bellowed once more, ¡°Do you really want to spend the night in school?!¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips were slightly agape and his teeth were chattering incessantly. He yelled loudly in an attempt to muster his strength to stand up. However, just as he picked up the chair once more, he screamed shrilly, before his legs gave way again.

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhhh!!¡± His crackling voice echoed throughout the entire ssroom as he held his head with both hands. Qin Ye immediately grabbed him by his shirt, ¡°What going on with you?! If not for the fact that I''m not as strong as you, I would have personally smashed the windows by now! Is breaking a window really something that difficult?!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s a ghost!!¡± Wang Chenghao croaked raspily - he was evidently on the verge of breaking down, ¡°I saw it¡­ I saw it! I really saw it!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡± Qin Ye peeled Wang Chenghao¡¯s hands away from his head.

    Yet, there was no response - there was only the sound of whimpering. The towering, dominant student had been reduced to nothing more than a pile of snot and tears in just an instant. It took him two full minutes to pull himself together and chatter with a quivering voice once more, ¡°I¡­ when I stood up and picked up the chair¡­ I-I-I saw from the window¡­ a-a small child dressed inplete white j-j-just staring at me--ahhhhhhhhh!!¡±

    Mid-seventh month, ghosts run amok.

    Qin Ye released Wang Chenghao¡¯s hands. He was now almost certain that this bizarre encounter was caused by something unclean.

    Why else would the school have to keep repeating those announcements?

    Bibibibibiibi!! Suddenly, an ear-piercing sound echoed through the darkness. Wang Chenghao and Zhang Yilong were so shaken that they even cried out in rm. Simultaneously, a faint light shone from the ground.

    It was Zhang Yilong¡¯s phone that was still on the ground.

    Nobody dared to pick it up.

    His phone had fallen to a location that was four rows of table from where they were presently at. And right now, the only sense of security they had came from the mild heat that was emanating from each others¡¯ bodies.

    However--

    The fact that nobody answered the phone didn¡¯t mean that it would stop.

    One minute¡­ two minutes... three minutes!

    Just like that, the phone continued to ring menacingly, intermittently cutting through the oppressive solitude within the ssroom. The three teenagers who were huddled together, cowering in the corner of the ssroom had an expressions that were nothing but fear.

    This isn''t normal.

    This¡­ can¡¯t be a normal phone call at all.

    No matter what model of phone this was, and regardless of who the caller was, the phone would most certainly have to stop for a moment before ringing once more. Yet¡­ this phone had been continually ringing for three full minutes without pause.

    ¡°This¡­ this isn¡¯t my phone¡¯s ringtone--ahhh...wuu-wu-wu!¡± Zhang Yilong eximed with much difficulty before hepletely broke down and began to bawl.

    Had they known that something like that was going to happen, they would most certainly have left the school at 5.30 p.m. without fail. But who could have expected something like this to happen?!

    They were witnessing a well-kept mystery of the world.

    They were experiencing something almost akin to a miracle - albeit much darker.

    However, this was just the beginning. As soon as Zhang Yilong broke down into a pile of tears, Qin Ye and Wang Chenghao immediately held their hands over his mouth. Zhang Yilong¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    The ringtone guing them seemed to have dwindled slightly. Torrential rainfall was pouring outside. Yet, amidst the chaotic cacophony of sounds, a faint voice prated the darkness, sending a mind-numbing chill down their spines.

    ¡°Kekeke...hehehe¡­¡±

    Laughter.

    A child¡¯sughter.

    Hollow and peculiar. The sound reverberated throughout the dank eeriness of the ssroom. The trio couldn¡¯t help but shudder in fear.

    None of them uttered a single word at this point in time. Tears were already strewn all over Wang Chenghao¡¯s face, and he had bitten down so hard on his lips that faint traces of blood could already be seen. He clutched desperately at his own hair. On the other hand, Zhang Yilong eyes were already zed over. His body trembled uncontrobly, and his eyes were bloodshot. Both men held onto each other tightly. Qin Ye was the only one who was not out of sorts at this moment.

    Thump¡­ thump¡­ It felt as though his heart were leaping out of his chest. Qin Ye¡¯s palms were moist and damp, and his inner shirt was already soaked through by now. This¡­ were they supposed to answer the call?

    Bibibi! The shrill yet monotonous ringtone cut through the silence once more. Approximately ten secondster, Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and bent down as he took a closer look under the desk. Yet, in the very next moment, his head recoiled, and he immediately covered his mouth.

    Shock. He nearly gasped and eximed.

    Just a moment ago...amidst the thunderous night, amidst the darkness that engulfed the entire ssroom, and amidst the faint glow of the ringing phone, he had just seen a pair of pale, white legs belonging to a child - patpatpat - dashing straight towards the phone.

    A ghost¡­

    ¡­

    It was really a ghost!

    It was in the ssroom, together with the three of them!

    And it was attempting tomunicate with them at night.

    Almost as though it was aware that Qin Ye had bent down, the phone rang with renewed vigor, so much so that it even began to vibrate slightly. Qin Ye held his chest and regted his breathing. After steadying his mind, he crouched down once more and made his way down the aisle.

    If nobody switched off this phone right now, they would most certainly go mad from all that ringing!

    It was merely four rows of seats, yet he trudged along the aisle for what felt like tens of minutes on end. Qin Ye waspletely drenched in sweat by the time he arrived beside the phone. Then, just as he picked up the phone, the screen went dark...

    In that single moment, the reflection of the ink-ck screen revealed for the first time a child¡¯s face!

    Long hair draped over the face, and the ces where the eyes and mouth ought to have been were instead hollowed out, leaving three dark orifices that seemed to be widening in an exaggerated fashion as it shrieked at him.

    His heart nearly stopped and sweat percted his skin. He suddenly whipped his body around and switched on the light on the phone once more, illuminating the area behind him.

    Nothing.

    His hands were trembling as he opened the message on the phone with bated breath. The message consisted of only two words.

    ¡°Look up.¡±

    Drip¡­ Just then, a drop of water fell from the top of his head, sliding across his neck icily beforending on the ground.

    At this moment, Qin Ye was still crouching in the aisle between the rows of desks and chairs.

    That drop of water was red in colour.

    And¡­ it was thick.

    Blood¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s body trembled. Something¡­ something was just over his head!

 Chapter 3: Hellâ€™s Dictum

    <h4>Chapter 3: Hell''s Dictum</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s neck stiffened as the amount of blood dripping from above increased. Despite the darkness engulfing the ssroom, he nced up slightly, gently tilting the phone in his hands so that it illuminated the area over his head.

    The dim glow of the light shifted slightly. In that split second, he saw a foot-long gaping wide mouth replete with pasty white skin hanging just overhead!

    With a sharp hiss, the vicious teeth snapped ferociously at him!

    From behind, it appeared as though a naked child with sickly skin was hugging Qin Ye¡¯s head as it took a bite from it.

    ¡°Ahhhh!!!¡± Zhang Yilong and Wang Chenghao squealed at the same time. Their eyes rolled back, and both of them passed out in the very next moment.

    Fortunately, the vicious teeth never got the chance to mp down fully, nor did any grisly sound of crushing bones echo out.

    With his back turned, Qin Ye held a silver staff with intricate lotus flowers etched on both ends right above his head, wedging it horizontally right between the little child¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Woooo¡­.WOOOO!!¡± The bizarre child¡¯s body contorted as it struggled to shut its massive mouth. Unfortunately, the silver magic staff lodged in its mouth easily thwarted its efforts.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expression was now starkly different,ced with both an intent to tease and some measure of indifference. Smiling faintly, Qin Ye remarked, ¡°You¡¯ve finally made your appearance, huh¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been searching for you for some time now. I¡¯d even put on a show of weakness and cowardice. You¡¯ve finally caved in to my efforts¡­¡±

    Boom!

    As soon as he finished speaking, a ck wind visible to the naked eye erupted from Qin Ye¡¯s body. At the same time, a majestic, domineering voice boomed through the darkness, ¡°By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble must disperse!¡±

    Whoosh! A sudden storm swept up, picking up all of the dust particles on the ground and sending them flying out of the ssroom with a powerful shockwave visible to the naked eye. Even the curtains were immediately swept aside.

    As soon as the storm began billowing, the dark orifices on the bizarre child¡¯s face where eyes would otherwise have been constricted immediately.

    Did ghosts have physical bodies?

    Perhaps. Because, right this moment, one could see with the naked eye innumerable strands of ck qi twining around the child¡¯s body. That said, this was nothingpared to the much thicker and denser Yin energy that had already enveloped Qin Ye, swirling intensely as it formed a pitch-ck vortex.

    Fearsome¡­ The child¡¯s body trembled. This feeling¡­ was something that emanated from the deepest part of its soul - it was a manifestation of its primal instincts when faced with a qualitatively oppressive force.

    That¡¯s right¡­ it had previously only heard of such qualitative levels of oppression¡­ and this was...

    Suddenly, the child shuddered and let out a shrill shriek as it frantically sought to rush outside, ¡°Emissary of Hell! It¡¯s an Emissary of Hell! Hell¡¯s gates are open! An Emissary of Hell is here to arrest us!¡±

    Swoosh! The child immediately ran like a dog with its tail between its legs,pletely ignoring the fact that there was a magic staff lodged horizontally in its mouth. The only thing weighing in its mind was overwhelming fear - surpassing that experienced by Wang Chenghao and Zhang Yilongbined by a thousand times!

    How could it be an Emissary of Hell?

    Emissaries of Hell have not appeared for over one hundred years! No¡­ this was nothing more than an incidental point. It was an undeniable truth that all Emissaries of Hell were clothed with authority as an official, and each Emissary of Hell wielded so much power that they would be able to deal with these wild ghosts almost effortlessly.

    Thud thud thud! The previously tightly shut windows and doors were immediately mmed wide open as the wild ghost charged desperately out of the ssroom. Just then, a long chain and hook sped straight after the ghost. The hook shot straight towards the magic staff as though it were intelligently tracking the staff.

    This was a top-of-the-line ghost shackle formed entirely out of silver-white chains. As soon as ittched onto the magic staff, the shackle¡¯s chains began to glow withplex, ancient writing, albeit only for a split second. With a devastating howl, the frantically running ghost child mmed onto the ground, knocking up a massive cloud of dirt.

    ¡°I bear the authority of Hell¡¯s dictum. Do you really think you can escape?¡±

    With a calm voice, Qin Ye tightened his grasp around the chain, and the little child was forcibly pulled back as it continued to choke and sputter. The door to the ssroom mmed shut with a bang once more.

    CRASH! The surrounding desks and chairs were smashed to pieces. With a ng, the hook flew back, bringing back with it the silver-coloured magic staff. At the same time, the little child''s body exploded with a sickly hum, turning into nothing more than wisps of ck qi that scattered in all directions. Just then, a hoarse voiceced with a thick trace of vengefulness hissed, ¡°When Hell¡¯s dictum arrives, the Anitya Hellguards seize spirits¡­ It¡¯s an Emissary of Hell¡­ There are actually Emissaries of Hell still in existence!¡±

    Right in the middle of the ssroom, the outpouring of ck qi formed a massive vortex before exploding powerfully. Qin Ye¡¯s face sported a paleplexion. He wore an asymmetrical ck robe embroidered with three round ck-and-white patterns. The Soul Shackle was wrapped around his waist, and he donned a ck fretwork chinese skullcap. Wisps of pureher energy emerged from his sleeves andpels, while his robe fluttered eerily without any wind. He looked awesome and imposing.

    His hand wrapped gently around the scabbard on his waist as he eximed, ¡°What ghostly existence speaks? Introduce yourself!¡±

    There was no response. Several secondster, the vengeful voice boomed aloud, ¡°Hell has already washed its hands off the affairs of the mortal realm for a hundred years. What gives you the right to interfere?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye drew the saber from his scabbard and gently ran his finger across its edge, ¡°Well then¡­ today marks the first day of Hell¡¯s governance once more.¡±

    ¡°You!!¡± The voice screeched, and the windows and doors mmed open at the same time once more. A powerful gale blew into the ssroom.

    ¡°Hey, hey, hey¡­ I¡¯ve only just taken up my post here as one of Hell¡¯s Emissaries after all¡­ Wouldn¡¯t leaving right now be far too disrespectful?¡±

    Qin Ye spoke softly. Yet, as soon as he finished speaking, a soft swishing sound sliced through the air - his de was light as snow.

    Everything came to an abrupt halt.

    A bloodcurdling scream echoed in the night. It was an incredibly deafening sound, yet it seemed to be drowned out by the torrential rainfall outside. The appearance of a child glowed faintly on the de of his demonhead saber before turning into wisps of ck smoke and dissipating into the surroundings. Finally, it was swallowed by the ghastly head etched onto the hilt of the saber, igniting a bright green me for a split second before flickering out.

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows as he shut his eyes once more, almost as though he were attempting to sense something. Several momentster, he sighed with resignation, ¡°It¡¯s not it either¡­¡±

    ¡°I still can¡¯t find it anywhere within this ¡®hunting zone¡¯. Is that old granny just messing with me? Notwithstanding the fact that I¡¯ve already captured three vengeful apparitions this month, I¡¯m still nowhere close to achieving the requirements for tenureship. Is she just using me as freebour?¡±

    Just then, something caught his eye, and he nced out the window into the distance.

    He had a good vantage point. The ssroom was pitch-ck, so nobody from the outside could see anything on the inside. However, Qin Ye could clearly see what was outside. Amidst the torrential rain, a stooping man dressed in ink-ck with a walking stick in hand was slowly hobbling towards him.

    ¡°It¡¯s him again.¡± Qin Ye collected his thoughts and furrowed his brows. The ck-coloured energy enveloping his body abruptly vanished, and his clothes transformed back into his usual uniform. He controlled his breath, shut his eyes, andid on the ground quietly.

    As the rain continued to pour down incessantly, the school returned to a state ofplete stillness and silence.

    After what felt like five to ten minutes, knocking sounds finally echoed from the door to the ssroom.

    The knocks were neither fast nor slow.

    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m an investigator from the National Special Investigations Department, Qingxi County Branch. My registration number is AC-285. May Ie in?¡±

    Naturally, nobody responded.

    After approximately ten seconds, the voice added, ¡°Then¡­ please pardon the intrusion.¡±

    The door was gently pushed open. There were two coughs, followed by the light, rhythmic tapping of the walking stick on the ground. There were also faint traces of the clinking of chains muffled by the sound of thick clothing.

    Then, the visitor crouched down. His clothes brushed gently against the ground and rustled gently. Several momentster, he switched on his phone, ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ there¡¯s nothing here. It¡¯s strange. This is the third supernatural incident within Qingxi County, each of which had been caused by an evil ghost powerful enough to necessitate my personal involvement¡­ yet for some strange reason, each of these three evil ghosts had already been purged by someone else by the time I had arrived¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no doubt - it¡¯s the same person. His mark is very distinct. In particr, the remnant Yin energy is far thicker than the ordinary ghosts that we¡¯ve seen¡­ I¡¯ve never seen such thick Yin energy either¡­ I know, I¡¯ll notify the city if necessary. But so far there¡¯s no sign that this B-rated supernatural entity is out to hurt anyone. It¡¯s almost as if¡­ it''s only targeting the evil ghosts themselves. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need to alert the city just yet¡­¡±

    ¡°Mm¡­ got it. I¡¯ll take care of the scene. Don¡¯t worry¡­¡±

    After the man hung up, Qin Ye heard a wistful sigh and the ignition mechanism of a lighter clicking softly. Shortly afterwards, a peculiar fragrance drifted through the air.

    Qin Ye remained still and silent, like a tortoise ying dead. In fact, he waited for a full hour before taking a peek at his surroundings once more.

    There was no longer anyone left in the ssroom. The desks and chairs had been magically restored to their initial condition. The only difference was that there was a pile of burnt out ash that was still emitting some residual heat lying on the teacher¡¯s podium.

    Qin Ye picked up some of the ash and took a whiff of it, before sneering, ¡°Incense of Paramnesia.¡±

    ¡°Anyone who smells this won¡¯t be able to remember anything that happened the next day when he wakes up. If I recall correctly¡­ something like this is extremely valuable. Even the old granny doesn¡¯t have much of it. Yet, this person...had just expended an entire stick of it just to ¡®take care of the scene¡¯? Isn¡¯t that far too extravagant?¡± Then, Qin Ye shifted his gaze and looked thoughtfully out the door, ¡°He¡¯s been pursuing me ever since the first evil ghost I¡¯d cleansed and purged. It¡¯s almost like a wild dog that doesn¡¯t know how to give up¡­ He¡¯s really fortunate though. If not for the fact that it¡¯s not his time yet, I would¡¯ve given him rest a long time ago.¡±

    Qin Ye walked over to Zhang Yilong and Wang Chenghao¡¯s side, stretched out his arms and held their heads up gently. He then opened his eyes wide and red disdainfully at them for several seconds more, before suddenly unleashing a barrage of fierce punches and kicks on their abdomen.

    Thud! Both students were sent flying towards the ckboard by a powerful kick, where theynded with a muffled thud.

    ¡°The Incense of Paramnesia will prevent you from recalling exactly what happened here¡­ Since your parents haven¡¯t taught you properly, then let me teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents.¡± Qin Ye chuckled coldly as he grabbed Zhang Yilong and gave him a tight p across the face. Before his face could recoil from the impact, Qin Ye¡¯s chained a back-handed p once more.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know the concept of unity among students? Friendship and fraternity? Students these days¡­ face my wrath!¡±

    Pak! Pak! Pak! Crisp smacking sounds reverberated throughout the otherwise silent ssroom¡­

    ¡°Been hanging out with too many hooligans? You young sproutlings haven¡¯t even learnt to fly yet. Have you ever seen what members of a true secret society are like?¡±

    Pak! Pak! Pak!

    ¡°A good man doesn¡¯t live long, but the misfortune one brings upon himselfsts a thousand years¡­¡±

    Bursting with emotions, Qin Ye lifted the two other students and mmed them down over his shoulder with a loud thud as though he were tossing a deted ball. Finally, he pped the dust off his hands in satisfaction.

    He was pleased.

    The two students werepletely bruised and swollen, and yet their eyes were still tightly shut. Qin Ye had beaten them up skillfully and methodically. It looked bad; it felt worse, yet they suffered no internal injuries at all. In other words, these were injuries that they would recover from in just a few days. They were merely students and ssmates after all. There was no life-or-death feud between them - at least, there was no enmity that couldn¡¯t be resolved by a good, violent beating.

    Even if there were, he could just beat them up once more¡­

    After leaving the room, Qin Ye walked to the bordering wall surrounding the school, leapt over a height of two meters with ease and somersaulted over the wall beforending on the other side. Incidentally, there was a bicycle parked right outside.

    The rain had already stopped by now, yet not a single person could be seen on the streets. The former bustling night markets had ceased operations as soon as the national announcements had begun. In fact, there were hardly any traces of the living right now. The only thing that remained were the streetmps that were softly illuminating Qin Ye¡¯s silhouette as he plodded on unhurriedly.

    The rabble had dispersed around the Emissary of Hell, and the road Qin Ye took was unnaturally tranquil. As he plodded on, his mind began to churn and race, ¡°I gather that that man must be from the government. He mentioned something about a B-rated supernatural entity¡­ doesn¡¯t this mean that Cathay has already begun to take notice of such matters on a national level?¡±

    ¡°No wonder things have seemed rather bizarretely¡­ given the customs and conventions these days, how could such news about the supernatural otherwise have made the headlines? The government must already beying the foundation for the future, huh¡­ And how could it already have developed to such an extent? They¡¯ve even begun nation-wide announcements and establishing the relevant departments to handle these matters! Such incredible speed¡­¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ I wonder just how many people know about these developments to date?¡±

    Qin Ye knit his brows together even more tightly, mumbling as he continued to gaze nkly into the darkness of the night sky, ¡°With so many people getting involved, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s only going to be even more difficult locating ¡®it¡¯...¡±

    As he continued to immerse himself in his thoughts, Qin Ye found himself arriving at the outskirts of the county. Qingxi County was hardlyrge by any means. Incidentally, all of the county members who had passed on over thest few decades had all been buried on the Green Dragon Mountain just behind the county. Naturally, it stood to reason that the present street Qin Ye was on had be ubiquitously known as the funerary street.

    Some peddled paper dolls in the shape of humans and horses, while others sold firecrackers and paper money¡­ The narrow street was lined with approximately twenty shops that all thrived on the business of the dead. Even though the number of shops could hardly be considered substantial, it was nevertheless considerable for a county whose poption numbered only 30,000.

    His family¡¯s business was known as ¡°The Afterlife¡±. The name was simple and easy to understand, and it was located at the very end of the street. Regardless, he was startled to find arge group of people surrounding his home at this very moment.

    ¡°Little Qin!¡± An olddy noticed him dismounting his bicycle and immediately skittled over, ¡°You¡¯ve finally returned! Quick! Something¡¯s happened!¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The mandarin words used here are ÎÞ³£, and it can mean a number of things, including a concept that is central to Buddhism which states that everything is constantly changing. In this context, the author is probably made in reference to the ºÚ°×ÎÞ³£, who are the ck guard and white guard in charge of escorting souls back to hell. That said, the author goes on to use the same word to refer to a ss of Hell¡¯s Emissariester in the story, so I will use Anitya instead, a Sanskrit word for the term Impermanence. The ss of Hell¡¯s Emissaries will be referred to as the Anitya Hellguard ss, Hellguard-ss, or simply Hellguards

 Chapter 4: Granny

    <h4>Chapter 4: Granny</h4>

    What¡¯s going on?

    Qin Ye froze. As he returned to his home slowly, the crowd separated, making a path for him to enter. A middle-aged man in his forties was pacing about frantically in front of his house. As soon as the man noticed Qin Ye¡¯s return, he immediately went forward and grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s hand and sighed with resignation, ¡°Little Qin¡­ you¡¯ve got to mentally prepare yourself.¡±

    ¡°What in the world is going on?¡±

    The man grimaced as he continued to exin softly, ¡°Earlier.. .your grandmother suddenly fainted and copsed, and she¡¯s no longer breathing¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Little Qin, you¡¯ve got to bring her to the hospital quickly! Let us know if you need money.¡± ¡°Your grandmother is old, and you shouldn¡¯t dally any longer. Hurry up! We¡¯ve already dialed the emergency services on your behalf.¡±

    Everyone along this street habitually kept their doors open and unlocked. This was vastly different from the coldness and distance between neighbours in therger, more urbanized cities. Amidst all the care and concern showered upon him by his neighbours, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly as he dashed back into his home.

    As soon as he opened the front door, he saw a gray-haired elderly lying on the bed with her arms folded primly. Qin Ye drew a deep breath. Trembling, he stretched out his hand to check for breath and pulse.

    There isn¡¯t any breathing!

    He stood silently in front of the bed for almost two minutes, yet the olddy remainedpletely still. Then, he suddenly turned and walked back out of his house to address his neighbours once more, ¡°Thank you, dear uncles and aunties. I¡¯ve just fed some medicine to my grandmother. She¡¯s fine now. It¡¯s just a chronic problem that has been guing her. Now that she¡¯s recovering, please excuse me as I attend to her. I¡¯ll thank each of you properly tomorrow.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he shut the door once more, foreclosing any further discussion on the matter.

    Leaning against the door, his head drooped low, and he lifted his hands weakly, almost as though he were going to cover his eyes. Finally, a chuckle escaped from his lips, cutting through the silence of his own room. The hands that were hovering over his eyes curled up tightly into fists.

    ¡°YEAH!!!¡±

    Your time has finallye!

    He dashed over to the bed once more and lifted his grandmother bunglingly. The elderly¡¯s bones were light. Qin Ye looked about his home excitedly. Being in the funerary industry, there was simply nock of coffins around the area. He immediately kicked open a coffin and shoved his grandmother in. Then, he picked up his tools like a well-oiled machine - nails between his lips and hammer in hand. Just as he was about to hammer down the lid on the coffin, the old granny in the coffin suddenly opened her eyes and stared straight back at Qin Ye soulfully.

    Time appeared to freeze awkwardly right that moment.

    ¡°Pretty busy, huh?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ not at all, not at all.¡± Qin Ye chuckled awkwardly as he retracted his hands, attempting feebly to conceal the tools of his trade.

    ¡°I recall that I was lying in bed earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°...the bed is too hard. I thought to shift you to a morefortable ce.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that the space here is too small?¡± The old granny sneered as she sat up with an erect posture. Speckled skin, dishevelled hair, replete with a face full of wrinkles. The old granny donned a ck overcoat. She flicked her finger at Qin Ye casually, yet Qin Ye howled and immediately clutched at his forehead where she had struck as he crouched down in pain.

    The old granny leisurely poured herself a cup of tea, took a sip of it and spat it out on the floor, ¡°The tea in the mortal realm is still just as disgusting as ever.¡±

    Then leave us!

    How can you freeload off me like that? Doesn¡¯t your conscience tug at your heartstrings a tiny bit?

    ¡°Grandmother...¡± Qin Ye moaned for several seconds, before finally standing up once more with a red and tender forehead. Gritting his teeth, he began to cate his grandmother with an artificial smile, ¡°You...have you ¡®gone down¡¯ again?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me grandmother. I can¡¯t live up to such honorifics.¡± The old granny chuckled dryly as she looked at Qin Ye as though staring at a dead person, ¡°Have you heard of a legend?¡±

    ¡°Legend has it that¡­a person who has consumed the taisui fungus, also known as the fungus of aeons can end up in two ways.¡±

    ¡°The first possibility is that he would transform into a monsterpletely devoid of all humanness. The second¡­¡± She tapped her ancient fingers on the table, ¡°Is that he would live forever.¡±

    She stretched her body and stared straight at Qin Ye once more. The wrinkles on her face appeared iparably gloomy as she smiled genially, ¡°You¡­ have you heard of these things before?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye responded curtly and calmly.

    After staring at each other for several more seconds, the old granny shifted her gaze and smiled grimly, ¡°That¡¯s strange, then¡­ because your name isn¡¯t in the Book of Life and Death. Furthermore, when I knocked on your door in the middle of the night a week ago, you could actually see me¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stered a look of utmost seriousness as he made up a bunch of tall tales, ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. That¡¯s just the result of the refraction of light. There¡¯s a scientific basis for this. Canadian scientist Michael Paysinger has proven that exposing the temporal lobe of one¡¯s brain to electromaic flux can increase a person¡¯s propensity to report supernatural experiences¡­ Furthermore, a toxicologist known as Albert Downey has hypothesized that protracted exposure to certain substances, such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, pesticides, etc, can produce an environment that is conducive for supernatural experiences¡­¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, a muffled smack struck Qin Ye¡¯s forehead once more, causing him to fly back two meters and crash into the bedframe.

    ¡°This old bag of bones hates smart-alecs the most.¡± The old granny took out a footlong pipe and lit it and puffed lightly. The surroundings were immediately filled with smoke, ¡°Have you managed to find ¡®it¡¯?¡±

    Grimacing, Qin Ye rubbed his back and stood up, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡± The granny tapped on the pipe as she added, ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­ it has to be in this county¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the old granny¡¯s expressions as he probed further, ¡°Just what exactly is it? Shouldn¡¯t you at least tell me that much?¡±

    And you should leave as soon as you find it! Shouldn¡¯t you limit the duration of your freeloading after all?

    The old granny didn¡¯t respond. Qin Ye swallowed his saliva, numbed his nerves and continued, ¡°Even if you can¡¯t tell me what it is, shouldn¡¯t you at least tell me your name and why you¡¯vee to the mortal world? Look at the amount of Yin energy surrounding your body¡­¡±

    He paused and blinked his eyes nervously.

    If the amount of Yin energy surrounding his own body was likened to a bonfire, then the Yin energy emanating from this old granny could only be described as a beacon fire on the Great Wall of China!

    The Yin energy was so strong that it was almost corporeal. Comparing himself with her was tantamount toparing the light from a firefly and a moon that hung high in the sky. This was no longer an existence of a mere ghost - wasn¡¯t this more akin to Yama on earth?

    So....given your peerless existence, why do you have to freeload off me in my humble little shop here?! Might I therefore invite this majestic ghost pokemon to please return to your pokeball?

    ¡°Your Yin energy¡­ suggests that your existence in Hell is more than that of an average Emissary of Hell, right?¡±

    There was still no response.

    The old granny squinted her eyes, as though pondering about the truths of life as she remained enveloped by the smoke from her pipe. Qin Ye attempted to probe even further, ¡°It¡¯s not as though I don¡¯t wee you here¡­ after all, you¡¯re considered a fellow sojourner from ¡®down there¡¯... However, there are expenditures required to live in the mortal realm. It¡¯s those red-coloured notes on the table. Yet you¡¯ve just showed up and lodged at my ce without giving me a proper ount... Don¡¯t you think you should spare some thought for me and allow me to be mentally prepared at the very least?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already given you a week¡¯s time to adjust, and you¡¯ve still not gotten used to this arrangement?¡± The old granny finally set down her pipe and turned her wrinkled face towards Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye shook his head adamantly.

    ¡°So, it¡¯s like that¡­¡± The old granny sighed softly. With the hook of her finger, a ck, ancient manuscript filled with Yin energy flew straight out of Qin Ye¡¯s chest. The old granny flipped open the manuscript and opened a folding page at the front of the manuscript. The first page was Qin Ye¡¯s picture.

    However, this picture could hardly be considered a photograph at all. Rather...it was a ck-and-whiteposite formed entirely out of ck-and-white coloured energy!

    There were a few lines written on the manuscript as well.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    The old granny¡¯s wrinkled hands paused slightly, and she stared at Qin Ye with a somewhatplicated gaze, ¡°There¡¯s nothing much you can hide from this old bag of bones¡­ As long as you¡¯ve once been born; as long as you¡¯ve been a ¡®human¡¯, as long as you¡¯re still living, then every single thing in your past is as clear as day to me.¡±

    ¡°To have kept such a cheerful and positive attitude despite having experienced decades of life on end¡­ you¡¯re not too shabby, not too shabby at all. I approve of you.¡±

    Qin Ye dug his ears, ¡°What are you talking about? I don¡¯t really understand what you¡¯re saying. It¡¯s all so profound.¡±

    The old granny ignored him and continued smoking her pipe, ¡°Only a person who has experienced the vicissitudes of life would never lose himself among the tides of humanity, whether ugly or kind. This old bag of bones is well-assured in bestowing the seal of the Emissary of Hell upon you.¡±

    ¡°You should also know how important the status of an official is to you. The fact that you are neither considered the living nor the dead means you are an existence that is viewed with contempt by both sides.¡±

    Several other words were imprinted on the manuscript just below his personal particrs.

    upation: Probationary Emissary of Hell

    Duration: 5 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes and 6 seconds

    ¡°But.¡±

    The old granny ran her finger gently across his picture and sighed softly, ¡°I turned my heart to the bright moon, yet the moon only shines on the canal...¡±

    Her dry, wrinkled hands rested on his picture and Qin Ye¡¯s monochromatic picture quivered for a second. Before she could go on, she discovered yet another hand pressing on hers, almost as though filled with determination.

    ¡°Buddha has once said this - If I don¡¯t enter Hell, who will?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expression was filled with resolution, almost akin to that of a revolutionary martyr, ¡°Chief, you must learn to give neers a chance. Jobs are hard toe by these days, you know. Perhaps youngsters mayin and mumble and grumble, but it still doesn¡¯t change the fact that their hearts are filled with an immeasurable desire for promotion and career progression.¡±

    ¡°What they really need are opportunities! Opportunities to show their abilities!¡±

    The old granny¡¯s lips twitched slightly, ¡°A ¡®youngster¡¯ born of the year 1938¡­ It looks like the vicissitudes of life hasn¡¯t merely increased the thickness of your skin. I can also see an undeniable thirst to stay alive.¡±

    She casually threw the manuscript back to Qin Ye, who immediately received it with gratitude and chuckled lightheartedly, ¡°If there¡¯s anything you require of me, please let me know.¡±

    ¡°Dogballs...¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s face instantly darkened.

    The old granny raised an eyebrow curiously, ¡°Mm?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°I await your instructions.¡±

    The old granny¡¯s smile faded. She set her pipe gently on the table and paused for a long while before continuing, ¡°I know you¡¯ve got many questions, including why I¡¯vee looking for you in the middle of the night one week ago and why I¡¯m here in the first ce. However¡­¡±

    She drew a deep breath, ¡°Tomorrow at midnight, this old bag of bones will exin everything.¡±

    Qin Ye contemted for a moment, before probing further, ¡°When the moon hangs high in the sky and the living are heavily in slumber?¡±

    Dead silence.

    Inhale. Exhale. The old granny¡¯s voice was once again filled with vigor, ¡°Scram!!¡± It was a deration that the discussion was over.

    As Qin Ye slowly departed from the room, the old granny sighed as she watched his fading silhouette with an iparablyplex twinkle in her eyes. It wasn¡¯t until the sound of showering could be heard that she solemnly pulled up the sleeve over her arm.

    It was still her old speckled skin. However...from the left elbow up, her arm appeared somewhat transparent and ethereal. Furthermore, one could see that the bones and muscles were all glowing faintly with a mild golden hue!

    The traces of golden light was a mark of the Bodhi. One could even vaguely make out several rootless golden lotuses slowly stirring and destroying its host from within. Innumerable tiny, faintly visible Sanskrit words flowed through her meridians. At the same time, the mark of the Bodhi caused the old granny immeasurable pain and suffering.

    It had only been a few seconds, yet her forehead was already percting with cold sweat.

    ¡°It¡¯s not long now¡­¡±

    She pulled up her sleeves yet even more as she gazed out the window into the distance, ¡°The mortal realm has already discovered the upheaval in Hell¡­ and I don¡¯t have much time left either¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity¡­ this kid¡¯s got a good heart, but he¡¯s seen far too many things. He¡¯s too cunning. He¡¯s consumed the fungus of aeons¡­ not only will he never die, he will never grow up either. He will live as though his age is forever locked in time. To live in such a cruel world with such an outrageous identity¡­ Sigh, if it were possible, I would¡¯ve liked to personally teach and guide him a little more. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    She stood up slowly, and her white hair danced on its own without wind, ¡°There¡¯s no time left¡­¡±

    ¡°Where exactly is ¡®it¡¯? If I can¡¯t find it, then everything is nothing more than empty talk¡­ billions of evil ghosts are pouring into the mortal realm right now. The onset of these supernatural phenomena is merely a foreshadowing as to what is toe. This is just the prologue¡­¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The mandarin word used here is Ì«Ëê, which refers to a mythical fungus that is believed to bring about immortality.

 Chapter 5: Ghastly Mahjong

    <h4>Chapter 5: Ghastly Mahjong</h4>

    The next day, Qin Ye went to school as per normal despite the fact that it was a Saturday. After all, what was a ¡°Saturday¡± to the seniors of the school? It was a concept that didn¡¯t exist.

    After the first ss of the day, two well-built figures found their way before Qin Ye¡¯s desk. The other students immediately made way for them as though there was a tacit understanding among all of them.

    Zhang Yilong, Wang Chenghao.

    The swelling on their faces still hadn¡¯t gone down, yet they continued to stage fierce expressions on their face. It was ridiculous and hrious.

    As precedent would have it, the person these students stood in front of invariably determined their choice of target for ¡°venting their frustrations¡±. However, this was an exception to the norm.

    Both students looked at Qin Ye with aplicated look on their face. Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Given that the evil spirit had already been disposed of, Qin Ye no longer had any reason to put up with his pretences. Thus, if the two students were merely looking for trouble, Qin Ye had no qualms confronting it straight on. In fact, he would now naturally be unable to guarantee that the two students would return in one piece.

    However, there was simply no response. Several momentster, Wang Chenghao raised his eyebrow and pointed out with his thumb, ¡°Shall we go for a walk?¡±

    ¡°Wang Chenghao, what¡¯s the meaning of this? We¡¯ve still got lessons to attend.¡± A girl with a ponytail at Qin Ye¡¯s table uttered nervously with a low voice, yet she didn¡¯t dare to make eye contact with them.

    After all, the phrase ¡°taking a walk¡± was far tooden with hidden implications.

    ¡°Mind your own business!¡± Zhang Yilong¡¯s cowardly disposition fromst night hadpletely vanished. When he red straight into the female student¡¯s eyes, she immediately shut her mouth and grew taciturn.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Qin Ye stood up, smiled and nodded to the female student, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The three of them made their way to the school¡¯s rooftop. It was very windy there. Qingxi County belonged to the Xichuan Province. In this region, the sun rarely made an appearance in the sky, and the sky would invariably look as dark and overcast as the bottom of an urn - even in summer.

    ¡°Scram.¡± There were several students on the rooftop when they first arrived. Yet with onemand from Wang Chenghao, the rooftop cleared out almost instantaneously.

    He didn¡¯t address his agenda immediately. Instead, he simply opened a pack of cigarettes and nodded at Qin Ye, ¡°Want one?¡±

    Masochist?

    Qin Ye nced at the two students suspiciously. These students were the archetypical brawny hooligans that partook in all types of vices, whether smoking or drinking. They were practically evildoers - thorns in the sight of all teachers in school. They were notorious in Qingxi High School for their errant ways. To make matters worse, there were rumours that Wang Chenghao¡¯s family was rather influential, and that his father was the richest man in the county. Therefore, nobody dared to interfere with their affairs.

    This¡­ one night stand¡­ no¡­ after just one night of emotionally-charged interactions, were they now extending their invitation to him to join their intimate brotherhood?

    Qin Ye casually picked up a cigarette and lit it up, and the three students smoked in sullenness and frustration. The bell for the next ss soon rang, and Qin Ye got up and motioned to leave. Just then, Wang Chenghao finally spoke up, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s time for ss.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s gym ss!¡± Wang Chenghao took another deep drag on his cigarette. Then, almost as though he had matured a fair bit, he muttered, ¡°Previously¡­ there¡¯s been some misunderstanding between us. From today onwards, I¡¯ll look after you. Anyone who doesn¡¯t see eye to eye with you doesn¡¯t see eye to eye with me. As for me¡­ I¡¯ve only got one question¡­¡±

    ¡°Last night¡­ What in the world happenedst night?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked at him, ¡°What do you remember?¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s body trembled, and he buried his head in his hands, voice quivering, ¡°I only remember¡­ the door and windows suddenly mming shut.... Phone¡­ that¡¯s right! The phone kept ringing incessantly! Then, what happened next?¡±

    As soon as he began recollecting the incidents ofst night, he immediately became far more verbose than before. When he looked up once more, his eyes had already be red and bloodshot, ¡°Then, what happened? What happened next? Last night¡­ did we see¡­¡±

    His voice softened to a whisper, and it took him several seconds to utter the rest of the sentence, ¡°Did we see¡­ something unclean?¡±

    ¡°How did the school find out about these things? And why didn¡¯t they inform the students about it?! How dangerous is that?! F**k!¡± Zhang Yilong snuffed out his cigarette violently as he recalled to mind the horrific incidentst night. His entire body was trembling ferociously as he took out his phone and added, ¡°Look¡­ I looked up the forums of several other cities, and I discovered that we¡¯re not the only ones - these damned announcements are being yed everywhere!¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s not just schools - it¡¯s being yed in factories, offices, shops, public streets, and even remote neighbourhoods!¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye, what in the world happenedst night? You know it full well don¡¯t you? You must know! Your family is in the funerary industry after all!¡±

    What has being in the funerary industry got to do with all these?

    Should a finance student naturally be a finance minister?

    His heart was filled with grievances andints. Yet, when he noticed the frightened and bewildered expressions in the other students¡¯ eyes, something came over him, and he finally relented. Sighing, he received Zhang Yilong¡¯s phone and took a look.

    ¡°Shocking sighting at Westriver City¡¯s First Public Hospital! Last night, all of the patients heard someone performing a Huangmei Opera at 2 a.m. in the morning in apletely empty corridor! This phenomenon went on until 5 a.m.! Some patients looked out of their window, yet not a single person could be spotted!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely bizarre! Everyone, look at this picture that my aunt took yesterday. Eight months¡¯ pregnant, yet the fetus already possesses a fully grown man¡¯s face! Tagged location - Third Hospital, Linshan City.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the dead! It¡¯s the dead! Last night at midnight, two luxury cars collided with each other on the bridge that crosses the Yellow River! Yet, just half an hourter, one of them actually turned into a paper car! My neighbour¡¯s grandaunt¡¯s third husband was there at the scene! I¡¯ve seen the video footage!¡±

    There were many simr news articles.

    Perhaps the number of news articles couldn¡¯t be considered substantial in the grand scheme of the sheer number of forum posts. Nevertheless¡­ this was still Cathay after all!

    Reports of superstitious matters or supernatural activities were hardly heard of these days. In the past, whenever these posts appeared, the videos, articles and the like would immediately be reported and censored without recourse. But now, it was almost as though such news were once again being condoned - even encouraged.

    And this went beyond mere forums. As Qin Ye browsed through the various news site, he discovered that even several mainstream media such as the ¡°Qiandu News¡±, ¡°Tidal Wave News¡± and ¡°Penguin News¡± had also been reporting simr events.

    The world is changing¡­

    He didn¡¯t know why. But having lived for such a long time now, he was sensitive to such changes, and he knew that this was one of the first symptoms of a tidal wave of changes.

    Even the media is starting to endorse such news¡­ what in the world is happening to Cathay?

    ¡°Qin Ye¡­ Qin Ye! Say something!¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s anxious and unsettled voice disrupted his train of thought. Qin Ye returned the phone and responded thoughtfully, ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±

    ¡°The only advice I can give you right now is toply with the government¡¯s instructions. There are some things in this world that just can¡¯t be exined by science. I believe we¡¯ve all experienced it¡­ It''s more prudent to believe in these things than otherwise.¡±

    When all was said and done, the bullshit that Qin Ye spouted was neither useful nor helpful. However, the two students nevertheless nodded their heads obsequiously, almost as though they were offered a life buoy amidst tumultuous waters.

    After all, there were many times when people weren¡¯t really seeking the truth, and all they wanted to hear were words of constion. They wanted to have conviction and be able to believe, regardless of what the truth might be.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡± Qin Ye patted his buttocks as he stood up once more. However, Wang Chenghao suddenly added, ¡°Qin Ye¡­ do you know of a way to deal with these things?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re afraid that they¡¯lle after you again?¡± Upon closer inspection, Qin Ye noticed that Wang Chenghao truly appeared rather striking and imposing. Wang Chenghao stood at 1.8m tall. Even afterst night¡¯s frightful event, hisplexion was still rosy, and he was still filled with vigor.

    ¡°No.¡± Wang Chenghao bit down on his teeth as he mumbled, ¡°It¡¯s not me¡­ It¡¯s¡­ my family¡­ has been a little bit offtely¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any means to help you.¡± Qin Ye opened the door and walked out, ¡°Such matters should be left to the professionals. An amateur like me might only cause more trouble.¡±

    It was difficult to be a senior in school. Time flew by in the blink of an eye. At 5 p.m. sharp, yet another wave of announcements was made. Just as Qin Ye mounted his bike, he suddenly paused and listened more closely.

    It¡¯s different.

    The announcements are different from yesterday.

    ¡°...If you are still on campus, please leave the school by 6.10 p.m. by hook or by crook. From today onwards, the school will bemencing renovation works in all of the unupied ssrooms. Entry into ssrooms which have been sealed off is strictly forbidden. Any trespassers will immediately be expelled.¡±

    ¡°All staff on duty are to return to their rooms by 7 p.m. and remain within their rooms. Anyone spotted outside by our CCTV cameras will summarily be dismissed¡­¡±

    ¡°The school shall not be held responsible for any losses incurred by persons failing toply with the school¡¯s regtions.¡±

    He paused for a long time before mounting his bicycle and cycling home once more. However, his brows remained furrowed this whole time.

    It¡¯s really different¡­

    Only those who had experienced it could tell that the renovations were a lie - it was a mere cover up!

    Something unpredictable was happening to the entire country of Cathay, and it was affecting every single county, and even every single vige. Incidents like that which they experiencedst night must be happening everywhere around the nation. The forum posts were nothing but starters. Cathay was presently giving their citizens a buffer period as they contemted their next move. Were they going to subsequently make an announcement or take a stand on these issues?

    It was important to maintain stability within their nation. Cathay was a superpower with over a billion citizens after all. The consequences of chaos would be absolutely unfathomable. That said, the Cathayan government had evidently started topromise on some fronts as well. This naturally meant that the magnitude of the supernatural upheaval concealed behind the fog of bureaucracy¡­ was probably hundreds or even thousands of times worse than he imagined!

    Furthermore, the change in the content of today¡¯s broadcasted announcement could only mean one thing--

    Things were quickly escting out of control! It was like a rabid horse that had broken loose of its yoke and was going on a rampage!

    In just one week, from the initial schedule of one announcement per day, to the endless repetition of announcements after 6 p.m. three days ago, to now...the school had even begun to withdraw its employees and staff!

    All of this pointed to the severity of the matter.

    ¡°I wonder if the other countries know about....just what¡¯s going on in here?¡± As the wind whistled past his head, Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but there must be someone who does!¡±

    His gaze stretched into the distance, where the outskirts of the county was located, ¡°The Haunter in the pokeball¡­ no, that old granny ghost must know something about this!¡±

    ¡°Tonight at twelve, huh¡­¡±

    He arrived home in no time. Yet as soon as he stepped into his own home, that frosty look in his eyes immediately melted. He even began to suspect that he was being oversensitive about the entire incident.

    As soon as he opened the door, he noticed that the coffin in the centery wide open, and a square piece had been cut right out of the coffin. Four olddies were each seated on one side of the square piece of the coffin. The old granny¡¯s hand was holding tightly onto something, and her expression was unimaginably frigid. Several secondster, she pushed it onto the makeshift coffin table, ¡°Two coins.¡±

    Very well¡­

    I¡¯m out there painstakingly earning a living, yet you¡¯re in here pretending to look pretty?

    Excellent, you¡¯ve even mastered the art of identifying those mahjong tiles by feel? And who are these other olddies? Why haven¡¯t I seen them before? Did you actually manage to hook up withdies from the other neighbourhoods? By the way, is it really a good idea to y mahjong on a coffin in such an idyllic and innocent manner?

    The begrudging spirit within him was roiling, and his heart was filled with displeasure. Finally, he managed to forcibly suppress the rage in his heart.

    He had no choice. There were others around, and the old granny also appeared to be hiding a wealth of formidable abilities. It was therefore prudent to suppress his anxiety and endure for now¡­

    ¡°Pong.¡± Thedy on the other end of the table revealed three matching tiles, ¡°I¡¯m waiting on a single tile.¡±

    ¡°How can you be so fast?!¡± ¡°Are you cheating?¡± ¡°If you have one bams or two bams, you¡¯d better discard them now. I¡¯m already waiting, but I¡¯ll discard them if I have to. I can¡¯t afford to mess with this fierce olddy. One bams.¡±

    The old granny took a drag on her cigarette before discarding a one bams tile. Unfortunately, her expression froze in the very next instant.

    ¡°I¡¯ve won. All Pong Hand, Clean Hand, and I was waiting for a single one bams tile. The dues for this round are thirty million.¡± The olddy seated opposite smiled widely, entuating the wrinkles on her face as she revealed her mahjong tiles.

    Thirty million?!

    How could you y with such high stakes?! Hang on a minute...how are you going to even pay thirty million?

    Before Qin Ye could exim aloud, the old granny pped a hundred million note onto the coffin board heroically as she eximed, ¡°Go buy yourself a nice coffin.¡±

    This was paper money with one hundred million printed on it.

    Hang on¡­

    Qin Ye blinked several times. Then, as he took a closer examination of the four olddies, he drew a deep breath, and took several steps back.

    Apart from the old granny, the otherdies...didn¡¯t have legs at all!

    Everything from their calves down waspletely illusory. Even their toes didn¡¯t touch the ground!

    This was... a game of ghastly mahjong!

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. They¡¯re ying mahjong, and coins is one of the simple suits in mahjong.

    2. Bams is another one of the simple suits in mahjong. Waiting is a term to refer to a collection of tiles that is 1 tile away from winning.

    3. All Pong Hand and Clean Hand are a collection of winning tiles that add a multiplier to her final score.

 Chapter 6: The Yin-Yang Road

    <h4>Chapter 6: The Yin-Yang Road</h4>

    Very well.

    Qin Ye wondered in his heart whether it was time to change the signboard for his shop to read ¡°Gloaming Ghouls Gambling Den¡±.

    And then he would have the most epic ethnic song ying in the background.

    Perfect.

    No, wait¡­ what kind of forcible conversion of property was this? Do you know just how much that coffin costs?

    Qin Ye stared daggers, fired freeze rays, ice arrows, fireballs, and even death rays at the old granny, yet the old grannypletely turned a blind eye to it. Instead, she looked straight at the other old grannies seated around her and chuckled, ¡°How¡¯s this grandson of mine?¡±

    ¡°Not bad. Fairly pale skin, so he wouldn¡¯t need to purchase skin care products when he goes down under. Nine coins.¡± ¡°He looks like one with a rather short life span. He¡¯ll be able to enjoy his youth down under. Three coins.¡± ¡°Kong! Five Wan...He runs a family business, and whether coffin, money, paper servants or horses, he¡¯s got them all prepared. This kid is ready to head down under and enjoy life at any time, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°Have you prepared the method to go down under, boy? Come here. Let me give you a piece of advice. Drowning is the worst way to go, and you won¡¯t even look good at the point of death.¡± ¡°Wait! I¡¯ve won. I was waiting for one, four and seven Wan¡­ Going back to the topic, hanging isn¡¯t a good way to die either, since your tongue would hang out three feet long after death. It¡¯s a pain to roll it back.¡± ¡°I would suggest a car ident. Adjust the angle properly and don¡¯t look back. If you do it properly, you won¡¯t suffer any pain, and your looks won¡¯t be affected either. You¡¯ll spiral up to heaven spectacrly with an instant explosion.¡±

    Bloody hell!

    What happened to all the cultural norms and conventions?

    Isn¡¯t the usual response to a question like ¡°how¡¯s my grandson¡± would be ¡°not bad, he¡¯s well behaved¡±; or ¡°how old is he¡±; or ¡°has he learnt to write¡±?

    What¡¯s up with their bizarre response? Aren¡¯t they being far too presumptuous here?

    No¡­

    In the first ce, who¡¯s your grandson?! Don¡¯t identify yourself as my rtive!

    Qin Ye was so upset that he almost spat blood. His face had turned ashen by now. The old granny took another puff of her pipe as she added, ¡°Take a closer look.¡±

    The other gloomy grannies immediately turned their heads and scrutinized him further. The smiles on everyone¡¯s faces vanished in the very next instant. They all set down the mahjong tiles in their hands as well.

    The four olddies exchanged nces with each other in silence. Then, several secondster, one of the olddies queried the old granny, ¡°Is this¡­ the fungus of the Aeons?¡±

    The ttering sound of mahjong restarted once again. As eight hands mixed the mahjong tiles thoroughly, the old granny chuckled, ¡°Whenever he¡¯s in front of this old bag of bones, he insists that it isn¡¯t¡­ so we¡¯ll just leave it at that... Hey, what¡¯s-your-name, why don¡¯t you bring some sky juice here? The water from the mortal realm is a little bit too spicy for our taste.¡±

    Ahhhhh¡­ that was quick. How has it already changed from grandson to ¡°what¡¯s-your-name¡±...

    The sky juice that they were asking for was none other than rainwater - something that neither touches the sky nor the ground; something that was not contaminated by Yin nor Yang. This was the only thing that the old granny had consumed this entire week.

    Qin Ye obsequiously brought over four cups, setting them down on the coffin board with loud thuds before turning to leave.

    Don¡¯t mess with me anymore. It¡¯s annoying.

    The game of ghastly mahjong went on till midnight. As soon as the clock struck twelve, the old granny immediately rose from her seat and sighed softly, ¡°That¡¯s the end of this session...and perhaps this might also be thest time we¡¯re gathering for mahjong as well.¡±

    Following suit, the three other olddies stood up as well, bade farewell to the old granny, before transforming into wisps of green smoke that quickly vanished.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye asked curiously.

    The old granny didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, sheboriously retrieved an ancient oilmp that was covered in dust from the coffin as she massaged her back, ¡°The Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d tapped on the powers of the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts for mahjong?¡±

    ¡°What do you know! I¡¯ve earned 1.2 billion today. Why shouldn¡¯t I use the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts?!¡±

    She makes a good argument¡­ Even Qin Ye was rendered speechless.

    ¡°Do you know what day today is?¡± Collecting her smile, the old granny sat on the bed and stared straight at Qin Ye. Without waiting for his response, she continued, ¡°Mid-seventh month, the ghosts run amok. Today is thest day of the Hungry Ghosts Festival. It¡¯s also the day that the gates of Hell will finally shut.¡±

    ¡°The day that a person¡¯s mortal life is snuffed out is also the day when he first enters the gates of Hell. Unfortunately, Hell has far too many spirits and too few Emissaries of Hell inparison. Therefore, there will always be some spirits who aren¡¯t detected and detained in time, and these spirits will end up drifting about aimlessly within the mortal realm. Over time, these souls begin to lose consciousness, and are left with nothing more than their desire to enter Hell. These spirits are called drifting spirits. The purpose of the three major ghost festivals is for us to receive them in Hell.¡±

    ¡°Do you¡­ understand now?¡±

    When the old granny got serious, Qin Ye felt almost as though he had been drawn into the heart of a massive vortex. Having experienced the vicissitudes of life, he could tell that this was the power of her aura - when one¡¯s extreme conviction was disyed through his or her actions, disposition and speech, thereby affecting others.

    It was difficult to fathom how an elderly who appeared so frail and on the brink of death could actually manifest such a terrifying disy of aura.

    Qin Ye subconsciously collected his smile and responded solemnly, ¡°Do you mean...that the person who has ¡®it¡¯ has died within thest seven days?¡±

    The old granny nodded her head. Qin Ye furrowed his brows, adding, ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to find him. That said, you seem certain that this person will be heading towards the gates of Hell today?¡±

    The old granny responded, ¡°Mm.¡± Qin Ye observed her facial expressions closely as he continued to probe further, ¡°So¡­ the thing that you wanted to tell me was¡­¡±

    At that moment, the old granny suddenly revealed a cunning smile on her face. Then, without waiting for him to finish, she suddenly grabbed tightly onto Qin Ye¡¯s hand. Qin Ye wasn¡¯t even able to scream before everything simply went ck. When everything became clear again, he couldn¡¯t help but draw a breath of cold air.

    ck, white and green - a worldprising only three colours!

    As far as the eye could see, most things were ck and white in colour, whether the room or his bed. The only green he could see were the wisps of green smoke emanating between all the other elements. To make matters even more bizarre, he was astonished to see his own physical body frozen in a squatting posture, his eyes still shut, while the old granny was still grabbing onto his arm!

    These physical bodies were akin to two statues -pletely still and unmoving.

    ¡°This is¡­ my soul?¡± Qin Ye nced at his own hands in amazement. His assessment of the old granny¡¯s abilities had risen once again.

    He had personally witnessed innumerable monks or priests performing rites to separate a person¡¯s soul from his or her own body. However, none of these experts had been able to pull out a person¡¯s soul with such a simple tug on the wrist! Next to the old granny, all of the revered monks and priests could at best be described as mere infants!

    ¡°First rule, don¡¯t look back.¡± The old granny hunched her back and lit an ancientmp.

    Themp was incredibly unique. The ancientmp was made of bronze, square in shape, and it was approximately the size of a palm. However, there were actually two carps painted on the back of themp - one ck, and one white.

    ¡°Hammerstone?¡±

    ¡°Shut up¡­ Second rule, don¡¯t open your mouth.¡± The old granny began to move. As she took the first step, the three-coloured world trembled slightly. Qin Ye felt the temperature around him dip immensely, while the fog around him continued to grow thicker.

    The green fog was everywhere, and it even seemed to be alive. After mere seconds, they found themselves surrounded by nothing more than a sea of fog replete with clouds in the sky. In this world, the ancientmp was the only source of light.

    He could even hear the wails and moans of countless people echoing through the sea of fog in the distance.

    ¡°Put this in your mouth and hang on to my clothes.¡± Qin Ye inspected the object as soon as he received it. It was a willow leaf.

    As soon as he ced it within his mouth, a warm feeling immediately spread from the tip of his tongue. He grabbed on tightly to the old granny¡¯s clothes, and they began to plod on.

    ¡°This path is not for the living.¡± Even though Qin Ye had many questions weighing on his mind, he remainedpletely silent. They walked on for approximately twenty more minutes before the old granny spoke hoarsely again, ¡°The living call this road the Yellow Springs Road. That said, the Yellow Springs Road is in fact divided into three portions. The Ferryman¡¯s Creek of Forgetfulness, Granny Meng¡¯s Residence, and finally the Necropolis. We¡¯re presently only on the first part of the Yellow Springs Road.¡±

    She then pointed to the surroundings, ¡°The green fog is in fact formed by the Yin energy diffusing from the spirits around. It¡¯s supposed to be pure ck in colour, but the Yang energy in this ce is too strong right now. The green Yin energy is the result of the sh of both Yin and Yang energy.

    ¡°As soon as any living creature opens its mouth in this ce, Yang energy would leak out from its body and act like a lighthouse or a beacon in tumultuous waters. The innumerable spirits around would begin to recall their lives in the mortal realm - some with attachments and some with regrets. These spirits that haven¡¯t consumed Granny Meng¡¯s soup of forgetfulness will tear the source of Yang energy to shreds. Therefore, please don¡¯t open your mouth.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked. It suddenly dawned on him that the sea of Yin energy¡­ was in fact generated by the gates of Hell alone?

    ording to what the old granny had said before, the gates of Hell would shut tonight, so the innumerable drifting spirits in the mortal world would naturally swarm to the gates. But¡­ just how many spirits did it take to form such an endless, overwhelming sea of Yin energy?

    Were the Emissaries of Hell all malingering and neglecting their duties?

    Just then, a ghastly sigh echoed from behind, ¡°Don¡¯t turn back. There are creatures called the Echoing Worm living on this road. As soon as you respond to it, it will begin to chat with you. The Echoing Worm has the face and body of a human, and it¡¯s a creature formed by the convergence of innumerable lingering obsessions. As soon as you are hooked by its call, you will be forced to converse with it for a thousand centuries, forever losing the opportunity to reincarnate.¡±

    Qin Ye tugged gently on the old granny¡¯s sleeves. The old granny chuckled lightly, ¡°You must be wondering why this old bag of bones talks so much, yet not a single Echoing Worm has attempted to approach me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simply because¡­ they don¡¯t dare.¡±

    ¡°Scatter.¡± With a single imperativemand, her primly bundled white hair instantly loosened up and began to dance on its own without any wind. The sea of green fog in the surroundings suddenly began to roil and crash as they dissipated into the distance.

    Their surroundings finally became clear. Qin Ye nced around before drawing a deep breath as chills ran down his spine.

    Where was the road under their feet?! What they had been treading on was in fact¡­ the silver-white bones of a skeleton!

    The skeleton was gargantuan, and the bone that they were walking on must have been at least a hundred meters wide, and so long that he could not see the end in sight. The bone was rather t, and Qin Ye posited that it must be the cervical bone of a vertebrae. At the same time, there were two rows of people - too many to count - lined up on either side of them. Some were dressed in suits, some were dressed in t-shirts and jeans, while others were wearing maxi-dresses. These people were all lined up neatly, making their way towards the end of the road, just like Qin Ye and the old granny were!

    These people presented themselves with appearances that were hazy and illusory, replete with a nk look on their faces. Yin energy continued to escape from their bodies from time to time. Yet the most frightening thing about these two lines of people¡­ was that their appearances were snapshots of their exact appearances just before they died!

    Some of them had long tongues sticking out of their mouths and disgusting, bulging eyes. Some had a contorted expression on their faces and broken limbs, and they were resigned to painstakingly crawling this entire journey across the bridge. Some had their skulls fractured, while others had their chests or abdomens shed wide open¡­ it was almost akin to a gallery of death and demise!

    The museum of the living dead.

    These living dead appeared to be floating in the air, and their feet never touched the ground, even when they moved.

    The gates of Hell closed on thest day of the Hungry Ghost Festival. In the darkness of the night, all of these pale ghosts were presently trudging along this Yin-Yang road just beside a living person.

    He was right there among them. He was right there beside them.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock. In that single moment, everyone in their surroundings froze.

    Hundreds, thousands, or even ten thousands of illusory spirits paused in unison. Then¡­ without moving their bodies, their heads all turned stiffly like grotesque machines. There were those with long tongues hanging from their heads, and even some without heads at all. All of them fixed their gazes on Qin Ye at this very moment!

    There were traces of greed, confusion and other emotions in their eyes¡­ In that instant, Qin Ye¡¯s body trembled as an intense wave ofherworldly chill washed across his heart. Then, in the very next moment, a frail, withered hand patted firmly on his back, and the chill that was permeating his entire body immediately vanished. All of the spirits around continued to stare at him for a full thirty seconds, before turning their heads back and plodding on.

    Thump. Thump. Qin Ye ced his hand gingerly over his chest. His heart was beating wildly. That instant when innumerable spirits turned to look at him had caused his entire back to be drenched with sweat.

    ¡°Look over there.¡± The old granny pointed in another direction. Qin Ye nced over, before covering his mouth in shock. His pupils constricted immediately.

    He could see the silhouette of something akin to a hill in the distant where gloomy Yin energy filled the air. He was unable to see exactly what this was, but it appeared almost as though...there were innumerable stink bugs piling one on top of the other. Two green eyes burned brightly in the darkness asherworldly mes flickered ceaselessly within them. And on its body¡­ hung countless people!

    They were living people - rather, living spirits!

    Each one of these spirits appeared to be muttering something inaudible. The spirit that hung closest to his current location was no more than twenty meters away.

    This was an Echoing Worm and its human pupae!

 Chapter 7: The Netherworld Odyssey

    <h4>Chapter 7: The Netherworld Odyssey</h4>

    The hill-sized silhouette was at least tens of timesrger than the old granny. The eyes zing withherworldly fire were akin to constetions in a surging sea of fog. It was evident that these eyes were trained directly on Qin Ye¡¯s body. Yet, not a single one of these Echoing Worms dared to approach him.

    Just like that, the two continued to plod along the path of bones. In fact, for every step that the old granny moved forward, the massive eyes would equally take a single step back. It was almost as though the constetions in the sky were shifting as a result of the old granny¡¯s approach.

    ¡°This is known as theherworld odyssey. If you¡¯re skilled enough, you¡¯ll be able to find what you¡¯re looking for here as long as the spirit has passed within thest seven days. You can even temporarily restore that person¡¯s memory andmunicate directly with him. This is essentially what the monks and priests in the mortal realms do - as long as these spirits have passed on within thest seven days, and there still remains a breath of Yang energy within their bodies, the monks and priests would still be able to recall or summon their spirits.¡±

    ¡°In fact, if you¡¯re fortunate enough to be promoted beyond the rank of a Netherworld Operative, you won¡¯t even need to embark on theherworld odyssey any longer. You would already be clothed with the authority to directly arrest or detain any spirit along the Yin-Yang road without question. Alright, lower your head. We¡¯ve arrived. You may speak now.¡±

    Qin Ye gathered his spirits once more and lowered his head.

    The skeletal path hade to an end, and a massive boaty waiting at the end of the road.

    It was an ancient-styled ferry that was thousands of meters long, and it hovered silently and stoically in mid-air. That said, where the ferryman should originally have been now stood a golden coloured skeleton!

    A green conical bamboo hat and a verdant-coloured raincoat hung gently over the skeleton bones that appeared to be made of pure gold. The skeleton was still holding onto the helm of the boat with an arched body and a slightly bowed head, almost as though it were still attempting to exert immense force. It was hard to fathom how such aparably small human-sized skeleton once controlled such a massive vessel. An incredible gathering of Yin spirits could be seen at the bank where the end of the bone bridge stood. Each of these spirits were holding onto stacks of paper money as they stared purposefully at the golden skeleton at the helm.

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ dead?¡± Qin Ye murmured.

    The old granny¡¯s gaze was iparablyplex, ¡°Not dead¡­ rather, he¡¯s departed¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been thousands of years, yet I never quite learnt his name. He never spoke a word, and he would silently ferry these spirits to where this old bag of bones lived, before silently departing once again. I thought that we had a tacit understanding to look out for one another for the rest of time, yet who knew¡­¡±

    She shook her head and didn¡¯t say anymore.

    Qin Ye withdrew his gaze as though deep in thought. Just then, as though suddenly struck by a brainwave, his eyes gleamed brightly as he cocked his head towards the ferryman once more. Subconsciously, Qin Ye took a step forward.

    As soon as he set his feet down, he immediately noticed that there was nothing underneath his feet and lost his bnce. Fortunately, a powerful force grabbed hold of him and yanked him back onto his feet.

    ¡°Are you looking to die?!¡± The old granny bellowed in rage, ¡°Look below!¡±

    Qin Ye looked down as he broke out in cold sweat. Just beneath his feet, underneath the entire bone bridge, was a massive bottomless abyss that stretched on for miles and miles on end!

    The boat hovered in mid-air, giving others an illusion that the ground beneath it was t and solid. However, this was not the case at all.

    The existence of the endless abyss was not frightening in and of itself. Rather, what was frightening¡­ was the fact that one could only see this abyss when he stepped out of the bone bridge. Furthermore¡­ in the moment that Qin Ye lost his footing, he thought he vaguely heard a woman¡¯s soft chuckle echo through the abyss. He also saw innumerable roiling ck waves crashing violently against the walls of the abyss.

    And it wasn¡¯t merely ck waves.

    Rather¡­ it was hair!

    It was as though this endless abyss hid an iparably terrifying existence that was waiting for an unsuspecting prey to fall into its trap just like how a spider hunted.

    The old granny sternly cautioned, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare underestimate the Yellow Springs Road just because we¡¯re only on its first section. There are far too many fearsome existences along this road that you can¡¯t even begin to fathom. This is a forbidden ground for the living. One misstep would mean death for you.¡±

    Qin Ye softly peeled away the old granny¡¯s hand as they locked eyes, ¡°I¡¯ve got a question, and I¡¯m not sure if I should ask it or not.¡±

    ¡°Since you suspect that it shouldn¡¯t be asked, then don¡¯t ask it.¡± Then, almost as though she knew what he was thinking about, the old granny remarked, ¡°You¡¯ve lived for far too long, so you¡¯re naturally far more sharp and sensitive than most ordinary people. Some questions are best left unanswered.¡±

    However, Qin Ye paid little heed to the old granny¡¯s piece of advice. His gaze intensified as he continued, ¡°Hell¡­ what happened to it?¡±

    Without waiting for the old granny¡¯s response, he continued, ¡°I¡¯m almost certain about something¡­ the ferryman hasn¡¯t departed by natural means.¡±

    ¡°After all, his stance tells me that he was in the midst of his duties. His hands were even exerting a powerful force in order to control the helm of the boat. This is a clear sign of a sudden departure - one that was so swift that even a person in the ferryman¡¯s position had not expected it. Furthermore, it had to be an instant death. Otherwise, the ferryman wouldn¡¯t be frozen in the same posture he held pre-departure.¡±

    Locking eyes with the old granny once more, he articted his next statement clearly and sinctly, ¡°Who could possibly exact instant death on a person such as the ferryman?¡±

    The old granny¡¯s lips quivered slightly. Qin Ye shook his head and continued, ¡°Furthermore, this is something I¡¯ve been thinking about previously. The spirits of the Hungry Ghost Festival¡­ are far too numerous in number. These spirits are already at the gates of Hell now, yet they¡¯re unable to pass through either. And it¡¯s even more bizarre that not a single Emissary of Hell has appeared thus far.¡±

    The old granny finally responded, ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, as an absurd thought found its way into his mind. Then, taking a step forward, he whispered with a trembling voice, ¡°Hell has¡­ ceased its operations?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°The death of the ferryman coincides with the surge of supernatural events in the mortal realm. Am I right to therefore suggest that the upheaval in Hell is the source of the massive changes in the mortal realm?¡±

    The gravity of these words were so massive that even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but shudder at it. In fact, the prospects of such thoughts were so terrifying that even Qin Ye himself found it hard to believe these things.

    How many people died everyday?

    If Hell froze over¡­ then where would the hundreds of billions of spirits go?

    No wonder¡­ no wonder the situation in the mortal realm was escting at such a rapid pace! No wonder the surge in supernatural events was so extreme! The mortal realm¡­ was transforming into a living world of Hell!

    ¡°Interesting.¡± The old granny didn¡¯t respond immediately. It was after a long time that she finallyughed genially, ¡°Boy, you¡¯ve got a rich imagination. However¡­¡±

    She looked straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes as she exined, ¡°Don¡¯t interpret ghastly affairs with your human heart¡­ things are a thousand times more terrifying than you can ever fathom¡­¡±

    ¡°Your superficial guess is only about ten-thousandth of the great horror you¡¯re about to experience¡­¡±

    ¡°Come on. Get on that ship and shake the helm. Prove to me that you¡¯re worthy of bing the final Emissary of Hell.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s mind red with rms as he stared at the old granny with distrust, ¡°What do you mean the final Emissary of Hell? What in hell¡¯s name are you talking about? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever agreed to such an arrangement, have I? Furthermore, what¡¯s with your tone of voice? It¡¯s almost as though you¡¯re making a will right now. What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    The old granny sneered, ¡°It¡¯s no use, boy. The longer you live, the sharper and more sensitive you get. No matter how much you try and put on pretences in front of me, these attempts are feeble at best. You and I are quite alike in some ways. When all is stripped away, the core of our hearts are ck and grim. Besides¡­ you¡¯re in my territory now, so do you think that you can still act all wilful as those hundred-year ghasts out there?¡±

    Before she finished speaking, Qin Ye already felt a powerful force swooping in from behind, sending him flying towards the massive boat like a falling leaf in the wind. As he flew through the air, Yin energy erupted from his body, and he was almost instantaneously clothed with the uniform of Hell¡¯s Emissaries.

    Shit!

    Qin Ye crashnded on the ferry with a loud thud and cursed thrice out loud! Then, as he scrambled to his feet once more and rubbed his aching back, the old granny¡¯s voice drifted over once more, ¡°Take the helm. The Yin spirits that hear the sound of helm will naturally be drawn towards you. But fret not, because they won¡¯t be able to board the boat. You¡¯ve seen it earlier - this isn¡¯t a boat that just anybody can board. Furthermore, the massive abyss between the boat and the bone bridge you were just on conceals a fearsome existence. Thus, you can rest assured.¡±

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°Then who am I supposed to ferry? What in the world do you want me to do? Can¡¯t you just speak in clear terms?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± The old granny gave him a judgmental look as she added somberly, ¡°This boat¡­ isn¡¯t something that an average peon can operate. Whether you possess the qualifications to be appointed an Emissary of Hell and be one of Hell¡¯s officials will all depend on whether you can steer this boat.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned... I don¡¯t want to do this anymore, alright?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, Dogballs.¡± The old granny lit her pipe as she added, ¡°You¡¯ve got three more days in the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice deepened by an octave, ¡°... No, we were just having a pleasant exchange, weren¡¯t we? Could you please refrain from jumping to such astonishing conclusions?¡±

    ¡°The desire to live is strong with this one.¡± The old granny blew out some smoke, ¡°Those who have consumed the fungus of the Aeons will never die nor grow old. However, they also be existences rejected by both the mortal realm and theherworld. Now that Hell has ceased functioning, your good old days have naturallye to an end as well. If you¡¯re lucky, you might end up bing one of the drifting spirits that would wander the earth aimlessly until the end of time. If you¡¯re not¡­¡±

    She pulled out her pipe and drew a circle around a group of Yin spirits gathered at the bridge, ¡°Which of them would you prefer to be?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯ll steer. I¡¯ll steer immediately¡­ my savagery is only second to you people living down under¡­¡± Tears welled up in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes as he bowed three times to the golden skeleton before shifting him aside and taking control around the helm.

    Whoosh¡­ As Qin Ye began to steer the helm, massive ripples began to spread throughout the void below the boat. There wasn¡¯t a single drop of water, yet as Qin Ye steered the helm, sounds of water began to resound throughout thends.

    As this unimaginable sight unfolded, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but find a tune popping into his mind - Let¡¯s swing our oars and steer our boat through the still, still waters that reflect the vicious ghouls and witches around.

    That¡¯s not the right frame of mind to have right now!

    Vruuuuuum.... A low horn resounded from the ferry. Its source was unknown. At the same time, all of the Yin spirits gathered around the end of the skeletal bridge lifted their heads and looked over at the ferry.

    Vruuuuuum¡­ A second low horn resounded. As the ferry began to turn around slowly, the Yin spirits on the skeletal bridge began to shift. They transfixed their eyes on the ferry, gripped tightly onto the paper money in their hand and began to step out towards the ferry senselessly. Then, as though the floodgates had been opened, a tidal wave of Yin spirits began to slowly flow forwards.

    It was a spectacr sight.

    Yet, the ferry and the skeletal bridge were still separated by an immensely vast chasm, and the Yin spirits were unable to cross the chasm and board the ferry. As soon as they took the first step off the skeletal bridge, the Yin spirits would immediately fall into the endless abyss below. At the same time, ady¡¯s joyful cackle resounded from the depths of the abyss.

    That said, the failure of the first wave of Yin spirits didn¡¯t prevent the innumerable Yin spirits behind from following like Lemmings. At this moment, the ferry was as dazzling as a bright beacon in a storm.

    Just like that, hundreds and thousands of Yin spirits began to fall into the abyss as wave after wave of them continued to inch forward in a feeble attempt to board the ferry. As a result, these spirits surprisingly became¡­ an endless waterfall of souls!

    The paper money in the hands of these Yin spirits began to be scattered throughout the air, almost akin to the scattering plumes of water molecules that are dispersed into the surroundings as a waterfall crashes into the rocky pools below. It was a breathtaking sight.

 Chapter 8: King Yanluoâ€™s Seal

    <h4>Chapter 8: King Yanluo''s Seal</h4>

    Theherworldly waterfall was incredibly magnificent and grand. After all, the Yin spirits lingering about in the mortal realm before the Hungry Ghost Festival numbered well above the hundreds of thousands. When the congregation of spirits rushed towards the Ferryman¡¯s Creek of Forgetfulness all at once, the waterfall of souls naturally continued for tens and tens of minutes on end.

    Whoosh¡­ The boat continued to hover about, as though weightlessly. Qin Ye was still furiously steering the helm, yet the ferry appeared as though it would never reach the skeletal bridge. Time trickled by, while innumerable Yin spirits continued to flock towards the end of the skeletal bridge like moths to a me as they fell into the depths of the abyss to their demise. Twenty minutes¡­ forty minutes¡­ All of a sudden, of all of the Yin spirits present at the end of the bone bridge, one spirit suddenly stepped onto the void without falling off.

    At the same time, the old granny let out a long, sorrowful sigh. Her figure vanished abruptly, and a streak of dark, inky Yin energy swept across the void, drawing the Yin spirit with it. When the Yin spirit next appeared, it had already boarded the ferry in the distance.

    ¡°Is that him?¡± Qin Ye unintentionally caught a nce at the Yin spirit. It was a middle-aged man, and his appearances were hardly blemished in the slightest. The spirit presented himself with a chiseled jawline, a well-defined nose-bridge and sharp eyebrows. His clothes were even tastefully chosen, of the Armani brand.

    The person that made this immeasurably formidable old granny go through all that trouble...was actually no more than a mere ordinary person?

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Hell is experiencing an upheaval right now, and I¡¯m no longer able to pinpoint his exact location. Qingxi County is well-popted, and time was of the essence. This old bag of bones only knows that this man had died within thest seven days, and that he¡¯s most definitelye into contact with ¡®it¡¯. Coming to the gates of Hell was the best option avable to us.¡± As soon as she finished speaking, the old granny plunged her hand straight into that Yin spirit¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Yaaaaaaaaaarghh!!!¡± A blood curdling shriek rang out, and the man¡¯s expressions twisted wildly. In the next moment, an indescribableherworldly chill filled every corner of the entire ferry!

    Boom! Without warning, a powerful gust of wind struck Qin Ye, causing his robes to fly up horizontally into the air. His eyes widened with disbelief and he gasped in astonishment, ¡°My god¡­¡±

    This was Yin energy.

    It wasn¡¯t overwhelming in intensity, yet the purity of the Yin energy was simply unbelievable!

    Bzzzzzt¡­ The rush of Yin energy was so strong that even the void on which the ferry hovered upon trembled slightly. Even the monster below the abyss had gonepletely silent. It was impossible for such quality of Yin energy to appear on a mere Yin spirit¡¯s body! Its energy was even more terrifying than that of the old granny¡¯s!

    What in the world is this thing?!

    Man?

    A millennial ghost?

    ¡°Hmph¡­¡± Right this moment, the old granny groaned and stretched out her hand as she stumbled back several steps. Her head was covered with sweat, and her arms were ostensibly glowing with a faint golden hue. Even more bizarrely, tens of age spots immediately appeared on her face, as though she had aged dozens of years in the blink of an eye.

    Everything went silent in that instant.

    Thump. Thump. His heartbeats reverberated powerfully throughout his auditory canals. Qin Ye realized btedly that his entire body was now soaked with sweat. His heart palpitated as he mumbled, ¡°A Ghost King?¡±

    The old granny stared silently at her own hand. Several secondster, she eked out a miserable smile, ¡°¡®It¡¯ is on this person¡¯s body¡­ I¡¯d calcted that it was located within Qingxi County, yet you were unable to locate it no matter what. Thus, I¡¯d figured that our next best option was to wait here for him when the gates of Hell opened during the Hungry Ghost Festival. That¡¯s when ¡®its¡¯ holder would finally be summoned here¡­¡±

    Qin Ye blinked back at the old granny, ¡°What exactly is ¡®it¡¯?¡±

    The old granny paused for two seconds before responding, ¡°King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s what it...HANG ON A MINUTE!¡± Qin Ye stared at the old granny as though he had just seen a ghost. Then, he continued with disbelief, ¡°King Yanluo¡¯s Seal? The fabled cornerstone that Hell itself was built upon? How did you guys lose your source of bread and butter?¡±

    The fact that you¡¯re alive is a miracle itself¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s with that look in your eye? Things aren¡¯t quite as you think they are.¡± The old granny red viciously at Qin Ye before sighing wistfully, ¡°When Hell was first established, there were in existence three primordial treasures. King Yanluo¡¯s Seal was one of them.¡±

    ¡°Then, King Yanluo¡¯s Seal shattered due to a particr cause. However, as with all other primordial treasures out there, as long as you are able to locate a single piece, that single piece will show you where the other pieces are.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Qin Ye astutely picked up on the key points and pointed to himself, ¡°You¡¯re not harbouring any unrealistic fantasies, are you?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, boy? You¡¯re now presented with the opportunity to be conferred the title of Hell¡¯sst official. Where¡¯s your sense of responsibility and duty to the citizens of Hell?¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ I don¡¯t want anything to do with this at all!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine too, Dogballs. You¡¯ve got three days left in the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice deepened by an octave, and his survival instincts kicked in once more, ¡°... That¡­ let¡¯s be serious about the matter and steer clear of these unnecessary, fear-mongering talk, shall we? For instance, let¡¯s talk about how I¡¯m not actually very good at games and puzzles that require high IQ?¡±

    The old granny nced at him, ¡°If the skin doesn¡¯t exist, the fur has nothing totch onto - don¡¯t you understand this principle? If Hell finds itself in a quandary, the first person to end up dying is someone like you who has allegiance with neither the living nor the dead.¡±

    Vicious!

    The veins on Qin Ye¡¯s temples were bulging and throbbing. Life was a bitch. Since there was no way for him to resist such developments, then he was determined to lie there submissively and enjoy it to the fullest. Right now, his heart was filled with a resolve tough boisterously as he took things in his stride.

    Ah¡­ no¡­ softer, old granny¡­

    ¡°How did a mere mortal like him manage toy his hands on King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?¡± Shelving his earlier thoughts for a moment, Qin Ye turned to assess the Yin spirit standing before his very eyes. Then, just as he was about to continue, Qin Ye suddenly paused and blinked vacantly. His gaze was glued onto the Yin spirit¡¯s body.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen him before.¡± Several secondster, Qin Ye turned around and knit his brows tightly together, ¡°This is¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s father?¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± The old granny¡¯s gaze immediately turned serious.

    ¡°I¡¯m certain!¡± Qin Ye answered affirmatively, ¡°He¡¯s the richest man in all of Qingxi County, Wang Zemin. I¡¯ve seen him before at the parents-teachers meeting. His son, Wang Chenghao, is in the same ss as I am.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s actually dead? Why didn¡¯t I hear of it¡­¡±

    He paused mid-sentence for the second time in quick session, and his eyes gleamed brightly.

    Something¡¯s up¡­ something¡¯s not right!

    The death of the richest man in Qingxi County would have qualified for headline news, and it would be widely reported all across the county, whether on regr news or social media. Going one step further, even if such news were not reported at all, there would at the very least be some measure of difference in Wang Chenghao¡¯s behaviour.

    But there was none.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s behaviour over thest two days was most certainly not reflective of one who had just lost his own father. Most importantly, he was reminded of a particr exchange that they had.

    ¡°Qin Ye¡­ do you know of a way to deal with these things?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re afraid that they¡¯lle after you again?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s not me¡­ it¡¯s¡­ my family¡­ has been a little bit offtely¡­¡±

    Things were getting stranger by the minute.

    Hell looked like it had ceased operations; King Yanluo¡¯s Seal had shattered and was scattered across the mortal realm; the ferryman had departed for good; and the number of supernatural events within the mortal realm was surging as well¡­ Qin Ye revised his earlier assessment of the matter - Hell...something far worse than mere cessation of operations might have urred to Hell.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Shaking his head, Qin Ye addressed the old granny once more.

    ¡°Eh? What happened to your strong desire to live?¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes at her. Since resistance was futile, the next best thing to do was to take immediate action. After all, wasn¡¯t one survival of paramount importance?

    Survival. This word didn¡¯t merely mean a continued sustenance of life, like how any other dog would live. Rather it implied a sense of stability in his livelihood, just like how a dog residing within a pagoda finds sce in its shelter.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I like most about you. You know your limits.¡± The old granny took out a talisman and stuck it on Wang Zemin¡¯s forehead, before casually scrunching up the talisman into a ball. Just like that, the Yin spirit became nothing more than a ball sealed with a paper talisman. The old granny ced it within Qin Ye¡¯s pocket.

    ¡°... No way. After going through all that trouble to locate him, how could you just handle him so casually?¡±

    ¡°Take good care of it. Your ssmate¡­ I¡¯m afraid he might be holding onto the most important ¡®key¡¯ to this matter. But now is not the time for such discussions.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, she pushed Qin Ye away and took the helm. Then, with one forceful stroke of movement, the ferry¡¯s horn red authoritatively once again.

    ¡°Earlier, didn¡¯t you hazard a guess that Hell has ceased operations?¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve already passed the qualification test, I¡¯ll let you witness for yourself right now the reality that is ten thousand times more horrific than your shallow posttions - the whole truth about Hell.¡±

    Hooooooonk¡­ As soon as the old granny took the helm, the ferry began to travel at unfathomable speeds, passing through the void and into the depths of Hell.

    After some time, a massive roar reverberated throughout the rift where the massive abyss was located. Then, ten minutester, a gargantuan woman¡¯s head slowly surfaced.

    It was extremely beautiful, with sharp, striking eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes. Her lips were vermillion like blood, while her skin was as white and smooth as curdled fat.

    There was not a single facial feature that could not be described as exquisite. Any more, and it would have been excessive, while any less would have meant imperfection.

    However, its entire existence was confined only to the head.

    There was absolutely nothing from the neck down! Three thousand strands of green-coloured threads danced in the air behind the head. This gargantuan head was by no means smaller than the ferry that had taken off into the distance. It could almost be likened to the sun - albeit with human features. It was incredibly bizarre.

    ¡°That¡¯s thest Emissary of Hell you¡¯ve chosen?¡± Her eyes gazed deeply in the direction where the ferry had departed. After a long time, she sighed, ¡°If the skin doesn¡¯t exist, the fur has nothing totch onto.... well said¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, without Hell, what use is there for our existence now?¡±

    ¡°Yet you¡¯re still willing to put all your eggs in one basket and give it your all. What¡¯s the use of it all?¡±

    ¡°If the mortal realm is going to be chaotic, then so be it! Humans and ghosts are so fundamentally different to begin with, so what makes you think that this is a problem that could be resolved with just a mere human¡¯s strength? Why bother with such trifles?¡±

    Shaking with clear disapprobation, the stunningly beautiful head slowly sank into the depths of the abyss once again.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    With the old granny at the helm and Qin Ye at the bow, the ferry moved incredibly quickly. Their surroundings were filled with a dense and pure ck fog. Yet as the ferry continued to charge forward at immense speeds, the sea of dense ck fog continued to split cleanly in two halves, almost like how Moses parted the red sea.

    After some time, the fog finally cleared up, and a massive bridge appeared before their eyes.

    It was a limestone bridge, and it was incredibly wide - the width itself must have been at least ten thousand meters, while the end was well out of sight!

    The entire bridge was made from neatlyid limestones. However, it appeared to be rather old and worn out, and several pieces had even been tarnished with dirt or cut and scratched. There was even some moss-like growth that seemed to be thriving between the bs. It was clear that the bridge had seen its fair share of years.

    Anyone standing on this bridge would feel as small as an ant. Qin Ye stood there in amazement as he took in the majestic sight of the ten-thousand meter wide bridge. Then, drawing a deep breath, he remarked, ¡°Could this be...the Naraka Bridge?

    The old granny¡¯s gaze was iparablyplex. She loosened her grip on the helm and pointed at the bridge, ¡°Just a hundred years ago, I would have been seated there, dishing out bowl after bowl of soup for the souls seeking to forget their past.¡±

    Qin Ye shifted his gaze to where the old granny was pointing. At the front of the bridge stood a broken three-legged cauldron made of bronze. The cauldron was massive - approximately one hundred meters tall. All sorts of flowers, birds, insects and snakes were carved on the surface of the cauldron, while four bronze dragons were welded onto the cauldron in a manner that made them look like they were crawling out of the cauldron. The mouths of the dragons were no more than half a meter from the ground. Underneath the cauldron sat an ancient, old fashioned square table that could seat eight people. This table was covered with yellow paper.

    The cauldron was there; and the table was there. Yet, nobody else was around.

    ¡°Legend has it that the Naraka Bridge stood in the midst of the Yellow Springs Road. Anyone who made it here - regardless of who it was - would find themselves crying out in helplessness. The ferryman provided ess to the Naraka Bridge, ferrying souls across the Tides of Neglect to the bridge, where they would consume Granny Meng¡¯s soup before they were finally reincarnated.¡± Qin Ye eximed at the sight as he continued with a murmur, ¡°Those who consumed Granny Meng¡¯s soup would forget everything that had happened in the past. If one desires to retain their memories, they would have to leap into the Tides of Neglect and wait for a thousand years to pass.¡±

    ¡°When the ferryman departed, souls no longer had ess to the Naraka Bridge, and Granny Meng journeyed to the mortal realm for the very first time. That was when she discovered the millions of spirits trapped on the other side of the Tides of Neglect¡­ Esteemed Granny Meng, what exactly happened to Hell?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem in the least bit surprised, are you?¡± Granny Meng could tell from Qin Ye¡¯s expressions that he had already deciphered this much. At this moment, his eyes were only filled with wonder at the magnificence of the Naraka Bridge.

    Qin Ye shook his head with a bitter smile, ¡°I¡¯d already guessed your identity when you mentioned that the ferryman sent spirits to your ce of residence. After all, the ferryman had only one port of call.¡±

    Why else do you think this young master didn¡¯t put up a stronger resistance?

    This young master is a hot-blooded young man! Three days? So what if it¡¯s three days?!

    This young master would much rather die in three days standing tall and strong than cower in fear and beg for mercy.

    But!

    And the key was on this qualification.

    But I just don¡¯t have the ability to do it. This esteemed old granny possesses the power to reduce me to a pile of minced meat with a simple flick of the wrist. Would there really be a point in putting up any form of resistance?

    If not, it may well be wiser to change my attitude from stubbornness to a harmonious one¡­ and that¡¯s how this young master would deal with the situation so wlessly...

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The term ÄÎºÎÇÅ refers to a bridge where Granny Meng resides as she dishes out the soup of forgetfulness to souls preparing for reincarnation. Literally tranted, it should be the Bridge of Forgetfulness. However, I¡¯ve decided to adapt the Sanskrit loanword Narakade, and its transliteration to Naraka.

 Chapter 9: Ksitigarbhaâ€™s Enlightenment

    <h4>Chapter 9: Ksitigarbha''s Enlightenment</h4>

    Granny Meng led Qin Ye onto the Naraka Bridge.

    Everything was still and silent. Standing before such a magnificent bridgepletely redefined his perspective of heavenly worship. How incredible would the sight have been when the Naraka Bridge were filled with souls, while the guardians of theherworld, the Ox-Head and the Horse-Face, stood watch over them all, brandishing their weapons?

    As they walked along the bridge, Granny Meng gently ran her finger along the bridge¡¯s railing. After a long time, she sighed wistfully once more, ¡°Kid, look down.¡±

    Qin Ye cautiously stretched out his head - he couldn¡¯t help but wish that his neck were a meter long right now.

    ¡°... Where¡¯s the fearlessness apanying a revered official of Hell?¡± Granny Meng chided.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid of heights.¡± Qin Ye responded innocently.

    Granny Meng was stupefied. What kind of official has she appointed on Hell¡¯s behalf?

    Fear of death, fear of heights, and a spirit of cunning. Couldn¡¯t you just bnce these traits with a few more merits?

    With his hands grasping the railing tightly, Qin Ye took a quick nce below, and he immediately drew a breath of cold air.

    Beneath them was...apletely destitute wastnd.

    It had not been this way all this while. Rather, there were dpidated huts and houses built in a haphazard manner, and there were red, already-extinguishednterns scattered all over the ce. At the same time, countless boulders continuously rained down on the destitutends below like meteors. Qin Ye even noticed a massive corpse lying in the distance!

    He couldn¡¯t tell what exactly this corpse was, or howrge it was. That said, he could tell that it was a serpent-like creature whose vertebrae extended out from the depths of the thick, dense fog and stretched out into the distant horizon. Everything below¡­ looked almost as though a bustling city had been ravaged by a massive serpent.

    Granny Meng¡¯s w-like fingers wrapped around the railing on the Naraka Bridge as she spoke hoarsely, ¡°Once upon a time¡­ the Tides of Neglect flowed underneath this bridge as well. It was also known as the Yellow Springs.¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s nothing left now. Do you know what that serpent-like creature is called?¡± She shut her eyes, before continuing as though in pain, ¡°It¡¯s called the Aurogon or the Torch Dragon. If you go back in time five hundred years, you¡¯ll see a single burning candle - the Torch Dragon¡¯s light - illuminating the entire ce. This also happens to be Hell¡¯s only source of light. However, it¡¯s departed since then, and the light has also been snuffed out...Hell has since be what you see now¡­¡±

    Was that why everything was enshrouded in thick, ck fog when we first arrived?

    Qin Ye opened his mouth slightly, staring in astonishment at the roiling fog around him. The ferryman had departed, and Granny Meng had personally made the trip to the mortal realm. Even the Torch Dragon has departed Hell as well!

    As the winds of destion swept throughout thends, it carried with it faint echoes of grieving spirits and traces of destruction.

    What in the world has happened to Hell?

    ¡°You must be wondering what happened to Hell, aren¡¯t you?¡± Granny Meng remarked as though she knew his thoughts, ¡°The truth is¡­ it¡¯s not just the Torch Dragon. All of Hell¡­ has been emptied out since a hundred years ago¡­¡±

    She waved her hands lightly, and the fog in front of her began to disperse slowly. Fainter¡­ and fainter¡­ Several minutester, Qin Ye¡¯s mouth widened, and he took a step back in astonishment as he stared at the other side of the Naraka Bridge with absolute disbelief.

    ¡°That¡¯s where the Fengdu Necropolis is located. It¡¯s also known as the center of Hell. Naturally, that was in the past.¡± Granny Meng stooped over and exined with trembling in her voice.

    Qin Ye simply couldn¡¯t believe what he saw.

    After all, he was staring at the exact location where the Fengdu Necropolis originally stood. However, all he could see was the source of a Bodhi aura radiating brightly in all directions! A Golden Buddha rose authoritatively from the ground!

    It was unclear exactly howrge it was or how tall it stood. There was a lotus flower imprinted between its brows, and it wielded a massive two-ringed Buddhist staff. It stood as tall as the sky, and it was wide as the earth. Countless golden lotuses were sprouting up in the surroundings before perishing quickly. These were all signs evincing a Buddhist kingdom establishing itself right in the midst of Hell!

    How could the Fengdu Necropolis be forcibly transformed into a towering statue of Buddha?

    This is ridiculous!

    The fog in the surrounding began to roil and stir once more, slowly enshrouding and concealing the statue of Buddha. It was only when the ridiculous sight was obscured from his vision that Qin Ye slowly recovered from the shock of what he had just seen. Suddenly, as though struck by an epiphany, he eximed, ¡°¡®I vow to save all souls before gaining enlightenment¡¯?¡±

    ¡°This is¡­ a statue of the Bodhisattva of the Great Vow?¡±

    If Hell ever had a Bodhisattva, it would have to be Ksitigarbha - one of the Four Great Bodhisattvas.

    ¡°It is none other than the revered Ksitigarbha.¡± Granny Meng¡¯s hair began to hover about on its own as she looked at Qin Ye with a grave expression, ¡°You¡¯re right. He¡¯d vowed to save all souls before gaining enlightenment¡­ but¡­ the existence of the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva means he¡¯s already attained enlightenment. You¡­ do you understand the meaning of this?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes. His back was drenched with cold sweat in that instant.

    He¡¯s already saved all souls and emptied Hell. That¡¯s why he¡¯s gained enlightenment¡­

    Then, who¡¯s in charge of theherworld?!

    Almost as though she knew Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts, Granny Mengughed huskily, ¡°No one, kid¡­ it¡¯s been like this for thest hundred years. And now, there¡¯s no longer any state or order of Hell in existence anymore.¡±

    Boom!

    This statement was like a bolt of lightning that sted away the dense fog in his mind. The puzzle pieces in Qin Ye¡¯s mind suddenly fit together all at once.

    Ksitigarbha gained enlightenment, and Hell is emptied - even legendary existences such as the Candle Dragon and the ferryman have all departed. Having nowhere else to turn to, the ghosts and spirits naturally began to seek refuge within the mortal realm. This was naturally the cause for the surge in supernatural activities there as well.

    Qin Ye was unable to fathom the grandeur of the spectacle in that moment when Ksitigarbha first attained enlightenment. However, it was clear that the impact of the upheaval in hell must have shattered King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and sent it scattering throughout the mortal realm.

    His mind buzzed. Granny Meng gazed back at the empty Naraka Bridge as she added softly, ¡°You should be thankful for this. When Ksitigarbha gained enlightenment, he also granted deliverance on innumerable evil ghosts residing in the depths of Hell. The truly formidable ones have already been whisked away by that old man. However¡­ King Yanluo, the Infernal Judges, the Abyssal Prefects and the Soul Hunters have all ended up with the same fate as well. As a result, the number of spirits surged. Without the support of Hell and its emissaries, most of these spirits ended up bing natural, benign spirits. However, under the confluence of particr factors, there remains a minority which became truly malicious, evil ghosts.¡±

    ¡°That said, these evil ghosts know better than to move about on their own. They know fear, and they naturally fear that the Soul Hunters, the Hellguards, and the other Emissaries of Hell would return and reestablish Hell once more. However¡­ nothing can withstand the effluxion of time. After one hundred long years, these spirits can no longer hold themselves back.¡±

    Granny Meng looked straight at Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯ve spent decades looking for you. Having consumed the taisui fungus, you¡¯re an existence that is rejected by both the mortal realm and theherworld even though you coexist in both nes of existence at the same time. In other words, your starting point is much higher than others, such as those who possess the gift of Yin-Yang Eyes . Naturally, that makes you the best candidate for the job.¡±

    Qin Ye was about to interject when Granny Meng shook her head and continued, ¡°You can¡¯t refuse. Once I depart for good, there will no longer be any other clergy within Hell, and existences such as yourself that straddle both nes of mortal realm and theherworld are bound to perish. And if you don¡¯t care about such matters¡­ let¡¯s just say that the emergence of evil ghosts just like Sadako and Churenmei is only a matter of time (TL: Of The Ring and another Chinese horror film/story respectively).¡±

    ¡°Hell has been emptied, and evil ghosts roam the mortal realm.¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye had never expected his conclusion to be so far off the mark. This wasn¡¯t anything like a mere cessation of operations. Right now, Hell didn¡¯t even exist any longer!

    But I don¡¯t even live there¡­

    Look, you had such an enormous wealth ofnd, yet you still chose to ce a ticking time bomb right smack in the center of your house. Aren¡¯t you simply courting your own doom?

    Well, it¡¯s finally exploded now¡­ No, it doesn¡¯t matter whether it has exploded or not. What matters is that it¡¯s now affecting the course of my life. I was just sitting there, minding my own business when I was somehow drawn into the epicenter of this entire cmity - do you think I can still live happily and peacefully?!

    Especially now that I¡¯ve got to wipe your ass and clean up your mess.

    ¡°Ahem¡­ what if I tell you that I don¡¯t really know too much about civil engineering to begin with¡­¡±

    Granny Meng stered a look ofpassion on her face as her face darkened, ¡°That¡¯s fine, Dogballs. You¡¯ve got three days left in the mortal realm.¡±

    My #$&#*&(&#$)@#!!

    With much resignation, Qin Ye sighed, ¡°So? What should I do? You¡¯ll help me, won¡¯t you?¡±

    Granny Meng chuckled bitterly, ¡°I¡¯ve held on so long precisely so that I could wait for the appearance of a person who possesses the capacity to rebuild Hell. Now that you¡¯vee¡­ I will soon be departing as well¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze was instantly filled with a begrudging attitude as he red daggers at Granny Meng. Yet, Granny Meng¡¯s expression caused Qin Ye to suppress his wrath and swallow his anger. Granny Meng adjusted her expression as she added, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry¡­ escorting people to Hell is a job for the grunt workers. You¡¯re Hell¡¯sst official after all. As long as you tread carefully and refrain from stepping on the toes of those who are well above your weight ss, the natural orders of Hell will automatically kick back into operation as soon as you locate the first piece of the primordial treasures. At that time, the foundation would have beenid, and everything would be stable once more.¡±

    ¡°...You¡¯re certain that I would be safe?¡±

    ¡°...You¡¯re a person who has consumed the taisui fungus in any event. Can¡¯t you show some of the courage and valor that an official of Hell should possess?¡±

    ¡°...Is boldness really as important as survival?¡±

    I¡¯ll ignore thatment¡­ there¡¯s no other choice now¡­ Granny Meng drew a few deep breaths to regte her emotions, before she forcibly changed the topic, ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ Right now, Wang Chenghao¡¯s father is your most important clue. That said, you must also proceed with caution. Each shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal contains an agglomeration of thousands of years¡¯ worth of Hell¡¯s boundless Yin energy. In other words, any spiritual existence with such a shard would definitely beparable to a powerful malicious ghost. They might fear me, but they will most certainly not shun you.¡±

    Carefully choosing her words, she continued, ¡°And when the first shard points at the second shard, the second¡­ will simrly be able to see you.¡±

    Qin Ye felt his eyes twitch uncontrobly. Didn¡¯t you say that we were going to gank together? When did this be a full 5v5? (TL: Seems to be a MOBA reference)

    His expression of distress was all too evident. After pausing for some moments, Granny Meng grasped in the air, and a golden scroll appeared straight out of the void. This scroll was bound up tightly by a red rope, and the Yin energy emanating from within was as majestic as the sea. Qin Ye felt his hair stand on end after just a slight brush with the scroll.

    ¡°Sixfold Ghost King Summoning Scroll.¡± Granny Meng held tightly onto the scroll with her bony fingers, ¡°The order of theherworld is briefly described as such - one emperor, ten pces, eighteen Hells, and the Sixfold Ghost Kings. These are all the renowned existences within theherworld, and the mention of their names itself can cause most ghosts to shudder and flee. This summoning scroll allows you to summon one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings once.¡±

    Kuchiyose-no-jutsu?

    That¡¯s easy enough to understand.

    ¡°I had no intentions of giving this to you earlier.¡± Granny Meng red at him resentfully, ¡°Remember, you¡¯ve only got one chance to summon a Sixfold Ghost King to take possession of your body. Apart from that, everything you need to know about Hell, including the different types of ghosts, ranks of Hell¡¯s officials, rewards for your merits, and the like, are all set out in a manuscript that I¡¯ve ced under your pillow.¡±

    Qin Ye gingerly received the precious scroll. As soon as heid hands upon it, he saw a brilliant golden light glowing from within Granny Meng¡¯s body before fading away quickly.

    The golden light was a mark of the Bodhi. Granny Meng¡¯s expressions were filled with a transcendent peace and tranquility. As she nced at her own corporeal body, she sighed softly, ¡°It¡¯s finally time¡­¡±

    Almost as though he understood everything, Qin Ye quipped, ¡°You¡­¡±

    ¡°Mortals have their ways, and ghosts have the Naraka Bridge. People and ghosts have different paths. I¡¯ve dallied in the mortal realm for far too long now.¡± Granny Meng¡¯s expression was finally filled with some measure of kindness, ¡°Little one¡­ don¡¯t hide behind your various disguises anymore. Those who have consumed the taisui fungus and lived as monstrosities in the mortal realm for such a long time should never present themselves the way you do. The conferment of the title of Hell¡¯sst official is also a form of security for you to truly find release and be yourself¡­¡±

    ¡°Go¡­ return to your world. The mortal realm is on the brink of a great upheaval. Don¡¯t disappoint me. The search for King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is not just for Hell¡­ it is also for yourself¡­¡±

    Before she could finish speaking, she transformed into a ck butterfly and wrapped her wings around Qin Ye¡¯s body, and soared into the skies.

    Whoosh¡­ Aherworldly gust began to blow against Qin Ye¡¯s forehead. He grabbed tightly onto the Sixfold Ghost King Summoning Scroll as he nced back at Hell. The golden statue of Ksitigarbha stood tall as the skies, while the rest of thends appearedpletely deste, engulfed in roiling ck fog.

    Am I finally leaving this ce¡­

    ¡°I¡­ hate troublesome things the most.¡± His expressions appeared somewhat indifferent as he nced at the scroll in his hands and chuckled bitterly, ¡°It¡¯s been tough¡­ I¡¯ve led a pretty stable life for the past few decades while training and cultivating my body. Why did this damn old hag have to prick my butt like this?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just let me live in peace?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head with resignation. The ck butterfly continued to rise up. As Qin Ye rose higher and higher into the sky, his vision expanded wider and wider. He looked at the Fengdu Necropolis, and then the Naraka Bridge. Then, as soon as he shifted his gaze to the head of the skeletal bridge, he suddenly trembled in fright.

    Hair.

    Flowing hair that was so voluminous it could fill the skies and sea began to surge from the depths of the abyss in the very same moment that Granny Meng vanished. And the hair was charging straight towards the Naraka Bridge!

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The Aurogon is a mythological god with a human face and a snake¡¯s body. It possesses red skin, and it lives in the north. When it opens its eyes, the sky turns to day; and when he closes them, it bes night. When he breathes out, it bes winter; and when it breathes in, the weather bes summer. It also has the powers to control the wind and the rain.

    2. In Chinese folklore, the Yin-Yang Eyes refer to a psychic ability to see or perceive ghosts or supernatural beings that are ordinarily invisible to normal people.

    3. Naruto¡¯s summoning spell

 Chapter 10: Arakshasa

    <h4>Chapter 10: Arakshasa</h4>

    Rumble¡­ The sea of hair was so vast that it covered the entire Naraka Bridge with an entireyer of sheeny ck, almost as though there were millions of writhing, poisonous snakes that were charging straight towards Qin Ye.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath before bellowing, ¡°Hurry!!!¡±

    He knew full well that the abyss hid a terrifying presence, and it was evident that Granny Meng knew who this existence was. No, it might be more urate to put it differently - was there any ghost in Hell that didn¡¯t know who Granny Meng was?

    The Echoing Worms hid far away from the approach of the sea of hair, while thousands of ghosts scattered in all directions - someone had clearly provoked the crouching tiger!

    Unfortunately, Granny Meng didn¡¯t hear Qin Ye¡¯s desperate cry for help. She had probably already departed for the same ce which the ferryman and the Torch Dragon had gone, and the ck butterfly continued to soar at the same dismal pace as before. But how could the speed of the ck butterflypare with the intense approach of the sea of hair?! Perhaps even Granny Meng would never have expected the creature from the abyss to turn against her like that.

    It shouldn¡¯t be able to catch me¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s scalp was numb as he watched the ck hair overwhelm the Naraka Bridge. Then, just as his apprehension came to a head, the hair began to coil and twist together as it shot straight towards the sky! It was almost akin to the fabled demon vines of ancient lore.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a spot of red rise up from the depths of the abyss.

    It was incredibly small, yet it was incredibly eye-catching in the sea of ck. This spot was red as blood, almost akin to the pupils of a great demon.

    ck¡­ ck¡­ The sounds of falling gravel echoed eerily. Secondster, a red paper umbre rose from the depths of the abyss.

    This umbre obscured most of its owner¡¯s body. Three thousand strands of fine hair hung loosely beneath the umbre. Its owner donned a vibrantly-coloured silken pce uniformprising of the shing colours of green, red, white and yellow. This mysterious entity carefully plodded along the carpeted path formed by its own ink-ck hair. With every step it took, a crimson-red flower with three tiers of slim petals would bloom behind it. It looked almost as though this entity¡¯s blood were blooming behind it.

    Red spider lilies.

    Hell was engulfed in pitch-ck darkness. The front of Hell was where the skeletal bridge was located; the heart of Hell was where the towering golden statue of Ksitigarbha stood tall; underfoot was the Naraka Bridge, and the rest of the surroundings were filled with roiling ck fog. The sight of the umbre-totingdy plodding along the ink-ck carpet decorated by blood-red spider lilies was so otherworldly that it caused chills to run down Qin Ye¡¯s spine.

    ¡°You are¡­¡± Thedy appeared to be plodding on slowly, yet her speed was frighteningly fast. Within moments, she had already caught up to Qin Ye and stopped mere dozens of meters in front of him.

    ¡°Arakshasa¡­¡± Thedy¡¯s voice was crisp and clear, like wind chimes nging beautifully in the wind. There was an ethereal twang to her voice. Without raising her red umbre, she continued to speak softly, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid...I¡¯m one of Hell¡¯s officials too. In fact, I was previously an Infernal Judge ruling over the Peak District of Hell¡­¡±

    Qin He didn¡¯t let his guard down in the slightest as he cautiously took a step back.

    He had not read the details that Granny Meng had prepared for him and left under his pillow, and he was naturally unable to appreciate just where an Infernal Judge stood among all of Hell¡¯s officials. That said, why would a person who was once an Infernal Judge be relegated to the depths of the abyss?

    Furthermore, Arakshasa was a name that he had heard somewhere before.

    This was the name used by Indians. Transliterated, her name would be¡­ Rakshasa!

    Only Hell¡¯s most terrifying evil spirits could be referred to as Rakshasa - vicious and murderous, and iparably bloodthirsty. And right now, such an entity was actually standing right before him!

    ¡°Do you know¡­¡± Arakshasa lowered her umbre slightly, and her body trembled slightly, ¡°The first section of the Yellow Springs Road, also known as the skeletal bridge, cannot be traversed by normal Yin spirits at all. Only three types of people qualify to traverse this segment of the road.¡±

    ¡°Firstly, Emissaries of Hell.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, those who had been approved by Hell, or those who have even been invited to Hell as guests.¡±

    ¡°And thirdly¡­¡± Her body trembled even more vigorously, almost as though she were barely holding onto an umbre weighing thousands of kilograms, ¡°Those who havee into contact with shards of Hell¡¯s primordial treasures.¡±

    Sss¡­ The hair beneath her umbre began to emit a peculiar sound as she began to hunch her body slightly. Sss¡­ ¡°I¡­¡± Ssss¡­ ¡°and you¡­ how about we make a deal?¡±

    ¡°What deal?¡± Qin Ye continued to stare at her with the utmost vignce. Arakshasa was behaving abnormally no matter how one looked at it.

    Arakshasa responded, ¡°Give me that Yin spirit.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes shifted slightly, ¡°If you say it¡¯s a deal, then there must be something in it for me. What do I stand to gain?¡±

    Sss...sss sss¡­ Arakshasa¡¯s body was trembling even more powerfully at this moment, ¡°I¡­ can¡­ let you leave this ce¡­. alive¡­¡±

    The faint sound of dripping drool could be heard emanating from underneath the umbre. ¡°Sss¡­ I can¡¯t hold back much longer. I¡¯ve not tasted blood or food for thest few centuries. Do you know how tempting your existence is?¡±

    Her body shuddered as she slowly inched her way over, ¡°Do you truly appreciate the significance of the existence of this Yin spirit?¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­ Do you really think that the old granny has exchanged a hundred years of her time - even trading in her merits and achievements just to prolong her existence that little bit longer - just so that you could locate a single shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?¡±

    ¡°Since you neither appreciate nor understand all that¡­ sss¡­ then you should simply hand it over to me!!¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, the red umbre shattered! Her vibrant, shing robes were immediately rent by an invisible force, and a goosebumps-inducing figure finally revealed itself.

    It was a head.

    It was only a head.

    There was no body. Hair extended wildly and endlessly out of the orifices where the eyes, ears and mouth should be, almost like thousands and thousands of snakes slithering out of their cages. Writhing movements could even be seen underneath her skin. As the hair flowed out like a terrifying ck flower blooming, countless grievous moans could be heard echoing throughout the corners of Hell. Sorrow, rage, ecstasy, and the manifestation of other intense emotions culminated in innumerable hoarse shrieks that immediately made Qin Ye feel as though he had descended into the depths of the eighteenth level of Hell.

    ¡°Deal with me, or die!!¡±

    Arakshasa¡¯s roar was apanied by the deathly orchestra of moaning spirits. Its grandeur was like the sight of mountain range upon mountain range, yet the intense undertones of chaos were akin to powerful tsunamis crashing onto turbulent waves amidst turbulent winds. Right now, Qin Ye felt as though he were standing in the eye of the storm as his ck robes fluttered with the intense gale.

    What terrifying Yin energy¡­

    With one hand shielding his eyes from the gale, Qin Ye¡¯s senses were now operating at its limits. He forcefully suppressed the intense thumping of his heart as he retorted, ¡°But this is something that the esteemed Granny Meng has handed to me.¡±

    ¡°Heh¡­ sss¡­¡± The human head in the core of the vortex appeared to smile in bemusement, before bursting out into a wildughter, ¡°Hahaha¡­ HAHAHAHA!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone in Hell, including all Emissaries of Hell without exception, had once been guilty of a thousand sins in their lifetime. Do you really expect there to exist any true feelings or emotional entanglement between Granny Meng and I?¡±

    ¡°Hohoho¡­ don¡¯t joke with me like that. If she were still here, I might still be somewhat afraid of her¡­ sss¡­ human, you simply don¡¯t understand what that ¡®key¡¯ you¡¯re holding onto will bring upon you. You¡¯re not worthy to use something like that¡­e, hand it over. Quickly!!¡±

    Boom!! As soon as she finished speaking, Qin Ye felt as though he were struck squarely by a gargantuan invisible hand, and he immediately stumbled back tens of meters.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± He wiped off the blood that had trickled out of the corner of his lips. One sound was all it took¡­ he was evidently being overwhelmed by mere soundwaves! His internal organs were stricken with intense pain, while his Hell¡¯s Emissary robes appeared almost as though they were on the brink of immtion. The corners of his robes were already charred and filled with scorch marks.

    In other words, the defensive capabilities of his Hell¡¯s Emissary robes had been overwhelmed by mere soundwaves!

    This was by no means an opponent he could face!

    Swoosh! Just as his thoughts began to spin, innumerable strands of hair began to converge like a spooky shadow, weaving and coiling, until it formed a ghastly hand that pointed straight at Qin Ye¡¯s vitals. Qin Ye¡¯s pupils constricted as he bellowed, ¡°I¡¯ll hand it over!!¡±

    There was no room for hesitation at all.

    Swish¡­ The hair paused three meters away. It had taken less than a tenth of a second to traverse a distance of tens of meters.

    A drop of cold sweat rolled off Qin Ye¡¯s forehead. He could even begin to detect the greasy smell from his own hair.

    He held one hand up into the air, and locked eyes with the monstrosity that was tens of meters away as he slowly crouched down. It was all to show that he hid no ill intent. He was already drenched in cold sweat. His other hand reached into his robe, as though feeling for something.

    ¡°Don¡¯t y tricks, mortal.¡± Arakshasa cautioned cidly, ¡°Schemes are something that you can only employ when you have the capacity to do so. Our abilities are worlds apart, and no amount of scheming will¡­¡±

    Her voice suddenly paused.

    Qin Ye smiled.

    Why was he smiling? Arakshasa was taken aback.

    Has realization only dawned on him on the brink of death? Does he really think that I would truly let him off the hook after he hands over the all-important spirit? Does he really think he¡¯s so lucky? Or is he simply scared out of his wits right now?

    Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s Hell¡¯s Emissary robes began to dance on their own, while the Soul Shackle around his waist began to make a nging noise. In the very next moment, his robes exploded, revealing a mere mortal¡¯s clothes within. Yet, right where his chest was, a golden scroll had slowly begun to unravel.

    His fingertips were tugging on a piece of red string.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Arakshasa¡¯s heart was suddenly overwhelmed with an ominous feeling. However, she was not given the luxury of time to contemte her next move. With a loud bang, an iparably dense swathe of Yin energy suddenly transformed into a raging tide that washed across the entire Naraka Bridge!

    Majestic and imposing; pure and boundless!

    If Arakshasa¡¯s Yin energy could be likened to the Yellow River, then the present wave of Yin energy could only be described as the vast oceans! By the time the Yin energy ebbed, Arakshasa¡¯s hair on the ground had already beenpletely singed and burned up. Yet what seized her attention at this moment was an immense ck vortex, tens of meters tall, that was swirling powerfully as it wrapped around Qin Ye.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± She stared at the vortex with disbelief. In the very next moment, her entire being began to tremble in fear. Half a secondter, with a shrill shriek of horror, she fled madly back towards the abyss from where she came.

    ¡°Sixfold Ghost King¡­ it¡¯s the bodily possession of a Sixfold Ghost King!!¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­ that damn old hag actually gave him something like that?!!¡±

    The remnant ck hair on the ground retreated like a receding tide. Just then, an earth-shattering bang resounded through the powerful ck vortex, and a human figure with a sky-splitting ck aura about him riding a white war horse leapt straight out of the vortex!

    He was clothed in pure silver armor, yet this armor had clearly been dyed red from the blood of his enemies. His pants were torn and tattered, and he was evidently dressed in the garments of ancient times. However, he still possessed Qin Ye¡¯s appearances. He wielded a brilliant white pike in his hand, and the tip of this pike was pointed straight at Arakshasa as she continued to rout.

    Tap¡­ The white horse¡¯s hooves lifted lightly, and it shot forward. In the blink of an eye, it had already traversed hundreds of meters. Destruction was nigh!

    The white horse with silver saddle looked as valiant as a shooting star in the night sky.

    Chatter...chatter¡­ As the murderous aura shot straight towards her, Arakshasa¡¯s teeth began to chatter incessantly while she shrieked, ¡°No¡­ mercy¡­ mercy!!¡±

    Psssh!

    Before she could finish speaking, a pike ran straight through her forehead. The sounds of chaos ceased instantly, and in that moment, there was only silence.

    Fast.

    Incredibly fast!

    No form of martial arts was absolute. The only thing that was absolute was speed.

    There was no flowery technique or trickery employed. In fact, nobody even witnessed how this pike had been swung. Yet as soon as it appeared, its target was already dead.

    All it took was just one simple attack.

    Time appeared to pause for a second. Then, in the very next moment, Arakshasa cried out with a heart-rending scream, and the ck hair behind her head began to spin wildly into a vortex. With the tip of the pike as the core of it all, the surroundings transformed into a terrifying ck hole in just an instant!

    ¡°Ah...ahhhhhhhh!!¡±

    ¡°No...no!! You...you¡¯re just a mere mortal...how dare you¡­¡±

    Schwooop!

    The ck hole closed up, and a ball that was sealed with a talisman fell straight to the ground.

    Instakill!

 Chapter 11: Granny Mengâ€™s Parting Gift

    <h4>Chapter 11: Granny Meng''s Parting Gift</h4>

    Plop¡­ The talisman-sealed ball shook several times, before rolling over towards Qin Ye¡¯s side. The instakill had taken ce in no more than three seconds, and the intense Yin energy that surrounded Qin Ye¡¯s body began to dissipate into the surroundings. Five secondster, Qin Ye had reverted to his original appearance,plete with his Hell¡¯s Emissary robes.

    ¡°This is the might of the Sixfold Ghost Kings?¡± He stared in astonishment at his own hands. Just a few seconds ago, he had still been under the impression that there was no way he could have defeated Arakshasa at all. Yet, mere secondster, he had actually defeated her with his own two hands? The chasm between their strength was far too vast. In fact, it had been so vast it was over before he knew it had even begun.

    This... was like catching a mere Pikachu with a Masterball. That was way too easy¡­

    Qin Ye bent down to pick up the talisman-sealed ball. Shortly after picking it up, a resentful voice immediately echoed in his ears, ¡°Kid, even though your body was possessed by a Sixfold Ghost King, you would never be able to defeat me with your meagre strength! I... have a proposition for you. If you let me go right now, I¡¯ll forget that anything ever happened today.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± With a curt, inconclusive response, Qin Ye ced the talisman-sealed ball within his pocket indifferently. Releasing her was an impossible proposition. What would happen if Arakshasa came back to life once more? Wouldn¡¯t he have to spend the rest of his life in the mortal realm cowering in fear? He could be a bandit for a thousand days, but how was he to protect himself from bandits for that long?

    Even though it was dangerous to bring the ball back with him, he would nevertheless be in the best position to keep it in check and know if any changes urred to it. To put things bluntly, he was simply afraid of dying.

    Anyone who gets in the way of this young master¡¯s survival are heretics!

    Without any further interference from Arakshasa, the ck butterfly that had initially been shattered and scattered into the surroundings coalesced once more and formed a ck whirlwind, carrying Qin Ye straight back into the mortal realm.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Several hourster. Two people sat frozen like statues at the table. Granny Meng¡¯s physical body suddenly disintegrated into ash and dissipated into the surroundings, leaving nothing more than the ancient oilmp that she had used for theherworld odyssey. Shortly thereafter, Qin Ye¡¯s body trembled, and he opened his eyes once more, gasping for breath.

    ¡°Haa¡­haa¡­¡± Like a victim of drowning who had just regained consciousness, Qin Ye touched his chest and checked that his heart was still beating. His limbs were cold and chilly. It felt as though he had just resurrected from the dead.

    It seems like he should never visit theherworld with his current abilities. Otherwise, he might not even make it through the skeletal bridge¡­

    Cockadoodledoo!! He was back within the county, and a neighbour¡¯s chicken had just crowed. As the rooster dered the onset of daybreak, a golden sheen of light shone softly through the window. Dawn had just covered thends with a warm golden sheen.

    Qin Ye could feel the warmth of life creep back into his body. However, hey where he was, gently massaging his temples as he delved deep into his own thought.

    It¡¯s changed. Everything has changed.

    He had already changed, while the rest of the mortal realm was on the brink of a great upheaval. He had already found some answers to the questions bogging down his mind. Why did the school make such announcements? Why were the forums filled with posts reporting supernatural activities? Yet, despite the answers he already had, the road ahead was still fraught with uncertainty. He knew that the first thing he had to do was to organise his thoughts and be clear-headed. Otherwise, he would only be more and more susceptible to external influences as the chaotic changes around began to buffet him.

    ¡°First of all, I can¡¯t expose my identity.¡± He poured himself a cup of herbal tea as he muttered to himself, ¡°The evil spirits of Hell are hiding out in the mortal realm. In other words, they are now no different from mere criminals. And what are criminals most afraid of?¡±

    The answer was self-evident: Thew.

    He tossed his head up and looked despairingly at the roof, ¡°And I am none other than an agent of thew; the embodiment of justice. As soon as my identity is exposed, I will most certainly be doomed to die a horrible death. Furthermore, my greatest source of security, the Sixfold Ghost King Summoning Scroll, has already been expended. Yet the only thing I got in return is a stupid, useless pokeball! Which I don¡¯t even dare to discard!¡±

    No matter how he looked at the situation, it seemedpletely hopeless to him. He had been enjoying life with wanton abandon and little preparation for the future. Yet, that beautiful dream of his had just been shattered to pieces in the span of a few days.

    I¡¯m really walking along a tightrope here¡­ But all of this doesn¡¯t take into ount the fact that I can¡¯t die¡­

    ¡°Perhaps...I could just ignore these things after all? Granny Meng has departed, so the three-day limit has already been written off. If I simply ignore it... would I be able to live on as I¡¯d done before?¡±

    ¡°Fool.¡± Arakshasa¡¯s cold voice echoed within his ears. ¡°Even someone like Granny Meng isn¡¯t able to determine when a person¡¯s life draws to an end. Life and death are part of the natural order of things governed by one of the three primordial treasures, the Book of Life and Death. Even if Ksitigarbha¡¯s enlightenment has shattered the three primordial treasures into innumerable pieces and weakened its abilities, death would only be dyed, never abolished.¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s a rich statementing from you.¡±

    Arakshasa gnashed her teeth as she continued, ¡°Your records show that you have only three days left within the mortal realm. Hell¡¯s copse would affect people like you with ¡®dual-citizenship¡¯, as your existence straddles both realms. Theherworld represents Yin, while the mortal realm represents Yang. As soon as either realm falls out of bnce, your existence would immediately be threatened, even though your name was not originally in the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    She paused for a moment as she attempted to calm her voice, ¡°Kid, my earlier offer still stands. If you release me right now, I¡¯ll teach you how to avoid your certain doom. In fact, I can even help you locate a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. With a shard of one of the primordial treasures protecting you, you¡¯ll almost certainly be able to continue living forever¡­¡±

    Before she could finish speaking, the ball containing her was... immediately tossed under Qin Ye¡¯s bed.

    ¡°How dare you gnash your teeth when you¡¯re begging me? Take a look at yourself and what kind of fool the author has portrayed you to be. Even your micro-expressions are <i>awful</i>.¡± Qin Ye thought for a moment, before picking out a book entitled ¡°How to be an Actor¡± and tossing it under the bed after the ball, ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±

    The string of swear words emanating from underneath his bed fell onto deaf ears.

    Qin Ye nced at his watch. It was now 5.10 a.m.

    There are two periods of time everyday known as the demonic hours when supernatural activities surge - five at dawn, and six at dusk. These are periods of time where Yin and Yang ovep, and humans who possess rtively higher concentrations of Yin energy or dabble with special techniques would be able to see and perceive certain unclean objects.

    He furrowed his brows slightly. Dawn was here, and there was no longer any way to summon Wang Zemin¡¯s soul. In any event, he was not learned in the arts of summoning a spirit either. <i>Three days</i>. He didn¡¯t think that Arakshasa was joking in the least bit with this. In other words, he had to locate the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal within three days¡¯ time! Otherwise, it would be game over.

    Sighing, he walked reluctantly to the other side of his bed and lifted the pillow. A yellowing book sat squarely on his bed. ¡°Is this what the old granny left behind?¡± Qin Ye was incredibly dissatisfied. Given the current circumstances, wouldn¡¯t a secret manuscript imparting an impable set of cultivation arts be far more useful?

    He flipped open the first page, ¡°Little one, if you¡¯re reading this, it means that you¡¯ve already learnt about the truth of it all, and I¡­¡±

    Qin Ye flipped the page with hardly any expression on his face.

    Nuh-uh, none of that. Do you even know what kind of situation I¡¯m in right now? I¡¯ve just been forced into a corner by you, yet you want me tomiserate with you? Not happening!

    What I want is a secret technique! A secret treasure! A magic beast or a genie! I don''t give a damn where you''ve gone off to!

    The second page. ¡°This old bag of bones expects you to treat me coldly and ignore the first page. Therefore, this old bag of bones is going to repeat myself once more: Little one, if you¡¯re reading this, it means that you¡¯ve already learnt about the truth of it all, and I¡­¡±

    Qin Ye flipped the page without any expression on his face once more.

    The third page. ¡°Don¡¯t repeat the same mistake again and again. This is thest time this old bag of bones is going to say this. I¡¯m going to miss this world and the job that I¡¯ve been doing for thest few thousands of years. Little one, if you¡¯re reading this, it means that you¡¯ve already learnt about the truth of it all, and I¡­¡±

    Pak! Qin Ye immediately closed the book with one hand. After breathing deeply and regting his emotions, he finally looked at the book once more - again without a single expression on his face - as he flipped to the fourth page.

    She¡¯s finally getting to the damned point! Why do some authors like to repeat text over and over? Is she just trying to pad the word count?

    His expression grew somber. As the old saying goes: knowledge is power. What he was reading was going to be the foundation and building blocks for his survival as a rookie Emissary of Hell.

    In fact¡­ He secretly hoped that he would be able to find a loophole allowing him to escape from certain death within three days so that he could continue living life under the radar right here!

    The fourth page finally got to the point. It led straight in with the header - ¡°Grading system of Hell¡¯s Emissaries and Ghosts.¡±

    ¡°All of Hell¡¯s officials are also referred to as Emissaries of Hell. The lowest grade of these are known as ¡®Netherworld Operatives¡¯ or simply ¡®Operatives¡¯, and these govern the affairs of viges. The next grade of Hell¡¯s Emissaries are known as ¡®Soul Hunters¡¯, and they govern the affairs of counties. They are considered a low-grade Emissary of Hell.

    ¡°Middle-grade Emissaries of Hell are differentiated into two separate tiers: those who govern affairs at the city level are referred to as the ¡®Anitya Hellguards¡¯ or simply ¡®Hellguards¡¯, while those who govern affairs at the provincial level and oversee affairs at the city level are referred to as the ¡®Infernal Judges¡¯ or ¡®Judges¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Upper-grade Emissaries of Hells are also further distinguished by two separate tiers: those who govern district-level affairs are known as the ¡®Abyssal Prefects¡¯ or ¡®Prefects¡¯, while those governing affairs at the national level are known as ¡®Yama-King¡¯.¡±

    ¡°When someone has served in his station as Yama-King for more than five hundred years, he may be elected King Yanluo by a referendum among the citizens of theherworld. In all ofherworld, there are a total of 1,200,000 Netherworld Operatives, 240,000 Soul Hunters, 35,000 Anitya Hellguards, 1,200 Infernal Judges, 90 Abyssal Prefects and 10 Yama-Kings. The ten Yama-Kings are also known as the Yamas of the Ten Pces. No census has been conducted on the Emissaries of Hell under the grade of Operatives. Based on ourst estimate, there are approximately 10 million of them.¡±

    ¡°Separately, there are also the Sixfold Ghost Kings, namely, Zhao Yun, Ying Bu, Yang Gun, Fan Kuai, Ran Min and Bai Qi. These are special investigators who wander thends. As soon as they locate a high-ranking evil spirit, they have the authority to execute them on the spot.¡±

    ¡°Take heed - no Emissary of Hell is allowed to interfere with the affairs of the mortal realm. Anyone who flouts these rules will suffer the punishment of the natural order of the world, also known as the Heavenly Dao. Although Hell has copsed, the Heavenly Dao remains! You would do well to take heed in this regard.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s hands paused momentarily. Having read the contents of the fourth page, he finally had some level of understanding of the hierarchy in Hell. At the same time, he finally realized how terrifying an existence Arakshasa was. She was a governor of provincial-level affairs, one of the 1,200 Infernal Judges of Hell. In other words, of the billions of spirits in Hell, she was among the top 1,200 spirits!

    Yet, right now, this governor was simply lying miserably underneath his own bed¡­

    This can¡¯t do. Once I find the opportunity to do so, I¡¯ll have to rid myself of this cmitous existence.

    He continued to read on.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s ghosts and spirits are also divided into six grades, from S-grade through to E-grade. The lowest E-grade refers to newborn, five-year old ghosts. Fifty-year ghosts are D-grade ghosts. Hundred-year ghosts are C-grade ghosts. Three-hundred-year ghosts are B-grade ghosts. Five-hundred-year ghosts are A-grade ghosts. Finally, millennial ghosts and Ghost Kings are known as S-grade ghosts. With your current abilities, you should flee immediately as soon as you encounter D-grade ghosts.¡±

    ¡°When these ghosts have been subdued by you, they will automatically be sealed within soul spheres¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes shone with understanding. Soul sphere...so that¡¯s what this pokeball-like device is called?

    He continued reading, ¡°The soul spheres cannot be opened by anyone else apart from the person who sealed them. Every hundred years, these soul spheres are personally sent by an Abyssal Prefect to Ksitigarbha to be incinerated en masse...¡±

    In that instant, a fleeting thought shed across the bottom of his mind. He tried totch onto this thought, but to no avail. Qin Ye furrowed his brows for some time, but he was still unable to recall that fleeting thought.

    Shaking his head, he continued to read on. Strangely enough, the contents of the book appeared to have burned itself into his mind even though he had only been skimming through it. After flipping through several pages, his hand paused once more.

    ¡°The undying.¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. These are all very famous historical Chinese figures. For example, Zhao Yun was one of the top generals under Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms, while Bai Qi is considered to be one of the ''evil genius'' generals of the Warring Kingdoms period, who ughtered hundreds of thousands of prisoners.

 Chapter 12: Arakshasaâ€™s Conditions

    <h4>Chapter 12: Arakshasa''s Conditions</h4>

    "The undying. Probability of urrence: 1 in 100 million. It is an urrence that is only seen when a person has consumed the taisui fungus, also known as the fungus of aeons. That person will gain a body known as the body of Nirvana.¡±

    ¡°When a person consumes the fungus of aeons, there is a 50% chance that he will lose control of his mind and be a mindless monster, and a 50% chance that he will gain the body of Nirvana. If a person is fortunate enough not to die after consuming the fungus of aeons, he will gain immortality, and he will automatically be subject to reincarnation every time he dies. He will not enter Hell. Instead, he will gain new life in a period of time that is anytime between ten to one hundred years in the future. However, he will also lose all memory he has ever had of the past.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes were glued to the pages of Granny Meng¡¯s records. There it is again... it¡¯s the same feeling of enlightenment as before¡­ It was as though the contents of the pages had imprinted themselves on his mind. Just like that, Qin Ye continued to read through its contents for a full twenty minutes, before he suddenly stood up. So that¡¯s how it is!

    Among the countless pieces of information left for him, there really was¡­ there really <i>was</i> a method to circumventing the three-day curse of death, and the words of warning issued by the provincial-governor lying in the soul sphere under his bed!

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve ruined my Sixfold Ghost King Summoning Scroll, you shall serve me as rpense!¡± Qin Ye did not set out and about his tasks immediately. Instead, he deliberated for another half an hour before crouching down and pulling out from under the bed the provincial-level bureaucrat that appeared to be preupied with learning how to be an actor.

    ¡°Kid... I wish upon you a horrible death! I¡¯ll wait for you in Hell... as soon as you die, I¡¯m going to sentence your soul to the skyntern punishment!¡± As soon as Qin Ye retrieved the soul sphere from under the bed, a massive outpouring of curses and swearing gushed out at him.

    Qin Ye tossed the soul sphere into the air lightly as he spoke, ¡°Granny Meng has left something for me.¡±

    The soul sphere quietened down in that instant.

    ¡°I¡¯ve just discovered what¡¯s unique about people who have consumed the taisui fungus.¡±

    Arakshasa remainedpletely silent.

    ¡°Furthermore, I¡¯ve even learnt that the soul sphere will be delivered to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva every one hundred years to be incinerated and destroyed. I must admit - that¡¯s not a bad national policy.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± Arakshasa muttered icily.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be anxious. I¡¯d like to exin my hypothesis to you. I¡¯ll exin, and you can listen and let me know at the end whether you find such a hypothesis¡­ interesting, shall we?¡±

    Without waiting for Arakshasa¡¯s response, he immediately continued, ¡°Firstly, how many people in Cathay die every year? I remember one estimate pegged the figures at 5 million people. Then, what about the total deaths in one hundred years? That¡¯s 500 million. 500 million soul sphere hanging on a single person¡¯s body? Did such matters really need to be attended to by a Prefect-ss Emissary of Hell? Do these Abyssal Prefects have too much time on their hands?¡±

    Arakshasa remained silent. For some strange reason, a bad premonition began to creep into her heart.

    ¡°There must have been something else that would necessitate such extreme actions. What could it be? I contemted the possibility of an issue, and that is¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly as he nced at the soul sphere, ¡°Spirits perish on the Naraka Bridge.¡±

    ¡°I would even venture to guess that the Prefects are specifically tasked as such because Emissaries of Hell under the rank of Prefect have no way of even entering the Buddhist Kingdom established by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! Isn¡¯t that right? Even you, a spirit that was once Judge-ss¡­ tsk, tsk, tsk, you could only hide in the cracks of the abyss, far away from the Naraka Bridge, as you sought shelter for survival. In fact, even renown Emissaries of Hell like Granny Meng aren¡¯t even able to cross the Naraka Bridge and enter the Fengdu Necropolis, right?¡±

    ¡°Is that nonsense all that your hypothesis entailed?¡± Arakshasa muttered coldly. Despite that, she failed to notice that her disposition had ostensibly softened somewhat.

    ¡°<i>Nonono</i>.¡± Qin Ye wagged his finger, ¡°We¡¯ll move on to part two of my hypothesis, which has to do with why I didn¡¯t experience any sense of rejection on the Naraka Bridge!¡±

    In that instant, Qin Ye discovered that the soul sphere in his hands had ceased to movepletely. There was not even a faint trace of struggling. It was almost as though Arakshasa had suddenly died.

    ¡°Are you afraid now? I¡¯ve just figured it out. Granny Meng had earlier mentioned this as well - a person with an immortal body like myself cane into contact with any objects, be they Yin or Yang in nature. Unfortunately for you, even though Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva can overwhelm you at any moment, he is of no threat to me whatsoever.¡±

    ¡°In other words, I have the capacity to make it all the way into the Fengdu Necropolis if I wanted to. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°Hehehe¡­ people have to learn to respect me when they speak to me. You¡¯re something that I¡¯ve traded my Sixfold Ghost King Summoning Scroll for. On that matter, that was my only trump card,¡± Qin Yeined.

    Suddenly, the soul sphere trembled as Arakshasa roared, gnashing her teeth: ¡°Just what are you trying to say?!!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile faded, and he squinted at the soul sphere with scrutiny, ¡°What I¡¯m saying is¡­ the soul sphere is going to remain sealed for as long as I am alive. And if I choose to embark on theherworld odyssey once more and toss you at the feet of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, what do you think is going to happen to you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? My dear, ignorant, ex-provincial bureaucrat?¡±

    There was dead silence once again. Qin Ye no longer spoke. He simply continued to toss the soul sphere into the air yfully. Sure enough, Granny Meng was right - when he stripped off all theyers masking his true self, he realized that his heart was pretty darn tainted after all¡­

    ¡°You can try.¡± Several secondster, Arakshasa sneered at him, ¡°I¡¯m a former Judge no matter how you look at it. Ksitigarbha doesn¡¯t have the ability to purge me. Besides¡­¡±

    She mocked contemptuously, ¡°With your abilities? How dare a mere Operative like you dream ofpleting theherworld odyssey? You would be shredded to pieces by the lingering spirits before you even make it past the skeletal bridge.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, Qin Ye stood up abruptly and drew the curtains.

    ¡°W-what are you doing?¡± Arakshasa¡¯s voice trembled slightly.

    Without responding, Qin Ye silently picked up the ancientmp that Granny Meng had left on the table and began to study it carefully.

    If memory serves me well, all I have to do is to light thismp, and I would be able to embark on theherworld odyssey¡­

    ¡°What the Hell are you trying to do? It¡¯s no use. You would never be able toplete theherworld odyssey with your present abilities¡­¡±

    There was still no response. After some time, Qin Ye breathed a sigh of relief as he popped open the lid of the ancientmp.

    ¡°To be honest, there¡¯s really no reason for us to be at loggerheads with one another. I¡¯ll tell you the true purpose of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. No, I can even tell you why Granny Meng had actually gone out of her way to select and appoint a final Emissary of Hell! Don¡¯t you find it strange? Hell has so many Emissaries, and there¡¯s even the possibility of locating a few that managed to survive the great upheaval. At the same time, aren¡¯t there also many skilled cultivators and priests in the mortal realm? Which one of them isn¡¯t better than you?¡±

    There was still no response. Qin Ye flicked his lighter and ignited a me.

    ¡°Stay your hand!!!¡± Arakshasa cried out with a shrill, hoarse voice.

    Qin Ye was just about to bring the lighter into the ancientmp when he paused and nced at the soul sphere with a grimace on his face. ¡°Have you decided to put down your pretences? Didn¡¯t you say that Ksitigarbha can¡¯t purge you?¡±

    This time, it was Arakshasa who had been silenced. The only sound she made right now was from the gnashing of her teeth.

    ¡°Do go on. It¡¯s not very satisfying when you simply stop at that.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!¡± Arakshasa¡¯s voice trembled with contempt, ¡°What are you trying to do? I¡¯ll be honest with you - Ksitigarbha has the power to purge me in an instant. But what I said earlier is also true - you will most definitely perish before you even make it to the Fengdu Necropolis!¡±

    ¡°Alright, then we¡¯ll just perish together.¡±

    I #%&(@#($*&#!! These were the words that Arakshasa wanted to explode with right now. She was feeling salty to the extreme.

    Don¡¯t you understand what I¡¯m trying to get at? Why do you even want to perish? The world is such a beautiful ce, yet you choose to be so grumpy and annoying. That¡¯s not good.

    Haven¡¯t you ever thought of reining in and restraining your rectal-prpse-like deathwish?

    Haven¡¯t you ever thought about channelling some of your energy for good and contributing to nation-building efforts?

    What kind of a person are you?!

    She took a deep breath and reordered her thoughts. The soul sphere shook slightly. When she finally spoke again, her voice was far more amiable than before, ¡°There''s no need to take everything to heart. We might have had some differences earlier, but that¡¯s all due to some misunderstandings, isn¡¯t it? Earlier, on the Naraka Bridge, I had only thought to give you a scare. In truth, I¡¯m actually quite a friendly person¡­¡±

    But not even Arakshasa was fully convinced of what she was saying.

    Qin Ye finally closed the lid on the ancientmp. An audible sigh of relief could be heard from the soul sphere. Then, Qin Ye finally took out the soul sphere containing Wang Zemin¡¯s soul and shook it lightly, ¡°My request is rather simple. First of all, I don¡¯t want to die either. But don¡¯t you worry. If we aren¡¯t able to resolve this issue by tomorrow night, I¡¯ll do everything in my abilities to bring you to Ksitigarbha.¡±

    ¡°Since you have destroyed my security nket, you will have to work for me. Makes sense, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    What kind of sense has your father been teaching you?!

    A Judge of several hundred years would have to work for a mere Operative like you?!

    Even my spit could drown you to death!

    ¡°Makes sense¡­ of course it makes sense¡­¡± Despite her thoughts, Arakshasa found herself expressing apletely different opinion.

    ¡°Furthermore, in order to prevent you from scheming against me, I¡¯ll at the very least have to hold onto a strand of your soul as security, don¡¯t I? If I die, you die. It¡¯ll be as though we¡¯re family¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡± Before he could finish speaking, Arakshasa exploded in fury, ¡°I¡¯d rather die than give you a strand of my soul!¡±

    ¡°No room for negotiations?¡± Qin Ye opened the ancientmp once more.

    ¡°... Haha¡­ youngsters these days are far too impatient¡­ It¡¯s not that I refuse to give you a strand of my soul, it¡¯s just that I¡¯ll have to impose a time limit of a hundred years to it. I can assist you. However, if you aren¡¯t able to attain the rank of Infernal Judge in that time despite theck ofpetition, you will have to release me. We¡¯ll take a blood-oath on this, governed by the natural orders of the world. No one can go back on their words.¡±

    Why didn¡¯t you just do this earlier? Why¡¯d you have to test my bottom line over and over again?

    Qin Ye nced at the soul sphere, ¡°You¡¯ll beat up whoever I want you to beat up, and you must answer all my questions, alright?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not quite possible either. As long as the soul sphere remains sealed, I won¡¯t be able to help you inbat. The best I can do is to release my aura. That said, Hell has copsed, and its clergy have departed as well. The aura I can exert is at best only effective against twenty-year ghosts. In fact, I¡¯m not even sure just how effective that would be.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Then¡­ we¡¯ll just leave it at that.¡±

    ¡°... Deal. Take an oath together with me.¡± Arakshasa had practically forced herself to conclude the negotiations with the word ¡°deal¡±.

    Although she knew that Qin Ye would very likely perish during theherworld odyssey, what if, in the off chance, he didn¡¯t? What if¡­ he really made it to the feet of Ksitigarbha¡¯s statue?

    As a former Infernal Judge, was she simply going to perish with a mere Operative-ss Emissary of Hell? This was not even a choice to her. To her mind, her life was far, far more valuable than such Operative-ss Emissaries.

    After reciting a long string of ancient mnemonics, Qin Ye felt his surroundings tremble slightly. Then, he sensed a feeling of connection arising between their hearts spontaneously. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had already anticipated that Arakshasa would never be able to assist him in battle. After all, that would necessitate unsealing the soul sphere. This was something he could never do.

    What he coveted was the knowledge hidden in the depths of Arakshasa¡¯s mind! Her experience! Nothing was more important than that! In fact, one could argue that this was even more precious than the Sixfold Ghost King Summoning Scroll itself!

    One was a one-use, disposable destructive weapon, while the other was a tool that could aid him in the long run. He was like a newborn trying to survive in a mortal realm infested with malicious ghosts. Naturally, knowledge was power.

    He secretly heaved a sigh of relief. I¡¯ve finally found myself a little genie¡­ That said, this little genie¡¯s always going to be scheming against me¡­ ¡°Alright, now tell me, why exactly is this soul so important? How am I going to ovee this three-day ordeal?¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. This is an ancient, cruel death sentence. A prisoner will be stripped naked, wrapped in sackcloth and soaked in an oil jar. Then, at night, he will be tied to a wooden pole, hung from height, and set alight from his feet. In other words, he bes a humanntern in the sky at night. There is a slightly more modern reference invented by bandits in the Chuanxiang Area, where they would drill a small hole in the prisoner¡¯s brain, pourmp oil into the head, before setting it on fire. The prisoners die a horrific death in both instances.

 Chapter 13: Arthis Minithel

    <h4>Chapter 13: Arthis Minithel</h4>

    Arakshasa remained silent for some time. She was presumably adjusting her emotions and organising her thoughts. After a long pause, the soul sphere shifted slightly once more. Yet, before she could speak her mind, Qin Ye immediately quipped as he continued to massage his temples, ¡°Arakshasa is far too much of a tongue-twister. For convenience sake, I¡¯ll henceforth call you Arti, alright? Your full name shall be Arthis Minithel. It¡¯s catchy, clear and easy to remember. And it¡¯s even got international influences. What do you think?¡±

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­ Thoughts of perishing together with Qin Ye began to surface in Arakshasa¡¯s heart. This obviously isn¡¯t even an Asian name. And, I get the feeling it¡¯s a man¡¯s name? Are you serious?

    ¡°... as you wish¡­¡± She unwillingly eded. Then, drawing a deep breath, she continued, ¡°The main reason why this spirit is important has very much to do with you.¡±

    ¡°A person who has consumed the fungus of aeons is immortal. His name no longer exists in the Book of Life and Death, and his existence straddles both the mortal realm and theherworld. But by the same token, as soon as the bnce between the realms have gone awry, you will surely die.¡±

    She continued indistinctly, ¡°These situations should never happen in the first ce. However, who could have expected that Ksitigarbha would actually fulfil his great ambitions? The only way in which you can continue surviving is to locate the first shard of one of the primordial treasures. That said, have you thought about this before¡­¡±

    She lowered her voice, before uttering each of the following words with pristine rity, ¡°Once you locate the first shard, you¡­ will never be able to stop.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that¡­¡± Before Qin Ye could finish his sentence, his mind was suddenly struck with a revtion, and he quietened downpletely.

    I won¡¯t be able to stop...that¡¯s right! So that¡¯s how it is!

    He had to locate the first shard if he didn¡¯t want to die. Yet, acquiring the first shard was also tantamount to striking the first note of theherworldly overture. Once it begins¡­ no one would be able to make it stop again!

    After he located the first shard, he would immediately be pointed to the second shard, and the owner of the second shard would also be pointed to his existence. Then, when he obtained the second shard, the second shard wouldmunicate with the third, and so on and so forth. At that time, regardless of whether he liked it or not, there would be no way of extricating himself from the vicious cycle any longer.

    It was an infinitely urring loop!

    Arthis¡¯ voice softened somewhat, ¡°Furthermore¡­ each and every shard of the primordial treasures are filled with boundless Yin energy. Any ghostly existence thatys hold of it - even one or two year ghosts, would find their strength amplified andparable with a ten or twenty year ghost respectively. Kid¡­ you¡¯d better pray hard right now. If you¡¯re unlucky and the owner of the first shard is already a malevolent ghast that is stronger than a D-Grade ghost, then¡­ you will still be doomed to die three days from now.¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent. Instead, he shut his eyes and began to deliberate his options carefully. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the table, and the taps echoed crisply throughout the cold corners of his little home.

    This was like an urn filled with parasites of all sorts, and each of these parasites was given a shard of a primordial treasure - it was a survival of the fittest! As long as one was given a shard, it would have to fight to the death, whether it liked it or not!

    There was no escape.

    So¡­

    ¡°The first mover has an advantage.¡± He opened his eyes, and a murderous intent flickered across the depths of his eyes. Incidentally, he had uttered this phrase at the exact same time that Arthis did.

    ¡°Since there¡¯s no longer any room for retreat, then there¡¯s no point contemting retreat itself. Either you die, or they die.¡± As a Judge who had been dishonoured formitting the most heinous of crimes, Arthis¡¯ heart was naturally cold as ice. She nced at Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯d never thought that we would see eye to eye on this. Don¡¯t worry, since we¡¯re already bound by the blood oath, I will never stand idly by as I watch you die. Furthermore, I¡¯d caught a glimpse of this Yin spirit earlier when I was in Hell, and I could sense that the scent of the primordial treasure shard isn¡¯t too strong. You should count your lucky stars. The ghost manipting him must not have obtained the shard too long ago.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head as he nced at his phone once more. It was already 7.10 a.m.

    Since the first mover has an advantage; and since there¡¯s no way to summon the soul in the day, we¡¯ll start with my ssmate, Wang Chenghao!

    If his first opponent didn¡¯t perish in three days¡¯ time, Qin Ye would be following in Granny Meng¡¯s footsteps very shortly.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Earlier that night, at 3 a.m.

    Just as Qin Ye was embarking on theherworld odyssey, a tall, well-built teenager living in the most upscale neighbourhood in Clear Creek County was lying on his bed with a frown on his face.

    He was deep in slumber. Even though it was summer, his home was nevertheless equipped with a state-of-the-art central air conditioning system fully equipped with air-refreshing technology. One such system would cost upwards of RMB 100,000.

    The home of Wang Zemin, the richest man in Clear Creek County, was located within the Cann Neighbourhood.

    All of the houses in this neighbourhood were detached vis. If one peered out of the windows of any of these vis, they would be blown away by a magnificent, unobstructed view of the Daba Mountain Range that stretched on for miles and miles on end. When the night breeze came, it would carry the gentle, rustling sounds of the bamboo forests on the mountains with it, bringing tranquility to the mind and easing the heart.

    This was also a very green neighbourhood. Naturally, the price of homes in this neighbourhood wasparable with the top neighbourhoods within the entire province. The exclusivity of this region also exined why there were only three or four vis in this location. There was even a pleasant looking forest not far away. The only drawback was that in the dead of the night, and under the dim glow of the moon, the forest gloom appeared somewhat eerie and creepy.

    Wang Chenghao was lying on his bed in slumber, ostensibly disturbed. He tossed and turned, and his eyebrows were tightly knit together. Finally, he screamed loudly and woke up abruptly.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡± He gasped for breath as he patted his chest. His heart was still beating wildly. Even though two days hadpsed, that nightmarish incident was still as fresh in his mind as ever.

    In the very next moment, he suddenly froze.

    Even his heart appeared to have paused. A sense of intense dread began to spread from his spine, making his scalp gopletely numb!

    Ady was seated at the foot of his bed.

    Silently, with her back towards him. Her waist-length hair was hanging loosely, and she was dressed from top to toe in pale white.

    ¡°Y-you!¡± Wang Chenghao was so scared witless that he immediately backed himself to the headboard and repeatedly flicked on the light switch.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother. The power is out.¡± Thedy¡¯s voice was somewhat hoarse, almost as though she were chewing on something.

    ¡°Aunty Liu¡­¡± Wang Chenghao finally settled down a little. Aunty Liu was his stepmother. However, he had continued to address her as ¡°Aunty Liu¡± because he had never been able to bring himself to call her ¡°mother¡±.

    His stepmother had moved in three months ago under the invitation of his father, Wang Zemin.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s biological mother had passed away while giving birth to him.

    Aunty Liu no longer responded to him. Instead, as she slowly left his room, a peculiar gurgling sound could be hearding from within her mouth.

    As the door to his room clicked shut, Wang Chenghao wiped off the cold sweat and his forehead and prepared for bed once more. After lying down for a few seconds, he suddenly sprung back up out of bed as though a pin had pricked him.

    Something¡¯s not right¡­ something¡¯s not right!!

    I¡­ I¡¯d made sure that the door was tightly locked before going to bedst night!

    Even the windows are tightly shut since I was using the air conditioning!

    So¡­ how in the world did she enter my room?!

    No¡­ and the power would never go out in this neighbourhood. If the power went out here, then the power in the entire county should have gone out as well.

    His body shuddered as blood surged straight to his brain. He thumbed the light switch several times once more, yet there was simply no response whatsoever. Cursing under his breath, he immediately picked up his cellphone. Yet as soon as he switched it on, he immediately covered his mouth with his hand, curled up and cowered under the security of his nket. A tall, burly eighteen-years-oldd was on the brink of screaming his lungs out.

    There was no light.

    The dim moonlight in the sky had projected the shadows of Daba Mountain¡¯s forest trees into his room. These shadows swayed wildly, almost as though a supernatural force was creeping closer and closer to him.

    There were no signs of any humans.

    The entire room was filled with a maddening pin-drop silence.

    The only source of light was the faint white glow from his cellphone.

    And under its dim illumination¡­ he finally saw it clearly - there it was, a trail of footprints leading from his bedside to the door to his room.

    It was neat and tidy. But¡­ why would the footprints be visible to the naked eye?

    These were human footprints.

    And yet¡­ they were also bloody footprints! At three a.m. in the dead of night, a trail of bloody footprints had just appeared within his bedroom!

    T-t-t-t-t-¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s teeth began to chatter uncontrobly. A locked door; his stepmother sitting at the foot of his bed at 3 a.m. in the morning; a trail of bloody footprints; and incessant sounds of someone stuffing themselves....

    He crept towards the room to his door silently. As he drew close to the door, he noticed that the door was still slightly ajar!

    There was a tiny seam between the door and its frame.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡± His forehead was percting with sweat. Just as he was about to shut the door silently, he caught a glimpse of a scene so horrific that it almost made his soul depart his body!

    His own stepmother¡­ was kneeling next to his family¡¯s Labrador, and her head was twisted in a bizarre posture - almost as though she were eating something.

    Furthermore, there was arge pile of golden hair lying in a pool of blood just beside where her feet were.

    Where did all the golden haire from?

    What creature wasrge enough to shed so much blood?

    ¡°Click¡­¡± With shivering hands, he shut his eyes and bit down hard on his lips as he shut the door to his room.

    It¡¯s a ghost¡­

    There¡¯s really a ghost at home!

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡± With profuse sweat pouring out of every pore in his body, he leaned against the wooden door and slumped to the ground, panting heavily. After tens of minutes, he finally picked up his phone once more and steeled his resolve to photograph the bloody footprints.

    Click¡­ After snapping a photograph, he checked on it within his photo album, only to be taken aback once more.

    What photograph is this?

    An extra photograph had mysteriously appeared in his phone¡¯s photo album at an unknown time.

    That photograph depicted a scene familiar to him. His ssroom. There were those he knew as well, including Zhang Yilong, and¡­ Qin Ye?

    However, Qin Ye had his back to them and appeared to be holding up a magic staff of sorts with adornments of lotus flowers as he battled arge mass of nothingness. This was a time when Zhang Yilong and Wang Chenghao had already passed out in the corner of the ssroom.

    The camera¡¯s angle was rather poor. The photograph had evidently been snapped when Wang Chenghao passed out and identally essed his phone¡¯s camera app.

    Qin Ye¡­ this¡­ this is Qin Ye?!

    Isn¡¯t this that day? Didn¡¯t he say he¡¯d also passed out?!

    Thud!! Just then, a violent knock resounded on the door to his room. Wang Chenghao could no longer suppress the fear welling up in the depths of his heart and screamed out loud as he retreated more than a meter from the door.

    ¡°Who¡­ who is it?!¡±

    Silence.

    However, the knocking sounds on the door continued to echo out in precisely five-second intervals. Thud¡­ thud¡­

    It was like a death god¡¯s knell.

    Wang Chenghao scrambled madly for the door once again and bolted it tightly shut with his body.

    The knocking sounds continued to resound without stopping. He wanted so much to flee from the only piece of wood separating him and the source of his terror. However, what he dreaded even more was the possibility that the door would immediately be opened as soon as he left. He wanted to secure the door to his room, yet this meant that he had to remain ufortably close to the very source of his terror itself.

    The fear was so intense that tears began to stream from his eyes.

    Never had he looked forward to the moment of dawn as much as he did right now.

    For the rest of the night, the rhythmic knocks on his door continued to reverberate endlessly throughout his room. Finally, at 5 a.m., a cock crowed in the distance, and the knocking sounds finally ceased.

    Wang Chenghao didn¡¯t dare to move. Even though it was 5 a.m., and even though the knocking sounds had ceased, the sky was nevertheless still dark. Even in summer, the first glow of dawn came at approximately 5.30 a.m. Wang Chenghao silently prepared some cash with him as he continued to stare transfixed at the time on his phone. As soon as the clock struck 5.30 a.m., he immediately charged out of the front door like a madman.

    He wanted to get as far away from this living hell of a home as possible.

    His family¡¯s chauffeur had not arrived yet, so he raced onto the streets. Even though there was nobody on the streets right now; and even though the air of the summer morning was far colder and damper than it was at home, he still felt as though he had finally shaken off the niggling source of fear that had badgered him for the entire night.

    He waited outside for approximately one hour before he finally managed to hail down a taxi. He hurriedly boarded it as soon as it pulled up, ¡°Go¡­ to the suburbs of the county¡­ where the funerary street is located! A shop called ¡®The Afterlife¡¯!¡±

    The taxi sped down the road. As soon as it arrived on the funerary street, Wang Chenghao whipped out a RMB 50 note and dashed straight out of the taxi.

    Crash¡­ In his haste, Wang Chenghao had coincidentally collided straight into Qin Ye and his bicycle.

    ¡°Wang Chenghao?¡± Qin Ye was surprised to see him, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Save me!!¡± Like a madman, Wang Chenghao immediately minced his way up close to Qin Ye and grabbed his hand,pletely ignoring the fact that there were others already up and about buying their breakfast in the area, ¡°Save¡­ save me... I know you can do it!¡±

    ¡°My house¡­ there¡¯s a ghost¡­ there¡¯s really a ghost!!¡±

    Without batting an eyelid, Qin Ye coolly wrested his hand free from Wang Chenghao¡¯s grasp and sized up Wang Chenghao once more. He was immediately taken aback by what he saw.

    The center of Wang Chenghao¡¯s forehead was dark and ominous.

    Just two days ago, Wang Chenghao¡¯s face had still been filled with radiance and vigor.

    To make matters even more frightening, two of the three oilmps over his body had already been snuffed out. The only one remaining was the one above his head - and even that was flickering feebly.

    It was a sign that he was on the brink of death.

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. This is exined in the next chapter. The three oilmps are located two above the shoulders and one above the head.

 Chapter 14: Still Alive

    <h4>Chapter 14: Still Alive</h4>

    Legend has it that every person has threemps illuminating their bodies, each of which represents the three parts to their soul - Nascent Light, Spirit of Vigor, and Hidden Essence.

    These are also known as the threemps¡­

    As soon as these threemps¡­ rather, the three fires from themps are extinguished, a person¡¯s soul would leave their body and they would experience true death. A normal person should possess a vibrant me in each of thesemps. If any one of the mes weakens or even flickers out, that person ismonly known to have too much Yin, or be gued by Yin energy. If left unaddressed, that person will go on to encounter a series of unpleasant experiences, including a demotion, a pay cut, trouble with their career, etc.

    If one¡¯s Four Pirs of Destiny leans towards the Yin affinity, he would even begin to notice unusual, unclean urrences. Other legends say that when one walks along the street at midnight, or even evenings if one walks along a secluded path, one should never turn his head to answer any person¡¯s call, especially if the voice sounds unfamiliar. As soon as a person turns his head, the ghost will extinguish one of the fires on your shoulder.

    This is why the saying goes, ¡°men light fires, but ghosts snuff mes¡±. These are popr sayings among the military as well.

    Perhaps it was a result of Qin Ye having alreadypleted theherworld odyssey once, but all he had to do was to think about it in order to perceive the threemps hovering about Wang Chenghao¡¯s body. Currently, notwithstanding that only one day hadpsed since theyst saw each other, themps hovering about his body were almost entirely extinguished.

    This was by no means a good sign at all. The fact that a radiant, hot-blooded teenager could be reduced to such a tragic state in just one day meant that this ghost was definitely not to be underestimated!

    ¡°Theherworld and the mortal realms are two entirely separate nes of existence. Ordinary spirits would never be able to affect a mortal to such an extent.¡± Qin Ye had hung the soul sphere on his bag like a cute ornament. Arthis cautiously added, ¡°I had once assumed a post in the mortal realm for a hundred years as well. Those entities depicted in mortal horror films, such as Sadako, Churenmei and Jason are all ghosts that are at least of the fifty-year grade.¡±

    ¡°Right now, I can already say with utmost certainty that the ghost we¡¯re dealing with has obtained the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal not more than half a year ago. Otherwise, a mere mortal like your friend would already have perished.¡±

    ¡°This is good news for you.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head as he looked at the dazed Wang Chenghao. Then, just as Wang Chenghao began to break out in cold sweat once more, Qin Ye began to speak cidly, ¡°How did you discover it?¡±

    Wang Chenghao bit down on his lower lip, switched on his phone and showed Qin Ye the photograph that had mysteriously appeared.

    His gaze lingered on Qin Ye, scrutinizing every expression on his face. When Qin Ye returned Wang Chenghao¡¯s phone, and before he could even begin speaking, Wang Chenghao immediately grabbed hold of Qin Ye¡¯s arm tightly and pleaded with a trembling voice, ¡°Previously¡­ I¡¯m sorry for all I¡¯ve done to you previously! I¡¯ll never do it again¡­ please¡­ please save me just this once!¡±

    This was a towering, well-built teenager who had habitually unted his endowment of strength in front of others. Yet, his feet were currently ostensibly weak and limp, and it was clear from the scars on his lips just how much he had bitten down on themst night. If not for the fact that he was on a public street right now, he might already have knelt down to beg Qin Ye for help. If their other ssmates could see how Wang Chenghao was clinging on to Qin Ye like an ornamental brooch and pleading for his help, they might very well find themselvespletely bbergasted.

    ¡°Let¡¯s speak somewhere else.¡± Qin Ye lifted his head as he responded resolutely.

    As soon Qin Ye finished speaking, Wang Chenghao dragged him off his bicycle, ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­ you haven¡¯t had breakfast, right? It¡¯s my treat! I¡¯ll buy you anything you want! And just leave your bicycle here. Once we get back, I¡¯ll give you a Pinarello!¡±

    The two students hailed a taxi. As soon as they hopped on, Arthis mocked, ¡°Mercy? That¡¯s an emotion only the weak possess.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll actually have such useless feelings for someone who has only crossed paths with me for less than three years?¡± Qin Ye gazed out of the window as he responded cidly, ¡°He¡¯s no more than a sojourner in my life. That said, since this matter implicates him, it¡¯s¡­ convenient to have his help.¡±

    The two students went straight to a small shop within the county town that was hailed by all high school students to be a ¡°dating paradise¡±. This shop¡¯s design was clearly inspired by various popr anime series. Even though the shop had been standing for more than ten years now, it had managed to keep prices low and maintain the quality of its products. Most importantly, the seating within this cafe was cleverly designed in booths, and the privacy offered attracted many couples, especially those who were in their early days of courtship.

    Once they sat down, Wang Chenghao handed the menu over to Qin Ye, currying favour with him, ¡°Feel free to order whatever you like.¡±

    Qin Ye ordered an assortment of deep-fried skewers and a cold beverage. It was early in the morning, and the shop was not too busy yet. Naturally, the food that they had ordered arrived promptly. Qin Ye took a sip out of his iced citrus tea, ¡°Tell me more about it.¡±

    Hisment came out naturally, yet seemed somewhat arrogant at the same time.

    Qin Ye¡¯s disposition was clearly different from that which he disyed when he was in school. However, Wang Chenghao didn¡¯t find anything wrong with this. His hands were wrapped tightly around the milk tea in his hands, while his eyes were quivering and filled with fear. It took him several deep breaths before he finally managed to organize his thoughts and exin the situation.

    With a trembling voice, Wang Chenghao began, ¡°Did you notice this - I¡¯ve been eating at school everyday over thest few months?¡±

    Qin Ye thought about it before nodding slightly.

    Wang Chenghao shrank back slightly as he muttered, ¡°This is because¡­ the food at home has bepletely inedible! I don¡¯t know when exactly this began, but my dad has taken a liking to raw food in recent times. He first started by taking a fancy to Japanese food, and I weed its freshness. H-however, his condition began to worsen like an illness! Roasts, steaks, and the like - he began to lean towards the rarer side of things. From medium-well to medium, then to rare¡­ and then finally to blue-rare.¡±

    ¡°All the meat at home ispletely bloody and raw when you bite into it! It¡¯spletely inedible! And that¡¯s not all. My dad has also be very strange. Over thest ten days or so, I began to detect a very strong stench of cologne on his body. But¡­ but the strangest part is that he had never worn cologne ever before! That¡¯s right¡­ that¡¯s right! Sincest week, my dad has even stopped eating rice altogether!¡±

    These were things that could ordinarily be attributed to nothing more than mere quirks and idiosyncrasies. However, under the influence of Wang Chenghao¡¯s paranoia, he began to string them all together and pour out his heart.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been too concerned about these things previously. After all, I¡¯d only found it somewhat peculiar, but nothing went overboard. Untilst night¡­st night¡­¡± His body began trembling uncontrobly as he gripped tightly to Qin Ye¡¯s hands. His hands were already covered with sweat, ¡°I¡¯d clearly locked the door to my room, yet that woman was there, sitting at the foot of my bed at three in the morning! When she stepped out, she even left a trail of bloody footprints! F-furthermore¡­¡±

    He shuddered once more, and his voice grew hoarse, ¡°I-I-I saw her. I saw her¡­ she ate my family¡¯s Labrador! When I left the house this morning, I particrly made it a point to nce at the kennel, and I saw that it was empty! Empty!¡±

    His entire body was shaking like a sifting chaff, and his voice was breaking up, ¡°She¡¯s a ghost¡­ she¡¯s not human! She must be an evil spirit!¡±

    Qin Ye picked up the spoon in his cup and gently stirred his drink as he interjected, ¡°Where¡¯s your father?¡±

    Wang Chenghao was bewildered.

    ¡°How was his funeral?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye in astonishment, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Qin Ye appeared somewhat upset, ¡°I¡¯m talking about your father¡¯s funeral. Did your mother handle it, or were you in charge of it?¡±

    ¡°My father¡¯s¡­ funeral?¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips trembled as he squeezed Qin Ye¡¯s hands tightly, ¡°B-b-brother Qin¡­ d-d-don¡¯t scare me like that¡­¡±

    ¡°M-my father¡­ should still be alive and well¡­¡±

    Swish¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered as he gazed deeply into Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes.

    At this moment, the only sounds that could be heard was the light rustling of leaves in the soft morning breeze.

    It was quiet.

    So quiet that it was even slightly eerie.

    Sweating profusely, Wang Chenghao took out his cell phone and dialed the number of his father, Wang Zemin.

    ¡°Hey, A¡¯Hao¡­ Father¡¯s busy right now.... Mm¡­ study hard¡­ I¡¯m hanging up now¡­¡±

    It was a brief conversation, but it was most certainly the voice of Wang Zemin.

    That said, there was still something peculiar about his voice. His statements were somewhat fragmented, and his thoughts didn¡¯t seem to be too coherent. It could be likened to the words spoken by a person who had not been speaking for a long time.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips trembled furiously. Qin Ye¡¯s words had been far too shocking. What exactly do his words mean?

    His gaze was transfixed on Qin Ye, while Qin Ye furrowed his brows slightly as he continued to stir his citrus tea.

    This was the first time he was dealing with a supernatural encounter as a fully-fledged Operative. Yet, he had already run into such a bizarre situation.

    Wang Zemin isn¡¯t dead? That¡¯s not possible. There¡¯s no way this ghost could be as powerful as Granny Meng. Wang Zemin¡¯s soul had been personally subdued by Granny Meng at the skeletal bridge. There¡¯s no mistake about that!

    So¡­ Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air. So¡­ who exactly is the imposter-father in Wang Chenghao¡¯s home? Is he alive? Or¡­ is he something else altogether?

    ¡°I understand. Let¡¯s go. It won¡¯t dare to emerge while it¡¯s day. Come to my shop tonight after 6 p.m.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s adam¡¯s apple shifted slightly, and his chest rose and fell sharply as he nodded his head furiously. However, he didn¡¯t leave. He continued to stare anxiously at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Afraid to leave?¡± Qin Ye pointed at an adjacent booth, ¡°Sit over there.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Wang Chenghao pleaded with a hoarse voice, ¡°I-I won¡¯t disturb what you¡¯re doing in any way¡­ don¡¯t leave me¡­¡±

    ¡°Get over there!¡±

    Wang Chenghao gritted his teeth helplessly as he resigned himself to leave. But, just then, Qin Ye suddenly clutched at his heart and leaned back onto his chair weakly with an extremely pale face.

    ¡°Qin Ye! Brother Qin! What happened? What happened to you?!¡± Wang Chenghao almost jumped at the sight. In that moment of crisis, he didn¡¯t even notice how he had subconsciously elevated Qin Ye¡¯s status in his heart.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. Just underneath where his palmy, his heart had actually¡­ slowly stopped beating altogether!

    This was a feeling that his fleshly body could clearly perceive. It was a feeling of the thread of life slowly drawing to an end.

    His surroundings suddenly seemed muted. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The only sound he could hear was that of his heart painstakingly drawing blood from every single blood vessel in its body as it inched closer to stillness.

    His life¡¯s countdown timer had begun!

    ¡°Go¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s face was incredibly pale, yet he still managed to maintain his earliermand to Wang Chenghao.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Wang Chenghao was both frightened, and at aplete loss as to what he should do.

    ¡°Scram!!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s bellowed with a low voice as the bulging veins on his forehead began to throb.

    This time, Wang Chenghao picked up his school bag and dashed straight to the adjacent booth without any unnecessary words, ¡°You must let me know if you need anything!¡±

    The booth was finally silent. Qin Ye could somewhat sense that Arthis was calling out to him. However, his hearing was impaired at this very moment.

    His moment of weaknesssted for a full five minutes. It was only after that that his heart gradually resumed its normal pulse, and colour returned to his face once again.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± After yet another five minutes, he sighed in relief as he chugged down his tea.

    That felt horrible¡­

    He had just experienced the feeling of dying, and he never wanted to experience the same a second time.

    ¡°The Moribund Remembrance.¡± Arthis'' voice was grave, ¡°The imbnce in Hell has caused your source of immortality to be shattered. Your name¡­ has once again appeared in the Book of Life and Death. Even though Hell has copsed and the primordial treasures have been reduced to mere shards, some of these things will continue to function on their own ord. For instance, the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    ¡°Otherwise¡­ this world would be filled with innumerable immortal monstrosities. This ords with the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. Death was knocking on his door. His time¡­ was running out.

    ¡°You can be certain that every single person in his family is problematic.¡± Arthis no longer minced her words, and kept her advice sinct, ¡°The only unknown to us right now is how the problem had begun manifesting - whether by way of possession¡­ or otherwise. What we do know is that Wang Chenghao¡¯s father is the key to unlocking this mystery. He is most certainly dead. However, it is only his soul that is dead. His body still remains alive. There are but a few possible causes for such circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Let me now impart to you the first immutable principle of all Emissaries of Hell. No matter how bizarre the situation may seem, everything is rted to a ghost¡¯s obsession prior to his or her death.

    ¡°Every ghost is born from obsession. Whether that person died a violent death, or an unjust death, or somethingpletely different altogether, it is invariably their pre-death obsession that keeps their spirit around and prevents them from moving on. Over time, these spirits turn into evil ghosts. When that happens, you can be certain that every single abnormality or peculiarity with the location or person it haunts can somehow be exined by the ghost¡¯s obsession in its previous life. This is because ghosts will instinctively repeat their obsessions after death.

    ¡°These details may be minor, but they are most definitely the key to granting deliverance on this spirit.¡± She concluded affirmatively, ¡°Tonight, when the clock strikes twelve, I¡¯ll teach you how to summon a spirit. We¡¯ll reawaken Wang Zemin¡¯s spirit, and the spotlight shall fall squarely on him.¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1.

    2. It¡¯s a doneness that is rarer than rare, damn near raw.

 Chapter 15: Summoning a Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 15: Summoning a Spirit</h4>

    Qin Ye nodded his head. He was slowly collecting his dues from Arthis.

    Her unparalleled wealth of experiences would be the cornerstone of his survival amidst the great upheaval that was toe upon the mortal realm!

    ¡°Then¡­ let¡¯s wait.¡± He gazed out the window and into the distance. Tonight would be a night of preparation.

    Tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, would be when the sword shes with the de.

    Even if a death god crawled straight out of the television, Qin Ye was hell bent on kicking it back to where it came from!

    The day flew by quickly. Wang Chenghao was so traumatized that he no longer dared to be alone. Thus, he spent the rest of the day following Qin Ye around like his shadow. Then, as soon as they were dismissed from school, Wang Chenghao immediately tugged Qin Ye as they made haste towards the outskirts of the county.

    A summer day¡¯s weather was just like a child¡¯s face - capricious and unpredictable. The skies were still clear during the day. Yet, by the time they arrived at the funerary street at 6 p.m., the skies were already dark and overcast. They could even see shes of dazzling lightning from time to time.

    The broadcasts rting to the recent surge of paranormal activities had just begun. Families were bolting themselves in their homes. Some of the more antiquated-looking streets were evenpletely empty by now. As the evening gust blew, it swept up the stacks of paper money on the ground, sending them scattering about. There were even paper talismans hanging on the doorframe of each house. The entire funerary street appearedpletely gloomy.

    Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t move an inch.

    ¡°Haaah¡­¡± It was only when Qin Ye pushed open the door to his small shop and switched on all the lights did Wang Chenghao finally heave a sigh of relief. Qin Ye set his school bag down and massaged his sore arms. Then, he pulled Wang Chenghao over, looked him straight in the eye and spoke sternly, ¡°Later on, no matter what you see, you are to keep everything to yourself and never speak of it. If you even make a peep of sound as to what you¡¯ve seen today¡­¡±

    He intentionally left his sentence iplete.

    Wang Chenghao nodded his head wildly. He, too, had a hunch that tonight¡­ was one where he would witness something that even science couldn¡¯t exin.

    Thereafter, Qin Ye ignored him and began busying himself with preparations. Arthis had alreadymunicated with Qin Ye earlier, informing him that he was unable to summon spirits with his current strength, and that he would still need the aid of some auxiliary tools.

    Incense of the Dead - an incense crafted from ground bonemeal. It sufficed that it was made from generic bonemeal; and it did not necessarily have to be bonemeal ground from human bones.

    Portrait of the Anitya - Since the role of the Anitya Hellguards is to escort Yin spirits to Hell, their portrait can naturally act as the medium and backbone of theirmunication between theherworld and the mortal realm. This auxiliary tool was an imperative.

    A bowl of rice. And not just any rice; it had to be Yin rice. This was prepared by steaming glutinous rice and drying it in the dark,pletely obfuscated from any Yang elements.

    Finally, a bowl of chicken blood, and a pair of chopsticks made from willow wood.

    It was already 11 p.m. by the time Qin Ye was done with all the preparation work. Thereafter, he shut his eyes and rested for a while on his chair. Very soon, the clock struck twelve.

    ording to Arthis¡¯ instructions, the first step was to hang the portraits of the Anitya Hellguards on both sides of the altar. As the scrolls unraveled with a light rustling sound, they revealed the portraits of the Anitya Hellguards of ck and White. Both Anitya Hellguards had pale, ghastlyplexions, and tongues that extended one meter out of their mouths. The only difference was that one was dressed in a long white robe, while the other was dressed in a long ck robe.

    The incense was set on the altar. Incense was something that was quintessential for any funerary procession.

    Tworge words were written on the portrait over the ck Anitya Hellguard¡¯s head - ¡°world peace¡±. Simrly, tworge words were written on the portrait over the White Aniya Hellguard¡¯s head - ¡°instant wealth¡±.

    Right after the incense was ced on the table, Qin Ye ced the bowl of Yin rice on the altar and inserted the willow wood chopsticks vertically in them. This was tantamount to a plea to the Anitya Hellguards to have mercy and allow the Yin spirit one final chance tomunicate with the mortal realm.

    If their response was positive, the chopsticks would fall over.

    If not, the chopsticks would remain standing upright for three full incense sticks of time. At that time, one would be wise not to attempt any further summoning of souls.

    Whoever attempts to summon a soul then would perish.

    After all, if King Yanluo has decreed that a person should die at noon, nobody would dare say otherwise.

    Arthis had further exined that even though Hell no longer existed, this was still part and parcel of the Heavenly Dao which continues to maintain the natural order of the world. Otherwise, the world would already have fallen into chaos by now.

    Qin Ye ignored Wang Chenghao. He shut his eyes and drew a deep breath, before wisps of Yin energy began emerging from his body. As soon as Wang Chenghao saw this, he immediately opened his mouth to scream. Fortunately, he quickly ced his hand over his mouth just in time to prevent a peep from escaping his lips. That said, he continued to tremble vigorously as he retreated to the corner of the bed.

    Whoosh! As the Yin energy congealed in the air, Qin Ye was suddenly clothed with his Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform. He had just shed his identity as a mere mortal, and he was now praying to the heavens in his capacity as an Emissary of Hell.

    Then, Qin Ye held up the Incense of the Dead and ignited them. As they burned with an eerie green glow, wisps of smoke began to drift into the surroundings. The entire room was indescribably bizarre right now. Finally, Qin Ye bowed reverently to the portraits of the Anitya Hellguards and whispered in ordance with Arthis¡¯ instructions, ¡°This inexperienced one seeks guidance. Operative Qin Ye humbly prays that the esteemed Anitya Hellguards open their eyes.¡±

    Once he finished speaking, he ced the three incense sticks into the incense burner, and ced the soul sphere containing Wang Zemin¡¯s soul onto the bowl of Yin rice.

    ¡°There are presently Yin spirits who traverse the mortal realm, wreaking havoc and harming humans. I urge the heavens to extend a lifeline and leave the man surnamed Wang a breath of Yang energy. This lowly official promises to repay this favour.¡±

    Man surnamed Wang? He means¡­ my father?

    Wang Chenghao balled himself up in the corner of the room. He was so creeped out right now that his soul felt detached from his body. He remainedpletely silent as cold sweat continued to pour out of his pores.

    Just then, the Anitya Hellguards suddenly moved.

    Almost as though a draft was sweeping through the room, both portraits began to rise gently and fall in tandem.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s scalp went numb, and he almost screamed aloud.

    This was because¡­ the windows and the door were all shut! There was no reason for a draft to be blowing through the house at all!

    How did it move? What in the world is going on here?!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say another word. Instead, he simply half-knelt in front of the altar as he watched the Incense of the Dead burn down slowly. Five minutes¡­ ten minutes¡­ An incense stick of time was a full fifteen minutes.

    Then, at the thirteenth minute, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    The pair of willow wood chopsticks that were standing vertically in the Yin rice had just shifted slightly.

    Then, in the very next moment, it silently fell to the side!

    At the same time, the Yin rice began to diminish and vanish into thin air! This process was somewhat slow and measured, and it almost seemed as though an invisible entity was slowly consuming the rice!

    ¡°Quickly!¡± Arthis shouted, ¡°You only get one shot at summoning a spirit! There¡¯s no room for redos! You¡¯ve managed to borrow a breath of Yang energy from the heavens, and the Emissary of Hell¡¯s act of consuming the Yin rice is a sign that it is giving you face. The Yin spirit will depart for good as soon as the Yin ricepletely disappears, regardless of whether you¡¯ve finished your line of questioning or not!¡±

    Qin Ye was incredibly anxious. Despite having lived for such a long time, this was still the first time he had encountered something like this. sping his hands together, he softly murmured, ¡°The fisherman¡¯s light calls the spirits of Hell, let the gleaming stars of night illuminate theherworldly abode. Open!¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the soul sphere opened with a rustling sound and transformed into a talisman that spontaneouslybusted in the air. Simultaneously, a green vortex of Yin energy began to congeal in the middle of the room, and a ghastly shade emerged slowly from the heart of the vortex, almost as though he were emerging from the surface of a water body.

    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Wang Chenghao let out a muffled sound and promptly covered his mouth before passing outpletely.

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief as he began on his line of questioning, ¡°Wang Zemin?¡±

    ¡°Ahhhhhhh!!!¡± Wang Zemin¡¯s response was a shrill, blood curdling shriek. It was one filled with agony. Wang Zemin was dressed in a ramrod straight suit. As soon as he appeared, he immediately copsed onto his knees and clutched at his head, screaming his lungs and heart out.

    Qin Ye was taken aback, ¡°Although I can empathize with what you¡¯ve gone through¡­ don¡¯t you think that your present actions are still somewhat overboard? Could you please rein it in a little?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong with his soul.¡± Arthis interjected, ¡°Grab hold of him.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s temples throbbed. What was with this feeling? He was just reminded of an instance when he sent his Pikachu out to deal with a wild, ghost pokemon.

    Roaaarrrr!! Before he could make his move, Wang Zemin suddenly threw his head up into the air, and a two-meter high pir of green mes shot straight out of his mouth. His voice no longer sounded like a human¡¯s voice any longer. It was a dark and windy night, and Qin Ye was in the midst of a summoning ritual. As theherworldly mes zed in the dark, the portraits of the Anitya Hellguards were sent floating into the air, and the gloomy jade-coloured shadows in the surrounding shifted in tandem with the flickering mes. It was sufficient to send chills down anyone¡¯s spine!

    ck¡­ Just as the pir of me shot straight into the sky, the Soul Shackles around Qin Ye¡¯s waist shot straight towards Wang Zemin andtched onto his skull. With a miserable roar, the chilling green pir of me finally subsided and vanished into Wang Zemin¡¯s mouth once more.

    ¡°The skyntern punishment.¡± Arthis was somewhat surprised, ¡°Open his mouth. You¡¯ll find something surprising inside. Theherworldly skyntern punishment is the worst form of torture for any soul around. The victim will be prevented from entering the cycle of reincarnation. Instead, he is forced to suffer from the endless, excruciating pain of his soul¡¯s immtion. Geez¡­ I wonder who it is that hates him so much?¡±

    Qin Ye grabbed hold of Wang Zemin¡¯s jaw. It was icy cold to the touch, and even somewhat illusory. That said, a corporeal candle stood right in the middle of his mouth!

    Qin Ye pulled out the candle and inspected it. The candle was grayish-white in colour, and it emitted a strong stench of death and decay. Its wick was pitch-ck in colour. Wang Zemin¡¯s body trembled with immense liberation as soon as Qin Ye removed the candle. Two specks of me immediately ignited in the depths of his eyes and began glowing with an eerie vigor.

    ¡°Corpseoil candles. This is installed by filling a person¡¯s stomach through to his mouth with corpseoil after he dies. Then, a wick made of the deceased¡¯s hair is ced at the front of his mouth and set alight. This me will continue to burn unceasingly for a hundred years, never to be extinguished. The corpseoil candle is otherwise also known as the soul suppressing nail, precisely because it pins down the soul of the deceased and prevents his corpse from decaying. It somewhat resembles the ancient Egyptian mummification techniques.¡± Arthis exined.

    Qin Ye yed with the now-broken candle in his hands, ¡°Does this exin why Wang Zemin¡¯s physical body still remains alive, even after death?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell for at least a month.¡±

    ¡°Are you¡­ an Emissary of Hell?¡± Just then, a voice of incredulity echoes beside him. Wang Zemin¡¯s soul trembled slightly as he spoke up for the very first time, ¡°You¡­ are you my saviour?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Time is of the essence, so I¡¯ll speak quickly. You¡¯re already dead, but your flesh lives on. There¡¯s presently an evil spirit haunting your house. If we don¡¯t resolve this pressing issue quickly, there¡¯s a possibility that your son might die tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Ah Hao¡­ Ah Hao? She¡­ what is she trying to do to Ah Hao?¡± Wang Zemin paused for a moment before responding with increasing agitation.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye was the only one who could hear his voice.

    ¡°Do you see that bowl of rice there? You have to tell me how you died before it vanishespletely. Tell me what you know, quickly! Otherwise¡­ you¡¯ll have to be on your way once your escort finishes his meal. At that time, even I won¡¯t have any means of helping your son anymore.¡±

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Wang Zemin shut his eyes. The fact that he was the richest man in a county spoke volumes about his decisiveness. At the very least, he was by no means a capricious or fickle-minded person. His ethereal body shuddered slightly, and he quickly opened his eyes once again. Then, with gritted teeth, he began, ¡°It was all because of that woman¡­¡±

    He took a deep breath, adjusted his emotions, and began to exin, ¡°Mypany is called Hyatt. Hyatt Corporation. Even though it¡¯s not a huge conglomerate, there¡¯s still a chance that you might have heard of it before¡­¡±

    ¡°Hyatt?¡± Qin Ye raised his eyebrows in surprise, ¡°Is it that Hyatt that I¡¯m thinking of?¡±

    Wang Zemin chuckled bitterly, ¡°Trademarkws prevent the existence of two entities with the same name. The Hyatt you¡¯re thinking of is probably one and the same.¡±

    Arthis wondered aloud, ¡°Famous?¡±

    ¡°Quite.¡± Qin Ye responded somewhat ruefully, ¡°Not too famous, but its rise to fame has to do with why it moved to this location.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve heard of it before¡­¡± Wang Zemin continued with a bitter smile, ¡°Back then¡­ just as the Hyatt Corporation was steadily flourishing and growing, a particr post was made on the forums. I can still recall the handle of the author of that post. Her handle was ¡®That Amorous Affair¡¯.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad name.¡± Arthis remarked to Qin Ye, ¡°But he¡¯d better pick up the pace. There¡¯s no time for him to indulge in his moment ofmiseration.¡±

    Qin Ye interjected, ¡°Mr Wang, you¡¯re getting emotional. Why don¡¯t you let me summarize the story instead, and let me know if there¡¯s anything you have to add.¡±

 Chapter 16: That Fateful Incident 5 Years Ago (1)

    <h4>Chapter 16: That Fateful Incident 5 Years Ago (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye took a moment for consideration, before beginning, ¡°This was quite the high-profile incident back then. News of the incident was sshed across all microblogs, vlogs, forums and news sites. Even celebrities were reposting andmenting on it. It could probably qualify as viral news. Five years ago, That Amorous Affair made a forum post, stating that the CEO of the Hyatt Corporation had forcibly engaged in sexual rtions with her whilst she was still a minor.¡±

    ¡°She added that she had at all material times been unaware that the CEO was already married, and that he even had a child that was not much younger than she was. She added that CEO Wang had represented to her that he was single, and that his feelings for her were genuine. At that time, she found the prospects of bing madam to the CEO an irresistible thought. CEO Wang¡¯s generosity towards her tipped the scales for her, and she finally agreed.¡±

    Arthis thought aloud, ¡°It¡¯s normal for a man to lust after a woman.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°But this was just the beginning. The plot twist¡­ came exactly one weekter.¡±

    ¡°This post was originally tepid at best. While the term ¡®minor¡¯ struck a nerve with some people, few people could bother themselves with the private affairs of the CEO of the Hyatt Corporation. After all, he was hardly on the same level of public scrutiny as a real estate magnate and his ilk. That said, there will always be people in this world who think themselves as know-it-alls, possess the all-seeing eye, and have the capacity to be the defender of the world. These people would fervently chime in with their weak, timid voices, hoping that by doing so they would finally establish for themselves a foothold of belonging in this world.¡±

    ¡°The post was first made public on the Tianya forums. It should still be essible now. I didn¡¯t personally look up her post at the time of the incident. That said, I did hear from multiple sources that many people who had read the post began to condemn her instead, using her of being a social climber and selling herself out just to be rich and famous. These usations came from people who stood each on their own lofty pedestals as they condemned the rest of society as trash. Therefore¡­¡±

    He gazed deeply at CEO Wang, ¡°One weekter, in a fit of rage, That Amorous Affair leaked¡­ audio recordings and photographs.¡±

    There was a moment of silence.

    Wang Zemin¡¯s soul trembled unsteadily, yet Qin Ye continued with a neutral tone of voice, ¡°What¡¯s the easiest way to gain attention on the inte? Do something extraordinary. Incidentally, That Amorous Affair was quite beautiful. Furthermore¡­ CEO Wang¡¯s size¡­ was something that others would do a double take at. Umm¡­ even I did a double take at it.¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember the Eel Gate incident? It¡¯s easy to go viral these days. All you have to do is to look pretty and do something that others wouldn¡¯t ordinarily dare to do. And if this was something to do with sex, it would almost certainly go viral in an instant. After all, the creation of such content is akin to tossing a bloody piece of meat into a sea of sharks. The voracious humans lying in wait for the next piece of viral news would immediately snap at it and devour it. Just like that, That Amorous Affair¡¯s forum post continued to top the forums for an extended period of time. After one week, it finally caught the attention of several mainstream news tforms, and it was subsequently reported in all forms, shapes and sizes, whether in headlines or tabloid. Just like that, the rtively unknown Hyatt Corporation instantly shot to fame.¡±

    Arthis acknowledged thoughtfully.

    ¡°Overnight, her photographs and audio recordings went viral and spread like wildfire throughout the inte. Thousands of vigntes who thought that they had grasped the truth of the matter went straight towards Hyatt Corporation¡¯s humble website, hurling abuse and words of condemnation. They were vigntes who perceived themselves to possess the moral high ground to berate and cuss others with the most abusive of words. They thought that this was their right.¡±

    Wang Zemin sighed soullessly as he muttered with a firm resolution, ¡°I didn¡¯t do it.¡±

    ¡°But my voice was far too insignificant at this point. I remember posting about it on Weibo. Yet my voice was almost immediately drowned out by the spit of those who think that they are the voice of reason! Building upon a single ount of the incident posted by That Amorous Affair, all of these inte users began to hurl allegations at me, even picking out non-existent ¡®loopholes¡¯ in my ount to paint me in a bad light!¡±

    ¡°I immediately shut down thepany¡¯s website and started my own investigations, piecing together information to identify the culprit. Finally, I discovered who this person was. She¡­ was in fact a 25 years-old fresh employee in mypany! She¡¯s not a minor at all!¡±

    ¡°Just one week ago, she called in a report for a pay revision, but I personally turned her down. After all, there were only a few employees within the Hyatt Corporation, and I personally took charge of these affairs. She alleged that her wages were too low. Certainly, her sry <i>was</i> a bit low, but... there''s no boss willing to pay workers any more than absolutely necessary! Hell, we all try to pay as little as we can! At the end of the day, it takes two hands to p. These arrangements only work because one is willing to dish out the punishment, while the other is willing to receive it. It¡¯s a partnership by mutual agreement. If you can¡¯t ept these terms of engagement, find another job. At least, this was how I thought society worked. Yet, I had thoroughly underestimated just how cruel the human heart could be!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°That¡¯s why you chose to sue.¡±

    Wang Zemin chuckled bitterly as he gazed up at the ceiling, ¡°Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever thought about how twisted the human heart is? The moment wemenced a legal action in the courts, the entire Weibo was instantly silenced.¡±

    ¡°Countless self-professed irvoyants and vigntes immediately changed their tacts and contemted the possibility that there was more than meets the eye. ¡®Were we wrong? This matter is not as simple as it seems¡¯. Such reactions abounded.¡±

    ¡°Thewsuit was an overwhelming sess. Facts were facts after all. Hyatt won. I won. However¡­ the results were not quite what I had expected.¡±

    His voice rose sharply, ¡°In the end¡­ all I ever got was a few hundred messages saying ¡®I¡¯m sorry¡¯ or ¡®I was wrong¡¯!!¡±

    ¡°Overnight, it was as though the rest of the tens of thousands of words of humiliation, abuse and curses had never been uttered once before! Three words were all I got! The longest message of apology didn¡¯t extend beyond ten words! And these messages ranging from three to ten words from the two hundred or so people were the only words of remorse I had received among the tens of thousands of people who had previously wronged me! The majority simply chose to forget everything that had ever happened in the past!! They¡¯re no different from rabid dogs hiding behind their devices, waiting for the next piece of meat to show up to satiate their ravenous appetite!!¡±

    His voice gradually crescendoed to a climax and reverberated through the cold corners of the house. Several secondster, he lowered his head once more and gnashed his teeth, ¡°The price of rumour-mongering is far too light. That¡¯s what emboldens these keyboard warriors. If thew doesn¡¯t punish the evildoers, these seemingly harmless evildoers will eventually be a cancerous cell to society!¡±

    ¡°In their eyes, they had done nothing more than speak a few words each. Yet, their actions had forced me to leave the Eastsea Province altogether.¡±

    Arthis was silent. Ah, she must have seen too many final farewells in her time, much like when she bade farewell to Jayna Proudm¡­

    In truth, Arthis had merely been puzzled and had taken time to consider the matter, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, why then did the woman turn into an evil spirit?¡±

    Qin Ye replied just as calmly, ¡°Since the result was clear and simple, the winds in the inte immediately shifted as soon as the verdict was out, and those who had initially condemned and cursed Hyatt turned around andshed out at That Amorous Affair even more viciously.¡±

    ¡°This was because they wanted - more than ever - to cover up their own misdeeds. These inte vigntes hardly possess any conscience to begin with. Yet, the modicum of shame that remained in thempelled them to do something to close this chapter in their lives. And what was the best thing to do in their minds? Leave ament under Hyatt¡¯s response? No, they knew no remorse. Instead, they chose to remain as venomous as ever. It¡¯s as though they were telling CEO Wang - ¡®Look, I¡¯m helping you out here. I¡¯m condemning her on your behalf now.¡¯ As to Hyatt¡¯s ordeal, these people had selectively forgotten about it. After all, it was difficult to p yourself. pping others still achieved the more resounding result of the two.¡±

    Arthis clicked her lips, ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ humans¡­ There are times when humans can be far less adorable than ghosts.¡±

    ¡°But of course.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s gaze was deep and abstruse, ¡°Ghosts will always be ghosts, but humans can sometimes be inhumane.¡±

    ¡°We resented That Amorous Affair. Yet at the same time, we felt sympathetic towards her as well. This was because, having received an endless barrage of humiliating messages and furious words of condemnation, she finally chose to end her own life.¡±

    ¡°She jumped off the roof of the Hyatt Corporation.¡±

    Wang Zeminughed, ¡°Do you know something? When I first learnt that she had leapt off the building, I was the one who issued the orders that no one was to go collect her body. I was pleased. Incredibly pleased. In fact, I¡¯d never been so ecstatic about something before! At that time, I felt like my hatred for her could only be expiated after witnessing her corpse weather the elements for three whole days and nights¡­¡±

    Just then, an astonished voice rang out from the corner of the room, ¡°Dad?¡±

    Qin Ye was taken aback and turned around immediately. Wang Chenghao had alreadye to his senses for some time, and he had been watching all of this inplete bewilderment from the corner of the room.

    Clinkity-ng¡­ Just then, the bowl in front of the altar was overturned, and Yin rice was scattered all over the floor. Pak pak pak pak.... The sources of light in the house extinguished all at the same time.

    It was the sh between Yin energy and Yang energy. And the ghosts had snuffed out the light.

    ¡°Quick! Get to the point!¡± Qin Ye bellowed, ¡°What happened next? How did you die?¡±

    Wang Zemin was taken aback. Within moments, his appearance began to fade and grow more and more illusory. He nced at his own hands in dismay and yelled anxiously, ¡°After that woman died, I¡¯ve been suffering from nightmares everyday! Then, one week ago, an unknown sender mailed me a piece of stone, and I secured it within my office safe! The code is 200086 - Ah Hao¡¯s birthday! The day after tomorrow is his birthday!¡±

    ¡°As to how I died¡­ I¡¯m not too certain either. It feels as though I¡¯d gone to sleep and never quite woke up¡­¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of chains resounded from the void above them. Wang Zemin, together with his unfinished words, had finally disappeared from the face of the mortal realm.

    Silence.

    With a nk expression on his face, Qin Ye picked up the bowl of chicken blood and sshed it all over the altar. This was to leave no traces of Yin energy behind. Then, Qin Ye made his way towards Wang Chenghao. Still somewhat dazed, Wang Chenghao stared nkly at Qin Ye as he asked, ¡°This¡­ what¡¯s going on? M-my dad¡¯s spirit? What the hell happened here? Earlier¡­¡±

    Before he could finish babbling, Qin Ye struck him forcefully on the back of his neck. Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes rolled back, and he passed outpletely in an instant.

    When the lights came on once again, nobody spoke. Both of them were deep in their own thoughts.

    ¡°So that woman¡¯s lingering obsession was with the fact that she didn¡¯t be the CEO¡¯s wife? That¡¯s ridiculous.¡± Arthis muttered indifferently.

    With a teacup in hand, Qin Ye chuckled lightly, ¡°I can imagine that despite your immensely long life thus far, you must not have interacted much with the living. Humans are peculiar creatures. When no hope is in sight, we''ll just quietly await our doom. But if we were to catch a glimmer of hope, only to see it fade out once more? That overwhelming feeling of despair is sufficient to turn the kindest of persons into the vilest of evils.¡±

    ¡°So what do you n to do?¡±

    ¡°Simple.¡± Qin Ye nced at Wang Chenghao, ¡°Won¡¯t everything be over once he gets the stone back?¡±

    Instant silence.

    Secondster, Arthis pressed the issue with some measure of disbelief, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ you don¡¯t intend to grant deliverance to this ghost?¡±

    Is that how things work now?

    Qin Ye nced at the pokeball with ridicule. ¡°Naturally! Why sh head-on against the enemy team when you can simply take a tower from under their noses? The goal is to im towers, not heads!¡±

    ¡°But¡­ weren¡¯t you hell-bent on making the first move just some moments ago? What caused the sudden change of mind?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed faintly, before putting on philosophical airs: ¡°As I mentioned earlier, when no hope can be seen we humans tend to just await our doom like thezy ckers we are. However, the reverse is also true; as soon as hope peeks out over the horizon, mankind will do anything in our power to strive towards our goals.¡±

    ¡°That''s apletely glib and deceptive answer. Also, is it really a good idea to spare an evil ghost in the presence of a former Judge like me? Didn¡¯t you put up a little bit of a fight earlier? If you keep at it and work harder, you might one day even impress me!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking the impossible!¡± Qin Ye presented himself righteous as he responded in a dignified manner, ¡°Unless I¡¯m forced into a corner, it¡¯s just not in my nature to struggle. Not in this lifetime!¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. This refers to an incident in March 2017 when a female broadcaster, in order to increase the number of views and gifts to her, inserted an eel into the orifice between her legs. Her stream instantly went viral. Those involved in the eel¡¯s gate incident were arrested in May 2017 and prosecuted. In 2019, the main anchor Kiki was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison, together with a fine of RMB50,000.

    2. Yet another MOBA reference.

 Chapter 17: That Fateful Incident 5 Years Ago (2)

    <h4>Chapter 17: That Fateful Incident 5 Years Ago (2)</h4>

    Arthis conceded.

    She was willing to bet good money that if this conversation had taken ce several hundred years ago between her and one of the Emissaries of Hell under hermand, she would already have sentenced him to be purged under the feet of Ksitigarbha. Endure¡­ someone trapped in a soul sphere has no choice but to bow down in submission for now¡­

    What would people say of history¡¯sst Emissary of Hell, if they knew his sole talenty in staying alive via cheating and deception?

    Repressing the difort in her heart, she sneered disdainfully, ¡°But isn¡¯t letting him live tantamount to courting your own doom?¡±

    ¡°No-no-no.¡± Qin Ye wagged his finger confidently, ¡°Firstly, you¡¯ve forgotten all about Sledgehammer Wang¡¯s identity.¡±

    ¡°... And who is Sledgehammer Wang?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the main point. The main point is that Mr. Sledgehammer is Wang Zemin¡¯s son, and he¡¯s the only one who can gain ess to CEO Wang¡¯s room. Secondly, he can go in the day, while the ghosts are still in hiding.¡±

    Arthis thought about it - the n was practically watertight!

    ¡°Logically speaking, there¡¯s nothing wrong with your n. Yet, for some strange reason, something about it still feels a little bit off. I¡¯m going to rest for a bit. Try not to call me if there¡¯s nothing serious.¡±

    She felt crushed.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Wang Chenghao found himself abruptly awakened to the tempo of Qin Ye¡¯s ps on his face.

    However, the fact that his cheeks were on fire was the least of his concerns right now. He blinked his eyes and scanned his surroundings in dismay, ¡°Did¡­ did I just see my father? What was he doing here?¡±

    He cowered like a rabbit before a predator, trembling as he pleaded, ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­ Qin Ye¡­ I beg you¡­ please¡­ please tell me¡­ I-I feel like I¡¯m going mad!¡±

    Qin Ye mped his palms on Wang Chenghao¡¯s cheeks and lifted his head as he gazed straight into the depths of his eyes, ¡°Your father has already passed on, and your stepmother has likely been possessed. If my guess is right, you¡¯re the only person in your family that is still alive.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s jaw dropped inplete shock. He blinked his eyes with a vacant stare, and his entire body shook uncontrobly.

    A feeling of overwhelming terror sent waves of shivers shooting across his body.

    How is this possible? We¡¯ve been living together for such a long time. Does¡­ does this mean that I¡¯ve actually been living with a bunch of corpses?!

    What¡¯s going on?!

    Qin Ye caught every moment of Wang Chenghao breakdown from confusion to despair. It was only when tears began welling up in the corners of Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes did Qin Ye smile faintly, ¡°Do you want to live?¡±

    Wang Chenghao desperately nodded his head. For some strange reason, he found Qin Ye¡¯s present disposition to be somewhat terrifying. Even though there was a smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face, Qin Ye¡¯s imposing disposition was sufficient to elicit Wang Chenghao¡¯splete trust and faith in him.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ look at you now. Where¡¯s that air of arrogance that you used to unt so much in school gone? Head up. Chest out. Stand straight!¡± Qin Ye patted Wang Chenghao¡¯s shoulder, ¡°You¡¯ve gotta fight for your own life if you want to live!¡±

    Wang Chenghao gritted his teeth. That¡¯s right¡­ no one is obliged to help me out. Rather than desperately beg others for help, why don¡¯t I just help myself?!

    Qin Ye finally withdrew his hand as he continued with a kind expression, ¡°And after you fight and give it your all, you¡¯ll still find your effortspletely in vain.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s expressions immediately twisted in a pathetic manner. He opened his mouth slightly as though he wanted to say something, only to find the words lodged in his throat. It felt as though he were eating shit. And yet, for some strange reason, it left a slightly sweet taste in his mouth.

    Then, Qin Ye¡¯s smile faded, and he revealed a stern expression as he exined, ¡°If you want to live, the first thing you¡¯ll need to do is to go to your father¡¯s office and locate his safe. The code is 200086. You¡¯ll find a piece of stone inside. Bring that to me.¡±

    ¡°Alright¡­ I-I¡¯ll go first thing in the morning¡­ t-t-t-t-t....¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s teeth chattered rhythmically as he shivered. He avoided Qin Ye¡¯s gaze and nced down at his own legs, ¡°Haha--... w-why are my legs shivering uncontrobly? I¡¯m n-not afraid¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re not afraid. Don¡¯t worry. Brave boys have good luck. Those who have no luck are all dead anyway.¡± Qin Ye patted his shoulders, ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous to go back at this time of night. Feel free to stay here for now.¡±

    Wang Chenghao clutched timidly at his chest as he nodded his head. Then, he wrapped his nket around himself as tightly as a cocoon and shivered himself to sleep.

    At 7 a.m. the very next morning, Wang Chenghao departed from the funerary street with a pale expression on his face. Only one of the threemps above his head was still alight. Yet, even the remaining me flickered dangerously in the rising sun, as though it would be snuffed out in the very next moment.

    Qin Ye left Wang Chenghao to deal with his own affairs. Instead, he switched on his ownputer and began trawling through the forums for the Hyatt Corporation debacle that urred five years ago. Although a substantial period of time hadpsed since then, forum posts are rarely deleted from the online archives. He should have no issues locating he was looking for.

    He logged onto the Tianya forums and typed in the keywords ¡°Hyatt¡±. Very soon, hundreds and hundreds of posts appeared before his eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re a member?¡± Arthis was somewhat surprised.

    ¡°It¡¯s only natural for someone who¡¯s lived among humans for such a long time. I¡¯ve got all the necessary memberships.¡± Qin Ye clicked on one of the posts that had thousands ofments to it. The author of this post was naturally That Amorous Affair.

    This should be the original post.

    It¡¯s also the starting point of the entire debacle.

    It was like what Arthis had mentioned before - the first immutable principle that all Emissaries of Hell should learn was that nothing is unrted to a ghost¡¯s obsession, no matter how bizarre the situation might seem at first blush. Put differently, it is precisely the ghost¡¯s obsession that drives it towards ceaselessly repetitive actions. These details may well lead one to the key to eventually delivering the ghost.

    Although Qin Ye had already begun creeping forward with a view of stealing the tower from under the enemy¡¯s noses, he still had to be prepared for any contingencies. His manifold life experiences taught him the importance of not getting caught off guard.

    Qin Ye continued skimming through onement after the other. Things were no different from his recollection.

    ¡°Give me a break! Clickbaits like this are dime a dozen. Can¡¯t youe up with something fresh? What a waste of my braincells.¡± -- User029344.

    ¡°Haha, no pic, no talk. You allege that the old CEO has his sights on you? Do you think you¡¯re a hottie or something?¡± --Conan, Cathay.

    ¡°Even if this is true, you''re just a scheming bitch who¡¯s looking to ascend the socialdder, aren¡¯t you? You were used, and now you¡¯re here to elicit feelings of sympathy for you? Get lost!¡± --Pessimistic Resentful User

    Abusivenguage like this was like an invisible knife. It flowed casually from the users¡¯ mouths, yet prated deep into their target¡¯s heart. Qin Ye continued to scroll through thements cidly. Very soon, he located ament which had tens of photographs attached. Qin Ye paused.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s strange¡­¡± Qin Ye looked at the photographs with a grave expression on his face, ¡°These photographs should have depicted the carnal interactions between a man and a woman, and the website should already have 404-ed them as well. This was That Amorous Affair¡¯s post, which was the inflection point of this entire debacle. It was precisely the emergence of these photographs that sent the post into viral overdrive, after all. But¡­ why hasn¡¯t the post been censored yet?¡±

    In fact, the photograph that appeared did not even depict the carnal interactions between a man and a woman. Instead¡­ it was simply the photograph of an office space!

    This was the office of CEO Wang.

    It was taken at night when the lights were on, yet not a single person was captured in the frames of the photographs. Each and every photograph was taken from a different perspective. It was almost as though¡­ a pair of invisible eyes continued to watch the office space silently each night.

    ¡°Look here.¡± Arthis suddenly spoke, and Qin Ye shifted his attention to the location pointed out by Arthis, and he noticed it immediately. It was in the reflection of the windows located just behind CEO Wang¡¯s seat. There, ady with dishevelled hair stood motionlessly under the dim lights of the room with her arms hanging limply about her.

    The perspective of the photographs and the lighting were both very poor, and one could easily gloss over these details if one did not scrutinize the same closely. This woman was wearing a ck coloured dress ensemble that seemed to meld into the dark of the night! Upon closer inspection, Qin Ye could vaguely make out a bloodshot eye staring straight through the draping hair at the seat where CEO Wang had built his business from.

    It was a ghastly photo!

    This photograph was not snapped by human hands at all. Rather, it was this evil spirit that had captured snapshots of its surroundings and posted them onto the forums. Yet, despite this being on the public domain, there was not a single person who had realized this to date!

    ¡°When was this changed?¡± Qin Ye was taken aback. He looked at the top of the post. There, the timestamp stated ¡°19 August 2025¡±.

    ¡°Ten days ago.¡±

    This was That Amorous Affair¡¯s post, and these photographs had been uploaded by her as well. In other words, a woman who had already died five years ago had just edited her own post ten days ago! In fact, this was clear evidence that she had been staring menacingly at CEO Wang¡¯s back every night since ten days ago!

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed as though it was on fire, and he immediately went back to the original post and began scrutinizing it once more.

    ¡°Did you discover something?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes glowed brightly as he pointed at the number ofments on the screen, ¡°If there¡¯s anything remarkable about me as a person, it¡¯s the fact that I¡¯ve got a pretty good memory. If memory serves me well...the level of this post had earlier been 8,472.¡±

    ¡°In other words, there have been 8,472 people who havemented or replied to this post since its incipience. But now¡­ do you see the number?¡±

    8,473!

    In other words, from the time he essed the already-dormant post, someone¡­ or something¡­ had silentlymented on it again.

    ording to the forum¡¯s rules, the original post would immediately be bumped back up to the first page of the forums as soon as someonements on it or replies to it. This was the definition of bumping up posts.

    However, this post was not bumped up.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and flipped all the way to the final page of the post. As soon as the page loaded, he saw severalments in a row, all of which were written in blood-red font and signed off by¡­

    That Amorous Affair!

    It was none other than thedy who had died five years ago!

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m back¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got him¡­¡±

    ¡°Tonight¡­¡±

    And thestment was something that had just been posted.

    ¡°I know¡­ you¡¯re watching¡­¡±

    And it was now daytime.

    It was daytime at the funerary street.

    Bright beams of sunlight shone into Qin Ye¡¯s shop, The Afterlife, illuminating the paper servants, paper horses, firecrackers, incense and candles alike. It was as though everything were covered with a faint, white sheen of smoke. It was clearly midday, yet the room suddenly felt oppressively quiet. A pervasive,herworldly chill filled the air.

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s something.¡± Arthis was stunned for a moment before she chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s some temper she¡¯s got. It¡¯s been some time since I¡¯ve seen a ghost that has dared to oppose an Emissary of Hell. Oh, that¡¯s right. Given the amount of time that she¡¯s been an evil spirit, I¡¯m afraid she might not even have heard of Hell. As things stand right now, I¡¯m afraid the only ghosts who would know to fear Hell are at least centennial spirits.¡±

    Qin Ye was also somewhat stunned by this. It was only after he had personally been to Hell that he finally understood how terrifying it was. A provincial-level bureaucrat like Arthis had been relegated to hiding in the depths of the abyss for survival, while the Sixfold Ghost Kings were existences that possessed sufficient power to instantly annihte Infernal Judges with a single strike. And this didn¡¯t even take into ount the Yamas of the Ten Pces and King Yanluo who ruled over them all.

    Hell, even Granny Meng was already someone that caused others to tremble at her sight. What kind of gall did this ghost have to provoke a national organization like Hell?

    Screw her!

    Qin Ye¡¯s fingers tapped rapidly at the screen, ¡°You probably haven¡¯t heard of me before. Regardless, I¡¯m giving you a chance to turn yourself in. Twelve midnight tonight, when the moon hangs high above the willow tree and the world is deep in slumber. What do you say?¡±

    No response. It was almost as though the other¡¯sputer had crashed.

    Something about this still feels off¡­

    Secondster, another line of crimson words appeared: ¡°Look at your phone.¡±

    As soon as he read the ghost¡¯s response, his cell phone immediately began to ring at maximum volume.

    Instead of picking up the call immediately, Qin Ye nced at the dated wall-clock hanging behind him, ¡°It¡¯s twelve.¡±

    Arthis immediately understood the significance of this. Something¡¯s gone awry.

    It had been five hours, yet they had not received a single phone call in the meantime. Given how frightened Wang Chenghao had been, he would most certainly have called Qin Ye as soon as he hadpleted his task. Unfortunately, Qin Ye still hadn¡¯t heard from him yet¡­

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°It seems like he¡¯s got quite the dumb luck. Could he be dead?¡±

    Arthis chuckled contemptuously, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to look down on this ghost. It¡¯s just that killing a human in broad daylight is something that even I would refrain from attempting. So, how could it possibly do so with its meagre abilities?¡±

 Chapter 18: Visitation

    <h4>Chapter 18: Visitation</h4>

    ¡°So she¡¯s doing this to protest?¡± Qin Ye tapped on the edges of his phone thoughtfully before he finally answered the call.

    He put her on the speakerphone, yet there was no sound. It was almost as though his phone had been connected to the bottomless abyss in the depths of Hell.

    Everything had suddenly gone incredibly silent. Then, about twenty secondster, Qin Ye finally heard the first audible soundmunicated through the phone.

    It was the sound of water droplets.

    In fact, it was the sound of water droplets falling from mid-air and striking the ground.

    Drip...drip...drip¡­ The rhythmic drops sounded incredibly still and tranquil, yet eerie at the same time.

    ¡°Urrrgh....uuuurrrrrrrrrgghhhh....¡± Just then, the phone transmitted a different type of sound altogether. It was faint and barely audible, yet it was a drone that went on and on.

    It sounded like the desperate gasping sounds made by a person who had been locked in a dungeon for decades on end and deprived of water. It was the sound emitted by parched throats, almost akin to the sound of ss shards grinding against each other.

    ¡°Hey dear, that¡¯s poor form.¡± Qin Ye finally responded, ¡°Stop using the dated spooking techniques of the nies? It¡¯s a bit underwhelming. Don¡¯t get me wrong - I¡¯m not trying to nag at you, but given that you are a modern-day ghost, don¡¯t you think that you should keep up with the times as well? Is there really any point in mimicking the sounds of a horror film? For that matter, have you even obtained the licensing rights from Ms Ju-On?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± A low and hoarse voice could be heard on the other end of the phone. It was intermittent, almost as though someone was ying back an audio recording on an old-fashioned recorder.

    Qin Ye sneered, ¡°Don¡¯t? What do you mean by don¡¯t? Are you finally afraid of me now? Weren¡¯t you still happily fooling around earlier?¡±

    However, it sounded as though Qin Ye¡¯s provocation didn¡¯t even register with the voice on the other end of the phone. Speaking with the same low frequency, the hoarse voice continued, ¡°Butt...¡±

    ¡°In!¡±

    Beeeeeep--- As soon as she finished speaking, the line was immediately cut.

    ¡°She¡¯s a feisty one, isn¡¯t she¡­¡± The frivolous expression on Qin Ye¡¯s face diminished substantially as he nced meaningfully at the soul sphere on the table, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°That was quite the insightful interaction.¡± Arthis paused for a moment of deliberation before continuing, ¡°Firstly, you need to understand the distinction between each rank of ghosts. You¡¯ve been apprised of the differences among the S-grade ghosts through to the E-grade ghosts. The truth of the matters is that there are corresponding qualitative ssifications to the ghosts as well.¡±

    ¡°The E-grade ghosts correspond with ordinary souls or spirits. In other words, these are the ghosts that are moremonly known as wandering spirits or drifting spirits. The D-grade ghosts refer to vengeful apparitions. These are ghosts who had been so enraptured by their obsessions prior to death that their spirits were unable to dissipate after they died, thereby bing vengeful apparitions. The vengeful apparitions only possess ordinary capabilities.¡±

    ¡°The C-grade ssification refers to malevolent ghasts. Malevolent ghasts have developed the capacity to infiltrate and influence a person¡¯s mind as well as manipte external objects. Ghasts must be eradicated once discovered. Furthermore, ghasts also possess cognitive functions and the ability to speak just like any other human out there.¡±

    ¡°The ghost that we had just interacted with was mumbling incoherently at all times, and that tells us that it probably isn¡¯t a C-ranked ghast. If we use the proper nomenture, it would either be a pseudo-ghast or a vengeful apparition at best.¡± Arthis pondered, ¡°This means¡­ she¡¯s never truly mastered the use of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. She won¡¯t be too formidable. It should probably be well within your abilities to subdue her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just a mere ¡®probability¡¯.¡± Qin Ye continued to fidget with his phone. Several secondster, he continued with a categorical deration, ¡°It¡¯s a ¡®certainty¡¯.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t react in the slightest despite my sudden interjection earlier. Her tone of voice didn¡¯t even change one bit. This proves that she has no capacity for conscious thought at all. Her existence is purely built on her obsession, and she simply wants the death of the Wang family. Nothing else forms part of her considerations.¡±

    He furrowed his brows slightly and paused for several more seconds before he continued, ¡°But¡­ have you considered this - her abilities are far from strong, yet she dares to provoke and challenge a fully fledged Emissary of Hell. She even possesses the ability to make a move against Wang Chenghao in broad daylight. This is well beyond the abilities of a mere apparition.¡±

    Arthis was silent. It took her some moments before she finally responded in a calm voice, ¡°Do you know something¡­ Humans are interesting creatures after all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d really like to know something. I¡¯d witnessed you fawning over Granny Meng and currying favor with her earlier at the Naraka Bridge; previously, your life was centered around the t of mere survival and getting by; and yet, now, you¡¯re courageously confronting the troublemaking ghost with no qualms at all - even spinning silk from cocoons and painstakingly investigating the matter. Which exactly is the real you?¡±

    There had only been mere seconds from the time when Qin Ye received the phone call to the time when he started buffeting the evil ghost with probative questions. Yet, despite the short interval of time he had to make preparations, he had made the most appropriate choice by asking what seemed like apletely innocuous set of questions in order to achieve the answer that they so desired.

    They were now able to assess the ghost¡¯s true abilities!

    Arthis immediately understood what Qin Ye was trying to achieve as soon as he had embarked on his line of questioning. One old man, and one old ghost, were able to cooperate surprisingly seamlessly without any form of prior coordination.

    ¡°...Please be precise with your words. What do you mean by fawning and currying favour? It was a tactical retreat in the circumstances.¡± Qin Ye continued bluntly, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯d very much like to continue cruising along and doing just enough to get by, but there¡¯s no longer any way of doing so without confronting the problem in front of me right now. So, ¡­¡±

    Arthis interjected, ¡°So you¡¯vee to the conclusion that there¡¯s no longer a point in just getting by?¡±

    ¡°Not quite.¡± Qin Ye sighed with exasperation, ¡°My goal now is simply to dine and dash¡­¡±

    This kid truly knows himself well¡­ Arthis found his response rather apt for the circumstances, and she found herselfpletely lost for words. ¡°Well, what do you n to do next?¡±

    Qin Ye sneered, ¡°I¡¯d initially been thinking of tackling the root of the problem while leaving myself some room for manoeuvre¡­ But given how Wang Chenghao hasn¡¯t returned yet, I¡¯m left with no choice.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to strike without mercy.¡± He dered resolutely, ¡°She dares to fight back against Hell¡¯s dictum? This ghost truly hasn¡¯t understood the meaning of death.¡±

    ¡°...Should I be pleased? Why does it seem like you¡¯re far more confident after learning of the extent of your enemy¡¯s strength? It¡¯s like you¡¯ve transformed from a Gintama character to a Dragon Ball¡¯s character in just an instant. I still can¡¯t quite get used to the stark change in your persona so far¡­¡±

    ¡°... You know nothing. I¡¯ve merely made a tactical choice.¡±

    ***

    The weather today was peculiar, to say the least. The sky had been clear and cloudless all throughout the morning. Yet, as soon as the clock struck 3 p.m., the sky quickly became overcast.

    Whoooooosh¡­ Strong winds began to sweep across thends. Anyone could tell that it was the precursor to a massive downpour.

    At 6 p.m., a peal of thunder resounded powerfully, and crackles of greenish-white lightning peeked out from the ckened clouds like mythical dragons dancing in the sky. The entirends were nketed with darkness and trembled at the mercy of the thundergod¡¯s fury.

    Squeeaaakk¡­ A wooden door was gently pushed open in The Afterlife, and a paper umbre extended out of the gap between the door and its frame. Qin Ye stood under the umbre, dressed in his Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform and fully clothed with his authority as an inspector of Hell. He was heading out at the onset of the demonic hour.

    Fwoosh! A massive gust of wind replete with stter from the torrential downpour kicked up the corner of his robes. The recent surge in reports of paranormal activities on online forums and social media, coupled with the government¡¯sck of intervention meant that the entire county was devoid of life as soon as the clock struck 6 p.m. The only trace of civilization were the dim yellowish glows of the streetmps lining the roads.

    This was the funerary street.

    Patter patter!

    The torrential rain poured down like innumerable silver threads connecting the sky and the earth. From time to time, Qin Ye could see some people, both young and old, drifting by the roads that should have otherwise been sparse and empty. However, the strangest thing was that these pedestrians were only dressed in green or white, or a mix of both. No other colours could be seen on their bodies.

    In fact, one could make out wisps of smoke emanating from their bodies. If one took a closer look, he would realize that the feet of these pedestrians never once touched the ground. They acted like puppets, monotonously repeating the same actions that they had habitually done in their previous life, over and over again.

    These were spirits. Drifting spirits, also known as wandering spirits.

    ¡°These souls no longer have a ce to go to because Hell has been emptied out. That¡¯s why they¡¯re simply drifting about aimlessly.¡± Arthis exined in a hushed voice, ¡°If a magistrate doesn¡¯t appear very soon, the mortal realm is going to experience a great copse.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. Rain continued to wash off the edges of his paper umbre, forming a neat curtain of water in front of him as he continued to march towards his destination. Wherever he went, the wandering spirits would bow down and prostrate to him, paying their respects to him with trembling as though he were an emperor walking among his pce servants.

    There was no logical thought process behind these actions. They were merely instinctual.

    Clink-nk¡­ The soul shackles around his waist ttered. Qin Ye nced in the direction of the Hyatt Corporation, ¡°The heavens are furious, and Hell¡¯s gate is open. Do you really think you can get out of this predicament alive?¡±

    This was an incident that would determine whether he lived or died three dayster. He would very much have liked to explore an amicable solution to this problem. But, now that he was forced into a corner, anyone in his shoes would go for broke.

    Meanwhile, at the top floor of the Hyatt Corporation building, two bloodshot eyes seemed to have sensed something amidst the torrential downpour, and they nced menacingly in the direction of the funerary street.

    ¡°Urgh¡­.uuuuurrrgghhhhh¡­.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to walk on slowly. He saw wandering spirits drifting everywhere within the county. By Hell¡¯s dictum, all ghostly rabble must disperse. Not a single spirit dared to even draw close to an official Emissary of Hell.

    The county was notrge by any means, and Qin Ye found his way to the entrance to the Hyatt Corporation building very soon.

    Even though it was only a small five-story building, it was still considered a very conspicuous existence within the county. This was a building that had been erected in the 2000¡¯s, and it was already showing signs of its age. Just then, the main door that should have been locked tight was silently opened. Faint yellowing light glowed from within. It looked almost as though the gates of Hell had just been opened.

    ¡°We Emissariese from Hell to begin with.¡± Without hesitation, Qin Ye stepped right through the main door of the building.

    Qin Ye was immediately greeted with a grand reception desk. Yet, nobody was manning it. shes of lightning toggled the ambience of the main hall between light and dark. Qin Ye entered the elevator and pressed a button. Then, as soon as the doors shut, the lights in the elevator flickered and sizzled before going outpletely. His eyes nced around his surroundings sharply.

    Someone¡¯s here.

    The elevator had beenpletely empty when he first got in. Yet as soon as the door shut, his reflection in the mirror revealed that behind him¡­ stood a woman with long dishevelled hair. She was wearing a long ck dress and red high heels, and she hung her head lowly.

    Just like that, she stood silently behind Qin Ye, almost as though she were his shadow!

    As the lights went out, her bloodshot eyes could be seen underneath her curtain of dishevelled hair - she was staring directly at Qin Ye!

    It was that moment when light and dark intersected. The strangest part about all of this was the fact that the elevator was still slowly ascending.

    Bzzt¡­ Just then, a peculiar sound could be heard in the pitch-ck darkness of the elevator.

    ¡°Urgh¡­.uurrrrrgghh¡­¡± It came from right behind Qin Ye!

    Qin Ye¡¯s palm wrapped around the hilt of his saber in the dark. His ears perked up and twitched slightly as though he were a prowling tiger. He regted his breath and lowered its magnitude to a minimum.

    One man, one ghost. Both were trying to sense each other in the dark.

    Swish¡­ A faint trace of cold wind tickled the hairs on Qin Ye¡¯s neck. Simultaneously, a bright gleam of light cut through the darkness in the elevator like a bright shooting star.

    It was the bright gleam of a saber.

    A glint of light shot through the air like a jade shooting star, and the saber shimmered like autumn frost.

    The sounds of the saber unsheathing and sheathing seemed to echo at the same instant. A miserable scream cried out. Then, with a click, the lights came back on once more, and the only person that could be seen in the lift¡¯s mirrors was Qin Ye¡¯s reflection. The lift door suddenly opened.

    The third floor.

    He had clearly pressed the button to the fifth floor earlier.

    ¡°You¡¯re guilty of the crimes of resisting arrest and obstruction of justice.¡± A crackle of lightning shed in the background. Qin Ye¡¯s arm was wrapped tightly around the hilt of his saber, ¡°Well then¡­ do pardon myck of manners.¡±

    Before he even finished speaking, the soul shackles around his waist began ttering. In the blink of an eye, the chains had already transformed into tens of chains and shot in all directions around him.

    The chains seemed endless, and appeared to act as though they were Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. With a massive crash, everything on the third floor, including the doors, desks and cabs, were immediately shattered into pieces! That said, the hooks at the end of the chains didn¡¯t prate the walls, and instead appeared to act as Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. In just less than ten seconds, innumerable chains had already scattered across the entire floor, dividing the space into far smaller partitions as they continued to linger about menacingly.

    Office paper scattered like confetti in the air.

    Ding-a-ling¡­. A chime echoed softly from the end of the soul shackles that were wrapped around his waist. Within moments, the sound of several bells echoed throughout the rooms like a rising tide of sound.

    ¡°She¡¯s escaped.¡± Arthis remarked cidly, ¡°She¡¯s even weaker than we had expected. That said, where does she think she can run to? This building only has five floors. We can lock down each floor of the building systematically from the ground up. There¡¯s a massive thunderstorm out there, and the evil ghost will most certainly perish if it goes out right now.¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent. His pupils were gleaming with traces of bright light.

    A Netherworld Operative could hardly be considered a high-ranking Emissary of Hell. In fact, he was merely akin to a vige leader in theherworld. He didn¡¯t possess any magical powers like the Anitya Hellguard or the Infernal Judges did. And apart from the low-grade implements such as the demonhead saber in his hands and the soul shackles around his waist, the only other thing that he could rely on was merely the privileges and benefits that were conferred upon all Emissaries of Hell.

    In this regard, one of the most basic of benefits conferred upon all Emissaries of Hell was the infernal eyes. Upon activation, everything in one¡¯s vision would turnpletely monochromatic and nothing would be hidden from sight. Neither day nor night made any difference to a user with the infernal eyes.

    ¡°Escaped?¡± He still held onto the hilt of his saber tightly, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ her physical body has escaped. But can you tell me what this is?¡±

    Arthis waspletely startled, ¡°This is¡­¡±

 Chapter 19: Your Undead Army

    <h4>Chapter 19: Your Undead Army</h4>

    The building was by no meansrge. After all, Hyatt was not arge corporation to begin with. Right this moment, the corridor leading up from the third to the fourth floor of the building was packed with over ten spirits that were drifting about,pletely obstructing their ess to the next floor.

    ¡°Is this your undead army?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    ¡°...Of course not, my troops are currently in Northre-¡­ Hang on, why do I even have to answer such a stupid question of yours in the first ce?¡±

    Qin Ye noticed that Arthis¡¯ disposition had somewhat changed. He had the urge to ask her what was responsible for turning a former high-level bureaucrat into someone less imposing than a little bird. Where was all her nobility and frigid charisma?

    ¡°These are familiar spirits.¡± Arthis exined with some measure of bewilderment, ¡°It¡¯s strange to see things like familiar spirits here. Have you heard of a saying, familiar to a tiger?¡±

    ¡°The saying speaks exactly of familiar spirits. Legend has it that a tiger would transform any human it devours into a familiar spirit of its own and use that to lure and draw in other travelers to the tiger¡¯s den. Why would something like that appear here?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°That¡¯s not the point. What I want to know is just how strong these familiar spirits are.¡±

    ¡°Very weak. They practically have no offensive abilities at all. These familiars can create some illusions at best.¡±

    As soon as she finished her exnation, Qin Ye shot forward like an arrow loosened from a bow.

    Arthis¡¯ lips twitched slightly. He was still gripping the hilt of his saber nervously when the familiar spirits¡¯ abilities were yet unknown to him. But as soon as he discovered that these spirits don¡¯t possess offensive abilities at all, he immediately shot forward like a horse with a fire lit up its ass. What kind of a person is this¡­

    Shiiiing! Dazzling light shone wherever Qin Ye¡¯s saber went. The demon¡¯s head on his saber ignited with a gloomy me, devouring soul after soul as they were cut down. Wherever the saber¡¯s light went, the souls melted as rapidly as the snow melts in the warm spring sun. Waves of routed Yin energy surged towards him like tidal waves, only to be scattered by a simple cry on his part. Then, after onest flourish of his saber, the lingering Yin energy finally dispersed to the surroundings.

    The revivification of Hell was finally underway. An Emissary of Hell had been dispatched, and the weak drifting spirits had encountered their natural predators.

    Tsss¡­ The corridor linking the third and fourth floors finally opened up. Qin Ye charged up immediately.

    The entrance to the fourth floor of the building was aplete mess, as though someone had earlier been ransacking the ce. The originally orderly office desks had all been knocked on their sides or overturned;puter essories were scattered everywhere, and even the lights had all been shattered. As soon as Qin Ye made it up to the fourth floor, the doors and windows to the corridor were immediately snapped shut at the same time.

    BANG!!

    A crackle of thunder struck the window outside, causing everything to turn greenish-white momentarily. Qin Ye¡¯s hands were still wrapped tightly around the hilt of his saber. He could tell that there was an existence on this floor of the building whose level of Yin energy was on apletely different scale than the familiar spirits. But he was uncertain just how much stronger this entity was.

    It was probably still weaker than him, but it would nevertheless be wise to treat this opponent seriously.

    This must be where That Amorous Affair¡¯s true body is!

    ¡°So soon?¡± He muttered softly as he nced vigntly at his surroundings.

    Arthis was simrly puzzled, ¡°To be honest, there¡¯s nothing wrong with her appearing already. She¡¯s only juste into contact with the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal a few days ago, and it¡¯s evident she hasn¡¯t mastered its use yet. How many tricks do you think a piece of trash like her would have up her sleeves? That said¡­ she was still able to capture Sledgehammer Wang in broad daylight, so the full extent of her abilities should still be hidden for now. At the very least, there¡¯s no reason for her to reveal the full extent of her might at the moment.

    Drip¡­ Just then, Qin Ye felt an icy cold sensation on his neck. He touched it. It was blood.

    Ice cold blood. Coming from just above his head.

    ¡°Urgh¡­.uuuurrrrrgghhh¡­¡± A peculiar noise that was mechanically intermittent came from the ceiling just overhead. Despite the windows and doors on the fourth floor beingpletely shut, a chilling wind of Yin energy had begun to blow, causing Qin Ye¡¯s Hell¡¯s Emissary robes to flutter wildly. Simultaneously, the demonhead saber sliced through the air, drawing a magnificent radiant arc of light in the air.

    BANG!!

    With a muffled sound, Qin Ye retreated two meters. A crackle of lightning shed once more, and Qin Ye finally managed to catch a glimpse of the true face of the ghost on the ceiling.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Even though he was already mentally prepared, he still couldn¡¯t help gasping in shock.

    Even Arthis was taken aback, and it took her some time before she could remark, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­ I finally get it¡­¡±

    The ghost wasn¡¯t even in human form.

    Ghosts generally maintain the appearances of its physical form just prior to death, regardless of their ss or circumstances. Yet, That Amorous Affair did not.

    Instead, she possessed an almost ethereal body. Her face was iparably pale, as though it waspletely devoid of blood. Her dishevelled hair hung loose, somewhat obscuring the demonically bloodshot eyes of hers. Her gaping wide mouth was filled with vicious, gnarly fangs, all of which were ink-ck in colour.

    She wore a ck dress. Her body was as twisted and contorted as humanly possible. Yet, beneath that dress¡­ was the lower half of a tiger¡¯s body!

    Furthermore, her body seemed rather iplete - several dark and grisly holes the size of a finger¡¯s width covered her entire body! It was reminiscent of one who had been sentenced to the ancient ¡°Iron Maiden¡± punishment. Her entire body was riddled with holes. It was terrifying!

    ¡°Urgh....uuurrrrrrggghhhh¡­¡± The lower half of her body continued to cling tightly to the ceiling. What had just struck Qin Ye was evidently not her arms. Rather, it was her tail. Simultaneously, she was holding tightly to a foot-wide safe with her hands.

    ¡°Kid, I¡¯m afraid that things aren¡¯t as you¡¯d expected.¡± Arthis'' voice seemed somewhat distant, ¡°Her form...I¡¯ve seen it somewhere before.¡±

    ¡°Half-man, half-tiger, and escorted by familiar spirits. This is...a phenomenon known as the tiger fabrication.¡±

    ¡°The holes in her body represent the thousands of pointed verbal attacks that she had received prior to her death, each puncture leaving a deep, grisly wound in her body that lingers for the rest of time, even after death. The voice of Wang Zemin that you¡¯d heard over the phone was probably also something spoken by one of her familiar spirits in an attempt to lure others to investigate the tiger¡¯s den.¡±

    ¡°Unless one has an immense grievance with no viable outlet for venttion, it¡¯s practically impossible to inherit this form after death. Damn that CEO Wang¡­ was he messing with us despite the fact that we¡¯d summoned his soul for the final time?¡±

    A grievous death? Qin Ye nced at the vengeful apparition on the ceiling with some measure of surprise. He was instantly reminded about the post that he had seen - about how incredibly critical and harsh the anonymous voices had been in their usations towards That Amorous Affair as soon as the verdict was passed.

    It was overwhelming.

    These were the anonymous voices of inte vigntes who had abused the Hyatt Corporation on her behalf after hearing her ount of the incident. Then, as soon as they perceived that they had been made use of, and their intelligence had been insulted, they doubled down on their abusive words andunched intense mud-slinging attacks on the one whom they were trying to help in the first ce! It was their curses and marrow-piercing insults, and the immense tidal wave of humiliating words and threats that cut deep into her body and turned her into what she was today!

    But¡­ this was an old incident from five years ago. Was there still a hidden secret to it?

    ¡°Urgh...uuuurrrrrgghh¡­¡± The bloodshot eyes stared transfixed at Qin Ye.

    At the same time, Qin Ye regted his emotions and spoke with a low voice, ¡°Regardless of whether you¡¯d been maligned or not, the fact remains that you¡¯ve murdered someone. There are rules to all things. Since you¡¯vemitted the crime of murder, you¡¯ll naturally be subjected to themensurate punishment. Submit to me, and you may be granted mercy from the immeasurable suffering you might otherwise face. You¡­ do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    ¡°ROAR!!¡± With a fierce tiger¡¯s roar, the apparition leapt down from the ceiling and pounced straight towards Qin Ye.

    Quick. Incredibly quick! In fact, it was so quick that its strike had already arrived right in front of Qin Ye before he was even able to react to it or dodge its attack.

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± Since it was toote to take evasive measures, there was no point in attempting such trivialities altogether. With a battle cry of his own, the demonhead saber in his hand trembled. His clothes fluttered on its own, while the veins of his arm grabbing tightly to the hilt of the saber bulged violently.

    BAM!! The Yin energy in his surroundings began to rush madly towards him. In an instant, the convergence of Yin energy transformed into a several-meterrge cyclone that raged from his feet! Just as the apparition arrived in front of him, the demonhead saber in Qin Ye¡¯s hands finally shifted.

    It was slow, so slow that it appeared to bepletely motionless. But, this was a mere optical illusion that had only urred because his actual movements were so quick that the naked eye was unable to track his movements. Thus, it simply appeared as though nothing had shifted at all.

    Whoosh¡­ Time seemed to freeze in that instant. The apparition¡¯s dress and hair fluttered wildly before falling down again. Her bloodshot eyes were still gazing menacingly at Qin Ye. Then, the sound of a saber being sheathed finally broke the oppressive silence.

    Clink.

    ¡°Do you know¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped for breath. His expressions were somewhat pale, ¡°The orders of Hell are on apletely different level from your meagre gathering of drifting spirits¡­

    ¡°Both the Hell¡¯s Emissary robes and the subduing saber can be considered treasures of Hell, each of which are imbued with magical abilities that allow me to suppress ghosts on a level equivalent to mine. Ah¡­ in the human context, it would be akin to how police are equipped with guns. Would that be a more easily understandable analogy?

    ¡°In fact, I¡¯ve be fond of referring to my saber as a Zanpakuto. And this move¡­ is officially called the phantom cleave. Me? I¡¯d like to call it the Getsuga Tensho. Unfortunately, it¡¯s an ability that I can only use once a day¡­¡±

    The tiger ws formed by congealing the surrounding Yin energy had stopped approximately ten centimeters in front of him. It was unable to go any further.

    Like a sculpture, the apparition trembled vigorously. Then, with a loud whoosh, her ethereal body was scattered by a powerful gust of winds, reducing her to nothing more than several spots of green light that continued to hover about and linger in mid-air. The safe which she had been clinging tightly to finally fell to the ground, and the door to the safe was knocked open.

    CRASH!!

    As soon as the apparition vanished, the ss elements in the entire building were all blown out to bits! A sphere of minute sh marks expanded out in all directions, etching themselves into the walls and ceiling of the building. Qin Ye stood tall at the center of it all.

    ¡°I¡¯m a person who never does anything he¡¯s not certain of.¡± Qin Ye breathed out a long sigh of relief. Simultaneously, his proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell flew up from his bosom, and a line of writing was mysteriously added to its records.

    ¡°Granted deliverance to one vengeful apparition; maximum of 20 merit points granted.¡±

    ¡°Remaining points required for promotion to a Soul Hunter: 180 merit points.¡±

    So this is the so-called merit system¡­ Qin Ye scanned the words on his proof of identity, and he was about to shift his gaze away when he suddenly froze in ce. Then, he did a double take at the records.

    No¡­ There¡¯s a problem!

    ¡°Granted deliverance?¡± Having also noticed the same issue, Arthis eximed, ¡°That¡¯s not right¡­ Hell is incredibly strict about it¡¯s ranks and forms. And the merit system, which is the foundation that the rank system is built upon, is even stricter! After all, there are only a few billions of people in the mortal realm. But I¡¯m afraid that the number of souls that have umted in Hell over time is well beyond this number.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, ¡®expunging¡¯ a ghost and granting ¡®deliverance¡¯ upon a ghost arepletely different things. There is no way that the merit system will mix these up.¡±

    She continued, ¡°Expunging is when an evil ghost refuses to submit and ends up being destroyed by an official of Hell so that it would no longer do any harm to the world. Granting deliverance is quite something else altogether. Deliverance is when an evil ghost submits to conversion, and the Emissary of Hell has also fulfilled the ghost¡¯s dying wishes. In other words, the merit system only grants more points to the Emissary when it detects that the evil ghost no longer has any lingering regrets or attachments.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. In other words, this was essentially the difference between surrendering and being arrested. The one who was arrested might go on to exact vengeance on society in future; but the one who surrendered had essentially done so out of contriteness and turned over a new leaf.

    His situation was clearly the former. He had just killed the apparition, so why was it orded to him as having granted deliverance upon her?

    Moreover, the apparition had clearly exhibited a hostile intent towards him, so how did he manage to grant deliverance upon her so easily?

    After pondering for a long time, he finally spoke again, ¡°You¡¯d earlier mentioned that resolving the source of a ghost¡¯s obsession bestows true deliverance upon them. And this is an undergirding principle that is applicable to all ghosts.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, both he and Arthis immediately turned to look at the now-opened safe. This was an ordinary safe. The door had incidentally been split open by Qin Ye¡¯s earlier attack. Yet, he could tell that the safe was otherwise covered in w marks as well.

    But, those w marks were not those of an animal¡¯s. The w marks were slender¡­ almost as though they were caused by a woman¡¯s nails when she dug and scratched at the surface of the safe.

    ¡°The only other thing that I might have done was to unintentionally cleave open this safe. In other words, her object of obsession might very welly in the contents of this safe. Something of vital importance is hidden inside. Even after death, she had time and time again attempted to open it, but to no avail.¡±

    ¡°Safe to say, this is her source of obsession.¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The mandarin words here are ÈýÈË³É»¢, an idiom which essentially means that rumours be facts when repeated sufficiently. It¡¯s a y on words, because »¢ also means tiger; the original story came from a wise minister who was worried that in his absence, the Emperor would believe lies about him from his political enemies. He asked the Emperor, ''would you believe it if one of your ministers told you that there was a tiger roaming the city?'' The Emperor replied, ''Of course not!'' The wise minister then asked, ''What if three of them told you the same thing?'' The Emperor hesitated then said, ''Well, perhaps.'' The wise minister nodded and said, ''Thus, three men can create a tiger.'' Hence this is now a Chinese idiom that if untruths are repeated enough time, people will begin to believe them no matter how ridiculous they sound. It''s surprisingly apropos given what''s going on in the world these days, but we digress.

    2. If you¡¯ve watched/read Bleach, this is none other than the first move that Ichigo learns to unleash after unlocking his Shikai.

 Chapter 20: The Real Truth

    <h4>Chapter 20: The Real Truth</h4>

    Qin Ye emptied out the contents of the safe. It was filled with document after document. Everything pertained to the various agreements that Hyatt had previously entered into. As he sieved through more and more of these documents, he suddenly noticed a ck box thaty at the very bottom of the safe.

    As soon as he opened it, he saw a tattered mobile phone stashed safely within the box.

    It was a slightly older model. Qin Ye switched it on proficiently, only to notice that the phone was surprisingly fully charged. It was evident that this phone had been habitually maintained. There was no password to it either. Qin Ye immediately essed the documents folder.

    The folder¡­ was filled with videos!

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Arthis asked in bewilderment.

    Qin ye nced at the thumbnails as he responded, ¡°Look at the timestamps...these should be all of the videos that That Amorous Affair had recorded from the time she got to know Wang Zemin to date.¡±

    She actually had videographic evidence! Why didn¡¯t she post these to the forums back then?

    He opened them and began sieving through the videos. The contents of the videos were ordinary at best. It started with a video of That Amorous Affair in person. Even though these were videos that he had once seen five years ago, Qin Ye still couldn¡¯t help but admit that she was an incredibly beautiful woman.

    Twenty-five or twenty-six was the prime age when women transformed from spritely, youthful girls into maturedies. Their bodies would naturally exhibit the best of both worlds during this period of transformation. That Amorous Affair had slender eyebrows, sharp faces andrge glossy eyes - all of which were features that were touted on the inte as the perfect, ideal facial features yet rarely seen in real life.

    The videos were shot surreptitiously. It was evident that the videos had been shot from a fixed location like a spycam, as opposed to forthrightly filmed videos. As a result, there were times when the subject of the video couldn¡¯t be seen altogether, and only the audio could be heard.

    Things started off sweet and rosy. It was like the honeymoon period between any couple. Naturally, this was probably reflective of the period of time when the two had first got to know each other. She also enjoyed taking selfies, just like how any other beautiful women out there did. Furthermore, the selfies that she took usually showed off her own privileged lifestyles.

    ¡°Everything worn by this woman is rathervish. Tsk tsk, CEO Wang is truly extravagant, isn¡¯t he?¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but remark aloud.

    There were over twenty videos to sieve through, and none of them were short videos to boot. Qin Ye watched on patiently. Yet, the more he watched on, the more discordant its contents became.

    The videos weren¡¯t getting any longer. Rather, it was just that these videos had begun to record more and more instances of arguments.

    ¡°When the hell are you going to marry me?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve sacrificed so much for you. I¡¯m not working anymore, and I¡¯m not even going home anymore! Don¡¯t you love me? Do you have someone else outside?¡±

    A man¡¯s voice responded with ostensible frustration, ¡°I¡¯ve told you that we can¡¯t rush these things. Be good, alright? The age gap between us is quite substantial, and there¡¯s naturally a lot of considerations to take into ount. You don¡¯t want to end up with a broken family, do you?¡±

    Qin Ye looked at the timestamps of the videos. The first video was recorded between five to six years ago, and the series of videos took ce over an entire year.

    Both their lives were like water that was being put to a boil on a stove, slowly simmering and stirring. As time went on, That Amorous Affair grew more and more impatient, and the instances of quarrels and arguments only increased.

    ¡°You¡¯ve lied to me¡­ you¡¯ve lied to me!! Screw you! You¡¯re a married man, aren¡¯t you?! Your child is studying in the Ocean City High School right now! Why did you have to lie to me?!¡±

    ¡°Look, I can exin everything. The person I truly love is you¡­ there are some things that are difficult to exin right now, but you¡¯ve just got to trust that my feelings for you are genuine. Take a look at this. What do you think of this leather jacket? I¡¯ll buy it for you in a couple of days, alright? I don¡¯t even buy these things for the other woman at home.¡±

    ¡°Get lost!!¡±

    Crash¡­ The video revealed an exquisite flower vase shattering into pieces on the ground. Wang Zemin finally lost it and bellowed in rage, ¡°Will you please calm down and listen to me?! Can¡¯t you just wait for me a little while longer? Time! I need time!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to listen to anything! Get out! I¡¯ve given you everything I have¡­ yet you¡¯ve simply lied to me for an entire year! I¡¯m going to sue you!¡±

    The video suddenly shook violently, almost as though it had been knocked to the ground amidst a physical confrontation between the two. The only thing that could be seen next in the video were the pair of legs of the two standing close together. In the next instant, Wang Zemin could be seen tightly embracing That Amorous Affair, and there was a trace of fear hidden beneath his immense disy of tenderness, ¡°Don¡¯t be like that. It¡¯s already been a year. If I were lying to you all this while, would I still be here right now?¡±

    ¡°Our feelings are mutual. Listen to me - give me some time, and I¡¯ll buy you whatever you want in the meantime. Don¡¯t say such things again in future, alright?¡±

    This part of the series of videos ended there. Or so Qin Ye thought.

    Momentster, the darkened screen brightened once more and revealed That Amorous Affair¡¯s face replete with her tear-stained eyes and disheveled hair, ¡°He¡¯s lying to me. I can feel it. His child is already in his teens and in the first year of high school. How could he possibly divorce his wife for me?¡±

    From then on, she changed. In the subsequent videos, she continued to maintain her rtionship with Wang Zemin. However, she began to ask for more.

    Money, money, and more money.

    Qin Ye gathered from their conversations that Wang Zemin habitually provided her an allowance of RMB 30,000 every month, and even bought her many designer goods. However, with every mention of a threat to sue, Wang Zemin would cave in and give her more and more. RMB 50,000¡­ RMB 70,000¡­ in the end, the sum increased to an immensely burdensome RMB 200,000.

    Hyatt Corporation was notrge by any means. Even though Wang Zemin was the richest man in Clear Creek County, this still didn¡¯t mean that his source of funds was unlimited.

    Arguments had be the norm in thetter few videos.

    ¡°What do you want from me?! I¡¯ve already been forking out a sum of RMB 200,000 for your expenditure every month, yet you still don¡¯t find that enough?! Fine. Let¡¯s break it off. We should have ended this a long time ago!¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ breaking up? Mr Wang, you make it sound like such a trivial affair. I¡¯ve stuck by your side for well over a year, yet you dare to talk about splitting up now? Are you even a human? You best believe it when I say I see you in court tomorrow. We¡¯ll air your dirtyundry in public, and your wife and son can see with their own two eyes what kind of a man their beloved father truly is!¡±

    ¡°You.... fine¡­ this is thest time. Half a million, and we¡¯ll call it quits!¡±

    Bang! The door was firmly mmed shut.

    It was just like a pot of water simmering on a stove. No matter how insignificant the me is, the water would still one day reach its boiling point. After simmering for well over a year, the turbulent waters between the illicit couple had finally reached its boiling point.

    The penultimate video.

    ¡°How dare youe looking for me at mypany¡­¡± The video should have been recorded using a pinhole camera. Although the images were slightly shaky, the resolution was sharp enough to capture Wang Zemin¡¯s vile expressions clearly. It was evident that That Amorous Affair was already paving the way for her own retreat.

    In other words, as soon as she realized that there was no happy ending to this rtionship of theirs, her mentality slowly shifted from that of giving to that of taking. In her mind, she had sacrificed her youth for him, and she was merely asking for what she deserved in exchange.

    Shk¡­ The newest model of an LV handbag was ced on the table. Her wrists were adorned with Cartier jewellery. It was clearly more exquisite and expensive than the one she had previously worn. Her nails were beautifully maintained and painted over with pretty pink nail polish.

    The pinhole camera had ostensibly been worn on That Amorous Affair¡¯s clothing, and it naturally didn¡¯t capture her image. Her voice echoed, ¡°One week ago, I posted something on the Tianya forums.¡±

    Here ites. Now was when the water had begun to bubble vigorously.

    ¡°I¡¯ll advise you to take a good look at it.¡±

    Wang Zemin immediately switched on hisputer. Secondster, he stood up abruptly and barked through his gritted teeth, ¡°You¡¯re fucking crazy!!¡±

    ¡°I called you, but you¡¯ve refused to answer my calls. So you changed your number? cklisted me on WeChat? Wang Zemin, you¡¯re smart, but did you really think I won¡¯t be able to track you down with what I already had?¡± That Amorous Affair also stood up and barked back in a voice that was seething with just as much rage as his did.

    ¡°Lower your voice!!¡± Qin Ye could sense Wang Zemin¡¯s confluence of shock, rage and dread even through the screen. Wang Zemin immediately grabbed hold of her hands and continued with gritted teeth, ¡°What else do you want? Haven¡¯t I already given you half a million RMB? What more do you want from me?!¡±

    ¡°Equity.¡± That Amorous Affair¡¯s response was clean and curt, ¡°Yourpany isn¡¯trge. Give me 15% equity in thepany, and we¡¯ll call it quits.¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was still and calm. Truth be told, he had never expected things to turn out like this. How could he have known the extent of Wang Zemin¡¯s superb acting skills? How could he have imagined that Wang Zemin would have the gall to even lie to a fully fledged Emissary of Hell? It was only because the stone had been stashed in his safe had he revealed the code to his safe in a moment of panic. Otherwise, the truth might forever have remained buried together with this safe.

    That said, when all was said and done, Qin Ye was still an Emissary of Hell. Thus, he continued to watch the revtion of their affair as though he were reading a storybook.

    People can turn out vastly different even when undergoing simr experiences.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite greedy.¡± Qin Ye mused aloud, ¡°She¡¯s evidently looking to secure her finances in the long run. Wang Zemin has be her personal source of funds. She¡¯ll do absolutely nothing, but will continue to get paid handsomely. It¡¯s literally the dream of all mistresses out there. There¡¯s no way Wang Zemin is going to agree to this. No wonder he bit back so viciously.¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous!!¡± Just like Qin Ye expected, the video showed Wang Zemin slumping back down onto his chair and chuckling bitterly, ¡°We¡¯ve been together for over a year, and I¡¯ve given enough. Equity is off the table.¡±

    After a brief pause, That Amorous Affair dropped the bombshell, ¡°I¡¯m pregnant with your child.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±

    ¡°Nothing¡¯s impossible.¡± Her hand stretched into the frames of the screen and lifted the coffee cup in front of her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to spill the beans for the sake of our child. At the very least, our child still needs to be able to lift his head up high.¡±

    ¡°Get out of my sight.¡± Wang Zemin spoke icily.

    ¡°You¡¯re vicious, but I¡¯m no herbivore either. Just wait and see.¡± That Amorous Affair finally stood up and left. The final expression that was seen on Wang Zemin¡¯s face was almost akin to the expression with which one looks at the dead.

    The final video.

    It didn¡¯t reveal her image. The only thing that could be seen were her two hands, desperately typing as she responded to thements on the forums. Qin Ye nced at the timestamp - the final video was recorded slightly over one monthter.

    In other words, it was after the verdict was passed.

    She had been far too naive. The human heart was far moreplex and unpredictable than she had thought. If one was unable to cope with the dangers of a trial, then it would naturally be wise not to put one¡¯s self through that trial in the first ce.

    Wang Zemin had always been fully aware of where his bottom line was, what he couldpromise on, and what was non-negotiable. As soon as this line was crossed, he would much rather throw caution to the wind than topromise yet again. By this point, he was determined to have a clean break from all of this, even if at great cost.

    His repeated disy of ostensible weakness had led That Amorous Affair to mistakenly believe that she could continue to manipte Wang Zemin in ordance with her whims and fancies. Unfortunately, her handle on Wang Zemin was hardly as firm as she thought. After all, the two were vastly different in terms of their social status to begin with.

    ¡°How¡­ how could this have happened?¡±

    As far as the eyes could see, she was furiously typing with both hands in a desperate attempt to exin something on the forums, ¡°It¡¯s not¡­ it¡¯s not like that!¡±

    Her phone continued to buzz incessantly with notifications. Wang Zemin was much more ruthless than she had ever expected. The verdict of the courts had not only been posted on her Weibo ount - it had even been sent to her parents¡¯ ce back in her hometown!

    She picked up the phone. As soon as she answered the call, an old man¡¯s voice exploded. The old man was evidently appalled and seething with rage, ¡°You¡­ youe back home right this moment!!¡±

    ¡°Dad¡­ listen to me¡­¡±

    ¡°You still have the nerve to argue with me?! What have you done?! The verdict has been stered all over our neighbourhood! You¡­ Do you know how shameful these things are? Even if you¡¯re numb to all these things, we still find it incredibly shameful! You¡­ y-you¡­ how could you do this?! How are we old folks going to hold our heads up high ever again?!¡±

    Anotherdy¡¯s weeping voice echoed the man¡¯s voice, ¡°Oh daughter, what have you done? How could you¡­ how could you destroy someone else¡¯s family like that?! The heavens are going to punish you and strike you down by lightning!¡±

    ¡°The two of us are already getting on in our years, and there¡¯s nowhere else for us to hide our faces now! You mentioned that you were going to Eastsea to look for work. Yet¡­ yet how did thingse to this?! Oh god! Wuuuu¡­ wu-wu-wu¡­¡±

    ¡°Did you even think about us when youmitted these shameful misdeeds, huh?!¡±

    After hanging up the phone, That Amorous Affair finally choked up, thenpletely broke down into a heart-rending bawl.

    Was it regret? Regret for having even met this man to begin with? Regret that she should never have been too impatient? Or perhaps regret for letting herself be far too invested in the rtionship?

    Whatever the case was, nobody knew.

 Chapter 21: Who Moved Her Body?

    <h4>Chapter 21: Who Moved Her Body?</h4>

    Regardless of whether they personally knew her or not, instance after instance of abusivements and condemning words continued to show up on her screen and Weibo ount alike, just like a relentless barrage of arrows tracking down a single person. "You deserve to get fucked!" "Don''t you know the meaning of shame?" "I¡¯ve been around for quite some time, but I¡¯ve never seen someone as whorish as this!"

    She was even openly expelled from her groups andmunities. "Ocean Stone Middle School ss 3 Group has expelled you from itsmunity", "Ocean Stone High School ss 1 Group has expelled you from itsmunity", " East Sea Workforce Group has expelled you from itsmunity"...

    Everyone was pointing fingers at her.

    "H-he deserves death!" In this very final video, That Amorous Affair''s originally well maintained, pristine appearances had already be ostensibly haggard and frail. Her eyes were bloodshot, while her hair was as disheveled as it had ever been. Almost in a deranged fashion, she looked at the camera lens and barked, "I''ll never let him get away with this¡­even if I die, I''m going to drag his entire family down with me!!"

    "He''s ruined my entire life! He will get his retribution...he will definitely get his retribution!"

    The final video ended here.

    Nobody said anything. Nobody could ever have expected the truth to be something like this. Who was in the right, and who was wrong? This was not an easy question.

    In the beginning, she was the weaker party, and the one more deserving of sympathy. Yet towards the end, her actions were instead the more despicable ones and deserving of disgust.

    Everyone pointed fingers at her, and what originally started out as mere rumours became as real as facts to the world. By this point, the truth had bepletely meaningless. The jibes and words directed at her by the many constituent parts of the inte drove straight into her like a sharp awl, piercing innumerable holes in her body, forcibly turning her soul into a chimeric-like existence even after death.

    Nothing can leave a more lingering stench on a person than an incident like this.

    Arthis finally spoke up, "She must''ve brought her phone along when she decided to jump off the roof of the Hyatt Corporation''s building with the hope that her phone would be discovered by the investigators and coroner''s, and that her videos would eventually be leaked to the public. That was her swan song attempt to drag Wang Zemin under together with her."

    Qin Ye continued to build upon it, "Unfortunately, Wang Zemin got to her phone before anyone else could and stashed it in his safe, almost as though it was a trophy of sorts. Naturally, her lingering obsession was simply to unlock the safe, because all of the evidence she possessed was stored in here. Even after she became a ghost, she continued to w desperately at the safe in a feeble attempt to break it apart, thereby leaving a multitude of w marks on its surface."

    "Was there really a point to this?" He sighed, "We already got the code¡­ you didn''t get smarter after death, did you?"

    "Are you upset?"

    Qin Ye shook his head and responded calmly, "I''m hardly interested in her feelings and experiences. A person like her who has only died once before doesn''t know a single thing at all."

    "It''s precisely because of things like hatred and sorrow that one must learn to live on with a smile at all times."

    A philosopher? Arthis nced at Qin Ye with some measure of surprise and bewilderment. How did this fe...be so enlightened all of a sudden?

    These words are profound in and of itself¡­ these utterances of universal truths had sprung up spontaneously out of nowhere...were these really words that a little kid who would ordinarily exchange blows with me was capable of speaking?

    Are you truly happy? Or is your smile simply a disy of pretense to mask your true self?

    Humans...can be so hypocritical. No wonder I chose to be reborn as a death kni-¡­ Eh? Something seems a little bit off?

    Rumble¡­ A bolt of lightning crackled loudly, breaking up the somewhat awkward atmosphere between them. Qin Ye was the first one to break the silence, "Is it over?"

    "It''s over." Arthis dered firmly, "Let''s look for where the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is. We should leave as soon as we find it."

    Qin Ye began trawling through the rest of the contents within the safe, yet, several momentster, he quickly furrowed his brows. After thoroughly searching through all of its contents once more, he stood up and shook his head.

    ¡°Nothing?" Arthis was taken aback, ¡°That¡¯s not possible...Wang Zemin mentioned that he had ced it here¡­¡± As soon as she finished speaking, both of them froze where they were.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± Secondster, Qin Ye nced at his surroundings, ¡°We¡¯d been so focused on the ghost that we¡¯d forgotten about the most important thing.¡±

    ¡°Who was it who mailed the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to Wang Zemin? In other words, who was the one who had the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his possession prior to this entire incident?¡±

    In a low voice, Arthis continued to build on Qin Ye¡¯s posttions, ¡°It¡¯s more than just that. Kid, you¡¯ve only been an Emissary of Hell for a short period of time, and you¡¯re still far too green. There¡¯s something you¡¯vepletely missed out upon.¡±

    ¡°Let me ask you about the most crucial detail¡­ Where would you say was the ce of genesis of this entire incident?¡±

    ¡°Eastsea Province.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, almost as though he¡¯d caught onto something.

    ¡°And where are we now?¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent.

    Westriver Province.

    The Eastsea Province was thousands of miles away from Westriver. Given the limitations of That Amorous Affair¡¯s abilities as a ghost, there was simply no way she could have traversed that entire distance on her own just for the sake of vengeance.

    ¡°The spirit of a person who died an unjust death would never transform into a ghost unless her corpse was nearby.¡± Arthis remarked meaningfully.

    The answer was now obvious. Someone had learnt about the incident with That Amorous Affair. That same person had also obtained the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. And that exact same person had transported thisdy¡¯s corpse across thousands of miles to the Westriver Province!

    Arthis'' voice grew somber, "Kid...I don''t want to die. My life is now inextricably tied to yours, so I''m going to iron out some kinks for you.

    "Premise: Hell has been emptied out, and ghosts run amok in the mortal realm. Most of these ghosts are harmless drifting spirits, and they would pose no dangers no matter how numerous they may be. However, there would undoubtedly be a handful of exceptions who were fortunate enough to be sent flying by the eruption in Hell to locations rich in Yin energy.

    "It''s like what Granny Meng has said - these ghosts have been waiting patiently and biding their time. Hell has etched in their hearts a deep impression, and they continue to experience a lingering fear for the Emissaries of Hell. They also fear that Hell would one day be restored. Yet, now, after the effluxion of a hundred years, some of these old ghosts¡­ their patience has finally been worn thin.¡±

    Qin Ye listened closely to every word that was being spoken. Arthis continued, "What I''m about to say ismon knowledge in theherworld. First, you need to know the types of ghosts that correspond with the different grades of ghosts from E to S. These are, in ascending order of seniority, wandering spirits, vengeful apparitions, malevolent ghasts, dread wraiths, incarnate revenants, and devils. Apart from that, there are also some exceptions that fall outside of this ssification, including household gods, ancestral spirits and the like."

    "In Hell, we have the ranks of Netherworld Operative, Soul Hunter, Anitya Hellguard, Infernal Judge, Abyssal Prefect, Yama-King, as well as the Sixfold Ghost Kings who are outliers to the ranking system. The ranking system for Emissaries of Hell corresponds with the ssification of ghosts. Those of us who have been working in Hell for thousands of years now havee to realize¡­"

    She took a deep breath, before stressing her following words, "The most effective way for ghosts to attain a breakthrough¡­ is not to kill the living. Rather, it is to devour other spirits!"

    "Devouring one''s kindred ghosts is the quickest means of progress! As long as they possess a certain baseline level of capabilities, not a single one of these ghosts that had been expelled from Hell during the copse is oblivious to this shortcut. Back then, there was Hell to keep the ghosts in check. But, what about now?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°Are you saying¡­ someone was nning to devour the female ghost haunting the Wang family? Was that why they intentionally brought a corpse all the way from the Westriver Province to the Eastsea Province?¡±

    Arthis nodded solemnly.

    Qin Ye frowned. ¡°Is that really necessary?¡±

    ¡°Of course! After all, ghasts are existences founded upon a relentless obsession. The stronger the sense of obsession, the easier the breakthrough from an apparition to a ghast. The fact that the female apparition haunting the Wang family possessed such a strong lingering obsession naturally means that it is akin to an incredibly precious tonic to all ghosts! Kid, I¡¯ve got a conjecture, and I¡¯d like you to be mentally prepared for what it entails.¡±

    Arthis continued earnestly, ¡°I suspect¡­ that an entity that is minimally at the level of a ghast is currently residing in West-Cathay and¡­ breeding fodder.¡±

    ¡°Cmity is imminent in western Cathay.¡±

    As soon as the word ¡°fodder¡± was spoken, Qin Ye¡¯s mind was instantly cleared of all doubts.

    So that¡¯s what it is!

    That¡¯s right...if it is far more convenient for ghosts to devour each other, then the Wang-family incident could very well be one of the many breeding grounds for fodder!

    used by a multitude of people and undergoing an unusual ghastly transformation after death - what could be a better form of nutrient for these ghosts?

    This was the true reason why the mastermind was willing to painstakingly transport her corpse all the way from Eastsea Province. This was also why that mysterious entity was willing to use the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to nurture such a spiteful spirit!

    Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air. If that¡¯s the case...it means that a distinguished ghost that had survived Hell¡¯s copse¡­ is finally getting impatient.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a ghast¡­¡± He deliberated for a moment before dering with confidence, ¡°A ghast is merely one grade above the apparitions. The fact that the puppeteer was so willing to allow the Wang-family female apparition to straddle the realms between apparition and ghast means that he is absolutely confident in his own abilities to control her. In other words, it¡¯s almost certain that the puppeteer is at least in the ss of dread wraiths!¡±

    The soul sphere ¡®nodded¡¯, adding, ¡°Dread wraiths are creatures that require multiple city-level Anitya Hellguards to subdue. Perhaps you might not fully understand what kind of power a wraith possesses. Let me break it down for you¡­¡±

    She thought for a moment, before continuing, ¡°You humans have a film called ¡®A Wicked Ghost¡¯. Have you watched it before?¡±

    Of course! Qin Ye nodded his head - that¡¯s where Chu Renmei is from! Back then, Qin Ye was so frightened by the depiction of that ghost that he didn¡¯t even dare to look at his reflection in a mirror for well over a week!

    The fact that he had been alive for decades didn¡¯t change this. After all, even the most skilled of martial artists would still be wary of someone holding a kitchen knife.

    ¡°Her abilities are quite simr to that of the typical dread wraith. Killing sixty-six people¡­ that number doesn¡¯t seem particrlyrge, yes? However, what is most frightening of wraiths isn''t the number of people that they have killed to begin with. With no one to keep them in check, they can simply go on and on and wreak havoc wherever they may be."

    She heaved deeply, "And their most frightening ability¡­ is that they are innately surrounded by a massive volume of Yin energy, and they can therefore transform a locality into and rich in Yin energy, otherwise known as Yin Grounds. This is also what ismonly known to Man as a haunted house or a corpsnd or corpsegrounds. Souls are naturally drawn towards ces rich in Yin energy. If left unchecked, these ces will eventually turn into a nest of ghosts!"

    "Ah¡­" Qin Ye''s mouth widened, and he gently shook his head. There used to be Hell keeping watch over these affairs. But, what about now?

    "And that''s not all. Back when Hell was actively keeping them in check, the worst that ever happened was that these grounds would turn into a nest of ghosts for a time before being shut down. But, now, with Hell out of the picture, if these nests start to be more organized and develop their own ranks and systems, each with their own tasks, roles and assignments for the ghosts within, what do you think will happen?"

    Qin Ye gasped. A new Hell! A newherworld! "Is he mad?!" Qin Ye clutched at his chest as he eximed.

    Arthis continued meaningfully, "Any ghosts that have the capacity to endure the multitude of torture treatments in hell are invariably notorious figures who has left a mark in the annals of history. How could they simply be described as ''mad''? Speaking of which, why are your legs trembling so much? Could you at least show some of the courage that all Emissaries of Hell should possess?! You''re lucky that I''m not your direct superior. Otherwise I''d have subjected you to the skyntern punishment a long time ago!"

    "Bullshit! Is it not normal to tremble when I''m in the sights of a ghost with abilities akin to a city-level governor? ¡®Skyntern punishment¡¯? Who do you think you are?"

    All I want is to just stay alive! The n was to just dine and dash once, yet I''ve got to do it again?

    "What are you afraid of?!" Arthis barked resentfully, "If I was here in my full power, it wouldn''t take more than a single flick of my finger to dispose of that ghost."

    Qin Ye wiped off the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead nervously, "But then again¡­ I''ve only knocked over this pot of breeding fodder identally. Sir Ghost wouldn''t get mad at me, would he?"

    "Sir Ghost? Come again?!"

    "Why are you getting so agitated? Isn''t it only natural to refer to our elders with honorifics?"

    "You''re only using honorifics towards people who pose a threat to your life and limb, aren¡¯t you?!¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you spewing, Arti?¡± Qin Ye coughed sheepishly, before changing the topic, ¡°Besides¡­ these things aren¡¯t important anymore, are they? The crucial question is - where exactly is the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal located?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nearby...I can sense it¡­¡± After a brief moment of deliberation, Arthis dered with confidence, ¡°The rooftop.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly where she leapt off back then. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s where her corpse is lying right now!¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. Chu Renmei, also known as ¡®Cissy¡¯ in the English subtitles, was the ghost in

 Chapter 22 - Special Investigations Department

    <h4>Chapter 22 - Special Investigations Department</h4>

    Without another word, Qin Ye picked up That Amorous Affair¡¯s cell phone and made a beeline for the rooftop.

    The fifth floor of the building waspletely empty, while a small set of stairs provided ess to the rooftop. As he drew closer, he noticed that the lock on the door to the rooftop had already been broken some time ago.

    Qin Ye forcefully kicked down the door to the rooftop. As soon as he stepped out, he immediately gasped. Everything on the rooftop was harrowingly white.

    Amidst the torrential rainfall and incessant peals of thunder, the greenish-white shes of lightning appeared to entuate the snow-white mourning hall that stood eerily on the rooftop!

    Wooden shelves wereced with white prayer gs fluttering wildly in the wind.The rest of the scene was decorated with a number of paper horses and paper servants which surrounded three silhouettes that sat silently among them. A dark coffiny in the center of it all, while the mes of two half-meter tall candles flickered madly in the rain as it continued to emit a dim glow in the surroundings.

    Despite the torrential downpour, the mes on the candles continued to burn softly.

    Qin Ye slowly made his way forward. On such a gloomy, rainy night like this, the prayer gs continued to tter incessantly with the billowing winds, seeming all the more horrific than ever.

    Wang Zemin and his wife were dressed in ssic Cathay tunics. Their eyes were closed, and each of them sat on their own chair silently. None of them were breathing. Their skin was cold and as instic as ever. Nobody knew how long it had been since they had passed away.

    Wang Chenghao was passed out on the chair between his deceased parents. He was still breathing, yet Qin Ye chose not to wake him up. After all, some things were best left unknown to him.

    ¡°This is man-made.¡± He looked at the mourning hall and dered with confidence, ¡°The manuscript that Granny Meng has left me states that ghosts can¡¯te into contact with things of the mortal realm. There¡¯s no way they would be able to set up a mourning hall like this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that¡­¡± Arthis chuckled coldly, ¡°Look closely at this coffin.¡±

    The ink-ck coffin was tied up and bound by innumerable blood-red threads. Four bronze oilmps were carefully ced, one at each corner of the coffin. Each of them were alight with a dim, pea-sized me.

    ¡°The Four Stars Soul Summoning Array¡­ the fourmps each represent one of the four baleful heavenly bodies, namely Ketu, Rahu, the Voracious Wolf, and Mars. The red threads are woven from human hair that had been soaked in blood. Seven dayster, the evil spirit would return to its body. This technique belongs to the earthly branch of the feng shui secret arts. Damnation¡­ it looks like we¡¯ve underestimated this old ghost. He¡¯s probably already established some form of connection with some exceptional human individuals to achieve all this.¡±

    Qin Ye slowly ran his hand along the corner of the coffin. Then, a tiny smile suddenly crept up the corner of his lips. ¡°You still haven¡¯t told me whether I will be discovered by this old ghost or not.¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Arthis brushed him off, before realization dawned on her, ¡°What are you trying to say? You¡¯ve got a devious smile on your face.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve suddenly thought of a little problem¡­¡± Qin Ye lifted the coffin, ¡°Perhaps there might be a way to set my heart at ease¡­ but now¡¯s not the time to discuss that.¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t press the issue, because as soon as the coffin¡¯s lid was lifted, an incredibly dense Yin energy surged up from the coffin, instantly converging into a powerful vortex of Yin energy that was invisible to mere mortals!

    Whaty within the coffin was exactly the corpse of That Amorous Affair. It looked almostpletely perfect, with hardly even a trace of her leaping off the building. She was wearing a ck dress, just like the one that was shown in the videos. Both of her hands were folded neatly on her bosom. However, right beneath her hands, a crimson stone continued to spew out a boundless amount of Yin energy!

    A shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal!

    Shashasha¡­ Right this moment, in all of Rivergorge City, two mysterious entities simultaneously turned their gazes in Qin Ye¡¯s direction.

    At the top of the Green Dragon Mountain Cemetery in Rivergorge City, a muffled, cracking sound could be heard from an ancient tombstone. Secondster, with an eerie click, a withered hand stretched out of the grave.

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± An avaricious voice that sounded as though it had just learned to speak echoed out from the crevice in the grave, ¡°I...I...I hunger¡­¡±

    Somewhere else, on another archaic-looking street, a woman wearing a red dress who wasbing her hair in front of a mirror suddenly turned her head around 180 degrees. Drool poured out from her mouth like a waterfall as she gazed at the distant sky.

    Clear Creek County.

    The eruption of Yin energysted no more than a split second. Before these mysterious entities could begin to track down his location, Qin Ye had already waved his long sleeve and drawn the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal into a silken brocade bag that was tied to his arm.

    I¡¯ve finally found it¡­ Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but heave a massive sigh of relief at this moment. However, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to inspect the shard to see what exactly it looked like. As soon as he first touched the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, he immediately experienced a wonderful sensation of bnce swelling up within him.

    Yin and Yang were now bnced once again, and the curse of the three-day limit had finally been broken. But before he could even finish heaving that sigh of relief, tens of red dots immediately began hovering about outside the white mourning hall like flies.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Arthis looked at the red dots curiously. This was something she was unable to identify despite her wealth of knowledge and experience. Qin Ye, however, only needed one nce at the red dots before he began trembling wildly.

    Of course you wouldn¡¯t know¡­ how could a person who¡¯s not kept up with the times know what these things are? In fact, it would be far more peculiar if an old grand-aunt like you could recognize something like this!

    ¡°Eh? You look terrified. Your hand appears to be shifting. You¡¯re lifting your hands¡­ are you attempting to surrender? Who are you surrendering to?!¡± Arthis¡¯st few words were spoken in a shrill, agitated tone of voice.

    What happened to your dignity as an official of Hell?

    ¡°Screw that shit!¡± The veins in Qin Ye¡¯s temples were pulsing madly, ¡°These red dots are calledser sights! You stupid fool!!¡± The damn things are far more frightening than a Frostmourne Sword. A pull of the trigger is tantamount to a death sentence¡­ do you even know the differences between firearms and normal weapons?

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Arthis appeared to have recalled something important, and then she nced at Qin Ye as though she had seen a ghost, ¡°What are you getting so nervous about?¡±

    ¡°What are you talki-¡­¡±

    ¡°Ordinary humans can¡¯t see you when you¡¯re wearing your Hell¡¯s Emissary robes. Why else do you think they seem to be pointing thosesers about aimlessly?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed discreetly and put his arms down before ring back at Arthis, ¡°They can¡¯t see me...but...can they still hit me?¡±

    ¡°Of course they can!¡± Arthis responded as though speaking to an idiot.

    Trembling, Qin Ye raised his arms once again.

    ¡°Idiot!¡± Arthis bellowed, ¡°Just hide behind your ssmate!¡±

    Oh, what the hell?! Qin Ye gave the soul sphere an appreciative nce, before swiftly darting behind Wang Chenghao.

    Everything went silent despite the torrential downpour. Over ten red spots continued to linger and hover about the rooftop mourning hall. Then, approximately ten minutester, four figures finally emerged from the corner of the adjoining street.

    Each of these four people were dressed in ck suits and toted ck umbres. It was hard to distinguish them one from the other in the dark of the night. That said¡­ each person seemed to emit certain fluctuations of energy from their bodies.

    ¡°Cultivators.¡± Arthis dered with certainty as soon as she spotted them, ¡°But they¡¯re rather weak. Our abilities are built upon Yin energy, while they cultivate using primordial true energy. We walk different paths.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to observe them for several more seconds before sighing wistfully. He was ascertaining with his own two eyes that these were not people he could trifle with.

    The four people had, at best, just embarked on their path of cultivation. Having sized up the extent of their abilities, he adjudged that he would be able to dispose of all four of them at the same time with no problems at all.

    That said, their authority was quite something else. They were here as representatives of the mortal realm. In other words, a disposal of one of these agents was hardly any different from issuing a public deration of war against the mortal realm. With his present abilities, that would be tantamount to a death wish.

    ¡°Greetings, sir.¡± As soon as they arrived at the building, the four men stopped in unison. One of the four bowed deeply. His voice was not loud. Yet, it still echoed throughout the entire building, ¡°We¡¯re investigators from the National Special Investigations Department, Clear Creek County Branch. My registration number is AC-276.¡±

    ¡°AC-265.¡± ¡°AC-285.¡± ¡°AC-281.¡±

    ¡°We mean no harm.¡± The bowing man continued respectfully, ¡°We¡¯ve been tracking this ghost for two whole weeks, ever since it first breached our supernatural perimeter. Since our abilities are too weak to subdue it, we¡¯ve also notified the city district. This ghostly entity is ssified as a pseudo-ghast.¡±

    ¡°But, just a little while ago, we noticed the disappearance of all traces of this pseudo-ghast. Any existence that can expunge pseudo-ghasts on their own are guests of honours of all major departments in the entire province. That said¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, ¡°We don¡¯t seem to have any records of your registration number.¡±

    ¡°Might I ask if you hail from the Shushan Sect, the Xiangxi Sect, or the Zhengyi Sect? Or do youe from somece else altogether? With strength like this¡­ if Senior remains unaffiliated to any other organizations, might we be able to interest you in considering the Special Investigations Department?¡±

    ¡°Supernatural perimeter?¡± Qin Ye queried in a hushed voice.

    Arthis pondered for a moment before responding, ¡°It should be some form of protective measure of sorts¡­¡±

    ¡°Protective measure?¡± Qin Ye found such an abstruse concept incredibly difficult to understand.

    ¡°...Perhaps we can put it differently: it¡¯s like how your little ding-dong is protected by a thinyer of protection in order to sequester billions of sperm from their target. But as soon as there is a breach in this protectiveyer, it could very well mean jackpot. Understand now?¡±

    ¡°...even though this analogy is rather bizarre...I understand it in mere seconds¡­¡±

    The torrential rain continued to pour down. Nobody apart from the persons involved was aware of the fact that there was presently a somewhat fascinating conversation going on at the building. AC-276 continued in all seriousness, "It seems, sir, that you are unwilling to consider our proposal? Then¡­ at the very least, is it possible to meet face to face?"

    "Senior, as you''re probably already aware, the mortal realm is presently experiencing some rapid, massive changes. This could very well be the preamble for something which threatens Cathay¡¯s existence for the very first time. In fact, the scale of what is toe may even threaten the world as we know it. The apocalyptic movies are no longer mere fantasies. No matter how strong one is individually, it would still be difficult to stand against the gales of upheaval alone."

    Another man who was dressed in a ck suit added, "Sir, with your abilities, you will immediately be appointed an official if you joined the Special Investigations Department. Naturally, it is only if you join us that you will be granted ess to our wealth of resources and obtain first responder reports of any supernatural events." As they continued their spiel, they also discreetly repositioned themselves around the entire building.

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows whilst he continued to lean against the ss, "Do you have any means to allow me to leave this ce without leaving any traces behind?"

    Arthis responded calmly, "Take out the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and hold it in your hands."

    Qin Ye let out a sigh. Then, with a flick of his sleeves, the silken brocade opened up, and he quickly wrapped his fingers around the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. Just then, a massive tremor jolted his mind! The entire world around him began to spin.

    Boundless Yin energy¡­

    It was absolutely immeasurable. Qin Ye felt as though he was a mere drop of water that had fallen into the vast ocean. He felt as though he had caught a glimpse of all eighteen levels of Hell. Then, he felt as though he saw the thousands upon thousands of ghosts traversing the Yellow Springs Road as he flew further and further away into the horizon. Finally, a massive golden pir of light exploded in front of his eyes, and he noticed that he was suddenly standing right at the feet of the statue of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha.

    It was as tall as the skies, as vast as the horizons.

    Time began eons before the establishment of Hell; thends stretched far beyond the horizon, while the skies extended up endlessly. Multitudes of constetions nketed the wild ins, and the winding rivers converged into the boundless oceans.

    He was nothing more than an ant in front of all these things.

    His heart had practically paused in that epiphanous moment. After what felt like ages, he suddenly shuddered and came back to his senses. He was already covered in cold sweat.

    This is the power of Hell¡¯s artifact? And this is the extent of power emanating from a single shard of it?

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart continued to palpitate as he stared at the shard, norger than an inch and a half. Just then, almost as though it detected a new owner, its boundless Yin energy began to flourish, and itpletely enveloped him in just an instant. Several secondster, he transformed into an emaciated-looking man dressed in ck and wearing a tall hat.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got twenty minutes. Separately, don¡¯t worry about Sledgehammer Wang¡¯s reaction to all of this. He won¡¯t remember anything that happened recently.¡± Arthis exined.

    Qin Ye nodded his head. However, just as he was about to rush out, he suddenly let out a muffled groan as he crouched down, clutching at his head.

    Whoooosh¡­ His mind spun like a wild vortex, and a rapidly changing image appeared in his mind - his perspective had just transformed into a god''s view!

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The first 2 names take after concepts belonging to the Vedic astronomy. The first refers to a point opposite an imaginary star presaging disaster; while thetter refers to the intersection of the Moon¡¯s orbit with the ecliptic.

 Chapter 23: Vestiges of the Next Shard

    <h4>Chapter 23: Vestiges of the Next Shard</h4>

    His perspective continued to travel further and further. He saw the familiar Clear Creek County, the highways extending out of it, and then the vast ins in the suburbs¡­ His perspective followed the winding highways leading out until a miniscule toll booth fell into view. Arge word was engraved on it.

    Rivergorge.

    The prefecture-level city that Clear Creek County was directly subordinate to. This was the toll booth belonging to Rivergorge City! However, the vision hadn¡¯t stopped moving. In fact, it was still rapidly shifting, travelling deeper and deeper into the city, through the downtown district, into the suburbs, before finally stopping in front of a monstrosity of apound.

    It was gloomy and stifling. Ten meter high steel-grey walls stood around the perimeter of thepound. Oppressive, bright searchlights installed above the walls continued to shift around vigntly. Traces of an electric fence could be seen in the shadows as well. The oppressive aura about this building made it appear like a monster prowling about at night.

    "This is¡­" Qin Ye pressed hard on his temples. Innumerable traces of blood stains had been left on the walls, while countless men could be heard moaning and groaning from the other end of thepound. His god''s view zoomed in on thepound. Within moments, he began to notice some gritty details, including iron handles covered in rust, and cked, weathered stairs¡­ Then, in the very next moment, a pair of blood-red eyes opened widely, staring straight through the walls and right at him.

    Qin Ye saw him as well.

    Their third eyes confronted each other squarely despite hundreds of miles between their physical bodies.

    Yin energy. It was Yin energy far stronger than that possessed by the female ghost which he had just delivered. In fact, this entity''s Yin energy was so strong that Qin Ye could perceive it despite the vast distance between them.

    Three secondster, the entire image vanished into thin air. However, just like diators, each of their auras had already been etched and imprinted on the other''s hearts.

    "Why didn''t you tell me that as long as I''m holding onto the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, the owner of the next shard would immediately be able to see me?" Qin Ye gnashed his teeth at the soul sphere.

    That''s right. Even though it had been mere seconds'' worth of direct confrontation, he immediately knew exactly what it meant. The endless cycles had just begun their rotations. And the end game was that only the one who managed to secure all of the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal would be able to live on.

    "Must''ve slipped my mind." Arthis responded with insincerity, "In any event, holding onto the shard is the only way to leave this ce. Or would you like to also dispose of the four men waiting for you outside?"

    Qin Ye revealed a wry smile as he massaged his temples, "And I finally thought that I could begin to trust you as well."

    Arthis murmured, "Is that so...such a pity¡­"

    Before she could finish speaking, Qin Ye had already kicked off with his foot and charged straight towards the ss walls that surrounded the roof.

    CRASH!!

    The four men surrounding the building were immediately taken aback. To their eyes, the ss panels had exploded into millions of fragments, while a man wearing a long ck robe shot straight out of the building like an owl at night. He wore a tall, pointy cap with the words "world peace" written on them. His face was almost ghastly pale¡­

    "This is¡­" The four men paused for a moment before eximing in unison, "An Anitya Hellguard of ck and White?!"

    Whoosh¡­ None of them bothered holding onto their umbres at this moment, and each of their four umbres were swept into the heart of the pouring rain. Simultaneously, the rain around the four people began to contort slightly as well. What should havended on their bodies instead skirted around them as though they were boats coursing through a body of water. At the same time, their clothes began to flutter about without wind.

    That said, the mysterious man hardly waited for the four cultivators to make their move. In fact, he didn''t even pause for a single moment. Instead...he simply soared into the sky just like a goshawk!

    Whoosh! The four men who had been poised for battle were instantly petrified. The mysterious figure quickly soared past them. Secondster, as they slowly recovered from their astonishment, they continued to stare at the sky with abject disbelief.

    Rumble! A bolt of lightning shot across the sky, yet any traces of that mysterious figure was long gone by now.

    Nobody spoke a word.

    Nobody moved a muscle.

    The raindrops were no longer avoiding their bodies by now. Instead, they sttered all over their faces. Yet, almost as though they hasn''t realized that much, the four men continued to gaze into the distant night sky where Qin Ye had shot towards.

    "Flew¡­" Several momentster, one of the men dressed in suits finally opened his mouth with trembling, "Flew? He really flew? Was I mistaken?"

    "No¡­" The man who had first been tracking down Qin Ye, AC-285, also spoke with a shaky voice. His hands were trembling as though he had just seen a ghost, and he shook his head with resignation, "He''s really taken flight...he really has¡­"

    "B-but how is this possible?!" "Even the Chief Investigator can''t do this!" "Could that man really be an esteemed Anitya Hellguard of the ck and White?!"

    What happened to the tacit agreement that this would be no more than a meeting of the weak? It''s as though everyone had been ying innocently in a small, isted pond, when a man suddenly arrived saying that he had reserved it for his personal use. What was the meaning of that?

    "What''s the reading on his energy level?!" The man who first broke the silence, AC-276, finally returned to his senses and he immediately hollered at the others, "Quickly! What''s the figure?!"

    The three other men had already whipped out their trigram boards before AC-276 could finish speaking. However, as soon as their eyesnded on the boards in their hands, each of their pupils immediately constricted.

    "E-error...impossible to ascertain¡­" AC-285 gasped as he stared in bewilderment at the needle on the board that was spinning madly, "I-it''s already beyond the maximum possible reading¡­"

    Ding-a-ling¡­ Just then, AC-276¡¯s cell phone suddenly rang. His body trembled, and he immediately answered the call. A voice echoed out from the other end of the line, ¡°Sir! The eastern encampment has detected an immeasurable supernatural force! Do we open fire or not? Please advise!¡±

    His voice was yed out on the phone¡¯s loudspeaker. Before he could finish speaking, the four men immediately responded in unison, ¡°No! Don¡¯t!!¡±

    Are you kidding me?! This was an entity that was well beyond theirprehension. An entity that could fly... was probably an authentic Anitya Hellguard of the ck and White! If they fired upon it, the consequences could be immeasurably dire!

    ¡°Notify the military headquarters immediately. City... no! The provincial military headquarters! Tell them that the Special Investigations Department requests satellite ess! No... no, this isn¡¯t a mere request! Tell them, no matter what means we have to take, we absolutely have to track down the location of the man that just left this ce!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    After hanging up, the four men looked at each other sheepishly once more, not knowing what else they could say to each other.

    This experience was far too outrageous. It hadpletely shattered any notions of ¡°power¡± in their minds. Is this the true power of the Anitya Hellguards of the ck and White?

    Deeper concerns also sprung up in their hearts. The massive changes that Cathay was experiencing was no secret to the upper echelons of the government. In fact, Cathay had already begun rolling out a series of countermeasures decades ago. But now...had legendary existences such as the Anitya Hellguards of the ck and White finally also begun to appear?

    Rumble¡­ Another peal of thunder echoed across thends. AC-276 gazed into the distant sky with an ostensible trace of worrycing his expressions. Gritting his teeth, hemanded, ¡°Contact the military personnel stationed in Rivergorge CIty. Request authorization for an emergency mobilization of all troops to move into Clear Creek County. I want all personnel...regardless of rank!¡±

    ¡°AC-285, tidy up your previous incident report about the series of cases pertaining to the supernatural entity specialized in subduing evil ghosts and submit them all to me. Contact the city-level investigators and request backup in Clear Creek County pronto. I want a report as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Naturally, Qin Ye was not privy to these conversations andmands. Boundless Yin energy continued to enshroud him, sending him across the sky with a streak of ck energy trailing behind him. It was a fortunate thing that it was pouring so heavily today. Otherwise, there was no doubt that Qin Ye¡¯s movements would be a spectacle in the sky, to say the least.

    Then, when he had put about three hundred meters between him and the Hyatt Corporation building, he suddenly noticed that over two hundred armed policemen in camouge suits had emerged around the three separate streets leading towards Hyatt. Some were armed with sniper rifles on the roofs of buildings nearby, while others were holding up riot shields and standing in formation facing the Hyatt Corporation building.

    Qin Ye sighed in relief. Even if he had managed to dispose of the four men in suits unharmed, it was still hardly a good idea to go up against the second wave of policemenprising innumerable loaded guns like that.

    In fact, what stirred him the most was the fact that right in the center of the formation of armed policemen stood an unassuming ck shrine covered with yellow talismans and tied up with iron chains. That said, the shrine seemed to emanate an aura of prating sharpness to it.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He asked softly as he shot through the clouds.

    Arthis pondered for a moment before responding, ¡°If we say that the supernatural perimeter is like a condom, then that thing is none other than Jissbon. It¡¯s the source of Clear Creek County¡¯s protection, and it is also the heart of the formation array that detects any supernatural urrences in Clear Creek County. Do you understand it now?¡±

    Understood immediately.

    But what the hell is this?

    ¡°It looks like the entire government has been mobilized¡­¡± Qin Ye murmured as he sighed wistfully.

    This was not a good sign. The operation of any country¡¯s state apparatuses necessitated the ability to probe into any affair or incidents urring within its territory. As the urrences of supernatural incidents increased, there was bound to be a day when the government would deal with the issue openly and publicly.

    And that day... would naturally mean that the entire country woulde under tightened surveince, making it more and more difficult for Qin Ye to conceal his own identity.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take things one step at a time.¡± Shaking his head, Qin Ye¡¯s figure finally disappeared into the horizon. Secondster, he reappeared within The Afterlife.

    The only silver lining about the nationwide curfew was the fact that as long as a person dared to go out at night, nobody would ever find out about what he did. This was especially true in an undeveloped county like his.

    Swoosh¡­ The lingering Yin energy about his body quickly dissipated, revealing his original form and appearances. Feelingpletely drained, Qin Ye copsed onto the couch. He had first battled a female ghost, and then ran for his life and escaped from the scene of the incident. It had truly been an eventful night.

    Desperate for rest, he quickly shut his eyes and retired for the night. Unfortunately, sleep eluded him. When he next opened his eyes and nced at therge clock in the room, he noticed that it was only 6 a.m.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to rest a little bit longer?¡± Arthis asked.

    Qin Ye shook his head. Something was guing his mind, and he knew he would never be able to rest properly until he came up with a satisfactory solution. After washing up, Qin Ye plonked himself down in front of hisputer and began typing rapidly on the keyboard.

    ¡°What are you doing now?¡± The soul sphere floated up and watched Qin Ye curiously.

    ¡°GPS positioning - a type of satellite based navigation system that takes into ount a multitude of factors, including weather and time differences. It is a low cost solution that can generate highly urate information pertaining to three-dimensional position, velocity and timing. It basically measures the distance from each satellite to a specific receiver¡¯s position,bines the data and churns out data pertaining to the receiver¡¯s exact location¡­¡±

    Arthis was taken aback, ¡°It sounds very profound, yet you¡¯ve somehow managed to condense everything to just less than a hundred words. That said... I still have no idea what you are doing.¡±

    Qin Ye pressed the ¡°enter¡± button, and rows after rows of pictures immediately showed up on the screen, ¡°When exactly did you go to prison?¡±

    ¡°...Kid, please watch yournguage. I merelyplied with our ''reformation throughbor'' policies. It¡¯s not as bad as you make it sound¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the soul sphere as though he had just seen a ghost - Isn¡¯t that the same thing as going to prison? Here was a provincial-level governor of Hell that had been sent to the depths of Hell¡¯s abyss to reflect on her mistakes, yet she still had the cheek to attribute it tobor reform policies? I guess it¡¯s yet another old fogey who treats the need to keep up with appearances greater than life itself...and her desire to live is already so strong¡­

    The soul sphere coughed lightly, ¡°I can¡¯t remember the exact year it was, but I do know that that was a year in which I had killed rtively more people. Back then, I was still contemting how to exin myself in the annual review when a meteorite entered the earth¡¯s stratosphericyers. I grabbed at the meteorite, thinking to mess around with a meteorite transport technique to make my great escape. Unfortunately, my strength wascking, and the meteorite veered off course and smashed straight into Beiping... I think the emperor back then referred to the incident as an apocalypse.¡±

    What the hell?! You call that messing around?!

    Qin Ye paused; his eyelids were twitching, ¡°So...your tomfoolery was the cause of one of the great, unresolved mysteries guing Mankind - the Wanggongchang Explosion?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean tomfoolery? This is nothing more than a functional deployment of resources in a reasonable fashion. You should read up more. How could you call formalherworld operations ''tomfoolery''?¡±

    ¡°Yet things still got out of hand?¡±

    ¡°... There are times when reality isn¡¯t quite one and the same as one¡¯s hopes and expectations¡­¡± Arthis noticed that she was slowly being pushed into a corner, so she coughed lightly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t too far off anyway¡­ It was just a few thousand miles¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was silent.

    Secondster, he slowly massaged his temples once more, ¡°There are still a few centuries-worth of generational gaps between us. Let¡¯s put it this way -puters aren¡¯t only used for banal forum posts, they can also be used to check everything I¡¯ve just been looking at. I saw the owner of the next shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal the moment I grabbed onto the shard, and he naturally saw me as well. If I narrow the scope of my search using the various elements about his location I¡¯d earlier observed, there¡¯s a good chance I¡¯ll be able to pinpoint his exact location. Wait, hang on. Let me ask you something. How would an olddy like you, who doesn¡¯t know a single thing aboutputers, even understand my references to Arthis and other forms of pop culture?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Are you discriminating against olderdies?¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered with her anymore, and he began to trawl through the pictures that had showed up in his search results. Since both parties had already noticed each other, the situation was clear - even if he didn¡¯t go about looking for the next shard-holder, the next shard-holder would stille looking for him. Qin Ye was naturally unwilling to give up the first-mover¡¯s advantage.

    If a confrontation was unavoidable, then there was no reason to avoid it at all! From his memory, the next shard-holder was in apound surrounded by ten-meter high walls, searchlights and an electric fence. To his mind, there was only one type of ce that met this requirement.

    A prison!

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. Jissbon is a brand of condoms founded in 1998 and headquartered in China.

    2. This is part of a theory of ideology propounded by Marx and Althusser that essentially posits that social formation is required to essentially, continuously and perpetually reproduce the productive forces, iebour. It¡¯s quite a mouthful, but state apparatuses essentially refers to a system set out by the state in order to rule over its people. In turn, the system naturally requires the ability to probe into any event or incident so that it may retain control over its people in some way or other. In other words, the author is essentially saying here that the supernatural events fall outside of the surveince of these systems and the reigning back of control by these nations would require them to step up surveince.

    3. Here the author is mocking China''s old ''reformation throughbor'' system, which nominally no longer exists and was reced by the penal system.

    4. What Beijing used to be called in the Ming Dynasty in 1368-1403

    5.

 Chapter 24: Assistance Required

    <h4>Chapter 24: Assistance Required</h4>

    So... does this mean that the next arc in this little y of ours is going to be a prison break? These thoughts sent Qin Ye¡¯s adrenal nds ring up with passion, and he couldn¡¯t help but get excited. He had even begun to entertain the mischievous thought of where on his body he was going to tattoo theyout of the prison.

    However, ten minutes passed. Twenty minutes passed. Thirty minutes passed. His brows were somewhat furrowed.

    ¡°Nothing?¡± He could hardly believe theck of any results. Thus, he searched again. Yet, fifteen minutester, he stared at the screen in utter dismay - his search had indeed turned up nothing.

    Was I wrong? It isn¡¯t a prison after all? He massaged his eyebrows. After another minute, he turned back to his screen and continued the search.

    Psychiatric hospital. Nothing.

    Military base. Nothing.

    Arms manufacturing factory? Still nothing.

    After almost an hour of failed attempts, Qin Ye¡¯s eyebrows were now tightly knit together. It was as though the location that he had seen in that instant didn¡¯t exist in reality!

    Granted, there were undoubtedly mental hospitals and prisons in Rivergorge City, but they lookedpletely different from the ones that he had seen in his memory.

    ¡°If you were personally in Rivergorge City, that level of concentration of Yin energy would never be able to elude the eyes of an Emissary of Hell.¡± The soul sphere hovered about beside him. Arthis had already pretty much figured out what needed to be done, and she continued in a hushed voice, ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s no way of essing Rivergorge right now.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed under theputer screen¡¯s illumination as he finished Arthis¡¯ sentence.

    Neither one of them was a novice. The old are wise, and he was like old wine in a new wineskin; when all was said and done, the core of him remained the same. He was fully aware that it was the incident earlier tonight that had triggered the mobilization of both the Special Investigations Department as well as the national army. To make matters worse, the manner in which they left the premises had been incredibly peculiar, and it was bound to result in a sweeping investigation across the entire Clear Creek County.

    At times like this, the best thing to do in the face of absolute authority was toy down quietly and remain as discreet as possible. It would be wise to refrain from doing anything out of the ordinary.

    In other words, those who remained within Clear Creek County and left themselves susceptible to investigation would actually arouse less suspicion than those who left the county!

    Why are you leaving the county at a time like this? Is it really just a coincidence?

    Qin Ye knew that there was no way he could withstand serious scrutiny, given his identity. Most importantly¡­

    ¡°Actually, the massive investigation might give us some leads. This was something that urred to me when I lifted the lid off the coffin on the rooftop yesterday.¡±

    ¡°What leads?¡± Arthis asked curiously.

    Qin Ye licked his lips mischievously, ¡°For instance¡­ who exactly is responsible for moving the corpses here?¡±

    ¡°Anything done or caused by human hands would invariably leave traces of their interference. Incidentally, I¡¯m aware of a group of people who specialize in such a line of work. These people are also the only ones, other than Emissaries of Hell, who possess the capacity to have dealings with theherworld with the aid of anciry objects.¡±

    Arthis pondered for a moment before responding, ¡°Pallbearers?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°More urately speaking, we¡¯re talking about the seven categories of underworldly craftsmen - pallbearers, linkers, corpse drivers, coroners, executioners, effigy makers and shamans. Our mastermind has most certainly sought the assistance of a pallbearer in order to shift the corpse thousands of miles to this location.¡±

    ¡°In turn, I¡¯ll be able to tell from the mastermind¡¯s instructions to the pallbearer and their manner ofmunication and contact whether he¡¯s already identified me as the person who knocked over his precious pot of fodder!¡±

    Arthis deliberated for yet another moment, before responding with a deepened tone of voice, ¡°Quite apart from that, the mastermind is most certainly going to send someone here regardless of whether he knows of your exact identity or not. What do you think is going to happen next?¡±

    Qin Ye heart ignited with passion as he gazed directly at the soul sphere, ¡°After what happened yesterday, I can almost guarantee that anyone who enters this ce right now will most certainly be subject to the government¡¯s scrutiny! I¡¯ll be able to borrow the strength of the government¡¯s military might to dispose of the mastermind¡¯s eyes and ears! It¡¯s almost like killing two birds with one stone!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore,¡± Arthis continued confidently, ¡°... you¡¯ll at the very least also be able to glean some clues about the identity of the next shard owner from the pallbearer who had been instructed by him. There¡¯s no telling how many pots of fodder this mastermind has been brewing in Westriver by now. If you¡¯re going to keep knocking these pots over, it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before he sets his sights on you, no matter how lucky you are.¡±

    Her voice grew cold and frigid, ¡°Those who managed to survive Hell¡¯s copse are by no means mere pawns. In fact, there¡¯s a good chance that they¡¯re the vilest of vermin that are locked away in the deepest abysses of Hell. Kid, identifying his identity is almost an imperative!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. A man and a sphere gazed deeply at each other, almost as though they were now confidantes.

    Ah, my kindred spirit who treads the same path in life¡­ The old granny that I traded my Sixfold Ghost Kings Summoning Scroll for is truly extraordinary¡­ she¡¯s pretty terrifying indeed¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re finally beginning to show some of the self-awareness that all Emissaries of Hell should possess.¡± Arthis eximed aloud some momentster.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want to die.¡± Qin Ye made himself a cup of tea and added indifferently, ¡°Back then, if I¡¯d known that the search for the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal would be an infinitely endless cycle, I would never have epted Granny Meng¡¯s mission to begin with. That said¡­ it¡¯s a good thing that there are things to look forward to in this journey.¡±

    ¡°As soon as I manage to assemble King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, I¡¯ll finally be able to kick back from thefort of my home, let loose and watch the dregs of Hell duke it out with the government in a battle for life and death¡­ that would finally set my heart at ease.¡±

    ¡°Hah¡­¡± Arthis chuckled contemptuously, but she chose not to go on. Several secondster, she got back to the topic at hand, ¡°Where¡¯s the pallbearer now? He¡¯s the key to unlocking the mastermind¡¯s identity.¡±

    Qin Ye shrugged, ¡°No clue.¡± His reply was so curt and crisp that Arthis couldn¡¯t find the words to respond for several moments on end.

    ¡°Yet you¡¯re still so filled with confidence, huh¡­ Your disposition gave me the impression that you had everything under control. Yet, after all that conversation, you¡¯ve finally revealed your true character. What was the point of padding the word count like that?¡±

    Qin Ye gazed at the distant sky, ¡°How could the eagles soaring in the sky ever be in thepany of rats and snakes? With a heart like mine, how could I be bothered about these trivialities?¡±

    Arthis deeply respected Qin Ye¡¯s shamelessness.

    ¡°However¡­ even though I¡¯m not sure of the pallbearer¡¯s exact location, I do know of a ce where I would most certainly be able to find him!¡±

    ¡°And what ce is that?¡±

    ¡°The phantom market.¡± Qin Ye smiled mysteriously, ¡°Naturally, I don¡¯t know where that is located either.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly furrowed his brows, as though slightly distressed, ¡°Everyrge city has a phantom market. Furthermore, the nature of the phantom market is that it is nomadic, and it never remains in one ce for a long period of time. If need be, I can always take a risk and pop by Rivergorge City to take a look. Some of the old methods are still pretty effective, when all¡¯s said and done¡­¡±

    This was the worst possible option. He would most certainly be discovered by the owner of the next shard as soon as he steps foot in the Rivergorge City. Yet, he wouldn¡¯t even have an idea as to where the owner of the next shard is. Whatplicated matters even more is the fact that now was hardly a good time to leave the county. After all, he would at the very least have to bide his time and wait until the sweeping investigation across the county waspleted.

    Just then, a knocking sound came from his door.

    ¡°We¡¯re closed. Go next door if you¡¯ve got something to peddle.¡± Qin Ye responded casually. However, as soon as he finished speaking, the voice of an elderly woman echoed from the other side of the door, ¡°Little Qin? Open the door. Someone from the bureau of public security is here. It¡¯s business.¡±

    Public security? Qin Ye put down his teacup and smiled. You gotta be kidding me¡­ are they here to buy a coffin?

    As soon as he opened the door, Qin Ye saw a man with a peaked cap apanied by the 50-year-old Ms Zhao, who was also themittee leader of the funerary street neighbourhoodmittee.

    Qin Ye¡¯s body shifted imperceptibly when his eyes met with the policeman¡¯s eyes. Arthis wondered to herself - Rising body temperature and tensing muscles. These are all signs of excitement. What¡¯s going on?

    ¡°Here¡¯s the situation.¡± The policeman¡¯s attitude was humble and pleasant, and he gesticted with a document in his arms as he exined, ¡°Last night, a murder urred in the house of Mr Wang, the richest man in all of Clear Creek County. Both husband and wife have been utterly dismembered, leaving only their child alive. The murderer is extremely ruthless, and his modus operandi is vicious. We suspect that he might be a serial murderer as well. Therefore, we¡¯remencing a county-wide sweep in order to preserve the safety of all civilians around.¡±

    Are you freakin¡¯ kidding me? I have no beef with you, but I¡¯ll sue the hell out of you for ndering me like this! Qin Ye almost failed to keep his thoughts to himself. Do I really look like someone with such a conscientious work ethic? Dismembering the body after I¡¯d granted deliverance upon their souls? Can you at least show some basic respect for the work of an Emissary of Hell?

    I¡¯m a public official, not a pervert! I¡¯m not taking any of this lying down!

    ¡°Can we continue our discussions inside?¡± The policeman knocked gently on the door once more as he smiled.

    Cough cough¡­ Qin Ye coughed twice dryly as he turned around and walked into his home.

    His expressionspletely changed as soon as he turned around. With a faint smile on his face, he yed with the soul sphere as he muttered, ¡°Did you smell that?¡±

    ¡°... I can only perceive the changes to your body¡¯s disposition. What happened there?¡±

    Qin Ye licked his lips as he continued, ¡°His body¡­ is covered with the stench of a freshly disposed corpse¡­ And it reeks so much of freshness that I¡¯m certain it was no more than only an hour ago.¡±

    Arthis muttered in a self-deprecating manner, ¡°I may as well die. I can¡¯t even detect such smells any longer.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately pushed the soul sphere away from his body, ¡°You seem to have developed a fetish for smells. And while most people with fetish enjoy the smell of sweatshirts or socks¡­ you¡¯re actually obsessed with the smell of fresh corpses? Stay away from me. I¡¯m afraid not even the Blue Moon fragrance on my body is sufficient to remove those dark stains on your tainted heart.¡±

    Arthis¡¯ veins bulged and throbbed within the soul sphere, ¡°... No¡­ how do you know so much about these things in the first ce? How many shameful deeds have you done over thest few decades of your existence?¡±

    Such a wild imagination¡­

    It was only when the three people sat down that the policeman realized to his dismay that Qin Ye hadn¡¯t even served him a cup of water, much less tea.

    Can¡¯t you show some basic respect for a public servant like myself? ¡°Ahem... Mr Qin, my documents reveal that you¡¯re not a local. Where did youe from? When did you move here?¡±

    Qin Ye propped his head up with his hands and answeredzily, ¡°Pingjing Blessed Orphanage. Moved here about seven to eight years ago.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, dear policeman. Little Qin is a good kid. He even helps me carry my groceries and theundry all the time. He can¡¯t possibly be the murderer.¡± Ms Zhao threw in a good word for Qin Ye, ¡°Even though our neighbourhood is somewhat off the beaten path, we neighbours have all lived here for at least five years now. It wouldn¡¯t make sense for the murderer toe here or attempt to infiltrate us, would it?¡±

    The policeman pressed down on his cap and furrowed his brows slightly, ¡°What aboutst night? Were you herest night?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Why would I dare go out after 6 p.m.? Don¡¯t you guys make those announcements warning us against it everyday?¡± Qin Ye looked at the policeman in surprise.

    ¡°What were you doing?¡± The policeman¡¯s questions began to show traces of anxiety.

    ¡°Messing around with my outdated cell phone.¡±

    ¡°What were you messing with?¡±

    ¡°Reading tabloids and fake news.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid to run a shop like this all by yourself?¡±

    ¡°What, are you gonna provide for me?¡±

    ¡°... Alright, Mr Qin, I¡¯ve got one final question.¡± For some strange reason, Qin Ye¡¯s words seemed particrly harsh and curt, and the policeman found himself tongue-tied and unable to hold down a proper conversation. ¡­ Could this just be a delusion of mine?

    He drew a deep breath before asking, ¡°That man¡¯s son is your ssmate in school. Don¡¯t you feel the least bit sorry for him?¡±

    What thorough investigation¡­ Hasn¡¯t it only been a few hours since that incident? It seems that the power of the state apparatus is not to be underestimated.

    Qin Ye sneered, ¡°Why should I feel sorry for him? He bullies me everyday. I¡¯ve already wished for his death a long time ago!¡±

    The policeman stared at him for a full five seconds, before finally lowering his head, ¡°Alright, Mr Qin, please contact me if you recall anything that might be helpful to the investigations. Furthermore¡­ remember toe down to the police station in one month¡¯s time for a review.¡±

    ¡°Take care on your way out.¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The leading brand of China¡¯sundry detergent market.

 Chapter 25: The Pallbearer

    <h4>Chapter 25: The Pallbearer</h4>

    As soon as he walked out of the door, the policeman heaved a sigh of relief and pulled out his notebook. The page he was on was densely filled with names. He ran his finger lightly across the surface, and several names were crossed out. That said, Qin Ye¡¯s name remained at the top of his list.

    ¡°Team Liu.¡± He picked up his phone, ¡°Could I trouble you to check on the Tranquil Blessed Orphanage. I want you to pull all details on a teen named Qin Ye¡­ Mm, he¡¯s neen on the file, and he moved to Clear Creek County seven years ago¡­ No, I¡¯m not suspecting him. It¡¯s just that we can¡¯t afford to pass up any potential leads, especially if they pertain to non-locals¡­ And this is especially since our investigations reveal that Qin Ye was thest person Wang Chenghao came into contact with. Additionally, the E-grade ghost that AC-285 had dealt with was also the same entity that both Qin Ye and Wang Chenghao had previously run into.¡±

    ¡°Thus, no matter how you look at it, he¡¯s got to be considered as one of the suspects.¡±

    What the policeman was unaware of was the fact that Qin Ye was silently observing him from his window just behind.

    ¡°Since when have you be so filled with care and concern that you¡¯d even bother with the life and death of a person apart from yourself?¡± Arthis remained indifferent, ¡°With so many wrongful deaths urring all over the world at any point in time, can you really afford to bother yourself with each one of them?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head and squinted slightly as he responded, ¡°The notion of corpse energy is quite different from Yin energy. After all, Yin energy is something that can only be perceived by those of us who possess the infernal eyes. Even though his body is covered with such intense corpse energy, it¡¯spletely devoid of any traces of Yin energy or stench of blood¡­ It¡¯s patently clear that he¡¯s not the one who had killed somebody.¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t even bother to probe any further. Such trivialities could hardly hold the interest of a former provincial-level official.

    ¡°... Why¡¯d you be disinterested? It¡¯s unfulfilling for me if you behave like that.¡±

    Arthis couldn¡¯t help rolling her eyes within the soul sphere as she yed alongzily, ¡°So?¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent.

    Arthis - ???

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak. I¡¯m looking for a sense of fulfilment right now.¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes for a few moments, before finally opening his eyes once more with a sigh on his lips, ¡°Feels somewhat difficult to find.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°... Forget it. Think about it. Since he didn¡¯t kill anybody, how did the stench of corpse energy pervade his entire body?¡±

    Arthis immediately understood what he was getting at, ¡°Contagion.¡±

    ¡°He must have interacted with someone who carries an intense stench of corpse energy - and their interactions must have been for a reasonable period of time at that. Additionally, their interaction had only just taken ce.¡±

    Qin Ye asked meaningfully, ¡°In turn... what kind of person bears the strongest stench of corpse energy?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d naturally be¡­¡± Arthis muttered, but immediately paused mid-statement.

    When she finally spoke once more, her tone of voice had already be earnest and somber, ¡°... A pallbearer? Or perhaps a linker.¡±

    Of the seven underworldly craftsmen, the effigy makers could be immediately ruled out because they would never evere into contact with corpses. The shamans work with parasites, while the coroners and the executioners are professions that are no longermon. This left only the pallbearers and the linkers. Both craftsmen regrlye into contact with corpses in their line of work. As for the corpse drivers, they were known to work alone, and there was no way they would appear around these parts to begin with.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    ¡°Not entirely. But, as I¡¯d said before, the phantom market is nomadic in nature. The appearance of the seven underworldly craftsmen strongly suggests that¡­ the phantom market has arrived in Clear Creek County!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, humans are all creatures of habit.¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I took a nce at the policeman¡¯s notebook earlier. He¡¯s a very orderly person, and each of our names were listed from top to bottom with our addresses set out beside our names. My name was thest on that list. As with most people, he must have proceeded with his investigations from the first name and ended with mine. Incidentally, I¡¯ve got a pretty good memory, and I noticed only five names above my own.¡±

    The underworldly craftsman must be among those five names!

    Locating him would be tantamount to locating the whereabouts of the phantom market. Even if the pallbearer were not the one who had moved the corpse this county, Qin Ye need only check if the phantom market hade across any other pallbearer in recent times and follow that lead. With any luck, he might even be able to discover the identity of the next shard¡¯s owner!

    There was no need to exin everything. After all, none of them here were fools. Arthis paused, before she continued, ¡°Have a good rest. This phantom market you¡¯ve mentioned has piqued my interest. I¡¯m quite keen to learn more about people of the lower ss too.¡±

    Qin Ye remained at home for a while thereafter. He sat silently where he was until 4 p.m. before he finally picked up the soul sphere, donned his backpack, hailed a rickshaw and made his way towards the eastern side of Clear Creek County. Qin Ye could recall that three of the other five names on the policeman¡¯s notebook were all located here.

    Clear Creek County was a ce with a long history, and some of its legends had even existed for over a millenia. Naturally, some parts of the city kept its ancient appearances and styles. If not for the fact that the conservation efforts had been localized and limited, the entire city might well have been refurbished into the style of an ancient city altogether.

    Their destination right now was East Clear Creek Street, which was alsomonly known as the Ethnic Minority Street. Clear Creek County was located in the southwest corner of Westriver, close to the Ashcreek Province where many ethnic minorities had settled down at. From time to time, one would be able to spot people with head coverings or silver ornaments on their heads. This was why the government had particrly earmarked the street to be known and developed as the Ethnic Minority Street.

    That said, the term ¡°earmarked¡± might be a misnomer. Regardless, the fact remained that this was still a locality that was set out for the same purpose. The road was two meters wide and sixty-seven meters long. Both sides of the street were covered with antiquated looking houses replete with bricks and ck-tiled roofs. The doors and windows that should have been richly adorned with painting and carvings were instead mottled with age. The ground was covered with overgrown moss, and rednterns continued to hang down from the sides of the buildings. When night fell, the atmosphere about this locality would immediately turn eerie.

    It was already 5 p.m. when Qin Ye arrived at the entrance to the minority street. Several households were already packing up and preparing to close for the day.

    After paying the rider, he stepped into an alley nearby. Some preparation work could not be carried out before 6 p.m.

    Time passed smoothly, and it was soon 6 p.m. The announcements that everyone was all too familiar with sounded throughout the streets once again. The sun was setting and losing its lustre, and a cool, chilling gloom began to nket the street. The first traces of night wind began to sweep across thends. Qin Ye shut his eyes and waited patiently until the clock struck 8 p.m. And then, he finally opened his eyes once more.

    He opened up his backpack and retrieved a set of ink-ck clothes and a wide conical bamboo hat. A ck veil draped down from around the perimeter of the hat, obscuring his appearances entirely. Then, he waited for yet another half an hour before he slowly made his way out of the alley.

    He walked along the street. The walls lining the sides were pale white in colour and lined with crimson-rednterns. There was hardly a trace of any humans on the street right now. The silence was almost chilling.

    Qin Ye retrieved a small flute from his bosom. The body of the flute was white as snow, yet evidently different from the colour of jade. The flute was peculiar, to say the least. In fact, parts of it were bent and crooked, and several holes appeared to have been chiseled onto its surface somewhat haphazardly. It belonged to the ss of goods that nobody would ever bother to even inspect at a road-side stall.

    That said, Arthis was somewhat surprised by the sight of it, ¡°A human bone flute? A flute made from a virgin girl¡¯s shin bone that can serve as a medium between theherworld and the mortal realm. Its technical name is the Big Dipper Flute. You have something like this?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°I¡¯d never expected the esteemed provincial bureaucrat would even know that this is called the Big Dipper Flute.¡±

    As Qin Ye walked along the silent street, he lifted the flute to his lips and began to blow into it.

    A shrill and mournful yet clear and crisp sound began to resound from the flute. Wherever he walked, the wandering souls on the street would tremble and prostrate themselves before him. Then, wisps of corporeal Yin energy that could be seen with the naked eye began to emanate from the bottom of his feet. As the sounds of the flute began to grow more melodious, the Yin energy condensing near his feet grew thicker and thicker. Several minutester, the Yin energy had grown so thick that it looked almost as though he were walking on a ck cloud of sorts.

    Just like that, he walked on, one house after the other. Then, just as he was about to reach the end of the street, two crows perched on the roofs of houses on both sides on the road suddenly cawed in unison.

    Caw! Caw!

    These were the only two crows present along the entire stretch of dark streets.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Arthis was refreshed by the sight of a new experience. After all, when did she ever have to bother herself with such trivial, menial tasks in her hundreds of years as an Infernal Judge? In fact, she had even begun to feelcking in certain regards.

    Ah, I guess it¡¯s to be expected. Someone that can remain hidden and inconspicuous among humans despite bearing the identity of a monstrosity must have his way about things. Am I truly fated to be a flower adorning the frozen throne¡­?

    ¡°They¡¯re domesticated.¡± Qin Ye stopped ying and shook the flute slightly, ¡°This is called a Yin artifact. Professional underworldly craftsmen would immediately be able to identify the sound of a Yin artifact. In fact, it¡¯s only when they hear an authentic Yin artifact that these underworldly craftsmen would personally wee its owner as a guest. After all, it¡¯s a sign that we tread the same path in life. Crows are also known as the weing birds of the underworldly craftsmen. As long as the craftsmen are willing to extend their support to a kindred spirit, the crows would immediately wee their guest.¡±

    Qin Ye then looked mischievously to both sides of the street, ¡°That said¡­ I¡¯d never thought that there would be two craftsmen at the exact same ce at the exact same time. I¡¯m now ny percent certain that the phantom market hase to Clear Creek County.¡±

    Squeak¡­ Just then, the store fronts on both sides of the street opened at the same time. The left store front was opened by an old man dressed in a Taoist robe. Yawning, he eximed, ¡°From where does this fellow Taoist hail?¡±

    He was approximately sixty to seventy years-old with a goatee on his face and sses on his eyes. He was sickly thin.

    The door on the right had also opened, revealing ady in the mid-forties munching on a bag of chips. She was round as a ball, and her cheeks were pink and rosy, entuated only by her clean, short hair. As soon as she opened the door, she mumbled, ¡°Who¡¯s that! Blowing and blowing and blowing on your flute, eh?! Here I am trying to catch up on my dramas, yet you can¡¯t even let me do so in peace¡­¡±

    They opened their doors at the same time; they stepped out at the same time; and they also noticed at the same time¡­ the swirling, corporeal Yin energy that was surrounding Qin Ye¡¯s feet as his robes billowed in the air without the presence of wind.

    Silence.

    Three secondster, ¡°IT¡¯S A GHOST! AAAAAAAHHH!!!¡± Two loud shrill cries shattered the silent night skies, before they were quickly followed by the loud thuds of two mming doors.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    It was 8.45 p.m.

    Location - between house numbers 3 and 82, Ethnic Minority Street, Clear Creek County, Westriver Province.

    Huang Sanhe leaned against the door. His entire body was trembling and his teeth were chattering incessantly. It was hardly a cold night, yet chills continued to run down his back.

    His mind was in a mess. It was in an absolute mess.

    ¡°It¡¯s a mistake¡­ It must have been a mistake¡­ Hah-... It¡¯s impossible. Nobody could possibly control that much Yin energy all at once. Back then, when my grandfather¡¯s grandfather hung up a portrait of the Anitya Hellguard and summoned a soul from theherworld, the Hellguard didn¡¯t even show up. I¡¯m most certainly mistaken. My eyes are ying tricks on me¡­¡±

    Even though he continued to mutter and mumble, his fingers didn¡¯t stop moving for a single moment. Strand after strand of ck threads were zipping about nimbly between his fingers almost as though they were alive. He looked almost as though he were ying a game of rope flip.

    It had to be mentioned that the threads appeared somewhat peculiar. They were neither silk nor wool. In fact, it is only upon closer inspection that one would be able to tell that these threads were woven from the hairs of a human head! The threads gleamed with a dark oily glow. It was difficult to tell just how many instances of treatment these materials had undergone by now.

    Yet, the more his fingers moved, the more flustered he got. This was because he knew full well that this must be the most powerful ghost he had ever encountered, and the ghost could not havee knocking on his door for no reason.

    Thud. Just then, the door rattled once, and the man jumped as though pricked with a pin! Just a moment ago, he was still leaning intently against the door; yet in the very next moment, he had already backed all the way to the cab, screaming at the top of his lungs, ¡°D-d-don¡¯te any closer!¡±

    ¡°M-my family has nevermitted any atrocities! Y-you shouldn¡¯t be looking for me!¡±

    There was silence at the door for a moment. And then, a calm voice spoke, ¡°Linker?¡±

    Click¡­ As soon as the words fell, the lock on the door opened on its own. The old man first noticed the plumpdy¡¯s entire body quivering as she stood aghast behind the man dressed in flowing ck robes. Then, he saw how the man in ck robes simply¡­ drifted in!

    Thud. The door shut softly. Qin Ye surveyed his surroundings quickly. The old man¡¯s room was simple and humble - cases of incense, couplets, and various artifacts and talismans. Qin Ye snorted in his heart.

    These were people who specialized in profiteering from the dead. They appeared to be living humbly, yet the charges for each assignment they undertook started from RMB20,000 to RMB30,000! These guys were far richer than Qin Ye was!

 Chapter 26: Netherworld Craftsman License

    <h4>Chapter 26: Netherworld Craftsman License</h4>

    ¡°Sit.¡± Qin Ye sat down at the wooden table in the middle of the room and nodded at the two others with him. Yet, evidently fraught with abject fear, both Huang Sanhe and the plumpdy simply shook their heads silently without moving a single muscle.

    What kind of a joke is this?

    Such terrifying Yin energy¡­ this man is more terrifying than any other supernatural entity I¡¯ve encountered before!

    How can one possibly escape while seated down? But then again, escape might not be a possibility at all.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t force the issue, ¡°I¡¯ve got two questions. Firstly, why are you here? As far as I know, there¡¯s nobody in Clear Creek County who can afford your asking price, so don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re here for profit.¡±

    The woman and Huang Sanhe nced at each other and heaved a huge sigh of relief in their hearts.

    This isn¡¯t an evil ghost.

    ¡°Profit¡±, ¡°asking price¡± - these seemingly innocuous words weren¡¯t something that even 100-year ghosts were unable to enunciate with such proficiency. This was a type of discernment that professionals like them who dealt with the dead all the time were extremely sensitive to.

    But, despite knowing that the man seated before them was no evil ghost, they still found themselves unable to let their guards down.

    Who is he?

    How can mere humans possess such terrifying Yin energy? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s practicallyparable to the Anitya Hellguards of the legends!

    ¡°Zhou Lingling, pallbearer, descendant of the Zhou family from Westriver. Greetings, Your Lordship.¡± Repressing the fear in her heart, the plumpdy bowed courteously, ¡°Your Lordship¡­ the phantom market¡­ has made its way to Clear Creek County.¡±

    As suspected! Qin Ye¡¯s eyes shifted slightly underneath his conical bamboo hat, ¡°Who¡¯s the host?¡±

    ¡°The government.¡± Unexpectedly, her response stunned Qin Ye, ¡°Previously, the phantom market has always been hosted by a Taoist monk or a Taoist priest. But, ever since half a year ago, an entity called the Special Investigations Department has taken over everything in its entirety. Furthermore¡­ they even have records of exactly what each of us has done to date - including the clients we¡¯ve undertaken assignments from.¡±

    Zhou Lingling continued, ¡°From thenceforth, all transactions pertaining to theherworld had to be registered and recorded, from thergest of municipalities, to the smallest of viges. All personnel must first have their identities verified before they can enter. The phantom market is organized once every six months, and the location is designated by the Special Investigations Department. And it was only two days ago that we¡¯d received the news that the uing phantom market will be held in Clear Creek County.¡±

    The massive sweep. Neither Qin Ye nor Arthis opened their mouths. This obviously had to do with the investigations. The first step was naturally tomence their search from those who regrly dealt with the dead.

    ¡°Identity verification?¡± Qin Ye raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Yes¡­ it¡¯s this.¡± Not daring to conceal anything at all, Zhou Lingling immediately pulled out a card with a maic strip and ced it on the table.

    Qin Ye picked it up and inspected it. He nearly swore aloud.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Arthis looked at the card in his hands with interest. It was approximately two inches long and one inch wide. Zhou Lingling¡¯s photograph was on the left side of the card, while the national emblem was printed on the right side of the card. A thin line of words were imprinted on the bottom - National-Registered E-ss Underworldly Craftsman; Verification by the Westriver Branch.

    ¡°It¡¯s an identification card.¡± As though he¡¯d recalled something, Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and continued, ¡°This is the most anti-social, inhumane invention in all of history¡­¡±

    Arthis immediately understood what he meant. ¡°Ahh¡­ I understand. As an undying person who¡¯s been living among the mortals for an extended period of time, you¡¯re forced to change identifications multiple times. It¡¯s been difficult, hasn¡¯t it¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was incensed. It¡¯s already difficult enough to get identification cards these days, yet even simple upations like underworldly craftsmen now require identification as well? Do they even want ghosts to pass on to theherworld anymore? Is this how difficult earning merit points is going to be?

    ¡°Secondly,¡± Suppressing the ghostly fire raging in his belly, he continued to speak in a deep, low voice, ¡°Have¡­ any pallbearers taken over any of your jobs recently?¡±

    Zhou Lingling and Huang Sanhe were stunned by the question, but they both shook their heads in unison, ¡°Not that we¡¯ve heard of.¡±

    Then, before Qin Ye could even respond to them, Huang Sanhe continued to exin the situation, ¡°Your Lordship, we¡¯re nothing more than ordinary E-ss underworldly craftsmen. How could we possibly know about the business of others? That said, we know of a person who would definitely be in the know of such things.¡±

    Qin Ye was sharp, and he immediately probed further, ¡°Where is he now?¡±

    ¡°Two days ago, he travelled from Lotus City to Clear Creek County.¡±

    Qin Ye stood up slowly. ¡°Do you have some Incense of Paramnesia with you? Do I need to provide you with some?¡±

    Naturally, they had some. The two craftsmen took out a stick of Incense of Paramnesia each, obsequiously lit them up and then shut their eyes.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t leave the scene until twenty minutester, when the incense finally burned out and the two craftsmen had fallen into a deep slumber.

    Outside, the breeze swept gently across thends as usual. He sighed wistfully, ¡°Looks like things are going to be slightly troublesome.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Arthis agreed, ¡°The easiest way to gain entry is to immediately apply for registration as an underworldly craftsman. But...as soon as you make such an application, the authorities would immediately connect you to the incident at Hyattst night. Yet, if you don¡¯t apply for registration, you might not be able to gain entry at all.¡±

    ¡°Actually, there¡¯s a third method we haven¡¯t explored yet. The only problem is that the risks are far too high, and it doesn¡¯t quite suit my preferences.¡± Qin Ye chimed in with indifference.

    ¡°To go directly to the host?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°That¡¯s right. We can get the information we need straight from the horse¡¯s mouth and be done with it.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    A ne cruised through the dark sky, leaving a trail of shimmering light in its wake as it cut through the thick ck clouds of night.

    A young man yawned in boredom. If not for the fact that the 2 a.m. flight was cheaper, he would never have taken this flight.

    It was quiet on the ne. The man enjoyed sitting by the window-side because he would be able to look out from the ne at the clouds below, and on asion even gaze upon the dim splotches of light emanated by thousands of households in cities. The fact that he was flying high above others gave him a sense of delight and satisfaction.

    Unfortunately, even though he had taken a night flight, all of the window seats had earlier already been booked out. What made things worse was the man who was seated just beside him.

    He was a strange man.

    It was already early autumn, yet the other person was already tightly wrapped up in arge trench coat. Notwithstanding that he was already on board the ne, he continued to wear his t cap, a ck face mask and ck shades. His neck was even wrapped with a ck scarf.

    From the time he boarded the ne until now, the young man hadn¡¯t seen the other man speak a single word. Even when the flight attendant asked the strange man what drink he would like, the man only shook his head lightly, keepingpletely silent.

    The most peculiar part about the man was the fact that he had purchased two tickets.

    He had a suitcase with him which had not been ced on the cabinpartment. Instead, he chose to leave it in the seat beside him. When the flight attendant popped over to ask him about it, he simply pulled out his two tickets to justify his actions.

    Strange man.

    And the most abominable thing he did as soon as he boarded the flight was to pull up the window p, depriving the young man the joy of his flights, and stirring a deep sense of frustration within him.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± The night flight took off, and everyone was quickly settled into their flight. The young man found himself unusually bored, and began to y video games to kill time. This was a flight from Spring City to Lotus City, and the flight duration was only one hour and forty minutes long.

    Thirty minutes into the flight, he yawned lightly and straightened his back as he nced about his surroundings, ostensibly overwhelmed by boredom.

    Everyone was resting by now. The lights on the ne had been somewhat dimmed. Nevertheless, the young man possessed good eyesight. After looking around only to discover that there were no prettydies in sight, he looked disappointingly at the window at the other end of his row.

    What dumb luck¡­ who purchases a window seat only to shut the window p? Is something wrong with him? I¡¯d like to look out the window even if you don¡¯t want to¡­

    He nced longingly at the window on the other end of his row. However, everything appeared dark and murky, and there was hardly the same delightful sensation of walking on clouds he got when he had a closer look through the window. Thus, he withdrew his gaze in dismay. Just then, he suddenly froze and blinked several times, before doing a double take at the other end of his row.

    Carefully, and without blinking this time.

    Secondster, his entire body began trembling, and sweat began to roll off his forehead in just an instant. His teeth began to chatter uncontrobly, and he even began to shift his bum subconsciously away from the window.

    At that very moment, the young man hated his excellent visual acuity.

    No one¡­

    The man seated beside him - that strange man - could not be seen in the window¡¯s reflection! Only his clothes were visible! The man himself could not be seen!

    A dim aisle; and a silent cabin. They were thousands of meters above the ground. It was 2 a.m., and he¡­ was seated together with an unknown entity!

    Pat¡­ Just then, a hand tapped gently on his shoulder and an incredibly hoarse voice spoke, ¡°You don¡¯t¡­ seem too well?¡±

    ¡°Ahh!!¡± The young man gasped in horror and shrieked loudly. Yet all that did was to draw the ire of several displeased passengers. This was also the first time that the strange person seated beside him who presently had his hand on the young man¡¯s shoulder spoke.

    ¡°N-n-n-no¡­¡± With a facepletely drained of colour, the young man trembled in response.

    The strange man wore leather gloves on his hands, even under his trench coat.

    ¡°Should I take a look?¡± The strange man spoke at a peculiar pace with oddly ced pauses.

    ¡°No! There¡¯s no need!¡± The young man stood up abruptly, before immediately sitting down once more.

    The strange man had pulled him back down to his seat.

    ¡°Do you know¡­ what treatment I specialize in¡­¡± The strange man¡¯s voice seemed to grow hoarser by the minute. The young man felt as though he had been locked in an icy cold cer. His teeth chattered uncontrobly as he respondedpliantly, ¡°W-what do you treat?¡±

    The man appeared to smile faintly as he pulled down his sunsses, ¡°I treat the living¡­¡±

    The passenger seated one row behind these men noticed the seats in front of him moving slightly. He grumbled and kneed the seat in front of him in displeasure before shutting his eyes again.

    One hourter, the ne arrived in Lotus City as scheduled. The strange man alighted from the ne through the aisle with his suitcase in tow. He switched on his phone at the earliest possible opportunity.

    ¡°It¡¯s me. I¡¯ve arrived. Are you certain this line won¡¯t be tapped?¡±

    ¡°Hah¡­ We haven¡¯t seen the light of day for decades now¡­ You don¡¯t even see the presence of any Red Guards patrolling the streets anymore¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯m headed straight for Clear Creek County. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll bring back the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. Nobody should be allowed to touch His Highness¡¯ possessions¡­ regardless of who they are¡­ Don¡¯t worry about me. Hell should no longer be in existence. As long as the old fogeys from the three great Taoist Ancestral Courts don¡¯t personally make a move, none of these cute little things from the Special Investigations Department can hinder me at all¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ Understood. I¡¯ll bring back the corpse of the culprit who has touched the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, no matter who it is¡­ That¡¯s it, I¡¯m hanging up¡­ It¡¯s been too long since I¡¯vest spoken. I¡¯m still getting used to it¡­¡±

    The clopping sounds of his leather shoes drifted further and further away from the ne. Just then, a flight attendant who was packing up noticed a young man slumped at his seat with his eyes shut tightly. His face was unusually pale.

    ¡°Do you need any help, sir?¡± The beautiful stewardess smiled genially as she asked.

    No response.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± The stewardess was smiling as she thought to prompt the man a second time, yet her face froze momentarily.

    The young man¡¯s chest wasn¡¯t moving at all.

    His nostrils weren¡¯t ring up either.

    With trembling hands, she stretched out a finger and ced it under the young man¡¯s nose to check for breath. As soon as her finger made contact with his nose, the young man¡¯s entire body began to dete as though it were a leaking football. In an instant, the young man transformed into nothing more than a piece of shrivelled human skin!

    ¡°Ahhh--AHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± A miserable scream echoed throughout the entire airport.

    Twenty minutester, a group of heavily armed policemen surrounded the airport. The leader of the group was a lieutenant colonel. He walked into the ne with an ashen expression, and he stopped in his steps in no time.

    ¡°Seal off the vicinity. Check the passenger manifesto! Also¡­¡±

    He drew a deep breath and continued with a fiery ze in his eyes, ¡°Notify the Special Investigations Department of a D-grade supernatural incident¡­ and¡­ the fact that the perpetratorpletely slipped through our supernatural perimeter.¡±

    ¡°We have a hostile¡­ And I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s one that is at least as strong as the top 30% of the spirit-beings we have encountered thus far!¡±

 Chapter 27: The Big Sweep

    <h4>Chapter 27: The Big Sweep</h4>

    After leaving the Ethnic Minority Street, Qin Ye went straight to the hospital.

    Wang Chenghao had regained consciousness and attempted to call Qin Ye earlier.

    He stayed at the best ward in the hospital. The entire room was white as new and devoid of any trace smells of disinfectant. There was even a wall-mounted TV in the room. Qin Ye didn¡¯t bring a gift.

    ¡°My condolences.¡± Qin Ye sat at the edge of the bed, and pretended to be his old, cautious self about Wang Chenghao.

    Wang Chenghao remained silent, yet continued to stare at Qin Ye. After some time, he suddenly burst outughing.

    Heughed andughed so much that he even began tearing. Then, wiping off his tears, he gazed meaningfully at Qin Ye once more as he quipped, ¡°Just¡­ who exactly are you?¡±

    What?

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes innocently, ¡°I¡¯m your ssmate, Qin Ye. Don¡¯t you recognize me anymore? Weren¡¯t you the one who had called me over on your phone?¡±

    ¡°Do you still intend to keep up your facade?¡± Wang Chenghao grit his teeth and tossed his phone over. Then, he hung his head low and kept silent.

    Qin Ye picked up the phone and took a look. It was a video. The video didn¡¯t show his figure, yet it evidently showed that instant where Qin Ye¡¯s Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer was released. This video clearly showed the battle between two unknown entities.

    Qin Ye was wearing his Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform, wielding his zanpakuto in his shinigami state at the material times, so there was no way his appearances would be visible to the mortal realm.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye asked curiously.

    Wang Chenghao looked at him straight in the eye and abruptly raised another notion, ¡°Do you know¡­ I¡¯ve got plenty of surveince cameras ced all around my home.¡±

    Qin Ye - ???

    Wang Chenghao was in poor spirits. His disposition was pale and weak, yet he grabbed tightly to Qin Ye¡¯s hands, ¡°Believe me. I¡¯ll never betray you. I only want to know¡­ how many more of these awful things are there in this world right now.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°You do!!¡± Wang Chenghao grew agitated abruptly. His grip tightened, and tears suddenly filled his eyes, ¡°Qin Ye, my parents have already perished to these ghosts and unclean things! You¡¯re the only one I can talk to! We¡¯ve been ssmates for several years at any rate, haven¡¯t we? Can¡¯t you just be honest with me?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got money! I might even inherit tens of millions worth of assets from my parents! You must be having a hard time running your shop! I can fund your living expenses! All you have to do is let me tag along with you and let me see exactly what¡¯s going on in this world!¡±

    Weeeell.

    Sir, you¡¯ve managed to get my attention. But what¡¯s with that demanding tone of voice?

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. Just as he was about to shake off Wang Chenghao¡¯s grip, Wang Chenghao muttered, ¡°Even though the surveince cameras can¡¯t see you, I still know it¡¯s you, because¡­ the cameras don¡¯t just monitor images, they also capture the voices around.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ swear that the voice I¡¯d heard was none other than yours. I haven¡¯t told anyone about this. Not even the police when they interviewed me. Qin Ye, believe me.¡±

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­ Qin Ye could no longer repress the nauseating feeling welling up within. I knew I should never have trusted the advice from an olddy like Arthis. People can¡¯t see me, but what about the gods of surveince?

    ¡°Can these devices actually do such things?¡± Arthis was simrly taken aback, ¡°Modern society is far too dangerous. How does he possess the eye of the heavens?¡±

    Heavens my ass! Can you quickly pick up the pace and get back on track with the pace of societal development? How can I possibly trust you now?! You don¡¯t even know what aser sight is, you dumb shit!

    ¡°You must¡¯ve been mistaken?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s heart was filled with vexation, yet he managed to maintain a baffled look all over his face. He couldn¡¯t help but praise himself for his excellent acting skill as he continued to disy his ir for performance arts, ¡°I¡¯ve been at my shop all ofst night. What are you talking about?¡±

    Wang Chenghao was just about to retort, but Qin Ye had already stood up from the bed, ¡°That¡¯s right. Our teacher has asked me to bring you the textbook. I¡¯ll bring it over for youter. I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡±

    Thud. The door shut. Arthis softly remarked, ¡°Speaking of which, you¡¯ve lived in the mortal realm for some time now. Don¡¯t you have a human friend or two? Even I had a couple of human confidantes from the time I was stationed in the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye responded gloomily, ¡°Sure, but when these acquaintances of yours finally sport a whole head of white hair, while you continue to present yourself as a sprightly youngster replete with pimples on his face, wouldn¡¯t they want to p you until your face swells up?¡±

    Arthis responded rather matter-of-factly, ¡°They wouldn¡¯t dare.¡±

    That¡¯s true¡­ Qin Ye was stumped by Arthis¡¯ response. The early autumn wind was still rather warm and stifling, and Qin Ye flicked his bangs to the side. After some time, he finally replied, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯ve got several mortal friends¡­ but I¡¯m not sure whether they¡¯ve already passed on or not. That said, none of them are living in Westriver.¡±

    His face twitched for a moment, before he continued with gritted teeth, ¡°It was then that I¡¯d learnt that¡­ for a select group of people¡­ one should keep all of their belongings, even their diapers from birth¡­¡±

    ¡°Eh? Is there a story here that I should know about? Something that made you as unhappy as this? Pray tell of the story that might bring delight to me!¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Back in those days¡­ when I first came to Westriver, I got to know a man named Zhang. He didn¡¯t enjoy anything much apart from painting. I think he called it the ink wash paintings¡­ It¡¯s a pity that I have no talent for painting. Back then, I¡¯d even drunk under the moonlit skies with him¡­ Then, it was only after several decades that I finally discovered that that fool¡¯sndscape paintings were worth tens of millions!¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ do you know how much I wanted to die at that time?! Do you know that I don¡¯t even dare to peddle coffins at any one ce for an extended period of time?! Can you even understand how painful it¡¯s been to hit and run like this?!¡±

    Arthis grew silent for two seconds, ¡°Although I can¡¯t say I can empathize with you, I can see the extent of suffering you¡¯ve been through from your bitter tone and hideous expression--... one, two¡­¡±

    Before she could finish speaking, both of them froze where they were and cocked their heads towards the end of the corridor.

    ¡°One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ A total of five people.¡± Qin Ye squinted his eyes as he murmured.

    ¡°Cultivators?¡± Arthis asked.

    ¡°Three of them are cultivators¡­ one of whom has a rather familiar scent, while another¡­ seems somewhat stronger than the rest. His abilities are approximately on par with mine.¡±

    Just then, the crisp sound of pristine leather shoes echoed down the corridor. Five men turned the corner and appeared in their line of sight.

    Qin Ye lowered his head and didn¡¯t even make eye contact with them. He simply pretended to use his phone, intending to brush past them inconspicuously.

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Just as they passed each other by, one of the men suddenly spoke up. Qin Ye pretended not to hear anything. It was only when a hand tapped on his shoulder that he turned around with a look of bewilderment in his eyes, ¡°Were you calling me?¡±

    He quietly tightened his fists in the moment they locked eyes. It was a particr peculiar lineup of people in the group.

    The man in front of him was the same policeman from before. But right now, he had already changed out of his policeman uniform and donned a ck suit instead. Of the five men, two wore ck suits. The person standing on the leftmost of the group was a middle-aged man with dark skin. He carried a smoking pipe around his waist, and his fingernails were cracked and yellowing. He wore a short chinese buttoned-up jacket, and his head was wrapped up in green cloth. A bundle was tied around his calves, and he wore a pair of straw shoes.

    ¡°Shaman.¡± Arthis muttered, ¡°He¡¯s from the Miao ethnic group.¡±

    The person on the right was a man with white hair, leaning on a cane. His fingers seemed somewhat bony and crooked, and he wore a faded tunic. This man was thin as a bag of bones.

    Yet the thing that stood out most to Qin Ye was the iparably thick corpse energy that surrounded this man¡¯s body! ¡°He must have been in close proximity with corpses for years on end. This man must be a corpse driver from the Westbrook region.¡±

    Two other types of underworldly craftsmen had just showed up at the same time. Given their age, it would also seem that they were experts in their fields to boot. That said, the truemander of this peculiar troupe was most certainly the middle-aged Taoist priest standing in the middle of the pack.

    He looked as ordinary as it got. There was no air of divinity about him, and he looked unassuming at best on first impressions. Apart from his impressive footlong beard, there was hardly anything else about him that would leave an impression with anyone.

    ¡°A cultivator that is at the level of an Operative-ss Emissary of Hell¡­ this must be a true cultivator from one of the reputable mainstream sects in the world.¡± Arthis was unusually serious about this, ¡°Kid, you¡¯ve encountered a bright shining star. It wouldn¡¯t be wise to attempt to muddle your way through these people.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± The policeman asked in a low voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to visit a ssmate. What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qin Ye appeared baffled.

    Just then, his pupils constricted slightly. It was now afternoon. The sun shone in from the window, casting a long shadow behind each of the five men that faded only some distance away. Yet, the shadow of the Taoist priest seemed to extend slightly more than the others. The change was incredibly slight. Simultaneously, a wave of true energy belonging to the cultivator shot straight towards Qin Ye like an arrow.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t look away. Just as the bolt of true energy made contact with him, it suddenly dissipated into the surroundings like a wisp of smoke.

    ¡°Visiting your ssmate?¡± The policeman looked straight into his eyes and pressed the issue, ¡°Didn¡¯t you earlier say that¡­ you can¡¯t help but wish he¡¯d die?¡±

    This was a difficult question to respond to. Therefore, Qin Ye chose not to respond to it. Instead, he simply red at the policeman with a rebellious attitude that was typical of hot-blooded teenagers. The meaning was obvious - it¡¯s none of your business where I go!

    ¡°Greetings.¡± Just as the tension between one adult and one teen filled the room, the Taoist priest finally smiled and interjected, ¡°I wonder how I should address this young fe?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked and remained silent. Instead, it was the policeman who leaned over and whispered into the Taoist priest¡¯s ears. The Taoist priest smiled as he flicked his sleeves, ¡°So it¡¯s Mr Qin¡­ It must be fate that we¡¯ve encountered each other. I¡¯ve noticed that thick Yin clouds seem to be casting a dark shadow over this benefactor¡¯s head. It would be wise to remain careful these days.¡±

    He paused for a moment, before adding meaningfully, ¡°Yesterday, a D-ss supernatural incident was reported in Lotus City. It was said that this perverse serial killer is targeting Clear Creek County next. Since this benefactor¡¯s luck wouldn¡¯t be too goodtely, you would be prudent to remain cautious at all times.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze had the word ¡°psychopath¡± written all over it. He red once more at the Taoist priest, before turning and walking away.

    The policeman motioned to follow after him, yet the middle-aged Taoist priest¡¯s easy-going expression suddenly turned somber. With furrowed brows, he shook his head gently.

    The policeman stopped.

    ¡°Sir, he was thest person to have made contact with Wang Chenghao, and they even experienced an E-grade supernatural incident together. I suspect that there might be something wrong with him!¡±

    The priest didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he cautiously reached into his robes and pulled out a ne.

    It was a silver ne. A thumb-sized pendant hung from it. It was a trigram mirror that was covered in splotches of green copper rust.

    ¡°This is called the Eye of the Ichthyosaur.¡± The priest exined sternly, ¡°My master gave this to me before I descended from the mountains. As soon as I encounter something that can potentially threaten my life, it would immediately alert me.¡±

    Clink¡­ As soon as he finished speaking, the entire trigram mirror shattered into several pieces!

    ¡°This¡­¡± Everyone gasped in horror.

    They knew full well the priest¡¯s true identity. He wasn¡¯t exactly a low-ranking official in the Special Investigations Department. If he could threaten the priest, and even shatter the trigram mirror, that means that kid¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll immediately call for reinfor-...¡± ¡°Stop!¡±

    The priest bellowed before the policeman could finish speaking, ¡°Do you want to die?¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be possible for this kid to possess that level of cultivation. There¡¯s always the possibility that the evil ghost haunting the Wang family hasn¡¯t beenpletely purged yet¡­ but then again, from what I can glean from the traces of that evil ghost¡¯s handiwork, it couldn¡¯t possibly threaten me to this extent. What in the world is going on?¡±

    Meanwhile, just around the corner, Arthis muttered in displeasure, ¡°I don¡¯t know what blow he¡¯d delivered earlier, but it wasn¡¯t veryfortable.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. Yet he didn¡¯t leave either. He simply leaned against the corner and muttered with a glint in his eyes, ¡°Arti, wouldn¡¯t you say that our luck has been particrly good these days?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Look. An elite shaman and even a corpse driver from Westbrook havee all the way here. Why?¡±

    ¡°... Don¡¯t you know? Superiors hate it when their subordinates act like smartasses and attempt to whet their appetites with such nuggets of information.¡±

    Qin Ye licked his lips and leaned his head round the corner as he smiled satisfactorily, ¡°Who could possibly mobilize these people? Who¡¯s the most convenient person of choice? Who, in recent times, has been granted the authority to summon these experts? What are they here to do?¡±

    Arthis deliberated for a few moments, ¡°The Yin energy here is incredibly dense. After all, we¡¯re talking about a ghost that had control over the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal for a period of time¡­ They should have noticed the dense Yin energy in this area and thought that the evil ghost hasn¡¯t beenpletely expunged, and they¡¯re here to summon its spirit to determine just what happenedst night. Unfortunately, Wang Zemin¡¯s soul has alreadypletely vanished, and it¡¯s not possible for them to summon it any longer¡­ As for what their identity is¡­¡±

    She paused for a moment, before gasping in realization, ¡°That priest¡­ is none other than the host of the phantom market?!¡±

 Chapter 28: Into Enemy Lines

    <h4>Chapter 28: Into Enemy Lines</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯m ny percent certain!¡± Qin Ye snapped his fingers, ¡°First of all, how strong do you estimate Cathay to be in supernatural warfare?¡±

    ¡°Not too strong.¡± Arthis responded affirmatively, ¡°This has been the case since time immemorial. And it¡¯s especially true now that few people believe in such matters anymore. Cathay¡¯s strength should have weakened in that regard.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Secondly, a person of his abilities should hold a reasonably decent rank among the Special Investigations Department. Given that they are short-staffed, what¡¯s the best way to deal with all of the supernatural incidents urring within Clear Creek County all at once?¡±

    ¡°From what I understand of the human psyche, they would be swift and decisive, and not muddy the waters. Therefore, their decision should be to send a person with enough strength to resolve the problem once and for all. Incidentally, the phantom market is about to open. What better choice was there than to hand out the assignment to the host of the phantom market?¡±

    ¡°Therefore, he must be the host of the phantom market!¡±

    Arthis nodded her head in agreement, ¡°So¡­ what do you n to do?¡±

    ¡°As much as I¡¯m reticent to engage in a head-on confrontation with the military forces, but¡­¡± Qin Ye motioned to leave the scene, ¡°Since this concerns the identity of the mastermind, I¡¯m really left with no choice but to sh directly with these practitioners from reputable, mainstream sects¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Night-time.

    The obscured moon casted a gloomy shadow across the dark, wind-sweptnds. The sun and the moon were rare sights in the Westriver locality.

    Room 302 of Clear Creek County¡¯s most luxurious hotel, the Jin Xin Hotel. Right in the middle of its modern decor, a middle-aged Taoist priest with a foot-long beard sat cross-legged in meditation. With each breath he inhaled and exhaled, the surrounding air would fluctuate slightly. Then, at exactly midnight, he breathed out heavily, expelling two wisps of faint, white smoke from his nostrils.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± He sighed in relief as he opened his eyes. After putting on his shoes, he made his way to the table in his room.

    A map of Clear Creek County wasid out on it. He began to examine it closely.

    He had just received a report of a D-ss supernatural incident this morning. The supernatural entity had even slipped right through the supernatural perimeter undetected, entering the Westriver Province by night. Its destination was Clear Creek County.

    The hospital that Wang Chenghao was residing in was considered a red zone. In other words, this was one of the locations that they were monitoring and guarding the most closely. The other zone that they were keeping a close eye on was the Ethnic Minority Street, an orange zone where the uing phantom market was to be located. Most of the other ces were yellow or green zones.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t wrong. The Taoist priest was indeed none other than the host of the phantom market. Furthermore, he was also a captain of the Rivergorge City Branch of the Special Investigation Department.

    ¡°Ungh¡­¡± Several minutester, he massaged his head, attempting to alleviate the onset of his headache.

    His heart would grow vexed and frustrated every time he saw a map of the country. The number of yellow zones were only growing. A full-blown outbreak of a supernatural upheaval¡­ was no more than a decade away.

    The government was already desperately attempting to gather all forms of talent and experts rted to theherworld. They didn¡¯t even pass up on those with the most basic of requirements, the infernal eyes. That said, their efforts were still hardly sufficient.

    The present situation presented itself almost like the foreboding waves that prefaced an incredible tsunami. Wave after wave, it continued incessantly. And when it finally reached the tipping point¡­

    He didn¡¯t dare to contemte what was toe.

    As he folded up the map, he paused for a moment before remarking, ¡°Fellow Taoist, since you¡¯ve alreadye, why not show yourself?¡±

    No response.

    The Taoist turned around. There was already a solemn look on his face. His hands grabbed tightly onto his buddhist whisk. Then, as he pulled it apart, a short peachwood sword revealed itself.

    Shiing¡­ With the flick of his wrist, the peachwood sword flew up on its own and began dancing about his side like a butterfly.

    ¡°This Taoist is the Head Priest of the Clear Jade Monastery, Zhang Fengzi. I wonder which fellow Taoist calls upon me for a spar?¡±

    Yet, before he could even finish speaking, a silvery gleam appeared out of nowhere. Zhang Fengzi cried out, and his peachwood sword flickered quickly, leaving seven or eight afterimages in its wake. Everything in front of his eyes became a blur in the very next moment.

    tter tter¡­ Innumerable chains instantly shot out of nowhere. The peachwood sword shed against it, and a shower of golden sparks blossomed.

    Clink clink clink! The chains appeared almost as though they could see. They bolted themselves straight into the heart of the room, rapidly reducing the space within until a prison of chains was quickly formed. Zhang Fengzi¡¯s eyes burned with passion as he desperately searched for the most open spot remaining.

    My opponent is clearly dividing up the battlefield, but¡­ he possesses a corporeal body as well! The location with the fewest chains is exactly where I will find him!

    ¡°Over there!¡± As he moved, his eyes gleamed brightly. The peachwood sword spontaneously burst into mes and transformed into a bolt of fire that shot straight towards the door.

    However, in the next moment, a radiant gleam of light exploded from behind him, cleaving straight towards his unprotected back!

    ¡°Damn!¡± In his astonishment, a jade pendant slipped from his hand. He reached out for it and grabbed hold of it once more. Unfortunately, in the very next moment, he felt an icy cold sensation press against his neck.

    Whoosh¡­ The chaotic gale ceased instantly.

    Everything had stopped just as abruptly as they had started.

    The dust settled in a sh. A figure dressed in flowing ck robes and wearing a conical bamboo hat suddenly appeared behind Zhang Fengzi. He was still holding onto the de that was pinned against Zhang Fengzi¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Zhang Fengzi gnashed his teeth as he asked, ¡°You¡¯re no spirit¡­ a spirit has no means of touching a physical object unless he¡¯s a 100-year ghost¡­ And if you¡¯re already at that kind of level, there¡¯s no reason for you to make a move against me at all¡­ Wait a minute¡­¡±

    Their earlier battle had taken ce far too abruptly and quickly, and he had only just managed to take a closer look at the chains around him. Yet as soon as he did, his entire body shuddered terribly, ¡°Yidu¡¯s sunken gold?!¡±

    ¡°Is this really sunken gold from Yidu?! You¡­ you¡¯re an Emissary of Hell?! Wait¡­ Emissaries of Hell are still in existence these days?!¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± Qin Ye deliberately lowered his voice and pressed the de deeper into Zhang Fengzi¡¯s neck, causing a red mark to appear instantly, ¡°Tell me, are you the host of the phantom market?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The frigid sensation at his neck caused the ecstasy in Zhang Fengzi¡¯s heart to diminish substantially. He responded truthfully.

    Nevertheless, his heart was still rippling with emotions. This is most certainly an Emissary of Hell¡­ I¡¯d seen it from my master¡¯s hidden manuscripts - Yidu¡¯s sunken gold cannot be used by anyone apart from genuine Emissaries of Hell! Incidentally, sunken gold is also a natural form of restraint against ghosts!

    The situation in Cathay is already escting out of control. But if Hell intervenes¡­ there¡¯s truly nothing more we can ask for right now!

    However, now was obviously not the time to discuss such prospects.

    ¡°Bring out the records of all past assignments undertaken by the phantom market over thest six months.¡±

    Zhang Fengzi pointed at the cell phone on his bedside table and responded in a hoarse voice, ¡°The password is 642321¡­ Esteemed Emissary of Hell, you need only ask if you need any assistance from me. The only question I¡¯d like to ask is¡­ what happened to Hell? Why aren¡¯t we receiving any response whenever we attempt to reach out to Hell?¡±

    Qin Ye hesitated for a moment before exining in a deep voice, ¡°There¡¯s a great upheaval in Hell. The mortal realm should pray for its own blessings.¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡±

    Before he could finish his sentence, Zhang Fengzi felt a sharp pain on his neck and promptly fainted.

    ¡°What incredibly tough bones he has!¡± Qin Ye swore under his breath as he shook off the pain in his palm. Then, he lit a stick of Incense of Paramnesia, took Zhang Fengzi¡¯s phone and left.

    He knew full well that he couldn¡¯t afford to stay long. He was presently moving about right under the radar. Most of their forces had been deployed to the hospital or to where the phantom market was to be held. That said¡­ there were still other means of security surveince.

    Qin Ye opened the window and silently slipped back out into the dark of the night.

    Just thirty seconds after Qin Ye¡¯s departure, the main door of the room was suddenly mmed wide open, and three men dressed in ck suits charged in with their guns!

    ¡°Sir!¡± Seeing Zhang Fengzi lying on the ground, they immediately rushed over to help him up. Yet as soon as they extended their arms to support him, they found themselves caught by his hands instead.

    ¡°Ex--¡­¡± With bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair, Zhang Fengzi barked, ¡°Extinguish the Incense of Paramnesia right now¡­ and contact the Lotus City branch!! Hurry!¡±

    ¡°Sir¡­¡±

    ¡°Just do as you¡¯re told!!¡± As Zhang Fengzi mbered to his feet, the bones on his neck cracked resoundingly, and the expressions on his face contorted slightly, ¡°Inform Lotus City¡­ that a genuine Emissary of Hell has appeared in Clear Creek County! We must find him no matter the cost!!¡±

    ¡°Sir, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­ I¡¯ve been practising a bone condensing technique ever since I was young, and I would never faint from that simple strike.¡± He heaved a sigh of relief before issuing his nextmand, ¡°Contact the armed forces immediately! Geolocate my phone! Pronto!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°And¡­ I want a sweep of the entire popce in Clear Creek County! Find out who wasn¡¯t at home at this time of the night! Keep an eye on those who weren¡¯t home, regardless of who it was, and await orders from above thereafter!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ Sir, wouldn¡¯t this be¡­¡±

    Zhang Fengzi¡¯s voice was unusually firm and resolute, ¡°Listen here¡­ you don¡¯t know just how crucial a genuine Emissary of Hell is in light of the current situation! Even if we trade an entire city - even an entire province for him - it would still be worth it!¡±

    Qin Ye had only departed moments ago. Yet within three minutes¡¯ time, the entire Jin Xin Hotel was already brightly lit.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± He cursed under his breath. What a rapid response!

    It¡¯spletely different from what I see on TV and movies¡­ don¡¯t all those cops always only arrive after the fight is over¡­

    At the same time, he could see several SUVs headed straight towards his location right now.

    ¡°Geolocation¡­¡± He sincerely hated the advent of technology right now. The authorities were clearly homing in on his location. It was evident that they were tracking the cell phone!

    ¡°Arti, I need twenty minutes¡­ Would I be able to outrun the police vehicles?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Your body cannot possibly withstand the Yin energy from the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. That said, there is yet another way. You can manifest the abilities to fly temporarily and escape from the rooftops. Then, as you go, find out exactly who took on the assignment from the Eastsea!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Before she finished speaking, Yin energy had already begun surging from his surroundings towards the bottom of his feet. His robe began fluttering. Then, in the very next moment, he began to fly up into the sky just like a kite.

    Qin Ye was currently caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    Firstly, he had to learn of the true identity of the mastermind acting behind the scenes. Western Cathay was already littered with pots of breeding fodder nted by the mastermind. The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s seal acted as a form of passport. As long as Qin Ye continued looking for shard after shard of King Yanluo¡¯s seal, he was bound to be discovered by the old ghost. At that time, if he still didn¡¯t have any means of dealing with the old ghost, then it would be no different from courting death.

    Secondly, there was simply no way he could pin his hopes on survival on anybody else. That¡¯s right. Qin Ye was afraid of death. Very afraid of death. So the only thing he could do was to give it his all in an attempt to remain alive.

    This was a simple wish of his, yet also one filled with gravitas. Naturally, there was no way he would entrust any other person with his innermost desires, much less trust the Special Investigations Department to disclose the mastermind¡¯s identity as soon as they discovered it. In fact, there was even a reasonable likelihood that the Special Investigations Department was unaware that all of this was going on right under their noses. Taking a step back, even if the Special investigations Department did discover the mastermind¡¯s identity and revealed the same internally, there was no way Qin Ye would be able to join the ranks of the Special Investigations Department in any event.

    It was an issue with his identity itself.

    There was no way he could fool anyone with the Yin energy around his body¡­ A massive supernatural upheaval was on the horizon, and Qin Ye was hardly optimistic that Cathay would be able to quickly take control of the situation. As soon as they lost control, someone would most certainly recall that they had an Emissary of Hell amongst their ranks and start specting - How is he different from others? Can we replicate his abilities in others? If we can learn how to reproduce his abilities in others by dissecting him, wouldn¡¯t we be able to control this chaotic situation immediately? ¡­

    Don¡¯t go about testing the human heart; doing so was never wise.

    Just like that, Qin Ye flew about aimlessly and haphazardly, albeit subconsciously avoiding the vicinity of the funerary street. At the same time, he keyed in the password and swiftly unlocked the cell phone. He located the documents folder in no time..

    Faster¡­ His heart was incredibly anxious. He skimmed through the contents of the documents folder as quickly as he could. One minute... two minutes... five minutes... ten minutes!

 Chapter 29: Divine Light Shines

    <h4>Chapter 29: Divine Light Shines</h4>

    ¡°Still haven¡¯t found it?¡± Arthis'' voice was ostensiblyced with some anxiety now, ¡°You¡¯d better look down.¡±

    Qin Ye took a moment to nce down below, and he furrowed his brows in an instant.

    He was flying at a low altitude of about a hundred meters, so he could clearly see that on the dimly lit streets down below, tens of cars were pursuing him and hot on his tail! In fact, as far as his eyes could see, there were several parts of the city that had already lit up conspicuously despite the time of the night.

    The county had aroused from its slumber at night.

    This was the nation¡¯s might.

    Clear Creek County was notrge to begin with. Therefore, Qin Ye could almost immediately recognize and identify the ces that had lit up.

    The county¡¯s security bureau¡­ the police¡­ the military¡­ the neighbourhoodmittee¡­ Shortly after the lights in these localities lit up, tens of vehicles that were deployed immediately spread out all across the county like an all-engulfing tidal wave!

    ¡°Clever. Not only are their reactions quick, they¡¯re even doing a simultaneous check on everyone in the county who isn¡¯t home right this moment. And the first thing that they¡¯re doing is to head straight for the funerary street and the phantom market. Kid¡­ you might not be able to muddle your way through the predicament this time.¡± Arthis was almost delighting in Qin Ye¡¯s misery.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyebrows were knit tightly together. They¡¯re too quick... their reaction speed is extraordinary. Furthermore¡­ I¡¯d subconsciously run away from the funerary street. There¡¯s no way I can possibly return in time!

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­

    He took several deep breaths. If his identity was going to be discovered anyway, then he should at least make the best of it and secure a lead right now. At worst, he could always just walk away from all this messter on.

    ¡°Sir.¡± Just then, a loud voice suddenly resounded in his ears, ¡°Please hold on.¡±

    Before the owner of the voice could finish speaking, a strand of ck thread suddenly shot up from an off-road vehicle down below, attempting to grab him around his ankle.

    ¡°It¡¯s a true Operative-ss expert.¡± Arthis grew somber, ¡°Not too shabby at all. They¡¯ve been hiding their true strength all this while. Even though Zhang Fengzi was ostensibly the director of this series of events, it was all a farce to conceal the truly powerful shadow directors who have been in hiding all this while.¡±

    Someone at the same level as me¡­ Qin Ye was truly getting anxious now. He swept his saber and cut at the ck thread that was quickly approaching. The sh between saber and thread actually made a resounding nging noise! Yet, despite that, Qin Ye didn¡¯t even turn back to take a closer look at the situation. His left hand was still madly scrolling through the documents folder of Zhang Fengzi¡¯s phone.

    March 27. Registered underworldly craftsman Huang Shenghao epted an assignment for linkers from the Nanfeng Province. Reward - RMB 300,000. Duration - one month. Status - concluded on April 27. The employer was Liu Yun, a steel tycoon in Nanfeng Province.

    April 5. Registered underworldly craftsman Wang Yitian epted a soul summoning assignment from the Xinping Province. Reward - RMB 500,000. Duration - 7 days. Status - concluded on April 12. The employer was Zhu Yang, a fruit magnate of the Xinping Province.

    April 30. Registered underworldly craftsman Su Mu undertook an assignment from the Westriver Province to act as a coroner. Reward - RMB 250,000. Duration - 7 days. Status - concluded on June 6¡­

    No¡­ no, it¡¯s all not it!

    ¡°Sir, we mean no ill will. Hell¡¯s objectives are squarely in line with ours as well. We just want to discuss some business with you. Is that alright?¡±

    ¡°We already know that an Emissary of Hell who lives on the mortal realm would necessarily need to borrow the body of a living person. We¡¯ve alreadymenced a county-wide search. Your identity will be revealed shortly. Your cooperation will lead to a win-win situation. We truly mean no ill will.¡±

    Qin Ye hands continued to tap rapidly on the screen. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

    ¡°May 7. Registered underworldly craftsman Zhou Chao undertook a pallbearer assignment from the Eastsea Province. Duration - unknown. Status - in progress. Details of the employer are unknown.¡±

    It¡¯s him!

    Qin Ye breathed out a huge sigh of relief. With a fiery ze in the depths of his eyes, he tossed the phone in his hand towards the ground and dove like an eagle in the opposite direction.

    He couldn¡¯t be seen with the naked eye when he was wearing his Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform. However, it was quite something else when he was in the state powered by the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. In that state, he would be granted the ability to fly for a short period of time. Unfortunately, the downside is that there would be no means of concealing his appearances at all.

    If I want to leave this ce discreetly¡­ it¡¯s impossible to do so in the seal empowered state.

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± Arthis'' voice was filled with boundless allure at this moment, ¡°Perhaps¡­ I could offer you an interesting suggestion.¡±

    ¡°For instance¡­ remove the seal on the soul sphere. As long as you let me out, I can guarantee you that the entire Westriver Province will be under our reign, much less the Clear Creek County.¡±

    ¡°I knew it¡­¡± Qin Yended softly on the roof of a building and rolled to break his fall. However, he chose not to fly up again. Instead, he promptly dispersed the Yin energy from the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, before dashing out onto the streets below under the concealment of his Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform.

    ¡°I just knew that you haven¡¯t given up on the hope of escaping the soul sphere.¡±

    ¡°Why bother with all that suspicion? We¡¯re bound by the heavenly oath that we¡¯ve taken. You know full well that I won¡¯t be able to do anything to you.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled coldly, ¡®I don¡¯t trust you.¡±

    The cars paused for a moment where Qin Ye had tossed the cell phone to. Yet, it only took them some moments before they started to move out once more. At the same time, more than a dozen trucks had just arrived at their destinations and deployed hundreds of soldiers to lock down the perimeter of an area within a one kilometer radius of Qin Ye¡¯sst known location.

    Arthis kept silent for several seconds before quietly adding, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re fully prepared for the showdown against the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t warn you. Without my abilities, you¡¯re practically like a single bulb of light shining brightly at night. You¡¯re far too conspicuous.¡±

    Qin Ye remained taciturn. He no longer had the time nor capacity for banal chatter. After all, he could see that their foes had finally, fully revealed themselves some five hundred meters away - they were finally going on the offensive.

    It was an ancient Buddha statue.

    It looked very old, and it was covered in ck stains and even innumerable micro cracks. The statue was also covered with plenty of charms and talismans.

    Ordinary.

    Very ordinary.

    Yet rms immediately began to re in Qin Ye¡¯s mind as soon as he noticed it in the distance!

    ¡°Incarnation of the City God.¡± Arthis spoke without any hesitation, ¡°Noherworldly being can conceal their bodies near the City God. This sculpture is already stained and cracked beyond belief, and it has probably lost its ability to distinguish between sources of Yin energy. That said, the fact still remains that noherworldly being can escape its eyes.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Before she could finish speaking, a tall and thin figure covered in ck robes stepped out from the off-road vehicle. The man quickly formed a series of seals with his hands, while his robes began to flutter on its own. Within moments, the talismans and charms on the City God¡¯s sculpture began to flutter wildly!

    ¡°Kid, I¡¯d never break my promise! As long as you unseal this soul sphere, the entire Westriver Province will belong to you!¡±

    Yet Qin Ye simply continued to dash forward, almost as though he didn¡¯t hear a single word she spoke. Arthis drew a deep breath, ¡°Don¡¯t you understand? Your identity is going to be exposed tonight no matter what. Without the backing of my full abilities, you¡¯re going to end up like nothing more than ab rat to them¡­¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qin Ye finally paused in his steps as he panted, ¡°Do you recall why I was so certain that Zhang Fengzi was the host of the phantom market?¡±

    Suppressing the vexing fire zing in the depths of her heart, Arthis responded calmly, ¡°Of course. Like I said before, they¡¯d mistakenly identified the hospital that Wang Chenghao is located at as a ce with thick Yin energy, and they thought that the ghost haunting his family hasn¡¯tpletely been expunged yet. Thus, they were thinking of summoning its soul to determine the person who had purged it¡­¡±

    She suddenly paused before she could finish speaking.

    The Clear Creek County People¡¯s Hospital was in in sight right in front of them!

    Qin Ye gasped for breath as he spoke, ¡°You¡¯d earlier mentioned that the City God¡¯s sculpture is so broken that it wouldn¡¯t be able to distinguish between sources of Yin energy. So...what if I hide among the thick Yin energy of others?¡±

    ¡°For instance¡­ the Yin energy belonging to That Amorous Affair, who once held onto the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal that I currently possess? Her lingering Yin energy should be far thicker than what I possess on my own....¡±

    Arthis grew taciturn for several seconds.

    Whilst Arthis remained silent, Qin Ye dashed right through the front door of the hospital and made a beeline straight for where Wang Chenghao¡¯s ward was located.

    Meanwhile, just as Qin Ye was making his way to Wang Chenghao¡¯s ward, the talismans and charms on the City God¡¯s sculpture finally peeled themselves off the body. Then, in the very next second, the sculpture of the City God¡­ K-k-k-k-k-k-k¡­ It slowly began to open its eyes!

    Fwoosh¡­ A noiseless wave of energy only visible to cultivators rippled through the darkness. It was like a tidal wave that slowly swept across the entire county. The City God sculpture stood at the epicenter of this magnificent spectacle.

    ¡°Brilliant.¡± At the exact same moment, Qin Ye leapt through the window into Wang Chenghao¡¯s ward while still under the concealment of his Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform. Arthis eximed softly, ¡°Even a coward has moments of brilliance¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao was just watching the TV in his room when all of this had happened. He waspletely aghast when his window first opened suddenly and the curtains began to dance on their own for no ostensible reason. Then, he heard a voice whisper something in his ear.

    He was first astonished, then calm, and then he finally lowered his head silently.

    Meanwhile.

    Invisible to the eyes of mere mortals, the noiseless waves of energy from the City God sculpture continued to ripple throughout the entire county. The frequency increased, and the waves moved faster and faster, and further and further. Within ten minutes, a strange hum echoed out, and the entire Clear Creek County was covered in these noiseless waves!

    The county was now on full alert!

    Meanwhile, in one of the military bases in Lotus City, a soldier on night shift was currently looking at his phone when a bell suddenly tolled in the room.

    Dong¡­ It sounded distant, yet resoundingly clear.

    He was presently in a strange-looking room. Everything in the room appeared ancient and dated. There was one table, and one man. And in the midst of the room sat a ten-meter tall instrument that looked somewhat simr to a seismograph.

    It was cast in bronze, was shaped like an ancient wine vessel with a raised lid, and it had tortoises, birds and animals etched on its surface. On the outside were eight sculpted dragons holding copper-sculpted pills in their mouths. The base of the instrument was decorated with toads with mouths gaping wide open.

    The tolling sound came directly from this instrument.

    The soldier was stunned for a couple of seconds. He immediately put down his cell phone and typed rapidly on theputer in front of him. Momentster, he drew a deep breath, ¡°Clear Creek County in Rivergorge City is now on full alert?¡±

    ¡°How is this possible¡­ This is the first time that the supernatural police forces have activated a county-wide full alert. What the hell is going on?¡±

    After being dazed for a few more seconds, he stood up abruptly and walked outside.

    Meanwhile in the Rivergorge City police headquarters. A man with a chiseled face and thick eyebrows finally caved to his frustrations and picked up the phone on his bedside table that was ringing incessantly, ¡°Hello?!¡±

    His wife who wasying beside him woke up as well, only to receive from the middle-aged man a warm caress as he continued to gently stroke her hair. She asked, ¡°Old Lin, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    The man indicated with his eyes - Nothing to worry about. Then, he turned his attention back to his phone, ¡°Mm¡­ I¡¯ve got it¡­ What? The entire Rivergorge City has been activated for mobilization? Alright¡­ I¡¯ll head towards the Special Investigations Department immediately¡­¡±

    He grabbed his clothes and promptly left thefort of his warm nkets.

    Clear Creek County.

    Not far from the county hospital an SUV appeared to be charging about wildly, as though rushing for time. A figure in long ck robes and Zhang Fengzi were both staring transfixed at the screen in their hands. Their eyes werepletely glued to the screen.

    Several ck blips kept appearing on the screen from time to time. Yet, the more they looked at it, the more tightly knit their brows became.

    No¡­

    It¡¯s not¡­

    Where¡¯s he?

    Thergest ck dot incidentally indicated a location that was closest to theirs right now. It was also where Wang Chenghao was located. Yet the other ck dots were simply not representative of their target¡¯s abilities. Zhang Fengzi stared at the screen in disbelief, before uttering in dismay, ¡°Has he left?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ how is this possible¡­¡±

    However, in the blink of an eye, almost as though he suddenly recalled something important, Zhang Fengzi barked at the driver, ¡°Head towards the county hospital! Hurry!¡±

    ¡°Zhang Fengzi¡­¡± Before Zhang Fengzi could finish speaking, a voice echoed from the backseat, ¡°Are you suggesting that he¡¯s hiding under the radar?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s that possibility¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. This appears to me more a disy of your inability to reconcile with your performance tonight. We¡¯re talking about a genuine Emissary of Hell here¡­ Records of these encounters are few and far between, even amongst our masters¡¯ annals and records. Tell me¡­ why do you think he left?¡±

    Zhang Fengzi shook his head.

    ¡°Have you considered the possibility that he¡¯s not an Emissary of Hell?¡± The voice suggested, ¡°You¡¯ve let your emotions cloud your decisions¡­ So what if he¡¯s escaped? There¡¯s nothing to be anxious about. Besides, the fact that he¡¯s wearing a Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that he must be an Emissary of Hell. Your resentment for your failure has led us on a wild goose¡¯s chase. It¡¯s been an imprudent use of resources.¡±

    Zhang Fengzi shut his eyes and sighed long and hard. Several secondster, he gritted his teeth and continued, ¡°Yes...I¡¯m feeling sore about the entire incident.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m not going to give up until I¡¯ve checked every unturned stone!¡±

    Clear Creek County People¡¯s Hospital.

    Wang Chenghao was munching on a bag of chips when the door was suddenly opened.

    ¡°You¡­¡± He was just about to speak when Zhang Fengzi immediately interjected. Zhang Fengzi stared at the person at the foot of Wang Chenghao¡¯s bed in astonishment, ¡°You¡­ what are you doing here?!¡±

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. The City God is one of the important deitiesmonly worshipped in the Chinese religion and culture. It¡¯s also one of the Taoist gods who is believed to guard cities and towns. ording to its lore, the City God is also a magistrate in the underworld, with powers equivalent to those of a magistrate in the mortal realm.

 Chapter 30: Arrival of the Evil Ghost

    <h4>Chapter 30: Arrival of the Evil Ghost</h4>

    Qin Ye was seated at the end of Wang Chenghao¡¯s bed. Equally startled, he rubbed his eyes, ¡°I-I¡¯de here to deliver textbooks to my ssmate, but it was gettingte, so I decided to stay¡­¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you return home?!¡± Zhang Fengzi took a step forward and stared straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. His aggression seemed to suggest that if Qin Ye even said anything remotely wrong or suspicious, Zhang Fengzi would immediately arrest him.

    Yet Qin Ye simply scratched his hair and responded with some measure of frustration, ¡°I want to go home too¡­ but¡­ it was already 6 p.m. by the time I arrived here¡­¡±

    The public announcements¡­

    Zhang Fengzi shut his eyes and sighed with resignation.

    He could no longer identify the emotions buffeting his poor heart. It was almost as though he had been chasing after the moon all this while, only to realize when it was right in front of his eyes that everything had beenpletely in vain.

    He hated those public announcements right now. If not for those public announcements that had been ying on repeat, Qin Ye would never be able to exin his presence here. But as things stand right now¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s storypletely checked out.

    It seemed almost too much of a coincidence. But, when all was said and done, it was still no more than just a coincidence.

    Worst of all, notwithstanding the immense coverage of surveince systems they had put in ce to track supernatural activities, it just so happened that there were no security cameras aimed at the entrance to the ward. After all, the county¡¯s hospital would never allow for such things.

    When he next spoke again, his tone of voice had already softened substantially, ¡°Then, did you notice or experience anything¡­ peculiar earlier?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Both boys blinked nkly, as though they were confused.

    Zhang Fengzi looked them straight in the eyes for several seconds more, before abruptly crouching down.

    There¡¯s nothing under the bed either.

    Is he really not here?

    Is this really borne out of my own resentment at the entire situation?

    He stood up with a soft sigh once more. Just then, the Buddhist whisk suddenly shot out from his sleeves and swept underneath the bed like lightning.

    Still nothing.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± He shook his head in resignation. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly walked to the windows, ¡°I recall¡­ didn¡¯t the nurse say that you shouldn¡¯t be exposed to the wind?¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Wang Chenghao replied bashfully, ¡°The air was a little stale because of the air conditioning, so I¡¯d opened the windows to let some fresh air in.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain you were the one who opened it? Think properly.¡±

    Wang Chenghao furrowed his brows, ¡°Of course it was me. What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Silence.

    Secondster, Zhang Fengzi finally turned around and took his leave, ¡°Rest well.¡±

    Click¡­ As the door closed, Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Truly beautiful.¡± Arthis¡¯ heartfeltmendation was full of sincerity, ¡°Firstly, you¡¯ve managed to sessfully mask the Yin energy surrounding your body by concealing yourself in That Amorous Affair¡¯s lingering Yin energy. But even though you can conceal your presence and remain hidden, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that the county-wide investigation will still reveal your absence from The Afterlife. That, coupled with the fact that you¡¯re already earmarked as a suspicious person, would naturally draw all of the government¡¯s attention to you as the prime suspect for today¡¯s incident.¡±

    ¡°Yet you managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat and pull a veil over their heads by discarding your invisibility and appearing right before their very eyes. They don¡¯t even know you¡¯re the culprit right now. Not only have you slipped through the massive which they have cast over the entire county, you¡¯ve even managed to establish a perfect alibi for yourself¡­ I must say that thest few decades of your life haven¡¯t been in vain indeed.¡±

    Qin Ye sat on the end of the bed, somewhat dejectedly.

    He was like a fish that had been floundering about and struggling to evade capture all night. Then, on the brink of capture, he¡¯d actually managed to break through the and swim into the depths of the sea once more.

    He had truly gained a second wind.

    Just then, a cup of water was set down in front of him. He lifted his head, only to lock eyes with Wang Chenghao¡¯s abstruse gaze.

    ¡°We¡¯re¡­ friends now, aren¡¯t we?¡± Secondster, Wang Chenghao muttered with a small, uncertain voice, ¡°You¡¯d earlier¡­ earlier mentioned that¡­ if I helped you out here, you¡¯d tell me everything I wanted to know¡­¡±

    ¡°... You can say that.¡± Qin Ye took a sip from the cup in front of him. The warm water slid down his throat and somewhat eased his wildly thumping heart.

    ¡°That¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in a hurry to decide just yet.¡± Qin Ye closed his eyes, ¡°It¡¯s not easy being my friend.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid!¡±

    Qin Ye opened his eyes once more and nced suspiciously at Wang Chenghao, ¡°I can give you an example. For instance¡­ say you have a ssmate of the same age as you. Later in life, when your face is filled with wrinkles, you¡¯re reunited with him, only to discover that he¡¯s not aged a single bit. In fact, he¡¯s even still suffering from an outbreak of pimples and prancing about in front of you like a lively teenager. What would you do then?¡±

    ¡°Death by a thousand cuts!!!¡± Wang Chenghao eximed with undeniable killing intent.

    ¡°I apologize for having imposed on you.¡± Qin Ye stood up and motioned to leave.

    ¡°Hey¡­ don¡¯t go! What¡¯s wrong? Did I say something wrong? Aren¡¯t we friends¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Wee-oo-ee-oo-ee-oo¡­ Just as Zhang Fengzi left the hospital, the entire squad of Rivergorge City¡¯s major crime division had already formed up. Themander carrying a sidearm and standing in front of the entire division was none other than Deputy Chief Lin Chaosheng, the man who had mbered out of bed in the middle of the night.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± His imposing gaze swept across the troops that were lined up, ¡°I can tell that despite having been mobilized in the middle of the night, everyone¡¯s faces are only filled with excitement, and there¡¯s no trace of weariness at all. This tells me that I, Lin Chaosheng, have picked out only the bravest of souls.¡±

    ¡°Chief Lin, is something going on?¡± A younger policeman quipped excitedly, ¡°There¡¯s a lot of buzz going aroundtely! Three instances of murders in Rivergorge City alone, yet they don¡¯t even allow us to intervene!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Another middle-aged man chimed in. He had a pair of bright, gleaming eyes despite his slightly yellowish skin, ¡°What right do they have? That Special Investigations Departed just parachuted right into the midst of our territory and took over all our cases at once. How can they even hold a candle to our wealth of experience in this field?¡±

    ¡°Ri, enough.¡± Lin Chaosheng jocrly dismissed him, before addressing everyone in earnest, ¡°Every single one of you standing before me are elites. And this is why I know I will be able to trust everyone with the uing crisis. Drop everything you have in Rivergorge City and depart for Clear Creek County at once.¡±

    ¡°Something happened in Clear Creek County?¡± The middle-aged man with the yellowish face queried with a somber expression.

    Lin Chaosheng furrowed his brows and continued, ¡°Haven¡¯t you forgotten the basics? Don¡¯t ask what you don¡¯t need to know. Load up the vehicles and move out at once! Go!¡±

    The entire division of policemen moved incredibly quickly. What excited them the most was the fact that they had been issued live ammunition. This naturally meant that there was a possibility that they would need to use their guns.

    The opportunity to fire guns was an incidental point. The crucial thing to note was that the severity of the situation lent credence to the fact that their present case was on apletely unprecedented level. It was even more important than the three murder cases in Rivergorge City!

    ¡°Truth be told, I honestly respect Deputy Chief Lin!¡± As soon as he boarded the vehicle, a young police officer with a cigarette in his mouth joked with his colleague, ¡°He was so capable in dealing with those major crime cases that everyone else considered cold-cases! He¡¯s already forty-five years old, yet he¡¯s got more energy than a young man like me! His resume is nearly perfect too. If he¡¯s not appointed the next chiefmissioner, I¡¯m done here!¡±

    ¡°Indeed. He¡¯s truly amazing.¡± The colleague beside started the engine, ¡°Those cold cases back then - not a single person expected her to be the murderer at all, yet Deputy Chief Lin managed to go against all odds and prove everybody wrong. He¡¯d even elicited a full confession from her. Amazing. Truly spectacr.¡±

    On Lin Chaosheng¡¯s vehicle, another young policeman muttered with a somewhat bitter expression, ¡°Deputy Chief¡­ could I trouble you to take the wheel today¡­ I-I¡¯m afraid I must¡¯ve caught a coldst night¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Lin Chaosheng searched the car for a bit, before retrieving a pack of cold medication and tossed it over, ¡°Don¡¯t go if you¡¯re not well. Your health matters more than anything else, you know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be alright, I¡¯ll be alright! Deputy Chief has to bring me along!¡±

    ¡°I knew I could count on you.¡± Lin Chaosheng chuckled lightly and immediately started the engine.

    Just like that, an entire convoy of police vehicles moved out discreetly, sirens off, as they entered the national highway.

    Lin Chaosheng lit a cigarette in his mouth and followed at the end of the convoy, maintaining a consistent speed at all times.

    The rearguard. This was both his position in the convoy, as well as his duty as a deputy chief.

    His police cap sat gingerly atop the front dashboard, and the national emblem faced him directly. His heart was suddenly filled with a sense of bemusement.

    Many things have happened in recent times. The upper echelons had conspicuously refused toment, but it was clear that a department called the Special Investigations Department had been taking over all of the ¡°difficult cases¡± belonging to major crimes and even cut them out of the entire investigation process. Rivergorge City was located at the intersection between two provinces, and this necessarily meant that the scope of authority of the major crimes division was hardly insignificant. The transfer of cases was tantamount to stealing their food. This left several members of their division highly dissatisfied.

    However, the feeling of dissatisfaction could only go so far. As officers of the police force, it was also their duty to obey.

    Thus, he kept hisments all to himself.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for the chiefmissioner to be reced in a few years¡¯ time, right?¡± The national expressway was incredibly quiet at night. He nced about at his surroundings calmly. They were moving in a convoy in any event. All he had to do was to maintain his speed.

    ¡°I, Lin Chaosheng, have proven myself in both qualifications and capabilities, haven¡¯t I? No matter how you look at it, shouldn¡¯t it be my turn to ascend the throne?¡±

    He smiled to himself. Then, he was suddenly reminded of his wife and daughter at home, and he felt a wave of guilty consciencee upon him.

    Just then, he suddenly heard a slight knocking sound. Knock knock...

    What was that?

    He nced left and right. Nothing.

    Shrugging it off, he continued to forge ahead with the rest of the convoy. However¡­ the knocking sound repeated itself. Knock knock¡­ Again and again, it got clearer and clearer, and increased in frequency as well! Finally, the knocking began to sound as though it came from just beside his ears!

    A dark, gloomy night, driving a dark-coloured vehicle through a dark, gloomy expressway.

    The knocking sounds had appeared out of nowhere, resounding as though the death knell¡­ were right on his car!

    Knock knock¡­ He secretly began to track the frequency of these knocking sounds - once every five seconds, and consistently from his left. Thus, four seconds after thest knocking sound, he abruptly turned his head to the left and looked out of the window. Immediately, he screamed in horror, and swerved his vehicle in surprise, sending it spiralling out of control on the highway!

    Screeeeeeeeeeeech!

    ¡°Ahhh¡­ ahh!!¡± The car stopped on the side of the road. His forehead was percting with cold sweat, and his heart had almost leapt right out of his chest.

    Just a second ago¡­ in that instant that he turned his head around, he had seen¡­ a man dressed in a ck trench coat, wearing a ck hat, ck mask and ck sunsses, just¡­ knocking on his window despite the fact that he was travelling down the highway at approximately one hundred kilometers per hour!

    How is that possible?!

    Knock knock¡­ The knocking sounds rang out again. This time, his body frozepletely.

    This time¡­ it didn¡¯te from outside the car¡­

    It was on the inside.

    Bzzt¡­ The lights within the vehicle suddenly fizzled out.

    T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-... Despite how brave and courageous Lin Chaosheng usually was, he couldn¡¯t help but tremble incessantly at this very moment. A sense of abject fear filled every fiber of his being, sending waves of chill spreading from his tailbone right through to his skull.

    With his incessantly shivering hands, he switched on his phone and used the phone¡¯s illumination to look into his rearview mirror.

    ¡°AHHHHHHHH!!!¡±

    A blood-curdling shriek resounded through the entire car.

    He saw the young police officer in the rearview mirror. However, that young officer was now bleeding through all of his seven apertures. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin was pale white and devoid of the colour of blood, and his mouth had been ripped wide open, revealing two sets of macabre, white teeth. The young police sat motionless in his seat, yet his eyes appeared to be staring straight at Deputy Chief Lin!

    This was none other than a corpse!

    He had been driving a corpse for tens of minutes on end now.

    To make matters worse, it appeared as though it was this corpse that¡­ had been knocking on the window once every five seconds.

    ¡°Do you know¡­ why evil ghosts don¡¯t actively look for military men and police officers?¡± A hoarse voice resounded from the young police officer¡¯s body. Yet, neither his lips nor throat moved as he spoke. Instead, his bloodshot eyeballs only appeared to bulge morbidly, almost as though they were on the brink of popping out of their sockets.

    ¡°Y-y-you¡­ what the hell are you?!¡± Lin Chaosheng¡¯s heart felt like it had stopped beating. Then, he abruptly reached for his police cap.

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer¡­ I¡¯ve got a gun¡­ And this is the national emblem¡­¡±

    He had once heard someone say that evil ghosts could nevere near a national emblem. They had also alleged that it was impossible for ces like military bases or police stations to be haunted as well!

    Yet, the young police officer simplyughed. His hands were rigidly ced on his knees and his back was erect. Only his mouth was ripped in a grotesque arc. The young police officer appeared incredibly bizarre and frightening.

    ¡°It is because, the strongest concentration of Yang energy is right in these ces. But you, on the other hand¡­ Lin Chaosheng¡­ seven years ago, the case that made you was the one involving the dismembered body in the Mako District. Back then, you forced widow Zhang into an admission of guilt by taking advantage of her mentally retarded son. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, and you made a promise to look after her son. Yet, that kid starved to death just three yearster on the streets¡­¡±

    Lin Chaosheng¡¯s throat trembled slightly, but he simply couldn¡¯t find any words to say.

    ¡°Four years ago¡­ your reputation got another boost when you solved that serial murder case¡­ Having tasted sweet, sweet sess, you continued with your ¡®tried and tested¡¯ methods and coerced a sixty-year-old man to plead guilty to his crimes by promising that you would look after his seven-year-old grandchildren. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Yet, one yearter, his grandchildren were sold to a human trafficker¡­ for approximately RMB 100,000¡­¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to visit any other vehicle in the convoy¡­ But your vehicle seemed to be calling out to me¡­ Tell me, how do you think the national emblem is going to protect a scumbag like you?¡±

    With shivering hands, Lin Chaosheng open fired at the backseat, ¡°Y-y-you¡­ who the hell are you?!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a doctor¡­¡± The corpse began tough silently, ¡°I specialize in treating the living¡­¡±

    ¡°Incidentally¡­ I was also thinking of making a trip to Clear Creek County. Your twisted, ugly flesh would make the perfect vessel for me¡­¡±

    Phlbbt! Blood sttered against the window of thest vehicle in the convoy, followed shortly by Lin Chaosheng¡¯s tragic screams that echoed through the still, silent night.

    <hr style="text-align: left">1. Eyes, nose, ears and mouth.

 Chapter 31: Reversal

    <h4>Chapter 31: Reversal</h4>

    ¡°Mmm¡­ softer¡­ firmly now¡­ that¡¯s right, that¡¯s the spot¡­¡±

    Extremely lewd sounds came right out of his mouth. Qin Yey on the massage bed like a dead snake as he thoroughly enjoyed the masseur¡¯s conscientious touch.

    ¡°... Can you stop calling out so lewdly? Even the masseur is getting aroused by it.¡± Arthis castigated him in disgust.

    ¡°...The way you described it made it sound worse. Your mouth exposes the true contemtions of your heart. Away from me!¡±

    What do you mean, ¡®contemtions of my heart¡¯?!

    Qin Ye squinted as he nced outside. He could see that there were teams of armed policemen patrolling the streets from time to time. Even though nothing was happening just yet, their presence alone already created a tense and stifling atmosphere.

    ¡°God knows why there are so many armed policemen on the streets these days.¡± The masseur, who was a blind man, sighed wistfully, ¡°They won¡¯t even let us go out at night anymore. This massage parlor is on the brink of closing down.¡±

    Qin Ye patronized him with some simple responses. He had to give credit where it was due - the masseur was truly quite skilled, and the soothing massage made him grow increasingly drowsy. However, Qin Ye did his utmost to stay awake. He was afraid that the masseur would take advantage of him if he did. Arthis could sense the disturbing thoughts guing Qin Ye¡¯s mind, and this only increased her disdain for him.

    Swish¡­ The curtains were gently drawn aside. Arthis spoke in a deep voice, ¡°Tonight is when the phantom market opens. What are your ns?¡±

    Without raising his head, Qin Ye lifted his hand with style and elegance, revealing a single card between his fingers. Then, twisting his fingers slightly, he revealed that there were in fact two cards - one behind the other.

    One of the cards was an identification card that read - Registered underworldly craftsman - Huang Sanhe, Linker. The other was an ICBC card.

    ¡°This is?¡±

    ¡°This is a symbol of friendship between ssmate Wang and I¡­¡± Qin Ye tilted his head slightly. His eyes were filled with a mesmerized look, ¡°Look, this noble, gorgeous ICBC tinum Card contains RMB 300,000¡­ RMB 300,000! My word! I¡¯ve lived an honest life thus far, and I¡¯ve never received so much moh before!¡±

    Arthis trembled in shock, ¡°Wait¡­ you¡¯ve just be friends, and you¡¯ve already asked him for RMB 300,000?! Isn¡¯t the entry fee to your inner circle far too expensive?¡±

    Yet Qin Ye sternly responded, ¡°Please get your facts straight. We first became friends, and then I got this card. Do you really think that our friendship can be bought by something so plebeian?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing much more worth speaking about. You don¡¯t know what I¡¯ve been through! As a person who¡¯s been through college five times, I can tell you that when I was at X University, tuition fees were only two to three silver dors. But now, it costs well in the range of tens of thousands! Do you know the profit of the humble funerary shop I own? At best, my monthly profit is only slightly over RMB 3,000! There¡¯s practically nothing left after paying rent! It¡¯s the circumstances that are forcing this public servant to be corrupt!¡±

    Pausing for a moment, he continued with much dejection, ¡°Besides, there¡¯s no outlet for me to indulge in corruption even if I so desired¡­ Separately, I haven¡¯t been to a massage parlor in ages on end now¡­¡±

    Arthis blinked at him, ¡°After all these years¡­ don¡¯t you have any savings, investments in real estate or the like?¡±

    Silence.

    An abrupt, oppressive silence was one of the things that almost everyone hated.

    Secondster, realization dawned on Arthis, and she smiled insincerely as she continued, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry to hear that. Your lifespan is far longer than any of these houses, real estate and the like¡­ why would you possibly dare to dabble in such high-risk investments? Kekeke¡­ doesn¡¯t this mean that you¡¯ve barely been scraping by over thest few decades? What kind of indomitable spirit do you have to be able to persist for such a long time?¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Arti. In order to prevent an irreparablyrge rift from appearing in our already unstable rtionship, I think it¡¯s best that you refrain from discussing such sorrowful topics in future.¡±

    As long as she was in the soul sphere, Arthis had no choice but toply. She nodded the¡­ sphere. Then, she forcibly changed the topic, ¡°Speaking of which, what¡¯s the use of the identification card that Huang Sanhe had given to you?¡±

    Qin Ye ced the cards gingerly back into his pocket, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate their skills. Any qualified linker is also undoubtedly a masterful makeup artist. These professionals have another name now - stic surgeons. Naturally, not every stic surgeon is also a linker. That said, there would invariably be several linkers among all of the qualified stic surgeons these days.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re going to put on makeup to infiltrate the phantom market? Are you certain?¡± Arthis was rather skeptical of his ns, ¡°Isn¡¯t the government regting people with special crafts with extra stringency these days? Furthermore, the entire county has already gone on full alert. Are you certain you know the exact mode of verification for entry to the phantom market this time? Are you certain you won¡¯t be discovered?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°I¡¯ve at least got to give it a shot.¡±

    After pausing for a moment, he continued with some measure of hesitance, ¡°Furthermore¡­ my eyebrows have been twitching non-stop sincest night. It¡¯s almost as though¡­ something terrifying is going to happen soon..¡±

    Arthis'' voice grew somber, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate these little twitchings.¡±

    ¡°Do you know something? Ordinary people have five senses, but us Emissaries of Hell, as well as cultivators, possess six senses.¡±

    ¡°Buddhism calls this the arya sense. It¡¯s a type of sensation that can generally be dismissed summarily, but there are also times when the sensation can also be an incredibly urate premonition of an uing crisis.¡±

    Qin-coward-Ye lifted his head, ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±

    ¡°Do I look like I am?!¡±

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at the soul sphere ced at the head of the massage bed. The sphere looked almost like a mummy with strings after strings of Sanskrit words written all over it¡­

    Qin Ye chuckled in a wicked manner.

    His expression was coy and subtle, and he even made a slight huffing sound to boot.

    ¡°Ssss¡­¡± Arthis drew a deep breath of air, ¡°Kid¡­ you best pray that you¡¯re already an Infernal Judge by the time I¡¯m out of this soul sphere. This is a grudge that I¡¯ll remember for the rest of my life¡­¡±

    Nobody said a single word after that.

    Indeed, there was no other way out. Every day that they remained in the dark as to the evil mastermind¡¯s true identity was a day that the Sword of Damocles continued to hang over their head. Nobody knew when it would finally drop down and cleave them in two.

    And so what if there was a premonition of a crisis? If this was something that they had to confront head-on, they would have to do it regardless.

    Both Qin Ye and Arthis continued to rest. It was almost as though the altercationst night hadn¡¯t happened, and they continued to maintain the somewhat cordial basis of their previous interactions that entailed mutual ill-treatment from time to time.

    This was because¡­ they were both clever people.

    The older, the wiser. They both knew that a deteriorating rtion would serve neither of them any good. Since they both had a ir for acting and pretension, what harm was there in continuing to validate each other as life went on?

    Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s cell phone suddenly buzzed. He picked it up to take a look, and immediately furrowed his eyes.

    What he opened was a WeChat group chat entitled ¡°Clear Creek County High School ss 3-4 Group¡±. A series of messages popped up within.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Arthis asked curiously.

    ¡°It¡¯s a tool to show off to one another. For instance, you could post a photograph of yourself standing beside someone else¡¯s car, or with your hand ced on the high speed train, and then invite others to ¡®like¡¯ your post. Then, a bunch of people wouldpliment or ¡®like¡¯ your photograph, and your ego would be greatly gratified and receive a massive boost. After that, you¡¯ll set your phone down and continue eating your pickled vegetables.¡± Qin Ye continued to skim through the messages as he exined.

    Arthis responded disdainfully, ¡°What¡¯s so interesting about a post on a meagre car? Back then, my choice of transport was a majestic golden chariot driven by eight powerful horses.¡±

    ¡­¡­

    This is why I say that there¡¯s just no way to bridge this generation gap with this ancient granny!

    ¡°What are they talking about?¡± Arthis askedzily. She was unable to see the messages from where she was at.

    ¡°This stupid group has been quiet almost any other day, yet it just went crazy today¡­¡± Qin Ye continued to skim through the messages as he pursed his lips, ¡°So that¡¯s it¡­¡±

    The first of the series of WeChat messages was posted by a person with a flower as her disy picture. Her ID read: Lin Yue, ss President. Her message read, ¡°Dear ssmates, my uncle who works in the Public Security Bureau in the city ising to visit tonight, and he would like to invite everyone to dinner. Please be sure toe!¡±

    Within moments, her initial post exploded with responses.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the location? Can we stay over? I wouldn¡¯t dare to go out after 6 p.m. It just seems particrly gloomy and chilly outside these days.¡± - Wang Zhenshan, English ss Representative.

    ¡°Ooo. Wealthy! I¡¯m guessing ss President Lin¡¯s uncle must be a high-ranking official, isn¡¯t he? Is he really treating so many of us to dinner?¡± - Wang Zhi, Math ss Representative.

    ¡°You exaggerate. He¡¯s just an ordinary official who¡¯s in charge of a few dozen people. It¡¯s just a token gesture to thank everyone for taking good care of me¡­ By the way, I¡¯m taking all of this to mean that you¡¯ve given your word. All of you muste. It¡¯s going to be in the county¡¯s best hotel, the Feni Hotel. You can stay the night there as well. Honestly, I really hate these bullshit rules¡­ I feel like I haven¡¯t been out at night in ages now.¡± - Lin Yue, ss President.

    ¡°Bullshit! How can you describe someone in charge of dozens of people as an ordinary official? But regardless, thanks for your goodwill! I¡¯ll definitely be there!¡± - Xiao Huanshui, Physical Education ss Representative.

    Qin Ye pursed his lips again, ¡°Do you get the point?¡±

    Arthis was bewildered.

    Qin Yeughed, ¡°The focus isn¡¯t so much on ¡®I¡¯m buying dinner tonight¡¯, as it is on the fact that ¡®my uncle who¡¯s in the Public Service Bureau is buying dinner tonight¡¯. Then, she goes on to casually mention that her uncle is only in charge of tens of people. But, having realized that the bragging was far too obvious, she attempted to conceal it by changing the subject and bringing the focus back to the invitation at hand. Her tactics are far too low and cheap.¡±

    ¡°... Yet you still seem to be enjoying it?¡±

    ¡°... Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s fun to watch a troupe of monkeys act in front of you?¡±

    ¡°If you ask me¡­ we¡¯re talking about a bunch of monkeys who have houses, rtives, cars and can rely on their parents to fund their university education. They might not be lower than you in terms of social status¡­¡±

    ¡°... Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes. It felt as though a thousand arrows had punctured his heart in that instant, as he tapped wildly at his phone, ¡°Let¡¯s go! I¡¯ll definitely be there to cheer for the great beauty in our ss!¡±

    He was an archetypal poor man, and there was no way he was going to pass up on the opportunity to indulge in free food and drinks! Besides, given the current sweep it might not be a bad idea to hide out in in sight amongst his peers.

    His response didn¡¯t cause a single ripple ofments in the group. After all, he was but a mere sojourner in these parts, and all he had to do was to remain as ordinary and dull as possible. He was the type of person in the ss that everyone knew of, but would also easily forget if his name wasn¡¯t mentioned at all. That said, Wang Chenghao responded almost immediately after Qin Ye chimed in, ¡°You¡¯re going? Then, I¡¯m going as well.¡±

    ¡°Eh? Handsome Wang, why are you so free today? I didn¡¯t think you were going toe as well.¡± - Lin Yue, ss President. She had even added a smiling emoticon to the message.

    ¡°Boss Wang is free? That¡¯s awesome. That means that attendance is going to beplete tonight.¡± - Xiao Huanshui, Physical Education ss Representative.

    ¡°Yo, ¡®Rodent¡¯, when did you get so close with Qin Ye anyway?¡±

    Qin Ye closed the WeChat group. What transpired in the group no longer bothered him anymore. Wang Chenghao was seen by everyone as the heir to his parents¡¯ business and legacy. He was like the electricity and light to their world - an existence almost akin to that of a god.

    They wouldn¡¯t be able to help but begin to sing his praises¡­

    ¡°What about the phantom market?¡± Arthis asked.

    ¡°It only opens at midnight anyway. We¡¯ve got time.¡±

    Yet, nobody knew that Lin Yue was on sick leave today.

    Lin Yue lived in an ordinary looking shop house. At this moment, the curtains werepletely drawn, and the house was practically airtight. Not even a single trace of sunlight could enter the house.

    The door to the room of Lin Yue¡¯s parents was locked tight. Traces of blood seeped out from the little gap under the door. Meanwhile, Lin Yue¡­ sat on the edge of her bed, ostensibly in a daze, as she continued to tap mechanically on her cell phone.

    Just above her, dark macabre threads hung from the shadows in the ceiling, attaching themselves to different parts of her body, almost as though she were a puppet! These threads were exactly what were manipting her hands to continue typing on her phone!

    If one looked closer, there were in fact dark red slits in each and every single one of her joints. It was almost as though someone had dismembered her body like a rag doll before reassembling her once more.

    Thud¡­ As she switched off her phone, her body copsed to the ground like a broken rag doll. Lin Chaosheng stood in the darkness behind her, wearing a ck mask, watching silently as these events unfolded.

    ¡°Whoever touched His Highness¡¯ things¡­¡±

    ¡°Has hidden himself rather well¡­ Even the government hasn¡¯t been able to locate you¡­ But that¡¯s fine, you¡­ must definitely be among these people¡­¡±

    ¡°The one who¡¯s had immediate ess to His Highness¡¯ pot of breeding fodder must be among his ssmates¡­ No matter. I will slowly but surely locate you¡­ and then, I¡¯ll bring your head back¡­ and dere to the ¡®survivors¡¯ of the entire Westriver Province who our new king is¡­¡±

    1. A bank card.

 Chapter 32: A Round of Murder

    <h4>Chapter 32: A Round of Murder</h4>

    It was 6 p.m. Qin Ye hailed a rickshaw and joyfully made his way towards the Feni Hotel.

    Ind counties could hardly be considered rich or wealthy. To put things into context, some of the wealthier coastal counties could even be richer than cities located ind. Therefore, all things considered, the Feni Hotel could hardly be consideredrge or extravagant. Despite being called a hotel, it hardly looked anything like one. The building it upied used to be a state-run guest house in the nies. After a series of restructuring and reorganization, the hotel was bought over by Wang Chenghao¡¯s father and transformed into the Feni Hotel.

    Despite that, the Feni Hotel was still the only presentable hotel in the entire Clear Creek County. Therefore, business was still rtively good.

    ¡°I¡¯m going...¡± Qin Ye hopped off the rickshaw and looked at the six-storey hotel in earnest. Arthis, on the other hand, was baffled, ¡°What¡¯s so good about this ce? It looks so rickety.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand¡­¡± Qin Ye was bursting with emotions, ¡°I haven¡¯t been to such a high-ss ce in almost three whole years now¡­¡±

    At this moment, Arthis wanted to abandon Qin Ye and leave him as far behind as possible. You¡¯re tainting my reputation by association!

    He entered the hotel, reported his room number, and took the lift to the sixth floor. As soon as the door opened, a rush of mouring sounds immediately bounced off their eardrums.

    This was an event space that was approximately two hundred square metersrge. Almost all of the weddings in the county had been celebrated here. Its decors were fairly decent. Exquisite, meterrge ancient chandeliers hung majestically from the ceiling. Large ink murals spanning tens of meters cleverly subdivided the event space into smaller partitions. The red carpet was cheap, but festive. The antiquated wooden tables only entuated the style of the room.

    The entire event space had been booked out tonight. All thirty-five students from their ss were present today, and they all sat aroundrge 8-men tables, properly filling up four and a half of these. The rest of the event space felt somewhat empty and gloomy. As soon as the elevator door opened and Qin Ye appeared, several people immediately waved and called out, ¡°Qin Ye, over here! Come over here!¡±

    Qin Ye felt like he was caught in a bind.

    He was torn as to where he should take his seat. After all, he was so enthused about this meal that he had even skipped his lunch in preparation to stuff himself tonight. He was looking for the best ce to sit at strategically so that nobody would notice his gluttonous ways.

    Can you guys please restrain yourself? Please don¡¯t make it seem like we¡¯re very familiar with each other. I would just like the opportunity to indulge myself tonight.

    ¡°Qin Ye, over here.¡± Just as he was hesitating, a somewhat hoarse voice called out to him. Wang Chenghao had stood up from his seat, and was beckoning to Qin Ye.

    The entire ce was suddenly silent.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious!¡± From another table, Zhang Yilong red at Qin Ye and muttered in a low voice, ¡°Since when did this idiot get so close to Brother Hao?¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Another curious student immediately chimed in response. Zhang Yilong had spoken with a hushed voice, but the distance between students at the table wasn¡¯trge either.

    ¡°Nothing much. Last time, he stayed to help Brother Hao and I clean up the ssroom. Who would¡¯ve expected this idiot to be that much of a social climber? I don¡¯t understand what Brother Hao sees in him!¡±

    Qin Ye was naturally oblivious to Zhang Yilong¡¯s nderous usations. He nced at Wang Chenghao¡¯s seat. Both Lin Yue and Wang Chenghao were seated at a table that was only half filled with four people. Apart from them, there was a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows who wore a ck face mask and his police uniform. The only thing that wascking was his policeman¡¯s cap with the national emblem on it. Thest person present at the table was the ss vice-president, Su Chaoyang.

    Qin Ye made his way to the main table and took his seat under everyone¡¯s watchful eyes. As soon as he took his seat, the middle-aged man immediately spoke, ¡°And you are?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows almost imperceptibly, and he maintained a faint smile on his face as he responded, ¡°ss President Lin Yue¡¯s ss-... mate¡­¡±

    Qin Ye could sense that something felt slightly off about the situation, yet he couldn¡¯t quite ce a finger on it. However, as soon as he nced at Lin Yue, his pupils immediately constricted.

    It was early autumn right now.

    The weather was still somewhat warm, and Lin Yue was still wearing her school uniform.

    She could be considered rather attractive - a seventeen years old girl who was still in the midst of blooming into a beautiful flower. She had pretty eyebrows and shoulder length hair. That said, it suddenly dawned on Qin Ye that Lin Yue had not spoken a single word from the beginning. She simply hung her head low, allowing her jet ck hair to drape over her face, obscuring most of her facial features.

    Furthermore, her school uniform was somewhat ill-fitting¡­ and she presented herself almost akin to an ugly looking rag doll.

    The middle-aged man nced at Lin Yue with what appeared to be a soft, tender gaze. Yet his expressions remainedpletely unchanging.

    ¡°Do¡­ do you find her a little bit different from her usual self?¡± The man¡¯s hoarse voice interrupted Qin Ye¡¯s train of thought and abstruse gaze. Scratching his head, Qin Ye responded, ¡°Is she sick?¡±

    The middle-aged man continued to stare straight into his eyes. His facial muscles contracted slightly, and it looked almost as though he were smiling faintly under his facial mask, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ she¡¯s quite ill¡­¡±

    ¡°How do you do¡­ I¡¯m her uncle, Lin Chaosheng.¡±

    Qin Ye gave him a fleeting nce, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel, more than ever, that something wasn¡¯t quite right about this man. He had lived long enough and experienced enough of life¡¯s lessons to know certain things without being taught.

    For instance, he knew that if a person were to speak, it required much more than the simple movements of one¡¯s tongue. In fact, it required the concerted effort of the entire mouth, including some of the muscle groups at the throat andrynx.

    However¡­ he could clearly see that this was not the case for Lin Chaosheng. His movements were no different from that of a living dead. No¡­ perhaps it would be more urate to say that his movements were no different from that of a puppet. The words spoken were clear and coherent, yet there was hardly any trace of emotional undertones to it.

    ¡°This man¡­¡± After some moments of hesitation, Arthis, who was in Qin Ye¡¯s pockets, spoke up mentally. ¡°He¡¯s not one who belongs to the mortal realm.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t see him. Her perception had been solely based on the nuances of the man¡¯s voice.

    Qin Ye nodded lightly, but for now refrained from taking any actions. This was a county that was established by the nation. Furthermore, the supernatural perimeter had been deployed, and the county was on full alert.

    Those who were able to escape from the eighteen level of Hell would know far better than any living person just how precious life was. Who would dare to show up in such a dangerous ce?

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows and smiled faintly as he nodded to the man. Following that, he turned around and began chatting with Wang Chenghao. Wang Chenghao was still in the midst of grieving for the loss of his parents, and his disposition hardly looked good. In fact, he appeared to be barely hanging in there, ¡°Mm¡­ this ce is most well-known for their steamed river dumplings. I¡¯ll treat you to it next time¡­ the other apanying dishes are not too bad either¡­¡±

    Just then, he suddenly lifted his head in confusion, because he btedly realized that Qin Ye was currently writing words on hisp.

    One stroke, two strokes¡­ He nced discreetly at the word that was being written - it was the word ¡°follow¡±.

    Wang Chenghao looked back up at Qin Ye in surprise, yet Qin Ye¡¯s appeared to be his usual, jocr self. After several more jokes, he patted on Wang Chenghao¡¯s shoulder and asked, ¡°Washroom? Let¡¯s take a smoke break.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Wang Chenghao agreed readily, and both students took their leave.

    ck¡­ As soon as the two students stood up, Lin Chaosheng set down his chopsticks silently and gazed at their backs as they departed. It was only after they vanished around the corner that another somewhat apprehensive voice called out, ¡°Uncle Lin¡­ what happened to Lin Yue? She¡¯s not lifted her head a single time tonight¡­ shouldn¡¯t she go have a proper rest if she¡¯s not feeling well?¡±

    Lin Chaosheng shifted his vision and stared straight into Su Chaoyang¡¯s eyes. Chaoyang couldn¡¯t help but lick his dry lips. His hands gripped tightly to his pants under the table. It was only when Su Chaoyang was on the verge of getting chills down his spine did Lin Chaosheng finally respond, ¡°Are you feeling very nervous?¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­ no¡­ I¡¯m not nervous. W-w-why would I be nervous?¡± He was, but he didn¡¯t understand why. As soon as Qin Ye and Wang Chenghao stood up and left the table, Su Chaoyang suddenly felt an intense chill assault his body.

    And it was not a chill from excessive air conditioning¡­ it was something that was intensely frigid and immensely frightening.

    Golden lights shone brightly and boisterous voices echoed all around them. Yet, for some strange reason, Su Chaoyang felt isted from all of this, almost as though he had fallen into an icy cer of sorts. This strange sensation permeated every fiber of his body, and even he didn¡¯t know how to describe the terror within his heart. That said, the terror within made his heart beat wildly.

    Lin Chaosheng pinched the wine ss with two fingers, turned around, and appeared to reveal traces of a smile, ¡°Give the fruit wine here a shot. It tastes pretty good. It should be able to help calm those nerves of yours too.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ no thank you! P-please enjoy it yourself.¡± Su Chaoyang responded almost on instinct. He had already begun to regret sitting at this table tonight.

    He didn¡¯t know why.

    And Man¡¯s greatest fear was the fear of the unknown.

    Lin Chaosheng gazed deeply into his eyes once more. After a long pause, he hissed, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll taste some myself.¡±

    He picked up the wine ss.

    And lowered his head.

    Then, he slowly pulled off his face mask.

    In the very next moment, Su Chaoyang¡¯s jaws dropped, and his mind drew aplete nk!

    Whaty under Lin Chaosheng¡¯s face mask was not the mouth of a human being.

    Rather¡­ it was a grisly set of skeletal teeth!

    A dense clew of dark worms crawled in and out of his gums, and a long, thin, scarlet tongue dripping with crimson blood stretched out into the wine ss and licked its contents.

    This is not a human¡­ I¡¯ve been sitting with Uncle Lin for close to an hour, and he¡¯s not even human!!! Of all the people here today, I¡¯d been seated right next to an evil ghost¡­ Su Chaoyang didn¡¯t even know whether or not he had already screamed in response to this frightening sight. After all, whenever a person is faced with an extreme terror that transcended the limits of what the human heart could bear, he would never be able to react or scream at the situation. His senses and thought processes would all be reduced to apletely nk te of nothingness.

    T-t-t-t-t-t¡­ His teeth began to chatter. Lin Chaosheng continued in a soulless voice, ¡°Tastes pretty good¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± Just as Su Chaoyang returned to his senses and was about to scream in terror, a small, sharp knife plunged straight through his body, right between where his third and fourth ribs were located.

    This was the first time Lin Yue had looked up.

    Mechanical, just like a puppet.

    In fact¡­ one could even clearly see that her sharp jaw barely obscured a faint, red line on her neck.

    Her head had clearly been sliced off and reattached once again!

    And she was the one who was holding onto the knife.

    ¡°What¡­ are¡­ you¡­¡± Everything in front of Su Chaoyang had begun to blur. And before he copsed to the ground, his final words were but a simple question addressing the bewilderment in his heart.

    The entire dining hall was abruptly filled with silence.

    Thud¡­ Crash!!

    Su Chaoyang¡¯s eyes were still wide open when his body copsed into a pool of his own blood. In his dying breath, he tugged at the tablecloth in a feeble attempt to support his own body, only to send a multitude of tes and dishes crashing onto the ground.

    The boisterous students turned around to themotion. Their gazes went from that of suspicion, to that of shock, and finally that of horror. Every single student was staring at the source of themotion with widened eyes and gaping mouths within a span of three short seconds.

    Female students subconsciously covered their mouths, while male students couldn¡¯t help but gasp in disbelief, before instinctively motioning to retreat.

    The pool of crimson in the middle of the event hall was incredibly striking.

    ¡°Formal introductions are in order.¡± Amidst the terror-stricken atmosphere, Lin Chaosheng stood up at the same time as Lin Yue in a perfectly synchronous fashion.

    ¡°My profession belongs to a type of sub-specialization among the linkers. They call me the puppet master.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯ll all have to die here today, because I¡¯m not quite sure who¡¯s touched our things¡­¡±

    ¡°After all I¡¯d rather kill three thousand than risk letting the culprit slip by¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the entrance to the security passageway, Wang Chenghao looked at how Qin Ye was desperately attempting to break the lock as he eximed, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Are you not eating anymore?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to go!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expression was stern and somber and he added through his gritted teeth, ¡°Something¡¯s wrong with this ce!¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Wang Chenghao was baffled, ¡°It¡¯s already 6.30 p.m. outside now! I¡¯m afraid to go out.¡±

    ¡°Come with me. I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re fine! It¡¯s ten thousand times more dangerous to remain in this ce right now!¡± Qin Ye hammered the lock several times, albeit with measured force for fear of making amotion. Then he cursed under his breath, ¡°Damn it!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

    Qin Ye ran his fingers through his hair. Feni Hotel was hardlyrge by any means. There was only one passageway here, and it led straight back into the event hall. And Qin Ye was now one hundred percent certain that something was wrong with Lin Chaosheng!

    ¡°Listen to me.¡± Qin Ye stared straight into Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes, ¡°Did you notice that when I first sat down, Lin Chaosheng asked me who I was?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡±

    ¡°Everything!¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath as he attempted to calm himself down, ¡°Normally, a person in his capacity would be asking Lin Yue. But, he didn¡¯t. And do you know why? It¡¯s because¡­ Lin Yue is simply unable to answer him!¡±

    Then, he dropped the bombshell, ¡°And that¡¯s because¡­ she¡¯s already dead.¡±

 Chapter 33: Assassin of the Underworld

    <h4>Chapter 33: Assassin of the Underworld</h4>

    ¡°What?!¡± Wang Chenghao eximed, ¡°Y-you¡¯re saying¡­ I-I¡¯ve just been sitting together with a dead person? How can this be?! I was still with herst night! You¡­ what evidence do you have?¡±

    ¡°Evidence¡­ hahaha¡­¡± Qin Ye burst out intoughter. He really is an ignorant teenager. If he was an adult, the remotest possibility that this was true would be more than sufficient to cause his nuts to shrink.

    Truth be told, Qin Ye had also questioned his decision to drag the well-built Wang Chenghao along with him. After all, Wang Chenghao was the one who had always been clinging to him, and someone like Wang Chenghao was most certainly going to be a burden.

    ¡°Intuition.¡± The door nged once more as Qin Ye kicked it forcefully. Finally, the door was opened.

    Just then--

    ¡°Ahhhhhh!!!¡± Before Qin Ye could finish speaking, innumerable shrill shrieks echoed from the main dining hall, and a thick stench of blood immediately assaulted their senses.

    It¡¯s begun¡­

    ¡°Things are going crazy¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath and pulled Wang Chenghao as he dashed downstairs. He had never expected the evil ghost to be so deranged as to make his move from the onset of the demonic hour. It was as though he didn¡¯t have the slightest regard for the lingering Yang energy in the area!

    ¡°What about our ssmates? What¡¯s going to happen to them?¡± Wang Chenghao knew that something was amiss, yet he continued to ask about his ssmates even as he continued to run wildly and gasp for breath.

    ¡°You¡¯re still bloody concerned about the others?! If not for¡­ do you really think that I would bring you along?¡± Qin Ye exploded with frustration. Then, he drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but this evil ghost is much more powerful than the one in your house. There¡¯s nothing I''d be able to do about it.¡±

    ¡°So, let¡¯s just hope that the rest can buy us a little bit more time.¡±

    Before he even finished speaking, the screaming from behind had changed from screams of terror to screams of misery and despondence. Both students no longer spoke a single word as they dashed towards the fourth floor. However, as soon as they turned the corner at the third floor, both students were instantly taken aback.

    An iron gate blocked their way down any further.

    The iron gate was hardly a cause for concern. After all, any ordinary Emissary of Hell would be able to dispose of an iron gate without even breaking a sweat. However, the thing that caused Qin Ye¡¯s pupils to constrict immediately was a ck talisman seal that was invisible to mere mortals.

    Yin energy. Overwhelming Yin energy!

    It only took Qin Ye a single probe at it to understand that this was hardly a seal he could break on his own ord. By way of extraption, he knew for certain that he would never be able to defeat a ghost that could set up a powerful talisman seal like this.

    ¡°This is...the Seal of the Assassins of the Underworld?¡± Arthis eximed suddenly, ¡°Does this mean that the evil ghost that showed up is an Assassin of the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Arthis paused for a moment before exining, ¡°Kid¡­ run as fast and far as you can right now. The Assassins of the Underworld¡­ even when Hell was still in existence, they were considered one of the most elite forces around.¡±

    ¡°This talisman is called the nine vectoral demon suppressing talisman. As long as the seal remains intact, Yin energy would never leak out at all. Unless you have the power of an Infernal Judge at your disposal, don¡¯t even think about breaking it apart. This escape route is a write-off. There¡¯s no way you¡¯d be able to circumvent this.¡±

    Damn it!

    Qin Ye turned around and ran towards the event hall. If this was a dead end, then it was clear that only one path remained.

    A full-on confrontation with the Assassin of the Underworld.

    ¡°Qin- Qin Ye¡­¡± Wang Chenghao trembled in fear - even he could feel an oppressive might overwhelming him.

    ¡°Rodent.¡± The seven apertures on Qin Ye¡¯s face were already rippling with waves of Yin energy, gathering and congealing wisps of ck smoke in front of him, ¡°Later, your only job is to run. I won¡¯t be able to look after you. Whether you live or die is entirely dependent on you.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s saber had begun to grow corporeal and appear by Qin Ye¡¯s side now. Qin Ye¡¯s voice grew cold and frigid, ¡°If I die, remember to offer me an incense during the annual Qingming Festival. I¡¯m from the Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qinguang City.¡±

    This ce was already tightly locked down, and there was no way for anyone in the mortal realm to discover them. Since it was impossible to avoid a full-on confrontation, then there was no reason to avoid it any longer.

    Boom!

    Qin Ye¡¯s Yin energy erupted fully in the instant he began charging back into the main event hall, and it looked almost as though a small stream of energy had filled the entire passageway. Despite the fact that it was still evening, Wang Chenghao could tell that the entire passageway was covered in billowing ck smoke. He could even hear the cries of a hundred ghosts from afar.

    Flutter flutter¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s clothes began fluttering about wildly. He had already transformed fully into his Hell''s Emissary state. Long flowing ck robes embroidered with three round ck-and-white patterns. The soul shackle was wrapped around his waist, and he wore a ck skullcap to top it all off. It was as though a free-spirited ghost had appeared amidst the stream of Yin energy. Qin Ye¡¯s arm gripped tightly around the hilt of his demonhead saber, and the veins around his arms were already bulging and ready to explode. His eyes were trained on the great hall at the end of the passageway.

    At the same time, in the midst of the bloodbath in the event hall, the puppet master suddenly lifted his head and stared transfixed at the passageway in the back of the hall. Then, he cried out in a hoarse voice, ¡°Emissary of Hell!!!¡±

    With his loud cry, the Yin energy in his surroundings - tens of times thicker than the energy flowing out of Qin Ye¡¯s body - began to surge like a tidal wave. Following a second blood-curdling cry, he transformed into a gale of thick Yin energy and fled downstairs.

    His response was triggered by a conditioned fear of Hell¡¯s Emissaries. After all, how majestic was Hell back in its glory days? The Yamas of the Ten Pces, the Sixfold Ghost Kings, the thousands of Infernal Judges, and the innumerable Soul Hunters and Anitya Hellguards. The fear of Hell had long been imprinted in the hearts of these suppressed individuals.

    Crash! The chandeliers on the ceiling shook violently, and the tables and chairs in the event hall were swept about furiously by the gale. However, as soon as he arrived at the fourth floor, he suddenly paused in his steps.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right¡­¡±

    ¡°This is undoubtedly a genuine Emissary of Hell¡­ The purity of his Yin energy is unmistakable¡­ However¡­¡±

    ¡°... It¡¯s just a mere Operative-ss Emissary of Hell. It¡¯s not even a Soul Hunter¡­ how dare he unt his power in front of me?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s courting death!!¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, the gale of Yin energy made an about turn and charged directly back towards Qin Ye.

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye felt slightly more at ease having already made his way back into the event hall. After all, the most frightening thing about retracing his steps back from the security passageway was that the evil ghost could be waiting at the other end of the passageway for him. Given how narrow the passageway was, there would be no room for manoeuvre or escape at all. Unexpectedly, he had managed to reach the main event hall without encountering his opponent at all.

    However, notwithstanding the fact that he had already prepared his heart for the scene of devastation, he was still astounded by the bloodbath in the event hall.

    Blood.

    Blood was everywhere.

    And the massacre left nobody alive.

    Most of the chairs and tables had been smashed to smithereens, while the walls and ground were covered in gashes and sh marks that were evidently left by a powerful de. The students that had just beenughing and joking with him just ten minutes ago were now¡­ all hanging as adornments on the chandeliers in the hall!

    The students were all dangling by some dark threads with their limbs tied up. They had all died grievously.

    The students spun about eerily as they continued to be suspended in mid-air, while blood continued to trickle down from their body into the rivers of blood that ran below. Incidentally, the pool of blood formed the mark of a beast.

    Gusts of Yin energy swept about chillingly as ck smoke hovered about. The present venue was currently a far cry from how Feni Hotel¡¯s prestigious event hall used to look. Rather, it looked more like a terrifying graveyard of Asuras!

    ¡°Huurggghh¡­¡± Wang Chenghao had never seen such a grotesque sight in his entire life, and he immediately turned to the side and threw up. Qin Ye remained still, yet his focus was already tense to the extreme. A rush of violent Yin energy was charging straight towards them from the entrance, and he could tell that this source of energy was clearly stronger than him by a mile, and then some!

    Shhhkkkkk!!! His entire body was swept back some distance. His stance had been firm and solid, yet his entire body had still been forced back three full meters under the powerful impact of the wave of oing Yin energy!

    If Qin Ye¡¯s Yin energy could be described to be a small stream, then his opponent¡¯s Yin energy was no different from that of a raging river that instantly engulfed the hall, obscuring all sources of light and turning day into night!

    In the very next moment, in the wake of a series of bizarre chuckles, a figure emerged abruptly from amidst the billowing ck fog, shooting through the air. Its hands gleamed with an intense, cold light, and shot straight towards Qin Ye like a bolt of lightning - ready to kill.

    Here ites!

    The figure grewrger andrger in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. It was Lin Yue. Trace evidence of cut marks could be seen on every single joint on her body, including her mouth. The usually quiet and demuredy was now shrieking as her hair iled about madly. As Lin Yue charged towards Qin Ye, she also brandished a chilling, bone carved de in her arms.

    Simultaneously--

    Qin Ye also made his move. He unsheathed his long saber and unleashed a Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer attack that was several meters tall. The Yin energy in his surroundings was immediately forcibly dispersed!

    Bang!!

    The explosive shing force sent a massive tremor rippling through the surrounding Yin energy like a powerful wave on an ocean. Qin Ye let out a muffled groan as he mmed onto the wall behind. An intense wave of pain spread through his entire back, and his bones even made sickening cracking sounds. On the other hand, Lin Yue¡¯s entire body simply disintegrated, and parts of her body were scattered in all directions.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Arthis warned Qin Ye seriously, ¡°This is a puppetmaster - one of the sub-specialized professions among the linkers! They never personally participate in battles. The moment they appear is also the moment that they¡¯re defeated. If you can¡¯t locate his body, you¡¯ll simply continue to face an endless wave of puppets controlled by him! Don¡¯t forget that there are countless bodies all around you right now!¡±

    nk!

    Before she could finish speaking, Qin Ye shifted his demonhead saber abruptly. A figure by Qin Ye¡¯s side hissed as it charged at Qin Ye with a fruit knife, attempting to stab him straight in the ribs. Fortunately, Qin Ye parried that attack with his massive saber.

    It was Su Chaoyang.

    Su Chaoyang was a student that was oft-rated as 7/10 in terms of his looks. But right now, his face waspletely pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. Purplish livor mortis marks had already appeared all over his body, while incessant drool marks covered his jaws. Despite all of that, his speed was actuallyparable with Qin Ye¡¯s speed.

    Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Qin Ye noticed Wang Chenghao sitting on the ground nearby with his legs limp and shaking, and he couldn¡¯t help but yell at him, ¡°Get lost!¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, a multitude of de lights suddenly gleamed menacingly. The roiling ck fog around him shuddered like vigorously boiling waters; while the pattering rain in the background continued to echo incessantly in his ears. He had just realized that there were suddenly seven or eight students standing around him. All of them were holding onto fruit knives, and each of their bodies were contorted and twisted beyond recognition. That said, all of them moved nimbly as they surrounded him in a concerted fashion.

    Every joint on their bodies were connected to a ck thread which faded into the darkness behind them, and every student emitted a chilling ¡°kaka kaka kaka¡± sound that made anyone¡¯s hair stand on end.

    The puppeteer¡¯s act had just begun.

    ¡°Haa¡­ ahhhh¡­¡± Wang Chenghao shuddered. His entire mind had been nk until Qin Ye¡¯s holler had jolted him to his senses like a bolt of lightning. Immediately, he began to crawl desperately towards the elevator.

    Dead silence.

    Deathly silence.

    Qin Ye held his demonhead saber in his hand, surrounded by a fright of ghosts. Amidst the stifling silence and roiling ck fog, Qin Ye perked up his ears to listen for movements of the other ghosts.

    Yet, as the boundless Yin energy engulfed him from all directions, the only thing he could hear was the sound of his own thumping heartbeats. A drip of cold sweat rolled off the corner of his forehead. His concentration was now at its limits. In fact, practically every single pore on his body was constricted tightly at this moment. It was the calm before the storm; the recession of the tide just before a sh flood¡­ This was the most dangerous situation he had found himself in after having lived for such a long time.

    ¡°The living?¡± A somewhat astonished voice echoed through the roiling ck fog, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ a living person?¡±

    ¡°Your mastery of the saber tells me that you¡¯ve practiced it before¡­ A living Emissary of Hell is far too rare¡­ Taisui? The stuff of the legends? Upon consuming it, an entity would be empowered to straddle both the mortal realm and theherworld¡­ therefore, you were chosen to be an Emissary of Hell?¡±

    His speech was slow, yet Qin Ye understood that the only reason for his opponent¡¯s calm disposition was because he knew that victory was well within his grasp.

    After all, the chasm between their skills was just too vast and wide to be bridged.

    Swish¡­ Just then, he was astonished to discover that all of the corpses around him had simultaneously set down their knives.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you one chance.¡±

    ¡°If you pledge allegiance to my master, you can remain alive today. You should be thankful that you possess a fleshly body that¡¯s as precious and rare as a panda¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you one minute to decide.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered with a bright gleam, yet he remainedpletely silent. This was because Arthis had been speaking to him all this while.

    ¡°Let me out.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re no match for him. Nobody will be able to protect you apart from me!¡±

    ¡°Besides, he¡¯d just mentioned something about a ¡®master¡¯. If you don¡¯t kill him right now, and he escapes and reports this incident to his master, what do you think will happen? You might be able to escape death this time, but what about next time?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯d just let me out right now... I simply refuse to believe that his master is also a Judge-ss entity! Even if he was, the difference between Judge-ss entities can be vast as a chasm.¡±

    ¡°And I¡­ am undoubtedly a top-tiered Infernal Judge that was able to survive the great copse of Hell caused by the ascension of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!¡±

    1. The ¡®Hao¡¯ in Chenghao is a homophone for the word ¡®rat¡¯ or ¡®mouse¡¯, which is why the ssmates nicknamed him ¡®Rodent¡¯.

 Chapter 34: Decision

    <h4>Chapter 34: Decision</h4>

    Qin Ye remainedpletely silent. Thirty seconds. Forty seconds. When fifty seconds passed, the corpses around him began picking up their knives once more.

    The ghastly existence in the room had evidently discovered Wang Chenghao¡¯s presence, but it chose to ignore himpletely.

    It was a waste of his energy killing yet another mere mortal like that. After all, it had already discovered the target that it was looking for, and there was no longer any reason to expend any more effort than it had to on the rabble that lingered around.

    ¡°You mentioned¡­ your master?¡± Qin Ye finally spoke up.

    He slowly raised the saber in his hands.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The voice waspletely emotionless.

    ¡°Do you know something¡­¡± Qin Ye held his saber horizontally in front of him, ¡°The exact opposite of the term ¡®master¡¯, is ve.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a person who¡¯s afraid of death. But if you¡¯re asking me to make a choice between dying, and bing a ve to someone else¡­ let¡¯s just say that I¡¯m really not inclined to thetter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a shame.¡± The voice spoke with indifference, ¡°You shall be my one hundred and seventy-eighth human puppet.¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, you¡¯ll also be my first and only Hell¡¯s Emissary puppet.¡±

    Whoosh! As soon as he finished speaking, the dark threads stretching out from the darkness suddenly tightened, and a cacophony of cracking sounds immediately rang out from the human puppets around Qin Ye! They first raised their heads eerily, and then¡­ rushed towards him like rabid dogs all at once!

    ng ng ng!

    Qin Ye had backed into a corner in just an instant, and there was nowhere else to retreat. Yet, the barrage of attacks remained relentless.

    These corpses simply didn¡¯t know the meaning of being tired!

    Shing! An attack finally slipped through his defenses, and a deep, long gash appeared on his thigh. Blood began to gush out of it like a fountain.

    The pain was excruciating, yet he simply didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to address his mind to it. Between the wound on his body, and the necessity to protect his own vitals from the flurry of attacks, it was patently clear where his energy and focus shouldy.

    Qin Ye swung his saber horizontally, instantly parrying three knives that were stabbing straight towards his chest. Unfortunately, he paid the price of yet another slip up - a footlong gash appeared on his right arm, and a fountain of blood spurted out from the wound. Arthis'' voice had now grown iparably anxious, ¡°What are you waiting for?! You won¡¯t be able tost for more than five minutes at this rate! Haven¡¯t you realized? Each and every one of these corpses are at the same level as an Operative-ss Emissaries of Hell!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going tost five minutes at this rate. All that¡¯s going to be left of you is a severely mutted body ridden with stab wounds!¡±

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. His eyes werepletely bloodshot. With a loud battle cry, his saber glinted brightly once more as he forcibly swept the corpses back. Then, leaning against the wall, he responded, ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°This time¡­ your anxiety is on a whole different level.¡±

    ¡°Kid¡­¡± Arthis'' voice was practically wavering, ¡°The leader behind the troupe of Assassins of the Underworld knows far better than you what it can do with a soul sphere! If I¡¯m going to end up in their hands, I may as well be considered dead!¡±

    nk! Qin Ye teeth cked once more as he mustered all his strength and forcefully swung his saber once more. The gleam from his saber painted a brilliant streak of light through the air that was as majestic as a waterfall, and the corpses around him were immediately sent flying once more. Unfortunately, he immediately saw stars in front of his eyes as soon as hepleted his counterattack.

    It was the sign of excessive bleeding.

    It was the start of a long and painful death.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± With his back to the wall, he gasped for breath and wiped off the beads of sweat percting from his forehead. He nced about his surroundings, yet to his dismay, the corpses around him had risen again for the umpteenth time. Some no longer had heads, while others were already missing limbs. Yet, each of them still clung fervently to the dull fruit knives in their hands and continued lunging at Qin Ye.

    They were tireless; and they were unrelenting.

    If King Yanluo had decreed a person to perish at 3 o¡¯clock, no one would dare to dere otherwise.

    ¡°Arthis¡­ you and I both know that I¡¯ve never been able to trust you before¡­¡± Qin Ye struggled to lift his saber once more, ¡°So if you¡¯ve still got any aces hidden up your sleeves, now would be a good time to bring it out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure exactly how powerful an Infernal Judge is. But, that said¡­ I refuse to believe that you wouldn¡¯t have some other life-preserving measures up your sleeves either.¡±

    ¡°Idiot!!¡± Arthis was infuriated, ¡°If I had, you¡¯d be dead a long time ago!!¡±

    Qin Ye unleashed yet another powerful swing of his saber, parrying several knives that were pointed at his vitals. However, his legs were already limp and trembling. Gasping for breath, he continued, ¡°It¡¯s different¡­ our lives are bound by oath. You can¡¯t kill me.¡±

    ¡°Then what does it matter if you let me out!!¡±

    This time, more than twenty twisted figures rose from the darkness of the fog. Qin Ye sighed, ¡°It¡¯s because I can¡¯t be sure that you won¡¯t renege on the contract as soon as I release you!¡±

    Squeeee squeee squeee!!! The twenty or so corpses let out blood-curdling battle shrieks at the same time. The threads attached to the depths of the darkness tightened again, and the corpses once again charged straight towards Qin Ye.

    Damn it¡­

    Qin Ye closed his eyes.

    His whole body was soft and limp. He was no longer able to muster a single modicum of strength¡­

    Then, just as the corpses arrived right in front of his face, the soul shackles around his waist suddenly moved. In an instant, it shot out like a raging python. One chain became two; two became three; and then an infinite number of chains appeared with a loud explosion, transforming the entire hall into a sea of chains that were flowing in all directions.

    Squee squee!!! With a miserable shriek, the corpses crumbled into pieces and were sent flying in all directions. The hall was now subdivided into partitions by the countless chains that filled the entire hall. Meanwhile, Qin Ye¡¯s vision finally faded to ck, and he slumped down heavily with his back still against the wall.

    Everything was silent once more.

    If one were to describe the earlier silence as an oppressive one that was akin to the calm before the storm, then the present deafening silence would be akin to an all-consuming death knell.

    Three secondster, Lin Chaosheng¡¯s voice echoed from the darkness once more, ¡°Soul shackles and a demonhead saber¡­ you¡¯ve already used all the tools that are at your disposal¡­ yet not a single Hunter-ss or Hellguard-ss Emissary of Hell has arrived to assist you. Something has indeed happened to Hell¡­ Do you know something? You¡¯re going to be the first Emissary of Hell that I¡¯ve killed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a notion that was simply unfathomable in the past.¡±

    ¡°And tomemorate such a memorable moment, I¡¯m going to give you the honor of dying by my own two hands.¡±

    The ck fog began to part in front of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. The surviving corpses who were still brandishing their knives at Qin Ye parted in a simr fashion as well.

    Right in the midst of them, a tall figure stepped out of the darkness in an unhurried fashion.

    Lin Chaosheng.

    He was dressed in a police uniform and wearing a face mask, yet his gaze was akin to that of a dead person. He carried a ck box with a one square foot base and a height of eighty centimeters. Then, he slowly opened the box and pulled out a horrifying serrated saber.

    It was clear that such a serrated saber was designed not to kill a person swiftly. Rather, the serration was precisely present in order to dish out the maximum possible pain, thereby putting its victim through a period of pain and suffering worse than death itself.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take good care of your corpse.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he began dragging the serrated saber along the ground, sending sparks flying in all directions as he swung the saber straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s head!

    ¡°You¡­ unseal me!!¡± Arthis screamed. She could see that Qin Ye was unable to dodge the oing strike.

    ng!!

    A crisp sound echoed out. Qin Ye didn¡¯t know where he had mustered the strength from, but right now, he had barely resisted the de of Lin Chaosheng¡¯s saber with a muffled grunt.

    His left hand was trembling immensely and its veins were bulging. His right arm hung down side side limply, evidently incapacitated. Unfortunately, how could the strength in his left arm be anywhere as strong as his master arm? The serrated de was already pressing firmly against his neck. In fact, the serrated teeth had already sunk into hispels, causing blood to seep out into his clothes. Qin Ye mustered everything within him as he tried his best to resist the serrated de.

    It wasn¡¯t that his opponent wasn¡¯t able to kill him with a single sh.

    Rather, his opponent just hadn¡¯t intended to do so. Thest attack had not even been backed by the power of his Yin energy. Instead, he had relied solely on the pure physical might of his abilities. It was quite evident that his opponent was doing all he could in order to preserve Qin Ye¡¯s body to be used as a prized conquest trophy of sorts.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± Despite his current predicament, Qin Ye still found it within himself to reveal a sardonic smile, ¡°The thought of you ravaging my corpse after I die¡­ is truly unbearable¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good thought.¡± Lin Chaosheng¡¯s voice waspletely devoid of emotional fluctuations. He continued to push forcefully against Qin Ye as he added, ¡°You¡¯ll make for a good collector¡¯s item.¡±

    Pssht!

    Several more serrated teeth punctured Qin Ye¡¯s body, and the excruciating pain nearly caused Qin Ye to cry out in despondence. His eyes were bloodshot as he gnashed his teeth, fighting through the pain. Blood sttered everywhere.

    ¡°What are you still waiting for?!!¡± Arthis was going insane. Any old ghost would tell you that the person they feared the most was not an exorcist. Rather, it was¡­ a kindred spirit.

    After all, only kindred spirits knew how to make their counterparts suffer in that much more agony.

    ¡°Unseal the soul sphere! I¡¯ll bail you out of the current predicament!!¡±

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye could barely hear a thing she said.

    His entire focus was pinned on the de in his hands and the single breath of air still circting in his lungs. Arthis¡¯ voice had already faded into the background a long time ago. Then, in the very next moment, Lin Chaosheng sneered and increased the physical force exerted. In that instant, Qin Ye felt as though the serrated saber had the weight of Mount Tai backing it.

    Pshhht!

    The rest of the serrated teeth plunged into Qin Ye¡¯s body, and some of them even plunged deep into Qin Ye¡¯s neck. He was currently experiencing such harrowing pain that his eyeballs had even begun to roll back, revealing only the whites of his eyes. The demonhead saber finally slid weakly out of his hands andnded on the ground.

    Lin Chaoshengughed.

    Farewell¡­ dear Emissary of Hell.

    Just then--

    When Lin Chaosheng¡¯s serrated de was just one sh away from severing Qin Ye¡¯s head--

    BOOM!!!

    An earth-shattering wave of Yin energy erupted from Qin Ye¡¯s right sleeves! It was a wave of energy that greatly surpassed the puppet master¡¯s Yin energy belonging by orders of magnitudes!

    It was like a towering mountain.

    It was like a boundless ocean.

    It was practically limitless.

    Pow!

    Before either of them could speak, Lin Chaosheng¡¯s pupils suddenly constricted. Then, in the very next moment, Lin Chaosheng was suddenly sted out of sight by something akin to the detonation of a massive bomb!

    ¡°Kid¡­ you¡¯re one nasty piece of work!¡± Arthis gnashed her teeth as her voice echoed through the air.

    It was unlike before, when only Qin Ye could hear her voice andmunicate with her. Right now, it was almost as though Arthis had departed from the confines of the soul sphere and be the master of this entire domain.

    Qin Ye¡¯s disoriented eyes slowly regained focus once more as he chuckled miserably, ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I was so sure you were still hiding an ace up your sleeves. That said¡­ I think that we can finally trust each otherpletely from now on.¡±

    In fact, just hidden under his right sleeves, his fingers were already gripping tightly onto the soul sphere¡¯s seal.

    He was but one simple exertion of force away from breaking the seal on the soul sphere.

    ¡°I acknowledge your talents.¡± Arthis'' voice sounded incredibly calm, but anyone would be able to hear the immense fury hidden beneath the surface, ¡°That was a gutsy wager. Despite the extent of your injuries, you were still clinging onto the hope that I would have an ace hidden up my sleeves. Haven¡¯t you ever considered the possibility that as long as you were even a split second too slow in unsealing the soul sphere, I would never be able to rush out in time to rescue you?¡±

    ¡°You seem to have forgotten something." Qin Ye gasped and leaned on his demonhead saber for support as he mbered to his feet once more. Clutching on his chest, he chuckled lightly, ¡°Those who have consumed the taisui fungus¡­ are undying.¡±

    ¡°After some time, I¡¯ll return to life once more. Since that¡¯s the case... what do I have to lose with this wager?¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Secondster, Arthis spoke once more. Just then, the entire Feni Hotel began to shake vigorously.

    D-d-d-d-d¡­ It was almost akin to an earthquake. Qin Ye nced nervously at his surroundings, before rushing towards the window and peering out.

    Waves of dark energy that was visible to the naked eye had begun to emerge from the ground and rush straight towards the Feni Hotel from every corner of Clear Creek County. The Feni Hotel had suddenly transformed into the epicenter of the convergence of energy.

    As more and more energy gathered, the scale gradually grew from magnificent to majestic, as though ten thousand rivers were converging into a massive ocean. Then, the energy slowly began to swirl and form an incredible vortex of Yin energy!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Even though he had already somewhat estimated the depths of an Infernal Judge¡¯s abilities, he still couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock at this present moment.

    ¡°Cheap ve.¡± Just then, Arthis'' voice of rage thundered in the wide event hall, ¡°Get your ass out here right now!¡±

    ¡°Kneel before me and confess to all of your heinous crimes¡­ for you have forced my hand. You should really count yourself lucky that I can do no more than to disy my aura right now. Otherwise, there¡¯s no doubt that I would immediately sentence you to the skyntern punishment!!!¡±

    The ground had beenpletely cleared of all debris, and the domain they stood at appeared like a colourless world of the primordial eras. Every single corpse, including those controlled by the puppet master, hade back to live once more to prostrate, kowtow and pay their respects to the Judge. On the other hand, Lin Chaosheng waspletely bbergasted from the moment Arthis¡¯ domineering voice appeared and reverberated throughout the entire hall.

    Boom!!

    The air trembled menacingly like a crashing bolt of lightning that had appeared out of nowhere. His entire body shook like leaves in the wind, and he couldn¡¯t help but kneel down in fear.

    Then--

    Without any further reservations, he prostrated himself and worshipped the domineering voice.

    He was worshipping the might of Hell back in its glory days.

    ¡°Judge¡­¡± An electrifying sensation numbed his mind, causing him to nk outpletely. Finally, with a trembling voice, he muttered, ¡°Judge¡­ th-this is actually an esteemed Judge¡­ it is none other than an esteemed Infernal Judge!!¡±

    ¡°A Judge has been hiding within Clear Creek County all this while!!¡±

 Chapter 35: Authority of an Infernal Judge

    <h4>Chapter 35: Authority of an Infernal Judge</h4>

    7.25 p.m. The fifth floor of the Feni Hotel suddenly erupted with a dense ring of pitch ck light.

    Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! All of the supernatural perimeters that had been set up in the neighbouring cities werepletely and utterly devastated in just an instant.

    The authority of an Infernal Judge extends to the far reaches of an entire province!

    ¡°This is¡­ an Infernal Judge¡­ a Judge?! A surviving Judge?! Does this mean that the gates of Hell are open once more?! The gates of Hell have opened again!!¡± In Rivergorge City, thedy in red who had beenbing her hair in front of a mirror let out a shrill shriek, transformed into a gust of Yin energy and hid under her bed, cowering in fear.

    ¡°A Judge¡­ it¡¯s really a Judge! Is Hell¡­ back in charge again?¡± In Santong City, a coffiny that was originally half open at the bottom of a reservoir was immediately shut from within by a pale, white-haired skeleton.

    As long as they were survivors of Hell¡¯s great copse, any mention of Hell or its Emissaries would immediately strike fear into their hearts.

    Meanwhile, at the epicenter of the entire incident, all of the cultivators in Clear Creek County found themselvespletely stunned by the situation.

    Zhang Fengzi rushed out of his hotel like a madman. He was almost certain that there was something going on in Clear Creek County that hadpletely eluded them. Something incredibly significant was taking ce!

    ¡°What the hell¡­ is this¡­¡±

    The heavens and Hell were dancing in tandem. shes of lightning weaved in and out of the converging Yin energy that culminated in a majestic vortex in the sky. The hundreds of troops stationed in the hospital werepletely bbergasted at the shocking phenomenon they were witnessing. None of them could find it within themselves to attribute this to natural causes.

    Whooooooosh¡­ Theherwind billowed, causing the ck robes of a man standing in the midst of all the soldiers to flutter wildly. After being seized by the phenomenon for several seconds, the man hurriedly retrieved apass like a madman and scrutinized it carefully.

    ¡°How is this possible!!¡± He stared aghast at thepass. Then, secondster, almost as though he had recalled something of extreme importance, he dashed straight out of the hospital. Unfortunately, he was immediately rendered speechless as soon as he witnessed the incredible scene outside.

    In another part of Clear Creek County, a young Taoist priest was standing in front of a store on the Ethnic Minority Street, haggling over the price of an item.

    His voice suddenly drifted off before he could finish speaking.

    No response.

    The shopkeeper was staring at the sky with a vacant expression on his face.

    What¡¯s going on with the sky?

    ¡°Daofathers above¡­¡± The two men stood under the imposing shadows of the roiling ck clouds with their mouths slightly agape. They shook their heads from side to side, yet their minds drew aplete nk.

    ¡°Wife! Come over here. What is that thing?!¡± ¡°A 3D projection? My god. That resolution is far too unbelievable, isn¡¯t it?!¡± ¡°Brother! You¡¯ve got toe see this! The gods have descended!¡±

    In fact, the woman appeared almost akin to a sculpture that held up the skies. Three thousand strands of green-coloured threads danced in the air behind her head, spanning thousands and thousands of meters across the sky where ck clouds continued to roil menacingly. She had extremely beautiful features, with sharp, striking eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and vermillion red cherry lips. She wore a colourful silken robe, and held in her hands a massive umbre congealed out of the dark clouds in the sky. The umbre even sported a faint design of magpies dering the gaiety of spring.

    The fingernails on her hands were painted a deep jet-ck in colour. She appeared to be holding what looked like a massive brush with one hand, and a form of book or manuscript on the other hand. If one looked closely enough, the title of the book in her hands would immediately send any person¡¯s heart racing with astonishment - The Book of Life and Death.

    Truth be told, the silhouettebined so many shing elements that it was somewhat ridiculous.

    The towering silhouette stood there silently as the rolling clouds continued to sweep past her. Then, gradually, her clothes, features, hair and umbre began to fade away and be ethereal.

    Meanwhile, all of the ghosts in Clear Creek County fell down to the ground and paid their respects to her. For as long as the imposing figure stood tall in the sky, not a single spirit dared to lift its head at all.

    Boom!!!

    Just then--

    Meanwhile, in the guesthouse, Zhang Fengzi had finally regained consciousness and he hurriedly bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°Men!!¡±

    Hismand had been superfluous.

    Meanwhile, in the Feni Hotel, the door to the hotel¡¯s elevators opened, and Qin Ye gasped for breath as he stumbled out.

    The puppet master was unable to move under the immense oppressive weight of her domineering disy, while all of the restrictive seals had also been shattered to pieces simultaneously. That said¡­ he knew that if he didn¡¯t leave right away, and instead dallied for another three minutes more, he would have missed his only opportunity at escape!

    What kind of impact would it do to an already nerve-wracked nation?

    The true top brass of the Special Investigations Department?

    Qin Ye could be considered fortunate to have encountered That Amorous Affair right from the start of his journey as an Emissary of Hell. However, this was almost immediatelypletely negated by his great misfortune in encountering the puppet master next.

    ¡°But¡­ where do we go from here?¡± He grimaced as he opened the door to the hotel and walked out into the darkened streets of night. Nobody was around right now. This was the advantage of a country-wide curfew.

    In other words, he was unable to channel the Yin energy from the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal into his own body and leave using its apanying abilities.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± He clutched at the burning pain in his chest as he nced about his surroundings. Oing sirens could already be heard in the distance. Mustering all the strength he could, he began running away from the hotel. Unfortunately, his speed was no different from that of a turtle.

    After all, a driving license these days was tantamount to a photograph ID, and he didn¡¯t dare to register for one at all!

    Wang Chenghao ran over to Qin Ye and helped Qin Ye board his car. Then, Wang Chenghao hopped onto the driver¡¯s seat and immediately drove off.

    ¡°Is¡­ is it finally over?¡± Wang Chenghao asked with a shaky voice as he continued to drive into the distance. At the same time, he kept stealing nces at Qin Ye.

    Nobody spoke for the next few minutes. As the car continued to speed away from the Feni Hotel, they noticed wave after wave of police cars and army trucks carrying armed soldiers pouring towards the Feni Hotel in every direction. All of them were speeding to boot.

    ¡°Nothing¡­¡± Wang Chenghao bit down on his lower lips. Several secondster, he muttered hesitantly, ¡°You¡­ arepletely different from the Qin Ye I know¡­ You werepletely different today¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not a single person with only one personality out there.¡±

    Granny Meng had been spot on in her assessment of Qin Ye¡¯s personality. She was certain that Qin Ye¡¯s cowardice and desire to stay alive was the moving force that had birthed his habit of putting on pretences. Yet her intuition nevertheless told her that he was the right man for the job.

    Wang Chenghao nodded, before forcibly changing the subject. With a somewhat drifty voice, he pleaded, ¡°Shall¡­ shall we head back to my ce?¡±

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and deliberated for a moment, before finally shaking his head.

    ¡°We can¡¯t stay any longer in Clear Creek County.¡± Qin Ye opened his eyes and dered resolutely, ¡°We¡¯re graduating soon anyway¡­ I have to be elsewhere. And I have to leave right now.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need¡­¡±

    ¡°I-I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll dare to live on my own in the near future. Stay with me, please¡­ even if it¡¯s just across the street from me! I¡¯ll make arrangements for you regardless of where you want to go! But¡­ right now¡­ I¡¯m really afraid to leave your side. And¡­ and after witnessing so much with my own two eyes, do you really think I can still live like a normal person?¡±

    ¡°You¡­ you can just speak your mind!¡±

    ¡°Take me to a certain ce¡­ right now.¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes once more to recover his spirits, ¡°This is the only shot we¡¯re getting at this¡­ Clear Creek County¡­ I¡¯m afraid that this ce is going to be under the government¡¯s strictest of surveince measures for the next decade.¡±

 Chapter 36: The Second Shard

    <h4>Chapter 36: The Second Shard</h4>

    Clear Creek County was hardlyrge by any means, and they arrived at their destination in just under ten minutes. It was the Ethnic Minority Street.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t quite believe what he had just sensed, so he whipped his head around and looked straight into the sky.

    Such dense Yin energy!

    No!

    ¡°And it¡¯s¡­ actually moving closer to my location?¡±

    Whoosh! Then, just as it drew closer and closer to Qin Ye, the meteor suddenly stopped and hung in mid-air. Qin Ye took a closer look at it. Sure enough¡­

    And it sported the exact same cut marks.

    ¡°Leave this ce¡­ immediately.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice sounded so weak that it seemed almost on the verge of disappearing, ¡°Clear Creek County¡­ has some experts - some true experts¡­ They might have travelled here from Lotus City recently¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Hearing Arthis¡¯ voice immediately set his heart and mind at ease.

    ¡°I¡¯m not dying¡­ Kid, regarding these shards¡­ It¡¯s only when the owner of these shards die that they would automatically search out the next closest shard to fuse with it. These shards are of great use. As soon as you gather two pieces, Yin and Yang would meet¡­ cough cough cough¡­¡±

    Arthis: ¡°.......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a rest now. And I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s going to be for several months at that¡­ Take care of yourself. Remember to keep the shards safe¡­ and wait for me to wake up¡­¡±

    After squeezing the two shards together and muttering to himself for several seconds, he solemnly ced the shards into his pockets and dashed into the heart of the Ethnic Minority Street.

    ¡°Sit tight in the car!¡± Qin Ye responded, ¡°Wang Chenghao, don¡¯t be mistaken¡­ We have just one hour, but I don¡¯t mean one hour before we leave this ce. Rather, it¡¯s the time we have from now until we clear the borders of Clear Creek County¡­ In other words, once tomorrowes, we won¡¯t be able to leave this ce any longer.¡±

    Wang Chenghao gnashed his teeth as he departed.

    Incidentally, it was also the cheapest rental house in the area.

    It was filthy. The trash and garbage along the doorstep hadn¡¯t been cleared out for a long time. The curtains were tightly drawn, and traces of dark patches could even be seen on the windows. The appearance of the entire house made it look no different from a tomb of sorts.

    A bad premonition arose in Qin Ye¡¯s heart. He immediately rushed over and kicked open the door.

    He had beente.

    The deceased had perished in the same manner as the previous deceased persons in the hotel. Several ck threads were connected to different parts of his body, suspending him from an old ceiling fan as though he were a discarded puppet. It was no longer possible to see the deceased person¡¯s original appearances. The ck threads had wrapped around the corpse so tightly that they had cut straight through his flesh in several locations. It was almost akin to fish in a hanging. Arge, crimson pool of bloody right under the corpse.

    Even though this man was dead, his Yin energy was still lingering in the air. In other words, he must not have died a very long time ago. By Qin Ye¡¯s estimate, he should have perished earlier that day.

    Shaking his head in disappointment, Qin Ye turned around and left the scene.

    The moon hung high in the night sky, apanied by bright constetions in its surroundings.

    Or perhaps it was due to the fact that this was the very first incident on such a scale that had urred, and the Special Investigations Department was simply not given the authority to call the shots just yet. The rying of orders took time, and this provided Qin Ye and Wang Chenghao the opportunity to slip out in the interim.

    Qin Ye looked at the map in his hands, thought for a moment, before responding, ¡°Stillight City.¡±

    Wang Chenghao nodded his head. The further away from Clear Creek County he got, the more settled his heart felt.

    A sea of stars were visible in the sky tonight. Qin Ye appeared somewhat out of it as he gazed into the sky, before finally nodding his head sullenly. After pondering for several moments more, he added, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about me¡­ I¡¯m currently switching modes.¡±

    ¡°... Like I said earlier, people have a thousand faces. If I¡¯m always giving it my all in life, I might earn the respect of some, but I might also draw k from others. So, in order to err on the side of caution and prefer survival over anything else, I¡¯ve learnt that you¡¯ve got to let your hair down sometimes¡­ Do you have a cigarette?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Some people may pursue a sessful career. However¡­ I¡¯m different from most people.¡±

    ¡°So, as soon as I¡¯ve manifested these moments of courage, I would always allow myself to return to a far more rxed state. You can call me what you want - even a piece of trash. But, I sincerely believe that people have to treat each set of circumstances with the appropriate attitude and personas.¡±

    Wang Chenghao pursed his lips lightly. These teachings were simr to the conversations that he has had with his father on several asions in the past. But, he had never taken his father¡¯s advice to heart. Yet when Qin Ye expressed these thoughts in all sincerity, Wang Chenghaopletely bought it.

    Apart from riding on my father¡¯s coattails, idling around, fighting and gettingid, what else have I done?

    When he saw Qin Ye¡¯s bloody battle with the puppet master on the fifth floor of the Feni Hotel earlier, his heart had been violently shaken.

    He didn¡¯t know exactly what kind of realization he had juste to. However, the one thing he knew for certain was that he had begun to despise his past self.

    Even though Wang Chenghao¡¯s voice had been soft, Qin Ye still picked up on it acutely, and he couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes at Wang Chenghao - What¡¯s it to do with me whether you try your best or not?

    ¡°Should we listen to some music?¡± Wang Chenghao felt ill at ease. He was hardly thick-skinned when all was said and done. To a person whose reputation precedes him, the admission of his fear in front of a newfound friend was something incredibly embarrassing and daunting. Thus, he immediately sought to cover it up and change the topic.

    Wang Chenghao switched on his cell phone, and the first song that was yed was a Nipponese song that Qin Ye had heard before. It was called ¡°Bluebird¡±, and it had a pleasant melody.

    The clear female voice resounded clearly throughout the car. However, the two students couldn¡¯t help but frown in disapprobation. Given their current circumstances, they would very much prefer a softer tune.

    ¡°Wandering aimlessly on the roads...¡±

    ¡°Are you leaving? To where, to where? Fragile but proud¡­ That is how I once was¡­¡±

    This was one of the few songs he could actually remember the lyrics to.

    Both had their stories to tell. Their stories were simple, but also stirred with undertones of being weathered and worn.

    He paused for a moment before smacking his head, ¡°Brother Qin, do you want to know what exactly happened after we left?¡±

    Too many things had happened after they had left the Feni Hotel.

    Yet the single most important question that was weighing on his mind was¡­ Who killed the puppetmaster?

    1. RWX - This song is one of my FAVORITES. It is called Æ½·²Ö®Â·, ¡®The Ordinary Path¡¯, and you should listen to it at . It is so so so so SO good!

 Chapter 37: Disciple of the Celestial Master

    <h4>Chapter 37: Disciple of the Celestial Master</h4>

    ¡°The Feni Hotel belongs to my dad, and there are surveince cameras everywhere. I had previously connected the surveince cameras to myputer just out of curiosity, since I had nothing better to do¡­ If it still works now, and the monster in the hotel hasn¡¯t left yet, then we should be able to see what¡¯se to it.¡±

    ¡°Was I supposed to bring them?¡± Wang Chenghao blinked his eyes. He waspletely baffled by Qin Ye¡¯s exmation, almost as though he were saying - What else did I have to bring?

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips continued twitching, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you at the very least have brought along a change of clothes?¡±

    Damn these rich people¡­

    Kid¡­ you¡¯re honest. Yet why does your honesty sting my heart so?

    His heart was suddenly awash with mncholy as it dawned on him that he was already going deeper and deeper down the journey of living off somebody else¡­

    The duo immediately turned their attention to the video that was ying on full-screen mode.

    Qin Ye nodded slightly. He had been at the epicenter of Arthis¡¯ disy of authority. For as long as her disy of authority lingered, all who were below the rank of Infernal Judges would never be able to get back on their feet. In other words, the puppet master wasn¡¯t anywhere close to a Judge in terms of his abilities.

    The outrageous outburst startled both Wang Chenghao and Qin Ye.

    I mean¡­ shouldn¡¯t an expert who disposed of the puppet master step out of the darkness with a fairy-like existence, acting in a manner reflective of a boundless sovereign?

    The Yin energy in the surroundings cleared up before the man finished speaking. Then, a round, puffy figure appeared for the first time in the video.

    The man was estimated to be well above 200 kg in weight. His Taoist robes were already bursting at its seams, tattered in some parts, while covered in grease in others. He also wore a square headscarf. It was impossible to tell when hest washed up. Even hispels were already turning ck. To make matters worse, rather than holding onto a buddist whisk¡­ he instead held¡­ a feather duster.

    And he even held onto a greasy leg ofmb in his other hand. No matter how one looked at it, this man resembled a beggar more than he did a Taoist priest.

    However, the Taoist priest didn¡¯t even pay any attention to him. He ravenously gnawed at the leg ofmb in his hands and finished it in just a few bites. Then, after wiping off the grease on his robes, he put his palms out in the shape of a lotus flower and continued, ¡°Boundless¡­ hup¡­ Sovereign.¡±

    ¡°Hup¡­ I¡¯ve forgotten it. Grabbed something in a rush. As a true disciple, it¡¯s part of my duty to remain presentable at all times. Unfortunately¡­ hup¡­ I grabbed the wrong item.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that a mere Soul Hunter like you could take on the Assassins of the Underworld?¡± The puppet master burst out into a maniacalughter. His body faded back into the depths of the roiling ck fog, and the countless corpses around the Taoist priest began to stir immediately.

    ¡°Over thest thousands of years, not a single entity has dared to misbehave themselves in Westriver. Even now, the outbreak of supernatural activities within Westriver remains the lowest in the entire country. Can¡¯t you use your damn pig brain and think about why this is the case?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ two of the three great Taoist Ancestral Courts are located within Westriver. This is where Celestial Master Zhang attained enlightenment and established the ghost expunging techniques¡­ Don¡¯t you think that your tortoise guts are far too big for your own good?¡±

    He formed several hand seals in just an instant. Then, a radiant, silver-white circle blossomed from under his feet, and a nineyered lotus seat appeared by his side. As eachyer of the lotus bloomed, the entire event hall began to be filled with a radiant Yang light, shing powerfully with the dark Yin energy in the room. All of the corpse puppets disintegrated in just an instant.

    ¡°Sanqing Taoist?! You¡¯re the disciple of the great Celestial Master?!¡± A voiceden with immense fear echoed from the darkness. Just then, all of the fog in the room began to surge like a tidal wave and transform into a long dragon of Yin energy as it swept down the stairs in a hurry.

    Whizz! The hairpin rode the winds and shot off like a bolt of lightning! In an instant, the hairpin transformed into an ancient-looking peachwood sword that even appeared to emit the whistling sounds of rushing wind and the rumbling of thunder. The peachwood sword caught up to the tide of Yin energy in the blink of an eye. With a miserable cry, the ck fog dissipated immediately, and the peachwood sword plunged straight into the ck box carried by Lin Chaosheng at all times.

    He walked over to the sword and held its hilt firmly in his hand, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that puppet masters never personally engage in battles. I imagine that this policeman must also be one of your puppets, isn¡¯t it? Just like the Westbrook corpse drivers, you guys are quite remarkable in your own right. It¡¯s a pity that your expertise is going to be lost to the world forever¡­¡±

    Squeeaaaaall!!! A heart-rending scream suddenly rang out from the box. The wooden sword had prated the box in its entirety, stabbing straight through the floorboards, leaving only the hilt outside!

    A three-meter tall column of blood rushed into the air,pletely incongruous with the small size of the box. The tragic cries continued endlessly. It was only tens of secondster that everything grew silent and tranquil once more.

    The video ended there.

    For the third time, he increased his assessment of the government¡¯s power once again.

    Judging from his conversance, Qin Ye could tell that the puppet master was approximately equivalent to a Hunter-ss Emissary of Hell. Yet the fact that he waspletely and utterly obliterated by the disciple of the Celestial Master in just two moves meant that the fat priest¡­ was probably a Hellguard-ss expert in his own right!

    After all, there was only one qualitative level of difference between the Hellguard-ss experts and the Judge-ss experts.

    The fact that there was a formidable Hellguard-ss ghost staring at him from afar truly made for tasteless meals and sleepless nights.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the City of Salvation.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. The fat priest was right. Westriver¡­ was the birthce of the state religion, Taoism. In the past, Daofather Zhang attained enlightenment on the Cranecall Mountain before making his way to the Qingcheng Mountain where he ughtered 8 million evil ghosts. Both Ancestral Halls are located in Westriver. Whether disciples in name,y disciples or true disciples, the fact remained that Taoist disciples abounded in Westriver. After what happened, remaining in this location would be far too dangerous.

    ¡°It¡¯s in the Insignia Province.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be safe there.¡± Qin Ye pulled out his phone and dialed a number, ¡°You can choose not to stay. All you have to do is to send me there. After all¡­ I¡¯ve got a friend over there.¡±

    Friend?

    Is he a human too?

    After a long period of time, Qin Ye was the first to speak, ¡°Old Zhang¡­ thest time we¡¯ve met was probably twenty years ago, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I hear you¡¯ve got promoted again? Should I be addressing you as Chief, now?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t hesitate, ¡°I¡¯m currently at Westriver. Something¡¯s going on in my county. As you know, I simply cannot afford to disclose my true identity. Thus, I intend to move to Insignia Province for three to five years to tide things through. I¡¯d like your help to enroll me in a non-provincial university, and furnish me with identification that won¡¯t arouse any suspicions.¡±

    After exchanging several more pleasantries with each other, both sides hung up at almost the same time. Wang Chenghao asked curiously, ¡°Brother Qin, you mentioned that he¡¯s your friend?¡±

    Meanwhile, inside an ordinary looking home in the distant City of Salvation, Insignia Province, a pair of weather-beaten hands hung up the phone.

    ¡°Hey, Old Zhang, remember to wash the dishes! Why are you cking off again?¡± Ady wearing an apron around her waist walked out and told off Old Zhang.

    ¡°This is Zhang Baoguo. Connect me to the Chief of Bureau, Zheng.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a favour.¡± Zhang Baoguo exined indifferently, ¡°A rtive of mine will be relocating to the City of Salvation for studies within fifteen days¡¯ time. Old Zheng, do you have any good college rmendations from the education arm of your bureau? I don¡¯t want the provincial one. And it would be ideal if the college is located in the vicinity of the City of Salvation.¡±

 Chapter 38: Household God (1)

    <h4>Chapter 38: Household God (1)</h4>

    Wang Chenghao was incredibly exhausted.

    He was currently approaching the border of Province E. From there, they would be no more than several miles from Insignia Province. In fact, they could already see in the distance a disy board spelling out the words - ¡°Insignia Province¡±.

    ¡°You mentioned earlier¡­ that people have to treat each set of circumstances with the appropriate attitude and personas..¡± He begrudgingly grumbled as he nced at Qin Ye, who was ying games on his phone.

    Qin Ye had already finished switching modes some time ago, and his energy-saving mode replete with an apathetic outlook on life was now in full bloom. Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t help but feel like he was talking to apletely different person.

    He drove the car while Qin Ye enjoyed music.

    He drove the car while Qin Ye yed games on his phone.

    He drove the car while Qin Ye idled about, counting the number of cars that were passing them by.

    Why doesn¡¯t this man learn how to drive?!

    ¡°Brother Qin, my father once told me that driving is an important life skill¡­¡± Wang Chenghao repeated himself for the umpteenth time. They were on a journey thatsted thousands of miles on end! Why is Qin Ye treating me like a mere driver?!

    If only a philosopher would just appear in the backseat and teach him some life lessons!

    How could he just sit there idly while I drive the entire journey?! It¡¯s as though he¡¯s floating in an idyllic ocean of lethargy!

    ¡°That¡¯s right, so it would be prudent if you invested more attribute points into this.¡± As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Ye swore under his breath and threw his phone at the seat. Wang Chenghao saw out of the corner of his eye that Qin Ye had actually just ced eighth on the leaderboards of the game ¡®Cool Running Everyday¡¯.

    ¡°I say, you should get with the times and download some new games. For instance, I hear that whatchamacallit-Glory is a pretty good game.¡±

    Arrrrgghhhh¡­ You actually have the nerve to advise me now¡­

    With gritted teeth, they cleared the toll booth and made their way straight towards the City of Salvation.

    It had to be said that it was only after entering Insignia Province that they realized how much smaller the poption size of Insignia Province waspared with Westriver - it was but a mere fraction! The roads were clearly less packed, and the traffic flow was far smoother as well.

    The City of Salvation was located on the edge of the Insignia Province, just adjacent to the border of the Eastsea Province. Its economy wasn¡¯t considered as developed as the other parts of the country. After driving for yet another day, they finally crossed the City of Salvation¡¯s border. From here, it would take another three to four hours for them to drive past several counties and into the heart of the city.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Just then, Qin Ye suddenly did a double take.

    Strong County was one of the counties located on the edge of the City of Salvation¡¯s territory. It was built around the national highway, and both sides of the county were densely filled with shops and service stations, as well as hotels and gas stations. Qin Ye snapped his fingers, ¡°Let¡¯s stop here. We¡¯ll rest here tonight beforepleting our journey tomorrow. We¡¯ll be able to rest properly once we make our way into the heart of the City of Salvation.¡±

    It¡¯s finally time to rest¡­ Wang Chenghao heaved a huge sigh of relief as Qin Ye led him towards a row of hotels.

    Ten minutester, Wang Chenghao muttered, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ I¡¯ve got money.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called being discreet with your wealth.¡±

    ¡°... What I mean is that we don¡¯t have to be so particr. Really.¡±

    ¡°Rodent, I¡¯m not trying to nag at you, but you don¡¯t really know the value of money until you start working for it. Are you earning any money now? Do you think hundreds of thousands is a lot of money? Have you already inherited your father¡¯s estate? If not, it would be more prudent to use your present funds sparingly until the millions of inheritance arrives in your bank ount.¡±

    Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye for a few moments, before finally sighing in resignation and ncing in dismay at the guesthouse in front of him.

    It was dpidated.

    It was absolutely decrepit.

    The neon sign which read ¡°Rujia Inn¡± glowed with a faint, red hue. The inn was located in the most remote corner of the street, just adjacent to an overgrown forest. None of the rooms were illuminated at the moment, and the two-storey building hardly looked inviting at all. Instead, the signboard was crooked, and save for the red hue, all other neon colours weren¡¯t working at all. Given its current state, it was hardly any better than a shuttered, abandoned hotel.

    In fact¡­ even the main door was shut tightly, and not a single glow of light nor trace of sound could be seen or heard from outside.

    Wang Chenghao shuddered. For some strange reason, he felt a chilling sensation wash over him just as he sized up the inn.

    ¡°Is this inn¡­ alright?¡± He had encountered far too many bizarre incidents in recent times, and he couldn¡¯t help but clutch pleadingly at Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves as he weighed in on his concerns.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze quivered slightly, but he maintained, ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that there¡¯s some outstanding business... and I¡¯d thought to close the loop while we¡¯re here¡­¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he pushed open the door and marched right in.

    Wang Chenghao followed closely behind him.

    ¡°Is anybody in?¡± Qin Ye leaned over the counter at the concierge and knocked on the table, ¡°Where¡¯s the boss? I¡¯m looking for a room.¡±

    No response.

    The entire inn was as quiet as a tomb.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­ should we look for another ce to stay at?¡±

    Yet before he could finish, a deskmp suddenly switched on with a loud buzz.

    A man with pale face, a small goatee and somewhat reddish eyes sat right under the light, staring straight at them. The man was beside them, and less than a meter away from Wang Chenghao.

    ¡°Bloody hell!!¡± Wang Chenghao got the shock of his life. When did this old man show up? I can¡¯t even hear his breath! No¡­ he didn¡¯t even make any sound that a normal person should be making, like fidgeting on his chair!

    It was as though the man had sat as still as a corpse, waiting silently in the dark for the next guest to enter the inn.

    Yet Qin Ye remainedpletely unfazed, and he pulled out his identification papers, ¡°Two people, king-sized bed.¡±

    The old man didn¡¯t pick up Qin Ye¡¯s identification card.

    He was approximately fifty years old, yet the fact that his hair was alreadypletely white made him appear as though he were close to seventy years old. The sheer number of years under his belt had left an indelible scar on his face - his wrinkles were deep, and he was so thin that he was practically skin and bones. Right now, he continued to stare transfixed at the two students in front of him.

    Approximately ten secondster, he finally spoke up with a hoarse voice, ¡°We¡¯re not epting guests.¡±

    ¡°The other inns are full.¡± Qin Ye snapped his fingers indifferently, ¡°Otherwise, do you think I would want to stay here either? Look at how run down your shop is. I¡¯ll just make do for one night.¡±

    The old man suddenlyughed, revealing a row of dark yellowish teeth. His voice sounded incredibly harsh to the ears, almost like a cat scratching on ss, ¡°Do you really want to stay?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, while Wang Chenghao shook his head fervently.

    The old man took Qin Ye¡¯s identification card and didn¡¯t say any more. Just then, it suddenly dawned on Wang Chenghao that this inn didn¡¯t even have aputer for registration purposes. The only thing remotely electronic was the deskmp. Even the registration of guests was handwritten.

    ¡°201.¡± As soon as the old man reported their room number, he switched off the light. Then, with the click of another button, the lights to the stairs came on immediately.

    It was dim and yellow.

    Both the lights and the hallway were dim and yellow.

    The building was incredibly old. It appeared to have been built in the style of the nies. The walls were painted with a two-tone finish - turquoise below and white above. Unfortunately, the sheer number of years the building has seen meant that the vibrant colours had faded, and everything was simply yellowing.

    Countless autumn insects hovered about the lights in the inn. The lights were incredibly dim, and they barely illuminated a two meter radius around them. Apart from that, the rest of the inn appeared as dark as hell.

    Gulp. Wang Chenghao swallowed his saliva and clung tightly to Qin Ye¡¯s arms as they made their way up the stairs together. Then, just as they arrived at the corridor, the old man¡¯s voice called out again, ¡°There¡¯s a room beside the window¡­ No matter what, don¡¯t enter it¡­¡±

    ¡°At night¡­ do not open the door¡­ and do not go to the toilet¡­ use the chamber pot if need be¡­¡±

    What kind of outdated hotel from the history books is this?! How could you still be using a chamber pot?!

    The more Wang Chenghao thought about it, the more ufortable he felt. The unsettling feeling in his heart only escted as soon as he entered the room.

    The entire room stank with a thick, musky smell.

    The bedding was fine, but there was no TV. The window overlooked the wild forest just outside the hotel. When the night breeze blew, the gently swaying trees cast menacing shadows over the room, as though foreshadowing the arrival of a dreadful beast.

    Wang Chenghao immediately shut the windows at once.

    ¡°Let¡¯s turn in.¡± Qin Yey down on his bed and prepared to sleep. Wang Chenghao was incredibly tired, and he, too, fell asleep almost immediately.

    Time passed by. When Wang Chenghao woke up again, rubbed his eyes and nced at his phone, he saw that it was only 4 a.m.

    He woke up with the urge to pee.

    ¡°This stupid hotel doesn¡¯t even have a stupid kettle!¡± Having lived like a prince for his entire life, Master Wang had never spent a night in an inn like this before. Cursing and swearing under his breath, he quickly got dressed and prepared to leave his room to head to the toilet.

    The toilet was on the first floor. He resented the notion of using the chamber pot at all costs. Thus, he opened the door and marched out at once.

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t help but gasp nervously as soon as he opened the door, ¡°Bloody hell, why is it so cold¡­ Insignia Province isn¡¯t even considered the north. This rickety inn is so unnaturally cold.¡±

    The hallway was enshrouded in pitch-ck darkness. There was a light switch in front of the door to every room. As soon as it was switched on, the corresponding light in front of the room woulde on. In other words, a person would have to flick four switches in order to reach the end of the corridor. It was a peculiar design that hardly made any sense.

    And the end of the corridor was where the gloomy window was located.

    Wang Chenghao rubbed his palms together nervously. The hallway was dimly lit with a faint yellow light. His surroundings were horrifically silent. The night breeze gently caressed the forest outside and stirred up a soft, rustling sound. A vast expanse of darkness hid beyond the local street lighting¡­ almost as though it were concealing a terrifying secret.

    He shuddered. If not for the fact that the need to take a leak was simply unbearable, he would never deign to consider using the toilet at this time of the night! This was practically a scene right out of a horror movie.

    Click¡­ The second switch flipped, and another portion of the hallway was illuminated once more. The feeling of gradually illuminating an otherwisepletely dark hallway was incredibly gripping and tense. Then, without any warning, his heart began to race.

    It was as though¡­ as though¡­ something was hidden in the darkness.

    Then, just as he flipped the third switch, he immediately froze.

    A wave of immense terror washed over him, shooting straight from his tailbone into his mind and causing all of his pores to re up with chills!

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhhh!!!¡± The screams of extreme terror echoed throughout the entire inn. Qin Ye was ying the game ¡®Cool Running Everyday¡¯ on his phone when his lips twitched uncontrobly, ¡°Didn¡¯t the boss tell him not to go out at night? Why is he acting in such defiance when he¡¯s such a coward?¡±

    In the hallway. Wang Chenghao was so frightened that he leaned heavily against the wall. Just now¡­ it happened just now! Generally, there should be a soft clicking sound for every button that was pressed. However, no clicking sound rang out when he attempted to flip the third switch earlier.

    This was because¡­ when he attempted to flick the light switch¡­ he touched another person¡¯s hand instead!!

    He wasn¡¯t the one who had flicked the light switch!

    There¡¯s a ghost¡­ there¡¯s a ghost!!

    He was so frightened that his hair stood on end. Right now, the only thought on Wang Chenghao¡¯s mind was to rush back to his room, cast off his pride and cling tightly to Qin Ye! However, the moment he turned around¡­

    Click¡­

    The first light switch went off.

    The light in front of their room had suddenly gone off. His pupils constricted immediately.

    He saw it. In that instant that the lights went out... ady wearing a long ck dress was standing right there, just under the light!

    She looked up. She was beautiful. However¡­ her face was as white as snow, and her foot-long tongue hung out from her mouth!

    Just like that, she stood silently under the dim yellowing lights, in the middle of the deathly still hallways.

    At four in the morning.

    ¡°Ahhhhhhh!!¡± Wang Chenghao waspletely scared witless! Yet this was just the beginning. In the very next second, as soon as the second switch clicked and the second set of lights were extinguished, he suddenly noticed that¡­ thedy¡­ that horrifyingdy with deathly pale appearances¡­ was now suddenly standing only two meters in front of him!

    It was as though she were moving forward just as the lights went out!

    And she didn¡¯t make a single sound at all!

    ¡°AHHHHH!!¡± The only thing he knew to do right now was to scream for his life. He didn¡¯t dare to run back to his room at all, so he turned around and began running to the end of the corridor!

    Click¡­ The third light switch went off. It was nowpletely dark behind him. It was practically yelling at him to flick the fourth switch right in front of him.

    This time, there was no woman around.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­¡± He was shaking madly and sweating profusely as he leaned against the railing. Wang Chenghao was on the brink of tears.

    ¡°Left¡­ h-h-has she left?¡± He wasn¡¯t even conscious of the fact that he was muttered aloud with a trembling voice.

    However, his voice immediately stopped.

    Sha¡­ sha.... A light rustling sound came from right behind him.

    T-t-t-t-t-t-t¡­ His teeth began to chatter uncontrobly. He was shaking so hard it was as though he were having seizures. Then, Wang Chenghao mechanically turned his head around and looked at the tightly shut door at the end of the hallway.

    The innkeeper had mentioned never to approach this room at night.

    Sha¡­ sha....

    He heard it clearly this time, and he immediately knew¡­ This was the sound of something on the other side of the door¡­ scratching the door with its nails!

 Chapter 39: Household God (2)

    <h4>Chapter 39: Household God (2)</h4>

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s face was whiter than a ghost. His lips trembled. His back was against the wall, and his forehead percted with cold sweat.

    Who¡¯s¡­ behind that door?

    Who¡­ scratches on the door¡­ at 4 a.m.?

    However, he neither opened his mouth nor asked aloud.

    Sha¡­ sssskkrkrrr¡­ The sounds behind the door were getting louder and louder, almost as though something was about to burst through the door in the very next moment!

    ¡°Ahhhhhh!!!¡± Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t take it anymore. And since he dared not run back to his own room, he charged straight towards the first floor like a madman.

    The first floor was enshrouded in pitch-ck darkness.

    ¡°Innkeeper¡­ innkeeper!!¡± He yelled at the top of his voice. He needed light! He needed sound! This damn haunted hotel was driving him crazy!

    ording to the national regtions, the innkeeper was obliged to remain on night watch at the concierge at all times. However, this was not the case.

    ¡°Where is he¡­ where is he?!¡± Wang Chenghao was already on the verge of tears, yet he received no response whatsoever. The eerie silence was as chilling as an icy tomb. He was at his wits¡¯ end, and he ran straight to the main entrance of the inn with the hope that he could get out once and for all. Unfortunately, he discovered to his dismay that the main entrance was already locked!

    ¡°Open up¡­ open the door, please!!¡± He hammered on the main entrance desperately. Tears were already welling up in his eyes. However, after hammering the door two more times, he suddenly froze in ce.

    It wasn¡¯t that he had calmed down. Rather, he had merely been momentarily petrified by what he saw. Then, his entire body quickly began to shiver far more vigorously than ever before. The hairs on the nape of his neck were even standing on end.

    He could see from the reflection on the ss door¡­ that the very same woman wearing a ck dress¡­ was now standing right behind him!

    Her pale white face and bloodshot eyes stared straight at his back!

    Just then, the lights suddenly came on. He waspletely unprepared for this and screamed in terror!

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhh! Help!! There¡¯s a ghost! There¡¯s a ghost!!¡±

    ¡°Guest.¡± The old man¡¯s figure slowly emerged from the shadows. His voice called out in the dark like a night owl hooting away. He was carrying a decades-old portablemp, and the light from themp cast a gloomy, dim illumination on the old man¡¯s face. Yet, this only served to frighten Wang Chenghao even more.

    ¡°You¡­ do you want to go out?¡±

    ¡°I want to go! Turn on the lights! Let me leave, please!!¡± Wang Chenghao leaned weakly against the main entrance as he screamed at the top of his voice.

    The old man remained silent.

    After a long time, he finally responded, ¡°Leave¡­ and don¡¯t evere back again¡­¡±

    The sound of jingling keys resounded in the darkness, prompting Wang Chenghao''s desperate cry, ¡°Old man, turn on the lights! Please turn on the lights first! I can¡¯t take it anymore!¡±

    ¡°Is that so¡­¡± The old man¡¯s voice grew hoarser, ¡°Do you¡­ really want me to switch it on?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes! Please do it quickly!¡±

    Silence.

    Three secondster, the lights finally came on with a soft click of the switch. Wang Chenghao nced about at his surroundings, his eyes rolled back, and he instantly passed out.

    Blood¡­

    The walls around them had been sttered with blood all over!

    It was unclear just when the now-dried up blood stains were first smeared all over the walls. Some of the stains were smeared in the shape of an ¡®X¡¯, while others spelt out illegible words. However this was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was the fact that¡­ there were several memorial tablets standing spookily on the shelf just behind the concierge!

    Just then, a loud thud suddenly came from the second floor. It sounded as though someone had just kicked open a door.

    The old man¡¯s expressions darkened. He immediately sprinted towards the second floor, only to witness Qin Ye standing before the door that was just adjacent to the window. Qin Ye was just in the midst of retracting his foot.

    ¡°You!!¡± The old man screamed and attempted to grab at Qin Ye.

    Strangely, the closer he got to Qin Ye, the paler his disposition got. Finally, almost as though his wrinkled skin had been torn asunder, the old man revealed a gnarly, vicious expression on his face.

    But before he could get close enough, Qin Ye¡¯s body suddenly erupted with far denser Yin energy! The old man was immediately sted several meters back by Qin Ye¡¯s explosive force!

    ¡°Is this really necessary?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows and shook his head as he peered into the room,pletely casting a blind eye on the old man.

    It was pitch ck inside the room.

    The curtains were drawnpletely shut, yet there were four candles that prominently stood in the center of the room. In turn, these candles¡­ were ced on top of a pitch-ck coffin.

    Meow! A ck cat leapt out from behind the door. Qin Ye nced at the door, only to notice that it had already beenpletely covered with scratch marks.

    ¡°Deathes to all things, no matter how their life has been. Don¡¯t hold on to your lingering attachments.¡± Qin Ye sighed and withdrew his gaze. Then, he tugged at the old man¡¯s clothes and dragged him back down to the first floor.

    It was cold to the touch.

    The old man emitted no body heat, and was¡­pletely weightless.

    Then, without holding back, Qin Ye stomped heavily on Wang Chenghao¡¯s waist, jolting him straight back to his senses with a massive squeal of pain. Wang Chenghao sighed soullessly and turned around. Then, as soon as he witnessed the bizarre sight in front of his eyes, he almost passed out again.

    ¡°Open your eyes and take a good look.¡± Qin Ye swung his arm, tossing the old man towards the worn-out couch on the side, ¡°This is your unfinished business. You should be the one to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°M-mine?¡± The sight of Qin Ye immediately set Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart at ease. After all, Wang Chenghao saw Qin Ye as an existence akin to an omnipotent Doraemon.

    ¡°Introduce yourself.¡± Qin Ye ignored Wang Chenghao and lifted his chin towards the old man, ¡°How long have you been dead? Why is your spirit still lingering around?¡±

    ¡°Him?! He¡¯s not a living person?¡± Wang Chenghao almost jumped at the thought, only to find Qin Ye pushing back at him, keeping him on the couch. Then, Qin Ye gazed into his eyes, ¡°Do you want to be part of my inner circle?¡±

    Wang Chenghao was momentarily taken aback, before he nodded his head fervently.

    ¡°Then, get used to this.¡± Qin Ye turned back to the old man, ¡°Talk. I don¡¯t have much patience.¡±

    ¡°Sir, you¡¯re¡­ an Emissary of Hell?¡± the old man¡¯s voice became light and drifty. Qin Ye nced impatient at his watch, ¡°There¡¯s only thirty-five minutes remaining until the clock strikes five. When that timees, I¡¯ll send you on your way immediately. You best stick to the essentials.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The old man drew a deep breath, before bowing to Qin Ye with a deep kowtow, ¡°Lord Emissary of Hell¡­ I¡¯ve been disrespectful. Please forgive this ignorant one!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ my name is Zhou Dongfang. I was forty-nine years old when I died. But the reason that my spirit is still lingering around isn¡¯t to do with wealth or revenge! Sir, I¡¯m certain you can verify this with your prescient investigations! This inn¡­ has never harmed a person¡¯s life before!¡±

    Qin Ye responded with indifference, ¡°Of course I can see that. If not for the fact that you¡¯d warned us against staying here as soon as we¡¯d entered earlier, I would have purged your soul there and then.¡±

    ¡°That said, I¡¯m curious.¡± He leaned forward, ¡°Why are you still lingering around? Your form¡­ is so corporeal that even humans aren¡¯t able to distinguish you from a normal human being. Are you¡­ a household god?¡±

    ¡°Household god?¡±

    Qin Ye exined patiently, ¡°Household gods aren¡¯t the same as evil ghosts. They¡¯re still catalyzed by a person¡¯s obsessions at death, yet these obsessions have nothing to do with malicious intent. Rather, they tend to be rted to their family instead. The heavens are merciful and decide to leave these spirits a lifeline so that they can continue to keep watch over their families, even after death. This is what a household god is.¡±

    ¡°Generally speaking, household gods would never harm anyone, and would instead do their utmost to preserve their family unit. To put it bluntly, these are earthbound spirits who only do good. On top of that, they¡¯re blessed with the gift of retaining their pre-death prescience. In this regard, they¡¯re a far cry away from the wandering spirits that can¡¯t even utter a single word.¡±

    Wang Chenghao nodded thoughtfully, before suddenly turning to look at Zhou Dongfang once more, ¡°That¡¯s not right! Even though he didn¡¯t want to stay initially, he stillpromised and let us stay in the end! This proves that he¡¯s got a malicious heart! He¡¯s not a good person!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because he no longer has the patience to keep on waiting¡­¡± Qin Ye nced back at the old man with aplicated gaze, ¡°Why don¡¯t you listen to his story first¡­ This is your unfinished business after all¡­¡±

    Zhou Dongfang gazed deeply into Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes as he finally began to speak, ¡°I grew up here. My wife and I¡­ have lived here in Strong County for decades now. I wasn¡¯t young when I had my daughter."

    ¡°My daughter is called Zhou Fangrong¡­¡± His eyes appeared to gaze back in history, and a blissful smile crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°She was beautiful - an embodiment of her name. She was the wallflower in both middle school and high school. Unfortunately, we were poor at that time, and we could barely afford to make ends meet. The national highway hadn¡¯t been constructed back then, and our humble inn barely made enough for our subsistence at all¡­¡±

    ¡°After high school, my daughter changed a little bit. She began to be drawn to the prospects of living outside the county. That¡¯s right¡­ We understood her desires as well. After all, Strong County is far too small. A beautiful and sensible girl like her should go out and see the world, and not be cooped up here for her entire life just like her parents¡­¡±

    He began to choke up, ¡°But I¡¯d never thought that¡­ her departure back then also marked our final farewell!¡±

    He painstakingly recounted his story through gritted teeth, and even Wang Chenghao could feel the boundless regret and heart-rending pain in the old man¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Her first destination¡­ was to look for work in the Eastsea Province.¡±

    ¡°Eastsea is a developed province, and expenditure there was naturally much higher. That said, Rongrong had never called to ask for money from home. In fact¡­ she even began to remit money back home every month.¡±

    ¡°We were very pleased¡­ Whenever we meet our friends, we would sing praises of her, telling of how sensible she is¡­ Then, as time went on, the amount of money she remitted back only increased - from the hundreds, to the thousands, and then to the tens of thousands! Several tens of thousands!¡±

    ¡°We were incredibly happy at first¡­ until one day¡­¡± His body trembled, and tears began streaming from his eyes, ¡°I¡­ myte wife and I will never forget that horrific day¡­¡±

    ¡°That day¡­ we woke up to an appalling notice stered in every important ce in the county - Rongrong¡¯s alma maters, the entrance to our neighbourhood, and even thergest market in the county!¡±

    His body trembled like a fallen leaf amidst billowing winds as he gazed straight into Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes, ¡°The notice reported that¡­ Rongrong had seduced the CEO of apany and be his mistress! And in her avarice, she¡¯d even demanded that he married her! Her demands were endless! Finally, the man was driven to his wits¡¯ end, and he took her to court to settle things once and for all. In the end, the CEO¡¯spany won the case, while my daughter was convicted of extortion by ckmail over an extended period of time!!!¡±

    BAM!

    Wang Chenghao stood up abruptly and looked at the Zhou Dongfang with disbelief.

    ¡°Sit down.¡± Qin Ye ordered cidly, ¡°Let him finish his story¡­¡±

    ¡°This is the crux of your unfinished business.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips were slightly agape. He shook his head slightly as he sat up with an incredulous expression. The old man continued to gaze straight into his eyes as he continued, ¡°I don¡¯t believe¡­ I refuse to believe that my daughter would do such a thing! She¡¯s so smart and beautiful! And she¡¯s got so many suitors to boot! So, why would she possibly do something like this?!¡±

    ¡°But¡­ the courts have given their verdict on the matter!¡±

    ¡°I nearly went mad at that time. I called her and gave her a good dressing down. Then, I demanded her return right away. However, she didn¡¯t give me a firm response. Her mother¡­ immediately copsed with a heart attack, and was promptly conveyed to the hospital¡­ Our daughter didn¡¯t know about this, because I didn¡¯t tell her!¡±

    Zhou Dongfang¡¯s tears continued to pour out, ¡°I was afraid¡­ I was afraid that if I¡¯d put anymore pressure on her, she would do something stupid. Ever since she was young, I¡¯d always known that she had the gift of the gab. At the same time, she was also incredibly sensitive at heart. So, I¡¯d sold our family home behind her back, leaving only this little inn by the side of the street¡­¡±

    ¡°Regardless¡­ I still believed in her! Even if she had in fact done everything she was used of doing, I still firmly believed that she could change! But unfortunately, not a single other person in the county was willing to give her a second chance!¡±

    He shut his eyes, and his body trembled vigorously, almost as though he were reliving the hellish memories once more, ¡°¡®Bitch¡¯, ¡®that whore raised by the Zhou family¡¯, and ¡®sluts who spread their legs for money¡¯ - these were allments that were already on the milder side of things. Even the men who had earlier proposed to her began to point at the inn and curse and condemn her!!¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t dare to even leave the house. There was no way we could hold our heads up high any longer¡­¡± He pointed at his hair, ¡°That was when my hair turnedpletely white as well. Her mother¡­ also departed before me in the wake of the abusivements¡­¡±

    Zhou Dongfang shut his eyes, and his eyelids twitched slightly, ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ve long since forgotten when exactly I¡¯d departed from the mortal realm as well¡­ My final wish was to protect this family of mine. Isn¡¯t it often said that men are the pirs of support of the entire family? But I¡¯ve done no good at that¡­ Since I can¡¯t protect them while I¡¯m alive, then let me at least protect them in my death¡­¡±

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully, before looking at the dark ceiling above, ¡°Then¡­ why are you still lingering around?¡±

    Zhou Dongfang opened his eyes, looked at Qin Ye and smiled. His smile wasced with a trace of longing and satisfaction, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard from my daughter since then. I thought that there¡¯s a possibility she might write back in future. So, if I remain here watchfully, I¡¯ll be able to receive her letter as soon as it arrives¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao looked at Zhou Dongfang¡¯s wrinkled face, and he felt a lump swell up in his throat.

    ¡°This inn is located just along the side of the road¡­ So, if shees back to visit one day, wouldn¡¯t I be the first one to see her?¡±

    1. Her name literally means ¡®beautiful face¡¯

 Chapter 40: The Final Release

    <h4>Chapter 40: The Final Release</h4>

    Silence.

    Zhou Dongfang¡¯s obsession stemmed from the fact that he hadn¡¯t heard from his daughter for far too long. Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart experienced the whole spectrum of emotions all at once. Finally, the confluence of emotions culminated in a single question, ¡°Your daughter¡­ what was her name? I mean¡­ do you know what user handle she goes by on the inte?¡±

    The old man nodded, ¡°I still remember it was a pretty unique name. I think she was called¡­ That Amorous Affair.¡±

    Wang Chenghao buried his face into his hands and sat silently on the couch.

    The only perspective he had known¡­ was that this damned woman had harmed his family!

    But he didn¡¯t know the entire truth about the situation. Qin Ye hadn¡¯t shown him the video recordings depicting the entire truth of the matter.

    Instead, Qin Ye thought that it might be better to leave his son with a pristine image of his father. After all, the man was already gone for good.

    A father¡¯s debt didn¡¯t have to be paid by a son who was unaware of the truth.

    However, none of these things changed the fact that Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart was filled with ambivalence right now.

    He wasn¡¯t the only one whose family was torn asunder andpletely ruined by this incident.

    Even after death, Zhou Dongfang had lingered about, waiting for any modicum of news about his daughter. He had even waited several years on end, only for an Emissary of Hell to show up at that.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Wang Chenghao interlocked his fingers around his forehead and nced at Qin Ye with red, puffy eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take him away.¡± Qin Ye responded emotionlessly, ¡°He¡¯s done wrong. Firstly, there was no corpse in the coffin upstairs. The corpse had already been taken by the pallbearer to Westriver. I imagine that someone must have told him that they had the means to allow his daughter to live in a different manner. So, he agreed.¡±

    Qin Ye could vividly recall what he had seen just a little while ago - an evil ghost with thousands of grisly holes riddled throughout her body.

    The thousands of pointed verbal attacks had resulted in the tiger fabrication phenomenon.

    So¡­ did she choose to bear the sins of the entire family on her back as well?

    ¡°Secondly, he¡¯s fully aware of the reasons why his daughter hasn¡¯t returned. As a household god, he had naturally sensed it when his daughter¡¯s soul had been routed. It was precisely because of this¡­ that he¡¯d begun to toy with the idea of using living souls to nourish his daughter¡¯s spirits. In turn, the fact that he¡¯s begun to entertain such thoughts means that it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before he devolves into an evil ghost.¡±

    Then, Qin Ye turned his gaze to Zhou Dongfang, ¡°But you have no basic understanding of the world of souls at all. Those ideas of yours aren¡¯t going to do anything for her soul at all. Regardless, I can no longer condone your presence here. You¡¯re no longer considered a household god as long as you¡¯ve even begun to entertain such thoughts. I¡¯m just doing my duty here, understand?¡±

    The old man chuckled bitterly and lifted the trousers, revealing the fact that his legs had already turned ck and ethereal.

    ¡°I understand¡­¡±

    Cockadoodle-doo!! A neighbour¡¯s rooster crowed once, ushering a symphony of crows that followed soon after.

    The sky had begun to brighten, and the old man¡¯s body began to fade under the faint glow of dawn. Qin Ye continued calmly, ¡°One final question.¡±

    His voice grew iparably somber, ¡°Back then, you¡¯d allowed them to take away Zhou Fangrong¡¯s corpse. I¡¯d like to know who the ones who approached you were.¡±

    ¡°Have they ever revealed to you any traces of their true identity?¡±

    Zhou Dongfang thought carefully, ¡°No, they didn¡¯t. But the truth of the matter was that I would never have eded to their request to begin with. After all, I know that good and evil will be repaid ordingly, and I also believe in the existence of theherworld. As a household god, I naturally understand some of the fundamental truths of the world. Thus, I knew nothing good woulde of it if I¡¯d let them take my daughter¡¯s corpse.¡±

    He took a deep breath and continued with a trace of fear in his eyes, ¡°But then they showed me something! And, as if by magic, I don¡¯t even remember when I nodded off. When I finally came to my senses, my daughter¡¯s corpse was already missing from its coffin.¡±

    ¡°What did they show you?¡±

    ¡°It was a runic symbol of sorts. It looked incredibly ancient, and it even seemed to emit fluctuations that transcended time. I¡­ I¡¯ll draw it for you!¡±

    Household Gods were able to interact with physical objects, albeit only small, lightweight ones, including the pen. Zhou Dongfang finished his drawing on a piece of paper and handed it to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye took a closer look, and his eyebrows furrowed deeply.

    Indeed¡­

    The symbol was definitely something of interest.

    Some things rarely ord well with modern society, and the existence of such traits make it fairly easy to identify whether an object was archaic or not. This runic symbol was a prime example of that.

    It depicted a wolf¡¯s head.

    It looked akin to an ancient totem symbol, and the manner of drawing only made it seem more primeval than ever. Whenever Qin Ye looked at the wolf¡¯s head, the wolf¡¯s head also appeared to be staring straight back at him.

    This was a vital clue to unravelling the mysterious identity of the mastermind behind the puppet master!

    Qin Ye carefully put it away and nodded to Zhou Dongfang, ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    As the light of dawn grew brighter and brighter, Zhou Dongfang¡¯s body grew more and more illusory. He smiled and looked down at his own hands, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯ve grown weary after waiting for such a long time.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. The demonhead saber materialized out of nowhere. With a single stroke, Zhou Dongfang¡¯s body transformed into a wisp of smoke and vanished into the saber.

    ¡°Let¡¯s rest here for a while. We¡¯ll be on our way again as soon as you¡¯re ready.¡± Qin Ye patted Wang Chenghao¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there aren¡¯t any ghosts here. Thedy you saw earlier is merely Zhou Fangrong¡¯s lingering simcrum. Don¡¯t you recall her wearing her characteristic long flowing ck dress? With Zhou Dongfang¡¯s departure, the simcrum no longer has any right or capacity to linger around any longer. The coffin on the second floor is alsopletely empty.¡±

    ¡°And the ¡®blood¡¯ on the first floor is in fact nothing more than sshes of paint left behind by vignte vandals at the time when the Zhou Fangrong incident blew up. The memorial tablet standing on the shelf just behind the concierge is naturally Zhou Fangrong¡¯s as well. Even though the old man had contemted hurting us, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that his conscience got the better of him and he refrained from doing so in the end. In fact, he¡¯d even time and again advised us to leave. I imagine¡­ he must¡¯ve been struggling with his conscience at that time.¡±

    Wang Chenghao slowly made his way back upstairs with his eyes zed over.

    Qin Ye, on the other hand, didn¡¯t sleep that night.

    He made his way before Zhou Fangrong¡¯s coffin. A gale of Yin energy swept across the room, and Qin Ye was back in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state in no time.

    Then, Qin Ye reached into his robes and pulled out¡­ a recording device.

    ¡°To think you¡¯d actually have an Emissary of Hell conduct a memorial service for you after your death. This is truly your honour.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly. Then, a me ignited from his hand, incinerating the recording device and turning it into a pile of ash.

    Strangely enough, the ck ash appeared to be somewhat alive. It immediately transformed into a swirl of ck smoke that began to circle around the four candles on the coffin until the four candles were finally extinguished. And it was only then that the ash finally ceased swirling and scattered all over the coffin beneath.

    ¡°Rest in peace.¡± Qin Ye patted the coffin, ¡°You were guilty, but Wang Zemin wasn¡¯tpletely innocent either. Regardless, the pursuit of truth as to who¡¯s right and who¡¯s wrong is nowpletely meaningless after your deaths.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve just learnt that you¡¯d murdered his entire family only because you wanted vengeance for what''s happened to your parents. That¡¯s something that I can sympathize with. That said, there are still things about you I can¡¯t help but resent. For instance¡­ I simply can¡¯t bring myself to sympathize with you for your past acts.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I didn¡¯t show these videos to anyone - not even to Wang Chenghao or your father. We¡¯ll just¡­ live and let live. After all, it¡¯s a blessing to leave them with a beautiful parting image of their loved ones.¡±

    He shut the door softly.

    In that instant just before the door closed, Qin Ye vaguely heard a whimper of grief, as though the brokenhearted were weeping at the end of a y.

    Click¡­ This represented the closure of the tumultuous chapter between the Wang family and the Zhou family. The curtains had finally been drawn on the final act.

    Finally, Qin Ye went downstairs again, leaned on the sofa, and got his much-deserved rest.

    When he awakened again, it was to arge group of people hammering at the door of the inn.

    Everyone¡¯s faces were filled with anxiety. There were uncles, aunties, and several other young people gathered at the main entrance as they continued to pound at the door desperately while yelling at the top of their lungs.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fall asleep!¡± ¡°Wake up! Wake up!!¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t fall asleep in there!! It¡¯s haunted¡­ it¡¯s really haunted by ghosts!!¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his eyes and walked to the main entrance. As soon as he touched the lock on the door, it immediately broke into pieces and fell off.

    Unlike the shiny lock he had seenst night, this lock appeared to bepletely covered in copper rust. It was as though the lock hadn¡¯t been opened in years.

    ¡°Kid! Are you alright?!¡± A middle-aged aunty immediately rushed in and pulled him out of the house, ¡°Hurry up¡­ leave this ce! This¡­ this ce is unclean!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Qin Ye pried away the aunty¡¯s hand, ¡°I don¡¯t even know how I got herest night. Oh, and speaking of which, my ssmate is still resting upstairs.¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and call him over!¡± ¡°It¡¯s daytime now. I¡¯ll go!¡±

    At once, two young men tookrge strides upstairs and woke Wang Chenghao from his deep slumber.

    The people around were all incredibly concerned. As soon as Wang Chenghao came to his senses, the duo made their way out of the inn in thepany of a throng of people. They took another nce at the inn, only to realize now that the entire inn appeared even more dpidated than it had been when they had arrivedst night!

    The sign which read ¡°Rujia Inn¡± appeared as crooked as ever, and had cobwebs all over it. The paint over the entire building was mottled and peeling. It hardly looked like a ce that anyone in the right mind would ever enter.

    ¡°Young men, you must count your lucky stars.¡± A middle-aged man took a drag from his cigarette as he continued, ¡°An old couple died inside this building several years ago. Ever since then, people have noticed that the same old man who had passed away continues to open the inn for business at night. It¡¯s uncanny.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll say¡­¡± The passionate middle-aged aunty from before sighed wistfully as she added, ¡°The world is cruel¡­ No matter what their daughter has done, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that Old Zhou and his wife are good people¡­ Why can¡¯t these hot-blooded youngsters these days learn to think before they speak?¡±

    Wang Chenghao remained absolutely silent. It was as though he had matured overnight. After nodding his head and thanking the thoughtful citizens, he dragged Qin Ye back onto their car.

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Qin Ye leaned on the window as he eximed. The car had started up quickly, and they had once again begun on the final leg of their journey towards the heart of the City of Salvation.

    Wang Chenghao shook his head, ¡°The longer I stay there¡­ the more I feel a stifling sensation weighing on my heart.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it once you experience a little more of such things. There¡¯s always the possibility that you¡¯ll be my assistant in future.¡±

    Wang Chenghao shook his head once more - this time with firm resolution, ¡°I can help out with logistics or other necessary arrangements behind the scenes. But¡­ I really don¡¯t think I want to experience something like that a second time.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled, ¡°Do you know something? I was once just like you.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Then what changed?¡±

    ¡°Life experiences. Humans are interesting creatures¡­ After all, maturity begets jadedness.¡±

    ¡°... Don¡¯t make it sound so doleful. I¡¯m only eighteen this year!¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes. There¡¯s also hypocrisy and denial.¡±

    The voices of two youngsters drifted further and further away. Several hourster, the signboard seated above a tollbooth reading ¡°City of Salvation¡± slowly pulled into view.

    Traffic was heavy and incredibly slow.

    From his wealth of experience, Wang Chenghao had already expected some traffic conditions. Thus, he had prepared water, bread, instant noodles, portable chargers and the like. That said, it still never urred to him that they would be stuck at the line to the tollbooth for two full hours!

    ¡°Oh my god!¡± Wang Chenghao still had the patience of a teenager when all was said and done. He rolled his eyes and slumped back on his seat with resignation, ¡°Bloody hell¡­ what kind of efficiency is this?! How can it take two hours to get into town?! How do people live like this?!¡±

    Knock knock knock¡­ Just then, someone knocked on their door. Wang Chenghao wound down his windowzily, only to be greeted by an enthusiastic young man carrying goods on his round, bamboo basket, ¡°We¡¯re not buying. We¡¯ve got everything we need in the car.¡±

    The young man¡¯s sprightly expression immediately turned downcast. Then, sighing with resignation, he turned away and began to make his way towards the next car under the hot midday sun. Just then, Qin Ye abruptly turned his head around, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    ¡°Yes, boss? What would you like? Mineral water, tissue paper, cigarettes, pickled peppers, chicken feet, magazines, we¡¯ve got everything! Take a look for yourself!¡± The young man was immediately filled with vigor once more.

    He¡¯s like a well-oiled machine isn¡¯t he?

    Qin Ye chuckled, pulled out a tenner and handed it over, ¡°Why is there so much traffic today?¡±

    The young man smiled radiantly, ¡°Boss, today¡¯s not the first time this has happened. It¡¯s been just as congested everyday for four months now. The drivers are all going mad. Furthermore, the number of cars entering the city far exceeds the number of cars that leave. As a result, the situation has only gotten worse.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked, ¡°Why is that the case?¡±

 Chapter 41: Inspection

    <h4>Chapter 41: Inspection</h4>

    After exchanging a few more words, the young man left their car.

    ¡°I¡¯ve just discovered something. It seems like Westriver was thest province to have begun broadcasting those public announcements. It was also thest province to have implemented a curfew. They¡¯re located at the base of Daofather Zhang¡¯s foothold after all¡­¡±

    After all, he could see that there was arge cloud of ominous Yin energy hovering over the heart of the city, just like a lid over a cauldron!

    How much resources and manpower did the government have to invest in order to keep things sufficiently under wraps so that their citizens would remain oblivious and could continue leading a normal life?

    ¡°Hmm? Why do you look so puzzled?¡±

    The traffic was finally flowing once more. Thirty minutester, the tollbooth was finally in sight. Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes shifted and he muttered in a low voice, ¡°Later, I want you to remain calm. Let me do the talking.¡±

    Wang Chenghao gasped, ¡°Is it... triggered by the people from Westriver?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Qin Ye leaned back in his seat, ¡°If anythinges upter, be ready to run at any moment.¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°What¡¯s the link between having an unwavering spirit and making a tactical retreat?¡±

    Are you telling me to maintain an unwavering appearance while running as fast as I can?

    Bloody hell¡­ even though everything sounds logical and prim and proper, I still can¡¯t help but feel as though something¡¯s wrong with this suggestion¡­ Is this just an illusion of the mind?

    The military.

    It looked just like the mouth of a giant beast that swallowed up vehicle after vehicle. The huge toll booth appeared incredibly gloomy and still. The ck barrels of guns encampments were followed by three sets of barriers. Nobody passing through the toll booth dared to make a scene at all.

    Additionally, the toll booths which used to bergely manned by female employees were now instead reced by men in ck suits wearing stern expressions on their faces. They even wore on their chests a triangle badge with the design of an eye in the center. That said, Qin Ye refrained from letting his gaze linger on these badges for too long.

    ¡°Uncle, what¡¯s going on?¡± Wang Chenghao wound down his window and asked the man in the booth.

    ¡°Yes. What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Wang Chenghao shrank back to his seat in frustration and made his way to the right. It was only then that he realized all the cars in the firstne were cars from other provinces!

    Those who passed by the dark, gloomy tent were all surrounded by armed policemen. However, there wasn¡¯t a single policeman manning thisne at all.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath. The country was truly mobilizing its resources¡­ As long as a sovereign nation put its mind to it, there was simply nothing that was out of its reach.

    Garrisoned units were stationed every three to five paces apart within the tents, and each time the tent opened up, only one car would be allowed to pass!

    After several seconds of introductions, the female voice continued, ¡°... In light of therge-scale military exercise taking ce in the City of Salvation, the City of Salvation has raised its security alert level to ¡®orange¡¯. All iing and outgoing vehicles and personnel must be thoroughly inspected. All who refuse to cooperate shall be turned away. All who vite the rules shall suffer the consequences of their actions. Thank you once again for your cooperation¡­¡±

    A man in a ck suit was already waiting for them outside of their car. He nodded at them, and walked towards a small makeshift tent nearby.

    The old man stared straight into their eyes, almost as though his gaze were staring straight through their souls. Secondster, he began his routine line of questions, ¡°What business do you have in the City of Salvation?¡±

    Concise and straightforward.

    As soon as the man spoke, Qin Ye¡¯s fists immediately tightened underneath the table.

    The officer conducting routine investigations is actually a cultivator!

    His abilities weren¡¯t even at the level of an Operative-ss Emissary of Hell. Yet, the fact that a cultivator was deployed in such a routine investigation spoke volumes about the depths of the military might deployed within the City of Salvation.

    ¡°What school? It¡¯s not even time for matriction yet.¡±

    ¡°Deputy Attorney General Zhang Baoguo?¡± The old man raised his eyebrow in surprise and gazed at them for several more moments, ¡°Alright.¡±

    There was silence in the room for a moment.

    The duo did as they were told.

    Yin energy detector!

    The government¡¯s research and development has already advanced so much?

    Fortunately, the simple instrument before him waspletely ineffective against him.

    It was almost as though there was a wisp of ck cloud gathered within the otherwise transparent crystal ball.

    Qin Ye led the way and left. As soon as they departed, the old man immediately turned around and began typing on hisputer. In no time, the image of Wang Chenghao¡¯s vehicle showed up on the screen for his inspection along all six degrees of freedom. Wang Chenghao and Qin Ye¡¯s headshots also appeared on the screen as well.

    ¡°Passengers: 2.¡±

    ¡°Yin energy readings: 52 Yin. Energy readings below 100 indicates that they might recently have been exposed to supernatural elements. Containable levels. Ordinary humans.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s far too strict.¡± Back in the car, Wang Chenghao wiped the sweat from his forehead as he eximed. He knew full well that he hadn¡¯t done anything wrong. Yet, under the incredibly oppressive tense atmosphere in the room earlier, he almost caved and spilled everything, including the size of his crown jewels.

    Qin Ye remained silent all this while, gazing meaningfully out the window as the bright lights in the tent passed him by. After driving on for approximately one kilometer, the car finally passed through the other end of the tent, and everything around them was bright and clear once more.

    The sullen weather slowly faded, revealing a beautiful disy on the canvass of nature. The wee sight eased their tensed spirits and edgy hearts. It gave them a sense of boundlessness, almost as though the narrow path they had been on had just cleared up and widened into a massive road.

    Wang Chenghao wasn¡¯t very old, and he hadn¡¯t had many opportunities to travel far and wide. It was for this reason that he began to nce about at the surrounding scenery with great interest. His mood had be far more rxed than before as well, ¡°It¡¯s much more rxed on the outside than it was on the road in. They don¡¯t seem too strict here¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao quickly took a nce and suddenly noticed that rows of huge, newly erected electronic screens lined the sides of the national highway and extended well into the heart of the city. The screens continued to toggle between various images.

    As the windows rolled down, a female voice could be heard reading out a series of public announcements, ¡°Dear friends, wee to the City of Salvation. Please note that the City of Salvation is presently being used as the base of operations of a level five national military exercise. What you¡¯re seeing now is the military garrison area of the City of Salvation. Therefore, we urge you to be mindful of the following points during your stay here.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, please note that a curfew is in ce after 6.30 p.m. in order to facilitate the military exercise. All non-military personnel are reminded not to leave your homes or ces of residence after 6.30 p.m. You may continue to enjoy the sights and sounds around the city in the day.¡±

    ¡°Otherwise, we sincerely wish you a pleasant stay with us.¡±

 Chapter 42: City-Wide

    <h4>Chapter 42: City-Wide</h4>

    It was a familiar-looking city, filled with familiar-looking people, and covered by an all-too-familiar sky.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Wang Chenghao drew a breath of cold air, ¡°This¡­ must be traces of activity from ¡®those things¡¯, isn¡¯t it¡­¡±

    In fact, if one looked closely, the entire City of Salvation appeared to be covered by a thin redyer just above the towering screens!

    Qin Ye shifted his gaze, ¡°Drive.¡±

    ¡°Sir, may I know if you¡¯ve got a prior reservation?¡± An attendant immediately weed them upon arrival and asked with a chirpy smile on her face.

    ¡°Please enter. He¡¯s in room 204.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Wang Chenghao asked curiously.

    ¡°Death by a thousand cuts!!¡±

    He gently opened the door and stepped onto the deep blue rug in the room. A one-and-a-half meter long wooden tea table with carvings of peaches and cranes was set right in the middle of the room. Tworge ptial chairs were ced on either side of it. A delightful brush made of the wood of a peony tree hung from an easel on the side. Coupled with the intricate carvings on the antique, ptialmps, it had to be said that the disy of Chinese extravagance in the room was far more exquisite and luxurious than that in the Feni Hotel.

    Surprisingly, nobody said a single word.

    The young man and the old man resembled each other. Both sported a square, chiseled face, buzz-cuts and thick eyebrows. Both of them appeared spirited and sharp.

    Zhang Baoguo¡¯s body had already begun to tremble from the first moment he saw Qin Ye. His eyes were filled with a deep, profoundplexity. It was as though he saw his own past and his own youth in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. Finally, he sighed, ¡°Yet despite twenty long years, you haven¡¯t changed a single bit.¡±

    ¡°Same old, same old. You¡¯ve been good too, haven¡¯t you? Promoted again?¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Zhang Baoguo didn¡¯t sit. Instead, he bowed deeply and sincerely to Qin Ye, ¡°About what happened back then¡­ I truly and sincerely thank you.¡±

    Mr¡­ Qin?

    His father had specifically instructed him to be here today. He had even rescheduled his college student union¡¯s debate session today just because of this. His father¡¯s exact words had then been - By hook or by crook, you have to be here today!

    However--

    Yet as soon as his father addressed the guest, all possible exnations flew out of the window, and he was leftpletely bbergasted.

    He had never heard his father address anyone else like this!

    And it was obvious that he was being so respectful to someone ostensibly younger than him - who was possibly even at the same age he was!

    ¡°But¡­ you¡¯d also broadened my horizons and allowed me to see a whole different world out there!¡± Zhang Baoguo¡¯s voice was filled with agitation once more, ¡°I know that¡­ it¡¯s difficult for people like you to remain hidden within society. Especially a free-spirited person like you who¡¯s unwilling to join hands with the government. Yet despite the risks of being exposed, you¡¯d still extended a lifeline to me¡­ I¡­¡±

    The young man handed his father a silken handkerchief. The expectancy in his eyes had vanished by now.

    Does Father want me to repay this man for what he had done?

    ¡°How is this¡­¡±

    Zhang Baoguo smiled helplessly and shook his head as he quickly nced at the young man beside him, ¡°Zhang Linhua, what are you waiting for? Why haven¡¯t you paid your respects to your godfather yet?¡±

    Zhang Linhua was dumbfounded.

    Godfather?!

    Riding on his father¡¯s coattails, he had already grown used to the life of strutting around the city as though it were his own. Yet now, a man who was ostensibly the same age as himself purported to be his godfather?!

    ¡°I¡­¡± Zhang Linhua¡¯s heart was simply overwhelmed with shame and anger. He opened his mouth several times, thinking to speak, yet no words came out at all.

    What do you mean ¡®appear¡¯?!

    The veins on Zhang Linhua¡¯s temples throbbed as he slumped back down onto his own chair.

    His question wasden with heavy implications. Qin Ye smiled and nced at Zhang Linhua. Zhang Baoguo sighed wistfully in his heart. Since his attempt at making Qin Ye the godfather of his son had failed, Zhang Linhua was simply unqualified to remain around for thetter part of their conversation.

    Suppressing the indignation in his heart, Zhang Linhua left the room. Several secondster, after the room had quietened down once more, Qin Ye finally responded, ¡°Do you know about the Special Investigations Department?¡±

    Qin Ye grew sullen, ¡°They¡¯ve already taken control over regional defense?¡±

    ¡°Medicine, citizenry, engineering¡­ You can say that the supernatural is practically a pervasive, all-epassing force. As soon as the Special Investigations Department is involved, all of the other governmental departments and agencies have to give way, without question!¡±

    ¡°Even us!¡± Zhang Baoguo replied affirmatively, ¡°They¡¯re even exempted and detached from all supervisory bodies. If we had to employ an analogy¡­ Do you remember the imperial guard from the Ming Dynasty?¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­ Qin Ye held onto his cup of tea, and his eyes quivered slightly. The Special Investigations Department ran deep, had aplex organizational structure, and possessed incredibly extensive authority. The Clear Creek County branch that Qin Ye had a brush with was merely the tip of the iceberg.

    ¡°How¡¯s the situation in the City of Salvation? What if I were to say that I¡¯d like a list of their operatives, and a detailed map of where the reported supernatural incidents are located, preferably one that even includes the power levels of each of these supernatural incidents. Do you think you could obtain these things for me?¡±

    ¡°For survival.¡± Qin Ye exined cidly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to start a conflict with them. You know full well that I can¡¯t afford to expose my true identity. Categorically avoiding all of these potential dangers is the only way I can guarantee my survival. Old Zhang, I¡¯m not underestimating your authority here. It¡¯s just that the moment my identity is exposed¡­ I¡¯m afraid even you might not be able to do a thing with your level of authority.¡±

    ¡°Let me show you something.¡± He felt about behind him and brought out a brown leather bag. From there, he pulled out a primly folded, one-square-meter map and a stack of other information. Qin Ye scanned through the items, only to realize it was a map of the City of Salvation.

    Qin Ye opened the documents, and a simple scan of the documents caused his eyes to widen in shock.

    20 May. A case pertaining to a bizarre death in Peace County. The deceased¡¯s body dried up and became nothing more than a piece of human skin after just one day. Three days after the Special Investigations Department took over, they uprooted an old acacia tree and dredged up a broken funerary urn. No further supernatural sightings were reported in the area thereafter.

    The map didn¡¯t initially have any red markings at all. Yet ever since May this year, red marks began to sprout up all over the city, as though it was a gue slowly engulfing the entire City of Salvation!

    Qin Ye flipped the page, ¡°9 August. A night watchman at the Ten Millennial Public Cemetery located in the suburbs ims to have heard someone performing an opera in the middle of the night. The next day, two corpses that had been turned inside-out were discovered on a top of the hill in the cemetery¡­¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Someone-- No, some ghost¡­ was making a move against the City of Salvation!

    Is his domain not only restricted to the Westriver Province? Could he also have an influence over the Insignia Province as well?

    ¡°It¡¯s still under investigations.¡± Zhang Baoguo shook his head, ¡°All these things fall within the ambit of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s scope of duty. Everything, including their agents, and the details of their deployment and movements, are top secret. Furthermore, I think it¡¯s safe to say that the more proliferate the outbreak of supernatural urrences, the more likely their identity and particrs would be kept under wraps. We¡¯re not even talking about people on the level of my authority as the Deputy Attorney General anymore. Even the top provincial level bureaucrats aren¡¯t given ess to such information.¡±

    What he was asking for was simply impossible.

    ¡°I would¡¯ve liked to stay as well.¡± Glossing over the somewhat mncholy atmosphere in the room, Qin Ye looked up and smiled faintly, ¡°Old Zhang¡­ let me ask you something - what happens when a husky sneaks into a pack of wolves?¡±

    Zhang Baoguo nodded his head, yet he couldn¡¯t help but feel as though his heart had been pricked.

    How did he suddenlye to be described as a pack of wolves here...

 Chapter 43: Dropping In

    <h4>Chapter 43: Dropping In</h4>

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right, this is my ssmate, Wang Chenghao. Mortal.¡±

    ¡°Since I can¡¯t get the things that I want, it would be best if I kept a low profile here. Old Zhang, how goes the arrangement for my college?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all done.¡± Zhang Baoguo took out another leather bag beside him and handed it over to Qin Ye. It was filled with detailed information and a number of photographs of the college. Qin Ye skimmed through the documents. The environment appeared fairly decent, and the campus was new as well. Qin Ye was pleased.

    ¡°Branch college of the Insignia University. It was only built three years ago, and it sports a fairly green campus. Linhua studies here as well. He has by some stroke of luck made it into the student union. Perhaps he might be able to lend you a hand with the college affairs. I¡¯ve also personally spoken to the principal. You¡¯ll be able to matricte any time you like in a faculty of your own choosing. Your identification and other vital documents are all in the bag. That said¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, before continuing with some measure of apprehension, ¡°Old Qin¡­ I won¡¯t hide it from you. You¡¯re aware of how formal the procedures at universities are these days. They¡¯re under apletely different system. The only reason why they agreed to take you in is because¡­¡±

    His voice softened to a hush, ¡°That ce¡­ hasn¡¯t been too ¡®clean¡¯tely.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Those are the kinds of ces I¡¯m least afraid of.¡±

    Naturally, this was on the condition that the ¡®uncleanliness¡¯ was on the level of an Operative-ss Emissary of Hell.

    ¡°What about the Special Investigations Department?¡±

    ¡°Insufficient manpower¡­ The Special Investigations Department have prioritized locations where human lives have been lost. The bizarre incidents taking ce in the college haven¡¯t resulted in the loss of human lives yet, so the Special Investigations Department have temporarily shelved the corresponding case file. Furthermore, the Special Investigations Department have issued an internal bounty on the task, stating that anyone who resolves the issue guing the college would be given a reward.¡±

    ¡°I know that it¡¯s not too easy for you to make money given the sensitivities surrounding your identity. As long as you¡¯re able to resolve this issue, I can conceal your identity and im the bounty on your behalf.¡±

    He held up a finger. Qin Ye raised his eyebrows, ¡°A hundred thousand?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s one million.¡±

    Naive.

    Qin Ye was suddenly filled with pride andcency.

    Lord Midas was seated just beside him right now. Qin Ye¡¯s heart was awash with an unshakable confidence.

    ¡°Old Zhang¡­¡± His smile was nowced with the disposition of a billionaire, ¡°I don¡¯t need money right now.¡±

    Zhang Baoguo opened his mouth, yet he found himselfpletely speechless and unable to continue.

    Qin Ye¡¯s intentions were clear - he didn¡¯t need money right now, so he naturally wouldn¡¯t risk exposing his identity by resolving the matter.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips twitched as he looked begrudgingly at Qin Ye. Then, he suddenly spoke up, ¡°We¡­ actually are in need of money right now¡­¡±

    Ehhhhh?!

    Qin Ye nced at Wang Chenghao as though he had just seen a ghost. Did your savings in excess of 600,000 suddenly get eaten up by a dog? What else were you doing on the trip apart from ying with the games on your phone?

    Did you tip some female broadcast streamer, or are you simply saying in a roundabout manner that you¡¯re now abandoning me because of my age?

    Then, almost with tears in his eyes, Wang Chenghao revealed the truth on his phone, ¡°It just happened¡­ my bank card¡­ has just been frozen¡­¡±

    It can¡¯t be¡­

    Qin Ye stood up in shock and grabbed Wang Chenghao¡¯s phone in disbelief.

    That¡¯s impossible¡­

    Are the heavens messing with me? Bloody hell¡­ I¡¯ve only just said that we¡¯re not in need of money, and what goes around has alreadye around?!

    Several minutester, Qin Ye tossed Wang Chenghao¡¯s phone back at him and slumped back into his chair lifelessly.

    The fact that the card had already been frozen naturally meant that they¡¯ve already wrapped up investigations pertaining to the incident in Clear Creek County. The Special Investigations Department has already followed all of the leads and traced the incident back to both Qin Ye and Wang Chenghao.

    The whole ss is dead, and yet the two of you are the only survivors?

    And you¡¯d even left Clear Creek County immediately? What else do you know? What exactly happened then?

    In modern day society, anyone with money would be able to remain hidden in thefort of their own homes for an extended period of time on end. Therefore, the first port of call to lure out the prime suspects of the incident was to freeze any of their ess to funds.

    And as for the second step¡­ perhaps the day when the Special Investigations Departmentes knocking on their door wouldn¡¯t be too far away from now.

    That said, Qin Ye could hardly care less about thetter step for now. After all, what could be worse than being alive yetpletely broke?!

    How does one deal with such crippling pain in their hearts¡­

    ¡°Old Zhang, I imagine that the Special Investigations Department is going toe looking for me. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve made certain to bury all of my previous identities. The only other thing I¡¯d like to trouble you with is to let me know as soon as any unexpected circumstances arise, alright?¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed somewhat awkwardly, ¡°About¡­ Insignia University, was it? I suppose if the offer is still on the table, I¡¯ll deal with the problem at my convenience¡­ I mean, the fact that the principal was willing to allow us to attend college with no questions asked means he¡¯s pretty reliable, isn¡¯t he? As a student, shouldn¡¯t I also contribute back to the school wherever I can?¡±

    The most awkward situation in the whole wide world was to look for a pretext to step out of the spotlight after giving yourself a good, tight p across the cheek.

    Having regard for Qin Ye¡¯s awkwardness, Zhang Baoguo firmly suppressed theughter in his heart as he solemnly concluded, ¡°That¡¯s right, Old Qin. Let¡¯s do it this way, then. I¡¯ll make the necessary arrangements for you to lodge in a downtown hotel for now. That way, you can spend the next few days getting a feel of the atmosphere in the City of Salvation. Then, when you¡¯re ready, you can head over to the college whenever you like.¡±

    After a period of casual chatter, Qin Ye and Wang Chenghao finally left the premises.

    Zhang Baoguo didn¡¯t leave immediately with them. Instead, he simply sat on his own and quietly drank his tea. After a long time, he finally sighed in his heart and dialed on his phone, ¡°Get your ass up here!¡±

    Thirty secondster, Zhang Linhua appeared at the door. Zhang Baoguo¡¯s expressions were incredibly ashen, ¡°Grown wings, have you? Your old man can¡¯t even ask a simple thing of you any longer?¡±

    ¡°No, dad, what the hell do you mean by this?!¡± When triggered, Zhang Linhua¡¯s temper wasparable to that of his father, ¡°Godfather?! It¡¯s fine if he¡¯s of the same generation as you. But, him?!¡±

    ¡°Is he even twenty years old?! How do you expect me to call a person who¡¯s still in his teens my godfather? Have you ever considered my feelings?¡±

    ¡°You little brat!!¡± Zhang Baoguo stood up from his seat abruptly and bellowed, ¡°Do you know how rare this opportunity is?! It¡¯s something that others won¡¯t get even if they begged for it! In fact, he probably wouldn¡¯t have cared to bat an eyelid if not on ount of our friendship for more than twenty years! And yet now that the perfect opportunity is served upon you on a silver tter, you¡¯ve just cast it aside as though it were worthless?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been riding on the coattails of the rtionships your mother and I have built up over the years. But have you considered what¡¯s going to happen after we leave one day? You wouldn¡¯t be able to build such rtionships even if you tried!¡±

    Zhang Linhua¡¯s brain began to hurt from the sheer incredulity of it all, ¡°Twenty years ago¡­ He wasn¡¯t even born yet, was he? Alright, alright¡­ dad, don¡¯t be mad at me. Let me put it this way. Did you catch a whiff of the smell on their bodies?¡±

    ¡°No? I did. It¡¯s the stench of sweat. How amazing could they possibly be if they can¡¯t even afford to take a flight here? Besides, shouldn¡¯t you at least tell me what they do for a living rather than tell me to address them as godfather without any form of context at all? I¡¯m a student councillor when all is said and done. And you even mentionedst night that they were going to attend the same college as me. Don¡¯t you think that this is going to make me lose face?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t act like a snob!¡± Zhang Baoguo castigated him, only to realize the applicability of these words to himself as well¡­

    After ring at each other for several more seconds, Zhang Baoguo finally slumped back down onto his chair and waved his arms dismissively, ¡°Get lost, get lost. All I¡¯d been trying to do was to help you establish a rtionship with him in the hope that he¡¯d keep our family safe as well¡­ You¡­ you don¡¯t know any better.¡±

    ¡°Just remember to help them in any way you can in school. You¡¯re all grown up now, and you¡¯ve got a mind of your own. Even if you¡¯re unwilling to recognize him as a godfather, he¡¯s still someone you can¡¯t afford to offend.¡±

    Zhang Linhua lowered his head and furrowed his brows together in vexation. Finally, he replied reluctantly, ¡°I¡¯ve got it.¡±

    Then, before Zhang Baoguo could even respond, he opened the door and left the room.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Zhang Baoguo sighed wistfully and chuckled bitterly, ¡°I hope my children and their children find their own forms of blessings¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Back in the hotel, both Wang Chenghao and Qin Ye were lying on the bed and staring nkly at the ceiling.

    ¡°Brother Qin, shall we get some food?¡± Wang Chenghao suggested as he clutched at his growling stomach.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Qin Ye was famished as well. The confluence of both physical and mental exhaustion had pushed him to the brink, and his eyes were zed over with a look of despondence, ¡°Beef, seafood or duck soup?¡±

    Wang Chenghao gulped, ¡°About that¡­ Brother Qin, like I¡¯d mentioned earlier, there¡¯s no way we can afford to be too extravagant right now¡­ so, let¡¯s settle for seafood. That one?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qin Ye stood up, walked over to the corner of the room and opened the packet of Master Kang prawn and fish voured instant noodles, ¡°How much water do we add?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart was filled with cursing and swearing, yet even he couldn¡¯t bring himself to utter a single word of it.

    ¡°... I think that we can still afford to eat some braised chicken¡­ Didn¡¯t Uncle Zhang leave us with a card with RMB 20,000 on it before we left?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Qin Ye chuckled coldly, ¡°We¡¯ve saved on tuition fees, but what about the cost of books, club fees, this and that, as well as your upkeep?! We don¡¯t even know how troublesome and difficult to handle the matter at Insignia University is going to be, and here you are, telling me to splurge on the food of opulence, braised chicken?¡±

    Having been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Wang Chenghao hardly associated opulence with braised chicken at all. Thus, he simply blinked at Qin Ye, as though he had a multitude of words, yet nothing to say at the same time.

    ¡°Then¡­ then what do we do?¡±

    ¡°Make money!¡± Qin Ye soaked the noodles in boiling water with indignation. Just as Wang Chenghao was about to grab the cup of instant noodles, Qin Ye picked it up naturally and leaned back on the window. Then, with his free hand, Qin Ye drew the curtains and peered outside, ¡°Let¡¯s take a look at the situation within the City of Salvation first, before heading straight to Insignia University.¡±

    Knock knock. Just then, knocking sounds came from the door to their room.

    Wang Chenghao was just about to respond when Qin Ye covered his mouth. Then, with a grave expression on his face, Qin Ye gestured for Wang Chenghao to keep silent.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s recent experiences had turned him into a little bird that frightens easily. As soon as Qin Ye reacted the way he did, Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes immediately widened, and sweat began to pour out from his forehead. Qin Ye could also feel under his palm that Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips were quivering incessantly. Wang Chenghao nodded knowingly.

    The room was absolutely silent. However, the knocking sounds didn¡¯t stop. Instead, it continued with a constant tempo - two knocks every five seconds.

    Knock knock¡­ knock knock¡­

    T-t-t-t-t-t-t¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s teeth began to chatter uncontrobly. Even Wang Chenghao had sensed that something was up. After all, even hotel attendants would call out the purpose of their visit after knocking the door. Unfortunately their visitor did not.

    The mysterious visitor didn¡¯t identify himself. Instead¡­ he simply continued to knock on the door for one whole minute!

    The atmosphere in the room appeared to have be frozen solid. Then, Wang Chenghao began to panic and struggle. He grabbed onto Qin Ye¡¯s arms with his trembling hands and pleaded for Qin Ye to peek under the door on their behalf.

    The knocking outside continued.

    And yet¡­ there wasn¡¯t a trace of a visitor¡¯s shadow outside!

    ck¡­ ck¡­ Just then, a peculiar, cringeworthy sound echoed from right underneath the door. Immediately after that, a twisted, jade purple hand stretched into the room.

    It was livor mortis .

    And the person who was standing at the door¡­ was a dead man without any shadows!

    His nails had be ck, while his pale hands that were devoid of the colour of blood only served to entuate the sprawling veins that were crawling all over his hands like minute earthworms. The grotesquely contorted hand held a card and ced it gently behind the door.

    Then, it shrank back without another sound.

    Nobody spoke a single word.

    It was exactly noontime right now. Yet a man who had evidently been dead for a long time and possessed no shadow had just stood right outside their door, delivering nothing more than a ck card to them.

    ¡°Spa services?¡± Even Wang Chenghao¡¯s voice had changed. Qin Ye barked back resentfully, ¡°Are you an idiot?! How could anyone possibly be operating sleazy spa services in a ce like this? Besides, who in the right mind would visit a prostitute operating out of a burial mound? And can you stop pushing me forward?!¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m scared¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m scared too!¡±

    Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye with indignation in his eyes. Qin Ye¡¯s lips twitched, yet he still caved in and walked over to the door to take a look.

    It was an exquisite looking card covered with silver-coloured patterns that appeared akin to ancient totems. The patterns twisted and tangled, converging together to form an image of a skull in the middle of the card. A greenherfire appeared to burn at the forehead of the skull, right between where the eyebrows would have been located. As soon as Qin Ye¡¯s hand touched the card, the fire began to burn brightly.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye flipped the card around, and his face instantly turned green.

    ¡°Orchid Clubhouse.¡±

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re fat or thin, all flesh and bones will eventually wither away. Indulge in the glory of the afterlife only at the Orchid Clubhouse.¡±

    What the hell...

    1. Spots on the skin caused by hypostasis, or the cessation of movement of blood

 Chapter 44: Another Emissary of Hell

    <h4>Chapter 44: Another Emissary of Hell</h4>

    Qin Ye pped the card onto Wang Chenghao¡¯s nose, ¡°What did I say earlier? Can¡¯t you keep an ear out for some useful information instead? How can you be my assistant if you¡¯re always harping on the nitty gritty things?¡±

    Qin Ye carefully examined the card once more.

    This city sure knows how to party¡­

    They seriously know how to party¡­ Has theherworldly society in Salvation City alreadye so far¡­ This is how all Yin spirits should live the rest of their lives! Drinking bloody marys, hugging skeletons, and indulging in graveyard bungee jumping, and hearse drifting¡­ It¡¯s on a whole different scale from what we¡¯ve seen in Clear Creek County!

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips twitched slightly. He could no longer hold back hisments anymore, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ Ipletely understand what you¡¯re saying. But if this might be a trap, why do you still keep infusing the card with Yin energy?¡±

    As Qin Ye continued to inspect the card, Wang Chenghao coughed lightly and probed further, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ I¡¯ve never seen you so anxious before. Could it be that¡­ you¡¯re a sorcerer?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Secondster, he replied with the utmost conviction.

    I knew it. He¡¯s strong and good-looking, and he even stands tall at a height of 1.7 meters. How could he possibly be a sorcerer?

    Wang Chenghao was suddenly filled with a sense of realization. He wanted to respond, yet he simply couldn¡¯t find the words to speak. Finally, after much difficulty, he managed to condense his thoughts into a simple statement, ¡°Ahh¡­ men.¡±

    Boom!

    Whoosh! The curtains in the room suddenly drew themselves shut as though a poltergeist were up and about. The hotels used ckout curtains. As soon as they were drawn, they effectively blocked out the sun altogether! In that instant, the entire room was engulfed in pitch-ck darkness. Despite that, the Yin energy continued to pour out of the card like a wild vortex, while Qin Ye simply held his ground in the center of the room.

    Qin Ye remained silent.

    ¡°It¡¯s not me¡­¡± He stroked the Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform around his body with disbelief, ¡°I¡­ I wasn¡¯t the one who instigated the transformation into the Hell¡¯s Emissary state. This is¡­¡±

    ¡°A living Emissary of Hell!¡±

    This truly was a kindred spirit!

    ¡°Emissary of Hell? A living Emissary of Hell?!¡± Just then, a simr cry of shock echoed out. Taken aback, Qin Ye eximed, ¡°Arthis? You¡¯re finally awake?¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Qin Ye nced about at the surrounding Yin energy that was just as pure and simr to his own on a qualitative level as he muttered with aplicated expression.

    Everyone was silent.

    What are his intentions?

    ¡°All Emissaries of Hell, apart from you, are Yin spirits of Hell who have been kept in check by the natural orders of hell. And now that the order of Hell haspletely fallen apart, these Emissaries of Hell¡­ would most certainly be tens or even hundreds of times scarier than the average ghost! Right now, I¡¯m almost certain¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    Qin Ye immediately understood the entire situation!

    ¡°It can¡¯t be right. It¡¯s not possible that the authorities are unable to detect a location filled with Yin energy¡­ unless there¡¯s simply no way to locate him!¡±

    ¡°So¡­ why did the head honcho of the entire city of Salvation send me an invitation?¡±

    After some time, Arthis finally came back to her senses. Her voice was ostensibly somber as she panted, ¡°Kid, you¡¯ve got to consider this invitation carefully¡­¡±

    ¡°This is a form of microcosm reflective of what Hell once used to be. The other cities should be developing in a simr fashion to the City of Salvation. Even if they aren¡¯t led by an Emissary of Hell, other powerful ghosts are still able to achieve the same effect. It¡¯s all a matter of the strong controlling the weak¡­ Understanding him might give you a better insight on the microcosms sprouting up all over the mortal realm after Hell¡¯s great copse. And such an understanding would be very useful for you going forward. In fact, something like this is almost of vital importance.¡±

    Qin Ye was fully aware of the strength of a Hunter-ss entity after the battle against the Assassin of the Underworld.

    Qin Ye finished the sentence, ¡°However, as soon as negotiations break down, he¡¯ll immediately be aware that I¡¯ve got a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal on me. If that happens, death is the only possible oue for me, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s far too dangerous.¡± Qin Ye stashed the card away, ¡°Say, couldn¡¯t you just cover me with the shard¡¯s energy anyway? I¡¯ve still got this feeling of uneasiness niggling away inside me¡­¡±

    There was no sound from Arthis thereafter. She had gone back to her deep slumber.

    They couldn¡¯t afford to dally any longer.

    And regardless of what this kindred spirit¡¯s state of mind was, Qin Ye simply didn¡¯t want to interact with him right now!

    The Insignia University was located on the suburbs of the city. After driving for about one hour, the duo found their way to the main entrance of the Insignia University.

    ¡°It¡¯s end-October right now. Sounds like the perfect time for conducting military drills¡­ That said, things should be dying down soon.¡± Qin Ye scanned the campus with some measure of nostalgia in his eyes.

    On the other hand, everything on the way appeared fresh and inviting to Wang Chenghao. School had just started some time ago, and the banners of various clubs and societies were hung up all over the ce. Even though the enthusiasm had died down slightly since the start of term, it was still sufficient to invite Wang Chenghao¡¯s mind to consider apletely different world.

    An urge to sew up his trap swelled up in Qin Ye¡¯s heart.

    Over at the student union¡¯s office, Zhang Linhua had just handed a form over to a fellow student when his cell phone suddenly rang.

    ¡°Is that Mr Zhang? I¡¯m Qin Ye.¡±

    Qin Ye looked keenly at his phone on the other end of the line, ¡°It¡¯s like this. We¡¯re reporting to the university today. Could I trouble you to take us to the faculty office?¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin, which entrance are you at right now? ¡­ Oh, that¡¯s the rear entrance. The building straight across from where you are should be where theboratories are located. If you keep going straight, you¡¯ll see the library. Once you go past the library, you¡¯lle to a cross junction. Turn left there, and you¡¯ll see a somewhat older building. That¡¯s where the finance department is located. Go fill out your paperwork there, and then pop by the student union¡¯s office to pay the necessary fees. I¡¯ll arrange the dorms on your behalf¡­ Alright, that¡¯s all¡­¡±

    Neither Qin Ye nor Zhang Linhua left much of an impression with the other in their earlier interactions. Furthermore, Qin Ye knew that he couldn¡¯t expect the goodwill between him and Zhang Baoguo to extend his son as well either. Thus, he knew that it was natural for Zhang Linhua to treat him with some measure of coldness. In other words, Qin Ye had never expected Zhang Linhua to serve him.

    After hanging up, Zhang Linhua snorted to himself at the student union, tossed his phone aside and muttered under his breath, ¡°Idiot.¡±

    1. This is a reference to one of the characters in the manhwa ¼ÓÓÍ´óÄ§Íõ.

 Chapter 45: Matriculation

    <h4>Chapter 45: Matriction</h4>

    ¡°Who was that?¡± The student next to him blinked his eyes and asked, ¡°Why does your expression look so gnarly, Senior? Is someone trying to ckmail you?¡±

    It¡¯s a type of ckmail indeed¡­ ckmailing me to call him godfather!

    Zhang Linhua¡¯s heart was filled with rage whenever he recalled the earlier incident. He mocked contemptuously, ¡°It¡¯s just a stupid idiot. Ignore him. Can you take a look and let me know which dorms are still avable?¡±

    ¡°None.¡± The student thought about it, ¡°There¡¯s still an avable room at the ce near the old shrine, but¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Zhang Linhua chuckled with a wry smile, ¡°They¡¯ll have toply with the arrangements. How can anyone be picky about these things?¡±

    The other student paused for a moment, nced about, and then muttered in a hushed tone of voice, ¡°But senior¡­ that ce¡­ is somewhat unclean¡­¡±

    ¡°Those who can move out have already moved out, and even the caretaker doesn¡¯t deign to linger about the premises. It seems like you know this guy from the way the conversation¡¯s taken ce. Why don''t we--...¡±

    ¡°Who knows this guy? Can you say I know him after seeing him only once? If that¡¯s the case, wouldn¡¯t I already know the entire world?¡± Zhang Linhua red at the other student, ¡°And where did all these feudalistic superstitionse from? The old ancestral shrine behind has already been sealed off to begin with. And the female dorms aren¡¯t too far away either, yet we don¡¯t hear reports of bizarre incidents from them either. Stop being so overly suspicious about everything and get on with it!¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± The other student left obsequiously without another word.

    It was already 4.30 p.m. by the time Qin Ye came back out of the finance department. As soon as he stepped out, he immediately received a text message.

    It was from Zhang Linhua¡¯s number - Fifth dormitory, room 409. The two of them were roomed together.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go!¡± Wang Chenghao was already raring to go. They had already purchased the bedding and other necessities as soon as they had arrived. Thus, he dragged Qin Ye along and made a beeline straight towards their allocated dormitory.

    It was currently the time when sses hade to an end, and the sports centers were already filled with energetic and spirited students. Loud cries echoed from the basketball courts nearby, and the kiosks just next to the courts were filled with a constant stream of students. The scenery at the branch campus was truly remarkable. At the end of a lengthy footpath lined neatly with trees for shadey argeke filled with lotuses. A stone arch bridge sat squarely across the entireke.

    A pair of lovebirds were passionately making out just under the gently swaying willow trees on the side of theke. Light, spiritedughter echoed through the air. A number of male and female students could be spotted sitting along the stone arch bridge as well, each of whom were listening to music on their headphones and enjoying the idyllic scenery around.

    Qin Ye looked at them with some measure of envy in his eyes, before shifting his gaze away with a faint smile on his face.

    ¡°No wonder everyone¡¯s desperately trying to enroll in college¡­ The difference between this and our high school is practically like heaven and earth!¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes darted about the fresh sights and sounds as he eximed excitedly, ¡°Everyone here is filled with passion and energy! It¡¯s nothing like our school where everything is all about tests and examinations!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ energy¡­¡± Qin Ye swept his windblown bangs, ¡°This is exactly the reason why I enjoy college life.¡±

    After stopping several times to ask students for directions, they finally made their way past a brand new dormitory building and arrived in front of the dormitory allocated to them. The entire journey took thirty minutes.

    The two were somewhat bbergasted.

    They were already located in the suburbs of the city.

    And this particr dormitory building was located at the far-flung corner of the entire campus grounds. The rolling hills and mountains were located just beyond it. The entire building looked like it had been shoddily maintained for a number of years now. The paintwork was mottled and peeling, and there were spots where patchwork repairs had evidently been done. The only thing that the building could truly be praised for was the fact that the walls were covered with dense creepers, making the four-storey building look somewhat green.

    Yet even though it looked shabby, it couldn¡¯t truly be considered dpidated. In fact, the building arguably even had its own charms. That said, it was still a far crypared to the brand new, high-rise dormitories situated just beside their building.

    ¡°The distance from this building to the cafeteria, library, ssrooms are all at least half an hour away by bicycle.¡± Qin Ye looked at the sheer number of sharing bicycles parked around the building, ¡°He¡¯s really not giving me any face here¡­ Does he really resent the fact that he was asked to call me a godfather?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, but he could hardly be bothered with Zhang Linhua¡¯s petty thoughts. He picked up his belongings and walked towards the dormitory building.

    ¡°Freshmen?¡± An old man sat at the concierge, snacking on melon seeds as he surfed the web. Qin Ye nced at the screen, only to discover that the old man had the series ¡°<i>At the Dolphin Bay</i>¡± ying on it¡­

    And he was already even a few dozen episodes into the series.

    This is probably what the author of that web novel was referring to, when he described the old man who lived at the bottom of the dangerous Mount Hua showing off his climbing skills to young, aspiring climbers.

    It wasn¡¯t matriction season, and nobody was around to help them with their things. Thus, the two were already exhausted by the time they arrived at the main hall of the dormitory. The duo wiped off the sweat on their foreheads, while the old man at the table sized them up, before asking, ¡°Got screwed, didn¡¯t ya?¡±

    Before the duo could respond, he continued with an even deeper, booming voice, ¡°Friends, don¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t warn you. Move out of here as soon as you can. This ce¡­ isn¡¯t very clean.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s spine immediately straightened, and he gulped nervously. On the other hand, Qin Ye simply smiled faintly, ¡°Old man, what are the rumours like? Nobody¡¯s told us anything yet.¡±

    ¡°Of course nobody would say a thing. You were assigned this ce by the student union, weren¡¯t you? Who would bring up such matters without being prompted to? This concerns the school¡¯s image after all.¡± The old man nced about with some measure of trepidation, drew a deep breath and continued in his deep voice, ¡°I¡¯m on night shift tonight. But I¡¯ll be applying for a transfer tomorrow morning. This ce¡­ it¡¯s not possible to stay here.¡±

    Then, as though he recalled something, the old man sighed, picked up his thermos mug and took arge gulp of water, ¡°Ever since a few months ago, there have been reports of the sounds of beating drums and gongs every single night around here!¡±

    His entire body trembled slightly, ¡°There¡¯s not a day that I dare open the door at night. Do you know something? Every day at midnight, without fail, you¡¯ll be able to hear people marching upstairs while ying on the drums and gongs, and then marching down again some timeter. But the strangest part is that the main entrance here is already locked at midnight! I¡¯ve never heard the sound of the entrance being unlocked either.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s almost as though¡­ at midnight, someone¡­ someone¡­ keeps standing watch over the main hall until dawn!¡±

    With trembling hands, he picked up his cigarette and took a deep drag from it, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to open the main entrance every dawn until I hear the cocks crow in the morning. Yet whenever I head out to open the door, I would always see four sets of wet footprints around the main hall. I¡¯ve reported these bizarre incidents, but nobody cares! It¡¯s all because nothing has happened to the residents here yet!¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m not the only one who¡¯s heard these things¡­ the entire block of residents have had their own simr experiences at all! Nobody opens the door, yet someone can be heard entering and leaving, and even leaving behind a set of footprints! It¡¯s been months! This dormitory used to be filled with students! But right now, the only ones who remain are those who can¡¯t or have no means of moving out! Kids, heed my advice - move out of this ce as soon as you can! This ce¡­ is truly unclean!¡±

    As he drew close to the end of his spiel, the old man¡¯s teeth even began to chatter, causing the end of the cigarette bud in his mouth to quiver slightly.

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°Thanks for the warning, old man. We¡¯ll move out as soon as we have the time.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not kidding here! This isn¡¯t just a ghost story! You¡¯ll know tonight! Oh, that¡¯s right, do not answer your door at night!¡± As they made their way up the stairs, the old man continued to holler after them.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­¡± Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t help but stick closer to Qin Ye, ¡°This ce¡­ could there really be a problem with it?¡±

    The building was old, and the electric lights all around appeared somewhat dim and yellow. Coupled with the mottled walls and peeling paint, Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t help but feel ill at ease even though it was still daytime right now.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Qin Ye respondedzily, ¡°With such incidents urring every night, it would be more peculiar if the students still living here weren¡¯t already scared out of their minds. Yet there are still students who remain in this dormitory. Say¡­ what do you think these students truly are?¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s face darkened, ¡°D-d-dead people?¡±

    Qin Ye leaned in slightly and whispered his response into his ears, word by word, ¡°No¡­ they¡¯re zombies.¡±

    In the corridor, Wang Chenghao stiffly turned his head around and looked at Qin Ye in horror. And it took him a long time before he managed to gulp in shock.

    He was so horrified that his entire mind had gone numb and nk.

    ¡°Pfft¡­ Hahaha!¡± Just then, an uproariousughter echoed from upstairs. A student peeked out from the gap in the stairwell,ughing uncontrobly, ¡°This is hrious¡­ Hahaha! I can¡¯t take it anymore! Brothers, did the old man scare you guys? Puhahahaha! Old Man Liu practically tells the same story to every single freshman he sees! Back then, I was so scared by him that I didn¡¯t even dare to go to the toilet on my own!¡±

    ¡°Gahahaha!!¡± Old Man Liu¡¯sughter burst out from the first floor, sounding practically akin to a duck, ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I¡¯m dying ofughter. It¡¯s been so long since someone has fallen for the story. I can¡¯t take it anymore¡­¡±

    Bloody Hell!

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s face flushed as red as a baboon¡¯s ass. Do colleges these days still do these kinds of things? Is this how the city-folks have fun?

    It¡¯s¡­ simply too embarrassing¡­

    ¡°You¡­¡± He red soullessly at Qin Ye who wasughing so hard that he had to lean against the wall, ¡°Bloody Hell¡­ how can you sell me out like that?!¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright!¡± Qin Ye wiped the tearsing out of his eyes as he patted Wang Chenghao¡¯s shoulder, ¡°How can there possibly be so many ghosts and demons lying around? Anyway, it¡¯s almost six, and we wouldn¡¯t be able to leave the premises once the announcements start broadcasting. We haven¡¯t had dinner either.¡±

    However, as soon as they entered the dormitory, the duo immediately grew taciturn.

    This was a dormitory room for six.

    Apart from them, there were already three upying the room, and their belongings were strewn all over the fourth bed. Furthermore, the curtains were tightly drawn, and the room was practically enshrouded in darkness.

    Three peopley uniformly in bed, covered with their snow-white nkets, while maintaining the same pose. None of them moved an inch at all.

    Gulp¡­ Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously. For some strange reason, he kept thinking back to Qin Ye¡¯s earlier reference to zombies.

    A sliver of sunlight peeked through the cracks in the curtain, revealing the dust particles that were floating about in mid air. What should otherwise have been a warm beam of light instead seemed to have only entuated the darkness in the room, just like¡­ a quiet and cold morgue.

    ¡°Number Three¡­ Is that Number Three?¡± Just then, a pained voice spoke up from one of the beds, ¡°You¡­ are you finally getting dinner for us?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t push it¡­ this old man is still lying here¡­ shit¡­ This hunger¡­ I¡¯m so hungry I can¡¯t even move¡­¡±

    Another voice sounding as feeble as an insect responded from yet another bed, ¡°Don¡¯t speak¡­ The less you speak, the less hungry you are¡­ Who opened the door? Can you close it? It¡¯s unbearably cold¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao had never seen such a strange dormitory before, and he was practically astounded. On the other hand, Qin Ye simply ignored all of them and flicked on the light switch. In that instant, three painful howls echoed throughout the entire dormitory room.

    ¡°The full moon is messing up my vital energy! I¡¯m going to revert to my true form!¡±

    ¡°Which dorm buddy is this? Give me a break¡­ I haven¡¯t slept a wink all night while rushing my thesis. Can¡¯t you just give me the chance to sleep in?¡±

    ¡°I beg of you, Father, please give me a chance at life. I¡¯ll pray for your welfare and longevity tomorrow. Please turn off the lights!¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s hopes for a vibrant, idyllic college life with passionate, like-minded dormitory mates were instantly plunged into a sea of ice.

    ¡°United or Master Kang? What would you prefer?¡± Qin Ye queried cidly.

    ¡°It¡¯s a day of fertility! Braised beef!¡± ¡°And an earthen jar of pickled vegetables for me! Dear daddy! I thank you and your eight generations of ancestors for making you!¡± ¡°Fresh shrimp and seafood¡­ I will never forget your benefaction even if I be a ghost!¡±

    ¡°Ahh¡­ I might have forgotten to bring it.¡± Qin Ye pulled out a wad of paper money and fanned himself, ¡°I can offer you one billion dors in Hell notes instead. How would you like that?¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯ll never be able to cross the Naraka Bridge in any event, why don¡¯t you just head down rather than stay and be an eyesore around here?¡±

    The dry smile on Wang Chenghao¡¯s face instantly froze.

    Secondster, he turned his head around stiffly and stared at Qin Ye with tears in his eyes.

    Don¡¯t mess with me¡­ please don¡¯t bully an honest and trusting person like me¡­

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Qin Ye pointed at the bed in confusion, ¡°They¡¯re earthbound spirits. Really, I¡¯m not kidding you this time. But everything will be resolved once we burn some Hell notes for them. It¡¯s a very clean process.¡±

    Brother¡­ dear brother¡­ I think you might be a little bit mistaken about the idea of what ¡®clean¡¯ truly means...

    1. The author here was referring to a web novel called ÀÏ·òÁÄ·¢ÉÙÄê¿ñ, but I thought to put the synopsis here for better context.

    2. Both are brands of instant noodles.

 Chapter 46: Orchid Clubhouse (1)

    <h4>Chapter 46: Orchid Clubhouse (1)</h4>

    The scorching stench of burning paper lingered in the air. The three Yin spirits stood in front of Qin Ye, rubbing their hands with avaricious glee. Wang Chenghao sat numbly next to Qin Ye, thinking to make the bed yet not daring to make a single move.

    Wang Chenghao coughed dryly, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ people invariably change after experiencing a massive upheaval in their lives¡­¡±

    Something feels off¡­ something feels off about this entire situation¡­ Yet despite his reservations, Wang Chenghao still nodded his head.

    I already no longer scream at the top of my voice at the slightest of scares. Shouldn¡¯t I be given a little bit more time to adjust to the situation?

    Mm¡­ his suggestion seems logically watertight, but I still can¡¯t help but feel like something is a little bit off somewhere¡­

    ¡°My lord.¡± A baby-faced student scratched his head, ¡°About that¡­ is it possible to give us some paper effigies and the like...¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­ we don¡¯t even know how we died¡­ I-I-I just want the opportunity to speak to my family and give them one final ount.¡±

    ¡°But my lord¡­¡±

    What happened to your basic level ofprehension?

    The three spirits were all taken aback. Is he¡­ trying to ask us for a bribe?

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± The tallest student coughed dryly, ¡°We¡¯re¡­ we¡¯re just poor students¡­¡±

    ¡°My lord! Please don¡¯t!¡± ¡°Please spare us! I¡¯m very familiar with Insignia University! I can be your guide andpanion!¡± ¡°My lord, please have mercy on us! I think we¡¯ve still got some room for negotiations! Why don¡¯t I sing you a luby every night?¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly felt incredibly miserable. Ever since he had taken on the role as thest Emissary of Hell, the only profitable situation he had dealt with so far had been the incident with Wang Zemin. The others were either the owner of a rundown inn, or a bunch of poor students wearing their tattered uniform. There was simply no ce for him to make a windfall!

    ¡°My lord! We¡¯ve got a grievance!¡± As they saw the unyielding expression on Qin Ye¡¯s face, the students immediately went down on their knees and begged him with trembling.

    Grievance¡­

    Wang Chenghao was still watching the scene intently when Qin Ye stood up abruptly and suddenly instructed, ¡°Go fetch us a pot of water.¡±

    ¡°Now!¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Several secondster, his smile faded, and he asked cidly, ¡°How long have you been dead?¡±

    ¡°Three years¡­ Interesting¡­ very interesting¡­¡± Qin Ye tapped his fingers on the table and mumbled to himself as though deep in thought, ¡°Anyone who¡¯s a human and not a suicidal maniac would definitely be left with a remaining grievance if the death was unnatural. But¡­ I don¡¯t see that in your case.¡±

    The three spirits shook their heads in unison.

    ¡°You¡­ must have died without any form of pain, whatsoever. In fact, you probably didn¡¯t even know you had died!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to die.¡± His earlier jolly, spirited personality had vanishedpletely. Instead, his lips were now trembling, and even his form had begun to waver, ¡°But¡­ we weren¡¯t given any options.¡±

    His voice began to choke up, ¡°Over thest three years, we¡¯ve wracked our brains trying to figure out the cause of it all. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    This college¡­ something¡¯s wrong with it!

    He hadn¡¯t expected much of an answer with this question to begin with. After all, the three spirits weren¡¯t even aware of how they died, so how could they possibly recall the precursor to their death?

    Swish¡­ Qin Ye gazed deeply at them, and then at the ground, as though he were gazing through the flooring and staring straight at Old Man Liu and his wrinkled face.

    ¡°We heard the sounds of a troupe of people ying the gongs and drums as they marched upstairs at midnight. Then, these sounds would be followed by the sound of messy footsteps retreating back to where they came from. But this entire ce is locked at twelve midnight!¡±

    What a coincidence.

    ¡°We were the only ones who had heard it extremely clearly. It was¡­ it was almost as though someone had struck the lottery and was being promoted to a top official. Apart from the gongs and drums, there would even be the festive sounds of firecrackers and the chinese sorna ying in the background. It created such a huge ruckus that none of us could sleep at all!¡±

    ¡°My lord, can you imagine what it was like¡­ Twelve midnight, in the still of the night when all the lights are out, and you suddenly hear the nging and banging of loud gongs and drums¡­ You look out of the peephole, yet not a single soul can be spotted outside even though you can hear footsteps stopping right outside our door!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve reported the incident, but nobody believed us. Then, just when we were supposed to move out of this room¡­ that¡¯s where our memory ended.¡±

    They had mysteriously died in the prime of their lives, only to realize that they had been transformed into earthbound spirits that were unable to step out of the confines of a room that was norger than twenty square feet in size. Since then, apart from the cleaners who came in to refresh the rooms every year before matriction season, there wasn¡¯t a single other living person who had entered this room. Nobody even remembers them anymore. And so they forced themselves to be happy and cheerful at all times. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t want to scare away anyone who entered their room.

    They wanted to get out.

    Unfortunately, they were unable to do these things.

    ¡°Not at all. In fact, we¡¯ve not even heard of others speaking of such horrors before! Otherwise, how else could we possibly continue living here?!¡±

    ¡°Thank you¡­ thank you my lord!¡±

    Rather¡­ if this matter were in fact the supernatural incident reported in Insignia University, its resolution could very well bag him a million bucks!

    As a result of the announcements being broadcasted nation-wide, the entire campus grounds were enshrouded with an almost oppressive silence as soon as dusk fell.

    The lights from the kiosks around were alsopletely extinguished.

    Apart from the dormitories, the only sources of light around were from that of the streetmps. As the night breeze swept across the campus, the trees made ominous rustling sounds, as though a mysterious beast were creeping around under the cover of night.

    Wang Chenghao had brought hisptop along with him, but they were not connected to the inte yet. After ying some games on his phone for a little while, he quickly got bored, yawned, and went to bed. Qin Ye continued to browse the web on his phone for a little while before turning in as well.

    Qin Ye slept peacefully.

    ng¡­ A loud bell chimed melodiously from the school¡¯s bell tower, yet it also reverberated ominously throughout the entire campus grounds

    It was midnight.

    He furrowed his brows. Then, just as soon as he was about to return to sleep, he suddenly heard a bright, nging sounding from close by!

    Qin Ye sat up immediately and nced at Wang Chenghao. Wang Chenghao was still sleeping like a log.

    ¡°It¡¯sing¡­ it¡¯sing!!¡±

    ¡°The sounds of the gongs and drums from three years ago¡­ are here again!!¡±

    1. It¡¯s a chinese woodwind instrument that is simr to an oboe. It emits a somewhat loud and high-pitched sound, and is used in both wedding processions and funerary rites. It is also an essential part of ritual music for a number of Taoist rituals and rites.

 Chapter 47: Orchid Clubhouse (2)

    <h4>Chapter 47: Orchid Clubhouse (2)</h4>

    Silence.

    The juxtaposition of the deafening bangs and ngs of the drums and gongs only seemed to entuate the solitude around them.

    Qin Ye continued to listen patiently to the procession of sounds. One minuteter, the sounds of the drums and gongs became somewhat muffled. Qin Ye immediately knew that this was because¡­ the procession had already entered the building!

    The closer the procession of sounds drew, the louder and brighter it grew. Qin Ye raised his eyebrows curiously. Ten minutester, the procession of sounds arrived on the fourth floor, as loud as it had ever been. Apanied by the grave chants of "Hey, ho, hey, ho," the procession of sounds slowly drew closer and closer to the door to Qin Ye''s room.

    Swish¡­ The sound of something descending came from just outside the door. Following that, everything wentpletely silent.

    Not a single trace of sound could be heard. The deafening silence was so loud that anyone in the room right now would have begged for even a peep of sound. The swaying of the trees outside cast terrifying, shifting shadows onto the walls in the room.

    Thud thud¡­ Once a second. It was constant and rhythmic.

    The fourth storey of the building was illuminated by the gentle glow of the moonlight. Notwithstanding that, the moonlight that crept through the gap under the door revealed that there was hardly a trace of anyone¡¯s shadow outside!

    It was the exact same phenomenon that urred three years ago!

    Are they gone?

    Yet the only thing he saw was a bloodshot eye, covered with sprawling blood vessels staring straight back at him through the peephole!

    Even someone like Qin Ye recoiled in shock, and his heart froze momentarily.

    Their dormitory upied a building that had been standing since decades ago, and the doors here naturally did not close as seamlessly as the doors used in modern day constructions. Instead, the wooden door to their room sported innumerable cracks. There was even a panel of ss just above the door that was cloudy from theck of maintenance and cleaning after all these years.

    The gloomy moonlight illuminated their pale faces which were only further entuated by their ink-ck clothes. The sight of four faces staring straight at him through the dusty ss panel was truly creepy and astonishing!

    The entire boys dormitory building was dead silent. Nobody knew of the horrors of the night that had crept silently through the hallways. It was almost as though everyone were dead in slumber.

    Qin Ye was taken aback.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± With a chuckle, he opened the door to the room.

    There were a total of twelve people¡­ no, a total of twelve unknown entities.

    They were incredibly tall.

    Their faces couldn¡¯t be seen at all.

    The next four entities were humanoid paper effigies with sharp, pointed hands and feet. Each of them wore a one-meter tall hat, vermillion-red lipsticks and had pink, greasy blushers painted on the cheeks of their incredibly pale faces.

    It was a dark coffin with no lid on it. The inside of the coffin was lined with exquisite fur designed to make it look like afortable seat.

    The procession of twelve stood in the middle of the corridor,pletely silent and still. The ends of the corridor faded into the darkness in the distance.

    ¡°My lord, our master says that you¡¯ve already received his invitation this morning. Tonight is an auspicious night where we¡¯re celebrating our master¡¯s promotion. We¡¯ve been instructed to spread the word and extend invitations all around. All of the respected and prominent ghosts will also be present at the celebrations tonight. We humbly ask that my lord give face to our master and grace the asion tonight.¡± One of the paper effigies responded with a sharp voice.

    The card¡¯s appearance had transformedpletely after midnight.

    Insignia University.

    Ripples of emotions stirred in the depths of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes as he stashed the card back into his pocket. He cursed and swore in his heart - I couldn¡¯t get bribes earlier, and now I¡¯m even encounteringplications militating against the collection of the bounty from the mortal realm!

    Insignia University!

    ¡°Please.¡± The humanoid paper effigies knelt down in an extremely concerted fashion. After a long period of deliberation, Qin Ye finally stepped into the coffin and leaned against the soft furs within. The four humanoid paper effigies stood up at the same time, twisted their bodies in a peculiar manner, and faced the corridor almost instantly. Finally, they cried out in unison, ¡°A guest of honour is on his way. We march!¡±

    CLANG!!

    The coffin-seat was incredibly stable. The entire procession of twelve ghosts didn¡¯t touch the ground with their feet. Instead, they simply hovered along as they slowly descended from the fourth floor to the first floor.

    The coffin-seat came to a smooth stop.

    In fact, that person was here right now.

    Qin Ye picked up his saber and ced it silently onto Old Man Liu¡¯s neck.

    However, Old Man Liu didn¡¯t seem to have felt anything on his neck. Instead, he simply continued to plead and pray, almost as though he were afraid of awakening the devil. Qin Ye withdrew his saber.

    ¡°Raise the coffin!¡± With a sharp call from the humanoid paper effigies, the coffin was raised to their shoulders once more. And then¡­ they turned around and made their way straight into Old Man Liu¡¯s lodge!

    Old Man Liu lived in the space between the stairs and the ground of the first floor. That said, this space was neither small nor suffocating. The room was pitch-ck, and the air within was incredibly dense and murky, almost as though it were hazy with smoke.

    There was only an extremely wide sofa that one would be able to rest on. There were two potted nts ced in the corner of his room. But apart from that, there was nothing else - no bookshelves, no tables and no stools. And what was strangest about this room was the fact that the entire walls of his room¡­ were made out of only mirrors!

    The mirror was covered all around with yellow talismans that were drawn with blood-red ink. There were clearly twelve other entities standing around him right now, yet their reflections could not be seen in any one of the mirrors around. Then, before Qin Ye could examine the room any further, the entire room suddenly sank downwards with a soft swishing sound!

    -1.

    -3, -4, -5¡­ And it finally stopped at -6.

    A wide stone path with a width of five or six meters extended straight out of the door. The stone walls were carved with extremely archaic patterns, while stone-carvednterns shaped like the heads of beasts shielded the flickering mes within from the elements.

    There were some who wore suits, some who dressed like students, and others who appeared to be preppy-looking office workers. All of them appeared different in their own regard. Yet the one simrity that they all shared was the fact that they were all toting a redntern in their hands as they appeared to drift aimlessly towards the end of the stone path.

    "To think that he''d even prepared a hundred ghosts to celebrate my arrival. This man truly esteems me so¡­" Qin Ye slid his fingers gently across the walls. The walls were damp and chilling to the touch, and even bore thick traces of corpse energy and Yin energy. Qin Ye immediately understood what this meant.

    Roar!! Just then, the ghastly figures in front of him shifted all the the same time, screaming at the top of their lungs as they charged straight towards him. A shimmering light from his de gleamed brightly and swept past his surroundings. Several Yin spirits were instantly reduced to nothing more than wisps of Yin energy. Simultaneously, a wave of powerful Yin energy erupted explosively from his body! It was on apletely different level than that of the Yin spirits around!

    After walking for ten minutes, he finally arrived in front of a heavy stone door with carvings shaped like the head of a ferocious predator. The words ¡°Orchid¡± and ¡°Clubhouse¡± were chiseled on the left and the right of the door respectively. The words appeared to have been etched out with powerful strokes, and an ever-burningherfire illuminated the words, giving the entrance to the clubhouse an ominous green glow.

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and drew a deep breath. Then, just as he was about to step into the Orchid Clubhouse, he froze in ce.

    ¡°The amber sands sweep across the skies, fill the ends of the earth, and all of the constetions in the sky¡­¡±

    Can you believe it?!

    A gorgeous female ghost wearing a bunny suit weaved in and out of the sea of people serving drinks. From time to time, a wandering hand or two would pinch her perky butt, causing her to squeal in surprise. Momentster, she would pull out the stacks of Hell notes sticking out of the crevices of her bunny suit with a faint smile on her face. A disco ball shaped like a skull hung above the entire dance floor, dazzling the entire surroundings with an impressive disy of colours.

    And why was he so certain that these were all ghosts?

    This was a clubhouse for evil ghosts!

    <hr>

    1. This is a song written,posed and performed by Zhanzhan and Luoluo released online on 19 July 2017. They won the best original group award and the 2018 Asia Music Awards for this song on 29 November 2018.

 Chapter 48: Cao Youdao

    <h4>Chapter 48: Cao Youdao</h4>

    Three female ghosts dressed like ancient officials were doing an incredibly provocative dance in the center of the dance floor. They ran their pale white hands from the dangerous slits on their lengthy skirts to their voluptuous bosom, and then wrapped their hands around their tiny, dainty waists. If not for the fact that they possessed an ethereal body, Qin Ye would¡¯ve most certainly praised them - absolutely charming.

    Truth be told, if one looked past the distinction between what was illusory and what was real, and beyond the realms of colour, this ce was practically one and the same as any of the other clubs that Qin Ye had been to in his entire life.

    ¡°The long, ancient road is boundless and long, filled with all emotions of joy, sorrow,ughter and pain. Yet the only thing that keeps going is the camel in the desert¡­¡± The song gradually receded from its climax, and the atmosphere began to lighten up a little. Some ghosts dressed like students hopped off the dance floor, only to be reced by several ghosts wearing suits and small leather hats.

    ¡°The enchanting and graceful intersection of day and night wastes away the years and wastes away my soul. The path ahead is yet uncharted¡­¡±

    What the hell¡­ isn¡¯t this much too progressive?

    ¡°Hey, handsome.¡± Just then, Qin Ye felt a cold touch right where his lower abdomen was. He was astounded to see a sharp-faceddy looking back at him. Her appearances would most definitely have been well above an ¡®eight¡¯ while she was still alive. Her hand was already hovering over his unnameable parts, and she gently traced her finger along the seams of his pants as she smiled faintly, ¡°First time here? You¡¯re pretty handsome. Whose body did you borrow? He mustn¡¯t have died too long ago, right? It¡¯s such a pity that such a handsome man has died¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was incredibly tempted to dispose of her with one fell of his saber. Couldn¡¯t you at least warm your hand beforeing over?

    ¡°L-l-l-liv--¡­ liv--... mmmph-mmph!!¡± Fortunately, a pale hand covered her lips before she could scream out loud. The woman¡¯s eyes widened, and she iled about with her limbs as she pointed at Qin Ye, unable to exim that he was a living person.

    Within moments, the female ghost that was being restrained by the humanoid paper effigy transformed into ethereal wisps of greenish-white Yin energy, before quickly dissipating into the surroundings. The other ghosts around ostensibly pretended not to see anything, and continued as they were. Finally, the humanoid paper effigy bowed respectfully to Qin Ye, ¡°Please follow me, my lord.¡±

    As they slowly followed a spiral staircase up to the second floor, Qin Ye finally saw for the first time what the entireyout of the first floor looked like. Just behind the dance floory arge pit that was two-meters wide. It had been well-hidden by the dazzling strobe lights earlier. But right now, Qin Ye could see whaty within the pit¡­ four silver chains extended from the sides and converged in the center of the pit. In turn, thick plumes of dense, pure Yin energy continuously billowed and rose from the center of the chains like clouds.

    This is too familiar.

    Just then--...

    It was a dull sound, almost akin to the chime of a bell. Then, something in the pit began to stir. In the very next second, a massive tidal wave of the purest of Yin energy surged straight out of the pit and engulfed the entire dance floor. The atmosphere of the entire clubhouse exploded to new heights in an instant! The ghosts were all screaming in ecstasy!

    Whoosh!! Qin Ye¡¯s clothes fluttered wildly for an instant, before slowly settling down again.

    ¡°This is¡­ a Soul Hunter?¡±

    Yet for some strange reason, he was immobilized. He felt as though his feet werepletely rooted to the ground.

    Retreat?

    Enter?

    ¡°My friend, why don¡¯t youe in?¡± A voice suddenly rang out before Qin Ye could properly contemte his next move, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to at least see what your former colleague looks like?¡±

    Qin Ye was trapped between a rock and a hard ce. He clenched his fists tightly. The palms of his hands were already frosty and cold. Nevertheless, he bravely walked forward towards the second floor.

    It was a terrace-like space enclosed only by tempered ss on three sides of the room. Two sofas were ced against the window, and a long European-style table formed the centerpiece of the room. A crystal chandelier hanging overhead shone brightly, whilst a copy of the Mona Lisa painting hung on the lone wall in the room.

    Taking a deep breath, Qin Ye suppressed the roiling emotions in his heart, walked over to the sofa, cupped his fist and bowed slightly, ¡°Junior Emissary of Hell, Qin Ye, greets the esteemed Senior Soul Hunter.¡±

    Secondster, a thick voice finally responded, ¡°Do you know something?¡±

    ¡°To think that there are other survivors of that immense upheaval in Hell. Such an urrence is even more fantastical than the fabled Arabian Nights.¡±

    It was a middle-aged man.

    He sported ink-ck hair and a chiseled face with appearances that were as ordinary as it got. It was the type that would never leave an impression with anybody.

    At the very least, Qin Ye would never have thought of him as an Emissary of Hell.

    ¡°Truly.¡±

    He stood up and walked over to the cab in the corner and opened the bottompartment, revealing a chiller, ¡°What¡¯s your poison?¡±

    ¡°No thank you.¡± Qin Ye felt a little bit out of sorts. The man was far too prolific in his grasp of the englishnguage. No matter how Qin Ye looked at him, the man hardly looked like an Emissary of Hell at all.

    The two liquors melded into each other, creating a faint, golden liquid. He took a whiff of the scent and squinted his eyes in pleasure. Then, he held the ss in front of Qin Ye, ¡°A prime opportunity had fallen out of the sky andnded right at my feet. I¡¯d be an idiot if I were to pass it up. Thus, I headed straight for the City of Salvation, and spent decades establishing this empire to call my own. Friend, what do you think of it?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t ept the cup of wine. Instead, he simply smiled, ¡°It¡¯s quite different from what I¡¯d thought.¡±

    He opened his cigar case, revealing five neatly arranged cigars within with a single blue ribbon wrapped around each one. He picked up a pair of scissors as he continued, ¡°For instance, I love indulging in new experiences. I¡¯ve got to say that the world is only bing more convenient and beautiful in its own rights. And I¡¯ve also grown to admire and respect humans as a species as well. Want one?¡±

    Click¡­ Cao Youdao clipped the cigar in a methodical manner as he continued, ¡°And it¡¯s only by assimting with new things and epting new experiences that we can keep with the times.¡±

    Kachick¡­ The lighter set the tip of the cigar alight with an incendiary glow, and the room was instantly filled with the gentle aroma of cherry blossoms from the cigar. Cao Youdao peered through the thin wisps of greenish smoke with squinted eyes, ¡°Just like me¡­ enjoying this world; dominating this world.¡±

    Qin Ye finally picked up the ss and swirled its contents about. However, this was merely to hide the ripples in his eyes as he continued to probe, ¡°What about the government?¡±

    ¡°How can mere humans possibly understand the world that we live in?¡±

    ¡°Newbie, of all of the people in the world right now, only you and I have the capacity to understand each other. In other words¡­ we are Hell!¡±

 Chapter 49: Forbidden Zone

    <h4>Chapter 49: Forbidden Zone</h4>

    Qin Ye stared into his wine ss. The tension in his heart was now zing at one hundred and twenty percent of its maximum capacity.

    Arthis'' words echoed in his ears right now - All Emissaries of Hell are Yin spirits of Hell who have been kept in check by the natural orders of Hell. And now that the natural order of Hell haspletely fallen apart, these Emissaries of Hell¡­ would be tens or even hundreds of times scarier than the average ghost!

    ¡°If I were to be straightforward and blunt about things, you¡¯re only a Soul Hunter, and I¡¯m only a Netherworld Operative. And I¡¯ve¡­ already seen cultivators in the human world who possess abilities beyond that of a mere Hunter-ss Emissary.¡± Qin Ye picked his words wisely as he exined himself.

    Laughing gleefully, he ced his pale and cold hand lightly on Qin Ye¡¯s arm, ¡°That¡¯s why I say we¡¯re the only two who can truly understand each other in this world.¡±

    He patted Qin Ye¡¯s arm lightly, ¡°The only ones who can see an Emissary of Hell is another Emissary of Hell.¡±

    ¡°We will always be different from the riffraff that you see down there.¡±

    Yet before Qin Ye could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Cao Youdao¡¯s wagging finger, ¡°No. Newbie, you seem to have forgotten one important detail.¡±

    ¡°So long as we nudge these spirits in the right direction, it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before they all turn into malignant spirits or even evil ghosts. How many people do you think the Special Investigations Department has at their disposal? Do you think they¡¯ll be able to cope with such an outbreak?¡±

    His entire body began to tremble with excitement, ¡°All of the Yin spirits from the surrounding regions will swarm this ce. Think about it - when ten billion Yin spirits flood this ce, even if none of them are evil ghosts, this ce would practically be a forbidden zone for the living!¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath.

    Rather, the ones that were truly fearsome were the highly intelligent and rational ones.

    Qin Ye understood every hidden implication in Cao Youdao¡¯s spiel. Although he had been vague and ambiguous with his words, his ambition stood out prominently. Cao Youdao¡­ was trying to reestablish Hell!

    Qin Ye¡¯s silence was perceived by Cao Youdao to be a moment of deliberation. Cao Youdao stood up, tapped gently on the ss walls and continued huskily, ¡°Newbie, I¡¯m not the only one. Currently, every single ghost that has survived the copse of Hell is doing exactly the same thing.¡±

    His finger depressed a button. Immediately, rippling light waves shone and projected the entire map of the Insignia Province overhead.

    ¡°Do you know what these things are?¡± He nced cidly at Qin Ye as he slowly attempted to whittle down Qin Ye¡¯s defenses, ¡°These are called hunting zones.¡±

    ¡°Now that the oppression of Hell¡¯s natural orders no longer exists, the day when the mortal realm shes head on with theherworldly forces in an all-out war is already faintly on the horizon. I¡¯d give it a maximum of ten years¡¯ time. When that timees¡­ where are you going to hide?¡¯

    ¡°While there aren¡¯t many Hunter-ss ghosts that survived Hell¡¯s copse, they can¡¯t be considered few in number either. In fact, I¡¯d even vaguely detected the presence of a Hellguard-ss ghost when I earlier travelled to the Pearl River Delta. Its presence emanated from right underneath the Pearl River itself. Hell has copsed, and there¡¯s no longer any means for you to be promoted and increase the abilities at your disposal. So, where are you going to stand when the war between theherworldly forces and the mortal realm finally breaks out?¡±

    ¡°Or, will you stand on the side of theherworldly forces? That still necessarily means you¡¯ll vite the rules of Hell. After all, Hell existence necessarilyplements the existence of the mortal realm, and assisting theherworldly forces would naturally mean opposing Hell.

    Qin Ye remained silent. Cao Youdao slowly walked towards Qin Ye and continued with a deep, booming voice, ¡°Newbie, do you finally understand? I¡¯m not doing this to satiate my own desires. Rather, the present times simply call for a leader to take the reins and reestablish Hell.¡±

    He gently prodded Qin Ye¡¯s chest with his finger, ¡°And you.¡±

    ¡°Can you, as an Emissary of Hell, tolerate the prospects of those riffraff that we ordinarily trample underfoot rising up and bing the lord of all evil ghosts?¡±

    That said, the keyword here was ¡®almost¡¯.

    Cao Youdaoughed again.

    He was referring to the object hidden in the depths of the three-meter pit behind the stage.

    ¡°That is the exact reason why I say that Hell¡¯s copse left me with a prime opportunity¡­¡± Cao Youdao¡¯s voice was nowced with a touch of escting fanaticism that was quickly suppressed once again, ¡°Of course I¡¯ve got my means.¡±

    Qin Ye gently swirled the contents of his wine ss, ¡°And if¡­ my answer is ¡®no¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because¡­ dead people don¡¯t need names.¡±

    Despite that, the air in the room was so tense it could be cut with a knife.

    Secondster, Qin Ye finally set down his wine ss with a smile on his face, ¡°Then, what reason do I have to refuse?¡±

    He pulled out from his pocket a badge that was exquisitely carved out from wood. The badge emanated faint traces of Cao Youdao¡¯s Yin energy.

    Qin Ye reached out, but discovered to his dismay that he was unable to take hold of the wooden badge.

    ¡°Prove to me that we both stand on the same side of rebuilding Hell? That we both share the same ideals, hmm?¡±

    Cao Youdao continued to smile faintly as he walked to the window and snapped his finger. Suddenly, the tempered ss wall parted, allowing the pounding beats of the music below to rush into the room once more.

    Incidentally, Qin Ye had also already discreetly activated his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in the instant that the ss wall parted.

    He would never stand on the side of such a lunatic.

    He had his own philosophy of life after all. What held true for him in the past continues to hold true to him today. Granted, they had both seen their fair shares of all forms of society and the different faces that human beings were capable of. However, it still remains a fact that Qin Ye had been living among humans all this while - his experiences werepletely different from all of the other Emissaries of Hell!

    Qin Ye was far more human than Cao Youdao was. Qin Ye waszy, and he was hardly motivated to fight for dominion. It was true that he loathed the hypocrisy and avarice of Man. But at the same time, he loved their friendliness and honesty as well.

    Without theplexities of emotions, life would be absolutely meaningless.

    ¡°Gentlemen.¡± Cao Youdao called out modesty, yet the entire dance floor quietened in a span of ten seconds¡¯ time. All of the ghosts looked up towards him with a passionate gaze in their eyes.

    ¡°There¡¯s no weight in verbally pledging his allegiance to us. Thus, I¡¯ve personally prepared a special induction ceremony for such an asion.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to observe the ambitious man with interest. However, his gaze soon froze, and he stood up quietly and stared at the entrance with abject disbelief.

    The soul presented himself with disheveled hair. It was clear that he had put up a struggle just before this, and his soul force fluctuated powerfully. He was restrained with a pair of handcuffs. He sported a square, chiseled face and wore a Chinese tunic suit.

    ¡°Look. As soon as you cleave this man in half, you and I would undoubtedly be standing on the same side.¡± Cao Youdao smiled faintly at Qin Ye, ¡°You should know him, right? After all, the first thing you did upon entering the City of Salvation was to go looking for him. But did you also know that he¡¯s a hateful person as well?¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­

    Qin Ye smiled faintly in response, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

 Chapter 50: Hellâ€™s Emissary vs Hellâ€™s Emissary

    <h4>Chapter 50: Hell''s Emissary vs Hell''s Emissary</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± Qin Ye asked with a faint smile on his face.

    Of course it was simple.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got five minutes to make your decision.¡± Cao Youdao sat down, picked up his wine ss and swirled its contents leisurely.

    Killing Zhang Baoguo was the most reliable means out of this predicament. The potential price to pay for any other answer was simply toorge.

    No¡­ quite apart from whether he disclosed the existence of the shard in his possession, the moment he rejected Cao Youdao¡¯s offer would be the moment that they shed off all pretension of cordiality with each other!

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Cao Youdao sighed begrudgingly at the four-minute mark, ¡°It¡¯s just a mere mortal. I don¡¯t know what kind of rtionship you have with him, and I don¡¯t understand why, given the limitless potential ahead of our partnership, you¡¯d even consider the life of a mere mortal with such hesitance.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t quite understand the references you¡¯re making.¡±

    Cao Youdao stopped smiling, yet he continued to swirl the contents of his ss about, ¡°So?¡±

    The hook ran straight through the wooden badge on the table.

    Simultaneously, a massive tidal wave of Yin Energy engulfed Qin Ye¡¯s body and swept straight towards Zhang Baoguo¡¯s soul.

    By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble must disperse!

    Back on the second floor, Cao Youdao stared at his own hand,pletely stupefied. The soul shackle extended out of the void, piercing straight through his hand and nailing it down onto the table below. Unfortunately, not a trace of blood seeped out, and the only thing that continued to flow was the boundless Yin energy from his body.

    Boom!!!

    All of the Yin spirits trembled in fear and prostrated themselves in the ground. A dark figure emerged from the heart of the roiling Yin energy and shot straight towards Qin Ye, leaving a trail of dark light behind him.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble must disperse!!¡±

    This was the furious pursuit between two Emissaries of Hell.

    Qin Ye fled desperately. He knew just how powerful a Soul Hunter was. If he was caught, death would almost be certain. The only way out at that time would be to activate the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. But even if he did that and got away this time, he would still have revealed his possession of the shard, and there was no doubt that Cao Youdao woulde after him no matter what the cost!

    Since that was the case, was there any possibility that Cao Youdao would spare Qin Ye after learning of the shard in Qin Ye¡¯s possession?

    Therefore, he must never activate the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal unless it was absolutely necessary!

    Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ The lights along the entire corridor were extinguished one after the other. A massive wave of Yin energy followed closely behind, and the cold gleam of the tip of a de was pointed straight at Qin Ye¡¯s back. It was as though Death itself had stepped out of the darkness and was hot on Qin Ye¡¯s tail.

    Hurry up¡­ His eyes were somewhat bloodshot as he hammered hard on the mirrored wall. With a dull buzz, the number ¡®-6¡¯ appeared faintly on the mirror once more. The door shut promptly, and the elevator began to ascend quickly.

    ¡°Naive.¡± Cao Youdao¡¯s voice echoed from all around the lift, ¡°This ce is my territory after all. Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s far too disrespectful to leave as and when you wish, without giving a proper ount?¡±

    That said, even if he were given a chance for a re-do, he would probably still have done the same thing.

    The temperature in the elevator suddenly dipped, and a bone-chilling gale began to blow. If a human were around right now, the bizarre events in the elevator would most certainly cause him to scream at the top of his lungs and break out with profuse, cold sweat.

    It was almost as though a ghost were drawing these marks with a brush, stroke after stroke. What was initially nothing more than an ordinary mirror reflecting his image suddenly transformed into a long, endless corridor that was devoid of any sources of light apart from the miserable jade-coloured glow ofherworldly mes. ck clouds of Yin energy continued to billow menacingly like a growling beast, Just then, a figure appeared in every panel of mirror around, shooting straight towards him with something aimed straight for Qin Ye¡¯s throat.

    In the very next moment, Cao Youdao¡¯s clearly discernible figure appeared in every panel of mirror around. Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he swung his demonhead saber horizontally with wanton disregard as to whether he struck anything or not. Shortly after that, he immediately felt an excruciating pain surge from his shoulder.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even have time to care about the blood that was now flowing profusely from his shoulder. Cao Youdao¡¯s appearance in the mirror was simply incredible - he stood upside down on the ceiling, and he appeared to be hidden in the realm of mirrors.

    ¡°Your future¡­ ispletely non-existent.¡±

    I can¡¯t avoid it¡­

    WHOOOSH! The Yin energy arrived before the sword. Qin Ye¡¯s uniform fluttered wildly, and the void around him even began to crack. Gritting his teeth, Qin Ye no longer hesitated. The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal erupted instantly!

    A wave of violent ck light erupted, causing the entire lift to quake violently for a moment. Secondster, the talismans on the wall settled down, and the blood-red number in the mirrors began to rise once again.

    Ding dong¡­ As the elevator doors opened, Qin Ye hobbled out, gasping for breath. He could finally heave a sigh of relief. All of the mirrors in the elevator-room werepletely shattered in pieces, revealing an ink-ck wall behind them.

    Meanwhile, back at where -6 was located, Cao Youdao stared nkly at his sword, before turning his equally nk gaze into the empty elevator shaft in front of him.

    A mere Operative-ss Emissary¡­ has actually eluded me?

    ¡°Shard of a primordial treasure!¡± His arm wielding the sword trembled vigorously as he growled hoarsely, ¡°This is one of the shards of Hell¡¯s primordial treasures!!¡±

    ¡°No wonder¡­ no wonder he had the guts to enter this ce to begin with. And here I was, wondering how exactly he survived Hell¡¯s copse too! You may have escaped today, but do you really think you¡¯ll be able to escape from the City of Salvation?¡±

    ¡°I will find you, even if I have to go to the ends of the earth!¡±

    ¡°I told you¡­ that it wasn¡¯t wise to mingle with humans for too long¡­¡±

    ¡°The first principle of survival is to learn to turn a blind eye to things around you. How could you have entertained such dangerous thoughts?¡±

    Old Man Liu was no more than a medium.

    Qin Ye chuckled bitterly and examined himself - his clothes were covered in blood, the lighting around was dim, and he even dragged his feet, walking as though he had a limp on his foot. He truly looked no different from the ghosts portrayed in modern horror films...

    1. Both references to animes.

 Chapter 51: Antelope

    <h4>Chapter 51: Antelope</h4>

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to go now¡­¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter where. The further, the better!¡±

    Qin Ye forced himself to stay awake as the car drove further and further away. After some time, the driver couldn¡¯t help but shiver slightly, ¡°What the hell. Why is it so cold today?¡±

    Cao Youdao must be summoning all of the Yin spirits in the entire City of Salvation¡­ Qin Ye clenched his fists. It¡¯s almost 5 a.m. There¡¯s no way he¡¯s going to make another move tonight. But tomorrow¡­ or the day after, the entire city is going to break out into chaos!

    All of the Yin spirits were toting a red-colouredntern. Their feet didn¡¯t move, and yet they continued to drift forward slowly. A single word ¡°Cao¡± was written in nk ink on all of thenterns.

    When the clock struck five, Qin Ye finally shut his eyes.

    After some time, he was awakened to someone shaking him. Wang Chenghao leaned in towards him with concern, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ how are you feeling? Do we need to send you to the hospital?¡±

    After getting a room, Qin Ye copsed onto the bed and slept for eight hours straight.

    He possessed a constitution that was vastly different from that of a normal human being, and he had already recovered substantially from his wounds after just one night¡¯s rest. He leaned against the bed and muttered to himself.

    There was no way that Cao Youdao would give up on the shard of one of Hell¡¯s primordial treasures so easily. If possessing the first shard could allow him to survive Hell¡¯s great copse, then what would the second shard enable him to achieve?

    That¡¯s right. The amount of Yin energy at their disposal meant that there was still no way for them to remotely detect the other¡¯s presence if they were in different parts of the city. After all, a Soul Hunter was only supposed to have charge over a county¡¯s affairs. That said, this still didn¡¯t change the fact that Cao Youdao had seen Qin Ye¡¯s face. Furthermore, Yin spirits¡­ possessed an ethereal body by nature.

    There was simply nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide!

    ¡°Cough cough¡­¡± Just then, a weak and hoarse voice crept out of nowhere. Qin Ye was slightly taken aback, ¡°Arthis? You¡¯re awake?¡±

    Minutester, Arthis'' feeble voice called once again, ¡°Do you know something¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was displeased, ¡°This is your fate.¡±

    Without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, she exined, ¡°When preyed upon by a tiger, the antelope will fight back with its horns¡­ cough cough¡­ but that said, it will most certainly attempt to escape before its fight response kicks in.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s face felt somewhat warm. He didn¡¯t know just when exactly Arthis hade to develop such a profound understanding of him. Yet the fact that Arthis had slowly peeled away theyers of pretension to reveal the deepest contemtions of his heart made him feel incredibly exposed and embarrassed.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t understand why Arthis had changed the topic so abruptly. Regardless, he pursed his lips and shook his head.

    ¡°One hundred and thirty years ago, an incarnate revenant appeared in the mass graves of Southriver. Five Hellguards stationed at the cities nearby were killed in the line of duty. Even an Infernal Judge was hurt. Yet, none of them retreated a single step¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s face grew redder and redder. Arthis'' words were like mes that were gently licking his face, causing his face to burn and boil. Qin Ye shifted his gaze awkwardly and muttered, ¡°It¡¯s not as though I¡¯d wanted to--...¡±

    Each sentence spoken was like a powerful bolt of lighting, cleaving apart thest of Qin Ye¡¯s pretenses and revealing his innermost core.

    ¡°Did I have a choice?!!¡± Qin Ye stood up abruptly. Having the deepest contemtions on his heart exposed bit by bit was akin to having a me burning in his heart. Over time, even the dampest explosives hidden away in the deepest corner of his heart would ignite and explode violently.

    ¡°Run?! What else can I do but run?! Soul Hunters are on apletely different ne of existence than Netherworld Operatives! I¡¯d already almost died back then in the Feni hotel!!¡±

    ¡°Then did you ever ask me of your own volition?!!¡± Arthis boomed at the top of her voice before coughing vigorously. Wang Chenghao blinked his eyes awkwardly and attempted to steal away into a corner. Yet before Wang Chenghao could exim, ¡°I¡¯ll leave¡±, Qin Ye nced over at him with his bloodshot eyes and chopped down on Wang Chenghao¡¯s neck. Wang Chenghao immediately fainted and copsed onto the bed.

    The soul sphere shook vigorously. This was the first time that the two had confronted the shorings of the other in such an intense manner, almost as though they were bullfighting. Qin Ye¡¯s chest rose and fell heavily with his intense breaths. Arthis panted as she continued, ¡°The only questions you¡¯ve ever asked me about is how to resolve a problem. But¡­ but you¡¯ve never once asked me¡­ how exactly you should get stronger at all!!¡±

    ¡°Hell has copsed, and evil ghosts abound in the mortal realm¡­ We¡¯re only a few years away until the massive supernatural upheaval¡­ cough cough¡­ It¡¯s not as though you can¡¯t muddle on through and live merely for your survival¡­ But that said, if you continue like this, you¡¯ll one day encounter an evil ghost so powerful that it will tear you to shreds before you even know it!!¡±

    Dead silence.

    Neither was willing to concede any ground. The thoughts that were hidden in the depths of each of their hearts were now exposed to the other. Under the confluence of intense emotions of shame and fury, none of them spoke a single word to the other for some time.

    Arthis'' voice was feeble, like a candle in the wind, ¡°Reach 200 merit points¡­ cough cough¡­¡±

    ¡°Think for yourself!¡± Arthis gasped, ¡°If you can¡¯t figure a way out, then think of a way to leave the City of Salvation and find a reclusive forest to hide in and struggle for your own survival¡­ I¡¯ll find another host to pledge allegiance to - one that wouldn¡¯t give me so many heart-stopping moments!¡±

    Her voice stopped abruptly.

    The veins on Qin Ye¡¯s head throbbed several times before he reluctantly called out, ¡°Arti?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s easy for you to say.¡± Qin Ye snorted, ¡°One vengeful apparition only gives me 20 merit points. And it¡¯s not as though the gates of Hell are open once more for me to reap and harvest from a gathering of ghosts. I¡¯d be old enough to have a full head of white hair by the time I gather 180 merit points!¡±

    Nobody spoke another word.

    The world was changing. If he chose not to discard his old habits and adapt to the situation, the world would leave him behind in no time.

    When Wang Chenghao came to his senses again, he was greeted by a peculiar image.

    Qin Ye sighed sullenly, ¡°I¡¯m contemting whether I¡¯m going to take responsibility for you or not.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel like talking.¡±

    He touched his own buttocks quickly to make sure everything was fine before finally feeling reassured once more.

    1. This is the reference to the famous statue called the thinker.

 Chapter 52: Hellâ€™s Records

    <h4>Chapter 52: Hell''s Records</h4>

    The room was silent. Time slowly trickled by. It was now 2.30 p.m.

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows as he continued to brood over the situation silently. Arthis hadn¡¯t minced her words at all, and his face still felt somewhat as though it was on fire.

    ¡°Just wait till I¡¯m done with Cao Youdao. If I don¡¯t hang you up and flog you by then, I¡¯ll write my name backwards!!¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Cao Youdao?¡± Wang Chenghao asked cautiously. Qin Ye shot a murderous gaze at Wang Chenghao, causing him to cower in fear just like a quail.

    Qin Ye shot several nces at him as the fiery rage in his heart continued to ze. My whole body feels like it¡¯s immting with shame¡­ shouldn¡¯t I look for an appropriate outlet for my venttion?

    Incidentally, why does this man named Wang have a stature that looks so fit for purpose¡­

    ¡°... Brother Qin¡­ why are you cracking your knuckles? Why are you standing up¡­ have a seat¡­ we can talk things through¡­¡±

    After taking several more deep breaths, Qin Ye suppressed the swelling desire to ventte the vexation in his heart and sat down once more. Then, gnashing his teeth, he exined, ¡°Cao Youdao¡­ is a son of a bitch that deserves to die by a thousand cuts!!¡±

    He lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag. The smoke lingered in the air, while Qin Ye¡¯s mind continued to spin rapidly.

    It was useless being mad at his weaknesses. That was a sign ofck of self-control. After all, weaknesses could only be ovee by change, not by escape.

    ¡°Underestimating me? I¡¯ll make a meat patty out of you one day!¡± The tip of the cigarette butt was almostpletely ttened by Qin Ye¡¯s gritted teeth. Despite that, Qin Ye¡¯s mind continued to analyze all the possible moves avable to him to deal with the escting situation tonight.

    Arthis didn¡¯t say that things were at a dead end. This means that there must be a possible solution!

    But¡­ what¡¯s the solution?

    He tapped his forehead with his finger and casually rapped on the table randomly with his other hand. To follow Arthis¡¯ train of thought, he would first have to look at the matter from a whole new perspective.

    In other words, he would have to change his perspective from that of survival¡­ to that of killing Cao Youdao!

    ¡°The first condition for killing Cao Youdao is this - I have to first attain the rank of Soul Hunter.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ perhaps merely attaining the rank of Soul Hunter wouldn¡¯t be enough either. After all, Cao Youdao has been in charge of the City of Salvation for thest hundred years. How many Yin spirits would he have under his charge? Thousands? Ten thousands? Or perhaps¡­ hundreds of thousands?¡±

    ¡°As long as they stood guard over Cao Youdao, nobody would be able to even draw close to him.¡±

    He continued to think aloud as he drew in the air using a wisp of condensed Yin energy, ¡°The second condition is¡­ an opportunity.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to be able to get close to him while he¡¯s alone in the devil¡¯s nest!¡±

    The wisps of Yin energy congealed into clear, distinct words. Right now, the following words were written on the surface of the table in front of him - City-wide search, opportunity, strength. Then, Qin Ye suddenly paused as soon as he finished speaking.

    He gazed nkly at the few words written on the table. Secondster, a radiant flush filled his face as he stood up once more. His chest heaved and fell with excitement.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what it was¡­¡± He drew a deep breath and continued with a bright gleam in the depths of his eyes, ¡°Counterintuitive¡­ it¡¯s so counterintuitive! The opportunity¡­ has been right in front of us the whole time!¡±

    Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t take it anymore, ¡°Brother Qin, what opportunity are you talking about? I¡¯ve roughly caught on to the situation. There¡¯s a very powerful man looking for you, isn¡¯t there? And he must have a hugemand of Yin spirits under him, doesn¡¯t he?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. A thread of thought shed through his mind. Yet just as he thought he¡¯d grasped tightly onto this fleeting notion, it eluded him again.

    Counterintuitive.... If Cao Youdao were going to look for me, he would have tob through the entire City of Salvation! How many Yin spirits would he need for that?

    And if he mobilized all of the Yin spirits at his disposal for this¡­ how many Yin spirits would remain behind to guard hisir?

    ¡°If¡­ if I manage to attain the Soul Hunter rank during this period of time¡­¡± His finger paused, and his eye glinted.

    Danger was synonymous with opportunity. The moment that Cao Youdao mobilized all of his Yin spirits was also the very moment that his defenses were the weakest! Having exchanged blows with Qin Ye before, Cao Youdao was naturally confident of dealing with and disposing of Qin Ye if he came knocking on the door!

    However, that was only if the Operative-ss Qin Ye came knocking on his door.

    But¡­ what if the person who came knocking was a Hunter-ss Qin Ye?

    Qin Ye clenched his fights tightly. He¡¯de full circle back to the crux of the problem. He needed another 180 merit points to attain the Soul Hunter rank. Vengeful apparitions were umon, to say the least. He would need approximately half a year to be able to finally gather all of these points.

    ¡°No¡­¡± He stared at the ceiling with widened eyes before quickly pulling out his soul sphere and barking at it, ¡°You¡¯d thought of this right from the start, haven''t you?!¡±

    No response.

    ¡°Stop ying dead!¡± Qin Ye stashed the soul sphere clumsily as he muttered in a low voice, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I would need half a year at any other time. But, tonight¡­ the Yin spirits in the entire city are going to be moving in full force! There isn¡¯t going to be ack of vengeful apparitions for my culling at all!¡±

    ¡°As long as I can pluck up the courage¡­ tonight¡­ is most certainly the prime opportunity to break through to the Soul Hunter level!¡±

    ¡°Cough cough¡­¡± Arthis finally spoke up again with a feeble voice, ¡°You¡¯re finally showing a small measure of grit that all of Hell¡¯s Emissaries should possess. However¡­ cough cough¡­ do you think that Cao Youdao wouldn¡¯t have considered the possibility that you would treat tonight as the prime opportunity to harvest merit points for your promotion?¡±

    Qin Ye paused momentarily and began to furrow his brows once more.

    That¡¯s right¡­ Cao Youdao is also an Emissary of Hell. He would also have contemted the possibility that mobilizing all of his Yin spirits at once would be tantamount to opening his fields for my harvest.

    ¡°Newbie¡­¡± Arthis'' voice had softened substantially, ¡°You¡¯re truly¡­ too new on the job¡­ You¡¯re so new that I can¡¯t even teach you anything without spoon feeding you¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions darkened. I¡¯ve already asked you in such a sincere manner earlier, so can¡¯t you just have mercy on me and tell me nicely for once?

    I know I¡¯m new on the job. Shouldn¡¯t you give me a period of time to adjust and fit in, then?

    Arthis was naturally unaware of the thoughts on Qin Ye¡¯s heart. After several more seconds of gasping for air, she finally continued, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t Cao Youdao ever contemte such a possibility? Rather, why do you think he isn¡¯t afraid of the possibility that you would umte more merit points? You¡¯ve failed to consider one crucial factor¡­¡±

    ¡°Cough cough¡­ and that is¡­ if Cao Youdao has a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his possession, the both of you would already be¡­ cough cough cough¡­ able to detect each other¡¯s presence by now¡­¡±

    ¡°But why can¡¯t he see you?¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ did he only discover your presence incidentally through your meeting with Zhang Baoguo?¡±

    Boom!

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind exploded with rity. He drew a deep breath and eximed with disbelief, ¡°Then that item in the pit wasn¡¯t a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Arthis cut to the chase, ¡°The treasures of Hell aren¡¯t limited to the three primordial treasures¡­ cough cough¡­ there are naturally other treasures that have also been used by Yama-ss entities in Hell for a protracted period of time, causing them to be terrifying existences themselves as well¡­¡±

    ¡°Gathering from the earlier conversations you¡¯ve had with Cao Youdao, if my guess isn¡¯t wrong¡­ the treasure in the pit isn¡¯t a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal at all. Rather, it is the fabled¡­ cough cough¡­ Hell¡¯s Records!¡±

    ¡°It records the entire roster of all Emissaries of Hell, including their rank, station and merit points! As long as they attain the requisite amount of merit points and enter the appropriate entry into the records itself¡­ they would automatically be promoted to the next rank!¡±

    ¡°Therefore¡­ cough cough¡­ in his eyes, he¡¯s the only one who can be promoted, regardless of the number of vengeful apparitions you y! It¡¯s also for this reason that he dares to throw caution to the wind and send the entire horde of Yin spiritsbing through the city in search for you. Humans can¡¯t see him¡­ and that means that you are the only person who could possibly stand in his way. He firmly believes that his position right now is as safe and secure as Mount Tai¡­ Yet little did he know that hiscency is going to be the prime opportunity for you to cause his downfall!¡±

    Hell¡¯s Records!

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze burned with passion. He made a pulling action from his chest, and his proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell immediately emerged, ¡°In other words¡­ he¡¯d never dreamt of the possibility that I could be a genuine Emissary of Hell?¡±

    ¡°And all this while, he¡¯d thought that I was just like him, a survivor of Hell¡¯s great copse only by virtue of our possession of one of Hell¡¯s treasures. In other words, he¡¯s still clueless about the fact that I hold the veryst proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell, and that I can automatically be promoted!¡±

    Arthis'' voice grew faint as a candle in the wind once more, ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by his pretension of confidence¡­ cough cough¡­ He¡¯s nothing more than a counterfeit! All of the names written on Hell¡¯s Records would already have annihted when Ksitigarbha gained enlightenment. The names of Netherworld Operatives aren¡¯t written on Hell¡¯s Records. Only those who are of the rank of Soul Hunter and above qualifies to have their names recorded. In other words, the entire Hell¡¯s Records must be empty right now. Only you¡­ have the right to put your name into the book¡­¡±

    ¡°And he¡­ he¡¯s not an Emissary of Hell. He¡¯s merely an ambitious, evil ghost!¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is!

    It was as though the door to these perplexities in Qin Ye¡¯s mind was finally opened wide!

    I finally understand¡­ there¡¯s a way out¡­ there¡¯s truly a way out of this madness!

    ¡°I understand.¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes and drew a deep breath, ¡°We¡¯ve dealt with the issues of opportunity and strength, and that leaves us with one final issue to address.¡±

    ¡°Time!¡±

    ¡°As soon as he discovers my presence, he¡¯ll have ample opportunities to recall all of his Yin spirits. Even if I sessfully attain the rank of Soul Hunter, I¡¯ll still be unable to deal with thousands and thousands of Yin spirit on end. Therefore, I¡¯ll need a helper to restrain them. This helper must be strong enough to put pressure on him, and have sufficient depths of resources to buy me enough time to attain my Soul Hunter Rank. Having regard to these qualities¡­ I can only think of one entity that would qualify¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t take the suspense any longer, and he blinked his eye at Qin Ye, ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and dered, ¡°Special! Investigations! Department!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Wang Chenghao nearly jumped out of his seat, ¡°Brother Qin! H-have you gone mad?! G-given our identities, they would most certainly experiment on us if given the opportunity to do so!¡±

    ¡°Wrong.¡± Qin Ye stared at the writings on the table with aplicated gaze in his eyes. Sometimes, it is only when a person casts aside the oft-trodden path that he would discover new possibilities of reaching his goals.

    In this case, it was a dangerous, rickety bridge.

    Yet even though it was dangerous, it represented the only viable method to cross the vast chasm right now.

    ¡°All signs have been pointing to this moment.¡± Qin Ye eased his breath and exined the situation, ¡°Tonight, as soon as Cao Youdao mobilizes his forces amounting to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits in order tob through the entire City of Salvation¡­ there is bound to be an equal or even greater reaction force from the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate the Special Investigations Department. I¡¯d initially thought that I¡¯d seen everything that they¡¯re capable of. Yet the more I learn of them, the more I¡¯m forced to acknowledge the sheer depths of their abilities. Tonight, we¡¯re not going to ask them for help. Rather, they will help us out regardless of whether we ask them or not!¡±

    ¡°After all, Yin and Yang are naturally opposing forces. When it was in existence, Hell was the intermediary holding these two forces in harmony. But now¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I imagine that even Cao Youdao must be thinking of using tonight as an opportunity to measure up the depths of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s resources. He¡¯d be killing two birds with one stone after all!¡±

    Wang Chenghao had got the gist of it all, ¡°Are you saying that tonight, the Special Investigations Department, and that man called Cao Youdao, are going to go head-to-head with each other? And in so doing, the Special Investigations Department is going to be our greatest ally?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. This is the first time¡­ The City of Salvation is going to be the first frontier for the direct confrontation between theherworldly forces and the mortal realm.

    And the fabric of coexistence between man and ghost might very well be ripped asunder tonight!

    What¡¯s the government going to do in future?

    The impact of Cao Youdao¡¯s actions were going to be far more devastating than the earlier incident in Clear Creek County! The incident in Clear Creek County might have been easily exined as a simple supernatural incident. But the remnant ghosts who survived Hell¡¯s copse in the City of Salvation are about to make a public deration of sovereignty to the entire mortal realm!

    Who could resist them?

    Who could go on living like that?

    In the wake of this incident¡­ No. In fact, as soon as the incident breaks out tonight, all manpower avable to the Special Investigations Department in the Insignia Province and other surrounding cities would immediately flock to the City of Salvation right away. And I¡¯m afraid that there might even be Hellguard-ss inspectors around!

    But now was hardly the time to consider the aftermath.

    ¡°Cao Youdao¡­ you¡¯ve be far too conceited just because humans can¡¯t see you¡­¡± Qin Ye stood by the window and gazed into the gray skies as he sneered, ¡°Well, tonight, I¡¯m going to give you a massive gift¡­¡±

    ¡°A gift you¡¯ll never forget¡­¡±

 Chapter 53: Night of a Thousand Ghosts (1)

    <h4>Chapter 53: Night of a Thousand Ghosts (1)</h4>

    Wang Chenghao had a bad feeling about it. He gulped nervously, ¡°This matter has blown well out of proportions. Shouldn¡¯t we¡­ flee instead?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°There¡¯s nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide.¡±

    ¡°If I were Cao Youdao, the first thing I would¡¯ve done with the time remainingst night was to seal off all entrances and exits to the City of Salvation. If we dare to even take a step out of the city right now, he would immediately be alerted, appear right before our eyes and kill us. Right now, with the existence of the Special Investigations Department, the most dangerous ce has truly be the safest ce. Even though Cao Youdao has been silently building his strength in the City of Salvation for thest hundred years, we can¡¯t forget that mankind¡­ has been here for thousands of years!¡±

    ¡°If not for the existence of the Special Investigations Department, Cao Youdao would have wreaked havoc across all of the City of Salvation by now!¡±

    Wang Chenghao nodded his head and continued to probe apprehensively, ¡°Then, Brother Qin, what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°We wait.¡± Qin Ye licked his lips and sat down, ¡°I eagerly await the opening of this unprecedented war between theherworldly forces and the mortal realm¡­ And the moment their confrontation begins is naturally also the moment our opportunity reveals itself.¡±

    Time passed by quickly. Winter nights always came earlier. By 6 p.m., the sun hadpletely set, leaving the lights from the multitude of households and the constetions in the sky gently illuminating the city itself.

    At 6 p.m., a clear, crisp voice echoed out from every corner of the city:-

    ¡°Attention all citizens. Please note that there is a city-wide curfew in ce with immediate effect. Citizens who have not returned home, and are unable to return home by 7 p.m. are to look for alternative lodging nearby.¡±

    ¡°Please ensure that you do not stay in the city alone. Please do not leave the house alone. Furthermore, please ensure not to store antiques, mirrors or other simr items¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stood at the window, watching the traffic on the streets dwindle minute after minute. Finally, the entire streets were dead silent.

    It was not the usual, gentle dwindling of the hustle and bustle of the streets. Rather, this was an abrupt cessation of activity that followed the public broadcast of the announcement.

    It was as though even the winds had stopped.

    The birds of the fields and the wild beasts have also returned to their nests andirs.

    The only thing that remained on the streets of the entire City of Salvation were the asional vehicle that sped by. Nature was practicallypletely silent, interrupted only by the 1% of human activity that remained. The atmosphere was so stifling and silent that it bordered on bing chilling and horrific.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered slightly, and he couldn¡¯t help but tense up his fingers that were gripping onto the window frames right now. A gentle night breeze swept past, tousling the bangs that were dangling over his forehead. Yet, in just less than ten seconds, the breeze began to grow stronger and stronger! Within moments, the gentle breeze had transformed into a powerful gale so strong that it sent the curtains in the room fluttering horizontally above the ground! It was almost as though a hell rift had opened up and was spitting out an endlesshergale.

    It has begun¡­

    ¡°ssmate Wang.¡± He gazed into the dark clouds that were brewing on the horizon as he instructed, ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere tonight. If anyone knocks on the door, don¡¯t open it.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the ground suddenly shifted and became blurry. In the very next moment, innumerable strands of greenish-white Yin energy began to rise up from every corner of the City of Salvation.

    The entire downtown district of the City of Salvation covered a full 130 square kilometers. Yet despite the sheer magnitude of the city, Yin energy continued to pour out of every single crevice in the city, from the skyscrapers to the streets to the basements alike! It was as though a tidal wave were building up from the still waters below!

    The phenomenon grewrger and more menacing. Then, almost ten minutester, a sight unfolded that remained invisible only to the eyes of mere mortals. Yet Qin Ye could see everything. The entire City of Salvation¡­ was covered with a greenish-white roiling fog, almost akin to a sea of Yin energy!

    And in the midst of these fog stood innumerable illusory figures that had maintained their appearances just before their deaths. Some were employees wearing suits, some were civil servants carrying briefcases, and some were students with backpacks¡­ All of them had different appearances. Yet the one thing that they all had inmon was the fact that they were all holding antern in their hands.

    It was a redntern with the stark contrast of ck letterings.

    It was the word ¡°Cao.¡±

    They were dense and endless, akin to the blood red stars that littered the skies in a gloomy night! And, like a massive tidal wave, the Yin spirits rushed madly in all directions!

    These were the Yin spirits under Cao Youdao¡¯s direct control!

    The spirits and souls that had perished in the entire City of Salvation over thest hundred years had just been summoned and called upon tob through the entire city itself!

    ¡°Arti, I recall that you¡¯re able to conceal my Yin energy with the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, can¡¯t you?¡± Qin Ye asked softly.

    ¡°Yes¡­ cough cough¡­ More urately speaking, it would be to disguise, not conceal. Just like how I¡¯d once transformed the quality of your Yin energy and made you appear akin to an Anitya Hellguard of the ck and White¡­ haa--...¡± Arthis spoke slowly, and there were parts where her voice was barely even audible, ¡°Every Emissary of Hell has a distinct Yin energy profile¡­ cough cough¡­ If not for the shard¡¯s ability to disguise your energy, your energy signature would already have been captured and recorded by the mortal realm¡­ Anyhow, don¡¯t call me again¡­ I don¡¯t have enough Yin energy to speak with you anymore¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A ck light shone from Qin Ye¡¯s chest as a thickyer of Yin energy promptly enshrouded his body, taking the ce of where his own Yin energy would otherwise have been.

    He didn¡¯t make a move immediately. Just like a seasoned hunter, he continued to bide for his time and wait for the best opportunity to strike.

    ¡°I¡¯ve lived for decades¡­ yet this is the first time I¡¯ve been looked down upon with such disdain¡­¡±

    ¡°This is uneptable, even if from a stupid soul sphere!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The Yin energy continued to spread across every corner of the City of Salvation. Yin spirit after Yin spirit continued to drift about and pervaded every single neighbourhood in the area.

    Lin Ming was a second-year high school student who lives on the thirteenth floor of Block 3, Feng Run Neighbourhood near Insignia University. The street he lived on was already considered part of the suburbs. When night fell, he became the only person walking along the side of the street, under the shade of the ominous shadows cast from the trees and houses on both sides of the road. With the dim yellow illumination of the street lights, he felt as though something was following and creeping up from behind him all the time.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± He finally returned to his neighbourhood by 6.30 p.m. Cursing the curfew under his breath, he pressed the button to call on the elevator.

    Krrrkk¡­ The elevator doors closed. For some strange reason, he felt as though tonight was a particrly cold and chilly night.

    And it was quite different from the cold of winter. Rather, it was.... Something almost inexplicable, as though his heart had been frozen solid by something creeping through his body.

    The elevator slowly began to ascend. He was just about to whip out his phone to check on thetest news when suddenly, the elevator stopped.

    Second floor.

    Lin Ming raised his eyebrows curiously, but saw nobody around. So he simply continued to use his phone.

    However, he didn¡¯t pay any attention to the fact that the lift had stopped on the second floor for exactly ten seconds.

    And during this time, the elevator¡¯s doors never attempted to close a single time.

    Ten secondster, the doors closed once more, and the elevator ascended again. Yet, before Lin Ming had read a few lines of words on the news article, the elevator¡­ stopped once again.

    Third floor.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡± He looked at the open elevator doors in shock - Someone¡¯s got a problem? Why did they press the second and third floor buttons? Are they crazy?

    ¡°Retard.¡± Not knowing who to direct his anger to, he furrowed his brows and mashed on the ¡®close¡¯ button on the elevator panel. Unfortunately, it appeared unresponsive.

    ¡°Bloody hell! Have our property maintenance fees all been flushed down the toilet bowl?! Why can¡¯t they just send someone down to repair this rotten piece-of-shit elevator?!¡± He smashed hard on the button several times. Ten secondster, with the same grinding sound, the elevator doors shut once more.

    ¡°Tsk¡­¡± As soon as the door shut, he suddenly shivered uncontrobly, ¡°It¡¯s too cold. I didn¡¯t even feel so cold on the roads earlier. How am I going to make it through winter at this rate?¡±

    Krrrkk¡­ The elevator doors shut, and the elevator ascended for a second time.

    Three secondster, the elevator stopped for the second time.

    Fourth floor.

    Lin Ming no longer cursed and swore.

    He blinked his eyes and cautiously stuck his head out onto the corridor outside to take a peek at his surroundings.

    Dead silence.

    Apart from the bright, white light illuminating the corridor, nothing else noteworthy could be seen in his surroundings.

    He looked at the buttons outside the elevator once more. There were no traces of anyone messing with them at all.

    Gulp¡­ He swallowed his saliva nervously and rushed right back into the elevator.

    His heart began to beat quicker and quicker.

    Krrrkk¡­ The elevator doors shut for the third time.

    The elevator also began to ascend for the third time.

    And three secondster, it stopped for the third time!

    Bzzt! Lin Ming felt his scalp buzzing!

    Something¡¯s not right¡­ something¡¯s not right! There¡¯s most definitely a problem here!

    The buttons on the panel aren¡¯t lit up at all, so why is it still stopping on every single floor?!

    It¡¯s almost¡­ it¡¯s almost as though¡­ something invisible was pressing every single button, stopping the elevator on every single floor.

    A quiet elevator and a silent corridor outside reveal no traces of any living person. Yet it was precisely the solitude of his surroundings that turned the silence into a maddeningly oppressive force. Lin Ming¡¯s lips slowly began to dry up.

    He furiously rushed to the elevator and mashed on the button to the thirteenth floor once more. However, just like before, the elevator refused to budge!

    Ten seconds.

    A third instance of a ten-second pause.

    He stared at the door with widened eyes, ascertaining there was not a single person who entered the elevator. Despite that, he still got the niggling feeling that something unseen had been entering the elevator on every floor!

    It was a hair-raising feeling that sent shivers down his spine.

    Perhaps¡­ I¡¯m not the only person in the lift right now¡­ A terrifying notion crossed Lin Ming¡¯s mind for the first time. He nced about at the mirrors in the elevator, yet the reflections of his own image gave him the feeling as though there were several strangers just staring right back at him.

    He backed himself into a corner and trembled as he nced around nervously. However, he couldn¡¯t see any other person in the lift with him.

    Krrrkk¡­ The elevator began to move for the fourth time, and then stopped for the fourth time again¡­ The fifth floor, the sixth floor, and even on the seventh floor, the elevator continued to stop on its own and open the door!

    T-t-t-t-t-t¡­ Lin Ming¡¯s teeth chattered as he wrapped his arms around himself protectively.

    He didn¡¯t dare to go out.

    It was deathly silent outside. He didn¡¯t want to walk down the corridor at all! He was afraid. He needed light, and the corridors were only dimly lit with ominously yellowing lights. He was afraid of the unknown - afraid of whether he would see the stairs as soon as he turned the corner in the corridor, or¡­ see a whimpering little girl with her back faced to him.

    It was only the bright lights in the elevator that gave him a sense of assurance and security.

    Just then, the lights above him flickered twice. Pop! The lights had fizzled out.

    He almost screamed. The fear that had been brewing in his heart all this while was finally ready to explode! But in the very next second, he covered his mouth in horror.

    When the fear experienced by a person exceeds a particr tipping point, he would find himselfpletely unable to make a single peep of sound.

    With trembling hands, he continued to cover his lips and fumble for his cell phone. The elevator was now engulfed with darkness akin to a gloomy morgue. The teenager¡¯s suppressed sobs and whimpers reverberated coldly across the metallic corners of the elevator. His thumb was trembling so much that he could barely unlock his phone. And when he finally did, the first thing he noticed was the time.

    6.38 p.m.

    The illumination from the phone¡¯s screen was feeble at best, so he immediately looked to activate the shlight function on his phone. Light. He needed light! If he remained in the darkness like this, he would go mad in no time!

    However, just as he was about to activate the shlight on his phone, he suddenly froze altogether.

    T-t-t-t-t-t¡­. His teeth chattered uncontrobly and his lips trembled as though he was suffering from a stroke. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat. Tears streamed down his eyes, and he opened his mouth wide, as though he had a multitude of words to say. Yet, he was unable to enunciate a single word.

    Under the dim glow of the phone.

    Where light and darkness intersected.

    Tens of pale white faces were staring straight at his cell phone.

    And only their faces could be seen.

    Their bodies werepletely obscured by the darkness. Somewhere, and at some time, the elevator had somehow be overcrowded.

    ¡°AHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±

    His miserable scream echoed through the night sky. However, he was not the only one. Simultaneously, an unknown number of people and families experienced a simrly unfathomable and inexplicable sight as well!

    The city¡¯s Second People¡¯s Hospital. Things were different during the curfew. The main entrance was tightly shut at night, disallowing visitations altogether. The nurse¡¯s job during this period of time was simply to look after the remaining patients in the hospital.

    ¡°Hey, how¡¯s your new intern, 024?¡± The two nurses on duty sat at their desk and made small talk with each other. The short-haired nurse was ying games on herputer as she squinted and smiled at the other nurse, ¡°He¡¯s tall and handsome, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    The other nurse with shoulder-length hair was ying Hearthstone on her iPad. Without lifting her eyes from the screen, she responded, ¡°Being tall andnky doesn¡¯t help much does it? What¡¯s more important is that he¡¯s diligent and he gets things done. If given a choice, would you pick between good-looking or diligent--... What the hell? Another control card?! Didn¡¯t he already y two of those earlier?! These light decks are just disgusting!¡±

    Just as she was about to quit the game in a fit of anger, her hand suddenly froze.

    And she wasn¡¯t the only one. The other nurse also ceased whatever she was doing and recoiled in shock.

    Both nurses exchanged nces in horror. Secondster, the Hearthstone nurse muttered with some measure of hesitation, ¡°Hey, did you hear something?¡±

    ¡°Did... something just pass by earlier?¡±

 Chapter 54: Night of a Thousand Ghosts (2)

    <h4>Chapter 54: Night of a Thousand Ghosts (2)</h4>

    Nobody responded.

    Just a little while ago, they had vaguely heard¡­ the sound of a walking stick tapping gently on the floor. It was a light, soft sound, yet it was evident that the sound was slowly approaching them.

    They were at the inpatient unit.

    As nurses who dealt with medical situations on a daily basis, death and debilitation was not something foreign to them. At the very least, it wouldn¡¯t be urate to call them cowards. That said, there was a city-wide curfew in ce right now. The fact that they heard the tapping sounds of a walking stick approaching them in an otherwise empty duty room made their hair stand on end.

    ¡°Shall we go take a look?¡± The short-haired nurse picked up her shlight and asked.

    The nurse with shoulder-length hair nodded her head and set down her iPad to respond to duty¡¯s call. Just as the two of them stood up, their eyes immediately widened so much that they almost fell out of their sockets.

    The door to their duty room was slightly ajar, leaving a crack that they could still look through. Just a moment ago, they had clearly seen the blurred silhouette of a person walking past their door.

    Tuk¡­ tuk¡­ The sound of the walking stick was iparably clear in the dead of the night. However, none of them heard the sound of any footsteps!

    No¡­ in fact, they didn¡¯t even hear any traces of sound normally made by humans!

    No breathing, no coughing and no rustling of clothes. The only sound that could be heard was the crisp, eerie thuds of the walking stick.

    Bzzt¡­ Just then, the lights in the room suddenly flickered out.

    ¡°The power got cut?¡± The short-haired nurse drew a deep breath. For some strange reason, her heart palpitated anxiously, almost as though a still, small voice were cautioning her - Leave now¡­ leave this ce right now!

    Gulp¡­ She swallowed her saliva anxiously. Before she could continue, the nurse with the shoulder-length hair responded, ¡°The lights must have spoilt. Look, theputer¡¯s still working fine.¡±

    The short-haired nurse nced to the side. Indeed, images were still being disyed on the monitor as per normal. Most hospitals had an borate surveince system within the duty room so that they could monitor any unexpected situations.

    Thus, they could tell from the monitor that all of the lights in the corridors were fine. Yet, for some strange reason, it was only the lights on the first floor that appeared to have malfunctioned.

    ¡°That gave me a scare¡­¡± The short-haired nurse heaved a sigh of relief and shifted her gaze away. Yet, merely one secondter, she blinked vacantly and did a double take.

    Right there, in the ck and white images of the monitors, the door on the second floor had just¡­ opened silently.

    It was room 201 - the first room on the second floor.

    Something didn¡¯t feel right about this. She furrowed her brows and dragged the nurse with the shoulder-length hair to the front of the monitor to take a closer look at the situation.

    Then, at the very next moment¡­ the second door¡­ opened.

    Following that, the third, fourth, fifth¡­ all of the wards on the second floor were slowly and silently being opened one by one! It was almost as though an invisible person was pushing open these doors in turn!

    ¡°Ahh!!¡± The short-haired nurse gasped. She finally understood what was wrong about this entire situation.

    ¡°X-Xiao Liu¡­¡± Her voice trembled, ¡°Do you remember¡­ two years ago, a patient gave feedback, saying that there were times when the doors weren¡¯t closed properly, so when the wind blew, the doors would m shut and give the patients a scare¡­¡±

    Nurse Xiao Liu nodded her head in bewilderment, ¡°I do recall something like that.¡±

    The short-haired nurse leaned closer to her and continued with a voice so shaky she was struggling to string a sentence together properly, ¡°Then¡­ do you remember¡­ that after that¡­ the president of the hospital changed all of the door mechanisms and equipped them with a silent locking system?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I recall that it happened when I first got posted here¡­¡± Nurse Xiao Liu¡¯s voice trailed off before she finished her sentence, and the two nurses nced into each other¡¯s eyes with utter horror.

    That¡¯s right. Doors with a silent locking system could never be opened or closed by the wind.

    And, having used these doors over thest two years, they knew of this fact better than anybody else.

    These doors¡­ could only be opened by human hands!

    If that¡¯s the case¡­ then why did the doors on the second floor suddenly open by themselves?

    As though a chilling wind had just swept through the room, the two nurses immediately shuddered uncontrobly. Even though they weren¡¯t cowards, the hospital was still one of the prime locations where rumours of bizarre, supernatural incidents abounded.

    Ever since they embarked on the path of bing a nurse, they had heard so much of such horror stories from their seniors in school and their senior nurses at work that they had be almost unfazed by them any longer. That said, this was not because they had grown more courageous. Rather, it was simply because¡­ they had grown jaded and numb to such stories.

    After all, no matter how scary these stories were, they would gradually find them less and less scary if they never personally encountered such bizarre incidents to begin with.

    Yet, who would¡¯ve known they would personally encounter such inexplicable incidents tonight?!

    Someone¡¯s on the second floor¡­

    Some unknown entity¡­ had just opened the doors silently¡­

    It was almost as though a spirit or soul of sorts were inspecting the wards! Apart from the two nurses, perhaps there were other entities on duty in the hospital as well!

    T-t-t-t-t¡­ Their teeth started chattering uncontrobly. Waves after waves of goosebumps crept over and about their skin. The short-haired nurse continued with a trembling voice, ¡°S-s-should we still get the shlight?¡±

    ¡°Get it!!¡± Xiao Liu gritted her teeth as she barked back, ¡°If we don¡¯t get it¡­ we might scare ourselves to death tonight!¡±

    She needed light. Urgently.

    The two nurses drew a deep breath, turned around and slowly made their way towards the door of their room. Yet before they made it halfway across the room, both nurses froze in their steps.

    Tuk¡­ tuk¡­ The gentle taps of the walking stick hadn¡¯t departed. Instead, it had just arrived right in front of the door. And¡­ it had entered the room!

    Nobody was there.

    No shadow.

    No breath.

    In the horrific darkness of the night, the eerie reverberations of the walking stick continued to strike their hearts with fear. Step by step, the sound finally made its way right in front of them!

    The two nurses were clinging tightly to each other, unable to even mutter a single word. They could sense that¡­ something was right here. Something was standing right in front of them and staring straight at them right now!

    ¡°Haa¡­ ahhh¡­.¡± Streams of tears began to flow from Nurse Xiao Liu¡¯s eyes. There¡¯s a ghost. There¡¯s really a ghost¡­ Then, just as she was fervently holding back her heart-rending scream, her mind suddenly went numb.

    Someone had just picked up her hair from behind, and was gentlybing through it.

    That person¡¯s icy breath was gently tickling her neck.

    And the short-haired nurse in front of her still had both of her arms tightly wrapped around her own waist.

    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    ¡°Report! A spike in Yin energy readings has been detected at the city¡¯s Second People¡¯s Hospital! Readings are estimated to be above 200 Yin!¡±

    ¡°Sir! A spike in Yin energy readings has been detected at six neighbourhoods along Southgreen Avenue! Total energy readings are estimated to be above 3,000 Yin!¡±

    ¡°S-sir! A spike in Yin energy readings has been detected at themercial street along the Dragonhorse Neighbourhood! Energy readings are approaching 10,000 Yin!¡±

    ¡°Report¡­¡±

    Underneath the city hall.

    It was an incredibly modern ce. The ceiling and floor were all constructed out of alloys. An oddly shaped three-meter tall cylindrical-shaped supeputer stood in the center of the room. Streams of red, yellow and blue light could be seen flowing through the fiber optic cables lying between the alloy materials as they flowed out towards the surroundingputers positioned in a ring around the supeputer.

    The room was filled with people wearing white coats.The walls were covered with screens which presently disyed the map of the City of Salvation.

    As the supeputer continued to crunch numbers and process the influx of information, the originally green zones in the city which represented safe zones had slowly faded away. Instead, the suburbs of the City of Salvation had turned yellow, while the center of the city was covered in a shocking red hue, almost as though it had be drenched in crimson blood!

    ¡°Sir, a total of twenty cultivators from the Special Investigations Department stationed at five locations within the Peace Neighbourhood have taken the initiative to engage with the enemy forces! The supeputer, Styx, has determined that they¡¯ll be overwhelmed by the enemy soon. Please send reinforcements!¡±

    ¡°Sir, a total of thirteen practitioners from the Special Investigations Department stationed at three parts of the Dragonhorse Neighbourhood are struggling against the enemy! The Dragonhorse Neighbourhood is located at the heart of the city, and the Yin energy readings there exceed 9,300 Yin! They need urgent backup right now!¡±

    rms were ring from every corner of the room, while five men stood in front of the main screen in the center of the room.

    The mayor of the City of Salvation; the bookkeeper; the Special Investigations Department¡¯s special agent, Zhang Chenghai; a withered, scrawny middle aged man wearing ink-ck flowing robes and an old-fashioned square scarf; and finally a nun who was approximately forty years old with speckled white hair.

    All five people had an incredibly grave expression written all over their faces.

    ¡°Without any portent at all?¡± Zhang Chenghai¡¯s eyes were growing bloodshot as he asked the nun through gritted teeth.

    The nun shook her head and responded with an equally ashen expression, ¡°Not a tiny bit¡­ It¡¯s just as we¡¯d spected - the City of Salvation¡­ most certainly hides a head honcho of the underworld. He¡¯s the one who calls the shots on everything that happens within the City of Salvation. Otherwise, there¡¯s no way that the Yin spirits could move on such a united front.¡±

    The withered man gnashed his teeth, ¡°ording to my Master¡¯s own investigations, Hell hasn¡¯t reaped souls from earth for thest hundred years¡­ I¡¯m afraid that the Yin spirits that are moving tonight¡­ are the souls of all the people who have perished within the City of Salvation for thest hundred years! Despite the fact that they¡¯ve alle together, we¡¯ve still been unable to find the orchestrator behind all of this!¡±

    Humans were unable to see Emissaries of Hell.

    This was why Cao Youdao dared to single handedly wage war against the lords of thends!

    ¡°So, is this a provocation against us?¡± The mayor red coldly at the screen and muttered cidly, ¡°Mr Zhang, are there any Hunter-ss experts stationed in the City of Salvation?¡±

    Zhang Chenghao shook his head, ¡°There¡¯s nobody else apart from myself. Mayor Zhao, as you know, Hunter-ss experts are few and far between. A city would at best have one such expert deployed, and there are generally no more than four or five such experts deployed across an entire province. Some cities don¡¯t even have Hunter-ss experts at all.¡±

    The nun snorted, ¡°Regardless, it¡¯s clear that someone has dered war against us tonight. Mr Zhang, let¡¯s meet it head on¡­ After all, the confrontation between theherworldly forces and the mortal realm is only a matter of time, and the citizens cannot remain in the dark about these things forever!¡±

    ¡°Mr Zhang, this old man awaits yourmand.¡± The withered man responded with a deep voice.

    The mayor and the bookkeeper remained silent.

    Truth be told, their hearts were conflicted.

    This is a fight we have to take!

    But, as soon as we engage with the enemy forces in an all-out battle, we¡¯ll no longer be able to conceal the truth about such matters across the entire city!

    Cathay was a one-party system - one that allowed the government the widest of mandates without a single peep from any opposition parties. This was why the nation had been able to conceal the outbreak of supernatural incidents for such a long time to begin with. They had always known that it was only going to be a matter of time before the outbreak grew out of proportion. Yet when faced with such an important juncture at hand, they felt somewhat frazzled.

    What do we do after that?

    How would we exin the situation to a million people amidst all the spective buzz and chatter?

    What¡¯s the nation going to do?

    ¡°Mayor Zhou.¡± Zhang Chenghai drew a deep breath, turned around and muttered through gritted teeth, ¡°The Special Investigations Department has the authority to mobilize the army without any approval from the mayor and the bookkeeper. Right now, I¡¯d like to make full use of that authority.¡±

    To war!

    They had already guessed that something like this was going to happen. Yet as soon as they heard Zhang Chenghai¡¯s decision, Mayor Zhou and the bookkeeper still let out a deep sigh before nodding their head.

    Cathay had never feared war!

    ¡°Alright.¡± Zhang Chenghai turned around, took a deep breath, and addressed everyone else who was present in the room, ¡°Henceforth, all armed forces, including the Public Security Bureau and National Guardsmen, are to heed mymand.¡±

    ¡°Immediately notify all garrisons and stations to clear their surroundings of Yin spirits! Do whatever it takes!¡±

    ¡°Immediately activate the supernatural perimeter in the City of Salvation! Without my approval, the perimeter is not to be released!!¡±

    ¡°Open the equipment depot and issue spirit hunting equipment to all troops!¡±

    With reddened eyes, he continued, ¡°By dawn tomorrow, I want to see living persons standing victorious at every corner of the City of Salvation!!¡±

    ¡°This battle is the head honcho¡¯s challenge to our sovereignty! Whether he¡¯s merely probing or going all out on us tonight, this is a fight we cannot afford to lose!¡±

    ¡°If he wants a fight, we¡¯ll give him a fight he¡¯ll never forget!¡±

 Chapter 55: Night of a Thousand Ghosts (3)

    <h4>Chapter 55: Night of a Thousand Ghosts (3)</h4>

    ¡°Sir!¡± Just then, the door opened and a burly officer strode in hurriedly, bowed respectfully, and whispered, ¡°The ten hunting zones in the City of Salvation¡­ have begun to move.¡±

    Yin spirits weren¡¯t of the greatest concern. Their numbers were indeed a problem, but they were a problem that could be resolved in just a matter of time.

    Each and every hunting zone contained a vengeful apparition that possessed abilities equivalent to that of an Operative-ss Emissary of Hell. In fact, there were just too many such ces in Cathay, and too few Hunter-ss experts to go around.

    ¡°This old one awaits your instructions.¡± Elder Mei made a palm and fist salute and took one step forward.

    Elder Mei was taken aback, ¡°Sir, I¡¯ve got to remind you that the probationary cultivators¡­ aren¡¯t even at the Operative-ss level.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow, I only want to see the living flying their banner high in the sky in every corner of this city - no matter the sacrifice!¡±

    Elder Mei grew sullen. Several secondster, he sighed wistfully, ¡°Only two to three hundred thousand in every 1.5 billion possess an aptitude for cultivation¡­ that¡¯s a ratio of one in every five to six thousand¡­ But since it¡¯s your orders, I¡¯ll pass it on¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Back at the hotel, Qin Ye looked out the window with a fiery gaze in his eyes. He could see the tens of thousands of Yin spirits toting their rednterns marked with the word ¡°Cao¡± drifting across the city andbing through every nook and cranny. It was almost as though these drifting spirits were innumerable bloodshot eyeballs surging across the entire city, looking for the slightest trace of Qin Ye¡¯s existence.

    Cao Youdao had made his move in apletely unbridled, unrestrained fashion. How was the mortal realm going to react?

    Time trickled by, and half an hour had passed now. All of a sudden, an intense aura emerged from the salvation za located in the very heart of downtown city!

    With a powerful, rumbling tremor, the small garden above, including the fountain and seats, began to separate from each other. Then, a five-meter tall statue with half its body and half its head missing began to rise from the ground.

    ¡°The City of Salvation¡¯s City God sculpture¡­ I heard that it was smashed to smithereens during the great cultural revolution. So that¡¯s where it¡¯s been hidden all this while¡­¡±

    Boom!! An ethereal wave of might exploded from the City God statue, causing a tremor to run across the entire surface of the city. Even the countless families hiding in their homes felt it. Shortly after that, the sevenmps around the City God statue lit up one after another, and the only remaining eye on the statue slowly opened.

    A pure-white wave rippled across the surface of the city. Then, in the very next second, a somewhat illusory glow appeared around the entire City of Salvation.

    The supernatural perimeter served two purposes. The first purpose was to seal in all supernatural activity, transforming the City of Salvation into a battleground between the living and the dead. And, the other, more important purpose was that it was¡­ a plea to the other cities and provinces around to send help!

    In an instant, hundreds of vehicles began to pour out of every single military base, Public Security Bureau offices, National Guard bases, police stations, etc. The stillness of the night waspletely shattered.

    Rumble¡­ He could sense that the entire City of Salvation was trembling as a result of the earth-shattering sh between the Yang energy, true energy and Yin energy. However, he could hardly care less about the rest of the city. Right now, he only had one goal in mind.

    ¡°Over here!¡± Several secondster, his eyes opened abruptly once more. A massive wind gale swept around him, and he donned a mask and shot out of the house in an instant.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Back then, this was supposed to have been the first skyscraper erected in the City of Salvation. The municipal party leaders had even personally graced the groundbreaking ceremony. Unfortunately, after five gruelling years of construction work, the developers suddenly went bankrupt, and thepany dissolved overnight, leaving an unfinished building where it was.

    But tonight, in the very building where the rumours of supernatural incidents in the City of Salvation first began, three brave men wearing camouge uniforms stood back to back as they nced at the roof above them with a somber expression on their faces.

    That was the roof that nobody had stepped foot on before.

    There were bloodstains all around -rge stters of blood that dyed the roof and walls with more red than anything else. It was evident just how many people had perished in this ce. These victims could have been the homeless or others who might have had a reason to enter the building. Regardless, the trio¡¯s eyes were transfixed at the ceiling above them. Thedy that was sometimes seen dancing on the roof by others was currently hanging just above their heads, almost akin to a spider.

    ¡°Sss¡­ haaa¡­¡±

    ¡°Avoid it!!¡± The leader was a young man with a chiseled face with strong features. Needless to say, all three men leapt away from where they were standing in an instant. Unfortunately, even though they reacted quickly, the female ghost was even quicker! Her ck hair iled about like innumerable whips dancing wildly in the air. With a harsh swishing sound, the three men groaned and were instantly swept five meters away with a dull thud.

    ¡°Are you really still in the mood for jokes?¡± A tall man wiped off the blood from his lips and leaned heavily on the wall as he mbered back onto his feet, ¡°This is the City of Salvation¡¯s first hunting zone¡­ we¡¯re talking about a fifteen-year evil ghost here¡­ Shit. I think my ribs are broken¡­¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­ haa¡­¡± The female ghost hanging from the ceiling rotated her head a full 360 degrees, as though sizing up the three men standing about. She saw the three men charge straight back towards her in an instant. The man with the chiseled face swiped his hand across his waist and immediately pulled out a rope with hundreds of talismans dangling from its length.

    Kkkrrrrrrrr¡­ The sound of a bowstring tightening echoed through the air. The tall man¡¯s eyes were bleary, and even the muscles on his arms began to bulge in a riotous fashion. At the same time, and with a loud bellow, a muffled sound rang through the air. A one-meter long ming arrow shot straight towards the female ghost!

    The ceiling exploded with a thousand ming embers scattering about. The man with the chiseled face wiped off the profuse sweat on his forehead, ¡°Is it over?¡±

    The other two were taken aback, and immediately turned around to look at the bespectacled man, only to realize¡­ his chest appeared to be growingrger andrger! And it finally grew to a size of about one meter!

    Everything could be seen with the naked eye. They could even see the vicious expression on the female ghost¡¯s face, replete with her gaping wide mouth and her dark, fetid teeth!

    With a loud cry, the two men charged straight towards the bespectacled youth even though a chill had now set over their hearts.

    The Yin spirits that we¡¯d been practising with¡­ are simply worlds apart from such levels.

    The two men were quick. Unfortunately, the apparition was even quicker. In an instant, her dark nails had alreadypletely dug themselves into the neck of the bespectacled man. As blood began to flow profusely from the bespectacled man¡¯s neck, the female ghost finally emerged from within the man¡¯s camouge uniform and opened her mouth a full foot wide.

    The other two men had bloodshot eyes. The bespectacled man bit down on his trembling lips as he reached for the hilt of the wooden sword hanging from his waist. Then, just as he was about to thrust it at the female ghost, a voice rang aloud.

    ¡°I was just wondering where all of the Yin spirits in this hunting zone had vanished to. So, it turns out that there are still some who are still alive¡­¡±

    The three men were alsopletely stunned.

    Yet before they could react to the situation, the female ghost let out a screamced with abject disbelief. A single hand grabbed tightly onto her hair. With a powerful yank, the female ghost that the trio had been so helpless against was pulled right out of the bespectacled man¡¯s uniform!

 Chapter 56: Ultraman Tiga

    <h4>Chapter 56: Ultraman Tiga</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ The female ghost¡¯s slender body and red-and-white dress flew across the air with a graceful arc. Then, before the three men could even blink their eyes, they heard a deafening rumble on the ground!

    The person who had just arrived had picked up the female ghost and sent her crashing straight into the ground from up on high, sending a cloud of dust and debris flying everywhere.

    ¡°Cocky?¡± Amidst the dense cloud of dust and debris, the three men could vaguely make out a figure grabbing tightly to the female ghost¡¯s head and mming her straight onto the ground.

    ¡°Still full of arrogance?!!¡±

    They heard yet another mming sound. The three men were astounded.

    Ferocious.

    Have you seen the rtionship between a cat and a mouse?

    Do you know how Jerry fancied teasing and beating up Tom?

    That¡¯s exactly how it was right now. The figure in the cloud of dust and debris was tossing the female ghost about and mming her into the ground repeatedly, from left to right to left to right. The female ghost struggled feebly like a kite with a broken string amidst a powerful, domineering gale as she continued to flounder about helplessly. Meanwhile, the figure continued to berate her, ¡°Do you think it¡¯s so great pledging allegiance to that fool named ¡®Cao¡¯?¡±

    Boom!!

    The floor quaked.

    ¡°Sss!!!¡± The female ghost hissed in pain. She iled her hands about the air, attempting to grab hold of something but to no avail.

    ¡°Still resisting?¡±

    Boom!

    ¡°Running a clubhouse? Collecting protection fees? Delving into every other antisocial behaviour you can think of?¡±

    Boom! Boom!

    Cracks had begun to develop on the floor, and the female ghost was moaning madly.

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re part of a triad? Don¡¯t you know that triads don¡¯t end well in Cathay?!¡±

    Boom! Boom boom!!

    The three men continued to watch with jaw-dropping bewilderment as dust and debris continued to be kicked up and about for several minutes on end. Finally, the figure kicked the female ghost into a corner, ¡°Were you there that night? I¡¯ve never been looked down upon like that in my entire life! Since the head honcho isn¡¯t here, there¡¯s nothing stopping me from pummeling you to my heart¡¯s content!¡±

    ¡°Sss!!!¡± As the female ghost crashed into the wall, she hissed miserably and scrambled like a spider to the ceiling once more. Her skull had almost been split open by the torturous beating earlier, and blood covered her entire head, causing her to look more terrifying than ever. Dark-red blood trickled down like a small stream as she gritted her teeth, ¡°Who¡­ are you?!!¡±

    The eyes of the three men widened in shock.

    Who in the world is that?

    His power¡­ is on par with an Operative-ss expert! And his abilities are clearly far stronger than that of the female ghost! No¡­ in fact, it even looks akin to a qualitative suppression of abilities, almost as though he was a natural predator hunting his prey. Since when did such experts exist in the City of Salvation?

    Swish¡­ The mysterious man¡¯s figure finally came into full view as the cloud of dust and debris finally settled. The three men werepletely silent.

    He wore a camouge uniform just like they did.

    The only difference was that the man wore a mask on his face.

    That wouldn¡¯t have been too peculiar if that was all there was to it.

    However, what tipped the scales¡­ the fact that this was the mask of Tiga Ultraman¡­

    Do you think you¡¯re here to defeat a monster?

    ¡°Who am I?¡± Ultraman chuckled coldly as he pulled apart his uniform.

    A short sleeve t-shirt was hidden underneath his camouge uniform. Three words were sshed across the t-shirt in white, mboyant and cursive letterings.

    ¡°I¡¯m Your Father!¡±

    Their eyes twitched uncontrobly.

    This was not all. Ultraman turned around and removed the rest of his camouge uniform, revealing a line of text on the back of his t-shirt.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess with your master. It¡¯s annoying!¡±

    Even the female ghost waspletely dumbfounded.

    This image¡­ Why does it seem so vastly different from Lord Cao¡¯s noble and dignified appearance?

    ¡°That felt good.¡± Ultraman breathed a sigh of relief. The pent up frustration from his earlier confrontation with Arthis had finally been released. He nced over at the trio on the side, ¡°Leave. Don¡¯t stay here and be a hindrance to me.¡±

    The three men exchanged nces, and the man with the chiseled face represented the group and bowed deeply to Ultraman as they respectfully muttered, ¡°May we know which senior it is who had rendered assistance to us? I¡¯m--...¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about that another time. Go!¡± Ultraman waved his hands at them impatiently. Don¡¯t you guys have any discernment at all? My blood is already boiling for violence here, yet you¡¯re still trying to bother with titudes here?

    The three men fell silent for a moment, before bowing in unison, ¡°We will remember our benefactor. Words cannot express our gratitude!¡±

    As soon they finished speaking, they took their leave.

    Everything was silent once more.

    The only entities remaining at the rooftop were the female ghost and Ultraman. Unlike before, when she actively took the initiative against the trio, the female ghost didn¡¯t move this time.

    Instead, she kept changing her stances and positions while maintaining her distance from Ultraman. For some strange reason, she had a terrifying feeling about this opponent of hers.

    She was a new ghost - one that had never experienced the mighty oppression of Hell¡¯s authority. Nevertheless, they were still on different parts of the food chain. One was a predator, and one was a prey. Given that their abilities were on par, there was absolutely no way she was going to be able to ovee her predator¡¯s qualitative suppression against her.

    Ultraman finally removed his mask, revealing Qin Ye¡¯s appearance.

    The gentle wind swept through the dpidated building, tousling Qin Ye¡¯s bangs. He ran his fingers through his hair and heaved another sigh of relief, ¡°That feels better.¡±

    Having ventted some of the frustrations weighing on his heart, he took out the soul sphere and ced it beside him as he confronted the female ghost once more, ¡°Do you know something¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s precisely because of you bastards that I¡¯ve been looked upon with such disdain!¡±

    ¡°That stupid olddy might have a venomous tongue, but there is still basis for what she¡¯s saying. Well¡­ since I can¡¯t run anymore, why don¡¯t I learn to adapt instead? For instance¡­ why don¡¯t I start with you, hmm?¡±

    ¡°No response? I¡¯ll take silence as consent then¡­¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the Yin energy around him surged with a bang. Qin Ye instantly entered his Hell¡¯s Emissary state, and the demonhead saber in his hands began to glow with an eerie green light. His present appearance was far more demonic and devilish than the female ghost.

    The female ghost¡¯s pupils immediately constricted.

    A sensation of fear coursed through her veins, sending her into a state of panic.

    It was a feeling that she had never experienced before ever since turning into an evil ghost.

    But even ghosts knew fear.

    ¡°Ssssss!!!¡± She hissed wildly as she scrambled to flee outside the building. Without taking a second look, Qin Ye ran his finger along the demonhead saber gently, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a thirty-nine meter headstart¡­¡±

    ¡°Thirty-nine¡­ zero.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the muscles on his arm bulged, and a radiant beam of de light surged forward like a powerful waterfall! This was done under Arthis¡¯ watchful eyes. This was a result of being forced into a corner by Cao Youdao!

    He was ventting his stress.

    He was releasing all of his pent up anger.

    Boom!!

    Everything in front of him shook and trembled. Cracks appeared in the air, causing the Yin energy in the surroundings to be sucked into the void. In an instant, the female ghost¡¯s body was instantly reduced to nothing more than a cloud of Yin energy. With an unwilling dying hiss, what remained of her finally dissipated into nothingness in the surroundings.

    Thirty-nine¡­ zero¡­

    What the hell happened to the numbers in between?!

    Did a dog eat them?!

    ¡°I¡¯d initially nned to countdown from thirty-nine to zero. But then I soon realized that it would be far better for my mental health if I¡¯d simply unleashed all of my vexations rather than drag things out.¡± Qin Ye sheathed his saber as a wisp of Yin energy flew over and burrowed straight into his chest. His proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell flew out. Then, as though someone was writing on it, a string of pale words appeared, as though in ink.

    ¡°Purged one vengeful apparition: 20 merit points awarded.¡±

    ¡°Currently umted: 40 merit points. Total points required for promotion to the Soul Hunter rank: 160 merit points.¡±

    As soon as the words were recorded, the proof of identity quivered slightly, and a powerful st of Yin energy erupted and burrowed its way into the demonhead saber like a long, slithering snake. In the next moment, the skull on the hilt of the demonhead saber ignited, sending a meter long green me bursting forth from the skull! Then, the me slowly crept across the de of the saber until the entire weapon waspletely ignited.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye looked at the demonhead saber¡¯s transformation with astonishment. He waved it in the air lightly, only to realize that the de of the saber actually left a mark in the air that was visible to the naked eye.

    This was something that it could never have done before!

    ¡°Yin energy can cause the demonhead saber to evolve?¡± Qin Ye waved the saber around in his arm proficiently, allowing his sword dance to blossom like a beautiful flower in the night sky.

    ¡°The appearance of theherfire on the de isn¡¯t the only change that¡¯s urred¡­ the weight of the de has be even lighter as well¡­ No. Perhaps it might be more urate to say that the saber has evolved to suit my personal needs better. Is this the result of drawing closer to the Soul Hunter rank?¡±

    Just as he was about to continue getting acquainted with his newly evolved weapon, he suddenly cocked his head to the side and gazed into the distance.

    Operative-ss¡­

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t only the aura of one, but two Operative-ss entities!

    That¡¯s where the next hunting zone is located¡­ He suppressed the desire to continue experimenting with his newly evolved weapon and shot off once more.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Meanwhile at the Orchid Clubhouse, Cao Youdao opened his eyes once more.

    The previously bustling Orchid Clubhouse was now left with only him and a humanoid paper effigy who was holding onto a silver tray with cut cigars and a ss of red wine on it.

    Cao Youdao leaned backfortably and sank into the soft sofa in his room. He picked up the ss of red wine and swirled its contents around. After some time, he muttered, ¡°The first hunting zone has been broken.¡±

    Notwithstanding his misshapen features, the humanoid paper effigy looked up in astonishment, ¡°My lord¡­ is it the cultivators from the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Cao Youdao rubbed his eyebrows, ¡°Apart from searching for that dear colleague of mine, tonight is also a good opportunity for us to get a probative indication of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s abilities. It¡¯s the same for them as well - they¡¯ll take this opportunity to remove some of the thorns in their side. But that said¡­ things are happening a lot more quickly than I¡¯d expected.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Chenghai wouldn¡¯t personally make a move¡­ Given my understanding of the City of Salvation¡¯s defensive capabilities, the rest of the cultivators only possess abilities that are approximately on the same level as the apparition in the first hunting zone. Therefore¡­¡±

    His fingers tapped gently against the sofa as he chuckled coldly, ¡°Can¡¯t I be sure that this is the result of a feeblest stand of that dear colleague of mine?¡±

    ¡°After all, only Emissaries of Hell possess the ability to qualitatively suppress ghosts of the same rank as them.¡±

    The humanoid paper effigy chimed in respectfully, ¡°My lord, could it be¡­ that he¡¯s attempting to break through to the Soul Hunter rank?¡±

    ¡°Dream on!¡± Cao Youdao snickered as he picked up a cigar and lit it up. Taking a light puff from it, he continued, ¡°He¡¯s just a maggot - an insignificant Emissary of Hell who doesn¡¯t know any better. Doesn¡¯t he know that he won¡¯t be able to get promoted without Hell¡¯s Records, even if he attains the requisite merit points?¡±

    His eyes began to burn with passion as he nced towards therge pit below, ¡°I am the only person in the entire world who¡¯s able to attain the ranks of Anitya Hellguard, Infernal Judge and even Yama-King right now!¡±

    Meanwhile, underneath the city hall, Zhang Chenghai and everyone else werepletely bbergasted.

    The first hunting zone had been broken!

    Silence.

    Not a single person was able to respond to the unexpected situation.

    Secondster, Zhang Chenghai turned his head around and bellowed, ¡°Pronto! I want a report on when exactly the first hunting zone was broken, who broke it, and where that person is right now!¡±

    ¡°The report is already out.¡± A man in a white coat stood up and reported, ¡°Ten minutes ago¡­ just ten minutes ago, an Operative-ss energy signature was detected at Shuncheng Street. The culprit had killed the vengeful apparition in the first hunting zone almost instantaneously. The probationary cultivators deployed to the first hunting zones are AC 4742 to AC 4744. Incidentally, they are also the three fastest-improving probationary cultivators in the entire City of Salvation.¡±

    Zhang Chenghai¡¯s gaze flickered, ¡°They can¡¯t possibly be a match for that apparition. It would already be amazing if they coulde out of a head-on confrontation alive¡­ what about Elder Mei?¡±

    ¡°Elder Mei is currently deployed at the fourth hunting zone located at the Fragrant Grass Street. Mr Zhang, with all due respect, Elder Mei isn¡¯t a match for the vengeful apparition in the first hunting zone either. This culprit¡­ we believe that he might be an Emissary of Hell on earth.¡±

    His final statement was met with some measure of incredulity and disbelief.

    An Emissary of Hell on earth¡­

    All who walked the path of cultivation in modern day society knew exactly how difficult things were for them.

    Even Zhang Chenghai, who was presently forty-five years-old, was only a Hunter-ss expert. It would be a miracle if he was able to break through to the level of a Hellguard-ss expert in his lifetime. Emissary of Hell on earth?

    A living one?

    Zhang Chenghao took a deep breath, ¡°Contact the leader of AC 4742¡¯s team immediately. I want to speak with them right away!¡±

 Chapter 57: Evolution (1)

    <h4>Chapter 57: Evolution (1)</h4>

    They had sensed the massive ripple of energy explode from the top of the building just a little while ago. Fortunately, the eruption of Yin energy was disguised by the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and nobody discovered anything amiss with the situation. The only thing they felt was a powerful tremor emanating from the top of the building, before everything turned silent and still once more.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­ This is the first hunting zone after all. In other words, this is the first hunting zone that has appeared in the City of Salvation. Fifteen year ago, teacher Zhang Xingyue was raped and mutted. However, her corpse vanished a day after it was taken to the morgue. The murderer¡¯s entire family died soon after, and the incident was ssified as an E-grade supernatural incident. This¡­ this is a fifteen year-old ghost we¡¯re talking about¡­¡±

    Just because I¡¯ve remained silent all this while doesn¡¯t mean that riffraff like this Operative-ss ghost should qualify an old ghost. If that¡¯s the case, shouldn¡¯t I be referring to myself as an ancient grandma?

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Zhang Chenghai¡¯s voice was at the other end of the call, ¡°Where are you right now?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re already roughly aware of the situation over there. Who¡¯s the person that just arrived? Is he registered under our system?¡±

    The trio exchanged nces and shook their heads at the same time.

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Just then, the bespectacled man spoke up, ¡°There¡¯s something that came to mind, but I¡¯m not sure whether it counts. It¡¯s the fact that his camouge uniform doesn¡¯t appear to be those issued by the military.¡±

    On the other end of the line, Zhang Chenghai¡¯s lips twitched slightly. Great¡­ just great¡­ Now we¡¯ve got someone on our hands wearing imitation goods as he purges evil ghosts? Doesn¡¯t he feel indisposed stealing the identities of our esteemed cultivators? If he¡¯s truly as poor as he seems, why doesn¡¯t he just take the plunge and join the nation¡¯s forces?

    ¡°His strength is something that the City of Salvation desperately needs right now!¡±

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t aware of what transpired behind his back. At this moment, he was simply making a beeline for the next hunting zone.

    However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t take any action against these Yin spirits. He had far more important things to do. He quickly zipped through another street and an alley. He soon came to realize that the closer he drew to the heart of the city, the stronger the force of resistance against these Yin spirits.

    Under the moonlit night, the Yin spirits flowed about like a rushing river, while the army stood firm like arge boulder damming up its flow. They stood firm at each strategic pass, holding their ground like a magnificent line of shields that were not to be desecrated!

    Nobody said a single word.

    They were like a sleeping dragon - somber and cold-blooded. The hundred-man formations stood silent and firm like an immovable stronghold.

    Thehergale apanying the tidal wave of Yin energy sent all of their camouge uniforms fluttering about. Qin Ye could see that some of the soldiers had sweat drops building up on their foreheads, while others were trembling slightly. However, not a single person took a single step back.

    It was closing in.

    Shk! Shk! Shk! In that instant, arge portion of the Yin spirits leading the charge were felled. When the back lines charged forward, a patch of fire ignited out of thin air, reducing innumerable Yin spirits to ash amidst their miserable screams.

    ¡°True energy isn¡¯t strong, and it won¡¯t have much effect on vengeful apparitions that are on the same level as Operative-ss Emissaries of Hell. That said, it¡¯s more than enough if used against such rabble.¡± Having gained some level of insight over the Special Investigations Department¡¯s capabilities, he collected his gaze and cautiously made his way past the conflict zone. The next hunting zone was only five hundred meters away from them.

    The surrounding area was in shambles. Construction debris was strewn all over the ce, and not a single neighbourhood remained around in the region.

    His Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform, replete with his demonhead saber. The ming saber left glowing embers ofherfire on the ground. With a harsh grinding sound, he dragged the saber on the ground indiscreetly and rushed straight to the third storey of the building.

    ¡°I¡¯m a person who firmly believes in a democracy.¡±

    ¡°Hissss¡­¡± A wave of Yin energy undergirded by traces of rage echoed from the third floor, ¡°Demo-... cracy?¡±

    Qin Ye slowly stepped onto the third floor, ¡°In the so-called democracy I was referring to, you are the people, and I am the president. Besides, you can¡¯t say that I haven¡¯t already asked you nicely, can you?¡±

    Boom! As soon as the light from the de faded, the entire surroundings trembled slightly, and a Yin gale began to blow.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The monitors revealed that the heart of the city was gradually changing from red to yellow. The surrounding regions three kilometers from the city center were tainted with a striking red colour. Nevertheless, the yellow region in the heart of the city was slowly but surely expanding outwards!

    ¡°9 p.m. If the situation still isn¡¯t improving by then, be prepared to activate the ghost eradicating treasure at a moment¡¯s notice.¡± Hemanded in a stern voice.

    ¡°Sir!!!¡± His voice had already grown shaky, ¡°Seventh¡­ seventh!!¡±

    Everyone, including Zhang Chenghai furrowed their brows and stared at the man.

    ¡°What?!¡± Zhang Chenghai¡¯s immediate response was that of incredulity. He immediately rushed in front of the monitor and took a look for himself.

    ¡°Who¡­ who is it?¡± He stood up abruptly and looked around, ¡°Who¡¯s requested for backup?¡±

    Just then, Zhang Chenghai¡¯s gaze gleamed brightly, almost as though he¡¯d thought of something. His fingers immediately darted about theputer¡¯s keyboard, and he promptly brought up a map of the locality.

    The nun standing beside him pondered for a few moments, ¡°Are you saying that this was caused by the same civilian cultivator that was responsible for the breakthrough in the first hunting zone as well?¡±

    The nun shook her head, ¡°This is something impossible for me. This man¡­ is he trying to attain a breakthrough in his cultivation using the gathering ofher forces tonight?¡±

    Zhang Chenghai drew a deep breath, ¡°That¡¯s highly possible¡­ Disseminate my orders - all units who encounter Ul-... Ultraman are to make way for him immediately without question!!¡±

    Rather¡­ it was a tacit agreement.

    He even had to cover up Cao Youdao¡¯s existence on a weekly basis!

    Nobody would be able to bear the responsibility of such a terrifying cmity. Nobody would even begin to consider such things at all.

    And tonight, his way out had finally arrived. Yet he still didn¡¯t dare to make a single move.

    But that said, someone else had begun to move instead.

    Tiga Ultraman had arrived from the distant Neb M87 and stepped onto the frontlines of battle!

 Chapter 58: Evolution (2)

    <h4>Chapter 58: Evolution (2)</h4>

    Boom! 9.02 p.m. Qin Ye was enshrouded with gloomy Yin energy as he stood in front of a dpidated house.

    He was now in Sunflower Vige, a vige located in the suburbs of the city. He was presently surrounded by block after block of high-rise buildings in the neighbourhood. This was the vige¡¯s best neighbourhood. Despite that, the house he was standing in front of was the only house in the neighbourhood that had been built with prefabricated panels and bricks. The houseprised a living room and two bedrooms that stood on a reasonablyrge piece ofnd.

    The brick house was also located in the deepest part of the Sunflower Vige. Qin Ye had heard rumours of this as well. Eight years ago, a couple and their daughter were living here. The couple was already somewhat jaded with life and simply cruising along when they were suddenly informed that their entire neighbourhood was ted to be demolished, and that they would be relocated.

    Ecstatic over the prospects of a sudden windfall, the family offered to agree to the demolition works in exchange for a whopping RMB 20 million!

    It had to be said that the location of their house was hardly anywhere close to the imperial capital in terms of stature and demand. It was at best a third-rate city within the Insignia Province. The developers naturally disagreed, and the family remained stubborn and unbudging. Half a yearter, when the developers realized that they were going nowhere with this family, theymenced with their demolition and construction works on the surrounding areas in a fit of rage, leaving only the family and theirnd around.

    From then on, the family was faced with the rumbling and nging sounds of construction everyday, and yet they could only watch on with envy as their neighbours all moved into their new homes. They immediately applied to the developers to be included once more. But changing their ns would necessitate revising all of their ongoing construction work. How could they possibly agree to that?

    About one monthter, the despondent family brought a bottle of pesticide with them and headed over to the construction grounds once more. When they failed in their application for the umpteenth time, they ingested the pesticide.

    They intended to use their death to threaten the developers.

    They didn¡¯t drink too much of the pesticide. In all likelihood, they had probably hoped that they would be conveyed to the hospital in time so that their lives would be preserved. Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t turn out as nned, and they weren¡¯t saved in time. Thus, the brick house continued to stand firm where it was since then.

    ¡°What grievances do you vengeful apparitions have?¡± Qin Yeughed contemptuously as he kicked open the front door.

    Boom! The rotting wooden door was thrown straight into the house. Qin Ye had already armed himself with the demonhead saber. The demonhead saber was covered with jade green mes, and even the edge of its de had shown some traces of unevenness, almost as though it would eventually transform into a sawtooth edge.

    However, the evil ghosts didn¡¯t show up as expected. Rather, it would be more urate to say that nobody was looking at him at all.

    The house was incredibly dark, and the only source of light came from an ancient oilmp. Three Yin spirits crouched on the floor right next to the oilmp. They were dressed shabbily, exactly the same as how they had appeared just prior to death. But right in the midst of themy arge pile of objects, including candles, human bones that had been exhumed from the graves, fragments from coffins, burnt paper money¡­

    The three Yin spirits stared warily at each other as they held tightly to each their own wad of torn or burnt bits of Hell notes. And theypletely turned a blind eye to the presence of an Emissary of Hell. It was almost as though they were more wary of the existence of the other two Yin spirits around them.

    One family.

    A nest of ghosts.

    Their love for money exceeded their love for life.

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°Dredging a man¡¯s grave just so that you¡¯ll have someone to apany you in death¡­ Your avarice transcends even death itself¡­ Let me send you all on your way.¡±

    He swung his saber before he finished speaking. The girl¡¯s ethereal body shrieked as she vanished into a wisp of smoke. However, her parents didn¡¯t even nce at her for a single moment. Instead, they shrieked at the top of their lungs and pounced at each other at practically the same time, tearing at each other¡¯s throats as though they were nemeses with blood feuds.

    Qin Ye tutted his lips in disgust and shed a second time.

    Whoosh! The paper money on the ground was sent flying. Almost as though a time-out bell had been rung, the two who were tearing at each other¡¯s throats finally quietened down.

    They both cocked their heads and stared at Qin Ye. Their eyes grew from calm and cid to bloodshot and filled with fury. With a shrill shriek, they opened their mouths incredibly wide and charged madly at Qin Ye.

    ¡°My¡­ money!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Beep beep beep beep¡­ 9.20 p.m, underneath the city hall. Zhang Chenghai and the men wearing white coats stared at the screen, unable to say a single word.

    The tenth hunting zone had been broken!

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ unbelievable!¡± One of the men in white coats drew a deep breath and adjusted his sses, ¡°Is he¡­ trying to get through all of the hunting zones?¡±

    Zhang Chenghai¡¯s gaze was zing with passion. Secondster, he barked, ¡°Anyone? Has anyone managed to make contact with the mysterious man yet?!¡±

    The nun shook her head, ¡°No. His speed is just too quick, and he¡¯s also intentionally avoiding us. However, the number of hunting zones are getting smaller and smaller. If his intentions are indeed to capitalize on the situation tonight to breach the bottleneck to Soul Hunter, all we have to do is to wait for him at the remaining few hunting zones. We¡¯ll definitely be able to encounter him that way!¡±

    ¡°I want you to head there personally.¡± Zhang Chenghai drew a deep breath to suppress the delight in his heart as he added, ¡°You must make sure to invite him to join the ranks of the Special Investigations Department. The speed at which he disposes of these ghosts, coupled with the fact that he hasn¡¯t even stopped to rest a single time, all points to the fact that he¡¯s not far away from the Soul Hunter level!¡±

    ¡°Separately¡­¡± He gazed deeply at the monitor, ¡°Keep a close watch on the movements of the Yin spirits as well¡­ There¡¯s most certainly a head honcho residing in the deep recesses of the City of Salvation that ismanding all of these Yin spirits. I refuse to believe that the leader of these Yin spirits will remain indifferent to the fact that three of his vengeful apparitions have already been purged!¡±

    The nun nodded her head. Just as she was about to take a leave, the chiming sound of bells cut through the tense atmosphere in the room once more.

    Everyone was taken slightly aback. Shortly after that, the City of Salvation¡¯s map vanished from the central monitor, only to be reced by the appearances of an old man wearing a ck cloak. He had deep sunken cheeks and dark rings around his eyes. It looked almost as though this old man had just climbed out of his coffin.

    ¡°Greetings, supervisor.¡± Zhang Chenghai bowed deeply to the monitor. The old man smiled genially, ¡°Kid¡­ don¡¯t bother¡­ I heard that something¡¯s happened to the City of Salvation?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Sir, the Yin spirits within the City of Salvation have begun moving on arge-scale basis. I¡¯ve issued orders¡­ that this is a battle that we must win at all costs!¡±

    ¡°A good decision.¡± The old man chuckled coldly and snorted, ¡°I¡¯ll be there in an hour¡¯s time. I want to see for myself whether this elusive head honcho dares to unt his abilities under the watchful eyes of this old bag of bones!!¡±

    Under Insignia University, at the Orchid Clubhouse. If one were to describe the Special Investigations Department¡¯s reaction to the developments as in shock, Cao Youdao¡¯s reactions could only be described by a confluence of extreme astonishment and intense fury.

    He no longer drank from his ss of wine.

    The red wine was just by his side, but it remained still and untouched.

    ¡°How did he do it?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­ The energy signature of Hell¡¯s Emissaries arepletely different to that utilized by cultivators in the mortal realm! Why is the mortal realm just turning a blind eye to the situation like that?!¡±

    He had always believed that he was an incredibly lucky man.

    Hell was vast and boundless, and it contained hundreds of billions of Yin spirits on end. The powerful officials had been whisked away by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva when he attained enlightenment. Infernal judges had departed, while Anitya Hellguards weren¡¯t in a ce to refuse. And there was no need to talk about the insignificant Soul Hunters.

    He was the only one who remained amidst the grand upheaval.

    He had always believed that this must be heaven¡¯s will.

    Heaven had intended for him to establish a new order of Hell.

    This was why he had been searching far and wide for his own Emissaries of Hell. He needed new civil servants to help him in establishing the new Hell.

    The vengeful apparitions, for instance, were evil ghosts that he had painstakingly cultivated for his own purposes. He had diligently nurtured them with blood and nutrients while refraining from making any moves against the citizens of the City of Salvation in exchange for Zhang Chenghai¡¯s tacitpromise. This was what allowed the ten hunting zones to remain intact in the City of Salvation today.

    But now, three hunting zones had beenpletely wiped out in a matter of three hours! Decades of his blood, sweat and toil had just gone up in ashes!

    ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Boom!!! A furious gale of Yin energy began to swirl around his body. His Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform began to take shape, and a long white sword appeared on his back. With a furious shout, he transformed into a rushing river of Yin energy and shot out of the Orchid Clubhouse.

    If I don¡¯t kill this son of a bitch, I¡¯ll never be able to get rid of the hatred in my heart!

    However, it didn¡¯t take long before Cao Youdao suddenly stopped in his steps and cursed aloud, ¡°Damn it!!!¡±

    He sliced down with his longsword in fury, sending a roaring tremor echoing throughout the Orchid Clubhouse. The expensive dance floor, the topnotch sound systems, and even the custom made chairs were instantly cut to pieces!

    He had suddenly figured out where the problemy.

    ¡°There¡¯s a great likelihood that the mortal realm is only turning a blind eye to all of this because the piece of primordial treasure on that little bastard¡¯s body is concealing his energy signature!¡±

    I can¡¯t make a move¡­

    My opponent is also a fully-fledged Emissary of Hell who had survived Hell¡¯s great copse because he possesses a piece of Hell¡¯s treasures¡­

    If I make a move, and I can¡¯t kill him right away, there is a high likelihood that the mortal realm is going to get a read on my energy signature and be able to track me down afterwards. At that time, everything I¡¯ve done over thest hundred years would go up in zes!

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that an official of Hell is actually stooping so low and mixing with these mortals just for the sake of his own survival! Shameful!!¡± His hands trembled hard, and he gritted his teeth, ¡°Disseminate my orders¡­ All Yin spirits are to immediately surround the remaining hunting zones! As soon as you discover that man¡­¡±

    He drew a deep breath and gnashed his teeth, ¡°Exterminate him, no matter the cost!!!¡±

    Qin Ye was oblivious to Cao Youdao¡¯s rage.

    10.40 p.m. Qin Ye kicked down the rooftop ess door that was covered in blood and scratches and sealed by chains. The demonhead saber on his back had already grown to a length that exceeded one meter. The scabbard had also turned an intense, dark colour, with the shape of the big dipper constetion etched on its surface, connected by a thin, red line.

    The rooftop was painted with an eerie sheen by the dim moonlight. The ground was covered with aged blood stains that had already turned a grisly ck hue. The railings on the rooftop were covered with innumerable talismans that were tied together with a thin red thread. A single, small body was curled up in the center of the rooftop that looked just like a mourning hall. Even when the door to the rooftop was opened, the little figure didn¡¯t turn around at all.

    Kkkkkrrrrr.... Qin Ye removed his Ultraman mask and dragged his saber on the ground like a menacing executioner. The huge sheath ground against the floor with a harsh, metallic sound. When the door to the rooftop finally mmed with a bang, the little child finally moved.

    Whoosh¡­ The gentle night breeze swept by, sending the talismans all over the rooftop fluttering about ominously. The little child spoke with a soulless child¡¯s voice, ¡°y with me?¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Qin Ye unsheathed his saber, ¡°This brother has a toy that you might enjoy ying with¡­¡±

    ¡°y with me?¡± It was almost as though this were the only line the child knew.

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Dragging his saber, Qin Ye shot forward. As the saber flew through the air, it made a soft, humming sound. Then, just as he was three meters away from the child, the child suddenly lifted his head.

    The opening to his mouth had already extended to the sides of his ear, and his mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. The child opened his mouth a full half-meter wide and promptly charged straight at Qin Ye!

    ¡°Hooooh!! ¡­ Ah¡­ hah¡­ mis--... mistake¡­ everything¡¯s been a misunderstanding¡­¡±

    The appearance of this vengeful apparition was truly frightening.

    That said, what greeted the apparition was an even more frightening demonhead saber.

    The de was massive and strong, while the edge of the de had already transformed into a fully serrated edge. Three rings were attached to the back of the de. Yet, upon closer inspection, it would be evident that the three rings weren¡¯t corporeal objects at all.

    Rather¡­ they were souls!

    The souls of the vengeful apparitions he had purged before had transformed into souls that were bound to the de of the saber, howling endlessly under the torment of his boundlessherworldly mes.

    Anyone standing close to Qin Ye would be able to hear the heart-rending, miserable cries from these harvested souls.

    Right then, the saber cleaved through the air and short straight towards the child¡¯s head.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Qin Ye raised his eyebrows and held back at the veryst moment. The green mes shot forward with the momentum of the de, burning the body of the little child. Yet, even though he screamed miserably in pain, he fervently remained on his knees and struggled to speak with a hoarse voice, ¡°S-sir¡­ this is¡­ mistake¡­ I-I was¡­ too excited¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve transformed into a coward pretty quickly.¡± Qin Ye said with a wry smile on his face andpleted the sh in the very next moment!

    ¡°What¡¯s a support like you doing frightening a carry like me?! Don¡¯t you think you¡¯ve acted out of line?¡±

    ¡°Sssssss!!!¡± With a miserable shriek, the child¡¯s ethereal body vanished, sending the Yin energy around the demonhead saber flourishing with ever greater vigor. Qin Ye¡¯s proof of identity shot out of his chest and began to record his next achievement.

    ¡°Purged one vengeful apparition: 20 merit points awarded.¡±

    ¡°Currently umted: 100 merit points. Total points required for promotion to the Soul Hunter rank: 100 merit points.¡±

    1. This is a reference to the roles yers assume in MOBA games.

 Chapter 59: Soul Hunter (1)

    <h4>Chapter 59: Soul Hunter (1)</h4>

    Time and resources were both on his side!

    Yin spirits!

    Yin spirits were surging from the surroundings and heading straight towards the building like a great flood. Each of them carried a scarlet redntern with the word ¡°Cao¡± written on it as they emerged from all around and swarmed the area.

    ¡°He¡¯s not a fool after all. His reactions aren¡¯t too shabby.¡± Qin Ye picked up his demonhead saber and the Yin energy erupted from his body with a magnificent flourish, ¡°I wonder, though, is he simply at the limits of his patience, or has he learnt of the truth of the situation?¡±

    It was almost as though splotches of blood had tainted the dark sky with ents of red.

    ROAR!!! Then, with an earth-shattering roar, thousands upon thousands of Yin spirits rushed madly towards the rooftop like a shower of meteorites descending from the skies.

    Bzzzz! A field of fire spread out from the demonhead saber, turning all of the Yin spirits close by to ash in just an instant. Unfortunately the number of Yin spirits destroyed was but a drop in the ocean. As soon as the first wave was annihted, the next wave of Yin spirits immediately swarmed over.

    Cao Youdao was clearly attempting to extirpate Qin Ye with the most effective tactic of strength in numbers.

    Just then--...

    Instantly, thousands of arrows dragging burning talismans shot through the sky from around the building. The arrows filled the sky like a swarm of locusts, painting dazzling streaks of light across the dark canvass of night before plunging straight into the throng of Yin spirits!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye was taken aback, and he momentarily loosened his grip over the demonhead saber. He had never expected that Cathay¡¯s army would lend him a hand in this moment of crisis.

    In the very next moment, he suddenly sensed a powerful impending threat. Almost instinctively, he sheathed the demonhead saber and released his Hell¡¯s Emissary state and turned back into a normal person dressed in his camouge uniform. One secondter, he felt a gazend directly on his body.

    His body slumped uncontrobly as soon as the other person¡¯s eyesnded on his body. It was almost as though there were a huge mountain bearing down on him.

    ¡°This is¡­ at the level of an Anitya Hellguard! The provincial inspector has arrived!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The mighty pressure from the aura billowed powerfully across the rooftop. Yet Qin Ye wasn¡¯t rmed at all. He had expected this to happen, and he naturally knew exactly what this was. After all, if the incident at the Clear Creek County already warranted the intervention of a skilled Taoist possessing abilities close to that of an Anitya Hellguard, then the scale of the chaos in the City of Salvation naturally meant that it was only going to be a matter of time before a Hellguard-ss expert arrived on scene. In fact, it might not be unreasonable to expect more than one such expert to arrive at the City of Salvation tonight!

    Even before he finished speaking, the old man pped down on the jeep he was on and shot straight into the sky like a human arrow.

    Qin Ye scrutinized the old man¡¯s movements. Even though he appeared to be flying through the air, the truth of the matter was that he simply had incredibly light steps, each of which allowed him to traverse a distance of over ten meters. It was almost as though his entire body werepletely weightless.

    Ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ All of the ropes tightened at the exact same time, and only then did everyone see that the millimeter-thin ropes were all in fact dangling straight from a coffin!

    This was a coffin that was hovering high in the sky!

    He immediately shot off like a slippery eel. As soon as he made it downstairs, powerful waves of Yin energy began to diffuse from the coffin hovering in mid air.

    Qin Ye knew better than to dally any longer, and he rushed out of this neighbourhood with all that he had. As soon as he left, the sky exploded with a tyrannical roar, and countless Yin spirits were immediately felled like falling stars!

    Boom boom boom!! Earth-shattering explosions were quickly followed by rippling shockwaves that extended one hundred meters from the intense sh between Yin energy and true energy. Apart from that, volley after volley of thousands of arrows were being fired into the battlefield every twenty second, lighting up the sky with a dazzling disy. It was an incredible sight.

    His adrenaline was pumping. Things were most certainly drawing to their climax right now.

    ¡°I only need 60 more merit points¡­ Cao Youdao, I wonder what expression you¡¯re going to make when I finally attain the rank of Soul Hunter¡­¡±

    ¡°Purged one vengeful apparition: 20 merit points awarded.¡±

    Meanwhile, twenty thousand Yin spirits assembled together at the Salvation za and began to forge their way towards the heart of the city center. Their opponents were the Cathayan regiment and the reinforcements that had arrived together with the provincial inspector thatprised twenty Operative-ss cultivators and seventy-eight probationary cultivators. The army¡¯s warning lights shone intently against the ghastly greenish white cloud of Yin energy, as though both sides werepletely unyielding.

    Boom!! A loud explosion urred. The ground was covered with de marks that ran deep into the ground. A female ghost wearing a long white dress shrieked miserably as she was cleaved cleanly into two and promptly vanished into the night sky.

    Qin Ye stood on the top public cemetery in the City of Salvation. Bzzzzzz! The surroundings turned somewhat illusory as the jade green fire burst forth from the demonhead saber. With a low hum, the de of the saber curved in an arc that resembled the curvature of the full moon. Two deep bloody grooves appeared on both sides of the saber.

    ¡°Purged one vengeful apparition: 20 merit points awarded.¡±

    ¡°Bastard!!!¡± Cao Youdao bellowed with rage under the Insignia University. The ss walls in front of him shattered and crumbled to the ground.

    Seven¡­

    There were only two paths avable to him right now.

    But this option was deleted almost as soon as it had surfaced in his mind.

    Two - withdraw his army of Yin spirits and pretend that this night never happened.

    Things have gotten out of hand¡­

    As soon as he called it quits tonight, he would no longer be given the opportunity to kill Qin Ye in the future!

    His enemy was wreaking havoc in his own territory, yet there was nothing he could do about it!

    He didn¡¯t speak a single word. Instead, his mind continued to churn and spin as he frantically calcted all the possibilities. Twenty minutester, he finally spoke with an ashen expression on his face.

    The humanoid paper effigy emerged out of nowhere and muttered, ¡°Sir¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°Just you wait¡­ you mongrel¡­¡±

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    But just then, he suddenly opened his eyes abruptly.

    A distress signal¡­

    And this had just urred!

    Qin Ye hadn¡¯t stopped!

 Chapter 60: Soul Hunter (2)

    <h4>Chapter 60: Soul Hunter (2)</h4>

    His eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Just two more¡­ Of the ten vengeful apparitions that I¡¯ve painstakingly nurtured, I¡¯m only left with two of them!

    And now, it was almost as though he had just returned to square one.

    I¡¯m obviously already letting you off the hook by ordering a ceasefire. Shouldn¡¯t you be stopping to thank your lucky stars instead? Shouldn¡¯t you be thanking the heavens that you¡¯re still alive, before running off as far as you can?

    Have you ever considered my feelings?!

    The fourth hunting zone had been broken.

    Dead silence.

    Secondster, Cao Youdao¡¯s infuriated bellow echoed throughout the entire room, ¡°Ungrateful bastard!!¡±

    ¡°Emissaries of Hell and mortal men can never tread the same path in life. Haven¡¯t your mentors taught you about these things?!¡±

    Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to Cao Youdao¡¯s venomous curses.

    Cao Youdao had undoubtedly achieved his goal of testing the depths of the mortal realm¡¯s might. That said, he had also paid an incredibly hefty price for this - one that waspletely out of proportion to what he had gained!

    The backstory to this was one that was also quite well known. Ten years ago, the mother-inw of the former CEO of Target Incorporated fell seriously ill, and the CEO sold off hispany in order to save her life. His wife¡¯s family was thereby greatly indebted to him. Two yearster, the CEO got into an ident which resulted in the amputation of his legs, rendering him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life. Tragically, his wife ended up cheating on him, while his parents-inw began to vie over his assets.

    He loved smoking, especially the Jade Rivulet brand of cigarettes. Rumours had it that he had actually encountered a stranger on the fateful day of his death. He had intended to ask the stranger to wheel him to help him up. Unfortunately, the stranger immediately ran away. His final words were, ¡°Do you have a lighter?¡±

    The man was severely obese, and his entire body was soaking wet. However, Qin Ye knew better. This was not in obesity - it was swelling and bloatedness.

    He could even see muddy waters from the rivering out of the man¡¯s ears. The man was seated right in front of the river at Riverside Park.

    ¡°You¡­ shouldn¡¯t¡­ have¡­ responded¡­¡± The man¡¯s head swivelled 180 degrees around in a stiff and mechanical fashion. His eyes had already be reced by two deep, dark orifices, while the flesh on his face had ostensibly been nibbled away by the fish in the river, revealing his grisly white bones underneath. With a miserable scream, his tongueshed straight out for Qin Ye¡¯s heart like a slithering snake.

    With a ferocious swing of his saber, Qin Ye cleaved the iling tongue and the disgusting bloated head of the man cleanly in half.

    Qin Ye¡¯s proof of identity flew out and glowed with a trace of golden hue. The words on it were no longer written in ck. Instead, it was written in scarlet red.

    ¡°Currently umted: 200 merit points. Total points required for promotion to the Soul Hunter rank: 0 merit points.¡±

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Duration: 84 days, 3 hours

    ¡°Haa-....¡± Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief. The long arduous night was finally drawing close to its end.

    Just then, even before he could finish his train of thoughts, his Hell¡¯s Emissary Uniform suddenly began to flutter on its own, and the Yin energy that was stored in his body began to roil vigorously. It even made soft gurgling sounds on its own.

    He suddenly discovered that the blood in his body was actually vaporizing on its own!

    Over and above all that, an incredible might that was beyond what he had ever imagined was possible threatened to explode from within. He endured, and endured, until finally, he could endure no longer!

    Bzzzzt¡­ All of the Yin spirits in the city froze, and then turned to face the direction where Riverside Park was located. Their eyes were filled with horror and bewilderment.

    It bore supreme authority over the Yin spirits, and suppressed them on a qualitative level. Even though the Yin spirits were all young ghosts, they nevertheless felt as though, right in front of them, a massive gateway that stood as tall as the heavens and was enshrouded with Yin energy was slowly being opened.

    ¡°Sss¡­ sss sss!!!¡± Cao Youdao¡¯s only remaining hunting zone was also located in the north of the city. At this very moment, the vengeful apparition that looked like a middle-aged person subconsciously let out a terrified scream. And then¡­ he prostrated himself in the direction of Riverside Park.

    North of the city, along the food street.

    Hundreds - perhaps even thousands - of Yin spirits carried their rednterns as they continued to batter against the barrier of copper coins in front of them. Countless Yin spirits had already been felled this way, yet the backlines of the Yin army just kept pouring in. They were relentless.

    ¡°There¡¯s no backup!!¡± Themanding officer grabbed a crossbow and rushed to the forefront of battle and yelled, ¡°Comrades, when you¡¯re defending the city, I want you to remember that your family and your loved ones who are suffering from this supernatural upheaval are being protected in a simr fashion right now!¡±

    ¡°We shall stubbornly hold our ground here until reinforcements arrive. Retreat is out of the question! Fire!!¡±

    And he was not the only one. Practically everyone froze at the same time and stared nkly at the sea of Yin spirits. The Yin spirits had suddenly ceased their onught!

    A Soul Hunter had just been ordained. On the other hand, Cao Youdao was not a genuine Soul Hunter! The Yin spirits naturally experienced an innate deference to the authority of the genuine Soul Hunter!

    The Soul Hunter who had just appeared was their one true lord.

    Within ten seconds, the Yin spirits that had been charging madly at the garrison of soldiers just seconds ago were suddenly kneeling down and paying their respects to their new master.

    He was pointing out the obvious.

    A Yin flower had appeared in the sky. The Yin petals congealed together to form a massive ck spider lily stretching twenty meters up and spanning fifty meters across. Its illusory leaves and branches were even extending out of the flower across the Riverside Park.

    However, he was alreadyte to the party.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Then, just as he was about to make his move, he suddenly froze and looked to the north of the city with disbelief, ¡°This is¡­¡±

    ¡°Is a ghost actually breaking through to the Soul Hunter rank right now? Could this be the head honcho of the City of Salvation personally making a move?¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately darted into his designated vehicle andmanded the driver, ¡°Pronto! Head to the north of the city! Inform all cultivators to gather there right now!¡±

    The one who was most astonished was naturally the person located within the Orchid Clubhouse underneath the Insignia University - Cao Youdao.

    He had noticed it as soon as Qin Ye¡¯s Yin energy erupted uncontrobly. That said, his first thought was - What¡¯s this? That¡¯s impossible. That¡¯s absolutely impossible! The world is deceiving me!

    ¡°This¡­ this is impossible¡­¡± His hands trembled uncontrobly as he habitually reached for his wine ss, only to discover that there was nothing around him.

    Thus, when he motioned to pick up his wine ss, he found absolutely nothing.

    ¡°I refuse to believe this¡­ It¡¯s a lie! It has to be a lie!!¡±

    In fact, his release of the Yin spirits for surveince tonight was built on a single presupposition.

    But reality had given him a huge p to the face.

    Secondster, he pulled back his hand with an ancient manuscript in his grasp. He opened it like a fanatic, only to be struck senseless by reality.

    Not even his own name was written in Hell¡¯s Records.

    ¡°I¡¯m not here¡­ but you are?!!!¡± He rubbed furiously at Qin Ye¡¯s name, attempting to erase it from Hell¡¯s records. But no matter how hard he tried, the manuscript wasn¡¯t damaged in the slightest.

    He understood everything.

    As soon as Qin Ye became a Soul Hunter, the first thing he would do is toe for his own life!

    This was a battle among the Emissaries of Hell after all.

    He would be waiting patiently for the arrival of his nemesis!

 Chapter 61: A Warlockâ€™s Dog

    <h4>Chapter 61: A Warlock''s Dog</h4>

    Time passed quickly.

    Cao Youdao¡¯s expressions went from fanatical and venomous to that of absolute tranquility.

    He was waiting.

    He was eagerly awaiting Qin Ye¡¯s arrival. He knew that Qin Ye would most definitelye for him.

    Forty minutes in, a soft knock sounded at the door, ¡°May Ie in?¡±(TL: This was spoken in english.)

    ¡°To think that you would recall my international affiliation.¡± Cao Youdaoughed, ¡°Come in.¡±

    The door swung open, yet the person who entered didn¡¯t look like a human being at all.

    It was still Qin Ye¡¯s physique. However, his irises were now ck, while his pupils were white. His long white hair danced about on its own without any wind, and his skin appeared incredibly pale.

    The quality of his uniform looked far better than it had ever been before, as though it were made of soft, rolling silk. The asymmetrical ck robe was embroidered with three round ck-and-white patterns, and he wore a ck fretwork chinese skullcap on his head. Over and above that, he now wore a que around his waist that he never had before. Two words were inscribed on the que in blood-red lettering - Soul Hunter.

    Qin Ye walked into the room slowly. As expected, there wasn¡¯t a single Yin spirit that remained in this ce. His entire army of Yin spirits had been caught at the heel by the mortal realm¡¯s army. There was simply no means of retreat for them.

    Then again, now that there was a fully-fledged Soul Hunter in the vicinity, the Yin spirits would no longer be subservient to Cao Youdao in any event.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­¡± Qin Ye carried a 1.5 meter scabbard on his back. He nced about at the mess within the Orchid Clubhouse and eximed, ¡°Such extravagance! Mr Cao, you¡¯ve just smashed up a few million dors¡¯ worth of decor and equipment¡­ But I¡¯ve got to apud the fact that you didn¡¯t vomit blood despite the intense fury stirring in your heart. How cultured.¡±

    Cao Youdao¡¯s lips stretched out into a thin grimace, but he remained silent.

    The two stood on opposite ends of the pit - one at the north, while the other at the south. Cao Youdao ced his hands on the hilt of his sword. The sword was already unsheathed. Cao Youdao had earlier stuck it into the ground. His uniform fluttered wildly on its own as intense Yin energy poured out of his sleeves and his seven apertures.

    Qin Ye was the same as well. That said, Qin Ye¡¯s expression looked far more vicious. His ck irises and white pupils were akin to a deration that he was apletely different being from Cao Youdao altogether.

    ¡°Do you know something?¡± Cao Youdao finally spoke up with a calm and tranquil voice, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it for a long time, and I¡¯vee up with three possible answers.¡±

    His voice was somewhat hoarse, ¡°Firstly, I didn¡¯t expect the treasure of Hell in your possession to be able to conceal the aura from your body. Secondly, I¡¯d underestimated your shamelessness, and the fact that you would deign to hide under the protection of the mortal realm,pletely abandoning the sacred creed that Hell and the mortal realm should never mix with each other. You¡¯ve got no bottom line.¡±

    Qin-mercenary-Ye was displeased.

    What do you mean by shameless?

    It¡¯s called a tactical decision!

    Cao Youdao continued his spiel, ¡°Thirdly, I¡¯d never expected you to possess¡­ the genuine proof of identity of an Emissary of Hell!¡±

    ¡°This is the only way you can be promoted directly to a Soul Hunter without personally writing your name into Hell¡¯s Records at all. All of the conditions are stacked against me. I¡¯ve lost in an unjust battle.¡±

    Nobody spoke up for a while after that. There wasplete silence. Then, finally, Qin Ye adjusted his expressions and sighed wistfully, ¡°I can¡¯t bear to make a move against a former colleague of mine either¡­¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t bear to do it?¡± Cao Youdao sneered, ¡°Nobody in this world would ever ept the existence of another person like himself.¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t perish today, I¡¯ll definitely turn things around and do everything in my abilities to kill you.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°That¡¯s right. The truth of the matter is that I never wanted things to be like this. If not for the fact that an old granny forced me into a corner like this, I¡¯d never bother to make a move against you. And now that I think about it, I must say that that old granny is truly skillful to have struck at my g-spot so urately¡­¡±

    Cao Youdaoughed, ¡°If you became the next Yama-King, you would probably be the most unprincipled Yama-King in all of history, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too much of an exaggeration. I simply don¡¯t want to die. If anyone tries to kill me, I¡¯ll strike back without mercy. If the world is at peace, you¡¯ll find me like a harmless little fish swimming happily in my little pond. Well then¡­¡± Qin Ye set down his saber¡¯s massive scabbard on the ground, ¡°Anyst words?¡±

    Cao Youdao raised his sword with a faint smile on his face, ¡°Onest question.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you encounter the Hellguard-ss officer from Sierra City when you broke through the Soul Hunter rank earlier? Why didn¡¯t he kill you there and then?¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s simple¡­ I¡¯d naturally crossed paths with him. How could I possibly outrun him? That said¡­ I¡¯d used the treasure on my body to disguise my appearance as another Anitya Hellguard, and I¡¯d also told him that I would personallye for your life. Thus¡­ he let me off without another question.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s far more powerful than the Hell¡¯s Records in my possession.¡± Cao Youdao eximed with a smile. In the very next second, a de shot through the air and flew straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s throat!

    ¡°How dare a newly ordained Soul Hunter act defiantly in front of his senior!¡± Qin Ye leaned his head to the side, and strands of white hair were sliced cleanly in two. Cao Youdao bellowed, ¡°Today, I¡¯ll take it upon myself to teach you what the true power of a Soul Hunter is!¡±

    In an instant, the long sword in his hand shattered into a thousand gleams of cold des. Everything was different this time. Qin Ye could hear the cries of a thousand ghostsing from each particle in the air, constantly messing with his mind.

    Boom!! The saber was quicker than the sword. The massive demonhead saber was a full one foot three inches wide, and four feet five inches long. The zing green mes around the saber shed powerfully against the rain of des.

    A massive noise resounded. Cao Youdao¡¯s eyes widened with astonishment as he was knocked three meters back with a muffled grunt. He struck the wall with a dull thud.

    The sword was light and agile, while the saber was thick and powerful. Without the genuine proof of identity on his side, Cao Youdao had undoubtedly failed to take the upper hand in the sh of might.

    The green mes continued to spread like a poisonous snake. Before Cao Youdao could even shake off the embers in front of him, a st of energy made the air in front of him suddenly turn corporeal with a loud rushing sound. Without hesitation, he let out a loud whistle and released two green spots of light from his sleeves. The green spots of light shed powerfully against the st of energy.

    There was a loud bang, and green mes shot everywhere. Cao Youdao¡¯s body crashed into the wall behind him. But at the very least, he had managed to avoid a potentially fatal blow.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± He heaved a sigh of relief. Then, gnashing his teeth, his body suddenly exploded and transformed into a massive Yin gale and swept violently around Qin Ye.

    Almost simultaneously, Qin Ye¡¯s great sabernded heavily on the ground. The powerful impact earlier had caused a massive crack to appear on his saber.

    Right now, a full set of skeletal bones had already extended out from the skull at the hilt of his sword, almost as though it were creeping onto the body of the de. Its presence added an ashen, pearly white gleam to the de, entuated only by the ghastly green mes that burnt ceaselessly.

    Coupled with the striking Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform, Qin Ye presented himself with an impablyherworldly charm. His appearances right now were a perfect representation of an archetypal Hell¡¯s Emissary.

    In the very next moment, the Yin energy materialized and transformed into a six metersrge Yin vortex that wrapped fiercely around Qin Ye. At the same time, countless dreadful jasper spots of light appeared within the vortex like a sea of stars, and hurtled towards Qin Ye.

    ng ng ng! The sound emitted was like rain striking a lute. Qin Ye¡¯s de dance engulfed him within a sphere of mes. But as soon as he made first contact with the jasper lights, his eyes immediately widened.

    Heavy¡­

    He couldn¡¯t tell what exactly these jasper lights were, but each and every single one of them contained enough power to cause his demonhead saber to recoil with trembling. One could only imagine the damage caused if a single one of these lights struck his body - they would break more than just his tendons and bones!

    ¡°Idiot!!¡± Just then, a voice that had been silent for a long time yelled out again, ¡°Who told you to block those things head on?¡±

    Arthis?

    Such vigor and energy. She must be fully awake again¡­

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye didn¡¯t have the time to respond, because the jasper lights had begun to converge from all directions, transforming into a wall of light that was closing in on him!

    ¡°Shit!!¡± Qin Ye cursed as he released a sea of soul shackles spinning rapidly around him, just like an iron barrel concealing his body.

    BOOM!!

    Green mes shot everywhere, and the jasper lights that filled the room like stars were deflected away. However, the jasper lights quickly swam back into the vortex as though they were fish in the ocean.

    ¡°What the hell is this thing? How could I be losing to an Emissary of Hell who¡¯s had his license revoked?¡± Qin Ye eximed.

    ¡°Yin artifact.¡± Arthis muttered cidly, ¡°Certain objects, if exposed to an area filled with Yin energy for a long time, would begin to be nourished and pervaded by the Yin energy around it. With the effluxion of time, these objects will gradually transform into Yin artifacts. Truth be told, any Emissary of Hell who attains the Soul Hunter rank would immediately gain ess to Hell¡¯s arts. Unfortunately, he doesn¡¯t possess the proof of identity, and the natural orders of the world don¡¯t recognize him as such. Naturally, he remains unable to tap into the secrets of Hell¡¯s arts.

    ¡°Then, I¡­¡±

    ¡°Idiot¡­¡± Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°As a genuine Emissary of Hell, every single thing you have on you is a Yin artifact! And each of them are of far higher grade than the artifacts he possesses! These are all authentic bestowments from Hell that have been bathed in Yin energy for eons! Run the saber across your palm and you¡¯ll be able to suppress him immediately!¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his palm across the back edge of the saber.

    And then he looked nkly at the soul sphere that floated out in front of him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be @#($*&@(#^)$$!!!¡± Arthis was hopping mad, and she fiercely repressed the thunderous fury boiling deep within her heart, ¡°Use! The! de!!¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, before cautiously slicing his palm with the de, grimacing as he watched a drop of blood drip onto the saber.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°I guess I should really praise you for standing your ground in front of Cao Youdao and not entertaining any thoughts of escape¡­ I¡¯d really thought that you¡¯d changed for the better¡­¡±

    ¡°But what do you know! Have I ever backed down when it was time to fight? This is apletely unnecessary wound!¡± ¡°It¡¯s almost like you¡¯re impervious to pain in a massive car crash, yet you¡¯re incredibly daunted by the prospects of a small prick on your finger at the doctors¡¯ to guarantee your health!¡±

    ¡°... Why does it feel as though you¡¯ve be filled with confidence ever since I¡¯ve awakened? Do you actually have the energy toin so much while facing an opponent that is on the same rank as you are?¡±

    Just as his blood fell onto the de of his saber, the demonhead saber immediately shone with a ring red light. As a chilling gale filled with a blood stench swept across the room, the surrounding Yin energy was immediately dispersed. Cao Youdao¡¯s body returned to his corporeal form, and his face was filled with an expression of horror.

    A rosary made of 81 human skulls wrapped around his body, while the skulls continued to ze with an eerie green glow in their eyes.

    ¡°An Emissary¡¯s de release¡­¡± Cao Youdao stared resentfully at the saber that was now stained with blood as he gnashed his teeth, ¡°You¡¯re just a newly-minted Soul Hunter¡­ How could you possibly know of such things?!!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Before he finished speaking, a scarlet red light filled the entire Orchid Clubhouse, and a human figure slowly rose from the de.

    He was only an inch tall, yet Cao Youdao trembled and retreated into the corner like he had just witnessed the most horrific thing. The rosary of human skulls also dimmed under the oppressive glow of the scarlet light.

    The humanoid figure looked somewhat sleepy as it turned and bowed respectfully to Qin Ye. Then, it turned back to face Cao Youdao.

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    Before Cao Youdao could finish his sentence, a sudden gust of wind shot through the room, and Cao Youdao¡¯s headnded on the ground!

    Fast.

    Incredibly fast!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even see how the humanoid figure had made his move. No¡­ in the first ce, how could such a small being cause such a huge impact? That instant just now didn¡¯t only affect Cao Youdao. Even Qin Ye¡¯s uniform and hair were swept around by the gust of wind earlier. Ayer of goosebumps crawled all over Qin Ye¡¯s skin.

    This was absolute suppression!

    He suddenly felt as though the saber in his hands was like a dog.

    A dog that was dragging along its warlock...

 Chapter 62: Blood Sacrifice

    <h4>Chapter 62: Blood Sacrifice</h4>

    Cao Youdao¡¯s headless corpse swayed in the hall. Shortly afterwards, copious amounts of Yin energy began to pour out of the severed neck, transforming into a whirlpool of Yin energy that screamed as it swept violently about the entire room.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh¡­¡± The Yin energy transformed into a powerful five-meter vortex that hovered ominously above Cao Youdao¡¯s headless corpse. Momentster, the Yin energy congealed into innumerable ck butterflies that disintegrated in no time and vanished into the surroundings.

    Meanwhile, the horde of Yin spirits scattered across the entire City of Salvation instantly fell silent.

    The City of Salvation¡¯s Second Avenue. A long convoy of police and military vehicles were parked along the side of the wide road, while hundreds of soldiers were lined up in four neat rows in front of them. A rope with innumerable copper coins established a protective cordon around the soldiers, while talismans hung loosely from them. Approximately three thousand Yin spirits holding onto scarletnterns were gathered right in front of them, drifting slowly towards them like a raging tide of spirits.

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± ¡°Sss¡­¡± The miserable cries of the Yin spirits echoed eerily throughout the night sky. They slowly rose like a massive wave, threatening to crash onto the soldiers in front.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± The soldiers deployed at the front of the formation gritted their teeth. Strict regimentation had instilled in them a sense of duty and deference. Yet the reality right now was that they were faced with an immensely threatening tidal wave of Yin spirits while protected only by a thin line of copper coins. Any soldier that imed to be fearless in such a situation would be lying. Yet, despite that, nobody retreated.

    Even though their legs were trembling slightly, their arms remained straight and their backs were erect. ¡°Release!¡± A domineering voice yelled. Crossbow bolts immediately filled the sky, dragging zing talisman through the air as they crashed straight into the tide of Yin spirits.

    Unfortunately, there were just too many of them.

    They had annihted the first wave of Yin spirits, but the second wave of Yin spirits immediately charged forward with wanton disregard for their own lives. Rattle rattle¡­ The protective line of copper coins rattled violently with the wind. As the Yin spirits continued to pour in, they began to pile up in front of the line, just like a rising mountain. They were on the verge of breaching the protective cordon.

    ¡°Damn¡­ There¡¯s just no end to these ghosts!!¡± One of the officers sitting in a car located in the center of the convoy hammered hard on the steering wheel and stood up abruptly, ¡°Hold the front!! We¡¯ve got to hold the front no matter what! The battle is now at a critical juncture in other parts of the city! We cannot afford to screw up!!¡±

    ¡°Commander!¡± The orderly beside him cried out anxiously, ¡°A third of our men are already down for the count! How do you expect us to hold the front?!¡±

    A number of soldiersy motionlessly just behind themander¡¯s vehicle. There were no wounds on him at all. However, his face was pale and ashen, and his entire body was freezing cold and numb. His heart pounded on feebly and faintly.

    It was almost as though he were in cryostasis.

    Yin energy had pervaded every corner of his body. If they continued to fight on like this, the incapacitated soldiers would most certainly lose their lives within the hour.

    ¡°This is an order!¡± Themander gritted his teeth and barked despondently, ¡°Even if we have to throw our bodies at the enemy, we must not lose this garrison!!¡±

    Yet, before he could even finish speaking, a loud explosion urred, and the rope of copper coins shattered to pieces, scattering the coins across the sky like twinkling stars in the night.

    Time seemed to pause at this tragic, somber moment.

    The stunnedmander turned his attention straight towards the frontline. Without the protection of the copper coin rope, the multitude of Yin spirits would be able to run amok without restraint. Themander drew a deep breath and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°Hold--...¡±

    Yet he froze before he couldplete his orders.

    And he was not the only one who had frozen in ce - even the frontline soldiers werepletely bbergasted by what they saw.

    They had already folded their arms across their chests in a defensive posture in preparation to make a final stand. However, the chilling wave of energy that they had expected never quite arrived.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± One of the young frontline soldiers covered in cold sweat was stunned as he stared vacantly at the tide of Yin spirits in front of him. He could even see the vicious expressions on the greenish-white body of the Yin spirit closest to him. That said¡­ the entire wave of Yin spirits had simply stopped moving.

    They were moving like a rushing tide just a second ago, yet they were simply still as a rock right now.

    And this phenomenon wasn¡¯t merely localized to the Second Avenue. Right this moment, the tidal waves of Yin spirits ploughing down the City of Salvation¡¯s People¡¯s Park, Prosperity Street, Dragonhorse Avenue¡­ had all ceased to move entirely!

    ¡°He¡¯s done it¡­¡± Back at the city center, Zhang Chenghai¡¯s eyes gleamed as he stared at the monitor in front of him, ¡°This means that the head honcho is finally defeated. The Yin spirits have lost their master¡­¡±

    Boom!!

    In the next instant, the congregations of Yin spirits located at various parts of the City of Salvation immediately scattered wildly in all directions, right in front of the eyes of the two thousand soldiers that had been deployed.

    The ghosts had lost their leader; they had beenpletely routed.

    Whoosh¡­ The cultivators who possessed the ability to perceive Yin spirits also suddenly discovered that the innumerable scarletnterns that were strewn all over the ce had silently extinguished their mes within.

    The thick aura of Yin energy began to ebb away into the darkness from where it came, leaving the lights of the mortal realm zing brightly like a beacon at night.

    It was as though the moon had lost its luster, and the surrounding stars had all ceased to twinkle brightly. Within ten minutes, all of the scarletnterns on the ground extinguished their mes automatically. Shortly after that, they spontaneouslybusted with a radiant ze, consuming the entirentern together with the stark ¡°Cao¡± character on it until nothing was left.

    Zhang Chenghai, Elder Mei and the nun stood shoulder to shoulder on the television tower, gazing down at the receding tide of Yin energy throughout the city. They could vaguely make out the gleaming vibrancy of life echoing from the heart of the city once more, and they all heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°With immediate effect¡­¡± Zhang Chenghai¡¯s eyelids twitched excitedly as he hoarsely ordered, ¡°This morning at dawn, all soldiers are to raise the gs of our nation on every streetmp on every corner of the city!!¡±

    ¡°This is a deration to all ghosts who dare infiltrate the mortal realm¡­ that we are the ones who stand sovereign over thesends!¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, a man in a suit rushed over to his side and whispered into his ears, ¡°Sir, the orders from above have arrived.¡±

    ¡°It pertains to¡­ the future of the City of Salvation. It¡¯s a red docket, and it¡¯s of utmost priority. The mayor and the bookkeeper are both already waiting for you.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Qin Ye was no longer aware of the affairs taking ce throughout the City of Salvation.

    As soon as he purged Cao Youdao, his proof of identity floated out of his chest once more, and a line of red words appeared on its register, ¡°Purged: one Hunter-ss vengeful apparition: 200 merit points awarded.¡±

    ¡°Currently umted: 200 merit points. Total points required for promotion to the Anitya Hellguard rank: 1800 merit points.¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered.

    What¡¯s the difference? I¡¯ve got no ns to go any further. So what if it¡¯s 1,800 points? Even if it¡¯s 18,000 points, it¡¯s all the same to me.

    He looked at the inch-tall humanoid figure and asked in bewilderment, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your de release.¡± Arthis responded, ¡°All the artifacts used by genuine Emissaries of Hell are treasures that have been infused by the breath of the Sixfold Ghost Kings. As soon as you attain the Soul Hunter level and have your name recorded and recognized by Hell¡¯s Records, you¡¯ll be able to summon the breath of the Sixfold Ghost Kings by dripping your blood on the de of your sword."

    ¡°A blood sacrifice?¡±

    ¡°In a manner of speaking¡­¡± Arthis continued resentfully, ¡°The more blood you use, the stronger the breath of the Sixfold Ghost King summoned¡­ I¡¯d never expected you to have made only a one-centimeter cut on the palm of your hand! You¡¯re a coward to the extreme!¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever contemted the possibility that the breath of the Sixfold Ghost King summoned wouldn¡¯t be able to kill Cao Youdao? What would¡¯ve happened to you then?¡±

    Qin Ye was incredibly displeased, ¡°What do you know? I¡¯ll never give what I don¡¯t need to give. This is the result of my meticulous calctions! Let me ask you - what was the oue in the end?¡±

    Arthis remained silent.

    The most annoying thing was the fact that Cao Youdao was simply too weak! He had cost her a prime opportunity to educate the piece of trash from her moral high ground!

    And now, she couldn¡¯t even argue against him!

    ¡°You just got lucky this time¡­¡± Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°You should pick up Hell¡¯s Records now. If my guess is right, this pit should lead directly to Hell. In fact, it probably used to be one of the passageways between Hell and the mortal realm. Hell¡¯s Records should have been washed out of this pit during the great copse. This was probably what gave Cao Youdao a chance at survival to begin with.¡±

    Qin Ye stood by the side of the pit and stuck his neck out as far as he could as he cautiously peered into the pit. Triggered by his cowardice, Arthis fantasized about the prospects of smashing his head into the pit.

    ¡°Passageway to Hell?¡±

    Arthis responded, ¡°That¡¯s right. There are many such passageways spread out all across Cathay, most of which are located in ces that humans won¡¯t be able to find. How else do you think Hell does its work in the mortal realm? ¡®Boop¡¯, and we appear on earth?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head.

    Then, just as Arthis¡¯ gaze was exploding with frustration, Qin Ye began to pick up the surrounding wreckage and threw them into the pit!

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?!!¡± Arthis felt as though her menopause had just set in - as she got to know Qin Ye better, she also found herself getting increasingly triggered by his actions. She practically screamed at him, ¡°Even though Hell¡¯s Records aren¡¯t one of the three primordial treasures, it¡¯s still a prized treasure that was in possession of the Yama-King of the third pce, Yama-King Songdi! It possesses the power to suppress the ckrope Abyssal Court! It¡¯s practically a single step away from being considered one of the primordial treasures! Without it, you¡¯ll at best be able to rise through the ranks, but you won¡¯t have the ability to bestow promotions on other people!! You won¡¯t have the ability to establish your own people!¡±

    Qin Ye looked at Arthis in bewilderment, ¡°Why would I want to bestow promotions on others?¡±

    ¡°Let me do the math for you. I¡¯m already holding onto a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and the other heretic who¡¯s been threatening my survival has already been expunged from the face of the world. In other words, as long as I hold onto this shard, I can continue to live in peace until the end of time!¡±

    Arthis was suddenly silent.

    ¡°Arti?¡± After minutes of silence, Qin Ye became fraught with concern that his bombshell on Arthis had caused her to pass away from shock. Thus, he probed for her response uneasily.

    ¡°Haha¡­ so that¡¯s what you¡¯ve been thinking all this while¡­¡± After another minute or so, Arthis chuckled coldly, ¡°Why don¡¯t you think back a little bit more carefully. With Granny Meng¡¯s status as a key figure of Hell, why was she in the mortal realm for such a long time? What was she trying to achieve?¡±

    Before Qin Ye could respond, she continued with a low voice, ¡°If it were merely for the sake of a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, do you think I would¡¯ve tried so hard to seize Wang Zemin¡¯s soul in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Kid¡­ I don¡¯t know whether you¡¯re unwilling to consider these things seriously, or whether you¡¯re simply in denial. But the truth of the matter is that this is something you¡¯ll never be able to run away from¡­¡±

    Her voice grew iparably somber, ¡°King Yanluo¡¯s Seal¡­ is the first of the three primordial treasures of Hell. The Yellow Springs, which is core to the foundation of Hell, is hidden within King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. In other words, the assembly of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is tantamount to the revivification of Hell!¡±

    ¡°The gates of Fengdu Necropolis would open its gates once more, and order would reign in the underworld! Everything in hell would be restored to its previous glory! This¡­ is no different from the genesis of the underworld!¡±

    ¡°Enough!!¡± Qin Ye bellowed with a cold, chilling voice, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear anymore.¡±

    Arthisughed, ¡°Hiding¡­ you¡¯re hiding again? I naturally don¡¯t me you for this. The duty of the one who holds onto the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is massive. Anyone in your shoes would want to shirk this responsibility. However, Granny Meng hasn¡¯t ever given you the opportunity to do so!¡±

    ¡°Do you think she dallied the departing of her spirit just so that she could entrust you with a card collecting game?¡±

    ¡°Wrong! She was looking for the next King Yanluo! The person who assembles King Yanluo¡¯s Seal would be able to bring forth the Yellow Springs and reestablish Hell once more! He would possess the authority to appoint Yama-Kings, Abyssal Prefects, Infernal Judges and Anitya Hellguards! He would restore Hell to its former glory, and restore order to the mortal realm once more!! This is as glorious an achievement as things get!¡±

    ¡°And this is why I¡¯d been trying my hardest to steal Wang Zemin¡¯s soul from you that day! This is why Granny Meng looked for you! It¡¯s because you¡¯ve eaten the fungus of aeons, and you¡¯re practically an immortal! You¡¯ve got an infinite amount of time ahead of you to aplish this magnificent task! In other words, you¡¯re the single, best candidate for the job!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!¡± Qin Ye violently grabbed the soul sphere and threw it against the wall.

    As the soul sphere tumbled down with a grunt, Arthis nced over at Qin Ye¡¯s heaving and falling chest as sheughed contemptuously, ¡°As expected¡­ you¡¯ve already guessed as much¡­ I knew that you were smarter than a monkey. You¡¯ve been refined through decades of life experiences, so how could you possibly have failed to consider these things? You must have guessed all of this when I first mentioned that the Yellow Springs were hidden within King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, haven¡¯t you?¡±

 Chapter 63: King Yanluoâ€™s Successor

    <h4>Chapter 63: King Yanluo''s Sessor</h4>

    ¡°Why?¡± Qin Ye pulled out his saber and pointed it towards the soul sphere as he gritted his teeth, ¡°Why do you all have to keep forcing me to do things I don¡¯t want to do?¡±

    Arthis was unrelenting, ¡°As I¡¯d mentioned before, you¡¯ve traded your life in exchange for the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. This is a responsibility you¡¯ve taken on for yourself!¡±

    ¡°I understand where you¡¯reing from. I¡¯m not ming you this time. It really is a huge burden to carry, and giving up ispletely excusable. But the question is¡­ is it really an option for you?¡±

    ¡°Did it ever ur to you that¡­ there¡¯s still someone in Westriver who¡¯s holding onto shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?! Even if they¡¯re unable to look beyond the province and pinpoint your exact whereabouts, their strength is definitely no lower than that of a mere Hellguard-ss ghost. In fact, they might very well even be of the same strength as me! Do you think he wouldn¡¯t be aware of the true purposes of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?¡±

    ¡°A person who would even consider breeding fodder using shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal would most certainly be someone that requires the intervention of the Sixfold Ghost Kings to apprehend. Do you think such an entity would spare anyone holding onto his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal? Do you think you¡¯ll be able to rest easy by hiding in the crevices of the City of Salvation?¡±

    The soul sphere shook its head, ¡°Kid¡­ you¡¯ve never seen an incarnate revenant, have you? Ghosts that exceed the strength of Hellguard-ss Emissaries employ such horrific killing techniques¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say you¡¯ll be dead before you even know it. The supernatural perimeter won¡¯t be able to do a thing against it.¡±

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and regted his intense breathing. Secondster, he responded cidly, ¡°I think we need to have a good chat about this matter. We¡¯ve had a bit of a rough patchtely¡­ That said, things have never really been rosy between us.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing much talking about, little one. There¡¯s just no way you can back away from this. The fact that Granny Meng has personally shown up at your door means that she has already chosen you. I don¡¯t know any ways of circumventing this issue. Truth be told, if it were even possible, I¡¯d be far more inclined to be the next King Yanluo myself.¡±

    ¡°Think about it - King Yanluo¡­ the ruler of the underworld! You hold the all-important proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell, as well as the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal! Your opening act couldn¡¯t have been much better! Hundreds of yearster, all the Yin spirits in the world will tremble at yourmand, a harem of women will be ripe for your picking, the world will be under your sole authority - what else can you ask for?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to mold Hell from scratch to perfection at your desires. You can create an all new Naraka Bridge, and even mandate everyone to drink Coke! You can appoint a new Ferryman, and no one would be able to say a thing against you even if you collect fees for the ferry. You can even personally interrogate the evils who had eluded capture and punishment in the mortal realm¡­ for instance, those whomit insurance fraud, or those who abuse their age or sex to get away with their crimes, or even those who bow down to their own greed¡­ Good will be repaid with good, and evil with evil, and all it requires is a single word from you.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully.

    ¡°But I just want to gaze out into the ocean and smell the flowers....¡±

    Arthritis responded softly, ¡°Kid¡­ every single person in this world has their purposes and duties. From the moment you ate the fungus of aeons, you¡¯re no longer considered a normal human being. This is part of the natural order of cause and effect. If you don¡¯t ept this, then¡­ nobody will be able to protect you.¡±

    ¡°The opportunity to reestablish Hell is far too tempting. Even if it means being battered down by the forces of the mortal realm until he¡¯s barely hanging onto his life, he will undoubtedly stille after you no matter what the cost!¡±

    Many of the things which Qin Ye had attempted to keep hidden and concealed were slowly but surely being unraveled, bit by bit. Qin Ye was no longer annoyed. Rather, it might be more urate to say that he had already been expecting the arrival of a day like this ever since he discovered his lot in life.

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ embracing my lot as King Yanluo¡¯s sessor might not be a bad choice after all.¡± After a long time, he finally smiled softly in resignation.

    Arthis smiled as well, ¡°It¡¯s certainly much more than that. You¡¯ll know it when youmence the reestablishment of Hell. That sense of aplishment and ecstasy thates with the creation of a realm truly knows no bounds.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head with aplicated smile. Secondster, he puffed up his chest and raised his eyebrows, ¡°So, the first thing we¡¯ve got to do is to dig up Hell¡¯s Records?¡±

    Arthis responded, ¡°That¡¯s right. Hell¡¯s treasures abound, and they aren¡¯t easily destroyed either, even with the ascension of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Unfortunately, they¡¯ve probably been scattered all over Cathay. That said, each and every piece you find will be of immeasurable help.¡±

    ¡°For instance, with Hell¡¯s Records in your possession, you¡¯ll be able to appoint your own Emissaries of Hell. With your present strength, you¡¯ll only be able to appoint Emissaries that are one rank lower than you. In other words¡­¡±

    Arthis paused, before continuing indistinctly, ¡°Even if the people around you pass on, you¡¯ll still be able to keep them alive through other means.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Then, he reached his hand into the pit below abruptly.

    Since things were going to be an inescapable inevitability, then there was no longer any reason to continue avoiding it.

    The precondition to his life of hiding and survival is that it shouldn¡¯t affect his lifestyle. But now that his own life had been subject to aplete overhaul, he would naturally deal with the upheaval like how he dealt with the Wang n female ghost or Cao Youdao.

    He would probe at it, get used to it, crack it, and master it.

    After all, it¡¯s only when one is forced to the precipice between life and death that he would realize just how precious life truly is.

    Laziness and apathy had been nothing more than a mere pursuit of a better life.

    The pit in front of him wasn¡¯t just an empty hole.

    Rather, there was an intense gathering of Yin energy which congealed into each their own rolling clouds.

    And right at the heart of the rolling clouds sat a glimmer of golden light that was iparably striking, almost as though it were a dazzling star.

    Shl¡­ A long chain shot out of Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves and wrapped around the mysterious object. Then, with a powerful yank, an ancient manuscriptnded right in the palm of his hands.

    The appearance of the manuscript was hardly remarkable.

    It glowed with a faint golden hue. Both the edges of the pages and the blue cover of the manuscript were slightly tattered. Two words were written on the cover in mboyant lettering, ¡°Hell¡¯s Records¡±.

    Qin Ye stared intently at the manuscript, and then shook his head and smiled to himself as he tightened his grip around it.

    Boom!

    Just then, his soul suddenly flew out of his body and drifted further and further out, and his surroundings grew darker and darker, until finally¡­ a door to the heavens appeared right in front of his eyes!

    The white marble door appeared ancient but simple. The eighteen abysses of Hell were all etched onto it in an incredibly realistic and lifelike manner. It was awe-inspiring at a nce.

    Kkkkkrrrrr¡­ The doors opened up, and a mellow yet iparably thick wave of Yin energy slowly drifted out.

    It was majestic and lofty. The Yin energy that drifted out was so thick that it had even materialized. As soon as Qin Ye touched it, his scalp immediately went numb, and his breathing even became ragged and unnatural.

    Kkkkkrrrr¡­ It was as though an invisible giant were bearing down on him. Qin Ye gritted his teeth and fought against the immense pressure. Unfortunately, his knees buckled and he copsed to the ground mere secondster with profuse sweat covering his entire head.

    ¡°Whose aura is this¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too powerful¡­ it¡¯s almost as though¡­ I¡¯m facing Hell itself!¡±

    At the exact same time that Qin Ye¡¯s knees buckled, the door opened up fully, revealing¡­ a ghastly scene within.

    Countless people, all of whom were naked, were dangling from ck ropes from above, while innumerable knives and axes continuously hacked away at their bodies. Many of these people perished under Qin Ye¡¯s watchful eyes, and those who did were immediately reduced to wisps of Yin energy that quickly dispersed into the surroundings.

    Those who remained alive would then be dragged down from the ropes by the countless ghostly peons and pressed face down onto a b of red-hot iron, where they would scream miserably as their flesh sizzled, emitting billowing smoke and the nauseating stench of burning flesh. Searing flesh, scorched bones, and burnt marrow.

    More people turned into a wisp of Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the surroundings. Those who still didn¡¯t perish were then strung up using red-hot iron chains and exposed to an endless Yin gale that battered their bodies, turning them into nothing more than dried, withered corpses.

    A man wearing a crown and dressed in ck was located right in the middle of where all these things took ce.

    He had his back faced towards Qin Ye, and his appearances were hidden. That said, his towering body stood as tall as the heavens, just like the materialization of Arthis¡¯ aura a little while ago.

    Suddenly, Qin Ye¡¯s body trembled violently. When he returned to his senses, he discovered that he was already back in Cao Youdao¡¯sir once more.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the ckrope Abyssal Court? Was that Yama-King Songdi?¡± Qin Ye gasped. However, he was surprisingly undaunted, and he muttered with some measure ofplex emotions in his heart, ¡°Good and evil will be repaid ordingly¡­ I¡¯m sure those who witness such a dreadful sight would never do evil again.¡±

    Arthis also seemed to understand the vision he had just seen, and she softly added, ¡°That¡¯s right. Ghosts aren¡¯t by nature evil beings. Their evil nature is only an extension of their past. Hell¡¯s existence is simply meant to set things back in order by dealing with the evil that had managed to elude sanction and retribution in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°There are seventy year old elderlies who copse in front of a vehicle and ckmail the driver for millions.¡±

    ¡°There are those in their sixties or seventies who return from their groceries and covet the seats of others on the pretext that they are tired - even those who are sick or ill. As soon as others refuse to give in, they wouldmbast the others with hurtful words, alleging that they ¡®disrespect the elderly¡¯.¡±

    ¡°There are those whomit matricide at the age of twelve, but are acquitted because of their age.¡±

    ¡°And there are those who get incensed by a biased story, hurl abusive words and vicious allegations against their target of wrath on the inte, forcing their target to turn to suicide for an answer.¡±

    ¡°Not all ghosts are evil; and not all humans are perfect. Any sinmitted in one¡¯s life will be¡­ repaid ordingly. Those who harbour evil in their hearts are bound to face a plethora of retribution eventually.¡±

    Her voice softened somewhat, ¡°What you¡¯re doing will be the greatest achievement since time immemorial. It will also bring about the greatest blessing to the world. There¡¯s no need to be troubled - good and evil must be repaid ordingly before entering into the cycles of reincarnation in ordance with the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°Then what punishment awaits a person who reads novels without upvoting, subscribing, rmending and donating?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ expression grew grim and somber, ¡°They¡¯ll taste the punishment of each of the Ten Abyssal Courts. Amitabha¡­¡±

    ¡°That serious?¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s akin to disregarding the fruit of one¡¯sbour¡­ It¡¯s simply uneptable to take things for granted like that¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, at Tranquility Province. The prayer gs hanging just above the door to a tall temple suddenly shook violently.

    Prayer gs shaped like lotus flowers adorned the ce with zed golden tiles and beams made out of chinese cedar. A massive one-meter tall incense burner sat stoically at the door.

    It was 4.30 a.m. The sky was filled with sprawling constetions, and the sound of a chinese temple block could be heard from far in the distance. Wisps of smoke rose gently in front of the incense burner, and the surroundings were serene and tranquil.

    Whoosh¡­ As the wind grew, the prayer gs fluttered about even more vigorously until it flewpletely horizontally, pping against the que on the wall which read, ¡°Hall of Great Strength.¡±

    A bald old man sat in front of a statue of a golden Buddha. He wore a silken robe and knelt on a mat, quietly sensing the increasingly ferocious gale outside. Then, he opened his eyes.

    In the next moment¡­ the golden Buddha in front of him suddenly made a crackling sound, opened its mouth and spoke with a human voice, ¡°My lord, the City of Salvation has been reimed by the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s within my calctions.¡± The old man responded cidly, ¡°He¡¯s far too inexperienced.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy, but we¡¯d survived Hell¡¯s great copse that was triggered by the ascension of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. A hundred years is nothingpared to the future we have ahead of us. Even the one at Westriver still has his reservations despite everything having beenid out for him. Yet this man was so brash that he¡¯d even considered testing the depths of the mortal realm¡¯s forces.¡±

    ¡°Humans¡­¡± The old man gently touched the chinese temple block in front of him, ¡°Are truly an existence that is far more fearsome than us¡­¡±

    The golden Buddha¡¯s voice continued, ¡°My lord¡­ if I may ask on behalf of mydy¡­ are we going to keep on biding our time?¡±

 Chapter 64: First Official Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 64: First Official Meeting</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± The old man shut his eyes, ¡°Let¡¯s wait and see how the government cleans up the mess in the City of Salvation¡­ This would give us an indication of their ns for the future. It¡¯ll give us an insight as to the level of precaution they¡¯re taking against us as well¡­ move with caution¡­ And tell her that if she doesn¡¯t want to be locked up in the path of the hungry ghost, she would be wise to stay safe.¡±

    There was an abrupt silence.

    A few secondster, a chilling voice spoke. It was incredibly dignified and elegant, a far cry from the voices that had spoken before, ¡°We¡¯ve been suppressed by the six paths for thousands of years now. I refuse to believe that there are existences in the mortal realm that are more powerful than us!¡±

    The old man chuckled, ¡°Have you already forgotten about that one from Clear Creek County?¡±

    ¡°Her?¡± The chilling voice sneered, ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m looking down on Infernal Judges, but she wasn¡¯t even born when we were first subdued by the six paths.¡±

    The old man ran his finger along his teacup, ¡°A Judge isn¡¯t scary. Rather, what¡¯s scary is the prospect that others may be alive as well. After all, if a Judge can survive the great copse of Hell, how can you be certain that none of the Abyssal Prefects that are our equals in strength haven¡¯t survived as well?¡±

    ¡°Have you already forgotten the suffering we¡¯d been put through under the subjugation of the six paths? Have you already forgotten the torment of being immersed in boiling oil or having ten thousand needles pricking our souls everyday? Do you want to be put through the same torment for another few thousand years?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that, with the resurgence of Emissaries of Hell, our fate will be sealed as soon as any one of them attains the same rank as us!¡±

    There was silence once again.

    The chilling female voice finally remarked once more, ¡°It¡¯s no wonder the prince in Westriver has suddenly grown silent once more, notwithstanding the fact that his preparatory works are allplete.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± The old man¡¯s eyes were somewhat listless, ¡°Only we, the ancient old fogeys, know exactly what Hell represents¡­ Those young ghosts these days don¡¯t know anything at all¡­ they don¡¯t know where their limits lie¡­¡±

    His entire body trembled slightly, ¡°Hundreds of billions of Yin soldiers, Yamas of the Ten Pces, Sixfold Ghost Kings¡­ I¡¯d rather not think about such dreadful existences anymore¡­¡±

    The golden Buddha finally shut its mouth.

    The old man grew taciturn as well.

    Approximately ten minutester, a cock crowed in the distance. The old man stood up and slowly walked out of the temple.

    He weed the first rays of light of dawn.

    As the morning sunbeams shone into the temple, it revealed¡­ that the Hall of Great Strength was filled with a horrific stter of blood that covered everywhere, from beams to pirs. The only ce that was devoid of any bloodstains was the statue of the golden Buddha.

    Due to the effluxion of time, the blood had already turned a dark purplish colour. Worst of all, a monk wearing his long flowing robes bleeding from all of his seven apertures hung morbidly from the beam just next to the pir!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The sun had finally risen.

    Qin Ye was rxed. The knots in his heart had finally been unraveled. The precarious situation in the City of Salvation had also been resolved. Although the situationst night was witnessed by innumerable civilians, and notwithstanding the fact that the entire city had been left in aplete mess, these were hardly matters he should be thinking about in any event.

    The roads were incredibly quiet today.

    Quite apart from vehicr traffic on the road, one would have expected to see the hustle and bustle of morning traffic for those who were out and about for their breakfast. Qin Ye nced at his watch - it was now 7 a.m.

    But not a single soul could be seen.

    In fact, there were still many traces ofst night¡¯s battle on the roads. There were even military vehicles that hadn¡¯t yet been evacuated. When he looked up, Qin Ye noticed several people milling about within their residences, some of whom had even whipped out their cell phones to take photographs of the tragic aftermath of the roads outside.

    ¡°The army has begun to withdraw its forces, but the government has yet to put in ce any security measures to bring order back to normal¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered as he reacted abruptly and gasped in shock, ¡°Is the nation¡­ prepared to make everything public?!¡±

    Revtion of the truth!

    ¡°That¡¯s highly possible.¡± The wreckage on the streets created a solemn, deste atmosphere in the air. Several ces saw trees that had been uprooted and felled, while other ces even had streetlights that were snapped into two. There was simply no way such an aftermath could be restored to normal in a matter of hours!

    Besides¡­ the outbreak of supernatural incidents had undoubtedly been witnessed by more than a sliver of the popce. In fact, the number of witnesses could very likely be in the tens of thousands!

    If things can no longer be kept under wraps, then the nation may as well give full disclosure to the public!

    Qin Ye had a particrly somber gaze in his eyes. If the Special Investigations Department intended to show their hand¡­ then the City of Salvation would undoubtedly transform into a high-pressured environment filled withyers uponyers of surveince devices in no time! He wasn¡¯t aware of what exactly the Special Investigations Department nned to do, but he knew for a fact that he was going to be ced in a pretty delicate spot very soon!

    There was no way he could hail a taxi. After all, not a single one could be seen on the roads. Thus, he immediately made a beeline for the hotel on foot. As he ran, he whipped out his cell phone.

    No signal.

    His phone couldn¡¯t receive any form of signal at all. He furrowed his brows even more.

    Not good¡­

    There were no issues with his phone. In fact, he was almost certain it was the Special Investigations Department that was jamming the signal.

    And the jammed signal was hardly a result of a mechanical malfunction. It was most definitely intended to prevent anyone in the city from disclosing the events ofst night to the other parts of the nation.

    At this moment, the only website which remained essible was the official site of the City of Salvation.

    However, there were no texts on the website. There weren''t even the usual messages pertaining to the government¡¯s work. The only thing that remained on the site was a notice that was written in huge lettering.

    ¡°Last night¡¯s unexpected incident has already been contained. All citizens are to remain calm and not panic. The government will address all of your concerns and questions in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    A direct ount?

    Qin Ye could feel the corners of his eyes twitching.

    No¡­ survival has gotten even tougher¡­ I¡¯m practically standing toe to toe against an entire organization¡­ it might be more prudent if Iid low on the side for now¡­

    However, as soon as he turned the next corner, he immediately stopped in his step.

    Love is just around the corner.

    Love bears down like a rushing hurricane¡­

    It was a small street that sat in the shadows between two buildings. A man wearing a ramrod straight suit with his hands behind his back was waiting right in the middle of the street for Qin Ye.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± The man smiled faintly before Qin Ye could even respond, ¡°My name is Zhang Chenghai. I¡¯m a special agent of the Special Investigations Department here in the City of Salvation¡­¡±

    Before Zhang Chenghai could finish his introductions, he suddenly did a double take and eximed in surprise, ¡°Hunter-ss?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ a Hunter-ss expert?¡±

    Arthis eximed in horror, ¡°How¡¯s this possible? How could he possibly recognize you? Your Yin energy has been masked as true energy by the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. And you¡¯ve even changed your clothes and donned a mask¡­ This would be considered a top-notch disguise just a few centuries ago¡­¡±

    You have the gall to point out the fact that these were the standard a few hundred years ago?!

    Qin Ye regretted everything. He knew deep in his heart that he should always have taken with a pinch of salt the advice of an ancient old granny who didn¡¯t even know that copywriters have long be obsolete! How could she possibly have factored surveince cameras into her considerations?

    With a raging fire in his heart and a wry smile on his face, Qin Ye responded, ¡°You must¡¯ve gotten the wrong person. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve met before.¡±

    What kind of a joke was this? He was just about to call up Wang Chenghao to make their great escape from the city. The government was about to make everything public, and the entire city would soon be a den of wolves. How could a husky like him continue to hide among the wolves like that?

    Yet Zhang Chenghai simply ignored Qin Ye¡¯sments. He sized up Qin Ye for several more seconds before eximing with emotion, ¡°I¡¯d never expected Mr Qin to actually break through sessfullyst night. You¡¯re only eighteen years old, right? You must be the youngest person to reach the Soul Hunter level in thest century! Even some of the most talented individuals within the Insignia Province can¡¯t hold a candle to you!¡±

    ¡°Dear, you¡¯ve gotten the wrong person¡­¡±

    Zhang Chenghai shook his head adamantly, ¡°Mr Qin, you were truly hard to locate.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ is a conversation even possible with you? Why do I get the feeling that we¡¯re on apletely different wavelength, yet you still somehow continue to strike the nail on the head with everything you say?

    Suppressing the nauseating feeling in his heart, Qin Ye listened to what Zhang Chenghai had to say.

    ¡°It was only after we¡¯d pored through all of the surveince footagest night in coordination with the help of investigators on the ground that we¡¯d finally managed to ascertain your identity. Don¡¯t worry. We mean no ill will.¡±

    He looked at his watch, ¡°Last night, we received a red docket from the upper echelons. The entire City of Salvation is going to experience aplete overhaul in three days¡¯ time. There¡¯s no need to contemte leaving the city right now. After all, a talent like you would be worthy of a personal wee by the Special Investigations Department no matter where you go. And even if you¡¯re thinking of leaving right now¡­ I¡¯m afraid there are simply no means for you to do so.¡±

    Then, before Qin Ye could even respond, Zhang Chenghai nced at his watch again and pointed to the end of the alley, ¡°There¡¯s a pretty decent teahouse just in front of the city hall. It¡¯s quite secluded, and it sports a good selection of teas. Do you mind if we adjourn the venue of our meeting? Incidentally, the breakfast there is also quite delightful.¡±

    A ck four-wheeler was parked at the end of the aley.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve got your fix on me.¡± Qin Ye chuckled bitterly.

    Zhang Chenghai smiled silently.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go then. It¡¯s just as well that I¡¯m feeling rather hungry now.¡± Giving up on any form of resistance, he followed Zhang Chenghai to the vehicle and both drove to their destination together.

    They soon arrived at the city hall. The city hall had seen its fair share of years, and it wasn¡¯t located anywhere along the bustling downtown region either. The surroundings looked somewhat remote. The only thing worth mentioning was the reasonablyrge public park behind the city hall. The green efforts weremendable, and the quaint two-storey buildings located right in the middle of the park added a lovely charm to the locality.

    Few people visited the park due to its close proximity to the government. Furthermore, the park was not an entirely open concept. Instead, there was an iron picket fence built around most of the park¡¯s perimeter. Zhang Chenghai parked his car at the back entrance to the park and led Qin Ye straight towards one of the small two-storey buildings.

    The small building didn¡¯t have a name, but it was built in an ancient style with a tasteful charm to it. The teahouse didn¡¯t have a signboard either. Instead, a single word, ¡°Tea¡±, was embroidered onto the curtains within the teahouse.

    However, the teahouse didn¡¯t seem to be open for business.

    A tall, burly man stood in front of its closed door.

    Zhang Chenghai walked to the door, took out a ck card and swiped it. Beep. The wooden sliding door opened automatically.

    ¡°This ce is actually built by the Special Investigations Department.¡± There was a reasonably wide corridor on the inside. Vermillionnterns hung overhead, while exquisitely embroidered curtains hung on both sides. The inkndscape paintings were entuated by red plum flowers that sat in beautiful goldcquered vases. Zhang Chenghai exined as he led the way, ¡°This was originally meant to be used as an area for our lunch break or for some more private discussions. But the chef was just too amazing. We ended up turning this ce into the Special Investigations Department¡¯s official restaurant-cum-council room.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. Calling it a teahouse was quite a stretch. That said, the decor was indeed vibrant and impressive, and it even carried with it a trace of luxurious magnificence. They plodded on, went up the stairs and entered a private room where an attendant was already waiting for them. Zhang Chenghai handed Qin Ye a menu, ¡°Order what you¡¯d like. This is a members-only area, and all members of the Special Investigations Department can dine here for free.¡±

    Haha¡­ do you think that this little bit of indulgence is enough to tempt me to join the pack of wolves?!

    Even if I die¡­ even if I¡¯ve got to jump down from here, I¡¯d never order a single dish from you!

    ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s just have something casual¡­ puffed pastry egg tart, spinach and wolfberry pork porridge, raisin cupcake, king prawn dumpling, steamed ribs in ck bean sauce, steamed chicken feet, oyster sauce beancurd rolls, scotch egg, prawn rice rolls, fried tofu, hotpot, barbeque pork bun, and a portion of buttered bolo bun.¡±

    Instant silence.

    1. This refers to the six paths of karmic retribution that lead to reincarnation, which are further subdivided into three good paths and three evil paths. More reference will be made to thister on in the novel.

    2. This is a reference to a Taiwanese serial drama about the touching romance between a princess and a painter who meet at a corner of life.

    3. This is a reference to lyrics of a song by Jay Chou.

 Chapter 65: An Ancient Secret

    <h4>Chapter 65: An Ancient Secret</h4>

    ¡°... Where¡¯s your dignity as an Emissary of Hell?¡± Arthis was stunned for three full seconds before she spoke, ¡°How could you be bought over with such a simple gesture of peace offering?¡±

    Zhang Chenghai was also visibly stunned before he chuckled, ¡°It seems like Mr Qin must be pretty famished.¡±

    ¡°Cough¡­¡± After three seconds of stunned silence, the attendant asked, ¡°Sir, are you sure you¡¯d be able to finish everything?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll probably be eighty percent full after that.¡± Qin Ye responded with a calm and rxed disposition. In his poverty-stricken life, thest time he had indulged in such Cantonese delights for breakfast was well over twenty years ago¡­

    ¡°You may proceed then.¡± Zhang Chenghai nodded his head. Very soon, dish after dish of delectable delights were served to the table.

    Unexpectedly, Qin Ye didn¡¯t eat like a ravenous ghost. Instead, he carried himself rtively well. His speed was incredibly fast, but it was just measured enough that others wouldn¡¯t consider it snarfing and gobbling his food.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes curled up in delight as he indulged himself. The tender shrimp tumbled about in his mouth together with the silky egg and soft spinach. Freshly cut spring onions and sliced ginger entuated the fragrance and freshness of the ingredients even more. As soon as he got started, there was simply no stopping him!

    Delectable.

    ¡°That look on your face right now¡­ It might not be an exaggeration to call it lewd and whorish.¡± Arthis couldn¡¯t help butin disdainfully at the disgraceful behaviour of the young master at the table.

    ¡°What do you know?¡± Qin Ye picked up a scotch egg and whispered, ¡°This is simply a tribute to my grievous past¡­¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m sincerely curious to know what you¡¯ve been through in the past¡­ something tells me that your life must have been no different from that of a vagrant on the streets¡­¡±

    Zhang Chenghai finished his porridge and waited patiently for the next twenty minutes. Finally, the dishes in front of him werepletely polished off. Qin Ye wiped his mouth somewhat bashfully, ¡°So¡­ what would Mr Zhang like to discuss?¡±

    Ahhh¡­ A simple meal like that has even elicited honorifics from his lips?! Arthis shut her eyes. She had decided that she couldn¡¯t bear to look at the least dignified and most shameless Emissary of Hell in history for some time.

    Zhang Chenghai rang the bell on the table. As soon as the attendant arrived, he stared at Qin Ye in horror as he cleared up the dishes and tidied up the table. In his magnanimity, Qin Ye ignored his transgressions. The attendant served up two pots of fragrant tea, lit up some sandalwood incense, and then took his leave. The room was filled with silence for a moment.

    ¡°Mr Qin, are you bewildered as to why I personally attended to you today?¡± Zhang Chenghai lit up a cigarette as he slowly exined, ¡°Firstly, it¡¯s because you¡¯re in the same realm as I am. Secondly¡­¡±

    He leaned forward, ¡°Because¡­ I had a feeling you wouldn¡¯t be able to get a cab.¡±

    ¡°The government didn¡¯t in the least bit cover up the incidentst night. Everything happened too quickly, and there was simply no time. Who in their right mind would be in the mood to drive a cab right now? Besides¡­ starting this morning, all entry and exit from the City of Salvation ispletely prohibited.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered slightly.

    Zhang Chenghai pulled out a leather file from his briefcase and set it on the table. Then, with two fingers pressing on the file, he exined in a low voice, ¡°The City of Salvation will be under direct administration in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    This single statement immediately caused Qin Ye to tense up his spirits.

    However, Zhang Chenghai didn¡¯t give him the luxury of time to digest this piece of information. His steady voice continued to echo in the room, ¡°The people have the right to know. So, rather than to stonewall information, why not simply go with the flow? After all, it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before everythinges to light. Take a look at this.¡±

    He picked up a remote control from the table and pressed a button, and all of the curtains in the room were drawn shut in an instant. These were specially-made curtains that obscured every bit of light from outside. Then, a projector slowly lit up in the corner of the room and disyed a map of Cathay on the wall.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Arthis eximed in surprise, ¡°Television? No¡­ it¡¯s muchrger than a television. Argeputer?¡±

    Qin Ye could hardly be bothered to deal with her.

    ¡°This represents the Yin reading across the nation ever since its founding.¡±

    Qin Ye looked carefully. 1949. Most of the country was covered in green, and there wasn¡¯t a single trace of red at all. Only the western edge and northeastern edge of the country, as well as some coastal areas, were orange in colour. Additionally, even though the edges of some cities weren¡¯t green, they were only yellow in colour.

    ¡°There are three levels to the supernatural alert status. Green represents a safe situation, with little or no supernatural incidents. Yellow means that supernatural incidents are spreading unchecked. Orange means that the situation is severe. Finally, red means that the situation has be destructive.¡± Zhang Chenghai¡¯s voice grew chilling towards the end. He drew a deep breath, clicked on the remote, and the projector revealed the next image on the wall.

    This image revealed that several provinces had already been flooded with yellow. Furthermore¡­ there was the appearance of the first red zone!

    The Qin Mountainous Region!

    It waspletely covered in a striking red colour!

    ¡°Yin energy index¡­ six million?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows at the numbers.

    ¡°This was the ¡®60s.¡± Zhang Chenghai muttered soullessly, ¡°Do you remember¡­ the great famine that began in 1958 and ended in 1960?¡±

    Qin Ye naturally did. More urately speaking, he was a first-hand witness of the incident.

    ¡°After the bumper harvest in 1958, the production figures everywhere were misreported, causing great difficulty for the livelihood of peasants. The misreporting would not in and of itself have been a big issue if not for the grain tax. Back then, Cathay had a grain tax system, where the amount of grain one had to return to the nation was dependent on the amount of grain one produced in the first ce. Everyone was reported to have produced in abundance; and this naturally meant that the grain tax was unimaginably high.¡±

    ¡°By the summer of ¡®59, a massive drought struck Cathay on a national level, giving rise to the terrible famine we all know about.¡± Zhang Chenghai exined, ¡°At least, that was what everyone thought.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t interject. He had the vague idea that something was amiss.

    The image on the wall changed again. This time, it revealed a historical image that was replete with colour distortion.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath. The picture revealed a dense dark forest. Right in the middle of the forest, there were innumerable staff, soldiers, and even some personnel wearing whiteb coats that were standing around what appeared to be an excavation site.

    The excavation site was massive. It spanned almost a thousand meters across. The site itself was filled with decaying skeletons and stone bs with all sorts of demonic inscriptions and devilish etchings. But what stood out was the item in the center of the site.

    Arge scarlet coffin that was three meters long and one meter wide sat squarely in the center of the site!

    Eighty-one oilmps burnt brightly around the coffin. Furthermore¡­ the wind wasn¡¯t able to extinguish their mes!

    ¡°Sixfold Ghost Arraignment Array!!¡± Arthis eximed before Qin Ye could even react in surprise, ¡°Why is there something like that on earth?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye asked in a soft voice, pretending to ask Zhang Chenghai when he was in fact responding to Arthis.

    Arthis didn¡¯t immediately respond to his question. It took her several seconds to calm down and exin, ¡°These are things that I¡¯ve only heard of and seen in the records. Legend has it that the Sixfold Ghost Kings would travel around the world, expunging evil ghosts that are of the incarnate revenant level or stronger. That said, there remain some evil ghosts that even the Sixfold Ghost Kings are unable to kill. These would therefore be dealt with by suppression.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew contemptuous for a moment.

    Someone here was instakilled when the Sixfold Ghost Kings took possession of my body¡­ Truly weak¡­

    ¡°... What¡¯s with the look in your eyes?! I¡¯d been forcibly suppressed at the depths of the bottomless abyss for hundreds of years, stripped of my divine authority, and even lived through the great copse of Hell back then. It¡¯spletely understandable to have been no match for the Sixfold Ghost King at that time! Read on¡­ What¡¯s the point of seeking rity on such matters anyway?¡±

    It was evident just how much the concept of face meant to her.

    Arthis gnashed her teeth, ¡°That¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is the fact that the ghosts who qualify to be suppressed by the Sixfold Ghost Arraignment Array are entities that are at least of the same level as an Infernal Judge! The mortal realm has no ability to deal with an entity like this. As soon as they¡¯re released, the consequences can be unimaginable!¡±

    Zhang Chenghai thought that Qin Ye had addressed his query to him. After pondering for a minute, he finally responded, ¡°Drought demon.¡±

    ¡°The corpse within the coffin was a blue-clothed woman dressed in clothing dating back to the Xia Dynasty. Her flesh wasn¡¯t dposing, and her clothes remained intact. Fangs protruded from her mouth, and her skin waspletely golden. She looked exactly the same as the drought demons we see in most ancient historical records.¡±

    ¡°This incident was recorded and kept within the top-secret archives in Cathay. 2 March, during the spring of ¡®59, andslide on the Immortal Seizing Peak of Mount Venus at the Qin Mountainous Region revealed the ruins. The initial consensus was that this was an ancient tomb - one of the rare mass graves of the Xia Dynasty. Unfortunately, it was only discovered upon excavation that this tomb was in fact the heart of a formation array created by an expert to suppress a great evil!¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh. This is a disy of Hell¡¯s authority. To think that they would be able to suppress a fearsome demon at the Immortal Seizing Peak of Mount Venus for such a long time. Perhaps the Qin Mountainous Region might even look the way it does because of Hell?

    Zhang Chenghai didn¡¯t know what was on Qin Ye¡¯s mind, so he continued with a hoarse voice, ¡°After that happened¡­ the great famine struck¡­¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath. He would never have imagined that the real cause of the great famine in ¡®60 was in fact the drought demon that had been excavated from the Qin Mountainous Region!

    ¡°Hang on¡­¡± Qin Ye blinked his eyes, opened his mouth slightly and shook his head, ¡°Wasn¡¯t the drought demon still sealed? How did it cause the famine? Could it be¡­¡±

    Zhang Chenghai¡¯s face immediately revealed a bitter expression, ¡°Back then, the total number of drought demon coffins that had been dug up¡­ numbers eighteen in total¡­¡±

    Sss¡­ Qin Ye felt his mouth grow dry. No wonder¡­ It¡¯s no wonder the great famine in ¡®60 was so terrible. 28 million people starved to death that year. As it turns out¡­ it was actually caused by the excavation of eighteen drought demons!

    ¡°You guys¡­ opened it up?¡±

    Zhang Chenghai chuckled bitterly, ¡°Some ces immediately understood what these coffins were. The oilmps that were arranged in a nine by nine grid were obviously a seal. However, some ces were unaware of this fact. As a result, half of these were opened by archaeologists to take a closer look at its contents¡­¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head and shut his eyes.

    Zhang Chenghai continued, ¡°That incident catalyzed the establishment of the Special Investigations Department. In fact, ever since 1960, all archaeological excavation works had to be first approved by us before the actualmencement of works.¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, it was also from 1960 that Cathay experienced a continuous climb in the number of supernatural incidents.¡±

    ¡°4 February 1975, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Ocean City and Tentjaw City of the Khitan Province. The epicenter was 16 thousand meters underground, and it affected a whopping 9,000 kilometer square area. Of this area, homes and buildings upying 2,734 square kilometers of space copsed in an instant, afflicting more than 8 million people with death and destruction¡­ The Yin energy reading in this instance broke the 100 million mark for the first time!¡±

    ¡°The Special Investigations Department rolled in and investigated the midpoint between the two cities. There, ten thousand corpses were discovered in a cave located within the crevasse seven hundred meters underground. Anyone who entered the cave would perish. The cave remains sealed to date.¡±

    ¡°In the following year, another massive earthquake struck the Tang Mountain. Footprints of humanoid creatures were located merely six hundred meters below the heart of the main city¡­¡±

    ¡°3 February 1996, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Fair River County. A member of the public personally witnessed a man wearing an ancient golden costume walking out from underneath the ground. Investigations revealed that the Yin energy readings at the epicenter of the earthquake was as high as ten million!¡±

    ¡°And you know about the flood of ¡®98 right? But what you didn¡¯t know¡­ was the fact that just upstream, a ck coffin obstructed and dammed up the channel where all the streams converged. Then, when it suddenly vanished, it unleashed the massive flow of waters downstream, resulting in the terrible tragedy¡­ These secrets are all recorded in the top secret files that are only avable to the officials of the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    ¡°Cathay needs us - people like you and I.¡± Zhang Chenghai sighed as he pointed to both Qin Ye and himself, ¡°Right now, the aggregate Yin energy across all of Cathay has just exceeded 1.1 billion! There was a marked increase of Yin energy by 100 millionst year, and I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s only going to be more this year! As soon as the aggregate Yin energy in all of Cathay exceeds 1.5 billion¡­ the mortal realm will gopletely off-bnce, and humans will no longer be able to live in any part of the country!¡±

    ¡°Therefore, Mr Qin... I, Zhang Chenghai, special agent of the Special Investigations Department in the City of Salvation, sincerely invite you to join us at the Special Investigations Department. Us humans... are running out of time.¡±

    1. That¡¯s 2,070-1,600 BC. Holy shit.

 Chapter 66: Acceptance

    <h4>Chapter 66: eptance</h4>

    The room was unbelievably silent.

    Qin Ye didn''t open his mouth either.

    In reality, Qin Ye was presently listening to Arthis'' analysis of the situation.

    "That''s normal."

    "Year 1960, approximately fifty years since Hell''s copse. The ferocious ghosts that had managed to survive the cmity would invariably have been entities that had been suppressed and trapped in hell for thousands of years on end. Fifty years is nothing more than a drop in the ocean to them. They''re afraid - afraid that Yama-Kings and the Sixfold Ghost Kings would move against them. After all, they''re not fully aware of just how many of Hell''s Emissaries Ksitigarbha brought along with him when he ascended and departed from Hell."

    "But the great famine in ''60 which left 28 million people dead made them reassess the situation, only to realize that Yin spirits were everywhere, while Judge-ss Emissaries were nowhere to be found. With a better grasp on the situation at hand, they began to stir."

    "Kid, you have to realize something. Not all ghosts arepletely restrained by the orders of Hell. Some evil ghosts¡­ require the personal attention of Yama-Kings. Even then, there are still some ghosts that just can''t be expunged, and can only be sealed for the rest of time. The old ghosts that escaped to the mortal realm during Hell''s copse¡­ have already begun their search for these ''seniors'' of theirs. In fact, there''s a good possibility that some might even have been released from their seals altogether!"

    "Ask him this - back when the nine drought demons were released from their coffins, what happened to them?"

    Qin Ye nodded his head. He was ambivalent about the situation right now.

    Cooperate with ghosts?

    Is that a joke? If others learn of this, they might go, "Yo, where are these dregs of Hell? Come, let''s sentence them to the skyntern punishment."

    GAME OVER.

    Reveal my identity and cooperate with the mortal realm?

    "Oh? Not bad! We have a living specimen of an Emissary of Hell? Come, let''s break you down into your constituent parts to better understand your source of strength. This might give humans an edge against theherworld my forces in the uing war¡­"

    GAME OVER.

    Thus, he asked the question that Arthis had posed. After all, he, too, wanted to understand exactly how strong the Special Investigations Department was. A country with decades of experience coupled with decades of incredible development would most certainly possess immeasurable strength!

    What he desired was bnce, not an overwhelming, suppressive might. After all, it is only when the forces shed on equal footing that the sole surviving Emissary of Hell would be able to live on as he were.

    Zhang Chenghai muttered with a profound tone of voice, "They''re dead."

    "Dead?"

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ they¡¯ve been expunged by our strongest experts. Not a single one remains.¡± Zhang Chenghai gazed deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°Mr Qin, you don¡¯t have to ask who it is. We¡¯ve been preparing for the uing war for thest few decades. This information is something you¡¯ll naturally be given ess to, if you join the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve already told you everything I can at this point in time. Would you¡­ perhaps consider having a look at our employment proposal?¡±

    He finally pushed over the leather file on the table.

    Qin Ye was immediately taken aback as soon as he opened it, ¡°Professor at the Academy of Cultivators? What¡¯s this?¡±

    I¡¯ve never even heard of it!

    Are things going to take a sudden twist to the fantasy world?

    Zhang Chenghai exined in all seriousness, ¡°In three days¡¯ time, the truth about our world right now will be publicly announced to all residing within the City of Salvation right now, as well as a select few others. Furthermore, we¡¯re going to establish right here in the City of Salvation the first ever academy for cultivators! We¡¯ve been dissatisfied with our teaching staff so far. That said, you¡¯ve personally witnessedst night¡¯s battle, and you¡¯re even at the Soul Hunter rank. This is why you¡¯ve been given our special letter of offer!¡±

    Qin Ye took a closer look at the details. Nothing much was stated. But the most important use stated here was that by joining the Academy of Cultivators, he would also automatically join the Special Investigations Department. Betrayals will be treated as treason and dealt with ordingly!

    ¡°... then what¡­ if not¡­¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin, you don¡¯t have to refuse this offer just yet.¡± Before Qin Ye could finish speaking, Zhang Chenghai smiled and responded in a manner that seemed as though he had already guessed the thoughts on Qin Ye¡¯s mind, ¡°Firstly, I can personally guarantee that this academy isn¡¯t going to tie you down. You¡¯ll be given argetitude for your own agendas. Furthermore, you will be granted ess to Cathay¡¯s top-level secrets, as well as the most advanced weaponry and tools avable in our arsenal.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve defended ourselves against theherworldly forces for decades, and we¡¯ve naturally developed some weapons and implements to increase our firepower. In fact, some of these weapons are incredibly powerful, but due to limitations on the production front, we can only afford to equip our best agents with these weapons.¡±

    ¡°Separately, we will also provide you with the highest level of treatment.¡±

    He smiled and looked at Qin Ye, ¡°Firstly, we¡¯d never expected Mr Qin to be of the Soul Hunter level. We¡¯ll overlook the incident at Clear Creek County and cease all investigations into it. Truth be told, we¡¯ve already received the dossier pertaining to that incident, and we¡¯ve simply had no time to go through the details.¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Secondly, let¡¯s talk about something more practical. The fact that the City of Salvation is going to be subject to direct administration within three days is a foregone conclusion. From that day onwards, the status of cultivators will skyrocket. If you join right now, you¡¯ll be the one setting the benchmarks. The benefits you receive will naturally be on apletely different level than if you join uster on.¡±

    ¡°For instance¡­ one million a year?¡±

    Ding¡­ The antenna on Qin Ye¡¯s head immediately shot up, and a rippling smile spread across his face instantly.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Arthis sensed danger and cautioned, ¡°You must not be tempted! Haven¡¯t you forgotten that you¡¯re always going to keep your youth? You¡¯ll never age! How long do you think you can remain at the Special Investigations Department? Two years? Three years? You¡¯re not just a husky that¡¯s merely slipping into a pack of wolves - you¡¯re one that has even barked twice as soon as it entered the pack!¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly and stilled his heart.

    It couldn¡¯t be helped. After all, how could one expect a person who hadn¡¯t had such breakfast in ages to remain unwavering in the face of an annual sry of one million?

    Zhang Chenghai was clever. As soon as he noticed Qin Ye¡¯s telling expression, he immediately knew that his approach from the onset had been in apletely wrong direction. Thus, he softened his smile and continued, ¡°Furthermore, by teaching others, you¡¯ll be presented with innumerable opportunities that would facilitate the exchange of ideas¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions turned calm and tranquil.

    Zhang Chenghai immediately raised his voice, ¡°... and at the same time, you¡¯ll also be given ess to missions and assignments from all the provinces and cities around the country! Mr Qin, might I remind you that the ones who can afford to even engage our help belong to either ultra-rich families or city or provincial level governments! The rewards are unimaginable!¡±

    Qin Ye kept a poker face, picked up his tea and took a small sip, ¡°How wealthy are we talking about?¡±

    ¡°... For instance, my ride is a Zenvo ST1.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Qin Ye was still calm.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you surprised?¡± Arthis asked discreetly.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to be surprised about?¡± Qin Ye pretended to be drinking from his teacup as he responded, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard about it before. I estimate that it¡¯s at best RMB 1 million. What¡¯s there to boast about? Do you think I¡¯m a person who bends at the knee because of money?¡±

    ¡°... Have you ever considered Wang Chenghao¡¯s feelings when you say these things? He¡¯s raising you with his entire family¡¯s fortune after all¡­¡±

    Zhang Chenghai frowned slightly. His reactions¡­ don¡¯t exactly cohere with what I¡¯d expected¡­

    Thus, he pushed further, ¡°One million eight hundred thousand.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°USD.¡± Zhang Chenghai added, ¡°It was a gift I¡¯d received back when I¡¯d dealt with the simple issue of possession involving a Hong Kong shipping magnate¡¯s granddaughter.

    Qin Ye¡¯s hand trembled slightly, and his smile bloomed like a radiant flower once more, ¡°It¡¯s like this, Mr Zhang. I¡¯m simply inexperienced in the field of teaching and education¡­ and I just don¡¯t know if the organization trusts me or not¡­¡±

    Arthis floundered about wildly within her soul sphere - I¡¯ll be damned! Did I encounter a fake Emissary of Hell?!

    ¡°Where¡¯s your dignity?! Where¡¯s your pride as Hell¡¯s official?! You¡¯re thest Soul Hunter of Hell - one who could even be a future Yama-King! What happened to your character and personality?! Were the words that you¡¯d just spoken gobbled up by a dog?!¡± She was already roaring at the top of her voice.

    Zhang Chenghai chuckled. He had finally gotten a hold of what made Qin Ye tick.

    No nonsense anymore - time to hammer the point in.

    The hammer of money struck urately at Qin Ye¡¯s heart!

    ¡°Last, but not least...:¡± Zhang Chenghai reached into his pocket and pulled out a red bag and opened it carefully, revealing three fingernail-sized transparent stones.

    They were pure and wless.

    Qin Ye asked, ¡°Sugar cubes?¡±

    Arthis, on the other hand, was immediately startled, ¡°Is this¡­ no, it can¡¯t be¡­ How has technology in the mortal realm grown so advanced¡­¡±

    Zhang Chenghai was just about to speak when he held himself back. After adjusting his thoughts, he smiled genially, ¡°Each piece is worth one hundred thousand.¡±

    Diamond?

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes were turning somewhat red.

    Was a funeral parlor easy to operate?

    He had to pay for utilities, and even keep an eye on the ever-increasing rent! On the other hand, he would immediately be a rich man as soon as he joined the organization!

    Zhang Chenghai picked up a piece and set it in front of Qin Ye, ¡°This is something¡­ that even a rogue cultivator like Mr Qin might not have heard about. It¡¯s something that we¡¯ve only developed over thest five years. That said, it¡¯s quitemon in the novels out there. You can call it a spirit stone.¡±

    ¡°Spirit stone?¡± Qin Ye was finally taken aback, ¡°Isn¡¯t this something that¡¯s only found in fantasy novels? Isn¡¯t this a story about the supernatural in modern day society?¡±

    Zhang Chenghai shook his head, ¡°The ¡®spirit¡¯ that we¡¯re referring to is actually a type of energy that is used in the process of cultivation. In turn, cultivators like us thrive on the essence from the sun and the moon. Five years ago, we developed the technology to harvest the essence from the sun and the moon and seal them within these stones that act as containment devices, and we only began mass production of these stonesst year. Mr Qin, I imagine that you must have been waking up early and sleepingte at night in order to absorb these essences from the sun and the moon for your cultivation. But with these things, you can practise your cultivation whenever you want!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expression looked t again, ¡°Oh.¡±

    My cultivation system ispletely different from yours, alright? g.

    ¡°Hey¡­ pick it up and take a closer look.¡± Just then, Arthis spoke up.

    Qin Ye picked it up. As soon as his hand touched the spirit stone, his eyes immediately flickered slightly.

    It¡¯s moving¡­

    He hadn¡¯t done anything, yet the stone immediately began to breathe energy into his body like a small flowing stream!

    No¡­ that¡¯s not it either.

    More urately speaking, there appeared to be two forms of energy within the stone itself - one that was hot like fire, and one that was cold as ice. He was unable to absorb the zing energy, but the icy energy immediately spread throughout his body as though it were an innate part of him.

    Qin Ye immediately set down the spirit stone.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was afraid of the possibility of side effects. Rather, given how Zhang Chenghai had treated them as precious treasures, wouldn¡¯t Zhang Chenghai be mad if he had depleted all of the energy within? He really might be¡­

    Zhang Chenghai didn¡¯t notice anything amiss as he stored the spirit stones. Meanwhile, Arthis muttered, ¡°I¡¯d never expected the technology within the mortal realm to have already advanced so much¡­¡±

    Aware that it was inconvenient for Qin Ye to speak up right now, Arthis continued, ¡°The truth of the matter is that the energy absorbed by Emissaries of Hell are also the essences of heaven and earth. More urately speaking, we¡¯re talking about the sr essence and the lunar essence. Emissaries of Hell can only absorb the lunar portion. Separately, the ¡®Yin¡¯ of Yin spirits refers precisely to the Great Yin, also known as the moon. Kid¡­ in the absence of these things, the risks of joining the Special Investigations Department would be far too great. But with them¡­ the benefits of joining would far outweigh the risks altogether!¡±

    ¡°After all, you can always fake your own death as soon as people start to grow suspicious of your youthfulness. You can¡¯t die having consumed the fungus of aeons anyway¡­ Anyway, you¡¯d probably already considered this possibility as soon as you¡¯d heard the sry of a million, haven¡¯t you? Eh? ¡­ Why do you look so flustered? Could it be¡­ that I¡¯ve hit the nail on the head?!!! Can you please be a little bit more self-conscious?!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get to the point!¡± Qin Ye frowned ufortably. When he noticed Zhang Chenghai staring at him in bewilderment, he feigned a cough and lifted his teacup as he whispered, ¡°How valuable is this thing?¡±

    ¡°Exceptionally valuable. Furthermore, I¡¯ve noticed that the essence extraction technology developed by the mortal realm is incredibly masterful. With this.. You can even start working on rebuilding Hell right away! This is to pave the way for your future ascension to the throne. After all, you wouldn¡¯t want your home to be in shambles even after you be a Hellguard-ss Emissary, would you? Oh¡­ sorry, it seems like you¡¯ve already gotten used to living in those conditions¡­¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly stood up, ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m going to the bathroom.¡±

    As soon as he entered the bathroom, he entered a stall and immediately barked aloud, ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve agreed to consider reestablishing Hell, but¡­ why haven¡¯t you told me that I¡¯ve got to rebuild the entire Hell from scratch?!¡±

    We¡¯re talking about the Fengdu Necropolis!

    To build the entire thing from scratch would take an entire lifetime!!

 Chapter 67: Joining the Special Investigations Department (1)

    <h4>Chapter 67: Joining the Special Investigations Department (1)</h4>

    Arthis exined as though Qin Ye were an idiot, ¡°Why is this surprising to you? Where are you going to stay after bing Yama? Where would you eat? With what? Don¡¯t you need servants? Don¡¯t you need a bed chamber? Wouldn¡¯t you need to collect taxes for the administration of your Fengdu Necropolis? Don¡¯t you need to enrich the lives of yourherworldly citizens with some form of entertainment? Aren¡¯t you afraid that they¡¯ll revolt?¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, don¡¯t you want to establish and develop the spiritual culture in Hell? Don¡¯t you want a publishing office? What about sustainability in Hell¡¯s development? What if a tragedy urs on earth, resulting in the sudden death of innumerable people? Aren¡¯t you going to establish some emergency departments to deal with contingencies? Aren¡¯t you going to feed your Emissaries of Hell? Everything requires money!¡±

    ¡°And where do you get your funds from? Taxes, naturally! Let me tell you something, these things aren¡¯t the only things that require funds to maintain. There¡¯s still the eighteen Abysses of Punishment, the six paths of reincarnation, and the Ten Abyssal Courts to consider! Governance! Everything requires money! Additionally, dealings with the mortal realm, the construction of buildings in Hell, the development of aesthetics, guidance in theology¡­ you can treat this as apletely empty canvas where you¡¯ll have to establish a new world order all over again!¡±

    Qin Ye was astounded.

    He waspletely astounded.

    He had never thought that the burden of something so massive would fall on his shoulders just like that.

    Bloody hell¡­ why does it feel like I¡¯ve got to rebuild an entire world all by myself?!

    Can you imagine thest Emissary of Hell having to painstakinglyy bricks and build walls every night?

    ¡°Won¡¯t I have the tiniest bit of help?¡±

    ¡°Of course you would have help! In the past, King Yanluo would only have to approve the ns for construction works that were submitted to him. However, you¡¯ll have to start from scratch. The first thing you¡¯ll need to do would be to collect all of the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. After all, it¡¯s only when the Yellow Springs begins to flow again that the Yin spirits would automatically find their way to Hell once more. You¡¯ll naturally need to reconstruct theherworld odyssey as well¡­¡±

    Qin Ye felt his head begin to hurt, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that Hell can only be reestablished as soon as all of the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal have been assembled?¡±

    ¡°The choice of words is important, kid. I¡¯d said that the order of Hell can only be reestablished as soon as the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal have been assembled. Do you understand? Order! Order implies rules and regtions. You can think of it as thews governing the vicissitudes of life. It¡¯s a type of moving force.¡±

    ¡°That said, all forms of moving force require the undergirding support of fundamentals. So what if you assemble all of the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal? If you haven¡¯t rebuilt the Fengdu Necropolis by then, what are you going to use to operate the machinations of Hell? It¡¯s true that the establishment of Fengdu Necropolis is redundant without the key that is thepletely assembled King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. But that doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯ty the groundwork and rebuild Hell first!¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled coldly, ¡°Hahaha¡­ rebuild Hell first¡­ you make it sound like it¡¯s only going to take two to three years of work!¡±

    ¡°Listen to what I have to say! You¡¯re a scumbag who knows nothing about the machinations of Hell!¡± Arthis bellowed in rage, ¡°Even though everything is going to be an empty shell when it¡¯s built, some ces don¡¯t need the Yellow Springs to begin functioning! More urately speaking, haven¡¯t you realized that you don¡¯t even see the Yellow Springs until you reach the end of the yin-yang road?! Think about it. Which part of theherworld odyssey were you on when you first learnt of the existence of the Yellow Springs?¡±

    The Naraka Bridge¡­ Qin Ye pondered for a moment before finding his answer.

    ¡°In other words¡­ are you saying that the yin-yang road before the Naraka Bridge, and the Ferryman¡¯s Creek both don¡¯t require the existence of the Yellow Springs? And they can be put to use immediately as soon as they are built?¡± He asked somewhat suspiciously.

    Arthis nodded her head, ¡°You finally understand¡­ You can¡¯t even begin to describe how massive the rebuilding of Fengdu Necropolis is going to be. To put things into perspective, back when we first opened a site for the construction of an entertainment za for Hell¡¯s citizens, there were a total of twelve developers who submitted tenders for the project. How could you possiblyplete the construction works on your own? Fix the yin-yang road and invite Yin spirits to return to Hell so that they can do the grunt work for you. All you¡¯ll have to do is to work out the blueprints and construction ns!¡±

    Qin Ye was mind blown again.

    After a long time, he muttered, ¡°Can you repeat thatst part? Tenders from constructionpanies? Blueprints?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Arthis spoke with ridicule as she proudly added, ¡°What kind of ce do you think the Fengdu Necropolis is? It houses an entire society of ghosts! Most of the ghosts are regr human beings with no merits or faults in their lives, and they don¡¯t qualify to enter both paradise and the Abyssal Courts or the Abysses of Punishment. Thus, they can only draw lots and wait patiently for their turn at reincarnation. However, since the number of spots avable for reincarnation is limited, most of these ghosts end up living at the Fengdu Necropolis as a long term resident. Incidentally, they also be one of Fengdu Necropolis¡¯rgest sources of ie! Did you think that Hell still relies on the Hell notes offered to them during the Qingming Festival? Hell would have gone bankrupt a long time ago if that were the case!¡±

    Bloody hell¡­

    There¡¯s even stuff like bankruptcy¡­ It looks like these constructionpanies must have been operated by the financial experts of theherworld¡­ Speaking of which, does Hell really have to be so simr to modern day human society? Do I still have to work from nine to five even after going to Hell?

    ¡°... Isn¡¯t this akin to holding an office job?¡±

    ¡°Naturally¡­ why don¡¯t you think about it? How are you going to establish and ascribe economical values without work?! What you need to do now is not merely establish the yin-yang road - you¡¯ll still have to construct the soul induction tform and banks! Otherwise, the ghosts might just revolt on you!¡±

    ¡°... I suddenly feel like resigning and returning to my hometown¡­ Do you ept refunds for my proof of identity?¡±

    ¡°Dream on!¡± Arthis delighted in Qin Ye¡¯s misery.

    Silence.

    Momentster, Qin Ye broached another issue with some measure of resignation, ¡°What does this have to do with the Special Investigations Department anyway?¡±

    Arthis responded proudly, ¡°It¡¯s because they possess arge number of Yin energy crystals. Well, let¡¯s call it the Yin spirit stones as the mortals do. This will save you an immense amount of energy and time. As mentioned earlier, Yin spirits absorb Yin energy, otherwise also known as lunar essences. When you possess enough Yin energy, you¡¯ll be able to establish the first soul induction tform. This would allow you to attract Yin spirits and increase the manpower avable at your disposal¡­ That¡¯s right, you¡¯ll also need a receptionist¡­ Do your calctions carefully - there¡¯s money to be had everywhere!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew deep and abstruse as he stared into the distant sky.

    Arthis paused for a moment. She knew full well that she couldn¡¯t afford to put too much pressure and overwhelm thest remaining Emissary of Hell. Otherwise¡­ he might just give up altogether.

    After some deliberation, she finally added, ¡°Speaking of which, you¡¯d single handedly broken and dismantled nine hunting zonesst night, haven¡¯t you? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯d be rewarded with quite a number of Yin spirit stones?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s spirits finally took a turn for the better, ¡°But the prerequisite is that I¡¯ll have to agree to join the Academy of Cultivators. Otherwise¡­ I may as well expect no more than a token reward.¡±

    ¡°Join them!¡± Arthis encouraged him, ¡°Worst case scenario, I¡¯ll help you with an absolutely painless death in a few years time!¡±

    ¡°... You¡¯ve wanted to do this for a long time, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°... What are you talking about? Aren¡¯t we like dear siblings?¡±

    When Qin Ye returned to the private room, Zhang Chenghai discovered that his expression had turned somewhatplicated.

    There was hatred, and then there was some measure of agony arising out of the fact that he couldn¡¯t indulge in hisziness anymore - almost like the expression someone made when he was dragged out of bed at five in the morning. Finally, there was also a trace of expectancy and greed undergirding all of these emotions.

    How in the world do youmunicate such clear and distinct emotions through your micro-expressions? Zhang Chenghai almost thought aloud. He coughed dryly, ¡°So, Mr Qin, what¡¯s¡­ your decision?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll join.¡± Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°However, shouldn¡¯t I be rewarded for expunging so many ghostsst night?¡±

    Zhang Chenghaiughed, ¡°Naturally. Three dayster, you should personally attend the event at the downtown za where all of the city¡¯s residents will be given a proper ount of the incident. You will be presented your prize at that time as well.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°I¡¯ve got some requests as well. Firstly, you¡¯re not allowed to ask about my past and my profession.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The Special Investigations Department is made up of oddballs and strange people alike. We never ask about such private matters.¡±

    ¡°Secondly¡­ I hope that the teaching stint won¡¯t take too long - one term at best. After that, I¡¯d like to continue focusing on my own training.¡±

    Zhang Chenghai nodded affirmatively, ¡°That can be arranged. In fact, most of our Soul Hunters have been designated to keep watch over a city each. If not for the fact that we¡¯re establishing the Academy of Cultivators, you would most definitely be assigned a city to keep a close watch over. The first term of the Academy of Cultivators wouldn¡¯tst too long. ording to my sources, the term wouldst a maximum of two years.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°That¡¯s fine¡­ So, that¡¯s it?¡±

    Was the process of joining the Special Investigations Department that simple and straightforward?

    Zhang Chenghaiughed.

    ¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡±

    ¡°There are procedures for everything, and the registration process for the Special Investigations Department is no exception to this either. Even though it suffices that you are a human being, there¡¯s nevertheless still some documentation that needs to be processed, including your work permit, for instance.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°Right now.¡±

    Before he even finished speaking, Qin Ye felt the entire room tremble slightly. And then¡­ it suddenly descended like an elevator!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He looked out of the window in great astonishment. The movements were incredibly light, but making a room of such size sink was no mean feat either.

    Zhang Chenghai exined cidly, ¡°The Special Investigations Department was founded over fifty years ago, and has constantly maintained an incredibly tight rtionship with the government. Incidentally, our base is also the most well protected location across the entire city. Therefore¡­ our headquarters in each and every city is located directly underneath their respective city halls.¡±

    Fwoosh¡­ The entire room came to aplete halt. Zhang Chenghai led the way. He adjusted his suit and opened the door with a smile, ¡°Wee.¡±

    ¡°Wee to the base of Cathay¡¯s top secret department that holds the widest scope of authority in its hands - the Special Investigations Department!¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes. Everything in front of his eyes looked as though it hade straight out of a science fiction story.

    It was no longer a teahouse outside the room. Instead, it was a circr room that was approximately three hundred square metersrge.

    A giant futuristic supeputer sat in the center of the room. Complex equations and information were constantly being processed and transmitted across dazzling belts of light that made the central column appear like an alloy column iid with precious gemstones. More than a dozenputers and consoles were lined neatly in rings around the supeputer, leaving only a single aisle for ess. If one looked at theyout from above, the ess paths would look no different from a maze.

    LCD screens were embedded into the walls on the side, disying topological maps of both the City of Salvation and Insignia Province. Red and yellow coloured oveys constantly shifted around the maps, representing the supernatural urrences in the mortal realm. Real-time data was transmitted straight from the fiber optic lines on the floor into the central supeputer before being disseminated to theputers around.

    A futuristic gate with numerous gleaming implements was located just a short distance away from where they were.

    ¡°This is¡­ the Special Investigations Department?¡± Qin Ye gasped as he eximed.

    Zhang Chenghai responded proudly, ¡°Naturally. Mere mortals aren¡¯t aware of its existence, but I can responsibly im that everything you see within this ce implements the most ground-breaking technology that hasn¡¯t been replicated anywhere else in the world! These were all independently developed and produced here in Cathay!¡±

    He pointed at the central columnar supeputer, ¡°The supeputer ¡®Styx¡¯. Its sub-processors can only run calctions at a rate that is two hundred times slower than the main processor here.¡±

    ¡°You should be aware that the most powerful supeputer in the world is currently the Milky Way 2¡¯ that is used by our National Defense University, right?¡±

    ¡°The Milky Way 2 can run 33.86 quadrillion calctions every second. But¡­ Styx can achieve more than twice that number! It¡¯s speed is over 70 quadrillion calctions every second! It¡¯s a whopping four times more powerful than the current second-ced supeputer ¡®Titan¡¯ located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Usonia!¡±

    He grew a little bit excited, and restrained himself, ¡°Unfortunately, the general public isn¡¯t aware of its existence.¡±

    ¡°Please follow me.¡±

    Qin Ye entered the room after Zhang Chenghai and nced about at his surroundings with disbelief. It was too futuristic. If not for the fact that he had just personally witnessed it, he would never have expected the advancement of Cathay¡¯s technology to have already reached such a degree! Furthermore, he would never have fathomed just how well prepared Cathay was for the impending war between the mortal realm and theherworldly forces.

    But why do I get the feeling that I¡¯m like a husky that has just infiltrated a pack of wolves...

 Chapter 68: Joining the Special Investigations Department (2)

    <h4>Chapter 68: Joining the Special Investigations Department (2)</h4>

    Qin-husky-Ye followed cautiously behind Zhang Chenghai, one step at a time. Then, just as he passed through the futuristic gate, all theponents in the device suddenly lit up at once. An x-ray of him was even disyed on a screen to the side of the passageway.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye was startled.

    Zhang Chenghai chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just a fixed procedure. Even though those who are willing to stand on our side are bound to be humans, there are still some safety measures that have to beplied with. Ghosts have the ability to possess humans after all.¡±

    ¡°How can he be so sure?¡± Husky muttered under his breath.

    Arthis repliedzily, ¡°That¡¯s a given¡­ As soon as a ghost develops some form of sentience, they would naturally also gain awareness of its endless thirst for blood and flesh. It is for this reason that humans would never stand beside Yin spirits. And one of the most reliable ways of determining if an entity is a human or not... is to look at that entity¡¯s shadow.¡±

    Beep¡­ Just then, a mechanical voice reported, ¡°Unregistered human detected. Should I register him with the Special Investigations Department? Please advise.¡±

    In that instant, all of the personnel in whiteb coats turned their gazes towards the gate curiously.

    ¡°A neer eh¡­¡± Ady in a whiteb coat pushed up her sses as she mumbled, ¡°It¡¯s been a while¡­ He¡¯s so young as well. I wonder which family of geniuses he hails from?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t look more than twenty.¡± ¡°Did he appearst night?¡± ¡°Qualifying means that¡­ he¡¯s at least of the Operative-ss level, isn¡¯t he? But he¡¯s still so young¡­ tsk tsk tsk, oh, how I envy him¡­¡±

    Zhang Chenghai nodded, ¡°Right now.¡±

    ¡°Received authorized voice prompt to register. Styx has detected one match for the registrant¡¯s pupil, fingerprints, blood and DNA samples.¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye. Level: Soul Hunter. No known rtives. Registration number: S9527. If you have no further questions, please select your preferred office. Detected: Subject¡¯s strength has exceeded that of a regr operative. The option of a sentinel is now avable. Please make your choice.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Did we hear wrongly?¡± ¡°Styx would never misanalyze a person, right?!¡±

    Before Qin Ye could make his response, the personnel in whiteb coats sitting around the room immediately shot to their feet and stared at Qin Ye with apletely bbergasted look on their faces.

    ¡°They¡­¡± Qin Ye nced about the room in dismay, ¡°What¡¯s going on now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡­¡± Zhang Chenghai was somewhat flustered as well. He took a deep breath and regted his emotions before exining, ¡°The assigned letter which prefixes your registration number is indicative of your potential. E is the lowest level, while S is the highest level¡­ In all of the City of Salvation, there are only two other persons under the age of thirty who have been assigned an S-prefix¡­ and the number of such persons wouldn¡¯t exceed two hundred across the entire country¡­¡±

    ¡°To be exact, we¡¯re talking about 168 persons.¡± A passionate voice eximed. In the very next moment, a figure in white pushed Zhang Chenghai aside and eagerly grabbed hold of Qin Ye¡¯s arm, ¡°S-ss¡­ you¡¯re a living S-ss! How do you do? I¡¯m Bai Qingshan. Would you be interested to contribute some of your body parts in the name of science? For instance, an arm or a leg¡­ or if you would be so kind, I would be delighted if you would donate your brain!¡±

    Bloody hell¡­

    Qin Ye immediately pulled back his arm. How terrifying¡­ there are people who¡¯re looking to dissect and take me apart as soon as I join the Special Investigations Department¡­

    Before he could even respond, Bai Qingshan¡¯s body flew to the side, almost as though he had been picked up and set aside by an invisible giant hand. Shortly afterwards, a modest figure appeared in the middle of the aisle.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew sharp and incisive. The modest figure belonged to a 1.7 meter tall, skinny old man who wore a suit. However¡­ Qin Ye could detect a fearsome aura radiating from that man¡¯s body - one that was even more fearsome than entities on a Soul Hunter level. Furthermore¡­ he had seen this man before.

    Hellguard-ss!

    This is the same Hellguard-ss entity fromst night!

    ¡°Ignore him.¡± The old man gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes for several seconds before he finally smiled widely, ¡°Very good¡­ I¡¯d never expected the person who single handedly dismantled nine hunting zonesst night was such a young man¡­ excellent¡­ excellent! We¡¯re finally seeing the emergence of talents of our time. This is what Cathay¡¯s cultivation world should look like!¡±

    It was a dry smile. Furthermore, the man¡¯s eyebrows remainedpletely still as he yapped on. Finally, the old man stretched out his hand, ¡°Third inspector of the Insignia Province, Liu Qing.¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye.¡±

    The two shook hands. Zhang Chenghai knew his ce and retreated to the side. Liu Qing led the way from here, and he spoke as they walked, ¡°Wee to the Special Investigations Department. You¡¯ll slowlye to realize that it¡¯s truly an honour to be here. After all, you¡¯ll always be fighting for your country and your people. There are some other details about the Special Investigations Department that we will send to youter. You¡¯ll be able to learn of the extent of information avable to someone of your clearance level.¡±

    ¡°But first, you¡¯ll have to pick your preferred duties.¡±

    ¡°The Special Investigations Department is divided into the division of operatives, as well as the division of idle sentinels. Both divisions are considered part of the state¡¯s establishment¡­¡±

    Liu Qing¡¯s old face contorted slightly, ¡°As soon as you disy true energy on the same level as a Netherworld Operative, you¡¯ll be entitled to apply to be a sentinel. Sentinels don¡¯t have to report for duty on a regr basis. However, as soon as someone in the vicinity releases a distress signal, they will have to respond immediately. Furthermore, sentinels are usually the first line of defense when faced with powerful evil ghosts¡­ Forget it, you¡¯ll learn about all these things eventually. What¡¯s most important to note is¡­¡±

    He drew a deep breath, ¡°You¡­ must remain contactable at all times!¡±

    ¡°Please ensure that your phone is essible at all times! Thank you!¡±

    For some strange reason, Qin Ye felt as though he had spoken these words through gritted teeth. Then, sighing, he exined, ¡°It¡¯s because we¡¯re so different from ordinary people that we can even be considered two separate species altogether. We are cultivators, and the time spent in cultivation is crucial to each one of us. As a result of that, some sentinels¡­ switched off their phones as soon as they were appointed¡­ and the telmunications services have even terminated their lines for their inactivity. They remain uncontactable to date¡­¡±

    ¡°And there are others who left their phones behind when they entered their closed-door cultivation! This resulted in a slew of false information when our operatives attempted to call for help and reinforcements. To date, we¡¯ve lost contact with 75 sentinels in recent times, while the sentinels that we¡¯ve been unable to contact for three years running number 432 in total¡­¡±

    Holy shit?!

    It suits me too well!

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes as though he could empathize with the old man¡¯s struggles. Then, under the old man¡¯s expectant gaze, he responded without any hesitation, ¡°I choose to be a sentinel.¡±

    The corners of Liu Qing¡¯s lips twitched slightly.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± He asked reluctantly, ¡°Many of our teams don¡¯t even have cultivators at the Netherworld Operative level to lead them¡­ If you join our operatives division, you¡¯ll immediately be given an opportunity to lead a small team of at least ten members. In fact, there is a dearth of captains for mid-sized teams right now. Most cultivators at the Soul Hunter level have been posted to keep watch over cities. As long as you¡¯re up to the task, you¡¯ll be able to take charge over a team of thirty or more.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, "Don''t worry¡­ I''ll make sure that I''m contactable at all times¡­"

    Liu Qing paused for a few moments, before sighing wistfully, "Alright¡­ follow me."

    "Liu Qing doesn''t seem too pleased?" Qin Ye asked Zhang Chenghai discreetly as they followed Liu Wong''s lead.

    Zhang Chenghai responded with some measure of exasperation, "Of course¡­ danger levels are rising steadily across all of Cathay, yet for thest two years, most of the Soul Hunters across the country are either posted to cities as guards or have simply chosen to act as sentinels¡­ this has resulted in many cities and provinces seeing nobody take up the mantle as a captain over mid-sized teams for a long time¡­ Mr Qin, I would sincerely urge you to reconsider your decision and take up the mantle of a team leader. I''m certain that this represents the desires of all cities and provinces around."

    Qin Ye smiled and grew taciturn.

    Bloody hell. Yours truly might very soon have to go down to Hell and Fengdu Necropolis toy bricks at night! What''s going to happen if I''m spotted by others?!

    They finally arrived in front of another room. There were rows after machines that were approximately 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall. Each of them had several lines of text on their touch screens. It appeared quite simr to the ATMs at banks.

    Is this the integration of technology and cultivation?

    With curiosity at the back of his mind, Qin Ye quickly filled up the forms. Then, seconds after his verification was sessful, a smallpartment on the machine opened up and extruded a red identification card.

    ¡°Certified Member of the Special Investigations Department.¡± Seven words were printed on the cover. When he flipped open the certificate, it revealed Qin Ye¡¯s photograph, as well as his date of birth and domicile.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes lingered on the date of birth - 1 January 2000. He was jubnt.

    ¡°You¡¯d somehow be seventy or eighty years younger, haven¡¯t you? Aren¡¯t you pleased?¡± Arthis chuckled.

    Qin Ye closed the certificate with a snap and ced it within his pocket. Then, just as Qin Ye was about to bid farewell and take his leave, he suddenly discovered that there was a mobile phone below as well.

    It wasn¡¯t affiliated to any particr brand, but its build and form were impressive. It even sported thetest trend of a bezel-less screen and curved edges. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t take his eye off it as soon as he saw it.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He smiled knowingly.

    ¡°This is the Special Investigations Department¡¯s primary mode ofmunication. Its signal is routed directly to the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. That said, it also provides you ess to allworks around. Most importantly, it has the Special investigations Department¡¯s internal app pre-installed on it. Everything you need to know is in there.¡±

    It¡¯s quite user friendly!

    Qin Ye was astonished by how much the cultivation world had kept up with the times. To think that when he encountered cultivators back in the day, they would all invariably be cooped up in the depths of the forest like hermits until the day they die. If they wanted to look up information and do their research, those cultivators would even have to ride a horse into the closest town to purchase their newspapers!

    Qin Ye put away his new phone with much discipline and smiled genially, ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ll head off to get some rest first, alright? I haven¡¯t slept a wink sincest night, and I¡¯m really struggling to hold it together.¡±

    Liu Qing cast him another look, ¡°Go on, then¡­ Firstly, remember to keep your phone switched on at all times. A moment of negligence on your part could spell the death of a small team near you.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, remember to head into the downtown za three dayster. This will be a historic moment when Cathay reveals to the public the truth about the situation for the very first time. All of the important cultivators within the Insignia Province will be in attendance. Besides, you¡¯ll be set as a benchmark and be rewarded for your efforts forst night. Try and be as normal as possible.¡±

    Qin Ye left.

    However, he didn¡¯t walk back. Instead, an Audi A8 sent him directly back to his hotel.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Things had finallye to a close for now, and Qin Ye could feel his eyelid growing as heavy as Mount Tai. He nearly nodded off, but managed to hang in there enough to ask, ¡°This isn¡¯t my hotel, is it?¡±

    It was a 7 Days Inn.

    It was a rtively unknown hotel. That said, the decor spoke volumes about its incredibly luxurious and exquisite style.

    ¡°Mr Sentinel, sir, the division is aware that you have no ce of residence right now, so we have specially booked out a suite on your behalf for a quarter.¡± The driver smiled faintly, ¡°This is one of the basic privileges of the Special Investigations Department. Sentinels on the level of Soul Hunters may show their certificate in lieu of ID cards, drivers¡¯ license, and other documents. Furthermore, you will enjoy treatment of the highest priority. You are also entitled to special reserved suites in all of the major hotels across the country.¡±

    Qin Ye was somewhat surprised, ¡°So convenient? Is everything free? Why?¡±

    The driver smiled with some pride, ¡°But of course¡­ The privileges of the Special Investigations Department aren¡¯t limited to just these few things. Mr Sentinel, sir, you¡¯ll understand everything once you go through the information avable to you on the app. Here¡¯s the ce. Mr Sentinel, sir, I¡¯ll pick you up in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    After registering at the concierge, he picked up his room card and entered his room. It was a sprawling eighty square meter room with a huge crystal chandelier and soft, ankle-deep rugs that was immenselyfortable.

    ¡°I might have just been struck by a sugar coated bullet¡­¡±

 Chapter 69: The Supreme Organization (1)

    <h4>Chapter 69: The Supreme Organization (1)</h4>

    Wang Chenghao sat cross legged on the super king-sized bed, typing furiously away at hisptop. As soon as Qin Ye entered the room, he immediately jumped up and eximed, ¡°Brother Qin, how was it? Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively and copsed into the bed. He suddenly felt a wave of emptiness strike him.

    Perhaps it wasn¡¯t emptiness. Perhaps it was more of the manifestation of an uncertainty as to the road ahead.

    I¡¯d actually entered the Special Investigations Department¡­ To be associated with such a shady organization¡­ I still can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve joined them right now.

    He felt somewhat vexed by the situation. Meanwhile, he noticed that Wang Chenghao was typing away at lightning speed on hisptop, and he furrowed his brows impatiently, ¡°Sledgehammer, what are you ying? Isn¡¯t the inte down?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡± Astonished, Wang Chenghao turned hisptop around, ¡°We¡¯ve still got ess to the localwork. The government has rolled out a temporary forum for the locals, and it¡¯s exploding with activity.¡±

    There¡¯s something like that?

    Qin Ye sat up immediately and snatched over theptop.

    This was obviously a temporary forum that contained only the most basic of functions. That said¡­ the number of posts on it was already three hundred thousand!

    The City of Salvation has a poption size of 3.2 million people. In other words, approximately one in ten persons had posted something on the forums!

    ¡°The truth aboutst night! With pictures and videos! This is just one hundred meters from the battleground!¡± -- Little Goldfish.

    This was the top thread on the forums. Qin Ye clicked on it.

    The first post on the thread was that of arge picture. The inte speed wasn¡¯t slow, and it loaded almost immediately. The picture revealed the moment when the countless soldiers released a volley of crossbow bolts all at once, sending zing explosions of talismans flying through the sky.

    ¡°Take a look at this picture. It¡¯s obvious that the bolts are striking certain objects. But what objects are they? Whether with the naked eye or through the lenses of a camera, I wasn¡¯t able to tell the answer! But the mes from the exploding talismans must have struck something for it to ze like that!¡± -- Little Goldfish.

    The first image posted here had already garnered thousands ofments.

    Qin Ye clicked on them.

    ¡°Unbelievable¡­ Ipletely agree with the author of the post! Is the military testing some kind of secret weapon?¡± -- User438126.

    ¡°That¡¯s not likely. Things wouldn¡¯t appear like that if they were. Perhaps there are things that exist in this world that we can¡¯t see with the naked eye¡­ and perhaps the military is protecting us?¡± -- User27184.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think there¡¯s probably a link between this incident and the supernatural sightingsst night?! I¡¯d seen a ghost! I really did!! My whole family stayed on the sofa in the living roomst night, and none of us dared to catch even a wink of sleep! I swear I saw a ghost!¡± -- User 231234.

    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one. There¡¯s been a mass sighting of ghosts¡­ I¡¯m from themunity office, and I¡¯d just done my rounds around the neighbourhood. Have you heard of the Song River Neighbourhood? Of the two thousand residents we have, approximately one thousand three hundred people have experienced a supernatural encounter to various degreesst night. Ourmunity office is doing its best to calm our residents down.¡± -- User 12379.

    Qin Ye clicked on the second page.

    It was still an image of a battleground. However, it revealed that several copsed soldiers. Little Goldfish added, ¡°I saw everything! These soldiers lookedpletely fine one moment, and then they suddenly copsed in the very next moment! I doubt this is merely a military exercise. They must be fighting against an unseen force! What¡¯s going on in our society right now?!¡±

    The post almost immediately exploded withments thereafter - ¡°Ghost!¡± ¡°Definitely a ghost!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve personally seen a ghost¡­ and it wasst night when I went to the bathroom¡­ ahhhhh!¡± I don¡¯t want to think about it anymore! I second the author¡¯s opinion!¡± ¡°Upvotes on post - +10086!¡±

    Each picture that had been posted garnered at least three thousand responses. Furthermore, thest video posted had garnered a whopping 30,000ments!

    ¡°We need the truth! I¡¯m afraid to continue living in the City of Salvation anymore! I¡¯ve grown up here and lived here all my life. What¡¯s happening with the City of Salvation? Are there really ghosts?!¡±

    ¡°Afraid to live here? Dear, my family tried driving out towards the Eastsea Province at 6 a.m. In the end¡­ we discovered that the entire city has bepletely locked down. Nobody is allowed to enter or leave this ce. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the government say that they will give us an answer within three days¡¯ time?¡± ¡°Do you expect the government to tell us the truth?¡± ¡°I just want an answer! I don¡¯t care whether it¡¯s the truth or a lie! I don¡¯t even dare to sleep at night right now!¡±

    None of the posts were censored or deleted at all.

    There were no moderators either.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, while Arthis muttered softly, ¡°Brilliant.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s simply no way to cover up what happenedst night due to the sheer number of eye witnesses. Furthermore, the masses need an outlet to ventte their fears, and the forums are the perfect tform for that. At the same time, it gives everyone enough buffer time to cool down and let the notion that there are unseen forces in the world sink in. That way, the revtion in three days¡¯ time will go on much more smoothly.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head and continued reading.

    The second thread stated, ¡°The government is going to make a public announcement in three days¡¯ time. Can anyone guess what the government is going to say?¡±

    This was a poll.

    And there were only two options.

    Option 1: Ghosts!

    Option 2: Military exercise.

    Those who selected the first option exceeded 76% of all votes casted. That amounted to over two hundred thousand people!

    This was a form of subliminal messaging.

    Even if the majority leaned towards the second option, there was nevertheless a good chance that the government would intervene and bump up the first option so that it would reflect an overwhelming majority of the votes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fan the mes. You should know full well what¡¯s going on. Don¡¯t spread the word. The Special Investigations Department is already on high alert right now. If any rumours about this incident is leaked outside of the City of Salvation, I¡¯m quite certain that you¡¯ll be receiving an invitation to have tea with representatives of the Special Investigations Department very soon.¡± Qin Ye returned theptop to Wang Chenghao and cautioned.

    ¡°I know. My lips are sealed.¡± He watched as Qin Ye wearily shut his eyes. Then, he leaned over and whispered, ¡°By the way, Brother Qin, just a moment ago¡­ I discovered that I¡¯ve regained ess to my banking card!¡±

    Qin Ye pushed his head away, ¡°I got it. Let me rest for a while.¡±

    Wang Chenghao waited for a moment. Qin Ye didn¡¯t speak anymore. Two minutester, Wang Chenghao finally heard the faint sounds of restful breathing from Qin Ye.

    Wang Chenghao felt somewhat bitter.

    Am I no more than an incidental existence to you any longer? I can¡¯t even stir your heart with the mention of money anymore¡­

    Time flew by quickly, and it was already 7 p.m. when Qin Ye woke up.

    In fact, Qin Ye had been awakened by the sound of a loud radio.

    There was a television in the room, and the television was broadcasting the exact same advertisement as the radio at the exact same time.

    ¡°All citizens are reminded to stay calm. Over the next three days, the City of Salvation will maintain its red alert status. That said, you may still carry on with your lives as per normal, as long as you remain at home. Please be reminded that all citizens are not to move about on their own.¡±

    ¡°Three dayster, the ministers of Yan Capital will personally visit the City of Salvation. Together with the city¡¯s government, they will reveal¡­ a truth that you wouldn¡¯t even be able to fathom.¡±

    ¡°Even though some of you might find the truth difficult to swallow, the city government assures you that¡­ ever since the founding of our nation, the military and a special group of people whose existence many aren¡¯t even aware about, have always been silently but stoically protecting everyone in the shadows.¡±

    ¡°When did this begin?¡± Qin Ye asked with a slightly husky voice.

    ¡°Twelve noon. The forums are going wild. The number of posts have exceeded four hundred thousand.¡± Wang Chenghao clinked his bowl against the table, ¡°Brother Qin, would you like to eat first?¡±

    It was only at this moment that Qin Ye discovered a rich aroma diffusing into the surroundings, up his nostril and straight into his belly. His stomach immediately began growling.

    A hot pot was ced in the center of the table, and the rest of the empty spaces on the table were filled with a variety of dishes, including tripe, foie gras, meatballs, beef, etc. The spread was unimaginably abundant.

    ¡°You ordered this?¡±

    ¡°Of course¡­ I¡¯m gonna throw up if I see another pack of instant noodles again!¡± Wang Chenghao took a sip of Coke and smiled brightly, ¡°Qin Ye, say¡­ what do you think the City of Salvation is going to do?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. He, too, was curious just what the government was going to do.

    After all, this was an unsolicited,rge-scale supernatural outbreak that had affected an entire city! Cao Youdao had umted and built up his army of Yin spirits for a hundred years, only to unleash them on the city in a massive tidal wave. In turn, the trifecta of military, government and cultivators had no choice but to join forces to resist the supernatural onught. They even had to enlist the aid of the provincial inspector. In fact, there might well have been other special agents dispatched from other cities as reinforcements. Qin Ye simply hadn¡¯t encountered any of them.

    Establishing an Academy of Cultivators¡­ and having the City of Salvation under direct administration¡­ These were the two pieces of information he had obtained so far. No matter how he looked at it¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s going to be an iron fist policy¡­¡± He sighed as he joined Wang Chenghao at the table, ¡°It¡¯s going to be an ultimatum¡­¡±

    Having a hot pot on a cold winter day was one of the joys of the world. After eating, Qin Yey down on the bed, only to realize that the only channel avable on television was the City of Salvation¡¯s local news. And to that end, the news only reported on the aftermath of the battlest night.

    ¡°433rd Regiment. 70 killed in action, 150 grievously wounded, and the rest are wounded to varying extents¡­¡±

    ¡°City of Salvation¡¯s Public Security Bureau. 20 killed in action, 200 grievously wounded, 532 wounded to varying extents¡­¡±

    ¡°Special Investigations Department. 7 killed in action¡­¡± ¡°254th Regiment. 83 killed in action¡­¡±

    Over and above that, they even yed on public broadcast some video footages ofst night¡¯s battle, regardless of whether they captured the frontline of the battlefield or the backlines where the medical teams operated.

    A string of numbers continued to run on the scrolling marquee below. It didn¡¯t report the cause of death, but it served its purpose of reminding the citizens of who protected themst night. They didn¡¯t exin what dangers they had faced, but these reports still served to stir the hearts of the citizens to sympathize with their defenders and against their enemies.

    Qin Ye picked up theputer and took another nce at it.

    Earlier that afternoon, there were still several people who raised questions against the government, alleging that the government was hiding the truth from them, and even implying that they were all being deceived. But now, the consensus was almost unanimous.

    ¡°It¡¯s all about maintaining stability.¡± One user who appeared ostensibly sophisticated quipped, ¡°The government cannot possibly tell citizens about such matters. Truth be told, I don¡¯t really want to know or hear about the truth either. On a separate note, I finally feel as though the taxes I¡¯ve been contributing all this while hasn¡¯t been in vain.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re still alive thanks to these frontline troopers¡­ I¡¯m thoroughly ashamed for having thought in the past that Cathay¡¯s forces were merely for show.¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that? I¡¯m so scared right now.¡± ¡°What are you afraid of? Hasn¡¯t the government assured you that everything is under control?¡± ¡°But aren¡¯t we still on red alert?¡±

    Oh, how quickly the winds change.

    What does an ancient country with thousands of years of history under its belt do when such exigencies ur?

    The heart of the entire nation, Yan Capital, already had its answer.

    ¡°Brother Qin, have you really not heard of any news about this?¡± Wang Chenghao muttered softly.

    Qin Ye shook his head. How would it be possible to learn of such things¡­ Hang on!

    It suddenly urred to him. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and switched it on.

    ¡°Eh? Who bought you a new phone? You¡­ are you seeing someone else?¡± Wang Chenghao was astonished.

    ¡°... Can¡¯t I buy this myself?! And what do you mean I¡¯m seeing someone else?! From the start, I¡­ scram!!¡±

    Wang Chenghao blinked his eyes and sized up Qin Ye, ¡°No, something¡¯s not right¡­ you were poor - even excessively frugal. How could you possibly be willing to purchase a phone with thetest cutting edge technology, including curved edges and a ceramic body? By the way, do you even know what curved edges and ceramic bodies are? This phone costs at least RMB 3,500 or more.¡±

    Kid¡­ could you be less incisive with your words? We¡¯re still friends, aren¡¯t we¡­

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes. Wang Chenghao motioned to lean over, yet found himself being kicked away with a foot to the chest.

    Qin Ye switched on his phone. Apart from the usual softwares, Qin Ye discovered that there was only a single app located on the second page of apps.

    And the thumbnail design was that of a single bloodshot eye and a gleaming de.

    The letters below spelt a single word - ¡°y¡±.

    He opened the app, and a line of words suddenly lit up on the screen - ¡°You have a voice message. Please ensure that you have your headphones ready.

    Qin Ye grabbed a pair of headphones from Wang Chenghai and clicked on the screen. The voice began to speak immediately.

    ¡°Please unlock the phone using your fingerprint.¡±

    ¡°The system is connected directly to the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and Styx¡¯s hive mind. Errors are impossible. Detecting that the user is logging in for the first time. Please register your fingerprint before unlocking your phone.¡±

 Chapter 70: The Supreme Organization (2)

    <h4>Chapter 70: The Supreme Organization (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye did so ordingly. Soon, the image changed, and the heavy, ancient stone door on the screen burst open, revealing intense rays of light from within. The voice spoke again.

    ¡°Sentinel S9527 verified. Logged in. Please bear in mind the following terms.¡±

    ¡°One: All information seen here is strictly confidential and shall not be disclosed to the public atrge. Any breach of this term will be considered a mid-level breach of secrecy.¡±

    Two: Spamming and flooding are strictly forbidden. Once discovered, the first-time offender shall be suspended for one hour. A second-time offender will be suspended for a period of twelve hours. Third-time offenders will be suspended for one day. Fourth-time offenders will be suspended for seven days, and the fifth-time offender¡¯s ount will be suspended permanently.¡±

    ¡°Three: Please abide by all applicable social and moral norms at all times. Any instances of offences reported by users and verified by Styx¡¯s hive mind shall be suspended for three days.¡±

    ¡°Wee to y, the exclusive app of Cathay¡¯s supreme organization, the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    Boom¡­ As soon as the voice finished speaking, the bright light on the screen faded away, revealing an ancient-looking interface.

    It looked intense and heavy.

    The interface was red and white in colour, and the sides of the interface looked like etchings of the remnants of the Three Star Mound The forum was located in the center of the interface.

    In turn, the forum was separated into four distinct sections - gossip, information, interaction, and tasks.

    Qin ye didn¡¯t hesitate to click on the gossip section. After all, this was undoubtedly the most convenient ce to glean new information.

    There was a wide variety of posts on the page. That said, the most eye-catching one was a blood-red coloured stick post at the top of the page.

    ¡°Caution: City of Salvation, Insignia Province, will be disclosing the truth to its popce in three days¡¯ time.¡± -- Director of the Certification and Administration Division.

    He quickly clicked on it and read on.

    ¡°Everyone should know about the massive outbreak of supernatural incidents in the City of Salvation. It is impossible to hide the situation there any longer.¡±

    ¡°The City of Salvation¡¯s government and the Special Investigations Department havee to a consensus. In three days¡¯ time, the City of Salvation will be the first region on Cathay that will reveal to its citizens about the truth of the supernatural, and the Administration Division has approved of the following official letter. All cultivators, cultivation sects, organizations and institutions, and branch offices of the Special Investigations Department are to take note.¡±

    ¡°One: The City of Salvation will be ced under direct administration. Cultivation shall be the top focus and priority henceforth.¡±

    ¡°Two: With the assistance of our sponsorsprising twelve of the nation¡¯srgestpanies, including the ck Ant Group, the Value Garden Group, Fido Real Estate, etc, Cathay¡¯s first ever Academy of Cultivators has just been registered. The total investment to date is RMB 42 billion. We shallmence the selection and enrollment of the first batch of students after winter, on a date to be further confirmed.¡±

    ¡°Three: All businesses and residences are to be relocated from the main city district. 350 hectares of the main city district is ted to be the campus grounds of the Academy of Cultivators. This size is second only to the tworgest universities in all of Cathay. At present, Value Garden Group, Fido Real Estate, and five other developers have already begun directing and channeling their special assessment teams to the City of Salvation. The Cathay Construction Group will be in charge of assembling the manpower for construction works.¡±

    Four: The City of Salvation is inviting all major cultivation sects, organizations and institutions, as well as all major cultivation research institutions to move in. The exact details of the preferential conditions will simrly be disclosed in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    A line of words written in crimson-red lettering sat on the bottom of the page.

    ¡°These are all the details I have on hand at the moment. The rest of the details will be disclosed together with the public broadcast at the downtown za of the City of Salvation in three days¡¯ time. Currently, only cultivators are allowed to enter the City of Salvation. In three days¡¯ time, the major directors of the Special Investigations Department, the Deputy Chief Inspector, the governor of Insignia Province, and the bookkeeper will all be in attendance personally. Dear friends, this bodes well for us.¡±

    ¡°Over thest few decades, we¡¯ve been silently struggling and fighting against the advances and onught of theherworldly forces. The fact that theherworld is off-bnce, and Hell has be silent, is something that is ubiquitously known to all of us. However, this remainspletely unknown to the rest of the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°Cathay cannot afford to allow the situation to worsen. We are a nation of more than a billion people. If something happens to us, it would spell disaster for the rest of the world as well. Therefore, the first thing we have to do is to maintain stability and order internally. It is also for this reason¡­ that many ordinary soldiers continue to join our ranks and fight, and even sacrifice themselves, although they gain no fame out of it. It is all the more for this reason that our dear fellow Taoists have died for the country, yet cannot be publicly honoured for their contributions.¡±

    ¡°Too many have died fighting for the opportunity that we have been presented with today. The City of Salvation¡­ shall be the first sacred ground for all cultivators of Cathay! And this is only the beginning. I firmly believe that we will see more and more of these sacred grounds sprouting up all across Cathay in no time!¡±

    ¡°Fellow Taoists, we¡¯re not going to see considerable results or progress in the war with theherworldly forces in the near future. We might not even see results in the next few decades. But, that said, it is only if we stand together, shoulder to shoulder, with the rest of the citizens of the country that we can even begin to hope for the final victory against these forces. It is my sincere hope that all fellow Taoists who can afford to spare the time will join us at the City of Salvation and build a home for yourself there. Help us make it a home for all cultivators in Cathay. I, in my capacity as the director of the Certification and Administration Division of the Special Investigations Department, personally guarantees that as long as you are a cultivator, all past misdeeds of yours shall be forgiven. We shall let bygones be bygones!¡±

    The sticky post exploded with a slew of responses!

    ¡°The City of Salvation has experienced a massive outbreak of supernatural incidents? Is this real? Why haven¡¯t I got wind of it?¡± -- Verified user, Chenzhou rogue cultivator, Huang Zi Ang.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that the news of the incident is currently suppressed across all of Cathay. Is it true?¡± ¡°Those damned things have finally decided to make a move? How¡¯s the situation over there?¡±

    The director¡¯s further post in response to the thousands ofments was also bumped up to one of the topments. Again, it was written with striking, blood-red lettering, ¡°The exact details of the situation there will be pinned to the sticky note at the top of this thread in three days¡¯ time. Please be patient. That said, we can reveal that the mortal realm hase out on top of this battle with a resounding victory. Of the ten hunting zones in the City of Salvation, only one remains. It¡¯s not going to take much effort for us to expunge the evil ghost in thest hunting zone. The City of Salvation could very well soon be the first and only green zone on Cathay¡¯s map since thest thirty years!¡±

    ¡°With a green zone¡­ the future of cultivators is going to be much more secure!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. My master was assassinated by an evil ghost when he was attempting a breakthrough some time ago¡­ I¡¯ve got to have revenge for my master!¡± ¡°Esteemed director, couldn¡¯t you just disclose some of the terms of the preferential conditions? I¡¯m an owner of a small antiques shop. I wonder if I qualify for the benefits to relocate to the city?¡±

    The countless responses were widely varied.

    Qin Ye and Arthis grew taciturn. Both of them were deep in thought.

    ¡°What great decisiveness¡­¡± Arthis finally eximed after a long time.

    The developments had all pointed towards the fact that civilization would reach yet another point of inflexion in three days¡¯ time!

    Cultivation was the stuff of legends; while theherworldly forces were only depicted in movies. Yet, the truth about these matters would all be made public on the very same day! Furthermore, the entire City of Salvation was going to be the first ever city of cultivation!

    And this wasn¡¯t the most incredible thing.

    What happens next?

    What happens after the establishment of the first city of cultivation? A second? A third?

    The City of Salvation was most certainly no more than a pilot test. Just like what happened to the special administrative regions in the country, there was no doubt that these special-purpose cities were going to start sprouting up across all of Cathay in no more than five years¡¯ time!

    This was the resounding bugle horn symbolizing the mortal realm¡¯s official deration of war!

    ¡°They¡¯re trying to introduce a paradigm shift for the integration of cultivation as a regr career path for the purposes of sustainability.¡± Qin Ye replied as though in deep thought. His fingers tapped rapidly on the screen simultaneously.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows and smiled, ¡°Haven¡¯t you noticed?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m told that the existence of S-ss entities are few and far between within the Special Investigations Department. Most of the people who¡¯vemented on this page are only D-ss or E-ss.¡±

    Arthis was somewhat baffled, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Qin Ye hit the ¡®send¡¯ button and smiled enigmatically, ¡°First, I¡¯ll act as an ignorant idiot¡­¡±

    Bloop¡­ Ament appeared, ¡°Could I ask if the residents within the City of Salvation are still allowed to leave afterwards?¡± -- Verified user, Sentinel, City of Salvation.

    Then, over ten responses came rushing in within an instant!

    ¡°What the hell?! S? S?? This is the first time I¡¯ve seen an S-ss user leaving ament!¡± -- Verified user, Ghostwriter, Liu Wen, Mountainflower Vige.

    ¡°Look at that! Just look at his location!¡± -- Verified user, Trainee Practitioner, Lin Fengcai, Easke City, Eastwood.

    ¡°City of Salvation? City of Salvation?!! You¡¯re an eyewitness?!¡± ¡°Holy shit! A living eyewitness! And you¡¯re still able to post about the matter? Do you need a babysitter, honey? The kind that can warm the bed beside you andugh at your jokes?¡± ¡°Esteemed author of the post, what in the world is going on in the City of Salvation? Can¡¯t you tell us some details? There¡¯s no news about the incident anywhere else!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was greatly gratified by all of their reactions.

    But Arthis didn¡¯t smile at all.

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± The soul sphere hovered just beside Qin Ye¡¯s body. Then, several secondster, she nodded her head knowingly, ¡°The safeguards in ce.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qin Ye snapped his fingers, ¡°It first urred to me when I noticed the director¡¯s sign-off.¡±

    ¡°Look at it. All of the users whose registration numbers are prefixed by E or D, and even C, have their exact locations and names reported in their sign-off. It even reports their exact profession. However, the director¡¯s sign-off didn¡¯t contain these details.¡±

    ¡°And take a look. Starting from the B-ss users, their names and professions are no longer reported. When I registered my fingerprint with the system, my identity would already have been verified by Styx, and it is likely that there are in ce other anonymous entities who hold greater authority to deal with users like the director and I. On the ground, it is unlikely that the moderators of the forums hold any authority to ess Styx¡¯s data directly. After all, there¡¯s simply no reason for them to hold such ess to vital information about the core members of each region. In other words, my identity is presently unknown to any of these people!¡±

    On the inte, one can never be certain whether the person you¡¯re chatting with is a human or merely a dog.

    Take Qin Ye for instance¡­ This husky has already sessfully infiltrated the pack of wolves, crept into their inner circle, and is now even analyzing the organization¡¯s internal app with much subterfuge. The information that had originally only been privy to the Special Investigations Department was now also avable to the eyes of an Emissary of Hell¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s way too much room for manoeuvre in here. For instance¡­¡± Qin Ye typed out an enigmatic yet beautiful phrase, ¡°I am what I am; I ze with a unique congration¡±. However, despite clicking on the ¡®post¡¯ button, he discovered that the message simply wouldn¡¯t send!

    ¡°What the hell?!¡± Qin Ye was horrified. Bloody hell¡­ This is Styx x BeiDou! How could it possibly crash?!

    Ding¡­ A message popped up on his phone at the very next moment, ¡°Dear S9527, your ount has been suspended for one day. Please cherish your privileges and avoid spamming or flooding. Thank you.¡±

    Thank you?!

    There¡¯s not even a little bit of grace period allowed?! How could the Special Investigations Department be so impersonal about these things?!

    Just as his heart was roiling with furiousints, he received a voice message.

    A3125.

    ¡°Hello. You must be a newly registered user. I must remind you that your ssification as an S-ss user is reflective of your natural endowment and talent. It is not meant to be a bragging right. Furthermore, there are unspoken rules that S-ss users don¡¯t post on the forums unless absolutely necessary. It would be prudent to keep posts about yourself to a minimum. Finally, please feel free to utilize the search function in the app. You will also find avable for download at the gossip section a chat tool specially developed by the Special Investigations Department. Please use that app to link up with other fellow S-ss users instead.¡±

    ¡°A one-day suspension is a warning of sorts. Please cherish ourmunity. Feel free to browse the other three sections in the meantime. You¡¯re wee.¡±

    Ding¡­ Qin Ye was instantly kicked out of the gossip section. The bulging veins on his forehead throbbed uncontrobly.

    Aaaarrgghh¡­ Does a husky have to face the provocation of the previous wolf king before seeding his throne¡­

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ It seems like the parents of the wolf n aren¡¯t too pleased with you, are they¡­ After all, of their thousands of obedient wolf cubs around, another one with a different coat of fur and a different bark has just appeared. It¡¯s harsh on the eyes¡­¡± Arthisughed uproariously, ¡°Kiddo, when do you think of returning home the most? But regardless, you¡¯re not going to be able to return home anytime soon. Kekeke...¡±

    When do I think of returning home the most?

    Qin Ye pondered silently for a moment.

    And then, he muttered faintly, ¡°Our base is under attack.¡±

    1. This refers to an ancient Bronze-Age Archaeological site.

 Chapter 71: Momo

    <h4>Chapter 71: Momo</h4>

    He had thought that this was going to be paradise for pretension.

    He had thought that he was going to be able to maintain an image of being an approachable S-ss member and make random posts whenever he was idle and free. Who would have expected such a tight p to the face by the wolf n chieftain almost as soon as he let loose?

    Turning his grief into his strength, Qin Ye gritted his teeth and scrolled through the rest of the forums and finally found a post he was looking for.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the special treatment? We need an outlet formunication as well! Community: 71273563, S-ss members are wee to join! Information is the source of your strength!¡± -- S4396.

    This is it!

    Qin Ye immediately clicked on it and was redirected to a download link. As soon as he clicked on the download link, he immediately closed it.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Arthis was baffled.

    ¡°... I might have clicked on the wrong link¡­¡± Qin Ye hesitated, and clicked on the message again. He was redirected to download the same app.

    ¡°Would you like to download the app, Momo? You¡¯re not connected to Wi-Fi at the moment. Please note that data charges may apply.¡±

    God damn it, Momo!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but give the app developer a huge thumbs up - the cultivator who developed this app must be a genius!

    ¡°Is that not it?¡± The ancient old granny, Arthis, peeked over Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder and attempted to probe further for his response.

    Qin Ye gazed deeply into the distance - Do you really not know what exactly the Momo app is all about?

    ¡°It¡¯s undoubtedly directing me to this link¡­ But I get the strange feeling that I¡¯ve downloaded the wrong app¡­¡± He clicked on the confirmation, and the download was promptlypleted. As soon as he opened the app, the word ¡°Momo¡± immediately appeared in the foreground with a striking pink colour, oveid across a beautifuldy¡¯s picture in the background. The logo was all too familiar to Qin Ye¡¯s eyes.

    Did I identally download a fake chatting app?

    Incidentally, Wang Chenghao happened to nce curiously over at Qin Ye¡¯s phone at exactly this moment, and he immediately gave Qin Ye a look of horror.

    ¡°No¡­ Brother Qin, how thirsty must you be feeling right now?¡± Then, almost as though he were a dog that had just sensed meat on a bone, he mischievously minced his way towards Qin Ye¡¯s side and added enthusiastically, ¡°It¡¯s great if you are! Brother Qin, let me exin to you how amazing Momo truly is¡­ I¡¯ll teach you how to geolocate, how to search. Most importantly¡­ you¡¯ll need a picture of my half-naked body! And a perfect profile message!¡±

    Qin Ye silently sized up Wang Chenghao.

    Come to think about it, Wang Chenghao is indeed good-looking, and well-built. Damn! He¡¯s even got money!

    He was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to kill Wang Chenghao.

    ¡°You?¡± Qin Ye sneered.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­ I¡¯ll admit you¡¯re fairly good looking too. But what¡¯s popr on Momo these days are muscr, pretty boys like me, and not innocent, effeminate men like you. Come on,e on¡­ let me teach you. First, you¡¯ll have to have some branded goods, understand? LV, Gi and DG used to be alright, but you¡¯ll be despised if you have them right now.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Must I?¡±

    ¡°Of course. These days, apart from your body and appearances, the next thing thedies on Momo look at are whether your branded goods make the cut or not¡­¡±

    Just then, Arthis¡¯ chilling voice cut through the impassioned discussion of both men, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you at least open the app?¡±

    Instant silence.

    Qin Ye coughed dryly and nced at Wang Chenghao with a somber look on his face, ¡°What¡¯s in your mind? Do you think about these kinds of things all day long? Mr Sledgehammer, how many times must I repeat myself?! If you want to seed in life, don¡¯t be a coward and just go for it! As soon as the Academy of Cultivators is enrolling students, I¡¯ll rmend you, and you can give it a shot.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart was flustered, confused and all over the ce. It was almost as though the person who had been discussing the app with him with such immense passion and vigor were apletely different person.

    Qin Ye picked up his phone and switched it back on. In an instant, rows of pictures that could easily be rated 9/10 showed up.

    ¡°Looking for a husband, lonely.¡± The picture was that of a pair of lovely, slender legs in ck stockings. The message stated, ¡°Don¡¯te looking for me if you¡¯re not at least Operative-ss. I won¡¯t entertain you if you¡¯re less than 18. I don¡¯t want to have to look after you when we¡¯re expunging ghosts together!¡±

    Signed: S7483.

    ¡°Vulgar!¡± Arthis snorted, ¡°Fortunately, there¡¯s still some basic morality left in this world. At least she knows not to prey on minors.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°18¡­ might refer to centimeters¡­¡±

    Arthis was instantly silenced.

    Qin Ye was somewhat speechless as well. Were all female cultivators so loose these days?

    Each and every single picture was provocative in some way or another. As he scrolled through the profiles, he finally came to one that appeared somewhat normal. The picture was that of a beautiful woman with long, flowing hair, wearing a long white dress. Her legs dangled by the edge of the pool, gently sshing the surface of the water.

    Not bad¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened. She suited his tastes perfectly. Yet, as soon as he clicked on her profile, his eyes almost fell out of its sockets.

    ¡°This is the vi that my ex-husband gave me.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m stillcking a Maserati. Are you willing to give one to me?¡± -- S1102

    ¡°Rubbish!¡± Qin Ye closed her profile in a fit of rage, ¡°How are all of the women on Momo so outrageous these days?! It¡¯s already so hard to find someone who¡¯s easy on the eyes, yet the first thing she talks about is money! Can a rich man have the qualities I have as well?!¡±

    Wang Chenghao leaned over and took a look at thedy¡¯s profile, ¡°Dear, this profile uses a picture of Dilireba.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Endure.

    Resist the urge, and endure.

    No wonder the picture looked so familiar.

    He keyed in the name of themunity in the search bar and quickly joined its group. A voice prompt told him that the group had allowed members to join automatically as long as they met the necessary prerequisites. The verification was processed by Styx against its database, and its uracy was undeniable. Qin Ye¡¯s application was epted almost immediately after making his request to join the group.

    ¡°Wee to the group! *flower emoticon*x2¡± -- Roly-Poly.

    ¡°Eh? We¡¯ve got a neer? Not bad! Wee, wee.¡± -- The de That Cuts the World.

    ¡°Neer, you¡¯ve not changed your default username yet. Why don¡¯t you change it, and then introduce yourself? *saliva emoticon*¡± -- Woman on a Swing.

    I can finally change my damned username!

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief, and changed his username to ¡°Muscr Pretty Boy¡±.

    Then, he nced at Wang Chenghao, ¡°Send me a picture of your half-nudes.¡±

    Wang Chenghao sent him a bunch.

    ¡°I only asked for your topless pictures!! What the hell did you send me!! Bloody hell¡­ my eyes! My eyes!!¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t specify¡­ Brother Qin, you¡¯re far too reserved¡­¡±

    Everything was done within moments, and the entire group was silent as soon as the Muscr Pretty Boy took centerstage.

    Secondster, the Woman on a Swingughed awkwardly, ¡°Friend¡­ do you really think that this app is one and the same as Momo¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart grew somewhat bitter. He did think of this ce as Momo¡­

    Whose fault is it for making it look so simr?!

    ¡°Forget it. The name doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s oddly catchy as well¡­ Friend, why don¡¯t you introduce yourself?¡±

    ¡°Greetings. I¡¯m 18, and I¡¯ve just taken up office as a sentinel in the City of Salvation¡­¡± Qin Ye typed slowly as he responded.

    ¡°Hang on!¡± The de That Cuts the World interjected, ¡°You¡¯re only 18?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Sentinel?¡± Another user named Berserk Old Dog responded with a series of shocked emoticons, ¡°Are you messing with us?!¡±

    A torrent of abuse immediately filled the page.

    ¡°If I recall correctly, the prerequisite for being a sentinel is that you must be at least of the Soul Hunter level.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ Are you sure you were referring to your age? And not centimeters?¡± ¡°An 18 years-old Soul Hunter? Bloody hell, have I been wasting my time cultivating?¡±

    Eh?

    Everything felt right with the world once again.

    When god closes the door to paradise on you, he will surely open up the door to another heavenly kingdom.

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but praise god.

    He responded resolutely, ¡°That¡¯s right. I didn¡¯t want to join before, but the supernatural outbreakst night has made me change my mind. You can verify my details with Styx.¡±

    Everyone was immediately silenced.

    After a long time, the Woman on a Swing finally responded, ¡°Embittered. Signing off. Going to eat some desserts to pick myself up.¡±

    ¡°Ditto¡­ This group is getting more and more evil¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be revisiting themunity in a while¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m filled with vexation. It suddenly feels as though there¡¯s a hierarchy, even amongst us S-ss members¡­¡± ¡°I feel like I¡¯m more suited to bebelled an M. This group is no longer suitable for me. This is farewell, world.¡±

    Oops¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s heart felt awash with emotions¡­

    Can you guys even breach nine hunting zones in one night like I did?!

    Just then, Qin Ye suddenly received a call.

    He picked up the call. The caller on the other end spoke with the voice of a young man, ¡°Soul Hunter?¡±

    ¡°Yes. And you are?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the deputy leader of themunity. You can call me Vast Ocean Smile. I¡¯m also a Soul Hunter.¡± Qin Ye discovered that he had just been promoted to a moderator of the group before the man had even finished speaking.

    ¡°All Soul Hunter experts are moderators. This is one of the rules of thismunity.¡± Vast Ocean Smile exined casually before asking, ¡°Are you at the City of Salvation?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ did you experience anything out of the ordinaryst night?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows before responding in earnest, ¡°No. In fact, there¡¯s only one hunting zone left within the City of Salvation. It can be disposed of summarily at any time.¡±

    Vast Ocean Smile didn¡¯t respond.

    Secondster, the other person continued hoarsely, ¡°My registration number is S2328, and I¡¯m an officer of the Anomaly Investigations Center located at Yan Capital. Last night, we detected an immeasurablyrge reading of Yin energy emanating from the City of Salvation. I can confirm that Styx isn¡¯t malfunctioning either.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Qin Ye rebuffed, ¡°The head honcho in the City of Salvation is already dead. The appearance of an existence exceeding the Soul Hunter level is just impossible. Besides, the inspector, who¡¯s also a Hellguard-ss expert, is still at the City of Salvation.¡±

    Vast Ocean Smile remained cid, ¡°But Styx can¡¯t be wrong either. That leaves us with one possible exnation¡­¡±

    He continued gravely, ¡°Would a person perceive anything anomalous from the sky?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t immediately understand what he was talking about.

    Nevertheless, the man continued with his exnation, ¡°In other words, that source of Yin energy might have been so great that it hadpletely surpassed the limits of your perception when it nketed the entire city. This would exin why all of you weren¡¯t able to perceive it. It¡¯s because you¡¯re right in the midst of it all.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what the Yin level is?¡±

    Then, without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, he added, ¡°Thirty million.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what the Yin energy reading was when the entire country was gued by the great famine in the ¡®60s?¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly had a bad hunch about the situation, ¡°How much?¡±

    Vast Ocean Smile chuckled softly, ¡°Six million.¡±

    ¡°And to put things into perspective, if we convert the amount of energy avable at the disposal of Soul Hunters like us to Yin energy, our reading would range from five thousand to ten thousand.¡±

    Qin Ye covered his speaker and turned to Arthis, ¡°Did you feel anything amissst night?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Arthis had also heard the conversation, ¡°I didn¡¯t detect any anomalies. But that level of Yin energy is far greater than the level of Yin energy I possess¡­ I can¡¯t quite believe it.¡±

    After all, wouldn¡¯t believing in such an outrageous phenomenon be endorsing the idea that the City of Salvation hides an existence that was five times stronger than the drought demons that had ravaged Cathay back in the ¡®60s?!

    What kind of concept was that?

    Even the term ¡®millennial ghost¡¯ couldn¡¯t sufficiently describe how terrifying such an existence was!

    ¡°These news are privy to only the top brass within the City of Salvation. Friend, do be careful.¡± Vast Ocean Smile cautioned with a deep, profound voice, ¡°As we speak, three teams from the National Institute of Anomalous Sciences are already rushing towards the City of Salvation. You must take care. S-ss existences¡­ are our final bastion of hope. Do take care at the public broadcast in three days¡¯ time. I¡¯m afraid¡­ something anomalous might ur at that time.¡±

    ¡°Separately¡­¡± The man smiled, ¡°You should¡¯ve received your employment letter from the Academy of Cultivators, right?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve epted it.¡±

    ¡°Then in that case¡­ we¡¯ll be seeing each other very soon.¡± The man¡¯s voice grew somewhat distant and profound, ¡°The Academy of Cultivators¡­ It¡¯s a good ce. I¡¯ve got some C-grade cases on hand right now, and I was just fretting over locating the right partner for the job.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t die, and don¡¯t tell anybody about our conversation. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡±

    1. A famous chinese actress.

 Chapter 72: Revelation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 72: Revtion (1)</h4>

    Thirty million Yin?!

    ¡°It¡¯s highly unlikely¡­ That level of Yin energy would already be at the same level of a Yama-King. How could the City of Salvation be in the mood for fun and games with that kind of existence around?¡± Arthis muttered, ¡°Furthermore, he¡¯d mentioned that only the top brass are aware of this. But why aren¡¯t they disclosing it? Back then, when they discovered Yin levels of such magnitude, the first thing they would do would be to evacuate the entire city. And now that an evacuation would be so much easier with the advancement of technology, why don¡¯t they do the same?¡±

    ¡°What about it?¡±

    Arthis nodded, ¡°You have some thoughts about this?¡±

    Arthis agreed, ¡°I think so as well. I have a guess¡­ but I think we can leave that out for now.¡±

    Arthis paused, ¡°I¡¯m afraid you might have some misunderstandings about your future work¡­¡±

    Arthis exined, ¡°Hell is a ce. And a ce implies that it needs space. Where exactly are you going to reestablish Hell? The old Fengdu Necropolis? Are you kidding?¡±

    ¡°... Do I? I think you¡¯re probably mistaken¡­ Ah-hahaha¡­¡±

    The City of Salvation¡­ was practically under martialw right now.

    Qin Ye was convinced of his judgment on the situation.

    When 6 p.m. arrived, the public broadcasts began to y in every part of the city once more. However, the contents of the message were different this time.

    ¡°Tomorrow morning, at 6 a.m. sharp, the City of Salvation willmence its press conference as previously scheduled. The conference will take ce at the downtown za. Guests are ted to arrive from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and the actual conference will begin at 9.10 a.m. sharp. This conference will disclose the future of the City of Salvation, and the message will be broadcast live in all neighbourhoods and shopping malls, as well as on all television channels and publicworks.¡±

    The local forum exploded once again with innumerablements specting on just what would happen tomorrow. Yet, such spections went unchecked by the moderators, even when some contained materials that would have been immediately censored in the past.

    The City of Salvation was making its final preparations for the massive revtion tomorrow. Things were bound to bepletely outrageous!

    However, that was still far too vague. There was so much room for manoeuvre that he couldn¡¯t even understand just how decisive the government was going to be, and how far they were going to go with this.

    He hadn¡¯t awakened on his own.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath. He had still been dreaming when his breathing became ragged, almost as though arge stone were weighing heavily on his chest. When he got up, he discovered a wave of powerful, suffocating true energy engulfing his body.

    United and harmonious. Mortals would hardly be bothered about the existence of true energy at all. This was something that only cultivators and Yin spirits could sense.

    ¡°A Judge-ss expert arrived in the city sometimest night. Right now, the entire city is under his watchful eyes. If any cultivator or Yin spirit dares to even make a single move, they would immediately be restrained with a devastating blow.¡±

    ¡°Brother Qin,e take a look!¡± Just then, a voice called out. Wang Chenghao leaned against the window, gazing into the distance with binocrs as he eximed.

    He took a deep breath and looked through the binocrs into the distance.

    Dawn was only breaking. Yet, as far as the eyes could see, soldiers could be seen in every part of the city, standing approximately ten meters apart from one another!

    And what frightened him the most was not the solemn atmosphere which hung over the city.

    That was why measures were in ce to keep the city from revolting.

    The security in the entire city was on the highest alert!

    ¡°Mr Qin, it¡¯s time for our entrance. Please get into the car.¡± The driver bowed respectfully.

    Qin Ye nodded his head silently. They arrived at the downtown za approximately twenty minutester.

    The morning air was somewhat moist and damp, and the morning dew could even be seen on the trees and flowers in the garden of the downtown za. A gentle shake of the trees would immediately send the gleaming dew scattering about.

    The entire venue was filled with cultivators from the City of Salvation and elsewhere!

    Countless bodyguards wearing suits stood stoically and silently under the stage, whispering into their earpieces from time to time. Waves of true energy swept across the entire venue in precise thirty second intervals.

    Liu Qing sat seven seats away from him. Qin Ye sensed that Liu Qing was looking at him, so he turned around and greeted him with a smile and a nod, before shutting his eyes and resting once more.

    This husky had truly blended in with the pack of wolves¡­

    ¡°You fell asleep.¡± Arthis muttered gravely.

    ¡°No.¡± Arthis drew a deep breath, ¡°I¡­ nodded off as well.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s a problem¡­ this means that the problem is well above something that even a Judge-ss expert can handle!¡±

    I¡¯d actually slept for over an hour?!

    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one¡­¡± Arthis chuckled bitterly, ¡°There¡¯s not a single exception across the board! Even I fell asleep for approximately ten seconds!¡±

    Qin Ye lowered his gaze and clenched his fists tightly.

    Does it really exist?

    Has that unknown entity just been watching the entire City of Salvation like a celestial eye all this while?

 Chapter 73: Revelation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 73: Revtion (2)</h4>

    p p p¡­ Before he could consider the matter in greater detail, a resounding apuse erupted, interrupting his thoughts.

    The third row was already filled with approximately twenty people. He looked up at the main stage and noticed that eight people had already taken centerstage. Each of them were at least in their fifties, and none of them smiled. Instead, they simply nodded to acknowledge the uproarious apuse before taking their seats.

    ¡°Hello, S9527.¡± Just then, a hand stretched into Qin Ye¡¯s field of vision.

    It was a young man dressed in a ramrod straight suit with a rather elegant disposition. He sported a trendy side parting, and also wore a pair of ck-framed sses. There was a presentable smile on his face.

    ¡°S2328?¡± Qin Ye shook his hand, ¡°You¡¯re different from what I¡¯d expected¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡± S2328 didn¡¯t quite know how to respond to that.

    ¡°Su Feng.¡± He pushed up his sses and he squinted at Qin Ye for a moment before changing the topic, ¡°Did you feel that earlier?¡±

    Qin Ye looked him straight in the eye for several seconds, and then he closed his eyes once more before muttering softly, ¡°That time¡­ had somewhat been erased?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re steadier than I¡¯d thought you¡¯d be.¡± Su Feng smiled faintly as he leaned back into his chair, ¡°You¡¯re hardly anything like the Muscr Pretty Boy that you portray yourself to be online¡­ I might have found myself a decent research subject.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re more unrestrained than I¡¯d expected too.¡± Qin Ye chuckled as he leaned back on his chair as well. Then, Qin Ye added with a voice that was audible to only the two of them, ¡°Is there any danger?¡±

    Su Feng muttered, ¡°Naturally¡­ A few days ago, we investigated the anomalous Yin energy fluctuations that were emitted that night. As it turns out, Styx¡¯s records show that the Yin energy fluctuationssted only 0.001 seconds long. And this burst of Yin energy has never appeared at any other time in the history of the City of Salvation spanning close to two thousand years.¡±

    ¡°Furthemore, we haven¡¯t been able to find the source of the burst of Yin energy to date. But¡­¡± He lifted his eyes and suddenly changed the topic, ¡°Do you see that man seated in the center? That¡¯s the esteemed Mr Zhou, Deputy Chief Investigator of the entire Special Investigations Department. Next to him is the Provincial Governor, the Deputy Provincial Governor, the Mayor of the city, the Deputy Mayor of the city, and thest three are the two major directors of the Special Investigations Department - the Director of Finance and Political Affairs, and the Director of Operations¡­¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°I feel much more assured seeing such esteemed members of the organization here.¡±

    In other words, even if the sky copses, he wouldn¡¯t be the one bearing the brunt of the burden on his own.

    Then again, the fact that these esteemed people are present further confirms his earlier suspicions.

    The source of that anomalous burst of Yin energy was not in an active state.

    ¡°Cough.¡± Just then, a majestic wave of true energy swept across the entire za. The Deputy Chief Investigator was a plump man with a mix of ck and white hair. He appeared genial and kind. That said, the entire venue was silenced in that moment!

    Whoosh¡­ It was as though an invisible hand had swept gently across the entire venue, and even the birds of the sky and the winds had ceasedpletely.

    ¡°A peak Judge-ss entity¡­¡± Arthis muttered softly, ¡°He¡¯s one level stronger than I am¡­ By way of extraption, I think it¡¯s safe to say that there must be a Prefect-ss entity within the Special Investigations Department¡¯s forces. Kid, now that you¡¯ve infiltrated their organisation, it might be prudent to remain cautious in your future dealings with them.¡±

    The plump man didn¡¯t immediately speak up. After that single cough, he looked around at the audience and nodded meaningfully. Then, he smiled genially.

    ¡°Let us begin.¡±

    Three simple words. No unnecessary rambling.

    Almost everyone in the audience drew a deep breath and sat up straight.

    It has begun¡­

    Today, the world of cultivation of the mortal realm and the world of ghosts and spirits of theherworld would be publicly revealed to the 3.2 million citizens residing in the City of Salvation!

    9.10 a.m. Not a single person was on the streets. The citizens of the City of Salvation were all at their own homes.

    A woman in trendy clothes sat in front of herputer while holding a drink. However, she didn¡¯t drink from it. Her eyes were transfixed on herputer screen.

    Three middle school students in school uniforms sat together, breathing faintly as they stared intently at the television screen.

    Another family was eating breakfast together. But as soon as the broadcast began, they increased the volume of their television to the maximum and waited with bated breaths.

    The entire city - countless streets and countless homes - had stopped entirely as they turned their attention to the nearest LED screens around them, watching the very same historic moment unfold before their very eyes.

    ¡°Perhaps some of the civil servants among you might have heard of us, the Special Investigations Department. Let me make some formal introductions. I¡¯m the Deputy Chief Investigator of the Special Investigations Department, Zhou Xianlong.¡± The plump man was incrediblymanding, yet his words were also concise and sinct, ¡°Our department is considered a top secret establishment in Cathay, and we are in charge of all supernatural phenomena urring across the entire country.¡±

    He nodded his head intently. Suddenly, a massive LED screen that was ten meters wide and three meters high slowly rose from the bottom of the stage.

    Those who were seated in front of their own televisions watched intently without a single word. Old men with white hair gripped tightly to their walking sticks; children holding onto lollipops stared at the screens with widened eyes; while other young men and women watched with zing passion in their eyes.

    The entire City of Salvation waspletely silent at this very moment.

    Everyone had a vague inkling that the highly unscientific organization that sat high among the echelons of Cathay¡¯s top organizations would soon open their eyes to a whole new world!

    Ssst¡­ A set of images lit up on the LED screen. It revealed a in, white book that was about an inch thick. A few words were mechanically etched onto the cover of the book - Records of Supernatural Incidents.

    Then, before anyone could react to it, the image pulled further away, revealing that just under this book¡­ was yet another one of the same! And then some more!

    Four or five books filled a single shelf. As the image pulled further and further away, everyone saw that¡­ this was a massive room that was filled with twenty to thirty storage cabs! And innumerable personnel in white coats zipped about the room, retrieving volumes of these records from time to time.

    Each of the cabs were filled with at least dozens of shelves full of records! There were easily hundreds of volumes of such records within the massive room!

    Zhou Xianlong looked straight at the audience once more, ¡°These books here all have the exact same cover.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all entitled - Records of Supernatural Incidents.¡±

    ¡°It¡­ records all of the supernatural incidents that have urred across all of Cathay since time immemorial, from the minutest of incidents to thergest of disasters! The final three bookshelves contain records of modern day society. And then we have the records of the time of the founding of the People¡¯s Republic, and then the Republic of Cathay, and then the end of the Qing Dynasty!¡±

    ¡°Going further, we have the Qing Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Song Dynasty¡­ each and every dynasty had its bookkeepers religiously recording every supernatural incident across the entire country since time immemorial!¡±

    He stood up and mmed his hands forcefully onto the table like an awakened dragon, ¡°I don¡¯t like beating about the bush, and I know you probably can¡¯t wait anymore either. Thus, I¡¯m going to get straight to the point.¡±

    He took a deep breath and continued, ¡°There are things in this world that have existed since the dawn of time that themon men on the street aren¡¯t able to see and perceive.¡±

    ¡°The popr term for these existences are ¡®ghosts¡¯. We know them as ¡®Yin spirits¡¯. As soon as they develop some form of sentience, these entities would immediately recognize their innate thirst for flesh and blood. How many thousands of human beings do you think have perished to ghosts since the founding of our nation? We, the Special Investigations Department, act as the vanguard in this war against theherworld. We are fighting for humanity!¡±

    ¡°Unbeknownst to you, there have been countless sacrifices and valiant martyrs from the Special Investigations Department and the military soldiers under their charge. All of these brave deeds of heroism remain uncelebrated and undisclosed to the public. But it is precisely because of all of them that you are able to sit where you are in peace, listening to the great revtion of the truth right now!¡±

    His chest undted a little bit, ¡°The number of soldiers who have perished in the hunting zones over thest few decades¡­ have already well exceeded the tens of thousands.¡±

    His voice crescendoed to a deafening boom, ¡°So, I will not be questioned! The Special Investigations Department won¡¯t ept any invectives, and neither will our nation!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve sacrificed far more than any of you could even begin to fathom!¡±

    His voice reverberated throughout the city, through radios, televisions andputers alike, and reached the corners of each and every household in the city. Millions of people were silenced and somber.

    The three days of buffer time had already prepared the millions of people across the entire city to hear the truth about the existence of ghosts.

    But what they didn¡¯t expect to hear was the sacrifices that had taken ce behind their backs, even as they were grumbling about the curfew andining about theck of ountability on the government¡¯s part.

    Everyone had expected the public broadcast to be humble and tender in order to appease the wrath of the public. They had expected to hear a long, detailed exnation of everything that had urred. But this was clearly not the case.

    Instead, there was simply a thunderous venttion of what was in the minds of the Special Investigations Department.

    It was a revtion of the brutal and horrific truth.

    The Insignia University¡¯s television broadcast room was already packed full of people, including girls who hardly deigned to enter such ces. Everyone was watching the broadcast silently with hearts filled with an amalgam ofplicated emotions.

    Those holding onto drinks stopped drinking from their cups entirely. Those who had snacks also stopped snacking altogether. Some bit down softly on their lips, while others shut their eyes silently. After some time, a plump student muttered, ¡°About that night¡­ My house is located just beside one of the battlegrounds¡­¡±

    ¡°And I saw¡­ many soldiers being carried to the back of their lines¡­¡±

    Silence.

    Humans are humans precisely because of their conscience.

    ¡°What they¡¯re saying is probably true¡­¡± After a long time, the student leader seated at the front of the room finally echoed sullenly, ¡°Truth be told¡­ I also personally witnessed everything¡­ It¡¯s just that I still can¡¯t quite believe it¡­¡±

    ¡°I know everyone finds it hard to believe.¡± Almost as though he could sense the queries and doubts in everyone¡¯s minds, the Provincial Governor, Governor Gao, stood up from his seat and swept his gaze around the audience. The looks on the faces of those in attendance was quite different from those hiding behind the televisions and screens. Those who were in attendance, whether young or old, had a bright gleam in their eyes, almost as though the revtion had ignited their hearts with renewed vigor.

    After all, every single person in attendance at the za was a cultivator.

    All this while, they had silently stood in the shadows of humanity, shrugging off mankind¡¯sck of understanding as they forged on and broke hunting zone after hunting zone.

    Yet today, there was finally someone publicly validating their efforts and affirming their identities!

    If they died in battle right now, they would no longer be another digit that had perished in their call of duty. Rather, they would be orded the dignity of having their names and cause of death recorded, and their lives would be celebrated for everything they had achieved! The world would even know which evil ghost they had perished to!

    Governor Gao spoke clearly, ¡°But, everything is indeed true.¡±

    ¡°Every single inspector present right now has put in unimaginable amounts of effort to fight for your survival and freedom!¡±

    ¡°Likewise¡­¡± He drew a deep breath, ¡°The curfew and the public broadcast of announcements in the evenings were implemented by us as well. That said, the provincial government and the municipality will not be questioned as well!¡±

    ¡°Just ask yourselves - how many valiant soldiers and brave warriors have sacrificed their lives just so that you can sit there in thefort of your own homes while listening to the revtion of the truth right now?¡±

    ¡°I can tell you¡­ It¡¯s 491 soldiers, many of whom are much younger than those of you watching this broadcast to boot! It was the first time on such a battlefield for many of the soldiers as well! They didn¡¯t even know what they were fighting against!¡±

    ¡°Their opponents were evil ghosts that had gathered and grown their forces in the shadows of the City of Salvation over thest century! Yet¡­ not a single one of them retreated!¡±

    Gulp¡­ Qin Ye heard the sound of someone swallowing nervously beside him, and he turned his head to take a look. A white-haired old man wearing a chinese tunic suit was seated some distance away. He was also a Hunter-ss expert, but he was already approximately seventy years old. In all likelihood, he was going to remain a Hunter-ss expert for the rest of his life.

    That said, the old man¡¯s eyes were presently bloodshot. His Adam¡¯s apple trembled slightly, and he subconsciously tightened his grip around the armrests on his seat.

    ¡°That¡¯s Section Chief Li of the provincial branch.¡± Su Feng exined with a soft voice, ¡°Hees from a lineage of pallbearers. All three of his sons had perished in the call of duty, yet none of them were given a proper sendoff as heroes¡­ A newbie like you won¡¯t be able to understand the feelings that they¡¯re experiencing right now¡­¡±

 Chapter 74: Revelation (3)

    <h4>Chapter 74: Revtion (3)</h4>

    Perhaps he had sensed Qin Ye¡¯s gaze. Section Chief Li promptly turned around and smiled.

    His smile was hideous. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was choking up.

    That said, it was also a radiant smile.

    ¡°Ever since I¡¯d joined the Special Investigations Department, my boss had predicted that a time woulde when everything would be made public.¡± He sighed wistfully, before continuing in an insightfully reflective manner, ¡°But I¡¯d never thought that whilst my grandchildren and I would witness this day, my sons would not¡­¡±

    There was a stifling silence across the entire za, broken only by the soft sounds of whimpering. Qin Ye bit down on his lower lips and remained silent and still.

    He couldn¡¯t empathize with them. Not now, and not ever.

    After all, he wasn¡¯t someone who strictly belonged to the mortal realms.

    But, that said, why did he feel vexed and stuffed in his heart?

    He tried to ignore the ufortable feeling, but it simply kepting back to the forefront of his mind.

    This was the purpose of Hell to begin with.

    If Hell had done its job, just as it did back in the days of its former glory where the Sixfold Ghost Kings wandered about purging evil ghosts from the corners of the earth, countless wandering spirits would pour to the underworld instead of linger about in the mortal realms. Furthermore, with powerful Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges maintaining order in the mortal realm, would there still be any evil ghost acting so brazenly like Cao Youdao did?

    Unfortunately, Hell had been razed to the ground as soon as Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva ascended.

    That said--

    Granny Meng had entrusted Qin Ye with the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal! In other words, he was the world¡¯s only hope in the reestablishment of Hell!

    The sounds of whimpering had nothing to do with him. Yet for some strange reason, it made his heart sour inexplicably.

    Qin Ye narrowed his gaze and grew taciturn. Arthis spoke up with a soulful voice, ¡°That old hag Granny Meng must also have seen thepassion hidden in the depths of your heart¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you know something? You were born in one of Cathay¡¯s most tumultuous times. Years of war had led to the establishment of a powerful nation. You¡¯d experienced and seen too many things. This was what led you to develop a slippery personality, hiding when you can, and refraining from making any moves unless you¡¯re forced into a corner. That said, you¡¯ve also been blessed with the gift of being undying. This is why you¡¯re the prime candidate for reestablishing Hell.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯smendable that you¡¯ve retained that shred of conscience despite having been through such vicissitudes of life. Furthermore, you possess a personality that is young at heart. I think I can understand why Granny Meng had decided to pick you in the end¡­¡±

    Qin Ye acknowledged Arthis¡¯ments softly, but refrained from responding any further. He didn¡¯t listen to a single other word that the Provincial Governor was saying.

    Arthis deliberated for a few more moments, ¡°What¡¯s the point of being downcast and doleful? Your personality isn¡¯t bad. You¡¯re wimpy, but when pushes to shove, you¡¯ve got the ability to harden your heart and stand strong against adversity. You may act silly, but you¡¯re well-considered whenever it truly matters. Just like Xiang Yu the Conqueror, blindly doing doesn¡¯t in and of itself give rise to achievements. Rather, the ones who are truly able to achieve great things in life¡­¡±

    ¡°Are people who are just as wimpy as you, such as Liu Bang.¡±

    ¡°If you feel that your conscience is overwhelmed; and if you feel that, with every day you continue to hold onto the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, you continue to face the silent condemnation of the countless soldiers and cultivators who have martyred for the survival of the mortal realm, then all the more you should do everything in your ability to reestablish Hell as soon as possible¡­¡±

    Qin Ye sneered as he lowered his head and muttered hoarsely, ¡°But I¡¯m just an Emissary of Hell¡­ You, a Judge, are asking me to bear the burdens of the entire mortal realm? Don¡¯t you find that quite ridiculous?¡±

    Arthis responded, ¡°You¡¯re wrong. The true purpose of Hell is twofold - to repay good with good and evil with evil; as well as to render assistance to the mortal realm. After all, where would ghostse from if there aren¡¯t any people?¡±

    Just then, Governor Gao¡¯s stern voice resounded throughout the entire za, and his voice was simrly transmitted live to every home and every ce with screens that were ying the same broadcast, ¡°... It wasn¡¯t until a few days ago, when the massive outbreak of supernatural incidents urred in the City of Salvation, that we¡¯d decided it was impossible to conceal the truth any longer. That was the catalyzing incident for the broadcast today. And now, we shall announce the exact details of the central government¡¯s decision.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered, and he immediately sat up straight. Every single cultivator gazed intently at the main stage.

    This was the main event for the day!

    This represented the mortal realm¡¯s attitude on the uing war! It would set the stage for the strategies toe!

    Without any needless words, Zhou Xianlong dered, ¡°Order number one. All citizens and residents of the City of Salvation and its subordinate districts and counties shall sign the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement within three days¡¯ time. Failure or refusal to sign shall be seen as treason and punished ordingly. A breach of the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement shall also be seen as treason and punished ordingly.¡±

    ¡°After signing the agreement, you will be given the option of leaving or staying within the City of Salvation. This is because¡­ the City of Salvation will usher in apletely different era!¡±

    He took another deep breath, ¡°We call it¡­ the era of cultivators!¡±

    His words boomed through the broadcast, reverberating throughout the far flung corners of the entire city.

    This was the inauguration of the era of cultivators!

    ¡°Order number two. In a week¡¯s time, the entire city will be ced under a five-year lockdown. All entry and exit to or from the city will be strictly prohibited.¡± Zhou Xianlong continued, ¡°At the same time, the City of Salvation will fall under the direct administration of the central government of Cathay. Furthermore, three hundred and fifty hectares ofnd located around the city hall will be razed to the ground and rebuilt from scratch.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Rebuilt from scratch? Then what about those who want to stay? Where are we going to live?¡± ¡°What¡¯s all this about?¡±

    A ripple of unrest instantly spread throughout the previously silent city.

    However, there was no room for negotiations. Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t leave any ambiguity in that regard either.

    ¡°This is an order.¡± He cast a frigid look at the projection on the screen, ¡°As Cathayans, this is your duty. After all, there won¡¯t be any ce to call home if Cathay no longer exists. Therefore, all of your private interests ought to give way in the face of such paramount national interest!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about lodging. This order will be implemented in one years¡¯ time. During this year, the Cathay Construction Group will be responsible for constructing twenty-five high-density neighbourhoods around the three-hundred and fifty hectares ofnd. The nation would never leave its people in the lurch.¡±

    ¡°Order number three.¡± Zhou Xianlong knew that the response from the first two orders were probably already explosive in nature. However, he knew that the only thing he could do was to press on and push ahead with the broadcast, and not consider the feelings of others.

    And this was because¡­ the next order was even more controversial!

    He paused for a moment, ¡°Starting from next week, the City of Salvation shall be piloting a citizen-grading system.¡±

    ¡°Cultivation¡­ isn¡¯t a simple word.¡± He gazed at the crowd, ¡°Cultivators arepletely different from normal people. They are the shield that protects ordinary citizens; and the vanguard of the nation against the outbreak of supernatural incidents! One weekter, we will begin differentiating between all of our citizens in ordance with the natural aptitudes. Those who possess some level of aptitude for cultivation will be ssified as second grade citizens. Ordinary citizens will be ssified as third grade citizens. Fully fledged cultivators will be considered first grade citizens.¡±

    ¡°All resources and expenditure incurred by first and second grade citizens shall be fully sponsored and paid for by the government from themencement of their cultivation journey until the day they die!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, one yearter, as soon as all of the relocation works areplete, a brand new Academy of Cultivators shall be established where the main city district is presently located! All first and second grade citizens shall enjoy priority enrollment in the Academy of Cultivators!¡±

    Order after order was announced live on the broadcast. Qin Ye sighed ruefully.

    What a masterstroke.

    This was something that involved the lives of millions of people, yet a single order was all it took to raze and rebuild the entire city. It was quite apparent just how heavily the nation viewed this pilot project!

    Need policies? Here!

    Manpower? Here!

    Funds for the construction? Here¡¯s some more!

    The only thing we ask for in return is a paradise for cultivators!

    These were the thoughts on the minds of every other person out there. Even though everyone¡¯s breaths had grown somewhat ragged, Zhou Xianlong continued adamantly, ¡°The establishment of the academy is a pilot project across all of Cathay. It covers a massive area, and a whole slew of cultivation rted facilities will also be constructed alongside the main campus grounds. All of our instructors are cultivators who have a wealth of experience in dealing with Yin spirits. On that note¡­ the Academy of Cultivators shallmence its enrollment of students after winter break this year!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, let me reiterate - this isn¡¯t some mere fantasy novel. You can ignore it all you want, but everything is going to be gathered here, from the strongest Yin artifacts, to the nation¡¯s strongest cultivators. We will even have ess to thetest information rting to the Yin spirits, the most urate information to any supernatural incidents across the nation, as well as all forms of tasks, assignments and missions. As long as you manage to gain entry to the Academy of Cultivators, your lives will be changed forever.¡±

    ¡°I can personally guarantee right now that as long as you¡¯re able to graduate from this academy, your future¡­ and the future of your children¡­ will be limitless!¡±

    Qin Ye could practically hear the thumping heartbeats of the audience below. Each and every cultivator was watching the conference with a bright gleam in their eyes.

    Things are finally getting real¡­

    The City of Salvation¡¯s most recent outbreak of supernatural incidents has made it clear to the mortal realm that mere status quo was insufficient.

    If it¡¯s war you want, then it¡¯s war you¡¯ll get!

    ¡°What a masterstroke.¡± Su Feng eximed with a sigh, ¡°ttening an entire city to the ground and rebuilding it from scratch; and demanding the deference of millions of citizens to a singlemand¡­ I¡¯m afraid this is something that¡¯s only possible in Cathay.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°I¡¯d never expect the country to be so bold this time. The Academy of Cultivators, huh¡­ They¡¯ve piqued my interest.¡±

    Su Feng nced at him, before leaning in and whispering, ¡°Brother, I can tell you that, as far as I know, the university isn¡¯t going to be an easygoing ce.¡±

    ¡°All of the S-ss experts at the Soul Hunter level have been ordered to teach, without exception. These people are all barbarians who don¡¯t conform to anybody. Furthermore¡­¡± He squinted his eyes, ¡°The youngest of them all is only 25¡­¡±

    !!!

    Qin Ye stared at Su Feng with widened eyes. It was obvious that Su Feng was taking pleasure in his misery!

    ¡°... Is there no room for discussion at all?¡±

    Su Feng smiled radiantly, ¡°Of course¡­ not. Do you think there¡¯s anyone who¡¯s not curious about the standards of the youngest Hunter-ss expert around right now? There¡¯s already four or five experts within ourmunity who have decided toe, and all of them don¡¯t seem too pleased with you¡­¡±

    After all, everyone else was in their twenties when an eighteen years-old Hunter-ss expert had just appeared out of nowhere!

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice continued in the background, ¡°... Order number eight. With immediate effect, the City of Salvation shall impose no taxes for the next three years. All suspendedpanies, and any affected factories, employees, workers, and individuals across the board shall be given a one-off allowance that is RMB 500 higher than what they are entitled to ordinarily. Furthermore, any citizens who set up a cultivation-rtedpany or business shall be entitled to ten-years of tax exemption!¡±

    ¡°Order number nine¡­¡±

    Qin Ye no longer paid as much attention to the orders as he did before. After all, the major bombshells have allnded, and the rest were more anciry and supplementary in nature. Therefore, he continued chatting with Su Feng. Just then, an electrifying sensation suddenly shot up his spine!

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Su Feng was startled by the change in Qin Ye¡¯s expression.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond to him. Instead, he simply curled up his body. Sweat drops began to bead up all over his forehead. It¡¯s just too frightening¡­ Just a moment ago, a marrow-piercing chill had abruptly shot straight through his entire body!

    There were now at least four Judge-ss experts in the City of Salvation - three of which were in attendance at the za, and one of which was hidden in a sphere in his bosom!

    Yet just like that, none of them noticed the appearance of the terrifying Yin energy. It had arrived abruptly, without any form of indication at all. And as soon as it struck, Qin Ye felt almost as though a cold, invisible hand had just been caressing his back, making every single one of his hairs stand on end!

    There¡¯s a ghost¡­

    There¡¯s a ghost right here.

    And such a terrifying presence revealed that the ghost was an existence that was out of the world. In fact, he wasn¡¯t the only one who had experienced this - he could even hear Arthis¡¯ teeth chattering through the sealed soul sphere!

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ stronger than you.¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and dered affirmatively.

    Arthis shuddered, ¡°What terrifying Yin energy¡­ This¡­ is definitely in the millions! This is what the kid next to you had been talking about¡­ it¡¯s the exact same entity! But who is it? How could there still be such a powerful ghost residing in the mortal realm?¡±

    1. A warlord in approximately 200BC who was defeated by the first Han emperor.

    2. The bandit leader who became the first Han emperor.

 Chapter 75: Sudden Change

    <h4>Chapter 75: Sudden Change</h4>

    Lifting his head, Qin Ye could see that Su Feng¡¯s mouth was opening and closing. However, he couldn¡¯t hear a single word that Su Feng was saying. He gritted his teeth and mustered all the strength he could just so that he could speak, ¡°You¡­ did you feel that?¡±

    Each and every word he spoke felt like it took as much effort as lifting a massive boulder.

    Su Feng stared at him. He took two seconds to ascertain that Qin Ye was absolutely not joking this time. Then, he immediately opened up his outer coat and pulled out apass. His actions attracted the looks of several people around, but he could hardly care less at this point in time.

    However, the needle on thepass was as still as ever.

    ¡°What did you feel?¡± Su Feng held Qin Ye gently and asked.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t hear anything. He only saw Su Feng¡¯s lips continue to move.

    Thump. Thump¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s heartbeat inexplicably increased in tempo. It was as though he had beenpletely isted from the world. This was even worse than the experience of being put through the three-day limit at the start of his journey as an Emissary of Hell.

    He could tell that Zhou Xianlong was still speaking. He could tell that the people around him were chattering. However, he couldn¡¯t hear a single thing that was being said.

    There weren''t even the chirping sounds of birds around. There was nothing at all. In fact¡­ he couldn¡¯t even hear the breaths of the people around him!

    ¡°A ghost in broad daylight¡­¡± Arthis gnashed her teeth, ¡°To appear in broad daylight¡­ Something¡¯s really wrong with the City of Salvation! Come to think of it, this must have something to do with the creatures that had survived Hell¡¯s copse¡­ After all, there¡¯s no way they would be able to stand against the might of the entire mortal realm on their own¡­ But if they joined forces¡­¡±

    ¡°But why¡­ A Hunter-ss ghost like Cao Youdao was able to survive for such a long time¡­ and all this while, nobody thought to seize from him this sulent piece of meat that the City of Salvation is? And the defenses of Insignia Province are substantially lower than that of Westriver Province to boot¡­¡±

    ¡°The only possible exnation is that there¡¯s something else amiss with this ce - something that only the old ghosts know about. This is why nobody dared to seize the City of Salvation for themselves to begin with!¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Qin Ye had already ced his hands at his waist. He could tell that nobody apart from him could even perceive the presence of the mysterious entity bearing down on him. It was highly likely¡­ that he was the target of this mysterious presence!

    There was nothing around his waist at the moment. But adopting this stance meant that he was ready to pull out his saber at the moment¡¯s notice as soon as there was a real crisis.

    ¡°Be ready to run.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice drifted through the air. Yet before she could even finish speaking, the silent world that Qin Ye was in suddenly echoed with a clear, distinct thud.

    It sounded as though something had stepped on the ground.

    For instance¡­ the sound of shoes.

    He was bowed over slightly, and he could hear that the sound came from a location that was approximately twenty meters away. Then, the same sound repeated itself. Thud. Thud.

    It was a dazzling day, and there was arge gathering of people around him. Yet his hands and feet felt inexplicably cold.

    It was as though¡­ something was headed straight towards him!

    Thud¡­ thud¡­ The sound was neither quick nor slow. Qin Ye nced about him, yet he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see it!¡±

    ¡°Naturally¡­ The fact that it¡¯s able to show itself in broad daylight¡­ means that it is at least an incarnate revenant! I¡¯ve got it! You can use the oldest possible trick in the book¡­ bend over and peek through your legs!¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and bent his body even lower, until his head bumped against the seat in front of him. Then, he peeked through his legs!

    And he nearly screamed out loud in the very next moment!

    They were seated in rows after rows of seats.

    Logically speaking, he should only see pairs after pairs of feet if he peeked under his seat and through his legs.

    However¡­ when he looked under his seat, he didn¡¯t see a single pair of legs behind him. Instead, the only thing he saw¡­ was another head!

    It was as though someone seated behind him was doing the exact same thing and staring straight back into his eyes.

    An intense feeling of terror spread surged from his face straight through the depths of his heart.

    The person looking back at him was a woman.

    A dead woman.

    Her hair dangled down loosely in a disheveled fashion. Her pale face was covered all over with greenish purple livor mortis spots. Two deep, dark orifices stood where her eyes ought to have been. The woman had her mouth wide open, and grisly, ck worms could be seen crawling madly from within. To make matters worse, the two of them were hardly half a meter apart from each other!

    ¡°Ugh!¡± He covered his mouth and forcibly maintained his hunched posture. But just then, he suddenly heard another clear, distinct sounding from just beside him.

    Thud¡­

    The sound had finally stopped.

    That thing¡­ had stopped just beside him.

    T-t-t-t-t¡­ This was the first time he had experienced such a chilling, blood-curdling sensation in the depths of his heart. His teeth chattered uncontrobly. He was nearly unable to resist the urge to enter his Hell¡¯s Emissary state and pull out his demonhead saber. If not for the fact that Arthis had been gently swaying about in her soul sphere, bumping and nudging him repeatedly in his pocket, he would already have caved to the pressure and armed himself by now.

    It was an incredibly oppressive and stifling presence.

    Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a colourful robe flow into vision.

    There were seven colours, all of which appeared to have been haphazardly stitched together. The colours were bright and vibrant, but the material looked shoddy, as though the robe had been worn for eons on end. Just like that, the entity wearing the robe stood just beside him.

    Qin Ye gulped nervously. He didn¡¯t dare to move a single muscle. The presence didn¡¯t move any longer. Despite the fact that it was daytime now, he could tell that this entity didn¡¯t cast a single shred of shadow on the ground!

    One second, two seconds¡­ five seconds¡­ ten seconds.

    The ten seconds that had passed felt almost like ten years to Qin Ye. Then, on the eleventh second, he suddenly felt an icy, marrow-chilling breath caressing the top of his head.

    This entity¡­ was gentlybing his hair.

    Slender, icy fingers were running gently through his scalp,bing and neatening the hair on his head. Qin Ye¡¯s neck stiffened, and he remained absolutely still.

    A ghost wasbing his hair in broad daylight.

    And this was in the presence of several Judge-ss experts and innumerable Hunter-ss experts to boot!

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± He breathed out nervously through his gritted teeth. It had only been three seconds, yet his entire back was already covered in sweat.

    Then, after the third second, the presence suddenly vanished as peculiarly as it had first arrived.

    The sounds of the world around him slowly began to ebb back into his reality.

    ¡°9527, 9527? Are you alright?¡± When he finally returned to his senses, he discovered that there were already several other cultivators standing around and supporting him and asking if he was fine.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright¡­¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes and leaned back into his chair. His heart was still thumping wildly from the intense encounter. Su Feng nced at him with aplicated expression in his eyes, but he knew that now was hardly a good time to ask about his experience. Just as he was about to retract his arm to pull out a packet of tissues for Qin Ye, he found Qin Ye grabbing onto his arm instead.

    Qin Ye¡¯s grip was incredibly tight, and his voice was hoarse, ¡°Tell me exactly how you discovered that anomalous wave of Yin energy. And¡­ how you¡¯d managed to assess its energy levels¡­¡±

    Su Feng¡¯s gaze quivered, and he immediately responded, ¡°Did you¡­ discover something earlier?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded silently.

    ¡°But now¡¯s not the time for these discussions¡­¡± Su Feng coughed dryly, ¡°Take a look around¡­¡±

    Qin Ye looked up and discovered that all eyes were on him

    Even the panel of experts on the main stage were staring straight at him, some of whom even appeared somewhat displeased.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He nced about in horror as he asked Su Feng with a hushed tone of voice, ¡°Did something happen whilst I was out of it?¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Just then, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s slightly bemused voice resounded throughout the entire za, ¡°Why aren¡¯t youing up? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the fact that you¡¯ve been awarded the title of top ten exemry investigative officers for the year?¡±

    Qin Ye slowly got to his feet in a daze, and the entire venue erupted with thunderous apuse. His close-up was distinctly captured and projected to therge LED screen, as well as all of the televisions in the households of the citizens.

    ¡°This is an investigative officer?¡± ¡°He¡¯s pretty good-looking¡­ it¡¯s quite different from what I¡¯d expected them to look like.¡±

    The television room in Insignia University was suddenly enshrouded in silence.

    The student union room was also abruptly silent.

    Zhang Linhua stared at the screen with apletely bbergasted expression on his face. The first thought on his mind was - Are you kidding me?!

    And his second thought was - Godfather?

    ¡°This person¡­¡± One of the student leaders who had processed Qin Ye¡¯s matriction eximed with astonishment, ¡°This man¡­ is one of the students who had just transferred to our school?¡±

    ¡°Seriously?!¡± ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right? We had an investigation officer at our school all this while?¡± ¡°No¡­ it seems true. I vaguely remember him collecting something from our office some days ago¡­¡± ¡°What the hell¡­ we¡¯ve¡­ we¡¯ve been in such close proximity with such an awesome person all this while?¡± ¡°Which dorm is he staying in?¡±

    The thunderous apuse around Qin Ye caused his heart to flounder in turmoil!

    What the hell is going on?!

    Can someone give me an exnation?

    Even the terrifying experience he had just encountered was somewhat washed away in the fact of the awkward situation. He grimaced and looked at the main stage in embarrassment.

    ¡°Was it too much of a surprise?¡± The Judge-ss expert was incredibly sharp, and he had already noticed that Qin Ye was earlier feeling somewhat unwell in his seat. Thus, he smiled faintly and improvised, ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll read it again.¡±

    ¡°Newly-appointed sentinel S9527. His most spectacr contribution to the safety of the City of Salvation includes breaching nine hunting zones in a row two nights ago. Ever since joining the Special Investigations Department, he¡¯s always been diligent and hardworking, never shying away in the face of adversity. He¡¯s hereby awarded the de of a third-ss merit and an apanying twenty thousand points.¡±

    p p p! The apuse grew even louder, as though encouraging him to take the stage. Meanwhile, several gazes from the third row of seatsnded on the body of ¡°history¡¯s youngest Hunter-ss expert¡±.

    ¡°That¡¯s him?¡± A masculine and handsome young man raised his eyebrows, ¡°Why does he look so stunned?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate him.¡± Su Feng continued to apuse as he looked back curiously, ¡°Do you think you can do what he did and breach nine hunting zones in one night?¡±

    The man apuded perfunctorily, ¡°Who knows whether it¡¯s true or not? Either ways, we¡¯re all ted to be teachers of the academy, and we¡¯ll have plenty of chances to exchange pointers with each other in future. I¡¯m not the only one who thinks this way either¡­ look at them.¡±

    Su Feng nced around at the rest of the third row.

    Every single Hunter-ss expert that was under the age of thirty was staring at Qin Ye right now with overflowing battle intent!

    Su Feng shrugged his shoulders and continued to apud absent-mindedly, ¡°It looks like our days ahead at the Academy of Cultivators are going to be quite interesting¡­¡±

    Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to these chatter going on behind his back.

    How could he turn his attention to these trivialities? Even that feeling of the terrifying presence was currently being pushed to the corner of his mind, because he was presently faced with an even greater terror!

    Prize-presentation ceremony¡­

    He had to receive his award in front of Zhou Xianlong and two other directors of the Special Investigations Department. That was a total of three Judge-ss experts¡­

    He felt akin to a bright moon rising out from among the sea of stars right now. All eyes were on him. Yet, the moon knew that it was slightly askew.

    My feet aren¡¯t listening to me. What should I do?

    Just then, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice rang out once more, ¡°May I now invite Sentinel S9527 toe on stage to receive his award!¡±

    He¡¯s prompting me¡­ he¡¯s absolutely prompting me¡­

    Qin Ye¡¯s head was percting with sweat once more, yet he still had to maintain the radiant smile on his face. Meanwhile, Arthis was eximing in his pocket, ¡°Always diligent and hardworking? Never shying away in the face of adversity? Are you sure they¡¯re talking about you? The government of the mortal realm is far too good at distorting the truth!¡±

    ¡°Is this really the time for suchments?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s face was starting to cramp up from maintaining the pretentious smile on his face. He slowly minced his way towards the stage as he gnashed his teeth and muttered under his breath, ¡°I won¡¯t let the cat out of the bag, will I? I can feel my stomach churn with reverence from standing so close to a Judge-ss entity!¡±

    He didn¡¯t even know what he was saying in the heat of the moment right now.

    Shockes too quickly like a hurricane, there¡¯s nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide¡­

    ¡°Bloody hell, you carry me around with you all day long. Have you once revered me at all?!¡± Arthis bellowed in rage. Then, she lowered her volume somewhat, ¡°It should be alright. The shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal are first-rate divine artifacts across all of Hell. The mortal realm shouldn¡¯t be able to see through your disguise. Furthermore, you¡¯ve still got your proof of identity¡­¡±

    Can¡¯t you at least give me a more definitive answer?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was feeling incredibly stifled. He could tell that even though the people on stage wore a smile on their faces, their gazes had some form of incisiveness to them, as though they were barking - Hurry up!

    Dear¡­ I think you might have been mistaken? I really didn¡¯t want to stand out so much!

    Haven¡¯t you noticed that the colour of my fur is different from everyone else?

    An Emissary of Hell is going on stage to receive an award from the Special Investigations Department in front of an audience of over three million¡­ Why does it feel as though the husky is soon going to be appointed king of the pack...

    1. This is a y on words on one of Jay Chou¡¯s songs.

 Chapter 76: Sacrificing Captain Teemo

    <h4>Chapter 76: Sacrificing Captain Teemo</h4>

    Qin Ye shook off the thoughts on his mind and steeled his resolve as he made his way towards the stage while waving robotically at the audience. It felt as though a field of green wolves¡¯ eyes were scrutinizing his every move, causing his husky fur to stand on end.

    ¡°Seems like our little colleague here is quite surprised by the decision.¡± Zhou Xianlong pretended to engage the audience with some humor. Simultaneously, he red at Mayor Zhou - Didn¡¯t you inform him beforehand?

    Mayor Zhou returned the look with some measure of confusion in his eyes - I did!

    The decision to invite Qin Ye onto stage was something that had already been set in stone some time ago.

    After all, talk is cheap, but seeing is believing. If someone apart from Zhou Xianlong would take the stage and demonstrate what they had all been referring to all this while, it would most certainly facilitate the citizen¡¯s understanding of the situation.

    He was an S-ss agent who had broken nine hunting zones in just one night, and then answered the call of duty and joined the Special Investigations Department. Furthermore, all who had participated in the battle two nights ago had nothing bad to say about him. What better choice was there than to invite Qin Ye on stage? After all, it wouldn¡¯t make any sense for any Judge-ss or Hellguard-ss experts to take the stage for a simple demonstration of abilities, right? Hunter-ss experts weren¡¯t too outrageous, yet they also wouldn¡¯t be so weak as to leave no impact with the audience as well. It was the perfect decision.

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile was so twisted that he may as well have been crying. His hand was still primed at his waist, ready to pull out his saber at the moment¡¯s notice.

    What do you mean surprised¡­ This is just pure dumb astonishing!

    Zhou Xianlong walked towards Qin Ye. Then, under Qin Ye¡¯s watchful and wary gaze, he gently handed a certificate of honor to Qin Ye with a faint smile, ¡°Twenty thousand merit points isn¡¯t easy toe by. They may be exchanged for some pretty decent rewards. You can browse the options on the app. Even our Hellguard-ss agents have only umted forty to fifty thousand merit points over the course of their entire stay with us.¡±

    ¡°Mm¡­¡± Qin Ye nodded with a stiff smile on his face.

    Apart from smiling, he truly didn¡¯t dare to say much else.

    Zhou Xianlong looked at his disposition and raised his eyebrows curiously, ¡°Are you¡­ still able to hang in there?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still alright¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s mind was almost drawing a nk. The king of the wolves is standing right before the husky, staring him down and asking if he¡¯sfortable in the den of wolves¡­ Of course he would be alright! Can¡¯t you let me go now?! I don¡¯t think I could hold on much longer!

    I can¡¯t even breach properly because of your Judge-ss aura, alright?!

    Even Arthis waspletely silent.

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Zhou Xianlong heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you give everyone a demonstration.¡±

    Ah-haaaa--?!

    What did you say?

    I don¡¯t think I heard you correctly!

    Qin-husky-Ye maintained the dry smile on his face as he stared at Zhou Xianlong in horror.

    His fur was standing on end.

    He had the urge to give himself a few tight ps across the cheek!

    You¡¯re pretty good, aren¡¯t ya? What did I say earlier?! Director, I think I¡¯ve got the wrong script! This line wasn¡¯t in the script earlier!

    Zhou Xianlong thought that Qin Ye¡¯s expression was one that merely evinced ack of understanding in this regard, so he smiled once more and exined, ¡°Demonstrate your abilities to the camera and the audience. It doesn¡¯t have to be too profound, but it must still be shocking and awe-inspiring. Let everyone see with their own eyes what a cultivator is all about.¡±

    Then, before Qin Ye could respond, he turned back and addressed the audience, ¡°Perhaps everyone watching at home don¡¯t know what exactly an inspector does. So, I¡¯ll leave everyone with a first impression with what you¡¯re about to see.¡±

    Don¡¯t say anymore¡­ please¡­

    Qin Ye looked tearfully towards the heavens. Even if the heavens copse, I beg of you¡­ stop speaking right now!

    You¡¯ve already strung up this husky. What else do you want from me? What do you want?!

    Then, almost as though he heard the cries of Qin Ye¡¯s heart, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice broadened in an instant, ¡°Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I¡¯m inviting the world''s youngest investigator in history, S9527, to demonstrate once and for all the prowess of a cultivator!¡±

    p p p! Thunderous apuse erupted, and countless envious gazesnded upon Qin Ye.

    ¡°Pfft.¡± The handsome man in the third row of seats snorted disdainfully, ¡°If only I¡¯d been there that night¡­ nine hunting zones¡­ I could give it a shot¡­¡±

    ¡°How fortunate.¡± Ady beside him eximed, ¡°This demonstration is the perfect opportunity to leave an impression with the future Academy of Cultivators as well as the top brass of the Special Investigations Department! Why don¡¯t I have such luck as well?¡±

    Qin Ye felt like his mouth was no longer his own. He tried his best to maintain the smile on his face as he responded, ¡°Chief, kindly allow me five minutes to prepare myself.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded. Qin Ye walked to the side of the stage and immediately muttered in a low voice, ¡°What do I do?! All of my moves rely on Yin energy! Disying my skills would be tantamount to suicide! And don¡¯t worry, you can count on the fact that I¡¯ll sell you out just before I die!¡±

    ¡°You bloody¡­ don¡¯t panic!¡± Arthis was shoved right into a spot. It had been centuries since an Infernal Judge has had to deal with such an awkward situation in person. She murmured, ¡°It¡¯s fine! The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is one of Hell¡¯s divine artifacts, and a single piece would contain more than enough power to fool the whole lot of them! Other than the eruption of Yin energy when you¡¯re promoted to an Infernal Judge, the shard will be able to keep you concealed at all other times!¡±

    ¡°But even though that deals with your abilities, what about your clothes? You can only unleash your abilities when you enter the Hell¡¯s Emissary state, but they¡¯ll be able to recognize you immediately from your clothes even if your abilities are masked by true energy! It¡¯s far too obvious! The mortal realm has its records of the Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform as well!¡±

    ¡°So hurry up and think of something! Or should I unseal the soul sphere and release you right now?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ please don¡¯t¡­ I feel like it¡¯s better being in here than out there. There must be a better solution out of this conundrum.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you always goading me into unsealing the soul sphere?!¡±

    ¡°Do you think the circumstances right now can be considered anywhere near remotely ordinary?!¡± Arthis bellowed. Then, after seconds more of deliberation, her eyes suddenly gleamed brightly, ¡°I¡¯ve got it!¡±

    ¡°You can change the appearances of your Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform! But you only get one chance at it with every rank you attain! As long as you transform your uniform to something that ispletely different, then, coupled with the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal masking your Yin energy, you¡¯ll most certainly be able to muddle your way through!¡±

    ¡°What form should it take?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s up to you! Isn¡¯t there an information explosion these days? Can¡¯t you just use one of the more domineering transformations that you see all the time in the animes these days? Iron Man! Hulu Kid! Hatsune Miku! The options are endless! Just use any one of them!¡±

    ¡°What kind of nonsense is Hatsune Miku¡­¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth. The more anxious he got, the less he was able toe up with something. Just then, a male voice echoed beside him, ¡°Mr Qin, the chief has asked me to check on whether you¡¯re ready.¡±

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°I. Am. Ready!¡±

    ¡°Then, please.¡±

    With a stiff smile on his face, Qin Ye took center stage once more. More than three million pairs of eyes were on him at this very moment.

    Zhang Linhua¡¯s eyes widened immensely. He couldn¡¯t believe that this ¡°godfather¡± of his was in fact someone from the Special Investigations Department!

    He finally understood some of the more enigmatic references that his father had earlier made.

    ¡°Just¡­ what kind of opportunity have I passed up upon there¡­¡±

    Most of the others watched their screens with great interest. What¡¯s a cultivator? Is it like those fictional characters who are able to leap over clouds and summon fog and mist at a whim? What kind of terrifying battle power is this young teenager going to show everyone?

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± Zhou Xianlong nodded his head with a faint smile. The stage right now was akin to any celebrity endorsement of products. It was going to be the first impression of a national brand name.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath. His temples tensed up as his eyes met with the innumerable inquisitive gazes from below. Yet the only thought on his mind right now was - Transform, transform, transform¡­

    Bloody hell¡­ the more I think about it, the less I think it¡¯s suitable! Everything¡¯s unsuitable!

    Illidan?

    Too exposed!

    Iron Man?

    That¡¯s more science fiction than fantasy, isn¡¯t it?

    ¡°Mr Qin?¡± Zhou Xianlong raised an eyebrow, ¡°You may begin.¡±

    He¡¯s prompting me again¡­ Qin Ye smiled stiffly as he cursed in his heart and attempted to buy himself a little bit more time, ¡°Then¡­ I guess I¡¯ll begin, huh?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded his head with a faint smile. But this time, his gaze had grown far sharper than before, as though he were saying - Damn kid! Hurry up!

    There was no avoiding it. Qin Ye drew a deep breath. Then, as everyone watched with bated breaths, he coughed dryly once more, ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m really starting now.¡±

    Faint smile.

    All of the important men on stage smiled faintly as they nodded their heads.

    Their smiles were subtle.

    Boom!! Gritting his teeth, thick dense energy abruptly erupted from his body and began to swirl powerfully around Qin Ye, forming a three-meter tall vortex of energy from nothing.

    One of the directors witnessing this sight nodded his head in affirmation, ¡°The quality of true energy is quite decent, and the magnitude of the explosive force was quite substantial as well. He truly deserves to be called a genius for breaching nine hunting zones in one night.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I recall that back then, breaching two hunting zones in a night was already considered quite the feat.¡± The other director chimed in excitedly, ¡°The nature of his true energy has transformed. I imagine he must be of the lineage of invokers, whose arts have almost been lost to this world. I wonder what powers he¡¯s going to invoke. Buddha? Or the City God?¡±

    Those who were seated in front of their screens and watching with bated breaths immediately gasped in shock. And then the entire city exploded with uproarious chatter!

    ¡°Seriously?!¡± ¡°Is this really something that humans can do? That¡¯s not cinematic effects, is it?¡± ¡°Holy crap! That¡¯s a cultivator? Really?¡±

    The astonishment from a live demonstration waspletely different from that that one saw on films!

    After all, everyone knew that films were created with the aid ofputer graphics. But now¡­ everything that they were seeing was as real as it got! Everything was happening before their very own eyes.

    What¡¯s in the dense fog?

    What¡¯s going toe out of it?

    Somewhere, in a vi, a chubby boy tightened his grip around his mouse. In the school, several students of the same age held their breaths as they awaited the huge reveal. Yet elsewhere, ady sitting in front of her LED screen also set down her snacks and stopped chewing entirely.

    Millions of people were watching intently.

    In the main za, Qin Ye¡¯s entire body appeared to be transforming into a different state. One second¡­ two seconds¡­ three secondster, the cocoon of mist that was swirling around his body exploded violently!

    A figure appeared from it.

    ¡°He¡¯sing out!¡± The director¡¯s gaze gleamed brightly, ¡°Let me take a closer look¡­¡±

    But before he could finish speaking, he found the rest of his statement lodged in the back of his throat.

    In the very next moment, the entire za was renderedpletely silent.

    No¡­ not just the entire za - it was the entire city that had been renderedpletely silent.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Qin Ye wiped off the sweat on his forehead. The first thing he did was motion to reach for his waist, before slowly rxing his stance once more.

    Very good. Nobody attacked me.

    That means that the pack of wolves hasn¡¯t discovered my true identity¡­

    Then, as he reached out to wipe off the sweat from his forehead, he suddenly noticed that he was presently wearing a pair of gloves on his arms.

    Military green.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart as he wiped the sweat from his face. Then, as soon as he nced down, he almost eximed in horror and copsed from shock.

    Millions of people were staring at his appearance right now. He was wearing an old junglebat helmet with a pair of red-framed goggles resting on it. He wore a red scarf, green army boots, and carried two backpacks that ostensibly contained rolls of drawings and blueprints in them.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Of all of the people who were watching the screen with bated breaths, seventy percent of the young men and women found themselvespletely dumbfounded for a moment, before they burst out into an uproariousughter.

    ¡°Awesome! Awesome!!¡± One high school student rolled on the floor,ughing, ¡°Teemo! It¡¯s Teemo! Hahaha! This is all scripted, isn¡¯t it?! It has to be! I¡¯mughing my ass off!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a perfect cosy of Teemo! Awesome! I¡¯m a huge fan!¡± ¡°Holy crap¡­ T-t-this is too outrageous, isn¡¯t it?! You¡¯d scared my pants off, and then you show me this?!¡± ¡°God, please bring Teemo back to the meta! I¡¯ll only ept losses to it!¡± ¡°Awesome +1¡­ Even though I thoroughly respect the Special Investigations Department, why do I have the urge tough so badly? I can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t hold back anymore¡­ Hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ah-hahaha!!¡± The handsome man in the third row rocked back and forth as heughed, ¡°Holy shit! I can¡¯t! I¡¯m going to die ofughter!¡±

    Su Feng stared at the man on stage inplete bewilderment, blinking his eyes vacantly as though he were out of it.

    On the main stage, Qin Ye stammered as he addressed the ashen-faced Zhou Xianlong once more, ¡°Chief¡­ would you believe me if I said that¡­ all of this is a misunderstanding?¡±

    1. A hero from League of Legends.

 Chapter 77: Insignia Provinceâ€™s Gathering of Geniuses

    <h4>Chapter 77: Insignia Province''s Gathering of Geniuses</h4>

    ¡°Hurhur.¡± Zhou Xianlong gave a ssic curt response.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t ask him what his profession was?¡± Governor Gao lowered his head and asked softly. Even though Governor Gao didn¡¯t y League of Legends, he could tell from the atmosphere of the za that something was wrong. On the other hand, it was obvious that Mayor Zhao was forcibly suppressing a smile from his face. Even his shoulders were somewhat trembling.

    ¡°Pfft...¡± He let out a little chuckle from his mouth. Then, as soon as he heard Governor Gao¡¯sments, he quickly adjusted his expressions and coughed dryly, ¡°Chief, I¡¯d never expected something like this... I¡¯m not sure of the exact details, but I know that Mr Liu Qing was the one in charge of the coordination at all material times.¡±

    Liu Qing, who was seated in the audience, ¡°......¡±

    How could he have known?!

    He hadn¡¯t thought to rify such details back then. After all, shouldn¡¯t it suffice that his profession wasn¡¯t scary or repulsive in any way? Who could¡¯ve expected such an incredulous situation?!

    The members of the live audience were caught in an incredibly awkward situation, while the citizens watching from thefort of their own homes were exploding with jubtion. Just then, a man in ck suit rushed to the stage and whispered softly in Zhou Xianlong¡¯s ears, ¡°Chief... please continue with the order of matters if possible.¡±

    ¡°After checking on a sample size of twelve surveince monitors, we¡¯ve discovered that the response is... surprisingly good.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?!¡± Zhou Xianlong barked hoarsely as he turned around abruptly and red at the man in ck suit, ¡°He should be of the lineage of invokers. The manifestation of a god¡¯s presence is what changes his appearance. But what god is this?¡±

    ¡°Chief... even though it¡¯s unbelievable, our surveince shows a fair bit of cheering and apuse, especially from the young men and women around. Furthermore... the heavy atmosphere from before has been somewhat alleviated...¡±

    Zhou Xianlong took a few deep breaths to regte his emotions. And then, he turned back to the cameras and the screen, ¡°Everyone, this was a little joke. Alright, we¡¯ll now continue with our second order of business.¡±

    Simultaneously, he turned his head slightly and red at Qin Ye - Are you still not going to take your leave?!

    There was in fact a deeper, more profound purpose for having Qin Ye demonstrate his abilities, and that was the establishment of the Academy of Cultivators and the enrollment of students naturally meant that there was a need to instill a role model in the minds of these prospective students. The effect of witnessing a demonstration from a young person would leave far more of an impression in this regard than if one of the old fogeys had disyed their abilities.

    Truth be told, Qin Ye did leave an impression. However, the effect of this impression was far from what they had desired.

    Qin Ye wanted so much to bury his face in the ground and flee from reality.

    This was undoubtedly the most shameful moment in his entire life!

    It was the kind of embarrassment that would cause a person to hide under the nkets at home and scream at the top of his lungs whenever he thought about it!

    ¡°Arthis Minithel! You¡¯d better have a good exnation for what went on out there!¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t return to his seat immediately. Instead, he ran off to a washroom not far away, pulled out the soul sphere and barked at it through gritted teeth.

    The fact that he was calling on the full name of Prince of Lordaeron clearly evinced the extent of his fury.

    ¡°How would I know?!¡± Arthis also revealed a bewildered expression, ¡°Logically speaking, as long as the conception in your mind isn¡¯t too far removed from reality, it would most certainly adopt the image in your mind! What were you thinking of at the point of transformation?¡±

    Qin Ye was suddenly silent. He simply stared at the soul sphere in fury.

    When he was transforming earlier, the image that he had in mind was the monkey god, Sun Wukong.

    Courageous, resourceful, and unrelenting.

    But the transformation that he got turned out to be Teemo...

    Wimpy, focused on survival, and sneaking about, scattering mushrooms as he watched his teammates duke it out with the other team from afar...

    It was as though life had just given him a sudden p on the face...

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry... I¡¯m never wearing this uniform in front of others ever again - even if I die!¡± Secondster, he gnashed his teeth and supplemented his earlier deration, ¡°At least not until I get promoted to the Anitya Hellguard rank!

    After taking several minutes to regte his mood and adjust his expression, he finally returned to his seat, only to discover that the conference had already been adjourned.

    To be precise, the panel of important people were still seated at the main stage. An entire city was going to be razed and rebuilt, and millions of citizens would have to be pacified, relocated and resettled. Naturally, there was a good deal of administrative loose ends to tie up. Even though ns had been made some time ago, Zhou Xianlong would still need several hours to finish reading everything that they had prepared.

    That said, the live audience was exempted from staying for the details.

    However, just as Qin Ye made it to his car, a voice suddenly called out to him.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± The person who called out to him was a man in his thirties who appeared to be a secretary of sorts. He smiled politely, ¡°I¡¯m the personal assistant to Deputy Attorney General Zhang Baoguo. My boss has invited you to have lunch together if you¡¯re avable.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m recuperating from my wounds.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expression was somber, ¡°Tell Mr Zhang that I¡¯ll visit him once I recover.¡±

    How could he bear to face the world right now?

    If he went out in public right now, there¡¯s no doubt that everyone would be pointing at him and eximing, ¡°Look, that¡¯s Teemo!¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s him alright. It¡¯s the godlike cosy of Teemo. Do you want his autograph?¡±

    He felt bitter no matter how he looked or thought about it.

    ¡°... I¡¯ve noticed that you look somewhat downcast. Shall I tell you some good news instead?¡± Arthis¡¯ voice cut through his train of thoughts. For some strange reason, Qin Ye found her voice to be unusually chirpy and cheerful.

    ¡°... Speak.¡±

    The smile on Arthis¡¯ face faded away, ¡°I¡¯ve thought for some time. The Yin energy from before doesn¡¯t belong to something that¡¯s alive.¡±

    Qin Ye forced himself to turn his attention away from the Teemos that were jumping and bouncing around in his mind. He muttered, ¡°I¡¯d guessed as much... But the terror I felt earlier was undeniable.¡±

    The thought of it made his eyelids twitch. He whispered, ¡°Ghosts possess an insatiable thirst for blood and flesh. If that entity were a ghost, the City of Salvation would already be devoid of any living creatures by now.¡±

    ¡°But what exactly is it, then? The City of Salvation... are we missing something here?¡±

    Just then, a voice called out to him, ¡°Mr Qin.¡±

    It was Su Feng¡¯s voice.

    ¡°These are the arrangements pertaining to the Academy of Cultivators. The month-long training for teachers willmence in one week¡¯s time. In other words, we still have a week remaining.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows. Su Feng¡¯s words were too abrupt and enigmatic.

    Su Feng propped up his sses and whispered in a hush tone of voice, ¡°Have you already forgotten your... anomalous behaviour earlier?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered, ¡°Right now?¡±

    ¡°Come with me.¡± Su Feng nodded.

    They didn¡¯t board the transport that had been arranged for them. Instead, they hailed a taxi and went straight to a restaurant.

    It was an ordinary restaurant. The decor was alright, and the rooms were somewhat elegant. That said, the downside was that the food didn¡¯t seem spectacr.

    Su Feng reported the elegant name of a room to the front desk, and both of them walked over. Then, as soon as they opened the door, an enthused voice echoed, ¡°Hey, Teemo.¡±

    Can I give you a flying kick?!

    Fury burgeoned in his heart. As rage manifested, Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°Are you picking a fight?¡±

    There was a round table for eight in the center of the room. Three people sat around it. The one who had spoken was the 1.9 meter tall young man seated in the center. Incidentally, the twenty-six or twenty-seven years old young man was the type that Qin Ye hated the most.

    Handsome.

    Very handsome.

    He wasn¡¯t of the innocent-looking type either. Rather, he appeared more ferocious, like a cheetah. He was well-built and fit, with deep, abstruse eyes and impably sharp eyebrows, and he was wearing his full camouge uniform replete with military boots. Furthermore... the level of true energy emanating from his body was not far off from the level of Qin Ye¡¯s energy.

    There was a bald plump man to the left of the young man. He, too, was wearing his camouge uniform. A white rat perched on his shoulder as he puffed on his cigarette and yed games on his phone.

    A short-haireddy sat to the right of the young man. She was also approximately twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. Her eyebrows looked stern and incisive. She wore a beige windbreaker over her white woolen sweater, and she toyed with her silver daggers as she raised her eyebrows at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Why would I dare to pick a fight against an expert who¡¯s conquered nine hunting zones in just one night?¡± The young man raised his eyebrows and continued enigmatically, ¡°Big brother here only wanted to ask...¡±

    ¡°What level are you now?¡±

    Qin Ye fervently repressed the urge to send the young man to the underworld with a barrage of swift, deadly kicks. I don¡¯t think I can cross that hurdle, can I?

    Dang! Five silver daggers struck the table at the same time before the young man could even finish speaking. Thedy raised red at the young man menacingly, ¡°Bloody hell, Lin Han, are you trying to ruin my day?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Got something to say? Wanna take this outside? Whoever loses will call the other ¡®daddy¡¯.¡± The young man red back and sneered.

    Swish... The air in the room tensed up. Qin Ye noticed that the five daggers on the table all had ring-shaped hilts, and a single thread was tied to the hilt of each dagger. Without shifting her gaze, the short-haireddy flicked her fingers gently, and the five daggers immediately rose into the air and shot towards the young man¡¯s throat like a viper soaring through the air.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying! Do you have to go so far?!¡± ¡°Enough!¡±

    The earlier statement was from Lin Han; while thetter was from Su Feng.

    The short-haireddy snorted as she kept her daggers underneath her windbreaker. Then, she looked back to Qin Ye.

    ¡°Professor Qin...¡± She dragged out her words meaningfully, ¡°School¡¯s starting. I look forward to your kind guidance.¡±

    ¡°This is Li Runxue, and that plump man is Zhuo Qinfen. You can ignore that crazydy.¡± Su Feng beckoned Qin Ye to take a seat, ¡°She was the first and only S-ss agent before you came along. It¡¯s normal that her heart¡¯s in a mess right now.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no mess.¡± Li Runxue looked at her pristine-looking hands, ¡°It¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t approved of you.¡±

    ¡°I never believe anything that I haven¡¯t personally witnessed.¡±

    Qin Ye sized up each and every one of the other persons within the room.

    Everyone in this room were Hunter-ss experts!

    Now that everything had settled down, Su Feng coughed lightly and began speaking, ¡°All of the Hunter-ss experts within Insignia Province that are under the age of thirty are present in this room. Furthermore, all of us are S-ss agents. Mr Qin, this isn¡¯t to be taken lightly. The number of S-ss agents... are few and far between. Let¡¯s make some formal introductions. I¡¯m Su Feng, and I¡¯m from a family of linkers.¡±

    Li Runxue¡¯s lips moved, ¡°Li Runxue. No profession.¡±

    The plump man finally set down his phone, ¡°Zhuo Qinfen. I also don¡¯t have a particr profession. I¡¯ve been at the Special Investigations Department ever since I was born. I guess you can say in some ways that I¡¯m simply following in my father¡¯s footsteps.¡±

    Lin Han smiled, ¡°Executioner. You can say it¡¯s a family business as well.¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye. No profession.¡± Qin Ye raised his teacup and smiled, ¡°Mr Su, I thought this incident was going to be something between us.¡±

    Su Feng smiled and responded, ¡°Before officially joining the Special Investigations Department, there was in fact another boot camp which culminated with the selection process. Back then, we were all part of the same group, and we also happened to be the only group that qualified as a whole. They¡¯re all absolutely trustworthy people. Besides, I¡¯m afraid that the matter is going to be far more difficult if we keep it to just the two of us.¡±

    ¡°Get to the point.¡± Lin Han interjected. His patience was wearing thin.

    Su Feng nodded and nced meaningfully at the surroundings. Disying his tacit understanding, Zhuo Qinfen immediately stood up and shut all of the windows around. It was only then that Su Feng drew a deep breath and pulled out a piece of paper.

    ¡°The four of us have all been assigned different postings and tasks. Lin Han and I are at the Institute of Anomalous Sciences. Just one week ago, we received a particr drawing.¡±

    He didn¡¯t immediately open up the carefully folded paper in front of him. Instead, he continued to exin in a deep voice, ¡°That drawing was in fact the blueprint of a particr building. Blueprints like these would generally be sent to us for our review before forwarding them to the relevant authorities for submission. However... my supervisor withheld this blueprint.¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, I¡¯m the right-hand man of my supervisor, and I¡¯ve had the privilege of taking a few looks at the blueprint. ording to our regtions, there are two main reasons for withholding the blueprints.¡±

    He held up his finger, ¡°Firstly, it doesn¡¯tply with regtions and failed the review. Rejected.¡±

    ¡°Secondly...¡± He nced around and lowered his volume to a whisper, ¡°The blueprint pertains to something so important that it has to be discussed and reviewed again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d noticed that the blueprint looked incredibly peculiar, so I made a copy of the drawing itself. And it was only at that time that I realized... that this was in fact the blueprint of the First Academy of Cultivators!¡±

    He unraveled the piece of paper on the table. Qin Ye took a look, and his gaze immediately trembled.

    ¡°This... is the main building of the First Academy of Cultivators?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that he was in disbelief. Rather... the beams of the building were to be constructed entirely out of bones!

    The building was designed with an ancient cathayan style, and the bone-beams were incredibly thick andrge. That said, it wasn¡¯t clear just what type of bones would be used. The entire building was supposed to be seven-storeys high, but that fact itself was hardly obvious from the external facade of the building! The slightly raised eaves of the building were exceptionally beautiful and tastefully done. But for some strange reason, looking at the design of the building itself gave Qin Ye chills in his heart.

    ¡°This is...¡± Just then, a soft voice rang out, ¡°The Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda?!¡±

    ¡°The mortal realm is going to build the Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda in the City of Salvation? What are they trying to suppress? Or are they already aware that something is amiss with this ce? What extravagance!¡±

 Chapter 78: Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda

    <h4>Chapter 78: Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda</h4>

    ¡°What was that sound?¡± The other four in the room were all Hunter-ss experts, and they immediately asked in unison.

    ¡°... Nothing. I need to make a trip to the washroom.¡± Qin Ye stood up and made a beeline towards the washroom. As soon as he entered, he immediately pulled out the soul sphere, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Arthis was somewhat lost for words, and it took her several seconds before she finally responded, ¡°The Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda¡­ It¡¯s hard to exin exactly what it is, but I guess you can say¡­ it¡¯s a type of formation array.¡±

    ¡°Those bones aren¡¯t just in, simple bones. Each and every single one shown in the blueprintses from the bones of an ancient demon¡­¡±

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Qin Ye interjected, ¡°Demon? What¡¯s with the sudden new patch?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing strange about this.¡± Since they were in a cubicle in the washroom, the soul sphere floated out, ¡°Man, ghost, and demon all live among the three realms of this world. Demons have spirits as well, and these spirits also enter Hell when they die. That said, the flourishing of humanity hase at the cost of dwindling demonkin. Even I have only encountered two or three in the past, all of whom were hardly noteworthy existences.¡±

    ¡°On the other hand, there used to be some demonkin spirits residing in Hell. But¡­ truth be told, they¡¯re quite the pitiful existence as well. While they¡¯re on earth, apart from their cultivation, the demonkin arepletely disconnected from society. Incidentally, it¡¯s even more difficult for demonkin to hide their presence than Emissaries of Hell. Then, as soon as they perish, theirck of marketable skills or abilities prevents them from thriving in Hell. Most of them end up making a living by acting all adorable in the Fengdu Central Zoo¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡± Qin Ye grew taciturn. For some strange reason, he had the feeling that the Fengdu Necropolis that he was supposed to reestablish was something absolutely strange and peculiar. Am I getting delusional?

    Arthis¡¯ voice grew somber, ¡°Going back to the topic at hand, if this were indeed a Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda, the bones that you see are at least a thousand years old, hailing back to the era when the three realms thrived equally. In turn, the entity that the Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda is intended to suppress is most certainly a millennial ghost! The incident with the ghostbing your hair is merely a mirage caused by the mysterious entity¡¯s leakage of Yin energy. It waspletely devoid of any killing intent to begin with¡­ Furthermore, after considering the matter further, I think I can safely conclude that the government¡¯s decisions weren¡¯t made on the spur of the moment.¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated for a few seconds before rifying, ¡°Are you referring to¡­ why the government has decided to establish the First Academy of Cultivators in the City of Salvation?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! There are so many other options - Southend Mountain, Greenwich Mountain, Dragontiger Mountain¡­ All of these ces are perfectly fine alternatives! Furthermore, there are several other great mountains that are closely affiliated to Buddhism and Taoism as well. Even though they might not be green zones, they¡¯re still no worse than yellow zones. Furthermore, these other locations would most certainly wee the establishment of an Academy of Cultivators in their vicinity. So, why did the government have to pick the City of Salvation of all ces?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered with a bright glimmer, ¡°Unless¡­ there¡¯s another unstated reason that makes it absolutely necessary to establish it in the City of Salvation¡­ That¡¯s right, it would be far too conspicuous building a Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda in the middle of the city. The public would never agree to it either. Relocating millions of citizens for that very purpose would be met with an even greater resistance. Cao Youdao¡¯s insurgence has given the government the perfect opportunity¡­ With this as a cover story, everything would make sense and bepletely justifiable.¡±

    Without waiting for Arthis to respond, Qin Ye continued, ¡°At the same time, our previous conjectures still hold true - there exists a deeper, darker secret hidden in the recesses of the City of Salvation. Perhaps it could even be a ghost king who has existed for over a millennium. But it must either be sealed or dormant. Otherwise¡­ with Yin energy readings that are in the tens of millions, its presence alone could justify sending half of Cathay into a state of emergency! The government wouldn¡¯t even dare to begin constructing a soul suppressing pagoda in this ce!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda is also known as the Reverse Mandara. Once constructed, all they have to do is to enroll up to a thousand students who possess dense true energy at their disposal, and they can be sure that the suppressed entity will no longer have any chances of breaking through the formation array. In other words, it can be said to be one of the heavyweights in the world of sealing arts¡­ It¡¯s unfathomable. It¡¯s truly unfathomable that such designs are still being passed down in the mortal realm.¡±

    After getting a better understanding of things, Qin Ye once again returned to the elegant, private room.

    He nodded at the gathering of Hunter-ss experts and took his seat once more. Su Feng unraveled the drawing again and continued, ¡°Everyone, even though I¡¯m not certain why exactly my supervisor has rejected the blueprint, I can say with the utmost certainty that this is a seal.¡±

    ¡°Take a look here, The Harken, the Pixiu Chimera¡­ each and every beam has the exact same statues on them. And if you look from a topological view¡­ what do you think you¡¯ll see?¡±

    Su Feng pulled out a red pen and marked all of the statues on the blueprint with a red dot. Li Runxue took a look and eximed in shock, ¡°Taiji?¡±

    That¡¯s right. All of the densely packed statues actually formed a Taiji pattern when viewed overhead!

    ¡°It gets even better¡­¡± Su Feng pressed the pen down heavily on the blueprint and marked out a particr spot, ¡°The Yang eye of the Taiji symbol is ced directly over thest remaining hunting zone in the entire City of Salvation! The fourth hunting zone! I postte that this is a massive seal! And there¡¯s an eighty percent chance that I¡¯m right!¡±

    With a nk look on his face, Qin Ye asked, ¡°What are you guys going to do about the fact that it¡¯s a seal?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what we are going to do.¡± Su Feng smiled faintly as he looked straight back into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Don¡¯t you think¡­ we ought to take a look and learn of the truth ourselves?¡±

    ¡°The truth about the City of Salvation, and the truth about the existence that possesses energy readings at thirty million Yin. After all, you wouldn¡¯t want to take up a teaching post at a location that is potentially sitting on a time bomb, would you? How can we possibly live while watching over our shoulders all the time?¡±

    Without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, he continued, ¡°Moreover¡­ of all people in attendance at the conference, including the Judge-ss experts, that mysterious entity still locked right onto you. Are you sure you want to repeat that earlier experience again?¡±

    ¡°Old Su, you didn¡¯t share this piece of information with us.¡± Lin Han looked at Qin Ye with a beckoning expression that seemed to delight in his misery, ¡°Yo, wanna tell us about it?¡±

    Of course I¡¯m going to tell you about it¡­ but why do you have an expression that gives me an urge to p you to death?

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes at him and recounted to everyone his earlier experience. Everyone grew taciturn. Momentster, Li Runxue finally spoke up, ¡°Then, there¡¯s even more reason for us to make the trip.¡±

    ¡°Courting death?¡± Qin Ye chucked coldly.

    ¡°No.¡± Su Feng was unexpectedly also on their side, ¡°Mr Qin, you¡¯ve just joined the Special Investigations Department, and there are many things you¡¯re not yet aware of. For instance, you¡¯ve got no clue as to just how precious and rare these merit points are.¡±

    ¡°Whenever weplete our regr tasks and assignments, we get anywhere from as few as 50 to as high as 100 points. These merit points can in turn be exchanged for some surprising rewards with the Special Investigations Department, ranging from weapons, spirit stones, or other resources. They¡¯ve got practically everything in their stores! I¡¯d even heard that the treasury of the Special Investigations Department had been handed down from dynasty to dynasty. If this is true, we¡¯re essentially talking about thousands of years¡¯ worth of umted wealth. Can you imagine what kind of treasuresy in store for us?!¡±

    ¡°With merit points, we¡¯ll be better equipped. With better equipment, we¡¯ll be able to earn more merit points. It¡¯s an unending cycle of growth¡­ Even if we leave aside the weapons and artifacts that we can get, the spirit stones that we can exchange merit points for are in and of themselves a universal currency that can be used in all human societies, including foreign nations. Mr Qin¡­ do you know how envious we are of the 20,000 merit points you have in your possession? How many spirit stones would I be able to get? How long would it take us to umte such wealth?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked, ¡°How long?¡±

    Li Runxue snorted, ¡°Even if we personally undertake missions day and night without rest, we¡¯d still need at least five years to umte 20,000 merit points!¡±

    ¡°And the exchange rate for spirit stones is 10 merit points for a single spirit stone. You do the math yourself.¡±

    Two thousand spirit stones!

    Just then, the soul sphere in Qin Ye¡¯s pocket suddenly bumped into his leg, and Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Excuse me. Washroom.¡±

    The impassioned atmosphere in the room was instantly interrupted, and everyone¡¯s lips began twitching uncontrobly. As soon as he left the room, Lin Han blinked vacantly and probed curiously, ¡°Does he have kidney problems?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to test it for him?¡± Li Runxue sneered.

    ¡°Sister Xue, it seems like you¡¯re getting more and morefortable in the driver¡¯s seat, aren¡¯t you? When did you get your license?¡±

    As soon as Qin Ye entered the washroom, he immediately pulled the soul sphere out of his pocket, and Arthis automatically floated up, ¡°Two thousand spirit stones! You might want to seriously think about it!¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°Is my life only worth two thousand spirit stones?¡±

    ¡°Actually, what¡¯s there to think about? Your life is worthless--... cough¡­ sorry, Freudian slips are amon symptom of old age¡­ Put down your saber, we can talk things through civilly¡­¡±

    Arthis coughed dryly, before speaking with a more serious tone of voice, ¡°I know you¡¯re reticent to even consider this suggestion. Someone like you who prioritizes his own life above all else under the sky would never know what it means to know your boundaries. No¡­ perhaps you might know your boundaries too well¡­ Whatever the case might be, it¡¯s a fact that your cultivation doesn¡¯t require these things at all. You can rely solely on your proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell to rise through the ranks. That said¡­ this is something that is of crucial importance to the reestablishment of Hell!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve done some calctions. The mortal realm¡¯s ability to extract and harvest the sr and lunar essence is profound and effective. If you possess two thousand spirit stones, you¡¯ll almost have enough to construct the first prototype soul induction tform.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s temples throbbed, ¡°First? And it¡¯s still only going to be a prototype?!¡±

    ¡°Naturally¡­ Cathay has six or seven hundred cities and several thousand provinces. Each and every ce would require a soul induction tform. However, I¡¯m talking about the primary soul induction tform here! In other words, this is the first ce that the Yin spirits would see as soon as they enter Hell for the very first time!¡±

    ¡°With the soul induction tform in ce, Yin spirits would continue to pour in endlessly. It¡¯s part of their nature and instinct! And it¡¯s only with the manpower on hand that you can truly begin to rebuild Hell from the ground up!¡±

    Qin Ye was baffled, ¡°But how does this have anything to do with the soul suppressing pagoda we were talking about earlier?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s got everything to do with it!¡± Arthis¡¯ voice grew agitated, ¡°Think about it¡­ This evil ghost is presently in either a sealed or dormant state, but we simply cannot afford to let it wake up! As soon as it does, everything is over! So why don¡¯t we add anotheryer of seal just under the Seven Star Soul Suppressing Pagoda?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes immediately widened, and he stared at Arthis as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Are you saying that we should build the damn entrance to Hell right underneath the soul suppressing pagoda? Are you out of your mind?! Haven¡¯t you learnt from the lesson of the incident with Ksitigarbha yet? That¡¯s right¡­ back then, none of you had ever expected him to fulfill his great vow right from the onset, huh? But what was the result? A sky-piercing explosion that devastated all of hell! Do you want history to repeat itself?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just a possibility! Do you know what ¡®possibility¡¯ means?!¡± Arthis responded with exasperation, ¡°Besides, the soul induction tform requires a ce of extreme Yin. The fact that such a terrifying existence has been suppressed and trapped in this location for such a long time would naturally imply that the ce of suppression has already be the most natural hunting zone around! Have you ever considered how dense the Yin energy in that area must be? Apart from this ce, can you think of any others that might even be remotely as suitable as this? Are there other locations with denser Yin energy?¡±

    ¡°Secondly, having such a terrifying existence near the entrance would be a form of assurance that nobody woulde probing about as well! The entrance would be incredibly safe.¡±

    ¡°Hell can automatically absorb the Yin energy in its surroundings. This is undoubtedly the best location of choice toy down the cornerstone of Hell. With all due respect, I can¡¯t think of a better ce than this. Furthermore, the dual-seal would ensure that the evil ghost would never be able to awaken or break out of its suppression. In other words¡­ it would be a perpetual source of Yin energy that will continue to power the new Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and pondered deeply over Arthis¡¯ suggestions.

    He understood everything that Arthis was saying. The soul suppressing pagoda would naturally be built over the location where the government estimates the evil ghost to be. And Arthis was suggesting that he should in turn establish the entrance to Hell between the soul suppressing pagoda and where the evil ghost was located so that the evil ghost¡¯s Yin energy would be continually absorbed by Hell. That way, under the twofold suppressive effects, the evil ghost would be reduced to a harmless little rat-on-a-wheel as long as it remained dormant.

    ¡°Then¡­ what would happen if it wakes up?¡± He asked cautiously.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯ll have to go take a look personally.¡± Arthis responded, ¡°As long as you can ascertain that its sealed state remains intact, this is absolutely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!¡±

    ¡°It would also mark¡­ the starting point of your ascension to King Yanluo!¡±

    1. Taken after the Mandara flower, one of the four kinds of flowers said to bloom in heaven, the other three being the great mandara flower, the manjushaka flower, and the great manjushaka flower.

 Chapter 79: Fixed Anchor

    <h4>Chapter 79: Fixed Anchor</h4>

    Qin Ye returned to the elegant room once more.

    ¡°Huiren Kidney Tablets. Everyone benefits.¡± Lin Han dered emphatically. Qin Ye immediately told him to get lost.

    ¡°Let¡¯s continue.¡± Qin Ye muttered with a light cough.

    He didn¡¯t give Arthis any promises as to what he would do. However, he was prepared to listen to their n.

    Su Feng nodded, ¡°Alright. Picking up from where we left off, Mr Qin, merit points can only be earned through missions and assignments. But this time¡­ I can almost guarantee that, as long as we¡¯re able to investigate and learn of what exactly lies underneath, the reward won¡¯t be less than this amount.¡±

    He held up three fingers.

    ¡°Thirty thousand?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered slightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s thirty thousand each.¡± Su Feng licked his lips like a hungry wolf.

    ¡°Furthermore, the merit points we obtain forpleting a mission are but secondary rewards when ites to ces like this. The main draw is something far more delightful. The denser the Yin energy in a ce, the higher the likelihood of discovering a Yin artifact. If we go by the standard rate of exchange, a Hunter-grade Yin artifact would be worth 10,000 points; a Hellguard-grade artifact would be worth 30,000 points, while a Judge-grade artifact would be worth¡­ 100,000 points!¡±

    100,000¡­

    Everyone¡¯s breaths grew slightly ragged as soon as they heard the astronomical number. Lin Han drew a deep breath, ¡°If the Yin energy readings of thirty million are urate¡­ then any other oddly shaped stone we find down below could easily bag us fifty thousand points! And this is the price of the internal market. If we expand the scope to include the ck market, then the price would only be higher! With some luck, each of us would be able to walk away from this with tens of thousands of merit points!¡±

    Qin Ye muttered softly, ¡°But what if our luck isn¡¯t as good?¡±

    Lin Han grinned, ¡°Then we¡¯ll all perish down there.¡±

    ¡°I believe that our luck won¡¯t be that bad.¡± Su Feng pursed his lips, ¡°Thirty million Yin energy¡­ It makes my scalp go numb just thinking about it¡­ But if we don¡¯t stake everything on the line and grasp this opportunity, are we going to simply wait around for a good mission or assignment tond on ourps?¡±

    Li Runxue looked at Qin Ye, ¡°There are countless people vying for good missions all the time. Not only is it difficult to nab a good assignment, many of these assignments would require us to travel far and wide as well. Now that we¡¯re presented with such a perfect opportunity that doesn¡¯t require travel either, why not give it a shot? Or are you simply¡­ afraid?¡±

    Protracted silence.

    Everyone blinked their eyes awkwardly as they gave Qin Ye an incredulous look.

    Su Feng adjusted his sses, ¡°No¡­ Mr Qin, you¡­ are you injured? You might not know how difficult it is to earn merit points with the Special Investigations Department. Sr and lunar essences are things that can be obtained elsewhere, but there are some invaluable treasures that can only be obtained through merit points alone. You¡¯ll appreciate just how important these things are in no time.¡±

    Lin Han blinked and coughed lightly. The earlier abrupt silence had made him somewhat ufortable, ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re not afraid, are you? You¡¯re the hero who has breached nine hunting zones in the span of one single night¡­ Your earlier silence was truly unexpected¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was instantly filled with an irresistible urge to p Lin Han across the cheeks!

    What do you mean, afraid? This is called deliberation! Can¡¯t you give me some time to prepare myself? I was still contemting how viable the n is, so can you just stop jumping to conclusions like that?!

    How can I possibly worm my way out of the situation now?!

    ¡°About that¡­¡± Four pairs of eyes were staring transfixed at Qin Ye as he cleared his throat, ¡°I was just wondering whether the merit points exchange list can be found on the Special Investigations Department¡¯s app? I haven¡¯t had the chance to look at it yet.¡±

    It was a feeble attempt at changing the topic.

    ¡°You can find it on Momo.¡± Li Runxue blinked as she continued probing, ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re not really afraid, are you?¡±

    ¡°O-hehehe¡­ How could I be afraid¡­ Ah-hahaha¡­¡±

    Hisughter was so awkward that it made the rest of them feel embarrassed for him.

    The atmosphere in the room was as awkward as it got. Secondster, Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°But seriously¡­ when are you nning to make your move?¡±

    ¡°The day after tomorrow.¡± Su Feng responded affirmatively, ¡°The training for teachers ismencing in a week¡¯s time. As far as I know, we¡¯ll be under military-like regimentation. Who knows what will be in store for us? If we don¡¯t move soon, we might not have the time in theing weeks.¡±

    Qin Ye stood up, ¡°Alright, we¡¯llmunicate through Momo then. We¡¯re all in the group, right?¡±

    After he left, the smile on Lin Han¡¯s face faded away, and he looked at Su Feng, ¡°How was that?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Su Feng asked Li Runxue.

    Li Runxue continued to twirl her flying daggers as she raised an eyebrow, ¡°I can¡¯t tell at all.¡±

    ¡°My profession is a threebloom heart-querying seer. As long as someone looks at me for more than ten seconds, I¡¯ll be able to see their innermost thoughts for a brief moment. But this man¡­ his heart appears to be shrouded by ayer of ck mist. I can¡¯t see a single thing.¡±

    The originally yful smile on Lin Han¡¯s face also subsided as he remarked, ¡°A person who¡¯s able to break nine hunting zones in a single night can¡¯t possibly be a slouch. At the very least, he can¡¯t possibly be as unreliable as he seems.¡±

    ¡°To put it nicely, it seems like he¡¯s putting his own safety before matters of principle. But if we put it bluntly, it seems like he¡¯s just afraid of dying¡­ That said, someone with his track record cannot possibly be like this. I¡¯m of the view that there¡¯s more to it than meets the eye.¡±

    Even Zhuo Qinfen thought to chime in, ¡°That¡¯s right. I believe this is all a pretence as well. Unfortunately, his acting skills aren¡¯t good enough. This is a good thing. It means he¡¯s also wary of us, and it also means he¡¯s not confident of taking us down all by himself either.¡±

    Silence. After some time, Su Feng finally nodded, ¡°Well, that¡¯s that. I¡¯ll notify everyone of the assembly time tomorrow night at eight.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Qin Ye waspletely unaware that the party of S-ss experts had only elevated their assessment of him after concluding that he was merely putting on a pretence. Yet the truth of the matter was that he was truly afraid and cowardly. He had been showing his true colours earlier.

    He switched on Momo and delved into the app for a closer look. This was part of Arthis¡¯ n.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­ are you really thirsting so badly?¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s voice was filled with righteous indignation, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you use any other app these days apart from Momo!¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°... Why does it feel as though you give me less respect these days? What happened to the adorable, innocent Sledgehammer Wang I used to know?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s probably already vanished after being tainted by yourck of morals and integrity¡­¡± Arthismented.

    Ignoring the ragamuffins around him, Qin Ye delved deeper into the app. Naturally, the first thing he did was to skim through the pictures profiles of the goddesses on the app.

    ¡°This app is so filthy that I can¡¯t even fathom what people might use it for!¡± Qin Ye cursed hatefully. The fact that he could only browse their profiles led to a ssic case of sour grapes. Gritting his teeth, he clicked on ¡®My Profile¡¯ -> ¡®Merit Point Redemption System¡¯ -> ¡®Customer Service Enquiries¡¯.

    Qin Ye was quickly connected, and he immediately typed, ¡°Where¡¯s the list of items I can exchange my merit points for? And how would I receive the items redeemed?¡±

    ¡°Hello. This is your customer service bot. Dear customer, the answer to your question is located under category A question 7 of our list of frequently asked questions. Please wait while we redirect you¡­¡±

    Ding¡­ ¡°The shipping and delivery of all cultivation resources are handled by the Thousand Miles Cultivation Group. As long as the delivery is within Cathay, their guarantee is that you will receive your goods within two calendar days. The redemption exchange list is set out below.¡±

    The inte speed was incredibly quick, and a long list of redemptions appeared before Qin Ye¡¯s eyes in less than five seconds¡¯ time.

    ¡°Yin artifacts: ghost infant skull - Operative-grade - 5,000 merit points; Hunter-grade - 10,000 merit points; Hellguard-grade - 30,000 merit points.¡± Qin Ye watched a video preview of the artifact on his phone as he murmured to himself.

    As he scrolled through the list, he discovered a wide variety of peculiar artifacts, including ghost tears, root of an old lightning-struck locust tree, ghost portrait fruit, and so on.

    ¡°What¡¯s the Special Investigations Department doing collecting these things?¡± He asked with some measure of surprise.

    ¡°Naturally, for the purposes of their investigation. Furthermore, some of these are importantponents for setting up certain formation arrays.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice wavered slightly, ¡°Kid¡­ joining the Special Investigations Department was a really good move. This ce is like a treasure trove!¡±

    ¡°Some of these things aren¡¯t things that the mortal realm would use at all! But that said, you¡¯ll definitely be able to find a use for most, if not all of theponents in this list in the process of rebuilding Hell. Let me give you an example. Let¡¯s say you want to develop a high-end luxury tomb for ghosts. What would constitute luxury? It¡¯s naturally objects that would make itfortable for their stay! Without Yin artifacts acting as the foundation, no amount of renovation works will suffice!¡±

    ¡°And there¡¯s also your governmental office, court ofw¡­ all of these need to be built on a firm cornerstone. It¡¯s a huge waste of time if you go about looking for the artifacts of your own ord. But with the Special Investigations Department doing the searching for you, all you¡¯ll need to do is to gather merit points for the necessary redemption at ater stage¡­ It¡¯s simply too convenient for you!¡±

    Qin Ye was dismayed. No matter how he tried, he couldn¡¯t shake off the image of a little rat sneaking into the cookie jar and moving cookies away surreptitiously.

    This was akin to biting the hand that feeds him. The punishment for such crimes is the ¡°three knives punishment¡±!

    However, his heart was nevertheless still inclined towards making the trip in three days¡¯ time.

    That¡¯s right. He waszy. But the precondition for hisziness was that there must be no life-threatening circumstances to begin with.

    The fact that a ghost wasbing his hair in broad daylight meant that something was wrong with the seal that was suppressing the terrifying 30 million Yin presence! Furthermore¡­ why?

    Why was its target him?

    Why was it him of all people present that day? Was it because he was an Emissary of Hell?

    Theck of rity meant that he couldn¡¯t rest easy.

    The next night, Su Feng disseminated a pile of information.

    And all of it pertained to the fourth hunting zone.

    Since he had already made up his mind, Qin Ye set aside the lethargy in his heart and began to pore through the details.

    The picture revealed a small, old building, half of which had already copsed, while the other appeared to be in the process of demolition works. The mottled white exterior of the walls revealed traces of its decades of existence. Furthermore, the corridors in the building were filled with innumerable marks and blood stains that appeared to have been scratched and wed out by hand. It was a striking, horrific image.

    Entering the building alone, even in daytime, would most certainly make one¡¯s hair stand on end.

    ¡°Was it once a nursing home¡­?¡± After spending three hours on the documents, Qin Ye finally switched off the Momo app and retired for the night.

    The meeting time was fixed at 11 p.m tomorrow night.

    The next day passed quickly. When night fell once more, Qin Ye donned his camouge uniform and arrived at the agreed meeting point early at 10.30 p.m. That said, the others had already gathered by then.

    Everyone had coincidentally put on camouge uniforms. Lin Han and Li Runxue each carried a one-meter tall t chest on their backs. On the other hand, Zhuo Qinfen had a series of flying daggers pinned tied to his belt. Each and every one of them could be said to be armed to the teeth.

    They were picking a fight with an existence with Yin energy readings of thirty million. Even if it were in a sealed, suppressed state, they couldn¡¯t afford to becent at all.

    Even if the risk of death were iparably low, nobody wanted it to be an eventuality at all.

    The neighbourhood where the nursing home was located was hardly considered prosperous. They gathered at a tall building to the side that overlooked the nursing home. There, they could see that the dpidated nursing home was cordoned off by a red rope with innumerable talismans tied on it. Hundreds of soldiers stood guard and patrolled around the building.

    ¡°This is the City of Salvation¡¯sst remaining hunting zone.¡± Lin Han spoke in a soft voice, ¡°It¡¯s definitely sealed off even if it hasn¡¯t been broken. We don¡¯t have permission to enter the premises. However, they¡¯ll be changing shifts at 11 p.m. sharp. As arranged, we¡¯ll enter through the third entrance at that time.¡±

    Nobody said a single word after that.

    Time passed by minute by minute. Everyone had shut their eyes to rest for the moment. The night breeze tickled the trees and caused their leaves to rustle gently. The nursing home grounds stood imposingly at night, as though it were a growling behemoth, waiting to devour the next sign of life that encroaches upon its territory.

    Tick tock¡­ tick tock¡­ As soon as the clock struck eleven, everyone opened their eyes at the same time. Su Feng nodded his head gently. Then, drawing a deep breath, he ordered, ¡°Now!¡±

    As soon as the rest heard hismand, all five figures leapt off the building without hesitation.

    1. This refers to the tagline of a kidney strengthening product in China.

    2. In the pugilistic world, one of the punishments for doing something irreparably wrong is to use a sharp knife to pierce your body in three ces, creating six holes in total (both front and back).

 Chapter 80: Haunted House (1)

    <h4>Chapter 80: Haunted House (1)</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ Wind billowed against their ears as they shot straight down below. As they shot forward towards the nursing home, all five figures extended their arms in a concerted fashion and shot a grappling hook straight towards the nursing home.

    Simultaneously, Zhuo Qinfen puckered his lips and softly whistled a bird¡¯s call. The captain of the soldiers gathered below turned around promptly and immediately ordered the soldiers, ¡°Go patrol the first floor. I think I heard something.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s group moved like a well-oiled machine. As soon as the guards entered the building, the grappling hookstched onto the window frames of the nursing home, and all five figures swung through the air in a beautiful parabolic arc like Tarzan until theynded within the premises of the nursing home.

    They were in the rear of the nursing home. This was also the least guarded part of the nursing home.

    This ce had ostensibly already been put through several bouts of investigations. Even their windows were no longer existent. Thud, thud, thud¡­ ssshhaaa¡­ All five figuresnded within the nursing home, rolled on the ground to break their fall before mbering back to their feet immediately. Each of them held a gleaming dagger in their hands as they half-crouched on the ground, ncing warily at their surroundings.

    Nobody said a word for three whole minutes. During this time, the only audible sounds were the whistling wind and the rustling leaves outside that were casting dark shadows over the interior of the building.

    They were in a room that had been abandoned by the living a long time ago. The broken furniture around was covered in cobwebs and smothered in thick dust. Old-fashioned deskmps sat around, while the walls were covered in shoddy decorations. The stifling silence in the nursing home made the atmosphere feel no different from an old graveyard.

    Su Feng unraveled a map across the ground, revealing a cross-section of the entire hunting zone. The map glowed in the dark, ¡°The entire hunting zone is divided into five floors, with thirty-six rooms on each floor. None of us have ever entered this hunting zone before. Therefore, I suggest splitting up the search.¡±

    He continued his exnations, ¡°Here¡¯s the thing. If there¡¯s truly an existence with energy readings of thirty million Yin, it¡¯s got to be sealed in a separate realm altogether. The Special Investigations Department has a specific name for this - a dimensional realm.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a realm that exists in the rift between the mortal realm, or the Yang realm, and theherworld, or the Yin realm. Unless onees into contact with the entrance itself, there¡¯s simply no way of sensing its existence altogether. Furthermore, the entrance could be in any form, be it a mirror or amp or otherwise. In other words¡­¡±

    He drew a circle around the map, ¡°We¡¯ve got to go through every single object in all five floors!¡±

    Li Runxue opened the chest on her back and pulled out five walkie-talkies, ¡°There¡¯s no signal in the dimensional realm, so we¡¯llplete our search of each room every fifteen minutes. Report your name and room number over the walkie-talkie. Anyone who doesn¡¯t report in within the fifteen minute interval¡­¡±

    She didn¡¯t finish her statement, but Qin Ye understood. He praised her intelligence in his heart.

    As long as a person¡¯s signal vanished, it would necessarily mean that the person had found the entrance to the rift between the Yin realm and the Yang realm. Given the location he had earlier reported, they would immediately be able to ascertain its location!

    ¡°Regardless of how the search goes, we¡¯ll reassemble here at 4.30 a.m. sharp.¡± Su Feng picked up a walkie-talkie and nodded at everyone, ¡°Everyone, take care.¡±

    A thirty million Yin existence was hidden right here. Even if it were under a sealed, suppressed state, none of them could afford to becent!

    As soon as he finished speaking, he left the room.

    Everyone picked up their own walkie-talkies, each of which were enumerated one through five in red lettering. Qin Ye¡¯s walkie-talkie was numbered ¡®one¡¯.

    After picking up his walkie-talkie, he made his way to the first floor. However, he didn¡¯t immediately begin his search. Instead, he simply surveyed his surroundings.

    It was eerie.

    The bright moonlight shining through the broken windows of the hallway illuminated his surroundings with a pale, dreadful glow. The walls were covered in stains, and sentence after sentence of incoherent, meaningless words were scribbled all over the walls. In fact¡­ some of the words even appeared to have been carved out with a person¡¯s nails! There were even traces of grisly purplish ck bloodstains!

    The walls weren¡¯t lined with marble like the newly-renovated apartments in modern day society. Rather, they were stered with dated, emulsion paint, most of which were already peeling off inrge patches like a rotting, festering face. The rows of tattered windows appeared so eerie that it felt as though rows and rows of eyes were watching and staring at each passerby.

    Qin Ye walked slowly along the corridor, surrounded by an oppressive silence that was asionally cut through by the sounds of scampering mice, amongst other things. It was a hair-raising experience.

    Qin Ye gently pushed open a room. It was an old fashionedyout with rooms lining both sides of the corridor. He picked the door on the left, room number 123.

    The left side of the building was still intact, while the right side of the building had already copsed. Qin Ye had taken his time, and approximately ten minutes had alreadypsed by the time he had arrived at the room.

    The door was slightly ajar. As he pushed on it, the door made a cringeworthy squeaking sound. Just then, the walkie-talkie buzzed, ¡°Li Runxue, room 201.¡± ¡°Lin Han, room 301.¡± "Su Feng, room 523.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. Just as he was about topletely open the door, his gaze suddenly froze, ¡°Where¡¯s Zhuo Qinfen?!¡±

    He paused.

    He peeked through the crack from the half open door and saw a figure standing just behind!

    The dim glow of moonlight shone from the window across the room, revealing a ck figure, replete with flowing, shoulder-length white hair.

    Its back was facing the door. Qin Ye could see that it wore a blue costume with white coloured sleeves. Both of its hands were hidden within the sleeves. Its entire body was covered in dust. It was impossible to see its appearances with the moonlight gleaming behind it. That said, it was apparent that it had just turned its head one hundred and eighty degrees around, and it was staring straight at the crack between the door and the frame with its bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa haa haa haa¡­¡± A series of peculiar sounds came from his throat, almost as though his throat waspletely parched. Qin Ye was standing just behind the door. Just then, it slowly extended a hand that appeared no different from a chicken¡¯s w.

    After a moment of silence on the walkie-talkie, Su Feng¡¯s voice grew stern and somber, ¡°Old Zhuo, this isn¡¯t aughing matter. Fifteen minutes is up. Report your position.¡±

    However¡­ nothing!

    Three minutes. Five minutes. The walkie-talkie remainedpletely silent.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, pulled out his phone and nced at the screen.

    11.40 p.m. They were exploring the depths of an abandoned nursing home that had gibberish scribbled all over its walls. And right in the midst of the darkness, one of their team members¡­ had just vanished as quickly as they had entered the premises!

    He turned back abruptly and rushed straight towards the fourth floor where Zhuo Qinfen had earlier gone to!

    Meanwhile, just as Qin Ye took his leave, a pale white hand silently opened the door to the room, and a head with long, flowing white hair peeked out silently.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa haa haa¡­¡±

    Even though Qin Ye was ordinarily incredibly sensitive to the fluctuations of Yin energy around him, he didn¡¯t sense a single thing this time. Qin Ye charged straight towards the fourth floor. However, when Qin Ye arrived at the fourth floor¡­ he discovered that there was nobody there at all!

    Thud¡­ The only sound that reverberated endlessly through the dank and dark hallways was the sound of his military boots. Pale, gloomy moonlight sshed across the corridors, entuating the ck and red words that were scribbled all over the walls. Not a single person was in sight.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze quivered. His hands were already primed at his waist, while his back was already hunched like a prowling wolf that was ready to strike at the moment¡¯s notice. He had run up from the first floor earlier. Logically speaking, there should already be others around right now.

    Where¡¯s everyone?

    ¡°Something''s wrong!¡± Arthis whispered. Qin Ye agreed, ¡°Of course something¡¯s wrong¡­ I haven¡¯t been able to detect a shred of Yin energy so far. But¡­ we¡¯re right in the midst of a hunting zone right now¡­¡±

    Just then, the walkie-talkie that was hanging along his waist buzzed yet again, cutting through the silence in the hallway. It was the sound of a woman¡¯s singing, ¡°Dreams of orioles tittering. A new agees amidst chaos; institutions are established. The end of a wick goes up in smokes; tattered threads are tossed away. Yet how the new spring resembles the year that¡¯s passed¡­¡±

    Kunqu opera.

    After singing these lines, the female¡¯s voice suddenly became higher-pitched. With her shrill, operatic voice, she continued, ¡°Li Runxue, room 201.¡± ¡°Lin Han, room 301.¡± ¡°Su Feng, room 523.¡±

    ¡°And thest one shall perish now!!¡±

    It was incredibly bizarre!

    However, as soon as she finished singing, the doors across the entire fourth floor immediately opened at the same time with a cringeworthy creak!

    Sssss¡­ Eeeeeek¡­ The protracted creak was unduly long and made one¡¯s hair stand on end. There wasn¡¯t a single person in sight, yet the juxtaposition of the noise against the deafening silence of the night made it seem like countless people had appeared all at once!

    Just then, a female figure wearing a traditional operatic dress appeared on the moonlit corridor!

    The slender figure was dressed in resplendent, borate garments replete with, full, flowing sleeves, and she hurtled straight towards Qin Ye like a bolt of lightning!

    Qin Ye¡¯s pupils constricted, and he immediately turned around and ran without hesitation.

    This wasn¡¯t an Operative-ss evil ghost¡­

    This was undoubtedly a Hunter-ss ghost!

    Furthermore, this evil spirit was ostensibly stronger than Cao Youdao! In fact¡­ it even gave Qin Ye the same vibe that the Assassin of the Underworld he encountered earlier did!

    He desperately retreated downstairs as quickly as he could. The building was far too peculiar. Of the five Hunter-ss agents that had entered the hunting zone, four had mysteriously vanished into thin air. Then, just as he turned the corner, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

    There was a dressing mirror located at every corner of the building.

    There was one here as well. The mirror looked incredibly old, and it was covered so much in dust that one could only vaguely make out his own reflection. And yet Qin Ye noticed from the reflection that¡­ there was something else just behind him!

    Furthermore, he noticed that there was a walkie-talkie located just in front of the mirror!

    Dead silence.

    The sound of the kunqu opera had vanished. The night gale whistled through the vacant building, reverberating eerily as though a ghost were whimpering. The escting gale forced windows to m against their frames with dull thuds from time to time.

    He took a deep breath, picked up the walkie-talkie, and then wiped the dust off the mirror.

    In that instant¡­ he discovered that the female figure wearing the traditional operatic dress was just leaning over his back!

    It was the same resplendent, borate garments replete with, full, flowing sleeves. Yet the hair on her head, and her entire body¡­ rather, her entire corpse lookedpletely withered as though she had been hung out to dry just before dying! She was nothing but skin and bones, and her hair was dishevelled and all over the ce. Just like that, she leaned silently over as her drool dangled dangerously across his chest. Her head was situated right above his shoulder!

    The slender figure hurtled straight towards Qin Ye like a bolt of lightning!

    Tzzt¡­ Just then, the walkie-talkie buzzed once more. The sound of static crackled, drowning out other sounds.

    He held the walkie-talkie closer to his ear and finally heard its contents.

    ¡°124¡­ 1¡­ 24¡­¡±

    Secondster, he put down his walkie-talkie and smirked.

    ¡°Mr Su.¡± Qin Ye yelled again, ¡°Mr Lin? Ms Li? Mr Zhuo?¡±

    No response.

    ¡°I can¡¯t detect any traces of their true energy either¡­¡± He licked his lips. With a loud bang, the Yin energy in his surroundings suddenly began to converge around him, forming a Yin domain within a three meter radius around him,

    ¡°Then¡­ I don¡¯t have to keep up my pretences any longer, right?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The pale, gleaming edge of the demonhead saber was pulled out of the depths of the roiling Yin energy. Qin Ye¡¯s Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform fluttered wildly. In that instant, the previously silent corridor was filled with the howling sounds of a thousand ghosts, as though they were bowing down in worship of their king.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble must disperse.¡± He pointed his saber diagonally towards the ceiling. The roiling dense Yin energy around him vanished in an instant, as though an unseen force were backing away in terror.

    ¡°A mere Yin spirit dares to cause trouble in front of an Emissary of Hell?¡± He patted the invisible entity leaning over his shoulder, ¡°Be good. We¡¯ll see in just a moment what you¡¯ve been hiding here all this while.¡±

    1. This is a type of musical theater that originated in the Yuan dynasty that stood from 1206-1368 AD.

 Chapter 81: Haunted House (2)

    <h4>Chapter 81: Haunted House (2)</h4>

    Kkkrrr¡­ The demonhead saber dragged along the ground, emitting a sharp, grinding sound. Wherever it passed, theyers of roiling darkness were immediately dispersed. He paused as soon as he arrived in front of room 123.

    This was the room he was at just a little while ago.

    Dong! He kicked open the door, yet it was nowpletely empty behind.

    It wasn¡¯t clear whose room this was. The walls were covered with over a dozen photographs. A dusty, gray wall mirror hung on the left wall, while an empty closet sat adjacent to the right wall. Several old and tattered operatic costumes hung within the closet.

    There was a desk right in front of Qin Ye. Qin Ye wiped off the dust on the mirror, and he noticed that the female ghost dressed in an operatic costume was already trembling all over and hiding her head behind Qin Ye¡¯s back.

    Qin Ye grew taciturn. After several seconds, he began tob and neaten his hair.

    ¡°How are you possibly so handsome?¡± He eximed, ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve never noticed you before.¡±

    ¡°Why does it seem like you burst with confidence whenever you encounter ghosts?¡± Arthis chuckled contemptuously, ¡°Are you finally discovering the benefits of your genuine proof of identity?¡±

    The first thought on Qin Ye¡¯s mind was that Arthis had contracted an illness.

    An illness that she could only survive from if she continued to criticize Qin Ye on a daily basis.

    Qin Ye thought - How can anyone possibly of their own volition dislike or criticize such a perfect person like I am?

    I¡¯m certain it¡¯s the critic whose heart is in turmoil.

    ¡°Perfect.¡± He flicked his hair, ¡°I¡¯m going to be ady in my next life and marry a man as handsome as I am.¡±

    After saying that, he walked straight to the desk and pulled open the drawer.

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t notice that when he turned around, his reflection in the mirror continued to flick his hair.

    It was only half a secondter that his reflection in the mirror ceased moving and continued to look out into the mortal realm.

    Then, four men with pale faces stepped out from behind the reflection in unison. They were the exact spitting images of Zhuo Qinfen, Li Runxue, Lin Han and Su Feng. All five of them arranged themselves neatly in the mirror frame, almost as though they had left a ck-and-white legacy photo here ages ago.

    Yet Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to this because he was looking through the contents of the drawer at this moment.

    There was a dusty diary.

    ¡°12 May 2001. Sunny.¡± He flipped open the diary and began to read from it, ¡°I didn¡¯t get to eat again. Thedy who¡¯s taking care of me says that I¡¯m too noisy, so I¡¯m not allowed to eat¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so hungry¡­ I¡¯m absolutely famished¡­ I haven¡¯t eaten anything all day. This nursing home is no different from a hellhole! I thoroughly regret it. Why didn¡¯t I have a child back then? If I did, I would never havee here.¡±

    ¡°And I wasn¡¯t even noisy. I was incredibly obedient¡­ I¡¯ve already stopped practising my arias¡­ and all I¡¯ve done is to listen to the tape recorder and hum along to the tunes. I think I¡¯m going to starve to death if I don¡¯t get to eat tomorrow.¡±

    The corner of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes twitched slightly.

    This was an elderly person¡¯s diary.

    And this was a nursing home.

    That said, he couldn¡¯t detect any trace of respect for the elderly from the diary¡¯s ounts at all.

    He flipped the page and continued reading, ¡°13 May. I finally got to eat two cookies. The milk we got for breakfast seems to have already gone bad. It¡¯spletely inedible¡­ these people are too awful! If I were still mobile¡­ if any of us were still mobile, we would most definitely sue them in court!¡±

    ¡°Everyone here is like a demon. I know each and every one of us here have already paid our dues to this ce, yet none of the food we¡¯re getting appears to be food fit for human consumption!¡±

    ¡°14 May. Old Li has departed. He¡¯d been so hungry that he¡¯s nothing more than skin and bones. I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s because he¡¯s eaten something bad. He used to love listening to my singing. I¡¯m afraid my time is almost here as well¡­¡±

    ¡°That said, Old Huang came by today. I¡¯m d I finally have someone to keep mepany.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s getting old and doesn¡¯t have long to live either. It¡¯s nice to lean on each other and support one another.¡±

    ¡°15 May. I¡¯m so hungry¡­ I¡¯m truly famished. But¡­ I¡¯m incredibly happy today.¡±

    ¡°Someone has died in this nursing home. Hahaha¡­ dead! The head nurse who has been embezzling the funds is finally dead! She died in the bathroom!¡±

    ¡°And it happened in the bathroom located in room 124 just adjacent to our room as well. It was Old Huang who¡¯d discovered it when she went to the bathroom¡­ I¡¯d even heard that the head nurse¡¯s entire body waspletely stiff with her tongue hanging out loosely and her eyes bulging wide, almost as though she had seen something terrifying just before dying.¡±

    ¡°16 May. I need to leave¡­ I need to leave!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something unclean in this ce! I¡¯m certain of it!!¡±

    The diary entry had used a double exmation for emphasis. And the entry had clearly been written while the author was immensely agitated. Even the page was slightly torn from the force used in scribing the entry.

    ¡°Tonight¡­ I went to the bathroom. All of the doors were closed. But¡­ there was one door - the door to thest cubicle! It¡¯s the very same one that the head nurse had perished in. I¡­ I heard crying soundsing from that cubicle!¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s a young woman¡¯s voice. I heard it extremely clearly! But¡­ but we don¡¯t have any young women here at all!!!¡±

    Thest few words were written with such immense manifestation of fear that the exmation marks had even torn through the pages of the diary. The bottom half of the page waspletely tattered.

    Qin Ye flipped the page.

    ¡°22 May. Cloudy.¡±

    ¡°I might be dying soon¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been unable to sleep well thesest few days. Only Old Huang remains by my side. Every night¡­ we hug each other tightly. The crying sound would begin at midnight and end at 5 a.m. And¡­ two days ago, I heard someone walking past our door!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the sound of high heels¡­ but none of us here wears those things at all! None of us, apart from the dead head nurse!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve not slept well for three days straight¡­ we¡­ don¡¯t even dare to shut our eyes now. Last night, even though I made sure that the door was locked, I heard it open at midnight when the sound of high heels stopped in front of the door. It¡­ it felt as though a dead person were standing at the door, staring straight at our souls!¡±

    ¡°23 May. Sunny.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t walk anymore. I¡¯ve alerted them to this, but nobody cares. I¡¯m afraid to sleep at night, and I can¡¯t move out either. I¡¯m going to go crazy even if I don¡¯t die! But Old Huang is still here with me. He¡¯s lost weight. All I can feel is skin and bones¡­¡±

    ¡°A doctor has finallye to see me. They¡¯ve begun packing up my things, saying that I¡¯m going to get better soon. Haha¡­ but I know what¡¯s going on. Only people who are dying get to shift out. That said¡­ I thought that these caregivers were only going to shift my stuff out. Instead, they actually burned everything away!!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m going to kill them all!!¡±

    ¡°24 May. Sunny.¡±

    ¡°I think that the seventy years of my life ising to an end today.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to kill them because my withered hands no longer have the strength to lift a knife. I can¡¯t find a knife either¡­ My only wish is that Old Huang lives on well¡­¡±

    ¡°Thank you, world. I love you all.¡±

    ¡°Yu Qiuqing, 24 May. End.¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Qin Ye shook his head as he flipped through the rest of the diary. All of the remaining pages were nk.

    Emissaries of Hell don¡¯t interfere with the affairs of the mortal realm.

    What they did was simply to arrest Yin spirits and escort them to Hell so that good and evil could each be repaid ordingly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± He patted the diary gently, ¡°None of the people running this nursing home will end well.¡±

    ¡°Are you deceiving her? Or are you deceiving yourself?¡± Arthis¡¯ voice appeared somewhat downcast, ¡°Good and evil must first be repaid before one can enter the cycle of reincarnation in ordance with the Heavenly Dao. But the system supporting the cycle of reincarnation has already copsed. What¡¯s the use of such constion?¡±

    ¡°Rather than grieving over here, why don¡¯t you channel your energy into reestablishing Hell instead¡­ Kid, countless souls are lined up and eagerly awaiting to bring their grievances before you for redress. Simultaneously, there are countless spirits of evil people who remain atrge. You have the power to right all the wrong in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°Punish everything that goes unpunished.¡±

    ¡°See and hear everything that goes unnoticed in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°This is the meaning of Hell¡¯s existence.¡±

    ¡°Evil must be punished with evil. Good must be rewarded and encouraged!¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent, but his Adam¡¯s apple trembled slightly. He appeared stiff as a sculpture.

    He had already experienced a change of heart earlier at the press conference.

    Having experienced the vicissitudes of life spanning well over decades, he was like a war torn hero who had seen all too much - both good and evil, and both the beautiful and ugly sides of humanity. That said, he has never had to bear such heavy responsibilities before.

    However, he now possessed the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.

    And he was the only one who could restart the process of repaying good and evil ordingly. He was the only one who could convict the ghosts masquerading as humans and finally avenge the aggrieved and put to rest all forms of inequality.

    The simple act of going through the old, ordinary diary today was like a catalyst that triggered the fermentation process of the festering emotions in his heart. Everything began to sour, yet deepen in vour.

    Life always has a way of presenting the most impactful images in the most unexpected ways, and in so doing trigger the innermost feelings of a person¡¯s heart at a time when he is most vulnerable.

    ¡°The tragedy experienced by That Amorous Affair was also like this¡­¡± He sighed wistfully. For the first time ever, Qin Ye didn¡¯t resist the notion of reestablishing Hell proposed by Arthis. In fact, he even felt a momentarypulsion to go along with her suggestion.

    The fact that she was able to motivate such a lethargic person to action, even for a single moment, made Arthis smile widely¡­

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye continued to flip through the pages of the diary. And then, he suddenly paused.

    There¡¯s still another entry!

    ¡°12 December 2013.¡±

    ¡°Old Huang has killed all of the nurses and caregivers in this nursing home! Hahaha!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all just a matter of time before evil is repaid with evil, and good with good!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve also tied up Old Huang. He won¡¯t kill anyone anymore¡­ right?¡±

    ¡°Good and evil will be repaid ordingly¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice quivered slightly as he finally closed the diary.

    The room was filled with silence. After a long time, Arthis finally spoke up, ¡°There should be some form of barrier here.¡±

    ¡°This barrier possesses the ability to conceal and obscure all Yin energy from the rest of the world. At the same time, it can distort one¡¯s vision and perception. The one who had set up this barrier is truly a remarkable expert.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°Does this mean that I¡¯ve got to break the barrier if I¡¯m to find the others and locate the mysterious thirty million Yin presence?¡±

    ¡°Be cautious.¡± Arthis warned, ¡°All barriers, also known as formation arrays, have two gates - the gate of life, and the gate of death. You¡¯re as good as dead if you enter through the gate of death. Right now, you¡¯re still safely on the outside of the barrier because you¡¯ve not fulfilled the barrier¡¯s trigger conditions. Forcefully attempting to breach the barrier without understanding its rules might lead to¡­ disastrous consequences.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°It¡¯s that serious?¡±

    The soul sphere hovered in the air and nced around as she spoke with a soft voice, ¡°Even though I can¡¯t sense the energy fluctuations from the barrier, we can still trace the source of the barrier back to its main purpose. Let me ask you something - what¡¯s the purpose of this barrier¡¯s existence? Who¡¯s the one who set it up?¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated, ¡°Purpose? That should be to contain the Yin energy emanating from this ce. After all, there could very well be a Ghost King with immense, unsuppressable powers hidden here¡­¡±

    He paused as soon as he finished speaking.

    Yeah¡­

    So that¡¯s it.

    Only the government could possibly have set up a barrier in this ce to prevent the Yin energy from leaking out. At the same time, in order not to alert the terrifying presence hidden beneath, the government chose to cordon off the fourth hunting zone and keep it as it were, without breaking it. Given the extent of preventive measures undertaken by the government, how terrifying would it be if the hidden entity below got out?

    He took a deep breath and nced about the surroundings. At this moment, the otherwise silent nursing home suddenly felt like a danger zone.

    It was as though there werend mines all around him, and a single misstep could very well lead to a chain explosion!

    Arthis shifted slightly and spoke with a wry tone of voice, ¡°I¡¯ve got a piece of good news, and a piece of bad news right now. Which one do you want to hear first?¡±

 Chapter 82: Haunted House (3)

    <h4>Chapter 82: Haunted House (3)</h4>

    Bloody old granny¡­ Qin Ye gnashed his teeth, ¡°The good news.¡±

    ¡°The good news is that since this is a barrier set up by humans, you wouldn¡¯t be in any form of danger as long as you don¡¯t deliberately attempt to break into it.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s the bad news?¡±

    Arthis chuckled, ¡°As the saying goes, humans die for riches, just as birds will for food. Notwithstanding the fact that the bunch of you have risked life and limb to break into this ce, I¡¯m afraid that you won¡¯t leave with even a dime. The government has alreadyid down an entire system that is well beyond any of your ability to breach. So what if you¡¯re lucky enough to locate the gate of life? The government will immediately discover you trespassers¡­ When that timees, you¡¯d count yourself lucky if you¡¯re not arrested. Merit points are certainly out of the picture.¡±

    Shit¡­ Qin Ye gritted his teeth.

    Just then, Arthis suddenly raised her voice, ¡°But--!¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯ll say, can¡¯t you finish whatever you¡¯ve got to say in a single breath?!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you find it more interesting if I break up my messages this way?¡± Arthis responded in all sincerity, ¡°There¡¯s yet another way - and that is to somehow get the owner of this hunting zone to conform to you. The owner of this hunting zone knows this ce inside out, and would naturally have the best idea of what exactly goes on here.¡±

    ¡°Others might not be able to do this, since a ghost¡¯s thirst for flesh and blood is undeniable. But you might just be an exception to this rule.¡±

    Suddenly, the duo paused and looked up at the exact same time.

    A strange sound had abruptly appeared, cutting through the silence of the night.

    ¡°Wuuu wuu¡­ wuu wuu¡­¡± A sobbing voice echoed from the room just next to theirs.

    It was the bathroom.

    Room 124.

    A ghost bawling in the middle of the night.

    Shk¡­ Qin Ye unsheathed his demonhead saber, while Arthis muttered in a hush voice, ¡°How about it? Ready to give it a shot?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m an Emissary of Hell at any rate. It¡¯s only right and proper to subdue these ghosts. There¡¯s no harm trying.¡±

    ¡°And what if it doesn¡¯t work?¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯ll simply slip away and never look back again.¡± Qin Ye gave the soul sphere a vacant stare, as though that were naturally the only other option avable to him.

    How could you ask such a stupid question?

    ¡°... Very well. That¡¯s just like you.¡±

    ¡°Wuu wuu¡­¡± The intermittent sobbing drifting through the corridors together with the wind. It didn¡¯t show any signs of response in the slightest.

    Qin Ye walked out of the room and headed straight for bathroom 124.

    The door was covered with dust. It was evident just how long it had been since thest person had entered this room. As soon as Qin Ye ced his hand on the door, the sound of static buzzed in the air, and the lights of the bathroom flicked on automatically.

    The electricity had already been cut from this entire building since eons ago. But the lights still came on at this very moment.

    The dusty hanging light glowed dimly, while the corridor outside waspletely dark. This was the only source of light amidst the vast expanse of darkness, yet the dim glow was hardly reassuring at all. In fact¡­ it only made the room feel creepier.

    Who switched on the light in the dark of the night?

    He pushed on the door and walked in. Under the dim illumination of the light, he could immediately tell that the bathroom waspletely different from the rest of the building.

    The rest of the nursing home had ck and red words scribbled and scratched all over the ce. But this ce¡­ appeared practically like the scene of murder!

    Blood was sttered everywhere. Yet after the effluxion of time, the stains had already oxidised into an unusual dark purple colour. It was on the mirrors, the ceiling, the cubicle doors, and even on the floor, covered by a thickyer of dust. There were even dead insects and vermin lying within therger pools of dried blood. The smell was incredibly nauseating.

    There were countless scratch marks on the wall, all of which were a grisly, dark purplish hue. One could only imagine the struggle that took ce in the bathroom before perishing.

    ¡°Wuu wuu¡­¡± The sobbing voice came from thest cubicle in the bathroom. The cubicle door was slightly ajar, almost as though it were a Pandora¡¯s box, inviting visitors to open it, only to be greeted by the true appearances of the evil ghost.

    Qin Ye pushed open the door without hesitation.

    The stall in the nursing home was deeper than that in any other normal bathrooms. It was approximately two meters deep. Right at the end, a white-haired person wearing an operatic costume sat on the closed lid of the toilet bowl, sobbing incessantly.

    It was a green-coloured costume.

    As soon as Qin Ye entered the cubicle, the door mmed shut behind him and bolted itself.

    Simultaneously, the ¡®person¡¯ seated on the toilet bowl slowly looked up.

    The person¡¯s pale, disheveled hair parted slightly, revealing a striking pair of eyes.

    They weren¡¯t human eyes. Rather¡­ it was a pair of bloodshot eyes with bloodstains all around it!

    ¡°There¡¯s still no Yin energy¡­ are you sure you¡¯re a ghost? That¡¯s way too unprofessional, isn¡¯t it?¡± Qin Ye took aim at the ghost in front of him. Then, just as he was about to cleave down with his saber, he suddenly heard a sound - Woof?

    The white hair on the head parted yet even more, revealing the face of an old dog with yellowish fur.

    Its entire body was nestled in a set of operatic costume, giving it the illusion that it was a humanoid creature that was seated on the toilet bowl.

    The fiendish hound wasn¡¯t afraid of Qin Ye at all. Instead, it immediately leapt out of the costume, made its way to Qin Ye¡¯s side and began to rub its body against his leg. Its tongue hung out of its mouth, and it wagged its tail joyfully.

    It was incredibly skinny.

    It was so skinny that one could even see the ribs on its side.

    ¡°This is?¡± Qin Ye picked up the chain behind it and tugged lightly at it. After seeing where it tied down to, he finally loosened his grip.

    ¡°Oh? Have you discovered it?¡± Arthis smiled knowingly.

    With a somber expression on his face, Qin Ye nodded, ¡°The chains have already rusted so much that it¡¯s even turned yellow. And it¡¯s been tied to the sewer pipe, which means that¡­ this chain has already been here for several years.¡±

    Shk¡­ He pulled out his demonhead saber and aimed it at the yellow dog, ¡°But it¡¯s not dead yet.¡±

    ¡°What are you?¡±

    Unfortunately, the yellow dog couldn¡¯t understand a single word that Qin Ye was saying. It simply continued to wag its tail and stare at Qin Ye with itsrge, round, bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°This is a corpse fiend.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°It has already died a long time ago. And you can tell from its eyes that¡­ it has killed someone before. The stench of blood has obscured its eyes, and the corpse energy has transformed it into a fiend. This beast has likely killed more than just a single person. But after the incident, it was tied to this ce by somebody, and it has never left since then.¡±

    ¡°If it has killed someone before, why isn¡¯t it aggressive towards me at all?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ voice was somewhatced with emotion, ¡°It must have been very loyal to its master when it was alive. Since its master hasn¡¯t released it, it chose to remain here obsequiously. Don¡¯t worry, its wish has already been fulfilled, and I¡¯m quite certain it will never attack anyone again.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes in surprise, and a sudden realization dawned upon him. He abruptly grabbed the dog by its neck and picked it up. The dog was cold to the touch and devoid of any body heat.

    The chain was attached to a worn leather cor. The leather on the cor had faded considerably, revealing some yellowish brown fraying underneath the surface. A tag hung loosely at the base of the leather cor.

    Qin Ye brushed away the dust on the tag, revealing two words.

    ¡°Old¡­ Huang?¡± After reading aloud the words on the tag, he immediately eximed, ¡°So that¡¯s it.¡±

    12 December.

    Old Huang had massacred all of the caregivers and nurses within the nursing home!

    I¡¯ve tied him up¡­

    This was Yu Qiuqing¡¯s swansong!

    ¡°All along, I¡¯ve thought that Old Huang was a human being. I really didn¡¯t expect it¡­ to be a dog.¡± He sighed, ¡°I finally understand now. The real owner of this hunting zone isn¡¯t Yu Qiuqing. It¡¯s¡­ Old Huang.¡±

    After all, only a corpse fiend could possibly massacre so many people!

    That¡¯s the only way the nursing home could have be a hunting zone to begin with!

    All the pieces of the puzzle finally came together at this very moment. He sighed soullessly, ¡°Yu Qiuqing had never mentioned that Old Huang was a dog. Furthermore, she had referred to the dog as ¡®he¡¯, and not ¡®it¡¯. She had even made mention of tying Old Huang up, and not tethering Old Huang. I imagine¡­ she must have thought of Old Huang as her one and only kin while she was alive, right?¡±

    ¡°Yu Qiuqing treated it as family; and Old Huang felt the same way about her as well. It must have witnessed Yu Qiuqing experiencing years of abuse and mistreatment in the nursing home. And so¡­ after dying, it transformed into a corpse fiend, murdering the head nurse and massacring all the rest of the caregivers as well.¡± He stroked the top of Old Huang¡¯s head. Almost as though it understood what Qin Ye was saying, Old Huang rubbed its head gently against Qin Ye¡¯s hand.

    It was cold.

    And yet it was also incredibly warm at the same time.

    ¡°And Yu Qiuqing, fearing that Old Huang wouldn¡¯t end well, shackled him in thest cubicle in the bathroom. Unfortunately¡­ she wasn¡¯t aware that Old Huang was already dead by then¡­¡±

    ¡°Killing everyone who had mistreated its master¡­ I imagine this was the obsession that kept it going¡­¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t feel repulsed by Old Huang just because it had perished a long time ago. Running his hand across Old Huang¡¯s ribs, Qin Ye could clearly sense that it waspletely skin and bones. It was hard to imagine what kind of life and environment the duo - one woman and one dog - had experienced back then.

    They probably only had each other to rely on.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve done anything wrong.¡± He patted on the dog¡¯s head as he stood up, ¡°If I were a judge, I wouldn¡¯t sentence you to the path of the beast in your next life.¡±

    ¡°After all, you¡¯ve already fulfilled your duty in your present lifetime.¡±

    He undid Old Huang¡¯s shackles, but it didn¡¯t scamper away. Instead, it simplyid down at Qin Ye¡¯s feet obsequiously.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered. He could never have fathomed that the owner of this hunting zone was in fact a corpse fiend dog.

    ¡°You¡¯re really lucky.¡± Arthis eximed, ¡°You¡¯re obviously a cunning person, yet you¡¯ve still been blessed with such immense fortune¡­ This must be why people often say that the wicked live long.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled.

    That¡¯s right. He also felt incredibly lucky today.

    Who could have known that the owner of this hunting zone was not a human? And now, with Old Huang around, it had unlocked a new variable.

    A variable¡­ that might result in breaching the barrier sessfully!

    ¡°I know you can understand what I¡¯m saying. You¡¯re the owner of this ce. Can you tell me what changed you into a corpse fiend after you died? Do you know where my teammates are?¡±

    Old Huang perked up its ears and listened to Qin Ye¡¯s queries. Then, it suddenly got back onto its feet. Its body trembled, and it immediately hunched its bony back and started growling. The hairs on its back stood up menacingly as it stared transfixed at the door to the cubicle.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze froze, and his demonhead saber abruptly ignited with a green ze. Then, he turned around and looked at the door to the cubicle as well.

    ck¡­ ck¡­ A clear sound echoed from the corridor. At the same time, an incredibly strong wave of Yin energy filled the entire first floor instantly!

    It was the sound of high heels cking against the ground.

    ¡°Hunter-ss level of Yin energy¡­¡± Qin Ye squinted his eyes, ¡°Arthis, who¡¯s this?¡±

    Arthis was also equally bewildered, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ This hunting zone¡­ is absolutely peculiar, even by my wealth of experiences. Could this be the effect of the thirty million Yin existence on the hunting zone? A hunting zone with more than one ¡®owner¡¯? Moreover, this hunting zone most certainly didn¡¯t have any Hunter-ss ghosts just a few days ago. Yet¡­ these ghosts had attained a breakthrough in just a matter of days?¡±

    The thirty million Yin existence must have been triggered or stirred by something that night.

    ck¡­ ck¡­ The sound of the high heels were incredibly clear against the juxtaposition of the deafening silence in the hallway. The owner of the heels entered the bathroom in no time.

    Kkkrrr¡­ The hair-raising sound of sharp nails scratching the wooden doors of the cubicles filled the air. The door to the first cubicle was opened.

    Qin Ye peeked under the gap between the cubicle door and the ground.

    The dim light flickered eerily. Yet no matter where Qin Ye looked, he couldn¡¯t see a single shadow on the ground!

    They were in a dark, abandoned nursing home in the middle of the night, and something was opening the cubicle doors one by one.

    The second door. The third door. The bathroom only had four cubicles. Then, just as the third cubicle door was pulled open, Qin Ye heard the sound of high heels stop at the door of his cubicle.

    He could now see the snow white high heels in the gap between the cubicle door and the ground.

    It was stained with splotches of dark red blood.

    And it stood there silently, unmoving, and separated from Qin Ye by a thin wooden door.

 Chapter 83: The Six Paths (1)

    <h4>Chapter 83: The Six Paths (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t do anything. He was still pretty much a neer when it came to dealing with evil ghosts. To date, Cao Youdao was the only Hunter-ss ghost he had dealt with. Thus, he was curious about the different kinds of behavior and idiosyncrasies other evil ghosts would exhibit.

    One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

    The high heels remained rooted to the ground.

    Then, on the fourth second.

    Almost as though he had realized something, Qin Ye lifted his head abruptly.

    Under the dim glow of the light above, Qin Ye saw a fatdy with unkempt hair and a gnarly expression peeking at him just over the cubicle door!

    Had he been an ordinary person, his heart would have stopped at this very instant!

    A hand could barely be seen holding up the fatdy¡¯s head. As soon as thedy locked eyes with Qin Ye, her lips immediately curled into a horrific smile, ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ found¡­ you!!¡±

    Her expression was incredibly twisted, almost as though someone had hastily and haphazardly stitched together a ragdoll.

    In the very next moment, Old Huang transformed into a menacing bolt and charged straight at the door before Qin Ye could react with his demonhead saber.

    Boom!!

    There was a loud bang, and the door was instantly shattered into pieces. Just outside the door, a headless corpse wearing a nurse¡¯s uniform and high heels, and carrying an old tape recorder in one hand and her own head in the other, was smashed back against the wall by a powerful cleave from Qin Ye¡¯s saber.

    ¡°Bloody hell, that scared the baby!¡± Qin Ye barked furiously as he chained another backhanded sh, ¡°Didn¡¯t your mother ever tell you to be a good ghost?!¡±

    ¡®It¡¯s not your fault that you¡¯re ugly, but who¡¯s going to bear the responsibility when you go about scaring all these innocent little flowers and nts?!¡±

    Boom!!

    With yet another loud bang, the nurse was smashed back against the wall once more. The battering of her smallish frame had left cracks in the wall, and blood-stained pieces of the wall began to crumble to the ground.

    ¡°You¡­ aren¡¯t behaving yourself¡­¡± However, the nurse didn¡¯t seem to notice anything amiss. Her scarlet eyes were locked on Qin Ye, and she roared and charged at Qin Ye once more, lifting her head by the hair and smashing it down mightily as though it were a meteor hammer, ¡°No food for you tonight!!¡±

    ¡°Eh? You don¡¯t seem to have any respect for Hell¡¯s Emissaries at all. Are all you indigenous wild ghosts like that?¡± Qin Ye raised his saber and blocked the hurtling head. The head screamed as though a needle had pricked it as it ricocheted back. Just then, the nurse¡¯s nails lengthened considerably. She hunched her back, and immediately shot forward again like a cheetah.

    Fast. Like a gust of wind, she shot through the air with a soft, muffled whoosh. In the very next moment, she unleashed a relentless barrage of wing attacks on Qin Ye.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Qin Ye smirked, and he responded with a swift de dance that instantly enveloped himself within a silver sphere of light. Dang dang dang!! The sound of shing metal rang out incessantly. Several gashes appeared on the walls and ground around him, each of which were several inches deep. However, the silver sphere of light was like an absolute defense. No matter how hard the nurse tried, she wasn¡¯t able to gain any ground at all.

    ¡°You¡¯ve clearly just be a Soul Hunter. You don¡¯t even know the extent of your own abilities.¡± After watching for about ten seconds, Arthis yawned and remarked, ¡°What are you waiting for? Hurry up and finish her off. You¡¯re a natural counter to all evil ghosts of the same level as you. An absolute form of suppression. Is there any meaning in ying with your food for such a long time?¡±

    Qin Ye shrugged his shoulders, and the light of his gleaming de changed in an instant. If his moves before were likened to a torrential storm, then his present move could only be described as a terrifying dragon rising out from the sea. With a loud cracking sound, the nurse¡¯s ink-ck nails were shattered, inch by inch. She screamed as she retreated while furiously iling her right hand about in front of her. But even then, she refused to release the old tape recorder in her left hand.

    One advanced, while the other retreated. The bathroom wasn¡¯t arge ce. Within seconds, a heart-rending scream reverberated through the corners of the bathroom. A pale, white right hand flew into the sky, while the demonhead saber pointed straight at the tip of the nurse¡¯s nose.

    In the next second, a sh of de light shone brightly, and the demonhead saber swung downwards!

    SSSSSSS!!! The evil ghost let out a loud, miserable scream. An immense amount of Yin energy burst forth from the tip of the demonhead saber and pierced through the skull of the nurse. Then, just as the demonhead saber was about to plunge straight through the evil ghost, a melodious music suddenly began to y.

    ¡°Flowing silk sweeps freely through the courtyard¡­ its ripples carry with it the vigor of spring. Stop for a while, and adjust the floral ornaments¡­ Immerse yourself in the blossoms, conceal your face, and lean into the rosy rolling clouds¡­¡±

    It was a Kunqu operatic tune.

    The evil nurse ghost had at some point in time clicked on a button of the tape recorder in her left hand. With the soft rustle of an old tape recorder, a shrilldy¡¯s voice began to resound through the bathroom.

    Buzz¡­ As soon as the music began to y, Qin Ye immediately felt his ears ringing and the world around him began to spin violently. He groaned and copsed to the ground.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He felt like the heavens and the earth around him were spinning madly, almost as though the spinning cups ride in the amusement parks were on overdrive. His legs trembled. However, he had never for a single moment taken his mind off the battle before him. He tightened the grip in his right hand, only to btedly discover that he had already inadvertently released the hilt of the demonhead saber a little while ago.

    Not good!

    This was the first reaction in his mind. He immediately retreated, with his right hand clutching at his chest, and his left hand holding his head. The only sound he could hear right now was the evil ghost¡¯s shriek that boomed through the air!

    An unexpected failure¡­ Qin Ye chuckled bitterly. He already knew what the tape recorder was.

    A Yin artifact¡­

    And its quality was no lower than Cao Youdao¡¯s rosary of human skulls to boot. After all, the tape recorder was able tounch a peculiar sound wave attack that was practically impossible to defend against.

    His ears continued to ring and buzz. But just then, he heard an infuriated woof. Amidst the spinning world around him, he saw a dark figure fly through the air like a bolt and crash straight into the nurse. With a click, the music came to an abrupt end.

    Ssss!!! The evil ghost hissed madly, but the world around Qin Ye had finally stopped spinning. As soon as he regained rity of mind, he immediately hunched his back and shot forward like a loosened arrow, retrieving his demonhead saber in just an instant before plunging it straight into the nurse¡¯s skull in the very next moment.

    Pshhhh!

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!¡± The tape recorder fell to the ground with a dull ck. The nurse clutched at her head as she screamed in disbelief. The tip of the saber had plunged straight through her bones, reducing her to a sea of dense Yin energy amidst her blood-curdling screams.

    Qin Ye shook his head and finally heaved a sigh of relief.

    As far as he could tell, Old Huang had picked up the tape recorder in its mouth and was wagging its tail at Qin Ye in an inviting fashion.

    ¡°He¡¯s bitten off her arm.¡± Arthis muttered, ¡°The quality of this Yin artifact is pretty good. I think we¡¯re talking about 60,000 merit points here. Even if we don¡¯t locate the thirty million Yin presence this time, I think you can call this expedition a win.¡±

    It was truly good stuff. Qin Ye picked up the tape recorder, and then did a double take as Arthis¡¯ earlier words sank in, ¡°60,000?!¡±

    Blinking his eye, he bent down to open the tape recorder, and he pulled out an old cassette tape hidden within.

    It was antiquated, probably something that dated back to the turn of the century. The surface of the cassette tape was covered with ck and red streaks of blood. The transparent tape was taped up in different parts, and it contained a line of words across the middle - Peony Pavilion.

    ¡°Do you mean¡­ this is also a Yin artifact?¡±

    ¡°The tape recorder is one¡­ and the cassette tape within it is another?¡±

    We¡¯ve struck gold!

    Adding the merit points from before, he would join the ranks of the wealthy with 80,000 merit points under his belt after the exchange!

    No¡­ there was still Cao Youdao¡¯s human skull rosary to ount for as well.

    I¡¯m going to be a millionaire!

    ¡°Arti, is eight thousand spirit stones sufficient for constructing the soul induction tform?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s enough for the framework.¡± Arthis responded excitedly, ¡°Getting started is always the hardest part. All we need now is for the winds to blow in our favor.¡±

    And that was to locate the thirty million Yin presence!

    And Hell, which had copsed for a hundred years, would finally be given the opportunity to see the light of day again!

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, bent down with a smile and patted Old Huang¡¯s head, ¡°Old Huang, onest thing - could you take me to the heart of the formation array that supports this barrier? Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t expunge you. Once I reestablish Hell, I¡¯m going to issue a royal decree and appoint you as the watchdog of Hell, and you will then be named as Cerberus. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°... If I might just interject, why do you always pick names with such strong international ir? And I feel like I¡¯ve heard this name somewhere before?¡±

    On the other hand, Old Huang appeared to understand Qin Ye¡¯s words, and he barked twice at Qin Ye with approval. Then, he ran over to the sinks in the bathroom and spat a glop of ckish blood onto the mirrors.

    Qin Ye turned around and looked at the graying mirrors, only to discover as the ckish blood slid down, six emblems revealed themselves.

    The emblems were incredibly peculiar, almost as though they had been drawn on the mirror. And yet at the same time, they also seemed toe from within the mirror itself.

    One depicted an animal, revealing the totem of a wolf head.

    One depicted an asura, with green face and sharp fangs, three heads and six arms.

    One depicted humans, with a miserable face and ragged clothes.

    One depicted evil ghosts, with a big belly,rge body and a small head.

    One depicted demons, its body zing with fire, with a vicious expression on its face.

    And thest one also depicted a human, but this human was instead floating in the air with the grace of an immortal.

    The six emblems were arranged in a circle, three of which were bright, and three of which were dark. The two emblems depicting humans and the one depicting demons were dark, while the others gleamed in a dazzling fashion.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath. He had seen the wolf head totem before!

    This was the totem that the puppet master in Clear Creek County had previously painted in blood!

    It was a thorn in his side. Back in Westriver, he had unwittingly knocked over a pot of fodder belonging to a terrifying existence, and he was left with no choice but to leave that ce as far behind as possible ande to the City of Salvation. Yet who would have expected the same wolf head totem to make its appearance once more in the future paradise of cultivators?!

    Just then, the six emblems began to rotate slowly, almost as though they had just been activated. In the next moment, three powerful waves of Yin energy erupted!

    It had to be mentioned that this hunting zone had concealed all forms of Yin energy, rendering thempletely undetectable - even when an evil ghost was standing right before him. However, as soon as he touched the emblem, a stream of Yin energy immediately erupted wildly! Within ten seconds¡¯ time, the entire fourth hunting zone was set aze like a candle in the night. Qin Ye could sense that Yin energy filled thends!

    All of the other Yin spirits began to tremble as they attempted to retreat deeper into the abysses of darkness. Qin Ye stood at what appeared to be the eye of the storm. His Hell¡¯s Emissary robes fluttered wildly in the wind, and sweat percted his entire forehead.

    Thump¡­ His heart had practically stopped beating. Just then, Arthis bellowed, ¡°Get out of the way!!¡±

    She didn¡¯t have to repeat herself. Qin Ye had already backed off subconsciously. With a thud, Qin Ye found his back against the wooden door of the cubicles. He took another palpable look at the emblems on the mirror.

    Three vivid streams of Yin energy poured out of the emblems, each of which was on the same level as a Hunter-ss Emissary of Hell. Furthermore¡­ each of these streams of energy was stronger than Cao Youdao had been!

    And if that were all, Qin Ye wouldn¡¯t have been so unnerved.

    What was most frightening was in fact¡­ the emblems.

    Seeing them was akin to¡­ seeing Hell itself.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m seeing something like that¡­¡± Gnashing her teeth, Arthis eximed, ¡°How are they still alive?!¡±

    ¡°This¡­ this is unbelievable!¡±

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths to steady himself, before responding, ¡°What are these?¡±

    Silence.

    After a long time, Arthis finally responded, ¡°Wrong¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been wrong all this while¡­¡±

    ¡°Back then, we¡¯d thought that the barrier was something established by the government. But it wasn¡¯t¡­ The barrier here¡­ was something that these people had established.¡±

    The soul sphere trembled. It wasn¡¯t clear whether it was from fear, or from fury. Arthis eximed, ¡°The six paths!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye clutched at his chest and panted.

    Even looking at the six emblems put an immense amount of pressure on him. They were incredibly demonic.

    Arthis barked, ¡°The six paths of reincarnation¡­ This is something that only Judge-ss Emissaries and above know of. Each of the six paths of reincarnation in fact suppresses a terrifying evil ghost, each of which possesses abilities equivalent to that of an Abyssal Prefect! It didn¡¯t ur to me when I saw the wolf head totem on its own earlier. This totem represents¡­ the path of the beast!¡±

    ¡°The asura represents the path of the asura. The two humans represent the path of man and the path of gods. The big bellied evil ghost represents the path of the hungry ghost, while the demon represents the path of the abyss¡­ The three dark paths are the path of man, the path of gods, and the path of the abyss. The three corresponding ghost kings have already been purged by Ksitigarbha himself. But on the other hand, the radiant paths¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gasped in horror, ¡°Have they¡­ when Hell copsed¡­ climbed out from its depths into the mortal realm?¡±

 Chapter 84: The Six Paths (2)

    <h4>Chapter 84: The Six Paths (2)</h4>

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Tell me!¡± Qin Ye was sweating from the head. It had taken him so much courage just to muster enough courage to bear the burden of reestablishing Hell, yet Arthis was now telling him that there are three existences on the same level as Abyssal Prefects that had crawled up out of the depths of Hell?

    What are Abyssal Prefects?

    When Arthis had earlier unleashed her disy of authority in Clear Creek County, the projection of her image stood indomitably across thends, nketing the entire province with overwhelming pressure. An Abyssal Prefect was well above that level, and their authority extended across an entire district altogether¡­

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but tremble at the thought.

    For once, Arthis didn¡¯t me him for feeling this way at all, ¡°Kid¡­ the ghost kings that have been suppressed by the six paths are nefarious and evil, through and through. At least we know that one of them exists in the west. It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s a good thing you¡¯d left that area quickly. Otherwise¡­ the next entitying for your life might well have been his right hand men¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you certain it¡¯s them?¡± Qin Ye could feel his eyes twitching uncontrobly, ¡°What has Ksitigarbha been eating?! He brought together with him all of Hell¡¯s officials upon ascension, yet he left behind several high ranking ghost kings?! And he even left behind a scourge like you!¡±

    Arthis sighed softly, ¡°Ascension¡­ How many bodhisattvas have dreamed of this? Yet at the same time, bodhisattvas have their own intentions and ns as well¡­ Ksitigarbha¡¯s great vow had mentioned ¡®hell¡¯, but ¡®hell¡¯ might not have meant ¡®Hell¡¯ as we know it. ¡®Hell¡¯ could also refer to the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, the Ten Abyssal Courts, as well as all of Hell¡¯s officials. After all¡­ there¡¯s no doubt that each and every one of Hell¡¯s officials are part of the dead¡­¡±

    ¡°I can confirm that all of ¡®hell¡¯s¡¯ ghosts and officials have indeed been swept up to paradise with Ksitigarbha. As for the rest¡­ such as the ghost kings of the six paths, he¡¯s also done his level best to sweep three of them away with him as well. I guess you can say that he¡¯s already taken advantage of the loopholes in the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    Qin Ye felt the onset of a splitting headache. He clutched tightly at his ink-ck hair, making it look as messy as straw in a chicken coop.

    To date, he was the first person to learn of just what kind of enemies the mortal realm was faced with.

    They were three ghost kings of the path of the beast, the path of the hungry ghost, and the path of the asura, each of which were at the level equivalent to that of an Abyssal Prefect!

    If the three ghost kings had decided to join forces, they possessed the power to wreak havoc across half of Cathay.

    ¡°How will this affect me?¡± Qin Ye muttered after a long while.

    Yet there was no response.

    Qin Ye was on the brink of breaking down, ¡°I¡¯m warning you! Don¡¯t hide anything for me! Otherwise whoever wants to rebuild Hell can go do it himself! I¡¯ll just take the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and fly off into the distance as far as I can!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just like you....¡± Arthis finally responded, ¡°Fly away? And where can you fly to?¡±

    ¡°Without the shard, you will die. With the shard, your existence will eventually be discovered by the daolord of the path of the beast who currently resides in Westriver. There¡¯s no ce to run, and no ce to hide.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his hair and stood up slowly. He too knew full well that his earlier words had been no more than a venttion of his frustrations.

    ¡°Then, what should we do?¡± He mustered all the strength to suppress the roiling emotions within as he asked in all sincerity.

    ¡°Reestablish Hell!¡± Arthis dered, ¡°You¡¯ll never be able to fathom depths of the strength of these Prefect-ss ghost kings¡­ Just think about the extent of devastation of the great drought and famine in the ¡®60s¡­ That said, as long as you¡¯re able to reestablish Hell, you¡¯ll have the advantage of absolute suppression against them!¡±

    ¡°Hell is order, approved and undergirded by the Heavenly Dao. Hell¡¯s copse means that the natural order of the world is now missing a piece of the puzzle. The sooner you put things back in order, the earlier these ghost kings will be subject to the suppressive forces of Hell once more - regardless of how powerful they may be!¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    His eyes quivered as he quickly adjusted his thoughts.

    Arthis had left many things out, but one need only read between the lines and consider the implicit meanings and implications of her words to understand everything.

    As soon as the reestablishment of Hell began, the three ghost kings would immediately feel the suppressive forces of Hell, and understand that Hell was currently being rebuilt. Naturally, they would do everything in their ability to locate the person responsible for reestablishing Hell and cut him into a million pieces.

    ¡°But¡­ there¡¯s still one location that they would never show up at unless they¡¯re prepared to go toe to toe against the forces of the mortal realm.¡±

    He locked eyes with Arthis, and both dered with gusto at the exact same moment, ¡°The City of Salvation!¡±

    Home of Cathay¡¯s First Academy of Cultivators!

    Cathay¡¯s first stronghold against theherworldly forces!

    This was a banner and a beacon - one that would remain flying high and shining brightly until the day Cathay was defeated!

    Arthis went on, ¡°And it makes all the more sense given the thirty million Yin existence that hides in this ce. If you can turn it into Hell¡¯s perpetual energy generator¡­ then there¡¯s truly no other ce that would be more suitable than this.¡±

    Who would have thought that the new order of Hell would be founded right underneath Cathay¡¯s first stronghold against theherworldly forces?

    Even if they were tob through the nooks and crannies across all of Cathay, the three remaining daolords of the six paths might not even consider the City of Salvation as a possible location at all!

    Qin Ye deliberated for some time, before ncing back at the emblems, ¡°Something extraordinary must have urred that night which led to the three daolords of the six paths discovering the terrifying existence here. The leakage of Yin energy must also have caused a mutation in the fourth hunting zone. The three daolords must have sent their own forces to set up a barrier here so that the mortal realm wouldn¡¯t discover the mutations.¡±

    The puzzle pieces were finally alling together.

    Qin ye chuckled bitterly, ¡°They had thought that all of the loose ends would¡¯ve been tied up that night. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    Arthis nced at Old Huang, ¡°Unfortunately, the owner of this hunting zone was actually a corpse fiend dog. Furthermore, it seems to have taken a liking to you. It¡¯s probably due to the fact that dogs are by nature affectionate towards human beings. Naturally, a corpse fiend dog that has fulfilled its dying obsessions would all the more be affectionate to Emissaries of Hell.¡±

    Shk¡­ Qin Ye lifted the demonhead saber and pointed it at the mirror, ¡°Is this the heart of the formation array?¡±

    He didn¡¯t make decisions lightly.

    But having already made a decision, he would never change his mind.

    If Hell must be reestablished, then he would do everything within his ability to see it through!

    And the first step was to uncover the exact location of the thirty million Yin existence, so that he could see where the cornerstone of his kingdom should beid!

    Just then, the surface of the mirror rippled as though it were water. There, amidst the gentle ripples, Qin Ye saw Lin Han, Su Feng, Li Runxue and Zhuo Qinfen standing in the midst of roiling Yin energy, each of them duking it out with an evil ghost on a simr level to the nurse Qin Ye had just disposed of.

    ¡°What nonsense is this? I thought you guys said you were S-ss agents?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    ¡°Do you think everyone¡¯s an Emissary of Hell like you?¡± Arthis chuckled, before adding with a somber expression, ¡°A barrierprises the heart of the formation array, as well as several fulcrums. Shatter the heart now, and your teammates will no longer be blinded by Yin energy. Shatter the remaining mirrors in their rooms, and the entire barrier will bepletely broken through.¡±

    She paused for a moment, and then added, ¡°If the terrifying existence with thirty million Yin is really here, its location will definitely be revealed at that moment!¡±

    Crash!

    Before she even finished speaking, the demonhead saber cleaved straight at the mirror. With a loud, crisp sound, the surface of the rippling mirror immediately shattered into innumerable pieces that scattered everywhere.

    At the same time that the mirror was shattered, the entire nursing home howled eeriely like a ghost in the distance. The entire nursing home was still the same as before, but everything appeared much clearer than ever before, almost as though a translucent film had just been removed from the lenses.

    As soon as the peculiar darkness dissipated, sounds ofbat could immediately be vaguely hearding from above. Without another word, Qin Ye lifted his demonhead saber and ran upstairs.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Fifth floor, room 533.

    Unlike the bathroom that Qin Ye had just been in, the entire ce was dark and unlit. The entire room was filled with a dense river of Yin energy, and a hidden figure darted about the sides of the room, relentlessly attacking Su Feng who held his ground in the middle of the room.

    Su Feng¡¯s expressions were unwavering and unyielding. An inch-long peachwood sword hovered about his body. Su Feng didn¡¯t need to control or instruct it. Regardless of where the attacks came from, the peachwood sword would swiftly shoot towards the attack and parry them, sending brilliant sparks scattering about in the air as it did so.

    ¡°There¡¯s a barrier within the hunting zone?¡± When Su Feng saw the obscured figure blend into the sea of Yin energy for the umpteenth time, he began to grow frustrated. Then, just as he was about to reach into the inner pocket of his robe, a voice suddenly resounded at the door.

    ¡°Do you need help?¡±

    Qin Ye?

    Su Feng was startled, and his pupils immediately dted.

    It¡¯s him?

    How did he escape?

    The set-up of the barrier is simply ingenious. Even I didn¡¯t realise it when I first stepped into it. Could he have¡­ found the eye of the formation array?

    ¡°Yes.¡± He didn¡¯t have to think twice, and he immediately sought Qin Ye¡¯s assistance despite the resentment in his heart.

    BOOM!!!

    As soon as he finished speaking, the door crumbled, and a radiant de shot straight into the room like a furious gale, plunging straight into the obscured figure with unerring uracy.

    What a swift attack¡­ Su Feng gasped. He pulled out a copper bell from his bosom and was about to shake it when he suddenly realized¡­ that the Yin energy in front of him had already scattered.

    He was stunned.

    Completely and utterly bbergasted.

    When Qin Ye entered the room, he noticed Su Feng holding a copper bell on his hand, and yet Su Feng¡¯s expression was incredibly pale, almost as though he had seen a ghost. Just then, Su Feng btedly noticed it¡­

    A pair of green military gloves.

    A green military helmet.

    A pair of green leather boots.

    Red scarf, and red goggles.

    It was a human Teemo¡­

    He wanted tough, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to do so. After being stunned for three whole seconds, he finally managed topose himself once more.

    ¡°A single strike?¡± His voice was somewhat dry and filled with disbelief.

    Qin Ye responded with genuine surprise, ¡°Should I be taking more strikes?¡±

    That cuts¡­ straight to the heart¡­

    Su Feng coughed dryly as he kept his copper bell, attempting to maintain as straight a face as possible. However, his heart wasining incessantly - That¡¯s unscientific! That¡¯s far too outrageous! We¡¯re both Hunter-ss experts, and we¡¯re both S-ss agents, yet something I¡¯d been struggling against for tens of minutes had just been disposed of by a single strike?!

    His entire worldview was turnedpletely upside-down! Is Qin Ye really only a Hunter-ss expert?

    He quietly followed Qin Ye downstairs. Spirits following Qin Ye: 1.

    Ten minutester, on the fourth floor.

    With a loud bang, the door to the room was hacked down violently. A bright gleam of de light shone as though an immortal had descended from the heavens. Lin Han¡¯s jaws dropped as the dense Yin energy around him was instantly swept away with a single sh of Qin Ye¡¯s saber.

    ¡°Bloody Hell¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t help but curse under his breath as he turned around mechanically and stared at Qin Ye. His expression was exactly the same as Su Feng¡¯s right now. Their lips trembled, but none of them could say a single word.

    Chasm.

    The chasm was far toorge.

    He had just unleashed incredible ferocity against his opponent, yet everything he had done could hardly bepared to a single, casual strike from Qin Ye?

    His lips trembled for several seconds more as he gazed nkly at the saber on Qin Ye¡¯s back as Qin Ye left the room. Finally, Lin Han gave Qin Ye a thumbs up, ¡°Awesome. You¡¯re the boss.¡±

    Spirits following Qin Ye: 2

    12.45 a.m. With a dazzling gleam of de light, a massive crack appeared on the ground. The flying daggers that were originally sandwiched between Li Runxue¡¯s fingers all fell to the ground with crisp ngs. Her red lips were slightly agape as she watched the three people leave inplete bewilderment.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t approve. It¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t approved of you.¡± She repeated the words that she had said before.

    What she refused to recognize was Qin Ye¡¯s strength and ability.

    Her pride had just been swept away and scattered into the surroundings by Qin Ye¡¯s simple attack.

    ¡°What kind of person is this¡­ fraud? Even the S-ss agents in Yan capital can¡¯t do something like this, right?¡±

    Spirits following Qin Ye: 3

    1.00 a.m.

    The female ghost was reduced to a cloud of Yin energy which dissipated right in front of Zhuo Qinfen¡¯s eyes. He looked at Teemo, and then in front of him, and then nkly repeated this course of action for several seconds, before finally giving a huge thumbs up. He sighed in admiration and followed behind Qin Ye obsequiously without another word.

    Words weren¡¯t needed in the face of absolute strength.

    The human Teemo and his four mushrooms now stood in the center of the first floor. The breaking of the barrier caused the entire building to tremble slightly. Then, a muffled yet continuous sound of shattering resounded through the air.

    The Yin energy in all directions scattered like a receding tide. Qin Ye¡¯s red scarf fluttered wildly with the billowing Yin gale.

    Fifth floor, fourth floor, third floor, second floor¡­

    The immense darkness was slowly giving way to the dim illumination of moonlight, and the remaining Yin spirits instinctively scattered to find shelter in the remaining shadows in the building. The Yin gale roared through the hallway. Then, as soon as the tide of Yin energy receded from the first floor, the entire space trembled and depressed slightly.

    ¡°That¡¯s it!!¡± Su Feng was jolted back from his stupor and eximed excitedly.

    ¡°What a terrifying feeling¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath as he looked intently at the ground below.

    It was right underneath his feet¡­ It was only by stepping in this very ce that it dawned upon him that it was as if¡­ he was standing right on the body of a tyrannosaurus rex!

    Yin energy.

    Boundless Yin energy flowed just underneath their feet, just like a rushing, roaring ocean!

    The thirty million Yin existence was right underneath their feet!

    1. The author uses the word mushroom here because Teemo¡¯s ultimate skill allows him to nt mushrooms.

 Chapter 85: What Unit Are You From?

    <h4>Chapter 85: What Unit Are You From?</h4>

    Rumble rumble rumble¡­ The entire ground trembled in tandem with the rippling Yin energy. Even though everything was practically imperceptible from the outside, Qin Ye could hardly care less about keeping things under wraps any longer. He eximed, ¡°What the hell is going on here?!¡±

    It appeared as though he were asking the others, but Arthis knew that the question was directed to her, and she muttered, ¡°Breath.¡±

    ¡°This is¡­ that mysterious presence¡¯s breath¡­ It¡¯s a ghost, and it¡¯s still alive!¡±

    Qin Ye was stunned, and he probed further, ¡°Sindragosa? Your frost wyrm?¡±

    ¡°Do you believe I¡¯m just going to give you a flying¡­¡±

    BOOM!!

    Before Arthis could even finish unleashing the wrath of her fury on Qin Ye, the entire ground suddenly quaked violently, and a chasm opened up and swallowed the whole lot of them.

    Simultaneously, as soon as the barrier was broken, the sudden changes immediately drew the attention of the sentries. The entire garrison of troops immediately flew into a state of frenzy and rm.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± A Major standing just outside the garrison watched in amazement as a cloud of dust abruptly rose from the first floor of the nursing home. Secondster, he pulled himself together and shouted, ¡°Hurry! Immediately send a report to the Special Investigations Department¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± A cid voice interjected before the Major could finish his instructions. Zhou Xianlong was already standing right behind him.

    ¡°The Special Investigations Department will take over from here.¡± Zhou Xianlong continued to issue his orders in a systematic fashion, ¡°Immediately cote and submit the footage from all surveince systems nearby, regardless of how remote these cameras are. As long as they are within a radius of three hundred meters from the fourth hunting zone, I want them.¡±

    Very soon, copies of various video footages rolled in. Zhou Xianlong and two others behind him immediately got down to work.

    Tatata-tatata¡­ The sound of rapid keystrokes continued incessantly. Several minutester, the footage of Qin Ye and the others acting like Tarzan was projected on the screen.

    ¡°Bunch of troublemakers¡­¡± Zhou Xianlong was taken aback, and he gnashed his teeth in anger, ¡°Why do we always attract some bunch of kids who are up to some bullshit mischief¡­ Investigate them! I want to know which department they¡¯re from! ¡­ Hang on¡­ on closer inspection, I think I know who they are¡­¡±

    It was none other than the man who had left an indelible impression, S9527, as well as¡­

    ¡°And those little brats from the ze Squad.¡± His voice was seething with rage, as he picked up the phone and dialed a number, ¡°Principal Xu, it¡¯s me¡­ you¡¯ve got to properly train the new instructors at your academy¡­ What? The instructors¡¯ training hasn¡¯tmenced? Then we¡¯ve got to do everything we can to ramp up the training efforts as soon as they begin!¡±

    ¡°... What¡¯s going on? Haha, does sneaking into the fourth hunting zone in the middle of the night count? Deduct a month¡¯s worth of merit points, and give them a small punishment.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and left.

    ¡°Chief¡­¡± After walking out of the garrison, a man behind him muttered in a low voice, ¡°But this is the fourth hunting zone we¡¯re talking about¡­ Given its peculiarities¡­¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Zhou Xianlong revealed a sinister smile on his face, ¡°But¡­ I¡¯m afraid a muchrger punishment is awaiting them below.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re pretty capable, huh? They¡¯d even managed to discover the secret passageway below¡­ Do you know why I¡¯m not issuing a heavy punishment?¡±

    The conversation had moved so quickly that the man behind him wasn¡¯t able to keep up at all, ¡°Huh?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong ignored him, and he simply gazed into the distant night sky as he murmured, ¡°Initiative and creativity are highlymendable traits. We need more soldiers like these, especially in our current times.¡±

    ¡°We need cannon fodder, but we have an even greater need of elites.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Thud¡­ Thending below the nursing home wasn¡¯t too far below ground level. The drop had only been approximately ten meters, and such height was hardly of any concern to Hunter-ss experts at all. They quickly adjusted their stance andnded safely on the ground.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± They were startled by the first thing that they saw.

    A stone door.

    It was an ancient stone door etched with intricate patterns. Qin Ye furrowed his brows and thought for a moment. He was almost certain that he had seen these patterns in front of Cao Youdao¡¯s secret chamber earlier.

    Was there a huge tomb underground that ran across the entire City of Salvation?

    Qin Ye shook off these wild spections in his mind and began to take a closer inspection of the door.

    An altarmp stood on each side of the door, illuminating the entrance. Apart from that, everything else around was nothing but rock walls.

    ¡°This is a manmade passage. And it¡¯s been here for a long time at that¡­ but not too long either. I estimate it to be approximately a hundred years old.¡± Su Feng examined the dirt below, ¡°Should we open it?¡±

    Of course.

    Havinge so far, they all knew that the wealth of merit points was already right in front of their very eyes. Nobody was willing to back down at this moment.

    Despite the thick stone door that stood in front of them, everyone could already sense the majestic, boundless Yin energy that hid behind the door. Every breath of the creature from within caused their blood to boil, and sent chills down their spine.

    It was unfathomable.

    Everyone looked at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Me? Open the door?¡± Qin Ye was taken aback, and he pointed at himself with quivering eyes, ¡°That¡¯s not too suitable, is it?¡±

    What if a thousand bolts shoot straight towards the door as soon as I open it? Or what if a sharp w surges out and maims me to death?!

    Su Feng shook his head firmly. To their minds, it was natural for the strongest among them to raise the banner at such a critical juncture.

    This was the privilege of the strongest one.

    ¡°Please!¡±

    Faced with the united pleas of the four other S-ss agents, Qin Ye cursed softly in his heart.

    ¡°If I die here, I want you to know that you¡¯re the one responsible for it...¡± He muttered begrudgingly. After several deep breaths, he cautiously approached the door, aimed at the gap, and then¡­

    Poked the stone door with his finger.

    Then, with lightning quick speed, he dodged to the wall beside, doing his utmost to meld into it.

    Everyone: ¡­¡­

    ¡°I think¡­ it¡¯s better to push than to poke¡­¡± Lin Han suggested good-naturedly.

    Qin Ye red at the fool - Do you think I don¡¯t know that?! The question is whether I can muster the courage to do so in the first ce!

    Under the confluence of great fury and exasperation, he shut his eyes and kicked open the door all at once.

    Boom¡­ There was a muffled tremor. The other four people exchanged nces and rushed forward like a bolt of lightning. But in the very next second, they all retreated back in a concerted fashion.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows and slowly approached the door. Then, with a sharp gasp, he quickly retreated like the rest as well.

    There was a huge passageway inside.

    The passageway was four or five meters wide, and the exact contents of the passageway wasn¡¯t clear to them. That said, what was clear to them was¡­

    The entire inner chamber was densely packed with soldiers, all of whom were staring straight back at them. At the same time, there were innumerableser sights already trained on each of their bodies.

    There was no doubt that as long as they dared to even make a single unsolicited move, they would instantly be turned into a sieve.

    ¡°Misunderstanding¡­ this is all a misunderstanding¡­¡± Lin Han smiled stiffly, and he instinctively raised both of his hands into the air, signifying his surrender.

    ¡°This is¡­ser sight?¡± Arthis was startled and eximed, ¡°Raise your hands! What are you waiting for?! I don¡¯t want to die with you in this ce!¡±

    Qin Ye could hardly be bothered with the crazy soul sphere. Needless to say, everyone automatically raised their hands into the air.

    ¡°This is the intel you have?¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and whispered to Su Feng, ¡°Why is there someone else here?¡±

    ¡°This is the Special Investigations Department¡­ look at the emblems on their chests with the sword and shield marks¡­¡± Su Feng sighed, ¡°It looks like the government had already known of such matters, and it¡¯s just that they didn¡¯t disclose it to the rest of us. They¡¯ve even already built a base down here¡­ it looks like we¡¯ve all missed the boat¡­¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath. He had a bad feeling that the merit points for this expedition had just gone up in smokes.

    Swish¡­ Just then, the soldiers parted ways while maintaining theirser sights trained on each one of the intruders. A man wearing arge whiteb coat gently nudged the soldiers to the side as he made his way towards Qin Ye and the rest. The man was approximately forty years old, with chiseled appearances replete with thick, bushy eyebrows. His hands remained in his pocket as he made his way through the crowd of soldiers with a swift stride. And then, he finally stopped when he hade to the front, ¡°Pretty capable, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ average, I guess¡­¡± Lin Han chuckled dryly.

    The man with the chiseled face gently flicked the work tag on his chest, ¡°Special Life Research Center, or SRC for short. I¡¯m the Director of the First Research Center in Insignia Province, Chang Shun.¡±

    ¡°SRC?¡± The other four were startled, while Qin Ye whispered in a soft voice, ¡°Is this a problem?¡±

    Su Feng¡¯s expression turned bitter, ¡°Not a problem¡­ SRC¡­ is the only department that matches up to the Special Investigations Department. They investigate all entities who disy exceptional or anomalous traits, including people who have been possessed, witnessed supernatural incidents, as well as mutated Yin spirits alike. I only know that their headquarters are based in Yan Capital. Apart from that, every branch that exists is ssified as top secret information¡­¡±

    Chang Shun smiled as he sized up the group of intruders, ¡°Not bad. You¡¯re the first group of people who have stumbled upon the SRC in decades. Tell me, what clues led you to this ce? How should Imend you for your achievements?¡±

    ¡°Is it toote to run?¡± Qin Ye muttered softly.

    Zhuo Qinfen¡¯s lips twitched uncontrobly, ¡°You can try, if you don¡¯t mind having a huge ck mark against your name.¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    ¡°Come here.¡± Chang Shun turned around and waved invitingly at them. Together with the escort of a group of elite soldiers, they all made their way towards the heart of the chambers.

    Qin Ye and his group followed Chang Shun in a single file.

    The underground chamber was constructed and designed in a very simr fashion to the Special Investigations Department office under the city hall, and it reeked heavily of science fiction. They walked on for tens of minutes and found themselves descending hundreds of meters below ground level. The air had even begun to grow hotter. Finally, arge alloy door appeared in front of them.

    A biometric reader scanned Chang Shun¡¯s pupil and fingerprint, and the door opened up, revealing a massive chamber in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.

    The chamber was about the size of a football field. Giant screens hung from the ceiling everywhere. Copious amounts of data and numbers were crunched and processed everywhere, while streams of information flowed into Styx¡¯s subsidiary processor in the center of the room before being sorted out and disseminated to their intended recipients once more. There were petri dishes and crystal test tubes, and they even saw an unconscious person resting within a massive test tube!

    In fact, there were doubts as to whether the entity within the test tube could be considered a person altogether. After all, that entity had a half-meter long gaping wound in the middle of his chest, and immeasurable dense Yin energy seemed to squirm about inside the wound.

    ¡°This is a Kui Wood Wolf specimen number 41, a top grade specimen.¡± An apanying man in ab coat saw the curious gleams in everyone¡¯s eyes, and he continued exining, ¡°He¡¯s a rare symbiote who was born with an affinity for the Yin, and should have died five years ago. It was us who managed to extend his life for him, and he¡¯s a voluntary subject. Even though he can onlye out for three days every month right now, it¡¯s still far better than being tortured everyday.¡±

    The further in they walked, the more giant test tubes they saw. There were even entities that Qin Ye had never heard of before. There was a barbarian, and even a man with Yin energy enshrouding his heart¡­ Each and every single one of these specimens had a serial number underneath the test tube, and someone would exin to them their origin and the significance of their existence.

    The entities ranged from the Kui Wood Wolf and the Lou Golden Dog to the Wei Moon Swallow and the Shi Fire Pig... Qin Ye secretly kept a tally in his heart, only to realize that the chamber they were in housed hundreds of creatures that he had never even heard of before! And yet themon thread which bound all of these entities together was that they all had something to do with Yin spirits!

    Thus¡­ Just then, Chang Shun paused in his steps.

    The five of them returned to their senses and withdrew their wandering eyes. The path that they had been on ended here. A massive alloy wall stood right in front of them, and the face of a man was etched onto it. Two streams of data flowed constantly through instruments located at the sides of the alloy wall. Without turning around, Chang Shun continued to gaze intently at the face of the man as he exined, ¡°Fifty years ago, a magnitude 6 earthquake struck the City of Salvation, causing this rift to appear.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s body suddenly trembled, and Su Feng whispered, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, but remained taciturn.

    Nobody was aware that his heart had begun to thump faster and harder than ever.

    It was almost as though something¡­ was beckoning to him right now.

    Unaware of his peculiar reaction, Chang Shun continued, ¡°This is something that is only recorded in the top secret files. During the relief efforts back then, the 433rd Regiment discovered something.¡±

    He lifted his hand and caressed the etched face on the wall, ¡°It was a creature - the first of its kind. In fact¡­ its constitution and bodyposition was nothing like anything we¡¯ve ever seen before.¡±

    Whoosh!

    As soon as his hand made contact with the face, the face appeared to receive a signal of sorts, and the streams of data flowing along the instruments on the side immediately went into overdrive like fireflies on a summer night. The deste space at the end of the path had suddenlye alive!

    Krrr¡­ The alloy door released a muffled sound, and then split into three pieces, each of which began to retract into their own side!

    ¡°It¡¯s sleeping. Or perhaps it had been sealed. But despite that, this entity can still devour Yin spirits even in its sleep.¡±

    Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ It sounded as though innumerable locks and bolts were being released in the darkness behind the door. Chang Shun finally turned around with a flush on his face, ¡°It¡¯s just been¡­ beenying dormant underneath the City of Salvation for who knows how long.¡±

    ¡°May I now invite you to take a closer look at the entity with the highest aggregate Yin energy across all of Cathay - codename ¡®Exalted Father¡¯!¡±

    1. Reference to WOW.

    2. The Kui Wood Wolf originated ages ago, when people worshipped the ancient, distant stars in the sky. It is a product of thebination of ancient Chinese mythology and astronomy, and it is considered one of the twenty-eight constetions of ancient astronomy. Whilst considered a star deity by some ounts, it is more often than not considered a demon, such as in the story of Journey to the West.

    3. Each of these entities refer to a mythological entity founded upon one of the twenty-eight constetions of ancient astronomy.

 Chapter 86: Exalted Father

    <h4>Chapter 86: Exalted Father</h4>

    Boom¡­ As the alloy wall slowly opened up, and the locks and bolts retracted from their view, a ten-meter wide square hole appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.

    As the door opened, innumerable symbols lit up at the same time. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that they were in fact runic symbols that appeared to have been etched into the alloy itself.

    ¡°The Heaven¡¯s Gate Demon Descending Great Array.¡± Chang Shun exined softly, ¡°This is one of the most powerful formation arrays in Cathay. No matter how powerful the Yin energy is, it wouldn¡¯t be able to affect the people standing within the domain of the formation array. The effects of this arraysts ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°The entire SRC falls within the domain of the Heaven¡¯s Gate Demon Descending Great Array. Do you think a simple alloy door is sufficient to block out Yin energy as powerful as thirty million Yin? The only reason why you¡¯ve not been affected and forced to your knees is because the Great Array is in operation at every moment of the day. And this ce is none other than the heart of the formation array.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, a pitch-ck gale rushed straight out at them!

    The alloy door had finally fully retracted, and everything inside was visibly gold in colour!

    ¡°Manifestation of Yin energy as wind¡­¡± Su Feng looked around in shock. Their clothes, including their camouge uniform and Chang Shun¡¯s whiteb coat, were immediately swept back and fluttered wildly as though they were squaring up against the eye of a typhoon.

    ¡°Materialization of Yin energy¡­ This is the effect of the thirty million Yin ghost king?¡± Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air and stared at the hole.

    However, he couldn¡¯t see anything apart from the field of gold.

    The golden colour was not a glimmer of light or a luster. Rather, it was a form of material substance, almost as though ayer of golden diamond membrane had beenid over the surface of the hole.

    ¡°This is¡­ a ghost king?¡± Lin Han¡¯s jaws dropped with disbelief. Was the thirty million Yin existence nothing more than a patch of gold?

    Whoosh¡­ The Yin gale subsided, and the temperature around them fell rapidly. Chang Shun¡¯s voice grew somber, ¡°Like I said before, this is only a part of it. Nobody knows its true appearances, and nobody dares to dig through the stones at the sides either. After all, if the thirty million Yin existence is awakened from its dormant state¡­ the consequences would be simply unimaginable!¡±

    ¡°The world behind it is blocked byyers uponyers of Yin energy, and none of our instruments and probes are able to reach within. It¡¯s been decades now. This is the third batch of researchers, yet we¡¯ve not made any progress whatsoever. That said, the Exalted Father hasn¡¯t moved an inch either. The Special Investigations Department has once sent criminals sentenced to the death penalty to us for the purposes of live experiments. When they touched the gold membrane, some of the convicts immediately dried and withered up, while other convicts immediately copsed to the ground with the threemps over the bodies extinguished in an instant¡­ Hang on¡­ this is¡­¡±

    Just as he was speaking, the gold membrane suddenly moved.

    Dead silence.

    It was an abrupt silence.

    Chang Shun was just exining that the Exalted Father had not moved an inch for decades on end, and yet, it had just¡­ shifted!

    Everyone, including Qin Ye, thought that this was nothing more than their eyes ying tricks on them. However, in the very next moment, a loud rumbling sound reverberated from behind the stone wall, sending waves rippling across the golden membrane, leaving clear wrinkles across the surface. Finally¡­ it spat out a single strand of hair that was approximately one meter long.

    Everyone remained silent, and stared at it with widened eyes as they instinctively adopted a defensive stance. On the other hand, Chang Shun¡¯s face immediately flushed with a red hue, and both of his arms began to tremble uncontrobly!

    It¡¯s moving¡­ it¡¯s moving!

    The most powerful presence with the highest aggregate Yin energy reading in history¡­ has finally moved!

    Swish¡­ The six of them waited with bated breaths as the snow-white hair gently drifted towards the ground. Then, as soon as itnded on the alloy below, the soft contact released an earth-shattering sound! It was as though the bones of a giant dragon had collided with the surface of the alloy! The single strand of hair had left an immeasurably deep hair-line crack on the ground!

    No¡­ In fact, the tremor was so powerful that the entire SRC had felt the violent quake!

    At this moment, all of the personnel stationed at the garrison on ground level were also dumbfounded.

    Rumble¡­ The old nursing home quaked as though an earthquake had struck thends. Then, pieces of the dpidated walls began to topple over, leaving cracks on the structure of the nursing home. Finally¡­ with a loud crash, the entire five-storey nursing home copsed to the ground!

    Down below, the tremor from the copse of the nursing home jolted Chang Shun right back to his senses, and he immediately dashed back out of the room like a madman, ¡°Quick! Mobilize all of the cultivators in the City of Salvation right away! Dr Chen, Dr Li, Dr Zhao and my research team, bring your equipment over to the Exalted Father¡¯s room!! Even if we¡¯ve got to dig down three feet under, we absolutely must find that strand of hair!¡±

    ¡°Captain Lu!!¡± He was practically shouting at the top of his voice, and his eyes had already grown bloodshot. A captain dressed in his camouge uniform immediately stepped forward, ¡°Please give me your instructions.¡±

    ¡°Seal off the scene!! Nobody is to enter or leave this ce! All viters shall be shot on sight! Inform Deputy Attorney General Zhou and request his attendance immediately! This is of the utmost urgency!¡±

    Hepletely ignored Qin Ye and the others. The entire research center immediately flew into a frenzy. Several machines extended their arms into the Exalted Father¡¯sir; the lights of several indicators lit up almost instantaneously; while the flow of unending data scrolled rapidly throughout therge screens all over the ce.

    Very soon, another man dressed in whiteb coat escorted the five of them into an empty room each, and left hurriedly without saying anything.

    The doors of the rooms were tightly shut, and they were unable to see anything that was going on outside. The only thing that they continued to hear was the incessant sound of quick paces on the outside. Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered brightly as he whispered, ¡°Scales.¡±

    He muttered affirmatively.

    Earlier, he had clearly noticed the pieces of scales peeking through the hole when the Exalted Father had shifted its body.

    And the golden membrane that was blocking the entire hole was none other than a single scale from the Exalted Father¡¯s body!

    Qin Ye had obviously been thinking aloud. His elbows were resting on his knees, and he rested his interlocked fingers over his mouth.

    On the other hand, Arthis didn¡¯t drift out. She was aware that there were surveince cameras all over this ce.

    ¡°Scales.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice was immeasurably grave, ¡°This is definitely something from Hell¡­ energy readings at thirty million Yin means that it¡¯s already at the level of a Yama-King! But what can it be? The colour of the scales are extremely familiar, yet I just can¡¯t put a finger on it!¡±

    ¡°What did you do earlier?¡± She suddenly paused and asked Qin Ye, ¡°Something tells me that its movement has something to do with you. Even I was able to sense the roiling Yin energy while standing beside it. But I didn¡¯t do anything. It must be you.¡±

    Qin Ye remained taciturn.

    He did make a move earlier.

    He was curious to know whether his proof of identity as an Emissary of Hell would have any suppressive effects on the Exalted Father. But as soon as his hands touched his chest, the Exalted Father moved.

    In fact, that was not all. He had even heard a sound.

    Roar¡­ It sounded like a howl, but Qin Ye knew it was more than that. It was an anguished howl. The Exalted Father¡¯s consciousness had connected with his for a split second, and he could almost feel its pain.

    It wasn¡¯t a seal.

    It wasn¡¯t in a deep slumber.

    Rather¡­ it had sustained grievous injuries!

    That entity was not moving because it was simply absorbing Yin energy from the surroundings in order to nurse its wounds. In other words, it was fully aware as to everything that the humans were doing around it!

    ¡°Aurogon?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Arthis rejected, ¡°As Granny Meng has mentioned, the esteemed Torch Dragon has already departed from the world. I¡¯d even personally watched from the depths of the abyss as Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva personally whisked the Torch Dragon away. The Torch Dragon may be an entity that possesses the same amount of Yin energy as this one, but I¡¯m quite certain this isn¡¯t him!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, but his eyebrows were still tightly knit. He was no longer trying to identify who this was. Rather, he was now wondering¡­ why the Exalted Father had decided to share a shred of its consciousness with him?

    It couldn''t be unintentional. The extent of such injuries on such a powerful existence meant that it had struggled with its life to flee to earth when Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva attained enlightenment. Thereafter, it had lived the next few decades,pletely motionless as a statue. One could only imagine the price it had to pay to move even the slightest bit. Under such circumstances, how could it have possibly shared a shred of its consciousness with Qin Ye unintentionally?

    Twenty minutester, Qin Ye shook his head dejectedly.

    He couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    ¡°But Hell was truly powerful back then¡­¡±

    ¡°Each of the Yamas of the Ten Pces are extraordinary beingsparable with the thirty million Yin existence here. If we add the Aurogon and the Exalted Father, we¡¯ve essentially got twelve such existences. And then there¡¯s still the hundreds of Abyssal Prefects and thousands of Infernal Judges, all of whom rule over innumerable Emissaries of Hell¡­ Is it truly possible to rebuild something like that?¡±

    Qin Ye was murmuring to himself, but Arthis heard everything. She gently nudged Qin Ye in his pocket, ¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged. The forces of Hell in its glory days was a result of thousands of years of painstaking nurturing and cultivation. You¡¯re not even at the starting point yet. Don¡¯t you think that you should be directing your thoughts to the starting point instead?¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then revealed a bitter smile on his face.

    If he were to follow their original n, that necessarily means that he would have to enter the SRC and punch through the stone wall just to find his way beside the motionless ghost king. That would be the precondition for reestablishing Hell above it.

    But this was practically an impossible task!

    There remains the possibility that they might have erred in their earlier conjectures that it was grievously wounded, on the brink of death, but likely awake. But quite apart from that, there was also SRC¡¯s imprable security around the Exalted Father. How could he possibly enter under the SRC¡¯s watchful eyes?

    ¡°Let¡¯s settle for another location.¡± He sighed and mumbled, ¡°This ce isn¡¯t suitable at all¡­ the City of Salvation is huge. There are deep mountains over the horizon, and there¡¯s even the fifthrgest freshwaterke in Cathay, the Pagoda Lake. Are any one of these unsuitable for our purposes?¡±

    Arthis responded indifferently, ¡°Do you think that my earlier suggestion for a location was merely for safety and security? Then what¡¯s the point of making this trip down tonight? For the few meagre merit points that you might possibly earn?¡±

    You probably thought to trip me up and cause my ¡®idental¡¯ death while you¡¯re at it as well¡­ Qin Ye blinked innocently. Yet before he could say anything, Arthis continued, ¡°That¡¯s only one aspect of my considerations. To understand the other aspect, you¡¯ll first have to understand what Hell truly is.¡±

    ¡°First, you need to know that it¡¯s an infinitelyrge ne that isparable to Cathay. It doesn¡¯t exist in this world, but it has to be connected to this world through its main entrance. This would also be the point of contact between the mortal realm and Hell. Without this, Yin spirits would never be able to enter Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°But Hell is already gone. Didn¡¯t the Three Gorges Dam burst and flood the ins below? Didn¡¯t the Yin spirits still enter Hell all the same during the three major ghost festivals?¡±

    He had personally witnessed the sight when he first embarked on theherworld odyssey.

    ¡°Who says it¡¯s gone? Ruins are ruins, but the Fengdu Necropolis of Hell is still around! That said, its influence over the mortal realm canst at best another fifty years before everything vanishespletely.¡±

    ¡°And the projection that you saw in the mortal realm¡­ Hahaha, kid, if you¡¯ve got time, you can head over to the depths of the Three Gorges Dam and see what the former Fengdu Necropolis used to look like. Every night, tens of thousands of spirits would congregate from all over the country, and innumerable spots ofherfire would hover and wander about. It¡¯s been flooded, but it¡¯s still around.¡±

    ¡°In any event, the entrance beneath Insignia University is simply going to act as your conduit between theherworld and the mortal realm. It would act as a beacon of light to guide the Yin spirits back to Hell.¡±

    ¡°Second, where does the Yin energy in Helle from?¡± She drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°The Yellow Springs!¡±

    ¡°As soon as you assemble all the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, the Yellow Springs would begin pouring out once again. This is why I¡¯d earlier said that the day you restore King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is also the day in which Hell reopens. That said, it doesn¡¯t naturally mean that you can¡¯t restore Hell without the presence of the Yellow Springs.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem to be what you said thest time¡­¡±

    Arthis exploded with a domineering fury and snapped, ¡°Last time isst time! Can you fit everything in your brain if I¡¯d exined it all at one shotst time? And can¡¯t you consider the feelings of the readers if you drop them too many pieces of information all at one? Keep quiet and listen up, you g who knows nothing about Hell!¡±

    I¡¯ll endure this!

    ¡°Like I mentioned before, Hell is like a machine, and the Yellow Springs is its driving force. Let me refine the analogy even further. Yin energy is the innate driving force, while the Yellow Springs is the vehicle that perpetually channels the Yin energy through the machine. But now¡­¡±

    Realization suddenly dawned on Qin Ye, and he immediatelypleted the sentence for Arthis, ¡°You¡¯d employed your gift of the gab to convince me toe down and take a look; and you¡¯d enthusiastically encouraged me to ept this mission, and yet the truth of the matter is that everything had all been a farce so that you can assess whether it is possible and viable to tap on the Exalted Father¡¯s energy to power Hell¡¯s operations?¡±

    ¡°Even though that¡¯s roughly the truth of the matter, I think that there¡¯s still some concerns with your manner of expression there¡­¡± Arthis rolled her eyes at Qin Ye before adding, ¡°That¡¯s right, thirty million Yin energy is strong. Incredibly strong. But it¡¯s still a drop in the ocean when youpare it with Hell¡¯s former glory. To someone who''s rebuilding Hell from scratch, the help that you¡¯re receiving from the country¡¯s defence agencies is akin to the delivery of charcoal in the midst of winter! If you rely on the Exalted Father¡¯s Yin energy, and then continue to feed off the mortal realm¡¯s source of spirit stones, you might just be able to runch Hell in no time at all!¡±

    ¡°And don¡¯t be presumptuous. Why did Granny Meng look for you? This is something that I¡¯ve mentioned before as well - you¡¯re presently the most promising candidate for aplishing such an immense task! Nobody else is more suited for the job than you are!¡±

 Chapter 87: Where are My Merit Points?

    <h4>Chapter 87: Where are My Merit Points?</h4>

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. There were surveince devices everywhere in this ce, so it wouldn¡¯t be prudent for him to speak too much. Qin Ye shut his eyes and hummed to himself.

    The situation was incredibly peculiar right now.

    The three remaining daolords of the six paths were stillying low and biding their time. They were probably afraid. After all, having been tormented by Hell for thousands of years, the shadows of Hell must have left an indelible mark that constantly struck fear in their hearts. That said, the longer they dragged things out, the more Yin spirits there would be at their disposal. They weren¡¯t in any rush in any event.

    Furthermore, Qin Ye was now more certain than ever of the need to reestablish Hell in order to suppress the three daolords. As soon as Hell was reestablished, the millions of Yin spirits would finally be able to enter the underworld, and this would be tantamount to snatching and depriving the three daolords of their resources in their fight against the mortal realm. As the number of Yin spirits pledging allegiance to the daolords dwindle, while the mortal realm¡¯s understanding of Yin spirits increase, the ones prevailing at the end of the fight would most certainly be the mortal realm.

    Thus, as soon as the daolords discover such developments that point to the reestablishment of Hell, they would most certainly do everything in their ability to weed out the problem before Hell establishes a foothold. The war with the mortal realm would even take a backseat in light of their hatred towards Hell¡¯s existence.

    Given theplexion of the circumstances, it was evident that the safest ce to establish the new cornerstone of Hell would most certainly be in the heart of the City of Salvation.

    He now had yet another pull factor.

    At the very least¡­ I¡¯ll be able to use the Exalted Father¡¯s Yin energy to set up the framework for Hell¡¯s reestablishment first¡­

    Swish¡­ Just then, the door suddenly opened, and a second lieutenant walked in and saluted Qin Ye, ¡°Mr Qin, please follow me.¡±

    Qin Ye followed him to the main entrance of the SRC, where the other members were already waiting with an incredibly downcast expression. Zhou Xianlong stood in front of them all.

    ¡°Pretty capable, huh.¡± Zhou Xianlong sized up the agents standing in front of him with displeasure as he gnashed his teeth, ¡°Can¡¯t you guys have some measure of self-consciousness like other regr Hunter-ss experts?! You¡¯re part of the core forces, and yet you¡¯re still sneaking around like Emissaries of Hell?¡±

    Nobody dared to talk back when the boss was chiding them. All of them hung their heads lowly like obedient little quails.

    ¡°The SRC has already been established for decades, and not a single person has been able to pinpoint their location to date. But you fes are truly capable¡­ Your first instance of coboration made all the wrong kinds of ripples¡­ you¡¯d be made a hugeughing stock if word gets out!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re all about to be teachers and professors of the Academy of Cultivators soon! The first batch of students would be arriving in just a few months¡¯ time. Yet you can¡¯t even follow simple instructions? You¡¯d even trespassed restricted zones without proper authorization?! What? Are you feeling aggrieved now?¡±

    ¡°Chief¡­ we didn¡¯t know¡­¡± Lin Han coughed dryly as he feebly attempted to exin the situation, ¡°They should¡¯ve marked the area as well. That way, we would¡¯ve known and refrained from entering in the first ce¡­¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­¡± Zhou Xianlong fervently resisted the urge to p him across the face as he sneered, ¡°So I have to mark out top secret zones for your eyes now? Fine. Since you¡¯ve been so naughty, I¡¯ve already decided on the perfect punishment for you.¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly had a bad premonition.

    ¡°The ze Squad and S9527 shall have one month¡¯s worth of merit points deducted from their wages. Furthermore¡­¡± The corners of his lips curled up, ¡°Those who can discover the existence of SRC are undoubtedly capable, even though they might be reckless and hotheaded. Therefore, you shall join the Faculty of Combat and temper your character through live experience.¡±

    The ze Squad¡¯s expressions immediately turned grave and somber, as though their parents had just passed on.

    Zhou Xianlong couldn¡¯t care less about their reactions at all. As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and left.

    On the other hand, Qin Ye lookedpletely thunderstruck.

    ¡°The Academy of Cultivators¡­ gives us wages?¡± He stared at thepanions around with a look of sheer amazement.

    This was the first time I¡¯m hearing about it!

    Why didn¡¯t anyone say anything about such important news, especially at the public conference several days ago?!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on with you guys?¡± Qin Ye nudged Lin Han with his elbows, ¡°I¡¯m only moderately shocked. So why do you guys look like you¡¯re in thete stages of Parkinson¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°We may as well be that.¡± Lin Han appeared almost suicidal, ¡°Faculty ofbat¡­ Do you know who the head of the faculty ofbat is?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes and shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s Zhou, the exploiter!!¡± Lin Han gnashed his teeth, ¡°What¡¯s a Deputy Chief Investigator of the Special Investigations Department doing holding a concurrent appointment as the head of the faculty ofbat in his spare time? Let me tell you something, the faculty ofbat is the most dangerous faculty in the entire academy! Have you seen the curriculum for trainee cultivators? A semester is five and a half months long, with two and a half months dedicated to theory, and the remaining three dedicated tobat experience!¡±

    ¡°Andbat experience naturally refers to being sent to different provinces and cities across the country, only to be desecrated and toyed with by all types of different ghosts!¡±

    Qin Ye felt somewhat baffled, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be the ones who are desecrating and toying with these ghosts instead? After all, there are generally only two Hunter-ss hunting zones within each city. The City of Salvation is an exception to the norm. Shouldn¡¯t you be more careful with the usage of the subject and the object in your statements?¡±

    Lin Han sneered, ¡°What if I add that you don¡¯t get merit points for it? You only get course credits in the academy, dear! And even though we¡¯re teachers and professors, it would be considered no more than our duty as a teacher, dear!¡±

    Qin Ye was no longer smiling right now.

    ¡°And what if I tell you that the target of such desecration and toying was in fact your few unsuspecting rookie students who aren¡¯t even Operative-ss experts, and you¡¯ll have to do your best to protect them along the way? And it¡¯s three months¡¯ of such escort work in that regard!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expression simrly turned suicidal.

    There¡¯s nothing worse than this¡­

    ¡°In other words¡­ the moment we joined the school was also the moment the merit points flew away from us?¡± Qin Ye fervently suppressed the pangs of immense pain in his heart as he asked.

    The heart-rending pain that cut deep into his heart was incredibly real¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s a silver lining. When you get promoted or conferred titles, the school would probably give you some. Otherwise, wouldn¡¯t you find it strange that the government would provide you with such a rxed environment and even shower you with resources for your cultivation? And then give you merit points on top of that?¡±

    With these suicidal thoughts weighing heavily on their hearts, none of them said anything more as they slowly returned to their own homes and residences.

    When Qin Ye returned to his hotel, Wang Chenghao was still in the midst of ying video games. Wang Chenghao was just about to say hello when he keenly noticed the forlorn expression on Qin Ye¡¯s face.

    ¡°You¡­ what happened?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t talk to me. I want to be alone right now¡­¡± Qin Ye shooed Wang Chenghao back to his own room and hid himself under his nket.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯ll say, aren¡¯t you being a little bit too unconcerned about the Special Investigations Department and the Academy of Cultivators?¡± Arthis rolled out and remarked, ¡°The instructors¡¯ training is about tomence soon. Can¡¯t you pull yourself together?¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Qin Ye took out his cell phone, and his fingers slipped past the ¡°y¡± app, and tapped on ¡°Momo¡±.

    ¡°... Can I assume that you¡¯ve clicked on the wrong app?¡±

    ¡°... What do you know? I¡¯m gathering intel from the exchange of information. Just look at the press releases from the government. How sincere do you think they are?¡± As soon as he tapped on Momo, Qin Ye began scrolling through the pictures of the various goddesses¡¯ profiles. Suddenly, his eyes lit up - the picture of a long-haired girl with sharp features had appeared on one of the profiles.

    His bad mood was instantly dispelled. Then, just as he was about to ¡®wave¡¯ to her, Arthis nodded in approval, ¡°Not bad. The future King Yanluo does need a few harems. This woman is considerably outstanding.¡±

    ¡°Can you not sneak up on people and intrude on their privacy?! I¡¯m a Leo, alright?!¡± Qin Ye tried to cast Arthis aside in a fit of anger, only to receive the most apposite response from her, ¡°I think I¡¯d just seen her TV series a few days ago. I think it was called¡­ The Story of Yanxi Pce?¡±

    I¡¯ll be damned!

    I knew you were trouble when I met you!

    Arthis continued, plunging the theoretical de deeper in Qin Ye¡¯s side, ¡°I think she was ying the queen in the story? Quite the tragic one at that.¡±

    Qin Ye silently swiped away thatdy¡¯s profile. All copyright infringers must die!

    ¡°There¡¯s really no reason for you to remain with these mortals. Think about it - as soon as you reestablish Hell, all of them woulde here when they die. Can¡¯t you take your pick then? I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret. My previous boss had a rather¡­ intimate rtionship with Chen Yuanyuan.

 Chapter 88: Organizational Structure of the Special Investigations Department

    <h4>Chapter 88: Organizational Structure of the Special Investigations Department</h4>

    Qin Ye made a mental note of it and tapped on the next post.

    ¡°Cathay¡¯s distribution of battlegrounds.¡±

    Under the nning of the Special Investigations Department, three provinces in the east fall under the jurisdiction of Cathay¡¯s northern district. The headquarters is located at Skytribute City.

    The northwestern district governs the tspring Province and the Northline Province. Its headquarters is located at Torumba City.

    The south district governs four provinces along the southern coastal area. Its headquarters is located at Pearlriver City.

    The west district governs five provinces in the west. Its headquarters is located at Lotus City.

    The central district governs six provinces in central Cathay, and it is the district that controls the most provinces across all of Cathay. Its headquarters is located at Westrand City.

    The east district governs four provinces in the Eastsea region, and its headquarters is located at the Eastsea City.

    Apart from that, there are two other independent districts.

    The Yan Capital district, which governs both the Yan Capital, the Skyford City, and one other province in the region.

    And finally, the Monkey district, which governs the Su Province and the Hang Province!

    ¡°Eightrge districts¡­¡± Qin Ye muttered, ¡°Arti, could it be that¡­ the mortal realm has eight Prefect-ss experts?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± Arthis shook her head, ¡°The mortal realm probably has Prefect-ss experts, but they should already be considered the strongest forces in the entire mortal realm. One of the reasons why I didn¡¯t dare to reveal my true nature in Clear Creek County earlier¡­ was precisely because I was afraid that there would be a Prefect-ss expert nearby. Don¡¯t you forget that Clear Creek County belongs to a region that is home to the most prestigious Taoist Ancestral Court.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s response was made in passing, but Arthis immediately grew somber, ¡°There¡¯s a 90% likelihood.¡±

    ¡°Do you remember when I unleashed my disy of authority back then?¡±

    ¡°That disy of authority was essentially an incarnation of my being formed from Yin energy, and it wouldn¡¯t normally dissipate for a month. But back then¡­ the incarnationsted for no longer than a single hour.¡±

    She drew a deep breath, ¡°I could feel that¡­ as soon as my incarnation took form¡­ a pair of eyes in the direction of Lotus City immediately shot its gaze straight towards me¡­¡±

    ¡°It was terrifying¡­ That entity could very well even be a peak Prefect-ss expert. But that feeling was incredibly fleeting. Perhaps it couldn¡¯t be bothered with us as soon as it noticed the extent of my incarnation¡­ In fact¡­ in fact, I get the feeling that it was attempting tomunicate with us¡­ No, perhaps that entity had even clearly noticed our conditions back then with a single nce and guessed what had happened to Hell¡­ But that¡¯s not right either. Someone at his level would already have some form of ess ormunication with Hell, and that¡¯s probably why that entity didn¡¯t show up in the end.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­

    Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air, ¡°You mean¡­ I¡¯d clothed myself with the Hell¡¯s Emissary state under the watchful eyes of a Prefect-ss expert?¡±

    ¡°Mm, he might even have taken a few more nces at you, given that you¡¯re thest Emissary of Hell in existence. Hehehe, you¡¯re invaluable.¡±

    Qin Ye began to pack his things.

    ¡°... What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°What am I doing?! Of course I¡¯m going to make the pilgrimage to Mount Qingcheng to pay my respects to my master! If I dally any longer, he might very well kill me with a single p to the face!¡±

    ¡°... Don¡¯t be anxious. I was just kidding earlier¡­ He wouldn¡¯t be able to ascertain your identity in any event. After all, it¡¯s an immutable rule that Emissaries of Hell are invisible to the mortal realm. Otherwise, Cao Youdao would¡¯ve been arrested a long time ago after having created such a huge ruckus. The expert would at best only be able to hazard a guess. He wouldn¡¯t be certain of anything.¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes. He finally understood why they still weren¡¯t considered wanted persons after the incident at Westriver.

    There was a possibility that the Prefect-ss expert might have given instructions to that effect, so that their actions stopped at sending the investigations dossier to the City of Salvation.

    Ah, and there¡¯s still the matter of freezing the bank card of Lord Midas.

    ¡°There¡¯s actually a Prefect-ss existence in the mortal realm¡­¡± Shaking his head, he made a mental note in his heart to move about more cautiously in future.

    ¡°There¡¯s actually no need to be too worried.¡± Arthis persuaded, ¡°Cultivators generally live much longer than normal human beings. I could sense that the Prefect-ss expert is at least two hundred years old. Furthermore, I¡¯d intentionally released my senses as we travelled across the various provinces. So far, I¡¯ve only sensed one Prefect-ss expert in Westriver, and vaguely sensed one or two Judge-ss experts along the way. Nevertheless, the existence of such experts are clearly few and far between.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a look at the number of people in the mortal realm who have truly embarked on the path of cultivation, ording to this¡­ app? Based on the figures here, there are slightly over thirty provinces, and Insignia Province has slightly over two hundred such cultivators. If we multiply that figure by thirty-five, we don¡¯t even have eight thousand people. With such numbers¡­ as soon as the war with theherworld breaks out, even the most harmless of Yin spirits flying across the sky is going to pose a problem to the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye asked a question that had always been on his mind, ¡°What¡¯s the difference between a full-blown warpared with what¡¯s going on now? Aren¡¯t we also seeing throngs of Yin spirit flying across the skies? Aren¡¯t there also many innocent citizens who are witnessing the existence of ghosts for the very first time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the same.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to see the dangers at times like this¡­ But when the timees for them to emerge from hiding and rally together, the multitudes of otherwise helpless Yin spirits would automatically be drawn to the evil ghosts that have been around for a thousand - or even thousands - of years! They would practically form a kingdom of Yin spirits! Mortals wouldn¡¯t perish immediately, but they would definitely flee for their lives. In other words¡­ theherworldly forces would then have a territory to call their own!¡±

    ¡°Think about it. In the one hundred years¡¯ of Hell¡¯s absence, how many Yin spirits do you think are lingering about within Cathay right now? For all you know, you might even be surrounded by dozens of such onlookers when you visit the bathroom. This is why you absolutely have to fight your way into the SRC and dig a tunnel to reach the Exalted Father¡­¡±

    Qin Ye clutched at his hair as though in pain, ¡°I say, dear, couldn¡¯t your options be just a tad more realistic? Even a groundhog wouldn¡¯t be able to dig through that surface and reach the Exalted Father, would it? Instead of egging me on, why don¡¯t you start thinking about what other locations within the City of Salvation we can fall back to.¡±

    That¡¯s right. The n was stranded.

    Even though nobody was willing to admit it, it was clear that n A had fallen through. The SRC security was probably on the highest alert, and it probably wouldn¡¯t let up within the next few years. The prospects of checking back in on the Exalted Father were practically zero.

    Qin Ye continued to scroll through the posts. On the other hand, Arthis grew taciturn for some moments, before abruptly eximing, ¡°Actually¡­ it¡¯s not that there aren¡¯t any.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Qin Ye continued flipping through the posts as he responded casually.

    The soul sphere floated in front of his face and tyrannically covered the screen of the phone as Arthis continued exining, ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that it¡¯s not as if there aren¡¯t secondary, fall back locations.¡±

    There really is one?

    Qin Ye blinked - But that doesn¡¯t seem very likely, does it? What other ce could we possibly have¡­ No!

    ¡°There really is another ce¡­¡± He squinted his eyes, ¡°You¡¯ve thought of this a long time ago, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°There must always be a contingency n.¡± Arthis sighed, ¡°When you¡¯re working with an Emissary who doesn¡¯t know a single thing other than eating, drinking, and pooping, the rational one in the partnership will always have to pull his own weight and consider the big picture¡­¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m warning you. We may be familiar with each other, but that doesn¡¯t preclude me from suing you for nder!¡± As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Ye sat up straight and rubbed his chin as he probed further, ¡°Cao Youdao¡¯sir?¡±

    If memory served him well, Cao Youdao¡¯sir was based in an ancient tomb, and the Yin energy in that location was reasonably abundant as well. After all, Cao Youdao had already based his operations in the ancient tomb for a hundred years on end.

    But,pared with establishing the entrance just above the Exalted Father¡¯s head, this alternative was stillcking far too much - it could even be said to becking in an order of magnitudes.

    If the Exalted Father possessed sufficient Yin energy to see through the entire construction works of the soul induction tform, Cao Youdao¡¯sir can only be said to have sufficient Yin energy to construct a single step of the soul induction tform.

    Arthis murmured, ¡°Don¡¯t be so anxious. I still have faith that the little fly that you are will be able to find the right crevice and crawl into the precious egg¡­ Look, even though the Special Investigations Department was so tightly sealed, you were still able to find the right crevice and crawl into it. The SRC shouldn¡¯t be a problem for you¡­¡±

    ¡°... Are you having trouble finding the right vocabry to use?¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s be more civil about this. Should I say you¡¯ve got olfactophilia then?¡±

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes at Arthis, ¡°Coming back to the topic at hand, it¡¯s inadvisable to make a move right now. The First Academy of Cultivators hasn¡¯t been constructed yet, so sses would naturally take ce using readily avable venues. And there¡¯s only one such suitable venue in the entire city.¡±

    Insignia University!

    ¡°We¡¯ll cross the bridge when wee to that. I¡¯ll find an opportunity to make a trip down in the meantime.¡±

    He thought for a moment before tapping on the Momo app.

    After joining the group, the first thing that immediately caught his eye was the new group message ¡°Wealth and strength, democracy, culture, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule ofw, patriotism, dedication, friendliness.¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°???¡±

    Did I click on something wrong?

    That¡¯s impossible. There¡¯s only one group on Momo.

    He took a closer look at the name of the group: Socialist Sessor.

    His lips twitched as he tapped on the group. He was immediately greeted by arge string of chat messages.

    There were only about two hundred people in the group, but the quality of information exchanged on a daily basis was fairly good.

    ¡°Any fellow Taoists from Moonriver City? There¡¯s a D-grade mission nearby for which the top tenndlords in Moonriver are offering a reward of one million for. Please send me a private message if you¡¯re interested.¡±

    ¡°Question to moderators: Operative-ss experts experience a shortness of breath during their attempt to break through the Hunter-ss bottleneck. What¡¯s the cause of this?¡±

    ¡°Fellow Taoists in the southern district, beware! A B-grade spiritual zone has been identified close to the source of the Pearl River. The entire area is presently sealed off, and the impact radius spans an incredible area of five thousand square meters. Do note over!¡±

    ¡°A C-grade hunting zone has appeared in Hulunbuir. There are suspicions of a mutated Yin spirit involved. Are there any Taoists interested in observing and learning from our seniors? Kindly take this poor soul along!¡±

    It waspletely different from the useless spam posts on any of the other boards or forums. In fact, these posts even gave an insight or a peek to the rest of Cathay.

    And most importantly¡­

    No suspension of ount! No suspension of ount! No suspension of ount! Important matters should be repeated for emphasis!

    Furthermore, he was even the moderator of the group, and he had already exercised his power to suspend two ounts!

    He organized his thoughts and began to join the fray.

    Muscr Pretty Boy: Guys, is there any word on when the Insignia University, City of Salvation branch is going to be demolished? It¡¯s the location where the Academy of Cultivators is going to be built.

    Woman on a Swing: Yo, our younger brother is here! Come, let your older sister check on your muscles.

    The de that Cuts the World: Huh¡­ Women.

    Woman on a Swing: de, what do you mean? Don¡¯t you know what this app is called? Momo! Besides, take a look at my name! Woman on a Swing! It¡¯s self exnatory.

    Qin Ye thought about it in great detail.

    Woman¡­ on a¡­ swing¡­

    Swinger?

    The chatter in the group continued to go off-tangent: But that¡¯s the normal Momo. Don¡¯t you have any targets on this app?

    Woman on a Swing responded strongly: Target? Of course I do! Just the other day, I¡¯d watched a video recording of our cute and adorable little dog here¡­ It¡¯s just as well, since I¡¯d been getting sick of all the meat I¡¯ve been having over thest few days, and I was just thinking of bing a vegetarian for a day or two.

    Berserk Old Dog: It¡¯s beneath me to be associated with you!

    Woman on a Swing: That¡¯s fine. My preference is towards men like Pretty Boy who are big and full of vigor anyway.

    White Dog Laughing at the West Wind: <chuckle emoticon> How do you even know he¡¯s big without looking?

    Woman on a Swing: What do you know? I¡¯d zoomed in on certain areas with a magnification of ten times, and I noticed a slight bump there¡­ <blushing face emoticon>x2

    Group message: Woman on a Swing¡¯s ount has been suspended for a day.

    Qin Ye wiped off the sweat from his forehead. Women¡­ are truly scary.

    I can¡¯t believe that they can even uncover such private information like that. Wasn¡¯t I discreet enough?

    Some people¡­ no matter how much they try to remain discreet, still can¡¯t help but shine in the sky like the brightest star and be discovered by the most discerning eyes¡­

    Vast Ocean Smile: Please keep your personal hookups to private messages only. The admin is ramping up their surveince, and they¡¯ve already shuttered dozens of groups in recent days. Be careful. Didn¡¯t you notice that the group has even changed its name? Besides, nobody has heard anything about Insignia University being demolished at all. I imagine that the First Academy of Cultivators will be using the campus grounds for two years. The Cathay Construction Group is fast. Two years should be sufficient time for its construction works.

    Su Feng?

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was filled with rage: Teacher Vast, thanks for your message tonight.

    He had punched in those words through gritted teeth.

    Vast Ocean Smile: ¡­ I¡¯ve got some things to attend to, so I¡¯ll take my leave first. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be online in the near future. We¡¯ll chat again sometime.

    At least you¡¯re quick on the retreat!

    Qin Ye was just about to close the group in a fit of anger, when another thought suddenly struck him. He began typing once more: Does anyone know how the manpower situation at Insignia Province is right now? I hear that SRC has a branch in the area. Are they still looking to hire?

    Berserk Old Dog: Is this fellow Taoist interested in the SRC?

    Forever Spring: Nobody knows anything about the SRC. It¡¯s top secret. But it seems like the manpower in the City of Salvation is generally somewhatcking. Let me take a look. Hang on a moment.

    Three minutester, Forever Spring: 4 Hellguard-ss experts, 24 Hunter-ss experts, 180 Operative-ss experts, and 1,432 trainee cultivators. Ranked 18th across all of Cathay.

    ¡°Weak as hell.¡± Arthis sneered, ¡°The fact that there are four Hellguard-ss experts is a telling sign that Insignia Province¡¯s overall in charge should be a Judge-ss expert. It¡¯s not easy. Hell previously had three Judge-ss experts overseeing each province on earth, two of which would be stationed in the mortal realm while one of whom would be managing affairs in theherworld. That said, I suppose it¡¯s not too bad having a Judge-ss expert given the current climate of modern day society.¡±

    ¡°There exists a great disparity in power between them and Hunter-ss and Operative-ss experts. Although these experts aren¡¯t strong, they undoubtedly still form the foundation of the entire organisation. The number of Yin spirits appearing every day is far too great, and there¡¯s simply no way to purge all of them without the aid of Emissaries of Hell. It¡¯s fortunate that there are few incarnate revenants in the present era. Otherwise¡­ Cathay would have been thrown into chaos a long time ago.¡±

    1. This is considered one of the birthces of Taoism.

    2. This is actually an area in Inner Mongolia.

 Chapter 89: Instructorsâ€™ Training (1)

    <h4>Chapter 89: Instructors'' Training (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye tapped on the bed frame, deep in thought.

    The option involving the SRC ispletely unscientific and illogical. It¡¯s a bloody alloy egg that I¡¯ve got to burrow through for goodness sake¡­ Hang on a minute! Who¡¯s drilling to begin with? And what do you mean alloy egg? What the hell am I thinking about?

    ¡°I guess I have no choice but to consider the next best option avable¡­ And I¡¯ll have to ask Su Feng to let me have a look at the blueprints for the Academy to see just how far below ground level the construction works will go¡­ Back then, I recall travelling six storeys down below ground level. If we take one storey to be approximately three meters high, that essentially means that somewhere approximately twenty meters below ground level is where the danger zone is located¡­¡±

    Arthis chimed in, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, let¡¯s wait and see¡­ It¡¯s still too early for the City of Salvation to fall just yet. There¡¯s still time for you to make the necessary preparations. Can you really bear to give up the Exalted Father as an option just like that?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    He wasn¡¯t willing to give it up.

    But he had no other choice.

    Arthis sighed, ¡°If it really can¡¯t be done¡­ I suppose Cao Youdao¡¯sir would do¡­ The manpower in Insignia Province is somewhatcking, and the possibility of someone stumbling upon it is miniscule. The two questions you¡¯d asked on the chat earlier weren''t half bad, and you managed to hit the nail on the head. But let me warn you - you can never change the location of Hell¡¯s main entrance once you¡¯ve made the decision. Otherwise, why do you think Fengdu Necropolis has existed for thousands of years on end? Haven¡¯t you wondered whether Hell has considered shifting it before?¡±

    Qin Ye clicked his tongue and pulled the nket over his head, ¡°We¡¯ll talk again.¡±

    He rested well over the next few days.

    There had been far too many things going ontely, so much so that he had been feeling incredibly high-strung. It was high time for him to loosen up slightly.

    Over the next few days, he made a call to Zhang Baoguo. With the Teemo incident brewing at the back of everybody¡¯s mind right now, Qin Ye simply wasn¡¯t prepared to go out right now. Nevertheless, he still gave his word to have dinner with Zhang Baoguo over the new year.

    As for the City of Salvation¡­ things weren¡¯t very different from the days of martialw.

    The upper echelons of the government were the ones most concerned in the wake of the bloodbath that night. However, those who weren¡¯t aware of this would never find out either. Life of a regr citizen had practically gone back to normal, and order was restored on the third day. Save for the fact that certain things were no longer hidden from the citizen, everything had gone back to its usual rhythm and pace.

    All of the hospitals were equipped with new instruments and a new diagnosis room merely six days after the incident - the Cultivation Aptitude Testing Room.

    The less-frequented funerary street had also seen a rise in patrons and visitors over thest few days. That said, the greatest draw was still to the new Taiji Street that was just adjacent to the funerary street.

    Each and every order delivered by the government at the press conference had been publicly announced, so every citizen in the city understood full well what this ce was.

    It was the gathering ce of all Taoists and their sects for interaction, exchange and trading of resources!

    All of the previous shops in the region have been emptied out, and all of the iing business that had reced their predecessors disys goods such as peachwood swords, talismans, and antiques that were otherwise only seen on television. At the beginning, there were barely any visitors. Then, as time went on, the enthusiasm of the crowds grew and grew. Finally, on thest day of that week, monks and priests could even be seen striding through the street in a dignified manner, as though they were celebrated members of the royalty.

    Cathayans didn¡¯t expect very much. As long as they could lead fulfilling lives, they were pretty much prepared to bear with just about anything.

    New orders were issued in the City of Salvation everyday. The inte was still down. In fact, it had been made clear that the inte would never be restored in the City of Salvation. Instead, a new system would be introduced to ensure that the citizens would be able to keep up to date with the news whilst still maintaining the restrictions on any outgoing information.

    Schools had begun introducing a fresh new discipline of cultivation research studies. As soon as the first batch of teachers receive their qualifications and arrive in the City of Salvation, the subject would be taught across the board, including kindergartens, preschools, elementary school straight through to high schools. In fact, the First Academy of Cultivators wouldmence with its enrollment of students right after winter break ends.

    The government was the first to roll out and implement a full integration of their systems with cultivators and cultivation. In this regard, the Special Investigations Department officially moved out from their underground office and took their station above ground on the third day. They even took over most of the assignments and investigations rting to the supernatural and cut off all contact between the other governmental departments and the rest of the world.

    News of such nature continued to pour in to Qin Ye on a daily basis. On the other hand, having armed himself with Wang Chenghao¡¯s card, Qin Ye was happily swiping away as he purchased article of clothing after article of clothing. He couldn¡¯t be bothered much about the outside world.

    The term ¡°cultivation¡± had begun to gain traction in the City of Salvation.

    Early on the morning of the seventh day, Qin Ye got out of bed.

    After washing up, eating and doing the needful, it was already 7.30 a.m.

    He had been added to a small groupst night, ¡°First Academy of Cultivators ss of 2018 Instructors¡¯ Group.¡± The only requirement in this group was that they used their real names.

    Qin Ye took a closer look. Hah, there are quite a number of people.

    And it was not just that. There were even several acquaintances, as well as members of the scum of the earth party he had just been part of, including Lin Han, Li Runxue and their little group. Even Zhang Chenghai, who had previously bought him breakfast, was part of the group.

    And there were also several other particrly noteworthy names.

    ¡°Honorary Head of Faculty: Zhou Xianlong.¡± ¡°Honorary Head of Faculty: Chang Shun¡±

    A quick count of the members revealed that there were close to two hundred people within this group. Other universities, even branch universities, generally had teaching staff that numbered well in the thousands. Next to these universities, their numbers could only be considered so lean it was practically skin and bones.

    Qin Ye had spent the better part ofst night chatting away at the socialist sessor group, and he had only switched off his phone at midnight for his rest. In contrast, there was not a single word of banal banter or the like exchanged on this group at all.

    He changed into civilian clothes, hailed a taxi, and went straight to Insignia University.

    ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators?¡± The driver was incredibly chatty. As soon as he heard Qin Ye¡¯s destination, his eyes immediately shone brightly, ¡°Brother, what business do you have there? Do they treat you well there?¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that those who have the qualifications are epted with incredibly good conditions. I wonder if my son will be able to qualify for it. Hey¡­ brother, couldn¡¯t you tell me more about it? I¡¯ll waive your bill this ride!¡± ¡°Oh¡­ that¡¯s right! I was just wondering why you looked so familiar. Aren¡¯t you that¡­ Ah! That Teemo!¡± ¡°You must be part of the ethnic minorities, right? It was my son who told me your name.¡± ¡°Is there a special policy for ethnic minorities to enter the Special Investigations Department?¡±

    Bloody hell, what do you mean Teemo?!

    And what the hell do you mean by ethnic minority?!

    Qin Ye remained silent, cold and distant the entire journey. His heart and his head was struck with intense pain as soon as he heard the mention of the word ¡°Teemo¡±. Under the driver¡¯s begrudging eyes, he got off the car and stood before the main gate of Insignia University.

    Insignia University had changed somewhat.

    The sign for Insignia University had already been disposed of. Instead, there was another sign erected in its ce with the words ¡°First Academy of Cultivators¡± written across in majestic calligraphic strokes.

    The campus had hardly changed either. However, the former students were already nowhere to be seen. The OFO, Mobike, and other bike rentalpanies of their various trademark colours had all been removed. Even the kiosks that had previously been the gathering point of students had beenpletely revamped into an antique looking decoration. It was unfathomable how the government had managed to achieve all of this in just a short span of seven days.

    The entire campus felt somewhat cold and distant.

    He followed the notices all the way to a tiered lecture hall. It was already 8.30 a.m. The faculty meeting was ted to begin at 9.00 a.m., and there were already several people in attendance right now. As soon as he arrived at the door, he heard a passionate voice call out to him, ¡°Yo, Teemo! Over here!¡±

    Can I give you a bloody kick right now?!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t have to look at the source of the voice to tell that the big buffoon, Lin Han, was waving at him. Qin Ye rolled his eyes at Lin Han, before taking his seat at a nearby empty spot.

    ¡°How do you do, Mr Tee?¡± There was a man in his forties seated just adjacent to him. The man looked very refined. He wore a thick pair of sses and a matching Chinese tunic. Yet despite that, the energy surrounding his body was hardly any weaker than Qin Ye. With a faint smile, the man stretched out his hand, ¡°I¡¯m Zhao Hailong, a rogue cultivator. Please take care of me in future.¡±

    Qin Ye nearly vomited blood in his heart. What do you mean Mr Tee?! Can I ever shrug off this humiliation?!

    Gnashing his teeth, Qin Ye fervently suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, shook Zhao Hailong¡¯s hand and revealed a contrived smile on his face, ¡°Pleased to meet you. S9527, Qin Ye.¡±

    S¡­ The middle-aged man furrowed his brows. He was clearly taken aback.

    That¡¯s not right¡­ I heard many people calling him Teemo that day. It¡¯s understandable if he¡¯s part of the ethnic minority, isn¡¯t it¡­ Or was I really mistaken? Why does he appear as though he minds it?

    Everyone in the lecture hall was chattering with each other. A gathering of cultivators of this scale had practically never happened before. All who had broken through the bottleneck and be Hunter-ss experts would be fully aware that it was useless to hide behind closed doors and slog away at their cultivation. Instead, the best means of progress was to draw on each others¡¯ strengths to supplement their own weaknesses.

    ¡°Silence.¡± 9.00 a.m. sharp. A single word filled with gusto was all it took to silence the entire lecture hall.

    Two figures stood up from the front row and made their way to the podium.

    One was an old man with a full head of white hair. He wore a ck chinese buttoned jacket embroidered with intricate patterns, and he looked iparably ordinary.

    The other man appeared to be in his sixties. He appeared almost like a deity, skinny and withered, replete with a long white beard. He was dressed in a long white robe, the hem of which was embroidered with lush bamboo trees on rolling green mountains. It was ratherpelling.

    However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t have the slightest intention to underestimate them.

    Despite their unassuming appearances, the two old men emitted true energy that flowed like a great river.

    Hellguard-ss experts!

    ¡°Let me make some introductions. I¡¯m Xu Anguo, the twenty-third generation head of the Central Cathay Alliance of Cultivators. Thanks to all of your faith and trust in me, I¡¯ve been granted the honour of being appointed the principal of the First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly realized his mistake in not having taken his seat beside the burly buffoon Lin Han.

    He knew far too little about the world of cultivators in the mortal realm, and he couldn¡¯t bring himself to ask these things of a person with whom he had barely even met.

    The white-bearded old man smiled and continued, ¡°I¡¯m Li Tao. I used to work as a director of the ¡®Auspicious Omens¡¯ website. You can say that I had single handedly built that website into what it is today. I¡¯ve never taken advantage of others for my own personal gain. I, too, am honoured to be the vice principal.¡±

    Qin Ye was finally unable to hold back any longer, and he coughed lightly and asked Zhao Hailong with a hushed voice, ¡°Fellow Taoist Zhao, who are they?¡±

    Zhao Hailong gave Qin Ye a look of surprise. But he then quickly noticed Qin Ye¡¯s age and nodded his head, ¡°Tee... Mr Qin, you must have just joined the Special Investigations Department, haven¡¯t you? Some of us rogue cultivators are scattered across thends, and we¡¯re naturally not as well informed about matters pertaining to the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    So who in the world is Tee Mr Qin? And you don¡¯t even y LOL, so why would the name Teemo leave such a huge impression on you to begin with?!

    Zhao Hailong was naturally oblivious to theints on Qin Ye¡¯s heart, and he continued exining cidly, ¡°It¡¯s hard to be a rogue cultivator. Some of us can¡¯t even figure out a way to get started on the path of cultivation. The Central Cathay Alliance of Cultivators was founded by a group of rogue cultivators in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, rogue cultivators have historically always possessed a lower realm of cultivation than the rest of the cultivators, so they¡¯ve never been afforded much right to make their voice heard. Put bluntly, you can consider the alliance a gathering ofmiserating rogue cultivators.¡±

    Qin Ye was confused, ¡°So¡­¡±

    ¡°So how is Old Man Xu qualified to be elected as the principal?¡± Zhao Hailong smiled faintly, ¡°That¡¯s right. Rogue cultivators aren¡¯t strong. But Old Man Zhao began to make waves ever since the founding days of our nation when he broke through and became a Hellguard-ss expert. That was when the rtively unknown Central Cathay Alliance of Cultivators shot to fame.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s even more astounding is his business acumen and handling of interpersonal rtionships. Money and power will help you in any upation. Within the span of a few decades, the Central Cathay Alliance of Cultivators grew to be the number one alliance across all six provinces in central Cathay, beating even several famous temples, sects and other Taoist institutions.¡±

    Qin Ye finally understood everything.

    One need not possess an incredibly strong cultivation in order to be apetent principal.

    However, one has to be a good person, be able to canvass for sponsorship and support, and vie for resources.

    Compared with other cultivators who only knew to bury their heads deep in the troughs of their own paths of cultivation, Xu Anguo¡¯s resume was simply outstanding, to say the least. He deserved every bit of his position as principal.

    ¡°Then¡­ what about the Auspicious Omens website?¡±

 Chapter 90: Instructorsâ€™ Training (2)

    <h4>Chapter 90: Instructors'' Training (2)</h4>

    ¡°Li Tao¡¯s rise to prominence is even more well known.¡± Zhao Hailong was evidently pleased to be establishing a rtionship with an S-ss cultivator who was ostensibly younger than twenty years old.

    He was a B-ss cultivator, and he had struggled hard in order to break through the bottleneck and be a Hunter-ss expert. There was no one to seed him in his family. His interactions today with Qin Ye would pave the way for their future conversations. In turn, that might possibly lead to a deepening of their rtionship in future.

    Unless he¡¯s gued by poor, dumb luck, there¡¯s no doubt Qin Ye would be a Hellguard-ss expert in the time toe.

    Hellguard-ss! Even if he encountered a provincial governor, they would practically carry the same level of authority!

    Therefore, he exined the situation carefully, ¡°In the 90¡¯s, when the country first gained ess to the inte, the flow of information was still incredibly difficult. That triggered Old Man Li¡¯s founding of this website.¡±

    ¡°Even the present day ¡®y¡¯ app that everyone uses borrows the structure and ideas of the Auspicious Omens website. It may not sound like much to you, but¡­ in all honesty, had you lived through that era, you would appreciate how amazing and famous the Auspicious Omens website was among the cultivation world back then.¡±

    ¡°You might even describe it as the promisednd in the hearts of all cultivators! The fact that they were able to invite such an esteemed person to serve as the vice president speaks volumes about the effort that the academy has put into its management.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded thoughtfully.

    Back at the front of the lecture hall, Xu Anguo and Li Tao had finallypleted their brief introductions and acknowledgments, and their expressions grew stern. Xu Anguo took a step forward and spoke, ¡°Today¡¯s faculty meeting, and the uing instructors¡¯ training serves to tackle a crucial issue.¡±

    He swept his gaze around the entire hall, ¡°All of us here are Hunter-ss experts. As soon as we step out of this lecture hall, 70% of all cultivators in the world would have to pay their respects to us and acknowledge us as seniors. We even hold the authority to speak on a level ying field with the mayors, bookkeepers and other governors or leaders across thends. But¡­ let me ask everyone here - do you have any experience in teaching at all?¡±

    He looked around, and his gazended on Qin Ye. Eh? This kid looks familiar.

    ¡°You, Instructor Teemo, why don¡¯t you let us have your response.¡±

    ¡°Ah-hahahaha!!!¡± Lin Han burst out in unbridledughter from the back of the lecture hall. At the front of the lecture hall, Zhou Xianlong exploded with rage. These were his subordinates¡­ What insolence!

    Then, with a snort and a quick flick of his finger, Lin Han suddenly grew taciturn.

    Qin Ye stood up in frustration and embarrassment. Fine¡­ alright! I¡¯m Teemo! I only know how to grow mushrooms! Are you guys happy now?!

    He was seated in the middle of the hall, and he could see some of the thirty or forty year old instructors seated in the rows in front of him fervently suppressing their trembling shoulders as they fought to stifle theirughter.

    ¡°No!¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and supplemented with gusto, ¡°I only know how to grow mushrooms!¡±

    He had practically given up.

    ¡°Hahahaha!!¡± Several instructors seated in the front row immediately exploded inughter. Even though Lin Han had been muted, he continued to hammer the table in front of him as he fought back the urge to join in the fray.

    ¡°Silence!!¡± Zhou Xianlong couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. With a loud bellow, the entire hall was silenced once more.

    Li Tao continued in dismay, ¡°Everyone, we¡¯re going to be colleagues in future. The names of cultivators aren¡¯t important at all. Please mind your manners.¡±

    ¡°Pfft¡­¡± A second wave of stifled sounds swept throughout the lecture hall like a gentle Yin breeze.

    Having detected the telling signs of a huge misunderstanding, Xu Anguo signalled to Qin Ye, ¡°Take a seat.¡±

    Qin Ye sat down angrily and cast a sinister look at the people who wereughing. If I¡¯m put in a spot, I¡¯m not going to let you guys have it easy either! Old man Zhou has already disyed his authority! How dare you stillugh like that?

    Xu Anguo continued, ¡°That¡¯s right. None of us have any experience in teaching. However, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that the first batch of students number in the region of 1,500, all of whom have been hand picked or selected by famous ns, sects, alliances across the various provinces, cities and counties.¡±

    ¡°Whether the First Academy of Cultivators can produce results and carve out a name for itself depends entirely on all of you instructors seated right here. Yes, the ones who are enrolling in the academy may not be elites, because their ns, sects and alliances may have their reservations as well. Therefore, we absolutely have to do our best! Even if they¡¯re not elites, we will make elites out of them! That¡¯s the only way to ensure that the next batch of students will be the true geniuses of every cultivation organization out there. But we don¡¯t even meet the most basic of qualifications right now!¡±

    ¡°You there - the one who¡¯s beenughing the loudest.¡± Li Tao pointed at Lin Han, ¡°Let me ask you something. What would you do if one of the cultivators under your charge is disobedient?¡±

    ¡°Beat him up!¡± Lin Han¡¯s response was as straightforward as ever. Yet before he could finish speaking, his entire body flew up, mmed back into the wall behind, and he copsed to the ground like a ragdoll.

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s face was pale from his seething rage.

    However, Li Tao was hardly afraid of Zhou Xianlong. His seniority and reputation gave him sufficient security to speak his mind, ¡°See, even Deputy Chief Investigator Zhou, who concurrently holds the position of Head of Faculty Zhou, isn¡¯t setting a good example for all of us. Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re a school. The thing that is of the utmost importance in every school is the rtionship between students and teachers. Cultivation is secondary to that.¡±

    ¡°Teaching requires specific pedagogies. As everyone can tell, the atmosphere today is undisciplined and disorganized. Sure, as cultivators, you take responsibility for yourck of discipline andck of organization. But this ispletely uneptable in a school!¡±

    Xu Anguo abruptly mmed the lectern in front of him and bellowed, ¡°What we¡¯re going to face in future might well be legions of Yin spirits! We¡¯re talking about a war against theherworld! This isn¡¯t some private dispute orpetition between individual cultivators anymore! What we need is discipline! What we need is a system! Professionalism! This is why each and every major sect and alliance out there is willing to openly share their treasured, hidden arts with us!¡±

    ¡°Old Man Li and I have been nning the establishment of the Academy of Cultivators for decades now. We¡¯ve discussed matters until our saliva has even run dry! We, in our capacity as principals, urge all whock discipline and refuse to treat this academy as a school to leave of your own volition, regardless of what department you¡¯re in! Remember, no matter how amazing you have been or what kind of reputation you have out there, you would do wise to humble yourselves in this academy!¡±

    Pin-drop silence.

    Nobody had expected Xu Anguo to speak to them in such a harsh manner.

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s lips parted slightly. He suddenly understood why he hadn¡¯t been made the principal of the Academy of Cultivators despite his outstanding level of cultivation.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been rude.¡± He stood up and made a sincere fist-and-palm salute to Xu Anguo and Li Tao, and then the rest of the audience, before taking his seat once more.

    Everyone looked iparably serious right now. Qin Ye was the same. He stared at the two men standing in the front of the hall with a flickering gaze.

    These two old men¡­

    Please die soon¡­ No, don¡¯t¡­ Please wait until I restore Hell before dying¡­

    I¡¯m staking my im on the souls of these two old men!

    Xu Anguo returned the gesture to Zhou Xianlong, before addressing the audience with a softened voice once more, ¡°So, this instructors¡¯ training is of the utmost importance. I don¡¯t want to see any new students being involved in an ident or a situation that should otherwise have been avoided. Therefore, Old Man Li and I havee up with some rules and regtions. There¡¯s still two months¡¯ time before the end of the winter break. Everyone will have some time to go through these rules.¡±

    Li Tao opened a dossier and began to read, ¡°Number one. All students, instructors, and professors are free to ept and take on assignments of their own. The academy¡¯s External Affairs Department shall handle all matters pertaining to assignments and missions, includingbing through all that are avable and carefully hand picking the most suitable ones. Eachpleted assignment will earn students ten credits and their instructor five qualification points.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate the allocation of points. Let me put it this way - those who are able to make a name for themselves in the First Academy of Cultivators would definitely be a coveted existence as soon as they leave this ce. Each student will be given one hundred credits. As soon as the number of credits fall below sixty, the student will be expelled at the end of the corresponding semester. And if the number of students expelled under the charge of any instructor exceeds two, that instructor will be cordially asked to resign as well.¡±

    ¡°It would mean that you¡¯re not suitable to be an instructor.¡± Xu Anguo added cidly.

    Li Tao continued reading, ¡°Number Two. Given the unique nature of the First Academy of Cultivators, we shall be teaching our students in ordance with their individual aptitudes. The five major faculties are the Faculty of Underworldly Craftsmen, the Faculty of Science and Research, the Faculty of Manufacturing, the Faculty of Theory, and the Faculty of Combat.¡±

    He raised his head and continued, ¡°I¡¯ve gone through each and every one of your resumes, and each of you have your strengths and weaknesses. Some are adept inbat, while some are good in theorizing, and so on. We¡¯ll allocate our resources in ordance with your areas of specialization as well. Pleaseply with our arrangements.¡±

    ¡°Additionally¡­¡± He paused for a moment, ¡°There will be a friendlypetition among the instructors of the Faculty of Underworldly Craftsmen, the Faculty of Science and Research, and the Faculty of Combat on New Year¡¯s Day. The disciplines taught by each of these three faculties are built on a foundation ofbat experience. The number of students allocated to each instructor will depend on the ranking of their representatives during this friendlypetition. As for the affairs of each individual faculty, I¡¯ll arrange for the student union of Insignia University to distribute the relevant information packages to each of you separatelyter on.¡±

    There¡¯s still a need for a sparring match?

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. He had never sparred with a human being before, but he didn¡¯t think it was going to be much of an issue.

    How could they possibly be a match for me? Just look at how much they struggled against those Hunter-ss ghosts earlier¡­ To think that they¡¯re even considered S-ss agents. I wonder what rank they¡¯ll be able to attain in the uingpetition.

    They were considered one of the younger few around. There were approximately forty to fifty Hunter-ss experts in the lecture hall today. There was no doubt that each of them naturally possessed a wealth ofbat experience under their belts.

    ¡°Number three. Unlike other universities, it will take students two years to graduate from the First Academy of Cultivators, rather than the usual four.¡±

    ¡°Every six-month semester is split into two parts. The first two and a half months will be dedicated to theoretical studies, and thetter three and a half months will be dedicated towards practical experience and contact theory. We¡¯ll have to trouble the instructors of the Faculty of Combat to work harder in this regard. After all¡­ even if one specializes in the Faculty of Manufacturing or the Faculty of Theory, we don¡¯t need students who arepletely incapable of self-preservation either.¡±

    ¡°Ghosts possess a thousand and one ways of killing human beings. If these students don¡¯t have a single means of self-preservation, and instead need to rely on others for protection, they would be a deadweight that greatly reduces the fighting ability of the mortal realm. But, that said, we will still lower the assessment standards for students of the Faculty of Manufacturing and the Faculty of Theory ordingly.¡±

    ¡°Number four¡­¡± ¡°Number five¡­¡±

    One by one, he continued to read out the rules and regtions. There were eight in all. Qin Ye listened with great interest, until¡­ thest one made him scrunch up his face with a bitter expression.

    ¡°Number eight. Once the ranking has been determined on New Year¡¯s Day, we will make arrangements for all instructors to enter Insignia University¡¯s main campus located at Mount Tai City for one and a half months. During this period of time, you will be preparing at least two and a half months¡¯ worth of lesson ns to be checked by the relevant faculty heads.¡±

    We still need a lesson n?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was incredibly bitter.

    Nobody was smiling by the end of the recitation of the rules and regtions. Everyone had finally realized that the First Academy of Cultivators waspletely different from what they had expected.

    Quit?

    Are you kidding? Even Zhou Xianlong, who had earlier admitted his fault, is still here. Wouldn¡¯t resigning here and now be tantamount to giving a Judge-ss expert a tight p across the face?

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s all for now. You¡¯re dismissed. Ah, that¡¯s right. Please remember to select your apartments. There are currently a lot of rooms avable across all of Insignia University. You¡¯ll just need to take your pick and inform us. There¡¯s no need to specially register it.¡±

    With that, everyone began to leave the lecture hall, wondering in their minds how they were going to go about preparing the first ever lesson n in their lives.

    Qin Ye took a stroll through the picturesque campus with a heavy heart and a multitude of things on his mind, not realizing that he was subconsciously making his way towards the building he once lodged at.

    ¡°Are you feeling unhappy?¡± Arthis muttered.

    ¡°How could I be happy? I don¡¯t even know how to teach despite having lived for such a long time. I¡¯d even gone through college five or six times now.¡± Qin Ye shook his head.

    Just as he arrived at the front of the building, a voice suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

    ¡°Godfather, you¡¯ve finally arrived.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ Startled, Qin Ye shot an angry re at the source of the voice, only to see Zhang Linhua smiling back at him. He was even pushing a small cart of items.

    ¡°I knew that things might be a little bit inconvenient for Godfather, so I¡¯ve taken the liberty to purchase some things for you. Look, these are Ordos cashmereforters. The weather¡¯s getting cold. You wouldn¡¯t want to catch a chill.¡± It was almost as though Zhang Linhua had lost his memory. His smile was bright and cheery as he gestured towards theforter in the cart.

    Qin Ye felt somewhat threatened. Such a philosophical tone of voice¡­ Could it be¡­ that my charm has already grown to such an extent¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s a nket - also cashmere, a television,puter, wireless devices, and so on. I¡¯ve got everything taken care of. You can move into any of the apartments here right now, if you like. Which apartment would you prefer, Godfather? Shall I help you move in?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ you¡­¡± Qin Ye pointed at the pile of things in front of Zhang Linhua in surprise, and it was only then that he recalled one of the principals mentioning that a part of Insignia University¡¯s student union had remained behind to hold down the fort for the moment.

    Zhang Linhua blinked his eyes, and then suddenly smiled, ¡°That¡¯s right, Godfather must be unfamiliar with the Insignia University¡­ no, the First Academy of Cultivators, right? But that¡¯s fine. I¡¯m familiar with this ce. Shall I show you around the dorms? I guarantee that I¡¯ll be able to pick out the best south-facing apartment in the best location with all the necessary amenities around!¡±

 Chapter 91: Itâ€™s... Unclean Here

    <h4>Chapter 91: It''s... Unclean Here</h4>

    Qin Ye had just recalled the begrudging expression on Zhang Linhua¡¯s face when his father Zhang Baoguo had asked him to pay his respect to his godfather just a little while ago.

    Zhang Linhua had subsequently put him in the spot.

    He had seen too many of Zhang Linhua¡¯s type. Their impersonal interactions hadn¡¯t extended much beyond that of mutual benefit. And there were a number of incidents that urred immediately thereafter to boot. He had thus already cast their earlier interactions to the back of his mind.

    But¡­

    He sized up Zhang Linhua - Is he here to make amends?

    Is he going with the flow? I guess he has learnt a thing or two from his father¡¯s political assignments. But it¡¯s a pity that he¡¯s still a little bitcking in some ways. I guess Old Zhang needs to do a better job raising his kid¡­

    The fact that Qin Ye had remained silent caused Zhang Linhua to grow anxious. His heart thumped wildly under the cover of his radiant smile.

    He knew full well what he had done.

    It might have been a small thing to Qin Ye, but it was nevertheless something huge to him.

    ¡°Godfather.¡± He no longer had any qualms addressing someone ostensibly younger than him as godfather. In fact, he even did his best to maintain the radiant smile on his face, ¡°Why don¡¯t we¡­ take a walk?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled. He was toozy to put on a show with Zhang Linhua, so he chose to show his hand instead, ¡°Put away your tricks. I¡¯ve seen my fair share of these in my lifetime. Your acting skills are still somewhatcking.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    Qin Ye continued cidly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Old Zhang and I are buddies for life. Truth be told, I¡¯d already forgotten about that incident had you not reminded me about it. On ount for Old Zhang, I¡¯ll forgive you this once. But¡­¡±

    He gazed deeply into Zhang Linhua¡¯s eyes, ¡°If there¡¯s a next time, I won¡¯t give you any more face, even on ount of Old Zhang.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Zhang Linhua was a bright man. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have made it to the student union in the first ce. He knew that Qin Ye had revealed all of his cards at once, and all he had to do was to tolerate and bear with it. In any event, it was clear that Qin Ye wasn¡¯t giving him any grounds for rebuttal.

    ¡°Take me around.¡± Qin Ye finally spoke up. Zhang Linhua immediately pushed the cart in front of him and exined, ¡°Godfather, the Flowing Courts are over there¡­¡±

    ¡°One other thing, don¡¯t call me godfather anymore.¡± Qin Ye added calmly.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You can just call me senior.¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°The term ¡®godfather¡¯ isn¡¯t something to be used loosely.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, there¡¯s just no way of salvaging the opportunity once it has passed.¡±

    Zhang Linhua had the sudden urge to give himself two tight ps across the cheeks!

    Why was I so stupid in the past?!

    Even if you were displeased about having to address him as godfather, you didn¡¯t have to intentionally trip him up afterwards! He¡¯s a good friend of your dad¡¯s after all! Why were you so rash back then?

    Unfortunately, there was no use crying over spilt milk. What¡¯s done is done.

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± He took a deep breath, and the smile on his face became far more sincere and natural, ¡°Senior Qin, the Flowing Courts are the best dorms in the entire Insignia University. Back then, it used to be upied by a group of old professors. The school had only slightly over a dozen professors thest time. I¡¯ve taken a look at the list of instructors this time. There¡¯s no way all of them would be able to fit into these dorms. Why don¡¯t we¡­ go in and take a look around?¡±

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, ¡°How about the building I¡¯ve lived in before¡­¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Linhua sighed with a bitter smile, ¡°Senior Qin, I was wrong back then. I¡¯m guilty as charged.¡±

    Forthright.

    Qin Ye looked at him with some measure of surprise. By taking a step back, this kid has actually made progress. He¡¯s got his father¡¯s talent for politics.

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that. I want an apartment that is near the dorm I used to live in. Is there one that is suitable?¡±

    ¡°But there¡­¡± Zhang Linhua¡¯s face turned pale. Several secondster, he muttered in a hushed voice ¡°Senior Qin, it¡¯s¡­ unclean there.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s impossible to still find an unclean location across the entire City of Salvation right now.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Zhang Linhua grew somewhat anxious. Having made a mistake once, he simply couldn¡¯t afford to make a mistake the second time. His voice deepened, ¡°There¡¯s nobody in Insignia University now. The curfew has also been lifted. The only reason why we¡¯re staying behind in the campus grounds is because the campus is being repurposed for the First Academy of Cultivator¡¯s use, and they still require the assistance of students familiar with this ce. So we¡¯ve been particrly busy during this period of time, and we¡¯ve been working overtime until eleven or twelve at night everyday.¡±

    ¡°And the building that you¡¯ve been staying at before¡­ It was precisely that night that I noticed¡­ something unclean there. I haven¡¯t told anyone else. After all, I¡¯ve only seen it once.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered, and his expression grew serious.

    Many things had changed ever since that single fateful night.

    Qin Ye postted that it must have been a result of the powerful fluctuations of Yin energy that night that had affected the terrifying thirty million Yin existence. And it was precisely because that entity was rmed that¡­ it could have in turn triggered some other changes that were still unknown to everyone.

    ¡°Find me a suitable apartment nearby and help me move my stuff in. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    Zhang Linhua didn¡¯t have any other objections. He left pushing the cart, while Qin Ye slowly made his way back to the dormitories he had once stayed at before.

    ¡°You¡­ are you thinking of heading down to Cao Youdao¡¯sir to have a look around?¡± Arthis whispered.

    She could feel waves of Hellguard-ss true energy sweeping across the entire campus ground from time to time. Even though she was unfamiliar with the various cultivation systems in the mortal realm, she nevertheless knew that Hellguard-ss experts would develop a keen sense akin to a form of spiritual consciousness that could rece their eyes. Thus, she was cautious not to move too brazenly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. There¡¯s the ranking battle on New Year¡¯s Day, and then I¡¯ll have to head straight into Mount Tai City immediately thereafter. There¡¯s no time left.¡± Qin Ye whispered back, ¡°Let¡¯s secure the contingency first. If there¡¯s really no way of breaking into the ranks of the SRC¡­ we¡¯ll fall back on the next best option.¡±

    Arthis sighed, evidently filled with reluctance.

    A recognizable treasure was ced right in front of their very eyes, yet they were only allowed to pick up the gleaming fish¡¯s eye next to it.

    Who wouldn¡¯t feel reluctant under such circumstances?

    ¡°Furthermore¡­¡± Qin Ye paused as he pointed to a freshly constructed area, ¡°Do you see that over there?¡±

    It was a cemetery.

    It was built in the western style, possibly because it took up less space. Blocks of tombstones stood silently in the ground, and there was a three meter tall structure erected in the center of the entire grounds. A bouquet of white flowers was ced in front of each tombstone.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve taken a quick look earlier.¡± Qin Ye whispered ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a cemetery erected in honour of all the cultivators who had given up their lives that night.¡±

    ¡°Their names are engraved on the monument over there.¡±

    Without waiting for Arthis¡¯ response, he chuckled bitterly, ¡°I know, as a Judge who had previously ruled over the Province of the Great Heavens, you would probablybel this as useless sentiments, wouldn¡¯t you? But¡­ it doesn¡¯t change the fact that these people have perished because of me.¡±

    ¡°I will never tell anyone about this. And I¡¯ll never tell anyone where Cao Youdao had perished, or who had killed him. But¡­¡±

    ¡°Humans¡­¡± His gaze grew somewhat distant and empty, ¡°Are still creatures of conscience.¡±

    ¡°Otherwise, after decades of existence, I¡¯d no longer be the same person I currently am¡­¡±

    Arthis grew taciturn. After a long pause, she finally responded, ¡°So, you¡¯re thinking of bringing something back from Cao Youdao¡¯sir to pay your respects at the cemetery?¡±

    Qin Ye snorted coldly, ¡°Thousands of people died that night because of him. Since he¡¯d once been an Emissary of Hell, there¡¯s nothing wrong in using his ashes to pay respects to the dead.¡±

    Arthis nodded, ¡°Indeed, there¡¯s nothing wrong.¡±

    ¡°Having betrayed the creed that Yin and Yang should never cross paths on the pretext that he was carrying out his duty as an Emissary of Hell, he absolutely deserves to die.¡±

    Nobody said a single word after that. Qin Ye slowly walked back to his previous dormitory. As soon as he arrived at his room, the first thing he looked at was the cab.

    There used to be three humanoid paper effigies here for the three spirits which he hadn¡¯t taken with him.

    They ought to be around. It might be best to ask them about the current situation.

    But¡­ nothing!

    ¡°Have they been taken away by someone?¡± He furrowed his brows and immediately shook his head, ¡°No¡­ this ce¡­ is the same as the fourth hunting zone. I can¡¯t feel a single shred of Yin energy!¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡± Arthis confirmed, ¡°Even if the City of Salvation has be a green zone, it doesn¡¯t mean that it has bepletely devoid of Yin energy altogether. The only thing the green zone signifies is safety. However, the fact remains that countless Yin spirits are still floating about at every corner of Cathay right now. There¡¯s no reason why you wouldn¡¯t be able to detect a single shred of Yin energy!¡±

    ¡°Is there really something wrong?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed. He patted the dust off the nket andid down casually.

    He, too, would like to see who would dare cause trouble at the stronghold of Cathay¡¯s cultivators.

    Are they tired of living?

    Time trickled by slowly. Qin Ye woke up at noon to have a meal, and then slept straight through the afternoon.

    By the time he woke up again, it was already dusk.

    Qin Ye looked at his phone. 6.30 p.m.

    The public broadcast of announcements were no longer ying in the City of Salvation, and there was a peculiar silence in its absence.

    The entire campus was nowpletely empty. The only thing that remained was the rustling of leaves with the gentle evening breeze.

    Yawning, Qin Ye walked to the bathroom.

    The white fluorescent lights lit up the bathroom brightly. These were old dormitories, and the bathrooms sported a row of mirrors that had been nailed to the white powder-coated walls. The mirrors were covered with splotches of stains from the remnants of toothpaste froth and facial foam. The bathroom smelled strongly of the odor of men.

    A long sink that can rarely be seen these days sat approximately one meter from the floor. This was where the students would wash their faces, rinse their mouths and even ce their basins. There was a row of blue coloured taps lined across the top of the long sink.

    It was a typical men''s bathroom.

    Somewhat sleepy, he took a look at himself in the mirror, and noticed in his peripheral vision that the rest of the bathroom waspletely empty. Thus, he lowered his head to the sink and began to wash his face.

    Whoosh¡­ As the cold water sshed across his face, he felt somewhat refreshed and reinvigorated. But just as he looked up once more at the mirror¡­ he noticed that apart from his own reflection, there was a coloured humanoid paper effigy standing right behind him!

    And it looked like it had been standing there all this while, gazing icily at Qin Ye.

    Shk! Without warning, the paper effigy plunged the pair of sharp scissors in its hand straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s carotid artery. Qin Ye chuckled coldly and kicked the humanoid paper effigy away. Then, before it could even mber up to its feet, a pale bone knife was already resting on the forehead of the paper effigy.

    ¡°You¡­ how¡­¡± The paper effigy¡¯s hoarse voice wasced with some measure of bloodthirstiness.

    ¡°How did I know that someone else was already here?¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly as he pointed to the surroundings, ¡°This is an old-school dormitory.¡±

    ¡°There aren¡¯t sensor-operated, automatic lights.¡±

    ¡°These are manual, switch-operated lights. There¡¯s no way the bathroom would still have its lights on after we¡¯ve been gone for so many days.¡± He brought the knife over to the humanoid paper effigy¡¯s jaw, ¡°I¡¯d brought you guys these paper effigies. I¡¯d killed Cao Youdao, and I¡¯d taken revenge for you guys. And here I was, wondering just where you guys had done¡­ Is this how you¡¯re going to repay me?¡±

    ¡°Tell me. Why on earth can¡¯t I detect the Yin energy emanating from your body? And who gave you the gall to make a move against an Emissary of Hell?¡±

    It appeared almost as thought the humanoid paper effigy had lost its memories. A look of resentment surfaced on his twisted facial features. Suddenly, the paper effigy shrieked, and a green me emerged from its feet, incinerating it and reducing it to ashes in an instant.

    Thud¡­ Just then, a dull sound of somethingnding on the ground echoed from the other end of the corridor outside.

    Bzzt¡­ bzzt¡­ The lights flickered, and suddenly went out.

    Thud¡­ thud, thud!

    The dull sound was hardly consistent, and it sounded just like an old man walking along the corridor with the aid of crutches.

    A lonely campus sitting under the scarlet skies of dusk. The dormitories werepletely empty, and yet something¡­ something that seemed to have its Yin energy obfuscated from all senses, was presently approaching the bathroom!

    It was almost¡­ a resurgence of the fourth hunting zone!

 Chapter 92: A Glimmer of Hope (1)

    <h4>Chapter 92: A Glimmer of Hope (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye rested his saber on his shoulder and nced coldly at the corridor outside that was covered in dark shadows.

    Thud¡­ thud¡­ The sound reverberated through the empty dormitory building as it rhythmically drew closer and closer towards him. One minuteter, a pale handnded on the door with a soft smack.

    ¡°Sss¡­ sss sss¡­¡± There was a series of short and truncated goosebumps-inducing sounds, almost as though someone were licking the gray matter of a person¡¯s brain with his scarlet tongue.

    And then, there was an abrupt silence. Qin Ye tightened his grip on his saber.

    In the very next second, amidst the dead silence, a huge head peeked out from the corner of the wall outside.

    It was a meterrge head of a humanoid paper effigy! The paintwork on the effigy was quite poorly done, and its facial features were hardly straight or proportionate for that matter. The miserable, twisted face appeared all the more creepy under the eerie re of the setting sun.

    The humanoid paper effigy wore a tall white hat over its head. Its eyes were bloodshot, and its neck extended from the corridor as though it were a snake. Dishevelled human hair hung loosely underneath its tall white hat. At the same time, its nose continued to twitch and sniffle as though it were a vicious, rabid dog. And then, finally, it turned its pair of bloodshot eyes towards the bathroom.

    The final rays of sunlight for the day cast a dappled shadow across the bathroom. As the two pairs of eyes met, Qin Ye waved genially to the paper effigy, ¡°Hi.¡± (TL: This was said in english.)

    ¡°Sss!!!¡± The humanoid paper effigy let out a gut-wrenching scream. Like a shark that had seen blood, its haphazardly drawn lips tore open to its ears, extending as wide as the door to the bathroom and revealing rows after rows of razor-sharp teeth replete with a snake-like tongue.

    Yet before it could even scream, a cold gleam of de light shone brightly.

    Shk¡­ The dazzling saber drew a beautiful crescent across the air akin to a ssh of bright moonbeam across the dark night sky. A muffled sound echoed into the surroundings. Before the humanoid paper effigy could even react to the situation, the cold glimmer of de light had already cleaved a half-meter wide gash across its head, igniting the rest of its body with a jade-greenherfire.

    A single strike was all it took to turn the humanoid paper effigy¡¯s menacing cries to that of mournful groans. The massive head immediately shrank back into the corridor, and Qin Ye dashed out, giving chase. As soon as he stepped into the corridor, Qin Ye finally saw the ghastly being¡¯s appearances in full.

    It was huge.

    If it stood straight, its body would be approximately five to six meters tall. But right now, the humanoid paper effigy had shrunk its body into a corner of the rtively small corridor, and it simply looked like an incredibly bizarre-looking pile of discarded paper.

    The humanoid paper effigy¡¯s body waspletely white in colour, and it wore clothes that had also been cut out of paper. Hair hung over its body in a disheveled fashion, while its feet stood on half-meter tall stilts. The terrifying thuds earlier had been caused by the striking of the stilts on the ground.

    Ity on the ground like a hungry wolf with a twisted stance. What would otherwise have been a ridiculous expression on its face as a result of the poorly drawn features now appeared iparably hideous and vicious. As soon as Qin Ye stepped out onto the corridor, the small mountain of paper rushed straight towards him!

    ¡°Blood food¡­ fresh blood food!! Sss!!!¡±

    Thud thud thud! Wild thuds echoed throughout the corridor as its stilts struck the ground. The decrepit narrow corridor waspletely empty and cold, and the approach of the massive flurry of paper made it impossible for Qin Ye to retreat at all.

    ¡°Hunter-ss?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed coldly, ¡°The City of Salvation is really a thriving ce, isn¡¯t it¡­ I¡¯ve heard that other cities have only two or three Hunter-ss ghosts at best, yet they¡¯re actually appearing in groups in the City of Salvation? And I can¡¯t even detect their Yin energy to boot¡­ tsk tsk tsk¡­¡±

    He slowly drew his saber, ¡°Is this the might of the Exalted Father?¡±

    Boom!!!

    As hisst word fell, the hilt of the demonhead saber exploded with a ragingherfire that was several times fiercer than ever before! In the very next moment, a towering gleam of de light burst forth and filled the entire corridor!

    Qin Ye¡¯s attack was as tall as the corridor itself. The ground immediately blossomed with a web of cracks that extended everywhere. When the de light finally dissipated at the end of the corridor, everything was silent once again.

    Clink¡­ Qin Ye sheathed his saber once more. The humanoid paper effigy was frozen in hisst posture, and it was no more than half a meter away from where Qin Ye stood. Its grisly ck nails were even merely centimeters away from Qin Ye¡¯s face.

    But it wasn¡¯t able to move a single inch forward.

    ¡°You¡­ you¡­¡± It spat out two words with great difficulty before a thin green me appeared straight down the middle of its body, splitting the humanoid paper effigy in two halves and before quickly reducing it to ashes.

    A single sh was all it took to cleave the Hunter-ss ghost into two!

    Emissaries of Hell were peerless against evil ghosts of the same rank as they were!

    Qin Ye remained motionless.

    He looked silently at the pile of ash on the ground. After a long time, he finally added, ¡°There¡¯s one more.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d left behind three humanoid paper effigies back then. Two of them have experienced a mutation, so I can¡¯t imagine thest one being an exception either. But the crux of the matter is¡­¡± He furrowed his brows deeply, ¡°What caused their mutation?¡±

    ¡°And these mutations are exactly the same as the ones that we¡¯d seen in the fourth hunting zone. All of them broke through to the Hunter-ss rank in a matter of days, yet not a shred of Yin energy can be detected from their bodies. The mutations from the fourth hunting zone had been caused by the Exalted Father, but what about these ghosts?¡±

    Arthis paused for a moment, and then suddenly flew out, eximing with a slight tremble in their voice, ¡°Are you suggesting¡­ that they¡¯ve been in contact with the Exalted Father as well?!¡±

    Qin Ye drew on the ground with his saber. The implications of these words were just far too immense. It was also a thought that had just struck him.

    ¡°Come¡­ let¡¯s break down the issue properly.¡± His voice burgeoned with excitement. If they coulde to a breakthrough in this regard, then everything would fall into ce, including the revtion of the Exalted Father¡¯s true identity and the establishment of Hell!

    ¡°Firstly, the Exalted Father¡¯s existence causes Yin energy to be undetectable throughout the entire City of Salvation. But it¡¯s only when Yin spiritse into direct contact with the Exalted Father that they would be able to break through to the Hunter-ss rank in a short period of time. This is a distinctive trait of the Exalted Father¡¯s influence.¡±

    Arthis¡¯ voice also grew incredibly grave, ¡°But is it even possible that the three humanoid paper effigies would visit the fourth hunting zone in broad daylight and thereby be affected by the Exalted Father¡¯s energy?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Qin Ye categorically denied the possibility, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that these are earthbound spirits as well!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯sst statement rang in Arthis¡¯ head like the deafening toll of a bell, causing her entire body to tremble with excitement.

    Both of them had a feeling that they were only a door away from discovering the Exalted Father¡¯s true identity this time!

    And they had just inadvertently found the key to this door as well!

    Every train of thought in her mind was nowced with unprecedented rity. Suppressing the roiling emotions in her heart, Arthis chose her words carefully, ¡°Earthbound spirits are tied down to a single location, and they can only move free about within that area. Therefore, there¡¯s simply no way they could have visited the fourth hunting zone during this period of time. In other words¡­ they had made contact with the Exalted Father within these campus grounds!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s chest also heaved and fell heavily. The precious gemstone that they thought was lost to them forever had just been found in a different ce, ¡°So¡­ what ce is there in these campus grounds that could possibly bring us to the Exalted Father¡¯s location?¡±

    Both of them paused for a moment, and then their eyes glowed brightly, and both Qin Ye and the soul sphere shot downstairs in an instant.

    Reception office on the first floor!

    Cao Youdao¡¯sir was located right below.

    This was the only possibility!

    They quickly arrived at the reception office. The old man was no longer manning the station here, and they immediately shot into the room that doubled up as an elevator. As the elevator went down, Qin Ye¡¯s breath trembled slightly, almost as though it had once again detected the breath of Yin energy!

    None of them spoke a single word. There was too much at stake right now. Who exactly was the Exalted Father, and how did he possibly survive Hell¡¯s copse and escape to the mortal realm? The scarlet numbers appeared on the surrounding mirrors once more. -1. -2. ¡­ And when it finally arrived at -6, both man and sphere rushed out of the lift as soon as the doors opened.

    It was still the same long, narrow ancient corridor that they had seen before. The surroundings were carved with the exact same patterns, while themps that lined the sides remained lit.

    Qin Ye was rushing forward when he abruptly paused mid step and ran his finger along the patterns on the wall. Then, he hammered firmly on the wall before Arthis could even chime in, ¡°It¡¯s here¡­ this is definitely the ce!¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember the ancient door at the SRC?¡±

    Arthis immediately recalled it.

    That¡¯s right¡­ we should¡¯ve known earlier. The patterns on SRC¡¯s main door are exactly the same as these ones!

    Cao Youdao¡¯sir was clearly an enormous tomb that had yet to be discovered by humanity.

    This massive tomb was sorge that it stretched across the entire City of Salvation!

    And the Exalted Father must have escaped from theherworld, straight into this ancient tomb!

    The entire path leading into the Orchid Clubhouse was still aplete mess. Everything was covered in dust, and there were still some lights that were flickering dimly. Yet in this world of dark and light, a white figure could be seen crouching in the corner with something sticking out of its mouth as it emitted a soft hissing sound.

    Hearing the noise behind it, it immediately turned its head around, only to be greeted by a long de that was zing with greenherfire.

    ¡°Scram!!¡±

    ¡°Sss!!¡± The final humanoid paper effigy transformed into a wisp of smoke that quickly dissipated into the air. On the other hand, Qin Ye and Arthis quickly ran towards where the humanoid paper effigy had just been at and stared in amazement at what they had just discovered. Both of them looked as though they had just been struck with an epiphany.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed, ¡°I should have thought of this a long time ago¡­¡±

    It was the pit¡­

    It was the pit that had earlier housed Hell¡¯s Records!

    At this moment, a clump of dark corporeal Yin energy was swirling about constantly just underneath the pit, yet unable to breach the surface of the ground.

    There was no golden scale here. There were no obstructions!

    ¡°Wrong¡­ we¡¯ve been wrong the whole time.¡± Arthis trembled with excitement, ¡°I¡¯d earlier thought that Hell¡¯s Records had simply been washed up. But¡­ if the most precious of primordial treasures such as King Yanluo¡¯s Seal would be smashed into smithereens and scattered across the ends of the earth, why didn¡¯t it ur to me that there was simply no way Hell¡¯s Records could naturally be preserved and remainpletely intact?¡±

    ¡°In other words, something else had preserved it and brought it to this ce¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped, ¡°And that thing is none other than the Exalted Father!¡±

    ¡°And this hole.¡± The duo peered into the deep hole which was filled with roiling Yin energy, ¡°Leads to where the Exalted Father is located!¡±

    This was also the ce where the three humanoid paper effigies had fed on the Exalted Father¡¯s Yin energy, resulting in their mutation.

    ¡°Can you guarantee my safety?¡± Qin Ye took a step forward towards the pit. Even though the corporeal Yin energy was unable to breach the surface of the ground, the endlesshergale that was pouring out continued to cause Qin Ye¡¯s clothes to flutter wildly.

    ¡°No.¡± Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°But¡­ I¡¯ll try my best!¡±

    Damn¡­ Qin Ye clutched at his hair. He wouldn¡¯t be able to set his heart at ease until he went down personally to have a look.

    I¡¯ll take a look¡­ just one look! The potential gains far outweigh the risks involved! As long as I can ascertain that there¡¯s no danger, the returns would be hundreds of millions of times more than the investment itself!

    ¡°Having been a coward for so many years now¡­ I¡¯d never thought there woulde a day when I would be taking the initiative to fight¡­¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth, steeled his heart and leapt into the pit.

    The soul sphere turned into a beam of light and shot straight down after him.

    Whoosh¡­ It was pitch-ck in the pit. As far as the eyes could see, the only thing in in sight was the rolling dark clouds everywhere. That said, they could at the same time vaguely make out a cacophony of painful, mournful howlsing from all around them as well.

    Despite all that, Qin Ye focused on peering through the gaps in the clouds to make out what was below in the depths of the pit.

    It got bigger and bigger. The further down he fell into the pit, the wider the space grew! After approximately ten seconds, he could no longer see the walls around him.

    It¡¯s approximately a thousand meters¡­

    Then, Qin Ye heard somethinging from just below him. It was a thunderous snort that rumbled through the dense clouds of Yin energy.

    With every breath it took, the clouds of Yin energy would tremble and contract.

    Qin Ye dared not imagine what kind of entity this was if its breath alone could already shake the heavens and devour the earth!

 Chapter 93: A Glimmer of Hope (2)

    <h4>Chapter 93: A Glimmer of Hope (2)</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye continued to free fall into the seemingly endless cavern below. The further he fell, the lighter his body grew. After falling for more than twenty minutes, he suddenly noticed that¡­ his entire body had be as light as a feather - almost as though he were now able to stand on the roiling Yin energy in the air.

    This isn¡¯t just a feeling¡­

    He tested it out. True enough, he adjusted his form into an upright position, and his body slowly began to float down like a feather.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± Qin Ye was somewhat startled. Having fallen through the air for tens of minutes, the excitement in his heart had already diminished substantially.

    ¡°Limbo.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice wasced with incredulity, ¡°There exists a very small sliver of space between the mortal realm and theherworld called Limbo. It¡¯s a separate realm altogether, but it can also be treated as both a part of theherworld and a part of the mortal realm. For instance, some people may suddenly discover a road or an entrance that had never existed or been marked out on maps by cartographers before. That would be where the gateway to Limbo lies.¡±

    She took a deep breath, ¡°Like I¡¯d previously mentioned, there exists many gateways to Hell in the mortal realm, but most of them will never be discovered by mankind. And the reason for this is that all of the gateways lead to Limbo in some way or another!¡±

    The soul sphere nced vigntly at the surroundings as she continued, ¡°The points of intersection between theherworld and the mortal realm are top secret, even among the upper echelons of Hell. Even I haven¡¯t heard of such a massive gateway like this before.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, and then suddenly blinked his eyes, ¡°What does this mean?¡±

    ¡°What does it mean?¡± Arthis chuckled coldly, ¡°This means, if the Exalted Father had entered this realm intentionally, it could very well be one of Hell¡¯s top officials who had ess to such top secret information! It must be at least of the Abyssal Prefect rank! In other words, it must be part of the inner circle of Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, and the duo grew taciturn. After another ten minutes, he finally came to a halt.

    And without any warning at all.

    He was now in a very strange space. The sky above was white in colour, not borne out of clear skies, but as a result of a pure white sea of mist. The air around him was somewhat inconsonant with Yin energy. A green sea of fog roiled underneath his feet. There was a distinct sensation of stepping onnd, but when he reached out to touch the fog, it didn¡¯t give him the same sensation that solid ground did at all.

    As far as the eyes could see, a number of ck flowers sprouted out of the sea of fog below. The flowers were palm-sized and pure ck in colour. There were fiveyers of petals in total, and it bloomed just like a lotus flower.

    Rolling clouds and roiling fog, and the weightlessness of an immortal.

    ¡°This truly is Limbo. Yang energy exists above, and Yin energy exists below. The flowers are called the Fragrance of Lingering Souls, and they only exist within Limbo itself. I¡¯ve heard that as soon as a soul arrives in Limbo and plucks one of these flowers out of greed, his soul will remain trapped here forever.¡±

    Qin Ye squinted his eyes and looked around him. The rolling ck clouds of Yin energy had dissipatedpletely. For as far as his eyes could see, he could tell that there were countless Yin spirits walking among the fields of ck flowers in a daze.

    There were men, women and children alike, and some looked incredibly ancient, while others were dressed in modern clothes.

    And far in the distance, there was a giant, golden entity.

    Roar¡­ sss¡­ A deafening snoring sound rumbled across thends as the golden entity¡¯s body rose and fell. Each time it did, the entire realm would tremble, expanding and contracting ordingly in tandem with the breaths of the golden entity¡¯s body.

    Whoosh!!!

    Just then, a terrifyingly forceful gale threatened to sweep Qin Ye off the ground! By the time he snapped out of his stupor, he had already been pushed back a single step!

    ¡°It¡¯s just a simple breath¡­ and yet even a Soul Hunter was blown off bnce¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped. Arthis continued, ¡°Pluck one of the Fragrance of Lingering Souls. It''s also known as the Anemos Flower. Take a look at the other Yin spirits around - none of them were blown off their feet.¡±

    Qin Ye looked around and realized that it was true.

    ¡°You¡¯re an Emissary of Hell, and Limbo naturally has no authority over you. As long as you¡¯re holding onto an Anemos Flower, you¡¯ll be able to make your way to its side.¡±

    Qin Ye tightened his grip around the demonhead saber, cut the stalk of the flower and carefully picked it up.

    Roar¡­ sss¡­ The flower in his hands shook violently with every breath the golden body took. Qin Ye stood his ground as he watched the sea of Yin energy get blown back, before surging forward as the golden body took its next breath again.

    ¡°How incredibly mighty¡­¡± He clutched tightly at his chest as he forged forward with gritted teeth.

    The distance to cover was at least several thousands of meters. The closer Qin Ye got, the more the expression on his face changed.

    Huge¡­

    It¡¯s far too majestic¡­

    The behemoth in front of his very eyes was at least half of the size of the entire City of Salvation!

    Qin Ye trudged on. Ten minutes, twenty minutes¡­ Just then, as the Yin energy surrounding his feet was swept away with another mighty exhale from the golden body, Qin Ye suddenly eximed, ¡°Arthis¡­ what¡¯s this?¡±

    At some point in time, the ground underneath his feet had already be covered with thin grooves.

    In fact, the grooves were more urately described as crevices.

    And a pure golden liquid flowed slowly through these crevices.

    After looking at it for two seconds, the entire soul sphere began to tremble violently. Arthis quaked with a hoarse voice, ¡°Impossible¡­ this is impossible¡­¡±

    ¡°Bring me closer¡­ Let me have a closer look¡­¡±

    Qin Ye did so ordingly. After ten seconds, the soul sphere floated up and remarked dryly, ¡°This is¡­ blood¡­¡±

    ¡°I see¡­ No wonder I found this shade of gold so familiar¡­ I know exactly who this esteemed character is now¡­¡±

    ¡°Kid¡­ head over there. Let me give you a formal introduction of who this celebrity of Hell is¡­¡±

    They had already covered a great distance so far. After approximately another ten minutes, Qin Ye was finally able to make out the shape of the beast in front of him.

    He didn¡¯t go any closer, because he knew his limits. While they were still a distance away, he could tell that the scales on the massive beast had still been resting in an orderly fashion on its body.

    But now, as soon as he drew close to the massive beast, he could tell that each and every one of its scales¡­ had suddenly stood up.

    It was an instinctive response of a powerful being.

    At this distance, he could already see the distinct ringed patterns on each of the scales.

    ¡°That¡¯s it¡­ That¡¯s really the esteemed entity of Hell¡­¡± Arthis shuddered, ¡°Don¡¯t take another step¡­ don¡¯t ever get a single step closer to it. The instant you do, we¡¯ll immediately be reduced to dust, even if we be ten times stronger than we are right now.¡±

    ¡°Go around the perimeter and take a look¡­ This may be the first divine beast you¡¯ve ever encountered. And it might very well be the only divine beast you¡¯ll ever see in your entire life¡­¡±

    Qin Ye knew better than to go any further as well. This was the limit. He had a clear, distinct premonition that if he drew only ten meters closer to the divine beast, he would immediately be shredded to pieces.

    The divine beast was clearly sleeping, yet for some strange reason, Qin Ye felt as though there were thousands of eyes just watching his every move right now.

    ¡°It¡¯s really¡­ ridiculously, mind-numbingly strong¡­¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he started making his way around the massive behemoth. After several hours, he finally got a rough idea of the massive behemoth¡¯s true appearances.

    He had a tiger¡¯s head with a single horn on top, a dog¡¯s ears, a dragon¡¯s golden body covered with golden scales, and snow white fur on its back that extended from its head all the way to the base of its tail.

    That said, it also had the tail of a lion, and its feet were the ws of an animal that had never been seen before.

    Its entire body was curled up in a ball, and half of its head was buried within its body. It was sleeping peacefully. With each breath it took, the surrounding Yin energy would surge into its nostrils and transform into corporeal, ck wisps of energy that circted around the dragon body until it converged at the massive wound on its back that almost cut the beast into two.

    ¡°My¡­ god¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air. Despite the fact that it was curled up into a ball, the behemoth was still thousands of meters tall and ten thousands of meters long. The sight of such a majestic beast was akin to seeing a fabled dragon!

    Arthis added hoarsely, ¡°The horn on its head represents the rule ofw. A single word distinguishes between conviction and acquittal. Its dragon body represents auspiciousness. Its tiger head represents wisdom; its dog ears represents auditory acuity; its lion tail represents patience; and its Qilin feet represents all-rounded stability and an emphasis on good virtues. This is the mythical creature called the Nine Dissimilitude.¡±

    ¡°In Hell, any Yin spirits that are unable to be sentenced for whatever reason will invariably be sent to it. The esteemed creature need onlyy down on the ground and listen closely, and it would immediately be able to perceive the Yin spirit¡¯s entire life. If the Yin spirit has been evil, it will immediately be stabbed to death with its powerful horn. This esteemed creature is also well known across the mortal realm, and it is said to be synonymous with spiritual energy, divine energy, fortune, wealth, motivation, luck, vitality, strength and courage. Thus, it¡¯s also called the God of Nine Energies.¡±

    ¡°Its true name¡­¡± Arthis¡¯ voice was already quivering. Qin Ye shut his eyes and eximed with disbelief, ¡°The Harken¡­¡±

    ¡°In the Journey to the West, when even Buddha himself wasn¡¯t able to distinguish between the Six-Eared Macaque and the real Sun Wukong, the only one who was able to do so was the Harken. Incidentally¡­ it is also Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva¡¯s mount¡­¡±

    It was far too astonishing.

    Qin Ye had never imagined that the Exalted Father was none other than the revered Harken! Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva¡¯s mount! It was a true divine beast!

    The subterranean space underneath the City of Salvation was none other than the Harken¡¯s hiding ce!

    He finally understood everything. The Harken had only been able to make it here by seizing Hell¡¯s Records. In turn, Cao Youdao¡¯s ambitions had only been ignited when he fortuitously picked up Hell¡¯s Records.

    Yet the most frightening thing of all was the massive wound on the Harken¡¯s back.

    It had practically cut the divine beast in half, and all of the grisly bones and internal organs within its body were now somewhat exposed. The fact that the Harken was still alive right now was aplete miracle.

    ¡°It broke free of the control of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva? It chose to stay here?¡± Arthis murmured, ¡°This wound¡­ must have been sustained in its final struggle with Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, when it did everything in its ability to break free.¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Qin Ye asked softly. His gaze was somewhat out of it as he looked at the fabled creature of Hell.

    Things had been simpler when he was still oblivious to the identity of this divine beast. But now that he had uncovered its true identity, how could he possibly construct the entrance of Hell over its head?

    Its specifications were too high. So long as it was displeased, all it had to do was to flip its body, and the newly minted Hell would be tossed about like a bumboat in the vast ocean waves and obliterated immediately.

    Arthis was also somewhat caught in a bind, ¡°Injuries like that¡­ would require at least a thousand years to recover from. But that said, the establishment of Hell will require the use of a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal¡­ As a divine beast, it will definitely sense this, and perhaps¡­ it¡¯ll wake up and even re at us¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, ¡°And this re¡­ how terrifying is it?¡±

    Arthis muttered icily, ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, we might be reunited in Hell.¡±

    ¡°Shit!!¡± Qin Ye clutched at his hair. What in the world is going on? We¡¯ve finally found the precious pearl that we¡¯ve been searching high and low for, only to realize that it¡¯s none other than the esteemed Harken?! And the reestablishment of Hell just above it is likely to attract a bacsh from it to boot. Then, should we just give up?

    But there was no way to give up now.

    Even Qin Ye had ambitions.

    It was still far too early for the Harken to awaken from its slumber. And if he could earn the approval of this mighty beast in a thousand years¡¯ time, then¡­

    It would practically be akin to donning the robes of an emperor over his own body!

    Who would dare to covet and seize the new order of Hell from him?!

    Arthis grew taciturn. Everything was up to Qin Ye right now.

    Silence.

    Qin Ye stared intently at the Harken, almost as though he were attempting to tell from its breath when exactly it would awaken from its slumber.

    Time trickled by. Two hours, three hours¡­ Finally, five full hourster, Qin Ye finally sighed in resignation and turned to look at Arthis.

    Arthis looked up, and their eyes met. Qin Ye¡¯s lips trembled several times, and then he finally gritted his teeth and barked, ¡°Teach me¡­ how to rebuild Hell!¡±

    1. Another mythological beast of the Chinese lore.

 Chapter 94: Hellâ€™s Implications

    <h4>Chapter 94: Hell''s Implications</h4>

    Arthis was a little surprised.

    From her understanding, Qin Ye was never one to take the initiative and bring the fight to others. Put bluntly, even though Qin Ye had improved ever since Arthis first met him, he was still pretty much a coward.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    ¡°... What do you mean with that tone of voice?¡± Qin Ye sighed in exasperation and massaged his temples.

    He had contemted for hours on whether to take the plunge or not.

    If he didn¡¯t, and he instead chose the alternative, how long would it take before Yin spirits can enter Hell once more? Fifty years? Hundred years?

    As long as Hell remained in disorder, Yin spirits would have no ce to go. In turn, the fifty to hundred years¡¯ worth of Yin spirits would all fall under themand of the three daolords. Zhang Chenghai had once mentioned that the aggregated Yin energy count across all of Cathay totalled 1.2 billion Yin. It was already like a taut fishing line - there was hardly any room for more load before it snapped.

    When that timees, the three daolords might well be able to breach the City of Salvation¡¯s defenses even before Hell can be reestablished.

    It was better to strike first.

    This was the lesser of two evils. At the very least, Lord Harken is still part of the old system of officials, isn¡¯t he? When all is said and done, he¡¯s still considered family¡­ perhaps he might even leave us a back door or something¡­

    ¡°Alright. Then, listen well.¡± Arthis took a deep breath and continued in a deep voice, ¡°Later on, just do as I say. Don¡¯t miss a single step.¡±

    ¡°Firstly, this is a realm in which Emissaries of Hell possess absolute sovereignty. There exist manypletely unfathomable creatures in this sliver of space between theherworld and the mortal realm. These creatures are neither ghosts nor Man. The only reason why they haven¡¯t showed up is precisely because of Lord Harken¡¯s presence in this ce.¡±

    ¡°In order to prevent idents from happening when leaving or entering the mortal realm, this ce is protected by thews of the Heavenly Dao, applicable to all Emissaries of Hells and other creatures around. So long as you can think about it, you can do it.¡±

    The soul sphere trembled slightly, and then she actually flew up!

    It was unlike when she was previously just floating beside Qin Ye. This time, she actually flew up with a set of wings!

    ¡°For instance, flying.¡±

    Qin Ye was taken aback, and he immediately shut his eyes. Ten secondster, a pair of wings appeared on his back, and he shot up into the sky.

    Whooooooosh¡­ The wild winds beat on his clothes like a drum, sending them fluttering everywhere. Qin Ye stared at his own two hands in amazement as he took in the bird¡¯s eye view of the vast expanses around him. He eximed, ¡°It¡¯s marvelous¡­¡±

    ¡°Now, take out the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. Remember to wrap it with Yin energy. We should be far enough. Whates next¡­ is really dependent on our luck¡­¡± The soul sphere looked down with a palpable nce as she whispered.

    Qin Ye took out the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and Yin energy immediately began to perfuse into the surroundings. The duo nced at the Harken in unison.

    No response.

    Phew¡­ Qin Ye sighed, ¡°Then what?¡±

    ¡°Then¡­¡± Arthis appeared to hesitate somewhat, ¡°Then, you¡¯ll have to know Hell¡¯s characteristics.¡±

    ¡°I have to emphasize once more that Hell doesn¡¯t exist in the mortal realm. The previous Fengdu Necropolis that you might have caught a glimpse of is nothing more than a mere projection. Hell is apletely separate realm. You hold two shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal right now. Use one of them as a beacon. That will be the new core of Hell.¡±

    ¡°In turn, the beacon will continue to grow and expand. As soon as it absorbs sufficient Yin energy from the surroundings, it will begin its first active expansion. The initial area would usually be only the size of five square kilometers¡­¡±

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°So small?¡±

    ¡°What did you expect?¡± Arthis chuckled coldly, ¡°Did you really think that Hell would be the size of Cathay as soon as Hell is reestablished? Have you been watching too many movies?¡±

    ¡°The founding of any powerful nation follows the exact same process. It always starts with a vige, and then a town, county, city, province, district, and finally country. Five square kilometers is approximately the same size as a vige in the mortal realm. And this would only be the case if we seize the multitude of Yin energy at the Harken¡¯s disposal to boot. If we base it solely on the meagre amounts of Yin energy in Cao Youdao¡¯sir, you¡¯d be considered lucky if the initial space in Hell extends to even 0.001 square kilometers.¡±

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Qin Ye gasped, ¡°Did you say¡­ seize?¡±

    ¡°What else would it be?¡± Arthis rebutted, ¡°The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal is the supreme treasure of Hell. As soon as it¡¯s activated, it will automatically absorb all of the Yin energy from the surroundings in an area that is five hundred square kilometers around. Lord Harken¡­ would happen to fall within this proximity.¡±

    Qin Ye had once again ascertained that Arthis had apletely ck heart - free from any impurities.

    He also finally understood that the Harken was bound to wake up.

    I¡¯m resting and recuperating from my injuries, yet you dare touch this tiger¡¯s butt? I¡¯m desperately drawing on the Yin energy in the surroundings to recover from my injuries, and yet you¡¯re dredging the earth andying foundations around me?

    Are you courting death?

    Arthis continued, ¡°So, now that we¡¯ve decided to reestablish Hell, we absolutely must seize the opportunity and make Hell as strong as we can. As soon as the aggregate Yin energy in Hell approaches thirty million Yin, Lord Harken wouldn¡¯t dare to incite a war against us lightly, even if he disagrees with our methods.¡±

    Qin Ye nced warily at the golden beast below and whispered, ¡°With such grave wounds, it shouldn¡¯t be able to do more than bat its eyelids. Besides, as Hell¡¯s divine beast, doesn¡¯t it want to see Hell being reestablished once more?¡±

    Arthis grew taciturn. After a long pause, she finally muttered icily, ¡°It¡¯s hard to predict a ghost¡¯s thoughts.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever thought about what happens if Lord Harken isn¡¯t willing?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s undoubtedly Hell¡¯s divine beast¡­ and it undoubtedly enjoys special treatment of the highest orders. But aren¡¯t all of this no more than a disguised captivity when all is said and done? If it was truly that obedient, why didn¡¯t it leave together with Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva? Why did it risk life and limb to remain here?¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated for a moment and nodded deeply.

    Since he had already decided on rebuilding Hell from scratch, then he would do everything in his abilities to eliminate all potential dangers once and for all.

    ¡°Let¡¯s continue from where we left off. As soon as a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Sealtches onto a specific location, and you have another shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in hand, you¡¯ll be able to enter the new Hell after midnight any day.¡±

    Qin Ye continued listening patiently, but he soon realized¡­ Nothing?

    That¡¯s it?

    ¡°It¡¯s that simple?¡±

    ¡°Simple?¡± Arthis almost exploded in fury, ¡°Yeah¡­ you can say it¡¯s simple now. But do you know that Fengdu¡¯s annals records that back in the foundational years of Hell as we knew it, there were a total of 1,432 establishments of Hell in total?! Each of them were at best vige sized. The first King Yanluo went through hundreds of years of battles and wars before he finally unified all of Hell. And it was only then that he finally began to establish Fengdu Necropolis!¡±

    ¡°Bit by bit, Hell gathered energy from its surroundings and slowly expanded. Fortunately, people were dumb and waged wars with each other endlessly. The supply of Yin spirits was infinite. Additionally, life expectancy back then was far lower than it is right now. Otherwise, Hell might not even have grownrger than the size of a single county to date.¡±

    ¡°Yet now, you¡¯re simply standing on the shoulders of a giant. Do you really have the right to say it¡¯s simple?¡±

    Qin Ye coughed, ¡°Then¡­ will everything be settled as soon as I bury the shard in the ground?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ Affixing the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to a particr space is only the first step. After that, you¡¯ll have to conceive of everything in Hell. Bear in mind that it¡¯s going to be a whole new realm that we¡¯re talking about. Of the three realms that make up the world, the realm of ghosts has already be dormant. You¡¯re now the god of that new realm. This first step towards reestablishing it is crucial!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll now have to decide on the style of the new realm of Hell, and Hell will grow in ordance with the style you have in mind. In future, even if it expands in size and bes a city of a province, it will still maintain the same style¡­ Let¡¯s put it this way, do you know those fantasy novels that are all the rage among humans these days? Most of them would center around the concept of rules.¡±

    ¡°Rules do exist. And the supreme rule is none other than the Heavenly Dao. But in Hell, you are synonymous with rules. You dictate the exact style of Hell - what is and what isn¡¯t. And Hell will develop in ordance with the rules you set out.¡±

    ¡°Simply put, all you need to do is to have a ¡®model¡¯ of Hell in mind right now. Build a base prototype, and etch every single detail into the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. This is how you¡¯ll finallyplete the anchoring process.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded deeply, and then shut his eyes.

    The creation of a whole new world.

    This was something he had never experienced before.

    His personal experiences, including all the sights and sounds, began to surface in his mind. He considered all forms of legends and stories about gods and ghosts, the totems he had seen in his life, the etching and inscriptions, and any other sources of stories about Fengdu¡­

    Little by little, tiny puzzle pieces were being put together in his mind. His memory had always been one of his strengths. And under his intense focus, it was nothing short of miraculous.

    The big picture, including the environment and climate was quickly established. Then, he began to dig deeper into the buildings that would have to be constructed, including some of the facilities that were necessary. And then,ws of thend and regtions in force¡­

    It was a massive project. Even though it was only a vige, Qin Ye¡¯s brows furrowed from time to time. After what felt like an incredibly long time, he finally opened his eyes once more and nodded at Arthis.

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond. Instead, she simply flew around Qin Ye several times, before finally remarking, ¡°Do you know¡­ how long you¡¯ve been deep in thought?¡±

    ¡°How long?¡± Qin Ye was uncertain.

    ¡°Five days.¡± Arthis eximed, ¡°Five whole days, in the exact same position, without food or drink¡­ how in the world did you do this?¡±

    Qin Ye shrugged his shoulders, only to notice that his stomach was growling. To his mind, it seemed as though only three or four hours had passed.

    ¡°Can we begin now?¡± Qin Ye stood up and asked expectantly. Now was not the time to think about other trivialities.

    Arthis¡¯ voice grew somber, ¡°Cut your palm and drip a drop of blood onto the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. This marks your ownership of the shard of the seal. The previous King Yanluo has already been annihted when Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva gained enlightenment. The shard of the seal will only truly be considered yours if you mark it.¡±

    ¡°And then, don¡¯t think about anything else, and just pour your Yin energy into the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. You absolutely cannot stop until it ceases moving!¡±

    Qin Ye did so ordingly. As soon as he dripped a drop of blood onto the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, the crimson shard immediately exploded with a brilliant dark light that shone everywhere!

    Sha¡­. The dark light was so intense that it immediately sent a wave of radiant ripples erupting in a ring from where Qin Ye was. Any Yin energy or Yang energy that came into contact with the powerful ripple of light was instantly blown thousands of feet away, vanishing like snow on a sunny spring day.

    In that instant, everything in a thousand miles radius around Qin Ye waspletely clear and pristine.

    Simultaneously, the drop of blood appeared to have been drawn by something, and it immediately burrowed its way towards the center of the shard. Astonishingly, the otherwise iparably solid shard began to reveal traces of etch marks and micro-cracks wherever the drop of blood spread.

    K-k-k-k-k-k¡­ The blood continued to permeate the shard with a soft, faint sound. Approximately ten minutester, the dazzling ck light that was radiating in all directions suddenly retracted back to the shard itself, and the entire Limbo trembled slightly.

    A scarlet ¡°Qin¡± word, almost akin to the inscriptions found on an ancient seal, was now engraved on the shard itself.

    In that moment, Qin Ye discovered that a connection was established with that shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.

    Roar¡­ Just then, a soft growl was heard from below.

    It was different from before. The growl was far deeper than before, and it appeared to be undergirded by a confluence ofplex emotions. Qin Ye and Arthis had kept an eye on the Harken all this while, so they noticed it clearly¡­

    The Harken¡¯s eyelids had shifted slightly.

    ¡°Quickly! Infuse the shard with Yin energy!¡± Arthis turned around and roared at Qin Ye.

    As soon as she finished speaking, a tide of Yin energy surged straight from Qin Ye¡¯s body into the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s hair and clothes fluttered about on its own like a frenzied dragon. His temples were throbbing, and the veins on his neck were bulging. He felt as though he were holding onto a ck hole right now - all of the Yin energy at his disposal was pouring out of his body like a tidal wave.

    Boom!!!

    His body subconsciously entered the Hell''s Emissary state within five seconds of his infusion of Yin energy!

    ck robes; white hair; ck irises and white pupils. Netherfire enshrouded his entire body. As though responding to his transformation, the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal began to swirl the Yin energy around Qin Ye, transforming it into a mighty vortex!

 Chapter 95: A Brand New Hell

    <h4>Chapter 95: A Brand New Hell</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye stood in the sea of green and white coloured fog, doing his best to channel his Yin energy. The vortex emanating from his hand spun quicker and quicker, and grew wilder and wilder!

    Ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ A number of ancient, golden words suddenly began to emerge from every direction around him as they slowly converged towards the vortex. Arthis was startled, but her astonishment soon turned into an ecstatic disy, ¡°Approbation of the Heavenly Dao! This is the approbation of the Heavenly Dao!¡±

    However, Qin Ye no longer had the energy to ask what this meant. The blood vessels on his arm were already bursting at their seams.

    Arthis was keenly aware of this, so she continued exining herself, ¡°The establishment of Hell naturally requires the approval of the heavens. And this is heaven¡¯s response to you! The Heavenly Dao is watching you! This is the ultimate affirmation of your efforts!!¡±

    Buzz¡­ The number of golden sigils in the surroundings slowly increased and converged into the heart of the vortex, releasing projection after projection into the surroundings.

    There were projections of great rivers flowing with mes, quaint yet creepy houses, as well as trees with scarlet leaves¡­ Countless images continued to flicker by.

    Roar¡­ ROAR!! Simultaneously, the cry of the Harken continued to grow, while his eyelids only trembled more and more.

    It was desperately attempting to open its own eyes.

    It had already sensed that there were several thieves in the vicinity who were attempting to steal the Yin energy it had painstakingly gathered. It could have left them alone. After all, the amount of Yin energy at its disposal was vast as the ocean, and the amount currently being seized was but a drop in this ocean.

    However¡­ its intuition told him that these thieves weren¡¯t going to stop at just that. If it didn¡¯t wake up right now, there was a good chance that these thieves were going to steal infinitely more Yin energy from it!

    ¡°Hang in there¡­¡± Arthis grew incredibly nervous. Her emotions right now were iparablyplicated.

    At the start of their interactions, Arthis had always been filled with an intense desire to kill Qin Ye and be done with it. Yet after all this time, and when Qin Ye was finally beginning to reestablish Hell, her mindset had already changedpletely.

    If¡­ I could sessfully help him reestablish Hell, then¡­ wouldn¡¯t I be reinstated in my previous position as an Infernal Judge of Hell?

    He possessed two shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and Hell¡¯s Records to boot. No other Emissary of Hell had ever had such a good start that he had.

    No, in fact¡­ as a founding member of the new order of Hell, she would be a step¡­ or perhaps several steps ahead of the position she had previously been in!

    And if Qin Ye ever decides that he no longer wishes to be a Yama-King, wouldn¡¯t she then be given a glimpse of power as the paramount source of authority across thends?

    With such thoughts at the back of her mind, she couldn¡¯t help but feel worried and concerned for Qin Ye.

    ¡°You must hang in there! Lord Harken is about to awaken. You have to try and aplish everything before he wakes up!¡±

    Then, just as she finished speaking, the entire vortex erupted with a massive explosion!

    The entire realm shook violently!

    The howls of endless ghosts cried out from every corner of Limbo as the entire heavens and earth quaked.

    A circle of pure ck lustre rose from the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s seal just like the rising sun. It carried the shard and rose into the sky, until finally¡­ it became a zing ck sun!

    ¡°It¡¯s done¡­ it¡¯s done!!¡± Arthis shrieked ecstatically. But just then, an iparably hoarse roar that seemed to be backed by everyst bit of strength in its owner¡¯s body resounded across thends.

    ROARRRR!!!!

    Qin Ye was already incredibly tired, and struggled to keep his eyelids open. On the other hand, Arthis simply looked down below in a daze.

    The Harken had previously buried part of its head in his body as it rested its body. But now, it had already shifted its head out with much difficulty. At the same time, it opened its golden eyes and red directly at the duo in the sky.

    One man, one sphere, and one beast had just locked eyes.

    Even though Qin Ye couldn¡¯t understand thenguage of the beast, he could nevertheless tell from its expressions that it was incredibly infuriated right now.

    There was no room for hesitation. Arthis immediately turned tail and shot away, ¡°Run!!¡±

    Without thinking more, Qin Ye also dashed towards the sky at full speed!

    On the other hand, the Harken remainedpletely still and silent.

    If they had been close enough, they would have heard the Harken grinding its teeth together in its massive mouth. And then, with all of its might, it released an earth-shattering roar!

    ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!

    As soon as it cried out, the scales on its body immediately stood up and shot towards the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal that was hovering in mid air!

    The Harken¡¯s reverse scale!

    Shk shk shk shk¡­ Wherever the scales passed, the skies also resounded with a crackling sound. The golden scales had actually cut through even air itself, revealing countless lingering crevices that could be seen with the naked eye.

    ¡°Tearing the void¡­¡± Arthis gasped as she slipped into Qin Ye¡¯s pockets, ¡°Faster!!¡±

    ¡°Bloody Hell¡­ get out!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth.

    ¡°Scram! If we¡¯re going to die, you should be the one to die first!¡± Arthis bellowed back in fury.

    As though thousands of golden coloured fireworks rising into the sky with trailing ribbons of dark light, the golden scales suddenly exploded in unison. Just then, the zing ck sun in the sky suddenly trembled, and then it¡­. opened.

    That¡¯s right. It opened.

    Like a blooming ck lotus flower,yer afteryer, each piece of petal that was formed by condensed Yin energy spread out, growingrger andrger¡­ Finally, it transformed into a massive one-square-kilometer ck spider lily right underneath Qin Ye, majestic and magnificent!

    Boom boom boom!!! The golden scales smashed into the petals of the ck spider lily, and endlessherfire scattered into the sky. However, the petals remainedpletely unscathed. Just then, a plot of floatingnd began to materialize right in the middle of the sky!

    Roar¡­ Sss!!! The Harken stared at the ck spider lily in the sky. The exertion of its strength had caused copious amounts of golden blood to flow out of its back. It roared and hissed, and it copsed to the ground once more.

    Rumble¡­ It¡¯s copse kicked up a massive cloud of smoke and dust.

    Its pupils were still staring transfixed at the zing ck sun in the sky. Its limbs stirred weakly as it desperately attempted to get on its feet again.

    Back in the sky, Arthis and Qin Ye could already sense that they had rushed past the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. That said, they could nevertheless tell that the light below had vanished, and a vast expanse of darkness like the boundless oceans had taken its ce.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t resist it any longer. This was his blood, sweat and tears. It was the establishment of his ownnd!

    One look¡­ just one look! No matter what, I only want one look at this ce!

    As he continued forward at full speed, he gritted his teeth and turned back to catch a glimpse of his efforts.

    As far as the eyes could see, an entire plot ofnd had already materialized out of nowhere. There were rivers of mes, trees with scarlet leaves, as well as several ancient-looking chinese buildings.

    Spots of greenherfire hovered eerily about thends, almost like fireflies on a summer night. Crimsonnterns hung from the eaves of the buildings, each of which had the word ¡°Qin¡± written in striking ck ink.

    It was thend of the dead.

    A paradise for the souls of the dead!

    Yet what was visible was only an area that was approximately fifty meters wide. The rest of the area was still a vast expanse of darkness that hadn¡¯t cleared up yet. Arthis screeched, ¡°Go!!! The expansion of thend will automaticallyplete within the week! If we don¡¯t leave now, we¡¯re only going to be food for the Harken!!¡±

    Buzz¡­ Just then, all of the petals of the ck spider lily suddenly began to contract and close up gracefully. Within seconds, it transformed into a powerful vortex of Yin energy that was visible to the naked eye. And the vortex continued to grow and expand without any signs of slowing down!

    Down below, the Harken¡¯s body copsed heavily to the ground. His eyes were filled with hatred as he watched the two figures flying through the air.

    Hateful¡­ hateful!!

    The disy of might that came with Hell¡¯s initial formation was covered with the protective blessings of the Heavenly Dao, and it had been invulnerable during that time. This was what allowed the two little thieves to have made their escape sessfully in the first ce.

    ¡°Tiger¡¯s Fall Leveling Sun¡­¡± The Harken opened its mouth, revealing its rows of sharp teeth as it spat out four words while gasping for air like bellows. Then, as the two silhouettes drew further and further into the distance, it suddenly opened its mouth wide, and a pale white light burst out from within!

    This strike appeared to have drawn down thest bits of its energy. The golden luster on its body dimmed slightly, and its eyes closed quietly. It no longer had the energy to see the results of its final attack.

    Fast.

    Incredibly fast.

    It was indescribably quick. Hell¡¯s ck spider lily had already closed up by now, and it no longer possessed the ability to shield Qin Ye from the Harken¡¯s final attack. By the time Qin Ye discovered the approach of its attack, the beam of light was already ten meters thick and less than one hundred meters away!

    And it wasn¡¯t that he had just discovered it.

    Rather, there was simply no time to react to it!

    A devastating, suffocating atmosphere instantly engulfed Qin Ye. The pir of light left a dark red scar wherever it passed, even in Limbo. In this instant, Qin Ye smelled death for the very first time.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of death. But he still hated it. After all, he no longer retained the memories of his previous lives whenever he was reborn, and he would have to start from scratch all over again¡­ He cherished every moment of his past.

    ¡°Shit!!!¡± He turned around with a roar, but he knew that there was no escape. His fists tightened. His Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform fluttered about wildly. Mustering every modicum of Yin energy remaining in his body, he let out a desperate cry as he attempted to cut the pir of light that was quickly approaching him.

    A Soul Hunter that was less than two meters tall.

    Mustering all his strength against a severely wounded beast that was on its final breaths.

    From a distance, it appeared almost as though an ant were attempting to shake a giant tree.

    ¡°Just¡­¡± Veins bulging, and with bloodshot eyes, Qin Ye roared, ¡°Shatter!!!¡±

    However, someone else had reacted quicker than he had.

    A sphere had already appeared in front of Qin Ye before he could even react to the situation.

    Time seemed to stand still at this moment. The pir of light was no more than twenty meters away from Qin Ye now.

    It was a colourful silhouette with long flowing ck hair that appeared like a nest of snakes was emerging from their nest. A long tongue extended all the way to the ground. A striking projection had appeared just outside the soul sphere¡¯s container.

    ¡°Arakshasa¡­¡± Qin Ye was dumbfounded. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    Arthis actually came at a time like this¡­

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± Arthis chuckled, ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯d acted this impulsive¡­¡±

    ¡°Kid¡­ It seems like you¡¯re going to have toplete the reestablishment of Hell on your own¡­¡±

    As soon as her final words fell, her entire body ignited with boundlessherfire that extended hundreds of meters in all directions as though constetions revolving around the moon. This was qualitatively on a whole different levelpared with Qin Ye¡¯s abilities. It was¡­ celestial prairie fire!

    The disy of Arthis¡¯ ability was as ghostly as it got. Yet in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, the present Arthis looked as if she were the saintly Goddess of Mercy descending from the skies, with millions of constetions twinkling in support behind her.

    Ghosts have human hearts as well.

    She, too, knew emotions.

    Standing tall against the soaring pir of light from below, Arthis opened her bloodshot eyes and muttered, ¡°Ten Thousand Ghosts Ravage the Soul.¡±

    0.1 second.

    A miniscule 0.1 second.

    Thousands¡­ no, tens of thousands of skeleton-like green ghosts instantly gathered behind Arthis and then rushed madly towards the pir of light below!

    Rumble!!

    The shing of might caused Limbo to quake violently. Every single creature on Limbo could feel with every fiber of their beings the mighty sh of forces right this instant.

    If the Harken¡¯s powerful strike were likened to the genesis of the world, then Arthis¡¯ attack could only be described as the reversal of the rivers of stars flowing in the skies.

    An Infernal Judge versus a Yama-King!

    ¡°Pfft!!¡± A mouthful of blood sprayed out from Qin Ye¡¯s lips. He was already fading in and out of consciousness right now. The impact of the sh of abilities was far too great, and he didn¡¯t know what was happening anymore. Like a kite with a broken string, he was knocked backwards by the impact, and he flew deeper into the sky.

    Nobody was aware of something else that urred. When the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal first established and formed the new order of Hell, the entire Fengdu Necropolis which had stood for thousands of years, together with the projection of the image of Fengdu Necropolis at the depths of the Three Gorges River, copsed with a muffled sound.

    The old Hell has passed.

    The new Hell has been established.

    From this moment forward, there were no longer the Ten Abyssal Courts, the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, or the six paths of reincarnation.

    There was only a... vige called Hell.

 Chapter 96: Those Who Pass, and Those Who Exist

    <h4>Chapter 96: Those Who Pass, and Those Who Exist</h4>

    The Fengdu Necropolis, formerly known as the Haunted Capital, was established by Emperor He of the Han Dynasty in the second year of the Yongyuan Era, and it has a history of close to 2,000 years. It is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, in Fengdu County. The Fengdu necropolis is also known as the ¡°Ghost City¡±, the ¡°Capital of Ghosts¡±, and ¡°Birthce of Cathay¡¯s Dante¡¯s Divine Comedy¡±.

    A part of Fengdu County was eventually submerged underwater with the establishment of the Three Gorges Dam. Underneath the surface of the water at this moment, structural pirs and columns and houses alike appeared to be drawn down by some mysterious force as they all copsed with a muffled sound.

    Numerous boulders copsed and crumbled to the seabed. Anyone who possessed the infernal eyes would be able to see the congregation of hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits just underneath the surface of the waters! All of them were gathered around the Fengdu Necropolis.

    It was almost as though they were waiting for something with eager anticipation. And the more they waited, the more anxious they grew. Some of them had even begun to show signs of transformation into vengeful apparitions. But just then, they all paused at the same time.

    They raised their heads in unison and looked to the east.

    Each and every one of them had the exact same expressions on their faces. They were silently sensing.

    And then, in the very next second, they suddenly charged straight in the direction of the City of Salvation like maddened ghosts!

    Hell summons. None dared disobey!

    Just above, at the Three Gorges Dam. The rumbling rivers sat at the back, while rolling green hills sat on both sides of the dam. There was a huge drop on the other side of the dam, where water continuously spewed out like a spectacr tsunami. In contrast, the jade-blue water that collected at the top of the dam appearedpletely calm and tranquil, giving off the feeling of a boundless ocean.

    A Taoist priest sat at the center of the Three Gorges Dam, at the location often known as the ¡°mouth of the dragon¡±.

    Winds billowed furiously about the dam, while wild apes cried out on both sides of the river. Yet the Taoist priest never once opened his eyes.

    ¡°Do you think he¡¯s a rock?¡± One of the employees at the work station nearby stared at the Taoist as he asked in bewilderment, ¡°It has been ten years. He only eats once a month and drinks a single vat of water. And then he just sits here. Those who don¡¯t know any better might even think he¡¯s trying to suppress something?¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, the Taoist abruptly opened his eyes.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± A look of abject shock appeared on his otherwise calm, tranquil face. He immediately ran to the edge of the dam, ¡°This¡­ how is this possible?!¡±

    Rumble¡­ To the mortals standing around, the skies had quickly darkened. Within ten seconds, the previously bright skies were suddenly overcast with dark clouds, replete with shes of lightning that dazzled the sky.

    But to the Taoist priest¡­ those were hardly dark clouds at all. Instead, they were countless Yin spirits that were flying across the dam, screaming at the top of their voices as they filled the skies!

    Many. Too many! Their numbers were endless! The number of Yin spirits was at least in the millions! No¡­ it was much more than that!

    Like a flock of birds flying in close formation, the multitude of Yin spirits formed a massive cloud thatpletely blotted out the sky!

    The phenomenonsted for a full ten minutes before the cloud of Yin spirits finally vanished. Just then, he suddenly heard a cry of rm, ¡°Look! What¡¯s that?!¡± ¡°My god¡­ it can¡¯t be¡­ why are there so many?!¡± ¡°Have the gates of Fengdu Necropolis opened up?¡±

    He immediately looked down.

    There, in the rushing river waters below, one after another decaying coffins had suddenly surfaced from the depths of the riverbed.

    The exact number was unknown. But regardless¡­ there was sufficient to cover the entire surface of the Yangtze River in sight!

    Crash¡­ Simultaneously, at a vi some distance away. An old man wearing a silken imperial robe was just holding a cup of tea when his hands suddenly trembled. The tea cup fell to the ground and shattered into innumerable pieces.

    ¡°This feeling¡­¡± He immediately got up, walked to the window and gazed into the distance, ¡°How could it be¡­¡±

    ¡°Why do I suddenly have palpitations in my heart¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s reminiscent of those days¡­ Thousands of years ago, when I first arrived in Hell¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Insignia University, at Cao Youdao¡¯sir.

    Time trickled by slowly. Qin Yey by the side of the pit. His Hell¡¯s Emissary uniform was in tatters, and sparse amounts of Yin energy lingered about his body. His muscles were twitching uncontrobly, but his eyes remained tightly shut.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Then, after a protracted period of time, he suddenly sat up. His entire forehead was percting with cold sweat. Almost as though he remembered something important, he immediately peered into the depths of the pit.

    ¡°Arti?¡± He tried shouting, only to realize that his entire body was throbbing with pain. However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t care. He continued to peer into the hole.

    However, there was no response.

    ¡°Cough cough¡­¡± He opened his mouth to call out to her again, only to end up hacking and coughing. Clutching desperately at his chest, he finally managed to hoarsely cry out, ¡°Arthis?¡±

    Is-is-is-is¡­ The only response he got from the deep, dark pit was the endless reverberations of his own voice.

    There was still no response.

    ¡°Arak¡­¡± He cried out a third time. Yet before he could even finish calling out, a bright glimmer of light shot out from the depths of the pit like a tiny meteorite.

    As soon as the bright light shot out, it quicklynded on the ground like a broken ball that had lost all of its strength.

    Tak tak tak¡­ A deste sound echoed throughout the corners of Cao Youdao¡¯sir. Qin Ye¡¯s lips turned dry as he slowly picked up the object on the ground.

    It was a soul sphere.

    There were scorch marks all over it. The wrapping that had initially been tightly wound around the soul sphere had been reduced to bare scraps, and only dim traces of the innumerableplex Sanskrit words now remained.

    As soon as Qin Ye¡¯s hand touched the soul sphere, it shattered like sand, revealing nothing but darkness within.

    Arthis¡¯ spiritual body wasn¡¯t there.

    Neither was her physical body.

    It was as though there had never been anything inside the soul sphere. It waspletely empty.

    Qin Ye looked wistfully at the soul sphere, before finally sighing after a long time.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you talk about yourself for once¡­¡± He carefully put away the wrappings of the soul sphere as he revealed aplex grimace on his face, ¡°You¡¯d been courting disaster right from the onset¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the protagonist of the story, yet you attempted to assassinate me in Hell. ording to the rules of these stories, that already means you are bound to die. But you didn¡¯t, and you remained behind, journeying with me for such a long time. I was already on the brink of trusting you wholeheartedly. And then, you suddenly pulled out a ¡®damsel rescuing the hero in distress¡¯. Were you trying to etch your mark in my heart like a cinnabar mole? Naive. Truly naive¡­¡±

    He slowly put away the charred wrappings, ignoring the fact that the ashes had already stained his long fingers.

    ¡°And I¡¯d told you a long time ago that you should show your hand before it¡¯s toote. What¡¯s the point in keeping one ace up your sleeve after another? Life¡¯s just like that¡­ the worst thing that can happen to a person is if he dies before he can spend his hard-earned money.¡±

    ¡°Look at yourself. The first part of your life was glorious. The middle portion of your life had its ups and downs. And finally, you grew old and had nothing to rely on in thetter part of your life. The multitude of twists and turns in your life caused a promising young woman like you to end up distrusting people. Even on the brink of death, you refuse to tell me how to rebuild Hell, you refuse to teach me the secret arts of Hell, and you even make it your life goal to berate me and put me down¡­ But look at you now. I¡¯m still the one who ends up having to collect your corpse¡­¡±

    The charred wrappings might have been long, but there was still an end to it.

    He bunched everything up in his hands and shook his head, ¡°Rest in peace. I¡¯ll make it a point to burn paper money for you every year on this day¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve summed up my life pretty sinctly, haven¡¯t you?¡± Ady¡¯s cold voice came from behind him.

    Qin Ye was somewhat startled, and he immediately turned around in disbelief.

    Arakshasa stood right behind him. But this was no illusion. It was herplete, corporeal being.

    This was the second time he had seen Arakshasa¡¯s true appearances.

    And this was the closest he had ever been to her.

    She was beautiful.

    When she wasn¡¯t in her Judge-state appearances, her beauty was sufficient to cause any man¡¯s heart to tremble and palpitate. Her shape of her face was sharp and pristine, and her skin was soft and tender. Her lips were a striking vermillion colour, while her almond-shaped eyes were clear as the autumn waters. A pair of ebony eyebrows further entuated the abstruse gaze that she had.

    That said, she presently cut a sorry figure.

    Her face was abnormally pale, her hair was frazzled and all over the ce, and her colourful robes had beenpletely charred. Most importantly, she was staring at Qin Ye with extremely unkind eyes.

    Still alive?

    Well¡­ That¡¯s rather awkward¡­

    Qin Ye looked at the soul sphere in his hands, and then looked back at Arthis once more. She had evidently managed to free herself with the aid of the Harken¡¯s powerful attack. Then, he slowly unrolled the wrappings and began to coil it around Arthis¡¯ head, ¡°Be good. This is all an illusion. This is all foam. This is all fireworks¡­¡±

    Boom! He only managed to coil the wrappings around Arthis¡¯ head once before his entire body was struck by a powerful force and sent flying. And then, a mysterious force caught him in mid air and brought him back to Arthis¡¯, where he stopped just one decimeter away from Arthis¡¯ ink ck nails.

    ¡°Cough¡­ cough cough cough cough!!¡± The Yin energy around her scattered wildly as Arthis coughed away. Secondster, she continued gravely, ¡°You never would have guessed it, would you? That my greatest misfortune would turn into the greatest blessing and free me from the trappings of the soul sphere?¡±

    Qin Ye eked out a stiff smile as he continued to hang limply in mid-air, ¡°About that¡­ We might have had some small misunderstandings in the past¡­¡±

    ¡°Small misunderstandings?!¡± Arthis grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s ear and yanked it so hard that Qin Ye cried out in pain, ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ please dont! Calm down! The world is an amazing ce! You shouldn¡¯t be so grumpy! It¡¯s not good for you!¡±

    ¡°Arti?! Huh?!¡± Arthis had practically twisted Qin Ye¡¯s ears a full one hundred and eighty degrees by now. The tide of resentment that had been bottled up within her was finally unleashing itself.

    ¡°Lazy?! Huh?! Useless? Huh!! Cowardly?! Hmm?!!¡±

    ¡°Arthis?! Hmm?!!¡±

    ¡°Minithel?! Hmm?!!¡±

    In the end, she kicked Qin Ye forcefully on the buttocks, causing Qin Ye¡¯s buttocks to sink in as he flew three meters backwards.

    ¡°Heh¡­.¡± Arthis didn¡¯t even look at him. Instead, she trembled with excitement as she stared at her hands. And then, she threw her head into the air, ¡°Hahahaha¡­ Sss!!!¡±

    Boom!! A wave of terrifying Yin energy that was practically corporeal erupted from her body. The entire room shook violently. Qin Ye let out a muffled groan. Something came up in his throat, but he forcibly swallowed it back down.

    I¡¯ve miscalcted¡­

    How are you still alive?

    Isn¡¯t this a waste of my emotions earlier?

    Qin Ye had never expected the Harken¡¯s powerful strike to shatter the soul sphere and release the former Infernal Judge within. Furthermore¡­ Arthis had been acting so pure and innocent over the past few months that he had practically forgotten all about her capriciousness.

    Swish¡­ Right after the ferocious explosion of Yin energy, everything suddenly became strangely calm and tranquil once more. The circumstances spoke volumes of Arthis¡¯ erratic temperament.

    The dark clouds around her settled, and she inhaled the air with such drunken stupor that even her voice had begun to tremble, ¡°I¡¯m out¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m finally out. Kekeke!!¡±

    Afterughing uproariously for a few seconds, she gracefully lifted the green silk beside her ear. Her deep, abstruse eyes were so beautiful that it would make hearts tremble. She looked coldly at Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯d said it before. The debt between us isn¡¯t something that can be ounted for in just a single day¡­¡±

    ¡°Misunderstanding. It¡¯s all been a misunderstanding.¡± Qin Ye chuckled dryly, but his hand had already gently reached for the hilt of his saber.

    But how could his discreet movements possibly elude the keen senses of the Infernal Judge standing before him? Arthis chuckled coldly, and she immediately sent Qin Ye¡¯s demonhead saber flying away, plunging straight into a wall ten meters away as though it had been shot from a bow.

    Arthis stepped in front of Qin Ye and lifted his chin with her slender fingers.

    ¡°A mere Soul Hunter dares to disrespect an Infernal Judge? Tell me¡­ how do you think I should punish you?¡±

    Qin Ye was sweating profusely. The female ghost¡¯s temperament waspletely unpredictable.

    It waspletely capricious.

    ¡°Speaking of which, you¡¯re pretty decent-looking.¡±

    Arthis smiled faintly. Her lips parted, revealing a scarlet-red tongue that slithered out like a snake and gently licked Qin Ye¡¯s cheek, ¡°You suit my tastes.¡±

    ¡°... Chief, that wouldn¡¯t be a good idea, would it? Man and ghost are far too different. We¡¯re never going to get anywhere with this¡­¡± Qin Ye held up his hands and muttered softly.

    ¡°Are you afraid now?¡± Arthis continued to smile faintly as she suddenly squeezed her hands, tightening her grasp around Qin Ye¡¯s throat in just an instant. Her charred clothes and ink ck hair suddenly fluttered wildly with an imposing flourish, and her appearances turned vicious and iparably hideous, ¡°When you so casually and repeatedly addressed the esteemed Arakshasa as Arti and Arthis, did you ever consider the possibility of a day such as this?!!¡±

    1. This is a really famous piece of work that talks about Hell and Purgatory, and the like. It¡¯s actually an Italian literature, but the author calls it a ¡®chinese version¡¯, presumably to please his audience.

    2. Just to put things into perspective, the Three Gorges Dam is approximately 40 meters across in width.

    3. This is a reference to a song by G.E.M., a Hong Kong singer.

 Chapter 97: The First Thing You Do Every Morning

    <h4>Chapter 97: The First Thing You Do Every Morning</h4>

    ¡°I swear! I¡¯ll never do it again!¡± Qin Ye eximed without any hesitation. Between integrity and his life, thetter was clearly more important.

    Just then, as soon as he finished saying that, Arthis¡¯ body suddenly shone brightly.

    Both of them were stunned.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Arthis looked at her own body with disbelief. Starting from her clothes, her entire body had slowly but surely begun to disintegrate, transforming into little ck butterflies that floated into the air as though ash swept away by the wind.

    The number of butterflies seemed to grow exponentially¡­ In a matter of three seconds, only her upper body remained. Simultaneously, the throng of butterflies in the air began to converge into a huge vortex of ck butterflies!

    ¡°Lord Harken¡¯s final strike¡­ has actually destroyed my physical body?!¡±

    Boom!!!

    In the very next second, her entire body crumbled, and the vortex of ck butterflies was instantly reduced to ashes with a resounding scream.

    The only things that remained in the room were Qin Ye and a clump of golden soulfire.

    The reversal hade far too suddenly and quickly, so much so that the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

    ¡°About that¡­¡± Secondster, the golden soulfire trembled slightly, and then she coughed dryly in a feeble attempt to maintain herposure, ¡°Why don¡¯t you find me a suitable body first, and then we¡¯ll find a nice ce to have a cup of tea and talk about life?¡±

    Qin Ye had already transformed back into his human state. He tidied up his clothes, straightened his belt, and even pulled out a mirror from somewhere tob out his somewhat disheveled hair.

    Ahh¡­ you¡¯re still just as handsome as ever¡­

    ¡°Life¡­ is just full of surprises, isn¡¯t it?¡± He put away the mirror and nced at the soulfire with a smirk.

    Arthis felt the rage that she had just fervently suppressed instantly soar back up.

    Qin Yeined, victimizing himself, ¡°But it hurt so much where you pinched me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m beginning to regret not pping you to death just now!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze gleamed, ¡°Arti~...¡±

    Arthis gnashed her teeth, ¡°Didn¡¯t you swear earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s fine¡­ let¡¯s talk about it! I can¡¯t hold on much longer!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, and the demonhead saber flew straight back to him, ¡°Come,e,e. Come into your brother¡¯s warm embrace. In the meantime, you can also reflect on how we should be getting along with each other in the future. Once you¡¯re done with that, you can also take out any secret arts of Hell, secret news, and the like¡­ and hand them all over to me.¡±

    ¡°Otherwise¡­¡± He stared at Arthis as she eagerly dove into the demonhead saber, and then wickedly picked up the wrappings of the soul sphere and began to wrap them around his saber, ¡°Things like bondage¡­. isn¡¯t something you really want to know about¡­¡±

    Arthis felt iparably humiliated to be seeking refuge within a demonhead saber.

    Her heart felt as though it had been pierced with a thousand holes.

    That¡¯s right. She hadn¡¯t truly intended to kill Qin Ye.

    Their current circumstances were excellent. It waspletely different from just a few months ago, when she had still been attempting to steal Wang Zemin¡¯s soul in the depths of the old Hell.

    The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal had recognised its new owner, and the new order of Hell had also received the approbation of the Heavenly Dao. Her best bet right now would be to extend a hand and cooperate with Qin Ye.

    The only outstanding gripe she had was with Qin Ye¡¯szy and wimpy personality. She had intended to use the earlier opportunity to teach him a lesson, and also shift the bnce of power in her favour.

    But who would have thought¡­ that she wasn¡¯t even given a chance to put on a show!

    ¡°This author is¡­¡± She sighed wistfully, ¡°Far too much of a crowd pleaser¡­¡±

    Resistance was futile. When the elevator ascended back into Insignia University¡¯s campus grounds, she muttered lifelessly, ¡°Bring me around for a spin.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Who gave you the confidence to make demands now?¡±

    Arthis fervently suppressed the desire to turn into a suicide bomber and die together with Qin Ye. Gnashing her teeth, she responded, ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll find myself a passable host!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t trust my judgment?¡±

    ¡°With that simplistic aesthetics of yours?¡± Arthis responded disdainfully.

    Qin Ye was in a good mood. Hell had just been formally established, and the mystery surrounding the Exalted Father¡¯s identity had also been resolved. There was nothing else within the City of Salvation that was holding him back. In one week¡¯s time, he would sneak back into Limbo and steal a nce at the fruits of hisbour.

    What¡¯s next?

    Oh¡­ I¡¯ll still have to be a good instructor and get by in the City of Salvation. Slowly but surely, I¡¯ll continue to develop and mature, until I finally be a peerless existence! Hehehe¡­

    The gods have descended! All hail the king!

    My appointment as an instructor couldn¡¯t havee at a better time!

    With bright spirits, he brought Arthis straight into the abandoned girls¡¯ dorms.

    It was still broad daylight right now. Thousands of students and teachers alike had been evacuated from Insignia University in the span of a few days¡¯ time. Everyone had been in a rush to leave, and the entire dorm reeked of a hasty retreat.

    ¡°I¡¯d considered this before¡­¡± Qin Ye looked at the mess in the room, and picked up a packet from the ground, ¡°I want to be an angel in my next life.¡±

    ¡°With long beautiful wings, and the freedom to lean close to the bosom of beautiful women. So¡­¡± He ced the packet beside the demonhead saber, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a chance.¡±

    Arthis nced at the bag of Souermei, ¡°Wearing wings and leaning close to women¡¯s hearts¡­ Would you believe it if I tell you that I¡¯m prepared to be cremated on the spot with you right now?¡±

    ¡°... Then how about this Peppa Pig pillow?¡±

    The image of a former Infernal Judge inhabiting a Peppa Pig pillow and conversing with a human on a daily basis was so beautiful that one could only tremble and shudder at the thought.

    ¡°Are you an idiot?¡±

    ¡°Dissatisfied? Then how about this? Pikachu?¡±

    ¡°Silly.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so difficult to please? How about this? Holy shit! A limited edition Teemo pillow? I can¡¯t give you this¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve got it! The Three Sword¡¯s Flower Rose! This is it!¡±

    Arthis couldn¡¯t even be bothered to respond to him any longer. Instead, she remained motionless in a cold and distant posture.

    Two hourster, Qin Ye was already tired and sweating profusely. He gritted his teeth and left the women¡¯s dorms, ¡°Can¡¯t you just lower your expectations a little bit? You don¡¯t want a mirror; you don¡¯t want a pillow; and you don¡¯t even want the bikini! Aren¡¯t you able to inhabit just about any physical object? Do you really have to be so picky?¡±

    Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°The precondition for my inhabitation is that it has to be something ordinary! What the heck is with that action figure with the spider costume on it?! Even if I¡¯ve been dead for hundreds of years now, I¡¯m still a woman! Do you understand? Woman!!¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated thoughtfully, ¡°So¡­¡±

    Arthis was afraid that he would say something that would prick her heart even more, so she quickly bit the bullet and gave him the lowdown, ¡°I¡­ need something pretty.¡±

    How much had it taken her to finally be released from the soul sphere? She no longer wanted to be trapped within something ugly and repulsive.

    She wanted to live freely as a woman!

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°This is a students¡¯ dorm after all. Where are we going to get some high quality goods like that?¡¯

    Arthis had also grown disheartened. This world is an evil ce. I should never have suggested that he find something for my inhabitation!

    It was foolish. Truly foolish.

    ¡°What¡¯s that ce over there?¡± Just as she was wallowing in her own thoughts of hopelessness, she suddenly noticed a small cottage by theke.

    ¡°That?¡± Qin Ye squinted his eyes, ¡°Zhang Linhua mentioned something about that before. I think it¡¯s¡­ an on-campus apartment for the children of rich families. The rent there is noughing matter.¡±

    Arthis heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°Let¡¯s head over there.¡±

    Before Qin Ye could respond, she added, ¡°You can only understand style with money. This term is still something that is quite distant to you. Anyway¡­ just trust me on this.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t have a choice. After all, he couldn¡¯t let Arthis inhabit his demonhead saber indefinitely either.

    When they entered the cottage, they discovered that it was simrly in a mess. There were even several pairs of branded leather shoesying around that the prodigal son who had been staying here clearly no longer wanted. He hadn¡¯t even bothered to pack them up properly.

    ¡°Your modern tastes are truly strange.¡± Arthis frowned at the room filled with discarded goods, ¡°There are so many things out there with thousands of years of history behind them, but you simply refuse to use those things. Instead, you prefer things that are japanese-style or european-style. Look, even the frame of the mirror has a carving of some wounded, half-naked disabled woman on it.¡±

    Qin Ye was equally disdainful of having to exin to Arthis what the Venus de Milo was.

    This was a generation gap.

    ¡°Take a look for yourself, and let me know if you see anything you like. I¡¯ll bring it over for you.¡± Qin Ye sighed and sank into the soft, lush sofa.

    It wasfortable.

    Arthis nced around. Then, her voice suddenly turned grave, ¡°Kid, there¡¯s¡­ someone here.¡±

    Someone?

    Qin Ye abruptly opened his eyes. Arthis¡¯ voice continued, ¡°I see someoneying on the bed, under the nket. I can see the hand.¡±

    A corpse?

    Qin Ye immediately rushed over and lifted the nket at one go. His expression of realization was incredibly delightful.

    It¡¯s truly someone¡­

    A silicone doll¡­

    It was an exquisitely made, life-size doll, made with the most advanced 3D modelling technology out there. The doll wore a traditional costume which was also of incredibly high quality. It was rather apparent that the owner of this ce clearly had a unique love for such things. The entire doll was practically in pristine conditions, without a single sign of damage anywhere.

    Is it really well-maintained¡­ or is he just simply unable to do it¡­ Gossipy thoughts immediately filled Qin Ye¡¯s mind.

    ¡°This costs well in the tens of thousands¡­¡± He eximed with resignation, and was about to turn around and shake his head, when he noticed that the demonhead saber had already flown over right beside him, and the golden soulfire was glowing brightly.

    Just as he was about to set the nket back down, Arthis suddenly cried out, ¡°Wait a minute!¡±

    Her voice was filled with a trace of joy for the first time, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°An intable doll?¡± Qin Ye responded in bewilderment, ¡°Eh, no. This might be a 100% silicone doll. It probably doesn¡¯t need inting¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll do.¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯d never thought I would see something so repulsi--... What did you say?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s tone of voice suddenly increased by three full octaves.

    Did I hear you wrongly?

    ¡°It¡¯ll do.¡± The demonhead saber tilted slightly to the side as though it were giving Qin Ye a baffled look, ¡°Its beauty is finally something that¡¯sparable with a tenth of my beauty, and the traditional costume that it¡¯s wearing is easy on the eyes as well¡­ Did you have something to say?¡±

    And there¡¯s still its function to consider?

    Pew! Qin Ye watched in stunned silence as the golden clump of soulfire floated out and shot into the silicone doll¡¯s forehead. His lips opened dryly for several seconds, before he finally found the words to express himself, ¡°Nothing¡­ it¡¯s a perfect choice¡­ perfect¡­¡±

    Shk¡­ Ten seconds after the soulfire entered the silicone doll¡¯s body, the sleeping doll slowly opened its eyes and sat up from the bed.

    Arthis looked at her newly acquired body, stretched her fingers and gave a gentle flick. A mirror in the corner of the room instantly shattered.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± The corners of the silicone doll¡¯s mouth curled up with a satisfied expression, ¡°The only gripe is that it¡¯s slightly too fragile.¡±

    The irony waspletely stifling!

    Qin Ye had never expected Arthis to pick the only object that Qin Ye had never even considered - it was the single, most humiliating option!

    Can you imagine a functioning silicone doll seated beside you, conversing with you on a daily basis?

    Can you imagine how a visitor would react when the first thing he sees is the life-size silicone doll?

    And it was a silicone doll that smelled of other men to boot!

    Generation gap¡­ this can only be exined by the generational gap¡­

    ¡°Is there still¡­ any room for discussion?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already decided on it.¡± Arthis¡¯ tyrannical disposition red up once more as she spoke imperiously, ¡°I¡¯m pleased¡­ And why are you stammering and stuttering? Be more straightforward! Act like a man!¡±

    Qin Ye gulped several times, before finally rolling his eyes with resignation, ¡°Let me¡­ leave you with a fewst words¡­¡±

    ¡°The first thing you should do every morning now is to pump yourself up.¡±

    1. This is a brand of leggings/stockings.

    2. This refers to a character in a Xianxia web novel.

    3. This makes reference to the ancient greek statue that was believed to depict Aphrodite.

 Chapter 98: The Sparring Competition

    <h4>Chapter 98: The Sparring Competition</h4>

    If he told Arthis that she was currently inhabiting a device of human convenience, she would probably fly into a fit of rage on the spot and dish out judgment upon him immediately.

    It would probably be prudent to find a good opportunity to gently break the news to her¡­ Generational gap is a scary thing¡­

    That said, even transporting Arthis back to the hotel was a problem.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t shameless enough to hail a taxi while carrying an intable doll. What if Arthis was ufortable and shifted slightly in the back seat, only to be noticed by the driver? Wouldn¡¯t he have to pat the doll and gently chide it, ¡°Behave yourself¡±? Or should he just knock the driver unconscious?

    Both options were undesirable, to say the least!

    Therefore, he took a suitcase and put Arthis in without another word. She was obviously dissatisfied, and keptining, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with carrying me around? It¡¯s your honour to do so!¡± ¡°Or are you questioning my choice in selecting this host of mine?¡± ¡°This beautiful body is more than a good match for you!¡±

    God damn it!

    That¡¯s right¡­ It¡¯s more than a good match for any person. This is practically a promiscuous body!

    When he finally arrived back at his room, he immediately saw thest person he wanted to see right now.

    Wang Cheng Hao''s trust in him bordered on fanaticism. He was seated on the bed, yingputer games right now. A pile of what remained of his KFC meal sat beside him.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Do you need any help?¡± As soon as he noticed Qin Ye carrying arge suitcase into the room, Wang Chenghao immediately jumped out of bed and ran over to him.

    ¡°No need.¡± Qin Ye calmly pushed his hands away, ¡°Have you done your revision in ordance with my instructions? I want you to go take the enrollment examination as soon as the Academy of Cultivators is open¡­ Hang on, can you stop making me worry about everything? It¡¯s exhausting being a father!¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± The tall and well-built Wang Chenghao scratched his hair and nced at the box with some measure of suspicion, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave, I guess?¡±

    ¡°Scram!¡±

    As soon as the door closed, he turned around and saw that the suitcase was already open, and its contents were missing. Qin Ye freaked out. Bloody hell! What¡¯s going to happen if someone in the hotel sees a device of human convenience walking around on its own?

    After taking a closer look, he noticed that Arthis was now sitting by the window sill and looking out with a look of mncholy.

    ¡°Come to think of it, it¡¯s been hundreds of years since I¡¯ve been to the mortal realm, let alone see and experience it with a physical body¡­ What are you doing?!!¡±

    Before she could even finish speaking, a nket was suddenly thrown over her head, and she found herself thrown under the bed.

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­ something tells me that you¡¯re courting death! Don¡¯t you dare think for a moment that I wouldn¡¯t dare to kill you!!¡± Arthis gnashed her teeth as she sputtered in rage.

    ¡°Granny. Oh, dear granny!¡± Qin Ye felt as though he had just picked up a huge burden. His forehead was percting with sweat as he desperately pleaded, ¡°Do you know how startling your appearances are right now? If you don¡¯t want the Special Investigations Department toe knocking on our door, please keep it down!¡±

    Arthis was silent for a few seconds, before quipping, ¡°Hasn¡¯t the City of Salvation revealed the truth of cultivators to the public? You could say that I¡¯m your puppet. You can say that you¡¯re from the lineage of puppet masters!¡±

    A puppet?!

    A lineage that uses silicone dolls as puppets?!

    Even if you don¡¯t care about your face, I do! Don¡¯t you know that I¡¯m an instructor right now?! An instructor!!

    Imagine this. Several yearster, an instructor at the First Academy of Cultivators points towards the honour roll of past instructors, exining to the students around, ¡°This is the esteemed Mr Qin, one of the first generation of instructors we¡¯ve had at the academy. He makes proficient use of silicone dolls¡­¡±

    The shamefulness of such prospects was off the charts!

    Yet, fraught with the considerations of preserving his own life, Qin Ye dared not exin the situation to Arthis. Instead, he anxiously held Arthis down and exined, ¡°It¡¯s like this¡­ you¡¯ve been out of touch with society for so long, and I feel it¡¯s high time you got back in touch with the times.¡±

    He wanted to praise himself for his quick-wittedness!

    ¡°So?¡± Arthis couldn¡¯t understand what he was getting at, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be taking me around to expand my dated perspectives?¡±

    Like hell I will!

    ¡°... Actually, there¡¯s an even better, morefortable way of doing so. For instance¡­ for instance¡­ for instance¡­ that¡¯s it!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to gather a few things. Stay right there, and don¡¯t move a muscle.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Qin Ye dashed out and scrambled about, and he quickly returned with Wang Cheng Hao''s Apple phone. He tossed it to Arthis and breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°Come, let me teach you how to use this¡­ Firstly, I¡¯ll teach you about the ssic tool, Penguin Chat.¡±

    Arthis suddenly perked up with interest.

    ¡°And this one is called Surprise Video Network. I¡¯ll register you as a user right now¡­¡± ¡°And on this website, you¡¯ll be able to search for anything you want¡­¡±

    Over the next two to three hours, he conscientiously exined everything to Arthis. By the time he was done and wiping the cold sweat off from his forehead, he discovered that Arthis was already indulging in the pleasures of surfing the web. She no longer even bothered to look up to acknowledge him. A mysterious, inexplicable smile crept up across his lips.

    Hahaha¡­ how dare an old granny like you butt heads with me?

    Just wait till I introduce you to Paypal and WeChatter on. I don¡¯t believe you¡¯ll ever step out of this door ever again!

    After all, the greatest distance in this world isn¡¯t the distance between you and I. Rather, it¡¯s the distance between the geek and the girl next door.

    No¡­ Hang on. This old monster possesses a perverted level of information retention,prehension, understanding and logic. This isn¡¯t enough to keep her addicted and obsessed¡­

    After a moment of deliberation, Qin Ye revealed a smile on his face that was akin to the refreshing spring breeze, ¡°Arti, what I¡¯ve just shown you are simply the basics. Moving on, let me exin to you the more advanced stuff.¡±

    Arthis, who had been immersed in surfing the inte, finally lifted her eyes from the screen for the very first time. Her eyelids were practically twitching.

    Chanel Tmall branded store¡­

    Should I say¡­ you¡¯re appealing to a woman¡¯s nature right now?

    ¡°Here, take a look at this¡­¡± He clocked on two links with a nebulous feeling in his heart, ¡°These are called video games. These are the most popr online games right now. This one is called LOL, and this one is called PUBG. And this is the Blizzard games tform. I¡¯ve downloaded everything for you. Go ahead and give them a shot¡­ And let me know if you don¡¯t have skins¡­ no, call Wang Chenghao instead. He¡¯ll purchase some for you.¡±

    Arthis nced at him suspiciously, ¡°Why do you seem particrly attentive and diligent today?¡±

    ¡°Nah¡­ Hahaha, when do I not pay attention to your needs?¡±

    When Arthis finally began to immerse herself in the treacherous depths of the inte for real, Qin Ye finally straightened up and rubbed his back.

    Everything¡¯s finally settled¡­

    Unfortunately, he had no idea that this was just the beginning of his worst nightmare.

    That night.

    ¡°Bloody hell! Why is his Lux so different from mine? And it seems like his damage is much higher than mine too!¡±

    The crackling sound of her keyboard made Qin Ye¡¯s temples throb uncontrobly.

    I¡¯ve forgotten that this idiot doesn¡¯t need sleep at all¡­ This has been a major blunder!

    ¡°Huh? How dare you cuss at me¡­ Get up! Hurry up and teach me how to type my response to them!¡± ¡°Howe this hero of mine can¡¯t kill anybody?¡± ¡°They¡¯re all calling me a noob? What¡¯s a noob? Did I use a skill wrongly?¡±

    2 a.m. Qin Ye covered his ears and wrapped himself under the nket like a cocoon.

    3 a.m. Qin Ye stared at the ceiling, restless but helpless.

    4 a.m. He picked up his nket and began to make his way to Wang Chenghao¡¯s room, only to be pulled back by Arthis, ¡°What does this rune do?¡±

    5 a.m. He looked at the dazzling screen with two deep, dark circles around his eyes, almost like that of a dead person.

    6 a.m.

    ¡°What a rubbish game.¡± Arthis sighed. With a tap of her silicone fingers, she finally shut theputer down. And then, she nced at Qin Ye, only to give him a double take as though she had just seen a ghost, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you asleep yet?¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°......¡±

    He rubbed his eyes despondently. The horrific experience tonight had etched in his very bones the true meaning of ¡°you reap what you sow¡±.

    ¡°Get some rest. I¡¯m going to watch some dramas now¡­ Come to think of it, we¡¯ve known each other for such a long time, and this is the first nice thing you¡¯ve done for me.¡±

    The next moment¡­

    ¡°In the cold nights, my thoughts for you run like the flowing rivers. Like the spring mud, you protect me¡­ The shallow years wash away streams of lovers. Their gentle fragrance flows with the waters¡­¡°

    AHHHHHHH!!!

    Qin Ye desperately mmed his head repeatedly into his pillow. I didn¡¯t say anything when an Infernal Judge yed games all night just like any other college student out there. But how can you be watching Eternal Love now?! How?!

    Time passed quickly. Qin Ye didn¡¯t dare to shift into Wang Chenghao¡¯s room for fear that the horror in his room would cause him even more trouble. The next night, he learnt from his mistakes and passed Arthis some top-of-the-line noise-cancelling headphones, before putting on earplugs and an eye mask. Things were finally better.

    On the third morning, just three hours into Qin Ye¡¯s sleep, Qin Ye woke up and stared at the ceiling with his bloodshot eyes. Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± He asked weakly.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± A calm but firm voice echoed from outside the door, ¡°I¡¯m the driver sent by the First Academy of Cultivators - the same one that has been driving you around. Do you still remember me?¡±

    Qin Ye yawned and reached into his pants to relieve his itch. Then, as he began to wash his face, he responded, ¡°Is something up?¡±

    There was silence for approximately three seconds.

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­ Did you forget that today is the day of the sparringpetition between the instructors of the various faculties? And after the sparringpetition, you¡¯ll be heading over to Insignia University¡¯s main campus located in Mount Tai City for further studies.¡±

    Qin Ye was just scrubbing his face when his hands paused for a moment.

    Ten secondster, he appeared at the door with a refreshed look on his face, ¡°Hope you haven¡¯t been waiting too long. Shall we?¡±

    The two soon boarded the car and zoomed off into the First Academy of Cultivators.

    As for Arthis?

    Hehehe¡­ I¡¯m afraid that only Professor Yang can awaken this youngdy from the mires of the inte.

    The car soon arrived at the First Academy of Cultivators. Qin Ye¡¯s gaze immediately turned heavy and solemn.

    The present First Academy of Cultivators had already begun to look somewhat imposing. There were military personnel patrolling the grounds everywhere, filling the entire academy with a somber atmosphere.

    The car drove straight into arge za. There were no banners or signs around. The cultivators present were all doing their own things and minding their own businesses. Apart from a fifty-meterrge arena that had been set up in the middle of the za, nothing else was around.

    It was a stone arena, akin to the ones used in ancient times. There were approximately one hundred people standing around, all of whom were stretching their bodies and warming up. The thick aura of Hunter-ss experts filled the entire campus grounds. Qin Ye could even sense the watchful eyes of an expert that was stronger than the Soul Hunter level scanning the area and its surroundings.

    Fifty percent of the country¡¯s elite Hunter-ss experts were all gathered at this ce!

    They were all bursting with fighting spirit and battle intent as they gathered in groups of three to five and made small talk with each other. If one just took a simple breath in this ce, they would immediately be able to sense the burning passion in the air.

    Qin Ye¡¯s weariness slowly faded away, and he calmly surveyed his surroundings. Then, he shifted to the sides and began to warm up his muscles as well.

    Thispetition was naturally of utmost importance.

    The First Academy of Cultivators hadn¡¯t mentioned anything explicitly. But they did say that it was a rankingpetition.

    And what did the ranking order rte to?

    Resources and authority!

    And this was what he had coveted when he had agreed to join the First Academy of Cultivators in the first ce!

    He had spent quite some time in Limbo with the Harken earlier. The fact that the sparringpetition was today proved that he had already been unconscious for several days after being washed back up to the mortal realm. Since that was the case¡­

    His eyes gleamed, ¡°The new Hell¡­ should already havepleted its initial expansion!¡±

    ¡°When thispetition is over, I¡¯m going to redeem all of my merit points. And as for Hell¡­ It¡¯s time to make the Yin spirits remember our presence again!¡±

    1. Tmall is an online shopping tform.

    2. Skins are basically cosmetic changes to the characters and/or weapons that you have in game to make you look cooler.

    3. A character from LOL.

    4. This is lyrics of the opening song yed at the start of the drama series entitled ¡°Eternal Love¡±

    5. Professor Yang would refer to a Song Dynasty poet.

 Chapter 99: The Unexpected (1)

    <h4>Chapter 99: The Unexpected (1)</h4>

    All of the Hunter-ss experts who were participating in this seemingly unceremonious tournament, whether young or old, were currently moving their bodies and warming themselves up. From time to time, one could even see the appearance of a copper bell or a talisman gleaming with the faint white luster of true energy.

    Listen up, gs! Today, I¡¯m going to open your eyes to the prowess of a true expert who has devastated nine hunting zones in just one night!

    Qin Ye turned around, only to realize that Su Feng was already standing behind him. Su Feng snapped his fingers.

    Su Feng didn¡¯t respond. Instead, he nced about his surroundings, and then leaned in closer as he whispered, ¡°Do you know why everyone is so enthusiastic about today?¡±

    ¡°Of course it has got to do with the fact that the ranking is rted to the eventual distribution of resources.¡± Qin Ye frowned at Su Feng, ¡°You didn¡¯te over just to apprise me of something so obvious, did you?¡±

    ¡°For instance, there is the system of tallying up and aggregating all credits and points awarded each and every semester; or the fact that points are given for every single assignment and taskpleted; or how the management keeps a close watch over each student¡¯s improvement under a specific instructor. And then, there¡¯s also the assessment of an instructor¡¯s performance on a daily basis, including their pedagogy, etc. The academy hasn¡¯t said a single thing about these things, but if you think that life is going to be a breeze in here, you can¡¯t be more off the mark.¡±

    Preferential treatment under these rules?

    ¡°For example¡­ there might be further discounts on the redemption of points from the school.¡±

    The academy only disclosed the big picture, conspicuously leaving out the finer details so that instructors would of their own volition dig and probe deeper at it. Those who chose to muddle through would never understand and be able to capitalize on the true rights and authority that came with their appointment as instructors.

    Su Feng¡¯s heart was swamped with bitterness.

    ¡°This is just a friendly reminder. Do bear in mind that the entire ze Squad is in the same faculty as you. Incidentally, we happen to be the only five within this faculty right now.¡± Su Feng muttered coldly.

    Su Feng added, ¡°Mr Qin, we know that you¡¯re strong, but we¡¯re still going to give it our all. And you don¡¯t have to worry about giving us face either.¡±

    Qin Ye shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll never resort to more than a single move if I can help it.¡±

    Xu Anguo calmly scanned his surroundings, and then unleashed his Hellguard-ss true energy across the entire za. Suddenly, the entire atmosphere was silent.

    ¡°There are no frills this time. No ceremonies, no salutations, and no audience cheering. Everyone can rx, because it¡¯s just an internalpetition. There¡¯s no need to take things too seriously. The only thing you¡¯ll need to do is to adhere to the rules of thepetition. It seems like everyone has already warmed themselves up, so¡­ bear with me as I exin the two simple rules of engagement.¡±

    He looked at Xu Anguo and smiled, ¡°Shall we begin?¡±

    Both men headed down the arena together. Then, just as they arrived at thest of the steps leading out of the arena, Xu Anguo suddenly added, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Qin Ye looked at the two old men before lowering his head once more.

    This was a universal truth he had already known for a long time. But with a life span as long as his, there was simply nothing worth fighting for.

    The two cunning old men had set up apetition withpletely no frills, be it decor, opening speech or any opening ceremonies.

    But¡­

    ¡°The students that are arriving possess differing sses of potential ranging from B to S¡­ If that were the case, would the lowest ranked instructor possibly be assigned S-ss students?¡± He chuckled coldly as he nced warily at the two cunning old men who were chatting andughing casually.

    Even teachers in ordinary schools knew that students with good grades were always assigned to be nurtured by the core group of teachers in their school. If that were already the case in ordinary school, wouldn¡¯t the situation be even worse in the cultivation world, which prided itself in thews of the jungle?

    Everything began to click in his mind, and he continued contemting the implications.

    Simple. Thispetition isn¡¯t just about one¡¯s individual prowess. Rather¡­ it also has got to do with the individual instructor¡¯s perceptiveness!

    After all, there were millions and millions of ghosts in the world, and one could only expect to meet the most unexpected and unpredictable of circumstances. Therefore, over and above mere individual prowess, perceptiveness was naturally one of the most fundamental traits of a good instructor. Only cultivators who possessed such characteristics could be entrusted with greater responsibilities in the future.

    ¡°It seems like this isn¡¯t done with the sole purpose of nurturing freshmen. The leadership has an intention of grooming instructors as well. This¡­ might very well be the Whampoa Military Academy of the Special Investigations Department and the SRC, isn¡¯t it?

    Qin Ye smiled faintly.

    The Special Investigations Department was his greatest asset and treasure trove in the reestablishment of Hell! He couldn¡¯t remain in the same ce for too long. After all, a person who had consumed the fungus of aeons was an undying person. At best, he could only stay for approximately five to eight years before he absolutely had to leave. Since that was the case, he had to make the best of the time to get as much out of them as he could!

    Even hamsters had their dignity!

    ¡°Without further ado, the first battle shall be between S9527, Instructor Qin Ye, versus S8541, Instructor Lin Han.¡±

    Qin Ye took a breath and made his way to the arena. Lin Han also walked over with a heavy expression on his face.

    Him?

    ¡°And Instructor Qin Ye is most well known for his amazing feat of breaching nine hunting zones in the span of just one night. His speed and efficacy are unprecedented. That¡¯s why he¡¯s been given the ssification of S-ss¡­¡±

    ¡°With that¡­ Begin!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ With a fine rustling sound, hundreds of copper coins suddenly flew out from his sleeves, spinning around in the air as they locked on their target - Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye smiled and curled his finger in provocation.

    It¡¯s just that everyone here¡­ is trash!

    Faced with such an opponent, Lin Han knew that there was no room for conserving his strength.

    A muffled sound rang out, followed quickly by the soft sound of grinding against the ground. Qin Ye had lifted his right arm to block the attack.

    Dead silence.

    ¡°No way¡­¡± Su Feng blinked vacantly, ¡°I¡­ did I just see an imposed S9527?¡±

    Nothing had changed about the arena.

    But¡­ he had just been sent flying a distance of well over ten meters! A deep crevice that was tens of meters long had appeared on the ground, and his right hand¡­ was burning! The pain was excruciating!

    How did¡­ the talents of the mortal realm suddenly be so strong?

    Lin Han blinked his eyes, and his face quickly turned red.

    ¡°Are you¡­ insulting me?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was filled with bitterness. Wait a minute¡­ can¡¯t you read the atmosphere right now?!! I¡¯m already doing my best! Why is this happening?!

    1. This is a famous military academy in China that is known to have produced many prestigiousmanders who had fought in many of China¡¯s conflicts in the 20th century.

 Chapter 100: The Unexpected (2)

    <h4>Chapter 100: The Unexpected (2)</h4>

    The golden whip cracked in the air with the faint trace of a dragon¡¯s roar. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened, and he immediately raised both of his arms to defend against the powerful oing attack.

    WTF?!

    ¡°Seven Stars shing Moon. Lin Han doesn¡¯t have any specific profession or belong to any particr lineage. Instead, he had by chancee across an ancient scroll that had probably been left behind by the Freedom Sect some 1,200 years ago. He¡¯s been practising it well.¡± Xu Anguo¡¯s smile had already vanished by now as he stared at the arena with a grim expression, ¡°S9527¡­ his abilities shouldn¡¯t only be at this level.¡±

    Both men exchanged nces as the same notion crossed their mind - Stagedpetition!

    Are they revolting?!

    They knew how strong Lin Han was. But the instructor who was rumoured to be the strongest contender among the younger generation of cultivators had actually been forced into a position where he could only defend himself feebly?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± A man standing beside her stared with his mouth agape, ¡°All I¡¯m seeing is that Mr Qin¡­ is struggling to even defend himself¡­¡±

    How did you even learn of a technique so bizarre?! This isn¡¯t like you! Hurry up and tear down your pretenses and let me see who exactly you are!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t dare to pull out his demonhead saber. He had earlier been able to bamboozle the ze Squad. But there were Hellguard-ss experts around, and he didn¡¯t know whether Zhou Xianlong was hiding in the shadows either. As long as he revealed even the slightest w in his cover, his hamster n would be thoroughly routed.

    With countlessplicated thoughts yed out in his mind. It wasn¡¯t that he was unable to defend against the oing attacks. However¡­ what would the academy think if a person like him who had breached nine hunting zones in a single night could only defend feebly against Lin Han¡¯s attacks? Wouldn¡¯t they assign him a team of C-ss gs and deprive him of the yet-unknown benefits apanying the top rankers of each faculty?

    As these thoughts continued to churn in his mind, the seven figures quickly arrived in front of him. Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and the entire arena exploded with a powerful st of true energy.

    Within moments, the white mist scattered, revealing the image of Qin Ye standing in the midst of everything with his hands in his pockets. His expression was as calm as the tall mountains, and he nced at Lin Han cidly, ¡°Is that all?¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ how can you be so ferocious? Are all of the geniuses in the mortal realm just like you? How were you unable to hurt the Hunter-ss evil ghost despite struggling against it for more than half an hourst time? This doesn¡¯t make any sense!

    ¡°Then¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s face remainedpletely calm as he literally disyed a smug expression that seemed to imply - Why don¡¯t you admit your loss?

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as he finished speaking, the true energy in the surroundings began to surge towards him like a sea of dragons. His camouge uniform fluttered with a loud bang.

    You¡¯ve still got more?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s cid expression froze on his face. A drop of sweat slid down his jaw. Then, just as the true energy around Lin Han¡¯s body was about to erupt, he calmly stated, ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ll admit my defeat.¡±

    With a smile on his face and a thousand swear words in his heart, Qin Ye nodded at Lin Han, ¡°Not bad.¡±

    Lin Han¡¯s chiseled appearances suddenly turned red as he gritted his teeth, ¡°I don¡¯t need you to go easy on me!! This doesn¡¯t count! Let¡¯s start over again!!¡±

    ¡°No. A loss is a loss. You¡¯ve won.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he walked off the arena, preserving his name and reputation.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± After a protracted period of silence, Li Tao suddenly quipped with a faint smile on his face, ¡°Instructor S9527¡¯s way of thinking¡­ is rather unique.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to maintain the smile on his face.

    Why should I be helping other Hunter-ss experts?

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye continued to maintain the same smile on his face.

    Lin Han¡¯s expressions were ashen. He stared at Qin Ye for a long time, before asking, ¡°Are you looking down on me?¡±

    Qin Ye revealed a perfect smile on his face, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s your saber? The saber that you used to y those Hunter-ss ghosts that night! You¡¯ve only used a tenth of your strength today! Stop trying to deceive me!¡±

    The smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face was perfect and wless. Then, as his smile faded, he muttered, ¡°Is there any meaning to this?¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    ¡°Blood must be spilled the moment it¡¯s unsheathed.¡±

    Lin Han had bitten down on his lips so hard that they were almost bleeding by now. Then he turned around and left without another word.

    Hoooooly shit¡­ I¡¯ve finally managed to muddle my way through¡­

    The five instructors were separated into two groups. The final slot was considered a walkover. In other words, he had to put on yet another perfect performance before he could put the unbelievably awkwardpetition behind him.

    The next round was a match between Su Feng and Li Runxue. Qin Ye would have topete with the loser of that match up. If he won that match, he would have topete with the winner of the very same match up, and then beat Lin Han, before he could finally face off against Zhuo Qinfen, the one who lucked out on the ballot with the walkover bracket.

    The battle between Li Runxue and Su Feng was far more exciting. Both of them knew each other¡¯s abilities inside out, and each and every move unleashed was aimed directly at the other¡¯s vitals. Their exchange was so zingly quick andden with such intense true energy that it thoroughly frightened Qin Ye.

    Why don¡¯t we have a ghost-yingpetition instead?!

    ¡°It was close.¡± Li Runxue made a polite fist-and-palm salute towards Su Feng. Her entire body was already covered in injuries. Su Feng shook his head weakly, adjusted his sses, and then turned to Qin Ye.

    Turn back around!

    I can tell exactly what¡¯s on your mind right now!

    Haha¡­ I refuse.

    ¡°When all of you die¡­ I¡¯ll be sure to have the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment waiting for you!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± Su Feng nodded his head.

    Qin Ye was nearly unable to maintain the smile on his face.

    Su Feng was much weaker than Lin Han, and Qin Ye stood a chance at victory if he fought for real. However¡­

    ¡°Instructor Qin, you¡­¡± Before Li Tao could finish speaking, Qin Ye calmly raised his hand and interjected, ¡°I admit defeat.¡±

    Su Feng propped up his sses and stared at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°No¡­ are you really not going to try? I¡¯m quite the easy picking. I¡¯m skinny and weak. Why don¡¯t you give it a shot? You might even be able to knock me over with a light push¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively, ¡°You¡¯re no match for me.¡±

    ¡°Principal, please make the announcement.¡±

    If the premise was that ¡°you¡¯re no match for me¡±, shouldn¡¯t the following statement be ¡°why don¡¯t you give up¡±?

    Was there something missing in causation here?

    Su Feng¡¯s face flushed red. This was the truth, and there was no room for any refutations.

    Qin Ye shook his head adamantly, ¡°Not interested.¡±

    But, to everyone else around, his words actually meant - I¡¯ve lost interest because you¡¯re all too weak.

    ¡°What else could it be?¡± A middle-aged man with a chiseled face shook his head, ¡°I¡¯d heard it from the horse¡¯s mouth that it had all been one single attack¡­ All of the Hunter-ss evil spirits werepletely obliterated with a single sh of his saber. None were spared at all. Otherwise, why else do you think the rest of thepetitors are all raring topete with him?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Another female instructor sighed, ¡°And one can only be this wild if he truly possesses the strength to back his ims.¡±

 Chapter 101: All-Out Attack! Pulverize!

    <h4>Chapter 101: All-Out Attack! Pulverize!</h4>

    It had been one hell of a morning. He even had to maintain a perfect, pristine smile on his face when it was finally announced that he was ranked fifth in the Faculty of Combat. It couldn¡¯t have been more heartbreaking!

    ¡°Didn¡¯t¡­ didn¡¯t you say that Emissaries of Hell possess the ability to naturally suppress opponents at the same level as they are? I didn¡¯t even face a single bit of pressure when expunging those Hunter-ss ghosts, so why do these acimed geniuses of the mortal realm fight as though they¡¯ve been possessed by the god of spring? And each one of them looked stronger than the other to boot!¡±

    ¡°Then how am I supposed to continue pretending to be happy in front of them in future?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s nerves immediately tensed up.

    Bloody hell. She¡¯s improving at light speed¡­ how can she understand such inte ng and learn to respond to it so quickly¡­

    ¡°The core purpose of the First Academy of Cultivators has always been to y evil ghosts. Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯re in the Faculty of Combat right now? Then you¡¯ll have plenty of relevant assignments in future to do just that. As soon as the academy sees your track record in that regard, nobody would be able to even point fingers at you any longer.¡±

    Arthis mmed on the keyboard in exasperation, ¡°Your main goal now is to survive, understand?! You¡¯re a husky hiding among a pack of wolves, so can you please be more conscious of your status? What are you doing drawing attention to yourself? Aren¡¯t you afraid of standing out a little bit too much? If you ask me, I think you¡¯ve done a swell job today.¡±

    Arthis finally lifted her eyes from the screen and thought for a moment, ¡°Well, it¡¯s not as though there¡¯s no way out of this conundrum¡­¡±

    ¡°Over time, they will naturally get to know you better¡­ including your track record against the ilk of ghosts. But before that happens, the academy will probably also implement other methods for their own grading and assessment purposes. For instance¡­ by mockup sses.¡±

    Arthis tapped lightly on her keyboard, ¡°None of you are teachers or instructors by profession. Even if you¡¯ve undergone some measure of training before, how could the academy possibly feel at ease entrusting their students to you? They¡¯re bound to engage in some ssroom observations like ordinary training institutions for you. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust the instructors. It¡¯s just that given the mortal realm¡¯s abilities right now, there¡¯s probably still a whole host of evil ghosts they haven¡¯t even heard about yet.¡±

    ¡°For instance, a parasitic spirit.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°It is born with a Yin vein and lives in thend of nine Yins. As soon as ghosts possess these parasitic spirits, they will even believe that the parasitic spirits are kindred spirits and continue to live together in the body of their host. Everything would be well and good while they remain hidden. But as soon as something triggers an outbreak, these parasitic spirits would at least be at the level of a malevolent ghast! When I was in office, I saw three such instances of outbreaks, each of which were ghosts at the incarnate revenant level. As soon as they appear, the vige that they were in waspletely obliterated, turning the surrounding area of a hundred mile radius into a nest of evil ghosts instantly.¡±

    ¡°And then there is the mother-and-child spirit, the nightmare spirit, etc. As long as you toss out some of these topics at random for discussion, you¡¯re bound to take the top spot regardless of how much ir the other instructors perform their sses with.¡±

    Hang on¡­ Isn¡¯t your level ofprehension simply astonishing as well¡­ Qin Ye gazed deeply at Arthis, somewhat regretting having ever opened the floodgates of the inte to her.

    Of course I do!

    Midnight.

    Qin Ye red at her, ¡°Let go.¡±

    In his disdain, Qin Yepromised by allowing Arthis to hold onto a corner of his clothes. He pulled out the other shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, took a deep breath, and everything went ck. By the time he came to his senses once more, he had already appeared in the center of a vast expanse ofnd.

    Thend was approximately three square kilometers in size. The tan-coloured ground was covered in cracks, and jade-greenherfire continuously spewed out of the cracks from time to time. It even emitted the faint traces of the mournful cries of Yin spirits. ck trees with scarlet leaves swayed gently on both sides, forming a scarlet forest.

    It was a pce.

    It was an ancient pce with ancient doors and windows. Looking through the windows, one could see that the inside of the pce was illuminated by candles frommps shaped like the Aurogon. More intricate sculptures of yakshas, rakshasas, Anitya Hellguards of the ck and White, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, were ced everywhere in an orderly manner. A table that was more than a hundred meters long sat squarely at the entrance of the pce, and there were over one hundred ck coloured chairs ced behind the same. The table was covered with a long white cloth, and the front of the table was separated into over a hundred columns by ck coloured wooden railings.

    A pair of couplets was affixed vertically just underneath the sign.

    And the second couplet read - Hath Hell spared any since ages past.

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± Arthis gazed at the couplets emotionally, ¡°It¡¯s been a long time¡­ since I¡¯ve seen these couplets.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expression turned somber as he sincerely gave a palm-and-fist salute to the pair of couplets.

    It didn¡¯t matter what kind of heinous crime one hasmitted, whether causing hurt or swindling and cheating others. It didn¡¯t matter that one was a sixty years-old man that was exempt from the reaches of thews. It didn¡¯t even matter that the police wanted to keep things under wraps and settle the matter privately.

    Either live a life that is beyond reproach, or suffer the consequences in the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment.

    Arthis responded, ¡°This is the first thing you¡¯ll see when you enter Hell. It¡¯smonly known as the Yin Pass. All Yin spirits, regardless of who or what they are, would invariably have to pass through this gate. Do you see the doors on the sides of the pce hall? That¡¯s an exit that is only for Emissaries of Hell. Apart from this ce, there is no other way of entering or leaving hell. This is an immutable rule of the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    It was as if he were blocked by an invisible wall, and he was simply unable to pass through it.

    ¡°Ox-Head and Horse-Face summons spirits, and the Emissaries of Hell guide them. As soon as the Yin spirits arrive in this ce, their names will again be cross checked against the records of the Book of LIfe and Death to verify whether any Emissary of Hell hasmitted malfeasance by reaping the spirit of one who wasn¡¯t ted to die.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Arthis replied affirmatively, ¡°Emissaries of Hell¡­ are no different from evil ghosts who have unlocked their capacity for conscious thought. You¡¯re the single exception. Apart from you, every single other Emissary of Hell is a ghost! In turn, ghosts who have unlocked their capacity for conscious thought are no different from human beings. Naturally, some of them will develop their own ways of thinking.¡±

    ¡°When the souls of the dead arrive at this ce, they would immediately regain their sanity and start lining up to enter. After that, they would traverse the Yin-Yang road, cross the skeletal bridge, until they arrive at the location where the ferryman awaits.¡±

    It shouldn¡¯t be like this.

    Arthis sneered, ¡°Even though this little plot ofnd has every right to be considered the new order of Hell in its entirety, its dominion only extends to an area the size of a vige within the City of Salvation. How often do people die in a single vige? It¡¯s absolutely normal if you don¡¯t see a single soul for several days on end.¡±

    Yet I¡­ could I really start by plundering the corner of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s treasury¡­ and eventually rebuild such a magnificent realm that Hell used to be?

    As though he suddenly remembered an important detail, he turned to look at Arthis, only to realize that Arthis was already smirking at him. With lips trembling, Qin Ye muttered, ¡°Speaking of which¡­ where are the other civil servants of Hell?¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell!!¡± Qin Ye nearly jumped at the statement, ¡°You¡¯re not going to ask me, a revered King Yanluo, to do the menial tasks of a civil servant, are you?!¡±

    ¡°First of all. Even though Hell¡¯s domain of influence extends to the size of only a single vige, the reestablishment of Hell is nevertheless something that all Yin spirits can sense. It is part of their instinct; it is a part of the Heavenly Dao. Therefore¡­¡±

    Arthis nodded affirmatively, ¡°All-out attack! Pulverize them!¡±

    1. A folk goddess worshipped in China.

    2. This was written in chinese inte ng that doesn¡¯t have quite the equivalent in english. The closest is perhaps l33tsp34k.

    3. The xiezhi unicorn is a chinese mythical beast that is known as a symbol of justice andw. Legend has it that it is often used in criminal proceedings when in doubt, and the animal would immediately know the innocent from the guilty, butting thetter with the horn on its head.

    4. These refer to a broad ss of nature spirits that are known to be benevolent, who are also caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth.

 Chapter 102: Iâ€™m Searching for Balance in Hell (1)

    <h4>Chapter 102: I''m Searching for Bnce in Hell (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye waspletely stunned.

    He looked at the registration desk that was long enough to seat well over a hundred Censors. And then he looked at the surrounding darkness around him, and his body trembled violently, ¡°Is it toote to resign now?¡±

    Boom!

    Before he could even finish speaking, one of the trees nearby suddenly copsed to the ground. Arthis waved her arm and revealed a splendid smile on her face, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    I guess¡­ that¡¯s not too possible right now¡­

    ¡°So¡­ I¡¯ll first have to find some trustworthy Yin spirits to act as the Death Inquisitor?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin as he gnashed his teeth.

    Just then, a thumping sound resounded throughoutnds.

    ¡°Oh, it seems that your very first clientele have just walked through the door.¡± Arthis eximed with delight and watched with interest as rows after rows of Yin spirits made their way through the boulevard towards the pce.

    What the hell¡­ Qin Ye took a nce and immediately scrunched up his face. What kind of ghosts are these?!

    Countless spots ofherfire floated out of the roiling Yin energy in the surroundings like fireflies in the night sky. Then, as soon as each spot ofherfire struck the ground, it immediately transformed into the figure of a startled soul.

    It waspletely different from what he had expected. Things werepletely in disorder. There were at least a thousand Yin spirits,prising both men and women alike. Some were employees wearing suits, carrying each their own briefcases, while most were old folks with a full head of white hair. All of them nced about their surroundings curiously, pointing at this and that. Some even appeared to be reaching into their pockets as they chattered with each other.

    What are they fiddling with in their pockets?

    Qin Ye clutched at his forehead in dismay. What else could they be thinking of doing apart from taking photographs of their surroundings to update their circles of friends?

    These Yin spirits were hardly disying any fear at all!

    In his imagination, he had expected rows after rows of Yin spirits, bound and strung together with ropes, heads hung low, silently following the lead of Netherworld Operatives and Soul Hunters. It was evident that the two rows of scarlet-leaved trees and the Hell notes flying throughout the skies were insufficient to create an atmosphere of anxiety and fear in the hearts of the Yin spirits. Should Iud them for living up to their name as the new generation of Yin spirits in Cathay?

    ¡°No¡­ why aren¡¯t they afraid at all?¡± Qin Ye shook his head with surprise, ¡°Did I not do a good job in designing Hell¡¯s ambience?¡±

    Arthis pulled a vaping device out of nowhere and took a puff from it, ¡°Honestly speaking, it¡¯s pretty well done. But the previous Hell was equipped with a surround sound system sponsored by the ck Mountain Group. The equipment was installed across every corner of Hell¡¯s Gate, and the total cost of such instation amounts to tens of millions. It was also equipped with ambience lighting worth tens of millions sponsored by the Painted Skin Group. And then, there was also the path that was constructed by the Dawn of Evil Construction Group¡­¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed the temples of his head, ¡°I understand now¡­ I¡¯ve got the set, but the atmosphere in Hell iscking because I¡¯ve got no ambient lighting, sound effects, and supporting actors, am I right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± Arthis spat out a puff of greenish blue vapor from her silicone lips as she swept a nce at Qin Ye, ¡°Without any Emissaries of Hell and their apanying suppressive effects around, how would these Yin spirits know what ce they¡¯re at? In their ignorance, they might even think they¡¯re the chosen ones in the Infinity Games.¡±

    ¡°... Are you even reading the Infinity Games¡­ should I be limiting your inte usage¡­¡±

    ¡°Be quiet and listen to me. Don¡¯t interrupt me with nonsense.¡± She rapped Qin Ye¡¯s head with her vaping device as she rolled her eyes at him, ¡°The main source of merit points for Emissaries of Hell isn¡¯t actually the purging of evil ghosts. Rather, ites from the assessment at the end of every ten-year cycle of an Emissary¡¯s assignment. At every such assessment, each Emissary stands to earn a tenth of the merit points required for his promotion to the next official rank. Do you understand now?¡±

    Qin Ye frowned and nodded his head.

    Arthis didn¡¯t have to make everything explicit. The implication of what she had said was essentially that even the esteemed King Yanluo had once started off as a mere vige official.

    Since he had already epted the tall order of rebuilding Hell from scratch, he would naturally have to take things one step at a time.

    And the first thing that he needed to do was to attempt to get in contact with the Yin spirits.

    Arthis swiftly leapt to the roof above with a quick flicker of her body. Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and a terrifying amount of Yin energy erupted from his body. He quickly transformed into his Soul Hunter state and sat on one of the chairs on the long table.

    ¡°How are you going to handle things?¡± Arthis gently rapped her silicone fingers that had been delicately painted with nail-polish on the roof rafters. Then, with a gentle smile on her face, she murmured to herself, ¡°Without the fearsome suppressive force of the collective Emissaries of Hell, these Yin spirits are truly carefree...¡±

    Qin Ye sat in the main hall with some measure of apprehension in his heart as he watched the throng of Yin spirits pour towards him. He took several deep breaths.

    ¡°Calm down¡­ calm down!¡± He patted his chest, ¡°Isn¡¯t it all about putting on a front, and then executing the usual routine? I can do it¡­ When ites to pretense, I¡¯m practically second to none!¡±

    Approximately half an hourter, all of the Yin spirits finally made their way towards the ptial gate. They were immediately greeted by the two striking words on the signboard - ¡°Hell¡¯s Gate¡±. As soon as they read the pair of couplets, the gaze in their eyes became iparablyplex. All of the Yin spirits quickly grew sullen and silent.

    Even though there was already a cid expression on his face, his heart was still incredibly antsy.

    Damn it¡­ Is this really a job that a newbie Emissary should be doing?!

    There was silence everywhere. The only sounds were that of Hell¡¯s notes fluttering endlessly in the air. After an inordinate amount of time, the sounds of soft discussions began to buzz from the gathering of Yin spirits once more. Finally, an elderly Yin spirit was selected by the others to be their representatives, and he slowly walked forward with the aid of his walking stick.

    Their eyes met, and the old man¡¯s heart was stricken with a chilling sensation.

    The entity in front of him wasn¡¯t a human at all. His irises were ck, while his pupils were white. He had a full head of white hair. He immediately recalled the two sprawling words on the signboard at the entrance to this ce, and he shuddered and knelt down with a loud thud, ¡°My lord¡­ is this¡­ Hell?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice was t, yet it reverberated endlessly through the hall, ¡°You¡¯re all already dead.¡±

    The old man trembled as he crawled two steps forward. When he raised his head again, his white hair had already be disheveled. His lips trembled as though he was suffering from stroke, and he choked up, ¡°My lord¡­ I¡­ I¡¯m Huang Zhengweng, the thirty-fifth wealthiest man in Insignia Province. If¡­ if you could just allow me to return to the mortal realm¡­ I¡¯m willing to pay any price, no matter the cost!¡±

    ¡°Yes! My lord! I beg of you! I don¡¯t want to die!¡± ¡°My lord! Please spare us! My daughter is still waiting for me at home!¡± ¡°My lord, have mercy!¡±

    ¡°Silence!!!¡± The incessant moring at the front of the pce was no different from a thousand gaggling ducks. It was so noisy that Qin Ye¡¯s head spun with giddiness.

    But as soon as he bellowed for silence, every single Yin spirit shut their traps immediately.

    ¡°Life and death are all matters that ord with the flow of destiny. How could Hell countenance such shameless haggling? Where do you think you are? A market?!¡±

    Arthis raised her eyebrows curiously, but said nothing.

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± A scarred man stepped out from the crowd. There was regret written all over his face, ¡°Is this¡­ really Hell?¡±

    ¡°What do you think? Do you think this is the Lord¡¯s Game?¡± Qin Ye sneered.

    The big man gritted his teeth and steeled his heart, ¡°Is it true that¡­ those who have sinned in the mortal realm¡­ will all descend into the depths of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishments, before entering the six paths of reincarnation?¡±

    As he spoke, many people standing around him immediately gasped and took several steps back.

    Qin Ye gazed coldly at him, but remainedpletely silent.

    This was a normal question. But it was also tricky to respond to.

    He didn¡¯t have anyone under him right now! The future Yama-King had to do everything himself. Yin spirits weren¡¯t under any suppressive effects, and they all had a mind of their own. The six paths, the Ten Abyssal Courts, and the Eighteen Abysses of Punishments were all yet to be constructed. He didn¡¯t even know where the Book of Life and Death was, and he would have no means of verifying the merits and transgressions of these people during their time in the mortal realm. Where was he going to hold them?

    It suddenly dawned upon him the true implications of what Arthis had been saying earlier.

    This was none other than a test for a newly-minted official of Hell. It was to test the level of control he had in the process of establishing the new order of Hell from scratch.

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± The burly man was ostensibly nervous. Yet there was also some measure of madness in his hoarse voice, ¡°Is it?¡±

    ¡°There are some special circumstances in Hell right now.¡± After deliberating for a long time, Qin Ye decided that he would still reveal the truth to all the Yin spirits around. It was impossible to keep things under wraps forever. Furthermore, these were a thousand Yin spirits¡­ even he didn¡¯t have the confidence in taking down the entire lot of them. Qin Ye continued, ¡°Hell is in a state of disrepair. We will need everyone¡¯s cooperation to rebuild Hell.¡±

    Up on the roof, Arthis let out a long sigh.

    He¡¯s still far too rough around the edges.

    Certainly, Granny Meng had undoubtedly picked the right candidate for the job. He was the only one who had any hope of aplishing the tall order that was to rebuild Hell from scratch. But at the same time, he also possessed a fatal character w.

    It was precisely because he had consumed the fungus of aeons that he had steered clear of stepping into the mortal realm¡¯s high society. As a result, Qin Ye didn¡¯t have a single clue of how to handle even a vige¡¯s affairs, much less knowledge of governance of an entire kingdom!

    Just like now. He had just been forced to reveal his bottom line. Arthis could already predict that things were not going to go well today.

    ¡°How can you be speaking like that with Yin spirits who still have the memories from their past lives? How is this different from negotiating with a living person¡­¡± Arthis remarked softly, ¡°The human heart is the most unpredictable thing. It might be easy to deal with a single person, but as soon as they gather in groups of tens or even hundreds, everything bes aplete enigma¡­ I sincerely hope that you¡¯ll forever etch this painful lesson today to the deepest parts of your heart.¡±

    ¡°Rebuilt? Broken?¡± Just as the burly man heaved a sigh of relief, a bespectacled, middle-aged man suddenly eximed, ¡°Rebuild¡­ that means Hell is no more? Then where are we going to stay? And are we¡­ still going to be involved in the construction?¡±

    ¡°My lord.¡± A woman asked aloud, ¡°I haven¡¯tmitted a single sin in my past life. Do I have to participate in the construction works as well?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t Hell supposed to be a ce where good and evil are rewarded ordingly? I¡¯m just an innocent citizen!¡±

    ¡°Insolent!!¡± Qin Ye bellowed. His thunderous voice echoed throughout the hall. It suddenly dawned on him how his interactions in this ptial hall was a glimpse to the life of a lord of the entire realm.

    tter¡­ All of the Yin spirits immediately knelt down like quails. But upon closer inspection, each and every Yin spirit had a different expression on their faces.

    Every single Yin spirit had the same look of fear and apprehension in their eyes. But apart from that, each of them presented themselves with a mix of other emotions hidden beneath that surface. Some were delighting in Hell¡¯s misery; some were contemting something, while others kept stealing nces at Qin Ye. And there were yet some who were even gnashing their teeth.

    The tension of extreme fear and apprehension were like a single tightrope. What Qin Ye had to do was to keep sufficient tension in it, yet prevent it from snapping altogether.

    ¡°How dare you make such a racket in Hell. Are you tired of living?¡± Qin Ye swept a cold gaze across each Yin spirit, as though brandishing his saber menacingly. Not a single person dared respond to him.

    Just then, Arthis¡¯ soft voice broached a suggestion to him, ¡°You can order them to explore uncharted grounds, level forests and even construct buildings. Kid, this is only the first batch of Yin spirits. There will be more in future. If you just leave them idling around alone like this¡­ something massive will happen sooner orter.¡±

    Qin Ye had a bad premonition of what she was about to say, ¡°For instance?¡±

    Arthis chuckled, ¡°Keke¡­ what do you think will happen when you have a gathering of Yin spirits who arepletely unrestrained, and yet have maintained the memories of their past lives?¡±

    Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air.

    Mutiny¡­

    Mutiny of spirits!

    Especially since he¡¯s the only Emissary of Hell in this ce!

    In the worst case scenario, the newly established Hell might quickly experience an upheaval, and the mutiny of innumerable spirits would seek to overthrow him and appoint a new leader in his stead!

    1. A chinese novel about a parallel world.

    2. Yet another chinese novel.

 Chapter 103: Iâ€™m Searching for Balance in Hell (2)

    <h4>Chapter 103: I''m Searching for Bnce in Hell (2)</h4>

    ¡°No¡­ Once themunications hall has been built, they will manufacture a type of specialty talisman that can be pasted on the Yin spirit¡¯s head when Emissaries of Hell are reaping souls. That way, the Yin spirits that arrive in Hell won¡¯t be able to remember anything from their past lives.¡± Arthis continued cidly, ¡°But rather than caring about the future, you might perhaps want to look at the issue before you right now.¡±

    Qin Ye looked at the gathering of Yin spirits below with a throbbing headache. What do I do? What should I do now?

    ¡°There are a thousand things in Hell that are waiting to be done right now. All iing Yin spirits must participate in the construction works of Hell. But fret not, as soon as these construction works are done, everyone will be duly rewarded for theirbour and time.¡±

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Arthis sighed and sat up.

    It was because the Yin spirits below hardly revealed any look of gratitude in their eyes at all. In fact, whenever their eyes met, he could see a look of disbelief undergirding their respective gazes.

    ¡°My lord.¡± Before he could finish speaking, the bespectacled middle-aged man stood up and asked respectfully, ¡°Does every door leading to Hell need to be rebuilt?¡±

    ¡°... Then¡­ What about the other officers? Are they not going to chip in?¡± The bespectacled middle-aged man revealed an ever more respectful smile, ¡°I used to be a civil servant from East Garden City. So what you¡¯re saying absolutely rings a bell in my heart.¡±

    Although he had a wealth of life experiences under his belt, the gap between seeing and actually doing was nevertheless something that couldn¡¯t be bridged so easily.

    ¡°So, there¡¯s only you¡­¡± The burly man from earlier stood up with a menacing smile on his face, ¡°Bloody hell! I¡¯d still been worried about the six paths and the Eighteen Abysses and what-not. Screw it all!¡±

    As the burly man spoke, over a hundred others immediately stood up together with the man. The gazes of the other Yin spirits gleamed brightly, but they were still somewhat hesitant.

    ¡°Perhaps we might even do better than him and get promoted even more quickly.¡± A youth with golden-dyed hair gazed at the pce hall with excitement as he rubbed his hands together with glee.

    ¡°What are we all still waiting for?!¡± The burly man with a menacing expression pointed at the pce hall and yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t you see? There¡¯s nobody else in Hell right now! Take your seat, everybody! We are the fabled Anitya Hellguard of the ck and White that we often see on television! What are we afraid of?!!¡±

    The entire scene immediately turned chaotic.

    ¡°You were too soft.¡± Arthis bent her beautiful, slender silicone legs and gently rubbed them against the roof rafters, ¡°You have no grasp of the minds of these Yin spirits. But that¡¯s fine. This is a situation that almost all Emissaries of Hell have gone through before.¡±

    ¡°This is considered a Yin spirit riot. This is still considered one that is rtively small-scaled. One on arger scale would be considered a Yin spirit rebellion. And one that is yet on arger scale than that is called a Yin spirit insurgency. There have only been two insurgencies and five rebellions across the entire history of Hell. Riots ur approximately once every hundred years. You can¡¯t afford to rest on yoururels right now¡­ after all, what you¡¯re doing is seizing time from the Yin spirits right now. As soon as you¡¯re unable to contain the riots, then¡­ your time as a Yama-King would naturally havee to an end.¡±

    Boom!!!

    ¡°Open up!! Let us in!!!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no one in there anyway! Why don¡¯t you let us help you?!¡± ¡°Open up! Release us! Aren¡¯t you afraid we¡¯ll report your abusive ways to your superiors?!!¡± ¡°You¡¯re irresponsible, and you¡¯ve failed to satisfy our requests. You¡¯ll be removed from office in no time!! Open up!¡±

    ¡°The disappearance of both fear andw have caused the tightrope of tension in their hearts to snappletely.¡± Qin Ye murmured and nodded his head thoughtfully, ¡°I¡¯ll remember this lesson.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly and snapped his finger. With a loud snap, the barrier of white light immediately vanished without a trace.

    The screaming, shouting and moring quickly faded away into a pin drop silence. And then, everyone slowly began to retreat in fear.

    The miserably pale de was immting with gloomyherfire. He pped on the table and leapt to the front of the partition railings.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been far too¡­ soft on you.¡±

    Whoosh!! The effects now were vastly different from when he used it in the mortal realm. The casual sweep of his saber had caused the entire realm to echo with a soft buzzing sound, while countless Yin spirits were immediately drawn into the demonhead saber like a tsunami of Yin energy. A jet ck de light that was well over ten-meters tall had just shot out from Hell¡¯s Gate and rushed straight towards the entrance of the pce hall.

    At least one hundred Yin spirits had perished with that one single strike.

    ¡°Early on.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he walked out. Wherever he passed, the remaining Yin spirits would all give him a look of abject incredulity and disbelief, before turning their attention to the deep, dark, gaping hole in the ground. Their eyes widened, and they would gasp as they parted ways to make passage for him.

    There was not a single peep of sound right now.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you always been saying that Yin spirits would retain the memories of their past life unless Emissaries of Hell escort them to Hell? But¡­ aren¡¯t I the only remaining Emissary of Hell in this ce?¡± Qin Ye rested the saber on his shoulder and scanned the scene. Not a single Yin spirit dared to look him in the eye right now. Wherever his gaze went, the corresponding Yin spirits would immediately lower their eyes.

    ¡°Remember, Hell¡­ is a realm of its own. You¡¯ve established Hell, so you can naturally say that you¡¯re the creator of an entire realm.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re capable, you might even be able to wage divine war against the otherherworlds and subjugate all underworlds under your Hell. At that time, you might even beparable with the true gods of legends, Jesus, or Pangu.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. He already understood everything.

    The number of Yin spirits who bore each their own ways of thinking was only going to grow. If therees a point where their numbers grew quicker than the rate at which Qin Ye could purge them, they might very well organize their own government. At that time, who would be considered the ruler of Hell?

    ¡°I¡¯ve still got lots to learn, huh¡­¡± He slowly walked forward and made a grasping motion with his hand. The bespectacled man flew over andnded on his knees in front of Qin Ye.

    Qin Yeughed.

    Fwoosh¡­ The saber passed through the man¡¯s body without any sign of resistance.

    ¡°Anyone else?¡± He slowly turned around and slowly swept his gaze across the entire crowd. Everyone, including the burly man with the menacing expression and the muscr man, had trembling lips at this moment.

    ¡°Whoever told you that you could haggle with an official of Hell?¡±

 Chapter 104: Iâ€™m Searching for Balance in Hell (3)

    <h4>Chapter 104: I''m Searching for Bnce in Hell (3)</h4>

    The demonhead saber dragged along the ground with a grinding sound that cut through the silent and oppressive atmosphere, causing hundreds of Yin spirits to tremble all over.

    ¡°Who gave you the gall to cause such a ruckus in front of Hell¡¯s Gate?¡±

    ¡°Do you think Hell is the same as the mortal realm?! Do you really think I need to discuss human rights with you?!!¡±

    His voice rose sharply as he swung his demonhead saber once more. The main culprits leading the riot, including the muscr man and the burly man with the menacing expression, were instantly reduced to wisps of Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the surroundings.

    ¡°It¡¯s still too soft.¡± With a light flick of her wrist, the demonhead saber flew over to Arthis¡¯ hands. She smiled faintly as she nced at everyone.

    Silence.

    The Yin spirits were still shuddering uncontrobly. Then, still with a smile on her face, Arthis gently swung the demonhead saber.

    BOOM!!!

    The movement was light.

    But the air in the area suddenly felt incredibly dense and heavy. All of the Yin spirits who sensed this immediately felt their hairs stand on end. And then, an overwhelming pressure instantly filled the entire realm!

    It was the disy of an Infernal Judge¡¯s might!

    In the very next second, hundreds of miserable screams rang out, and countless Yin spirits vanished, one after the other. Hundreds and hundreds of ghastly soulfires floated up into the sky and shot into the pce hall. Within moments, the entire pce hall was brightly illuminated with soulless green lights! Hundreds of ancientmps were suddenly set alight all at once.

    The crowd grew sparse and empty.

    ¡°Remember this.¡± Her voice was calm and cid, as though what she had just done was something she had already grown used to, ¡°There is only one lord and master over thesends.¡±

    ¡°Him! He is your lord and master.¡± She pointed at Qin Ye, ¡°Those who dare disobey this cardinal rule shall be killed on sight.¡±

    ¡°This is thew of thends.¡±

    ¡°Do you understand?!!¡±

    Herst three words caused the all of the new Hell to quake violently. Those who remained were the Yin spirits who didn¡¯t participate in the earlier riot at all. They remained prostrated on the ground, trembling as they responded at the top of their voices, ¡°Understood!¡±

    Their voices even carried traces of weeping.

    ¡°This is the bottom line.¡± Arthis continued cidly, ¡°We tried to be nice, but you refused to listen to us. Do you really think we need to be discussing thew with you?¡±

    ¡°Down here, he is thew. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯d been the richest man on earth while you had been alive, or if you were the provincial governor or the book keeper. As long as you¡¯re here, you would be wise to revere us.¡± She returned the saber to Qin Ye, ¡°Let me demonstrate how you should rule this ce. The next time is all yours.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and stepped back. Arthis¡¯ coat fluttered with thehergale as she swept an icy gaze across the remaining Yin spirits, ¡°Now, I want all those who used to be professionals in drafting and designing to step out.¡±

    The Yin spirits exchanged nces, but nobody stepped out.

    ¡°None?¡± Arthis¡¯ voice remained unchanged as she continued, ¡°Then I want those who had previously started their own businesses that were rted to the construction industry to fall out.¡±

    Still no one.

    Arthis raised her eyebrows, ¡°Those who have in their lifetime worked in governmental agencies, or done work rting to sub-district or district agencies, fall out now.¡±

    The Yin spirits shuddered uncontrobly. Ten secondster, five figures stood up shakily.

    ¡°You guys, you guys and you guys.¡± Arthis gesticted with her hands, dividing the remaining crowd of Yin spirits into five different groups, ¡°Sixty in a group, each led by one of you. Clear thends.¡±

    Clear thends?

    The yin spirits looked at each other in dismay, and a Yin spirit who appeared to be in his fifties politely asked, ¡°M-My lord¡­ how should we clear thends?¡±

    Arthis drew a circle with her fingers, ¡°I want you to cut down all the trees and tten the ground within a three kilometers radius around Hell¡¯s Gate! We will bring with us specialized equipment the next time we return. The interim period is for you to organize yourselves and coordinate your manpower. If something like this happens again¡­ or if I see any of you skiving off¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A silenthergale swept through the area, causing all of the soulfires alit in the pce hall to flicker gloomily. Arthis muttered icily, ¡°Then¡­ none of you shall remain alive.¡±

    She smiled faintly, and her voice softened once more, creeping into the ears of the Yin spirits like a marrow-piercing chill, ¡°And, by this, I mean ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. I guarantee that not a single modicum of your soul will be left when I¡¯m done with you.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what you need to do?¡±

    ¡°Understood! My lord, we understand everything!¡± ¡°My lord can rest easy. We willy all the groundwork and organize our manpower ordingly!¡± The five leaders who had earlier been picked out immediately replied desperately.

    As Arthis led Qin Ye back into Hell¡¯s Gate, not a single one of the Yin spirits that remained dared even take a peek at them.

    They were afraid.

    They were truly afraid. The ruler of Hell was far more terrifying than the authorities of the mortal realm. In fact, it was so terrifying that there was hardly any room for negotiations at all.

    Refusal?

    Death.

    ¡°Remember, kill all who refuse to obey your rules. Are you afraid that you won¡¯t have enough Yin spirits? As long as humans remain on earth, there will only be more and more Yin spirits in Hell.¡± As they entered Hell¡¯s Gate, Arthis continued exining earnestly, ¡°All Yin spirits across Cathay would have sensed the reestablishment of the new Hell. Not all would know the exact location to the new Hell, but those who can locate this ce based solely on their intuition wouldn¡¯t be few in number either.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered. Arthis didn¡¯t make everything explicit. She appeared to be hinting that it was fine no matter how many Yin spirits Qin Ye killed. But how could he be oblivious to the hidden implications behind her words?

    The first decree he had ever issued in Hell had already resulted in a small riot. If the construction works stagnated, yet more and more Yin spirits continued pouring into Hell, things would at some point eventually reach a critical mass. At that point in time, Qin Ye might not even be able to call Hell his own anymore!

    Manpower! Resources! These were the two things he needed most right now.

    It was only after taking on the job proper that he realized how daunting the task was for a newly minted construction developer to earn one hundred million.

    In hindsight, every single question that Arthis had ever asked before had been exactly on point. The most important resource for the establishment of any city is manpower. And then, it would be the basic necessities of food, clothes and housing. If the living conditions were pallid, the ghost citizens would never be willing to cooperate with him and see through the revivification of Hell.

    Qin Ye nced at the groups of Yin spirits outside who were deep in discussion and sighed weakly, ¡°We¡¯re at the nascent stages of establishing a new city, and the first priority is to resettle the Yin spirits. In order to do so, we need to first prepare thends. And if we are to prepare thends, we will first need an engineering team and equipment¡­ logging machines, excavators, shovellers, cranes¡­ how much are things going to cost?!¡±

    ¡°Hang on¡­¡± Arthis interjected with amazement, ¡°Automatic logging machines? Excavators? Cranes? What are these things that I don¡¯t know about?¡±

    ¡°Ahh¡­ These are machines with arge saw in front, and the operator would sit in the control booth and press a button to chop down a tree. It¡¯s quick and simple¡­ you wouldn¡¯t be oblivious to the existence of these machines, would you?¡±

    Qin Ye looked at Arthis with some measure of astonishment, while Arthis stared back at Qin Ye with widened eyes. Secondster, she hid her embarrassment and coughed lightly, ¡°I see that there are indeed some small differences from society back then, when one hundred thousandbourers would have to be mobilized all at once¡­¡±

    Small differences?

    ¡°Can I just suggest that you refrain from chasing dramas and serials all the time, and use the inte to keep up with the times a little bit more¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point!¡± Arthis cut him off, ¡°The main point is¡­ there¡¯s no longer any worry as to manpower. There¡¯s a boom in the construction industry right now, and approximately six in every ten jobs rte to construction in some way or another. It won¡¯t take long before you¡¯ll have sufficient manpower with the relevant experience to form a proper construction team. However--!¡±

    She drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°Few people in modern day society possess the requisite expertise in ancient architecture.¡±

    ¡°Hang on.¡± It was Qin Ye¡¯s turn to be baffled, ¡°Ancient architecture?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Arthis raised her eyebrows quizzically, ¡°Do you think that the buildings in Hell are to be constructed in the same manner as the buildings in the mortal realm these days? Build a structure, hang up a sign, and everything works fine and dandy? No, every building in Hell is also a magic tool replete with the inscriptions of formation arrays flowing through its inner workings and foundations. In other words, over and above executing the works in ordance with the blueprints, you¡¯ll also need to consider how to embed the inscriptions of the formation arrays within the blueprints of the buildings themselves. Why do we need Yin spirit stones? It¡¯s precisely because these spirit stones are what powers these formation arrays.¡±

    ¡°If youpare modern architectural blueprints with ancient ones, you¡¯ll notice that they are fundamentally different on a structural level. And we can¡¯t just recycle old blueprints either. You¡¯re currently faced with a situation where a Yin spirit riot could break out at any time. Take a look at Hell¡¯s Gate. It possesses the ability to restrain a million Yin spirits. Do you want these buildings that you¡¯ve painstakingly constructed to change hands at once with the passage of a single riot?¡±

    Qin Ye looked at the sky with a heavy sigh in his heart.

    Why are things always soplicated¡­

    There were so many things to be done right now. Yet the chaos and disorder in Hell made it impossible for him to find a proper starting point. He massaged his temples, pulled out a sheet of paper nearby and gnashed his teeth as he began to list down the things he needed to do, ¡°Design institute - architectural design drawings.¡±

    His penmanship was decent. He massaged his temples as he kept going, ¡°Excavator, logging machine, talented ghost engineers, construction teams¡­¡±

    ¡°And we need a quantity surveyor as well. Even if we have the blueprints, how much manpower do we need? How much wood, tiles and other resources? Oh, that¡¯s right, there¡¯s also the issue of temporary lodging for the Yin spirits. If you don¡¯t at least satisfy their basic needs, you might as well start bracing yourself against their riots already¡­¡± Arthis supplemented as she watched him grit his teeth and record everything in the list.

    ¡°Is there really no possibility of resignation right now? I feel too inadequate for such immense responsibility as this¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you think there¡¯s any meaning talking about these things now?¡± Arthis also felt the onset of a splitting headache. It was only when she got down into the nitty gritty that she discovered truly how difficult it was to start everything from scratch.

    The discussion went back and forth, the duo continued making their list for the next half an hour. Finally, they managed to iron out the specifics, including the manpower and machines they needed for the start. Qin Ye had filled out a few sheets of paper by now, and he could feel his eyes twitching uncontrobly.

    That said, even though things were incrediblyplicated, the silver lining was that they had finally delineated the core concerns from the secondary ones.

    Number one - machinery. Number two - design drawings.

    As long as he remained unable to fulfill these two prerequisites, he might as well call GG when the Yin spirits piled in.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡± Qin Ye muttered with a sad frown on his face, ¡°We can go online and check out how much these machines cost. Also, even if we¡¯re able to purchase them, how are we supposed to deliver them to hell?¡±

    ¡°Burn them. I¡¯ll draw up some talismans and paste them on the machines. Then, when you burn them, the machines will arrive straight in Hell¡­ Oh, that¡¯s right. You¡¯ll still need to rent an incineration nt. Quick, add it to the list¡­¡±

    ¡°... I should never have asked this question!¡±

    He pulled out his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. Just as he was about to infuse it with Yin energy, he suddenly paused. Then, he quickly walked out of Hell¡¯s Gate and made his way towards the edge of thend.

    The area where the new Hell was located was like a suspended mountain. It spanned an area of five square kilometers, and everything beyond the confines of thend mass was a sea of roiling Yin energy. The sea of Yin energy was marrow-chilling cold and filled with profound resentment, and it wasn¡¯t something that Qin Ye could enter right now. Fortunately, the path that led to the new Hell allowed him to walk right up close to the edge of thend mass.

    Thus, Qin Ye walked to the edge and peered down cautiously.

    The massive Harken was located just thousands of meters below him, snoring ever so slightly as it fought to recover from its wounds. Furthermore, Qin Ye could see with his naked eye a massive pir of Yin energy pouring out from the Harken¡¯s body and straight into the new Hell. Wisps of frigid Yin mist continued to disperse into the surroundings with every minute and every second that passed, and thend masses of Hell continued to expand outwards - slowly, yet with immutable tenacity.

    A sea of Fragrances of Lingering Souls bloomed brilliantly around the Harken like a billowing ck ocean, swaying ever so gently with every heavy breath of the divine beast.

    It was only then that Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief. With that reservation finally out of his mind, he transformed into a spot of jade-green soulfire and shot straight back up to the mortal realm.

    1. GG means ¡°good game¡±, and is generally announced when a team concedes defeat in a MOBA game.

 Chapter 105: To Mount Tai

    <h4>Chapter 105: To Mount Tai</h4>

    The duo opened their eyes wearily at the first light of dawn.

    Weary.

    Swamped with lethargy, Qin Ye switched on hisputer and noticed that it was already 8.00 a.m. He sighed and yed a soft tune from hisptop, and Arthis immediately eximed, ¡°Are you chasing drama serials as well?¡±

    ¡°... No, I¡¯m just expressing my current emotions right now¡­¡± Qin Ye typed the keywords despondently on his keyboard and began to scroll through the search results.

    The firewall preventing ess to the inte was still active within the City of Salvation. However, technology was amazing, and the government was able to grant ess to certain games, movie streaming sites, and even some knowledge-based forums. However, all ess to sites containing videos and posts rting to the supernatural remainedpletely blocked. Furthermore, those with IP addresses originating from the City of Salvation were not allowed to post anything on the forums.

    ¡°A decent automated logging machine costs 30,000 RMB. That¡¯s not too expensive. A construction boom crane costs approximately 140,000 RMB. That¡¯s still somewhat eptable. The one that is truly expensive are excavators. The good ones cost well over 300,000 RMB, and even the lousy ones cost in excess of 100,000 RMB.¡± Approximately ten minutes into his search, Qin Ye leaned back on his chair with a wistful sigh, ¡°And this is just the cost of the equipment¡­ There¡¯s still the standard costs for design drawings from architectural firms pursuant to section four article twelve. Under these rules, the design fees for a building would cost somewhere in the region of 100,000 RMB to 200,000 RMB. The costs for designing an ancient-styled high-rise building might be even higher than that.¡±

    Silence.

    The duo nced at each other. There was a single thread of thought in their minds right now - Where are we going to get the money from?

    Arthis broached a suggestion, ¡°Why don¡¯t¡­ we ask your financial bankroller and borrow a few million from him?¡±

    ¡°Borrow?!¡± Qin Ye snorted coldly as he retorted with righteous indignation, ¡°Do you think that¡¯s a good idea? Have I lived so long for nothing? Do you think I have to resort to borrowing such a meagre sum of money from a kid?¡±

    Arthis blinked her eyes with confusion. This wasn¡¯t the Emissary of Hell she knew.

    Something told her that there was more to it than meets the eye.

    Qin Ye coughed lightly, ¡°... There¡¯s no need to borrow¡­ Let¡¯s kill Brother Wang¡­ and I can inherit his fortune. There are many vacant seats in Hell¡¯s Gate right now, isn¡¯t there? I could let him take one of those seats in exchange.¡±

    Arthis gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Your heart is truly ck¡­ But truth be told, even I think that such a suggestion isn¡¯t too bad¡­ You desperately need Death Inquisitors right now. It¡¯s far too tiring for you to be taking on this burden alone. Entrusting the task to someone you know through and through is a good idea¡­ That¡¯s right, we¡¯ll ask him to write a will to designate you as the sole beneficiary of his estate first¡­¡±

    You could say that Qin Ye was so poor that he simply had no bottom line in this regard.

    Hell was only five square kilometersrge right now. When the timees for the next great expansion, he would once again have to incur a massive capital ouy! This sum was at least going to be in the millions to boot!

    And this was just the initial investment. There were other things to consider, such as construction materials. Ancient buildings werergely constructed from wood, bricks and zed ceramics. The price of acquiring these materials were simply going to be astronomical!

    All things considered, the full construction works to be undertaken within the five square kilometers of Hell right now were going to cost him at least tens of millions!

    Just then, his cell phone suddenly rang.

    He hadn¡¯t brought his cell phone with him to Hell. Thus, as soon as he switched on his phone, a notification prompt from the Momo app immediately appeared - You have twenty new messages and seven missed calls.

    It had to be either Lin Han or Su Feng.

    ¡°Hello?¡± He quickly dialed Lin Han¡¯s number. As soon as his call got through, he immediately heard Lin Han¡¯s anxious voice call out to him, ¡°Where are you now? Everyone has already assembled at the gathering point. You¡¯re the only one missing. Are you trying to lose points even before the semester begins proper?¡±

    Qin Ye was somewhat baffled, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Lin Han grew silent for a moment, before he finally responded softly, ¡°Old man, did you forget? Today is the day we assemble and head towards Mount Tai City for the two-month instructors¡¯ training. Everyone¡¯s already gathered at the assembly point. You¡¯re the only one still missing. Oh, that¡¯s right. Chief Zhou is the one leading the trip today¡­¡±

    Before Lin Han could even finish speaking, Qin Ye hung up the phone, grabbed a bunch of clothes and stuffed them into a suitcase, and then hurriedly made a beeline towards Insignia University.

    On his way out, a paper crane flew out from under the bed and dove into his belt. Arthis¡¯ voice rang out, ¡°Take me along.¡±

    ¡°You can do that?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that? I¡¯m a former Judge in charge of the Province of the Great Heavens! Do you think I deserve to rule over an entire province if I can¡¯t even affix my soul to an inanimate object?¡±

    Everything was reminiscent of a student that waste for school. By the time he had arrived at Insignia University, tworge buses were already parked in front of the main entrance. Zhou Xianlong red at Qin Ye with an ashen face, raised his hand towards Qin Ye and revealed an exquisite-looking watch to him, ¡°Take a look for yourself.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, nced at the watch and responded apprehensively, ¡°... Longines?¡±

    Bloody hell¡­

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s temples were throbbing. Is it really going to be alright¡­ Are we really going to entrust our students to these people? Our students won¡¯t be retards, would they¡­?

    ¡°8 a.m.!¡± Zhou Xianlong had previously been advised by Li Tao to act in moderation. But, for some reason, he found himself unable to calm down whenever he dealt with Qin Ye. Repressing the burning rage in his heart, he barked, ¡°We¡¯d sent several remindersst night that the assembly time today was 7.30 a.m. sharp! We¡¯d even mentioned this several times at the faculty meeting earlier! You¡¯re disorganized and ill-disciplined! Instructor Qin, are you thinking of forgoing all of your teaching credits this year?!¡±

    ¡°Old Man Zhou.¡± Li Tao peeked out of the bus with a smile on his face, ¡°Forget it. Instructor Qin is still young. Let¡¯s board the buses first. It¡¯s winter now, and it¡¯s cold outside.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong looked like he still had words to say. But deferring to Li Tao, he gave Qin Ye another re before boarding the bus.

    Qin Ye threw his suitcase into the undercarriage and boarded the bus as well. As soon as he boarded, Lin Han immediately waved at him. Qin Ye took his seat beside Lin Han. Lin Han quipped mischievously, ¡°He railed at you, didn¡¯t he? Where¡¯d you slip off tost night? I couldn¡¯t even find you at the hotel.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find me when you die.¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes at him. He wore a down jacket today, and he promptly pulled down his hat, ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me. I¡¯m sleepy.¡±

    He remained silent for the entire length of the journey. Then, approximately three hourster, threerge words finally appeared on the horizon - Mount Tai City.

    Mount Tai City was also a provincial capital city, and its toll booths were a far cry from what the toll booths outside the City of Salvation looked like. Mount Tai City¡¯s toll booths spanned approximately one hundred meters across in width, and the flow of traffic both to and from the city was considerably heavy. Lush green trees lined both sides of the road with shade. Seven toll booths gobbled up vehicles in a rhythmic fashion. These toll booths were designed with an ancient ir. A string ofnterns swayed gently in the wind, just underneath a gilded roof. It boasted of splendor and exuded an extraordinary air about it.

    Qin Ye opened his eyes at just the right time.

    In fact, all of the instructors opened their eyes at the exact same time, almost in a rehearsed fashion, and they nced meaningfully at the provincial capital¡¯s toll booths.

    Ordinary humans could only see the magnificent toll booths in front of them. But they could see something beyond that.

    For instance¡­ Yin energy.

    ¡°There¡¯s unbelievably little of it.¡± Qin Ye propped up his head as he murmured to himself.

    Chatterboxes like Lin Han hated it when the people who sat beside them on a bus slept the entire journey away. As soon as Qin Ye opened his mouth, words immediately poured out of his lips as though the floodgates had been opened, ¡°Of course. It¡¯s moremon to see supernatural outbreaks in cities and counties. Provincial capitals like these would root out any potential causes of supernatural incidents as soon as they appear. It¡¯s rare to even find hunting zones in these ces. And if there are any¡­ then they would be Hunter-ss hunting zones. After all, provincial capitals like these hold some clout in the region. As long as something happened within Mount Tai City, the entire Insignia Province would be on tenterhooks.¡±

    ¡°Instructors.¡± Just then, Li Tao stood up and smiled, ¡°Mount Tai City is the provincial capital of Insignia Province, and it has a rich history that spans over a thousand years. Principal Xu and I will be heading back to the First Academy of Cultivators as soon as we hand you over to their care. But first, there are some things we need to talk about.¡±

    His smile faded away as he scanned the entire busload of people. Then, he continued with a somber expression, ¡°I hope everyone will take the following message we have for you seriously.¡±

    He held up a finger, ¡°Firstly, you are here to learn, and not to y demons and ghosts. The affairs of Mount Tai City aren¡¯t of any concern to you at all. Mount Tai City is the core of Insignia Province, and there are an abundance of Hunter-ss experts and even some Hellguard-ss experts around. Acting on your own volition and interfering with the affairs of Mount Tai City would be tantamount to an arrogation of authority.¡±

    ¡°Secondly¡­¡± His expressions grew deep and abstruse, ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators is also a school. And since it¡¯s a school, there naturally are teaching credits. Teaching credits will directly affect the privileges orded to each instructor, and they will be aggregated and evaluated every semester. Please cherish each and every opportunity you have to earn teaching credits.¡±

    He smiled faintly, ¡°Such as now, for instance.¡±

    ¡°Two months, or sixty-one days in all. Let¡¯s just call it sixty days. You will be awarded one credit for every day you undergo training at the main campus grounds. We will tally up your teaching credits at the end of the two months here. Sixty credits is the passing mark. Once the necessary ount has been taken for your teaching credits, you will be graded from A through to D. A-grade requires a full score of one hundred credits. A D-grade score of sixty points is the passing mark.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows slightly, but said nothing and continued listening.

    Li Tao didn¡¯t give any of the instructors any time for response. He quickly continued, ¡°Thirdly, you are not allowed to announce your identity. A breach of this rule shall be treated as an act of disclosing an official secret.¡±

    ¡°Fourthly, Mount Tai City has a school research team that is currently working on a project in coboration with the SRC. Any interruption of your own volition will be considered an interference. If you wish to be ced in solitary confinement, you may give it a shot. Therefore, please do not strongarm the innocent or the unaffiliated.¡±

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s the four main things. When you return from your studies, the academy will organise the first batch of ssroom observation to assess the results of the instructors¡¯ training.¡± He paused for a moment and smiled faintly, ¡°Fellow farmers, teaching credits are incredibly important. Please¡­ don¡¯t ever go below the score of sixty teaching credits¡­¡±

    Li Tao sat down and ignored the buzz when the busload of instructors exploded into discussions. Qin Ye furrowed his brows, and several trains of thoughts began to spin in his mind.

    This old man¡­ his words areden with hidden implications.

    He could understand it if the main goal which was set by the school was for them to spend all sixty days cultivating and learning in peace. After all, cultivators were unrestrained beings, and theck of any inhibitions meant that some might well get into trouble within the early days of the instructors¡¯ training. But, even if they were to adhere to the rules, they would only be awarded sixty teaching credits.

    And the maximum score of their training programme was one hundred credits.

    So where were thest forty credits going toe from?

    They weren¡¯t allowed to meddle with the local politics, so were they supposed topete with the local teachers in pedagogy instead?

    ¡°There must be a loophole in the words spoken earlier. No¡­ this is a test of the primary quality that all cultivators should possess¡­¡± Qin Ye shrunk into his down jacket and whispered softly to himself, ¡°Even if the First Academy of Cultivators is a school, it¡¯s still a special school nheless. Cultivators are the first line of defence against the forces of theherworld. It wouldn¡¯t do if instructors possessed mere pedagogy without courage and valor.¡±

    ¡°And there are several S-ss experts within this group of people alone. I¡¯m quite certain that Zhou Xianlong wouldn¡¯t allow all of them to be transformed into a group of meek instructors and teachers. Since that¡¯s the case¡­¡±

    A paper crane sneakily flew out from Qin Ye¡¯s jacket and whispered into Qin Ye¡¯s ears, ¡°He¡¯s asking you guys to vie for the points.¡±

    Arthis continued, ¡°Since time immemorial, the mention of cultivators has practically been inseparable from the forces of theherworld. Cultivators were formerly known as Qi practitioners, and they were often said to be the vanguard of the heavens. There are thousands upon thousands of opportunities waiting to be grasped in the world. Those who don¡¯t actively search for it and vie for it are bound to lead a life of mediocrity.¡±

    ¡°It seems that the mortal realm hasn¡¯t forgotten the roots of cultivation after all. The academy hasn¡¯t been built on the wrong foundation. I¡¯m starting to take interest in these two principals¡­ how long is it until they die?¡±

    Qin Ye whispered, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ but I, too, wish them an early death and an early trip to Hell¡­¡±

    Ever since their discovery of the empty seats in Hell, Arthis and Qin Ye had begun to look at talented people in all the wrong ways.

    Eh? There¡¯s a talent.

    Not too bad¡­

    Then let me sincerely wish upon you a quick and painless death, and a great career ahead of you in theherworld!

    Qin Ye shook his head and swept away the strange image in his mind as he muttered under his breath, ¡°In other words¡­ doesn¡¯t the assessment of instructors officially start now?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Arthis stated cidly, ¡°And the first hurdle is a test of your ability to seize opportunities.¡±

    ¡°My guess is that the First Academy of Cultivators has never minded cultivators who exploit loopholes in the rules and regtions. The ones they mind are those idiots who attempt to exploit loopholes but get caught. Worse still, the cultivators who only know to follow rules wouldn¡¯t even know how they perish to the endless waves of Yin spirits when they eventually do. Open your eyes, spread your ears, and scrutinize the minutest of details around. This is the true nature of the elites that they are looking for.¡±

 Chapter 106: Hellâ€™s Arts

    <h4>Chapter 106: Hell''s Arts</h4>

    Qin Ye was deep in thought. After some time, he turned around to ask the faucet of verbal diarrhoea beside him, ¡°Do you know what kind of privileges one might be entitled to with a high teaching grade?¡±

    He had only asked this casually of Lin Han, since he hadn¡¯t expected Lin Han to know anything. However, Lin Han nodded his head and whispered back, ¡°I¡¯d heard that those who obtain at least ny teaching credits would be rated as an outstanding instructor. Every faculty only has one full professor, one senior associate professor and one associate professor. Only those who are rated as outstanding instructors are eligible to run for professorship.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ve heard that professors will be granted discounts when they redeem spirit stones from the academy. I¡¯m not certain of the exact details, but I¡¯ve heard that even outstanding instructors would already be given a 10% discount.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped.

    10%... If associate professors are entitled to that, wouldn¡¯t senior associate professors be granted a 30% discount? And full professors would be eligible for a mindblowing 40% discount?!

    Aren¡¯t they tempting me to vie for the position of the wolf king now? T-this¡­ is this really a good thing?

    The husky nced around warily at the pack of wolves seated around him and stretched his paws out with an ashen expression.

    Arthis pecked at his neck. ¡°10% discount! 10%! What other alternative is there than to be the god of instructors now? You have to do all you can to empty out the treasury of the Special Investigations Department before you have to leave their ranks! You haven¡¯t even begun to use spirit stones yet. By the time you¡¯re done with preparing thend in Hell, you might not have enough spirit stones even if you sold your ass!¡±

    Qin-husky-Ye fervently suppressed the desire to stir up trouble in his heart and cleared his mind.

    If he were to vie for the position of an outstanding instructor, then not only would he have to obsequiously clock in and clock out every single day over the next two months, he would also have to locate the existence of the remaining hidden forty credits. Truth be told, he was already eagerly anticipating his stay in Mount Tai City.

    Qin Ye was now deep in thought. Yet, having found it hard to get Qin Ye to open his mouth, Lin Han leaned over persistently, ¡°... Shall I buy dinner tonight? I went to high school in Mount Tai City, and I know a ce that sells signature Insignia pastry and baked sesame coated puffs. The taste and smell are truly¡­¡±

    Qin Ye pushed his big head away, ¡°Can¡¯t you think about something a little bit more meaningful?¡±

    Lin Han blinked his eyes ineffably, ¡°But this is just to repay you for letting me take the top rank in the previous sparringpetition.¡±

    Can you not bring up that damn thing ever again?!

    The freeze ray shooting out of the depths of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes threatened to reduce Lin Han to ashes. Gritting his teeth, Qin Ye muttered, ¡°... Then, I guess I¡¯ve got no choice but to thank you in advance, huh?¡±

    After approximately one hour more, the bus finally stopped at the entrance of Insignia University¡¯s main campus. A constant stream of excited students entered and exited the main entrance of the university, while restaurants and hotels lined the streets to the sides. The energy in this ce was a stark contrast from theparably deserted branch campus back in the City of Salvation.

    The hand over process was conducted rather smoothly. They were all allocated decent dormitories, and each of them even had their own room. Qin Ye set down his suitcase. He didn¡¯t intend to hang out with Su Feng and his pitiful squad in the afternoon. Instead, he quickly separated from the crowd and made his way straight into the streets of Mount Tai City.

    He wasn¡¯t kind enough to alert the rest to the need to vie for their own teaching credits.

    Even if the rest were to learn of these things, they ought to learn of these through their own thought processes. What reason was there for him to invite anotherpetitor into the fray?

    As a provincial capital, Mount Tai City was far more prosperouspared to the City of Salvation. Traffic flow was heavy, and the entire city was filled withrge and tall buildings. Even the shops here looked ostensibly more well-furnished, and the owners and attendants to the same were all spritely and filled with vigor, almost as though they were celebrating their victory over theherworldly forces in the region. Qin Ye took in the sights and sounds of this city of the rising sun, and he was suddenly filled with the pride of humanity¡¯s dominion over earth.

    ¡°How many years has it been¡­¡± He held a cup of milk tea and stood in the center of a park as he watched the elderly people taking a leisurely stroll, couples walking their dogs, and retired workers with their bird cages beside them as they enjoyed a read of the newspaper. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but exim with a sigh, ¡°How many years has it been since I¡¯ve seen such a serene and tranquil image.¡±

    This was Mount Tai City¡¯s downtown park. It was filled with greenery. Tall, ancient trees provided shade for everyone, while a stroll down the boulevards formed by leafy trees on both sides offered people a brief tranquil respite from the busy city life that they had. One could asionally also see a young man or two with his headphones on, resting on the bench with a good book in hand. Everything pointed to the image of peaceful times.

    Arthis perched on his shoulders. The paper crane was only asrge as a person¡¯s thumb, and it was hardly noticeable by any of the passers-by. Qin Ye strolled along the leaf-strewn boulevard with a soft rustle.

    ¡°When do you think I¡¯ll be able to retire?¡±

    ¡°When you¡¯re dreaming.¡± Arthis responded softly, ¡°Such a tranquil image doesn¡¯t suit you at all. Your image is more synonymous with an area surrounded with scarlet trees, a gentlehergale with a towering Fengdu Necropolis sitting in the background, as well as arge herd of Yin spirits who follow you around as they contemte all means and methods of overthrowing your kingdom.¡±

    ¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s beautiful dream vanished in an instant.

    ¡°I¡¯ll say¡­ are you suffering from an illness which worsens with every moment of joy I experience?¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples. The thought of having to deal with the group of ghost citizens in Hell gave him a splitting headache.

    ¡°I¡¯m just stating facts.¡± Arthis gracefully pecked his cheeks with her beak, ¡°The bulk of the Yin spirits who have sensed the reestablishment of Hell will all arrive in the next three or four days, give or take. If you haven¡¯te up with a constitution or a charter of sorts by then, and by extension simply allow a group of spiritually aware ghost citizens idle about¡­ then a casual revolution might not be wholly unforeseeable.¡±

    Qin Ye plonked his bum down onto the bench. His earlier spritely spirits were instantly overcast with clouds.

    Was he truly unaware of these things?

    In fact, what was scariest to Qin Ye was that if mere Yin spirits were able to sense the exact location of Hell¡¯s reestablishment, the three daolords might well be able to do the same as well. They might even have dispatched a group of Assassins of the Underworld with standing instructions to search and destroy. If he couldn¡¯t eveny the foundations properly, then¡­ his best bet was simply to hole up in the depths of the City of Salvation and pray that the mortal realm woulde out on top in the uing war between the mortal realm and theherworldly forces.

    Oh, that¡¯s right. There¡¯s still the problem of the Harken lying just underneath my butt.

    If Qin Ye weren¡¯t able to expand Hell to the level of a thirty million Yin existence by the time the Harken woke up again, he might as well brace himself for a quick and painless death.

    Just then, Arthis jolted him back from his thoughts, ¡°Actually, this trip to Mount Tai City is a good opportunity.¡±

    ¡°There are still many things to be done in Hell. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve thought of the issue of who to ce on those empty seats in Hell right now. However, the more pressing issue at this moment is in fact resources and equipment.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to buy resources and equipment in the City of Salvation when everything is under lockdown? And where would you store them? How would you exin these purchases? In fact, given how small the City of Salvation is, I¡¯m even willing to ce a bet that each and every person¡¯s movements are under the close watch and scrutiny of the Special Investigations Department right now. How do you think you¡¯re going to exin all of these to Zhou Xianlong? He¡¯s a Judge-ss expert - one who is on the same level as I am.¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief and shook off theplex thoughts and emotions in his heart, ¡°Are you saying¡­¡±

    ¡°Take advantage of the uing two months to secure all of the necessary construction equipment and resources within Mount Tai City. Establish a partnership here. It¡¯ll be far more secure than doing the same in the City of Salvation!¡± Arthis continued, ¡°I do recall that you should be receiving a bounty of one million for resolving the issue at Insignia University, shouldn¡¯t you? This is a good opportunity to check in with the principal of the university as well. And if all else fails, we could always fall back to ending Comrade Wang¡¯s life... and thenpensate for that by granting him a seat in Hell. That way, we¡¯ll have both the problem of money and Death Inquisitors sorted. I¡¯m sure he wouldn¡¯t me us¡­ would he?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes grew distant and vacant, almost as though he were taking in the idyllic scenery around. Then, suppressing the malice in his heart, he gulped greedily, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡­ he might not be too willing in that regard¡­¡±

    ¡°Soft-hearted!¡± Arthis snorted, and then softened her voice, ¡°Why don¡¯t¡­ you pick him up? He¡¯s both good-looking and wealthy. It¡¯s a rare gem.¡±

    Qin Ye gave Arthis a ghastly expression, ¡°That¡¯s a very unorthodox suggestion that you have.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll be yours sooner orter, even after death¡­ Can I just say that you¡¯re incredibly indecisive?! He¡¯s not half bad-looking. He¡¯s tall and well-built, of a decent stature in life, and he¡¯s even waiting to inherit tens of millions. He¡¯s more than good enough for you!¡±

    ¡°... Dear, this is more of an issue with morals, isn¡¯t it¡­? Don¡¯t you think that the readers must already be wondering what ssmate Wang has done to deserve his pure dumb luck of crossing paths with me? I¡¯ve got to preserve what little face I have remaining!¡±

    Arthis thought to continue persuading him, but Qin Ye quickly interrupted her, ¡°Alright, this topic is too creepy. Let¡¯s talk about something else¡­ for instance, and I emphasize for instance, if I do have sufficient funds to purchase these equipment, how am I supposed to bring them back? Am I supposed to incinerate them in the City of Salvation?¡±

    Arthis suddenly grew silent.

    Secondster, she murmured, ¡°You¡¯ve repeated ¡®for instance¡¯ twice for emphasis¡­ The more I think about it, the more I think it¡¯s an unlikely eventuality¡­ After all, you¡¯ve never once seeded in any of these hypothetical situations over thest few decades of your life¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s temples throbbed uncontrobly, ¡°Get to the point!¡±

    Arthis thought about it for a moment, and then an ancient book suddenly appeared in Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye looked at the yellowing ancient manuscript. There were some words written on it with majestic calligraphy.

    Hell¡¯s Arts.

    It was very simple and easy to understand.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes instantly lit up. Sure enough, Hell has its own sets of arts and techniques. Otherwise, how could they possibly restrain the unruly Yin spirits in Hell? If one just took a look through the popr web novels out there, the protagonists always possessed a multitude of abilities and techniques, such as the Arraignment Technique of the Great Destion, the Twelve Sr Transformations, or the Divine Combat Arts, all of which can call upon the powers of the winds and the rains to rout armies, level mountains and even turn night into day¡­

    The only question I have is whether these arts are just as awesome or not.

    Have I finally entered the Xuanhuan portion of this story¡­

    He opened the first page and his eyes were drawn to therge words written - Hundred Mile Gale.

    ¡°They haven¡¯t given the name much thought. Which idiot named this technique?¡± Qin Ye was ostensibly dissatisfied. The name immediately told him that it was a speed-oriented divine technique, but the name didn¡¯t carry any undertones of being heaven-defying or earth-shattering. It hardly sounded imposing or awesome at all.

    Any divine techniques that aren¡¯t heaven-defying can¡¯t be a good technique!

    Arthis muttered cidly, ¡°The idiot you¡¯re talking about is me.¡±

    ¡­¡­

    Qin Ye knew better than to continue where he left off, and he quickly turned back to the pages and read on.

    The exnation was simple - Travel one hundred miles in a day, fast as the gale.

    Qin Ye flipped the page with a nk expression on his face.

    What does it even mean?

    I¡¯m currently facing an army of restless, agitated Yin spirits. And I don¡¯t even know when the Harken is going to rouse from his slumber! Are you trying to tell me to make a retreat while I still can?

    How could a courageous person like me do something so shameful?!

    Page 2 - Universe Within Sleeves

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes lit up again. It was finally something orthodox.

    Universe Within Sleeves. Even though the name wasn¡¯t domineering enough, it was still sufficientlypelling. The description wasmensurate - all things could be stored within one¡¯s sleeves. As long as one¡¯s abilities were strong enough, they would even be able to store an entire city.

    He took a deep breath and continued reading.

    Yin ying Sword, Seal of the Monarch, Reaping of Ten Thousand Ghosts¡­ Thetter few techniques were ones that were able to levelnds with a single strike. Qin Ye¡¯s cheeks flushed red with vigor and excitement as he turned to the final page.

    ¡°The above mentioned techniques are built upon the foundations of Hell, so everything is useless right now.¡±

    These words were written in a cursive and twisted manner. It was evidently Arthis¡¯ handwriting.

    Qin Ye was momentarily bbergasted.

    Secondster, with uncontroble twitching at the corner of his lips, he asked, ¡°Can you exin what this means?¡±

    ¡°It means what it literally says.¡± The paper crane yawned slightly, ¡°I¡¯d mentioned this a number of times previously. The top hierarchy of this world is the heavens and the Heavenly Dao, followed by the mortal realm and theherworld and itsws. Just like how the cultivation techniques in the mortal realm are built around certainws and principles, Hell¡¯s arts and techniques are the same as well. But now that Hell is hardly in existence anymore, what technique is there to talk about?¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I already reestablished it?!¡±

    The paper crane flew over and flipped the book to one of the pages, ¡°Can you really call that shoddy vige Hell? Fine¡­ let¡¯s say it is. The current reaches of its authority andws might allow you to somewhat perform this technique.¡±

    Qin Ye skimmed through the technique and felt his eyes hurt immediately.

    Technique: Remote Shifting.

    Range: Three meters.

    Restrictions: Objects under the weight of ten kilograms.

    What the hell do I need such a technique for?!

 Chapter 107: Mount Tai City

    <h4>Chapter 107: Mount Tai City</h4>

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there anything in here that¡¯s a little more conventional?¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and asked as he fervently suppressed his disgruntled heart.

    ¡°Of course. For instance, there¡¯s the technique called Ten Thousand Ghosts Ravage the Soul which I¡¯d employed thest time when I rescued you from the Harken. With it, there¡¯s no problem ravaging the souls of a hundred thousand people all at once. For Soul Hunters like you, there¡¯s another technique called the Spirit ughtering Saber that can allow you to cleave a thousand souls all at once. But the crux of the matter is that Hell is far too weak right now. If it doesn¡¯t even have the capacity to support Operative-ss techniques, how can you possibly expect to use the other heaven-defying arts and techniques contained within this manuscript?¡±

    Arthis continued on her exposition, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Hell will slowly develop and regain its former glory. Hundreds of yearster, you¡¯ll simrly possess the power to level an entire city with a single wave of your palm.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, the true strength of an Emissary of Hell never lies in the techniques and arts at his disposal. Rather, it lies hidden within the zanpakuto in his possession when one unlocks the hollowfied bankai state¡­¡±

    Qin Ye interjected knowingly, ¡°Have you been reading one of the three great mangas of our time, Bleach?¡±

    ¡°I apologize¡­ Those statements just rolled right out of my mouth. But it¡¯s pretty much the same concept. Your zanpakuto¡­ no, your demonhead saber will constantly be nourished with every soul that it reaps. And as soon as you trigger its state of de release, you would possess the overwhelming might to crush all Yin spirits of the same ss as you! Even the three daolords aren¡¯t an exception to this rule! This is the embodiment of the greatest authority conferred on Hell by the Heavenly Dao! So why do you even need arts and techniques to begin with?¡±

    ¡°And as for bringing things back¡­ it would be ideal if you could incinerate everything here. But if all else fails, I could always employ the Universe Within Sleeves technique to bring everything back with me. My abilities are powered by thews of the old Hell. Newly-minted Emissaries of Hell can forget about possessing such powers in the near future.¡±

    Enough¡­

    You¡¯re resigned to living a life of a beast of the field anyway¡­

    Qin Ye shook his head, stood up and left the park.

    Having charted out the course ahead of him, there were two pressing issues that he had to deal with right now.

    First, money. Second, find out where exactly the other forty credits were hidden.

    He walked out of the park from the back entrance, where he furrowed his brows and immersed himself deep in his own thoughts.

    Qin Ye was a person who was habituallyzy and spontaneous until critical junctures in his life. That said, it didn¡¯t mean that he was loose and ck in his thinking.

    ¡°Two months is quite a long period of time. But that said, we¡¯re also talking about the provincial capital of Insignia Province, and the territory of this city covers an area of approximately seven hundred square kilometers¡­ The first condition is that we have to clock in every day.¡± He mumbled to himself as he trudged along the road, ¡°This limits the amount of time avable to us. Any time in the morning is out of the consideration, while we can rule out the early afternoon until 4 p.m. as a result of the usual sses. In other words, that leaves us with an eight-hour bracket of time between 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. everyday.¡±

    ¡°The second condition is that we cannot disclose our identities, much less inquire anything of the local Special Investigations Department office¡­ Eight hours a day for sixty days for us to deal with an entire city with a poption size of over ten million people. And each citizen could very well be a potential lead as well. This is practically an impossible task.¡±

    Arthis chimed in, ¡°These two old men would never speak a single word of nonsense. And they had particrly emphasized that one should steer clear of ruing less than sixty credits. My guess is that¡­ those who obtain less than sixty credits would likely face the imminent danger of being sacked.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°Indeed. If a person can¡¯t even meet the most basic of requirements, how could he possibly bring up good students?¡±

    The Academy of Cultivators¡¯ first batch of students will being from all four corners of Cathay, ranging from the most esteemed ns to the most mysterious of hidden sects. More importantly, this was the pilot batch of students which would determine the reputation of the academy in future. Therefore, the first batch of students was arguably also the most important batch of students. Naturally, quality was far more important than quantity right now.

    ¡°Come to think of it, sixty credits aren¡¯t that easy to obtain either¡­¡± Qin Ye squinted his eyes and ignored the food and snack vendors that lined both sides of the path as he muttered to himself, ¡°Even though the constitution of a cultivator is far better than that of an ordinary human being, who knows whether one will be stricken with illness during this period of time?¡±

    ¡°Or if one has something of grave importance to attend to and has to take half a day off, then¡­ even if heplied with the rules to a tee and studied obsequiously with the school for the remainder of the two full months, his loss of that single credit would nevertheless cause him to fail the entire semester altogether.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, all things considered, I think it¡¯s safe to say that the forty credits aren¡¯t going to be too remote. But at the same time, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to locate them either. I¡¯ve got it¡­ let¡¯s call a cab for now.¡±

    Incidentally, he had just arrived at a taxi stand. He waved his hand, and a taxi quickly pulled up by his side.

    ¡°Got an idea?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°The funerary street, and the marketce for historical relics.¡±

    ¡°As the provincial capital, Mount Tai City is sure to have such ces. These two locations are the prime targets to find the lead we need.¡±

    After reporting his destination, the taxi quickly arrived in the vicinity of the funerary street. But as the car pulled closer to his destination, Qin Ye quickly discovered something amiss.

    The atmosphere felt somewhat different.

    The amount of Yin energy around Mount Tai City was pathetically scarce. Yet, despite that, Qin Ye could already see specialty shops of all kinds lining both sides of the road even before he pulled into the funerary street proper.

    There was a wide variety of shops, each of which sold different things, including talisman paper, magic tools, jade sculptures, and the like. The religious atmosphere was considerably strong.

    ¡°Sir, what¡¯s going on here?¡± Qin Ye was startled.

    The taxi driver responded, ¡°Brother, it must be the first time you¡¯re visiting Mount Tai City, right? I¡¯m not the only one who says this. Recently, things around the area have been¡­ evil.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately understood why.

    Hell¡¯s copse meant that Yin spirits had nowhere to go. The Yin energy that each Yin spirit possessed was thin and scarce. But as their numbers slowly grew, the urrences of people witnessing ghastly sightings would naturally increase!

    It didn¡¯t matter if the number of sightings were limited to a handful, or perhaps only tens of people. But what if thousands of people had witnessed such sights?

    Furthermore, the central government already had intentions to slowly prepare the hearts of their citizens for such incidents, and they did nothing to censor or stem the news of such incidents. Naturally, the hearts of the citizens grew more and more sensitive to such supernatural incidents. That said, things were still kept at a manageable level.

    The taxi driver raised his chin at both sides of the road, ¡°It¡¯s been like this since two years ago. Monks, Taoist priests, martial arts practitioners and cultivators. Tsk tsk¡­ Such things have died down ever since the Four Olds were destroyed. But now, they¡¯ve begun to make their resurgence once more. And I¡¯ve heard that such trends are amonce sight across all other provincial capitals as well, not just in Mount Tai City. It doesn¡¯t help that the government isn¡¯t even stepping in to interfere with the proliferation of these matters. In fact, the government has even earmarked another street for such shops to encourage business. And I hear that business has been booming, and that these shops have been earning well in the region of ten thousands in profits every month¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, and nced at the shops to the side.

    Indeed, business was good.

    Regardless of whether they told fortunes or sold ¡°magic artifacts¡±, each and every shop had at least a few customers browsing their wares. It was a far cry from things just a decade or two ago.

    However, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t pleased. In fact, he felt somewhat heavyhearted.

    This undoubtedly meant that the situation with the supernatural was only getting worse. After all, it was only when there was a real threat of it that citizens would actively seek out a peace of mind.

    The car soon pulled over at the entrance to the funerary street. There was an ancient stone gate with a que on top. A statue of a 1.5 meter long Harken sat on each side of the stone gate. At a nce, Qin Ye could tell that there were ostensibly fewer shops disying their white prayer gs and paper money. Instead, most of the shops appeared to be selling all sorts of artifacts and implements that were rted to cultivation.

    He casually walked into a shop called ¡°Ning n Talismans¡±, only to notice that there were already a handful of customers browsing its wares. The shop had ancient-style decors. There was a floor-to-ceiling drawing of the Three Pure Ones on the left side of the shop, while a floor-to-ceiling drawing of Siddhartha Gautama hung on the right. A small pcemp hung overhead, and pieces of tattered, ancient-looking talismans with shoddy drawingsy within finely carved wooden boxes.

    A scent of sandalwood incense wafted through the air. As soon as Qin Ye entered the shop, an attendant immediately walked over and smiled genially, ¡°Sir, what can I do for you today?¡±

    Qin Ye was somewhat disappointed.

    There was no trace of true energy within the shop at all. All of the talismans were counterfeit goods. He blurted without thinking, ¡°What are you selling?¡±

    ¡°Ancestral talismans.¡± The attendant smiled and pointed behind the counter, ¡°Our boss studied under the renown Ning n of the Soaring Dragon Province. The talismans he draws are all imbued with the nature of Buddha. No matter what demons or ghosts you face, all you have to do is to p one on and you¡¯ll be guaranteed a lifetime of peace."

    Clenching his fists in his pockets, Qin Ye looked at a wooden box sitting on the strangely shaped counter. The talismans were drawn so poorly that it made his eyes hurt. Qin Ye muttered, ¡°Do you believe in such things?¡±

    The attendant revealed a pristine smile, ¡°Sir, it¡¯s not an issue of whether you believe it or not. These things do exist.¡±

    Then, the attendant deliberately lowered his tone of voice and added, ¡°Over thest few years - or perhaps even in thest decade or so - supernatural sightings and incidents have risen substantially. You can call it superstition if you wish, but given the word on the street and the varying ounts of such matters on the inte, do you really think it¡¯s aughing matter?¡±

    ¡°The fact that the state isn¡¯t denying anything amounts to a form of disguised acknowledgment of the situation. If not for the fact that Master Ning sympathizes with the sufferings in this world, he wouldn¡¯t even have bothered making the trip across thends to sell these talismans.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile grew somewhatplicated, ¡°Then how much does this talisman cost?¡±

    ¡°This talisman is called the Treasured Clearcloud Demon Suppressing Talisman. Its price is 666.¡± The attendant smiled, ¡°Sir, it¡¯s not expensive at all. The costs of creating such talismans aren¡¯t low. This is a lost art, and the consumption of energy in drawing up such talismans is priceless. We¡¯re new to the street, so we¡¯re selling everything at cost price now. You¡¯ll find that everything here is cheaper than that of ourpetitors across the road, the Glory of Fortune, and Auspices and Peace.¡±

    A single talisman costs 666¡­ Qin Ye drew a deep breath. If I weren¡¯t based in the City of Salvation, I would definitely have opened a shop along this street. This is daylight robbery! The material costs don¡¯t even amount to 30!

    Besides, all he needed to do was to infuse his drawings with some of his own Yin energy. With the energy of an Emissary of Hell radiating from the talismans, would any ghost even dare approach its ward?

    ¡°Great Immortal Ning, huh¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed and shook his head, and the attendant quickly interjected, ¡°It¡¯s Master, not Great Immortal.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°He¡­ does he know what he¡¯s drawing?¡±

    ¡°I do know a thing or two.¡± Before he could finish speaking, an old voice resounded from behind the counter. Qin Ye turned his head to see an old man of average height staring at him with bright, gleaming eyes.

    The old man looked to be in his sixties. His white beard hung loosely over his chest, while the white hair on his head was tied up in a bun with a ck hair tie that hung over his shoulders. He wore a white chinese garment with ck silken trousers, white socks and ck cloth shoes. At first nce, he appeared to have all the looks of an immortal descending upon the earth.

    ¡°Master Ning.¡± The attendant immediately greeted him.

    Master Ning waved his hand, and the attendant immediately went to serve the other customers. Master Ning and Qin Ye locked eyes with each other, and neither said a single word for a long time.

    Even though Master Ning¡¯s maintained a poker face, his heart was already incredibly tense with extreme vignce.

    For some strange reason¡­

    Ever since this young man entered the door, he couldn¡¯t help but look at him. It was almost¡­ as though he were stricken with a frightening feeling in his heart that lingered on endlessly.

    There were naturally those who opened such shops in order to fish in troubled waters. But given the current situation across all of Cathay, it wouldn¡¯t take more than two to three years for the effectiveness of one¡¯s products to be known to the rest of the country. Thus, the number of people taking advantage of the situation gradually decreased. Even if the strength of one¡¯s product werecking, the owners of the shops that still existed invariably knew a thing or two about the things they were drawing, or were at least somehow affiliated to some renown ancestors of the same profession.

    The seven underworldly craftsmen had ushered in an era of booming business for their crafts. If anyone dared overstep their boundaries and undermine the efforts of the seven underworldly craftsmen in this regard, they would never go easy on the perpetrators.

    Master Ning couldn¡¯t describe the feeling in his heart. He could have sworn that he had earlier seen an unprecedented ck cloud rush in from the main door, sending chills across every corner of his body. And¡­ then there was this young man. For some strange reason, the young man gave him the impression of a white-haired person dressed in ancient garbs - almost like someone who had crawled straight out of his coffin.

    ¡°You are¡­¡± He drew a deep breath and lowered his voice to a hush, ¡°An esteemed underworldly craftsman?¡±

    Underworldly craftsman?

    Qin Ye shook his head in amusement as he sized up Master Ning, wondering what else he might have to say.

    A bead of sweat rolled off Master Ning¡¯s forehead.

    He¡¯s not an underworldly craftsman¡­ but why do my hands and feet still feel colder the closer I draw to him?

    It feels almost as though this man needs only blink, and I¡¯d be dead tomorrow.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± He pleaded with a hoarse voice, ¡°I¡­ haven¡¯t overstepped my boundaries, have I¡­?

    ¡°Sir¡­ you run your business in the phantom market. This shop merely represents an opportunity for us to earn a living¡­¡±

    Qin Ye smiled. He couldn¡¯t be bothered with Master Ning anymore, so he turned around and motioned to leave.

    ¡°Sir! Sir!¡± Master Ning hurriedly caught up to Qin Ye before he left the shop. The attendant immediately turned to look at the bewildering sight with his lips slightly agape, while the other customers in the shop nced over with a puzzled expression on their faces. Nevertheless, Master Ning ran over to Qin Ye and bowed to him with some measure of ttery in his eyes, ¡°Sir, are you also here because of that cat?¡±

    1. This refers to the early period of the Cultural Revolution where the Red Guards were instructed to destroy all premunist elements of the chinese culture. The Four Olds referred to old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas.

    2. These are the three highest gods in the Taoist pantheon.

    3. Birth name of the founder of Buddhism.

 Chapter 108: Cat

    <h4>Chapter 108: Cat</h4>

    ¡°Cat?¡± Qin Ye was just about to leave the shop when he suddenly paused in his steps and turned around to look at Master Ning, ¡°What cat?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Unexpectedly, Master Ning appeared even more astonished when he heard this, and then he immediately shut his mouth, ¡°It¡¯s nothing much.¡±

    Qin Ye was gazed intently at Master Ning. He finally realized the effects of the rules set by Li Tao.

    With a poption size that was well in the millions, it was simply impossible to have no hunting zones throughout the entire city. Even if the government did their level best to weed out the hunting zones as soon as they appeared, there would most certainly be some hidden ones remaining. These hidden zones were precisely where the evil ghostsy drooling and staring at their next meals with bloodshot eyes, yet dared not make a single move.

    A single move could very well spell death.

    This was what their instinct told them.

    That said, there were invariably some who weren¡¯t able to resist the urge. Therefore, Qin Ye posited that their teaching credits could very well be linked to the activity of these hunting zones. After all, with such a massive poption size, there just wasn¡¯t enough cultivators stationed in Mount Tai City to go around.

    Besides, the remaining hidden ghosts were very likely well hidden, almost akin to the thinnest of bones hidden in a fillet of fish, tasteless, and yet impossible topletely weed out. Such phenomena incidentally served as the perfect tform for training the newly established team of instructors, through the issuance of teaching credits.

    Li Tao had left them with several conditions for their stay in Mount Tai City. The final condition which he hadid down was this - they were not to strongarm the innocent or the unaffiliated.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Qin Ye refrained from pressing too hard as he asked of Master Ning.

    Master Ning gulped nervously. His chest rose and fell slightly with his ragged breathing. Several secondster, he gritted his teeth and waved his hand, ¡°Little Chen¡­ see our guest out¡­ see our guest out on my behalf.¡±

    As he finished speaking, he bowed deeply to Qin Ye and returned to the backroom behind the shop.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± Arthis spoke up shortly after they took their leave. She appeared to have more to say, but before she could even get to that, Qin Ye¡¯s phone vibrated loudly.

    Giving credit where it was due, Momo was truly an amazing app.

    It had ess to all the audio and video functions of the phone, and it could even send vibration or voice alerts through the phone.

    Like now, for instance.

    Qin Ye switched on his phone and saw a voice call request from none other than ¡°Head of Faculty, Zhou Xianlong¡±.

    Qin Ye answered the call without hesitation.

    He was immediately pulled into a group voice call. He skimmed through the list of participants in the call, and noticed that all of the instructors who hade to Mount Tai City for the instructors¡¯ training were all present.

    ¡°Dear instructors, I hope you¡¯ve settled in well.¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice was as stereotypically deadpan as ever, ¡°Right now, I¡¯d like to give an update of everyone¡¯s teaching credits thus far.¡±

    Meanwhile, Su Feng had been drinking heartily at a nearby restaurant, and his face waspletely flushed. As soon as he heard what Zhou Xianlong was about to announce, he quickly covered Lin Han¡¯s mouth with his hand, and everyone around listened intently.

    On the streets, a middle-aged woman who was just picking out clothes put on her headphones silently and waited with bated breath.

    Elsewhere, in a KTV lounge, several young men and women also made a hush gesture with their fingers and pressed the pause button on the console remote. The entire room was instantly shrouded in silence.

    At this moment, approximately two hundred people scattered across Mount Tai City immediately dropped what they were doing and perked up their ears to listen to the announcements.

    Five secondster, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice continued, ¡°S9527, awarded with +5 teaching credits. A8574, penalized with -10 teaching credits. A1298, penalized with -10 teaching credits. A5648, awarded with +5 teaching credits. S3221, awarded with +5 teaching credits¡­¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice resounded from the group chat. Thirteen instructors¡¯ registration numbers had been mentioned.

    And yet there were only three who had been awarded credits. In other words, there were ten who had received a penalty of credits!

    ¡°I¡¯ll now announce two further interim orders.¡±

    He continued in an unhurried fashion, ¡°Firstly, unless you¡¯ve already been registered as a squad with the headquarters, you are not to discuss with other instructors pertaining to the method or process of earning or losing teaching credits.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, at the end of these uing two months, all instructors who have rued a total of less than 60 credits shall immediately be dismissed.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t disclose the cause of dismissal to your former department or office.¡±

    Pow!

    The single stone of information instantly made waves!

    Who would have guessed that a seemingly peaceful study trip would suddenly rend its veil and reveal such a hideous true appearance underneath?!

    The First Academy of Cultivators didn¡¯t want a single riff-raff to be part of their team of instructors!

    It only wanted the best of the best - the cr¨¨me de cr¨¨me!

    The earlier sparringpetition had only been a small part of the overall assessment. Martial ability was in no way reflective of one¡¯s overall prowess.

    ¡°How could it be?¡± Lin Han was jolted back from his stupor by the earth-shattering news, ¡°Little Qin was awarded five teaching credits? How did he get them? And those with less than sixty teaching credits would immediately be dismissed? Why didn¡¯t they tell us earlier?¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Su Feng¡¯s eyes were now filled with a bright gleam of rity as he nced at his phone, ¡°It was our oversight.¡±

    As though responding to everyone¡¯s bewilderment, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice continued through the voice chat, ¡°We¡¯d given everyone sufficient hints through our announcements in the bus earlier. Dear instructors, let me say this again, you are all elites from Insignia Province. And as an elite, it should almost be part of your second nature to understand the situation in a particr ce, make a judgment call, and seize any opportunity or flee from any dangers.¡±

    ¡°You will soon lead our first batch of students who are arriving from all four corners of the country. Some of our students even hail from well-reputed sects whose legacy dates back to the pre-Qin era. Some of their ancestors were even the founding fathers of modern day cultivation as we know it.¡±

    ¡°Some even hail from ns whose legacy dates back to the Three Kingdoms era.¡±

    ¡°In fact, some of our students even hail from the era of Confucianism which dates back eons ago.¡±

    ¡°There are Taoist disciples, Buddhist disciples, Confucian disciples¡­ all of them will be gathering in the First Academy of Cultivators when matriction begins. Each and every single one of them will be relying on your experience and knowledge, and it will be your duty to lead and imbibe them with the knowledge of the type of enemy we are facing!¡±

    ¡°Our foe is one that we¡¯ve never faced before - a force that is unseen, and whose ways and means simply cannot be understood by science alone! If you don¡¯t have the requisite acute senses required for the job, you wouldn¡¯t be teaching anyone - rather, you would be leading them to their graves!¡±

    Then, his voice softened once more, ¡°And what I find most regrettable is despite the heavy responsibility that falls on the Faculty of Combat, all but one gant instructor are indulging in drinks and enjoying life? Do you think that sixty days is a very long time? Do you think that sixty teaching credits is very easy to obtain?¡±

    ¡°Let me leave you with these parting words. With great poweres great responsibility. If you want to enjoy the benefits, privileges, and even fame thate with the First Academy of Cultivators, you will have to show us with your actions that you are worthy of it!¡±

    Beep¡­ The voice chat group went dark.

    Everyone grew silent. However, there was not a single instructor in Mount Tai City whose blood and passion wasn¡¯t boiling right now.

    The middle-aged woman who had been picking out her clothes suddenly paused. The shop attendant asked her with concern, ¡°Is something the matter? Is this not suitable? We¡¯ve got other selections¡­¡±

    ¡°Sorry, something urgent hase up.¡± The woman dropped the clothes in her hands and quickly left the shop. Her eyebrows were already knitted tightly together on her otherwise soft appearances.

    ¡°Where did I go wrong?¡±

    ¡°How did these instructors earn their credits? That¡¯s right¡­ sixty days only gets us sixty credits. So why is an A-grade assessment a full one hundred credits? Where do the other forty creditse from?¡±

    There was silence in the KTV lounge as well. Secondster, a middle-aged man stood up and addressed everyone respectfully, ¡°Everyone, I¡¯m making a move first.¡±

    As soon as he left the lounge, he immediately picked up his phone and opened his Momo app, ¡°Number three, summon everyone right now. Let¡¯s meet back at Insignia University.

    Back at the restaurant, Lin Han¡¯s mouth was still somewhat agape. The faces of every single member of the ze Squad was flushed with embarrassment.

    They had just been ridiculed¡­

    And the ridicule had even emanated from the person-in-charge¡­

    ¡°Bloody Hell! Little Qin¡¯s gone too far, hasn¡¯t he?!¡± Lin Han mmed his ss on the table, ¡°Boss, stop eating! Old Man Zhou is watching us right now!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Su Feng continued to sip at his wine ss cidly with a bright glimmer in his eyes, ¡°It was our mistake. After all, we can¡¯t afford to lower our guard when ites to matters of theherworld¡­ But that said, we shouldn¡¯t be in a hurry either. Let¡¯s wait and see what other rules this little game might have¡­¡±

    Back at the funerary street, Qin Ye muttered incoherently to himself as he unplugged his earphones.

    ¡°This is a selectionpetition. And it¡¯s begun the moment we stepped foot into Mount Tai City.¡± Arthis muttered.

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His previous posttions had all been confirmed by way of the announcement. Furthermore, they had even made it clear that any instructor with less than sixty teaching credits at the end of the two month term would immediately be dismissed. How could Qin Ye possibly relinquish such a juicy, fat piece of meat that the Special Investigations Department was?

    ¡°I¡¯ve gained five teaching credits. In other words¡­ I¡¯ve triggered one of the conditions of the task that they have in mind. The cat?¡±

    Arthis built on, ¡°There¡¯s more than that. The Judge-ss expert surnamed Zhou revealed quite a bit of information through his announcement earlier. Firstly, we¡¯re not the only ones who¡¯d thought of this. There are a total of thirteen instructors who have the same ideas about this trip as well. Unfortunately¡­ most of them were penalized instead.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a warning.¡± Qin Ye squinted at the funerary street behind him, ¡°They must have vited one of the conditions that had beenid down by Vice Principal Li Tao. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s probably the one that prohibits us from strong arming the innocent or the unaffiliated. They must have flouted that rule in their desperation to urgently see results. Furthermore, the Head of Faculty was implicitly telling us that everything we¡¯re doing ispletely under his scrutiny. We would be wise to refrain from creating a ruckus.¡±

    ¡°At the end of the day, it¡¯s all about disying keen senses and acute observations of one¡¯s surroundings and circumstances.¡± Arthis further added, ¡°As a Judge-ss expert, he could scrutinize the movement of every single cultivator across Insignia Province if he so desired. This is why I¡¯dplimented you for how you¡¯d handled the situation earlier and refrained from strong arming them into disclosing what the cat was all about.¡±

    Qin Ye shoved his hands into his pockets and continued to plod along the street.

    Even if Master Ning isn¡¯t willing to disclose this information, there¡¯s always Master Ma or Master Gou.

    Thus, Qin Ye went around the funerary street, asking practically anyone he could whether they knew anything about the ¡°cat¡±.

    20% of them evidently knew something about it, but not a single person was willing to disclose any information about it.

    It was almost as though it was a topic of taboo.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± One hourter, he came out from the other side of the funerary street, ¡°I¡¯m afraid¡­ I¡¯m afraid that they¡¯ve all discovered or heard of the existence of a hidden hunting zone, but they¡¯ve also been tasked by someone not to disclose any details to anybody.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Arthis asked casually.

    ¡°I can¡¯t think of anyone else apart from the Special Investigations Department. It looks like the academy has already prepared some after-ss entertainment programme for us even before our arrival in this ce¡­¡± The wind picked up and swept Qin Ye¡¯s bangs to the side. Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°At the rate that things are going, I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to be too bored during the next two months here.¡±

    ¡°Do you even have the luxury of time to consider such things?¡± Arthis sneered, ¡°The thirteen of you are no longer the only ones searching high and low for these points right now. I¡¯m afraid all of the other instructors in this ce would have begun to make their move as well. Why don¡¯t you¡­ just activate your infernal eyes, locate the hidden hunting zone, and dispose of it?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°Old Man Zhou harbors an inexplicable hostility against me. If he finds out that I¡¯m short-circuiting the entire process and getting straight to the results, I¡¯m afraid that things aren¡¯t going to look up for me.¡±

    ¡°So, what now?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and picked up his phone, ¡°Now? Some questions don¡¯t have to be asked by way of word of mouth.¡±

    He switched on his phone, tapped on the search function, and typed in ¡°Mount Tai City Forum¡±.

    Three relevant search results immediately showed up.

    The first was the Mount Tai City local forum. The second was thergest Mount Tai City entertainment forum, and the third was a Mount Tai Citymunity.

    He clicked on the first option. As soon as the next page loaded, he immediately noticed a red-framed sticky post pinned at the top of the list of threads.

    ¡°Has anyone seen my cat?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s actually here¡­¡± Arthis eximed with disbelief. However, Qin Ye simply smiled, ¡°It¡¯s only natural¡­ Cultivators also need an outlet formunication and interaction. But how tech savvy do you think cultivators can possibly be? Do you think they¡¯d even know how to create their own website? Do you think that everyone is like the Special Investigations Department?¡±

    He answered his own question, ¡°If they¡¯re going to interact with each other, how do you think they¡¯re going to do it? It¡¯s easy. They would simply mix their true message together with a seemingly innocuous one and make an arrangement with the moderator to bump the post to the top of the forums or make it a sticky post. Given that the world is overflowing with reports of supernatural encounters these days, such posts won¡¯t be awkward or out of ce at all. And of all those who read these posts, those whose eyes it¡¯s intended for would immediately understand the underlying message behind it, and those who don¡¯t understand it naturally will never be able to decipher it either.¡±

    He clicked on the sticky post.

    ¡°Have you¡­ seen a cat like this?¡¯

    ¡°It¡¯s got a pure jet ck coat of fur, and it¡¯s extremely skinny.¡±

    ¡°It¡­ it¡¯s been showing up at my door at midnight. And then¡­ it would simply stare straight at me, almost as though¡­ there was something standing right behind me¡­¡±

 Chapter 109: In the Lead

    <h4>Chapter 109: In the Lead</h4>

    It just ended there.

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows and scrolled down. No matter how peculiar or unorthodox it was, the top sticky post was bound to have some audience. As expected, the number ofments below had already exceeded several hundred.

    ¡°Cats are mediums.¡± Arthis muttered, ¡°This is something that both the east and the west are in agreement to. In the west, cats are considered the spokesperson of the god of death, and it has the ability to see all Emissaries of Hell. In the east, cats are said to have nine lives, and all cats, and especially ck cats, are able to see things that most ordinary people aren¡¯t able to see.¡±

    Thements were simr to the ones on the city forum - ¡°God, why is this post everywhere?! How much money has Mount Tai City received from the author of the post?¡± ¡°This proves that cats are better than humans. The disappearance of a single cat is immediately made a sticky post, but the disappearance of a human being is simply treated like a drop in the ocean.¡± ¡°Author, please tell us your story.¡± ¡°Have you guys tried replying to the post? I can¡¯t do it at all.¡±

    His finger hovered over the reply button for some time, before he decided to look through the other forums as well.

    Every single forum that was even remotely affiliated to Mount Tai City in some way or other had the very same sticky post at the top of its threads!

    ¡°This is why I say there¡¯s still a generation gap between us.¡± Qin Ye''s finger gently hovered over the reply button, ¡°Did you notice that there isn¡¯t a single reply to the author¡¯s post?¡±

    Qin Ye continued exining, ¡°The number of views is already in the hundred thousands, yet there¡¯s not a single reply. You clearly don¡¯t understand the hearts of theizens. Such sticky posts would definitely attract a huge inte footprint from users. Yet everything thus far has only beenments, and there¡¯s not been a single reply at all.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Sorry¡­ I couldn¡¯t help myself. What I¡¯m trying to say is that the reply button might contain more than meets the eye.¡±

    Immediately, the phone screen turned scarlet, and a line of striking ck words appeared on the screen.

    Qin Ye clicked on the yes button.

    ¡°All cultivators are given registration numbers for administrative matters. I¡¯m one hundred percent certain that this post pertains to a supernatural incident. And I¡¯m afraid that it might be a troublesome one at that.¡± Qin Ye licked his lips. He was thoroughly intrigued by the cat mentioned in the post.

    Furthermore, this appeared to be an outstanding, unresolved matter that had gued provincial capital Mount Tai City for some time. Didn¡¯t this mean that not even Hunter-ss experts or even Hellguard-ss experts were able to root out the problem?

    ¡°The following information pertains to a supernatural incident in Mount Tai City.

    Impact: minimal.

    Threat: extremely high.¡±

    He skimmed through its contents, and immediately found the hidden information on the post.

    There was only a single line of information, and approximately only tenments below. That said, thements were all far more informative and constructive than the others in the main forum.

    ¡°Friend, Operative-ss experts aside, I¡¯ve heard that the esteemed Inspector Jiang, a Hunter-ss expert, has personally investigated this hunting zone as well, only to return covered with bite and w marks all over his body. If not for the fact that Operative-ss ghosts can¡¯t prate the defenses of a Hunter-ss expert, I¡¯m quite certain Lord Jiang would have perished in that hunting zone as well. And it¡¯s precisely because of this that the hunting zone was assessed to be an Operative-ss hunting zone. It¡¯s probably one of the most peculiar ones among its ss.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The ghosts you¡¯ve encountered in the past never had a corporeal body. Even the household god that you¡¯ve encountered is only an illusory existence at best. When all is said and done, spirits are only spirits, and their existence can never breach the gap between what is illusory and what is corporeal. But this hunting zone is different. The fact that the master of the hunting zone is able to leave marks on the physical body of cultivators means that it undoubtedly possesses a corporeal body.¡±

    ¡°There are several possible situations. Incidentally, this is quite relevant to the public lecture you¡¯ll have to give at the start of the semester. Each of these possible situations are incredibly rare to find, even by the standards of Hell. Unfortunately, it¡¯s impossible to tell exactly what the cause is with the information we have right now. Should I continue?¡±

    ¡°... Why do I get the feeling that you¡¯re only facing this bravely because you¡¯re peerless among all ghosts of the same level as you? After all, it¡¯s not quite like you to disy such a headstrong attitude¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, a number of notification bubbles were appearing on Zhou Xianlong¡¯s phone.

    ¡°So soon?¡± Zhou Xianlong raised his eyebrows. He hesitated for a moment, before selecting the ¡®no¡¯ option.

    Even though Zhou Xianlong abhorred S9527¡¯s ill-disciplined and disorganized personality, he couldn¡¯t deny that S9527 was one of the strongest among all of the other instructors around.

    ¡°S9527 has officially epted the ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯ assignment. Difficulty: C-grade. Awarded 5 teaching credits. Current total: 10 teaching credits, first ce.¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Lin Han stared at his phone with gritted teeth, ¡°Does he have to be so fast?!¡±

    Elsewhere, in an abandoned factory building, a young man was just chatting with one of the guards when his cell phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and nced at the notification, and his brows immediately furrowed, ¡°It¡¯s him again¡­¡±

    It was now patently clear to everyone that the selectionspetition had begun.

    ¡°Time¡­ is still on our side¡­¡±

    Are you really that displeased by the fact that I¡¯m doing well?

    Here I am, going about covertly, doing what I need to do - even refraining from seizing and snatching, yet there you are, announcing my achievements to everyone like a gun salutation?!

    Qin Ye let out a muffled groan, hailed a taxi and promptly made his way towards Coffee Shop No. 4.

    That¡¯s right. They were headed in the exact direction where the Insignia University was located.

    Qin Ye shook his head. He truly hadn¡¯t noticed such details.

    ¡°How did you know?¡± Qin Ye casually responded.

    Then, almost as though he recalled a frightening incident, he bit down on the cigarette butt, ¡°All of us locals here know that taxis steer clear of that area after six at night. Every month or so, there¡¯s a person who would stumble upon that area and vanish mysteriously! In fact, the seafood market located at the northern gate of Insignia University has gained such infamy that it¡¯s even been dubbed one of the ¡®three great mysteries¡¯. You¡­ you¡¯ve arrived at your destination.¡±

    It was an old neighbourhood. The surroundings revealed traces of the prosperity that the neighbourhood used to enjoy. Poles for telephone lines were erected at every corner of the street like dried, decaying tombstones. Wires hung loosely from the poles with a slight, depressing arc. All sorts of advertisements and signs were pasted on the telephone poles wherever there was space. The garbage cans were filled to the brim, and the stench of rotting garbage assaulted one¡¯s olfactory senses. Everything pointed to the fact that the neighbourhood was well past its prime, and it was in its twilight years.

    A dusty signboard peeked out of the corner of the street. Four words were scribbled haphazardly on the signboard - Coffee Shop No. 4.

 Chapter 110: Jingle Bells

    <h4>Chapter 110: Jingle Bells</h4>

    It wasn¡¯t well decorated. In fact, the entire coffee shop was in heavy disrepair. Old school movie posters were stered all over its yellowish walls, while the old wooden boards of the floor reeked of the peculiar dingy stench of old coffee stains. The dusty overhead lights were dim and yellow.

    The man probably never expected someone to even enter the shop. He immediately switched off his mic, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. Instead, he simply rubbed his hands as he nced around, before asking, ¡°Is this coffee shop open twenty-four hours?¡±

    This baby isn¡¯t happy.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°This is a coffee shop¡­¡± The attendant¡¯s eyes nced at his phone and saw that others had already begun hurling all forms of allegations at him. He gritted his teeth and barked, ¡°Shrimp noodles, g noodles, huainan beef soup, we¡¯ve got everything.¡±

    I¡¯m going to lose soon at this rate!

    You can say that the quality is poor to the extreme!

    ¡°Give me a bowl of shrimp noodles.¡± As soon as Qin Ye saw the attendant switch off his phone, Qin Ye immediately ced his order.

    The attendant swallowed his words and red at Qin Ye. Brother¡­ that¡¯s antisocial behaviour¡­ are you messing with me¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll have two taels.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he searched for table number four. The attendant turned around and yelled into the kitchen, ¡°Two taels, shrimp!¡± Turning around, he noticed that Qin Ye was just about to take a seat at table number four, and he immediately yelled at him, ¡°You can¡¯t sit there!¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°But he isn¡¯t here yet, is he?¡± Qin Ye smiled and took his seat. He suddenly discovered that this attendant was rather cute and adorable.

    Dong¡­ Just then, the door opened with a soft sound. The attendant gasped and sprang back behind the counter.

    Creeaaakk¡­ With a cringeworthy creak, the door opened slowly, and a strange-looking man walked in.

    He didn¡¯t appear too mobile either. Relying on the support of a walking stick, he slowly made his way over towards Qin Ye.

    ¡°I saw a new reply today.¡± The tall man stood with his back against the light and pointed at the seat across the table, ¡°Please, have a seat. It¡¯s on me today.¡±

    Interesting.

    It was as though he were a walking corpse hidden under the skin of a living person.

    ¡°You seem to have been¡­ waiting?¡± Qin Ye was the first to speak up.

    The man slowly set down the walking stick and picked up the ss of water. However, he didn¡¯t drink from it. After catching his breath, he finally responded several secondster, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯ve been waiting.¡±

    ¡°My name is Li Jiankang, and I¡¯m forty-eight years old. I live here at the Tianxi Seafood Market.¡±

    There were several people searching high and low for the mysterious 40 teaching credits right now. Since Qin Ye had already taken the lead, he didn¡¯t mind doing everything in his ability to stay ahead.

    ¡°This is something that only happened this year¡­¡± After a long time, Li Jiankang finally began, ¡°I live by myself in the Tianxi Seafood Market. There aren¡¯t many residents left in the vicinity because of the nearby demolitions works.¡±

    The ss in Li Jiankang¡¯s hands rattled slightly. He drew a deep breath and continued hoarsely, ¡°I didn¡¯t notice it immediately. But then, it went on everyday for the next ten days or so. It would just sit outside the door, refusing to enter the house. Then, at approximately 11.50 p.m., it would begin meowing and crying persistently.¡±

    Ssh¡­ His hands were now trembling so much that water had even spilt out of the ss. He set down the ss and leaned back into his seat to contain his shivers.

    He closed his eyes and raised his head slightly. Yet he continued to grip tightly to the armrests on his seat as though he were a taut bow, ¡°I still remember vividly what it looked like that night¡­ Its entire body was hunched, and its hair was all standing on end. It red at me cautiously with its green eyes, and it slowly approached me, step by step¡­¡±

    He suddenly shot up from his seat and stared at Qin Ye as though he were a fraud, ¡°Do you know something? Jingle Bells was practically acting like a frenzied beast. I-I had a feeling that it didn¡¯t intend to bite me in the first ce. Rather¡­ it was aiming its fangs at something else¡­ something right next to me¡­ something right by my side!¡±

    He was panting hard by now.

    Li Jiankang¡¯s tone of voice had escted so much that it was well over an octave higher than what it had begun with. After a protracted pause of approximately ten seconds, Li Jiankang raised his right hand and pointed to his glove. His voice had softened once more, yet there were still traces of breathlessness in his speech, ¡°The bite was so deep that it left a scar on my hand. I had no choice but to go to the hospital. But I usually deliver my goods from midnight to 5 a.m. everyday, so I had to trouble a friend to help attend to my shop¡­¡±

    Qin Ye lifted his eyelids and twirled a pencil casually on the table, ¡°He¡¯s dead?¡±

    Secondster, Li Jiankang finally muttered, ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±

    ¡°Bitten to death¡­¡± Li Jiankang¡¯s body shuddered uncontrobly. He wrapped his arms around his body tightly and continued trembling, ¡°It¡¯s definitely a case of an unnatural death¡­ The bite marks on his body can only have been left by a massive, vicious beast. But, guess what¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s caused by a person!!¡±

    Li Jiankang shrieked at the top of his voice. It was evident that his emotions were running wild. The attendant had already slipped away as soon as Li Jiankang had started his spiel, and the only two remaining in the entire coffee shop were the two who were seated at table number four right now. Li Jiankang¡¯s voice reverberated throughout the coffee shop and lingered in the air.

    ¡°Was there anything else?¡± Qin Ye probed further.

    He pointed to his own neck, ¡°Half of his neck was gone¡­ but, there was no blood¡­¡±

    It was clearly daytime, yet Li Jiankang was shivering like a sieve. It was almost as though¡­ there was someone staring at him from behind. He pulled out a silken scarf and wiped off the sweat from his forehead. Qin Ye tapped his fingers on the table, ¡°Do you have a wife or children?¡±

    ¡°Have you asked anyone else for help before?¡±

    1. This is a popr mystery/deduction game where yers have to find the werewolf hidden among the vigers and lynch him before he kills everyone else. There are also other characters with power like the oracle, who has the ability to see a character¡¯s role.

 Chapter 111: Matricide

    <h4>Chapter 111: Matricide</h4>

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°Go on.¡±

    He lifted his mask. His lower lips were pale and devoid of any colour of blood. He coughed dryly and continued with a hoarse voice, ¡°Jingle Bells vanishedpletely ever since that fateful incident.¡±

    ¡°Whenever night fell¡­ I would always feel as though something or someone were watching me. It¡¯s almost as though it were looming just over the head of my bed¡­ I¡¯m certain that it¡¯s there after midnight¡­¡± He shuddered vigorously once more, ¡°It just stands there, silently watching me¡­ I struggled so much to open my eyes, yet I was simply powerless to do so¡­¡±

    His tone of voice rose again, and he began to pant nervously. He took another ten seconds or so to calm down before speaking again, ¡°Then, in about September, Jingle Bells showed up again.¡±

    He grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s hand in agitation. Qin Ye raised his eyebrows. Li Jiankang¡¯s hands were icy cold and barely warm at all.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another person living in my apartment!¡±

    He appearedpletely spiritless, as though his soul was swamped in the mires of destion. He continued hoarsely, ¡°Since then, I¡¯ve never gone home. I live next to my home in a rented apartment right now. The only time that I dare return is in the day¡­¡±

    ¡°I got it.¡± Qin Ye nodded his head and stood up, ¡°Incidentally, it¡¯s the fifteenth of the month today. I¡¯ll go to your house at midnight tonight.¡±

    The paper crane was perched on his shoulder. Qin Ye turned the corner and immediately leaned close to the wall, ¡°Is he still there?¡±

    ¡°Is he watching me?¡±

    Qin Ye leaned close to the wall and furrowed his brows, ¡°It¡¯s not suspicion.¡±

    ¡°In fact, it is typical of one who has suffered a massive loss of blood.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I might have been over sensitive as well.¡± Qin Ye muttered cidly, ¡°But there¡¯s one other thing - and that¡¯s my appearances.¡±

    ¡°Please speak in in human terms.¡± Arthis muttered icily.

    Without waiting for Arthis¡¯ response, he answered his own question, ¡°If I were in his shoes, and regardless of how desperate he actually is, I would still have been suspicious given my age. He should have cautioned me not to go instead. His friend ought to be about his age, and yet even an adult like them perished to the mysterious cause. As a person who doesn¡¯t know a single thing about the supernatural forces of the world, how could he not possess the slightest bit of suspicion given my age? How could he be so certain that a high school student would be able to help him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a fluke¡­ How many people have you deceived with those appearances of yours? And your sense of impending dangers and crises is so much stronger than an average Hunter-ss cultivator at that.¡±

    Time passed by quickly.

    Instead, he was merely tied for first ce!

    Someone¡¯s catching up¡­

    ¡°As expected, these experts of the mortal realm aren¡¯t mere pushovers¡­¡± Qin Ye switched off his phone and leaned against the wall as he shut his eyes to rest.

    There were currently two tied for first ce. The first toplete their mission would truly take the lead! Given the way the school is run, there might even be bonus credits for taking the top spot!

    It sounded hurried and hasty. As soon as the footsteps turned the corner, Qin Ye smiled wickedly and whistled, ¡°Dear, you¡¯ve been lynched.¡±

    Qin Ye shrugged his shoulders. Indeed, the entire street was undergoing demolition works, and yet he hadn¡¯t seen a single soul pass by the entire afternoon.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you left yet?¡± The young man patted off the dirt on his buttocks as he regted his breathing.

    ¡°Why are you waiting for me?¡±

    ¡°......¡± Does crippling someone count asmitting an offence of causing grievous hurt? I¡¯ll wait on the line. This is pretty urgent.

    Qin Ye looked back at the young man, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Is the haunted house very famous?¡±

    ¡°If not for the fact that I didn¡¯t have money, I would have shifted away a long time ago! Please don¡¯t go! Seven people have already gone missing there! It really is a haunted house!! Nobody dares to step within a ten meter radius of that ce!¡±

    ¡°......¡± May I please know what circumstances qualify as the act of self-defence? And at what point does it be excessive? Is verbal assault counted? I¡¯ll wait on the line. This is pretty urgent.

    Without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, he added, ¡°Matricide.¡±

    It was indeed a rather high-profile incident.

    Unfortunately, the protracted period of separation earlier had created a rift in the family, and their son no longer listened to his parents. Finally, when the son was caught smoking at home for the umpteenth time, the mother picked up a leather belt in a fit of anger and disappointment and gave him a goodshing. Unexpectedly, the son retaliated. In his rage and dibobtion, he ran into the kitchen, picked up a knife in a frenzy and stabbed his mother over twenty times. His mother died immediately.

    The son changed into a set of new clothes and tossed the murder weapon into the middle of the pond. That night, the son answered a number of work calls on behalf of his mother and even tweeted on his mother¡¯s behalf to apply for sick leave.

    As there were no traces of blood on the first floor, the grandfather hardly thought much about the matter. Instead, they even went to the grandfather¡¯s ce for breakfast.

    Unfortunately, since the son was not of age yet, he couldn¡¯t be sentenced, and thew had no choice but to acquit him.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and looked down the street.

    ¡°But Uncle Li can¡¯t hear it even though everyone else can! There¡¯s a ghost in there¡­ there really is a ghost in there! You musn¡¯t go!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± The young man nced nervously at both sides of the road, ¡°That¡¯s the scariest part of it all¡­ his son had simply¡­ vanished.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°Onest question.¡±

    ¡°What little ck cat?¡± The young man asked in bewilderment, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± The young man trembled as an inexplicable chill surged throughout his body, ¡°He¡¯s never owned a cat! Think about it, how could he look after the cat if he was always away at work? Would he deign to have a cat if he didn¡¯t even have the time to look after his child?! There¡¯s no cat¡­ I¡¯ve never seen any cats in their house at all!¡±

    1. Another reference to the Werewolf game.

 Chapter 112: Fright Night (1)

    <h4>Chapter 112: Fright Night (1)</h4>

    ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m certain!¡± The young man clutched at his chest. The more he thought about the incident, the more horrifying it was. There were the eerie sounds of theshing of belts, knives plunging into human flesh, and blood sttering everywhere at night; and then there was Li Cheng¡¯s abrupt disappearance; and even the ck cat which he had never heard of before¡­ The young man had already decided in his heart that he was going to resign from his job tomorrow. There was no way he was going to live on in this street any longer!

    He no longer wanted to speak with Qin Ye, so he turned around and motioned to leave. Unfortunately, he felt someone grab him by the cor of his shirt.

    ¡°Dear¡­ it¡¯s almost seven in the evening, and it would be dangerous to ply the roads at night¡­ Look at my charming appearances, are you sure you¡¯re not just trying to get me into an incident at night?¡± The blond-haired young man red at Qin Ye with a disdainful expression on his face. Having just spoken of such horrific affairs, there was just no way he could remain on the streets like this any longer.

    On the other hand, Qin Ye was somewhat displeased as well.

    ¡°... About that¡­ since when did you be so confident in your own appearances? These words might bear some measure of credibility if I were the one who had said it, but don¡¯t you realize that you¡¯re just a measly ¡®neighbourhood kid¡¯? Our graphics cards are onpletely different levels, alright?!¡±

    The young man red at Qin Ye, and then switched on his phone.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°... Nothing much. I¡¯m just looking at how many years I¡¯m looking at for an offence of causing grievous hurt.¡±

    ¡°... There¡¯s no meaning in what you¡¯ve just said¡­ Come on, put down your phone, there¡¯s no reason to be overly dramatic¡­ I¡¯m just asking whether this incident is something that¡¯s widely known to the locals?¡±

    The young man set down his phone and wrested his clothes free of Qin Ye¡¯s grasp, ¡°These matters are quite widely known. Just a little while ago, Li Jiankang was known to have visited the funerary street almost on a daily basis in order to invite monks and Taoist priests of all shapes and sizes to perform rites and rituals to cleanse his house. Unfortunately¡­ four people went missing in just a single night. Word in the funerary street is that Li Jiankang¡¯s house is one that is haunted, through and through. But at the same time, they do their best to keep things under wraps presumably because they are concerned about their own reputation.¡±

    So desu ne¡­ Everything makes sense now.

    The young man finally left. Arthis muttered softly under her breath, ¡°The Great Intergenerational Heredity.¡±

    ¡°This truly is a remarkable specimen¡­ Kid, remember this lesson. When the school term begins, you¡¯re sure to make waves when you discuss these matters.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye frowned.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you delve a little deeper into this matter¡­¡± Arthis smiled mischievously, ¡°Let me warn you ahead of time - although this evil spirit is only at the level of a Netherworld Operative, even Soul Hunters can¡¯t take their existence lightly. Otherwise¡­ you won¡¯t be able to properly close this case¡­¡±

    After leaving Tianxi Fourth Street, Qin Ye searched for an inte cafe and surfed the web until it was 11 p.m. Then, he began making his way towards the neighbourhood where Li Jiankang¡¯s home was located.

    Tianxi Fourth Street could practically be described as Hell on earth. When night fell, the entire street was enshrouded with a mysterious eerie sensation.

    What was clearly the telephone poles in daylight now appeared as though they were massive poles holding up spirit summoning prayer gs. And the night was so dark that nobody could tell whether corpses hung from these poles as they stared at innocent, unsuspecting passers-by.

    The dim street lights were positioned dozens of meters away, and many of these were even broken, malfunctioning, or flickering with an eerie buzzing sound. It was almost as though something were darting about in the crossroads of light and darkness.

    The multitude of trash lying around, replete with stray cats and dogs and the scuttling of rats didn¡¯t do much to set hearts at ease. If anything, it only escted the oppressive uneasiness in the hearts of those around, almost as though it were foreshadowing the approach of a frightening terror.

    ¡°Only a crazy person would deign to live here¡­¡± Qin Ye remarked as he nced about his surroundings and noted that there were only a few homes that had their lights on.

    ¡°Eh? Given your finances, you must¡¯ve had your fair share of living in such ces, haven¡¯t you? What gives you the right to criticize others like that? Do you think that everyone is middle ss? Even thergest of cities around have slums and ghettos.¡± Arthis barked back disdainfully.

    ¡°... Don¡¯t speak of such nonsense! At the end of the day, I¡¯m still a duly licensed businessman. Or are you trying to say that businesses pertaining to the afterlife aren¡¯t proper businesses? Admittedly, the location of my shops have been in the gloomier areas, but you can also say that it¡¯s all part of my charm and my style!¡±

    ¡°Tsk, tsk¡­ I still find that your confidence and ego is slightly over-inted right now. It¡¯s almost like you change into apletely new person whenever you¡¯re faced with ghosts. How can you even have the mood for such banal banter within the territory of an extraordinary Yin spirit? Have you already forgotten what it felt like when you werepletely dominated in the sparring match with Lin Han?¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous!¡± Qin Ye sneered, ¡°That was merely an exchange of pointers, and we weren¡¯t out to get each other, understand? You need to better educate yourself¡­ How can you reduce theplex affairs of Emissaries of Hell to a simple win-lose situation?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what this great inheritance is. If it dares show its face to me, I¡¯ll definitely show it who¡¯s boss! I¡¯m the king of all ghosts! I¡¯m Nurarihyon¡¯s Grandson!

    His ego was inted to the extreme¡­

    Arthis clicked her tongue and shook her head as she watched Qin Ye draw closer and closer to Coffee Shop No. 4. Li Jiankang was still seated in the same spot. Qin Ye picked up Li Jiankang¡¯s keys and made his way towards the haunted home.

    Li Jiankang¡¯s home was located at the border of Insignia University, and it overlooked the locked northern gate of Insignia University, together with some of the campus buildings and brightly lit students¡¯ dormitories within the campus. The two-storey house had seen its fair share of years. It stood in the shadows of the street lights, almost as though it had been relegated to the sidelines after the end of the past era.

    Qin Ye opened the door and flicked the light switch. Unfortunately, there was no electricity.

    ¡°He must be in arrears, huh.¡± Qin Ye shrugged his shoulders. Li Jiankang had mentioned that it had been some time since hest went home. It certainly looked that way.

    However, darkness was hardly a hindrance to him at all.

    This sole husky hiding among the pack of wolves possessed the unique ability of seeing at night. It would be far too disappointing if a genuine Emissary of Hell couldn¡¯t do at least this much.

    His eyes darted about and took in his surroundings.

    It was a rtivelyrge room that was approximately one hundred square meters in size. There was a set of stairs tucked in the corner which led to the second floor. And the second floor¡­ was precisely where the matricide urred.

    The furniture was old and dated, and the floors were not covered by any form of flooring or floor tiles. A typical drawing of an immortal Buddha hung on the wall. The sofa was covered with a blue cloth cover, while the table was covered in dust. An old school television sat in the corner from the room. Apart from the fact that the ce looked somewhat old and dusty, there weren''t any traces of the horrific tragedy that urred on the second floor.

    ¡°Then¡­ let¡¯s not waste time, shall we?¡± Qin Ye licked his lips excitedly, and the colours of his eyes inverted abruptly.

    White pupils and ck irises. These were the eyes of a Soul Hunter!

    As long as they were at or under the level of a Soul Hunter, no Yin spirit would ever be able to elude these eyes.

    Things had been going badly for himtely. The actions of the silly buffoon, Lin Han, had stirred in him a belly full of fire; Zhou Xianlong was scrutinizing his every step and delighting in his misery; and even the foundations of Hell were unstable¡­ It was high time for the darkness of night to tremble before him, and for all Yin spirits to understand who their true god was!

    What goes unnoticed in the mortal realm shall be repaid in full in theherworld!

    However.

    Silence.

    For three whole minutes, Qin Ye looked around the room with disbelief. He shut and opened his eyes, and then scrutinized every single detail in the room once more.

    ¡°Nothing?¡± He gasped, ¡°How could it be?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ how could it be?¡± Arthis smiled gleefully as she delighted in his misery, ¡°Why can¡¯t an Emissary of Hell locate the Yin spirit at all?¡±

    Qin Ye turned around and nced at the paper crane that was perched on his shoulder, ¡°You knew this was going to happen?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate Yin spirits.¡± Arthis muttered cidly, ¡°What you¡¯ve been exposed to thus far has only been the tip of the iceberg. Just as humans possess hundreds of different personalities, there are likewise hundreds of types of Yin spirits. Hell used to treat the ssification of Yin spirits as a separate discipline altogether. Its full name is ¡®The System of Records and ssifications for Yin Spirits¡¯. Perhaps 99 of 100 of these Yin spirits won¡¯t be able to threaten you, but thest one of these might very well cause you to lose your life.¡±

    ¡°Mother-and-child spirit, nightmare spirit, the Great Intergenerational Heredity, the evanescence spirit, the broodmother¡­ These are all incredibly dangerous types of Yin spirits. You¡­ should experience this for yourself¡­ Hang on¡­ what are you trying to do?! Stop right there!! Where¡¯s your pride as an Emissary of Hell?!!¡±

    Qin Ye was just about to pull open the door with an abrupt movement when he smiled dryly, ¡°About that¡­ I¡¯ve suddenly got the urgent need to pee, so I¡¯ll make a move first¡­¡±

    Arthis drew a deep breath. The paper crane trembled violently as she exploded in rage, ¡°You¡¯re an Emissary of Hell!! By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble must disperse! Do you think these words arepletely meaningless?!! Back then, a multitude of ghosts would immediately scatter to the corners of the earth as soon as they heard this deration! You¡¯re only facing a Great Intergenerational Heredity, and yet you¡¯re already fleeing at the earliest sight of trouble?!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean flee at the sight of it? What rubbish are you spouting? This can only be called a tactical retreat! Haven¡¯t you heard of the saying, ¡®avoid any fights you¡¯re not prepared for¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­¡± The paper craned flew up and shot straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s forehead, ¡°Where¡¯s your spirit of fearlessness and courage?! Didn¡¯t you want darkness to tremble at your sight?! Didn¡¯t you want all Yin spirits to cower at your existence?! Didn¡¯t you want to be the god of all evil ghosts?!!¡±

    ¡°Shh¡­ keep your voice down. I wouldn¡¯t want these ghosts to hear such embarrassing words from your lips¡­ Humans must have dreams. That said, these dreams shouldn¡¯t be too far detached from reality either¡­ By the way, why won¡¯t this door open?¡±

    Dang!!

    Just then, a crisp sound reverberated throughout the room. Qin Ye immediately pulled back his hand.

    Dang!!

    Before he could even react to the situation, the same sound echoed throughout the room again.

    Dead silence.

    The darkness of the night seemed to shift slightly. The dim moonlight shone eerily in through the windows, casting the spotlight on the tables and chairs in the room, making them look as though they were silently but surely cracking their mouths open. The soft reflections from the ss windows even appeared to paint on the furniture eyes that stared at Qin Ye without blinking at all.

    A loud, repetitive sound approached the dark room in the dead of a deep, dark night. It was almost as though something was desperately hacking at the front door!

    Dang! Dang!!

    It was the nging sound of metal.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and leaned into the peephole.

    Dang!!

    Another loud sound caused the door to rattle loudly. However, Qin Ye saw nothing through the peephole.

    There was only a dim street light in the distance. He looked at his phone immediately.

    Midnight. 12 a.m.

    The evil ghost wasing!

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± Qin Ye instinctively retreated. What¡¯s knocking on the door? No¡­ what¡¯s hacking and shing at the door? But before he could even react to the situation properly, he was suddenly stricken by a feeling of intense terror that he hadn¡¯t experienced for a long time now. The sensation surged straight through his body so quickly that his mind grew numb and all of his hairs stood on end!

    Just as he was retreating earlier¡­ he had suddenly and abruptly collided into¡­ a human body!

    Yet the body was ice cold - almost akin to that of a corpse!

    Someone else was in the house!

    Goosebumps red all over his skin. He had earlier taken a look around when he first entered the house, and he had ascertained that there was nobody else inside. Despite that, there was suddenly someone standing behind him in an otherwise empty room!

    Without hesitation, he unsheathed the demonhead saber and swung it behind him as he turned around. However--...

    There was nothing behind him.

    There was still the same miserable glow of the dim moonlight, and the somewhat suffocating darkness of the night. Yet nothing else was there.

    Drip¡­ A drop of sweat rolled off his forehead.

    He took a deep breath and pulled open the front door. It was equally empty outside.

    That said, he could see that there were now several visible hack marks across the surface of the door.

    ¡°This is¡­ caused by a kitchen knife.¡± He gently ran his fingers along the surface marks as his eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°In the case of the matricide, Li Cheng had simrly murdered his own mother with a kitchen knife like this¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Suddenly, Qin Ye heard the sound of the kitchen faucet being turned on. Simultaneously, he heard the somewhat hoarse voice of a middle-ageddy call out, ¡°Cheng-Cheng,e help me clean the vegetables¡­ you¡­ you¡¯ve been smoking again?!!¡±

    ¡°Stop bothering me!¡± A teenager¡¯s voice echoed, almost as though it were within earshot.

    Qin Ye nced about his surroundings vigntly. It was all too peculiar. It was almost as though the scene from that night was being reenacted right before his very eyes. Yet even he, an Emissary of Hell, was unable to see a single trace of what was going on!

    ¡°How many times must I tell you?! You refuse to take it to heart? I-I¡¯m going to beat you to death!!¡± An incensed voice exploded, followed quickly by theshing sounds of a leather belt striking flesh. Pak pak pak¡­ The teenager barked back with an equal amount of rage, ¡°Screw your mother!! I dare you to hit me again!! See if I don¡¯t kill you!¡±

    ¡°How dare you talk back? Y-you¡­ how could you swear at your own parents?! Haven¡¯t you learnt anything?!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m going to cut you down!!¡±

    1. This is a reference to a popr Japanese manga.

 Chapter 113: Fright Night (2)

    <h4>Chapter 113: Fright Night (2)</h4>

    The sounds of shouting and cursing was quickly followed by the sounds of the kitchen knife being plunged straight into flesh. Then, there were miserable screams amidst the sickening sounds of blood stter. The bloody and depraved scene appeared to be being reenacted all around Qin Ye right now. Any person in his right mind would find such an incidentpletely abhorrent.

    The depression, madness and bloodshed were all being revisited in an otherwise empty house.

    ¡°Send my ass! I¡¯ll cut you down!!¡±

    ¡°Dare you care more, huh?! Who told you to interfere with what I¡¯m doing?! Screw you, mother!!¡±

    The young man¡¯s voice, however, went from bellows of rage, to manic cries, until it finally became cracked and hoarse.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions were incredibly pale, not because of fear, but because of the sheer disgust at the images that had surfaced in his mind.

    Perhaps there was a little bit of both, and the truth was somewhere in the middle.

    For the very first time, Qin Ye felt an intense wave of nausea sweep across his heart.

    ¡°Hehehe¡­ hahahaha!!!¡± Like a demon that had broken free from its shackles, heughed maniacally, ¡°Nobody¡¯s going to care anymore¡­ Finally, nobody¡¯s going to care about me anymore!¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡±

    He knew it was the sound of Li Cheng spitting his cigarette butt onto his mother¡¯s corpse.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Arthis responded stiffly.

    ¡°As long as you breach this bottom line, you¡¯re not considered a human anymore.¡±

    He tidied his robes, ¡°Since this is something that had slipped through the cracks of the mortal realm¡¯sws, I¡¯ll take it upon myself to handle this case!¡±

    The Li family clearlycked nning. Despite the sheer amount of space in their house, they nevertheless chose to use these spaces for multiple purposes. Take the kitchen for instance. The sink in the kitchen was generally meant for washing dishes, yet there was also a dusty toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste ced next to it. There was even a grimy mirror ced right in front of the sink.

    But¡­ as soon as he drew closer to the sink, the rusty faucet¡­ suddenly twisted slightly, causing a scarlet liquid to pour out!

    Then, as he straightened his back once more, he suddenly saw the figure of another person standing right behind him!

    The head was mangled, and the face was covered in knife wounds. Blood dripped from the mutted face. This person was just standing in the dark, looking straight at him!

    He searched around the house, and eventually found his way to Li Cheng¡¯s bedroom. He picked up the picture frame ced on Li Cheng¡¯s bedside table.

    Li Jiankang, Li Cheng, and Song Jiafang were all smiling faintly. Unfortunately, the picture was also covered in a thickyer of dust.

    They were simplyrge but empty freezers.

    ¡°You¡¯re an Emissary of Hell, and a Soul Hunter at that. No matter how peculiar it is, it¡¯s only an Operative-ss vengeful apparition at the end of the day. With the dual suppression of both your rank and your bloodline, it definitely won¡¯t show itself while you¡¯re around.¡±

    ¡°Of course there are. You were right earlier. Avoid any fights you¡¯re not prepared for. When ites to the Great Intergenerational Heredity, there are some things you¡¯ll have to prepare beforehand. Besides¡­¡± The paper crane spun around on its shoulder, ¡°Something tells me that there¡¯s more than meets the eye to this incident¡­¡±

    As he left, a telescope slowly retracted from an abandoned house in the distance.

    The man tapped on ¡®contacts¡¯, tapped on the ¡®Mount Tai City Special Investigations Department¡¯ group, and promptly sent a text message to one of the administrators.

    The other party¡¯s ID was ¡®Sea of Forests and ins of Snow¡¯. He quickly responded, ¡°Are you sure there weren¡¯t any traces of a fight? That doesn¡¯t seem quite right. That ghost appears to be incredibly murderous and bloodthirsty, and it doesn¡¯t seem likely to pass up on any potential food that walks through the door.¡±

    Sea of Forests and ins of Snow didn¡¯t respond any longer.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°That word is¡­ ¡®volition¡¯.¡±

    Arthis caught his drift, ¡°Are you saying that the project is none other than the vengeful apparition resultant from the matricide?¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, following these lines of investigations is probably where the missing points are to be found. It¡¯s also precisely because these topics are investigated by the SRC that the government hadn¡¯t enlisted the aid of Hellguard-ss experts, for fear that they would simply level the entire hunting zones.¡±

    With a sigh, Qin Ye switched on his phone and nced at the list of instructors in the groupmunity. Zhou Xianlong hadn¡¯t posted any updates, which means everyone¡¯s teaching credits had remained approximately at the same level.

    ¡°There¡¯s no meaning.¡± He switched off his phone and swept his fringe to the side, ¡°It¡¯s simply because I¡¯m feeling suffocated and uneasy in my heart that I¡¯m looking for something to talk about.¡±

    There was a rare trace of determination in his deep, booming voice, ¡°I think¡­ that when the first King Yanluo founded Hell, these must have been the thoughts in his mind. He must have seen far too many such images and scenes, and that must have triggered his desire to establish Hell. The good weren¡¯t rewarded, while the evil continued to amass wealth¡­ In fact, he must¡¯ve seen and witnessed far more than I have¡­¡±

    ¡°Good and evil must be repaid. This has been one of the immutable principles undergirding the Heavenly Dao of reincarnation. The first King Yanluo¡­ it¡¯s been thousands of years¡­ Life back then was far more miserable than it is right now. It¡¯s not even an exaggeration to say that people ate off the bones of their children¡­ I, too, think that the first King Yanluo must have been someone of humble beginnings. And it might precisely have been a result of his humble beginnings that led to the founding of the Fengdu Necropolis that eventually stood for thousands of years.¡±

    The paper crane immediately turned around. If it had eyes, it would most definitely have given Qin Ye a death stare, ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re essentially no different from the first ever King Yanluo who founded Hell? With all due respect, you¡¯reparing a horse and a bull.¡±

    Arthis sneered, ¡°If you¡¯ve got the time and energy, then rather than thinking about such things, why don¡¯t you consider instead how you should seed the mantle of the first King Yanluo?! Quickly reestablish Hell! People like Li Cheng should experience the full course of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment before being subjected to ten cycles of the path of the beast to atone for their sins.¡±

    ¡°Where are the six paths of reincarnation, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ahem¡­¡± Just as Qin Ye arrived at the end of Tianxi Fourth Street, the door to a ck car parked by the side of the road suddenly opened, and a fat middle-aged man walked out of it. After ncing fearfully at the dark street behind Qin Ye, he smiled faintly and handed Qin Ye a name card, ¡°Hello, sir. Can I ask if you¡¯re from the Special Investigations Department?¡±

    The fat man smiled amiably, ¡°Let me introduce myself. I¡¯m from the Soaring Dragon Developers, one of thergest property developers across all of Insignia Province. We¡¯re quite reputable, even among the five surrounding provinces. My name is Sun Kangliang, and I¡¯m a chief project manager in charge of¡­¡±

    ¡°This is a government project, yet it has been forcibly halted for some reasons which I¡¯m sure you¡¯re already aware of. A failure to execute any form of construction works within a six month period of time constitutes a breach of contract. I¡¯m so flustered by the current situation that I¡¯m practically losing all of my hair. The engineering team has already been held in abeyance for months now, and we¡¯re already at the end of our road¡­ I¡¯d just heard from my people that someone has entered and exited the haunted house, and so I immediately rushed down to take a look for myself. If you¡¯ve got the time¡­ could you allow me to be a good host and invite you to supper?¡±

    Sun Kangliang coughed awkwardly, and then whispered, ¡°Not entirely¡­¡±

    ¡°That alone justifies my invitation to you to supper tonight.¡±

 Chapter 114: Hellâ€™s Enforcement (1)

    <h4>Chapter 114: Hell''s Enforcement (1)</h4>

    Ten minutester, the duo were already seated in ate-night snack bar.

    It was naturally the ubiquitous Ma Xiao.

    It wasn¡¯t far from Tianxi Fourth Street. In fact, it was located just one street away. Yet the difference between the two streets was practically like night and day. Tianxi Fourth Street was dim and lightless, while the next street was brightly lit and filled with singing and dancing despite the time of the night.

    The Ma Xiao shop chosen by Sun Kangliang was located in a great ce. Although it was already well past one in the morning, it was still filled with guests. The shop was also quite well-decorated, and there were several traditional Westriver operatic masks hanging on the walls. Qin Ye and Sun Kangliang already had a piping hot pot of yabbies sitting in front of them. The yabbies were soaking in a pot of broth topped with fresh spring onions, chilli oil, and a variety of other spices. It looked incredibly inviting and appetizing.

    They were the only two located in the elegant-looking private room. Yet none of them said a single word.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t have any appetite to eat right now, and he simply fiddled with the teacup in his hands. On the other hand, Sun Kangliang evidently had other things on his mind as well. For as long as Qin Ye appeared out of it, Sun Kangliang continued to observe Qin Ye silently.

    This man isn¡¯t even twenty years old.

    But he¡¯s sure able to hold his own. In fact, his eyes even seem rather deep and abstruse for some strange reason¡­

    Sun Kangliang was somewhat astounded that such a thought had even crossed his mind to begin with. But upon closer inspection, he soon confirmed his earlier suspicions.

    That¡¯s right. It¡¯s deep and abstruse indeed.

    There wasn¡¯t any of the usual youthful frivolity about him, and the false pretension of maturity was long gone. Instead, there was a sincere maturity about him that came with having experienced the vicissitudes of life. All expressions of his came genuinely from the heart. Whetherughter or anger, none of his manifestations of emotions made the person on the receiving end feel embarrassed or put him in a spot. It¡¯s almost as though¡­

    He¡¯s the embodiment of sincerity?

    During this period of silence, he sorted through several modes of making his im, only to reject all but one of them. In the end, he decided on the simplest and most sincere method he knew.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been observing the surveince cameras in Coffee Shop No. 4 for a while now.¡± His smile faded away, and he held out a pack of cigarettes to Qin Ye. He didn¡¯t smoke, but it was still a habit of his to have a pack of cigarettes on hand at all times.

    Qin Ye responded with a casual nod.

    ¡°I was aware of your arrival ever since noontime. After listening to your conversation with Li Jiankang, I¡¯d immediately waited for you at the front of the street. That said, you¡¯ll have to forgive me for not daring to take a single step onto that street. Can I know how I should address you?¡±

    ¡°Qin.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°But before you proceed with your questions, I¡¯ve got a few questions of my own as well.¡±

    ¡°Please.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to fiddle with his teacup, ¡°How do you know about the Special Investigations Department? How much do you know about them? And who told you about them?¡±

    Sun Kangliang smiled amiably, ¡°Mr Qin, walls have ears. There will always be people who have their ears to the ground and know more than most others.¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, the chairman of the Soaring Dragon Developers is ranked 349th on the list of the 500 richest men in Cathay. He was the one who had sincerely reminded everyone at a board meeting to give in to anyone from the Special Investigations Department regardless of age or sex - even if the representative were only a ten-year old child.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at his own reflection in the teacup.

    This was an unexpected gain.

    His primary objective in this trip to Mount Tai City was not to secure the title of an outstanding instructor. Rather¡­ it was to establish a rtionship with a constructionpany!

    Qin Ye¡¯s earlier question might have seemed aimless, but the truth of the matter was that he was probing at Sun Kangliang¡¯s stature. His title in and of itself didn¡¯t reveal much about his importance. A division manager in a smallpany might very well be a nobody, while a division manager in argepany could very well have been appointed by the chairman himself. In this regard, Sun Kangliang¡¯s response wasrgely satisfactory, since it provided him with an insight to the implicit question he had in his heart.

    It was now clear to Qin Ye that Sun Kangliang was likely also a shareholder of Soaring Dragon Developers.

    His stature was neither insignificant nor overwhelming. It was perfect for Qin Ye¡¯s purposes.

    Working with a person who was of great importance would naturally shine the limelight on him, and he didn¡¯t want to get embroiled in a tussle between theirpetitors. On the other hand, working with an insignificant person just wouldn¡¯t cut it at all. This was a disy of Qin Ye¡¯s art of listening, which he had honed and sharpened over the years that he had under his belt. A multitude of important information undergirded the most banal and seemingly unimportant conversations.

    But¡­ Qin Ye still needed to know how implicated the Soaring Dragon Developers was with the Tianxi Fourth Street.

    ¡°You¡¯re looking to demolish Tianxi Fourth Street.¡± Although Qin Ye wasn¡¯t in a good mood right now, he did his best to perk up his spirits, ¡°I¡¯ve seen the ns. The total area is approximately 25 square kilometers. This is a massive project. Is Li Jiankang the only hindrance standing in the way of your demolition works?¡±

    Sun Kangliang had already been prepared to disclose everything to Qin Ye from the onset. Yet he was still somewhat taken aback by Qin Ye¡¯s blunt questions. Nevertheless, Sun Kangliang¡¯s keen intuition told him not to beat about the bush with Qin Ye. Perhaps that might have been possible on any other day, but he could tell that Qin Ye was in a rather bad mood right now, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ Mr Qin, we can only proceed with our demolition works after Li Jiankang moves away. But that¡¯s not a problem in and of itself. The problem lies elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°You might not be aware of this, but there are regtions which require us to resettle all citizens beforemencing demolition works. This is a unified resettlement effort to relocate them to the exact same ce. But¡­ after what happened to Li Jiankang, do you think anyone would agree to be his neighbour?¡±

    ¡°Ordinary citizens are incredibly afraid. They are afraid that Li Cheng would suddenly return to his home, and they simply can¡¯t fathom the prospects of being neighbours to a man who might potentially be harbouring his son, a murderer. The ones who remain in Tianxi Fourth Street are all Li Jiankang¡¯s neighbours. ording to the ns, they were all designated to continue being neighbours with Li Jiankang in the new settlement. But all of them gave us but one condition for their relocation - they are not willing to be neighbours with Li Jiankang in the new settlement.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head slightly, indicating his understanding of the situation as he took over for Sun Kangliang, ¡°So, they¡¯re all waiting for Li Jiankang to shift out before they¡¯re willing to give their confirmation?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Sun Kangliang chuckled bitterly, ¡°As long as Li Jiankang refuses to shift, none of his neighbours would agree to the relocation. In turn, Li Jiankang¡¯s conditions to our firm is this - as long as we¡¯re able to resolve his family¡¯s affair, he would be happy to ept the basic resettlementpensation sum. But if we¡¯re unable to resolve his affairs for him, he¡¯s indicated that he would never shift away until the day he dies.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    Something seems amiss?

    When he mentioned that, I felt a certain fleeting notion flicker across my mind, but I was unable to grasp it entirely.

    Sun Kangliang continued, ¡°We¡¯ve demolished and redeveloped many areas across the country, and we¡¯re well aware that people like these aren¡¯t after money. But we really have no means to assist him in his affairs!¡±

    ¡°Eight of the ten monks, Taoist priests and experts that we had hired in the past were all cheats and con artists! I¡¯m not even sure what Li Jiankang is thinking. One would be able to tell at a nce that some of these con artists aren¡¯t worth their mettle at all, but he doesn¡¯t seem to reject any of¡­ Mr Qin?¡±

    Qin Ye had abruptly stood up.

    I¡¯ve got it¡­

    The earlier notion that had slipped through my mind - I¡¯ve got it!

    ¡°Say it again.¡± Qin Ye mmed his palms on the table and gazed deeply into Sun Kangliang¡¯s eyes, ¡°Please repeat what you¡¯ve just said once more.¡±

    Sun Kangliang blinked his eyes. Qin Ye¡¯s attitude had suddenly filled his despondent heart with hope again.

    Perhaps¡­

    This ridiculously young-looking man¡­ might perhaps have a way of resolving this matter?

    He adjusted his thoughts for a moment before exining with a grave expression on his face, ¡°We¡¯d called upon many such experts, some of whom are even locals from the funerary street who call themselves experts. Some of them even address themselves as goddesses or avatars and the like. We would always invite some of these experts to bless our efforts every time wemence construction works on a new site, so I¡¯ve seen my fair share of these experts, and I can tell with just a few probative questions whether these so-called experts are genuinely reliable or not.¡±

    ¡°But Li Jiankang has never rejected a single one of these. As long as they are willing to go, he would wee them with open arms. He hardly says much apart from his ount of the incident either¡­ Right, there was one exception. I heard that the Special Investigations Department had sent someone over, and I¡¯d even stepped into Tianxi Fourth Street for the very first time in excitement. Unfortunately, Li Jiankang rejected their help.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his brows quizzically, ¡°Reason?¡±

    Sun Kangliang deliberated for a moment, ¡°Back then, I think he¡¯d mentioned that¡­ their paperwork wasn¡¯t in order, and he couldn¡¯t trust them.¡±

    That¡¯s it¡­

    The fragments of the puzzle had finally begun toe together. He turned around and immediately made his way for the exit, ¡°Prepare the honorarium. This matter will be resolved by dawn.¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡± Sun Kangliang stood up abruptly and took a deep breath. His eyes were zing as though they were on fire, ¡°If you can really bring an end to this madness¡­ we will definitely reward you with a satisfactory sum!¡±

    Thud¡­ The door closed.

    Qin Ye stood outside the building. He ran his fingers through his hair, and a bright glimmer of killing intent surfaced in the depths of his eyes.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­ that¡¯s how it is¡­¡±

    ¡°You guys are really¡­ challenging the baseline of my authority as an Emissary of Hell¡­¡±

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case¡­ don¡¯t me me for reaping your souls!¡±

    He no longer concealed his presence. Ten minutester, he showed up once more in front of Li Jiankang¡¯s home.

    The door opened softly, and then closed. Qin Ye surveyed the surrounding darkness, and then suddenly spoke aloud, ¡°I know that you¡¯re watching me from somewhere.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m giving you five seconds to show yourself. Turn yourself in, and you¡¯ll be treatedpletely differently down under than if I have to personally apprehend you.¡±

    No response.

    ¡°Five¡­ four, three, two, one¡­ Very well.¡± As soon as Qin Ye finished his countdown, his Yin energy suddenly exploded, and he immediately clothed himself in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state. He appeared like the most terrifying evil ghost in Hell. His white hair scattered about in tandem with his fluttering ck robes. The pale white de of the saber was as long as half his height. Qin Ye unsheathed his saber and dropped its edge to the ground with a loud ng, causing cracks to spread throughout the floor like a spiderweb.

    Wisps of pure ck Yin energy flowed from the sleeves of his robe and his seven apertures alike, almost like they were snakes that were slithering about menacingly. A Hell¡¯s Emissary has arrived; all ghosts must bow in retreat. A scream of abject fear echoed through the darkness and vanished without a trace.

    ¡°Arti, is it possible to change my eyes such that they can only perceive humans, and not Yin spirits?¡± Qin Ye nced about his surroundings and asked cidly.

    ¡°Simple.¡± The paper crane flew up and spun in front of him, ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    In the next second, Qin Ye¡¯s pupils immediately changed from a miserable white colour to a scarlet red colour. He surveyed his surroundings once more, and he immediately chuckled softly, ¡°As expected¡­¡±

    ¡°He truly doesn¡¯t give up until the very end¡­¡± Qin Ye tightened his grip around the hilt of his saber and immediately hacked down onto the ground with all his might, ¡°Li Jiankang!¡±

    BOOM!!!

    The surface of the ground immediately cracked open, revealing a solid foundation underneath.

    Meanwhile, the two agents of Mount Tai City¡¯s Special Investigations Department on surveince duty opened their eyes wide in surprise.

    ¡°What powerful true energy¡­¡± One of the agents gasped with a zing gleam in his eyes, ¡°It¡¯s there¡­ he has made his move! He has finally made his move!¡±

    This was something that only they could see right now. Powerful Hunter-ss true energy swirled like a massive tide in a hundred meter radius around Li Jiankang¡¯s home, causing all of the surrounding trees to sway wildly!

    ¡°He¡­ has he encountered something? Or has he already unlocked the secret behind this hunting zone?¡± The other agent stared intently at Li Jiankang¡¯s home as he muttered aloud.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­ even the elites in Mount Tai City haven¡¯t been able to crack this hunting zone¡­¡±

    Yet Qin Ye simply answered all of their doubts with his actions.

    His long saber gleamed like pristine snow. Disguising his Yin energy as true energy, Qin Ye continued to wildly swing his energy-infused saber at the surface of the ground, causing the web of cracks on the ground to turn into a massive crevice. The ground rumbled violently as Qin Ye continued to sink lower and lower!

    One meter, three meters, five meters¡­ ten meters!

    Kkkkkrrrrr¡­ The cracks grewrger andrger until it finally became a massive crevice in the ground. With yet another swing of his saber, Qin Ye had finally arrived at the depth of twelve meters below ground level. Just then¡­ BOOM!!

    Qin Ye had swung his saber at the ground once more. But this time, instead of hacking up a sturdy foundation of the ground, his saber cracked open a massive hole that was almost twenty square meters wide!

    With the dim glow of the moonlight in tow, countless fragments of debris, earth, wood and gravel fell straight into the gaping hole that stank of the smell of rotting flesh. A man wearing a ck coat, a hat, and carrying a walking stick stood in the center of the hole, staring at the ceiling above him with his mouth agape.

    Gentle beams of moonlight peeked through the hole above him. A white-haired man with scarlet pupils and ck irises, dressed in an ancient-looking robe was currently descending from the skies with countless wisps of Yin energy dancing wildly around him. And this man was currently staring right at him!

    It was akin to the descent of an Anitya Hellguard!

    ¡°Ahh¡­ The whole family happens to be around¡­¡± Qin Ye licked his lips. With his back against the pale glow of moonlight, he pointed his long saber below him, directly at the man in the middle of the room. The soft swish of the sword was apanied by a chorus of ghastly moans, as though dering the arrival of a Soul Hunter.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡±

    1. It¡¯s a popr snack food shop that is known for selling yabbies.

    2. Thepany culture in China is quite different from the rest of the world. Connections are of paramount importance, especially when ites torgepanies. This is why the author says that a division manager in argepany is likely to be connected to the chairman of thepany.

 Chapter 115: Hellâ€™s Enforcement (2)

    <h4>Chapter 115: Hell''s Enforcement (2)</h4>

    ¡°You¡­ what in the world are you?¡± It was only after a long time that he spoke with trembling in his voice.

    Shaa¡­ He softlynded on the ground and nced about his surroundings before responding soullessly, ¡°What am I?¡±

    ¡°Anitya Hellguard of the ck and White?¡± Li Jiankang¡¯s shaky voice faded into the background. He leaned heavily against the wall, and his breath grew ragged. Then, he suddenly turned around and ran backwards. The sound of a loud thud, was quickly followed by a loud metallic ng and cringeworthy sounds of chains.

    The houses along Tianxi Fourth Street were all incredibly old, and it had never been considered part of the downtown until recent years, following the development of Mount Tai City. Prior to that, this locality used to be a farming region, and it was not umon to find the existence of such underground storage cers.

    The room was filled with the musty stench of fish. The row of weak lights led to a small iron door at the end of the room. This was where Li Jiankang had earlier escaped through. It was remarkable that a seemingly ordinary human being like Li Jiankang hadn¡¯t been scared stiff when he first saw the arrival of Qin Ye in his otherworldly Hell¡¯s Emissary state.

    There was a long, narrow corridor just behind the iron door that could at best fit two people side-by-side. A weak electric light was simrly installed overhead at every five meter interval. This should¡¯ve been used as a bunker or air-raid shelter of sorts before it was repurposed. Qin Ye chuckled coldly and transformed into a powerfulhergale as he swooped straight down the corridor.

    Such a thing stands no chance in the face of a genuine Emissary of Hell.

    Whoosh¡­ Thehergale swirled around and converged to reconstitute Qin Ye¡¯s physical form. Arthis muttered, ¡°He¡¯s getting desperate. The jig is up, and he¡¯s now prepared to make ast stand right here.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. He held his demonhead saber horizontally in front of him. The eerie jade-green me burned brightly, illuminating an area one meter in radius around him. Just then, a sudden hissing roar echoed from the end of the corridor.

    This was a pitch-ck corridor.

    And he could hear wild, frantic howls.

    It was the sound of a heavy iron object being dragged across the ground, followed by the soft tremors of an objectnding on the ground. And these sounds appeared to be rushing straight towards him in the dark corridor like a fearsome tidal wave!

    The figure¡¯s speed was not quick, but the manner in which it approached Qin Ye was incredibly peculiar. Both feet sprang from the ground at the same time, and each leap of his feet sent it bouncing approximately one foot high. The figure also held out its hands in front of it, and it constantly appeared to be grasping at the air. It was almost as though it wanted so much to traverse the remaining distance in an instant, grab hold of Qin Ye and drink his blood dry in one fell swoop.

    The joints across the vampire¡¯s entire body were incredibly stiff, and it was unable to bend any part of it at all. Yet it was precisely also because of this that the vampires possessed a physical body that was incredibly tough and practically imprable. There were still secret techniques for nurturing and refining vampires being passed down in Westbrook and its surrounding regions.

    ¡°Blood¡­ flesh¡­ so hungry¡­ so hungry!!!¡± The blood-curdling murmur continued to echo endlessly throughout the dark and narrow corridor. Unfortunately, this amount of darkness was nothing to Qin Ye, because Qin Ye already had his eyes fixed on the person approaching him.

    It wore a t-shirt that had been shredded in many ces, and you could see that its skin beneath was covered in ck hairs that looked almost like steel needles. Its eyes werepletely white throughout, and the ck nails on its hands were two inches long. There was a piece of talisman paper stuck to its forehead.

    And what greeted it was a radiant beam of intense de light.

    ¡°Not dead?¡± However, Qin Ye was the one who found himself astonished. He quickly nced at the saber in his hand as though he had swung the wrong weapon.

    Instead¡­ it was almost as though there were another source of Hunter-ss might that had forcibly dispelled a part of his earlier strike.

    There, in the depths of the corridor, the vampire sprung forward once more and shed fearlessly against Qin Ye. It was still waving its hands haphazardly in the air in a ridiculous attempt to grab hold of Qin Ye. That said, it managed to block Qin Ye¡¯s powerful attack with its Operative-ss body once more!

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Under such circumstances, the System of Records and ssifications for Yin Spirits terms this phenomenon as atavism. As soon as a ghost of the Great Intergenerational Heredity is allowed to grow and develop, its threat level would bepletely unfathomable. It is considered an A-grade threat across the entire System of Records and ssifications. In fact, their existence itself is such a grave threat that there was even a standing order to search and destroy it at all costs, even if it means breaking the immutable rule that Hell was not to interfere with the affairs of the mortal realm. Its threat level is only a single step away from the highest grade in the system. You¡¯re lucky that the atavist ghost you¡¯ve encountered is only one that is Operative-ss, otherwise¡­ hehehe¡­¡±

    Arthis responded cidly, ¡°Cathay has been in existence for thousands of years and seen through eras of warfare and bloodshed. Do you really think that there are ghosts that Cathay hasn¡¯t seen before? Threats that are above A-grade¡­ I¡¯m afraid they appear only once every five hundred years or so. Even I haven¡¯t seen such existences before. As far as I¡¯m aware, there are only three ghosts that are ssified as such, and the appearance of any of these would herald a reign of terror in the mortal realm. That said, it¡¯s unlikely we¡¯ll ever see their appearance again, especially given how peaceful society is right now. There¡¯s no need to know about these things for now¡­ Besides, are you really in the mood to discuss these things? Shouldn¡¯t you be thinking of a way to dispose of the problem in front of you?¡±

    Shk!!

    The vampire that was darting towards Qin Ye suddenly paused in its steps.

    ¡°Now you¡¯ve really done it¡­ An operative-ss evil ghost has forced me to resort to my de release.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s hair fluttered about menacingly in the scarlet mist, mildly resembling the approach of a ghostly monarch.

    Secondster, a one-inch tall figure rose from the edge of Qin Ye¡¯s demonhead saber. Simultaneously, his surroundings began to snap and crackle as cracks began to surface on the walls. Within mere seconds, the entire walls of the corridors were covered with a massive web of cracks!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll let you have an opportunity to reunite with your family.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he swung his sword down!

    Violent Yin energy ripped through the entire corridor with such force that it was no different from a small earthquake! On the ground, not far away, the two agents drew a breath of cold air in unison and stood up abruptly.

    It had suddenly copsed without any warning. Sand and gravel scattered everywhere, and a loud, startling sound reverberated across the otherwise silent night sky. They froze for two seconds, and then dashed straight towards the site at full speed.

    ¡°What a deep hole¡­ is this¡­ a former air-raid shelter? It¡¯s so deep. No wonder our instruments had never been able to detect its existence before.¡± One of the agents remarked aloud.

    ¡°Should we inform the boss?¡±

    Rumble¡­ The epicenter of thetter tremor evidently came from underground. Both agents exchanged a look of admiration with each other.

    With such strength¡­ it¡¯s no wonder he would dare to challenge this C-grade hunting zone¡­

    ¡°Boss¡­ S9527 might have discovered the method to breaching hunting zone no. X-7. A fierce battle is going on right now. Do you¡­ want toe and take a look?¡±

    Qin Ye was oblivious to all of these things. Right now, he was simply filled with the desire to bring Li Jiankang to justice.

    He stood in the center of the copsing corridor. The vampire¡¯s shrill shriek in utter terror echoed some distance away. Hisst attack hadn¡¯t been aimed at the vampire itself. After all, air-raid shelters generally consisted of aplexwork of corridors and rooms, and Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to waste his time searching through each path for the exact location of his targets.

    He had caused a ruckus precisely because he wanted to rm his enemies.

 Chapter 116: Hellâ€™s Enforcement (3)

    <h4>Chapter 116: Hell''s Enforcement (3)</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ Thehergale swept powerfully towards where the sounds wereing from. Two minutes¡­ three minutes¡­ Four minutester, he was finally standing at the door of a room that was approximately forty meters squarerge.

    The room was lit.

    And there was no door, so Qin Ye could clearly see a despondent Li Jiankang standing with his back against the wall. Desperation was written all over his face.

    The room was dark.

    Not dim, but simply¡­ grim.

    There was a thickyer of blood built up over time from the countless streaks of blood sttered against the walls and all over the floor. This couldn¡¯t have been the blood from merely one or two people. The cause of it must have been in the tens of people!

    Moribund white bones were scattered everywhere, some of which even had traces of flesh on them. Some of the jagged white bones were piled up in the corner of the room like a small mountain, while other fish bones werepletely intact on their bodies. Illuminated only by dim, flickering lights, the entire room appeared to be a nest of ghosts.

    But all of these were considered nothing next to the two striking ck coffins ced just beside Li Jiankang.

    There were offerings ced at the front of the coffins. One of the coffins had a ck-and-white portrait of a middle-aged woman ced right between two lit candles, while the other coffin¡­ appeared to have been shut hastily. In fact, its lid hadn¡¯t even been shut properly, and there was still a slightly protruding corner.

    It was almost as though¡­ someone had just escaped from it.

    This coffin also had two lit candles ced before it, together with a te of fresh fruits, as well as¡­ a ck-and-white portrait of a teenager.

    He was smiling in the portrait.

    ¡°What an exquisite design.¡± Qin Ye dragged his demonhead saber along the ground as he slowly made his way towards the coffin. Li Jiankang suddenly rushed over like a madman and stood in front of the coffin, ¡°Y-you¡­ what are you trying to do?!¡±

    Yet Qin Ye had already kicked him aside before he could even finish speaking. With a muffled grunt, Li Jiankang mmed against the wall like a cannonball and slid down powerlessly.

    ¡°Do you still think you¡¯ll be able to leave this ce alive?¡± Qin Ye gently ran his finger along the demonhead saber, ¡°By the standards of the mortal realm, you might just be sentenced to life imprisonment. However, I¡­ sentence you to death.¡±

    With Qin Ye¡¯s powerful kick earlier, Li Jiankang¡¯s hat, sunsses and facial mask had all fallen off from his face, revealing his emaciated appearance. It was hardly an exaggeration to say that he was merely skin and bones.

    Coupled with his paleplexion and colourless lips, his entire being appeared as though he were a vampire that had just crawled straight out from the tomb.

    Qin Ye gently ran his fingers along the coffin. Immediately, Li Jiankang copsed to his knees weakly, held his head with both of his hands and began sobbing, ¡°Don¡¯t open it¡­ I beg of you¡­¡±

    However, Qin Ye hardly paid any attention to him, and treated his sobbing as though it were an irritating mosquito flitting about at night. He picked up the portrait on the coffin, dusted the coffin, and then kicked it.

    ck¡­ As soon as the four corners of the lid were properly aligned with the rest of the coffin, the sound of several locking mechanisms immediately clicked into ce. Qin Ye patted the coffin with some measure of surprise. Li Jiankang was still sobbing with his head buried in his arms when Qin Ye slowly made his way over and squatted down. Then, with a faint smile, Qin Ye asked, ¡°You must have ordered this, hmm? Expensive, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Li Jiankang lifted his pale face and gazed at Qin Ye with aplex amalgam of emotions in his eyes. There was despondence, relief and hope all at the same time. His lips trembled slightly as he asked, ¡°What in the world¡­ are you¡­?¡±

    A powerful punchnded squarely on his face before he could even finish speaking. As he mmed back into the ground, the strings of terror in his heart finally snapped from tension, and he began to wail loudly at the top of his voice.

    ¡°Wuuu-wuu¡­. Ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhh-ahhhh¡­¡±

    Qin Ye patted the dust off his Emissary of Hell uniform as he sighed in resignation, ¡°Do you know something¡­?¡±

    ¡°Apart from Wang Chenghao, you¡¯re the only other human being who has seen me seething with rage.¡±

    ¡°If you had just surrendered yourself right from the onset, that might have served as a slight mitigation factor. Unfortunately, you did not. In fact, youmitted crime after crime to cover up your initial mistake of releasing that thing.¡± Qin Ye walked towards him, ¡°I¡¯d never considered where the problem with youy until I met up with the representative of the Soaring Dragon Developers¡­ Li Cheng¡­ He¡¯s already dead, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°After Li Cheng killed his mother, you must have murdered him on impulse, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Li Jiankangy on the ground with his eyes shut. He was in pain. He could feel all of the strength in his body slip away from him at this very moment. His lips trembled slightly, but he didn¡¯t say a single word.

    Qin Ye stood by his side and continued speaking with a low voice, ¡°So you killed him? Unintentionally, in a fit of anger? Or was it¡­ intentionally?¡±

    He turned around and looked at the lit candles and portrait on the coffin and sighed, ¡°It must have been unintentional¡­¡±

    Arthis chimed in with her remark, ¡°Humans areplicated creatures that are truly difficult to understand.¡±

    ¡°I loved him.¡± Just then, even though Li Jiankang had beenying on the ground like a dead dog all this while, he finally choked up and muttered, ¡°I¡¯d just¡­ just¡­ wanted him to turn over a new leaf¡­ I wanted him to understand¡­¡±

    ¡°After all¡­ there¡¯s only the two of us left in the family at that time¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d just been too emotional back then¡­ I¡¯d held his neck in a chokehold when I asked him why he did it¡­ Didn¡¯t it ever cross his mind that she was his mother? But by the time I realized he was no longer breathing¡­ it was already toote¡­¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled contemptuously, ¡°I can actually sympathize with your plight had nothing else happened after that. But¡­ would you care to exin what you had done afterwards?¡±

    Li Jiankang choked up with some measure of grief, yet he found himselfpletely at a loss for words.

    ¡°Are you unwilling to talk about it? Or are you too ashamed to talk about it? Or are you finally discovering the existence of something within you called ¡®conscience¡¯?¡± Qin Ye mocked, ¡°You¡­ are scarier than the ghosts I¡¯ve seen.¡±

    Thud!! Just then, the two coffins shook violently. And then¡­ the sounds of rapid knocking quickly followed!

    Thud thud thud¡­ thud thud thud!!

    There was even a blood-curdling shriek that prefaced the menacingly hoarse voice, ¡°Blood¡­ meat¡­¡±

    ¡°Dad¡­ I¡¯m hungry again¡­¡±

    Shk¡­ The knocking sounds were quickly followed by scratching and rustling sounds. It sounded like someone was scratching and gouging at the lid of the coffin from the inside.

    As the mes on the lit candles flickered wildly, Qin Ye muttered softly, ¡°Do you not dare to talk about it now? That¡¯s fine. Why don¡¯t I jog your memory for you.¡±

    ¡°Raising corpses.¡± He looked at the coffins with disgust as he continued, ¡°I¡¯m not sure where you learnt these things from, but you¡¯d subjugated yourte-wife andte-son¡­ and begun to raise them as corpses.¡±

    ¡°I now understand why I¡¯d found your skin so unnaturally pale the very first time I saw you. Severe ischemia? No¡­ I finally understand¡­ It was precisely because you had initially been raising these corpses into vampires with your very own blood.¡±

    He tugged at the sleeves of Li Jiankang¡¯s shirt. He struggled slightly, but then gave up as soon as he realized that it was all in vain.

    His wrists were densely covered with knife wounds of varying depths.

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°No¡­ that¡¯s not it either. This ce must also be yourrgest ce of storage for your goods, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯d fed these corpses with raw fish at the beginning, didn¡¯t you? You can tell from the number of fishbones scattered all over the ce¡­ However, you¡¯d soon discovered that they don¡¯t like fish meat at all, and that they¡¯re only interested in human blood and flesh, right?¡±

    ¡°Then, you soon realized that your methods were unsustainable, and you needed a greater source of blood and flesh. So what did you do? You thought of a great idea.¡±

    Qin Ye looked at Li Jiankang, but the forty years old man avoided his gaze as though Qin Ye were able to stare straight into the deepest, darkest recesses of his heart. Qin Ye grabbed hold of Li Jiankang¡¯s jaw and forced Li Jiankang to look into his eyes.

    Li Jiankang¡¯s pupils quivered uncontrobly.

    He didn¡¯t dare. He didn¡¯t want to. And he wasn¡¯t willing.

    His sins ran far too deep. His hands were already covered in blood, and he had already gone beyond the point of no return.

    ¡°You told your story to people¡­ and began to draw victim after victim into thisir under the pretext of ying demons and purging ghosts. Perhaps you weren¡¯t aware at the outset that vampires only ate human flesh and drank human blood. But¡­ when the first human victim arrived, you¡¯d watched him get torn to pieces by your wife and child right in this ce!¡±

    ¡°This is no longer your storage room. This is now your ughterhouse. You¡¯re a living person, yet you¡¯re doing the deeds of ghosts.¡±

    Li Jiankang¡¯s eyelids throbbed uncontrobly, but he remainedpletely silent.

    Qin Ye cast him aside like a piece of rag as he barked coldly, ¡°Do you know how I¡¯d guessed all these things?¡±

    ¡°Ever since you¡¯d left your home, I¡¯ve been wondering why you would be doing all these things.¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s only when I finally met up with the representative of the Soaring Dragon Developers that I finally realized that you were in fact consciously luring people into this hunting zone. All of your victims were reported as having gone missing. That¡¯s when I¡¯d realized that deep in my heart, I had been asking whether you were looking for help, or whether you were simply looking for¡­ blood and flesh?¡±

    A soft voice chirped from Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°You¡¯re vile.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve cut his heartpletely open. Even if you don¡¯t kill him now, he would most certainly be taking his own lifeter on.¡± Arthis added, ¡°He loved his family. This is evident from the way he worked so hard in order to provide for his wife and son, to the fact that he subsequently gave everything up and started business as a fishmonger just to be closer to his son. His son was everything to him. Life had been far too dreary to him.¡±

    Qin Ye snorted, ¡°And that¡¯s why he decided to indiscriminately lure unsuspecting victims into the heart of the hunting zone when he discovered that he needed more flesh and blood? Over thirty people have perished this way¡­ just to feed a family of three? Hmm? And for how long? Half a year? Eight months?¡±

    ¡°The stickling point was when he decided to turn down the Special Investigations Department. Only they would have been able to uncover the truth. Yet he still turned them down. Why?¡±

    ¡°Because he was afraid. He knew his wife and son too well, even if they are now vampires. My guess is that when the Special Investigations Department arrived in this ce, his wife and son might have breathed more heavily, or reacted in an unusual manner, thereby causing him to discover that these visitors had ill intentions towards his family. That was probably why he rejected them.¡±

    Dead silence.

    He didn¡¯t say another word. Li Jiankangy paralyzed on the ground with his head buried in his hands. Several secondster, a slight choking sound cut through the darkness and silence.

    Within moments, the choking and whimpering turned into sobbing, and then burgeoned into a loud wail replete with snot and tears.

    ¡°Arrrghhhh¡­¡± He let loose a cry of deep anguish. Li Jiankang sped his head with his hands and wailed like a madman, ¡°Wuuu-wuu-wuu¡­¡±

    After crying for three full minutes, he turned to the pile of moribund white bones on the ground and kowtowed to them, ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m so sorry!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry¡­ wuu-wuu-wuu!¡±

    His deeds had torn at his heart.

    Was thest year not equally agonizing to him?

    It tore at his sense of reason and drove him to senseless madness. Yet this moment of conviction had actually brought to him some measure of relief.

    ¡°Who gives you the right to feel release?¡± Qin Ye stared Li Jiankang as he continued kowtowing to the pile of bones and gritted his teeth, ¡°Like I¡¯ve said before, I will adjudge matters that fall through the cracks of justice in the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re talking about more than thirty lives here¡­ You lured them into this dastardly ce, only to set two monsters loose on them. Do you know that there are now over thirty Yin spirits haunting this ce, staring and scrutinizing your every actions? Good and evil must be repaid ordingly - this is the will of the Heavenly Dao. Ask yourself what basis do you have to feel release?¡±

    Qin Ye could see them.

    He could see them incredibly clearly.

    Over thirty illusory images hovered about just over the pile of white bones. There were priests, monks, nuns, mediums, and there were even four Operative-ss experts from the Special Investigations Department. All of them had an iparably cold expression on their faces as they watched Li Jiankang kowtow to them.

    Their expressions werepletely devoid of anypassion at all.

    As Qin Ye turned his gaze to the illusory images, they also turned to look at him. And then, they promptly bowed respectfully to him.

 Chapter 117: The Law Has No Place for Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 117: The Law Has No ce for Feelings</h4>

    Up on the ground, the two agents nked the north and the south sides of Li Jiankang¡¯s home. Several police vehicles were already parked outside, and officers had already set up dozens of meters of tape to cordon off the area.

    ¡°Why has everything gone quiet?¡± One of the agents gazed into the pit and asked anxiously, ¡°Has something happened?¡±

    The two agents werepletely unfazed by the ring sirens in the area. The other agent pursed his lips and shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­ the master of this hunting zone is definitely a vengeful apparition, and it can never threaten the life and limb of a Hunter-ss expert. At best he might be injured¡­ Chief!!¡±

    Both agents promptly saluted in unison before the agent could finish speaking. The officers cordoning off the area parted ways. Four men quickly strode into the cordoned area. The leader of this group was a white-haired, bespectacled old man wearing a whiteb coat.

    ¡°How¡¯s the situation inside?¡± He immediately asked upon arrival.

    ¡°Reporting, Chief. The true energy fluctuations have subsided, but we¡¯ve not gone in.¡±

    ¡°Well done.¡± The old man waved his hands as his eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°I¡¯ve broached the idea of ssification of Yin spirits at a conference in Eastsea City earlier this year. I¡¯d even suggested that it be introduced as a proper discipline. Unfortunately, no one thought to take me seriously. It was only because I¡¯m old that several people paid me lip service for my suggestions.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m quite certain that the master of this hunting zone is definitely different from the usual evil ghosts that we¡¯ve been facing!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt him. I¡¯ve already read S9527¡¯s docket. As long as he can locate the whereabouts of the Yin spirit, he¡¯ll most definitely be able to y it. I want firsthand information on these things.¡±

    He turned around and addressed the men behind him, ¡°Seal off the scene. We¡¯ll wait here until hees back up. Don¡¯t interrupt him. Nobody knows how the situation down below looks like right now.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°Wuu-wuu-wuu¡­. Aaarrghhhhhh!¡± Li Jiankang was crying his heart out. After approximately ten minutes, he finally shut his eyes and spoke up for the very first time in a long while, ¡°I¡­ won¡¯t be able to leave this ce alive, would I?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°There are times when I wonder why the system of morals, values and integrity seem to be copsing and disintegrating in modern day society. And then, I came to a conclusion.¡±

    ¡°That is, as long as a nub of evil goes unpunished, it will eventually grow into an uncontroble, cancerous cell.¡±

    ¡°You are far more abominable than the elderly scammers who force people tomit suicide and then im innocenceter.¡± Qin Ye muttered soullessly, ¡°You¡¯re a serial killer who has sent thirty people to Hell with your own two hands¡­¡±

    Yet, almost as though he had already predicted this, Li Jiankang¡¯s expressions only turned calm and cid. And then, he suddenly smiled.

    There were still streaks of tears and snot flowing down his face. His smile was incredibly ugly.

    ¡°I¡¯d just¡­ I¡¯d just wanted to be with my family¡­¡±

    With the backdrop of a musky, bloody room, his voice sounded iparably mournful, ¡°Your generation may not have the same upbringing and ideals as us¡­ but in my generation, a man¡¯s family is everything to him¡­ Nothing is greater or more important than his own family¡­¡±

    These words were like a key. As soon as he finished speaking, he closed his eyes once more, as though ovee with relief from his release from the shackles of life.

    It was peculiar.

    Most people only learn on their deathbeds what they ought to be letting go of in their lives.

    His hands trembled as he reached into his belt. After some time, he pulled out a pack of cheap cigarettes and lit one up with much effort.

    As the strong smell of nicotine filled the air, Li Jiankang finally looked calmer. That said, Li Jiankang looked up at the ceiling with an iparably distant gaze in his eyes, ¡°I married my wife Song Jiafang a long time ago, but we didn¡¯t have a child until we were about thirty-seven. That was Li Cheng.¡±

    ¡°We¡­ valued him¡­ we loved him very, very much¡­¡± He held the cigarette between his trembling fingers. It was as though he were reminiscing their decision-making process at that time - how they had decided to both work so that they could provide their child with the best possible environment for his upbringing. Unfortunately, it was precisely because of this reason that they had missed out on their son¡¯s formative years, and that was what led to the present state of affairs.

    It was as though a sword had been plunged straight through his heart, and he was bleeding profusely. His hands trembled for some time before he took another drag of his cigarette, ¡°Who knew¡­ after ten years of work, when we¡¯d finally gathered some savings¡­ that Li¡¯l Cheng would turn out like that¡­¡±

    ¡°Never in my wildest dreams had I ever considered things to end like this.¡± Tears continued to stream down his wrinkled face. He looked like an old, dying wolf that howled mournfully as it gazed at the skies, ¡°Why¡­ I¡¯d only wanted to provide him with a good environment. After all that we¡¯ve sacrificed¡­ after all that we¡¯ve done¡­ how did things end up like this?!!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we entrust his upbringing to the childcare center?! We¡¯d even paid a premium for their reputable services!!¡±

    ¡°Everything! We¡¯ve done everything for him¡­ Aaarrggghhhhh!!¡± He began wailing once more as he hammered his fist on the wall in abject pain. But like a candle in the wind, his pain was fleeting.

    Qin Ye remained silent.

    He had witnessed far too many such tragedies in his lifetime, and he knew full well the influence parents¡¯ actions have on their children.

    Materialism can never fill the spiritual void in the hearts of men.

    ¡°When I discovered what he had done, I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to kill him¡­¡± His lips opened and closed as though a man on the brink of death were gasping for air, ¡°But¡­ I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do so.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my only son¡­ He¡¯s the hope of my bloodline¡­ the single remaining family I have. I just wanted my family to live together in peace¡­ I didn¡¯t even know that this technique was meant to raise vampires. But¡­ but as soon as I saw them open their eyes again¡­ haa-...¡±

    He revealed an ecstatic smile on his face, ¡°It was as though¡­ nothing in the past had ever happened before.¡±

    ¡°It was as though everything had been a bad nightmare.¡±

    ¡°How could I bring myself to do it? How could I possibly bring myself to lock my beloved ones in this ce?¡±

    Qin Ye still remained silent. He was allowing Li Jiankang a final moment of penitence. This was mercy that ought to be extended to him.

    Li Jiankang didn¡¯t speak anymore. It was as though these words had consumed the remaining vitality in his body. He leaned against the wall for support and mbered to his feet. Then, he gave a sorrowful smile with his tear-stained face, ¡°I¡¯m probably going to be sentenced to the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment¡­ I plead guilty.¡±

    Qin Ye gazed deeply into his eyes, ¡°Since you so desire to be with your family, I¡¯ll grant you that final wish of yours.¡±

    Shk!

    With a quick flicker of his saber, the lids of both coffins copsed at the same time. Its contents appeared to have been stimted by something, and their rapid breaths were quickly followed by the stench of foul-blood that wafted into the surroundings like a swelling tide.

    Li Jiankang was the one who had released Li Cheng earlier, and Li Cheng had returned to hide in his coffin. He didn¡¯t possess very much spiritual awareness, and the little bit that he did told him that the coffin was his safehouse. However, the stench of fresh blood and flesh immediately incited the extreme hunger and suppressed the overwhelming fear in his heart.

    Li Jiankang¡¯s face turned pale. He understood that he was soon about to pay the price of his own sins.

    ¡°I¡¯d originally thought to reap your soul and sentence you to a thousand years of hardbour in Hell. But¡­¡± Qin Ye nced at the thirty over Yin spirits who continued to choke and tremble as they knelt and bowed to him, ¡°There are over thirty other stakeholders here, and none of them would agree to that¡­¡±

    ROAR!!! Just then, the vampire which Qin Ye had earlier encountered in the dark corridor sprang out from the smaller-sized coffin.

    ¡°Haa¡­ ssss¡­¡± Greenish-white wisps of Yin energy flowed out from the sharp-protruding fangs in its mouth. Its expression was incredibly twisted. Dribbles of salivation had drenched the ragged remnants of its clothes. Its stomach growled loudly as it nced about its surroundings. It let out a shriek of extreme terror when it saw Qin Ye, but it quicklynded its gaze on Li Jiankang¡¯s trembling body.

    After two seconds of hesitation, it began to make its way towards Li Jiankang. One could vaguely still make out Li Cheng¡¯s features on the otherwise grotesque appearance of this vampire. The dim illumination in the room cast an ominous shadow that stretched from its physical body. Its saliva dribbled onto the ground as it opened its lips that now stretched from ear to ear. It did its best to eke a smile on its face, yet this smile only seemed more menacing and terrifying than it was pleasing, ¡°Dad¡­ dad¡­¡±

    Li Jiankang had bitten down on his lips so hard that there were already traces of blood seeping out. The expression on his face right now was akin to a little white rabbit cowering in a corner as it watched the approach of a terrifying wolf. Li Jiankang stared at the monstrosity in front of him.

    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± Qin Ye remained expressionless, ¡°Isn¡¯t this your son? Isn¡¯t this your precious son that you¡¯ve brought up at the expense of thirty over lives?¡±

    ¡°Dad¡­ dad¡­¡± The vampire¡¯s head appeared to be uninhibited by its bones. It twisted its head stiffly as it spoke with a drawl, ¡°I¡­ want¡­ meat¡­¡±

    Li Jiankang clenched his teeth and closed his eyes abruptly. Then, mustering all the courage he could, he bellowed back, ¡°No!!!¡±

    His voice was incredibly loud, and it reverberated endlessly in the cold, dank room. The vampire froze where he was.

    ¡°Dad¡­¡± Its scarlet tongue hung to the ground, and it opened its lips unimaginably wide, ¡°Then¡­ do you taste good¡­¡±

    ROARR!!! In the next second, it mped its massive mouth straight down onto Li Jiankang¡¯s head!

    Qin Ye closed his eyes.

    Vicious?

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t think so.

    Circumstantial sins may still be excusable. But such heinous sins cannot go unpunished.

    Do you think that he¡¯s the weak underdog now? Do you think that this is a familial tragedy? Do you think that Qin Ye¡¯s actions are devoid of any humanity?

    Then what about the thirty choking and sobbing people who are still kneeling on the ground?!

    However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t hear the grisly, crunching sound of bones that he had initially expected.

    Instead, there was another voice that was apanied by the sounds of frantic beating, ¡°Sss¡­ unfilial¡­ son¡­ unfilial son!!¡¯

    Qin Ye immediately opened his eyes in astonishment, only to see a plump figure had suppressed its fear of Qin Ye and rushed straight out from the other coffin.

    Its body was simrly covered in ck hair on its skin and disheveled hair on its head. That said, this vampire¡¯s corpse was even more terrifying. Its entire body was covered in knife wounds. It was evident that it used to be a slightly plump woman while it was still alive. Currently, it had already darted right behind Li Cheng¡¯s back, grabbing Li Cheng¡¯s hair with its left hand and while shoving its other hand into Li Cheng¡¯s mouth, preventing Li Cheng from biting down onto Li Jiankang¡¯s head.

    Qin Ye was stunned.

    However, before he could react, Li Cheng¡¯s furious roar caused the ground to tremble, ¡°Let¡­ go! Let go!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so hungry¡­ I¡¯m so hungry!! Let me eat¡­ let me eat him!!¡±

    ¡°Mom¡­ mom, don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t you love me anymore¡­ why won¡¯t you let me eat¡­ let me eat him!¡±

    It screamed at the top of its voice as it rolled on the ground. Vampires were incredibly powerful. The ground trembled, while white bones and fish carcasses were scattered everywhere as the two vampires tore at each other.

    ¡°She¡­ is still sentient?¡± Qin Ye stared with incredulity at the two vampires.

    ¡°That¡¯s not sentience. It¡¯s instinct.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice softened, ¡°Her body instinctively remembers that the man has treated her well, and that the other vampire is none other than her son¡­ Her death to her son must have been etched deep in her heart, and the prevention of a subsequent patricide must have be her dying obsession.¡±

    ¡°Not all ghosts are evil, and not all humans are humane¡­¡±

 Chapter 118: The Great Intergenerational Heredity

    <h4>Chapter 118: The Great Intergenerational Heredity</h4>

    This was the manifestation of yet another type of instinct.

    Just like when she had been hacked down by her very own son, she simply couldn¡¯t bear to hurt her own child.

    ¡°Run¡­¡± Song Jiafang turned her bloodshot eyes to Li Jiankang and blurted, ¡°Run¡­ leave us¡­ run!!¡±

    It was almost as though he had only just realized what kind of monstrosity he had raised.

    ¡°When we were still alive, we let go of him when we should¡¯ve been holding him close¡­ So now¡­ what¡¯s the point of holding onto him any longer?¡±

    ¡°Let go¡­ let go!!¡± Despite the disparity in strength, Li Cheng¡¯s explosive strength caused by the manifestation of his extreme hunger was still extraordinary. Song Jiafang refused to manhandle Li Cheng, while Li Cheng¡¯s strength only grew with his escting desperation for food. Finally, with a shrill shriek, Li Cheng wrested free of Song Jiafang¡¯s grasp and charged towards Li Jiankang madly.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ing¡­¡±

    Li Cheng¡¯s gaping wide mouth and rows of sharp teeth quickly closed in on Li Jiankang. Li Jiankang instinctively motioned to put up a defensive posture. Yet in the very next second, as though something came over him, he held back and simply closed his eyes.

    It was the sickly sound of crunching bones.

    Li Cheng had mped his powerful jaws down onto Li Jiankang¡¯s neck, and he was now sucking and drinking from Li Jiankang¡¯s thick, red blood.

    It¡¯s finally over¡­

    My sins¡­ have they finally been paid in full¡­?

    His pupils grew dted, and his body started to shrivel up. He lifted his hands slightly, before finally letting it fall limply.

    Crack¡­

    Li Cheng¡¯s head had beenpletely ripped off his body. But his head didn¡¯t fall down because his jaws were still mped down tightly onto Li Jiankang¡¯s neck. Their heads remained next to each other.

    Qin Ye slowly unsheathed his saber.

    But in his eyes, everything was fully justified and stood to reason.

    The final act of the Li family incident had finally drawn to its close. All that remained was Song Jiafang, the single most innocent person in the entire incident.

    She appeared not to have heard his words. Yet, three secondster, she let out a slight whimper.

    Ghosts knew grief too.

    She leaned heavily on Li Jiankang¡¯s body. Their three heads were all clumped together, with Li Cheng¡¯s severed head resting between his two parents¡¯ heads. It was almost akin to a family portrait.

    Vampires can only be destroyed by way of decapitation. Although Song Jiafang was still able to disy some measure of instinct and spiritual intelligence, who was to say this would be the case in a few years¡¯ time?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep your soul safe and send you to a good ce. You¡­ have been a good mother.¡±

    In the very next second, scarlet markings appeared on the bodies of both vampires. It was akin to a revtion of an ancient seal or talisman powered by their bloodlines.

    ¡°It has begun.¡± Arthis flew in front of Qin Ye and continued, ¡°The reason why the Great Intergenerational Heredity is so rarely seen is because the onerous conditions must be precisely met.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, this ghastly progenitor must also be a mother, and she must have been pregnant when she turned into a ghost. This will allow her to pass down her ghastly bloodline. Just like the humans¡¯ research into DNA, ghosts are also able to conceal theirtent DNA within the cells of human beings as well.¡±

    Arthis nodded her head, ¡°That¡¯s right. The third condition is that someone in thetter generations must naturally possess a Yin vein, and thereafter be transformed into a ghost while he or she is still alive. This will then trigger the phenomenon of the Great Intergenerational Heredity.¡±

    ¡°Transformed into a ghost while he¡¯s still alive¡­ are you saying¡­¡±

    ¡°It was Li Jiankang who had mistaken him for dead and begun to raise him as a vampire¡­ Take a look at his coffin. There¡¯s simply no way of unlocking it from the inside. Li Cheng¡­ had died of suffocation only as a result of Li Jiankang¡¯s attempt to raise him as a vampire.¡±

    Isn¡¯t this divine retribution?

    Sss!!! With two loud cries, the red sigils on the vampire¡¯s body suddenly glowed with a brilliant luster that engulfed the room with a scarlet light. It was like the blossoming of a red spider lily. Just then, the two vampires who were locked in a tight embrace began to be peeled apart by the red light.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qin Ye stared at the inferno in bewilderment. The inferno was approximately one meter high. Even though it was an inferno of mes, it felt as cold as ice. Most of all, Qin Ye could sense the Yin energy belonging to a vengeful apparition brewing in the heart of it all.

    As though she could read his mind, Arthis calmly exined, ¡°This isn¡¯t creation. Creating, especially the birth of man, is something that is essible only by gods, and perhaps only King Yanluo. What¡¯s happening now¡­ is merely the revtion of something that had previously been hidden.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t ask anymore.

    It was an illusory figure.

    Though dead, her features were still just as clear as day. She appeared to be approximately eighteen or neen years old, and she presented with short, neatly groomed hair. Her body could only be described as beautiful. Her curves were in all the right ces, and there was a heavenly charm about her.

    Qin Ye was stunned.

    However, Arthis simply chuckled bitterly, ¡°What¡¯s this? She¡¯s just a little prodigal wench.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes curiously, before suddenly probing Arthis with some measure of mischief, ¡°Why do I sense some measure of hostility emanating from you?¡±

    Understood in an instant.

    ¡°With all due respect¡­ as a normal, healthy male, I do find her rather¡­ ahem¡­ could you not give me that kind of death re? You might cause a misunderstanding and give me the impression that you¡¯re coveting my otherworldly beauty¡­ Alright, alright, you¡¯re the most beautiful, and she can hardly hold a candle to you!¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly. His face flushed, and he tapped his fist against his lips as he suggested, ¡°King Yanluo¡¯s harem?¡±

    Qin Ye felt goosebumps all over his body. Your entire body is just a head. What do you mean¡­ no, we¡¯ve gone well off the tracks. The point is, I¡¯ve never even considered the possibility of something so outrageous to begin with!!

    ¡°No¡­ how could you be harbouring such thoughts? Wake up! It¡¯s time to stop dreaming! The generation gap between us runs as deep as the Straits of a. How could we possibly bepatible with each other?!¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ how do you even know things like ¡®submission¡¯... and can¡¯t you be a little bit more reserved? Who the hell has ever said anything about riding on your body?! Isn¡¯t this just a deration of your own fantasies?!¡±

 Chapter 119: The First Death Inquisitor

    <h4>Chapter 119: The First Death Inquisitor</h4>

    Arthis chuckled coldly, ¡°Sure, your harem can include the girls with nice smiles, ice queens, and intelligent girls, but¡­ why haven¡¯t you considered asking me along either? Instead, one single look at a female ghost that is barely eye catching, and you immediately harbour thoughts of letting her into your harem. On the other hand, you¡¯ve had such a national beauty queen living by your side for the past few months, yet you¡¯vepletely turned a blind eye to my existence just like that?!¡±

    Qin Ye waspletely speechless. Finally, he tossed his hands into the air and conceded, ¡°Alright¡­ then esteemed national beauty queen, revered Arakshasa, are you willing to be a part of the new King Yanluo¡¯s harem? In exchange, you¡¯ll be bestowed a nanny and a plotnd of five square kilometers as part of the betrothal gift¡­¡±

    ¡°Get lost.¡± Arthis barked back before he could even finish speaking. The paper crane even pointed one of her tiny wings straight towards the door.

    That¡¯s right.

    That¡¯s the feeling.

    The script is now back on track.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions contorted slightly, ¡°Wait¡­ if you¡¯ve been reluctant all this while, then why did you have to ask such things of me in the first ce?!¡±

    The paper cranenguidly preened her wings with her beak, ¡°You don¡¯t understand, this has to do with a woman¡¯s pride.¡±

    Ahh¡­ women¡­

    ¡°Excuse me.¡± Just then, a charming voice with a beautiful ring to it echoed softly, ¡°Are you¡­ an Emissary of Hell?¡±

    The duo turned their heads in unison and saw that the Yin spirit had already opened her eyes.

    She curtseyed softly like a beautiful golden lotus, and then sashayed before Qin Ye with a soothing smile on her face, ¡°I died in the Republic of Cathay era. May I know¡­ what era it is now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Qin Ye was just about to answer when his face suddenly froze in shock.

    He looked down stiffly like a machine, only to notice that a hand had found its way between his legs, where his unnameable parts were located!

    It was a pale-looking hand of a Yin spirit.

    Bloody hell¡­ this¡­ this opening statement¡­ is something that I¡¯d never expected¡­

    The Yin spirit recoiled with a slight shock with her first grasp. She looked at Qin Ye, turned her attention back to her own hand, and then smiled sweetly, ¡°Dear me¡­ I couldn¡¯t tell at all¡­ you truly are well-endowed¡­¡±

    Qin Ye wrested himself free from the female ghost¡¯s grasp. He wasn¡¯t ashamed. After all, the concept of shame was something that was far too foreign to him.

    It was simply cold¡­

    It was truly cold¡­ What should have thoroughly ignited his passion had instead caused him to shrink back due to the icy ghost¡¯s hands.

    Why¡­ why is it that all the men around me are more good-looking than the other, whether the pretty boy, ssmate Wang Chenghao, or that stupid buffoon, Comrade Lin Han¡­ And why can¡¯t the women around me be any more normal than the others? It¡¯s either Arthis and her long tongue that hangs to the ground, or this Republic of Cathaydy who would freeze his appendage at the slightest touch¡­

    If¡­ if things continue like that¡­ I might not be able to keep the door open any longer¡­

    The room was suddenly filled with an awkward silence.

    The female ghost looked mischievously at her illusory hand, as though enjoying the lingering feeling of warmth on it. Her brows were sharp and striking, and incredibly seductive. She nced at Qin Ye with her peach blossom eyes, sending waves of electricity shooting through the air.

    Qin Ye hadn¡¯t seen such an unreserved woman for a long time now. Life in the mortal realm had been tough for him, and he even had to do all he could to hide his presence and remain invisible to the rest of the world. In short, it was the first time he had encountered such a passionate and fiery yet fleeting and freezing moment.

    And it was also slightly embarrassing¡­

    In that instant, the man and the ghost stared at each other without a single word.

    ¡°About that¡­ what should I do now?¡± He coughed dryly.

    ¡°Ask her about her background.¡± Arthis respondednguidly.

    But before he could even ask his question, the female ghost suddenly stared at the paper crane in disbelief, and she copsed to her knees as her entire body trembled violently.

    ¡°Esteemed heavenly officer, please pardon my ignorance. I wasn¡¯t aware that there was another esteemed presence in the room. Please forgive my callous disposition earlier.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at her in disbelief - What¡¯s that supposed to mean? So, you can flirt with me just because of my big lump?

    I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t you dare act inappropriately with Soul Hunters!

    ¡°Mm.¡± Arthis responded casually as she pped her wings at Qin Ye. Her intentions were obvious - Go on, then? Do you expect me to do everything? You¡¯re a vige chief! Can¡¯t you disy amensurate amount of initiative and self-consciousness?

    I¡¯ll endure this¡­ Qin Ye drew a deep breath, took two steps forward. Then with a light cough and a simple fist-and-palm salute, ¡°Mdy¡­¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell!!¡± Arthis flew up and pped him with a wing as she barked resentfully, ¡°Tch¡­ men. Move aside!¡±

    Qin Ye slipped to the side obsequiously.

    This wasn¡¯t entirely Qin Ye¡¯s fault. After all, he had been brought up with an eye for quality. This¡­ this was simply the natural reaction of a Cicerone of the Great Demons having seen an exquisite beauty¡­

    The female ghost cowered with fear and lowered her head as Arthis¡¯ tiny body flew up into the air. Secondster, Arthis asked condescendingly, ¡°You must have seen other Emissaries of Hell before. That¡¯s good. We can cut to the chase then. Introduce yourself.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ My name is Su Dongxue, and I was born in November 1930. Before I died¡­¡± She bit her lower lips lightly, revealing a pitiful expression on her face, ¡°I was a singer at a brothel¡­¡±

    ¡°Be more specific.¡± Arthis interjected impatiently, ¡°What brothel? A bordello, a pleasure quarters, or a strip club? Or a call house? Or¡­¡±

    She smirked and nced at Qin Ye, ¡°A whorehouse?¡±

    Su Dongxue lowered her head even more. After hesitating for several seconds, she finally responded, ¡°A strip club.¡±

    Arthis looked at Qin Ye with a meaningful expression, almost as though she were saying - Do you understand now? I¡¯m still the most exquisite one here.

    ¡°... What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye asked with some measure of disappointment.

    Arthis exined elegantly, ¡°A bordello isn¡¯t the same as a typical brothel. Thedies there only sell their crafts, and not their bodies. Bordellos are usually located in exquisite courtyard houses or western-style garden houses with restricted entry to its premises. The owners to these ces are usuallyparable to the rich and powerful aristocrats of their time.¡±

    ¡°The second grade brothels are a little less extravagant and exquisite, but they are still rtively exclusive areas. These are called pleasure quarters. Most of the workers there don¡¯t sell their bodies. The third grade ones are called brothels. They are a little more humble than the pleasure quarters. When ites to these ces¡­¡± She drawled meaningfully, ¡°You can say that the workers no longer own their own bodies¡­ What¡¯s the matter with you?¡±

    Qin Ye clutched at his heart as he revealed a pained expression on his face, ¡°Nothing¡­ please continue¡­¡±

    Su Dongxue was so beautiful that she would easily shoot to stardom as a goddess in any entertainment circle. She was even all natural, and there was simply no room for critique or allegations that she was stic. That said, the pristine image of his goddess had suddenly been shattered by the news that she had shared her bed with thousands of men who knew her inside out¡­

    Qin Ye felt extremely bitter!

    Hehe¡­ you dare mess with me? Arthis swept Qin Ye a victorious nce. I know exactly what you Cicerone of the Great Demons sorts are like, and just how to deal with you guys. As time passes, there will invariably be far more beauties in Hell than in the mortal realm. As a future Yama-King, the first thing you¡¯ll have to learn is to have control over your own belt¡­

    Many yearster, Qin Ye sits majestically on the throne of King Yanluo, while a group of beautiful concubines below bow daintily and respectfully, ¡°Blessings to King Yanluo.¡±

    A woman in a magnificent dress lifts the gilded golden armor from Qin Ye¡¯s body, ¡°Sisters, even though we¡¯re all considered family now, this doesn¡¯t change the fact that we should still work hard to birth a royal heir to the throne. This way, we can continue to share in each others¡¯ blessings, and Fengdu can continue to grow from strength to strength. Sister Ba has just arrived today, so lets have her stay in the Chamber of Evesting Ecstasy tonight.¡±

    Should we go on to understand the nature of the frolics in the Fengdu harem?

    No¡­ We have to stem the flow of such momentum as soon as it begins. The Cicerone of the Great Demons is already showing signs of losing control of his own belt¡­ Arthis cleared her throat as she continued, ¡°The fourth grade ones are even worse, and are generally targeted at blue-cored, sried workers. These are called call houses. As to whorehouses¡­¡±

    She smiled faintly, ¡°These are basically illegal prostitutes.¡±

    Now that the veil to the goddess¡¯ appearances had beenpletely rent apart, she finally directed things back to the topic at hand, ¡°How did you die? And how did the circumstances of the Great Intergenerational Heredity arise?¡±

    Qin Ye looked at Su Dongxue expectantly, thinking that he would hear of a tragic love story - one that told of how an exquisite, talenteddy was unable to peddle her craft and was forced to perish as a result of the circumstances¡­ and thus she ended up turning into a ghost.

    This wasn¡¯t a result of him thinking with the brain between his legs. Rather, it was the first time he had seen a normal Yin spirit apart from himself and Arthis. Incidentally, it was also a female Yin spirit - a pie that he could consider dipping his fingers into in future. After all, wouldn¡¯t understanding the women of the future Fengdu Necropolis also be considered a part of his duty?

    Besides, if a man saw an incredibly beautiful woman, or if a woman saw an incredibly handsome man, wouldn¡¯t it be a lie if both said that they didn¡¯t harbour any illicit thoughts about their eye candies?

    ¡°My mistress forbade me to receive guests, but I broke the rules, and even identally got pregnant. I was beaten to death in the cathouse.¡± Unfortunately, her response was like a bolt out of the blue to Qin Ye.

    He felt his worldview crumbling, and his mouth twitched uncontrobly as he asked, ¡°Was it because you faced some form of difficulty or other? For instance¡­ you had a lover, and you wished to elope with him, yet your mistress discovered this and thus prevented you from receiving guests¡­ or something along those lines?¡±

    Su Dongxue looked up at Qin Ye in astonishment. Even though it was a fleeting look, Qin Ye knew she had just given him the look which said - Why do you think there¡¯s suchplex drama surrounding everything?

    ¡°No¡­ It¡¯s just as I¡¯d said.¡± Su Dongxue no longer pretended to be reserved, and she kowtowed softly, ¡°My body was in good condition. Four or five times a night wasn¡¯t a problem to me. Unfortunately, I¡¯d inadvertently stepped on my mistress¡¯ toes because I¡¯d seized the business of my other sisters.¡±

    Qin Ye gazed at the ceiling. Why is the script of life always always so unpleasant¡­

    Arthis chirped back, ¡°What¡¯s there to be displeased about? Isn¡¯t the money earned at the end of the day the same?¡±

    Su Dongxue bowed graciously as her lips twitched, ¡°... Mdy¡­ when I get¡­ ecstatic, I often forget to collect money¡­¡±

    How ¡°ecstatic¡± do you have to be to forget the collection of fees¡­ can¡¯t you take a little bit more pride in your work?!

    Qin Ye could feel his heart wrenching in pain, and he finally waved his hand weakly, ¡°Stop, stop¡­ I understand. Arti, you don¡¯t have to continue this line of questioning. Just tell me where you intend to ce her. We can¡¯t just bring her along like that, can we?¡±

    Having a silicone doll following him around was worrying enough. He didn¡¯t want to be tied down to any more peculiar objects.

    ¡°Why do we need to bring her along?¡± Arthis asked in surprise, ¡°Do you think that¡¯s all there is to the progenitors of the Great Intergenerational Heredity? They possess another incredible ability. It¡¯s called mimicry.¡±

    ¡°Mimicry?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    The smile on Arthis¡¯ face faded away as she exined seriously, ¡°That¡¯s right. Yin spirits are formless to begin with. As soon as the Great Intergenerational Heredity is triggered, the host¡¯s body would immediately grow chaotic with the intermingling of Yin energy and Yang energy. Since the Yin spirit has no form to begin with, it is naturally able to take the form of any object or body. You should¡¯ve heard of the saying that water is formless and shapeless.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head immediately.

    ¡°They can mimic any creature they have ever seen, even Emissaries of Hell. And the scariest part about their mimicry ability is that your appearance isn¡¯t the only thing they can mimic - they can even mimic your energy signature and the realm of your abilities. Naturally, the mimic can only unleash approximately half the amount of strength as the original. But even then, that is more than sufficient for our purposes.¡±

    Qin Ye thought for a moment. Several secondster, he asked, ¡°So, when Li Cheng blocked my attack earlier, was it also because of the mimicry ability?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. So where do you think would be the most suitable home for her? Which ce needs a powerful Netherworld Operative most right now?¡±

    1. 1912-1949

 Chapter 120: Second-Grade Meritorious Deed

    <h4>Chapter 120: Second-Grade Meritorious Deed</h4>

    An answer immediately surfaced in Qin Ye¡¯s mind. However, despite opening and closing his mouth several times, he found himself unable to speak his answer.

    Hell¡¯s Gate, Death Inquisitor¡­

    Assigning her to a seat on Hell¡¯s Gate would naturally strengthen thew enforcement capacities of the new Hell. The stronger she was, the more they would be able to quell any Yin riots. Even though Su Dongxue was only at the level of a Netherworld Operative, her mimicry ability effectively elevated her to a Hunter-ss existence!

    However¡­

    Can I really appoint a strip club worker who would in her ecstasy forget to collect payment from her guests as a Death Inquisitor? Wouldn¡¯t the Yin spirits drain Hell dry of all resources under her watch¡­ no¡­ where would I have to bury Hell¡¯s reputation after her appointment¡­

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Qin Ye asked Arthis with some measure of doubt in his heart.

    ¡°I¡¯m certain¡­ Or would you prefer to go back and kill your fellow Comrade Wang Chenghao? If you can¡¯t bring yourself to do that, she¡¯s the next best candidate right now.¡± Arthis continued indifferently, ¡°Hell has just been reestablished, and all the Yin spirits in the vicinity who detect this would immediatelye swarming over like a massive tide. Would you believe it if I told you that the total number of Yin spirits in the new Hell has already increased by ten to twenty thousand in your absence today? Or do you intend to head down into Hell to manage its affairs everyday?¡±

    She nced at Qin Ye, ¡°Look at the dark circles under your eyes. Are you prepared to give up sleep altogether?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed. This was truly his greatest headache right now.

    People¡­ no, ghosts!

    He needed manpower to clear the forests; he needed manpower to clear construct buildingster, and he would even need manpower to take the seats at Hell¡¯s Gate and act as Death Inquisitors. Everything required manpower! Yet there was not a single person in Hell he could trust!

    Arthis thought to build on her previousments, but capitted when she saw that Qin Ye was already deep in thought.

    Some things couldn¡¯t be taught - especially matters of governance. Qin Ye was on the path of assuming the mantle of the next King Yanluo, and he would have to manage far more affairs than could ever be fathomed in the mortal realm. There were presently approximately 1.5 billion people in Cathay, but the number of Yin spirits in Hell could reach tens of billionster on! If Arthis had to teach Qin Ye everything¡­ Hell was bound to descend into chaos in no time.

    ¡°Come with me to Hell tonight. You can count yourself lucky.¡± Qin Ye instructed Su Dongxue, ¡°Now find yourself an object to cling to.¡±

    Su Dongxue nodded her head obsequiously, and then¡­

    She transformed into ahergale and shot straight into Qin Ye¡¯s pants.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ can¡¯t you be more demure than this?! Get out!¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­ I¡¯m already being very reserved¡­ It¡¯s just that it¡¯s warm and snug andfortable in here. After all, I¡¯ve not absorbed Yang energy for almost a hundred years now¡­¡±

    ¡°... Don¡¯t you dare go in there! Do you believe it when I say I¡¯ll cleave and shatter your soul to pieces?!¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and loosened his pants.

    Su Dongxue flew out in dismay. It had to be said that she was a beauty through and through. Her slight frown made the vibrance of spring dim slightly; while her glistening eyes seemed to contain a multitude of emotions.

    ¡°My lord¡­ isn¡¯t big enough, and there isn¡¯t enough Yang energy. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to live there anyway¡­¡± She grumbled softly.

    Qin Ye gazed into the distant sky and rolled his eyes. Then, he picked up Song Jiafang¡¯s portrait and pointed to it with an ashen face, ¡°Get in there!¡±

    ¡°Petty.¡± Su Dongxue muttered under her breath with a pout, before transforming into ahergale that swept right into the portrait.

    He picked up the picture frame and made his way back up to the surface. Then, as soon as he leapt out of the pit, he was immediately stunned.

    It was still well before dawn, and the time was approximately four in the morning.

    Yet there was a row of police cars parked approximately twenty meters from his location. Several policemen were staring at him with a grim expression. The copsed house was cordoned off with police tape, and there were even eight people standing right outside of the hole right now!

    A white-haired old man stood at the front of them all. He was nked by three men in white coats standing in a row. The SRC emblem was imprinted on their chests. There were two agents bearing the emblem of the Insignia Province Special Investigations Department standing right behind them. And then, there was Su Feng and Lin Han.

    ¡°S9527?¡± The old man stared at him with a burning gaze, ¡°Is it¡­ over down there?¡±

    Perhaps he realized he hadn¡¯t been specific enough, so he quickly stepped forward and asked anxiously once more, ¡°I mean, have you finally¡­ breached this hunting zone?¡±

    Qin Ye immediately drew the connection and understood what was going on.

    How astute could he be? With this, his earlier spections as to the truth behind Li Tao¡¯s final condition had just been confirmed.

    ¡°Fourthly, Mount Tai City has a school research team that is currently working on a project in coboration with the SRC. Any interruption of your own volition will be considered an interference.¡±

    The three daolords are squaring off against the mortal realm, and neither is yielding any room to the other. Naturally, the more the mortal realm understood Yin spirits, the better things would be for me. Besides, wouldn¡¯t I receive some form of benefits or reward from having resolved the problem guing this hunting zone?

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly at the old man.

    ¡°Goodd.¡± One of the men in whiteb coats gazed deeply into his eyes, ¡°We¡¯ve been working on this project for almost half a year now. Unfortunately, we haven¡¯t made much progress, since we¡¯re not even sure where to begin. Yet you¡¯ve ovee all odds and cracked it overnight. No wonder you¡¯re known as the highly acimed expert who managed to breach nine hunting zones in the span of a single night.¡±

    Lin Han and Su Feng¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    Just then, the portrait suddenly shifted, and Qin Ye immediately tightened his grip hard around the picture frame.

    Su Dongxue quietened down reluctantly.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± The old man heaved a long sigh of relief, ¡°I wonder if you¡¯ve got the time now? We¡¯d like to update the file with your ount of the incident, as well as any conjectures you may have as to these circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Right now?¡± Qin Ye was somewhat displeased. You¡­ I¡¯ve justpleted the mission. Shouldn¡¯t you be talking about the reward first?

    Life is meaningless without the pursuit of profit¡­ Isn¡¯t it rather inappropriate to immediately ask me for a report without any consideration for my delicate health?

    Where is the humanity?

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Another man in a whiteb coat chimed in excitedly, ¡°The research topic of Professor Yu¡¯s research group is ¡°The Diversity of Yin Spirits¡±. Any sess in this regard would be incredibly helpful to the current situation. It hasn¡¯t been easy picking out these hunting zones, so we truly can¡¯t wait to hear your report on the details!¡±

    This is why I say that¡­ it¡¯s hardest tomunicate with members of academia. Can¡¯t you see the constipated expression on my face right now? Shouldn¡¯t you have realized something amiss by now? What happened to the government¡¯s emphasis on observant cultivators?

    Despite Qin Ye¡¯s protracted disy of a dismayed expression, the rest remained oblivious to his intentions. The same four pairs of impassioned gazes continued to burn through his body.

    I can¡¯t afford to offend these guys¡­ Qin Ye sighed in his heart. Several secondster, he finally responded, ¡°That can be arranged, but¡­ the earlier battle with the Yin spirit has taken its toll on me. It¡¯s incredibly peculiar and unpredictable, and I¡±m carrying a lot of injuries right now¡­¡±

    He left a pregnant pause, coughed several times, and then said somewhat breathlessly, ¡°I¡¯m still a little giddy right now. But you could give me some time to recuperate¡­ or perhaps even lend me some help in this regard, I think things will go on much more smoothly¡­¡±

    Su Feng and Lin Han¡¯s mouths opened agape.

    Shameless!

    Absolutely shameless!

    How could you ask the SRC for a reward directly? Do you know what kind of standing members of the SRC have? They are the only independent department in all of Cathay that stands on par with the Special Investigations Department!

    ¡°Bullshit¡­¡± Lin Han whispered softly, ¡°Holy shit¡­ this kid dares to talk terms with Old Man Yu¡­ How is this any different from stretching his arm out and asking for a reward? Doesn¡¯t he know who Old Man Yu is?¡±

    Su Feng was also stunned. His lips opened and closed several times before he finally managed to pull himself together, ¡°Bloody hell¡­ I¡¯m going back to change all references made to this idiot to Bullcrap Qin¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, reality was a cruel thing. Even though Qin Ye was a superb actor, his supporting cast was simply unwilling to work together with him.

    Professor Yu stepped forward with a glint in his eye and grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s hands, ¡°The master of this hunting zone is merely an Operative-ss Yin spirit. Are you saying that an Operative-ss Yin spirit was able to injure you? How were you hurt? In what ways was the Yin spirit peculiar?¡±

    ¡°... Professor Yu¡­ I mean¡­¡±

    Isn¡¯t there something wrong with your ability to focus on the subject matter here?

    Me! I¡¯m feigning illness! Where¡¯s the warmth that you should be disying towards your fellow human being?!

    ¡°Mr Qin, your report is of paramount importance to our research topic here!¡± Professor Yu drew a deep breath and dragged Qin Ye along as he continued speaking, ¡°As soon as weplete this research project, all of us will be orded with a second-ss meritorious deed. It¡¯s second-ss¡­ we¡¯re talking about four sets of special privileges here. I sincerely hope to see your name on this award as well.¡±

    Ehh?

    Qin Ye gently wrested his hand free from Professor Yu¡¯s grasp and coughed solemnly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry! It is my duty to render a proper report!¡±

    His voice was now firm and resolute.

    ¡°But is your body alright?¡± Professor Yu asked worriedly after taking two steps more, almost as though this notion had just urred to him.

    ¡°I¡¯m always fighting for the four modernizations of Cathay! What¡¯s a mere minor injury to the body?!¡± Qin Ye replied with a steadfast and upright tone of voice.

    Professor Yu adjusted his thick sses and led the way out of the cordoned-off area.

    ¡°You¡¯re astounding¡­¡± Lin Han and Su Feng followed quickly behind. Lin Han stared at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Do you know who he is? How dare you talk terms with Old Man Yu? Do you believe me when I say he holds the power to evict you from the First Academy of Cultivators with a single phone call? You can¡¯t educate others when you possess such a bad attitude, understand?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s his background?¡± Qin Ye was somewhat startled, ¡°By the way, what are you guys doing here to begin with?¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell. I just knew that you haven¡¯t looked at the chat app yet.¡± Su Feng rolled his eyes at Qin Ye, ¡°Take a look for yourself.¡±

    Professor Yu had already entered a car, and he was presently discussing or exining some matters with some other men dressed in whiteb coats. Several policemen had already begun to enter the pit in an orderly fashion. Having surveyed his surroundings once more, Qin Ye finally opened up the chat app.

    Everything had exploded.

    The First Academy of Cultivators ss of 2018 Instructors¡¯ Group had exploded with messages.

    He flipped through several pages of messages before he finally got to the message that triggered everything. The initial message had been posted just ten minutes ago.

    Zhou Xianlong: ¡°Instructor S9527 - first toplete C-grade mission ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯. Awarded 20 teaching credits. An additional 5 teaching credits have been awarded for each of the following achievements - first toplete a mission; and difficult mission bonus.¡±

    ¡°Instructor S9527 currently has a total of 40 teaching credits. Rank: top of the leaderboards.¡±

    ¡°Please work harder, everyone.¡±

    The message board below exploded frically!

    It was approximately 4 a.m. now, yet these cultivators hade buzzing around like a swarm of flies that didn¡¯t need rest at night.

    ¡°Seriously?! This is only the first day, and someone has already umted 40 credits? S9527 is a little too demonic, isn¡¯t he?!¡± -- A5423.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­ I¡¯ve had such a hard time securing a D-grade mission, and I haven¡¯t made head or tail of what exactly I¡¯ve got to do either, and yet someone has alreadypleted a C-grade mission? I¡¯m pleading on my knees as I read this group chat for inspiration!¡± --B0769.

    ¡°I bow down and worship you¡­ The Faculty of Combat is too fortunate to have someone like him. I wonder what level of qualifications S9527 will be assigned at this rate? I¡¯ve already got a bad feeling about the teaching credits in the uing semester¡­ Separately, I think that such people should be eliminated from the list of instructors altogether! He shouldpete against the other Hellguard-ss experts instead!¡± --A6859.

    ¡°Silence!¡± Zhou Xianlong banned all iing group messages, and added the following message, ¡°C-grade missions are originally assessed to be cleared in the span of fifteen days. It was only because S9527 hadpleted the mission too quickly, that a part of the original embargo on information has now been lifted.¡±

    ¡°Number one. All instructors who have received a C-grade mission are now permitted to ask S9527 for more details, since the grade of the mission no longer determines the top of the leaderboard.¡±

    ¡°This is a gentle reminder that all instructors who do not attain at least 60 teaching credits at the end of our stay in Mount Tai City will be impelled to resign. You are not deemed fit to teach at the First Academy of Cultivators. Number two¡­¡±

    ¡°Instructors who receive at 90 credits shall qualify for the First Academy of Cultivators¡¯ list of outstanding instructors.¡±

    ¡°At the end of two months, Vice Principal Li shall be announcing the benefits and privileges for each and every position and rank in the First Academy of Cultivators. Everyone¡­ please seize everyst opportunity you can find. Time¡­ is running out.¡±

    1. The four modernizations were goals first introduced in 1977 in order to strengthen the fields of agriculture, industry, defense and science and technology in China, in a bid to rejuvenate China¡¯s economy.

 Chapter 121: Three Founders of the SRC

    <h4>Chapter 121: Three Founders of the SRC</h4>

    The First Academy of Cultivators¡¯ list of outstanding instructors¡­ Only outstanding instructors were eligible to run for the title of an associate professor. The other benefits and privileges were still a mystery right now, but even the discounts pertaining to spirit stone redemption alone were sufficiently attractive to him!

    After all, how could an Emissary of Hell parade in front of Hellguard-ss experts and Judge-ss experts on a daily basis?

    Regardless, the list of outstanding instructors was the first thing he was determined to fight for.

    ¡°Do you know just how demonic your achievements are?¡± Lin Han gritted his teeth, ¡°This is a mission that the academy had expected their instructors to onlyplete in fifteen days time, and yet you¡¯ve managed to demolish it in the span of a single night?! Are you trying to run us out of business? We¡¯re here especially to consult you and seek your advice.¡±

    Oh foolish mortals¡­

    ¡°You can listen in when I speak with Professor Yuter. By the way, who is this old man anyway?¡±

    Qin Ye gasped and nced at the old man¡¯s back.

    Lin Han added, almost as though he were attempting to give Qin Ye an aneurysm, ¡°As long as you receive his approval, nobody in the academia would dare say otherwise or pick a bone with you! Do you know what kind of support you¡¯re potentially looking at? This is as big a break as it can ever get. Let me tell you something. The promotion of an instructor to associate professorship is based solely on teaching credits. But when ites to the promotion of an associate professor to a full professor of a faculty, they look beyond mere teaching credits and consider whether the associate professor has a research topic of his own! And whether he¡¯s got any results in that regard as well! Do you think it¡¯s truly that easy to be a full professor of an entire faculty otherwise?¡±

    The SRC was different from the Special Investigations Department.

    After all, theories and hypotheses would all have to be first tested out by the First Academy of Cultivators before they could be published. Furthermore, all projects, assessments, papers and theses would be submitted to the SRC for their evaluation rather than to the Special Investigations Department.

    If I could be an obedientpdog that pleased Old Man Yu¡­ then¡­ wouldn¡¯t the process of rising through the ranks from an associate professor to a full professor be far smoother? Wouldn¡¯t I be that much closer to securing all of the resources which I need for deployment in Hell?

    Just then, the picture frame shook again, jolting him back from his fantasies of resting in hisurels as a powerful CEO who had married a rich western woman.

    ¡°Why the hell are you moving about so much? There are countless cultivators around right now. Are you courting death?!¡± Qin Ye exploded with rage as soon as he shut himself into a cubicle.

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes and breathed heavily through his gritted teeth, ¡°Behave yourself if you don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    Qin Ye was stunned for three full seconds, before he finally realized that she was speaking of Lin Han.

    Su Dongxue responded softly, ¡°My lord, I¡¯ve learnt through Song Jiafang¡¯s eyes that modern day society no longer describes these things as embroidery needles. Rather, they say that it¡¯s a one-inch wonder¡­ By my observations, he¡¯s no embroidery needle. In fact, he would be a pleasing fit. His body is practically perfect.¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°... Very good¡­ how would you describe something big then?¡±

    ¡­¡­

    Arthis scowled at him, ¡°It would be best if the development of the spiritual civilization starts from you. After all, everything flows from the top. Truth be told, I¡¯m sincerely concerned about the future morals and integrity of Hell¡­ Buting back to the topic at hand, there are a multitude of options for you to choose from.¡±

    She carefully exined the characteristics of the nightmare spirit, and how they manifest and appear. Qin Ye closed his eyes and absorbed everything like a sponge before repeating it back to Arthis. Then, he promptly left the washroom.

    When he opened his eyes again, he was already at the edge of the second concentric ring of roads around Mount Tai City. It was 4.40 a.m. Even a provincial capital city had begun to reveal traces of weariness.

    Old Man Yu got off the car first and led the way to a small, restricted neighbourhood. This neighbourhood was extraordinarily tightly guarded. Even though it was four in the morning, there were still several security guards actively patrolling the perimeter of the neighbourhood.

    Qin Ye nodded and followed the group into the development. Su Feng and Lin Han followed behind furtively. Qin Ye could feel the picture frame shifting slightly, but he brutally repressed any traces of movement as soon as they started.

    The restricted neighbourhood was fairly green. The streetlights looked new, and the paths were spacious - wide enough for cars to drive about within its premises. Old Man Yu quickly arrived in front of a small, detached building.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Without further ado, Old Man Yu quickly made his way to the second floor.

    There were six chairs in front of him. Old Man Yu sat on the chair in the center, and pointed at the chair just beside him, ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°Amazing tea.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but exim aloud. Simultaneously, he nced at the man in a suit.

    Old Man Yu was barely an Operative-ss expert, and yet the person protecting him was a Hunter-ss expert. To put things into perspective, Qin Ye hadn¡¯t even seen a single Hunter-ss expert from Mount Tai City ever since his arrival at this ce. The existence of a Hunter-ss expert around Old Man Yu simply spoke volumes about his stature and worth.

    Old Man Yu took a sip of tea, shut his eyes and loosened up slightly before he murmured, ¡°Only those who have been credited with the second-ss meritorious deed are entitled to purchase the Cloudmist Peak Heart-Cleansing Tea. A gram of it costs 10,000 RMB - the same price as mother nt Da Hong Pao.This tea has the effect of facilitating the gathering of true energy, condensing one¡¯s spirit, and dispelling fatigue. The benefits of this tea are obvious, albeit only useful for cultivators.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s pupils constricted slightly. By extension, wouldn¡¯t this mean that the higher one¡¯s stature or merit, the closer he would be to the high-level treasures hidden in the depths of the treasuries of the SRC and the Special Investigations Department?

    ¡°All of our conversations here will be recorded. This topic is of paramount importance to me, so I would sincerely ask Mr Qin to spare no details.¡± Old Man Yu opened his eyes and stretched out his hand, ¡°Yu Guohui. SRC¡¯s honorary researcher, recipient of the national special meritorious deed, and one of the three fellows of the Yin spirit research division. Pleased to meet you.¡±

    They shook hands for a brief moment. Then, Yu Guohui smiled faintly, ¡°You¡¯re hardly insignificant at all. Bing a Hunter-ss expert at the age of eighteen is somethingpletely unprecedented in the history of Cathay¡­ Alright, let¡¯s not digress. Come, tell us what you¡¯ve encountered down under in the pit?¡±

    They spoke for almost an hour. Yu Guohui would interject from time to time to rify some details. His questions were seemingly simple and trivial, but they all hit the nail on the head.

    ¡°Mr Yu¡­¡± Qin Ye scrutinized his every appearance as he probed further, ¡°Has this been helpful?¡±

    This is the perfect opportunity to secure a massive potential pir of support. Why wouldn¡¯t I seize it at all?

    ¡°It¡¯s true¡­ there are indeed different kinds of Yin spirits as I¡¯d posited! It¡¯s just like how the study of anthropology helps us understand how the history of mankind across differentnds have given rise to different races and types of people¡­ our present study of Yin spirits would allow us to take a more proactive stance against Yin spirits in future!¡± He took a gulp of his tea excitedly, ¡°Little Qin, do you have any thoughts about the matter of your own?¡±

    Yu Guohui had merely asked this question casually. However, Qin Ye smiled faintly and responded, ¡°I do.¡±

    1. This means the spiritual wealth created in the course of human society¡¯s historical practice, including thought, morality and education, science and culture, and so on.

    2. This is the priciest oolong tea that one can find. Wikipedia says that one kg of the same can cost up to USD1.9 million. That¡¯s bonkers.

 Chapter 122: Lapdogâ€™s Lick~ (1)

    <h4>Chapter 122: Lapdog''s Lick~ (1)</h4>

    He didn¡¯t say anything immediately. Instead, he slowly set down the teacup in his hands and adjusted his sses, before speaking once more, ¡°Little Qin¡­ you have to appreciate that everything you say today will be recorded within the SRC¡¯s archives - in video form.¡±

    Secondster, Yu Guohui nodded slightly with a somber expression, ¡°Please go on, then.¡±

    Lin Han felt like someone was constantly watching him. It was a strange feeling - not a strong one, but he simply felt uneasy and exposed under the mysterious watchful gaze. He coughed lightly as he jolted back to his senses, ¡°What¡¯s going on? What happened?¡±

    Lin Han scratched his head, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s the person he¡¯s speaking to? It¡¯s none other than the most renowned Yin spirit schr across all of Cathay. Qin Ye has resolved the conundrum guing his research topic. And that was precisely why he had invited Qin Ye to this ce to record his report on video - he had wanted to lend Qin Ye a hand and increase his visibility. After all, given Old Man Yu¡¯s stature, these video reports would be transmitted straight to the top management of the entire organization. In other words, this is the best opportunity for Qin Ye to make an impression with all the right people¡­¡±

    Su Feng shook his head, ¡°No. How could his perspective possibly hold a candle to the SRC¡¯s? Something like this would be tantamount to an amateur disying his skills in front of true subject matter experts. What would the top management think when he makes a mistake? There¡¯s no need to guess; this is what they would say - this kid isn¡¯t too bad, but he thinks way too highly of himself. As soon as they harbour such an assessment of him, his potential would be substantially curtailed.¡±

    He nced meaningfully at the screen, while Lin Han muttered softly, ¡°Unless¡­ he speaks about something that ispletely novel and eye-opening?¡±

    ¡°Talk is cheap.¡± He sighed, ¡°SRC¡­ is Cathay¡¯s bastion of theory and intelligence that directly supports the war against Yin spirits. To amaze them with new insight¡­ is something that is difficult, difficult, and difficult.¡±

    ¡°Then, please allow me to begin.¡± Qin Ye knew exactly when toy low, and when to shine radiantly like a gleaming sword. In that regard, he knew that the amount he had just shared with the chieftain was hardly sufficient to leave asting impression.

    He drew a deep breath, leaned forward slightly, and began with a deep, profound voice, ¡°My view is that¡­ there are several types of Yin spirits, and each of them have differing characteristics and pose different levels of threat to all of us!¡±

    The video recording was still rolling, and it was toote to salvage the situation. He had initially hoped for Qin Ye to bring up a whole new insight, but¡­ the present situation was well within his expectations.

    His hope now was that others might be inspired and glean a new insight from what Qin Ye had mentioned.

    ¡°For instance?¡±

    As soon as Qin Ye mentioned these words, Yu Guohui¡¯s originally darkened eyes were instantly filled once more with passion and excitement. The first thing he did was to search through the knowledge databases in his mind for such a term of reference.

    Nothing! And nothing!

    ¡°Is this¡­ something coined by you?¡± He asked with disbelief.

    ¡°... Apologies. I¡¯m not suspicious of you. Rather, the ssification of any Yin spirit is something that is only done after umting sufficient information in a case file and testing the necessary hypotheses. In other words, one would have to dissect through the presumptions and make the necessary findings and proof. At your age¡­¡± He deliberately left his sentence hanging.

    Qin Ye smiled.

    Naturally, it was to lick the person until he shoots¡­ No! It was to lick a person in a manner whichforts him best; it was to lick a person where he desired it most.

    You don¡¯t know?

    The hook, line and sinker had all been cast¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a wild hypothesis.¡± He looked straight into Yu Guohui¡¯s zed-over eyes, ¡°What if¡­ the bloodline of the Yin spirit could be concealed and transmitted through a person¡¯s lineage?¡±

    Licking¡­ must be done slowly, shouldn¡¯t it? It wouldn¡¯t feel good if there weren¡¯t peaks and troughs before the climax after all.

    What a novel idea!

    The spirit¡­ is something that arises after death¡­

    ¡°DNA¡­ soul¡­ Yin spirit¡­¡± Old Man Yu closed his eyes, and his mind began to whirr at top speed. Even his face grew slightly red.

    Back on the first floor, the men dressed in whiteb coats stared at the screen,pletely aghast with their mouths wide open.

    ¡°No¡­¡± One of the men in whiteb coats turned around. His body trembled slightly, and his eyes were filled with a deep, abstruse gaze, as thoughplex profundities and mysteries had just been unraveled to him, ¡°He¡­ he¡¯s just said something absolutely remarkable¡­¡±

    Lin Han and Su Feng exchanged a peculiar look, and Su Feng muttered under his breath, ¡°Like I¡¯d mentioned earlier, if Qin Ye sheds new light or brings new insight to the table, then¡­ these efforts would immediately chart a smooth career path for him in future.¡±

    He looked at Lin Han with a somber expression, ¡°He would no longer be merely an instructor. Instead¡­ he would be one of the core members of Cathay¡¯s forces leading the charge against the supernatural forces of the world. Brother Lin, we¡¯ve been in the industry for almost twenty years now. Yet after all these years, have we ever seen someone who¡¯s climbed thedder at such unbelievable speeds? We¡¯re talking about someone who is even making ripples among the top brass!¡±

    It might seem pointless now. But it would immediatelye in hand as soon as Qin Ye starts running for the position of a faculty professor, or perhaps even¡­ the position of the vice principal!

    As soon as a Judge-ss expert speaks of such words, the elections campaign would almost be a foregone conclusion.

    The discussions on the first floor were kept within the first floor. Back on the second floor, Professor Yu¡¯s smile had already faded away, and he gazed straight at Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°That is an astute hypothesis.¡±

    ¡°And what you¡¯ve just spoken of earlier is the rarest, most precious 1%!¡±

    Those who were familiar with Professor Yu knew that such words of praise was something that might not be heard even once in span of three full years.

    ¡°No.¡± Yu Guohui leaned back on his chair, ¡°Nobodyes back in without my instructions. Little Qin, let¡¯s continue.¡±

    Qin Ye began to go into the details, ¡°When I was in the ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯ hunting zone earlier, I learnt that the Yin spirit was in fact Song Jiafang¡¯s ancestor, otherwisemonly known as her ancestral spirit. If not for the fact that she was hidden in Song Jiafang¡¯s bloodline, there¡¯s simply no way she could have surfaced right there and then. Therefore, I¡¯ve got a few conjectures.¡±

    ¡°Two. The ghastly bloodline is only triggered upon certain specific conditions. I¡¯ve given this phenomenon the name - the Great Intergenerational Heredity.¡±

    Qin Ye reeled in the hook more and more, ¡°I¡¯m certain that you¡¯re already aware of just how unique the ghost of the Great Intergenerational Heredity is. By my posttion, the incredibly onerous confluence of conditions required for the formation of such a ghost naturally means that their urrence would only be a rate of zero-point-zero-something percent of the entire poption of Yin spirits. That said, these Yin spirits are far more threatening than the ordinary hunting zones that we¡¯ve encountered!¡±

    The more he listened to Qin Ye, the more he felt vindicated of his own conjectures and posttions. This was validation through the process of corroboration and proof. Even though Qin Ye wasn¡¯t speaking of these things to cate him, it nevertheless made him feel incredible.

    I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m actually gleaning deeper insights through the report of an eighteen year old with respect to his encounter with a special hunting zone! Old Man Yu was secretly startled, but he quickly raised his spirits and continued listening intently.

    He gazed intently at Yu Guohui, ¡°Professor Yu, I¡¯m almost certain that there are some extremely special existences among the world of Yin spirits. These existencese about incredibly rarely. But when they do, their might and threat level to us go well beyond that of ordinary Yin spirits! I sincerely suggest the SRC and the Special Investigations Department to proceed with caution. The nightmare spirit, for instance, is one of the Yin spirits that must be destroyed as soon as they appear!¡±

    Yu Guohui¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly as he locked eyes with Qin Ye. Secondster, he muttered, ¡°Incarnate revenant?¡±

    ¡°Judge-ss spirits.¡± Qin Ye whispered in a chilling voice, ¡°While other hunting zones are still floundering about like the new spirits they are, these spirits¡­ can already summon the wind and the rain, and cover an entire province in their reign of terror!¡±

 Chapter 123: Lapdogâ€™s Lick~ (2)

    <h4>Chapter 123: Lapdog''s Lick~ (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I¡¯m an orphan, and I¡¯ve been wandering the world since I was a kid. I was born with the Yin-Yang Eyes, and I¡¯ve seen many things in my travels. The term ¡®nightmare spirit¡¯ is something that I¡¯vee up with, because¡­ the spirit is just like a nightmare - pervasive and formless.¡±

    ¡°Every time he woke up, he would always yell at the top of his voice, ¡®There¡¯s a ghost¡­ a ghost ising to kill me!¡¯ This man began to grow visibly emaciated. You might not know this, but vagabonds live from hand to mouth, and nobody has the capacity to care for others at all. In fact, the life of a vagabond is dictated by the doctrine of every man for himself, and one would even need to keep an eye out for others snatching food from them. That¡¯s why¡­ I hid myself extremely well - so well that few people could uncover my location.¡±

    ¡°This air-raid shelter was built a long time ago. They¡¯re not even recorded in our building ns from thirty years ago. Furthermore, these shelters are twelve meters underground, well below the level of most foundations. It¡¯s probably not constructed by Cathayans to begin with. This is probably why we¡¯d failed to discover its existence all this while.¡±

    ¡°That man was mutted by several knife wounds, and his death was incredibly tragic. Despite that, the air-raid shelter was too good a shelter to pass up, and nobody wanted to leave at all. Therefore, after disposing of the corpse, we continued to live in the shelter.¡±

    ¡°From that day on, someone died everyday for three days straight! I immediately made up my mind to leave the shelter. But just as I was leaving, I suddenly saw the man who had been having nightmares walk past a fire pit.¡±

    Old Man Yu remarked, ¡°Shadows are one of the key distinguishing factors between humans and ghosts. A man without shadows¡­ must mean that he¡¯s a ghost. Was he the nightmare spirit?¡±

    Old Man Yu wasn¡¯t listening to it as anyone would a mere story.

    ¡°After wandering about for the next ten months, I returned to the air-raid shelter once more.¡±

    He breathed heavily, ¡°With my eyes¡­ I could see that there were a dozen souls hovering about just outside the shelter. Apart from the ones who had already died by the time I¡¯d left the shelter, there were several others. In other words¡­ the air-raid shelter had already be a nest of evil that devours all life.¡±

    Old Man Yu nodded deeply. But in the next moment, his eyes immediately widened, and he stared at Qin Ye, ¡°Are you saying¡­ that it was already a Hellguard-ss evil ghost?!¡±

    ¡°In a single year?!¡± Old Man Yu gasped, ¡°Are you certain?!¡±

    Old Man Yu probed further, ¡°Do you still remember where that air-raid shelter is located?¡±

    Even if they went down to Basil City to search the area, they would only be able to find an abandoned air-raid shelter, and possibly some traces of Qin Ye¡¯s stay in the past.

    Life was tragic back then¡­

    ¡°Quality is of far greater significance than quantity!¡±

    Old Man Yu was deep in thought. That said, he also looked visibly excited.

    Millions of people lived in a single city, and a provincial capital city housed more than ten million citizens! A single oversight leading to the emergence of an extremely rare Yin spirit in such a heavily popted location¡­

    Furthermore¡­ He couldn¡¯t help but shudder uncontrobly.

    It¡¯s high time for the establishment of the Department of Yin Spirit ssification¡­ This was rejected thest time I¡¯d brought it up. But this time, I simply have to see things through by hook or by crook. This is noughing matter! As these thoughts ran through Professor Yu¡¯s mind, he looked at Qin Ye and smiled radiantly, ¡°Little Qin, what ns do you have in mind for the future?¡±

    Old Man Yu smiled.

    ¡°I¡¯m referring to your ns after graduation.¡± He smiled casually, ¡°S-ss agents like you can¡¯t possibly stay at the First Academy of Cultivators forever. You¡¯d probably teach there for a full term of two years at best. And then you¡¯ll be deployed back to the frontline with your usual investigator duties.¡±

    ¡°The SRC has a special division called the Operations Division. We can¡¯t bother the Special Investigations Department for everything after all. Thus, the SRC has its own operative forces as well as its own set of cultivators. Furthermore¡­¡±

    In other words, as long as youe to the SRC, you¡¯ll immediately be a big shot who stands at the frontline of the battle against the supernatural forces!

    Nobody had expected an oue like this!

    His first posttion was that Yin energy could betently concealed in a person¡¯s bloodline. No¡­ Yin energy has always been a part of a person¡¯s body. After all, the constitution of one¡¯s body was founded upon a bnce of both Yin and Yang energy. However, the idea thattent Yin energy could be triggered by external causes was a concept that waspletely outrageous. Yet, upon closer inspection, it wasn¡¯tpletely impossible either!

    Qin Ye¡¯s third contribution was his conclusion. Even though his words didn¡¯t carry much weight, he had nevertheless in his own ways affirmed Old Man Yu¡¯s hypothesis, that there was diversity among Yin spirits. He had even gone one step further by saying that the harsher and more stringent the conditions for the conception of special Yin spirits, the stronger they would be when they appeared.

    ¡°Old Man Yu has personally invited him¡­¡± One of the men in whiteb coats revealed a bitter smile as he conceded, ¡°We¡¯ve been here for several years now¡­ but none of us have ever done enough to receive Old Man Yu¡¯s personal rmendation. It looks like Qin Ye haspletely outdone himself¡­¡±

    Even though Lin Han wasn¡¯t able to fully appreciate what the rmendation meant, he could still appreciate the gravitas of the person making the rmendation.

    Everyone stared at the screen in silence, and they couldn¡¯t help but wish that they were in Qin Ye¡¯s shoes right now. At the same time, everyone also wanted to know what Qin Ye¡¯s response would be.

    Are you kidding?!

    Do you think I¡¯m looking tomit suicide¡­

    I simply adore how you wish to immediately reciprocate my kindness!

    ¡°Alright then, we¡¯ll be wrapping up the video and sending it to Yan Capital immediately. We shan¡¯t hold you back any longer.¡± Old Man Yu stood up and sent off his guests with a simple statement.

    Can¡¯t you let others finish their statement first?

    You¡¯re not ying by the rules, old man!

    ¡°Bloody hell!!!¡± Su Feng and Lin Han cursed in unison below.

    Where the hell has your face gone?!!

    ¡°This idiot¡­¡± Lin Han¡¯s lips trembled, ¡°Isn¡¯t this the public lecture that everyone has to conduct?! Isn¡¯t he just cheating right now?!¡±

    What happened to fair y?

    Are you going to wait for us there?

    ¡°Ahh? Aren¡¯t we supposed to be asking him about his ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯ mission?¡± Lin Han couldn¡¯t keep up with the developments.

    He exploded with an ashen face, ¡°Let¡¯s go back and prepare for ss!!¡±

    ¡°At least there¡¯s hope of securing 100 credits if we take things seriously in our preparation work. If we continue to mess around¡­ heh heh¡­ do you really want to let this kid run us over like that?¡±

    1. Referred to in chapter 9. In Chinese folklore, the Yin-Yang Eyes refer to a psychic ability to see or perceive ghosts or supernatural beings that are ordinarily invisible to normal people.

    2. Approximately 1949

 Chapter 124: A Pleasant 2-in-1 Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 124: A Pleasant 2-in-1 Surprise</h4>

    Second floor.

    Old Man Yuughed jovially, ¡°No problem. You¡¯ve helped us with this problem here. Mount Tai City isn¡¯t too far from the City of Salvation. I can make the trip down.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need to trouble you personally. It would suffice if you sent somebody down¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. After all, it¡¯s just a public lecture in the First Academy of Cultivators¡­¡± Old Man Yu echoed with the same sentiments.

    Argh! Qin Ye felt like giving himself a tight p to the face, and he quickly fought to salvage the situation, ¡°About that¡­ I think it would still be the academy¡¯s honour if you would personally make the trip down as well. The two principals miss you very much. Besides, you haven¡¯t had the opportunity to see the First Academy of Cultivators, have you?¡±

    Old Man Yu nodded his head, ¡°That¡¯s true. Well, then, give me a call when the timees. I don¡¯t have my phone with me, but you can ask for my Momo details when you get downstairs.¡±

    The fish had finally been inextricably hooked.

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. All of his preparatory work had finally led to this fateful moment.

    How could there be any advantage greater than what he had justnded?

    Since he was already ahead in terms of teaching credits, he may as well secure the lead and continue to stay ahead. What reason was there to forgo such a premium opportunity?

    ¡°I thank you in advance.¡± Qin Ye nodded and bowed respectfully, before slipping back downstairs to inquire about Old Man Yu¡¯s Momo details. Afterwards, he headed straight into the limousine that had been arranged for him.

    ¡°Eh, something¡¯s not right.¡± As soon as he got into the car, Qin Ye¡¯s expressions turned incredibly pale, almost as though he had forgotten something of grave importance, ¡°Holy shit¡­ where¡¯s my reward forpleting the ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯ mission?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d been so lost in the conversation with that old man¡­ that I¡¯ve forgotten all about my reward?!¡±

    In his distraught state of mind, Qin Ye waspletely unaware that someone had silently pulled aside the curtains in the building behind him. And it was only when the car had departed from sight that the pale, shriveled hand loosened the curtains once more.

    The kind, amiable smile on Old Man Yu¡¯s face had vanishedpletely, and it was instead reced with a deep and abstruse smile. He gazed deeply out of the window and shook his head, ¡°This kid¡­¡±

    ¡°Record it.¡±

    As soon as he spoke these words, a thin middle-aged man dressed in a chinese tunic suit holding a brush and a book slowly walked out from behind thendscape painting in the room.

    Hunter-ss expert!

    Furthermore, this expert had been standingpletely still behind thendscape painting all this while, and yet Qin Ye had failed to detect his presence altogether!

    The man didn¡¯t say a single word. Instead, he responded by quickly recording everything down on his book. Each word was written with beautiful penmanship, ¡°January 16. Professor Yu Guohui met with an agent from the Special Investigations Department, registration no. S9527.¡±

    At this point, his brush stopped, ¡°Chief, what¡¯s your evaluation of him?¡±

    Old Man Yu leaned back into his chair, and he rapped his finger rhythmically on the armrest as though he were deep in thought.

    After some time, he finally responded, ¡°He has the makings of a man of clout.¡±

    The middle-aged man clearly had his reservations, and he immediately furrowed his brows, ¡°Chief, if I may, wouldn¡¯t that be an over-assessment?¡±

    Old Man Yu smiled faintly, ¡°You have a different opinion?¡±

    The man hesitated for a moment before responding with his reasons, ¡°Yes¡­ Please allow me to borate. This person¡­ is far too slippery, like an eel. His personality and his heart are quite vastly different from that of other cultivators. He keeps his intentions well-concealed. Even though there was a great opportunity ced right in front of him, he chose to give it up. It¡¯s not that he couldn¡¯t appreciate this opportunity either. I sincerely believe that there¡¯s more than meets the eye with this kid, and I would suggest keeping him under close observation.¡±

    Old Man Yu didn¡¯t say anything. He simply stood up and paced around slowly. After some time, he finally responded again, ¡°Old Jin, the world has changed.¡±

    ¡°In today¡¯s society, a cultivator cannot be out of touch with the times. Admittedly, there is something mercenary and slippery about this kid. But if you think about his profile, and how he¡¯s grown up as an orphan, the existence of a slippery nature is quite understandable.¡±

    ¡°In these times, hunkering down and working hard in our own cultivation is no longer the best way to do things. Insight and experience are all equally important as well. If I could just put it bluntly, everything that he has said and done earlier reveals a sense of maturity far greater than any of hispatriots. People like him¡­ will most certainly make their mark in the upper echelons of the Special Investigations Department in future. This is why I¡¯m willing to extend him some goodwill and be a part of his debut.¡±

    He smiled somewhat proudly, ¡°Otherwise, the fact that he¡¯s resolved the problem of this research topic for us... is still much too little to justify inviting me to the First Academy of Cultivators for his debut.¡±

    ¡°This is an investment.¡± The middle-aged man finally understood.

    Old Man Yu nodded and snorted, ¡°I¡¯d failed in my previous application for the establishment of the Department of Yin Spirit ssification. Come to think of it, my recent focus on research has caused others to forget that I¡¯m one of the three founding fathers of the SRC! Do I really need their approval for my decisions?!¡±

    ¡°Heh heh¡­ to think that they dare discuss the issue of votes with me¡­ Alright, since they want to y by the rules, then I¡¯ll y by the rules as well. Give us a few years¡­ or perhaps ten years¡­ At that time, let¡¯s show them who gets thestugh!¡±

    ¡°They might have forgotten what¡¯s mine, but I¡¯ll make sure to give them a good reminder they¡¯ll never forget.¡±

    The middle-aged man grew silent.

    Old Man Yu chuckled, ¡°By the way, I¡¯ve also made an unexpected discovery this time.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°This kid¡­ I¡¯m afraid he¡¯s got some decent backing.¡± He smiled faintly, ¡°The docket says that he¡¯s not affiliated to any organization, but I think that¡¯s impossible. His understanding of Yin spirits is far too profound. And¡­ incarnate revenant?¡±

    ¡°Even I have never heard of such a ssification before.¡±

    He squinted his eyes, ¡°So¡­ who¡¯se up with such a term of reference?¡±

    He answered his own question, ¡°The entity that hase up with this must understand Yin spirits very well. Furthermore, it¡¯s quite likely that the entity is not a single person, but an entire organization. The term of reference ¡®incarnate revenant¡¯ must have been coined after having be a ubiquitous term within the organization itself. In turn, the only organization that might have such a profound understanding of Yin spirits¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, ¡°Apart from us, there¡¯s only one other ce possible¡­¡±

    The middle-aged man gasped, ¡°Are you talking about¡­ Hell?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Old Man Yu closed his eyes, ¡°Hell is the one and only ce that understands Yin spirit the best. Next to them, the SRC is practically a child. If not for the fact that it¡¯s simply impossible for us to make contact with Hell, would we be attempting to establish our own system of ssifications? As for Little Qin¡­ I posit that there¡¯s a seventy percent chance that he might very well be affiliated with Hell.¡±

    ¡°And the fact that his identity needs to remain concealed could very much be the real reason why he had refused to join the SRC as well.¡±

    He smiled, ¡°Likewise, this is also the other reason why I¡¯d agreed to make the trip down to the First Academy of Cultivators to sit in for his debut lecture. If he¡¯s truly affiliated to Hell, he would most definitely reveal somethingpletely outrageous at his public lecture¡­ just like the information he revealed tonight.¡±

    The other man was silent for several seconds, ¡°Sir, should we¡­¡±

    ¡°No!!¡± Old Man Yu immediately revealed his stubbornness as he cautioned, ¡°Remember, one should never ask a hero where hees from. A great enemy is at hand. We should never pursue our suspicions against a good seedling just because of certain remote possibilities! As long as he¡¯s a human, he¡¯s bound to stand on the side of humanity. Any concerns as to his affiliations no longer matter!¡±

    The other man stopped talking altogether. He picked up his brush and recorded everything in his book fervently. After several moments, he set down his brush. He was finally done.

    ¡°Are the records ready?¡± Old Man Yu closed his eyes. He was truly drained, ¡°You may take your leave. I¡¯ll get some rest for now¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was also knackered.

    He hadn¡¯t slept for two nights straight. Even though the constitution of cultivators and practitioners were far better than that of an ordinary person, they still needed rest. Arthis had informed him that it is only when he bes an Anitya Hellguard that he could do away with sleep altogether.

    ording to her, the rank of an Anitya Hellguard was a crucial turning point for all Emissaries of Hell. Netherworld Operatives were akin to errand boys. Soul Hunters were at the level of record keepers, but their rank wasn¡¯t high in the grand scheme of things. Ox-Head and Horse-Face were both Emissaries of Hell operating at this level. Beyond that was the rank of Anitya Hellguards, where they would finally be entrusted with the duties of governing an entire city of Yin spirits. This was when they truly became significant in the grand scheme of things.

    Additionally, there was one important qualitative change when Yin spirits attained the Hellguard-ss level - and this was the ability to roam thends in the day, otherwise known as dawn voyage.

    Ordinary Yin spirits are only able to traverse thends at night. On the other hand, Anitya Hellguards that have assumed their Hell¡¯s Emissary state are able to roam thends in the day without having to borrow the host body of a normal human being, albeit not for extended periods of time. ording to Arthis, those under the rank of Abyssal Prefects remain unable to stay exposed to the sun for the entire day, especially the midday sun.

    Qin Ye was still unsure of how he would go about earning himself merit points for the promotion to the next rank. As a Soul Hunter, ying Operative-ss vengeful apparitions no longer earned him merit points. Besides, there were hardly anymore Hunter-ss evil ghosts hidden in the depths of the City of Salvation. He would probably have to finish his two-year teaching stint first, and then be deployed to other cities and provinces before he could finally locate other sources of merit points.

    That said, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t in a rush either. Two years¡­ these two years was time that he needed to amass his resources, build up his defenses, and subjugate his subjects. This was the path of a king.

    With these thoughts in mind, Qin Ye slept peacefully that night.

    ¡°Holding the earth with the left hand and the sky in the right, lightning crackled from the palm in all directions¡­ Eras bygone saw years and years, three thousand lifetimes passed in the blink of an eye¡­¡±

    Amidst his drowsy stupor, a crisp and clear song swept across his ears. It was melodious and beautiful. He yawned and stretched, and rolled over in bed, preparing to fall back into a deep slumber.

    However, just ten secondster.

    ¡°A flower in my left hand and a sword in my right, a million years of snow falls from theshes of my eyes. A drop of tear, ahhh ahhh ahh¡­ This is I, ahh ahh ahh!!!¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell!!¡± The voice of a young hipster had suddenly transformed into that of an imperial woman. He was instantly transported from the peaceful Westriver basins to the high Tibetan teau with the deafening st of a powerful soprano. Qin Ye sat up like a floundering fish. His entire body was covered in cold sweat.

    ¡°I say¡­¡± Qin Ye was dressed in a ck singlet, and he massaged his temples, ¡°Can¡¯t you spend your limited life on something that¡¯s a little more meaningful? Do you know that in my eyes, you¡¯ve already degenerated into an inte addict? Do I need to tell you about the god of electroconvulsive therapy, Yang Yongxin?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Su Dongxuey at the end of the bed, operating theputer in ordance with Arthis¡¯ instructions. Arthis added without lifting her eyes from the screen, ¡°Skip the first three episodes. I¡¯ve watched those already¡­ Hey, I¡¯m talking to you. What are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­. ahh?¡± Su Dongxue quickly shifted her loving gaze away from Qin Ye¡¯s body. Qin Ye could see a trace of regret in her eyes. His body trembled slightly, and he quickly put on his clothes, ¡°What time is it now?¡±

    ¡°1.42 a.m. You¡¯ve slept for well over ten hours.¡± Arthis nced at the screen and added, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else you need me for, I¡¯m heading back to the City of Salvation.¡±

    Qin Ye washed up, deliberated for several moments, and then nodded his head. There was truly nothing else in Mount Tai City for which he required Arthis¡¯ assistance.

    It was Sunday today. sses began tomorrow for sixty days straight. Once that was over, they would return to the City of Salvation and begin the first semester of the First Academy of Cultivators proper. The only outstanding matter was to finalize the transactions with the Soaring Dragon Developers.

    Although he had already obtained a pleasant surprise through his interactions with Yu Guohui, he hadn¡¯t forgotten about his primary objective ining to Mount Tai City in the first ce.

    ¡°Alright. The wifi in this school is too bloody slow. I can¡¯t follow my serials properly.¡± Arthis couldn¡¯t be bothered with titudes anymore. As soon as she finished speaking, she pped her wings and shot right out of the window.

    Qin Ye watched her fly off into the distance and scratched his head, ¡°Why do I get the feeling like she¡¯s forgotten something¡­ what is it?¡±

    After thinking for some moments, he was suddenly struck by a brainwave, and he immediately looked back at the room.

    Arthis¡­ had forgotten Su Dongxue!

    However, there were no longer any traces of Su Dongxue¡¯s figure in the room.

    ¡°My lord.¡± A coquettish voice resounded from under the soft quilts that Qin Ye had just gotten out of.

    At some point, Su Dongxue had already gotten into bed andy the nket over her illusory body. Her fair thigh peeked out from underneath. She supported her sharp chin with one hand, and mischievously twirled a tuft of hair with her other. Her voice was tantalizing and alluring.

    ¡°The night is long, and we¡¯ve both got no intentions of sleeping any longer. Why don¡¯t we¡­ do something a little bit more meaningful?¡±

    She sensually took a deep breath, ¡°You smell¡­ so good.¡±

    1. This is a song by Sa Dingding called Upwards to the Moon.

    2. Yang Yongxin is a medical doctor in China who is the leading expert of inte addiction and the director of Linyi Inte Addiction Treatment Center. He¡¯s notorious for his proliferate use of electroconvulsive therapy, and some of his methods considered to be various forms of psychological brainwashing of patients have been described as new age concentration camps.

 Chapter 125: Shut Your Trap?

    <h4>Chapter 125: Shut Your Trap?</h4>

    A single man.

    And things looked like they were about to get hot and steamy¡­

    Damn it¡­ I¡¯d been fantasizing about this day for such a long time! Yet it¡¯s only when the day finally came that I¡¯d realized how messed up reality truly is!

    ¡°Calm down a little¡­¡± Strictly speaking, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t truly be considered a Cicerone of the Great Demons. After having lived for so long, he did have some experience in certain fields. That said, it had also been far too long since thest time, and he simply couldn¡¯t remember how best to react to the present circumstances!

    She smiled lightly. Qin Ye felt his world spin when he discovered that Su Dongxue had two beautiful dimples when she smiled.

    She slid her fingers down his chest and lingered over his belt, ¡°Or is it hot in here?¡±

    Her hands had suddenly slipped into his pants. But¡­ he was instantly awakened by the feeling of iciness.

    With a grim smirk on his face, Qin Ye made his way towards Su Dongxue and grabbed her by the chin. Ordinary people would have been unable to grab hold of an illusory body like hers, but Qin Ye was different.

    ¡°Your fate is in my hands now. If you ever cross the line again, you will perish.¡±

    Qin Ye straightened up, ¡°I don¡¯t care what you do in Hell in the future. But you¡¯d best be on your best behaviour about me. Do you think I¡¯m only in my teens? Do you think I¡¯m someone who stumbles from lust?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t figured this out earlier either. But Su Dongxue¡¯s earlier teasing had ironically caused him to understand everything.

    She was a person whose appearances were vastly different from who she truly was on the inside. On the surface, she appeared to be a calm and gentle cat. Yet on the inside, she was a slippery and scious snake. Qin Ye wasn¡¯t about to judge others by their lifestyles. Everyone had their own set of values that they lived by, and he was happy to live and let live so long as others didn¡¯t cross his bottom line.

    He wasn¡¯t attracted to Su Dongxue.

    He circted his Yin energy, and the shard began to glow with a bright red luster. As the glow intensified, Qin Ye added, ¡°The old Hell has copsed, and we¡¯re in the process of reestablishing a whole new order of Hell. This is tantamount to rebuilding a whole new realm altogether. The amount of work to be done is far greater than you could possibly fathom. As the iing lord of Hell, the thing I need most right now is manpower. You¡¯ve lucked out.¡±

    This was his realm. And he was the god of the realm. Gods didn¡¯t need advisors. And he had to learn how best to be god.

    Whoosh¡­ Beams of light swept past his eyes. Despite having braced himself for the worst, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but curse under his breath when he opened his eyes again, ¡°Holy shit!!¡±

    Ghosts were everywhere!

    ¡°How could so many Yin spirits have arrived in the span of a single week¡­¡± He took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

    He slowly made his way towards Hell¡¯s Gate, observing his surroundings along the way. Thest altercation in Hell had taught him an invaluable lesson. The disappearance of the six paths of reincarnation meant that all Yin spirits in Hell retained their spiritual awareness and the memories of their past life. In other words, Hell, as it stood right now, was a miniature version of society. The Yin spirits before him were not mere puppets tied up by their own strings.

    Countless Yin spirits surrounded Hell¡¯s Gate, kept out only by the film of light. Some were sitting around, some were chatting with others, while some were¡­ even ying cards?

    ¡°My lord, their emotions are incrediblyplicated.¡± Having noticed Qin Ye sizing up the multitude of Yin spirits, Su Dongxue chimed in with her own observations.

    ¡°Yes, my lord. Observational skills are crucial in ces like the strip club. In order to spot which guests might be interested in us, we would have to be able to assess and understand their state of mind through their micro-expressions and behaviourism. This is the first lesson that all of us go through.¡± Su Dongxue did her best to leave a good impression with Qin Ye, ¡°A long sigh represents sadness. They don¡¯t know what¡¯s next in store for them, and the road ahead is bleak and uncertain.¡±

    ¡°A furrowed brow represents apprehensiveness. They specte about change, and they expect change to ur, but they also fear change. That said¡­¡± She smiled faintly and leaned closer to Qin Ye, ¡°The mostmon expression I¡¯ve seen around here are those who furrow their brows from time to time, and even pace back and forth subconsciously¡­ My lord, why are you giving me that look?¡±

    She was perfect for the role of a Death Inquisitor. Besides, she even had the ability of mimicry.

    Su Dongxue nodded timidly and continued with a soft voice, ¡°Yin spirits with vaciting expressions make up the vast majority. I can tell¡­ that they are anxious.¡±

    It was a defensive posture of false bravado.

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a week, and the Yin spirits here already feel lost and listless. Yet they only know to put on a front to conceal the fear in their hearts¡­¡± He murmured softly, ¡°Su Dongxue, your role here is to¡­ Where¡¯s she?!¡±

    Just a short distance away, Su Dongxue had already plonked herself atop the body of what appeared to be a college student. The young man had thick eyebrows andrge eyes, and he was approximately 1.8 meters tall. With a sharp glint in his eyes, he stared helplessly at Su Dongxue as she sat on hisp.

    Qin Ye stood just beside her and smiled, ¡°Have you already forgotten my earlier word of caution?¡±

    I¡¯m being jealous?!

    Su Dongxue nodded obsequiously. Qin Ye turned around to leave. She nced longingly at the college student, and then quickly caught up to Qin Ye. Yet before Qin Ye could even take two steps forward, a voice suddenly called out from behind hurriedly, ¡°Brother, hold on. Don¡¯t go over there.¡±

    The college student quickly caught up to him and patted him lightly on the shoulder. Then, just as he was about to drag him back, he suddenly froze in his feet.

    Warm¡­

    No¡­ this isn¡¯t a ghost at all¡­ this is¡­

    Gagging the college student was the best course of action right now.

    Instant petrification.

    The college student¡¯s eyes widened immediately. After being stunned for three whole seconds, he suddenly jolted back to his senses and tried to push Su Dongxue away. But Su Dongxue was like sticky toffee that stuck stubbornly to the student¡¯s lips.

    Qin Ye was silent.

    That said¡­ the quality of Emissaries under mymand is quite worrisome¡­

    ¡°Ungh¡­ hoogh¡­¡± However, Su Dongxue had pressed her lips tightly against his, and their tongues were inextricably intertwined. His expressions vacited between intense pleasure and abject fear. After several moments of struggle the student¡¯s body appeared somewhat limp and weak.

    My lord isn¡¯t fun at all¡­

    You¡¯re quite good-looking. Why can¡¯t you just let me suck some Yang energy from your body...

 Chapter 126: Hell Rises Again

    <h4>Chapter 126: Hell Rises Again</h4>

    He knew full well that no matter what image he had in the mortal realm, he could only afford to proliferate one image here.

    Strictly impartial and incorruptible.

    It was the end of all sin, and the beginning of new life.

    As the ruler of one of the three realms of the world, Qin Ye knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to give others an impression of capriciousness. He was the god of this realm, and gods didn¡¯t need emotions.

    It wasn¡¯t clear whether this was from fear, or anxiety, or simply because he was lost in reverie.

    ¡°S-s-s-s-s-s-sir¡­¡± His voice quaked uncontrobly, while his legs grew weak and numb, ¡°I-I-I-I-I¡­¡±

    As soon as he heard this, the college student¡¯s legs immediately crumbled to the ground, and his eyes rolled back. If ghosts could faint, he would most certainly have done so already.

    He remainedpletely conscious.

    ¡°S-s-s-sir¡­¡± It took him several deep breaths before he was finally able to gather himself and stand on his own. With gritted teeth, he eximed, ¡°You can¡¯t go there!¡±

    Qin Ye followed the direction of the student¡¯s finger, and he immediately squinted his eyes.

    Their leader was a tall burly man who was covered from top to toe in bulging muscles. He had a menacing look on his face, and he was dressed in prison uniforms. There were four others standing around him who were dressed in the same manner as well. All of them were bald. One could easily tell with a single nce that they meant no goodwill at all. Moreover, there was a gathering of approximately one hundred others standing just around them. Some appeared like rebellious teenagers, some appeared to be unemployed vagrants, while others were simply expressionless, able-bodied young men.

    ¡°Coming to Hell dressed in prison garbs¡­ Is he a death row prisoner?¡± Qin Ye chuckled contemptuously as he muttered.

    A chilling gaze flickered across the depths of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. The fact that these men had been sentenced to death didn¡¯t mean much in and of itself. That said, the underlying implication of their presence undoubtedly pointed to the possible arrival of more! In other words, the absence of the six paths of reincarnation and Eighteen Abysses of Punishment was a massive variable and potential source of strife!

    ¡°Tell me more.¡± Qin Ye probed further.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that¡­ their methods are incredibly ruthless. Breaking an arm and a leg was all in a day¡¯s work. You can even say that they¡¯re like a scourge that had spread from the surrounding viges into the heart of the city center. My ssmates from high school have all heard of the Gao Gang. Back then, we would always im that we know a certain so-and-so from the Gao Gang, almost as though it were an awesome thing. Almost like Crows Zero. In hindsight, we were truly foolish and immature.¡±

    He nced at the college student, ¡°Work hard. And let me know if you wish to follow her.¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­ can I follow you instead?¡±

    ¡°About that¡­¡± The college student added somewhat sheepishly, ¡°I¡¯m already dead¡­¡±

    But do we really know each other that well?

    Qin Ye: ¡°?!!¡±

    Su Dongxue¡¯s smile instantly froze. Secondster, she muttered coldly, ¡°No more.¡±

    Su Dongxue ground her teeth and turned around, ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m afraid of failing to seduce him¡­¡±

    He was here today to disy his authority.

    Those who were leaning on the trees immediately straightened up, while those who were originally seated on the ground stood up. The previously drowsy-looking Yin spirits suddenly perked up their spirits.

    ¡°Hold it.¡± Just as he passed through the outer circle and stepped into the empty space between the gathering of followers and the leaders of the Gao Gang, a skinny man who was flipping a shiv in his hands nced at Qin Ye and remarked, ¡°Brother, where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    ¡°This official has arrived a littlete.¡± Qin Ye casually held his hands behind his back and surveyed his surroundings, ¡°I would never have expected so many ghosts to arrive in just a single week, especially given how the entrance to this ce ispletely hidden from the eyes of mere mortals.¡±

    The big burly man right at the front of Hell¡¯s Gate immediately stood up when he heard themotion. But as soon as he noticed that Qin Ye was alone, and he looked to be only in histe teens, his expressions immediately turned from intense shock toplete calmness.

    Qin Ye smiled faintly and nodded.

    Qin Ye still had the same faint smile on his face when he ignored the burly man and turned around. Then, his smile faded away as he swept his gaze at the people around him. Following that, his voice boomed authoritatively.

    Buzz!!

    "T-this is¡­" An old man holding a walking stick stared at Qin Ye''s figure with his mouth agape. His entire body trembled profusely, "Have the enforcers of Hell arrived?"

    "They''re here¡­ they''re finally here!" "Is that him? But he looks no different from the students in the mortal realm¡­" "T-this is an Emissary of Hell? Will¡­ will there really be the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment here?"

    This was a massive ce after all. How could he possibly doubt Qin Ye''s authority if he could cause his voice to fill every corner of the massive realm?

    It had finally dawned on the Yin spirits that each and every single one of them were dead.

    Qin Ye held up a finger, ¡°I am thew of thends. I¡¯m the one in control of everything here. All you need to do is to act in ordance with my instructions. Don¡¯t worry. Hell will only get better and better, and everyone who participates in the rebuilding of Hell shall be looked upon with favour in your future reincarnation.¡±

    A question was asked, yet everyone waspletely silent.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Just then, Tiger Gao¡¯s voice rang out again. He looked at Qin Ye with a pretentious smile, ¡°Esteemed sir, the Gao Gang has already done a lot for you before your arrival.¡±

    Su Dongxue took a step back discreetly.

    ¡°For instance¡­¡± Tiger Gao whistled. Instantly, many people stood up from among the crowd of Yin spirits. One hundred, two hundred¡­ in the end approximately three to four hundred people stood up in response to his call!

    It was as though an invisible force were bearing down at him from all directions.

    ¡°Is this a threat?¡± Qin Ye asked cidly.

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at him. This was a hellish, overbearing approach.

    They were forcing Hell to take a stand!

    1. An action film based on the Crows manga.

 Chapter 127: Making an Example

    <h4>Chapter 127: Making an Example</h4>

    The four men in prison garbs immediately motioned to leave, but a menacing re from Tiger Gao immediately made them freeze where they were.

    And one who was still wearing a down jacket and jeans?

    Three men were squaring off against a faction of hundreds. The entire scene seemedpletely calm and still, yet it was no different from the ocean¡¯s calm before a torrential storm. The silence was oppressive, and the stillness was suffocating.

    Yet, nobody backed down.

    ¡°Two.¡±

    Tens of thousands watched the sight with bated breaths.

    ¡°A mere Yin spirit dares to bite back at an Emissary of Hell?!¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, a powerful wave of Yin energy erupted from his body. An immense vortex of Yin energy soared in an instant, and a pair of terrifying eyes silently opened up amidst the chaos, ¡°Today, I¡¯ll show everyone what exactly thews of Hell entail!¡±

    The seemingly harmless rabbit had finally torn off its disguise to reveal its unfathomably sharp fangs.

    Dong! As Qin Ye mmed his demonhead saber into the ground, a tyrannicalhergale immediately burst forth. Tiger Gao was standing right in front of him when all of this happened. His pupils contracted immediately, and he was instantly sent flying dozens of meters, mmed into a wall behind with a loud bang, and copsed to the ground with a look of astonishment written all over his face.

    After three seconds ofplete stupefaction, everyone suddenly scrambled to retreat as far as they could!

    Emissary of Hell!

    "Cough¡­ cough cough cough!¡± Tiger Gao stared at Qin Ye with disbelief as he mbered to his feet while clutching his chest. His mind was in aplete mess right now.

    What is this¡­

    This isn¡¯t even to the tune of a harmless white rabbit transforming into a fierce tiger anymore. It was an innocent white rabbit transforming into a terrifying tyrannosaurus rex!

    ¡°My lord!!¡± The feeling of overwhelming terror had caused goosebumps to creep all over his skin, and he kowtowed to Qin Ye right in front of thousands of Yin spirits. He could no longer care about his image, ¡°Earlier¡­ earlier¡­¡±

    There was hardly any trace of emotions in Qin Ye¡¯s voice - neither excitement, nor ferocity. Yet, it still made the five bald men in prison garbs tremble violently in their shoes.

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± If spirits could sweat, Tiger Gao would already have been drenched in it. He bit down hard on his lips and muttered hoarsely, ¡°No¡­ I¡­ just¡­ earlier¡­¡±

    Nobody saw exactly what Qin Ye had done.

    A violent wind battered against all of the Yin spirits who were watching in horror, causing their bodies to quake in fear. Tiger Gao and his group of followers hadpletely vanished from the surface of Hell.

    It was far too terrifying¡­

    Hundreds of people had been massacred without mercy at all!

    A single sh was all it took to reduce Tiger Gao and his following of men into scattering ash and clumps of green soulfire that drifted into Hell¡¯s Gate. In an instant, the green glow from the pce hall burgeoned, escting the already eerie ambience of the surroundings.

    Awe.

    Even though their hands and feet were trembling and quivering uncontrobly, all of them still held their hands tightly over their lips. Nobody dared to make a single peep of sound right now. Their pupils constricted as they stared at the dark silhouette that stood imposingly over the now-deste space. The barrier of light with flowing golden words shone brilliantly behind him, while an eerie silence filled the realm around him. In the wake of the altercation that hade and gone as suddenly as it had arisen, Qin Ye rose victorious like a god that had just descended upon the realms.

    He swept his gaze across the audience like a threatening bolt of lightning. Nobody dared to lock eyes with him, and everyone immediately lowered their heads.

    ¡°Number two - evildoers and wrongdoers of the mortal realm will not be punished for the time being. Simrly, those who had performed meritorious deeds during their term in the mortal realm will have their repayment deferred.¡±

    ¡°Good and evil must all be duly repaid, and the wheels of reincarnation must turn again! This is the core function of Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice boomed like thunder, and several Yin spirits raised their heads discreetly.

    Hath Hell spared any since ages past?

    This was a yardstick of sorts.

    It seems like¡­ this Emissary of Hell isn¡¯t as scary as we¡¯d thought he would be¡­

    ¡°Those who havemitted crimes and misdeeds shall be precluded from project management roles. As soon as I retrieve the Book of Life and Death, I¡¯ll set off your contributions to Hell¡¯s reconstruction efforts against themensurate level of crimesmitted. As for everyone else, this poses an opportunity for you to rue meritorious deeds. I promise you this - the six paths of reincarnation will be reestablished one day. To the good, the ordinary, and the non-defaulters, I guarantee you a good path of reincarnation in your next life.¡±

    Everyone had initially cocked their ears and listened because of the fear and trembling from Qin Ye¡¯s awe-inspiring disy. But now, everyone was listening intently and savouring the words which he spoke.

    If one desired to live well in Hell, he would first have to understand what made the ruler of this ce tick. Was he an eagle, or was he a dove?

    Although he had never held a managerial position before, he still knew the most basic principles of management - one could not afford to be high-handed all the time. His decades of life experience hadn¡¯t beenpletely in vain.

    No one responded immediately.

    ¡°Here.¡± ¡°I¡¯d served in the 2nd artillery brigade in my life.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve served in a naval division before I died¡­¡±

    He trusted military men the most.

    As the Yin spirits who had fallen out made their way over, Qin Ye continued, ¡°Now, I want those who have worked in the construction industry and the legal industry to step out.¡±

    ¡°My lord, I used to serve in the Insignia Province Intermediate People¡¯s Court.¡± ¡°My lord, I was awyer operating out of a private firm. My firm is located on Northriver Road, and it¡¯s called the Zhou Family Law Practice. You can verify it. I rejected a badwsuit, and my car ran into an ident soon after.¡± ¡°My lord, I was an officer in the evidence collection department when I got into an ident. You can check my workce registration in the mortal realm¡­¡±

    Just like that, Qin Ye sorted through his manpower, before finally turning around and cing his hand on the barrier of light.

    The majestic Hell¡¯s Gate appeared right in front of his eyes.

    As he slowly walked towards Hell¡¯s Gate, his heartbeat also elerated. He forced himself to calm down.

    But, so what?

    There were a multitude of things to be done¡­ but that also meant that there were a multitude of options right now!

    The military men, the construction division and the legal division - these were the people he needed most right now. And now that there was sufficient manpower, the great reconstruction works of Hell could finallymence!

    1. The courts in China are called the People¡¯s Court, and they¡¯re broken down to four tiers, namely Supreme, High, Intermediate and Basic.

 Chapter 128: An Army Marches on Its Stomach

    <h4>Chapter 128: An Army Marches on Its Stomach</h4>

    A line of well over a hundred people stood in front of the main pce hall. The words ¡°Hell¡¯s Gate¡± were written in sprawling, majestic calligraphy across the board hanging overhead, almost as though it were an incorruptible, all-seeing eye.

    The couplets to the side were like a formal deration that this was the one and only true arbiter of fairness!

    Each and every heinous crime and evil deed would have to be ounted for and answered in full.

    "This is Hell¡¯s Gate. All Yin spirits entering Hell must first pass through this ce.¡± Qin Ye looked at the signboard hanging overhead, ¡°Other than this ce, there¡¯s nothing in Hell right now. Everything¡­ will be rebuilt from scratch by our own two hands.¡±

    ¡°Our efforts will birth a province, a kingdom, and perhaps even an entire realm.¡±

    He turned around and looked at everyone before him, ¡°We are the founders of the new Hell.¡±

    ¡°Su Dongxue.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Su Dongxue knew that Qin Ye wouldn¡¯t hesitate to destroy her if she misbehaved right now. She half-knelt in front of the pce hall and responded politely.

    Qin Ye was just about to speak up when he suddenly furrowed his brows.

    How should I make these arrangements?

    These seats over here¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard a detailed exnation of what they are.

    ¡°There are three different-coloured chairs over here.¡± Just then, a cool voice rang out from the back of the pce halls, ¡°ck, white and red.¡±

    Arthis?

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows in astonishment. Within moments, he saw Arthis slowly walking to the front of the pce hall in her true form.

    She had a gorgeous face and silky ck hair. She was clothed in a colourful satin robe, and she held out a red paper umbre over her head. Her striking scarlet tongue hung from her lips to the ground. Everyone immediately gasped at the sight of Arthis.

    Scary¡­

    They could tell that this monstrousdy was an existence far more dreadful than the Emissary of Hell standing before them!

    Fortunate¡­ it¡¯s so fortunate that we weren¡¯t hot-headed enough to follow those idiots in their feeble attempts at a revolution. This monster¡­ definitely has the ability to obliterate every single one of us here!

    Arthis nced at Qin Ye, ¡°I was around when you first inaugurated Hell, so I naturally have been bestowed with some authority over this ce as well. Basic ess to Hell¡¯s Gate isn¡¯t an issue to me.¡±

    She exined the seats to everyone around, ¡°There are 280 ck seats, ted for probationary Emissaries of Hell; 18 white seats for fully-fledged Emissaries of Hell; as well as 2 red seats for the people in charge - one for the head, and one for the deputy.¡±

    ¡°Those assigned to ck and white seats don¡¯t really matter. What truly matters is that you entrust the red seats only to those whom you trust wholeheartedly. Those entrusted with the red seats would naturally be granted first ss authority over Hell¡¯s Gate. As to the specific arrangements for now, I¡¯ll leave it entirely up to your discretion.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. After several moments of deliberation, he turned to Su Dongxue and formally addressed her, ¡°You¡¯ll take the white seat for now. Process the census of those who have served in the uniformed forces, as well as those in the legal industry. Those who have no criminal records to their name shall be appointed to the ck seats. When I¡¯m not around, you¡¯ll be the one temporarily in charge of all matters here.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qin Ye turned around and looked at the rest of the crowd, ¡°Search your hearts and conceal nothing, for the gods know the deepest, darkest parts of your heart. Let this be a final warning to you to take caution when you register with the census. Those who act in defiance of these warnings best pray that I never locate the book of Life and Death. Otherwise¡­¡±

    Qin Ye deliberately left his sentence hanging. Then, as the crowd remainedpletely silent, he stood between the pair of couplets and bowed deeply to the towering incense burner at the entrance of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    ¡°I formally dere--...¡±

    ¡°That the Registration Division to the entrance of the second order of Hell located at the City of Salvation, Insignia Province, is hereby inaugurated! The construction works of the new Hell shall officiallymence in January!¡±

    ¡°All members of the construction industry are to meet in the pce hall in half an hour for a meeting.¡±

    After saying these things, he walked to the back of the pce hall so that he could have a private discussion with Arthis.

    He entered the pce halls directly from Hell¡¯s Gate. The floors were dark coloured, and towering scarlet columns rose majestically from the ground to hold up the roof of the pce hall. Both sides of the hall were filled with innumerable statues of asuras and rakshasas with a myriad of ancient oilmps on them. There were approximately ten sculptures that stood approximately ten meters tall, and even the smallest folds and creases on the carving of their robes were lined with oilmps. There were practically thousands of thesemps.

    None of themps were lit when the second order of Hell was first established. But now, almost a thousand of them were lit with burning green soulfires. The eerie glow of the light caused the menacing statues to look even more fearsome than they already were.

    That said, Qin Ye discovered something amiss almost immediately.

    The pce hall was originally empty and bare. But right now, there was a new gargantuan sculpture that stood at the door, blocking the entrance. It was like a screen. Innumerable prayer mats were ced neatly on the floor in concentric circles radiating from the statue, and one could only get to the back of the pce hall after circling around this massive obstruction.

    The stone sculpture was simrly approximately ten meters tall. The image was that of a man clothed in a Buddhist robe, holding a zen staff in his hands. The zen staff was covered in oilmps, yet not a single one of themps were lit at all.

    The man had a kind appearance and a twinkle in his eyes. It was merely a sculpture, yet a boundless aura of benevolence radiated gloriously from it. There was a carving of a beast just under the man¡¯s foot. This beast had a dragon¡¯s body, a tiger¡¯s head, a dog¡¯s ears, a lion¡¯s tail, and the feet of a Qilin beast¡­

    The Harken!

    ¡°Is this¡­ an image of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?¡± Qin Ye eximed in shock, ¡°Why would it appear here?¡±

    Arthis responded calmly, ¡°What¡¯s there to be surprised at? Haven¡¯t you yed the Heroes of Might and Magic? Hell¡¯s Gate is the city hall that you start the game with, and you¡¯ll have to slowly build everything else you need, little by little. There¡¯s also plenty of room for the growth of the city hall. After all, you¡¯ve only got one shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and you don¡¯t even have the Yellow Springs at your disposal right now. Even though you¡¯ve managed to seize and secure the wealth of Yin energy from Lord Harken, the amount seized is still a far cry from what this ce needs.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ¡°In other words, I¡¯ll have to slowly work my way to the end goal, bit by bit?¡±

    ¡°The limit has got to do with Hell¡¯s Gate as well.¡± Arthis supplemented her earlier exnation, ¡°Hell will see its next massive expansion in approximately three years¡¯ time, so you¡¯ll have to establish this Fengdu vige of yours in these three years. Otherwise¡­ you¡¯ll have your hands tied up as soon as a county¡¯s worth of Yin spiritse pouring into Hell. Do you have any ideas for now?¡±

    Arthis was clearly one who was adept at killing, yetpletely inept when it came to matters of construction and expansion.

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. Some momentster, he sighed wistfully.

    It was only when he got down to the nitty-gritty details that he realized how tall an order this truly was.

    Fortunately, he lived in an era of information society. Thus, he began to search through posts on how to build cities, and even tested out games with a hope of finding some inspiration. Unfortunately, the more he looked, the more confused he became.

    Would he need to establish a system of fiat currency?

    Promulgate truemunism? Not even the Fengdu Necropolis could achieve that!

    And would he need to set up a system of bureaucracy?

    But that would be predicated on the system of currency. Without currency, there¡¯s no benefit, so how could he possibly motivate people to work for free?

    Establish an oppressive regime?

    That¡¯s a possibility, but it would invariably lead to riots and revolutions. There aren¡¯t too many Yin spirits in Hell right now, but who was to discount such a possibility when their numbers start to grow in future? Would he have to cut them down all by myself? And what happens after he cuts down all of the Yin spirits around?

    And what if he didn¡¯t set up a bureaucracy instead?

    That would be even worse. Qin Ye would be buried under the sheer amount of work that needed to be done - even if Hell were merely a vige.

    And there were still considerations of developing a construction industry, an entertainment industry,munities of ghosts¡­ the list was endless, and he absolutely had no idea where to start!

    ¡°You should pay close attention to the news.¡± Arthis remarked. She could also feel the onset of a splitting headache, ¡°If you notice the passing of any fellows of research institutions or prominent scientific establishments, you must personally make the trip down to escort their souls to Hell. The souls of such highly talented people are incredibly precious. And there¡¯s also the top management of the massive conglomerates around¡­ why don¡¯t¡­ you find a way to help a provincial governor somewhere make a few hundred million RMB? Then, as soon as he¡¯s gunned down, you could hurry on over and escort his soul to Hell?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s a very dangerous idea of yours¡­ It goes against the core values of socialism¡­ but I do admire you foring up with such an idea¡­¡± Qin Ye paid lip service to Arthis as he dismissed her suggestion.

    Silence.

    Secondster, Qin Ye finally sighed again, ¡°Let¡¯s take things one step at a time. We¡¯re both newly appointed officials of the new order of Hell, and neither of us knows a single thing about the instations required for building a city from scratch. Even if we wanted to make a n, we wouldn¡¯t know where to start. I n to set up somemunity facilities for starters. We¡¯ve got to pacify the Yin spirits around with some concrete results after all. We might be able to fool them with an idea and a vision for a year, but what about two years? Three years?¡±

    ¡°On the other hand, given how things are developing in Cathay, the promise of proper housing might well be the best motivating force driving the workforce¡­ We¡¯ve gotnd at our disposal anyway.¡±

    The Yin spirits out there were unaware of the hellish state of finances in any event.

    It was an understatement to say that their treasury was as bare as the four walls around it.

    Arthis grew silent for several moments, and then stood up in discontentment, ¡°What a bother. Forget it. I¡¯m not thinking about these things anymore. Here, this is for you.¡±

    She tossed over a bundle of talismans bound together by several rubber bands. Qin Ye caught it and stared at it with a puzzled look on his face, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Hell doesn¡¯t have any construction materials, so you¡¯ll have to purchase everything from the mortal realm. Store them in a container, paste a talisman on it, and incinerate them. They will arrive in Hell in a split second that way.¡±

    Qin Ye almost broke down in tears, ¡°So I¡¯ll need money for containers, and money to rent the incineration nt as well¡­ Do you think there will be a demand if I put myself up for hire out there? I hear that menmand a better price than women these days.¡±

    Rumble¡­ A peal of thunder suddenly rocked the realm. Qin Ye sighed. Several secondster, he suddenly remarked, ¡°It¡¯s raining?¡±

    Arthis stood up and slowly walked towards the back of Ksitigarbha¡¯s sculpture. Qin Ye followed closely behind.

    There was a massive ten-meter tall gate just behind the sculpture. Here, they were able to see the skies in Hell. shes of red lightning snaked across the sky amidst the rolling ck clouds. Within the minute, it began to pour.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ it rains in Hell as well.¡± Arthis stared at the sky and murmured, ¡°Hell is one of the three realms of this world. Heaven, Hell and the mortal realm. Since it¡¯s a realm of its own, it naturally is subject to its own system of climates, whether rain, wind, hail or earthquakes. Even avnches and tsunamis are not out of the picture. I do recall the old Hell apportioning some budget to the tune of hundreds of millions for the purposes of ¡®disaster repairs¡¯.¡±

    She turned around and gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Kid, you¡¯ve got an entire realm in your hands. You dictate the direction of its growth. Whether it rises or falls, prospers or gets forsaken, is entirely dependent on the ability of the one in charge. The order of good and evil in the mortal realm is entirely in your hands right now.¡±

    Arthis vanished as soon as she finished speaking.

    ¡°... Wait¡­ just wait right there! What do you mean it¡¯s entirely in my hands?! Aren¡¯t you going to lend me a hand either?! You¡¯re the Infernal Judge here after all!!¡±

    His voice reverberated coldly through the back of the pce hall, yet Arthis had ostensibly turned a deaf ear to his queries. A few secondster, she quickly supplemented, ¡°That¡¯s right, Su Dongxue is already considered an official Emissary of Hell now. Do remember to officially register her by writing her name within Hell¡¯s Records. That way, she would be extended the opportunity for merits and promotions, and she would simrly be granted the approbation of Hell. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t be able to tap on any of thetent powers of Hell, and if any rebellion or strife takes ce in your absence, the consequences would be unimaginable.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that, there are also ten red-coloured talismans in that stack of talismans. Feel free to burn them if you need to contact me¡­ But do avoid 8 a.m. - 11.30 a.m., 3 p.m. - 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. I¡¯ll be catching up on my dramas and serials then.¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ how could you abandon me like that.¡± Qin Ye plucked a flower from the ground in displeasure. It was one of the ck flowers that had been growing around the Harken in Limbo. As he shook it casually in his hand, his voice boomed like thunder, ¡°Yin spirits who have worked in the construction industry, gather in the back hall of the pce. The meeting is about to begin!¡±

    The Yin spirits gathered outside immediately moved towards the back hall. Qin Ye put his arm out, and a few drops of rain fell onto his hand. The rainwater here was cold and biting. If he felt this ufortable, how much more difort would other Yin spirits feel under such rain?

    The weather conditions in Hell would most certainly increase the ¡°dissatisfaction meter¡± of the ghostly citizens. Clothing, food and shelter are basic human necessities. Clothing and food were out of the picture for ghosts. Since that was the case, the issue of shelter was naturally the most pressing issue of the list.

    Qin Ye was like a tiger attempting to swallow the sky - he simply didn¡¯t know where to begin. But since that was the case, he may as well start by securing the hearts of the ghostly citizens as he struggled toe up with a proper n!

 Chapter 129: First Summit of Hellâ€™s Construction Industry (1)

    <h4>Chapter 129: First Summit of Hell''s Construction Industry (1)</h4>

    One thousand Yin spirits from the construction industry arrived in the pce¡¯s back hall in no time. They trembled in silence as they nced about at the terrifying and imposing statues lining both sides of the hall. Qin Ye surveyed the throng of Yin spirits. A good number of them were drenched to the skin, and the Yin energy emanating from their respective beings were all ostensibly weakened.

    They weren¡¯t humans, but they were still living creatures. Few, if any, living creatures enjoyed the feeling of getting drenched like that.

    ¡°The new Hell has just been inaugurated, so we¡¯re a little tight on finances and manpower. Please bear with it for now.¡± He muttered casually, ¡°This pce is none other than Hell¡¯s Gate, and it upies a vast area. This is the main hall, and there are annex halls on both sides as well. As a show of good faith and sincerity, we shall adjourn to the annex hall for our meeting.¡±

    After all, sitting on prayer mats around the feet of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva as they were having their meeting felt somewhat kitschy.

    He had scouted out the annex halls earlier. The facilities there were simple, but decent. Most importantly¡­ it resembled a massive conference room, and there were sufficient chairs and tables to go around¡­

    Nobody said a word in objection. The memory of Tiger Gao¡¯s death was still fresh in their minds. Just like that, a thousand Yin spirits followed Qin Ye¡¯s lead and made their way to the entrance to the annex hall. Qin Ye looked around, ¡°We¡¯ve got a tad too many. Those with more than three years of experience with clerical work, please raise your hands.¡±

    Dozens of hands went up in the air instantly.

    ¡°You, you, and you¡­¡± Qin Ye pointed at a few Yin spirits, ¡°I want you to be our record keepers for this meeting.¡±

    ¡°Now, department managers, department heads, and anyone else who have held such positions or higher, please fall out.¡±

    There was a far smaller response this time - only seven hands were in the air.

    That¡¯s about right¡­ Qin Ye was satisfied. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Hell was norger than a vige right now. There was no reason for it to be tossed about like a hotcake.

    ¡°Good. Those who have just been called upon, follow me.¡± Qin Ye pushed on the door and walked into the annex hall proper. The rest who had been called followed suit.

    This was the left annex hall. It was huge, and the hall sat on a plot ofnd which was approximately the size of a football field. The facilities were simple and bare. There was only a fifty meter round table ced in the center of the room, as well as a mountain of chairs stacked up to the side.

    There were no ancient tables, reclining chairs or evenndscape paintings. Ah, there were several hundred pcemps floating about overhead. Unfortunately, none of them had candles on them.

    ¡°It¡¯s slightly unpresentable. Please bear with it.¡± Qin Ye felt his face burn up with embarrassment. Isn¡¯t it an understatement to call it ¡®slightly unpresentable¡¯... this is no different from a massive slum!

    The image of a first industry summit chaired by a Yama-King should have been more like the following--

    First, the chairperson would grab hold of the gilded ring of the beast head door knocker. Then, he would push open the massive golden door with vermillioncquer, revealing a number of beautiful Yin spirits within, all of whom were waiting patiently to serve each of them. There would be a wide variety of them, including the ones with a beautiful smile, ice queens, as well as the sweet girls-next-door.

    All of them would be dressed in either gorgeous long-sleeved ancient garments made with fine silk, or alluring cheongsams that entuated their curves.

    Each of them would gracefully serve up a fragrant pot of exquisite tea and a beautifully-arranged fruit tter. A grand portrait of Qin Ye would be ced in the middle of the main podium, nked only by a red-star g on one side, and a g bearing Hell¡¯s unique insignia on the other. A row of darkcquered tables would radiate outwards from the podium in concentric circles, and the tiered public gallery would be located just beyond that.

    As they took the stage, the elite Yin spirits of these industries would be on their feet, giving them an uproarious apuse as paper money scattered everywhere like confetti¡­ Eh¡­ why has this image be more and more like a mourning hall? Has my aesthetics been swayed by what I¡¯ve seentely?

    Regardless, what should have been was a far cry from what reality truly was. At the very least, it shouldn¡¯t have been this silent, gloomy and tragic.

    Oh.

    And there wasn¡¯t even tea avable for anyone.

    ¡°Have a seat.¡± He forced himself to remain spirited, and maintained a contrived smile on his face as he gesticted for everyone to take a seat.

    If he revealed his decrepit spirits right now, would any of the Yin spirits feel any confidence in the prospects of rebuilding Hell?

    As the Yin spirits in the room began to settle down into their seats. Qin Ye nced around at them. Most of them were middle-aged men, and only one of the participants could be considered an elderly. Qin Ye cleared his throat, ¡°I dere that the first summit of Hell¡¯s construction industrymences now!¡±

    There was a soft rustling sound as five scribes scribbled down the minutes of meeting.

    Silence.

    A sparse apuse ensued. However, it was evident that even the apuse was somewhat contrived.

    No matter what kind of grandiose terms he used, nothing could conceal the reality of their poverty.

    Qin Ye was determined not to let these things bog him down. The meeting had to go on. Where the development of a city was concerned, the most important things were infrastructure and medical facilities. But given that medical facilities were not an issue to ghosts at all, the primary goal here was to prioritize infrastructure! He smiled at everyone, ¡°Gentlemen, please introduce yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord.¡± A man with a chiseled face rose from his seat and nodded at everyone around the table, ¡°Radius Real Estate Group, Mount Tai City branch. My name is Sun Anshan, and I¡¯m the general manager of the Radius za project. I identally fell to my death in a freak ident while doing my inspections. Colleagues, I look forward to the exchange of ideas.¡±

    Everyone looked at him as soon as he began speaking. Qin Ye was no exception to this as well.

    Radius Real Estate Group¡­ was a prominent name.

    The Soaring Dragon Developers were the top dogs in the industry within the province. That said, even thendmark building in the provincial capital, Mount Tai City, didn¡¯t bear the mark of the Soaring Dragon Developers - it bore the mark of the Radius Real Estate Group.

    It was none other than the Radius za.

    In fact, there were several Radius zas constructed within every provincial capital and city in the region. These Radius zas were ces synonymous with entertainment, food, consumer goods and leisure. These zas eventually became a ubiquitously known brand name. Riding on the coattails of these zas of theirs, the Radius Real Estate Group surged to fame and became one of the top three real estate groups in Cathay!

    Anyone who was put in charge of the Radius za project in Mount Tai City couldn¡¯t possibly be an average man on the street.

    As soon as he sat down, another middle-aged man stood up and introduced himself, ¡°Soaring Dragon Developers, the fourth general manager of the Soaring Sky Street, Qian Tianyi.¡±

    ¡°Merck¡¯s Developers. You might not have heard of us before. We¡¯re definitely not anywhere near as prominent as the two gentlemen before me. We mainly focus on developments in third and fourth tier cities. I¡¯m the project general manager of Merck¡¯s Tesseract, the most upscale development in Honour City, Insignia Province.¡±

    ¡°Smooth Sailing Construction. General manager of the Clearstill Lake park project in Mount Tai City, Hu Feng.¡±

    Qin Ye eyes lit up once again. Smooth Sailing Construction was among the top dogs of Cathay¡¯s construction industry. But their expertise wasn¡¯t in properties. Rather, ity in infrastructure!

    There was a saying in the construction industry that the three cornerstones of the construction industry are gold bridges, silver roads and copper houses.

    Do you think that construction of properties was the most profitable?

    Wrong. This perception had only arisen because the public could only understand and rte to the prices of properties. As soon as one looked deeper into the profit margins of bridge construction and infrastructural projects, the profits margin of property construction projects would immediately beparatively insignificant. Furthermore, property construction projects were always subject to the risks of marketability, whereas bridges and roads were all governmental projects!

    And it wasn¡¯t just the profits that were set in stone - even the namete of the few trusted governmental partners were as well!

    ¡°Clearstill Lake, the most scenic location in Mount Tai City - one of the topndmarks developed in partnership with the government. Yet Mr Hu looks to be only in his early forties. Promising.¡± Qin Ye remarked with a smile, loosening the somewhat tense atmosphere.

    His casual remark caused everyone to loosen their breaths, and the rest of the introductions continued in a much more lighthearted manner. Everyone was less deadpan than before.

    ¡°Ah Property Developers, a smallpany. My name is Zhao Guangliang, and I¡¯m honoured to have been appointed as the project general manager of single property development. I¡¯m a small frypared with you guys.¡± ¡°rion Cathay Construction and Engineering, Song Ming. I¡¯m in charge of the construction equipment department, and we¡¯re considered a downstreampany in rtion to the construction industry. Pleased to meet you.¡± ¡°zing Maple Group. We provide after-sales services as well as source for pre-sale investments. My name is Li Chuanyi.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded slightly after the round of introductions.

    Not bad. Their expertise covers the full spectrum of works.

    He deliberated for some moments before speaking again, ¡°Everyone, we¡¯re basically trying to build everything from the ground up again. I¡¯ve already instructed some Yin spirits to level the ground. Please let me know if you¡¯ve got any thoughts on these matters. It would be good to discuss any issues openly.¡±

    ¡°Equipment.¡± All of them were desperately trying to leave a good impression with the person in charge of Hell. None of them would remain under the radar at a time like this. Hu Feng immediately borated, ¡°Without equipment, it¡¯s simply impossible to level the ground with mere manpower. Even if you could somewhat level the ground, you still wouldn¡¯t be able toy the foundation. Furthermore,mencing the construction works without the aid of any of the modern day equipment is simply a herculean task.¡±

    He looked at Qin Ye sincerely and continued, ¡°It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t find people who know the workings of ancient architecture. The question is more of how many of such people we can find? One in a hundred thousand? One in a million? And would they know how to set the beam? Would they know how to go about constructing an ancient building? My lord, theck of equipment would make things far more difficult than it already is.¡±

    ¡°Chief Hu is right.¡± Qian Tianyi built on it, ¡°And this is only the nonnegotiables we¡¯re talking about. Apart from that, there are several other variables that need to be discussed and firmed up before the actual construction works canmence. For instance¡­ what style would you be constructing the building with?¡±

    Qin Ye froze.

    He had a feeling that he had forgotten something.

    As soon as they noticed the frown on his face, everyone immediately trembled and shrank back in silence. Qin Ye realized this and smiled faintly, ¡°Chief Qian, please continue. I don¡¯t know a single thing about the construction industry. My earlier reaction had resulted from a separate train of thought altogether.¡±

    It was only with this assurance that everyone set their hearts at ease.

    Which of these men of prominence didn¡¯t have several hundred men or several teams of engineers under their charge while they were still alive? Even the ounts that they dealt with on a daily basis were easily in the hundreds of millions.

    Yet¡­ regardless of the magnitude or importance of thepany meetings they¡¯ve been to in the past, none of them had ever been as afraid and nervous as they were right now.

    After all, they were having a discourse with an owner of the realm who possessed the power to obliterate them without a single word of caution¡­

    Qian Tianyi gulped nervously. Back in the mortal realm, he hated it most when others addressed him as ¡°Chief Qian¡±, because it sounded synonymous with ¡°former chief¡±. What was the meaning of that?!

    But now, he knew he had to repress any feelings of ill will. He revealed an iparably sincere smile on his face, ¡°My lord, it¡¯s like this. Haven¡¯t you thought about the architectural style of the building you wish to construct?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered. He finally remembered what he had forgotten earlier.

    Drawings!

    Architectural drawings! Drawings from the design institutions!

    Construction was hardly something as simple as fixing up building blocks to form a building. There were considerations of the building¡¯s shape and structure, as well as itsposition. Everything needed to be done up in detail by a professional design institution! Only then would it be ready for the constructionpany¡¯s execution of works.

    For instance, Qin Ye was free to design the new order of Hell with the ir of modern day architecture. He could even model it after the buildings in Dubai!

    Likewise, he was free to model his buildings after the famous Su Provincial Court of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the High Gates of the Tang and Song Dynasties, or even the renowned Ebang Pce of the Qin Dynasty.

    But nobody has any clue as to even the style of building Qin Ye wanted. What should I do?

    ¡°Does anyone know how to draw up architectural ns?¡± Qin Ye looked up and asked everyone.

    The seven men exchanged awkward nces. After some time, Song Ming coughed lightly and responded, ¡°There aren¡¯t many people in these design institutions to begin with. Most of those who managed to secure a ce within have their own connections as well. Few are able to enter of their own qualifications¡­ My lord, why don¡¯t we try asking the ones outside?¡±

    Before Qin Ye could respond, one of the scribes immediately rose from his feet sensibly and went out of the annex hall. Ten minutester, he came back in panting, gasping and shaking his head, ¡°My lord, none of the Yin spirits out theree from the design institution.¡±

    Qin Ye massaged his temples bitterly. The different trades were worlds apart, and his oversight spelt disaster for his ns.

    Furthermore, he had just discovered another crucial problem - the pce was sorge that it took ten minutes for a messenger to head out, ask a simple question and then return to the annex hall. It was far too troublesome.

    Should I just keep everyone waiting?

    No. Certain things should be kept discreet and lowkey.

    Bloody hell¡­ If I¡¯m already facing so much trouble now, how am I supposed to provide them with electricityter on? How am I supposed to provide cell phone coverage and data signals?! Isn¡¯t¡­ isn¡¯t that a little too much to ask of me?

    Qin Ye forcibly extricated himself from his destructive thoughts, and he addressed everyone with a resolute expression, ¡°Leave this matter to me. Let¡¯s continue.¡±

    With a somewhat contrived smile on his face, Qin Ye added, ¡°This is the first summit of Hell¡¯s construction industry after all. Even though certain things are somewhatcking, I believe that everyone¡¯s experience and wisdom will more than make up for it¡­ right?¡±

    ¡°But of course.¡± These were all men of prominence that innumerable people in the mortal realm looked up to on a daily basis. Yet their hearts trembled in unison at this very moment as they frantically mulled over the colossal question posed to them.

    Dear, how would you like the city to be built? What kind of basic facilities do you need? I¡¯ll hold the line. This is pretty urgent.

    What?! You¡¯ll tell me tomorrow?! Dear¡­ I¡¯m sitting in front of a ferocious tiger that is grinning at me with its full set of fangs! It¡¯s the kind that¡¯s even more fearsome than dealing with the chairman of thepany! I think you can start making arrangements to collect my corpse tomorrow, you hear?

    1. This is a wordy here. His surname is Ç®, which sounds the same as Ç°, which means former.

 Chapter 130: First Summit of Hellâ€™s Construction Industry (2)

    <h4>Chapter 130: First Summit of Hell''s Construction Industry (2)</h4>

    When all was said and done, the core business of the construction industry was simply to adhere to the drawings and execute the works to the tee. There was nothing much to talk about if there weren¡¯t any drawings or construction equipment.

    Therefore, if one wished to impress the lord of Hell, they would naturally have to think from apletely fresh perspective.

    His suggestion immediately triggered the brainwaves of others. Zhao Guangliang immediately chimed in, ¡°These are all part and parcel of city nning works. The top talents who are capable of such nning works are all part of the state council. You¡¯ll find some representatives in the provincial capital and the city government as well. My lord, do you think you¡¯ll be able to¡­¡±

    Li Chuanyi responded, ¡°Generally speaking, urban nning is highly predicated on the local conditions. I¡¯ve had a brief look around. There aren¡¯t any big mountains in Hell, so we can attempt to model it after t cities like the Lotus City. With Hell¡¯s Gate as the core, we can establish a system of works and facilities around it.¡±

    ¡°We need a professional from the design institution.¡± Hu Feng concluded, ¡°You¡¯ll first have to ascertain the style of buildings you want, and they will then be able toe up with the appropriate design drawings¡­ My lord, with all due respect, none of us here can fulfill these requirements of yours.¡±

    He would first need to tap on the talents of technical experts before he could finally put to use the expertise of these managerial talents and executives.

    Just as he stood up, the Yin spirits in attendance quickly exchanged knowing nces. It could be said that their hearts were already in tune with each other. Qian Tianyi was the first one to stand up, ¡°My lord, wouldn¡¯t you say that this is the perfect opportunity to consolidate and formalize the establishment of Hell¡¯s construction industry?¡±

    Hell had its society andmunity as well.

    The Yin spirits in attendance were incredibly astute as well. What they were doing right now was no different from submitting their vote of confidence - I want to follow you.

    Gulp¡­ Several audible gulps were heard. Then, all seven men nodded deeply.

    These words were profound. None of the seven responded immediately. Qin Ye wasn¡¯t in a hurry to receive their response either. The room was filled with an awkward silence. Several momentster, Hu Feng gritted his teeth and spoke abruptly, ¡°My lord, none of us here are naive children. We all understand an important principle - a friend in need is a friend indeed. It may be easy to add flowers to the brocade, but it¡¯s far more difficult to send charcoal in the snow.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ we¡¯ve got a long road ahead of us in this life... after death. We¡¯ve got to find some purpose for ourselves as well. Having the opportunity to continue what we¡¯ve been doing in our previous lives isn¡¯t a bad option.¡± Zhao Guangliang stood up and bowed sincerely, ¡°Many join the construction industry just so that they can make a living. But most of us holding such executive positions¡­ choose to remain with the industry because it¡¯s also a passion of ours.¡±

    Just like that, the gazes of gleaming eyesnded squarely on Qin Ye in eager anticipation. After pondering for twenty full minutes, Qin Ye finally nodded deeply.

    Just like Cathay. What was thergest, most powerful constructionpany across all of Cathay?

    No.

    Hell was currently in a mess. The only silver lining was that the first proper industry was starting toe together nicely.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Qin Ye finally made up his mind, ¡°This is for the record - on 18 January 2019, the Netherworld Construction Incorporated is hereby incorporated. Its temporary headquarters shall be based in the Second Order of Hell located at City of Salvation, abbreviated as City of Salvation (Hell) for short.¡±

    Qin Ye continued, ¡°The Netherworld Construction Incorporated may be abbreviated as Yin Construction.¡±

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Qin Ye set his palms down on the table and looked around with a solemn expression, ¡°This is only the first summit of our construction industry.¡±

    Qin Ye straightened up and took in the excited expressions of all of the division heads, ¡°That said, your office of head of division is not set in stone. You¡¯ll be made to step down if you don¡¯t do a good job. None of you have any manpower under you right now. Your first task is to secure your own work force from the Yin spirits out there. I¡¯ll be introducing a whole series of rewards and punishments together with the establishment of the ministry ofw and the other advisory departments and ministries at ater date. This will directly affect your performance appraisal which shall take ce every ten years.¡±

    He smiled faintly at everyone, ¡°All of you used to be middle management drawing annual sries in the region of half a million RMB, with hundreds of men under your charge. Are you certain you won¡¯t be dissatisfied answering to a teenager like me?¡±

    The seven heads of division exchanged nces. Secondster, Zhao Guangliang remarked softly, ¡°Wasn¡¯t my lord¡¯s final statement¡­ truly poignant?¡±

    ¡°Truth be told, there was no need for him to have done so in the first ce.¡± Hu Feng shook his head with a bitter smile, ¡°No matter how great we used to be, everything is now in the past. Hell is a brand new start for us. Besides, do you truly believe his current appearance to be his true form?¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered with what the seven men thought. Although Qin Ye had never employed the two-pronged approach of both kindness and severity before, it was never toote to begin.

    He was going to register the name of a Netherworld Operative on Hell¡¯s Records for the very first time!

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as Hell¡¯s Record appeared, it flipped open and hovered in front of Qin Ye as though something in the void were holding onto it.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    upation: Soul Hunter - 260 merit points. Distance to Anitya Hellguard - 260/2,000 merit points.

    Su Dongxue.

    She could see a reasonably insignificant figure standing at the foot of Ksitigarbha¡¯s statue, holding a brush with one hand and a book in the other. That said, this seemingly insignificant figure suddenly seemed asrge and majestic as an entire mountain range.

    Qin Ye was focused on the task at hand. Then, as soon as he finished recording Su Dongxue¡¯s name in full, the otherwise ordinary and unremarkable book suddenly erupted with a brilliant golden light that engulfed the entire pce halls!

    The eerie green soulfires flickered violently wherever the golden lights swept. The previously gloomy surroundings were instantly nketed with a pure, golden sheen synonymous with the nature of Buddha. Even the terrifying sculptures on both sides of the hall looked softer as a result of these lights.

    The seven division heads who were just leaving the annex hall immediately gasped when they saw this sight, and none of them dared take another step closer to the astonishing sight.

    She was no longer dressed in a cheongsam like she was before.

    Simultaneously, a second entry finally appeared in Hell¡¯s Records.

    ce of Origin: Mulberry Vige, Longriver County, Abundant City, Insignia Province

    Date of Birth: 8 November 1930

    Su Dongxue opened her eyes. She still looked the same as before, but there was evidently something different about her.

    And it was a qualitative transformation at that.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already been dead for nearly a hundred years¡­ and yet¡­ I¡¯ve been unable to enter Fengdu Necropolis or any part of its system all this while¡­ My lord, words can¡¯t express my gratitude to you. From this day forward, your word shall be mymand, even if you require me to brave a mountain of des or cross a sea of fire!¡±

    Qin Ye was somewhat out of it.

    ¡°My lord¡­ what¡¯s this?¡± The seven men finally walked over and asked in astonishment.

    ¡°Do well, and your achievements might not be beneath hers.¡±

    These words caused their eyes to grow red. They bowed abruptly to Qin Ye, ¡°My lord, please rest assured, we won¡¯t let you down!!¡±

    1. This essentially refers to the highest organ of power and administration.

 Chapter 131: First Day of School

    <h4>Chapter 131: First Day of School</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze shifted slightly. He immediately understood that she was talking about her awakening within Song Jiafang¡¯s body.

    She closed her eyes gently, and her feathery eyshes quivered slightly, ¡°Thus¡­ I tried toe up with various ways of reminding him. Unfortunately, my awakening was only partial, and Song Jiafang¡¯s soul was still in control of her body. That¡¯s why I was unable to give him a more direct warning.¡±

    But Su Dongxue was determined, and she slowly began to pull down her Hell¡¯s Emissary robes, inch by inch. Then, before everyone could react to the sudden turn of events, a burst of Yin energy suddenly erupted from her body. Then¡­ her robes fell to the ground, and a small ck cat emerged from where she was standing just a moment ago!

    Didn¡¯t Arthis mention that demon cultivators were incredibly rare these days? I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m actually seeing one right now!

    Qin Ye closed his eyes.

    What was that ck cat?

    ¡°Do your job well.¡± He infused the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal with his own Yin energy, and his body slowly disappeared, ¡°There¡¯s no zoo in the new Hell. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a demon cultivator. All that matters to me is that you pull your own weight, and bring something to the table.¡±

    Several minutester, Qin Ye appeared once again in the Insignia University dormitories.

    I can¡¯t be bothered with the details anymore. I¡¯ll just cross the bridge when I get there. With that, he quickly retired for the night. The next day, he woke up to frantic buzzing and alerts from his phone.

    Disturbing my beauty sleep is a capital offense!

    Qin Ye looked at his phone, ¡°It¡¯s nine. What¡¯s the matter? Oh, that¡¯s right, could you be a dear and get me some breakfast on your way back? I¡¯ll transfer you the cost of itter.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately jumped as though pricked by a needle, and then quickly fell back down onto the bed, ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that the professor is waiting for me to begin. He hasn¡¯t even seen me before, has he?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Qin Ye felt as though he were sinking deeper and deeper back into the lovely embrace of the bed, and his eyes began to feel droopy and heavy, ¡°And then?¡±

    At best, I¡¯ll just work harder in future and catch up on my own! Why are you being so uptight about this?

    Qin Ye immediately hung up, washed his face and rinsed his mouth in record time, and shot right out of his dorm room. He could still hear the sounds of intense LoL battles and cheap stereo sets echoing throughout the corridors, but he couldn¡¯t care less to observe the vibrant campus life of Insignia University right now. He dashed out of the building and rushed straight to the lecture hall like a Kai¡¯Sa employing her Killing Instincts skill.

    ¡°Where are you sitting?¡± Ten minutester, he gasped for breath as he sent a voice message on WeChat. He was presently leaning on a wall just outside the tiered lecture hall.

    ¡°I love a teammate with foresight like you! Open the door, I¡¯ll slip right in!¡± Without waiting for Lin Han¡¯s response, Qin Ye switched off his phone and crouched down like a thief as he waited patiently for the back door to creak open.

    The crack wasn¡¯t wide. It was just sufficient for a single person to slip through.

    Perfect!

    Zhou Xianlong, Li Tao, Xu Anguo and several professors from the school were all staring intently at the uninvited guest.

    They all had the same contrived, specious smile on their faces - one that made any person feel immeasurably uneasy.

    ¡°Cough¡­ ahem¡­¡± Qin Ye felt ill at ease, and he awkwardly waved his hands, ¡°How do you do?¡±

    On second thought, he supplemented further - Lacking the spirit of learning, and failing to bring textbooks to ss. Penalty: another one teaching credit!!!

    Wait¡­ aren¡¯t you penalizing my teaching credits with a little bit too arbitrarily? You just don¡¯t like me, do you? Did I annoy you with my tardiness?

    ¡°How should I know?!¡± Lin Han rolled his eyes, ¡°I was still ying with my phone and listening to music when my headphones suddenly got pulled off. When I looked up and saw these gods, I nearly pissed myself, alright? But couldn¡¯t you have thought for yourself either? Those seated at the front of the hall are all actual college students from the Faculty of Arts. Given that we¡¯re just here to watch and learn, it¡¯s only natural that we¡¯d be relegated to the back of the hall. And the leaders of the academy would naturally be seated all the way at the back as well. I thought you would be smart enough to have thought about these things!¡±

    I put a sentry down and you immediately attempt to destroy it?

    ¡°... Although I ept yourpliments, this still doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t be a pal and give me some warning!¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples. What an idiot! It¡¯s a typical idiotic teammate!

    The tyrant Qin Ye seized a nk exercise book and a pen from Lin Han and pretended to take down lecture notes. He quickly wrote - Is God of Death Zhou going through andropause? Why does he have to care about everything from the sky to the earth, and even down to whether I let out a fart or not?!

    Qin Ye ced the exercise book under his arm and tilted his head to give Lin Han a signal. He immediately nced over, and his lips curled into a massive grin as he fought hard to stifle hisughter.

    Zhou Xianlong leaned back into his chair, and the grimace on his face deepened.

    Lin Han - Holy shit?! You¡¯ve encountered other Judges? Pray tell! What are they like? God of Death Zhou doesn¡¯t give me any hope in their kind at all.

    Lin Han - Hang on¡­ ¡®she¡¯? Female? Couldn¡¯t you make some introductions next time? I¡¯ve got some twenty-five year vintage in store for her¡­

    Lin Han - What¡¯s up? And what do you mean by ¡®local bully¡¯?!

    Qin Ye and Lin Han immediately put on a pretence of a calm and cid expression, replete with slightly furrowed brows, as though they were deep in thought, drifting through the ocean of knowledge. It had to be said that both of their acting skills were top notch. They packed up their exercise books, but the multitude of observers remained behind in their seats.

    ¡°Teaching ispletely different from purging ghosts. Earlier today at 8 a.m., we¡¯ve issued our letters of invitation to the major sects, hidden sects, ns and allegiances alike. We should be receiving their list of registrants early next month. Therefore¡­¡±

    As Li Tao and the others finally turned to leave the lecture hall, Qin Ye and Lin Han also heaved a sigh of relief. But before they could fully rx, all of the instructors¡¯ exercise books suddenly shot up into the air and flew over towards Zhou Xianlong as though they had wings.

    Bloody hell!!

    1. Kai¡¯Sa is a League of Legends hero, and Killing Instincts is a dashing skill in the game.

    2. DotA reference. Sentries are items that give true sight, an ability to reveal invisible enemy units around.

    3. The term ¡®local bully¡¯ here is actually a reference to Xue Pan, a character from

 Chapter 132: Design Department (1)

    <h4>Chapter 132: Design Department (1)</h4>

    ¡°It is our responsibility to check your notes after sses.¡± Zhou Xianlong exined expressionlessly, ¡°Everyone, our visit to the Insignia University isn¡¯t a pleasure trip on public expenses. If you can¡¯t even be serious in ss, how are you going to teach your own studentster on? Those who¡¯ve failed to take proper notes today shall be penalized with the deduction of one teaching credit. We¡¯ll have such spot checks from time to time in future.¡±

    Five minutester, Qin Ye and Lin Han stormed out of the lecture hall gnashing their teeth and grumbling incessantly, ¡°S9527! I¡¯m serious this time. I¡¯m going to cut off all ties with you!¡±

    Just like that, they continued to exchangeint afterint with each other over lunch. After lunch, Lin Han made a call and kept his phone, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve made the arrangements. You go by yourself. I¡¯m not apanying you today.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m all about efficiency.¡± Lin Han responded disdainfully, ¡°Three years ago, one of the old design professionals in the Soaring Dragon Developers purchased a haunted house, and he paid me two hundred thousand to dispose of the problem for him. I¡¯ve just contacted him. There¡¯s no need to visit the design institution. Large constructionpanies like the Soaring Dragon Developers generally have their own design departments. You can go straight to them.¡±

    No¡­ in fact, the entire cohort yed by the rules. Everyone took notes and listened wholeheartedly, and they even managed to glean several insights as a result.

    The Soaring Dragon Developers wasn¡¯t located in downtown city. Their headquarters was based in Mount Tai City¡¯s tech park, and it was in charge of their various offices located all over the four provinces around. The taxi drove for thirty minutes before it finally arrived at their destination.

    ¡°Mr Qin, what a rare sight! It¡¯s truly our honour to have you here.¡± Sun Kangliang greeted Qin Ye warmly with a handshake, ¡°You could¡¯ve just called if you needed anything. There¡¯s no need to have to go through the trouble to make this trip down.¡±

    The world of adults was far too tiring.

    ¡°Mr Qin sure is humorous.¡± Sun Kangliangughed as he led Qin Ye up a flight of stairs and entered an empty elevator. Then, with a hushed voice, he continued, ¡°You¡¯d earlier mentioned that you¡¯ve got something to discuss with our design department?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some groundwork to discuss.¡± Qin Ye nced at Sun Kangliang, ¡°Are you interested?¡±

    ¡°Approximately five square kilometers of development works. I¡¯m hoping toe up with a design drawing.¡±

    Five square kilometers¡­ isn¡¯t a small locality!

    There was no need to be too eager to discuss the development works. Otherwise, there was always the danger of influencing negotiations on the price of future works.

    Both men rode the elevator all the way to the sixth floor.

    The entire room was very quiet, and one could only asionally hear someone whispering something to others. Qin Ye had already earlier informed Sun Kangliang of the employee he was looking for, so Sun Kangliang immediately made a call as soon as they arrived on the sixth floor. Secondster, a thin man with greying hair who was approximately fifty years old walked out of the office space.

    ¡°You must be Mr Qin, right? Mr Lin has already made mention of you.¡± He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette and gesticted at the discussion room nearby, ¡°Shall we talk over there? Please let us know what instructions you might have. We will fulfill it no matter how troublesome it might be.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t force the issue either. Sun Kangliang didn¡¯t hide his intentions to curry favour with Qin Ye. Given the present era they were living in¡­ Provincial capital Mount Tai City was still doing fine with rtively few reports of supernatural incidents. But that didn¡¯t change the fact that everyone had a yardstick in their heart. Experts like Qin Ye were invaluable, while the drawing fee of several hundred thousands was simply money.

    The group entered the discussion room. These were cubicle-type rooms with typical sofa sets ced before a tempered ss tea table, with pots of green nts around. It was simple, but effective. It couldn¡¯t be described as exquisite, but it was far from being ugly.

    Old Li pondered about it with furrowed brows. Several secondster, he eased the tense expression on his face and responded, ¡°It¡¯s difficult¡­ Let¡¯s say we have ten thirty-storey buildings in each neighbourhood, each of which houses fifteen households per floor, with an average of three in each household, we¡¯re talking about housing 13,500 persons in each neighbourhood. But¡­ the total space upied would span one hundred thousand square meters.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows. He had wanted to construct a massive district once and for all. That way, he could shelf all issues pertaining to the exploding Yin spirit poption for some time and revisit it onlyter on.

    Wrong¡­ Without the existence of the six paths of reincarnation, there was simply no way for Qin Ye to control the Yin spirits¡¯ minds. As long as they retained the memories of their past lives, they would know frustration and exasperation. Under such circumstances, it would be considered decent if he could even motivate the Yin spirits to work two-thirds of the day. Therefore, he revised his estimate topleting the development of one neighbourhood in one year and four months.

    How many Yin spirits enter Hell every year? And do I have to run everything by myself? Is the future Yama-King going to double up as a real estate agent now?

    Old Li began to draw on the piece of paper once more, ¡°Think about it. If everything was built up, where are the roads going to be? Roads are things that aremonly seen across all construction projects. But it is precisely because of their ubiquitous nature that most newbies end up taking them for granted and underestimating the amount of space to be allocated to such infrastructure. In practice, roads generally take up a third of the space in any development. This means that the final built up area will be a third smaller than the totalnd space avable for development.¡±

    Qin Ye mulled over these things. After a long time, he responded, ¡°Then¡­ what if I decide to construct everything like ancient cathayan buildings?¡±

    Silence.

    That¡¯s right. He was considering whether to reestablish Hell with a mix of ancient cathayan architecture and modern day architecture. But he quickly disposed of that idea.

    How could he just incorporate a modern high-rise building and destroy the homogeneity of the realm like that?

    Ancient Cathay is ancient Cathay! That was the style that best represented Cathay after all! It was pointless to blindly pursue globalization. This was by no means just any other city on the ground. This was Hell - Cathay¡¯s Hell! There was no need to vie for any rankings in terms of globalization efforts! Furthermore, if the former King Yanluo was able to construct Hell eons ago with the limited technology he had ess to, Qin Ye refused to believe that he wasn¡¯t able to do so with the aid of modern day technology!

    Old Li deliberated for several moments before responding, ¡°Four-storeys.¡±

    Without further prompting from Qin Ye, he exined, ¡°This is approximately the footprint of one of therger buildings these days. When ites to the ancient cathayan style, we need to pay particr attention to one thing - magnificence.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t antique decors look good in modern day homes? It¡¯s because the modern day homes are too small.¡±

    Then, almost as though filled with excitement, his pen strokes grew heavier, ¡°Therefore, if I were to design a neighbourhood with that style in mind, a single floor of the building would house at best six to seven households. After all, the fundamental purpose of high-rise buildings is to maximizend use by housing the most number of people within the smallest amount of space. Unfortunately, such concepts have no ce in the principles which undergird ancient cathayan architecture.¡±

    He was now facing yet another huge problem.

    If he wanted to pacify the citizens of Hell, the first thing he had to do was to construct his residential districts.

    But given what Old Li had just mentioned, he¡­ had no choice but to go down the path of a high-end boutique ancient cathayan residential development!

    1. A legendary tower/pagoda in China that was built and destroyed twelve times since 223AD

 Chapter 133: Design Department (2)

    <h4>Chapter 133: Design Department (2)</h4>

    The most beautiful ancient cathayan residential courtyard in the mortal realm right now was called the idyllic traipse.

    Qin Ye quickly contemted the costs and benefits of such a suggestion. The benefit of such an approach was that the residential area would immediately be one of Hell¡¯s great attractions as soon as it waspleted. And the fact that it couldn¡¯t house everyone meant that only the more important ones would be housed first. This wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing, because it would only greatly motivate the other Yin spirits to participate in the great wave of construction efforts! After all, what people were most afraid of wasn¡¯t scarcity, but an uneven distribution.

    The new Hell¡­ was soon going to be transformed into a massive construction site!

    It was the core of his expansion efforts, and this was of particr importance because of¡­ the Harken that was deep in slumber just a short distance beneath Hell.

    The downside to proceeding with such ns was that the ghostly citizens were most certainly not going to have any of it. Why should they put so much effort into the construction works when they wouldn¡¯t be given any part of it?

    Fortunately, he still possessed the strength to forcibly suppress the citizens. He had already hardened his heart, and he was prepared to empower the seven division heads of the Netherworld Construction Incorporation to deal with any form of insubordination as they see fit.

    With manpower, he could slowly increase the number of residential neighbourhoods around. Then, after settling in most of the Yin spirits and pacifying any instances of unrest, he could finally move onto the next phase of works and begin to consider any prospects of expansion. That would be the time to start scheduling the construction works for the special buildings and facilities that were unique to Hell.

    Looks like I¡¯ll have to make another trip to Hell to discuss these things with the various division heads. The groundbreaking project of Yin Construction is going to be that of an upscale residential district. In what style should it be constructed? How are we going to decide who gets to live there?

    Damn it¡­ We¡¯re establishing a whole new realm, yet the first residential district isn¡¯t carved out of a cave. We¡¯ve immediately been forced onto the path of real estate construction¡­ there¡¯s no other option avable either¡­ Sighing, Qin Ye added, ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll leave the design drawings to you. Next¡­ I¡¯d like to ask, what if I want to build a city hall near the residential district?¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± This time, it wasn¡¯t Old Li who responded; Sun Kangliang had practically jumped out of his seat before Qin Ye even finished asking his question, ¡°City hall? If I might just speak my mind¡­ Mr Qin, what kind of development are you looking at? City hall¡­ Wouldn¡¯t that be in breach of the regtions?¡±

    ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± Qin Ye blinked naturally as he looked at Sun Kangliang with anticipation.

    Say the word, and I¡¯ll dly send you down under to enjoy a life of eternal bliss¡­

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze probably let the cat out of the bag. Sun Kangliang immediately capitted and swallowed back the words in his heart as he chuckled dryly, ¡°I was just asking¡­ just asking¡­¡±

    What a liar!

    Qin Ye was sincerely dismayed. Talent¡­ Hell doesn¡¯tck manpower right now. What itcks is talent¡­ That¡¯s right, the uing residential district can be allocated in ordance with their talents¡­ Eh? Once I¡¯m done with the groundwork for the construction industry, I can begin to work on the financial system in Hell. After all, we¡¯ve got some goods to be sold soon¡­

    I¡¯m thinking too much¡­ Qin Ye coughed dryly again, ¡°You don¡¯t have to concern yourself too much with what I¡¯m going to do. In fact, you can simply treat the five square kilometers as an undeveloped county. I¡¯ll need to set up the county government and all of its departments. And the reason why I need this drawing is because it is the bottleneck to all of my ns.¡±

    Old Li felt his lips dry out. He pushed up his sses and opened his mouth several times, yet he simply couldn¡¯t find the right words to speak. He nced desperately at Sun Kangliang, hoping to be bailed out of the difficult situation. On the other hand, even though Sun Kangliang had been mentally prepared for something like this, he still found himselfpletely bbergasted by the gravity of the situation.

    Both men exchanged a knowing look, and they had a single thread of thought on their minds - Is he nuts?!

    ¡°L-let me rify something¡­¡± Old Li took a deep breath and pulled himself back together, ¡°Are you saying, the Land Authority, the Labour Authority, the Employment Bureau, the Public Works Commission, Archives¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head with an intense expression, ¡°I need them all.¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± Old Li gulped nervously and took a deep breath, ¡°Ministry of Societies, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Law and Policy¡­¡±

    ¡°Those too.¡±

    Old Li¡¯s voice began to tremble, ¡°Society for the Disabled, Society of Sciences, Labour Union, libraries, hospitals¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need the Society for the Disabled. As for Society of Sciences¡­ I think you can just set aside somend for it.¡± Qin Ye smiled and turned a blind eye to the fact that both men had already risen from their seats anxiously.

    ¡°Oh god!!!¡± Sun Kangliang ran to the entrance and opened the door, only to see several people stare right back at him, and he immediately mmed the door shut and locked the door. Then, with a trembling voice, he muttered, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ a-are you¡­¡±

    Are you rebelling?

    Are you building a county within Cathay?

    So the neighbourhood we were discussing earlier was something that simply had to be done either ways? Was that just a test of our abilities?

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Qin Ye chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ve only got a piece ofnd thisrge. Shouldn¡¯t the ind be modeled after the needs of a county? Or should I simply gallivant around an entire deserted ind?¡±

    So it¡¯s an ind¡­ Sun Kangliang still had many questions on his mind. For instance, which part of Cathay was the ind located at? But that said, the mention of an ind immediately eased the tension on his anxiety-stricken heart.

    ¡°Forgive me, but I¡¯m unable to ede to your request.¡± Old Li smiled bitterly at Qin Ye, ¡°Mr Qin, I¡¯m afraid you might really have to look for the experts from the Cathay Construction Group.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re far too insignificant to be involved with matters pertaining to county and city nning. Besides, most of the experts who are adept at these nning works are all involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and working outstation in Alkebn. What other ce would there be to use their talents, given the state of Cathay¡¯s developments right now?¡±

    He waved his hands, ¡°I can help with things like neighbourhoods, and perhaps evenndmarks. But nning an entire county¡­ ispletely beyond me.¡±

    Qin Ye responded in dismay, ¡°Can¡¯t you just expand the size of a neighbourhood by a thousand times?¡±

    This time, it was Sun Kangliang who chuckled in response, ¡°Mr Qin, I think you¡¯re oversimplifying the construction industry. Let¡¯s leave everything else aside for now. Do you have a topological map of thend you¡¯re referring to? Did you actually have someone measure it?¡±

    Topological map?

    Qin Ye blinked nkly, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Sun Kangliang didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry at Qin Ye¡¯s response, ¡°Even if you¡¯re going to develop a county for your own entertainment, surely you must at least have a topological map of the ind, right? What is the size of thend to be subject tond nning? Where is it located? Which parts are to be preserved? Which parts are to be used for residential areas, and which parts are to be designated as office spaces? Without a topological map, you simply can¡¯t do any of these things.¡±

    ¡°Must I have one?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± The two others eximed in unison, ¡°The topological map is the first port of call in anyrge-scale development projects. An ident is bound to ur if you proceed with construction works without a topological map. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that you may as well raze everything to the ground and rebuild it from scratch!¡±

    Old Li continued, ¡°And, judging from your tone of voice¡­ you seem to be intent on building a city? Alright¡­ I¡¯ll just take it as a joke for now. But, say you were going to build a city, there¡¯s just far too many other things you¡¯ll have to consider.¡±

    ¡°Electricity.¡± He held up a finger, and then a second finger, ¡°Optical fiber.¡±

    And then a third finger, ¡°Roads.¡±

    Qin Ye wanted to tell them - We don¡¯t need any of that. We can simply use oilmps, and generate electricity in the air through the love in our hearts.

    But on second thought, he held himself back.

    Did he really not need these things?

    He couldn¡¯t be certain. He had never asked Arthis how matters of illumination, transportation andmunication were dealt with in the past.

    Getting started is always the hardest part. His ghostly citizens were starving, and they didn¡¯t even have a roof over their heads. Luckily for him, ghosts didn¡¯t need food for sustenance. Otherwise, Hell would already have exploded with strife by now.

    ¡°And there¡¯s still the considerations of sewage and drainage, whether there are natural resources in the area to tap on, how the terrain should be used or manoeuvred around, and how to defend it against potential invaders. How and where would you attack the invaders from? Whether your offensive attempts would be blocked by the development of the city; what the fastest way out of the city is¡­ All of these things pertain to the establishment of a city. Unfortunately, all of the experts in city nning have already been posted abroad. I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t have much luck asking around within Cathay.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Qin Ye stood up, ¡°Thank you very much. Could I please trouble you with the drawings and renderings of the neighbourhoods in the meantime? We can discuss the rest in greater detail after I look further into it.¡±

    With that, he nodded at Sun Kangliang, and both of them left the design department together.

    They didn¡¯t take the esctor downstairs. Instead, they pressed the top floor button of the elevator and went to the roof of the building.

    There was a cafe there.

    From here, one had a panoramic view of all the tall buildings in Mount Tai City. This was one of the most modernized locations in the city, and 99% of all of the buildings in the vicinity were high-rise buildings. Besides, the construction of high-rise buildings required tearing down the old building in ce and rebuilding it from the ground up, and such demolition works might prove too challenging in other localities.

    Block after block of high-rise buildings reflected the radiance of the sun on its sheeny facades. The rooftop cafe was only essible to those who were at least middle management within thepany. As soon as they saw Sun Kangliang, they immediately smiled and nodded at him.

    The duo made their way to a table in the corner of the cafe. An attendant quickly brought over some cakes, pastries and coffee - all of which was on the house. Qin Ye stirred the coffee with his spoon as he asked, "How much construction materials can you secure for me?"

    Sun Kangliang''s hands immediately trembled, and his lips quivered, "Mr Qin¡­ what¡­ are you looking to use these for?"

    What ind are you talking about? Since when did Cathay allow an individual to own a plot ofnd like that? You must be pulling my leg!

    Qin Ye gripped tightly onto his hand and dered, "Re-volt."

    Boom!

    The spoon in Sun Kangliang''s hand trembled violently, and he nearly knocked over his cup of coffee. Coffee spilt all over the table, and several patrons immediately turned around to look at their table. Sun Kangliang flushed red with embarrassment and quickly waved his hands, "It''s nothing, it''s nothing¡­"

    After taking his seat once more, he took several deep breaths to regte his emotions before responding bitterly, "Mr Qin¡­ please don''t joke with me like that¡­"

    Qin Ye pouted with a discontent expression on his face - This man iscking. He can''t take a joke at all.

    "Don''t read too much into it. I''m just doing my duty." He adjusted his expressions, "I''m onlymissioning a drawing n and purchasing resources from you on ount of our friendship. Otherwise, I would have asked someone else a long time ago."

    Then go ahead and ask someone else!

    And who''s your friend?! We''ve at best shared only one meal together!

    "Alright¡­" Sun Kangliang was already beginning to regret his decision to connect with Qin Ye that day. He responded lifelessly, ¡°What do you need? Send me a list via WeChat, and I¡¯ll get it for you within the week. But you will have to collect them all within a day¡­¡±

    Why do I get the feeling that these construction materials are like time bombs waiting to explode on me?

    ¡°Deal. Also, rent me an incinerator.¡±

    You¡¯re just relying on me now, aren¡¯t you?

    Sun Kangliang¡¯s mind was constantly processing and attempting to break down the great enigma that associated the alleged revolt, the incinerator and the construction materials. His face twitched uncontrobly as he responded, ¡°Certainly¡­¡±

    After sorting out everything on the agenda, Qin Ye finally returned to his dorm room and shut the door. Then, he pulled out the stack of red talismans for the purposes of contacting Arthis, and burnt one.

    Now, there was one crucial thing remaining.

    After that, all he needed to do was to wait patiently for the design department to finish up his drawing, and then he would return to Hell and sort out a detailed schedule of the timelines expected, and Yin Construction couldmence with their works immediately.

    The multitude of loose ends were finallying together, and the rebuilding efforts of Hell were finallying to a head.

    Whoosh¡­ The talisman burnt up with green smoke, but it didn¡¯t produce the burning smell like ordinary paper. The green smoke immediately dissipated into the surroundings.

    He waited patiently. However, three minutester¡­

    No response.

    ¡°Counterfeit goods?¡± He blinked his eyes and burnt another talisman.

    Still no response.

    Yet another talisman.

    Yet, still no response!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ did she give me these cebo talismans for psychological assurance? Didn¡¯t she say that I was to burn one if I needed to get in touch with her?¡± This time, he picked up three talismans at once and burnt them all at the same time. Finally, an infuriated voice reverberated throughout the room, ¡°Are you done calling me?!¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, ¡®I¡¯?! Do you think I didn¡¯t notice it when you burnt the very first one? Why did you have to burn the second, and then the third? What¡¯s the hurry?! Are you rushing to get reincarnated, or are you rushing to mourn for someone?!¡±

    ¡°... Didn¡¯t you say¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did say you can contact me, but didn¡¯t you realize that this is the precious time I¡¯ve set aside to catch up on my dramas and serials? I was just at the good parts, and my tears were on the brink of rolling out of my eyes! Your untimely interruption has ruined the mood!¡±

    Got it.

    So these talismans are also dependent on whether she¡¯s willing to respond to the call or not?

    What¡¯s the damn use of that! You¡¯re just a stupid silicone doll that¡¯s doomed to die in front of theputer screen!

    1. The Belt and Road Initiative is an initiative by the Chinese government to provide finance and engineering expertise to build infrastructure across Eurasia and northeast Africa. The n was first unveiled in 2013.

    [2] Africa.

 Chapter 134: Sealing Technique

    <h4>Chapter 134: Sealing Technique</h4>

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

    Calm down and endure¡­ calm down and endure¡­ Isn¡¯t this just akin to experiencing a rejected phone call? Do I reallyck such bad friends as this? No¡­ not at all¡­ there¡¯s nock of such people out there¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ve just gone to the design department to inquire about the drawings.¡± He opened his eyes and spoke, ¡°They mentioned that¡­¡±

    ¡°A flower in my left hand and a sword in my right, a million years of snow falls from theshes of my eyes. A drop of tear, ahhh ahhh ahh¡­ This is I, ahh ahh ahh!!!¡±

    Qin Ye had just been dealt several heavy blows in quick session by the oundish silicone doll. Fortunately, he was already numb to her attacks, and he continued without any expressions on his face, ¡°We¡¯re on the cusp of the great revivification of Hell. All that we need for themencement of works now is a topological map of Hell. Seeing that the chairman of the board of the new Hell is working his ass off, shouldn¡¯t you, the CEO, be pulling your weight as well?¡±

    The noise on the other end of the light screen immediately paused, and Arthis responded suspiciously, ¡°To think that I would be able to see you working diligently in my lifetime¡­ Apologies for being slow, things have changed far too quickly, and I¡¯m still trying to get used to it¡­ Could your drastic personality change have resulted from readers¡¯ints of your craven and cowardly behaviour?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m warning you. We may be close, but I¡¯m still prepared to sue you for nder if you dare say another word! Haven¡¯t you noticed my domineering disy over thest ten chapters?!¡± Qin Ye retorted with great indignation.

    ¡°Oh hehehe¡­ Seems like a certain young man¡¯s ego has be overly inted¡­ have you already cast the fear of Lin Han¡¯s domineering disy to the back of your mind?¡±

    Some confrontations weren¡¯t matters that could be easily resolved in the span of a few minutes.

    The two vicious serpents bit back at each other for close to half an hour before they finally ran out of venom in their venom sacs. Both sides were defeated and panting hard when Qin Ye finally stretched out his hand towards the light screen, ¡°I don¡¯t want to discuss such banal things any longer. Hand over the topological map of Hell!¡±

    ¡°What makes you think I have it?¡± Qin Ye could only imagine the look of delight on Arthis¡¯ face right now as she picked her nose pettily,pletely devoid of any dignity coitant with her rank as an Infernal Judge - How dare you give me such an attitude? Go on! I want to see how you¡¯ll still end up begging at my heels!

    He gritted his teeth and exploded, ¡°How am I supposed to know what special buildings and facilities to construct in Hell without a topological map? You¡¯d previously even mentioned the soul induction tform and the Yin mourning hall - are these all but a bunch of baloney?!¡±

    Arthis paused, and her voice grew somber, ¡°You don¡¯t have it?¡±

    ¡°How could I possibly have something like that?!¡± Qin Ye stared at the screen in horror, ¡°You¡­ really don¡¯t have it either?¡±

    Arthis grew silent for a few seconds. Then, the light screen rippled, before quickly revealing the image of the City of Salvation. Then, Arthis continued, ¡°That¡¯s not possible. You must have it! I¡¯ve seen these things whenever I¡¯d visited the Yama-Kings back then. Every Yama-King has one such map hanging at the back of his office. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t qualified to have ess to something like that. I¡¯d heard that the map was something that was drawn up by one of the founding Yama-Kings, who¡¯d then painstakingly surveyed and measured thend inch by inch. This was something that was put to use and updated whenever Hell expanded again. It¡¯s something of great importance.¡±

    Qin Ye thought hard about it, but he couldn¡¯t recall ever receiving something even remotely close to that of a topological map. Then, just as he was about to respond, he noticed that Arthis had already vanished from the screen. She reappeared several secondster, ¡°It¡¯s hard to discuss these matters remotely. Wait there. I¡¯lle right over.¡±

    One secondter¡­ the talisman was suddenly dyed with a reddish hue that quickly spread out into the surroundings, transforming into a two square-feet light screen. Following that¡­ a silicone doll with disheveled ck hair began to slowly crawl through the red screen of light¡­

    She crawled out¡­

    Out of the screen¡­

    For some strange reason, Qin Ye found this scene particrly reminiscent of something.

    Why do I suddenly get the urge to cut the connection midway as she¡¯s climbing through the screen¡­ I want to kick this Sadako cosyer back to where she¡¯se from¡­ What do I do? I don¡¯t think I can hold myself back any longer! Help!

    Arthis crawled out from the screen in a horrific, twisted manner. Midway through the efforts, she suddenly paused, and lifted one of her hands, ¡°Help me out?¡±

    ¡°Turn off the TV?¡± Qin Ye responded unkindly.

    ¡°No¡­ I must have eaten too much and my belly is a little bit bloated. I¡¯m stuck¡­ do me a favour and pull me out¡­ Say, do you think I¡¯ve eaten too much and gone out of shape?¡±

    Bloody hell, you¡¯re a silicone doll! Are you seriously asking me if you¡¯re out of shape?!

    Qin Ye fervently repressed the urge to shove her back into the screen, and slowly but surely pulled her out of the light screen. As the light screen retracted back to its original size, he asked curiously, ¡°This thing¡­¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t.¡± Arthis straightened her clothes, ¡°The new Hell can¡¯t even support the use of a ¡®Yin sharing talisman¡¯. You¡¯ll at least have to set up the Pce of Yin Talismans, as well as have Hell expand to the size of a hundred thousand square kilometers before we revisit this possibility.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Are you a bloody roundworm in my belly?!

    Arthis ignored Qin Ye¡¯s unspoken criticism and sat down on the bed in an elegant manner. Then, ncing about, she continued, ¡°Back to the topic at hand, you were just saying that you don¡¯t have the topological map. Do you know why I say that¡¯s impossible?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    Arthis responded cidly, ¡°Because if Granny Meng didn¡¯t have the foresight to hand over something of such importance to you, she wouldn¡¯t deserve to be called Granny Meng in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Do you think Granny Meng¡¯s abilities are weak? Just a mere cook who sits at Naraka Bridge, dishing out the soup of forgetfulness to random passers-by? You¡¯re wrong¡­ the Naraka Bridge has stood for three thousand years. How many Yin spirits have crossed it to date? The spirits that have crossed it range from qi cultivators from the Qin Dynasty, schrs from the Tang and Song Dynasties, grand advisers from the Yuan Dynasty, and even great teachers of the Ming Dynasty. What would happen if these people refuse to drink the soup?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked, ¡°You make an ox drink water by forcing its head into the trough?¡±

    ¡°... You should be d that these Yin spirits can¡¯t leap out of their coffins and send you flying¡­ But you¡¯ve got the gist of it right. Just think about how strong she must be. In fact, she had even dyed her journey to paradise and remained in the mortal realm for such a long time just to entrust the final hope of reestablishing Hell to you. Do you really think she wouldn¡¯t have anticipated the greatest potential obstacle in your great rebuilding efforts?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how brave or how determined you are. As long as you don¡¯t have the topological map of Hell, or the exact specifications of the special buildings and facilities of Hell, you need at least three thousand years before Hell can be restored to its former glory. And three thousand years¡­ is more than sufficient time for the multitude of Yin spirits to overthrow the mortal realm!¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly got a brainwave, ¡°Are you talking about¡­ the manuscript that Granny Meng had previously left behind?¡±

    Before he finished speaking, an ancient manuscript floated up into the air and began to riffle through the pages. As Arthis gently lifted her hands, Qin Ye suddenly felt as though he had been transported into a whole new realm. It was almost as though¡­ he had just been isted from the rest of Mount Tai City.

    ¡°World of Sequestration.¡± Arthis saw the gleaming look of anticipation in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes and immediately dealt Qin Ye a heavy blow like the roundworm she was, ¡°Now that you¡¯re a Soul Hunter, you should have already been granted ess to some of Hell¡¯s Arts. Unfortunately, since you were only appointed as an Emissary of Hell after Hell¡¯s great copse, you don¡¯t have any imprint of the old Hell on you. The new Hell is only the size of a vige, and it can¡¯t even be called a town. Thereafter, you¡¯ve got to work your way through the county, city, province and district levels¡­¡±

    ¡°When Hell expands to the size of a county, and you manage to construct the various county-level buildings and maintain a certain level of manpower, you will finally be able to start utilizing the most basic, Operative-ss Hell¡¯s Arts. Likewise, in order to gain ess to a particr tier of Hell¡¯s Arts, one must at least be an Emissary of Hell of that corresponding level.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed begrudgingly.

    It seems like there¡¯s still going to be a long road ahead of me where I¡¯ll have to rely solely on the Yin energy at my disposal¡­ This isn¡¯t right¡­ it doesn¡¯t ord well with the script of all protagonists¡­ Shouldn¡¯t I already have ess to some heaven-defying martial arts that will enable me to seal the heavens or something¡­

    The current image is just decrepit beyond belief¡­

    Arthis ignored his self-abasing thoughts and turned to look at the ancient manuscript with slightly bloodshot eyes. Several secondster, she chuckled lightly, ¡°As expected.¡±

    Even before she could finish speaking, Arthis shifted her silicone hand at lightning speeds, and the Yin energy within the room suddenly rippled with a bang. Then, the ancient manuscript began to riffle through its pages quicker and quicker as the Yin energy swirled more and more intently!

    Whoosh¡­ Arthis finally finished her nineplicated hand seals. Qin Ye gasped deeply and took a step back. The air was filled with dense Yin energy that was on the verge of turning corporeal. The intense pressure bore down on Qin Ye so heavily that he had to lean against the wall for support.

    He suddenly recalled that Arthis had vanished from the light screen for a few seconds earlier. She must have gone out to retrieve this ancient manuscript at that time!

    ¡°Sealing technique¡­¡± Arthis muttered with a solemn expression, and then she suddenly flicked her hands outwardly, ¡°Reaper Death Seal!!!¡±

    Unable to resist the urge that instantly swelled up from the depths of his heart, Qin Ye immediately picked up some nearby objects and flung them straight at Arthis.

    ¡°... Hey, kid! Why are you being so grumpy?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯ll be damned¡­ I knew I shouldn¡¯t have trusted a stupid human implement that has be an inte addict degenerate!!!¡±

    Arthis waved her hands, and everything that was flying through the air immediately hung in mid-air - pen, notebooks and pillows alike. Then, she pointed to the manuscript, ¡°Don¡¯t you think the technique sounds super cool¡­ Alright, alright, alright, don¡¯t look at me with those puppy eyes¡­ And why do you care what it¡¯s called anyway? What matters is that it has been unsealed, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qin Ye was on the verge of bursting out with a sardonicughter - You call this puppy eyes? Come over here and take a closer look! This is what you would call a look of contempt!

    For some strange reason, I get the feeling that her IQ has fallen substantially ever since she¡¯d plunged headlong into the abyss of the inte. What do I do?!

    He couldn¡¯t be bothered to exchange banal banter with Arthis any longer, and he simply turned to look at the ancient manuscript that was still hovering in mid-air, emitting a boundless amount of Yin energy with it. In fact¡­ the Yin energy radiating from it wasparable with that surrounding Hell¡¯s Records itself!

    Whoosh¡­ If Arthis hadn¡¯t sealed the room earlier, the ground nearby would most certainly have begun to tremble uncontrobly. Boundless Yin energy swirled around like a raging ocean, creating a massive pitch-ck vortex right in front of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. Secondster, the heart of the vortex cracked open, revealing a striking, crimson eye!

    Thud! Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s legs crumbled, and he copsed to his knees. Arthis was likewise astonished. Their clothes were fluttering wildly with the powerfulhergale, and even the wig on Arthis¡¯ head had been swept right off to a corner of the room. She stared in horror as the crimson eye nced about at its surroundings, and she eximed with abject disbelief, ¡°Mirror of Eminence ¡­ She¡¯d actually brought out something like this¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you really have the time to be awestruck right now?¡± The pressure was so immense that ripples had started flowing along the surface of Qin Ye¡¯s face, ¡°If you don¡¯t do something soon¡­ thest genuine Emissary of Hell might well be relegated to a permanent station in Hell!¡±

    Arthis immediately snapped back to consciousness. Her hands flickered quickly, leaving a slew of after-images in its wake as she made dozens of hand seals in a matter of just seconds. And then, she finally pointed at the mirror.

    Clink¡­ It sounded like something had struck the surface of the mirror. Instantly, innumerable wisps of Yin energy scattered into the surroundings, and even the crimson eye simply vanished into thin air. The remaining Yin energy spun around wildly, before finally materializing into a palm-sized mirror, falling into Qin Ye¡¯s hands with a soft thud.

    ¡°What the hell is this thing?!¡± Qin Ye gasped as he wiped off the cold sweat beading up on his forehead.

    Arthis looked at the ancient mirror with aplicated expression on her face. After some time, she finally responded, ¡°The Mirror of Eminence¡­ is¡­ a powerful weapon used for the purposes of supervising Emissaries of Hell, and it¡¯s also¡­ an all-seeing eye.¡±

    ¡°Nothing in the mortal realm and Hell can escape its all-seeing eye¡­ I¡¯d thought that¡­ this mirror had already shattered under the immense might of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva¡­ It¡¯s not one of the primordial treasures of Hell, and it¡¯s not a divine artifact like Hell¡¯s Records, but¡­ it can still be called an immortal treasure.¡±

    ¡°In normal terms.¡± Qin Ye sat on the bed somewhat dejectedly. The earlier feeling of suppression was still fresh on his mind, and his heart continued to suffer from some residual palpitations.

    It was as though¡­ something terrifying in Hell had just opened its eyes and stared straight into his heart!

    And as soon as he did something, he would immediately be expunged from Hell altogether!

    ¡°Stop reading so many fantasy novels¡­ Come on, tell me exactly what this god damned thing is! And use human words!¡±

    1. This is a reference to the Shiki Fujin Jutsu in Naruto which was used to seal the Nails demon in his body.

    2. Legend has it that Emperor Qin Shi Huang had a mirror that could reveal a person¡¯s heart

 Chapter 135: Mirror of Eminence

    <h4>Chapter 135: Mirror of Eminence</h4>

    Arthis remained silent for a while, as though she were gathering the thoughts on her mind. Several momentster, she explicated, ¡°The Mirror of Eminence¡­ is essentially a sword.¡±

    ¡°It had been forged from the very same five-coloured stone that Nuwa had used when she patched up the sky. It observes humanity, and judges theherworld. Furthermore, everything it has ever witnessed will be recorded within the mirror. You will be entitled to view these records at any time as long as you are an Emissary of Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. His intuition told him that there was something more than meets the eye. After all, the bone-chilling sensation that he had experienced earlier was evidence that the mirror¡­ had earlier exhibited killing intent towards him.

    ¡°Did you feel a sense of danger or threat to your life earlier?¡± Unexpectedly, Arthis hit the nail on the head, ¡°That¡¯s proof right there. The Mirror of Eminence is Hell¡¯s code of conduct. It condones neither evil going unpunished nor good being obstructed. It has its own judgment criteria, and it¡¯s¡­ got a life of its own.¡±

    ¡°As soon as you do something that tarnishes the identity of all Emissaries of Hell, such as messing with the records of the Book of Life and Death, or even outrageously setting up your own private hell, it¡­ will wipe you off the surface of this world without mercy!¡±

    ¡°Alive?¡± Qin Ye stared at the mirror in his hands in astonishment, yet the mirror simply reflected his own image like any other mirror. He flipped it around several times, but received no unusual response from it whatsoever.

    Just as he was about to set the mirror down, he paused. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he couldn¡¯t resist the urge to straighten andb through his hair with the aid of the mirror.

    Arthis¡¯ expression turned ashen right away.

    Qin Ye remained unfazed, and continued to admire his skin in the mirror - Ah¡­ you¡¯re just as gorgeous as ever¡­

    ¡°... Terminal narcissism. Incurable.¡± Arthis sighedpassionately.

    ¡°Ahem¡­ A habit of mine has be almost second nature¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°That¡¯s not the point! The point is¡­ I¡¯ve got some tricks up my sleeve that will surely induce a response from it, no matter how cold or arrogant it might be to me.¡±

    ¡°... You must be kidding!¡± Arthis looked at Qin Ye as though she¡¯d seen a ghost.

    Even Arthis hadn¡¯t seen the soul of the Mirror of Eminence in all her years in Hell thus far.

    Qin Ye sneered, and then began to gently stroke the mirror, ¡°Mirror, mirror¡­¡±

    The smile on Arthis¡¯ face faded away, only to be reced by a look of seriousness.

    ¡°... on the wall, who¡¯s the fairest Emissary of them all?¡±

    ¡°God damn @#%*&*$(&%!!¡± Arthis immediately felt the onset of the urge to p the most heretical Emissary in the entire history of Hell! I should¡¯ve known better than to have been hopeful like that! I was a fool!

    She was so mad that her Three Corpsegods were practically on the brink of leaving her body. But just as she was about to explode on Qin Ye, the surface of the mirror¡­ suddenly rippled.

    Arthis couldn¡¯t believe her eyes!

    Thest Emissary of Hell had asked the most ridiculous question, and yet the mirror¡­ the Mirror of Eminence had actually responded?!

    It responded?!

    Are you freaking kidding me?!

    Qin Ye was somewhat taken aback as well, but then he quickly put on an expression as though he were peerless, and gazed out of the window and into the distance, ¡°As expected¡­ attractiveness is synonymous with righteousness¡­¡±

    ¡°Pah!¡± Yet, before Qin Ye could finish his overly romanticized spiel, a st of greenherme shot straight out from the demonic mirror. Then, a line of somewhat skewed, crimson text began to appear on the surface of the mirror, almost as though it were written in a fit of extreme anger and indignation, ¡°Hands off, ugly punk!!¡±

    ¡­¡­

    Qin Ye immediately grew silent.

    Two secondster, Arthis eximed in horror, ¡°What are you doing?! Let go¡­ put your hand down! Don¡¯t you know that this is an immortal treasure of Hell?! Believe it or not, damaging even a corner of this artifact can get you a life sentence in Hell!¡±

    ¡°Nobody¡¯s stopping me!! I¡¯m hellbent on making it tell the truth today! Say it to my face!! Touch your heart and speak from your conscience!¡± Qin Ye barked through gritted teeth as the bulging veins on his temples throbbed uncontrobly. The upper half of Qin Ye¡¯s body was already leaning out of the window, while Arthis was desperately pulling at his clothes. It was an incredible sight.

    Even as the mirror swayed dangerously from his hands, rows after rows that appeared to taunt Qin Ye continued to show up on the mirror¡¯s surface, ¡°Go on and throw! Throw, if you dare! Let¡¯s see if you¡¯re even able to shatter this mirror!¡±

    ¡°Of course I can! Be careful what you wish for! Do you think I really don¡¯t dare?!¡± Qin Ye was already holding the mirror dangerously between his thumb and middle finger by now. Arthis stared at Qin Ye in horror as she leaned helplessly on his body.

    ¡°Hahaha¡­ the topological map of Hell is here with me! I¡¯m so scared, I beg of you, let go! Or if you don¡¯t let me go, I¡¯m going to go ahead and yell rape, huh?¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously. He suddenly turned his head and retracted his body back into the room. Then, he nced at Arthis with a grave expression on his face, ¡°Arti, how many times have I told you that you can beat and kill, but you should never humiliate a person. Integrity means to live as a paragon, and die as a hero. How can Emissaries of Hell allow Yin spirits to walk all over them like that? How many times do I have to tell you to stop pulling on me?! Some Yin spirits just need to be taught a lesson so that they know who¡¯s boss!¡±

    Arthis looked btedly at her own hands that were wrapped tightly around his waist, and she stared coldly at Qin Ye, ¡°Kid¡­ are you looking to die?¡±

    ¡°But since you¡¯re begging me so sincerely and wholeheartedly, I¡¯ll extend it an extra portion of mercy this time and ede to your request - I¡¯ll agree to spare its life.¡± Qin Ye nimbly worked his way back to his bed as he spoke and quickly set the mirror down by his side. Then, he picked up the pillow cloth and began to wipe and polish the mirror gently.

    His movements were incredibly natural and smooth.

    ¡°Oh? Wasn¡¯t someone just trying to break this mirror a moment ago? Let me warn you, I¡¯m never going to let you live this down! Even though I¡¯ve spent thousands of years ruling Hell to date, I¡¯ve never once seen someone act so arrogantly in front of me before!¡± Line after line of words appeared in quick session on the surface of the mirror.

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°As an immortal treasure of Hell, couldn¡¯t you just exhibit a little bit more tolerance?¡±

    And then, he quickly turned around, ¡°Arti, hurry up and apologize. Can¡¯t you see how much you¡¯ve angered it?!¡±

    Silence.

    Three secondster¡­ Thud. Qin Ye¡¯s entire body mmed squarely onto the door of the room and slid down to the ground weakly.

    ¡°My lord, you don¡¯t need to bother with him.¡± Arthis smiled as she walked up to the Mirror of Eminence and bowed before it, ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°I know, Arakshasa. Weren¡¯t you the one who caused the Wanggongchang Explosion back then and got banished by me to the depths of the Naraka Abyss? When did you manage to escape your banishment? Tell me more, entertain me?¡± Another few lines of text appeared.

    Qin Ye keenly noticed the cracking soundsing from Arthis¡¯ hands.

    The fact that a silicone doll could even begin to emit such sounds spoke volumes about the fullness of Arthis¡¯ rage meter.

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± Qin Ye minced over and smiled awkwardly, ¡°I¡¯d only been kidding earlier¡­ About that¡­ I mean, the mortal realm is on the cusp of a massive supernatural outbreak, while I¡¯m the only person managing all of Hell¡¯s affairs. It was hard, but I¡¯d finally been able to scramble together a proper construction team. They¡¯re ready to start on the works, and the only thing we¡¯recking right now is the topological map. Do you think you could¡­ be good and spit it out?¡±

    ¡°Everything depends on my mood.¡± The Mirror of Eminence respondednguidly. But before it could finish its words, Arthis immediately interjected with a cold voice, ¡°My lord, this is noughing matter. Although the Mirror of Eminence is an immortal treasure, how much damage did you sustain when Hell copsed? We¡¯re the only ones who can help restore you to your original condition. Yin spirits will run rampant as soon as the mortal realm copses. When that timees, we won¡¯t even be able to handle the affairs of the mortal realm, much less have the time to extricate your soul and repair the immortal treasure!¡±

    There was an abrupt silence in the room.

    After some time, the Mirror of Eminence finally responded, ¡°Young gal¡­ you can see the injuries on my body?¡±

    Arthis bowed softly, ¡°I¡¯d once been an Infernal Judge in charge of an entire province after all. You¡¯re an immortal treasure that is unable to manifest its soul. Furthermore, when I unsealed you earlier, you¡¯d been unable to break through my World of Sequestration. All these things mean¡­ that your abilities are at best no greater than that of an Anitya Hellguard.¡±

    Silence again.

    After ten minutes, the Mirror of Eminence finally put away its thorns, and its voice deepened somewhat. It was impossible to tell whether its soul was a man or a woman, ¡°How¡¯s the situation in the mortal realm?¡±

    For the next thirty minutes, Qin Ye broke down the situation in the mortal realm and exined all of the preparation works he had undertaken in Hell.

    The Mirror of Eminence grew silent. After a long time, it finally sighed, ¡°The path of the beast¡­ the path of the asura, and the path of the hungry ghost¡­ To think that three daolords didn¡¯t get whisked away when Hell copsed...¡±

    The mirror turned around and faced Qin Ye squarely. But this time, Qin Ye¡¯s reflection spoke, ¡°I¡¯ll give it at most ten years before war breaks out between the mortal realm and theherworldly forces. They¡­ aren¡¯t benign folks! Notwithstanding the fact that I¡¯d seen my fair share of evil ghosts in my lifetime, the daolords¡­ rank well among the most depraved, iniquitous ghosts I¡¯ve ever seen!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen them before?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered.

    ¡°Of course¡­¡± The Mirror of Eminence took a deep breath, ¡°Back then, when the six paths were first formed, it was incredibly unstable, and we needed the vilest of souls across the ages to act as their foundation. In order to capture them¡­ Hell mobilized a total of eighteen Abyssal Prefects, three Ghost Kings, over two hundred Infernal Judges, and innumerable Hellguards, Hunters and Operatives¡­ And don¡¯t you think for a moment I was able to reveal their true appearances. Not even I¡­ can shed light on the source of such diabolical evil.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°Then¡­ what¡¯s the level of their Yin energy index, assuming that the Harken¡¯s index is at thirty million?¡±

    The Mirror of Eminence pondered for a moment, and then spoke solemnly, ¡°Each of them would at least be at twelve million!¡±

    Both Arthis and Qin Ye felt their minds instantly go numb.

    ¡°Peak Abyssal Prefects¡­ ones that are at the bottleneck approaching the level of a Yama-King. No wonder¡­ no wonder Hell needed to mobilize such a huge force¡­¡± Arthis murmured, ¡°Even if they¡¯d sustained severe injuries in the process of escaping Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva when he gained enlightenment, their Yin energy indexes would still be in the region of millions right now!¡±

    In other words, there were three pairs of bloodshot eyes in the mortal realm that could very well be scrutinizing their actions right now.

    The Mirror of Eminence took a deep breath, ¡°Kid¡­ on ount of the fact that you¡¯re an Emissary of Hell chosen by Granny Meng herself, I¡¯m willing to look past the previous incident. When the timees, ce this mirror at the top of Hell¡¯s Gate. It¡¯ll be worth your effort.¡±

    It paused, ¡°As for the topological map, I do have it with me. In fact, Granny Meng was just reporting to Lord Bao when she sensed that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had gained enlightenment. Her first reaction back then was to grab me and show me the entire topological map of Hell as it stood. Such brilliance¡­¡±

    Qin Ye asked in a soft voice, ¡°Ahh¡­ Granny Meng¡¯s that strong? She can instantly go straight from Lord Bao¡¯s office to where you were located?¡±

    Arthis responded indifferently, ¡°Lord Bao was the person in charge of the fifth pce of Hell. His full name is Bao Zheng. You should be aware of who he is. The Mirror of Eminence was bestowed on Lord Bao by King Yanluo himself. It hung directly over the fifth pce, measuring all crimes and wrongdoings alike. Granny Meng¡¯s retrieval of the Mirror of Eminence wasn¡¯t that miraculous.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, and then looked sincerely at the Mirror of Eminence, ¡°Then¡­ when will you give me the map?¡±

    ¡°Right now.¡±

    Before it even finished speaking, a golden beam of light shot straight into the center of Qin Ye¡¯s forehead. Qin Ye felt his entire body tremble vigorously, he blinked once, and then fainted and copsed onto the ground with a dull thud.

    ¡°Is he alright?¡± Arthis asked casually.

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine.¡± The Mirror of Eminence responded, ¡°The old Hell was massive. It¡¯s total size spanned an area of millions of square kilometers. I¡¯d directly imprinted the information into his mind using a technique. Unfortunately, there¡¯s just too much information, and he was unable to process it all at once. He¡¯lle to his senses within a few days¡¯ time.¡±

    Qin Ye could no longer hear what they were saying.

    At this very moment, his physical body was unconscious, but his soul had just been transported into an iparably vast world.

    A wealth of Yin energy flowed through this world. The sky was covered with shes of scarlet lightning, while immense pirs ofherfire rose ten thousand feet from the ground. A massive megalopolis,pletely intact, appeared right in front of his eyes.

    Hundreds of millions of Yin spirits converged from all directions. The terrifying Yin energy in this ce made his breaths grow ragged. But at the same time, he felt as though he were looking at everything from the eyes of a heavenly emperor staring straight down onto the unimaginably majestic megalopolis!

    A towering stone monument was ced right at the gates to the megalopolis, and there was a single, blood-red word written on it with powerful, imposing strokes!

    Fengdu!

    The six paths of reincarnation, the Ten Abyssal Courts, the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, the Naraka Bridge, the Three Births Stone, etc. Everything was here. This was the exact snapshot of the state of Hell just before the cmitous event that threw Hell into a massive upheaval!

    <hr>

    1. Often called the Three Corpses or the Three Worms, this is a Taoist physiological belief that demonic creatures live inside the human body, and they seek to hasten the death of their host. For a Taoist to gain eternal life, he would have to expel these supernatural beings from their body.

    2. Having its reference to the fabled Bao Zheng, better known as Bao Gong or Justice Bao, a judge who used his wisdom to ovee corruption on several ounts.

    3. This is a stone that sits by the Tides of Neglect that is supposed to be a record of all our past and present lives.

 Chapter 136: Three Thousand Years of Fengdu

    <h4>Chapter 136: Three Thousand Years of Fengdu</h4>

    It was difficult to express in words.

    It was practically indescribable.

    Its sheer resplendence, splendour, majesty and glory, and the billowing tides of Yin energy¡­ words were insufficient to describe this massive city.

    Its size was incredible. It was sorge that it couldn¡¯t properly be described as a city. Qin Ye looked down at it from a god¡¯s perspective, and the first thing he saw was a thumbnail sketch in the likeness of Cathay. In that regard, Fengdu Necropolis itself¡­ was almost asrge as an entire province!

    Even though he was gazing down from above, he could still clearly see the vast vestiges of its area of influence from the billions of ghastlyherfire that hovered around. Innumerable Yin spirits were pouring in from all directions like tiny mosquitoes to a sulent prey. It was the hallmark of Hell.

    Fengdu Necropolis.

    The core of the underworld!

    Wherever his eyes went, his vision would zoom in to that locality automatically. He saw everything clearly¡­ every city, county, and even vige had their own sets of unique structures and buildings in them.

    The special structures in the cities were massive, but less so in the counties and towns. And when it came to the viges, the special buildings were generally no more than a simple temple with dozens of stone steles and sacrificial altars.

    Didn¡¯t seem like much?

    No. Apart from some parts along the edges of the old Hell that hadn¡¯t been subject to expansion works, there were thousands of counties, hundreds of cities, and tens of thousands of viges scattered all over Hell. The buildings and structures erected all over the old Hell wasparable to the glory of the sea and the splendour of the stars!

    ¡°Just¡­ how many years is it going to take before the new Hell gets there?¡± His pupils quivered as he shifted his gaze towards the location where the Pearl River Delta was located, where countless mourning halls and innumerable ancient tomb steles stood. Yang City was an ancient mega-city that stood grandly in the core of the Pearl River Delta. The city itself spanned a hundred miles across!

    The mega city was somewhat shrouded by the confluence of dense Yin energy and a multitude of ghostly soulfires. It didn¡¯t have tall skyscrapers that aremonly seen in modern day society. Yet even though it was far from modernized, the prosperity it enjoyed was still undeniable. It stood solemn and austere, and as far as the eyes could see, there were countless pavilions erected everywhere. It was almost akin to the ancient Ebang Pce of the Qin Dynasty!

    And if one counted only cities asrge as Yang City¡­ there would be a total of fifteen such cities in the entire old Hell!

    Qin Ye knew that back in the mortal realm, there were only ten cities asrge as Yang City across all of Cathay. In other words, Hell wasrger than Cathay!

    ¡°Such prosperity must have been brought about by the fact that the ruling power has remained unchanged for thousands of years¡­¡± Eximing softly, he turned to look back at the location where Yan Capital was located in Cathay. Fengdu Necropolis was located right there.

    The image zoomed in as he willed it to, and his perspective quickly homed in on his focal point, as though he were descending from the sky and rushing straight towards the heart of the necropolis. But just then, he felt his illusory body collide into an invisible force. And then, he couldn¡¯t get any closer.

    Fengdu Necropolis was still thousands of meters away. Even then, he could already see the streets in the city form a massive transportation web. Residential districts were scattered all around the outskirts of the necropolis and illuminated by a constetion ofherfirenterns. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t take a single step closer.

    ¡°Insufficient authority to draw any closer.¡±

    Qin Ye almost spat out blood as soon as he heard the voice boom out of nowhere.

    There¡¯s still a hidden function like this?

    Fengdu Necropolis is right in front of my eyes! My pants are already down, and yet you tell me now that I¡¯ve got insufficient authority to view any further?

    ¡°The fact that you¡¯re looking at this right now is proof that you¡¯ve properly assumed the tall task of reestablishing Hell¡­¡± As the old voice resounded through the air, the Yin energy in the surroundings quickly gathered together to form an illusory figure.

    Granny Meng!

    Qin Ye waspletely stunned. After some moments, he chuckled in dismay, ¡°Why are you everywhere? You¡¯ve got to know when to stop searching for the purpose of your existence.¡±

    However, Granny Meng simply ignored him and continued her spiel, ¡°Fengdu Necropolis is the essence of Hell. The cement of every structure and each of its design have all been subjected to rigorous calctions and processes. This ce isn¡¯t only the capital of Hell¡­ it¡¯s also a massive, powerful Hell-shattering existence that has taken thousands of years to construct. It¡¯s a gargantuan supreme treasure of Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked, made his way over towards Granny Meng and waved his hands in front of her eyes. And then he shed his middle finger at her. However, she still didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°I guess this is a form of spiritual conscience that she¡¯d left behind in the ancient manuscript?¡± His hand passed through Granny Meng¡¯s illusory body. She was nothing more than a speaking projection of her former self.

    ¡°Look.¡± Granny Meng slowly lifted her hands and appeared to press down onto Fengdu Necropolis in the distance. In that instant, a deep blue light blossomed from the outrageouslyrge pce in the heart of the necropolis. And then¡­ the entire system of buildings in Fengdu Necropolis began to light up from the very center in a chaotic yet somewhat orderly fashion! Within minutes, the entire Fengdu Necropolis revealed a massive rune formed by the deep blue light!

    It appeared somewhat akin to an ancient Buddhist text, and yet there were some apparent differences as well. Regardless, it was a massive rune that was etched onto thend - grand and splendid.

    ¡°That¡¯s spectacr¡­¡± Qin Ye murmured to himself.

    Granny Meng lifted her hands gently. In an instant, the whole Fengdu Necropolis appeared to have beenpletely dug up from the ground, while the clouds and the sky appeared to whiz past Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. By the time he returned to his senses, there was already a massive cross-section view of the Fengdu Necropolis right in front of his eyes. And he was only asrge as an ant next to it.

    And the first thing he saw was the existence of a heavily-guarded abyss filled with inferno, frigid ice and cauldrons of oil, and surrounded by a mountain of des and a sea of fire!

    He could see Hellguards carrying a mourning staff and wearing tall pointed hats as they scurried and darted about like ants with dozens of Operatives trailing closely behind. Innumerable Soul Hunters were flying about in their Hell¡¯s Emissary states like a swarm of mosquitoes¡­ and Qin Ye could even see the face of men, women and children peeking out of the raging tide of Yin energy that erupted from the abyss from time to time. These men, women and children bore the appearance of both the rich and the poor alike, and all of them were screaming and shrieking as they were swallowed by the raging tides of dark Yin energy. It was as though they were repenting and atoning for the sins of their past lives!

    ¡°This is the imperial prison of Hell. It is responsible for holding convicts who are to be sent to the six paths of reincarnation or the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment. No matter how much or how hard they try, none of them will ever be able to breach the surface of the ground and escape their present predicament. As things are right now, are you able to construct a prison cell that is equivalent to this?¡±

    Before she could even finish speaking, the cross-section of Fengdu Necropolis vanished right before his very eyes. In that instant, he saw thirty-four districts in the distance with plumes of dense Yin energy rising high into the sky. There was an abyss of poisonous fire, an abyss of ck ropes, and other abysses that were constantly emitting blood-curdling, miserable screams. And there were even¡­ innumerable Yin spirits that were bound by rope being led towards these locations from every direction. All of them slowly trudged their way over as though they were stiff machines.

    They looked like flocks of migratory corpses.

    ¡°Ten Abyssal Courts, Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, and the six paths of reincarnation¡­ These are all part and parcel of Hell¡¯s machinations to measure the weight of a person¡¯s guilt in their lives. Are you able to rebuild these things as well?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The images before his eyes dissipated like wisps of Yin energy once more. Granny Meng put her sleeves together and spoke with a hoarse voice, ¡°The more you see, the more dazzled and confused you¡¯ll be. The more you think about it, the more you¡¯ll be tempted to put the cart before the horse and undertake an unreasonably tall task. I¡¯m telling you all these things because I want you to know that now is not the time for you to be considering anything that is outside the scope of your abilities.¡±

    ¡°This is the state of a city of thousands of years of history under its belt. You have to take things one step at a time. Your approach to this grand construction project should start with the most basic unit of a vige. Start slow, and ease in gradually. Develop your first capital, and see through the expansion of a ring of roads and facilities around the capital. And at that time, when you finally start to feel the need to shift the capital, that¡¯s when you should start to consider the construction of Fengdu.¡±

    Qin Ye returned to his senses and nodded deeply.

    No matter how gorgeous a brocade was, it was still embroidered one stitch at a time.

    He wasn¡¯t qualified to start on the core pattern for the brocade as things stood right now. What he needed to do right now was to practice the basics and improve on his techniques.

    After a protracted, deliberative pause, Granny Meng finally spoke once more, ¡°Kid, this should be thest time we¡¯re seeing each other¡­¡±

    Her voice softened, and even developed a hint of regret and frustration, ¡°I¡¯ll admit that this old bag of bones had indeed deceived you in the beginning. But I still don¡¯t believe this admission forms any basis for you to bargain with me.¡±

    Her gaze shifted into the distance and grew hollow and vacant, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t think that reestablishing Hell was the result of someone¡¯s schemes against you. Nothing happens by chance, and everything is predetermined by cause and effect. You didn¡¯t want to die, and for that reason you epted the appointment as an Emissary of Hell and actively sought out the first shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. In the end, you stepped above billions of living people and gained the right to eternal life and eternal youth.¡±

    A gloomyhergale picked up, sending her head of white hair fluttering wildly, ¡°The greatest gift to all humans is life.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve received the most precious gift of eternal life, and karma naturally necessitates amensurate trade-off. This is all part of¡­ the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    ¡°Nothing is free in this world. What you¡¯re doing now is only¡­ fair.¡±

    Shaa¡­ Thehergale picked up, and Granny Meng¡¯s faint illusory body quickly passed away like a candle in the wind.

    The entire realm quietened down, leaving only Qin Ye and the immeasurably vast overview of Hell in front of his eye. The moonrise and its multitude of constetions formed a backdrop of solitude behind him.

    Qin Ye grew taciturn. Several momentster, he yelled, ¡°Old granny?¡±

    No response.

    ¡°If you don¡¯te out now, I¡¯m quitting, alright?¡±

    Still no response.

    After five minutes, Qin Ye chuckled bitterly, ¡°I was amoner working thends in Nanyang, only hoping to scrape by in a prosperous world, never dreaming to rank as one among the officials... Why do you insist on making me the saviour of the world?¡±

    He looked down at the golden, gleaming map below with aplicated gaze in his eyes. Several minutester, he smiled, ¡°But¡­ it¡¯s just as well.¡±

    Very well.

    He wanted to bezy and cruise along. The world around him was incredibly prosperous, and it mattered little to him whether he lived the next century in glory or in the shadows. And yet, there was also a likelihood that he would have to constantly maintain a front of hypocrisy as soon as he rose to fame.

    It was troublesome.

    He had no desire to participate in the affairs of the mortal realm and theherworld. But this was subject to the precondition that no one would interfere with his simple life either.

    But now, the daolord located in Westriver was already eagerly eyeing the two shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his hands. Furthermore, he was an Emissary of Hell, and there were certain things that he simply couldn¡¯t turn a blind eye to, such as the incident with That Amorous Affair, or the incident involving the Li family in Mount Tai City.

    The wheels of karma had already begun to turn as soon as he rescued himself from the three day limit of certain death.

    ¡°Actually, when I think about it, reestablishing Hell is a truly meaningful and fulfilling job.¡± He smiled as thehergale gently tousled his clothes, ¡°I¡­ have lived for far too long now. I¡¯m always looking for something meaningful to do with my life, yet, after decades of existence, I¡¯ve seen practically all there is to see.¡±

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, why don¡¯t I¡­¡±

    Whoosh! His gaze suddenly turned towards a vige. In that instant, countless pieces of information, including names, data, and runes poured right into his pupil.

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve given my word, why don¡¯t I give it my all for once?¡±

    Packets of information poured right into his mind and entered his mind, and he gradually understood the essentials of what a vige-sized Hell needed.

    ¡°Sacrificial tform¡­ soul induction tform¡­ Hell¡¯s Gate¡­ ferryman¡­¡±

    ¡°The soul induction tform¡¯s specifications are¡­ the runic symbol required is¡­¡±

    ¡°The ferryman¡­ is optional in the absence of the Yellow Springs. But the soul containment hall is practically an essential structure¡­ And it seems like I¡¯ll need more than construction materials... I¡¯ve got to procure some writing cinnabar when I¡¯ve got the time as well¡­¡±

    1. This is a feeble trantion of a poem written by the legendary Zhuge Liang, a chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer and inventor who served as the chancellor and regent of state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.

 Chapter 137: The East Wind Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 137: The East Wind Arrives</h4>

    Emotional, affectionate and steadfast¡­ just like the two dolphins in the drama serial ¡°At the Dolphin Bay¡±.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just shift your disgusting gaze away a little?¡± Qin Ye had the look of a bodhi on his face as he drew something on some paper in front of him. He continued with a deep, unwavering voice, ¡°I¡¯m a straight man, thank you very much. Ramrod straight. It doesn¡¯t matter what position you use or whether you attack me with the Durex KY Jelly lube. I¡¯ll still refuse your advances.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s stoic expression faded away, and he immediately grew displeased, ¡°I don¡¯t like what I¡¯m hearing - what do you mean by ¡®just your looks¡¯? I¡¯ve always been the benchmark of attractiveness before you came along, alright?!¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered to pay anymore attention to the hotmodity in front of him that was a ramshackle of muscles, and he subconsciously twirled the pen in his hands. There were several sheets of paper in front of him right now, each of which depicted the facades of several buildings of Hell. He was currently drawing up the buildings of Hell with the aid of his limited drawing abilities.

    It had been five days since he had delved into the topological map of Hell. Over thest few nights, save for three to four hours of sleep a night, Qin Ye had been painstakingly recalling and recording the specifications of every building and structure he had seen in the vige of the old Hell. His eye bags were sorge that present appearances were no different from that of a panda.

    Soul induction tform.

    Without this, there was simply no telling how much obstruction Emissaries of Hell would encounter when they reaped souls in future. Few people, if any, were willing to leave the mortal realm of their own volition, especially when they have just passed on. After all, who in their right mind would be willing to be strung up with rope and led to Hell like a row of ants? If one or two of Yin spirits end up escaping, or if an Emissary of Hell fails to arrive on scene in time, the consequences could well be dire.

    Some Yin spirits, such as the spirits of cultivators, be too powerful after death. These special Yin spirits are able to remain in the mortal realm for a protracted period of time, or even awaken from their stupor and regain their consciousness as soon as they reach the entrance to Hell. These Yin spirits might even develop the notion that they shouldn¡¯t go down to Hell. Whenever something like that happens, the soul induction tform would have to be activated in order to forcibly drag these Yin spirits down to Hell.

    ¡°And what makes my balls ache is the fact that the soul induction tform draws its power from the six paths of reincarnation. It¡¯s almost as though the six paths are the mainframe, while the soul induction tform is merely an extension of it - it would be equipped with certain functions of the mainframe, but it could neverpare with the mainframe at all.¡± Qin Ye nearly broke the tip of his pen in frustration, ¡°The soul induction tform is supposed to be able to suppress the memories of the Yin spirit until they arrive at the Naraka Bridge. But as things stand right now¡­ its power willst for one full day at best¡­¡±

    Should he still construct the weakened version of the soul induction tform?

    ¡°Uh-huh?¡± Lin Han grunted with a stern, no-nonsense expression, as though he were seriously paying attention in ss right now.

    Lin Han stared back at Qin Ye as though he¡¯d just seen a ghost, and yet there was also an expression of ¡°been there, done that¡± written all over his face, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve got such an antiquated mindset¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying ¡®what if¡¯! Don¡¯t you know what ¡®what if¡¯ means?¡±

    He coughed lightly, ¡°Although I¡¯m not sure which college girl this is, the first thing you¡¯ve got to know is that it¡¯s simply irresponsible to have a child while she¡¯s still in college. We¡¯re as good as agents of thew, and it¡¯s not right if we know thew yet break it¡­ What the hell, where did your sabere from? Put it down, dear, let¡¯s talk things through nicely¡­¡±

    Qin Ye was so annoyed by how ludicrous Lin Han¡¯s responses were that he became tickled by it instead. He should have known better than to have broached the issue with such a silly analogy. Qin Ye sneered coldly, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get a vasectomy?¡±

    How did you even pass the Special Investigations Department¡¯s test and interviews to begin with?!

    They were clearly operating on different wavelengths, so Qin Ye gave up this line of inquiry with Lin Han. His eyes fell back onto the exercise book in front of him. After a long time, he sighed once more, and crossed out two of the three buildings drawn on it.

    The otion receptacle was something that enabled the offerings made during the three major ghost festivals to pass directly into Hell. And get this - they went straight to the government, and not into the possession of their intended recipients!

    This waspletely outrageous.

    And mind you, this was an extremelyvish pce to boot, replete with proper pavilions and beautiful wall murals. Word even had it that the main pce gate waspletely gilded with gold, and the tiles were all handcrafted zed tiles. The technique for making such tiles was practically a lost art¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll admit your brilliance when ites to profiteering from the dead¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed with resignation as he turned to the final building in his notebook.

    This building had only one purpose¡­ and that was to detect the possibility of mutations in the Yin spirits within its vicinity!

    This was Hell¡¯s radar.

    ¡°The City of Salvation is extremely safe, and there¡¯s simply no need for this building at this point in time. It¡¯s never toote to build itter on when I¡¯m developing the next city of Hell. What¡¯s most important now is to focus on settling the ghostly citizens in proper lodging, and then giving them something to do. Establishing a smallmunity would kill two birds with one stone. Everything else¡­ can be set aside for now.¡±

    How vast were these reconstruction works of Hell? It could practically be described to be one of the greatest projects in the history of the world! In fact, it was simply impossible to estimate at this stage the amount of space they would have to set aside for future ns, or the specifications or dimension of the other special structures and buildings of Hell. All this while, it was as though he were treading precariously on thin ice in the dark. And yet, this moment of rity felt like a brief moment of respite, like an autumn morning breeze sweeping away the gloomy darkness!

    ¡°Everything has now been sorted out. All we need now is for the east wind to blow in our favour.¡± He leaned back on his seat and immediately felt a tide of weariness surge straight into his body. His entire body felt like it had finally been loosened from its tightly wound state, and every single one of his cells cheered with tion at the moment of reprieve.

    ¡°Our Cathayan words have inked five thousand years of history, the world shall know¡­¡± A phone¡¯s ringtone resounded. Qin Ye rubbed his reddened eyes, yawned loudly, and immediately answered the call without even checking who the caller was, ¡°Hello?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s sleepiness immediately dissipated like smoke, and he wiped his face with his hands, ¡°Have you managed to procure the construction equipment?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Do you want to inspect the goods now? They¡¯re currently held in 231-4 Clearspring Street, where the former cable factory was located.¡±

    Humans are strange creatures. Previously when there was no goal for him to work towards, Qin Ye would be so lethargic andid back that he would constantly invite the finger from those around him. Yet as soon as he fixed his eyes on a goal, his body instinctually moved with incredible vigor.

    One hourter, he finally arrived at the entrance to the factory. A man in his twenties was already waiting there for him with more than a dozen people around him. As soon as he saw Qin Ye¡¯s arrival, he immediately extended his hand politely, ¡°Mr Qin, Mr Sun has instructed us to serve you well. This is why we have mobilized our staff and the representatives of variouspanies to exin everything to your satisfaction.¡±

    These premises had already been abandoned for some time now, and the factory instations had already been razed to the ground. It was evident that the remaining buildings had been regrly maintained by someone else.

    Zhao Prefecture Industries, Tai Prefecture Instruments, Mistriver Steel¡­ His eyes swept across the row of towering steel behemoths, and his heart immediately burned with passion as he looked at the names of the somewhat familiar heavy industrial groups. These were all names which he had heard of before.

    He hade a long way - from denial, to eptance, and to his present state of embracing initiatives. This tall order had even assumed centerstage as the core ambition of his life! It had taken several months, and there was a mountain of things to be done, but was finally on the road to being restored to its former glory right now!

    It was a brand new start!

    This was the prelude to a new era of glory that would cause the entire Cathay to tremble!

    1. This is a variety of ancient chinese seal scripts. The namees from the tadpole-shaped characters with big heads and tails. These scripts appeared after the Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD), and was rarely seen after the Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 907 AD).

    2. These are lyrics to a song called ÉúÆ§×Ö (loosely tranted as ¡®Unfamiliar Words¡¯), by ³Â¿ÂÓî (Chen Keyu)

 Chapter 138: In Debt Again and Again

    <h4>Chapter 138: In Debt Again and Again</h4>

    Even though the factory instations had already been razed to the ground, there were still tall light posts around the facility that were in good working condition. As soon as they were switched on, the bright flood lights immediately painted a beautiful sheen of lustre over the pieces of machinery and equipment lying around, casting the spotlight over the beautiful pieces of engineering marvels around.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath to suppress the burning anticipation in his heart. Secretary Wu keenly picked up on Qin Ye¡¯s eagerness and smiled, ¡°Themencement of any construction works first requires you to prepare thend for its purposes. Therefore, the first piece of equipment on site would invariably be the excavator. The excavators on the market are currently divided into three different grades, namely the foreign brands, the joint venture brands, and the domestic brands. The order I¡¯ve just given you ranks them in order from first tost, not in terms of their quality, but in terms of their price.¡±

    In the past, Qin Ye would have had no interest whatsoever in such machinery and equipment. But right now, he was listening with great interest. And how could Secretary Wu miss the telltale expressions on Qin Ye¡¯s face? Secretary Wu immediately rode the wave and borated, ¡°There are even sub-distinctions among the domestic brands alone. Products of Mistriver, Tai Prefecture and Zhao Prefecture are the best in quality. Rest assured, we¡¯re in the business, so we naturally know what brands are a good bargain, and what aren¡¯t. Things like selling price and reputation of the goods are things you can look into and verify at any time.¡±

    Qin Ye listened carefully. Although he didn¡¯t think that Sun Kangliang would dare lie to him, he still had to be careful and cautious during the handover process. After all¡­ he¡¯d seen far too many businessmen to treat them with callousness.

    ¡°What about the price?¡± Qin Ye had already calmed down by now, and he surveyed the entire room full of construction equipment and materials as he asked with a deep voice.

    ¡°Foreign brands cost approximately 1.3 to 1.4 million or so. A good joint venture product costs well in the region of 800,000 to 900,000 as well. That said, domestic products are generally far cheaper than that. We¡¯d purchased second-hand goods from the Mistriver Group.¡± Secretary Wu smiled as he pointed to ady behind him, ¡°She¡¯s a sales representative from Mistriver Steel, and she has the exact specifications of the excavator with her. You can run through the figures with her if you wish.¡±

    Qin Ye received a sheet of specifications from her and scanned through its details.

    ¡°Model number: EC140B. Engine model: D4D, EAE1, Cathay. D4D, EAE2, North Usonia. D4D, EBE2, Nippon¡­ Transmission model: M2X63-CHB. Number of support wheels: 14. Number of track sections: 45 tracks, 41 tracks¡­¡±

    It was quite professional.

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t understand a single thing.

    Notwithstanding that, there were times when one had to pretend to understand something even though one knew nothing¡­ And the sales representative would simrly look at their paymasters in front of them and give them a titudinous look of praise.

    The service provided was undoubtedly well-rounded.

    Qin Ye continued to scan through the document to the very end, until he saw a striking line of words.

    ¡°Total price: 580,000 RMB.¡±

    Qin Ye was stunned and startled, ¡°How much?¡±

    580,000 for a domestic brand excavator?!

    Then the two million I have¡­ no, isn¡¯t this just a huge sum of money?

    Do you have a misconception of what ¡°far cheaper¡± means? Why do I get the feeling that¡­ I¡¯m not even worthy to break into the construction scene?

    ¡°It¡¯s 580,000 alright.¡± Secretary Wu took out his phone and showed Qin Ye a receipt settling out a detailed list of items with the same faint smile on his face, ¡°Your request to Chief Sun was for arge quantity of building materials, together with a few construction equipment and machinery. If you want brand new, top quality goods, I¡¯m afraid you would only be able to afford three of these pieces of equipment and machinery. Chief Sun had taken the liberty to procure for you some second hand goods that haven¡¯t been used for too long. That said, the total price for everything still amounts to 4.8 million. Please take a look.¡±

    Qin Ye took the cell phone from Secretary Wu and scrutinized every line of it. Minutester, and with a growing throbbing sensation at the corner of his eyes, he muttered, ¡°Then¡­ what about the excess 2.8 million¡­¡±

    ¡°Chief Sun says that you can treat it as his personal loan to you. This sum has been routed through the ounts of his brother-inw¡¯spany, and there wouldn¡¯t be any issues if you¡¯re able to pay it off within four years. It¡¯spletely interest free. You can treat it as a personal favor of Chief Sun to you.¡± Secretary Wu maintained the faint smile on his face.

    Qin Ye: ¡°Hahaha¡­¡±

    You have the cheek to call it a personal favor¡­

    If it¡¯s a personal favor, why don¡¯t you just write off this sum of money?

    This is 2.8 million we¡¯re talking about¡­ This is hardly arge sum of money to a constructionpany¡­ perhaps it can¡¯t evenmission the construction of a set of public toilets. But¡­ to someone like me who had been struggling to get by with my humble coffin business just a few months ago, how am I supposed to repay such an enormous sum in just four years¡¯ time?!

    Sigh. Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, and the way of heaven is good. If you don''t believe it, look up and see who the heavens have spared¡­

    ¡°Mr Qin, do you have any questions?¡± Secretary Wu immediately noticed that Qin Ye¡¯s expressions had grown peculiar. No¡­ it wasn¡¯t just peculiar, but Qin Ye¡¯s expressions had turned from rosy and radiant, to livid and ashen, and thenpletely ck and grim. It was for this reason that Secretary Wu probed cautiously.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡­ I¡¯ll take a look over here on my own, and I¡¯ll get back to you shortly.¡± Qin Ye tightened his grip around Secretary Wu¡¯s phone and walked to the other side of the excavator, and then gritted his teeth as he hammered the excavator several times - Dong! Dong! Dong!

    Sucker!

    You¡¯re a sucker for hardship!

    What¡¯s wrong with being a simple man? Isn¡¯t it great to lead a simple, pure and free life? Why did you have to take on this damned, deadly mission?! And you¡¯re already 2.8 million in arrears before anything has even begun! Bloody hell¡­ this reeks of being cornered by creditors¡­

    ¡°Mr Qin?¡± Secretary Wu¡¯s shadowy figure appeared at the end of the aisle between the various vehicles as he asked worriedly, ¡°Are you alright? We heard a strange crashing sound earlier¡­¡±

    Qin Ye responded lightheartedly, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll call out if anything happens.¡±

    Then, as soon as Secretary Wu turned the corner once more, he immediately clutched at his chest once more - It hurts¡­ bloody hell¡­ where did this faint prickling sensatione from?

    ¡°Reject them?¡± He rubbed his temples as he thought aloud.

    Yet, he sighed almost as soon as he blurted out those words.

    An interest-free loan was truly a favor when all was said and done. Even though these equipment and machinery were worth nothing more than a drop in the ocean given the sheer magnitude of Hell, it didn¡¯t change the fact Hell was currently destitute, and these equipment and machinery were still aid rendered in times of trouble. There was simply no way Qin Ye could refuse these.

    Meanwhile, back in Qin Ye¡¯s dorm room, an ancient mirrorzily rolled over and murmured, ¡°Eh? I¡¯ve detected that an Emissary of Hell isn¡¯tplying with the rules of engagement between theherworld and the mortal realm. Should I do something about it to set things straight?¡±

    With an oppressive debt of 2.8 million looming over his head, Qin Ye had no choice but to inspect the receipt in detail.

    ¡°This is the bulldozer.¡± Secretary Wu walked alongside Qin Ye and exined, ¡°It is generally used in conjunction with an excavator toplete the initial set of works. The excavator would go in first, and then the bulldozer would go in to pick up the dirt and debris dug up by the excavator. This was something that we¡¯d specifically picked out for you. This is generally more effective than other bulldozers of its kind because of its automated feature and continuous track system. All you¡¯ll need to do is to simply load the dirt and debris onto the tipper trucks, and you can send those trucks away to the dump sites. Every one of thesee in various shapes and sizes. If you want the whole set, it¡¯ll set you back approximately eight to nine million immediately. Therefore, we went with only the bare essentials.¡±

    ¡°These are the lifting machines,monly known as the tower cranes. They are also self-erecting variants, mast variants, and grapple variants. The standard tower cranes are the ones mostmonly used in construction works. Also called a boom lift, cranes that are used within factories don¡¯t cost more than 20,000, but those that can be used for construction projects up to thirty storeys high¡­¡±

    Qin Ye listened in awe. Fortunately, Secretary Wu didn¡¯t continue to talk about the price, so he was able to set his heart more at ease as he listened on intently.

    Secretary Wu continued, ¡°This is the T5013 model, and it has a three-ton lifting mechanism, sixty-three modes, and an RCV slewing mechanism. It has a height of twenty meters, and it functions using the imported Schneider electronics. This bears the mark of the Zhao Prefecture Industries, and it is top of the line. It¡¯s also a second-hand product in rtively good condition. Some of the smallerpanies in this industry aren¡¯t able to secure another project after thepletion of their previous one, and they were forced to lease out their machinery and equipment in order to keep their business afloat. We took the liberty to purchase one of these cranes from them.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t know how to react.

    He would¡¯ve liked to rent these equipment and machinery as well¡­

    But all of these things had to be incinerated if they were to be transported to Hell in the first ce! How was he going to return these things after use?!

    ¡°This is a road roller, used to level andpact the ground in foundation works¡­ This is a pile driver¡­ In summary, the equipment alone already costs well over two million in total.¡± Half an hourter, Secretary Wu finallypleted his series of exnations and paused right next to the building materials, ¡°This is a 5cm diameter split steel bar. We¡¯ve already done the tensile test and cold bend test. These are all of the same brand, the same furnace serial number, the same variety, the same size, and part of the same lot.¡±

    And he came full circle to discuss the issue of money once more. Qin Ye¡¯s mind was already numb from these figures.

    ¡°The price of steel wire of numbers 6.5-10 on the wire gauge is 3,540 RMB per ton; the price of steel wire of numbers 12-14 on the wire gauge with secondary threads is 3,590 RMB per ton, and the price of steel wire of number 16 on the wire gauge with secondary threads is 3,560 RMB per ton¡­, you are free to verify all of these details. There are sixty tons in total. If Mr Qin wishes to take a closer inspection of the goods, we¡¯ve also brought along an inspection device and our expert.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Qin Ye shook his head. These were things that only professionals would understand.

    ¡°There are also some samples of wood and their corresponding specifications on the side. Mr Qin, would you like to take a look at these?¡±

    Qin Ye thought about it, and then refused. Hell was currently full of wood, and all he needed was simply a sawmill and some other wood-processing equipment.

    Secretary Wu brought over a stack of documents, and Qin Ye looked through the same for the next twenty minutes before finally signing his name onto these documents. As he returned the documents to Secretary Wu, he added, ¡°Tell Sun Kangliang that if he encounters anything peculiar in future, he can approach me directly. He¡¯ll know what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mr Qin.¡± Even though Secretary Wu didn¡¯t understand just what this enigmatic phrase meant, he still smiled genially and nodded at Qin Ye before leaving the room with his entourage of representatives and experts.

    They were finally gone. The facility was his to use for the next two days. Qin Ye sat in the excavator¡¯s control seat and sighed wistfully as he gazed into the distant night sky.

    It¡¯s all too costly¡­

    I guess the construction industry truly functions on credit. How little do I have right now? I don¡¯t think I have enough to even be able toplete a single storey of any of the neighbourhoods around. My efficiency would be incredibly low given the state of my equipment right now as well. Yet all of this had still set me back by several millions at once. And this was even after Sun Kangliang noticed myck of funds and took the initiative to procure second-hand goods to boot.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even have the courage to ask Secretary Wu how much it would cost to construct an entire neighbourhood from scratch.

    Then¡­ how much money would I need to reconstruct the entire Hell?

    Qin-poorest-King-Yanluo-in-history-Ye simply dared not think about these things.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to locate the missing link as soon as possible.¡± He frowned as he stood up and paced around, ¡°Hell¡¯s financial system hasn¡¯t been developed yet, but there will certainlye a point in future when the economies of Hell and the mortal realm be interdependent on each other. Otherwise¡­ how long is it going to take for me to earn billions on my own just so that I could finance the reestablishment of Hell?¡±

    ¡°The best way to do it would be to exchange the specialty products of Hell for goods in the mortal realm. But¡­ I¡¯ll probably have to check on these matters with Arthister. Things are far too inefficient right now¡­ That said, that old hag didn¡¯t say anything about these things earlier on. Given how she only seems to know to eat, drink and poop, she probably doesn¡¯t know a thing about Hell¡¯s finances anyway¡­¡±

    Arthis was catching up on her serials when she suddenly furrowed her brows - she had sensed that someone was ndering her from afar¡­

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t immediately paste the talismans on the good. He had previously checked that the incineration of goods with the talisman waspletely different from the effects of regr incineration - nobody would notice a thing when it happened. That said, this was still a provincial capital when all was said and done, and it was far better to err on the side of caution.

    When the clock struck four in the morning, he finally affixed the talisman to everything. After infusing each talisman with his Yin energy, everything quickly began to char and turn ck, albeit without a single bit of fire or light. There wasn¡¯t even a single trace of burning stench. It was¡­ almost as though everything had turned into paper. Within ten minutes, the machinery, equipment and construction materials that were originally ced neatly all across the entire facility grounds disintegrated into ck paper ash and scattered into the night sky.

    ¡°Everything is finally ready.¡± Having been high-strung for several days on end, he finally loosened his tense spirits and rxed his body. He gazed earnestly at the scattering ash that was floating into the dark of the night, and he finally shut his eyes with another heavy sigh.

    Everything was ready.

    The boat was ready to sail.

    And the east wind was blowing.

    All that he needed right now was the final piece of the puzzle that was the design drawing from the design department, and the construction site in Hell¡­ The inauguration of the construction works would be something that he had painstakingly forged from poverty!

 Chapter 139: Design Drawing

    <h4>Chapter 139: Design Drawing</h4>

    In the days that followed, Qin Ye immersed himself fully into his studies.

    It couldn''t be helped¡­ Both he and Lin Han had be a thorn in Zhou Xianlong¡¯s sights. As long as he sat in during sses for observation, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes would be transfixed on both Qin Ye and Lin Han. Before they realized it, they had each already been penalized with a deduction of approximately seven teaching credits!

    Zhou Xianlong no longer broadcasted the ranking situation with the teaching credits. After some private discussions among the instructors, Qin Ye, Su Feng and the rest concluded that the organizing staff would probably keep mum about the ranking situation until the end of the two months. Qin Ye was currently leading in terms of teaching credits. As long as he didn¡¯t sustain too many more penalties, he would probably end up among the top of the list.

    This was the advantage of those who started off well.

    Notwithstanding theck ofmunication on the rankings during this period, the threat of dismissal loomed over the heads of the instructors like a sword of Damocles - especially those who didn¡¯t think that they had sufficient points. It was tough. There were only that many extra-curricr tasks to go around. Qin Ye had previously asked around about these tasks as well, only to discover that the ones who didn¡¯t manage to secure a task amounted to approximately half of the entire cohort! In fact, he estimated that the figures were closer to two-thirds of the entire cohort!

    Therefore, there were countless instructors who arrived way earlier than Qin Ye for every single ss at the Insignia University, all of whom bore the hope that Li Tao and Xu Anguo would take notice of them during their random checks, take pity on them, and award them a bonus one or two teaching credits. They would even take notes in an incredibly prim and proper manner. Such efforts eventually paid off as there were several instructors who managed to secure at least five bonus credits for themselves over the course of the two months at Insignia University.

    Unfortunately, these bonus points did nothing more than to allow them to toe the passing mark at best. These points did little to allow them topete with Qin Ye, who was well in the first ce.

    ¡°I sincerely take pity on you guys.¡± Qin Ye smacked his lips as he nced at the other students around as though he were the top student and they were g. Qin Ye had arrived at the tiered lecture hall ten minutes before ss. Today was the first lecture of an elective course taught by Professor Zhu of the Faculty of Computer Sciences. As soon as he entered the lecture hall through the back door, he noticed that the entire back row was already filled with nearly a hundredpatriots with grim expressions on their faces.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a question of pity or not.¡± Local Bully was munching on his pancake and drinking soy milk as he sighed with exasperation, ¡°Which of us here wants to be sent back empty handed?¡±

    He slurped up the remaining contents of his soy milk, crushed the cup and tossed it urately into the bin behind him as hezily added, ¡°Someone with a full stomach like you can never understand what us famished and deprived folks are going through. All of us here are elites in our own rights, no matter which province or city we hail from. Some are even deputies in their local branch office of the Special Investigations Department. What would they do if they are to return empty handed before the school term even begins proper? Where would they hide their face after that¡­?¡±

    ¡°... Local Bully, I find your current train of thought rather dangerous. You¡¯ve been nothing but a bunch of sour grapes ever since I¡¯d taken the top spot in the teaching credits ranking system, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s just¡­ just¡­ Hang on, who the hell are you calling Local Bully?!¡±

    Just like that, time trickled by quickly. They had been sitting in and observing sses for over forty days now. As the moment of reckoning drew closer and closer, the less the instructors had the heart to interact with each other, and the entire atmosphere grew¡­ tense and thick.

    The question in everyone¡¯s minds was no longer ¡°I want to rank among the top of the ss"; rather, the questions sprouting up in everyone¡¯s minds were ¡°Who¡¯s my rival? How many more points do I need to secure my retention?¡±

    With such enriching and fulfilling lives, they soon ushered in the fiftieth day of their stint at Insignia University. And it was precisely at 3 p.m. on this day that Qin Ye finally received a call from the Soaring Dragon Developer¡¯s design department.

    He immediately took a taxi to Soaring Dragon Developer¡¯s office after ss. Sun Kangliang wasn¡¯t around, so Qin Ye made his own way straight towards the design department.

    ¡°Mr Qin, you¡¯ve arrived.¡± As soon as he noticed Qin Ye¡¯s arrival, Old Li immediately set down his work and came out with a bundled roll of drawings. There was even a stylus pen resting just over his ear. Both men made their way to the waiting room and sat down in one of the cubicles. Qin Ye asked expectantly, ¡°Is it done?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± Old Li heaved a sigh of relief. Designing arge ancient cathayan building was incrediblyplex and tedious. If not for the fact that Qin Ye could only wait for two months, he would have taken at least four or five months.

    He slowly unravelled the drawings in his hand, ¡°Actually¡­ Mr Qin, if you could wait and just give us another four months¡¯ time, we would be able toplete every single detail in this pce to perfection. The drawing right now is at best a concept drawing. Those who can understand it would understand it, but those who don¡¯t¡­ Additionally, the rendering, as well as the design of the neighbourhood, could both use some further consideration¡­¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ll only be in Mount Tai City for another ten days at best. I don¡¯t have the luxury of time.¡±

    Old Li sighed andid out the drawingspletely, ¡°Then, please take a look at this first. Furthermore, we can¡¯t bear any responsibility for any design defects or construction idents. There¡¯s just not enough time¡­¡±

    These were the least of Qin Ye¡¯s concerns right now.

    If such an incident urred in the mortal realm, the deceased¡¯s family would most certainly create a brouhaha, reporting it to the press in all forms, and the name of the construction team involved would be sshed all over the news. With such bad press, the construction team would never be able tond themselves another project ever again.

    But in Hell¡­ What? Construction ident? You won¡¯t even lose a hair if you fall from the height of a hundred meters! Why are youining? A rebar through the stomach? Just pull it out and continue¡­ Abour protest? Smoke break? I¡¯ve got over two hundred Death Inquisitors sharpening the edges of their des. I¡¯m the master of my own realm!

    Thinking about it this way¡­ Hell does seem to hold an edge over the mortal realm in many aspects¡­ If Hell¡¯s manufacturing industry and construction industry werepeting for the same market as the mortal realm, they would most definitely seize the title of ¡®the world factory¡¯ from Cathay¡­

    Even if the building copses, the workers in Hell could simply float out of the rubble intact, pat the ash off their bodies and continue working. Give them a year or two, and even those with acrophobia would be able to perform cordless bungee jumping from the thirty-first storey of any building around¡­ Why wouldn¡¯t anyone want a worker like that?

    Qin Ye collected his thoughts and looked at therge, one square-meter drawing. The design on it was that of an ancient, luxurious neighbourhood.

    It wasn¡¯t designed like a pce. Instead, it was modelled after the ancient annex building, with the entrance leading to a central, rectangr courtyard with four-storey buildings on both sides.

    Old Li was watching his expression all this while, and as soon as he noticed Qin Ye¡¯s ostensible silence, he immediately exined, ¡°Mr Qin, we¡¯ve designed this building in a pseudo-ancient manner. The disadvantage of using wood is that they are materials with a limited shelf life. While cement is a viable alternative to this, the difference is quite visible. Instead, we¡¯ve chosen to go with the technique of interlocking brackets. This technique is generally only used onrge buildings, and it isn¡¯t necessary on small buildings at all.¡±

    Even though Qin Ye couldn¡¯t really appreciate what was being said, he continued to listen intently.

    ¡°We¡¯ve also employed the major-rafter minor-purlin system to support the structure throughout the entire building. The interior of these ancient buildings are ratherrge. Where multiple rafters are used, we call it a system of rafters. Each rafter is referred to by the number of purlins that runs through it. The seven-purlin rafter means that there are seven purlins attached to the rafter. The next number of purlins would be five, and then three¡­¡±

    ¡°The generalyout of the building is also based on principles. For instance, an eleven-beamed building with a particr type of eaves would require them to be raised by a particr gradient. This is to give the eaves a smooth, soft curvature to avoid any striking edges that are more prevalent in foreign pces. Our design here uses the most beautiful gradient of 9.5 degrees.¡±

    Qin Ye did his best to remember everything that was said, while Old Li only grew more and more excited as he described every feature of the design that was made. After approximately one hour, he finally rolled up the drawing with some measure of regret, ¡°Regrettably, I can¡¯t leave my station here. Otherwise, I¡¯d have loved to visit the construction site to see how an ancient cathayan city would have looked like. After all, most of the cities these days only have a pseudo-ancient street at best. Such a massive ancient cathayan project is incredibly rare in all of Cathay today¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately asked with enthusiasm, ¡°Do you really want to take a look at it?¡±

    Perhaps his gaze was far too striking, but Old Li reacted in the exact same way that Sun Kangliang did some time ago, and the impending sensation of danger caused him to instinctively swallow his affirmative response.

    ¡°I was just kidding¡­ kidding¡­ The design department is far too busy, and there¡¯s no way I could abandon my station like that¡­¡± He chuckled in a contrived manner.

    This man¡­ is boring.

    Qin Ye pouted in dismay. Didn¡¯t you say that you were getting old? Rather than suffering from pain and illnesses, why don¡¯t you let me grant you a peaceful journey into the afterlife? You¡¯d be able to enjoy your final moments with your family before entrusting your life into my hands. I guarantee you a painless death. It¡¯s as simple as shutting your eyes¡­ what¡¯s so bad about that¡­

    ¡°Are you sure you won¡¯t reconsider?¡± Reluctant to let things go like this, Qin Ye probed further, ¡°I¡¯ve got many workers on site and tasks on hand, but I¡¯mcking a good leader to take charge of all the works. The position of director is still empty right now.¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ no thanks¡­ no thanks¡­¡± Old Li picked up a piece of paper towel from the table and wiped off the sweat on his forehead.

    Strange¡­ it might be winter, but the heater is working well, so why do I suddenly feel a chill down my back?

    Qin Ye stood up in disappointment. Sigh¡­ people these days are just far too keen and crafty. It¡¯s practically impossible to swindle these folks¡­ He waved his hands casually as he bade Old Li farewell and took a taxi straight back to Insignia University.

    He rested till midnight, and then picked up the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal eagerly. With a bright sh of light, Qin Ye arrived in Hell once again.

    Rumble¡­ A thunderous roar resounded as soon as he opened his eyes. There was neither day nor night in Hell. The skies were dark at any time of the day, yet thends were strangely illuminated with a bright lustre.

    ¡°Greetings, my lord.¡± Su Dongxuey prostrate on the ground. Qin Ye made a lifting gesture with his hand, and then walked out with a heart full of expectation.

    All of the Death Inquisitors immediately stood up. They weren¡¯t even qualified to kneel and pay their respects to Qin Ye. That said, their eyes were filled with a sense of awe, as though they had just seen a divine presence. Qin Ye didn¡¯t mind this. He walked straight out of Hell¡¯s Gate and quickly took in his surroundings.

    The previously dark and gloomy Hell was now aze with heat! The deathly, chilling atmosphere in Hell was a thing of the past, and the rows of scarlet-leaf trees that lined both sides of the boulevard had already been razed to the ground. The closest scarlet forest that could be seen was at least a hundred meters away.

    A logging machine roared to life in the distance, and thousands of Yin spirits were gathered close by as they scrambled to handle the felled timber. Dozens of Yin spirits would heft the heavy log onto their shoulder, chanting ¡°hey-ho¡± in a rhythmic fashion as they gritted their teeth and drifted back towards Hell¡¯s Gate.

    A construction site had already taken shape on the left side of Hell¡¯s Gate. Two sets of wood processing machines were running round the clock, spouting out an endless stream of wood shavings as it churned out piece after piece of treated wood. A pile of processed woody on the ground around the machines, and other Yin spirits would drop by from time to time to shift these piles into Hell¡¯s Gate.

    Two excavators entered the clearing sites behind the logging machines, followed closely by the bulldozers and road rollers¡­ The sight of a prelude to modern construction was panning out in full view, right in front of the ancient Hell¡¯s Gate.

    A burning passion was burgeoning in the heart of eerie gloom.

    The destitute state of Hell was beginning to reveal a glint of prosperity and a foreshadowing of glorious magnificence.

    The first step was always the hardest - but Qin Ye had undoubtedly embarked on this long, arduous journey!

    In this one glorious instant, Qin Ye suddenly felt like his painstaking efforts over the past two months had finally paid off. He was obviously exhausted and drained, but all he could feel right now was a pulsing sensation of excitement from his chest.

    This was called fullness.

    This was called a sense of aplishment.

    ¡°It¡¯s not been easy.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice resounded by his side. Qin Ye didn¡¯t turn around to look at her. She didn¡¯t turn to look at Qin Ye either. Both of them simply took in the view of the hustle and bustle of Hell as Arthis remarked, ¡°It¡¯s been less than half a year, and yet the new Hell has already begun moving with vigor¡­ You deserve all the credit for that.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it feel touching? Don¡¯t you crave more of this sensation of satisfaction?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. It was only after a long time that he nodded slightly, ¡°It feels like I¡¯ve returned to those days when I was in my twenties - those days when I¡¯d experienced the whole series of ¡®firsts¡¯...¡±

    1. Referring to Lin Han in a derogatory fashion. First appeared in chapter 131.

 Chapter 140: General Assembly of Hell (1)

    <h4>Chapter 140: General Assembly of Hell (1)</h4>

    ¡°First time I opened a shop; the first time I sharpened a de; the first time I received my wages; the first time I was appreciated for my work¡­¡±

    He paused, and then suddenly smiled, ¡°Haven¡¯t I been far too indolent and unambitious in the past?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t me you.¡± In a rare turn of events, Arthis didn¡¯t berate him, ¡°It¡¯s only natural for anyone who has lived a long life to steer clear of harm¡¯s way. It¡¯s also natural for anyone who has lived a long life to grow sick and tired of it as well. It¡¯s precisely because life is finite that people cherish each and every day they live. You, on the other hand, have a limitless life ahead of you. There¡¯s naturally no impetus for you to cherish what you have before you and not take things for granted.¡±

    ¡°Whether a day is good or bad, or whether it¡¯s boring or busy¡­ none of these things change the fact that you¡¯ll continue to live on endlessly. Since that is the case, what others covet and pursue quickly turns nd and pointless in your eyes. If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t bother cherishing anything around either. That said¡­¡±

    She smiled, ¡°The ¡®you¡¯ right now isn¡¯t too shabby either.¡±

    She gazed into the distance where the roaring machines were located, ¡°There¡¯s no hurry. Can this feeling of aplishment really count for much? We¡¯re talking about the establishment of an entire realm. When you finallyplete your first building; or your first city, that feeling of aplishment would take you over the moon, and what you¡¯re experiencing now would simply pale inparison.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. When he first started out on this arduous journey, he feltpletely lost, and at his wits¡¯ end. Even though Hell was still destitute, and he was still living like a pauper, he had nevertheless managed to scramble some pieces of the puzzle together and ignite a me of hope in his heart. At the very least¡­ things were getting better, weren¡¯t they?

    The time to ascend the throne and pronounce judgment over the evil and misdeeds in the mortal realm was still well on the horizon. That said, it was still betterte than never.

    ¡°No¡­ the first step is still iplete.¡± He collected his gaze and nced down at the drawing in his hands. Then, he turned to Su Dongxue and instructed, ¡°Summon the division heads of Yin Construction for a meeting right away.¡±

    The first step could only be consideredplete when this first stabilizing force was in ce.

    No¡­ it had to be more than that!

    Everything had been prepared, and the east wind was already blowing. The establishment of the new Hell was the headline news of the year! How could he not announce such a glorious turn of events to his citizens?

    A government cannot simply do well. They also had to be seen performing up to par!

    They would have to let all of the ghostly citizens know that the presently destitute Hell was only going to get better over time.

    They would have to make it clear to the ghostly citizens that their boss is presently wracking his mind and pouring his heart into improving everyone¡¯s life after death.

    They would have to help the ghostly citizens understand that even though Hell was small, its future was infinitely bright.

    Hmm¡­ how do I put on a political disy? Qin Ye had never done such a thing before. However, the thickness of his skin was probably¡­ no weaker than any of the politicians around.

    Several probationary Death Inquisitors immediately drifted off to inform the various division heads. That¡¯s right, Qin Ye could always call out to them on his own. But he was in Hell right now, and he had a cold and distant persona to maintain. Did the future King Yanluo have to do everything himself? What would be the point of having subordinates if that were the case?

    Several ghostly shadows drifted over promptly in no time. They were the seven division heads of Yin Construction. All of them disyed some measure of fatigue, but these were overshadowed by the ostensible excitement written all over their faces.

    ¡°My lord!¡± ¡°My lord, you¡¯ve returned.¡± The seven men stood before Qin Ye and reported to him. Qin Ye casually nodded his head and led everyone to the annex hall.

    ¡°The drawings have arrived. In the uing meeting, I want to talk about the development of the first high-end neighbourhood, including its name, its space allocation, and the direction of the actual operations. Let me know if you have any thoughts. I can¡¯t be supervising in Hell all the time.¡± Half an hourter, Qin Ye sat on the main seat in the annex hall and led the discussion.

    The drawings wereid out on the table in the room. The division heads scrutinized the drawings, while Qin Ye stared intently at each of them.

    All seven men looked incredibly excited, and not a single one of them revealed a negative response in any way. Despite arge age gap of thirty years between the oldest and the youngest of the lot, they continued to discuss the drawings excitedly amongst themselves as equals. If Qin Ye didn¡¯t know any better, he would never have been able to tell that these were important members of rivalpanies in their respective past lives.

    ¡°Well?¡± Qin Ye asked after approximately one hour of such discussions, when the seven division heads finally looked up.

    ¡°It looks pretty good.¡± Qian Tianyi responded, ¡°But there are a lot of specifications that aren¡¯t present. We won¡¯t be able to guarantee anyck of incidents or idents with just this drawing alone. But, that said¡­¡±

    He coughed dryly, and then smiled, ¡°We don¡¯t have to be afraid of any incidents or idents to begin with¡­¡±

    Dissatisfied?

    Take it or leave it. That¡¯s how cocky the Yin Construction can be.

    Compensation for the loss of human lives?

    That¡¯s entirely non-existent¡­ Everyone¡¯s already dead. As things were right now, it was practically impossible to die a second time unless Qin Ye personally made a move against them¡­

    The copse of an entire building?

    All they needed to do was to start over from scratch¡­ After all, the Yin spirits who were buried underneath would sprout up from the surface of the rubble and debris like mushrooms after a rain, and then excitedly exchange their experiences about having been buried alive¡­

    There would be nopensation in this regard either. Joint statement by Qin-Emperor-Ye and Minister of Justice: Letting you live is the greatestpensation you can hope to receive¡­

    With a thick and ckpany that¡¯s not afraid of any urrence of death and not inclined to making any payments, how could they possibly be afraid of any incidents or idents?

    And the so-called ¡®thick and ckpany¡¯ means thick-skinned and ck-hearted. Arthis and Qin Ye are each responsible for one aspect of these¡­ Tsk tsk tsk, they¡¯re practically an idealbination¡­

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, before continuing with a deep voice, ¡°Then let¡¯s execute the works in ordance with this drawing. Furthermore¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment and drew a deep breath, ¡°Gentlemen, I intend to convene the ghostly citizens for a general assembly to announce the direction of Hell over theing two years.¡±

    The eyes of the seven division heads immediately glistened with burning passion. They stared back at Qin Ye, and their chests began to rise and fall slightly in tandem with their escting breaths.

    This was the sign of recognition and approval.

    ¡°I¡¯m a veteran in Smooth Sailing Construction, and I¡¯ve experienced my fair share of projects, including massive governmental projects that are always apanied by glorious groundbreaking ceremonies and press conferences. So, why is it that I¡¯m feeling so especially excited this time?¡± Hu Feng smiled with a sigh as he fervently repressed the burgeoning emotions in his heart.

    ¡°Old Hu, you¡¯re no longer in Smooth Sailing Construction. We¡¯re all part of the Netherworld Construction Incorporation right now, and we¡¯re working directly for Lord Qin.¡± The oldest Yin spirit in the group, Song Ming cupped his hands together and smiled with blossoming wrinkles all over his face, ¡°I¡¯d never thought that there woulde a day¡­ when we would all be able to work for the government once more¡­¡±

    It was unlike anything they had experienced before.

    This was a whole new experience that waspletely fresh to them.

    They used to be representatives of apany, but how many people did they have to beg and plead with throughout the course of an entire construction project? From the internal politics at the beginning, to the bidding and tender process, and then to the most difficult aspect of negotiating with the respective governmental departments¡­ These struggles they faced wereparable with battles in a war.

    But here they stand today, representing a newly founded nation and a whole new realm, dering to their ghostly citizens thetest decision once and for all!

    This was the feeling of being at the top and wielding absolute power. It was a feeling that greatly stimted their adrenal nds!

    ¡°What do you guys think?¡± Although Qin Ye wielded so much power he could for all intents and purposes be called a dictator right now, he still asked this of his division heads¡¯ opinions courteously.

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Li Chuanyi mmed the table and blurted, ¡°Lord Qin is truly conscientious. I¡¯ll be honest with you. The current atmosphere out there on the ground isden with worry and concern. None of the ghostly citizens even has an idea of what¡¯s in store for them tomorrow. Yin spirits don¡¯t have to eat or sleep, but what they do want is to know what the future holds for them!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qian Tianyi eximed, ¡°Hell is a type of society after all¡­ and the fabric of societies these days is vastly different from what it was before. We can¡¯t afford to go on like this. We need to give them something to look forward to - something to assure them that Hell will only get better with time! We need to let them know that Hell will prosper, just like the mortal realm!¡±

    Song Ming sighed, ¡°Hundreds of yearster¡­ we¡¯ll see a series of skyscrapers rise from the ground and stretch into the skies at the Pearl River and the mouth of the Yangtze River¡­ And today marks the beginning of it all.¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s take a vote.¡± Arthis suddenly spoke up, ¡°Although we don¡¯t have a proper constitution yet, this isn¡¯t a feudal society either. We should formalize and regrize everything from the outset. Since this is part of the Yin Construction¡¯s affairs, the decision should be decided by a show of hands among the seven division heads.¡±

    ¡°Begin.¡±

    Sha¡­ One hand shot into the air, followed quickly by another, and then another, another, and yet another! Within three seconds, all seven hands were raised high into the air.

    ¡°Good!¡± Qin Ye stood up and nced about the room with his hands on the table, ¡°The first general assembly of Hell shallmence in exactly two hours¡¯ time! Now, prepare the podium at once!¡±

    Everyone left the room promptly, while Qin Ye turned his gleaming eyes up to the dark sky above. Although his expressions looked steadfast and stoic, the overflowing feeling of aplishment in his heart was unconceble.

    This is my kingdom.

    This is my Hell.

    I am King Yanluo!

    Hell quietened in an instant. Qin Ye noticed from the window that the seven division heads had already gotten busy in preparation for the general assembly ahead, and he sighed and shut his eyes. Just then, Su Dongxue¡¯s voice resounded throughout Hell, ¡°Fellow citizens, breaking news¡­¡±

    At the construction site. The Yin spirits who were presently shifting the felled trees, most of whom were strong, young adults, nced at the dark sky in astonishment. Even the technician who was operating the sawmill halted his operations temporarily.

    Even though there were many things to be done in Hell, most of them were incredibly bored.

    There was no inte, no cell phones, no dawn and dusk, no ying cards, and no mahjong. Every day saw the exact same scenery, and the exact same people around. Things were still fine if they were merely for a day or two, but a week or two with the exact same things was sufficient to drive the citizens of Hell crazy.

    Therefore, something different was always something worth looking forward to.

    ¡°... The new King Yanluo of Hell, Lord Qin, shall be holding the inaugural general assembly of Hell in two hours¡¯ time. Please note that this isn¡¯t an assembly organized by mere representatives of the government. There are a multitude of things to do in Hell, but all affairs are temporarily under Lord Qin¡¯s direct supervision and control¡­¡±

    A frail and skinny elderly Yin spirit wearing hospital garbs near the trees in the distance immediately gasped and stood up. A number of Yin spirits just beside him also stood up and looked into the sky with amazement.

    ¡°General assembly?¡± The old man in hospital garbs murmured, ¡°Is there going to be some new general policy?¡±

    ¡°Will this enrich our lives right now?¡± "If life after death is going to be like this, I¡¯d rather not have died at all.¡± ¡°It¡¯s far too boring¡­¡± ¡°Finally, something to look forward to? I¡¯ll take anything right now - anything!¡±

    The voice echoing throughout Hell continued, ¡°... The general assembly shall be presided over by Lord Qin himself. The subject matter is: the first five-year n of Hell. We hope that all ghostly citizens will take it upon themselves to spread the news, and that all who can attend, will attend.¡±

    A soft buzz of chatter immediately broke out throughout the various venues in Hell, and it quickly burgeoned into a cacophonous roar of mour and discussions all around. Like a rising tide of noise, Hell was instantly set abuzz with excitement that could even be heard from within Hell¡¯s Gate!

    ¡°Five-year n?! Is Hell going to undergo massive construction works or expansion?¡± ¡°It¡¯s finally here¡­ We haven¡¯t been neglected¡­¡± ¡°Lord Qin¡­ is this the name of King Yanluo?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care who it is. I only know that I might as well die again if life in Hell is going to maintain the status quo!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a little bit rudimentary.¡± Arthis sighed as she listened to the fiery discussions taking ce outside Hell¡¯s Gate, ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to the day when all of this will be broadcast on television. There would be countless ghostly citizens of Hell surrounding the pce, and I would be making this announcement live on national television amidst the dazzling shes of innumerable cameras.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled lightly - Dear, you¡¯re getting ahead of yourself¡­

    Let¡¯s do our best with a vige-sized Hell first. Then, we¡¯ll work our way up towards a town¡­ and then develop the technology skill tree, discover and establish the local power grid¡­

    But¡­

    He nced towards the Yin spirits that were slowly congregating at Hell¡¯s gate with expressions of expectancy as he smiled, ¡°But¡­ for now, let¡¯s get Hell up and running proper.¡±

 Chapter 141: General Assembly of Hell (2)

    <h4>Chapter 141: General Assembly of Hell (2)</h4>

    One hour to the general assembly.

    There were no longer any seats at the front of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    The Yin spirits who couldn¡¯t find any seats began to sit around on the ground, or squat and stand around. Slowly but surely, they packed themselves densely into the entrance around Hell¡¯s Gate.

    All of the Yin spirits had arrived within the first hour of the announcement. Even the machine operators had ceased their operations, and everyone awaited the general assembly with eager anticipation.

    The seven division heads personally took charge of the construction of the main stage at the entrance of Hell¡¯s Gate. It was simple and crude, constructed entirely out of wood, and was finished with some simple decors made out of ck spider lilies and red leaves of the trees around. Yet, its in looks did nothing to quench the enthusiasm of the ghostly citizens around.

    Whispers of excitement could be heard amidst the cacophonous buzz of loud discussions around. The tide of sound rose and fell from time to time, yet not a single one of the Yin spirits took their eyes off the main stage for a single moment. Wouldn¡¯t it be good to catch some shut-eye while you could? Certainly, but now was hardly the time for that!

    Nobody rushed themencement of the general assembly. Then, approximately one and a half hours after the initial announcement was made, the construction of the stage was finallypleted. Then, as soon as the two hour mark arrived, Arthis¡¯ domineering voice boomed throughout Hell, ¡°Silence.¡± The entire venue quietened down instantly.

    Under the baptism of gazes from everyone present, Qin Ye and Arthis slowly made their way up to the stage in their Hell¡¯s Emissary state. Su Dongxue and the seven division heads followed closely behind.

    Everyone but Qin Ye took their seats. On the other hand, Qin Ye walked up to the podium with his hands behind his back as he steadfastly surveyed the vast sea of Yin spirits below. Then, his voice sounded like thunder in the air.

    ¡°Today marks a historical moment.¡± Qin Ye got straight to the point without any unnecessary lead-ins, ¡°This day shall be one that is deeply engraved into the annals of history. Because, right here, and right now, we have decided the future direction of Hell.¡±

    He had originally only intended to talk about it casually. But for some strange reason, when he noticed the sea of eyes staring straight back at him with great expectancy; when he noticed the construction equipment and machinery parked in the distance, all of which had been halted; and when he saw the great forests that had been cleared for almost one thousand meters around Hell¡¯s Gate, he felt a chord strum powerfully within him.

    Tell them.

    Tell them what you¡¯re thinking. Tell them your thought processes in full.

    The audience were no longer humans, yet they still bore some human characteristics. Their fleshly bodies had faded away, but their spirits were still present. He sincerely believed that the ghostly citizens would all understand what he was trying tomunicate to them.

    ¡°When I first took up the mantle, there was not even an inch of grass on thesends. I¡¯d thought about giving up on so many asions, but I still decided to ept the burden of this tall order and push through with my duties.¡±

    ¡°I had no money, and no manpower, and I could only take things one step at a time. I know everyone isn¡¯t used to these things. After all¡­ anyone who has experienced the vibrance of modern day society would find it difficult to get used to the boring life of the ancient society that Hell is.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no inte here, no television, no movies or cell phone. The only thing that greets you everyday is the boundless dark skies and rolling Yin energy. But, everyone¡­ this is going to be our home for the rest of eternity. As the new person-in-charge of Hell, it is my duty to make things better for everyone!¡±

    Silence.

    Secondster, a sparse apuse sounded, and it quickly spread throughout the crowd like wildfire, burgeoning into an endless, thunderous apuse.

    Qin Ye¡¯s chest rose and fell slightly. This was the moment that he truly experienced the weight of the word ¡°responsibility¡±.

    A man of character has his strengths and weaknesses.

    He¡¯s not a great hero, nor is he a mighty lord. But as long as he had been alive, he would have experienced the weight of responsibility and duty, no matter how small and insignificant it might have been.

    That said, the expectations of tens of thousands of ghostly citizens was a heavy burden to bear.

    He continued, ¡°Therefore, we, the remnant who have managed to survive the great copse of the old Hell, have established a developmental n for Hell. Having lived in the mortal realm for close to a century, I know that rhetorics and hyperboles are useless. Thus, let me get straight to the point.¡±

    Arthis knew exactly what Qin Ye was getting at, and as soon as Qin Ye nodded meaningfully to her, she moved her finger slightly. In an instant, all of the Yin spirits stared at the stage with their mouthspletely agape in shock.

    Right in the middle of the stage, a massive scroll unfurled itself, spanning one hundred meters across and fifty meters tall. This was an intricate drawing of a breathtaking building!

    The first impression of it was an ancient-style building.

    It was four storeys high. The length of the building was well in the thousands of meters, and the width of it was in the hundreds of meters. The building was ostensibly constructed using red wood with ck tiles, with innumerable traditional decorative knots hanging from its eaves. There were also a string of rednterns hanging on the sides of each and every door. When they were all lit up, the entire building gave off a glow of luxury and magnificence.

    The windows were etched with decorative patterns, while the door was a typical Cathayan folding door carved with beautiful designs, some of which depicted lotus ponds, while others depicted that of magpies weing spring. Arge yellow pcemp hung directly over each door, with the room number of each room painted in bold strokes over the surface of thesemps.

    A massive screen was ced right at the grand entrance of the building. However, this was not a painting. Instead, it was a traditional Su embroidery that was somewhat translucent. A number of papernterns and kites of different shapes and sizes were hung neatly from the ceiling at the hall behind the screen, adding a specious, traditional Cathayan ir to the entire design.

    And this was nothing like the pretentious modern designs that were only superficially Cathayan in order to please their intended audience. Rather, the present design of the building was traditional Cathayan through and through.

    Two statues of prowling Harkens were ced right outside the vermillion building, all of which were enclosed by tall white walls and a towering vermillion arch which served as the gate to thepound.

    The massive building was built around a central courtyard with three ponds, all of which were at least two to three hundred meters in length. Some flowers that were native to Hell floated along the top of these ponds. The flowers looked like they had been lightly brushed with pink blushers, and yet a lightherme glowed eerily at the pistil of these flowers. Beautiful red-leafed willows swayed gently along the side of these ponds.

    A number of ancient seats, benches and tables were ced abundantly along the waters, while a stony path led straight into a stone pavilion dozens of metersrge in the center of each pond. Soft silk at the pavilion flowed gently with the wind, while the faint aroma of incense diffused from the central incense burner into the surroundings. It was poetry personified.

    With the aid of Hell¡¯s arts, Arthis had created the perfect rendering of the building from simply its drawings. These renderings were far more effective than any modern day rendering technology!

    All the Yin spirits werepletely dumbfounded as they stared nkly at the massive scroll. The entire scene was shrouded with pin-drop silence.

    ¡°This is¡­ a residence? Or is it an office space?¡± An old man trembled and stretched out his hand as though he were attempting to touch the scroll, ¡°Can we¡­ live in a ce like this from now on?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s as Cathayan as it gets. It would be¡­ amazing to stay in a ce like this.¡± Another elderly Yin spirit in his seventies who wore a whiteb coat stroked his beard as he eximed aloud.

    ¡°It¡¯s perfect¡­ is this part of the neighbourhood? I¡¯ve heard from those in Yin Construction that it is!¡± ¡°This is definitely going to be part of a high-end neighbourhood. Holy shit! You can¡¯t even dream about something like that when you¡¯re still alive!¡± ¡°The surrounding wall is practically one hundred thousand square feetrge¡­ are we really going to build something like that over here? That¡¯s incredibly exciting!¡±

    It didn¡¯t take ten seconds for the entire venue to erupt with incessant discussion and mour!

    ¡°Silence.¡± Qin Ye heart was full, and his sense of aplishment was already bursting at its seams. Yet, he kept a cid expression on his face and continued steadfastly, ¡°This is the first milestone of Yin Construction.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes immediately lit up with the confirmation, and they stared intently at Qin Ye.

    Don¡¯t beat about the bush! Hurry up! How are you going to divide up this luxurious development? Do I have to sell you my ass? Hurry up and tell us!

    Qin Ye steadied himself and continued exining without missing a beat, ¡°Firstly, I have to let everyone here know that this building can only amodate twenty thousand households. This is Yin Construction¡¯s first mid-to-high-end luxury development, but it will certainly not be itsst.¡±

    ¡°As you all know, Hell is a realm of its own, and it¡¯s subject to the elements as well, be it rain, wind or even hail. Although these elements aren¡¯t in any way life-threatening to any of you here, it will still be unpleasant to be exposed to these things. Our hearts and minds are directly aligned with yours - we want exactly what you want, and we desire exactly what you desire. Therefore, the first project to beunched is what you see in front of your very eyes right now - Qin Gardens Phase One.¡±

    He appeared to be in full control of the atmosphere right now. All of the Yin spirits listened intently as soon as Qin Ye opened his mouth to speak.

    Personal welfare and the allocation of rooms! Dear¡­ the first thing on the agenda in Hell is welfare, and notbour. This government¡¯s pretty decent, isn¡¯t it?

    ¡°The financial system of Hell hasn¡¯t been established yet. Therefore, the allocation of rooms in the Qin Gardens is going to depend on each of your contributions to the efforts of Yin Construction. There¡¯s no need to rush. There¡¯s also no reason to rush. Once the first phase isplete, we¡¯ll start on the second phase. Eventually, all of the Yin spirits will have a home to retire to at night and food for daily consumption.¡±

    Yin spirits didn¡¯t need to sleep and eat to live. Nevertheless, these were still part and parcel of the pleasures of life.

    They¡¯ve already died once, so why shouldn¡¯t they seize the opportunity to enjoy life a little?

    ¡°There are currently eight thousand four hundred and seventy-two people on active duty in Yin Construction. When this general assembly ends, those who are interested in participating in the great reconstruction efforts of Hell should approach the seven division heads for registration right away. The City of Salvation is only the first city to be developed in this manner. In future, there will be a second city, and then a third city¡­ until every singleherworldly region in Cathay has be subsumed by the overarching banner of Hell!¡±

    ¡°The next five years are going to be crucial to the future expansion of Hell. Fengdu shall slowly be rebuilt, one piece at a time. Anything that you have ess to in the mortal realm shall also be simrly avable in Hell! Alright, we¡¯ll have ten minutes of questions from the floor right now. The first general assembly of Hell shall end in ten minutes¡¯ time.¡±

    Several hands shot up into the air as soon as he finished speaking.

    Qin Ye casually picked a female Yin spirit who was evidently a white-cored worker. She immediately shot to her feet and excitedly expressed, ¡°My lord, then does this mean that we will have cafes, spas, beauty salons and other simr shops in future?¡±

    That¡¯s quite an astute question, isn¡¯t it?

    Qin Ye felt a little stunned. A question like that¡­ how am I supposed to answer it?!

    This¡­ ispletely outside the scope of our considerations right now¡­ don¡¯t you think that you¡¯re thinking a little bit too far ahead?

    ¡°As long as the mortal realm has it, Hell will do it even better!¡± But at a time like this, he could only bite the bullet and respond affirmatively. And then, he immediately pointed towards the next hand in the air.

    ¡°My lord!¡± This time, it was a middle-aged man wearing a ramrod straight suit, ¡°Then, are there going to be any luxury goods in Hell in future? Secondly, are there going to be any of the less important facilities, such as gyms, chess or card rooms¡­ oh, or even activities like bridgepetitions? What about basketball leagues, football leagues, and the like?¡±

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­

    Can I just give you a flying kick right now?!

    Qin Ye fervently repressed the urge to send the man flying - Well done¡­ you guys are truly on the brink of outsmarting me. Can¡¯t you just fix your eyes on the present and gloss over the future for now?

    ¡°These things will all be on the horizon in future. The possibility of reincarnation only arises after we establish the six paths of reincarnation, the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, the Naraka Bridge and the Three Births Stone. Before that timees, what you have to do is to focus on atoning for the sins of this life, and incidentally improve on the quality of life of all citizens in Hell. This way, you will be able to strive for a better rebirth in your next life. In this regard, as soon as Hell¡¯s overall development reaches a certain level, we shall be broadening our perspective and to start developing Hell more holistically in all aspects, be it moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetics andbour.¡±

    1. These are decorative handcraft art that symbolize good luck and prosperity.

 Chapter 142: General Assembly of Hell (3)

    <h4>Chapter 142: General Assembly of Hell (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye no longer had the capacity to explode at him, so he simply responded truthfully, ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ once the game giants of Cathay pass on, they will undoubtedlye to Hell. All you have to do is to wait for their arrival¡­¡±

    Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Qin Ye was about to heave a sigh of relief and take his leave, an old man who didn¡¯t get a chance to ask his question abruptly stood up and yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°My lord¡­ will the future neighbourhoods be just like this? Would they be as gorgeous as Qin Gardens, Phase One?¡±

    Qin Ye thought for a moment before responding, ¡°No, Qin Gardens, Phase One is the benchmark. The rest that are to be constructed are going to be regr amodations.¡±

    ¡°Two million RMB. Mortal realm currency. I would like room 111 on the ground floor.¡±

    The entire venue was silent. Qin Ye stared at the man as though he had just seen a ghost.

    Something like that hadn¡¯t urred to anyone else. The seven division heads were also bbergasted. Arthis blinked her eyes vacantly. The entire assembly was shrouded withplete silence.

    No¡­ we shouldn¡¯t promote or incentivize spective purchasing of real estate in Hell¡­ Otherwise, what are we going to do when property prices skyrocket¡­ Wouldn¡¯t the Yin spirits who are unable to afford proper housingmit suicide by jumping off the building?

    That¡¯s right. He might already have started on the first phase of construction works in Hell, but who knows how much more capital ouy he might incur in the future projects? The capital required to construct a single neighbourhood numbers well in the hundreds of millions. Next to that, the two million he had injected into the first project in Hell ispletely insignificant. And this was not to mention the number of other anciry things he would have to acquire for the purposes of Yin Construction¡¯s future projects. He would probably need other equipment and machinery, right? And then, there¡¯s still the tentage for covering the equipment and machinery. After all, he couldn¡¯t possibly have people collecting the equipment and shifting them back every time it rained, could he?

    Therefore¡­ Qin-Pauper-Ye even began to speak with salutations.

    ¡°Of the tens of thousands of ghostly citizens here right now, approximately two-thirds can be considered the elderly. How could we, the frail and feeble who had died of old age, everpete at arms¡¯ length against the young ghostly citizens around? I do want to register with Yin Construction if I could, but I don¡¯t know a thing about construction for one. And besides, would they wee me there even if I volunteered?¡±

    ¡°Fortunately, I¡¯ve been dead for decades now. I passed on even before the cultural revolution, and I¡¯ve got some savings buried in the ground that haven¡¯t been dug up to date. My lord, you¡¯ve been scuttling about with transactions within the mortal realm. Wouldn¡¯t you require money for such transactions as well? Therefore, I propose that those who have the strength and stamina should put in their best efforts, while those who have money can contribute in their own ways as well. This solution marries the best of both worlds.¡±

    ¡°It is indeed a little too little.¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°Based on market price, each apartment in this building should sell for at least seven or eight million.¡±

    But before they could even finish their discussions, another voice called out, ¡°Number 111¡­ That¡¯s the room that directly faces the pond, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s just as well, because this old man has also taken a fancy to those rooms over there.¡±

    As soon as this man appeared, the eyes of the seven division heads immediately brightened up. Song Ming hurriedly scooted over to Qin Ye¡¯s side and whispered with a soft voice, ¡°ss magnate! Huang Liangchuan, the man who single handedly dominated at least half of the entire ss industry across all of Cathay! He started out from a humble shop, and grew his business to a listed megapany that even exports its products to foreign markets! He grew up in Mount Tai City of Insignia Province, and he was among the first and greatest entrepreneurs of his time - one with an incredibly keen sense for business. The constructionpanies that each of us were from had all habitually ordered ss from him in the past!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was suddenly thrown into chaos.

    And now was exactly one of those moments when he immediately got the urge to give himself a tight p across the cheek.

    Everything else aside, they need only ask whether it was possible that the leaders of Yin Construction wouldn¡¯t reside within the building! Was it even possible that Arthis wouldn¡¯t stay there? And what about Lord Qin?

    They would naturally stay at Qin Gardens Phase One!

    Song Ming continued, ¡°I¡¯d heard some time ago that he had taken seriously ill, and the Huang family¡¯s shares immediately plummeted as a result of it. It¡¯s no wonder they didn¡¯t announce his death to the public. They must have been afraid that the shares in hispany would crumble and copse¡­ My lord, this is a great opportunity. Ten million would enable us to purchase more equipment and machines to facilitate our works!¡±

    Just like any other government, they needed time to ¡°consider¡± the matter.

    Then, finally, they would reluctantly ede to the request in a cold and distant fashion. And all of these were done just tomunicate a single notion - I¡¯m showing you face by eding to your request. This shall be the one and only time such indulgence is given.

    Mm¡­ the aging poption of Hell is another problem that needs to be addressed. This can¡¯t go on indefinitely. We¡¯ll need to let these old folks pull their own weight too. After all¡­ weak or not, the fact remains that they can still continue to work forever¡­

    With a loud chime signifying the end of the general assembly, Qin Ye returned to the annex hall of Hell¡¯s Gate. He needed to sort out his thoughts about everything that had transpired today.

    This was the feeling of true power.

    ¡°Arthis and I have had our discussions about these things. Generally speaking, the following are the more pressing ones so far.¡±

    Everyone nodded their heads in approval as their excitement dwindled. Zhao Guangliang deliberated for a moment and chipped in, ¡°That¡¯s not all. We should look to establish the financial system in Hell as quickly as possible. We can¡¯t be doing charity work all the time. The old Hell must have had some kind of financial system in the past.¡±

    ¡°Take note of these discussions.¡± Qin Ye turned around and instructed the scribes seated behind him before adding thoughtfully, ¡°We¡¯ll have to do our due diligence and survey the grounds to ascertain the best time tounch each society or group. This way, we would be able to stabilize the number of elderly ghostly citizens that are just idling about¡­ ahem¡­ I don¡¯t mean to look down on them; I was just stating these things as they were¡­¡±

    Arthis was dressed very formally today.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for a financial system as long as hell still remains a vige. Practically speaking, Hell can only support a financial system when it expands to the size of a county. More specifically, it¡¯s only at that time that the Yin energy in Hell would finally be able to support the materialization of the specialized structure on which Hell¡¯s financial system is built upon - the Heaven and Hell Bank.¡± She paused for a moment of deliberation, ¡°Once this is established, you would finally be able to normalize the society in Hell. Furthermore, electricity, water, andmunication channels are amenities that hinge on the establishment of Hell¡¯s financial system. Simply put, the amount of Yin energy aggregated in a vige-sized Hell is far too small to support such massive projects that would have lingering repercussions for all of Hell.¡±

    Arthis rolled her eyes at him, ¡°What¡¯s so unusual about that? Hell has to keep with the times as well. The illumination from the Torch Dragon is already an antiquated story of the past. When the old Hell copsed, Lord Aurogon had held the title of ¡®Chairman of Netherworld Electricity Holdings¡¯, also known as Yin Energy. The chairperson of Yin Water was the 3,242nd generation descendent of Goddess Mother Earth. The rtedpanies were even on the brink of copse, having faced intensepetition from other water-purificationpanies. Fortunately, King Yanluo took into ount Goddess Mother Earth¡¯s great deed of transforming her body into the six paths of reincarnation. Otherwise, Yin Water would already have be a thing of the past a long time ago.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes widened as they exchanged awkward stares.

    ¡°As Hell grows, it¡¯s only a matter of time before you see the emergence of major chambers ofmerce andpanies. You¡¯ll even start to see a parallel between Hell and the mortal realm. Unfortunately, the old Hell copsed before it could develop the inte¡­ Why are you guys staring at me like that? The forefathers of the inte in Cathay were already propelled into the spotlight when they first entered Hell, and a good number of them were enjoying incredible sries as theyid infrastructural cables underground. Who would¡¯ve thought that Lord Ksitigarbha suddenly gained enlightenment before we could enjoy the fruits of theirbour¡­¡±

    Very well. Very Hell.

    Mom, Hell¡¯s a little different from what I¡¯d thought. What should I do?

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye could feel his brain pulsing with pain - What¡¯s going on¡­ How¡¯s there already a support group in Hell? It¡¯s only been several minutes¡­ And what do you mean seated at the entrance? Have they already learnt to protest?

    You guys are really something, you know that?

 Chapter 143: What Do I Do with Bribes from the Elderly? Lodge A Complaint?

    <h4>Chapter 143: What Do I Do with Bribes from the Elderly? Lodge A Comint?</h4>

    Everyone grew taciturn and introspective. Arthis¡¯ words had caused everyone to remember what exactly Hell entailed.

    There would be the print and the press, delectable cuisine, residences, transportation,munication channels, and each and every major governmental department seen in the mortal realm. There were even buildings, facilities and establishments that were unique to Hell, including the six paths of reincarnation, the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment, the Naraka Bridge, the Three Births Stone¡­

    Even if they were indeed standing on the shoulder of giants, how insurmountably tall was this order? It would be a gross understatement to call this merely a difficult task!

    Why do I get the feeling that¡­ this meeting is going to reek of drama and tension, almost as though I¡¯m having a tiff with an aunty from a neighbourhoodmittee? This just feels like a poor showing¡­

    After all, who could forget Qin Ye¡¯s cold-blooded showing of exterminating hundreds of Yin spirits with a single sh just a little while ago?

    Qin Ye discreetly sized up the Yin spirits standing before him - Not bad. Quite the proper attitude.

    Arthis had earlier mentioned thatpanies and corporations would thrive and flourish with the gradual expansion of Hell. However, whether the exceptional businessmen of the mortal realm could perform in a simr fashion and make a name for themselves in theherworld was quite something else.

    Huang Liangchuan truly lived up to his name as a shrewd and experienced man, and he didn¡¯t reveal a single trace of dissatisfaction at Qin Ye¡¯s disy of authority. Instead, he only smiled more radiantly. The billionaire of the mortal realm cupped his hands and bowed respectfully, like a monk weing his guests, ¡°We truly deserve death for involving the esteemed King Yanluo for such trivialities. But this old bag of bones has risked the life and limb of his friends to seek an audience only for the sake of Hell¡¯s development. I hope Your Excellency will be magnanimous and look past our transgressions.¡±

    ¡°Just this once. There shall be no next time.¡± Qin Ye leaned back on his seat and added cidly, ¡°If you ever partake of any actions that may be interpreted as a challenge against Hell¡¯s authority again, then¡­ you should be prepared to follow in Gao Dahu¡¯s footsteps. These are peculiar times, and everything shall be subject to the most exacting of standards.¡±

    Beforeing here, the group of them had the impression that their King Yanluo was capricious and moody. Just the other day, he had killed Gao Dahu without even batting an eyelid, and yet he was already painting the picture of an ideal life to everyone in Hell today.

    Earlier, when Qin Ye made his casual remark, they had even experienced a trace of killing intent from him.

    Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°I¡¯m also curious as to how you intend to make good on your offer of ten million RMB to us.¡±

    He was a man of influence and authority in the mortal realm, and he naturally began topse into his usual style of speaking as he dropped clues in an inviting fashion, ¡°For instance, my hobby¡­ is in antiques.¡±

    But he didn¡¯t interrupt at all. Huang Liangchuan continued, ¡°This is Mr Mo. He deals in feed, and his interest lies in jade artifacts.¡± ¡°This is Mr Qiao, and his interest lies in jadeite.¡± ¡°This is¡­¡±

    His eyes gleamed with passion as he deliberately paused for a moment. Qin Ye smiled slightly, yet Yin energy erupted from his body in the very next second.

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice boomed like an evil ghost, ¡°You were all in positions of authority and influence back in the mortal realm. Have you already forgotten what superiors hate most of their subordinates?¡±

    Huang Liangchuan¡¯s forehead was already percting with sweat, and he immediately got the urge to give himself a tight p across the face. Oh, how quickly the tables have turned. He spoke with a certain ir that had developed over decades. Qin Ye¡¯s genial disposition earlier had caused him to let his guard down, and he hadpsed into his old way of speaking with his subordinates without realizing it at all.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me guess. If you¡¯ve got a request to make, do it in a single breath. I¡¯ve got no time to y guessing games with you.¡±

    Secondster, Huang Liangchuan cupped his hands and responded hoarsely, ¡°My apologies, my lord. It was an oversight on my part. There won¡¯t be a next time.¡±

    ¡°The soul of the Red Topped Hat Businessman, Hu Xueyan, has been here before.¡±

    ¡°Even the soul of the great emperor investor ¡±

    A pair of dark-grained silk shoes appeared in Huang Liangchuan¡¯s field of vision. Huang Liangchuan¡¯s scalp immediately went numb, and his entire body began to tremble vigorously. It was as though his soul had shrunk back in shock.

    It wasn¡¯t just the separation of life. There was also the separation of identity.

    ¡°I¡­ wouldn¡¯t dare¡­¡± Huang Liangchuan responded with a quivering voice.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The five ghosts wiped off the cold sweat on their foreheads, and Huang Liangchuan chuckled dryly. This time, he continued tly, ¡°My lord, I¡¯ve got an old mansion in Ink City where I¡¯ve hidden four treasures. The most valuable of these is a genuine Tang Dynasty pottery.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered intently, and he nearly even shot to his feet.

    We¡¯re talking about a genuine set of dragon and phoenix Tang Dynasty pottery¡­ Qin Ye immediately responded, ¡°How much do you estimate these items would fetch?¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath.

    With this, he would no longer need to worry about capital until the construction of the first development of Hell ispleted!

    Qin Ye made a mental note of the details of each and every item. And finally, he got to the nub of the issue, ¡°So how do I obtain these treasures? How do I sell them? What do you want in exchange?¡±

    Clever.

    If they had asked for the sun and the moon off the cuff, they would no longer be able to ingratiate Qin Ye to themselves. It was far more prudent of them to bide their time and wait for a better opportunity to bring up the matter again in future.

    Another old man chimed in, ¡°Selling these goods is even easier. The wealthy have their own circles, and auctions within these circles isn¡¯t an umon thing. It¡¯s just that the ordinary man on the street wouldn¡¯t be aware of such affairs. You¡¯ll need an invitation to the auction, as well as have your qualifications verified by the relevant organizers. The organizing contractors are reliable, and they would never disclose any of your personal particrs.¡±

    Everyone breathed a silent sigh of relief.

    Qin Ye waved his hands to dismiss them and fell into deep thought.

    One hundred million RMB¡­ He wasn¡¯t entirely sure whether this sum of money would suffice for the construction of the entire development. After all, there wasn¡¯t anybour costs in Hell, nor did he have to bear some of the other misceneous expenses that were incidental to the construction works in the mortal realm.

    And the next project would concern the entire neighbourhood.

    Even before that, there was still the underlying question of whether he woulde across so many wealthy people in the first ce!

    After all, most people would no longer have ess to their wealth when they died, because they would have left everything to their descendants or willed it away.

    ¡°I should still find a more sustainable source of wealth¡­ The best way to do this would be to establish trade links with the mortal realm, including a currency exchange. But¡­ what the Hell am I going to use to trade with the mortal realm? My glorious good looks?¡±

    1. A notable chinese businessman in the 1800¡¯s, he was prominently the only person of the merchant ss who was awarded the red-topped hat, an imperial de, during the Qing Dynasty.

    2. Another notable chinese businessman of the Ming Dynasty who did so well he was exiled by the emperor. Even in exile, his connections and influence formed the basis for the development of an ancient tea route for the transport and trade of tea, china, handcrafts, etc.

    3. He was a chinese businessman of the Qin state during the warring states period (291-235 BC) who transitioned from business into politics. One of the most famous stories about his switch was recorded as follows: On returning home, he said to his father, "What is the profit on investment that one can expect from plowing fields?"

    "And the return on investment in pearls and jades is how much?"

    "And the return on investment from establishing a ruler and securing the state would be how much?"

    4. These were two wealthy persons who loathed each other, and often attempted to outdo each other¡¯s extravagant disy of wealth.

 Chapter 144: A Fruitful Return

    <h4>Chapter 144: A Fruitful Return</h4>

    Qin Ye returned to the mortal realm to get some good rest after dealing with the major affairs of Hell.

    Arthis also returned to the City of Salvation. On the way back, she even told Qin Ye that she was bringing the Mirror of Eminence with her. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered to interact with it in any event.

    The next day, Qin Ye took three days off school from Zhou Xianlong. Despite his intense grief over the loss of three teaching credits, he immediately set off for the major cities within Insignia Province.

    Ink City, Crosscreek City, Fixall City¡­ One by one, he traversed each and every city in ordance with the directions given by Huang Liangchuan and the others. It took him two full days to aplish what he set out to do.

    Notwithstanding the fact that he had already braced himself for it, he still ended up beingpletely dumbfounded by the wealth and extravagance of the tycoons while they were still alive.

    In particr, Huang Liangchuan¡¯s vi was located in the most coveted locality known as Sanqingguan, and it was the only residence to be constructed in the most highly-rated scenic location in the region. Moreover, Huang Liangchuan even built avish private road that extended from the foot of the mountain straight to the middle of the mountain!

    Swimming pool, multi-purpose courts, a spacious interior, gorgeous ancient cathayan decors, pce lights illuminating the towering walls everywhere¡­ The ambience of the entire ce felt like a luxurious residence of a prince during ancient times.

    The residences of the other wealthy spirits weren¡¯t too shabby either. Qin Ye had to forcefully repress any thoughts of ransacking these residences as he scuttled about his various destinations. Two dayster, he finally returned to the main campus of Insignia University.

    Nobody noticed his return at all. After all, there were far too many studentsing and going from the university with their suitcases all the time. It was only when he finally stashed his suitcase under his bed that he finally heaved a massive sigh of relief.

    There was at least sixty million RMB worth of treasures hidden right under his bed right now¡­ even though he knew there was hardly any risk of losing these items right now, he still felt somewhat ill at ease.

    ¡°It¡¯s not long now¡­ just seven days to go before we return to the City of Salvation. Then, I would be back in my own territory, and there would be no need for me to be so on edge any longer¡­¡±

    The next few days whizzed by, and several instructors powered through with a final sprint. The chat room for instructors waspletely dead by now¡­ until the two months of their study term was finally over.

    That very night, Zhou Xianlong broke the one and a half months of silence in the chat room with a long voice message. All chat messages were temporarily banned. ¡°Dear instructors, the two-month instructor training is going to end tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Everyone has been working incredibly hard. Unfortunately, there are some things that can¡¯t be earned with just hard work.¡±

    ¡°Instructors are a special group of people. Over and above the usual purging of Yin spirits that all of us are so proficient with, instructors have to teach and impart their experience. Instructing ispletely different from merely executing. Thesest two months were supposed to have been a winter break, yet the professors and teachers of Insignia University had stayed behind to continue teaching at the request of our academy. Therefore, I sincerely hope that all of you will stay behind tomorrow.¡±

    Qin Ye listened silently to Zhou Xianlong¡¯s speech. This was a silent struggle amongst cultivators for resources and status. It was every man for himself. When somebody takes the lead, somebody else naturally falls behind.

    Sympathy was entirely meaningless. Li Tao had already dropped hints on this intensepetition as soon as the bus had arrived at Mount Tai City. ess to opportunity was equal to all, yet some seized it, while others let their guards down.

    ¡°Tomorrow at 9.00 a.m., we shall be announcing the list of official instructors and those who are in the running for the title of outstanding instructors at the lecture hall of the Faculty of Computer Sciences. We will also announce the number of students applying to each faculty, their qualifications, as well as the organization, sect, or n they hail from. This is the first order of business.¡±

    ¡°Second order of business. We will be announcing the benefits and advantages that the official instructors and the official outstanding instructors are entitled to, as well as the requisite amount of teaching credits and other conditions necessary for a promotion.¡±

    ¡°Third order of business. We shall be announcing the rubrics for the second phase of instructor evaluation.¡±

    ¡°The inaugural awards ceremony shall be presided over by none other than Principal Xu Anguo. Please spread the message. Those who fail to show up tomorrow and those who show upte shall all be deemed to have voluntarily given up their right to be an instructor.¡±

    The two-month instructors¡¯ training was finallying to its conclusion.

    Qin Ye was about to close the Momo app when a notification suddenly popped up on his screen.

    You have received a friend request from ¡°Strong and Potent¡±.

    Instant rejection.

    You have once again received a friend request from ¡°Strong and Potent¡±.

    Rejected once more.

    How can I have such a nasty ID appear in my pure and innocent list of friends?

    Just then, the S-ssmunity suddenly lit up. Qin Ye had already adjusted the settings of the app to automatically ept pings, but not send any notifications. Therefore, he didn¡¯t know who it was who had pinged him.

    ¡°It¡¯s me, the Local Bully! What are you doing rejecting my requests?!¡± -- Strong and Potent.

    Bloody hell¡­ Qin Ye rolled his eyes back so much that only the whites could be seen. Then, he promptly responded with an equally hateful message - You bloody idiot!!

    You have for the third time received a friend request from ¡°Strong and Potent¡±.

    Qin Ye resisted the urge to crush his phone as he clicked the add button.

    ¡°How¡¯s it? Do you feel confident about tomorrow?¡± Lin Han sent a voice message as soon as he was added.

    ¡°It¡¯s passable¡­ I¡¯d taken three days¡¯ off sses, got docked a few credits because of my failure to keep good notes, and yet another few credits because I was led astray by you! Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t even hesitate to dere right now that I would most certainly be the top of the ss!¡± -- Muscr Pretty Boy.

    There¡¯s just something odd and ambiguous about a conversation taking ce between a Muscr Pretty Boy and a Strong and Potent¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes twitched uncontrobly as he added the alias of Local Bully to Lin Han¡¯s username. Then, he responded, ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about it.¡± Lin Han responded with some measure of exasperation, ¡°I¡¯ve only managed toplete a D-grade mission. I¡¯ve got no chance at the title of an outstanding instructor. At this rate, I¡¯ll simply be relegated to an ordinary instructor¡­ Do you have any ideas? Something that would allow me to gain ten or twenty points overnight?¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated for some moments, and then sent Lin Han a picture of himself that had been subject to three sets of filters.

    Strong and Potent - ????

    Qin Ye exined, ¡°Simply mass send the picture of this muscle man, and you¡¯ll pass all your tests with flying colours.¡±

    Strong and Potent has blocked you.

    People these days simply can¡¯t take a joke¡­ Qin Ye grimaced as he tossed his phone onto the bed, leaned over, and fell into a deep slumber.

    When Qin Ye arrived at the lecture hall of the Faculty of Computer Sciences the next day at 8.30 a.m., the entire lecture hall was already filled with instructors.

    The lectern had already been set up, and a banner stating ¡®First Academy of Cultivators Inaugural Awards Ceremony¡¯ hung at the front of the hall, right between the two national gs mounted on the sides. The stage was decorated with only a few pots of flowers and nts. The decor was simple and in.

    Despite that, none of the instructors present looked in the least bit rxed at all. Everyone simply sat silently at their own seats.

    Nobody sat in groups this time. Qin Ye figured this must have been because nobody wanted anyone to notice their expression of disappointment. And even if they knew that their ce was secure, none of them wanted to give any false hopes to their friends with whom they had lived and dined with for thest two months. Therefore, everyone tacitly sat approximately three seats apart from each other. Even Lin Han refrained from sitting next to Qin Ye.

    The atmosphere in the hall was somewhat stifling and oppressive. Some timeter, someone chuckled sardonically, ¡°The new generation is outshining the old¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be retained today. Everyone, I wish you a bright future ahead at the First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Old Li¡¯s being too courteous.¡± ¡°Nothing is certain as yet.¡± A sparse response echoed from the rest of the hall. Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically. The man who had just spoken was a middle-aged man. Unfortunately, Qin Ye was unable to recall his name.

    ¡°I reckon that things aren¡¯t going to work out for me either.¡± Another person chimed in. This time, it was a white-haired old man, ¡°Those who manage to stay on must persevere and press on. After all, having a term of service at First Academy of Cultivators in one¡¯s resume is an impressive feat. Every single one of us here knows full well that prosperity doesn¡¯t arise out of resources. Rather, it stems from good policy. With every single policy leaning in favor of the First Academy of Cultivators, coupled with the fact that the same will be established right in the heart of the city, we can only be certain that the academy is going to be the next rising star of the nation.¡±

    After several more responses, the buzz quickly died down, and the atmosphere eased up a little. Soon, it was 9.00 a.m. As a melodious tune yed through the speakers, a row of silhouettes emerged from the side and slowly made their way onto the stage. All of the instructors immediately sat up attentively.

    It¡¯s begun¡­

    All of them were elites of at least A-ss talent. The results of their arduous two-month training was soon about to be disclosed!

    Xu Anguo walked ahead of the troupe, followed closely by the various professors and faculty heads. After bowing slightly to the instructors, the various professors and faculty heads took their seat on the first row of the hall, leaving Xu Anguo to take the stage alone.

    With a faint smile on his face, he swept his gaze calmly across the entire audience before taking a deep bow, ¡°Friends,rades, the First Academy of Cultivators will undoubtedly be the promisednd for all cultivators. I¡¯ve invited you from all over the nation, but I have regrettably failed to keep each and every one of you here. I take full responsibility for this.¡±

    Then, he straightened up and sighed, ¡°There is no doubt that you are all elites in your own rights, and you are among the best in the world when ites to purging evil spirits. However, there are some who are better with their hands, while others are better with their lips. Here, in the First Academy of Cultivators, words are more important than actions. Therefore¡­ we¡¯ve had to make some very tough decisions. Please understand.¡±

    The entire lecture hall was filled with a pin-drop silence. Xu Anguo pulled out a brown string tie envelope and slowly unraveled the string. And then, he slowly pulled out a white sheet of paper with a somber expression on his face.

    ¡°After two months of rigorous observation and scrutiny, the full list of instructors at the First Academy of Cultivators are as follows.¡±

    He paused for a moment, while everyone in the audience watched on with bated breaths. Qin Ye was no exception to this.

    ¡°In first ce, S9527, 90 teaching credits.¡±

    Haa¡­ Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief.

    The prairie husky had finally wormed his way into the great treasure trove.

    ¡°Comments: Bold yet conscientious. Incredibly strong. First expert to attain the cultivation rank of Soul Hunter at the age of twenty-one in thest one hundred years. Possesses meticulous observation, and is able to react to sudden changes to the situation. The only instructor toplete a C-grade mission¡­¡±

    After reading one full minute¡¯s worth ofments, he paused and looked in Qin Ye¡¯s direction, ¡°S9527 is herewith officially promoted from an instructor to the ranks of an outstanding instructor. He will henceforth gain ess to certain resources and databases avable only to associate professors and above.¡±

    Countless gazesnded on Qin Ye¡¯s body. Some were envious, some wereplimentary, while others were resentful. Qin Ye weed them all with a straight face.

    ¡°In second ce, S2328, with 80 teaching credits.¡±

    Qin Ye turned to look in Su Feng¡¯s direction with great astonishment, only to see him adjust his spectacles calmly. Qin Ye¡¯s phone buzzed, and he discreetly opened the Momo app, only to be met with Strong and Potent¡¯s furious yet tragic exmation, ¡°How could hend the second ce?!¡±

    This was a message that had been sent to the S-ssmunity group chat. An administrator, Vast Ocean Smile, immediately responded, ¡°It¡¯s because while you were busy acting like a fool, I was busy studying hard.¡±

    Qin Ye switched off his phone and continued listening to the report.

    The list which Xu Anguo was reading out was a list of instructors who were being retained. This only meant one thing - the ones who failed to secure a ce as an instructor numbered more than those who seeded. After all, there was simply no reason for him to make things difficult for himself and read the longer list.

    As though confirming his suspicions, Xu Anguo finished going through the entire list of names in his sheet of paper after approximately thirty-five minutes.

    Apart from the three top spots, he didn¡¯t read thements of any of the other instructors. The only thing which he had read out were their registration numbers.

    The eyes of the instructors around vacited between a fiery gaze of hope when each registration number was about to be announced, to a nk look of dejection as soon as the registration number was read.

    ¡°The next registration I¡¯m reading is thest and final instructor on the list.¡± Xu Anguo looked up and smiled at everyone, ¡°All of you are outstanding in your very own rights, and you¡¯ve undoubtedly made our decision here incredibly difficult. Of the two hundred people who¡¯ve answered the call to teach, we¡¯ve only retained sixty-five of you. This isn¡¯t on you; it¡¯s on us. I sincerely wish each and everyone of you returning today continued sess in your endeavours ahead.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, A4329.¡±

 Chapter 145: Privilege and Pupilage (1)

    <h4>Chapter 145: Privilege and Pupge (1)</h4>

    A man in his early thirties, sitting in the corner of the hall, breathed a long sigh of relief.

    There was no apuse in the audience. The entire hall was only shrouded with an oppressive silence as everything ended. Momentster, Zhou Xianlong was the first one to stand up to apud. Gradually, the apuse began to spread and grow among the lecture hall, and the sparse pitter-patter of ps grew into an uproarious apuse from everyone around.

    There were some who were disappointed, and some who were resentful. But where there was a gathering of people, there would bepetition. And where there waspetition¡­ those who failed to forge forward would naturally be left behind.

    Qin Ye also apuded lightly as he swept his gaze around the hall. A number of people returned his gaze with an amiable look of their own. Simultaneously, his Momo app began to buzz frantically with notifications - hundreds of friend requests poured in all at once.

    This time, he didn¡¯t reject a single one of them. In fact, he epted all of them almost immediately.

    The probationary instructors who had failed to be retained couldn¡¯t necessarily be said to have departed empty-handed. After all, those who could be earmarked by the First Academy of Cultivators for the position of instructor were all undoubtedly the cream of the crop. Who knows, the friendships forged through their time here could very welle in useful in the near future.

    Xu Anguo smiled faintly as he looked around, ¡°Thank you, everyone. We¡¯ll take a ten-minute break now. Once the break is over, we¡¯ll continue with the other orders of business. All newly-minted instructors are reminded to stay behind. As for the other probationary instructors, we¡¯ve made transport arrangements to send you back to your original posts.¡±

    His final statement represented the formal establishment of the circle of official instructors of the First Academy of Cultivators. All others were left with no choice but to take their leave.

    Ten minutester, the circle of official instructors was once again seated in the lecture hall. This time, the person speaking at the lectern was instead Zhou Xianlong.

    As though foreshadowing the somber nature of business to be disclosed, he nced cidly at the remaining instructors and coughed lightly as he began, ¡°We¡¯ll go straight into the first order of business.¡±

    ¡°Pursuant to the regtions, the first stage of your assessment is broken up into two parts. The first part is for the selection of excellent official instructors. I¡¯ll take this opportunity to congratte all of you seated over here. The fact that you¡¯re still here means that you¡¯re the elites of the elites.¡± It was Zhou Xianlong¡¯s style to keep things short and sinct. He held up two fingers, ¡°The second part will take the style of elimination. The instructors who ced top three in the first part of the assessment would automatically join the ranks of the outstanding instructors. In this regard, only outstanding instructors have the right to vie for the position of an associate professor and beyond.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. Su Feng and the rest were right. The ranking system was structured in the form of a pyramid. Those who stood at its peak would naturally enjoy ess to the best of resources. And the others¡­ although they enjoyed far better treatment than any of the provincial or municipal cultivators, it was still no more than crumbs off the royal dining table.

    Competitiveness.

    The First Academy of Cultivators was clearly established to ignite a fierce sense of rivalry andpetitiveness in its students and instructors alike!

    The air ofpetitiveness gave rise to an atmosphere that was far more bing of a world of cultivators.

    The sky''s the limit, and all who fail to constantly advance would be relegated to the back of the pack.

    Qin Ye was able to discern a far greater extent of these implications with his experience. He continued listening intently.

    Zhou Xianlong continued, ¡°The second part of the instructors¡¯ assessment shallmence as soon as the semester formally begins. The exact details pertaining to your assessment shall only be disclosed when the school semester begins. Alright. Now, let¡¯s get to know our students a little bit better.¡±

    He snapped his finger, and a massive LED screen lowered right behind him.

    Amidst the silence in the room, the pitch-ck LED screen began to glow with a silvery-white lustre, dividing the screen into two parts. Shortly after that, approximately one thousand identity tokens showed up on the screen with a cacophony of popping sounds, almost as though they were pellets that had been shot directly onto the screen!

    Qin Ye took a deep breath. Teaching was a brand new concept to him. To think that I would actually be able to stand on at a lectern to educate other cultivators.

    I¡¯m an Emissary of Hell¡­

    Has this husky already gained the wolf king¡¯s trust¡­?

    Everyone watched the screen excitedly. Each of the rectangr identity tokens had the same person¡¯s silhouette with a question mark on it. That said, the entire screen of tokens were divided into over twentyrge areas. Some areas had more tokens, while others had less.

    ¡°There are exactly one thousand two hundred students.¡± Zhou Xianlong took out a pointer and tapped it gently on the screen, ¡°Theye from all four corners of Cathay, and each area represents a different faction. This is also the first thing you have to understand.¡±

    He pointed towards the first row. With a gentle tap, a circr emblemprising seven different symbols appeared in the middle of the screen. There were skeletons, ghosts, bugs¡­ This emblem represented the area with the most identity tokens - almost a third of the total number of tokens around.

    ¡°There may be a great number of cultivators out there, but we are still the First Academy of Cultivators. So what if we¡¯re a new establishment? That doesn¡¯t mean we have to invite only the obscure and unknown sects and organizations out there. In fact, we¡¯d only extended the first tranche of invitations to the current A-ranked and B-ranked forces in the entire nation. These three hundred forty-seven students were all sent by thergest organization that we have extended our invitation to. These are talents that will being from all across the nation.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone recognize this emblem?¡±

    Everyone apart from Qin Ye raised their hands.

    ¡°S9527, you don¡¯t know it?¡± Zhou Xianlong statement nearly caused Qin Ye to react with a flying kick.

    Can¡¯t you see that my hand isn¡¯t in the air?!

    Just how great is your hatred for me?! Or have you already recognized the true form of this silly but cute husky over here?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Qin Ye responded with a stiff expression.

    ¡°S2328, tell him.¡± Zhou Xianlong turned his pointer towards Su Feng, who promptly exined, ¡°This is the Association of Underwordly Craftsmen, founded 8 June 1951. The professional affairs of the seven underworldly craftsmen, including the phantom market, are all managed by the said association. In 2000, the association assigned the rights to manage phantom markets to the Special Investigations Department in exchange for the license to set up schools of their own.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve presently already set up three schools across Cathay, namely ¡®ming River Institution¡¯, ¡®Eastsea Petroleum Institution¡¯ and ¡®Sarang Life Enterprise Institution¡¯, all of which are founded and managed by the Association of Underworldly Craftsmen. It¡¯s a one stop shop from kindergarten straight through to high school.¡±

    Qin Ye recorded these details discreetly. Zhou Xianlong nodded his head, ¡°Not bad. S9527, I don¡¯t me you. After all, you¡¯ve forged a path for yourself as a rogue cultivator. However, you must remember that these details form part of the knowledge you have to impart to your students as well. As an instructor - the top instructor no less - simply imparting your knowledge on purging ghosts would be sorely insufficient. That would only make them no different from a killing machine. What¡¯s more important is to teach them more about the world that they live in. Incidentally, this is where you¡¯recking and need improvement on.¡±

    ¡°We must first learn to conduct ourselves and manage general affairs before the pursuit of knowledge. This is the motto of all universities across Cathay.¡±

    Qin Ye stood up and cupped his hands sincerely, ¡°Much obliged for the advice.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong instructed Qin Ye to take his seat with a simple gesture before turning to the rest of the ss, ¡°Instructors, I¡¯ll say it again. There¡¯s no doubt that each and every student enrolling in the First Academy of Cultivators is backed by a powerful sect, a reputable n, or a massive organization. However, as soon as they step foot into the First Academy of Cultivators¡­ we must treat everyone equally!¡±

    ¡°Forget about who they are; and forget about where they came from. Treat them as you would any other student with no special statuses or identities. If you¡¯re unable to do even this¡­¡± He swept a sharp and meaningful gaze across the hall. Everyone knew exactly what he meant even though he didn¡¯t finish his statement.

    After a protracted pause, he continued, ¡°In addition, these students are looking to you for instruction and guidance. Cultivation isn¡¯t a science. Science is ubiquitous and equally applicable to all, but the world of cultivators is not. For instance, a shaman¡¯s techniques can never be properly utilized by a corpse driver. Teach them to tap on their full potential. How you do this is entirely up to you.¡±

    He straightened up and tapped his pointer on the screen, ¡°Apart from the Association of Underworldly Craftsmen, we have the disciples of the three major Daos, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Next to that, we have the disciples of thergest sect in Cathay, with a widespread influence spanning five of the northwestern provinces, the Primordial Sect. They advocate the Way of the Primordial. Then, there is another sect with thousands of years of history under its belt, and whose influence spans three of the southern provinces, the Form-Intention Sect¡­¡±

    Zhou Xianlong went on with his introduction for the better part of half an hour, and he only stopped after he had described each of these sects in detail.

    Qin Ye nodded his head lightly. He wasn¡¯t aware that there were so many hidden sects that still existed across all of Cathay!

    Additionally, he had keenly picked up on the academy¡¯s second underlying agenda, which was the desire for elites, no matter the cost!

    In that regard, the ¡®desire¡¯ didn¡¯t refer to the act of selecting and taking in existing elites. Rather, the desire here was to the tune of nurturing and fostering of elites.

    Once you enter the academy, everything that you once were before all fades away to the background. After all, no matter how illustrious one¡¯s backing, how could they possibly overshadow the authority of the Special Investigations Department?

    These students wereing to the academy to learn and receive guidance and knowledge. They would have to face Yin spirits, and there would necessarily be deaths. Everything that Zhou Xianlong wasying down right now was to stem any undue considerations that might militate against proper teaching and instruction!

    ¡°Everything is the same as it had been on the bus¡­¡± Qin Ye squinted as he nced at the first row, where a jovial Xu Anguo was smiling radiantly, ¡°Everything being said now¡­ points to the crux of the second part of the instructors¡¯ assessment. If one betrays the academy¡¯s expectations, that is, if one nurtures a student with a fully developed knowledge skill tree, but remainspletely undeveloped in their ability to act¡­ I¡¯m afraid that person will never be eligible to run for associate professorship ever again.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s move on to the second order of business. I will now be announcing the benefits and advantages extended to all official instructors and outstanding instructors, as well as the conditions required for a promotion.¡± Zhou Xianlong took a sip of his tea and continued, ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators would never have been able to attract all the S-ss and A-ss talents across the nation with merely the government¡¯s support. The greatest draw is in fact our generous treatment and privileges extended to all who are here!¡±

    Qin Ye immediately perked up his ears.

    It was as though the husky had smelled the scent of dung in the air.

    ¡°There are two main categories of benefits. The first category is the tangible benefits. In other words, we¡¯re talking about the benefits you will receive and experience directly. The most fundamental aspect of this is your monthly sry of one hundred thousand RMB. But more importantly, you will also be given fifty pieces of spirit stones every month.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong set down his hands on the lectern, ¡°The second category pertains to the intangible benefits. I believe¡­ this is what everyone here is most curious about.¡±

    He tapped on the screen with his pointer again, and the rows of identity tokens instantly vanished, only to be reced by what appeared to be a series of underground passages. Countless objects were stored in innumerable ss cases, each of which were tightly bound by chains and covered with talismans.

    The sheer number of objects stored here¡­ was practically reminiscent of an ancient treasure trove!

    ¡°This is¡­ a Yin horse?! Yin lingzhi?!¡± Even though Qin Ye couldn¡¯t recognize these objects, it didn¡¯t mean that nobody else couldn¡¯t either. As soon as the images appeared, the previously silent lecture hall was immediately filled with gasps and soft exmations.

    Even Su Feng sat up with a bright, burning gleam in his eyes.

    ¡°Its age¡­ must be well above three hundred years! Can you even find such ancient Yin lingzhi anymore?!¡± An old instructor tightened his grip around his armrest and nearly shot to his feet in astonishment. Nearby, another man in his forties gasped loudly as he eximed, ¡°Wealth of the five emperors¡­ and from the primeval eras to boot. This is only formed through its burial with five consecutive emperors! If one carries this artifact, he would practically be undefeatable by anyone under the level of Anitya Hellguard!¡±

    ¡°Is that an urn of ashes? The ashes of Buddha?¡± ¡°Hang on¡­ look, what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Where in the world is this ce?!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze also turned sharp and intense. The image on the screen quickly shot through the passage filled with ss cases and finally entered a vast expanse of space!

    It looked just like a data center, filled with rows after rows of cabs on shelves. Furthermore, the shelves appeared to be indexed and remotely operated by a central processing unit. As long as one entered a reference, theputer would immediately pull out the corresponding cab.

    Each and every cab was approximately one meterrge. Just then, the image revealed a hand opening one of these cabs and pulling out a long wooden chest from it.

    Everyone watched with bated breath as the wooden chest was opened, revealing an incredibly well-preserved sword with a tag ced at the end of the chest. Then, the hand slowly reached in and pulled out the sword.

    Buzz¡­ In the instant the sword was removed from its chest, every single cab in the image began to tremble in unison!

    And that¡¯s not all. Even the instructors who were watching in the lecture hall began to feel their hair stand on end!

    1. These are a type of bracket fungus used in traditional chinese medicine.

 Chapter 146: Privilege and Pupilage (2)

    <h4>Chapter 146: Privilege and Pupge (2)</h4>

    Silence.

    This was a sword that had been forged from pure gold. It was still sheathed, and the sheath of the sword was engraved with illegible patterns and symbols everywhere. Even though the hand was merely holding onto the sword, every single instructor in the lecture hall felt as though... the slightest show of disrespect to the sword would trigger the sword and cause it to traverse the vast chasm in the blink of an eye and arrive right before one¡¯s eyes.

    The feeling was so real and visceral that a bead of sweat quickly slid off Qin Ye¡¯s forehead.

    It was a supreme treasure.

    And one could only imagine what it would look like if unsheathed.

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s expression had never been as stern and somber as this. He turned and actually paid his respects to the sword, before facing the group of instructors once more, ¡°Instructors, I know of a rumor making its way around the realm of cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Rumor has it¡­ that across all bygone eras, there exists an organization akin to the Special Investigations Department. Regardless of the rise of kings, or the fall of dynasties, this organization would continue to hand down its treasury to its next incarnation - an equivalent organization of an iing ruler that steps into the shoes of its predecessor. In fact, rumours of such organizations have existed all over the world since time immemorial. Foreign cultivators refer to these people as the gravekeeper. Cathay has its own set of rumours as well.¡±

    He looked around the audience and took in all of the instructors impassioned gazes as he took a deep breath, ¡°I now confirm the veracity of these rumours.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true.¡±

    Boom! It was as though a hammer had struck heavily on everyone¡¯s hearts. Even the most stoic of them was unable to maintain a calm expression on his face.

    A vault of treasures that is thousands of years old!

    An umtion of knowledge of thousands of years!

    But¡­ why tell us these things now?

    Was this part of the perks of bing a formally appointed instructor?

    ¡°The previous incarnation of the Special Investigations Department was known as the Divine Protectors. They were formed from a group of elites among the upper three banners of the eight banners system. In other words, they were formed from handpicked elites among the in yellow banner, the bordered yellow banner and the in white banner. The Divine Protectors existed even after the founding of present day Cathay, and only officially handed over all rights to the treasury to the Special Investigations Department when it was finally formed. It was then that the Divine Protectors was formally dered a thing of the past.¡±

    ¡°The Special Investigations Department has been guarding this treasury ever since then. This is also the greatest privilege that you¡¯ve been bestowed with! In fact, this is an extraordinary privilege that the state has extended to all of you!¡±

    Gulp¡­ Some gulped audibly, while others tightened their grip around their armrests as their buttocks hovered slightly over their seat. Dozens of pairs of eyes stared intently at Zhou Xianlong¡¯s mouth as he exined all these things. Even Qin Ye had to clench his fists tightly to suppress the overwhelming excitement in his heart.

    That¡¯s it¡­

    The treasury hid an immense trove of artifacts that Hell could really use! The value of these things greatly exceeded that of mere Yin spirit stones! If not for the fact that he couldn¡¯t summon Arthis right now, he would most certainly have done so and forced her to set a ¡°seizing target¡± for him!

    The husky had finally managed to sneak into the wolves¡¯ den, and it was now eyeing the trove of treasures as well as the she-wolf¡­

    ¡°This treasury is sub-divided into seven different tiers, each of which is aptly named after the big dipper asterism - Alpha-Dubhe, Beta-Merak, Gamma-Phecda, Delta-Megrez, Epsilon-Alioth, Zeta-Mizar and Eta-Alkaid. ording to our ancient records, the Alpha-Dubhe tier corresponds with Operative-ss treasures; the Beta-Merak tier corresponds with Hunter-ss treasures; the Gamma-Phecda tier corresponds with Hellguard-ss treasures; the Delta-Megrez tier with Judge-ss treasures, and so on and so forth.¡±

    The different levels of cultivation in the mortal realm took after the different ranks of Hell¡¯s Emissaries. This was probably a practice that had been passed down from generation to generation. Qin Ye wasn¡¯t too bothered by it. After all, the more uniform the system of reference, the less the likelihood of a freudian slip.

    ¡°The final vault which contains eta-ss treasures¡­ contains artifacts that you wouldn¡¯t even dare to dream about.¡± Zhou Xianlong exined with a burning gaze, ¡°Let¡¯s just take this sword for instance. Do any of you know its name?¡±

    Simultaneously, almost as though it could hear Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice, the hand in the image reached over and turned the sign in front of the sword around. In the very next moment, there was pin-drop silence throughout the entire hall.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened as he stared at the screen with incredulity. Su Feng shook his head with disbelief, and he sat up even straighter than before.

    At another corner of the lecture hall, an old instructor murmured hoarsely, ¡°This¡­ how is this possible¡­¡±

    He subconsciously shot to his feet¡­ and he wasn¡¯t the only one. All of the instructors present rose to their feet with a soft rustling sound. The only exceptions were the various professors, faculty heads, and the principal, Xu Anguo.

    There were five words written on the sign.

    Sword of the Yellow Emperor!

    ¡°The sword of humanity, the sword of the Yellow Emperor¡­¡± Zhou Xianlong felt goosebumps creeping up all over his skin, and he closed his eyes as he continued exining with a hoarse voice, ¡°Even I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes when I first saw this treasure. However¡­ no one has been able to unsheath this sword for thousands of years now¡­¡±

    ¡°Holy shit¡­ the three daolords are going to suffer¡­¡± Qin Ye wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and sat back down onto his seat. We¡¯re talking about the Sword of the Yellow Emperor¡­ This is the stuff of legends, and it actually exists?! Although nobody has been able to unsheath it for several millennia, who knows whether it would unsheath itself if the three daolords begin to ravage Cathay once more?

    I suddenly get the feeling that this pack of wolves is more dangerous than I¡¯d thought. What do I do?

    It might be best if I keep a low profile and continue being a husky¡­ the mortal realm is a little bit too far into the deep end¡­

    Although I still don¡¯t know how terrifying a Prefect-ss existence is supposed to be, I still get the feeling that¡­ it can¡¯t possibly be any more terrifying than this thing¡­

    ¡°No¡­¡± As soon as he sat down, a brainwave struck him like a lightning bolt, and he immediately did a double take at the screen.

    No¡­ NO!

    What ss of artifact is the Sword of the Yellow Emperor supposed to be? How could the sword possibly be unsheathed by any other man on the street?

    Since that was the case¡­ the person who¡¯s handling the sword now¡­ Just who is the sword¡¯s master?

    A cultivator at the same level as the Sixfold Ghost Kings?

    He carefully scrutinized the hand on the screen. His attention had earlier beenpletely seized by the glory of the Sword of the Yellow Emperor, and it was only now that he discovered just how wrinkled and withered the hand on the screen looked. Yet, at the same time, the hand still looked like it was filled with boundless energy and vigor.

    ¡°He¡¯s at the very least¡­ a Prefect-ss cultivator¡­¡± He drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, ¡°The mortal realm has their own hidden trump cards¡­ It¡¯s no wonder that they dare to suppress the outbreak of supernatural activities across all of Cathay¡­ and it¡¯s no wonder that the three daolords are hesitant about making their next move¡­ No¡­ in fact, the nation might already have guessed the identity of the three daolords... These are Prefect-ss existences¡­ We¡¯re talking about hundreds of millions of Yin spirits pouring out of countless nests of ghosts, squaring off against the mortal realm and its backing of thousands of years of history and heritage¡­ Neither forces are willing to move beyond these skirmishes and openly dere war on the other.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The screen switched off abruptly. Everyone immediately roused from their state of stupor and exchanged surprised nces as they took their seats silently.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Zhou Xianlong boomed, ¡°I solemnly and sincerely dere that from the moment the First Academy of Cultivators was founded, this treasury has been open to its instructors!¡±

    Several people instantly shut their eyes and heaved a long sigh of passion.

    The entire atmosphere was filled with excitement.

    ¡°Teaching credits can be considered the path to your promotion, while merit points form the currency of exchange here in the treasury. Formal instructors of the academy would be entitled to redeem alpha-tier and beta-tier treasures. Outstanding instructors would be entitled to redeem one gamma-tier treasure from the treasury every year. As for associate professors and full professors¡­¡±

    He smiled faintly, ¡°They would be entitled to redeem higher tiered treasures at any time they wish!¡±

    ¡°Simultaneously, instructors would enjoy a 10% discount on their redemption of Yin spirit stones. Outstanding instructors would be entitled to a 15% discount for the same. Associate professors would enjoy a 20% discount; senior associate professors a 30% discount, and full professors¡­ a whopping 50% discount!¡±

    ¡°The list of all possible redemptions shall be disseminated to all of you via the Momo app as soon as we return to the City of Salvation.¡±

    ¡°Everyone.¡± He mmed his hands onto the lectern with a burning gaze in his eyes, ¡°With such great support from the state, do you know what you have to do?¡±

    ¡°We do!!¡± This time, everyone answered with a resounding cry.

    The privileges apanying their formal appointment as instructors were simply so great that they were nearly knocked unconscious by it!

    This was the true power of policy!

    ¡°Very well. Then¡­ I¡¯m counting on every one of you.¡± Zhou Xianlong cupped his hands, ¡°As for the third order of business, namely, the rubrics for the second phase of instructor evaluation¡­ is non-existent.¡±

    ¡°Every single word you utter, and every single action and deed performed will be closely monitored by us. Everyone, wrap up your studies. We return to the City of Salvation the day after tomorrow. The first semester of the First Academy of Cultivators officially begins five days from now!¡±

    ¡°Here¡¯s to great things ahead! Dismissed!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong and the others promptly took their leave. As soon as thest of them stepped out, the previously silent lecture hall immediately exploded with chatter!

    ¡°Holy shit¡­ holy shit¡­ I¡¯m about to faint from being smothered by all these blessings¡­¡± Local Bully stared at the ceiling with a lifeless gaze as he slumped back weakly in his seat.

    Su Feng adjusted his sses, ¡°What¡¯s there to be so excited about? The first part of our instructor evaluation has just ended, but the second part is soon about to begin, and that¡¯s where the kicker lies. S9527, wouldn¡¯t you say so?¡±

    Local Bully nced over, ¡°If you¡¯re not excited, why don¡¯t you stop shaking your legs?¡±

    Qin Ye walked over, smiled and nodded at Su Feng, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are you trying to seize the top spot from me?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s remark was fairly audible across the entire hall, and it immediately drew a mix ofughter and criticism alike, ¡°S9527, you may havee up ahead of us in Mount Tai City, but we start the second round of assessments on apletely clean te. There¡¯s no certainty you¡¯re going to take the top seat this time.¡±

    An old man twirled his goatee as he smiled cheerily, ¡°This old man has got some insights and experience in teaching and education¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just as well, since I¡¯d like to have a taste of howfortable the first seat feels like.¡± ¡°You ced first in the first part, but thepetition is only going to be more intense in the next part.¡± ¡°Hahaha, well said. Everyone should have a go at the first seat. That¡¯s the way to keep things interesting.¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes.

    The next part?

    I¡¯m so sorry¡­ but this husky has already hidden a trump card up his sleeves. I hope you guys don¡¯t cry too much when it¡¯s finally revealed¡­ You¡¯ve gotta understand that this husky has licked a certain academic toplete satisfaction¡­ oral skills are ten out of ten.

    ¡°Shall we get together for dinner?¡± Zhuo Qinfen came over with a stoic expression, ¡°Since we¡¯re already leaving the day after tomorrow, shouldn¡¯t we take the opportunity to take a good look around Mount Tai City? After all, we probably won¡¯t get a chance to return for the next few years once school begins.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Local Bully has to take us around.¡± ¡°What the hell do you mean Local Bully?! I¡¯ve only gone to high school here!¡±

    They indulged in themselves that night, eating and drinking and partying away. With the exception of Qin Ye, all of the rest were aplete inebriated mess by the end of the night. After a good night¡¯s rest, Local Bully took them around the sights and sounds of Mount Tai City in their two rented cars.

    It was a brief, enjoyable respite¡­ On the way back, Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew somewhatplicated and abstruse as he looked at the group of friends around him. A smile crept up the corner of his lips, but then quickly faded away.

    How many years had it been?

    How many years had it been since he¡¯dpletely let loose and enjoyed a time of fun and joy with his friends?

    Even the term ¡®friend¡¯ felt like a distant notion to him.

    It was far too difficult for him to entrust others with the contemtions of his heart, and far too difficult for him to trust in humanity. After all, he had maintained a persona of an invisible, forgettable man throughout his several experiences in college.

    He¡¯d rarely attended ss reunions. When he did, he would get involved and forge associations. When he got involved and forged associations, he would be more noticeable. And when he grew more noticeable, he would attract trouble¡­ Therefore, he had always lived a life of an unnoticed, impressionable person. Always treading carefully around the bounds of social circles, but never taking the plunge too deep.

    It wasn¡¯t as though he didn¡¯t have friends either. In fact, there were a few people who he kept close to his heart, like Zhang Baoguo for instance. However, these friendships all arose out of exceptional circumstances, and they were most certainly not the norm for him.

    He had never taken the initiative to extend an olive branch to others either, since he simply couldn¡¯t fathom a day when he could surround himself with people he could consider his colleagues or his friends.

    Ka-cha¡­ There was a sound of a camera shutter. Lin Han had leaned over and taken a wefie together with Qin Ye, before promptly posting it on his social media ount with the caption - Touchstone of attractiveness among the pioneer instructors of the First Academy of Cultivators. He immediately received dozens of likes.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for photographs.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°I guarantee you that we¡¯ll be seeing each other on a daily basis as soon as you die. You wouldn¡¯t be able to even avoid me at that time.¡±

    About that¡­ Qin Ye was probably the first person in the history of mankind who had looked forward to the death of his friends with such eager anticipation¡­

    A day filled withughter and joy passed quickly. Two dayster, tworge buses ferried the sixty-over instructors and several professors and faculty heads and made its way straight back to where they had firste from - the City of Salvation.

    The inauguration of the first semester at the First Academy of Cultivators had finally arrived!

    1. This was a military system that was created in the early seventeenth century, leading up to the end of the Ming Dynasty and ushering in the era of the Qing Dynasty.

    2. The names of the seven big dipper stars are actually the suffix of each of these words. However, they also have Bayer designations using consecutive letters of the greek alphabet, starting with alpha. I¡¯ve taken the liberty topound these names so that we don¡¯t have to memorize the names of the big dipper stars. Since these names also correspond with the different tiers of treasures, making reference to them using the greek alphabet would also make a lot more sense (ie, alpha-ss or alpha-grade treasure, as opposed to dubhe-ss or dubhe-grade).

    3. The Yellow Emperor is a mytho-historical chinese sovereign named Xuanyuan, or moremonly known as Huangdi or the Yellow Emperor. He is estimated to have been born in 2711 BC, reigned from 2698 BC until he died in 2598 BC. Holy crap, that¡¯s 113 years old!

 Chapter 147: Mischief Making

    <h4>Chapter 147: Mischief Making</h4>

    The Insignia University¡¯s branch campus was still the same as before.

    The college was unnervingly serene. The previously bustling canteen, kiosks and sports courts were nowpletely devoid of human traffic. The college administration had even undertaken some renovation works while they were gone. The college was by andrge the same, but many of its soft instations, such as sculptures, had already been reced with cultivation-themed furnishings. A number of red strings decorated with old copper coins and talismans were tied from tree to tree. Those who didn¡¯t know any better would possibly even mistake these grounds for a Taoist academy.

    Qin Ye crept forward and hid behind a statue of a legend performing a sword dance.

    Target: The instructors¡¯ dormitory five hundred meters away.

    Action: Charge straight into the dorms like a bolt of lightning.

    Objective: To keep the suitcase in his hands hidden from the sight of any person around.

    He leaned on the statue with his left hand, and carried the suitcase with his right. He gulped nervously several times, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

    A paper crane fluttered onto Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder. Arthis¡¯ voice called out, ¡°Aren¡¯t you just going home? Why do you have to act like a ghost sneaking into a vige? Is this really necessary? I¡¯ve been watching you dawdle around here from upstairs for over ten minutes now.¡±

    ¡°What do you know.¡± Qin Ye patted the suitcase as he responded with a dreamy voice, ¡°Have you ever seen treasures worth well over ten million USD? There are prying eyes hidden all around these dormitories. I have to be cautious.¡±

    The paper crane lifted its wings and picked its non-existent nostrils, ¡°Back when I had my pce grounds, this sum of money was no more than loose change to me.¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t care to respond any further.

    Why is it so difficult tomunicate with the nouveau riche? Isn¡¯t that just a thing of the past? Why bring that up and strain rtions now?

    Then, as soon as the number of people in the surroundings dwindled slightly, Qin Ye straightened his body and coughed lightly and made his move. Even though he looked like he was walking, the fact of the matter was that he had shot straight back to his dorm room at full speed.

    It couldn¡¯t be helped. As long as he was carrying the suitcase, he couldn''t help but feel like a coveted luminary that others wanted to harm¡­

    Whew¡­ Then, as soon as he turned the corner, a tall figure burst out of the shadows with open arms, poised for a grand embrace, ¡°Surprise!!¡±

    Boom! A massive fistnded on the body of the ¡°surprise¡±.

    Wang Chenghao immediately crouched down on the ground and clutched his stomach in pain. He looked pitifully at Qin Ye with a multitude of works on his lips, yet the only thing that came out was the sound of dry heaving.

    Qin Ye was gasping for breath from his astonishment as well - bloody hell, what kind of a surprise is this?! I¡¯vee so far, only to encounter love right round the corner. Do you know that you¡¯ve sent my soul scattering with that?!

    ¡°If you ever appear so abruptly again, you best be prepared to be sent flying down the stairs or defenestrated!¡± Qin Ye red mercilessly at him before pulling out his keys to open the door to his room. Wang Chenghao rubbed his head and stood next to him. Just as he opened the door, Qin Ye capitted and shut it again. Then, he red at Wang Chenghao once more, ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    Wang Chenghao blinked vacantly,pletely baffled by the situation.

    I¡¯m just visiting you for a simple chat. Does something need to happen¡­ no¡­ what do you want? Or should I say, what are you hoping would happen?

    He began to extrapte from the peculiar, awkward conversation that they had, and his lips twitched as he responded with much difficulty, ¡°Are you trying to make me say ¡®it¡¯s happening¡¯?¡±

    Qin Ye silently grabbed him by the neck and turned him around, ¡°Face this way, walk straight, head downstairs, and then turn left. You¡¯ll see the library. Keep walking straight, and you¡¯ll see your dorm. Please go. You¡¯re wee.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    With a single shove, Qin Ye pushed Wang Chenghao three meters away. Then, ignoring Wang Chenghao¡¯s begrudging look, Qin Ye carefully opened the door to his room to a small crack and slipped right in with a jiffy.

    Thud. The door to his room shut almost as quickly as it opened.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye leaned heavily against the door and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Then, he stared at the unidentified creature on his bed with a menacing look in his eyes.

    It was a silicone body.

    The workmanship was excellent. This was pretty normal, wasn¡¯t it?

    However, what was unusual was the fact that the silicone doll was lying in his bed, operating theptop with its left hand and holding the mouse with its right as it cursed angrily, ¡°You bloody idiot! I just knew that nine out of ten Yasuo yers are smurfs! I¡¯ll kick you back to where you¡¯vee from! I¡¯ll report you once we¡¯re done here! Let¡¯s see if you can keep acting like that!¡±

    There were even several open packets of chips and jellies strewn all over the bed. Qin Ye simply couldn¡¯t imagine how she¡¯d managed to obtain these things. There was even a box of Whisper pads and Triumph brand bras with cup sizes ranging from A through D¡­

    Qin Ye gulped as he made his way towards the bed with much difficulty, ¡°I can understand the use of Triumph¡­ but could you please exin the need for the box of Whispers?¡±

    Arthis had just finished a game. She numbly clicked on the report button, interlocked her fingers and cracked her knuckles, before ncing at Qin Ye, ¡°This is a woman¡¯s stuff, understand?¡±

    ¡°... I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t understand why a silicone doll who wouldn¡¯t even get periods would have use of such things!¡±

    Arthis ran her finger shyly across her jawline, ¡°Can¡¯t I just¡­ experience what it¡¯s like being a woman?¡±

    QIn Ye sat down on his sofa dejectedly and buried his face into his hands.

    What do I do when my pet husky is exhibiting destructive behaviour?

    Forbidden ground.

    From now on, my room is absolutely off limits to anyone!

    After all, if anyone could see what was going on now¡­

    ¡°Eh? Not bad, eh? You¡¯ve got a pretty unique hobby.¡± ¡°Well, alright¡­ I didn¡¯t think you were the type to be unable to find a girlfriend for yourself. Perhaps you¡¯re just young and inexperienced¡­¡± ¡°Fellow Cultivator Qin, could you kindly exin this Triumph to me? Dressing up? I think we need to have a good, long talk with each other¡­¡±

    The prospects were simply chilling!

    ¡°Right.¡± Arthispletely ignored Qin Ye¡¯s despondence and tossed a mirror to him, ¡°Old Man Mirror is looking for you.¡±

    Qin Ye caught the mirror. Yet before he could even look at it, he was immediatelymbasted with a string of curses, ¡°You¡¯re a stupid idiot aren¡¯t you?! How many times must I remind you to take me to Hell with you?! You¡¯d even forgotten about me and just left me on the bed thest time! Were you in a rush to be reincarnated, or were you rushing to mourn for somebody? Didn¡¯t your father teach you to respect your elders?!¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ the mirror¡¯s got this function too¡­

    Qin Ye sat on his couch and hammered on his head over and over again. Why am I still not feeling faint yet? Why am I still as sober as ever? Can¡¯t I have some normal people around me for a change? Each weirdo is more oundish than the other!

    The entire room reeked of horsey and mischief of impish demons¡­ and this was right in the heart of the First Academy of Cultivators to boot! They were even threatening his life right now!

    ¡°Let¡¯s negotiate, shall we?¡± Secondster, Qin Ye sat up after adjusting his emotions within, ¡°We¡¯re hidden within the heart of the mortal realm¡¯s forces against theherworld right now. You wouldn¡¯t want me to perish before I can even aplish anything, would you? Please have some restraint.¡±

    Arthis yawned, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯mpletely measured in my approach. On the other hand, you really should bring Ming Shiyin to Hell the next time you head down under.¡±

    ¡°What¡­ did I hear you wrong? What did you say¡­ Ming-what? Have you been dabbling with the use of drugs again?!¡±

    ¡°Screw you! This mirror is warning you, we may be close, but I can still sue you for defamation with those nderous words of yours!¡±

    Arthis waved her hands dismissively, ¡°Put simply, I¡¯ve done you a great service by bringing it back from Mount Tai City. Do you know how frustrating it¡¯s been dealing with its incessant babbling? If it were still in its previous state of eminence, I might have extended it a little bit more respect. But it¡¯s currently no more than a mere Anitya Hellguard, and yet it still chooses to act all great and despise others around it. If not for the fact that it¡¯s still useful to us, I would already have sent it straight to the heavens by now.¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell,e again, you little wench?! Dare you believe I¡¯ll jump if you provoke me any further? I couldn¡¯t care if we just perish together!¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples in pain, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that it¡¯ll lift the lid on Hell?¡±

    Especially with its temper¡­

    Arthis turned around and responded in earnest, ¡°I¡¯m not all too familiar with the principles undergirding the architecture of Hell, but I do know one universal truth - all Yin Grounds, otherwise known as thend of the Yin, contains areas which have a thicker concentration of Yin energy, and areas that are sparser as well. This truth applies in Hell as well. The densest parts of these are called thend of great Yin.¡±

    ¡°In turn, all of the special buildings of Hell can only be constructed on thend of great Yin. After all, ordinarynd would never be able to support the erection of these special buildings.¡± She nced at the Mirror of Eminence, ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit that Ming Shiyin is the only thing that can discern and locate these ces. Furthermore, it possesses the ability to reveal the true nature and form of all Yin spirits that pass through Hell¡¯s Gate. It¡­ is none other than the mirror of Hell which prevents the entry of any unclean beings.¡±

    Qin Ye caught onto the nub of the issue, ¡°Unclean beings? For instance?¡±

    ¡°Other¡­¡± ¡°Ming Shiyin!¡±

    The Mirror of Eminence was about to respond to Qin Ye¡¯s query when Arthis immediately cut him off. A series of words appeared frantically on the surface of the mirror itself. Just as it was about to blurt out a response, Arthis stared at it with a grave expression on her face and shook her head slowly.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the time for you to learn of such things.¡± She responded cidly, ¡°Ignorance is the only way to remain bold and courageous. And I don¡¯t mean this in a derogatory sense.¡±

    Strangely, the Mirror of Eminence actuallyplied.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qin Ye nced suspiciously at the silicone doll and the mirror, ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ll just take Ming Shiyin down to Hell with me next time.¡±

    Just then, the door suddenly knocked with several loud thuds. Lin Han¡¯s voice quickly followed, ¡°Open up! They¡¯ve sent us the details. Why haven¡¯t you checked your Momo? Do I really have to do everything around here?¡±

    Qin Ye immediately moved like lightning and kicked Arthis under the bed, attracting a series of expletives in response. Then, like a well-oiled machine, he rolled up the Triumphs and the box of Whispers and swept everything under the bed together with Ming Shiyin. The garbage and junk within the room werepletely cleaned up in less than five seconds¡¯ time. He adjusted his clothes, and then opened the door with a faint smile on his face.

    As soon as he opened the door, Lin Han immediately peered curiously into the now-pristine-clean room - Was it an illusion? Didn¡¯t I hear a strange sounding from within earlier?

    He held a ck envelope and a box in his hands. After scanning around for some time, and ncing back at Qin Ye from time to time, he entered the room. Then, as though with a great sense of familiarity, and to Qin Ye¡¯s great dismay, Lin Han strode right over and sat down on the¡­ bed.

    Bloody hell! Didn¡¯t you see that I¡¯ve already cleared out the couch for you?!

    You stupid idiot, don¡¯t you know that there¡¯s something hidden underneath the bed right now? It¡¯s none other than the Infernal Judge that you were looking to give your twenty-five year vintage to!

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the redemption list.¡± Lin Han crossed his leg, opened the box, and pulled out an object that resembled a phone¡¯s sim card, ¡°War God Zhou says that the database is a little toorge, and would take too much time and effort to send the details to everyone by way of the y app, so he decided to issue everyone a physical database instead. Oh, that¡¯s right, the stack of documents below is a confidentiality agreement. You¡¯ll have to sign and affix your thumbprint on it. You¡¯re not to disclose this information. It¡¯s strictly for the eyes of official instructors only¡­¡±

    Lin Han chattered on and on, while the veins on Qin Ye¡¯s forehead bulged and throbbed more and more. Just then, he suddenly noticed Arthis sticking out a finger resentfully, and he deftly stepped on it and red at her - Behave yourself!

    ¡°Eh?¡± Lin Han furrowed his brows and suddenly paused, ¡°Didn¡¯t I hear a soft groan earlier?¡±

    Arthis gnashed her teeth under the bed - Of course you did! It was me!

    Do you think silicone dolls don¡¯t feel any pain?

    ¡°Did you? I think you must¡¯ve misheard.¡±

    1. This is probably a reference to a popr drama serial in the 2000¡¯s.

    2. A LOL hero.

    3. This is a reference to a support hero in a popr chinese game called the King of Glory.

    4. I reckon this would be more akin to a mini-SD or a micro-SD card.

 Chapter 148: Ninth-Grade Lotus Throne

    <h4>Chapter 148: Ninth-Grade Lotus Throne</h4>

    Lin Han blinked somewhat in disbelief as he proceeded to teach Qin Ye how to use the card. Qin Ye pretended to listen, but never really took his eyes away from under the bed.

    Ten minutester, Lin Han stretchedzily and stood up, ¡°Shall we go out for a drink or two? The canteen isn¡¯t even open today. They¡¯re so horribly miserly. And I¡¯d even forgotten to bring back some local delights back from Mount Tai City too¡­ Eh? Why do you have such arge suitcase with you? Do you have any snacks and foodstuffs inside?¡±

    The mischievous hand immediately reached out towards the suitcase that Qin Ye had earlier ced on the ground. In the next second, Lin Han found himself thrown back heavily against the room door some distance away, and he stared at Qin Ye with a look of astonishment in his eyes, ¡°Holy shit, it can¡¯t be¡­ you¡¯re hiding a child inside?!¡±

    Qin Ye gently stroked the suitcase with a palpable sense of relief as he red right back at Lin Han - The people I hate the most are such overly curious idiots!

    Who the hell says that the most dangerous ce is also the safest ce? Who the hell says that it¡¯s darkest under the lighthouse?

    After all, there¡¯s always the creature known as the husky. With its curiosity, it would always find the most unique way of uncovering the thing you wish to hide the most, regardless of whether you¡¯re hiding things in the safest or most dangerous ce. Wherever it goes, it ruins, and it conquers - and Lin Han was one of the best of these!

    ¡°Are you seriously hiding a child inside? Can¡¯t I just hold him for a bit¡­ I won¡¯t open the bag?¡± He looked at Qin Ye with a curious ¡°pika-pika¡± gleam in his eyes. Lin Han stood behind Qin Ye and stared intently at the suitcase with great interest as he reached out his sinister hand once more. Qin Ye immediately rebuffed him with a flying kick as he simultaneously stashed the suitcase under his bed cautiously. Incidentally, he felt the suitcase push back against Arthis, who promptly let out another muffled groan.

    I am an Infernal Judge! Can¡¯t you show me a little bit more respect? It¡¯s already humiliating enough to be hiding under the bed, and yet you¡¯ve still got the nerve to stuff a suitcase in here?!

    Lin Han was just about to crouch down in pain when he suddenly paused and furrowed his brows. Then, ncing warily at his surroundings, he asked, ¡°Wait¡­ did you really not hear that? I thought I heard someone groan again? And it sounded as though it was somewhat disgruntled too.¡±

    Bloody hell, you guys are going to be the death of me one day¡­ Qin Ye lifelessly helped Lin Han back to his feet, walked towards the window and patted his back heavily, ¡°Local Bully, after all these years, you¡¯re one of the few people I truly consider a friend.¡±

    Lin Han: ???

    Weren¡¯t we already friends a long time ago?

    ¡°Do you know how I treat my friends?¡± Qin Ye held tightly onto Lin Han and began to slowly push his body out of the window without any signs of stopping.

    From here, one could clearly see the view of a thriving city.

    ¡°Do you see that building? Come,e,e, stand up there and gently hop off the top of it. All it takes is just one single leap of faith, and all your worries will instantly vanish. No longer will you need to worry about life. Even the earth will cry out in amazement at it, because that jump will exceed any jumps ever aplished by our dear friend Ke Shouliang back then... And then, we shall together be friends for the rest of eternity.¡±

    The red seat representing the red of the Death Inquisitors is reserved for you. Don¡¯t be shy. Come,e,e, Hell is short of talents like you right now¡­ Since we¡¯re friends, why don¡¯t you lend me a hand in this regard?

    Lin Han reacted quickly by straightening his body and squirming his way out of Qin Ye¡¯s tight grasp. Then, he made a hasty retreat back out of Qin Ye¡¯s room, peeking his head out for a short farewell before shutting the door promptly, ¡°The students will be arriving from 6.00 a.m. the day after tomorrow. Each faculty will be weing its own students. I¡¯ve checked the schedule - you¡¯re the first one, and your duty is from six to nine. That¡¯s all. See you?¡±

    Boom!

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you an idiot?¡± As soon as the door shut, a silicone face peeked out while gnashing her teeth, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just force him out of the window and be done with it? What¡¯s with all these banal banter?¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed, ¡°But enough nonsense. Arti, take a look at this.¡±

    He plugged in the card, and the download immediately began. It took twenty minutes before the downloadpleted. Qin Ye immediately opened the Momo app as soon as it finished, and the first thing he noticed was that there was an additional treasure chest icon right below the chat icon.

    Database.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Arthis asked quizzically.

    ¡°The treasures umted by the Special Investigations Department over thousands of years are all listed in here.¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and gently tapped the button. The screen to his phone immediately turned ck, before a series of 3D images began to surface on his phone as though they were ced neatly on shelves.

    Arthis was immediately taken aback. Then, she snatched his phone and began to scroll through its contents excitedly.

    Nobody spoke for the next few moments. Qin Ye watched intently as Arthis¡¯ gaze grew brighter and brighter. After approximately one hour, just as she was enthusiastically scrolling through the rest of its contents, a notification suddenly appeared on the screen - "Insufficient authority to ess the rest of the database. Please work hard and gain more teaching credits¡±. It was only then that Arthis finally let loose a long sigh as she returned the phone to Qin Ye.

    ¡°Well? See anything that Hell could use?¡± Qin Ye asked promptly.

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, she simply shut her eyes and sighed once more, before murmuring, ¡°Base of the Divine Protectors? I¡¯d heard of the existence of such an organization in the mortal realm since a long time ago, but it was so difficult to locate that I¡¯d even begun to think that these were just rumors. However, this list of treasures verifies that the rumors are indeed true. After all, they couldn¡¯t possibly have such a massive trove of treasures if not for the cumtive effort spanning across thousands of years.¡±

    She opened her eyes, tapped gently on the screen and scrolled through the Hunter-grade treasures until she arrived at the picture of a lotus flower, ¡°Take a look at this.¡±

    Qin Ye looked closely at it. The lotus flower appeared in and simple. The only thing special about it was that it was crimson-red in colour. 10,000 merit points were required for its redemption.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°The seed of the Ninth-Grade Lotus Throne¡­¡± Arthis exined with some measure of lingering incredulity, ¡°These mortals don¡¯t even know what they have in their possession¡­ No, perhaps it¡¯s simply because these items arepletely useless to them. But this is undoubtedly a top-grade treasure that Hell can¡¯t do without.¡±

    ¡°The Ninth-Grade Lotus Throne is also known as the Ninth-Grade Lotus tform that the pious ride on into the afterlife. They sit on the lotus throne, wrapped by the petals which only bloom upon arrival. Only those who have attained feats of great virtue or great heroism have the right to ride the lotus throne straight into paradise. As far as lotus tforms are concerned, they are further divided from the top-grade, top rebirth tforms to the lowest-grade, lowest rebirth tforms as follows: vajra tform, purple gold tform, golden lotus flower, lotus flower tform, seven treasures lotus flower, treasure lotus flower, lotus flower, and golden lotus flower. In other words, the more merits one rues in the mortal realm, the better the quality of the lotus tform one would be entitled to ride, and the higher the odds of arriving at paradise.¡±

    Qin Ye responded with abject disbelief, ¡°You-- hang on¡­ Hell¡¯s even got the function of sending its citizens straight to paradise? Why haven¡¯t I heard of something like that before?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re a loner.¡± Ming Shiyin flew out, took a close look at the phone and revealed a line of words on its surface, ¡°I would never have imagined the Ninth-Grade Lotus Throne to only cost ten thousand. Is the mortal realm out of its mind? They would be able to sell something like that to Hell for at least fifty million!¡±

    Before Qin Ye could respond, Arthis grabbed the mirror and stuffed it back under the pillow as she continued, ¡°The things you¡¯ve learnt about Hell are at best only the tip of the iceberg. Even someone like me who has been in office for hundreds of years can¡¯t be said to even have a good grasp of everything that goes on in Hell. That said, I can responsibly confirm that paradise does in fact exist.¡±

    ¡°The world is divided into three realms - heaven, hell, and the mortal realm. You can think of Hell as a type of transit point. Think about it, where would dead people end up eventually? Isn¡¯t the ultimate end of it reincarnation? Those who have done too much evil would be forced down the path of the beast; while others who have been extensively virtuous would be reborn as a royalty in their next life. Then, there are those who have attained great virtue or deeds of heroism who would proceed straight into paradise.¡±

    ¡°One would never be able to enter paradise if they don¡¯t have the vehicle of the corresponding lotus tform. I remember that Ma Han, one of Lord Bao¡¯s direct subordinates, used to run apany known as ¡®Hell¡¯s Environment and Horticulture¡¯, otherwise known as Hell¡¯s Horticulture. They grew thousands of such lotus tforms and practicallymanded a monopoly over any ess into paradise. That said, these things are rarely ever used. In fact, these people of great virtue or heroisme so few and far between that you might not even see a single one in twenty years. Nevertheless, Hell would still be iplete without it. In other words, if we simply likened Hell to apany, it would be akin to apany that looked down all the time and never up. Hell is supposed to punish evil and reward good, so how exactly are we supposed to reward good?¡±

    Qin Ye drew a breath of cold air and looked at the lotus flower on the screen. He was renderedpletely speechless.

    ¡°And there¡¯s more than that.¡± Arthis took full advantage of his speechlessness and Ming Shiyin¡¯s inability to speak as she scrolled to another item and tapped on it, ¡°There are many good things in here. In fact, I would estimate that two or three in every ten here are artifacts that Hell could really use¡­ Take a look at this one. Have you heard of the ghost tears?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    ¡°Ghosts don¡¯t shed tears. Ghosts only shed blood. However, there is one exception to this rule, and that is when a parasitic spirit kills its host¡¯s spirit, and yet the host¡¯s body remains alive. In such rare cases, the ghost would be capable of tears. The ghost tears are in and of itself useless. However¡­ do you see the Yang restoration water over here? These are harvested from thend of great Yang. You can say these are ces akin to a clear spring located in the Mountain of mes. Combine these two items, and you¡¯ll end up with an incredibly precious Yin-Yang sk.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye was beginning to feel inadequate. As the future King Yanluo of Hell, how could he know so little about his own realm?

    Arthis revealed a nostalgic look on her face, ¡°Yin spirits are unable toe into contact with any physical objects of the mortal realm unless they attain the level of Infernal Judges and above. That said¡­ water that is poured out of the Yin-Yang sk can be touched by all Yin spirits. Furthermore¡­ its temperature is lukewarm, neither too hot, nor too cold. It would enable a Yin spirit to experience the most nostalgic feeling of being alive¡­¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that make this thing¡­¡±

    Arthis immediately cut to the chase, ¡°That¡¯s right! Back then, when the wealthy merchant Shen Wansan died, he founded the Shen Hot Spring Manors, which grew to practically monopolize all of the luxury clubs and societies in southern Hell. In other words, he¡¯d built his entire empire of hot springs from an unassuming Yin-Yang sk¡­ Speaking of which, I¡¯ve not been to a hot spring for centuries now¡­¡±

    Bloody hell¡­

    Sigh. Qin Ye didn¡¯t even know what to say to that.

    ¡°None of these are important. After all, these things aren¡¯t really considered essentials. Even the ninth-grade lotus throne is something that you might only use once every hundred years¡­ But, this over here, is something that you absolutely must get!¡± Arthis¡¯ voice grew grave and somber as she scrolled to the end of the database and pointed to an ink-ck seed.

    Qin Ye was among the ranks of the outstanding instructors.

    It wasn¡¯t official just yet, since there was always the possibility that someone would outdo him in the second part of the instructors¡¯ evaluation. Nevertheless, he was already able to ess the database of redemptions avable to outstanding instructors. And most importantly¡­ official outstanding instructors would be entitled to an incredibly important benefit.

    Once a year, they would be entitled to redeem a treasure from a higher-tiered vault!

    The seed which Arthis singled out belonged to the third-tier of artifacts. In other words, it was above the Operative-ss Alpha-grade artifacts; above the Hunter-ss Beta-grade artifacts; and ranked among¡­ the Hellguard-ss Gamma-grade artifacts!

    ¡°Eight Million Soul-Devouring Grass.¡± Arthis drew a deep breath and continued without missing a beat, ¡°This is the best defensive item for a fledgling county or city!¡±

    Qin Ye looked at the unassuming seed, ¡°What does it do? Defensive? Who am I supposed to be defending against?¡±

    The three daolords?

    No, that can¡¯t be it. Their fate would almost certainly be sealed as soon as they take a single step into the City of Salvation. Defenses against the mortal realm? There¡¯s no need. Those who are able to enter Hell would necessarily have to be dead.

    ¡°So¡­ is it supposed to defend against any possible riots or revolutions?¡± He probed.

    Arthis grew taciturn for some time, before sighing softly, ¡°Kid¡­ you truly know nothing about what Hell is like. Sometimes¡­ the enemy might not be within, but is instead the kindred spirit around¡­¡±

    Without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, she immediately turned off the phone, ¡°You¡¯re going to be teaching in the City of Salvation for the next two years. The security here is tight like a barrel. There¡¯s no way you¡¯re able to leave this ce either. Therefore, I think it¡¯s quite unlikely that you¡¯ll encounter such a situation. But if you do¡­ then I¡¯ll tell you more then. But no matter what, you absolutely have to redeem and obtain this seed before your tenure here ends!¡±

    ¡°nt it in thend of great Yin, and raise it with blood. Sprouts in one year, grows in ten years, and matures in fifty years. This is a nt that is unique to Hell, and it feeds off Yin spirits. Regardless of what kind of Yin spirit it might be, the nt would immediately surround and swarm it as soon as it senses its presence. nting it around Fengdu, and it would prove to be the best defense to Hell at this stage!¡±

    She then cast a deep and abstruse gaze at the distant sky outside the window, ¡°After all¡­ it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry¡­¡±

    1. Ke Shouliang is a stuntman best known for his involvement in flying car stunts. He holds several records, including a motorcycle jump over the Great Wall of China on 15 November 1992, as well as a jump over the Hukou Falls of the Yellow River on 1 June 1997.

    2. I know that golden lotus flower appears twice. This is how it appears in the original text, unfortunately. I¡¯ve tried searching more about it, but to no avail. If anyone can shed any light about the different types of tforms, I would be very grateful!

    3. Referred to earlier in chapter 143.

 Chapter 149: Welcome, Freshmen!

    <h4>Chapter 149: Wee, Freshmen!</h4>

    Qin Ye went to bed after resolving some of the more administrative matters.

    His rm roused him from his slumber the next morning, at 5.30 a.m. sharp. After washing up, he changed into his uniform and made his way downstairs.

    There were already five instructors present right below the dormitories. They were all dressed in the same camouge uniforms with the emblem of the Special Investigations Department worn proudly on their chests. This was none other than the academy¡¯s uniform. When they saw Qin Yeing down, a middle-aged man who was twirling two steel balls in his hand smiled faintly, ¡°Instructor Qin sure is up early. Were you too excited to sleep?¡±

    Before Qin Ye could respond, another white-haired old man immediately chipped in, ¡°It should be, eh? Instructor Qin is only at the age where he should have just matricted in college. And yet he has already been tasked to teach others. I, too, wouldn¡¯t have been able to sleep well if I were him.¡±

    ¡°A little.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he warmed his hands with his thermos cup. It was only the end of February right now, and the early morning air was still rather chilly, ¡°You guessed as much. I¡¯ve never taught anybody before. Even though we¡¯ve been through a period of training for instructors, preparing for sses still gives me butterflies in my stomach.¡±

    As they continued to banter with each other, five SUVs promptly pulled up to ferry the instructors of each faculty to the entrance of the academy.

    Dawn hadn¡¯t broken yet, and yet the roadside stalls at the entrance of Insignia University had already been set up. The fragrant scent of freshly steamed hot buns, dough fritters, soy milk and porridge dered that the city was soon about to awaken from its slumber. As the alluring scent of food wafted gently through the air, Qin Ye took in a deep breath of fresh¡­ exhaust fumes.

    The entrance had already been set up. The banner which read ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators cordially wees its first batch of freshmen¡± looked somewhat out of ce in a season that wouldn¡¯t otherwise have been the season for college matriction. Two rows of long tables and benches were set up by the wide road just adjacent to the school. Each of the tables were two meters long, one meter high, and covered in striking red fabric. Each table was alsobeled with the names of each faculty.

    Qin Ye sat down on the corresponding table which had thebel for the Faculty of Combat. After chatting with the others for a little while more and having their breakfast, everyone leisurely switched on their Momo app and began chatting within.

    ¡°The thought of weing freshmen today makes me somewhat nervous.¡± -- Muscr Pretty Boy.

    It was 7.00 a.m.

    Therefore, nobody paid any attention to him.

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, and then sent a 10 RMB red packet to the group.

    Rows of notification messages appeared immediately.

    ¡°Woman on a Swing has imed your red packet.¡±

    ¡°Roly Poly has imed your red packet.¡±

    ¡°The de that Cuts the World has imed your red packet.¡±

    ¡°Vast Ocean Smile has imed your red packet.¡±

    ¡°White Dog Laughing at the West Wind has imed your red packet.¡±

    ¡­

    Holy crap! What¡¯s going on?!

    I haven¡¯t even managed to grab a share of it for myself!

    ¡°Tsk tsk, it¡¯s just 10 RMB. I¡¯d even set a special rm to alert me to red packets. I¡¯m going to go back to my beauty sleep.¡± -- Woman on a Swing.

    ¡°S9527, you¡¯re not doing right by me. I¡¯d crawled out of the warmth of my bed to such a chilly day just so that I could get my hands on eighty cents?¡± -- Roly Poly.

    ¡°I knew I shouldn¡¯t have woken up when I saw the name of the sender.¡± -- Vast Ocean Smile.

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth and sent another group message - ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you guys be doing something to help me alleviate this helplessness I¡¯m experiencing right now?¡±

    Unfortunately, he received no response once again.

    It was almost as though the earlier buzz of excitement hadn¡¯t existed before altogether. The entire group was as quiet as a graveyard.

    Very well¡­ The group had gone silent almost as abruptly as it had first responded with a rousing response to the red packet alert. Five minutester, Qin Ye sent a 1 RMB red packet with a sneer on his face.

    One secondter, almost exactly like earlier, dozens of notification messages immediately appeared on his chat, followed quickly by a steady stream of curses and swearing.

    ¡°Bloody hell! Three cents?! Three cents?!! Come here! I¡¯m going to fight you to the death!!¡± ¡°One cent¡­ a constion...¡± ¡°How inauspicious to be dealing with this early in the morning! Can¡¯t you send something better like a fifty?!¡±

    A few secondster, the curses and swearing dwindled and faded away. Qin Ye looked at his phone patiently. Ten minutester, he elegantly tapped the button to send yet another red packet.

    It was still 1 RMB.

    Whoosh¡­ A third wave of simr notification messages appeared followed once again by a series ofints. ¡°Bloody hell!! I knew it! Why did I even bother lifting my phone?! Why didn¡¯t I mute it to begin with?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s be a conditioned reflex to me. I can¡¯t help but look at my phone as soon as I hear the red packet alert!¡± ¡°My hand reached out for my phone involuntarily¡­ Am I a hopeless addict?¡±

    Woe to the world.

    Qin Ye set down his phone withplete satisfaction.

    Here I am, braving the elements to wee our freshmen. I can look past it if you guys don¡¯tmiserate with me, but how dare you rub salt in my wound and provoke me with your sleep?!

    I refuse to believe I can¡¯t cure each of your addiction and conditioned reflexes to these red packets!

    As for the mostforting 100 RMB red packet¡­ that was something that Qin Ye had never considered before.

    Just then, several silhouettes showed up at the main entrance to the school.

    The instructors who were all on their Momo app immediately put away their phones, lifted their heads and sat up straight. These were their first batch of freshmen that were especially recruited from all over the nation!

    As they drew closer, the instructors¡¯ eyes suddenly lit up brightly.

    It was a youngdy.

    And a beautiful youngdy at that.

    She was approximately eighteen years old. The air of youthfulness diffusing from her couldn¡¯t possibly be feigned. Her radiance was like a budding flower that was glistening with the morning dew. Her snow-white skin was covered lightly with a vibrant, pink shawl. She sported shoulder-length hair, and appeared to be in the region of 1.67 meter tall. She dragged tworge, ck suitcases with her, but they appeared to be light as a feather.

    She made her way towards the academy unhurriedly. But as soon as she saw the five registration tables, her eyes immediately lit up, and she trotted forward towards the Faculty of Combat.

    Qin Ye licked his lips gently. He obviously shouldn¡¯t be excited by this, but he couldn¡¯t help it. In fact¡­ it would be more urate to say that his heart was practically leaping out of his chest.

    Apletely fresh life experience was just opening up to him.

    He had never thought there would be a day when he would be speaking to an audience from a lectern. The prospects of a brand new life experience filled him with eager anticipation. He maintained the faint smile on his face as he watched the youngdy draw closer and closer to him.

    She wore a down jacket with cherry blossoms design, in and ordinary jeans, and simple walking shoes. She walked up to Qin Ye and then set her suitcases down gently with unexpectedly loud thuds on the ground. Then, she cupped her hands towards Qin Ye and solemnly introduced herself, ¡°Disciple of the Heaven Sweeping Sect, registration number A-0079, greets senior S9527.¡±

    Sigh, it¡¯s none of our business¡­ The rest of the instructors sighed ruefully and continued looking at the entrance to the academy expectantly.

    ¡°You know me?¡± Qin Ye looked at the beautifuldy standing before him. Her eyes were blue, as clear as the boundless skies.

    Noticing his gaze, the youngdy nodded her head and responded somewhat shyly, ¡°I¡¯m mixed, but I possess more Cathayan genes than anything else. It¡¯s only the colour of my eyes that are different¡­ The First Academy of Cultivators has already sent to us a full list of its instructors¡¯ particrs approximately one month ago, setting out all of your qualifications and achievements alike, in order to help us decide which faculty to choose. I¡¯d chosen the Faculty of Combat of my own volition. Please take care of me in the future.¡±

    Her voice was beautiful.

    It was as though slender fingers were striking the piano in tempo and ying a harmonious, melodious tune.

    Ah¡­ I smell the scent of love in the air¡­ Qin Ye coughed dryly and gently handed a form towards her, ¡°There aren¡¯t many people who have signed up with the Faculty of Combat. We¡¯ve got just over forty people. Please fill up the form.¡±

    The youngdy took out a pen and began filling out the form. Her handwriting was just as attractive as her.

    Name: Mo Qingyu

    Affiliation: Central Prefecture, Heaven Sweeping Sect

    Level: Entry

    After filling out her particrs, she handed the form back to Qin Ye. He was just about to receive it when he discovered that she was still holding on tightly to the form.

    ¡°Instructor Qin¡­ is that all there is to the registration process?¡± Mo Qingyu appeared to have some words she wanted to say.

    ¡°That¡¯s all. You may board and wait on the bus. There¡¯s still about thirty minutes before the buses start running.¡± Qin Ye smiled. He had previously thought that he would be a little bit more nervous than this. But strangely enough, the nervousness that he had expected was nowhere to be seen even as he interacted with his very first student.

    Mo Qingyu gently bit her lips and muttered softly, ¡°Instructor, I don¡¯t see anyone else around. If you¡¯ve got some time now, could I ask you a few questions?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and Mo Qingyu continued, ¡°Instructor, will our schedule at the First Academy of Cultivators be very packed? Does the Faculty of Combat participate in a lot of actualbat? Do you know how long I¡¯ve been waiting for a day like this? The sect always tells me that my skills are insufficient, and they only allow me to practice with sealed Yin spirits. I¡¯ve never been exposed to a real supernatural incident all my life!¡±

    ¡°Instructor, do people really die during supernatural incidents? My master tells me never to underestimate the slightest of things - even the most unassuming of mirrors. Is this true? Will the academy teach us how to identify Yin spirits? When will we firste into contact with these topics?¡±

    She spoke incredibly quickly. A faint smile suddenly crept up the corner of Qin Ye¡¯s lips. Rather than anxiety or nervousness, Qin Ye was looking forward to facing his students more than anything else!

    He wasn¡¯t the only one who was experiencing a brand new phase of life.

    They were like grand dragons returning to the vast oceans, while the others were nothing more like fledgling eagles being released from its cage. He was essentially about to pass on his knowledge, experience and know-how to eagles that were ready to soar into the sky. Such a feeling¡­ was truly incredible.

    It was like soft-centered candy. The gooey center of the candy was the sweetest part of it all, and yet it was also fleeting, leaving nothing more than a lingering sensation on one¡¯s mouth.

    It was excellent.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll teach you all of these things in due course. The Faculty of Combat is the faculty that will be given the most opportunities to experience actualbat. Congrattions for choosing the right faculty.¡± Qin Ye answered her questions sinctly, and then added, ¡°What¡¯s that in your suitcases? Do you need any help?¡±

    ¡°No thank you. It only contains a corpse that has been refined. It¡¯s not too heavy.¡± Mo Qingyu¡¯s expressions were vibrant and filled with joy, almost as though she were a fledgling eagle that had just seen the blue skies for the very first time. She bowed deeply, ¡°Thank you, Instructor Qin! I look forward to your guidance and teaching! I-I will be sure to pay close attention!¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, she deftly lifted her suitcases and shyly slipped off into the bus.

    Cor--... corpse?

    Qin Ye¡¯s hair was tossed about loosely in the wind. The scent of love in the air¡­ appears to have been mixed with the stench of some stinky socks¡­ Is this an illusion¡­

    He quickly dispelled the thoughts on his mind and regted his emotions. Even though he appearedpletely calm and natural earlier, his heart had undoubtedly still been leaping all over the ce. He nced around and noticed that several other students had already arrived by now, and the other instructors were addressing their queries just like how he had earlier done. That said, only someone with senses as keen as Qin Ye could astutely tell that the breaths of the other instructors were also somewhat rapid and anxious.

    The air was filled with anticipation and excitement, and anxiety and fullness. The budding instructors and freshmen of the First Academy of Cultivators were interacting harmoniously at the entrance of the academy.

    Thirty minutester, another young man stood right in front of the Faculty of Combat.

    He wore a red sweater and wore a Gi baseball cap. He carried only a backpack, and didn¡¯t have any suitcase with him. He looked to be approximately 1.83 meters tall. Most importantly¡­

    Handsome¡­

    At the very least¡­ he¡¯s more handsome than I am¡­

    His appearances were akin to the archetypical handsome guys with thick eyebrows and double eyelids. He carried himself with an air of slight unruliness about him, yet his movements were prim and proper.

    He cupped his hands promptly and reported in a sonorous voice, ¡°A-0178, Ye Xingchen, greets Instructor Qin!¡±

    His face was a little flushed, and his breathing was very fast. The spring air was still chilly and cold, and his breaths could clearly be seen. Qin Ye smiled and handed him a form, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. Come, fill up the form. We¡¯ll be seeing each other a lot over the next two years.¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± Ye Xingchen lifted his head and revealed the burning gaze in his eyes, ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect Instructor Qin to be of about the same age as me! I simply couldn¡¯t believe it when I saw the particrs of the academy¡¯s instructors!¡±

    He continued with his self-introductions like a rapidly firing machine gun, ¡°An eighteen year old Soul Hunter senior¡­ My father immediately made me pick the Faculty of Combat as soon as he saw this! I didn¡¯t believe it at first, but after I troubled my father to look into it a little bit more, we learned that you were involved in the City of Salvation that very night¡­ Regardless, I¡¯m truly overjoyed to have picked your faculty!¡±

    ¡°I sincerely believe that you¡¯ll have much to teach me! Instructor Qin, I¡¯m counting on you for the next two years!!¡±

    With that, he gave Qin Ye a full ny-degrees bow.

    1. A red packet is based on the chinese tradition of a hongbao, where elders in the family give mary gifts in a red envelope to family and friends, especially during festive seasons such as the lunar new year. This concept has been ported into some chat systems, including WeChat. You can read more about it here:

 Chapter 150: Matriculation Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 150: Matriction Ceremony</h4>

    His sense of responsibility wasn¡¯t an inherent one that he was born with, but more of a byproduct of a confluence of opportunity and the right circumstances - the right time, the right ce, and the right people gave rise to an immactely touching disy of fireworks. And out of the ashes arises a single notion: what can I do for them?

    But he didn¡¯t have a single shred of any sense of responsibility at all.

    Yet the things that triggered that spark of responsibility and nurtured it into a burgeoning sense of determination were the incidents with That Amorous Affair, the impunity of the matricide, and the Yin spirits that continue to pour into Hell.

    The man¡¯s sincere gaze, heartfelt gratitude, and even an ostensible reaction of immense joy at a single nod told Qin Ye that this man was indubitably here for him¡­ and Qin Ye suddenly felt a sense of burden weighing on his shoulders.

    ¡°Pretty good.¡± Qin Ye packed his things, ¡°I¡¯m already looking forward to the teaching days ahead¡­ I¡¯ve already registered on this document the students who have reported thus far, so I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    ¡°Arti,e over here and review it together with me. Let¡¯s see if I¡¯m missing anything, alright?¡± He spoke as he continued going through his n. Arthis responded somewhat impatiently, ¡°Is it really necessary?¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°This guy¡¯s positioning... is starting to resemble mine back in those days¡­ And he hasn¡¯t evennded a single skill to boot. What a load of crap, eh? Cough¡­ do continue, you do make a lot of sense. I¡¯m listening intently.¡±

    Do you see how sincere I¡¯m pleading with you?

    Almost as though she could hear the cry of his heart, Arthis finally shifted her feet slightly and made her way over with a gracious look on her face. After a thorough reexamination of the lesson n, Arthis dered with utter certainty, ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you phrase that statement more in the imperative?!¡± Arthis snorted in dissatisfaction, ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to brag about this, but given the level of research on Yin spirits in the mortal realm, a single Anitya Hellguard from the glory days of the old Hell would be able to crush all of their experts altogether! This lesson n was something that I¡¯d personally picked out and crafted after deep discussion with you. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m targeting anyone in particr. It¡¯s just that everyone here¡­ You know what, forget it. The point here is simply this - everyone here are no more than little kids.¡±

    Qin Ye was relieved. He went through his notes till 11 a.m., and then made a call to Professor Yu.

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°It¡¯s like this, Old Man Yu, school has just started¡­¡±

    Without missing a beat, his voice grew somewhat stern and somber, ¡°Good is good, bad is bad. The rigours of education strictlyes first. I¡¯ve heard news of the First Academy of Cultivator¡¯s evaluation system, and I know that teaching credits are incredibly important to you. However, if your preparation is insufficient and goes against the grain of the First Academy¡¯s spirit of education, I won¡¯t be able to turn a blind eye to that.¡±

    Meanwhile, at the other end of the call, a fleet of five ck Audis were currently driving from Mount Tai City straight towards the City of Salvation.

    Old Man Yu was seated right in the reinforced Audi, holding onto his phone in one hand while holding onto another notebook with his other as he scrutinized the data on it. When he heard Qin Ye¡¯s deration of confidence, he was slightly taken aback. However, the corners of his lips quickly curled up into a silent smile.

    Academia. What is academia? It is essentially painstakingly hard work tackling the difficult questions that span over centuries or even millenia. Some questions may evene up that remain unanswered by the concerted efforts of hundreds of academicians. Professor Yu was considered an outstanding talent across all of Cathay with a wealth of experience under his belt. Were there any questions he hadn¡¯t seen before, much less questions posed by a young, sproutling instructor from a simple lesson n?

    After exchanging some pleasantries with each other, they hung up the phone, and a man dressed in a whiteb coat riding shotgun in the same vehicle turned to Old Man Yu with a smile, ¡°Old Man Yu, what¡¯s up?¡±

    He was one of the three great academicians and founding fathers of the SRC. He was naturally entitled to sometitude of confidence in this regard.

    Old Man Yu tapped lightly on the window of his car, ¡°You¡¯ve seen Little Qin before. He just told me that he guarantees that the contents of his lesson is going to be absolutely refreshing. What do you think?¡±

    It was as though Buddha himself were looking at an ascetic monk. The monk thinks that he¡¯s understood the true meaning of Buddha¡¯s teachings, yet wasn¡¯t able to discern the identity of the man across him.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m looking forward to it as well.¡± Old Man Yu closed his eyes, ¡°An absolutely refreshing topic huh¡­ let¡¯s wait and see what kind of a treat we¡¯re in for.¡±

    He was just about to review his lesson n a second time when his phone suddenly buzzed.

    The five instructors and all of its professors were already in the group. Zhou Xianlong switched on the voice-to-text function, and immediately exined, ¡°Of our first batch of students, none of them are the super geniuses of the ns, sects, bloodlines or other associations from which they hail from. After all, the First Academy of Cultivators isn¡¯t tried and tested just yet. The first batch of students are naturally the second-ss cultivators within their respective organizations. None of them have ever experienced a true supernatural incident before.¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s precisely because of this that we have to groom and nurture them so that they can disy the fullest extent of their potential. We will make these cultivation organizations beg us to send their true elites and geniuses to the school in two years¡¯ time!¡±

    Lin Han was straightforward, ¡°Beat them up if they don¡¯t listen in ss!¡±

    The others immediately cowered at Zhou Xianlong¡¯s disy of criminal force. Li Runxue suddenly typed, ¡°What about some orientation activitiies? I hear that other regr colleges generally have some form of this to wee their students.¡±

    Li Runxue grew taciturn.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get any wrong ideas. What we want to do is something somber, memorable, and alsoden with educational undertones. It would be best if it achieves the goal of uniting the freshmen as well.¡±

    These idiots have never been to college¡­

    If we talked about something impressive, educational, and memorable by all freshmen and instructors alike, it¡¯s got to be that¡­

    The evil, sinister intentions of his heart were abundantly clear to all.

    Lin Han sent him a private message, ¡°Holy cow¡­ you¡¯re evil. You¡¯re truly evil. I guarantee you that all the freshmen, without exception, will sincerely thank you and your eight generations of ancestors from the bottom of their hearts!¡±

    An emergency drill was undoubtedly something that every Cathayan university student abhorred.

    How many people would want to bury their heads in the ground in shame and scream in agony whenever they were reminded of theirst encounter with an emergency drill?

    We¡¯ve been training, while you¡¯ve been ying games in thefort of your own organizations¡­ But now¡­ let¡¯s see if the heavens spare any of you...

 Chapter 151: Emergency Drill

    <h4>Chapter 151: Emergency Drill</h4>

    Even Zhou Xianlong grew silent.

    ¡°Approved.¡± He approved the suggestion before anyone else could voice their opinions, ¡°This suggestion is pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s fix a time for it, then. We¡¯ll involve not only the students, but the instructors as well.¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s words immediately banished Qin Ye into the depths of the bottomless abyss of doom.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what you do, but you¡¯ve got to veto it!¡± Li Runxue also sent a series of desperate messages to Qin Ye, ¡°The thought of scrambling out of bed in the middle of the night¡­ just makes me want to sh my middle finger at you!¡±

    His fingers tapped quickly on his phone, ¡°About that¡­ Faculty Head, I don¡¯t think the instructors should participate in this. What if an instructor like Lin Han, who¡¯szy like a pig, is unable to get up in time? Wouldn¡¯t that make the students look down on this team of instructors? How will Instructor Lin face his students in future?¡±

    What the hell do you mean? How are you so sure I wouldn¡¯t be able to get up? And how can you sling such horrendous insults at me so casually? Speaking of which, how did youe to the judgment of the situation before the event has even urred? We haven¡¯t even done our emergency drill just yet!

    Screw this shit¡­

    ¡°About that¡­ this really isn¡¯t the result I want either, you know?¡± He sent a private message to Su Feng, only to receive the following response, ¡°You must first add the recipient as a friend in order to send him a private message.¡±

    Su Feng had also edited hisst message to Qin Ye, ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me for a week. I might not be able to hold back my killing intent.¡±

    For the next few days, life was perpetually on edge for the instructors of the Faculty of Combat. One day passed¡­ two days passed, and yet the entire faculty still seemedpletely calm and peaceful.

    ¡°Why are you drinking so much water before going to bed every night? You haven¡¯t had any restful sleep over thest two days, and you¡¯ve even begun to develop dark rings under your eyes. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I might have thought that you were concentrating on the business and affairs of Hell down under.¡± Arthis watched Qin Ye douse his innards with water as she quipped sarcastically.

    With that, he got into bed at 10 p.m. From his experience, it was rather unlikely that the school would call for an emergency drill around 12 a.m. to 1 a.m. After all, there would still be many night owls who hadn¡¯t gone to bed at that time. Rather, 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. was the period of time when the emergency drill would be most likely, since most people would be dead asleep by then. However, if one slept toote and fell into a deep slumber, they might not wake up even if their phones were set to the maximum ringing volume.

    Given his experience, he felt confident that everything was well under control.

    ¡°It¡¯s a little early. I¡¯ll fine tune my water intake in future.¡± He yawned and made his way to the restroom, catching a contemptuous nce from Arthis along the way, ¡°To fine tune your water intake just so that you can deal with the emergency drill¡­ I suppose in some ways, you can be considered a talent in your own right¡­¡±

    WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

    ¡°Zhou Xianlong¡­ screw your ancestors!!¡± He gritted his teeth as he put on his clothes. Arthis chimed in nonchntly, ¡°You¡¯ve actually been looking forward to this, haven¡¯t you? There¡¯s nothing to lose, so what are you so afraid of?¡±

    How urgent are you to activate an emergency drill at just over 1 a.m.? Have you even attempted to break down the prime time for activating an emergency drill?!

    The lights in the academy lit up one by one in an instant. Countless students stood bbergasted at the windows, asking, ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± or ¡°What in the world is going on?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°Damn this noisy old man!¡± He scratched his disheveled hair. It had to be mentioned that his appearances and features were top-grade, even among the ordinary colleges. Thus, there were in fact several female students within the Faculty of Combat who were both overtly and covertly flirting with him. It was also for this reason that he found himself incredibly busy over thest two days, leaving his room early in the morning and returning onlyte at night. He naturally suffered from some severe sleep deprivation.

    Life was rxed, pleasurable, and it waspletely devoid of any of the usual incessant nagging from his sect elders. There weren¡¯t any of his desperate martial sisters around either. Therefore, he sincerely wished to continue indulging in the pleasures of this college experience and continue sleeping, at least until his roommate pulled desperately on his arm, ¡°Xingchen! Get up! It¡¯s an emergency drill! Hurry up! We have to be downstairs in two minutes¡¯ time!!¡± ¡°Where are my trousers? Where have my trousers gone?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s wearing my trousers?! Holy crap!!¡± ¡°Where did I leave my belt? Somebody, help me find it!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna leave you to your own devices then! You should hurry up!!¡± The door to the room mmed shut even before he could finish speaking.

    So sleepy¡­

    Eh?

    Swish¡­ With a soft rustling sound, the lights around him dimmed. He suddenly opened his eyes and drew a breath of cold air. His entire body reacted with its conditioned reflex, tensing up all of its muscles. What originally looked no different from a teenager¡¯s body was now rippling with muscles, revealing the indelible mark of years of training on his body. A green runic symbol began to channel in the heart of his palm, and a grim white dagger appeared in his hands instantly.

    Someone had just drawn the curtains¡­

    It had finally sunken in that there was currently an emergency drill going on downstairs. He drew a deep breath and whispered, ¡°Big brother, didn¡¯t you go downstairs?¡±

    ¡°Second brother? Third brother?¡± There were four students assigned to every bedroom. He called each one of them by their nicknames in turn, but received no response whatsoever.

    ¡°You guys¡­ don¡¯t joke with me like that¡­¡± His voice was beginning to tremble and crackle. Yet, the only response he received in return was a soft sound - Click.

    In that instant, he abruptly lifted his nket and dashed out from under the covers. His entire body was covered in cold sweat now. And yet¡­ he saw that there was nobody apart from him within the dorm room.

    It was a moonless night, and dark clouds filled the entire night sky. Under such circumstances, the darkness in the room was almost akin to beingpletely pitch-ck. He nced about his surroundings a second time to ascertain that there was nobody around. Then, he tightened his grasp around the dagger and cautiously proceeded towards the door.

    His intuition told him that he had to get out of here - something was wrong with his room! He was 80% confident that he was experiencing for himself the very first supernatural incident in his entire life!

    This is the First Academy of Cultivators after all¡­

    He stared at the door - Alright, perhaps the perpetrator has already left the room. Perhaps someone was simply coveting my family heirloom, the soul breaking saber, huh?

    Ye Xingchen waspletely oblivious to this. He was far too inexperienced. He slowly made his way towards the door, ignoring the fact that he was only dressed in his undergarments, and immediately proceeded to open the door.

    In an instant, a mind-numbing, electrifying sensation surged from his feet straight through his spine!

    He had initially thought that the clicking sound was only the sound of the door being closed. But he had only just realized that the door was in fact being locked. And the locking mechanism was only essible from within the room. In other words¡­

    Boom! He immediately turned around and leaned heavily on the door, jabbing the light switch repeatedly, but to no avail - the lights just wouldn¡¯te back on. All he could feel right now was his parched throat and the sweat that had already drenched his back. The pitch-ck room made the even darker entrance to the en suite bathroom appear as though it were an entrance to hell. It was as though something was shifting about listlessly in the bathroom. It was as though the dark crevices under the bed hid¡­ another person each!

    The dim glow of light shone through the cracks in the curtains, while the curtains fluttered gently along their restrictive rails. The abnormally faint traces of light only appeared to cast a darker shadow of suffocating eeriness across the entire room!

    Just then, there was a soft thud. He turned around to look at the source of the sound, and his pupils contracted abruptly.

    Ssss ahhhh¡­ The bathroom door slowly opened with a spine-tingling creak. Ye Xingchen immediately dashed to the windows. He couldn¡¯t care less about the unknown terror that loomed in the darkness any longer. But just as he was about to open the windows, the curtains suddenly swished on its own and began to flutter wildly!

    In that instant¡­ the figure abruptly opened its bloodshot eyes.

 Chapter 152: Whatâ€™s This?

    <h4>Chapter 152: What''s This?</h4>

    ¡°Help¡­¡± He called out with a hoarse voice. The bloodshot eyes staring straight at him caused the hairs on Ye Xingchen¡¯s spine to stand on end. But before he could even finish speaking, the figure abruptly spoke, ¡°So delicious¡­¡±

    ¡°The people of Cathay¡­ look pretty decent as well¡­¡±

    His heart stopped right in that instant.

    A frigid chill ran down his back.

    He had been exposed to such unclean things ever since he was young, so he knew that¡­ the evil ghost was already right behind him - one simple turn of his head, and he would be face to face with it.

    Obviously, he had been taught how to deal with such Yin spirits since young. But when it finally came down to it proper, he suddenly discovered that he simply couldn¡¯t muster the courage or strength to use his saber at all.

    T...t-t-t-t¡­ An intense fear swept across his entire being, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrobly. However, what he didn¡¯t expect was for two hands to suddenly run down his waist, enter his underwear and y gently with it.

    ¡°You¡¯re not too bad¡­ I¡¯d like to borrow something for my use¡­¡± A soft giggle echoed behind him.

    A wave of unspeakable pleasure caused his eyes to go a little bit out of focus as a voice that was like honey continued to caress his ears, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to kill you¡­ Killing someone in this ce would be far too conspicuous. That said, why don¡¯t you lend me some of your Yang energy so that I can continue hiding properly in this ce?¡±

    It feels so good¡­ Ye Xingchen¡¯s pelvis went numb, and he felt something kiss his lips before his eyes went dark. Then, hepletely passed out.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Downstairs, Zhou Xianlong was fuming mad.

    ¡°Take a look at yourselves!¡± More than a hundred students of the Faculty of Combat, male and female alike, showed up downstairs with their clothes in a mess and their hair all disheveled.

    Majority of the students didn¡¯t have their buttons done up properly. Some didn¡¯t even wear their shoes; some were holding onto their trousers with both hands; some didn¡¯t wear socks; some even stuffed their feet into their shoes in such a haste that they were wearing them more like slippers¡­ Their appearances essentially speltplete and utter chaos.

    The only silver lining that pleased Zhou Xianlong was the five instructors who stood stoically behind him. All five of them had been the first to report in, and their appearances werepletely in order to boot.

    ¡°The Faculty of Combat is the first port of call when ites to dealing with Yin spirits! Do you think ghosts are going to give you any time for rest?! Think about it, what if a ghost had appeared earlier? If a Yin spirit took advantage of your deep slumber and took possession of your body, what are you going to do?¡±

    His thundering voice was incredibly clear, and it silenced the entire assembly of students. All of them hung their heads low, and their faces were incredibly flushed as they couldn¡¯t help but curse silently in their hearts - Which idiot was it who came up with such an idiotic idea?!

    What made them feel most ashamed was the fact that the dorm rooms for the entire academy were located just behind them. The lights to the rooms of other faculties were well lit, and they were obviously watching themotion with an ugly expression on their faces. The sounds of theirughter were akin to whips that continuouslyshed the backs of the students of the Faculty of Combat.

    Yet, Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t care at all. Infernal Judges no longer had any need for sleep, and he simply continued to bellow, ¡°I dare guarantee that if there was a sneak attack earlier, one in ten of you would not survive it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve alle from some of thergest, most well-reputed hidden sects in the country. Some of you even tread the three main daos in the nation. Is this how your elders have taught you? Where have all their teachings over the past decade gone? Does your vignce and alertness vanish as soon as an intervening event urs?¡±

    ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators isn¡¯t a ce for fun and games. The academy¡¯s purpose is to turn each and every one of you into elites in your own rights. Don¡¯t you want to be part of the core forces of each of your sects and ns? Isn¡¯t that the hope that your masters had when they sent you all the way here to enroll in this college? And don¡¯t give me the excuse that you¡¯re young and inexperienced. Instructor S9527 here might not even be as old as some of you here, and yet he¡¯s already someone who is able to single handedly breach nine hunting zones in the span of a single night! And all of these hunting zones are Operative-ss hunting zones to boot! I dare say that all of you have been living too easy a life thus far!¡±

    ¡°Cultivation isn¡¯t simply practising martial arts and memorizing scriptures. Cultivation is something that you continue to refine as you constantly push yourself to the edge of life-and-death experiences. If you continue to hold the mentality you have right now, you might wish to truly consider going home before it¡¯s toote. This is only the first emergency drill. I hereby dere that if something like this happens again, ten student credits will be deducted. If it happens a third time, I¡¯d cordially invite you to leave.¡±

    ¡°It simply means that you¡¯re not fit for this path.¡±

    Nobody spoke up. The freshmen¡¯s eyes were filled with resentment, humiliation and indignation, and yet all of them continued to hang their heads low like obsequious quails.

    ¡°Mm?¡± Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s gaze shifted abruptly.

    They were currently facing the dormitory building of the Faculty of Combat. Yet, just a moment ago¡­ he suddenly sensed a trace amount of Yin energy.

    It was incredibly light, and so fleeting that it seemed almost as if it had never appeared before.

    ¡°Illusion?¡± He doubted his senses. This was the City of Salvation - the bastion of Cathay¡¯s fight against the forces of theherworld. Furthermore, there was a Judge, Hellguards, and over two-hundred S-ss Soul Hunters. What Yin spirit would have the audacity to break into a ce such as this?

    Besides¡­

    He nced at Zhou Xianlong who appeared just as unwavering and impassioned as ever. It was apparent that Zhou Xianlong hadn¡¯t reacted to it like he did.

    Even a Judge couldn¡¯t sense it?

    This must be an illusion, right?

    Then, just one secondter, he noticed a window silently shut in the direction from where he had detected the trace amount of Yin energy.

    He furrowed his brows and nced at Zhou Xianlong again - Is this really an illusion?

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice had softened by now. He knew the universal truths of the stick and the carrot, so he continued with a far more amiable voice, ¡°Naturally, this is all attributable to the fact that you guys are simply inexperienced in this area. You can treat this as a reminder. In the uing two years, you will be learning a wealth of things from these instructors here, including how to deal with unexpected situations; and how to properly tense up your spirits. Believe in the academy. When you leave this ce, even the roughest of scrap iron would have been forged into the hardest of steel¡­¡±

    ¡°Immediately inform the Judge!¡± Just then, a harsh whisper sounded in Qin Ye¡¯s ears with great imperative, ¡°There¡¯s¡­ something unclean here!¡±

    It was Arthis.

    He didn¡¯t even bother considering how Arthis had managed to do this. He trusted Arthis. Without much further consideration, he promptly took a step forward to Zhou Xianlong and whispered something into his ear. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s gaze flickered, and he quickly swept his gaze across all of the students around.

    ¡°One hundred and fifty-seven¡­ fifty-eight¡­ there are one hundred and fifty-nine people in the entire faculty. We¡¯re short one.¡± His expression remained just as it was as he eximed with a deep, domineering voice, ¡°Instructor Su, watch over them. They shall remain standing here for half an hour as punishment. Let¡¯s go check inside the building.¡±

    Follow me. As he walked past Qin Ye, he gave Qin Ye a knowing look. Qin Ye immediately followed him sensibly.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Zhou Xianlong asked somberly as soon as they entered the building. Qin Ye nodded softly, before shaking his head and frowning, ¡°I can¡¯t be absolutely certain, but¡­ we¡¯re one short, and I seem to have detected trace amounts of Yin energy earlier¡­¡±

    Zhou Xianlong rushed upstairs together with Qin Ye, ¡°Report its location. And tell me what stage of cultivation that trace amount of Yin energy belongs to.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s brows creased even more intently, ¡°Third floor, room 315¡­ As for the Yin energy, I can¡¯t be sure. It was incredibly peculiar, almost as though¡­ it waspletely out of sync with the rest of the world¡­¡±

    What he didn¡¯t realize was that just a few minutes ago, Arthis was just ying her video games when she suddenly paused abruptly. Even Ming Shiyin flew up by her side almost simultaneously.

    Two secondster, Arthis shot to her feet, and her eyes turned bloodshot. In that instant, it was as though she had already scanned everyst corner within the First Academy of Cultivators. Secondster, she demanded, ¡°Lord Ming, unleash your abilities!¡±

    Without any further prompting, a pure ck luster glowed on the surface of the Mirror of Eminence, and images of the countless dorm rooms in the entirepound flickered by quickly. Finally, it stopped at room 315.

    A snow-white figure appeared right there in the mirror. The figure was buried underneath a man, as though she were fervently sucking on something. The image was extremely lewd, and the man was even convulsing slightly from time to time.

    But before the mirror could get a better view of the figure, the figure appeared to have keenly sensed the mirror¡¯s surveince as well. With a violent scream, a golden light blossomed from its chest, and it vanished into thin air in an instant.

    ¡°It actually managed to escape from my surveince?¡± A line of words appeared on the Mirror of Eminence¡¯s surface, ¡°Is that¡­ theplete instrument of the Mother of Yin Artifacts?¡±

    ¡°What gall¡­¡± The clothes on Arthis¡¯ body began to flutter on its own, ¡°Do you think there¡¯s no one left in Cathay¡¯s Hell?!¡±

    Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ The surrounding air began to solidify, while the ground began to burn with eerieherfire as though it had a life of its own. Ming Shiyin immediately eximed in horror with a hastily scrawled line of text, ¡°What are you doing! Stay your hand!! Are you insane?! This is the First Academy of Cultivators! There¡¯s an Infernal Judge in this ce! If you reveal yourself right now, that kid will almost certainly be relegated to the depths of Hell for the rest of eternity! Then, the entire n to rebuild Hell to its former glory will bepletely ruined! Bloody Hell, can¡¯t you just think this through?!¡±

    Arthis shut her eyes and took several deep breaths before the intense frigidity in the surrounding air finally faded away. She red frigidly in the direction of room 315 and muttered hoarsely, ¡°It¡¯se too quickly¡­ But why? Why would they suddenly appear right here in this ce?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The mirror revealed another line of text, almost as though it had a pessimistic outlook on the situation, ¡°I only know that¡­ even the three daolords weren¡¯t able to prevent their incursion. Cathay¡­ is like a sieve that allows all types of riff-raff and rabble through. Even trash like this dares step foot in here¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and notify your dear little baby!¡±

    And that was when Arthis transmitted the message to Qin Ye and informed him about the situation.

    Just then, the door to room 315 opened with a loud bang. Zhou Xianlong was the first to arrive at the scene. With the door wide open, he shot straight into the room with dazzling white true energy engulfing his body in a Thor-like fashion.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye followed closely behind, but the sight of the scene caused him to reel with shock.

    Ye Xingchen was lying on the ground with nothing but a pair of underpants on. His body was still convulsing and twitching, while his underpants were slightly moist. Zhou Xianlong scanned the surroundings and chuckled coldly, ¡°Devouring Yang.¡±

    ¡°This student¡¯s Yang origin has been consumed. Wrap him up tightly with the nket. The mysterious entity didn¡¯t intend to kill him. Otherwise, it would have devoured all of his Yang energy by now. He won¡¯t remember a thing tomorrow.¡±

    As Qin Ye carried Ye Xingchen back to his bed, Zhou Xianlong slowly made his way to the center of the room. His seven apertures were billowing with corporeal white mist congealed from thick and dense true energy. He looked almost like a god descending from the heavens right now.

    ¡°What gall you have¡­¡± He spoke without missing a beat, ¡°I¡¯ll give you five seconds. Come out right now, and I¡¯ll let you die a quick and painless death.¡±

    No response.

    Qin Ye leaned close to the bed. He could tell that Zhou Xianlong was on the brink of a massive eruption right now.

    Causing an incident in the First Academy of Cultivators was no different than pping them right in their faces.

    .

    ¡°Four, three, two, one¡­ very well.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, a violent wave of true energy erupted from his body. It was difficult to describe just what this technique was. Nevertheless, and in just an instant, the entire First Academy of Cultivators felt as though a pair of eyes were mysteriously and inexorably staring straight at them from nowhere.

    ¡°All Seeing Eye.¡± Back in Qin Ye¡¯s room, Arthis looked at the wild, chaotic fluctuations of energy and murmured to herself, ¡°It¡¯s no use. These things¡­ can only be dealt with by Hell alone. Even Prefect-ss human cultivators won¡¯t be able to see these things¡­¡±

    ¡°After all, they¡­ rank among the most unclean things of all Yin spirits out there¡­ I didn¡¯t want to tell the little brat about these things before, but who could¡¯ve thought that they would have such gall to sneak right into the heart of the academy?¡±

    1. I¡¯ve noticed that chapter 149 states that there are only 40+ students in the Faculty of Combat, while the author states that there are 100+ students. I guess we can proceed on the assumption that it¡¯s over hundred, and perhaps Qin Ye was only expecting approximately 40+ students who would be matricting during his shift.

 Chapter 153: Invisible

    <h4>Chapter 153: Invisible</h4>

    The air around them had practically transformed into a ss like material. He reached out with his hand and tapped the air in front of him.

    Qin Ye gulped nervously.

    He felt as though he were in the heart of a torrential storm right now. The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal on his chest was the only one that kept his determination going. His head was percting with cold sweat, and yet he dared not move a single muscle, almost as though a single movement would render the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s seal incapable of protecting him.

    And this is stronger than Arthis, no less!

    One minuteter, the invisible storm around vanished as abruptly as it began. Zhou Xianlong stared at his own hands in dismay, ¡°Nothing?¡±

    He stared at his own hands in a daze for some time, before suddenly turning to look at Qin Ye, ¡°How did you sense it earlier?¡±

    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t sensed it in the nick of time, it would have devoured all of the Yang energy in his body, and it would be as though nothing had ever happened when morninges.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded his head. There was no reason to be suspicious of Qin Ye. Yin spirits and humans were existences that were fundamentally opposed to each other. No human could possibly cooperate with the forces of theherworld, since their minds were filled with a primal thirst for blood and flesh. Only a fool would go down the path of no return and deal with the devil.

    ¡°You¡¯re going down the right track. Cultivate well. I¡¯ve got a good feeling about you.¡± He responded softly, ¡°But for now, brace yourself.¡±

    He had just been praised!

    His understanding of Infernal Judges had always been this - venomous, strong-willed, and incapable of resisting the urge to diss and oppose him. Therefore, this was the very first time that he¡¯d heard praiseing from the mouth of a Judge-ss entity, and a human cultivator no less!

    Ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ The grounds of the previously peaceful academy suddenly trembled slightly. The true energy surrounding Zhou Xianlong¡¯s body wasn¡¯t visible, but his clothes immediately began to flutter wildly on its own as Zhou Xianlong slowly drifted off the ground and hovered in the air.

    ¡°Law of the Five Thunderbolts.¡± Zhou Xianlong slowly enunciated each word. Then, he mmed his palm down abruptly and drifted away in an instant.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye stared at Zhou Xianlong as though he had seen a ghost. In his stupor, he even tuned out the countless screams and scuttling of footsteps across the entire building.

    One secondter, the lights in the room switched on with a click.

    And then, silence.

    ¡°This¡­ things aren¡¯t as they seem¡­ Hang on! Don¡¯t close the door! Listen to me! Holy shit! Get your ass in here right now!!¡±

    Despite having exined the situation a number of times, the students had nevertheless sent him off with an expression that had written him off as ¡°that kind of instructor¡±. Qin Ye¡¯s heart was incredibly forlorn.

    ¡°Have you heard? One of the instructors has made a move against his student!¡± Local Bully typed excitedly in the instructor group chat for the Faculty of Combat, ¡°That¡¯s awesome! I wanted to give a huge thumbs up when I first heard the news!¡±

    Qin Ye switched off the Momo app numbly, shut the door to his dorm room, and then looked at Arthis as he muttered with displeasure, ¡°I¡¯ll say, can¡¯t you find a better opportunity to¡­¡±

    It was because the atmosphere in the room was far too peculiar.

    Nor was she ying LOL.

    It¡¯s too strange! That¡¯s not the kind of scene I would regrly be seeing!

    Bang! Instantly, a red sh shot straight into his head, sending him flying straight back into the door.

    It¡¯s still the same old Princess Lordaeron I know.

    ¡°Nearby?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his reddened brows, ¡°Unclean? Yin spirits?¡±

    Arthis added icily, ¡°This enemy of Hell ranks even higher in priority than the daolords around.¡±

    ¡°Like I said, there are some things which you don¡¯t need to know right now. And this matter, in particr, is one of them. The more you know, the more troubled you will be. Furthermore, we can¡¯t even be certain whether the others are intentionally targeting the First Academy of Cultivators or are just passing through.¡±

    Arthis shook her silicone head, ¡°The human Judge is stronger than I am. I wouldn¡¯t dare to open my infernal eyes thoughtlessly in a ce like this. And these things can only be seen by an Emissary of Hell¡­¡±

    Arthis immediately halted her lips, and she changed the topic when she spoke once again, ¡°It¡¯s fine if the other party is simply passing through. After all, Cathay¡¯s Hell is currently riddled with holes. But if their target is none other than the First Academy of Cultivators¡­¡±

    ¡°What in the world is that thing?¡±

    Qin Ye groaned in frustration and copsed on the bed. Then, he tilted his head towards the rest, ¡°Your ¡®we¡¯ clearly doesn¡¯t include me, does it? Is it really that good an idea to leave the future King Yanluo out of all these discussions?¡±

    ¡°Can you please watch your words? Since when did I allow you to call me Arthis? I can ignore the fact that my name has changed, but the name even suggests that my gender has changed!¡±

    ¡°... Since when have you been reading Mr Lu Xun¡¯s works? And the True Story of Ah Q at that¡­¡±

    Nobody was aware that on that very same night, Zhou Xianlong called up all of the Hellguard-ss professors andbed through the entire First Academy of Cultivators that night, but found absolutely nothing.

    They didn¡¯t even know who that entity was.

    The final day of rest just before themencement of work was always the most precious day. He naturally also woke up with a great mood and outlook for the day ahead.

    Wang Chenghao, Ye Xingchen.

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s response nearly caused his jaws to drop to the ground.

    Ahhhhhh¡­ There were so many people out therest night! How do you think I could¡¯ve possibly noticed the twitch of a little shrimp¡¯s eye?!

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s nothing much¡­ Hang on!¡± Qin Ye gave a conditioned response before catching himself with a blink and a pause. In that instant, Qin Ye almost reacted with a tight p to Ye Xingchen¡¯s face.

    What do you think this was? A fifty-fifty situation? What the hell have you youngsters got in your head these days, huh?!

    Ye Xingchen coughed lightly and glossed over the details. It was obvious he didn¡¯t want people to know about the awkward situation that transpiredst night, ¡°Head of Faculty Zhou called for me this morning. That was when I realized exactly what went onst night. Thank you, Instructor Qin. If not for your discovery, I might have¡­ already¡­¡±

    It¡¯s fine as long as you catch my drift¡­

    These were all students under his charge when all was said and done. It was necessarily a good idea to take good care of them.

    Qin Ye looked at him gratefully - You¡¯re still the one that knows me best.

    Leave.

    And shut the door behind you!

    1. Lu Xun is one of the earliest and best known modern chinese writers (1881-1936). The True Story of Ah Q is one of his works.

    2. This is just a figure of expression. They¡¯re still outside Qin Ye¡¯s room right now.

 Chapter 154: Evaluation Team

    <h4>Chapter 154: Evaluation Team</h4>

    The day passed quickly. Apart from an announcement in the afternoon informing him to collect his teaching materials, it passed by uneventfully as well.

    Despite the sparse number of people at the academy, the entire atmosphere was undoubtedly heating up with passion and vigor. The students he saw on the road were all huddled together, discussing the events ofst night with great interest, be it the emergency drill or the night of forbidden passion. There was arge banner hanging over each location that students habitually gathered at, including the dormitories and the entrance to the cafeteria, which read ¡°001 day to the opening lecture at the First Academy of Cultivators!¡±

    Next to these banners were the profiles, pictures and particrs of the instructors of the various faculty instructors. Countless students gathered around, engaging with eager and expectant discussions, ¡°Who do you think will take the first lecture tomorrow?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard that it¡¯s Instructor Huang?¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it! I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re going to be talking about, but it would most certainly be a breath of fresh air from the old elders back home who are boring as well.¡± ¡°Not only is it boring, the knowledge they¡¯re seeking to impart is at least decades old to boot!¡±

    The corridor of the sciences, the walls of the humanities, and the like¡­ and even the entrance to the school had undergone aplete overhaul in their design, transforming into avenues tastefully designed with sculptures of vibrant and youthful schrs. The First Academy of Cultivators was starting to show signs of prosperity.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to go out for a walk?¡± Arthis propped her head on her hands as she gazed out of the window like a young teenage girl, ¡°There are fresh bodies out there waiting for you¡­ So why are you acting as though you¡¯re no different from a dying old man? Almost like it¡¯s your twilight years.¡±

    Qin Ye put on a pair of ck-framed spectacles and reviewed his lesson n in detail. He responded without even lifting his head, ¡°Don¡¯t you understand? It¡¯s like the idiom says - I¡¯m using a long line to catch a big fish. I¡¯ll let them worship me, and then fall in love with me, and then finally subjugate them with my superior knowledge and lofty sentiments.¡±

    Before Arthis could even respond with herining groan, his phone suddenly rang. He adjusted his sses, before picking up his phone and ncing at its screen like a youngster with an artistic ir. The notification on it read: ¡°Faculty Head Zhou has invited you to join the ¡®Faculty of Combat Instructors and Students Group¡¯¡±.

    Arthis red contemptuously at Qin Ye - His personality has started to deteriorate and fall apart ever since his appointment as an instructor with the academy¡­

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t dare to dally with Boss Zhou¡¯s invitation, and he promptly joined the group. Ever since he entered the First Academy of Cultivators, it felt as though his Momo app had been buzzing with great excitement. He had even joined several groups that he wouldn¡¯t even have considered in the past. For instance, groups where the ultra-destructive husky Lin Han was part of was something he would most certainly have outrightly rejected in the past. Yet, he could almost be certain that the shadow of the Local Bully lurked in every single corner of these groups he had joined in recent days.

    ¡°Wee, Instructor Qin!¡± ¡°How do you do, instructor? We¡¯re counting on you for the next two years!¡± ¡°Instructor is pretty good looking~! Why didn¡¯t you make public your Momo ount?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be¡­ Muscr Pretty Boy¡­ Instructor¡¯s username bears quite the connotation, doesn¡¯t it¡­?¡±

    He received a warm wee as soon as he entered the group. Qin Ye smiled lightly. This was his sixth college experience, and teachers were never active in such groups unless they were issuing assignments or making administrative arrangements. The activity of professors was naturally even rarer than that. Such excitement within the group would generally die down after a day or two, and then the only person who would remain active would be the ssmittee.

    He discreetly changed his ID to his registration number and surname, and then sent a meme to indicate his existence. Yet that simple action of his triggered a series of all sorts of memes in return which flooded the entire group chat in an instant.

    Their response was unimaginably passionate! It was a meme war!

    The battle horn had been sounded! Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly. He was about to tap on his wealth of memes when he suddenly discovered that others had seized the opportunity and sent those memes ahead of him. The use of memes had already entered apletely new discipline of its own with its own sub-dimension of philosophy. Qin Ye¡¯s lips twitched, and he muttered, ¡°Childish.¡±

    ¡°The memes that you have aren¡¯t as updated as the ones I have. Would you like me to send you a meme of Hairline Boy Wu?" Arthis peeked over his shoulder and quipped with some measure of interest.

    ¡°How old am I? And how old are they? Would someone of my age be fooling around with them? What is the worlding to?¡± Qin Ye snorted.

    Arthis looked at the cursor that was hovering over the Momo app Qin Ye coughed lightly and shifted his cursor away. Then, he changed tacts and sent to the group a 1 RMB red packet. The battle of memes abruptly ended just like that. A series of notifications surfaced on the group, followed by messages of groaning andints.

    ¡°How is it even possible to receive 0.0001 RMB?!¡± ¡°No¡­ with over one hundred people dividing 1 RMB, how many decimal points would there be in what we receive?¡± ¡°Oh great instructor, I urge you to soothe the souls of these restless spirits and confer upon each of us a glowing red packet.¡±

    Qin Ye coldly glossed over their response. Nonsense. The group has almost two hundred people, give or take. Each glowing red packet contains 200 RMB. Add them all up, and I¡¯ll practically be left with nothing of my monthly wage of 100,000 RMB. The best thing for me to do right now is to remain noble and aloof, and vanish from sight.

    Just as he was about to shut his Momo app, a man with an ID of ¡®Twinkling Stars¡¯ sent to each user in the group a voice activated glowing red packet containing 200 RMB each. The password for these red packets was ¡°Instructor Qin, are you taking the first session tomorrow?¡±

    Qin Ye was just about to respond when the previously silent Head of Faculty Zhou suddenly interjected: ¡°Who did you hear it from?¡±

    As soon as he spoke, the entire group went silent. Qin Ye stared at Zhou Xianlong¡¯s username as though he were the one who represented everything evil and sinister in the world - Haven¡¯t the ss schedules been issued to all instructors already?

    Nevertheless, he sensibly deleted the ¡°Yes¡± message he had typed into the chat field.

    Twinkling Stars sent an embarrassed emoticon - ¡°It¡¯s spreading all over the department. <embarrassed emoticon>¡±

    Qin Ye felt his temples throbbing - What the hell are you doing with that embarrassing emoticon? Even my eyes are hurting right now!

    Zhou Xianlong remained as solemn as ever - ¡°The ss schedule will be announced at 7 p.m. tonight. Everything will go ording to the schedule released then.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. He was just about to switch off Momo when a notification of a private message appeared on the screen.

    ¡°Want to understand the true meaning of life? Would you like to feel truly¡­ alive? Yes/No.¡± -- Head of Faculty Zhou.

    Eh? Not too shabby, eh? Has Death God Zhou finally learnt to be in touch with themon man? He¡¯s even ready to enter the limitless world of connectivity! It would be best if he never came back!

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened and prepared to type in his response.

    ¡°Head of Faculty Zhou has deleted a message.¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    ¡°I was just reading a novel earlier, and I¡¯d sent the wrong message. Come over to my office for a moment.¡± -- Head of Faculty Zhou.

    That¡¯s right.

    That¡¯s the Death God Zhou he was more familiar with.

    With his lips pouted, Qin Ye walked for approximately ten minutes before finally arriving at the Zhou Xianlong¡¯s office. However, there was already more than one person in the room.

    Zhou Xianlong was there, together with the only other professor of the Faculty of Combat, Tao Ran.

    Qin Ye had a vague understanding of who Tao Ran was. It had to be mentioned that he was a respectable figure. After all, the title of Professor of the Faculty of Combat wasn¡¯t something that could be conferred upon just any unreputable person.

    He couldn¡¯t be considered famous. However, the sixty-five year old man had already begun to stand at the front lines of resistance against theherworld ever since a tender age of twenty. He was transferred from the SRC to the Special Investigations Department, where he would then take on missions of various grades from S to D. He was awarded the special meritorious deed once, a first ss meritorious deed three times, and a second ss meritorious deed countless times. One could say that he was akin to a walking encyclopaedia on Yin spirits.

    ¡°Good day, Professor Tao.¡± Qin Ye nodded respectfully. It was only after encountering Yin spirits that one could fully appreciate just how peculiar and out of the world their variegated modus operandi could be. Professor Tao had over forty years of experience under his belt and lived to tell the tale. He¡¯d even attained the cultivation level of an Anitya Hellguard to boot. His achievements were truly admirable.

    The sixty-five years old Tao Ran was quite different from Zhou Xianlong, even though they were of about the same age. If Zhou Xianlong were described to be dignified and aloof like nobility, then Tao Ran would have to be described as an amiable old man, just like the grandfather next door. There were hardly even any traces that he was anything like a Hellguard-ss cultivator at all. He revealed a radiant smile on his crease-wrinkled face and waved his hand at Qin Ye, ¡°Little Qin,e over and have a seat. Have some tea as well. Old Zhou brewed this personally.¡±

    Qin Ye sat down and took a sip from the teacup. Zhou Xianlong appeared to be murmuring to his own thoughts as he tapped his fingers on the table. Tao Ran didn¡¯t speak any further either. He simply leaned backfortably against his own seat, narrowing his eyes to a slit so much that he appeared to be sleeping.

    ¡°It¡¯s like this.¡± One minuteter, Zhou Xianlong sighed softly as he pushed a brown envelope over to Qin Ye, ¡°You should¡¯ve received a notice informing you that you¡¯re taking the first ss tomorrow, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Qin Ye motioned to receive the brown envelope from Zhou Xianlong, only to discover that he hadn¡¯t loosened his grip from it at all.

    Qin Ye nced at Zhou Xianlong with some measure of bewilderment, yet Zhou Xianlong remainedpletely expressionless. He tapped his finger gently on the brown envelope as he continued, ¡°Each faculty has designated an instructor to give their faculty¡¯s opening lecture, and this was done by choosing the instructor with the best grades. Your performance has undoubtedly been the best among all in the Faculty of Combat, whether based on the first part of the instructors¡¯ evaluation, or whether based on your past performance in actualbat. The other instructors expected to give the opening lecture are Instructor Huang from the Faculty of Underworldly Craftsmen, Instructor Bai from the Faculty of Science and Research, Instructor Meng from the Faculty of Manufacturing, and Instructor Li from the Faculty of Theory.¡±

    Tao Ran suddenly interjected with a smile, ¡°The students don¡¯t know the schedule just yet. It¡¯s ted to be disseminated only at 7.00 p.m. this evening.¡±

    Qin Ye was a little bit confused. He didn¡¯t understand what they were trying to get at.

    Almost as though he could understand Qin Ye¡¯s bewilderment, Tao Ran continued, ¡°The teaching system is built upon teaching credits. You need them; we need them as well. You derive your teaching credits from the students, while the professors derive their teaching credits from you instructors.¡±

    ¡°All instructors¡¯ evaluations have a direct corrtion with our teaching credits. In turn, our appraisal is directly linked to the allocation of resources and benefits. You¡¯ll understand all these things once you attain the rank of an associate professor.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded slightly, and then changed the topic abruptly, ¡°Little Qin, are you aware of how the overall teaching appraisal will be conducted?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s body shivered slightly from his inexplicable surprise.

    Little Qin?

    No¡­ Didn¡¯t you use to address me as ¡®kid¡¯, or ¡®S9527¡¯? Did our interactionsst night cause you to have some form of misunderstanding with me? It somehow feels as though you¡¯re inexplicably warm to me today, huh?

    Although Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t understand Qin Ye very well, he was keenly aware from Qin Ye¡¯s microexpressions that there were terrible thoughts going through Qin Ye¡¯s mind right now. He red at Qin Ye, ¡°If you could just channel all of that spare energy in your mind to the matters of cultivation, you could even be the world¡¯s youngest Anitya Hellguard! Well¡­ let¡¯s put that aside for now. I¡¯ll exin. The teaching appraisal is overseen by a joint evaluation team formed by members of both the SRC as well as the Special Investigations Department. After all, the teaching appraisal is indirectly linked to the nation¡¯srgest vault of treasures. There is no way they would make light of such appraisal. Our academy¡¯s assessment is merely incidental in this regard.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong looked Qin Ye straight in the eye as he continued, ¡°After returning from Mount Tai City, the first thing we did was to send the instructors¡¯ particrs to the evaluation team, finalize our ss schedule and send it to each instructor. The evaluation team¡¯s preliminary assessment arrived earlier this morning. Old Tao and I have been discussing for a long time as to whether it¡¯s necessary to shift the schedule around or not. After much discussion, we decided to defer the decision to you.¡±

    Qin Ye nced down at the brown envelope once more.

    Zhou Xianlong sighed and finally released his grip over the brown envelope, ¡°Take a look. And take it easy. They don¡¯t understand instructors at all. The preliminary assessment is solely premised on the information collected, and it¡¯s not too urate. It¡¯s only intended as a reference moving forward.¡±

    Qin Ye silently received the brown envelope and loosened its tie string. For some strange reason, he had a bad hunch about its contents.

    How could the SRC¡¯s and Special Investigation Division¡¯s joint assessment be inurate or merely intended for reference?

    It feels as though this statement carries¡­ some other implications.

    Perhaps his preliminary assessment score isn¡¯t too high.

    Perhaps it could even be rather low.

    Otherwise¡­ Zhou Xianlong and Tao Ran wouldn¡¯t be here, dropping hint after hint, preparing him for what is toe.

    1. I do recall the author mentioning that this was the seventh one. I guess Qin Ye¡¯s memory¡¯s pretty bad at times :P

    2. This was an incident where a student went to Hangzhou University Road to tap on a free haircut experience. After the incident, he was given a bill for more than 39,000 RMB (about 5,700 USD), which was discounted to 18,000 RMB (about 2,850 USD). He called the police and finally left after paying 2,500 RMB. The funny expressions he made during that incident went viral online, and he was thereby dubbed the Hairline Boy. His expressions were made into memes. You can see some of his pictures here -

    3. Maybe his phone is one of those samsung equivalent with a stylus and pointer.

 Chapter 155: Protection

    <h4>Chapter 155: Protection</h4>

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say anything more. He had already opened the envelope by now. There were over ten sheets of paper inside. He did a quick count and confirmed that there were fifteen sheets of paper.

    He scanned the papers. The first column represented the psychological evaluation.

    The third column: Teaching experience.

    His eyes scanned quickly through the papers. Instructor Huang, Instructor Bai, Instructor Meng and Instructor Li were all in the region of sixty years old, and all of them were given the preliminary assessment of an A-grade. Yet when he flipped to the end of the papers, the letter ¡®C¡¯ quickly caught his eye.

    ¡°C?¡± He furrowed his brows and eximed in bewilderment. Yet, after repeatedly reviewing the papers, he finally confirmed that there was no mistake - it was indeed his name.

    ¡°No. Your track record is unmatched by all instructors of the academy who are under the age of thirty.¡±

    ¡°No. An eighteen years old Soul Hunter is unprecedented.¡±

    It suddenly urred to him why the schedule wasn¡¯t released yet. He understood why Tao Ran had informed him that the students didn¡¯t know the schedule, and that everything would only be disseminated at 7.00 p.m.

    The teaching schedule had only been disclosed to instructors thus far, and there was still two and a half hours before the rest of the school was to be officially notified of the same.

    ¡°Then, forgive me, but I find it difficult to ept their preliminary assessment of me.¡± He pushed the information sheets back slightly and leaned backnguidly on his chair, ¡°Taking a step back, what¡¯s their preliminary evaluation got to do with the First Academy of Cultivators in the first ce? Does the academy really need to look to other organizations for approval before endorsing their own instructors? That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°That said¡­¡± Tao Ran and Zhou Xianlong exchanged a knowing nce, before Tao Ran continued on his behalf, ¡°Head of Faculty Zhou was the one who received these preliminary assessments at that time. As soon as he scanned through the documents, he immediately gave them a piece of his mind. That said, their exnation isn¡¯tpletely unreasonable.¡±

    ¡°Although we might not understand exactly the life you used to lead, the fact that you¡¯re able to attain the rank of a Soul Hunter despite being only at the age of eighteen and having no organization to lean on, necessarily lends credence to a life of bloodshed and carnage. Growing up in such an environment would generally give rise to a hidden character w in some way or another.¡±

    ¡°Nevertheless, what the evaluation team means is this - you may have a deep and profound understanding of Yin spirits, but doing ispletely different from teaching. Furthermore, would you be able to build rapport with the students? You¡¯ve got a lot of hands-on experience, but would you be able to gradually ease your students into the waters before bringing them to the deep end? Furthermore, you¡¯ve never had any teaching experience nor any experience working in an office with civilians. They don¡¯t have any intentions of going against you in particr. This was essentially a judgment call that was based solely on your experiences and the data they have on hand. Truth be told, yourbat experience rating was A+. This was their assessment.¡±

    All of the other instructors giving a lecture tomorrow had either served in the SRC or the Special Investigations Department for some time, the shortest term of which was at least several years. Apart from that, they had even experienced other terms of service with various military departments or civilian offices. That was how they had been chosen for the First Academy of Cultivators. These extensive resumes were all stored in the archives of the SRC and the Special Investigations Department. But what about Qin Ye?

    The only thing he had was the results from that night of chaos in the City of Salvation.

    ¡°This is the Faculty of Combat.¡± Qin Ye solemnly pointed to the sign outside the door, ¡°How else are we supposed to speak if not with our fists?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong had never heard Qin Ye speak such incisive words before, and he immediately looked at him with some measure of surprise. However, he nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°The academy answers to only the heavens.¡±

    Qin Ye was somewhat bewildered, ¡°Then what about you?¡±

    ¡°As for us, we stand on the side of our instructors at the Faculty of Combat.¡± Zhou Xianlong took over from Tao Ran, ¡°We¡¯re willing to extend you this opportunity. This was our original decision in the first ce in any event. I do think that your age would in fact work in your favour. After all, it¡¯s more likely to stir the passion of the students and motivate them to work harder. That said¡­¡±

    He continued meaningfully, ¡°I¡¯m not going to lie to you. The Faculty of Combat is the most important faculty in the First Academy of Cultivators, and it¡¯s naturally receiving the most resources and benefits from them. However¡­ this will only continue if they deem us worthy of the resources in the first ce.¡±

    Rivalry andpetition existed where people gathered.

    He wasn¡¯t certain. But the fact that the country was even willing to open its vault of precious national treasures meant that the amount of support given couldn¡¯t possibly have been insignificant! In turn, the academy would also have to allocate its resources among its five different faculties.

    Or should they split it equally among everyone?

    It was a well known fact that healthypetition begets a collective sense of identity.

    And this was a form of protection as well.

    After all, this was an academy.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Qin Ye responded sincerely, and then smiled, ¡°But there¡¯s no need.¡±

    Qin Ye stood up and cupped his hands with a wide grin on his face, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. My opening lecture¡­ will most certainly be an eye-opener.¡±

    And the reinforcement that I¡¯ve prepared isn¡¯t any less influential than any of the leaders at our academy¡­

    Qin Ye left. Zhou Xianlong and Tao Ran exchanged nces, and none spoke a single word for some time. Dozens of secondster, Tao Ran broke the silence, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Tao Ran was just about to interject when Zhou Xianlong shook his head, ¡°But, so what?¡±

    ¡°If he does well, we¡¯ll apud him. If he doesn¡¯t, it¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing either.¡±

    ¡°In the worst case scenario, the Faculty of Combat will only be given a poor evaluation. Who¡¯s to say we can¡¯t get it back next year?¡±

    Qin Ye was oblivious to all of these things.

    He didn¡¯t want to brag. However, the first obstacle that any instructor should ovee is their self-consciousness. Those who aren¡¯t thick-skinned enough would immediately panic and seize up as soon as they took the stage and saw the innumerable pairs of eyes transfixed on them.

    And as for the content?

    He was standing on the shoulders of giants and backed by Hell¡¯s depository of information umted over thousands of years on end. Besides, who is to disprove the contents of his lecture when all of these treatises have already been lost to the effluxion of time?

    At 7.00 p.m. sharp, Zhou Xianlong issued an announcement officially - ¡°Tomorrow morning at 9.00 a.m., S9527, Instructor Qin, shall be giving the Faculty of Combat¡¯s opening lecture at its corresponding tiered lecture Hall.¡± The entire group exploded with great excitement!

    ¡°Looking forward.¡± ¡°Looking forward +1.¡± ¡°Looking forward +2.¡± ¡°Looking forward +10086.¡±

    The Insignia University lecture halls were all well-built and fully equipped with the ir of modern technology. The tiered lecture hall wasrge enough to hold a thousand people all at once. He stepped into the lecture hall at 8.48 a.m. As soon as he opened the door, the uproarious chatter in the lecture hall immediately died down.

    In fact, it was so silent that one could hear each step he took as he walked towards the lectern.

    1. This isn¡¯t to say that there are 10086 people who are looking forward to it. Rather, the 10086 here is a reference to the number to dial for the 24-hour customer service hotline that provides professional services rting to mobilemunications, business consulting,ints, etc. Someone was just trying to be funny here.

 Chapter 156: Virgin Teaching Experience (1)

    <h4>Chapter 156: Virgin Teaching Experience (1)</h4>

    It wasn¡¯t as though the lecture hall was empty.

    In fact, every single student in the Faculty of Combat was already present and eagerly awaiting the opening lecture. Furthermore, they were all packed to the front of the lecture hall, much unlike the usual college students who would much prefer to sit at the back of the hall so that they could look at their phones or y video games on theirptops.

    And this disparity arose because the students were keenly aware that their circumstances were vastly different from that of regr college students, who could cruise along or ck off for four years and still find afortable job to support them for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have such a luxury.

    If they didn¡¯t work hard now, they would have to pay for itter with their blood, sweat and tears¡­ and perhaps even their lives!

    Thus, pairs of keen, sincere and passionate gazesnded right on Qin Ye as he walked across the hall. The atmosphere was still and silent for a moment, before someone began to apud. In an instant, the apuse spread like wildfire across the entire hall, and the roar of apuse from approximately two hundred people continued incessantly.

    ¡°Good morning instructor!¡± ¡°Good morning Instructor Qin!¡± ¡°Instructor Qin, we¡¯re counting on you for the next two years! Please take good care of us!¡± ¡°You have to teach us how to breakthrough to the rank of a Soul Hunter so quickly! It would drive my family members crazy if I graduate as a Soul Hunter!¡±

    Voices popped here and there as the tide of apuse continued.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and cupped his hands at everyone.

    Today marked a momentous asion!

    The husky was finally standing in front of the entire pack of wolves! And it was even entrusted with the hefty responsibility of educating the next generation of wolves!

    He took a look at his cell phone - there was still approximately ten minutes to go. The lesson n had already been uploaded into the lecture hall¡¯sputer systemst night. He took several deep breaths to calm his nerves, and then closed his eyes to rest. Time trickled by slowly amidst the burgeoning chorus of excited discussions. Dong! The clock struck nine, and Qin Ye finally opened his eyes once again.

    The entire hall quietened down once again in a split-second. Students flipped open their notebooks and even whipped out their cameras. Some students even armed themselves with a voice recorder, while others immediately switched on their cell phones. Pair after pair of expectant eyesnded right on the lectern where the youngest Soul Hunter in history was standing.

    One secondter, a faint wave of energy that was disguised as true energy radiated out from the lectern and filled every corner of the lecture hall. All of the students were immediately stunned, but their astonishment quickly turned into immense joy and tion! Gasps and murmurs of excitement echoed out in just an instant as the students turned to exchange looks of amazement with each other.

    Soul Hunter.

    It was really a Soul Hunter!

    The students were still skirting around on the edges of their bottleneck, unable to attain the breakthrough to be an Operative-ss cultivator, and yet their instructor had already stepped into the ranks of the mainstay cultivators at the level of a Soul Hunter!

    ¡°Whew¡­¡± Ye Xingchen closed his eyes and immersed himself in the experience of Qin Ye¡¯s true energy. His eyelids trembled excitedly, ¡°I¡¯d already heard rumours that Instructor Qin is the youngest Soul Hunter in history beforeing here, but seeing is believing. The rush that you get from experiencing it and seeing it with your own eyes is quite something else¡­¡±

    ¡°An eighteen years old Soul Hunter¡­ that¡¯s even younger than I am¡­¡± A young man with a simple and honest disposition closed his eyes and shook his head in exmation, ¡°It¡¯s true¡­ the particrs sent by the school weren''t lies¡­ There truly are geniuses in this world¡­¡±

    Like the tide of the sea, the murmurs and chatter in the hall rose and fell.

    The whispers came like a raging fire and went like the wind. A few secondster, the students opened their eyes once more. And this time, their eyes were filled with a burning gaze.

    Qin Ye finally spoke up, ¡°Before I begin with my lecture, I¡¯ve got one question I¡¯d like to ask all of you.¡±

    He swept his gaze calmly around as his voice reverberated coolly throughout the hall, ¡°Students, what¡¯s most important when facing a Yin spirit? Come, first row, third student from the left, what do you think.¡±

    Wang Chenghao stood up.

    Qin Ye¡¯s face instantly darkened.

    Are you kidding¡­ What kind of an uncanny coincidence is this? No wonder I thought he looked quite familiar! Turns out, it¡¯s the unruly one!

    I beg of you, can you just give me a normal response for once?!

    ¡°Courage!¡± Almost as though he¡¯d heard the cries of Qin Ye¡¯s heart, Wang Chenghao responded with gusto under Qin Ye¡¯s imposing gaze, ¡°I want to learn how to face those peculiar things, suppress them, and even¡­ destroy them.¡±

    Nice¡­

    Qin Ye nced at him with a pleasantly surprised look and then nodded softly, ¡°That¡¯s part of it. Graduates of the First Academy of Cultivator would be able to stand on the frontlines of resistance against the incursion of the Yin spirits. Courage is essential, but not everything. Second row, fourth student from the right, what about you?¡±

    A short-haired girl with a cold expression on her face stood up and responded, ¡°Strength. This would include all essential skills such as a good foundation in one¡¯s arts and techniques, as well as a sufficient cultivation base.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s also right. However, I¡¯m looking for something more. Third row¡­¡±

    After asking another four to five students, he stopped inviting them for more answers and continued, ¡°All of your responses are important, but none of them constitutes the most crucial factor. The most crucial thing¡­ is survival.¡±

    ¡°Yin spirits aren¡¯t as simple as you think. When you enter a zone where a Yin spirit could be hiding - even a house - the number of individual items in these zones could number in the hundreds.¡±

    ¡°A notebook, a pen, a mirror, clothes¡­ all of these could potentially be mediums of the Yin spirits¡¯ residence. If you can¡¯t immediately distinguish the safe from the unsafe items, you would already be ced in a disadvantageous position.¡±

    ¡°And what happens after you discover the Yin spirit¡¯s existence? You¡¯ll have to connect the Yin spirit with any previous supernatural incident in that ce as quickly as possible. And you¡¯ll also have to assess the threat level of the Yin spirit. Is it a wandering spirit? A vengeful apparition? A malevolent ghast? Or perhaps even¡­ an incarnate revenant? And how many spirits are there? Is it a nest of spirits?¡±

    ¡°Survive. It¡¯s only when your survival is secure that you can begin to even think about purging evil spirits. Therefore, the topic of my lecture today is¡­¡±

    He snapped his fingers, and a ten meter by six meter LED screen lowered behind him. This was an inductive LED disy, one of the most high-tech screens avable right now. All he needed to do was to tap his teacher¡¯s pointer at the screen to control the slides.

    His lesson n was disyed on the screen for all to see.

    It was a simple line of ck characters, and yet everyone¡¯s eyes brightened up immediately.

    ¡°Yin spirits - types, abilities, and countermeasures.¡±

    Whoosh! Countless pairs of eyes immediately lit up at the same time.

    This was remarkable.

    The topic was straightforward, but its content¡­ essentially taught them how to live!

    Just then, a young student raised his hand. Qin Ye promptly pointed at him, and he rose to his feet and asked in confusion, ¡°Instructor Qin¡­¡±

    But before he could finish speaking, the back door suddenly opened.

    A group of people walked into the hall in a single file. The person leading the way was none other than Principal Xu Anguo, followed by Zhou Xianlong, Tao Ran, and then the leaders of the school¡¯s Department of Academy Administration, Internal Affairs Department, Human Resources Department and the Information Department. There were ten people in all. The other four instructors of the Faculty of Combat entered the lecture hall behind the illustrious lineup of observers, followed closely by a number of personnel wearing ck suits and holding cameras andptops.

    The sound they made wasn¡¯t loud, but it was certainly audible enough to draw the students¡¯ attention away from the ongoing lesson. Xu Anguo made a shushing gesture to the students and pointed at the lectern to redirect their focus back to the front of the hall as he invited the rest to take their seats silently. Then, he silently made a gesture to Qin Ye to invite him to continue where he left off.

    Qin Ye nodded. They¡¯re finally here¡­ The students might have been oblivious to this, but he noticed it immediately.

    Xu Anguo, an advanced Hellguard-ss expert, was seated right in the center of the bunch!

    He could see Xu Anguo¡¯s true energy wafting abundantly like a thick winter fog.

    Just beside him, Zhou Xianlong silently set down his cup without saying a word. His true energy was like a sea of fog enshrouding the Yellow Mountains. Zhou Xianlong sat stoically in the midst of the billowing fog like a domineering asura.

    An advanced Judge-ss expert!

    Even if he were cast into the depths of the old Hell, a Judge-ss expert like him would undoubtedly have been appointed a chief and ced in charge of the life and death of tens of millions of people.

    His eyes continued sweeping across the illustrious line-up - Zhou Ruping, Director of the Department of Academy Administration, intermediate Hellguard-ss expert; Ma Shanglong, Director of the Internal Affairs Department; nascent Hellguard-ss expert; Zhu Youde, Director of the Human Resources Department, advanced Hellguard-ss expert; Long Qin, Director of the Information Department, advanced Hellguard-ss expert; Guo Zhengxiong, Director of the Human Resources Department, intermediate Hellguard-ss expert¡­

    The evaluation panelprised a total of ten leaders of the academy, nine of whom were Hellguard-ss experts, and the other a Judge-ss expert. All of them opened their notebooks in unison. None of them made a single sound, but the amount of true energy flowing out of their bodies appeared like an intense wall of fog, rising and falling like the tide. The concentration of Yang energy was immense!

    Apart from that, Qin Ye could see that the four men dressed in ck suits weren¡¯t wearing the emblem of the Special Investigations Department on their chests. Rather¡­ it was the SRC!

    What an impressive, imposing line-up¡­ Traces of a disquietened expression surfaced on Qin Ye¡¯s face. He was going to speak under the close scrutiny of nine Hellguard-ss experts and one Judge-ss expert. It would be a lie if he said he didn¡¯t feel any pressure.

    However--

    Nervousness was useless. One had to be bold when push came to shove.

    He was a husky living among wolves after all. Shouldn¡¯t he already have anticipated that such a day would soon arrive?

    As everyone took their seats, Qin Ye did his best to appease his mind and return his heart to a state of tranquility. He nced back at the student with the question and nodded, ¡°Please continue.¡±

    All of the other students werepletely astonished. A Hellguard-ss expert wasn¡¯t something that wasmonly seen, and yet they appeared to be dime a dozen in the First Academy of Cultivators! The student who had been speaking earlier instantly flushed red and stammered away, ¡°I-I-Instructor Q-Qin¡­ W-why isn¡¯t there any¡­ any ssification of Yin spirits and their abilities?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°This student has asked a very good question. It would seem as though there are only that many types of Yin spirits in the world. But this isn¡¯t the case. Some Yin spirits are so peculiar that you wouldn¡¯t even be able to identify it as a Yin spirit - even if it passed by right in front of your eyes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying that the database isn¡¯t perfect orplete, but there are just some Yin spirits that are more than meets the eye, and they¡¯ve been able to fool everyone to date. Thus, I¡¯m going to teach everyone how to identify and distinguish a Yin spirit today.¡±

    In the back row, a member of the SRC who had just finished setting up his camera paused awkwardly. Xu Anguo nced at him, ¡°Any thoughts?¡±

    The four men switched on their cameras and sat down behind Xu Anguo. The man deliberated for a moment, before stating with a stiff expression, ¡°He¡¯s criticizing the databases of the SRC and the Special Investigations Department by stating that they¡¯re problematic.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not criticizing. He¡¯s refining them.¡± Zhou Xianlong responded without even turning to look at the man, ¡°Besides, if there are mistakes, you can correct them; and if there aren¡¯t, you¡¯ve got nothing to lose. He¡¯s not even begun to borate yet, so why are you already poisoning the well? The SRC¡¯s team is here for the purposes of observation. Don¡¯t rush to conclusions.¡±

    It was apparent that Zhou Xianlong¡¯s triad-like disposition wasn¡¯t only limited to the Momo app. The man in the ck suit didn¡¯t dare to say another word, and he obsequiously opened his notebook.

    ¡°You¡¯re rather protective of him.¡± Xu Anguo looked at Qin Ye with keen interest as he whispered under his breath to Zhou Xianlong.

    Qin Ye naturally noticed the two old men whispering with each other, but he didn¡¯t dare to act on it at all. He ignored their misdemeanor and delved straight into the first part of his lecture.

    ¡°This is the youngest Soul Hunter in history. His future is practically limitless. What reason is there not to be protective of him?¡± Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t even bat an eyelid, ¡°I¡¯d never do something that would stumble our allies to the delight of our foe.¡±

    Xu Anguo tapped his fingers on the table and suddenly posed Zhou Xianlong a query, ¡°What do you think of this topic of his?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s great.¡± Zhou Xianlong responded nonchntly, ¡°Breaking down the types of Yin spirits and their corresponding abilities is a topic of great importance. After all, know thy enemy and know thyself, and you shall be victorious in every battle.¡±

    Xu Anguo¡¯s voice remainedpletely calm and unperturbed as he immediately followed up with another question, ¡°Then why isn¡¯t there such a corresponding faculty to date?"

    1. So it seems like this is the first reference to subdivisions in the different cultivation levels, namely nascent, intermediate and advanced.

 Chapter 157: Virgin Teaching Experience (2)

    <h4>Chapter 157: Virgin Teaching Experience (2)</h4>

    He wasn¡¯t too well-versed in the matters within the academia.

    He adjusted his posture and continued unhurriedly, ¡°The SRC had previously attempted to cordon off an area, and watch and see how it would develop, much like what they did with the ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯ hunting zone back in Mount Tai City. But it¡¯s far too inefficient that way, and it takes far too long to get the desired results. There was also a reasonably high risk that the research at several of these cordoned zones would have to be abandoned in order to preserve the natural ecology and habitat there. When that happens, it would be practically impossible to learn of the progress of the Yin spirit within these zones. You can take a closer study into the ¡®Lost Tracks¡¯ dossier if you wish.¡±

    ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say, is that this research topic is far too great for a single instructor.¡± Xu Anguo gave the lowdown, ¡°A single instructor has picked out the very same topic as a research fellow of the SRC. It might be an eye-opener for now, but is his knowledge extensive enough to support a series of lectures throughout the entire semester?¡±

    Xu Anguo clearly didn¡¯t think much of Qin Ye¡¯s opening lecture.

    Xu Anguo was preparing him for what was toe.

    ¡°Types of Yin Spirits.¡±

    They knew full well that these words might seem simple, but the content underlying the message was anything but!

    Qin Ye was already in the zone by now. He leaned his hands gently on the lectern and exined, ¡°There isn¡¯t a clear system of ssification for Yin spirits right now. Therefore, I¡¯ve used my own method of distinguishing them based on two sets of metrics for now. Number one: ssification based on the level of their abilities. Number two: ssification based on their type.¡±

    The colleague beside him couldn¡¯t be bothered to entertain him, and he whispered back somewhat dismissively, ¡°Let¡¯s hear it first. This topic¡­ is truly monumental.¡±

    It¡¯s not that I want to be judgmental, but everyone here is¡­

    ¡°Ahh--...¡± This time, the man in a ck suit who couldn¡¯t be bothered to entertain his colleague earlier leaned over and whispered back, ¡°He¡¯s evene up with a proper name for it. He makes it sound so legitimate. Does he really think he¡¯s a guru of parapsychology? Something stronger than a Judge-ss entity? He¡¯s seen something like that?¡±

    He suddenly paused.

    ¡°Old Man Yu?¡± He called out with a low voice as he hurriedly extended his hand to him, ¡°Haven¡¯t you already left? Why did youe back?¡±

    How¡¯s that possible?

    Not a chance!

    ¡°Alright.¡± Old Man Yu received a cup of tea from the assistant standing behind him and smiled radiantly, ¡°This kid has a unique perspective of things. I¡¯m somewhat interested. He¡¯d mentioned that his lecture will be an eye-opener to me. I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

    Everyone took their seats again, leaving only the two who had just been softly discussing among themselvespletely dumbfounded.

    Are you shitting me?!

    In other words, he was suggesting that Qin Ye was overestimating himself and unting his abilities in front of a true expert.

    Old Man Yu chuckled softly, and then in the very next moment his voice turned cold and frigid, ¡°There¡¯s always something you can learn from others. Where has your sense of humility gone?¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t know whether he¡¯s any good until we hear what he has to say. It¡¯s not even ten minutes into the lecture, and the leaders of the First Academy of Cultivators haven¡¯t made anyments about him, and yet you¡¯re already pping your lips over here?¡±

    ¡°How could that be the case?¡± Old Man Yu smiled genially.

    Old Man Yu nodded at Qin Ye, and Qin Ye nodded back meaningfully as well. Just as he was about to continue, he suddenly paused.

    Just like now.

    His lesson n could be described as a long scroll, slowly unfurling and unraveling the mysteries of its contents. But right now, he was suddenly filled with the urge to probe further at the mortal realm¡¯s understanding of things.

    He therefore recalled to mind everything he had nned to say this lecture, cast them all aside, and cut straight to the chase.

    Old Man Yu¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly. Incarnate revenant¡­ it¡¯s that foreign word again. He had just arrived, and yet his curiosity was already piqued.

    ¡°¡®Incarnate revenant¡¯ is named after the concept of metasia, which refers to the transformation of a differentiated cell into another differentiated cell. In other words, it is an evolution or an incarnation of sorts. I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve noticed this before, but it¡¯s practically impossible to find an evil ghost that possesses abilities beyond that of an Infernal Judge!¡±

    Yellow, orange and red coloured circles of various sizes appeared over each province. He pointed to one randomly, ¡°Yin spirits invariably start out as wandering spirits. Those who possess great grievances at the point of their death are most likely to be vengeful apparitions. Given the right circumstances, the wandering spirits with great grievances would quickly devour their own kind and transform into a vengeful apparition¡­¡±

    He felt a shiver run down his spine before he could even finish speaking. The SRC observers had still been chatting and chuckling among themselves just a little while ago, and yet, upon hearing Qin Ye¡¯s ims, they abruptly looked up in unison and stared intently at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Just then, a voice suddenly called out from the SRC observers. All of the students looked back in astonishment.

    ¡°By devouring.¡± Qin Ye responded boldly and fearlessly. He had reviewed every single statement in his lesson n with Arthis countless times. He could even cite a plethora of examples off the top of his head right now.

    Damn. It slipped my mind¡­

    How could he speak up when Old Man Yu hadn¡¯t even said a single thing?

    Don¡¯t Yin spirits feed on the negative emotions of human beings, including fright, fear, and so on? Or perhaps they¡¯re born with great resentment in their hearts, and they feed off the bright moonlight to advance to the next level of Yin spirits?

    As with any other academic, he was used to refuting imprecise formtions of hypotheses. After all, even the slightest bit of ambiguity in academia could invite great discussion. The man had earlier stood up due to a conditioned reflex.

    He gulped nervously, fervently suppressing the difort in his heart. He nced at his colleagues, only to discover¡­

    Not even you, boss of the SRC? How could you be giving me the look of encouragement right now?

    Bloody hell¡­ I can¡¯t just stop halfway¡­ The man in the whiteb coat didn¡¯t dare to make eye contact with any of the other leaders of the academy. He gritted his teeth and steeled his heart, ¡°If Instructor Qin hasn¡¯t conducted any experiments, or has no empirical evidence, this would be no different from misleading the young!¡±

    No¡­ Arthis dered that all of you are nothing but trash. I, on the other hand, still bore some hope. Can¡¯t you guys just buck up a little¡­ don¡¯t dash my dreams and hopes like that¡­

    However--

    Even Xu Anguo, Zhou Xianlong and the other Hellguard-ss experts gazed back with a bright glint in their eyes with eager anticipation.

    Eh? That¡¯s not a very friendly gaze. Are you querying why we¡¯re not asking the question in our hearts?

    Goddammit!

    Qin Ye swore a thousand times in his heart.

    Why do I get the feeling that a newbie in Hell could already be a professor in the mortal realm?

 Chapter 158: Virgin Teaching Experience (3)

    <h4>Chapter 158: Virgin Teaching Experience (3)</h4>

    ¡°Absurd!¡± The man in a whiteb coat exploded. He was anticipating a clever response from Qin Ye, only to receive apletely outrageous one that was akin to a lightning bolt out of the blue. In the heat of the moment, hepletely forgot that he was still in the First Academy of Cultivators, and his chest rose and fell heavily as he barked back at Qin Ye, ¡°The reason why they¡¯re called Yin spirits is precisely because they cannot be touched by objects of Yang! Unless they take possession of something, the only thing we can do is to purge them! How could you possibly carry out that experiment?!¡±

    He finally understood why Arthis always harped on the same thing over and over again - It¡¯s not that I¡¯m against anyone in particr. It¡¯s just that everyone seated here isplete and utter trash.

    ¡°Then¡­ do any of you know about the soul sphere?¡±

    The thing which Man hated most was an abrupt and awkward silence.

    Eh? Not bad!

    Qin Ye was already prepared for this. He took out a soul sphere which he had prepared beforehand. This was far weaker than the soul sphere that he had originally used to seal Arthis with, and the runic symbols on it were far simpler. This soul sphere was something that Qin Ye had prepared under Arthis¡¯ personal guidance, and it formed part of the curriculum of all newly-minted Netherworld Operatives. He had tested it before - the soul sphere he had prepared could only capture Yin spirits up to the level of vengeful apparitions.

    Both of them were somewhat stunned by the peculiar turn of events, but Zhou Xianlong quickly gave in and retracted his arm with a dry cough. The soul sphere promptlynded in Xu Anguo¡¯s hand, and Zhou Xianlong and Professor Yu minced their way over in an instant to inspect it. Zhou Xianlong immediately asked after a single nce at it, ¡°Ancient Sanskrit?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong immediately added, ¡°This should be a long lost technique. It has never been recorded in any of the ancient texts in our possession! The texts we have right now only record restored versions of Yin spirit sealing techniques. But these are definitely iplete¡­¡±

    The runic symbols flowed well. The soul sphere was usable!

    Tao Ran¡¯s expression was ashen like the base of a cauldron.

    I want to hear more as well!

    ¡°I think that the SRC has more say in this.¡± Tao Ran redirected the attention to the SRC. He, too, was adept in pushing the buck around.

    ¡°You.¡± He turned around and handed the soul sphere to one of his subordinates and red at him, ¡°Go catch us a Yin spirit. If it breaks¡­ Instructor Qin, how are we supposed to catch the Yin spirit anyway? Do you still have any other such soul¡­ soul spheres?¡±

    Just then, the students began to show signs of displeasure.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Xu Anguo, Tao Ran, Zhou Xianlong, and Professor Yu responded in an almost-concerted fashion as they ignored the begrudging looks in the students¡¯ eyes. Professor Yu entrusted the precious soul sphere into the hands of a man in a whiteb coat, ¡°One hour. You must return by the end of this lecture! I want to see the results live!¡±

    And he most certainly wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone turned their attention back to Qin Ye with a somber expression on their faces.

    But now, their outlook of the lecture had changedpletely!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have sat in for this ss at all!¡± Local Bully tightened his grip around his pen so much that he nearly snapped it in half, ¡°To think that this kid has so many tricks hidden up his sleeves¡­ he didn¡¯t even bring this out when we were purging Yin spiritsst time!¡±

    Su Feng was fuming from every orifice he had, ¡°Damn it¡­ does he even realize the kind of earth-shattering ramifications the prospects of capturing Yin spirits could bring? No, he must know of it! But he¡¯s obviously not going to expound further on it just yet! He¡¯s going to discuss it only in his second lecture. That¡¯s crafty¡­ this kid is far too cunning!¡±

    ¡°A Yin spirit¡¯s advancement isn¡¯t quite the same as the advancement of us cultivators. When Yin spirits advance, they grow far more bizarre and peculiar in their own rights, and they also gain ess to a more diverse spectrum of killing methods. In fact¡­ I don¡¯t know if they would gain the ability to manipte physical objects in the mortal realm, but I¡¯m quite sure that some of them gain the ability to touch the human body!¡±

    He paused for a moment, and grew stern and somber as he tapped on the LED screen using his pointer, ¡°Just like how chronic irritation of the columnar epithelial cell would result in a transformation into a squamous epithelial cell, this is a form of evolution or qualitative transformation of sorts. It is also called an incarnation. This represents the point at which a Yin spirit infiltrates human society, moving about in the day as it lurks within our ranks. This is incidentally also when it gets most difficult to discover their existence!¡±

    A number of gasps and murmurs sounded throughout the hall as soon as Qin Ye dropped the bombshell.

    None of the panel of evaluators spoke a single word.

    Of everyone present, Zhou Xianlong was the only person who had participated in the operations to subdue an evil ghost in broad daylight!

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t making things up.

    But right now, after listening to Qin Ye¡¯s exposition on the phenomenon, he finally had an exnation of the situation.

    Just as the world evolved, Yin spirits evolved as well! The more advanced the Yin spirits got, the more spiritually aware they became. And as they assimted into the cities and disappeared among the crowds, they would have then begun to undergo¡­ an incarnation.

    ¡°Are there any incarnate revenants in Cathay?¡± Zhou Xianlong murmured. But he quickly noticed that the entire faculty of students had turned back to re at him with a begrudging look in their eyes.

    Student A - Haven¡¯t you guys had enough yet?! Instructor Qin has only spoken statements thus far! What¡¯s going on with you guys?!

    Student C - Damn it! I haven¡¯t seen such an attention-seeking diva like you throughout my years of school thus far! Are you making up for not having been to college in the past?! Why should we cede our opportunities to ask questions to you?!

    Qin Ye could feel the onset of a headache as well - You guys sure have a lot of questions! Can¡¯t you just be good, hold your tongue and listen to my lecture silently?! How am I supposed to take the top spot at this rate! I can¡¯t even cover any content! I can¡¯t even remember where I¡¯ve just left off!

    His decisive response startled everyone present. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes burned with an impassioned gaze.

    He pointed at the Westriver region, Pearl River region and the northeastern region.

    Su Feng¡¯s pupils narrowed as he whispered, ¡°I recall that¡­ the provincial capitals of both provinces have both been broadcasting supernatural alerts, haven¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°... Local Bully¡­ I¡¯m truly embarrassed to call you a squad mate¡­¡±

    1. Shoutout to freylowd for lending a hand on these medical stuff!

 Chapter 159: Nightmare Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 159: Nightmare Spirit</h4>

    ¡°After all¡­ where there¡¯s an incarnate revenant, there will invariably arise the phenomenon called the intersection of realms. Students, please take note. All who discover an intersection of realms must immediately evacuate the vicinity unless you are a Judge-ss expert! Otherwise, you would most certainly die! This is because¡­ a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts would already have appeared somewhere in the vicinity, and the entire locale would be undergoing a transformation into and of Yin. Even the longevity of human beings in these regions would fall as a result of these phenomena.¡±

    The students absorbed in the lecture were just about to raise their hands when two voices called out anxiously before any of them could act. Zhou Xianlong and Xu Anguo had practically blurted out their questions at the same time.

    They¡¯ve heard far too many fresh ideas and novel concepts since the start of this lesson! Even the leaders hadn¡¯t heard of these things before! On one hand, a person can dismiss these details, saying that it¡¯s nothing more than an opinion that cannot properly be proven true. But on the other hand, even a hypothesis that is grounded in some basis would be sufficient to make waves in academia!

    Therefore, the two leaders blurted out their questions almost instinctively,pletely obviating from their considerations the fact that they were principal and head of faculty altogether. It wasn¡¯t until they finished asking their questions that they came back to their senses and realized the situation that they stiffened their faces in a contrived manner and adjusted themselves in their seats awkwardly.

    He took some time to sort through his own thoughts before explicating, ¡°The intersection of the realms is a term that I¡¯ve coined. It essentially refers to a locality that has already be half Yin and half Yang, where hidden underneath the facade of the city is a whole new realm!¡±

    ¡°The City of Salvation!¡± Qin Ye dered, ¡°The City of Salvation is the best proof of this! If we simply extrapte what we¡¯ve seen in the City of Salvation, who is to say that Yin spirits possessing stronger abilities wouldn¡¯t engage in the very same conduct and behaviour?¡±

    It was like a bolt of thunder had pierced the haze and brought rity to their minds. Everyone went silent almost immediately.

    When night falls, can it truly still be called a mortal realm? Can anyone truly be certain that there wouldn¡¯t be another pair of eyes right beside each person, staring intently at them?

    The well-prepared Qin Ye rattled off his response like a well-oiled machine, ¡°It¡¯s simple. High-level ghosts possess amensurate amount of spiritual awareness. Wherever they go, numerous Yin spirits are bound to congregate around in reliance upon them. I call this the siphoning effect of Yin spirits, or the Yin spirit siphoning. It¡¯s quite simr to how an entire province tends to siphon off the provincial capital.¡±

    Pak¡­ Old Man Yu closed his eyes and smacked the table in front of him.

    In the end, he resigned himself to simply suppressing the excitement in his heart and smacking the table in front of him.

    ¡°So soon?¡± One of the men dressed in whiteb coats asked in bewilderment.

    He didn¡¯t go on. But the more the men in the whiteb coats thought about it, the more their expressions changed.

    It was more than just important!

    The soul sphere could be used to capture Yin spirits, thereby enabling their research into Yin Spirits, thereby allowing them to confirm his im that Yin spirits do devour each other, which by extraption gives rise to a new understanding on how high-level Yin spirits advance even further, thereby drawing the inference that the red zone cities¡­ represented the nascent formation of the ghosts¡¯ own territory!

    The direction of research, strategies and means would all undergo a massive overhaul!

    ¡°This kid¡­¡± The man in ck whomented previously stared at Qin Ye,pletely bbergasted, ¡°This¡­ is far more than just an idea¡­¡±

    Qin Ye had finally finished his exposition on this part of the lecture.

    The original n was to introduce two types of extraordinary Yin spirits, and run through their rted supernatural incidents by this point in time. As things are, I would count myself lucky if I even manage toplete my introduction to one such Yin spirit.

    He gave the panel of evaluators a somewhat begrudging look - Weren¡¯t you supposed to be evaluating me? Are you sure you¡¯re even doing what you need to be doing right now¡­

    ¡°Goodd.¡± Professor Yu¡¯s expression turned grave and serious as he let out a long sigh, ¡°How dare you challenge the research topic I¡¯ve been tacklingtely¡­ I¡¯d truly like to see what other surprises you might bring to the table!¡±

    The student scribbled frantically on their notebooks with a chorus of soft rustling sound. Qin Ye tapped his pointer on the LED screen once more, and an image showed up.

    Sha-sha-sha¡­ Several students promptly set down their pens and raised their hands.

    Local Bully reacted with great astonishment, ¡°What the heck¡­ when did this kid even do that? He totally lied to us about sleeping when he had in fact surreptitiously gone about with these scandalous affairs!¡±

    Qin Ye continued with a loud voice, ¡°This case wasn¡¯t even recorded as a supernatural incident to begin with. I¡¯d only picked it out after going through their records. 8 March, two years ago. Zhang Sanhao, a resident of Clearwater Street, was found to have been sleepwalking when he murdered his wife and son. When he woke up and discovered what he had done, hemitted suicide.¡±

    ¡°Everyone, please take note.¡± He tapped on the bottom left of the screen, ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a nifty trick on how to determine if a particr location is the scene of a supernatural incident. One of the most telltale signs is¡­ time.¡±

    Midnight!

    All of these were deduced through the marks left on the bed and angle of force.

    Exactly five in the morning!

    Midnight was the intersection of night and day, or Yin and Yang, while five in the morning was the demonic hour. This was more than just a coincidence!

    Wang Chenghao stood up and suggested, ¡°Possession?¡±

    Qin Ye tapped the LED screen once more, and two words immediately appeared - Whisper, hint.

    The panel of evaluators furrowed their brows again. But this time, they knew better than to stand up to question it.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother about the embarrassment in the hearts of the leaders around. Instead, he pulled out a stack of documents and waved it around, ¡°This is the information I¡¯d personally collected when I went about interviewing Zhang Sanhao¡¯s family members on the tenth ofst month. Students who are interested in attempting an extra-curricr assignment can take a copy and see if you can spot how I¡¯d discovered the involvement of the supernatural. This would also be covered in the next lecture, where we would be talking about a cultivator¡¯s sensitivity¡­ Alright, back to the topic at hand. To cut to the chase, seven years prior to the incident, Zhang Sanhao had dreamt of an old man wearing an ancient gray robe hovering in mid-air with his back facing him.¡±

    ¡°Record it¡­¡± Old Man Yu couldn¡¯t help but instruct his aide to take notes even as he kept his eyes peeled on Qin Ye. Yet there would have been no need for his instructions, because his aide was already frantically scribbling down notes before he even spoke up.

    Nightmare spirit.

    Parapsychology was a discipline that had been founded and developed through the years. There has even been a development of various sub-disciplines, as well as its own set of nomenture. Every single term of reference was added to the list only after much debate and deliberation. It was evident just how much trouble it was to build on the existing list of nomenture.

    Just then, the back door suddenly mmed wide open, and a man dressed in a whiteb coat burst through the door, holding up a soul sphere in his hands victoriously, ¡°Chief, it works! It really works!! This¡­ this is going to usher in a whole new era of spiritual research!!¡±

    Whoosh! Before he could even finish speaking, the soul sphere in his hand immediately flew through the air andnded in Xu Anguo¡¯s hands. Xu Anguo closed his eyes and gently sensed its contents. Then, he opened his eyes so abruptly that even his facial hair trembled slightly. He cast a deep and profound look at Qin Ye, before handing the soul sphere to Zhou Xianlong, ¡°Take a look.¡±

    If the soul sphere could really seal a Yin spirit¡­ this could potentially be one of the greatest breakthroughs in the recent years of cultivation history!

    To think that a simple lecture could be filled with so many surprises, and yet even more astonishments!

 Chapter 160: One Less Point to Keep You Humble

    <h4>Chapter 160: One Less Point to Keep You Humble</h4>

    Shaa¡­ The Director of the Internal Affairs Department immediately shot to his feet and stared at the soul sphere in disbelief.

    Sha, sha, sha¡­ All of the other school leaders shot to their feet simultaneously. If not for the fact that this was a lecture hall, they might very well have made their way over to the soul sphere by now.

    Lecture is over¡­

    How can the opening lecture end just like that?!

    They ruminated on their newfound yet piecemeal knowledge from this lecture as they continued to cast begrudging looks at the panel of old men behind the lecture hall. It¡¯s all thanks to this ¡°group of observers¡± that we don¡¯t even have one cohesive concept to take back from this message. Are you trying to get us killed on the battlefield in future?

    That¡¯s right, two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

    But now, each of them sincerely felt that thest two hours had passed by too quickly¡­ it had truly been fleeting! Qin Ye hadn¡¯t even been able to get into much detail¡­ and they would have to wait three whole days for his next lecture. What are the characteristics of an incarnate revenant? How exactly did he determine that the other cities in Cathay had begun to show signs of the intersection of realms and the appearance of a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts?

    ¡°His lecture will definitely be one of the mainstays in the academy in future.¡± Zhu Youde chuckled, ¡°But¡­ is this truly the time to be discussing these matters?¡±

    This was a lecture hall.

    And they were all part of the panel of evaluators.

    That said¡­

    This had been a lecture intended for students, and yet the panel of evaluators ended up being the ones posing him questions time and again. Even Zhou Xianlong, Xu Anguo and some others were huddled together in an impassioned group discussion right now. Rather than describe this as a lecture for students, perhaps it might be more urate to say that¡­ they were the ones who had benefited most from it.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Long Qin, the Director of the Human Resources Department, asked the four men in ck on the side.

    The four men in ck, especially the one who had earlier been casting aspersions on Qin Ye¡¯s abilities, felt as though a rock had been lodged in their throats. It was incredibly stifling.

    Did he not have sufficient content to support this lecture and the lectures toe?

    ¡°Guys?¡± Zhou Ruping, the Director of the Department of Academy Administration, raised his eyebrows quizzically. The SRC was renowned for their expertise in academia - so why were they suddenlypletely silent?

    p, p, p¡­

    They didn¡¯t know who the revered fellow of the SRC, Professor Yu, was. They only saw that a white-beareded, white-haired old man was smiling faintly and apuding Qin Ye¡¯s efforts. The apuse naturally spread - from one person, to a handful, to dozens, to a hundred, until finally¡­ the entire student body was apuding!

    Local Bully and a few others gnashed their teeth as they pped along in a contrived manner. Su Feng nced at Local Bully, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel stressed about your lecture this afternoon?¡±

    The apuse continued for over ten seconds. Professor Yu led the apuse, and his entourage of assistants from the SRC followed suit. They were the ones who led the first wave of apuse, and the rest of the leaders of the academy had no choice but to follow suit. They had to extend the SRC that measure of face, respect and courtesy at the very least¡­ the SRC were the ones preparing the teaching materials after all¡­

    Hang on!

    Notwithstanding the fact that Xu Anguo was staring so intently at Professor Yu that his eyeballs looked like they were on the brink of falling out of its sockets, Professor Yu simply turned a blind eye to all of this as he continued to apud gently, ¡°I¡¯d never expected to be sitting in for a lecture that was not only meant for the students, but for us as well!¡±

    Xu Anguo clearly had a bad hunch of what was toe - This old man isn¡¯t sticking to the script¡­ Is he trying to subvert the rules? Can anybody tell me how I¡¯m supposed to seal the lips of one of the esteemed fellows of the SRC? Pretty please¡­

    ¡°Principal Xu.¡± Professor Yu turned around with an amiable smile as soon as Xu Anguo began to speak, ¡°I guarantee that this research topic will be submitted to the Association of Parapsychology within half a year. As soon as it gets the necessary approvals... how many Yin spirits do you think we¡¯ll be able to capture?¡±

    ¡°Yes, your hunch is spot on. The implications of Instructor Qin¡¯s topic is massive. It proffers a systematization of the types of Yin spirits and their abilities. His perspectives and insights are fresh and novel. I wonder how many cultivators would be blessed by these insights of his as soon as they¡¯re proven true? In light of these, I give this lecture nine points.¡±

    Didn¡¯t you just give me your word that you weren¡¯t here to lend him any support?!

    Xu Anguo could feel his eyelids twitching uncontrobly. Admittedly, Qin Ye¡¯s performance at this opening lecture had been incredible. However--

    This is the First Academy of Cultivators! There are still several other instructors who are giving their opening lectures at the very same time! And there are still four instructors from the Faculty of Combat who are waiting for their turn after Instructor Qin! How could you just pop up out of nowhere and bestow nine points on Instructor Qin?! I want to give him a high score as well, but haven¡¯t you considered the feelings of others?!

    The two old men red at each other, and tensions ran high. The threatening glint in Old Man Yu¡¯s eyes were apparent - What¡¯s the matter? Doesn¡¯t my word carry any weight anymore? Do you guys not want any more teaching materials next semester?

    Old Man Yu - The students from the Faculty of Science and Research and the Faculty of Theory have to attend apulsory internship at the SRC, don¡¯t they? Do you really want us to refuse them? Besides, there¡¯s no retracting what I¡¯ve said, so are you going to still score him an eight in an attempt to prove that you¡¯re a better judge of a person than I am? That¡¯s fine, go ahead. While you¡¯re at it, I¡¯ll pass you a pen as well, and you can draft up the sybus and teaching materials on your own!

    Goddammit!

    Ummm¡­ I wonder if these kids would put in a request to change faculties?

    ¡°Nine points!¡± After contemting for several seconds, Xu Anguo sumbed to the forces of evil. Incidentally, Old Man Yu had ¡°evil¡± written all over his face and clothes¡­

    Qin Ye nced back - Copy that.

    Zhu Youde gave the ze Squad a look ofmiseration and shrugged his shoulders as he, too, dered with a loud voice, ¡°Nine points.¡±

    All ten members of the panel of evaluators suggested nine points!

    Just like that, the first lecture of the day was dismissed amidst a buzz of chatter and discussions, and Local Bully rejected Qin Ye¡¯s invitation to lunch in protest of what had just transpired. After lunch, Qin Ye returned to his own dorm room, where he promptly logged onto the website of the First Academy of Cultivators for his very first time.

    Everything to do with his teaching credits, ranging from his past performance, his critique, as well as the tally of his score to date were set out in detail on the website, essible only by him when he logged into his own ount.

    ¡°My score.¡± Qin Ye entered his password quickly, and then shut his eyes in relief, ¡°What do I do, Arti? I feel like my self-confidence is swelling so much that I¡¯m bursting at my seams¡­¡±

    Currently tabting the instructors¡¯ scores¡­ Qin Ye nced over at Arthis¡¯ screen, ¡°It¡¯s because I performed well at the lecture too¡­ What rank are you now? That looks like a rather intense game? Holy crap! That Q shbo, and blue essence?!¡±

    Qin Ye felt like he was about to explode with exasperation!

    It was alright for a female challenger tier yer to be streaming her gamey, but there¡¯s no way it would be fine for a silicone doll to appear on air like that!

    1. This refers to a blink + Q ability skillbo in LoL

    2. I understand this to be the currency you use in game to buy characters and cosmetics

    3. This is the penultimate tier in LoL.

    4. The highest tier in LoL.

    5. Both are streaming sites in China. They¡¯re a little bit like twitch.

 Chapter 161: Second Release of Rules for the Instructor Evaluation

    <h4>Chapter 161: Second Release of Rules for the Instructor Evaluation</h4>

    ¡°Hang on¡­ where did you learn of the creature called streaming? That¡¯s something that only shallow women would do. You¡¯re a former provincial governor, there¡¯s no need to stoop so low¡­¡±

    It was hard to convince Arthis to give it up, but he finally managed to do it. Qin Ye¡¯s heart palpitated from the potential cataclysm he had just avoided, and he dreaded to contemte what idea the silicone doll mighte up with next.

    Was it a bad idea to have opened her eyes to the world wide web in the first ce?

    He didn¡¯t dare to brood further over these things. The website he was on had refreshed itself, and he immediately took a look at it.

    There were five instructors who had rendered their opening lectures this morning. His name was right at the top, with an unbelievably striking 90 credits written right next to it.

    ¡°Professor Yu was personally in attendance of my lecture, so it¡¯s no surprise that I¡¯d managed to clinch the top spot with 90 credits.¡± He picked up his keys and shut the door, ¡°I¡¯m heading out for lunch, and I n to nap for a bit, and then go sit in for some of the other instructors¡¯ lessonster on. Anything you need?¡±

    Huskies possessed a keen sense of self awareness. As a husky living among a pack of wolves, he would need to gather as much knowledge about them as possible. The Momo app was good, but it wasn¡¯t quite enough. He was currently presented with an opportunity to mix with the wolf pups and listen in on their introductory courses. He could even reveal a smug smile from time to time to irk the other instructors and cause their eyelids to twitch uncontrobly¡­

    Beautiful, beautiful¡­

    Arthis was basking in the glory of her victory when Qin Ye motioned to leave his room. Just then, she suddenly called out, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d taken out my stomach to have it pumped just two days ago. Do be a good friend and collect it for me when you pass by the Eastgate Dry Cleanerster.¡±

    ¡°... I might have misheard you. Can you say that again?¡±

    Stomach pumping?! I told you to eat less, yet you ignored my good advice and continued to have three meals a day! Now look at how you¡¯ve got to get your stomach pumped! Do you even have the self awareness of a silicone doll?!

    Arthis gave him an impatient re, ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal to get your stomach pumped after eating too much? I don¡¯t have a digestive system, so this is no different from transferring food from its packaging into my stomach. I¡¯d just been peckish¡­ What''s with that look in your eyes anyway?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ nothing¡­ then¡­ I¡¯ll go collect it for you at midnight¡­¡± Qin Ye could feel his legs weakening under his weight, and he hurriedly shut the door behind him and drifted away.

    She truly knows no bounds¡­

    How can she ask me to head to the dry cleaners to collect a silicone doll¡¯s stomach in broad daylight¡­ Bloody hell, she¡¯s going to be the death of my pride and reputation!

    His thoughts drifted to the distant future, decadester, in an unnamed nursing home. A certain dry cleaner fanned himself and sighed as he gazed into the distance, ¡°Back in those days, strange urrences were dime a dozen. I recall one incident when an instructor from the First Academy of Cultivators - a tall and good-looking one at that - sent a silicone doll¡¯s stomach in for pumping. Her stomach contained various unidentifiable objects. It goes to show that true love... h h h¡­¡±

    This was how his reputation was going to go down in history!

    Little did he know that just as he was headed out to the canteen, the four other instructors who had just given their opening lectures had also just opened the academy website.

    ¡°Ny points?¡± An instructor in his sixties from the Faculty of Theory held up his teacup, but didn¡¯t take a single sip from it. His eyelids were twitching uncontrobly.

    ¡°Why is the scoring this semester so lenient?¡± He furrowed his brows. That¡¯s not right¡­ even if they¡¯re lenient, how could they possibly award points on the spot? That¡¯s a privilege that is reserved only for the leaders of the academy. Wouldn¡¯t it be more prudent to brood over his score for several more hours at least? What if some of the other instructors surprise you? Wouldn¡¯tmitting to a score right now ce you in a difficult positionter on?

    ¡°I feel pretty good about my earlier opening lecture, and I¡¯m quite certain that the score won¡¯t be too low. S9527 might be adept inbat, but I¡¯m positive that I¡¯lle out ahead of him when ites to educating others. If he can score a ny¡­ I should be at least a ny-five¡­¡±

    He continued to console himself. Yet, for some strange reason, he couldn¡¯t shake off the reservations in his heart¡­

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Qin Ye sat in for Lin Han¡¯s ss early that afternoon, only to notice Lin Han roll his eyes so much at him that he was practically looking at the sky.

    Hurhur¡­ you just got 90 credits this morning, and you¡¯re already here to irk and annoy me¡­ We¡¯re through!

    That said, Qin Ye found himself frantically taking notes merely ten minutes into the lecture. It suddenly dawned on him that the lectures of the other instructors weren¡¯t without any merit of their own. Rather, it was just that none of their insights exceeded the expectations of the SRC. This was the only thing that set Qin Ye apart from the other instructors.

    ¡°... Why do Yin spirits attack human beings?¡± Lin Han¡¯s voice was pleasant to the ears, and he spoke at afortable pace. He donned apletely different persona from what they were used to ordinarily. In fact, he even put on a pair of shades and did his best to appear like a muscr pretty boy.

    ¡°It¡¯s because they have a natural thirst and desire for human flesh and blood, as well as Yang energy. It¡¯s only natural that they crave for what theyck. In that regard, their thirst for Yang energy, human flesh and blood, and even human souls, ispletely insatiable. This is why you¡¯re sitting here without need for verification of your identity. Humans and Yin spirits simply can¡¯t coexist!¡±

    Qin-husky-Ye gulped nervously.

    ¡°... And why don¡¯t Yin spirits attack humans head on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. This is because Yin spirits are naturally weak, and they can¡¯t naturally draw close to a person who continues to ze with Yang energy. It¡¯s only through fright, fear and furtive suggestions that the threemps over one¡¯s body flickers and wanes. That is how Yin spirits draw close to human beings. This naturally forms the basis of most Yin spirits¡¯ attacks, and this is understandably how Yin spirits end up bing one of the most feared existences among ordinary human beings. It¡¯s precisely because they scare humans. But we¡¯re different. From the onset, we¡¯re trained and conditioned to abandon the fear in our hearts. Remember this - low-grade Yin spirits can only attempt to induce fear in your hearts, but they can never properly hurt you!¡±

    Just like that, two hours of lessons ended quickly. Qin Ye had gleaned much from his lecture, and he promptly closed his notebook and left the lecture hall. Qin Ye could only imagine what kind of expression Local Bully had on his face as he watched him leave¡­

    Just as he was leaving the back door of the lecture hall, his Momo app suddenly buzzed with a notification.

    ¡°Part two of the evaluation for instructors and outstanding instructors - regtions are as follows.¡± -- Head of Faculty Zhou.

    ¡°Number one: We shall be announcing all teaching credits awarded to instructors everyday at 6.00 p.m. sharp.¡±

    ¡°Number two: Whenever a new semester begins, instructors will be awarded half of the final score they have earnedst semester. Every subsequent ss or lecture shall be graded by a student representative. Instructors shall be awarded one teaching credit for every ten points awarded.¡±

    ¡°The school shall evaluate a random sample size of three sses per instructor every quarter. Instructors are not to put pressure on the student representative or curtail his or her freedom to grade the instructor in any way. If investigations reveal that the student representative¡¯s score does not cohere and urately reflect the performance of the instructor, he shall be penalized with half of his teaching credits.¡±

    ¡°Number three: The daily self-study sessions in the evening offer additional opportunities at earning teaching credits. Students may use this period of time to revise for the next day¡¯s lectures, and instructors are free to leave them be. Students may also practice their fighting skills and abilities. The entire floor that the school gym is located at has been converted into our academy training room. The training room shall be open daily from 7.00 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.¡±

    ¡°Instructors shall be awarded one teaching credit per day of overseeing their students¡¯ sparring sessions.¡±

    ¡°We shall now announce the individual teaching credits umted thus far, the ranking, as well as the conditions required to qualify as an outstanding instructor.¡±

    At this very moment, all of the instructors in the academy paused right where they were to read the contents of this important message on their phones, regardless of whether they had just ended sses, were in their dorm rooms preparing for their sses, or were at the courts ying basketball with their students.

    As expected¡­ Qin Ye pursed his lips. Li Tao and Xu Anguo are both men who deserve to piss into the same pot¡­ Those old fogeys are always doing what they want before announcing them - and only giving some enigmatic hint at best, like when they mentioned that ¡°the rubrics for the second phase of instructor evaluation does not exist¡±.

    Anyone who believed their tomfoolery would never be fated to cross paths with the title of outstanding instructor - they would be forced to wallow in the pits of the alpha-tier treasures of the treasury, never to rise from the depths.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you guys dead yet? I¡¯ve reserved one of the best seats in Hell for you¡­ don¡¯t you know how badly the people in the mortal realm want to beat you up? Come under my wings, and I¡¯ll make sure that you can have all the fun you want¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gazed begrudgingly at Li Tao¡¯s and Xu Anguo¡¯s office. He vaguely recalled that Xu Anguo had undergone a full-body checkup just a year ago - Perhaps I should head over to the hospital and see if he has any chronic diseases¡­ I¡¯ve got to prepare enough fireworks tost me for three days of festivities after all¡­

    Sha-sha-sha¡­ Zhou Xianlong¡¯s message came to an end, while another form appeared in the First Academy of Cultivators Instructors Group. All of the instructors tapped on the form and opened its contents.

    ¡°Criteria for an outstanding instructor.¡±

    ¡°Number one: You are eligible for a promotion to outstanding instructor if you umte 1,300 points within a single semester.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately ran some calctions in his mind.

    An instructor takes a ss or a lecture once every two days on average. This trantes to fifteen sses a month. Assuming that one manages to attain an average grade of 80 points per ss, the ten-to-one ratio would trante to 8 teaching credits per ss. Therefore, based solely on sses alone, an instructor would be able to secure approximately 120 teaching credits per month.

    In addition to that, if an instructor oversaw his students¡¯ sparring and fighting practices every night, he would be able to bag another 30 credits for that month. That way, the total number of teaching credits that an instructor can secure from teaching alone would amount to approximately 150 credits every month. A semester spans over six months. This means that they would be able to secure 900 credits by way of teaching alone!

    It was still quite some ways off the 1,300 prerequisite, but¡­ there should still be some avenues to earn teaching credits from midterm examinations and final examinations. Furthermore, there were still the points that he had umted from the Mount Tai City study trip.

    He continued reading.

    Sure enough, the second statement confirmed his suspicions: ¡°As long as at least five students from a single faculty scores more than 90 in their midterm and final examinations, all instructors of that corresponding faculty shall be awarded 100 teaching credits each. In addition, there will asionally be opportunities to earn extra teaching credits, akin to what you have experienced in the Mount Tai City study trip. In future, when the First Academy of Cultivators has made a name for itself, there may arise instances where the leaders ofrge powers make a request for an exchange of ideas, or where uninitiated sects and ns apply to observe our lectures. These are all opportunities that instructors are free to explore and solicit.¡±

    ¡°Number three: Instructors who have their thesis published on the front page of the ¡®People¡¯s Cultivation Journal¡¯ would be awarded 666 teaching credits in that semester. A second-grade meritorious deed would earn all instructors of the corresponding faculty 150 teaching credits.¡±

    ¡°Number four: Any instructor who receives an invitation to participate in the ¡®Cultivators Quarterly Forum¡¯ or the ¡®Summit of Cultivators¡¯ shall be awarded 150 teaching credits. All corresponding instructors in the same faculty shall receive 50 teaching credits.¡±

    ¡°Number five: At the end of the semester, all instructors shall be ranked in ordance with their total umted teaching credits, and the top five instructors shall be promoted to the ranks of outstanding instructors, thereby gaining ess to the Beta-tier treasures.¡±

    ¡°Number six: The practice room shall remain closed today for maintenance. The Alpha-tier treasury shall be open tonight at 8.00 p.m. All who are looking to make redemptions are to gather at the basketball courts at 7.30 p.m to facilitate a smooth redemption process. You may only check your cumtive merit points whenever the treasury is open. In that regard, the treasury shall be open for redemption purposes on the first of every month.¡±

    Just as everyone was about done reading the list of information, another screenshot promptly appeared.

    This time, it was the ranking of the teaching credits thus far.

    ¡°First ce: Faculty of Combat S9527 - 183 teaching credits. Note: 93 credits awarded for thepletion of C-grade ¡°Lost Tracks¡± mission in Mount Tai City; 90 credits awarded for the opening lecture today. Total score of 183 teaching credits.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes paused for a moment at his score, and then quickly scanned down to the second ce.

    After all, there was no way of knowing whether his score was truly high without any basis forparison.

    ¡°Second ce: Faculty of Theory A6634 - 144 teaching credits. Note: 74 credits awarded for thepletion of E-grade mission in Mount Tai City; 70 credits awarded for the opening lecture today. Total score of 144 teaching credits.¡±

    Dead silence.

    All of the instructors stared at their Momo app inplete silence right this very moment.

    A6634, also known as Instructor Huang Chengyang of the Faculty of Theory, was a man in his sixties. He rubbed his own eyes in disbelief, thinking that he must have been mistaken.

    144 credits?

    It¡¯s fine if there was no basis forparison, but how could S9527 possibly have 183 credits?!

    The difference between the first and the second ce was so wide that an entire dimension could be fit between them!

    Bloody hell, where did the gap of about 50 creditse from?! 90 credits for your lecture?! I felt good about my performance today and I was only awarded 70 credits?!

    And to think that I was still feeling at ease this afternoon?!

    ¡°Holy crap¡­¡± Local Bully gasped as he looked at his phone, ¡°The scoring this semester is so strict¡­ and yet this kid has almost secured two hundred credits for himself?! He¡¯s inhuman!¡±

    Of the five instructors who had rendered their opening lecture this morning, not a single one of them had scored above 75 credits apart from Qin Ye!

    1. It¡¯s not entirely clear whether this is half of the total score, or half of the final grade that students get. I would think it¡¯s thetter, because the bnce would be way off otherwise.

    2. I have it in my notes that Beta-tier treasures are essible to all instructors, and it¡¯s only Gamma-tier treasures that are only redeemable by outstanding instructors once a year. I suspect there must have been a typo on the author¡¯s part here.

 Chapter 162: Redeeming Yin Spirit Stones

    <h4>Chapter 162: Redeeming Yin Spirit Stones</h4>

    Everyone was silent.

    Even the instructors who had just finished rendering their opening lectures began to worry about their own performance.

    When Qin Ye¡¯s score of 90 teaching credits first surfaced, several people had the exact same thoughts that Huang Chengyang did - We¡¯re not as good as you when ites to purging evil ghosts, but matters of education¡­ given your age, we still have an edge over you.

    If you can score 90 credits, this must mean that the scoring system this semester must be on the lenient side of things. Perhaps they might be concerned about the face of their own instructors, so this time, everyone would be scoring 90 and above. The benchmark ought to be around 90 credits.

    Yet the release of the results for the other instructors told them otherwise.

    No additional points were awarded on ount of preserving the face of their instructors. They were awarded whatever the leaders thought they deserved. With that, Qin Ye¡¯s 90 credits suddenly seemedpletely unattainable!

    ¡°If he keeps this up, he can practically secure the title of an outstanding instructor without having to participate in any forums or the like! This kid¡­ what kind of a god is he?! Is he an incarnation of a guru of knowledge?!¡± An instructor who had also rendered his opening lecture this morning stuffed his phone back into his pocket with great exasperation, and he began to rethink his strategy for the rest of the semester.

    Qin Ye switched off his Momo app as though deep in thought.

    These two old fogeys¡­ are truly devious.

    These rules might seem benign on the surface, but they also put everyone practically in a prisoner¡¯s dilemma - a faculty could either work separately or together for theirmon good.

    The workce was like a battlefield, and everyone was working hard to seize teaching credits to their name to the exclusion of others.

    And yet, just as everyone was getting into the groove of working hard for their own benefits, the devious ghost masquerading as the vice-principal threw a curve ball at them - certainly, but you can also consider working on a research topic and reap the rewards of the same together.

    To vie for one¡¯s own credits, or to join forces and work for themon good¡­ I¡¯ve got to say that, more than anything, I¡¯m looking forward to the day that these two old fogeys would fly into the sunset on the wings of the crane¡­ and arrive in Hell¡­

    ¡°As an Emissary of Hell, please ept my deepest gratitude¡­¡± Qin Ye pretended to wipe off two non-existent tears underneath his eyes, before promptly slipping back into his own room.

    ¡°Where¡¯s my stomach?¡± Arthis looked over with an ashen expression as soon as Qin Ye entered his room. Ming Shiyin was also awake, and a line of text immediately printed on its surface, ¡°Little pup, where have you been all day? Haven¡¯t you ever considered the feeling of these old folks living in an empty nest?!¡±

    What do you mean old folks living in an empty nest?!

    Qin Ye fervently suppressed the urge to defenestrate Ming Shiyin as he smiled jovially and cated, ¡°I¡¯ll go collect it for you tonight.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s sweet and sour baby ribs this evening.¡± Arthis still had a dour and grave expression on her face, ¡°Sweet and sour baby ribs are my favourite food.¡±

    She paused for a moment and then added, ¡°I saw it on the menu earlier.¡±

    In other words, she was implying that she wasn¡¯t trying to pick on Qin Ye.

    Bloody hell, how do I even respond to that¡­ Qin Ye groaned softly as he hammered the couch, ¡°Tonight! I¡¯ll make it up to you by getting you three portions of sweet and sour baby ribs tonight! If you don¡¯t want me to jump off the building, don¡¯t ever talk to me about something so shameful like collecting your stomach again!¡±

    You¡¯re going to drive me mad one day!

    His reaction was so unexpectedly strong that even Arthis covered her lips with her hands. Then, before she could even respond any further, Qin Ye added, ¡°The treasury is open tonight! Should I redeem some Yin spirit stones right away?¡±

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s high time for a trip down under in any event. I wonder how Yin Construction is doing right now.¡± Arthis nodded, ¡°Let¡¯s get the Yin spirit stones first. The poption size of Hell right now isn¡¯t too shabby, and there are some special buildings, such as the soul induction tform, that we can already start working on, just to err on the side of caution.¡±

    ¡°After all, quantity isn¡¯t everything. Quality is.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed and was just about to turn to leave when Arthis immediately called out, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    A small packet flew straight into Qin Ye¡¯s hands as Arthis exined, ¡°When you bring my stomach back, do me a favour and have that cleaned as well.¡±

    Qin Ye could feel his eyelids twitching uncontrobly, and a bad premonition arose in his heart as he shuddered, ¡°Couldn¡¯t you give me some clues on what this is?¡±

    Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°Why are you being so nosy? These are my lungs. The smog has been rather badtely, and my breathing hasn¡¯t been as smooth as I would like. It¡¯s probably best if we get it cleaned out as well.¡±

    Heh heh heh¡­ Qin Ye chuckled in destitution as he chucked the small packet under the bed. You¡¯re truly living an unrestrained, carefree life, aren¡¯t you¡­

    He did his level best to calm himself down as he praised his heart for being strong enough to withstand the barrage of Arthis¡¯ onught. Then, he pulled out the loot from his previous battles.

    He had previously obtained 20,000 merit points from his achievements in purging the hunting zones in the City of Salvation.

    Then, there was still Cao Youdao¡¯s rosary of human skulls, as well as the tape recorder and cassette tape that he had obtained from the nursing home when he first crossed paths with the SRC.

    ording to the rules of the exchange, each Hunter-ss Yin artifact was worth 30,000 merit points¡­ In other words, he was essentially holding onto 110,000 merit points! Given the redemption rate, he would be entitled to redeem a whopping 11,000 Yin spirit stones!

    There¡¯s something about finally cashing in and making good money after raising these precious daughters of mine for so long¡­

    He pulled out three wooden boxes with talismans affixed to them and gently ced a Yin artifact within each box. Then, with a travel bag over his shoulder, and promptly made his way towards the basketball courts after having his dinner. Yet, before he even entered thepound, he immediately noticed that everything had changed.

    Someone had at some point in time tied innumerable red strings to the entrance of thepound, and countless copper coins dangled neatly on each string. ording to the legends, copper coins that had changed hands ten thousand times would gain an affinity with the Yang, thereby warding off all Yin spirits in the vicinity. This also exined why Yin spirits never ept the currency of the mortal realm after death.

    The First Academy of Cultivators was a brand new cultivation district in Cathay. That, coupled with the fact that they even drew something like that across the main entrance of apound, only went to show just how important the academy was.

    After all, these were artifacts that had been umted over the thousands of years of Cathay¡¯s existence.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and stepped into thepound.

    As soon as he opened the door, his pupils immediately shrank. The entire gym had beenpletely altered at some point. The first thing he noticed when he entered was a single, long corridor.

    And it wasn¡¯t a corridor that was constructed with the same design as modern day skyscrapers. Rather¡­ it lookedpletely ancient and dated, replete with the old Cathayan sliding doors.

    The pale wood flooring was nked by maroon sliding doors that were tightly shut on both sides. Faint light peeked through the arabesque fretwork. An ancient pcemp hung overhead, while dim and dark candbra sat stoically on the sides of the corridor. If Qin Ye didn¡¯t know any better, he would have thought that he had stepped into an ancient mansion altogether.

    It was quiet.

    But, for some strange reason, entering this corridor gave him goosebumps. It felt almost as though a pair of eyes belonging to an iparably powerful entity were staring at him from thousands of miles away.

    Someone was watching him¡­ and this person was an existence even more terrifying than Zhou Xianlong!

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye kept calm and maintained a cool expression on his face. This was absolutely normal. After all, it was impossible to expect such a treasury to bepletely unguarded. If there was no gatekeeper at the entrance, then¡­ it must necessarily mean that the gatekeeper was somewhere around here.

    He wasn¡¯t aware that there were mats ced on the ground just behind the sliding doors.

    In fact, a series of bamboo blinds draped down just behind the sliding doors to the left of Qin Ye. A row of withered old monks dressed in red and gold threaded robes sat behind the entire corridor of sliding doors like stone sculptures. Each of them was gently tapping on a temple block. Their movements were incredibly neat and tidy, and yet what was most astonishing about them was the fact that their skin glowed with a pale golden luster. They were separated only by a thinyer of the sliding doors, and yet Qin Ye was unable to hear the echoes of the temple blocks at all!

    Gilded pots containing floating lotus flowers were ced in the corner of the long room. Apart from that, the only other thing in the room were a number of candbras designed in the image of Buddhas.

    There were simrly a dozen or so old taoists seated in the very same fashion on the right side of the hallway, with their hair neatly tied up in a knot and dressed in a long flowing eight trigrams robe embroidered with cranes and clouds. They carried a long sword on their backs and toted a buddhist whisk in their hands. Each of them looked so transcendent that they could easily pass off as an incarnation of the Three Pure Ones.

    If Qin Ye could only go closer to them, he would quickly discover that¡­ none of them were breathing at all.

    Yet it was apparent from the faint movements of their eyelids that each of these monks and taoists were alive.

    The unassuming corridor stood right between the two rows of transcendent-like beings. Qin Ye walked down the hallway curiously. He didn¡¯t notice this, but as he went further, the light peeking through the arabesque fretwork doors flickered more and more, while his shadow grew fainter and fainter. Then, finally, when he was just slightly over ten meters away from the end of the corridor, his shadow was so faint that it was practically on the brink of disappearing altogether. Simultaneously, wisps of Yin energy began to emerge from his seven apertures.

    He could already see the end in sight. A long, flowing white cloth hung at the end of the path, concealing the existence of a counter behind it. But just then, the monks and taoists on both sides abruptly opened their eyes all at the same time!

    Pa-pa-pa-pa! All of the candles in the room extinguished themselves immediately, while an eeriehergale promptly swept through the corridor and caused all of the bamboo blinds to flutter about violently.

    ¡°Amitabha.¡± On the left side, the monk seated right in the center of the lot raised his hand, revealing a string of one hundred and eight prayer beads underneath his golden-threaded robes. Then, a split-secondter, it exploded!

    ¡°What evil¡­¡± He slowly got to his feet, ¡°...dares to sneak into the Great Dipper Vault?¡±

    On the right side, all of the buddhist whisks in the arms of the taoists also suddenly began to dance with the iinghergale. A split-secondter, the whisks instantly exploded, filling the room with white silk. The old taoist seated in the center of the room abruptly opened his eyes, only to reveal that his pupils were ostensibly scarlet in colour.

    ¡°What powerful Yin energy¡­¡± He looked around with great shock, ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s the quality¡­ the quality of Yin energy is far greater than all other Yin spirits we¡¯ve dealt with before! It¡¯s as though¡­ Yanluo incarnated!¡±

    Simultaneously, the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal hidden at Qin Ye¡¯s chest shuddered slightly, and the strange phenomenon experienced by the monks and the taoists instantly vanished.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone?¡± The monks were startled, and they turned to look at the young figure plodding on in the central hallway.

    There¡¯s a shadow.

    ¡°Affinity for Hell?¡± The old monk was somewhat baffled. Yet, after a long time, he nodded his head and closed his eyes to meditate once again.

    Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to the strange phenomenon that had just urred, much less the fact that he had been on the brink of losing his life just moments ago. Shrugging slightly, he plodded on until he reached the end of the corridor. By his estimations, this would previously have been the heart of the basketball courts. He gently drew the draping white curtain.

    A young, schrly man sat behind the curtain.

    He was dressed in ancient garments, and he had a pale disposition. Apart from that, his appearances were unremarkable.

    There was a row of shelves behind him marked withbels from A through D. An immortal crane shaped candlestick beside him was alight with a soft me, and yet the illumination it provided was akin to modern electricmps.

    Qin Ye could sense an erudite atmosphere of profundity in the room. He bowed respectfully and nced at the book in the man¡¯s hands.

    Bloody hell¡­ Battle Through the Heavens¡­

    Is this why even your eyebrows look sharp as a sword? Your talent just doesn¡¯t cohere with the begrudging look on your face!

    The young man finally noticed Qin Ye, and he nced over, ¡°Someone¡¯s finally here¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered slightly. The young man had no shadow. Furthermore¡­ all of his hands and feet were bound by chains!

    ¡°Are you a man or a ghost?¡±

    ¡°Neither.¡± The young man smiled faintly, ¡°There¡¯s always the possibility that I¡¯ll undergo Yin spiritization in the very next second¡­ so, as soon as you discover something amiss, you should run.¡±

    Qin Ye was taken aback. Then, he furrowed his brows with some uncertainty as he probed further, ¡°A homologous Yin spirit?¡±

    Dead silence.

    The young man turned around. He was reading a book earlier, and Qin Ye had naturally only seen his side profile. As soon as he turned around, Qin Ye discovered¡­ that the other half of the man¡¯s face was constructedpletely out of Yin energy! Even his pupils werepletely scarlet in colour!

    Qin Ye gasped in horror and backed away abruptly as he reflexively adopted a defensive stance. His arm hovered over his waist. As long as the man made any sudden movements, the demonhead saber would immediately materialize and appear.

    A homologous Yin spirit¡­ Arthis had mentioned that this was one of the most bizarre existences among all Yin spirits aparts from the three A-listers!

    It was also known by several other names.

    Psychography, saucer divination, the painted skin... Here was an existence that was born an anomaly and a homologous Yin spirit in death. This was an extremely rare and bizarre existence, and yet it was actually residing within the First Academy of Cultivators!

    1. These are the three highest gods in the Taoist pantheon.

    2. Refers to automatic writing, where a person holds up a pen and invites a spirit to control his hands

    3. The chinese version of the Ouija board where a saucer is pushed to various chinese words

    4. From the chinese folklore where a demon or a ghost wears a human skin.

 Chapter 163: Enemy Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 163: Enemy Attack!</h4>

    The young man remained silent as he slowly turned around and stared at Qin Ye. It remained like that for one minute¡­ three minutes¡­ and then five minutester, his body trembled vigorously, and he choked up, ¡°You know about this?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond.

    It was incredibly bizarre. The young man had a shadow while he was squarely facing Qin Ye, but Qin Ye could have sworn that the man had no shadow from his side profile.

    ¡°You know how to undo this, don¡¯t you?!¡±

    The man was ostensibly so emotional that his voice was hoarse and cracking up. And then, he suddenly lunged over, thinking to grab Qin Ye by the arm. However, the chains ttered and held him dead in his ce.

    That said, it was precisely because he had turned around and stood up that Qin Ye noticed the man wearing an SRC emblem on his chest.

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Qin Ye remained expressionless as he set his backpack down on the counter, ¡°I¡¯m here for redemption.¡±

    ¡°I want to exchange all of my merit points for spirit stones!¡±

    The young man stared at him for three whole seconds, leaning heavily against the counter without making a single move. Then, just as Qin Ye began to grow impatient, the man suddenly spoke with a hoarse voice, ¡°I¡¯vee across far too many people over the years.¡±

    ¡°The question that I often get is - ¡®why are you tied up¡¯ or ¡®why don¡¯t you have a shadow¡¯?¡±

    He looked up at the ceiling with a distant gaze in his eyes, as though he were recalling his memories of the distant past, ¡°I used to be a human too¡­ I was a human a long time ago. Don¡¯t worry¡­ I¡¯ve joined the SRC¡­ and I¡¯m part of the same camp as you guys.¡±

    He looked ostensibly young, and yet his voice carried with it the weight of time, ¡°SRC¡­ and the fellows of the Special Investigations Department have all examined me. My code name is listed under the A-grade secret dossiers. Nevertheless, nobody has been able to name what kind of spirit I am, or tell me how I can resolve this situation. In the end, it was the director of the Special Investigations Department who personally instructed me to stand guard over the very first entrance to the Great Dipper vault, in the hope that I would one day meet an expert who¡¯s able to resolve the mysteries surrounding my circumstances.¡±

    Silence.

    The candlelight beside him was the only thing that continued to flicker and dance in the dark.

    The young man suddenly chuckled softly, almost akin to a ghost¡¯s sputtering and chokes of despondence.

    ¡°And yet¡­ that day never came.¡±

    ¡°People came and went¡­ and my heart that was initially filled with expectation and anticipation is nowpletely iced over. And then, just as I thought all hope was lost, you came along.¡±

    His eyes burned with passion as he stared into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. His entire body practically trembled, ¡°You¡¯re the first person to call me by the name of a homologous Yin spirit.¡±

    ¡°Please, I beg of you... help me¡­ I¡­ want to be human...¡±

    His strong and proud gaze immediately transformed into a desperate plea. Qin Ye coughed softly. Then, just as he was about to respond, the young man immediately added, ¡°If you¡¯re willing to help me out, then, regardless of whether you seed or not, I¡­ I¡¯ll tell you a top secret of the First Academy of Cultivators!¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated.

    To help, or not to help?

    He had a vague recollection that Arthis did in fact have some ways of curing the symptoms of a homologous Yin spirit, but he hardly paid any attention because it sounded extremely troublesome.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± After a long time, he returned the gaze, ¡°Besides, given the secrecy of your existence, shouldn¡¯t you have to make some application or report of sorts? Do the needful preparation, and if possible, I¡¯ll keep you posted on the situation next month.¡±

    The young man breathed a sigh of relief and shut his eyes softly. Qin Ye could see under the faint illumination of the candlelight that his eyelids were ostensibly trembling. It was apparent that he couldn¡¯t contain the excitement in his heart.

    For the next few moments, the young man took several breaths to regte his emotions, before finally reaching out for Qin Ye¡¯s bag with his still-trembling hands. Just then, the young man paused, and his lips quivered repeatedly like a person having the fits.

    The room was silent, while his voice was soft. Nevertheless, Qin Ye was standing very close to him, so he knew full well what he just heard.

    The man was choking up, and he was repeating the words ¡°thank you¡± over and over again to Qin Ye as though he were aplete nervous wreck.

    Qin Ye sighed softly.

    Hell had been emptied out, and evil ran amok among the mortal realm. This was part and parcel of his duty as the very next King Yanluo. He needed to pick up the ck from the previous King Yanluo, just like the iing government of any nation or country. This was why he had agreed to help out the young man.

    ¡°Where are my manners.¡± After a protracted period of time, the young man chuckled bitterly and pointed to Qin Ye¡¯s bag that was on the counter, ¡°Are you exchanging these for spirit stones? Shall we start now?¡±

    Qin-pauper-Ye¡¯s spirits immediately perked up as soon as they got down to business. He coughed lightly as he leaned in and whispered under his breath, ¡°Look¡­ since we know each other so well, what do you say to giving me a friendship price of eighty or hundred thousand for each artifact here?¡±

    Shuddering, the young man stared right back at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°You can call me A32. I¡¯m a master authenticator. Unfortunately, the secrecy of my existence isn¡¯tmensurate to the amount of power I hold within the Great Dipper Vault¡­ The exchange prices are all fixed in ordance with our guidelines, and there¡¯s no way I can get around them at all.¡±

    ¡°Hey, why does it always have to be so difficult with you? We¡¯ve known each other for so long¡­ Why do you have to haggle so hard when all I¡¯m asking is that you charge me five or ten cents less for a pound of spring onions? I¡¯m an old customer! I buy from you almost every other day!¡±

    A32¡¯s eyes widened. Hang on¡­ did I entrust the task to the right person? His disy of haggling skills truly resembles a domineering aunt in the markets¡­ This¡­ Will this man truly be able to resolve the problem that has gued me for centuries?

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you out here. It¡¯s just that everything will be processed and verified by Styx¡¯s mainframe, and I can¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey brother, effort begets results. Take a look at these bamboo shoots. They¡¯re not even fresh. Are these leftovers fromst night¡¯s sale? What¡¯s wrong with a five-cent discount? I¡¯ve always been frequenting your store for groceries, and we¡¯ve been friends for decades to boot¡­¡±

    Silence.

    What humans dreaded most was an abrupt silence.

    A32 grew taciturn, and gave Qin Ye an enigmatic gaze. Qin Ye was immediately taken aback, and he promptly raised his fist to his lips and coughed dryly into it, ¡°About that¡­ the earlier scene was too analogous, and I¡¯d automatically slipped into my old routine¡­ Come, take a look at what I have first.¡±

    A feeling of distrust began to burgeon, and A32 nced warily at Qin Ye as he slowly opened the bag.

    There were three sandalwood boxes inside.

    A32 opened the box to reveal a cassette tape within. He closed his eyes and rolled up his sleeves. It was only at this moment that Qin Ye noticed that the man¡¯s pale hands were covered with dark, snaking veins filled with dense Yin energy.

    Sensing Qin Ye¡¯s gaze, A32 shut his eyes and chuckled bitterly, ¡°There are two sides to everything. Although I have to constantly endure the torment of this damn Yin spirit, I have to admit that it has given me ess to some abilities that regr human beings don¡¯t have ess to. For instance... extrasensory perception, or ESP.¡±

    He moved his slender finger inch by inch across the old cassette tape, and a visible strand of Yin energy peeled up from the tape and entered his finger. He exined, ¡°There are many cultivators who are adept at the art of distressing, and they often use special methods and techniques to stain Operative-ss Yin artifacts with the aura of Hunter-ss Yin artifacts. And then, they lie about the quality of the artifact that they¡¯re trading in. There are also those who bring in counterfeit goods that look exactly the same on the surface, and yet are in substancepletely different¡­ That said, with my extrasensory perception of touch, everything is as clear as day.¡±

    WTF?

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes vacantly - Do people even do something like that?!

    Attempting to con a bureau of antiques??

    Almost as though he could sense Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts, A32 chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s moremon than you think. The Great Dipper Vault contains boundless, infinitely-tantalizing treasures, yet not everyone possesses the strength to purge Hunter-ss Yin spirits like you do. What do they do, then? Faking and counterfeiting would naturally be the next best option to them.¡±

    ¡°We receive about a dozen or so counterfeit goods every month across all of our redemption facilities throughout the nation. Naturally, the credibility of these counterfeiters would be reduced to the lowest possible level, and not only would they be unable to take out a cultivation-rted loan with us, they would even receive discounted returns of 95% when trading in artifacts, as well as incur an additional 0.5% in penalty transaction fees. This is why I was actively discouraging an improper course of conduct earlier. It¡¯s not easy to get yourself off the government¡¯s cklist once you¡¯re on it¡­¡±

    Speechless¡­ The more Qin Ye understood the intricacies of the cultivation world in the mortal realm, the more he found himself rendered speechless¡­

    A few minutester, A32 shifted his hand away from the cassette tape and opened his eyes once more. He nodded, ¡°Everything¡¯s in good condition. Hunter-ss Yin artifact, 30,000 merit points awarded.¡±

    He opened the second box which contained the tape recorder. After checking through its authenticity in a simr fashion, he dered once more, ¡°Everything¡¯s in good condition. 30,000 merit points awarded.¡±

    He opened the third box.

    This box contained Cao Youdao¡¯s rosary of human skulls.

    A32 performed the same procedure as before. However, as soon as A32 ced his hand on the rosary, a powerfulhergale suddenly erupted from within. A32¡¯s clothes fluttered wildly in the chaotichergale, and even the Yin energy emanating from his body began drifting away from the rosary.

    ¡°Squeee!¡± A shrill sound suddenly red from his body, and he abruptly opened his eyes and eximed in shock, ¡°An extraordinary Yin artifact?!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Thehergale in the room slowly subsided as he lifted his hand from the rosary. Qin Ye asked curiously, ¡°Extraordinary Yin artifact?¡±

    A32 stared at the human skull rosary for some time before finally turning back to Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but the SRC and the Special Investigations Department have left standing orders that I should immediately report to them as soon as I discover an extraordinary Yin artifact. I would have to record all of its particrs as well, including its origins, the person who handed it over, and how he obtained it. Additionally, the reward is far greater than that of ordinary Yin artifacts of an equivalent level. Therefore¡­¡±

    He turned the candlestick beside him, and a drawer on the shelf behind him instantly clicked open. He pulled out a silver-greyptop and swiftly opened up the corresponding form, ¡°This might take a while.¡±

    Qin Ye tapped his fingers on the desk - That¡¯s how it¡¯s like, huh¡­ The Special Investigations Department is actively expanding their collection of artifacts belonging to Emissaries of Hell? What are they using it for? Are they trying to ascertain the truth about Hell?

    He didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he probed further, ¡°How much are we talking about? What¡¯s so extraordinary about it?¡±

    ¡°Minimally 100,000 merit points. The rosary in your possession is in good condition. It¡¯s not even damaged in the slightest. I would say this artifact is worth somewhere between 120,000 to 130,000 merit points.¡± A32 created a file for the artifact as he continued, ¡°And as for what¡¯s extraordinary about it¡­ I¡¯d heard that extraordinary Yin artifacts possess the ability to reveal things that cultivators can¡¯t normally see.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the rosary, ¡°How does that work?¡±

    ¡°Do you know why humans have shadows?¡± A32 typed as he responded, ¡°You previously had 20,000 merit points. The cassette tape and the tape recorder are worth 60,000 merit points. The human skull rosary is estimated to be approximately 130,000 merit points. This brings you to a total of 190,000 merit points¡­ Well, shadowse from the source of light around a person, and this includes sight. And what an extraordinary Yin artifact does is that it reflects the gaze of a person who¡¯s looking at you. For instance¡­ it could reveal the bloodshot eye behind you that you otherwise wouldn¡¯t have known about.¡±

    Qin Ye took a few steps back and brought his hands close to his waist as he responded with a grave tone of voice, ¡°Like now?¡±

    A32 paused in shock.

    A split-secondter, he suddenly stood up and stared at the human skull rosary as though he were a madman.

    The human skulls on the rosary had been ground down by Cao Youdao until they were dark and sinister-looking, like the vast expanses of the deep night sky. And yet its luster revealed the presence of those staring at it, just like how it reflected a blurry image of Qin Ye.

    Its effects were highly bizarre. It was as though more than a dozen illusory images of Qin Ye were projected onto a dark screen. It was blurry at best.

    But apart from that¡­ he could also see that there was a bloodshot eye staring straight at him from just behind where Qin Ye was located!

    ¡°Enemy attack¡­¡± A32¡¯s voice trembled, and he immediately called out for help desperately, ¡°Enemy attack! Enemy attack!! Esteemed elders! An unidentified entity has broken into the Great Dipper Vault!!¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the human skull rosary with great disbelief.

    He didn¡¯t sense a single thing at all.

    And the gatekeepers of the vault hadn¡¯t sensed a thing either.

    But there was positively something that had surreptitiously and silently followed him right into the vault!

    Who is it?

    1. In the sense of making it appear older than it is.

    2. This was a y on words. ¹â is chinese for light, while Ä¿¹â is chinese for sight or vision. In other words, the author is saying that the human sight is also a type of light source.

 Chapter 164: Donâ€™t Scare the Baby!

    <h4>Chapter 164: Don''t Scare the Baby!</h4>

    Whoosh! As soon as A32 yelled for help, the two rows of sliding doors along the corridor immediately flung wide open.

    Nobody stepped out. Nevertheless, Qin Ye finally noticed that what he once thought were sides to an aisle in fact concealed several monks and taoists.

    And they were strong.

    Unbelievably strong!

    Obviously, they weren¡¯t as strong as an Infernal Judge, but their aura was so overbearing that it felt no different from facing a Judge. There were at least thirty of these experts seated on their mats beside the corridor. Nobody moved a muscle. The taoists chanted, while the monks struck their temple blocks. The sound was soft, and yet it filled the entire venue with a sense of grandeur and mystery.

    Foof! The lights on the candbras around the lotus flowers in the corner of the room suddenly flickered. And then¡­ the shadows in the room began to fade away.

    The oppressive wind began to pick up. Qin Ye maintained his stance with great vignce. His hand was ced to the side of his waist, he lowered his body to a half-crouch, and he raised his alertness to the maximum as he nced about his surroundings.

    Nothing¡­

    Nothing, and still nothing!

    Something must have followed him in, and yet he couldn¡¯t sense the whereabouts of the perpetrator!

    There was only an endlesshergale billowing through the otherwise still and silent room. It was as though a most profound scene was unraveling itself in the darkness.

    The shadows receded quicker and quicker. Secondster, the entire hallway was devoid of all shadows save for one.

    Qin Ye¡¯s shadow.

    That very shadow began to spread from underneath his leg, extending further and further, until finally¡­ It began to take the form of a ck cat at the very end!

    Whoosh¡­ The monks and taoists on the side abruptly turned their gaze to Qin Ye, just like withered corpses resting peacefully that suddenly opened their eyes. It was spine-chilling!

    Qin Ye gulped nervously. This wasn¡¯t his own shadow¡­

    This was a creature¡­

    No. More urately speaking, this was a Yin spirit. A Yin spirit that he had never encountered before!

    Should I unsheath my saber?

    The monks and taoists were terrifying as hell, and he didn¡¯t want to pull out his saber if he could help it at all. However, the oppressive atmosphere at this moment was like an invisible giant hand that was strangling his neck, causing him to sweat profusely.

    The strings of his mind tightened up to the extreme. Then, just as he was about to tighten his arm and materialize his saber, his shadow¡­ suddenly opened its eyes.

    It was a pair of jade-green eyes.

    Cold.

    Ferocious.

    And just like that, it continued to stare motionlessly at Qin Ye.

    Pa-ta-ta-ta-ta¡­ The curtains in front of the counter pped about wildly as the bone-chilling, mind-numbing sensation began to spread from the back of his head. Just a split secondter, the shadow began to expand as though it were a balloon, growingrger andrger, and wider and wider, until finally¡­ it covered the entire hallway! Its eyes had also shifted to a fresh new vantage point at the hanging pce lights where it looked down at everyone.

    A secret room, and a ghostly shadow.

    Meanwhile, back at Qin Ye¡¯s dorm room, Arthis and Ming Shiyin paused at the same time and turned to look in the direction of the basketball court.

    The smile on Arthis¡¯ beautiful face faded away, only to be reced by an inexplicably frigid expression. Her hair and clothes began to flutter about on its own as she muttered coldly, ¡°Is it¡­¡±

    Ming Shiyin immediately floated up and responded with a line of text, ¡°It is! I can¡¯t believe that it hasn¡¯t left yet¡­ Is it trying to take advantage of the fact that there¡¯s nobody left in Hell right now?!¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t say more. Secondster, thehergale in the dorm room suddenly picked up, and countless ck ants crawled out of her seven apertures, transforming into a powerfulhergale that swept towards the basketball court!

    ¡°Are you crazy?!¡± Ming Shiyin desperately wrote, ¡°The academy will definitely notice our existence! You¡¯re no match for the head of faculty!¡±

    ¡°So what.¡± Arthis gritted her teeth with a bitter smile, ¡°How many of such wicked existences have I purged back when I was in charge of the Province of the Great Heavens?! I¡¯d turned a blind eye to it the very first time it appeared, but to think it dares to rear its ugly head a second time?! Do you think these fiends would dare to even set foot in Cathay if the old Hell were still around?!¡±

    ¡°Today¡­ marks the day that I banish it from any prospects of reincarnation!¡±

    Ming Shiyin hurriedly flew up to smack Arthis on the head, ¡°Bloody hell, can you please calm down!! Can¡¯t you sense the existence of over thirty withered, corpse-like existences in the basketball courts?! This is the mortal realm¡¯s equivalent of the assassins of the underworld! What the hell are you doing trying to incite a three-way war?!¡±

    Whoosh! But just as Ming Shiyin was about to hit Arthis on the head, she suddenly transformed into a quicksand and scattered into the air.

    Ming Shiyin waspletely bbergasted. Secondster, it remarked with another line of text, ¡°Insane¡­ she¡¯s really gone crazy¡­¡±

    It was now night.

    It was an early spring night with no wind or breeze.

    Yet in that moment, the entire First Academy of Cultivator was filled with an icy coldhergale. The students who were still engaged with various activities around thepound immediately nced about their surroundings. Suddenly, someone shouted, ¡°Look, guys!¡±

    One student raised his head, and then a second, and a third¡­ until everyone looked up in astonishment at the vast expanses of the skies.

    Even the students in the dormitories began to peek their heads out of their windows with mouths agape, staring at the night sky as though they were dumb.

    A patch of dark clouds had begun to gather from all directions, bringing with it a loud buzzing sound. Then, one secondter¡­ it crashed down towards the basketball courts like a massive tidal wave!

    These were ants.

    Innumerable ants! An entire swarm of ants that blotted out the sky!

    ¡°What audacity!!¡± A sonorous voice bellowed as soon as the swarm of ants began to bear down on the basketball courts. Back at the office of the Faculty of Combat, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s expressions were grave and frigid, ¡°What demon and ghost dares to show its head at the First Academy of Cultivators?! They¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Boundless true energy immediately surged into the night sky like a thick, dense fog. But as soon as the fog of true energy drew close to the ants, it sensibly eluded the true energy and skirted around it. In fact, the ants didn¡¯t harm a single person as it bore straight down onto the basketball courts.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Zhou Xianlong was momentarily taken aback. Yet a split secondter, his voice resounded like thunder throughout the entire academy, ¡°Attention all students, you are to remain within your dormitories. Nobody is to leave until further notice! All who vite these orders shall summarily be expelled and sent back! All instructors are to surround the basketball courts! Now!¡±

    Nobody knew what was going on outside.

    Everything was dead silent within the basketball courts. A32 shivered and trembled as he hid behind Qin Ye. Qin Ye¡¯s chest rose and fell heavily as he kept his eyes peeled on the boundless ck shadow with his spirits tense to the extreme.

    What the hell is this thing?

    I¡¯ve never seen or heard of something like that! It¡¯spletely different from all of the other Yin spirits I¡¯ve encountered thus far!

    ¡°Boundless Sovereign.¡± The taoist seated in the middle of the lot finally spoke up, cutting through the oppressive silence in the room, ¡°A foreign evil spirit?¡±

    As soon as finished speaking, a tidal wave of lightning swords poured out of both factions of monks and taoists. It was impossible to see where the massive wave began, and where it ended. Nevertheless, the sea of short swords formed entirely out of lightning flowed everywhere, filling the smallest of crevices in the entire corridor. At the same time, the entire corridor¡­ began to glow with countless majestic golden symbols, almost as though this were the kingdom of heaven on earth.

    The Great Dipper Vault¡¯s defensive mechanism had been activated!

    As the golden symbols lit up, a vast, boundless energy began to fill the entire corridor. Together with the surging sea of lightning swords, the only safe ce remaining was the counter at the end of the corridor.

    It was radiant and splendid, and yet immeasurably majestic and awesome.

    Secondster, the sea of sword trembled, before quickly transforming into small ck-and-white fish that poured into the sides of the corridor. However, Qin Ye¡¯s expressions only darkened.

    It¡¯s unharmed¡­

    That shadow was still there, and the gaze from its jade-green eyes were now evenced with some measure of jest and mockery. A secondter, it opened its mouth as though the ground were no different from an origami cut-out!

    ¡°I¡¯m so hungry¡­¡± Like the wail of ten thousand ghosts, its cry was miserable and chilling, ¡°So hungry!!!¡±

    Qin Ye bit down heavily on his lips. It was far too bizarre. He was certain that the earlier attack of the ck-and-white fish was something that he would never have been able to avoid, and yet that powerful blow left the shadowpletely unharmed.

    And the shadow had kept its gaze transfixed on Qin Ye all this while. Fight? Impossible. He would expose the truth of his identity immediately. After all, it was impossible to face an opponent like this without using his de release. And the consequences of being discovered by the First Academy of Cultivators would be dire.

    Then¡­ there¡¯s only one option left¡­

    ¡°Get out of the way.¡± There was an austere expression on his face as he turned to A32.

    A32 nodded his head and immediately shrank back behind the counter. Qin Ye red at him viciously, ¡°I mean open the door! Let me in!!¡±

    A32 peeked out from behind the counter, and he blinked his eyes vacantly several times. His jaws dropped as he stared at Qin Ye, while Qin Ye stared straight back into his eyes with a righteous gaze.

    There had been such an unexpectedly sharp turn of events that A32 didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    ¡°No¡­ shouldn¡¯t you be assisting those great masters in purging the evil spirit right now? You¡¯d built up a good momentum earlier¡­ it¡¯s far too much of a waste if you just cast it all aside right now¡­¡± A32¡¯s lips twitched uncontrobly.

    ¡°Naive! Do you think I¡¯d be able to do anything against this Yin spirit if the collective efforts of the great masters couldn¡¯t?!¡± Seeing that the A32 was unwilling to budge, he leapt over the counter and squeezed himself in right next to the stunned A32.

    ¡°You¡­ are you not even going to try? Isn¡¯t it the duty of cultivators to protect the lives of ordinary human beings¡­¡± A32 desperately tried to persuade him. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be filled with vigor and passion at times of crises like this? One of the entrances to the Great Dipper Vault sits right behind us! Don¡¯t you possess the slightest bit of immature heroism and valor?!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t give a damn about A32¡¯s thoughts. He raised half of his head over the counter and peeked out into the corridor, before quickly shrinking back with his heart palpitating quickly, ¡°That scared the baby¡­ Move over slightly! Speaking of which, why is the space behind the counter so small?¡±

    Just then, the jingle of a melodious bell echoed throughout the corridor.

    It was soulless and hair-raising.

    There was one long jingle and three short jingles. And each ring was apanied by a soullesshergale as though a hell rift had been opened.

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t tell what this sound was. However, the monks and taoists on both sides of the corridor instantly gasped in unison, before shooting to their feet as they turned to look at the end of the corridor.

    A figure standing right at the end of the corridor had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It sported disheveled hair and donned multicolored garments.

    There was a vast expanse of darkness behind the figure, and yet one could clearly hear the incessant scrambling and rustling of insects crawling about from within.

    The shadow that had cracked its mouth wide open was also taken aback as it shifted its eyes abruptly to the new entity that had just joined the fray. This was the first glimpse of emotion seen in the depths of its jade-green eyes.

    Astonishment.

    ¡°ik¦Á¦Òt??¡­¡­¦°?? ¦Ì¦Ðope? ¦Í¦Á e?¦Í¦Ái!¡±

    ¡°Heh heh¡­ how long has it been¡­ that an entity able to hear my soul-spurring bell has shown up? You must be the first one in thest hundred years¡­¡± A raspy female voice echoed through the corridor, ¡°Those words¡­ youe from Argos?¡±

    ¡°Ar--...¡± Qin Ye nearly stood up when he heard the familiar voice.

    Arthis?

    What¡¯s she doing here?

    His heart was filled with many questions, and yet it was also filled with relief. The fact that Arthis was here meant that he was going to be safe, no matter how bizarre or strange this entity was.

    ¡°Ar?¡± A32 nced at Qin Ye in bewilderment.

    ¡°Ar? Ar--...¡± Qin Ye blinked, and then immediately brought his hand to his chest as he cried out, ¡°Argh! You¡¯ve scared the baby! My heart¡¯s beating wildly!¡±

    A32: Distrust +10086

    Arthis didn¡¯t see Qin Ye. Instead, she simply stared straight at the shadow in the corridor, ¡°Well, since you¡¯re here¡­ then why don¡¯t you stay for a while.¡±

    ¡°You dare step foot on our soil just because Hell has kept a low profile thesest hundred years? Have you already forgotten that scene of carnage and despondency when we ughtered your numbers in the Uzbek pass back then?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll¡­ jog your memory once more, lest you forget the pain of your healed wounds.¡±

    1. I¡¯m sorry, but this appears to be greek, and I¡¯ve got no clue what it is saying. I tried to run it through google trante but nothinges up.

    2. Like how we refer to China as Cathay in this parallel universe, Greece would be referred to as Argos, and its members, Argosians.

    3. As mentioned earlier, the 10086 here is a reference to the number to dial for the 24-hour customer service hotline that provides professional services rting to mobilemunications, business consulting,ints, etc.

 Chapter 165: Itâ€™s Still Around?

    <h4>Chapter 165: It''s Still Around?</h4>

    Dead silence.

    It was so quiet that one could hear every breath and every beat of a person¡¯s heart.

    The withered, corpse-like monks and taoists revealed a look of astonishment in their eyes for the very first time. Dozens of gazesnded straight on the figure at the end of the corridor wearing multicoloured garments.

    Emissaries of Hell haven¡¯t appeared in a hundred years, and yet¡­ one actually showed up at the entrance to the Great Dipper Vault today?!

    Qin Ye and A32 leaned back against the counter, and Qin Ye¡¯s mind raced rapidly - Who the hell is this? What would it take for Arthis to throw caution to the wind and reveal her true appearances in this ce? Wouldn¡¯t she have assessed that this opponent is someone that she absolutely must expunge, even if it means risking detection by Zhou Xianlong?

    ¡°Go on.¡± Qin Ye tried to raise his head several times from behind the counter to take another look, and yet the only thing he aplished was to straighten his back and loosen it repeatedly. Thus, he whispered to A32, who by now had curled up into a tight ball, ¡°Get up and check on the situation.¡±

    A32 stared at Qin Ye as if he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Why don¡¯t you do it instead?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m scared!¡± ¡°I¡¯m scared too!¡±

    After staring at each other for some time, Qin Ye finally resigned himself to his fate, and inched his head up from the counter. He silently revealed a pair of eyes like a spy surveying an army behind enemy lines as he murmured, ¡°What kind of a person are you anyway¡­ How could the gatekeeper of the First Academy of Cultivator be so afraid of death? Whatever happened to the valor and duty of the Fourth Hokage who sacrificed himself to seal the nine-tails¡­¡±

    A32 fervently suppressed the urge to jump up and give Qin Ye a flying kick. He gazed into the sky, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯d never expected one of the core members of the First Academy of Cultivators who are expected to act as the vanguard and shield of Cathay¡¯s citizens to cower so much in the face of danger¡­ How intense must your will to survive possibly be¡­¡±

    Both men hurled a vicious re at each other, before promptly retracting their gazes disdainfully.

    Both had confirmed that the other wasn¡¯t of a desirable character.

    Nobody cared about the fact that Qin Ye was peeking out from behind the counter. Arthis shook her soul-spurring bell gently in the otherwise deadly silent corridor. With each jingle of her bell, the golden symbols on the ground glowed with ever increasing exuberance. And then, they even began to tremble like a miniscule earthquake.

    Qin Ye had already invested everything he had into his 120% defense. Qin Ye even grabbed tightly onto A32¡¯s clothes despite A32¡¯s look of disbelief.

    He had personally witnessed Arthis¡¯ fight with the Harken after all. If she went all out, he would most certainly have to divert all of his attention into considerations of escape.

    ¡°... Yo, might I ask what you¡¯re trying to do? Is it as I¡¯d imagined¡­ that you¡¯re attempting to use an innocent civilian as a meat shield?¡± The veins on A32¡¯s head throbbed uncontrobly as he asked.

    ¡°... How can that be? ¡­ Ah-hahaha¡­¡±

    As the jingling sounds grew louder and louder, rings of ck waves began to ripple through the void in the air. With each ripple that radiated outwards, forty-nine eeriehermes appeared in the air, apanied by a chorus of howling and wailing ghosts, as though they had surfaced from the depths of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze darkened. Given Arthis¡¯ personality, he knew full well that she would never hesitate to act as soon as she had decided on a certain course of action. She didn¡¯t even hesitate when facing the Harken. Yet now, she was clearly dallying in an uncharacteristic fashion.

    Whoosh¡­ whoosh¡­ Yin energy flooded the area and thrashed about wildly. The entire corridor felt increasingly stifling and oppressive. The ghostly shadow on the ground appeared to be torn asunder by thousands of invisible ghosts, and it began to tremble more and more vigorously.

    The dark passage contained a figure dressed in colorful, resplendent garments and thirty or so withered, corpse-like men on the sides. A wailinghergale swept through the area, while the ghostly shadow trembled vigorously. The atmosphere was incredibly oppressive and stifling. Just then, Arthis boomed, ¡°Exterminate.¡±

    Boom!! With a loud tremor, the innumerablehermes that had earlier been hovering throughout the air like an illusory lotus tform hurtled towards the ground like a torrent of sharp swords. The ghostly shadow cried out with great disbelief, and the shadow immediately scattered from the ground. Within moments, what was earlier a projection of a ck cat¡¯s shadow actually transformed into¡­ the shadow of a human being!

    It was impossible to see the person¡¯s appearances or its gender, because its head was covered with a ck veil. A voice finally responded through gritted teeth, ¡°... Infernal¡­ Judge¡­ How can there still be a living Infernal Judge¡­¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s an authentic¡­ soul-spurring bell¡­

    ¡°Damn¡­ it!¡±

    A loud bang resounded before it even finished speaking, and the ghostly shadow that affixed to the walls and the ground suddenly rushed up into the sky like a reverse waterfall!

    It was clearly invisible, and yet it caused light and darkness to shift about as though the world were flowing in reverse.

    It was an indescribable experience - almost as though one could see the effluxion of time and the intersection of light and darkness with the naked eyes. It was incredibly bizarre.

    ¡°Trying to escape?¡± Arthis chuckled sardonically, ¡°You¡¯re not even a Hellguard. Do you think a Judge is going to let a mere Hunter-ss spirit leave just like that?¡±

    A split-secondter, the remaininghermes around exploded and transformed into countless Yin spirits that frantically clung onto the reverse waterfall of dark shadows. The retreating ghostly shadow was stopped dead in its tracks, and it gnashed its teeth audibly.

    ¡°Kneel before me.¡± Arthis made a swift pressing motion with her hand, and the countless Yin spirits clinging onto the shadow cried out with a shrill screech as they began to tug at the shadow in unison.

    But just then--...

    ck. A soft sound could be heard amidst the deafening cries of the Yin spirits.

    A look of astonishment reced Arthis¡¯ otherwise calm expression for the very first time, ¡°This is¡­¡±

    Before she could even finish speaking, the ghostly reverse waterfall suddenly cracked wide open like a torn piece of paper, and a tsunami of Yin energy poured out of the void within.

    It was dark and miserable, like the darkest night sky before the wake of dawn.

    Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ As the Yin energy continued to pour our, the entire corridor resounded with an overwhelming wail. Qin Ye gasped as a chilling, electrifying sensation surged straight from the base of his spine into his mind. He crouched down reflexively. Simultaneously, the entire corridor was swept into chaos by the formidable Yin energy. It was as though a massive hurricane had swept through the area, leaving only destion and chaos in its wake. Finally, the entire corridor was devastated by an earth-shattering bang!

    BOOM!!!

    It was so deafening that the world around appeared to have lost its voice.

    Qin Ye and A32 only felt the ground shake violently before a terrifying force that they had never experienced before erupted from behind them, as though they were in the epicenter of a nuclear bomb explosion. None of them were given any time to react as they crashed into the racks behind them.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± Qin Ye saw stars. The world was spinning around him, and he nearly lost consciousness. Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and forced himself to open his eyes even as the excruciating pain surged straight through his mind. And then, he gasped.

    He wasn¡¯t sure what exactly transpired at the exact moment of the explosion.

    But right now¡­ he saw that the monks and taoists on both sides of the corridor were maintaining their stances,pletely motionless, while the corridor itself¡­ had copsed entirely! The beams on the roof had copsed together with other debris, sending smoke, ash and dirt scattering everywhere.

    A massive crater appeared on the ground in a chaotic fashion, radiating outwardly from where the ghostly shadow had been as though an atomic bomb had struck the earth. Yet all traces of Arthis and the ghostly shadow had vanishedpletely from the heart of the crater. In fact, even the counter that they had previously been hiding behind had been reduced to nothing but dust and ashes. There wasn¡¯t a single part of the corridor which remained intact. The golden runic symbols continued to shine brightly in the sky, keeping the spread of damage to the surroundings to a minimum.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and stood up as he surveyed his surroundings with great vignce. All this while, he had kept his hands by the side of his waist so that he could materialize and use his demonhead saber at the shortest notice.

    What¡¯s going on¡­ no¡­ is it even possible that something with the capacity to sh head-on with Arthis is only a Hunter-ss spirit?

    What did it take for Arthis to decide she has to expunge it at all costs? What¡¯s the end result?

    Qin Ye had no answers to these questions weighing heavily on his mind. He furrowed his brows as he nced back at the entrance. He could clearly sense that Zhou Xianlong and close to a hundred powerful auras had just arrived at the same time.

    There was no need to look any further. The periphery of the basketball courts had evidently just been cordoned off.

    Just then, he noticed that someone was tugging at his clothes.

    ¡°It¡¯s that thing¡­¡± A32¡¯s eyes were shut, and his chest was rising and falling heavily with every heave of his breath. He continued murmuring as though he were trapped in an endless nightmare, ¡°It¡¯s that thing¡­ it¡¯s that thing! It¡¯s here¡­¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    A32 gritted his teeth and gazed into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Even though you¡¯re a avaricious man who¡¯s afraid of death¡­ but, you¡¯re the only hope I¡¯ve got right now¡­ Do you recall when I said earlier that I¡¯ll tell you a great secret if you save me - the top secret that is hidden underneath the First Academy of Cultivators?!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. A32 took a deep breath, gulped nervously and continued, ¡°But it seems like¡­ you wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out long enough to save me unless I tell you right now¡­ I¡¯m not sure whether it¡¯s targeting you, or whether it has simply followed you in here, but¡­ I don¡¯t want you to die¡­¡±

    He clutched at his chest and fervently repressed his palpitating heart, ¡°There is something¡­ unclean hidden within the academy.¡±

    ¡°I can feel it! The Yin spirit within me is incredibly peculiar, and yet I can only sense a trace of it from time to time. Instructors like you, no¡­ even the regr wandering spirits aren¡¯t able to sense its existence!¡±

    ¡°Have you noticed any strange phenomena around the academytely? Or witnessed any bizarre incidents around?¡±

    Qin Ye frowned.

    He already knew.

    That night, when they were turned out of bed for an emergency drill, he had already noticed the arrival of a peculiar Yin spirit in the First Academy of Cultivators¡­

    Hang on¡­ As though a notion just surfaced on his mind, Qin Ye abruptly looked back up and straight into A32¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Did you say that¡­ there was something unclean within the academy?¡±

    A32 nodded vigorously.

    ¡°No¡­ rather, there is something unclean within the academy.¡±

    Rumble¡­ Just then, a muffled rumble reverberated throughout the entire corridor, and the massive boulders from the copsed corridor shifted away as though with the assistance of an invisible giant hand.

    Zhou Xianlong had arrived.

    And he was removing the obstacles blocking the passageway.

    The two men nced at each other, and A32 gritted his teeth, ¡°It¡¯s not that there was, but there is! There¡¯s something! And it¡¯s still ongoing right now!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ currently here, hiding in some unknown corner and watching all of you silently. I don¡¯t even know why Head of Faculty Zhou isn¡¯t able to detect its existence with his level of abilities. It¡¯spletely unfathomable!¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    In other words¡­ the bizarre Yin spirit from that night¡­ is still here in the First Academy of Cultivators? And the current Yin spirit is the same as the one from that night?

    What audacity! What skill!

    But¡­ didn¡¯t Arthis just say that it¡¯s not even a Hellguard-ss spirit? How could a Hunter-ss spirit possibly dare to wreak havoc under the noses of two esteemed Judge-ss entities?

    Boom!!

    A terrifying bolt of lightning crashed through the corridor before he could follow that train of thought any further. Yet, almost as though everything were calcted to perfection, the bolt of lightning didn¡¯t affect them at all, and it only sted away all of the boulders obstructing the passageway. Everything else was reduced to dust by the powerful st.

    True energy was spewing out of Zhou Xianlong¡¯s seven apertures, and his entire body was wrapped up with snaking lightning bolts. Zhou Xianlong appeared in front of them with a bang, like a valiant war god descending from the heavens. He had traversed the entire length of a hundred meter corridor in less than a tenth of a millisecond!

    Two rows of figures wearing zodiac masks and long, flowing robes followed closely behind him. All of them hovered one feet above the ground as they held a buddhist whisk in their arms. As soon as A32 noticed the appearance of these men, his entire body trembled, and he ducked behind Qin Ye¡¯s body reflexively.

    ¡°Purgatory troopers.¡± He muttered with a quivering voice before Qin Ye could ask anything, ¡°They are the mortal realm¡¯s most fearsome force when ites to expunging evil ghosts¡­ they¡¯re just like the special forces in the ordinary mortal world¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded lightly. Indeed, he could sense a cloud of thick and dense Yin energy emanating from the bodies of these troopers. He could also tell that the energy wasn¡¯t innate. Rather, it was something that the troopers had been tainted with after exterminating countless Yin spirits.

    The depths of their strength was simply unfathomable. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t even tell the extent of their cultivation levels.

    And it was only behind them that the other instructors poured in with a grave expression on their faces.

    The Great Dipper Vault had just been riddled with Yin energy. The fact that something like this can ur at the entrance to Cathay¡¯s most important and most prized vault was tantamount to giving the First Academy of Cultivators a tight p across the face!

    ¡°Everyone involved is to undergo a full inquiry separately.¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s face was ashen. He tilted his head, and the purgatory troopers behind him immediately marched forward and stood beside Qin Ye and A32. Meanwhile, Zhou Xianlong crouched down slowly and made a grasping motion in the air, before bringing it to his nose and taking a whiff from it.

    One secondter, his gaze gleamed and flickered brightly.

    ¡°Infernal Judge?¡± He chuckled coldly, ¡°Then¡­ I wonder who it was up against?¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ can¡¯t I detect its scent?¡±

    1. A Naruto reference! For those who don¡¯t know, the Fourth Hokage was the head of the vige of ninjas, and Naruto¡¯s dad. When Naruto was still an infant, he gave up his life to seal a powerful demon, the nine-tails, into Naruto¡¯s belly, which is where the source of chakra is.

 Chapter 166: Someoneâ€™s Dead

    <h4>Chapter 166: Someone''s Dead</h4>

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t return to his dorm room until the next morning.

    Zhou Xianlong personally questioned him throughout the entire night. A32 was probably faced with the same ordeal. Thus, neither of them saw each other after that.

    It wasn¡¯t until 5 a.m. that the inquiry finally ended. After that, he saw through a series of procedures toplete his redemption of the Yin spirit stones, and was told that they would deliver his spirit stones to his room by the end of the day.

    The time now was already 7.30 a.m. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t have to take any sses today¡­ He stretched out the soreness in his joints as he walked out of the Department of Academy Administration. He even felt somewhat lightheaded.

    ¡°What the hell are those things¡­ how dare they poke the ass of the tiger known as the First Academy of Cultivators? The three daolords? And if it¡¯s them, why are they here at the academy? Have they already discovered the reestablishment of Hell?¡±

    He continued to specte as he walked back to the academy to have his breakfast. Then, as he ate, he denied the usibility of his earlier conjectures.

    ¡°That¡¯s probably not it. Hell¡¯s too insignificant right now. To put it bluntly, we¡¯re not even worthy of being on their radar right now. Like Arthis previously mentioned, each of these daolords are infamous evils who possess abilities equal to that of an Abyssal Prefect. What they seek is to subjugate an entire district of Yin spirits. The City of Salvation is way too small for their appetite. They probably haven¡¯t even discovered the existence of Hell¡¯s reestablishment yet.¡±

    ¡°If I were them, and even if I did guess that Hell has been reborn, I would nevere to the City of Salvation immediately and square off against the strongest powers of the mortal realm. I¡¯d observe from afar and bide my time until I¡¯m certain of victory before taking any action. After all, the daolords aren¡¯t Emissaries of Hell like Cao Youdao, who possess the ability to make waves right under the noses of the Special Investigations Department without being detected at all¡­ Since that¡¯s the case, who the hell could this perpetrator be?¡±

    He simply couldn¡¯t figure it out. And as for Hell¡­ I don¡¯t know a single thing about the forces that used to exist in the old Hell. The first port of call right now should be to go to Arthis and ask her about these things. She obviously knows what¡¯s going on.

    Thus, he turned around and made his way straight towards the First Academy of Cultivators. The City of Salvation was ted to be the first city of cultivation to coexist with its ordinary citizens. Therefore, as dawn arose after the night of bizarre events, the streets outside the academy were once again filled with the hustle and bustle of the morning markets and stores.

    However, as soon as he drew close to the dormitory building, he saw several students dash out with an astonished expression as they frantically discussed matters of ostensible importance. The students immediately made a beeline towards another building nearby.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He grabbed one of the students passing by and asked.

    ¡°Ah¡­ you¡¯re¡­ Instructor Qin!¡± The student gasped. Shock and fear were written all over his face, and he trembled as he said, ¡°S-s-somebody has died!¡±

    Someone¡¯s dead?

    Qin Ye immediately drew the link to the peculiar urrences at the basketball courtst night and patted the student¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t panic, speak slowly. Tell me what exactly happened.¡±

    ¡°Dormitory three, room 214.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s presence gave the student a sense of security, and he patted his chest as he exined the situation with trembling in his voice, ¡°No one saw how it happened, but¡­ when I woke up this morning, I discovered that one of my ssmates was already dead! And the manner of death is incredibly bizarre! I don¡¯t know anything else!¡±

    Qin Ye eyes quivered. He looked around and noticed that the yards and gardens were already bustling with activity. The chatter among various groups of students created a soft buzz in the background. Almost a thousand students had gathered in the yard, reeling from shock and horror of the news that they had heard.

    ¡°Have you heard? Someone diedst night!¡± ¡°How¡¯s that possible¡­ this is the First Academy of Cultivators!¡± ¡°Is there an evil presence among us?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯ve heard the news from others. Everything¡¯s a mess right now!¡±

    He remained rooted to the ground as the sea of students flowed about around him. The sudden turn of events had been so overwhelming that most of the students rushing around didn¡¯t even remember to greet him properly. Yet, rather than enter the building, he took out his phone and tried to ess the campus site.

    ¡°Server maintenance is currently in progress. The website you¡¯re trying to ess is currently unavable.¡±

    Something¡¯s wrong.

    Qin Ye frowned as he clicked his tongue and kept his phone. The First Academy of Cultivators shouldn¡¯t be facing any issues with their servers. His inability to ess the campus website was most likely the result of the academy¡¯s attempt to contain public disorder. Looks like¡­ something¡¯s really gone awry.

    Perhaps news of the incident hadn¡¯t yet reached the ears of Zhou Xianlong, and he was probably still discussing the bizarre turn of eventsst night with the purgatory troopers. Regardless, Qin Ye noticed upon his arrival that there were only some instructors and professors who weren¡¯t present at the Great Dipper Vaultst night who were maintaining the order at Dormitory Three. The instructors and professors were spread out all around, closing off all ess to the premises altogether. There was a crowd of frightened and panicking students outside, yet not a single one dared to enter at all.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qin Ye made his way forward to the five professors at the entrance. There were even two men dressed in whiteb coats wearing the emblem of the SRC around. Everyone had a grave expression. They made way for Qin Ye as soon as they saw his arrival, nodding softly to him to greet him as well.

    ¡°When it rains, it pours.¡± Tao Ran sighed with an ashen expression as he patted Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°The most important thing is to quell the anxiety and unrest among our students. Go in and have a look, and let us know if you¡¯ve got any idea what¡¯s going on. And don¡¯t make a sound. The situation inside¡­ is incredibly odd.¡±

    These are troubled times¡­ Qin Ye nodded his head curtly. Just as he was about to step into the building, he suddenly asked, ¡°What does the academy make of it?¡±

    Tao Ran¡¯s gaze grew cold and frigid as he nced at the crowd of students nearby, ¡°We suspect that it¡¯s linked to the situationst night. Some dastardly thing is probably hiding among the students¡­ You guys weren¡¯t able to figure it out¡­ and not even I was able to figure it out. This is something for the hands of Faculty Head Zhou. Anyway, less talk. Don¡¯t worry about these things for now.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and made his way straight towards room 214. He arrived in an instant, only to notice that there were already several other instructors standing around.

    Lin Han and the others were there as well. As soon as they noticed his arrival, they let him in directly without saying anything at all. Immediately, Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    A dried corpse.

    It was just lying silently on the ground with its arms folded across its chest, and its skin as wrinkled as a dried orange peel as it clung tightly to its bones. The corpse¡¯s eyes were tightly shut, and its expression looked to be at peace. Not a single wound could be seen anywhere on his body.

    ¡°The deceased¡¯s name is Mo Jun. Eighteen years old, male.¡± Su Feng leaned over and whispered, ¡°Hees from the Eastsea Alliance of Cultivators. Nothing suspicious about him. The time of death¡­ was around midnightst night.¡±

    When Qin Ye noticed the dried corpse, the first thing he examined was the deceased¡¯s neck. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t find any teeth marks at all.

    However¡­ when he lifted his hands again, he noticed that his fingers were slightly damp.

    ¡°Twelve o¡¯clock¡­¡± He squinted his eyes and nced at the windows - Everything¡¯s intact.

    12 a.m. was merely a short time after Zhou Xianlong had rushed to the Great Dipper Vault!

    Luring an enemy away¡­ no, this was borne out of spontaneity. The perpetrator had only gone with the flow.

    It was injured. Although I don¡¯t know how a Hunter-ss ghost was able to evade Arthis¡¯ strike, it was still undoubtedly injured by it. Furthermore... that kind of injury could very well result in it being discovered by others. Therefore, it was forced by the circumstances to escape to the dormitories and kill Mo Jun, even at the risk of being discovered.

    And at that time, the academy¡¯s attention was thoroughly gripped by the situation at the Great Dipper Vault. It was incidentally able to exploit the loophole in security¡­ Qin Ye rubbed his fingers together and asked aloud, ¡°What kind of liquid is this?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just water.¡± Lin Han nced around with a murderous intent in his eyes, ¡°Lights out in the dorm is at twelve. This means that everyone was already dead in slumber by then. It¡¯s likely that the Yin spirit had doused Mo Jun¡¯s body with water after killing him.¡±

    ¡°Was the cause of death excessive blood loss?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not only that¡­¡± Su Feng had white gloves on, and he gently lifted the clothes off Mo Jun¡¯s corpse. Qin Ye gasped immediately. He had just discovered to his horror that the deceased¡¯s chest and abdomen had split open! And yet¡­ his stomach was missing!

    In fact, all of his internal organs were missing!

    ¡°We can¡¯t sense the perpetrator¡¯s Yin energy.¡± Su Feng covered the deceased¡¯s body once more and cupped his hands as he paid his final respects to Mo Jun, ¡°Furthermore¡­ such killing methods arepletely unprecedented!¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows deeply. A notion had just flickered across his mind, and yet when he tried to delve deeper, he couldn¡¯t find a single trace of it.

    What exactly is it¡­

    There was just something about the situation that felt incongruous.

    ¡°Unprecedented?¡± He massaged his temples as he asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Lin Han squatted at the edge of the bed with his thick, bushy eyebrows tightly knit together as well, ¡°This ispletely unprecedented. The Yin spirits in Cathay have two main modus operandi. The first is intimidation-based, where they would menace and frighten their targets to weaken the threemps over the human body. As soon as the mes begin to flicker, they would seize the opportunity and make their move. The second is when they possess the ability to manipte physical objects in the mortal realm. These usually result in extremely cruel and gory deaths. But the manner in which Mo Jun perished¡­¡±

    The three men exchanged a knowing nce at that moment and remarked in unison, ¡°Ritual?¡±

    His hands were folded after death; the corpse was washed clean with water, and the organs were all missing. It was exactly like¡­ a ritualistic murder.

    Dok, dok dok¡­ Just then, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed from the stairs nearby. Before they could even react to the situation, the door to the room opened with a loud bang. Zhou Xianlong stood at the door with an ashen gaze.

    True energy poured out of his seven apertures, crackles of lightning snaked around his hands, and a sound of rushing wind even swept past the corridor outside because of how quickly he had arrived. He didn¡¯t greet anyone. Anyone could tell that he was in a terrible mood right now.

    If the First Academy of Cultivators were to make a name for itself, it has to prevent such incidents from urring on its premises. And yet, tragedy had struck not once but twice in a single night.

    More importantly, the fact that a freshman had died almost as soon as they had arrived in the First Academy of Cultivators would necessarily give others an impression that the academy couldn¡¯t even keep Yin spirits off their own premises. What would the world outside possibly think of this?

    This was a thousand tight p to the academy¡¯s face.

    Qin Ye and the other instructors exchanged knowing nces, and were just about to leave when Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice called out to them, ¡°You must contain the students¡¯ discussion over today¡¯s incident.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°In addition, the top priority right now is to protect the safety of all students. Tomorrow, the school¡¯s Internal Affairs Department shall bring forward theunch of the mission system and announce an S-ss mission. Anyone who can find the perpetrator¡­¡±

    He gritted his teeth as killing intent burst forth from his body, ¡°Shall be awarded 50,000 merit points and 300 teaching credits!¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re able to catch him alive, the rewards shall be doubled!!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, blinked knowingly at Su Feng and Lin Han, and then slipped away from the room.

    Things were heating up in the academy.

    If anyone dared to poke the tiger¡¯s ass, they would have to suffer the consequences of their actions!

    Qin Ye walked back to his dorm room hastily. As soon as he entered the room, the first thing that caught his eye was a massive box that was a perfect meter cube.

    The Yin spirit stones that he had earlier redeemed had finally arrived.

    Arthis wasn¡¯t ying games right now. Instead, she appeared to be deep in discussion with Ming Shiyin. But when he entered the room, the two immediately paused in unison.

    ¡°What in the world is that thing?¡± Qin Ye sat on the couch and stared at the two ghosts, ¡°You didn¡¯t want to tell me earlier. But now, can you finally tell me?¡±

    No response.

    Secondster, Arthis muttered softly, ¡°Truth be told, Lord Ming and I were just discussing whether we should apprise you of the situation or not.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And our conclusion is that we shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. Then, he abruptly shot to his feet and pointed out of the window, ¡°Someone¡¯s dead, you know.¡±

    ¡°A student has died right under the noses of a Judge and countless Hellguards! And the academy¡¯s unable to pinpoint who exactly the perpetrator is!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care that he¡¯s dead. What I care about is whether I¡¯m going to be implicated with these things! This damn thing is as elusive as hell, so can¡¯t you at least give me an exnation for it?!¡±

    He gazed into Arthis¡¯ eyes, ¡°What could possibly take a higher priority than the daolords? Hmm?¡±

    ¡°What is it that even the Judge-ss experts of the mortal realm can¡¯t detect them.... No, even I can¡¯t sense its presence, hmm?¡±

    1. The actual description here used is literally tranted as ¡®they would let the perpetrator know just how many eyes the Horse King has!¡¯ The Horse King is known as the god of horses, and it¡¯s a deity that is said to have three eyes. I chose to use a moremon expression as it¡¯s far less clunky.

 Chapter 167: Thirst After Talents

    <h4>Chapter 167: Thirst After Talents</h4>

    Arthis waved her hand and responded calmly, ¡°It¡¯s true. Once your life is on the line, your entire disposition changes.¡±

    She lounged on the bed and put her slender silicone legs together as she yawned gracefully, ¡°There are two things about them that you should know about.¡±

    ¡°Firstly, these things cannot possibly be stronger than a Soul Hunter.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, you¡¯ll be able to sense their existence as soon as you enter your Hell¡¯s Emissary state. You won¡¯t even need the abilities of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.¡±

    ¡°The more you know about these things, the more danger you¡¯ll be in. It¡¯s not the right time for you to learn of these things right now. We¡¯re only doing this for your own good.¡±

    Qin Ye sneered as he leaned back on the couch, ¡°You make it sound all fine and dandy¡­ But I¡¯ll die as soon as I enter the Hell¡¯s Emissary state in the First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    Arthis respondednguidly, ¡°Then let me supplement what I¡¯ve said earlier.¡±

    ¡°It would never dare enter this ce, much less make a single move against you. At least, not in the First Academy of Cultivators. Therefore, you needn¡¯t worry about your safety.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, her hair and clothes immediately began to flutter on its own. Then, with a murderous gaze, she chuckled coldly, ¡°These things¡­ you really don¡¯t need to know about them for now. But the one thing we absolutely need to know is why exactly they¡¯re here!¡±

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Qin Ye was startled, ¡°They?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Arthis nced out the window and continued in a chilling voice, ¡°They¡¯re creatures ofmunity, and they never move about on their own. At the very least¡­ I¡¯m not sure how many of them have arrived in Insignia Province. Their appearance necessarily means that they¡¯ve discovered something special about this ce¡­ but, just what exactly is it?¡±

    ¡°What have they discovered that¡¯s worth them risking everything and returning to thesends¡­ especially after we¡¯d driven these monstrosities away a long time ago?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed as he rolled his eyes, ¡°I hate it most when you whet my appetite like this. Will it kill you to let me have the lowdown on things right away?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Arthis took a sip from her cup of tea, ¡°But life wouldn¡¯t be fulfilling if I can¡¯t see you scratching your head in bewilderment.¡±

    In other words, it wouldn¡¯t kill her, but it wouldn¡¯t make her feel good either.

    Very good.

    That¡¯s just like Arthis.

    Qin Ye decided not to linger on the issue any further. After all, it was clear what message was written all over her face - Beg me. If you beg me, I might just relent and give you the lowdown. But why should he allow others to delight at the expense of his own misery?

    Qin-egotist-Ye simrly picked up his cup of tea and leaned back on the couch. Then, just as he was about to respond with his repartee, all three in the room suddenly perked up.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He shot to his feet and nced about in astonishment. Just a little while ago, he had suddenly felt¡­ a slight throb in his temples.

    ¡°You guys felt it as well?¡±

    The space around them trembled even before he could finish speaking, causing his heart to beat wildly about. Ming Shiyin immediately shot out from underneath the pillow, and a line of text quickly appeared on its surface, ¡°This is¡­ a special receiving order?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Arthis nced about in surprise, before finally staring straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Kid, your luck isn¡¯t half bad¡­¡±

    But before Qin Ye could say anything in response, everything before his eyes quickly went ck, and his soul promptly left his body, descending straight through innumerable levels in just an instant. In other words, he had gone straight to Hell in broad daylight, without having activated his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal at all!

    Whoosh! The powerful gale of the underworld rushed past his ears. Then, three secondster, he saw the dark speck ofnd growrger andrger. But¡­ it appeared quite different from thest he remembered it.

    Dark clouds enshrouded the entirends, while greenish-white shes of lightning snaked across the skies like a majestic dragon¡¯s dance. And right in the middle of the thick cloud cover, exactly where Hell¡¯s Gate was located, a golden pir of light pierced the darkness of the underworld, puncturing through the roiling clouds like a powerful beam of sunlight that shot straight into Hell.

    In the very next moment, and before he could even react with astonishment to the strange phenomenon, he felt his feet touch the ground. He was already in front of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    ¡°Greetings, esteemed King Yanluo.¡± Su Dongxue¡¯s soft voice came from right behind him. All of the ghosts around half-knelt on the ground as they greeted him in unison.

    He could see that Hell was incredibly busy right now. Large forests were being levelled, and machines and equipment were whirring and buzzing. Even though the machinery and equipment in Hell were still somewhatcking, and there wasn¡¯t enough of them to fill the five square kilometers ofnd with a symphony of construction works, it was undoubtedly still¡­ a simple foreshadowing of the glorious image of Hell toe.

    Countless Yin spirits were shifting logs and other building materials along simple dirt paths, since Hell wasn¡¯t equipped with the requisite gravel or concrete for road construction works as yet. A number of Yin spirits were standing around and patrolling the area as they actively maintained the order around. The management of Yin Construction had their safety helmets on as they barked orders at the workers. All in all, things in Hell looked like they wereing along quite nicely.

    That is, if one ignored the massive, swirling vortex overhead.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t looking at it either. He was simply surveying his surroundings. It was evident that the number of Yin spirits in Hell had increased again.

    It was impossible to say just how many of them there were. However¡­ it had to be in the tens of thousands. He noticed many Yin spirits sizing them up as well, and he knew full well that this could never be the conduct and disposition of the Yin spirits who had witnessed his outburst when he had personally quelled the two uprising of Yin spirits.

    As he continued to survey his surroundings, he noticed about one-third of the Yin spirits secretly sizing him up. The other two-thirds didn¡¯t even dare to look him straight in the eye as they desperately busied themselves with the work before them.

    ¡°Su Dongxue.¡± He called out.

    ¡°Your subject is here.¡± Su Dongxue bowed softly and responded respectfully.

    ¡°How many more Yin spirits do we have?¡±

    Although Su Dongxue was by nature rather unrestrained, it was clear just where her allegiancey. She answered solemnly, ¡°My lord, we previously had 134,450 Yin spirits. An additional 45,172 Yin spirits arrived just three days ago. We¡¯ve not had the time topletely process their registration just yet.¡±

    Qin Ye had always made it a point to maintain a noble, distant and cold persona whenever he was in Hell. Thus, he simply raised his brows in response, ¡°Are there any unsightly troublemakers?¡±

    Su Dongxue paused, ¡°There are. But Yin Construction¡¯s Fourth Division Head Zhao Guangliang has already promptly led a team of corvees to suppress the uprising. There aren¡¯t many troublemakers - their numbers are only in the region of 200 or so. I haven¡¯t had the opportunity to ask my lord what we should do with them.¡±

    ¡°Kill.¡± Qin Ye responded mercilessly, ¡°Spare no one.¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± Su Dongxue hesitated for a moment, ¡°Who¡­ is to execute them?¡±

    Arthis immediately interjected, ¡°You¡¯re an Emissary of Hell appointed by the future King Yanluo. Do you really need us to tell you? Find a time to dispose of them.¡±

    Su Dongxue nodded and didn¡¯t say anymore. As she stepped aside, Arthis whispered, ¡°Order in the old Hell was practically non-existent before the six paths of reincarnation and the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment were established. You must always remind them from time to time who¡¯s the master of this ce.¡±

    She swept her gaze indifferently at the multitude of new Yin spirits that had just arrived. It was obvious that they had little contact with the earlier residents of Hell. In fact, there were at least ten thousand of them that had gathered in one ce.

    This was the result of the manifestations of human instinct and vignce.

    ¡°Today¡¯s a better day than any other. Let¡¯s stop by on the way and teach them who they need to wag their tails at.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. And it was only at this moment that he looked up and noticed the swirling dark clouds in the sky.

    Rumble¡­ A faint golden figure hovered in the midst of the rolling ck clouds, and yet its appearances were vague and blurry.

    Many of the Yin spirits that were idling about nced up at the sky as they discussed nervously about its existence.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye asked softly after inspecting it for several moments.

    ¡°That¡¯s the special receiving order.¡± Arthis exined softly, ¡°Do you still remember the things I¡¯ve told you about the soul induction tform?¡±

    Crackle¡­ crackle¡­ shes of lightning arced across the sky in a threatening fashion, while the golden figure trembled slightly as though it hade to life. Qin Ye raised his brows quizzically, ¡°That¡¯s a special Yin spirit? Isn¡¯t the stage a little bit too majestic for its existence?¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond to his remark directly, ¡°All Yin spirits that enter Hell through the soul induction tform would enter Hell in a suppressed state, but only if the six paths of reincarnation have already been established. You don¡¯t have that right now, so the effect of the soul induction tform would onlyst a single day.¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly realized that he had seen something like that in the topological map of the old Hell that Granny Meng had earlier given to him.

    ¡°However, the greatest function of the soul induction tform is to receive special Yin spirits. Special Yin spirits are people of great fame, at least within their counties or cities. These are people who have rued great merits through deeds and virtuous works, and there¡¯s simply no way they can enter Hell without the transformative effects of the soul induction tform. And as soon as such talents show up, the relevant prefectural branch would automatically issue a special receiving order to remind Hell to properly receive these guests.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes lit up as he looked at the blurry figure in the sky with great avarice, ¡°Are you able to tell where this man¡¯s talent lies?¡±

    What was the most important thing in the twenty-first century?

    Talent!

    Hellcked manpower¡­ Itckedmonbourers, but what itcked even more was talented intellectuals! The situation was so bad that even a college graduate like him had no choice but to cross over into the fields of construction. His talent tree in this regard waspletely non-existent to boot! Thus, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t care less if the golden figure was a talent in management, or in engineering, or even electricity or infrastructure. He was simply thirsting for talents!

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Arthis furrowed her brows and shook her head, ¡°Talents are divided into five different grades, namely county-level, city-level, provincial-level, district-level, and national-level. No matter who it is that passes on, the signs in Hell would be exactly the same. Although I¡¯ve not heard of any great talents that have passed on in the City of Salvation recently, but¡­ who¡¯s to say that this isn¡¯t some national academician who¡¯s departed from the world and returned to the ground?¡±

    ¡°Now¡¯s not the time to be discussing these things in any event.¡± She turned back to Qin Ye after a few seconds of silence, ¡°How did your redemption of the spirit stones go?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Everything has been sorted out, and it¡¯s stored in the box back in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± Arthis sighed and gazed deeply into the sky. With the slight wave of her hand, a talisman shot to the sky with a soft swishing sound. Three minutester, the box of Yin spirit stones back in the dorm room within the First Academy of Cultivators vanished without a trace, and quickly began to hurtle towards Hell¡¯s Gate like a meteorite.

    ¡°Watch and learn. You¡¯ll be building the next structure on your own next time.¡± She stretched out her hand and tapped on the box, and the one meter cube metal box opened up like it was tofu.

    The scent of refined lunar essence immediately wafted out into the surroundings like a spider lily blooming in the middle of the night. Stacks of rectangr shaped Yin spirit stonesy atop each other, each of which was engraved with the mark of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s Insignia branch office. The spirit stones were crystal clear, save for a stream of darkness which appeared to flow ceaselessly on the inside.

    Gulp¡­ All of the Yin spirits within a kilometer radius looked up at Hell¡¯s gate at the exact same time. After all, a Yin spirit¡¯s thirst for lunar essence is akin to human beings¡¯ primal desire for water and food.

    It was almost instinctive.

    One Yin spirit stood up and gulped greedily as he began to walk over involuntarily. And then a second, a third¡­ one hundred... one thousand! Some were old residents of Hell, but most of them were the new residents of Hell! In just a blink of an eye, there was already a massive throng of Yin spirits crowded around the entrance to Hell¡¯s Gate. Even the Death Inquisitors who were half-kneeling behind Qin Ye and the rest began to heave greatly to the rise and fall of their chests. They licked their lips and began to rise to their feet softly.

    Qin Ye stepped forward without a single word. Having already experienced two Yin spirit riots, he was already wary and vignt of the situation at hand. Arthis ignored the situation and muttered indifferently, ¡°Remember, they¡¯re not humans. They¡¯re ghosts; Yin spirits. The best way tomunicate with them is through a disy of your strength.¡±

    ¡°Strength that they¡¯ve never witnessed before¡­ strength that is out of this world.¡±

 Chapter 168: Intimidation

    <h4>Chapter 168: Intimidation</h4>

    This scene was like an rm bell that startled the Yin spirits around. They gasped in unison, and their mind immediately cleared up as they reflexively retreated, leaving a wide berth between them and Hell¡¯s Gate.

    tter tter!

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± ¡°My god¡­¡± The Yin spirits standing around came reeled in awe at the majestic sight. Then, three secondster, they came to their sensespletely and began scattering like an ebbing tide.

    Even the ss magnate Huang Liangchuan hid behind the tree. When first he saw the sight unfold before his eyes, he couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously and break out in cold sweat.

    Awe and might that surpassed the human imagination. And all who dared challenge Hell¡¯s authority¡­ like Tiger Gao, were practically as insignificant as an ant.

    ¡°Docile¡­ I¡¯ve got to be a docile subject¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze glossed over the awestruck Yin spirits andnded on the darkness enshrouding Hell¡¯s Gate. He silently clenched his fists, and then released them again as he asked cidly, ¡°Channel the energy from the Yin spirit stones using one¡¯s own Yin energy? Whates next?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked quizzically, ¡°In the past?¡±

    She bowed deeply, ¡°Lord Ming, it¡¯s your turn to disy your skills now.¡±

    In the next second, boundless light erupted from the top of the roof, piercing the darkness like a glorious, radiant sun. Even the gleaming Yin spirit stones faded into obscurity in the face of the incredible explosion of luminosity.

    This was light that was unprecedented in the deep darkness of Hell. It flooded thendspletely, so much so that even the Yin spirits who were located farthest away from Hell¡¯s Gate were all staring at the dazzling sun with great astonishment.

    Ten¡­ a hundred¡­ a thousand¡­ ten thousand¡­ until finally, well over ten thousand Yin spirits looked straight at Hell¡¯s Gate in awe and amazement!

    Then, in the midst of the shock of countless Yin spirits who were watching with bated breaths, the brilliant light that prated every corner of Hell began to condense and withdraw its reaches from the five square kilometers of Hell to a space that was merely one kilometers across in diameter. And just as the light diminished, the Yin spirits collectively turned their heads to look towards the edge of Hell.

    It was simply unfathomable!

    Who in the world are this man and this woman?!

    Wisps of pure ck Yin energy began to extend from the edges of Hell and pour straight into the Mirror of Eminence like a thunder of dragons rushing straight back to the vast oceans. Over ten thousand Yin spirits stared awestruck at the sight,pletely tongue-tied. They were amazed by the canopy of Yin energy that hung from the sky, obscured the moon and even swayed the stars. And one split-secondter, all of the Yin energy began to rush straight into the mirror!

    It was as though the mirror reflected the majesty of the world, whether joy orughter or sorrow, or even life and death.

    Secondster, Su Dongxue got down on one knee. Following that, the seven division heads of Yin Construction followed suit, followed immediately by the hundreds of Death Inquisitors standing behind. Having noticed what everyone else was doing, the knees of the new residents of Hell immediately went limp, and they too knelt down. In the end, like a massive tidal wave that radiated out from Hell, everyone outside of Hell¡¯s Gate copsed to their knees within moments.

    Su Dongxue had something she wanted to say, and yet was unable to find the right words to express her thoughts. Secondster, she simply found herself crying out almost reflexively, ¡°We wish long life and prosperity to our lord, King Yanluo! Long live the king!¡±

    Awe.

    Qin Ye held his arms behind his back and nodded slowly to everyone outside. There was no need for words. Distance begets awe and respect. Instead, he turned and whispered softly to Arthis, ¡°This bbermouth¡­ can actuallymand a moment of such awe and respect?¡±

    She paused, and then cupped her hands respectfully, ¡°Lord Ming, please unleash the mirror.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Wherever it passed, the Yin energy immediately vanished, almost as though it werepletely vaporized. The present Hell wasn¡¯trge, and it didn¡¯t take more than ten minutes before the mirror paused at one particr location.

    ¡°... You need to exercise good virtue. Look at how unruly you are right now. How do you expect to get married in the future if you keep behaving like that?¡± Qin Ye nagged at Arthis as he got dragged to the beam of light by her.

    She nced at Qin Ye with a stern gaze, ¡°You¡¯re thinking of vying over them as well?¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t dare¡­ I wouldn¡¯t want to¡­ Just do as you please¡­

    Arthis raised her hand and made a pressing motion. With a loud bang, the entire ground instantly copsed. Yet, what was beneath the surface of the ground waspletely different from the other locations they had excavated so far!

    No¡­ not water. Rather, it was pure, dense Yin energy. In fact, it was so thick and pure that it had already liquefied and turned into a puddle of ink-ck water that was approximately ten meters wide. The puddle bubbled and gurgled, while steam billowed incessantly from its surface.

    Whoosh! With every Yin spirit stone that entered the liquefied Yin energy, the Yin steam roiled with greater vigor and intensity. More and more, thicker and thicker, until finally¡­ a pitch-ck pir of dense smoke began to condense and form amidst a wailinghergale! It was as though the illusory outline of a structure had begun to emerge.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Arthis turned back to stare at him as though he were a retard, ¡°How are you supposed to build these structures if you don¡¯t have any guidance from any treatises or textbooks onherworld architecture? Do you know where each rune is supposed to go? Do you know how they function? Granny Meng¡¯s topological map only informs you of the uses of each type of building. So are you expecting the mortal realm to draw up the architectural ns for their construction?¡±

    ¡°If I told you earlier, would you be willing to ve--¡­ I mean selflessly contribute to the reconstruction efforts of Hell? Why don¡¯t you have any sense of conscious realization about these things at all?¡±

    Arthis snorted, ostensibly displeased by the fact that she was getting her hands dirty with the menial task at hand. She undoubtedly coveted the seat of King Yanluo¡¯s throne. However, that was on condition that everything was already stable and in good order, and that she would be able to enjoy the glory and prosperity of Hell as soon as she took the throne. Pioneering an entirely new kingdom from scratch¡­ was something that she would hardly mind passing up on.

    The torrent of Yin spirit stones didn¡¯tst long. As soon as all of the Yin spirit stones entered the pool of liquefied Yin energy, it immediately emitted a soft humming sound. The ck mist in the surroundings slowly dissipated, and in its wake, a tall structure appeared right atop where the puddle previously was.

    The tform was raised approximately two meters off the ground, and two sets of stairs ran down either side of the tform. These stairs were exquisitely carved with life-like designs of the xiezhi unicorn and the Harken along the handrails. Two pieces of darkwood coffin boards decorated with soul-induction streamers rose stoically from the ground at each location where the stairs met the tform.

    All spirits and souls of the vast expanses, shall return to the boundless heavens and the depths of Hell.

    And the horizontalponent read - Soul Induction tform!

    1. These are standard MOBA references. Qin Ye is reacting here like how a yer would rage in game.

    2. This was loosely interpreted from the meaning of the couplet. This couplet was actually based off the taoist concept of Èý»êÆßÆÇ, which refers to the three immortal souls and seven mortal forms in taoism which contrasts the spiritual and carnal side of Man.

 Chapter 169: Extraterritorial (1)

    <h4>Chapter 169: Extraterritorial (1)</h4>

    Right at the moment that the soul induction tform was built, the hole in the cloud cover suddenly erupted with a powerful thunder-like rumble. Following that, the golden figure in the sky finally moved.

    Then, almost as though it had just awakened from its slumber, it nced down, and then hurtled straight towards the soul induction tform like a mighty meteorite!

    Arthis exined, ¡°As long as hisst wish was to be buried in his hometown, then regardless of where he died, he would most certainly appear in the soul induction tform of his hometown. If we didn¡¯t have the soul induction tform, he would act like he did earlier, hovering about in a daze, not knowing what to do. Even though he knows full well that this is where he should be after death, he wouldn¡¯t know how to get down, or where to go.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and drew a deep breath as he stared at the Yin spirit with a great, burning passion in the depths of his eyes.

    It¡¯s finally here!

    Arthis had mentioned that all Yin spirits who could trigger the special receiving order are invariably talents that had rued great merit for themselves during their time in the mortal realm.

    It might be a county-level; or it might be a city-level, or perhaps¡­ Qin Ye licked his lips that had be dry with anticipation. What if¡­ it¡¯s a provincial-level one, or an impressive district-level Yin spirit?

    Would I have to specially construct aboratory for him? It might be a problem if his profession was in the arts... And if his talents were in the field ofwork technology, I might well have to act more in a supporting role, wouldn¡¯t I? Or perhaps I should let them register with Yin Construction?

    The golden figure¡¯s descent took no more than a few short seconds, and yet it felt indescribably long to Qin Ye. The speed of its descent was incredibly quick. As it drew closer and closer to the soul induction tform, the tform began to glow with a bright golden luster, and a golden lotus even began to bloom at the heart of the tform!

    Yet, just then--!

    tter tter!!

    The startling sound of chains suddenly echoed from mid-air. Both Arthis and Qin Ye looked up abruptly, only to discover¡­

    That there was actually a massive pitch-ck coloured chain shackling the Yin spirit¡¯s ankles!

    The chains were taut and bound tightly around the Yin spirit¡¯s ankles. It was only hundreds of meters from the tform, and yet it couldn¡¯t move a single inch closer!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s gaze darkened. He could sense an aura from the chain¡­ that was simr to the peculiar Yin spirit he had earlier encountered at the Great Dipper Vault!

    It was absolutely formless, and its presence could only be detected when it revealed itself.

    In fact, it was nefarious, vicious, and repugnant, as if heaven and earth rejected itpletely.

    ¡°Freakin¡¯ hell!!¡± Ming Shiyin¡¯s furious roar resounded like thunder from the top of Hell¡¯s Gate, ¡°How dare they intrude into Hell?! Are they trying to take advantage of the fact that Hell has been emptied out?! What are you waiting for?! Kill him!!¡±

    Arthis drew a deep breath and closed her eyes.

    ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Qin Ye turned around and asked Arthis.

    ¡°Is it¡­ the thing that was in the First Academy of Cultivators?¡±

    ¡°How did it end up in Hell?¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond.

    However, her garments had already begun to flutter on its own, and her face was devoid of any smiles. In fact, even her body had begun to float up gently.

    It was a sign of extreme anger that was seething within her.

    ¡°Ar--...¡± Qin Ye gasped and took a few steps backwards. He had a bad feeling about where things were going.

    But before he could finish his sentence, an iparably terrifying wave of Yin energy swept across the vast skies.

    And countless bloodshot eyes slowly opened up across the dark canvass of the skies.

    Arthis opened her eyes.

    ¡°Very well¡­¡±

    ¡°This is the third time.¡±

    Arthis stepped out lightly, and the entire new Hell began to tremble violently, ¡°I finally understand¡­ so that¡¯s what¡¯s going on¡­¡±

    ¡°Foreign underworld, back then, you were beat back by us all the way to the Moyinkum Desert. Yet¡­ having sensed ack of response from Cathay¡¯s Hell, is your leader¡­ attempting to incite the next great war of the underworlds?¡±

    Qin Ye was dumbfounded.

    It was as though a bolt of lightning had just crashed into his mind, and he suddenly understood everything.

    He knew deep down that something was amiss when he saw the dried corpse the other day. Yet when he thought rationally about the matter back then, he simply couldn¡¯t figure out just where the anomalyy. However, as soon as he heard Arthis¡¯ exmations in her fit of anger, the puzzle pieces suddenly fit together, and he quickly figured everything out.

    Several professors and instructors were all in agreement that Mo Jun¡¯s corpse didn¡¯t bear the mark of Yin spirits from Cathay.

    His hands were folded, and his expression looked at peace. His body had been doused and cleansed with water, his stomach was split open, and all of his innards had beenpletely dug out¡­

    This was most certainly not the work of Cathayan Yin spirits.

    This bore the mark of extraterritorial Yin spirits!

    When Qin Ye sensed something amiss earlier, it had been in respect of the aesthetics, the method and the form of it all.

    Qin Ye¡¯s scalp grew numb as he thought through these things, because it meant that¡­ Cathay wasn¡¯t the only nation with an underworld - other nations had their own versions of the underworld as well!

    ¡°No¡­ it might not even be a nation. It could be a sect!¡± He sighed wistfully as he massaged his temples, ¡°Every major sect falls under the jurisdiction of a particr Yama¡­ That¡¯s right, they might not even call them Yama, but¡­ Hades? Death? Regardless of what they call it, they don¡¯t belong in Cathay! This was why even someone as strong as Zhou Xianlong wasn¡¯t able to detect the Yin energy emanating from their bodies!¡±

    He didn¡¯t dare to pursue this train of thought any further. No wonder¡­ no wonder Arthis and Ming Shiyin mentioned that it was better for me not to know about these things. Indeed, I do sense an urge welling up within me to step down from bing a King Yanluo and simply escaping into the recesses of the mountain and bing a hermit.

    There were underworlds in other nations as well. So what exactly did this mean?

    The effective non-existence of Cathay¡¯s Hell meant that the extraterritorial underworlds were all eyeing a piece of the same pie. After all, Cathay upied the thirdrgest mass ofnd in the world, and there were at least a billion souls thriving in their mortal state right now. It was practically a gourmet buffet spread set right in front of a bunch of gluttons!

    We¡¯ll deal with this when we get to it¡­ He gazed into the distant sky. Arthis had already gradually risen to the zenith, and she was surveying her surroundings in all directions.

    The crowd of Yin spirits werepletely silent at this moment. They were still shellshocked from the sudden overwhelming sight earlier.

    One by one, everyone gazed at Arthis. Some began to gulp nervously, while other more timid Yin spirits felt their knees buckle and their legs give way as they nearly crumbled to the ground again.

    The sky canopy consisted of four focal points - countless bloodshot eyes, the golden figure of a special Yin spirit, ink-ck chains, and finally a mighty Infernal Judge.

    There was absolutely nothing that didn¡¯t speak of the might and awe of Hell.

    Arthis slowly reached out with her hand.

    Simultaneously, ten thousand ghostlyhermes neatly blossomed behind her. Yet before anyone could take a closer scrutiny at these mes, they immediately transformed into countless jade-green Yin spirits that rushed madly towards the chain in the sky.

    tter tter! The pitch-ck chain was extremely thin. It wasn¡¯t even as thick as the girth of a thumb! And yet, under the relentless barrage of countless Yin spirits, it began to ng with a spine-chilling tter.

    ¡°How dare you extraterritorial Yin spirit misbehave yourselves here?!¡± Arthis sneered as she bellowed, ¡°Get down here!¡±

    ng!

    The chain extending out of the sky tightened.

    However, it remainedpletely unscathed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy¡­¡± A female voice called out from the distant sky, ¡°Although I don¡¯t know your exact location, but¡­ no matter how strong you are, do you think you can really resist a treasure bestowed by Hades himself?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ pupils contracted abruptly. But before the female voice could even finish speaking, the Mirror of Eminence suddenly released a thin beam of light, and a pair of soul shackles bearing an earth-shattering amount of Yin energy charged straight into the sky and hurtled straight for the chains!

    ¡°?¦Ð¦Á¦É¦Í¦Ï? ¦¨¦Å?¦Í!¡± The female voice in the sky rumbled like thunder as soon as the soul shackles appeared. As she spoke, the chains suddenly erupted with a massive tidal wave of ck light, and the special Yin spirit¡­ No, not a single person could even react as the special Yin spirit got pulled into the cloud cover in the blink of an eye. Immediately after that, the hole in the cloud quickly closed up amidst the rumbling tremors in the sky.

    Fast.

    It didn¡¯t even take a single second for all of this to take ce.

    Qin Ye only saw a blur in front of his eyes, and suddenly everything was gone.

    The innumerable bloodshot eyes that Arthis had summoned across the canopy of the skies wasn¡¯t able to achieve anything, and they slowly faded back into the darkness.

    ¡°Serapis¡­¡± She looked around with a chilling gaze in her eyes, ¡°And that statement earlier¡­ was Argosian for ¡®praise the god of death.¡¯¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. He swept his gaze around his surroundings, and then poured his Yin energy into Hell¡¯s Gate, causing his voice to echo throughout every corner of Hell instantly, ¡°What are you still looking at? Is the work here going to do itself? What¡¯s with your rubbernecking over something so trivial? Haven¡¯t you heard that curiosity killed the cat?!¡±

    Rumble¡­ All of the Yin spirits trembled in unison at Qin Ye¡¯s thunderous bellow.

    ¡°Get back to your task at hand. Anyone who cks off because of this¡­¡± He paused, ¡°Can forget about your life in Hell.¡±

    The Yin spirits exchanged awkward nces, before quietly dispersing. None dared to say a single word to another.

    Then, as soon as Arthisnded on the ground, Qin Ye grabbed her by the sleeves and looked straight into her eyes, ¡°Now, are you still not going to tell me what¡¯s going on?¡±

    This time, Arthis didn¡¯t object.

    Nevertheless, it took some time before she finally collected herself, ¡°You¡¯d probably have guessed most of it even if I don¡¯t say a thing right now, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I want the truth!¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°How much more have you guys been hiding from me? How could you even think to hide such things from me?! I want to know everything! NOW!!¡±

    Arthis waved her arm casually and shook off his hands. Then, gazing deep into the sky, she sighed with deep resignation, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    The two didn¡¯t enter Hell¡¯s Gate. Instead, they circled around it and walked along the circumference of the new Hell, none of them speaking a single word while they were at it.

    A gentlehergale swept by, and Arthis tucked her hair behind her ears. After some time, and just as Qin Ye was starting to grow impatient, she began with a soft, hoarse voice, ¡°This is the world.¡±

    ¡°And Cathay is only part of the world. Likewise, that goes for Hell as well.¡±

    ¡°All underworlds can never exceed the size of their nation.¡±

    After her preface, she continued softly and calmly, ¡°We didn¡¯t want to apprise you of these things because we didn¡¯t want you to think too much. What¡¯s the point of knowing all these things right now? We¡¯re currently¡­ not even able to deal with an officer of their standing forces. Rather than to worry about these things on a daily basis, wouldn¡¯t it be a better idea to focus our heart and mind on reestablishing Hell? After all, it¡¯s only when we get our foundation stable that we can begin to fight for our survival.¡±

    Without missing a beat, Arthis continued, ¡°And it¡¯s precisely because underworlds cannot exceed the size of their national territory that¡­ as you¡¯ve probably guessed, we¡¯re not the only hell in the world.¡±

    ¡°Nippon has them. Rus has them. The Middle East has them. Europa and Usonia has them as well. Back in our glory days, the old Hell easily ranked among the top, together with the underworlds of Europa and Usonia.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t call it hell. They call it the underworld. I remember that their King Yanluo, or the lord of the underworld, is called Hades. The death god of the Middle East is called Serapis. And then there¡¯s also Shiva of Hindustan¡­ These are the four strongest underworlds. And there are countless smaller underworlds too.¡±

    She sighed softly, ¡°The copse of the Cathayan Hell¡­ Let¡¯s just say that the three daolords aren¡¯t the only ones who have started to grow restless. After all, how could the extraterritorial underworlds be able to resist the temptation of such a feast before their eyes? The effluxion of time has worn down their patience as well.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions were unusually calm.

    Secondster, he let out a bitterugh, and then gazed into the distant skies as he sighed wistfully.

    What was this?

    He could avoid the danger posed to him by the three daolords by hiding under the wings of the City of Salvation. However¡­ even if the three daolords were to stand against the invasion of the other underworlds, did they really have the power to stop them?

    Hades, Anubis¡­ these were all stuff of legends and myths, and yet they were standing right before his eyes, as real a threat as it could be. No¡­ perhaps this was something he should already have considered before agreeing to the tall order of reestablishing Hell.

    Just like the diversity among peoples, cultures and societies, there, too, was diversity among the underworlds.

    1. This is near the Bayzak District in Kazakhstan.

    2. Serapis is a Greco-Egyptian syncretistic god thatbines Osiris, the lord of the underworld; the Apis Bull, a sacred bull deity that represents strength and fertility; Hades, which needs no exnation; Demeter, the goddess of harvest and agriculture; and Dionysus, the god of debauchery and excess.

    3. The author actually states that this is ÖÐ¶«Óï, which is directly tranted as Middle Easternnguage, but generally understood to be arabic. But the words are actually written in greek, so I have tranted this as Argosian instead. Do note that the author seems to treat Greece as part of the Middle East, so further reference to that region should be considered as inclusive of Greece as well.

    4. In line with the usual convention of renaming countries, Russia will simply be called Rus.

    5. As mentioned earlier, this is a Graeco-Egyptian god, which suggests that the author treats Greece as a part of the Middle East.

    6. In line with the usual renaming of countries, we will be referring to India as Hindustan, after what it used to be called.

 Chapter 170: Extraterritorial (2)

    <h4>Chapter 170: Extraterritorial (2)</h4>

    There was no response.

    The City of Salvation was able to conceal him from the prying eyes of the three daolords, and yet it couldn¡¯t do a single thing to uncover any traces of the extraterritorial Yin spirits.

    And because only Emissaries of Hell could detect the presence of emissaries of other underworlds.

    Yet Arthis remainedpletely cool and collected, disying her wealth of experience dealing with such startling developments, ¡°I¡¯ve got a piece of good news. Would you like to hear it?¡±

    Arthis turned a blind eye to his snarky attitude and exined, ¡°But before I tell you this piece of good news, I would first have to preface that with this - spies were amonce urrence even during the eons of glory of Cathay¡¯s old Hell. In Cathay, we call underworldly spies darkfeathers.¡±

    Qin Ye fervently repressed the roiling emotions in his heart. He knew full well that anxiety didn¡¯t help him one bit, so he took the next few minutes to cool offpletely before he began to contemte Arthis¡¯ question.

    He borated, ¡°The construction of Hell, man¡­ no, ghostse first. Without ghostpower, what kind of expansion and development do we have to talk about?¡±

    Arthis listened quietly without interjecting.

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond straight away. She took several seconds to gather her thoughts, before quipping, ¡°All talent, especially top-notch talents, are the greatest driving forces behind the growth and expansion of Hell.¡±

    She gently sighed, ¡°Over thest few millennia, we¡¯ve had our fair share of sesses and failures as well, albeit failures were few and far between. Our track record is something that the various underworlds know full well. Thus, whether they decide to step in this time¡­ is something that is entirely up to their emissaries.¡±

    There was one¡­ no, rather, there were several extraterritorial emissaries that had discreetly snuck into the City of Salvation.

    ¡°Whose souls did you manage to seize over thest few millennia? And who did you fail to secure?¡± He finally formted a peculiar question to Arthis after some moments of deliberation.

    ¡°Then whose souls did you manage to reap?¡±

    What the hell?!

    All ten great scientists across the history of the world were seized by the Cathayan Hell?

    Suddenly, a brainwave surged through his mind, and he drew a deep breath, ¡°And your good news is that¡­ this special Yin spirit¡­¡±

    Qin Ye immediately drew several deep breaths. He couldn¡¯t resist the urge to reap his soul right back to Hell right now!

    So much for bing a hermit in the recesses of the mountains. This was nothing more than a casual thought. After all, Qin Ye knew that there was no room for retreat any longer.

    The Harken would immediately tear him to shreds when he aroused from his slumber.

    They were existences that had been suppressed under the six paths of reincarnation for thousands of years. How could they possibly tolerate the existence of any remaining Emissaries of Hell? Death was inevitable as soon as he was discovered by them.

    ¡°So¡­ does this mean that we have to square off against these extraterritorial emissaries?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin as he thought aloud.

    ¡°Do our best?¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s precisely because of this that the iing emissaries of their underworlds¡­ are definitely the cream among the crop, even among their numbers. They¡¯d naturally opt for quality over quantity. Their numbers wouldn¡¯t exceed five, but¡­ this is only for each underworld that has decided to join in the fray. We¡¯re weak right now. I¡¯m afraid that liberating this Yin spirit from their shackles is going to be¡­ an uphill task, to say the least.¡±

    Dilemma.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered, yet it continued to burn with passion. It seemed as though he were alone, but the truth of the matter was that there were several other factors he could tap on to his advantage.

    For further instance, the Special Investigations Department!

    ¡°Then¡­ shall we first learn for ourselves who the deceased is? Which acimed person is this that can cause the other underworlds to throw caution to the wind and risk everything to reap his soul.¡±

    He put aside his thoughts for the moment and began to inspect Hell.

    It was a simple tent with a single table inside where the Design Department¡¯s architectural drawings of Qin Gardens Phase 1 was ced. Qin Ye mulled over the progress of the construction works he had just seen and asked, ¡°Is there an expectedpletion date?¡±

    Qian Tianyi sighed, ¡°My lord, there¡¯s an urgent need for more equipment and materials. By our estimations, the materials that your excellency has obtained previously isn¡¯t even enough toplete the first level of the project. Ancient-styled buildings upy a massivend space, and are generally low-rise. Therefore, the construction of each floor of the building naturally takes a lot more materials than other simr projects. With thest batch of Yin spirits that had arrived, we¡¯ve managed to recruit several thousand more workers. Unfortunately, with the shortage of materials, work in some locations havee to aplete stop.¡±

    There were still several pieces of antiques and jade artifacts worth a hundred million lying under his bed in his possession right now. The only problem was that the academy had justmenced its first semester, and he was naturally unable to take leave of absence from his teaching duties.

    After patrolling about for the next three hours to ensure that everything was in good order, Qin Ye returned to the mortal realm. By the time he returned, it was already dusk.

    The nights in the mortal realm were extremely peaceful - especially in the City of Salvation. Qin Ye nced at his watch. It was exactly 7 p.m. He smiled, ¡°Right on time.¡±

    There were already several instructors seated within the television room. As soon as Qin Ye entered, he immediately heard the familiar introductory tune to the news broadcast. Having noticed Qin Ye¡¯s arrival, a middle-aged instructor smiled, ¡°What brings the fabled Instructor Qin here for television? I don¡¯t generally see you being too concerned about our current affairs.¡±

    ¡°It is. Besides, the campus grounds of Insignia University is ratherrge. It¡¯s rather tiresome to have to make the trek to this ce on a daily basis.¡± An elderly instructor who appeared to be in his sixties stroked his beard as he quipped back, ¡°That¡¯s right, the initial appraisal test is about to take ce soon. How¡¯s Instructor Qin¡¯s preparation for it so far?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°I was looking for you all afternoon to y ball. Where were you?¡±

    Lin Han rolled his eyes at Qin Ye and ignored hismentspletely.

    The City of Salvation was in a state of total istion from the rest of the world, and they were uninformed of most of the ongoings in the outside world. That said, there were still some channels of information that continued to flow.

    Any talent that could justify the long journey of extraterritorial emissaries from their respective underworlds were most certainly entities that would make the news!

    A target for him to lie patiently in wait for.

    1. As opposed to manpower.

    2. A chinese inventor and a formal eunuch court official of the Han Dynasty.

    3. A chinese pharmacologist, physician, inventor, and writer of the Eastern Han dynasty and one of the most eminent Chinese physicians during theter years of the Han dynasty.

    4. Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman from Nanyang who lived during the Han dynasty. He achieved sess as an astronomer, mathematician, seismologist, hydraulic engineer, inventor, geographer, cartographer, ethnographer, artist, poet, philosopher, politician, and literary schr.

    5. A chinese military general, calligrapher, and poet who lived during the Southern Song dynasty.

    6. Queen of the japanese underworld.

    7. The founding emperor of the Qing dynasty (reigned from 1636 to 1643).

 Chapter 171: What A Long Title...

    <h4>Chapter 171: What A Long Title...</h4>

    He had thought things through.

    If he were to snatch the special Yin spirit from right under the noses of the extraterritorial emissaries, the first thing he would need to know was naturally the identity of this Yin spirit.

    He didn¡¯t even know how many extraterritorial emissaries there were lurking within the City of Salvation right now. If the identity of this special Yin spirit were someone who could only contribute to Hell¡¯s revivification efforts centuries down the road, such as an expert in the humanities, then he was prepared to even give up on securing such a Yin spirit.

    After all, it wasn¡¯t worth the risk of losing ess to the Great Dipper Vault or cing his own life in danger.

    ¡°Good evening, everyone.¡± The chatter in the television room faded away as the male anchor greeted everyone.

    ¡°Today is the 6th of March, the awakening of insects of the lunar calendar. Thank you for tuning in to the news this evening.¡±

    The female anchor smiled genially as she took over, ¡°We first bring to you the headline news for tonight.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes were glued to the screen, and his ears perked up slightly. The instructors beside him, including Local Bully, stared at Qin Ye with inexplicable surprise. After all, why was someone who had never stepped foot into the television room suddenly so concerned with the nation¡¯s current affairs? Were they on the verge of the next world war?

    ¡°The general secretary has just presided over the twenty-fourth general meeting of the Summit for Comprehensive Reforms, and themittee has decided to push forward with the implementation of these reforms withoutpromise. Wang Zhaosong, Li Yanqing, Chen Yang, and other members were all in attendance.¡±

    ¡°The premier had a propitious bteral exchange with Brittania at the ninth Europa-Cathay Leaders¡¯ Summit.¡±

    ¡°Mr Gu Qing, the former deputy director general of the Central State Administration of Urban nning has just sumbed to his illness, passing away at the age of 92. He will be cremated at the Qinglong Mountain Cemetery at dawn, following which he will be sent to the City of Salvation, Insignia Province, for his funeral at noon.¡±

    That¡¯s him!

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes immediately lit up, and his thoughts began to spin rapidly.

    Having lived for such a long time, there were things that he didn¡¯t need to actively process or think through. Fragments of information would inevitably find their way into his mind and sort themselves out.

    Just like what was happening right now.

    The Central State Administration of Urban nning¡­ I remember that every city would have its own city nning bureau, and the Central State Administration¡­ is the ce of coordination of all urban nning work. And this is the deputy director general¡­ It can be said that the urban nning works of countless cities across Cathay has passed through his hands over thest few decades!

    Urban nning wasn¡¯t something thatprised only of scrutinizing and approving of drawings.

    Would the city be resistant to flooding? Would there be any standing waters? Have the designs taken into ount the local climate and other factors? If the city expandster, how would you expand the downtown area? Will the locality and infrastructure be able to support high-tech instations and the development of towns and viges in the vicinity?

    Each and every city in Cathay was the agglomeration of the blood, sweat and tears of innumerable designers and nners!

    Although 99% of the cities in Cathay are built on the foundations of ancient cities that stood in their ce, their redevelopment is still an incredibly remarkable thing. It¡¯s no wonder the extraterritorial emissaries are willing to make the journey of thousands of miles just to reap his soul! His existence is so amazing that it could actually make the third headline of national news!

    This is a big fish!

    Qin Ye continued to watch the news with bated breath.

    Social convention had it that the deaths of such great figureheads would almost invariably be announced to everyone through a national broadcast.

    The surroundings had quietened down so much that Qin Ye could even hear the thumping of his heart and sense the quickening of his own breaths. He tuned out when the news anchors were giving the lowdown of the first two headline news. And then, as soon as a mournful hearth appeared on the screen, he subconsciously straightened his back.

    ¡°Mr Gu Qing, the former deputy director general of the Central State Administration of Urban nning has just sumbed to his illness, passing away at the age of 92.¡±

    ¡°Thete Mr Gu Qing was born in 1938. He belonged to one of the first batch of overseas schrs after the founding of Cathay as we know it. He graduated with honors from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College Londoninium.¡±

    ¡°Ever since returning to Cathay, he has served as the director of the Urban nning Bureau at the City of Salvation, the deputy mayor of the City of Salvation, the director of the Urban nning Bureau at Mount Tai City, the Director of Branch Urban nning Bureau of the Insignia Province¡­¡±

    Qin Ye forcibly repressed the welling excitement in his heart as he continued to weigh the costs and the benefits. He couldn¡¯t tell just how many extraterritorial emissaries had already infiltrated the City of Salvation, and there was always a possibility of exposing his true identity if he took action. On the other hand, he could always err on the side of caution and hide among the Special Investigations Department like a little hamster. Therefore, he absolutely had to consider where the bnce lies.

    The news anchor was naturally oblivious to the considerations in Qin Ye¡¯s heart, and he continued without missing a beat, ¡°In 1973, in his then-capacity as the director of the Urban nning Bureau at Mount Tai City, thete Mr Gu Qing was the chief designer in charge of the great master n of the Dragonriver City¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gasped. Like a mouse that had seen cheese, his eyes widened subconsciously.

    ¡°My word¡­¡± An instructor sighed as he sipped from his teacup, ¡°Dragonriver¡­ and a chief designer to boot. It¡¯s such a pity that we¡¯ve lost this top talent today.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. The chief designer of Dragonriver City is practically an internationally renowned existence, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled amidst the discussion.

    The Dragonriver City was the first city to be redeveloped after themencement of the reforms, and it had taken it no more than three decades to transform from a state of destion into a bustling city of innovation!

    I¡¯d never expected it was all due to this man¡¯s efforts!

    Seize him!

    This was the point of inflexion at which Qin Ye¡¯s mind was already made up.

    His resume was incredibly padded and thick, and there was none other more suited to the needs of Hell right now! This was a risk he was willing to take!

    However, that wasn¡¯t the end of things.

    The news anchors were still reading out his achievements in honor of his passing!

    ¡°In 2001, thete Mr Gu Qing led a team from the fourth division of Cathay Construction¡¯s Eighth Bureau to Alkebn, where they assisted with construction works across Aegyptus, Nubia, Rhodesia, Mozambik, Mgasy and Naija, including three central cities and severalrge projects. All of this was done under the oversight of thete Mr Gu Qing.¡±

    What a big fish!

    I¡¯d thought that this was just a koi fish. As it turns out, it¡¯s actually an orca?!

    Qin Ye dispelled the astonishment in his mind and continued listening intently to the broadcast, ¡°Thete Mr Gu Qing¡¯s ashes will be arriving in his birthce at the City of Salvation at noon, exactly in ordance with his wishes. The vice premier, the current director general, deputy director general and secretary of the Central State Administration of Urban nning, the deputy provincial governor and deputy secretary of Insignia Province, the mayor and secretary of the City of Salvation¡­ and other esteemed guests will all be personally attending thete Mr Gu Qing¡¯s funeral proceedings¡­¡±

    ¡°And now, we bring to you other news¡­¡±

    Qin Ye smiled at the television. Secondster, his heart leapt with great tion, and he couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud.

    And it was irrepressible and manic, ¡°Hahahaha!!!¡± The six instructors stared at him as though they had just seen a ghost.

    Is he insane?

    It¡­ it has got nothing to do with you, but¡­ we¡¯re still talking about the passing of a person and his funeral, aren¡¯t we? Aren¡¯t you being too irreverent here?

    ¡°Haha¡­ uhh¡­¡± Afterughing boisterously for two seconds, Qin Ye quickly sensed that something was amiss, and he immediately coughed, turned around and gave Local Bully an angry re, ¡°What the matter with you?! How old are you? Why are you tickling me for no good reason? Would it kill you to sit still and just watch the news?¡±

    Full marks for misdirection.

    Local Bully blinked vacantly as he stared at Qin Ye with apletely baffled expression.

    ¡°Alright. Stop fooling around and just watch the news.¡± Qin Ye remarked with a stern re before turning his attention back to the television.

    Bloody hell?!

    It took Local Bully two full seconds to understand what was going on, and he immediately stood up - this wasn¡¯t something he was going to take lying down!

    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­¡±

    ¡°Shh.¡± Notwithstanding the gaze of several onlookers, Qin Ye tugged Lin Han back down to his seat with his eyes still transfixed on the screen, ¡°Be quiet and watch TV. Don¡¯t disrupt those around you, alright?¡±

    His expressions rippled with displeasure.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright. Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s just a lesson n¡­ look at how anxious you are¡­¡± Qin Ye got to his feet with a look of exasperation on his face as he waved his hands dismissively.

    His steps were gentle and light.

    Three secondster.

    ¡°Instructor Lin, what¡¯s happened to you?¡± ¡°Why do you¡­ have such a look of despondence on your face?¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you going to discuss your lesson ns earlier? Aren¡¯t you going anymore?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother me¡­ I just want to be alone¡­ I¡¯d only wanted to watch TV quietly¡­¡±

    How could Qin Ye possibly keep in his heart a man who had once been heartbroken by him? Like repels like. This was a principle that Qin Ye understood very well. Thus, any considerations of Lin Han had already vanished by the time he got back to his dorm room.

    He immediately opened up the course schedule and took a closer look at it.

    Now that he had ascertained the identity of the special Yin spirit, the next step would necessarily be to investigate the exact number of extraterritorial Yin spirits in the City of Salvation right now. But in order to do this, he would have to leave the campus grounds of the First Academy of Cultivators.

    Unfortunately, none were allowed to leave the campus grounds at all. They were only allowed one vacation day a month. They functioned with military regimentation.

    Therefore, his only other option would naturally be to work around the course schedule.

    ¡°The academymenced its semester on 18 February. In other words, the first month of sses would end on 17 March¡­¡± He ran his finger along the ss schedule and pointed to a date with a red-mark on it, ¡°This is the day!¡±

    It was the date of the freshmen initial appraisal test!

    All colleges and schools had simr examinations, and the First Academy of Cultivators was no exception either. Most importantly¡­

    He belonged to the Faculty of Combat!

    And the initial appraisal test of all students from the Faculty of Combat would necessarily have to be conducted through the process of actualbat!

    ¡°Perhaps we might not normally be given the opportunity to engage in actualbat. But now¡­¡± He chuckled as he tapped on the course schedule, ¡°You may be emissaries of your respective underworlds¡­ and you may try your best not to create any disturbances or bring any attention to yourselves, but¡­ are you certain that everything is within yourplete control?¡±

    ¡°There are many wandering spirits around, not to mention some vengeful apparitions that haven¡¯t beenpletely wiped out. As soon as any of these detect the aura of an emissary of an underworld, they would immediately swoop over like moths to a me. This is part of the basic instinct of any Yin spirit¡¯s desire to siphon off those who are stronger than them, and this was exactly how the mortal realm discovered Cao Youdao¡¯s existence. Do you guys think you would be spared?¡±

    He went on to consider other possible scenarios, and simrly prepared his heart to respond to any potential new developments. Then, having made up his mind, he set aside these concerns of his and turned his mind back to his duties as an instructor.

    The students¡¯ daily self-study sses started this evening. For the sake of their teaching credits, almost every instructor around chose to oversee the students¡¯bat practice. Qin Ye was no exception to this either. Thus, Qin Ye headed straight to the gym after dinner, and he saw arge group of students dressed in their camouge uniforms before he even arrived.

    He wasn¡¯t early. The other instructors from the Faculty of Combat were already there by the time he had arrived. Lin Han stood in the center of the students, giving them instructions.

    ¡°While the First Academy of Cultivators doesn¡¯t guide you in the ways of your own cultivation, you can¡¯t afford to neglect your foundational work. Even when you attain your first breakthrough to be an Operative-ss expert, the abilities and arts at your disposal are limited to grand and powerful moves. While strong, these skills have long cooldowns, and some of them might even bring negative effects to your bodies. Therefore, what is most important is to build a strong foundation on your basic martial arts and footwork.¡±

    ¡°Instructor Lin, are martial arts even useful against Yin spirits?¡± ¡°No way¡­ I didn¡¯t pay much attention back when my n was teaching us martial arts¡­¡± ¡°Punching Yin spirits? Isn¡¯t that a little bit outrageous?¡±

    Lin Han shook his fist in the air, ¡°Not at all. When you be Operative-ss experts, you¡¯ll be able to imbue each punch and each kick with true energy from your body, and Yin spirits will naturally be unable to resist your attacks.¡±

    ¡°You can think of it this way. Hunting zones naturally contain Yin spirits that would require those grand and powerful finishing moves of yours. But the truth of the matter is that there aren¡¯t many locations of supernatural activity that would end up being ssified by the government as hunting zones. Given the recent rise of supernatural activity, most of these aren¡¯t even worthy of being given abel as a hunting zone. Nevertheless, they still possess some level of danger, and would still have to be dealt with. Most of you will eventually find yourselves dealing with such Yin spirits for the foreseeable future. Are you sure you¡¯ll want to resort to your grand and powerful finishing moves with each and every one of these weak Yin spirits that appear? You might end up wearing yourself out before youpletely purge them all!¡±

    He stretched out his arm as soon as he finished speaking, and a faint whiteyer of true energy emerged on his arm with a simple twitch of his muscles. Then, with a soft cry, he made a pressing motion towards the ground, and an indentation appeared in a one meter square area in front of him with a soft muffled sound.

    Su Feng¡¯s eyelids immediately twitched uncontrobly as he whispered, ¡°Local--... Instructor Lin, as a friend, I must remind you that you¡¯ll have to make rpense for any destruction of public property¡­ So, can you use your damned mind to think before you act next time?!¡±

    1. The awakening of insects is a reference to the 24 sr terms which subdivides the calendar year into 24 parts.

    2. Africa.

    3. So, in line with the renaming of other countries, we have right now Sudan-Nubia, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, Mozambique-Mozambik, Madagascar-Mgasy, and Nigeria-Naija.

 Chapter 172: Memorial Hall

    <h4>Chapter 172: Memorial Hall</h4>

    Lin Han withdrew his hand in horror as he looked at the students, all of whom sensibly lowered their heads, signifying that they hadn¡¯t noticed anything.

    An awkward silence fell over the group of students. Even Su Feng frowned as he massaged his temples, not knowing what he could say to give his stupid teammate a way out of the conundrum.

    ¡°If not for the fact that you¡¯re strong as an ox, I would have kicked you back to where you¡¯de from a long time ago!¡± Su Feng gritted his teeth as he muttered under his breath.

    Just then, the academy bell rang, signifying that the period for self-study had officially begun, and it incidentally dispelled the awkward situation. Su Feng stood up with a light cough, nodded at Qin Ye, and then called out, ¡°Form up!¡±

    With a simple order, the Faculty of Combat students who were eagerly anticipating the first self-study ss immediately arranged themselves in neat formations. Su Feng sorted through their ranks and arranged their positions. Soon, a square formation appeared in the middle of the gym.

    Chk, chk, chk, chk! The flood lights came on with four soft clicks, and everything became bright.

    The night breeze swept past silently, carrying with it soft traces of the directions given by the other instructors around.

    The entire setting and ambience was like a whip, spurring the instructors on and igniting thepetitiveness within their hearts. Su Feng made his way forward to the front of the formation, nced around and then began in a deep voice, ¡°Good evening, students. Starting tonight, we shall be practicing our martial arts and fighting techniques on a daily basis. Just like what Instructor Lin mentioned earlier, it would be prudent if you minimized the use of your killing techniques before you be a Hellguard-ss cultivator.¡±

    ¡°Going by the previous measure of cultivation levels, the Operative level is equivalent to that of Qi Mastery; the Hunter level is equivalent to that of Foundation Establishment; and the Hellguard rank is when one can truly be said to have stepped onto the path of cultivation proper. This is equivalent to the Golden Core stage of cultivation¡­¡±

    As Su Feng went on, a number of students began to reveal a knowing smile on their faces. It was not umon to hear of people reading such novels in this current day and age.

    Su Feng turned a blind eye to their response and continued, ¡°Naturally, this is just a means ofparison. We¡¯ve since a long time ago abandoned all references to the old cultivation nomenture, and adopted the same titles and references that Hell uses. In any event, names are just names. What¡¯s more important is the fact that while your cultivation level is still low, the use of killing techniques would invariably put an immense amount of strain on your body, and your recovery from such strains would naturally be slow. Basic Yin spirits are rtively weak. Therefore, it would be prudent to minimize the use of your killing techniques, and instead do battle by imbuing your body with ayer of true energy.¡±

    ¡°And if you¡¯re to use your body to do battle, then martial arts and fighting techniques are an absolute must. I¡¯m quite certain that most of you would have dabbled in some of this back where you¡¯de from. However, most sects, ns and alliances teach only the basics for their personal use. On the other hand, what we teach is truebat techniques. In other words, these are techniques designed to kill and incapacitate.¡±

    A series of gasps could be heard as two hundred pairs of zing eyes stared intently at Su Feng.

    ¡°Admittedly, this isn¡¯t my area of expertise. The instructor from our faculty most adept atbat techniques is none other than Instructor Lin. Lin Han.¡± He nodded at Lin Han, and Lin Han cupped his hands respectfully. Then, he suddenly turned to Qin Ye with a vicious smile on his face.

    Qin Ye immediately had a bad feeling about this.

    This silly dog must be up to no good right now¡­

    Lin Han cleared his throat, ¡°Dear students, getting you to copy the moves I do can be a little bit boring. Therefore, I¡¯ve invited a special guest, Instructor Qin, to exin it with me through a demonstration.¡±

    Now I understand.

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes elegantly. Are you still mad at me about what happened earlier at the television room? Why can¡¯t you just be like other normal human beings and be a little more tolerant and understanding of those around you?

    ¡°Instructor Qin, please.¡± Lin Han smiled as he rubbed his palms together with glee, ¡°We won¡¯t even imbue our bodies with true energy. This will be a pure, unadulterated disy of martial techniques. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll stop once the victor is decided.¡±

    How hard did I train my martial techniques back then? Wind, rain or shine, and throughout all four seasons of the year, I¡¯d been training relentlessly for over a decade ever since I was five. Qin Ye¡¯s younger than me. Surely he wouldn¡¯t be a match for me!

    After all, martial arts andbat techniques were a discipline that was built on arduous practice over time.

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he walked towards Lin Han without any expression on his face, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that from you¡­ Are you bearing a grudge against me? Have a bone to pick with me?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, not at all.¡± Lin Han grinned from ear to ear, ¡°This is only borne out of a desire to witness the extent of your true abilities. It¡¯s your fault for going easy on me during the instructors¡¯ sparringpetition."

    As soon as they heard that their instructors were going to spar, one of the students immediately whistled brightly in anticipation. On one side, it was Instructor Lin, who was popr among the students; while on the other side, it was Instructor Qin, the youngest Soul Hunter in history. The formation of students immediately scattered, giving them a wide berth of space to disy their skills. ¡°Go Instructor Lin!!¡± ¡°Go Instructor Qin!¡± Their bright voices filled the entire gym.

    Both instructors remained where they were, while Qin Yezily beckoned to him, ¡°Three moves.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my loss if you¡¯re not on the ground within three moves.¡±

    Qin Ye was ostensibly filled with confidence.

    He would naturally be reticent to make such a bold deration if they were to use their true energy. But in terms of actualbat techniques, someone of his vintage would most certainly have lived through a time when masters ofbat thrived. He had seen his fair share of experts and killed his fair share of invaders as well. How could he possibly be afraid of a mere Lin Han?

    ¡°What a bold statement!¡± Lin Han cracked his neck. Both of them took their positions. Then, as soon as Su Feng dered that the spar had begun, Lin Han immediately shot straight towards Qin Ye like a bolt of lightning!

    Fast!

    It was so fast that even the air sounded like it was being torn asunder. The students standing around immediately gasped at Lin Han¡¯s disy of inhuman speed.

    The bodily constitution of any person who had stepped onto the path of cultivation would naturally rise together with his cultivation. Yet, even then, Lin Han¡¯s speed undoubtedly ranked among the top of his contemporaries.

    Su Feng nodded assuredly - This bulldozer¡­ probably only has something like that going for him¡­

    Just a secondter, a loud bang sent a cloud of dust and dirt scattering into the air. The students were still gasping at Lin Han¡¯s incredible disy of speed when they found themselvespletely dumbstruck by the developments. They stared at Qin Ye, and then turned to look at the ground.

    ¡°What the hell¡­¡± Local Bully clutched reflexively at his neck, and golden stars dazzled his eyes as he scrambled to get back up onto his feet - Who am I? Where am I? Who hit me?

    He had only noticed Qin Ye lifting his hands a split second ago. And the next thing he knew, he was on the ground.

    ¡°I may not be able to defeat you when ites to a battle of true energy, but you¡¯re certainly no match for me when ites to a duel based solely on pure, unadulterated martial arts andbat techniques.¡± Qin Ye patted his camouge uniform and put on the airs of an expert, ¡°Are we still going?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Lin Han charged straight towards Qin Ye again. This time, Su Feng, Li Runxue and Zhuo Qinfen widened their eyes in unison at the moment that Qin Ye and Lin Han shed again. However, the only thing they noticed was Qin Ye¡¯s body tremble slightly, and Lin han¡¯s massive body copsed to the ground with a loud crash.

    Su Feng waspletely stunned.

    So were Li Runxue and Zhuo Qinfen.

    ¡°Did¡­ you guys see what happened?¡± Secondster, Su Feng turned around and asked Li Runxue.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Li Runxue stared at Qin Ye withplete disbelief. Even though Lin Han¡¯s a fool¡­ no, rather, although his social reflexes are a little bit retarded, he¡¯s still the main attacking force in the ze Squad. And yet he can¡¯t even fend off a single move on Qin Ye¡¯s part?

    Just¡­ how strong is this man?

    ¡°He seems to be practising a lost martial art.¡± Zhuo Qinfen muttered softly, ¡°I saw it slightly, but¡­ I wouldn¡¯t have been able to avoid it. Qin Ye¡¯s speed is just too fast. Lin Han should have seen iting, but his body probably wasn¡¯t able to react in time. I¡¯ve never seen such a fighting stance in all my years of sparring before.¡±

    The students were all silent for some time. And then, they finally broke out into an uproarious apuse.

    ¡°Awesome!¡± ¡°Amazing! Instructor Qin is way too amazing!¡± ¡°Instructor Lin is awesome too! His speed was insane!¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and cupped his hands in gratitude towards the students who warmed his heart.

    See what happens when you punish me that hard back during the sparringpetition?!

    This is karma¡­

    ¡°Are we still going?¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± The buff lord Lin Han scrambled back to his feet and stretched his muscles, ¡°We¡¯re done. Bloody hell¡­ you¡¯re an absolute monster!¡±

    With that, Su Feng and Zhuo Qinfen began to teach the students a series of martial arts moves.

    These were all part of the school¡¯s curriculum, not the martial arts that weremonly seen during festive performances, but martial arts that were designed to kill and incapacitate. Each and every move was sharp as a de and swift as an arrow, and the students gasped in awe as they watched the instructors demonstrate the moves to them.

    ¡°Alright. The demonstration ends here. Next, we¡¯ll start with the foundational exercises. Three hundred elbow strikes. Begin!¡±

    The instructors walked among the ranks of the students, correcting their movements and improving their stances. One hourter, Qin Ye left the ranks of the students with a sigh of relief, ¡°To think that correcting others could actually be more tiring than practising on my own¡­ that¡¯s crazy¡­¡±

    Just then, a person suddenly ran over.

    It was a familiar figure.

    Zhang Linhua of the student council. Qin Ye had almost forgotten about Zhang Linhua¡¯s existence until he showed up today. Qin Ye queried with some measure of suspicion, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Godfather, I¡¯ve managed to get into the academy, but I¡¯m in the Faculty of Theory.¡± His response was so smooth that Lin Han who was just drinking water on the side immediately spurted out a mouthful of water. Zhang Linhua turned a blind eye to Lin Han¡¯s response and bowed respectfully to all of the instructors around, ¡°Good evening, instructors. Head of Faculty Zhou has just issued instructions for all students to practice on their own, and he has instead summoned all instructors to his office for a meeting.¡±

    Something¡¯s going on. Su Feng immediately issued instructions for the students to practice on their own and made his way to the office together with the other instructors.

    Qin Ye intentionally trailed behind the group and walked alongside Zhang Linhua, ¡°Little Zhang, do you know what¡¯s going on?¡±

    He didn¡¯t have any hopes that Zhang Linhua would be apprised of these matters. Unexpectedly, Zhang Linhua nodded his head, ¡°I do. We¡¯ve been busy all morning precisely because of this thing. In fact, I didn¡¯t think that the academy would bother the instructors with this, but right now it seems like it is the school¡¯s intention to mobilize the entire academy.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows with great surprise, and then nodded knowingly.

    That¡¯s right. Zhang Linhua had always been serving with the college student council, and he had always been in charge of matters such as these. The academy had probably also considered the fact that he¡¯d been with the student council, and that he¡¯s got a well-establishedwork around the City of Salvation when they approved his entry application and allowed him to take the entrance examination in the first ce.

    Zhang Linhua lowered his voice to a hush, ¡°Have you seen the newstely?¡±

    ¡°I have. Are you saying¡­¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows as an idea flickered across his mind. Qin Ye continued with some measure of disbelief, ¡°The esteemedte Mr Gu Qing?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly it!¡± Zhang Linhua whispered, ¡°Do you know that it was a part of Mr Gu Qing¡¯s will to have his ashes buried under his school. I¡¯d heard rumours that during the war when the Nipponese carpet-bombed the City of Salvation, it was one of his teachers who had rescued him. Mr Gu Qing¡¯s parents were both killed in that very bombing run. Since then, he began to treat that teacher as his adoptive parent, and even helped to look after his teacher¡¯s biological children as they grew up!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded thoughtfully, ¡°And what has all of that got to do with us?¡±

    ¡°Godfather, the Insignia University¡¯s branch campus¡­ is located right next to his old school!¡±

    ¡°Do you know of the memorial hall at the back of the campus grounds? Some people call it a shrine as well. Back then, it wasn¡¯t called a primary school, but a private school. Where that memorial hall stands is exactly where thete Mr Gu¡¯s school used to be. It now adjoins the academy through the back entrance of the campus. That memorial hall is exactly where thete Mr Gu wishes to be buried.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    He remembered the memorial hall.

    Qin Ye had heard of strange urrences within the campus grounds when he¡¯d first arrived in Insignia University some time ago. As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with the memorial hall, and the source of the supernatural incident was hidden right underneath the dorm rooms.

    Therefore, Qin Ye had never actually entered the memorial hall proper.

    That said¡­ Gu Qing¡¯s ashes were to be brought to this ce in just a little while!

    When a person dies, his soul would cling to his physical body, and it cannot travel far from it. If the physical body is destroyed, the soul would naturally linger on in the ashes!

    In other words, this was the best opportunity yet if he wished to draw close to Gu Qing¡¯s soul! He didn¡¯t even need to test the waters to assess the depth of hispetition around!

    That said¡­ I wonder how many extraterritorial emissaries are going to brazenly enter the First Academy of Cultivators together with the delivery of his ashes?

    After all, emissaries of the underworld cannot be seen by humans - not even by Zhou Xianlong!

 Chapter 173: Investigation in the Night

    <h4>Chapter 173: Investigation in the Night</h4>

    After all, Qin Ye¡¯s rtionship with Zhang Baoguo ran deep as the ocean, while Zhang Linhua was Zhang Baoguo¡¯s only son. Naturally, Qin Ye could never bring himself to be heartless to him.

    ¡°Have a look.¡± Sighing, Zhou Xianlong waved his hand casually, and the stacks of documents immediately divided themselves into five copies that flew straight into each instructor''s hands. After skimming through its contents for the next ten minutes, Qin Ye roughly understood the situation.

    But who exactly was Gu Qing? Put bluntly, he was a figurehead greater than any provincial governor or secretary of a provincialmittee! He was an important minister that had shaped Cathay¡¯s development and left his mark in the annals of history! Even if he wanted to return home in death, there was no way he would immediately be buried. His family and friends, his teacher¡¯s children, the top leaders of the City of Salvation, Mount Tai City, and even Insignia Province, and a number of others, including leaders of the surrounding regions, would alle to pay their final respects to him.

    For instance¡­ why there was an extraterritorial emissary hidden within the First Academy of Cultivators.

    Qin Ye was an Emissary of Hell, and he knew full well that he was an exception. His fleshly body contained and concealed all of his Yin energy, preventing any Yin spirits nearby froming close to him in an attempt to siphon off his presence. On the other hand, the extraterritorial emissary would invariably begin to attract other Yin spirits if he didn¡¯t possess the body of a living human being. At that time, the instructors of the academy would most certainly discover his presence.

    What a strange name.

    ¡°Is it possible to deflect these tasks?¡± Local Bully was the most straightforward of the lot, and he immediately took the initiative to probe at the situation, ¡°We¡¯ve got nothing to do with thete Mr Gu Qing. We can conduct our sses, and they can conduct their burial. End of story.¡±

    Yet Zhou Xianlong immediately red at him, ¡°The upper echelons of all major departments and ministries are going to be present! We may well need to rely on each other for help in future! Wouldn¡¯t you need to engage with the local authorities and leaders when you graduate and take up an office elsewhere? Where do you think your cases and missionse from? The academy has justmenced its very first semester, and we¡¯ll still need the support of the City of Salvation. If we give them the cold shoulder on the very first request they make of us, what would they think?! And the ones who areing are the top brass of every city in the surrounding region to boot! Will you grow a brain?!¡±

    Qin Ye gave Su Feng a knowing look, only to receive a despondent gaze in return. The two immediately understood the emotions in the other¡¯s heart as soon as they locked eyes.

    Tao Ran smiled and brightened up the tense atmosphere, ¡°Therefore, our top priority in the week toe will be the funerary preparations. The iing leaders know how special the First Academy of Cultivators is, and it gives them a peace of mind knowing that we¡¯d take care of the proceedings.¡±

    Nobody said anything. Zhou Xianlong coughed lightly, ¡°Deal with this well, and you¡¯ll each be rewarded with ten teaching credits.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong red at them and waved his hands, ¡°Now get out of my sight. Instructor Qin, stay behind for a while.¡±

    There¡¯s a dirty, shady deal going on!

    ¡°You won¡¯t have to attend sses for the next few days. Instead, I want you to patrol the campus grounds from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. everyday, with a focus on the vicinity near the memorial hall.¡±

    Tao Ran looked at Qin Ye with an icy gaze, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter whether he¡¯s truly gone or not. The ones who areing are all provincial-level leaders and governors. If something goes awry¡­ we¡¯d all be in deep trouble. Qin Ye, you must not slip up or be negligent.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Ye stood up, cupped his hands respectfully, and then took his leave.

    Furthermore¡­ there was a possibility that they might even encounter each other that very night.

    Midnight also represented lights-out in the entire academy.

    Night filled every corner of the First Academy of Cultivators. The gentle night breeze sent soft ripples through the trees around, almost as though an invisible hand were caressing the tips of the branches. The faint illumination of the surroundings was eerie and foreboding, almost as though a bloodied figure would leap out of the shadows at any moment.

    It was extremely quiet.

    ¡°The hearse is expected to arrive within the next two days. If the intruder is truly an extraterritorial emissary, he would most certainly be scouting out the memorial hall within these two days. Furthermore, he would be hiding among the student body right now. If he were to carry out some scouting activities, I might just be able to discover his presence.¡± Heid low onto one of the branches as he thought aloud. His vantage point gave him a good view of the entrances to all three dormitory buildings.

    Time flew by, and the only sounds that Qin Ye heard were the soft rustling sounds of the trees nearby. The dim lights continued to cast eerily flickering shadows around like a demon¡¯s dance.

    ¡°He¡¯s noting.¡± Qin Ye spat out the willow leaf in his lips, drew a deep breath, and the tip of his toes tapped against the willow branch below. The branches swayed gently with the wind. By the time they grew still again, Qin Ye was already hiding in the canopy of the next tree.

    Tap¡­ tap¡­ tap¡­ His footsteps were soft as a cat¡¯s, and the rustles werepletely masked by the gentle night breeze. When Qin Ye finally arrived right next to the memorial hall, it was already 3.50 a.m.

    The memorial hall was rather dpidated. There were wooden ques ced on each side of the hall, yet the decaying wood made it difficult to make out what was originally etched on it. The entire wooden building appeared to be stubbornly holding its ground, and yet it also looked as though it would copse at the slightest touch.

    The scene practically looked like something straight out of a horror film.

    Someone¡¯s here.

    Furthermore¡­ it¡¯s a kindred spirit. It¡¯s an emissary of hell!

    It was 4.05 a.m. right now.

    Thud¡­ thud¡­ Qin Ye heard what sounded like an old monk striking the bell. He squinted and looked into the memorial hall, only to notice that the culprit was none other than the billowing gale that was repeatedly mming the frame of the tattered windows against the walls.

    99% silence.

    Then, in the very next second, he crouched down and leapt straight into the memorial hall through the open window. As soon as he entered, his pupils widened, and he rolled on the ground to break his fall. Simultaneously,herfire instantly burst out of his body and Yin energy poured out of his seven apertures as his demonhead saber materialized out of nowhere and shed horizontally across in front of him.

    It was as though everything was muted. His feet tapped gently on the ground, and he somersaulted through the air andnded on the ground just like a great expert in a martial arts film.

    All sounds werepletely muted as soon as he entered the formation array.

    But before he could even get a closer look at the conditions within the memorial hall, a spine-tingling sensation of danger surged through his body. He ducked reflexively and swung his demonhead saber through the air. This time, the recoil was even greater than before. His hands immediately felt numb, and his body was sent flying back to the edge of the memorial hall from the impact. He made full use of this opportunity to take a good look at what was within the hall.

    Pair after pair of jade-green eyes lit up one after another on the roof of the memorial hall. A two meter figure was crawling right underneath the roof.

    But it was notpletely one. Her lower body was shaped like a massive spider, with eight massive wstching it to the underside of the roof, and yet her upper body¡­ bore the semnce of ady. She wore a middle eastern robe and hijab ensemble, while her appearances were masked with a ck veil. Three golden nes hung around her neck.

    Her long sleeves fluttered wildly as visible wisps of Yin energy flowed out of her robes. The jade-green eyes on the bottom half of her body appeared to stare transfixed at Qin Ye. She held antern in her hand that waspletely congealed from Yin energy. Most of all, the Yin energy emanating from her body was ostensibly stronger than what Qin Ye could muster!

    This is the Hell¡¯s Emissary state! And of an extraterritorial emissary to boot!

    1. Sorry I couldn¡¯t resist that. It¡¯s bad, I know.

 Chapter 174: Extraterritorial Emissary

    <h4>Chapter 174: Extraterritorial Emissary</h4>

    His first face-to-face encounter with an extraterritorial emissary was like the depiction of a grand battle between gods on ancient tapestry. One party was dressed in ancient Cathayan robes with ck irises and flowing white hair. Greenhermes surged from his body as he held a huge de carved out of bone in his arms. The other party was half spider, half woman, with countless jade-green eyes all over her lower body, and a disposition no different from a hellish asura.

    They locked eyes with each other, and neither said a single word as they pounced straight at each other once more!

    The demonhead saber swept across the room, leaving a trail ofhermes in its wake, only to sh head on with antern that struck down with immense force like a meteorite. Neither said a word, and yet within moments, the demonhead saber andntern had already shed powerfully with each other hundreds of times, sending soft shockwaves rippling into the void around them.

    It was chaotic and tumultuous on the inside, and yet not a single sound could be heard. In fact, it was so dark that neither could see each other clearly. Nevertheless, Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief after three minutes passed.

    His opponent¡¯s Yin energy was incredibly strong.

    However¡­ it felt as though something were suppressing her, and she was unable to unleash the full extent of her abilities. Given that they were both Soul Hunters, he naturally had an upper hand in such circumstances.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to kill me with only that much.¡± He licked his lips, and brighthermes instantly flourished from his demonhead saber as he plunged it straight towards the spiderdy¡¯s chest.

    Qin Ye¡¯s attack was so powerful that even the void around them had begun to be torn asunder. The spiderdy opened her mouth as though screaming, and she quickly formed hand seals as she scrambled to retreat.

    A split-secondter, thentern in her hand blossomed with rings of ck luster, and then hundreds of ghosts poured out in an instant, transformed into winddes and rushed straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s body.

    Underworldly arts!

    Qin Ye cursed under his breath. Hell was stillnguishing in its nascent stages, and he had no means of ess to his own underworldly arts as yet. Do I really have to resort to my de release right now?

    He didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to mull over this question. He immediately recalled his demonhead saber and began to execute his defensive de dance. An illusory silver sphere formed around him, instantly repelling the oing ck mes with numerous micro-explosions. Simultaneously, he dug his left thumb deep into the palm of his hand, readying himself to cut a gash across the surface of his palm at the moment¡¯s notice.

    He was prepared.

    Each spot of ck me bore the force of hundreds of newtons, and it felt as though he were deflecting powerful gunshots. Then, just as he was about to bite the bullet and cut the palm of his hand, a soft ck resounded from the entrance outside.

    All traces of their heated battle vanished in the very next moment. The spiderdy and Qin Ye locked eyes for a split second, and both of them tacitly retreated back into the darkness where they hade from.

    Qin Ye hid in the shadows behind a corner of the memorial hall, while the jade-green glow from the spiderdy¡¯s eyes vanished as she melded into the dark ceiling. Neither looked at each other anymore. Instead, their eyes were now transfixed on the entrance to the hall.

    There¡¯s somebody else¡­

    We¡¯re not the only ones here¡­

    The only thing Qin Ye could hear was the heavy thumps of his own heartbeats. Despite having lived for nearly a hundred years and expunging his fair share of evil ghosts, this was the first time he had encountered such a thrilling, heart-stopping situation.

    He had already reflexively turned the tip of his saber towards the entrance of the hall. The entity that had just arrived was certainly not of the same faction as the spiderdy. Otherwise, there would be no reason for her to be hiding right now. Incidentally, the spiderdy was also aiming herntern towards the entrance of the hall.

    Whoever enters, dies.

    The silence was oppressive. Just then, the entrance gate suddenly crumbled to pieces, followed quickly by a flurry of dazzling de lights that gleamed like a crescent in a starless night. Two figures rushed straight into the hall after the de lights.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered slightly, but he didn¡¯t make his move immediately.

    He could see against the moonlight that the two neers to the fray were wearing a ck hakama, or a long-pleated skirt, together with a ck coat and a conical bamboo hat. However, their clothes werepletely tattered, almost as though they were ghosts that had just crawled right out of the grave.

    They rushed right in with quick and light footsteps, and their hands were wrapped tightly around the hilts of their des. Just like Qin Ye and the spiderdy, jet-ck Yin energy billowed from underneath the conical bamboo hat, and their clothes fluttered about madly. As they rushed in, one could faintly hear the chorus of wailing ghosts crying around them.

    Emissaries¡­ it¡¯s another two emissaries! Extraterritorial emissaries!

    Furthermore, Qin Ye could immediately tell from their dressing exactly what nation they represented.

    Nipponese emissaries!

    ¡°Õl¤â¤¤¤Ê¤¤! / Nobody¡¯s here!¡± The left Nipponese emissary whispered. The right one responded hoarsely, ¡°ÓÍ¶Ï¤·¤Ê¤¤¤Ç!±Ë¤Î»ê¤òÈ¡¤êÏû¤¹¤Î¤ÏË½¤¿¤Á¤À¤±¤Ç¤Ï¤Ê¤¤¡£/ Don¡¯t let your guard down! We¡¯re not the only ones after his soul!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not the only ones after his soul?¡± Qin Ye barely understood their exchange and sneered, ¡°Soul society¡¯s gotei 13?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯ve crossed the line here?¡±

    Almost as though there were a tacit agreement between them, ten eyes on the roof instantly opened up at the very same time that Qin Ye finished speaking, and dozens of ck mes rushed straight towards the Nipponese emissaries. Simultaneously, Qin Ye stepped out of his corner, and he swept his ming demonhead saber horizontally across in front of him, leaving a trail of green de light in its wake.

    ¡°Haa!¡± Trouble was brewing. The two Nipponese emissaries let loose a battle cry, only to notice that everything was muted within the memorial hall. They immediately somersaulted backwards while performing several hand seals while they were still in the air. As soon as theynded, the duo neatly sped their hands together at the exact same time. When they opened their palms once more, an ancient scroll with symbols drawn all over it unraveled itself and shot through the air, quickly expanding until it was several metersrge, where it quickly absorbed Qin Ye¡¯s de light and the spiderdy¡¯s swooping ck mes.

    ¡°ÈË¤¬¤¤¤ë!/ Someone¡¯s here!¡± ¡°ÖÐ–|¤ÎÏ£Àï°ßµØªz!/ The Middle East¡¯s Underworld of Serapis!¡± The two Nipponese emissaries were already outside of the memorial hall when theynded, and they cried out in surprise. But instead of retreating, they once again rushed into the memorial hall like maddened spirits.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth in anger. Of all the emissaries present today, he was the only one who possessed neither underworldly arts nor powerful treasures at his disposal. All of them were wealthier than he was!

    His palm was already pressing against the edge of the de when the two Nipponese emissaries charged right back into the memorial hall. Yin energy surged, while the katanas by the sides of the Nipponese emissaries gleamed menacingly. Then, just as they began to unsheath their katanas, everyone suddenly paused once more.

    Pata¡­ pata¡­ pata¡­ Another three sounds could be heard right outside the memorial hall.

    Dead silence.

    The Nipponese emissaries nced about in this pantomime of death, and then dodged straight into the shadows in another corner of the hall. The spiderdy¡¯sntern was already glowing white, but she immediately decided against making a move.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t act on his earlier intentions either.

    Silence and darkness filled the entire memorial hall once more. The two katanas, Qin Ye¡¯s demonhead saber, and the spiderdy¡¯sntern were all trained at the entrance to the memorial hall.

    In fact, it was so silent that one could even hear the raging wind outside. QIn Ye didn¡¯t move a muscle. Yet, one minute passed¡­ two minutes passed¡­ three minutes passed¡­ and that was when he suddenly felt like something was wrong!

    He immediately got down onto the ground. And almost at the exact same time, a rain of arrows poured through the tattered windows and the copsed door frame!

    Shk shk shk shk! This was truly a rain of arrows. Each arrow was congealed from dense Yin energy, and they instantly turned into ashes as soon as they struck any part of the memorial hall. But whenever it struck Qin Ye¡¯s demonhead saber, its Yin energy would immediately flourish with great vigor!

    The rain of arrows was vicious and unrelenting, creating ripple after ripple in the air as they continued to barrage the memorial hall. Then, all of a sudden, the tattered windows began to tter once again, and the howling winds that swept through the hall once again roared in their ears.

    The formation array had been broken!

    ¡°ËÀÉñ¥Ø¥é!!/ Shinigami Hel!!¡± ¡°±±Å·êŽ´ÌÜŠ!/ Western Europa¡¯s assassins of the underworld!¡± ¡°o¦È?¦Í¦Áto?he!!¡± The other three Yin spirits eximed in unison as they raised their weapons of choice to parry the oing flurry of arrows.

    ¡°Each one of these bears the force of hundreds of newtons¡­ What kind of army do they have out there?!¡± Qin Ye could no longer care less about keeping himself concealed. He nced around and noticed some tables and chairs still lying around the dpidated shrine, and then dashed straight to the nearest table and ducked behind it.

    Then, just as suddenly as it had arrived, the barrage of arrows stopped in the instant that the formation array was destroyed.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t let his guard down. The de of his sword had already punctured his skin. All he needed to activate his de release was just a little bit of force.

    Like the calm before the storm, the stillness was so oppressive that it made his scalp tingle!

    This¡­ might very well be the strongest faction to arrive thus far!

    He had heard of the death god that the Nipponese emissaries were talking about¡­ It was Hel, the Norse goddess of the dead.

    ording to the legends, Hel ruled over the underworld, Niflheim, where she was waited upon by two servants called Ganti and Ganglot. It is said that they moved so slowly that they appeared to bepletely still.

    But before he could delve any further into his thoughts, three blood-curdling cries of a dog suddenly resounded through the night sky.

    ¡°Woof... woof¡­ awoooooo¡­¡±

    As the eerie barks reverberated through the corners of the hall, Qin Ye quickly discovered that the ground was beginning to tremble!

    Dong dong dong¡­ It sounded like a massive being was charging madly towards them. The tables and chairs in the hall rattled incessantly. It only took him a split-second to realize what exactly these cries meant.

    Hel¡¯s three-headed hellhound, Garmr.

    ¡°D-damn it¡­ shit¡­ the legends and myths are all true! I¡¯m screwed!¡± He gnashed his teeth in agony, and his spirits tensed up to the extreme.

    What do I do?

    Get out and leave my cover?

    Impossible. There are at least three extraterritorial emissaries out there who possess a wealth of treasures and magic arts at their disposal. I¡¯d be courting death!

    Remain hidden?

    Would the memorial hall be able to withstand the impact of Garmr¡¯s charge?

    He wasn¡¯t the only one considering his options right now - all of the other emissaries were doing exactly the same thing. The rumbling sound outside the memorial hall grew louder and louder, and the woofs and howls also escted in ferocity. Just then, the two Nipponese emissaries suddenly roared and leapt into the air at the same time.

    They bit down on their finger and then made a series of hand seals so quickly that their hands became a blur, leaving countless afterimages in their wake. Yin energy began to build up and soar as the number of hand seals increased. A secondter, they ced their palms against each other and let loose a great yell. Then, as their palms pulled apart, a crystal mirror appeared between them.

    ¡°This¡­ could this be the legendary eight-foot mirror?¡± Qin Ye cried out in astonishment. It was only when he faced the extraterritorial emissaries that he truly understood how much he wascking.

    Whoosh!

    A white light burst out from the mirror as soon as it appeared, engulfing the two Nipponese emissaries in an instant and consuming them. Just like that, the two emissaries disappeared into the mirror. Following that, the mirror transformed into wisps of Yin energy and dissipated into the surroundings.

    ¡°Go.¡± Just then, Arthis¡¯ voice suddenly rang out in Qin Ye¡¯s ears. Before he could even respond, he felt his entire body enter a dizzying vortex. His surroundings spun endlessly, receding rapidly as they vanished into nothingness. Then, he trembled violently and woke up in shock, only to realize that he was already back in his own dorm room.

    His heart was palpitating, and his back was soaked through with cold sweat.

    He immediately shot to his feet and stared out of his window and towards the location of the memorial hall. However, there wasn¡¯t a single shred of sound or sign of abnormality from the memorial hall.

    ¡°Are you courting death?!¡± Arthis stared at Qin Ye, evidently still reeling with shock, ¡°Every single one of these extraterritorial emissaries are each trained in their own orthodox disciplines! They¡¯re even equipped with underworldly arts and treasures of their own! Every single one that is sent across the borders of their nations are undoubtedly the best of the best in their underworlds!¡±

    Qin Ye copsed back onto the chair and wiped the sweat percting off his forehead, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll never step foot in the memorial hall again even if you beat me to death. I¡¯d thought that they were bronze-tier noobs, but it turns out that they¡¯re actually challenger-tier masters!¡±

    Arthis sighed, and her tone of voice grew stern and somber, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have made the trip down had I not sensed that your life was in danger. Unfortunately, I¡¯d also been in such a rush that I wasn¡¯t able to conceal my existence from the Infernal Judge in this academy any longer. In fact, I¡¯m almost certain that he would have been able to pinpoint my exact location had I used any more of my abilities. Survival is key! You must first survive before you can start thriving! How can an Ezreal with Zeal possibly go toe to toe with a Vayne with an Infinity Edge?!¡±

    Qin Ye pursed his lips, ¡°I can appreciate thisparison. At least I¡¯m¡­ good-looking.¡±

    In a moment of shock, both of them grew somewhat taciturn. Then, in a rare disy of affection, Arthis made a cup of tea for Qin Ye and even personally brought it over to him, ¡°Tell me, which challenger¡¯s crypt have you defiled in my absence? You must¡¯ve done something horrifically wrong to be so widely sought after by several underworlds all at once¡­¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled bitterly as he exined everything.

    Arthis grew silent. She paced about the room silently with a glint in her eye. After some time, she turned back and looked Qin Ye in the eye, ¡°Do you¡­ trust me?¡±

    1. So the author has taken to writing quite a fair bit of the dialogue in the nativenguage of these emissaries. He provides the trantion for some, but not all. I¡¯ll do my level best to trante them and make sense of them where possible, but where I can¡¯t, I¡¯ll leave the original here.

    2. Reference to the captains of soul society in the popr manga/anime, Bleach.

    3. This was in Japanese as well.

    4. Other fun facts, they served her meals in a dish named ¡®hunger¡¯, and with a knife named ¡®famine¡¯.

    5. Reference to ranks in LoL. Bronze is the second lowest tier, while challenger is the highest ranking one.

    6. Ezreal and Vayne are champions/heroes that yers control, while Zeal is a weaker item than Infinity Edge. She¡¯s saying here that their equipments are on a totally different level.

    7. I¡¯ll let you guys be the judge. Go check out the artwork on the cosmetics tab.

 Chapter 175: Mounting You From the Front

    <h4>Chapter 175: Mounting You From the Front</h4>

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Arthis responded coldly, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to defeat even a single one of these extraterritorial emissaries this time. It¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s just that you¡¯d joined the ranks of Hell a little toote, and you¡¯re unable to tap on the powers avable to emissaries of the old Hell. That said¡­ this doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s no way to kill them!¡±

    She stared soullessly into the distant night sky, ¡°This is Cathay¡¯s Hell we¡¯re talking about. We were the strongest underworld back then. The fact that these abominations are here is tantamount to a challenge against Hell¡¯s authority! Don¡¯t you wish you could¡­ make them leave their lives behind?¡±

    Qin Ye coughed lightly, ¡°I don¡¯t have that level of dignity and self-respect¡­¡±

    It was evident just how strong his will to survive was.

    However, this desire for survival was immediately suppressed by Arthis¡¯ chilling gaze.

    ¡°Cough¡­ about that¡­ well, go on¡­ I¡¯m listening, and I¡¯m open to suggestions¡­¡±

    Arthis withdrew her gaze and muttered with conviction, ¡°I¡¯ll enter you.¡±

    ¡°Once I enter your body, I¡¯ll be able to disy abilities of at least the Hellguard level. I¡¯ll even have ess to the underworldly arts. It wouldn¡¯t be an issue taking them down at that point in time.¡±

    WTF?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips quivered, ¡°About that¡­ Did I mishear you?¡±

    Arthis smiled faintly, ¡°You misheard nothing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll mount you from the front.¡± ¡°I refuse.¡±

    Silence.

    Three secondster, a particr instructor¡¯s room was thrown into disarray, and it took some time before peace settled in the room once more.

    Arthis¡¯ domineering personality was in full bloom. With one foot on the bed and one hand on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, she stared at Qin Ye with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, ¡°What do you mean? Are you saying that my otherworldly beauty isn¡¯t good enough for you? And don¡¯t you think you¡¯re rejecting me too outrightly? I¡¯m hurt¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s desire to survive trumped every other consideration in his heart. He tugged shamelessly at his nket and trembled on his bed, ¡°No¡­ can¡¯t we discuss this a little bit more? This humble servant of yours isn¡¯t deserving of such a great national beauty like you!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no room for negotiations.¡± Arthis covered Qin Ye¡¯s mouth with her silicone hands as she smiled in a deep and profound manner, ¡°Do you know something? Killing extraterritorial emissaries nabs you twice the amount of merit points you would get for an equivalent Yin spirit. In other words, killing them would mean attaining the next breakthrough to the rank of an Anitya Hellguard. What¡¯s a bodily sacrifice in light of such a great opportunity like that?¡±

    Qin Ye scrunched up the corner of his nket in agony, ¡°... But I don¡¯t even want to be an Anitya Hellguard! I¡¯m just a meagre little Ezreal floundering about with Zeal!¡±

    ¡°Eh? It sounds like you¡¯re despising me aren¡¯t you? Do you know how many people were queuing up to make such requests of me? They were even willing to fork out huge sums of money¡­¡±

    ¡°Then go find them! Why--... I finally understand - you¡¯re coveting my body! No wonder I got the feeling that you were looking at me funny! Are you finally making your move after seeing the perfect opportunity?!¡±

    ¡°... Where does all this self-confidencee from? Fine. I¡¯m willing to enter a covenant under the Heavenly Dao to the effect that I won¡¯t seize possession of your body. After all, Hell is now directly linked to your soul in any event. It¡¯s decided then. Be good.¡±

    Arthis began to write in the air in front of her. Momentster, a contract made of Yin energy appeared in mid-air. Qin Ye scanned through its contents and confirmed that everything was in order.

    But having this damned woman taint my pure body is a huge problem nheless! ARRRGGGHH!!

    Director! I don¡¯t want this role anymore! You can give it to anyone who wants it!

    ¡°... I think we¡¯re being too hot-headed about these things. Something so important should be carefully considered¡­ Wait, what are you doing¡­ Holy crap! Let go!!¡± Qin Ye struggled with everything he got, yet before he could finish, Arthis had already grabbed hold of his hand and pressed his thumbprint onto the contract.

    Qin Ye fell into a state of despondence.

    Why¡­ isn¡¯t this supposed to be a story of cities and the supernatural? How did it suddenly be a story about a person¡¯s transformation? Can you please draw the line somewhere?!

    Arthis giggled softly. For some strange reason, she felt incredibly satisfied teasing thest remaining Emissary of Hell, and she revealed a radiant smile on her silicone face, ¡°Then, shall we begin? Don¡¯t be afraid. You¡¯ll get used to it.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ wait a minute! What are you going to do? I¡¯m not a willing party! Ahhhhh!!!¡±

    Ten minutester.

    Qin Ye sat up on his bed.

    And a lifeless and limp silicone dolly on the bed beside him.

    The imagery was a little too dirty.

    He picked up a mirror, and slowly ran his warm fingers down the side of his face and paused when he arrived at his jaw. He blinked at his reflection and eximed in a deep voice, ¡°This kid¡­ is pretty good-looking.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and yelled at the top of his voice in his mind, ¡°I¡¯m warning you! Don¡¯t do anything weird with my body! Otherwise, I¡¯m breaking up with you!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem too upset by the situation.¡± Qin Ye slowly undid his camouge uniform, ¡°I mean, you even seem to be in the mood for jokes? Eh? Since when did you have abs?¡±

    ¡°What the--!! Get your dirty hands off me! That¡¯s not something for your hands!! I¡¯ll be damned¡­ My eyes!¡±

    It was the stuff of mental breakdowns to see yourself touching yourself.

    Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of his worst nightmare.

    Qin-Arthis-Ye got to her feet, but the first thing she did was to cross a leg tightly over the other. And then, she furrowed her thick brows immediately. The stance was peculiar to the extreme.

    Qin Ye could feel his bulging being throbbing uncontrobly in his mind, ¡°What in the world are you trying to do?¡±

    Yet his body didn¡¯t give him any response, and she simply continued to rummage around. Qin Ye began to develop a bad premonition, and he softened his voice and spoke as gently as he could, ¡°I mean¡­ could you please tell me what you¡¯re looking for?¡±

    ¡°Souermei.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s body responded curtly, ¡°My body just feels like something¡¯s missing¡­¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ #%(#*&#$(@!!!¡± A long string of expletives resounded through every corner of his mind, only to receive a displeased response, ¡°This is business. I¡¯ll return your body to youter. If I don¡¯t use it and get ustomed to it, there might bepatibility issuester on. After all¡­¡±

    His hand picked up a mirror and ran a finger gently across his face, ¡°I¡¯m just ady when all is said and done¡­¡±

    ¡°What kind of business do you run donning a Souermei and going to war?! You¡¯re just a stupid silicone doll!¡± Qin Ye''s mind was on the verge of copse as he continued cursing at Arthis.

    His body suddenly set the mirror down and furrowed his brows, ¡°Those who are to achieve great things in life must not be shackled by the little things in this world. Look at how petty you are¡­ Fine, I won¡¯t put it on. I¡¯ll just have to get ustomed to it.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, Qin Ye discovered his hand shifting away from the bed and plunging straight into his camouge pants. And then, a peculiar expression ran across his face.

    ¡°Oh my words¡­ What¡¯s this¡­ Doesn¡¯t that feel a little bit strange¡­¡± His body moaned.

    ¡°Get! Away! From! Me!! Take your hands out! Take your hands out right out!!¡± That was thest straw. Qin Ye wentpletely bonkers in his mind.

    This is my own absolute domain¡­ how could it be defiled just like that by this old granny?!

    Dozens of minutester.

    His body still revealed a displeased expression on its face, ¡°I still can¡¯t get the hang of it. It just feels as though I¡¯ve got an extra two taels of fleshing out of my body. Should I¡­ just cut them off? I¡¯ll glue it back for you before leaving your body.¡±

    The veins on Qin Ye¡¯s forehead throbbed, ¡°Only two taels?!¡±

    His body frowned, ¡°Don¡¯t you think your focus is a little bit off the mark? Who do you think I was talking to when I asked for permission to cut them off? And I¡¯m just borrowing your body for a few hours. Why does it always have to be so difficult with you?¡±

    ¡°... Big sister, I¡¯m begging you. Can you please just fall into a boiling cauldron and die? Don¡¯t mess with me anymore¡­¡±

    ¡°Tsk¡­¡± Just as Arthis was about to continue, her body suddenly trembled, and Qin Ye promptly passed out on the bed.

    When he woke up again, he found both himself and the silicone doll sitting up at exactly the same time. The silicone doll nced longingly at her own hands, while Qin Ye immediately reached his hands into his pants.

    Phew¡­ my little brothers are still intact. That¡¯s reassuring.

    Fortunately, this woman isn¡¯tpletely deranged just yet.

    ¡°Exin.¡± Qin Ye rolled up his sleeves as he stared daggers at the silicone doll, ¡°Speak! How long have you lusted after my beautiful face? You¡¯ve taken advantage of this opportunity to make use of me!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Hehehe¡­ Haha¡­¡± Arthis chuckled dryly, ¡°How¡¯s that possible.¡±

    She continued without missing a beat, ¡°It¡¯s been centuries since I¡¯vest touched a man, and you¡¯re still unwilling to cut me some ck? Otherwise, do you really think I¡¯d make a move on you given your appearances?¡±

    It sounded so cogent and well-reasoned that Qin Ye was actually rendered speechless.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Having noticed the suicidal glint in Qin ye¡¯s eyes, Arthis flicked her hand, sending Qin Ye back half a meter away, ¡°Bear this in mind - each instance of possessionsts a maximum of two and a half hours.¡±

    She added, ¡°The artifact used by those two Nipponese emissaries are actually a replica eight-feet mirror. Although it¡¯s a replica, it has undoubtedly been tainted with the aura of their queen of the underworld, Izanami. I¡¯m certain that the other extraterritorial emissaries would also have brought with them their own treasures that have been blessed by their own lords of the underworlds as well. If I don¡¯t possess your body, Gu Qing soul would most certainly be out of your reach.¡±

    Qin Ye fervently suppressed the thought of tearing Arthis to shreds. After much effort, he finally managed to cool off, sigh deeply and nod his head knowingly.

    Gu Qing¡¯s resume made him perfect for Hell right now. Letting him slip out of his grasp would be too much of a waste.

    And most importantly, the actions of the extraterritorial emissaries were tantamount to a barrage of ps to his face - and resounding ones at that.

    Hell was once among the top - if not the top - underworld around. But now, even riff raff like these dared toe and go as they pleased. Perhaps the other emissaries weren¡¯t aware that theme Emissary of Hell that they had just shed against was none other than the future King Yanluo. Nevertheless, even he would feel ashamed.

    And not only had theye, they were even attempting to seize Gu Qing¡¯s soul from right under his nose! This was his turf, so how could he stand idly by and tolerate such audacity?!

    Duty and power came hand in hand. After forking out so much for Hell¡¯s reestablishment, he was naturally entitled to enjoy the power and authority that came along with it.

    Almost as though she could perceive the contemtions on his heart, Arthis remarked, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Entering your body¡­ Such possession ispletely different from the kind that usurps control from your body. Usurping or seizing is something that any Yin spirit can only do once in its entire lifetime. It would be a waste if I used it on you.¡±

    Qin Ye finally smiled and shed his middle finger right at Arthis, ¡°Although I hate to say this¡­ but¡­ thank you.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re friends with benefits, aren¡¯t we?¡± Arthis nced out of the window and muttered through gritted teeth, ¡°Those who dare cause trouble in Cathay had better be prepared to die for it. This is something that all underworlds have known since time immemorial.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the only ones allowed to seize from others. Having a soul seized from us is an urrence so rare that it¡¯s practically unheard of.¡±

    She gently tightened her grip, and the window frame immediately cracked, ¡°Since they¡¯ve forgotten these universal principles¡­ then I, as the remaining Judge, shall take it upon myself to remind them.¡±

    Qin Ye mulled over it, ¡°How confident are you?¡±

    ¡°At least seventy percent.¡± Arthis turned around responded firmly, ¡°Possession without usurpation means that my abilities will fall by one qualitative level. An Anitya Hellguard is only one level above Soul Hunters. Furthermore, all of them are equipped to the teeth with treasures blessed by their respective lords of the underworld. This is why I wouldn¡¯t dare say that I¡¯m a hundred percent confident.¡±

    ¡°... Weren¡¯t you just speaking as though it were a done deal?¡±

    ¡°... Weren¡¯t you the one who told me the first thing I should do every morning is to pump myself up?¡±

    ¡°... Ah¡­ Dear, I think you¡¯ve got it all wrong¡­¡±

    1. Women underwear brand.

    2. A unit of weight approximately equal to 50g

 Chapter 176: Seize the Initiative

    <h4>Chapter 176: Seize the Initiative</h4>

    From the next day onwards, sses were suspended for a period of two days for the purposes of cleaning out the memorial hall.

    Instructors weren¡¯t personally involved in the cleaning efforts. The semester had only just begun, and sses were suspended in order to get an adjoining memorial hall in order for a person who waspletely unrted to the First Academy of Cultivators. Naturally, this was something to be left to the student council¡¯s own arrangements. Instructors were only involved in the nning and supervising of these cleaning and preparation efforts.

    ¡°Why is it so troublesome?¡± All of the instructors gathered in one of the tiered lecture halls at 9 a.m. Li Tao was in attendance as well, and the LED screen behind him disyed arge diagram with various words andbels. However, the person addressing the audience was not Li Tao. Rather, it was a somewhat skinny man standing right before the lectern.

    He ran through the details one step at a time, and it was only at 11 a.m. that the provincialmittee¡¯s First Secretary smiled faintly at the audience, ¡°Thanks again, for all your trouble. We¡¯re only acting from orders from above. Given the special nature of this esteemed academy, it¡¯s not too convenient allowing others to take charge of these affairs either. This is why we had to trouble you with this request. It¡¯s political in nature.¡±

    After saying his piece, he bowed respectfully with a smile and took his leave.

    There was silence in the lecture hall. After a long time, one of the instructors sighed, ¡°Who¡¯s the one who organized these funerary rites anyway? It¡¯s a little bit on the troublesome side, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    The entire lecture hall instantly buzzed with chatter as though his remarks were a trigger. Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel his eyelids twitching uncontrobly as he looked at the requirements on the screen.

    It was three full days of encoffining. And the most troublesome thing was that the rituals involved were ancient rites. It ranged from the restoration of his soul, to rites pertaining to ¡°hanging¡±. Some of these processes were even foreign to him despite the era in which he was born.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Li Tao stood up and cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°Please quieten down. We¡¯re not independent of the people around us, regardless of what anyone has said thus far. In fact, even the SRC and the Special Investigations Department are entities that would have to work in cooperation with the local authorities.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, there is no way that the First Academy of Cultivators, or any of the other future branch academies would be able to operate in istion from the rest of the nation.¡± He drew a circle with his hands and continued, ¡°For instance, what do you think will happen when you depart for other locations on practicums or internships while we¡¯re on bad terms with the local government there? Do you think that they would simply allow us ess to their investigation dockets? Or allow us to mobilize their troops?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded in agreement. Although both the SRC and the Special Investigations Department derived their authority directly from the central government, it would still be incredibly troublesome if the local government weren¡¯t willing to cooperate.

    As long as one wasn¡¯t on good terms with the local authorities, they could hinder any requests on the pretext that they would need verification from the various relevant departments, thereby easily dying matters for ten days to half a month at a go. But if one was on good terms with the local authorities, the request would be granted in the blink of an eye with a simple go ahead.

    These two old men were clearly flexible and pragmatic.

    ¡°Why are these two old men still alive?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin avariciously as he muttered under his breath, ¡°How could you possibly stretch your wings in such a confined ce like the First Academy of Cultivators¡­ There are vast tracts of unimednd waiting to be imed by their new masters¡­ I sincerely wish you a cerebral hemorrhage! A painless ascension to the afterlife! Even the pnquin is ready to receive you¡­¡±

    Li Tao was oblivious to the fact that a particr instructor in the audience was currently giving him his ¡°blessings¡±. Li Tao cleared his throat and continued, ¡°I¡¯ll send the relevant materials and information to the instructor group. Remember to download and go through these documents once you¡¯ve received them. The final sendoff ceremony will begin tomorrow night at the memorial hall. For tonight¡­¡±

    He nced at Zhou Xianlong, and Zhou Xianlong finished his sentence, ¡°Instructor Qin will be in charge of the night watch.¡±

    QIn Ye¡¯s gaze flickered, and nodded his head with some measure of displeasure.

    With that, the gathering of instructors were finally dismissed. Qin Ye downloaded the files sent by Li Tao on the way back. They were several hundred megabytesrge. He scanned through everything as he trotted back to his room. And when he finally got back, he immediately shut the door and locked it after him. Then, he turned to Arthis with a grave expression on his face, ¡°Did Zhou Xianlong discover what happenedst night?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± Arthis pressed the pause button as she responded, ¡°The spiderdy fromst night hails from Argos, where one of the four great underworlds is located. Legend has it that spiders were created when Arachne, a weaver, challenged Athena and was consequently transformed into a spider.They were cast out of Athenai a long time ago, and it is unclear which underworld they ended up pleading allegiance to. If the spiderdy truly represented the assassins of the Argosian underworld where Garmres from, she wouldn¡¯t have been afraid of Garmr in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°And the formation array that you¡¯d stumbled upon is something that I¡¯ve seen before. It is the famous Curse of the Grievous Silence referred to in the Book of Night and Day. Anything that urs within the zone of the curse¡¯s influence would be erasedpletely, as though it had never urred before. Mortals would never be able to detect that anything was amiss. Although Arachne¡¯s offsprings aren¡¯t very remarkable, they still possess the blood of nobility running through their veins. Zhou Xianlong might at best be able to sense some fluctuations in the surrounding air, but he would never be able to discover the truth aboutst night.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    ¡°I¡¯m positive!¡± Arthis responded with an unusual conviction, ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re underestimating your opponents this time? Cathay¡¯s Hell may be strong, but you would be sorely mistaken if you think that the other underworlds are just soft-footed cats!¡±

    She continued sternly, ¡°They have their own areas of expertise, underworldly arts, and system of divine protection. Perhaps their existence may be a far cry from the threat posed by Lord Harken, but¡­ their existence represents a threat far more terrifying than Lord Harken himself!¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn, and Arthis didn¡¯t exin any further. After all, many things were implicit in the things that she had just said.

    That¡¯s right¡­ the appearance of extraterritorial emissaries means that¡­ other underworlds have already begun to probe at Hell to suss the depths of its existence!

    Just like how the Eight-Nation Alliance infiltrated Cathay years ago, this was also a ndestine inquest!

    It was like a de hidden underneath an unassuming velvet cloth.

    ¡°Here¡¯s the detailed particrs for the rites and rituals. Have a look.¡± Qin Ye tossed his phone to Arthis after some time.

    She immediately scanned through its contents as Qin Ye continued with his brief rundown, ¡°Mr Gu¡¯s ice casket will be arriving tomorrow, and the rites and rituals forming part of the encoffining process shall take ce over the next three days that follow. I¡¯m in charge of the night watch, and I¡¯m certain that the extraterritorial emissaries would be making their move at night. There will also be present at least two deputy provincial governors, ten city-level leaders, the academy¡¯s Hellguard-ss professors, and Zhou Xianlong himself¡­ You get my drift.¡±

    Arthis nodded slightly as she continued to look through the details.

    Cover and concealment.

    All emissaries would necessarily have to employ smoke and mirrors in order to make their moves right under the nose of the mortal Infernal Judge, Zhou Xianlong. And this included Qin Ye himself.

    A single mistake could cost him his cover, and that would mean the end of any potential ess to the Great Dipper Vault.

    Arthis continued to read through the details and particrs for the next hour before she finally set down her phone. Her voice grew somber, ¡°Masterful.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    ¡°The person who had designed the memorial hall is incredibly masterful. He¡¯s probably close to being an Infernal Judge, if not already one. Furthermore¡­ he probably knows a thing or two about the practices of the old Hell. The number of people like that are few and far between.¡± She pointed at the image of the casket in the phone, ¡°Look here.¡±

    It was the top view of the casket. The ornate casket was beautifully designed with an exquisite carving of Canopus, the deity of longevity, and his peach of immortality. The carving depicted a long-bearded old man leaning against a peach tree. The peach tree extended across the entire length of the casket, and there were six peaches on it. Canopus held a seventh one in his hand.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye frowned, and then his eyes suddenly brightened, ¡°The big dipper constetion?¡±

    The peaches fit incredibly well into the carvings on the casket. Yet the one thing that stood out was the fact that they were arranged too... perfectly.

    Arthis smiled, ¡°That¡¯s right. This is none other than the Big Dipper Soul Invocation, one of the methodsmonly employed by the old Hell. If my guess is right, there should be a cinnabar nail hammered into the casket right beside where his feet are located. Furthermore, there should be a piece of jade ced right inside his mouth. This is called the soul retention jade. Thebination of these three elements constitute the old Hell¡¯s most renowned threefold soul-setting technique. You should be able to find mention of this technique in the records of funerary rites and rituals dating back to the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties.¡±

    ¡°What does this do?¡±

    Arthis smiled, ¡°It does so much¡­ that it will give you the edge you need in this battle against the extraterritorial emissaries¡­ I¡¯m afraid not even they would expect to see the reemergence of the threefold soul-setting technique after centuries of its disappearance.¡±

    She no longer kept Qin Ye on tenterhooks and exined, ¡°This ritualistic technique first appeared right in the middle of the Han Dynasty era. That was also the first time Cathay faced its first invasion of emissaries from other underworlds. Anubis, the Aegyptus god of the dead, sent an underworldly army of one hundred and forty million marching from Al-Qahirah, across the Suez Canal, through the Sinai Penins, crushing the Middle East along the way until they arrived at Ramkund.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped. Ramkund¡­ is only separated from the Cathayan borders by the Kashmeer district! Are these wars of the underworld truly so terrifying?

    Arthis continued, ¡°Perhaps a hundred million might not be arge number right now. After all, most underworlds would have several hundred millions of troops under their charge right now. But we¡¯re talking about several thousands of years ago. A hundred million troops back then¡­ That¡¯s a force of such great magnitude that it could blot out the skies and darken the earth. Any ce it passed would be reduced to a ghost town in an instant.¡±

    ¡°And it was precisely during that century of war that Anubis thoroughly experienced the might of Cathay¡¯s underworld. He didn¡¯t dare to advance rashly. Instead, he engaged in gueri warfare against the great King Yanluo for a period of 147 years, attempting to seize the high-grade Cathayan souls for themselves, thereby affecting Hell and depriving us of our talents.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, as they were operating out of their forward operating bases located far away from their home turf, we were unable to seize their high-grade Aegyptian souls in retaliation. This put us at an absolute disadvantage from the onset, and it wasn¡¯t until we developed the threefold soul-setting technique that we finally managed to turn the situation around in our favour.¡± She sighed in relief, ¡°This technique essentially affixes the soul for seven days, and the soul would only be allowed to move after the seven days have psed. There¡¯s no restriction for Cathayan Emissaries to reap his soul in the first seven days. But if extraterritorial emissaries wished to do so¡­¡±

    She looked Qin Ye in the eye, ¡°They would have to uncover the lid, pluck out the cinnabar nail, and remove the soul retention jade from his mouth. But these are objects that only the living can touch. Underworld emissaries would never be able to manipte them on their own!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened.

    Arthis licked her lips, and her voice grew cold, ¡°Let me tell you something else. Extraterritorial emissaries that enter Cathay must take possession of the physical bodies of others because they would otherwise be rejected by thews of thend. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying now?¡±

    Qin Ye smacked hisp.

    I understand everything now. So that¡¯s how it is!

    ¡°I finally get it¡­¡± He stood up and began to pace about the room in deep deliberation as he sorted out the thoughts running through his mind. Then, he looked up abruptly several momentster, ¡°First, the conditions.¡±

    Arthis smiled and made an inviting gesture.

    Qin Ye continued, ¡°Underworld emissaries cannot be detected by the living in their emissary state. But the living can nevertheless pinpoint their location if they enter their emissary state in the mortal realm. This is precisely also why we think twice before entering our Hell¡¯s emissary state. Even if we must, we would have to actively conceal it from Zhou Xianlong.¡±

    Arthis nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right. The alternative would be to do as Cao Youdao did, which is to perpetually remain in his emissary state, so that no one would be able to sense his presence. But it¡¯s not possible for us. You¡¯re a living Emissary of Hell - the first ever in the history of Cathay, and I¡¯ve also found a beautiful body to use. Zhou Xianlong would definitely detect our presence and then get a lock on our position as long as we transform into our emissary state right now.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately added, ¡°But the same goes for them!¡±

    1. Used for the purposes of preserving a corpse during travels.

    2. In other words, this is Shouxing of the three deitiesmonly known as Fu, Lu and Shou.

    3. I recall just a few chapters ago that the news anchors reported that he was going to be cremated and his ashes buried here. I guess the anchors were reporting fake news in order to conceal their actual ns.

    4. 202BC to 220AD

    5. Cairo.

    6. Imabad.

 Chapter 177: Clash at the Memorial Hall

    <h4>Chapter 177: sh at the Memorial Hall</h4>

    ¡°If they¡¯re going to seize Gu Qing¡¯s soul, they would most certainly have to take possession of the fleshly body of students! This is why Ye Xingchen was attacked in the first ce! They were attempting to enter his body, but we arrived in the nick of time, just before they could do so! However, this naturally also means that some of the students in academy must already have had their bodies possessed by emissaries! It makes sense¡­ Mr Gu had passed away as a result of an illness, and he must have left a will before he passed on. That¡¯s how these emissaries learnt that Mr Gu would be buried in this ce¡­¡±

    Qin Ye squinted his eyes and swept his gaze across the academy grounds, ¡°In other words, it¡¯s rather probable that some of the students in here had already been possessed even before they¡¯d matricted. The emissary that had assaulted Ye Xingchen had only done so because he waste to receive the news andte to the party. That was the only reason why we¡¯d been able to discover him.¡±

    He was fortunate.

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief as he thought about these things. If not for thete arrival of this extraterritorial emissary, he would never have realized the sheer number of emissaries lurking within the First Academy of Cultivators!

    ¡°Therefore, if they even make a single move, they would most certainly be discovered by Zhou Xianlong. But if they choose not to act, then I would be able to reap Gu Qing¡¯s soulpletely unhindered!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s existence had always been like a sword aimed directly at Qin Ye. But at this moment, it was akin to the sword of Damocles looming over the heads of all underworld emissaries!

    Anyone who made the first move in the presence of an Infernal Judge must die!

    Furthermore, the inextinguishable fuse to the precarious situation would be lit as soon as any of the underworld emissaries makes a single move. The eruption of their Yin energy would instantly attract the attention of those around, giving him the perfect opportunity¡­

    Qin Ye and Arthis looked at each other at the exact same time as they eximed in unison, ¡°The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.¡±

    Not only was he going to reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul, he was hell bent on making these extraterritorial emissaries leave their lives behind!

    This was Cathay¡¯s Hell. Even if it was newly reestablished, its glory must never be undermined!

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re able to determine whose bodies these emissaries have possessed, I will ensure that none of them leaves this ce alive.¡± Arthisughed menacingly.

    But Qin Ye shook his head and frowned, ¡°That¡¯s far too difficult. It¡¯s not just the students. There will also be the secretaries and other civil servants forming part of the entourage of the visiting leaders. It¡¯s impossible to discern among them all. That said¡­ does all of this really matter?¡±

    Arthis was momentarily taken aback. And then, she realized what Qin Ye was getting at.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± She smirked as she gazed at the sunny campus grounds, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what they are, or where they¡¯vee from. All of them would have to reveal their true forms if they are to reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul.¡±

    She turned around, ¡°Do you know why they¡¯re here early?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s because¡­ all of them want to set up their own formation arrays in the area. They must have realized the existence of the mortal Judge-ss expert in the academy, and they¡¯re doing everything they can in order to bepletely prepared. That way, even if they end up giving up their lives in the final struggle, their partners orpanions would be able to reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul. This is why they¡¯ve been so incredibly busy sincest night¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Then we¡­¡±

    ¡°Are they trying to take advantage of ourck of manpower?¡± Arthis interjected, ¡°I¡¯ll draw up a formation arrayter. Then all we have to do is to walk around the perimeter of an area five hundred meters radius around the memorial hall. This would be sufficient to gue this group of fleas with a headache for some time.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°You¡¯re a Judge, and yet the only thing you can do is to gue them with a headache? Aren¡¯t you being far too unprofessional?¡±

    Arthis responded with some measure of indignation, ¡°What do you know?! All formation arrays must be supported by the foundation of Hell. The old Hell is gone, and the new Hell is still far from what it needs to be. The fact that I¡¯m able to gue them with a headache is already an achievement in itself!¡±

    It¡¯s still up to me in the end?

    Qin Ye knew better than to pursue this line of inquiry, so he coughed lightly and changed the topic, ¡°Then¡­ when are you putting your n to action?¡±

    Arthis stared at him as though she had seen a ghost. Even her finger pointing at her own nose was shaking, ¡°I¡¯m going?!¡±

    Qin Ye responded in bewilderment, ¡°Who else?!¡±

    Arthis¡¯ response immediately poured out like a tidal wave, ¡°Then what are you supposed to do?! Isn¡¯t a Soul Hunter like you supposed to help an Infernal Judge like me with the grunt work? How could you expect me to personally take action? Is a Judge supposed to stand by the pond and fry up the fish you¡¯ve caught like a servant?! Weren¡¯t you just analyzing everything as astutely as Conan? How did youe to the conclusion that I was going to go tonight?! How could you even bring yourself to utter a suggestion like that? Ahh¡­ I know. You¡¯ve never even considered cing yourself in harm¡¯s way from the onset, have you?¡±

    Qin Ye immediately rebutted, ¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯ve mentioned¡­ Conan has always been the brains with his analyses, but have you actually seen him personally apprehend a criminal? No! In fact, he would always have a number of people at the scene to ensure the arrest. As a Judge, don¡¯t you think you should act a little bit more like Uncle Mouri and protect the weak and frail King Yanluo that I am?!¡±

    ¡°Get lost!! Take it or leave it!!¡±

    Qin Ye tutted back, ¡°You piece of--... You know full well that it would be far quicker if you acted in my ce. What if one of the emissaries sees me and kills me out of spite? Alternatively¡­ would you happen to have any other solution to guarantee my safety?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Arthis waspletely exasperated, ¡°Let me take over your body entirely once and for all. That way, you¡¯ll suffer no diseases, and no pain for the rest of your life.¡±

    This proposal is a little bit startling and very much irrational¡­

    Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°Truth be told, there¡¯s no need for you to be too concerned. As long as they¡¯re not carrying any authentic treasures of their respective underworlds, they would never be able to reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul. Given their current strength, the formation arrays that they¡¯re able to set up are so flimsy that they wouldn¡¯t even be able to withstand a simple blow. Last night¡¯s skirmish was no more than a test of the waters, just to assess the abilities of the other factions contesting for his soul.¡±

    ¡°... And what if they have these authentic treasures?¡±

    ¡°Heh¡­ you¡¯ll feel your blood boil for three seconds¡­ and then nothing more.¡± Arthis booted up herptop nonchntly, ¡°I¡¯ve got to say that the power of habit is quite the remarkable thing¡­ I¡¯d actually thought for a moment there that, ¡®Ah¡­ just like that. That¡¯s how it¡¯s supposed to be. That earlier upstanding and righteous disposition was so uncharacteristic of you¡­¡¯¡±

    The intro music from her drama serials began ying, and Qin Ye prepared himself to head out for lunch. Then, just as he unlocked the door, Arthis¡¯ voice called out to him again, ¡°Kid, you¡¯re now the new master of Hell. Remember Hell¡¯s t - an instance of infraction, a life of requital!¡±

    Qin Ye paused and probed further, ¡°And if¡­ I fail to uphold this t?¡±

    Arthis smiled faintly, ¡°Then¡­ you might fail to uphold your life as well.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ I knew it would be something like that!

    He mmed the door shut and rubbed his face in agony.

    Things were getting dangerous.

    Dangeres from the unknown. And the enemies this time were apletely unknown existence. They were of the same cultivation level, but they had theplete backing of their underworlds behind them, replete with their underworldly arts and even a plethora of Yin artifacts at their disposal. And to top it all off, Qin Ye still had to conceal his battle with the extraterritorial emissaries from the rest of the First Academy of Cultivators.

    Give up Gu Qing¡¯s soul?

    It seemed possible. Gu Qing was merely one Yin spirit after all. Sessfully reaping his soul might mean a great boost to Hell¡¯s shorings right now. Compared with his life, this still seemed to be the lesser option.

    However, doing this would very well spell a protracted, painful death.

    Allowing the other underworlds to sessfully reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul for themselves would be tantamount to an admission that Hell no longer possesses the ability to resist your incursion; and that they are free toe and go as they pleased.

    Just like the first opium war.

    Both are battles fought on their own turfs. And neither can be considered significant in the grand history of Cathay. However, the effects of these battles were far-reaching because they would each mark the start of a dark age in Cathay.

    Qin Ye was born in the 1930s, and he knew full well the history that followed. Therefore, he knew far better than anyone else how much seizing Gu Qing¡¯s soul meant to Cathay. The implications no longer extended only to the development of Hell.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just leave me alone and let me slowly develop my economy in peace¡­ It¡¯s really annoying that you¡¯ve been ganking me every now and then¡­¡±

    But it was useless toin. He could only me it on the fact that Hell was far too insignificant right now. Therefore, when the clock struck twelve, Qin Ye appeared right outside the memorial hall once more.

    He wore the First Academy of Cultivators¡¯ camouge uniform. However, there were additional bandagesced around his military boots. These bandages had some ancient, unrecognizable script scrawled all over them. When he arrived five hundred meters away from the memorial hall, every step he took began to leave an imprint of a weird text on the ground which quickly faded into the darkness.

    This way, he was able to imprint these runic symbols all around the perimeter of the memorial hall as he jogged.

    The other underworld emissaries were busy with their setups in the heart of the memorial hall because that was where they were going to make their move. On the other hand, Qin Ye wasying the groundwork five hundred meters away from the memorial hall because his intention was instead¡­ to clip their wings!

    It was quiet.

    The previously dpidated memorial hall had been cleaned out and refreshed within a single day. It was quite likely that some of the professors or perhaps even Zhou Xianlong had personally done all of the work. The weeds growing from the cracks and the moss on the bricks had all been cleaned out, and even the tattered windows in the hall were repaired and renewed. In fact, it looked so new right now that one would never have imagined the state it was in just a day ago. There were even crimsonmps hanging from the eaves and soft drapes dangling from the window frames, giving the entire hall an ancient feel to them.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t enter the memorial hall, and he simply remained in the trees. Midnight had passed, and he didn¡¯t want anyone to discover his presence. It was only when he had ascertained that the coast was clear that he began toy his groundwork and set up his own formation array.

    With binocrs in his hands, he leaned against the trunk of a tree five hundred meters away from the memorial hall.

    The night skies were as dark as ink, dotted only with sshes of constetions. The night breeze swept through thends from time to time, eliciting a soft, rustling sound from the trees and branches as though they were ying the grim reaper¡¯s sonata. 12.30 a.m¡­ 1.00 a.m¡­ 1.30 a.m¡­

    Then, just as the clock struck two, a gale swept through, and the lights outside the memorial hall suddenly flickered for a split-second, before returning to its usual bright state again.

    They¡¯re here!

    Qin Ye tightened his fists and lowered his stance. He could clearly see that the silhouette of a person had stood up from the shadows in the distance.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± His pupils immediately shrank as he looked through his binocrs.

    The dark figure had eyes that were emitting a jade-colouredherfire, while Yin energy poured out of its body. However, it was¡­ a wolf.

    To be exact, the figure was that of a wolf¡¯s head on a man¡¯s body. There were wrapping around his head, and these wrappings were iid with gold and silver. His hands, ankles and neck were all adorned with bracelets, and he held in his hands a snake-headed staff that was simrly entwined with gold and silver.

    ¡°This style¡­ is clearly Aegyptian. In other words, this must be a subordinate of the Aegyptian god of death, Anubis.¡± The figure¡¯s eye-catching get-up allowed Qin Ye to immediately identify his faction and allegiance, ¡°Nippon, Aegyptus, Argos, Europa¡­ and me. We¡¯ve already got five factions vying for the same prize.¡±

    It suddenly dawned on him just how difficult it must have been for the old Hell to have maintained the status as the top underworld around.

    After all, any ordinary person would never be able to appreciate what went on in the dark of the night, especially what kind of shes and conflict the Emissaries of Hell must have had with the emissaries of other underworlds.

    He held his breath and began to scrutinize everything visible from his binocrs.

    That figure wasn¡¯t the only one¡­ In fact, two more figures emerged from the darkness after the wolf-headed man. They were as still as the trees, and they stuck close to the walls, gripping tightly onto the snake-headed staves in their hands. Then, shadows began to emerge and slither like snakes right under the eaves of the memorial hall. As their shadows extended around the hall, faint runic symbols appeared momentarily, before quickly fading into the facade of the building.

    But, just then, a gleaming katana suddenly plunged straight through the chest of the leader of the wolf-men, pinning him right onto the wall behind!

    The foreboding shadows had set the perfect scene for a night of carnage!

    1. This is a chinese idiom that essentially means that one is so focused on the narrow gain in front of them that they neglect a far greater danger lurking behind.

    2. This is a reference to Detective Conan, the popr mystery-solving whiz-kid.

    3. Conan¡¯s uncle. Conan often acts through him as a mouthpiece. In other words, he generally fronts the entire investigations.

    4. Alright, so the literal trantion actually means something more akin to ¡®offend Cathay and you pay with your life, regardless of the distance¡¯. But I thought this sounded cooler and more sinct.

    5. Where the immediate issue was a seizure of opium stock in an attempt to stop the banned opium trade. The underlying issue, however, was because the British wanted to maintain free trade so that they could obtain chinese luxury goods. Incidentally, this was what resulted in China ceding Hong Kong to Britain a long time ago.

 Chapter 178: Clash of Formation Arrays

    <h4>Chapter 178: sh of Formation Arrays</h4>

    It was the story of a secret agent¡¯s mission. Nobody knew whether the ce they were hiding in was a safe zone, or whether they would be facing another secret agent that was lurking right beside him.

    Through the binocrs, he saw the wolf-man open his mouth wide as he trembled in horror. Then, his body suddenly exploded, transforming into ck scarabs that scattered into the shadows. Meanwhile, another wolf-man waved his snake-headed staff in the air, and yellow sand poured out of the void, coalescing into five sand golems in just an instant!

    Their appearance was quickly met with a flurry of dazzling de lights. Two streams ofhergale promptly swept at them like whirlwinds from both sides, and the two Nipponese emissaries donning conical hats leapt out like valiant warriors. Their clothes fluttered, and Yin energy billowed. They moved in unison as though they were Siamese puppets - unsheathing and sheathing their swords at the exact same time, with the exact same poise and with the exact same movements. Qin Ye wasn¡¯t able to see what they had done, but he could tell that the surrounding trees trembled for a moment, and three of the sand golems scattered in an instant.

    Yet everything looked just like a mime show. The shing emissaries made no sound at all, almost as though there were a tacit agreement among them.

    The night breeze whistled, sending waves rippling through the canopy of trees as though they were a sea, and causing the willow branches to dance like a million arms. The dusky streetmps flickered eerily as though they were funerary pyres. And then, a peculiar sound pierced through the dull drone of the rustling leaves in the background.

    It was light and barely even audible. Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and slowly shifted his hands to the side of his waist.

    Someone was tightening his bowstring in the dark of the night, and Qin Ye was certain that the bow must be massive. Otherwise, there was simply no way that the bowstring would have made such sounds as it tightened. And naturally, its power¡­ must necessarily be absolutely astonishing!

    He slowly scanned through his surroundings. Then, just as he looked a little farther to the left, his gaze finally stopped at a particr location.

    He could only see the figure¡¯s side profile from where he was. Nevertheless, the dim moonlight allowed him to make out the appearance of this emissary in the canopy.

    He had striking red muscles, miserable white bones and protruding eyeballs. But it was undoubtedly a living being. Just like any other of the emissaries around, Yin energy poured out of his body, causing the golden hair that peeked out of his headscarf to flutter on its own. The longbow was forged from bones, and vast amounts of Yin energy were currently condensing into a two-meter long arrow! The head of this arrow zed with a raging green fire, almost as though it had been lit straight from the pits of the underworld.

    Qin Ye squinted his eyes and hesitated for some time. Then, he reached out and made a grasping motion in the air. The demonhead saber materialized instantly, and he promptly leapt out of his cover.

    But he knew far better than anybody else that such opportunities were hard toe by. and fleeting when they did.

    The entire world fell silent as soon as his feet struck the ground.

    He paused in shock for two seconds, and then was struck by an epiphany. He wasn¡¯t the only one who had set up formation arrays outside the memorial hall. These emissaries might not be strong enough to leap straight into the fray within the memorial hall, so they instead chose to set up a formation array outside. Its purpose? Not to dive in, but to obstruct.

    I¡¯ve been discovered¡­ The archer still maintained his posture. His clothes fluttered and his eyes were still trained on its target. However, he began to walk away without any hesitation whatsoever. Almost at the same time, the canopy of willow branches suddenly parted, and another dark figure wrapped in a dark cloak dashed straight out. In fact, it looked almost as though there was nothing underneath the dark cloak.

    Like a bolt of lightning out of the blue.

    There are other emissaries!

    Phantom cleave!

    The roar of his attack was mutedpletely. The split-second that the two des met sent sparks flying through the air. The trees nearby exploded. Willow leaves were tossed about wildly, while the thick trunks of the trees were shatteredpletely. However, the powerful attack did nothing to stop the approach of the cloaked figure. In an instant, the cloaked figure suddenly rose meters into the sky like a nightmarish fiend straight out of the legends of Europa! Then, it swung the ck scythe straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s skull with an indomitable force!

    They had drawn their weapons and attacked each other at the same time. Boundlesshermes filled the air, while dazzling sparks flew with each sh of their weapons. In the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged more than a dozen moves. Then, twenty secondster, both parties mmed heavily against each other one final time, before tacitly backing away as they heaved and panted.

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at his opponent. He could tell that he was holding back and reserving his strength. All he was doing right now was simply ensuring that he made no mistakes.

    The two emissaries red at each other vigntly. Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts had never spun so quickly. The matters that Arthis had apprised him of, including everything rted to the extraterritorial emissaries¡¯ appearance in the First Academy of Cultivators, flickered through his mind quickly. And suddenly, his eyes brightened.

    Theherfire around the demonhead saber zed with ever increasing intensity, sending its mes shooting two meters into the air. The surroundings were immediately painted over with a jade-green hue. Crackle¡­ crackle¡­ Qin Ye held nothing back. His Yin energy andherfire burgeoned and billowed ever more menacingly, until finally, the entire de was engulfed in a raging green inferno.

    Qin Ye¡¯s white hair scattered about in the wake of the raging green inferno, and he revealed a menacing smile, almost as though he were a vicious ghost, ¡°As expected¡­¡±

    This was the First Academy of Cultivators.

    Underworld emissaries weren¡¯t gods. They couldn¡¯t be seen, but that does not mean that they couldn¡¯t be hit!

    How great was the memorial hall?

    But, Qin Ye was exempted from all these things.

    Arthis had earlier mentioned that ¡°given their current strength, the formation arrays that they¡¯re able to set up are so flimsy that they wouldn¡¯t even be able to withstand a simple blow¡±.

    ¡°Here I go.¡±

    The eyes of the two extraterritorial emissaries were instantly filled with a trace of despondence. The surrounding willow trees shattered into splinters, while the waters from the man-madeke rose a meter into the sky. A terrifying sound reverberated through the night sky, and the sound of something being shattered rang out in the surroundings. Crash! tter!

    The emissaries at the memorial hall suddenly looked over with a vicious gaze in their eyes. Even the unintelligible curses muttered under their breaths were carried through the air by the gentle night breeze. The archer emissary gnashed his teeth, and his body trembled. One secondter, he cried out with great anger, ¡°du-te!!¡±

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye silently retracted his emissary state and reverted back into his human form. Likewise, the two cloaked emissaries transformed into ahergale and vanished in an instant.

    ¡°Du te¡­ does this mean retreat? Whatnguage was that?¡± He looked in the direction of the arrow¡¯s path of destruction, ¡°We¡¯re not that different after all¡­¡±

    A jade-green pir of fire erupted from the memorial hall as soon as the arrow struck the ground, sending thousands of illusory Yin spirits drifting through the sky at once. tter¡­ The crunching sound of shattering ss resounded through the hall. Then innumerable runic symbols, green, golden, red, blue¡­ immediately lit up all over the hall, before finally fading into nothingness.

    ¡°°Ë¸Â!!! / Idiot!!!¡± ¡°¦Ã¦Á¦Ì¦Á¦Ó¦Ï!! / Shit!!¡± dannazione!! / Damn!!¡± Curses rang out through the air. However, none dared to linger around any longer. The winds swept violently, and then everything was suddenly still again.

    ¡°That was a masterstroke of evil. You were looking to shatter the formation arrays in the memorial hall so that a certain Judge-somebody would notice these things. And having set your formation array in the outermost edge of the memorial hall, yours would be the only formation array remaining of all extraterritorial emissaries¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°Unfortunately, you met me.¡±

    As he spoke, a pressure that resembled that of a thundergod swept across the entire First Academy of Cultivators!

    Whoosh¡­ The dark clouds in the sky parted, and a figure descended from the sky with raging fury.

    Several figures stared intently at the transcendent being¡¯s descent from the shadows. Their gazes were filled with displeasure and resentment. However, they could only grit their teeth and swallow the bitter pill.

    Their posture was bizarre and rigid, almost as though their limbs were unable to bend at all. Then, without a single word, they rushed to the windows and looked grimly at the sky.

    ¡°¤Ç¤­¤Ê¤¤ / No.¡± The student on the right hammered the table and gnashed his teeth, ¡°ÍêÈ«¤Ë´ò¤Á¤«¤ì¤¿¡¢¤³¤ì¤Ï¤É¤ì¤¬ËÀ¤ó¤À¤Ð¤«Ò°ÀÉ!¤Ê¤ó¤È½ç¤òÆÆ¤Ã¤Æ¡¢¤³¤Î²ÃÅÐ¹Ù¤Ë¤Å¤¤¤Æ¤â¤é¤¤¤Þ¤·¤¿! / It¡¯spletely destroyed. It¡¯s that bloody asshole! How dare he shatter the formation array and draw the attention of the Infernal Judge?!¡±

    ¡°¤¤¤ä! / Damn!¡±

    Who¡­

    Who was so shameless to resort to such tactics?!

    ¡°nytt silt, ettvoin kytt sit¡­ / It looks like we¡¯ll have to resort to using it tomorrow.¡± In another female dorm room, a student with long hair stood in front of the windows with an ashen expression, staring at Zhou Xianlong¡¯s descent from the skies.

    1. There¡¯s a simple story behind this proverb. A m is sitting out in the sun when suddenly a snipe flies down to peck at it. The m ms its shells shut, gripping the snipe''s beak in between. The snipe says, "If it doesn''t rain today, and it doesn''t rain tomorrow, I shall see a dead m on the beach." The m retorts, "If I don''t open today, and I don''t open up tomorrow, I shall see a dead snipe on the beach." While they are grappling with each other, a fisherman passes by ands them both. (Source:)

    2. I have no idea whatnguage this is.

 Chapter 179: Advantage

    <h4>Chapter 179: Advantage</h4>

    After all, how heavy-handed could he have been when he inflicted such a wound on himself?

    They had appeared suddenly, and without warning.

    Qin Ye nodded with a bitter smile on his face as he employed his masterful acting skills, ¡°Still alright. I should be fine after a day¡¯s rest. Boss, could you grant me a day off tomorrow?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I only saw several blurry figures simr to the ones that had earlier attacked Student Ye and breached the Great Dipper Vault. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to see what exactly they looked like.¡±

    ¡°Not more than ten.¡±

    They were now speaking at the same level. Zhou Xianlong looked Qin Ye straight in the eye and suddenly quipped, ¡°You know¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°It¡¯s probably got to do with the cultivation I practice.¡±

    ¡°Keep patrolling. And call me if you need anything.¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t lying.¡± He nced at the hand on which he had patted Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder. A golden runic symbol glowed faintly in the palm of his hands.

    Qin Ye was oblivious to all of this. He simply remained seated on the ground, pretending to recover over the next half an hour before he finally stood up once more and lifted his heels. The faint outline of a rune glowed with a ck luster as it imprinted itself into the ground.

    And this was precisely because it was the First Academy of Cultivators.

    He didn¡¯t rest immediately. Instead, he continued to circle around the perimeter of an area five hundred meters away from the memorial hall. As he walked, the runes that were wrapped around his feet continued to imprint themselves into the ground. Then, just as hepleted a full circle around the memorial hall, the lights within the hall flickered wildly for a split second, and then grew still and silent once more.

    But a closer inspection revealed nothing.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done very well. This formation array will reveal the presence of all underworld emissaries for ten seconds. That¡¯s enough time.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice suddenly entered his ears just as he wasying down on the ground. Qin Ye closed his eyes and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m ttered.¡±

    ¡°And this is not to mention the coteral benefits of the merit points you¡¯d gain from purging these extraterritorial emissaries. If all goes ording to n, you would be able to attain the next promotion to an Anitya Hellguard by the end of the battle!¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s most important is thest thing you did earlier.¡± Arthis transformed into a paper crane that flew down from the canopy of the trees and perched itself on his shoulder, ¡°Zhou Xianlong has bought your story. With that¡­ you¡¯ll have the perfect excuse to be absent when all hell breaks loose in the memorial hall. What¡¯s more, you can even use the chaos to your advantage to transform into your Hell''s emissary state andy silently in wait for the perfect opportunity to make your move.¡±

    The transformation into his Hell¡¯s emissary state would most certainly be discovered by Zhou Xianlong. But¡­ what if he transformed into his emissary state when Zhou Xianlong were too distracted by the others?

    The ideal oue of all of this would be if every single one of the extraterritorial emissaries were killed by Zhou Xianlong. And even if someone did manage to get away, he would be the fallback that pursued them and took them down.

    ¡°The preparation work isplete.¡± He closed his eyes wearily, and a smile crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°I¡¯d like to see if anyone else dares try their luck on our territory after tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°They can escape to the farthestnds or the deepest oceans, but they would never be able to escape the sword of judgment from Hell.¡±

    5.30 a.m.

    Dormitory Four, room 126. Gou Yun quietly opened his eyes.

    This was a room for two.

    ¡°Old Xie?¡± He called out once more. This time, he heard it clearly - it was definitelying from the bathroom. The gurgling sound stopped for a split second, before ensuing with ever greater intensity.

    Having still received no response, Gou Yun immediately hopped out of bed and made his way towards the bathroom in his pajamas.

    ¡°Uurrghhh¡­ Woaoaaargghhhh!!¡± As soon as he opened the door, a pungent smell immediately assaulted his olfactory senses. And then, he frozepletely.

    ¡°It¡¯s gross¡­ so¡­ gross¡­ urrrrggh¡­¡± Old Xie continued to murmur to himself. It was as though he didn¡¯t even realize that Gou Yun had entered the bathroom. Gou Yun was just about to speak up when he suddenly shuddered violently.

    An inexplicable voice bellowed in his mind. And then, he suddenly felt¡­ a chill.

    He fervently suppressed the fear in his heart, gulped, and nced nervously at his surroundings.

    The only source of light was the dim moonbeams that shone through a sliver of opening in the venttion window. Incidentally the light shone directly on Old Xie¡¯s back, revealing¡­ innumerable scars and wounds all over his body!

    ¡°AHHHHH!!¡± He screamed in fear.

    It was devoid of all traces of warmth. In fact, it was even damp and slippery. Then, Old Xie stopped vomiting into the sink, and slowly looked up into the mirror.

    The top half of his face was still Old Xie¡¯s face.

    It was as though something had cleanly sliced off his face from below his nose in what must have been a desperate battle, leaving only a grisly row of upper teeth protruding from his head and no lower jaw!

    ¡°Help--...¡± A sharp de made a clean cut right across his throat before he could even cry out for help. All that remained was a look of incredulity and fear in his eyes as his limp body crumbled and copsed to the ground.

    Old Xie stared nkly at him for two seconds, and then lunged straight at the still-convulsing body as he bit open his throat and began to suck desperately.

    After some time, Old Xie straightened his body once more and looked out the window at the campus grounds with a venomous gaze in his eyes. He muttered in Cathayan with much difficulty, ¡°... There¡¯s no other choice¡­¡±

    He lifted his hands and began to draw aplex formation array on the mirror. And then, he spat a mouthful of blood all over it. A momentter, the blood appeared to vanish, as though it were sucked into the mirror, and ripples suddenly appeared on its surface.

    ¡°Your Excellency¡­¡± Old Xie threw himself on his knees, ¡°We¡¯ve encountered unforeseen circumstances. Scorpio IV is requesting backup¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Old Xie kowtowed, ¡°The location-bound teleportation array has been destroyed, and the Yin node has been broken. We¡­ will no longer be able to retreat safely. This is why we have no choice but to open the specialmunication channel¡­ Mr Gu¡¯s casket will be arriving in approximately one hour. There are five known forces, one of which is suspected to be one of the remnant forces of Cathay¡¯s underworld¡­¡±

    He chuckled contemptuously, ¡°Their underworld might not even be around anymore¡­ A hundred years ago, Hell erupted with a massive fluctuation of Yin energy that shook the entire continent. And ever since that day, their numbers have been dwindling and lessening¡­ And that¡¯s fine. This time, we¡¯ll let Hell know something.¡±

    ¡°Right now, it¡¯s our time to shine!¡±

    ¡°This is¡­¡± A single nce made Scorpio IV tremble vigorously, ¡°An authentic¡­¡±

    ¡°Take it.¡± The voice faded as the countless wisps of Yin energy began to pour back into the mirror and vanish, ¡°If you fail again this time, you¡­ can consider yourself a martyr.¡±

 Chapter 180: Coffin

    <h4>Chapter 180: Coffin</h4>

    Qin Ye pretended to be drained and lumbered back to his dorm room. Then, he copsed onto his bed and began to rest.

    One hour passed¡­ two hours passed¡­ and when three and a half hours finally passed, he suddenly opened his eyes again.

    He could hear footsteps scrambling down the corridor outside. He looked at the clock with bloodshot eyes - it was 5.30 a.m.

    Thud thud thud! Someone was knocking on his door. He answeredzily, ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Su Feng responded with a hushed voice, ¡°All instructors are to gather immediately. This is Professor Tao¡¯s orders.¡±

    Did something happen?

    Qin Ye rolled out of bed immediately and walked together with Su Feng, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Someone has died again.¡± Su Feng¡¯s expressions were grim, ¡°It¡¯s just like thest time. Nobody sensed anything amiss. Except, this time¡­ five people are dead. They were all discovered by students who are up early for their morning training. The situation is under control, and news of this tragedy hasn¡¯t spread yet. Head of Faculty Zhou is currently monitoring the movements across the entire school, and Professor Tao has temporarily stepped in in his absence.¡±

    Qoin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, and he silently followed Su Feng to the scene of the crime.

    There were five locations where an incident had taken ce. The one that they had gone to was located at Dormitory Two, room 322. There were no traces of the surroundings being locked down. However, the main door was shut tightly. As soon as Su Feng opened the door, everyone inside immediately looked over with veritable undertones of murderous auras. But these quickly vanished as their identities were verified.

    5.30 a.m. The skies were still pitch ck, and the rolling clouds in the sky allowed only faint beams of moonlight to peek through. Without saying a word, Qin Ye marched right over to the bedside and lifted the sheets, only to be greeted by a pale, motionless corpse.

    It was a man.

    However, his manner of death waspletely different from the one before!

    This student had obviously struggled desperately for his life. His clothes were in tatters, and there were bloodstains everywhere even though not a single drop of blood appeared to be spilling out right now. His eyes were bulging, as though he couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing in his final moments.

    ¡°Cause of death was a de wound.¡± Qin Ye inspected the scar over the man¡¯s chest. It was a fatal stab wound that had gone straight through his body.

    Moreover, there was a row of teeth marks over the man¡¯s neck. Qin Ye ran his fingers gently across it, only to hear Professor Tao¡¯s icy voice chipping in, ¡°There¡¯s no need to look further. We¡¯ve ascertained that it¡¯s the mark left by human teeth.¡±

    ¡°This student¡­ had had his blood sucked dry after being stabbed to death. Instructor Qin, you were on night watchst night. Did you sense anything peculiar?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze froze, and then he stood up as though nothing had happened, ¡°I¡¯ve already given my report to Head of Faculty Zhou.¡±

    There were three instructors and one professor present at the scene. One instructor gnashed his teeth, ¡°What the hell is going on? We haven¡¯t even managed to uncover the truth about thest student¡¯s death, and yet five more have died in the blink of an eye! Who the hell dares act so brazenly right under the watchful gaze of Head of Faculty Zhou?!¡±

    Another instructor echoed in an icy voice, ¡°I¡¯ve seen the other bodies as well. The killer was incredibly vicious. There¡¯s another student in Dormitory Four whose fatal wound was at his throat. The scene of crime was in the bathroom, and his throat was cut before it was bitten off. The perpetrator¡¯s blood had sttered all over the mirror in the bathroom, and we¡¯ve sent that to theb for testing as well.¡±

    ¡°It looks like there¡¯s something evil hidden in the First Academy of Cultivators that we¡¯re not aware of¡­¡± Professor Tao was unable to mask the killing intent hidden in the depths of his eyes. He gazed deep into the dark campus grounds as he continued threateningly, ¡°He¡¯d better pray hard that he doesn¡¯t get discovered by us¡­ Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?¡±

    Nobody responded. Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to attract any unwanted attention to himself either, so he kept his mouth shut as well.

    Several momentster, Professor Tao continued solemnly, ¡°We¡¯ve called each of you over only so that you can be mentally prepared for what is toe. After all, not even Head of Faculty Zhou can make head or tail of this matter. Until otherwise stated, these are your standing orders from now onwards. One. You must pay attention to every single student! All of the students who died tonight died in a manner simr to this corpse right here. The perpetrator¡­ is human. After all, there¡¯s no way they could have tussled with a Yin spirit for such a long time!¡±

    He nced at everyone and muttered icily, ¡°There are several murderous demons hidden amongst our students. Keep a close eye on them. And if you even see the slightest irregrity, report it immediately!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Two. The academy had originally intended to nurture its students together in order to foster unity and camaraderie. However, that¡¯s no longer appropriate with the current developments. Prepare yourselves. Once the matter with Mr Gu¡¯s funeral is over, arrangements will immediately be made for all students to live separately. Students of the same faculty shall live in the same dormitory building as their instructors. At least one instructor shall take charge of each floor as its superintendent.¡±

    ¡°Three! Mr Gu¡¯s casket had already departed the city hall half an hour ago. The estimated time of arrival is no more than twenty minutes away. All matters pertaining to this incident shall be strictly confidential. We will find an opportunity to disclose it to the public in future. That said, we cannot afford to lose face in front of the leaders of the provincial and municipal authorities right now!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± Everyone cupped their hands in unison.

    It was only then that Professor Tao heaved a sigh of relief and waved his hands wearily, ¡°What an eventful period of time¡­ Every new establishment needs to have its fair share of unforeseen circumstances. I guess the First Academy of Cultivators isn¡¯t an exception to this either¡­ Go about your daily duties. Remember, we can¡¯t afford to make another mistake today!¡±

    With that, the instructors took their leave. However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t head straight back to his dorm room. Instead, he slowly paced along the circumference of theke, as though lost in his own thought. His gaze drew further and more distant with time, until a tiny smirk crept up the corner of his lips.

    The extraterritorial emissaries were already at the end of their road.

    This was the First Academy of Cultivators. Gu Qing¡¯s soul was like the carrot dangling in front of the horse, drawing the attention of all extraterritorial emissaries. But¡­ would they truly be able to take a bite off this carrot?

    The deaths of the students were clearly caused by some of these extraterritorial emissaries.

    Professor Tao and the others weren¡¯t aware of what transpiredst night. But what they didn¡¯t notice was that there were other simrities between the corpse of the previous student who had died and the corpses right now.

    For instance¡­ all of their blood had beenpletely drained dry.

    That said, the previous corpse had presented itself in a more peculiar manner, because the perpetratorst time was filled with confidence that nobody would be able to detect their presence. The first student to have had his blood drained dry right under the nose of the entire academy was due to the fact that he had sustained a heavy blow from Arthis¡¯ attack.

    And tonight¡¯s situation was exactly the same.

    That knife wound¡­ Qin Ye was almost certain that this had been caused by the Nipponese emissary!

    A skirmish had broken outst night, and he had personally caused the destruction of one faction¡¯s formation arrays. The two emissaries from that faction had most certainly been injured in their exchange with each other, and they would have no choice but to return to the bodies they had seized possession of. With Zhou Xianlong watching over the entire academy with such close scrutiny, none of them would dare take any chances to enter their emissary state again. But they still needed a way to recover from their injuries. What could they do?

    ¡°The only thing that they can do is to act through the physical body of the students they¡¯d possessed¡­¡± He skipped a stone along the surface of theke as he sneered, ¡°This is why there were signs of a struggle on the corpses of the students dead this time. It¡¯s precisely because the perpetrators¡­ are the students who have been just beside them all this while¡­ The perpetrators weren¡¯t able to act in a manner without leaving any traces like they did thest time.¡±

    ¡°Are you guys already at your wits¡¯ end? Then¡­ I wonder how many of these old friends of mine I¡¯m going to see tonight?¡±

    Just then, his phone suddenly rang. He looked at it and noticed that Professor Tao was calling him.

    ¡°Where did you run off to? Assemble at the front of the academy gates in five minutes. We¡¯re preparing to receive Mr Gu¡¯s casket.¡±

    It¡¯s finally begun¡­

    After hanging up, Qin Ye drew a deep breath, rubbed his face to freshen himself up, and promptly made his way to the academy entrance.

    Ever since Gu Qing¡¯s death, he had found himself in thepany of several extraterritorial emissaries that were avariciously eyeing Gu Qing¡¯s coveted soul. They¡¯d followed him straight into the City of Salvation, infiltrated the First Academy of Cultivators, made their preparations, engaged in several nights of skirmish, and then silently murdered several students¡­ The final act of this great show was soon about to begin.

    He didn¡¯t care how many pairs of eyes were staring at him right now. He couldn¡¯t be bothered at all. Eighteen hourster, exactly at midnight, and this show would finally be at its climax! What needed to be done had already been done. Overthinking things would only cause him to trip and stumble.

    By the time Qin Ye arrived, almost all of the instructors had already assembled at the entrance of the academy. The usually solemn-looking gate was now decorated with white streamers and ck cloth. A banner with Gu Qing¡¯s picture fluttered with the wind. The words on it read - ¡°We wee home the soul of our dear brother Gu Qing.¡±

    Qin Ye took a look at his picture. Gu Qing had white hair, looked radiant and kind, and slightly on the chubbier side. It was a nice picture of him.

    The sky was still dark, and all of the instructors that had gathered maintained a somber expression on their faces. Five minutester, the bright lights of a convoy of vehicles appeared on the horizon.

    They¡¯ve arrived¡­

    Qin Ye had already calmed down by now. But as the convoy arrived, his heart began to beat wildly once more. Blood rushed to his head, and he reflexively moved his hand to his waist, and then consciously set them back down again.

    A serene morning breeze swept across thends, as though dancing and howling to usher the arrival of Gu Qing¡¯s casket.

    Simultaneously, several dark figures immediately nced over from the dorm rooms at exactly the same time. Pair after pair of eyes peeked out of the curtains as they stared intently at the entrance to the academy.

    He¡¯s here¡­ He¡¯s finally here¡­

    This territory represented an underworld that nobody dared to cross for the longest time. Yet here they were, lying patiently in wait for the arrival of their next target!

    ¡°ºÎ°ÙÄê¤Ö¤ê¤Ë¡¢Ë½¤Ï¡­¡­¡£¤Ä¤¤¤Ë¤Þ¤¿¹ú¤ÎÍÁµØ¤òÌ¤¤ó¤À¡£/ After hundreds of years¡­ I¡¯ve finally set foot on Cathay¡¯s soil once more!¡± Dormitory Three, room 322. The chests of two students rose and fell with every heave as they peeked out from behind the curtains. Their hands were gripping the curtains so tightly that even their knuckles had turned white.

    ¡°¤³¤Î¤ÎÖÐ¤Ç×î¤â¤¤ÍÁµØ¤Ï¡¢¤³¤ì¤Û¤É¤ËÈë¤é¤ì¤Æ¤¤¤ë¤Î¤«¡£/ Legend has it that Hell is the strongest of all underworlds, yet we¡¯ve somehow managed to infiltrate their midst with such ease.¡±

    The student beside him closed his eyes and remarked with a quivering voice, ¡°³É¹¦¤¹¤ì¤Ð¡¢×Ô·Ö¤¬¤Ã¤¿áá¤ËÉí¤ò¤Ã¤Æ¤¤¤ë¤À¤±¤Ç¤Ê¤¯¡¢µ×µÄ¤ËÃ÷¤·¤Þ¤·¤¿¡£¹ú¤Ï×Ô·Ö¤Î¤òÊØ¤ë¸ñ¤¬¤Ê¤¤!/ If we seed, it wouldn¡¯t merely mean glory and honour to us. It would also prove that Cathay¡¯s underworld no longer has the ability to protect its own Yin spirits!¡±

    He opened his eyes, and they exchanged a knowing look that was filled with undying conviction, ¡°¤òÊØ¤ë¤³¤È¤¬¤Ç¤­¤Ê¤¤µØ¸®¤Ï¡¢µØ¸®¤Èºô¤Ð¤ì¤ë¤â¤Î¤Ç¤Ï¤Ê¤¤¤¬¡­¡­¡£¹ÅÇà¤Î»ê¤ò³Ö¤Á¤ë¤Ê¤éÚ¤¸®»á¤ÏÖÐ¹ú³ö¤Î°¸¤òÔÙ¤¹¤ë¤¬¡­¡­¡£Ë½¤¿¤Á¤ÎÏÈ¤Î¤Ï¤Ç¤­¤Þ¤»¤ó!/ An underworld that is unable to protect their own Yin spirits from others doesn¡¯t deserve to call themselves an underworld¡­ As long as we can reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul, I¡¯m certain that even the Council of Underworlds would have no choice but to reopen Cathay¡¯s case file¡­ and finish what our ancestors failed to do!¡±

    ¡°Ë½¤¿¤Á¤ÏÍË¤±¤Ê¤¤¡­¡­¡£!ÒÁÐ°¤¢¤ÎÃÀ´óÈË¤ÏË½¤¿¤Á¤ò¤·¤Æ¤¤¤Þ¤¹!/ We will never back down¡­ never! Izanami-sama shall bless us!¡±

    Dormitory One, room 111. A female student with blood on her face stared intently at the academy¡¯s entrance. Her hand was gripping tightly to her bloodstained sheets.

    Three other female studentsy on their beds right behind her, with their eyes closed and a peaceful expression on their faces. It was as though they were roses blooming in a pool of blood offering.

    After a long time, she muttered to herself in broken Cathayan, ¡°Back then¡­ we lived with the shame of being beaten back all the way to the Rub¡¯ al Khali desert¡­ But today¡­ we shall repay everything with interest¡­¡±

    ¡°I shall reap Gu Qing¡¯s soul even if it costs me my life. I shall engrave every bit of Cathay¡¯s feebleness onto his soul so that Lord Anubis can set it as a trophy on his golden shelf! It shall be a deration to all underworlds that Cathay is weak! And then, a hundred years on, the Sacred Scarab Forces shall join hands with the other underworlds and avenge my death! This, I swear!¡±

    1. This is part of the Arabian Desert located in the southeastern part of the Arabian Penins.

 Chapter 181: Wake (1)

    <h4>Chapter 181: Wake (1)</h4>

    This was the calm before the storm. He could already feel the undercurrents stirring beneath the surface, yet it was apparent that every party involved was doing their best to maintain tranquil appearances.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t think that they would still throw themselves into the fray with wanton disregard to their own lives despite knowing that their formation arrays have all been shattered. By his judgment, they would at best toe the line and test the waters, and leave as soon as they realized it was impossible.

    Based on intuition.

    ¡°This is because you don¡¯t understand these underworld emissaries at all.¡± The paper crane that Arthis had transformed into silentlynded on his shoulder and whispered into his ears, ¡°Someone like you would never be able to understand these things¡­ You would never understand the earnest longing and sense of duty and belonging that an emissary feels after having lived in their underworld for hundreds of years.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the dark skies, ¡°Why?¡±

    After a long time, Arthis finally responded softly, ¡°If I had to give an answer, then it would have to be ¡®dignity¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± The paper crane lowered her head, ¡°It¡¯s foolish, but unfortunately, the same goes for me as well.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Snow-white paper money was scattered everywhere in the air like confetti for mourning. Qin Ye finally saw it. Three g bearing vehicles led the convoy, with white flowers tied over its car logo and white ribbons hanging from the car handles.

    It was veryrge, spanning approximately three and a half meters from front to rear. Gu Qing¡¯s portrait was secured to the roof of the vehicle, and its surroundings were decorated with golden and white chrysanthemum flowers. There were also several wreaths sent by various important people hanging off both sides of the vehicle. White streamers bearing the names of their senders fluttered in the wind.

    ¡°Should we also tether Gu Qing¡¯s soul to our soul induction tform now?¡± Qin Ye whispered back, ¡°What will happen if Zhou Xianlong discovers their existence right now?¡±

    tter tter¡­ The chains rattled softly with the morning breeze. Unfortunately, Qin Ye was the only one who could hear the foreboding sounds that set the backdrop for the arrival of the casket amidst a shower of paper money. Qin Ye watched intently as the main vehicle drove straight towards the memorial hall, before taking his leave and returning to his dorm room.

    It was quiet as a coffin.

    Rumble¡­ The sky was now filled with dark, rolling clouds, and every now and then a lightning bolt would crackle across the sky. The sun waspletely blotted out by the ominous, dense clouds that looked no different from the underside of a cauldron.

    ¡°... The time now is 3.04 p.m. This is Zhang Xiang, reporting for the City of Salvation¡¯s special television channel right now. We¡¯re currently seeing the entrance of Mr Yedikar, First Secretary of the Senior Magistrate. Mr Yedikares from Makomia, Cape Province, Mozambik of Alkebn, to offer his condolences and tributes on behalf of the Senior Magistrate, Mr Rowell¡­¡±

    It was the full view of the funerary hall.

    The memorial hall wasn¡¯trge, but there was arge courtyard outside of it where an open-air makeshift funerary hall was set up. Next to that, the memorial hall instead bore an almost ptial existence. The first thought that crossed Qin Ye¡¯s mind was when these massive changes were implemented. After all, the courtyard outside the memorial hall had still been empty and bare just some moments ago, when he was still on night watch.

    Yet what was even more striking than all of this was the five long chains that all human beings were unable to see. In fact, the five taut chains were now pointing straight out of the entrance to the funerary hall!

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath. It was exactly as Arthis had mentioned - the five factions had the gall to show up at the funerary hall at the same time!

    And they were clearly waiting.

    Qin Ye nced about, only to realize that Zhou Xianlong wasn¡¯t present anywhere at the funerary hall. Nevertheless, Qin Ye was certain that he had to be around somewhere close by. After all, the academy had been facing a series of problems recently, and it would be a huge disgrace if he still couldn¡¯t produce any results to show for it today.

    Outside of the funerary hall, the instructors stood at the front, closest to the entrance to the funerary hall, while the rest of the student body remained at the back. Everyone wore white flowers on their clothes as they silently mourned for Gu Qing¡¯s passing.

    11 p.m.!

    His breathing grew quicker and quicker, while he repeatedly shifted his hand to the side of his waist, only to capitte once more. It¡¯sing¡­ the fuse has been lit, and everything is soon about to explode¡­ Incidentally, he wondered whether he had been brainwashed by Arthis for a moment there.

    But why¡­ do I even feel a sense of anticipation right now?

    Then, a soft thud echoed from the casket. Perhaps one of the emissaries had in his anxiety inadvertently tugged a little bit too hard on the chain. The entire funerary hall suddenly went silent.

    All of the professors immediately turned to look at the coffin. They were all certain that the thud that they had heard came straight from within the coffin!

    ¡°Yes!¡± Yet as soon as the associate professor responded, there was another soft thud.

    tter tter¡­ The peculiar sounds of rattling chains intensified, and the gazes of all the professors around instantly turned grim and grave. Tao Ran reached into his clothes with both hands. True energy was already gathering around his wrinkled hands, and a runic symbol quickly appeared in the heart of his palms.

    ¡°All instructors are to watch over your own students! Nobody is to take a single step towards the funerary hall!¡± ¡°Anyone who dares leave his position, whether instructor or student, shall immediately be dismissed or expelled!¡± ¡°Instructor You, inform the Principal! And fetch the Yin measurement instrument while you¡¯re at it! Now!¡±

    Who dares act so brazenly under the eyes and noses of a Judge and several Hellguards?!

    Only he was able to see just how taut the five long chains were right now, as well as how brightly the etched runes on them were glowing!

    In that instant, a wave of righteous indignation swelled from his heart and burst straight through his mind - This is my territory; thend of my underworld! How can I stand idly by and watch these emissariese and go as they please?!

    A y sculpture?!

    11.58 p.m.

    It was a torrential downpour, and yet not a single one of them had left their stations. All of them were soaked throughpletely.

    Dong¡­

    The sounds of twelve loud chimes reverberated throughout the entire campus grounds.

    And it was exactly at this moment that a dozen or so silhouettes suddenly dashed out from the body of students and charged straight towards the funerary hall in full speed. In fact, they were so quick that the instructors didn¡¯t even have time to react to their actions!

    ¡°Get lost!!¡± One of thest few figures to dash out of the student bodiesughed with an eerie voice that didn¡¯t seem to match the appearances of a teenager, and then he suddenly spread his arms wide, ¡°¤Ê¤Î¤«¡¢Ç°¤é¤ÎµØ¸®¤¬¤ò¤«¤Ð¤¦Á¦¤Ï¤Ê¤¤!/ If there¡¯s anyone to me, you can me it on the fact that your underworld no longer has the strength to protect its own Yin spirits anymore!¡±

    ¡°¤ÇÈË¤ò³Ö¤Ã¤Æ¡¢È»¤È¤·¤ÆÍË±Ü¤¹¤ë!!¡±¡°negatiivinen ero ottaa pois, sir!¡±¡°¦Ãi¦Í ¦Äia¦Õop ¦Õ¦Ëe, ¦Ð¦Òw ¦Ð¦Òw!!¡±

    By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse!

    In an instant, a dozen or so streams of Yin energy shot straight towards the coffin!

    At the roof of the funerary hall, Zhou Xianlong suddenly shot to his feet and exploded with fury, ¡°What gall!!!¡±

    1. Africa.

 Chapter 182: Wake (2)

    <h4>Chapter 182: Wake (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye shifted his hands to his waist, but didn¡¯t transform into his emissary state just yet.

    It¡¯s still not time¡­

    Don¡¯t rush¡­ Patience¡­

    The reporters gathered outside the funerary hall gasped as they retreated to the side. The cameramen also screamed as they backed away. The entire funerary hall was instantly thrown into chaos, and only the fixed and standing cameras continued to capture and broadcast the ensuing madness.

    The students were even more dumbstruck. A number of students stared nkly at the empty seats around them, second guessing whether those seats had truly been upied just a moment ago.

    Whoosh¡­ The hanging pce lights in the memorial hall and electrical lights in the funerary hall were instantly shattered and extinguished by the powerful gale. All that remained was the foreboding dance of the emissaries amidst the gusts ofhergale.

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡±

    ¡°Open!¡± With a furious bellow, the coffins opened up, and seven female corpses, each dressed in clothes representing a different dynasty - Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, drifted out of their coffins as though they were puppets dancing to the tune of their strings.

    Rumble! A crackle of lightning amidst the torrential downpour erased all traces of sounds from the abrupt chaos in the funerary hall.

    The concerted attack of the seven corpse puppets shot forward unrelentingly. Yet in that critical moment, a soulless blue light abruptly gleamed in the darkness. The frontmost student had opened his mouth wide - so wide that even his cheeks were torn apart and a mix of his saliva and blood dribbled down. And when the student¡¯s lips were finally a foot wide apart, a blue flower bloomed silently.

    ¡°Go!!¡± The student whose lips were emitting the soulless blue light immediately screamed. Without missing a beat, a dozen or so voices leapt into the air and shot forward wildly.

    Shk shk shk! The whizzing sound of throwing weapons continuously tore through the air as the joints of the corpse puppets ttered menacingly. Despite that, the dozen or so figures continued to shoot through the air and hurtle straight towards the funerary hall without pausing,pletely ignoring the hail of attacks emanating from the seven corpse puppets. Seeing that his efforts were in vain, Lou Chuan promptly put his palms together, sending all of the joints hurtling towards the hall in hot pursuit of the mysterious figures. Just then, he suddenly discovered¡­

    Qin Ye instantly shot to his feet in front of the television.

    It was a resplendent flower. However, its petals wereposed entirely out of Yin spirits. And when it bloomed, it looked almost as though an underworld had blossomed!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye muttered in disbelief.

    ¡°If these dozen or so emissaries possess aplete Yin artifact each, the force of theirbined abilities would be so great that even I would struggle against them, much less the Special Investigations Department that has never experienced such a battle before!¡±

    A st of cold wind struck Lou Chuan before he could even finish speaking. Lou Chuan looked up, only to notice that the student he had ignored was already clinging to the ceiling like a spider. The student¡¯s eyes were now a jade-green colour, and so much Yin energy was pouring from the student¡¯s body that it looked almost on the brink of rupture.

    ¡°You¡¯re in the realm of a Soul Hunter, yet you possess strength that is well beyond your realm. Yourbat techniques hardly resemble that of Cathayan Yin spirits either. Looks like you¡¯re going to be the perfect specimen for the SRC¡¯s studies.¡± Lou Chuan didn¡¯t dare to let his guard down. He scrunched his fingers, and the dismembered limbs of the corpse puppets quickly broke free of the web¡¯s clutches and rushed straight up to meet the charge of the spider-like student. With a great battle cry, both sides unleashed a flurry of attacks, leaving afterimages of gleaming de lights in its wake.

    Tao Ran.

    He gently raised his old, withered hands. Whoooosh¡­ A gentle breeze swept by, and true energy began to surge and flow from his body, forming arge Taiji symbol around him that spun ceaselessly on the ground.

    Some of their necks werepletely deformed from Tao Ran¡¯s attack. But as they got up, they simply snapped them back into ce with a click. Tao Ran sighed wistfully, ¡°These truly aren¡¯t humans¡­¡±

    He mmed his palms together, and the true energy began to twist and contort in the air around him, quickly congealing into two massive palms that instantly bore down on the extraterritorial emissaries. Crackling sounds could be heard in the air wherever the palms passed. The extraterritorial emissaries instantly shrieked in rage as they desperately struggled against Tao Ran¡¯s unexpected attack.

    ¡°[In English] One minute!¡± A burly, almost bear-like figure beside gnashed his teeth as he desperately resisted the oppressive true energy, ¡°[In English] The Judge will arrive in no more than thirty seconds! The formation array outside has already been activated, but it can only hold out for another thirty seconds at best!¡±

    ¡°[In English] We¡¯re dead if we can¡¯t get to the casket before the Judge arrives!¡±

    Sha¡­ A brilliant golden light lit up, followed which¡­ Sha sha sha!! The bodies of each extraterritorial emissary began to glow with a bright luster!

    Tao Ran stood in the middle of the eight trigrams symbol on the ground and gasped in shock.

    How could mere Soul Hunters be operating Hellguard-ss Yin artifacts?! No¡­ I¡¯ve never even heard of the existence of such Yin artifacts to begin with! The Special Investigations Department has always tracked the existence of all Yin artifacts with close scrutiny, so how did so many appear all at once?! And to think that the quality of these Yin artifacts are so unbelievably high as well!

    He wouldn¡¯t be able to resist the attack on his own!

    Only forty-two seconds had passed since midnight. It hadn¡¯t even been more than a minute.

    ¡°How dare you create a scene at our academy¡­¡± Su Feng¡¯s gaze wasced with a murderous intent. An ancient fan appeared in his hands as he dashed forward, and wisps of true energy began to wrap around his right arm, causing all of his veins to bulge in an instant. Then, he swung with all his mind, ¡°You¡¯re asking for it!!¡±

    Seven Stars shing Moon.

    The cooperation among highly-skilled experts was an amazing disy of tacit trust and understanding. Lou Chuan¡¯s fingers instantly twitched in the blink of an eye, and short des emerged from the seven corpse puppets¡¯ dismembered limbs and frantically rushed towards the falling emissary in an instant.

    This was the Professor of the Faculty of Underworldly Craftsmen - an elite corpse driver whose reputation precedes him.

    BOOM!!

    [TL: PHEW. Thank god for that.]

    [TL: Further edit - He appears to only do that a few chapters down, so I¡¯ll still be doing what I can with the rest for now.]

    1. This was a technique used by Lin Han in his duel with Qin Ye back at Chapter 100.

 Chapter 183: Wake (3)

    <h4>Chapter 183: Wake (3)</h4>

    A wave of Yin energy far stronger than any other before swept through the funerary hall, filling it with a roiling ck mist. The student¡¯s physical body had shattered into pieces, and an illusory figure drifted out, only to vanish into the surroundings with a miserable scream.

    Back in front of the television, Qin Ye¡¯s hands trembled, and he nearly summoned his demonhead saber in that moment of excitement.

    The emissary¡¯s true body!

    An emissary has been forced to shed his physical body in just under a minute!

    That emissary must have sustained grievous injuries, but having shed its physical body, it was nowpletely invisible to the rest of the mortals around. Nobody knew exactly where it had retreated to in its desperate attempt to remain alive.

    Patience¡­

    Qin Ye sighed and forcibly calmed down his frantically beating heart.

    Patience¡­ It¡¯s still far too early. A single burst of Yin energy isn¡¯t sufficient to conceal the eruption of Yin energy when I transform into my emissary state. Zhou Xianlong hasn¡¯t appeared either. I¡¯ve got to bide my time¡­ The best time to make my move is when all of the extraterritorial emissaries have reverted back to their true forms.

    ¡°Vanished?¡± The white streamers fluttered wildly in the dark funerary hall as paper money scattered everywhere. Lou Chuang stared in shock at the empty ground in front of him, and then raised his head and bellowed, ¡°All faculty instructors - protect Mr Gu¡¯s casket right now! We cannot afford any mistakes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The instructors dashed past Lou Chuan¡¯s position and swiftly made their way towards the inner sanctum. However, a loud explosion from the inner sanctum greeted them just as they arrived at its entrance. Billowing clouds of dense Yin energy poured forth from a massive crack in the ground as though Hell had opened its jaws! The Yin energy surged towards the sky, forming a wall of Yin energy that was hundred of meters wide and tens of meters high!

    ¡°It hurts¡­¡± ¡°Let me die¡­ please¡­ let me die!¡± ¡°Wuuuuuu¡­ why¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡± The surroundings were instantly filled with the wails and moans of countless ghosts. All of the students outside immediately froze in horror.

    ¡°What the hell is this?!¡± ¡°My god¡­ What is that thing?!¡± ¡°Unbelievable! What¡¯s going on inside the funerary hall?¡±

    The appearance of innumerable distorted faces apanied the ghostly wails and heart-rending cries of anguish. Some wore a white robe, some wore a veil, while others donned head wrappings¡­ The faces appeared to fade in and out of existence on the corporeal wall of Yin energy, as though it were a moat that devoured and thrived on the most intense emotions of human beings.

    ¡°Professor Tao!¡± ¡°Are you alright? Hang in there! Head of Faculty Zhou should be here soon!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be right over!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!!¡± Tao Ran¡¯s voice called out from within the wall of Yin energy. Tao Ran was staring at the entrance to the funerary hall with a grim expression on his face.

    It¡¯s too bizarre¡­ Everything happening today is far too bizarre!

    ¡°§³§ä§Ö§ß§Ñ §Ò§Ö§ã§Ü§à§ß§Ö§é§ß§à§Ô§à §Ó§Ù§Õ§à§ç§Ñ¡­¡­ / Wall of Unbounded Whispers.¡± A plumpdy squatted on the ground just behind the walls to the inner sanctum. Both her palms were pressing hard against the ground. The ground around her palms appeared like the surface of ake, rippling endlessly as rings of foreign scripts swept into the surroundings. The wall of endless aggrieved souls howled and shrieked behind her, sequestering the inner sanctum from the rest of the world.

    A dark fingerbone drifted eerily between her brows. This was by no means a human fingerbone. It was covered in barbs. And she wasn¡¯t the only one who had whipped out a peculiar Yin artifact. In fact, all eleven extraterritorial emissaries around presented themselves with a peculiar Yin artifact drifting right beside them.

    There was a crimson crystal skull, a fractured scepter, a broken crown dripping with blood¡­ Every single artifact bore the thick stench of a foreign aura, and the agglomerated Yin energy was so terrifyingly thick that anyone who breathed in the tainted air would feel their lungs grow cold with just a single breath.

    ¡°Yin artifacts¡­ What powerful Yin artifacts¡­ and each one of them is at the level of a peak Anitya Hellguard¡­ By their powersbined¡­

 Chapter 184: Battle of the Emissaries (1)

    <h4>Chapter 184: Battle of the Emissaries (1)</h4>

    BOOM!!

    The entire funerary hall crumbled and copsed with a loud bang, and the only thing remaining intact was Gu Qing¡¯s casket and the professors around. The extraterritorial emissary that was on the verge of pulling out the soul retention jade screamed in shock at Zhou Xianlong¡¯s monstrous disy of might. His hands trembled, and in that moment of astonishment, he failed to pull out the piece of jade.

    ¡°Outrageous.¡± Zhou Xianlong blew his top. He hovered in the air and slowly walked towards the ground as though he were descending invisible steps. He red viciously at the dozen or so extraterritorial emissaries as he gnashed his teeth, ¡°What gall¡­ How dare you cause a ruckus in the First Academy of Cultivators and put us to shame.¡±

    He slowly raised his hand, and in an instant, the torrential downpour suddenly converged together to form a gigantic hand that appeared right behind him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ I won¡¯t let you die so easily.¡±

    With that, the gigantic hand, together with a thousand bolts of lightning, bore down onto the funerary hall!

    Crackle¡­ This was a massive hand that waspletely formed out of rainwater. It spanned a hundred meters wide, and lightning ran through it and even arced all around it. The students who had beenpletely drenched by the downpour stared at the sight inplete disbelief.

    This was the might of an Infernal Judge.

    This was might that could even manipte the heavens and the earth.

    Back in front of the television, Qin Ye gasped in astonishment. However, he wasn¡¯t as horrified as the other students and even instructors around. After all, he had seen Arthis¡¯ disy of authority back at Clear Creek County, and Arthis had even admitted that Zhou Xianlong was more powerful than she was.

    But that said, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s might still exceeded his expectations.

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s appearance had brought about a moment of dead silence.

    The torrential downpour continued. The massive hand swept down towards the roiling ck fog below. Then, with an earth-shattering tremor, it mmed onto the ground, sending debris and rubble scattering everywhere. The death god congealed from the roiling clouds of Yin energy was instantly blown to pieces.

    ¡°Damn!!¡± ¡°He¡¯s too strong! We¡¯re so close¡­ so damned close!¡± ¡°Hang in there¡­ hang in there!!¡± The rest of the extraterritorial emissaries were all sted back by Zhou Xianlong¡¯s powerful strike. In fact, three of them were instantly reduced to wisps of Yin energy. This was the difference in their abilities. Twelve Soul Hunters equipped with Hellguard-ss Yin artifacts weren¡¯t able to withstand even a single blow from a powerful Infernal Judge.

    Psshhhtt! Blood sttered all over the ce. Just then, a golden light suddenly flickered where the extraterritorial emissaries were all gathered!

    ¡°Get ready!!¡± Arthis suddenly rose to her feet and eximed.

    Qin Ye shuddered and was taken aback.

    Now?

    We don¡¯t even know what the oue is going to be just yet, so why are you asking me to get ready?

    ¡°That¡¯s the longbow of the god of the underworld, Nergal...¡± Arthis stared at the screen with an unprecedented, grim expression, ¡°This is¡­ a genuine treasure of their underworld!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a genuine treasure¡­ aplete Yin artifact that has been personally blessed by their god, Nergal! It¡¯s on apletely different level from the ones that have appeared before!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that they¡¯ve actually brought something like that with them¡­ Everything will be made clear in less than fifteen seconds¡¯ time!¡±

    Rumble¡­ The rolling clouds of Yin energy scattered slowly from the top. And then, as visibility slowly began to clear up, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s pupils suddenly constricted in shock.

    A female student stood right at the heart of the rolling Yin energy.

    She was covered in blood and half-kneeling on the ground. The other extraterritorial emissaries had earlier joined forces to block Zhou Xianlong¡¯s powerful palm strike for her.

    And right there, where the heart of the scattering Yin energy once was, a brilliant golden luster that appeared to bear the radiance of the heavens shone through the darkness.

    Time appeared to stand still. Zhou Xianlong saw exactly what it was. It was a longbow carved from grisly white bones. It was five meters long, and the arrow on it was a dark-red colour. Zhou Xianlong could tell that the arrow was forged entirely out of coagted blood. Furthermore¡­ the source of the blood was definitely at least a Judge-ss entity!

    Rumble¡­ The wisps of Yin energy around continued to fade away, while what remained quickly poured straight towards the female student kneeling on the ground. Her skin was already splitting and tearing apart, while her hair was tossed about by the massive storm that began to gather around her. As the overbearing vortex picked up, she painfully endured the mighty forces that tore away at her flesh and bones which slowly but surely ate away at her fleshly body. Then, when she was nothing more than a skeleton, she cried out in her dying breath, ¡°By hell¡¯s dictum¡­ all rabble¡­¡±

    BOOM!!!

    The arrow was loosened from its bowstring before she could even finish crying out, and in that instant, her body transformed into Yin energy and scattered among the earth.

    Crack crack crack crack¡­ The entire campus ground trembled as soon as the arrow was fired. A bright golden light shot through the darkyers of Yin energy around and rushed straight towards Zhou Xianlong. It was as though the sun had risen in hell - although the surroundings were filled with dense Yin energy, it was as though a holy presence had descended upon the ins.

    The windforce of the arrow arrived before it did. Zhou Xianlong stared nkly as the arrow plunged through the rolling clouds of Yin energy. From his perspective, the arrow had already transformed into a long-haired woman whose eyes and mouth had all been sewn up. And the woman had opened her arms wide to embrace him.

    This was the attack bearing the might of an Infernal Judge!

    The impending crisis jolted him right back to his senses. He sped his hands together and made several hand seals in the blink of an eye. Then, the rain suddenly stopped.

    No, rather than saying that the rain stopped, it would be more urate to say that the falling rain had suddenly paused and hung in the air where they were!

    The rain was still pelting down heavily from above, yet not a single drop fell below where Zhou Xianlong¡¯s feet were. Just like that, hundreds of millions of water droplets hung in mid-air for no apparent reason. The outrageous sight waspletely jaw-dropping.

    However, it didn¡¯tst long. Just one secondter, the countless droplets of water in the air began to fall to the ground in an instant. Simultaneously, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s robes burst open, and an avatar of a golden Buddha appeared in the sky, sending a powerful palm strike to meet the meteoric arrow that had just shot straight out of hell.

    RUMBLE!!!

    Everything looked illusory and formless, and yet the sh of their attacks resulted in a visceral, deafening rumble.

    The skies erupted with a crimson glow, following which a crack appeared in the sky, as though the air had been torn apart by the powerful sh. A split secondter, the deafening sound was apanied by an eruption of light, Yin energy and true energy that engulfed Zhou Xianlong in a great swirling plume that spanned ten meters across.

    Just as everyone stared in horror at the massive explosion in the sky, ¡°Hmph.¡± Zhou Xianlong snorted coldly. Shortly after that, a pair of golden palms peeled open the swirling plumes, and Zhou Xianlong stepped out. His entire body was covered in red and gold.

    ¡°The Formless Golden Body.¡± Arthis gasped with great astonishment, ¡°This old man¡­¡±

    Zhou Xianlong heaved a long sigh of relief and nced down at the remaining extraterritorial emissaries. All of them felt a chill run down their spine in an instant.

    That¡¯s insane¡­

    This Judge¡­ is far stronger than any other Judge we¡¯ve seen in the past! Not even a Yin artifact directly blessed by the god of the underworld was able to kill him!

    Just then, an eerie sigh sounded.

    It was soft, yet everyone instantly turned to look at its source.

    ¡°I¡­ where is this ce?¡± Gu Qing¡¯s soul sat up from the casket and stared at his own hands, ¡°I¡¯m already dead, aren¡¯t I?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s pupils shrank instantly. Qin Ye gasped, and then immediately began to circte the Yin energy within his body. His moment wasing soon.

    It¡¯s been breached¡­

    Back in the casket where Gu Qing¡¯s bodyy, a piece of green jade was lying right next to his corpse¡¯s head. The extraterritorial emissaries stiffly turned to look at Gu Qing. The gazes which were earlier filled with resentment, despondence and regret were nowced with a trace of hope.

    ¡°By hell¡¯s dictum¡­ a-all rabble shall disperse¡­¡± One of the male students that was staring at the casket dered as his body exploded to smithereens! A wave of Yin energy more powerful than before instantly filled the atmosphere!

    Hiss¡­ A ghostly cry apanied the eeriehergale that swept through the surroundings, and his being vanished in an instant. Simultaneously, a shadow on the ground immediately snaked towards the casket as though it were alive!

    An emissary¡¯s true form!

    They¡¯ve finally revealed their true appearances!

    They¡­ have finally made it to this very moment!

    Several extraterritorial emissaries have died, and several Yin artifacts have beenpletely wasted and depleted. Someone had sacrificed her life in order to fire Nergal¡¯s Longbow, while others were taken down in the process of obstructing the other professors. But now¡­ everything was worth it!

    It was more symbolic than anything. It was symbolic of the fact that Cathay was sinking. How could one im that Cathay¡¯s Hell was the strongest of them all when they weren¡¯t even able to protect an A+ grade Yin spirit?!

    Seize his soul and ce it before the council of elders so that the elders could finally cast aside the lingering fear for Cathay¡¯s Hell and finally send troops to wage war against them! The day when a hundred million Yin soldiers marched against Hell was just around the corner! This was the dawn of a new era!

    ¡°By hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse! Hahahaha!!¡± ¡°Ohhh¡­ oh¡­ Hah! By hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡± ¡°By hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse! We¡¯reing¡­ hahaha!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ whoosh whoosh whoosh!

    Clouds of Yin energy exploded one after the other as the primarily Yin presences shed their Yang bodies. Back in front of the television, Arthis instantly shouted, ¡°Now¡¯s the time--...¡±

    Boom!!

    There was no need for reminders. The surrounding Yin energy converged towards Qin Ye like a great vortex before she could even finish speaking. The demonhead saber roared with a great inferno, and Qin Ye stepped out from the vortex like a domineering force.

    White hair, ck irises, a ck fretwork skullcap, and long robes embroidered with designs of the Harken. An identity token bearing the words ¡®Soul Hunter¡¯ hung from his waist, fluttering lightly with the furioushergale.

    Cathay¡¯s emissary has finally joined the fray!

    ¡°Then¡­ let¡¯s begin.¡± Qin Ye chuckled coldly as he began to perform the technique in ordance with Arthis¡¯ instructions.

    The mortal realm¡¯s battle was over.

    Next up, it was time for the battle among emissaries.

    None of you shall escape my grasp!

    Back at the funerary hall, Zhou Xianlong was astounded to discover that he was unable to see or detect where all of the Yin spirits had gone!

    The only thing that remained were vast clouds of Yin energy that slowly drifted with the wind. Apart from that, the eight or nine students that had just been around hadpletely vanished from sight!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± Despite his extensive experience with the supernatural, Zhou Xianlong found himselfpletely bbergasted by the situation. Nevertheless, he regained his senses immediately and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°All students are to remain where they are! All instructors and professors are to lock down the premises! All entry and exit within a thousand meter radius is strictly forbidden!¡±

    With bloodshot eyes, he continued, ¡°Kill all who refuse toply! I¡¯ll take responsibility for it!¡±

    The instructors and professors didn¡¯t even have the time to respond as they swiftly moved into action and scattered in all directions.

    There was a sudden onset of silence. Just like a spring coiled watch, everything suddenly seemed to stop dead in their tracks. Then, just as everyone began to heave a sigh of relief, someone asked nervously, ¡°Did you¡­ hear something?¡±

    ¡°Yes I did. I thought I was just hallucinating.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong looked abruptly.

    Buzz buzz buzz¡­ buzz buzz buzz¡­ Faint beams of golden light slowly blossomed along a perimeter that was five hundred meters outside the memorial hall. Not just one¡­ not just ten¡­ but there were several hundred beams of golden light that shot into the air in just an instant, forming a domain around the memorial hall like the walls of a massive barrel!

    ¡°Hell¡¯s¡­ Fire Trap of the Nine Yin Spirits. Please, enjoy.¡± Back in the dorm room, Qin Ye sighed as he finally set down his hands, picked up his demonhead saber, and dashed right out of his room!

    It would onlyst ten seconds.

    Zhou Xianlong wouldn¡¯t be able to decimate all of them within this period of time. After all, they most certainly possessed other genuine Yin artifacts that had been blessed by their own gods of the underworld.

    But¡­ that was alright.

    He would receive double the merit points for purging extraterritorial emissaries. As long as Zhou Xianlong was able to crush half of the remaining emissaries, the other half would be more than sufficient to secure him the promotion to the rank of an Anitya Hellguard.

    Furthermore, the extraterritorial emissaries were bound to prioritize the retreat of those charged with the responsibility of holding onto Gu Qing¡¯s soul, while the rest would throw themselves in front of Zhou Xianlong to keep him at bay. That would be the perfect moment to unleash his de and strike at their hearts!

    The funerary hall was dead silent.

    As the formation array blossomed, nine silhouettes appeared in mid-air.

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes quivered slightly, before it was quickly filled with a grim expression. And then, he tossed his head into the air andughed maniacally.

    ¡°How is this possible¡­¡± The Nipponese emissary wearing a conical hat grabbed Gu Qing¡¯s soul as he looked around in shock. His eyes instantly grew bloodshot as he screamed, ¡°Who¡­ who the hell is that?!!¡±

    ¡°A formation array that reveals the presence of underworld emissaries¡­ We don¡¯t even have something like that back in our underworld, so how could something like that be here?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be anxious! This formation array isn¡¯t strong! It¡¯s only going tost approximately ten seconds! Everyone, hang in there¡­ endure this final ten seconds! There¡¯s still hope!¡± ¡°Ten seconds¡­ but this is a Judge we¡¯re talking about! How many Yin artifacts do you still have?!¡±

    As the extraterritorial emissaries exchanged horrified looks with each other, Zhou Xianlong had already ceased tough altogether. He simply stared threateningly at the silhouettes in the air that were neither human nor ghosts.

    There was a half-woman half-spider, there was a wolf-headed man dressed in Aegyptian clothes, there was a Nipponese warrior wearing a conical bamboo hat¡­ Something clicked in his mind.

    ¡°Underworld emissaries.¡± He lifted his hands with a grimace, ¡°Extraterritorial emissaries of the underworld.¡±

    ¡°Those who dare step foot in Cathay¡¯s soil shall be ughtered without mercy!¡±

    Boom!

    As he lifted his hands, the golden avatar of Buddha rose up and simrly lifted its hands behind him, summoning and gathering an immense amount of true energy in the air. Then, with a thunderous cry, he mmed his palm down!

    A gargantuan pale hand formed by true energy bore down on the remaining emissaries as though they were caged birds. The emissaries stared nkly in terror as the cmitous force descended from the skies!

    1. He¡¯s an ancient Sumerian god of the underworld that was worshipped by the Mesopotamians. Interestingly, ancient lore had it that he used to be a war god, and he only became the god of the underworld when he was given an underworld by other gods.

 Chapter 185: Battle of the Emissaries (2)

    <h4>Chapter 185: Battle of the Emissaries (2)</h4>

    The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

    None of the extraterritorial emissaries had expected something like this. They had all thought that they were home free as soon as they overcame the threefold soul-setting technique. There were even some who had begun to n for their next move in order to seize Gu Qing¡¯s soul for their own underworld.

    But now was hardly the time for such thoughts. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s single palm strike engulfed the entire area that they had been caged into. There was no avoiding it. As the terrifying pressure bore down, the ground began to rumble, and dust and dirt began to scatter into the air. The skin of the underworldly emissaries began to ripple like the surface of theke, and their veins began to bulge and throb.

    ¡°Everyone¡­ what are you still waiting for?!!¡± A wolf-headed emissary cried out as he found himself crushed against the ground, and cracks began to spread along the ground in the pattern of a spiderweb. The emissary screamed at the top of his voice, ¡°We have to stand together! Block this attack, and we might be able toe out of this alive! Otherwise, we¡¯re all going to die here!!¡±

    As he spoke, the bones on his back began to bulge and crack. Then, with a sickening crunch, a scale made entirely out of his bones protruded out of his muscles and rose out of his back. One side of the scale held feathers, while the other side held a precious gemstone.

    Buzz¡­ As soon as the scale began to drift out of his body, the emissary¡¯s back swiftly healed itself like a flower closing its petals. Then, as soon as it was out of the body, the side with the feather promptly sank down, instantly lessening the pressure of Zhou Xianlong¡¯s palmstrike as though it were tilting the bnce of power in their favour. The scattering smoke and dust even began to rise more slowly.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± The wolf-headed emissary trembled as he nced up into the sky. It¡¯s too terrifying¡­ This Judge is unexpectedly powerful. Yet before he could even take a breather, he suddenly heard a soft crack in the air.

    Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

    His jade-green eyes widened, and he trembled all over as he looked to the scales. It had only been in use for a short moment, and yet it had already begun cracking. In fact, the cracks were even extending and multiplying rapidly!

    ¡°No¡­¡± He eximed subconsciously with a tremor. But before he could even finish speaking, the smoke and dust in the air came crashing down with the rest of the torrential downpour, and a miserable scream echoed into the surroundings. When the dust settled, the only thing that remained was a massive pit where the wolf-headed emissary¡¯s body had been. Wisps of Yin energy scattered wistfully into the surroundings.

    A single blow had crushed itpletely.

    Not even aplete, genuine Yin artifact could counterbnce the force of a human Infernal Judge in Cathay.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± ¡°By Hades¡¯ name...¡± The remaining extraterritorial emissaries felt a chill run down their spines, and a sensation of electrifying terror crept through their skins. This time, not a single one of them hesitated any longer. With several loud bellows, each and every single one of the emissaries began to transform and contort their bodies.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± One of the emissaries that was half-man half-spider puffed up his chest and abdomen. With a fierce shriek, he spat out an ancient incense burner that swiftly released wisps of blue smoke into the surroundings. Yet, just like earlier, the incense burner was covered in cracks as quickly as it had appeared!

    ¡°What are you still waiting for?!!¡± He screamed at the rest of the emissaries, ¡°It¡¯s only fifteen seconds¡­ we¡¯ve only got to hold out for fifteen seconds at most!¡±

    ¡°Everyone! Unleash your Yin artifacts right now! That¡¯s our only hope!¡±

    Boom, boom, boom! The luster of seven Yin artifacts gleamed brightly within the formation array. A broken crown, a crystal skull¡­ each one of them spewed out copious amounts of dense Yin energy as they hovered imperiously in the air.

    Everything appeared to stop still at that moment.

    An indescribably suffocating feeling clouded everyone¡¯s hearts. Even the students stared nkly at the sky from afar,pletely ignoring the fact that they had already been soaked through by the torrential downpour. Everyone¡¯s eyes were transfixed this one precious moment.

    In the very next moment, the curtain of rain trembled violently, and then another palmstrike bore down once again.

    It wasn¡¯t quick, but it seemed to obscure all sources of light from the sky and block out the rain. Even the wind had to skirt around the illusory palm. From afar, it was obvious that the shape of a palm had appeared right in the heart of the downpour!

    No escape.

    ¡°By Hades¡¯ name¡­¡± One of the emissaires slowly shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, when he opened his eyes again, copious amounts of Yin energy instantly rushed into his Yin artifact like a massive whirlpool, ¡°Ahhhhh!!!¡±

    BOOM!

    The southern district of the City of Salvation quaked violently, and the entire campus grounds sank down half a meter in the wake of an earth-shattering bang. The extraterritorial emissaries were once again sent flying together with the dirt and gravel around. Four Yin artifacts shattered at the same time, and their corresponding owners were reduced to wisps of Yin energy that quickly disappeared into the earth.

    ¡°How much longer do we have?¡± Qin Ye had already arrived at the edge of the First Academy of Cultivators. Nevertheless, he cautiously remained outside of the formation array he had set up, so that not a single human being was able to detect his presence. He stood on top of the roof of a building and gazed in the direction of the memorial hall.

    ¡°It¡¯s right now.¡± Arthis responded.

    ¡°With your strength, the formation array would onlyst ten seconds. That¡¯s the limit. We¡¯ll deal with the rest.¡±

    ¡°An emissary¡¯s life should be taken by the de of an emissary after all. This is part of your duty.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The ground trembled. The surroundings to the memorial hall was a mess. There were five extraterritorial emissaries left standing. The Yin artifacts possessed by these emissaries were clearly a cut above the rest. At the very least, they were able to withstand Zhou Xianlong¡¯s powerful palm strike without shattering. That said, every single one of these emissaries were so terrified by what they had just seen that they hadpletely lost their will to fight.

    Despair.

    The difference in abilities was simply insurmountable. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. To think that there was a hidden entity that had held back all this while just so that he could wipe them all out in one fell swoop!

    ¡°Who¡­ just who the hell is it?!!¡± A Nipponese emissary¡¯s teeth chattered as he sprang to his feet and barked in Nipponese, ¡°What¡¯s in it for you?!! You can¡¯t seize his soul like that either! So why¡­ why do you have to go so far?!¡±

    ¡°The glory days of Cathay¡¯s Hell is long gone! Are you still willing to be itspdog?! The Federation of Underworlds has already detected the empty shell that the Cathayan Hell has be, so why are you still turning your back on us?!!¡±

    No response.

    The other extraterritorial emissaries looked absolutely ashen as they desperately adjusted their own conditions, leaving the Nipponese emissary mourning like a dog that had lost its owner. His voice echoed through the night sky, only to be consumed by the heavy downpour.

    He continued shrieking for the next two seconds until his voice went hoarse. Then, with a loud thud, he fell to the ground. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he stared at the godlike existence that was hovering in the sky, ¡°We were just one step away¡­ one step¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it¡­ I refuse to believe it! Izanami-sama¡­ Shinigami 437 has let you down¡­ Arrrggghhh!!¡±

    Yet his voice was simply torn apart by the howling winds, almost as though it were dering that this was the end of their road.

    ¡°But¡­ even in death, I refuse to die by the hands of a Cathayan Judge!¡± Shinigami 437 gnashed his teeth and shifted his hands to the side of his waist. A short bone knife appeared silently in his hands. But just then, the entire ground trembled once more.

    Whoosh¡­ A soft sound pierce through the torrential downpour. Then¡­ the five despondent emissaries suddenly discovered to their surprise¡­ that the formation array that had forcibly revealed their existence had just copsed!

    Just as abruptly as it had appeared, the formation array had suddenly transformed into roiling Yin energy that scattered into the night sky, quickly vanishing among the moon and the stars in the skies above.

    Dead silence.

    A deathly silence.

    When the formation array first showed up abruptly, the sudden exigency it created instantly cast them into the mires of despair, and they were all prepared to die in that very moment that it had appeared. But none of them had expected the formation array tost for only ten seconds, far shorter than their previous estimates of fifteen seconds!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Shinigami 437 trembled, before quickly screeching like a madman, ¡°The underworld¡¯s blessings! Go!!!¡±

    Whoosh! His silhouette suddenly vanished into thin air. The dappled shadows on the ground scattered as the gloomy moonbeams shone through the clouds.

    ¡°Hahaha! The heavens are on my side!¡± ¡°Lord Thanatos is watching over us! Hahahaha!¡± ¡°Just you wait¡­ The humiliation that we¡¯ve suffered tonight shall be repaid with interest by an army of hundreds of millions in future!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong waspletely dumbfounded. He drew a deep breath and threw a punch into the air!

    Rumble! This punch was even more terrifying than the earlier palmstrikes. The sky crackled with thunder, and the entire canopy of rain halted itselfpletely for a split second. Unfortunately, even as the powerful fiststrike flew through the air, the five extraterritorial emissaries had already vanishedpletely.

    All that remained was a ruined funerary hall, a gathering of students who lookedpletely aghast, instructors, and the incessant rain that continued to pour from the skies above.

    Then, just as the fiststrike was only a centimeter above the ground, the power backing the punch suddenly vanished, and the true energy scattered like a dense fog that routed to the surroundings in the blink of an eye. The clouds of true energy lingered softly in the funerary hall like a white mist.

    Gone.

    Zhou Xianlong gnashed his teeth.

    They¡¯re gone¡­ Even though he couldn¡¯t detect their presence, his intuition told him that they had already left the ce.

    Nobody said a single word. Then, several momentster, he gnashed his teeth and barked, ¡°Seal all exits from the City of Salvation! Mobilize the army! Bring out all Yin measurement devices, and any other rted devices and implements that can detect Yin energy! Activate our supernatural perimeter!!¡±

    ¡°Notify the SRC and the Special Investigations Department to render aid and assistance in investigation works! All who obstruct are to answer directly to me!¡±

    ¡°Turn on all surveince facilities! All instructors and students are to report to the gym! No one is allowed to leave until we give the all clear!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The five professors cried out as they flew into action immediately.

    With that, Zhou Xianlong¡¯s figure vanished into the night sky, leaving the bewildered students to follow the lead of their equally astonished instructors towards the gym.

    Nobody knew where the extraterritorial emissaries had gone.

    Apart from Qin Ye.

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye was standing on the top of a building at the entrance to the First Academy of Cultivators when the formation array copsed, and he opened his eyes instantly.

    ck irises and white pupils. None could escape the watchful gaze of his infernal eyes.

    Therefore, he saw exactly everything the remaining five extraterritorial emissaries did as they dashed straight out and away from the campus grounds.

    They weren¡¯t in their emissary states as they did this. Instead, they had probably employed their underworldly arts and transformed into shadows, slithering across the grounds like snacks as they covered a thousand meters in the blink of an eye.

    Gu Qing¡¯s soul had been trapped within the heart of antern. Qin Ye squinted his eyes as they dashed into the distance, ¡°They haven¡¯t decided who will get his soul, have they?¡±

    ¡°How could they possibly have the time to discuss such trivialities?¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°But I can assure you that they won¡¯t be able to calm their nerves until they get as far as Westriver. On another note¡­ are you ready?¡±

    As they spoke, the five shadows dashed away from the First Academy of Cultivators, and straight towards the closest borders to the City of Salvation. Qin Ye nced back towards the heart of the city center, where a broken statue rose slowly from the ground, and a white light that was invisible to mere mortals swept across the entire city!

    The supernatural perimeter had been fully deployed.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll be able to kill them?¡± He tapped his fingers on the damp ledge as he asked, ¡°It would feel like a p to the face if they managed to cross the border of the city¡­¡±

    After all, he was the future Yanluo when all was said and done. How could he let his enemiese and go as they pleased on his territory? Wouldn¡¯t that be tantamount to trampling all over his pride?

    ¡°No way.¡± Arthis responded coldly, ¡°These are five Soul Hunters. Although they¡¯re grievously wounded, they still possessplete Yin artifacts when all is said and done. You¡¯re no match for them. But¡­ as long as you can kill them, the amount of merit points you¡¯ll gain would propel you straight into the ranks of an Anitya Hellguard! And when that timees¡­ I do happen to have some tricks up my sleeve to teach you some anciry underworldly arts of Hell.¡±

    ¡°The core underworldly arts will still have to wait until the new Hell expands sufficiently to support the foundation ofws and regtions.¡±

    The two of them walked and talked at a seemingly leisurely pace.

    While the surviving extraterritorial emissaries were under the impression that they were already far from danger, the true hunt was only just beginning.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± Qin Ye nodded his head, ¡°Then¡­ let¡¯s begin.¡±

    As soon as he gave the word, a terrifying Yin energy rushed straight through his seven apertures.

    Strong¡­ Unbelievably strong! It was almost akin to those days when he encountered Granny Meng and saw an entire being congealed from materialized Yin energy. And even though this source of Yin energy was taking control of his body, he didn¡¯t resist its advances at all.

    Five minutes passed... Ten minutes passed¡­. Then, when fifteen minutes passed, Qin Ye opened his eyes once more.

    He still bore the same appearances, but his entire disposition had changed. With a soft grasping action, the demonhead saber flew into his hand. Then, he curled his thumb to his middle finger and flicked his finger gently as a smirk crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, none of you can think about leaving the City of Salvation tonight.¡±

    ¡°An instance of infraction, a life of requital. Tonight¡­ I¡¯ll show you how true Emissaries of Hell deal with you abominations.¡±

 Chapter 186: Battle of the Emissaries (3)

    <h4>Chapter 186: Battle of the Emissaries (3)</h4>

    The rain continued to pelt down incessantly.

    Pa-ta-ta-ta-ta¡­ A series of footsteps echoed through the rainy night. Countless military vehicles and police cars zoomed past them all with sirens ring as they raced to the various exits of the City of Salvation.

    Nobody noticed the footprints on the ground. Perhaps this was the only remaining trace of the extraterritorial emissaries¡¯ existence detectable by the mortal realm right now.

    ¡°What next?¡± A female voice whispered to the rest in english.

    ¡°What next? Are you trying to see if I¡¯ve still got any tricks up my sleeves?¡± The man who responded sounded somewhat breathless as he chuckled sardonically, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry. So many of myrades have perished for this cause. How am I supposed to answer to Hades if I don¡¯t bring back Gu Qing¡¯s soul in one piece?¡±

    Tension filled the air in an instant. One could even briefly hear the soft tter of weapons in the air.

    Their truce had ended, and it was time to divide the spoils.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± The person who responded snickered contemptuously, ¡°Right here? Under the watchful gaze of an Infernal Judge?¡±

    Nobody responded.

    Several momentster, another deep voice responded coldly, ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­ We can talk about ownership after we pass the Qinling mountainous region.¡±

    ¡°Is your rendezvous point in the west?¡±

    ¡°There are darkfeathers garrisoned in both the northwest and the southwest regions. Whether we enter Kashmeer via the southhwestern region, or Kyrgyz via the northwestern region, both are absolutely safe passages.¡±

    Another voice built on it, ¡°There are three entrances to the underworld in Kashmeer - Red Khp, Chogori Peak, and Karakoram Pass. There are garrisons in each one of these areas, and these entrances will lead you straight to the Federation of the Underworlds. The northwestern route is slightly further, but we have five entrances there - the ¡®Father of all Peaks¡¯ Khan Tengri Peak, or the four other disputed regions of the Akhaba River, Belkau, etc.¡±

    ¡°Take the northwestern route.¡± An older voice gnashed his teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember¡­ we¡¯d taken the southwestern route into Cathay. And the southwest¡­ has a terrifying creature that isparable to Hades himself¡­ The concentration of Yin spirits there can already be called a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts. They call their master¡­ the daolord of the path of the beast. They ughtered twenty of my colleagues. Not even mymander dared to stand up against it. Otherwise, do you think this operation would have been so painful and difficult?!¡±

    ¡°Is he an existence that is part of Hell?¡± ¡°He shouldn¡¯t be. He¡¯s definitely at least an Incarnate Revenant - an existence far more dreadful that the mortal Infernal Judge! I don¡¯t want to risk crossing paths with it a second time¡­ Take the northwestern route!¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t see any of their assassins of the underworld in the northwestern region. This information is verified by the corpse puppets, and it should be safe.¡±

    The woman who first spoke up finally gave her word, ¡°Then¡­ let¡¯s prepare to return via the Khan Tengri Peak. Release the robins and tell them to receive us. For now¡­ full speed out of Insignia Province¡­ Damn it, why is Cathay sorge?! Given our current speed, it¡¯ll take us at least a day to reach the borders of Insignia Province.¡±

    Nobody spoke again. Momentster, the trail of footprints on the ground swiftly turned towards a deserted path that led straight towards Anhua Mountain, where the border of the City of Salvation was located.

    As soon as the footsteps turned, five figures promptly scattered and dashed into the surroundings, promptly possessing the bodies of little birds that quickly soared into the sky as they bolted towards northwestern Cathay.

    As soon as they passed the Anhua Mountain, they would be at the border between the City of Salvation and its other neighbouring counties.

    They flew past police roadblocks, military garrisons, and even guard posts, yet not a single person noticed their existence. Just as the City of Salvation¡¯s authorities were busy turning out the entire city in search for them, the five extraterritorial emissaries were already entering the hintends of Anhua Mountain.

    They were obviously moving under the influence of underworldly arts. Their footsteps tapped on the ground rapidly, and they sped along at an inhuman speed. Then, at 6.30 a.m., their footsteps finally came to a halt.

    The sky was still dark. It had been raining the entire night, and the mountains were covered in mud. Rain continued to batter the softyer of fallen leaves on the ground, and the air was filled with a stifling sense of fatigue.

    As they scuttled along the seemingly endless path, the vague silhouette of an ancient temple appeared in the distance.

    ¡°Shall we take a break?¡± A voice called out softly, ¡°We¡¯re still subject to the restrictive effect of Cathay¡¯s great barrier. Embarking on a dawn voyage would expend far too much of our energy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± another voice responded cidly, ¡°This night¡­ has been far too long.¡±

    The pace of their steps slowed down, and soft squelching sounds echoed from the damp, fallen leaves. Then, as they drew closer to the ancient temple, a series of lights suddenly lit up all around them.

    ng ng ng! The extraterritorial emissaries immediately unsheathed their weapons to the tune of loud ngs, and the air was once again filled with a tense atmosphere. Five startled voices promptly cried out anxiously, ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡± ¡°Get out here!¡± ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡±

    No one responded.

    Their voices reverberated endlessly through the deep, deste mountains, only to be diminished by the sound of torrential downpour.

    Darkness, despair, and a sense of abject dread immediately began to spread from the depths of their souls. Just then, a melodious bell chimed from the dpidated temple.

    Dong....

    A deste region in a dark mountain, replete with torrential downpour. Even underworld emissaries like them found their hair standing on end in an instant.

    ¡°What the hell is--¡­¡± One of them remarked. Yet before he could even finish speaking, another voice cut him off with an exmation of his own, ¡°Look¡­ T-this¡­ this is an emissary! It¡¯s an emissary!!¡±

    The trees on Anhua Mountain shook wildly with the resounding chime of the bell, almost as though a god of death had just arrived in the temple. Then, a momentter, they revealed their true forms!

    One was a Nipponese emissary wearing his conical bamboo hat; one was a wolf-headed emissary; one was a half-spiderdy toting herntern; one was an emissary wearing a white mask with his entire body wrapped up in a dark cloak; and thest one was the emissary wielding a scythe - the very same one that had attacked Qin Ye just the other night.

    The only thing that could make an emissary reveal its true form was another emissary.

    ¡°You¡­ who the hell are you?!¡± The Nipponese emissary tightened his grip around his katana as Yin energy billowed from his robes, causing it to flutter about wildly. The others simrly raised their weapons as they stared warily at the entrance to the temple.

    Still no response.

    The five emissaries didn¡¯t move a single muscle. It felt as though they were little rabbits that were being stalked by a giant predatory beast. Their hearts trembled, and they nced about their surroundings warily. But as soon as they did, their pupils instantly shrank in shock.

    Emissary¡­ emissary¡­ countless emissaries¡¯... heads!

    The path leading straight up to the temple was lined with several trees, and yet the ¡®lights¡¯ hanging from these trees were in fact the heads of underworld emissaries!

    More urately speaking¡­ these were the heads of extraterritorial emissaries!

    Blond-haired, red-haired, and so on. The only thing that wasn¡¯t there was ck-haired emissaries!

    Some wore a mask on their faces, some of their faces revealed the grisly mark of their skulls, while others had hair tied up in a samurai¡¯s bun¡­ there was just no end to their widely varied appearances! It was a sea of heads andnterns!

    The onlymon thread among these heads was that their mouths were wide open.

    And the light hade precisely from candles that extended out of their mouths. These candles zed ceaselessly with a soullessherfire, causing this part of the mountain to look almost like part of the Eighteen Abysses of Hell!

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± The half-spiderdy gasped in horror and her hair stood on end as she spoke with a quivering voice, ¡°You¡­ who are you¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± A clear voice finally responded, yet the response only made the five extraterritorial emissaries huddle even closer. Their lips trembled; their eyes widened; and their chests began to rise and fall with ever increasing magnitudes of their ragged breaths.

    This is all too peculiar¡­

    ¡°It was you¡­¡± The wolf-headed emissary barked back with a hoarse voice, ¡°It was you who had set up that formation array back at the First Academy of Cultivators¡­ wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Smack!

    Before he could even finish speaking, a seemingly simple strike flew through the air, apanied by a crisp sound. A split secondter, the emissaries responded with loud gasps and exmations!

    ¡°Shit!!¡± ¡°¤¤¤ä!¤³¤ì¤ÏÒ»ÌåºÎ¤Ê¤Î¤« / Holy crap! What the hell is this?!!¡± ¡°cum ar putea¡­¡­ / How can¡­¡±

    The five emissaries who were huddled close together scattered in an instant. An electrifying sensation of fear surged through their minds as they nced about with their jaws hung agape.

    The wolf-headed emissary¡¯s head had already vanished.

    It had been sent flying.

    That seemingly simple strike had decapitated him and sent his head flying!

    Infernal Judge¡­

    The four remaining emissaries shook like chaff, and their hearts sank to rock bottom. None of them had expected to encounter such a towering roadblock after making it so far!

    Whoosh¡­ The wolf-headed emissary¡¯s body transformed into Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the surroundings. The crisp yet ambiguous voice from before spoke once more, ¡°I¡¯m asking you a question. How dare an ant like you interrupt me?¡±

    ¡°Do you like the decor around here?¡±

    Nobody responded.

    Yet, in the very next second, all of them obsequiously responded with a tremor in their voice, ¡°Y-y-y-yes!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± The voice sighed, ¡°I think it looks good too.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t hold a candle to Zhou Xianlong when ites to killing people. But if we¡¯re talking about purging Yin spirits, not even ten of him can hold a candle to me.¡±

    The voice was like the autumn rain - chilling to the core.

    The unhurried voice that carried an air of nonchnce and disinterest seemed to loom over the hearts of the remaining emissaries, slowly but surely ebbing away at what remained of their sanity.

    Yet the voice ignored them and simply continued, ¡°These¡­ are all the extraterritorial emissaries in by yours truly. Back then, they were practically as helpless as livestock in a ughterhouse. But now, I see that you guys have grown over thest few centuries¡­¡±

    ¡°An instance of infraction, a life of requital. Have you¡­ already forgotten that?¡±

    ¡°RUN!!!¡± Their fear escted so much that their flight response was triggered, and the four remaining emissaries scattered madly in different directions. Frantic and desperate, they fled for their lives. None of them could be bothered about Gu Qing¡¯s soul any longer.

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± A soft chuckle rang out, and then the leaves on the ground and the raindrops in the valley actually rose into the air as though the entire realm were no longer subject to thews of gravity! The surviving extraterritorial emissaries witnessing this sight instantly sank into the mires of despondence. But before they could react to the situation, a pitch-ck tide instantly rushed out of the ancient temple, divided into four parts and wrapped themselves around the feet of the escaping emissaries.Then, it slowly dragged them back towards the mouth of the temple despite their feeble resistance and destitute cries!

    ¡°AHHHHHHHH!!¡± They screamed at the top of their voices. Yin energy swirled madly, but none of them were able to break free of the ck tide¡¯s grasp. Thud, thud, thud, thud! The emissaries were flung to the far end of the temple with four muffled grunts. They immediately got back to their feet and brandished their weapons as they reflexively adopted a defensive stance.

    And it was only then that they discovered that the ck tide earlier had been four clumps of hair.

    The ancient temple was massive.

    The statue of Buddha in the temple hall was five meters tall, but it was already broken into pieces. Its head and shoulders had already vanished without a trace, and only its right hand remained. The oilmps in the temple that were covered with cobwebs were lit with eerieherfire that flickered dangerously, as though reflecting the fragility of the emissaries¡¯ lives.

    A man sat on the right hand of Buddha¡¯s statue.

    The man was rather good-looking, but¡­ he sat daintily with one leg folded over the other. He put his thumb and middle finger together and ran his fingers along his cheeks with great elegance. His other hand was resting quietly on his knees with a poise that looked¡­ indescribably¡­ effeminate.

    That¡¯s right.

    That was the word.

    The Nipponese emissary¡¯s lips dried up around the edges. The scene was far too bizarre. Although the person bore the appearances of a young man, the only word that came to his mind was the word ¡°feminine¡±. And it was one of great elegance at that.

    ¡°You¡­ who the hell are you?!¡± The four emissaries were each at a corner of the temple. Their hands were trembling, and their weapons were aimed at the man in the middle. Yet not a single one of them dared to move a limb at all.

    Qin Ye whipped out a round paper fan and fanned himself gracefully with a faint smile on his face, ¡°Who am I? ¡­ I¡¯m naturally an Emissary of Hell.¡±

    ¡°And if you really need a name¡­¡± He leapt down from the statue gently, twirling sciously in the air beforending. Then, he slowly strutted towards the closest emissary. That emissary didn¡¯t dare to move a muscle. He simply sweated profusely.

    Qin Ye held out the round paper fan and gently lifted the emissary¡¯s chin with a soft chuckle, ¡°The undefeated sunrise of the orient.¡±

    1. Old name for Kyrgyzstan.

    2. No known information on these thus far.

    3. It seems like they had already reverted back into their emissary forms after passing the roadblocks and guideposts.

    4. This is a trantion of ÈÕ³ö¶«·½£¬Î¨ÎÒ²»°Ü, which is a reference to a mandarin novel of the exact same title. Literally tranted, it means the sun rises in the east, and I am the only undefeated.

 Chapter 187: The Undefeated Sunrise of the Orient

    <h4>Chapter 187: The Undefeated Sunrise of the Orient</h4>

    ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!

    Where did you get that round paper fan anyway?! Was this something you¡¯d already obtained in preparation for the possession of my body tonight?! How did I not notice this?!

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy finding a human body, so what¡¯s wrong with making good use of it? Can¡¯t you let me take centerstage for just a little while?¡±

    How embarrassing!

    Arthis turned a deaf ear to his cries.

    ¡°Aaaaaghhhh! Eyes¡­ my eyes!¡± Qin Ye mmed his head against the walls of his consciousness, and he immediately developed a suicidal urge.

    He had totally underestimated Arthis¡¯ limits! No¡­ she practically had no boundaries!

    The half-spiderdy¡¯s hand trembled, subconsciously tightening her grip around her weapon as she developed the urge to plunge it deep into the heart of the man in front of her. But in the very next moment, she bit down hard on her lower lips and shrugged off her desire to do so without saying a word.

    Mustn''t move¡­

    This is a demon¡­ a true, cold-blooded demon. She doesn¡¯t seem to be as strong as the previous Infernal Judge, but she¡¯s several times more depraved and vicious than him!

    Just like the Abyss of the Pool of Blood.

    Qin Ye walked in an elegant,dylike manner. Her poise and stance revealed much of her distinguished status in the past. She sashayed past the half-spiderdy without giving her another look, and slowly made her way towards the other emissary that bore appearances like a grim reaper. She lifted his face with her paper fan, ¡°Do you think that I¡¯m¡­ beautiful?¡±

    The ominous atmosphere only made Qin Ye¡¯s fanatical disposition look all the more dreadful.

    Death wasn¡¯t scary. The inability to die was far more dreadful.

    ¡°Ahhhh!!¡± The terror in the emissary¡¯s heart finally exceeded its limits. The genial smile of a young adult appeared no different from a menacing hell rift right now. With a mindless scream, he subconsciously grabbed his scythe and charged at Arthis.

    He¡¯s inhuman¡­ Is this what a high-ranking official of Hell is like? Terrifying¡­

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even shift his body, and yet the scythe simply halted when it was barely an inch from his body. It was unable to go any further. Qin Ye¡¯s expression remained the same as she muttered, ¡°Trash.¡±

    Arrrrggghhhh¡­ His voice appeared to linger endlessly in the void around them.

    Jade-greenhermes cast a deep long shadow from their bodies. The moment of immense humiliation for Qin Ye had just be the stuff of nightmares and despair for them.

    It was like a cat that was ying with a mouse.

    Even emissaries knew fear.

    Crack!!

    Whoosh! Half of the lights in the temple went out in an instant.

    ¡°Where did you get the confidence toe seize Cathayan souls for yourself?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed her brows in disgust and covered her nose. Then, she elegantly shifted her hand to her trousers and flicked, ¡°Disgusting.¡±

    I can¡¯t hear anything! I can¡¯t hear anything!

    Everything that has happened today must bepletely erased from my consciousness. Not a single shred must remain! Not even a modicum!

    ¡°But the only thing you¡¯re leaving them is a horrific image of Hell! Return it to me¡­ seriously, sister, I beg you to return my body to me! Let me swing the de, alright? You¡¯ve sunk so deep into your role that there¡¯s no turning back!¡±

    ¡°One thousand four--... Bloody hell, I don¡¯t even want my merit points anymore! Are you trying to be the embodiment of my worst nightmare today?!!¡±

    Are you the devil?!

    ¡°If you don¡¯t return my body to me within five seconds¡¯ time, we¡¯re through! I¡¯ll head straight into the depths of the mountains and be a hermit! I won¡¯t give a damn whether Hell flourishes or crumbles!!¡±

    ¡°Five!!¡± It could be said that the rage in his heart was already bordering on madness.

    ¡°Four!!!¡±

    ¡°Three!!¡±

    ¡°Emissary¡­ Emissary of Hell¡­¡± The Nipponese emissary gritted his teeth and closed his eyes in despondence.

    A secondter, Qin Ye abruptly opened his eyes, grabbed the demonhead saber and shed at the Nipponese emissary like a hungry tiger pouncing on food.

    Psshhk! The Nipponese emissary was cut cleanly in half. However, he didn¡¯t die immediately. He red resentfully at Qin Ye and mustered a vicious smile in his final breaths, ¡°Just you wait¡­ Izanami-sama shall avenge me¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ When the gleam faded, a dark luster glowed from Qin Ye¡¯s chest, and Hell¡¯s Records flew out. Then, a line of text quickly added an entry to the records as though someone were writing on it.

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    Qin Ye ignored it.

    That felt great!

    Kkkrrrr¡­ He dragged his demonhead saber on the ground as he walked towards the half-spiderdy menacingly, ¡°Tell me what¡¯s going on in your underworld, and I might consider letting you die swiftly.¡±

    ¡°Possession¡­ it seems like something did happen to Cathay¡¯s underworld¡­¡±

    Just then, Arthis¡¯ voice whispered icily in his ears, ¡°Break her limbs and imprison her in the new Hell.¡±

    Before she could even finish speaking, the half-spiderdy suddenly opened her mouth wide, and her tongueshed out like a whip. With a shrill shriek, her tongue swept around and then plunged straight into her own chest.

    ¡°One day, we¡¯ll trample over the Cathayan Hell! You¡¯d best enjoy it while itsts! Hahaha¡­¡±

    The demonhead saber passed through the void like a bolt of lightning. The manic expression on the half-spiderdy¡¯s face froze in time. Then, a secondter, her body exploded into a cloud of Yin energy.

    Whoosh¡­ Hell¡¯s Records flew out once more and began to update its records. The final number was erased and updated to 2,200/2,000.

    Merit points required for promotion to an Anitya Hellguard - fulfilled!

    1. This is one of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment.

    2. I¡¯m going to be referring to Qin Ye as ¡®she¡¯ while Arthis remains in control of his body.

 Chapter 188: Anitya Hellguard

    <h4>Chapter 188: Anitya Hellguard</h4>

    It¡¯s over.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh of relief. His immensely taut heartstring could finally loosen itself.

    The only sound that could be heard in the ancient temple right now was the riffling pages of Hell¡¯s Records. Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Anitya Hellguard¡­ after much sacrifice, I¡¯ve finally joined the ranks of an Anitya Hellguard¡­¡±

    ¡°All that effort?¡± Arthis scowled, ¡°Your face? Your image?¡±

    Qin Ye red right back at her, ¡°How about all the times I¡¯ve gone in and out of the memorial hall over thest few nights? And the life-threatening battles against the extraterritorial emissaries? Have you forgotten about those things already?¡±

    ¡°... Why do I get the feeling that there¡¯s some level of embellishment and exaggeration there¡­¡±

    But before Qin Ye could continue gloating, Hell¡¯s Records suddenly trembled slightly, and then a buzzing sound rang out in all directions.

    Promotion to Hellguard, begin!

    A boundlesshergale had already begun to gather in the surroundings. The trees on Anhua Mountain rustled softly, as though bowing respectfully in the direction of the ancient temple. The broken ancient burial mounds scattered all around Anhua Mountain rattled vigorously, and their prayer gs pointed in the direction of the ancient temple and fluttered wildly.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye was startled. He looked at the tide of Yin energy that had gathered in his surroundings. The sea of energy began to pour into the dpidated temple through its cracks and crevices, the broken window frames and the main entrance. It was like a great river, gushing endlessly. It was as though the ancient temple were the Yin energy node of a powerful Yin artifact!

    Torrential rain continued to pelt down on the ground. The skies were still overcast, but for some reason, the moonbeams suddenly began to peek through the clouds, painting thends with a gloomy, pale sheen. And then, just like a dam that had been breached, the Yin energy in the surroundings madly converged onto Qin Ye¡¯s body!

    WHOOSH! Layer uponyer of Yin energy enshrouded the dpidated temple, forming a massive vortex of Yin energy sorge that its menacing swirl could be seen even a thousand meters away.

    Qin Ye could feel the Yin energy filling every vein, nerve, and bone of his body. And this feltpletely different from his previous advancement. He could even see every muscle in his body twitching and squirming on its own! Some of the meridians on his body were growing, while others were waning. Even his bones had begun to be tainted ck by the suffusion of Yin energy.

    And the ck hue hardly seemed ordinary at all. Rather, it bore a sense of exquisiteness, bing obsidian ck in colour and crystal clear in its appearance. It was like a work of art.

    ¡°What the hell is going on¡­¡± The chasm between a Soul Hunter and Anitya Hellguard was so great that he even began to feel somewhat apprehensive about the breakthrough right now. He stared uneasily at the dazzling clouds of Yin energy that had gathered around him, and for a split second there, he actually thought of walking away from all of this.

    Yet, almost as though she knew the reservations in his heart, Arthis¡¯ voice called out, ¡°The promotion to Anitya Hellguard is one of the most crucial turning points in the ranks of Hell¡¯s officials. This is when your authority extends to the farthest reaches of an entire city. With this promotion, you¡¯ll be able to exert your influence across the entire City of Salvation and its five counties. All Yin spirits will naturally draw near you and pledge their allegiance to you. In other words, this is your disy of authority.¡±

    ¡°Counties and cities are considered mere building blocks in Cathay. Yet, even between counties and cities, the number of Yin spirits under your jurisdiction increases vastly. Operatives may be able fill the position of a Soul Hunter, but Soul Hunters can never take on the role of an Anitya Hellguard! Those who attain the rank of Anitya Hellguard are therefore known as the pirs of Hell. And it is for this reason that all who are fortunate enough to reach the ranks of Hellguard will invariably receive an infusion of Yin energy - just like you are right now.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t resist it, embrace it. Your body¡¯s constitution will take the form most suited to purging evil ghosts¡­¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying any longer.

    As more and more Yin energy poured into his body through his seven apertures, he began to feel an increasing sense of bloatedness and swelling, almost as though his fleshly body was bursting at its seams. At the same time, a sense of drowsiness began to fall over his nervous system. It was cooling, and somewhat¡­ hypnotic.

    Arthis drifted out of the ten-meterrge cocoon of Yin energy. The swirling ball of Yin energy was finally calming down. The paper crane abruptly glowed with a bright ck luster, and the Yin energy around it suddenly twisted and contorted. Several secondster, Arakshasa stepped out.

    She carried a paper umbre, wore a colourful robe, and her long tongue hung out of her mouth until it reached the ground. Innumerable strands of hair flowed out of her seven apertures like terrifying vipers. She turned around gracefully and walked out of the ancient temple.

    The downpour was immense, pelting down on the leaves of the trees with endless pattering sounds. However, there was not a single sounding from the road from which they hade from!

    If one looked closely, it would be clear that not a single drop of rain had struck the leaves in that region. It was almost as though an invisible shelter had been set up in preparation for the arrival of a VIP - the raindrops¡­ actually avoided this area!

    ¡°I knew I couldn¡¯t hide things from you.¡± Arthis sighed softly, only to attract a thunderous response from the surroundings, ¡°Emissary of Hell?! Infernal Judge?!¡±

    It was Zhou Xianlong.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t mistake me for an evil ghost. You¡¯ve got a keen eye.¡± Arthis smiled genially, ¡°Lend me the use of yournd for a moment. I only need an hour.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Countless wisps of true energy drifted out from the trees and quickly materialized into Zhou Xianlong¡¯s physical body. He stared at Arthis,pletely bbergasted. Even his voice was somewhat trembling.

    There were so many things he wanted to say, but he simply didn¡¯t know how to begin.

    What happened to Hell?

    Why are there so many evil ghosts around right now?

    Why did you cut off all contact with the mortal realm?

    Why¡­ can¡¯t we locate you at all?

    Why aren¡¯t the Yamas of the Ten Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings doing a thing, even though the mortal realm¡¯s signal beacons have been lit all around?!

    ¡°Why?¡± Zhou Xianlong finally closed his eyes and muttered with a hoarse voice after a long, protracted pause.

    Arthis sighed softly, ¡°Hell¡­ is no longer in existence.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong opened his eyes abruptly. His eyes were somewhat bloodshot.

    He could appreciate the ramifications of what she had just said.

    Arthis continued, ¡°Hell has met with an unexpected cmity. The Yamas of the Ten Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings as you know it are all gone. And what roams the mortal realms now are three of the daolords of the six paths of reincarnation. Each of these daolords is a peak Abyssal Prefect.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s Adam¡¯s apple trembled, and he sighed in anguish.

    He had never expected to hear of the harsh reality today. His heart wasn¡¯t prepared for it.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to know about anything else. This is a matter for Hell itself. The mortal realm just needs to hold out. A new Hell will take its ce in one hundred years¡¯ time. We¡¯re working on it right now.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll be able to hold out for a hundred years?¡± Zhou Xianlong stared nkly at the canopy of chilling rain as he choked up slightly, ¡°Do you know what the mortal realm is like right now, all because of your dereliction of duty?!¡±

    He continued hoarsely without giving Arthis the chance to respond, ¡°Everyday, countless people die in shock and terror. Do you think it¡¯s very safe in the City of Salvation? Naturally. This is paradise. But if you go to any of the other provinces around, Mistriver, Song Peak¡­ apart from their provincial capital, every single one of the counties and viges under their charge is practically no different from hell on earth!!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand it¡­ You have no idea what it¡¯s like for parents to go to work, only to discover the bodies of their dismembered children when they return home. You don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like to have the entire family huddle together in bed at night, with each parent taking turns keeping watch in fear. You have no idea¡­ how the vigers living in the mountains count themselves lucky with each passing day that they remain alive! You don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like for humans to be treated as livestock!!¡±

    ¡°And all of this is a result of your negligence!!¡±

    Boom!! The surrounding trees were shattered and scattered about with a powerful wave of energy. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes twitched uncontrobly as he red at Arthis with bloodshot eyes.

    He was fuming mad.

    He didn¡¯t know where it all began to go wrong. Perhaps it was a dereliction of duty, perhaps the Special Investigations Department was simply ipetent, or perhaps it was those blood-soaked scrolls that he didn¡¯t even dare to look at¡­ Regardless of what it was, the only thing he knew right now was that his anger had burgeoned to the size of a monolithic mountain, and yet there was no outlet to vent at all.

    Silence.

    Complete silence.

    Several minutester, Arthis actually bowed slightly, ¡°I sincerely apologize. We didn¡¯t expect this either. I¡¯d only managed to escape the great cmity by hiding in the depths of an abyss that one fateful day. But believe me - we¡¯re doing all we can right now to rebuild Hell to its former glory. If you can just hold out¡­¡±

    ¡°Hold out?¡± Zhou Xianlongughed sardonically, ¡°Hold out with what? A heap of corpses and a line of human bodies? Forget it. The mortal realm will resolve its own problems. We¡¯ll get through this crisis on our own, no matter the cost!¡±

    Arthis nodded.

    Zhou Xianlong sighed, ¡°Extraterritorial emissaries? That¡¯s what you call it, isn¡¯t it? What happened to them?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all dead.¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°An instance of infraction, a life of requital. Our darkfeathers will hunt them down across the Pacific Ocean even if we have to.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t respond anymore. With a cold snort, he flicked his sleeves and motioned to leave.

    Just as his body was transforming back into wisps of true energy, Arthis suddenly quipped, ¡°No matter the cost¡­ even if it means sacrificing the lives of Emissaries of Hell? With all due respect, every single Emissary of Hell now represents the hope of Hell¡¯s subsistence. Their existence is immeasurably precious.¡±

    ¡°Even if it means sacrificing Hell¡¯s Emissaries.¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s figure abruptly transformed into wisps of true energy that began to drift into the woods, ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being too presumptuous? The mortal realm has nothing to do with Hell right now. The mortal realm might not even be able to hold out for the next hundred years. We will never pass up on any trace of hope, no matter what form it takes!¡±

    His figure finally vanishedpletely, and the mountains were silent once again. Arthis stood guard at the entrance of the dpidated temple for the next hour and a half. And then, a huge roar erupted from the heart of the temple, and the Yin energy around the entire mountain was scattered away in an instant.

    Whoosh!

    The pouring rain was instantly sent flying with a massive shockwave that rippled out from the temple. And then, a dark silhouette slowly walked out from the heart of the temple.

    He still wore a fretwork skullcap, but it was now much taller than before. Two words were written on it - ¡®world peace¡¯. His tongue hung out in front of him, and his hair was now jade-green coloured, almost as though it were zing with an eerieherfire. His face looked unusually withered and thin. He wore a white robe with xiezhi unicorn embroidery, while the demonhead saber in his hands¡­ had actually transformed into a mourning staff!

    As soon as Qin Ye stepped out of the ancient temple, the Yin spirits across all five counties in the City of Salvation turned to look at Qin Ye¡¯s direction as though they had sensed it.

    These Yin spirits could see that rolling dark clouds had gathered over the City of Salvation like a dark canopy, and a faint seal was even hovering softly in its midst. A single nce at the seal made the Yin spirits tremble all over.

    Thud!

    One by one, the Yin spirits began to kneel to the ground in submission. Even the Yin spirits belonging to hunting zones in the region screamed madly as they scattered to the darkness and hid themselves with great trembling.

    An Anitya Hellguard had just been inducted. Would any Yin spirit dare to create a ruckus under his watchful eyes?

    ¡°So, this is an Anitya Hellguard?¡± Qin Ye examined his hands. His nails were jade-green, while his skin was so fair it almost appeared translucent. Just then, his gaze flickered, and he grabbed hold of his dangling tongue as he stared back at Arthis in horror, ¡°Can you please exin¡­ what the hell you meant when you said that I¡¯m taking on ¡®the form most suited to purging evil ghosts¡¯?!¡±

    Yet Arthis didn¡¯t even bother to look back at him. Instead, she simply stared at the curtain of rain, as she remarked abruptly, ¡°Zhou Xianlong was here.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice immediately trailed off.

    ¡°I asked what position he would take if pacifying the mortal realm meant sacrificing the lives of Hell¡¯s Emissaries.¡±

    ¡°His response was - ¡®then that would naturally be the rightful course of action¡¯.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d already guessed that the mortal realm would react with immense displeasure and frustration. Hell¡¯s dereliction of duty had caused evil ghosts to flood the mortal realm. They¡¯re innocent, and yet they¡¯ve suffered way too much for our negligence. This is why you¡¯ve been concealing your identity all this while, and why you¡¯ll have to continue doing so for as long as you can. After all, we were never truly able to understand the full extent of the mortal realm¡¯s discontentment, and we could only test the waters with every opportunity we got¡­¡±

    ¡°But now, there¡¯s no longer a need for that.¡± She turned around and looked Qin Ye right in the eye, ¡°Be a good husky. Given our strength right now, we¡¯re simply in no position for negotiations with the mortal realm.¡±

 Chapter 189: Aftermath

    <h4>Chapter 189: Aftermath</h4>

    And then, he grew taciturn. Even though Arthis had already finished her ount of her exchange with Zhou Xianlong, neither of them spoke for a long time.

    The mortal realm had indeed suffered too much. Everything had been single handedly caused by the fact that the old Hell had been ying with fire. Any government in Cathay¡¯s shoes right now would naturally prioritize stability over anything else.

    At least, any sacrifice would be better than offering up the lives of their own citizens.

    A living Emissary of Hell? Come, don¡¯t mind us. We¡¯re just going to stick a few probes into your body to understand your existence a little bit better¡­

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a dangerous look in your eyes,dy¡­¡± He gulped nervously as he began to retreat, only to find his back against the wall within moments, ¡°Calm down¡­ stay calm! Whatever it is that you¡¯re thinking to do, please reconsider!¡±

    ¡°... This isn¡¯t anything toin about. In fact, I¡¯d even add that you¡¯re just getting a taster of what kind of aesthetics the citizens of Hell go by!¡±

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly for several seconds before he gave her a contrived response, ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Qin Ye continued to roll up his tongue, and noticed that his tongue felt as dry as a wooden block. He hardly felt any sensation from it even though it was undoubtedly an appendage from his body. He responded casually, ¡°How do we do that?¡±

    Then, she swung her palm.

    But before he could even finish speaking, the powerful palmstrike struck Qin Ye squarely on his body.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He gasped and looked at his hands, and then he examined his body.

    The sturdiness of my body appears to have gone up several notches? My body can actually withstand the attack of a final boss like Arthis?

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± His spirits instantly calmed down. Then, he adjusted his robes and elegantly smoothened his sideburns before hooking his finger at arthis with a beckoning gesture, ¡°Again.¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± She grinned dangerously. Then, she took a deep breath, and her hair suddenly fluttered wildly and rushed towards Qin Ye!

    ¡°Wait a minute¡­ Let¡¯s talk things through calmly¡­ Holy shit! You¡¯reing at me for real!¡±

    But just as he braced himself for an ensuing period of bondage and punishment, a number of soft clinks resounded just a short distance from his body.

    No pain?

    It was a thin film that was formed out of thick, condensed Yin energy. In fact, it was so dark and dense that it actually prevented Arthis¡¯ hair from reaching his body.

    ¡°Prestige of the Luminary.¡± Arthis nodded as she recalled her dark hair like a receding tide, ¡°All entities with abilities weaker than a Hellguard won¡¯t be able to hurt you at all. It is a type of manifestation of your authority, and all Emissaries at the rank of Hellguard and beyond are able to project it outwardly. We call it the embodiment of the spirit. As long as you keep it up, you will be able to travel through the mortal realm in broad daylight despite being in your emissary state. You¡¯ll also be able to enter Hell in the day.¡±

    Qin Ye poked at the ck shell around his body curiously. Again, and again. Arthis continued with an ashen expression, ¡°The difference between a Hellguard and a Hunter is like night and day¡­ Pay attention!¡±

    Arthis drew a deep breath - The future King Yanluo is starting to resemble a hyperactive husky more and more? Somebody tell me - is it a crime to put it down?

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows and waved his hands, summoning Hell¡¯s Records right away. Yet as soon as he flipped it open, his eyes widened so much that they almost fell out of its sockets.

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    He rubbed his eyes.

    ¡°Ah, that scared me there. And to think that I was under the impression¡­ So¡­ it¡¯s actually 200,000 merit points.¡± He sighed wistfully and shut Hell¡¯s Records. Then, he stared intently into Arthis¡¯ eyes.

    Three secondster, Qin Ye sent Hell¡¯s Records flying with a powerful kick, ¡°Bloody hell, this shitty¡­ #%#(%*$&#)%(^!!!¡±

    Arthis nodded deeply.

    That¡¯s the reaction I was looking for.

    Several secondster, Hell¡¯s Records pped back like a graceful butterfly. Qin Ye red viciously at it and gritted his teeth, ¡°Tell me, how the hell did you be a judge? Two hundred thousand¡­ Do you think this novel is going to continue for an entire lifetime? And that¡¯s only for a promotion to the intermediate Anitya Hellguard for goodness sakes!¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ I¡¯m asking about right now!¡±

    Qin Ye grew exasperated, ¡°Are you kidding? Are you trying to ask me to instigate the fourth world war?!¡±

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly, and then muttered dryly, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that¡­ you¡¯re actually seriously hinting that I should¡­ take down the underworld of the Middle East?¡±

    The first thing that came to Qin Ye¡¯s mind was the terrifying Echoing Worm that he first saw back there. He gulped nervously, ¡°Can I not go?¡±

    When you put it that way¡­

    Qin Ye probed, ¡°Then¡­ you don¡¯t know either?¡±

    She then looked intently at Qin Ye, ¡°Now that you¡¯re a Hellguard, the ghosts that you¡¯ll be facing would by no means be as simple as the Yin spirits from hunting zones. There are stronger existences that lurk in the shadows of the hunting zones in every city. You may be able to rest easy in the City of Salvation, but a multitude of Yin spirits that flood the rest of Cathay will greet you as soon as you depart from its borders. Be prepared.¡±

    The ¡®Father of all Peaks¡¯ Khan Tengri Peak.

    The Khan Tengri Peak was also known as Khan Tengri. Its name means king of all kings. ciers cover its peak all year round, and ice and snow copses from its peak from time to time. Naturally, not a single soul dared to trek to the peak.

    There shouldn¡¯t be any animals flying at such altitudes. However, several small birds cried out as they flew into the cave, straight through the entrance until they entered the cavern with the icyke. Then, as soon as they arrived, a dark hand shrouded with Yin energy instantly reached out from the darkness and grabbed hold of all the birds at the same time.

    Jade-greenherfire burned atop piles of dried bones within copper braziers. Long banners of cloth embroidered with fine patterns hung all around the caverns like gs, while several Yin spirits dressed in neat Arabian garments and wielding their spears and shields stood upright at their posts. Thehergale roared past the throne of white bones set in the middle of the cavern.

    The robins hovered about helplessly over her palm. She gazed at them with a stoic expression. Then, several secondster, she sighed and crushed them all.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need¡­¡± The broodmother replied, ¡°They¡¯re all dead¡­ There are still emissaries alive in Cathay. Perhaps¡­ the council of elders have slipped up in their investigations.¡±

    ¡°Prepare to withdraw our troops. We can¡¯t afford to invade Cathay whilst its great barrier is still active. Enemiesy southwest of us. There¡¯s no longer any reason for us to remain here.¡±

    1. This is actually a reference to one of the famous scenes in Ip Man where he dered he wanted to fight ten.

    2. One of the longest ruling Ming Dynasty emperors who reigned for 48 years from 1572-1620. The middle era from 1582-1600 saw three great wars that he dealt with sessfully. This was probably what Arthis was referring to.

    3. What about the third world war?!

 Chapter 190: Exposed?!

    <h4>Chapter 190: Exposed?!</h4>

    Qin Ye sneaked back to his own dorm room. Along the way, he noticed several students of the First Academy of Cultivators, all of whom had fear and terror written all over their faces. None of them were alone. In fact, they were all gathered in groups of three to five, softly discussing the affairs ofst night.

    Just as hey back in bed, he heard a set of chaotic footsteps scrambling down the hallway. Before he could even get out of bed, he heard the sound of a key being inserted into his door. Then, with a soft click, the door opened up, and a group of people waltzed right in without a word.

    Tao Ran, Lou Chuan and Chen Zhili. Three of the five professors were here. They swiftly shut the door behind them.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± It didn¡¯t slip Qin Ye¡¯s mind that he was supposed to be feigning illness. Thus, he sat up from his bed weakly and coughed twice, ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

    The three professors didn¡¯t beat about the bush and immediately flipped up the top half of his nket. Qin Ye was startled. He hadn¡¯t had the time to change out of his camouge uniform.

    ¡°Room inspection.¡± Tao Ran muttered cidly, ¡°Something happened in the academyst night, and us three professors have been tasked to go about checking every room. The instructors are all gathered in the lecture hall right now, while the students are on the way to the gym.¡±

    Then, Lou Chuan continued without missing a beat, ¡°Can you exin why you¡¯re wearing your camouge uniform?¡±

    Damn¡­

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun frantically - How am I going to exin this away?

    I¡¯d got straight into my sheets and under my cover as soon as I returned from Anhua Mountain. How could I have expected people to be as disrespectful as you old fogeys?! To think that you¡¯d just yank my nket off me like that! Are you not afraid that I would be sleeping naked, and my dazzling, chiseled body would be the kryptonite to your eyes?

    It was evident that this was thest thing on the minds of these old fogeys.

    ¡°Professors, have you made a mistake?¡± The situation was urgent. Qin Ye sat up and coughed dryly, ¡°I¡¯m currently doing my best to secure the title of an outstanding instructor, so how could I possibly¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re asking why you¡¯re wearing your camouge uniform.¡± Tao Ran crouched down. His expressions were devoid of the usual amiable looks. He even stared at Qin Ye with eyes that seemed to prate the deepest parts of his soul.

    Nobody said a word. The entire room grew silent, and Qin Ye clenched his fists discreetly under the sheets as he restrained his smile.

    He could sense that the three professors were now emanating traces of killing intent from their bodies.

    The incidentst night was simply over the top. One wrong answer, and they would most definitely make a move.

    ¡°I was on night watch duty over thest few nights, and I encountered unforeseen circumstances. Head of Faculty Zhou is aware of this.¡± His heart gradually calmed down as he adopted a somewhat contemtive tone of voice, ¡°Last night, I got injured and got drenched in the rain. I wasn¡¯t too feeling well after getting back, so I got straight into bed without even changing my clothes.¡±

    Tao Ran gazed deeply in his eyes, and then extended his hand towards him after several seconds.

    He was obviously just extending his hand, and yet Qin Ye felt engulfed by an incredibly suffocating feeling. Tao Ran¡­ was actually restraining him with the aura of an advanced Anitya Hellguard, and he nearly resisted his overbearing aura reflexively.

    I mustn¡¯t move¡­

    This was because there was no way a Soul Hunter could do anything to resist the aura of an advanced Anitya Hellguard at such close range. A single move would expose the fact that he had already be a Hellguard himself.

    That would be seriously problematic.

    How did you advance to the ranks of an Anitya Hellguard overnight? The academy doesn¡¯t even run a cultivation training programme at all, so what exactly is going on here?

    Tao Ran abruptly reached for his sleeve and grabbed his arm, ¡°Hey¡­ what¡¯s that over here?¡±

    It was only at this moment that Qin Ye discovered a blood stain on his sleeves. It was a splotch of maroon, dried blood that had discreetly blended into the patterns of his camouge wear, and it was hardly conspicuous.

    But Tao Ran still saw it.

    The hell¡­ when did that get there? That¡¯s right¡­ it must have been when I yed those extraterritorial emissaries.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t from your wound.¡± Lou Chuan appeared calm, but the aura swelling around him was simply overwhelming, ¡°It¡¯s highly unlikely that your blood would stter on that part of your arm, especially since your arm isn¡¯t injured at all. It¡¯s also quite clear that the blood has stained your sleeve from the outside, rather than the inside.¡±

    So, how are you going to exin it?

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun as rapidly as it could, and he took a deep breath, ¡°I had an encounter by thekest night. I wonder if Head of Faculty Zhou has apprised you of that¡­¡±

    ¡°He has.¡± Chen Zhili interjected.

    Qin Ye nodded and exined, ¡°The blood stain must have gotten there during the skirmishst night. I didn¡¯t notice it either.¡±

    ¡°Old Chen.¡± Tao Ran turned around, ¡°Did those things that we encountered early this morning have any injuries on them?¡±

    Chen Zhili shut his eyes for some time. Then, when he finally opened his eyes again, he shook his head.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart instantly sank.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t take particr notice.¡± Fortunately, Chen Zhili¡¯s response gave him hope once more.

    Chen Zhili furrowed his brows, ¡°With an emergency like that, who would possibly notice whether the enemy has a wound on his shoulder? And besides, we can tell from the blood stain that the wound can¡¯t have beenrge to begin with. A Soul Hunter could recover from something like that in just a single day.¡±

    Qin Ye breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It was clear that the academy was getting riled up over this incident. They knew full well that the intrusion of extraterritorial emissaries was tantamount to a deration that a nation¡¯s underworld was losing its might and authority. Even though they might not appreciate the extent of the cmity that had befallen Hell, they would still be able to guess that Hell¡¯s copse was coitant with the outflow of outstanding Yin spirits to other nations.

    The Yin and the Yang were inextricably intertwined with the other. What would the mortal realm be in several years¡¯ time? Nobody knew, and nobody wanted to find out.

    It was the fear of the unknown.

    ¡°Alright. Rest well. The student council is already ounting for the rest of the students and instructors. You¡¯ll also have to be prepared for the reshuffling of dormitory allocations tomorrow night as well.¡± Tao Ran stood up.

    Qin Ye nodded. He already knew that this was to be expected.

    But Tao Ran¡¯s next statement came like a bolt out of the blue, ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡±

    ¡°Begin¡­ what?¡± Qin Ye had a very bad feeling about this.

    ¡°Our search.¡± Professor Chen put on a somewhat contrived smile, ¡°All instructors rooms must be thoroughly searched. You might not be aware of this yet, but the academy was attacked by a terrorist cellst night. The attackers were all Soul Hunters. Presently, the only Soul Hunters in the academy are the instructors, and we suspect that one or more of the instructors may have been possessed by them. Therefore, please understand that we absolutely must conduct a search right now.¡±

    The tension in Qin Ye¡¯s heart loosened with that - Well, say so earlier next time¡­ go on about your search then¡­ I¡¯m not hiding anything. All of my possessions are already in Hell anyw--... NO!!!

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Qin Ye abruptly stood up as a dreadful thought shot through his mind. His sudden movement was immediately met with three oppressive res.

    Oh shit! Oh damn! Oh god!!!

    Qin Ye was going crazy. He could no longer be bothered keeping up pretenses of being ill, and leapt straight out of bed and looked at the three professors with pleading, puppy eyes, ¡°About that¡­ is it possible¡­ not to search my room?¡±

    ¡°No way. There are no exceptions.¡± The more Qin Ye acted this way, the more the professors'' suspicions were aroused. They even subconsciously shifted their positions to surround Qin Ye right between them all.

    Qin Ye was simply going mad!

    ARTHIS¡­ I¡¯ll skin you sooner orter!!!

    There was indeed nothing incriminating in his room.

    Apart from that damn Infernal Judge¡¯s silicone body!!

    Oh dear heavens¡­ How could I possibly let them discover something like that?! That¡¯s shame and embarrassment that will stick for a lifetime! It¡¯s the deepest darkest secret of my heart that nobody should be allowed to see! ARRRGGHHHH!

    This isn¡¯t right¡­ this isn¡¯t happening¡­

    He suddenly saw the dark side of the mortal realm. That¡¯s right¡­ there¡¯s not only the silicone doll in this ce. There¡¯s still the Triumph bras¡­ and Whisper pads¡­ and some other cosmetic products¡­

    So that¡¯s how it¡¯s going to end for me¡­

    I¡¯d guarded this room jealously day and night¡­ I¡¯d turned Wang Chenghao away and beaten Lin Han up just to hide these shameful existences. Yet everything is going to be exposed just like that? Are you trying to lynch me in public?!

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we sit down and work something out¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s lips were quivering. He grabbed Tao Ran¡¯s wrist and pleaded, ¡°You¡¯re my professor. You¡¯ll vouch for me, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±

    This kid¡­ why does his eyes look so despondent?

    Tao Ran looked at Qin Ye in dismay. After a moment of deliberation, he shook his head, instantly dashing Qin Ye¡¯s hopes of deliverance.

    ¡°Little Qin, every instructor is going through the same thing. There¡¯s no reason why an exception should be made for you. Anyhow, this is also the only way to clear the names of all instructors.¡± He sighed as he spoke with a heavy heart. Then, he waved his hands, ¡°Professors, please begin. I¡¯ll recuse myself for impartiality¡¯s sake.¡±

    Lou Chuan and Chen Zhili nced back at Qin Ye once more. Then, with a simple wave of his hand, Lou Chuan caused all of the cupboards to open at the same time. Their contents flew out as though they had wings. The curtains drew to the side, while the drawers opened themselves¡­ Everything in Qin Ye¡¯s room was exposed to the eyes of justice in an instant.

    Qin Ye¡¯s spirits sank to rock bottom.

    He slumped to the ground and stared at the ceiling,pletely dejected - Would it hurt if I jumped from the top of the building? I probably wouldn¡¯t even die, would I¡­ then, perhaps I¡¯ll jump from the bell tower instead¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡± The first person to exim in shock was Professor Lou Chuan. Among Qin Ye¡¯s possessions floating in the air right now, several stood out in particr.

    ¡°This is¡­ Anerle?¡± Chen Zhili adjusted his sses with an astonished expression.

    That¡¯s truly shocking. To think that I would find something like that in a male instructor¡¯s room. These circumstances are far too outrageous¡­

    Tao Ran¡¯s eyes widened as he stared at the packet of sanitary pads hovering in the air. Then, he slowly turned around and looked at the petrified Qin Ye almost as though he had seen a ghost. And then, he turned to look at the colourful pile of essories on the ground. Secondster, he raised his hand and coughed into his fist dryly, ¡°It¡¯s not just that¡­ there¡¯s Whispers as well¡­ Professors, do you want to take it apart to take a closer inspection?¡±

    The two professors took a look at the packaging, and then gazed at Qin Ye, who was now deeply mortified. Then, they shook their heads in unison.

    Well¡­ I suddenly understand why he was so resistant to the idea of the search¡­ It seems like we¡¯ve seen a new side of him today¡­ something that few would probably have ever seen¡­

    But little did they realize that this was far from the climax of this story.

    As more and more items flew out of the cabs and drawers, the professors grew increasingly hesitant aboutpleting their search. And that was especially the case when thecey brasseries began floating out into the air. The professors immediately exchanged an awkward nce with each other.

    No way¡­

    Little Qin, is there something you want to tell us about your sexuality¡­ I mean, why do you have these things in your possession to begin with?

    ¡°I¡¯ll confess¡­¡± Qin Ye finally crept out from the mires of despondence and looked at the professors with a gaze that dered ¡°It¡¯s true! It¡¯s absolutely true!¡±. Then, he muttered, ¡°Would you believe it if I said these things aren¡¯t mine?¡±

    Tao Ran paused for a moment, and then his voice grew somber, ¡°Instructor Qin, might I remind you that instructors and students are strictly forbidden from having an intimate rtionship with each other. These are the regtions. If you cross the lines, not even I can protect you! Now, tell me, whose are these?!¡±

    ¡°... It¡¯s¡­ mine! It¡¯s mine!!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth so loudly they were audible to professors.

    Oh dear me, dear my. The three professors exchanged nces that were filled with curiosity, wonder and even a trace of approbation.

    You¡¯re truly living the moment like a true blue city boy, aren¡¯t you!

    1. Another brand of sanitary pads.

 Chapter 191: Difficulty in Progression

    <h4>Chapter 191: Difficulty in Progression</h4>

    The scene was increasingly awkward. After exchanging profound nces with each other, the three professors coughed dryly and returned everything to their ce.

    Women¡¯s clothing and so on¡­ I guess everyone is entitled to their own fancies and hobbies¡­ This is an academy, so we should do our best to be inclusive¡­ Well, that¡¯s that. We can¡¯t discriminate against him because of that¡­

    The cabs and drawers closed up, and Qin Ye leapt out of his bed, ¡°That¡¯s it, then?¡±

    Lou Chuan nodded awkwardly. But before he could say another word, Chen Zhili suddenly eximed, ¡°Hang on¡­ what¡¯s this?¡±

    The true climax of the story was just around the corner.

    Just as he spoke, an object thatpletely blew the professors¡¯ minds flew out from under the bed!

    Silence.

    Complete silence.

    A female silicone doll dressed in ancient garments hovered in mid-air. No matter how one looked at it, one could tell that this was meant for human use.

    And it looked used too.

    This revtion was as earth-shattering as a nuclear bomb explosion. The three professors went absolutely silent. Then, after several seconds, Professor Chen finally managed to gather himself, ¡°Well then¡­ I guess we¡¯re done with our search¡­ and we should be on our way¡­¡±

    And much to Qin Ye¡¯s dismay, the other two professors promptly added, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Instructor Qin, we¡¯ll keep everything we¡¯ve seen here strictly confidential.¡± ¡°Everyone has their own hobbies. As long as it doesn¡¯t affect your teaching, we¡¯ll pretend not to know anything about it. It won¡¯t affect your instructor¡¯s evaluation either.¡±

    Tao Ran didn¡¯t say a word. Instead, he simply patted Qin Ye on the shoulder and sighed wistfully.

    It¡¯s true¡­ Everyone has their quirks. A fetish for dressing up as a woman, and this¡­ this¡­ doll. Although he¡¯s a genius that appears only once every century, it¡¯s only natural that he¡¯s got his own dark secrets as well¡­ Speaking of which, it now makes sense that his preliminary instructor¡¯s evaluation wasn¡¯t too high. Perhaps it might have been influenced by these things¡­

    ¡°Venting and release should be done in moderation.¡± After leaving Qin Ye with parting words of wisdom, the three professors finally took their leave.

    ¡°No¡­ It shouldn¡¯t be like that¡­ can you listen to my exnations, please¡­ Oh my god! Please don¡¯t say a word of this!!¡±

    Thud!!

    Qin Ye mmed the door and immediately stared daggers under the bed. Arthis acted as though she were dead and remainedpletely silent.

    ¡°ying dead?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s anger hade to a head. The mes of fury surged from his belly, and he yanked the silicone doll out from under his bed, flicked on his lighter, and swung his hand towards Arthis¡¯ hair.

    At that moment, the silicon doll that had just been ying dead suddenly opened her eyes and locked eyes with him.

    ¡°About that.¡± Arthis had nothing to say about it. Shebed her hair and sat back down onto the bed in a graceful, womanly manner as she cleared her throat, ¡°It was an emergency¡­¡±

    Qin Ye grabbed her by the neck and cried out with bloodshot eyes, ¡°Emergency?! I¡¯ll show you what an emergency is like! Haven¡¯t you heard of precautionary measures?! What are you doing ying games all day in my room anyway, huh?! What are you doing trying on various bras in my room, huh?! And what¡¯s the point of opening Whispers when you don¡¯t even have a need for them, huh?!!!¡±

    ¡°... Let go of me¡­ let¡¯s talk things through slowly¡­¡±

    ¡°I refuse! We¡¯re dying together today! I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯ve had it with you!!¡±

    THUD!

    A momentter, Qin Ye covered his head in pain as he crashed into the door behind him. However, he quickly scrambled back to his feet like an undying cockroach and cried out with great displeasure, ¡°What was that for?! Have you got an excuse now?¡±

    Arthis straightened her clothes and frowned at him, ¡°Don¡¯t be so rough with me¡­ look at how you¡¯ve messed up my clothes. Be careful I don¡¯t report you for rape.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Sensing that Qin Ye was on the verge of exploding, Arthis calmly shook her fist at him, ¡°I¡¯ve got no excuse, but that¡¯s an excuse in and of itself.¡±

    Alright¡­ that¡¯s perfectly reasonable¡­

    Qin Ye felt a spittoon of blood well up from his throat, and he forced it back down again. Calm down and endure¡­ Just endure¡­

    He took several deep breaths to calm his heart and mind before looking up again, ¡°Do we have closure of this matter?¡±

    Arthis looked back with a somber gaze in her eyes and nodded, ¡°We do. It takes a lot for extraterritorial emissaries to infiltrate another country under the national restrictive barriers, and these operations are naturally incredibly costly. Furthermore, word can only be spread by word of mouth. In other words, once the extraterritorial emissaries perish, there¡¯s no way their respective underworlds would know of the truth about Hell.¡±

    Her gaze grew somewhat icy as she continued, ¡°They wouldn¡¯t dare risk challenging what was once known to be the strongest underworld around a second time. It doesn¡¯t matter what conjecture their respective council of elders make. Everything is dependent on proof and evidence. And what could be more conclusive than the ability to reap the soul of an important person from Cathay?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded thoughtfully. This incident had given him new insights to Hell as an underworld. Hell develops in tandem with the development of human society. And likewise, the bnce of powers among underworlds is also contingent on pure, absolute strength.

    The weak would be invaded by the strong without rhyme or reason, even if this meant disrupting the bnce of the cycle of reincarnation.

    Therefore, one could easily conclude that any underworld that was able to survive the endless tensions and conflicts between underworlds for thousands of years would certainly not be something to be trifled with.

    ¡°The Dark Forest Theory.¡± Qin Ye gazed out of the window and murmured to himself.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Arthis looked baffled. She hadn¡¯t read such profound literature yet.

    Qin Ye exined calmly, ¡°Every civilization is like a hunter with a gun living in a deep, dark forest. Anyone who reveals his position and weaknesses would immediately attract the attention of the gun barrels of all other hunters.¡±

    Arthis nodded thoughtfully. Then, she made a grasping motion in the air, and antern that was lit with a brightly burningherfire appeared in her hands. She gently caressed it and muttered softly, ¡°Then¡­ do your best to be the most seasoned hunter as quickly as possible.¡±

    A soul was resting peacefully in the heart of thentern.

    Gu Qing, the master of architecture and urban nning. Seizure of his soul was the reason why the extraterritorial emissaries had made the long trek to Cathay!

    But today, the soul was safely in his hands, to be delivered straight to Hell.

    ¡°Shall we go?¡± Qin Ye gazed at Arthis. It was far easier to muster a thousand troops and foot soldiers than to find apetent general. And yet, he had found that general today. He couldn¡¯t wait to see what kind of big ssh he would make in the new Hell.

    Arthis didn¡¯t turn down his request. The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal activated, and the duo vanished from the room in an instant.

    When they opened their eyes again, they were greeted with a vast dark sky that saw innumerable spots ofhermes hovering eerily about. Crimson trees filled thends, while Yin spirits were gathered everywhere. The mild chaos in thends was a glimpse to the former glory of Hell and its bustlingnds. It was a familiar sight.

    They stood before Hell¡¯s gate. As soon as they appeared, hundreds of Death Inquisitors stood up at the same time. Then, taking the lead of their leader Su Dongxue, they bowed in unison, ¡°Greetings, Your Excellency.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Qin Ye had habitually maintained a noble and cold persona in Hell. He nodded, ¡°How have things been?¡±

    Su Dongxue bowed courteously, ¡°Responding. There are 33,400 new Yin spirits in Hell. Their registration has been processed by my subordinates. A total of 2,651 Yin spirits have joined the ranks of Yin Construction. Compared tost week, the number of new Yin spirits in Hell has fallen by 78%. The rate of growth has dwindled quite substantially.¡±

    ¡°This is very normal.¡± Arthis responded without dy, ¡°The only ones who can detect the establishment of the new Hell are the Yin Spirits in the surrounding regions. And even then, there are others who are seizing Yin spirits away from Hell for their own following as well.¡±

    ¡°For instance, the masters of the hunting zones that have been especially tagged with numbers for tracking by the mortal realm, and even the masters of other hunting zones that aren¡¯t even disclosed to the public. Yin spirits that are unable to detect Hell¡¯s existence would naturally gravitate towards the stronger existences in the region and form part of the forces of a particr hunting zone. Furthermore¡­ there¡¯s also the existence of the three daolords to consider as well. Some Yin spirits might choose to pledge allegiance to the immense forces of the daolords even if they sense the presence of the new Hell¡­ How many Yin spirits do we have right now?¡±

    Su Dongxue bowed again, ¡°There are a total of 186,420 Yin spirits. Yin Construction has approximately 24,000 of these under their charge.¡±

    So many?

    Qin Ye looked out in amazement. He could see a sea of Yin spirits resting under the trees that hadn¡¯t been felled just yet. He looked further out, and saw arge plot ofnd being prepared for the construction works. The red trees were being cleared out. However, there were no traces of Yin spirits. Instead, there were only the vague silhouettes of a few small machines moving about.

    Something¡¯s about to happen¡­

    He furrowed his brows deeply. Back in the mortal realm, even the president could be impeached if he let the unemployment rate go too high. Hell was different in that they still didn¡¯t have the system of money or wages, but if this situation went on¡­ if an entire society remainedpletely idle with nothing to upy their time or minds, then something would most certainly happen!

    ¡°Where are the people of Yin Construction?¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Several voices responded in unison as soon as he spoke. Qin Ye turned around, only to see Li Chuanyi, Zhao Guangliang and Hu Feng running over from the annex hall with their hardhats on.

    Qin Ye red at them. The three Yin spirits trembled, and their lips quivered, but none of them said anything.

    None of them dared to speak a single word.

    They had once been supervisors in the mortal realm, and they knew full well what supervisors hated.

    Speaking first before they were addressed was presumptuous conduct tantamount to an arrogation of authority.

    Tick tock tick tock¡­

    It was only after about a dozen seconds that Qin Ye finally expressed his displeasure, ¡°24,000 Yin spirits in Yin Construction, the first official establishment of Hell¡¯s government, and incidentally also the most well-staffed organization around. You¡¯ve got at least over a hundred times more ghostpower than the Death Inquisitors. It¡¯s been over a month now. Tell me, how much progress have you made?¡±

    ¡°My lord!¡± Despite Qin Ye¡¯s calm and emotionless expression, the three Yin spirits found themselves sweating profusely. They knelt to the ground in an instant, and Li Chuanyi cried out, ¡°Your subordinates¡­ are unworthy of your expectations¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m asking how much progress you¡¯ve made!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice rose sharply, ¡°Do you not understand my question?!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The three men answered in unison. Then, Zhao Guangliang sighed as he wiped off his sweat, ¡°Approximately 1%...¡±

    ¡°Did you round up or did you round down?!¡±

    Boom!

    This time, it was Arthis who spoke up, and her voice was so powerful that it caused the entire Hell¡¯s Gate to tremble. The three men prostrated themselves in fear. Hu Feng kowtowed as he answered softly, ¡°0.6%... thereabouts¡­¡±

    ¡°Twenty thousand ghosts, and only 0.6% of progress in an entire month of time?¡± Wisps of Yin energy began to erupt from Arthis¡¯ seven apertures as she sneered, ¡°Is it because you think there¡¯s nothing in it for you? Then, let me tell you. The privilege to live is the greatest benefit you can ask for.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t interject. The new Hell was in a tragic state right now. He knew full well that the slow progress was a result of theck of machinery. Was his monthly wage of 100,000 very substantial? Next to the development of Qin Gardens Phase 1, it was barely an ounce in a pail of water. No¡­ it was probably even more insignificant than that.

    Nevertheless, the more chaotic the situation was, the more he would have to exert his authority.

    Therefore, he couldn¡¯t afford to be wrong.

    The mistake could only fall on the shoulders of the division heads of Yin Division. This was precisely why Arthis was berating the three men. (TL: Poor guys. My heart goes out to them)

    ¡°Alright.¡± It was time for Qin Ye to make his appearance. The bad cop had done her job. Arthis and Qin Ye worked seamlessly in this regard, and he interjected with perfect timing, ¡°Did you encounter any difficulties?¡±

    ¡°Indeed¡­¡± The three men exchanged a nce, and then Hu Feng kowtowed and exined with much difficulty, ¡°My lord¡­ Qin Gardens Phase 1 is a massive project, and none of us have dealt with ancient-style construction before. Furthermore, the construction works require a lot of materials, including wood. With the current progress of logging works¡­ we might not even be able to harvest sufficient wood required for the entire project in five or six years.¡±

    He closely scrutinized Qin Ye¡¯s expressions, and then boldly continued, ¡°And the limiting factor right now is in the machinery. My lord, this phenomenon is called the capital chain rupture in the mortal realm. If we don¡¯t get a subsequent injection of resources¡­ I¡¯m afraid everyone¡¯s passion for the project will soon grow cold.¡±

    He took a deep breath and lowered his head, ¡°I¡¯ve personally encountered an instance of capital chain rupture back in the mortal realm¡­ The stimulus brought about by capital injection is extraordinary. But the converse is true. If the project doesn¡¯t see any such stimulus in a month, or even in several months, and the equipment and resources continue tonguish in a primitive state¡­ My lord, I¡¯m afraid that the newly established Yin Construction could even crumble before it properly takes off¡­¡±

    1. This is a theory promulgated by an author, Liu Cixin, in his book entitled ¡®The Dark Forest¡¯, which is the second installment in a trilogy of books known as ¡®Remembrance of Earth¡¯s Past¡¯. The theory holds that civilizations fear each other so much that they won¡¯t dare to reveal themselves, lest they immediately be considered a potential threat and destroyed.

    2. This is actually a thing!

 Chapter 192: King Yanluoâ€™s Dialogue

    <h4>Chapter 192: King Yanluo''s Dialogue</h4>

    The road to establishing a kingdom was fraught with many difficulties and hardships. The journey from humble beginnings to a thriving city of skyscrapers could practically be called a magnificent epic spanning all disciplines, from necessities of clothing, food, housing and transportation, to the fields of humanities and physics. The development of early civilizations dependedrgely on manpower, while the development of modern civilizations that stood on the shoulders of their predecessors relied on money and wealth.

    Wealth of a few million RMB was akin to a drop in the ocean. He was desperate to secure a stable source of wealth for the future development of Hell, but he didn¡¯t know where to begin at all. He possessed several pieces of priceless artifacts from Huang Chuanliang and the other tycoons worth well in the region of tens of millions, but he didn¡¯t know where to go about liquidating these assets either.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about these things. The problems you¡¯re currently faced with are much better than what the old Hell faced in its nascent years, when they were constantly faced with incursions to their territories and conflicts and strife. In the very worst case¡­¡± A cold gleam shed across Arthis¡¯ eyes, ¡°ughter them all, and wait for a new batch of Yin spirits to gather, and then start anew.¡±

    As an upstanding citizen who has gone through nine years of quality education and lives in a burgeoning era of socialism, how could I possibly do something as tasteless as that?

    Arthis stared at him as though she had seen a ghost. Then, several secondster, she responded with slight twitches at her lips, ¡°... That was no more than a passing remark, so don¡¯t take it to heart¡­ a hundred thousand Yin spirits aren¡¯t easy toe by. You¡¯ve got to cherish them. This can be considered one of the benefits you¡¯ve started off with¡­ Speaking of which, don¡¯t you think your ego is a little bit over the top right now? As King Yanluo, how can you not show love and care for your beloved citizens and subjects¡­¡±

    It¡¯s pretty amazing you¡¯re still able to keep a straight face right now. Arthis rolled her eyes and responded, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    The newly arrived Yin spirits stared nkly at the sky above the soul induction tform. The pitch-ck sky canopy trembled slightly, and then suddenly swirled around, forming a hole in the sky that was dozens of meters tall. Thousands of spots ofhermes surged towards the hole and began to spin around it madly.

    Whoosh¡­ More and morehermes gathered in the powerful vortex, and thentern soon showed signs of cracking as it trembled more and more vigorously. Then, slowly but surely, a faint golden chain extending straight from the hole into thentern below appeared, and the vortex ofhermes began to coil itself around the golden chain like a vicious fire serpent.

    Ten secondster, the crisp sound of shattering resounded through the surroundings. Simultaneously, thentern on the soul induction tform copsed, and a Yin spirit slowly rose in the wake of the vortex of mes with a long sigh. Its figure started out small, but it soon expanded to the size of a normal Yin spirit as it stepped out of thentern.

    Thehergale swept across, scattering the thousands of strands of hair on Arthis¡¯ face. But she didn¡¯t raise her hand to brush her hair away. Instead, she simply turned to look at Gu Qing¡¯s dazed expression as she whispered somewhat emotionally, ¡°All souls that had been seized by extraterritorial emissaries must have their seals broken like how I did earlier¡­ This was a Yin artifact that had been blessed by the god of their underworld, and it¡¯s naturally inextricably interlinked to their god. When the artifact was shattered, he would have felt it as well.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly. Then, before he could respond, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and the hairs on the nape of his neck began to stand on ends. He gasped in horror and stared at Arthis, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ the god of another underworld is staring at Hell right now?!¡±

    ¡°Ahh--...¡± The Death Inquisitors who were watching this sight unfold before their very eyes cried out in astonishment, and they immediately knelt to the ground with fierce trembling. In fact, the other Yin spirits couldn¡¯t even scream as they copsed to their knees. Thud thud thud¡­ Just like that, over one hundred thousand Yin spirits knelt down in an instant, and all of Hell was enshrouded in silence.

    Shapeless.

    Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ The hole in the sky began to split open, revealing a crimson crevice. It looked almost as though somebody had slowly but forcibly torn open the void, pulling it wider and wider, until a wave of Yin energy poured in like mercury, filing every corner of the five square kilometers of Hell in an instant!

    ¡°You bloody¡­¡± The overbearing pressurepletely restrained Qin Ye¡¯s body. In that moment, Qin Ye felt as though he were being stalked by a mighty prehistoric beast. He turned his neck stiffly and red at Arthis, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me about this earlier?!!¡±

    Boom!!

    Not a single person said a thing across all of Hell.

    Bloody hell¡­ Qin Ye desperately fought to adjust his mentality. What the hell is this?! The god of another underworld¡­ Are not the surviving underworlds of this day and age all entities that have been forged from the mes of underworldly conflict through the test of time? I¡¯m only an Anitya Hellguard! How could I possibly face something like that?!

    It was blurry.

    The quality of its Yin energy was on apletely different level!

    Nobody said a single word.

    This was already the best he could do in the circumstances.

    It was light, and it was calm.

    ¡°Calm down! Hang in there!¡± Arthis lowered her head and whispered through gritted teeth, ¡°This is only his projection! He¡¯s not actually here! Thanatos¡­ is the Argosian god of death! He¡¯s far away in the underworld of Athenai! You¡¯re as safe as it gets here!¡±

    It had never urred to Qin Ye how a single sentence, and the simple introduction of the self could strike such intense fear into the hearts of others.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. Thanatos continued, ¡°Roman mythology knows me as Mors. I am the twin brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep; and I am the child of Nyx, the goddess of the night.¡±

    Shit¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s back was soaked through by now. Several seconds, he lifted his head and faintly responded, ¡°My name is Qin Ye, a Yanluo that represents the next generation of Hell. I am¡­ the son of the former Yama-King of the first pce, King Qin Guang.¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s him¡­¡± Thanatos¡¯ voice lingered with a trace of reminiscence, as though he hardly minded the fact that he had failed in his attempt to seize Gu Qing¡¯s soul, ¡°The fact that you¡¯re able to defeather these darkfeathers of mine suggests that Cathay¡¯s underworld¡­ isn¡¯t as useless as I had thought it would be¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that your kingdom hasn¡¯t forgotten the two holy wars between our kingdoms in thest millennium, have you?¡±

    ¡°Then, when the great powers invaded Cathay at the end of the Qing Dynasty, ten different factions of underworlds also rallied together and attacked Hell on all fronts, but to no avail. This was the second holy war¡­ Hell¡¯s greatness, and the indomitability of the ghost kings and Yama-Kings are unforgettable.¡±

    A blood red eye suddenly lit up from the hole in the sky as he stared intently at Qin Ye, ¡°Can you guys still do the same now?¡±

    1. This was probably when the foreign powers invaded China in early 1900¡¯s.

 Chapter 193: Global Underworld Summit

    <h4>Chapter 193: Global Underworld Summit</h4>

    ¡°You can try.¡± He locked eyes with the crimson eye in the sky as he muttered cidly.

    The eye stared intently at Qin Ye, as though it were attempting to discern whether there was any pretension in his voice. Secondster, the eye swept a nce across the microcosm of Hell, ¡°With you guys?¡±

    Silence again.

    Several momentster, Thanatos finally smiled, ¡°Perhaps we might all have underestimated the depths of Hell¡¯s abilities.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed, while Arthis immediately barked under her breath, ¡°Reject him! All trade envoys and emissaries are unable to enter Cathay without Yanluo¡¯s permission. But as soon as you give the nod, they will likely use their trade envoys and emissaries to start probing about at the true extent of Hell¡¯s barrenness!¡±

    Thanatosughed like muffled thunder, ¡°Simple¡­ open your border to Khan Tengri Peak. We shall jointly create a ghost city that can house ten thousand Yin spirits in a single year¡¯s time¡­ If you agree, my delegation can arrive in Cathay for further discussion in under a month. I wonder what King Qin thinks of this suggestion?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Almost as though he didn¡¯t mind it, Thanatos chuckled softly, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­¡± Thanatos didn¡¯t say much more. Then, it was only when the illusory projection in the air began to fade away that he left his parting words, ¡°Mr Gu was a soul I had wanted to obtain at any cost. Talents like these¡­ have been seized away from us by you far too many times now. It¡¯s about time to repay these debts with interest¡­ You¡¯ve managed to reap his soul¡­ but I hope you¡¯ve got what it takes to keep it in Hell¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ As he vanished, the pressure lifted from Hell instantly, as though it had never existed at all.

    Nobody dared to discuss these affairs openly. The Yin spirits slowly rose to their feet once more and began to discuss in whispers. Qin Ye shut his eyes and wiped off the sweat from his forehead as he heaved a long sigh of relief. Then he pressed his hand over his pounding chest as he nced at Arthis once more, ¡°The global underworld summit? What¡¯s that? Could you please exin it to me?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s brows were knitted together so tightly that they could probably squash a mosquito. Momentster, he sighed wistfully and chuckled bitterly, ¡°What¡¯s all this about¡­¡±

    This was earth.

    Like the rest of the world, underworlds had territories and subjects. And just like the rest of the mortal realm, each and every underworld had its own sets of interests and exchanges.

    Since he was aware of the territorial boundaries between the underworld, something like this should have urred to him.

    ¡°For instance, it¡¯s not umon to hear of systems of gods vanishingpletely. Their territory would be unimednds, and the ownership over thesends would shift drastically every decade or so. Whenever that happens, the gods of the underworlds and their representatives would meet for discussions and demonstrate the power of their states. For further instance, there¡¯s also discussions on the evolution of Yin spirit, or the trade lines between the underworlds and the mortal realms, etc¡­ It¡¯s practically everything you can think of, and more. Whenever something extraordinary urs, you can count on it that there would be a discussion amongst delegations of states.¡±

    Qin Ye made a ¡®stop¡¯ gesture. His heart was already on the verge of copse, and the corners of his lips twitched uncontrobly as he interjected, ¡°Why haven¡¯t I received any notifications on these things? There should at least be some official correspondence with other underworlds, shouldn¡¯t there?¡±

    Qin Ye thought aloud, ¡°And if we don¡¯t respond?¡±

    I guess these are all part of the ¡®else¡¯ to consider¡­

    ¡°And if memory serves me well, next year should be the Global Underworld Argosian Arts Festival. When all is said and done, every event like this is an opportunity for the great underworlds topete in strength. The weak don¡¯t participate. If you want the other underworlds to forgo any inappropriate intentions they have towards Cathay, you¡¯ll have to strengthen your own abilities.¡±

    Doesn¡¯t an arts festival have nothing to do with strength in the first ce?

    Only Yin spirits who are well fed and strong would be in the mood for the arts. As things are right now, how could Qin Ye possibly interest his citizens in the arts?

    Hell is so impoverished that I¡¯m practically on the verge of selling my ass for cash, and you¡¯re talking to me about the arts?!

    ¡°And Mr Gu Qing is the most important card we have in our hands right now.¡±

    ¡°Our efforts to seize him back from the clutches of extraterritorial emissaries wouldn¡¯t have been in vain.¡± She bowed gently and used the most sincere and genuine voice to address Gu Qing, ¡°Mr Gu, wee to Hell.¡±

    The reconstruction of Hell was an immenselyplex project. There were no amenities to speak of as yet. The first priority was to provide everyone with the most basic necessity of lodging.

    Gu Qing was a balding old man.

    He didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he nced about his surroundings, taking everything in slowly, before finally turning around and chuckling bitterly, ¡°I¡­ guess I¡¯m really dead.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Gu Qing suddenly smiled, and then sighed again, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ This is all part and parcel of the naturalws. I¡¯ve lived for a long time, and I¡¯ve achieved a lot in my time. There¡¯s really nothing to be regretful about. The two of you must be¡­ the fabled Emissaries of Hell?¡±

    Gu Qing stared at Qin Ye suspiciously.

    But he knew he couldn¡¯t refuse.

    The soul induction tform and Hell¡¯s Gate were the only two structures around, as far as the eyes could see. The rest of the surroundings looked no different from the wilderness.

    People.

    And they were all idling around under trees, either chatting or resting¡­ Hell reeked of lethargy and inactivity wherever he looked, and it was particrly¡­ simple.

    ¡°Mr Gu.¡± After walking about for approximately ten minutes, Qin Ye smiled and quipped, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of your achievements in the mortal realm. You¡¯ve even participated in the construction projects in Alkebn cities? I¡¯d like to know what level of urban nning was involved.¡±

    ¡°Tell me more.¡±

    Perhaps it was because he was talking about his profession, but he was ostensibly more outspoken than before. He even raised an eyebrow and started pointing at various ces around Hell, ¡°Like here, for example. If we¡¯re to establish a city here, we would have to consider the long-term developmental ns, such as whether there are any natural resources to be tapped on? And if there are no natural resources and no means of developing a thriving tourism industry, the city¡¯s development can only fall back to the light and heavy industries. As far as heavy industries are concerned, we can consider whether there are any mines in the near vicinity. And where light industries are concerned, it would depend entirely on the governmental policies.¡±

    He paused abruptly as soon as he said that. And then, he blinked his eyes nkly then turned to look at Qin Ye with a gasp.

    It suddenly dawned on him why the Emissaries of Hell were being so courteous to him.

    1. The bird.

 Chapter 194: A Great Scholarâ€™s Discovery (1)

    <h4>Chapter 194: A Great Schr''s Discovery (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye smiled at him and nodded, ¡°Why did you stop? I find your insights interesting.¡±

    Gu Qing¡¯s mouth was slightly agape as he pointed to himself and stared into the distance.

    Qin Ye also shifted his gaze and looked to the distant horizon as he continued hoarsely, ¡°This, here, is the capital of the new Hell, Fengdu Necropolis.¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s nothing here right now.¡± He turned to Gu Qing once more with a burning passion in his gaze, ¡°But in ten years¡¯ time, I hope to see tall structures and sprawling buildings.¡±

    Gu Qing gulped nervously and trembled slightly, ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qin Ye responded earnestly, ¡°We¡¯ve already established the Netherworld Construction Incorporation before your arrival. Everyone in the Netherworld Construction Incorporation, or Yin Construction for short, is a veteran in the construction industry. But their specialties lie in development of buildings ormercial centers. We don¡¯t have anyone like you, with experience in urban nning or massive-scale construction projects. You¡¯ve even nned the construction of an entire city on your own!¡±

    ¡°The soldiers have all been ounted for, and what we werecking was a general! And it is precisely because of this that we spared no effort in rescuing you from the extraterritorial emissaries when they came for your soul. Had we not done so, I¡¯m afraid the first thing you would have seen when you first woke up would have been the pyramids of Aegyptus.¡±

    Their gazes met, and Gu Qing¡¯s eyes were clearly filled with shock and disbelief.

    Momentster, he trembled, ¡°This ce¡­ how big is it?¡±

    ¡°Five square kilometers.¡± Qin Ye exined earnestly, ¡°But¡­ in future, its size will be nine million six hundred thousand square kilometers! And the names of each and every designer shall be engraved at the entrance to their corresponding ghost cities! I¡¯ll be erecting a monument in every city to record and honor the names of all who had participated in the nning and design process in some way or other. Your name shall go down in history for millennia on end with each evesting city that rises.¡±

    Gu Qing took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

    How often were city nners honoured for their work like that?

    The cities might endure for a long time, but the names of their birth parents are often lost in time forever. Qin Ye¡¯s words were simple, yet its implications were far greater than they seemed. His promise was essentially for the eternal glory for every nner involved!

    Furthermore¡­ it was a promise that extended to all nine million six hundred square kilometers that was to be developed!

    This was on apletely different scale from any other project he had embarked on before! It was a project of a millennium, far grander than even the Three Gorges Project!

    Gu Qing¡¯s eyelids trembled slightly. He could still remember the time when he fought fiercely against hispetition in the design institution when the aid to Alkebn programme came along, and a city needed to be built. But right now, there was no need to vie for the position at all. A single nod of the head, and he would be the birth parent of the new Hell! The chief engineer, the chief designer and the chief urban nner, all rolled into one! His name would live on in the annals of history with each city that rose and stood for the rest of eternity!

    It had to be said that Qin Ye¡¯sst hundred or so years in the mortal realm hadn¡¯t been lived in vain. He had a perfect grasp over human desires and emotions.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Gu Qing opened his eyes after a long time and asked with excitement in his voice.

    ¡°Are you sure¡­ you will be erecting a monument in each city to record and honour the name of the nning team involved?¡±

    Qin Ye gazed directly into his eyes and nodded, ¡°Of course. Furthermore, these details shall be recorded in the city museum as well. All whoe to Hell shall read about your deeds as soon as the education system is established. The records of your contributions will even be used as case studies and form part of textbooks toe.¡±

    Thump!

    Gu Qing could feel his heart pounding furiously. After several minutes of intense deliberation, he bit down on his lower lips and nodded his head enthusiastically.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Qin Ye stretched out his arm solemnly, and Gu Qing reciprocated with a handshake that was even firmer than before. The veins on the back of Gu Qing¡¯s hands bulged slightly. Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Then, I sincerely wee you to the ranks of the Netherworld Construction Incorporation, or Yin Construction for short. You are henceforth appointed the first CEO. There are currently over twenty thousand under your charge, all of which are veterans in the construction industry. There are also seven division heads at your disposal. You¡¯re clothed with the authority to act at your discretion.¡±

    Gu Qing drew a deep breath, shook Qin Ye¡¯s hand firmly once more, and then released his grip. Looking much more rxed than before, he smiled, ¡°Then, could I trouble Mr Qin to give me a brief rundown of Yin Construction in general right now?¡±

    As the duo walked down the paths around, Qin Ye exined everything to Gu Qing in detail, including the origins of Hell and its reserves right now. As the saying goes, trust those you employ wholeheartedly; and don¡¯t employ them if you¡¯re unable to do so. In order to drive home the point that they could only rely on themselves, and not the old Hell, Qin Ye even told Gu Qing the truth about the old Hell¡¯s non-existence.

    Gu Qing stared intently at Qin Ye as he mulled over Qin Ye¡¯s exnations, seeking rifications from time to time. But as more and more was revealed, Gu Qing¡¯s expressions began to change. Half an hourter, he stared at Qin Ye with an almost despondent gaze.

    Are you seriously not pulling my leg?

    With no money and no resources, what can we do even if I push out a design drawing?

    ¡°Cough¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed dryly. He probably felt embarrassed at how the impoverished state of Hell was well beyond his chief designer¡¯s imaginations, ¡°There will be difficulties, but we will have to ovee them. Therefore, do let me know if there are any pressing ones we need to discuss¡­¡±

    Qin Ye could see Gu Qing¡¯s lips trembling immediately, and he immediately supplemented, ¡°But there¡¯s no guarantees that we¡¯ll be able to resolve them right away.¡±

    Gu Qing: ¡­¡­

    Stay calm¡­ stay calm¡­ I mean, as an elder, what¡¯s the point of getting into an argument with a young teenager like that? I¡¯m not angry. Really, I¡¯m not¡­

    He drew several deep breaths and sorted through his thoughts before finally speaking his mind, ¡°Mr Qin, I suppose there are a few key questions that need to be addressed from the onset. Firstly, are we at risk of any enemy invasion?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then shook his head, ¡°Are you thinking of putting defense mechanisms in ce? There¡¯s no need for that. I¡¯ll tell you the reason in future. But for now, you can work on the assumption that no enemy would step foot into this ce.¡±

    You must be kidding. The Harken is still dormant in slumber right below our ass.

    Gu Qing sighed in relief, and then held up a second finger, ¡°Secondly, did the old Hell ever have any specialty produce for exports? Simr to the gold and minerals in the mortal realm? Or is there any way to find out?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled bitterly and shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Even if there were, I¡¯m not sure about it. I¡¯ll do my best to search for these things. The upheaval in Hell was just too abrupt back then, and many sources of information were destroyed in the process. I might not be able to find the answer to this.¡±

    Arthis had already taken her leave as soon as Qin Ye began to exin things to Gu Qing in detail. That said, she had never discussed such matters before either. But this stood to reason as well. After all, she had been an esteemed Judge back in her days of glory, so how could she be bothered with such trivial matters?

    When she took office as a Judge, someone probably told her, ¡®there are no mines here¡¯, and she probably took those words at face value without bothering to do a more thorough investigation.

    That¡¯s right. This was how well Qin Ye understood her!

    ¡°This is of particr importance. Resources are one of the most decisive factors in determining the direction of a city¡¯s development.¡± Gu Qing furrowed his brows in distress and then probed further with what little expectation remained in his heart, ¡°The development of all cities are directly tied to their ess to resources, and especially so in our case right now. Mr Qin, if I may put it bluntly, given everything you¡¯ve apprised me of earlier, and in light of the fact that Hell¡¯s system of fiat currency hasn¡¯t been established yet, the only thing we can do is to establish a trade route to barter trade the specialty produce from Hell for resources from the mortal realm.¡±

    That was the only stable stream of resources avable to them.

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. This was something he had been desperately looking for as well.

    There were only a handful of tycoons like Huang Liangchuan in Hell right now, and while the resources obtained from trading in their personal possessions could tide them through their financial woes for the moment, it wouldn¡¯t be able tost an entire lifetime.

    But¡­ what resources did Hell have?

    He turned to look around. There was only the vast canopy of the dark skies, the dark hills, and the fiery leaves of the red trees. Everything was monotonous and austere. Qin Ye chuckled bitterly, ¡°Where would I find specialty produce in such a in region?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely the case.¡± Just then, Arthis¡¯ voice resounded from afar. A small paper crane fluttered over andnded on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°It¡¯s true that every city had a specialty produce back in the glory days of the old Hell.¡±

    Without missing a beat, she continued, ¡°For instance, when I was stationed in Peace City back then, our specialty produce was a kind of Yin bamboo that was immeasurable sharp,parable even with the best steel in the mortal realm. They could be used as armor for our soldiers, with the added benefit of flexibility. Each piece of bamboo was worth as much as ten thousand coins back in those days.¡±

    ¡°Another example is the Province of the Great Heavens, which is known for production of their dark crystals in Eastsun City and its six subsidiary counties. These dark crystals are a uniquebustible fuel-like material that produces neither smoke nor pollutive substances. A single catty of it can be burnt to keep a family of three warm for an entire month during the harshest month of winter¡­ But for some strange reason, I can¡¯t seem to find any traces of mines in the new Hell. I¡¯ve also looked around for unique trees, but no matter where I look, I only see a single species of trees here.¡±

    ¡°Hang on¡­¡± Qin Ye stared at Arthis as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Winter? What the hell is winter in Hell? Are Yin spirits even afraid of winter?¡±

    The paper crane froze, and then trembled as though an epiphany had just struck, ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s how it is!¡±

    ¡°I remember now!¡± The paper crane flew up and exploded into a vortex from which Arthis¡¯ true form began to descend. She pressed on her temples as she expressed her thoughts, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ Hell wasn¡¯t built in a single day. In fact, it had developed over an incredibly long period of time!¡±

    She continued, ¡°This is the revised history of Hell - Over three thousand years ago, when Hell first began, there were no seasons nor storms in Hell. It was paradise in the underworld. One thousand years into its formation, Hell underwent the first great change. Torrential downpours began, and Hell began to experience seasons. Two thousand yearster, Hell experienced another great upheaval, and Yin beasts began to surface in thends. Then, by the end of the three thousand years, Hell experienced three great cataclysms, or auroras, a tide of beasts, and a great fire. But each of these great upheavals was apanied by the appearance of boundless treasures.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°What does this mean for us?¡±

    Arthis exined earnestly, ¡°How did the earth as we knew ite about? The very same evolution applies to Hell as well. First, there were nts, then there were animals, and finally there were natural resources. That said, things are going on much more quickly right now. Back then, thews of the world were iplete and non-existent when the old Hell was established, and there was therefore no seasons nor concept of climate. This was why it was called paradise back then. But as Hell developed, so were itsws perfected. This gave rise to the incipience of seasons and disasters, as well as treasures.¡±

    She sighed and gave Qin Ye a nce which seemed to mean - ¡°Aren¡¯t you d I remembered all these things? Shouldn¡¯t you be thanking me?¡±

    Yet her gaze was immediately met by a death re.

    What do you mean?

    How could you only just remember something as important as that? What good is your brain for?

    Gu Qing didn¡¯t notice the sparks flying from their exchange of nces, and he instead held his chin and opined after some time, ¡°In other words, it isn¡¯t likely that there would be mineral deposits in Hell right now? And it¡¯s only with the development of Hell that we will begin to see the appearances of more natural resources?¡±

    ¡°There definitely aren''t any mineral deposits right now.¡± Arthis responded with a grave expression, ¡°For instance, the formation of coal in the mortal realm was a process that had taken thousands upon thousands of years. Where was coal when earth was first created? The same goes for the dark crystals of Hell. I imagine we¡¯ll have to wait until Hell grows to the size of a county before we start seeing its appearance once more.¡±

    Gu Qing knitted his brows together. The conditions for the development of Hell was far harsher than he had anticipated. Things were in a far better state than this when he had rendered aid to the construction efforts of Alkebn in the past. Certainly, they didn¡¯t have ess to natural resources either, but what kind of entity was the Cathay Construction Group? He had ess to as much finances and influence over policies as was justifiable. But what about now?

    He sighed wistfully and looked around. Then, all of a sudden, his eyes brightened, and he stared transfixed in a particr location.

    They were walking along the path beside one of the construction zones. It was currently an empty plot ofnd with tree stumps of varying heights. The trees had apparently been freshly cut.

    And that was exactly where he was looking at.

    1. This refers to the development of the three gorges dam and everything it affects, whether downstream or upstream

    2. Approximately 0.6 kg

 Chapter 195: A Great Scholarâ€™s Discovery (2)

    <h4>Chapter 195: A Great Schr''s Discovery (2)</h4>

    Gu Qing didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he blinked several times as he sniffed the air in bewilderment, before suddenly turning to Qin Ye in astonishment, ¡°My lord¡­ do you smell anything?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Gu Qing frowned, ¡°This fragrance¡­ I¡¯ve smelt it before¡­ and quite often at that¡­ Where exactly was it¡­¡±

    ¡°Fetish?¡± Arthis eximed.

    ¡°What kind of species of trees can Hell possibly have?¡± Arthis furrowed her brows, ¡°It¡¯s the same one everywhere. Didn¡¯t you mention earlier that it was the red maple?¡±

    Fragrant rosewood?

    Gu Qing turned around and trembled with great excitement, ¡°Mr Qin, if this is truly the Southsea Huanghuali, the entire forest we can see is at least worth several hundred tons¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that it¡¯s a possibility! Perhaps it might be the fragrant rosewood.¡± Gu Qing¡¯s breaths quickened with excitement, ¡°Also known as the Southsea Huanghuali. Second only to the red sandalwood, the fragrant rosewood is one of the four most coveted species of woods out there! There¡¯s a huge market for these trees out there!¡±

    Qin Ye swept his gaze across the sea of ¡°red maples¡± in front of his very eyes.

    If one wanted to show off their status, they wore bracelets made of Southsea Huanghuali.

    In essence, these were things that an impoverished soul like him would never have known about. Yet, now¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m rich¡­ I¡¯ve truly struck gold¡­¡± An electrifying sensation surged from his tailbone straight through his mind. He gulped anxiously, ¡°Such arge plot ofnd filled with Southsea Huanghuali¡­ is more than enough to sustain me for the rest of my life¡­¡±

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths and licked his lips avariciously, ¡°One of the four great woods of Cathay. The market price out there is over ten million per ton. And this was the market price two years ago to boot!¡±

    The trio were silent for a long time. Nobody had ever even imagined the possibility that such a massive gold mine could have been hiding in in sight all this while. After a long time, Arthis probed further with trembling in her voice, ¡°Ten million¡­ Hell notes?¡±

    He drew a deep breath and looked at the patch of tree stumps in front of him with a quivering voice, ¡°Once a province discovers just hundreds¡­ No! Even if it were just dozens of Southsea Huanghuali trees, the furniture market in the entire province would go crazy over it! There¡¯s no telling how manypanies would be begging us to sell these to them, so that they can process it and resell these products to the rich and powerful. And to that end, even the profit arising from these transactions is incidental to them. After all, what matters most is their reputation! The fact that they have such wood in their hands¡­ is sufficient to propel them from being a neer in the furniture market to bing the leading seller in the province¡­ or even an entire district!¡±

    ¡°Most certainly! I¡¯ll even buy you two - one for your use, and one for disy!¡± Qin Ye waved his hand heroically. This wave of euphoria had struck him too suddenly, and he waspletely unprepared for it¡­ So, as it turns out, it¡¯s not as though Hell doesn¡¯t have any natural resources. We¡¯ve simplycked the ability to properly identify it!

    Alright, say we round it up to a thousand tons, then we¡¯re looking at¡­ a whopping ten billion!!!

    Phew¡­ It feels as though life has just reached a new high¡­ a peak that I¡¯ve never been to before¡­

    Two begrudging res shot right over immediately.

    ¡°Calm down.¡± Qin Ye pinched himself, ¡°This isn¡¯t a dream¡­ so why am I not feeling any pain?¡±

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths to regte his emotions before addressing Gu Qing once more, ¡°Mr Gu, what made you think of taking a closer look at these trees? And how did youe to guess that these trees are none other than the fabled Southsea Huanghuali?¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­ Hell may not be the same as the mortal realm, but¡­ the heavens will never stymie one¡¯s path. Seriously.¡± He spoke earnestly, ¡°Nature¡¯s haunting work is far beyond what the human mind can fathom. The geographic conditions of Gambik County was incredibly harsh. It adjoined an incredibly dense rainforest. Nevertheless, the city was still built there because they discovered the presence of a massive oil field in the vicinity. Apart from that, there¡¯s really nothing much else to talk about.¡±

    ¡°One of the things we were most concerned about was failing to identify the natural resources that were in fact avable in the vicinity. However, our team of elites consisted of experts spanning a plethora of industries, ranging from medicine, to light industrial works, to even raw material specialists. To our dismay, we discovered that Gambik had nothing apart from crude oil.¡±

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, and then nodded his head.

    Gu Qing continued, ¡°They¡¯re the ones that discoveredrge tracts of Alkebn cherry oranges in the tropical rainforest located right behind Gambik!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a sex tree. That term refers to none other but the Alkebn cherry orange. The cherry orange¡¯s potency isparable to Viagra, and it is therefore also known as the number one natural aphrodisiac in the flora and fauna kingdom. Its rarity isparable to authentic Changbaishan old mountain ginseng¡­ Most cities in Alkebn start out this way, and then they eventually rely on their own specialty produce to make a name for themselves on the market. Excavating the first bucket of gold will only promote a virtuous cycle that spurs development. Hell is currently in the nascent stages of development, so precious specialty produce like this is something we¡¯ll need more than anything else!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d only noticed the possibility of the species of this wood by chance. Nature works in mysterious ways. I happened to have a set of Southsea Huanghuali furniture at home, and that¡¯s why the scent felt so familiar to me. I guess you could also say that my profession contributed some ways in this discovery as well.¡±

    If it is, this could mean a turning point for the new Hell!

    Gu Qing nodded his head and crouched down once more. This time, Arthis and Qin Ye followed suit as well. With so much riding on the line, who could be bothered about trivialities like the face of a future King Yanluo?

    Wealth moves mountains¡­ I guess that¡¯s where the saying got its meaning from¡­

    After some time, Gu Qing gently stroked the stump and spoke of his own volition, ¡°There are two types of Huanghuali - the Southsea Huanghuali, and the Great Viet Huanghuali. That said, the price for the Southsea Huanghuali is generally higher than the Great Viet Huanghuali. Its grains are generally more beautiful, and its colour more mellow. Furthermore, it takes well to wood-processing works, and its hardness is moderate. Therefore, it doesn¡¯t deform easily. The first point of identification is in terms of its fragrance.¡±

    Qin Ye took a deep breath.

    Qin Ye took another look at the tree stumps around him, and his heart cringed in pain.

    I me Arthis for having a voluptuous chest and a peabrain! How could she not know a single thing about the fragrant rosewood?! Trash!

    ¡°And that deals with the first point of identification - fragrance. The second point of identification is in terms of colour. Apart from the mostmon golden-yellow hue, the Southsea Huanghualies in various other colours, including purple, brown, red, ck, or anybination of these colours. The colour tone is generally on the darker side. This is also one of the distinguishing factors between a genuine good and a counterfeit one.¡±

    He smiled and stroked the stump again, ¡°Is its ¡®ghost face¡¯.¡±

    1. This is a highly coveted cosmetic skin for a LoL champion.

    2. The african cherry orange is a real thing. In fact, it¡¯s actually more a shrub than a tree.

    3. Alternate name for Vietnam.

 Chapter 196: The Road to Riches

    <h4>Chapter 196: The Road to Riches</h4>

    ¡°Come¡­ take a look at the Southsea Huanghuali in Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye walked over and took a look, and he waspletely stunned.

    There was a knot right in the center of the stump. And this knot¡­ actually formed a beautiful, perfect pattern!

    It wasn¡¯t like one of those intricately designed carvings. Instead, it resembled the most quintessential ofndscape paintings, almost as though an expert had sshed ink on a canvas before improvising from there.

    Freestyle.

    It was like a freestyle masterpiece of a female artist, hazy yet graceful, distinct yet illusory. It was a mesmerizing piece of art.

    In fact, it was so enrapturing that it was difficult to fathom how something like that was simply growing out of a tree. To this end, it even looked somewhat artificial.

    ¡°This is what we call the ghost face.¡± Gu Qing exined excitedly, ¡°It¡¯s actually formed out of the nodules and bumps, otherwise known as knots, that arise naturally during a tree¡¯s growth. The Southsea Huanghuali generally grows in a harsh environment. Therefore, it¡¯s known to grow slowly, and it develops many branches. It¡¯s also because of this that the grains tend to be twisted and somewhat irregr. This generally lends to a greater propensity to develop a ghost face, and a denser and richer one at that. That said¡­ this is still the first time I¡¯ve seen a naturally urring ghost face as vivid and lifelike as that.¡±

    Everyone grew silent. Arthis and Qin Ye stared at Gu Qing, eagerly awaiting his final conclusion on the matter.

    Gu Qing deliberated for a moment, ¡°The species of these trees seem to tick all of the identifying characteristic traits of the Southsea Huanghuali. I¡¯m over 90% certain that this is none other than the Southsea Huanghuali! In fact, if not for the fact that it looks so peculiar, I would have immediately confirmed without any reservations that this is the prized wood known as the Southsea Huanghuali! The fragrant rosewood that is coveted across all of Cathay!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips trembled, ¡°I¡¯ll give you three seconds to reconsider your phrasing¡­¡±

    Gu Qing paused, and then coughed dryly, ¡°Then¡­ I confirm that this is the Southsea Huanghuali.¡±

    ¡°This is the Southsea Huanghuali with iparably vivid and lifelike ghostfaces¡­ Forget about the price of wood. I can assure you that the price of this stump alone is worth the market price for the entire tree!¡±

    Qin Ye felt his heart pounding through his chest!

    The wealth of ten billion¡­

    I was wrong. I¡¯d always been wrong! I had never been starting from scratch. In fact, there couldn¡¯t have been a more perfect start to the redevelopment of Hell!

    ¡°Nature¡¯s haunting work¡­ is truly unimaginable¡­¡± He stared at the red ma--... No! What do you mean by red maple?! He knew full well that the Southsea Huanghuali was something ssified as threatened and vulnerable as a result of earlier overexploitation, and there are regtions governing the amount of it that can be traded and sold in any single transaction. After all, exceeding the regted amount would mean diminishing the supply of Southsea Huanghuali quicker than it could recover. But¡­ would a market in great demand for these woods care about matters such as these?

    The Southsea Huanghuali was known by many names, like the four great timbers, wood of hysteria, gold-centered wood. The only other timber that could give it a run for its money was the red sandalwood. From what he could remember, a ssical bed made from Southsea Huanghuali could be sold for 16 million RMB, while a set of two chairs were worth 8 million RMB. The only reason why Southsea Huanghuali trinkets are moremonly seen in the market is precisely because it is incredibly rare to findrge pieces of such raw wood in the market. One could say that the supply of Southsea Huanghuali in his possession was sufficient to even influence its asking price in the market!

    How many tycoons like Huang Liangchuan were there out there, begging, yet unable to purchase a single one of these prized pieces? In the hands of the right craftsmen, anypany that secures these pieces of raw fragrant rosewood could literally propel them into the ranks of honored guests among the ultra rich! His forest was like a key that could unlock an immeasurable future for any furniturepany out there! Anyone who gains ess to his supply of wood would be set for the rest of their lives!

    And he, on the other hand, would profit greatly from all of the pent up demand for the wood as an upstream seller. All he needed to do was to establish a system of currency in Hell before his source of riches were depleted, and then Hell can truly and finally be considered to be out of its predicament. At that time, Hell would finally be self-sufficient.

    In other words, these woods right now were the key to breaking out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

    ¡°Mr Qin, the supply of so much wood would surely drive the entire wood furniture market insane!¡± Gu Qing concluded, ¡°As for how it ought to be done, that is entirely up to Mr Qin¡¯s discretion.¡±

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths to calm his wildly beating heart. After several seconds, his voice boomed across every corner of Hell like thunder, ¡°Yin Construction personnel are to stop all works with immediate effect. The seven division heads, Huang Liangchuan and his Radiant Sunset Support Group are to immediately head to the annex hall to convene the second meeting of Yin Construction.¡±

    With that, he led Gu Qing straight to Hell¡¯s Gate.

    Time crawls whenever one¡¯s heart is fraught with anxiety and eager anticipation. Qin Ye¡¯s twenty minute trek felt like an entire day. And when he finally arrived at the annex hall, everyone was already there staring at Qin Ye with an apprehensive look in their eyes.

    ¡°Take a seat.¡± Qin Ye wasn¡¯t in the mood for nonsense, and he gestured for everyone to take their seats. Five Yin spirit scribes stood behind with their pen and paper in hand, ready to take the notes of the meeting.

    ¡°This is the head of Cathay¡¯s central nning department, Mr Gu Qing. He was previously in charge of the urban nning and design of the projects in Alkebn, as well as the construction of the first specialized district in Cathay. With decades of experience in city and urban nning, as well as construction, he is henceforth appointed the first CEO of Yin Construction. He will be in charge when I¡¯m not around.¡±

    Nobody had any objections.

    Nobody dared to have any objections.

    This was the advantage brought about by his rule with an iron fist and cold-blooded methods earlier. Qin Ye nodded and drew a deep breath, ¡°We¡¯ve managed to resolve the greatest problem inhibiting the redevelopment of Hell - the problem with finances and resources.¡±

    Although he had already run through what he was going to say many times in his head prior to this, he could still feel his heart racing as he said these things, ¡°Just a moment ago, Mr Gu Qing ascertained that the trees outside are all Southsea Huanghuali trees.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°This¡­ Lord Qin, you must be joking!¡± ¡°Such arge tract of it? Southsea Huanghuali?! The gold-centered tree?!¡± ¡°Unbelievable¡­ To think that we¡¯ve been cutting them down every day! Is this really the Southsea Huanghuali?¡±

    The entire meeting buzzed with excitement as soon as Qin Ye dropped the bombshell!

    They were all in the construction industry. No, even if they weren¡¯t, the reputation of the fragrant rosewood was practically ubiquitous!

    Its value had soared over thest decade or so. At over ten million a ton, none of them dared to even consider the possibility that these trees could be the coveted Southsea Huanghuali. None of them knew the identifying traits of these trees either. After all, most of the members of Yin Construction right now used to be nothing more than wage earners, so how could they possibly have seen or smelt the fragrance of the Southsea Huanghuali in real life?

    And while there were a handful of tycoons amongst their midst, how many of these tycoons would be involved in the construction works at the work site?

    This was naturally why the Southsea Huanghuali had not been identified to date.

    ¡°This is¡­ really the Southsea Huanghuali?¡± Huang Liangchuan¡¯s eyelids were twitching uncontrobly as he fought hard to suppress the urge to leap to his feet. He had his suspicions in the past, especially when leaning against the tree for rest and shade, but he had always dispelled it, thinking it was too good to be true!

    Bloody hell¡­ To think that over a hundred thousand Yin spirits are leaning against these trees and resting under their shade every day¡­

    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Hu Feng was the first to snap back from their reverie. He shot to his feet and cupped his hands at Qin Ye, ¡°My lord, there must be several thousand tons out there! In fact, just the trunk of these trees would be a thousand tons on its own! But we can¡¯t discard the rest. After cutting off the leaves and cleaning up the wood, we¡¯re talking about a thousand tons of the branches as well. With those, we can make smaller items, such as bracelets, nes, pendants, small sculptures, and other trinkets. With that¡­ we can properly embark on therge-scale redevelopment works of Hell!¡±

    Qian Tianyi sighed with great emotion, and simrly stood up and cupped his hands, ¡°My lord, I won¡¯t lie to you. We were severely hamstrung without the injection of funds. This will truly allow us to spread our wings and fly. The injection of funds is everything! My lord, I can assure you that under your and Gu Qing¡¯s leadership, you will see apletely different look in Hell in just ten years¡¯ time!¡±

    Song Ming nced out of the windows with twitching eyelids, ¡°Several thousand tons of wood¡­ We¡¯re talking about tens of billions here¡­ To think that we were still deeply concerned about when Qin Gardens Phase 1 would finally bepleted. Qin Gardens Phase 2 was something that was well beyond the horizon. With the citizens having no ce to call their own, we were concerned that they would one day revolt. But now¡­¡±

    The division heads exchanged knowing nces and cried out in joy, ¡°Even developing three phases of Qin Gardens concurrently wouldn¡¯t be an issue!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got sufficient ghostpower! All we need is resources!¡± ¡°And once we have resources on hand, developing five square kilometers ofnd can¡¯t be considered much!¡± ¡°With that, the Yin Division wouldn¡¯t merely be an enterprise in name anymore!¡±

    The chatter heated up with great excitement in the annex hall, so much so that even the scribes began to record their discussions with great anticipation. The seven division heads burned with passion - How difficult can things in Hell get¡­ With only a handful of machines, what¡¯s the use of twenty thousand Yin spirits? There can only be dozens of Yin spirits working on the sites each time, and the rest of the neen thousand Yin spirits would just idle about, watching and cheering their colleagues on.

    Not only does this undermine confidence, it destroys their morale. In fact, there hastely even been a surge in discontentment and unrest, and it was just that the division heads didn¡¯t dare to report these to Qin Ye.

    But right now, there was no longer any concern in this regard.

    With tens of billions in wealth right under their noses, they could finally hold their heads high and dere - Work hard! Anyone who doesn¡¯t finish their work tonight can forget about getting reincarnated!

    And that was exactly how a division head should behave¡­

    ¡°Silence.¡± Qin Ye was equally excited, but he had to maintain his distant and cold persona. He coughed softly, and the entire annex hall was silent once again. Only the sound of ragged breaths could be heard as everyone looked back at Qin Ye with somewhat bloodshot eyes.

    Qin Ye was stunned. Gu Qing smiled, leaned over and whispered, ¡°Mr Qin--... My lord, this is but a habit that they¡¯ve developed from their work back in the mortal realm. No matter how great the project is, resources must still be prioritized. You can say that their attempt to vie for resources right now is merely a condition reflex from their work back in the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye finally smiled.

    That¡¯s right¡­ that¡¯s what a constructionpany should look like.

    He had previously brought back a handful of machines for the construction works, and everyone paid lip service to him and gave him their token agreement. But¡­ did anyone vie for these machines?

    No.

    Because they all knew that these were no more than drips and draps. Fighting over it would only make them look bad.

    But things were different now.

    Hell¡¯s development was going to proceed proper with the injection of funds. The early bird gets the worms! Those who arete to the party would only get scraps left behind by the rest!

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush. We¡¯ll let Mr Gu Qing take a look at the designs once more. I sincerely believe that Gu Qing is more qualified than the person who hade up with the design to begin with. What we¡¯ve got to discuss right now is¡­¡± Qin Ye paused, and his expression turned somber, ¡°How do we get the stock out there?¡±

    Everyone grew silent in an instant.

    This wasn¡¯t their forte of the division heads at all.

    However, it was the forte of another person around.

    Huang Liangchuan¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. His reputation as the ss magnate wasn¡¯t empty and baseless. Perhaps there might be others better than him in ss manufacturing out there, but when ites to marketing, he was second to none!

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± His heart began to thump frantically. His opportunity had finally arrived. This was an opportunity to secure a foothold in Qin Ye¡¯s heart. Anyone who seeded in doing so would most certainly soar to great heights in future!

    He was well aware that he had rubbed Qin Ye off the wrong way earlier, and he had always been thinking of ways to make amends for his previous actions. Now was clearly the perfect time to do so.

    I don¡¯t want to brag about these things, but when ites to matters of business, especially how to create a business empire, everyone apart from Chairman Qin and I areplete and utter trash at these things¡­

    ¡°Eh?¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly and turned to Huang Liangchuan, ¡°You¡¯ve got some thoughts?¡±

    ¡°If I might just offer my two cents worth.¡± Huang Liangchuan coughed lightly as he fervently suppressed his wagging tail, ¡°I think that we will have to regte the supply to be released, and through a select few partners.¡±

    He knew his ce - a subordinate should never leave things hanging in front of his chairman and attempt to show off their intelligence.

    Therefore, Huang Liangchuan immediately exined, ¡°We should regte the amount precisely because the Southsea Huanghuali is a threatened and vulnerable species right now. Release too much at once, and we would catch the attention of the market monitoring authorities. That could be troublesome for us. Even though the supply could be easily exined away, our identities simply cannot withstand the scrutiny of a thorough governmental investigation. It would be prudent to save ourselves some trouble that way.¡±

 Chapter 197: A Finalized Plan

    <h4>Chapter 197: A Finalized n</h4>

    ¡°Moving onto the proposal for select partners. We¡¯re in the business for the long haul. And as far as that is concerned, everything is about establishing an identity and status. Looking for a new partner for coboration each time would be a hassle. Ideally, we want to establish a healthy trade rtionship with a few good partners. After all, it¡¯s impossible for a single entity to monopolize all of our supply of wood. Furthermore, as far as I¡¯m aware, it takes quite some time for apany to realize their profits in the furniture market. Otherwise, there¡¯s simply no reason why a raw materialspany can¡¯t process and sell the goods on their own. Most of these productionpanies sell off their raw materials without processing them because they want a quick turnaround in cash. After all, liquidity in assets always beats having illiquid stocks in hand.¡±

    Qin Ye listened to Huang Liangchuan with great interest. When hest saw Huang Liangchuan, he was still the leader of the Radiant Sunset Support Group. But now, he was finally showing what he was truly capable of. But speaking of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, can the mortal realm truly hold a candle to Hell in this regard?

    Qin Ye coughed dryly as he shook off the increasingly dark thoughts in his mind. Why does it feel like I¡¯ve begun to look at living people with a different light ever since taking office in Hell?

    Huang Liangchuan smiled, ¡°We might still have to trouble Lord Qin to personally handle the affairs with the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°Arti--...¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going.¡±

    ¡°I can even tell the kind of farting from your butt from the way you tilt your body.¡± Arthis rolled her eyes at him. Then, considerately salvaging what modicum of face the future Yanluo had remaining, she leaned over and whispered back, ¡°I¡¯m not free. How could you be asking me to run errands for you when I¡¯ve not managed to secure my challenger rank yet? Besides, you¡¯ll sooner orter have to learn to do these things on your own. You can¡¯t appoint any Anitya Hellguards under your charge before you attain the rank of an Infernal Judge, and Anitya Hellguards are the only ones who can travel in the day. Or are you saying that you want me to be your errand girl every time?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s temples throbbed violently, ¡°Then what are you going to do?!¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯ll give you three seconds to reconsider your response. I hope you realize the extent of the mistake you¡¯ve made¡­¡±

    Very well¡­

    Arthis: How dare someone with a weak-ass face ask me to run errands for you?

    He knew he couldn¡¯t entrust this task to Arthis. Thus, he gathered his thoughts and tapped on the table with a frown on his face.

    ¡°My lord¡­ is there something troubling you?¡± Having noticed the expression on Qin Ye¡¯s face, Huang Liangchuan asked hesitantly.

    Huang Liangchuan¡¯s expressions turned ashen immediately.

    For instance, someone like Huang Liangchuan would naturally know of matters that normal citizens didn¡¯t.

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin, ¡°I¡¯ll need an opportunity to speak with the representatives of the top merchants in the wood and furniture industry. Perhaps there may be an opportunity to leave the city in the near future, but the window of opportunity probably wouldn¡¯t be any more than three days.¡±

    After a protracted pause, Huang Liangchuan suggested an alternative, ¡°How about the auction?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened, and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ¡°And what if it¡¯s auctioned off in public?¡±

    ¡°My lord.¡± Huang Liangchuan exined patiently, ¡°Look at the forest of Southsea Huanghuali. It won¡¯t be possible to cut them down all at once. Besides, what we¡¯re looking for is a source of stable clientele, and¡­ that wouldy the foundation for the future.¡±

    Huang Liangchuan was truly deserving of his title as the ss magnate. He was shrewd, and everything was calcted to an exacting standard in preparation for the future. Sure, there may only be the Southsea Huanghuali in Hell right now, but who knew what woulde up in the future?

    ¡°Guardian Auctions.¡± Gu Qing responded before Huang Liangchuan could even do so, ¡°There are a total of tenrge auction houses in Cathay. Guardian is number one, followed by Poly International, Rong Bao Auction, Duo Yun Xuan, Cathay International, Han Hai, Xiling Seal-Engravers¡¯ Society, etc. Guardian Auctions is presently thergest one of them all, and they pride themselves in their world-ss customer confidentiality. Incidentally, it is also the auction house located closest to Insignia Province. There are Guardian branch offices located in both Eastsea or Pearl River.¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath.

    I¡¯ll have to find a way to head out of the city at least once.

    His expressions turned solemn, ¡°Firstly, Mr Gu shall be in charge of everything in my absence. Mr Gu, I¡¯ll trouble you to do up a drawing design of Hell incorporating all buildings and submit it to me.¡±

    ¡°Secondly¡­¡± He looked at Huang Liangchuan and the others around, ¡°Mr Huang, from today onwards, I¡¯ll want you to gather some people under your charge and start making ns for a mary system.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be too nervous.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°This is a mammoth task that I¡¯m asking of you, and I don¡¯t expect you to be able to get it done with just a handful of people under your charge either. I know that you¡¯re not too familiar with the workings of a mary system either, but you¡¯re still far more proficient and astute than others who can¡¯t make head or tail of this matter.¡±

    With that, both he and Arthis transformed into a cloud of Yin energy and vanished from Hell.

    It was already night. A multitude of constetions filled the skies. He was lying in bed, and all of the appliances in his room were switched off. There was a slight chatter outside his door, as though a discussion were happening in the hallway. He nced at his watch - it was 1 a.m.

    Arthis chuckled softly, ¡°There¡¯s still one hundred and fifty days or so until then¡­ are you sure your patience will hold out until then?¡±

    She wouldn¡¯t make a move.

    Otherwise¡­ how could he stand tall against the onught of the gods of other underworlds in future?

    He didn¡¯t have the patience to wait that long.

    There were currently the three daolords within and several gods of underworld outside that were covetously eyeing Hell¡¯s presence. There was the Global Underworld Argosian Arts Festival, and - oh, that¡¯s right - the Harken that was lying in wait right under their asses.

    ¡°Is there any way you can get me out of here without being detected?¡±

    ¡°Well, since there isn''t, then why don¡¯t we--... Eh?¡± Qin Ye blinked and sat up abruptly. This isn¡¯t like Arthis! Since when was she that candid and forthright with me?

    ¡°You¡¯re lecturing every alternate day. There¡¯s no way of shirking those responsibilities of yours. Might I remind you that Zhou Xianlong isn¡¯t an Anitya Hellguard. He¡¯s a peak Infernal Judge - one that is stronger than even I am. Sure, you can slip into Hell undetected with the aid of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, but that doesn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t notice your absence from the academy for a few days on end.¡±

    She sighed wistfully, ¡°It seems like you¡¯ll either have to give up the benefits here at the First Academy of Cultivators, or alternatively bite the bullet and wait patiently for half a year.¡±

    ¡°This is a prison break - something that even I can¡¯t be confident of seeding in.¡±

    1. Top of the LoL ranking system.

 Chapter 198: Major Auction

    <h4>Chapter 198: Major Auction</h4>

    Qin Ye blinked as he scrambled about looking for something.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Arthis wondered.

    ¡°I¡¯m preparing to get a tattoo¡­ Do you think I¡¯ll be able to increase my attack power by tattooing the blueprint of the academy on my body?¡±

    Arthis made a stiff expression, ¡°Attack power? Now that¡¯s something I¡¯ve not heard before¡­ Perhaps it might make your aura flourish with more vigor too¡­¡±

    Nothing good woulde of anything done in exhaustion and weariness. The time now was already close to 2 a.m. Qin Ye floundered about for a little bit more, and then quickly sank deep into the embrace of slumber.

    The mortal realm and the underworld were akin to two parallel nes, and trading between these two nes naturally wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Next to the foreseeable issues arising out of these future trades, his problems with the Southsea Huanghuali were truly mild and insignificant.

    In fact, these were all problems that could never be resolved with looming impatience. Just like the old man who moves mountains it is only by persevering through tough times and powering through arduous tasks one by one could Hell finally regain its former glory at the very end.

    Working blindly or overtime at the cost of rity of mind would only result in wasted efforts. A sharp mind and clear thoughts were the building blocks for achieving great things. Thus, Qin Ye slept peacefully through the night until he woke up at 8 a.m. As soon as he awakened, he received a notification message from his Momo app.

    Vast Ocean Smile: ¡°All instructors from the Faculty of Combat are to be prepared for the reassignment of dorm rooms. The directive has already been given by Head of Faculty Zhou for everyone to be relocated into the six dormitory buildings located at the east zoneboratories next to the artificialke. Each faculty would be residing in a single dormitory building, and thest dormitory building shall be upied by the leaders of the school. Furthermore, at least one instructor will be residing on each floor of the dormitories. The professors of each faculty will be going around to check on the reassignment of dorm rooms at 6 p.m. this evening.¡±

    It suddenly urred to Qin Ye that ever since abandoning his ways of intentionally keeping himself at arms¡¯ length from social groups, he would somehow or other be added to groups andmunities for no good reason.

    For instance, this Faculty of Combat group was another one which Zhou Xianlong wasn¡¯t part of.

    And then there was another group called ¡®Local Bully and friends¡¯ that would buzz incessantly with 999 alerts every minute.

    Only the heavens knew when he had been added to this shameless group!

    As soon as Su Feng¡¯s message st was sent, Local Bully immediately contacted Qin Ye with a private message: ¡°I¡¯m already done moving. When will you be done? Wanna go grab a snack at the canteen?¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°So quickly?¡±

    Lin Han: ¡°Ask your students! They can do everything, from packing to moving! Do you really think a precious piece of work like I would be doing something menial like that?¡±

    ¡­ You¡¯re a piece of work alright¡­ Despite his thoughts, Qin Ye did think well of Lin Han¡¯s suggestion. Thus, he quickly typed: ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you send some strong arms and legs my way?¡± Then, just as he was about to send the text, he suddenly remembered something of grave importance, and immediately deleted everything he had just typed as he gave the inte-obsessed silicone doll a death stare.

    I¡¯m like a boy with huge skeletons in the closet! What¡¯s going to happen if studentse in to help me pack my belongings?

    The following would probably ensue.

    Student A whispers, ¡°Hey, did you hear? Instructor Qin? The instructor who¡¯s the youngest Soul Hunter in history? He¡¯s hanging his ¡®girlfriend¡¯ out to dry today! This is a secret that I¡¯m only telling you. Don¡¯t tell anyone else!¡±

    Student B nods vigorously, only to turn to Student C with a hushed tone of voice, ¡°Hey, let me tell you a secret. Promise me you won¡¯t tell anyone else. Instructor Qin used his ¡®girlfriend¡¯st night and didn¡¯t clean it properly, so he¡¯s hung her out to dry today.¡±

    Student C: ¡°Do you know something? Instructor Qin broke three ¡®girlfriends¡¯st night, and they¡¯re all hanging out on the balcony of his room right now!

    It was far too graphic for his own imagination.

    An hourter, Qin Ye stood at the entrance with severalrge boxes in tow, gritting his teeth as he sent a message to the student body: ¡°Are there any lovely students willing to help an instructor with his luggage?¡±

    ¡°Certainly!¡± ¡°Is that Instructor Qin? I¡¯ll be there right away¡± ¡°I¡¯m a minute away. I¡¯m already downstairs!¡±

    Ten minutester, Wang Chenghao, Ye Xingchen and several others stood at the door, wiping off the sweat beading up on their foreheads. Wang Chenghao looked at therge boxes beside Qin Ye and froze, ¡°Brother Qin, you could¡¯ve called us to pack your belongings for you. Isn¡¯t it a hassle to pack your own things¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stared into the distant sky in silence. Apart from a slight urge to chuckle sardonically, there was hardly a trace of emotion in his heart.

    A certain silicone doll had earlier just been highly resistant to the idea of being packed into a box, clinging fervently to herptop, iming that she wanted to finish her ranked game first, andining that the box lined with a nket forfort was too dark for her liking. It was only after Qin Ye stuffed a phone into the box after her that she finally gave in. She was probably ying CrazyRacing Kartrider in the box right now.

    After much difficulty, Qin Ye finally managed to shift into his new dorm room. It was located on the outer end of the third floor. The students residing close by were delighted to learn that he was their new neighbour, and they all greeted him cheerfully when he arrived. By the time he unpacked his things and settled into his new room, it was already 11 a.m.

    He went to the cafeteria for a quick lunch, before returning to his room and bolting the door shut after him. Then, he switched on his WiFi and began to type rapidly in the search bar.

    The City of Salvation was currently still under a lockdown. That said, the technology supporting their connectivity was impressive. There were probably some parameters in ce that filtered out results with certain keywords or search terms, allowing citizens within the city to look up most of the information from the rest of the world outside, save for any information pertaining to Yin spirits or supernatural incidents. In fact, the news sites were so clean it appeared almost as though Cathay wasn¡¯t experiencing any supernatural upheavals at all.

    And while they could y online games, they were unable to ess any chat functions at all. Furthermore, as long as one was looking to make a post orment pertaining to any supernatural incident on a website or a forum, that post orment would automatically be blocked altogether. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t figure out how it all worked.

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye was thankful that he could still look up and receive information from the rest of the world.

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Qin Ye clicked his mouse, and Guardian Auction¡¯s website appeared on the screen of his newly-boughtptop.

    The webpage was rather retro-looking. The page frame appeared to be a mahogany carved openwork door, and the words ¡®Guardian Auction¡¯ were written in majestic calligraphy in the center of the page. There was the usual, customary bar at the top setting out their contact information and provided ess to various other functions on the page. Yet the bulk of the page disyed the items that they were auctioneering, as well as the heart-stopping starting bids of these goods.

    There were three exhibits upying the top of the page.

    The first was a glossy porcin vase with an incredibly lyricalndscape etched on it. Qin Ye, who had no sense of aesthetics whatsoever, hovered his mouse over the thumbnail and took a look at the price.

    ¡®Blue and White Porcin of the Yuan Dynasty - 30 million!¡¯

    ¡°Huh!¡± Arthis gasped, ¡°... How many skins can that get me?!¡±

    Qin Ye nearly swore out loud¡­ He ignored the hopelessly addicted silicone doll and scrolled over the next item.

    It was a regional seal, and the transacted price was¡­ 100 million!

    The third item was of far lower quality. It was a piece of calligraphy that was starting at 12 million RMB.

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of looking at all these things?¡± Arthis asked in bewilderment.

    Qin Ye tapped his fingers on the table in deep thought for several seconds, before finally responding, ¡°This is a disy of strength.¡±

    ¡°Although I don¡¯t know much about auctions, the one thing I do know is that there are two main factors which determine whether an auction house will do well or not. The first is the quality of its products, and the second is the number of wealthy buyers who are willing to bid for these goods.¡±

    ¡°The porcin of the Yuan Dynasty¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes twitched uncontrobly as he repeated these words, ¡°I can still vividly recall that day when I picked up a broken vase¡­ and then some unspeakable matters urred¡­ and then finally an old man knelt before me, bawling and wailing and iming that he was going to fight with me to the bitter end¡­ I heard that these things are among the most coveted among all blue and white porcins¡­¡±

    Arthis blinked several times as she attempted to make head and tail of what Qin Ye had just said, ¡°Why do I get the feeling you¡¯re omitting a number of things? If it¡¯s something you¡¯re unhappy about, why don¡¯t you tell me about it, so that I can delight in your misery? Speaking of which, why are you still so poor after having lived such a long life? You¡¯ve got quite the affinity with poverty, don¡¯t you¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point!¡± Qin Ye could feel his temples throbbing as he gnashed his teeth, ¡°What I¡¯m saying is the fact that this auction house is auctioning a product as coveted as the blue and white porcin of the Yuan Dynasty naturally means that it¡¯s got some substance to it. The transaction prices aren¡¯t too shabby either. Looks like the ce which Gu Qing has rmended is pretty decent after all.¡±

    He scrolled back to the top of the page and looked at the webpage¡¯s menu. There were four items on the menu - ¡®The History of Guardian Auction¡¯, ¡®Process Inquiry, ¡®I Want to Auction¡¯, and ¡®Contact Us¡¯.

    He didn¡¯t rush to register his interest. Instead, he simply clicked on the ¡®Process Inquiry¡¯ link.

    One had to be thoroughly prepared in everything they did. He absolutely had to be present when the auction was ongoing. After all¡­ outsiders wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the City of Salvation. Even if he managed to link up with the top merchants of the wood and furniture industries, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to participate in negotiations within the City of Salvation.

    Therefore, not only did he have to be present, he would have to get everything done within a week. Every minute was precious, and Qin Ye naturally wanted to minimize all variables that might cause him to lose time.

    He scrutinized the details of their processes for the next twenty minutes, and then finally closed his eyes to sort through his thoughts.

    Guardian Auction conducted twelve auctions a year - eight minor auctions, and four major auctions.

    In other words, apart from the four major auctions conducted on the final day of every season of the year, the rest were all minor auctions. As far as the minor auctions were concerned, the quality of guests, the attendance rate, the collection to be auctioned, and the prices fetched could never hold a candle to the four major auctions every year.

    And the items listed on their website right were the items to be auctioned off at the end of the first season of the year. Guardian Auction can truly be said to have pulled out all the stops in order to start strong in the year. This was why they had disyed an item with a transacted price of 100 million RMB.

    Moreover, Guardian Auction runs their auctions concurrently across all of its branches, including its branches in the four major cities across Cathay.

    Yan Capital, Eastsea City, Dragonbrook City and Pearlriver City.

    Three first-tier cities, and an emerging specialized district, all of which were economic powerhouses in their own right that housed innumerable tycoons with incredible spending powers!

    The auction venue was also located at a venue elsewhere, apart from the auction houses. In other words, the actual auction would not be held at the auction house¡¯s offices.

    And as for the actual auction venue¡­ Qin Ye couldn¡¯t find any details on it. It was a secret.

    Nobody knew where it was to be located, and it was never mentioned on any of the website¡¯s subpages either.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Arthis asked.

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples for several moments, before finally sighing, ¡°What if I participate in next month¡¯s minor auction?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s going to be quite difficult.¡± Although Arthis didn¡¯t know a thing about modern auction houses, she was still an expert on treasures in her own right. She continued after a moment of deliberation, ¡°What you have in your hands now are all incredibly rare and coveted treasures. It wouldn¡¯t be difficult to fetch a price of 30 million or more for each item. They would never arrange for these items to be sold during a minor auction.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying not to draw any unwanted attention to yourself? From my experience with auction houses, the major auctions generally secure a far higher quality of attendees andmensurately higher prices as well. We¡¯re talking upwards of a 10% difference here. Have you ever considered how important such a sum of money is to us?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed and massaged his temples.

    Why didn¡¯t I think of that?

    The path of gold lined by his Southsea Huanghuali wood was immensely lucrative. But he should have realized that not manypanies could fork out several billions of RMB all at once. Even the wealthiest entity around only possessed liquidity in the region of a billion RMB. And it was naturally worse with the wood and furniture industry, where one could rarely even find a single entity able to fork out one or two hundred million at once. To make matters worse, the funds couldn¡¯t be released immediately either. They could only be raised and released through a meeting with the board of directors pursuant to rmendations by various departments. The entire process would easily take a month.

    He couldn¡¯t afford to wait that long.

    Over a hundred thousand Yin spirits were idling about in Hell right now. It was like a stash of dynamite that was waiting to be lit with a single spark of me. Hell¡¯s development works had been held in abeyance for far too long, and it was high time something was done about it.

    The funds earned from the disposal of his treasures was the stopgap measure to tide him through all of Hell¡¯s expenditures until the funds from the sale of his Southsea Huanghuali finally goes through.

    In other words, it was a fire engine rushing to a burgeoning me. Time was of the essence.

    1. This is a reference to the series Prison Break, where the protagonist tattooed the blueprint of the prison onto his body.

    2. This is one of my favourite stories. The story concerns a foolish old man who lived near a pair of mountains, and he was annoyed by the obstruction caused by the mountains, so he sought to dig through them with hoes and baskets. When asked why he was doing this, he responded that even though he wouldn¡¯tplete the work in his lifetime, his children or their children may some day finally reap the rewards of his efforts, so long as they persevered at it. The gods witnessed his hard work and perseverance and ordered that the mountains be separated so that they were no longer an obstruction.

    3. 1206-1368 AD

 Chapter 199: Insider Information from Guardian Auctions

    <h4>Chapter 199: Insider Information from Guardian Auctions</h4>

    Qin Ye massaged his throbbing temples as he clicked on the ¡®I Want to Auction¡¯ button.

    rifying the entire auctioning process was of topmost priority right now.

    A chat function showed up immediately as part of the webpage, without redirecting him to QQ. A single line of text appeared as soon as the chat box showed up: ¡°Detected VIP ount usage. Senior Attendant 001 is pleased to be of service to you.¡±

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow - I wonder how much he must have spent in order to be conferred the title of a Premium VIP. Gu Qing definitely has the spending capacity given his identity and influence, and it¡¯s only natural for heavy spenders to receive amensurately high level of service. This might save me some time and effort.

    ¡°Greetings. We note that this is the ount previously held by thete Mr Gu Qing. May I know how I should address you?¡± Attendant 001 didn¡¯t unt any sales pitch. Instead, he simply said things as they were.

    That said, it did make sense to keep things formal. It would have been a rude shock if Qin Ye had received a message like the following: ¡°Dear, did youe back to life? Wee to the house of horrors.¡±

    That would be a shocking development.

    ¡°Qin.¡± Qin Ye typed quickly, ¡°I¡¯ve taken over Mr Gu¡¯s ount. I¡¯ll be the one to use it from now on. May I know the rights and privileges that I have ess to with this ount?¡±

    There was a two second silence before another response came: ¡°Are you certain you wish to take over Mr Gu¡¯s ount? We need to verify the identity of every individual holding onto a Premium VIP ount. Please provide us with a valid identification.¡±

    Qin Ye took a photo of his ID card and sent it across.

    Meanwhile, a great distance away in the heart of Yan Capital, a middle aged man dressed in a white cloth robe sat within a grand building with a courtyard right in the center, staring at his screen with bewilderment.

    Qin Ye¡¯s ID card was disyed on his screen.

    He opened a different tab on his screen in a routine fashion and essed an identity verification website. He entered Qin Ye¡¯s ID registration number and clicked on the search button. Suddenly, a red-framedmand prompt appeared in the middle of his screen.

    ¡°You are not authorized to ess this information.¡±

    The man stared at the screen inplete disbelief. Momentster, he hurriedly typed back to Qin Ye: ¡°Please give me ten minutes.¡±

    He immediately shot to his feet, ¡°Master Bai!¡±

    An adjoining door creaked open, and a man wearing a striking Cathayan suit walked right in.

    He wore a pair of silver-framed rimless sses, and his features were so sharp and distinct that he looked like he had just waltzed right out of ancient poetry. He walked up to theputer in a cool and collected fashion, nced at Qin Ye¡¯s profile, and then his jaws dropped. He quickly waved his arms dismissively, ¡°You may take your leave. I¡¯ll deal with this client.¡±

    ¡°Master Bai¡­¡± The middle aged man hesitated, ¡°Should we inform the grandmaster? We¡¯ve never encountered such a situation before. The most bizarre thing we¡¯vee across is¡­ that the person doesn¡¯t exist.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Master Bai flicked his sleeves and sat down, and the middle aged man took his leave sensibly. And it was only then that Master Bai slowly took a closer look at Qin Ye¡¯s profile.

    He¡¯s very young¡­ He¡¯s only eighteen years-old, and yet we don¡¯t have the authorization to verify the details of his profile?

    Guardian Auctions¡¯ ount entitled us to verify the details of well over 90% of the entire poption, and yet we still don¡¯t have sufficient authorization to look into his profile? We don¡¯t even face such difficulties when dealing with the wealthiest of tycoons. And I don¡¯t believe this young man is wealthier than all of those individuals in any event.

    ¡°Then, that means that he¡¯s¡­ special? Perhaps he might have something to do with those few special departments that havee into the public eye in recent times?¡± He tapped on the table and murmured to himself, ¡°Interesting¡­¡±

    He began to type on the terminal. The website didn¡¯t change. Instead, he simply logged onto a separate ount. Meanwhile, back in the City of Salvation, Qin Ye noticed the following words appearing on the chat box: ¡°Connecting¡­ Master of the House No. 1 warmly wees you to Guardian Auctions.¡±

    They¡¯ve changed the handler?

    Qin Ye was somewhat startled. However, Master Bai quickly added, ¡°Hello, I am Guardian Auctions¡¯ Master of the House No. 1. Guardian Auctions has a total of three such masters and one grandmaster. We¡¯ve also got five mavens operating out of each branch that we have. Given your esteemed status, I¡¯ll be personally serving you from now on.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve submitted my documents for verification, but you might not be able to ess my information.¡± Qin Ye continued, ¡°Will this cause any issues with my taking over of Mr Gu Qing¡¯s ount?¡±

    ¡°Not a problem at all. It was just a routine verification of identity.¡± Master Bai responded immediately, ¡°You might be new to the system at Guardian Auctions, so perhaps I can start off by recapitting the privileges apanying a Premium VIP ount.¡±

    ¡°One. Before themencement of each major auction, Guardian Auctions will send to you a beautifully designed catalogue with the estimated starting bid for all goods together with the interval between each increment. The list will also be apanied with a detailed description of each item for your consideration.¡±

    ¡°Two. Prior to each major auction, Premium VIPs are given the privilege of knowing the exact venue at which the auction will be taking ce, together with the itinerary of the auction and the list of registrants.¡±

    ¡°Three. All Premium VIPs are entitled to protection at each major auction, subject to a maximum quota that is to be determined prior to each auction.¡±

    He continued to exin, ¡°The third privilege essentially means that you will have to register your participation at the major auctions. Every venue can hold a maximum of 100 people. Our branch has kept the total number of Premium VIPs registered at 50 persons. Anyone who sessfully bids for an item or items worth more than 20 million RMB in total will immediately be eligible for a promotion to Premium VIP. Those who fail to participate in any auctions for three years will automatically be dropped back to a regr VIP. Non-premium VIP members will have topete against other participants for the right to participate in major auctions.¡±

    Qin Ye typed: ¡°How would theypete?¡±

    ¡°By their participation and performance at the minor auctions.¡± Master Bai responded.

    Qin Ye understood. He finally had a good grasp of the entire procedure and workings of Guardian Auctions. After several moments of deliberation, he asked further: ¡°Then would it be possible to ascertain the location of the next auction right now?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Master Bai promptly responded. Then, approximately ten secondster, a picture was sent through the chat function.

    Qin Ye tried several means to take a screenshot of the picture or to download it, yet to no avail.

    Thus, he gave up that idea and took a closer look at the picture. It depicted a small tropical ind with palm trees and coconut trees everywhere.

    The ind wasn¡¯trge. Having regard for its state-of-the-art docks that were berthed with boats, the entire ind was probably only one or two square kilometers in size. One could even spot a handful of luxurious ancient Cathayan vis on the ind.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°We call it Morningstar Ind One.¡±

    ¡°Where exactly is it located?¡±

    ¡°Just under the Daehan Straits. Its climate is pleasant, and the beach is great. However, it is usually closed to the public.¡±

    His words were simple, yet it caused Qin Ye¡¯s eyes to flicker brightly. Arthis furrowed her brows, ¡°What exactly does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± Qin Ye took a sip of water and nced at the simplistic web page with great interest, ¡°Guardian Auctions¡­ definitely has the backing of some unknown powers. It¡¯s authority and influence is far greater than I had imagined¡­¡±

    He continued without missing a beat, ¡°Why do you think¡­ Morningstar Ind One is usually closed to the public?¡±

    Then, he answered his own question, ¡°No wonder¡­ no wonder they conduct the auctions separately from where their potential buyers are located. It¡¯s because¡­ the auctions are conducted on an ind in the high seas!¡±

    Arthis couldn¡¯t understand what he was trying to get at, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°This is why I say an old hag like you should learn to keep up with current affairs.¡± Qin Ye gave Arthis a smug, triumphant look, ¡°This ind is located beyond the territorial waters of Cathay, and it would probably be located off the territorial waters of Daehan and Nippon beyond the coasts of Pusan and Kyukoku respectively.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, the fact that Master Bai has responded so quickly means that this isn¡¯t the first time they¡¯ve disclosed the auction venue to others. Yet they¡¯re still confident of providing sufficient security to guarantee their safety at the auction venue. Additionally, we can tell that they were the ones who had been able to construct the vis on an ind on the high seas¡­ Everything lends credence to the fact that Guardian Auctions has the backing of an unfathomable power behind it.¡±

    After all, these weren¡¯t things that could be easily achieved with simply money and wealth. It was no wonder why they didn¡¯t need to verify Qin Ye¡¯s particrs.

    It was because they were confident that nothing would go wrong. And even if something went wrong, they were absolutely confident of dealing with the situation on their own.

    In other words, the people behind Guardian Auctions were absolutely confident in their own abilities.

    Qin Ye mulled over these things. He had never expected Guardian Auctions to be an organization with such deep roots. But this was exactly what he needed. The deeper their reserves, the higher the quality of their contacts. And the better their contacts, the quicker the spread of information. And the quicker information spreads, the greater the odds of locating their perfect business partner!

    What he truly desired was a big-name merchant who was able to purchaserge quantities of Southsea Huanghuali from him all at once, and not several small-time merchants who could only take a small bite at a time, separated by extended breaks. Even though having several small-time merchants made things easier from a management perspective¡­ he was far too severely inhibited by the academy¡¯s restrictions on his movement.

    ¡°Why does it have to be set on the high seas?¡± Arthis frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. As with any other high-end auctions of this level, they probably sell several products that cannot legally be circted on the market. If the auction took ce on maind Cathay, the seller would be reticent, and the buyer would dread the potential ramifications of his purchase even more. In fact, could well be the case that right after the auction, the buyer might get a knock on his door with an invitation to ¡®go out for tea¡¯.¡± Qin Ye exined patiently.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­ That¡¯s strange! I find it surprising that you know so much about these high-end auctions despite your impoverished life to date!¡±

    ¡°... Is it really that impossible to have a simple, pleasant conversation among us?! Look! Even a toad can lust after a swan¡¯s flesh, alright?! This knowledge is all borne out of a sincere longing! A longing, you understand?!¡±

    Arthis nodded with a knowing expression, and then she suddenly frowned again, ¡°Pusan and Kyukoku? Kyukoku¡­ why does this name sound so familiar¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyelids twitched uncontrobly, ¡°I¡¯m warning you¡­ you¡¯d better tell me in advance if there¡¯s going to be any issues with these ces! Do you know how many times I nearly died because of your failure to apprise me of the situation?!¡±

    Arthis thought for a moment, and then shook her hand, ¡°What are you so anxious about? It was nothing more than a casual statement that it sounded a little familiar¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stared at her disbelievingly, before finally turning back to exchange several more pleasantries with Master Bai. After chatting for a little while longer, he closed the chat window, put on his clothes and left the room.

    He walked straight to the faculty office and knocked on the door. After receiving a response, he opened the door and immediately noticed that Zhou Xianlong appeared to be grading some papers.

    ¡°You¡¯re done moving?¡± Zhou Xianlong spoke without even lifting his head.

    ¡°Yes¡­ About that, Faculty Head Zhou, something¡¯se up, and I was wondering if you--...¡±

    ¡°Not possible.¡± Zhou Xianlong finally put down his pen and looked up before Qin Ye could even finish asking his question, ¡°You¡¯re asking for vacation leave? On what basis? Rules are rules, and military regimentation must look the part. To that end, I personally think that the present regimentation is already far toox.¡±

    ¡°Have your lesson ns been approved? If so, it would do you good to get more in touch with current affairs.¡± He pointed to a stack of newspapers that was close to a foot tall, ¡°You¡¯vee at the right time. The school¡¯s subscription has arrived. Help me distribute those to the instructors and professors.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ I didn¡¯te here for you to greet me with a flying kick!

    Qin Ye was so infuriated that his lips were twitching - Damn it I hadn¡¯t even finished talking, and you¡¯re already piling on task after task on my head?! And I¡¯m here to apply for leave of absence! Not to be your damn paper boy!

    Nevertheless, he fervently repressed the burgeoning inferno ofhermes in his heart - Unfortunately, I can¡¯t beat you¡­ If I could, do you think I would take all of this lying down? Qin Ye pouted and pushed his luck, ¡°It¡¯s like this¡­ my grandfather¡¯s death anniversary ising up soon. Do you think you could look the other way and grant me a leave of absence? I¡¯m not asking for a long time¡­ just one week would do?¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll say it again - not possible.¡± Zhou Xianlong turned around with a grave expression, ¡°Firstly, might I remind you what line of work we¡¯re in? Do you even believe those things? Secondly, nobody in the entire academy is entitled to any exceptions, so what makes you think you should be treated any differently? Furthermore, I¡¯ll reiterate for thest time that rules are rules, and they are intended to be strictly adhered to. When you epted the rights and privileges apanying your appointment with the First Academy of Cultivators, you¡¯d also epted the corresponding obligations and duties as well. These are all clearly spelt out in the contract which you¡¯d signed. Instructor Qin, if you make such a request again, I might have to seriously reconsider whether you¡¯re still suitable for your position as an instructor of the First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    1. Their version of WhatsApp.

    2. Korea

    3. Historical name for Busan, as in Train to Busan. That¡¯s an awesome movie, if you guys haven¡¯t watched it before.

    4. Historical name for Kyushu.

 Chapter 200: Sounding Out

    <h4>Chapter 200: Sounding Out</h4>

    (TL: I don¡¯t usually trante the musings orments of the author, but I feel like this one gives some insight as to his thoughts on the novel thus far, and also gives us a glimpse of what to expect in future, so it might be useful for our readers to take a look. I¡¯ll trante as urately as possible)

    Author¡¯s Note:

    These are some musings of mine. Not to worry, I¡¯ll keep the post under 4000 words so that you don¡¯t incur additional costs for my rambling. Do bear with this naggy, fat old man.

    I¡¯ve heard feedback from critiques that my novel tends to be on the more garrulous side. I admittedly don¡¯t read thements very much because I¡¯m so busy writing, so I do apologize for that. (TL: Not me! I read yourments on quite a regr basis!)

    Now, let me address thements that things are superfluous.

    The novel isn¡¯t designed to be incredibly fast-paced. Instead, there¡¯s arge part dedicated to conversations to make it more rtable. What I wanted to create was a parallel, realistic world that everyone can immerse themselves in, rather than the usual tropes of a wealthy prodigious son repeatedly provoking hispetitors and face-pping them.

    Now that the reader base has matured a little bit, I believe that the style of my novel would be a breath of fresh air. This would be in line with my personal writing style as well.

    Furthermore, as with the development of any story, there will always be turning points and inflections. A climax of a story cannot always remain at a climax, and it¡¯s bound to fall before rising again. It needs such inflections to provide relief to the readers and proper closure to certain arcs, while also setting the stage for the next scene toe. I¡¯m not sure whether the critiquese because they want to read more, or they truly think it¡¯s far too garrulous for their liking. But to each his own. My style might not be suited to the taste of everyone out there.

    To me, the gradual immersion and investment in the story far outweighs any instant gratification that we get out of the usual tropes. How much of the other novels remain memorable and stick with you? I want this book to be memorable and linger in the minds of my readers. Every chapter I release is passable by my standards. I do my best to incorporate interesting everyday scenarios that are rtable, or drop some nuggets of information, all the while setting the stage for the next big climax.

    And if, after all that, you still think it¡¯s long-winded, you can delete those parts and go straight to the conclusion, and see if the effect remains exactly the same. I¡¯ll just leave it out here that the things I¡¯ve written are all there for a reason. Nothing is superfluous. Back then, when Potato authored Battle Through the Heavens, othersined that he was superfluous and garrulous. And the same goes for me ever since the first novel I¡¯d released as well.

    I can only say that those who enjoy this will definitely enjoy it. Those who understand the intention will see where I¡¯ming from. There¡¯s no book out there that remains at the climax continuously for an extended period of time. If one is still intent onbelling this as superfluous, then I can only say that perhaps this novel isn¡¯t for you. After all, this is the fourth book that I¡¯ve written, and nobody has ever said that I¡¯ve reused my materials or fallen into the traps of cliches.

    Alright, that¡¯s all from me for now. I hope you guys enjoy reading these chapters!

    (TL: End of the author''s rambling, and the start of mine. We¡¯re at 200 chapters! To be honest, I¡¯m one of those who enjoy the novels with repetitive tropes and lots of instant gratification moments. But after going through 200 chapters of trantions and reading several chapters ahead, I¡¯m starting to appreciate more and more what the author means when he says that everything is there for a reason. When there¡¯s a lull, the author develops characters, introduces others, moves the story a little, and drops little nuggets of information that lingers in your mind until the mystery is finally solved, so that it gives you that ¡®aha!¡¯ moment.

    And while I sometimesin about the depth of details in the novel, these are like the shading on a canvas which turns a t image into an immersive picture - it provides perspective.

    I¡¯m thoroughly enjoying how the novel has grown, and I¡¯m absolutely stoked to see what else is in store for us.

    In the meantime, I¡¯d also like to thank everyone for your support thus far, and I promise to keep the quality of trantion as high as possible for your enjoyment! Well then, keep safe and keep awesome y¡¯all!)

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Your mother¡¯s dead! I am your father!

    Qin Ye furiously stormed out of Zhou Xianlong¡¯s office.

    ¡°I should¡¯ve known he would never have given his assent to this!¡± Gnashing his teeth and cursing under his breath, he made his way towards the offices of the instructors and professors. As he went, he nced at the title of the newspaper - ¡°Cultivators Weekly¡±.

    ¡°Since when was there something like that?¡± But he didn¡¯t have the heart to look any further into the papers. The only thing on his mind was the auction house. To think that Guardian Auctions had such immeasurable backing to be able to hold the auction on an ind on the high seas just so that they could list items that couldn¡¯t otherwise be circted within the country! And it seemed like all one hundred slots were filled up each time! An auction of this size would definitely fetch him an astronomical price for the treasures on hand!

    And these funds would certainly be able to tide over the few months before the funds from the sale of the first batch of Southsea Huanghualies in.

    But right now, he couldn¡¯t even cross the hurdle that Zhou Xianlong was, much less Xu Anguo and Li Tao.

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ endure with patience¡­ He took several deep breaths to regte his emotions. By the time he pushed open the door to Tao Ran¡¯s office, he was all smiles once again.

    ¡°Here to deliver the papers?¡± Tao Ran was currently skimming through a docket. He had an amiable expression on his face, and he looked no different from any old grandfather in the neighbourhood. That said, none of the students who had witnessed his fury that night would ever think that way.

    Qin Ye set down the papers. Tao Ran poured him a cup of tea, and Qin Ye took arge sip from it, before asking, ¡°Professor Tao, do you think there¡¯s any way I could make a trip out for a while? It¡¯s my grandfather¡¯s death anniversary. I¡¯ll just need a week of time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± Tao Ran smiled faintly as he flipped through the papers, ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators is operating with military regimentation. No one should be given any special treatment.¡±

    Qin Ye choked on his own saliva and chuckled dryly, ¡°But aren¡¯tws written by man¡­¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d you learn to speak so smoothly at such a young age?¡± Tao Ran set down his papers and red at him with a huff, ¡°You know, you¡¯re right about that. Unfortunately, the timing just isn¡¯t right.¡±

    ¡°Think about it. How long has it been since school has started? A month? And how long ago has the City of Salvation been under direct administration of the central government? Only a few months to date. To a certain extent, you can say that cing the City of Salvation under direct administration was done so that the First Academy of Cultivators can grow and develop into the first bastion of stronghold in Cathay¡¯s war against theherforces. And why restrict ess to the inte? Isn¡¯t it to keep all of you from worrying too much about the rest of the world and being overly ambitious?¡±

    ¡°Under such circumstances, anyone who reveals their identity as a representative of the First Academy of Cultivators outside of the City of Salvation will be treated as a huge deal. All eyes are on the City of Salvation right now. Do you know how the public outside is discussing the direct administration of the City of Salvation by the central government? Even a single citizen stepping foot outside of the City of Salvation right now would attract a huge buzz of chatter, much less a representative of the First Academy of Cultivators. With these considerations in mind, do you really think the academy or the city would just let anyone out callously?¡±

    Tao Ran took a sip of tea and then began to persuade Qin Ye earnestly, ¡°Think about it, if you¡¯ve got something to attend to, wouldn¡¯t that be the same for others as well? Which of our instructors in the academy doesn¡¯t have something nagging at them in the back of their minds? Once you head out, it will set a precedent for others as well. The government would never disclose what¡¯s going on within the City of Salvation until the time is ripe. Let me give you the lowdown. Unless a major change urs, nobody would be allowed to travel out of the academy before the next semester begins.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully.

    This was exactly why he didn¡¯t have high hopes for this to begin with.

    Going out wasn¡¯t the hard part. The hard part was what he represented when he did. This was a point of inflection for the nation. The public was abuzz, wondering what was going on, and the government was under an immense amount of pressure. Under such circumstances, who would possibly authorize his leave of absence just so that he could travel out of the sequestered city?

    Especially when it involved him, a person who had been inextricably intertwined with the developments of the City of Salvation which triggered the massive upheaval.

    Tao Ran looked him in the eye and asked, ¡°I hope you can understand where we¡¯reing from as well¡­ Where were you hoping to go?¡±

    ¡°To Eastsea¡­¡± Qin Ye responded with some measure of uncertainty, only to receive a suspicious look from Tao Ran.

    ¡°Your grandfather¡¯s death anniversary? Has the Qingguang City moved to Eastsea?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s where my grandfather¡¯s ancestry lies!¡± Qin Ye maintained a hard headed attitude.

    I¡¯ll praise you for how thick-skinned you are¡­ Tao Ran couldn¡¯t help butugh at Qin Ye¡¯s stubbornness andid the papers in front of him, ¡°Then that¡¯s all the more impossible. Take a look at this.¡±

    He pointed at the papers, and Qin Ye looked at it. He immediately furrowed his brows.

    ¡°The Ins and Outs of the East Cathay Sea Incident.¡±

    This was a particrly sensitive issue because that region was exactly east of Cathay, near Pusan and Kyukoku.

    In other words¡­ it was exactly where the next major auction of Guardian Auctions was going to take ce.

    ¡°Over the new year, five supernatural incidents were reported in the East Cathay Sea. Five ships, including cruise ships and cargo ships, were discovered to have be ghost ships overnight, and they are now floating aimlessly on the sea.¡± He read aloud, and then knitted his brows deeply as he looked at the apanying picture.

    It wasn¡¯t clear who took the picture, but not a single soul could be seen on the entire ship. There wasn¡¯t even a trace of a fight, and yet¡­ everyone appeared to have simply vanished without a trace!

    Even the food and drinks that they were eating were disyed properly where they were, as if they were eating one second, before suddenly disappearing all at once.

    The Cultivators Weekly was different from the regr newspapers. They didn¡¯t report with bombastic words with a view of generating excitement. Rather, they simply kept to the facts and reported things as they were, ¡°No traces of Yin energy were detected, but this was by no means caused by humans. It has been ssified as a D-grade supernatural incident. Investigations have made no headway thus far¡­¡±

    ¡°The Eastsea region has always been a rather tumultuous one. The ssification of D-grade is merely to appease the general body of cultivators in the region. But the truth of the matter is¡­¡± Tao Ran flipped open the lid of his teacup and continued, ¡°One week ago, the Eastsea Branch Special Investigations Department has already sent out a request for assistance. The actual ssification is¡­ A-grade.¡±

    ¡°The situation is already somewhat out of control. Eastsea has always been one of the most strategic bridgeheads into Cathay, since it leads straight out into the East Cathay Sea. And several boats that have gone out to sea have already vanished. Therefore, you absolutely must not go to the Eastsea region.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ this is too much of a coincidence!

    Qin Ye felt the onset of a splitting headache. With that, he bade Tao Ran goodbye and left. He didn¡¯t bother heading to the principal¡¯s office to make a fool of himself either.

    After having his dinner, he returned to his dorm room once again. Arthis looked up from her game in a rare moment, ¡°Why do you look no different from Death itself?¡±

    ¡°Things might be far moreplicated than I thought they would be.¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows as he essed the calendar on his phone, ¡°Perhaps¡­ I¡¯ll just wait patiently until the next semester.¡±

    Arthis paused her game and looked up at Qin Ye with a frown on her face. She didn¡¯t raise any objections. Instead, she simplymented, ¡°Then you¡¯d best be prepared for a tough time over the next few months.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled bitterly. She didn¡¯t have to tell him that much. When the concept for Qin Gardens Phase 1 was first broadcast to everyone in Hell, the number of citizens signing up to be part of Yin Construction instantly broke ten thousand. But, just a few months down the road, the only things they could see were a handful of machines rumbling along the vastnds. The fire in the hearts of the Yin spirits had already dwindled substantially, and most of them grew lethargic and cold once more, as they fell back into their old ways of simply getting by.

    This was no different from a pile of gunpowder!

    It¡¯s fine if nothing happens. But as soon as something does¡­

    Qin Ye shook away the thoughts in his mind. He didn¡¯t dare to delve into these thoughts.

    ¡°It might not necessarily be a bad thing to make a decision and run with it. But even if we give up on this opportunity, we can still get money from the auctions.¡± Qin Ye carefully bolted the door and pulled out a locked box from under his bed. Then, with a deep breath, he put on white gloves and opened the box carefully.

    The box waspletely different from other suitcases. This box had fourpartments, each of which were built with a special protective stic as its base and covered with ck velvet. Then, it was padded with thick cotton and foam underneath. An antique treasure nestled snugly in each of the fourpartments.

    The first artifact that immediately caught the eye was a cup that was about half a foot long.

    The cup was extraordinary - it was a tiger¡¯s head cup with no ostensible base to the cup at all!

    The entire cup was curved, like an ancient horn. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t tell what material it was made of, but the top of the cup was luxuriously made with gilded gold andcquered jade. A jade chain connected the tiger¡¯s head at the end of the horn to the mouth of the cup. It looked more like a work of art than a regr wine cup.

    ¡°That¡¯s good stuff.¡± Arthismended, ¡°It should be a gift that had been conferred upon a general. After all, tiger emblems are mostmonly used in the army. If this were for royalty, the design would have been shaped like a dragon. I¡¯d actually managed to locate a phoenix head cup in the past. Unfortunately¡­ I don¡¯t know which idiot got lucky with me at that time.¡±

    ¡°Of course it would be extraordinary¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed, and he gulped avariciously, ¡°The beast-head gilded agate cup¡­ is the name of a simr artifact that is listed among the ten most expensive antiques across all of Cathay. That artifact is carved out of red agate, and is the only Tang Dynasty treasure that has been made from a beautiful piece of jade. It essentially represents the most exquisite piece of jade workmanship across the entire Tang Dynasty. Even though this isn¡¯t quite the same, its value should be reasonably high as well. This would easily go for upwards of ten million.¡±

    He ran a finger across the cup before looking at the next object.

    A palm-sized raw gemstone sat just beside the tiger¡¯s head cup. The gem was half-open, revealing a bright green luster from within. When viewed under the moonlight, the crystal green body of the gem lookedpletely wless and pure.

    And it wasn¡¯t clear and transparent throughout. Rather, it appeared subtly cloudy, almost like a spring leaf peeking out of the early morning mist - mostly clear, yet ever so characteristically translucent such that the eye couldn¡¯t see right through its body.

    It was delicate, yet distant; profound, yet warm.

    The gradation and colour of the ore meant that this was an excellent piece of icy imperial green jadeite.

    ¡°I recall that such raw gemstones generally sell for at least a million with every ten grams. This piece is probably dozens of grams in weight¡­ and its value is probably equal to three sets of twenty ton cranes imported from Germania¡­ It¡¯s highly valuable¡­¡± Qin Ye stroked the gemstone excitedly, before flicking it gently and indulging himself in its clear, crisp resonance that sounded just like a cicada¡¯s call at night.

    Arthis¡¯ eyes gleamed brightly.

    ¡°Wait¡­ When did you even bring these treasures back? And why were you hiding them from me? What happened to the trust between us?¡± Arthis eximed with a righteous indignation as she stretched out her hand, ¡°Let me take a closer look so that I can test out its quality¡­¡±

    But her efforts were immediately suppressed by Qin Ye.

    With bloodshot eyes, Qin Ye barked, ¡°It¡¯s already getting increasingly difficult for me not to suppress the evil thoughts of absconding with these priceless treasures. Don¡¯t make things any more difficult for me, alright?¡±

    Arthis chuckled dryly, and obediently retracted her arm.

    How could you ckmail me at every turn? What kind of a human being are you?

    Qin Ye snorted, and turned to look at the next artifact.

    It was apact seal. A subtle creamy-white colour, yet incredibly elegant, silky smooth and cool to the touch. The seal was carved in the shape of a phoenix.

    And what was most stunning was the fact that the phoenix¡¯s tail, wing tips and crown carried a touch of scarlet on them! The passionate red hue injected such vigor into the carving that the phoenix looked alive and almost ready to take flight!

    This was none other than blood jade from Hotan!

    And the fact that it was designed in the shape of a phoenix necessarily meant that it was an item of royalty - quite possibly one that belonged to a queen of the past! The small seal would most definitely fetch a higher price than the tiger¡¯s head cup!

    And thest artifact was a pair of footlong Tang Dynasty pottery.

    Aplete dragon and phoenix set. An iparably rare collection by any measure! Most Tang Dynasty pottery were designed in the shape of horses, and it was already extremely rare to find any that was shaped after famous people or mythical beasts. Thisplete set must have been stolen by tomb robbers and subsequently acquired by Huang Liangchuan for his own collection. He must have spent at least tens of millions to obtain it!

    ¡°Treasures. All of them are treasures in their own rights!¡± He carefully took a few videos of the artifacts with his phone and then transferred the videos to hisptop. Then, he essed Guardian Auctions¡¯ website once again.

    This time, it was Master Bai who served him directly from the onset.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to auction a few items.¡± Qin Ye typed.

    ¡°Alright. Please take pictures of the items you would like to sell and send it to us. Videos are fine as well. We¡¯ll do a preliminary estimation of the price on our end immediately. If these artifacts are valuable treasures¡­¡± He paused, before continuing with great excitement, ¡°Then, three dayster, we¡¯ll send our mavens to your city to do a full appraisal of the good you¡¯re looking to sell!¡±

    1. Where Qin Ye was born.

 Chapter 201: Mainstay Artifact

    <h4>Chapter 201: Mainstay Artifact</h4>

    The time was now 7.30 p.m.

    In the distant Yan Capital, a quaint courtyard house was brilliantly lit. This ce could be considered a political and cultural center where innumerable experts had left their marks. And right in the heart of its premises, a bespectacled young man sat in front of a screen,pletely dumbfounded by the video he had just received. His eyes burned with passion.

    ¡°This is¡­ a beast-head gilded cup?¡± He blinked in disbelief and adjusted his sses. His heart began to race with excitement.

    He clicked on the video and watched it closely. After ten full minutes of repeated scrutiny, he sighed in his heart and typed rapidly in the chat box, ¡°The beast-head gilded cup¡­ isn¡¯t quite the same as the beast-head gilded agate cup. The agate cup is a national treasure, and there are few treasures that can be discussed in the same breath as that artifact. Nevertheless, this beast-head gilded cup is still something that would¡¯ve been from the home of a general, and it¡¯s quite difficult to pinpoint the exact value ascribable to it.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately responded, ¡°What do you estimate it to be?¡±

    The young man deliberated for a moment, ¡°The video you¡¯ve sent earlier didn¡¯t show any of the inner parts of the cup. However, I could tell that the condition of the outer portions is very well preserved. If there are no issues on the inside as well, this would easily fetch at least 30 million.¡±

    So high?

    Keep calm¡­ Qin Ye took a deep breath, ¡°Then, please take a look at the rest as well.¡±

    ¡°Please hold on.¡±

    Back in Yan Capital, Master Bai was also incredibly excited. He was well aware of a seller¡¯s mentality. The first item sent would usually be the appetizer, and the main course would usually follow behind. Therefore, he quickly dragged down on his scrolling wheel, and his eyes immediately stopped on thest video.

    ¡°This is¡­ Tang Dynasty pottery?!¡± His voice went an octave higher in an instant. He shot to his feet and took several deep breaths while pacing the room before he could calm his wildly palpitating heart down. Then, he took another good look at the screen.

    ¡°What aplete, unblemished set¡­ and it¡¯s even a dragon and phoenix set to boot!¡± His eyelids throbbed as he took in what he saw with great ecstasy. About a dozen secondster, he closed his eyes and ruminated on what he had just seen. Then, five secondster, he opened his eyes again, gulped nervously, and looked at the other videos.

    Two minutes passed. He finally finished watching the other videos, and the only thing on his mind was - Where the hell did such a big fishe from?!

    These artifacts are worth well in the tens of millions each. How could this guy whip out four of them just like that?

    ¡°I roughly estimate the four artifacts to be worth approximately 120 million in total.¡± He suppressed the welling emotions in his heart and continued to exin, ¡°The most expensive set here is the Tang Dynasty dragon and phoenix pottery set. That¡¯s an incredibly rare artifact you have. We¡¯re confident that it would sell for at least 40 million. That said, the Tang Dynasty pottery is still a burial artifact, and it¡¯s difficult for something like that to go for an amount beyond 50 million.¡±

    ¡°The next artifact is the Hotan blood jade phoenix seal. It¡¯s made of excellent quality and workmanship, and well preserved to boot. I estimate its value to be over 30 million. However, the determining factors surrounding this artifact can vary the price quite substantially. It first depends on which dynasty ites from, and then who its holder is. Thest and most important determining factor is who the attendees of the auction will be.¡±

    Qin Ye typed, ¡°I can understand the dynasty and the original holder of the artifact being variables, but the attendees of the auction?¡±

    Master Bai immediately responded, ¡°Most of our clientele are men. And as far as men are concerned, a phoenix seal wouldrgely be kept as part of one¡¯s personal collection or a keepsake. He wouldn¡¯t be using it often. But¡­ it¡¯s not as though we don¡¯t have female tycoons around here. True, blue female tycoons are by no means inferior to men. If you¡¯ve got the luck to cross paths with such female tycoons¡­ then there¡¯s a possibility that this seal could be a hit, and perhaps fetch an even higher price than the Tang Dynasty pottery!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed. But before he could even respond, Master Bai sensibly reassured him, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry. If you entrust your goods to us, we¡¯ll naturally get in touch with the relevant prospective buyers on your behalf. Major auctions have never seen a single item unsold at the end of it.¡±

    ¡°Next, let¡¯s talk about the imperial green gemstone. It¡¯s qualities are fairly decent, and I estimate its value to be in the region of twenty million. It¡¯s the cheapest one among the four artifacts. Mr Qin¡­¡±

    Master Bai sighed at his end of the terminal, ¡°Would you be willing to entrust these four artifacts to Guardian Auctions? What I mentioned earlier was only our estimations. We¡¯ll definitely engage our top auctioneer in the auction of these artifacts. I can guarantee that the final sale price would only be higher than our estimates, not any lower!¡±

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and responded, ¡°I need this sum of money quite a lot. That¡¯s why I¡¯m selling these artifacts. What if the final sale price is less than 120 million?¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll cover the difference from our own pockets!¡±

    With that, Qin Ye finally understood the extent of their confidence. The reported price was evidently merely the reserve price, while the actual price of the goods would probably be in the region of 130 million.

    ¡°Alright.¡± He finally agreed. Back in Yan Capital, Master Bai sighed deeply with a wide grin on his face.

    ¡°Then¡­ we¡¯ll send our second maven out from Yan Capital in three days¡¯ time. The full appraisal of your artifacts will bepleted in a week¡¯s time. Assuming all goes well, may we tentatively arrange for these artifacts to be sold during the fall major auction?¡±

    Fall?

    ¡°What he means is that your artifacts aren¡¯t sufficient to be the mainstay artifact of the major auction. Otherwise, he would immediately arrange for them to be sold at the uing auction.¡± Arthis suddenly spoke up.

    Qin Ye was taken aback, ¡°An artifact worth over 40 million isn¡¯t sufficient to be the mainstay? I know there¡¯s an item listed on the website that had been sold for well over 100 million, but that¡¯s in the very first auction of the year. Every major auction house would have to put on a show like that, while the summer and fall sales would be far lower in transacted values. I was thinking of participating in the summer major auction¡­ but to think that the Tang Dynasty pottery isn¡¯t sufficient for that¡­¡±

    Yet his words drifted off midway, and he quickly furrowed his brows.

    That¡¯s right¡­ if this were to be the mainstay artifact, why would they only send their second maven over here? Where is their first maven going?

    ¡°I¡¯d like to participate in the summer major auction. As I said, I¡¯m rather desperate for the money.¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t mention to him that he was currently residing in the City of Salvation.

    But as soon as he typed these words, the other side went silent.

    And it took the other side over ten seconds before he finally began to type his response, ¡°Mr Qin, as far as the summer auction is concerned¡­ I would highly rmend you not to participate with these artifacts of yours.¡±

    Without missing a beat, he exined further, ¡°Because there¡¯s going to be a national treasure making an appearance in the auction house this summer. And it¡¯s precisely because of it that we¡¯re shifting the auction venue to a ce outside of the Cathayan territorial waters.¡±

    ¡°Guardian Auctions generally conducts its major auctions within maind Cathay. It¡¯s only when a national treasure appears that we use our venue out in the high seas. Historically, this has only happened approximately five or six times. And news of this has already begun to spread. All of our Premium VIPs know what this artifact is, and most have already begun to raise funds for the auction. With all due respect, your artifacts may be precious, but¡­ the treasure that¡¯s appearing this summer is of the most profound historical significance. It¡¯s in apletely different ss from regr first ss collections. If your artifacts appear in the very same auction as the national treasure¡­ your artifacts might end up being priced downwards.¡±

    In other words, most of those who were attending the summer major auction were there for the national treasure, and they might only give other treasures a token bid.

    Master Bai continued, ¡°If your artifacts can wait till the fall major auction, I can personally assure you that it will be made the mainstay artifact of that auction. The mainstay artifact usually fetches a price that is approximately 15% higher than our appraisal and estimations.¡±

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth - 15%! That¡¯s millions in float value! But¡­ I can¡¯t wait that long!

    ¡°There¡¯s no need¡­ I¡¯ll have them sold this summer. Like I said, I need the money quite urgently.¡± He was practically on the verge of tears as he typed these words into hisputer. His hands trembled incessantly.

    It¡¯s millions we¡¯re talking about¡­ how many skins can this buy¡­

    Master Bai sighed deeply at his end of the terminal. He didn¡¯t want these artifacts to sh directly against the mainstay artifact of the summer major auction if he could help it! After all, he¡¯d seen his fair share of auctions, and he knew full well that the artifact being sold this summer was one of the most precious treasures ever auctioned by Guardian Auctions! In fact, none of the other auction houses has aparable treasure at all!

    ¡°How about this.¡± After a long time, Master Bai typed, ¡°We can¡­ give you an advance of 60 million first¡­ just to push back the auction of your artifacts to the fall major auction?¡±

    Qin Ye was also thinking hard on his end.

    If he couldunch his golden trade route in summer, then it would take his potential partner one month to raise their funds, and then a further month for him to hand over his stock of Southsea Huanghuali to that person. This would take him all the way to the fall auction as well.

    But this was contingent on his ability to negotiate the terms of this golden trade route in summer to begin with. In the very best case scenario, the billions he would be receiving for his stock of Southsea Huanghuali would arrive in his bank ount by the end of fall.

    That said, the crux of the matter right now was¡­ that there was simply no way to go about his negotiations at all.

    He would only be able to head out in fall¡­

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± He opened his eyes and sighed with resignation, ¡°This gives me more time to make preparations after all. With this, perhaps I¡¯ll be able to bring the entire stock of Southsea Huanghuali with me when I head out, and negotiate, transact and deliver all at once¡­¡±

    He looked for excuses. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t quite shirk off the resentment in his heart.

    He could practically see the golden trade route in front of him right now. And yet, he was forced back by the circumstances time and again. With every day that he dallied on, Hell would grow that much more unstable, rife with unrest. The fact that Hell remained as deste as it had ever been was the most heart wrenching sight to him.

    Qin Ye had many ws, yet the one good thing about him was that he was a man of his word.

    So much so that he would feel like death if he were unable to stay true to his promises.

    ¡°Mr Qin?¡± This protracted pause was slightly longer than the others before, and Master Bai couldn¡¯t help but probe anxiously, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Qin Ye gathered his thoughts and furrowed his brows - What exactly is it that would dwarf prized artifacts like the Tang Dynasty dragon and phoenix pottery set?

    ¡°I¡¯m a Premium VIP as well. I should have the right to know what exactly the mainstay artifact of this summer auction is, right?¡± He typed.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Master Bai paused for a moment, ¡°Mr Qin, this treasure is truly exceptionally precious, and there are several tycoons, including some of our foreign Premium VIP ount holders, have alreadye forward to register their interest. Even the government has caught wind of the news. Truth be told, the government is aware of every instance we shift the auction venue to the high seas.¡±

    Qin Ye could tell that this was a silent warning to him. Master Bai was disclosing a hint of the authority backing him, implicitly telling him that even though he was going to disclose to Qin Ye what exactly the mainstay artifact was, it was strictly only for his ears.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    After receiving Qin Ye¡¯s tacit confirmation, Master Bai sent a picture to him. Furthermore, it was the type of message that would destroy itself after a single viewing.

    Qin Ye opened it.

    It was a piece of white paper. And on this white paper, there was a small bowl.

    The bowl sat upright. Its entire body was dark blue in colour, and there were countless white spots on it, almost as though it depicted¡­ the universe on its surface.

    Qin Ye was mesmerized by its beauty with a single look. It was an indescribable beauty. The iridescent spots that were like little pea-sized puddles appeared as vast and distant as constetions in the sky. And this was only a broken piece of the bowl. Most of the other half was missing, and yet¡­ it seemed to emanate a demonic presence that tugged powerfully at his soul.

    ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?!¡± Just then, Arthis¡¯ voice called out, ¡°Wake up!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind was a blur. Then, suddenly, like a shocking thunderp, he shook violently and jolted back to his senses. It was only then that he discovered that his entire forehead was already percted with cold sweat. In his stupor, he had gravitated closer and closer to the screen, until he was no more than an inch from the screen.

    ¡°What the hell is this thing?¡± He wiped off the sweat from his forehead and asked with a palpable sense of urgency.

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, she pushed him to the side and stared soullessly at the bowl.

    ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl¡­ It actually still exists¡­ They¡¯ve actually found it¡­ This is absolutely unbelievable!¡±

    1.

 Chapter 202: The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven

    <h4>Chapter 202: The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven</h4>

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Qin Ye was incredibly displeased with Arthis¡¯ rude interjection, and he stared at her with a gaze that read - you¡¯re cruel, you¡¯re ruthless, and you¡¯repletely unreasonable.

    ¡°The two bowls are currently in Nippon. It¡¯s unknown exactly how they ended up there. But what we can be sure of is that there¡¯s presently only records of one of these bowls, and that bowl is stored in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum in Edo, Nippon. When it was first introduced to Nippon¡­ do you know who its owners were?¡±

    Arthis drew a deep breath and muttered, ¡°Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then shuddered violently as he did a double take at the screen, ¡°Are you saying¡­ that this is the very same bowl that was rumoured to have been destroyed in the Honnoji Incident?¡±

    Qin Ye held up his hand with a ¡®stop¡¯ gesture and interjected suspiciously, ¡°How did you see it before?¡±

    ¡°The ten great Yin artifacts have all been formed from the agglomeration and condensation of a multitude of grievances and grudges. With the appearance of each onees the rebirth of a powerful ghost. These Yin artifacts form part of the core sybus in the education of all Infernal Judges. Every single Judge is tasked to keep an eye out for the appearance of these artifacts. To think that¡­ a day woulde when I would personally witness the emergence of an artifact like that.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu are both famous generals of the Nipponese Warring States era, and their personal belongings that apanied them would invariably be exposed to bloodshed and war. They would be able to draw upon the thick air of grievances and grudges that lingered on in the air and clung to the clothes of their owners¡­ Wait a minute!

    Arthis nodded cidly, ¡°That¡¯s right. Oda Nobunaga, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. A trace of his soul is lingering in this bowl. The fact that you were enraptured by the bowl earlier is a sign that his soul is about to reawaken.¡±

    Secondster, Qin Ye chuckled dryly, ¡°About that¡­ I somehow think that¡­ we should just forget about all these things and participate in the fall auction. What do you think?¡±

    Then, say so earlier next time!

    ¡°Kid¡­ it seems like your confidence has grown ever since bing a Hellguard yourself. I¡¯m warning you, the next time you do this, I¡¯m unleashing my knowledge of thai boxing on you.¡± Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°Oda Nobunaga was born in the Warring States era. To put it bluntly, they were warring viges. Their so-called states are no different from small prefectures in Cathay - a small county. In that light, it really doesn¡¯t matter how awesome Oda Nobunaga had been. THe question is how much Yin energy do you think he would have been able to absorb?¡±

    Qin Ye began tob back his hair as he addressed Arthis earnestly, ¡°Arti, Arti¡­ It¡¯s not that I want to nag at you, but could you please give me the lowdown on these important details first next time? Is it really that fun to see me lose my wits before you all the time?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about the past.¡± Qin Ye stood up with confidence, and then frowned at Arthis, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t seem right¡­ Why should I go all the way just to seize the soul of a granduncle? Am I sick in the mind? And even if hees to his senses, wouldn¡¯t he still have his eyes fixed on Nippon? Perhaps he¡¯d look to visit Tokugawa Ieyasu and talk about their dreams and future ahead¡­ but what¡¯s that got to do with me?¡±

    ¡°At the very least, he¡¯s a far better statesman and a military man than you are! Wouldn¡¯t you need to create a security force in future? You¡¯ve seen the state of Hell - it¡¯s just a storm of unrest that¡¯s brewing right now! All of Cathay¡¯s famous generals from the past have been whisked away by Lord Ksitigarbha! Or are you waiting for an admiral to pass on?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond, but his eyes flickered unnervingly. Arthis knew in an instant that this look meant that Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts were vaciting between ¡°It¡¯s so dangerous, so scary! That¡¯s Oda Nobunaga we¡¯re talking about¡± to ¡°Ummm¡­ The number of Yin spirits in Hell are indeed increasing. Shouldn¡¯t I form a security force to keep thew and order in that ce?¡±

    Arthis looked to the heavens in despair - Should I also inform him that as soon as he leaves Cathay¡¯s borders, he will no longer be able to instakill evil ghosts of the same rank as he is?

    To think that I¡¯d never even think of procrastinating back when I was under the charge of the previous King Yanluo¡­ and yet now I do it almost on a daily basis¡­

    Some timeter, Qin Ye finally looked up, only to notice Arthis¡¯ increasingly grim expressions, and even her hair was starting to flutter menacingly on its own. He immediately coughed lightly as he tested the waters, ¡°Then¡­ I guess we can make a trip down together?¡±

    ¡°Why are you asking me to apany you?¡± Arthis responded stiffly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t have the time.¡± Arthis rejected the notion immediately and then vanished into a wisp of green smoke, ¡°I¡¯m heading into Hell for some peace and quiet. Don¡¯t speak with me for a while. I might not be able to hold myself back¡­¡±

    It seemed that the matter was shelved from discussions for the moment. Qin Ye sat in front of hisptop and began typing to Master Bai again, ¡°Alright, your suggestion works for me. 60 million in advance. I¡¯ll give you my card number. But I think it¡¯s best if I state this upfront. I¡¯m currently¡­ at the City of Salvation.¡±

    Qin Ye could practically imagine him massaging his temples in pain.

    ¡°... The City of Salvation that is under direct administration?¡±

    Several secondster, Master Bai finally responded, ¡°Then¡­ when you¡¯ve made the necessary preparations, you can contact us directly. We¡¯re staffed twenty-four hours a day.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile faded away, and his heart sank. Even someone with the depth of backing like Guardian Auctions was unable to enter the City of Salvation?

    This seems to be the only way forward for now.

    With that, he closed the chat box. He didn¡¯t have the heart to y any games either. Thus, he copsed onto his bed and stared at the ceiling as he began to mull over his thoughts.

    The wisp of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul wasn¡¯t at the top of his considerations. Instead, it was the redevelopment of Hell that was constantly weighing on his heart.

    Therefore, he would have to achieve a certain level of development of Hell before the Harken could awaken from its slumber. Hell has to be rebuilt and expand as quickly as possible. The trade route that would ensure his source of finances was right in front of his eyes, and yet he couldn¡¯t do a thing about it. Did he really have to put off his ns until fall? With that many Yin spirits idling about in Hell, would things really be alright?

    ROAR!! It was as though a tidal wave had crashed onto the shore. It was so loud that it practically drowned out everything Arthis was saying.

    These words immediately surfaced on his mind. Qin Ye¡¯s back broke out with cold sweat, and he immediately sat up from his bed, ¡°Are you in Hell right now? What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Arthis yelled at the top of her voice to get her message across, ¡°Come down right now! Something¡¯s happened!¡±

    1. This is the incident when Nobunaga was betrayed by his general, who ambushed Nobunaga and his eldest son, which resulted in them bothmitting seppuku. An additional nugget of information - Nobunaga waster avenged by his retainer, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Tokugawa Ieyasu was briefly a rival to Toyotomi after Oda¡¯s death, but then quickly pledged allegiance to Toyotomi, under which he served until Toyotomi passed away. Ieyasu then seized power in 1600, and was appointed as the first shogun of Japan.

    2. I¡¯ve done some research on why he¡¯s called the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. There seems to be two main schools of thought. The first is that this is a Buddhist reference to Paranimmitavasavatti, the demon king of the Sixth Heaven, who inspires envy and desire among men and leads them astray from Buddhist teachings. Calling Oda this was probably a result of his brutality against the Buddhists, particrly some who opposed the samurai rule. Oda Nobunaga was also known for his massacre at Mount Hiei, a mountain which was controlled by a sect of Buddhist warrior monks. The second school of thought is that Oda was the one who named himself that in order to mock Takeda Shingen, one of Oda¡¯s rivals, who referred to himself as the protector of buddhism in Japan.

    3. A powerful military dictator that ruled from 603-666 in the old days of Goguryeo (old Korea)

 Chapter 203: Yin Spirit Riot (1)

    <h4>Chapter 203: Yin Spirit Riot (1)</h4>

    Boom!!! As soon as he appeared, he was immediately overwhelmed by the powerful rush of sound that enveloped him from all directions. He was standing at the entrance of Hell¡¯s Gate, and he could tell that the protective barrier had already been activated. An eeriehergale swept through thends. Rows of gleaming Sanskrit texts flowed slowly along a dazzling barrier right in front of Hell¡¯s Gate that was pulsing with innumerable little ripples.

    ¡°What the hell is going on here?!¡± Qin Ye turned his head abruptly, only to be greeted by over two hundred Death Inquisitors who had already risen to their feet. As soon as they heard Qin Ye¡¯s furious cry, all of them knelt to the ground respectfully. Su Dongxue knelt right in front of all of them and exined with a pale expression on her face, ¡°Your subject¡­ your subject isn¡¯t sure either¡­ It all happened just half an hour ago. It sounded like someone was quarrelling, and then¡­ a scuffle broke out. When the Yin Construction division heads attempted to mediate the situation, they got embroiled in it as well¡­¡±

    ¡°Kneel properly!!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s cry was just as thunderous. The eeriehermes on the sculptures flickered dangerously, casting a dark shadow over the grand hall.

    ¡°Look at yourselves.¡± Qin Ye chuckled coldly, ¡°Death Inquisitors¡­ You¡¯re representatives of Hell. And yet not a single one of you is able to react properly in the face of a Yin spirit riot! Are you no different from a rabbit that has passed out?!¡±

    A gutsy reprimand was surprisingly effective in calming the hearts of the Death Inquisitors. Qin Ye noticed that everyone¡¯s palpable breaths had calmed down substantially. He could tell that the protective barrier was still rippling endlessly due to the barrage of Yin spirits, but he didn¡¯t care. He turned to Su Dongxue once more and lifted his chin, ¡°Continue.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Are all of the division heads of Yin Construction back here? And what about Mr Gu? Did Mr Gu suffer any injuries?¡±

    He nced about the hall and discovered that a one meter square shelf had been erected to hold up an engineering drawing, and there were several pens strewn all over the side. It seemed that Gu Qing had already begun working on a grand design n for Hell.

    ¡°Yin spirit riot.¡± Yin energy converged in mid air and transformed into a vortex from which Arthis stepped out. She sighed, ¡°This is an issue that is faced by all new hells alike. In fact, you can say that until Hell has properly established itself, we can expect this to be amon phenomenon. But don¡¯t worry. With us around, all who incite riots and rebellions are dead meat. That said¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Hu Feng was just about to speak up when he happened to lock eyes with Qin Ye. He immediately lowered his head, ¡°It¡¯s your subject who has been ipetent¡­¡±

    ¡°Whether or not this was a result of your ipetence is for us to decide.¡± Qin Ye tapped on the table lightly, ¡°Speak. Truthfully. If you conceal any details¡­¡±

    Qin Ye hadn¡¯t expected the Yin spirit riot to arrive so quickly. But because it did, there was all the more reason to urgently establish his firm authority right here in Hell. After all, there can only be one voice in Hell!

    ¡°My lord¡­ it was all because I¡¯d failed to manage my teams properly. They¡¯ve been idling about for far too long. The second team was originally rostered to the use of the excavator today. But it so happened that the first team hadn¡¯tpleted all that they had set out to do, so I had thought to let them finish up their work before handing over control of the excavator to the second team. Who would¡¯ve thought that the second team leader grew upset at the decision, and rallied his entire team to create a ruckus at the work site. I don¡¯t even know who began to cuss at the other¡¯s mother, but the entire situation quickly devolved into an altercation¡­¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, and his heart sank.

    The internalpass of morality and virtue quickly unravels and disintegrates into nothingness in the absence ofw. And this process was only expedited by the growing idleness and lethargy of Yin spirits around. Nobody had any worries, whether for food, or for clothes. Everyone simply sat under trees wondering about their bleak future all day long. They were once zing with passion about the Qin Gardens Phase 1 project. But after a few months of lukewarm progress, the raging inferno of passion quickly grew tainted and ck. Anyone could guess just how displeased the Yin spirits were towards his leadership.

    That was exactly like how humans behaved. Man never suffers from scarcity, only inequity.

    Nobody could stand long hours of boredom. This was why everyone was fighting for the use of the excavators - they needed something to do. They needed something to enrich their lives. And this seemingly inconsequential and unimportant thing was the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back - the spark that lit the fuse.

    He went over the details in his mind, and then sighed as he stood up, ¡°Stay here. Don¡¯t leave Hell¡¯s Gate. I¡¯ll go sort things out on the outside.¡±

    Countlesshermes flew about in the skies, while a sea of Yin energy with waves as high as twenty meters filled thends! It was impossible to see whaty within its midst, save for the asional red leaf or branch peeking out of the sea, as well as¡­ a flicking,ntern-sized golden eye.

    ¡°What is that thing?¡± Qin Ye eximed in dismay. He had never seen a creature like that before!

    Right there, in the heart of the tide of Yin energy¡­ was a giant skeleton, approximately forty to fifty meters long. It crawled along the ground, shrieking and screaming as it mmed its fists wildly into the protective barrier of light around Hell¡¯s Gate!

    The barrier of light trembled again. Qin Ye could clearly see that there were countless Yin spirits swimming along every crevice of the giant skeleton¡¯s body. Netherfire immted around its entire being. The skeleton only had the upper half of its body, replete with golden eyes. With every shriek it cried out with, a wave of illusory Yin spirits would pour out and strike the barrier of light.

    Arthis picked up from where Ming Shiyin left off, ¡°All sentient Yin spirits have their own desires. When these desires intensify to its peak, the Yin spirit¡¯s feeble illusory body would no longer be able to cope with it. Think of it this way - a Yin spirit¡¯s body isposed of the dualism of souls and his seven emotions and six desires. The agglomeration of these factors constitute a type of ¡®spirit¡¯ without a corporeal being. When any particr one of these aspects grows beyond what the spirit can bear, it would explode with a particr indicia, also known as a mark of dao. The burst of light which Su Dongxue was talking about was precisely the manifestation of one of these indicia.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped.

    ¡°So what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Riots of this scale happen every year across the vastnds of Hell. This is why a security force is an indispensable department in Hell. Things are still alright for now. But once Hell begins to expand, and Yin beasts start to appear¡­ Trust me, those things are just as pervasive as mercury - they get everywhere. Without a strong army and a powerfulmander, Hell would sooner orter be scourged and scarred by these skirmishes.¡±

    She gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Now, do you understand why I was so excited to see the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡±

    1. This is the concept of hun and po, which corrte with Yang and Yin respectively. The ethereal hun soul is the one that leaves the body after death, while the physical po soul is the one that remains with the corpse. Taoism believes that all living humans have three hun and seven po in their bodies.

    2. This is a reference to another concept of the seven psychological or emotional states, namely joy, anger, anxiety, grief, thought, fear and fright, as well as the six physiological needs or desires of one¡¯s eyes, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.

    3. The author actually names them each after the words ÷Î÷È÷Í÷Ëôr (chi mei wang liang yu). The phrase ÷Î÷È÷Í÷Ë (chi mei wang liang) actually has its origins in ancient chronicles, and was used to refer to monsters of the mountains and monsters of the river, with the former half of the phrase referring to monsters of the mountains and thetter half referring to monsters of the river. ôr refers to a ghost child. However, given that the author¡¯s intention was to refer to each of these words separately as a different ss of monster, I¡¯ll justbel them as X-fiend for now.

 Chapter 204: Yin Spirit Riot (2)

    <h4>Chapter 204: Yin Spirit Riot (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s mouth felt dry and parched.

    He had¡­ underestimated Hell.

    He had always thought that Yin spirit riots were nothing more than a gathering of unarmed Yin spirits, walking about and striking at Hell¡¯s Gate. He was prepared to kill as many of them that came along.

    Conscience and psychological burden?

    What of those was there to talk about in Hell?

    Unfortunately, things were not as he had imagined. He had never expected a Yin spirit riot to be on such a scale. Wrath definitely possessed abilities in the level of an Anitya Hellguard!

    And this was merely a Yin spirit riot to boot - one that involved just over a hundred thousand Yin spirits. Hell was bound to expand in future, and there would naturally bemensurately more Yin spirits that arrive in Hell. How many Yin spirits would the next riot involve?

    All it takes is a simple trigger, and then a rebellion¡­ or an insurgency¡­ What would those look like?

    Hell simply wasn¡¯t something that could be understood usingmon sense.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. A simple riot isn¡¯t sufficient to breach Hell¡¯s Gate.¡± Arthis reassured him, ¡°Like I¡¯d mentioned, Hell¡¯s Gate is a gateway to the rest of Hell. Unless a million Yin spirits are involved in a Yin spirit rebellion, Hell¡¯s Gate would surely hold its integrity. But¡­ for as long as the Yin marite remains, you won¡¯t be able to use its surrounding areas.¡±

    Almost as though she understood Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts, she smiled faintly, ¡°This is simply a riot. Can you imagine what would happen when a rebellion urs? Can you imagine the sight of dozens of Judge-ss Yin marites charging towards Hell¡¯s Gate¡­ Otherwise why do you think Hell has over a thousand Infernal Judges to begin with?¡±

    ¡°Every province is anchored down by the presence of at least ten Judges, simply because of the possibility that a rebellion can ur at the most unexpected of times. Yin spirits are fundamentally different from humans in that they don¡¯t age, they don¡¯t die, they don¡¯t eat or drink, and even their moralpass ispletely different from that of the mortal realm. There¡¯s simply no way of telling what they might be upset by¡­ With that, do you still think that the wisp of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul is irrelevant right now?¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    If Oda Nobunaga were here, he wouldn¡¯t even need to rush back to Hell right now. After all, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven was someone who would even enjoy dealing with this situation like it was a game.

    ¡°Let¡¯s deal with this before we continue our discussion.¡± Qin Ye sighed deeply. He habitually maintained a high and cold persona in Hell. Thus, he took a step forward and asked with a deep voice, ¡°Hellguard?¡±

    ¡°Nascent Anitya Hellguard.¡± Arthis swept a gaze across the pale faces of the Yin spirits who had all retreated to the safety of the protective barrier around Hell¡¯s Gate, and then she looked at the protective barrier itself that was rippling from the endless barrage of blows, ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky to have about fifty thousand ghostpowers remaining. Approximately one hundred and thirty thousand Yin spirits have responded to the mark of dao. This means that not everyone feels rage and anger towards you - at least, not to the extent of exploding in wrath.¡±

    ¡°... Can I take that as apliment?¡±

    ¡°Take a guess?¡± Arthis turned to the roof of Hell¡¯s Gate and bowed slightly, ¡°Lord Ming, prepare to open the formation array.¡±

    As she spoke, Ming Shiyin erupted with a radiant light, causing all of the Yin spirits around to turn and stare in horror. Within moments, the gleaming Sanskrit words that had been protecting them all this while began to darken and fade away.

    ¡°W-what¡¯s going on here?¡± ¡°The protective formation array is about to vanish?¡± ¡°Oh god! Somebody help us! What¡¯s happening right now?! How could a creature like this suddenly appear?!¡±

    A cacophony of terrified screams and exmations burgeoned immediately, and several Yin spirits even scrambled to their feet. But, just then, Qin Ye¡¯s voice thundered, ¡°Silence.¡±

    Whoosh! Instantly, the multitude of frightened eyes turned to look upon Qin Ye as though he were their saviour - their only source of hope. He paused for two seconds, and then slowly added, ¡°There are those among you who are discontent. But they¡¯re all unaware that in Hell, as long as their discontentment grows to a particr breaking point, they would lose their minds and irreversibly transform into a Yin marite.¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± An old man was unable to even stand still, and his voice trembled, ¡°They¡­ they¡­¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all dead.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°Therefore, I¡¯m going to exterminate the source of our problems right now. Don¡¯t be rmed. Mr Ming, please open the array.¡±

    Buzz¡­ The domain of the array trembled slightly, and the gleaming Sanskrit words quickly arranged themselves in such a manner that they actually created a sliver of space in the center. Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ A secondter, the gate opened, and copious amounts of Yin energy, apanied by the ghostly mes that roamed the sky like fireflies, rushed straight into the domain like a tsunami!

    ¡°Sss!¡± ¡°Ahhh!¡± As soon as the sliver of space opened up in the protective array, the Yin spirits standing near the entrance to Hell¡¯s Gate immediately gasped and screamed as they backed into the rest of the crowd. Within moments, the crowd of Yin spirits retreated deeper into Hell¡¯s Gate, leaving a wide berth between Qin Ye and the rest of them.

    Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ The crack grew wider, and the furioushergale tossed Qin Ye¡¯s hair about. Then, just as the crack spanned five meters in width, a loud roar echoed throughout Hell, and ten pale fingers rested on the crack. A secondter, a single golden eye appeared. It was set within a pale white socket, and there were jade-greenhermes zing all around it. The golden eye peered right through the gap, staring intently at Qin Ye.

    It was massive.

    Qin Ye was only slightly taller than the eye itself. This was a sight that any regr person would have been scared out of their wits by. Just then, Wrath pulled back slightly, and then unleashed a great roar of fury. Its vicious teeth were pointed straight at Qin Ye, almost as though he had fixed his eyes on the most delectable piece of fresh meat. The fingers resting on the cracks immediately began to tug at it, as though desperately attempting to widen the crack.

    ROAR!!!

    The terrifying roar sent a massive shockwave of sound all around. The forest of Southsea Huanghuali shook wildly. Yet Qin Ye simply sneered at Wrath as he dashed forward like a shooting star!

    How dare you challenge my authority in Hell! I sentence you to death without mercy!

    Whoosh! As he charged forward, copious wisps of Yin energy wrapped itself around his body and enveloped himpletely. ¡°By Hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡± With a loud battle cry, he shot out from the other end of the cocoon of Yin energy in the form of an Anitya Hellguard.

    A white robe and a matching tall fretwork skullcap. A multitude of wails and moans could be heard echoing eerily from his mourning staff as he shot straight towards Wrath¡¯s head.

    Roar!! Wrath responded with the cry of ten thousand Yin spirits. Then, it suddenly transformed into a powerfulhergale that propelled its teeth towards Qin Ye, desperately attempting to bite him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you taste the power of an Anitya Hellguard¡­ Ah, but then again, given the effectiveness of Emissaries against evil ghosts, I don¡¯t think you¡¯llst more than three moves on my part.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly. Just as Wrath¡¯s teeth began to mp down on Qin Ye¡¯s body, he, too, transformed into a swifthergale and appeared above Wrath¡¯s head.

    The mourning staff mmed down with a powerful blow, and Wrath¡¯s seemingly rock-hard skull instantly cracked!

    Boom! A ck shockwave rippled from the point of impact. Ssss!!! Wrath let out a blood-curdling shriek as the cracks on its skull began to spread outwards like a spiderweb. In the next moment, innumerable Yin spirits spewed out of its skull like a fountain which quickly transformed into a vortex of Yin spirits. Wrath roared in agony as it pped its palms directly above its head.

    Bam! It looked almost like a human smacking a mosquito. Qin Ye was so tiny inparison to the Yin marite that it looked almost pathetic.

    ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°D-did his excellency get caught?¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t his excellency avoid it?!¡±

    Just as the Yin spirits watched in horror as Wrath swiftly wrapped its fingers around Qin Ye and clenched its fist, trapping Qin Yepletely within its palms.

    ¡°So that¡¯s all a Yin marite is capable of, huh¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice remarked calmly, ¡°And here I was, wondering just how fearsome you would be¡­ how dare someone like you think of showing discontentment and disrespect to Hell?!¡±

    This was a show.

    A show of strength.

    It was intended to remind the Yin spirits that were watching for the umpteenth time to maintain their posture of respect to Hell.

    ¡°Have you forgotten who it was who had given you a resting ce after your death?¡±

    Ka-ka-ka¡­ Wrath¡¯s golden eyes looked up subconsciously, only to notice that its closed fists had been forcibly opened in an instant.

    Sss¡­ sss!! It shrieked with resentment. The bones in its hands trembled from its exertion of force, and theherfire immting all around its body flickered wildly. Yet, it wasn¡¯t able to wrap its fist around Qin Ye anymore.

    ¡°Have you already forgotten how I¡¯d asked nicely for you to be patient as Hell is rebuilt to its former glory? I¡¯d endured time and again whenever you cked off and idled about. But it seems that humans¡­ just don¡¯t know contentment.¡±

    ¡°After all, you wouldn¡¯t be asking for the sky and the moon had you known contentment.¡±

    Boom!

    Wrath¡¯s hands exploded, and shards of its bones scattered everywhere in the wake of a miserable scream. Qin Ye didn¡¯t even move his hands. He was still gripping tightly to his mourning staff. Instead, there was simply a thinyer of corporeal Yin energy that had formed around Qin Ye¡¯s body.

    Prestige of the Luminary.

    A Hellguard¡¯s Prestige of the Luminary.

    Qin Ye¡¯s mourning staff was so small next to Wrath¡¯s body that it looked norger than a needle next to a human being. And yet, the mourning staff hadpletely pinned Wrath down to the ground so much so that it was unable to move. It screamed and iled with all its might, but to no avail.

    The sight of Qin Ye¡¯s dominance caused all of the Yin spirits to gulp nervously.

    Nethergale raged like furious waves crashing into the shores, while ghostly mes flickered across the sky like shooting stars. This looked just like a chaotic scene of the vast reaches of Hell, and yet the focus was clearly on the man that had subdued the gargantuan beast in the foreground. The man stood victoriously over the beast like the lord of Hell.

    And he was in fact the lord of Hell.

    Yin energy billowed wildly against Qin Ye¡¯s mourning staff. Qin Ye caressed the top of his staff gently, ¡°With me around, those who don¡¯t know contentment¡­ can die.¡±

    A secondter, an earth-shattering scream resounded across the four corners of Hell.

    Ssssss!!!

    The lower end of the mourning staff plunged straight into the skull of the Yin marite, sending fragments of its bones scattering everywhere. tter tter¡­ The Yin spirits watched with great shock as cracks spread and ran down the Yin marite¡¯s entire body, growing wider and denser, until¡­ the entire fifty-meterrge Yin marite¡¯s body appeared cracked as a porcin vase on the brink of shattering!

    Crash¡­ Then, with a crisp sound, the Yin marite¡¯s body crumbledpletely, disintegrating into a multitude of ghostly mes that shot straight into Hell¡¯s Gate and into the waiting arms of the menacing sculptures, lighting up candle after candle with eerie green mes. In an instant, Hell¡¯s Gate glowed with a bright green luster.

    ¡°Holy cow¡­¡± An elderly Yin spirit gasped and leaned close to the tree just behind him. His jaw dropped, and he stood up subconsciously.

    Awe.

    He was well aware of what had been going on over thest few days. As more and more Yin spirits found themselves idling about, the discussions of dissent also increased. ¡°Have you seen the one in charge before?¡± ¡°I have. He¡¯s just a small kid, albeit with a cruel heart.¡± ¡°Who cares if he¡¯s cruel? We¡¯ve got nothing to do here! No electricity, no inte¡­ is he even trying to upy our mind here?¡± ¡°Shh, keep your voice down. Let me tell you something. Do you know how many ghosts he killed in cold blood just before you guys arrived?¡±

    ¡°So what? Do you really think he¡¯s going to kill all of us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! Why doesn¡¯t he just let us get reincarnated if he¡¯s not going to give us anything to do?! Are we to simply pretend to be the loyal subjects in his great kingdom of Qin?¡± ¡°Let it go¡­ I hear that he¡¯s pretty fearsome.¡± ¡°Wimp!¡±

    Such discussions of dissent began to spread like wildfire. Nevertheless, the elderly Yin spirit could still vividly remember what happened to the disobedient Yin spirits on thest two asions.

    He gazed numbly as Qin Ye drifted down from the sky. The fountain of Yin spirits were still spewing from the heart of the Yin marite, and yet Qin Ye simply strode away from the scene like a majestic, towering embodiment of authority.

    He wasposed and natural. And there was a sense of¡­ unique, hellish elegance about him.

    At this very moment, the old man was once again reminded of the terror of being ovee by death.

    A second person stood up subconsciously, followed by a third¡­ and then ten¡­ a hundred¡­ a thousand¡­ ten thousand¡­ fifty thousand!

    Everyone watched Qin Ye¡¯s strides inplete silence, etching the majestic, domineering sight in their minds.

    Qin Ye slowly walked back to where he came from. Wherever he went, the Yin spirits backed away sensibly, leaving a wide berth of over ten meters between them. Even those who hid in the back subconsciously moved back, trembling in fear.

    Just then, someone remarked, ¡°Lord Yanluo¡­ is mighty and formidable¡­¡±

    What a joke. Who says such things in this day and age?

    But nobodyughed at it.

    Instead, someone else echoed the cry, ¡°Lord Yanluo¡­ is mighty and formidable!¡±

    ¡°His Excellency is mighty and formidable!¡± ¡°Lord Yanluo is mighty and formidable!¡± ¡°Lord Qin is mighty and formidable!¡±

    As Qin Ye plodded on, the cries of ¡®mighty and formidable¡¯ grew louder and louder, until it became a deration that resounded in unison throughout all of Hell!

    1. It used to be a phrase used for royalty in ancient times.

 Chapter 205: Workings of a Top Student

    <h4>Chapter 205: Workings of a Top Student</h4>

    He spoke as though he had seen his fair share of these incidents, and what he had done was all in a day¡¯s work.

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes at her and whispered back, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you know by now that I¡¯m a genius at anything to do with the preservation of my face¡­ What did I forget?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye stretched out his hand and touched it apprehensively. It was cold to the touch, and yet it glittered and gleamed from within like a pure ck crystal that seemed to contain an endless river of souls. It looked absolutely mesmerizing.

    Qin Ye deliberated for a moment, ¡°In other words, I¡¯ll need a specially trained force to deal with such situations in future? Not just to quell the uprising of riots and rebellions, but also to harvest aplete piece of Yin jade? Is this the only way I can get Yin jades?¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    Especially someone like Oda Nobunaga who had been so close to unifying all of Nippon back then.

    Arthis continued, ¡°It¡¯s difficult for you to understand the grievances in his heart. He was so close to unifying Nippon, and yet at the veryst moment, he was driven to death by one of his most trusted subordinates, Akechi Mitsuhide. His resentment has already gathered and festered in the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl for hundreds of years, bing a longstanding obsession in his heart. If you look back at Oda Nobunaga¡¯s life, you¡¯ll understand that he was one of the greatest talents of his time, a capable politician and a brilliant military man. With him around, you won¡¯t ever have to be concerned with the defense of Hell ever again. It would be far too much of a waste passing up on this opportunity right now.¡±

    This was a rare opportunity to bring a highly esteemed marshal under hismand - one who possessed the abilities to even unify an entire country. Talent was the driving force of a nation¡¯s development!

    He sighed after a long time, ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl is going to make its appearance at the summer major auction at the end of June. I wouldn¡¯t be on vacation just then, so how could I possibly attend the auction? And even if I could attend the auction, what would I use to purchase it?¡±

    Qin Ye looked up and drew a deep breath, ¡°Are you saying¡­ the Southsea Huanghuali?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the transaction price shouldn¡¯t be more than a billion RMB. A top talent for a billion RMB. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a good deal?¡± Arthis continued, ¡°Besides, the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl is nothing more than a collector¡¯s item in the hands of mere mortals. It is only if it ends up in our hands that we can bring out its true potential!¡±

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t deny the presence of a voice screaming in his heart, telling him that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he passed up on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Such talent could never be measured with money! Hell was rife with chaos and instability, and he desperately needed a general to man the fort!

    If I could really find a way out of this conundrum¡­ then, I¡¯ll give the wealthy a run for their wealth at the auctions!

    They were evidently still reeling from shock from what had urred, and they would very much prefer if Qin Ye remained here to hold the fort.

    ¡°Quite possibly.¡± Qin Ye sighed, ¡°Unfortunately¡­ the heart is willing, but the flesh is weak. Whatever. Protect Mr Gu Qing while I¡¯m not around. Notify me as soon as there¡¯s any sign of danger.¡±

    Having resolved the critical issue at Hell and incidentally deriving the next step of the n, Qin Ye turned around and stared at the remaining Yin spirits who were still trembling from shock. Then, his voice resounded like thunder throughout Hell, ¡°I approve of your ambitions and desires.¡±

    ¡°Like I said before - there¡¯s a multitude of things to be done for the revivification of Hell. Everyone needs to chip in. Think about it, who¡¯s the creator of Hell?¡±

    ¡°And who¡¯s the one who has been wracking his mind, thinking of the best possible course of action to undertake in order to return Hell to its former glory in the shortest time possible?¡±

    Dead silence nketed Hell.

    Just then, an apprehensive voice called out. Gu Qing had scuttled over and called Qin Ye softly, ¡°M-my lord, please hold on.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing much¡­¡± After much difficulty, Gu Qing managed to muster the courage to exin himself, ¡°Lord Qin¡­ if you manage to head out, and happen to cross Yan Capital, could I trouble you¡­ to help me ry a dream? Help me assure my family that I¡¯m alright, and tell them not to worry about me.¡±

    This is Hell, and yet we don¡¯t even have the capability to ry a dream¡­ I can¡¯t help but feel like swearing at the extent of its poverty¡­

    ¡°I sincerely thank your excellency.¡± Gu Qing sighed in relief. He was stricken with a debilitating illness and had beenatose for a long time before he passed on. Thus, he never quite got the chance to say his goodbyes. Nevertheless, he had always been on very good terms with his family, and he was afraid that they would grieve endlessly from his passing. This had therefore be akin to an ailment guing his heart.

    Gu Qing¡¯s radiant smile quickly turned into a bitter one.

    ¡°Is there a second City of Salvation in Cathay?¡±

    Qin Ye began to activate the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal once more. He closed his eyes and quipped casually, ¡°You know about the matters of the City of Salvation as well?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s figure was already consumed by the dark vortex of Yin energy towards the end of his spiel. But just then, a hand stretched out from the vortex and simply tore it apart. Qin Ye stepped out once more and stared intently at Gu Qing.

    He was incredibly sensitive to any prospects of leaving the city right now.

    Without the slightest preparation, and not a shred of consideration, you suddenly appeared¡­ (TL: I love how we get the imagery of OST suddenly ying in the background like the cliffhanger ending of a drama serial)

    Qin Ye shook his head, but continued to stare intently at Gu Qing.

    Gu Qing could read Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts like an open book, and he couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously, ¡°My lord¡­ doesn¡¯t the school have a form of exchange programme?¡±

    This is a perfectly legal means with an upstanding justification and a reasonably easy procedure. How could Lord Qin not think of something like that? This... is part of any student¡¯s instinct, isn¡¯t it¡­?

    1. This is a reference to a song called You Exist In My Song by Qu Wanting

 Chapter 206: Thesis

    <h4>Chapter 206: Thesis</h4>

    ¡°No, no, no.¡± Gu Qing¡¯s eyes gleamed craftily as he smiled, ¡°That¡¯s just an example. Exchange programme, professional seminars, academic exchange forum¡­ Regardless of what kind of school you are, you would necessarily be involved in at least one of them! As long as you can do well enough, you¡¯ll definitely be given the opportunity to participate in one of these!¡±

    Oh damn! There¡¯s hope yet!

    Nevertheless, his thoughts began to flow down the new path that had opened - That¡¯s right¡­ an exchange. The First Academy of Cultivators might not have any exchange programmes with other universities, but they would most certainly have some form of exchange or interactions with the rest of the cultivation world!

    Tao Ran must know about these things! Externalmunications are part of the professors¡¯ scope of responsibilities after all!

    Gu Qing smiled like a crafty old fox, ¡°One of the simplest ways to do so is¡­ to publish a thesis paper.¡±

    Is this really a good way to talk about the pursuit of knowledge¡­ cough cough¡­ Tsk¡­ academics¡­ It¡¯s disgusting to employ such tried and tested methods!

    Distinguished Fellow Yu, I¡¯m going to give you yet another good showing!

    Arrrghhh¡­ Is this what an elite school student is like? Is this what a gifted talent is like? Why does this man exude such intelligence? Arthis and Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but shrink back from Gu Qing¡¯s intimidating disy of wisdom.

    In fact, it was so dirty that Qin Ye wanted to leave as quickly as possible. He coughed softly, ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll ry the dream for you as soon as I¡¯ve got the time.¡±

    This was a suppression of IQ. Under the domineering radiance of Gu Qing¡¯s immeasurable intellect, Qin Ye and Arthis were no more than maggots. Even as they arrived back in Qin Ye¡¯s dorm room, Arthis continued to mull over their earlier exchange, ¡°The learned¡­ no wonder the world had always been ruled by the learned. Their tactics arepletely disgusting. We can¡¯t afford to cross them. Ever. Come to think of it, haven¡¯t you been through college several times by now? Why is there such arge chasm between your intellect and his?¡±

    ¡°... Ah, what distinguished vour your rebuttal has¡­ It¡¯s so wless that there¡¯s just no room for a rejoinder¡­¡±

    ¡°Professor Tao.¡± Qin Ye sat down with a wide grin on his face, ¡°Can I ask you something?¡±

    Eh? This old man¡¯s intuition is pretty sharp, isn¡¯t it? Qin Ye blinked several times, ¡°Does the academy have any opportunities to participate in academic forums or exchange programmes?¡±

    Tao Ran adjusted his sses again. No¡­ I could¡¯ve sworn I felt the deep malice of the world engulfing me for an instant there. But why does his question sound so open and aboveboard¡­ I guess I¡¯m really getting old¡­

    Qin Ye blinked at Tao Ran with puppy eyes and prompted him, ¡°Professor Tao, you would never dash an instructor¡¯s ambitions and dreams, would you?¡±

    ¡°But not now.¡±

    Tao Ran opened the drawer beside him and pulled out a stack of documents, ¡°These are the exchange requests sent by various organizations since themencement of this semester. However, we¡¯ve not agreed to a single one just yet.¡±

    Qin Ye flipped through the documents and read them, ¡°The New Generation of Cathayan Cultivators? Southeast District Cultivator Trials? Secrets of Little Paradise Forum?¡±

    ¡°Of course there is.¡± Tao Ran took a sip of tea, ¡°Firstly, we¡¯re the First Academy of Cultivators. We¡¯re a school. And the primary focus of every school is knowledge, and not abilities. This doesn¡¯t mean that the disy of our abilities isn¡¯t important. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s not our focus for now.¡±

    Qin Ye got the gist of it, ¡°So the only ones who would be able to represent the academy would be the freshmen?¡±

    Tao Ran snorted, ¡°Therefore, the only ones we can participate in right now would be limited to those rting to the exchange of discourse and knowledge. But do you see any rting to these in our list of invitations?¡±

    Tao Ran nced at it dismissively, ¡°That¡¯s an invitation to me personally.¡±

    Not a single one was addressed to the First Academy of Cultivators for the purposes of a knowledge-based discussion or exchange.

    Qin Ye deftly caught the implications of what Tao Ran¡¯s spiel, and he probed further, ¡°Then¡­ does that mean that the academy isn¡¯t preventing instructors from carrying out their own research?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re thinking of embarking on a research topic?¡±

    Tao Ran¡¯s eyes were filled with disbelief - the same kind of disbelief that he had when he first discovered the products of Anerle, Whispers and Triumph hidden in the recesses of Qin Ye¡¯s room. After much deliberation, he finally continued, ¡°By right¡­ the academy should render you its fullest support¡­¡±

    ¡°But!¡± Tao Ran red at him and snuffed out his cigarette, ¡°Every research project must be approved and backed by a faculty professor and registered under the academy¡¯s name. Little Qin, if you can really get it done, there will naturally be immense benefits to you. But have you thought of the converse? Every single instructor in the academy is focused on learning right now. You¡¯ll be the only one embarking on a research project. Have you thought about how the other instructors would view you if you don¡¯t seed in your endeavours?¡±

    This was an overflowing disy of protective love. As a professor of his faculty, Tao Ran would naturally have arge piece of the pie if Qin Ye¡¯s research was sessful. But rather than revel in the thought of ruing merits for himself, the first thing that crossed Tao Ran¡¯s mind was instead to protect Qin Ye¡¯s image.

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye took some time for deliberation, before finally responding in earnest, ¡°I do have a research topic that I would like Professor Tao to support.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about the evolution and diversity of Yin spirits!¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and exined at one go, ¡°It¡¯s the same topic that I¡¯d used for my opening lecture! Professor Tao, I¡¯ve looked into this before. No research has been published in this subdiscipline before! In fact, I imagine that the only person who¡¯s working on this right now is Academician Yu. I know full well that if a research topic is going to be a core discipline in any academy, it would take much more than the efforts of a single person. It would require multiple papers and countless sources of proof and evidence. Incidentally, I¡¯ve got some experience and insights in this field, and I hope that the academy would support me in this regard!¡±

    This was indeed a research topic that ventured into uncharted territories. Otherwise, Professor Yu would never have applied for the hunting zone in Mount Tai City to be kept under surveince as an experiment. As far as Professor Tao knew, Professor Yu had already pushed for it, and several decision making bodies were also keeping tabs on this research topic. However, nobody ventured further to make a decision on it.

    Simple. The amount of research conducted on Yin spirits was just far too sparse to prove anything to date. Bizarre spirits like the Great Intergenerational Heredity was but an example of this, and it was quite likely that this was the only bizarre Yin spirit that Cathay had any research information about right now. With the severeck of proof in hand, not even Professor Yu could bridge the gap to prove that the diversity of Yin spirits was a norm, rather than an exception. And if the appearance of the Great Intergenerational Heredity was but an isted incident, or a rare exception, then the pursuit of research into the diversity of Yin spirits wouldn¡¯t mean much, even if they did manage to prove its existence.

    Otherwise, such research topics, even if proven, would hardly cause a ripple in the academic world.

    ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re able to prove the contents of what you¡¯ve discussed during your opening lecture?¡± Tao Ran¡¯s expressions turned grave, ¡°Little Qin, this is an academy. And as far as academies are concerned, everything we say must be backed by irrefutable evidence. This isn¡¯t like a battlefield, where you can move and act based solely on your instincts and intuition.¡±

    He shook his head lightly, ¡°Logically speaking, with an organization built upon academic research, your discourse during the opening lecture should have caused ripples throughout the academia by now. But it hasn¡¯t. Why? It¡¯s because there¡¯s insufficient evidence!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s irrefutable that you¡¯d introduced the research academia to a whole new perspective. But proof takes time - sometimes several years on end. The examples you had provided earlier were built upon some measure of spection and assumptions. Turning your perspective into an irrefutable conclusion isn¡¯t going to be simple. If you¡¯re going to do it, then you¡¯ve got to ensure that your evidence is real and applicable, and every statement and premise you make is backed by relevant papers and research and supported by examples. Otherwise¡­ you¡¯re only going to be wasting your time.¡±

 Chapter 207: Divine Protectors (1)

    <h4>Chapter 207: Divine Protectors (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. He had never expected that drafting a research paper for publication would be so troublesome.

    But¡­ he wasn¡¯t going to give up.

    This was the only avenue he could pursue in order to be present at the summer major auction at the end of June. Otherwise¡­ he would have to give up on securing Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul for himself, and the inauguration of his Southsea Huanghuali golden trade route would have to be pushed back by several months as well. Who knew whether he would face yet another Yin spirit riot during this period of time?

    ¡°I¡¯d like to give it a shot.¡± Qin Ye locked eyes with Tao Ran with an affirmative nod.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Tao Ran didn¡¯t beat about the bush any longer. There wasn¡¯t any basis for him to oppose Qin Ye¡¯s application in this regard, whether as a professor, or a representative of the academy. He opened his drawer again, pulled out a form and began to fill it up, ¡°Where do you intend to publish your paper?¡±

    There were many words and fields on the form, and Qin Ye glossed over its details as he responded cidly, ¡°Cultivators Weekly.¡±

    ¡°Ambitious.¡± Tao Ran sighed, ¡°The prestige and prominence of that is equivalent to having something published on People¡¯s Daily, except in the cultivation world. The first three panels are reserved for the most important developments in the cultivation world, while the final page is where thetest research topic in the cultivation academia would be published. The publications that make it there are all thoroughly screened before being handpicked from a pile¡­ Are you even aware of the number of publications that get sent to the Cultivators Weekly every day? But¡­ if your paper finds its way into Cultivators Weekly, then you can be sure that invitations requesting your personal appearance will abound from everywhere across the nation. And these invitations will at least be at the level of institutions from Project 211 or Project 985.¡±

    Scribble scribble¡­ Tao Ran continued to fill in the form, while Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically, ¡°Everywhere?¡±

    Tao Ran didn¡¯t even lift his head as he responded, ¡°Naturally. Do you think SRC is the only research institution around? No. It might be thergest, but there are others, including Shang County¡¯s Origin Research Center, Luo River¡¯s Dragoncircle Research and Development Center, Pearlriver¡¯s Astronomy Experimental Base, and Eastsea Building 653. While none of them run as deep as the SRC, they are still undeniably prominent existences. And that¡¯s not including the second-tier research institutions. Most major provincial capitals would have established their own research centers in recent years. After all, it is sometimes better to have a local base of operations rather than a distant headquarters.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Just then, Tao Ran put down his pen and blew on the sheet of paper to dry the ink. And then, he pulled out a seal and stamped his seal of endorsement on the form, ¡°This is a duly endorsed application form for your research topic. Go look for Head of Faculty Zhou to obtain his endorsement as well. Once your application has been formally approved, you can go about your research project. Then, when you¡¯re done with the first draft, bring it to me for my review. You may go now.¡±

    Qin Ye picked up the form and left the office. As soon as he shut the door, he immediately leaned on the wall and scanned through its details.

    Most of the particrs were left open. The parts that Tao Ran had filled in were all authorizations and permissions to be granted to Qin Ye as soon as his application for the research project was approved.

    For instance¡­ he would be granted ess to the top secret collection of records in the academy.

    He could distinctly remember it. The ess door was about three meters high and two meters wide. The entrance was etched with a vivid image of Nuwa. Back then, it was the two principals of the academy who had introduced it during the introductory tour.

    But if that were all there was to it, it wouldn¡¯t have made asting impression on his mind.

    What he could remember most vividly about it was the fact that the old man acting as a gatekeeper to the top secret collection of records¡­ was a Hellguard!

    At that time, Xu Anguo mentioned this, ¡°Behind this gate holds the records of all major supernatural incidents that had urred in Cathay ever since the founding of present day Cathay. These records have never been released to the public before. Furthermore, it holds the great works of over three hundred and twenty Divine Protectors from various dynasties across various eras. These works include both hypotheses and dissertations on the interactions between the Yin and the Yang. You can even trace the development of supernatural incidents across Cathay¡¯s history through their works.¡±

    ¡°Naturally, these are just copies, and their original works aren¡¯t here. That said, not even the SRC has a full set of theirplete works. This is a privilege that has only been extended to the First Academy of Cultivators. At present, only a full professor can ess these records and browse its contents. But none are allowed to loan or borrow them.¡±

    To think that Tao Ran had granted him such ess rights!

    Furthermore, he was given authorization to use a whole host of other facilities such as thebs, and he was also given the right to enlist other instructors to assist him.

    He continued traversing the form, line by line, and he couldn¡¯t help but clench his fist.

    It¡¯s enough¡­ Gu Qing¡¯s method actually works! There wasn¡¯t supposed to be any exceptions to the rule stating that nobody could leave the academy before the next semestermences, yet Qin Ye had actually found the key to oveing this!

    He would be able to head out as long as he could open the door called thesis!

    ¡°But I¡¯ve got only one shot at this.¡± He massaged his temples to calm down as he murmured to himself, ¡°If I fail this time, it would be impossible to get the academy''s support for anything future endeavours of mine."

    Then, what are we waiting for?

    Qin Ye brought the application form to Zhou Xianlong''s office, and Zhou Xianlong promptly approved it after skimming through its contents once. Then, Qin Ye rushed back to his dorm room and mmed the sheet of paper down in front of Arthis and lifted his chin proudly, "It''s time to get cracking, Miss!"

    "You actually managed to get it done?" Arthis scanned the form, and then gave Qin Ye an incredulous look, "... How did you manage to do it with such crafty, scheming appearances?"

    "Naturally, by tapping on the rtionships of trust I''ve built up!" Qin Ye was in a great mood, so he conveniently ignored Arthis'' casual contempt. He opened up the word processing software on hisptop, gently shifted Arthis'' hands to the keyboard, and then gazed affectionately into her eyes.

    It was quite the sight to behold.

    Arthis stared at theptop with a somewhat stiff expression, and then she began to type without any emotion in her eyes - ¡°By the imperial edict of the great Infernal Judge¡­¡±

    Smack! Qin Ye smacked the delete button without any hesitation like a ruthless killer, ¡°Rewrite it!¡±

    ¡°Hang on¡­¡± Arthis¡¯ doleful expression carried a trace of murderous intent, ¡°Are you¡­ actually asking me to write it?¡±

    Qin Ye stared nkly at her - What else could it be?

    ¡°Are you seriously asking someone who has been buried centuries ago to write a thesis dated 20XX AD?¡±

    Qin Ye continued to blink at Arthis, as though he were saying - What¡¯s wrong with that?

    One secondter, Arthis gave Qin Ye a mighty kick, causing him to copse back into the bed. Her hair fluttered around menacingly, ¡°And how dare you ask in such a matter-of-factly way, as though I owe it to you to write it for you?!¡±

    ¡°Soft¡­ softer¡­ my back¡¯s gonna break at this rate¡­¡± Qin Ye grimaced as he held onto his back. Arthis was stamping on him so ferociously that his breakfast nearly came back up. After much struggle, he finally managed to escape from Arthis¡¯ evil clutches, and he rubbed his back pathetically as he gnashed his teeth, ¡°I¡¯m warning you! Our rtionship is already on the verge of breaking down after that incident with Triumph, Anerle and Whispers! This is the only chance I¡¯m giving you to make amends for what you¡¯ve done! Write the paper! Don¡¯t be ungrateful!¡±

    ¡°Then let it break down for all I care.¡± Arthis didn¡¯t even look up at him, ¡°Get lost. Don¡¯t interrupt me while I¡¯m catching up on my drama serials. Otherwise, be careful I don¡¯t hang myself out to dry right outside your door.¡±

    What the hell¡­ how could you even think of something like that?!

    Qin Ye had a multitude of words to say, yet he found everything bottled up at his throat. He red at Arthis in horror - This woman¡­ knows how to take advantage of the body she¡¯s got¡­

    With a great deal of frustration weighing on his mind, he left the room and found his way to the top floor of the library, where the secret records were located.

    This was the second time he hade to this ce. He was greeted by a gate that was three meters tall and two meters wide, with a vivid portrayal of Nuwa¡¯s image. A bald old man sat in front of the gate, messing around with hisputerzily. But as soon as he got to the top floor, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered slightly.

    Advanced Hellguard-ss expert¡­ He silently sized up the old man. Even though he felt an imposing presence from the bald old man thest time he was here, Qin Ye still didn¡¯t think too much of it back then. After all, the chasm between them had been far too wide, and it was only after bing a Hellguard himself that he could truly appreciate how terrifying this old man was.

    True energy poured out from the old man like a roaring tide, and yet the old man was so bored that he was entertaining himself by moulding the wisps of his true energy into various shapes of animals, ranging from galloping horses, to Qilin beasts, to soaring sparrows¡­ Everything was drifting about in the corridor,pletely invisible to cultivators below Hellguard-ss.

    It was evident that the old man¡¯s control of his true energy had already reached the state of perfection. In other words, this old man was only a step away from bing an Infernal Judge!

    ¡°Registration number, name and purpose.¡± The old man muttered without looking up from hisputer.

    ¡°S9527, Qin Ye, research.¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t beat about the bush either. His responses were clear and sinct.

    Beep¡­ The old man¡¯sputer beeped softly as soon as he had reported his particrs. He nced up at Qin Ye, and then a maic card flew over andnded right in Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Go to the gate and register your fingerprint and iris. Bear these in mind. One. Everything you learn from the records here are strictly confidential and not to be disclosed to anyone. Two. All records and books you find inside cannot be borrowed or loaned. Read what you must within, but you may not bring them out. Three. We don¡¯t track the amount of time you spend inside, but you can only browse its contents for as long as your authorization remains valid.¡± The old man exined, ¡°Your authorization is valid for the next four months. In other words, you can spend here all twenty-four hours each day for the next four months. Now go do what you need to do.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and made his way to the door, where he promptly discovered an exquisite fingerprint lock that was approximately one meter off the ground.

    After recording his fingerprint and iris signature, a soft rustle came from the entrance, and the massive door parted. To Qin Ye¡¯s surprise, everything inside was brightly lit.

    There were bookshelves on the left, but they weren¡¯t toorge. After all, how much information could three-hundred-odd Divine Protectors record? Apart from that, there were a dozen or so steel cabs on the other side of the room, to the right of the entrance.

    A row of mahogany sofas sat against the wall, with a decent sized coffee table ced right in front of it. Someone was already seated right in front of the coffee table. The door to the entrance had opened conspicuously, and the person inside naturally looked up and locked eyes with him.

    Silence.

    It was an abrupt and awkward silence. It was evident that the sight of the other reminded each of them about a certain peculiar scene. Secondster, Qin Ye forcibly stered a smile on his face and greeted the other person, ¡°Professor Lou¡­ what brings you to this ce?¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ this is incredibly awkward¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for some information.¡± Lou Chuan gently raised the book in his hands as he smiled back, ¡°Ane--... ahem¡­ I mean Instructor Qin, how did you get permission to enter this ce?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s face immediately turned pale, and his expressions ashen - Ane-what?! I dare you to finish what you¡¯re saying! Are you trying to say Anerle?! Damn it¡­ you old fogeys must have given me a nickname behind your backs, haven¡¯t you? You¡¯d best believe it when I say only one of us will walk out of here alive if you finish that word!

    He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. And then, when he opened his eyes once more, there was a radiant smile on his face, ¡°I just got approval for a research topic. I¡¯m here to take a look around and make preparations.¡±

    ¡°Research topic?¡± Lou Chuan was clearly taken aback. He stared at Qin Ye, and then nodded deeply, ¡°Not bad. Since this is an academy, it¡¯s naturally important to delve into the pursuit of knowledge. You¡¯re the first in the academy to be embarking on a research project. You¡¯ve not been here before, have you? Come, Little An, let me give you a quick introduction of where things are.¡±

    AHHHHH¡­ What the hell did you just call me?!!

    Qin Ye nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to stab the old man to death. He gnashed his teeth and followed behind Lou Chuan silently. Yet Lou Chuan seemedpletely oblivious to the slip of his tongue, and he simply pointed to the steel cabs and exined, ¡°These contain all the files and dockets pertaining to all A-ss supernatural incidents and above that have urred ever since the founding of modern day Cathay as we know it.¡±

    ¡°Those that appear on the news and get covered up are all supernatural incidents that have a wide area of influence. But the area of influence of a supernatural incident doesn¡¯t necessarily mean it would be given a high ssification or grade. For instance, a supernatural incident witnessed by thousands of people might not necessarily be harmful or devastating in any way. But¡­ the entries in these records arepletely different from that.¡±

    He opened a cab and riffled through the dockets, ¡°Some supernatural incidents might have a small domain of influence, and yet their impact can be deep and profound. And it is precisely those that are known to be highly dangerous or to result in devastating consequences that are recorded in these dockets and files.¡±

    Finally, he pulled out a docket, ¡°These are called ult files, also known as the folders of paranormal activity. The Special Investigations Department would investigate all of the reports of supernatural incidents, and then at the end of each year, they would gather up the reports and cases that cannot be resolved and record them here. In other words, what you¡¯re looking at right now are all unresolved cases. In fact, there are still bounties for the resolution of these files to this date. The potential merit points to be gained from these dockets are immense, to say the least.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze followed along Lou Chuan¡¯s hand - Eastsea Province, Pearlriver Province, Westriver Province, Province of the Great Heavens¡­ Everything was there. In fact, there was even a letter appended to the name of each location.

    These letters represented the grade of these case files. They were minimally ¡®A¡¯, while the majority of them were¡­ ¡®S¡¯!

    There were no records of what exactly transpired during these supernatural incidents. But the devastation that ensued was unimaginable, and its causes remained unknown. These freakish incidents represented the lives of several human beings. And right now, these records remained silently in their dockets like neatly arranged tombstones,ying prostrate before the future King Yanluo.

    1. This is a project in Chinaunched in 1995 with the intent of raising research standards. 211 is in fact an abbreviation of its slogan, ¡®in preparation for the 21st century, sessfully managing 100 universities.¡¯ ording to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019/20, most of the universities participating in Project 211 are now ranked among the top 1000 universities in the world.

    2. This was another project in Chinaunched in May 1985 (98/5), hence the abbreviated name 985. The project wasunched to promote the development and reputation of the Chinese higher education system, and it sought to build new research centers, improve facilities, hold international conferences and attract schrs as well as send schrs abroad. ording to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019/20, most of the universities participating in Project 985 are now considered among the top 500 universities in the world.

    3. The creator of humans in Chinese mythology.

 Chapter 208: Divine Protector (2)

    <h4>Chapter 208: Divine Protector (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye breathed deeply to calm his heart down.

    The rows of steel cabs in front of him had actually caused a sense of responsibility to swell from the depths of his heart.

    And it came quickly and without warning, clouding his heart with a long, lingering effect.

    He received the docket from Lou Chuan¡¯s hands and began to read its contents.

    ¡°Year 197X. The Mao n incident at Chuan City.¡±

    ¡°Mao n Vige, Riverboat County, Chuan City, was located five hundred meters below sea level, and was formed by people of the Dai and Han ethnicity groups. The Mao n led the vige. The poption size of the vige was one thousand, five hundred and forty-six. On 5 April 197X, during the night of the Qingming Festival, there was a torrential downpour. The Mao n¡¯s ancestral shrine was brightly lit with candles and incense that had been kept going for decades on end. And yet, at exactly midnight, everything was extinguished. The people of the Mao n Vige believed that their ancestors were back to visit them, and they all knelt down and prayed to their ancestors.¡±

    ¡°On the morning of 6 April at 1.00 a.m., someone was reported to have sounded the night watch gong. But investigations revealed that the Mao n had ceased to use their night watch gong for thirteen years by then. 2.00 a.m. A hundred crows braved the downpour and flew to the banyan tree at the entrance of the vige, weeping blood incessantly. The vige chief believed that this was an omen for bad luck, and he immediately directed all vigers to leave the vige. Most vigers evacuated by 3.00 a.m. ording to the survivors, they even heard vivid cries of those carrying a pnquining from right beside their ancestral shrine.¡±

    ¡°7 April. The entire Mao n vanished without a trace. 8 April, in the wee hours of the morning, an astonishing sight was discovered in the depths of the mountains. Everyone had a peaceful look on their faces. The vige chief survived the tragedy, but lost his mind. He now resides in the Qinglong Mountain Mental Hospital. The details of investigations and photographs of the scene are annexed¡­¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped. Goosebumps crept all over his skin as he shut the docket.

    Incarnate revenant¡­ This is definitely the working of an incarnate revenant! It¡¯spletely different from a Hunter-ss spirit!

    The astonishing sight was no sight to behold at all. After all¡­ the sight had been a pyramid of human heads!

    As expected¡­ as expected, there are already other incarnate revenants that have appeared in Cathay, and it¡¯s just that the government has been suppressing any news of it in order to keep what modicum of peace that remained in the nation. The fact that they were able to keep this facade of peace for decades on end spoke volumes about the strength and influence of the government! That said, was it truly the safest nation that everyone said it was?

    How many more of such incidents were there?

    He nced back at the rows of steel cabs. Pearlriver Province, Eastsea Province, Norfecture Province, Harbour Province¡­ These were no more than rows of lifeless, still cabs, and yet they actually gave Qin Ye a better appreciation for how Granny Meng had struggled so hard to extend her time in the mortal realm back then.

    Hell couldn¡¯t exist without a leader.

    The Heavenly Dao¡¯s cycle of life was premised on theplete existence of both the Yin and the Yang; Hell and the mortal realm.

    Sometimes, profound realizations didn¡¯t require any great catalysts, and epiphanies could ur at the most unexpected moments.

    ¡°Shocking, isn¡¯t it?¡± Qin Ye had grown taciturn, and his gaze gleamed impassionately as he stared nkly at the rows of steel cabs. Lou Chuan thought that he was too astonished by what he had just seen, and he picked up the docket from Qin Ye¡¯s hands and returned it to where it belonged, ¡°Hunting zones are just the mostmon urrences that we¡¯re faced with. However, they are by no means the most dangerous ones. You should pick out the cases that are most suitable and representative of all Yin spirits out there when you do your research. Everything you need is in here. And those who will eventually review your work will definitely be aware of these references as well. After all, those who are entitled to review your work will naturally be authorized to view these records.¡±

    He cast aplicated gaze at the steel cab, ¡°I imagine that the cases set out in these steel cabs¡­ are all sufficient to leave an indelible mark in the souls of everyone who reads them.¡±

    Silence.

    Secondster, Qin Ye nodded deeply. Then, Lou Chuan turned to face the bookshelves behind.

    ¡°And these are the records of the Divine Protectors since thousands of years ago.¡±

    It suddenly urred to Qin Ye that he had first heard this name back when the First Academy of Cultivators had been inaugurated, whilst everyone was preparing for themencement of the first semester. The Sword of the Yellow Emperor was also something kept and passed down by the Divine Protectors. Every dynasty and era of Cathay¡¯s past had seen an equivalent existence, up until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Its present incarnation is no longer called the Divine Protectors, but the Special Investigations Department as well as the SRC.

    ¡°They can be considered our forefathers of sorts. You¡¯ll find quite a lot of useful information in here. Who knows, perhaps some of their hypotheses and conjectures could light a spark in your research? Why don¡¯t¡­ you take a look and see who they are?¡±

    Lou Chuan had a peculiar smile on his face. Qin Ye nced at him, before turning to look at the topmost bookshelf. He didn¡¯t care much for the names from the more obscure parts of Cathay. Thus, he skimmed past a few names, until he suddenly did a double take.

    Liu Ji¡­

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He eximed with abject disbelief, ¡°Liu Bowen?!¡±

    Liu Bowen was a venerable figure oftenpared with Zhuge Liang. How could Qin Ye have expected such an amazing person to actually be part of the Divine Protectors?!

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Lou Chuan added with a sigh, ¡°When I first saw this, I was even more astonished than you were.¡±

    ¡°Liu Ji, also known as Liu Bowen. He was one of the most trusted advisors of Emperor Hongwu, and nine years after death he was posthumously conferred the title of grand vizier¡­ But if you think about it, how could anyone apart from such amazing figureheads be involved in the management of Cathay¡¯s national treasury?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded in agreement, and he continued to look on.

    And the next name he saw caused him to gasp in shock yet again.

    ¡­ Zhao Pu!

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± He subconsciously eximed. Zhao Pu¡­ one of the most influential men of his time, instrumental in seizing and consolidating power for Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong. He served three terms as a chief councilor of the emperor, and he is often hailed as one of Cathay¡¯s ten greatest strategists of all time!

    Further on, there were several other simrly distinguished names, Li Chunfeng, Yuan Tiangang ¡­ Zhou Yu, Zhang Liang, Gui Guzi, Jiang Shang...

    No matter which one it was, all of them were venerable figureheads that were known throughout the history of Cathay!

    Who could have thought that all of them were among the ranks of the Divine Protectors? And to think that they had painstakingly recorded the darkest secrets of Cathay of their time and passed it down all the way to present day?!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t resist the urge, and he pulled out a book and began to browse it carefully.

    The text on it had been tranted and modernized. He was currently reading Zhao Pu¡¯s paper entitled ¡°Yin Spirits: The Changing Times and Their Evolution¡±.

    ¡°... It wasmonce to hear of powerful evil ghosts during the Tang and the Han Dynasties. But now, these urrences are bing more prized - we don¡¯t hear as much of them, but when we do, they are invariably terrifying urrences¡­ I therefore posit that this is a result of the expansion of Hell¡¯s capabilities. Ten years ago, I was fortunate enough to encounter a Soul Hunter Emissary of Hell that was apanied by Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Looking back at the encounter, their garments and weapons were hardly outdated at all. In fact, they looked even more sophisticated than those at our disposal¡­¡±

    ¡°... Therefore, I conclude that Hell¡¯s ability to detect the existence of malicious Yin spirits have been improving over time. Yin spirits that gain spiritual awareness would detect the fearsome existence of Hell, and the first decision would be to hide in the shadows and avoid it, biding for time until they be strong enough to surface in the mortal realm once more¡­¡±

    Before Qin Ye knew it, he waspletely enraptured by what he was reading.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was a good learner. It was simply the fact that a husky like him would never pass up on any opportunities to learn more about the mortal realm. Incidentally, all of this formed part of the basic knowledge of all other cultivators around, and yet a supposed genius like him knew nothing about these things.

    Furthermore, the more he read, the more divergent his views became. It had to be said that Zhao Pu¡¯s paper was incredibly relevant to the research topic he was looking into right now. In fact, both Zhao Pu and Liu Bowen have had their own spections in this regard. Unfortunately, due to the closed attitude of the nation at that time, open discourse like that promulgated by foreign nations wasn¡¯t encouraged. Otherwise, he was certain that the Ming Dynasty Divine Protectors would have discussed the evolution of Yin spirits in greater detail at that time.

    As he delved deeper into their discourse, he also began to understand why there seemed to be a disruption in the continuity of what was passed down to the Special Investigations Department. The Qing Dynasty records were still intact. But starting from the Ming Dynasty, there started to be gaps and breakages in the records in certain ces. These gaps in the records were even substantial at times. Then, as one drew further into history to the Song, Tang and Han Dynasties, the gaps in the records grewrger andrger, until everything after that was practically unusable.

    This meant that the hypotheses were no more than spections and unsupported conclusions. There were even times when a hypothesis or premise was set out on one page, and the next page was already discussing the supporting evidence of another hypothesis or premise.

    But Qin Ye didn¡¯t fret. After all, having been through college several times in the past, he was quite experienced in the field of writing research papers. He knew full well that a research paper wasn¡¯t something that could be done within the day. Time trickled by quickly. After some time, he finally set down the records of the Song Dynasty Divine Protectors and stretched his back as hemented, ¡°So these are theption of theses of past dynasties¡­ These are incredibly helpful. And with the records and evidence of the high-grade supernatural incidents kept by the SRC over all these years, churning out the paper probably isn¡¯t going to be as difficult as I thought¡­¡±

    ¡°That said, it¡¯s still going to be rather difficult to streamline these sources of information into proper premises and conclusions. There¡¯s just too many books here. How long is it going to take before I finish going through everything¡­¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that he despised going through these books. In fact, he was more than happy to pore through the records on his own. Unfortunately, time wasn¡¯t on his side. It was presently 1 May. If he couldn¡¯t make it to the East Cathay Sea by the end of June, then the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl would be lost to him forever.

    ¡°No... I don¡¯t even have two months. I¡¯ve got to consider the time taken for submission, review and then publication¡­ And then the time required for other organizations to respond and extend their invitations to us. At best, I¡¯ve only got one month¡¯s worth of time¡­ That¡¯s far too little.¡± He massaged his throbbing temples and took a look at his phone. It was already 10.00 p.m.

    Lou Chuan had already left a long time ago. It was only then that Qin Ye felt a little sleepy, and he opened the door to head back outside.

    When he walked out and nced at the bald old man, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes immediately flickered in shock.

    Bloody hell¡­ Trump Card... That¡¯s enough, old man! To think that here I was, praising you for being studious and still contributing to the nation despite your age!

    ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± The old man didn¡¯t even look up from the screen, ¡°Kid, the things in here aren¡¯t something that you¡¯ll grasp and understand within a single day.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. That¡¯s right, thesis papers contained discourse that left readers with great food for thought. It would be wise to look at the contents from the perspective and context of the author as well. Otherwise, his efforts would be futile, and he would never have a good enough grasp of the author¡¯s premises to implement it in his own paper.

    As he watched Qin Ye leave with a multitude of thoughts on his mind, the old man suddenly quipped, ¡°You can¡¯t carve a piece of rotten wood¡­ Let me ask you something - where are your assistants? Are you really nning to finish your paper alone? And then publish it on Cultivators Weekly? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re thinking too highly of yourself? Or are you underestimating the reaches of Cultivators Weekly?¡±

    Assistants?

    Qin Ye finally snapped out of his dissertation stupor, blinked vacantly, and then fervently repressed the urge to give himself a tight p on the face.

    These days, in college, most students would simply type google into the browser and ess google schr, and then search for the relevant graduate thesis from a corresponding faculty, make payment, copy, paste¡­ rinse and repeat. Eh¡­ isn¡¯t there something wrong with this?

    But that¡¯s not the point. The point was that he was an instructor right now! An instructor of the First Academy of Cultivators that held a great deal of authority!

    And therein lies the problem.

    What the hell are you doing wasting an entire day in there! Can¡¯t your assistants pore through these details on your behalf? Can¡¯t your assistants help with your application form? Why do you like being a loner so much?! Or is this the manifestation of a habit resultant from your long history of shallow friendships with people?!

    He nced back at the old man with some measure of resentment, as though saying - Why didn¡¯t you ask me this earlier?! The old man red back at him, ¡°How would I have known that an instructor didn¡¯t think he needed assistants for a research project? It wouldn¡¯t even have urred to me but for the fact that you¡¯d been in there alone all this time!¡±

    In other words, how could there be such a stupid instructor around?

    Qin Ye felt his heart crying tears of blood. But as soon as the suggestion for assistants was broached by the old man, everything became clear to him.

    The role of an assistant was hardly a simple one. Generally, all published papers would have secondary authors, also known as co-authors.

    In fact, there were even times when an entire paper was jointly written by two primary authors or first authors. But this didn¡¯t necessarily mean an even distribution of words written. Rather, it meant that they were both equally important in their collusion of ideas and contributions to the paper.

    After all, there were bound to be many voices and opinions in the course of an entire research project, and it was a constant discourse of ideas like how iron sharpens iron that would finally give rise to a cogent paper. Besides, no matter how smart a person is, how could he possibly finish writing an entire thesis paper on his own? What about experiments? And how about the sourcing of information? And even formatting?

    If he did everything alone, he might not be able to finish the paper even by the end of the next semester!

    Besides, he was already ahead of hispetition among instructors, so why not reach out to his peers and rescue a certain Lin-so-and-so and Su-so-and-so?

    1. Liu Bowen lived from 1311-1375 AD. He was a military strategist, philosopher, politician and poet who lived in thete Yuan and early Ming dynasties. He was well known for his prophecies, and has been described as the chinese nostradamus.

    2. Served in office three times, 964-973 under Emperor Taizu, 981-983 under Emperor Taizong and 988-992 again under Emperor Taizong.

    3.

    4. A co-author of the chinese prophecy book known as the Tui Bei Tu, which book has often beenpared with the works of nostradamus. The other author is Li Chunfeng.

    5.

    6.

    7. This one is an interesting one. Gui Guzi is actually a collection of chinese texts, and Gui Guzi appears to be a pen name, which literally means the sage of the ghost valley. Most schrs believe that it was written by a single person.

    8.

    9. This is a chinese game show.

 Chapter 209: Thesis Troops

    <h4>Chapter 209: Thesis Troops</h4>

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Thirty minutester. Lin Han held tightly to his nket, ring warily at Qin Ye who was resting his chin just by the side of his bed. There was a palpable fire burning in the depths of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. Lin Han barked in great astonishment, ¡°I¡¯m warning you, I¡¯m stark naked right now. If you try anything funny, don¡¯t me me if I smack you right on the face!¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ I have no words¡­ Qin Ye gnashed his teeth, ¡°Do I look like I¡¯m into those kinds of things to you?¡±

    Lin Han nodded deeply, ¡°Otherwise, why would you do such a thing to Student Ye¡­¡±

    A hand grabbed Lin Han¡¯s mouth before he could finish his statement, pinching it so hard that it forced his lips to protrude like a pig¡¯s snout. Qin Ye muttered like a cold-blooded murderer, ¡°Bring up that incident one more time and we¡¯re through. Understand?¡±

    Local Bully nodded vigorously under duress.

    ¡°Speaking of which¡­ it¡¯s almost eleven at night. Why can¡¯t this wait till tomorrow? I was just about to go to sleep!¡± Words poured out of Lin Han¡¯s lips like floodgates as soon as Qin Ye released his grip. Lin Han took a swig from a cup of water beside his bed as well.

    What kind of a person are you? Isn¡¯t this going a little bit overboard?! Or is this because you haven¡¯t seen someone as devastatingly handsome as me?

    Qin Ye sat down on the side of the bed and crossed his legs, ¡°I¡¯m embarking on a research project, and I¡¯m working on a thesis right now. The aim is to get it published on Cultivators Weekly.¡±

    Puuuuut!! Lin Han spat out a mouthful of water and stared at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost.

    Why¡­ why did his silhouette suddenly grow that much wider, just like my father who¡¯d bought me oranges at the railway station¡­

    ¡°I apologize if that nearly hit you¡­ You¡­ you¡¯re embarking on a research project?!¡±

    This is bloody unbelievable!

    This ispletely incongruous with your image, kiddo!

    ¡°Problem?¡± Qin Ye nced at Lin Han. I assure you this - if you look at me again with another bbergasted expression, I¡¯ll get Arthis to hang herself out to dry right outside your door tomorrow morning!

    Eh? Looks like such a threat is pretty effective after all¡­

    Almost as though he could sense Qin Ye¡¯s embodiment of the <angry face emoticon>, Lin Han coughed dryly and chose his words tactfully rather than engaging in forthright mockery, ¡°Young man¡­ please bear in mind that this is an instructor¡¯s research project! Do you think it¡¯s the same thing as the research projects that students do in college? Search, copy and paste? Wrong! Big wrong best wrong!¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯d feel like crying if I thought the direct trantion of ´ó´íÌØ´í was ¡®big wrong best wrong¡¯ too¡­¡± Qin Ye felt his eyelids twitching uncontrobly. My horoscope augurs ill this year. Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have stepped into this room tonight after all¡­

    Local Bully was oblivious to the heavy thoughts weighing down Qin Ye¡¯s heart. In a fit of excitement, he flipped up his quilt cover and sat up from his bed.

    One secondter.

    ¡°Bloody hell!! How can you be sleeping naked?! Get lost! Get out of my sight this instant!!¡±

    ¡°... Yes¡­ Right away¡­ Hang on! What basis do you have screaming at the top of your voice after taking advantage of me?! This is my room to begin with!¡±

    One minuteter.

    The duo sat on the bed and locked eyes with each other, both palpably teeming with fury. Lin Han snorted, ¡°So you¡¯re saying that you want me, the handsome and intelligent universal object of jealousy, to help you elevate your paper to new heights?¡±

    ¡°... Couldn¡¯t you just dumb down on the adjectives a little bit? Such dtory conduct will draw the ire of the readers! Besides, there¡¯s no need for you to elevate the paper. I¡¯m only extending you a helping hand because I take pity on the fact that you¡¯re working harder than an ox and receiving less feed than a chicken, understand?¡±

    ¡°No go!¡±

    Thus began the tussle of pride between two men.

    Qin Ye rolled up his sleeves, while Local Bully immediately rolled back under his sheets, ¡°Get lost! I¡¯ve had it with papers in college! Why would I want to work on another paper as an instructor? Just tell me upfront if you¡¯re trying to get me killed!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes twitched uncontrobly, ¡°I¡¯m offering you the position of a co-author on the paper. There are teaching credits to be had - at least one hundred.¡±

    Lin Han suddenly stopped squirming.

    And a husky¡¯s ear perked up from under the sheets.

    Qin Ye coughed lightly, ¡°Besides, the academy will support us with the best conditions and environment, for instance¡­ by reducing our course load ordingly.¡±

    Fwoosh! Lin Han immediately sat up with a somber expression. Unbeknownst to Qin Ye, Lin Han had already put on a pair of sses without prescriptions, and he adjusted it in a schrly fashion, ¡°You¡¯ve always been a person to downy the most important things. These are factors for consideration that you shouldy down right at the outset¡­ So, about that¡­ when do we begin?¡±

    Qin Ye nearly chuckled in exasperation, ¡°I¡¯ve changed my mind. I think Su Feng might be more suitable for this role.¡±

    With that, he stood up to leave. But before he could even more than half a meter, Local Bully and all of his 1.8 meters of his tall,nky bodyy on the bed like a catfish, desperately holding up his pants, ¡°Brother¡­ it¡¯s not good to be burning bridges, is it? I humbly beseech you to append my lowly name under the title of the co-author.¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ You¡¯re just looking for a reason to skip sses, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°This is a decision I¡¯ve made for the honour and glory of the academy!¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you do it yourself?¡±

    Lin Han red at Qin Ye begrudgingly - What do you mean by that?! Even if you¡¯re going to beat somebody up, don¡¯t p their faces! With an IQ like mine¡­ No! This is only a measly research project, so why would a genius like me need to be involved in the first ce?

    Qin Ye smiled and squatted down. Then, with a slight grin on his lips, he looked straight into Lin Han¡¯s expectant eyes, ¡°Call me daddy.¡±

    ¡°Daddy!¡± Lin Han called out with nary a shred of hesitation.

    ¡°Good boy.¡± Qin Ye scratched the husky¡¯s head and stood up, ¡°We¡¯ll begin tomorrow morning. Gather a few students to help out as well¡­ let¡¯s say six students for now. We¡¯ll meet at 9.00 a.m. at the top floor of the library.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The next morning, when Qin Ye arrived at the stipted gathering point, everyone was already there waiting for him.

    Wang Chenghao and Ye Xingchen were among the students led by Dog Lin, whose face was filled with an obsequious grin as he rubbed his hands in glee, ¡°Then¡­ shall we begin right away?¡±

    The earlier, the better. Qin Ye led them straight into the room where the secret records were held, where he briefed them all on the crux of his thesis. Thirty minutester, everyone dispersed to do what they were assigned to do, while he began to look through the case files once more.

    His interactions with Arthis had broadened his horizons so much so that his perspective on certain cases were often far better than the current investigators. Therefore, even though the dockets contained records of cases thatpletely stumped the investigators, Qin Ye could see right through the crux of the issue. Naturally, he would have to personally peruse the case files to understand what he could and couldn¡¯t use.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be surprising to be spending years on a research topic like this. A research paperpleted in one month¡­ might be a littlecking in rigour.¡± Qin Ye set down a docket and rubbed his chin as he pondered aloud, ¡°This might not be important in other fields of disciplines, but in academia, rigour is considered everything."

    Despite the oft cited adage, it was in human nature to judge a book by its covers. For instance, one would naturally trust an old doctor more than a young one. It was the same in academia - a research paper that waspleted within a month¡­ might even be torn apart before it could be published.

    ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ve got to make sure that it¡¯s exciting.¡±

    He pulled out another docket, ¡°The proof that I adduce must all be watertight and well-reasoned. The case files that I cite must not becking in their particrs, and it must be absolutely on point and relevant to my thesis. This is one of the steps that thoroughly tests the instructor¡¯s discretion and eye for detail.¡±

    Fortunately, there were a number of people to share this burden with him.

    The records room was filled with the soft rustling of pages and the asional shutter sound of phone cameras. Just like that, a day passed quickly.

    The next day was the release date for Qin Ye and Lin Han¡¯s course schedule. Both had had their sses reduced to two a week, exactly half of what they had before. Their research team practically holed out in the records room for the rest of their time.

    Two days¡­ three days¡­ very soon, five days had passed.

    They had already established their base of operations in Local Bully¡¯s room, and there were now three people in all.

    Qin Ye, Lin Han and Su Feng.

    The three didn¡¯t look too good. After all, anyone who wholeheartedly dedicated themselves to research would quickly lose their sense of time, and night would blend into the day. All three men had dark rings under their eyes, and stubbles that they didn¡¯t even have the time to shave.

    Qin Ye was typing away at hisptop, but his speed was anything but fast. Sometimes, he would even have to deliberate for a long time before writing a single sentence. Threeptops were ced side by side. The one on the left showed the information that they had snapped from the records room, while the one on the right disyed various model theses used by cultivation research institutes around the nation.

    ck¡­ Qin Ye paused and furrowed his brows, ¡°I still find the second premise rathercking in some ways. I have my doubts about the case which we¡¯ve cited. Perhaps we cane up with a better premise?¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s not just that. There are some discrepancies between the premise and the thesis statement which we¡¯re trying to prove. That¡¯s why I¡¯d rejected the use of this premise earlier.¡± Su Feng ran his fingers through his hair. His hair was already so messy that it looked no different from a bird¡¯s nest. He took arge gulp from his cup of coffee and added, ¡°Don¡¯t forget where I used to work - the SRC! Academic research needs to be erected on a foundation of rigour! This premise is quite likely to be rejected by the academics around!¡±

    ¡°Eh? I¡¯ve heard that Local Bully used to live in a researchb?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He was one of the research subjects. After all, it¡¯s quite rare for someone¡¯s IQ to be so primitive¡­¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell! I¡¯m right here, poring through the research data we have, and you guys are just making up stories about me in front of my face?! There are at least twenty or thirty published books containing papers rted to your thesis statement! And I¡¯ve been going through these page by page!¡± Local Bully looked up from the screen of anotherptop and gnashed his teeth, ¡°Cut the crap! I was the one who decided on the premise, and it suits your perspective best! Can you even think of a better one?!¡±

    This part of the paper focused on the diversity of Yin spirits through evolution. To prove something like that, evidence which was based solely off hearsay and secondary reports were absolutely uneptable. It had to be precise with all of its particrs, including where, when, and the parties involved. Furthermore, the proof had to lie in a fully documented case based on true and verifiable events.

    Instructors could never get away with being sloppy in their theses. If they did, their efforts would naturally attract amensurately sloppy evaluation.

    If he was unable to get his paper published in Cultivators Weekly in one month¡¯s time, then quite apart from losing all odds with the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, he might not even be able to get his next application for a research project approved!

    He was only at the second premise in his thesis paper, and yet he was already stuck with a writer¡¯s block.

    The gap of discrepancy between the premise and the thesis statement was like a fishbone lodged in his throat, and he simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to continue writing.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take an hour¡¯s break!¡± With that, he stormed off to his bedroom, steaming with frustration. After shutting the door to his bedroom, he sighed deeply and flopped onto his bed.

    ¡°How far have you gone with it?¡± Arthis¡¯ eyes were peeled to the screen as she casually took a triple kill, ¡°I can still vividly remember the time when we were tasked to draft our ten-year work report. That was a tumultuous time that was a massive headache for me. I was even assigned ten secretaries for the work to be done.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°Damn it all. I¡¯d never expected an instructor¡¯s thesis paper to be so difficult to draft.. It¡¯s on apletely different level from the papers of regr college students!¡±

    He sat up and vented, ¡°Facts! Proof! Everything needs to be backed by something! I¡¯ve got to consider whether every statement I¡¯m making has been said by someone and whether I can quote them instead! Holy crap! It¡¯s literally killing me!¡±

    ¡°Bear with it.¡± Arthis shut down herputer and responded somewhat unsympathetically, ¡°You¡¯ll have to write many more of such articles when you finally be King Yanluo. Even if you don¡¯t personally author it, you¡¯ll still have to edit its contents and provide direction to it. This is part and parcel of the path to bing a high official of Hell¡­ Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take on the form of a paper crane and provide you with a second opinion. These things¡­ do sometimes make you feel like murdering a person.¡±

    1. This was written by the author in english, a direct trantion of ´ó´íÌØ´í.

 Chapter 210: First Submission (1)

    <h4>Chapter 210: First Submission (1)</h4>

    Arthis nearly cried out in surprise as soon as they stepped back into Local Bully¡¯s dorm room.

    ¡®Cluttered¡¯ didn¡¯t even begin to describe the state of chaos in the room.

    There were bowls of instant noodles scattered all over the ce. Ash trays were piled up everywhere, while pages filled with scribbles and writing were strewn everywhere. And this was not to mention the stacks of books all over the floor. ¡°The Possibility of Diversity of Yin Spirits¡±, ¡°Do Yin Spirits Retain the Customs and Habits of Their Past Lives?¡± and ¡°How to Find a Different Yin Spirit?¡±

    These books were obviously new. They had ostensibly been purchased within thest few days. There were over thirty such books lying around all over the ce, and yet the most surprising thing about this was the fact that they had all clearly been flipped through and read before. Some of the open books even had pages that were folded or dog-eared for ease of referenceter on. There was a strong schrly atmosphere in the room.

    ¡°You¡¯re doing it for real?¡± Arthis whispered.

    ¡°Of! Course!¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and replied softly, ¡°I¡¯m the only instructor in the academy who has embarked on a research project, and all of the professors have their eyes on me right now! Furthermore, the First Academy of Cultivators is quite different from other academic colleges around the country. I¡¯ve looked through the papers that have been published in recent times, and each and every statement made in these papers are backed by facts and proven by well-documented cases! Bloody hell¡­ it¡¯s a bloody vicious cycle!¡±

    ¡°Are you already hallucinating?¡± Su Feng looked up from hisptop and took another sip of the strong, ck coffee beside him. His eyes were somewhat bloodshot, ¡°Have you already learned to talk to air? Well, get your ass over here right now if you¡¯re still alive! I¡¯m telling you, us two co-authors are pulling just about as much weight as the first author right now.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t go on like this.¡± Arthis whispered as soon as the tapping sounds of theptop¡¯s keyboard started once more, ¡°Let them get some rest. Productivity is only at its peak when you bnce work and rest¡­ How many days have you guys been up? I recall that you haven¡¯t been back to your own room since two days ago, have you?¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his swollen brows and sighed, ¡°We¡¯ve slept a grand total of about twelve or thirteen hours over thest three nights. Academic papers are so deceiving. It¡¯s only when you begin working on it that you truly realize how vast the ocean of knowledge actually is¡­¡±

    He spoke in a loud voice, ¡°Su Feng, Lin Han, go get some rest. I¡¯ll hold the fort for now, and I¡¯ll call youter.¡±

    With that, he drove the other two straight to bed. Within a minute, the sound of soft snoring reverberated throughout Lin Han¡¯s room.

    Qin Ye sat down in front of Su Feng¡¯sptop, only to discover that he was chatting with Tao Ran. Their discussion was profound, ranging from the first discovery of supernatural incidents to the widespread outbreak of supernatural incidents across the country. They even discussed how many cases were simr to the ¡°Lost Tracks¡± hunting zone of Mount Tai City, and other examples. He flipped through the discussions, only to discover that it was so extensive that it spanned pages on end.

    So, even the professor is helping us out¡­ He looked at the piles of books beside the bed. Needless to say, these had all been purchased by Tao Ran himself.

    Responsibility was an interesting thing. Sometimes, it would bepletely elusive from a person¡¯s life, and yet sometimes, it would fall onto a person with such overbearing might that one couldn¡¯t help but resist it.

    Perhaps Qin Ye¡¯s initial motivation for embarking on this research project had arisen solely out of his desire to inaugurate his Southsea Huanghuali golden trade route and to obtain the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. But now, after putting in so much hard work, he truly desired to see the fruits of his efforts to the very end and have his paper published on the feature page of Cultivators Weekly.

    Thud thud¡­ There were knocks on the door. Wang Chenghao walked in and noticed the instructors resting, so he handed a folder to Qin Ye and whispered, ¡°Brother Qin, this contains the information that you¡¯ve asked us to look for. It pertains to the supernatural incidents from Yan Capital and Eastsea that aren¡¯t quite the norm. I¡¯ve sorted them out ordingly.¡±

    Qin Ye nced at it and then waved his hand, ¡°Do it well, and this will reflect well on your resumes. Even if this paper doesn¡¯t work out well, you won¡¯t be med for it.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± Wang Chenghao chuckled, ¡°You¡¯ve poured your blood, sweat and tears into this research paper. It will definitely get published!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ride on the luck of your blessings.¡±

    With that, Wang Chenghao left. Qin Ye opened the group¡¯s shared folder and opened the draft thesis paper that had approximately one thousand words so far for Arthis¡¯ review.

    Nobody said a word. Arthis ruminated on each and every statement that was made in the paper, asionally knocking off a superfluous punctuation mark or two. Qin Ye had gone through these thousand or so words so many times he could practically recite them from memory by now.

    Several minutester, Arthis looked up and nodded, ¡°Although I¡¯m not quite sure how you guys have gone about writing this paper of yours¡­ I can say that you guys are on the right track.¡±

    ¡°Every statement made is directly on point, and the first premise is exined and proven well. It¡¯s clearly organized, and the arguments aren¡¯t in the slightest bit ambiguous. If you can maintain these standards, the end product would be something that would even have been published in the old Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye picked up a pen and tapped on the screen, ¡°The first premise is only an appetizer. The important thing is whether we can ride the wave and present a coherent train of thought below. Take a look at the next premise we have¡­¡±

    He switched screens, opened another folder, and clicked on a video that was titled ¡®Premise 2¡¯, ¡°This is the second premise that we¡¯ve prepared, and this is where we¡¯ve had our divergent views. The only thing we can agree on is that the premise isn¡¯t quite suitable. Do let us know if you can think of something more suitable than¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahh¡­ Oh! Yamete¡­ Itai itai sugoi~! Sugoi~!¡±

    A rather discordant sound filled the room in an instant. In his stupor, Lin Han turned around in bed and murmured, ¡°Is that Sakuraiya-sensei¡­¡±

    Bloody hell!

    Both Qin Ye and the paper crane stared at Lin Han as though they had just seen a ghost, and then turned back to the screen where a man and a woman were mashing their bodies together.

    Screw your Premise 2! Screw the research data you¡¯ve prepared!

    ¡°Ahh¡­ men¡­¡± Three secondster, Arthis snorted contemptuously, ¡°Is that all you men have in your heads?¡±

    ¡°Does this look like it¡¯s mine?! Do you think it¡¯s a file I¡¯ve saved?!¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and swore under his breath, ¡°And! What do you mean by that?! There¡¯s still Tenkai, Tsubasa, Ohashi, Mimiya, Momoya, Erika, Akira, Hana, Nishino, Yuzuki, Tina, Hishizaki, Jessica, Murakami, Lisa, Amamiya, Kotone and more!¡±

    And then he scowled at the duo who were currently deep in slumber, ¡°On the other hand, they¡¯ve only got a measly Sakuraiya. That¡¯s just weak...¡±

    ¡°Oh? Where did you store them?¡± Arthis asked curiously, ¡°Howe I¡¯ve never discovered them before?¡±

    ¡°Haha, with just your intelligence? E-drive, Premise 2 folder, will open your eyes to a whole new world¡­¡±

    There was an abrupt silence.

    The kind that all humans feared the most.

    Secondster, Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Well then, read on, read on. Remember to like,ment and subscribe. Everything else isn¡¯t too important¡­¡±

    Arthis gave Qin Ye one final scowl before pping her wings and taking off, ¡°You¡¯re in the right direction. Come back to me when you¡¯re facing another mental block. I don¡¯t im for much, but I dare say that the cases I¡¯ve approved of can never be picked apart by these lowly cultivators of the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°Do it well. Even if you don¡¯t get the results you desire, you won¡¯t regret putting in your utmost effort.¡±

    The sudden outpouring of praise and encouragement caught Qin Ye somewhat off guard. He scoffed, sat down in front of theptop, and began to trudge through the path of progress once more.

    8 May, the seventh day - 1,200 words.

    11 May, the tenth day - 1,700 words.

    14 May, the thirteenth day - 2,400 words.

    15 May, the fourteenth day - 2,700 words.

    Another week passed in a sh. With Arthis now providing feedback and review, the pace of their progress had evidently increased substantially as well. Corroboration was one of the most important aspects of any thesis papers. How do you prove that your premises and arguments are correct? There was a stark difference from the first onset of their divergent views to Qin Ye¡¯s executive decision to proceed on his own ideas. His ideas were so sharp and precise that they even shook Lin Han and Su Feng to the core.

    The examples and cases he had referred to were perfect for the situation! None of them could find a better one. The ones he chose were the best and the most suitable ones!

    They stared at Qin Ye with a venomous gaze. They had a wealth of experience with the SRC under their belts, yet they still couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing with their very eyes!

    The number of historical cases were as vast as the oceans. Some of the cases were even from ancient times and seemingly unobtrusive in their corrtions. But everything appeared to fit snugly like pieces to a puzzle when applied to the research paper that Qin Ye was drafting. It was as though they were a match made in heaven.

    The assistance of an Infernal Judge of Hell had caused their progress to soar on wings. Then, on saturday, at 7.00 a.m., the three men yawned wearily, and were just about toy down to rest when knocks were suddenly heard from their door.

    Tao Ran and Zhou Xianlong promptly waltzed into their room with paper bags in their hands. Before the three could stand up, Zhou Xianlong made a pressing gesture with his hand, ¡°Sit. There¡¯s no need to stand on ceremony.¡±

    The trio werepletely drained, so they nodded and remained seated on the ground. Zhou Xianlong looked around the room and then sighed with great emotion, ¡°When I first saw your application form, I actually thought that you were just messing around¡­ Old Tao, give it to them.¡±

    There were three cups of warm soy milk, a few fritters, and a few steamed buns.

    These were rathermonce breakfast items, yet it clearly warmed their hearts. Their stomachs rumbled and gurgled in the next moment.

    It was strange. They were evidently not hungry at all, and yet the sight of food made them feel as though they hadn¡¯t eaten for an entire lifetime.

    ¡°Good people¡­¡± Lin Han munched on his fritter as he mumbled. His expressions were incredibly rich.

    On the other hand, Qin Ye¡¯s mind went to apletely different ce - If you¡¯re such a good person, why don¡¯t youe down and join me right now? I wish you all an early death and passing¡­ I¡¯ll be sure to get the best pnquin ready for your souls¡­

    Zhou Xianlong ignored him and continued, ¡°Perhaps you might still be unaware of the ramifications of your actions right now. The first bird to venture into the woods might get shot by a gun, but it might simrly attract the attention of everyone around as well.¡±

    ¡°This is potentially the first paper to be published under the name of the First Academy of Cultivators. The attention on you right now is practically beyond your imaginations. Our academy¡¯s publication on Cultivators Weekly necessarily means that everyone will be scrutinizing its contents and reasoning. In other words, you represent the voice of the First Academy of Cultivators to the rest of the nation right now. Therefore, a good paper just wouldn¡¯t cut it. The paper will have to be exceptional.¡±

    ¡°The rest of the nation is ring at us with great jealousy, wondering what basis the First Academy of Cultivators has to deserve its own city. What right do we have to enjoy the support of governmental policies? What basis is there for those who graduate from the First Academy of Cultivators to be parachuted into high ces in other organizations? And right now, this paper is essentially a deration of the basis for these privileges.¡±

    The trio drank their soybean milk and nodded their heads vigorously.

    Despite the fact that Qin Ye was well past the age to be motivated by such speeches, he could still feel his heart skip a beat.

    Perhaps motivation and passion weren¡¯t limited by age after all. All it required was a confluence of the right time, the right ce, and the right emotions.

    Tao Ran picked up where Zhou Xianlong left off, ¡°I¡¯ll be the gatekeeper for your research paper. If it¡¯s not up to par, I won¡¯t let you submit it for publication. This includes a paper that would be barely good enough to be published on Cultivators Weekly. That said, don¡¯t feel too burdened by this. Treat it as a learning experience. Work hard at it, and let us know what else you might need. We¡¯ll do our best to support you in the ways we can. Oh, that¡¯s right¡­¡±

    He looked at his watch, ¡°We¡¯re here today to tell you that the Yin spirit research hall has just been fully constructed. Some of the Yin spirits that are considered more special than others have also been captured by soul spheres and transported to this location. This is all thanks to your contributions during your opening lecture. The research hall will be opened in one month¡¯s time. But you¡¯ve been granted authorization to use this ce before its opening. No one will interrupt you during this period of time.¡±

    ¡°Besides that,¡± Zhou Xianlong added, ¡°If your papers can be published in Cultivators Weekly, all participating instructors will be rewarded handsomely. The first author shall be awarded 500 teaching credits! All co-authors shall be awarded 300 teaching credits! And all students will be granted 50 student credits!¡±

    It was an incredibly generous reward!

    It was practically the highest possible number of points they could be awarded with ording to Li Tao¡¯s exnations at themencement of the semester.

    The three men felt their hearts skip a beat, but they appeared unfazed as they nodded lightly.

    The fact that they had attained the cultivation they did necessarily meant that they possessed a strong heart. They had undertaken the great responsibility of tackling the very first research paper to be published by the First Academy of Cultivators. As men with their pride, it was now their duty to see it through to the very end.

 Chapter 211: First Submission (2)

    <h4>Chapter 211: First Submission (2)</h4>

    ¡°Press on!¡± Lin Han pped his face and wiped his hands, ¡°Come, let¡¯s carry on. I¡¯d feel like I¡¯m letting the academy down if I fail to meet their expectations.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, this isn¡¯t that urgent. Get a good rest first, and we¡¯ll talkter. Otherwise, you¡¯ll almost certainly face a mental block.¡±

    As soon as they were done washing up, Wang Chenghao entered with a tin container in hand. He had been the one taking care of their food and drinks over thest few days, over and above his duties in poring through the data in the records room. The trio thanked him, before turning back to the sea of information that they were sailing right through.

    As he progressed through the thesis, his thoughts became more and more streamlined, and the writing process naturally became smoother and smoother. The number of words that he managed to write each day also increased ordingly.

    But if it were an important paper with far-reaching consequences, these would upy the entire page. That said, this was generally rare, urring approximately only once every quarter. Furthermore, most of these important papers would have been jointly published through the coboration of several journals.

    After investing so much into their research, they naturally wanted to see what level of results they would achieve.

    This was what their efforts were all about!

    Time passed by quickly, and it was soon twelve noon. And Qin Ye finished up the segment addressing hisst premise right as the clock struck twelve.

    ¡°Awesome!!¡± Several momentster, Local Bully cried out with joy and abruptly shot to his feet like a mad dog, ¡°Come! Let¡¯s go for a barbeque! My treat!¡±

    Qin Ye stared vacantly at hisputer screen. His body feltpletely drained of energy, and yet what was lost appeared to be reced by a sense of fullness.

    ¡°I hate to say this, but the examples raised by Qin-Dog are exactly on point! One shot, one kill! They support the premises we¡¯ve set out in the paper perfectly! There isn¡¯t much else to say but awesome!¡±

    Qin Ye massaged his temples and revealed a sincere, joyous smile, ¡°You guys did a lot too.¡±

    ¡°Every good academic paper out there is backed by months, if not years of research and information gathering, before finally condensing all of that information into several thousand words. I¡¯d been prepared to spend the next half a semester slogging away at the research paper when I first agreed to it, yet who would have expected¡­¡± He gazed deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°The substantiating proof that you¡¯ve picked out is so apt that I bet even Professor Tao wouldn¡¯t be able to find a single loophole in it!¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly. Arthis¡¯ vast experience naturally meant that she surpassed every single academic out there in the mortal realm. They weren¡¯t fighting on equal ying fields. He was standing on the shoulder of a giant. But, that said, this didn¡¯t mean that he was giarizing everything from the old Hell. After all, Hell might not hold the same perspective on the matter as he did.

    Qin Ye had started off by modelling his paper after others. Yet, as time went on, and as inspiration abounded, he began to internalize and modernize his theory of evolution of Yin spirits, giving a deeper perspective to his paper. This was by no means mere copying.

    ¡°Barbeque? You guys go ahead.¡± After deliberating for a moment, Qin Ye picked up hisptop and stood up, ¡°I¡¯ll tweak it for a little bit more, and I¡¯ll keep you informed before I submit it for review.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± Arthis asked without even looking at Qin Ye.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for thanks.¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°You¡¯re the future King Yanluo, and these are all part and parcel of the literature that should belong to your kingdom and domain in any event. So what reason is there to thank me for it? Aren¡¯t you going to submit it right away?¡±

    Arthis stopped typing on her keyboard, ¡°Then, what are you nning to do? It¡¯s not that I¡¯m looking down on you, but given the breadth of your horizons right now, it¡¯s already amazing that you can generate a piece of work like that.¡±

    ¡°Earlier, it was impractical to let him vet through every single paragraph I¡¯d written. But now that I¡¯m done with the first draft¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded.

    But he couldn¡¯t dy any longer. He needed a buffer of approximately three weeks¡¯ time from his submissions, to publication, and then to the time required for invitations toe pouring in. If he missed this window of opportunity, then the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl would be lost to him forever. To make matters worse, his Southsea Huanghuali golden trade route would have to wait till September. One was an esteemed general which he could entrust Hell¡¯s forces to, while the other meant that Hell¡¯s reconstruction efforts would finally take off. Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to miss out on this prime opportunity!

    He rxed his thoughts, took a deep breath, and then began to murmur to himself.

    He swiftly locked the door and hung up his ¡®do not disturb¡¯ sign. Then, he activated his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and entered Hell once more.

    ¡°Lord Qin, you¡¯re just in time.¡± Gu Qing was full of smiles, ¡°I¡¯ve recentlypleted a ground survey of Hell, and I¡¯ve finallye up with a sketch map for our development works. Do you want to take a look¡­¡±

    Gu Qing scrutinized its contents for the next twenty minutes, before finally pausing and sighing, ¡°Is this very urgent?¡±

    Gu Qing nodded, ¡°The City of Salvation¡­ Leaving that ce is something so difficult that it practically borders on an impossibility. It would seem that this is your best bet right now.¡±

    He turned his gaze to the swaying red leaves that filled every corner of Hell which dwarfed the handful of machines around. He grinned with excitement, ¡°My Hell¡­ will finally be able to soar in the skies.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t mind. He nodded, ¡°There¡¯s no harm in being blunt with me. To be honest, I don¡¯t just want this paper to be published in Cultivators Weekly. I want them to dedicate a full page to its publication! The higher the quality of paper that is submitted, the more confident I would be of that!¡±

    And if he didn¡¯t get any invitations from those localities, then it wouldn¡¯t help him one bit that he could leave the City of Salvation. Would he thicken his skin and insist on attending the academic forums in the coastal regions?

    Gu Qing mulled over the use ofnguage, ¡°So here¡¯s the thing. I wouldn¡¯t be able toment on the specific arguments and substantiating examples that you¡¯ve cited. What I canment on is the general direction and flow of the piece. Off the cuff, I can tell that the logical flow reads rather unnaturally at certain parts. There are some parts that seem rather ambiguous as well. It¡¯s not that the arguments and substantiation aren¡¯t rigorous enough, but the paper seems to give an impression that itcks rigour.¡±

    He considered for a moment, ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong about the whole thing, but it just doesn¡¯t leave a good impression. Do you understand what I mean?¡±

    It was like a painting that had each and every element fantastically drawn, and yet the entireposite image still turned out somewhat unnatural and incohesive.

    ¡°How should we make changes, then?¡±

    ¡°Over the next five days, we¡¯ll discuss it together and propel it to the highest standards we can.¡±

 Chapter 212: First Submission (3)

    <h4>Chapter 212: First Submission (3)</h4>

    Gu Qing chuckled softly, revealing a cocksure attitude, ¡°Lord Qin, I don¡¯t want to boast, but do you know how governmental reports have traditionally been done? They¡¯ve been scrutinized down to the tee, trading out all ambiguous and imprecise words with far more beautifully crafted synonyms. No matter how rigorous an academic paper is, can it truly hold a candle to the level of governmental reports and speeches?¡± (TL: Really? I would¡¯ve thought that academic papers, especially scientific ones, are the most rigorous of them all. And perhaps the only governmental reports that can match up to scientific papers would be reports from the legiture that are intended to only convey a single meaning.)

    It was certainly reassuring to have such a reliable general under hismand. He truly experienced the might of talents right now. That said, this general represented ¡°knowledge¡±, and mere knowledge would never be sufficient if he wanted the new Hell to rise from destion and be restored to its former glory.

    Over the next few days, Lin Han and Su Feng visited him several times, only to find a ¡®do not disturb¡¯ sign on his door. In order to remain under the radar, Qin Ye would leave his room for the cafeteria from time to time. Nevertheless, he spent most of his time in Hell.

    Every paragraph and every sentence would see slight amendments and editorial changes to them, and yet it was these minor alterations that transformed the overall impression of the paper in its entirety.

    It was still a simrly smooth and easy read, yet the experience waspletely different. The entire thesis was being elevated and refined right before his very eyes, and Qin Ye¡¯s confidence in securing a publication in Cultivators Weekly grew day by day.

    ¡°It seems like I¡¯m getting old¡­¡± Gu Qing rubbed his temples, ¡°To think that I¡¯d spent so much time on reworking a three thousand word thesis. It would¡¯ve taken no more than two days in the past.¡±

    Precise, cogent, and logically watertight.

    ¡°Provided they aren¡¯t blind as bats, I¡¯m a hundred percent certain that this will get published!¡± Gu Qing responded with absolute certainty.

    Gu Qing¡¯s eyes flickered, ¡°Lord Qin, the quality of this paper is definitely sufficient to justify a full page publication. But that said, there are a number of other variables to consider as well.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, you¡¯ll have to consider the preferences of the chief editor. This is why I¡¯d chosen to revise certain portions of the paper where the choice of wording was sharp and incisive. Such sharp and incisive words can certainly strike a chord with some people, but they can equally also offend others. If it so happens that the chief editor finds himself aggrieved by your research paper¡­ There¡¯s no need to tread on such thin ice and make such risky bets. It would instead be safer to secure any publications we can get.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed with relief and picked up the final product, ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it. If everything goes well, then¡­ you should be able to see the fruits of your effort by the end of June.¡±

    Tao Ran was the only one in his office right now. He knocked on the door, and entered after Tao Ran responded. Then, he ced the file containing the draft paper onto the table, ¡°Professor Tao, kindly review our paper.¡±

    Perhaps that was one of the hallmarks of being a human being.

    ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± Tao Ran was just reading the papers when he was startled by Qin Ye¡¯sments. He nced at his phone, and then gazed deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°Just twenty days?¡±

    Tao Ran didn¡¯t pick up the file immediately. Instead, he spoke somewhat profoundly, ¡°Little Qin, the birth of a polished thesis paper is an incrediblyborious effort. Cultivators Weekly has high standards, and it¡¯s going to be quite difficult to please their taste buds. Even our principals haven¡¯t had many of their articles published on Cultivators Weekly to date. And yet¡­ to think that you¡¯re making your first submission in just twenty days¡¯ time¡­ You¡­ are you certain you don¡¯t want to review it again?¡±

    Not even college thesis papers arepleted in such a short amount of time, much less an academic paper that is intended to contribute to the cultivation academia!

    But that said, it¡¯s already incredibly rare to find good research papers drafted in just three months¡¯ time. Twenty days? I¡¯m afraid you didn¡¯t even take much time to review your own work before your first submission, did you?

    Tao Ran didn¡¯t say another word. He put on his reading sses and waved his hand, and the file immediately flew over.

    He had once been young, and he was well aware that some lessons could only be learnt when one realized the folly of their ways. He, too, had once submitted what he thought was a wless thesis paper to his instructor, only to be criticized harshly at every turn of the paper. It was only when one calmed his heart and focused their minds on reviewing and editing that they would finally discover just how many ring errors they could find. These had only been omitted earlier as a result of their eagerness to submit their work and im credit for it.

    The room quietened down, and Tao Ran pulled out the thin document from the file. He skipped the title and went straight into the meat of the research paper.

    There was aplex look on his face - soplex that not even Qin Ye knew just how to interpret it. The only thing he could sense from Tao Ran¡¯s expression was that of inexplicability.

    Yet Tao Ran simply remained taciturn. His expressions remained as unchanging as ever, almost as though it were etched in stone. He read through the entire research paper from start to finish in less than ten minutes. And then¡­

    This time, he looked at it with a closer scrutiny than before. And when he was done, he looked up with a simrly confused and perplexed expression on his face. Finally, he pped his hand down onto the table and spoke somewhat hoarsely, ¡°This paper¡­ was done by you guys?¡±

    Tao Ran didn¡¯t say much more. Instead, he simply lifted his chin at Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯ll mull over it a little bit more. You may take your leave for now.¡±

    But there was evidently no room for negotiation. After giving Tao Ran several pleading looks to no avail, he turned around and left Tao Ran¡¯s room with his tail tucked between his legs.

    Then, he rushed back to his seat like lightning and flipped open the thesis once more and read through its contents for the third time straight!

    ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s right, our existence itself isn¡¯t scientific either¡­ No! But this doesn¡¯t even ord well with the fantasy world!¡±

    Are you kidding me?

    The wording is undeniably precise, the structure ispact, and the logic process is impably watertight. Not even I could write something like that!

    He trembled as he picked up a sheet of paper and flicked it lightly, before gently caressing it as though it were a baby. His voice was shaky, ¡°Perfect! Rigorous! Cogent and well-substantiated! Reading this paper had actually¡­ caused me to feel a certain sense of ecstasy and aplishment?¡±

    Tao Ran was oblivious to the fact that this was in fact reviewed and edited by a provincial minister at that.

    Suddenly, almost as though he recalled something important, Tao Ran grabbed his phone, opened his Momo app and looked for an ID with a profile picture that looked like a fish. He took several deep breaths to regte his emotions, and it was only after his flushed appearances receded and his heart stopped palpitating that he finally began to type into the chat box.

    That¡¯s right¡­ Little Qin and Professor Yu seem to be on rather good terms. Such refinednguage use and profound and professional writing style must be the handiwork of Professor Yu, right?

    Tactful¡­ I¡¯ve got to be tactful¡­ Professor Yu will know exactly what I¡¯m talking about as soon as I send this paper to him.

    It¡¯s almost as though Professor Yu just wants us to praise his intellect and knowledge!

 Chapter 213: Youâ€™ve Got A Ghostwriter, Havenâ€™t You?!

    <h4>Chapter 213: You''ve Got A Ghostwriter, Haven''t You?!</h4>

    Mount Tai City, provincial capital of Insignia Province.

    Traffic was heavy, and the streets were filled with pedestrians. Professor Yu sat within a nondescript, low-profile vi, staring into hisputer screen. Three men dressed in whiteb coats stood patiently in front of his table. The title of the document disyed on the screen read ¡°The Evolution of Yin Spirits and Their Adaptation to the Environment¡±.

    ¡°Let¡¯s halt the work on this for now.¡± Professor Yu massaged his temples with one hand and waved his other hand. His personal assistant immediately brought over a cup of tea. He sighed, and then furrowed his brows at the LED screen, ¡°It doesn¡¯t work.¡±

    The three men in whiteb coats chuckled bitterly, and the middle one sighed, ¡°The information is reallycking. You¡¯ve been whole-heartedly devoting your attention to this research topic ever since your return from the City of Salvation. We¡¯ve searched the records throughout the country, and we¡¯ve located no more than a few dozen cases where mutation was but a possibility. But if wepare these numbers to the total number of Yin spirits around, the results we have arepletely insignificant.¡±

    Professor Yu shut his eyes and grew taciturn.

    He recalled the day when the young man swore to him that the mutations of Yin spirits were by no means isted examples, and they had in fact been urring since time immemorial. Unfortunately, his busy schedule meant that he had to return to Mount Tai City the very next day. Otherwise, he would have liked to listen to a few more lectures from that young man in the hope that it would spark some inspiration on his part.

    He had never thought of this as a shameful affair. After all, he was a firm believer that there was something he could learn from everyone. On the other hand, being too fixated on one¡¯s own perspectives would instead militate against the progression of theories and development of new ideas. This would in turn unduly inhibit the mortal realm from ever developing an advantage against the growing tide of Yin spirits.

    ¡°Our premises are too weak.¡± Ten secondster, he opened his eyes and instructed, ¡°Get in touch with the First Academy of Cultivators immediately. Ask them to send over the contents of everything covered by their instructors during their opening lectures¡­ Hang on a minute.¡±

    Just then, his phone suddenly vibrated. He held it up and took a look - ¡°ss of ¡®89, Student Tao, has sent you a message.¡±

    Who?

    Professor Yu couldn¡¯t recall who this was. After all, he dealt with esteemed individuals on a daily basis, including the heads of the major research institutions who were on a level equivalent to that of Zhou Xianlong. Thus, he tapped on it to take a look. To his surprise, the message contained a name that was of interest to him.

    Instructor Qin, huh¡­

    Thus, he did what he wouldn¡¯t normally have done, and he responded: ¡°He contributed to this paper?¡±

    ss of ¡®89, Student Tao: ¡°That¡¯s right. Could I please have a little bit of your time?¡±

    Yu: ¡°Send it over.¡±

    A word document was promptly transmitted to him through the messaging software. The other whiteb coats watched Professor Yu silently as he opened the word document and read its contents.

    Title: The Mutation of Yin Spirits: Causes, Developments and Possibilities.

    His eyes instantly lit up, and he subconsciously sat up straight. The men in the whiteb coats were immediately taken aback.

    This was a sign something had caught Professor Yu¡¯s interest.

    And the only thing that could possibly interest this old man was necessarily a profound academic paper or a schrly article. There are only approximately a dozen people who can engage in discourse with him on an equal level. I wonder whether an esteemed individual has sent over some new research data or conjectures?

    Their hearts stirred with curiosity, yet nobody dared to interrupt Professor Yu.

    On the other hand, Professor Yu waspletely oblivious to the expressions of the three men dressed in whiteb coats, because he waspletely enraptured after reading the first three sentences in the paper.

    Masterful!

    The author must at least be a provincial leader, if not from one of the special organizations around! And if he¡¯s from a special organization¡­ He began to think of the writing styles of his old friends and acquaintances.

    No¡­ It¡¯s not Old Chen, his writing style is different. Given his age and reputation, he simply writes what he wants. Would his arguments be this sharp and precise? Unlikely.

    It¡¯s not Old Ma either. Old Ma¡¯s style is a lot gentler. I can tell from the opening paragraphs that the author¡¯s style is calm yet incisive, like a gleaming sword hidden under the surface of stillkewaters. His style isn¡¯t repulsive at all¡­

    Who the hell is this?!

    But these thoughts were quickly shelved to the back of his mind.

    To a person like him who had dedicated his entire life to the furtherance of the cultivation academia, a good research paper was akin to the Bugatti Veyron in the eyes of car lovers, or the best spirits in the eyes of alcoholics. The mystery of the identity of this author could be resolvedter on! After all, this research topic was close to his heart, and he was incredibly eager to learn of a different perspective on the matter.

    He read through the first premise quickly, and then let everything that was written soak deeply into his mind. Three minutester, a soft sound rang out in the room.

    Smack!

    Professor Yu¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly as he smacked the armrest of his wooden chair. He sighed with a soft exmation, ¡°Beautiful.¡±

    ¡°To think that he would use the profession of a corpse driver to prove that Yin spirits would evolve under special circumstances, and that the strength of Yin spirits would even rise significantly after their evolution¡­ The parallel is simply brilliant! And these are such widely epted facts that it¡¯s practically irrefutable! There¡¯s no point in raising any objections to this premise at all!¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of using corpse drivers?!¡± He huffed in resignation before reading on.

    The introduction to the next premise piqued his interest even more.

    Three minutester.

    ¡°Homologous Yin spirit¡­ There¡¯s actually something like that? A parasite that resides in the recesses of a person¡¯s body since young? The host possesses both Yin and Yang character traits. He is born with Yin-Yang eyes, while the homologous Yin spirit may be considered half-Yin and half-Yang. It grows together with the host, and as soon as it matures and erupts from its host body¡­ the consequences would be dire?¡±

    ¡°This premise¡­ is proven by the existence of the kid that guards the Great Dipper Vault¡­ This is a live specimen we¡¯re talking about¡­ and he even tells of a way to force out the homologous Yin spirit from the host body! Li!!¡±

    One of the men dressed in a whiteb coat immediately walked over, ¡°Professor.¡±

    ¡°Head over to the Great Dipper Vault immediately! And bring over A--... That A-something over here! The guy that looks like half-man half-ghost! Bring him here right now! Wang!¡±

    ¡°Yes, professor.¡± Another man dressed in a whiteb coat cupped his hands respectfully.

    ¡°You! Open up my underground researchb right away, and check that all equipment are in good working condition!¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    After issuing his instructions, the room was silent once again. Over the next ten minutes or so, a smacking sound rang out from time to time. It was almost as though Professor Yu had to p the armrest of his chair as a sign of appreciation with every segment of the research paper he got through. His face flushed with great excitement, and he even raised his hand from time to time.

    He was ecstatic.

    It was a brilliant thesis, with a brand new perspective built upon a solid foundation of arguments and proof. It was good enough to inebriate hardcore academics like him. In fact, not even Professor Yu expected the research paper to bring him so much joy and ecstasy.

    Those in the room found their names being called upon from time to time as well, ¡°Little Zhou, bring me the case file from SRC pertaining to the 4 July case from XX City, XX Province.¡± ¡°Xu, pull out these B-grade dockets from the SRC¡­¡±

    ¡°Wonderful¡­ I¡¯ve heard about this case before. If this were indeed corroborated as such, wouldn¡¯t it perfectly illustrate the point which the author is making? These aren¡¯t mere coincidences¡­ the choice of substantiating case files have been perfect!¡±

    ¡°Very good. This is¡­ the third premise already, and he¡¯s still bringing up gem after gem¡­ I wonder who the author is¡­ Where did he get all of his information from? Since when does the SRC have such a formidable individual?¡±

    Finally, the room waspletely silent.

    Professor Yu had shut his eyes to let the information sink in countless times by now. He was ruminating over the brilliant paper he had juste across, and he was also fervently suppressing the anxiety in his heart. He was anxious to implement experiments to prove that the premises were sound and urate. The paper wasrgely inferential in nature, and yet a single experiment was sufficient to prove each of its premises. And if these experiments were sessful¡­

    He opened his eyes, and his breaths grew slightly ragged.

    If I seed in these experiments¡­ then the research topic that I¡¯d been working so hard on¡­ would finally see a breakthrough!

    He no longer had any doubts about the quality of the research paper right now. It was cogent, profound on several levels, and irrefutable.

    ¡°Theses are by their very nature a form of written discourse¡­ and it naturally flows that discourse and refutations would follow¡­¡± His eyelids twitched slightly as he picked up the research paper, ¡°But no matter how I look at it, the impression that this paper gives me is that this is an incontrovertible conclusion¡­ And I¡¯m not even talking about the incisiveness of his arguments, the depth of substantiation, and the logical flow¡­ Which esteemed academic wrote this? Why can¡¯t I tell from his style of writing?¡±

    In his tion, Professor Yu had actually forgotten Professor Tao¡¯s earlier words. He flipped back to the first page and finally noticed the string of names.

    Right at the very top, a series of names were written in ck and bold font. First author: Qin Ye.

    The Bugatti Veyron had suddenly morphed into the transformer Bumblebee, and the fiery alcoholic spirits had turned into moltenva.

    The room suddenly felt as hot as a zing furnace, while Professor Yu¡¯s expressions of tion instantly faded away, almost as though he had just eaten shit.

    This is¡­ somewhat embarrassing¡­

    Hang on¡­ how could this possibly be you?

    I mean, how old are you? What basis do you have writing a paper of such incredible caliber?! It¡¯s not that I want to look down on you, but isn¡¯t knowledge something you¡¯ve got to umte over time?! You¡¯re only 18, and yet you write like you¡¯re 81! Have you been ying ghosts since you were in your mother¡¯s womb?!

    ¡°This kid¡­ is he King Yanluo¡¯s incarnation or something? How could he be so well-informed about Yin spirits?!¡± Old Man Yu massaged his throbbing temples. You¡¯re annoying. You¡¯re terribly annoying, you know? I mean¡­ are you trying to make us look bad? I¡¯m already over eighty. I¡¯ve dedicated most of my life to my research on Yin spirits, and yet the one to open the door to a new breakthrough on my research is actually an instructor who¡¯s only in his teens?

    He continued reading on. Co-authors: Lin Han, Su Feng.

    The rest of them were assistants who had been involved in the research and writing process, including a dozen or so students.

    He stared at the paper, trying to locate a familiar name. Unfortunately¡­ there was none.

    Professor Yu suddenly felt like being alone.

    ¡°Professor Yu¡­ where are you going?¡± Two men in whiteb coats asked as soon as they noticed Old Man Yu stand up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me¡­ I¡¯m going out for a walk¡­¡± Professor Yu massaged his still-throbbing temples as he stared at the heavy flow of traffic and pedestrians outside. A sudden decrepit sensation washed right over him, ¡°The new generation exceeds the previous one¡­ Hang on a minute! But isn¡¯t this just downright outrageous?! There must be a ghostwriter involved, isn¡¯t there?¡±

    No, no, no, I think there¡¯s still room for this old man to flounder around in denial¡­ I just can¡¯t ept this as reality¡­ I feel like there¡¯s hope in salvaging my self-confidence yet¡­

    As if venting, he tapped the guardrail in exasperation as he murmured to himself, ¡°I can believe it if you tell me that the thesis statement, and even the premises emanated from him. But the incisive arguments, the pristine organization of information, the professional use of vernacr, and the brilliant logical flow¡­ these are all hallmarks of someone who¡¯s at least a provincial government leader or someone of my stature in the SRC. I absolutely cannot believe that these had all emanated from an instructor of the First Academy of Cultivators!¡±

    He took several deep breaths to regte his emotions. Then, he pulled out his phone, searched up Tao Ran¡¯s number, and then initiated a video call with him.

    ¡°Professor Yu?¡± Tao Ran was somewhat startled. After all, it was incredibly rare to hear of anyone receiving a video call initiated by Professor Yu himself.

    ¡°Tell me who the ghostwriter was.¡± Professor Yu spoke with mixed feelings, ¡°The standard of the paper is a telltale sign of the true author¡¯s experience, abilities and knowledge. So tell me, who guided his hand?¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you the ghostwriter?!¡± Unexpectedly, Tao Ran reacted with even greater astonishment.

    Holy shit¡­ are you saying that these kids have truly aplished all of that?

    The two old men stared awkwardly at each other,pletely bbergasted. Several momentster, Professor Yu snorted, ¡°Who do you think I am? He¡¯s not my illegitimate son, so why should I be acting as a ghostwriter for him?¡±

    Tao Ran¡¯s heart began to beat wildly, and he fervently suppressed his burgeoning excitement as he responded cautiously, ¡°Professor Yu¡­ as you know, the City of Salvation is under military regimentation right now. Nobody can leave the city until next semester - not even I. And there¡¯s no need to even consider theck of inte ess either. Besides¡­ there¡¯s not a single person in our academy who can write like that, apart from the two principals¡­¡±

    Old Man Yu sighed deeply.

    Hadn¡¯t he already realized all these things as well?

    In fact, he already knew it wasn¡¯t Li Tao and Xu Anguo as soon as he read the first paragraph of the research paper. He had only called Tao Ran because he was unable to reconcile his cognitive dissonance.

    Was this truly authored by that little bastard?

    This¡­ I¡¯d like to be alone for a little while...

 Chapter 214: You Absolutely Have to Publish!

    <h4>Chapter 214: You Absolutely Have to Publish!</h4>

    Old Man Yu and Tao Ran both grew taciturn, and the colour of their faces turned red.

    They were both awash with a simrlyplex sensation right now. Both had spent the better part of their lives umting experience in the pursuit of knowledge, and yet they had just been instakilled by an eighteen year old. I might find it easier to believe if you tell me that you¡¯re 18-cm long. After all, we¡¯re both getting old¡­ but can you really believe what kind of waves this kid is going to make? Is he an incarnation of Nezha¡¯s spirit?

    On the other end of the call, Tao Ran was experiencing the very same emotional upheaval, and he stiffly responded, ¡°Yes¡­ and Instructor Qin is the first author¡­¡±

    ¡°I sincerely congratte the First Academy of Cultivators. These three instructors would most certainly be the pirs of the SRC in future!¡±

    Hang on¡­ Professor Yu, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a little bit presumptuous¡­

    They haven¡¯t even resigned from their duties just yet. And even if they cease to be instructors, do you really think the First Academy of Cultivators isn¡¯t going to offer them a better role? What do you take us for? Fine, you might be someone who can go toe to toe against our principals, but¡­ I don¡¯t think we would be willing to cede these talents to you either¡­

    Nevertheless, Tao Ran wasn¡¯t prepared to engage on this front with Professor Yu, and he simply glossed over the implications of Professor Yu¡¯s grattory words with a dry cough, ¡°Then, Professor Yu, about this research paper¡­ do you think¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait for my message.¡±

    ¡°To think that you actually found the key to unlocking the secrets to the research topic I¡¯ve been working on all this while. I appreciate the immense favour. Well then¡­ shall we open this door together?¡±

    ¡°Chief Editor Yao. Is he around?¡±

    But the other end of the call was silent for a second, and then the call was redirected to a person whose disy picture was a piece of poop with a smiley face on it. Editor-in-Chief Yao¡¯s voice rang out from the other end of the call, ¡°Academician Yu, how do you do? Sorry to keep you waiting. Is there anything I can help out with?¡±

    It was because there was no point in engaging in titudes in the first ce. Even if Chief Editor Yao were busy, he would im to be free to Professor Yu.

    ¡°It¡¯s already finalized¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll trouble you to retract it.¡±

    Do you think I¡¯m very free to be ying games with you?! Or is my phone transmitting the wrong message to me?!

    He had just picked up the call, only to be mmed so hard that he was beginning to question life. It took him three full seconds to gather himself and smile genially as he rified, ¡°Professor Yu, are you¡­ going to publish a paper?¡±

    Yan Capital, at the headquarters of Cultivators Weekly. Chief Editor Yao opened the word document. If Professor Yu ims that he wanted to publish a research paper, few people were in a position to say anything about it at all - even if an entire page were to be dedicated to the publication. However, he quickly adjusted his sses in shock as soon as he scanned the cover page of the research paper.

    First author: Instructor Qin Ye, First Academy of Cultivators.

    ¡°It¡¯s not Professor Yu¡¯s guys?¡± He was taken aback, ¡°Qin Ye? I¡¯ve never heard of this guy before, and yet you¡¯re asking me to dedicate a full page to his paper? I wonder if Academician Yu is trying to promote his own protege. But even if that were the case, wouldn¡¯t this be going a little too far?¡±

    But Qin Ye was a name which waspletely foreign to him. What basis was there to dedicate a full page to his research paper?

    One minute into the paper, and his furrowed brows eased up and loosened itself.

    Eight minutes in. Chief Editor Yao subconsciously shot to his feet and smacked his desk. He abruptly nced at the symbol at the top of his phone representing an ongoing call with Professor Yu, but then immediately looked down at the paper and read on.

    He was mulling over what he had just read.

    ¡°What a professionally written paper¡­ Poignant substantiation, cogent, novel, incisive in its arguments, and logically watertight¡­ Why haven¡¯t I heard of someone like him before? Is he truly a newbie? An instructor from the First Academy of Cultivators? Not a professor?¡±

    ¡°Academician Yu.¡± He took several deep breaths and finally addressed Professor Yu once more, ¡°Which esteemed academic was responsible for this? The writing style, logic and substantiation don¡¯t look like they¡¯vee from a novice at all!¡±

    Kid¡­ thatment cuts deep¡­

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Professor Yu sensibly glossed over the elephant in the room and responded.

    Chief Editor Yao didn¡¯t respond right away. The seemingly innocent question had triggered a massive tidal wave of emotions in his heart once again.

    There were no doubts in his mind. There was no desire for any form of refutation. And this was the case from start to finish. In fact, as soon as he finished reading the research paper, he was immediately filled with a sense of concurrence, as though the paper had merely stated facts, principles and universal truths.

    All thesis papers are an invitation for discourse! Discourse! It¡¯s not meant to be taken at face-value, as though the author was merely stating facts. It¡¯s meant to be disputed by the major research institutions around! Yet there isn¡¯t a single sense of controversy in anything he¡¯s written!

    ¡°Incredible.¡± He sighed, ¡°It¡¯s truly incredible. This paper¡­ will probably send waves rippling throughout the cultivation world. It might even be the key to tackling zones of supernatural incidents that are ranked higher than the usual hunting zones. Such a wless paper more than justifies dedicating an entire page to its publication. In fact¡­ this paper is undoubtedly far more exciting than what some of the older academicians and professors can bring to the table!¡±

    Chief Editor Yao sat at his desk, staring at Professor Yu¡¯s dimmed disy picture. He sighed and furrowed his brows. Some momentster, he sighed again and picked up the phone on his desk, ¡°Dr Luo.¡±

    Chief Editor Yao rubbed his temples as he promptly interjected, ¡°It¡¯s like this - there¡¯s going to be an important paper that will be published in the uing edition of Cultivators Weekly, so your research paper is going to have to wait in line.¡±

    Secondster, Dr Luo responded with disbelief, ¡°How is that--... Chief Editor Yao, didn¡¯t we have an agreement? What¡¯s with the sudden--...¡±

    And with that, Chief Editor Yao hung up the phone before Dr Luo could even respond. Then, for some reason, his hand gravitated towards Qin Ye¡¯s paper, and he picked it up to read it again.

    ¡°Hello, how are you? Is this Principal Xu?¡±

    This was a friendship forged through a bitter struggle against an academic paper until they finally conquered it. After an arduous journey spanning twenty whole days, they finally felt the shacklese off their bodies, and they let their hair down in a night of revelry.

    ¡°To the thesis!¡± ¡°To the damned thesis paper!¡± ¡°Cheers to the paper I never want to see again!¡± ¡°Here¡¯s to all of the brothers and sisters who have left their marks on the paper!¡± ¡°Thank you instructors for extending such an opportunity to us!¡±

    ¡°Cheers!!¡± With an uproarious cry, everyone downed the ss of their preferred alcohol. Qin Ye also smiled and drank everything with arge gulp. As he set down his wine ss, he nced about at the other empty sses on the table with great satisfaction. In that instant, his heart was filled with fullness and relief.

    1. Nezha is a protection deity in chinese folk religion.

    2. I suppose this would be akin to a yakitori bar that sells food on skewers and alcohol.

 Chapter 215: Really Published?

    <h4>Chapter 215: Really Published?</h4>

    It¡¯s too rare¡­

    He couldn¡¯t remember.

    He was actually indifferent to these things.

    You guys are all going to die sooner orter, aren¡¯t you?

    Familiarity breeds feelings. And with feelingses impulse. Qin Ye had never taken the initiative to draw close to anyone, including Lin Han or Su Feng. Although they habitually studied and worked together, he had never engaged in any interactions with the intent of deepening their rtionship. In fact, he hadn¡¯t even asked of their family history before.

    After all¡­ we¡¯ll still be colleagues even after death, so there¡¯s no reason for me to grief at your passing at all.

    It was Zhou Xianlong.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and answered the call, ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°A party.¡± Qin Ye looked around, only to receive the looks of several burning gazes, ¡°I¡¯m with the colleagues who have drafted the research paper with me.¡±

    Qin Ye switched on the speakerphone, and the entire room was silent, save for the ragged breaths that abounded all around. Then, Zhou Xianlong took a deep breath and addressed everyone around for the first time, ¡°Good evening to all instructors and students who have been involved in the first research paperpleted under the banner of the First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°De-...dedicated full page?¡± A split secondter, Lin Han spoke with a tremble in his voice, ¡°Faculty Head Zhou¡­ are you sure you didn¡¯t hear them wrongly?¡±

    After a protracted pause, he continued, ¡°Thises as a surprise, even to me¡­ but because of your ster performance, the academy¡¯s leaders have already reported this to the Special Investigations Department and fought for an opportunity to let the rest of the country learn who you are.¡±

    ¡°Everyone, you might be unknown and unrecognized right now, or perhaps you¡¯ve got a lot to offer, yet simply didn¡¯t have the right opportunities to do so. But everything will change from the date of publication of your work. We will provide you with arge-enough stage for you to shine brilliantly. Talents like you should stand in the spotlight. Therefore, following a joint decision between the academy leaders as well as the upper echelon of the Special Investigations Department, we have sent an urgent missive to Commander Li Yunsheng, the general in charge of the City of Salvation, to issue¡­ a special temporary permit allowing you to leave the City of Salvation.¡±

    It¡¯s here¡­

    And today¡­ everything was ripe for the picking!

    A dedicated full-page publication on Cultivators Weekly, and a special temporary permit to leave the City of Salvation¡­ A series of good news struck them one after the other, until their minds were in aplete daze. The only voice in their heads right now was crying out feebly - Is this real? Is this really happening? Am I not dreaming?

    Zhou Xianlong had always been forthright and to the point. Yet even he needed to take some time to regte his breath before continuing, ¡°Everyone, brace yourselves.¡±

    Beep beep¡­ Zhou Xianlong hung up. A minuteter, the entire room was stillpletely silent.

    ¡°Bloody hell!!¡± Local Bully was the first one to stand up with a loud tter. He leapt onto his head with a ss in his arms, ¡°Come! Bottoms up! Nobody¡¯s leaving this ce standing today!!!¡±

    Their hearts were all filled with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Having their efforts validated and recognized as such caused their hearts to burst with pride and thump with a wild mor.

    ¡°Come! Drink! It¡¯s not manly to quit right now!¡± ¡°Cheers!¡± ¡°Bullshit¡­ I don¡¯t even know what I should say! A full dedicated page¡­ and even a special temporary permit to leave the City of Salvation for exchange and forums¡­ I-I-I simply cannot believe what I¡¯ve just heard!¡±

    It¡¯s Cultivators Weekly¡­ the top cultivation journal in Cathay. This is something read by every single cultivator in the country. Not even my parents and masters have achieved something like that, and yet¡­ I have?

    It was already 1.00 a.m. by the time Qin Ye returned to his own dorm room. After leaving the skewers bar, the three instructors had gone on to drink some more at another pub. It was at this moment that they truly appreciated the existence of a university town in the academy.

    Having heard no response from Qin Ye, Arthis turned around, only to see a repulsive grin on his face, ¡°The smile on your face right now looks no different from a lecher¡­ Let me guess, the only thing that can evoke such joy from your heart must be the resolution of the matter pertaining to the thesis paper, am I right?¡±

    Arthis nodded and turned around indifferently, ¡°There used to be Emissaries of Hell like you, but they¡¯re all eighteen feet underground, covered by a carpet of tall grass. Given how you¡¯ve been testing my limits time and again¡­ Perhaps you should simply be grateful for my benevolence and mercy¡­¡±

    Although he had initially embarked on the research paper in the hopes of attending the major auction at the end of June, there were far greater implications to his sess in this regard!

    A research paper was worth forty thousand merit points and five hundred teaching credits. As long as he could churn out several more research papers of simr standards, he would rack up an immeasurable amount of points! The Great Dipper Vault would be no different from his backyard!

    Life is simply too beautiful right now¡­

    The fingers that appeared to be conducting the symphony of bliss in the air suddenly paused.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t kill me.¡± Arthis responded with blunt honesty, ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t feel good about it either¡­ speaking of which, I somehow get the feeling that you need some electroconvulsive therapy. Is this just an illusion¡­¡±

    It was now 21 May.

    In other words, he had approximately ten days to confirm his attendance at the summer major auction and negotiate a mortgage of his stock of Southsea Huanghuali with Guardian Auctions in order to raise sufficient funds to bid for the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.

    A series of words quickly showed up on the screen, ¡°Mr Qin, sorry to have kept you waiting. Have you already decided to meet us?¡±

    With age came a keen eye for detail.

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with this person¡­¡±

    The smile on Arthis¡¯ face also faded away, and her eyes narrowed to a squint, ¡°Then¡­ perhaps he¡¯s just anxious to meet you. But that doesn¡¯t ord well with his role in the auctions. He¡¯s no more than a channel or conduit. You should be the one who¡¯s anxious to meet him, not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that.¡± Qin Ye exined indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s already sote at night, and yet a master of the house is still on the line. It¡¯s almost as though¡­ he was just waiting for me.¡±

 Chapter 216: Mori Ranmaru

    <h4>Chapter 216: Mori Ranmaru</h4>

    There was no response.

    ¡°The City of Salvation¡¯s phantom market.¡±

    Mount Monarch?

    It was located just outside the city.

    ¡°The government has taken charge of the phantom markets, and every phantom market would have their fair share of guards on patrol.¡± Qin Ye responded withoutmitting to an answer, ¡°Perhaps you can enter the City of Salvation instead. It¡¯s too difficult for me to head out right now.¡±

    He paused, and then continued, ¡°If you dally any longer, you might just miss out on the uing major auction.¡±

    ¡°Although I don¡¯t quite know what¡¯s going on, something must have happened over thest few days¡­ but it¡¯s no use specting just what it was. I should at least try and make the trip down to meet him. That said¡­ how am I supposed to do that?¡±

    Qin Ye instantly felt goosebumps all over his body. Ahhhhhhh¡­ does this mean Prince Lordaeron has finally unlocked the storyline of ptial affairs¡­ She''s gone straight from a newbie, to an addict, and into the realms of a copse of the mind¡­ to think that she''s even begun to roley as a royal subject¡­

    "Naturally." Arthis turned Qin Ye around, ced both hands on his cheeks, locked eyes with him, and then muttered softly, "The purpose of my existence is to warm Your Majesty''s bedlinen. That way, I will forever have the favour of Hell and be blessed with good health and prosperity."

    Arthis chuckled heartily, "Since it''s so difficult for you, why don''t you¡­ entrust everything to me and let me bring it safely to the phantom market on your behalf? Then, you can sincerely beg me to ept a small token of gratitude, and I''ll graciously ept the phoenix seal¡­ Do consider my proposition and let me know if this is an offer you can ept?"

    Do you really think it''s proper for a silicone doll to be walking around a public cemetery in the middle of the night, and even attempting to negotiate with other humans? Are you sure you''re not thinking of a murder plot instead? You''re going to give everyone at the cemetery a heart attack!

    There was a reason why alcohol was often called liquid courage.

    One secondter, a loud bang from a particr instructor''s dorm room startled all the students who were sound asleep. They immediately sat up from their beds and rubbed their eyes, "What''s going on?" "Another emergency drill?" " What happened?"

    Meanwhile, in Yan Capital, Master Bai closed the webpage and shut his eyes.

    Furthermore, he was currently at the airport.

    ¡°How much longer is it till the flight¡­¡± Master Bai asked. His voice was hoarse and slightly drifty, and he shivered slightly, findingfort and security in the protection of the two men beside him.

    Master Bai didn¡¯t feel reassured at all. He ran his fingers through his hair in desperation. His eyes were bloodshot, and he gnashed his teeth, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t¡­ I really shouldn¡¯t¡­ but there¡¯s no way I can remain here any longer! That bowl¡­ that bowl is the devil¡­¡±

    He hunched over subconsciously. The dense human traffic in the airport didn¡¯t give him any sense of security at all. He rested his elbow on his thighs and buried his head into his hands as he trembled uncontrobly.

    T-t-t-t-t¡­ His teeth began to chatter incessantly. It was because¡­ everything around him had suddenly be muted.

    It was a suffocating terror, and a palpable murderous intent.

    It¡¯s here¡­ it¡¯s here!

    Tap¡­ tap¡­ These were the kinds of sounds that had been driving him crazy over thest few days - dry and mundane, and yet deafening at the same time. Master Bai¡¯s hair stood on end. From his hunched position, he could tell that the two men beside him still remained stationary. He, on the other hand¡­ didn¡¯t even dare to lift his head.

    ¡°Somebody, save me¡­ I won¡¯t want to die¡­ HELP!!!¡±

    The ippon geta was a type of Nipponese wooden clog. One of the main traits that distinguished the ippon geta from the traditional wooden clogs was the fact that it only had a single centered tooth, somewhat simr to the traditional Cathayan stilts.

    The floor of the Yan Capital airport was bright and shiny. In fact, it was so well-polished that one could see the reflection of the lights above in the ground.

    It¡¯s right on your back! It¡¯s leaning against your body!

    And the face that had been right behind him just moments ago was now standing to his right!

    He didn¡¯t even dare to turn his head to take a closer look. He could see a pair of ancient ippon geta out of the corner of his eyes. The wood was rotting slightly. It was clear that these wooden geta were at least a few centuries old. The thing beside him wore a ck feather weave, and his entire body was snow white, almost as though he had been dusted with white powder. Furthermore, his hair hung down all the way to his waist-level. The image from the waist down was incredibly bizarre.

    But, just then--!

    ¡°What happened to me?¡± Momentster, he came back to his senses, only to discover that he had at some point in time copsed to the ground, and was covered in cold sweat. He was currently lying in the arms of the man wearing the face mask and sunsses.

    Master Bai didn¡¯t say anything. He knew full well that what he had just seen was no illusion at all. A Nipponese evil spirit¡­ had traveled across the waters in search of him!

    ¡°Go¡­¡± Just then, an announcement was made to inform all passengers that the flight was ready for boarding. Master Bai mustered all of his strength and scrambled to his feet, ¡°We depart Yan Capital for the City of Salvation immediately. That¡¯s where all evil spirits must die!¡±

    It was still there¡­ and he was the only one who could see it! The evil spirit was standing right behind him in the crowd, dressed in an ancient, tattered feather weave. It was silently but surely following him!

    It was a slip of paper.

    He couldn¡¯t tell what exactly was drawn on the front, but he could see that a line of words were written in vermillion ink on the back.

    That¡¯s right¡­ who saved me earlier?

    ¡°That¡¯s him?¡± The man spoke in Nipponese. Another well-built man lowered his head and whispered back, ¡°Yes. It¡¯s been confirmed that the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl is on him right now.¡±

    ¡°After all, how can a mere mortal like you fully appreciate the mighty name of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven?¡±

    1.

    2. Mori Ranmaru was one of Nobunaga¡¯s attendants. Ranmaru and his younger brothers defended Nobunaga during the Honnoji incident, allowing him tomit seppuku. Then, they set the entire temple in which they had barricaded themselves on fire and allowed it to burn to the ground, killing everyone inside.

 Chapter 217: Phantom Market

    <h4>Chapter 217: Phantom Market</h4>

    The next day, at noon, when Lin Han saw Qin Ye rubbing his back as he made his way to the cafeteria, he remarked with some measure of astonishment, ¡°Last night, after our drinks¡­ did youmit an irretrievable mistake?¡±

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. Anyone who gave him such a p to the face would never get off scot free.

    He red at Lin Han and hooked his finger at him. Lin Han blinked stubbornly, as though saying - I can¡¯t help a person who can¡¯t control his belt¡­ unless you call me daddy. Qin Ye responded with a great deal of anticipationced with a slight measure of sympathy, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a chance to get on my good side.¡±

    Qin Ye pulled the big buffoon over and whispered, ¡°Let me ask you something¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not lending!¡± Lin Han responded reflexively.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to kick the idiot, ¡°Can you please listen properly for once?!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Lin Han blinked vacantly. Qin Ye took a deep breath, ¡°I--...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have it!¡±

    Taste my sword, kid.

    Only one of us is going to make it to the academy building this morning. Prepare yourself!

    Under Qin Ye¡¯s intense and frigid re, Lin Han finally caved after several moments and coughed dryly, ¡°Looks like you¡¯re not borrowing money or things from me¡­ alright. You may speak.¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath - I¡¯m not angry¡­ What reason is there to be upset at a fool¡­ I need his help anyway¡­

    He picked up a piece of ribs from his te, deliberated for a few moments, and then nced about as he added with a whisper, ¡°I¡¯m nning to make a short trip out.¡±

    ¡°Are you nuts?!¡± Lin Han gasped and immediately lowered his head, ncing vigntly about as he muttered through his teeth, ¡°We¡¯re just about to rise to the pinnacle of life. Everything would be over if the school discovers this! Wait a moment¡­ why did youe looking for my help in the first ce?¡±

    Qin Ye fluttered his eyes, ¡°Aren¡¯t you the Local Bully of the City of Salvation?¡±

    Lin Han¡¯s expressions stiffened, ¡°Since when did the Local Bully of Mount Tai City transform into the Local Bully of the City of Salvation? Can you kindly exin that to me, please?¡±

    Qin Ye restrained the smile on his face and flipped the ribs around with his fork, ¡°Because¡­ I¡¯ve read your file. You and Su Feng are both cultivators of Insignia Province. Prior to this, you¡¯d traveled around and worked in practically every city within Insignia Province under the banner of the SRC. The principals might not even know of these things, but the two of you are among the top in terms of direct contact with Yin spirits. Furthermore, there¡¯s quite a high possibility that you¡¯ve undertaken operations at the Insignia University branch campus before. Andst but not least¡­ I trust you.¡±

    Lin Han instantly feltforted, and he nodded, ¡°You really haven¡¯t asked anyone else yet?¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his back and paused.

    Of course I have¡­ but do you really think it doesn¡¯t hurt when you¡¯re beaten up by a silicone doll?!

    It only takes a look to snap the tightrope of negotiations. The difference between friendship and enmity is as thin as a micrometer.

    ¡°You have so few friends.¡± Lin Han cast him a dirty look, and then nced around once more, ¡°Are you serious about this?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, and he nodded deeply.

    He¡¯s got means!

    ¡°Do you absolutely have to go?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll need to make a trip to the phantom market.¡± Qin Ye looked him straight in the eye as he answered, ¡°Do you have a way out? Is it safe?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Where do you think I get the name of the Local Bully of the City of Sal--... Screw you!¡± Lin Han red at him with great annoyance. Three secondster, he rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone, ¡°Damn it. I really owe this to you, don¡¯t I?! Consider this a repayment for the olive branch you¡¯ve extended me with the research paper.¡±

    After staring intently at his phone for three full minutes, he finally looked up once more and whispered, ¡°Tonight, 12.30 a.m. Meet me at the east gate. You¡¯ll at least have to wait until lights out if you want to head out. The phantom market closes at 5 a.m. They¡¯re only open five hours a night.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief. It¡¯s done¡­ thest piece of the puzzle has finally gone in.

    Time passed quickly, and Qin Ye had a good day¡¯s rest.

    Night, 12.30 a.m.

    Qin Ye slipped out of his room and made his way to the area right outside the second canteen, where they had agreed to meet. He carried arge box containing the artifacts that were to be auctioned off. The second canteen was something which had only been used by the Insignia University in the past, and it was already defunct. Nevertheless, it was still in good condition. And most importantly¡­ it wasn¡¯t too far from this ce to the east gate of the academy, and one could follow the path from the east gate all the way to the border of the City of Salvation.

    Like most other universities, the Insignia University¡¯s branch campus was built on the outskirts of the city.

    It was cheap and cost-effective.

    ¡°You have to be back by 5 a.m.¡± Lin Han was already there, and he handed Qin Ye a bundle, ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve been to the phantom market before, but you¡¯ve got to bear three things in mind.¡±

    ¡°One. Don¡¯t be surprised. There won¡¯t only be humans in the phantom market. Some of the things you¡¯ll see there aren¡¯t human beings. The phantom market is an establishment that straddles the gray area of realms. They appear only after midnight, and the time and location are indeterminate. Unless we walk the same path, there¡¯s practically little to no chance that a regr human being would encounter the phantom market.¡±

    ¡°Two. Don¡¯t speak. As soon as a human being opens his mouth, his Yang energy would leak out. It is anyone¡¯s guess what might happen if you attract the unwanted attention of non human beings. Disguise yourself with what I¡¯ve just handed over to you. Nobody reveals their true appearances at the market.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. The phantom market was something he had only heard of in name. He had ns to visit it back in Clear Creek County, but unfortunately his ns were foiled by his encounter with the Assassins of the Underworld. This was a good opportunity for him to satisfy his curiosity properly.

    He opened the bundle which Lin Han gave to him, and he was immediately dumbfounded.

    ¡°Can you please exin what this is?¡± The abrupt and drastic change in the mise-en-scene surprised him thoroughly, and he stiffly pulled out a ck, silken item, ¡°Why does this look so much like stockings?¡±

    ¡°Because it is stockings! And it¡¯s Langsha stockings to boot! That thing itself set me back several hundreds.¡± Lin Han began to pull it over his head as though it were perfectly natural. Oneyer¡­ and then anotheryer¡­ It was so embarrassing that Qin Ye quickly pulled off everyyer of stocking that Lin Han had put on with one powerful tug. Then, he fervently repressed to bash in the teeth of the stupid fool as he gnashed his teeth, ¡°Change it this instant!!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± The fool was rather displeased, ¡°It was only because of you that I¡¯d gone out of my way to purchase these Langsha products! Otherwise, I would usually just dig two holes in a garbage bag. It¡¯s simple, and yet practical--¡­ Did you just kick me?¡±

    Qin Ye calmly retracted his foot and red at Qin Ye with a murderous gaze, ¡°No reason¡­ Now get it changed for me! I don¡¯t care what it is! It can even be a trash bag for all I care! Now! Now! Now!!¡±

    The two men met again ten minutester. Lin Han¡¯s dissatisfaction had risen to the level of resentment, ¡°Transfer the money to me. Two hundred and thirty - not one cent less! It was such good stuff¡­ I just can¡¯t understand why you wouldn¡¯t want to use it¡­¡±

    Qin Ye transferred two hundred and fifty to him. Then, wrapping his face with a piece of ordinary ck cloth, he followed Lin Han out.

    I somehow get the feeling that this trip isn¡¯t going to be too smooth sailing... I guess you can say it¡¯s a form of talent to be able to make a simple disguise look like the disguise of a bank robber¡­

    There were several spell arrays erected at the east gate, coupled with cultivators that were on guard and sentry duties all day round. There were even a multitude of surveince cameras installed to cover every single angle and perspective possible. One could say that the defense was incredibly tight. Lin Han didn¡¯t take the front door. Instead, he found some bushes that were located approximately two hundred meters away from the main entrance, and he rushed headlong into it with his arms wrapped around his head. It was almost as though he were a Nipponese ghost being chased by a swarm of hos.

    Ahhhhhhh¡­ the bad premonitions havee true¡­ Qin Ye stared at the bushes. One could easily tell from its voluptuous looks and ferocious armaments that¡­ it was a rose bush¡­

    And there was a small opening at the bottom of the rose bush that appeared to be plied by dogs no less. The corners of his lips twitched uncontrobly, ¡°This is the path you were talking about?¡±

    Despite Lin Han¡¯s massive build, he was as nimble as a gopher in the barbed bush, and he responded without turning back at all, ¡°Paths are created by men after all¡­ are youing or not?! I¡¯ve already blocked the surveince cameras in the vicinity with gum. You¡¯ll be discovered in an instant if you attempt to leave from any other ce!¡±

    There were some people in the world who had an innate gift for bringing out the worst in people. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but develop an intense urge to murder him right now.

    He sighed with resignation and charged straight into the dense foliage of the bushes. After crawling for approximately ten minutes, both he and Lin Han emerged from the other side of the foliage.

    They could see the national highway extending out from the city. The lights of patrolling cultivators were still a distance away. Both men exchanged a knowing look, operated their true energy, and then shot off into the distance in an instant.

    Whoosh¡­ A rush of wind swept past their ears as they ran on. Ten minutes¡­ twenty minutes¡­ and finally, after half an hour, a brightly lit mountain appeared right in front of their very eyes.

    Several ancient houses sat at the foot of the Mount Monarch cemetery in the dead of the night, almost as though they were huge tombstones themselves. The night breeze swept through the empty streets with a soft whimper, like a symphony of souls ying on bone flutes. White prayer gs and yellow paper money were scattered all over the ground, only to be tossed around yfully by the hands of the invisible gale.

    And there were even certain households that had bizarrely crafted paper horses and servants ced in the disy windows to these houses. What would otherwise have been a peculiar, humorous sight in the day looked so dark and eerie at night that it would send chills down a person¡¯s spine.

    It was as if¡­ as soon as a person turned his attention away from these windows, the paper effigies would open their eyes and silently stare at his back.

    This was the first time that Qin Ye hade to the phantom market. A cemetery that should have been silent and still was instead brightly lit. A path led straight from the base of Mount Monarch all the way to its peak, and there were pale, whitenterns lining the path, each of which were approximately ten meters apart from the other. There was a single word written on each of thesenterns in blood-red lettering - ¡°Goods¡±.

    It was windy on the mountain, and thenterns swayed unendingly, causing these sources of light to flicker incessantly. It looked almost like a dead man¡¯s eyes were blinking at them.

    ¡°The single word on thenterns represents the rules governing this market. It indicates that you are only allowed to barter for goods. They don¡¯t ept money or spirit stones. Each iteration of the phantom market has its own rules. For instance, when Ist visited the phantom market in Pearlriver, they only epted spirit stones. If that¡¯s the case, thenterns would reflect ¡®spirit¡¯ ordingly. And if they only ept money, it would write ¡®cash¡¯ on thenterns.¡± Lin Han exined.

    Qin Ye nodded, and his eyes narrowed as he pointed to a location closer to the top of Mount Monarch, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Regr humans would never visit a public cemetery in the middle of the night. But not only were there humans right now, there appeared to be quite a number of them at that.

    Some wore hats with foot-long veils hanging down their faces, some wore masks, while others wore hoods. There were some who carried around a backpack, or huge boxes, and there were even some who materialized from a gathering of ants from all directions. All of them walked up a spiral stone staircase.

    There were even some who were wrapped in ancient ck robes, wearing mourning masks and carrying a redntern. And whenever the hem of their robes drifted up, Qin Ye could see that they weren¡¯t walking with their feet to the ground. In fact, wisps of Yin energy leaked out from underneath their robes as they drifted among the rest of the crowd.

    Yin spirits!

    ¡°Those are Yin spirits whose existences have been approved by the government.¡± Lin Han nced at him and exined, ¡°Just like A32 of the Great Dipper Vault, some of these are household gods, while others can somewhat be considered homologous Yin spirits as well. Some of them are even special Yin spirits with no record of supernatural incidents that have voluntarily pledged allegiance to the Special Investigations Department. The government would give them a special proof of identity¡­ such as this one. Take it.¡±

    He handed over two identity tokens. Qin Ye took a nce at them. The records on it stated - ¡°Chen Qi. Date of Birth: 2/6/1964. Date of Death: 21/8/2009. Date of Issuance of Yin Spirit Permit: 2/6/2018. Valid Till: 2/6/2028.¡±

    The details on the other were exactly the same as a person¡¯s regr ID card. The only other difference was that the national coat of arms was instead reced with a wreath.

    It was incredibly original!

    Qin Ye kept them and whispered, ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking you about.¡±

    ¡°Do you smell that?¡± He closed his eyes and sniffed the air again, ¡°There¡¯s a stench of dead people in this mountain right now.¡±

    Lin Han waspletely baffled by hisment, ¡°Of course there¡¯s a stench of dead people. They¡¯re all dead people here! Perhaps the scent you¡¯ve caught a whiff of is from the firecrackers instead?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Qin Ye opened his eyes and gazed deep into the mountain, ¡°It¡¯s the stench of the living dead¡­ and furthermore¡­ there¡¯s a peculiar scent that is foreign to Cathay altogether¡­ I wonder where I¡¯ve smelt something like that before?¡±

    1. Langsha is a chinese brand that manufactures stockings and underwear.

    2. The words ¶þ°ÙÎå both mean two hundred and fifty, as well as a fool. Qin Ye was taking an indirect jibe at Lin Han here.

 Chapter 218: Connection (1)

    <h4>Chapter 218: Connection (1)</h4>

    Where have I smelt something like that before? He furrowed his brows and thought for some time, but he just couldn¡¯t make the connection.

    It should have been a recent incident. Furthermore, I can tell that the stench is rather fresh, almost as though the cause of it had just urred yesterday. Lin Han was unable to sense it only because he wasn¡¯t a Hellguard. After all, the stench was incredibly well concealed among the Yin energy of the dead. If not for the fact that Qin Ye was already a Hellguard, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to detect it either.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me that there are evil ghosts present here, are you?¡± Lin Han red at Qin Ye with an incredulous look, ¡°Get it right. This is the City of Salvation. We¡¯re only slightly over ten minutes away from the City of Salvation by car, and there are innumerable cultivators patrolling there around the clock. Nothing can possibly go wrong over here.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye shelved his thoughts and attributed it to mere overthinking on his part. He pointed at the gate, ¡°Lead the way!¡±

    There was a several-meters long table that was ced right under the gate leading into the mountains. Several silhouettes were seated behind the tables and taking records of entrants, while more were waiting patiently at the steps below.

    ¡°The Special Investigations Department has taken over all phantom markets ever since a few years back. All entry and exit to and from the phantom markets must be registered. So if we want to enter the market, we¡¯ll need these.¡± Lin Han waved the special permits in his hand, ¡°Follow closely.¡±

    With that, he quickly made his way to the front of the queue.

    Qin Ye was scared witless by Lin Han¡¯s conduct - Holy shit can you show some restraint?! Do you think everyone here is blind? These people must all be cultivators, aren¡¯t they? How can you so brazenly cut the line like that? Do you want to be expelled from the academy before we even get a chance to revel in the glory of an academic exchange?

    But it was already toote. Lin Han had dashed forward like a wild boar that was out of control, forcefully cutting the line to the front of the queue. Then, he turned around and beckoned to Qin Ye with a valiant wave.

    Suppressing the rage in his heart, Qin Ye hardened his heart and strode all the way to the front, bracing himself to make a quick escape as soon as their mischief was discovered.

    They queued behind a stooping Yin spirit wearing a tengu mask. There were approximately seven individuals wearing camouge uniforms bearing the crest of the Special Investigations Department who were seated at the table. The one in the middle was a man in his early thirties with a glorious beard. He picked up the Yin spirit permit and furrowed his brows after a single nce at it, ¡°You¡¯re going to have to renew this permit soon, eh?¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re trying to use a permit issued in the Eastsea Province here at the Insignia Province? Did you get a temporary entry permit? No? Then what are you still waiting for? Your permit will onlyst you another two days. Are you trying to get arrested as a ck spirit?¡±

    The hem of the Yin spirit¡¯s robe drifted up like Marilyn Monroe¡¯s skirt, only to reveal that there were only wisps of Yin energy where his feet would have been. He rubbed his hands and smiled pleadingly, ¡°Good sir, this is rather urgent. I¡¯ve just arrived, so I haven¡¯t had the time to process the paperwork¡­ do you think¡­ you could look the other way?¡±

    He ced a box openly on the table just as he spoke.

    The bearded man opened the box and took a quick nce at its contents, ¡°There shall be no exceptions next time. Move along.¡±

    I¡¯m lost for words¡­ Qin Ye rolled his eyes. This scene was strikingly familiar¡­ I must punish such rotten pests in Hell next time! How dare you seize the money of the dead when this King Yanluo is already poor as a pauper?!

    The Yin spirit nodded with gratitude and quickly drifted in through the entrance. The bearded man tapped the table, ¡°Next.¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and tightened his fists involuntarily. He desperately prayed that the Local Bully¡¯s preparation work was reliable.

    Fortunately, that appeared to be the case.

    The bearded man checked his identification, processed the registration and allowed him ess in no time. In fact, the checks went so smoothly that Qin Ye was still in disbelief when he cleared the ess checkpoint.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t¡­ the government¡¯s control over the phantom market a little bit toocking?¡± He eximed, ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean I¡¯ll be able to visit the phantom market more frequently next time?¡±

    Lin Han stared at Qin Ye as though he were an idiot, ¡°What are you thinking? That¡¯s my biological brother.¡±

    In other words, ¡°You¡¯re a stupid ingrate!¡±

    Very well¡­

    Qin Ye swallowed back the multitude of words that were lodged in his throat, and then silently followed Lin Han up the mountain trail.

    Neither one of them spoke a word after crossing the ess checkpoint. There were quite a number of people at the phantom market. But upon closer inspection, he could tell that the amount of true energy drifting about this ce was sparse and scant. Most of the human cultivators werergely Operative-ss experts, while the rest weren¡¯t even at that level. From time to time, he would spot a few Yin spirits zipping by at speeds far quicker than regr human beings.

    Yet the rest of the pedestrians on the street simply turned a blind eye to this. Most would keep their distance as they slowly made their way towards the peak. The indifference amidst vignce brought about a rare sight of harmony between ghosts and humans.

    With their speed, the duo arrived at the peak of Mount Monarch approximately ten minutester.

    There were only a few scattered tombs at this part of the mount, but each of them exuded ss and luxury. They were made with white marble, etched with carvings of beasts which not even Qin Ye recognized, and sequestered by railings. Altarmps glowed on both sides of the tomb, while boughs of green pines and cypresses were cut down to form a finely crafted wreath.

    Currently, there was a figure standing right on top of each of these luxurious tombs.

    And there was a modest stall set up in front of each one of them, with small wooden ques marking out the prices of their products. The rest of the market was filled with farrger stalls and booths that ran continuously. Each stall also had a lit candle ced at the front of the booth. Some of these candles were regr, ordinary candles, while others were actually lit with a greenherme.

    The night breeze swept by, causing the trees to sway and its leaves to rustle. The soft moonbeams shone on the cemetery, casting a pale sheen over thends and bringing life to the chilling shadows hidden in the dark. It was as though ten thousand ghosts had gathered silently over these parts.

    Qin Ye¡¯s phone suddenly vibrated, and he nced at it. Local Bully had messaged him using a regr messaging app, as opposed to their usual Momo app, ¡°Regr candles represent regr human beings. Netherfire candles mean that the stall owner is a Yin spirit. At 5 a.m. sharp, all candles will extinguish at the same time, signifying that the phantom market is closed. Don¡¯t open your mouth to speak at all. There are all kinds of entities hidden underneath this surface of calm. It¡¯s practically chaos. Take a look around. I¡¯ll do the same too.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart felt warm and full. Credit where it was due, Local Bully was truly a good brother to him. After all, Lin Han readily agreed to help him get here without asking for much details. And now that they were here, he sensibly left Qin Ye to go about his own business alone under the pretext of browsing the wares on his own.

    Everyone wore different masks at different times. Lin Han would never achieve much if he only knew to fool around, even during the most crucial of times.

    Qin Ye had already confirmed his arrival with the representatives of Guardian Auctions earlier this afternoon. Thus, he pulled out a red feather and pinned it to his shoulder, and then he began to browse the wares of the stalls with great interests.

    The phantom market sold a variety of peculiar wares. Some of the more extraordinary items he saw included a jet-ck wooden branch, aplete human skull with a long horn growing out of its forehead, a container of the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts that was sealed shut with talismans¡­ That said, most of the other wares that were being sold were fragments of Yin artifacts.

    Most of these possess only the slightest bits of energy fluctuations, but the level of these wares are far too low. He shook his head. Without even realizing it, he had already traversed the entire length of the phantom market. Just then, he felt someone tapping his shoulder lightly three times.

    A man dressed in a long ck robe was standing right behind him, wearing a Pigsy mask. The man bowed deeply to him.

    He¡¯s here.

    Qin Ye revealed a faint smile underneath his disguise. This was how they had agreed to meet. They would wear a Pigsy mask and tap him three times on the shoulder, while he would on the other hand pin a red feather to his shoulder.

    Without speaking a word, the man dressed in ck robes made a gesture of invitation, and Qin Ye followed his lead. All public cemeteries were the same. The lower few tiers were all filled with dense areas of wall tombs, monuments and ques on a terraced tform. Mount Monarch was no exception to this rule as well. Just like that they continued walking down until they reached zone C8 of the third terrace. There, Qin Ye finally saw a little light.

    There was a massive banyan tree growing in the corner of zone C8. It had massive overhanging leaves and branches, and the resultant shadow spanned well over ten meters in breadth. As they drew close to the end of the passageway, he saw the faint glow of a whitentern, as well as the silhouettes of two other persons waiting for him.

    Very cautious¡­ Qin Ye nodded with approval. This location gave them a good vantage point of everything around, and yet others couldn¡¯t see them at all.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± A man stepped out from the shadows and stretched out his hand, ¡°Your reputation precedes you.¡±

    His burning gazended directly on therge box which Qin Ye was carrying, ¡°This ce is very safe. We¡¯ve traveled far from Yan Capital and even risked our lives by venturing close to the edge of the City of Salvation. So¡­ why don¡¯t we approach this meeting with a gesture of good faith and honesty?¡±

    His hands were incredibly fair. One could easily tell this man was well-fed and somewhat plump. Furthermore, there weren¡¯t any traces of scars or wrinkles on his hands at all.

    But Qin Ye didn¡¯t reciprocate the invitation for a handshake. Instead, he leaned back casually onto the tombstone nearby, drew a deep breath, and then carefully set the box down, ¡°How do you propose we do that?¡±

    ¡°Like this.¡± One of the men took off his Monkey King mask, only to reveal the appearances of a bespectacled young man in his early thirties. His appearances were fairly gentle and demure, ¡°Bai Yishan, the second inmand of Guardian Auctions, Yan Capital Headquarters. You may call me Master Bai.¡±

    ¡°We will eventually meet face to face if you¡¯re looking to participate in the uing summer major auction in any event. Furthermore, since you¡¯re the sessor of a Premium VIP ount holder, we will eventually have to collect more information from you so that we can serve you better. What do you say?¡±

    Qin Ye looked at him with a faint smile on his face. With another soft sigh, he finally stretched out his hand, ¡°Not bad.¡±

    Then, Qin Ye suddenly tightened his grip right as they locked hands with each other. Before the other two men could react to the situation, Master Bai¡¯s hand had already been dislocated, and he was already screaming out loud. A split secondter, Qin Ye whipped out a small shiv from his sleeve and thrusted his palm straight towards the neck of the man wearing the Monkey King mask.

    Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and nobody was able to react to the situation in time. The men in ck shivered slightly. Just as they were about to move, Qin Ye muttered cidly, ¡°Stay right where you are, and don¡¯t move a single step. Otherwise¡­¡±

    The de was only a centimeter away from Monkey King¡¯s throat. With great trembling, the other man slowly lifted his hands, and Qin Ye inched closer to him ever so cautiously, ¡°Otherwise, he dies.¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­¡± Monkey King¡¯s voice trembled, ¡°Why are you doing this? We¡¯re only here to appraise your artifacts and to transact with you. You¡­¡±

    ¡°Appraisal, huh¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly. The de was already resting on the man¡¯s throat, ¡°Do you know why I took a deep breath earlier?¡±

    Monkey King swallowed hard and shook his head nkly.

    ¡°Because I detected the stench of the living dead as soon as I arrived at the base of the mountain.¡± Qin Ye stared right into Monkey King¡¯s eyes, ¡°So, I¡¯ve always kept a close look out for the source of this stench. And just a moment ago, I finally ascertained that this stench is in fact emanating right from your body. So, mister, can you tell me why you bear the stench of the living dead on your body? If not for the fact that you possess a shadow underneath your feet, you would¡¯ve been dead by now.¡±

    ¡°Is this because you came into contact with something unclean recently? Or¡­¡± He grabbed the other man by the throat, ¡°Because you are the unclean one?¡±

    Qin Ye was truly overbearing against those who were weaker than him!

    But when ites to those who were stronger than him¡­ cough cough¡­ we all know how that goes.

    Monkey King waspletely bbergasted. Secondster, he gritted his teeth, ¡°Mr Qin, there¡¯s no need to do this¡­¡±

    ¡°Soul Hunter.¡± Just then, the third person who had been silent all this while suddenly spoke up for the very first time.

    ¡°He¡¯s a Soul Hunter.¡± The other man¡¯s voice was hoarse and husky, and he stared intently at Qin Ye, ¡°And it¡¯s not just any ordinary one at that¡­ he¡¯s far stronger than the average Soul Hunter you¡¯ll meet¡­¡±

    The third man walked out from the darkness for the very first time. His mask was still on. Furthermore¡­ given that the other two were wearing the masks of Monkey King and Pigsy, Qin Ye thought that this man would be wearing the mask of Sandy. But, he was not.

    It was¡­ Tripitaka.

    1. The pig character in Journey to the West.

    2. Also known as Tang Sanzang.

 Chapter 219: Connection (2)

    <h4>Chapter 219: Connection (2)</h4>

    As a newly minted Anitya Hellguard, Qin Ye knew full well the chasm between the abilities of a Hellguard and the abilities of a Soul Hunter. To put it bluntly, if he were to take the lives of all on the mount right now, nobody would be able to stand in his way.

    The mask that covered his face did not have a single hole on it. Furthermore, as an Emissary of Hell, Qin Ye could tell that Tripitaka¡¯s body was devoid of any Yang energy.

    How the hell did this happen?

    Whoosh¡­ The leaves on the ground began to rustle and sway without a breeze. Slowly, but surely, they began to swirl around them. The banyan tree slowly lowered its branches, almost as though an invisible force were pushing them down.

    Sun Wukong pulled out a scarf and began to wipe off the sweat on his forehead, ¡°Guardian Auctions is--...¡±

    Everyone grew silent.

    With that, he sighed, and slowly grabbed the mask covering his own face.

    Whoosh!

    Clink! The mask in his hand shattered to pieces just as the metallic gleam struck Qin Ye¡¯s arm. But, to his horror, he found his de unable to prate even a millimeter of Qin Ye¡¯s skin!

    Boom!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expressions suddenly turned somber, ¡°A corpse?¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, I can tell that you¡¯re an underworldly craftsman. After all, you¡¯ve sealed the seven apertures of the corpse to prevent his corpse stench from leaking out into the surroundings¡­ Just who are you? The one in charge of these affairs¡­ is actually you?¡±

    These were silken threads.

    The only one who could do this, was one of the seven underworldly craftsmen¡­ the corpse driver.

    A gleaming shiv was connected to a chain that extended out from the corpse¡¯s sleeve. Unfortunately, the sharp edge was unable to prate even the topyer of Qin Ye¡¯s skin.

    Sun Wukong didn¡¯t say a word. Secondster, he sighed slightly, and reached for his own mask.

    The only difference was that this man appeared far more haggard. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, almost as though he hadn¡¯t slept for a few days on end. In fact, it looked as though he were held up only by his enduring willpower. Qin Ye could tell with a single look that a soft tap would be all it took to knock him over.

    ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re the real Bai Yishan?¡±

    ¡°I beg of you¡­ save me!¡±

    Bai Yishan appeared to be screaming at the top of his voice whenever he mentioned the word ¡°he¡±. But, as if a great terror was overwhelming him, the only sound that came out was a soft whisper and a great tremble to his voice.

    ¡°Mori Ranmaru¡­ He mentioned that his name is Mori Ranmaru!¡± Tears finally gushed out of Bai Yishan¡¯s eyes, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ save me! This is an evil ghost! I¡¯ve never seen anything as evil as it! It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s far too terrifying! It¡¯s followed me all the way here from Yan Capital, and it¡¯s just nearby! I can sense it! I shouldn¡¯t have¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have done it¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have done it! AHHHHHH!!¡±

    He could tell that Bai Yishan¡¯s mind was on the brink of copse. What has he done? Has the evil spirit truly followed him all the way to the City of Salvation?

    Having lived for such a long time, Qin Ye naturally had a far greater depth of general knowledge than most who were alive. For instance, he knew about the incident at the Honnoji Temple.

    Legend has it that Mori Ranmaru looked even more effeminate than most women of his time. Personal attendants at that time were akin to a secretary to a general right now. Some of these personal attendants even had an unusually intimate rtionship with their masters¡­ As he thought about these things, Qin Ye abruptly looked up, and an incredulous spection crossed his mind!

    If Mori Ranmaru was around, then¡­ wouldn¡¯t the souls of Nohime, Oda Nobutada and Murai Sadakatsu be trapped within this bowl that is hailed as one of the ten great Yin Artifacts of the East?

    ¡°Mr Qin!¡± Bai Yishan attached himself to Qin Ye like a leech, clinging onto Qin Ye¡¯s trousers for dear life, ¡°The City of Salvation! Only the City of Salvation is safe! Please take me there with you! I beg you! I don¡¯t want to die in this unending nightmare! It¡¯s too frightening¡­ every night¡­ every night, when I close my eyes, I can see the face of that evil spirit staring right at me¡­¡±

    Bai Yishan recoiled in horror. He was just about to scream at the top of his voice when Qin Ye added cidly, ¡°He¡¯s already here.¡±

    Mori Ranmaru¡­ one of the most famous attendants of all time¡­ Qin Ye turned around valiantly and kicked off with his feet. Then, to Bai Yishan¡¯s great astonishment, he quickly drifted further into the distance.

    But he only covered ten meters before he suddenly paused right in his tracks, smacked his head and turned back around again.

    Qin Ye also felt somewhat embarrassed by the situation. After all, he just recalled something important - I¡¯m already a Hellguard, aren¡¯t I? What¡¯s there to fear from a mere Soul hunter? If a preyes looking for a predator, shouldn¡¯t the predator wee its approach?

    The soft moonbeams cast dark shadows all over the tombs around them, and the menacing shadows of the surroundings danced about wildly behind Bai Yishan¡­ almost as though they were alive! And then, they suddenly began to converge from all directions, ignoring everyone around and swooping in right towards Bai Yishan¡¯s head!

    It was impossible to see his appearances. But every single step that the figure took caused endless wails to echo in the surroundings, almost as though¡­ those who hadmitted seppuku or perished in the tragic fire of the Honnoji incident were grieving endlessly.

    Simultaneously, the candles in every single stall back at the top of the mountain flickered wildly and burned with a greenherme. The ck-robed stall attendants seated at the tombstones were startled by the eerie phenomenon, and all of them turned to look at the candles at their stalls at the same time.

    ¡°Evil ghost¡­ a hundred-year evil ghost! This¡­ how could it be?!¡± ¡°How could there possibly be a hundred-year evil ghost at the border of the City of Salvation? Why weren¡¯t we informed about this?!¡± ¡°Where did this monstrositye from?! What an overbearing aura of grievance!¡±

    Lin Han stood his ground at the top of the mount. Thehergale was so powerful that the tombstones around him were rattling softly, and cracks had even begun to appear on some of them. His coat fluttered wildly in the wind, and he gazed deeply at zone C8 of the cemetery, murmuring to himself, ¡°What an intense wave of Yin energy¡­ what kind of evil spirit is that?¡±

    Mount Monarch wasrgely terraced, and zone C8 was located on the third terrace. However, as soon as he arrived on the second terrace, he discovered that¡­ he waspletely stuck!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Lin Han drew a deep breath. He suddenly realized that things weren¡¯t as simple as he had initially thought.

    ¡°Formation array¡­ and it¡¯s not a Cathayan technique at that.¡± He nced around warily, ¡°There are others¡­ there are others in this ce!¡±

    1. This is a traditional japanese male adult¡¯s hairstyle where the top of the head is shaved, leaving the scalp looking like a half-moon.

 Chapter 220: 400 Year Ghost

    <h4>Chapter 220: 400 Year Ghost</h4>

    Whoosh! Countless paper money converged at their location, bing like a swirling tide amidst the dark cemetery grounds. Mori Ranmaru¡¯s figure stood nimbly atop the sea of paper money, sending a wave of frightening Yin energy towards where Bai Yishan was standing.

    Bai Yishan had already ducked behind a tombstone by now. His entire body was trembling, and the Nipponese corpse and the other corpse puppet were already standing tall in front of him and protecting him.

    Thehergale roared, billowing furiously against the surrounding trees. Yet Qin Ye stood his ground with uncharacteristic confidence against the impending danger. Then, about ten seconds after thehergale first picked up, a g congealed out of Yin energy appeared right in front of Qin Ye, pping violently in the powerfulhergale.

    It was a single coin.

    The Eiraku Tsuho.

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s g!

    Ssssss!!! The monstrosity standing across Qin Ye shrieked as it charged towards him. The surrounding tombstones buzzed under the pressure.

    What powerful Yin energy¡­ Qin Ye squinted. This was powerful, even among peak Soul Hunters.

    This monstrosity couldn¡¯t even be called a humanoid. Its stomach had already burst open, not with a knife wound, but almost as though¡­ it had been smashed open with the force of a blunt trauma. He appeared scorched and burnt. Qin Ye thought for a moment, and then immediately understood what had happened. He must have first cut open his own stomach, and then when the fire burnt down the Honnoji temple, a copsing pir must have fallen right onto his body and smashed his stomach open.

    The upper half of his body was crawling on the ground. His appearances were incredibly pale, almost as though he had coated his appearances with a thickyer of powder like a geisha. Yet, after all these years, the coat of powder had hardened and cracked, and some parts had even fallen off, revealing the charred, decaying flesh underneath. Even if he had been considered incredibly handsome while he had still been alive, nobody could tell from his looks right now.

    There were only three colours on his face - white, ck and yellow. He had two spot-like eyebrows and an abnormally twisted neck. Long hair draped down in a disheveled manner, and his lips were forcibly torn on its end so much so that his mouth stretched from ear to ear. As soon as he opened his mouth, one could see grisly ck teeth and a blood-scarlet tongue on the inside.

    He wielded a katana in his arms. The lower half of his body trailed closely behind, tied to his upper body only by way of a belt. There were other ghosts standing around him, all of whom were evidently dressed in garments from the Warring States period. Some of them were without heads, some had ropes around their necks and long tongues sticking out, while others with hunched backs stood beneath Mori Ranmaru, acting as his wheels.

    ¡°Is this what they call the night of a hundred ghosts?¡± Qin Ye observed the 400 years old ancient spirits with great interest, ¡°Isn¡¯t it a little bit too shabby?¡±

    Yet Mori Ranmaru didn¡¯t even deign to look Qin Ye in the eye. Instead, his gaze was transfixed on the tombstone behind which Bai Yishan was hiding. With a sharp hiss, he took a step left to get a clear view of the tombstone, but Qin Ye promptly took a step to the side to obstruct him. Mori Ranmaru took a step to the right, and yet Qin Ye obstructed him once again.

    Mori Ranmaru stopped moving.

    Finally, he stared at Qin Ye with his shriveled pupils. Saliva dribbled down the sides of his grisly-looking mouth as he tilted his head to look Qin Ye straight in the eye. Then, a secondter, he charged right over with a great shriek!

    Rumble! It charged right over like a heavy tank, crushing all of the tombstones in its path and sending fragments and debris scattering everywhere.

    ¡°How dare you refuse to bow and pay your respects to Cathay? Do you think you¡¯re an extraterritorial emissary? Do you think that Izanami is going to protect you?¡± Qin Ye snorted contemptuously and struck out in response, ¡°It¡¯s not your fault that you¡¯re ugly, but it¡¯s not right toe out and scare people at night. Look, you¡¯re damaging the poor flora and fauna around, how are you going topensate us?¡±

    Boom!

    There was a thunderous rumble, and even the space around them appeared to tremble slightly. The impact of their confrontation caused a frightening wave of Yin energy to ripple out. Mori Ranmaru flew back with a loud shriek, ploughing through several tombstones behind him and shattering them in an instant. Qin Ye also found himself knocked back a distance of five steps.

    What the heck?

    Qin Ye looked at his own hands with great disbelief.

    Where¡¯s the instakill?

    This shouldn¡¯t be the case. I¡¯m already a Hellguard, so why can¡¯t I instakill this evil spirit? Or has my talent tree been locked? I guess it¡¯s time to make a tactical retreat¡­

    Then, just as Qin Ye was looking for an opportunity to escape, he suddenly realized¡­

    That Mori Ranmaru wouldn¡¯t let him leave.

    As soon as he took his first step back, Mori Ranmaru came charging right towards him again. And this time, he finally drew the katana that was hanging by his waist.

    Shiiiing! The vicious de gleamed dangerously under the moonlight. A secondter, he began to swing his arms with a flurry of blows so quickly that an illusory ball of gleaming light shone brightly around him, slicing the ground cleanly wherever it passed. Then, with a great battle cry, the afterimages of his sword dance converged into a bright pir of de light and shot straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s head.

    Rumble! The pressure of the de lightpletely crushed all of the tombstones wherever it passed. On the other hand, Qin Ye was so infuriated that his lips trembled slightly - Don¡¯t you know how to read the situation? I was just about to make a tactical retreat, and yet you¡¯re forcing me to stay around? Well, don¡¯t me me for not holding back. Let me tell you something - I frighten even myself when I turn serious!

    As the de light drew near, Qin Ye suddenly swung his hands upwards with a formidable strike. With a loud bang, the seemingly indomitable de light shattered into a million pieces like the constetions glittering in the sky. The katana in Mori Ranmaru¡¯s hands also shattered into pieces in that very instant.

    Roar!! Mori Ranmaru erupted with a great scream and darted back like the wind. But right as he did so, a series of purple glows suddenly lit up over zone D and shot over like lightning.

    Those were¡­ arrows.

    Arrows fired from bows - something that was rarely seen these days. Each arrow was imbued with a faint purple-coloured energy, and had a burning paper talisman attached to its tip.

    There¡¯s somebody else!

    Qin Ye was a Hellguard. He was naturally able to keep up with the speed of the arrows, and he could therefore tell that the energy that these arrows were imbued with was¡­ true energy.

    Have cultivators arrived¡­ no¡­

    ¡°Perhaps they might have been lying in wait all this while?¡± Yin energy coursed through his body, and he darted to the side in an instant. Then, as he looked up towards the tombstones in zone D, he noticed several silhouettes holding up bows and raining down arrows on their current location.

    That said, their target was clearly Mori Ranmaru.

    Thk! An arrow plunged into the ground, and the talisman exploded. A peculiar symbol immediately became imprinted to the ground. Immediately, the rest of the rain of arrows poured down to the ground, forming a red formation array around Mori Ranmaru¡¯s body in just an instant.

    ¡°A formation array¡­ are these texts written in¡­ Nipponese?¡± Qin Ye was naturally pleased that someone was doing all the work for him, and he watched their confrontation with great interest. As more and more arrows rained down onto the ground, the formation array became clearer and clearer. Then, just as the formation array was about to be activated, Mori Ranmaru suddenly unleashed a great cry, and its body exploded and transformed into wisps of Yin energy that quickly burrowed into the ground and vanished.

    ¡°What a pity.¡± A voice echoed from zone C with some measure of disappointment, ¡°As expected of a 400 year ghost. A temporary invocation of a formation array would never be able to contain it.¡±

    With a soft sigh, a figure slowly made his way down the stairs. Ka-ka-ka-ka¡­. Qin Ye could hear the sound of tightening bowstrings in the area, and he keenly noticed that¡­ all of the bows were now aimed straight towards them.

    Whoosh¡­ A fire abruptly lit up in zone C. And then, a second one lit up, followed by a third¡­ Within seconds, over a dozen torches were lit, and Qin Ye could tell with a single sweep of the eye that there were over fifty people gathered in the shadows around them!

    All of them wore red tengu masks and were dressed in white feather weaves. They wore ck Nipponese tasseled caps on their heads, and they even wore feathers on their back. Their entire get-up was realistic enough to pass each of them off as a true tengu. A multitude of terrifying masks peeked out from behind the tombstones around, while the arrowheads gleamed menacingly under the soft glow of the torches around. It was almost as though Qin Ye had been transported to a Nipponese underworld in an instant.

    ¡°Tengu Army of the Kamo n.¡± The figure gently caressed the railings as he waltzed slowly out of the darkness of zone D, ¡°This gentleman doesn¡¯t need to be nervous. We¡¯vee all the way across the ocean in search of only one thing.¡±

    Secondster, his figure finally emerged from the shadows, and Qin Ye was immediately startled. It was because this man appeared far younger than he had expected.

    He was only in his early to mid-twenties. He wore a stiff suit, and he held a simple folding fan in his hands. Qin Ye could sense a great amount of true energy emanating from his body as well. This man wasn¡¯t weak, and his strength was actually not far off from Lin Han.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± He leaned on the tombstone and asked faintly.

    Kid¡­ You sure can act, can¡¯t you? The spring air is frigid and chilly, and yet you¡¯re still waving that folding fan about with such pretension? How am I supposed to treat you seriously?

    ¡°My name is Kamo no Tadayuki, and I¡¯m currently the head of the Kamo n.¡± Despite the pretentiousness of his actions, he spoke with great manners like a well brought up man, ¡°If this gentleman is alright, might I ask you to take your leave first? I¡¯ve got some personal matters to resolve with Mr Bai over there.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I can look the other way and leave if it pertains to most other things, but I¡¯ll have to rify one thing¡­¡±

    He looked straight into Tadayuki¡¯s eyes, ¡°Would your personal matter happen to have anything to do with the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡±

    Tadayuki maintained the same expression on his face, but his gaze instantly grew several times more frigid. He nced back at Qin Ye, ¡°So what if it is? And so what if it isn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°If it is, I might have to reluctantly barge into your affairs with him. And if it isn¡¯t¡­ I would probably have to remain behind anyway. After all, I, too, have unfinished business with him.¡± Qin Ye yawned as he respondedzily.

    It¡¯s not that I¡¯m looking down on you.

    But you¡¯re just a Soul Hunter leading dozens of Nipponese cultivators who aren¡¯t even at the level of an Operative-ss expert just yet. What do you take me for? Mud? You might just break down into a pile of tears if I unleash my true identity right now! If not for the fact that I¡¯m trying to keep a low profile, do you think you can still stand there, waving your fan about so smugly?

    Tadayuki remained silent and simply waved his fan gently. Several momentster, he responded emotionlessly, ¡°You¡¯re also interested in the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡±

    Without missing a beat, he continued, ¡°Who do you represent? The Cathayan cultivation world? With all due respect, this is a national treasure of my country, and we simply cannot afford to let it fall to the hands of anyone else. Furthermore, its existence is far more dangerous than you think. Besides, you don¡¯t even know the technique to unseal it. So why don¡¯t you¡­ take a step back and let me have it? I¡¯ll reward you handsomely.¡±

    Haha¡­ Qin Ye wanted tough in his face. A handsome reward? How handsome a reward can it be next to the prospects of obtaining Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul? Besides, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re underestimating Hell a little bit too much? Thisnd is where the concept of Yin and Yang and fengshui first emerged, and yet you¡¯re simply assuming that I can¡¯t break a simple seal?

    Tadayuki-dear, I¡¯m afraid the only thing I can¡¯t loosen is that knot in your heart!

    Tadayuki looked at Qin Ye, ¡°Two billion.¡±

    ¡°RMB. If you leave right now, I¡¯ll immediately write a cheque for you. This check will be issued in the name of the Mitsubishi financial group, and it can be cashed in anywhere worldwide.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately grew taciturn.

    These people are so rich that they deserve to die¡­ Yet why do I find myself moved by his offer¡­

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye firmly stood his ground and shook his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m very interested in the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl too.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± Tadayuki nodded and continued to fan himself, ¡°You¡¯ve been referring to yourself as ¡®I¡¯ ever since we¡¯ve met, rather than ¡®we¡¯. This tells me that you don¡¯t represent any powers, and there aren¡¯t any forces backing you either. On the other hand, I would inform you that the Nipponese cultivation world has already reached an agreement with the Cathayan cultivation world over this matter. In that regard, we¡¯ve already paid a huge sum to ensure that the Cathayan cultivation world stays out of this matter. In other words, there¡¯s really no one to back you up right now.¡±

    ¡°So I guess there¡¯s no reason to hold back¡­¡± He sighed softly, and his body suddenly flew up like a majestic crane as he softly instructed, ¡°Kill them.¡±

    A secondter, a rain of arrows poured right down on them!

    1. These are coins used particrly for foreign trade. It was also used on the g of Oda Nobunaga.

 Chapter 221: Eye of Damnation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 221: Eye of Damnation (1)</h4>

    But he soon came to realize that the arrows weren¡¯t directed at him at all.

    ¡°How dare you cause trouble at the First Academy of Cultivators. What gall.¡± Qin Ye chuckled and swung his demonhead saber rapidly, parrying each and every one of the arrows that were pouring down towards him!

    The air shone with a radiant light as the arrows were shattered one after the other, just like the dawn of the new moon.

    The tengu soldiers immediately turned around, revealing a shield that they wore on their backs. It was unclear what materials they were made out of, but each of them had a different human expression painted on it. With their great cry of urgency, all of them dashed like madmen towards Tadayuki and surrounded him, stacking up a neat shield formation in just an instant.

    Several silhouettes flew back like kites with broken strings, revealing a dumbfounded Tadayuki in the midst of it all. Thick wisps of true energy were visibly wrapped around his hands, and yet he simply wasn¡¯t afforded the opportunity to unleash the powerful strike he had prepared. With another loud cry, his body vanished into a cloud of dense white smoke, and cracks appeared on the ground, causing several tombstones to copse.

    This might¡­ ispletely beyond the realms that I¡¯ve seen!

    The de light sliced through the air with a chilling hum. Tadayuki peeked out from behind another tombstone. With another miserable cry, that tombstone was smashed into smithereens, while that particr image of Tadayuki vanished without a trace.

    Interesting¡­ He swung his saber again. This time, he was quicker than before. Tadayuki¡¯s eyes widened in horror. He could see that Qin Ye¡¯s attack was now filled with dark, evil energy, almost as though he had unlocked a seal, and was now tapping on the energy of Yin spirits. The de light was apanied by a dense aura of Yin energy that was perceptible to the naked eye. Wherever it passed, the tombstones were sliced cleanly in half, almost as though cut by a machine.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± He gnashed his teeth and made several hand seals in the blink of an eye. But¡­ it wasn¡¯t enough!

    The attack was too quick. Qin Ye had secretly tapped on his strength as a Hellguard. After all, he would never engage in banal negotiations if he couldpel with sheer strength. Furthermore, it was only after he utilized his Hellguard abilities that¡­ he truly discovered just how great the difference between Hellguard and Hunter was.

    Come! I want to fight ten of you!

    He¡¯e not a Soul Hunter¡­ He¡¯s definitely not a Soul Hunter! Where did this monstere out from?!

    Qin Ye thoroughly enjoyed himself.

    What was this reminiscent of?

    In fact, this was a gopher game with a Hunter-ss gopher. Qin Ye was aware that such opportunities came few and far between. Therefore, he thoroughly enjoyed himself. One sh, a tombstone copses, and a cloud of smoke arises. Another sh¡­

    Boom! Finally, after the umpteenth tombstone was shattered, Tadayuki found his entire being soaked through with sweat, and he gnashed his teeth as he made yet another hand seal again.

    This is the Kamo n¡¯s shame of a lifetime!

    There¡¯s no more tombstones¡­

    In that instant, Tadayuki¡¯s chest swelled up bizarrely, and he opened his mouth and quickly blew out what looked like andscape painting. It started out as an ink painting. Then, as it unraveled, it quickly transformed into a floating world painting, also known as the ukiyo-e, which depicted the vast expanse of the seas below, and thousands of demons dancing in the sky above.

    ¡°Kamo?¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, and the talisman flew straight into his hand. He furrowed his brows, ¡°Is it that Kamo? That¡¯s a name I haven¡¯t heard in a long time¡­¡±

    There were a plethora ofplex emotions in Bai Yishan¡¯s eyes right now, including a mix of both ecstasy and fear. In an instant, he scrambled over like a dog and grabbed earnestly at Qin Ye¡¯s trousers, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ thank you¡­ thank--...¡±

    ¡°Ungh¡­ ungh!¡± Bai Yishan waved his hands madly, as though he desperately wanted to exin himself. Qin Ye muttered, ¡°I¡¯ll give you thirty minutes. If you don¡¯t exin yourself, I wouldn¡¯t mind tying you up and leaving you here. I believe that¡­ Mori Ranmaru is still lingering around. After all¡­ what exactly have you done with the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡±

    He wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit worried that they would turn tail and run. After all, Bai Yishan would be as good as a snack to Mori Ranmaru as soon as he escaped. Qin Ye sent Lin Han a message to meet in half an hour¡¯s time. Then, he found a secluded spot to have his discussions.

    Bai Yishan had already made up his mind. Nothing was more important than his life. Thus, he sighed wistfully and shut his eyes, ¡°There¡¯s¡­ a long story behind this¡­¡±

    He sat on the railing and pinched his forehead between his brows, almost as though such an exnation drained him of the remainder of his energy. He continued with a hoarse voice, ¡°Since its establishment, more and more cultivators began to sign up and join us at the Guardian Auctions. That was how I first started as well, and I was eventually appointed a Master of the House, second only to the grandmaster. Most of the other employees of Guardian Auctions are cultivators who aren¡¯t even at the Operative-ss¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Bai Yishan shivered slightly, and he subconsciously leaned closer to Qin Ye with an expression of ostensible fear, ¡°Truth be told¡­ this bowl was whole when it was first excavated¡­¡±

    He recalled how the picture of the bowl he had received from Guardian Auctions showed only the remaining half of the bowl.

    He lifted his chin towards the Nipponese corpse standing in the corner, ¡°We discovered this corpse in a coffin¡­ It wasn¡¯t something that we had preserved and nurtured over the years. Rather¡­ it¡­ had looked like this since centuries ago!¡±

    Bai Yishan began to bark with a hoarse voice, ¡°It woke up¡­ it woke up! Do you believe it?! A centuries old Nipponese corpse with its seven apertures all sealed up suddenly sat up abruptly! And it was sizing up each one of us here! It actually managed to open its eyes!¡±

    He shuddered hard and closed his eyes, ¡°Dropped it on the ground and broke it¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡­ has a life of its own.¡± Bai Yishan opened his bloodshot eyes and stared straight at Qin Ye, ¡°I don¡¯t know whether you believe me or not¡­ but I can hear its voice calling out to me everyday, screaming¡­ screaming at me incessantly! There are male voices and female voices¡­ and some others which speak in unintelligible Nipponese words. When I looked up its words, I realized it was¡­ ancient poetry.¡±

    ¡°Save me¡­¡± He looked up with a pleading eye, ¡°Save me, please¡­ I don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    ¡°I truly panicked when my usual Nipponese clients turned down this auction. And it was right at that moment that I met you. I knew that¡­ someone here, in the City of Salvation, would definitely have the means to fix this horrible thing!¡±

    ¡°T-this is the very first stronghold of all Cathayan cultivators after all¡­¡±

    <hr>

    1. Naruto¡¯s shadow clone technique.

    2. Another Ip Man reference.

    3.

    4. The youth should be referring to Sun Wukong, who was controlling Tripitaka. Bai Yishan was Pigsy, the one who approached Qin Ye at the very beginning.

 Chapter 222: Eye of Damnation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 222: Eye of Damnation (2)</h4>

    The night breeze swept across the cemetery grounds, and the leaves rustled softly, providing an eerie backdrop to the music of Bai Yishan¡¯s sob story.

    After listening to the story in its entirety, Qin Ye remained silent for several seconds, before finally responding, ¡°I want you to think carefully before responding to this question. Did you hear any peculiar sound in particr when you first broke the bowl?¡±

    Bai Yishan shook his head. His response was a conditioned reflex. Then, he immediately caught himself, and quickly lowered his head to recall the circumstances at that time. He knew that every single detail could mean the difference between life and death right now.

    ¡°There was something¡­ I¡¯m not sure if I was just hallucinating at that time¡­¡± He looked up after two minutes, ¡°Back then¡­ I seem to have heard a copper coin fall to the ground. It was very strange, almost as though¡­ it had simply fallen out of the sky¡­¡±

    Qin Ye still remained silent. He had a guess, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to make any confirmations about this until he spoke with Arthister on.

    ¡°Do you still have the fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl with you right now?¡± Qin Ye suddenly asked.

    ¡°Yes¡­ I have it!¡± Bai Yishan sighed with relief, ran to the banyan tree, and dug up a small box. Then, he respectfully handed it to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye opened it cautiously. There was a palm-sized piece of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl inside the box.

    When Qin Ye took but a single nce at it, he suddenly felt as though someone¡­ was staring at him right through the lenses of the fragment of the bowl!

    What an intense gaze filled with grievances¡­ These grievances far exceed that which even That Amorous Affair or Li Jiankang possessed! This here¡­ we¡¯re talking about a national-level grievance here. And it feels almost as though there¡¯s more than one such intense gaze staring at me right now!

    There was even a faintly perceptible sound of countless ghosts howling, mes crackling, sharp des being driven through flesh¡­ tragic moans and despairing cries¡­ It was almost as though it was a glimpse of hell on earth!

    ck! And itsted for all of three seconds before he firmly shut the box once more, only to realize that his entire body had already broken out into cold sweat.

    Oda Nobunaga¡­ is definitely at the level of a Hellguard!

    ¡°Wait here for me tomorrow night.¡± He yed with the box and continued with a deep voice, ¡°That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t care how you¡¯re going to do it, but I want you to hook me up with the leaders of the furniture industry before the auction begins. Tell them that I¡¯ve got a stock of Southsea Huanghuali worth a billion RMB on hand, and that they should contact me if they''re interested. The payment has to arrive before the auction begins.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡± There was nothing that the present Bai Yishan wouldn¡¯t agree to.

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°It would be best if you hid as close to the First Academy of Cultivators as possible tonight. Ideally, you¡¯ll want to be sitting right at their entrance. It will be fine as long as you don¡¯t cross the boundaries and enter the City of Salvation. Otherwise¡­ you might be able to keep yourself safe for a moment, but it¡¯s going to take a far longer time before you can finally leave that ce.¡±

    Bai Yishan blinked softly and nodded eagerly. But before he even finished nodding, Qin Ye promptly grabbed him by the chin and forced Bai Yishan to lock eyes with him.

    ¡°Are you thinking that you may as well enter the City of Salvation and be done with it once and for all? Let me tell you something - dream on. Because as soon as youe in here¡­ I¡¯ll personally take your life. Believe me. My territory is hardly going to be any morex than Oda Nobunaga¡¯s.¡±

    Qin Ye spoke with a frigid tone of voice.

    His silly nature and his casual yfulness was a side of him which he only disyed to a select few. Those who fell outside this ambit of trust would naturally see the far colder and more distant front instead.

    With that, he turned around and began to make his way out of the cemetery. He couldn¡¯t be bothered with Bai Yishan any longer. Lin Han was probably getting anxious as well.

    ¡°Sir¡­ my lord!¡± Bai Yishan¡¯s entire body trembled as he followed cautiously behind Qin Ye, ¡°Are you sure I¡¯ll be able to survive until tomorrow night like this? Y-you can¡¯t leave me in the lurch like that!¡±

    Qin Ye was displeased, and he quickly vanished into the darkness with a few parting words, ¡°I¡¯ve already told you the way to survive. It¡¯s none of my business whether you adhere to it or not. After all¡­ I¡¯ve already gotten my hands on the shard I want. Besides, I¡¯m sure the first thing Mr Nobunaga would want after returning to life is to ruminate over his past¡­¡±

    I wonder what kind of expression he¡¯s going to make as soon as he sees Arthis?

    The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven vs Queen of the Witches?

    Oooh¡­ that would be quite the sight to behold¡­

    ¡°My lord!!¡± Bai Yishan¡¯s trembling voice reverberated throughout the cemetery. He didn¡¯t dare dally any longer. He picked up the box which Qin Ye had left behind, and immediately scuttled in the direction that Qin Ye had departed from.

    At least there¡¯s hope now, isn¡¯t there?

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Lin Han didn¡¯t say a single word about what transpired at Mount Monarch even after they met up once again. They simply made a beeline right back towards the First Academy of Cultivators.

    This was what friends did for each other. Lin Han didn¡¯t ask for any details from the onset. And now, seeing that Qin Ye was still silent about it, he knew better than to probe any further. After all, he could guess that the peculiar turn of events at the phantom market tonight had something to do with Qin Ye.

    Just like that, they returned safely to their own respective dorm rooms. The first thing which Qin Ye did was to bolt the door shut behind him. In a rare disy of restraint, Arthis didn¡¯t say anything abrasive to Qin Ye, and instead simply gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°There¡¯s something on you¡­ that bears the aura of great grievances. And the Yin energy emanating from it is also terrifying. Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯ve brought back the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve brought back a fragment of it.¡± Qin Ye checked that the door was locked tight, before hopping back onto his bed and recounting everything that happened to Arthis.

    Arthis furrowed her brows deeply, and she remained silent for a long time after Qin Ye had finished his ount of the story. Then, she opened the box and took a good, long look at the fragment, before finally sighing, ¡°I¡¯ve once heard from the schrs in Hell that some artifacts are so evil that certain experts would seal them and be buried together with those artifacts. After he dies, he won¡¯t enter paradise, nor will he enter hell. Instead, he will spend the next five hundred years purging the grievous Yin spirits and their energy from the artifact before finally being reborn. And in so doing, he will rue for himself great virtue and merit which will be counted to his advantage when he finally reincarnates.¡±

    ¡°If the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was ced together with the corpse when they first dug them up, then the corpse would undoubtedly be one of these fools who ced the affairs of the world before the self. How is it his business that an evil ghost is running rampant throughout the mortal realm? He should simply let Hell deal with these matters. What annoys me most is the fact that we don¡¯t get credit for the purging of these grievous Yin spirits. Pfft. Trash.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t know how he was supposed to respond to this!

    Ahhhhh¡­ Is this how an Emissary of Hell actually views the esteemed and virtuous monks and priests of the mortal realm? ¡®Mind your own business¡¯, ¡®don¡¯t steal my credit¡¯, ¡®why don¡¯t you go and die¡¯... Come to think of it, do you guys even know what it means to bemoan the state of the world and take pity on humanity?!

    ¡°Eh? Why do you have such a look of ambivalence on your face? Do you need me to help sort out your expressions?¡± Arthis leapt to her feet.

    ¡°N-no¡­ it¡¯s fine. All you need to do is to sit tight and look pretty. Now, please carry on where you left off¡­¡± Qin Ye sensibly picked the right response.

    Arthis looked begrudgingly at Qin Ye - This kid is getting smarter by the minute¡­ She coughed lightly and continued, ¡°You¡¯ve sussed out quite a fair bit of information tonight. Let me break it down for you bit by bit.¡±

    Her expression turned serious, ¡°Firstly, you guessed right - the busybody man who sealed the Oda Nobunaga¡¯s grievous spirit had some tricks up his sleeves, and he transformed the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl into a vessel of sorts. This vessel essentially contains the spirits of all who perished at the Honnoji Temple incident, particrly those who were aggrieved by the fact that they were so close to unifying Nippon at that time. When the vessel was broken, so was the seal.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, the situation at Guardian Auctions¡¯ side won¡¯t worsen any further. After all, the seal had only been broken recently, and the only person who managed to escape thus far is none other than Mori Ranmaru. Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul will only reawaken when the bowl is properly reunited. Since Mori Ranmaru clearly isn¡¯t after the bowl back at Yan Capital, his target is naturally the fragment in your hands right now. If we just take a step back¡­ this means even though Guardian Auctions has sustained some damage from these unforeseen circumstances, it still won¡¯t go down. In other words, someone will still preside over the auction as scheduled.¡±

    Qin Ye looked at her with great dissatisfaction, ¡°I¡¯ve wanted to say this for a long time now. Why don¡¯t you just go to Yan Capital and retrieve the rest of the bowl for me? Nobody would be able to find out, right?¡±

    Arthis shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s a cardinal rule that those of theherworld can¡¯t interfere with the affairs of the mortal realm. You¡¯re a damned buffoon that gets the best of both worlds - you¡¯re not subject to this rule, but I am!¡±

    ¡°Can you please take things seriously? Do you know how upset the readers are going to be if you keep beating about the bush for the sake of word count?!¡±

    Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°Since it¡¯s already been decided that the bowl is to be auctioned off, it would naturally have gained something called the ¡®will of the living¡¯. This is an intangible concept. I¡¯ve never seen it before, but I¡¯m certain it exists as part of the Heavenly Dao. As soon as I reach my hand out to seize something like that, I¡¯m afraid the only fate that awaits me is an eternity in the heavens.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes frantically as he probed further, ¡°You¡¯re unwilling to go? Why don¡¯t you seriously consider their offer? This is a proper invitation to be a civil servant of the heavens, replete with a 100,000 year end bonus and several other benefits and privileges! Heaven¡¯s not too bad, you know¡­¡±

    Arthis snorted coldly, ¡°Does heaven haveputers and the inte?¡±

    What the hell?!

    Qin Ye was dumbfounded. Do you mean¡­ I¡¯m the reason why this old hag has decided to remain on earth?!

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­ Qin Ye wanted to give himself a tight p to the face so badly!

    Arthis continued, ¡°And are there LoL challengers in heaven?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head stiffly.

    Arthis continued to score a hat trick, ¡°Would heaven have apps like Momo, Kuaishou, Douyu, iQiyi, Tencent video, as well as mahjong, poker, fresh meat, and so on and so forth? They would probably even send me to answer directly to Sun Wukong if I wanted to discuss something as simple as hunting techniques with them. And then he would probably banish me to thend of 81 trials.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the sky,pletely dumbstruck, ¡°I was wrong¡­ I should never have opened your eyes to that world¡­ When I hear you speak of the inte and pop culture with such fluency, I suddenly feel like I¡¯ve been aplete failure¡­¡±

    Arthis red at Qin Ye with a pitiful expression, affirming his thoughts. Then, her voice grew stern and somber, ¡°Don¡¯t digress! We¡¯ve already spent several hundred words bantering! Let¡¯s get back to the point!¡±

    That¡¯s right, let¡¯s get back to the point. She deliberated for a moment, ¡°So where were we? Ah, that¡¯s right. Thirdly.¡±

    She looked at Qin Ye with all earnesty, ¡°Do you know who the one called Kamo is?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°He¡¯s an Onmyoji. And the most famous Onmyojis in Nippon¡­ are none other than those from the Kamo n!¡±

    Arthis was somewhat dumbfounded, ¡°Cough¡­ I was just about to say that it¡¯s Abe no Seimei¡­ Isn¡¯t that him? And here I thought we¡¯d scored an ultra rare...¡±

    ¡°Get out!!¡± Qin Ye exploded. Then, he took a deep breath and red resentfully at Arthis, ¡°Cathay has always thought that the most famous Onmyoji is none other than Abe Shinzo¡­ I mean, Abe no Seimei. But we were wrong. The most powerful Onmyoji were in fact the respective heads of the Kamo n¡­ Speaking of which, how could you be breaking this down for me when you don¡¯t even have an urate grasp of historical facts yourself?!¡±

    Arthis shrunk back like a maggot in the face of Qin Ye¡¯s derisory gaze. Then, after a while, she nodded firmly, employed what Sledgehammer Wang was best known for - the technique of saying that this is besides the point, ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect you to be so learned in these aspects¡­ but that¡¯s not the main point! The crux of the matter lies in point number four!¡±

    She picked up the fragment of the bowl with an abstruse smile on her face, ¡°Do you know¡­ who¡¯s in here?¡±

    Qin Ye was stunned, ¡°Oda¡¯s family? Nohime, Nobutada, and some others?¡±

    Arthis grinned, ¡°You¡¯re truly fortunate.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl being called the Eye of Damnation before. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll let you look into its eye and see just how many grievous Yin spirits are actually gathered in it. This can truly be considered a pot of breeding fodder¡­¡±

    1. The Onmyojis are specialists in magic and divination, and they are said to be able to summon and control shikigami, or small ghosts.

    2. It seems like he was one of the teachers of Abe no Seimei, one of the most famous Onmyoji of all times. That said, given that he¡¯s still a human right now, it would seem like the author modernized his reference to Kamo no Tadayuki, or is referring to a descendant with the same name.

 Chapter 223: Eye of Damnation (3)

    <h4>Chapter 223: Eye of Damnation (3)</h4>

    Her hands were so quick that it left several afterimages in its wake. The entire room trembled slightly. Then innumerable wisps of Yin energy began to emerge from the heart of the fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, and they began to swirl slowly.

    Clink¡­

    Qin Ye gasped with great surprise. A cloud of dense Yin energy had gathered around the bottom of the bowl, and the eye was right in the center of it. It was red, bloodshot, and appeared to be filled with great resentment as it gazed upon the mortal realm.

    It was just an eye in a cloud of dense Yin energy, and yet it was overflowing with resentment and coldness. Furthemore, the eye¡¯s coldness wasn¡¯t quite the same as the kind which Qin Ye disyed to those around him. Rather, it was something that was far more chilling, almost as though it saw the lives of human beings as nothing more than the grass on the ground. It was an extreme frigidity borne out of an unyielding spirit that vowed never to rest until he achieved his goals. Qin Ye felt somewhat conflicted in his heart when he saw the eye sweep a gaze past him without stopping at all.

    But before Qin Ye could even reel in his surprise¡­ Whoosh! Several other eyes opened on the base of the bowl at the exact same time, each of which took the ce of one of the cosmic spots on the bowl. Within an instant, the entire bowl was covered in bloodshot eyes, observing the state of the mortal realm four centuriester with festering resentment and grievances.

    Boom!!

    ¡°Each wisp of Yin energy here represents a single Yin spirit. Take a good look and see how many there are?¡± Arthis finally spoke up.

    Qin Ye was dumbfounded.

    Ignoring Qin Ye¡¯s astonishment, Arthis remainedpletely unfazed by the menacing wave of Yin energy as she continued, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s quite misleading to say that the Nipponese Warring States were akin to warring viges. After all, each of these so called ¡®viges¡¯manded a military force of a hundred thousand or so at that time. Cathay aside, a force of such magnitude would already rank among the top in the east at that time. It¡¯s just that I can¡¯t stand the fact that one of their generals, Miyamoto Musashi, is actually more powerful than Lord Zhao Yun.¡±

    Arthis stared at Qin Ye as though he were asking a rhetorical question, before snorting coldly, ¡°If you think about it, it¡¯s funny that they should call Miyamoto Musashi a sword saint when he¡¯s just a centurion. He didn¡¯t achieve any great conquests in his lifetime, and he was only posthumously conferred the title of sword saint by pop legend. And to think he was even said to be a hundred-men yer¡­ Even the sword saint Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, founder of the Shinkage-ryu school ofbat, did no more than achieve the title of a ten-men killer. How could they hold a candle to the Sixfold Ghost Kings that we have? What a joke.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened. In other words, I wouldn¡¯t merely be seizing the souls of Oda Nobunaga and his immediate family if I obtain the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, because he woulde together with at least a dozen other high-ranking warriors of his time?

    ¡°Bodyguards.¡± Arthis responded, ¡°A Nipponese daimyo would have at least one personal bodyguard. In today¡¯s terms, it would be the equivalent of the Nipponese special forces. These are the elites of the elite, handpicked only from the ranks of thousands upon thousands of soldiers. And the only reason why they aren¡¯t well known is because their role is to protect the safety of their daimyo, and none of them participated in the battles at all.¡±

    Just then, the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl trembled, and a wisp of Yin energy far stronger than the rest suddenly rose up from the bowl.

    ¡°Here ites.¡± Arthis remained cid, but she allowed the wisps of Yin energy around her own body to flourish menacingly as well, ¡°Oda Nobunaga¡­ what a nostalgic name¡­¡±

    The Yin energy converged into one, and a life-size figure of a human being appeared in the room.

    Just like what was depicted in the various movies and animes, the helmet had the face of an oni, together with fierce, protruding fangs that looked just like a sabertooth tiger. The rest of the armor was covered in pure ck metallic tes. The wisps of Yin energy that were iling around earlier immediately rushed into the set of armor as soon as it appeared, where they transformed into a jade-greenherfire that began to ze from the inside.

    Whoosh¡­ The Yin energy in the room rushed into the armor in an instant, and two spots of red mes peeked out from the armor, right where its eyes would be. The entire room was now devoid of Yin energy and filled instead with a deathly silence and a striking chill.

    Advanced Anitya Hellguard¡­ Qin Ye gasped. He¡¯s only one step short of bing an Infernal Judge¡­ his abilities are definitely higher than mine! But I suppose that stands to reason. After all, he was one of the most famous daimyos of his time - a man who was only one step away from unifying the entire nation. Someone like that¡­ can I truly make him a subordinate of mine and take him under my wing?

    No response.

    ROARRR!!!

    ¡°Grudge, grudge, grudge! Hate¡­ hate, hate, hate! So much hate! So much HATE!!!¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ why did Akechi Mitsuhide betray me?! I can¡¯t die¡­ I¡¯ve got great ambitions! My ambitions remain unfulfilled!¡±

    This was an evil ghost through and through. It was on apletely different level from the ghosts he had encountered back during the incident with That Amorous Affair or Li Jiankang.

    ¡°AHHHHHHH!!!¡± As he roared, countless illusory silhouettes appeared to shake behind him, almost as though they were singing praises to their own king. Arthis nodded, ¡°As expected, you haven¡¯t fully awakened yet¡­ But still, you¡¯re a general. Don¡¯t make yourself look so ugly.¡±

    Fortunately, Arthis had already set up a formation array to seal off Qin Ye¡¯s room. But, even then, the doors and windows to his room began to rattle loudly, as though a massive hurricane had just picked up. With the fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl in the center, the beddings, nket, books and other belongings in the room were instantly scattered several meters away, nging and ttering against the walls.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± Qin Ye put his arms up defensively in the shape of an X, eximing as though he had just seen a ghost.

    I mean¡­ we¡¯re both Hellguards, so why does he seem to be on apletely different level from me?

    They were now face to face, no more than half a meter apart from the other.

    ¡°YYYAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHH!!!¡±

    With a thunderous bang far louder than before, Qin Ye found himself blown back so hard that he mmed against the wall. Everything within a small radius around the fragment of Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was instantly reduced to dust! Her roar was several times more powerful than Oda Nobunaga!

    There were no titudes nor beating about the bush. It was a straightforward conversation - I¡¯m stronger than you. Shut up.

    Oda Nobunaga also appeared stunned - No¡­ wasn¡¯t myeback supposed to be the stuff of legends, sweeping through Nippon like an invisible force until I conquered the entirends? Did I¡­ get the wrong script?

    Arthis¡¯ disy of might had single handedly undermined the momentum of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s massive buildup. The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl shook vigorously, and then dropped to the ground with a soft tter. Nobunaga¡¯s spiritual projection vanished in an instant, as though it had never been there a moment ago.

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly and approached the bowl slowly. And then, he poked the bowl, immediately retreated to the corner of the room and buried his head in his hands. Three secondster, he cautiously set down his arms and took another peek at the bowl.

    Arthis was infuriated. A future Yanluo who hardly acts the part¡­ how unbelievable irksome!

    Qin Ye was startled, ¡°What are you talking about? Since when was I supposed to face Izanami¡¯s army? Besides, what happened to the scourge living in Northrend?!¡±

    ¡°Have you ever thought about who your opponents truly are this time?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the Queen of Yomi, the Nipponese goddess of the dead, Izanami, and the countless emissaries under hermand!¡±

 Chapter 224: We Meet Again

    <h4>Chapter 224: We Meet Again</h4>

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Arthis asked with a slight twitch to her lips. She had a bad premonition of what was toe.

    As expected¡­ Arthis stared nkly into the sky. I should never have expected much more from him¡­ After all, we¡¯re talking about a person whose lethargy runs so deep that he would never actively embark on a course of action unless he is pushed to the brink of destion. It was naive of me to expect such an earth-shattering transformation of him overnight¡­

    Qin Ye shook his head with great astonishment, ¡°How could you have such unrealistic thoughts? Didn¡¯t I tell you to watch less Netflix? Your brain¡¯s going to rot away at this rate!¡±

    Looks like it is imperative to reason with my fists.

    Arthis slowly retracted the clump of hair that had stabbed into the floorboard right between his thighs as she coldly muttered, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a chance to restate your position.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll guarantee your safety.¡± Arthis started off by giving Qin Ye some reassurance so that he would remain present for the rest of the discussion. It could be said that they were engaging in a battle of the wits and courage right now.

    Arthis rolled her eyes at him, ¡°Have you ever thought about how big of a deal the appearance of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl truly is? Onmyojis would have sensed its appearance, and their goal is to destroy Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul altogether. The Nipponese underworld would have detected its emergence as well, and their objective would undoubtedly be to seize his soul back to their underworld to do their bidding. But Oda Nobunaga has appeared in the form of an evil ghost, and he would cease to exist as soon as his spirit is purged by the mortal realm. In other words, while these three factions appear to be in harmony with each other, but their motives and desired oues are in fact in great dissension with the other.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s be more professional about this. It¡¯s called divide and conquer.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°If you don¡¯t do this, you¡¯ll face resistance from all three factions at the same time - Oda Nobunaga, Onmyojis and the army of the Nipponese underworld. In this regard, your goals are the most closely aligned with the Onmyojis. In essence, they don¡¯t want Nobunaga¡¯s evil spirit to ever show up on Nipponese soil again.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly. He waved his arm, and a piece of chalk quickly flew into his hands. Then, he began to map out the rtionship between the conflicting parties on the ground as he murmured to himself, ¡°Look, in other words, the only faction that we truly have to face head on is Izanami¡¯s army. There¡¯s no need to even wage war with the others. In fact, there may even be prospects for¡­ cooperation?¡±

    Qin Ye flicked his chalk away excitedly, ¡°Done! This operation shall henceforth be called - ¡®Saving Private Nobunaga¡¯... No, ¡®Saving Daimyo Nobunaga!¡¯¡±

    Arthis¡¯ gaze turned stiff, ¡°I¡¯m going?¡±

    ¡°Do you want your mother to strangle you to death, you unfilial son?!!¡± Arthis exploded with great indignation, and her hair instantly rushed out like a tide, binding up Qin Ye and restraining his limbs. Arthis gnashed her teeth, ¡°Yin and Yang must never mix! Every single advantage we possess hinges on the fact that you straddle both realms, and the emissaries of the Nipponese underworld can¡¯t do what you can do! You¡¯re the only one who can bring these ns to fruition! How dare you shirk your responsibility?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the disgrace of Hell! Don¡¯t you have any self-awareness?!¡±

    Kid¡­ Be prepared to meet your maker!

    Qin Yey on the ground, panting hard. His clothes were disheveled, and he grunted feebly in acknowledgment like a dead pig.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Bai Yishan was pacing around anxiously as he waited for Qin Ye in front of an inn by the side of the road, and he immediately came running over as soon as he noticed Qin Ye.

    ¡°Of course I brought it with me.¡± Qin Ye pulled out a talisman which he had especially obtained from Arthis. This talisman was imbued with her Judge-ss aura. As long as the assant was no stronger than a Judge-ss entity, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt the owner of the talisman one bit.

    Bai Yishan¡¯s eyes gleamed. He was so desperate that he would believe anything Qin Ye said right now. He reached out to grab it, only to realize that Qin Ye wasn¡¯t letting go of it.

    What things?

    Ah! Just before he left, he mentioned something about a billion of something?

    Qin Ye nced at him, and then pped the talisman onto his forehead, ¡°Do you even remember what I¡¯d asked you to do?¡±

    ¡°Southsea Huanghuali.¡± Qin Ye looked him straight in the eye, ¡°I¡¯d like to sell a stock of Southsea Huanghuali worth a billion so that I can purchase the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl at the auctions. If you can¡¯t get it done by the end of the month, then¡­¡±

    After heaving a long sigh of relief, Bai Yishan felt much calmer and more spirited than before. He clutched tightly at his chest where the talisman was stored as he muttered, ¡°Mr Qin, it seems like you¡¯ve checked on thepetition at the uing auctions. A billion RMB for a single artifact is practically unprecedented. The highest artifact that we¡¯ve auctioned thus far is Picasso¡¯s painting entitled ¡®Boy with a Pipe¡¯, and that had transacted at 100 million USD. But that said¡­ I¡¯m afraid a billion might not even be enough this time.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, ¡°Are you saying that there are foreign tycoons who have taken an interest in it as well?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°He¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered for a long time, before he finally nodded with slight resignation, ¡°I understand. Go ahead and make the preparations anyway. Tell them that there¡¯s no cap on the stock of Southsea Huanghuali. Remember, I only ept checks that are eptable worldwide.¡±

    Yet Qin Ye stuck around for a while, lingering by the roadside as he cast a long, abstruse gaze into the deep abyss of the night.

    There were currently four factions inpetition, all of whom knew full well that the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was broken into two fragments, and only one of it was to be sold at the auction. There was no reason to make a move for the fragment to be auctioned if they didn¡¯t have the other fragment toplete the bowl. Therefore, the only faction that would make a move prior to the auction was one that necessarily possessed the other half of the bowl. The corory was true, that whoever made a move right now would essentially be dering that they possessed the other fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl in their hands! This was why everyone was biding their time, waiting for the auction to end so as to determine which party had made their move to secure the fragment of the bowl. And then¡­ thepetition for the bowl would officially begin.

    ¡°I wonder when it all began, when someone as cowardly as I somehow stepped onto the same stage ofpetition as these big names?¡±

    He had done everything so far for the sake of his own survival.

    And this trip to the East Cathay Sea was for the dual purposes of obtaining the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl and to finallymission the golden trade route of Hell built upon his stock of Southsea Huanghuali. His sess¡­ would mark the true beginning of Hell¡¯s ascension!

 Chapter 225: Publication

    <h4>Chapter 225: Publication</h4>

    3.00 a.m. Far away, in a luxurious vi in the Dragonriver City, a middle-aged man hung up the phone and sighed wistfully.

    Even though it was an ungodly hour in the morning, the vi was still brightly lit, and there were even five other elderly persons sitting in front of the middle-aged man, including both men and women.

    ¡°Is the information from Guardian Auctions reliable?¡± The leader of the elders was an old man who was nearing his seventies. He wore his pajamas and held a walking stick. Although he looked old, he carried himself with a dignified disposition.

    If reporters were here, they would have rushed right up to the panel of elders.

    This was the Furniture King Gao Youliang, also the leader of the Gao n. Gao Youliang had uprooted his entire n and brought them to Dragonriver City when it was first drafted to form part of the special economic zone. The Gao n came from a lineage of pce master carpenters, and their handiwork was exquisite. As the Dragonriver City flourished and grew, so did the number of wealthy tycoons living in the area. The nouveau riche began to have higher and greater expectations of their living environment, including the furniture which they used at home, and the Gao n naturally rode the wave of demand to create the country¡¯s high-end antique furniture hegemony, Imperial Furniture.

    Their custom-made pieces were of such high quality that they were often considered treasures that could be sold at the Sotheby¡¯s auction house. In fact, one of the artifacts auctioned by Sotheby¡¯s in recent times was the clothes rack of the Qianlong Emperor, one of the handiwork of the Gao n ancestors. All things considered, the Gao n was considered to be one of the wealthiest in Dragonriver City, even among other tycoons.

    After all, any business whichmands a monopoly or an oligopoly of the entire market - even paper towels at that - would bring immense wealth to its owners.

    After decades of grooming and nurturing the business, Imperial Furniture had finally been passed down to Gao Zhongde, who represented the second generation after Gao Youliang. Gao Youliang went on to live the life of a retiree, spending the most part of his time living within thepound of his sprawling vi and rarely stepping out. This naturally meant that any reporters who wished to speak with him would have to request for an interview. Yet, despite all that, the retired magnate of upscale furniture was now personally presiding over a meeting within the Gao n vi in the wee hours of the morning.

    ¡°It¡¯s reliable.¡± Another white-haired old man responded in earnest, ¡°Guardian Auctions would never toss their name around lightly. While the money is substantial, it wouldn¡¯t be good for business if their good reputation were tarnished by unreliable news. Besides, it¡¯s not as though they¡¯ve never helped to connect potential clients before.¡±

    Another old man held an unlit cigarette as he frowned, ¡°Qin Ye¡­ There¡¯s a handful of great, reputable families in our country bearing the name of Qin, but we¡¯ve never heard of someone with his name. And to think that the first offer he made was for a stock of Southsea Huanghuali worth three billion¡­ That¡¯s by no means ordinary, no matter how you look at it.¡±

    ¡°Of course he wouldn¡¯t be any ordinary person.¡± Gao Youliang picked up a piece of paper from the table, ¡°Qin Ye. We¡¯ve only got his name. I¡¯ve already got someone to do a background check for other particrs pertaining to this man, but¡­¡±

    He handed the paper to the other elders, ¡°Take a look for yourself.¡±

    Everyone gathered around immediately, and Gao Zhongde couldn¡¯t help but gasp, ¡°This is¡­¡±

    There were only two words on the paper. The rest of it waspletely nk.

    Secret.

    ¡°Confidential, secret and top secret form our country¡¯s ssifications of the three tiers of secrecy. Particrs of his identity are actually of the second tier of secrecy¡­ I¡¯ve never heard of something like that¡­¡± Gao Youliang¡¯s eyes narrowed, and then he continued with a soft voice, ¡°Are you aware of the public broadcast announcement that happens everyday at exactly 6 p.m.? And also¡­ news of the murders at the Pearlriver Delta area that have been suppressed by the authorities. As well as¡­¡±

    He closed his eyes and sighed softly, ¡°The special department that has been established by the government in recent times?¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that this man is one of them?¡± One of the elders shuddered lightly as he responded hoarsely.

    ¡°It¡¯s very likely. If so, his credentials would be even more reliable. After all, as far as I know¡­ nobody with ssified personal particrs would ever do something as silly asmitting fraud.¡± Gao Youliang turned to his personal secretary who was standing behind him, ¡°Tell them to withdraw their investigations. It¡¯s not going to turn up any results.¡±

    The room grew silent. Several momentster, Gao Youliang¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he remarked softly, ¡°No cap on the stock of Southsea Huanghuali¡­ What an astonishing im¡­ Well, since that¡¯s the case, then¡­ perhaps I should personally make the trip down to meet you face to face.¡±

    ¡°Make the necessary preparations, and tell Guardian Auctions that I¡¯ll be participating in the uing summer major auctions.¡±

    Qin Ye was naturally unaware of these things that were taking ce far away in Dragonriver City.

    He was a busy man. On the second day, he received a call from the Imperial Furniture Group. The two didn¡¯t say much else, apart from some pleasantries and an agreement to meet on 15 June to inspect the samples.

    Afterwards, Qin Ye checked on the background of the Imperial Furniture Group, only to realize that the sheer magnitude of their business was like kryptonite to his dog eyes. Not only were they a furniture mogul, they had even in recent times be involved in the creation of small vis. In other words, their business had turned into a one stop shop, from construction to interior design to home decor and furnishing. And these vis could easily go for a hundred million each.

    This is quite the reliable coborator.

    This was Qin Ye¡¯s assessment of them. With that, Qin Ye spent the next few days performing his ssroom duties and resting between his work. He even took the initiative to review and revise the lesson ns which had been crafted earlier. His experience with the thesis gave him a newfound appreciation for the pursuit of knowledge, and the multitude of words on the lesson ns no longer appeared as boring as they did before. In fact, the review and revision of the lesson n came much more naturally than before.

    Certain concepts which he hadn¡¯t thought through properly back then were now patently clear to him. It was as though a new realm of knowledge had been opened in his mind.

    There were some areas of uncertainty which appeared incredibly simple to him right now. He even had a better appreciation for some of the things Arthis had said before. The entire experience with the thesis paper had helped him to sort out the great mountain of information in his mind.

    He was undoubtedly settling into his office as an Anitya Hellguard right now, whether in terms of strength or knowledge.

    Then, amidst his anxious anticipation, 27 May finally arrived.

    This was the date of his inaugural publication on Weekly Cultivators!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Shang County.

    A county with a thousand years of history.

    The outbreak of supernatural incidents in this region couldn¡¯t be considered too severe. Although the public broadcast announcements were still being yed religiously each day, it was clear that the mortal realm had gained the upper hand in the sh of power.

    There was a research center located in Shang County known as the Origin Research Center. This institution was renowned in the academic circles in the field of Yin spirit research and studies.

    The research center bore the appearance of an old building with the necessary amenities located all around it. It was located on the outskirts of the city. The only prominent feature that stood out was the fact there were hardly any residential facilities located in the vicinity of the research center.

    Instead, it was surrounded by military outposts, national guards, and the offices of the Special Investigations Department. Even the cafes and restaurants around were all opened and run by ex-officers of these military or governmental departments.

    Luo He was one of the members of the Origin Research Center.

    It was 12.00 p.m.

    ¡°Dr Luo, would you like to have lunch together?¡± A colleague dressed in a whiteb coat asked as he walked past Dr Luo¡¯s office. Dr Luo responded, ¡°No, thank you. Something¡¯se up. You guys go ahead.¡±

    His colleagues chatted heartily as they left for lunch, and the rest of the office building quietened down.

    Right then, the door flung open, and a newspaper delivery man walked into his room with a pile of newspapers. The delivery man was just about to set the papers on the table when Dr Luo grabbed it from him.

    The faint smile on his face had already faded away. His hands trembled lightly, and he drew a deep breath as he unraveled the papers.

    On what basis!

    On what basis did you cut me out when we had a deal to begin with? I¡¯ve toiled so hard to earn myself this opportunity at a prized publication for my thesis, and I was supposed to rise to stardom with this week¡¯s publication of Cultivators Weekly. Why do I have to wait in line all over again?!

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see who¡¯s hogging my limelight!¡± He flipped straight to the page where the academic updates were published.

    ¡°The Mutation of Yin Spirits: Causes, Developments and Possibilities.¡± A row ofrge, ck characters appeared right in front of his eyes. He read on, ¡°First author: Instructor Qin Ye, First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Co-authors: Instructors Su Feng and Lin Han, First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Contributors: Ye Xingchen, Wang Chenghao, Zhang Ronghua, Pu Zhi¡­¡±

    First Academy of Cultivators?

    He was momentarily taken aback, and then he snorted, ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators has only been inaugurated several months ago, and they¡¯ve already got results to show for it? And it¡¯s not even the two principals or their professors, but mere instructors from the academy? What could these kids in their twenties or thirties possiblye up with? Do they even appreciate the concept of academic rigour?!¡±

    ¡°Such irreverence!¡± He took a deep breath and fervently suppressed his swelling anger as he read the article proper.

    But after merely ten seconds of doing so, the angry huffs quickly disappeared altogether.

    He knitted his eyes together, blinked a few times, and then gasped slightly.

    What a novel perspective!

    ¡°This perspective¡­¡± He paused, and then turned to hisputer and entered the keywords ¡°Yin spirit¡± and ¡°evolution¡± into his academic search function. An entire series of articles appeared.

    These were all of the published articles that referred to both keywords within the same paper.

    Every single article on this list discussed each of these concepts separately, but none of them had ever considered discussing them in the very same breath!

    ¡°This is¡­ apletely fresh idea!!¡± His mind went numb, and he sprung to his feet with a great exmation. His breaths had be even more ragged than when he was incensed just moments ago!

    Having lived his life as an academic, he knew full well what apletely novel perspective meant to the entire academia.

    Unchartered territories, a novel perspective, and apletely fresh idea. This was what the parapsychology academia needed the most right now!

    This would¡­ forge a path to a whole new sub-discipline! We would see innumerable master students and doctorates in the pursuit of new knowledge in this research field. It¡¯s not even an exaggeration to call it groundbreaking!

    ¡°Where the hell did this monstere from?!¡± He grabbed his sses and began to scrutinize the thesis, ¡°Qin Ye¡­ Qin Ye? Why haven¡¯t I heard of this doctorate before¡­ Perhaps he¡¯s just a masters degree holder? Or could he be a research fellow?!¡±

    ¡°This premise employs the case of the thirty-three headless bodies discovered in the Greatriver City. That¡¯s one of the most renowned unsolved supernatural incidents. He actually reconstructed the entire incident based solely on the avable forensic evidence as well as what video footage was avable to him. It¡¯s obviously not factual¡­ but why do I feelpletely convinced by his conjectures?¡±

    ¡°And every single premise is exactly like that¡­ built upon facts, cogent and logical, andpletely irrefutable no matter how you look at it. I should have heard of someone as amazing as him, even if he had merely been upied with his research and experimentation! So, why haven¡¯t I heard of his name before?¡±

    Twenty minutester, he slouched back on his seat and stared vacantly at the paper.

    The blow he had just received was far too great. An unknown person had just seized the limelight from him and even managed to secure a full-page publication. And even though Dr Luo had sought to peruse the thesis paper with the sole intent of poking holes at its arguments, he ended up worshipping Qin Ye instead¡­

    Two words reverberated in his heart endlessly.

    I¡¯ve lost¡­

    I¡¯ve beenpletely defeated by this man. His ideas are fresh and novel. I was barely able to scrape together a paper worth publishing by finding new ways to repackage old ideas. There¡¯s no way I can match up to this man.

    He had already known that someone who was able tomand a full page publication would most certainly be better than him. But, having read the paper himself, he couldn¡¯t help but concede that this man was several times better than him to boot! In fact, the difference was so great that the loss was incredibly difficult for him to stomach.

    ¡°Bullshit.¡± Several minutester, he slowly got to his feet and massaged his temples with a bitter smile on his face, ¡°I¡¯m truly getting old. The talent of the new generation is incredible¡­ truly incredible!¡±

    What he didn¡¯t realize was that his reactions were already considered mildpared to some others. After all, he already had an inkling of what was toe today. Elsewhere, in various institutions, including the Luo River¡¯s Dragoncircle Research and Development Center, Pearlriver¡¯s Astronomy Experimental Base and Eastsea Building 653. Even SRC Headquarter¡¯s Star Building and the Special Investigations Department Headquarter¡¯s Cutting Edge Building were exploding with chaos!

    Special Defense Division, Special Investigations Department, Yan Capital Headquarters.

    This special divisionprised tens of thousands of personnel, all of whom were the sharpest swords among all registered cultivators. These were all personnel who regrly stood on the frontlines, facing all sorts of supernatural threats and incidents. Naturally, each of them would have encountered their fair share of bizarre encounters.

    ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Section Chief Zhen Daoming of the Special Defense Division was routinely having his lunch while reading the papers when he suddenly eximed and nearly spat out some vermicelli in his lips.

    ¡°Section Chief?¡± His assistant, a young man in his twenties, was ying games on hisputer when he heard the exmation. He stuffed two more mouthfuls of rice into his mouthzily before turning around and asking in confusion.

    Zhen Daoming couldn¡¯t care about his image at this moment. There was still food by the side of his mouth as he firmly instructed, ¡°Little Zuo, head over to our data room right away and pull out all files of secret ssification and above, including the files of all unresolved incidents! And tell all section members to pack their lunches and assemble in the conference room right away!¡±

 Chapter 226: Shaking Up Academia

    <h4>Chapter 226: Shaking Up Academia</h4>

    Zhen Daoming¡¯s breaths grew quicker and shallower, and he wiped his mouth haphazardly as he tightened his grip around the papers with great trembling.

    Naturally, nobody knew how heavily this matter had been weighing on his heart all this while.

    At least, this was the case until now.

    ¡°The Mutation of Yin Spirits: Causes, Developments and Possibilities.¡±

    ¡°Co-authors: Instructors Su Feng and Lin Han, First Academy of Cultivators.¡±

    ¡°Everyone.¡± He took a deep breath and tossed the papers onto the center of the table. His mouth felt slightly dry, ¡°Have you all had a chance to read this thesis?¡±

    The entire building was built in the shape of a five-sided star. This was also how it came to be known as the Star Building. The building was densely packed with all of the most important researchboratories of the SRC. It was meant to be lunch hour right now, yet there was an excited buzz going on everywhere within the building.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen it. I think¡­ the author is right!¡± A tall researcher flushed with excitement, ¡°There are a plethora of things that can now be exined if we look at them from the fresh perspective he has offered. In fact, this would even give us a greater insight of the mysterious zones that had previously been ssified as more dangerous than a regr hunting zone!¡±

    Just then, the announcement system in the building suddenly went off.

    Ten minutester, and with a great scrambling of footsteps, the main conference hall of the SRC Headquarters waspletely filled up.

    ¡°This must have been triggered by the thesis paper published on Cultivators Weekly, isn¡¯t it?¡± A white-haired professor sat in his seat and sighed in exmation, ¡°Amazing¡­ the author is most certainly a national-level expert. The immacte flow of logic and the unparalleled choice of examples simply draws anyone in as soon as they begin to read it.¡±

    Ady in her fifties added, ¡°Indeed. This paper is truly inspirational. Besides¡­ have you seen thements below? It mentioned that Academician Yu personally attests to the contents of the paper. In other words, he¡¯s verified the ims set out in the paper. Do you know what that means? It means that we can take this as none other than the truth!¡±

    ¡°Silence.¡± Just then, a majestic voice resounded throughout the hall. All four entrances to the conference hall mmed shut, and then three figures slowly made their way to the podium. Immediately, the entire hall was filled with soft gasps.

    ¡°Silence.¡± The man who stood right in the middle was the chubby Academician Song. But there wasn¡¯t even a trace of a smile on the face of the otherwise bubbly and sprightly man. Instead, there was only a stern and somber expression on his face at this very moment, ¡°Today, just some moments ago, we¡¯vee across an academic paper in Cultivators Weekly that will go down in history as one of the greatest papers ever written.¡±

    Being the three pirs of the SRC, the three academicians naturally understood just how staggering and impactful this paper was.

    This was the extent of its significance.

    Meanwhile, at Pearlriver¡¯s Astronomy Experimental Base.

    Unlike the SRC, which was built upon the unending depths of resources from the Cathayan government, the Astronomy Experimental Base prided themselves instead with the maxim that less is more. As the dot hovering over Pearlriver Delta grew redder and redder, the importance of the Astronomy Experimental Base naturally grew more and more important.

    ¡°Qin Ye! Have any of you heard of this name before?¡± The conference room wasn¡¯trge, and their meeting was nothingpared to the grandeur of the SRC conference. There were only ten men seated around a table within a room that was norger than twenty-meters in length. And none of these men were young.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether he¡¯s important or not, and I don¡¯t care about that either. Right now, the only thing I want to do is to sit face to face with him and have a good discourse about his theories and hypotheses!¡± Another old man flushed with excitement, ¡°The Pearlriver Delta is undoubtedly one of the greatest victims of the supernatural upheaval in recent times! The three eastern provinces are the same as well - Westriver has detected the presence of immeasurable amounts of Yin energy. Fortunately, that¡¯s also where Dao Ancestor Zhang¡¯s legacy is located, so they¡¯re not in such dire straits as we are. On the other hand, the Pearlriver Delta has seen almost a dozen incidents like the thirty-three headless bodies discovered in the Greatriver City!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already sent him an invitation.¡± The chairman appeared well-built,pletely different from the typical researcher out there. Instead, he looked like he would fit right in with the cultivators from the Special Investigations Department. He crossed his hands and sighed softly, ¡°But¡­ Shang County¡¯s Origin Research Center, Luo River¡¯s Dragoncircle Research and Development Center, Eastsea Building 653, and several other renowned research institutions have also sent out their invitations to Mr Qin at approximately the same time.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, we absolutely have to invite him over!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. The City of Salvation is a ce that we can¡¯t enter. And even if we could, we wouldn¡¯t be able to leave. They are under close scrutiny right now - far worse than what you or I could possibly fathom.¡± Old Man Lei tapped the table gently as he continued, ¡°The reason why I¡¯ve called this meeting is in fact to inform all of you that no matter where Mr Qin decides to go, we¡¯ll head there right away.¡±

    With that, the meeting was adjourned, and everyone left. Only Old Man Lei remained behind, picking up the papers and slowly gleaning the contents of the publication once more.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Just as the academic world was roiling with raving reviews over the thesis publication, so was the First Academy of Cultivators.

    ¡°Did I get that right? Qin Ye, Lin Han and Su Feng? They¡¯ve lessened their course schedule for this very purpose?¡± ¡°That--... is awesome! A full-page publication on Cultivators Weekly?!¡± ¡°Bloody hell¡­ why does it feel like we¡¯re living inpletely different worlds? Their achievements truly put us to shame!¡±

    ¡°Awesome!¡± ¡°Awesome x2!¡± ¡°Send a red packet!¡± ¡°This¡­ is the work of the devil! What a beast!¡± ¡°Holy crap¡­ the title of outstanding instructor in the first semester is rigged, isn¡¯t it? It has to be! It absolutely has to be!¡± ¡°Here I am, ving my ass off with lesson ns in the hope that I can catch up to you guys, and there you are dropping these nukes on us like that?!¡±

    Perhaps none of them could truly appreciate the true implications of this paper. But their inability to appreciate the contents of what they had read didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they were simrly unable to understand the significance of a publication on Cultivators Weekly.

    Even the students from the Faculty of Combat were holding their heads up high as they strutted around the academy - Did someone deride our instructor for being too young? Come,e,e, take a look at the publication on this week¡¯s edition of Cultivators Weekly?

    This was why Qin Ye was hardly surprised as soon as he heard the announcement being made in the academy. Besides, it would be far too humiliating if a coboration between Arthis and Gu Qing wasn¡¯t able to produce a paper good enough for publication on Cultivators Weekly.

    It¡¯s not that I¡¯m looking down on anyone over here. It¡¯s just that when ites to the understanding of Yin spirits, everyone here is as good as garbage!

 Chapter 227: Eastsea Building 653 Academic Forum

    <h4>Chapter 227: Eastsea Building 653 Academic Forum</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯vee.¡± He fervently suppressed the excitement in his heart. That said, it was apparent that the smile on his face hadn¡¯t faded once as soon as he saw the publication on Cultivators Weekly. He pulled out a phone and ced it right in front of Qin Ye, ¡°Come, take a look. These are the fruits of yourbour. You¡¯re ted to leave on 3 June and return on 3 July. Have a good look at the offers, and then let me know how you wish to go about with these academic forums.¡±

    Qin Ye breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. The east wind that he had so longed for had finally arrived.

    He scanned the contents of Xu Anguo¡¯s inbox and noticed dozens of emails lying unopened. The titles of these emails were simr in nature - ¡°XX Research Center Cordially Invites Instructor Qin and Co to the XX Academic Forum at XX Location.¡± ¡°XX Research Institution Cordially Invites Instructor Qin and Co to the XX Academic Forum at XX Location.¡±

    Su Feng¡¯s eyes turned a little red as he stared in disbelief, ¡°Are these all¡­ directed to us?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Xu Anguo smiled radiantly at the three instructors seated in front of him. The First Academy of Cultivators was now ced in the national limelight. In fact, the professors, and even the principals, had all been working on their own research papers and theses for the purposes of publications, and yet nobody would ever have expected the ones toe out ahead of the race to be three unassuming instructors.

    ¡°Furthermore, your names will be recorded in the national archive of talents from the very moment you set foot onto the stage of the first academic forum. From then, you¡¯ll continue to receive countless invitations from various knowledge-based organizations¡­ Lads, it¡¯s safe to say that you¡¯ve already graduated before the First Academy of Cultivators has even taken off proper. Many people have traveled far and wide to the First Academy of Cultivators in pursuit of beefing up their own resumes. Yet you¡­ within the first semester of sses, have already surpassed what others could only dream of achieving after decades of effort.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Meanwhile, it appeared to finally dawn on Arthis that she was in fact an Infernal Judge. When Qin Ye stepped into his room, he immediately noticed that the floor was littered with yellow talisman papers. Arthis was seated in the midst of the chaos, dipping her brush into vermillion ink from time to time and drawing broad strokes across these talisman papers.

    Her movements were elegant and graceful. She pulled back her sleeve with one hand daintily, while her other arm remainedpletely still as she drew beautiful strokes on the talisman papers with the flick of her wrist. With each stroke of the brush, Yin energy would condense onto the paper and vanish in an instant, and thumb-sized ck lotus flowers would sometimes even appear underneath the brush and drift into the air around.

    ¡°Shut up if you don¡¯t want to die.¡± Arthis didn¡¯t even look at him. Just then, she flicked her wrist down, and a red brushstroke appeared on the talisman paper below. In the next moment, the entire sheet of paper spontaneouslybusted like a butterfly consumed by jade-greenherfire, and it vanishedpletely into thin air.

    Qin Ye finally found the opportunity to respond, ¡°What were you trying to do?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded in bewilderment.

    Qin Ye blinked, and then gasped in shock.

    By extension, doesn¡¯t this mean that I won¡¯t be able to instakill Oda Nobunaga either?

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions immediately turned grim and bitter, and it took him several seconds before he finally responded with great trembling, ¡°Then¡­ do you think there¡¯s any possibility of us sneaking off with the bowl? Or perhaps borrow it to seize Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul, before returning it to them before the auctions?¡±

    ¡°Firstly, there is a precondition that the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl must recognize its master before one can seize the souls within. Secondly, the security over such an invaluable artifact must be immense. I won¡¯t be able to help out, given the cardinal rule that those from theherworld cannot interfere with the affairs of the mortal realm. It¡¯s impossible for you to secure it right now either. Under your current circumstances, if you were to head over to Yan Capital right now to secure the bowl, I¡¯ve got no doubts that the Special Investigations Department will be breathing down your neck in less than two days¡¯ time. There are times when it¡¯s just not worth the trouble scrimping and saving if you could just circumvent and solve the problem with money. Sure, the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl may be valuable, but next to the potential benefits you gain ess to by being part of the inner circle of the First Academy of Cultivators, it¡¯s simply not worth taking such a risk at all.¡±

    Qin Ye pulled out his phone, tapped on an app, and immediately checked for ticket prices for flights to the Vatican.

    Qin Ye straightened his back immediately, and he red begrudgingly at Arthis.

    He picked up the talismans and looked at them, while Arthis promptly exined, ¡°Ninefoldary Shift Talisman. This is a talisman that can only be used at night. The other is called the Mother-Son Talisman. The Son Talisman, or the subordinate talisman, fixes the destination, while the Mother Talisman, or the primary talisman, activates an instant discement ability. You¡¯ll be able to traverse a thousand miles immediately¡­ These are all things which I¡¯d learnt back when I was still an Emissary of Hell, and I¡¯ve especially recalled these matters to mind just for your sake! Don¡¯t you think you should be thankful to me?!¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t.¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°This is just to satisfy your eyes and reassure your heart. I¡¯ve got a vague idea of how it¡¯s meant to look, but I¡¯ve forgotten how exactly it should be drawn.¡±

    How does that even work?!

    ¡°Emissaries of the underworld are only able to instakill Yin spirits that fall within the jurisdiction of their corresponding underworld. Naturally, extraterritorial emissaries won¡¯t be able to achieve the same effects.¡± Arthis exined with some exasperation, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t feel at ease if I allowed you to venture into the unknown on your own¡­ Ah, just to be clear, I¡¯m not concerned that you would die. I simply don¡¯t want you to embarrass Cathay¡¯s underworld in front of Nipponese emissaries, and yet still return to Cathay in safety. You know, the more I think about it, the more I think an oue like that is likely¡­ Now, that¡¯s a scary thought.¡±

    ¡°That bbermouth?¡±

    ¡°In any event, you can leave this in my hands. I¡¯ll make the arrangements with Lord Ming on your behalf.¡±

    Qin Ye has always known that he wasn¡¯t a hot-blooded, impassioned person who would act on impulse at the slightest sign of provocation. The only reason why he, the present King Yanluo, had to take to the battleground was purely because there was nobody under his charge right now. And since he wasn¡¯t as good as others at being a valiant warrior on the battlefield, then he would have to make up for his inadequacies through other means.

    For instance, he was the only one among cultivators who could reap souls, and he was the only Emissary of Hell who could pass off as a cultivator. Furthermore, he was undoubtedly one of the most shameless men ever in existence - one with practically no bottom line at all!

    He picked out the location for his academic exchange in no time.

    Although his primary purpose for heading out was none other than the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, his travel out was still built upon the pretext of an academic exchange. It would be far too much of a waste to let this opportunity to rise to stardom go to waste. Besides, he couldn¡¯t bear to let his co-authors down either.

    ¡°Eastsea City¡­ is the city with an S-ranked research institution located closest to the East Cathay Sea¡­¡± He stared at the maps on hisptop and murmured to himself, ¡°The auctions are going to take ce at an ind on the high seas east of Cathay, near Pusan and Kyukoku. There are a number of inds close by that are subject to territorial dispute between various countries, and I imagine that some of the auction attendees don¡¯t feel as safe if the auctions took ce at such a location. Therefore the dangerous,wless high seas instead became the safest ce. These attendees must truly be influential¡­¡±

    There¡¯s no other ce more suitable than this!

    He had just dialed the number of the Imperial Furniture Group.

    Of course¡­

    Qin Ye nced eastwards and squinted his eyes softly. He was willing to bet that Guardian Auctions would also be taking the route from Eastsea to the ind! After all, it was highly unlikely that they would have the gall to travel to the ind from Yan Capital, right under the watchful eyes of the central government!

    There¡¯s much more room for manoeuvre this way. The more I think about it, the more I think that Eastsea is definitely the right choice!

    Qin Ye was jolted back to his senses, ¡°Mr Gao, I¡¯ll be at the Pearl of the Orient at Eastsea City from 3 June to 5 June. See you soon.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Back at Dragonriver City, Gao Youliang sat in his chair and drew a deep breath, ¡°See you soon. I eagerly await the samples of your goods! So long as we tighten our belts, Imperial Furniture should have no issues stomaching this stock of Southsea Huanghuali worth several billions on end!¡±

 Chapter 228: Arrival at East Cathay Sea

    <h4>Chapter 228: Arrival at East Cathay Sea</h4>

    It was now early June. The sun shone radiantly.

    Cruise ships drifted along the wide river, while thousands of foreign tourists held up their cameras on the opposite bank of the river, doing their level best to capture a panoramic view of the majestic city. Pedestrian traffic was heavy around these parts.

    The city was clearly bustling, yet there was a peculiar sense of tranquility when one stood on the other side of the river bank.

    ¡°I¡¯ll say, why do you have to pull such a long face in every photograph we take?¡± The three instructors were all dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, and Local Bully was flipping through the photographs with great dissatisfaction, ¡°Is it really that painful being framed in the same photograph as me? I¡¯ll have you know that I¡¯ve always been ranked among the topmost good-looking men from elementary school all the way through to college. How can I not be good enough for you?¡±

    ¡°Where shall we go after this?¡± Local Bully asked with great excitement, to which Qin Ye respondedzily, ¡°Back to the hotel, for a siesta.¡±

    ¡°Save it.¡± Su Feng was somewhat worn out as well. He sipped at his drink and basked in the warm sunlight like a rxed cat, ¡°We¡¯ve got a whole month ahead of us. The academic forum isn¡¯t going to take any more than a single week. We¡¯ve got all the time we want in the remaining three weeks to hang out. That¡¯s plenty.¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t have asked for anything more. With that, he got onto a cab with Su Feng and headed straight back to their hotel which was located along the riverbank. His room was on the 32nd floor. From there, he had a view of the sprawling economic district of the entire city.

    The suitcase should have been filled with stacks of neatly arranged clothes, toiletries and other personal effects. The clothes were still there, but there were striking lines of red words scrawled across every single part of the suitcase, ¡°Screw your mother!¡± ¡°How dare you manhandle me?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m warning you! I¡¯ll sue you for abusing the elderly if you don¡¯t let me out right now!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you still remember my existence, huh.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t! No way! Nothing doing! This isn¡¯t going to end well! You think you¡¯re really good aren¡¯t you? You slip out to have fun on your own, and yet you don¡¯t even think for a moment to let me out of the suitcase?! Are you even aware of how ustrophobic it is in there?! How are you going to make it up to me if I lose my mind there?!¡±

    Holy crap?

    Silence.

    ¡°Hey! Bring it on! Toss me! What are you, a coward?! Oh, I¡¯m soooo scared. I¡¯m trembling with fear. I dare you to do it!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha! I¡¯m sooooo scared! Let me tell you something, you won¡¯t be able to do anything without me on this trip! I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m not going to take this lying down! If I don¡¯t make you apologize to me today, my surname isn¡¯t Ming!¡±

    Just like that, their exchange continued with great aggression, and neither was willing to back down. Perhaps Qin Ye realized that this was leading nowhere, and he motioned to pull back his arm after dozens more seconds of infuriated exchanges. Then, just as he was about to pull the mirror back and toss it hard back onto the bed, he identally mmed his hand onto the window frame, and reflexively loosened his grip in pain. Before he could react to the situation, Ming Shiyin was already falling through the sky with a great cry.

    Holy shit?!

    He simply couldn¡¯t fathom what he was going to do against the army of the Nipponese underworld without the aid of Ming Shiyin!

    But miracles rarely happen.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± His realitypletely shattered, and he could feel his legs weaken. Then, one secondter, Ming Shiyin mmed straight onto the person¡¯s head with a loud crash!

    Qin Ye let out an agonized groan as he ran his fingers through his hair helplessly and copsed to his knees in pain.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Just then, his look of despondence gave way to a somber expression, and he abruptly shot to his feet and peered down once more.

    ¡°This is¡­ Yin energy¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped, and his scalp went numb. The first notion that crossed his mind was that he should leave immediately!

    Boom!

    ¡°No¡­ this isn¡¯t just Yin energy.¡± After scrutinizing the scene below for another two seconds, Qin Ye licked his lips and muttered aloud, ¡°This is¡­ Yin energy from an emissary!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve¡­ already arrived!¡±

    ¡°They are of the same view as I - that Guardian Auctions wouldn¡¯t be entering the high seas through Yan Capital, and Eastsea is naturally the best option. Therefore¡­¡±

    ¡°If something goes wrong, the worst case scenario would be if Oda Nobunaga fully awakens, and I fail to seize his soul. But this is still Cathayan territory after all! It would be incredibly difficult for Oda Nobunaga to make it back to Nipponese territories. And such developments would essentially buy them all the time they need¡­¡±

    ¡°Emissary.¡± Qin Ye quickly stuffed the mirror back into his suitcase and made his way towards the front desk, ¡°There¡¯s a 99% chance that it¡¯s a Nipponese emissary. They¡¯re nning to make a move here! We¡¯ve got to leave immediately. If we dally any longer¡­ we¡¯ll find ourselves the target of some unwanted attention!¡±

    And right as he opened up the windows to his room, his eyes immediately narrowed.

    There were a total of three prominent Yin energy signatures that were quickly converging in this location. Each energy signature had transformed into a powerfulhergale, and there was a humanoid figure located at the front of eachhergale. Each figure carried a banner on its back, and they screamed and wailed as they charged towards the hotel!

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    This was the subtle effects of Arthis¡¯ influence on him. He had alreadye to terms with the fact that he would be the future King Yanluo of Hell. And now, having heard Arthis speak of the glories of the old Hell ever so often, and faced with the encroachment of Nipponese emissaries onto his own territory, he felt incredibly displeased.

    What measure of disrespect is this?

    <hr>

    1. Anyone getting the image of a headless man with bombs for hands running at you?

 Chapter 229: Secret Ninjas of Renpu

    <h4>Chapter 229: Secret Ninjas of Renpu</h4>

    As the Yin energy quickly dissipated, Qin Ye could tell that these were three people whose entire bodies were wrapped in ck, tight-fitting garments. They also wore a headband on their foreheads. The top half of their bodies were corporeal and tangible, yet the bottom half of their bodies were still illusory and enshrouded in Yin energy. They drifted about the spot where Ming Shiyin had fallen just some moments ago, yet not a single living person standing around could sense their presence.

    ¡°What are these?¡± Ming Shiyin asked, evidently unaware of the ongoings in Nippon.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Ming Shiyin nced suspiciously at Qin Ye. The surprising byproduct of their earlier altercation was a somewhat tense yet peculiar harmony. One was wary of the fact that the other possessed an unparalleled ability to erupt with an outpouring of verbal assault, while the other proceeded cautiously for fear of being defenestrated again.

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°If you¡¯ve yed through the Nobunaga¡¯s Wild Hope series several times, you¡¯d know just as much as well¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ nothing important. What¡¯s important is¡­¡± Qin Ye murmured, ¡°You¡¯re someone who has experienced the Warring States era. What do you think the appearance of the Hojo n¡¯s secret ninjas of the Renpu represents?¡±

    Things are going to get extremely dangerous!

    Although the scale of the war was nothingpared to the strife within Cathay just a millennium ago, the development of society during the interim meant that the wars were fought with far greater bloodshed and devastation than the Three Kingdoms era. In fact, there were even a few factions among the Warring States era who wereparable with the best of the Cathayan forces across history.

    ¡°They¡¯ve already mobilized it.¡± Qin Ye squinted at the three Nipponese emissaries who were quickly disappearing from sight, before finally turning around and walking back into his room, ¡°There are no firearms in the underworld, and all conflicts among underworlds go back to the basics of regr armedbat. These reputable forces who have faded into the annals of history with the effluxion of time have finally been given another opportunity to shine on modern battlefields. At the same time, this serves as a warning to the other contending factions to back off.¡±

    He had sorely underestimated the importance of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul to the Nipponese underworld. But I suppose it stands to reason. After all, what would Hell do if we saw the re-emergence of Cao Cao, Li Shimin and the other great historical figures in Cathayan soil?

    After all, troops were easy to gather, but a general was a raremodity!

    ¡°¡®Great Deity of the East Shining Light¡¯ Tokugawa Ieyasu? ¡®Botenmaru¡¯ Date Masamune? ¡®Tiger of Kai¡¯ Shingen Takeda?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure whether the Onmyojis are already in Eastsea right now. The only entities I¡¯m certain are at Eastsea right now are Guardian Auctions and the Imperial Furniture Group. Negotiations with Oda Nobunaga must bepleted before we even get to the Strait of Tsushima. Otherwise¡­ how can I possibly convince the Onmyojis? Why would they even want to stand on my side?¡±

    In other words, one single misstep could cost him the opportunity to seize Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul! In fact, any failure on his part might even cause him to be ced in the position where he would have to offer up the fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl in his possession in exchange for a safe passage back home.

    But¡­

    Qin Ye tapped on his armrest, and then responded with a deep voice, ¡°Imperial Furniture Group.¡±

    How can youpare me with the esteemed Lord Justice Bao?!

    But¡­ I simply don¡¯t have the power to do that!

    Ming Shiyin looked at Qin Ye in surprise. After a long time, it responded, ¡°I¡¯d never thought that¡­ you could change so much with the snap of a finger¡­ I finally get why Arthis is willing to remain by your side right now¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Ye dispensed with the titudes. After all, his discussions with Imperial Furniture Group was merely the appetizer to give him a taster of the talks toe. The negotiations with the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven is undoubtedly the linchpin of whether this trip to Eastsea would be a sess or not!

    Qin Ye spoke sinctly. Everyone was eagerly anticipating their meeting tonight, and they naturally didn¡¯t beat about the bush. Without much further ado, they hung up, and the point of contact from the Imperial Furniture Group quickly sent their address to Qin Ye.

    Whererge transactions as these are concerned, it was important to pick a location where their safety could be ensured. In that regard, they had picked out a shopping district which Imperial Furniture Group had constructed themselves.

    The shopping district was distinctly recognizable, and every building was decorated with a beautiful orchid on them. After reporting their name, they were immediately escorted to a luxurious room.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for pleasantries.¡± Gao Youliang chuckled softly and led Qin Ye into the room, ¡°Come, Mr Qin, let me make some introductions. These are major shareholders of the Imperial Furniture Group, Wan Quan and Ma Zengyi. The three main shareholders of the Imperial Furniture Group are all present today, so you can take it that any decision wee to today will naturally be approved by the board. I¡¯ll take it that Mr Qin wouldn¡¯t mind, would you?¡±

    It was a room with luxurious European-style decors. Grand crystal chandeliers hung from the roof,pelling paintings decorated the walls, while the floors were covered with thick red carpet that exudes ss. The shiny sofa which Qin Ye sank into was very soft. Coffee and tea, and an assortment of refreshments had already been ced onto the shining, golden table in front of him.

    Extremely young.

    Gao Youliang silently slipped his hand into one of the pockets in his suit. There was a white jade fish hidden in that pocket of his, and it was currently warm to the touch. He held it gently, and then turned to the other two and nodded his head. Their eyes gleamed, and they immediately understood everything.

    Then there¡¯s no need for further verification of his identity. The conditions ¡®over there¡¯ are far more exacting than the conditions for any businesses out here. It¡¯s safe to transact with him.

    ¡°But you have no choice but to buy this stock either way.¡± Qin Ye responded immediately, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t immediately see results if apetitor gets their hands on my stock. But give it a decade - possibly even less - and I¡¯m quite certain that yourpetitor would already have left you in the dust¡­ Alright, I¡¯m no businessman, and I don¡¯t want to waste too much time on negotiations. I¡¯ve brought the samples. All you need to do is to tell me whether you ept or not. The price will be fixed at 95% of its market value. If you¡¯re not satisfied with the offer, I can take this to the other appointments I¡¯ve lined up.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take long for Gao Youliang to recognize the sheer quality of the stock of Southsea Huanghuali, especially when it came to how exquisite and mystifying its ¡®ghost faces¡¯ were. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the stock of Southsea Huanghuali was of the finest quality!

    <hr>

    1. These are all great generals of Japan.

 Chapter 230: Three Billion Transaction

    <h4>Chapter 230: Three Billion Transaction</h4>

    Gao Youliang lowered his head and took another sip of the coffee from his cup. His heart was already on fire.

    A stock of top-quality Southsea Huanghuali worth billions¡­ This is something that would guarantee the Imperial Furniture Group a stock of top-quality wood for the next few years. Furthermore¡­ we can even take the business to the next level with this! Expand it to the Nippon, Daehan, Siam and Hindustan markets! The demand for Southsea Huanghuali products there isn¡¯t any weaker than the demand over here! After all, we¡¯re already undefeatable in the domestic market. It¡¯s naturally time to startpeting with the global demand for these products!

    But such a huge capital ouy would most certainly make life difficult for the Imperial Furniture Group in the near future. It had to be said that it had never urred to them to maintain such huge reserves of liquid assets. After all, how was it even reasonably foreseeable that someone would be holding onto a stock of such top quality wood such as the Southsea Huanghuali? A transaction worth several hundred millions was already considered a mega deal, much less one that was worth over a billion at once!

    It was too much for his heart to bear. Yet the timbre of the name, Southsea Huanghuali, was like a bright orange carrot that was dangling in front of a horse - it had to have a bite no matter how much it had to crane its neck!

    ¡°Mr Qin. What if we propose taking the stock in batches?¡± He broached an alternative suggestion after much deliberation.

    Yet Qin Ye tly refused the offer, ¡°If that¡¯s how things are going to be, I¡¯ll look for another buyer.¡±

    Qin Ye gazed intently at them, ¡°Don¡¯t y these kinds of business tricks with me. Although I¡¯m not a businessman, believe it when I say I¡¯ve got all the means to get anything I want.¡±

    Right then, the three men shuddered at exactly the same time. Gao Youliang¡¯s face immediately grew pale, and his breaths grew somewhat ragged.

    That¡¯s frightening¡­

    For a moment there, he had been overwhelmed by a terrifying sensation, almost as though he were standing before a prehistoric behemoth,pletely unarmed and naked. He immediately understood that Qin Ye could take their lives at any time ording to his whims and fancies!

    So that¡¯s what a person from ¡®over there¡¯ is like¡­ Gao Youliang took another gulp of coffee and took several deep breaths to get over his initial shock.

    ¡°Give me an exact figure.¡± He licked his dry lips, ¡°I¡¯ll need an exact sum so that we can raise funds on our side.¡±

    Qin Ye looked them in the eye and responded, ¡°I¡¯m giving you a 5% discount on ount for the fact that you still need to make a livelihood. Furthermore, I give you my word that if something happens to you in future, I¡¯m willing to lend you my assistance once. Three billion. That¡¯s the total value of the stock right now. And the transaction should be done all at once.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Gao Youliang steeled his resolve, and his expressions grew stern and somber - A massive transaction worth three billion RMB¡­ and everything is to be paid at once in cash!

    Have you tried asking any conglomerate whether they can fork out three billion in cash at once? Anyone who can do so is ridiculously awesome!

    But having made up his mind, his heart thumped wildly at the prospect of what was toe.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qin Ye pulled out a piece of folded paper and handed it to them, ¡°Apart from that, please acquire these goods for me and rent a warehouse to store these goods as well. I¡¯ll pick them up when the timees. You can deduct the payment for these goods from the sale proceeds of my stock of Southsea Huanghuali. I¡¯ll deliver the stock to you on time, and I expect to receive my money and goods in exchange there and then.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Gao Youliang breathed a long sigh of relief and shut his eyes.

    This was probably the cleanest,rgest deal he had ever entered.

    The quantum of the transaction involved billions of RMB, and yet the deal was concluded in less than five minutes of negotiations. Most times, deals worth a fraction of the value wouldn¡¯t even be concluded after half a month¡¯s worth of meetings.

    His heart gradually regained its equanimity, and he opened his eyes and scanned the contents of the list which Qin Ye had handed to him with a startled expression, ¡°Mr Qin, what¡¯s this?¡±

    The list consisted of a wide variety of items.

    Most of them were a variety of construction equipment, implements and building materials. Having developed an entire district before, he immediately knew upon a brief inspection that the items listed were worth no less than four hundred million RMB. This included sufficient materials to construct arge building!

    Moreover, the list included some rather peculiar items.

    Apart from the tons of wood, stics, alloys and papers listed, there was still silk, cotton, needles and threads, all of which could be considered materials for daily necessities. And he even sought the establishment of assembly lines!

    An assembly line for printing, an assembly line for the production of garments, an assembly line for the manufacturing of shoes, an assembly line for cameras and batteries¡­

    And there were even assembly lines for mahjong tiles and poker chips.

    Furthermore, there were some rather sensitive objects, for instance, a money printing machine¡­

    His eyelids throbbed - What is he trying to do here? Why does it look like he¡¯s attempting to construct a county? And it feels like he¡¯s attempting to pull that county out of poverty to boot. These items¡­ are going to set him back four to five hundred million RMB all at once. That¡¯s sufficient funds to sustain an entire poverty-stricken county for months on end!

    And what ce is this that requires so much apart from food and sustenance? There¡¯s clothing, entertainment, recreational activities, and basically everything you could possibly think of, and more?!

    Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Should I be reporting this to the police? Why does it feel like I¡¯ve seen something I really shouldn¡¯t have?

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask what you don¡¯t need to know. We¡¯re merely sojourners in each others¡¯ lives. We¡¯re ultimately of different worlds.¡± Qin Ye blew on his coffee and spoke without any hesitation.

    Qin Ye knew that he had no advantage over others in the world of adults. Having consumed the fungus of aeons, he would neither age nor die. However, being too young was a w when it came to conducting businesses. Therefore, rather than to hide and conceal his ws, he chose to present himself inscrutable instead.

    It was for this reason that he never concealed the fact that he came from the City of Salvation. There was never a doubt that someone of Gao Youliang¡¯s background and identity would have some appreciation of the different world that lived among the mortals.

    As expected, Gao Youliang didn¡¯t say much more. Instead, he quietly folded up the sheet of paper and ced it into his inner pocket, ¡°When¡¯s the deadline?¡±

    ¡°By 30 June.¡± Qin Ye stood up and offered another handshake, ¡°Well, until then? I hope we¡¯ll have another chance to transact with each other in future.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Both men shook hands firmly. Then, just before they parted ways, Gao Youliang suddenly remarked, ¡°Mr Qin, although I know I shouldn¡¯t be probing too much, I¡¯m still incredibly curious as to why you¡¯ve suddenly decided to dispose of such arge stock of Southsea Huanghuali.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t conceal his intentions, ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯ve got my eye on at Guardian Auctions¡¯ uing summer major auctions. The value of this artifact is at least one billion, and there¡¯s a good chance its price might even break the two billion mark.¡±

    He smiled and looked back, ¡°Therefore, you¡¯re free to enter into negotiations with Guardians Auctions for a cheque exchange arrangement or something simr. That¡¯s entirely up to you. All I want is a cheque that can be encashed anywhere in the world. As long as you can meet these requirements of mine, you might be able to find a more flexible arrangement to suit your needs this way.¡±

    Gao Youliang¡¯s eyes lit up, and he heaved a sigh in relief. Then, he abruptly looked up again, and then nced warily at his surroundings. He suddenly got to his feet, walked to the curtains and drew them tightly shut, before addressing Qin Ye again with a solemn expression on his face, ¡°You¡¯re going to participate in Guardian Auctions¡¯ summer major auctions? Are you after the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Everyone present was a premium, ck card VIP ount holder with Guardian Auctions, and there was no need to conceal anything from the other.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Gao Youliang gazed intently at Qin Ye for several seconds, before finally closing his eyes, ¡°Although I shouldn¡¯t be saying this right now, but¡­ you might want to reconsider your decision.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed as he acknowledged with a curt, ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not taking this to heart, are you?¡± Gao Youliang sighed. He took a step closer to Qin Ye, and then continued with some trembling in his voice, ¡°There¡¯s something on your side called the Cultivators Weekly, isn¡¯t there?¡±

    Qin Ye looked up abruptly and locked eyes with Gao Youliang, ¡°How do you know about that?¡±

    Gao Youliang instinctively backed away as soon as his eyes met Qin Ye¡¯s striking gaze. Secondster, he cleared his throat and continued, ¡°Mr Qin, the Imperial Furniture Group is an industry leader after all, and as an industry leader, we¡­ naturally have our means of ess to things inessible to others.¡±

    ¡°East Cathay Sea¡­ is unclean.¡± He practically spoke through gnashed teeth, as though he were releasing the burden of carrying this message from his heart, ¡°This is what I¡¯ve heard from another person from the same world as you. Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t go over there. I¡¯ve heard that none of the several members of the special department sent over to conduct investigations have ever returned.¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly recalled something important - something that he had overlooked all this while. Everything had suddenly clicked into ce.

    He had first read about the incident at the East Cathay Sea back at the First Academy of Cultivators, when Zhou Xianlong first instructed him to distribute the papers to his colleagues.

    None of the investigators had returned. All they knew right now was that the ships drifting about on the high seas had all be ghost ships overnight, with nary a living person remaining. He didn¡¯t think too much of such a phenomenon back then. But now, he finally understood everything.

    Yomi-no-Kuni, the Nipponese underworld, was setting up a battle formation right there on the high seas!

    Just like how the extraterritorial emissaries had failed to leave Cathay¡¯s borders, Izanami was currently preventing those who enter from leaving altogether. She was doing everything within her abilities to prevent Oda Nobunaga from falling into the hands of anyone apart from them!

    So that¡¯s how it is! Any underworld that has survived the test of time would most certainly have their own ways of dealing with extraterritorial darkfeathers!

    He could now see more clearly than ever the importance of seizing the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl to the NIpponese underworld!

    ¡°I¡¯ve got it.¡± Qin Ye turned to leave.

    ¡°Colour me impressed.¡± Ming Shiyin¡¯s voice called out softly as soon as Qin Ye departed from the building, ¡°To think you could be weak in the face of the strong, and firm in the face of the feeble. Your disposition earlier was truly terrifying! If not for the fact that I¡¯d personally witnessed your subdued, cowardly nature before our dear Ms Arakshasa, I would¡¯ve bought your actingpletely.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®subdued, cowardly nature¡¯?! That¡¯s just calledying low in the face of a tyrannical force!¡± Qin Ye snorted in dissatisfaction. The longer he lived, the more he came to realize that nothing was more important than life. Therefore, he had nevermitted to a certain course of action unless he was absolutely confident of seeing it through. Why can¡¯t these people understand something so simple?

    It¡¯s only if you survive that you¡¯ll have the chance to reap the rewards and enjoy the fruit of yourbour.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    Qin Ye sauntered along the path, allowing the gentle night breeze to tousle his hair. He swept his hair to the side, ¡°We wait.¡±

    ¡°We wait for Guardian Auctions¡¯ arrival. The night of their arrival¡­ will most certainly not be a peaceful one.¡± With that, he suddenly blinked his eyes and cursed aloud, ¡°Shit!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn. He suddenly realized that he had overlooked an important detail.

    The Hojo n¡¯s secret ninjas of Renpu would definitely make their move when Guardian Auctions arrived. But with the feeble cultivators they had, it would be a miracle if Guardian Auctions were able to hold out!

    Even if they were to call in reinforcements, the forces mobilized by Yomi-no-Kuni this time were still on apletely different level. And if they managed to seize the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl from Guardian Auctions, how was Qin Ye supposed to go about entering into negotiations with Oda Nobunaga?

    Nobody had ever expected Yomi-no-Kuni to be so daring as to set foot directly on Cathayan soil and treat their former ancestral homnd as their own backyard. Their boldness had brought about a great deal of variables to be addressed by Qin Ye.

    Right now, the only way forward is for me to step in to stop the secret ninjas of Renpu personally. But doing so would¡­

    He nced down at his chest, shuddering for fear of the strong and mighty.

    ¡°Eh? That gaze in your eyes right now is rather intriguing. Hang on¡­ I know this expression! It¡¯s the same one that you always make when a strong opponent shows up¡­¡±

    Qin Ye smiled radiantly, ¡°About that, let¡¯s discuss matters further, shall we?¡±

    ¡°Scram! No way! Buh-bye!¡± He was instantly rejected.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expression turned ashen, ¡°Do you even consider yourself a part of Hell or not? What about your pride in the collective identity of Hell? The future King Yanluo of Hell is risking life and limb, and is currently facing an rming threat, and you have the nerve to simply look on as a bystander?¡±

    ¡°... rming threat? Like what?¡±

    ¡°... For instance¡­ Those three ninja Hellguards that have arrived¡­¡±

    Ming Shiyinpletely blew its top, ¡°A future King Yanluo is so afraid of three meagre ninja Hellguards that he¡¯s requesting aid from me?! What about your training? Where has your strength and courage gone?¡±

    On the other hand, Qin Ye was incredibly displeased with Ming Shiyin¡¯s manner of speech.

    Didn¡¯t we have a tacit agreement not to embarrass each other like that?

    Besides, do you think I would request your aid if I truly possessed these qualities?

    Cores must learn to bide their time and endure, even if others st them with their ultimate skills. That¡¯s how they eventually go on to dominate thete game. I¡¯m a carry, so how could you ask me to participate in fights early game? What do you take me for? A pro yer?

    Just like that, Qin Ye and Ming Shiyin were locked in an impasse, ring menacingly at each other under the stifling glow of the moonlight. Ten secondster, Ming Shiyin finally sighed, ¡°Forget it¡­ I give. I don¡¯t understand how someone decades old could still be acting cute like that¡­ So, tell me, what immature ideas have you cooked up this time?¡±

    1. All the references in this paragraph are to generic MOBA games.

 Chapter 231: Treasure Escort

    <h4>Chapter 231: Treasure Escort</h4>

    5 June. It was a starry night.

    A green train chugged along the railroad leading towards the Eastsea City. The train looked worn for wear, and it was clear it had seen a fair number of years. Most of the carriages carried nothing more than cargo, and there were only a few passenger carriages. The train looked dated for modern times.

    It was already umon to see trains that were over twenty years old still in use. Furthermore, in a society driven by ss, image and reputation, who would even consider a rickety old train as a possible transport mediumpared to more modern modes of transport?

    Wooooooo! Tsssss.... With a long honk and a soft hiss, a city finally pulled into sight. It was none other than Eastsea and its Pearl of the Orient. The estimated time of arrival from the Eastsea North Station was approximately half an hour.

    However, there was something different about this train.

    It was dark - not the colour of the train¡¯s livery, but this was more attributable to the fact that a thin veil had been drawn over the passenger carriages. With the windows tightly shut and the veils in ce, nobody outside could see what was going on within the train.

    Therefore, nobody noticed that the carriages were filled with men, women and children, all of whom were wearing a traditional Cathayan tunic suit.

    Whether a young man in his twenties, a tough and buff man in his forties, or an old man well into his twilight years, all of them were dressed in a simr fashion in their traditional Cathayan tunic suits. Some of them carried caskets, while others carried a baguapass, otherwise known as an eight trigramspass in front of them. These people upied all four passenger carriages, and not a single person spoke a single word as they travelled along in silence.

    Furthermore, under the dim, yellowing lights of the carriages, one would be able to tell that¡­ the passenger carriages had innumerable talismans drawn with striking red, vermillion ink stered all over it - whether on the walls or on the roofs. The door of each carriage was even sequestered from the next by a string of ancient copper coins. The entire scene carried an otherworldly air about it.

    Some of the passengers were ying with their phones, while others would simply gaze out of the windows. That said, everyone would turn to look at the end of the train once every five minutes. It was incredibly neat, yetpletely unusual.

    There was apletely enclosed carriage right at the end of the train with a grey shell, just like any other freight trains out there. In fact, this one didn¡¯t even have a carriage number. The only entrance leading into the carriage was constructed out of refined iron, almost as though it waspletely welded onto the train.

    It looked just like a closed coffin.

    Furthermore, the inside of the carriage was constructed out of 10-cm thick steel alloy walls and stered all over with talismans of all sorts. The implements installed on the inside were cutting-edge and modern, includingputer consoles, monitors, and everything else necessary for surveince and monitoring purposes, so much so that every location within and even outside the train, including the toilets could be monitored closely from this carriage.

    The lights within were brilliant and dazzling, illuminating the few cargo containers that sat in the middle of the room. A number of men dressed in camouge uniforms and armed with guns sat around these containers. One would be able to tell at a nce that these were no ordinary military soldiers. After all, each of them exuded a palpably murderous aura like a valiant war hero.

    They were mercenaries.

    In fact, they were the elites among mercenaries.

    But they were merely stationed on both sides of the containers right now.

    There were seven men middle-aged to elderly men dressed in traditional Cathayan tunic suits who were seated in the middle silently. They looked almost like seven stoic statues.

    The mercenaries couldn¡¯t help but nce at the seven men in the middle from time to time with some measure of awe, because they could tell that the entire space within the train carriage fluctuated softly with each of these men¡¯s breaths!

    They were cultivators!

    Furthermore, it was clear that they were reasonably powerful cultivators. At least, those who were able to influence their surroundings to such an extent must at least be Hunter-ss experts. In fact, if one looked closely, they would even be able to see with the naked eye white wisps of energy that ebbed and flowed from the seven apertures of the two men seated right in the heart of the seven-men formation.

    Abundant true energy - advanced Hunter-ss expert!

    And right in the heart of where everyone sat was a small, unassuming ck box that was sealed on all sides. The lock used was so daunting that potential burrs would undoubtedly wince at its sight - not only was there a number lock, iris and fingerprint verification, there were even some other devices that were impossible to decipher altogether!

    As the train hissed, the old man in the middle slowly opened his eyes and nced about the surroundings. His hoarse voice finally cut through the stifling silence in the carriage, ¡°Eastsea, huh.¡±

    ¡°Our ETA is approximately thirty-two minutes.¡± One of the mercenaries leaned in and spoke in a deep voice, ¡°The receiver has already arrived at the station. Make sure the goods arrive safely.¡±

    The old man narrowed his eyes and nced at the surveince monitors, ¡°What about the operator¡¯s report? Did they spot anything unusual at the north station? Have they evacuated the entire site yet?¡±

    The mercenary shook his head, ¡°We¡¯ve travelled for thirty-five hours via the usual freight train paths, and our destination is the north station, which has the least amount of human traffic to begin with. Most people take the high speed trains these days. Furthermore, our time of arrival is in the dead of the night. There¡¯s hardly going to be anyone at the north station.¡±

    The old man nodded and sighed as he spoke with an imperceptible quiver on his lips, ¡°How did you get yourself implicated in the national treasure of two nations¡­ Grandmaster Chu, you¡¯ve truly pulled out all the stops this time.¡±

    The other Soul Hunter was an elderly cultivator in his sixties. He had a long, ruddy face, ostensible sideburns, and an unusuallyrge frame. He opened his eyes when he heard thements of hispatriot, ¡°You can say that again. Guardian Auctions can do no more than to mobilize a single Soul Hunter. I wouldn¡¯t have asked a favor of you if not for the fact that this bowl has such a nefarious reputation, and exuded such evil aura. Jing Laosan, I owe the Northeast Alliance of Cultivators a big one once our escort duties here are done. This is something that I¡¯ll always bear in my heart.¡±

    The old man nodded his head slightly. But just as they were about to turn their attention back to their escort duties, the two men abruptly lifted their heads at the same time and stared at the entrance to the carriage.

    Thump, thump, thump¡­ Their hearts began to beat wildly and frantically in their ears. Their adrenal nds soared, and cold sweat began to bead up on their foreheads. Despite the fact that they were both Soul Hunters, their teeth began to chatter uncontrobly.

    They were suddenly stricken with fear.

    They were immersed with terror.

    It was as though Death itself had just swept past them, gently breathing down their necks as they did so.

    ¡°Level one alert!!!¡± With a loud cry, the two Soul Hunters shot to their feet and backed towards the wall of the carriage. Their hands were primed with a convenient seal, ready to detonate an array at the earliest sign of trouble.

    tter tter! No questions asked. The mercenaries in the carriage immediately raised their guns and half-knelt to the ground, steadying their stance as they hid behind their seats or the containers that were near them. They were no different from the most seasoned hunters. In an instant, dozens of purpleser sights were pointed straight at the entrance to the carriage.

    They were equipped with the Barrett XM109 anti-material sniper rifle.

    It was often hailed to be the strongest sniper rifle out there, with 30mm ammunition that was capable of prating at least 50mm of steel tes. Furthermore¡­ the ammunition they were using were specially designed and manufactured by the SRC. It was thetest product they had developed.

    Everything was silent.

    There was only the slightest sound of breaths, the sudden onset of an air of murderous intent, and dozens of somber gazes that stared transfixed at the entrance.

    One second¡­ five seconds¡­ ten secondster, and everything was still as silent as it had been before. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of change. The Operative-ss experts in the room turned to look at the two Soul Hunters with some measure of astonishment.

    But the two Soul Hunters didn¡¯t appear rxed in the slightest. In fact, goosebumps had appeared all over on their skin.

    No¡­ NO!

    Something¡¯s here¡­ It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t detect its presence. Rather, it¡¯s simply because they¡¯re so strong that their presence haspletely engulfed us in an abyss of terror!

    Whoosh¡­ Just then, the Operative-ss experts gasped, and the mercenaries cocked their weapons at the same time.

    There was wind.

    An eerie wind had suddenly picked up within the sealed, enclosed carriage.

    The talismans on the walls had begun to flutter and p, and even the mortals among them felt as though they were being stalked by a fearsome predator. An intense sensation of dread and fear surged in their hearts.

    In fact, it bore down on them so suddenly and with such great intensity that everyone felt their hearts stop beating at that very moment.

    Something¡­ was watching them.

    Something was hiding in the darkness, staring menacingly at them.

    ¡°Evil ghost.¡± Grandmaster Chu bit down on his lips and fervently suppressed the goosebumps appearing on his skin as he whispered to Jing Laosan, ¡°This is at least a hundred-year evil ghost¡­¡±

    His body hunched over slightly, while his muscles began to swell so much that his traditional Cathayan tunic suit began to stretch to its limit, almost as though it would burst in the very next moment.

    Bzzt! Just then, everyone gasped and turned to look at one of the surveince monitors.

    It had gone dark.

    Shortly after that, a second monitor went dark, and then a third. Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt, bzzt! Every single one of the monitors had gone dark within the span of less than twenty seconds.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± One of the mercenaries in the room began to shiver uncontrobly as he tightened his grip around his gun.

    His work had taken him to various ces, including international conflicts, and yet a sight like that was still outrageously bizarre to him.

    It wasn¡¯t as though someone had destroyed the surveince system all at once.

    Rather, someone appeared to have rushed through tens of carriages in the span of several seconds! And this invisible force appearedpletely unstoppable!

    Here ites¡­ Something¡¯s on this carriage right now¡­

    A dark figure dressed in ninja garbs was currently crouching on the roof of the train as the whistling wind swept back the copious amounts of Yin energy emanating from his body. The figure looked almost as though he were an imposing god of death that had mbered out of the depths of hell.

    ¡°Summoning jutsu¡­¡± He made several hand seals in the blink of an eye and then thrusted his hands into the air in front of him, ¡°Ghastly Sand Arachnids.¡±

    Whoosh! A scroll imbued with a great deal of Yin energy shot out of his garments and unraveled in the air. In the next moment, a blood curdling shriek echoed out around him.

    ¡°You¡¯re already using the Ghastly Sand Arachnids?¡± Another deadpan voice sounded out from the void, ¡°What a waste.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The scarlet pupils of the ninja gleamed threateningly, as though filled with hatred for the human world. He sneered, ¡°Don¡¯t forget how Scarlet 17 died¡­ It reeked of a Cathayan emissary. Even though we know that Hell has undergone a massive upheaval, it would be wise not to underestimate them until we can ascertain exactly what happened to what was once the most powerful underworld of all time.¡±

    There was a short moment of silence before a soft response echoed through the void, ¡°But that was all in the past.¡±

    ¡°Even if it was in the past¡­¡± The ninja transformed into ahergale, ¡°Who can be sure this isn¡¯t a warning from the Cathayan emissary? Don¡¯t you forget that the previous batch of darkfeathers that had been dispatched to seize a soul hasn¡¯t returned to date. And¡­ do you really think Scarlet 17¡¯s death is a mere coincidence?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re acting outside our own jurisdiction right now. Lady Izanami isn¡¯t going to do much even if Cathayan emissaries kill us.¡±

    His figure faded away, and a bird crawled out of the void andnded on the roof of the carriage.

    If one looked closely, he would soon realize that¡­ this wasn¡¯t a bird at all!

    Its body waspletely decayed, and yet its eyes were just as agile and spirited as a human being¡¯s eyes, save that it was bloodshot and filled with a murderous desire.

    It stared at the East Cathay Sea in the distance, ¡°So, should we refrain from acting in Eastsea?¡±

    ¡°But, how could we stand idly by and watch the soul of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven fall to the hands of Cathayan soil?!¡±

    ¡°Anyone who stands in the way of the secret ninjas of Renpu shall pay with their lives!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Ma Yuankun turned his eyes away from the windows with a slight frown on his face.

    He found this train journey incredibly boring.

    He was in the fifth carriage. The train had a total of fifteen carriages, four of which carried passengers. They were among the most ordinary nascent Operative-ss experts, and they had all been entrusted with a mission from Guardian Auctions. This mission was peculiar in that there were no mission details apart from a single requirement to ¡°defend and protect when the need arises¡±.

    Why am I on the train? No clue.

    What do I need to defend and protect? No clue.

    When would the ¡®need arise¡¯? No clue either.

    But everyone felt very much at ease throughout the entire journey.

    Although they assumed that the ¡®need¡¯ would probably rte to a supernatural incident, they felt assured because this was Eastsea when all was said and done.

    This was the economic hub of Cathay. Even if every other part of Cathay was suffering from supernatural incidents, Yan Capital would do everything within their abilities to ensure the safety of Eastsea.

    But just then, he suddenly did a double take inplete astonishment, and he looked at the window as though he had just seen a ghost.

 Chapter 232: Ghostly Sand Arachnids

    <h4>Chapter 232: Ghostly Sand Arachnids</h4>

    Light?

    The ck veil covering the windows was rather thin, so he could vaguely make out what was outside of the carriage through the windows. Under the dark canopy of the night, in the midst of the fields around, there was a spot of light that appeared to be following the train as it chugged along.

    The source of light appeared blurry at best, and yet it gave off an unusually familiar sensation. However, Ma Yuankun just couldn¡¯t put a finger on what it was no matter how hard he thought about it. Nevertheless, he operated his true energy and imbued his eyes so that he could get a clearer look at it.

    Whoosh. Everyone else in the carriage suddenly looked over. All four carriages of Operative-ss experts turned to look at Ma Yuankun, only to notice that his body was twitching uncontrobly and his lips trembling as he pointed outside the window,pletely unable to find the words to express the multitude of emotions and thoughts running through his mind.

    He had seen it clearly.

    They were presently still travelling through the wilderness, approximately one hundred kilometers away from Eastsea City.

    Furthermore, he was able to tell that the entity carrying thentern was not a human being!

    It wore a Nipponese mask, and her long, disheveled hair scattered all across her body. What should have been a spider¡¯s body was instead the figure of ady with several hairy spider legs extending out of her body. She carried a scarletntern with her and followed closely alongside the train and it chugged along!

    Her lips extended from ear to ear. Although she was wearing a mask, he could still see her scarlet maw peeking out menacingly from underneath her mask.

    An evil ghost arrives, terror ensues.

    This was at least a hundred-years evil ghost!

    The furious bellow jolted everyone back to their senses in an instant. In a sh, everyone pulled out their peachwood swords, wealth of the five emperors, copper bells, baguapasses, and other simr implements, and then swiftly took up formation within the carriage, standing with their backs against each other like they had always practised.

    Chug-a-chug-a¡­ Next to the oppressive silence of the train carriages, the incessant chugging sounds of the train didn¡¯t bringfort and assurance to their hearts at all. Instead, its repeated chugging even wore away at their tense spirits. Right this moment, they felt no different from prey that had been gagged, bound and strung up over a death god¡¯s dining table as they heard the butcher sharpening his knife in the distance.

    Gulp¡­ Ma Yuankun gulped nervously. He had just breached the bottleneck to be an Operative-ss expert, while a hundred-year evil ghost was clearly an opponent that was well above his weight ss - these were entities to be left to Soul Hunters. Thus, the prospects of confronting such a powerful existence caused him to break out in cold sweat and shiver all over.

    He wasn¡¯t sure when it happened, but he could see that the scenery outside the carriage hadpletely changed!

    This was an incredibly ancient-looking station. There were Nipponese words everywhere, and the entire station was in shambles, broken and dpidated, with chairs tipped over and other equipment and apparatuses strewn all over the floor. It appeared as though nobody had been here in years. The dim light outside flickered unceasingly, filling the atmosphere with a tense ambience.

    There were those with arge gash on their throats; those who cradled their heads in their hands; and those who had half a skull missing from their heads, amongst others. They all presented themselves with dark purple spots of livor mortis on their bodies. It was as though this was a parade of the dead to send them off into their afterlife!

    In the dark of the night, a silent train had pulled up into a horrific tform filled with dead people, who were silently sending them into the afterworld.

    Crash!

    Yin energy poured out like a raging tide through the rows of ink-ck teeth in its maw.

    It¡¯s that arachnid¡­

    But why do I get the feeling that there¡¯s another pair of eyes staring right at us - one that¡¯s even more fearsome than this arachnid?

    ¡°Stand your ground!!¡± ¡°Immediately inform our seniors!¡± ¡°Stand your ground! Nobody is to retreat! I¡¯ll kill anyone who retreats!¡±

    The light at the farthest carriage went out abruptly.

    He was fully clothed in ck garbs, wearing a golden coloured headband as he hung upside down from the roof of the carriage. His body was hunched like a jackal hunting for food. His figure flickered quickly, vanishing and reappearing in different locations.

    Click, click, click, click¡­ The lights went out one by one, and the fearsome figure drew closer and closer! With each light that went out, it shifted closer to them, while they, too, got a closer look at its appearance. The gripping tension and stifling oppression in the area also bore down on them with ever greater intensity!

    Is he¡­ in our carriage right now?

    T-t-t-t¡­ The chugging sounds of the train had ceasedpletely. Everything was now so silent that someone¡¯s chattering teeth could be heard by everyone around.

    A small voice screamed in his mind - Run! Run away right now! This Yin spirit is on apletely different level! You¡¯ll die¡­ if you stay here, you¡¯ll definitely die!

    His hair stood erect. It was almost as though he could sense the frigid terror spreading through every single pore and every single cell within his body. The fear of the known was the most terrifying kind of fear! It was almost as though a cold hand were gently caressing his cheek.

    Its hand was cold, and yet it emanated a distinct corpse stench. Just a little while ago, the entity had dropped silently from the roof and was now slowly and gently caressing each person¡¯s face with its cold, frigid fingers.

    ¡°So¡­ it¡¯s time for us to teach you the true meaning of respect¡­¡±

    Pssskkk!! A secondter, blood sttered across the carriage windows, and shrieks and moans cut through the oppressive silence of the night!

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Bai Yishan asked the masked man with a pleasant surprise as the train pulled into the station.

    Bai Yishan¡¯s entourage included another Soul Hunter and three Operative-ss experts. As soon as Qin Ye released a trace of his Hellguard-ss energy that was disguised as true energy, everyone around immediately gasped and backed away in shock.

    A living Hellguard?

    Furthermore¡­ from the looks of his voice and his skin¡­ this man appears to be rather young?

    ¡°No, no, no!¡± ¡°Sir, please don¡¯t misunderstand us. We¡¯re incredibly grateful that you¡¯ve graced us with your presence!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! With you around, this trip is naturally going to go on much more smoothly!¡±

    He had sensed two violent fluctuations of Yin energy just a moment ago. Furthermore, he could tell that the strength of these Yin energy signatures were stronger than him!

    ¡°What do you mean¡­¡± Bai Yishan was taken aback, and his voice was trembling slightly. Qin Ye turned around cidly and gazed at the train that was slowly pulling into the station, ¡°There¡¯s probably no one on board left alive right now.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. He had only sensed a powerful fluctuation of Yin energy earlier, but he didn¡¯t know the specific extent of devastation on board the train.

    There were thick stters of blood that covered the passenger carriages, so much so that nobody could tell what was going on within these carriages. That said, they immediately knew that Qin Ye¡¯s im was likely true.

    ¡°But¡­ but how is this possible?!!¡± Bai Yishan screamed frantically, ¡°Two Soul Hunters!! We¡¯ve got two Soul Hunters! How is this possible?!¡±

    ¡°Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl¡­ that¡¯s right! What happened to the bowl?!¡±

 Chapter 233: A Gift to You (1)

    <h4>Chapter 233: A Gift to You (1)</h4>

    It was 1.30 a.m.

    The entire station was practically empty, save for a row of men in ck suits standing along the tform in the gentle night breeze. There were at least a dozen people there, each of whom exuded mild fluctuations of true energies from their bodies. The one taking charge was none other than Bai Yishan.

    He looked much more spirited than before, albeit hardly calm and at peace. As soon as the train came to aplete halt, he immediately dashed right up to the seventh carriage and entered a keycode on the ess door.

    What a strong stench of blood¡­

    He could already smell the nauseating stench of blood wafting through the doors before they even opened. It stung his eyes. Powerful evil ghosts would naturally draw weaker ghosts to rely on them, thereby resulting in the phenomenon known as the nest of ten thousand captive ghosts. The siphoning effect was discussed in thetest edition of Cultivators Weekly. Guardian Auctions knew of these things, and that was precisely why they had engaged the assistance of another Soul hunter.

    But¡­ how could this have happened?

    tter tter¡­ The carriage door slowly opened up, and he seized up immediately, despite having prepared himself for the worst.

    This couldn¡¯t even be described as a carriage any longer.

    This was¡­ Hell.

    There probably wasn¡¯t any point in looking for survivors anymore. Blood was everywhere, sttered all over the walls and the ceiling of the carriage like a thick coat of fresh paint. The talismans stered all over the carriage had already been reduced to nothing but ashes that were washed into the viscous streams of blood in the carriage. The entire sight was revolting.

    Dismembered bodies were strewn all across the carriage, somewhat dressed in their camouge uniforms. Heads, limbs, and even innards hanging on arms acted as hellish ornaments in this infernal carriage. The extent of bloodshed was disgusting and nauseating.

    Bai Yishan gasped, and he trembled all over in disbelief. His entourage that rushed over after him couldn¡¯t help but exim in horror, ¡°How can this--...¡± ¡°Seriously¡­ seriously?! Who did this? An evil ghost?¡± ¡°An evil ghost more powerful than a Soul hunter¡­ and to think that they¡¯d even choose to act within Eastsea City¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s frightening. How could something like this happen?¡±

    Bai Yishan felt like the entire world was spinning around him. Then, just secondster, he suddenly jolted back to his senses and dashed into the carriage, ignoring the fact that his pristine leather shoes were now stained with copious amounts of blood as he began to search frantically. It wasn¡¯t until he caught sight of the undamaged ck box that he finally heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice called out from behind. Bai Yishan heart constricted for a moment, before his senses told him that the man who had just spoken was none other than Qin Ye. Then, he sighed and nodded his head bitterly.

    Truth be told, Qin Ye had already ascertained it even before Bai Yishan gave his confirmation.

    After all, the Yin energy in this area was unusually thick!

    And Qin Ye could tell that the source of these energies was none other than the ck box in Bai Yishan¡¯s hands. In fact, he could tell that the energy was pouring out from the sliver of opening at the joint of the ck box as though it were a hell rift, turning the entire carriage into a frozen tundra of Yin energy.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t they here for the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin and thought aloud.

    ¡°It has to be.¡± Bai Yishan muttered with a hoarse voice and bloodshot eyes, ¡°But¡­ they weren¡¯t able to open it.¡±

    ¡°This container employs the most cutting edge locking functions, including iris and fingerprint recognition technologies. Furthermore, it requires a total of three persons¡¯ irises and fingerprints to unlock the box. As long as the three aren¡¯t present, it would immediately self-detonate.¡±

    Qin Ye whispered back, ¡°So I can imagine that one of them must be from Guardian Auctions. Who are the others?¡±

    Bai Yishan had no intention of hiding anything from Qin Ye. Truth be told, he had already made up his mind to disclose everything to Qin Ye as soon as Qin Ye reached out to him some time ago.

    ¡°Grandmaster of the House Chu. The second person is the present owner of the Mitsubishi Corporation in Nippon, Mr Iwasaki Jiro. Thest one is none other than the present head of the Kamo n.¡± Bai Yishan lowered his voice and exined, ¡°Mr Qin, I know you wanted to obtain the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. But¡­ it¡¯s a good thing you didn¡¯t act out of line. This box utilizes the most cutting edge technology avable in the world right now, and it¡¯s otherwise known as the ¡®x-magic box¡¯. As long as anyone attempts to force it open, the only thing they¡¯ll find are shattered fragments of what was once aplete artifact.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head.

    He had in fact entertained the idea of seizing it at some point in time.

    After all, two billion for a fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was truly exorbitant. Had he been certain he could make a pass on the bowl without being discovered himself, he would most certainly have seized it before the auctions itself.

    In fact, this was one of the main reasons why he hade to the tform today. He wanted to see for himself the security measures implemented to protect the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, and seize it for himself if possible. This was also the ¡®immature¡¯ idea which he had earlier discussed with Ming Shiyin. Although it was shameless, it was nevertheless¡­ practical.

    He didn¡¯t think there would be Hellguards standing guard across a rickety old train station anyway. Besides¡­

    He was an Emissary of Hell. Hellguard-ss experts wouldn¡¯t be able to see him. It was incredibly easy and convenient for him to make a y outside of the First Academy of Cultivators, as long as the circumstances were right.

    But what had transpired was a little outside of his calctions. For one, he hadn¡¯t thought that the secret ninjas of Renpu would strike so quickly. They had made their move even before the artifact had arrived within Eastsea City. And when Qin Ye noticed how the container holding the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was still intact, he knew immediately that it was only possible to obtain it through the auctions.

    After all, it wouldn¡¯t be wise for him to make an attempt at an artifact that three Hellguards didn¡¯t dare risk seizing.

    He needed the entire Yin artifact to be intact if he were to seize the souls within. Fragments simply wouldn¡¯t do. Bai Yishan had given him a small fragment of the bowl that had broken off, but he would never entrust the entire bowl into his hands. After all, this represented the lifeblood of Guardian Auctions, whether their reputation or their wealth. Besides, Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to risk having any further damage to the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl any longer. He wouldn¡¯t want to risk such a great opportunity to subjugate a great general, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven!

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Just then, a feeble voice called out from deep within the carriage. Both men were taken aback. Bai Yishan abruptly rushed into the sea of blood like a madman, and secondster, he emerged from the darkness again, supporting an elderly man as they hobbled out.

    ¡°Grandmaster Chu¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. The old man¡¯s breaths were ragged and shallow, and his expressions were frail and pale. But at least he was still alive.

    ¡°You¡­¡± His lips trembled. Grandmaster Chu¡¯s eyes were stillced with a great amount of fear. His teeth chattered, and he continued to grip tightly to his sleeves with great anxiety, ¡°How did I survive this ordeal¡­¡±

    He smiled bitterly as he scanned the entire train carriage, ¡°Because¡­ they immediately abandoned their operation as soon as they noticed the security measures protecting the fragment of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. Furthermore, I¡¯m one of the main auctioneers, and they know that this box can never be opened without me. They didn¡¯t spare my life¡­ they were simply¡­ keeping the key to the box around¡­¡±

    ¡°Who were they?¡± Qin Ye interjected.

    Grandmaster Chu gave him a wary nce, only to quickly detect the faint traces of a Hellguard¡¯s energy emanating from his body. His spirits tensed up immediately, and he fell to his knees immediately with a loud thud. His apprehensive disposition vanished in an instant, only to be reced by an unspeakable sense of grief about him.

    ¡°Sir!!¡± He wept, ¡°Please¡­ please avenge us all!!¡±

    ¡°Four carriages¡­ and over seventy cultivators!¡± He looked up with streaks of tears running down his face, ¡°Have just been ughtered mercilessly!!¡±

    ¡°Even Jing Laosan has died¡­ Only I¡­ only I have survived! We¡¯re so useless¡­ we¡¯re too useless! Arrrgggghhhh!¡±

    The presence of a Hellguard was like a key which unlocked the floodgates of his emotions, sending a tide of frustration, resentment and desperation pouring out in an instant. Like a madman, he pounded on the floor with immense vexation, ¡°They¡¯re not Cathayan ghosts¡­ These are Nipponese ghosts! I heard them speak in Nipponese! I would never have expected that! Why would Nipponese ghosts travel across the seas and infiltrate Cathay?!¡±

    He turned his bloodshot eyes towards the bloodied carriages and wailed hoarsely, ¡°This is our territory! Why isn¡¯t Hell doing anything about it?! Are they just going to watch the mortal realm suffer like that?!¡±

    ¡°How could they be so indifferent?!!¡±

    ¡°How can they just stand idly by and watch as evil ghosts from other nations rampage on our soil?!¡±

    ¡°Have we regressed to the era of the Eight-Nation Alliance?!! Obviously not!¡± He continued to weep at the top of his voice. His hand grabbed tightly onto a dismembered arm beside him, ¡°I¡¯ve been friends with Jing Laosan since we were kids, and I¡­ I-I could only watch him get cut up mercilessly to pieces right in front of my very eyes! Why¡­¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ Our mortal realm is strong, yet why do we condone the existence of foreign evil ghosts on our territory?! Why isn¡¯t Hell doing anything?! Why¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!¡± Qin Ye cut him off before he could finish speaking. Grandmaster Chu shivered slightly, and then he slumped down to the ground, ignoring the nauseating river of blood around him as he gazed listlessly around the train, ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry. I¡¯ve let my emotions get the better of me.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s chest heaved and fell heavily. He, too, felt incredibly vexed by the situation.

    Why¡­ Grandmaster Chu¡¯s incessant questions of ¡®why¡¯ had caused his face to flush with embarrassment, and he felt as though something were lodged in his throat. He wanted to shout and roar in exasperation, but he simply couldn¡¯t do it.

    Do you think I don¡¯t want Hell to be strong?

    I¡¯m also trying my best over here! Can¡¯t you just give me a little bit more time?!

    The Nipponese emissaries dare to infiltrate Cathay and murder our folks¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed frigidly as he scanned his surroundings once more - I finally understand why Arthis and Ming Shiyin hold such contempt towards extraterritorial emissaries¡­

    This was akin to a tight p to the face of a prime minister of thends.

    The boilingva of humiliation and wrath erupted from his heart in an instant.

    ¡°Are you mad?¡± Ming Shiyin¡¯s voice echoed through his mind, ostensibly surprised, ¡°That¡¯s rare¡­ It¡¯s been months, yet I¡¯ve never seen you truly incensed before. But this time¡­ it seems like your wrath has been stirred?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ this is¡­ an epiphany.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s gaze stirred with a rare but palpable murderous intent, ¡°This epiphany has given me an understanding which manifests in wrath.¡±

    Ming Shiyin grew silent for several seconds, and then he continued with a firm resolution in his voice, ¡°Remember, kid.¡±

    ¡°The Cathayan underworld had only been able tost for millennia on end because we¡¯ve never spared a single extraterritorial emissary that has misbehaved on ournds. Not even if this means sacrificing Judges on our end!¡±

    ¡°The war of the Middle East, the war of the Hindustani Ocean, the great war of the underworlds¡­ We¡¯vee out on top of each one of them, and chased down the remnant forces to the ends of the earth. Regardless of whether they¡¯re Abyssal Prefects or mere Netherworld Operatives, all were treated in the same way - their souls were banished to an eternity of the skyntern punishment!¡±

    ¡°And this burden falls on you today. The Cathayan underworld has never in thest thousands of years been insulted and humiliated like this!¡±

    ¡°Kill them and seize the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. At the very least¡­ you¡¯ve got to let that Nipponese goddess of death know that Cathay¡¯s underworld¡­ isn¡¯t a pushover! Even if we¡¯ve sustained a massive fall from our former day of glory, we¡¯re still an existence that no former fiefdom should deign to provoke!¡±

    ¡°A moment of infraction, a life of requital!¡±

    Qin Ye shut his eyes softly and nodded deeply.

    There was only rity in his mind right now. A cold aura flourished about him as he turned to look at Grandmaster Chu, ¡°What did they say?¡±

    Grandmaster Chu trembled slightly, drew a deep breath and gnashed his teeth, ¡°They¡­ mainly asked about the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. And then¡­ they asked me¡­¡±

    ¡°Whether I know of an Emissary of Hell?¡±

    ¡°They said that there¡¯s a Cathayan Emissary of Hell around these parts, and he¡¯s an Anitya Hellguard.¡±

    ¡°¡®A life for a life¡¯. With that, they told me that they would be leaving a gift right here for that Emissary of Hell.¡±

    1. This was a gueri warfare of sorts when eight nations set up a military coalition that acted covertly throughout China, leading to the piging of Beijing and other cities for over a year.

 Chapter 234: A Gift to You (2)

    <h4>Chapter 234: A Gift to You (2)</h4>

    Gift?

    Youmit a crime and then seek to lead me on a wild goose chase?! How arrogant can you be? Do you really not give a damn about Hell¡¯s existence?!

    There aren¡¯t any words written in blood. They must¡¯ve thought that doing something like that was far too ordinary¡­ He continued looking around for dozens of seconds, before finally chuckling bitterly.

    ¡°To the Emissary of Hell who assassinated our colleague: We shall repay you blood for blood, a hundredfold!¡±

    What gall!

    ¡°Eh? Killing intent?¡± Ming Shiyinmunicated through his thoughts, ¡°You¡¯re actually¡­ disying a palpable sense of killing intent? And a pretty decent showing of killing intent at that?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. Instead, he stood in the middle of the carriage and addressed the others around, ¡°Master Bai, please bring Grandmaster Chu back to the hotel. I¡¯lle look for you after thirty minutes.¡±

    They promptly left, leaving Qin Ye in the carriage alone. Qin Ye surveyed his surroundings, and a wave of memory surged from the depths of his heart right back into his mind.

    Dong¡­ The carriage door silently shut, and Ming Shiyin flew out silently.

    Qin Ye continued with a stiff voice, ¡°Well, are you aware of when I¡¯d consumed the fungus of aeons?¡±

    Qin Ye swept a gaze calmly across the entire cabin of the carriage, ¡°When I was two years old.¡±

    Ming Shiyin didn¡¯t respond. Qin Ye made it sound simple, but Ming Shiyin knew better - those who consumed the taisui fungus would either live, or transform into living monsters. Qin Ye had never mentioned anything about his grandfather before. He had always presented himself living a lonesome life in this word, barely scraping by anding out on top of the wars back then, before seeing the establishment of modern day society. One could only imagine how rough his life must have been back then.

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice grew distant as he nced at the Nipponese text formed by the dismembered bodies, ¡°And they¡¯re the ones who had started it all!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as though I haven¡¯t killed someone before.¡± Qin Ye continued tly, ¡°In fact, most of the people I¡¯d killed back then happened to be Nipponese invaders.¡±

    Ming Shiyin finally responded, ¡°No.¡±

    It sighed, ¡°The longer humans live, the more prized they be in their demeanor. The first kind would assimte fully into the society that they¡¯re part of and be one of the old and wise. The other would instead frolic andugh and do as they please precisely because they¡¯re old enough to have gained thetitude to do so. Not everyone bes the typical, well-considered old man who only speaks words of wisdom. Just like the case of Benjamin Button, the older they get, the younger they get. But it arises out of an expansion of their perspective. The breadth of one¡¯s perspective causes the rules and regtions of the world to fade away. They no longer see a need to hold the same measure of reverence and concern for these rules, nor do they take themselves as seriously as before. Thus¡­ they set themselves free.¡±

    Ming Shiyin snorted and turned to Qin Ye, ¡°You¡¯re just like the second type of person.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re adaptable enough to keep with the times so that you¡¯re not rendered obsolete with the effluxion of time. And you¡¯re just like the exuberant and carefreemunities of elderly who don¡¯t shackle themselves with the concerns of this world. It¡¯s impossible to assess what their true personality is like, and whether their actions are a mere pretense, or whether theye from the innermost part of their being.¡± It sighed softly, ¡°A leopard doesn¡¯t change its spots. But it doesn¡¯t prevent itself from concealing its appearances.¡±

    ¡°Did you really think we were following you just because we had no other choice? Admittedly, there¡¯s some corrtion between the fate of Hell and your soul. But what about Arthis and I? We¡¯ve lived long enough to witness three eras of prosperity in Cathay, and we have a wealth of experience under our belts. Do you really think there¡¯s no other option here? If that¡¯s what you think, you might have underestimated the power of Infernal Judges in Hell. We would never allow Hell to fall to the hands of a good-for-nothing Emissary.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions faded away, and he indulged in a rare showing of the marks left behind by the vicissitudes of life, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ as times changed, I, too, realized that these days are no longer the same as those days of conflict and tension. In fact, I had long forgotten about this part of me that had been relegated to the recesses of my heart¡­ at least, until today¡­¡±

    ¡°How dare they hide under the cover of their invisibility to mortals and invade Cathayan soil like that! And to think that they have the gall to send me a gift purchased with the lives of over seventy mortals!¡±

    With that, he waved his hand, the carriage door opened wide, and he left without turning back anymore.

    He could tell that the secret ninjas of Renpu had left a long time ago, and it was pointless staying here any longer. Thus, he made a beeline straight towards the hotel where Guardian Auctions were putting up at.

    Guardian Auctions had booked out an entire floor. Qin Ye took the stairs up, and he noticed along the way that everyone standing guard were cultivators and experts in their own rights. That said, they immediately made way for Qin Ye as soon as they sensed the pressure of a Hellguard emanating from his body.

    The two men sat downpliantly.

    ¡°The culprits who attacked the train are evil ghosts of the Hellguard level.¡± Qin Ye got straight to the point, ¡°And they hail from Nippon. Are you certain you still wish to go ahead with the auction tomorrow? Are you really certain you¡¯ll live to see the auction through?¡±

    ¡°Not everyone here has the same outstanding talent and strength as you do. We¡­¡±

    It was hard to get off a tiger¡¯s back.

    He was well aware of the current conundrum faced by Guardian Auctions. It all started when they dug up the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. In their tion, they broadcast the news of it to the entire world in an attempt to stir hype for their uing auction. Unfortunately, they also drew the unwanted attention of the Nipponese emissaries who traveled across the seas to reim what they deemed was theirs to begin with. Guardian Auctions was still underestimating what the bowl truly represented. And they had thought to cancel the auctions, but they were already riding on the tiger¡¯s back - it was difficult to get off.

    For instance, they drew the attention of the famous n of Onmyojis, the Kamo n.

    Guardian Auctions would have to count their lucky stars that they drew the attention of these groups because they were the ones who had provided Guardian Auctions with the X-magic box to safekeep the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl to be auctioned. Otherwise, not a single person on board the train tonight would have been left alive.

    Without the X-magic box, the Nipponese emissaries would have a license to kill indiscriminately. In other words, the box had somehow ended up bing a life-saving measure to Guardian Auctions. After all, the Nipponese emissaries would never cut a deal with Mitsubishi Corporation or the Kamo n in order to gain ess to the box. Thus, as the weakest party around, Guardian Auctions would do everything they could within their abilities to protect their one and only lifeline right now. Naturally, who else could they call on for assistance but Qin Ye?

    This was the first time he had encountered a conflict of such magnitude. He wasn¡¯t sure of the depth of forces Yomi-no-Kuni had gathered at the East Cathay Sea, but this was undoubtedly still thergest-scale supernatural sh he would be participating in. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes grew distant, and he remained taciturn for some time. Several momentster, he finally opened his eyes and muttered, ¡°Are you¡­ really unafraid of death? Are you truly confident that the X-magic box is foolproof?¡±

    He would have responded affirmatively without hesitation before this incident. But he wasn¡¯t sure anymore, after seeing the kind of monster he was truly facing.

    ¡°Sir.¡± He drew a deep breath and gazed intently at Qin Ye, ¡°What if¡­ we invited you to lend us your assistance? What do you think if we offer you 10% of the auction price of this bowl?¡±

    ¡°How long is it till we depart for the high seas?¡± Qin Ye asked cidly.

    Three days, huh¡­ Qin Ye gently sipped his tea.

    The high seas would be the location of the final showdown! It was still unclear to him just how many regiments of Yomi-no-Kuni¡¯s legendary forces wereying in wait. If he didn¡¯t do everything he could to rally his forces on this end, what awaited him might well be the carnage that would clip his wings before he could even spread them and soar!

    <hr>

    1. This is a reference to the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945.

 Chapter 235: Honnoji

    <h4>Chapter 235: Honnoji</h4>

    One hourter.

    Thus, not even Grandmaster Chu was aware that Qin Ye¡¯s room waspletely dark. The windows were closed, the curtains were tightly shut, and even the lights were switched off. Furthermore, there were talismans pasted all over the room.

    A ck box sat silently on the bed, surrounded only by rows and rows of purple talismans tied to red strings. Qin Ye was busy as a bee, setting up precaution after precaution within the confines of his room. Ming Shiyin hovered in the air for some time, observing all these things, before he finally blurted, ¡°Is this really necessary?¡±

    Ming Shiyin tilted slightly in curiosity, ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t have arms to help out. I¡¯m already giving you a lot of face by cheering you on by your side¡­ Hang on! Why do I get the feeling that you¡¯ve been showing me less and less respect these days? Do you want me to startmbasting you all over again?!¡±

    He red at Ming Shiyin, and then went about setting up the formation array on his own. Even then, Ming Shiyin began to hover about him like a fluttering butterfly, ¡°Besides, I¡¯m not asking whether the formation array is a necessity. What I¡¯m asking is why you have to unt your abilities if you¡¯d wanted them to entrust you with the safekeeping of the bowl? You¡¯ve behaved like a male peacock unting its assets during mating season ever since we were at the train station. Don¡¯t you think your behaviour is a huge disgrace to the reputation of King Yanluos?!¡±

    He lowered his head, bit his thumb and smeared his blood across one of the talismans. In an instant, the talisman emitted a faint purple glow which quickly faded into nothingness.

    He looked at the Baguapass in his hand and adjusted the position of the talismans again, ¡°Grandmaster Chu doesn¡¯t even know who I am, so on what basis would he be willing to entrust it to me? With him around, Bai Yishan can only defer to him in the decision making process. It wouldn¡¯t be proper for me to seize it for safekeeping by force either, unless I¡¯m willing to risk my position in the First Academy of Cultivators. So¡­¡± Qin Ye finally took a step back and admired his handiwork, ¡°The smarter thing to do is to make them ask me for help of their own volition.¡±

    Ming Shiyin grew taciturn.

    Qin Ye cracked his neck and admired his work of art with great satisfaction. Then, the ephemeral smile on his face faded away, and he looked intently at Ming Shiyin once more, ¡°Lord Ming, shall I¡­ begin?¡±

    ¡°Your counterparty is Oda Nobunaga after all. I can summon his soul, but considering his personality, I¡¯m afraid you only have one shot at it.¡±

    With a unique rhythm to his hand seals, he moved faster and faster as he poured more and more Yin spirit into his techniques, until his hands began to leave after images where they were just moments ago. Then, with the abrupt p of his palms, the talismans in the room suddenly fluttered in unison. Finally, with a soft hum, all of the talismans in the room began to radiate a dim purple glow.

    Without further ado, a bright ck beam of light erupted from Ming Shiyin¡¯s surface and shot straight into the X-magic box.

    Nobody spoke a single word.

    There aren¡¯t many talents in the East to choose from after all¡­

    Whoooooosh! Eerie spots ofhermes suddenly appeared within the room, making it look no different from an underworld! At the same time, a powerful tide of Yin energy began to pour out from the box, while the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl trembled within the box, making clinking sounds that could be heard from outside.

    ¡°Here ites¡­ here ites!¡± Ming Shiyin barked, ¡°Steady your mind. There¡¯s more than one Yin spirit in here! Everyone who has died in the Honnoji incident are all trapped in this ce! No¡­ wait¡­ kid! Get out of this ce immediately¡­¡±

    Ahergale poured out from the ck box and sent Qin Ye¡¯s clothes fluttering about. Then, a momentter, a dazzling red light erupted from the box with so much energy as though a new world had been born, and Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but shut his eyes to its bright gleam.

    He was no longer in his room.

    Whoosh¡­ The gentle night breeze sent the fragrance of incense diffusing into the surroundings. The temple was constructed in the typical Zen Buddhist style, with dark tiled roofs and white walls. The temple grounds covered approximately a hundred square meters, and it couldn¡¯t be considered small by any means. Two unique, ancientmps burned with jade-greenhermes at the entrance of the temple. A que hung across the top of the entrance with a single word written on it - Honnoji!

    Furthermore, right beside where the Nipponese warriors stood, were rows after rows of foot soldiers and bowmen who were likewise guarding the temple. The total number of soldiers numbered well above two thousand!

    ¡°There¡¯s a burning stench.¡± Qin Ye remarked after taking a deep breath. The temple stood intact before him, and yet it seemed to emanate wafts of burning stenchced with what was unmistakably the stench of corpses.

    Rather, it was an underworld for the dead.

    ¡°That said, this realm is rather unstable, and that¡¯s probably why it is impossible to maintain an ess channel between this ce and the mortal realm. Look up there. The rift in the sky is the only way out of this ce. But the size of the rift is at bestrge enough for one Yin spirit to enter and exit.¡±

    Two rows of women drifted out slowly. Upon closer inspection, not a single one of them had feet that touched the ground. Wisps of Yin energy peeked out from the lower half of their long skirts. They were dressed in pure, traditional costumes with faces powdered with snow white make-up and striking spots of eyebrows. However, their teeth were ink-ck in colour. They appeared no different from the sprites of ancient lore.

    She walked with great poise as though she had been trained from young. Her body remained upright even as she walked, hardly swaying to the side even a little bit. She kept her head bowed, and the posture was warm, meek and innocent. She brought her hands out from her sleeves and ced them together gracefully as she arrived before Qin Ye.

    Nohime huh¡­

    ¡°Lord Nobunaga is waiting for you inside Honnoji.¡± Nohime responded, ¡°He says¡­ you have to go in alone. After all¡­¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he stared intently at Nohime as he queried, ¡°Are you not lifting your head because you¡¯re afraid of looking at me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°You may raise your head.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately gasped.

    She had striking eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes that appeared to contain the enchantment of fall in them. Her skin appeared soft and supple, while her face was pale as a sheet of paper. That said, her eyes were bloodshot, and there was a deep scar of a de running across her entire neck.

    The deep scar from her knife wound hadn¡¯t faded one bit. Instead, it appeared to be deeply branded to Nohime¡¯s neck. Furthermore, it appeared to run so deep that her neck looked almost as though it had been cut offpletely. One could even see the grisly bits of flesh that were turned slightly outwards at the edge where her flesh met. Coupled with her pale appearances and her bloodshot eyes, her appearances were truly terrifying.

    <hr>

    1. For those who have forgotten, Nohime is Oda¡¯s wife.

    2. Interestingly, the ritual suicide of seppuku is only done by samurais. The wives of samurais oftenmit suicide by cutting the arteries in their neck with a knife. This is probably what happened here.

 Chapter 236: Negotiations with the Demon King (1)

    <h4>Chapter 236: Negotiations with the Demon King (1)</h4>

    ¡°Lead the way.¡± Qin Ye nodded at her. Nohime took a few steps back, turned around, and then walked straight back into the temple. Her two rows of maidservants turned around at exactly the same time.

    These were all maidservants who had apanied Oda Nobunaga in death.

    The wind rose, and the shifting shadows made the surroundings look darker than ever. In that instant, Qin Ye found himself standing in the heart of a sea of threatening jade-greenhermes, almost as though a pack of hungry wolves wereying in wait for the slightest slip up on his part. Any ordinary person in his shoes would have screamed in fear by now.

    This was Honnoji.

    Qin Ye nodded and drew a deep breath to steady his heart. Then, he stepped on the ground that was covered with paper money as he walked straight towards Honnoji.

    The inside of the temple was constructed just like a traditional Nipponese hostel. The aisles were narrow, and the wooden floor was stained so much with dried blood that it had an unusual maroon hue. The sliding doors on the side were decorated with ukiyo-e art. As Qin Ye passed by, he could hear heated discussions going on behind the sliding doors. In fact, the doors were slightly translucent, and he could vaguely make out the silhouettes of several persons d in armor arguing fiercely over something.

    As soon as he did, the figures behind the sliding door immediately reacted as though they had detected his presence, and the hair on their heads began to scatter about and grow wildly. In an instant, their silhouettes transformed into the shape of a werewolf. Qin Ye could even tell that they now had hair growing out of every corner of their bodies.

    ¡°What tomfoolery.¡± Qin Ye snorted and abruptly opened the door.

    It was a shabby room inside. The tatami mats were covered in dust, and the walls were practically concealed by the cobwebs. There was an oilmp burning with a jade-green me that flickered softly on the table in the room. Two sets of skeletons sat at the table, one on each side.

    It was also right at that moment that the two rows ofntern-toting maidservants bowed respectfully, and then drifted back into the illusory world within the ukiyo-e paintings.

    Qin Ye took a closer look at the paintings. The ukiyo-e paintings appeared to depict Oda Nobunaga¡¯s great conquests, just like many of the Cathayan paintings of their great generals¡¯ conquests. The maidservants had already be one with these paintings again. As Qin Ye walked on along the corridor, he could sense the maidservants in the paintings turning their heads, staring intently at Qin Ye with a faint green glow in their eyes.

    ¡°Is this the way Mr Oda treats his guests?¡± Qin Ye had now arrived at the end of the corridor. There was a screen at the end of the corridor with a pot of plum blossoms. The leaves had already withered away eons ago, and a grim white skull hung eerily from the branches.

    With that, Qin Ye went around the screen, and he found himself in a decently-sized room.

    The extravagance of the room was befitting of an ancient Nipponese daimyo. There were stalks of withered flowers extending right out of goldcquered vases on both sides of the room, and a bamboo blind hung down halfway from the ceiling. A man dressed in ck feather weave sat silently behind the blinds, patiently waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s arrival.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot of guts toe looking for me right in the heart of my territory.¡± A husky voice called out from behind the blinds, ¡°We¡¯ve met before.¡±

    ¡°Enough.¡± A gilded fan reached out from behind the bamboo blinds. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed. He could tell that the hand holding the fan was covered in spots of livor mortis, and it was also burnt beyond recognition.

    ¡°I¡¯ve allowed you to enter only on ount of Lord Ming. I give you my word that I won¡¯t hurt you. And we can let bygones be bygones. I¡¯m not suicidal enough to stir the wrath of the Cathayan underworld. But you should quickly get to the point and tell me what business you have with me. I don¡¯t quite like the stench of the living on you very much.¡±

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and took a deep breath. The most crucial tabletop battle was just about to begin. Everything would turn on whether he could persuade the four hundred years old demon king to pledge his allegiance to Hell.

    He quickly ran through his angle of attack, drew a deep breath, and steeled his nerves. Then, he looked up once more and stared straight into the bamboo blinds, ¡°Mr Oda, what are your thoughts on the Cathayan underworld?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never had the intention to provoke Cathay.¡± Qin Ye could even detect sincerity in his voice, ¡°So, if you¡¯re here on behalf of Lord Justice Bao, please convey this message of mine to his.¡±

    Beforeing here, Qin Ye had already prepared his best angle of attack under a particr set of working assumptions, and he was already confident that he could take down the distinguished Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. But Nobunaga¡¯s response to his introductory query caused him to raise his estimated sess rate from 60% to a whopping 90%!

    In other words, he didn¡¯t know about the great upheaval that has urred within Hell.

    It was precisely because he was still harbouring the hopes of striking back at Nippon one day.

    He had shown deference to Hell because he still wanted to conquer Nippon. He didn¡¯t want to find himself duking it out with the Nipponese underworld, only to find the armies of the Cathayan underworld hot on his tail. After all, it wasn¡¯t as though Cathay had never interfered with the internal politics of a nation before.

    Oda Nobunaga finally stirred behind the bamboo blinds. His gaze burned so brightly that it seemed to prate the opaque blinds in front him. He chuckled, ¡°The Nipponese underworld.¡±

    Without missing a beat, Qin Ye continued, ¡°They possess all the famous talents of the Warring States era, including Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, your former ally Tokugawa Ieyasu. Even Azai Nagamasa and Akechi Mitsuhide are there.¡±

    There seemed to be no reaction.

    ¡°They¡¯re all serving under Izanami right now.¡± Qin Ye lowered his heads and licked his lips, ¡°In other words, so long as you¡¯re still bent on taking back Nippon, you¡¯ll have to face all of the daimyos from the entire Warring States era back then.¡±

    ¡°To give up on your dreams of conquest?¡±

    ¡°Are you willing to give up on the chance to seek vengeance against Akechi Mitsuhide for the arrow in the back at Honnoji?¡±

    Oda Nobunaga was lost for words. He couldn¡¯t hide his feelings any longer.

    ¡°What message are you trying to convey exactly?¡± Oda Nobunaga finally responded after several moments of silence, ¡°Is this your message, or is this Lord Justice Bao¡¯s message to me?¡±

    Are they trying to invest in me?

    The prospects of such thoughts caused his heart to stir greatly.

    Preupation was his greatest ally right now. How could Oda Nobunaga bring himself to simply let go of a centuries-old long-cherished wish? These festering thoughts have already be more than a mere obsession by now.

    The folding fan snapped softly in the midst of Qin Ye¡¯s statement.

    But he had by his conduct undoubtedly responded to Qin Ye¡¯s question.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t ept then, then it begs the question whether you possess the ability to oppose Izanami and all of the great daimyos back thenbined. With these two thousand soldiers of yours?¡±

    Qin Ye leaned forward quietly, ¡°Lord Nobunaga, times have changed.¡±

 Chapter 237: Negotiations with the Demon King (2)

    <h4>Chapter 237: Negotiations with the Demon King (2)</h4>

    Everything was silent.

    But before Qin Ye could even respond to that, Nobunaga continued with a faint smile, ¡°Between being a puppet of Cathay and being a subordinate to Izanami, I¡¯d lean towards thetter. After all, I¡¯d at least be able see some of my old acquaintances.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes zed with passion, and then it faded away in an instant.

    Izanami didn¡¯t trust him.

    And this also happened to be the strongest card in Qin Ye¡¯s hands right now.

    Nippon was currently a ce rich in culture and arts. How could they possibly tolerate Nobunaga and his immense grievances that have been festering for centuries on end?

    If he were to resist, he would undoubtedly be obliterated by Izanami¡¯s forces. Nobunaga¡¯s faction and Izanami¡¯s armies were onpletely different levels.

    ¡°Is that true?¡± Nobunaga gnashed his teeth behind the cover of the bamboo blinds.

    There was a profound silence for the third time straight.

    Qin Ye smiled and nodded his head.

    Thehermes on the candles around suddenly flickered wildly, and a chilling, ghastly shriek echoed in the shadows of the room.

    Qin Ye lowered his gaze, ¡°Are you sure about this? Lord Ming is still waiting right outside.¡±

    But before Nobunaga could even finish speaking, a massive wave of Yin energy erupted from Qin Ye¡¯s body and engulfed him within a massive vortex of Yin energy. In an instant, Qin Ye was dressed in his tall fretwork skullcap and wielding his mourning staff. His hair turned white and scattered about wildly as he walked back out in his Hellguard state. Countless bony hands even reached out where he had just been sitting moments ago, almost as though it were part of the path leading straight to Naraka.

    ¡°I make my own path.¡± Oda Nobunagaughed from his side of the bamboo blinds, ¡°As long as none of you leave this ce alive, would anyone even know you¡¯ve been here before?¡±

    The sliding doors in Honnoji mmed open in an instant, and Qin Ye quickly noticed that the the two sets of skeletons that he had earlier seen suddenly lifted their heads, and greenhermes zed in their sunken eye sockets. With a shrill shriek, they rode a swifthergale and charged straight towards Qin Ye.

    Sssss! A Nipponese female ghost with scattered hair shot out of the ukiyo-e, followed closely by hundreds of other ghosts. Armed with a multitude of weapons ranging from kitchen knives to rusty firearms, the spirits under Nobunaga¡¯s control suddenly charged right into the inner chambers.

    ¡°Well, Lord Oda, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Qin Ye lifted his mourning staff into the air, before mming it straight into the bamboo blinds, shattering it in an instant as he lunged straight for the man hidden behind it.

    This was a showdown between Hellguards, and both unleashed a series of attacks with immense speed. Qin Ye had abruptly struck at Oda Nobunaga at a speed far beyond theprehension of a mere Soul Hunter. His silhouette appeared no more than to flicker slightly, leaving an afterimage in its wake.

    As the bamboo blinds shattered with a miserable tter, Qin Ye finally saw the Demon King¡¯s appearances for the very first time.

    There was no longer any skin left on his body. No blood flowed from his wounds either. Rather, the charred skin and his dried blood appeared to have melded together to form a grotesque crust around his body. He dressed himself with an exquisite feather weave and a daimyo¡¯s hat. However, he didn¡¯t have a head.

    ROAR!

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll believe everything you say just because you¡¯re glib?¡± Oda Nobunaga¡¯s booming voice caused all of Honnoji to quake vigorously, ¡°I¡¯m the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. You¡¯ve underestimated me.¡±

    But just then--...

    An equally thunderous bang shook Honnoji for the second time. A massive crack appeared in the ground, snaking around as it continued to extend endlessly. The foot soldiers stared at the ground in horror. Nethermes surged from the crack in an instant, while the surrounding trees began to shake wildly as though a great, invisible hand were pressing down in them.

    Rather, it was the entire realm that was trembling.

    ¡°Are youying hands on an ambassador of Hell?¡±

    Like quicksilver, the brilliance of its light prated every corner of Honnoji, and every single demon and ghost screamed in terror as they copsed to the ground, shuddering and shivering with great fear. Then, as the light slowly faded away, everything returned to their respective ces within the ukiyo-e paintings.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t move. His fingers were already reaching for his own arm, while a sea of venomous Yin energy snakes continued to lunge viciously at him, tearing and biting at him desperately, but unable to breach the thinyer of Yin energy wrapped around his body.

    A bead of cold sweat rolled off his jawlines. Both had struck out mercilessly, leaving little room for the other to respond to their attacks. He was already on the verge of unleashing his de release had the snakes advanced just that little bit more.

    Then, after one minute of impasse, the tide of venomous snakes slowly began to retreat, and Nobunaga acted as though nothing had ever happened at all. A fresh bamboo blind hung down in front of him once more, and Nobunaga tapped the tatami mat softly with his folding fan, ¡°Take a seat. I got carried away there.¡±

    Incredibly strong.

    His tide of Yin energy was on the verge of materializing. This told Qin Ye that he was at least an advanced Hellguard-ss Yin spirit. In fact, he was probably on the verge of attaining a breakthrough to bing an Infernal Judge.

    There were two reasons. The first reason was the fact that Qin Ye had been on the offensive in the negotiations all this while, and his aggression could have drawn out an instinctive bacsh from Nobunaga.

    And the more Qin Ye thought about it, the more he grew certain that Nobunaga probably wouldn¡¯t haveid hands on him, even if Ming Shiyin didn¡¯t make a move. After all, the instability of the realm in this ce wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the unrestrained showdown between two Hellguards.

    ¡°Mr Oda doesn¡¯t seem to trust me very much.¡± Neither of them brought up the earlier altercation as Qin Ye fired the first salvo in the resumption of their negotiations, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that such methods of verification is a little too unbridled?¡±

    ¡°I believe we can continue with our discussions from where we left off.¡± His voice deepened somewhat, and he finally pulled up the blinds, ¡°Like I said before, I like to cut to the chase. Tell me what you can offer, and what your conditions are.¡±

    Now we¡¯re getting to the point.

    One of the things which Qin Ye hated the most was to receive perfunctory responses like ¡°oh¡±, ¡°I see¡±, and ¡°I¡¯ll consider that¡±. The earlier altercation had seemed dangerous and unruly, but it was the only reliable method of verification that Oda Nobunaga could have resorted to at that point in time.

    ¡°First, we¡¯ll rescue you from East Cathay Sea.¡± Qin Ye deliberated for a few moments before exining sincerely, ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl that you¡¯re residing in is on its way to the Strait of Tsushima to be sold at an auction right now. But, due to some constraints, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to gain ess to the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl before the auctions. Izanami has already established a garrison of her army at the Strait of Tsushima. There¡¯s no way you would be able to battle your way out of the encirclement without our help.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, you¡¯ll return to Cathay with us. As the First Secretary of King Yanluo himself, I give you my word that you would be given absolute autonomy to act. Furthermore, we will render you our full assistance in your invasion of Nippon in future. However, you must pledge allegiance to Hell by bing a citizen of Hell.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Celestial Ambassador of Hell, this isn¡¯t the oue that I, Oda Nobunaga, desire.¡±

 Chapter 238: Negotiations with the Demon King (3)

    <h4>Chapter 238: Negotiations with the Demon King (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye stared at the head in Oda Nobunaga¡¯s chest cavity, and a triumphant smile crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°That said, you don¡¯t have any choice apart from us.¡±

    The more he spoke, the more confident he grew. It suddenly dawned on him that his edgey not only in the information asymmetry. The other thing he brought to the table was the modern lens through which Nobunaga could now view the world.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you must have underestimated me if you think that much is enough to sway me.¡± Nobunaga sneered. Then, with a burning gaze in the depths of his eyes, he stared straight at Qin Ye and added, ¡°What I want¡­ is to be the lord and emperor of Nippon!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to have to answer to anyone anymore. I want absolute autonomy!! Nippon¡­ belongs to me!¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Qin Ye smiled and nodded, ¡°We¡¯re the only ones who would back your ambition in this regard. We¡¯re the only ones in the East with the ability to make your dreams a reality. And as for your concerns¡­ we¡¯ve already thought of some possibly workable solutions.¡±

    He continued to smile as he leaned forward slightly, ¡°Such as¡­ one underworld, two systems.¡±

    Ming Shiyin was currently eavesdropping on their conversation from outside the inner chambers. As soon as he heard Qin Ye¡¯s suggestion, he immediately choked - WTF?! Kid¡­ are you serious? You¡¯re even taking a leaf out of Grandpa Deng¡¯s book? You¡¯re pulling out all the stops in order to win Oda Nobunaga over to your side, aren¡¯t you?

    Oda Nobunaga was likewise dumbfounded by the proposition.

    What in the world is this?!

    Nobunaga was a legendary historical figure. But the fact remains that he came from an era of warring states in Nippon, much like the warring states era in Cathay. Naturally, the only thought on his mind back then was a single word - unification!

    One underworld, two systems. This was a concept that was built upon the dilution of sovereignty. This was aplete taboo to a feudal lord whose life goal had been unification like him.

    ¡°One¡­ one underworld, two systems?¡± The head in his chest cavity raised its eyebrow quizzically.

    ¡°One country--... underworld, operating out of two different systems.¡± Blessed with quick wits, Qin Ye quickly ran with his suggestion and built upon it, ¡°Cathay¡¯s underworld will develop and build on its foundation of socialism as it continues to proliferate Cathayan values, cultures and norms. Once we conquer Nippon, you are free to establish whatever system of governance you so desire, be it capitalism or socialism, or others. We won¡¯t interfere, nor would we ask any questions at all!¡±

    Even Nobunaga found himself somewhat confused by everything.

    That¡¯s not right¡­

    Where did he suddenly pull out all this jargon from? It¡¯s almost as though¡­ the present negotiations feelpletely different from how they had been just moments ago.

    But a wise man thinks much and speaks little. He deliberated for a moment, and then quipped, ¡°This manner of governance ispletely unprecedented in all of recorded history.¡±

    ¡°These are specially crafted terms, and they represent exactly how much we value Lord Nobunaga.¡± Qin Ye responded with eloquence as he cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°If you find these terms unptable, we still have other alternatives for your picking.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga didn¡¯t say more. He was mulling over the question of how far he had fallen out of touch with modern day society. But¡­ the specificities involved do give me some insight as to how much the Cathayan underworld values me¡­ don¡¯t they?

    If only he knew of the truth surrounding the copse of Hell right now. In all likelihood, he would have lunged forward and bit Qin Ye to death in an instant.

    Qin Yeid off his aggression and gave Oda Nobunaga the time and space he needed to think, and he simply added, ¡°The other kind of agreement is called a special administrative region agreement.¡±

    ¡°What would that entail?¡±

    ¡°This is an agreement we will enter into should you be willing to pledge your allegiance to the Cathayan underworld. From then on, you shall be appointed as an Emissary of Hell, with a formal title and an office to hold. Furthermore, Nippon would be a special administrative region of Cathay, and you are free to develop it however you so desire. All we would do is to provide you with supplies and ghostpower!¡±

    ¡°You are free to develop Nippon into a cultural powerhouse, or you can turn it into an economic district or a military zone. Everything is entirely up to you. We promise not to interfere at all.¡±

    Who says I can¡¯t look at the big picture?

    I don¡¯t mean to brag, but when ites to shamelessness, can any of you hold a candle to me?

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s gaze grew deep and abstruse.

    What boldness!

    The two different agreements on the table spoke volumes about how highly he was held in regard by the Cathayan underworld. All he needed to do was to pledge his allegiance to Cathay, and then defeat Nippon, and then he would in substance be no different from a Nipponese emperor!

    His heart zed with passion as he muttered hoarsely, ¡°You won¡¯t interfere, regardless of who I put to death?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t care, even if I dere myself to be king over Nippon? And what about financial governance and internal affairs? Can you guarantee that you won¡¯t send anyone to infiltrate these departments?¡±

    Qin Ye fervently suppressed the swelling ecstasy in his heart, ¡°Certainly not. As long as you don¡¯t rebel against the Cathayan Hell or stir an uprising against us, you¡¯re free to do what you want. You can even call yourself a king; it is but a title to us.¡±

    ¡°Lord Nobunaga.¡± Qin Ye stared straight into his eyes, ¡°You¡¯re no puppet to us. We want you as¡­ our colleague¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the only ones who can fulfill your dreams right now. As soon as you get dragged into the depths of Yomi-no-Kuni, you can forget about leaving ever again.¡±

    And this much was true. It was a ring fence that Oda Nobunaga would never be able to escape.

    As long as he had the capacity for thought, he would be able to understand that Izanami would never be able to tolerate his presence. No, rather, it was more urate to say that Izanami could tolerate his physical presence, one that would be as obsequious as a dog of the shogun, but not one who possessed an ambition so great that it earned him the title of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven!

    Therefore, Oda Nobunaga knew full well that his only choice right now was to pledge allegiance to Cathay. Everything he had done up to now was merely to give himself some leverage for the negotiations itself.

    The entire room was filled with stifling silence. Yet, Qin Ye continued to keep mum, because he knew he had said enough. His palms grew damp as he continued to wait anxiously. Then, after an inordinate amount of time, Oda Nobunaga finally responded, ¡°I¡¯ll need some time to think about it¡­¡±

    Qin Ye promptly interjected before Nobunaga could even finish, ¡°With all due respect, Lord Nobunaga, do you really have the luxury of time for such consideration?¡±

    ¡°Cathay is paying a huge price to seize control of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl in order to gain control over your soul. After all, we can only evoke and release your soul from the bowl if we are able to reassemble the entire Yin artifact. However¡­¡± Qin Ye lifted his head and smiled at Nobunaga, ¡°Three dayster, the ship containing the bowl would be sailing through East Cathay Sea. Then, thirty hourster, you¡¯ll arrive at the Strait of Tsushima, where your old rivals¡­ will already be lying in wait for you.¡±

    Checkmate!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t see what was going on behind the bamboo blinds right now, but he was certain that there was a burning gaze staring transfixed at him. This continued for another five minutes, until Nobunaga finally spoke up again, ¡°Are you the only one here today?¡±

    Thump, thump, thump¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s heart began to beat faster and faster, and his eyes immediately lit up. Nobunaga was essentially asking whether Qin Ye had the authority to enter into an agreement with him!

    Nobunaga was finally moved!

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Qin Ye steadied himself and calmed his mind. He knew full well that the negotiations had finally reached its tipping point, and everything would turn on what happened in the next few moments.

    ¡°Lord Ming is right outside. This is ssified as a top secret operation. Therefore, we¡¯re the only two in attendance here today. Any agreement entered into today will be personally witnessed by Lord Ming. This ought to ay any concerns of yours, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    Oda Nobunaga didn¡¯t respond directly to Qin Ye, ¡°Show me the agreements.¡±

    ¡°Lord Nobunaga, the agreement contains far-reaching ramifications. Just as a precautionary measure, we haven¡¯t brought it with us today. Please give us half a day¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Oda Nobunaga tapped his folding fan gently, and the bamboo blinds dropped all the way down, indicating that their conversation was over for now.

    Time to leave.

    Qin Ye cupped his hands together respectfully, and then took his leave from Honnoji. As soon as he stepped out from the main entrance of Honnoji, everything before his eyes started to blur and contort, and a dark luster began to overtake everything in sight. Qin Ye subconsciously shut his eyes.

    Several minutes passed. When Qin Ye opened his eyes once more, he was already back at his hotel.

    ¡°Hot damn!!¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but m his fist on the bed as soon as he had ascertained where exactly he was. Simultaneously, he heaved a long sigh of relief.

    I¡¯m just one step away¡­ All I need right now is to draw up an agreement and endorse it with our signatures. And then, as soon as you enter Hell, I¡¯d like to see where you can run, my dear friend, Nobunaga¡­

    ¡°Kid¡­ you¡¯re pretty good.¡± Ming Shiyin hovered about him, ¡°I¡¯d rate you first ss, regardless of whether we¡¯re talking about your gift of the gab, or your shamelessness, or even your ability to react and adapt, as well asmand the negotiations process¡­¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Flushed with pride, Qin Ye picked at his ears and blew gently at his fingers as he rolled his eyes at Ming Shiyin, ¡°I¡¯m simply doing my bit to help raise Hell once more. Speaking of which, you should read more. It would help us out.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll be damned!¡± Ming Shiyin fluttered around excitedly like a happy little butterfly, ¡°Ghost, let me ask you! Are you really going to entrust Oda Nobunaga with that much power and authority in future?¡±

    ¡°Uhhuh.¡± Qin Ye leaned backfortably on the sofa and snorted softly, ¡°I naturally have to show him some sign of trust on my part, don¡¯t I? I can grant himplete autonomy under the first agreement. That said, under those terms, Cathay wouldn¡¯t be extending him any supplies at all. You wantplete autonomy? You can start everything from scratch then. When that timees¡­ he¡¯lle knocking on our doors of his own volition.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ that¡¯s way too ck-hearted, even by the standards of Hell¡­ Ming Shiyin doubled back in great astonishment, ¡°And what if¡­ he decided on the special administrative region instead?¡±

    ¡°Let me tell you something.¡± Qin Ye crossed his legs, ¡°When ites to politicking and protecting one¡¯s own interests, nobody does it better than Cathay. Do you know anything about the bureaucratic system? If he pledges his allegiance under the special administrative region regime instead, there¡¯s naturally plenty of hidden avenues through which I can pick at his bones. Have you watched the series ¡®In the Name of the People¡¯? Learn from it.¡±

    ¡°... Bloody hell¡­ Aren¡¯t you afraid that he would rebel when he learns the truth?¡±

    ¡°With what? Him and his two thousand foot soldiers?¡± Qin Ye snorted and smiled proudly, ¡°It¡¯s not out of the question if a Nipponese Yin spirit were to seek help from Cathayan Yin spirits to defeat Yomi-no-Kuni. But¡­ do you really think it¡¯s possible for a Nipponese Yin spirit to stir up a rebellion and get Cathayan Yin spirits to defect to Nippon? Do you think we¡¯re stil living in thest century?¡±

    ¡°As long as he dares to incite the slightest bit of ill will or stir up an uprising, he would most certainly be cast into the pits of Hellfire and brimstone. I¡¯ve got more than a hundred thousand Yin spirits under mymand right now. That¡¯s more than enough to quell andpletely extinguish any possible uprising on his part. Besides, I¡¯ll immediately confer upon him a title as an official as soon as he enters Hell. He wouldn¡¯t know a thing about the systems of Hell at that point in time. In other words, I¡¯m suppressing him with the sheer information asymmetry. In short, as long as we¡¯re able to secure possession of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl and bring it back to the City of Salvation, he would be no different from a dumpling in my hand - I can mold him into any shape I like.¡±

    Silence.

    Secondster, Ming Shiyin finally sighed, ¡°As expected of a scheming bastard¡­ This is simply too dirty. I can¡¯t believe you would betray his expectations like that. What a crude method. Itcks elegance!¡±

    Where¡¯s the spirit of coboration that belies an agreement? Where¡¯s the honesty? Where¡¯s the trust between different nations? Bloody hell¡­ is this really our future King Yanluo?

    The future of Hell is in great jeopardy¡­

    After resting for a while, Qin Ye finally got up and washed his face. Then, he took several deep breaths to regte his emotions, switched on hisputer, and then entered the Baidu library where he began to search for what he needed.

    It¡¯s not time to rest just yet¡­

    He had managed to secure the cooperation of his first ally. But he knew that this was still insufficient. After all, he was going up against the armies of Yomi-no-Kuni, an underworld that has stood the test of time. No measure of preparation would ever be sufficient for a confrontation like that.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Having noticed Qin Ye searching the Baidu libraries, Ming Shiyin wondered aloud, ¡°He trusts Justice Bao. He knows that my presence used to be synonymous with the presence of Justice Bao in the days of the old Hell, so my presence is all you need. There¡¯s no need to bother so much with the fine print, is there?¡±

    ¡°Lord Ming.¡± Qin Ye asked as he typed, ¡°How many Nipponese troops do you think are gathering at East Cathay Sea right now?¡±

    Ming Shiyin¡¯s body swayed slightly, ¡°I can¡¯t say for certain¡­ but I don¡¯t think it would be more than six thousand. Arthis should have informed you that the size of an underworld is exactly equal to the size of its corresponding nation. Nippon isn¡¯trge. Based on my historical records, the greatest number of troops they can mobilize should be in the region of six thousand - the same number that they had mobilized each time they hadunched a probative skirmish against Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s fingers paused as he probed further, ¡°But I recall you mentioning that when Anubis knocked on the western borders of Cathay some time ago, the troops involved numbered in the hundreds of millions?¡±

    Ming Shiyin immediately rebuffed Qin Ye, ¡°That¡¯s not the same! That¡¯s a formal expedition force. It¡¯s not easy breaching a barrier which separates different underworlds¡­ You¡¯re not in a position to understand the inter-underworld rtionships just yet. All you need to know right now is that under peaceful circumstances, there¡¯s no reason for any underworld to open its borders at all. After all, that would be tantamount to dering to all other underworlds that they¡¯re starting a war.¡±

    ¡°That would be no different from a death wish!¡±

    1. Grandpa Deng is none other than Deng Xiaoping, and the reference to one underworld, two systems, is none other than the reference to the governance of Macau and Hong Kong.

    2. In the Name of the People is a 2017 Chinese TV political drama series. Its plot revolves around a prosecutor¡¯s efforts to unearth corruption in a fictional Chinese city.

 Chapter 239: Set Sail

    <h4>Chapter 239: Set Sail</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s fingers tapped nimbly on the keyboard, ¡°Lord Ming, please help me locate the Onmyojis¡¯ whereabouts. I must meet with them before we arrive at the Strait of Tsushima.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    The surface of the Mirror of Eminence began to flicker rapidly with various locations across all of Eastsea City as it sought out the Onmyojis. Qin Ye sighed, and then turned to focus his attention wholeheartedly on the drafting of the agreement.

    Fortunately, the baptism of the rigour of thesis-drafting made the draft work pertaining to an agreement seemparatively simple to him. Armed with the might of the almighty Baidu library, he churned out a passable agreement in just under three hours.

    And it wasn¡¯t as though Qin Ye looked down on Oda Nobunaga¡¯s ability to understand such agreements.

    Rather, Qin Ye simply appreciated the fact that modern day contractual agreements were far more rigorous than they had been just decades ago. Damn if Nobunaga could read modern day contracts!

    What was this called?

    Generational gap! Information asymmetry at its best!

    Several hourster, back in Honnoji. Ming Shiyin hovered by the side as a witness, while Nobunaga pulled out his personal seal.

    Thud. He stamped the seal into the agreement and infused his Yin energy through the seal. An emblem of a copper coin was imprinted onto the agreement.

    ¡°Well, then¡­ I look forward to our coboration.¡± Oda Nobunaga¡¯s hoarse voice called out from behind the bamboo blinds as Qin Ye promptly took his leave. Then, Oda Nobunaga sat where he was like a stone statue, almost as though he were in a daze. Ten minutester, he abruptly called out, ¡°Nobutada.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A furioushergale swept through the room, and a set of great armor emanating copious amounts of Yin energy trudged into the room. Secondster, two red eyes lit up from the darkness under the helmet, ¡°Father.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga stood up from behind the bamboo blinds for the very first time. His body appeared somewhat weary as he lifted the blinds slightly, ¡°What¡¯s the status of our soldiers?¡±

    ¡°Father, they number two thousand and two hundred in all. Of these, there are fifteen Hunter-ss Yin spirits, inclusive of myself, as well as three hundred Operative-ss Yin spirits. Although the others aren¡¯t at the level of an Operative just yet, they¡¯ve still been training with us all this while, and their abilities would most certainly surpass any ordinary Yin spirit around.¡±

    No response.

    Oda Nobunaga simply tapped his folding fan rhythmically in the heart of his palm. After a long time, he finally sighed softly, ¡°Rally the troops, and prepare yourselves.¡±

    Oda Nobutada was taken aback. And then, he responded with great excitement, ¡°Father¡­ are--... are we actually heading out soon?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We might be out earlier than expected after all.¡± Oda Nobunaga remarked pensively, ¡°Nobutada, do you think that the words of Lord Justice Bao¡¯s messenger can be trusted?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Father, I remember that back in those days, when I followed you to Cathay to pay tribute to them, this ancient mirror was¡­¡±

    Nobunaga interjected with a sneer before Nobutada could even finish, ¡°If he¡¯s truly that reliable, why didn¡¯t he discuss the most important details?¡±

    The red spots of light in the great armor flickered slightly, and then he immediately understood, ¡°Father¡¯s talking about¡­ soldiers?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Nobunaga¡¯s head flew out of his chest cavity and settled onto his neck, where he promptly turned to examine his charred, burnt hands with great disgust, ¡°How grotesque¡­¡±

    ¡°Nobutada, you¡¯ve got to remember that if Lord Justice Bao intends to stand behind us, it¡¯s simply not possible that he omits to discuss the matter of military strength. After all, military strength is what would give us the greatest assurance in the current circumstances. Izanami and herckeys wouldn¡¯t dare to make a single peep of sound so long as the g of the Cathayan underworld is flying high in the sky! But he didn¡¯t say a single word about this.¡±

    ¡°In fact, he hadpletely skirted around the question. I¡¯d venture so far as to say that he was intentionally sidestepping this issue. And as long as he doesn¡¯t have the requisite military forces backing him, he would most certainly have to let us out. Nobutada, tell everyone to be ready to move out at any time!¡±

    Oda Nobutada waspletely dumbfounded. The entire great armor shuddered slightly, ¡°Father, are you¡­ standing against the gods? Father! T-these are mythical entities that we¡¯re talking about!¡±

    ¡°So what?!¡± Oda Nobunaga turned back abruptly and stared at the great armor. Copious amounts of Yin energy poured out of his seven apertures as his voice thundered, ¡°So what if they¡¯re death gods or emissaries of an underworld?! Back when we learnt of the existence of underworlds and made the trip to Cathay especially to pay tribute to Hell, did we not see our fair share of such existences as well?!¡±

    Oda Nobutada¡¯s eyes flickered with a wild gleam and he responded with great fervour, ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who we¡¯re facing. One day, the copper coin emblem of the Oda family shall fly high throughout every corner of the world!¡±

    Nobunaga walked out slowly, ¡°Go. With our armored cavalry, we shall dere to that old hag Izanami and all the great generals that have pledged allegiance to her that I, Oda Nobunaga, Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, have risen from the ashes of the great fire of Honnoji, and I have returned with my armoured cavalry to reim what is rightfully mine.¡±

    ¡°Father, then, what about this agreement¡­ should we still hang onto it?¡±

    ¡°Contract?¡± Oda Nobunaga chuckled contemptuously, ¡°Toss it or burn it for all I care. Such agreements are only useful if we sign it before Lord Justice Bao himself. How can we possibly take his word for it?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The great armor transformed into a stream of Yin energy that left the room in an instant.

    The soft glow of thenterns illuminated Oda Nobunaga¡¯s face. His appearances were somewhat pale, but they were still striking, imposing and dignified, to say the least.

    He sported thick eyebrows, a chiseled jawline, and incredibly sharp and defined features. He didn¡¯t have the usual Sakayaki hairstyle like many of the other samurais. Rather, he braided his hair like the royalties of the ancient Cathayan princes and wore a short stubble of beard. All in all, he looked rather elegant and dignified.

    ¡°Is it because you want us to show our pledge of allegiance to you? Or do you have¡­ other ulterior motives?¡± He tapped the folding fan gently on the railing as he murmured to himself with a soft chuckle, ¡°But, as long as you can help me take down Nippon and stick to your promise of one underworld, two systems, what loss is there to me in giving your promise a chance?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    When Qin Ye returned triumphant from Honnoji, he stared at the written agreement in his hands and almostughed aloud with great joy.

    This agreement was admittedly worthless to him, but¡­ it was tantamount to irond proof to another group of people!

    The Onmyojis!

    With this in hand, he would be able to further his ns and rally even more troops under hismand. Yomi-no-Kuni would only be sending out approximately six thousand soldiers. If he could secure the cooperation of the Onmyojis, then, coupled with Oda Nobunaga¡¯s forces, as well as Ming Shiyin¡¯s disy of Justice Bao¡¯s authority, they would most certainly stand a good chance of breaching the encirclement of troops that were waiting to devour them!

    ¡°Do you understand the difficulties of being a darkfeather now?¡± Ming Shiyin remarked wistfully, ¡°Since time immemorial, the emergence of talents up for grabs has always resulted in strife and conflict between underworlds. This is why every single darkfeather can be considered among the best of the best in their respective underworlds.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Have you managed to locate the Onmyojis?¡±

    Ming Shiyin shook from side to side, ¡°No. I¡¯ve searched high and low within the confines of Eastsea City. They¡¯re not here.¡±

    ¡°Then, they must already be on board the ship.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed as he responded with certainty.

    ¡°The ship? Are you saying they¡¯ve already boarded? Why wouldn¡¯t they be waiting in Nippon instead?¡± Ming Shiyin eximed with great surprise.

    Qin Ye shook his head. His thought processes were incredibly astute when push came to shove, and he responded with absolute certainty, ¡°As far as the Onmyojis are concerned, the best way to prevent Oda Nobunaga from reawakening would be to seal off the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl once again. This is naturally why they¡¯re attending these auctions. But¡­ what if someone else manages to outbid them at the auctions? Can they trulypete with these ultra-rich in terms of wealth?¡±

    He gazed into the distance in the direction of the Strait of Tsushima, ¡°The best way is to seize it before the auctions, just like what the Nipponese emissaries are trying to do. They should be well aware of the security measures in ce protecting the X-magic box. This is why they haven¡¯t made a move within Eastsea City itself. But things are different on board the ship. After all, Guardian Auctions would have to verify each and every item that is to be sold at the major auctions, and there is a good chance that the X-magic box would be opened on board the ship, before its departure.¡±

    He tapped his finger on the window frame, ¡°Therefore, I¡¯m almost certain that they¡¯ve already boarded the ship and are lying patiently in wait to make their move. This is a good thing for me. After all, I would need time to locate them and convince them to cooperate with me. I wouldn¡¯t have sufficient time to work with if they only board the ship at Nippon.¡±

    ¡°Ideally, I¡¯d want to seize control of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl as soon as the X-magic box was opened. That way, there wouldn¡¯t be a need to face the terrors lying in wait for us at East Cathay Sea.¡±

    Ming Shiyin asked, ¡°How likely is it?¡±

    ¡°Are you asking how likely it is that Guardian Auctions would verify the contents of what they¡¯re auctioning? Or are you asking how likely it is that I would be able to seize the bowl? If it¡¯s the former, I¡¯m almost 100% certain of it! After all, it would be impossible for them to return to the docks after departing for the high seas. Regardless of how deep their backing is, it¡¯s practically impossible for the country to turn a blind eye to their ways twice. Therefore, the moment in time just prior to the departure of the ship would naturally be theirst chance at verification of their auction goods.¡±

    ¡°If they make a mistake, or if they miss out on something, they would still be able to dy their departure and grab whatever they need. But as soon as they depart for the high seas, everything would be as good as a done deal. Then, it would be a thirty hour sail to the Strait of Tsushima. They would most certainly open the box again during this period of time.¡±

    ¡°As for how likely it is that I manage to seize the bowl¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be higher than 20%. Neither the Nipponese emissaries nor the Onmyoji are fools. They would most certainly have thought of everything I have. Therefore, I¡¯m almost certain that I wouldn¡¯t be the only one making a move for the bowl when the box is finally opened. If a three-way tug-of-war pans out, the end result would likely be one where none of us manages to seize the bowl, and all of us would end up having to wait for themencement of the auction itself. Lord Ming, I¡¯ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on the bowl at all times as soon as we board the ship. As soon as it is opened, we¡¯ll have to make an attempt at seizing it, regardless of whether we¡¯re able to seed or not.¡±

    Ming Shiyin grew taciturn.

    After some time, he finally sighed with a intive remark, ¡°No wonder Arthis trusts you to move about on your own. Do you know that your current disposition ispletely different from how you usually act? She¡¯d previously mentioned that you would never bare your fangs until you¡¯re pushed to the edge. I¡¯m guessing that¡­ the impending crisis must have stirred the deepest parts of your heart, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± The river breeze gently tousled Qin Ye¡¯s fringe. He squinted his eyes as he continued to gaze out of the windows, ¡°Some memories are hidden in the deepest recesses of my heart, and yet they still choose to prick my heart where it hurts the most. Well, so be it. I¡¯ll just bide my time for now.¡±

    ¡°When we arrive at the Strait of Tsushima¡­ we¡¯ll see who has thestugh!¡±

    The Strait of Tsushima would soon be dyed ink ck with the presence of Yin energy!

    The next two days passed by quickly. On the evening of the third day, Qin Ye returned the X-magic box to Grandmaster Chu, and made a quick call to Lin Han to tell him that he would be leaving and uncontactable for a week. Then, he departed from the hotel.

    He would have to take a ship to get to the Strait of Tsushima. But, this time, he wouldn¡¯t be boarding the ship in his capacity as a Hellguard. He would be boarding the ship in his capacity as a participant of the auctions.

    He received a call from Bai Yishan shortly after departing from the hotel, ¡°Mr Qin, 3.30 a.m. tonight, at Eastsea dock number DT0021.¡±

    It¡¯s finally time¡­

    Qin Ye hung up the phone and took several deep breaths to regte his emotions. Then, he rested his mind until 1 a.m., when he changed into a ramrod straight suit and arrived at dock number DT0021.

    It was a particrly dpidated dock.

    It looked almost as though activity in these parts had been suspended for some time. Many rusty boats could be seen lying all across the shoreline, replete with piles and piles of disused equipment. Life buoys, fishing, and other equipment were strewn all over the ce. However, there was a luxury cruise liner that was berthed at the docks.

    It was d in a pristine, white frame, with three full decks, sporting a modern, streamlined look. It was well-maintained and brightly lit. Qin Ye was not the first one to have arrived at the docks.

    In fact, there were Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Humvees, and several other luxury cars parked along the dpidated docks. Ultra rich businessmen who were often only seen on television were presently boarding the ship under the cover of night, apanied by their entourage of personal bodyguards.

    Qin Ye waited until nobody else was around, before slowly making his way out of the shadows and onto the cruise liner.

    Furthermore, he didn¡¯t bother to conceal the Yin energy that was radiating from his body.

    Copious amounts of Yin energy poured out like a tide, probing each person who was standing guard at the entrance to the ship. He stood at the pier, gave the men in ck suits at the door his registration number, and awaited his verification.

    ¡°If you¡¯re smart enough, you wouldn¡¯t pass up on this opportunity¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got no time to y hide-and-seek with you guys. Since you¡¯re unwilling to show yourself, then¡­ why don¡¯t I fire a warning signal to everyone around? I wonder how you guys would react when you detect the existence of Hellguard-ss energy boarding the ship?¡±

 Chapter 240: The Feast of Aristocrats

    <h4>Chapter 240: The Feast of Aristocrats</h4>

    ¡°Mr Qin, please.¡± The verification process didn¡¯t take long. Minutester, the suited man at the entrance made a gesture of invitation, and Qin Ye boarded the cruise liner safely.

    ¡°Wee aboard, Mr Qin.¡± Bai Yishan was dressed in a suit and standing at the front of a corridor right behind the entrance to the cruise. As soon as he saw Qin Ye boarding the ship, he immediately walked over with a smile on his face.

    Qin Ye smiled faintly and shook hands with him. The cruise liner was quite luxurious. The corridor they were on was wide, as far as cruise liners were concerned. In fact, if Qin Ye didn¡¯t know any better, he wouldn¡¯t have expected this to be a corridor on board a ship altogether. The walls of the corridor were decorated with portraits of the previous owners of Guardian Auctions, while the sides of the corridor were furnished with exquisitely-trimmed bonsai nts. A marvelous antique screen carved out of wood stood at the end of the corridor.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to be rich.¡± Qin Yemented, triggering an immediate soft chuckle from Bai Yishan, ¡°Guardian Auctions is nothingpared to Master Qin, who casually sold off a stock of Southsea Huanghuali worth billions to vie for the possession of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t take Bai Yishan¡¯sment to heart. Escorted by Bai Yishan, he walked slowly along the corridor, admiring the decor and taking in the luxurious sights. However, he slowly furrowed his brows.

    They¡¯re patient¡­

    He was already certain that they were on board. When he unleashed his Yin energy earlier, he could detect that there were at least a dozen sources of true energy that responded to him instinctively. Furthermore, he could tell that two sources of true energy came from Hellguard-ss experts. The rest were Soul Hunters.

    In other words, there were hidden experts lying in wait at every corner of the cruise liner. These tycoons naturally had their sources and knew of the situation that gued Cathay right now. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to expect the tycoons to have with them a Hunter-ss expert or two. In other words¡­ this means that one of the two Hellguard-ss true energy that responded to my call earlier must have emanated from an Onmyoji!

    But his energy signature was fleeting.

    The two sources of energy subsided as quickly as it had responded, almost as though their owners knew what Qin Ye was attempting to do, and had thus immediately suppressed their energy. Bai Yishan escorted him all the way to the screen, ttering him incessantly as they walked along. Then, Qin Ye suddenly interjected with a soft voice, ¡°Are we expected to arrive at the Strait of Tsushima tomorrow noon?¡±

    Bai Yishan was taken aback by the sudden interjection, but he immediately nced around before responding softly, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like a copy of the manifesto containing everyone¡¯s particrs - not just the owners of the ck card VIP ounts, but including those that form part of the entourage of these ount holders.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed as he peeked around the screen.

    He had turned the corner and gone around the screen, only to discover a huge hall on the other side that was approximately a hundred meters long. Handsome men and women in suits and evening gowns were waltzing elegantly to one of Chopin¡¯s beautiful mazurkas yed by a foreign pianist on the stage.

    The carpet on the ground was so soft and plush that it felt no different than walking on clouds. A huge crystal chandelier hung overhead, while the walls were lined with intricate faux masterpieces. borately carved sculptures from various countries adorned the corners of the hall, while exquisite chairs and tables were ced right below the stage. Several tycoons were seated sparsely at these tables, whispering and discussing matters in confidence with each other with a smile on their faces. Everyone had at least two suited bodyguards standing right behind them.

    It was asvish as a royal banquet.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Bai Yishan gasped, ¡°You¡¯re asking¡­¡±

    ¡°Do as I say if you don¡¯t want to die.¡± Qin Ye cast him a frigid nce and didn¡¯t say anymore. Bai Yishan gnashed his teeth in silence for some time, before reluctantly pulling out his phone and tapping furiously on it.

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­ I¡¯ve already sent the manifesto to your phone¡­¡± He bit down on his lower lips as he continued apprehensively, ¡°Mr Qin, what I¡¯m disclosing to you is strictly confidential information. You can say that this is to return the favour of saving my life. Please don¡¯t leak this to others.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and Bai Yishan promptly took his leave without another word.

    Qin Ye had no intention of breaking into the circles of the affluent in the first ce. Without further ado, he pulled out his phone and looked at what Bai Yishan had just sent to him.

    It was a word document. He scanned through its details, and then quickly furrowed his brows once again.

    Nothing.

    They were all locals, and not a single person¡¯s identity was in question. However, Qin Ye could have sworn that he had earlier detected the instinctive responses from two Hellguard-ss experts. The Onmyojis aren¡¯t daft, so they must be on board!

    But who is it?

    Where are they?

    He turned around calmly and began to scan the banquet hall that was now approximately twenty meters behind him. The resting cabins were right ahead of him, and he could still hear the faint mazurka ying in the background.

    After some deliberation, he made his way back into the banquet hall.

    ¡°They¡¯re intentionally concealing their identities¡­¡± Ming Shiyin was presently strapped to Qin Ye¡¯s chest. It whispered into Qin Ye¡¯s ears, ¡°You¡¯re thinking of¡­ locating them before Guardian Auctions¡¯ final verification of the goods to be auctioned. If you can secure the cooperation of the Onmyojis before the final verification of goods, then there would be a substantial possibility of securing the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl without even having to draw close to the sea of death.¡±

    Even Ming Shiyin knew just how terrifying a killing floor the Strait of Tsushima was going to be.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t deny it. His gaze remainedpletely calm as he whispered back, ¡°Although the odds of sess are low, it¡¯s still worth a shot.¡±

    ¡°Both Oda Nobunaga and Izanami have the backing of their factions and armies. On the other hand, I¡¯ve only got you. As the weakest party around, it is important to be aware of where I stand, and not pass up on any opportunities that would strengthen my position altogether.¡±

    The banquet hall was naturally the best ce to keep an ear out for the whereabouts of others.

    It was a chamber of secrets.

    No matter how much the Onmyojis sought to conceal their presence, they had to be on board the ship. And if they had boarded the ship, they would naturally have had to gain ess through one of the tycoons.

    It was worth spending some time and effort pursuing this lead he had.

    Ming Shiyinmented, ¡°If you could just maintain this persona of yours and shed that daft, idiotic personality that you always don, you might just be a pretty good King Yanluo.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to think of it as having the flexibility of different perspectives, so I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    He backtracked those twenty meters, found a chair in the corner and took a seat. As soon as he sat down, a waiter brought over a selection of cocktails, and Qin Ye took his pick. Then, he held it in his hands leisurely as he scanned everyone with an eagle eye.

    There weren¡¯t many people in the hall right now. The seats were sparsely upied by the few rich tycoons who were mainstays on the list of wealthiest people in Cathay. In fact, there were more bodyguards standing about the room, protecting their masters. Qin Ye was seated in the southwest corner of the room. There was a screen to his right, and there happened to be another person sitting just left of him. Qin Ye recognized him immediately.

    Qin Ye had seen him on television and in the newspapers. This man was also one of the mainstays on the list of wealthiest people in Cathay.

    The man was slightly chubby, with a full head of thick, ck hair, save for some strands of white hair growing out near his sideburns. He looked kind and amiable. If this man hadn¡¯t announced his family history, nobody would have realized that the kind old man was already close to seventy years-old. This man was none other than Long Congyun, chairman of Cathay¡¯s restaurant conglomerate, the Cosmos Group.

    Their establishments ranged from fast food to fine dining restaurants which included all types of cuisines, including Cathayan, vegetarian, western, southeastern, Europan, Usonian, and so on. In fact, they established such a name for themselves that every single establishment that they endorsed and developed would most certainly be catapulted to fame and be one of the most highly acimed restaurants in their city.

    This is the power of influence and authority. Qin Ye sighed in his heart as he took a sip from his cocktail - It¡¯s no wonder why people fight so hard to break into these circles of influence. Having a friend like this would undoubtedly be a bragging right for life.

    Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think any one of these people here are interested in wasting their time on such petty friendship politics.

    ¡°Hello.¡± A robust voice called out from Qin Ye¡¯s side just as he sighed. Qin Ye looked up, only to lock eyes with Long Congyun. Long Congyun raised his wine cup to Qin Ye, ¡°Friend, I haven¡¯t seen you around these parts before. I¡¯m the chairman of the Cosmos Group, Long Congyun. May I know how I might address you?¡±

    This was a rare gathering of tycoons. The auctions were the catalyst for their attendance and naturally their primary objectives, but connections were naturally second on the agenda!

    The people gathered on the ship were some of the most highly regarded economic powerhouses in Cathay. Wouldn¡¯t it be a great waste if they passed up the opportunity to forge stronger connections and failed to make the best of their time here?

    Not a single person around was of a simple background.

    ¡°Qin Ye.¡± Qin Ye smiled and clinked sses with the amiable old man. Long Congyun raised his eyebrow slightly and was about to continue speaking when the bodyguard behind him suddenly trembled all over. Then, he cast Qin Ye a wary look, hurriedly walked to Long Congyun¡¯s side and whispered into his ear before he could even say a word. The bodyguard stared at Qin Ye with great incredulity and respect as he whispered two words to Long Congyun.

    Hellguard.

    Qin Ye understood everything with a single nce, and he continued to sip at his cocktail cidly. On the other hand, the look of slight bewilderment in Long Congyun¡¯s eyes soon turned into abject astonishment.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Several secondster, the bodyguard straightened his back once more, while the expression on Long Congyun¡¯s face had already turned into one that was bright as spring as he took the initiative to clink sses with Qin Ye once more. As the crisp tinkle resounded, Long Congyun smiled deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°What an outstanding and promising young man¡­ I¡¯m certain our paths will cross many more times in future, and I sincerely hope Mr Qin would remember me when the timees.¡±

    They were living in the time of great supernatural upheaval. Even though Qin Ye wasn¡¯t aware of the exact extent of these circumstances ravaging the rest of Cathay, Long Congyun was. In fact, he was also keenly aware of how rare and precious the appearance of a Hellguard-ss expert was, even to an esteemed person like himself.

    Qin Ye was currently trapped within the City of Salvation, and news of the outside world was substantially curtailed to them. Otherwise, he would have learnt that¡­ even an Operative-ss expert was considered an incredibly coveted asset to the rest of Cathay!

    ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he twirled the golden card that Long Congyun had pushed over. Long Congyun¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°This card contains no limits on its credits, and it can be used at any establishment owned by or affiliated to the Cosmos Group, including our assortment of hotels, resorts and restaurants. You can consider this a small token of my appreciation. When Mr Qin is free, do consider visiting us at the Swainriver City. I¡¯ll personally take you around and buy you a few meals and drinks.¡±

    Long Congyun was paving the way for the future. Incidentally, Qin Ye was thinking of the same. After all, he would have to think about where to go after his two years¡¯ teaching stint.

    He tapped the golden card on his chin pensively, before abruptly asking, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are things looking bad in Swainriver?¡±

    Long Congyun¡¯s expression turned grim, ¡°It¡¯s bad. In fact, things are incredibly grim.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re already seriously considering relocating our headquarters to Yan Capital. If not for the fact that the authorities have issued a directive stating that conglomerates of our magnitude aren¡¯t allowed to shift, we would have moved a long time ago.¡± He sighed forlornly as he gulped his wine with great vexation, ¡°Every night, we would hear the incessant public broadcasts of the sted supernatural alerts. Then, the special agents of the Special Investigations Department would patrol the streets starting from seven in the evening. The entire city would be a ghost town at night. The city has lost its vibrancy and vitality, and be extremely¡­¡±

    He deliberated over the choice of words, while Qin Ye suggested, ¡°Stifling?¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin knows best.¡± Long Congyun smiled bitterly as he flicked his wine cup and looked up at the ceiling, ¡°Why is this even happening¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stowed away the golden card and smiled radiantly, ¡°Then, I guess I¡¯ll have to impose on Chairman Long when I visit Swainriver in future.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s statement immediately dispelled some of the despondence that had enshrouded Long Congyun¡¯s heart, and he immediately chuckled, ¡°I can¡¯t ask for anything more.¡±

    Their conversations flowed much more smoothly as soon as their introductions were done and dusted. Long Congyun pulled out a cut cigar, but chose not to light it. Instead, he simply twirled it in his fingers as he murmured, ¡°Speaking of which, it seems like Cathay is the only one experiencing such supernatural upheaval.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qin Ye silently sized up the rest who were in the hall - Where can they possibly be? He looked here and there, and yet he couldn¡¯t locate the traces of an expert beyond the level of a Soul Hunter - Is he not here? Or is he simply hiding himself too well?

    Long Congyun didn¡¯t notice Qin Ye¡¯s slightly distracted gaze as he smiled, ¡°Nippon appears to be fine as well. I saw Mr Iwasaki Kyouya earlier, and he¡¯d only brought one bodyguard along with him.¡±

    Qin Ye was momentarily taken aback. And then, he looked Long Congyun straight in the eyes with a burning gaze, ¡°Iwasaki Kyouya?¡±

 Chapter 241: Scourge of Buddha

    <h4>Chapter 241: Scourge of Buddha</h4>

    Wrong¡­

    As he walked out of the banquet hall, his gaze quickly turned somber.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to look for them any longer¡­¡±

    ¡°Locate Grandmaster Chu at once! And keep a close eye on him!¡±

    He was not at the great hall at this moment in time.

    These boxes weren¡¯t stacked on top of each other like the regr cargo holds one would expect to see. Rather, each of these boxes had their own special zone, and were even marked with their own cargo registration number. There was no doubt that all of the goods to be auctioned were contained right here within this room!

    There were even several surveince cameras pointed at all angles around the cargo hold, monitored at all times on a great number of individual screens. The cargo hold could be described to be armed to the teeth. Not even a Hunter-ss enemy intruding upon this space would be able to leave alive.

    Hellguards were generally any province¡¯s strongest fighting force. Thus, these security measures were sorely insufficient in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes. At the very least, he alone could raze everything to the ground in no more than five minutes.

    Just then, a thin man wearing sses entered the image and bowed respectfully, ¡°[In Nipponese] Sir, the master of the Kamo n and Master Iwasaki will both arrive within an hour. Please be prepared.¡±

    Qin ye¡¯s eyes gleamed, ¡°Grandmaster Chu, the master of the Kamo n and Master Iwasaki will both arrive within an hour. Please be prepared.¡±

    Qin Ye nced at his phone. The time now was 2.30 a.m.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad time to do it. Most people would be resting in their room as soon as the cruise liner sets off. Security-wise, there couldn¡¯t be a better time. However¡­¡± He drew a deep breath andy down on his bed, ¡°I¡¯m not the only Hellguard who¡¯s nning to make a move this time¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    This room was far more luxurious than the one which Qin Ye had been assigned. Ukiyo-e paintings adorned the walls. Soft tatami mats were ced all over the floor, while potted bonsai nts meticulously decorated with miniature artificialndscapes sat at the corners of the room.

    The crystal rity of tea sshed about his teacup, sending wisps of steam diffusing into the surroundings, just like a miniature waterfall. Master Kamo lifted the sleeves of his yukata and picked up his teacup. Just as he was about to bring it to his lips, a swallow suddenly flew into his room through the window. As soon as it entered the room, ck-and-white energy scattered from its body, and it transformed back to its original form of a paper crane, falling straight into Master Kamo¡¯s palm.

    The experts of everynd had their own specialties, and the Shikigami were the expertise of Onmyojis.

    ¡°So-desune¡­¡± Momentster, he clenched his fist and reduced the paper crane to ashes. Then, he took a deep breath, stood up, and gazed into the distant night sky as he murmured to himself, ¡°That idiot Kamo no Saizo was present when the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was first excavated. But he didn¡¯t appreciate its true value and nature, and it was under these circumstances that he allowed Guardian Auctions to take such a priceless treasure back with them for just a few hundred million. And then, having discovered its true value, Guardian Auctions naturally refused to return the bowl to us. Even now, we¡¯d only managed to barely secure our participation rights in the present auctions by virtue of the contract we¡¯d entered into during the joint excavation project. Otherwise, how could we have been put through so much trouble in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Here.¡± Two voices responded calmly. If anyone else were around right now, they would most certainly be greatly astonished.

    Furthermore, these two men were monks.

    Hellguards!

    ¡°Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul. You, whoe from Mount Koya, won¡¯t let him off the hook, will you?¡± Master Kamo turned around and gazed deeply at the two men.

    ¡°Raising the banner of unification, he marched for us, iming that he discriminates not between the north and the south, or the east and the west. And then, he ughtered over three thousand in the wake of his march against us, having no regard for the weak and the frail and women and children! His titles of ¡®Scourge of Buddha¡¯ and ¡®Demon King of the Sixth Heaven¡¯ were forged with the flesh and blood of our people. Little did I expect that, after four long centuries, we would once again be presented with the opportunity to face the Scourge of Buddha once again.¡±

    He lifted his head and squinted at the entrance to the room, ¡°Let me make a gesture of appreciation by eliminating one of ourpetitors.¡±

    ¡°Secret art, Dusk of the Phoenix.¡± As soon as he finished speaking, a golden light immediately appeared underneath his feet, spewing out brilliant Sanskrit words that quickly transformed into the figure of an asura that pounced straight towards the door!

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Dojin and Jingo stood up abruptly at the same time and stared at the door with great astonishment. Master Kamo froze in ce as he probed, ¡°Was¡­ somebody there earlier?¡±

    This was not the silhouette of a human being.

    Furthermore, the figure did not have the usual facial features one would expect of a human being. Instead, there was a deep crack on its chest where a person¡¯s heart would usually be, and a blood-red eye peeked out from the depths of this crevice.

    ¡°It seems like we¡¯re not the only ones with ns tonight¡­¡± Dojin murmured, ¡°Guardian Auctions will most definitely be conducting the final verification of the auction goods tonight. After all, they wouldn¡¯t be able to return if they discover their mistake only when they¡¯re out at sea. These hidden entities¡­ are also thinking of acting upon this window to seize possession of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.¡±

    ¡°Find us a way to slip into Guardian Auction¡¯s cargo hold. Then, all you need to do is to open the box, and leave the rest to us.¡±

    Therefore, they weren¡¯t aware of what went on outside soon afterwards. Just ten minutester, the lights in the entire corridor outside flickered abruptly. Then, innumerable wisps of Yin energy appeared to pour out of nowhere amidst a cacophony of ghastly wails, before quickly swirling together to form a massive dark vortex in mid-air.

    ¡°Two Hellguards, huh¡­¡± He remarked with a husky voice right outside the door, before lifting his hand and caressing the door¡¯s surface, ¡°But¡­ so what?¡±

    ¡°Our luck hasn¡¯t been too great so far. Scarlet 17 was murdered by a Cathayan emissary, while I inadvertently stumbled upon the room of Onmyojis at my very first attempt at possessing a human body. However¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that anyone would be able to return from the Strait of Tsushima alive!¡±

    The scarlet eye scanned the empty hallway, ¡°One hour¡¯s time, huh? Well then, let¡¯s see who would be so unlucky as to be picked by me¡­¡±

    Takuma Asakura chewed his gum with some measure of irritation.

    This was a small room of approximately fifty square feet, without any luxurious adornments or decors. Another equally buff young man sat on the sofa in the room, reading the newspapers in boredom. The man sitting on the sofa looked up at the tall man who was scratching his cheeks, ¡°Go smoke in the bathroom if you wish. We won¡¯t tell Steward Fujiwara. But¡­¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Takuma Asakura couldn¡¯t resist the urge any longer as he dashed straight into the washroom.

    Click¡­ He flicked open his lighter as soon as he entered the washroom. Crack! Pop! Just then, the lights in the room suddenly went out!

    Someone¡­

    Earlier, in the instant where the lights went out and his lighter was still on, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a dark figure standing to his left. Furthermore, he could tell that the other man¡¯s head was tilted in a manner that was humanly impossible. And the most terrifying thing of all¡­ was the fact that this man was staring right at him with a single, scarlet eye!

    <hr>

    1. These are conjured beings of the Japanese folklore.

    2. Oof. CRT TV vs 4K TV?

 Chapter 242: A Caged Bird

    <h4>Chapter 242: A Caged Bird</h4>

    Takuma Asakura felt his hair stand on end in an instant!

    The small washroom already felt cramped given his height and build. To make matters worse, the shower within the washroom was sequestered by the frosted ss wall. The tight space, coupled with the glimpse of the horrificpany he had immediately engulfed him in terror.

    Anyone would take some time to get used to the dark, especially when the lights went out as suddenly as it did. He couldn¡¯t see a single thing in the room, and the silence in the darkness was stifling and oppressive - almost as though he were camping out in an empty graveyard in the middle of the night.

    Every slightest sound was a trigger for immense terror.

    Gulp¡­ A visceral sense of danger filled his mind, and he immediately broke out into cold sweat. His inner voice desperately screamed in his heart - Run! Get out! Leave this ce right now!

    Without hesitation, he turned around and twisted the doorknob. However¡­

    It wouldn¡¯t open!

    There wasn¡¯t any locking mechanism on the door, and yet, for some strange reason, he wasn¡¯t able to open it no matter how hard he tried! An electrifying sensation numbed his mind, and he hammered the door desperately. He even kicked it with all his might. But, the flimsy wooden door that would otherwise have copsed with a single kick from this hunk of muscle stood strong like a steel te,pletely impervious to his attempts at breaking it down!

    ¡°Haa--... haa--...¡± He mustered every ounce of strength from his body and continued to exert himself for the next ten minutes, until his legs began to go numb. Gasping for breath, backed into the washbasin and screamed at the top of his voice, ¡°Iwatani! Master Iwatani!! What are you doing now?! Answer me!!¡±

    However, there was no response.

    Just then, goosebumps suddenly crept all over his skin! He instinctively backed into the corner of the bathroom, leaning back heavily against the cold walls. And then, his heart stopped.

    Someone¡¯s watching me¡­

    He¡¯s right here! He¡¯s right beside me!

    Who is it? Who could be here?! Here was a man who has had blood on his hands before, and yet he found himself shuddering incessantly right now, ncing around warily, until he suddenly fixed his gaze in a particr location. A secondter, sweat percted every pore of his skin, his knees buckled, and he slid down slowly to the ground!

    ¡°Ahh--... Haa--... Ahh---...¡± He couldn¡¯t find his voice at all. His eyes widened, his jaws dropped, and his breaths began to grow shallower and shallower. He could now see that his reflection in the mirror was staring right back at him!

    And it wasn¡¯t as though the mirror were staring back at him in the form of his present reflection. Rather, it had taken the form of his reflection several moments ago - one that stood upright and tall. Just like that, the figure in the mirror stood silently, gazing intently back at him.

    It was almost as though the mirror depicted a memorial portrait of him.

    ¡°This¡­ what the hell is going on? Is there a ghost? Are there really ghosts around?¡± His voice trembled and carried traces of weeping. Simultaneously, his reflection in the mirror suddenly turned his head and looked elsewhere.

    Elsewhere¡­ he¡¯s looking elsewhere¡­ that¡¯s not me in the reflection, so what the hell is it?! No¡­ elsewhere¡­ what¡¯s there on the other side?

    He fervently suppressed his ragged breaths as best he could. And then, his body trembled violently with a quick realization, and he stiffly turned his head to where his reflection was looking.

    The other side¡­ is the shower room¡­

    And right as he turned his head, water began to pour out of the washbasin faucet and the shower head at the same time! Takuma Asakura screamed and crouched down like a madman, running his fingers through his hair and shutting his eyes tightly.

    It¡¯s a ghost¡­ there¡¯s really a ghost here!

    This is definitely something unclean!

    Squeeaaakk¡­ The washbasin faucet suddenly shut itself, leaving only the rushing sound of watering from the shower room itself. A dim glow of moonlight shone through the small venttion window in the shower room, painting an eerie, misty sheen on the walls of the room. Takuma Asakura began to tremble all over. The moonlight had actually cast the shadow of a man on the frosted ss of the shower room!

    Someone was currently showering and scrubbing his body. Although these actions were simple and menial, it looked iparably hellish to Takuma Asakura, and even sent wave after wave of electrifying sensations of terror surging through his mind!

    That¡¯s impossible¡­ The person inside cannot possibly be human! I¡¯ve checked earlier! The shower room had always been empty!

    A lump swelled up in his throat, and his limbs stiffened up. He was trapped alone in a cramped washroom, only to realize within moments that the reflection in the mirror was not his own, and yet another man had suddenly shown up in the adjacent shower room. Everything was absolutely driving him crazy.

    He didn¡¯t want anything more than to get out of the washroom and leave the shower room as far behind him as possible. It was almost as though there were only a thin, frosted ss panel separating him from an evil ghost right now.

    Just then, a hoarse voice suddenly called out from the shower room. It was harsh to the ears, almost like cat ws against a chalkboard. And yet, there was a peculiar rhythm to it.

    ¡°¤«¤´¤á, ¤«¤´¤á. »\¤ÎÖÐ¤ÎøB¤Ï / Circle around, circle around. The bird in the cage.¡±

    ¡°¤¤¤Ä¤¤¤Ä³ö¤ä¤ë Ò¹Ã÷¤±¤Î•Š¤Ë / When, oh when will ite out, in the night of the dawn.¡±

    ¡°úQ¤Èw¤¬»¬¤Ã¤¿ / The turtle and crane have slipped¡­¡±

    Takuma Asakura was drenched in cold sweat by this time. He knew this children¡¯s song. He was also aware that it was called¡­ ¡®A Caged Bird¡¯.

    More importantly, he also knew what the next line was.

    And neither did he have to wait for the next line, because the voice from the shower room quickly continued. However, he wasn¡¯t singing this time.

    Instead, together with his reflection in the mirror¡­ they spoke each word with a hoarse, chilling voice.

    ¡°áá¤í¤ÎÕýÃæ¤À¤¢¤ì / Who is behind you now?¡±

    Takuma Asakura mouthed the words at the same time. Then, as he arrived at thest word, he suddenly froze abruptly, because¡­ out of the darkness of the cramped washroom, a cold hand had just run itself gently across his cheek¡­

    ¡°AAHHHHHH!!!!¡±

    A few minutester.

    Back in the room, the buff young man reading the newspapers on the sofa heard the door open up, so he casually quipped without looking up, ¡°Done smoking?¡±

    No response.

    There was only the sound of heavy footsteps thumping towards him, almost as though a zombie were approaching.

    The buff young man was just about to turn the page of his papers when he suddenly furrowed his brows.

    Blood¡­

    What a thick stench of blood¡­

    He looked up slightly, and the first thing he saw were two feet trudging towards him like a zombie.

    That¡¯s Asakura¡¯s slippers¡­

    ¡°Haa--...¡± The man drew a deep breath and immediately reached into his suit for his pistol. His drawing speed was reasonably quick. But he was soon dumbstruck by what he saw.

    A split secondter, his teeth began to chatter uncontrobly. His pupils narrowed, and he couldn¡¯t help but scramble backwards, breaking out with profuse cold sweat as he did so.

    That¡¯s not Asakura¡­

    That¡¯s a corpse¡­ a living corpse.

    It wore Asakura¡¯s clothes, but there was no head above the corpse¡¯s neck! Instead, the corpse held Asakura¡¯s head by its hair in one of its hands.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to shoot me?¡± Asakura¡¯s lower jaw had been torn cleanly off his head, and was presently being held in the other arm. The other arm manipted the lower jaw almost as though Asakura¡¯s head was a puppet. But he somehow managed to speakplete words to form a sentence.

    The corpse turned Asakura¡¯s head to the young, buff man and stared at him with his vacant eyes, ¡°Are you really going to shoot me?¡±

    ¡°Go to hell!!!¡± The man was stricken with fear, and he impulsively fired off his pistols with several loud bangs. Unfortunately, the room he was in waspletely sequestered from the rest of the cruise liner, and nobody could hear these gunshots of his.

    Five minutester, the room door swung open, and Asakura and the other buff man walked out,pletely unharmed.

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotta hand it to the Cathayan underworld. They¡¯ve got their theory spot on.¡± Asakura muttered, ¡°Humans have threemps over their bodies, and thesemps waver and flicker the most when they sustain an emotional trauma. Incidentally, that¡¯s also the best time for us emissaries to take possession of their bodies.¡±

    ¡°If not for the cardinal rule that underworlds aren¡¯t supposed to interfere with the matters of the mortal realm, we wouldn¡¯t have to go through so much trouble at all.¡± The buff man replied, ¡°But it¡¯s just as well - one body for each of us. We¡¯d be able to enter the cargo hold without any issues this way. Honestly speaking, this is the perfect solution for us right now.¡±

    He looked at his phone, ¡°There¡¯s still thirty minutes remaining. So¡­ why don¡¯t we link up with our dear master for now?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    3.30 a.m.

    Qin Ye opened his eyes to the melodious hum of the cruise liner.

    He could sense that the cruise liner had just begun to move. He waited silently for a minute, and then he abruptly sat up.

    He rolled his sleeves up to his arm and strapped Ming Shiyin within his clothes. And then, he walked softly to the door.

    ¡°There have been two instances of energy fluctuations in thest one hour.¡± He didn¡¯t open the door immediately. Instead, he simply stared at the doorknob, ¡°One was a true energy fluctuation, while the other was a Yin energy fluctuation. Both were in the Hellguard level. I couldn¡¯t tell how many Hellguard-ss entities were involved. Lord Ming?¡±

    Ming Shiyin responded softly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already tampered with the surveince systems along the route that you¡¯re going to take. The cargo hold is located at the bottom of the cruise liner. Just follow my instructions. When will you be transforming into your Hell¡¯s Emissary state?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for now.¡± Qin Ye gazed at the long, deep corridor. There wasn¡¯t a single person walking through the corridors at this moment. The deste corridors and the slight sway of the ship made it seem as though this corridor¡­ led straight into hell.

    ¡°I¡¯ll save my ability to transform into my emissary state so that I can take them by surprise. After all, it would be far too obvious what my goal is if I donned the emissary state right now.¡±

    Foof¡­ foof¡­ The impact of the soles of his leather shoes were absorbed by the thick carpet along the corridor, and Qin Ye moved along slowly and silently. Guardian Auctions had quite a number of artifacts lined up for the uing major auctions, and it would naturally take them at least one hour before they got to the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. Sixty minutes was enough time for Qin Ye to aplish plenty.

    The interior of the ship was very simr to a regr building, while the ess door leading straight to the basement of the cruise liner appeared no different from the ess doors in regr malls. The signposts with a green man indicated human ess. And yet, for some strange reason, Qin Ye could only feel a slight chill as he stood in front of the door. The ess door right in front of him fluctuated slightly.

    ¡°Diffusion of Yin energy.¡± He stared at the half-opened ess door. It was dark right behind the door. But bright light illuminated thetter part of the ess corridor in the distance. From where he was, the long, deep ess corridor appeared as though it would lead straight into an underwater graveyard.

    The lights were bright and dazzling. In fact, he could even hear some soft, weeping soundsing from behind the door, almost as though it were the eerie cry of a ghost.

    The silence was deafening. Qin Ye raised his hand and touched the ess door, and he immediately sensed an immense wave of baleful energy from it. It was as though a hint of frigid air like that from a morgue were wafting out from behind the door.

    It seemed to be a warning to all living things that whaty behind the door was out of bounds to them.

    Living, beware. ess restricted to evil ghosts.

    ¡°Most ordinary people wouldn¡¯t go beyond this point because of the innate flight response.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s hand pushed beyond the doorframe, ¡°Just like how ordinary human beings instinctively avoid dark ces. Because¡­ they fear the unknown dangers hidden in the shadows, especially the unclean things¡­¡±

    Then, just as his hand pushed past the frame, lines of crimson Nipponese words immediately appeared on the ess door. These words spelt a special incantation which formed the basis of a formation array. Yet what was perhaps most surprising was the fact that there was another spell barrier erected at this ce that was spelt out in golden Sanskrit words that ovepped with the crimson words on the ess doors. The intersection of the two sets of bright, glowing texts made the ess door seem like one that opened into an asylum filled with insane ghosts.

    ¡°Two factions. The crimson letters are written by emissaries. I can detect Yin energy emanating from it. Furthermore, it consists of the exact same Yin energy signature that we had detected back at Eastsea City. It¡¯s the same group of emissaries. Excellent¡­¡± Qin Ye licked his lips, ¡°It would be great to finally close that chapter over here¡­¡±

    Ming Shiyin continued where Qin Ye left off, ¡°The other set of writing is also a spell barrier, but it is derived from the Nipponese Tantric Buddhists. They should be affiliated with the Onmyojis. They weren¡¯t able to see the spell barrier erected by the Nipponese emissaries nor the text on the ess door, so they wrote directly over it.¡±

    ¡°Well then, what are we still waiting for?¡± Qin Ye raised his brows and sneered as he finally waltzed brazenly through the ess door, ¡°This should be the final probe before the great battle unfolds at the East Cathay Sea. The supporting cast is all present, so isn¡¯t it time for us, the main actors, to take the stage?¡±

    Dong¡­ The door immediately mmed shut behind them, while the overhead lights fizzled out in an instant. Momentster, the emergency lights game on, filling the entire ess corridor with a dark hue of dusk that permeated every corner of the ess corridor and the spiral stairs that led straight down.

    This appeared no different from an ess corridor leading straight to an abyss of punishment, filled with the mournful cries of thousands of ghosts.

    Revelment of evil ghosts! Enter at your own risk!

    1. Kagome kagome is a popr Japanese children¡¯s song/game. One yer is chosen as the Oni, or a demon, and sits blindfolded, while the other children join hands and walk in circles while chanting the song for the game. When the song stops, the Oni is supposed to name the person standing directly behind them. You can listen to the song on wikipedia -

 Chapter 243: The Invisible Confrontation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 243: The Invisible Confrontation (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye tapped lightly on the handrail and swiftly made his way down the spiral stairs. It was obviously the stairwell of a luxury cruise liner, but the feeling it gave off right now was no different from that of a morgue.

    She was dressed in a red kimono from the Nipponese Warring States period. Her hair was tied up in braids, and she was weeping in the corner with her back faced towards Qin Ye.

    Wuuu¡­ wuu¡­. Qin Ye walked up to the girl, but she still remained unresponsive. Qin Ye sneered, ¡°It looks like our Nipponese emissary friends have left us with a little gift¡­ Lord Ming, have you ever seen a Nipponese horror movie?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even nce at the female ghost. Instead, he simply walked past her as he continued to mumble to himself, ¡°The sudden whipping around of her head is one of the horror movie ssics. These close-up shots can be pretty good for raising one¡¯s heart rate and giving the audience a good scare. With something like this here, then even if a living person did ignore all the warning signs and make it this far, they would naturally think twice about proceeding further. This is a well thought out n on their part¡­¡±

    The girl had at some point in time already reached out and grabbed hold of his trousers.

    Qin Ye grew silent. And then, he turned around and sent her flying with a powerful kick!

    But Qin Ye didn¡¯t stop kicking her, ¡°Uncle? Uncle?! How dare you call me an uncle! Look at my soft, supple skin and pristineplexion! In what way do I look like an uncle to you, huh?!¡±

    Thud, thud, thud! With each kick thatnded, Yin energy was forced out of the girl¡¯s seven apertures. Finally, three secondster, the little girl screamed at the top of her lungs under the relentless barrage of kicks.

    The sound she made waspletely incongruous with the image of a little girl. It was filled with immense pain, resentment and hostility. She desperately sought to turn her head around, only to suddenly find a hand gripping her neck tightly, forcing her head to turn back where she was originally facing - to the wall.

    Zeeeekk¡­ ZEEEKK! The ghost child continued to cry. This time, she mustered the strength to her limbs and struggled with all her might, and yet she still found herself unable to wrest free of Qin Ye¡¯s vice-like grip. Just like that, she floundered about just like an upside-down tortoise.

    Thud, thud! Another kick!

    As soon as he released his grip around the little girl¡¯s neck, she turned around immediately and screamed desperately - ZEEEEKKK!!

    Her face was devoid of its usual features.

    The true evil ghost in this room was the man standing in front of her!

    That¡¯s way too frightening¡­ it would be wise to retreat.

    The second basement saw an eclectic old man hanging from one of the electric lights. However, the old man scrambled to retreat as soon as he saw Qin Ye enter the second basement. In his haste, he even left behind the rope with which he hung himself to death. He simply screamed as he dashed straight into the wall like a madman.

    ¡°But that¡¯s probably because they can only mobilize a hundred ghosts.¡± Ming Shiyin responded dismissively, and then he grew somber, ¡°You can treat this as an appetizer leading up to the great war. Are you ready?¡±

    He peered over and stared into the seemingly bottomless stairs!

    It was almost as if this were the final warning to all who enter that they would be descending right into hell.

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    The emblemprised three diamond-shaped marks.

    [in English] Help me.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Qin Ye gazed intently at the deep, dark abyss below, ¡°It means - ¡®save me¡¯.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin, and a bright glint shed across the depths of his eyes, ¡°What if¡­ the emissaries had taken on the identities of the bodyguards of the head of Mitsubishi in order to gain ess to the third basement?¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Lord Ming, please unleash your abilities.¡±

    Ming Shiyin¡¯s surface glowed with a bright white light that seemed to render the roiling ck fog down belowpletely useless. Then, several images quickly flickered through the surface of the mirror, until it finally paused on one of the images depicting a perspective of the cargo hold.

    He didn¡¯t know what methods the Nipponese emissaries had resorted to, but almost everyone within the cargo hold under the rank of an Anitya Hellguard had copsed by now. Several boxes containing the goods to be auctioned had already been opened, only to be visibly obscured by the roiling dense fog within. It looked no different from a living hell.

    One of them was none other than Master Kamo.

    That said, his face was growing increasingly pale, and there was even a streak of blood that snaked out of the corner of his lips.

    Hellguards!

    ¡°Tantric Buddhists.¡± Ming Shiyin confirmed, ¡°And they¡¯re learned members of their sects to boot. The Nipponese monks don¡¯t have the practice of keeping a bald head. Their practices differ quite substantially from ours. They don¡¯t abstain from meat and drinks, and they¡¯re even allowed to get married. All they need to do is to chant sutras. Thus, as long as they¡¯re not wearing their robes, it¡¯s difficult to be certain whether they¡¯re monks or not.¡±

    This was also the most extraordinary one.

    That said, it appeared almost as though he werepletely unaffected by the incursion of Yin energy. As far as Qin Ye knew, exposure to Yin energy would immediately trigger the hidden desires of an ordinary human being¡¯s heart, and his entire body would seize up and freeze as though it had been thrown into an icy cer. This old man¡¯s face appeared flushed and red, and even though the situation appeared incredibly dangerous, he didn¡¯t show any signs of panic at all.

    Noticing the bewilderment in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, Ming Shiyin immediately exined, ¡°This is what you would call the Blessings of Virtue.¡±

    So that¡¯s what it is¡­ Qin Ye took a deep breath and began to descend to the third basement.

    There was no longer any fear of exposing his true identity to those to everyone. After all, those who shouldn¡¯t know his true identity were already incapacitated. Thus, there was no longer a need to dally any longer. These were Nipponese emissaries, entities that werepletely invisible to human beings. If things continued to drag on, it would spell certain death to them. Qin Ye loathed the prospects of dealing with two Hellguard-ss Nipponese emissaries all by himself. However, he was even more disinclined to allow these Hellguard-ss emissaries a free reign to do as they wished.

    Close¡­ I¡¯m getting close¡­ As he drew closer and closer to the epicenter of conflict, his mind grew calmer and calmer. In fact, it grew so calm that all that remained was an austere disposition.

    I can still remember your Yin energy signature. It¡¯s exactly the same as the one I¡¯d detected back at the Eastsea North Station!

    The tempo of his footsteps elerated.

    Boom!

    Whoosh!! His presence instantly cut through the tide of Yin energy. His entire being had already transformed into an existence that was corporeal, yet illusory. He was apanied by the cries of countless ghosts, and Yin energy abounded from his body as he dashed straight into the cavernous cargo hold ahead!

 Chapter 244: The Invisible Confrontation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 244: The Invisible Confrontation (2)</h4>

    ¡°Shit!¡± A loud tremor rippled through the cargo hold. An illusory vajra projection of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva hovered over the evil-subduing pestle. At the same time an eerieherfire appeared to wrap itself around the projection of Ksitigarbha, almost as though this were a scene from hell.

    ¡°Their strength isn¡¯t beneath ours!¡± ¡°What the hell are they? Why can¡¯t we see them?¡± Dojin and Jingo were standing back to back, ncing warily about their surroundings. The two evil ghosts were hiding right in the midst of the roiling fog of Yin energy.

    But¡­ they were unable to see their assants.

    Dojin and Jingo had already resorted to several secret arts, and yet they were still unable to make their assants reveal themselves. Right now, both men had a white toad resting on each of their shoulders. Whenever these toads croaked in a particr direction, they would immediately respond with the necessary countermeasures. Otherwise, they would already have been reduced to dust by now.

    We can¡¯t hold out for much longer¡­

    Dojin probed at his remaining reserves of true energy - There isn¡¯t much left. The attacks of the assant aren¡¯t quick, but they¡¯re relentless, and each attack is filled with dense Yin energy that is difficult to dispel¡­ He nced at Jingo, only to see a firm look of determination in his eyes as well.

    Dojin was slightly taken aback, and then he bit down on his lower lips, ¡°Do we really have to resort to that?¡±

    ¡°Or should we wait obsequiously for our deaths?¡± Jingo wiped off the trickle of blood from his lips, ¡°Do you really think anyone ising to rescue us under such circumstances? I¡¯d never expected there to be others eyeing the life of Oda Nobunaga. And to think that they¡¯re so strong as well!¡±

    Dojin took a deep breath, and then motioned to reach into his inner robe. Just then, almost as though the evil ghosts hidden in the fog could sense their desperation, the roiling Yin energy began to swirl menacingly. And then, just a split secondter, they began to condense into countless illusory ninjas of the Nipponese Warring States period, each of whom were wielding bows that were trained directly on the four men who were still standing.

    They were everywhere - boundless and innumerable!

    A hoarse voice finally called out from the void, ¡°You¡¯ve got the blessings of meritorious deeds, and the Blessings of Virtue. We would probably have to recover for hundreds of years after killing you. But¡­ it¡¯s still your fault for having harboured the wrong intentions.¡±

    ¡°DIE!!!¡±

    ¡°Ninjutsu¡­ Dance of a Hundred Ghosts!!¡±

    As soon as these words were spoken, the figures in the darkness immediately rotated their heads stiffly one hundred and eighty degrees. Dense Yin energy swirled menacingly where their heads were located, entuating the crimson eyes that had opened up right in the center of their faces. A boundless killing intent erupted from these shadowy figures of darkness. And then, they unleashed a rain of arrows on the four men in the center!

    Shk, shk, shk, shk! The cargo hold was located at the bilge of the ship, and the space it upied was incrediblyrge. From the perspective of the four men, it appeared almost as though arrows were pouring out at them from every single direction. The tip of the arrows also zed with an eerie greenherme. In an instant, the entire surroundings were filled with a sphere of zing arrows that closed in on the four men!

    It was a tragic, yet beautiful sight.

    It was almost like a swarm of fireflies on a warm summer¡¯s night that suddenly took flight and revealed the bright glow from their bodies. That said, this swarm of lights carried with it an oppressive amount of murderous intent.

    Then, a secondter, the figures in the roiling dark fog drew their katanas from their waists and charged straight towards the four men with a great battle cry. Backed by the force of a tide of Yin energy, they looked no different from a thousand snakes pouring out of a deep, dark nest, rushing in unison for their very next prey!

    Their des gleamed menacingly in what appeared to be a milkyway ofhermes!

    How strong¡­

    Jingo¡¯s heart grew cold and frigid - Since when did Nippon have evil ghosts of such great strength? Has Mount Koya fallen out of touch with the world for too long?

    ¡°Hurry!!¡± He immediately snapped to his senses and barked at Dojin.

    Needless to say, Dojin had already pulled a silver scroll out of his sleeve and was already in the midst of unravelling it. He swiftly made a series of hand seals, and the light from the scroll quickly grew brighter and brighter. And then, a female figure appeared to step out from the scroll.

    ¡°The Moonlit Night!¡± Dojin yelled as he mmed his palms together! But it was toote. The attacks of the assants hade far too quickly, and he was unable to unleash ¡®The Moonlit Night¡¯ in its strongest state. All he could hope for right now was that he had done enough to neutralize their attack!

    BOOM!!!

    There was an earth-shattering tremor. The elderly monks gritted their teeth and closed their eyes.

    Whoosh¡­ whoosh¡­ A destehergale picked up. One second¡­ two seconds¡­ three seconds¡­ And then, he opened his eyes again, only to discover¡­

    The fog of Yin energy in his surroundings had beenpletely torn asunder!

    In fact, the remaining Yin energy had now retreated to one side of the cargo hold, where they grew so dense that they appeared to be on the brink of materialization. It practically looked like¡­ sloshing ink.

    ¡°We¡¯ve done it¡­¡± Master Kamo¡¯s head was percting with sweat. He blinked his eyes vacantly, and then turned around with a celebratory cry, ¡°You¡¯ve done it! Esteemed elders, you¡¯ve done it!!¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Dojin and Jingo appeared iparably pale at this moment. Dojin¡¯s lips trembled greatly as he continued, ¡°That wasn¡¯t us¡­ We didn¡¯t manage to activate ¡®The Moonlit Night¡¯... That was our hidden trump card, and it contains the power to obliterate a thousand evil ghosts at once. If not for the fact that the Scourge of Buddha has resurfaced in this world, Mount Koya would never have entrusted us with an artifact so powerful. That said, its activation takes amensurate amount of time, and what you¡¯ve just witnessed¡­ wasn¡¯t us.¡±

    It¡¯s not you?!

    Master Kamo was about to go crazy - Then who could it possibly be? That explosion earlier was mind-numbingly powerful! Who could possibly have done that apart from the joint forces of two Hellguard-ss experts?

    And then, he suddenly froze.

    Another source of Yin energy had just appeared behind him in the cargo hold.

    And this source of energy wasn¡¯t inferior to the previous two sources, to say the least. In fact, he could tell that it was an even purer source of energy. If one were to describe the earlier sources of Yin energy as frigid, murderous and irrational, then this source of energy could only be described to be the embodiment of fairness in life and death.

    Everyone turned their heads stiffly to look at the entrance to the cargo hold, only to notice that the silhouette of a young man was currently leaning leisurely against the door, almost as though he had been watching their confrontation for a long time now. He met their gazes, and immediately waved his hand, ¡°Hi.¡±

    ¡°Who¡­ are you?¡± Jingo gasped as he asked with great wariness.

    ¡°Do you need help?¡± Qin Ye stretched out his hand, and Ming Shiyin turned into a stream of light that shot right back to his hands. Then, he turned to look at Master Kamo and smiled genially at him, ¡°Mr Kamo, we meet again. Are you¡­ here to witness the theft with your own two eyes?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s you?!¡± Master Kamo couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. This was none other than the same man whom he had encountered back at the phantom market. And here he was, standing right before him on the very same cruise liner as well!

    And¡­ has he always been this strong?

    That day¡­ when I was beaten to a pulp like a gopher in a gopher game¡­ was that actually not without basis?

    But this wasn¡¯t the time for ruminating over the past. He gritted his teeth and flicked his wrist. A paper crane shot straight towards Qin Ye like lightning, ¡°Although I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m happy to see you again, but¡­ thanks. The Kamo n will remember this debt of gratitude! Please bring this paper crane to the bow of the ship and release it! Kamo n has 300 Onmyojis and 1,000 tengu soldiers waiting for mymand in the vicinity! As long as they receive this signal, they¡¯ll be here in an instant!¡±

    Approximately 1,500 people¡­

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart burned with excitement. Nobunaga had 2,000 men, while the Kamo n had approximately 1,500 men¡­ That would be a total of 4,000 soldiers!

    And these were all elite soldiers to boot! With a coalition like that, they would most certainly be able to put up a fight against Izanami¡¯s forces at the Strait of Tsushima!

    No¡­ perhaps there won¡¯t even be a need to make it all the way to the Strait of Tsushima¡­

    He swept his gaze across the unconscious bodies on the floor. There¡¯s no better opportunity than right now¡­ But, I¡¯ve got to deal with the most pressing issue that stands before me first.

    He stared soullessly at the empty space in front of him. He could see two slender ninjas standing in the heart of the roiling Yin energy. Qin Ye chuckled and lifted the ancient mirror in his hands, ¡°Dearies, do you find us familiar in any particr ways?¡±

    Two secondster, two hoarse cries suddenly erupted through the cargo hold, ¡°It¡¯s you!!¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who killed Scarlet 17!¡±

    Their cries came coitantly with an explosion of the swirling Yin energy! Then, the Yin energy in the air twisted about, before quickly condensing into two spears that were aimed right at Qin Ye¡¯s chest!

    ¡°Hand over your life!¡± ¡°Vermin! How dare you do this to the noble secret ninjas of Renpu?!!¡±

    The Yin energy spears shot through the air with unbelievable speed. Hellguards were entities that took charge over an entire city in Hell. In other words, they possessed the power to raze an entire city to the ground should the entire city stir up an uprising. One could therefore only imagine the sheer amount of power that backed these powerful spears.

    The air even resounded with a great sonic boom. As the two spears bore down at Qin Ye, the sheer pressure of these attacks even resulted in two horrific dents in the floor of the cargo hold.

    ¡°Dodge it!!¡± ¡°There¡¯s only hope if we join forces! They¡¯re invisible to us!¡± Dojin and Jingo cried out at the same time.

    But Qin Ye remained right where he was.

    Just as the tips of the spears were about to strike his body, Qin Ye suddenly made a grasping motion at the air. A chorus of blood-curdling ghastly cries roared in an instant, causing Master Kamo and the other men in the room to reflexively cover their ears. A spirit streamer suddenly appeared in Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    BOOM!

    The entire cargo hold quaked violently, so much so that it could even be felt on the deck of the ship. Incidentally, Grandmaster Chu''s eyes flickered slightly in the wake of the tremor.

    The others who were still awake also furrowed their brows as they wondered what was going on.

    Qin Ye had made a single sweep.

    The tips of the spears had crumbledpletely to a single sweep of his spirit streamer!

    ¡°You can¡¯t see them?¡± Yin energy began to pour out of Qin Ye¡¯s seven apertures, just like an evil ghost crawling out of his shell. In an instant, a massive vortex of Yin energy began to gather around him, concealing his entire being apart from his eyes which were slowly turning scarlet.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I can¡¯t see them either¡­¡±

    Whoosh! Yin energy erupted from his body like a tide. Then, right in front of everyone¡¯s watchful eyes, the vortex of Yin energy exploded, revealing a figure dressed in a pointed fretwork skullcap, ck robes, white hair, and a three-foot long tongue. The man stepped out from the raginghergale.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been in pursuit of you guys since the Eastsea North Station. It¡¯s about time to conclude this chase, isn¡¯t it? After all, I can still vividly remember the gift which you¡¯d left for me back there¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s figure was only visible to the humans in the cargo hold for a single moment. A split-secondter, he vanished right into thin air.

    The others werepletely dumbfounded.

    ¡°Emissary¡­ He¡¯s an Emissary of Hell!! A Cathayan emissary!¡± Dojin finally jolted back to his senses as he stared vacantly where Qin Ye had been just moments ago, ¡°Then¡­ what about those whom we¡¯d encountered before¡­¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re emissaries as well.¡± Jingo¡¯s expressions turned ashen, ¡°But¡­ those were emissaries who were trying to kill us.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ actually an emissary?!¡± Master Kamo eximed with great astonishment, and then cold sweat began to pour out of his forehead.

    I¡¯d¡­ been courting death back then!

    A palpable sense of relief filled his mind, and he couldn¡¯t help but clutch at his chest as he took several deep breaths.

    Meanwhile,pletely invisible to their eyes, three underworld emissaries squared off against each other in a silent confrontation.

    One of the ninjas stuck out his foot-long tongue and licked his lips greedily, ¡°Cathayan Emissaries¡­ haven¡¯t shown themselves for thest hundred years. You¡¯re like a dog without a master. You don¡¯t even hold much authority over your ownnds right now¡­ And you actually dare to show your face in front of the noble, mighty emissaries of the Nipponese underworld? Imend you for your courage.¡±

    Qin Yeughed.

    But it was a coldughter - one that was frigid and austere.

    Neither of the ninjas kenw what Ming Shiyin was. Instead, Ming Shiyin simply hovered close to Qin Ye¡¯s side, whispering, ¡°We¡¯re not out of the Cathayan borders just yet, so their strength should still be under some level of suppression. Their abilities right now are barely on the same level as yours, a nascent Anitya Hellguard. I¡¯m not sure what price Izanami must have paid to allow a Hellguard to step into Cathayannds. But the possibility of something like that urring is most definitely the byproduct of Hell¡¯s copse, and the weakening of Cathay¡¯s protective borders.¡±

    ¡°When pushes to shove, you can unleash my abilities upon them.¡± Ming Shiyin continued to speak as though chanting scriptures in Qin Ye¡¯s ears. However, Qin Ye simply frowned slightly, ¡°Shut up.¡±

    Eh? You want to take them on of your own abilities?

    Ming Shiyin sensibly shut his trap.

    Qin Ye red at the two Nipponese emissaries and responded, ¡°Cathay is naturally also a ce that prides itself on its etiquette. It¡¯s not polite if we don¡¯t reciprocate. So, tell me, how do you think I should reciprocate your precious gift of seventy human lives, hmm?¡±

    1. The rounding-up game is strong with this author.

 Chapter 245: One Shot Kill

    <h4>Chapter 245: One Shot Kill</h4>

    Scarlet 01 slowly pulled out the katana at his waist, ¡°You¡¯ve been resting on yoururels for far too long. I¡¯m pretty sure Lady Izanami would praise us for taking you down.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no need to return the gift. After all, what¡¯s dead is dead. Nippon is also and of etiquette. We wouldn¡¯t mind dropping some crumbs for the hungry wild dogs around.¡±

    The other Nipponese emissary¡¯s hands flickered slightly, and two immting daggers immediately appeared in his hands, ¡°Have you already forgotten how the sick man of the East nearly submitted to Nippon back then? Those who lived during that era must have just entered the Cathayan underworld. If another war of the underworlds breaks out, I wonder how these people are going toe wagging their tails at us, begging for mercy once more?¡±

    ¡°Hah.¡± Qin Ye chuckled sardonically, ¡°What a sharp tongue. Well, tell me - how do you wish to die?¡±

    ¡°With you and what force?¡± ¡°A nascent Anitya Hellguard dares to speak with such audacity? Is this really what Cathay has be? Ahahaha¡­¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Qin Ye nodded, ¡°That means you hope to die a swifter death. Got it.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately dashed forward with his mourning staff raised in front of him. Instantly, the mourning staff opened up like an umbre and began to spin around, while the talismans that had been pasted all over the staff began to flutter and glow with an eerie scarlet glow.

    Whoosh! Qin Ye¡¯s figure straddled the realms of corporeal and illusory as he rode along the wave of Yin energy. The gaze of the two Nipponese emissaries immediately grew heavy and somber, and they split up without hesitation. Their soldiers formed out of Yin energy had already unleashed another barrage ofherfireballs that rained down heavily on Qin Ye with a furious battle cry!

    Anitya Hellguards were one of the mainstay forces of any underworld, and they were ced in charge of city-level affairs. In other words, even if they couldn¡¯t suppress the uprising within a city, they would at the very least possess the abilities to stall for time until reinforcements arrived.

    Naturally, the might of the sh between three Hellguards was noughing matter. Even though the confrontation between emissaries was invisible to Master Kamo, Dojin, Jingo and Mr Iwasaki, they could undoubtedly feel the surrounding temperature suddenly fall by several degrees in an instant.

    A multitude of ferocious de light flickered wildly as it rushed towards Qin Ye like a crashing waterfall. But just as it arrived by Qin Ye¡¯s side, a white ¡°umbre¡± that was glowing with a red light suddenly appeared right in front of Scarlet 01. The dazzling de lights backed by the strength of dense Yin energy bore down on Qin Ye, even leaving sonic booms in its wake. But as soon as the de lights struck the mourning staff, they were sent scattering into the surroundings with soft tters amidst a series of green sparks. Qin Ye¡¯s defense was imprable.

    ¡°Idiot.¡± Scarlet 01 gritted his teeth as the mourning stuff plunged straight through his chest. His entire body instantly transformed into a cloud of Yin energy.

    However, Qin Ye¡¯s attack meant that his entire body was exposed to the dagger-wielding emissary. Naturally, the dagger wielding emissary shrieked and bolted forward with his zing dagger in his hand, sending a powerful straight straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s temples.

    But just as he was about tond his attack, he suddenly noticed a smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face.

    It was a peaceful smile.

    Just like how a family member looks upon the deceased when sending them on their way.

    Shk!

    With the mourning staff in his left arm, Qin Ye still had one arm free. He immediately swung his right arm back, to which action Ming Shiyin immediately responded with, ¡°Screw you!¡±

    Yet the expletive quickly turned into a loud scream that went three octaves higher.

    Qin Ye had armed himself with the Mirror of Eminence and swung it straight at the dagger-wielding emissary like a weapon.

    Scarlet 03 was stunned.

    Then, his astonishment quickly turned into fury.

    Are you looking down on me?

    That¡¯s just a tattered mirror with no trace of Yin energy on it. What could it possibly do to me?

    I can take the blow and still plunge my dagger straight through your skull!

    Thus, Scarlet 03 didn¡¯t hesitate at all, and he mustered all of the Yin energy in his body and sent it flowing straight through his arms. A loud thud resounded in the very next second. Simultaneously, the spinning umbre-staff in Qin Ye¡¯s left arm paused.

    Scarlet 01¡¯s gaze flickered - He has done something iparably stupid. With his abilities, he would have been able to concurrently hold out against both of our attacks. And yet, he chose to focus his attacks on me, leaving his entire body exposed to Scarlet 03¡¯s attack. This is our victory.

    The fluttering talismans on Qin Ye¡¯s mourning staff finally calmed down. And then, Scarlet 01 finally saw apletely astonishing sight.

    Qin Ye¡¯s right hand was still holding onto the mirror that had mmed straight into Scarlet 03¡¯s head.

    The dagger in Scarlet 03¡¯s hand was but a foot away from Qin Ye¡¯s head, but it didn¡¯t go any further.

    It was still moving.

    However, it would be more urate to describe Scarlet 03¡¯s hand as trembling. His entire head was gone, and copious amounts of Yin energy and souls poured out furiously from where Scarlet 03¡¯s head had been just moments ago. Furthermore, his trembling was no different from the convulsions suffered by a human just before a painful death. Then, one secondter, Scarlet 03¡¯s entire body exploded into a cloud of dense Yin energy that scattered with a howlinghergale. The remains of his body expiated mournful shrieks which reverberated throughout the cargo, before quickly scattering into the surroundings like an ephemeral, flickering me.

    He was dead.

    Scarlet 01¡¯s eyes werepletely vacant. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    What the hell is that thing?! How could it possibly destroy Scarlet 03 in an instant?!

    That¡¯s impossible. Scarlet 03 is only ranked two ces below me. The difference between our abilities isn¡¯t that great. We¡¯re both ranked among the top darkfeathers in Nippon. How could he die such an outrageous death, to a single blunt trauma to the head?!

    Is he really dead?

    Are my eyes ying tricks on me?

    Who am I?

    Where am I?

    Who¡¯s hitting me?

    There was an abrupt silence in the cargo hold¡­ at least until Ming Shiyin began to tremble with great fury, ¡°Screw your mother! Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to do it yourself? Then why did you suddenly surprise me like that?! Can¡¯t you give me a little bit of mental preparation?¡±

    Qin Ye stared at Ming Shiyin as though its reaction to the situation were unreasonable, ¡°Why drag things out when you can end it in an instant?¡±

    Ming Shiyin was incensed. It gritted its teeth and barked back, ¡°I¡¯m warning you! I said you could unleash my abilities, but this is clearly not how I¡¯m meant to be used!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Scarlet 01 muttered under his breath with a hoarse voice, panting as he retreated warily. Scarlet 01 was now on full alert.

    ¡°You¡¯ve just noticed me?!!¡± Ming Shiyin finally found a punching bag, and it began to unleash a barrage of verbal blows. But Qin Ye promptly interjected as he stared at Scarlet 01 with great disbelief, ¡°You don¡¯t know who that is?¡±

    Scarlet 01 gritted his teeth. His heart felt like it was bleeding.

    How could I possibly have seen it before?

    This is a ridiculous mirror that has ridiculously smashed Scarlet 03 to smithereens before he could even react altogether. The Cathayan emissary didn¡¯t even use any magic techniques. What the hell is wrong with this world?!

    ¡°Never seen it before.¡± Scarlet 01 responded through gritted teeth.

    Qin Ye nodded, and then pointed to Ming Shiyin. Scarlet 01 sized up the mirror, only to hear Qin Ye¡¯s voice continue, ¡°That¡¯s a brick.¡±

    WTF?!

    Ming Shiyin turned around and stared at Qin Ye as though it had just seen a ghost - You¡¯re the brick head! Your entire family is a brick head! Bloody hell! I smash emissaries, and even perform surveince for you! Have you ever seen a brick that can perform so many functions?!

    That¡¯s not right. How could it be a brick?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how formidable your martial arts are. The brick can deliver a one shot kill.¡± Qin Ye lifted Ming Shiyin with his hand and began to approach Scarlet 01, ¡°Speaking of which, he was lucky to perish without any pain or suffering. But as for you¡­ I don¡¯t think my aim is going to be anywhere as urate as earlier.¡±

    With that, he charged straight towards Scarlet 01 like a mad dog - brick in hand, andpletely fearless.

    Whoosh! A massive tide of Yin energy stirred once more. Ming Shiyin screamed in Qin Ye¡¯s hand, ¡°Bloody hell let go of me! Let¡¯s start all over again and I¡¯ll teach you how to activate my abilities properly! Don¡¯t-- AHHHHHHHH!!!¡±

    Qin Ye turned a deaf ear to it.

    But despite the somewhat incongruous picture, Scarlet 01 couldn¡¯t help but feel shivers down his spine.

    It had been too long since he had felt such a terrifying sense of crisis.

    However, he didn¡¯t dare to hesitate any longer.

    ¡°Renpu Ninjutsu Secret Technique.¡± Qin Ye was incredibly quick, and Scarlet 01 could already see the palpable murderous intent thatced Qin Ye¡¯s gaze. Scarlet 01¡¯s eyes narrowed, and his hands immediately began to perform a series ofplex hand seals, before swiftly pping his palms together, ¡°Dance of a Thousand Ghosts.¡±

    Whoosh! A number of threads formed by Yin energy suddenly shot out of Scarlet 01¡¯s body, quickly transforming into a massive spider webden with countless ovepping figures. These were the silhouettes of countless ancient warriors brandishing their katanas as they charged straight towards Qin Ye.

    Fast.

    Incredibly fast.

    Unbelievably fast. As soon as they appeared, their attacks quickly formed a web of de lights that roared as it shot straight towards Qin Ye.

    BANG!!

    They shed directly against a brick--... no, a mirror.

    CRASH! A crashing sound resounded through the air, just like the shattering of ss, except that it was the space around them that had cracked and shattered. As the deafening shattering sound faded away, so did the lingeringhermes in the air.

    And as the lingeringhermes vanished, so did Scarlet 01¡¯s Dance of a Thousand Ghosts.

    The illusory ancient warriors and their multitude of fancy techniques were renderedpletely useless in the face of an unpretentious brick--... I mean, a mirror, and they were promptly reduced to clumps ofhermes that quickly faded away like snow in the spring sun.

    ¡°What the hell is this?! What the hell is this?!!!¡± Scarlet 01 was at his wits¡¯ end. It felt as though he had just seen a ghost. But then again, he was a ghost. That said, he had never seen something as outrageous and unreasonably tyrannical like the mirror in Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    Are you supposed to be Snow White¡¯s evil stepmother?!

    Whoosh¡­ Two more hands stretched out from his back, and all four hands quickly performed a series of hand seals at the same time. The Yin energy around him promptly twisted and contorted. And then, a split secondter, he shrieked at the top of his voice, ¡°Dance of Arachnids!¡±

    A fearsome five-meters tall asura formed entirely out of Yin Energy roared at the sky. Wisps of Yin energy condensed into what appeared to ten thousand strands of white hair that danced about like venomous snakes. Its iris was ck, and its pupil was white. It¡¯s dangerous, sharp fangs extended out of its mouth in a criss-crossing fashion. Two crimson horns peeked out from its disheveled hair. It had purple skin, and was dressed in a pale yukata. The asura stretched out its hands and pped its palms together at a zing quick speed.

    It had managed to catch Qin Ye in the palm of its hands.

    ¡°Just die already!¡± Scarlet 01 looked up with its body that was filled with Yin energy, and a scarlet eye with a deranged gaze opened up at right where a person¡¯s heart would have been located. He mashed his hands together with another sequence of hand seals in an instant, ¡°Ghost Dragon of Renpu--...¡±

    But before he could even finish his technique, the entire asura suddenly wailed in excruciating pain, and it was instantly reduced to ashes. The next thing Scarlet 01 could hear was Ming Shiyin¡¯s cry of despondence, "I¡¯m going crazy! Why are you ignoring me?!!¡± Qin Ye turned Ming Shiyin around and fanned himself elegantly.

    How the hell¡­

    Scarlet 01¡¯s eyes grew nk and distant. These were the secret arts that he was most proud of. These were the secret ninjutsus that he had been painstakingly practicing over thest twenty years, and yet they couldn¡¯t withstand even the slightest blow from this mirror!

    Is he too strong? Or is that mirror simply too demonic?!

    But this was an exchange between two powerful experts, and a moment of distraction could most certainly spell disaster. In that moment of distraction, Qin Ye closed the gap and smashed the brick - that¡¯s right, we¡¯ll call it what it is - smashed straight onto Scarlet 01¡¯s legs.

    ¡°AHHHHHHH!!!¡± A miserable scream filled the cargo hold.

    1. Referring to China in its weakened state, especially after the Opium wars.

 Chapter 246: Choice

    <h4>Chapter 246: Choice</h4>

    Scarlet 01 felt an excruciating pain surge through legs like electricity.

    It was pain that cut straight through his soul, almost as though Izanami had been forcibly interrupted in the process of transforming his existence into that of a Nipponese emissary back then. This was pain that was unbearable, even to an evil ghost. It felt no different from being banished to the depths of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment. A secondter, he held tightly to both his feet, screaming in pain as he fell from the sky.

    Master Kamo, Dojin, Jingo and Mr Iwasaki werepletely taken aback.

    Just a moment ago, there was a sudden, thunderous bang in the cargo hold, followed quickly by the diffusion of copious amounts of Yin energy. And then, a figure appeared in mid-air, fell straight to the ground, and mmed heavily into the hull of the ship with a loud crash. There was even a small shockwave visible to the naked eye.

    This wasn¡¯t a person.

    It was a body that appeared to emanate Yin energy from its entire being. There was a blood-red eye on its chest that was now twisted and distorted by the debilitating pain surging through its body. He clung tightly to his knees, screaming miserably as he convulsed on the ground.

    ¡°The emissary is grievously wounded, and thews protecting him have been shattered. This is why you¡¯re able to see him now.¡± A familiar voice cidly exined everything to them. Everyone looked up, only to gasp in shock.

    It was the very same Emissary of Hell with flowing white hair, armed with a mourning staff, that was descending back to the ground to the chorus of ten thousand ghosts.

    Everything was over.

    Dojin, Jingo and Master Kamo couldn¡¯t quite believe their eyes.

    Has it really ended just like that?!

    They knew full well how strong their invisible enemy had been. After all, they had barely been able to protect themselves when they crossed swords with their assants. They weren¡¯t even given the chance to fully deploy their hidden trump card, The Moonlit Night. Yet, it had barely taken the Cathayan emissary more than five minutes.

    How the hell did he do it?

    Meanwhile, Grandmaster Chu was just catching some shut-eye when he suddenly heard a loud crash. The bag under his arm trembled slightly, and then, he opened his eyes.

    None of the people in the cargo hold noticed Grandmaster Chu stirring from his slumber. In fact, Qin Ye didn¡¯t even care about how the others viewed him right now. Armed with the indomitable force that was Ming Shiyin, he slowly strode over to the squirming Scarlet 01 and chuckled sadistically.

    And then, with two muffled sounds, Ming Shiyin came crashing down once more.

    This time, Scarlet 01¡¯s arms were shattered.

    ¡°AHHHHHHH!!¡± Scarlet 01¡¯s entire body was now practically drained of all his Yin energy, and the figure of a man dressed like a ninja soon appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes. What appeared like a series of squirming tree roots appeared where his limbs were shattered, while he presented himself with an incredibly pale face replete with spots of livor mortis all around.

    The intense pain caused his entire body to convulse wildly on the ground, and he desperately mmed his head on the ground as he screamed miserably. The horrific state of his body caused the other four humans to tremble with fear.

    ¡°Does it hurt?¡± Qin Ye walked over and kicked him, ¡°I can only imagine that those back at the Eastsea North Station must have begged you for mercy too, haven¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°But you still went ahead with what you did. I wonder how you¡¯re enjoying my little gift of reciprocity, hmm?¡±

    ¡°Ahhh¡­ hahh¡­¡± Scarlet 01 drew another deep breath, and then a tree branch extended out of his body and covered his face. Then, gnashing his teeth, he begged with great trembling, ¡°We¡¯re both emissaries... Please¡­ end my misery¡­¡±

    ¡°No can do.¡± Qin Ye sneered as he stepped on Scarlet 01¡¯s chest, ¡°That¡¯s seventy innocent lives we¡¯re talking about. How did you even bring yourself to do that?¡±

    ¡°Therefore, I¡¯ve prepared a special ce just for you.¡± Qin Ye turned his head, ¡°Lord Ming.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± A haughty voice responded from the side. Ming Shiyin was attempting to disy its ashen expression, so much so that even the surface of the mirror was presently ck, while a string of scarlet words appeared on the mirror like a scarlet scrolling marquee, ¡°Scram, scram, scram, scram.¡±

    ¡°Be cooperative.¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and rolled his eyes, ¡°The future King Yanluo is just making his debut appearance. Give him some face.¡±

    Ming Shiyin gnashed his teeth for several seconds. Finally, in the wake of an awkward silence, a bright white light began to shine from the mirror, enveloping Scarlet 01 altogether. Scarlet 01 immediately froze. Then, the branch that was covering his face slowly retreated.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re¡­¡± He gasped as he stared at Ming Shiyin in horror, ¡°The Mirror of Eminence¡­ You¡¯re the Mirror of Eminence¡­¡±

    ¡°You know too much.¡± Qin Ye interjected with great indifference, ¡°As thanks for the gift you¡¯ve prepared for me, I now cordially invite you to Hell, where you can slowly revel in the full course of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment for the rest of eternity.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to do your best to hang in there, dearest.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ NO!¡± Scarlet 01 screamed desperately, ¡°Let me go! Please, let me go! I¡¯ll do anything you want!¡±

    ¡°Just¡­ don¡¯t send me to the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment! Please, don¡¯t!¡±

    How great was the name of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment!

    Qin Ye was somewhat taken aback. However, he quickly collected himself. And then, ncing at the four men to his side who were ostensibly stunned, he was immediately struck by a brainwave.

    "Two questions." He raised two fingers. Under the influence of Ming Shiyin¡¯s beam of white light, Scarlet 01¡¯s body appeared illusory, almost as though it was devolving into wisps of Yin energy. Then, slowly but surely, Scarlet 01 found himself being drawn into the mirror.

    ¡°Firstly, who did Izanami mobilize tomand the army at the Strait of Tsushima?¡±

    Scarlet 01 hesitated for a moment. And in that moment of hesitation, the light emanating from Ming Shiyin¡¯s surface quickly brightened, and Scarlet 01 immediately found the lower half of his body sucked straight into the mirror.

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk! I¡¯ll talk!¡± Scarlet 01 shrieked, and then quickly responded without further hesitation, ¡°It¡¯s Azai Nagamasa--... Lord Azai Nagamasa!!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Secondly, what does Izanami want with Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul?¡±

    Having learnt his lesson, Scarlet 01 dared not hesitate at all. But just as he motioned to speak, a voice suddenly whispered in his ears, ¡°Respond ording to my instructions.¡±

    ¡°Dere it loudly - Izanami is looking to bring back the Warring States era. And her first target is the Daehan underworld.¡±

    Scarlet 01 was stunned.

    He suddenly understood what Qin Ye was trying to achieve.

    His breaths immediately grew ragged as he nced at Master Kamo. His lips trembled, and yet he couldn¡¯t bring himself to say a single word.

    This was a statement that would make the Nipponese underworld the public enemy of every single faction around.

    And this was exactly what Qin Ye was trying to achieve.

    A war of the underworlds would most certainly implicate the mortal realm, and evil ghosts from Daehan would undoubtedly pour into Nippon as soon as war broke out. This was something that neither the Onmyojis nor Mount Koya wanted to see. Therefore, a single statement like this could very well make Izanami turn against him.

    I can¡¯t say it. At the very least, I can¡¯t say it here. There wasn¡¯t any harm telling them about Azai Nagamasa¡¯s presence earlier, since the mainstay forces of Yomi-no-Kuni aren''t something that the Onmyojis can easily stand against. But the implications of this single statement are far more wide-reaching.

    Qin Ye smiled faintly, and his gaze grew deep and abstruse. This was precisely why he had decided to stay his hand, instead of outrightly ughtering Scarlet 01.

    This was a showing of strength. As the weakest faction around, Qin Ye simply had to make the best of every opportunity he was presented to consolidate his strength. And this was a prime opportunity. After all, as long as he could coerce a Nipponese emissary into saying something like that, he would be able to raise to 90% the odds of sessfully persuading the Onmyojis to stand on his side.

    In fact, he would even be able to convince Mount Koya to band together with him.

    The most effective schemes didn¡¯t always have to be the most sophisticated andplex ones. Sometimes, they just needed to be the right words, spoken at the right time and ce, and to the right audience.

    After all, every single scheme in the world was built on the basis of smoke and mirrors.

    ¡°Unwilling to cooperate?¡± Ming Shiyin had decided to temporarily shelve its grievances with Qin Ye, and it chuckled coldly, ¡°That¡¯s fine. You know who I am. There are plenty of ways to make you talk.¡±

    Scarlet 01¡¯s eyes instantly widened in horror as soon as Ming Shiyin finished speaking, because he had just heard his own voice respond in spite of his will.

    In fact, the voice didn¡¯t evene from his lips.

    And yet, it was perfectly clear - audible enough to everyone around, ¡°Izanami is looking to bring back the Warring States era.¡±

    There were even the regr pauses for breaths and punctuation for emphasis. It had to be said that Ming Shiyin¡¯s reproduction of Scarlet 01¡¯s voice was incredibly urate.

    As soon as they heard ¡°Scarlet 01¡¯s response¡±, Dojin and Jingo immediately widened their eyes and shot to their feet. With their palms sped together, they stared at Scarlet 01 with great disbelief.

    Crazy¡­ Is Izanami crazy?!

    How can they consider bringing back the era of war?!

    How can she even entertain such a dangerous and reckless n?! Not even Hell dares to consider throwing the world into chaos like that, so what basis is there for the Nipponese underworld to do so? Does she even know what this means for the world? Countless evil ghosts would pour out from every corner of the world and flood Nippon like a tidal wave! The east would be thrown into chaos!

    But little did they know this was merely the start of their astonishment.

    ¡°Lord Nobunaga¡­ is a crucial part of the n. Lady Izanami needs to seize his soul at any cost. Millions of Yin soldiers that have already formed up in ranks at the Strait of Tsushima. Once they secure his soul, Lady Izanami need only give a singlemand, and they would immediately unleash a full-scale assault at the Daehan underworld. We will soonplete what we have failed to aplish over thest three hundred years!¡±

    Even Master Kamo waspletely bbergasted.

    Crazy¡­ They¡¯ve gonepletely bonkers¡­

    ¡°How is this possible¡­¡± Master Kamo fell back onto the ground, ¡°Crazy¡­ The Yin spirits of the underworld have gone insane¡­ How could the Nipponese underworld possibly do something like this?¡±

    Scarlet 01¡¯s pupils dted. Yet, Qin Ye simply nced coldly at him and silently mouthed - You¡¯ve lost your chance.

    No¡­ NO! NO!

    Scarlet 01 opened his mouth and struggled to muster everyst bit of strength to protest - It¡¯s not like that! You¡¯ve been bamboozled! Unfortunately, Ming Shiyin promptly foiled any such attempt. The white light glowed brightly, and Scarlet 01 was sucked straight into the mirror in just an instant.

    ¡°Bring him back.¡± Qin Ye muttered mercilessly, ¡°Once the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment is rebuilt, we¡¯ll give him a taste of what punishment truly is. This will deter others as well.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll let our actions dere to the world that all whomit an instance of infractions shall be subject to a life of requital! I may be a new King Yanluo, but the undergirding principles of Hell still apply.¡±

    Ming Shiyin promptly grew silent.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t expect a response from him either. But, secondster, he suddenly heard a soft, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qin Ye looked up unexpectedly. However, he knew that now wasn¡¯t the time to engage in such trivial discourse.

    After all, they had just dealt with the appetizer. The main course was just underway.

    A cloud of Yin energy converged on Qin Ye¡¯s position once more. Then, approximately ten secondster, Qin Ye¡¯s human body stepped out from the heart of the swirling vortex of Yin energy once more. He casually nced about at everyone around, yet every single person couldn¡¯t help but gasp slightly as they retreated several steps.

    ¡°I ask that you kindly keep my identity a secret. I might well be the only Cathayan emissary you¡¯ve ever met. Nevertheless, do bear in mind that we¡¯re probably still in Cathayan territorial waters. Thus, you would do well to keep your mouth tightly shut if you don¡¯t wish to die.¡± Qin Ye maintained his cold and distant persona.

    He had only revealed his true identity to instill fear in the hearts of men. This was all calcted to give him more leverage to work with.

    Mr Iwasaki remained silent, while the other three obsequiously responded in unison, ¡°Understood.¡±

    This was slightly different from what Qin Ye had originally nned. However, the variables were indubitably working in his favour.

    After all, Qin Ye had initially intended to negotiate with the Kamo n after resolving the issues with the extraterritorial emissaries. After all, it had always been an option for the Kamo n to work with Izanami¡¯s faction as well, since their interest onlyy in keeping Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul away from the mortal realm, so it didn¡¯t really matter who they worked with in the first ce. In that regard, the natural inclination would have been for them to work with their own underworld rather than a foreign underworld.

    That being the case, Qin Ye would have had to beg the Kamo n to work with him if not for the present developments orchestrated by Qin Ye¡¯s scheming mind. But now that they had bought the smoke and mirrors employed by Qin Ye, coupled with the agreement that was signed sealed and delivered by Oda Nobunaga, the scales had definitely tipped in Qin Ye¡¯s favour.

    ¡°I¡¯vee to deal with some peculiar developments.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s authoritative voice reverberated throughout the spacious cargo hold, yet not a single person present put up any form of resistance whatsoever. He ced his hands behind his back and continued, ¡°I¡¯m sure you already know about Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s about to awaken, and thedy of your underworld has made a questionable decision about what to do with his soul.¡±

    He nced at each person slowly, and then added, ¡°I¡¯ll give each of you a choice as well.¡±

    ¡°One. Hand over the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl to me right now, or¡­¡±

    ¡°Two. Die.¡±

    Then, he turned to look Mr Iwasaki straight in the eye, ¡°If I gouge out your eye and chop off your hand, I¡¯ll still be able to unlock the security measures protecting the Obdisian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, contemporary owner of the Mitsubishi Corporation, Mr Iwasaki Kyouya?¡±

 Chapter 247: Exigency

    <h4>Chapter 247: Exigency</h4>

    The scene was silent.

    All eyes were currently on Mr Iwasaki. Meanwhile, the three others who had just moments ago disyed some measure of fear towards Qin Ye had subconsciously and tacitly moved into a triangr formation, surrounding Iwasaki Kyouya in their midst.

    ¡°You know me?¡± The old man finally spoke. He truly deserved every bit of his reputation as the heir to the Mitsubishi Corporation that had reigned supreme over all of their otherpetition in the markets for decades. To think he was able to maintain a calm expression on his face when faced with such otherworldly threats. There wasn¡¯t even a single tremor in his voice.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen you on the papers and on television. That said, it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve met you in person.¡± Qin Ye smiled.

    Iwasaki Kyouya didn¡¯t say much more. After all, someone with his status had the privilege of ess to information that wouldn¡¯t otherwise be avable to the average man on the street. After all, in a society founded upon capitalism, the drivers of the economy were just as important and influential than the government itself.

    He deliberated for three full minutes before he finally responded, ¡°When I first learnt of the reemergence of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, I was immediately reminded of the instructions left behind by my ancestors - this is an invaluable Nipponese treasure, and it is the duty of the Iwasaki n to protect and safeguard it. This was why we had employed the use of the X-magic box.¡±

    ¡°However, I wasn¡¯t aware that Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul would also be trapped within the box.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s exactly why it¡¯s not something that a mere mortal should be handling.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice grew somber, ¡°Once the Nipponese underworld stirs up a great war of the underworlds, the east would instantly be thrown into chaos. The protective barriers of countries would be disabled, and evil ghosts would be at liberty to roam freely and invade other nations as they wished. At that time, not even the governmental officials of nations would be able to live in peace without fear of their lives.¡±

    This was the incontrovertible conclusion of the assumptions they were working on.

    Master Kamo and the other two were still standing around Mr Iwasaki and protecting him when Dojin suddenly queried, ¡°Mr Emissary, if I might be so bold as to ask - what are you thinking of doing with Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul?¡±

    ¡°I n to bring him back to Cathay.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly.

    ¡°Bring?¡± Jingo¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°And might I ask what you¡¯re nning to do with him back in Cathay? Besides, has he even agreed to meet with you in the first ce?¡±

    Histter statement carried some undertones of aggression and agitation, but that was quickly dispelled by a sharp re from Qin Ye.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to understand the situation you¡¯re in very much.¡± Qin Ye tilted his body slightly, and wisps of Yin energy that were visible to the naked eye began to pour out of his body, causing his clothes to flutter on their own. His gaze grew incisive, ¡°Your great goddess of the dead, Lazy Izanami, is nning to use the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven to trigger yet another era of war between the underworlds. The only way to prevent this is to banish Nobunaga¡¯s soul to a ce that Izanami would never dare to make an attempt against.¡±

    ¡°And where might that be?¡± Qin Ye stared at them with eagle eyes, ¡°Back to the depths of Mount Koya?¡±

    ¡°The Cathayan underworld is the only ce in the world that Izanami would never dare step foot into.¡±

    He snorted and continued with a frigid voice, ¡°First of all, the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl has already developed a quasi-realm of its own. I¡¯m not trying to look down on Mount Koya, but I sincerely believe it would take you at least two hundred years to break the seal on the quasi-realm. Can you be so certain that you won¡¯t make a single mistake during this process or lose the bowl to another incursion by the NIpponese emissaries?¡±

    Dojin¡¯s expressions turned ugly. This was the Scourge of Buddha. It was an existence that would have to be sealed in the depths of their monastery in Mount Koya for a protracted process of purification. This was the only way they couldpletely purge it of the evil within.

    He opened his mouth and nced anxiously at Ming Shiyin, and then grew silent once more.

    Qin Ye continued slowly, ¡°Secondly, there are currently two thousand five hundred souls residing within the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. Are you sure Mount Koya would have the ability to deal with all of them? Even if you seed in gaining ess to the quasi realm within, are you sure Mount Koya won¡¯t be razed to the ground by their armies in the very next second?¡±

    The negotiations with the Onmyojis had already begun in the most unexpected of circumstances.

    However, the stage had been set perfectly for his negotiations. Scarlet 01¡¯s words had already stirred doubts in their hearts, and the bnce of the scales of negotiations were now tipping in his favour. He no longer needed to beg with the Onmyojis for their cooperation. Instead, he simply needed to rehash the kind of predicament they were in. And then, all he had to do afterwards was simply to praise and exaggerate Hell¡¯s ability to deal with the situation in order to create the perception of difference in their standing. That would be more than enough to give rise to the results he wanted.

    He might even have the chance to seize the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl without even engaging in a fight.

    ¡°Two thousand five hundred souls?!¡± ¡°How is that possible?!¡± ¡°That¡¯s unbelievable!¡±

    The three Nipponese cultivators gasped at the same time. They had expected there to be at best ten Yin spirits hidden within the quasi-realm. Such a massive gathering of Yin spirits wasn¡¯t something that any single faction of cultivators would be able to handle on their own.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already made all the necessary preparations to guide his soul safely into Hell! Or are you telling me that you rather us step in only after everything goes to hell? Shouldn¡¯t we nip the problem in its bud? If you possess the ability to do so, then by all means - go ahead! Otherwise, shut your trap!¡±

    He hardly minced his words at all. But he knew that such an attitude only orded well with the kind of reputation that the Cathayan underworld had.

    The two monks exchanged a nce, and then promptly grew taciturn.

    The ramifications were far too great, and they weren¡¯t able to fully entrust everything to the hands of a foreign emissary.

    ¡°Sir.¡± Master Kamo finally spoke up with a grave expression on his face, ¡°Everything that we¡¯ve heard ising entirely from you. There¡¯s no proof to corroborate your ims that there are indeed two thousand five hundred souls residing within the bowl¡¯s quasi realm, as well as your allegation that Cathay will act in ordance with your ims. Our concern is that¡­¡±

    He paused to pick his words carefully, ¡°There¡¯s no assurance that you wouldn¡¯t just recant on your position and allow him to wreak havoc in the mortal realm.¡±

    These were the concerns of a rtively smaller nation and its underworld.

    They hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility that Cathay¡¯s underworld was presently under a new regime, and that they were actually attempting to seize Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul for themselves!

    Are you kidding?

    Given the depths of Hell¡¯s forces, Nobunaga would at best be relegated to serving as one of the manymanders in their forces. He would be nothing more than a digit.

    Qin Ye chuckled deep within.

    As expected, the negotiations weren''t aplete walkover. After all, none of the persons around were idiots, and they naturally wouldn¡¯t be convinced merely by his words. They would need something more, such as evidence and proof.

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as Master Kamo finished speaking, a long scroll shot out and unraveled itself in the air. The four men immediately skimmed through its contents. And then, when they finally got to the very end of the document, their eyes narrowed at the same time.

    It was Oda Nobunaga¡¯s personal seal.

    It was said that the seal was burnt to a crisp by the great inferno at the Honnoji incident. Naturally, the only person who could possibly still be in possession of the seal was none other than Oda Nobunaga himself.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± The three cultivators immediately stepped forward to take a closer look, but Qin Ye promptly stashed it away.

    They had just seen Oda Nobunaga¡¯s endorsement which stated that he represented the two thousand five hundred Yin spirits under hismand.

    They weren¡¯t given the opportunity to scan the rest of the contents, including the particrs pertaining to ¡°one underworld, two systems¡±, or the ¡°special administrative region¡±.

    ¡°This is Cathay¡¯s extradition agreement, and its contents are top secret. You¡¯re not entitled to scrutinize its particrs.¡± He gently folded the agreement, ¡°We¡¯re allowing you a glimpse of this agreement and Oda Nobunaga¡¯s personal seal of endorsement as a gesture of our sincerity. I¡¯m proving to you that I¡¯m telling you the truth. If you still have any doubts, I believe you have men under your charge who are able to verify the authenticity of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s seal.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ambitious!¡± Ming Shiyin gasped as it continued, ¡°You have a good grasp of the human heart and mind. You took advantage of the high-pressure situation and rode on the coattails of Hell''s reputation in order to pull a veil over their eyes and prevent them from uncovering the secrets that are guing Hell. After all, what''s important right now isn''t the details of what''s written, but Oda Nobunaga''s seal, isn''t that right?¡±

    ¡°That''s right.¡± Qin Ye made an attempt tomunicate with Ming Shiyin telepathically. To his surprise, his thoughts soon manifested as a voice directed at Ming Shiyin, ¡°This isn''t a regr case. This is something that concerns the East altogether. Under such circumstances, their attention would never be so much on the fine print of the agreement as it would be on the identity of the person signing off on the bottom line. Oda Nobunaga''s endorsement naturally means that they''re not standing against us as opposites. It also lends credence to what we''ve earlier mentioned, including the fact that we would take him away. Therefore, it suffices that the seal is authentic. Speaking of which, thismunication function of yours is pretty nifty.¡±

    Ming Shiyin grew silent. A few moments, it probed carefully, ¡°Does it no longer ur to you that I¡¯m still a preeminent existence that strikes fear in the hearts of many? I should at least be able to do this much.¡±

    Qin Ye ignored the braggart whose floodgates of vainglory unlock at the slightest of praise, and he turned back to everyone else, ¡°Does anyone still have any opinions?¡±

    Ming Shiyin gleamed brightly.

    Qin Ye continued cidly, ¡°Well, you can hold your tongue even if you¡¯ve got something to say. I, for one, don¡¯t have the luxury of time to be debating with you all¡­ Mr Iwasaki, what do you say?¡±

    He looked Mr Iwasaki straight in the eye.

    Mr Iwasaki sighed deeply, and then chuckled bitterly, ¡°Once you¡¯re done cleansing the bowl, would I still have a chance to purchase it from you?¡±

    Eh??? This suggestion¡­ is something right up my alley¡­

    ¡°But of course.¡± Qin Ye fought hard to keep a straight face. His heart had suddenly felt like a field of blossoming flowers with Mr Iwasaki¡¯s suggestion.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Iwasaki Kyouya gritted his teeth and nodded his head. He knew better than to decide otherwise. And as soon as he gave in, the others immediately shook their heads.

    Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. Who would¡¯ve thought that the negotiations with the Onmyojis would go so smoothly? One could even say that the great sess of these negotiations had practically changed the course of events!

    The entire sequence of events had run so smoothly it was akin to a racehorse that had made a mad dash from start to finish!

    He had ridden on Hell¡¯s coattails and capitalized on Oda Nobunaga¡¯s personal seal so well that he might not even have to head all the way to the Strait of Tsushima! The damned Azai Nagamasa would never know who he is! Once the box was opened, he would immediately seize possession of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl and return to Eastsea. Perfect.

    ¡°So¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath and fervently repressed the swelling ecstasy in his heart. But just then, a voice abruptly interrupted him.

    ¡°Are you trying to open the X-magic box?¡± A hoarse, somewhat-groggy voice echoed through the cargo hold.

    Grandmaster Chu stood at the entrance. His eyes were somewhat zed over, and he trembled as he nced at Master Kamo, ¡°Are you not auctioning off the bowl anymore? This wasn¡¯t what we¡¯ve agreed upon! We¡¯re on the cusp of an auction of unprecedented scale! Our names will forever be recorded in the annals of history!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never thought of auctioning it off.¡± Master Kamo nced indifferently at Grandmaster Chu, ¡°If not for the forceful intervention of the Mitsubishi Group, as well as the employment of an unbreachable security measure like the X-magic box, you would no longer be in possession of this national treasure by now.¡±

    Tweet! He waved his hand, and a paper crane flew towards Grandmaster Chu, ¡°Get some sleep. We¡¯ll make up for your loss.¡±

    ¡°No way!!!¡± Grandmaster Chu¡¯s voice suddenly crescendoed. As soon as the paper crane arrived in front of him, he abruptly mmed his fist down onto his chest. Then, with a vicious expression on his face, and trembling lips, he turned to Iwasaki Kyouya, ¡°Mr Iwasaki¡­ you¡­ are you also backing out on the auctions?¡±

    Iwasaki Kyouya¡¯s wrinkled eyes drooped slightly as he responded with an indirect word of wisdom, ¡°Young man, there are times when one needs to know how to let go.¡±

    His words were like a bolt of lightning that struck Grandmaster Chu. Grandmaster Chu shuddered all over and took a few steps back as he red at everything with great disbelief. Then, he shook his head as though he were ovee with insanity, ¡°Then¡­ then have you ever thought of what would happen to Guardian Auctions?!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve spread the word and made all the preparations leading up to these major auctions. And yet, right on the cusp of it all, you¡¯re capitting on your earlier decision?! What¡¯s going to happen to Guardian Auctions in future?! What¡¯s going to happen to all of our employees?!¡±

 Chapter 248: Changes to Auction (1)

    <h4>Chapter 248: Changes to Auction (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye stared back at Iwasaki Kyouya with incredulity. Iwasaki Kyouya coughed dryly and kept silent.

    Qin Ye immediately cursed him under his breath, ¡°That old fox is doing all he can to salvage the reputation of Mitsubishi Corporation. After all, he¡¯s also had a stake in the auction of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl from the onset. He¡¯s offering rpense to the parties involved. And then, after I cleansed out Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul from the bowl, he would be able to secure it for his own benefit. Four billion might seem like a huge sum to us, but it¡¯s really not that significant considering the wealth of the conglomerate we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°Based solely on that statement of yours, I can already tell you¡¯re not fit to be ced in charge of Hell¡¯s finances. There¡¯s nothing wrong with his statement in and of itself. But one crucial thing is missing - where¡¯s my money?¡±

    Ming Shiying recoiled slightly, almost as though it had just snapped out of a stupor. Then, it spat under its breath, ¡°Wily old fox.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the opportunity to die without pain and suffering, with all of your loved ones surrounding you on your deathbed. Furthermore, I can guarantee you a smooth afterlife ahead. On top of that, I¡¯ll send Guardian Auctions a great lot for auctionster on.¡±

    ¡°You are¡­?¡± Grandmaster Chu asked cautiously.

    Yet, almost without consideration, Grandmaster Chu shook his head and maintained, ¡°No way.¡±

    His breaths grew shallow, and he turned to stare at Iwasaki Kyouya with bloodshot eyes, ¡°You¡¯ll be able to cate the Nipponesemercial circles with a simple token gesture or two. But are you really able to appease all of the aggrieved Cathayan tycoons? Guardian Auctions is still going to be operating out of Cathayan soil! How are we supposed to continue running our auction house if you capitte on your earlier promises now?¡±

    He quickly arrived before Grandmaster Chu. And then, he suddenly froze in ce.

    A gun¡¯s barrel was pointed straight towards Grandmaster Chu¡¯s finger.

    His own gun.

    Nobody had expected Grandmaster Chu to take such drastic measures.

    Not even Iwasaki Kyouya himself had expected Grandmaster Chu to be able to threaten everyone else this way. With a livid expression on his face, he shook his head, ¡°No. This is fail proof technology that employs thetest, cutting-edge technology developed by Nippon. In fact, this security box isn¡¯t even in cirction right now, and it wouldn¡¯t have been used if not at my behest.¡±

    Just like pirates on the inte.

    ¡°Three!¡±

    ¡°Two!!¡±

    Grandmaster Chu paused.

    Grandmaster Chu gazed deeply at everyone around. And then, after a long time, finally responded with great trembling.

    ¡°Three Hellguards, one Hunter, and the contemporary head of the Mitsubishi Corporation. Do you really think we stand to gain anything by lying to you?¡± Dojin¡¯s chest undted with every heave of breath he took. Then, he barked furiously, ¡°Have you ever thought about the number of close shaves with death you¡¯ve had ever since taking possession of this damned bowl?! If not for the soul of Oda Nobunaga, do you think three Hellguards have nothing better to do than to pit themselves in apetition of wealth against the head of a global conglomerate?! Do you think we really want to be here listening to you farting through your lips?!¡±

    Grandmaster Chu drew several deep breaths and shut his eyes.

    ¡°No.¡± Iwasaki Kyouya whispered, ¡°His emotions are currently incredibly unstable. If you provoke him any further, he will most certainly fire his gun, regardless of what the consequences may be. Furthermore, as long as the X-magic box isn¡¯t opened once every five days, it will automatically assume that its owner is dead. Once the self-destruct sequence is activated, its contents within would forever be lost.¡±

    Tell me, do you have nothing better to do with your lives? Why the hell did you think to invent something with such perverse security measures?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t be insolent!¡± True energy erupted from Jingo¡¯s body! But just as the shockwave of energy red up, a gunshot reverberated through the cargo hold simultaneously. Everything quietened down immediately, and even Jingo sensibly withdrew his explosion of energy.

    Ruthless¡­ Grandmaster Chu had blown a hole through the heart of his palm right in front of everyone¡¯s eyes. He revealed a manic smile on his face. Fresh blood poured out of the grisly hole in his palm, and yet his hand remainedpletely still, almost as though he knew no pain.

    He panted as he continued, ¡°Furthermore, it will execute any of my standing orders as soon as it detects danger, even if I don¡¯t feel threatened myself. Myst standing order to it was to cripple my left hand as soon as anyone makes the slightest movements. You might all be stronger than me, but I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m quicker than you when ites to suicide. This is an added security measure on my part. Do you really want to force a junior to a point of no return, huh? Cough¡­ cough¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. To think that such variables would suddenly arise when the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was right in front of his eyes!

    Qin Ye snorted and walked out of the cargo hold without turning back.

    It¡¯s just that the risk of their potential losses far outweighed the odds of sess.

    Iwasaki Kyouya didn¡¯t leave immediately. It was only when everyone else had departed from the room that he finally locked eyes with Grandmaster Chu, ¡°Cutting off your own path of retreat is never a good practice, especially when you¡¯re confronting an adversary whomands an overwhelming disparity in strength. Until you learn to let go, Guardian Auctions isn¡¯t going to go far. That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got to say. Heed my words.¡±

    The cargo hold was finally silent once again. The barrel of the gun was still pressed firmly against his own thumb, and Grandmaster Chu continued to remain in ce like a petrified statue for an inordinate amount of time, fighting hard against the pain from his wounds and the light-headedness from blood loss. It wasn¡¯t until everyone else guarding the cargo hold arose that he finally slumped back down to the ground,pletely drained of energy.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Good! Check the goods!¡±

    ¡°Prepare for the auction immediately.¡± Grandmaster Chu gave him apletely unexpected response.

    ¡°My instructions are to stop the cruise liner! And we¡¯ll conduct the auctions tomorrow! Which part of that didn¡¯t you understand?!¡± Grandmaster Chu bellowed back, heaving and panting heavily as though it had taken all of his strength to do so.

    ¡°But, what about you?¡±

    ¡°Additionally, I want you to immediately notify all tycoons on board that due to unforeseen circumstances, we¡¯ll be conducting the auctions the day after tomorrow, regardless of whether the other guests can make it on board the cruise liner in time or not. These auctions are for a national treasure, so I¡¯m sure our guests would be able to understand. Finally, inform Master Kamo that if any of them spreads any word about what just happened prior to themencement of the auctions, they can forget about opening the X-magic box altogether.¡±

    With that, he immediately left with his team, leaving Grandmaster Chu and a few of his cronies remaining in the cargo hold. He looked at the ck box, and then suddenlyughed maniacally.

    It¡¯s no wonder so many peculiar things have been happening since then.

    He didn¡¯t need to consider his response. He knew the categorical answer deep in his heart.

    After all, just how many tycoons were there in attendance for the uing auctions? Could Guardian Auctions trulypensate each and every single one of them for wasting their precious time?

    ¡°Heh, heh, heh¡­¡± He leaned back into his chair and stared squarely at the box as he chuckled softly to himself, almost as though he were whimpering in misery.

 Chapter 249: Changes to Auction (2)

    <h4>Chapter 249: Changes to Auction (2)</h4>

    ¡°Insolence!!!¡± Ming Shiyin bellowed as soon as they returned to their bedroom, ¡°Absolutely shameless! Doesn¡¯t he know a single thing about the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven? He¡¯s a cultivator as well! Doesn¡¯t he know what the resurrection of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul means?!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no use scolding him behind his back. He¡¯s caught between a rock and a hard ce after all.¡± Qin Yeid down on his bedzily and began to y with his phone.

    ¡°Ah? You seem to understand him fairly well, don¡¯t you? Come here, let¡¯s talk about how to unleash the full potential of this mirror¡­¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye set down his phone, and a cold glint shed in the depths of his eyes, ¡°I understand his thought processes, but that doesn¡¯t mean I agree with his methods. And even if I agree with his methods, it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯d let him off the hook. He¡¯s just lost his only chance at securing an afterlife of glory and honour in Hell. Furthermore, the only thing he¡¯s managed to do is to incite the wrath and hatred of the future King Yanluo. I¡¯ve never been a magnanimous person to begin with. The road to Hell¡¯s revivification would be paved with the sacrifices of many souls. Mypassion to him was a privilege, not an entitlement.¡±

    Ming Shiyin grew taciturn momentarily, ¡°I¡¯ve discovered that you exude a very different air of disposition about you whenever you get serious about something. That said, I¡¯m d you¡¯ve got that kind of self-awareness about you.¡±

    ¡°Kid, hold fast to that thought. You¡¯ll encounter many simr encounters in future where you¡¯ll be forced to sacrifice a person for the greater good. If you¡¯re a person who seeks to understand everyone¡¯s plight and empathize with them, then you most certainly aren¡¯t fit for the throne that awaits you.¡±

    Just then, the cruise liner suddenly trembled lightly. Following that, Qin Ye could sense that the subsequent tremors grew smaller and smaller, until they finally came to aplete stop altogether.

    ¡°This is¡­?¡± He furrowed his brows as he walked to the windows and peered out.

    It was already 7.30 a.m. The waters outside were calm and tranquil, and the sun was just peeking out over the horizon, painting the entire surface of the sea a shimmering golden-red hue.

    There weren¡¯t any of the usual waves stirred up by the ship as it sailed through the waters. In fact, there wasn¡¯t even any trace of movements whatsoever.

    The ship had stopped altogether.

    ¡°Greetings, distinguished guests.¡± A sonorous, sprightly voice cut through the silence of the cruise liner, ¡°We apologize for interrupting your rest this early. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Guardian Auctions has been forced to makest-minute changes to its ns. We seek your kind understanding.¡±

    ¡°More specifically, something unexpected happened earlier in the cargo hold, and we¡¯ve therefore had no choice but to bring forward the auction to 6 p.m. in two days¡¯ time. All VIPs who are not present then shall be deemed to have forfeited their rights to participate in the auctions. Again, we seek your indulgence for thesest-minute changes.¡±

    The announcement was broadcasted everywhere in the ship.

    Room A221. Room to one of the twenty richest people in Cathay, Tian Shengtang, chairman of one of the Cathayan real estate giants.

    A tall man twirling his wedding band frowned slightly, ¡°Brought forward? And they¡¯re not even waiting for the other VIPs toe on board? That¡¯s not like Guardian Auctions at all. Something huge must have happened. Master Huiyen, is it something on that front?¡±

    The question was directed at a bald, middle-aged man dressed in a suit beside him. The man had a scar running through his head, and his entire body was lifted slightly off the ground, supported only by a single finger of his. That man responded cidly, ¡°I can sense strong energy fluctuations of both true energy and Yin energy in the air. Something must have happened in the cargo hold. After all, even a fool would have guessed when Guardian Auctions would choose to verify the contents of the goods in their cargo hold.¡±

    The tall man nodded and mulled over the situation for several seconds. Then, he snapped a finger, and another man dressed in a ck suit promptly walked over, ¡°Mr Gu.¡±

    ¡°Make the necessary preparations, and check the status on the fund transfers.¡± The tall man leaned back in his seat, ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯m not interested in the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl after all.¡±

    Room B111. Room to one of the fifty richest people in Cathay, Yun Tianfang, chairman of a liquor and luxury goods group ofpanies.

    ¡°It¡¯s all going down in two days¡¯ time.¡± A gorgeousdy armed with a smoking pipe took a puff as she remarked, ¡°Mr Zhu, go check if the transfer has arrived. If not, tell them to make haste. If the funds don¡¯te in before the auctions begin, you can fire the entire finance department.¡±

    A172, B322, A117, B451¡­ The exact same announcement was yed throughout the entire cruise ship without exception, and the tycoons residing in each of these rooms stirred with great excitement.

    After all, an auction was akin to the battlefield for tycoons - everything woulde down to who possessed the most disposable wealth.

    Tak-tak-tak-tak¡­ The keyboards rattled with great ferocity in each and every room. Everyone was rushing to verify the liquidity of their funds leading up to the uing auctions.

    Qin Ye was no exception to this either.

    ¡°He¡¯s finally pushing for it.¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Is he starting to be scared now? Has he finally realized what era Oda Nobunaga hails from? I mean, does he even know what exactly a 400-year ghost is?¡±

    ¡°He wants to dispose of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl as soon as possible so as to leave himself a way out in light of the decision he''d made earlier. I¡¯ve got to say that he¡¯s not a daft man by any means.¡±

    ¡°So what do we do?¡± Ming Shiyin asked.

    Qin Ye licked his lips greedily, ¡°Of course we¡¯ll fight them head on.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that things would actuallye to this. But, the sooner, the better.¡± He stood up and gazed into the distant horizon, ¡°I can already smell the stench emanating from the Strait of Tsushima. It¡¯s the stench of the great Azai Nagamasa who has been buried for centuries on end.¡±

    Qin Ye booted up hisptop and logged into his ount, only to discover that the funds transferred from Imperial Group had arrived just one hour ago - exactly when the confrontation had taken ce back in the cargo hold.

    Three billion was a massive sum of money. Not even Qin Ye could contain himself when he finally realized he was the one in possession of these funds.

    This is three billion RMB! Guardian Auctions has valued the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl at one and a half billion RMB, but this is still a national treasure we¡¯re talking about! The sky''s the limit! After all, each and every single tycoon ted to attend the auctions was an industry leader in their own rights. Three billion RMB was a huge sum of money, but Qin Ye still couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat uneasy in the face of hispetition.

    Meanwhile, the fund transfer was also apanied by a message from Gao Youliang stating that the list of items he had requested for, including the construction materials, daily necessities, production lines, etc, have all been procured for him, and they have all been stored in one of the warehouses within Eastsea. Qin Ye could pick them up anytime he liked. Furthermore, Gao Youliang had even taken the initiative to make payment on the warehouse rental space amounting to the sum of 200,000 RMB.

    Qin Ye was incredibly satisfied with Gao Youliang¡¯s efficiency.

    Thepletion of the transaction with Gao Youliang had already made this trip to Eastsea worth it. The progress on Hell¡¯s redevelopment would soon take off.

    Everything would be perfect if he could return with the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.

    ¡°Having alreadye this far, I simply cannot allow the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl to fall into the hands of others.¡± Qin Ye closed hisptop gently and lit up a cigarette.

    Just then, there was a knock on the door to his room.

    Qin ye opened the door, only to see Bai Yishan standing right outside his door with an apologetic expression on his face. He rubbed his hands together shyly and asked, ¡°Mr Qin, could I have a word with you in private?¡±

    Qin Ye raised his brows with a slight measure of surprise, but allowed him to enter the room nheless. Once they settled back down, Bai Yishan smiled bitterly and exined, ¡°Mr Qin, I know that what I¡¯m about to say may sound rather offensive to you, but I do seek your understanding. Please believe me when I say that this isn¡¯t done under my own volition. Everything I¡¯m about to say is under the instructions of Grandmaster Chu alone. I was unable to dissuade him.¡±

    ¡°You may speak candidly.¡± Qin Ye blew out a puff of smoke as he responded cidly, ¡°I know of the plight you¡¯re in.¡±

    But he soon followed up with a statement that filled Bai Yishan with great embarrassment, ¡°But it doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m obliged to understand your plight or grant you indulgence.¡±

    ¡°Grandmaster Chu has stepped on the toes of a number of important people. Here¡¯s a word of advice - resign immediately after the auction closes, close the chapter on Guardian Auctions, and leave them behind as far as you can. Guardian Auctions¡¯ days are numbered.¡±

    Bai Yishan nodded without hesitation, and then steeled his nerves, ¡°Mr Qin... Grandmaster Chu... hopes that the esteemed guests who know of... the truth about the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl would keep it a secret to themselves. Otherwise¡­¡±

    Given his stammering, Qin Ye could already tell what he was getting at, ¡°I got the message loud and clear. You may take your leave.¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin, believe me. I¡¯m only here as a mouthpiece, and this is by no means a reflection of my intentions at all.¡±

    Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively and sent Bai Yishan on his way. He hadn¡¯t fallen so far as to take out his anger on a mere messenger.

    The room was silent once again.

    Several secondster, Qin Ye remarked aloud, ¡°A man who irks others is only going to suffer great misery.¡±

    ¡°But, so be it.¡±

    ¡°Rules are there for a reason. There¡¯s no harm in following them once in a while. I refuse to believe that I can¡¯t win myself a bowl with a capital of three billion RMB!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­...

    The cruise liner was still within Cathay¡¯s territorial waters.

    It was anchored in ce, surrounded only by the vast expanse of waters out there. The early morning sun painted the surface of the cruise liner with a magnificent, golden sheen and caused the deep blue waters to sparkle with crystal rity. Everything appeared dreamy and surreal.

    Flutter flutter¡­ Nobody took notice of a few seabirds that promptly took flight from the deck of the cruise liner, pping its wings gracefully as it flew into the horizon from where the sun rose.

    Its flight was initially slow. But the farther it got from the cruise ship, the faster it flew! Within ten minutes, its speed elerated so much that its feathers began to fall off its body, until it finally revealed its true form of a skeletal bird shrouded with Yin energy. The skeletal bird shrieked as it bolted to its target.

    After a few hours of flight, the skeletal bird finally appeared in front of an ind.

    The ind was peculiar. It was almost as though the sun couldn¡¯t shine on it. The time now was clearly already past seven in the morning, and yet the ind still appeared to be enshrouded in gloom and darkness, almost as though there were a thickyer of ck fog lingering about it. Anyone within hundreds of meters from the ind would feel an unusual chill emanating from it.

    Flutter flutter¡­ The skeletal seabirds flew straight through the dark fog enshrouding the ind. The fog hid a massive strait cutting through the ind, on which were anchored a number of ships.

    Irond warships.

    The kind that were often seen in naval battles in the 1800¡¯s but were obsolete in modern day naval warfare. Irond warships also happened to form the bulk of the Nipponese fleet during the Sino-Nipponese War. There were two such warships anchored side by side right now.

    Not a single soul could be seen operating on the deck of these ships, and yet their lights were brightly lit, almost as though they were ghost shipsying in wait for something within the dark fog.

    The seabirds finally descended. They swooped down onto the ship and glided through an empty corridor of armors and clothes. Then, as it drew close to the door at the end of the room, it opened on its own, as though inviting the seabird in. The seabird flew in and finallynded on a hand that was covered in white armor.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± A man¡¯s voice reverberated through the corners of the room. Secondster, he added, ¡°They¡¯ve brought it forward? And they¡¯re not evening to the Strait of Tsushima? What ¡®unforeseen circumstances¡¯ have they encountered? You don¡¯t know? Then¡­ what¡¯s the use of keeping you around?¡±

    Snap!

    The armored hand mercilessly tightened his fist around the skeletal bird, reducing it to wisps of Yin energy in an instant.

    The man stood up and gazed out of the window. From his perspective, the entire deck of the ship was filled with headless foot soldiers, bowmen and red-armored cavalry who were lined up in ranks and awaiting hismand.

    Their numbers were vast. There were even close to a thousand paper nes zooming about in the skies above. The entire army was enshrouded in boundless Yin energy, dense as ink and roiling like the tide.

    The morning breeze swept by, but did nothing to disperse the thick Yin energy in the area. There were several banners flying high, including the sun g of the Ryuzoji n, the ck g of the Kuroda n, the emblem of a cross of the Shimazu n, the emblem of the Rokkaku n, the six coins of the Sanada n. Practically every single one of the famous ns of the Nipponese Warring States era were all gathered at this ce right now!

    ¡°Since they refuse toe to us, then we¡¯ll just have to take the fight to them.¡± Two crimson glows lit up under the helmet of the great armor, ¡°This is a rare opportunity to have all of the forces from back then gather in one ce. How could we possibly pass up the appearance of our beloved Demon King of the Sixth Heaven?¡±

    ¡°Pirate of Hachiman, mobilize the Kappa Corps immediately. I, Azai Nagamasa, have waited for four centuries just for this moment of vengeance... both for my death... as well as the death of my child... I can¡¯t wait any longer¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± A ghastly voice responded from the shadows. The surface of the waters around the irond warships immediately fluctuated strangely, and countless dark figures instantly sank into the depths of the waters like a swarm of piranhas.

    1.

    2.

    3.

    4.

    5.

    6. In Japanese religion, Hachiman no kami is the syncretic divinity of archery and war, incorporating elements from both Shinto and Buddhism. He was often worshipped by samurais. This is a nickname for a general whose name will be revealedter.

 Chapter 250: Auction of a National Treasure (1)

    <h4>Chapter 250: Auction of a National Treasure (1)</h4>

    Ming Shiyin couldn¡¯t stand it any longer, ¡°Why are you acting in such an effeminate manner?! No wonder Arthis has been calling you a submissive man.¡±

    ¡°Are you really in the mood to look the part?¡± Ming Shiyin couldn¡¯te to terms with the fact that a future King Yanluo would be standing in front of a mirror with a selection of beautifying products, ¡°And even if you¡¯ve got the luxury of time, wouldn¡¯t that time be more well spent contemting how you¡¯re going to seize the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl from the pack of wolves eyeing it hungrily?¡±

    Just as Ming Shiyin was staring at Qin Ye with great incredulity, Qin Ye casually reached out, picked up Ming Shiyin, and began to preen himself in the reflection on Ming Shiyin¡¯s surface¡­ What the hell is this?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t sully this pristine mirror with your dirty, disgusting looks!¡± Ming Shiyin urgently wrested itself free of Qin Ye¡¯s grasp and immediately backed some distance away. Then, momentster, it leaned back in and asked, ¡°Hey, seriously speaking, don¡¯t you wanna kill that bastard Grandmaster Chu?¡±

    Without missing a beat, Qin Ye continued, ¡°Humans are strange beings. But they¡¯re also incredibly fascinating and interesting creatures. Everyone has their own perspectives, and their actions and reactions naturally flow from these perspectives of theirs. We humans don¡¯t go all out all the time. In my case, I wouldn¡¯t even waste my time and effort reaping the soul of Grandmaster Chu. Make sure to note this down. I¡¯ll test you on my preferences in future.¡±

    You¡¯re not even King Yanluo, and yet you¡¯re already delegating work like one?

    Showtime.

    ¡°Mr Qin, this is your number te.¡± Another doorman handed Qin Ye a number te - number 21.

    He scanned his surroundings. It had to be said that Guardian Auctions were experts at running an auction. The auction booths were located some distance away from each other, while each boothprised of more than one seat.

    These were seats for the working group.

    The auction venue was massive, and it contained slightly in excess of forty such booths. Furthermore, there was a red stage erected right at the front of the entire hall.

    Qin Ye located his corresponding booth and took his seat. He didn¡¯t have assistants with him, so he turned around to make small talk with his auction assistant from time to time. Incidentally, he was the only person in the entire venue who didn¡¯t have any assistants with him.

    Time passed quickly. At 6.30 p.m., the music suddenly stopped, and the doors to the auction venue softly clicked shut. The lights darkened to a warm glow, and the entire cruise liner instantly exuded the ambience of a nocturnal city drifting on the sea.

    There was no reaction from the audience, save for some soft whispers of discussions that buzzed within each booth. Bai Yishan didn¡¯t mind this. He was an adept when it came to auctions like these. What else was the audience supposed to do - apud him?

    He turned around, and the lights in the room promptly dimmed. The LED screen began to disy several patterns which slowly converged to form an image of the ancient, scarred bowl.

    Qin Ye squinted his eyes and immediately sized up the image. His ears perked up, and he soon began to pick up the chatter in his surroundings.

    Qin Ye shook his head and nced at Bai Yishan with a look of great astonishment. Several momentster, he finally responded, ¡°They¡¯re looking to auction the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl right off the cuff. The other attendees have also noticed this peculiarity.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. He finally understood everything. Grandmaster Chu was also afraid, because he was keenly aware of the fact that he had offended some powerful and influential parties. But rather than drag things on just to whet their appetites, he would much prefer to open the auctions with the grand finale and serve up the main dish right off the cuff.

    After all, Qin Ye wouldn¡¯t be moved by this ¡°gesture of sincerity¡± of his. Neither would Master Kamo, Mr Iwasaki, or the two Hellguards from Mount Koya.

    ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.¡± Bai Yishan¡¯s voice quivered lightly as he dered the first item of auction with gravitas. He continued hoarsely, ¡°There are only two such heirloom pieces belonging to the Song Dynasty. One fell into the hands of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the great names of the Nipponese Warring States era, while the other one, as pictured above, had at all times been in possession of none other than the eminent Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Oda Nobunaga. It waster lost in the wake of the Honnoji incident.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It might be scarred, but these scars are directly inflicted upon this artifact by the indomitable weight of history. It allows us to relive the great ze at Honnoji which changed the course of history in Nippon. The scars don¡¯t make it hideous. Rather, these historical scars make it a most unique piece, one that is even more distinguishable and invaluable than the one located at the Nipponese Seikado Bunko Art Museum!¡±

    Buzz¡­

    It¡¯s true! They¡¯re opening with the finale! What¡¯s going on with Guardian Auctions?!

    Sounds of ragged breaths broke out throughout the auction venue. A man seated in the first row and dressed in a white thawb sat up straight. Likewise, a graceful and elegant Nipponese woman next to him straightened up as well. In fact, all of the tycoons, even those in the second and third rows of booths, immediately set down their teacups and sat up attentively.

    The answery hidden under the bandages wrapped tightly around Grandmaster Chu¡¯s hands. Grandmaster Chu walked up on stage with the X-magic box, ostensibly wounded. Everyone raised their eyebrows immediately, and they immediately got a hint of what transpired down at the cargo hold.

    ¡°He¡¯s attempting to buy his safety with this.¡± Back in one of the booths located in the first row, Iwasaki Kyouya chuckled contemptuously at him, sipping his tea as he murmured aloud, ¡°But are you sure that the safety you¡¯re after is only worth a few billion RMB?¡±

    Grandmaster Chu didn¡¯t say a word. He simply walked up to the stage and ced the X-magic box down gently onto the table. Then, he cleared his throat, ¡°Distinguished guests, please ept my sincerest apologies. These developments have happened too suddenly, so please understand when we say that we have to keep the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl within the confines of this security measure until the auction is over. Once the gavel falls, the bowl can immediately be verified. After all, the three people required to gain ess to the contents of the box are all present right now.¡±

    We¡¯vee so far, so how can I afford to look back?!

    He turned to Bai Yishan, only to receive an inquisitive gaze in return. Grandmaster Chu drew several deep breaths. Then, he slowly made his way to the side of the auction table, ¡°Now, it is with the greatest honour that I dere--...¡±

    ¡°The first lot is none other than the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. Bidding starts at one billion RMB. Each increment shall be no less than twenty million RMB. All are wee to participate!¡±

 Chapter 251: Auction of a National Treasure (2)

    <h4>Chapter 251: Auction of a National Treasure (2)</h4>

    The entire auction venue instantly went silent.

    The only sounds that could be heard were the furious typing on the keyboards ofputers in the entire hall. It was almost as though everyone were deep in thought. Except Qin Ye.

    He knew that hispetition were seasoned auction-goers, and they probably had many tricks up their sleeves. On the other hand, he didn¡¯t have any tricks up his sleeves. In fact, he didn¡¯t even need to consider the potential liquidity of his assets, since all of his funds were avable from one single ount. Since everyone was so hesitant, he didn¡¯t mind firing the first salvo.

    ¡°1.2 billion.¡± He held up the sign in his hand, and the entire audience turned their attention to him.

    Where did this gentlemane from?

    He doesn¡¯t even have a working group of assistants with him, and yet his very first increment is to the tune of 200 million?! He must be one of Guardian Auctions¡¯ agents, isn¡¯t he?

    Bai Yishan had already picked up the gavel, and he was fervently suppressing the excitement on his face. 1.2 billion¡­ It couldn¡¯t be said to be a small sum of money, but it most certainly wasn¡¯t sufficient to reflect the historical significance of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.

    ¡°Buyer number 21. 1.2 billion going once¡­¡± He paused for three seconds, ¡°1.2 billion going twice¡­¡±

    ¡°1 billion 260 million.¡± ¡°1 billion 280 million!¡± ¡°1.3 billion!¡±

    Three number tes shot into the air before Bai Yishan could even continue. Consequently, the profiles of the three bidders immediately appeared on the screen.

    Nipponese tycoon of antiques, Fujimoto Hirobumi, had bidded 1.26 billion.

    Nipponese tycoon of high-end restaurants, Nishino Mio, had bidded 1.3 billion.

    Cathayan tycoon ofmunications, Cai Da, had bidded 1.28 billion.

    However, this was just a prelude of what was toe.

    The three voices were nothing more than the first salvo of fireworks during the new year. In fact, it didn¡¯t take more than a second for several other names to sh across the giant LED screen.

    ¡°Buyer number 40 - 1.38 billion.¡± ¡°Buyer number 27 - 1.46 billion.¡± ¡°Buyer number 4 - 1.5 billion.¡± ¡°Buyer number 9 - 1.6 billion.¡±

    The number that was well in excess of a billion continued to increase in a sh, and the LED screen constantly refreshed with the buyer numbers of the highest bidder. The bidding price went over 1.8 billion in no time at all!

    This was the power of a national treasure at an auction.

    There were only two such artifacts in the world, and this was the only one that represented the dawn of a new era in Nippon. Its historical value was simply astronomical!

    The Nipponese were indubitably the most invested participants of the auction. As soon as the bid price hit 1.5 billion, it quickly skipped to 1.6 billion, 1.7 billion and then 1.8 billion in an instant. It was almost as though the bidders were calling out their bids without any hesitation at all!

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    The experience of an auction in person waspletely different from how they appeared on television.

    There was a palpable sense of nervous excitement as salvos of bids were fired with the full backing of immeasurable wealth. A great rush of adrenaline filled the entire auction hall. Even Qin Ye, who had been slouching in his seatzily, couldn¡¯t help but sit up subconsciously.

    It was too exciting.

    Numbers that represented wealth beyond an ordinary person¡¯s imaginations continued to flicker through the LED screen. It sent an electrifying sensation coursing through their veins, and it filled the air with a mind-numbing buzz.

    ¡°Calm down¡­¡± Qin Ye took several deep breaths to calm himself down. The current bidding price of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl had already surged past Bai Yishan¡¯s expectations, and it was already closing in on the 2 billion mark in no time. This was a bid price that waspletely unprecedented in the entire history of all auctions. Even Bai Yishan couldn¡¯t keep his cool any longer, and his breaths began to grow ragged. His voice trembled as he began his auction chant, ¡°1.8 billion going once!!!¡±

    The intense excitement made his voice go dry and hoarse, ¡°1.8 billion going twice!!!¡±

    ¡°One billion eight--...¡± ¡°1.84 billion!!¡±

    Another voice called out before Qin Ye could.

    Shit¡­ Qin Ye massaged his temples and looked over. It was another Nipponese man.

    They were bidding as though they would stop at no cost.

    Bunch of mad dogs!

    ¡°2 billion!!!¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and immediately called out, even before Bai Yishan could begin his auction chant.

    Everyone turned to stare at Qin Ye. This time, they sized him up with a look of great vignce - especially the handful of Nipponese tycoons around.

    They had initially thought that Qin Ye was only here to fool around. After all a billion RMB might still be something that a wealthy n could passably fork out for their prodigal son¡¯s whims and fancies, but two billion RMB was a considerablyrger sum of money.

    It represented a change in the first figure of a ten-digit sum.

    ¡°You¡¯re not here to mess around, are you?¡± A lean Nipponese merchant gazed deeply at Qin Ye as he twirled the ostentatious emerald ring on his finger with great uneasiness, ¡°Damn¡­ there¡¯s an unexpectedlyrge number of contenders this time round! The fact that the grand finale was being auctioned at themencement of the auctions isn¡¯t even affecting their bidding one bit!¡±

    2 billion¡­ 2 billion!!

    Bai Yishan was so dumbfounded that he couldn¡¯t even breathe.

    This is 2 billion RMB! Ten figures! It¡¯s an all time high for the auction house! No¡­ In fact, you can even say that the starting bid price for this national treasure is already the highest bid price in the entire history of auctions, much less its closing price!

    ¡°Everyone! We have 2 billion! 2 billion going once!!!¡± With a light smack of the hammer, he immediately began his auction chant, ¡°Who¡¯s going to be the one to leave a mark in the annals of history for the greatest auctions of all time! Who¡¯s going to be the new owner of this national treasure? Who¡¯s going to have as part of their private collection the artifact that represents one of the most crucial turning points in Nipponese history? This is thest chance! The bid is currently at 2 billion!¡±

    ¡°2 billion going twice!¡±

    ¡°2 billion 40 million.¡± A calm voice called out promptly.

    Qin Ye was somewhat taken aback. This was a voice that he hadn¡¯t heard since themencement of the auctions.

    A seasoned hunter would always hold back until it was the right time to strike.

    That¡¯s right. The price had already reached 2 billion, and some of the tycoons who weren¡¯t as interested or were beginning to feel the pinch had already withdrawn from thepetition. After all, they were all businessmen, and such a huge capital ouy would most certainly pose a huge problem to their business empires. Furthermore, the seasoned veterans could tell that the Nipponese were holding nothing back.

    Therefore, the 2 billion bidding line formed an arbitrary line that marked the start of the real arms race.

    Those who were still going at it were either the ultra-wealthy, or those who simply had to get their hands on the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl at any cost. Furthermore, given the magnitude of the stakes involved, the increments from now on were naturally only going to diminish.

    ¡°2.04 billion!!! 2.04 billion!¡± The unprecedented sum drove Bai Yishan insane, and he continued to call out his auction chant with bloodshot eyes, ¡°Buyer number 18! Mr Shoto Takagi, chairman of the Sony Group, has the highest bid thus far! The bid now is in excess of 2 billion! 2.04 billion going once!!¡±

    ¡°Are there other distinguished guests out there who are looking to outbid buyer number 18? Guardian Auctions is the only auction house in the entire world that auctions national treasures! This is your one and only opportunity to win yourself a national treasure!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s forehead was already percting with cold sweat.

    The rate of increment had somewhat exceeded his expectations. Even though it wasn¡¯t growing by increments of 100 million anymore, he still didn¡¯t have more than 900 million behind to work with.

    900 million wasn¡¯t a small sum by any means, and logically speaking, Qin Ye ought to feel at ease with the wealth he had to work with. However, his heart was still fraught with apprehension, so much so that words weren¡¯t sufficient to describe the antsy feeling in his heart right now.

    ¡°2.1 billion.¡± Qin Ye firmly increased the bid by 60 million after some thought.

    ¡°Two and a half billion!¡± Shoto Takagi immediately yelled out before Bai Yishan could even begin his auction chant.

    Several other number tes that were primed to raise were instantly lowered without another word.

    ¡°2.5 billion¡­ It¡¯s now 2.5 billion¡­¡± Bai Yishan¡¯s voice grew hoarse and feeble. He had spoken far less than many of the other auctions he had presided over in the past. Yet, for some strange reason, he felt almost as though his throat and his heart were blocked by an unknown force, and he only managed to eke out a feeble auction chant, ¡°2.5 billion¡­ the highest price ever paid at an auction! Worthy of being a Nipponese national treasure¡­ 2.5 billion going once!!¡±

    Shoto Takagi clenched his fists nervously. 2.5 billion was a huge sum of money that would undoubtedly set his empire of businesses back some ways. In fact, he had even been forced to sell two plots ofnd in order to raise these funds - God only knows who this kid is. You¡¯re running around with 2 billion in your pocket without a single assistant?! Who the hell does that?!

    However, his gaze wasn¡¯t transfixed on Qin Ye right now.

    With a colossal bid of 2.5 billion, he didn¡¯t think Qin Ye had the ability to outbid him anymore. Therefore, his attention right now was on none other than the contemporary head of Mitsubishi Corporation, Iwasaki Kyouya.

    For some strange reason, Mr Iwasaki hadn¡¯t raised his number te a single time tonight.

    Qin Ye could feel his heart wrenching and dripping with blood.

    2.5 billion¡­ This is well beyond Bai Yishan¡¯s predictions! It¡¯splete madness!

    But Qin Ye couldn¡¯t afford to give up now.

    ¡°Two--...¡± Just as Qin Ye was about to speak up, his ears suddenly perked up.

    Ding¡­ It was an incredibly soft sound that rang in his ears. And it happened just once. But then, a series of simr sounds rang out just a secondter - ding, ding, ding, ding¡­

    The series of sounds wereing from the hull of the cruise liner.

    ¡°2.5 billion going twice!¡± Bai Yishan stared at Qin Ye with an impassioned gaze. He knew full well just how much wealth Qin Ye had umted for these auctions - Why isn¡¯t he increasing the bid?

    Is it because he can¡¯t bear to put in any more money?

    But that makes sense too. 2.5 billion is already a monumental sum. He must already be at his limits¡­

    ¡°2.5 billion going--...¡±

    ¡°2.6 billion!¡± Qin Ye jolted back to his senses and immediately raised his number te once more.

    ¡°2.6 billion¡­ The bid is now at 2.6 billion!!!¡± Bai Yishan was running on auto-pilot right now, ¡°2.6 billion going once!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s actions had already generated a small buzz in the audience. Everyone was specting who this young master was. They had all thought that the young man was here for fun, but not a single one of them had expected Qin Ye to be able to follow through with his bids to the end like this. It was obvious that Qin Ye and Mr Shoto Takagi were the only ones in the running for the bowl right now.

    Shoto Takagi¡¯s grip on his armrest tightened. 2.6 billion?! Heavens! Do you print money at home?!

    ¡°Sir!¡± The assistant in Mr Shoto¡¯s booth was also sweating profusely, ¡°No more! You really can¡¯t increase the price anymore! If you do, we¡¯ll have to liquidate all of your remaining vis. We might even have to sell off your beloved limited edition Bentley!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Shoto Takagai¡¯s cheeks trembled with a multitude of emotions. Sweat beaded up and dripped off the tip of his nose. Five long secondster, he gritted his teeth and barked, ¡°Sell it¡­ sell the most upscale vi I own, together with my limited edition Bentley!!!¡±

    He hadn¡¯t been considering the question of whether to increase his bids or not. Rather, he had been contemting on how best to rally the means to increase his bids. He left the bare minimum for himself, and sold practically everything else.

    The ultra-rich like him rarely possessed the means to pull out billions worth of liquid funds. After all, most if not all tycoons were asset-rich but poor in liquidity.

    ¡°But, sir¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!!¡± Shoto Takagi stared at the screen, ¡°This bowl represents the history of Nippon as we know it. I¡¯ve bought it for the centuries of historical value it represents! This is an artifact that belongs to Nippon! I¡¯m going to get it at any cost!¡±

    ¡°2.6 billion going thric--...¡± ¡°2.8 billion!!!¡±

    As he made his final bid, Shoto Tagaki turned to look Qin Ye straight in the eye, ¡°Gentleman over there.¡±

    ¡°This is thest time I¡¯m raising my name te.¡±

    ¡°If you can still outbid me this time, you can consider it my loss.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t immediately respond. He was contemting whether this was a farce put up by Shoto Takagi right now.

    He was almostpletely drained of funds as well. It was a good thing he had raised funds that were twice that of Guardian Auctions¡¯ estimate of the going price of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. He was certain that Shoto Takagi was almost spent in his liquidity as well. So¡­ the question he was assessing right now was the exact quantum of bid he should make topletely shatter Shoto Takagi¡¯s hopes.

    Silence. 2.8 billion went once. 2.8 billion went twice. Then, just as the third call came, Qin Ye gritted his teeth and belched out his final bid, ¡°3 billion!!!¡±

    He then turned to lock eyes with Shoto Takagi, ¡°This is also my final bid.¡±

    ¡°If you exceed it, then¡­ I¡¯ll think of something else.¡±

    Shoto Takagi shut his eyes in bitterness.

    3 billion¡­

    The astounding price set the entire auction venue abuzz with chatter and mour.

    3 billion RMB for a single artifact waspletely unprecedented in all history! This was the most hotly-contested auction ever! This was a national heirloom!

    Bai Yishan was on the verge of insanity. His hands trembled as he held the gavel weakly, ¡°3 billion going once¡­¡±

    His voice echoed hollowly through the entire hall, almost as though it were raining gold around him. Everyone watched with bated breaths.

    ¡°3 billion... going twice.¡±

    ¡°3 billion¡­ going thrice.¡±

    ¡°Sold¡­ SOLD! The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl has just been sold at an astronomical price of 3 billion RMB to buyer number 21! Congrattions! You have just earned yourself a piece of Nippon¡¯s history! And not just any piece, but one of the most significant turning points in the history of Nippon! Furthermore, your name will forever be etched into the annals of history as the winner of one of the most epic auction battles of all time, for the purchase of an artifact at an unprecedented price!!!¡±

 Chapter 252: Kappa

    <h4>Chapter 252: Kappa</h4>

    Silence.

    Despite having liquidated so many of his precious assets, he had still been unable to retrieve the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.

    Want? No, it¡¯s more of a yearning. In fact, it¡¯s something that I dream about every day!

    Each and every single one of them had done everything that was reasonably within their abilities in order to prepare for the auctions today. They had given up investments, and even sold off their personal collections. Most of them hade to the auctions with approximately two billion RMB in their pockets, so who could¡¯ve expected the one toe out on top to be a young man that wasn¡¯t even Nipponese to begin with?!

    Nishino Mio was an olddy who generally presented herself with an elegant poise. That said, her usual graceful disposition was nowhere to be found.

    This was a great artifact that represented modern day Nippon! Here was an artifact that had witnessed one of the greatest turning points of Nipponese history! And yet the one who obtained possession of it wasn¡¯t even Nipponese! What shame! How incredibly regrettable!

    Despite knowing how things would likely pan out this evening, even Iwasaki Kyouya couldn¡¯t help but chuckle bitterly to himself as he stared nkly at the ceiling.

    One by one, the top Nipponese tycoons stood up and left the auction hall, unable to hide the despondence in their heart. Within moments, the number of attendees fell by approximately one quarter of their original numbers. When those who were leaving had left, and those who were still reeling from shock finally settled down slightly, the audience began to apud gently.

    A sessful bid in the astronomical quantum of three billion was still something worth apuding!

    Qin Ye stood up and slowly made his way towards Grandmaster Chu. Master Kamo and Iwasaki Kyouya also stood up at the same time.

    Qin Ye felt an unspeakable fatigue creep over his heart. He had truly traveled far and wide in order to achieve all he had today - from the City of Salvation, to Eastsea City, and then finally to the East Cathay Sea. It was a journey of a thousand miles to the east. Furthermore, this journey of his was interspersed with skirmishes with various forces as well as his nimble avoidance of potential pitfalls and altercations with Oda Nobunaga, the Onmyojis, as well as Azai Nagamasa. And finally¡­ he managed to obtain the artifact that he had been gunning for all this while.

    ¡°Alright. And please allow me to express my deepest apologies once again.¡± Grandmaster Chu bowed deeply, ¡°Gentlemen, please follow me.¡±

    ¡°Haaa--...¡± Nishino Mio was wearing a kimono, and her assistants had just helped her up from the third floor to the top deck of the cruise liner.

    A robe befitting of reiming the history of Nippon.

    She slowly made her way over to a couch and slumped back into it, staring out into the vast oceans without saying a single word. Her mood felt as downcast as the dark night skies, and her expressions were as distant as the horizons about her.

    ¡°Miss, please be at ease. Yourpetitor this time had simply been too well-prepared.¡± Her attendant-bodyguard who served her the cup of tea spoke with a cautious, measured tone of voice, ¡°After all, not even Sony¡¯s chairman was able to measure up against the eventual winner of the bid. This isn¡¯t your fault.¡±

    She stared out into the dark waters around as she continued to murmur aloud, ¡°The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl is an artifact filled with historical significance. I¡¯ve always respected Oda Nobunaga. He was the best of both worlds, an amalgam of a politician and a military leader that was rarely seen in the East. How great was his ambition to unify Nippon? But who would¡¯ve thought that a raging inferno at Honnoji would turn his dreams to ashes?¡±

    She choked up slightly, ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel ipetent. I¡¯ve let Nippon down by allowing it to end up in the hands of a foreigner. But¡­ this isn¡¯t the end. One day, I¡¯ll muster enough funds to purchase it from that gentleman.¡±

    After all, they could all tell that their mistress needed some time to herself to manage her thoughts. Nishino Mio didn¡¯t say anything more either. She simply watched the sky and the sea, breathing softly as her mood gradually eased up.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, mydy?¡± One of her bodyguards asked immediately.

    She put them on and nced about carefully. Three secondster, she abruptly shot to her feet and stared into the distance.

    Her bodyguards froze in ce and turned to look in the same direction.

    There were dozens and dozens of turtle shells drifting in the ocean, all around the cruise liner!

    It was far too bizarre. The vastness of the ocean was already a source of fear to some, and yet the peculiar sight of the encirclement of turtle shells simply made one¡¯s hair stand on end!

    Nobody spoke. They simply perked up their ears and listened intently to their surroundings. Within moments, their ears picked up on soft clicking sounds cutting through the deafening silence.

    ¡°That¡¯sing from the ship¡¯s anchor.¡± One of the bodyguards finally responded with a gasp, ¡°Something¡­ is tugging on the anchor¡­¡±

    And that¡¯s not all. The anchor was made out of steel, so what creature could possibly tug on the anchor with such great strength to tighten it so much that it made such creaking sounds?¡±

    The sudden realization of what might await them in the darkness caused an electrifying sensation to surge straight through their minds. Their breaths grew ragged, while Nishino Mio immediately whispered, ¡°Where¡¯s the anchor? Take me there immediately!¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Nishino immediately interjected, ¡°It will onlyplicate things if we sound the rm rashly. Let¡¯s go take a look at the situation first. Do you have your guns with you?¡±

    There¡¯s really something tugging at it!

    ¡°Miss¡­¡± One of the bodyguards blurted out suddenly. His hands trembled as he pointed feebly into the distance, ¡°P-p-please look there¡­¡±

    There was a small mound that appeared to rise out of the waters in the horizon.

    There wasn¡¯t an ind there just a moment ago!

    Something¡¯s going on¡­ Something big is going on!

    No response.

    Nishino Mio¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly as she nodded meaningfully at her bodyguards. One of them immediately gnashed his teeth and rushed forward, grabbing the back of the seat and spinning it around at once.

    The captain was still dressed in his captain¡¯s outfit.

    More urately speaking, his entire face from his forehead to his jaw had been gouged out, leaving nothing more than a grotesque, gaping hole where his face should have been.

    Nobody knew when it happened, or who the culprit was.

    Everyone immediately whipped around with their guns raised in front of them. And then, they saw something that they would never forget.

    The monster¡¯s entire body was wrapped in wisps of dark energy. Its body appeared like a turtle¡¯s and yet it had long, slender limbs extending out of the shell. The top of its head waspletely bald and shiny, surrounded only by a ring of hair that grew all around the head just above its eyes. Its body was dripping wet, while sharp jagged teeth extended menacingly out of its gaping wide mouth. Its three golden eyes stared transfixed at them, while it licked its lips greedily with its scarlet tongue.

    Nishino Mio and her bodyguards were all Nipponese, and they naturally recognized that this monster was none other than the legendary Kappa.

    Those turtle shells¡­

    She suddenly understood everything - what the mysterious entities pulling the cruise liner was, and what those turtle shells around the cruise liner were.

    Where the hell did theye from?!

    Did they kill the captain? Why? Is it because the captain anchored the ship where he shouldn¡¯t have? Where are they taking us?

    Sssss!!! SSSS!!! A series of simr goosebumps-inducing shrieks echoed through various other parts of the cruise like an opening symphony of death on a lonesome stage in the middle of the vast seas.

 Chapter 253: Book of Life and Death

    <h4>Chapter 253: Book of Life and Death</h4>

    Darkness.

    A sea of death.

    Screams of terror reverberated through the captain¡¯s cabin. A monstrosity stood in front of them, while a faceless corpse of what used to be their captain sat behind them, as though he were observing their every action and every move. Their minds were set abuzz with terror, while their backs were soaked through with cold sweat.

    Sssss! SSSS!! The Kappa stood at approximately 1.5 meters tall, and it licked its lips greedily, almost as though the human beings standing right in front of him were no different from a delectable meal. The bodyguards immediately stood in front of Nishino Mio like a stone wall. They tightened their grip around their guns with trembling as they whispered with great urgency, ¡°Miss, we¡¯ll hold it back. Please run while you still can...¡±

    ¡°Why should I run?¡± Nishino Mio¡¯s face was ashen, but she stood tall and courageous, ¡°Hold it back. I¡¯m fine. It wouldn¡¯t dare do anything to me. Why do you think I do so much charity work on a regr basis? Do you think it¡¯s because I¡¯ve got too much money to spare?¡±

    She turned around and grabbed the intemunications device on the captain¡¯s table, ¡°Hello, this is Nishino Mio. Please respond immediately. Alternatively, please transfer me to the auction house¡¯s line right away. Hello? Hello?!¡±

    No response.

    ¡°Can¡¯t--... Can¡¯t get through?¡± One of the bodyguards queried.

    His cowardly response was understandable in the circumstances. After all, the boundless seas around them had already caused him to feel a stifling sensation of being alone and helpless. To make matters worse, a mythical creature of the depths had just appeared, and it was baring its fangs right at them! The fact that they were able to stand their ground like a wall of flesh in front of Nishino Mio was already somethingmendable.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t get through¡­¡± Nishino Mio gritted her teeth, ¡°Rather, I can only imagine that the ship¡¯smunications hub is experiencing the exact same situation we are.¡±

    Their hearts sank.

    What were these creatures trying to do? Legend has it that a Kappa was the incarnation of a grievous soul that had perished by way of drowning in a shallow water body. Its natural instincts led it to gore and eat the innards of little children. These were legends that had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, yet who could¡¯ve expected them to have surfaced so suddenly, and even control the ship?

    Shk¡­ Just then, the Kappa that had been leaning on the door of the captain¡¯s cabin all this while suddenly shifted. Its scarlet tongue flicked about menacingly, licking its scaly skin as it slowly crawled towards them.

    ¡°Back off! Stay alert!¡± The leader of the bodyguards instructed, and everyone retreated slightly. But how much space did they have in the captain¡¯s cabin? After moving back only one foot in distance, they promptly found their backs leaning against the console.

    Meanwhile, the Kappa left a trail of water marks on the ground wherever it passed. The silence was deafening, broken only by the soft sound of a gurgle.

    It was the sound of the Kappa swallowing its saliva.

    Then, just like a turtle, it slowly but surely began to crawl over to them. Three meters¡­ two meters¡­ The leader of the bodyguards drew a deep breath and whispered to the rest, "Its movements are slow. This is probably because it¡¯s onnd right now. Prepare yourselves. As soon as ites within one meter of us, immediately--...¡±

    SSS!!! But his words were quickly cut off by a shrill shriek from the Kappa. A red shadow flickered through the air, and then the leader of the bodyguards suddenly stopped moving.

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡± ¡°My god!¡± ¡°This is¡­ t-this¡­ this¡­¡±

    Everyone stared at the leader with horror. Even Nishino Mio couldn¡¯t help but scream at the top of her voice as she took several steps back instinctively.

    The leader of the bodyguards blinked vacantly, and he slowly lowered his head like a stiff robot as he stared at his own stomach with disbelief.

    The Kappa¡¯s tongue had plunged straight through his stomach in an instant.

    Gurgle¡­ A revulsive sound came from the leader¡¯s sternum, and his body convulsed violently. His eyes rolled back, and his tongue hung out limply and loosely from his mouth. That said, the most frightening thing was the fact that his entire stomach was deting incredibly quickly, almost as though there was an industrial pump sucking out his internal organs with a powerful suction force.

    ¡°Uhh-uuhh¡­¡± The leader made a peculiar whimper of despondence as a series of distinct bulges ran through the Kappa¡¯s tongue. It was obvious what they were - his lungs, his liver, his heart¡­

    ¡°Monster¡­ MONSTER!!!¡± Another one of the bodyguards waspletely dumbfounded. Overwhelmed with fear, he instinctively cocked his pistol and pulled the trigger like a madman, ¡°MONSTER!!! GO TO HELL!!!¡±

    Bang, bang, bang! Bullets pelted down on the Kappa, only to ricochet off its body with a soft clinking sound. Outside the captain¡¯s cabin, the gunshots sounded no different from small beads of pearls falling and striking the base of a jade te. A dark figure shifted in the room ten secondster, followed quickly byrge stters of blood everywhere amidst a chorus of miserable cries. In that instant, the captain¡¯s cabin was no different from hell on earth!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Meanwhile, the staff in the auction hall also detected that their intemunications devices weren¡¯t working.

    ¡°Dear guests, please don¡¯t be rmed. This is probably a system malfunction.¡± Bai Yishan immediately reacted with great professionalism to control the situation. After cating the crowd, he turned to his assistant, ¡°Ma Zhongqin, I want you to go to thems room immediately and see what¡¯s going on. Ourmunications devices began to malfunction ten minutes ago, and now it¡¯spletely broken down. We cannot afford to let this happen in front of so many esteemed guests! This is a disgrace to Guardian Auctions!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ma Zhongqin was a cultivator in his early twenties who hadn¡¯t even reached the level of an Operative just yet. He was overjoyed to have been given the privilege to participate in such a prestigious major auction. Naturally, he responded with a pep to his step and made his way out promptly.

    ¡°Mr Qin?¡± Master Kamo, Iwasaki Kyouya and Grandmaster Chu were all present backstage, and they could barely make out everything that was happening back on stage. That said, none of the members of the audience were able to see them. Thus, none of the audience members were aware that Qin Ye had already be a little bit distracted since a moment ago.

    Mr Iwasaki¡¯s call jolted Qin Ye back to his senses. Qin Ye frowned, ¡°Are we supposed to be anchored in ce?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯re approximately a hundred nautical miles away from the end of the East Cathay Sea. Is something wrong?¡± Grandmaster Chu was slightly puzzled at Qin Ye¡¯s query.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t even looking at the X-magic box right now. Instead, he tapped his finger lightly on the handrail and whispered back, ¡°Do you guys feel the ship¡­ moving?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why would we? The ship has been anchored for well over a day!¡± The other two replied at the same time.

    Qin Ye turned to gaze at Ma Zhongqin¡¯s silhouette. For some strange reason, he was ovee with a bad premonition of what was toe.

    It was almost as though¡­ he were approaching something terrifying. Something no different from a nautical hell.

    Just then, his eyes suddenly flickered, and he abruptly shot to his feet. With his eyes still trained on Ma Zhongqin¡¯s silhouette, he suddenly blurted to the rest, ¡°I¡¯m making a trip to the restroom.¡±

    Then, without waiting for another response, he promptly took his leave. The three men exchanged awkward nces with each other and shrugged their shoulders ignorantly.

    Qin Ye made a beeline straight towards the restroom.There was only a skylight here. He quickly shed his outer coat and spoke to Ming Shiyin, ¡°Did you see that?¡±

    ¡°Wha--?¡± Ming Shiyin appeared to have been asleep.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Just a moment ago¡­ I saw a strange line of blood-red characters appear on¡­ Ma Zhongqin¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°It read - time of death: 10 minutes, 21 seconds.¡±

    Whoosh! Ming Shiyin immediately flew out and eximed with a quiver in its voice, ¡°No way¡­ That¡¯s impossible!¡±

    Qin Ye immediately pulled it back down and made a shushing gesture at Ming Shiyin, ¡°What the hell is that supposed to be?!¡±

    Ming Shiyin hovered about everywhere in the tiny space of a toilet cubicle in an ostensibly flustered fashion. Secondster, a ck figure suddenly shot out of the surface of the mirror and rushed straight towards Ma Zhongqin. In the meantime, Ming Shiyin finally spoke up with great trembling.

    ¡°Kid¡­ listen up.¡± Ming Shiyin gulped nervously, ¡°If you really saw what you saw, then it means¡­ haa--... that we¡­ are currently approaching the location of the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    ¡°The Book of Life and Death!!!¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but exim aloud. Someone from the next cubicle thumped against the cubicle wall, ostensibly displeased with the racket Qin Ye was making, and Qin Ye and the mirror immediately calmed down. Nevertheless, their hearts continued to thump wildly.

    This was one of the three primordial treasures of Hell, the Book of Life and Death!

    It defines the Yin and the Yang, and it governs over the longevity of Yang entities in the mortal realm. One could say that Hell wouldn¡¯t beplete without its presence!

    ¡°Are you sure?! How is that possible?!¡± Qin Ye made a grave expression, ¡°But we¡¯re about to leave the Cathayan territorial waters in no time. How could the Book of Life and Death possibly be here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m certain! And it¡¯s possible!¡± Ming Shiyin¡¯s voice had already turned drifty by now, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that the great copse of Hell was apanied by a cataclysmic tremor! It¡¯s perfectly normal for the Book of Life and Death to have been propelled all the way across the East Cathay Sea! Furthermore¡­¡±

    It paused abruptly, and then a string of scarlet letters appeared on the surface of the mirror, ¡°The Book of Life and Death already has a master¡­¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?!¡± This was the second time that Qin Ye was asking the same question, ¡°Only emissaries are qualified to be the master of the Book of Life and Death! Where would we find emi--...¡±

    His words trailed off, and he froze with a sudden realization.

    That¡¯s right¡­ there really are emissaries around these parts.

    The Strait of Tsushima was just a short distance away, and that¡¯s where a great number of Nipponese emissariesy waiting for us.

    ¡°So, can we assume that the Nipponese underworld has already secured the Book of Life and Death?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice trembled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ but that could very well be the worst case scenario. That said, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it even if they have it. It¡¯s a Cathayan primordial treasure! All who are on the brink of death would have their exact times of death revealed in scarlet letters as soon as they enter the domain of the Book of Life and Death. That¡¯s right, you should¡¯ve seen the popr modernic, Death Note, right? This¡­ is essentially¡­ a book that is a thousand times more terrifying than the Death Note, and there¡¯s no limit on the number of times it can be used!¡±

    Ming Shiyin drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°I understand everything now¡­ If what you¡¯ve seen is really true, then the Nipponese emissaries must truly have obtained the Book of Life and Death. Do you still recall the supernatural incidents ofte in the East Cathay Sea that have resulted in the appearance of a number of ghost ships? It reeks of the Nipponese emissaries testing out the functions of the Book of Life and Death!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that extraterritorial emissaries can¡¯t use the Book of Life and Death?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes were bloodshot.

    ¡°What I meant was that they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it against us Cathayan emissaries! I¡¯m sorry for not being clear earlier, alright?!¡± Ming Shiyin barked back in exasperation, ¡°If it¡¯s true¡­ then it might be toote to even summon Arthis for help right now! I¡¯ve just sent out a tracking wisp of energy to Ma Zhongqin. His image should be appearing in the mirror in no time. Well¡­ there we go! Take a good look at the time of his death! If our spections are right¡­ I damn sure wish we aren¡¯t right this time though!¡±

    Ma Zhongqin wasn¡¯t aware that he was already being watched from a mirror right now.

    He had been walking for several minutes by now. The cruise ship wasrge, and it would take a normal person approximately ten minutes to walk from the auction hall to themunications room. However, given his tall build and long legs, he arrived in eight and a half minutes.

    ¡°Master Liu.¡± He knocked on the door. Having received no response, he pushed open the door, only to see Master Liu, a man in his fifties, leaning back on his chair, ostensibly tilting his head back on his seat and resting his eyes.

    ¡°Master Liu, could I trouble you to check on themunications equipment? The entire intemunicationswork seems to be down. Are we on the wrong frequency? Have the circuits been shorted by the seawater?¡± An intemunications malfunction wasn¡¯t a big deal, and this could be considered no more than a little errand. He was also on good terms with Master Liu, so he naturally approached Master Liu¡¯s side desk with the intention of pouring himself a ss of water for a drink.

    However, just as he passed by Master Liu, he abruptly froze, almost as though a bolt of lightning had struck him out of the blue.

    Dead.

    Master Liu¡­ is dead!

    His eyes were gone, leaving two horrific holes where they had originally been. His facial features were scrunched together in a grotesque fashion, and his mouth had been ripped wide open. A stream of blood was still pouring from it. The horrific sight appeared as though¡­ an evil spirit had entered his body through his mouth and was devouring his internal organs from within!

    ¡°Haa--... hurrrgghh!!!¡± The shocking discovery caused him to stumble back and fall to the ground with a dull thud. Then, he immediately turned around and scrambled for the door before he could even mber back to his feet, ¡°Somebody¡­ help!!! Please! Somebody¡¯s dead!!!¡±

    But the door mmed shut right in front of his very eyes.

    Bzzt!!! The lights flickered wildly, and then fizzled out in an instant.

 Chapter 254: Azai Nagamasaâ€™s Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 254: Azai Nagamasa''s Invitation</h4>

    A sudden darkness enveloped the entire room. The sudden change in luminosity in the room caused everything to momentarily go ck before his eyes. He raised his hands instinctively and tightened his fists in a defensive posture, ready to fight at the moment¡¯s notice. With bated breath, he darted his eyes around, desperately trying to get limatized to the room¡¯s darkness to regain his vision again. Despite his tall build, he had now shrunk himself back to a corner like a little child, cowering and shivering as he tried to keep as silent as possible.

    It¡¯s unclean¡­

    This ship is unclean!

    Master Liu¡¯s death is far too strange! This is definitely the workings of an evil spirit on the cruise!

    But, just then, his pupils suddenly shrank.

    Squeeeaaaakk¡­ A soft sound cut through the silent darkness. Instantly, his entire body started shivering uncontrobly, almost as though he had just been struck by lightning.

    He hated how his mind was now in overdrive, picking up the slightest sounds in the surrounding and immediately identifying them on its own.

    After all, if not for that, he wouldn¡¯t have realized that the earlier sound hade from¡­ Master Liu¡¯s old swivel chair.

    Master Liu was already dead, and yet something had turned him around in the darkness.

    T-t-t-t-t-t¡­ His teeth began to chatter incessantly, and they wouldn¡¯t stop no matter what he did. There were no doubts as to the source of the earlier sound. His expression of fear quickly turned into abject despondence. He stuffed his fist into his mouth and bit down hard on his hand just to repress what modicum of the insurmountable fear he could. Nevertheless, he was unable to prevent tears from beading up and rolling off his cheeks like little streams.

    Someone¡­ help me please¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­

    ¡°Can he be saved?¡± Qin Ye watched the scene unfold in the mirror and asked, ¡°There¡¯s nothing but a dead old man in front of us.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately not. The Yin spirit has capitalized on the sudden change to the atmosphere and temperature, as well as his adept employment of illusion to quell the three fires of life hovering over the man¡¯s shoulder. It would be toote even if we head over now. His mes are already on the verge of going out.¡± Ming Shiyin sighed.

    Back in themunications room, Ma Zhongqin began to hear the sound of soft taps on the ground.

    His mind that was on overdrive immediately reminded him of the fact that earlier that morning, when he first visited Master Liu to help with the debugging of the intemunications equipment, Master Liu had been wearing a pair of flip-flops.

    He¡¯s up¡­

    The deceased Master Liu has just got out of his seat!

    Every pore in his body opened up, and cold sweat immediately poured out of it like waters from an open dam. However, this was only the appetizer to his full course of terror and despair.

    ¡°Little Ma¡­¡± A hoarse voice that sounded no different from the whistle of a ghastly spirit called him out of the darkness. Simultaneously, two hands that were enveloped with a thick corpse stench reached out of the darkness and gently caressed his face.

    ¡°Did youe to see me? How nice of you¡­¡±

    Ma Zhongqin could sense that there was blood all over the two hands.

    Dong!! Just then, the front door suddenly swung open, and the light from outside immediately illuminated the room. Ady dressed in her kimono stood at the door, panting and gasping for breath.

    Someone¡¯s here¡­

    That¡¯s great¡­ I¡¯m saved¡­ I¡¯m not... going to die here¡­

    ¡°Uuuungghh!! Wuuu¡­ wuu¡­¡±

    Nishino Mio¡¯s hair was already in disarray, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the young Cathayan man who was struggling on the ground right in front of her like a cowering shrimp. However, her eyes were filled with pity.

    Ma Zhongqin¡¯s eyes were zed over, and he had practically stuffed his entire fist into his mouth right now. In fact, he had bitten down so hard on his hand that it was already bleeding profusely.

    10 minutes, 21 seconds. Ma Zhongqin, death by asphyxiation.

    Right behind him, Master Liu was still lying there in the same weird position,pletely motionless.

    ¡°Rest in peace.¡± She shook her head and stepped over Ma Zhongqin¡¯s body, motioning to take a closer look at themunications console.

    The Nishino Group ran a chain of luxury hotels, while Nishino Mio was handpicked as the sessor of the business among a series ofpetitors. Naturally, she wasn¡¯t just a simple, ignorant olddy who didn¡¯t know a thing about operations at all. In fact, she was a woman of substance who had worked her way up from the ground, beginning with things as menial as room service.

    And the ambit of her knowledge naturally included the know-how to repair basic circuitry.

    The wires have been unplugged.

    She immediately understood the root of the problem with a single look. She connected the wires once more, and a series of green lights immediately lit up on the console in front of her. Then, she took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, ¡°Everyone, I¡¯m Nishino Mio. Please stay calm and listen to what I¡¯ve got to say.

    Back in the auction hall, Bai Yishan waspletely stunned by the developments.

    Lady Nishino Mio? What¡¯s she doing in themunications room? And¡­ why is she making a public announcement?

    ¡°What?¡± A man dressed in a white thawb frowned and tapped on the intemunications headset he had on as he shrugged helplessly. Another middle-aged Cathayan man took a sip from his teacup and sighed, ¡°Is she sore about her inability to seed in the auction of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, and now trying to make a scene?¡±

    The entire scene was set abuzz with chatter.

    Back in the washroom, Qin Ye was simply staring at his cellphone,pletely dumbfounded.

    10 minutes, 21 seconds - not a single second off!

    ¡°My¡­ god¡­¡± Two striking words appeared on the surface of the mirror, and it sank slightly in a disy of despondence.

    Just then, Nishino Mio spoke through the public announcement broadcast system. Qin Ye drew several deep breaths to regte his racing heart as he listened closely to what she had to say.

    Back in themunications room. Nishino Mio was just about to continue speaking when¡­ she suddenly heard a strange sound

    Click¡­

    It was the door to the room she had earlier flung wide open. For some unknown reason, it had just clicked shut softly.

    The lights in the room were still brightly lit, and yet the illumination now bore a scarlet hue to it! To make matters worse, she could see that arge shadow had suddenly been cast right over the surface of the console she was facing.

    It was the shadow of a set of ancient Nipponese great armor.

    Furthermore, it was clear from the shadow that the great armor was holding onto a katana with raised hands.

    ¡°I dare you to touch a single hair on my body!!!¡± Nishino Mio gritted her teeth and bellowed with all her might, ¡°I¡¯ve got so much Blessings of Virtue covering me that I won¡¯t even have to enter the underworld after death! The Blessings of Virtue has been hard earned through my donations of billions to schools and nursing homes!! So how dare you vicious spirits make an attempt against me?!¡±

    Whoosh! Just then, she felt a chilling sensation on her neck, and she shut her eyes reflexively. Then, when she opened her eyes again a momentter, she couldn¡¯t help but slump weakly to the ground.

    She was still alive.

    Her surroundings were still unchanged, but the dark shadow behind her was gone with the wind.

    ¡°Everyone, please hear what I have to say!¡± She drew a deep breath and consolidated her thoughts, ¡°Hundreds of Kappas have appeared around the cruise liner we¡¯re on! My men, the captain and the man in charge of themunications room are all dead! Furthermore, the Kappas appear to be dragging our cruise liner to an unknown ce!¡±

    ¡°Now¡¯s most certainly not the time to be proceeding with the auctions! Everyone, we have to rally together, or we will all have to suffer the consequences of our failure to do so!¡±

    Back in the auction hall.

    Nishino Mio¡¯s broadcast had continued throughout her short conversation with the great armor behind her. As she spoke, the trantors assisting the tycoons exined the contents of her announcement in real-time. And the more they tranted, the more everyone was stricken with fear. Within seconds, most of them had slumped to their seats or to the ground, covered in cold sweat, while their own employees shot to their feet subconsciously in horror.

    Dead silence.

    It was a deafening, oppressive silence.

    The entire hall was filled with nothing more than the sounds of ragged breaths and gasps of shock. Bai Yishan was at aplete loss, and he stared at the scene that was quickly spiraling out of control, ¡°How could¡­ this¡­ be possible¡­¡±

    ¡°Andrew!!!¡± A white man with blond hair and blue eyes bellowed with gusto at the old man behind him, and the old man¡¯s suit immediately tore open, revealing a priest¡¯s uniform within.

    Boom! Just as the priest revealed his true form, another wave of true energy fluctuation no less formidable than the priest¡¯s erupted from another side of the hall. And then, it was quickly followed by a second¡­ and a third¡­ Within moments, more than thirty cultivators had revealed their true forms within the auction hall. And they were all Soul Hunters to boot!

    ¡°Quick!¡± The man dressed in a white thawb instructed the thin old man beside him, ¡°Go see what¡¯s going on out there!¡±

    They didn¡¯t have to say more, nor did the cultivators have to conceal the nature of their identities. After all, given their socio-economic statuses, how could they be unaware of the situation surrounding the outbreak of supernatural incidents within Cathay? In an instant, the main door to the auction hall opened on its own, and over thirty Soul Hunters dashed out like lightning.

    There was no hesitation. There was no time to lose! Under the protection of their entourage of bodyguards, each tycoon began to make a beeline towards the top deck of the cruise, in an attempt to get to the highest vantage point of the ship.

    Qin Ye was also stunned.

    So, it wasn¡¯t an illusion earlier? No wonder it felt like the ship was moving earlier¡­

    Ming Shiyin was taken aback, and it murmured with great urgency, ¡°The ship¡­ is moving? Where are they taking us?¡±

    ¡°Where else?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expression had grown ashen. He clenched his fists tightly, ¡°There¡¯s only one possible location that we could be headed to right now¡­ the Strait of Tsushima! That¡¯s where Azai Nagamasa is located!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re making their move!¡±

    Qin Ye was suddenly reminded of the soft clinking sounds that he had heard earlier. He dashed straight out of the restroom, returned to the backstage where he hade from and grabbed hold of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. Then, he turned to Master Kamo and Iwasaki Kyouya and addressed them with a low, booming voice, ¡°Your death god has made her move.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where we are right now, but I¡¯m quite certain we¡¯re not far away from the Strait of Tsushima! To think that they would even think to use Kappas to drag the ship along. What a clever tactic¡­ Mr Kamo, I¡¯ll need to free the soul of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven immediately! You¡¯re going to have to protect me no matter what happens. Mr Iwasaki, stay close to us if you don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    Iwasaki Kyouya gulped nervously, and then nodded with great determination.

    The Mitsubishi Corporation will remember this great favour you have done for us today.

    It shall be repaid in future.

    That is¡­ if there is a future for us to talk about.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Qin Ye grabbed Mr Iwasaki with one hand and Master Kamo with the other as they dashed out of the backstage and quickly arrived at the auction hall. Then, Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and yelled with a thunderous voice, ¡°Great monks! Protect me now, or we¡¯ll all end up perishing on this ship! Do you think Izanami would spare the monks of Mount Koya?!¡±

    With that, he immediately dashed out without waiting for a response.

    That said, two powerful sources of true energy instantly erupted and followed closely at his heels without another word.

    This was a situation of great urgency. Even a fool would be able to tell that they were on the cusp of a great crisis that could spell the end of their lives. Izanami and her ranks of troops were all waiting for their arrival at the Strait of Tsushima. And right now, they were approaching the sea of death at top speed!

    The Kappa Corps must have realized that the entire cruise was now alert to their presence, because when Qin Ye and the rest finally made their way on board the top deck of the cruise, he could tell that the Kappas were no longer concealing their presence. In fact, the hundreds of Kappas were travelling with such an efficient formation that they were generating waves more than ten meters high as they charged full speed in a single direction.

    In fact, they could vaguely make outndfall on the end of the horizon. And right beforendfall was an entire line of ghastlyhermes that hovered menacingly like a great wall of death.

    This was no different from a living hell.

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t just any mere clumps ofhermes that were hovering about in the air.

    Rather, there were countless Atakebune ships anchored in formation right in front of thendfall, each of which had massiventerns that were brightly lit with a zingherme. The entire formation appeared no different from a funnel of death that were weing them straight into the open arms of hell.

    Whooooooo¡­ There was no masking the roiling tide of Yin energy. In fact, the first thing that struck Qin Ye was the sheer magnitude of the tide of Yin energy they were sailing straight towards. The entire sea was covered by a visible fog of Yin energy that was no different from what one would expect of an underworld itself.

    Qin Ye ran quickly to the front of the ship and peered out into the distance. He could vaguely make out the shape of a great vessel from time to time, empty and deste, and yet sailing about as though it were patrolling the waters within the fog. Hundreds of Kappas continued to generate massive waves as they propelled the cruise liner straight towards the heart of the Yin energy fog. And then, the Atakebune warships finally moved.

    They were charging straight towards the cruise ship with full speed!

    It was no different from a riverntern festival, where sources of greenhermes drifted eerily along the waters.

    Just then, right in the heart of the roiling ck fog, a massive g was suddenly raised like a banner of war.

    It depicted the emblem of three flowers joined together in a tortoiseshell formation!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye cursed under his breath. His heart was practically wrenching with blood.

    Azai Nagamasa!

    Here was a man who was least likely to forgive Oda Nobunaga for his transgressions. In fact, he hated Oda Nobunaga so much that the hatred alone was sufficient to turn him into a ferocious evil ghost with long-standing grievances. There was no doubt that the Strait of Tsushima was going to be stained with the blood of darkness and vengeance!

    1. Atakebune ships are ancient Japanese warships of the 16th and 17th centuries which were reinforced with iron tes against cannon and fire arrows. The sight of these ships would strike fear into their enemies back then, a little bit like the aircraft carriers of modern day naval fleets.

    2. These are popr festivals that are held in Japan to remember the dead and departed. Simr versions are also celebrated in other parts of asia, including in China and India.

    3. This is the Azai n¡¯s emblem.

 Chapter 255: Self-Extrication

    <h4>Chapter 255: Self-Extrication</h4>

    It was a moonless night.

    The time now was 10.00 p.m.

    The Strait of Tsushima was enshrouded with an endless fog of Yin energy. From the vantage point that Qin Ye was at, it appeared as though a menacing rift that swallowed up everything around had opened up between the seas and the skies.

    In fact, the Yin energy was so dense that it had even begun to materialize. This was the result of the gathering of Anitya Hellguards, Soul Hunters, as well as thousands of Yin soldiers in preparation for the battle of Tsushima. The concentration of Yin energy in this area was sufficient to tip the bnce in the mortal realm in favour of Yin.

    ¡°What the hell is this?!¡± One of the tycoons looked out to sea with a grim expression on his face. He was staring right at the massive banner of war that was somewhat obscured by the towering fog of Yin energy.

    ¡°This is the manifestation of evil.¡± The priest¡¯s robes were fluttering endlessly as he gazed coldly at the embankment at the end of the horizon, ¡°And¡­ I¡¯m afraid that these are powerful evil beings to boot. Sir, I¡¯d like you to return to your room as soon as possible and stay there. This isn¡¯t a battlefield you can even afford to take a single step into.¡±

    ¡°Those things are murderous, bloodthirsty and ferocious evil ghosts.¡±

    Zzzzzzt! A valiant warrior¡¯s shirt split open, revealing golden glowing runes all over his muscr body. Another old Cathayan man with a long beard stepped forward in his long robe, apanied by dozens of gleaming mahogany swords hovering by his side. There was yet another man dressed in a thawb, holding the Koran in front of him as the pages rustled softly on its own.

    One after another, the specialized bodyguards reassured their apprehensive paymasters as they stepped forward to the bow of the ship - regardless of nationality.

    The Yin and the Yang were two realms that were diametrically opposed to each other. If the world of Yin were intent on interfering with the affairs of the Yang, they, as Yang cultivators, could never afford to take a single step back.

    And this was notwithstanding the fact that they might very well perish in this engagement of theirs.

    ¡°The gathering of forces ahead is so strong that it¡¯s giving me the shivers¡­¡± An old woman gently brushed the white hair at her temples, ¡°This is no ordinary Anitya Hellguard¡­ I can sense the deeply entrenched grievance emanating from the heart of the dark fog. I can even detect the great murderous intent despite the distance between us right now.¡±

    tter, tter¡­ The path ahead was lined with eerienterns that clearly belonged to the underworld. This was no different from a water channel leading straight to the sea of the dead. The cultivators watched on silently with their eyes transfixed on the emblem on the banner of war flying high in the distance - it was one formed by three flowers joined together in a tortoiseshell formation.

    Azai Nagamasa!

    The embankment of a nameless ind was drawing closer to them by the second. Right in the heart of the rolling fog of Yin Energy, a man dressed in a snow-white great armor stood on the bow of an irond warship. He was very young. He couldn¡¯t be considered handsome, but he was undoubtedly tough and ferocious. Two red tassels hung down the sides of the great armor¡¯s helmet. He looked up, and then spread his hands to the side and lifted them with majestic poise. He obviously could no longer control the excitement in his heart, ¡°Here ites¡­ finally¡­¡±

    ¡°Oichi¡­ do you see that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the man who drove your husband tomitting seppuku, and then went on to murder all of your children in cold blood¡­ He¡¯s finally being dragged over to this killing zone by me¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve sworn to get my revenge one day, no matter how long it takes. And after four long centuries¡­ the time for revenge has finallye!!!¡±

    He lowered his hand slowly. There were several Nipponese generals wearing great armor standing tall behind him at this moment. However, their existences were all¡­ illusory.

    More urately speaking, they appeared to be straddling the realms between the corporeal and the illusory. Some were armed with twenty foot polearms, some had an eyepatch over one of their eyes, while others were fanning themselves with a gourd-shaped fan. They looked ordinary, yet the emblems of the banners each of them carried on their backs would undoubtedly strike fears in the hearts of anyone who saw them.

    One of the most prominent ones was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the man who unified Nippon, bearing the emblem of the Toyotomi n.

    Then, there was Tokugawa Ieyasu with the emblem of the Tokugawa n.

    One of the first great warriors of Nippon, Sanada Yukimura, bearing the emblem of the Sanada n.

    There was the emblem of the Date n, representing the heroic Date Masamune.

    And not to mention the simple yet fear-inducing emblem of the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen of the Takeda n.

    Here was a gathering of one of the most feared generals throughout the history of Nippon. Even though some of these men had been of a higher stature than the man in white armor while they were still alive, they were standing behind that man today.

    These were all of the warlords of the Nipponese Warring States era!

    The man standing right in front continued to gaze at the distant sky for several seconds, before finally instructing, ¡°Raise the g.¡±

    ¡°Let our guests know whose territory they¡¯re stepping on right now.¡±

    ¡°After four long centuries, we¡¯ll finally show the notorious Demon King of the Sixth Heaven who¡¯s the true lord of thends once and for all!¡±

    He took a deep breath, and his chest rose greatly, ¡°Kill them!!!¡±

    His war cry thundered throughout that domain of his. He had opened his mouth a full meter wide, and murder and hatred was written all over his face, just like what anyone would expect of a terrifying evil ghost. With his cry, the banner of war was raised, and the cloak of Yin energy around them flourished in an instant. Back in the Strait, the skeletons dressed in light armor on the Atakebune warships finally opened their eyes with an eerie green glow.

    Ssssss!!!! A thunderous battle cry echoed the cry of theirmanding general, and the mischief of ghosts thus began their doomsday dance in the Strait of Tsushima.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Back on the ship. Qin Ye led Mr Iwasaki and Master Kamo straight back to the hull of the cruise liner, apanied silently by the two Hellguard monks.

    The first sight of the hull caused everyone¡¯s eyelids to twitch uncontrobly.

    This was because hundreds of thirty centimeters nails had at some point in time been nailed straight through the hull of the ship. This was the source of the soft clinking sounds which Qin Ye had heard right from the onset.

    Qin Ye could already piece together what exactly happened over here. While they had been at the auctions earlier, the Kappas had snuck to the bottom of the ship and drove these nails straight through its hull. The other end of the nail was probably tied to their individual bodies. And then, by some orchestrated effort on their part, they were able to sail away with the ship without alerting anyone to the movement of the ship. Their target? Obviously the Strait of Tsushima.

    In that regard, it could be said that the Kappas¡¯ ns were a great sess. The cruise ship was no more than a stone¡¯s throw away from the Strait of Tsushima right now. Qin Ye had done everything he could to avoid a full-on confrontation with Izanami¡¯s dispatch forces, and yet it had still somehow be an eventuality.

    Retreat?

    That would be akin toying all the groundwork for a thesis paper, only to abandon it at the eleventh hour. Retreat was most certainly out of the question.

    ¡°Great monks, where are your battle monks?¡± Qin Ye turned around and asked urgently.

    ¡°They¡¯ll arrive within the hour!¡± Dojin responded with gritted teeth.

    Then, Qin Ye turned to Master Kamo. Before he could even ask his question, Master Kamo immediately responded, ¡°The Tengu army has already set off. They¡¯ll also be arriving within the hour!¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and sat down on the ground, ¡°Protect me.¡±

    Now was the time to reunite the great warlords of the Nipponese Warring States era!

    Azai Nagamasa had wedded Oichi, ady reputed to be among the most beautiful women to have lived during the Nipponese Warring States era. Incidentally, Oichi was also Oda Nobunaga¡¯s younger sister. However, their blood rtionship did not prevent Nobunaga from driving her to suicide together. Nobunaga killed her eldest son, and then banished her second son into the depths of the monastery, where he would remain for the rest of his life. This was a feud so deeply ingrained in their souls that it would have to be repaid in full, even if it means tearing the sky asunder and traversing realms!

    It was a blood feud.

    Yet what was perhaps most distressing of all was the fact that Azai Nagamasa could very well be in possession of the Book of LIfe and Death. The disy of Justice Bao¡¯s authority might be useful, but it would never be able topletely sweep away the throngs of Yin soldiers dispatched by Yomi-no-Kuni!

    Arthis had taught him the method to release the seal on the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl before he had even departed. He closed his eyes, and then began to call out to Oda Nobunaga with his mind.

    Ming Shiyin couldn¡¯t help but mutter with great surprise, ¡°That¡¯s not right¡­ You would usually be yelling at the top of your voice in an attempt to retreat. Why are you reacting differently today?¡±

    Qin Ye responded with indifference, ¡°It¡¯s because there¡¯s no longer any prospects of retreat.¡±

    ¡°Since there¡¯s no longer such prospects, then what¡¯s the use in attempting the hopeless?¡±

    Sure. He was cowardly, but his cowardice didn¡¯t get in the way of his judgment of the situation. In fact, he knew far better than anyone else right now that the more he reacted in fear and cowardice, the quicker he would perish. There¡¯s no mercy on the battlefield. His only hope for survival was to steel his nerves and fight through the encirclement of death in order to carve out for himself a path of survival.

    He ced the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl in front of his eyes, and then began to make a series of hand seals imbued with the strength of his Yin energy. Secondster, with a soft hum, the bowl tumbled over and flew up into the air. The other broken piece of the bowl which Bai Yishan had earlier given to him flew out of his garments and adhered together silently.

    Thump, thump, thump¡­ A rhythmic thumping resembling a heartbeat reverberated coldly through the corners of the cargo hold. The Yin energy enshrouding the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl became thicker and thicker with time. And then, Qin Ye abruptly opened his eyes and pped his palm together with a thunderous p. At that moment, the symbol of a copper coin appeared at the bottom of the bowl.

    Within moments, the small symbol of a copper coin grewrger andrger, until it finally transformed into a pitch-ck vortex.

    ¡°You absolutely must hold out until I return!¡± Qin Ye reminded them once again. And then, with a shrill whistle, wisps of Yin energy wrapped around his body for several seconds, before revealing Qin Ye in his Hellguard emissary state, replete with his tall fretwork skullcap and a mourning staff in his hands. With that, he charged straight into the realm of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl.

    All formation arrays, including the realm of the bowl, could only be opened from within, unless they were shattered from outside with a power that qualitatively surpassed the strength of the array.

    There was a dead silence in the cargo hold.

    Taking a deep breath, Dojin¡¯s evil-subduing pestle flew out of his robes and began to glow with a bright golden light. With a series of quick hand seals, a small cloud appeared under his feet and promptly carried him straight to the center of the cargo hold. Then, he lifted his arms, and a seemingly endless scroll opened up with a soft rustling and began to surround the entire cargo hold.

    Innumerable Sanskrit words glowed and quickly faded away on the surface of the scroll. Simrly, Jingo also promptly flew into action, making a series of hand seals before mming his hands straight to the ground. Likewise, another scroll flew out, glowing with a bright golden hue.

    ¡°This is the most powerful secret technique of Mount Koya, The Moonlit Night.¡± He closed his eyes and gripped hard on the scroll, ¡°To think that I would actually have the opportunity to fully open and utilize its powers.¡±

    ¡°Azai Nagamasa¡­ what an awe-inspiring name. Well, then, let us see whether the great daimyo of four centuries ago, or the Mount Koya of the modern day era is more formidable!¡±

    Whoosh!!! A bright silver light erupted from the surface of the scroll, and a numinous flower grewrger andrger, blooming withyers uponyers until it finally faded into the walls of the cargo hold. In the wake of the lotus flower¡¯s dissipation, the walls of the cargo hold were now stered all over with countless talismans.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t aware of all these things. His only choice right now was to trust them whole-heartedly - in the fierce enmity between the Scourge of Buddha on one side and Master Koya and the Onmyojis on the other side. He didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to mull over these matters either, because he was currently flying through a narrow passageway, and an ancient temple had appeared on the horizon at the other end of the passageway.

    Thud. As soon as he stepped out, his eyes immediately quivered slightly.

    The sound of horses and cavalrymen shook thends.

    Honnoji was still the same old temple, but there were currently more than two thousand Yin soldiers formed up in ranks before it right now. They were heavily armored, and the masks of evil ghosts obscured each one of their appearances. Yin energy billowed from the entire formation of soldiers who were mounted on their own skeletal war horses. The Oda n¡¯s banner of war pped wildly like a fiery ocean in the depths of hell.

    Qin Ye could tell that these cavalrymen were different from ordinary cavalrymen.

    They wore red and ck clothes, and they each wore a bamboo frame covered with cloth over their backs, almost like a tortoise shell.

    These were the Umamawari, his horse guards.

    These were the elite cavalrymen who had followed the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven throughout his campaign as he unified most of Nippon back in the Warring States era. These were Nobunaga¡¯s red guards and ck guards!

    Nobunaga was positioned right at the front of the formation, with a golden mask covering his face. Murai Sadakatsu was positioned to his left, while Oda Nobutada was on his right. Both were riding on a huge skeletal horse that was as tall as two peoplebined. Boundless Yin energy poured out from their bones, and they stood out like stars, even among the rest of the skeletal horses. Seeing Qin Ye¡¯s arrival, Oda Nobunaga immediately threw his head back andughed boisterously as he pointed his katana at Qin Ye, ¡°Cathayan emissary, is that your true appearance?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯vee.¡± Qin Ye stood in front of the ranks of cavalrymen, and he could sense the palpable ferocity exuded by the troops. The eyes of the cavalrymen were zing with a scarlet me. This meant that they had killed mercilessly while they had still been alive.

    ¡°Come, tell me¡­¡± Even Nobunaga¡¯s body was trembling slightly right now, ¡°Who¡¯s waiting for me outside right now?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled. His smile in his emissary state was somewhat terrifying, but it happened to be perfect for the situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s Azai Nagamasa.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha!!!¡± The Demon King of the Sixth Heavenughed uproariously as he stabbed his katana into the air, ¡°Finally! The heavens have answered my pleas!!!¡±

    ¡°Come! Undo this seal that has kept me bound and restrained for centuries.¡± An abyss of resentment erupted from underneath Nobunaga¡¯s golden mask. A tide of Yin energy erupted, causing even Honnoji to creak and the trees around it to go wild.

    ¡°I¡¯ve waited far too long for this day toe.¡±

    1.

    2.

    3.

    4.

    5.

 Chapter 256: Yin and Yang (1)

    <h4>Chapter 256: Yin and Yang (1)</h4>

    Ship deck. Everyone was silent.

    The salty sea breeze carried a waft of bitter resentment with it, while the faint twinkling of constetions in the sky cast a gloomy, silvery sheen over the seas. The entire scene was hardly soft and tranquil. Instead, it could only be described as austere and foreboding.

    ¡°What terrifyingly evil resentment¡­¡± One of the foreign cultivators gasped, ¡°This is by far the most terrifying gathering of Yin energy I¡¯ve seen in my entire life...¡±

    To their eyes, the billowing cloud of Yin energy was no different from a horrific rift that had opened up over the sea, letting loose the throngs of grievance-bearing souls that wailing and whimpered as they drifted towards them.

    It was no different from a living hell.

    The air was tense and stifling, almost as though it was wing at their hearts. That cultivator was just about to withdraw his gaze to calm himself down when he suddenly froze, and then quickly did a double take at the end of the horizon.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. In fact, almost all of the cultivators looked over at the exact same time, because they had suddenly heard a gentle rushing sound in the distance.

    But the Soul Hunters knew better. In fact, they knew full well that the source of the sound was hardly gentle. Rather, it could even be said to be deadly.

    As they watched on in horror, the part of the sea in the horizon slowly began to rise and fall. At first, its amplitude was small. But as time passed, it slowly increased, until finally at approximately ten minutester, the amplitude of the waves over the surface of the sea had increased to well over ten meters, and it was currently charging straight towards the cruise liner!

    ¡°This is a¡­¡± One of the cultivators gasped and shuddered, ¡°It¡¯s a¡­ tsunami? A tsunami!!!¡±

    Needless to say, everyone knew at once what kind of danger they were facing.

    Whoooooosh! As soon as the giant wave gathered momentum, it would only get higher and higher, and faster and faster.

    Height - five meters¡­ ten meters¡­ twenty meters¡­ twenty-five meters!

    Distance to cruise liner - five thousand meters¡­ four thousand meters¡­ three thousand meters¡­ two thousand meters!

    And then, it finally entered the one thousand meters range!

    Gulp¡­ One of the cultivators gulped nervously. This was a fifty-meters tall tsunami that was no more than one kilometer away from them right now!

    The wave that was approaching them appeared no different from a giant dam of seawater that was quickly approaching them with a great rushing sound so loud that it even began to agitate the waters about them with bubbles and frothing. The huge cruise ship waspletely dwarfed by its presence, and it appeared no different from a leaf bobbing helplessly in tumultuous waters. As the tsunami approached them, the undtions that they experienced on the ship only grew wilder and wilder, so much so that those who were on board the luxury cruise liner even began to wonder whether the ship¡¯s integrity would soon give way.

    ¡°My¡­ god¡­¡± The tycoons and bodyguards who were hiding in their bedrooms couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror and cover their mouths to stifle their screams. This was nothing like what they had ever seen before.

    After all, it was only when one stood next to an oing gargantuan tsunami that they would finally realize how puny and insignificant an existence Man was.

    It was only when one stood face to face with the insurmountable majesty of nature that one could finally appreciate the magnificence of the creations of the world.

    And right now, the sky waspletely blotted out, nor was there anynd in sight. There was simply a wall of seawater that only appeared to be growing taller and taller by the minute, overshadowing and extinguishing the pride of men in just an instant.

    Five hundred meters¡­ four hundred and seventy meters¡­ four hundred and sixty meters¡­ The huge waves extended high into the sky. This was an unusual phenomenon, even next to all of the other tsunamis that had wreaked destruction in the world in the past. The cultivators drew a breath of cold air. But before they could begin to operate the true energy in their bodies in preparation for the crashing wave, they suddenly saw a pair of jade-green mes ignite in the wave.

    They were so massive that they practically resembled an immting star in the waters. Furthermore, the clumps of mes were zing right in the middle of the tsunami, as though peering menacingly at them through a thinyer of seawater.

    Nishino Mio hid in her bedroom, covering her mouth in horror and retreating a few steps backwards. She couldn¡¯t help but shake her head in despondence. The incredulous sight had caused her to break out in cold sweat and her hair to stand on end.

    Something¡¯s in the waters¡­

    ¡°Mighty God on high¡­¡± She shut her eyes and prayed in a shaky voice.

    RUMBLE!!!

    The people in the cruise liner appeared as small and insignificant as ants in the face of such an indomitable force. Notwithstanding that, the group of people on the deck of the ship suddenly erupted with a brilliant gold lustre.

    ¡°Everyone¡­ what are we still waiting for?!¡± Two Hindustani monks were the first to react to the shocking developments, and they immediately yelled out at the top of their voices, ¡°King Peacock!¡± ¡°Sky Serpent King!¡±

    They were both dressed in earthy yellow robes that masked their faces. Their appearances looked unremarkable, yet an emblem on their chests bore the symbol of a striking golden eye.

    This was the emblem of Sarnath. They were among the core disciples of one of the four majornds of Buddhist pilgrimages in Hindustan.

    ¡°Seal of Raja Vidya!¡±

    In an instant, a hundred and eight screens of golden lightpletely surrounded the entire ship, forming an illusory image of a snake coiling around a peacock.

    These were two of the divine creatures in the Hindu mythology, the Mayura Peacock and the Naga. They roared ferociously as they appeared to tumble and struggle against each other, yet their actions served to stabilize the cruise liner that had been tossed about by the impending tsunami.

    ¡°Everyone¡­¡± The robes of the two Hindustani Soul Hunters fluttered wildly. Their cloaks had already been tossed up, revealing their monk robes underneath. The tsunami was only three hundred meters away, and yet a shower and stter of salty seawater had already begun to rain down on them like a prelude of what was toe. The monks were instantly soaked through. Yet, they continued to sp their palms together fervently, gritting their teeth with bloodshot eyes, ¡°Help! Us! Now!¡±

    The tsunami was only three hundred meters away.

    ck ck¡­ The golden screens of light were emitting soft cking sounds as innumerable illusory Sanskrit words glowed on its surface, before promptly turning into white lotus flowers that quickly faded away. Yet, no matter how exuberant the golden light was, they were still up against an unstoppable force of nature, and their efforts were clearly worth no more than a drop in the ocean. In fact, what was most terrifying right now was the fact that they could already hear soft gulping sounds emitting from the heart of the tsunami.

    It was the sound of evil ghosts who were gulping avariciously as they fervently suppressed their desire for blood and flesh.

    There are ghosts iing¡­

    A majestic tsunami had risen out of the sea in the middle of the night, carrying with it a multitude of vicious ghosts that lurked in its depths. And all of them were eyeing a single target.

    Pfft! The force of the tsunami was so strong that blood immediately began to flow from their seven apertures as soon as they cried out for help. Just then, a soft voice called out, and a green lotus flower drifted out silently.

    ¡°Path of righteousness, Sublimation of the Golden Core.¡± The voice was still and soft, yet it seemed to be imbued with a majestic source of energy that allowed it to cut right through the thunderous roar of the raging winds and waters around. A momentter, the green lotus began to breed and multiply. One became two, and then three¡­ In an instant, that single green lotus had transformed into a sea of lotus that appeared right before the golden screen.

    ¡°Wind of the Peachwood.¡± Another soft voice called out just before the sea of lotus fully blossomed, and a peachwood tree enshrouded with true energy suddenly emerged on the surface of the sea. A system of branches spread out quickly, and leaves and flowers emerged in an instant. Within moments, the system of branches had quickly affixed themselves to the sea of lotuses to create a peachwood curtain of lotus flowers.

    The first salvo of techniques quickly triggered a multitude of defensive techniques from the rest of the cultivators standing on the deck of the ship. Bright bursts of light erupted from various parts of the deck like glittering gemstones. Ancient scripture rose into the air and danced in the sky as they promptly transformed into a chain of scripture that bound and blessed the entire vessel. A golden cross also rose into the air, branding the cruise ship with innumerable english words.

    tter tter¡­ The ferocious, rushinghergale was no different to a prelude of death. The tsunami was presently only two hundred meters away from them! Another old man bearing a lotus flower in hand gritted his teeth as he grasped his hands together, ¡°Fuse!¡±

    Simultaneously, another olddy with disheveled hair made a vicious expression on her face as she bellowed with all her might, ¡°Fuse!!¡±

    ¡°Fusion!¡± ¡°Combine!¡± ¡°Together!!!¡±

    They were spoken with different words, and in differentnguages, yet they were all tacitly unified in their intention right now. Each and every single one of the cultivators on the deck of the cruise unleashed their defensive techniques with a great flourish of true energy, and a brilliant light shone everywhere within the cruise ship. Within moments, a golden, eggshell-like barrier formed around the cruise ship, filled with countless different words and symbols that appeared on its surface, floating and drifting about ceaselessly.

    This was thebined effort of over thirty Soul Hunters in an attempt to beat back the evil ghosts that were charging straight towards them.

    Thump, thump¡­

    Nobody spoke a single word as they fixed their minds on maintaining their techniques. Their gazes were transfixed on the iing tsunami. Fifty meters¡­ thirty meters¡­ twenty meters¡­

    Ten meters!

    The entire cruise ship was already rocking back and forth uncontrobly by now. The colossal wave blotted out all sources of light, casting a deep, foreboding shadow over theparatively insignificant cruise ship below. And then, the sheer destructive force of the tsunami crashed down.

    Time appeared to freeze in that one single moment.

    All of the cultivators stared at the crashing wave with bleary eyes. And then, the two massive mes in the tsunami that appeared like eyes suddenly exploded!

    In that instant, dark silhouettes could be seen darting about within the tsunami itself. The clumps ofhermes weren¡¯t the eyes of a behemoth! Rather, they were formed by the gathering of innumerable smaller ghosts!

    Specifically, they were skeletons.

    Skeletons that were dressed in ancient Nipponese shrine uniforms replete with a tall hat. Furthermore, each of them had long flowing hair despite the fact that they were mere skeletons at this point in time. Clumps of zing greenhermes were located where their eye sockets were, and right as the tsunami was about to crash down on the cruise ship, they all turned in unison to stare down at the human beings on board.

    This was a gaze of death.

    The skeletons wereughing at the impending demise of the puny human beings.

    BOOM!!!

    A secondter, an immeasurable amount of water crashed straight down onto the cruise liner, and the entire world went silent for the cultivators.

    The cultivators only heard a soft ringing sound at the moment of impact. And then, there was nothing.

    It was as though they had been transported to a soundless world in an instant. They watched helplessly as they drifted away from the cruise liner with an unimaginable posture. The defensive formation arrays that they had set up were crumbling so quickly that they could even see cracks appearing in the space within the formation array.

    Everything waspletely silent. The sheer destructive force of the tsunami was dizzying. It was almost as though mother nature had been intent on disintegrating and reducing everything back to earth, where they hade from.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    tter tter¡­ They felt a soft tremble as they stood at the heart of the temple. A scarlet hue sshed across the dark canopy of the skies. A slight smell of burning drifting through the air.

    ¡°You¡¯d better pick up the pace.¡± Oda Nobunaga prompted with a hoarse voice. He was armed to the teeth and mounted on his war horse. His katana ran across the surface of the ground somewhat agitatedly.

    Two thousand five hundred Umamawari horse guards formed up in ranks as they surrounded the entrance to Honnoji. On the other hand, Qin Ye was crouching on the ground in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state, with one hand on the ground and his white hair fluttering everywhere. His entire forehead was already percting in cold sweat.

    What was most peculiar about his action was the fact that the ground his hand was touching appeared no different from the surface of theke. Rings of ripples spread out from around his hand, releasing countless Sanskrit words into the sky as they did.

    At the same time, the ripples only grewrger and wider as time went on. These ripples would eventually spread throughout the entire Honnoji, and once all of the seals were finally removed, the notorious Demon King of the Sixth Heaven would once again emerge on the surface of the mortal realm!

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m deliberately trying to slow things down?¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°The person who had sealed you in is incredibly strong. This unsealing technique was personally taught to me by an Infernal Judge. Speaking of which¡­ what¡¯s going on outside?¡±

    He looked up at the source of the tremors around. On the other hand, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes only narrowed, ¡°It seems like Azai Nagamasa can¡¯t keep it in any longer¡­¡±

    ¡°Boy, I¡¯m serious about picking up the pace. I dare say that he hasn¡¯t even mobilized any one of the great generals under his charge right now. The first salvo is usually only a warning to all. And once the dust has finally settled on the warning, that¡¯s when all hell will truly break loose.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you Cathayans see Nippon¡¯s forces with some measure of dismissiveness. But even so, you can¡¯t deny the fact that we have our fair share of great generals and formidable forces as well. And given our history with each other, I dare say that Azai Nagamasa would never confront me alone. He is most certainly apanied by only the strongest of forces during the Nipponese Warring States era. If you don¡¯t hurry, you best be prepared to return to no more than a boatload of bodies.¡±

    Qin Ye froze, ¡°He would even go so far as to ignore the Blessings of Virtue?¡±

    Oda Nobunaga smirked, ¡°All of that doesn¡¯t really matter so much when a person harbours a death wish in its heart, does it? Besides, his only goal right now is to y me at any costs. So, let me ask you, why would he care a thing about the Blessings of Virtue?¡±

 Chapter 257: Yin and Yang (2)

    <h4>Chapter 257: Yin and Yang (2)</h4>

    Gurgle¡­ Mo Changqing covered his nose and his mouth as he fell into the depths of the sea. It was only in that moment that he experienced an excruciating pain surging throughout his body.

    It felt no different from having his limbs being ripped from his body. The sheer force of the crashing tsunami had been overwhelming, and he could count his lucky stars if he were to get out of this ordeal alive. Blood was already seeping out of his seven apertures.

    He was already seeing stars as he swam desperately to the surface. But just then, the surface of the sea flickered with a bright light, followed quickly by¡­ a dim sheen of light from the stars that cast the dark, distorted shadows of a throng of ghosts on the surface of the seas.

    And there were innumerable spots of underworldly mes hovering eerily above the waters.

    From below, the spots ofhermes looked no different from the constetions in the sky above, shining with a lurid green glow. And then, the dark shadow of Azai Nagamasa¡¯s great armor finally appeared.

    ¡°Haa--...¡± Mo Changqing subconsciously spat out a mouthful of bubbles in shock, before quickly covering his lips again.

    How terrifying¡­ How nefarious¡­ This is an Anitya Hellguard. Furthermore, it¡¯s a Hellguard that harbours great grievances in death! The aura of resentment about it far exceeds any hunting zone I¡¯ve ever seen before!

    This is an evil ghost that is at least two hundred years old!

    How is this possible¡­ How did such a powerful evil ghost end up at the Strait of Tsushima?!

    His hands and feet froze in fear as he stared at the living hell above him with great despair. He was still underwater, yet he could already hear the eerie moans of the countless evil ghosts that echoed Azai Nagamasa¡¯s great hatred and resentment. In particr, this was a deep-seated hatred borne out of being forced to a point of suicide, as well as a lingering resentment for the murder of his children. It was a four century long grudge. Countless Yin spirits adhered themselves to the great armor, boring in and out of its cracks from time to time. The palpable murderous intent was so strong that it bore straight through the rushing waters and pricked him on each and every single ones of his pores like tiny needles.

    Whoosh¡­ Two scarlet mes lit up from underneath the helmet, while his vicious shadow nketed the waters. Then, it directed its zing gaze to those who were around, ¡°I am Saruyashamaru, one of the great retainers of the Nipponese Hell. All who interfere with my ns shall be in without mercy.¡±

    Azai Nagamasa was trembling with excitement, ¡°I¡¯ll give you onest chance to surrender right where you are. Otherwise¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind turning this ce into a hell of flesh and blood. Those who understand what I¡¯m saying should raise their hands in submission to me.¡±

    There were still several silhouettes drifting about underwater. Cultivators don¡¯t die that easily after all. That said, their frightened expressions quickly turned into a grave and somber one.

    A multitude of evil ghosts had surfaced in the mortal realm, breaching the irond rule that the world of the Yin and the world of the Yang were not to intersect or interfere with each other. Therefore, regardless of the reason for their insurgence, they had to stand on the front line valiantly to resist the incursion of the forces of Yin!

    This was their duty as cultivators and representatives of the mortal realm!

    It was time for them to repay society for how it has provided for them and cared for them all this while.

    Furthermore, if they were to turn tail and escape right now, the Special Investigations Department would most certainly discover their traitorous deeds and sentence them to a punishment that was worse than death in battle.

    All special regimes were backed by the threat of enforcement of certain fundamental rules. In this regard, there was only one such irond rule for joining the Special Investigations Department - All shall not retreat from a battlefield! All who retreat shall be executed for treason!

    Mo Changqing¡¯s heart was no longer thumping wildly like before. He ced both hands at his waist, tightening his grip around the hilt of his weapon ferociously. Then, he turned to look at the silhouettes of the other cultivators who were underwater as well - not a single person had raised their hands in surrender.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Ten secondster, Azai Nagamasa chuckled contemptuously, ¡°That man will have a bunch of other human beings apanying him to the grave. How wonderful¡­ how truly wonderful¡­¡±

    ¡°This is a beautiful reunion after all¡­ so what¡¯s a reunion without some flesh and blood?¡±

    ¡°Pirate of Hachiman, do it. Don¡¯t mind the Blessings of Virtue. I¡¯ve waited four hundred long years for my revenge. I¡¯ll have no regrets even if I perish immediately after ying Oda Nobunaga.¡±

    Swish¡­ As soon as he finished speaking, Azai Nagamasa¡¯s entire body transformed into aherme that scattered immediately. Simultaneously, Mo Changqing felt the water below him tremble slightly.

    What had otherwise been a tranquil seabed appeared to have suddenlye alive, and Mo Changqing found himself being tossed about uncontrobly by the waters below in just an instant.

    This is¡­ A notion struck him, and he immediately looked down with great astonishment.

    The depths of the sea were no different from a bottomless abyss.

    Just then, a terrifying roar resounded from the bottom of the pitch-ck abyss. Mo Changqing recoiled in horror, and he immediately scrambled and struggled to swim to the surface.

    That wasn¡¯t the roar of a single entity.

    Rather¡­ it was the mournful cry of innumerable evil ghosts all at once! This was a throng of grievous spirits that were currently expressing their insatiable thirst and hunger for flesh and blood!

    The other cultivators that had been submerged underwater were of the same mind as they scrambled for the surface as well. And just as they began their struggle for life, countless spots ofhermes appeared like constetions on the seabed as well.

    These were skeletons dressed in ancient Nipponese shrine uniforms with tall hats.

    All of them had their mouths gaping wide open at this instant. Their eyes zed with an eerieherme, while their hair were scattered in the waters in a disheveled manner. Each of them carried the banner of the Azai n on their backs as they rushed straight up from the depths of the sea with the exact same erect standing posture.

    Plumb Corpses!

    Mo Changqing¡¯s heart sank. Plumb corpses were corpses that continued to stand straight and tall even after their death by drowning. This was a phenomenon that wouldn¡¯t ur unless the person who perished had harboured great grievances while he was still alive. In fact, the resentment that these corpses harboured was so strong that not even the Seven Underworldly Craftsmen would generally think of working with these corpses unless there was good reason to do so.

    Yet, in this very moment, a throng of them had appeared out of nowhere, and were now charging straight towards the cultivators from all directions like piranhas that had smelt the delightful stench of blood!

    ¡°Damn!!¡± He cursed in his heart. The plumb corpses moved incredibly quickly underwater, and they managed to catch up to the cultivators in the span of ten seconds. And as soon as they managed to close the distance, the plumb corpses instantly turned their heads in unison.

    The throng of plumb corpses were now staring transfixed at him in the middle of the ocean.

    Mo Changqing¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Then, a split secondter, the plumb corpses opened their gaping wide mouths and unleashed a horrific, blood-curdling cry as they darted straight towards him like a swarm of piranhas!

    ¡°Path of Righteousness! Imprable Armor! Heavenly Movements! Seize the Skies!¡± Mo Changqing¡¯s eyes grew bloodshot. He no longer even deigned to cover his nose and his mouth as he formed hand seals as quickly as he could. He mmed his palms heavily together, and a sh of bright light surrounded his body, branding a series of mysterious words on his body. A split secondter, a thickyer of smoke wrapped around his body underwater, and his speed instantly doubled as he continued to charge straight up to the surface of the waters!

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. All of the other cultivators reacted in the same manner. There were too many of them! The plumb corpses numbered in the hundreds, and possibly even in the thousands! Furthermore, the weakest of these already possessed strength that was equivalent to that of an Operative-ss expert!

    The march of Yin soldiers!

    These were proper Yin soldiers which constituted the bulk of the fighting force of any underworld. These weren¡¯t existences that they could easily go toe to toe against!

    Furthermore, these were the forces under themand of only one general. There were still the forces of several other generals lying in wait in the Strait of Tsushima, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Sanada Yukimura, Date Masamune, and Takeda Shingen, among others. None of these mighty daimyos have made their move yet.

    They were waiting.

    Biding their time and preparing themselves for the moment that Oda Nobunaga appears, when they would finally settle the centuries-long feud of theirs.

    One of the cultivators gnashed his teeth underwater. He had only recently broken through to be a Hunter-ss expert, and he didn¡¯t have any Hunter-ss trump cards hidden up his sleeves. Naturally, he was one of the cultivators who weregging behind the most. Even though there weren¡¯t many plumb corpses in pursuit of him right now, their numbers still weren¡¯t something that he could easily deal with on his own.

    Faster¡­ faster! As long as I can get back onto the cruise liner, I¡¯ll be able to alert the Special Investigations Department to this anomaly. And then, they¡¯ll definitely send someone over! His body was imbued with a speed technique such that he moved more quickly than the plumb corpses that were hot on his tail. He looked up at the surface of the waters, and he judged that there was only approximately one hundred meters before he would soon arrive at the surface of the sea.

    But, just then, the blood coursing through his veins suddenly froze in horror.

    Whoosh¡­ A massive figure had just appeared overhead. It was approximately a hundred meters in size, and it swept across the grim surface of the seas.

    That¡¯s¡­ a sea serpent with a human face?

    Or is it meant to be a fish?

    He didn¡¯t know. Nor did he bother to find out, because his teeth had already begun to chatter uncontrobly in response to the presence of the menacing figure. The overwhelming sensation of fear made it patently clear to him - that figure belonged to a Hellguard-ss ghost!

    But his fearsted only for a single second. In the next second, his entire body trembled as he nced back down below with bloodshot eyes.

    The plumb corpses had vanished without a trace.

    Instead, a man¡¯s face had now appeared beneath him in the deep dark sea.

    That said, what was most peculiar about this man¡¯s face was the fact that he was unusuallyrge, to the tune of thirty to forty meters wide. As a result of the size of his face, he made it possible to see every bit of his appearances, including a full beard underneath his lips, as well as rows after rows of razor sharp teeth.

    Furthermore, this man had the body of a fish.

    The man smiled. It was a pleasant smile, almost as though he were satisfied with the delectable meal that had presented itself in front of him.

    ¡°I am the Pirate of Hachiman, Kuki Yoshitaka, also known as the Samurai of the Seas. It has been four hundred years, and yet the taste of human flesh is still just as alluring as ever to me¡­¡± The man¡¯s lips trembled as he spoke words directly into the ears of the cultivator in the waters.

    A pampus soul¡­

    Thest thought that ran through his mind pertained to the pampus soul. Legend has it that those who died in rivers and had their corpses gnawed away by fish would have no body remaining for the soul to take shape. Therefore, these souls would instead take the form of a fish, and thereby transform into a pampus soul. These were terrifying evil spirits - one of the most fearsome ones who lived underwater. They devoured everything within sight¡­

    The man¡¯s thoughts stopped there.

    A secondter, the pampus soul opened his jaws wide and took a huge bite at him in an instant!

    Chomp!

    Then, the pampus soul¡¯s massive body propelled him forward. In fact, this was a two-headed sea serpent with a human face on both the head and the tail of the eel-like body. Countless plumb corpses drifted by its side as the Samurai of the Sea darted forward with a shrill shriek, charging straight towards the cruise liner!

    He opened his mouth once more.

    And then, he began to draw a breath of water!

    Given his terrifying size, the single breath caused a massive whirlpool to form right on the surface of the sea, and the cruise ship began to emit soft creaking sounds as it was slowly pulled into the depths of the vortex!

    ¡°Ahhh!!!¡± The dozens of tycoons screamed miserably in their rooms as they clung to the feet of their beds desperately. Fortunately, the beds in each room were welded to the ground, because they soon felt the cruise ship tilting more and more, until it was almostpletely horizontal at a ny degree angle!

    ¡°Dear¡­ heavens¡­¡± A cultivator who had managed to swim to the surface of the sea stared at the incredible sight with great trembling on his lips.

    As far as he could tell, there were two massiveherfire pupils that were zing underwater. These clumps ofhermes were several meters in size, and located not too far from the surface of the sea. In fact, he could even barely make out the appearance of a human face underneath the clumps ofherme pupils, and he could tell that the human face¡­ was intent on devouring the entire cruise liner!

    A dark moonlit night, and a massive ghostly face surrounded by a legion of ghosts was currently attempting to devour an entire vessel. This terrifying sight caused his hair to stand on end. However, he didn¡¯t retreat.

    While the path of a cultivator was filled with glory and honour, the very same path was also filled with duties, obligations, and most importantly, responsibilities!

    What goes around,es around.

    Everything suddenly appeared to quieten down around him. It was a strange sensation, almost as though his mind were abruptly awash with a flood of memories.

    And in that instant, he could feel the true energy stirring wildly and erupting from every pore in his body!

    In fact, he could even sense a slightly warm sensation emanating from a particr hidden acupoint in his body. His master had previously taught him that his life woulde to an end as soon as he tapped on the powers locked within this acupoint. And in this very moment, he could feel every bit of true energy within his body rushing straight towards that acupoint, almost as though¡­ he were unlocking the physical limitations of a Hunter-ss expert.

    He nced about at his surroundings, only to realize that the other twenty-eight Soul Hunters that were earlier on the deck of the ship were all smiling faintly at him.

    He, too, smiled faintly back.

    ¡°Hidden arts¡­ Domain of the Seventy-Two Furies, open!!!¡±

    1. Saruyashamaru is Azai Nagamasa¡¯s childhood name. For the purposes of the rest of the novel, I¡¯ll just refer to him as Azai Nagamasa.

    2. The direct trantion is actually that of a butterfish soul, which sounds waaaaaay too mild for my liking. I¡¯ve elected to use the name of the genus pampus instead.

 Chapter 258: Principles (1)

    <h4>Chapter 258: Principles (1)</h4>

    Boom!!

    The scarlet true energy was like a blood mist that condensed just as quickly as it first erupted, forming the figure of a man on the bow of the cruise liner.

    ¡°The paths of the Yin and the paths of the Yang should never intersect. Any party in breach of this irond rule shall be punished by purgation!¡± His voice boomed across the surface of the waters like the rumble of thunder. Then, he leapt up lightly, and then mmed down onto the bow of the ship like a meteorite. CRASH! Instantly, the cruise liner that was already sinking into the depths of the seas suddenly floated out once more, almost as though he had counterbnced a seesaw by that one powerful step. A rain of seawater sttered all around.

    Moonless night; bottomless waters and endless darkness.

    The colossal shadow darted about quicker and quicker. And then, with two loud sshes, the two massive heads of the sea monster burst out through the surface of the waters, gleaming eerily in the darkness of the night.

    The other tycoons presented themselves with simrly ashen expressions. Nobody had expected to see their greatest fearse true this very night.

    This is why we¡¯ve spared no expense to hire Soul Hunters for our own protection, right?

    Sss!!! A terrifying screech cut through the silence of the night, followed quickly by a great stter of seawater. A split secondter, all four fiery eyes turned to look at the cultivator standing on the bow of the ship.

    Then, Kuki Yoshitaka bared his fangs, revealing the grisly remains of human bones within, ¡°But¡­ death approaches.¡±

    ¡°Everyone!!¡± The cultivator turned around and stared at the remaining twenty or so cultivators who were now standing on the bow of the ship once more. His eyes grew bloodshot as he barked hoarsely, ¡°What¡¯s the first article of the United Nations Coalition of Cultivators?! Have you already forgotten something so fundamental?!¡±

    ¡°Get lost!!!¡± A furious cry thundered across the waters once more. The abilities of a powerful, evil ghost was qualitatively different from that of ordinary Yin spirits, and the cultivator knew that he no longer had the luxury of time to chide the other cultivators. Thus, he mustered everything he had to dart out of harm¡¯s way in the nick of time. Kuki Yoshitaka¡¯s jaws mped down on nothing, and it immediately rode its momentum straight back into the sea, sending great waves billowing around it and sending copious amounts of seawater sttering everywhere.

    ¡°Do you even remember the source of the luxuries you enjoy on a daily basis?! Do you even know who¡¯s been providing for us all this while?!!¡±

    Segment after segment of the sea serpent¡¯s massive body began to emerge from the surface of the waters at several parts, almost as though they were an endless mountain range emerging from the sea!

    Back in the cargo hold, Jingo, Dojin and Master Kamo looked up in unison and exchanged a look of disbelief with each other.

    ¡°Do pampus souls even exist in Nippon?¡±

    There was no doubt about it - this would most certainly be one of the great names from the Nipponese Warring States era. Such was the power of an underworld with a history of well over a thousand years. Any powerful evil ghost in their ranks would most certainly have been a great name in the annals of history. This was on apletely different scale from the nascent state of development which Qin Ye¡¯s Hell was presently in.

    There were only three Hellguard-ss experts on the cruise liner right now, one of whom was presently in an immovable state.

    He was currently right in the midst of breaching the formation array that was trapping Oda Nobunaga and his forces. The only way to fight through an encirclement formed by the great generals of the Nipponese Warring States era is with the core forces of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. This was their only hope at survival.

    It had to be mentioned that even though their teachings were built upon the chanting of sutras, and there were hardly any restrictions on their diets and lifestyles, and hardly any precepts to maintain altogether, the creed of their belief was still terrifyingly firm.

    This was the creed of Nipponese Tantric Buddhists.

    ¡°Soul Hunters¡­ even if they tap on the potential of their hidden acupoint, they wouldn¡¯t be able topete with a true, blue Hellguard-ss Yin spirit. Moreover, their opponent right now is none other than a corpse of the deadly cicada that is several hundred years old. Even Mount Koya would have no choice but to mobilize its guardian monks to deal with such a great crisis¡­¡±

    It was incredibly soft.

    Their true energy flourished. The Moonlit Night flickered softly, while the illusory image of a fairy could be seen patrolling vigntly within its domain. Everyone¡¯s expressions instantly grew somber and grave.

    Dojin and Jingo had already shot to their feet once more, clutching tightly to their zen staff and evil-subduing pestle respectively as they nced around warily, ¡°Mr Iwasaki¡­ guard yourself well. I¡¯m afraid we might soon be unable to keep an eye out for you any longer.¡±

    Iwasaki Kyouya shut his eyes and clutched tightly at his chest as he asked with great trembling, ¡°And what are they¡­ trying to do?¡±

    And then, he turned around to give Qin Ye a deep, long gaze, ¡°You¡¯d better hurry. We¡¯re facing the corpse of the deadly cicada in the middle of the sea. There¡¯s no guarantee we¡¯d be able to hold out for too long¡­ Moreover, this is only the first wave of Azai Nagamasa¡¯s forces. I¡¯m most certain that something even more terrifying has yet to appear¡­¡±

    Master Kamo waved his hands, and ten shikigamis appeared right next to him.

    After all, he knew full well that one of the most terrifying battles he had ever encountered in his entire life was soon about to unfold.

    Furthermore, Master Kamo understood that the moment that the plumb corpses were able to bore a hole through the hull of the ship¡­ was also the moment when the battle at the Strait of Tsushima heats up into a white hot state.

    ¡°How long more till your battle monks arrive?¡± His voice sounded normal, yet in truth, it was already tense to the extreme.

    ¡°They¡¯ll be arriving soon¡­¡± Master Kamo ripped apart his garments, revealing the illusory emblem of a Tengu that appeared to be glowing right underneath his skin. He gritted his teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry. The Onmyojis have a lineage that runs deep. We won¡¯t disappoint you!¡±

    Krr¡­ krr¡­ krr¡­ Back in Honnoji. Qin Ye abruptly looked up, and the image of a copsing world was reflected right in the heart of his gleaming white pupils.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    A Hellguard has made its move?

    Arthis¡¯ incantation is far too ineffective! It¡¯s already been half an hour, and yet there¡¯s not a single sign of sess just yet¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Nohime muttered with surprise. But a split secondter, she, Oda Nobunaga, as well as all of the other evil ghosts in the Honnoji realm immediately exploded with a great rush of Yin energy. Within moments, the leaves and branches of the surrounding trees began to wither at a pace that was visible to the naked eye.

    Four centuries of longing¡­

    Nippon. I, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, have finally arrived!

    Akechi Mitsuhide, Azai Nagamasa, and my old rival, Takeda Shingen¡­ I wonder how thrilled you guys will be to finally reunite with me?

 Chapter 259: Principles (2)

    <h4>Chapter 259: Principles (2)</h4>

    Evil ghosts abounded, darting between the colossal serpentine body that had emerged from the surface of the sea at various parts.

    Anitya Hellguards were existences that couldn¡¯t be understood through the lens with which one viewed ordinary Yin spirits. After all, they were already existences that could traverse the mortal realm by day, and they were no longer bound by the constraints of the witching hours at night.

    The colossal body of Kuki Yoshitaka emerged from the surface of the waters, turning the entire area around the cruise liner into a forbidden ground for the living. Several minutester, sixteenhermes lit up from the depths of the seas.

    Boom!

    Boom, boom, boom!!

    With a deafening gush like that of a water spout, eight silhouettes dashed straight out of the waters, sending copious amounts of water into the sky that soon rained down like a torrential downpour.

    Ssss!! Roar!!! Their terrifying cries could be heard hundreds of miles away. Even Azai Nagamasa heard them in the distance, and he furrowed his brows slightly, ¡°The Samurai of the Seas has finally revealed his true form.¡±

    ¡°Seems like it.¡± A voice that was filled with belligerence responded from the mast above Azai Nagamasa, ¡°I¡¯d like to see how many of my attacks the eight-headed corpse of the deadly cicada will be able to withstand in its true form¡­¡±

    Azai Nagamasa cast a long, bloodthirsty look across the surface of the seas. He was now infinitely close to the realization of his centuries-long dream, and he couldn¡¯t help but tremble with excitement at the prospects of its fulfillment. Nevertheless, he suppressed the flux of emotions in his heart and responded with a deep voice, ¡°Heihachiro, it¡¯s still not time for you to make a move. Bear with it.¡±

    ¡°Hmph¡­¡± The man on the mast snorted back. There were several daimyos standing around, all of whom were Hellguards in their own rights, and yet not a single person dared rebuke that man.

    ¡°You¡¯re the sharpest spear across all of Nippon¡­ That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you to wait a little while more. As soon as the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl shows up, that¡¯s when it¡¯s time for you to make a move¡­¡±

    ¡°Today¡­ apart from those whose bodies are protected by the Blessings of Virtue, none of the rest shall leave the Strait of Tsushima alive!¡±

    None of the cultivators around the cruise ship were aware of the conversation that transpired some distance away. And even if they did, it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference, because the impending crisis that loomed over them right nowprised of eight heads that appeared to rise from the depths of the seabed. This was a terrifying sea creature that was the stuff of nightmares.

    This isn¡¯t a sea serpent at all¡­

    Every single scale on the sea monster¡¯s body had the face of a grievous human being imprinted on it, while copious amounts of Yin energy spewed out from the gaps between his scales. Each of these faces belonged to the innumerable people the eight-headed corpse of the deadly cicada had consumed over thest few centuries, including fishermen and naval soldiers alike.

    Kuki Yoshitaka¡¯s palms were stained with mountains of bloodshed.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± The priest-like cultivator stared listlessly at the overwhelming developments in front of him, and his knees immediately buckled, ¡°Hell¡­ this is no different from hell on earth!¡±

    None of the others could find any words to express their current feelings as well. They could tell that the difference in abilities between a Soul Hunter and an Anitya Hellguard was as great as the heaven was from the earth. In fact, the disy of the sea monster¡¯s might was so overwhelming that a section of the surviving cultivators immediately lost all heart and will to fight.

    The only one who continued to stand tall in the face of indomitable might was the Cathayan cultivator who had broken the physical limitations of his body.

    Yet it was no different from a rabbit standing tall against a tyrannosaurus rex.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always admired Lady Izanami for some of the words she¡¯s said.¡± Eight pairs of ming eyes stared straight at the Cathayan cultivator, ¡°The Cathayan underworld has ruled over the underworlds for far too long. One day, we shall ravage through the Cathayan underworld just like what our mortal realm counterparts did to you some years back. We¡¯ll etch the definition of humble servility into the marrows of your bones. Blood will be paid by blood. And one day, we shall uproot the Cathayan underworld altogether and be the number one underworld in the East.¡±

    ¡°Even though Lady Izanami thinks that the time still isn¡¯t right, but¡­ I¡¯m most certain she wouldn¡¯t object to the collection of some interest on our longstanding blood feud¡­¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, every single one of its eight heads charged straight towards the cultivator with a defiant roar.

    ¡°Scram!!¡± The cultivator¡¯s entire body flourished with ayer of scarlet true energy, which quickly condensed into an ancient armor that gleamed with a golden glow. And then, he, too, charged straight towards the multi-headed monster.

    Unfortunately, his feeble attempt derived an equally feeble result.

    The difference between their abilities was far too wide. As soon as the hydra got serious, the attacks of the cultivator became no different from striking a stone with an egg. The cultivator¡¯s lips twitched uncontrobly as he attempted to pull back to put some distance between them. Unfortunately, the hydra was quicker than he was, and the long tongues from five of its heads instantlyshed out like lightning, binding each limb and the head of the cultivator, and suspending him in mid-air like a cruel form of punishment.

    ¡°I¡¯m really curious.¡± The hydra¡¯s voice boomed like thunder, ¡°What gave you the confidence to confront a Hellguard-ss Yin spirit all on your own? After all, Hellguards are rare existences, even by the standards of the mortal realm. Haven¡¯t you personally witnessed the abilities of a Hellguard? Or¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then continued with a wailing voice, ¡°DId you really think you can subjugate me with your meagre flourish of abilities?¡±

    However, the cultivator simply shut his eyes and revealed a faint smile on his face, almost as though he had already anticipated an oue like this, ¡°Because¡­ as a human being¡­¡±

    ¡°We live by our principles¡­¡±

    The rest of the cultivators who heard the Cathayan cultivator¡¯s words immediately bit down on their lips and raised their heads to watch his swan song.

    The figure suspended in mid-air was iparably small next to the massive hydra, and yet¡­ he seemedrger than ever before.

    ¡°Everyone!!¡± That cultivator cried out hoarsely before any of them could lower their heads, ¡°What are you still waiting for?!!¡±

    ¡°Have you all forgotten the oaths you¡¯d taken back then when we first registered with the Special Investigations Department? That oath that we swore on our hearts with our hands to our chest!!¡±

    His eyes grew bloodshot as he cried out with all his might, ¡°Yin and Yang should never intersect. All who vite this cardinal rule shall be summarily executed!!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what their objectives are. As cultivators, this¡­ is our duty and purpose¡­¡±

    A gruesome ripping sound of flesh cut him off mid-sentence. The five tongues had ripped his entire body apart, limb from limb, and a rain of blood sttered down into the gaping mouths of the hydra below.

    ¡°So¡­ what good is there being human?¡±

    ¡°Haa--...¡± Time appeared to freeze in that instant. The Cathayan cultivators shut their eyes almost simultaneously, and the scenes of their past shed before their very eyes.

    It was as though they were recalling the start of their journey, when they had been young and bright-eyed.

    From the time their cultivation journey began, they were already more well-informed than most of the regr human beings. Then, as they grew, they passed the qualification examinations of the well-reputed Special Investigations Department, and eventually came to be appointed as one of the Divine Protectors of the country, where they would continue growing from strength to strength, rising from the ranks of a rtively unknown Operative-ss expert to be a Hunter-ss expert that was highly sought after¡­

    How much resources had they consumed and depleted over the years, throughout the course of their journey?

    Who was the one who had offered them this great opportunity of growth all this while?

    Every single one of them suddenly recalled that fateful day, decades ago, when they had stood under the national g with boiling blood and their hands on their chest as they swore the very same oath that all who came before and after them did. This was the first cardinal rule that they swore to uphold and enforce that day - Yin and Yang should never intersect. All vitors shall be summarily executed!

    And the second cardinal rule that they swore to uphold was this - All who retreat in the face of Yin spirit shall be summarily executed for treason!

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± An old nun slowly opened her eyes, and wisps of scarlet true energy began to flow from her seven apertures. She chuckled abruptly, ¡°After bing a Soul Hunter, I was so highly sought after that¡­ I becamecent about life, and I forgot about these rules that I¡¯d sworn that fateful day¡­¡±

    Boom! To Kuki Yoshitaka¡¯s great surprise, a cloud of scarlet true energy erupted from her body, and the figure of a slender young woman stepped out momentster. Thedy stared at her body that had reverted back to its twenties as she smiled faintly, ¡°As expected, women are better off being younger.¡±

    Her smile promptly faded away, and she raised her hands and curled her finger provocatively at the colossal corpse of the deadly cicada on the waters, ¡°First disciple of the Path of the Golden Core, Chu Mingxia. Come at me.¡±

    But another explosion of scarlet true energy interrupted her before she could even finish speaking. A young man stepped out of the mist of blood and nced at his hands with great delight, ¡°It¡¯s not that bad to be born a human.¡±

    ¡°Core disciple of the Emperor Sect, Wang Zhenghua. Come at me.¡±

    Boom, boom, boom¡­ A dozen or so other sources of true energy erupted like a chain explosion, and the entire vessel was covered with a thick cloud of scarlet true energy in an instant!

    ¡°Disciple of the Nephrite Monastary, Ming Quanzi. Bring it on.¡± ¡°Core disciple of the Dragon Gate Temple, Cheng Quan. Please guide me.¡± ¡°Inner disciple of the Freedom Peak, Bai Tianyi. Let¡¯s do this.¡±

    ¡°Are they¡­ crazy?¡± The foreign cultivators couldn¡¯t understand what was going on. They weren¡¯t aware of the severity of the supernatural outbreaks in Cathay, and they naturally couldn¡¯t understand what measures the government had resorted to just to quell and control the situation as best they could. Consequently, they couldn¡¯t understand the kind of oaths the agents of the Special Investigations Department had taken upon their conscription either.

    Thus, they were unable to understand the boiling feelings coursing through their veins right now.

    People weren¡¯t born as human beings just to eat, drink and take dumps.

    Each and every person was born with their own principles and personal convictions as well.

    Ignoring the presence of the foreign cultivators, the twenty-five remaining Cathayan cultivators stood tall in formation at the bow of the cruise liner, staring intently back at the colossal hydra that towered above them.

    The terrifying sea monster stared right back at the puny humans in front of them with some measure of astonishment. They were no different from moths to him. Even if he ignored them right now, none of these human beings would live to see the light of the next day.

    ¡°But¡­ at least these moths have proven their worth¡­¡± Kuki Yoshitaka sighed with great exmation, ¡°I acknowledge your valiant fighting spirit.¡±

    ¡°I, the Pirate of Hachiman, Samurai of the Seas, shall leave your corpses intact upon death¡­¡±

    With that determination in his heart, the massive hydra charged straight towards the formation of Cathayan cultivators!

    However, as soon as it drew near, the formation of cultivators immediately erupted with true energy, propelling them forward by over twenty meters until theynded directly on the behemoth¡¯s body, where they clung onto its hair as they began to fly into action. Within a split second, dozens of techniques rained down heavily on the body of the colossal beast.

    Unfortunately, their efforts appeared to be in vain!

    Their attacks did nothing more than to scratch the surface of the hydra¡¯s skin. Nevertheless, it triggered a furious roar that shook the sky. In that instant, one of the cultivators bellowed in a loud voice, ¡°Not good!! Retreat!¡±

    He put up his defense without hesitation. Unfortunately, there were others who didn¡¯t manage to react in time.

    A momentter, the hair on the head of the hydra exploded, stabbing out like vicious swords that pierced the bodies of several cultivators in an instant. With a look of great resignation in their eyes, these cultivators soon plummeted into the sea below.

    Within moments, innumerable dark silhouettes rushed over to their corpses, and the surface of the sea was dyed a grotesque crimson colour in the wake of their approach.

    ¡°Evil ghosts¡­¡± Chu Mingxia¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly with passion as she made a series of hand seals and spat out a crimson pellet from her mouth. Then, with the great cry of a phoenix, she flicked the pellet straight towards the skull of the corpse of the deadly cicada.

    Simultaneously, the surviving cultivators also mustered all of their true energy without reservation, and a dazzling disy of a dozen techniques soon painted streaks of colours across the sky.

    A wooden sword gleamed dangerously as it shot straight towards the hydra with the illusory body of a sprinting coyote. An immting copper bell affixed with talismans and seals rushed forward as well¡­ Every single one of the surviving cultivators knew full well that they couldn¡¯t afford to pull any punches in the face of such a colossal beast. Thus, they had all resorted to the most powerful techniques that they had hidden up their sleeves. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t quite appreciate the extent of the vast chasm thaty between a Soul Hunter and an Anitya Hellguard.

    ¡°You overestimate yourself.¡± Kuki Yoshitaka nced at them with ridicule. And then, the throats of the eight heads abruptly swelled at the same time, before it released an earth-shattering roar a split secondter!

    ROAAAARRRR!!! The powerful roar sent ripples sweeping across the surface of the waters that quickly rose to the height of tsunamis. In fact, the roar was so powerful that even the air itself seemed to quake unstably. Innumerable fishes instantly flipped over and floated motionlessly to the surface of the waters. Even the birds on the distant ind stirred with great rm. That single roar contained so much energy that it was no different from a small storm!

    BOOM!! The cataclysmic sonic st swept past the surviving cultivators, silencing them in an instant. A momentter, blood seeped out of their seven apertures, and they promptly plummeted down into the waters below.

 Chapter 260: Chidori, A Thousand Birds (1)

    <h4>Chapter 260: Chidori, A Thousand Birds (1)</h4>

    ¡°That¡¯s why I say that actions speak louder than words. I have to say that the quality of Cathayan cultivators are getting worse and worse with each generation that passes¡­ If that¡¯s the extent of abilities that Cathayan cultivators are capable of right now, it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before the Nipponese reigns over Cathay again.¡± Kuki Yoshitaka licked his lips greedily as he watched everyone fall into the waters. And then, eight tonguesshed out abruptly.

    It¡¯s unstoppable¡­

    Such a pity¡­ to be born a human, only to perish without the dignity of a human being¡­ For some strange reason, this peculiar notion surfaced in Chu Mingxia¡¯s mind in the final moments of her life, and she actually chuckled softly to herself.

    But, just then--...

    Instead, the only thing he heard was the shrill shrieks of the corpse of the deadly cicada.

    A rain of arrows were pelting down on the colossal beast like meteorites, hurtling down from the heavens while leaving a trail of smoldering mes in its wake. The hundreds of arrows were akin to broad brushstrokes that painted brilliant streaks of light through the canvass of the night skies. The first salvo thatnded had struck three of the hydra¡¯s heads squarely!

    ¡°Reinforcements¡­ reinforcements have truly arrived¡­ Hang on! No! How could there possibly be reinforcements?!!¡±

    All of the survivors on the surface of the waters werepletely dumbfounded. Back in the cargo hold, Master Kamo abruptly stood up. His face was flushed, and his hair scattered about wildly as he pulled out a talisman of decree. Then, he activated it and instructed with a quiver in his voice, ¡°Tengu army of the Onmyoji¡­ heed themand of the current young master of the Onmyojis. This is a kill order¡­¡±

    Oooooooo! A long horn sounded across the surface of the waters. In an instant, and to the great surprise of all cultivators around, the Tengu army pped their wings and closed the remaining distance between them and the current battleground. They wore their usual white shrine uniforms and ck hats, and they each held a longbow in their hands. As they flocked over to the epicenter of the battlefield, it looked no different from a migratory swarm of birds crossing the surface of the seas.

    ¡°Battle array?¡± Ming Quanzi gasped. This wasn¡¯t something that one would expect any ordinary faction or alliance to have in their possession. Even the Special Investigations Department owned no more than a hundred battle arrays at their disposal. To think that they would be able to see a Nipponese force employ something so extraordinary as a battle array!

    ¡°Onmyojis¡­ Damned Onmyojis!!!¡± Eight massive water spouts burst out of the water, followed closely by the emergence of its eight heads amidst a shower of rainwater. Their zing eyes turned scarlet, and they all stared at the Tengu army that was standing squarely across from them, ¡°How dare you muddy the waters? Well¡­ since you¡¯re looking for death, I¡¯ll happily oblige and send you on your way!!!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The surface of the sea began to roil and slosh about, and countless bubbles gurgled to the surface of the waters. Initially, all it generated were some small waves that quickly faded away. However, within ten seconds, the undtions of the waters grew so great that the eddy currents generated hundreds of foot-sized whirlpools that swirled about wildly!

    ¡°Pirate of Hachiman, Water Dragon Technique!!¡±

    The image appeared somewhat blurry, yet it clearly depicted a being with three horns on its head, three eyes, and an entire body of venal patterns. As soon as it appeared, it immediately lifted its head.

    Meanwhile, on the Strait of Tsushima, a man wearing great armor and armed with a ten meter spear was standing on the mast of a ship. Then, as if responding to the appearance of the illusory figure, it lifted its head.

    He had the body of a human being, and he appearedplete and unharmed!

    ¡°This isn¡¯t any different from watching a cockfight. It sure looks like there¡¯s not going to be a single worthy opponent this time¡­¡±

    Whoosh! The formidable water dragon instantly crumbled under the might of the golden arrow. But the scattering parts of the water dragon soon coalesced once more, each part drawing sufficient water from below to form their ownplete body. Within a split second, the surface of the sea was filled with countless roaring dragons!

    WHOOSSHHH!! The entire surface of the waters appeared to be torn asunder at once as the thunder of water dragons surged high into the sky and sted straight at the Tengu army formation. The leader of the Tengu army stared at the oing attack. His eyes narrowed. The battle array was powerful, but unfortunately¡­ their numbers were too few.

    They, too, were humans. And as humans, they had their own set of beliefs and principles.

    The corpse of the deadly cicada¡¯s terrifying Yin energy had dyed the waters around itpletely ck in colour. The wails of countless evil ghosts echoed through the skies and the waters, only to be drowned out by the roars and sonic booms generated by the water dragons. Yet, faced with such a terrifying opponent, not a single member of the Tengu army retreated.

    The image donned a Tengu mask that was far more ferocious than the ones each individual soldier wore. Its body was covered with a ck feather weave, and its white hair scattered menacingly about in the sky. The massive Tengu stood over thirty meters tall, and it held a dagger in its left hand and a bell in its right. Simultaneously, the exposed skin of each individual Tengu soldier began to show signs of aging and withering.

    Boom!! The water dragons arrived in an instant. And their powerful sh, caused the sea to tremble wildly in a one kilometer radius around them. The impact appeared no different from the st of a nuclear bomb, and waves surged up like mountain ranges, generating a massive whirlpool in its wake as they rushed into the surroundings.

    We can¡¯t hold on any longer¡­

    It was a stretch¡­ Facing such a powerful evil ghost with just a few hundred Tengu soldiers is far too much of a stretch¡­ Could this be¡­ the day we all perish¡­?

    The source of the golden light came from afar and bolted over incredibly quickly, and it instantly transformed into a golden insignia that danced and spun in the air. Within moments, it scattered into a massive ball of golden light formed by innumerable belts of lights that quickly began to shrink back once more.

    The bands of light were in fact entirelyposed of scriptures that hovered about like golden fireflies, standing tall in front of the Tengu army, devouring any attacksunched at it. The air trembled lightly, and the water dragons that were charging at the Tengu army were instantly sucked into the scriptures like a bottomless abyss. Then, the bands of scriptures shrank abruptly and transformed into a fist-sized ball of light as it shot off into the distance.

    All eyes looked into the distance where the golden ball of light had darted towards.

    And there were three men wearing conical bamboo hats and dressed in Nipponese monk¡¯s robes standing stoic like statues right at the bow of the ship. They had the exact same posture to them, with a hand pressing down on their conical bamboo hat and the other holding onto a zen staff. The true energy that surrounded them revealed that they were existences who were only a single step away from the realms of a Hellguard!

    ¡°Guardian monks from Mount Koya?!¡± The corpse of the deadly cicada gasped, ¡°Ahh¡­ these damned Onmyojis and monks from Mount Koya. How dare you maggotse stir the pot and muddy the waters right in front of the eyes of Azai Nagamasa¡­¡±

    A mortal¡¯s struggle¡­ was a sight that was normally beautiful to him. He thoroughly enjoyed the process of encountering mortals that were brimming with ambition and fighting spirit, only to slowly whittle away at it until they were drowning in the mires of despondence. But¡­ not now!

    ¡°Thundergod, Red Demon, Viper¡­ I¡¯m sick and tired of waiting any longer. Waiting can be a joy, but right now, all I want to do is to tear them apart and swallow Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul.¡± He shut his eyes, fervently repressing the trembling excitement in his heart, ¡°Therefore, may I invite you to make a move. I would like to see the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl ced in front of me within the next half an hour.¡±

    Silence.

    And then, a momentter, boundless Yin energy erupted from their bodies!

    Yin energy wrapped around the three mighty Hellguard-ss Yin spirits as they bolted towards the cruise liner, leaving a trail of grimhermes in the wake of their path of travel!

    <hr>

    1. Fans of Naruto might know it from there. ording to Japanese lore, Susanoo-no-Mikoto is a kami and the younger brother of Amaterasu. He¡¯s a multifaceted deity with both good and bad characteristics, and he¡¯s often depicted as a wild, impetuous god.

    2. This Tengu protects Atago shrine, which is devoted to the deity Izanagi (male counterpart and brother of Izanami). He was assigned to this job by Buddha about 3,000 years ago and considered the representative of all the other Tengu in Japan.

 Chapter 261: Chidori, A Thousand Birds (2)

    <h4>Chapter 261: Chidori, A Thousand Birds (2)</h4>

    Back in the cargo hold.

    That said, Jingo and Dojin were fully aware that this was hardly something that they could keep up indefinitely!

    ¡°How much longer is he going to take?¡± Dojin mmed his palms together. Beads of sweat were already rolling off his forehead. After all, maintaining such a powerful technique for a protracted period of time necessarily consumed a great amount of his true energy reserves. He had already eliminated innumerable Yin spirits, but the current of Yin spirits appeared to be endless. Furthermore, they were already knee-deep in seawater by now.

    Hurry up¡­ Hurry up! You¡¯d better be able to break the seal on the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl before Azai Nagamasa wisens up to the situation. Otherwise¡­ we¡¯re going to have to face several Hellguards all on our own, and death would be the only possible oue!

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you able to do anything to stop these Yin spirits?¡± Jingo gritted his teeth.

    It still had the disy of Justice Bao¡¯s might and authority hidden up its sleeves. However, that wasn¡¯t something which it could use freely and callously. In fact, it could only use it once. In other words, it was the ace up its sleeves - its hidden killing trump card. After all, Justice Bao wasn¡¯t even on earth any longer, so how mighty could this lingering disy of authority possibly be?

    Back then, Ming Shiyin had already consumed a substantial part of Justice Bao¡¯s lingering authority on the mirror, and there wasn¡¯t much left at its disposal right now. Furthermore, there were other variables to consider in the present circumstances, especially since someone within Azai Nagamasa¡¯s army could very well be in possession of the Book of Life and Death. Nobody knew who it was¡­ just like how nobody knew when General Sun Jian found one of the emperor¡¯s jade seals back in ages past. On the other hand, if it were to callously release its disy of Justice Bao¡¯s might, their opponents might well be able to adopt countermeasures by tapping into the strength of the Book of Life and Death. With what little bit of Justice Bao¡¯s aura it had left at its disposal, Ming Shiyin wasn¡¯t confident of overpowering the primordial treasure of Hell at all.

    They were caught between a rock and a hard ce. Who could have expected the Nipponese underworld to pick up the Book of Life and Death at such a critical juncture?

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Dojin cursed, while Ming Shiyin turned a deaf ear to him. In reality, there was already a massive tide of Yin energy that was spinning wildly in the heart of its body. If one looked close enough, he would be able to notice a faint source of light spinning softly in the center of the otherwise pitch-ck surface of the mirror, almost like a point of singrity from which an entire universe would erupt.

    Krr¡­ krr¡­ krr¡­ Just then, the nails that had been driven into the hull of the cruise liner were abruptly pulled out at once, and seawater began to rush into the cargo hold. Simultaneously, innumerable Yin spirits began to pour in through the beehive-like holes in the hull.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be able to hold on for long!¡± Jingo turned back and bellowed loudly, ¡°The Yin energy is growing too dense. At the present rate of erosion, I can at best hold up for only five minutes! And then, the scriptures plugging the gaps will crumble. You¡­¡±

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Dojin also gasped at exactly the same time. And even Ming Shiyin turned around abruptly and nced warily at the surroundings.

    They had just detected the impending approach of three Hellguard-ss sources of Yin energy! And each of these sources of energy was no weaker than Kuki Yoshitaka himself! These Yin spirits were on apletely different ne of existence than the other Yin spirits around right now!

    Ming Shiyin immediately grew taciturn. The Hellguard-ss monks weren¡¯t able to see what was happening outside the cargo hold, but Ming Shiyin could. Therefore, it was keenly aware that the waters outside were boiling and gurgling. A great inferno ofhermes was zing around the three sources of great Yin energy as they raced at top speed to the cargo hold of the cruise liner!

    It was almost as though the lesser creatures of the mountain had all scattered to give way to the majestic tiger that had just crawled out of its den.

    Boom, boom, boom! A split secondter, the dense cloud of Yin energy mmed heavily into the cargo hold of the cruise line, and rather than allowing copious amounts of water to enter the cargo hold, the breach in the hull was instead filled with a great wall ofhermes. In an instant, the entire external hull of the cruise liner was covered in a jade-green ze and filled with eerie shrieks, screams and cries of a chorus of grievous souls.

    Drip¡­ It was a dark moonless night. The sudden interchange between light and dark caused everyone to be momentarily blinded. And right at that moment, they all heard a soft sound cut through the tense silence.

    That was the sound of a de being unsheathed from its scabbard.

    Time appeared to freeze at this instant. Dojin and Jingo held their breaths and suppressed the loud thumping of their hearts to a minimum. The sudden onset of darkness had caused their other senses to perk up with great sensitivity. And that was precisely why they were now able to sense the palpable, murderous intent that crept along their skin.

    A bright gleam of de light flickered through the darkness, slicing cleanly through the Moonlit Night and cutting straight at Dojin¡¯s head!

    ¡°What an alluring smell¡­¡± A faint voice spoke amidst the pitch-ck darkness, ¡°We¡¯re both Hellguards, but¡­ do you really think you¡¯d be able to stop us on your own?¡±

    Mount Koya¡¯s hidden technique, the Moonlit Night, had actually been unable to resist a single blow from the Hellguard-ss daimyo.

    Dojin gasped in horror, and immediately stood back to back with Jingo. His lips trembled as he ran his finger across the wound on his face with great disbelief. Too fast¡­ To think that I wasn¡¯t even able to respond to the speed of his attacks.

    BOOM!! As if in response to his question, spots ofhermes suddenly illuminated the inside of the cargo hold like beautiful fireflies hovering eerily within a gloomy ice cave in the middle of winter. They twirled about in the air, dancing about, before quickly converging together into a great ze. Momentster, a figure dressed in a red great armor that was immting withhermes opened its scarlet eyes and walked out slowly from the great ze.

    ¡°The fragrance of the living¡­ is delightful¡­¡± Murmuring, the red-armored figure spread his arms, as though embracing the darkness around him.

    ¡°You seem to know who I am.¡± The zing scarlet pupils turned to the two monks. The man in the red armor unsheathed his katana and gently ran his finger across its de, ¡°Then, do you know my sword as well?¡±

    How could we not recognize what it is¡­

    And his five foot long katana called A Thousand Birds was exactly what he used to cleave down the bolt of lightning when it struck him.

    ¡°Master Dosetsu¡¯s name has spread far and wide. There are few people in the world who wouldn¡¯t know you.¡± Another voice interjected. Anotherrge set of armor covered in crimson mes walked out of the darkness, dragging a long spear on the ground. The spear was stained with copious amounts of dark and grotesque dried blood.

    Here was a genius who hadmanded the Takeda Red Demons at the tender age of twenty one, whose spear and armor was dyed red by the blood of his foes. This was none other than the Red Demon himself, Ii Naomasa!

    It didn¡¯t matter how confident Dojin and Jingo had been earlier. As soon as these legendary figures from the annals of history showed up, they immediately felt a chill creep right over their hearts.

    Furthermore, he was the only one whose eyes were lit with a peculiar, whiteherme. That said, his body unmistakably exuded the aura of an Anitya Hellguard. The strength of an evil ghost was inextricably linked to a person¡¯s battlefield achievements while he was still alive. The fact that he was an Anitya Hellguard right now spoke volumes of his conquests in life.

    The man¡¯s white pupils swept across the two men emotionlessly as he quipped, ¡°If you¡¯ve already made your preparations¡­ then we¡¯ll send you on your way.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This was an event that happened in the 2nd century AD. It is said that he found one of the jade seals in a well and kept it. However, when Yuan Shu dered himself emperor, he held General Sun¡¯s wife hostage in exchange for the seal.

    2. A Japanese sword drawing technique.

    3. Legend has it that he survived because he cut down the thundergod in the lightning bolt with his sword.

 Chapter 262: Chidori, A Thousand Birds (3)

    <h4>Chapter 262: Chidori, A Thousand Birds (3)</h4>

    Spectral rabble, disperse. None shall enter.

    Drip¡­ A bead of cold sweat rolled off Master Kamo¡¯s nose. His snow-white, gleaming sword was raised in front of him, reflecting his impably staid look. Then, just as the bead of sweat struck the surface of the ground, Tachibana Dosetsu made his move.

    His approach was so quick that the three human beings were unable to consciously react in time. This was a battle where their subconscious reflexes formted by years of gruelling training took over. Before Master Kamo could even make his move, Dojin had already mmed his hands onto the ground. A split secondter, ten thousand silver waves rushed up from the ground, giving breath to innumerable Sanskrit words that faded away as quickly as they blossomed.

    Master Kamo was only a Soul Hunter, so how could he possibly react as quickly as an Anitya Hellguard? He had only managed to pull out an origami from his sleeve when the ground shook with an earth-shattering tremor, almost as though the entire cruise liner had been split entirely in half.

    ¡°Damn it!!!¡± Dojin bellowed furiously as he made another series of hand seals and mmed his palms together. Kakaka! The Moonlit Night immediately flourished with a silvery lustre once more, instantly erecting four consecutive barricades in an instant.

    ¡°Ahhhhh¡­¡± ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡± ¡°Wuu¡­ wuu¡­ It hurts¡­ It¡¯s terrible¡­¡±

    It was almost as if¡­ they had descended into the deepest abysses of Hell.

    They¡¯re unstoppable¡­

    We¡¯re dead¡­ we¡¯re definitely dead¡­

    There was dead silence within the cargo hold right now. Apart from the faint silvery light emanating from the Moonlit Night, their surroundings werepletely obscured in darkness by the dense cloud of Yin energy all around them. And just then, pairs of scarlet eyes suddenly opened up in the darkness.

    It was almost as though they were walking along grass ins at night, surrounded by endless darkness, and a multitude of ghosts that were staring intently at them.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that you were able to block that strike from Chidori, A Thousand Birds¡­ It looks like Mount Koya hasn¡¯t been cking off over thest hundreds of years¡­¡± A hoarse voice spoke through the darkness, causing the Yin energy outside to flow once more. Just then, Dojin was struck with a sudden realization. He gasped stiffly in horror, and instinctively took several steps back.

    It was like an anchor that had sunk to the bottom of the river. Every time it moved, it would naturally stir the waters around it.

    ¡°Then¡­ to reward your efforts, I shall give it my all as an expression of gratitude towards you¡­¡±

    Gusts ofhergale swept through the cargo hold with each word that was enunciated. And though thehergale seemed harmless and benign, its soft caresses against the Moonlit Night actually whittled away at it until it was no more! It was almost as though¡­ the source of the softhergales were the breaths of a massive prehistoric beast!

    This was the first time he had felt such despondence in the face of an evil ghost.

    With two great tremors, the curtain of Yin energy was swept aside, and two hellish asuras stood right in front of them!

    The one on the right had white hair, long fangs which protruded out of the mouth, and two faces on a single head. Its entire body was crimson red, and it wore essories made out of human bones everywhere. It brandished its spear menacingly. Yin energy poured out of its seven apertures with every breath it took, taking on an ephemeral image of evil spirits before quickly fading into the surroundings. Both of its feet were standing on human skulls which zed with raginghermes.

    The strength of any Yin spirit depended on three main factors. The first was the extent of its grievances and resentment, as well as its status in life. The second was the opportunities presented to it after death. And the third set of factors were only applicable to a small sliver of people whose lives had been incredibly stormy and tumultuous. Only these people would be Rakshasas upon death, and their strength¡­ their strength¡­ Hang on!

    Something suddenly urred to him.

    Where¡¯s thest person?

    Thundergod and Red Demon had dazzled them with their appearance so much that none of the humans noticed Qin Ye¡¯s shadow¡­ had already risen from the ground.

    ¡°Stop!!¡± Master Kamo screamed at the top of his voice. Simultaneously, the two Rakshasas made their move.

    The world appeared to go silent at that very instant.

    ¡°Moon--¡­¡± The only thing that Dojin could see right now was the billowing Yin energy that filled the room. His hands were already primed with the next technique to be unleashed. Unfortunately, the tide of Yin energy was already wild beyond belief, thrashing about and sending them flying several meters away before they could even react with a single move. Blood instantly began to seep out of Dojin¡¯s seven apertures.

    ¡°Ssss-- Yaaaaahhh!!¡± Red Demon unleashed a heaven-defying cry as his white hair scattered about wildly. Then, his entire body transformed into a gale of Yin energy that rushed straight towards the silhouette that was silently seated on the ground.

    There it is!!

    ¡°Lord Nobunaga¡­ I¡¯ming¡­ I¡¯m finallying for you! Hahahaha!!!¡± Thundergod also let out a shrill shriek as he stabbed straight at the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl in front of Qin Ye. Meanwhile, the shadow that was looming over Qin Ye¡¯s body was also no more than a decimeter away from Qin Ye¡¯s neck!

    Buzz¡­ The eyes of the three evil ghosts flickered wildly, and they instinctively retreated several meters as they warily sized up Qin Ye.

    It was the final trump card that was protecting Qin Ye.

    And then, it sighed wistfully, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to resort to this¡­ But since you¡¯re courting death, then don¡¯t me me for what I¡¯m about to do¡­¡±

    An extreme sensation of fear suddenly washed over Thundergod¡¯s heart, and he gasped in horror. Then, without another word, it transformed into a cloud of Yin energy that rushed back out of the cargo hold, screaming as he went as quickly as he could. Red Demon and Viper did exactly the same thing. Three great streams of Yin energy rushed out of the cargo hold just like that. In fact, even Kuki Yoshitaka paused where he was and turned to look at the cruise ship abruptly.

    With that, the singrity on the surface of the mirror that appeared to contain the universe finally exploded with such great force as if it were giving birth to new stars ands!

    The entire Strait of Tsushima quaked violently in the very next second. Boundlesshermes immediately filled the entire region around the strait, and then¡­ as though they had heard the imperial summons, they began to rush straight towards the cruise liner!

    That¡¯s far too terrifying¡­ What in the world is that thing?! But¡­ even if I can¡¯t escape, I¡¯m not going to let you have it easy either!

    But as soon as the shadow serpent arrived in front of Qin Ye, a powerful source of Yin energy abruptly erupted from within Qin Ye¡¯s body. And then, a spirit streamer appeared in the air, spinning like an umbre and preventing all further advances from the shadow serpent.

    Qin Ye had finally opened his eyes.

    ¡°I seem to have timed it perfectly.¡± Qin Ye stood up slowly as hundreds of scarlet eyes lit up in the dark vortex behind. Every single eye stared intently at Viper.

    It¡¯s almost as though he has crawled back through the vast rivers of time¡­

    The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven¡­ has finally returned!

    ¡°Ahh¡­ I¡¯d never expected you to be the first one to greet me¡­ dear father-inw¡­¡± An excited whisper echoed through the vortex of Yin energy as a massive head peeked out from its depths, ¡°Tremble before me¡­ Nippon, I, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, have finally returned to this world!!!¡±

 Chapter 263: Undefiled Corpse (1)

    <h4>Chapter 263: Undefiled Corpse (1)</h4>

    Everything appeared to be taking ce in slow motion. Azai Nagamasa¡¯s pupils narrowed immediately. The daimyos dressed in great armor on board the irond warship opened their eyes abruptly, revealing a pair of zinghermes. In fact¡­ there were even some daimyos who subconsciously shrank back in fear.

    Even the Yin energy detectors located in East Cathay, including Eastsea and Yan Capital, red with great rm.

    Elsewhere, in a vi located in one of the three provinces in Northeast Cathay, an old man dressed in a long, luxurious robe suddenly rose from his bed like a Jiangshi and cried out with a heart-rending scream as his entire body dissolved into Yin energy.

    ¡°Men¡­ escort me away¡­ escort me away right now!! He¡¯sing for me¡­ he¡¯sing for me! The armies of hell are moving again!¡±

    Yama rises, all ghosts shall retreat!

    ¡°Does this mean that¡­ Hell¡­ has finally opened its gates?!¡±

    This was an existence that had caused the underworlds of the West to look to the East with great reverence and awe.

    Whizz¡­ Innumerable spots ofhermes swirled around the cruise ship in an instant. And then¡­ the seawater parted, leaving a huge berth of approximately one thousand meters in radius between the cruise liner and the waters around it. And, just like that, the cruise liner remained suspended above the waters in mid-air.

    Countless miserable screams echoed from the massive hole in the waters. A towering mountain of des had appeared, replete with innumerable gleaming des that hovered about as they patrolled the mountain. ming meteors rained down around it. There was also a gathering of evildoers whose bodies were being ground away on a mill, or whose hearts and innards were being viciously carved right out of their bodies. Ox-Head, Horse-Face, as well as the Anitya Hellguards of the ck and White were standing guard motionlessly and emotionlessly to the side. No matter how much the sinners cried out in anguish, they could never escape the punishment that they were sentenced to.

    Tsunami.

    ¡°My¡­ god¡­¡± Back on the Strait of Tsushima, several daimyos couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror as they stared at the vigorous undtions of the surface of the seas. It was clear that a massive wave was just looming over the horizon. Then, with a great cry, they instantly transformed into gales of Yin energy and retreated back into the heart of Nippon.

    Back in the cargo hold. Ming Shiyin emitted a series of cking sounds as boundless Yin energy converged upon the surface of the mirror. At this moment, the point of singrity on the surface of the mirror had already begun to transform into an illusory image.

    The image of the godly existence exuded irresistible grace and a boundless might and authority that filled the oceans.

    Whoosh!

    BOOM!!!

    He could see that the cruise liner was the epicenter of the great explosion because there was a towering mushroom cloud of dense Yin energy spreading from the cruise liner, almost as though a nuclear bomb had detonated on the cruise liner itself.

    Run! Get out of here! Death awaits us if we approach that terrifying thing!

    Azai Nagamasa instantly snapped back to his senses and nced at the empty spaces left behind by the dozens of Hellguards that had fled for their lives. Right now, there was only a single Yin spirit remaining - a man dressed in a crimson red armor with antler horns was still standing on the mast of the ship.

    Azai Nagamasa gnashed his teeth with great resentment - Damn it¡­ DAMN IT!

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul was right under his nose. The Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl was already within his reach¡­ and yet he just couldn¡¯t get his hands on it!

    Simultaneously, the man dressed in the crimson red armor was also mid-way through his preparation to retreat when he suddenly looked up at the exact same time. His zing pupils flickered wildly.

    The man in the antler-horned red armor grew taciturn, and he discreetly ced his palm over his chest. Azai Nagamasa¡¯s reaction was so great that he failed to notice the discreet actions of the man on the mast. Otherwise, he would most certainly have noticed the existence of a flickering, dark light emanating from the man¡¯s chest.

    That said, the Yin energy emanating from this source was of far greater quality than the Yin energy emanating from either of their bodies!

    This was a phenomenon that only urred when a divine artifact encountered another divine artifact.

    The Book of Life and Death was currently summoning the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal!

    In other words, not even the overlords of the sea were able to resist being drawn into the tsunami. One could only imagine the kind of devastation when the tsunami finally came crashing down.

    ROAARRRR!!!

    ¡°Heihachiro¡­ Heihachiro!!!¡± Azai Nagamasa bellowed furiously, ¡°Imand you to act as my vanguard. Once my troops arrive we charge at him and take his life!¡±

    Whoosh! Heihachiro dragged his spear across the waters, seemingly cleaving a path through the surface of the waters as the skeletal horse charged forward. Within seconds, another figure leapt out of the waters behind him¡­ followed by another¡­ and then ten¡­ and then a hundred¡­ until finally, there were three hundred figures riding behind him in the exact same fashion, wearing a simr crimson armor, wielding a simr spear in their arms, and mounted on simr skeletal horses. The rampaging charge of the skeletal horses generated arge wave that followed after them. Together, they were engulfed in a great plume of Yin energy that bore down with a suffocating, murderous intent as they charged straight for the cruise liner.

    ¡°How dare you disobey the orders of themander-in-chief?!¡±

    ¡°Just you and which army?¡± Honda Tadakatsu sneered as he continued to stare transfixed at the cruise liner ahead of him, ¡°I can sense it¡­ you¡¯re on the ship¡­ and you¡­ must also be waiting for me, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    With that, three hundred Yin spirits mounted on three hundred skeletal horses charged over the waters as though they were galloping onnd. Their target? The cruise liner. And as they charged forward, wisps of white energy that waspletely different from the usual ck Yin energy began to flow out from Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s chest area. Then, several secondster, a fleshly body appeared underneath the otherwise empty armor!

    Book of Life and Death - reversal of Yin and Yang.

    This was because he could already smell the stench of burning and charring emanating from the heart of the cruise ship. This was the stench of Honnoji. He could even imagine how Oda Nobunaga, Murai Sadakatsu and Mori Ranmaru must be staring at him right now.

    So¡­ how could he possibly fail to reciprocate these feelings of theirs?

    The shockwave of Yin energy was only a thousand meters away from him right now, yet hepletely turned a blind eye to it. Instead, he shut his eyes and drew a deep breath. When he next opened his eyes again, a horn had already appeared in his hands. He promptly blew into the horn with all his might, and instantly, thousands of shadows rose into the sky from the small ind nearby.

    These dark silhouettes hovered over the ind like a ravenous flock of crows.

    Lady Izanami!

    In other words, this was the greatest trump card hidden up Azai Nagamasa¡¯s sleeves.

    Whoosh! He raised the banner of the Azai n in the air and gazed intently at the tide of Yin energy rushing towards him. Then, he donned his battle mask and rushed straight forward with wanton disregard!

    ¡°Kill¡­ kill them all!!!¡± Azai Nagamasa bellowed with spite that had festered for over four hundred years. His pupils zed with a menacing, scarletherme, ¡°We ride behind Honda Tadakatsu! Onwards, for Izanami-sama!!!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Honda Tadakatsu is also known as Honda Heihachiro

 Chapter 264: Undefiled Corpse (2)

    <h4>Chapter 264: Undefiled Corpse (2)</h4>

    ¡°Are they following behind us?¡± Honda Tadakatsu was leading the charge on the surface of the waters, and he nced back momentarily, ¡°You didn¡¯t disappoint me. You¡¯re worthy of your name, Azai-kun. Although I don¡¯t have any intentions of helping you in your quest to y Oda Nobunaga, but¡­ I¡¯ve got no qualms helping you reach the cruise liner safely.¡±

    With that, he turned back to look at the cruise ship once more with eyes that burned with great passion. Something told him that if he were able to y the people on the cruise and retrieve the divine artifact in their possession, then¡­ he would be able to reach new heights in his cultivation and be on par with Izanami!

    He had earlier chanced on this book upon his arrival at the Strait of Tsushima. Then, upon closer inspection, he realized that it could well be one of the primordial treasures of Hell, the Book of Life and Death.

    Thus, he did his best to keep the news of his discovery to himself. He even went about discreetly testing the powers of the artifact he had gained, thereby resulting in the incidents with the several ghost ships. And as soon as he ascertained the authenticity of the divine artifact, he no longer harboured any thoughts of remaining at the Strait of Tsushima.

    In other words, he had already been making ns to leave Yomi-no-Kuni altogether. However, things changed.

    I need to kill that man. Although I don¡¯t know what treasure he might be in possession of, the fact that it can create such resonance in the Book of Life and Death means that it¡¯s no ordinary artifact!

    And what if I¡¯m unable to kill that man?

    Honda Tadakatsu suddenly smiled - That¡¯s impossible.

    He was the strongest among all of the daimyos of the Nipponese Warring States era. He had beenpletely unscathed despite personally participating in dozens of battles. In other words, he was akin to a Nipponese Lu Bu.

    He was confident that there wasn¡¯t a single person under the heavens that he couldn¡¯t kill.

    ¡°Especially since¡­ I¡¯ve regained the use of my body again¡­¡± He clenched his fists with great satisfaction as he continued to plow straight towards the cruise liner with the three hundred cavalrymen under hismand.

    Rumble¡­ Justice Bao¡¯s disy of authority was right in front of them. The tide of Yin energy hadpletely blotted out the skies, while the tsunami had risen a hundred meters into the skies! However, Honda Tadakatsu didn¡¯t back down at all. He had a feeling that the Yin energy wouldn¡¯t be able to stop his charge at all.

    He drew closer and closer. The tide of Yin energy was hundreds of meters high, and one could even hear the mournful cry of innumerable souls echoing from its depths. It was almost as though one would find himself transported to hell as soon as he plowed into the dense cloud of Yin energy. Despite his fearlessness, even Honda Tadakatsu couldn¡¯t help but hold his breath and tighten his grip around the reins as he closed in on the daunting wall of Yin energy. However, his skeletal war horse only increased its speed, galloping so fast that it appeared no different from a meteorite.

    One hundred meters¡­ fifty meters¡­ twenty meters¡­ ten meters¡­ The violent tide of Yin energy caused the surface of the seas to slosh about wildly. Honda Tadakatsu took a deep breath and pointed the legendary spear known as the Tonbokiri, or the Dragonfly Cutter, ahead of him. It was a scene almost akin to Don Quixote and his jousting attack on windmills.

    ¡°Break!!!¡± He roared at the top of his might as he plowed straight through. With a great crashing sound, the three hundred cavalrymen behind him were instantly swallowed up by the great tide of Yin energy.

    Azai Nagamasa followed closely behind him. He gritted his teeth, and a brilliant red glow lit up from underneath his great armor. He pulled out the two katanas on his side and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°Break, break, break!!!¡±

    With that, he, too, followed Honda Tadakatsu straight into the wall of Yin energy without looking back.

    Boom, boom, boom! Thousands of paper airnes followed closely behind, plunging straight into the wall of Yin energy as well.

    ¡°They¡¯ve gone mad¡­¡± The rest of the daimyos who were fleeing for their lives personally witnessed what happened, but they weren¡¯t under any obligations to charge in after them. Instead, they only increased their speed and fled as quickly as they could. It didn¡¯t matter where they were running right now. The only thing that they cared about was escaping from the great shockwave of Yin energy that was quickly approaching them.

    Unfortunately, what they didn¡¯t realize was that the shockwave of Yin energy was only growing faster and faster, and it only closed in on them as time went by. Approximately ten secondster, the shockwave of Yin energy grew so tall that it formed a towering curtain of Yin energy that appeared to hang down to the ground from the dark canopy of the skies!

    This was the heaven-defying might of a Yama-King.

    ¡°What kind of monstrosity is this?!!¡± Tokugawa Ieyasu cried out with great rm. He was already among the quickest of the daimyos. Those whogged behind had already been consumed by the devastating shockwave without a single trace, and he could tell that the shockwave didn¡¯t show any signs of slowing down. Instead, it was only a few hundred meters away from him at this very instant!

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± He gritted his teeth and turned back abruptly, ¡°Guards¡­¡±

    But he immediately froze in shock as soon as he turned back.

    He was fully aware of the fact that he was an evil ghost.

    But, even then, the scene that was ying out right in front of his eyes was sufficient to send chills and shivers down his spine.

    This was because the expanding shockwave wasn¡¯t just a blooming wave of Yin energy. He could see innumerable hands congealed out of Yin energy that were reaching out of the shockwave, desperately attempting to grab hold of them as though their life depended on it. To make matters worse, he could see twisted and contorted faces writhing about in the cracks of these hands, wailing and shrieking in agony and anguish.

    It was a living hell.

    It was almost as though they would immediately be transported to the Great Anguish Abyssal Court. The mere thought of it caused his fiery pupils to flicker so dangerously that it almost went outpletely.

    tter¡­ Just then, one of the Yin energy hands managed to grab hold of his helmet. Tap, tap, tap¡­ Several other Yin energy hands soon caught on, holding the daimyo firmly down in ce. In turn, he was treated to the macabre, close-up disy of the anguished faces, squirming and squealing in pain.

    ¡°No¡­.¡± His mind went nk - How could it be so quick? How could an Anitya Hellguard be no different from fodder in the face of this terrifying existence?!

    What the hell is this thing?!

    ¡°No¡­ NO!! Let me go! I don¡¯t want to go to Hell!!¡±

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one screaming. In that instant, the shockwave swept across the entire Strait of Tsushima, and extended as far Iyoshima, as well as Pusan. All of the Yin spirits wandering the seas, regardless of ss, strength and willingness, were all swept away without resistance.

    Then, just as all of the daimyo¡¯s were screaming in despondence in the depths of the Yin energy, a cloud of white smoke suddenly appeared right in front of each of them. Within moments, the daimyos soon discovered to their great astonishment that the hands that were desperately pinning them down¡­ suddenly loosened.

    But before they could even react to the situation, the white cloud of smoke instantly transformed and congealed into the pale face of ady who instantly opened her mouth and swallowed them up.

    ¡°Hmph¡­ ahh¡­.. AHHHH!!!!¡± Ady¡¯s heart-rending scream reverberated through the Strait of Tsushima for dozens of seconds before finally dissipating into nothingness.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    No one was aware of the things that had happened in the heart of the cataclysmic Yin energy.

    Qin Ye had already transformed into his Hell¡¯s Emissary state and was standing at the bow of the cruise liner. Two thousand Umamawari soldiers formed up in their ranks behind him. He gazed into the distance where the storm was dying down and raised his eyebrows quizzically, ¡°Is it over?¡±

    ¡°What a pity.¡± He sighed wistfully in an attempt to y up his strength in front of his new subordinates, ¡°To think it ended so abruptly before I could even make a single move¡­ Lord Ming, you¡¯ve done well. I¡¯ll be sure to report your achievements to Justice Bao as soon as we¡¯re back. You should take credit for this.¡±

    If Qin Ye had said these words at any other time, the response he would¡¯ve gotten would most certainly be along the lines of, ¡°I¡¯ll credit you with @$#(&*^$&!¡± However, Ming Shiyin simply remained silent. The surface of the mirror flickered endlessly. But each time it did, the image that it revealed waspletely pitch-ck in colour.

    ¡°Pardon me.¡± Qin Ye cupped his hands to Oda Nobunaga, before walking towards Ming Shiyin. Oda Nobunaga didn¡¯t mind him at all. Instead, he simply grabbed hold of the cruise liner¡¯s railing with trembling hands, staring into the depths of the seas with bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? What mischief are you up to this time?¡± Qin Ye grabbed Ming Shiyin with furrowed brows and forcibly turned it around to face him.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Ming Shiyin drew a deep breath. It didn¡¯t respond with words on the surface of the mirror. Instead, it directly whispered back to Qin Ye, ¡°Something¡¯s wrong!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Ming Shiyin paused for some moments, and then hoarsely responded, ¡°They¡¯ve¡­ simply vanished.¡±

    ¡°The armies led by the daimyos have nearly beenpletely wiped out. But¡­ the daimyos themselves have been rescued by someone¡­ It shouldn¡¯t be like this¡­ something¡¯s up!!¡±

    Qin Ye lowered his eyes, ¡°The Strait of Tsushima isn¡¯t too far away from Nippon¡¯s territorial borders. It¡¯s not unreasonable to expect Izanami to make a move. After all, I did sense the presence of a formidable source of Yin energy earlier that came and went without a trace¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about!!!¡± Ming Shiyin trembled all over, ¡°Don¡¯t you understand?! If the Book of Life and Death were in Azai Nagamasa¡¯s hands, he would most certainly have unleashed its power! The disy of Justice Bao¡¯s authority might be immensely powerful, but it still wouldn¡¯t contain enough power topletely suppress one of the three primordial treasures of Hell! Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t do that¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions promptly turned grave and solemn, ¡°Conversely, it¡¯s precisely because the Book of Life and Death isn¡¯t in Azai Nagamasa¡¯s hands that the owner would rather let everyone be obliterated than to risk having his secret discovered by Azai Nagamasa. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to eviscerate the Yin soldiers of Yomi-no-Kuni so easily!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Ming Shiyin spoke with an austere tone of voice, ¡°Furthermore¡­ I¡¯ve done a quick scan of the surface of the waters earlier, and I discovered that I was unable to see a single thing. And this isn¡¯t because I¡¯ve gone blind. Rather¡­ it¡¯s because the owner of the Book of Life and Death is still around! When divine artifactse into close proximity with each other, they would naturally generate resonance between them. As long as the resonance is still active, all lesser artifacts will naturally be disable, and they won¡¯t be able to function!¡±

    ¡°Kid¡­¡± Ming Shiyin gulped nervously, ¡°The owner of the Book of Life and Death¡­ is looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore¡­ he¡¯s filled with confidence. He doesn¡¯t fear Oda Nobunaga, and he firmly believes he¡¯s able to seize the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal from you!¡±

    Qin Ye immediately broke out in cold sweat.

    Who is ¡®he¡¯?

    Which person of the Nipponese Warring States era could possibly possess such great confidence in his own abilities?

    A name immediately surfaced on his mind.

    Honda Tadakatsu!

    The strongest warrior during the Nipponese Warring States era!

    The legendary warrior who had never once been wounded despite having participated in dozens of battles!

    Retreat?

    If I retreat, the Book of Life and Death would likely be lost to me for an inordinate amount of time.

    Stay and fight?

    Impossible. How could an amateur martial artist like me possibly go toe to toe against a legendary Nipponese god of war? I¡¯d be whittled down to a stick in no time¡­

    But before he could follow his train of thought any further, he abruptly looked up and stared across the surface of the waters with great disbelief.

    He wasn¡¯t the only one. Oda Nobunaga looked up from hismentation and stared across the waters with an electrifying glint in his eyes.

    Murai Sadakatsu, who was standing right beside Nobunaga, drew his katana. Mori Ranmaru pulled out his dagger. In fact, all of the other samurais standing before them instantly looked up and stared warily across the surface of the waters, as though they were primed to react to an enemy ambush. Even the Umamawari horse guards raised their spears warily. In an instant, the entire cruise liner was filled with a tense atmosphere.

    Just then, a ttering sound could be heard in the distance.

    It was a galloping horse - a sound that they were all too familiar with.

    The sound was quickly followed by the faint image of a banner in the horizon. It bore¡­ the emblem of the Honda n.

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s pupils instantly zed with a greatherme, while the Umamawari horse guards gasped in shock. If the atmosphere earlier had been one filled with tension, then the ambience right now would be no different from a taut bowstring that was ready to fire.

    Here was a man whose name precedes him. There wasn¡¯t a single person who lived during the Nipponese Warring States era who hadn¡¯t heard of the conquests of the god of war, Honda Tadakatsu. Everyone knew of the legend who had never been hurt throughout the course of his conquests.

    The closer they drew, the faster they came. Within moments, three hundred cavalrymen could be seen galloping across the waters with billowing Yin energy that trailed behind them like a steam engine¡¯s charge. Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s long spear generated massive waves across the surface of the sea. Most of all, a faint lustre of ck and white light could be seen glowing from the chest area of Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s great armor.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and his adrenal nds immediately red up with great intensity.

    He¡¯s here¡­ He¡¯s actually here!

    To think that he woulde charging straight through the destructive shockwave of Yin energy where the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven awaits. Is he truly that confident in levelling our forces with those three hundred cavalrymen of his? What gall of steel must he possess toe charging into the open arms of his enemies with just the Book of Life and Death in tow?

    Can he really do this?

    Qin Ye clenched the railing on the side of the ship tightly. He could hear a still small voice cry out in the depths of his heart - He can do it¡­ He truly possesses the ability to do so! Leave this ce¡­ this isn¡¯t an opponent you can handle right now!

    He¡¯s earned every bit of his nickname, the god of war! Look at how Oda Nobunaga and his dreadful Umamawari horse guards are reacting to his presence! Their reactions speak volumes of just how terrifying the name Honda Tadakatsu truly is!

    However, just as Qin Ye was about tomence his great retreat, his attention was drawn to something else, and he turned to look at the sky with great surprise.

    There are more than three thousand people approaching us right now¡­

    As soon as he looked up, he immediately noticed the silhouettes of three thousand paper airnes bursting through the rolling clouds of Yin energy and following closely behind the approach of Honda Tadakatsu and his forces. The man leading the charge was dressed in a white great armor, and the palpable murderous intent he exuded was no less than that of Honda Tadakatsu, the god of war!

    However, the murderous intent wasn¡¯t directed at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Oda Nobunaga!!!¡± Azai Nagamasa roared at the top of his voice as soon as he saw the cruise liner, ¡°Four hundred years¡­ the blood debt that has been owing for four hundred shall be paid by blood today!!!¡±

    His eyes were staring transfixed at Oda Nobunaga, and his mind had already blotted out the other existences around.

    Blood had to be spilled in the grand finale of their final sh, regardless of whether it was his blood, or the blood of Oda Nobunaga. The curtains wouldn¡¯t close on the final act as long as either one of them was still standing.

    ¡°Brother-inw¡­¡± Oda Nobunaga looked up andughed uproariously. And then, he led the charge straight towards Azai Nagamasa, followed closely by the two thousand five hundred Umamawari horse guards that bolted after him like lightning.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s finally time for some closure¡­¡±

    ¡°After all, I¡¯ve regretted my failure to personally take your life thesest four hundred years¡­¡±

    tter¡­ tter¡­ The sound of rampaging horses echoed through the Strait of Tsushima. It was almost as though they had returned to the bygone times of the Nipponese Warring States era. However, Qin Ye¡¯s attention wasn¡¯t on the sh between Oda Nobunaga and Azai Nagamasa, because he could sense that a strong murderous intent had locked its gaze on himself.

    Azai Nagamasa¡¯s target had never been Qin Ye to begin with. However, Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s gaze had been transfixed on Qin Ye all this while.

    The pressure that bore down on him was simply overwhelming. In fact, the murderous intent was so powerful that Cao Youdao and the other darkfeathers he had earlier shed against were no different from little babies next to Honda Tadakatsu!

    1. Lu Bu was a Chinese military general and warlord known to be an exceptionally mighty warrior that was practically unchallenged in his time.

    2. Legend has it that the spear was named as such because a dragonflynded on the de of the spear and was instantly cut in half.

    3.

    4. This would also be the Fifth Abyssal Court which Justice Bao is said to preside over.

    5. Ancient name of Shikoku, a part of Japan.

 Chapter 265: Undefiled Corpse (3)

    <h4>Chapter 265: Undefiled Corpse (3)</h4>

    Tap, tap, tap¡­ Oda Nobunaga¡¯s ck guards and red guards galloped across the surface of the waters. As they ran, the bamboo frame covered with cloth over their backs slowly opened up like a butterfly spreading its wings. They dragged their long spears across the surface of the waters in a ferocious stance. Oda Nobunaga led the charge, while the rest of his Umamawari horse guards followed closely behind. Approximately one thousand meters ahead of him, Azai Nagamaza¡¯s snow-white armor glistened like a bright moon in the moonless night sky, surrounded by three thousand soldiers from Izanami¡¯s personal army.

    Neither faction took a single step back. This was the culmination of four hundred years of hatred and longing - a festering hatred for the murder of his children, as well as the desire for vengeance for the unforgivable act of betrayal. Yet, above all, Oda Nobunaga desired to dere to Nippon the return of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven with a great massacre.

    Meantime, Honda Tadakatsu also drew closer and closer, leading the charge valiantly with his own soldiers. The two forces that were already squaring off against each other tacitly granted passage to Honda Tadakatsu. Without even taking a second look at the other forces around, Honda Tadakatsu whistled loudly and dragged the Dragonfly Cutter across the surface of the waters as he charged past the Umamawari horse guards, straight for the cruise liner ahead of him.

    Azai Nagamasa only had Oda Nobunaga in his sights. As soon as Honda Tadakatsu charged past Oda Nobunaga¡¯s forces, the paper airnes in the sky quickly dove down and flew close to the surface of the seas. Izanami¡¯s personal forces were finally making their move.

    Yin energy erupted from their bodies and filled the sky in an instant. They drew their swords and charged in formation without any thought of backing down from the fearsome forces of the Umamawari horse guards that had trampled across Nippon back in the days of the Warring States era. Three hundred meters¡­ two hundred meters¡­ one hundred meters¡­ Both sides were now charging at each other at top speed. And then, with an earth-shattering crash, both factions finally shed against each other.

    Neither faction was willing to give even an inch to the other. The mighty shes of their katanas shed powerfully against the unrelenting thrusts of the formation of spears. Izanami¡¯s personal forces were shing directly against the undefeated Umamawari horse guards. Within moments, Yin energy scattered everywhere and filled the surface of the seas, and the battlefield where thousands of Yin spirits shed appeared no different from a living hell.

    It was impossible to see what was happening in the heart of the battlefield. The terrifying cloud of Yin energy swirled menacingly like a massive whirlpool, while countless jade-greenhermes hovered about eerily. Their explosive sh of abilities scattered copious amounts of seawater into the surroundings like a torrential downpour that came down from all directions. From time to time, one would be able to spot a Yin spirit screaming as they drifted into the skies, before transforming into wisps of Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the surroundings. Qin Ye withdrew his gaze from the battlefield and gritted his teeth. Then, he turned his gaze to the single horseback rider that was charging straight towards him.

    All of Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s forces had already been drawn into the sea of battle with Oda Nobunaga¡¯s forces. However, Honda Tadakatsu clearly didn¡¯t mind that fact. He was a man that was filled with extreme confidence in his own abilities. Thus, he had already intended to personally take down his opponent right from the onset.

    An indomitable aura flourished about him silently. The formless manifestation of his self-confidence was so stifling that it even caused Qin Ye¡¯s breaths to grow ragged.

    Five hundred meters¡­ three hundred meters¡­ one hundred meters! Despite being in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state, Qin Ye''s forehead was percting with cold sweat. His eyes flickered with great uneasiness. Just then, Ming Shiyin blurted softly, ¡°There¡¯s no need to look around. There¡¯s no path for retreat.¡±

    ¡°... Are there any other options avable to us?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s none. I¡¯ve already resorted to the ace up my sleeves that was the disy of Justice Bao¡¯s authority, and I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s nothing more I can do. Furthermore¡­ this isn¡¯t an opponent that I can deal with.¡± Ming Shiyin exined sinctly, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent a message to Arti several hours ago to request for her assistance. She should be arriving within an hour at the verytest! You¡¯ve got to hang in there. You absolutely have to hang in there!¡±

    One hour!

    The murderous intent was overbearing, and it bore down with increasing oppressiveness on Qin Ye as Honda Tadakatsu drew closer. Then, as soon as they locked eyes, Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s murderous aura exploded with great intensity. Cold sweat rolled off Qin Ye¡¯s forehead as he picked up Ming Shiyin and stuffed it in front of his chest to prevent any mishaps.

    What do I do¡­ what do I do?!

    I¡¯ve never encountered an evil ghost with such immense fighting spirit and terrifying abilities! And this isn¡¯t even a Cathayan evil ghost, so there¡¯s no relying on the natural suppressive effect that Emissaries of Hell have over Cathayan Yin spirits! And we¡¯re talking about a man who was a legendary existence back while he was still alive¡­ I¡¯m finished¡­ He¡¯s going to whittle me down into a human bone carving!

    Almost as though he could sense Qin Ye¡¯s uneasiness, Honda Tadakatsu revealed a cold smirk under his helmet. And then, in the instant that he arrived right next to the cruise ship, his war horse stopped abruptly with a long neigh, and he swung his spear in the direction of the cruise liner with great ferocity!

    BOOM!!

    Qin Ye watched with horror as the waters in front of Honda Tadakatsu rose ten meters into the air, while an immense st of wind caused the entire cruise liner to shake violently. Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but stagger back several steps as the windforce mmed straight into him.

    Bloody hell¡­ what inhumane strength is this?!

    Is this truly an opponent I can stand toe to toe against?!

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± The curtain of waters that had risen into the sky fell back down like shattered ss, promptly revealing Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s intimidating figure. Qin Ye gasped in horror and took a step forward valiantly, and then he yelled, ¡°Mighty warrior, please stay your hand!¡±

    Honda Tadakatsu leapt gracefully off his horse like a roc spreading its wings, and promptlynded on the cruise liner with a loud crash. He was now no more than ten meters away from Qin Ye, and he pointed his six-meter long Dragonfly Cutter straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s throat, ¡°Oh? Do you have anyst words?¡±

    It was only when Honda Tadakatsu was right in front of him that Qin Ye finally understood what a truly overbearing aura was.

    It was a presence that was built on the foundation of the souls of thousands of in soldiers and forged from his pristine track record of beingpletely unharmed through dozens of conquests and battles. His arrival appeared to cause the air about him to freezepletely. The tip of his spear was still four meters away from Qin Ye¡¯s throat, and yet it felt¡­ as though it would pierce his neck in the very next instant.

    Qin Ye had never expected to be personally involved in the battle like this! Dojin, Jingo! Where the hell are you guys?!

    I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯m afraid¡­ Qin Ye drew a deep breath. His eyes flickered wildly, and yet the words that came right out of his mouth were simply astonishing, ¡°Mighty general, have you ever considered pledging allegiance to the Cathayan Hell? All it takes is a simple nod of the head from you, and I¡¯ll immediately report this back to Hell, and have them confer upon you the title of Great General!¡±

    Ming Shiyin stared at Qin Ye as though it had just seen a ghost - Why¡­ This appears to be a scene of a future Yanluo conversing with his opponent in the midst of a hot-blooded duel, so why do I feel like tearing him to shreds and ripping him limb from limb?

    I mean¡­ You¡¯re confronting a mighty Nipponese era, and the first thing you think of is not to fight for Cathay¡¯s honour, but to recruit him to our forces?

    You¡¯re truly worthy of being called the most wimpy future Yanluo in the history of Hell¡­

    In fact, Qin Ye¡¯s words even stunned Honda Tadakatsu.

    This¡­ seems to be different from how I¡¯d imagined things to pan out¡­

    Credit where it was due, it had to be said that Qin Ye was a master of pretension. After all, he didn¡¯t even back down when they locked eyes with each other during Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s imposing approach. Qin Ye had presented himself as a mighty, unassable force to behold - one that carried the weight of Hell¡¯s great authority with him. They were both Hellguards, so Honda Tadakatsu had naturally expected Qin Ye to fight back against him. Yet, who could have expected the first salvo fired by Qin Ye to be that of a sugar-coated bullet?

    Yet, Qin Ye¡¯s words appeared to be met with Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s silence. Qin Ye¡¯s heart sank, and he promptly added, ¡°General Tadakatsu, you should be well aware of the majesty of Hell. Why do you settle for being a mere digit within Yomi-no-Kuni? Hell has never put shackles and restraints on talents like you. The conferment of a title as Great General is only the beginning of your journey in Hell. From there, you¡¯ll have the privilege of personal tutge from Abyssal Prefects, and possibly even Yama-Kings. Furthermore, there will be an abundant stream of supplies for you to take your pick from!¡±

    ¡°Most importantly, the number of Yin spirits in Hell are well in the billions! That naturally implies various ways and means for you to rise to the top. What prospects are there for you in a ce as small and limited as Nippon? At best, you might only be in charge of a mere county. But Hell is different! As long as you agree to join us, the prospects of being appointed a provincial governor isn¡¯t out of the question! And if we look further down the horizon, it won¡¯t be long before a great talent like yourself takes on the role of a CEO and marries a rich and beautiful wife. You¡¯ll be waltzing straight into the next pinnacle of your life!¡±

    Qin Ye made his pitch in the quickest and most sinct manner possible. His heart pounded wildly against the walls of his chest as he stared intently at Honda Tadakatsu.

    Honda Tadakatsu finally showed signs of relenting.

    The pulses ofhermes in his eyes were finally slowing down. To Qin Ye¡¯s mind, that was a telltale sign of having sessfully pacified his stirring emotions. And then, Honda Tadakatsu suddenly chuckled, ¡°Well said.¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°Then¡­¡±

    ¡°However.¡± Honda Tadakatsu promptly interjected with a voice that carried a chilling intent, ¡°I can sense that you¡¯ve got something in your possession that can make me the lord of Nippon - even Izanami would be under mymand. I can be the master of my own kingdom, so why would I settle for being a mere general?¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, he instantly thrusted out with his spear, aimed directly for Qin Ye¡¯s throat.

    Fast.

    Most people who charged into a battlefield with a roaring aura and a zing passion, only to have everything doused by a surprise attack of cold water from his opponent, would naturally be unable to stir the intent to do battle in their heart in an instant. However, this wasn¡¯t the case for Honda Tadakatsu.

    His thrust was so quick that it left an afterimage in the air. Qin Ye sensed death¡¯s approach, and he instinctively dodged the attack.

    Yet, he wasn¡¯t given any room tounch any counterattacks.

    Qin Ye instantly felt his opponent¡¯s dense, murderous intent bearing down at him from all directions, and his eyes were instantly locked on the thrust of the spear. Then, as soon as he moved back from the deadly attack, his spirit streamer unraveled itself and blocked the thrust of the spear.

    A split secondter, he felt a warm trickle running down his neck. He raised his hand and touched his neck with great disbelief, and he winced in pain. His entire palm was stained with a crimson red colour. It was only then that he realized that the windforce from the thrust of his opponent¡¯s spear had been so sharp that it had sliced cleanly through his protective Prestige of the Luminary and cut a deep 5-cmceration across the side of his neck.

    But Qin Ye wasn¡¯t given the time to catch his breath at all. The spear continued to flicker at him like the dance of a dragon, while the air around him crackled and sputtered, as though it had been sliced apart from Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s devastating thrusts. In that instant, Qin Ye felt as though the Dragonfly Cutter wasing at him from everywhere, and he couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around how a six-meter spear could be manipted with such flexibility and speed.

    Clink, clink, clink¡­ The Prestige of the Luminary waspletely useless against Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s attack, and Qin Ye could only grit his teeth and hang on for dear life with the aid of his spirit streamer in hand. Counterattack waspletely out of the question right now. The force behind each thrust of the spear was incredibly heavy, and he felt no different from a tiny leaf being tossed about helplessly in a great storm. It felt as if the wick of life in him could go out at any moment.

    ¡°Mighty warrior¡­ stay your hand! There¡¯s room for negotiation!!¡± Qin Ye cowered behind his spirit banner and yelled at the top of his voice. Simultaneously, Ming Shiyin smacked him hard on his chest underneath his clothes, ¡°You¡­ aren¡¯t going to¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice trembled, ¡°What else can we possibly do right now?¡±

    As they spoke, Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s attacks continued to pelt down heavily on the spirit streamer like a torrential downpour on a feeble umbre. His attacks were powerful and unrelenting. In fact, his attacks were backed by such great determination that it felt as though Honda Tadakatsu were intent on boring a hole straight through Mount Tai itself!

    ¡°Yin energy can still be used as usual¡­¡± Ming Shiyin gritted its teeth.

    Boom!! There was a deafening bang, yet Qin Ye didn¡¯t even dare to peer out from under the shelter of the spirit streamer to take a closer look on what was going on outside. Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s attacks were so ferocious that they even appeared to generate a domain of destruction around him, and Qin Ye felt no different from being trapped within the eye of a great storm. And then, Qin Ye bellowed at the top of his voice, promptly cutting off Ming Shiyin altogether, ¡°Stop! I¡¯ll give you what you want!!¡±

    AHHH!!! Are you really going to do this... Ming Shiyin¡¯s eyes were zed over - But¡­ why does it feel like there¡¯s more than meets the eye to this¡­

    The flurry of spear thrusts stopped abruptly. Qin Ye cautiously peeked out from behind his spirit streamer, before promptly shrinking back once more. Then, he cleared his throat, ¡°We¡¯ll go our separate ways as soon as I hand it over to you. But¡­ I¡¯ll have to report this matter to Hell, and you¡¯ll definitely be hunted down by Hell to the ends of the earth. Are you sure you want me to do this?¡±

    Honda Tadakatsu threw his head back andughed uproariously. The closer he got, the more he was certain that the artifact he was looking for was nearby. Furthermore, he could tell with the utmost certainty that the artifact in Qin Ye¡¯s possession was no less powerful than the Book of Life and Death!

    As soon as I get my hands on it¡­ then surpassing Izanami would only be a matter of time! I¡¯ll escape to Daehan or perhaps Mya and begin to consolidate my own forces. I¡¯d like to see how Izanami¡¯s going toe looking for me at that time!

    With darkfeathers?

    But which darkfeather could possibly stand toe to toe against Honda Tadakatsu?

    ¡°With just you and what force?¡± He chuckled and nced down at Qin Ye with a cold voice, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a minute. Hand it over, and I¡¯ll consider letting you off the hook. But if you evene so close as to trying any tricks with me, then¡­ don¡¯t me me for turning these seas into your burial ce!¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously going to hand it over?!¡± Ming Shiyin went mad - He¡¯s reaching in¡­ Qin-world¡¯s-most-shameless-Yanluo-Ye has just reached into his robe for the divine artifact!

    How dare you?! Seriously, how dare you?!

    A Yanluo is about to sell out the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?! What shamelessness is this?! What audacity!!

    Just then, and to Ming Shiyin¡¯s great disbelief, it watched in horror as Qin Ye¡¯s hand slipped past the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, grabbed hold of it - the Mirror of Eminence - and promptly sent it flying over to Honda Tadakatsu.

    He actually sent me over¡­

    Sent me¡­

    Over¡­

    To think that the Mirror of Eminence would be offered up as a gift to a Nipponese Yin spirit¡­ Ming Shiyin felt a confluence of humiliation and fury st through the roof. Then, just as the surface of the mirror began to gleam brightly, it suddenly recalled Qin Ye¡¯s earlier words.

    ¡°What else can we possibly do right now?¡±

    It was a curt and simple statement. Yet in that instant, as it slid over the long spear andnded right in Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s hand, a great realization suddenly dawned upon Ming Shiyin...

 Chapter 266: Undefiled Corpse (4)

    <h4>Chapter 266: Undefiled Corpse (4)</h4>

    This was the first thought that urred to Ming Shiyin.

    The souls of these corpses would be imbued with such strength after death that they would quickly be propelled to the levels of an incarnate revenant. To be exact, Honda Tadakatsu wasn¡¯t apletely undefiled corpse. In his old age, he did sustain a minor wound on his arm.

    He was already imbued with such strength to make him practically unrivalled among all who were of the same ss of cultivation. At the very least, it was sufficient to deal with an Emissary of Hell who didn¡¯t have any Hell¡¯s Arts at his disposal like Qin Ye.

    Unfortunately, the world of Yanluos contained no ess to ¡°Cosmos¡± altogether¡­

    It was flushed with a red hue.

    Ming Shiyin¡¯s heart thumped heavily - that is, it would have thumped heavily if it actually had one.

    However, this was brute human strength.

    Yin energy flourished and scattered with every sh that urred, while great zes ofhermes filled the skies. Each entity would present themselves with the form of a human silhouette, and yet the techniques which they resorted to were mysterious and hellish. Yin artifacts woulde flying out from unexpected angles and directions as well. Yet¡­ it waspletely different from Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s disy of martial prowess that enabled him to dominate every part of the deck of the cruise liner.

    But that didn¡¯t make him an underworldly emissary.

    Ming Shiyin hade to these great realizations in the blink of an eye.

    The hand trembled slightly. It was none other than Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s hand. And then, he lifted off the helmet protecting his face.

    His eyebrows were striking, while his nose was sharp and well-defined. Thehermes in his eyes had already vanished by now, and even someone as calm and collected as him couldn¡¯t help but feel his breaths grow ragged.

    Qin Ye peeked out from behind the umbre-shaped spirit streamer and exined respectfully, ¡°The Mirror of Eminence. One of the greatest treasures among the Ten Abyssal Courts of Hell. I don¡¯t know why you want it, but¡­ this is the ace hidden up my sleeves in this expedition of mine.¡±

    Honda Tadakatsu gulped with great excitement and sighed wistfully. He caressed the Mirror of Eminence avariciously, sensing with great joy the tide of Yin energy hidden within it. That said¡­ he could sense that this was a damaged artifact, and it wouldn¡¯t be able to unleash the full extent of its abilities right now.

    He would never let anyone who knew his secret live to tell the tale.

    After all, there were many ways of taking a person¡¯s life, and he happened to be proficient in the art of murder.

    No¡­ something¡¯s not right!

    This ancient mirror might be powerful, but¡­ its presence is nowhere near that of the Book of Life and Death!

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death.¡± Honda Tadakatsu looked up abruptly and poised himself to strike once more. But, just then, Ming Shiyin¡¯s surface suddenly erupted with an all-epassing light!

    ¡°The one who¡¯s courting death¡­ is you!¡±

    ¡°Damn it!!¡± rm bells were ring in Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s mind right now. He hadn¡¯t expected Qin Ye tounch such a sneak attack at him. He dropped the Mirror of Eminence and covered his eyes with one hand, and he quicklyunched a flurry of thrusts with his other hand!

    Crack¡­ crack¡­ The deck of the ship began to crack and crumble under the great volley of spear thrusts. But this time, Qin Ye didn¡¯t back down anymore. Instead, he stood valiantly against the wall of thrusts and dashed straight into the ferocious barrage of attacks that was pouring towards him!

    Ming Shiyin also knew full well that there wouldn¡¯t be a second chance at this if his sneak attack failed.

    Certainly, he was afraid of death, but he also knew full well when life presented him an opportunity even as he teetered dangerously on the edge of life and death.

    This was the difference between the products of a mighty nation and a weaker one.

    It wasn''t the case that he had never faced a night insurmountable resistance in a duel before. Rather, it was simply that he had never faced such kinds of resistance from a person as cowardly and crafty as Qin Ye was!

    Buzz¡­ Suddenly, the spear in his hands trembled violently, so much so that it began to growpletely illusory. Simultaneously, a murderous intent far greater than any before erupted from his body. Then, before Qin Ye could even react to the great change in the situation, a cold gleam of light appeared right in front of him, followed closely by the majestic spear. With a faint tiger¡¯s roar, the spear transformed into a bolt of lightning and thrusted straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s chest.

    Crash¡­ The previously imprable spirit streamer was actually prated by the powerful attack. Furthermore, the attack that approached him wasn¡¯t the tip of the spear at all. Rather, it appeared to be the zing charge of a ferocious tiger.

    Onlookers would have seen the figure of a man enshrouded with Yin energy, standing on the peak of the waves as he went toe to toe against a towering wall of illusory spears. And then, a split secondter, a bright gleam of light would instantly bolt through that man¡¯s body. Qin Ye let out a muffled groan. The spear stopped abruptly, and the Yin energy about Qin Ye dispersed as his body promptly materialized back to his human form. A great stter of blood dyed the mast that was located dozens of meters behind Qin Ye.

    The ship deck that formed their surroundings was now filled with holes like a tattered rag, so much so that everything located under the deck was now in in sight. The surrounding railings were already bent out of shape by the overbearing shockwaves from their powerful sh of attacks. Furthermore, there were two deep gullies carved out of the deck of the ship. No¡­ more urately speaking, these were deep grooves on the deck that had been created when Qin Ye dug his feet deep into the deck of the ship after having been sent flying by the great impact of their sh.

    And yet, he forced a vicious smile to his face as he stood crookedly, ¡°Honda-kun, take a look¡­ What do you think this is?¡±

    The pages of the book appeared yellowish. As the gentle sea breeze swept across the deck of the ship, it flipped the pages open, revealing the names of countless people written on it. The ancient book was shrouded with wisps of ck and white energy. One would be able to tell at a nce that this was an artifact that was blessed by the heavens, the mortals and hell alike.

    Rustle rustle¡­ The wind continued to riffle through the pages, until the ancient book finally flipped to the final page at the end, where a fresh entry was written¡­ Honda Tadakatsu!

    He looked down at his own chest with great disbelief.

    How did he do this?!

    I, Honda Heihachiro, have actually been put on the backfoot and subject to the mercy of this cowardly rat?!

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s name was blotted out, his entire body instantly transformed into ash, and then slowly began to disintegrate and scatter into the surroundings.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing much.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s vision was fading away. This was the result of extreme blood loss. However, he knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to copse right now. The battle between Oda Nobunaga and Azai Nagamasa was still ongoing, and he would still have to remain standing in order to greet the victor at the end of their great battle.

    He panted like a bull and chuckled coldly, ¡°I knew from the onset that I wasn¡¯t a match for you. Thus, the first thing I did was to reveal my weaknesses to you, so that you wouldn¡¯t be so intent on doing battle with me.¡±

    Qin Ye covered his chest and wiped away the streak of blood trickling down the side of his lips as he stared coldly at Honda Tadakatsu. His lower body had already bepletely reduced to ash by now, ¡°But, I soon discovered something rather interesting¡­¡±

    Qin Ye held onto the railing and stood up with much difficulty once more, ¡°The natural byproduct of the reversal of Yin and Yang, is that your name would once again appear within the Book of Life and Death!¡±

    ¡°And that¡­ was the beginning of your end¡­¡±

    <hr>

    1. Reference to the Saint Seiya series.

 Chapter 267: Youâ€™ve Died By the Hands of the Future King Yanluo

    <h4>Chapter 267: You''ve Died By the Hands of the Future King Yanluo</h4>

    Honda Tadakatsu shut his eyes.

    He had been probing at Qin Ye¡¯s intentions all this while, from the time he boarded the cruise liner, to themencement of their duel, and up until the point where he began to treat Qin Ye with great indifference. Honda Tadakatsu had killed his fair share of people, and he knew all too well what kind of people would exhibit a great intent to do battle, and what kind of people didn¡¯t possess a single bit of such intentions at all.

    This was something he was certain of. It was something which he had identified as a foregone conclusion. Furthermore, he didn¡¯t think he could ever be wrong about this.

    And that was the fact that the ones he had killed in the past were all people who were in their forties or fifties. His miscalction arose from the fact that Qin Ye had already lived for a hundred years.

    The corory was also true - he was second to none when it came to grasping the deepest contemtions of a person¡¯s heart.

    ¡°You might not know this, but the Mirror of Eminence was the sole cause of the earlier devastating shockwave of Yin energy. It¡¯s practically a single step away from bing an existence no different from the Book of Life and Death or King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. But I didn¡¯t think you would¡¯ve ever seen it before, so I took my chances and hedged my bets on the fact that you wouldn¡¯t immediately realize that it¡¯s not what you¡¯re looking for. Truth be told, if I didn¡¯t know beforehand that the Book of Life and Death were located in the vicinity, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to n this far ahead.¡±

    ¡°Your earlier flurry of attacks were incredibly powerful, but I quickly realized that you didn¡¯t resort to a single hint of Yin energy for those attacks of yours. Instead, the only thing you relied upon was your pure martial prowess. This made me certain of one thing - that you¡¯re a human being. At that moment, I was only able to ask the Mirror of Eminence - ¡®What else can we possibly do right now?¡¯ Fortunately, it understood the intentions beneath these words of mine. And the moment you caught the mirror was the moment your fate was sealed¡­ cough cough¡­¡±

    But this opponent¡­ this opponent!

    ¡°And thus, it mustered all of its strength to blind me with a great sh of light.¡± Honda Tadakatsu murmured, ¡°And in that very instant that an opportunity presented itself, you seized it and defeated me. You didn¡¯t even deign to avoid my attacks, and you charged straight into my Dragon Exodus Thrust¡­ Had you been a mere mortal, you would have perished to my attacks by now.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded with a faint smile on his face.

    ¡°It¡¯s your loss.¡±

    Honda Tadakatsu¡¯s entire body hadpletely turned to ash, and his head was the only thing that hadn¡¯t disintegrated yet. Just then, he abruptly spoke up once more, ¡°Tell me your name.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been one to fight head-on with a legendary warrior like you. Remember this lesson well, Honda-kun.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± His head slowly disintegrated into the surroundings as his final words reverberated in the surroundings, ¡°If you take Nippon one day, I¡¯ll be willing to pledge my allegiance to you as my lord.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s face instantly turned ashen, revealing such a contrived expression that one would have thought he had just eaten shit.

    ¡°What the hell are you pping me for?! I¡¯m still awake, you stupid idiot!¡± A single line of words were promptly scrawled across the surface of the mirror - it was enraged.

    Ming Shiyin responded with great indignation, ¡°This is the effect of the Book of Life and Death¡¯s reversal of Yin and Yang. He¡¯s a human being, so he would naturally return to the Nipponese underworld upon death. Heh heh¡­ looks like your pride has be your stumbling block this time. You¡¯ve even inadvertently disclosed to him the fact that you¡¯re the future King Yanluo of Hell? Do you know how much I wanted to sew your pping mouth shut when I heard you make that very statement of yours?!¡±

    You¡¯re telling me that the petrification and disintegration of your body earlier wasn¡¯t the result of the dissipation of your soul?

    I apologize for my earlier insipid behaviour¡­ I promise I won¡¯te looking for you until I¡¯m fully prepared for it. We¡¯ll stay out of each other¡¯s way until then, alright?

    Qin Ye gasped and straightened his body as he gazed into the distance.

    He¡¯s worthy of his title as the infamous Demon King of the Sixth Heaven after all. To think that he¡¯s able to gain the upper hand despite the numerical disadvantage of hundreds and quite possibly a thousand or more.

    It¡¯s over¡­

    This was the culmination of several months¡¯ of nning, starting with the inception of his thesis paper, all the way to his expedition to Eastsea.

    He had managed to inaugurate his golden trade route of Southsea Huanghuali. There were several billions worth of supplies waiting for him back in a warehouse in Eastsea. He had also made a name for himself through the cultivation world with the publication of his thesis paper. All he needed to do to close the loop on this chapter was to return to Eastsea to participate in the academic exchange which awaited them.

    This would be Hell¡¯s firstpletely primordial treasure!

    It was as though¡­ he possessed the power to alter the fate of every single person in Cathay with a single thought.

    After all, underworlds moved only for talents.

    Qin Ye had made a beeline to the deck of the ship as soon as he undid the seal on the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, while Jingo, Dojin, Master Kamo and Iwasaki Kyouya had remained at the cargo hold to rest and recuperate.

    ¡°It was Honda Tadakatsu.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s pride meant that he would never hide his achievements. Yet, his voice remained cid, ¡°It was a bloody battle, but I managed to eke out a lucky win.¡±

    It was an abrupt yet absolute silence.

    ¡°Honda Tadakatsu?¡± Iwasaki Kyouya gasped, ¡°Is this¡­ the very same Honda Tadakatsu that I¡¯m thinking of?¡±

    ¡°My god¡­¡± Master Kamo stared at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°They¡¯ve even mobilized Honda Heihachiro?! And¡­ y-y-you¡­ how in the world did you manage to defeat him?!¡±

    Imagine if an extraterritorial emissary stood in front of you, telling you that they¡¯ve defeated Lu Bu or Xiang Yu in battle.

    ¡°Now¡¯s not the time to be discussing these things.¡± Qin Ye restrained the smile on his face and continued with a grim expression, ¡°Immediately mobilize the Tengu army and the battle monks to help Oda Nobunaga take down Azai Nagamasa and his forces! We can only deter the approach of Izanami for a little while longer. Meanwhile, reinforcements will soon be arriving - a Judge-ss emissary is already on her way here!¡±

    Let¡¯s finally end the nightmarish auction of blood and terror, right here, right now¡­

    Here was a man who had defeated Honda Tadakatsu in battle and lived to tell the tale! What an achievement! The Cathayan underworld is far too terrifying!

    Ooooo¡­ With the long re of a horn, the Tengu army and battle monks that had previously been resting and recuperating once again appeared, and they began to charge straight towards the fray where they would sh directly against Azai Nagamasa¡¯s forces. With their arrival, Izanami¡¯s personal forces found their movements increasingly suppressed and formations and tactics stifled. Within moments, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s ck guards and red guards secured their advantage in battle and began to cull down their opponents!

    The entire area epassing several kilometers in radius from the Strait of Tsushima was pitch-ck in colour.

    There were far too many Yin spirits and far too much Yin energy around these parts right now, ranging from the Yin spirits of the innocent who had perished from the ¡®ghost ship¡¯ incidents, to the Yin soldiers that had beenpletely consumed by the shockwave from Justice Bao¡¯s disy of authority, to the dissipation of souls arising out of the bloody battleground over the waters right now. The Yin energy had tainted these waters so greatly that it couldn¡¯t be considered a realm for the living, at least for the next decade or so.

    He returned to the cargo hold, where it waspletely shrouded in silence. All of the tycoons were still holed up in the security of their own rooms right now. He walked straight to the deepest chamber which remained essible only to Guardian Auctions, and then he knocked on the door. Two voices instantly called back with great vignce, ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t bother to respond. He simply turned the knob, and the door opened for him, only to see two frightened faces staring right back at him, as well as two magic tools beside them that were primed to fire at the moment¡¯s notice. As soon as they noticed Qin Ye¡¯s appearance, they immediately rxed their tense disposition.

    ¡°The Incense of Paramnesia¡­¡± Grandmaster Chu gulped nervously, ¡°But sir¡­ this¡­ doesn¡¯t ord well with the rules of the auction¡­¡±

    ¡°Mark my words, your afterlife is going to be hell¡­ But for now, I dictate the rules around this ce!¡±

    ¡°Do as I say. Otherwise, I¡¯ll send you on your way to the afterlife immediately!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Both Lu Bu and Xiang Yu are legendary Chinese warlords who are said to be unparalleled in their times.

 Chapter 268: The Curtain Falls

    <h4>Chapter 268: The Curtain Falls</h4>

    The winds swept across the surface of the waters.

    At this point in time, there was a massive encirclement of red, ck and white which had formed right above the pitch-ck waters, and dark figures in the center of the encirclement would dissipate into wisps of Yin energy from time to time.

    That said, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s faction sustained great losses as well, and they numbered approximately only one thousand at this point in time.

    The Umamawari horse guards moved swiftly and mercilessly, finding weaknesses in Nagamasa¡¯s forces like deadly vipers and pursuing them relentlessly. Before long, Izanami¡¯s forces had already dwindled so much that they were no longer battling on level ying fields. And when he finally realized what was happening around him, all that was left in front of his very eyes was a sea of valiant soldiers dressed in ck and red.

    It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t ept defeat. Rather, he simply couldn¡¯t ept losing to the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven once again after four hundred long years.

    tter¡­ Just then, the Umamawari horse guards parted ways, allowing a massive skeletal war horse to canter in. The man who sat on its back was a person who Azai Nagamasa wanted to y and skin alive, yet he knew he waspletely helpless at this moment.

    ¡°As daimyos, we stake our lives with every battle we fight. And I¡¯m afraid that this is thest we¡¯re going to see of each other.¡±

    ¡°Oda Nobunaga¡­¡± He slowly lowered his head once more, and then stared intently at Oda Nobunaga with a raging scarlet me in his eyes, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you in Yomi-no-Kuni¡­¡±

    Oda Nobunaga gently stroked his short ck beard as he quipped with bemusement, ¡°But that¡¯s only if Izanami dares to venture into the depths of the Cathayan underworld.¡±

    Azai Nagamasa found everything he had wanted to say suddenly lodged in his throat, and he simply stared at Oda Nobunaga and shuddered, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ going to the Cathayan underworld?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Azai Nagamasa responded reflexively with great despondence in the depths of his eyes.

    Azai Nagamasa turned his head stiffly and gazed into the distance, only to notice the existence of an ancient seat in the horizon, approaching them with great magnificence amidst the boundless fog of Yin energy that covered the waters. Terrifying amounts of Yin energy flowed from the seat in a grand disy of authority and power. This was undoubtedly a deration of the arrival of a high official of Hell - all rabble shall disperse!

    ¡°Go.¡± Oda Nobunaga flicked the reins on his war horse gently, and rode towards the direction from which the majestic seat was approaching. Murai Sadakatsu, Mori Ranmaru, and Nohime followed closely behind him.

    Neither bird nor fish dared traverse these parts that were now overwhelmed with Yin energy.

    Arthis waspletely in her element right now.

    It was only when they came up close to Arthis that they truly appreciated the towering might of an Infernal Judge.

    I would expect nothing less of Cathay.

    ¡°Pledging allegiance to Hell is going to be the best decision you¡¯ve ever made in your life. So long as you don¡¯t forsake Hell, Hell would never forsake you either.¡±

    How naive¡­

    ¡°Despicable! Shameless!! Oda Nobunaga! How dare you even call yourself a daimyo of the Nipponese Warring States era!!¡± The bulging veins on Azai Nagamasa¡¯s forehead throbbed uncontrobly as he watched the ridiculous scene pan out, and he couldn¡¯t resistmbasting Oda Nobunaga for his traitorous action.

    How far can your reaches possibly be?! Once this man enters the Cathayan underworld¡­ I¡¯ll no longer have any hopes for revenge in this entire life!

    Yet, Oda Nobunaga remained unppable, ¡°I¡¯ve made a fool of myself. Let me end things properly right now.¡±

    Pshhk! Pshhk! Pshhk! Several spears stabbed into Azai Nagamasa¡¯s side at the same time, yet he didn¡¯t even let out a single cry of pain. Boundless Yin energy flowed out of his body, until finally¡­ he transformed into an inferno ofhermes that zed with great intensity as it grew higher and higher.

    True death.

    And Izanami chose to remain silent throughout all that had happened.

    Oda Nobunagaughed aloud, and then boomed with a deep voice, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have pledged my allegiance to Hell had I truly been afraid of Izanami.¡±

    It was over.

    The entire Strait of Tsushima was shrouded in darkness, while a single cruise liner was left drifting over the waters in the wake of the massive battle. Not a single person was aware of exactly what happened this day.

    ¡°Cough, cough, cough¡­¡± Ten hourster, back in a hotel in Eastsea, Qin Ye found himself lying on the bed, wriggling about in a sea offort with an ecstatic expression on his face.

    Qin Ye¡¯s appeared somewhat teary-eyed. He grabbed hold of the sheets and bit down on his lower lips as he murmured, ¡°I¡­ want some hand-ground coffee¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s squeals echoed throughout the four corners of the room. Several secondster, he panted heavily as he responded, ¡°Damn you, unfilial daughter! Your father has been working his butt off in the East Cathay Sea, and he barely even made it back in one piece! And this is how you treat me? You¡¯re not even going to make me a cup of coffee?¡±

    Where do you get the nerve toe up with such ridiculous statements? Isn¡¯t it part of the duty and responsibility of an Emissary to risk his life for Hell to begin with? Oh¡­ it must have slipped my mind¡­ You¡¯re Qin Ye¡­ Eh? Come to think of it, this is a great leap of improvement from your usual performance¡­ It does seem somewhat praiseworthy, doesn¡¯t it?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Qin Ye snuggled into his pillow, ¡°Hell¡¯s development is soon going to take off for real, and soar on wings. I¡¯ll get it sorted out as soon as we¡¯re back. Speaking of which, what use is the Book of Life and Death good for?¡±

    Ming Shiyin was in a semi-conscious state, and it didn¡¯t apprise Arthis of the exact details of what had transpired out at the Strait of Tsushima.

    Arthis: ???

    Silence.

    ¡°... Can you get to the point?¡±

    Qin Ye stared at Arthis as though he had seen a ghost. He stammered, ¡°... Are you telling me that¡­ you¡¯ve been ying Heroes of Might and Magic these days?!¡±

    ¡°I was simply trying to put it in a manner in which you would understand. It sounds unbelievable, but it¡¯s absolutely true! Take Oda Nobunaga¡¯s Umamawari horse guards or the secret ninjas of Renpu for instance. Do you think Hell wouldn¡¯t have its own set of unique special forces?¡±

    ¡°And the Book of Life and Death does much more than that! What I¡¯ve told you is no more than one of its basic functions which taps on the boundless Yin energy contained within. As the three primordial treasures of Hell, each one of themes with their own unique functions!¡±

 Chapter 269: The Three Primordial Treasures

    <h4>Chapter 269: The Three Primordial Treasures</h4>

    A cup of coffee was handed to Arthis, and she looked up listlessly, appearing somewhat lost in thought. She picked up the cup of coffee andmented, ¡°The kid¡¯s all grown up¡­ I¡¯ve said everything that needs to be said¡­ I can¡¯t be bothered with him anymore¡­¡±

    Hang on. What¡¯s going on over here? Why does this reek of a scene from a family drama somewhere?

    ¡°Just a moment.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand impatiently like a rebellious teenager going through puberty, and he furrowed his brows, ¡°What three primordial treasures are you talking about? Why haven¡¯t you mentioned this before?¡±

    There was an abrupt silence - the kind that mankind feared the most.

    Secondster, Arthis blinked her eyes and probed softly, ¡°Haven¡¯t I mentioned this to you before?¡±

    ¡°Nope! You only mentioned the existence of several divine artifacts in the past, and there¡¯s nothing about primordial treasures at all!¡±

    Arthis coughed awkwardly, ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s not the main point anyway. I¡¯ll tell you about it right now, so listen up!¡±

    Her voice grew louder towards the end of her statement, presumably to hide her embarrassment and dispel the awkward situation. Qin Ye pouted slightly, evidently dissatisfied with her poor attempt at diverting his attention back to the topic at hand. Nevertheless, he still listened carefully.

    Arthis spoke with a solemn and earnest expression, ¡°The operations of Hell arergely powered by the Yin energy which flows from three main divine artifacts. The main operations are powered by the Yellow Springs which flow through Hell, the source of which lies in King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. The anciry operations of Hell are powered by two other sources, namely the Judgment Pen and the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    ¡°The Judgment Pen sustains the Ten Abyssal Courts and the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment. It distinguishes right from wrong. As long as the Judgment Pen remains missing, we won¡¯t be able to construct and sustain these facilities in Hell. On the other hand, the Book of Life and Death holds the key to the reversion of life. Without it, we won¡¯t be able to establish the six paths of reincarnation¡­¡±

    ¡°Hang on!!¡± Qin Ye shot to his feet and stared at Arthis with widened eyes, ¡°You mean¡­ I can now construct the six paths of reincarnation?!¡±

    This was by no means an insignificant piece of news.

    The root cause of riots in Hell was theck of pursuit and other basic necessities of life, including food and shelter. In the absence of goals and other things to look forward to, life in Hell would be so dreary and meaningless that there would be nothing stopping the Yin spirits from stirring up a rebellion at all!

    But once the six paths of reincarnation have been established, the Yin spirits in Hell would immediately have something to work towards and look forward to! One could arguably even defer the establishment of entertainment industries and the system of money with little consequences in the near future! After all, once the system of virtue and iniquity was created, most of the Yin spirits would immediately be willing to sell their souls and ve for Hell! At that time, he could simply p his lips with directions at his whim and fancy, and everything will still fall into ce nicely. The thought of such prospects made Qin Ye¡¯s heart flutter uncontrobly.

    ¡°Of course you could.¡± Arthis respondedzily, ¡°First, you¡¯ll have to find six pernicious souls. And then, you¡¯ll have to acquire a whole bunch of treasures and artifacts. Finally, you¡¯ll need countless Yin spirits who will assist you with the maintenance of the six paths of reincarnation¡­¡±

    Qin Ye covered his ears in denial - ARGH! I knew it was going to be like that! There¡¯s nothing like a free meal in this world!

    ¡°Then¡­ would Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul work?¡± After wailing and whimpering for some time, the future King Yanluo of Hell turned his attention to his newly-minted subordinate.

    Arthis stared at Qin Ye as though she had just seen a ghost. Her lips twitched uncontrobly as she responded, ¡°Not great¡­ At the very least, he wouldn¡¯t be evil enough to be considered a pernicious soul¡­ Speaking of which, I have to say that you¡¯re extraordinarily ckhearted. In this regard, I¡¯d even venture so far as to say that you¡¯re far more scheming and diabolical than your two predecessors. At the very least, they weren¡¯t Yanluos who would think ofying their hands on their subordinates¡­¡±

    Qin Ye remained taciturn.

    He simply continued to gaze at Arthis with an inquisitive and curious gaze, and a glint in his eyes that was no different from a bright twinkling star at night.

    Arthis paused for three seconds, and then lifted her hand and pointed her finger to herself with apletely cid expression on her face. Qin-no-fear-of-death-Ye immediately nodded his head.

    You¡¯re the cause of the Wanggongchang Cmity! If you don¡¯t fit the bill of a pernicious soul, I¡¯m not sure who else might! Shouldn¡¯t we discuss the terms of engagement? I can offer to erect a monument in the six paths of reincarnation in remembrance of you¡­

    Not all transgressions required the verbalization of one¡¯s thoughts.

    Arthis smiled faintly.

    And then, a secondter, a miserable howl reverberated through every corner of the room, ¡°Stay your hand¡­ stay your hand! Didn¡¯t we agree not to hit the face? I didn¡¯t even say a single word!¡± ¡°I¡¯m warning you! I¡¯ll send you to the frontlines to be killed if you continue with such acts of insubordination!¡± ¡°Holy crap¡­ are you actually bullying the sick and wounded? How can you even call yourself a human being! Ah--... I guess the joke¡¯s on me¡­ you¡¯re not a human being to begin with!¡±

    The abuse continued for another ten minutes, before the duo slumped back onto the couch and the bed respectively. Arthis sat on the couch and fanned herself with her hands, ¡°You would do well not to harbour such illicit thoughts in your mind in future. These are dangerous thoughts to have.¡±

    Qin Yey in his bed with great dismay - Bloody hell¡­ I¡¯m gonna have a good chat with you as soon as I be an Infernal Judge myself¡­ I¡¯ve got to show you who¡¯s boss around these parts sooner orter!

    ¡°Back to the topic at hand.¡± Thedy possessed by Arthis had quite a good figure, and her features were in line with Arthis¡¯ usual sense of aesthetics. She stretched out her slender leg and casually kicked Qin Ye in the chest as she continued her spiel, ¡°There are other auxiliary divine artifacts beneath the ss of the three primordial treasures. These would include Hell¡¯s Records, and the Mirror of Eminence, for instance. They also act as a source of Yin energy for Hell, allowing Hell¡¯s operations to go on smoothly without a hitch. Although I mentioned earlier that the main source of Yin energyes from King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, the Yin energy generated by the other divine artifacts aren¡¯t insignificant either!¡±

    She furrowed her brows slightly, ¡°How do I put it¡­ I recall my mentor mentioning to me that there are some subtle differences in the types of Yin energy generated by the three primordial treasures. However, these subtle differences can¡¯t be uncovered without further research. Ah, that¡¯s right. Let me make an analogy. Cars can function on both gasoline or diesel. The Yin energy generated by King Yanluo¡¯s seal is like gasoline, which is ubiquitously used across the entire mortal realm. The two other divine artifacts are more akin to diesel, which are perfect for particr purposes, and yet can¡¯t be used as widely as gasoline. In that regard, you can see the source of energy which flows from King Yanluo¡¯s Seal as a foundation for Hell.¡±

    It was quite an unorthodox exnation, but Qin Ye immediately understood what she meant.

    ¡°In other words, are you saying that I can already construct some of the special facilities of Hell using the Book of Life and Death right now? There¡¯s no need to rely on the source of energy provided by the Yellow Springs, right? I won¡¯t have to first acquire King Yanluo¡¯s Seal before gaining the ability to tap on the energy sources of the other two divine artifacts, do I?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin.

    ¡°That¡¯s right." Arthis heaved a sigh of relief. She didn¡¯t expect her exnation to be so well-received, ¡°Never mind. Watch.¡±

    She took a deep breath, stood up, and began to make a series of hand seals. Each and every single one of the hand seals she made exuded a sense of profundity and mystery. Within moments, a fineyer of sweat beaded up around Arthis¡¯ forehead.

    As her hand seals grew quicker and quicker, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly. Within moments, the afterimages left behind by Arthis made her appear to have a thousand hands. In fact, this incredible sightsted for a full five minutes, before Arthis finally sighed weakly. And then, she pped her palms together abruptly, and the entire room instantly became enveloped by an invisible force. They were clearly sequestered from the rest of the world right now.

    ¡°Rakshasa¡¯s Deste Domain.¡± Arthis¡¯ body was levitating gently, while everything else in the room appeared somewhat hazy and illusory. A wind swept across the room from nowhere, sending Arthis¡¯ hair and clothes fluttering about gently, ¡°I¡¯ll immediately be alerted as soon as anyone attempts to force their way into this domain. And unless they kill me, they won¡¯t be able to see a single thing in this room.¡±

    With that, she hooked her finger, and the Book of Life and Death glowed with a mystical ck-and-white bicoloured lustre. It hovered in the air for a moment, before promptly falling into her hands. And then, she caressed the ancient book gently. With each movement she made, the air in the room rippled and fluctuated visibly.

    With her palms sping both sides of the book, she stared at it with a great depth of emotions in her eyes, ¡°I¡¯ve never imagined¡­ that I would be given the opportunity to touch such a divine artifact¡­¡±

    ¡°That said, what you¡¯re seeing isn¡¯t its true form at all.¡± Her entire body lit up with countless golden runes that rushed madly into the Book of Life and Death. Simultaneously, her voice sonorous and distant, ¡°There¡¯s more to it than meets the eye. You¡¯d best take a good look at the Book of Life and Death¡¯s true form in order to fully understand its uses.¡±

    ¡°Open!!¡±

    Boom!!

    There was a thunderous sound, almost as though an entire mountain had just crumbled to the ground. A scarlet light gleamed brightly from Arthis¡¯ hands, and it was so ring that Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but shut his eyes. Then, when he finally opened them once more, he stared at its astounding transformation and gasped in shock.

    The palm-sized book in front of Arthis had now expanded to the size of a meter!

    It had a ck cover, and ¡®Book of Life and Death¡¯ was written on the cover of the book in majestic calligraphy! Qin Ye didn¡¯t know who the master of such calligraphy was, but a single nce at these words instantly caused his heart to constrict with fear and awe.

    He wasn¡¯t even able to look directly at it.

    ¡°This is written by the second generation King Yanluo of Hell, who was also the strongest King Yanluo of Hell by far.¡± Arthis exined softly as she flipped through the pages. The ancient book was thin, and yet the void around it instantly trembled as soon as she flipped it open. A momentter, countless names appeared right in the space above the open book.

    ¡°All Infernal Judges have been assigned a rubbing of the Book of Life and Death.¡± She stared at the names around her and eximed in awe, ¡°This is a massive database. The Book of Life and Death can be subdivided into three main chapters, which, needless to say, pertain to humans, monsters, and things. You already know about humans and monsters. The chapter on things contain the particrs surrounding the death of things such as trees, pigs, cows and other livestock alike. It¡¯s urate right down to the minute and second, and all you have to do to recall such information is to say a location, and all information pertaining to that location will automatically appear.¡±

    ¡°The rubbings of the Book of Life and Death contain this information as well. That said, it doesn¡¯t replicate the Book of Life and Death¡¯s ability to reap a soul. The workings of the Death Note like what you see on television doesn¡¯t truly exist.¡±

    She stretched out her finger and tapped on a random person¡¯s name. Qin Ye looked over, and he was immediately startled to find that details including the person¡¯s appearances, physique, hobbies, gender, cause of death, time of death, burial location, method of burial, were all clearly documented within the database!

    ¡°My god¡­¡± He sighed with great disbelief. There must have been well over ten billion people who have existed across Cathay¡¯s history since its founding. And yet every single detail was recorded in this single book of records! It truly deserved its title as a divine artifact!

    ¡°The only realm that the Book of Life and Death doesn¡¯t record is the realm of the heavens.¡± Qin Ye continued to familiarise himself with the Book of Life and Death with Arthis¡¯ guidance. And then, he suddenly furrowed his brows, ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that some of the names appear in different colours. Some are ck, some are red, and some are gold. What¡¯s the distinction?¡±

    Arthis reached out and tapped on a person with a ck name as she exined, ¡°It¡¯s simple. ck represents an ordinary person. Approximately 95% of all entries in the Book of Life and Death would be ck in colour. Red represents talent. People like Gu Qing would fall into this category. Red names stand for 4.9% of all entries in the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    Then, with a snap of her finger, the Book of Life and Death instantly riffled through dozens of pages, before finally stopping on a page where the first golden name appeared.

    ¡°Jiang Shang. Lived through thete-Shang, early-Zhou Dynasties. Ancestral name, Jiang. n name, Lu. Given name, Shang. Courtesy names of Shangfu and Ziya. His ancestors had assisted Yu the Great with his efforts at controlling the flooding of thends, and were thereby conferred the name of Lu as a reward for their merit. He therefore had a n name of Lu, and was also known as Lu Shang.¡±

    Her voice grew stern and somber, ¡°Every single entry with a golden name¡­ would undoubtedly represent one of the most famous figures in history. That said, only the names of Cathayans would automatically appear in the Book of Life and Death. Once Oda Nobunagapletes his registration with Hell, I imagine his name would also be stained with a trace amount of gold.¡±

    ¡°With the Book of Life and Death in hand, you¡¯ll essentially possess full knowledge of the resumes and past lives of all famous kings, generals and ministers across the history of Cathay. Most importantly¡­¡± She drew a deep breath and tapped lightly with her finger. The pages riffled softly once more, before finallying to a stop on another page.

    Holy shit?! Qin Ye stared at it with disbelief. His legs went weak, and he nearly copsed to the ground again.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Arthis nced at Qin Ye with a baffled expression.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­ It¡¯s just that¡­ I¡¯m slightly overwhelmed by all this information. Allow me to catch my breath¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a few breaths to regte his wildly thumping heart, and then he stared at the next golden name on the page.

    ¡°Yue Fei (24 March 1103 - 27 January 1142). Courtesy name Pengju. Native of Tangyin, Xiangzhou. Famous historical general, military leader, strategist, calligrapher and poet.¡±

    ¡°Are you suggesting that¡­ I can actually recruit the souls of these incredible talents through the Book of Life and Death?!¡±

    1.

    2. Jiang Ziya was widely known as a wise man and a sage in his time.

 Chapter 270: Five Unparalleled Units

    <h4>Chapter 270: Five Unparalleled Units</h4>

    Arthis stared at Qin Ye with great incredulity - You have an overactive imagination. Why would I even suggesting all the way here to recruit Oda Nobunaga if that was possible?

    Then, she verbalized, ¡°Of course not. The soul of Yue Fei, also known posthumously as Yue Wumu, is currently in Nippon. I¡¯m just naming him as an example¡­ Why are you heaving a sigh of relief like that?!¡±

    Qin Ye turned around and rolled his eyes.

    Yue Fei was a man of such great initiative that it could even be overbearing at times. Given Qin Ye¡¯s great ambition to ascend the throne, kick back and rx, Yue Fei¡¯s personality would naturally be diametrically opposed to his, and might even end up being a sore thumb to Qin Ye. Who knows, Qin Ye might even have to resort to another twelve gold ques¡­

    Eh? You¡¯re alive? It¡¯s alright¡­ I¡¯ll issue you another twelve gold ques to send you to the afterlife¡­

    Arthis immediately understood Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts, and she cursed under her breath. Forcefully shelving the thoughts to put Qin Ye to the task, she muttered coldly, ¡°Even though Lord Yue Wumu¡¯s soul might already have ascended into paradise together with Lord Ksitigarbha, we can still recall the troops under him with the aid of a special facility built upon the foundation of the Book of Life and Death. This will allow us to recall them back to join the ranks of Hell. Naturally, the recall function is only limited to the ordinary soldiers, to the exclusion of theirmanders and generals.¡±

    ¡°The Yue army?¡± Qin Ye cocked his head, and his face instantly lit up.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the Beiwei Cavalry to be exact.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°There have only been five widely recognized unparalleled units across the history of Cathay. These are the Beifu Army, the Beiwei Cavalry, the Qiexue Army, the ck Armored Troops, and the Yiding Ambush Raiders. These five units were powerhouses that swept through Cathay in their times, and they were also known as the five unparalleled units in history. The names of each one of these troops are listed within this ancient book as well.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped.

    Most Cathayans would have heard of these five unparalleled units in some way or another. In fact, each of these units were so powerful in their times that they were practically synonymous with the conquests of the growth of the corresponding dynasty back then. They represented the glorious years of Cathayan history!

    Thus, how great of a help would it be if they were to be able to recall these forces to protect the presently undefended Hell?!

    On a micro level, Hell¡­ would finally possess the requisite forces to send out an expedition to seize souls of talents!

    Admittedly, most of the talents these days have been surfacing in Usonia. In the past, seizing the soul of a talent in Usonia waspletely out of the question. But with the aid of these troops, sending an expedition force to the far reaches of Usonia was no longer an impossibility!

    Compared with the ordinary Yin spirits that resided in Hell right now who knew nothing but eating, drinking and rebelling, these troops could practically be described as natural-born darkfeathers! They would at best require little training before they were ready to be mobilized!

    And on a macro level¡­

    He could even consider waging wars!

    Not arge-scale war for territorial control, but smaller battles, such as¡­ the kind that would lead to the lynching of the three remaining daolords!

    Having witnessed the battle at the Strait of Tsushima, Qin Ye understood that it was still premature to be considering an inter-underworldly war right now. However, with these forces backing him, he would at least have some prospects of sess against a daolord within Cathay.

    ¡°There¡¯s still a year and a half left to the end of my stint at the First Academy of Cultivators. No, in fact, we¡¯ll be jumping right into actualbat experience in no more than six months¡¯ time. I don¡¯t know where I¡¯m going to be posted or assigned to. Given my abilities, there¡¯s a high likelihood that I would be assigned to a ce that is experiencing the worst of supernatural outbreaks. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯m almost certain I would be walking straight into the den of one of the daolords.¡± He rubbed his chin with a bright gleam in his eyes.

    It wouldn¡¯t be long before he squares off against the first daolord¡­

    This year of self-development had brought to him great benefits. At the very least, escape wasn¡¯t the only option avable to him anymore. If Cao Youdao and his forces appeared before him again right now, and even if he mobilized every single Yin spirit in the City of Salvation, Qin Ye would instantly be able to quell the uprising with the aid of the Beiwei Cavalry.

    Laws required enforcement. It was only when he possessed the threat of exacting violence that he would be able to straighten his back and speak with authority.

    All who disobeyed shall be punished!

    He stood up with great excitement and pushed Arthis away as he began to flip through the Book of Life and Death on his own, ¡°Then¡­ how many can we recall at once? Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand? Do you think we¡¯d be able to take down Singapura, Mya and Siam with these newfound forces of ours? Didn¡¯t you once mention that war was the best way to develop an underworld? Shall we¡­ give it a shot?¡±

    Arthis was naturally rather displeased with the way Qin Ye had shoved her aside, and she instantly retorted by raining on his parade, ¡°You dare covet thends of Singapura, Mya and Siam with only Oda Nobunaga under yourmand right now? Get real. You should at least gather five such equivalents before you even think about farting on those nations. A single general would never be able to cope with the management and deployment of so many troops. Ah, that¡¯s right, you don¡¯t even have a properly appointed general right now. So¡­ really? Are you really coveting Singapura, Mya and Siam?¡±

    Then, almost as though she remembered something important, Arthis suddenly rushed over to Qin Ye, shoved him aside, made a series of hand seals, and the Book of Life and Death promptly glowed with a ck-and-white bicoloured light before vanishing before his eyes. Qin Ye stared at her with innocence in his eyesced with some measure of usation.

    You¡¯re cruel! Tyrannical! Unreasonable!

    Arthis wiped off the non-existent cold sweat off her forehead, and her hands trembled slightly as she chucked dryly, ¡°Well, that¡¯s that. We¡¯d better discuss the formation of our army in greater detail."

    Qin Ye gave Arthis a suspicious nce - Her attempt at changing the topic is far too contrived. What other secret is there that¡¯s hidden in the records of the Book of Life and Death?

    Or¡­ is there something that she doesn¡¯t want me to see?

    But that¡¯s not right in any event! Shouldn¡¯t King Yanluo be the custodian to the Book of Life and Death in the first ce? I¡¯m the future King Yanluo of Hell! If I don¡¯t have this kind of thing in my possession, who is to say you won¡¯t plot against me in future?

    He blinked his eyes tentatively and then hooked his finger in the air at Arthis. Arthis immediately grabbed his finger, and Qin Ye stared at her like a confused Pikachu, ¡°So, is it not possible to summon all five unparalleled units at the same time?¡±

    ¡°How could that be possible?¡± Arthis smiled as she gently brought Qin Ye¡¯s hand back to his pocket and stuffed it in, ¡°With the current level of Yin energy in Hell right now, we can at best sustain the existence of two thousand special forces soldiers. I would suggest disregarding the Beiwei Cavalry, the Yiding Ambush Raiders, as well as the Qiexue Army. If memory serves me well, these units are all mounted units. The new Hell isn¡¯t developed enough to maintain the existence of Yin beasts as yet.¡±

    Qin Ye felt like giving himself a tight p across the face. He knew full well that he had allowed Arthis to lead him by the nose away from the main topic of his suspicions, and yet he couldn¡¯t help but go on with the flow of their conversation, ¡°So, the mounted units can only wait till Yin beasts appear in Hell? When will that be? When Hell is a Town? Or a County?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll at least have to be County.¡± Arthis elegantly walked out of the room and shut the door behind her, ¡°Anyhow, get some rest. I can smell your dear gay friending to visit you. See you?¡±

    Click. The door shut.

    Yet, before she could even heave a sigh of relief for having sessfully averted the crisis of their discussions, she was instantly startled by the figure of a tall, imposing man.

    ¡°WTF?!!¡± She reflexively unleashed an outburst of expletives. And then, she saw Lin Han stare at her with a great look of astonishment, watching her wipe the sweat off her forehead, before turning to look at the door to Qin Ye¡¯s room.

    In that instant, his mind instinctively began to deliberate over suggestions of what he might call their child.

    ¡°Idiot.¡± Arthis couldn¡¯t be bothered with the towering buffoon any longer, and she sashayed away, promptly leaving the hotel in a state of shock.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­ Old Qin sure is remarkable¡­¡± Lin Han blinked vacantly and eximed to himself before entering Qin Ye¡¯s room.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    As soon as she left the hotel, Arthis immediately turned into the alley down the street and ducked behind a corner, where she finally ced her hand on her chest and heaved a great sigh of relief. Her voluptuous chest rose and fell with each breath she took.

    ¡°Are you an idiot?!¡± Ming Shiyin¡¯s cried out with disdain, ¡°How can you shift me about so abruptly when I just woke up? Can¡¯t you allow a mirror some peace and quiet for once? Do you know how much energy I¡¯ve expended at the great battle in the Strait of Tsushima earlier?!¡±

    ¡°I just spoke of Singapura, Mya and Siam.¡± Arthis wiped off the sweat on her forehead as she nced warily in the direction of Qin Ye¡¯s hotel room. She spoke cautiously to herself, and her psychopathic demeanor instantly drew suspicious gazes from random passers-by.

    Arthis rolled her eyes and waltzed deeper into the alley. It had to be said that even though Eastsea was the number one economic hub in Cathay, there were still several pockets of less-developed urban viges in the midst of the great city.

    ¡°What¡¯s the big deal? That¡¯s just like Si or Baekje¡­ these are but lesser nations. Do you think they would be able to rid themselves of their ancestry by a simple change of their names? Come, repeat after me - your father is¡­ your father is¡­ Hang on¡­¡±

    Almost as though it recalled something important as well, Ming Shiyin instantly shot out from Arthis¡¯ abdomen and spoke with a quiver in its voice, ¡°Y-y-you¡­ you spoke of Singapura, Mya and Siam?! Did you mention Daehan as well?!¡±

    Arthis¡¯s mouth was filled with bitter taste, and she shook her head in exasperation, ¡°No¡­ but¡­ I¡¯m not sure we¡¯ll be able to conceal it from him much longer.¡±

    She took a deep breath and gently bit her lips as she gazed into the distant sky. The night sky was clear and beautiful, and yet her voice was iparably cold, ¡°After all¡­ the battle had taken ce right in the heart of the Strait of Tsushima. If we talk about the absolute proximity from that man, it¡¯s simply too close forfort¡­¡±

    Ming Shiyin smacked the wall with a loud thud, ¡°He would most definitely have detected our scent! Perhaps he might already be on the way here! Yes¡­ he must be here! We can¡¯t afford to cross paths with him!¡±

    ¡°This man¡­ is taboo for us!! Who knows what ns he would have in mind for Hell as it stands right now!¡±

    Arthis massaged her temple, before promptly waving her hands, and the entire alley instantly seemed to transform into apletely different realm. Then, she snapped her finger, and the Book of Life and Death appeared once more. It riffled through the pages, and then finallynded on yet another golden name!

    The existence of golden names wasn¡¯t an unusual thing. However, what was peculiar about this entry was that it upied the entire page!

    Not even famous historical figures like Yue Fei or Zhuge Liang got this kind of treatment!

    ¡°Liu Jinu¡­ Liu Yu¡­¡± A Judge and a mirror both felt their eyelids twitch uncontrobly as soon as they noticed this name.

    This was a name¡­ that undoubtedly caused their heads to hurt more than any of the other Sixfold Ghost Kings around!

    And this was despite the fact that this man¡¯s cultivation wasn¡¯t even at the realms of the Sixfold Ghost Kings!

    This is¡­ Even the Judges in the old Hell didn¡¯t dare to speak much of this man. And yet, what was most important was the fact that this man¡­ hadn¡¯t perished! He was still alive and kicking! And he most certainly did not ascend into paradise with Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!

    Not even Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva would¡¯ve wanted him in paradise¡­

    ¡°I kept the Book of Life and Death instantly. We can¡¯t afford to let Qin Ye see this man¡¯s name. That kid is as cunning as a fox. If he sees this man¡¯s name¡­ he¡¯ll probably be able to glean a thing or two about it. Given Hell¡¯s current might, we definitely cannot afford to let Qin Ye get close to that old monster!¡± Arthis spoke with a fierce determination.

    ¡°Nicely done.¡± Ming Shiyin gritted its teeth, ¡°We¡¯ve got to react well to these exigencies. I think it¡¯s high time we brought Qin Ye back to Hell. Liu Jinu¡­ the only evil spirit that Emissaries of Hell of an equal cultivation level weren¡¯t able to purge. In fact, he even possesses the ability to turn against us and kill us Emissaries! Fortunately¡­ fortunately, he¡¯s not a pernicious soul¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave Eastsea behind us as soon as possible.¡± A wind swept across the sequestered realm, tousling Arthis¡¯ hair as she continued, ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling that something unimaginable will happen if we stay here any longer. The ripples of aftermath of the Strait of Tsushima battle¡­ are only just beginning.¡±

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t aware of this conversation that transpired.

    To his mind, everything was over. Arthis was obviously hiding something from him, but havinge so far along the redevelopment of Hell, he sincerely believed that Arthis would never do anything to harm him.

    With that, he let himself loose and indulged in the reception of drinks with Lin Han and Su Feng, having so much that he grew inebriated and slurry. There were only five days left to this trip to Eastsea. They rested the next day. And then, attended the academic exchange on the day after that.

    It had to be said that Arthis was incredibly useful and helpful over the course of the academic exchange. After possessing his body, she would shatter every inurate notion of the participating schrs with a great barrage of insights that overwhelmed them in an instant.

    The only downside to this was that Qin Ye acted in a disproportionately effeminate manner - cf Arti¡¯sst possession of his body. His effeminate demeanor made Lin Han and Su Feng feel incredibly awkward, in spite of the fact that they were revelling in the sweet fruit of theirbour. In other words, their experience at the academic exchange could be described as a confluence of pain and pleasure.

    How does one deal with the fact that their leader is a sissy?! Would he fall for me? Holy crap¡­ I¡¯ve got to be prepared for the worst case scenario¡­

    The academic exchangested for two whole days. After that, Qin Ye finally had the time to get in touch with the Imperial Group.

    Oda Nobunaga had been one of the main objectives of this present expedition. Naturally, the other main objective was the procurement of the materials and equipment that Hell desperately needed, especially construction materials and other amenities!

    And tonight would be the night to finally receive them in Hell!

    1. Yue Fei fought a long campaign in an effort to retake northern China. On the cusp of his sess, Emperor Gaozong followed the advice of corrupt officials, sending 12 orders in the form of 12 gold ques to Yue Fei, recalling him back to the capital. Recognizing that the sess in his campaign might lead to internal strife, he submitted to the emperor¡¯s orders and returned to the capital, where he was imprisoned andter ordered to be executed on false charges.

    2. This was exactly what the author wrote.

 Chapter 271: Mitsubishi Corporationâ€™s Gratitude

    <h4>Chapter 271: Mitsubishi Corporation''s Gratitude</h4>

    Warehouse AC28. It was located in a semi-abandoned dock that was quite some distance away from the heart of the city. This used to be a state-funded shipyard, but it was soon rendered obsolete by the reformation in Cathay. Just like most state-funded factories, they were unable to adapt to the new wave of industries despite further funding by the state, and they soon dered bankruptcy and called it quits after seeing no improvement in the situation.

    Screeech¡­ The car finally stopped at the entrance of the warehouse. As soon as Qin Ye got out of the car, a man in a suit walked up to him and warmly extended his hand, ¡°Mr Qin, wee. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jiro Takeno. I¡¯ve remained behind in Eastsea in order to lend you my assistance with these affairs.¡±

    Jiro Takeno made a small gesture of invitation, and smiled as they walked along, side by side, ¡°I don¡¯t belong to the Imperial Furniture Group; I work for Mitsubishi Corporation. I received direct orders from the owner of Mitsubishi Corporation yesterday, instructing me to negotiate with the Imperial Furniture Group and take over this warehouse and its contents. Additionally, we¡¯ve also taken the liberty to add a few small gifts of ours to the stash of goods within the warehouse.¡±

    The duo were silent for the rest of their stroll. That said, it was evident that Jiro Takeno was sizing Qin Ye up all this while.

    Jiro Takeno¡¯s status in the organization wasn¡¯t low at all. He was the personal assistant to Iwasaki Kyouya himself. Most people who saw and recognized him would invariably address Jiro Takeno respectfully due to his association with Iwasaki Kyouya. And the converse was true as well - the fact that Qin Ye didn¡¯t recognize him meant that he wasn¡¯t well-acquainted with Iwasaki Kyouya either.

    Thus, Jiro Takeno found Iwasaki Kyouya¡¯s instructions incredibly peculiar.

    What man is this that was worthy of Master¡¯s attention?

    A cool night breeze tousled Qin Ye¡¯s hair gently. As they drew closer and closer to the warehouse, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed with a burning passion - These are supplies worth a billion altogether¡­ It epasses a list of everything I could possibly think of. I¡¯m blowing a billion on a tiny little vige. I refuse to believe that the citizens of the new Hell would even have the heart to rebel when they see everything I¡¯ve got prepared for them!

    Click¡­ His thoughts were interrupted with the soft sound of the door¡¯s locking mechanism. Jiro Takeno smiled and gestured for Qin Ye to enter at will. As soon as Qin Ye walked into the warehouse, his eyes instantly flickered, and he turned back to stare at Jiro Takeno with great astonishment. Jiro Takeno continued to smile faintly at Qin Ye as he bowed respectfully, ¡°This represents a gesture of appreciation from Mr Iwasaki himself. He wants you to ept it.¡±

    To be more exact, the Mitsubishi Group had added a total of five containers in the warehouse. Each of these containers were forty feet t rack containers - thergest containers avable for shipping purposes. It was forty-seven square meters in size, and carried a maximum weight of thirty-nine tons. And the first container had beenpletely filled to the brim with books!

    He casually picked up one of the books - How coincidental¡­ Super Entertainment Dynasty¡­

    ¡°Sir, of these five containers, two of them contain books. Container number one here is packed with novels, ranging from famous works from the published novels era, to the print publication of the online web novels. There are also the usual sci-fi, fantasy, foreign ssics, and short stories.¡±

    ¡°There are some.¡± Jiro Takeno responded, ¡°The one who handed me the particrs of this assignment is none other than Chief Iwasaki¡¯s first secretary. He mentioned that books pertaining to scientific knowledge might not be very useful to you, so we¡¯ve only included books on cookery, astronomy, nature, psychology, and so on, to the exclusion of books on mathematics, physics, or chemistry. We¡¯d basically scoured all of the bookstores in Eastsea City, Stillriver Province and the other neighbouring provinces for these books, and purchased all of the applicable books.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. The principles of physics and chemistry werepletely useless in Hell. He sighed in amazement - Iwasaki Kyouya had been incredibly thorough and thoughtful in his gifts.

    Qin Ye had purchased arge number of implements for production lines of every sort. However, it would take time to set up these production lines. And then, who would take on these jobs? Would there be training required? How is thepany going to be structured? These were issues that would take at least a month or two to sort through on a conservative estimate. How was he going to fill the time before that?

    Books are practically godsends when ites to killing time¡­ Two containers weigh close to a hundred tons in total. This contains sufficient information tost us for at least half a year, wouldn¡¯t it? And two monthster, as soon as the prints industry has been fully established, we¡¯ll be able to start production on a new batch of books. I doubt we have any professors and experts within our numbers who are able to devour books at such a rapid pace anyway.

    He promptly led Qin Ye to the other containers in the room, ¡°The second container here also contains books, but they contain more specialized knowledge, such as the treatises used by professionals. We¡¯ve already sorted them out in categories, and there¡¯s a special catalogue ced inside. Would you like us to open the container for you inspection?¡±

    Jiro Takeno chuckled, ¡°Sir, these are¡­ three containers¡¯ worth of diesel generators.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t included these items in his shopping list earlier only because he thought it would be too difficult to procure these items.

    In other words, only generators with an ¡°ind mode operation¡± would be able to operate in istion from the grid.

    There were definitely diesel generators around that ticked all the boxes. The main problemy in the avability of stocks, while a secondary issue was locating these readily avable stocks. A third issue would be the fact that these generators wouldn¡¯t be useful unless he had a certain number of them acting as a critical mass.

    ¡°Open it.¡± Qin Ye grinned widely. He was unable to hide his joy this time.

    I¡¯d expected no less of the Mitsubishi¡­ Their heritage and influence sure runs deep. After all, not even the tycoons in Cathay would possess the resourcefulness to gather these goods in the span of a single day!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t resist the urge to give Iwasaki Kyouya a hug and a kiss!

    He saw the production lines I had, and immediately thought about theck of electricity source. And not only has he taken the initiative to provide me with the requisite source of energy, he has even reced the production lines with more suitable ones! This saves me an entire trip! It¡¯s practically a home delivery right now!

    Iwasaki Kyouya has expressed his gratitude to me, but what about Mount Koya and the Onmyojis?

    How ignorant of them!

    ¡°Based on our calctions, we¡¯ve reced the printing line, the engineering industry lines, as well as the garment manufacturing lines. Some of the lines belonging to the smaller industries such as the handicrafts and carpentry lines can all be powered by the existing gensets as they stand.¡±

    There was a wide variety of goods, ranging from basic necessities, to the goods required for engineering and printing, to ygrounds, footballs, basketballs, ping pong balls, mahjong, poker cards¡­ All in all, Qin Ye simply refused to believe that Hell would riot in the near future with so many things to upy their minds!

    He had never expected the process of kingdom-building to be so delightful.

    ¡°Sir, the tour of the goods is over. Would you like us to ship the goods to you? Mr Iwasaki has instructed us toply with your instructions in this regard.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Suppressing the zing fire of passion in his heart, Qin Ye waved his hand dismissively, ¡°Tell Mr Iwasaki that I ept his kind gesture with gratitude. Additionally, he cane look for me in Cathay If there¡¯s anything that Nippon is unable to deal with in future. Here¡¯s my number.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is one of the author¡¯s previous books.

 Chapter 272: Hellâ€™s Prosperity

    <h4>Chapter 272: Hell''s Prosperity</h4>

    What a im¡­

    But he didn¡¯t verbalize his thoughts. Instead, he bowed respectfully and took down Qin Ye¡¯s number, ¡°Then, we¡¯ll take our leave if you require nothing more of us. Ah, that¡¯s right, sir, all expenses, including the rental of the warehouse andbour costs have been paid for in full. Mr Iwasaki has personally absorbed these costs.¡±

    ¡°Let me ask you something.¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but cough lightly, ¡°About¡­ um¡­ Mr Iwasaki¡­ How¡¯s his health right now?¡±

    Qin Ye put his fist to his mouth and continued coughing dryly as he continued to drop hints as to the nature of his question, ¡°That is to say¡­ is he suffering from any chronic or incurable diseases such as cancer, AIDS, leukemia¡­? Particrly those that are terminal¡­¡±

    Qin Ye waved his hands at Jiro Takeno with great regret, ¡°Understood. You may leave.¡±

    Ah¡­ Silly humans. Do you know what kind of goodwill you¡¯re missing out on from this future King Yanluo? What¡¯s there to be afraid of? Can you even tell when Hell is knocking on your door and greeting you cordially?

    Hell¡¯s development was going to soar in no time!

    Qin Ye watched and waited silently as everything slowly vanished in the great inferno ofhermes. The sheer number of items to be consumed by the mes meant that the ze went on for another one hour before it finallypleted. And as soon as the final object vanished with the flickering mes, the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal glowed with a bright lustre, and Qin Ye once again found himself in the familiar realms of Hell.

    Every single citizen of Hell, including the Death Inquisitors, were staring in great astonishment at the empty plot ofnd located right in front of Hell¡¯s Gate. There were now over a hundred containers on this plot ofnd spread out in a neat circr formation, and all of the containers were open.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t speak immediately. Instead, he simply took in the expression on the faces of each Yin spirit around.

    Qin Ye nced about, before finally sauntering to Su Dongxue¡¯s side and whispering, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± A cacophony of excited squeals and discussions could be heard all around them. It was music to Qin Ye¡¯s ears - Perhaps¡­ this is what they mean when they say that a joy that is shared is a joy made double¡­

    Su Dongxue nodded her head fervently as she continued to stare at the containers with a bright glint in her eyes. Qin Ye could tell from her look on her face that she was probably thinking about what of the items in the containers she would like to have in her own possession. He coughed dryly, jolting Su Dongxue back to her senses. And as soon as she noticed how she had been casually addressing Qin Ye this entire time, she was so bbergasted that she immediately motioned to kneel down to pay her respects to Qin Ye, only to be held back by him. Qin Ye held a finger to his lips and shook his head.

    Qin Ye continued to scan around until he soon noticed another familiar figure. Huang Liangchuan, one of the tycoons from the mortal realm, was trying desperately to get to the front of the crowd, close to where the mahjong tiles were neatlyid out. In fact, he was struggling so hard that his eyes had even grown bloodshot. Unfortunately, he was an old ghost whose physical strength wascking. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t get closer than twenty meters from the circle of containers.

    Every single container was surrounded by a throng of Yin spirits that were packed like sardines. The buzz of their heated discussions had set the atmosphere in Hell on fire once more. Qin Ye took it all in. He had never expected the collection of seemingly ordinary objects from the mortal realm would bring about such a greatmotion.

    It was almost as though a group of star-struck fans had just witnessed the arrival of their idol. The entire ce was filled with an air of frenzied excitement.

    Yet what was even more surprising was the fact that their excitement filled Qin Ye¡¯s heart with great satisfaction. It was an indescribable sense of fullness and aplishment.

    Truly¡­ this is truly satisfying¡­

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, before drawing a deep breath and speaking much louder than before, ¡°Everyone, be silent.¡±

    Thest few months had been a tumultuous journey in Hell. They had seen a Yin spirit riot, several instances of unrest and discontentment and patchwork policies. The future King Yanluo of Hell even had to personally head out to the East Cathay Sea to reap a soul himself. That said, it was finally time to reap the rewards of his efforts.

    There were so many things he wanted to say, such as ¡°Are you happy?¡± or ¡°You¡¯ve got to work hard for Hell from now on, alright?¡±

    ¡°These items will be distributed to everyone over the next few months. I know that thest few months have been hard on everyone.¡±

    Everyone was silent.

    ¡°Furthemore, the only reason why it¡¯s not being distributed right away is due to logistical constraints.¡± Qin Ye ced his hands on his back and walked around the containers in Hell. Wherever he passed, the surrounding Death Inquisitors would retreat respectfully. Qin Ye gently ced his hand on the cold surface of the container, and yet his heart felt immeasurably hot, as though it were zing with passion, ¡°As you can all see, there are well over ten containers¡¯ worth of amenities dedicated to your recreation and entertainment alone. Furthermore, there are over ten containers¡¯ worth of manufacturing supplies pertaining to over a dozen industries which you are all familiar with. So, what are we going to do about these?¡±

    Qin Ye was obviously at a loss for words earlier, and yet as soon as the floodgates of speech were open, strings of verbal expressions immediately began to pour out of his lips unceasingly.

    Nevertheless, he continued to dere with a sonorous timbre to his voice, ¡°What we need most right now is regtion. Who would work in each of these industries? Who would manage the workers? How do we ount for the goods manufactured? Everything has to be sorted out. Apart from that, there are also a limited number of recreational amenities to go around, and we¡¯ll definitely have to share the use of these amenities. How are we going to allocate these resources? How do we return them? How would onepensate for damage to the amenities? We¡¯ve not worked out a system for loans and returns as yet.¡±

    After all, what Man feared the most was the absence of hope. As long as there was hope on the horizon, Man would be willing to wait patiently for it, even if it meant a five or ten year wait.

    He scanned around, before continuing with a booming voice, ¡°You will be the inaugural batch of employees of the new Hell. I guarantee that you will not regret participating in these reestablishment efforts of the new Hell. What I¡¯m looking for are citizens who are willing to send coal in a snowstorm, and not those who are only willing to add icing on the cake!¡±

    The rest of the citizens left with a spring in their step. Unlike before, where they would bezing about under a tree or staring nkly into the sky, they were now gathered in groups of three to five, discussing the current developments of Hell with great interest.

    Those who had experienced the reformation of Cathay¡¯s policies and reopening of Cathay¡¯s borders would be fully aware that the early birds get the worms!

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Gu Qing cupped his hands and bowed respectfully. His eyes were obviously gleaming with excitement when he raised his head again, ¡°You¡¯ve¡­ truly outdone yourself and made waves this time!¡±

    They were obviously ttering Qin Ye, but he epted them with open arms nheless.

    It wasn¡¯t until everyone had run out of ttering words to say that he finally knocked on the table with some measure of dissatisfaction, ¡°C¡¯mon, continue! You guys should take a leaf out of Mr Gu¡¯s book. His wide vocabry allows him to continue on end without sounding repetitive. Read more - it¡¯s good for you. Otherwise, don¡¯t you think you¡¯ll be letting yournguage teachers down?¡±

    Seeing that everyone was now silent, Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively, and the smile on his face faded away, ¡°Take a seat.¡±

    Then, as soon as everyone had taken their seats, he finally got down to the main agenda at hand, ¡°That¡¯s right. These goods and materials would truly consolidate Hell¡¯s foundation for development. That said, there¡¯s too much to do, and too little time. Thus, I¡¯m going to state some of my points of views and requests, and I¡¯d like you to chip inter and build on it. We¡¯ll need to ride this wave of momentum and get everything sorted out in the shortest time possible.¡±

 Chapter 273: The First Red-Letterhead Document (1)

    <h4>Chapter 273: The First Red-Letterhead Document (1)</h4>

    The annex hall was considerably silentpared with the great mor of chatter and discussions going on outside. Even then, Qin Ye didn¡¯t do anything to control themotion taking ce among the citizens of Hell.

    Presently, the annex hall of Hell¡¯s Gate was the highest office of Hell where the most important developmental decisions were all being made. Yet, the conditions under which they were working could only be described as sorelycking. For instance, they didn¡¯t even have the amenities for making themselves a good cup of tea.

    The five minute takers were already ready and primed to record everything that transpired this meeting. Qin Ye finally continued, ¡°There are a few things. First, we have to distribute the recreational and entertainment amenities within a month¡¯s time. The longer we drag this out, the more we risk any hard-earned gratitude from our citizens turning into bitter resentment.¡±

    Everyone nodded. Just then, a gust ofhergale swept through the door. Arthis stepped into the annex hall and nodded at Qin Ye, ¡°You know your priorities. I couldn¡¯t sense your aura back in the mortal realm, so I thought to make a trip here to take a look. Turns out that you¡¯re here after all. Indeed, there¡¯s much to do, and little time to waste. It would be important to n and prioritize the next steps moving forward.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows quizzically.

    I¡¯m surprised¡­ Arthis is ssified as the type who arezy to the extreme. What has she done as a Judge thus far? Cause an earth-shattering cmity that sent her straight to the abyss for centuries on end? Why would she go out of her way just to be here?

    No¡­ In fact, she seems to be a lot more concerned about me ever since I¡¯ve managed to retrieve the Book of Life and Death.

    Could she have¡­ fallen for my heaven-defying beauty?

    Brrr¡­. Qin Ye shuddered and hurriedly dispelled the thought as he continued, ¡°This is of top priority. Since that is the case, the first thing we will need to do would be to establish a proper rental system. If anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to chime in.¡±

    Gu Qing immediately spoke up, ¡°I do have a suggestion. We could, for instance, model the rental system after the book loaning system in mortal realm libraries if webel the recreational and entertainment amenities with unique registration codes. However, for a system of loans and returns to be workable, we will need to address two underlying issues.¡±

    ¡°The first issue would be that of identification.¡± He held up two fingers, ¡°And the second would pertain to the establishment of a system of currency or money.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded deeply - I¡¯d expect nothing less from a talent like him. Qin Ye hadn¡¯t even considered these issues at all, and yet he was immediately enlightened as soon as Gu Qing mentioned them. Indeed, he would be able to ride the wave of the distribution of entertainment and recreational amenities to establish a system of identification and currency! That would be the most desirable oue!

    It was a blessing in disguise to be reconstructing Hell in this time and age. After all, he couldn¡¯t be said to be truly starting from scratch, especially since everyone already had a fair understanding about the governmental structure back in the mortal realm. At the very least, there wasn¡¯t the need to give everyone a crash course on how governance was to be conducted.

    Seeing that hisments were met with Qin Ye¡¯s tacit approbation, Gu Qing continued, ¡°We won¡¯t be able to roll out the system of loans and returns without first having in ce a system of identification. After all, how would we know who¡¯s borrowed what? If Qin Gardens Phase 1 were alreadyplete, we could implement a rental system using the registered households instead, but that¡¯s not possible right now. Besides, we will need to roll out a system of identification sooner orter, so there¡¯s no harm getting down to it right away¡­¡±

    ¡°If I might interject.¡± Arthis sat in her seat and tapped gently on the table, ¡°Hell has its own way of rolling out the system of identification. As soon as Hell expands to the size of a county, a Yin beast known as the Hundred Eye Beast will show up. This beast is extremely intelligent, and its body consists of dozens of sensory and perception functions that can be used for both identification and verification. The beast can also be domesticated and nurtured with a simple investment of ghostpower. With the aid of these beasts, we won¡¯t have any concerns with the identification of Yin spirits around. I recall a time when there were at least a dozen Hundred Eye Beasts within each county of the old Hell. The system of identification can be implemented with little to no hassle.¡±

    ¡°So, that¡¯s how it is.¡± Gu Qing nodded softly, ¡°That¡¯s great news. This would save us arge amount of manpower. Then, I think we can shelve this issue for now. As for the establishment of the system of money¡­ Lady Arakshasa, might I ask how the old Hell addressed this issue?¡±

    Arthis paused for a moment, ¡°The old Hell used a system of paper currency. You could say that these are true Hell¡¯s notes. Hell¡¯s fiat currency used to be printed by a team of specialists at Hell¡¯s Finance Department. In that regard, the director of the Finance Department used to be a peak Abyssal Prefect, a man who was known to havepeted with King Qinguang for the position of Yama-King three times. As far as I knew, he used to leave an imprint of his Yin energy on each and every Hell¡¯s note produced in order to guarantee authenticity.¡±

    ¡°This branding process is somewhat simr to the special watermarks left on the fiat currency in the mortal realm. With it, you¡¯ll know whether the note you¡¯re using is authentic or not. However, we don¡¯t have the capabilities to perform such functions right now. The alternative method is to employ the use of spirit stones. However, this would only be possible when we uncover the existence of Yin spirit stone mines in Hell. Incidentally, Yin spirit stones are one of the most widely epted forms of currency across underworlds.¡±

    So, neither option is open to us right now...Gu Qing furrowed his brows. However, Qin Ye suddenly smiled, ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need to overthink things.¡±

    Without missing a beat, he exined, ¡°We¡¯re the only ones who are in possession of the print and minting machines. How would the other Yin spirits even begin to make counterfeit money? The only thing we¡¯ll need to do is to fix the amount of money in cirction so that it¡¯s neither too scarce nor overly inted. Huang Liangchuan.¡±

    Huang Liangchuan was surprised that Qin Ye had suddenly called out to him, ¡°Yes, what instructions does Lord Qin have for me?¡±

    Qin Ye gazed at the sky in the distance, ¡°How are the preparations for the system of moneying along?¡±

    ¡°I was just about to report this to my lord as well.¡± Huang Liangchuan pulled out a thick folder of documents. He opened it, revealing page after page of writing and scribblings, ¡°Since the issuance of yourstmand, the first thing I did was to source talents in order to form a core working group. At present, I¡¯ve managed to secure a teamprising approximately one dozen art majors, none of whom have any experience in the print and production of currency, as well as four experts in economics. Together, we¡¯ve alreadye up with a working idea of how the system of currency is to be implemented. However¡­ the devil is really in the details, as well as the regtions involved.¡±

    He coughed dryly, ¡°After all¡­ we¡¯re all first-timers when ites to managing a system of currency from scratch¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you need so many art majors for?¡± One of the division heads of Yin Construction was evidently baffled.

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Of course it would be necessary to gather art students to develop the temte which will be used on each Hell¡¯s note to be produced. Do you have a sample temte ready?¡±

    ¡°Would you like to take a look?¡± Huang Liangchuan immediately flipped through his folder, ¡°We¡¯ve taken the liberty to use your image¡­¡±

    Eh? What did you say?

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes lit up - To think that my image would actually be printed on fiat currency one day! What an abrupt yet pleasantly surprising honor¡­

    Arthis could immediately tell the thoughts that were running through Qin Ye¡¯s mind with a single nce at him, and she promptly interjected, ¡°There¡¯s no hurry. We can firm up the details in future. Hell¡¯s notes will have to be produced in several varying denominations. I¡¯ll head back to the old Hell to get you a few portraits of the first and second generation King Yanluos for you. We shouldn¡¯t dismiss their achievements and des after all. Well, we¡¯ve digressed. Back to the topic at hand, Mr Gu, do you have any other queries or rifications you require?¡±

    Such was the issue of governance - a single issue could easily implicate various aspects of their citizens¡¯ lives, and the discussions of these anciry matters could go on indefinitely at length.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing further for now.¡± Gu Qing paused for a moment, ¡°But might I suggest to slow down the developments a little bit? These are national-level issues with wide-reaching ramifications, and it would always be more prudent to err on the side of caution with multiple reviews before implementation. Furthermore, we would ideally roll out the system of loans and returns at the same time that the system of currency is established. A joint implementation would be far smoother in terms of logistics.

    The minute takers behind struggled to record everything down. Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Well, that concludes the discussion on the first item on the agenda for now. We¡¯ll convene again in a few days¡¯ time to discuss these matters in greater detail.¡±

    He smiled, ¡°Everyone, I imagine that there will be many things that will need to be discussed in a tabletop setting like this in the near future. The burden resting on each of our shoulders is incredibly heavy, but I also recognize that it is equally important to keep a clear mind about things. Therefore, I¡¯ll adjust and lower the frequency of meetings as much as I can. I only ask that everyone be mentally prepared for the rigour that is toe in the time ahead of us.¡±

    There were no objections.

    Everyone smiled and nodded knowingly.

    After all, everyone knew that the sudden influx of goods and materials would naturally lead to the establishment of charters, departments andpanies. These weren¡¯t matters that could be summarily dismissed or dealt with by a simple lip-service discussion. Each and every policy to be made would have to be discussed in great detail and reviewed over and over again before finally being implemented.

    However, the benefits of their current involvement far outweighed the costs, especially when it came to their future political resume!

    In fact, they might one day even be a provincial governor at this rate!

    ¡°Second item on the agenda.¡± Qin Ye held up two fingers, ¡°Hell needs a voice.¡±

    ¡°Hell can be said to be back on track to its days of glories past. We¡¯ll need to let our citizens know what our goals are, what we¡¯re working on, what difficulties we face¡­¡± He paused for a moment and drew a deep breath, ¡°And about our enemies.¡±

    ¡°Enemies?¡± Everyone¡¯s eyes flickered as they probed further.

    Qin Ye nced at Arthis, only to receive her blessings for the disclosure of this information. He drew another deep breath, and then continued, ¡°Everyone, surely you didn¡¯t think that we were the only underworld in existence, did you?¡±

    It was a simple statement, and yet it caused everyone to gasp in horror. Some even came close to shooting straight to their feet.

    After all, the implications underlying that simple statement were far too profound!

    Everyone came from an era of information explosion, and they naturally understood the meaning of Qin Ye¡¯s words!

    All who failed to keep up would be rendered otiose in an instant. This was a painful lesson which Cathay had learnt through blood, sweat and tears! It had used to be among the most powerful countries in the world, and yet the incursion of something so seemingly benign as opium led to the opium wars, which eventually led to the downfall of an entire nation. Its present path to recovery was literally forged from blood, sweat and tears. Hell¡­ was no different from its mortal realm counterpart.

    ¡°There will be a famous historical general who will be joining the ranks of Hell as a militarymander in just a little while.¡± Qin Ye paused for some time and nced about the table. Then, as though talking about apletely different matter, he continued, ¡°His name is Oda Nobunaga¡­ That¡¯s right - the Oda Nobunaga. We¡¯ve just fought a great battle at the Strait of Tsushima in order to secure his soul.¡±

    His words were highly provocative, ¡°There¡¯s an interesting theory promulgated by a book that might be applicable here - every underworld is just like a hunter residing in the deepest recesses of a dark forest. Any existence that is discovered to possess insufficient defences and firepower would instantly be destroyed by the rest!¡±

    He drew a deep breath and took in the frightened and apprehensive gazes that were staring right back at him, ¡°Hell used to be one of the world¡¯s most powerful underworlds. However, that was the past! If any of the other underworlds discovers the state of the new Hell as it presently stands, they would most certainly rise up in arms and challenge our authority! We¡¯re still rtively safe for the time being. However, nobody knows how long our moment of peace and stability is going tost. Therefore, Hell will need to develop an ability to defend itself before any true dangeres knocking on Hell¡¯s doors!¡±

    Everyone was silent.

    Gu Qing¡¯s mouth was slightly agape, and his eyes were as wide as they could be. Everyone else around the table revealed looks of abject disbelief as Qin Ye¡¯s words slowly sank into their hearts.

    ¡°These are startling news, and I¡¯m sure you guys will need some time to digest it and let it sink in. However, it¡¯s something that is better known sooner rather thanter.¡± Arthis chimed in, ¡°I¡¯ll bring over the power maps of the other underworlds so that you guys would have a better understanding of what we might potentially be faced with¡­¡±

    Qin Ye interjected and drew the discussion back to the topic at hand, ¡°Therefore, we¡¯ll need a tform for discourse andmunications!¡±

    He stood up and mmed both of his hands onto the table as he leaned forward with a glint in his eye, ¡°It¡¯s not a permanent solution to kill all citizens who are dissatisfied with our efforts. Who¡¯s going to join our army and participate in the redevelopment of Hell if we keep culling our numbers indefinitely? Therefore the tform for discourse andmunication serves a multitude of purposes. Not only do we want to tell our citizens about the potential enemies that we¡¯re faced with, we also want to strengthen the cohesion of our citizens through public discourse! This will be a beautiful two-pronged approach of our government! The department ofmunications shall act as the government¡¯s mouthpiece!¡±

    ¡°We need both the threat of fists and the glibness of tongues. This is the only way Hell would be able to y catch-up with the other underworlds that have had millennia¡¯s worth of headstart over us.¡±

    Everyone was stillpletely silent.

    The breaking news was far too shocking, and they could only find it within themselves to nod in concurrence with a grave expression on their faces. Just then, Gu Qing asked, ¡°My lord, at the risk of knowing too much, might I ask which underworld is presently the most powerful one right now?¡±

    Arthis responded, ¡°It should be the European underworld. I¡¯ve learned through a few old friends of mine that after the recent establishment of the European Union, the various European underworlds are simrly attempting to open up their borders to one another and meld into each other. If they seed, they would undoubtedly be the strongest underworld on earth. Incidentally, their underworlds include the home of Hades, one of the four oldest underworlds in the world.¡±

    ¡°That said, each and every underworld that they¡¯re attempting to merge have been in existence for at least a thousand years on end, and it¡¯s not going to be easy for them to open up their borders to one another. Therefore, it¡¯ll at least take several decades for them to finally realize this great dream of theirs.¡±

 Chapter 274: The First Red-Letterhead Document (2)

    <h4>Chapter 274: The First Red-Letterhead Document (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye took in the expressions in every single person¡¯s eyes. Some evinced worry, some revealed apprehension, while others were simply deep in thought. Rather than to concern themselves with defences from external forces, it would be prudent to first concentrate on consolidating their forces and establishing stability internally. Cathay¡­ no, Insignia Province couldn¡¯t even properly be considered their territory as yet. It would be highly premature to be pointing their sword at the rest of the world right now.

    Time is truly running out¡­

    In fact, I would be the first to be ced on the chopping block.

    ¡°In the month that is toe, I¡¯d like everyone to focus all of their attention on developing the mary system as well as the system of loans and returns. But as soon as all of that has been sorted out, and the inventory of our goods have beenpleted and verified, we¡¯ll immediately be moving into the nning phase for the various industries of Hell.¡±

    Huang Liangchuan¡¯s eyes flickered slightly. There was something on his lips, but he fought it back with great difficulty.

    In fact, this was an issue that not even Qin Ye might have spotted. Yet it was precisely because it was such a critical issue that he simply couldn¡¯t afford to disclose it right now. After all, he would still have to give face to the future King Yanluo of Hell, and not disgrace him in front of everybody.

    Gu Qing nodded to signify his understanding.

    WHAT?!

    Oblivious to the stir he had generated, Qin Ye rambled on, ¡°Themercial district will also have to dovetail with the future residential districts in Hell. Therefore, the next thing we¡¯ll have to look into will be transportation infrastructure. In that regard, we¡¯ll need roads. Hell can¡¯t forever remain so tiny¡­¡±

    Qin Ye turned around with great surprise. This was fantastic news!

    However, it clearly wasn¡¯t the time to indulge in his joy and excitement right now. Notwithstanding the prospects of Hell¡¯s advancement, the multitude of things to be sorted through right now was of far greater importance.

    Silence.

    What¡¯s the meaning of this?

    Thus, he began to apud his own decision.

    The rest of the audience, including Arthis, stared vacantly into the air as they perfunctorily apuded Qin Ye¡¯s wise decision. Several secondster, when Arthis finally managed to pull herself together, she boldly asked the question that was on everyone¡¯s hearts, ¡°Speaking of which¡­ how serious are you about the name?¡±

    It¡¯s bad enough that themercial district is going to be called ¡®The Dead End¡¯, and yet you even want to call our national expressway the ¡®Yellow Springs Road¡¯?! Are you trying to pay yourst respects to us as soon as possible? Do you know how sad your friends up in the mortal realm are going to be when they learn of these developments?!

    ¡°Yes.¡± Arthis leaned back into her seat and gazed at the roof, ¡°To be more precise, these are flying Yin beasts that travel as quickly as modern day aircrafts. The strangest part about these creatures is that there naturally exists an interspatial realm within its body.¡±

    The entire room was silent again.

    ¡®The Dead End¡¯, ¡®Yellow Springs Road¡¯, and ¡®Departure Airport¡¯... Surely there could be no cooler names than that!

    ¡°No¡­ none at all¡­¡± ¡°Anything that pleases my lord¡­¡± ¡°We were just too caught up in the depth of profundity of my lord¡¯s thoughts¡­ please give me some time to extricate myself from these mires¡­¡± ¡°My lord¡­ are these names¡­ open to discussion?¡±

    ARRRRGHHH¡­ We refuse to participate in the inauguration ceremonies! Just the mere thought of the horrific sight fills me with embarrassment and shame!

    ¡°Alright, if there aren¡¯t any further questions, then let¡¯s move on and look at the final agenda for today.¡± Qin Ye cleared his throat, ¡°We will be establishing Hell¡¯s military forces very soon. Oda Nobunaga will be taking charge as themander of the troops for the time being. Naturally, the first and second points mentioned earlier are of the highest priority, while the third and fourth points on the agenda are merely of secondary importance for now. I imagine we¡¯ll only need to revisit these secondary issues some time next year. I¡¯m only mentioning them right now in order to prime you for what is toe.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone have anything else you want to raise for now? If not, I hereby conclude this meeting. Oh, by the way, the prime minister of Hell shall henceforth be Arakshasa. She¡¯ll be based in Hell, so you can report directly to her if there¡¯s anything you need. Apart from that, I¡¯d like all of the contents of today¡¯s discussions to be sorted out and organized, and we¡¯ll engross it as a red-letterhead document to be disseminated ordingly. I¡¯ll carve out a seal for these official documents. Finally, remember to send me daily updates for my perusal. No works are to be carried out without my prior approval.¡±

    Bloody hell! Can¡¯t we have a proper conversation about these things anymore?! I¡¯m just sitting here, minding my own business, and I¡¯m suddenly appointed as the prime minister of Hell?! And it¡¯s fine to be a prime minister, but on what basis should you be working your ass off making money in the mortal realm, while I stay here and do my best to look pretty like a wallflower?!

    Besides, I can make money in the mortal realm as well! Who says you can¡¯t make money off live streaming? And you¡¯re telling me that I¡¯ve got to use a genset if I want to yputer games right now? What about inte ess?!

    Truth be told, Arthis was fully aware that there was no corrtion between her existence as a Judge and her inability to ess the inte at all.

    The inte might not have changed the lives of all human beings, but it had most certainly changed the life of a particr Infernal Judge.

    It was Huang Liangchuan.

    Huang Liangchuan looked around warily. After ascertaining that they were the only ones left in the room, he coughed lightly and began to speak with caution, ¡°Lord Qin¡­ earlier¡­ I noticed a slight issue that has been bugging me all this while, and I hope that Lord Qin could shed some light on this.¡±

    Huang Liangchuan sat down, and then paused for a few moments as he deliberated over the exact words to use, before finally speaking cautiously, ¡°Lord Qin, about themercial district, I wonder who is going to be purchasing these goods from us?¡±

    He wasn¡¯t stupid. He simply hadn¡¯t been exposed to such works on a grand scale before. Thus, as soon as Huang Liangchuan probed further at the crux of the issue, he immediately realized where he had gone wrong.

    The production lines which he had brought back to Hell weren¡¯t formercialized goods. Rather, they were mainly for the production of basic necessities. How much were these things worth? Even if every single citizen of Hell bought a single article of these basic necessities, he would sell out in no time. After all, Hell wascking in every sense right now. Anything that they produced would naturally be snapped up in just an instant.

    Or would they no longer sell them?

    What if they were to implement governmental subsidies?

    You blew hundred of millions in RMB just for these crappy, disposable goods¡­ How are you going to justify having that rewarding cup of hand-ground coffee that day?!

    Huang Liangchuan gritted his teeth, ¡°Initially, I didn¡¯t. But¡­ after Lady Arakshasa talked about the situation in the world right now, I suddenly had an idea¡­¡±

    ¡°Establish trade routes!¡± Huang Liangchuan nodded earnestly, ¡°Since the underworlds are a reflection of the corresponding mortal realms, then I think we can safely assume that certain goods may becking or be in higher demand in certain underworlds. There has to be a market for the goods which we¡¯re producing. In fact, there are no products in the world that there isn¡¯t a market for! It all depends on whether we can match the right product to the right buyer!¡±

    ¡°Production for one¡¯s own consumption is one of the most wasteful and meaningless endeavors possible. It¡¯s only by establishing a trade route that we will truly be able to prosper in the long run!¡±

    <hr>

    1. The chinese words used here are ¼Ýº×»ú³¡. The first two words are actually directly tranted to ¡®riding a crane¡¯. This refers to the idea that people ride a crane into the sky when they gain immortality, and it is a euphemistic way of referring to a person who has passed on. The joke doesn¡¯t work well in english, so I¡¯ve taken the liberty to simply call it Departure Airport instead, in line with the dad joke that rtes both to flight, and can also be used euphemistically to refer to someone who has passed on.

    2. A red-letterhead document is an official document with the name of the issuing government agency printed in red at the top, circted to relevant bodies.

 Chapter 275: Ghost Ship

    <h4>Chapter 275: Ghost Ship</h4>

    With that, he transformed into ahergale and vanished from Hell.

    Establishing trade routes huh¡­ Do you think I haven¡¯t considered that? But the question is¡­ with whom shall I establish trade routes?

    And it would have to be a coastal city at that.

    ¡°There¡¯s still a long way to go¡­¡± He massaged his temples in dismay. Just as he was about to head back, his pupils suddenly quivered, and he nced at the surface of the sea, somewhat startled.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± He furrowed his brows slightly. An ordinary ship would never sail towards this location. After all, what was there to do around these parts? There was only a dpidated, unused dock where no regr ship would even consider berthing or unloading their cargo at. What¡¯s more¡­ he could sense an air of Yin energy about the ship that was approaching him.

    The vessel that was approaching him had thoroughly piqued his curiosity. Thus, hey down on the roof of the building in a prone position and silently continued to observe the ship.

    Whoosh! The ship stirred up great waves on the otherwise still surface of the waters. Qin Ye gasped, and then transformed himself into ahergale that quickly began to retreat at once. This was because he immediately noticed it when the ship lit up inhermes--¡­

    The ship was rusty, and it was covered in barnacles and seaweed. There was no telling how many years had passed since its very first voyage. In fact, quite apart from the fact that there wasn¡¯t a single person on board the deck of the ship, there wasn¡¯t even a single human source of light around the ship!

    Qin Ye nced at his phone as he began to retreat, and his eyes immediately flickered once more.

    The demonic hour¡­ But most Yin spirits wouldn¡¯t choose to appear at this time of the night because dawn would soon be here. So, who could possibly be so bold as to make his appearance only now?

    The dark, ancient vessel had run aground, where ity silently and motionlessly on the docks, no different from a corpse.

    Toot toot toot! The high-pitched sorna began ring loudly without warning. The fact that something like that could happen before dawn was a sight that would make anyone¡¯s hairs stand on end. Momentster, a peculiar line of figures began to disembark from the ship.

    They were dressed in ancient Cathayan eunuch garments that were beautifully and exquisitely made. Their pale faces entuated the pink blush on their cheeks as well as their striking red lips. They carriednterns that burned withhermes, and they continued to march towards Qin Ye like an unstoppable procession.

    An empty ghost ship had run aground on the abandoned docks, and a cold sea breeze swept through the area, sending stifling and chilling shivers down the back of the living.

    They¡¯re approaching me¡­. Qin Ye had already calmed down, and he was currently sizing up the procession of humanoid paper effigies. The row of paper effigies would from time to time step onto the ground, puncturing a hole in the sand and leaving a trail of footprints as they marched towards Qin Ye. They arrived in front of him in no time, and the ring sornas ceased in unison. The three humanoid paper effigies leading the procession bowed in unison and swished their buddhist whisks at the same time. Their actions were undeniably neat and sharp, ¡°Greetings, sir. We are the first premier, second premier and third premier of Emperor Wu of Song.¡±

    How is this possible?!

    Whose side are they on?

    But he received no response whatsoever. Instead, the first premier simply opened his scarlet lips and stared vacantly back at Qin Ye, ¡°His Majesty cordially invites you over for a simple exchange of words. Please don¡¯t hesitate to make your way over.¡±

    The first premier¡¯s lips twitched slightly, and his eyes narrowed. The pink blusher on his cheeks appeared iparably eerie under the dim illumination of thehermes around, ¡°What His Majesty means is that you will have to make your way over for an exchange of words by hook or by crook.¡±

    The three premiers alsoughed.

    Sssssss!!!

    Yin energy also erupted from the three humanoid paper effigies at the same time, enveloping their entire beings and imbuing them with great speed. In an instant, they surrounded Qin Ye and began to spin around him like a revolvingntern. In an instant, the entire docks were suddenly filled with howlinghergales and eerie spots ofhermes.

    The flurry of attacks rained down like a torrential downpour, while Qin Ye¡¯s defense appeared absolute.

    This is too weird¡­ Qin Ye could sense that his moves contained a naturally suppressive effect against the three humanoid paper effigies. This meant that they were indeed Cathayan Yin spirits. But if they were indeed Cathayan Yin spirits, he should have been able to purge them in an instant! After all, there was simply no precedent for the existence of evil ghosts that could hold their own against an Emissary of Hell of the same cultivation level.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s spirit streamer suddenly opened up, transforming into the shape of arge umbre which repelled the iing w attacks in an instant. Qin Ye muttered, ¡°I¡¯ve never employed my de release ever since entering the ranks of an Anitya Hellguard. To think that I would be forced to use it on you guys.¡±

    The drop of blood was primed on his fingertip, ready to fall onto his spirit streamer at the moment¡¯s notice. Qin Ye nced coldly at the three humanoid paper effigies, ¡°Seems like you still can¡¯t fight back the innate fear of Emissaries of Hell, can you? What¡¯s the matter? Scared? Are we finally able to talk things through properly now?¡±

    Hanyang?

    Hanyang¡­ the capital of Daehan¡­ They¡¯re indubitably Cathayan Yin spirits, so what in the world is going on?

    No response.

    Thud¡­ The humanoid paper effigies carrying the pnquin behind instantly knelt down and kowtowed to her in fear and reverence. The three Hellguard-ss premiers likewise fell to their knees as they stammered shrilly, ¡°Premiers¡­ respectfully greets¡­ mydy¡­¡±

    ¡°You still know to pay your respects to me? Emperor Wu of Song is forbidden from reentering thesends without an edict! Thest standing order was for him to remain where he is and hold the fort! Is he trying tomit treason?!¡±

    Arthis was just about to go on when a hand suddenly appeared in front of her and waved at her. Somewhat taken aback, she turned around, only to notice a faint smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face.

    Without missing a beat, Qin Ye raised a finger and wagged it at Arthis, ¡°And having been abroad all this while, he wasn¡¯t affected by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva¡¯s ascension?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed pretentiously, ¡°No wonder... It¡¯s no wonder you¡¯ve been practically inseparable from me over thest few days. Do you know that you¡¯ve given me the impression that you¡¯ve fallen head over heels in love for me? And yet¡­ it turns out that you¡¯ve suddenly remembered the existence of the monarch of a vassal state. Do you know how much the truth hurts?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand!¡± Arthis was hardly embarrassed by the fact that Qin Ye was calling out her bluff. Instead, she red intently at the three premiers kneeling on the ground, ¡°You have no idea of how terrifying Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of Song, truly is¡­¡±

    <hr>

    1. These arenterns that are often used in festivals and celebrations. A candle is lit in thentern, and the heat from the candle causes a wheel inside to rotate, which in turn causes paper cuttings mounted inside to spin around the axles. The light from the candle thereby projects the shadow of the moving paper cuttings onto the screen of thentern, causing them to appear no different from moving silhouettes.

    2. This is the ancient name for Seoul, Korea.

 Chapter 276: Emperor Wu of Song

    <h4>Chapter 276: Emperor Wu of Song</h4>

    Ding!

    The sensory antenna above Qin Ye¡¯s head instantly perked up, and his voice immediately turned drifty, ¡°H-h-h-how terrifying is he? H-h-honda Tadakatsu?¡±

    Arthis nearly couldn¡¯t resist straightening out the tongue of this cowardly future King Yanluo. She drew a deep breath, and then gave him a begrudging look without saying anything more.

    ¡°Eh? That look in your eyes is incrediblyden with meaning¡­ Are you currently mulling over your response, for fear that I would choose flight over fight? Let me tell you something, this young master here has already evolved from Pikachu to Raichu after thest altercation with Honda Tadakatsu. Didn¡¯t you see that I can now stand tall against three Hellguards all by myself without revealing any expression of fear?¡± Qin Ye reacted with a verbal diarrhoea of arguments like a roundworm in Arthis¡¯ stomach.

    Arthis looked to the sky with a cid expression on her face, ¡°If this had been a year ago, I would¡¯ve fallen prey to these peculiar analogies of yours. But having delved deeper into the world of Pokemon, I now know that¡­ there¡¯s nothing much to brag about a stupid evolution!! Do you think I would be in such a huge conundrum if not for the sheer atrocity that your resume is right now?!¡±

    Well.

    Someone¡¯s all grown up. She¡¯s certainly not as gullible as she used to be¡­ Qin Ye sighed in his heart - Arthis has begun to speak more and more like a 90¡¯s kid ever since jumping on the Inte bandwagon. Such conduct is truly unbing¡­

    Ignoring the unorthodox behaviour of the future King Yanluo, Arthis mulled over her response for the next few moments, almost as though she were weighing the lesser of two great evils. Finally, with a huge sigh of resignation, she asked, ¡°Tell me, who do you think is the most valiant general in the history of Cathay?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked, ¡°Lu Bu? Zhao Yun?¡±

    Arthis shook her head with a somber expression, ¡°Let me put it differently. What do you think¡­ constitutes the highest praise one can give to a valiant warlord?¡±

    Qin Ye responded without hesitation this time, ¡°Invincible!¡±

    Arthis sighed and gazed intently into the eyes of the three shivering humanoid paper effigies as she continued, ¡°That¡¯s right. However, the so-called invincible warlords are generally only seen in acts and ys. In other words, it¡¯s the description of ywrights¡­¡±

    ¡°Whether Martial Sage Guan Yu, or the Ghost King Zhao Zilong, or Marquis of Wen, Lu Bu, or any of the other Ghost Kings for that matter, none of these people have ever been recorded in the annals of history as invincible.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded curiously, wondering why Arthis was going on at length about these things.

    Arthis looked him straight in the eye, ¡°However, that doesn¡¯t mean that there aren¡¯t any historical records of a truly invincible warlord. But there exists a set of historical records that rarely gets any attention. These records are called Zizhi Tongjian, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance. And these chronicles record the existence of the only person who has ever been conferred thebel of ¡®invincible¡¯!¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously and subconsciously retreated two steps. The smile on his face instantly turned somewhat contrived, ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that this man¡­ is none other than¡­¡±

    ¡°Emperor Wu of Song.¡± Arthis dropped the bombshell, ¡°The founding emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty back in the age of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. He unified half of the country, killed six presiding emperors, and was the only person in history who was called ¡®invincible¡¯ by chroniclers.¡±

    Silence.

    The kind that Man was most afraid of.

    ¡°Ah¡­ cough¡­ I suddenly remember that I¡¯ve got some soup boiling on the stove at home. Hell¡¯s poverty-stricken Financial Department wouldn¡¯t be able to pay for the damages if it causes a fire in the mortal realm¡­ So sorry, gotta go.¡±

    ¡°Hold it right there! I thought I recall someone mentioning that he¡¯s undergone an evolution? Didn¡¯t someone say he could now stand tall against three Hellguards all by himself without revealing any expression of fear?!!¡±

    ¡°It must have been the illusory whispers brought about by the abrupthergale that swept through these parts. Anyway¡­ we¡¯ll leave it at that. Bye~~!¡±

    Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t able to take more than a couple of steps before Arthis¡¯ long tongueshed at him, wrapped around his waist, and began to drag him back slowly as she barked threateningly at him, ¡°You¡¯re still a future king when all is said and done. So, can¡¯t you carry yourself with the slightest bit of dignity at all?!¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes - I don¡¯t even know what dignity is! Can it be eaten? Is it truly as important as life itself?!

    Invincible! Do you understand what exactly that means?! And it¡¯s even recorded in Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance! Dear, please release me. Don¡¯t y with my heart. I¡¯m truly going to be whittled down like a helpless stick this time!

    And can you me me at all? I¡¯m a future king, and yet I don¡¯t even have powerful techniques like the ¡®Heart of the Emperor¡¯ or the ¡®Nine Yang Divine Skill¡¯ at my disposal! Can you truly call this a discussion at arms¡¯ length?!

    Arthis didn¡¯t say any more. She couldn¡¯t bear to look at the lily-livered future King Yanluo for a single second longer, and she immediately turned to vent her anger and frustrations on the humanoid paper effigies, ¡°Scram! And tell the king of Hanyang that as long as Hell exists, he will never be allowed to take a single foot onto thesends! Either submit, or be prepared to be indicted with treason!¡±

    ¡°Mydy¡­¡± A soft, quivering voice called out as soon as her outburst ended. The first premier kowtowed respectfully and pleaded with Arthis, ¡°His Majesty truly meant no harm. Furthermore¡­ furthermore, he says that if Hell isn¡¯t willing to give face to an official of a vassal state, then¡­ then¡­¡±

    Everyone suddenly fell silent.

    A palpable murderous intent erupted from Arthis¡¯ body in an instant, and the expression on her face softened somewhat, ¡°Then what?¡±

    ¡°Then¡­¡± The first premier gulped nervously, and began to kowtow desperately as he continued with a hoarse voice, ¡°Then¡­ then¡­ Hanyang¡­ shall dere its independence¡­¡±

    ¡°Insolence!!!¡± Arthis¡¯ voice thundered, ¡°How dare a vassal state official discuss the affairs of internal policies with us! What audacity¡­¡±

    Just then, Arthis noticed Qin Ye reach out from behind her and wag his fingers in front of her. And then, Qin Ye stepped forward.

    ¡°You¡¯re probably only as useful as a mecha valkyrie or a humanoid weapon of sorts¡­ It¡¯s still eons too early for you to be participating in the discussion of internal affairs¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed as he straightened out his somewhat disheveled hair - Ah¡­ you¡¯re still just as handsome as ever¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± Arthis stared coldly at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be mad, I¡¯m just saying it as it is - you¡¯ve truly underestimated this man known as Emperor Wu of Song.¡± Qin Ye had one hand behind his back, while his other was massaging his temples gently, ¡°The reason for which he was sent to the far flung regions of Hanyang doesn¡¯t matter in the slightest at this point in time. Wasn¡¯t he always an Emissary of Hell? If so, do you really think he wouldn¡¯t be able to feel the great copse of Hell?¡±

    ¡°The copse of the old Hell means that the old system of Emissaries no longer exists. He would most definitely be aware of the fact that he¡¯s no longer an Emissary of Hell, and that he is now no different from an evil ghost. What caused this change? Even if he doesn¡¯t know about the exact cause and effect of the great copse of Hell, do you think he wouldn¡¯t send someone to investigate further?¡±

    He locked eyes with Arthis and continued, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯ve not been back ever since ourst visit to the old Hell¡­ It¡¯s been a while, so who knows what would¡¯ve happened in the interim? As a former Emissary of Hell, would he truly need permission and authorization in order to investigate what went on in Hell?¡±

    He sneered as he nced back at the three humanoid paper effigies kneeling on the ground, ¡°Do you think he¡¯s trying to threaten you? No. He¡¯s already made up his mind, and he¡¯s simply informing us out of courtesy right now. So, what¡¯s the use of baring your teeth at these messenger boys? Save your breath. The king of Hanyang isn¡¯t going to give a damn about our attitude right now.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible¡­¡± Arthis gnashed her teeth, yet her voice was ostensibly softer than before, ¡°No vassal state has ever dared to defy the superior state in the past¡­¡±

    ¡°Nothing is impossible.¡± Qin Ye responded indifferently, ¡°How much attention do you think the battle at the Strait of Tsushima attracted? Even if they didn¡¯t care about the battle from the onset, all who sensed the eruption of Justice Bao¡¯s authority would most certainly take notice of what transpired from that point forward. Most importantly, they would have noticed the appearance of the Book of Life and Death in the Strait of Tsushima. Others might not appreciate the extent of its significance to Hell, but do you think that the king of Hanyang would be simrly oblivious to these things?¡±

    ¡°We can safely assume that he is aware of the fact that the Book of Life and Death had somehow ended up outside of Cathay¡¯s territorial boundaries. Furthermore, he would probably have secretly returned to check on the current state of the old Hell. If he still isn¡¯t aware of what¡¯s going on in Hell, then he most certainly isn¡¯t fit to be called an emperor. We¡¯re desperately attempting to maintain a facade against the foreign underworlds, and yet Emperor Wu of Song undoubtedly sees everything as clearly as pristine waters. On that basis, it leads me to the next point of inquiry - why doesn¡¯t he have the courage to simply dere independence from us?¡±

    Silence.

    After a long time, Arthis finally responded with some measure of reluctance, ¡°Then, tell me why he doesn¡¯t simply march right back into Hell?¡±

    ¡°Because he doesn¡¯t dare to do so.¡± Qin Ye responded affirmatively, ¡°After all, he would have witnessed the appearance of an Infernal Judge and an Anitya Hellguard. He would also have seen the Mirror of Eminence, as well as Justice Bao¡¯s disy of authority. And most importantly, he would be fully aware that we¡¯ve managed to secure and retrieve the Book of Life and Death. So, on what basis would he dare to revolt against Hell? My best bet is that he truly means us no harm with his present invitation.¡±

    ¡°Then, what is he trying to do?¡±

    ¡°Of course it would be to enter into bteral negotiations for equal treatment.¡± Qin Ye swept a cold nce at the three humanoid paper effigies, ¡°The first thing that any state dering independence would do is to proim their identity as a brand new nation, so that the rest of the world would treat them as such. Naturally, Emperor Wu of Song wants us to recognize that he¡¯s no longer an Emissary of Hell, but he¡¯s the new lord and master of the new underworld of Hanyang!¡±

    Arthis gasped.

    It wasn¡¯t that she couldn¡¯t understand these things. Rather, she had simply been in denial, doing everything she could to summarily dismiss these thoughts, hoping that the suspicions in her heart would simply fade away into nothingness. Unfortunately, Qin Ye had ruthlessly torn down the delusions in her heart, forcing her to confront her worst fears, and even sent shivers down her back!

    The realm of underworlds was never quite peaceful.

    In fact, the king of Hanyang had previously been sent from Cathay to Hanyang precisely in order to keep the bnce of powers in check. Qin Ye was unaware of these things, but Arthis only knew it all too well. Although not world-renowned, the king of Hanyang was known throughout all of the east, and his fame was no less than even that of the Sixfold Ghost Kings!

    As soon as an entity as well known as that deres to the world the independence of its underworld, then that would be no different from dering to Yamaraja, the Hindustani lord of death, and Izanami, the Nipponese goddess of death, that Hell was no longer in control!

    This was a deration that was far too dangerous! It might not immediately threaten the security of the Cathayan underworld, but¡­ it would greatly shorten the time which Qin Ye had to reestablish Hell!

    But, what should we do?

    Arthis wasn¡¯t aware of what could be done under such circumstances.

    She¡­ was truly no match for the invincible Emperor Wu of Song. She was all too aware of just how terrifying that man was. After all, he used to be known as the only Yin spirit in Hell that could stand his ground against Emissaries of equivalent cultivation level, despite being disadvantaged by the suppressive effects that Emissaries held over Yin spirits. This was something that not even the six daolords were able to achieve! In other words, he would be a thorn in Qin Ye¡¯s side that couldn¡¯t properly be suppressed even when Qin Ye broke through to the realms of an Infernal Judge!

    Do I¡­ really have to disclose all of these secrets to that kid right now? Given how crafty and astute he is, perhaps he might really be able to pull something out of the bag¡­ She nced at Qin Ye, and her heart was filled with a multitude ofplex emotions.

    Just then, a soft apuse cut through the silence of the night. The apuse came directly from the ancient ship that had run aground.

    ¡°I¡¯d expect nothing less from a future Yama-King¡­ To think that you were able to infer so much from a simple exchange of words. Next to you, I can¡¯t help but feel somewhat petty with the chicanery I¡¯ve employed.¡±

    A split secondter, the ship suddenly trembled violently, and then a chilling wave of Yin energy erupted in an instant!

    Strong.

    Incredibly strong!

    Yet, it wasn¡¯t tyrannical at all. In fact, it was even somewhat¡­ glorious?

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t quite believe what he was experiencing. It wasn¡¯t as though he had never experienced the strength of an Infernal Judge. Rather, it was simply that none of the Judges he had encountered before, whether Yin spirits or humans alike, had ever exuded such an indescribable sensation before.

    It felt high and lofty, righteous and mighty. It even carried a trace of splendour, as though one should bow down and worship him. He was obviously an Infernal Judge, yet the density of his Yin energy was several times more powerful than that which Arthis could muster! In fact, it was so dense that it immediately materialized into a visible tide of Yin energy that flooded thends all around them!

    Countless Yin spirits wandered about in the roiling flood of Yin energy, yet not a single one of them screamed or shouted. Instead, they simply stood there quietly, as though they were loyal subjects who eagerly awaited their king¡¯s inspection and scrutiny.

    It was as though everything under the skies could be hisnd, and every man on the shores could be his subjects!

    ¡°Emperor Wu of Song?¡± Arthis eximed with disbelief, ¡°You¡­ you¡­ Why are you here?! You¡¯re not supposed to return to Cathay without an official edict! Aren¡¯t you afraid of being indicted for your transgressions?!¡±

    Silence.

    Secondster, a contemptuous chuckle was heard from the ship, ¡°Wherefore shouldn¡¯t I be here? Indictment?¡±

    ¡°Who dares indict me but the heavenly dao?!¡±

    ¡°You?¡± He smiled with great mischief, ¡°Or is it thising-of-age future Yama-King who holds but a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his possession?¡±

    ¡°Tell me¡­ If I y you both, right here, right now¡­ wouldn¡¯t I usurp and hold the fate of Hell with my own two hands? Hmm?¡±

    1. Both are famous warlords.

    2. The actual words here used are Ò»Æïµ±Ç§, which, literally tranted, means that one rides against a thousand.

    3. This is a historical record published in 1084 during the Song Dynasty in the form of a chronicle. The efforts were led by the great historian Sima Guang.

    4. This is an interesting one. It happened when Liu Yu (Emperor Wu of Song) joined the army of the general Liu Laozhi in 399. On one asion, he led some tens of soldiers on a scouting mission, where they encountered several thousand soldiers belonging to enemy forces. All of Liu Yu¡¯s soldiers were killed, and he fell into a riverbank. However, he stood his position and killed all soldiers who dared approach him. Meanwhile, Liu Laozhi¡¯s son, Liu Jingxuan, realized something was amiss when Liu Yu had been away from camp for too long, and went out to search for him, only to witness him holding off the enemy forces all on his own. This is why he was given the title of ¡®riding against a thousand¡¯. He¡¯s a real guy btw.

 Chapter 277: Emperor of Antiquity

    <h4>Chapter 277: Emperor of Antiquity</h4>

    ¡°This is your duty as the future King Yanluo. Stand still and stand tall! Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t mind ripping you to shreds before Emperor Wu of Song even makes a single move!¡±

    Having finally resolved the issue with the finicky future King Yanluo of Hell, Arthis turned her head once more and looked in the direction of the rundown ship, ¡°You¡¯re but an Infernal Judge at the same level as me. How dare you make a move against us when you can tell that he¡¯s a future Yama-King? Aren¡¯t you afraid of Hell¡¯s Blessings of Virtue over him?¡±

    There wasn¡¯t any response from the ship. Everything was silent.

    So our bodies even carry the lingering scent of Lord Harken¡¯s aura, huh¡­ Qin Ye nced begrudgingly at Arthis - Lady, you¡¯re ignorant and insensitive, and you are henceforth disqualified from bearing my child. How could you conceal such important information from me till now¡­ At this point, Qin Ye had already subconsciously reverted to a valiant posture no different from that of a hero. It was a far cry from how he had been just moments ago.

    Then, three full minutester, the dpidated ship suddenly red up with rows of red light. Following that, the melodious sounds zither apanied by ancient bells echoed into the surroundings.

    The voice continued quizzically, ¡°So the old Hell has indeed copsed. Those who are able to survive under such circumstances are undoubtedly the elite among the elites. How serendipitous is it that we meet again under such circumstances? So why don¡¯t you¡­e up and have a drink with me?¡±

    A dark night.

    An empty ship that has run aground, with paper money scattering everywhere and two rows of humanoid paper effigies kneeling on the ground. Any human being who witnesses a sight like this would most certainly faint from fear in an instant.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Arthis immediately followed after him and whispered to him with a somber tone of voice, ¡°This isn¡¯t like you at all. You¡¯re the embodiment of passivity and lethargy¡­ unless¡­ you¡¯re telling me that there¡¯s some form of benefit to be had from Emperor Wu of Song?¡±

    Without missing a beat, his voice softened to a hush, ¡°Let me ask you, how long has it been since he was assigned to Daehan? And how far along do you think Daehan¡¯s underworld has developed to date? Can it be considered a mature city?¡±

    Do you think I¡¯d do this if I had a choice¡­ Qin Ye furrowed his brows. Huang Liangchuan had raised to his attention a truly pertinent and pressing issue. If he were to rectify the fragility of the new industries that were to be established in Hell, then there was no other option but to establish external trade routes! Otherwise, Hell¡¯s current state of prosperity would simply fade away in a sh.

    And whilst not the best option, Emperor Wu of Song¡­ was their only option right now!

    ¡°You¡¯re a Yama-King, and yet you would tolerate the deration of independence of a vassal state?!¡± Arthis¡¯ voice grew abrasive, ¡°What difference does that make you from a weak ruler?!¡±

    These were the heads of humans who had perished a long time ago. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of blood at all. An opening was made from the forehead, and everything within had already been hollowed out. Spots of scarlethermes crackled within the human headnterns in the dark of the night. It was a sight so terrifying that not even moths would dare approach these sources of light.

    He slowly began to walk along the red carpet on the ground as he whispered back, ¡°Then¡­ am I supposed to start a war against him?¡±

    They would need to stabilize the internal workings of Hell before they could look to take thends of others. Hell¡¯s development was still in its nascent stages, and any suggestion of conquests right now was no different from empty talk.

    ¡°... But you always butt heads with me¡­¡±

    Gamer girl, can you please develop a little bit more self-awareness? Do you know that your danger factor goes down every single time you enter the Summoner¡¯s Rift?!

    ¡°Besides¡­¡± His gaze flickered, ¡°The king of Hanyang¡­ might have a lot more to offer than you think he does. That said, the precondition to tapping on this rich mineral vein is that he would first have to recognize me as an equal¡­¡±

    He was now in arge hall that was designed in a traditional ancient Cathayan style.

    The man wasn¡¯t tall, yet the imposing air about him made him appear no different from a towering mountain.

    This is a man who justifies having his own BGM¡­ Qin Ye affirmed his first impression of the man with a single nce. Then, having ascertained his safety, he put on a noble and cold disposition on his face and took another look at the man.

    There was only a single table and chair ced in the great hall below the throne. Arthis was obviously not given the honour of having a seat.

    Arthis was an Infernal Judge, just like him. Yet, in his eyes, she could hardly hold a candle to Qin Ye.

    ¡°What a surprise.¡± After a moment of silence, Emperor Wu of Song smiled, ¡°To think that King Yanluo¡¯s seal would end up in the hands of a little kid, and with your blessings as well. Does this¡­ tell of his luck? Or does it tell of your desperation?¡±

    ¡°Pardon me for interjecting.¡± Qin Ye ced one hand on his chin, and turned away from Emperor Wu of Song, only to gaze at the ceiling as though with great fascination. He continued while tapping on the table in front of him with his other hand, ¡°Hell has prospered under my leadership. We¡¯ve seen a rapid growth in our GDP of over 1000% year on year, exceeding that of Britannia, and cing us well in the ranks of Usonia. We¡¯ve already been able to clothe and feed all of our Yin spirits.¡±

    Hang on a minute¡­

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye didn¡¯t intend to give Emperor Wu of Song any breathing room, and he immediately continued with great eloquence, ¡°This year is going to be filled with milestones for the new Hell. We¡¯ve incorporated the first state constructionpany of Hell, broken ground for several construction projects, and ushered in an era of soaring developments. At our first congressional meeting, as well as our first plenary session, the ruling party, led by my officials and I, established the three-tiered strategic goals of Hell and elucidated the path and direction of Hell¡¯s development moving forward.¡±

    His pale lips parted slightly, almost as though he wanted to say something, but he simply couldn¡¯t find any words to express himself right now.

    ¡°...prehensively implement our strategies across our cities, counties, towns and viges. Our government is working closely with the relevant working groupmittees, managementmittees, and prefecturalmittees to seize the opportunity to forge ahead. We will forge ahead with our three-tiered aggressive growth strategies, promote a holistic development through our five enhancements, with scientific developments leading the charge. With coordinated implementation of these policies, we shall ensure steady growth, promote reform, restructure as necessary, benefit our citizens, and minimize the risks of¡­¡±

    How the hell did you evene up with the idea to recite a governmental report to a thousand-year old ghost like that?!

    What a show! Elegant! Refined! God of pretense! Master of fraud! The presentation of a lifetime!

    When Qin Ye finallypleted his report, he slowly rose from his seat and adjusted his cor, before ncing disdainfully back at Emperor Wu of Song, ¡°I¡¯ve just given you a brief rundown of the works I have nned out for Hell over the course of the iing work year. I¡¯m the one facilitating and supervising these works. I sincerely invitements and pointers from the king of Hanyang.¡±

    What the hell is this?!

    It sounds no different from what my subordinates have been reporting to me¡­ but why does it sound so much more intimidating and magnificent when supported by these unintelligible data and statistics?

    <hr>

    1. This is a LoL reference.

 Chapter 278: A Thousand-Year Difference

    <h4>Chapter 278: A Thousand-Year Difference</h4>

    Silence.

    The austere atmosphere that filled the room when Qin Ye first entered waspletely gone with the wind. Instead, Emperor Wu of Song stared intently at Qin Ye, almost as though he were attempting to bore a hole through him with the sheer force of photons from his eyes.

    Five full minutester, he finally coughed dryly, ¡°What¡­ was that all about?¡±

    ¡°The annual report on the progress of works in Hell.¡± Qin Ye straightened his attire and responded cidly, ¡°Weren¡¯t you questioning the basis for which I¡¯ve been chosen as the next King Yanluo of Hell? I¡¯m showing you the basis right now.¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song grew taciturn.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sigh wistfully in his heart. The momentum which he had worked so hard to generate had all been dashed to pieces. But it was precisely because of this that he began to pay attention to the unassuming kid standing before him right now.

    A future King Yanluo who doesn¡¯t seem to y by the rules, huh...He gazed deeply at Qin Ye. He was personally here to convince the new lord of Hell toe to terms with the reality around him. The new Hell was in its nascent stages of development, and it would most certainly be fraught with challenges, whether from within or from without. What better time was there than to ride the wave of the massive upheaval and dere independence from Hell right now?

    In fact, he wasn¡¯t the only one putting these ns to motion - several other lords of vassal states have already begun to stir with the same intentions. That said, the only difference was that the other vassal states didn¡¯t possess the same kind of strength he did.

    Unfortunately, all of his ns had just been single handedly levelled by Qin Ye¡¯s show of chaotic blows. Qin Ye¡¯s mind-numbing verbal onught had dragged him from a ce of homeground advantage topletely unfamiliar territories, where he then stood in a daze in the center of the ring while Qin Ye ran circles around him using his wealth of experience.

    ¡°These are the contents of your governmental meetings? The great imperial court meetings?¡± Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s eyes narrowed. He had finally managed to pull himself together and regain hisposure, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll be able to extrapte from these figures and assess the exact state which Hell is in right now?¡±

    Qin Ye nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to burst outughing.

    If you think you can infer the exact state of a nation from these workingmittee reports of theirs, then these governmentalmittees would most certainly have been fired a long time ago!

    It couldn¡¯t be helped. Governmental agencies these days were all paper pushers that were masters at putting on a show. If one actually delved deeper into the figures and statistics cited or the work that was listed, they would onlye to learn - and to their great dismay, no less - that everything stated waspletely of no substance at all! How does one even begin writing tens of thousands of words about matters that were at best anciry to the core development of their nation, and yet make it sound like progress?!

    I¡¯ve been bbering at length about nothing of substance for thest half an hour just to make you think I¡¯m awesome! Are you actually trying to intimidate me and make me back down with a show of strength? Come on. I practically grew up on propaganda of all sizes, shapes and forms! Do you really think I won¡¯t be able to circumvent your tactics and reframe the issue to my advantage?

    ¡°You can try.¡± Qin Ye picked up the ss of wine in front of him and swirled it about casually, ¡°And even if you were able to assess the exact state that Hell is in right now, so what? King of Hanyang, we now live in an era where the aggregate strength of an underworld trumps the abilities of any individual out there. You may be able to kill me a hundred times over, but are you truly confident in razing to the ground millions of Yin soldiers who are standing in formation?¡±

    ¡°My underworld is stronger than yours, I¡¯ve got more money than you, and I¡¯ve got more ghosts at my disposal. I can crush you at any time. You¡¯re only the lord of Hanyang¡¯s underworld. So what if you¡¯ve managed to unify Daehan¡¯s underworld?¡±

    Arthis hung her head down sheepishly.

    When she thought about the actual state which Hell was in right now, she couldn¡¯t help but praise Qin Ye for how thick-skinned he was.

    On the other hand, Emperor Wu of Song grew silent for the third time.

    Although he couldn¡¯t fully appreciate what Qin Ye was talking about, he could still sense that this man was a master when it came to managing internal affairs. Naturally, he knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before Hell prospered once more. After all, it was rare to find someone able to rule with flexibility, toggling between an iron fist and a soft approach as best fits the situation. Besides, he didn¡¯t have the guts to provoke Lord Harken or incur the wrath of the heavenly dao.

    Having lived for over a millennium, he knew exactly where his limits were.

    Thus, he finally responded with sincerity, ¡°How should I address you?¡±

    ¡°Qin.¡± Qin Ye responded sinctly.

    ¡°King Yanluo Qin.¡± Emperor Wu of Song poured himself another ss of wine and raised his ss, ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get straight to the point, shall we?¡±

    If one were to say that there were certain inappropriate contemtions on his mind at the start of these negotiations, then everything would most certainly have been sealed to the deepest recesses of his heart by now.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to hear more.¡± Qin Ye lifted his wine ss slightly in response, ¡°I, too, am curious as to why the first and only person in the history of Cathay to be described as invincible was posted overseas?¡±

    ¡°Posted?¡± Emperor Wu of Song was momentarily taken aback, before he soon revealed aplex smile on his face, ¡°I suppose you could call it that. In any event, it seems that Lady Arakshasa hasn¡¯t apprised you of the exact details. But since we¡¯re here, let me recount everything to you.¡±

    ¡°King of Hanyang.¡± Arthis muttered coldly, ¡°Are you attempting to intervene with Cathay¡¯s internal affairs?¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song smiled faintly. Then, a split secondter, there was a massive rush of wind and a thunderous sound, and a small wine ss was instantly sent hurtling towards Arthis like a meteorite. Arthis¡¯ pupils constricted, and her hair began to scatter. With a furious cry, she waved her sleeves ferociously, repelling the wine ss and sending it flying several meters away. Like a ricocheting bullet, it punctured a considerablyrge hole in the pir next to her.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Arthis had taken a step back in this simple exchange, and yet Emperor Wu of Song didn¡¯t even move at all.

    ¡°This is an exchange between kings. Is it your ce to interject at will?¡± Emperor Wu of Song muttered coldly, ¡°If not for the fact that we were once acquaintances and colleagues, you would already be dead by now!¡±

    ¡°You really don¡¯t think of me as an Infernal Judge, do you¡­?¡± Arthis¡¯ hair began to scatter wildly like menacing, venomous snakes, ¡°You may be ranked first among the list of Infernal Judges back then, but I was also ranked a highly respectable forty-second among thousands of Judges. So, what¡¯s this all about? Do you really want to go all out against me?¡±

    ¡°Arakshasa.¡± Qin Ye called out just as the situation was escting, ¡°You may take your leave first. Let me speak with the king of Hanyang alone.¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t retort. Instead, she bowed slightly, and then promptly took her leave.

    With that, the only two who remained in the great hall were none other than Qin Ye and Emperor Wu of Song. Emperor Wu of Song held his wine up and gazed into the distance, almost as though he were recounting the memories of ages past. After a long time, he finally muttered, ¡°King Yanluo Qin, are you aware that I¡¯m not the only Judge who hasn¡¯t been hauled off to paradise with Ksitigarbha?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes instantly narrowed, and yet he responded with a cid tone of voice, ¡°I¡¯m not aware.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve only assumed office a little while ago, and there¡¯s much for me to learn and discover.¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song nodded, ¡°That¡¯s only to be expected. You¡¯ve got your hands tied with the multitude of things to be done right now, so where would you find the time to even bother with these things? That said¡­ are you aware of how we¡¯ve managed to remain unaffected?¡±

    Without missing a beat, he stood up and began to walk slowly towards Qin Ye. His zing golden pupils locked eyes with Qin Ye, ¡°You should be aware that Hell was once the most tyrannical underworld in the entire world.¡±

    ¡°Even Hades and Anubis wouldn¡¯t dare lift a finger against Hell.¡± He straightened his back, and then continued with great emotion, ¡°Back then¡­ the phrase ¡®By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse¡¯ was one that would instantly strike fear into the hearts of all around. All inter-underworldly conferences would invariably be held on our turf and under our conditions. It was glorious and awesome¡­¡±

    ¡°And that was also when Cathay colonized several lordless regions.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°Lordless regions?¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song gently swirled about the contents of his wine ss, ¡°That¡¯s right. The conditions for the existence of an underworld are rather exacting. Firstly, it must be built on a country. The national borders of the country would also act as the border of the underworld. That¡¯s the first irond condition.¡±

    ¡°And the second condition¡­¡± He lowered his head and smiled faintly, ¡°Would be that of belief.¡±

    ¡°In that regard, it requiresplete belief, whether it be through mythology or religion. After all, it¡¯s only when beliefs exist on earth that the position of a corresponding god in the underworld is created and can exist. That¡¯s also when an underworld bes formally recognized by the heavenly dao.¡±

    ¡°That said, how many nations are there in the mortal realm that don¡¯t have such beliefs?¡±

    Qin Ye lowered his head and looked at the crystal clear wine in his ss. Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s words wereden with meaning, and Qin Ye immediately thought of the implications of his words.

    There were only that manyplete sets of religions and myths in the world that would qualify for the conditions for an underworld. He didn¡¯t know the exact number of these qualifying beliefs that existed, but it would never be more than the number of countries that existed!

    And since that were the case, the countries that didn¡¯t have such beliefs would naturally have lordless underworlds!

    He finally understood how Emperor Wu of Song was able to survive the great copse of Hell.

    Emperor Wu of Song continued, ¡°The West belongs to Hades and Anubis, while the East... is primarily dominated by Cathay and Hindustan! In particr, Cathay¡¯s influence over the region is so great that itpletely overshadows Hindustan¡¯s achievements!¡±

    ¡°Since time immemorial, Hindustan has never had an era of prosperity thates close to what we¡¯ve experienced at our peak. At Cathay¡¯s peak, we had vassal states everywhere, and these could arguably be considered part of our territory. At the very least, we were able to receive the souls of Yin spirits from those ces.¡±

    ¡°And as territories grow, so do the number of officials required to manage these ces. Thus¡­¡± He pointed at himself, ¡°Lords of vassal states, otherwise also known as feudal officials, were born.¡±

    As expected.

    Qin Ye sighed.

    It was exactly like what he thought. In fact, it was quite simr to what was going on in the mortal realm right now.

    Peacekeeping troops, garrisons in various countries¡­ The same motif was repeated in all shapes and sizes, and the same was true for Cathay a thousand years ago. So long as the leaders of these garrisons weren¡¯t physically located within its national borders, they would naturally be excluded from the extent of Ksitigarbha¡¯s reach.

    If that¡¯s the case¡­

    Just how many of such garrisons are there in existence out there right now?

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t wait to return to the old Hell and check its records! He couldn¡¯t wait to ask Arthis just how many garrisons of Yin soldiers Hell had stationed overseas, and where exactly they were located!

    Defense is important, but that¡¯s only one side of the coin. The other side¡­ Qin Ye refused to believe that there weren¡¯t any Yin spirits garrisoned overseas that weren¡¯t dedicated and loyal to Cathay altogether!

    After all, these were people of antiquity that would have been garrisoned overseas. People of antiquity were known to be most concerned with matters of loyalty, filial piety, rituals, wisdom and beliefs. Emperor Wu of Song might have developed his own thoughts because he was an emperor of his own time. However¡­ the rest might not be the same as him!

    Furthermore, the Yin spirits that qualified to be sent overseas would most certainly have been famous people in their own rights while they were still alive!

    The me of Cathayan history hasn¡¯t beenpletely extinguished! If I can just locate these garrisons, I might even be able to secure one of the famous generals for myself!

    Arthis, oh Arthis¡­ you¡¯re such a fool¡­ Your IQ has fallen to a tragic state ever since you¡¯ve been exposed to the inte¡­

    He forcibly suppressed the swelling emotions in his heart, and cidly responded, ¡°About these¡­ feudal officials, as you call it, what are the selection requirements for these overseas assignments?¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song was oblivious to Qin Ye¡¯s state of mind right now. Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s perspective of this posting of his was inherently different from all of the other feudal officials who were sent overseas as well. He was sent out as an emperor - an assignment befitting only of the stronger Infernal Judge at his time. Furthermore, he was only sent to the nearby region of Hanyang, unlike most of the other feudal officials. Thus, how could he possibly be aware of what Qin Ye was thinking right now?

    Emperor Wu of Song deliberated for a moment, ¡°I recall that only those who havepleted five hundred years of service with a political performance rating of 80% and above qualify to be selected for these postings. Moreover, applicants had to be well-versed in both politics and military affairs.¡±

    In other words¡­ these people must be one of the famous talents of their time!

    Qin Ye was brimming with excitement, ¡°I understand. Then, king of Hanyang¡­ are you trying to break away from the Cathayan underworld right now?¡±

    ¡°A dragon wouldn¡¯t be able to disy its great elegance if confined to shallow waters, would it?¡± Emperor Wu of Song turned away and returned to his throne. Then, he gazed intently at Qin Ye once more, ¡°I¡¯m going to cut to the chase. I want you to endorse an agreement for the king of Hanyang¡¯s release from the Cathayan underworld, and I¡¯ll also need the erasure of my name from Hell¡¯s Records itself. Thereafter, we¡¯ll cease to have anything to do with each other. King Yanluo Qin, what do you say?¡±

    His voice quivered lightly. This was the culmination of a thousand years of his innermost desire. And he had finally encountered this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see it to fruition!

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Qin Ye responded without any hesitation.

    Emperor Wu of Song was stunned by his response. He had never expected Qin Ye to agree to his request so readily.

    A rush of excitement surged from his heart, and Emperor Wu of Song licked his shriveled lips with great emotion, ¡°You cannot go back on your words.¡±

    ¡°Not one bit.¡± Qin Ye continued to stare intently at Emperor Wu of Song. Then, just as Emperor Wu of Song was about to m the table and shoot to his feet, Qin Ye abruptly added, ¡°But, I¡¯ve got my conditions.¡±

    The entire hall instantly turned frigid.

    Qin Ye could even sense a palpable murderous intent burgeoning about him and closing in on him.

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Qin Ye picked up his wine ss and smiled, ¡°Is this the extent of tolerance of a man who was once called invincible?¡±

    ¡°Or¡­ did you think I would deliberately seek to make things difficult for you when I had already given my word?¡±

    Qin Ye gently took a sip of wine, and the smile on his lips widened, ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ it¡¯s going to be a win-win situation¡­ one that is of huge benefit to both of us.¡±

    1. The actual word used here is in fact religion, and it seems to suggest state religion. However, that wouldn¡¯t seem to cohere with the existence of hades and other underworlds based on mythology, so I¡¯ve tranted this as belief instead.

 Chapter 279: Overseas Trade Route

    <h4>Chapter 279: Overseas Trade Route</h4>

    Thick-skinned, ck-hearted, and considerably bold at times. Perhaps he¡¯s not the sort to perform and excel in battles and wars¡­ but then again, to require the presence of King Yanluo on the battlefield naturally means that Hell is on the brink of annihtion.

    ¡°As you know, the new Hell has just been founded, and all prior trade routes established by the old Hell are no longer in existence. However, development and growth doesn¡¯t just happen behind closed doors¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not willing?¡± Qin Ye set down his wine ss and locked eyes with Emperor Wu of Song.

    ¡°Then what incentive is there for me to cross your name off Hell¡¯s Records?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s tone of voice suddenly turned authoritative, ¡°Why should I tolerate the deration of independence of an underworld that doesn¡¯t benefit Hell?!¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled contemptuously, ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. You guys probably know better than me what the state of the new Hell currently is. But as long as nothing changes, you¡¯re technically still part of Hell¡¯s officials, and if I summon you, it is your duty to respond. Otherwise¡­ I believe Lord Harken would be happy to have a private chat with you on my behalf.¡±

    Qin Ye nced cidly at Emperor Wu of Song, ¡°But that¡¯s still Lord Harken when all is said and done.¡±

    They had both sussed out the extent of cards hidden in the hands of the other. Qin Ye was unting the strength of Lord Harken. Emperor Wu of Song might have guessed that Lord Harken was incapacitated to some extent, but he wasn¡¯t aware of the exact extent it was. Besides, no matter how weak and frail he had be, it was still Lord Harken!

    After a tense, protracted pause, Emperor Wu of Song finally withdrew his gaze and nced at the ss of wine before him, ¡°What specialty produce is there in the new Hell?¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. They were negotiating. It was a process that entailed giving and taking. If one party only gave and the other party only took, it would be no different from seizing and encroachment. Emperor Wu of Song clearly didn¡¯t want to risk getting on the wrong side of the new Hell, especially since they reeked of the scent of Lord Harken right now. Naturally, he was clearly not privy to the nitty gritty details of the rtionship between Lord Harken and the new Hell, including the fact that Lord Harken couldn¡¯t wait to crush the new King Yanluo either¡­

    ¡°We¡¯ve got plenty.¡± Qin Ye shrugged his shoulders, ¡°If not for the fact that our citizens are unable to consume all of the goods produced, I wouldn¡¯t have bothered proposing this transaction to begin with.¡±

    He could tell that Qin Ye was the type of person that would be incredibly difficult to deal with if one was unable to crush him in one fell swoop from the onset.

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll set up a seaport city which both parties can use to facilitate transactions.¡±

    The terms and conditions of such a massive joint project wasn¡¯t something that a single person could hammer out off the cuff. There would be a great deal of costs and benefits to weigh and consider. Qin Ye wasn¡¯t good at such things, so he would most definitely need a good subordinate by his side to do a proper breakdown and analysis of the situation. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t bring anyone out with him this time.

    He smiled mysteriously, ¡°You might not even be willing to dere independence at that time anymore. Who knows?¡±

    After all, an agreement to establish a trade route between two underworlds would take no more than a month to properly draft up.

    Emperor Wu of Song gazed deeply at Qin Ye, and his voice carried a trace cautionary tone, ¡°King Yanluo Qin, I¡¯ve been extending you some indulgence on ount of your stature, but you shouldn¡¯t push it too far either.¡±

    That is - only if they¡¯re not Qin Ye.

    As soon as Qin Ye assessed a person to be as harmless as a house cat, he would be the first one to take advantage of the person¡¯s weaknesses and climb all over his head.

    Silence.

    Neither shifted their gaze away.

    Underworlds have always been probing and investigating each other covertly and furtively. Lordless regions have also been tacitly recognized as disputed territories that underworlds would hardly cease to vie over. The more territory an underworld held, the more Yin spirits they had. And the more Yin spirits they had, the quicker the development and growth of their underworld! It was a virtuous cycle that was prevalent everywhere, even in the East.

    Hell was just reestablished. How many Yin soldiers could they possibly have right now?

    This was because he knew full well that these lordless regions were all ces that Cathay had once ruled over. Having once been a vassal state of the Cathayan underworld, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult for the lordless regions to get used to the resumption of Hell¡¯s governance over them. The strategic alliance would thus be able to consolidate their forces and stabilize the new state with far greater efficacy than before. Besides, recent times hadrgely been peaceful, and their invasion of these lordless regions would most certainly cause a stir among underworlds around the world! That said, with the strategic alliance in ce, Hell would naturally be the one to draw all the k from the internationalmunity of underworlds.

    ¡°Where do you n to move against?¡± Emperor Wu of Song licked his lips avariciously and asked with a hoarse voice.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a reason as good as any other.¡±

    Having lived for a thousand years, what was fifty years to someone like Emperor Wu of Song?

    ¡°Besides, their terrain is intricate andplicated. If you don¡¯t have anyone familiar with the Nipponese terrain and forces, it¡¯s going to be a tall order to lead an army across the seas, invade Nippon and take down Amano-Iwato.¡±

    ¡°King of Hanyang doesn¡¯t have to worry so much about these matters.¡± Qin Ye stood up and adjusted his garbs, ¡°Well then, I guess I¡¯ll see you at the end of this year? I believe that these two potential agreements and the other anciry matters that would enable them would be more than sufficient food for thought for the next half a year.¡±

    For now, Oda Nobunaga would spearhead the consolidation of forces in the new Hell and lead the newly established security forces. Then, once Hell finally takes down Yomi-no-Kuni, he would undoubtedly be the most ideal person to be stationed there and take charge of all affairs in Nippon moving forward!

    Die! Die! Die!

    With that, Emperor Wu of Song was leftpletely alone.

    ¡°Moving against Nippon¡­ What great ambition¡­ Wouldn¡¯t it be too boring if I were the only other person getting involved in such a great task?¡±

    Qin Ye was naturally oblivious to the matters taking ce in the great hall after he left.

    ¡°You¡¯re still alive?¡±

    Arthis naturally had no objections to that. Dawn hadn¡¯t risen, and thends were still dark. Qin Ye transformed into his Hell¡¯s Emissary state and promptly took off with Arthis, and it took them no more than forty minutes to arrive back at the hotel.

    ¡°You seriously managed to convince Emperor Wu of Song to visit us at the end of the year to ink the deal on the trade route and the strategic alliance?!¡± Arthis¡¯ eximed in a shrill voice. She was filled with great disbelief.

    Yet, Arthis couldn¡¯t help but find it all too unbelievable, ¡°How is that possible¡­ We¡¯re talking about Emperor Wu of Song over here¡­ How in the world did you manage to do it?!¡±

    ¡°... Tell me intelligibly! Why did you have to invite him over to Hell at the end of this year?!¡±

    ¡°Even a blind man can tell that Hell¡¯s well on track to growth and prosperity. I also want them to understand that Lord Harken is right below the new Hell. Naturally, I wouldn¡¯t actually allow them to get close enough to examine Hell proper. They wouldn¡¯t dare to overstep their boundaries either. My intention is to stem any ambition for the arrogation of power in their hearts before they can take root. I¡¯m almost certain that there would be feudal lords who are nning to use this opportunity to usurp the throne. Thus, I n to borrow the lips of Emperor Wu of Song to dere to them once and for all that they can never afford to step on our toes!¡±

    Otherwise¡­ there might be an Emperor Wu of Song today, and then there could be another feudal lord tomorrow. In this regard, Arthis knew far better than even Qin Ye himself just how much of a handful they would be for Hell to handle. After all, she knew the exact identities of the feudal officials that had been assigned overseas by the old Hell!

    Additionally, she knew the hidden implication of Qin Ye¡¯s words - as long as they were able to consolidate these forces under their wings, then Hell¡¯s strength would most certainly soar from height to height!

    ¡°Definitely. Because my proposal is one that he simply can¡¯t refuse.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°Furthermore, I¡¯m almost certain he won¡¯t being alone. He¡¯s also worried about his own safety. After all, ¡®invincible¡¯ means nothing in the face of a divine beast with a Yin energy reading of thirty million. He will most definitely be calling on the other feudal officials as well!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Old name for Myanmar/Burma.

    2. Old name for Cambodia.

    3. Alternative name for Philippines.

    4. A cave in Japanese mythology where the goddess of light is said to have hidden, thereby depriving the world of light. I gather from the context that this has to do with where Izanami is located, or perhaps allows ess to where Izanami¡¯s home is.

    5. These are earthly gods (as opposed to heavenly gods) of the Izumo mythology.

 Chapter 280: Back to School

    <h4>Chapter 280: Back to School</h4>

    The kid¡¯s all grown up now¡­

    There was a time when Qin Ye¡¯s first instinct was to dodge and hide. After all, the words ¡®trouble¡¯, ¡®burden¡¯ and ¡®responsibility¡¯ were absent from the dictionary as far as he was concerned. That said, she didn¡¯t find it strange at all. After all, a person who had lived in human society for more than a hundred years while remaining hidden under the radar would undoubtedly be deeply entrenched in the ways of safety, caution and precaution.

    In fact, she had even begun to realize that Qin Ye was exceeding her expectations on several fronts.

    Thus, for the very first time, she had truly and sincerely recognized Qin Ye as the future King Yanluo of Hell.

    Martial prowess was a deterrence, just like how each of the Ten Abyssal Courts struck fear into the hearts of all evildoers in the past. However¡­ the fact that the new Hell was able to experience such immense growth in the span of a single year was a far greater deterrent!

    ¡°I¡¯ve got one more question.¡± She sighed softly, ¡°How did you evene up with the trick of reciting a governmental report to him? Emperor Wu of Song has existed for over a millennium, so how were you so certain that he doesn¡¯t understand a thing about modern times?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ eyes flickered - Ah, that¡¯s right. This man is most adept at grasping the true nature of a person¡¯s heart. He¡¯s practically a talent when ites to matters of politics!

    ¡°Admittedly, he would probably have a basic understanding of a thing or two. But that said, he could never fully understand the things which make modern society tick as it stands right now. Furthermore, there wasn¡¯t electricity or inte in Hell back in the days when he was still around. After a thousand years of being entrenched in his old ways, anyone in his shoes would instinctively begin to resist change or a new way of life. At the very least, he wouldn¡¯t be among the first to abandon the old ways and adopt modern lifestyles. Instead, he would continue to resist change until everyone around him begins to embrace modern conveniences and mindsets. Naturally, he would never of his own volition attempt to understand how a modern day government works. To his mind, his way has been, is, and will always be the best way.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions grew ashen, ¡°I once had the experience of being adopted by an old couple who were both in their seventies. They were exactly like that. In fact, most parents who were born in the 90¡¯s and 80¡¯s are already beginning to act this way, much less folks older than them. It¡¯s not surprising at all.¡±

    Arthis sat up straight without saying a word. She flicked her lush hair back like a Head & Shoulders advertisement, and then continued to gaze intently at Qin Ye with a profound glint in her eyes - Come, tell me more about your unpleasant experiences of ages past. Let me delight in your misery.

    Eh? I¡¯d expect nothing less of Eastsea. To think that the Special Investigations Department would be filled with such illustrious and elegant flora and fauna¡­ His hands began to tap on the divergent buttons on the screen that signified approbation and reprobation.

    What else is there to do but to sieve through the options for my harem in future? I¡¯ve even already nned out the preschool for my children to attend¡­

    ¡°Bloody hell!!!¡± Qin Ye was shocked out of his wits and kicked off the sheets immediately. Arthis had somehow slipped in beside him and snuggled up close with a highly ambiguous posture as she browsed the Momo app with great interest.

    Just like that, they locked eyes, and there was a tense silence.

    Arthis red at Qin Ye with great incredulity, and then turned to the nket, before a strong wave of realization struck her.

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­ Do you have problems reading the situation?!

    ¡°Get lost! Have you taken a look in the mirror recently? Who gave you the confidence to even suggest that a Rakshasa would even deign to take a second nce at a mere human being?!¡± Arthis obstructed Qin Ye¡¯s approach with a foot to his chest, and began to filter through the men¡¯s profiles in his Momo app.

    Arthis continued to skim through the profiles with great interest as she casually rebuffed his ims, ¡°Lin Han.¡±

    ¡°Wang Chenghao, Ye Xingchen.¡±

    Arthis covered her face abashedly, ¡°Centimeters?¡±

    Just then, the door flung open, ¡°Hey, Brother Qin, our flight tomorrow morning at eleven¡­¡±

    He was greeted by a rather passionate scene.

    He instantly understood everything.

    Three secondster, he gently shut the door once more, ¡°Pardon my intrusion.¡± And then, he even sensibly tried the handle once more, confirming that the locking mechanism had properly clicked into ce.

    Then, they even proceeded to wipe their hands in disgust, muttering soft ¡°yucks¡± under their breaths as they did so.

    Neither suited the taste of the other.

    How could you even--... Can¡¯t you two leave me in peace for a day?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s hands twitched uncontrobly as he fervently resisted the urge to ssh his hot coffee all over Lin Han¡¯s face. Several momentster, he finally managed to ster a smile on his face, ¡°Shut up.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s emotions were all over the ce, and he rubbed his eyebrows, struggling hard to pull himself together. It had suddenly dawned on him that school term was over, and they had already entered the stage of summer vacations.

    Qin Ye returned to his room after some time. Arthis was currently seated on the chair, ying with her phone. Qin Ye kicked her gently and furrowed his brows, ¡°That¡¯s right, where¡¯s Oda Nobunaga?¡±

    Qin Ye slumped back into his chair and tapped on the desk as he muttered back, ¡°He¡­ could he have--...¡±

    ¡°Now that you¡¯ve given your word, we can most certainly expect several feudal officials to arrive at the end of the year. Half a year should be more than enough time to get something sorted out so that Hell is at least presentable. I¡¯m not an expert in this field, so you¡¯ll have to deal with it yourself.¡±

    End of the year¡­ We can consider it an imperial court meeting of sorts. At the very least, we¡¯ll have to show the feudal officials that Hell is thriving, and that there are several great construction projects in the works.

    Qin Ye¡¯s first instinct was to refuse. But in the end, he swallowed those words right back where they came from, and then continued to listen intently to Arthis.

    Qin Ye sighed in resignation, ¡°Then, what should we do?¡±

    ¡°For instance¡­ where Cathay had its garrisons and vassal states, and who the feudal officials assigned to these ces are.¡±

    <hr>

    1. A shampoo brand.

 Chapter 281: Laying Out the Cards

    <h4>Chapter 281: Laying Out the Cards</h4>

    The ne flew across the sky, across Eastsea City, Stillriver Province, and it soon arrived at Mount Tai airport, where they transferred to the next domestic flight. Within a few hours, Qin Ye and crew found themselves once again standing in front of the First Academy of Cultivators.

    The First Academy of Cultivators was still the same as ever before. It was quiet and peaceful. If one looked only at the exterior of the building, they wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that this was the heartbeat of the Cathayan cultivation world. Summer vacation had already started, and they could see many people carrying around little pet-cages or pedaling leisurely on their skateboards. It appeared no different from any other university out there.

    Humans were often forgetful andcent.

    It was only half a year ago that Cao Youdao made waves across the entire City of Salvation, and yet, just half a yearter, everyone was already going about their own business as though that was a thing of the distant past. Qin Ye understood that the First Academy of Cultivators had decided to open the doors to the public during the period of summer vacation so that the other citizens of the City of Salvation could get up close to the cultivators and interact with them. After all, it was one of the longstanding objectives of the cultivation world to normalize the existence of cultivators, and not have them be treated as entities to be mythologized or demonized.

    That said, what made it slightly different from other universities on summer vacation is the fact that several students could still be seen in the vicinity, going about on their bicycles, each of which had a particr emblem on it.

    ¡°Eh, hang on.¡± Su Feng waved at one of them, and the bright-eyed student immediately came running over, ¡°Good day, instructors!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t any of you go back home?¡± Su Feng asked curiously, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s like this. The academy reminded everyone that none of the students are allowed to return home during the summer vacations. However, we are allowed to sign up and undertake internships at various cultivation units across the City of Salvation. There are close to four hundred cultivation units that have set up a satellite base in the City of Salvation over thest six month. They¡¯re all located in the newly-minted cultivation district in the western part of the city. You can take a look around there.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is. The three of them returned to the school, called Li Tao, Zhou Xianlong and Tao Ran to report back, and then returned to each their own room to continue with their cultivation.

    Qin Ye leaned back on the bed, still somewhat sore and weary from being seated throughout the ne ride back. Then, he pulled out his phone and tapped on the ¡®y¡¯ app, where he caught up with thetest ongoings in the cultivation world. There wasn¡¯t much news. In fact, the talk about the City of Salvation had dwindled substantially, and it was their publication that was still making waves throughout the cultivation world.

    ¡°Instructors from the First Academy of Cultivators, namely Qin Ye, Su Feng and Lin Han, have been invited to Eastsea for an academic exchange to discuss their publication on the evolution and development of Yin spirits. You may watch the full video of their discussions below. All rights reserved.¡± ¡°The tenrgest research institutions across Cathay intend to establish their own research facilities in the City of Salvation.¡± ¡°The SRC¡¯s findings on thetest insights on the evolution and development of Yin spirits are set out below¡­¡±

    Thest article must have been the work of Li Tao.

    It was soon 6.00 p.m. Qin Ye¡¯s stomach was just beginning to growl when his eyes suddenly shifted slightly.

    It was now July. The weather couldn¡¯t be considered at its hottest, and the early summer breeze was still somewhat cool and pleasant. However, despite the soft breeze, the windows suddenly mmed shut at the same time. Immediately following that, the lights in the room immediately fizzled and flickered, and then went outpletely. Then, almost as soon as darkness engulfed the room, countless spots ofhermes red up in the surroundings.

    It was as though he had been transported to a pitch-ck tomb in an instant, only to be surrounded by innumerable evil ghosts.

    Then, a wisp of ck smoke began to billow out of thin air, and a burning scent wafted about and lingered endlessly in the room. Qin Ye silently switched off his phone. But before he could even sit up, a snow-white de light cleaved straight down towards his skull!

    Yet he didn¡¯t move a single muscle.

    Arthis was ying games right beside Qin Ye all this while, and she didn¡¯t even deign to look up from her screen - not even when the intense de light swept past her hair and scattered it all over the ce.

    Shiing! The de light was white as snow. In a sh, three katanas were pointed straight at Qin Ye¡¯s chest, followed closely by the revealing of three dark figures who were standing around his bed.

    Murai Sadakatsu, Mori Ranmaru... and the one in the middle was none other than Oda Nobunaga.

    They no longer looked like the evil ghosts back at the battle on the Strait of Tsushima. Each of them had already reverted back to their former appearances in life. Apart from the two spots of zinghermes in their eyes, it was practically impossible to tell that they were evil spirits.

    ¡°Lord Nobunaga, what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± Qin Ye sighed softly. He knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

    By his estimations, it wouldn¡¯t take him more than a week to discover that something was amiss.

    Why would Justice Bao¡¯s messenger have to fly back to the City of Salvation in a ne? And then take a car to get to his destination?

    Why doesn¡¯t he simply take the mode of transportation used by Yin spirits, rather than ride the rtively less efficient modes of transportation of the mortal realm?

    Moreover, he wouldn¡¯t have encountered any Emissaries of Hell along the way. None of Hell¡¯s forces would have appeared to obstruct his way or even verified his identity. Everything indicated that something was amiss. The fact that he was able to endure the peculiarities for such a long time without speaking a word of it was already somewhatmendable.

    Whoosh¡­ Oda Nobunaga¡¯s katana bore an aura of frigidity. It hovered about dangerously across QIn Ye¡¯s chest as Nobunaga spoke, ¡°Give me one good reason not to kill you right now.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled as he boldly pushed away the katana with a single finger, ¡°You never had an intention of killing me, did you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Because if you¡¯d really wanted to take my life, you wouldn¡¯t have done it in front of an Infernal Judge. That would be far too foolish. She would be able to raze you and your thousand remaining men to the ground without any issues at all. That said¡­ and considering the circumstances, I ept your aggression.¡± Qin Ye stood up as though nothing had happened. As soon as he did, Mori Ranmaru and Murai Sadakatsu immediately backed off in unison, allowing Qin Ye to straighten his clothes and exin himself, ¡°I do owe you an exnation. I was intending to tell you tonight at midnight, but¡­ I suppose now is as good a time as ever.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga slowly withdrew his katana, running his finger gently across the cold, gleaming de as he smiled grimly, ¡°How certain are you that I won¡¯t kill you?¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled softly, and didn¡¯t even bother to respond to him.

    Oda Nobunaga had nowhere else to go. As soon as he fell prey to Qin Ye¡¯s trickeries, he was already dancing in the palm of his hand. No matter how dpidated and rundown the new Hell was, it was undoubtedly still his only hope right now.

    Qin Ye knew this. Furthermore, he knew that as long as he was able to convince Oda Nobunaga of his sincerity and show the prospects of growth in the new Hell, Oda Nobunaga would never hold it against him. In fact, Nobunaga would even do his best to help him fortify and consolidate the forces within the new Hell.

    ¡°Arakshasa.¡± Qin Ye nodded at Arthis, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that we should make a visit to the old Hell? How does today sound to you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why today would be a bad day to go to Hell.¡± Arthis shut down herputer and gazed deeply at Oda Nobunaga, ¡°You¡¯re astute.¡±

    ¡°Had you shifted your de even a millimeter closer to Qin Ye, you would¡¯ve been dead by now.¡±

    Mori Ranmaru and Murai Sadakatsu¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and they immediately motioned to brandish their katanas once more. Fortunately, Oda Nobunaga stood in front of them and held them back. Thus, they stood in silence and held their ground as thehermes in their pupils zed threateningly and intently.

    ¡°I¡¯m a man who hates deception.¡± Oda Nobunaga stared at Arthis and licked his lips with a menacing smile, ¡°Azai Nagamasa has deceived me, and that¡¯s the reason he was put to death. If I find out that you¡¯ve deceived me as well, I wouldn¡¯t mind risking everything - even eternal death.¡±

    He nced out the window and scanned the vast campus grounds, ¡°So, this is what you would call a private school after four centuries, huh¡­ I can tell that you¡¯re rathermitted to this ce right now. I wonder how this ce would be if I just¡­ gave themand for the rest of my Umamawari horse guards to ravage through these grounds¡­?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ body remained motionless, and yet her head tilted stiffly at a ny-degree angle as she smiled at Oda Nobunaga with her ck hair scattering about wildly, Yet, Oda Nobunaga simply smiled right back at her.

    Talents¡­ Qin Yemented - Perhaps all talents have the ability to remain unfazed even if Mount Tai copses right in front of their faces. To think that he wouldn¡¯t even flinch when confronted with the overbearing might of an advanced Infernal Judge. The sheer amount of courage and boldness he possesses ismendable.

    Naturally, Qin Ye was also willing to extend a greater measure of indulgence to talents.

    ¡°Arakshasa.¡± He called out, ¡°We¡¯re all future colleagues over here. There¡¯s no need to cause too much friction. Rather than to exin it with words, I think it would be best to let Lord Nobunaga see it with his own two eyes.¡±

    It was only then that Arthis turned away with a sneer, and she began to make a series of quick hand seals. Within moments, a vast pressure abruptly permeated throughout the entire room, and a pitch-ck crack suddenly appeared in the void in front of them. A lonely, deste and broken wind swept out from the rift, incredibly eerie, and chilling to the marrows. Qin Ye took the lead and walked straight in.

    His head spun for several moments. When he finally came to his senses, he discovered that his surroundings had changed, and it waspletely pitch-ck all around him.

    It was a bleak and dreary darkness around him. Everything appeared to be an endless fog, and death and decay surrounded him, and even appeared to close in on him. The oppressive silence was stifling and heart-stopping.

    It was like drifting about in the vast oceans endlessly.

    It felt no different from walking through a boundless cemetery under the intent gaze of countless evil ghosts in the shadows.

    ¡°The Yellow Springs Road¡­¡± He looked at the roiling ck fog that lingered endlessly in the area and sighed wistfully. It had been a year since he hadste here, and he never expected everything to still be in ce, just as it had been before.

    Whoosh¡­ There was a soft, rippling sound beside him. Arthis, Oda Nobunaga and his two retainers had finally crossed the rift and arrived next to him.

    ¡°What terrifying Yin energy¡­¡± Oda Nobunaga drew a deep breath and closed his eyes, ¡°But¡­ the Yin energy contains no fluctuations whatsoever. It¡¯s almost as though¡­ it¡¯s no different from a pool of dead waters?¡±

    He opened his eyes wide and stared at the fog around him with great incredulity. And then, he gasped, ¡°Could it be¡­ that something has happened to the Cathayan underworld?!¡±

    ¡°Ssss¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ impossible¡­¡± Mori Ranmaru and Murai Sadakatsu eximed at the same time. As far as they could remember, the Cathayan underworld was the strongest underworld in their times. Every nation would bow down to the great banners of Hell, and Hell was known as thends blessed by the gods! How could something have happened to an underworld as powerful as that?

    Qin Ye looked at the Yin energy that surrounded him with aplicated gaze in his eyes. It was strange. Anxiety was the only emotion he experienced thest time he was here. Yet, to think that he would feel a hint of sadness and sorrow this time.

    The glorious fires of Hell that had zed for thousands of years on end had been extinguished by the fulfillment of the great promise of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Weren¡¯t Buddhas supposed to be selfless? Or was it simply that¡­ the end had finallye?

    Whatever the case might be¡­ it feels like a waste to me¡­

    Just then, a bright luster suddenly erupted from his chest, and the Book of Life and Death suddenly flew above everyone like a brightntern in the darkest night. The ck-and-white light from the divine artifact glowed radiantly, and it immediately cleared away every bit of fog within a fifty-meter radius!

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°This is¡­¡±

    Ssss!! As the dark fog retreated, it revealed a handful of massive hill-sized figures that looked like insects that were scraping its sharp joints on the ground as it moved about. The sounds emitted were hair-raising.

    ¡°Echoing Worms.¡± Arthis exined indifferently, ¡°They might look big, but they¡¯re only Soul Hunters at best. You could consider it a Yin beast of the old Hell that is formed through the congealing of ten thousand souls. It¡¯s incredibly sensitive to the existence of Yin spirits. As soon as it discovers the existence of an isted Yin spirit, that Yin spirit is most certainly going to be devoured. Incidentally, it¡¯s also one of the peripheral defense mechanisms of the old Hell.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, her hair shot into the dark fog and promptly dragged out an Echoing Worm that was dozens of meters tall.

    It looked like an arachnid, except that its upper body was shaped like a human being. Countless twisted and contorted Yin spirits were wrapped up with thin threads like cocoons and hung all over its body.

    ¡°Whenever a Yin spirit attempts to traverse the Yellow Springs Road, the Echoing Worm would always call on their names. As soon as they respond, they would immediately be dragged over by a thread of the Echoing Worm and rolled up into a cocoon, where it would be slowly digested as food and thereafter fuse with the Echoing Worm as part of its body. The records of the old Hell would reveal that there have been Echoing Worms as tall as fifty-two meters that have even begun to awaken their spiritual awareness.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice deepened, ¡°As far as these things are concerned, we can eitherpletely destroy them, or transport and transnt them into the new Hell. Where we are standing is only a hundred meters away from the boundary between Yin and Yang. It would be a huge problem if these creatures were to escape from the old Hell and venture into the mortal realm¡­¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye waved his hand. He was ostensibly surprised as he walked up to the Echoing Worm, ¡°Do Echoing Worms¡­ devour each other?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ why do you ask that?¡± Arthis was somewhat baffled.

    Qin Ye gasped, and then nced warily about, ¡°Then, tell me¡­ where has thetter half of its body gone?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ someone else around here?¡±

 Chapter 282: Return to Hell (1)

    <h4>Chapter 282: Return to Hell (1)</h4>

    Arthis paused, and then turned to stare at the rear half of the Echoing Worm.

    Thetter half of its body that was partially obscured by the fog¡­ was actually empty!

    To be more exact¡­ thetter half of its body had been chewed up by an unknown entity, and only the top half of its body remained!

    tter! Oda Nobunaga, Murai Sadakatsu and Mori Ranmaru immediately stood back to back with each other with their katanas unsheathed as they gazed warily into the darkness around them.

    Something¡¯s here¡­

    There was something unknown hidden in the darkness, devouring the hill-sized Echoing Worms.

    Qin Ye gulped nervously. Copious amounts of Yin energy converged about him in an instant, and he promptly transformed into his Hell¡¯s Emissary state. With his mourning staff in arm, he picked up the remains of the Echoing Worm and took a closer look at it.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t chewed off with a single bite¡­¡± He gazed back into the dark, roiling fog about them, ¡°Rather¡­ it appears as though it had been gnawed away by countless ants and mice. The Echoing Worm¡¯s remnants reveal the aftermath of hundreds of little bite marks.¡±

    Like a silent whimper, the dark fog that was roiling gently caused everyone¡¯s hair to stand on end.

    Finally, after a long time, Arthis spoke up one more with a hushed voice, ¡°In any case, we should head further into Hell and take a closer inspection at what¡¯s be of this ce. With the Book of Life and Death paving the way for us, no creature under the level of a Yama-ss existence would even dare draw close to us. We¡¯re absolutely safe under its care. Besides¡­ not even I can part the fog of Yin energy for a closer inspection of what¡¯s hidden within.¡±

    Nobody had any objections.

    Everyone simply moved with greater vignce. Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes narrowed subconsciously - ¡®Old¡¯ Hell? It looks like something massive did happen to Hell¡­

    His hand remained firmly gripped around the hilt of his katana.

    It felt as though something was gazing intently at their group of people from the depths of the fog. This was something that they could sense as a group, and yet there was a tacit understanding that none spoke of it. In fact¡­ they could all tell that it wasn¡¯t a single entity that was eyeing them. Rather, it was a group.

    The feeling of being watched from the depths of the darkness was incredibly stifling and oppressive.

    After all, the fear of the unknown was the most terrifying of all.

    Nobody spoke a single word. They simply followed Qin Ye¡¯s lead and continued to head into the depths of the old Hell. The Book of Life and Death paved the way for them, parting the fog dozens of meters ahead of them and creating a path for their travel. Several hill-like creatures could be seen retreating away quickly from the path, especially at the fringe where the light from the book met the darkness of the fog. As they retreated, they emitted soft gurgling sounds that sounded no different from rumbling thunder. Additionally, these sounds were also inteced with sounds of a soft rustling.

    After walking on for some time, they arrived at the end of the road, where a towering shadow appeared. Countless spots ofhermes red up in the surroundings - green, white, ck, red¡­ it was a bleak and deste, yet somewhat beautiful and mncholic sight.

    ¡°This is Hell¡¯s Gate.¡± Arthis exined.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I get to see it thest time?¡± Qin Ye asked in bewilderment.

    ¡°It¡¯s normal. Hell¡¯s gate was previously known as a forbidden zone for the living, but it eventually became thend of the dead. As soon as you step foot onto thend of the dead, you will never be able to return to the mortal realms. These consequences are as opposed to the forbidden zone for the living, where encroachment doesn¡¯t trante to irreversible consequences. In a way, you can think of thend of the dead as a realm that is qualitatively more extreme than the forbidden zone for the living.¡±

    ¡°The premature reaping of souls can only be rectified while the souls remain at the forbidden zone for the living. Those in the mortal realm who wish to summon the spirits can likewise only do so while they are at the forbidden zone for the leaving. The total length of the Yellow Springs Road is four hundred kilometers, and it would take the average Yin spirit a total of seven days toplete the journey. This is also known in the mortal realm as the first seven. The deceased¡¯s spirit can only be recalled to the mortal realm during the first seven. In a sense, you can consider this a tolerance zone or a buffer zone for the souls that have entered Hell.¡±

    Arthis continued, ¡°Not even I know the exact appearance of this length of journey that has been constructed in Hell. The fog of Yin energy here was created by the second King Yanluo of Hell by tapping on the abilities of his unparalleled cultivation. Not even the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces are able to disperse the fog here. Hell¡¯s Gate is hidden somewhere within its midst, and one can only see it when he looks back after crossing it. Otherwise, do you really think that Hell¡¯s Gate would be visible to us if not for the brilliance of the Book of Life and Death? Back when Granny Meng first took you on the Netherworld Odyssey¡­ you didn¡¯t turn back to take a look, did you?¡±

    Do you think I¡¯d even dare to look back at that time?

    Qin Ye chuckled awkwardly - You must be mistaken if you think I¡¯ve got guts of steel like that! Even the Echoing Worms were sufficient to cause me to tremble back then, alright?

    He was just about to continue forging ahead when he suddenly paused in his steps.

    ¡°Did you guys feel that?¡± Qin Ye turned around and looked at everyone, ¡°Earlier¡­ Arakshasa¡¯s mentioned that the Echoing Worms are already closing in on the boundary between Yin and Yang. But have you guys noticed¡­¡±

    He pointed at the ck fog behind him, where countless shadows appeared to intece with each other in the dark, ¡°They didn¡¯t appear to be intentionally making their way out of Hell. Rather¡­ it appeared more as though they had been driven further from the recesses of Hell by something.¡±

    Everyone looked in the direction which he was pointing towards.

    They had simply glossed over this anomaly earlier. But upon closer inspection, they realized that¡­ they could vaguely make out hill-like silhouettes shrieking as they copsed from time to time. Furthermore, there was the incessant echo of what appeared to be scuttling or rustling sounds. The prospects of what were hidden in the darkness gave all of them goosebumps.

    Something was hidden within the darkness, devouring the massive Yin spirits that were ostensibly fleeing as best as they could.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Oda Nobunaga spoke up for the very first time, ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling that it¡¯s not safe here¡­ it¡¯s absolutely unsafe. There¡¯s no reason to remain under a copsing wall.¡±

    Suppressing the doubts in their hearts, everyone transformed into ahergale and pressed forward towards Hell¡¯s Gate. Then, when they were finally approximately three hundred meters away from it, they all gasped in unison - even Oda Nobunaga and Arthis alike.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± Murai Sadakatsu stared at Hell¡¯s Gate with great disbelief. Just then, with a soft, swishing sound, a colourful robe beside them immediately transformed into a great gale of Yin energy and surged towards Hell¡¯s Gate in an instant. A split secondter, both Qin Ye and Oda Nobunaga followed suit.

    Tap tap¡­ They closed the distance of three hundred meters in an instant. Qin Ye had rushed forward towards the majestic building ahead of him with great incredulity in his eyes.

    It was as tall as the sky, and approximately a thousand meters in depth.

    It was vast as thends, and so grand that it appeared no different from the Three Gorges Dam.

    This was a gate appeared to rise endlessly into the heavens.

    It was designed with an ancient Cathayan ir, and appeared no different from an ancient memorial arch. The gate was divided into hundreds of sections, and the words ¡®Hell¡¯s Gate¡¯ were scrawled in majestic calligraphy that appeared to float in the air. It was a majestic and glorious sight to behold.

    However, this wasn¡¯t what shocked them at all.

    Instead, what caused them to feel at aplete loss were the two towering figures that were standing guard on either side of Hell¡¯s Gate, each of which stood at a height of two thousand meters!

    The figure on the left was Ox-Head, bearing the head of a bull and a man¡¯s body. His horns were orbiting about over his head, and he was d in ancient Cathayan armor and wielding a steel pitchfork.

    The figure on the right was Horse-Face, bearing the head of a horse and a man¡¯s body. He was also d in ancient Cathayan armor and wielding arge copper saber.

    Ox-Head and Horse-Face!

    They stood guard at the sides of Hell¡¯s Gate like valiant guardians, scrutinizing every single Yin spirit that passed through Hell¡¯s Gate.

    Qin Ye gasped. Back in the glory days of the old Hell, tens of thousands of Yin spirits would congregate around these parts daily, passing through the gates under the close scrutiny of both Ox-Head and Horse-Face. But now, the two valiant guardians werepletely engulfed by dense clouds of Yin energy, leaving no more than their zing pupils peeking out of the roiling darkness. This sight¡­ was simply frightening!

    Towering gates, andmensurately towering guardians. This was a sight that was impably majestic and awe-inspiring even in spite of the fact that the old Hell was no longer in operation. In fact, Oda Nobunaga and his two retainers couldn¡¯t help but feel their hearts skip a beat, and their lips trembled for several seconds, before he finally drew a deep breath and lowered his head.

    The splendour and majesty of Hell was so imposing that it appeared to bear down on them like an indomitable force, so much so that they weren¡¯t able to look directly at it.

    ¡°Spirit molt.¡± Arthis spoke up, ¡°The soul has ascended, but the body still remains. Ox-Head and Horse-Face are superior Yin spirits, and their flesh can be considered immortal. If we head further in¡­ we might even see the spirit molts of various asuras and rakshasas.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. He was just about to look away when he suddenly froze once more.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Arthis was bewildered.

    Qin Ye waved his hand dismissively and continued staring at Horse-Face. Everyone followed his gaze and looked over as well. And then, under everyone¡¯s watchful eyes, Horse-Face¡¯s eyelids¡­ twitched.

    Crack¡­ It was a movement that was visible to the naked eye. In fact, it appeared almost as though Horse-Face was attempting to open his eyes. The sight startled everyone, including Arthis, and they all retreated in unison.

    A silenthergale swept through the deste gate of Hell. And then, as everyone watched with bated breath, the towering guardian¡­ actually opened his eye!

    That said, it didn¡¯t reveal the existence of any eyeball within. Instead¡­ what appeared to be a tide of dark waters flowed out from it.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Arthis was taken aback. And then, almost as though she recalled something of grave importance, she gasped in horror, ¡°Blight vermin?! And in such numbers?! I get it¡­ I finally get it! So that¡¯s what it is!¡±

    ¡°We have to leave!!¡±

    Arthis waved her sleeves before Qin Ye and the others could even respond, instantly dragging them through the air with her as they rushed through Hell¡¯s Gate like a soaring cloud.

    ¡°What the Hell is going on?!¡± Qin Ye asked immediately. The grave expression on Arthis¡¯ face gave Qin Ye a terrible premonition of what was toe.

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond. Instead, her expression only grew more and more ashen over the next few moments, until she finally gnashed her teeth and cursed under her breath, ¡°Damn it¡­¡±

    ¡°DAMN IT!!¡±

    Then, she drew several deep breaths, before finally muttering through gritted teeth, ¡°Blight vermin are creatures that would never appear in the mortal realm or the heavenly realm. These are creatures that only appear when a high-ranking official of Hell ascends into paradise. In particr, they would appear in the spirit molts left behind by these officials, where they would feed off the remnant Yin energy until all traces of the spirit molt have beenpletely devoured and consumed.¡±

    ¡°This is part of the natural cycle of death and decay that is unique to Hell. In the past, as soon as someone gains ascension, the blight vermin would consume the entire spirit molt, and then be annihted by the specialist exterminators of Hell. But¡­ none of that exists anymore.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Then, realization dawned on him, and he gasped in horror as his voice became drifty, ¡°Y-y-you mean to say that¡­ Hell is currently¡­¡±

    ¡°Who knows how many blight vermin are running rampant in Hell right now?!¡± Arthis bellowed in rage, ¡°This is something that was too natural¡­ so natural that I¡¯d taken it for granted¡­ No¡­ Not even Granny Meng had expected something like that to ur. After all, every single one of the high-ranking officials of Hell have been whisked off into paradise. We¡¯re talking about thousands of spirit molts that have been left behind! There must be countless blight vermin crawling all over the old Hell right now! And their only purpose in life¡­ is to consume everything that stands before them. In other words, they¡¯re going to consume the entire old Hell!¡±

    This was part and parcel of the natural cycle of death and decay. Qin Ye finally understood everything, and he gulped nervously, ¡°Then¡­ why are we still heading in?¡±

    Arthis bit down on her lips for some time, and then finally sighed with great regret, ¡°It¡¯s my fault this time.¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye, listen up. The great copse of Hell was a sudden urrence. Every single soul in Hell vanished in an instant, but¡­ the legacies, records and collections of the old Hell are still around. This is why I wasn¡¯t anxious to return to collect these things to begin with.¡±

    ¡°Hell¡¯s hidden archives, barracks of the Yin soldiers, the Ten Abyssal Courts, as well as the apanying knowledge that have been umted over thousands of years are all still around. It¡¯s impossible to whisk these things away into paradise. However, both Granny Meng and I have failed to realize that as soon as Hell is emptied out, it would immediately begin its countdown to themencement of the natural cycle of death and decay¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart thumped wildly, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ these blight vermin are currently gnawing away at the entire Hell?! Including the great legacies that have been left behind?!¡±

    Arthis was livid and ashen, ¡°Anything that contains Yin energy would be seen as a source of food for these blight vermin. Right now¡­ even I can¡¯t be sure just how much of the old legacy remains intact¡­¡±

    ¡°SHIT!!¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t resist the urge to scream and explode at Arthis, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ve always said that we should grab everything we can from the old Hell as quickly as possible! Look at what you¡¯ve done! Comcency has ruined us! Why didn¡¯t you think of such things sooner rather thanter!!¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond. Instead, she made another series of hand seals, and the Yin energy around them instantly rushed towards their feet, imbuing them with far greater speed than before.

    Whoosh!

    They traversed through the entire length of the Yellow Springs Road in an instant. Qin Ye could feel his eyelids twitching all this time. Yellow Springs Road should havepletely dried up by now, and yet it was instead densely filled with a tide of blight vermin beneath which formed a massive river of blight! These ravenous creatures nced about maniacally with their scarlet eyes, scanning their surroundings intently for anything that could be devoured by them.

    Even the bones of the ferryman weren¡¯t spared, and there was only half of his entire body which remained right now!

    ¡°Listen up.¡± Just then, Arthis¡¯ voice sounded in his mind, ¡°The appearance of blight vermin in such numbers¡­ might well mean the appearance of a monarch vermin¡­¡±

    ¡°WAIT A MINUTE!!¡± Qin Ye was simply going crazy. Hell¡¯s legacy was on the line. He wasn¡¯t aware of the extent of Hell¡¯s legacy back then, and yet, to think that the first time he learns of it would be in the face of such exigent circumstances. How could he not be filled with anxiety?

    How did Hell use to interact with the other underworlds?

    How many of the darkfeathers sent out by Hell are still around right now?

    The roster of the feudal officials and vassal states of Hell! Hell¡¯s arts! Hell¡¯s treasuries! Hell¡¯s legacy that had been passed down from generation to generation! These were all inheritances of the old Hell that would be incredibly useful to him!

    He had managed to scramble together the supplies to secure a strong foundation in support of Hell¡¯s soaring growth in the near future. And yet, to think that they would run into such a terrible situation at the most crucial times!

    1.

 Chapter 283: Return to Hell (2)

    <h4>Chapter 283: Return to Hell (2)</h4>

    Arthis was fully aware that the oversight on her part had led to potentially cataclysmic consequences. That said, the appearances of blight vermins were part and parcel of the natural order pertaining to death and decay, just like how it was part of an ordinary course for the dead to be cremated. Furthermore, having been locked up in the depths of the Naraka abyss for hundreds of years, how could she be expected to have thought about such things?

    ¡°ording to the records of Hell, a monarch vermin would appear in every hundred thousand blight vermins. There was a time when Hell was surrounded and besieged by the joint coalition of several underworlds all at once. Western Hell fell, and hundreds of Infernal Judges perished in the line of duty, giving birth to the appearance of a monarch vermin. The presiding King Yanluo back then personally subjugated the monarch vermin and appointed him as the warden of one of the abysses of Hell¡­ Based on past records, the monarch vermin should be no stronger than an Infernal Judge. After all, the blight vermin have only appeared no more than a year ago. Even if a monarch vermin has appeared, he can never be stronger than an Infernal Judge. In fact, he could even be as weak as a Soul Hunter!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just guessing¡­¡± Arthis sighed, ¡°Blight vermins have already spread beyond Hell¡¯s Gate. The prospects of the situation at Fengdu Necropolis aren''t looking good at all. Our best bet right now is to seize and retrieve as much of Hell¡¯s legacy as we can. My guess is that Fengdu Necropolis will bepletely reduced to dust within a year¡¯s time.¡±

    Boom! As soon as he finished speaking, Arthis¡¯ hair instantly fluttered menacingly, and she began to chant a mysterious spell. Within moments, almost as though they had heard the summons of an imperial decree, the Yin energy andhermes in the surroundings rushed over and converged at their feet, transforming into a long bridge made ofhermes that extended straight into the distant Fengdu Necropolis. Instantly, their speed was boosted so much that they dashed forward at speedsparable to a maglev train, even leaving afterimages in their wake as they continued to dart forward at top speed.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Oda Nobunaga gasped in shock.

    Qin Ye felt as though his heart was on fire. He was swamped with anxiety that was borne out of an innate sense of responsibility over Hell. He had wracked his brain for ways and acted on means to spur the growth in Hell, including writing a paper, leading the charge in the great battle at the Strait of Tsushima and even seized souls for Hell. Having invested so much, how could Qin Ye be willing to now give up on obtaining the legacy of the old Hell to further spur the growth of the new Hell?

    ¡°The old Hell no longer exists because of Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s sudden ascension into paradise. His great vow has been fulfilled, and Hell has been emptied out. Innumerable Yin spirits now ran rampant throughout the mortal realm, and I¡¯ve been appointed as the next lord and master over the new Hell.¡±

    However, Oda Nobunaga waspletely unfazed by it. Instead, he simply narrowed his eyes and nodded cidly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve given you my word that I¡¯d help you invade Nippon. This isn¡¯t impossible. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be a tall order if we can obtain the legacy of the old Hell. Therefore¡­¡± He cupped his hands and bowed respectfully, ¡°Lord Nobunaga, I humbly ask you to lend me your assistance. We¡¯ll grab as much of Hell¡¯s legacy as we can. Our safety is assured with the protection of the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    Fengdu Necropolis was already in sight, and they could tell that the vast city was covered in ck spots. In particr, the darkness in the southeastern part of the necropolis appeared no different from a tide that sshed about from time to time, sending darkness spreading everywhere around it.

    ¡°No, it wouldn¡¯t.¡± Arthis suddenly interjected, ¡°It might have in the past, but it most certainly wouldn¡¯t now. The blight vermin have already pervaded every bit of the divine molt, and their presence in fact prevents Ksitigarbha¡¯s crushing aura from reaching us. We won¡¯t be turned into dust as long as we act cautiously. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    Her words cut deep into Qin Ye¡¯s heart - These are priceless artifacts that have been umted through Hell for thousands of years on end¡­ and yet, to think that they are all fated to perish and be consumed by such terrible things.

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, and then immediately understood that this was the result of the Ksitigarbha¡¯s presence. In particr, the divine molt had drawn over 99% of the blight vermin in Fengdu Necropolis over to it, leaving them¡­ with a sliver of hope!

    Arthis¡¯ forehead was already percting with cold sweat. She thought for the next three seconds, and then immediately responded, ¡°The barracks! That¡¯s where all of our research, intelligence, strategies and details of operations are located. There are even design ns and ideas for weapons of war located in the barracks!¡±

    As a famous warlord, he could fully appreciate the importance of the items that can be salvaged in the barracks.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Murai Sadakatsu drew a deep breath, and his entire body erupted with Yin energy, clothing him with a scarlet great armor instantly. His white hair scattered everywhere, and he donned a mask that appeared to bare its teeth. His eyes lit up with zinghermes, and he unsheathed his two-meter long de, roaring with a great battle cry as he dashed towards his objectives.

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly, ¡°Qiankun Pouches?¡±

    Of these people¡­ a good number of them should still be alive out there!

    This is a source of strength that we simply cannot afford to lose!

    She looked towards a ce where a tide of blight vermin appeared to be swarming around, ¡°The Mystic Hall¡­ That¡¯s where thousands of years of research on talismans, restraints and arrays are located. You may not understand how important these things are, so let me put it this way - they¡¯re even more important than the contents of the barracks!¡±

    Arthis and Qin Ye were the only two who remained right now. It was only then that Arthis turned to look at Qin Ye, ¡°Looks like you¡¯ll still have to attend to the most crucial ce¡­¡±

    Secondster, Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Why don¡¯t¡­ we recall Oda Nobunaga?¡±

    ¡°I understand, I understand. I¡¯ll go, I¡¯ll go¡­¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples as he sighed in resignation. Then, before he could say anything else, a massive hand formed out of hair smacked him from behind, sending him flying straight towards a tall building.

    It was a ck-colouredke.

    The Pce of Eternity!

    It was a skeleton.

    Incidentally, it was where Yin energy appeared to be densest.

    ¡°So, it¡¯s true that there¡¯s a monarch vermin after all¡­¡± Her body swayed lightly. Then, she traversed the distance of a thousand meters in a split second, ¡°If I subjugate you... would I be able to control the tides of blight vermin around?¡±

    Qin Ye was oblivious to all these things.

    ¡°This is usurpation, isn¡¯t it? It definitely is! You¡¯re finally showing your true colours after hiding them for such a long time, aren¡¯t you? I knew you were coveting the position of King Yanluo! I knew you were up to no good! Otherwise, why wouldn¡¯t you give the Book of Life and Death to a weakling like me?!¡±

    Sss!! A sudden shriek startled him just as he rounded a corner. With a great hum of buzzing wings, dozens of dark figures suddenly came rushing towards him. Their lust and greed for food could even be heard through their otherwise unintelligible hisses and growls.

    Whoosh¡­ He closed up the spirit streamer once more, only to discover the true appearances of the blight vermin around.

 Chapter 284: Blight Vermin

    <h4>Chapter 284: Blight Vermin</h4>

    Each one of them was about a meter in size, and their bodies were enclosed in a carapace which gleamed with a faint sheen. Their eyes zed with intense, scarlethermes. On the surface, there didn¡¯t seem to be anything particr extraordinary about their appearance. But when they started shrieking and struggling on the ground, one would then discover¡­ that there was actually the appearance of a face hidden right underneath their wings!

    Buzz¡­ The twenty or so blight vermin were repelled by Qin Ye¡¯s attack at once, and their wings vibrated with a loud buzz as they hovered about in ce, as though confused. On the other hand, Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother to take a second look at them. Instead, he promptly turned his gaze to the end of the street.

    Countless crimsonnterns and white, draping curtains hung all around the building, enshrouding it with an air of gravity and magnificence. The carved beams around the building were incredibly luxurious. Yet what was perhaps most eye-catching of all were the words ¡®Pavilion of Transcendence¡¯ that were etched in sprawling, scarlet lettering right above the main entrance to the building. One could only imagine how majestic the sight would be when Yin spirits came and went from the building on a regr working day in the old Hell. Unfortunately, it was quiet as a tomb right now, shrouded only by a sense of eerie serenity.

    ¡°You¡¯re scaring this little kid¡­ How are you going to take responsibility for it if you scare the kid to death?!¡± He tilted the spirit streamer and adjusted the angle of his thrust. It had to be mentioned that the exposed backs of the blight vermin were much softer and more vulnerable to attacks aspared to it¡¯s hard carapace.

    Ahh¡­ Push! Keep Going!

    ¡°Argh¡­ I might have gone a little bit too far¡­¡± He muttered with a yful tone of voice before retracting his spirit streamer and making a beeline straight for the tall building made of wood and stone. But just then, the blight vermin that Qin Ye had stabbed earlier suddenly expanded in a grotesque manner, and a fountain of Yin energy suddenly began spewing and spurting out of its body, reaching heights of several meters on end. And then, a split secondter, it unleashed a heart-rending cry that waspletely disproportionate to its size!

    The cry was so loud and sonorous that the surface of the ground even trembled slightly. The miserable screech of the blight vermin seemed to reverberate endlessly. Kkkkkrrrrr¡­ The ground and building around creaked and trembled softly. Qin Ye waspletely bbergasted by the turn of events. With a shocked gasp, he turned tail and began to dash away.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ it can even do such a thing?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expressions turned ashen - It¡¯s all your stupid misbehaving hand¡¯s fault! It¡¯s fine to indulge in such pleasures of life once in a while, but¡­ there¡¯s just too much going on right now! Wouldn¡¯t I die of exhaustion at this rate?!

    Herd mentality.

    He hade to realize that the blight vermin weren¡¯tpletely devoid of sentience at all. Rather, they were simply simple-minded creatures that were only able to act upon the most primal of their instincts.

    What do I do¡­ what should I do?!

    The tide of Yin energy rushed straight into the main entrance of the Pavilion of Transcendence. Several secondster, with a loud roar of vibrating wings, hundreds of blight vermin rushed straight into the building and permeated every part of it they could find. The doors and windows within the building were instantly shattered and crumbled to pieces.

    Therefore, he knew that his best bet right nowy in a bottleneck strategy.

    Otherwise, it would be nigh impossible to escape from their onught as soon as the blight vermin began to pile up on his body. How could he risk losing the great legacy of Hell to these creatures?

    It was the entrance to the stairs leading straight up to the second floor.

    There was no room for second thoughts. He took a deep breath and dashed straight towards the second floor. The buzzing of what sounded like a fleet of bomber-jets followed closely behind his back.

    The entrance wasn¡¯t too far away. As he dashed forward in the form of ahergale, Qin Ye¡¯s spirit streamer had already begun to materialize in front of him. Then, as soon as he arrived on the second floor, copious Yin energy instantly converged around him, and he reappeared in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state once more, where he promptly¡­ turned around.

    He was going to confront the rushing tide for the very first time.

    An oppressive dark light instantly erupted from the spirit streamer, and the innumerable talismans on it lit up in quick session. When the ck tide finally arrived before Qin Ye, there was already a small, one-inch tall man just in front of the spirit streamer. The man was congealed from dense Yin energy, and he stood in ce, yawningzily as though unfazed by the blight vermin.

    The entire scene wentpletely silent in that instant.

    It was as though everything froze in that single instant. And then, a split secondter, the dozens of blight vermin that were leading the charge shrieked in terror, turned around, and frantically began to scramble to a retreat.

    Whoosh¡­ The massive tide of blight vermin appeared like a sloshing river that surrounded the Pavilion of Transcendence on the outside. However, it was toote.

    Just then, the one-inch tall man slowly opened his eyes, and a majestic wave of Yin energy instantly rippled out and filled every corner of the Pavilion of Transcendence, distorting the air wherever it passed. It was as though an invisibleherme were burning bright in the heart of the building. A momentter, the one-inch tall man opened its mouth and unleashed a violent roar.

    Boom! Clink clink clink!

    tter tter¡­ The ground of the Pavilion of Transcendence cracked. However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother to watch how the one-inch man dealt with the rest of the blight vermin. Instead, he immediately turned around and ran straight into the second floor and tossed the spirit streamer behind him, firmly bolting the doorway behind him to the exclusion of all other blight vermin around.

    Momentster, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, before finally taking the time to look around the Pavilion of Transcendence.

    It was grand and elegant, and it looked no different from what one would expect of such buildings in the mortal realm. The building was primarily constructed out of maroon-coloured wood. That said, the carvings here were different. Simr buildings in the mortal realm would have been decorated with carvings of nature, including birds, flora and fauna, while the Pavilion of Transcendence was instead decorated with carvings depicting the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment.

    Just then, Qin Ye suddenly heard several sharp hissesing from around the building. He cursed under his breath and scrambled to his feet - I knew things wouldn¡¯t be resolved as easily as that!

    There would at least be a few stragglers... These things are like drugs - once you start on them, you¡¯ll never be able to shake it off. In fact, you¡¯ll only need more and more until¡­ it finally overwhelms you.

    Buzz, buzz, buzz! Just as he began to search around for a directory, the light which illuminated the room suddenly became dappled and spotted. Furthermore, he could once again hear a loud buzzing sound approaching him, as though a bomber had just taken off.

    He was gazing right out of the window, staring transfixed at a massive ck cloud in the distance that was far greater than the one he had earlier encountered. And the massive cloud was charging straight towards the Pavilion of Transcendence right now!

    He immediately crouched down and got low. The massive cloud of blight vermin arrived at the Pavilion of Transcendence within moments, surrounding it like massive ck tethers that blotted out all sources of light from the building. It didn¡¯t take long for the entire Pavilion of Transcendence to bepletely wrapped up by terrifying blight vermins.

    Then, a secondter.

    Craaaaaackk! Structural beams cracked, pirs snapped and windows shattered. The Pavilion of Transcendence was no longer shielded by the protective formation arrays of the old Hell, and it had actually begun to crumble under the sheer force of the mighty blows of thousands of blight vermin!

 Chapter 285: Resource Centre

    <h4>Chapter 285: Resource Centre</h4>

    The willow branches appeared to have a mind of their own. Whenever they drew close to a blight vermin, they would nimbly avoid the blight vermin¡¯s carapace and plunge straight into their bodies through the mouths or soft joints. And then, the blight vermin¡¯s body would promptly shrivel up before they could even cry out in misery. There were innumerable blight vermin corpses in the wake of the samurai¡¯s path of travel, yet he had proceeded so stealthily and silently that the blight vermin not in direct line of sight of the samurai remainedpletely oblivious to his presence.

    ¡°Such greatmotion¡­ Could he have encountered the same obstacles that I¡¯m faced with?¡±

    The Yin energy about it was so thick that it was practically on the verge of materializing. One could even see howling phantasms that drifted up from the ground, before promptly fading away once more.

    No response.

    Just then, an earth-shattering roar interrupted his monologue, and the roof of the temple promptly exploded as though a giant had just stomped on its roof. A shockwave of Yin energy, dust and debris rushed forward from the temple andpletely levelled the main gate to the temple. With a loud bang, a massive blight vermin the size of twenty meters appeared right in front of Oda Nobunaga, staring him down with a row of bloodshot eyes and fetid saliva dripping down the sides of its mandibles.

    ¡°Too bad for you¡­ I was just thinking of the exact same thing¡­¡± The massive scarecrow licked its scarlet lips. Then, to the blight vermin¡¯s great horror, thousands of willow branches suddenly erupted from the scarecrow and plunged straight towards it in an instant!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    How terrifying was the sudden impact caused by the collision of thousands of blight vermin all at once? The ground quaked violently, and the structural pirs on the ground floor of the Pavilion of Transcendence cracked and snapped in an instant. Qin Ye instinctively transformed his spirit streamer into a giant umbre and took shelter underneath it.

    Just like a gun salute, the first crackle was soon followed by others in quick session - Crack, crack, crack, crack¡­ Then, before Qin Ye could even mentally prepare himself for what was toe, there was an earth-shattering snap, and the entire Pavilion of Transcendence copsed altogether!

    The tremors felt no different from an earthquake of magnitude eight on the richter scale. Back on the second floor, Qin Ye fell sideways, and his head struck a pir on the side with dull thud. Countless tables, chairs, vases and nts promptly slid along the nted ground, striking the massive umbre that was protecting him with a tter of sounds.

    The Pavilion of Transcendence was already tilting at a forty degree angle, and various instruments and implements of all shapes and sizes had slid across the floor and umted right at the bottom, including screens, desks, stationery, paper, and so on. Qin Ye gulped and cursed under his breath as he nced at the entrance to the third floor that was now located directly over his head.

    Eh, no, we¡¯ve still got to consider the zombie apocalypse factor as well¡­

    ¡°The blight vermin haven¡¯te upstairs¡­ Is this because they can¡¯t detect my exact location, and they can only sense the presence of my Yin energy signature?¡± His eyes quivered slightly as he shifted the office furniture that had piled up all around him, ¡°So you can detect my presence in the Pavilion of Transcendence, but you can¡¯t determine my exact location?¡±

    He swung the spirit streamer, and another bunch of furniture in front of him flew aside, revealing a noticeboard embedded in the wall in front of him that read - ¡®Directory¡¯. He immediately rushed over.

    With that, hepletely transformed into ahergale and began to rush straight up to the twenty-eight floor.

    There was a ten-meterrge door right in front of his eyes. Despite being tilted forty degrees to the side right now, Qin Ye could still see the traces of runic symbols all over the door. Yet everything paled inparison to the imposing images of the two previous King Yanluos that had been etched on the surface of the door. It gave thending to the twenty-eighth floor an air of sobriety. A half-meter lock shaped in the image of the Harken hung high in the center of the door.

    Kkkkrrrrrrr¡­ The massive stone doors opened up slowly, revealing apletely dark chamber within. Qin Ye took a deep breath, and was just about to charge in when he suddenly paused and doubled back to the front of the door. Then, he took a closer look at the lock itself.

    It was modeled after the Harken¡¯s head, and there was a bar made out of a darkposite metal running through its ears. That said¡­ the bar had clearly been pulled out of the locking mechanism itself.

    ¡°This definitely wasn¡¯t caused by the blight vermin.¡± He murmured softly to himself as he scanned the depths of the dark chambers ahead with great vignce, ¡°If it were the blight vermin, they would¡¯ve consumed the entire door by now.¡±

    Kkkrrrr¡­. Just then, the stone doors finally opened fully. The darkness within appeared to creep out with a softhergale, while the shadows within appeared to flicker about menacingly, as though something were looking right back at him.

    He didn¡¯t know whether it was a person or a ghost, or something else altogether that had entered this ce before him. Furthermore¡­ he didn¡¯t know whether that entity was still around right now.

    There were silver-coloured pouches everywhere!

    ¡°These are the Qiankun Pouches?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s heart burned with passion, yet his mind remainedpletely calm and considered. The room on the twenty-eighth floor was massive. It spanned the entire floor, and there were countless cabs everywhere. Everything stored in this ce was undoubtedly the most valuable of resources in Hell, and the order in the ostensibly chaotic manner it was stored naturally proved to be the best hiding ce for these resources.

    There were no ndestine strikes or foreign entities hiding in the shadows. The only sound that could be heard in the entire room was the soft creaking sound of the wooden floorboards as he walked slowly across the room. The stifling silence resembled that of a morgue, where even the slightest of breaths was deafening to those around. Yet for some strange reason, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that¡­ something was watching him in the darkness. It was a creepy sensation, almost as though his own shadow would rise from the ground in the very next moment.

    And he was one who had never trusted intuition to begin with.

    He maintained his vignce about him as he bent over and picked up a bag. But as soon as he touched the bag, he abruptly straightened his back once more and called out indifferently, ¡°Come out. I¡¯ve already discovered your presence.¡±

    Qin Ye stood in silence for a moment, and then bent down again. This time, he actually picked up the Qiankun Pouch.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± He smiled faintly, tossed the bag up, and then swung his spirit streamer right at it with full force.

    Qin Ye smiled.

    Tak, tak, tak! The talismans flew straight into the pile of wooden cabs. Unfortunately, the wooden cabs appeared to be made with an unknown material that was impervious to the attacks of mere Hellguards. Nevertheless, a cloud of Yin energy soon erupted from behind the pile of cabs, and a shadowy figure promptly dashed out from behind and rushed straight back towards the entrance to the room.

    The figure may be quick, but Qin Ye was quicker! With a loud ttering sound, the chain wrapped itself urately around the shadowy figure¡¯s waist. Then, Qin Ye tugged hard at the chain and promptly stopped the man¡¯s approach, causing him to fly back towards him. In the next moment, Qin Ye held the spirit streamer tightly over his head and smashed it straight down onto the shadowy figure¡¯s head.

    Boom! A resounding bang reverberated through the corners of the room. The shadowy figure had managed to block Qin Ye¡¯s powerful strike with a white bone fan. Unfortunately, it was evident that this opponent was no match for Qin Ye. With a muffled grunt, the shadowy figure flew back several meters, revealing his true form for the very first time.

 Chapter 286: Lord of Jiaozhi

    <h4>Chapter 286: Lord of Jiaozhi</h4>

    They were currently squaring off in the core resource centre of the old Hell.

    The two men locked eyes. Both were filled with great vignce. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, because¡­ the other man was also an Anitya Hellguard!

    The other man clutched at his chest nervously. He was just about to speak up when Qin Ye suddenly wagged his fingers at the man, ¡°And don¡¯t give me a stupid reply and say things like you¡¯re my colleague. The old Hell has copsed, and I¡¯m the only genuine Emissary of Hell that remains in existence right now. Even if you once were an Emissary of Hell, right now¡­¡±

    Silence.

    Emissaries of Hell were a tyrannical force against all evil ghosts!

    The Yin energy around them suddenly sank heavily, while innumerable spots ofhermes suddenly surged from the ground, almost as though they had been transported into one of the great abysses of Hell. A split secondter, countless swords congealed from Yin energy emerged from the ground and rushed straight towards Qin Ye without any warning.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed - This is definitely one of Hell¡¯s Arts. Unfortunately¡­

    tter! Qin Ye¡¯s body glowed brightly in the instant that the Yin energy swords arrived by his side. Ayer of pitch-ck aura appeared to wrap around his body, and the Yin energy swords that mmed into it instantly crumbled like dust and transformed back into clouds of Yin energy.

    This was because he could sense that, right behind him, Qin Ye had just cut his fingertip, and a drop of blood had alreadynded onto the spirit streamer in his hand.

    The spirit streamer rested softly on the man¡¯s back, causing his entire body to tremble in fear. Resigned to his fate, the man gnashed his teeth, ¡°... Darkfeather operating under the instructions of the Lord of Jiaozhi¡­ special agent Ma Liu.¡±

    Why would I need to ask you if I knew who exactly he was?!

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    Despite having been mentally prepared for what was toe, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously at the man¡¯s response.

    His emotions surged from within - Emperor Wu of Song, and Prince of Lanling¡­ How many other such foreign garrisons does the old Hell actually have? How many famous generals are there eagerly awaiting my arrival to escort them back to the new Hell?

    Ma Liu closed his eyes and continued to hold up his hands, ¡°Looking at our historical interaction with Hell, all feudal officials are required to return to Fengdu Necropolis to pay tribute every fifty years. However, Jiaozhi hasn¡¯t received any such edicts from Hell for thest fifty years, and the feudal officials are unable to return to Hell without an edict. Thus, Lord Lanling instructed us to return to take a look. Unfortunately, the Yin energy in Hell was in great chaos, and none of us were able to take a single step into Hell. Then, it wasn¡¯t until a few days ago when the opposing straits suddenly erupted with the presence of the Book of Life and Death that Lord Lanling once again instructed his darkfeathers to scout the old Hell once more.¡±

    Ma Liu chuckled bitterly.

    We¡¯re talking about the misfortune of ages!

    Qin Ye was considering just how he should deal with Ma Liu. Just then, a loud tremor rippled through the Pavilion of Transcendence, and it began to tilt once more.

    They immediately turned to nce at the countless cabs that were sliding towards the valley from above like a massive avnche. Fortunately, they were standing in a clear aisle in the middle, so they watched with bated breaths as the mountain of cabs crashed down onto the two growing piles of cabs. The mounds grew to a height of over ten meters within moments.

    Apart from a few clear passageways around them, the entire room appeared to be filled with mounds of cabs that had copsed all over. Furthermore, as a result of the dangerous tilt of the building, they found themselves now¡­ standing directly on the windows.

    Before he could even finish speaking, a cab that was dangling dangerously at the top of a cab mound on the right suddenly fell with a great tter like a boulder rolling off a cliff. Bang, bang, bang! A split secondter, it came crashing down right onto where they were standing.

    Gulp¡­ Both men gulped nervously as they wiped off the cold sweat on their foreheads.

    The sight was simply dizzying.

    Neither men spoke. Both were reeling in shock from the earlier close call.

    There was no doubt that the building would copse as soon as its tilt goes beyond a critical angle.

    ¡°You¡¯re still thinking of killing me at a time like this?!¡± Ma Liu¡¯s breaths grew shallow as he nced at Qin Ye and licked his lips, ¡°I can help you out, but we¡¯ll split the profits evenly!¡±

    Gao Changgong¡­ is thinking of rebelling!

    If this hadn¡¯t been Gao Changgong¡¯s intention in the first ce, the darkfeather under hismand would never of his own volition make such a request. In fact, it only stood to reason that Gao Changgong was nning such a rebellion. After all, he was a highly aplished man while he was alive, only to have been poisoned to death as a result of his king¡¯s suspicion back then. If Hell had truly lost its power, they would never be able to obstruct his usurpation of the throne.

    Boom!! A split-secondter, the Pavilion of Transcendence could no longer hold up its own weight, and it snapped at the foundation. The entire building mmed down to the ground once more, kicking up a massive shockwave of dust and debris. Then, just as wooden splinters and dirt scattered everywhere, Qin Ye and Ma Liu made their moves at exactly the same time!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even care about the skulls that were approaching him. Instead, he swung his spirit streamer like the dance of a silver dragon, and set it flying straight towards Ma Liu¡¯s legs.

    When he first saw the strike approaching him, he was already prepared to lose a leg in order to preserve his own life. Yet when the crash resounded, he didn¡¯t feel a single ounce of pain emanating from his lower limbs!

    In that instant, everything became patently clear to Ma Liu - He wasn¡¯t aiming for me¡­

    So long as he destabilized the base of the cabs, the cabs on top would most certainly fall down. And then, Ma Liu would be sent smashing straight out of the Pavilion of Transcendence, and into the open arms of the sea of blight vermin below¡­

    ¡°Hellguards can fly for short distances.¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother to look back as he toyed with the spirit streamer in hand, ¡°But would that really be the case under the weight of these A-grade gloomwood cabs?¡±

    <hr>

    1. Jiaozhi is the term used to refer to several provinces, prefectures and counties in northern vietnam. Gao Changgong (541-573) was a high ranking general of the Northern Qi Dynasty who was given fiefdom in Lanling County, thereby earning him the name Prince of Lanling. Legend has it that he looked beautiful like a woman so he wore a mask in battles to appear more fearsome to the enemy.

 Chapter 287: Monarch Vermin (1)

    <h4>Chapter 287: Monarch Vermin (1)</h4>

    The spirit streamer promptly propped up the base of the mound of cabs, restabilizing it in an instant. Ma Liu could feel his scalp going numb as he blurted nervously, ¡°Stop¡­ stop! We¡¯re all colleagues, so let¡¯s talk nicely about things¡­¡±

    Hearing that, Qin Ye pulled lightly on his spirit streamer, causing the mountain of cabs to teeter dangerously such that it was once again on the verge of copse. Ma Liu gasped immediately and yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°This resource center has a total of ten red cabs, each of which isbelled with the imprint of the Harken at the top right hand corner to indicate its importance. They¡¯re the cabs which contain the most important resources!! There! I¡¯ve said it, so you--...¡±

    Before he could even finish speaking, Qin Ye promptly tugged with great force, and the entire mountain of gloomwood cabs came crashing down like andslide.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Time seemed to pause at this moment for Ma Liu. Before he could even finish speaking, the first cab that fell down struck him squarely across the chest.

    Yet, he wasn¡¯t given the luxury of time to operate the Yin energy in his body at all. A split secondter, dozens of other cabs crashed down like an avnche of rocks, piling heavily onto Ma Liu¡¯s body and sending him crashing straight out of the Pavilion of Transcendence with a look of great disbelief.

    Astonishment was written all over his face as he reached out feebly. His lips appeared to tremble slightly, as though he were asking - Haven¡¯t I told you what you wanted to hear?

    ¡°Did I ever agree to spare your life in exchange for that information?¡± Qin Ye looked down at Ma Liu as he sank into the abyss of blight vermin. He chuckled softly, ¡°I might have given you a way out if the Prince of Lanling wasn¡¯t nning an uprising. But now¡­?¡±

    He transformed into ahergale and rushed back to the other mountains of cabs, ¡°Go in peace. Watch out for the thorny roses down below.¡±

    Fwoosh¡­ Ma Liu¡¯s silhouette vanished into the sea of blight vermin below, prompting the blight vermin in the vicinity to rush over towards his silhouette like a pack of piranhas. Within moments, the blight vermin piled on so quickly that there was a huge mound in the wake of where Ma Liu had fallen.

    Qin Ye was naturally hardly bothered with the aftermath of his own actions. Instead, he had already rushed into the mound of cabs and begun to search for his target - the red cabs.

    Given the sheer number of blight vermin below, eliminating them was hardly an option. His best bet right now was to grab as much as he could before making his quick escape. He searched as quickly as he could, and soon caught sight of a special-looking row of cabs.

    These red cabs were all hidden behind mountain of cabs, and affixed to the wall behind them by iron cables. As he got closer, he could also make out the image of the Harken imprinted on the top right hand corner of each cab. Unlike the rest, these cabs didn¡¯t have pull-out drawers, and were instead equipped with closed sliding doors. Furthermore, the doors were densely covered with traces of talismans whose lustre had already faded since a long time ago.

    I¡¯ve finally found it¡­ Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief and eagerly pulled open one of the sliding doors.

    The inner part of the cabs waspartmentalized in a peculiar manner. There was an eight-trigram taiji symbol etched on the back wall of the cab, while eight chains made of unknown materials suspended a Qiankun Pouch in mid-air. Unlike other Qiankun Pouches, this pouch had a ¡®one¡¯ embroidered in gold threads on its surface.

    With a confident sweep of his spirit streamer, the Qiankun Pouch broke free of its chains and fell directly into his hands. But just as he was about to move onto the door of the next cab, his eyes suddenly widened, and his entire being froze in ce as though he were thunderstruck.

    Ka-ka-ka¡­ A soft sound no different from shifting chains cut through the silence of the room. Qin Ye turned around with a grim expression as he nced at the first of the red cabs that he had just moved away from.

    The sliding door to the cab was still open, and Qin Ye could see that the eight chains that were earlier suspending the Qiankun Pouch had already retracted slightly. The eight-trigram taiji symbol at the back of the cab was already rotating slowly, and it was clear that the soft sounds of shifting chains came directly from behind the symbol.

    The entire resource centre waspletely silent, and the soft sounds of the chains could be heard patently clearly. They started soft, but then slowly got louder and louder in a matter of seconds. Finally, approximately ten secondster, the entire Pavilion of Transcendence resounded with a cacophonous sound of chains from the walls, almost as though a sleeping giant puppet was just about to awaken from its long slumber!

    Buzz¡­ A loud hum began to stir from the base of the Pavilion of Transcendence, growing louder and clearer with every second that passed. Qin Ye felt the ground underneath his feet tremble lightly, and then a muffle sound rang out from afar, almost as if something had¡­ emerged from the ground.

    In fact, he could tell that the muffled sound wasing from right beneath his feet. Crash¡­ crash¡­ crash¡­ crash! There was a constant sound that was initially muffled and dull, but quickly became clearer and crisper in no time! Cold sweat broke our profusely across Qin Ye¡¯s forehead. Within moments, he understood that this was the sound of something that had been shot from the base of the Pavilion of Transcendence.

    Furthermore, the object that had shot up from the ground was clearly prating floor after floor of the entire building, and the structuralyers of the building did nothing to impede its swift approach.

    For some reason, his mind instantly went into overdrive, ring with warning signs of an impending life-and-death crisis. The walls had already begun to tremble violently, while the crisp cracking sound seemed to be drawing closer and closer right underneath his feet. He didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to weigh his options. His body instantly swung into motion, and he promptly rolled several meters across the ground. A split-secondter, the ground right beneath where he had been standing just moments ago burst open, and a long, dark object rushed straight through the fog of dirt and debris with a piercing wail!

    It looked just like a frenzied dragon that was rising straight out of the waters, or a fiery phoenix that was zing into the skies. With a deafening bang, the object shot straight through thirty floors of the Pavilion of Transcendence as though it were thin paper and rose to the sky at extreme speeds. In fact, it was so quick that it appeared no different from a fleeting shadow. The shadow was quickly followed by the thunderous roar of a sonic boom, before a violent wind suddenly swept through the Pavilion of Transcendence, sending Qin Ye¡¯s clothes fluttering wildly.

    Qin Ye¡¯s entire being froze in ce. He saw it. Even though the object was incredibly fast and practically indestructible, Qin Ye had still managed to steal a nce at its true form.

    It was a spear.

    A spear that had been ejected from the base of the Pavilion of Transcendence. The spear was approximately one meter across in girth and fifteen meters in length. At such speeds, all that stood in its way were bound to perish - including the dozen or so unfortunate blight vermin that had been skewered to the tip of the spear.

    Incidentally, they were also the ones that made the spear appearpletely ck in colour. The spear ran straight through their tough carapace, and they were unable to do anything but shriek in misery.

    It was simply inconceivable that a spear that had been propelled from a dozens of meters below could prate thirty floors of the Pavilion of Transcendence and still contain such frightening power.

    Qin Ye simply couldn¡¯t fathom the might of the mechanism that hid in the base of the building.

    However, before he could even take a breather, Qin Ye¡¯s body trembled violently, and he cursed under his breath, ¡°Holy shit.¡±

    Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ A series of dull, muffled thuds came from below him once more in the exact same fashion as before, followed promptly by the bursting soundsing from every floor in the building.

    The crisp cracking and crashing sounds were endless and incessant, and they caused a wave of extreme fear to wash over Qin Ye¡¯s heart and mind. His teeth began to chatter, and he promptly grabbed all the Qiankun Pouches around him, transformed into ahergale and rushed straight for the roof of the building. The spirit streamer in his arm instantly glowed with a dark lustre, and he thrust it straight at the roof using all of his might, blowing a hole that was over ten metersrge in the roof as he rushed straight out.

    And he did all that in spite of the fact that there was a great sea of blight vermin waiting for him below.

    Because he knew full well that he would be skewered in an instant if he stayed in the Pavilion of Transcendence any longer!

    In fact, he didn¡¯t even want to be anywhere within a hundred meter radius of the copsing building right now.

    Anitya Hellguards were equipped with the ability of brief flight and gliding. His clothes puffed up, and the spirit streamer transformed into a massive umbre that drifted in the sky, away from the Pavilion of Transcendence. And it was just then that the Pavilion of Transcendence suddenly erupted with an earth-shattering tremor, and countless spears rushed out of the building like a fountain of death.

    Not a moment too soon - he would have been dead if he had left the building a single minuteter.

    Under the dark canopy of the skies, a building that was tilting dangerously suddenly blew its top with hundreds upon hundreds of massive spears which left thousands of holes in the building in its wake. The spears shot into the sky, and then flipped around and began to rain down like a cataclysmic meteor shower. The scene waspletely breathtaking.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped and closed his eyes. His heart was palpitating uncontrobly. He was holding onto a dozen or so Qiankun Pouches in his hands, yet he simply couldn¡¯t stop his fingers from shivering at all. His back was also soaked through with cold sweat.

    A millisecond had spelt the difference between life and death.

    He finally had it all figured out. The cabs imprinted with the symbol of the Harken required special ways of operating and retrieval of their contents. As long as someone attempted to remove something with the incorrect method, particrly when the Pavilion of Transcendence was such a ce of great importance, then it could only mean one thing.

    Hell had fallen into the hands of invaders.

    And Hell would rather destroy everything than let it all fall into the hands of its enemies!

    The mechanism of the spears was ast resort to preserve the evesting dignity of the old Hell. Qin Ye was most fortunate that the defensive talismans protecting the building had already lost its effect. Otherwise, with the talismans sealing the building in from outside and the spears devastating everything in its path from within, not even an Infernal Judge would be able to escape from certain death in that instant.

    Much less a mere Anitya Hellguard like Qin Ye.

    He drew a deep breath and channeled his Yin energy as he hurried away from the Pavilion of Transcendence at top speed. Fengdu Necropolis had stood for three thousand long years, and there were most certainly mechanical traps still hidden all over the ce. Even if Hell¡¯s residents were long gone by now, a single misstep might still very well lead to death.

    Boom! Boom! Boom! The massive spears fell back down as soon as he got several hundred meters away from the building, crashing into the ground like unyielding bolts of thunder. Crash! Crash! Crash! Like meteorites, each spear crashed into the ground with such force that it left a web of cracks rippling outward from the epicenter of impact. Innumerable blight vermin surrounding the building werepletely obliterated within moments, while the shattered Pavilion of Transcendence appeared like a valiant warrior on its final hurrah of martyrdom.

    It¡¯s fate had clearly been sealed in stone.

    With its foundation having been gnawed away by the copious blight vermin around, the activation of its final defense mechanism was like thest straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. As soon as the final spear from its defense mechanismnded right back down onto the ground, the Pavilion of Transcendence erupted with yet another earth-shattering tremor. And then, the building that had been in existence for thousands of years finally copsed under the sheer weight of its own existence. It snapped right in the middle and crashed down mightily, sending arge cloud of dust and debris scattering everywhere. The massive shockwave from its copse expanded outwards like a massive tsunami, causing houses to copse and generating more debris as it went. The entire Hell trembled violently, as though paying homage to its end.

    Rumble¡­ Qin Ye watched silently as the imposing Pavilion of Transcendence fell like a dragon that had lost its wings. He was filled with emotion at the sight. Then, when the dust finally settled, he saw copious dark shadows surge up from beneath like an all consuming tide, engulfing what little remained of the Pavilion of Transcendence at once.

    ¡°Earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.¡± Qin Ye sighed softly, ¡°There¡¯s no evesting dynasty in this world, nor are there any immortal humans. Everythinges and goes in its own time. Go in peace¡­ I shall personally see to it that your glorious legacy will be reborn once again.¡±

    He swept a gaze wistfully across the horizon, ¡°My mission here ispleted. I wonder how the others are doing? Arthis didn¡¯t even tell me where I should be meeting up with her. How irresponsible¡­¡±

    Then, just as he was shaking off the tension in his mind, a tyrannical roar suddenly reverberated through the corners of Fengdu Necropolis!

    SSSSSSSS!!!

    It was almost as though a superstorm was brewing in the distance.

    Qin Ye immediately nced over, and his heart nearly skipped a beat.

    ¡°This is¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Murai Sadakatsu stood valiantly with his two sabers in hand at the top floor of a tall building.

    He was clothed in his crimson great armor. Four additional hands extended out of his back, while there were two sides to his face. He resembled an asura incarnate. His pupils zed with jade-greenhermes that rose a meter into the air. A twenty-meterrge blight vermin shrieked in despair, before it promptly split in two right down the middle.

    Whoosh¡­ The Yin energy from the blight vermin was sucked into the ne of skulls dangling around Murai Sadakatsu¡¯s neck. He licked his lips greedily, ¡°How dare mere insects like you obstruct my path. Insolence.¡±

    Then, he turned to look at a location behind the blight vermin, where a statue of an asura was located. The asura had three heads and six arms, replete with a green face and menacing fangs. With its two middle arms, the sculpture held a box that appeared to be made out of jade.

    ¡°Is this the ce? The most crucial of all ces for the Cathayan Yin soldiers?¡±

    His tongueshed out and motioned to retrieve the jade box. But just as it was about to touch the box, a violent roar suddenly reverberated throughout Hell!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Murai Sadakatsu gasped in horror and froze in his ce as he looked out of the window, ¡°Infernal Judge? And not just one Infernal Judge at that!¡±

 Chapter 288: Monarch Vermin (2)

    <h4>Chapter 288: Monarch Vermin (2)</h4>

    ¡°One of it belongs to Arthis¡­ but I wonder who the other one is?¡± Qin Ye looked away from the ruins of the Pavilion of Transcendence and stared into the distance, where he could see the visible undtions of the ground rippling out as far as ten thousand meters away. Like a massive earthquake, the great roar sent a massive curtain of water surging out of the greatke in the distance.

    The creature waspletely pitch-ck in colour, and it looked like a huge version of the blight vermin he had earlier encountered. A jade-greenherme appeared to ze underneath its shiny carapace, while a row of scarlet eyes stared menacingly at its surroundings. There was arge face of a woman located right underneath its wings, and she appeared to be crying and wailing in pain. And right in the center of this colossal blight vermin¡¯s belly sat another scarlet. Yet this eye appeared somewhat different from the rest. It stared down condescendingly at this world as though it were a demonic beast intent on stirring up chaos in the broken old Hell.

    Its position gave it a vantage point over a substantial portion of Fengdu Necropolis. Yet, its rows of eyes were all staring transfixed at the person that was positioned directly in front of it, and an intimidating, thunderous sound emanated from its body.

    Gulp¡­ Qin Ye gulped nervously. Then, with great resolution¡­ he looked for a ce to hide himself, carefully peeking out from under his cover as he continued to watch the duel of the Judges discreetly.

    The other blight vermin are so cute and tiny, and they remind me of the good old days of chasing beetles. So what¡¯s with the sudden sci-fi spin to this?!

    Whoosh! Like a ck spider lily in full bloom, her hair sublimated into wisps of Yin energy that quickly took the form of Yin spirits. Within moments, they converged together like a rushing tsunami of Yin spirits wailing with grievances as they rushed straight towards the monarch vermin!

    BOOM!!!

    It was an endless cycle of death and destruction, rebirth and suppression. Large numbers of blight vermin perished to the mes each second, only to act as fuel that encouraged the spread of the burgeoning inferno ofhermes. Within moments, the originally dark night sky lit up with brilliant sshes of gold, red, green, white and ck like an enchanting light disy.

    Each of them possessed the power to alter the heavens and reshape the earth. The might of the sh left terrifying visions and illusions in its wake. A great inferno soared as high as the skies, while Yin energy poured out in all directions like a deste field of devastation. Yet, despite all that, the incredible sight drew out a sense of awe and reverence from onlookers around.

    Boom! Nethermes licked the canopy of the skies, while blight vermin scattered everywhere. The brilliant milky way in the night sky above cast a dappled shadow over Oda Nobunaga¡¯s face. He gazed into the distance with a vacant stare for some time, before finally sighing wistfully, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not a bad thing to pledge allegiance to them after all.¡±

    The inferno fuelled by the tides of Yin spirits and blight vermin rose high into the sky. Several minutes of stalemate resulted in a pir of inferno that rose thousands of meters into the sky, spinning wildly as it inched closer to the monarch vermin, crushing everything in its path of travel.

    A split-secondter, the bloated blight vermin exploded all at the same time!

    ¡°Art--...¡± Qin Ye responded immediately. But before he could even finish speaking, Arthis interjected with great urgency, ¡°Have you gathered everything?! If you have, we must leave right now!¡±

    Qin Ye frowned in dismay, and he nced at the old Hell with great reluctance.

    I wonder how much of Hell¡¯s legacy of thousands of years remains hidden in the deep recesses of Fengdu Necropolis?

    Judge versus Judge. This was a duel that left no room for interference from the rest who were around.

    Simultaneously, everyone felt their bodies being flung into the sky, shooting straight towards Arthis at lightning speed, almost as though they were being pulled by invisible threads.

    Scree¡­. SCREEEE!!! After turning around several times in dismay, it finally sank back into the depths of the darkke with great exasperation and vexation.

    Arthis grabbed each person with her hair and shot across the sky like a dark meteorite. The surroundings rushed past them at breakneck speed. Ten minutester, everyone found themselvesnding softly right back at the start of the Yellow Springs Road once more.

    He gazed into the vague silhouette that sat on the horizon and sighed wistfully, ¡°What a pity¡­¡±

    He paused and smiled, ¡°Besides, we might have obtained more than you¡¯ve expected on this trip back.¡±

    Murai Sadakatsu looked sharply at Oda Nobunaga, before immediately shifting back to where he belonged. He was Nobunaga¡¯s retainer, and so he hung his head low and stood humbly behind Nobunaga.

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s gaze was calm and cid. Yet, for the very first time, he bowed respectfully to Qin Ye and cupped his hands respectfully like how a retainer would to his master. Nevertheless, he, too, sidestepped the question and unsheathed his katana, ¡°I wonder if you know of this sword?¡±

    ¡°Kiku-ichimonji.¡± Nobunaga swung it lightly, ¡°One of the most famous swords of the Nipponese Warring States era. After my death, it went on to be tempered by harsh Yin energy, and its strength and abilities already surpasses any average Hellguard-ss Yin artifact out there. Yet, even with this sword in hand, I wasn¡¯t able to cut through the carapace of the blight vermin.¡±

    ¡°When the blight vermin perishes, they dissipate into wisps of Yin energy, but¡­ their carapace remains behind.¡±

    What a novel idea!

    No, in fact, there would be a mountain of excess despite dealing with that!

    ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± This time, it was Qin Ye who spoke up with a smile as he nced at everyone, ¡°Arakshasa, what Lord Nobunaga is saying is¡­ to arm our Yin soldiers with carapace armor, and then use them to fight back against the onught of blight vermin and take back the old Hell.¡±

    What ambition¡­ But if he seeds, it would enable us to return to seize more of Hell¡¯s legacies that had been left behind! Additionally¡­

    The establishment of the new Hell and the battle at the Strait of Tsushima had attracted far too much unwanted attention, and there were clearly some feudal officials who were already raring to move against Hell. Emperor Wu of Song was only the first one in line. Or perhaps he was just the one best suited for a showdown with the new Hell, selected by the coalition of feudal officials who had eyes on Cathay. Therefore, what Hell desperately needed was mighty armed forces that could hold their own against enemy incursion!

    In other words, an elite division of troops was what it took tomunicate a single message to these officials - that they should know their ce in spite of the copse of the old Hell!

    <hr>

    1. This is a rather interesting sword that was made by thirteen swordsmiths who were in attendance to the Emperor Go-Toba in 1208.

 Chapter 289: Oda Nobunagaâ€™s Pledge of Loyalty

    <h4>Chapter 289: Oda Nobunaga''s Pledge of Loyalty</h4>

    Arthis sighed softly and looked at Qin Ye.

    Habits be second nature over time.

    His ability to react to exigencies and his masterful grasp over the human heart are both qualities that a top-politician should possess.

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly. His initial thought had merely been to arm his troops. After all, this was the only way he could develop his troops further to put them on par with the armies of the Nipponese underworld. In other words, it hadn¡¯t even urred to him that the old Hell could be used as a proving ground for training!

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all.¡± Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and spoke with an air befitting of a future King Yanluo. He smiled faintly, ¡°Let me ask you, what do you call it when an ordinary Yin spirit is equipped with a full set of blight vermin carapace?¡±

    Then, she promptly heard the sound of cracking knucklesing from Qin Ye¡¯s hands, apanied only by a menacing gaze.

    Do you even know what you¡¯re saying right now? Huh? Do you? If not, can you have the self-restraint not to respond altogether? Would you die if you didn¡¯t speak for a moment?!

    Qin Ye withdrew his frigid gaze and dered with a sonorous voice, ¡°It¡¯s called the establishment of the Yin artifact manufacturing industry!¡±

    Both of them once used to be rulers in their own rights, and they naturally understood what benefits the establishment of a brand new industry would bring to the nascent Hell! How many jobs would something like that create for them?

    ¡°No-no-no. There¡¯s more, there¡¯s more.¡± Qin Ye wagged his finger as he continued to exin, ¡°Most importantly, this would constitute a special product of Hell. Do you understand what that means?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ looking to sell skins?¡± Her voice rose substantially, ¡°This would be the first set of skins produced by the new Hell! The artwork must be perfect, and the workmanship has to be exquisite! First-timers can even earn¡­ Cough, cough¡­ What I mean is that you can use it as a bargaining chip at the imperial court meeting with the feudal officials at the end of the year!¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief, and he finally let go of the slight measure of reluctance and regret in his heart.

    It would have to be the passing of a person who was unable to enjoy his wealth.

    It would be where the money remained unspent, and his biological child wasn''t able to inherit his wealth!

    It had to be the situation where the child was entitled to inherit his father¡¯s wealth, only to discover that his father had only willed him a sliver of it worth no more than a hundred dors!

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye was in that exact situation with the old Hell right now.

    ¡°There are no lousy heroes - only lousy yers.¡± He uttered the oft-cited maxim with great emotion as he swept an arrogant gaze past Arthis. It was clear what he meant underneath the facade of his words - Trash, look at how the expert would handle the game on Hell-difficulty settings. Has any other underworld thought to approach the start of the game this way over thest thousands of years? I don¡¯t think so. Watch, and learn.

    ¡°Then, esteemed Lord Yanluo, shall I begin with the preparations?¡± A calm voice interrupted Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts, causing him to snap out of his great fantasies. He turned to look at the man who had just spoken, and the smile on his face was promptly reced with a grave expression, ¡°Lord Nobunaga, are you certain?¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ THIS is the greatest haul from this trip!

    Oda Nobunaga¡­ had finally taken the step to pledge his loyalty.

    Oda Nobunaga didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he simply gazed deeply into the vast reaches of Hell for a long time, before he finally gently, but cautiously nodded his head.

    General Zhenyuan!

    ¡°This is because you¡¯re only an Anitya Hellguard right now. Given that Oda Nobunaga is also a Hellguard, you don¡¯t possess the rights to confer such an appointment on him.¡± Arthis muttered softly, ¡°Bite the tip of your finger and wipe your blood across the palm of my hand. I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at Arthis as though he had just seen a ghost - Haven¡¯t I already told you more than a dozen chapters ago that I can still fight if there¡¯s a knife in my body, but I¡¯ll equally still scream and shout like a little girl when the nurse draws blood from me during a routine examination at the hospital? I mean¡­ whose fault is it that you¡¯re asking me to bite my tongue or bite my fingertips all the time? Do you have a vendetta against tongues and fingertips in particr?

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as the talisman diagram on the palm of her hand waspleted, the entire space around them trembled softly. Arthis¡¯ right hand suddenly erupted with innumerable wisps of boundless Yin energy that rose high into the sky like a zing inferno that was dozens of meters tall. Her hair and her clothes instantly began to flutter wildly.

    As soon as the first stroke of the brushnded in Hell¡¯s Records, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s entire body trembled, and the space around him instantly began to tter violently. Copious amounts of Yin energy lingered about him, while innumerable spots ofhermes surrounded him.

    What they didn¡¯t realize was that in that very same instant, Nohime, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s closest aides, as well as the remaining thousand or so Umamawari horse guards all found themselves experiencing the exact same circumstances!

    Whoosh! The brush continued to paint calligraphic strokes, and Oda Nobunaga¡¯s full name was etched into Hell¡¯s Records in no time. As soon as that waspleted, a strand of golden soulfire flew out from Oda Nobunaga¡¯s forehead andnded onto Hell¡¯s Records, instantly igniting his name with a faint goldenherme.

    The Nipponese armor had vanished without a trace, and it was now instead reced by an ancient Cathayan armor. He wore a full temail over his body, while the buckle of his belt was etched with the face of a golden beast. He was further protected by two copper mirrors over the front and back of his body. An embroidered scarlet robe replete with a green velvet tie peeked out of his armor. He carried an identity token around his waist. The words ¡°General Zhenyuan¡± were inscribed on the front, while the words ¡°Oda Nobunaga¡± were etched clearly on the back.

    Hell¡¯s first general¡­ Who would¡¯ve thought that it would be a Nipponese to boot? Qin Ye chuckled helplessly. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Talent was something that he desperately needed right now. That was the privilege he was willing to extend only to the very first general in Hell. If other foreigners came along right now, he would most certainly make them work for their title.

    As though sensing the bewilderment in Qin Ye¡¯s gaze, Arthis promptly exined, ¡°This is only natural. All Yin spirits must have a ce of anchor. Otherwise, they would be no different from drifters. He couldn¡¯t be considered a part of any underworld in the past because the Nipponese weren¡¯t willing to extend that courtesy to him. That was why the Yin energy from his body was naturally weaker back then. But now¡­ I daresay that his strength has increased by at least 20%.¡±

    Murai Sadakatsu stood right behind Oda Nobunaga in his new Cathayan armor. With a loud thud, he knelt to the ground and dered at the top of his voice, ¡°My life belongs to Hell!!¡±

    Right behind her, a thousand or so Umamawari horse guards knelt down in unison and looked to the sky, where they promptly bellowed with a thunderous roar, ¡°Our lives belong to Hell!!¡±

    ¡°Excellent¡­¡± Back in the old Hell, Qin Ye shut his eyes and nodded with deep satisfaction, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the Cathayan underworld will see to it that your dreams are fulfilled.¡±

    ¡°Believe me. You¡¯ll personally witness our march into Amano-Iwato within a hundred years¡¯ time!¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is a reference to cosmetic sets in MOBA game, when you can change the appearance of champions of heroes.

    2. A japanese term that was akin to a chief advisor for the emperor that epasses both the offices of the first secretary and regent. They were the effective rulers of Japan during the Heian period, before the shogunate took over.

 Chapter 290: Ebullience (1)

    <h4>Chapter 290: Ebullience (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal began to spin, and their entire entourage soon returned to the new Hell.

    The first thing they saw was a row of Death Inquisitors sitting neatly and tidily right at Hell¡¯s Gate. Ming Shiyin was perched right atop the roof of Hell¡¯s Gate, basking in the glories of the new Hell. At first nce, it was almost as though nothing had changed.

    But if one looked further, they would soon realize that it was anything but that.

    Gu Qing had his hardhat on, and he was moving about from ce to ce with the other division heads of Yin Construction, surveying the grounds and making markings on his drawings and diagrams with easels in tow. If this had taken ce just a month or two ago, it would most certainly have been a sight to behold. After all, they only had a few sets of machines and tools that could only upy that many people at any one point in time, while the rest had to be resigned to their fate of idleness. But now, Gu Qing¡¯s group of men were no more than a drop in the ocean - one that was hardly conspicuous amidst the other shifting sights in Hell.

    The ghostly citizens around them were abuzz with activity. The Death Inquisitors seated at the front of Hell¡¯s Gate only appeared to be orderly. But if one just looked closer, they would see that the Death Inquisitors appeared to be desperately processing certain applications. Su Dongxue was no longer seated where she usually was. Rather, she had temporarily shifted to the annex hall, and she was surrounded by arge group of people, chatting and discussing matters with them.

    When Qin Ye and his entourage appeared right behind the statue of Ksitigarbha in the heart of Hell¡¯s Gate, they immediately heard the contents of the mor.

    ¡°You¡¯re applying for the establishment of a ser club? And a professional one at that? Who¡¯s going to pay them? It¡¯s a good idea, but it¡¯s not practical right now! You¡¯ll probably have to wait for the capitalist sharks to show up before you¡¯ve got any chances at establishing these clubs! After all, you can¡¯t expect mere citizens to be crowd-funding these clubs of yours, can you? And who¡¯s going to be responsible for the initial capital injection? Brother, I¡¯m not trying to take a jibe at you, but you probably haven¡¯t run a business before, have you? So whose idea are you trying to promote and have approved?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled slightly and walked over. Oda Nobunaga and Murai Sadakatsu frowned slightly and followed along behind him.

    The new Hell appeared to bepletely different from what they had expected it to be.

    To their minds, Hell was meant to be a solemn and silent ce. And yet¡­ the new Hell appeared to be¡­ cheerful.

    It was boisterous, and it appeared to have lost the sobriety that should undergird every underworld.

    Nevertheless, they didn¡¯t express their thoughts. Their names were already etched into Hell¡¯s Records now, and they knew their ce.

    Qin Ye walked over to the annex hall. As he drew closer, he could tell that it was packed with over a hundred citizens. Su Dongxue sat right in the middle of the crowd with a pale face, desperately staring at the documents in front of her. There were several other old men standing at various parts of the crowd, sparing no efforts to exin everything in great detail to the citizens around.

    ¡°Social Chess Association? That¡¯s possible, but unfortunately we won¡¯t be able to support you with any funds right now. We¡¯re still in the process of calcting the amount of funds to be allocated to eachrge institution, and everything is going to be subject to King Yanluo¡¯s final approval¡­ Moreover, most of our spare funds have already been dedicated to the rental and management of recreational facilities and amenities¡­¡± ¡°Fitness Association? ¡­ Friend, are you sure now is the best time to be thinking of building muscles?¡± ¡°Hey chap¡­ Could you not bother us with insipid requests like a Stargazers Association? We¡¯re incredibly busy right now! Have you even seen a single star around these parts? Have you?!!¡±

    It was bustling, morous and chaotic, and yet everything appeared to be undergirded by a great amount of passion. It was like a burgeoning fire, crackling with sparks that flew everywhere, consuming the silence and stillness that used to gue the new Hell.

    The solitude of idleness.

    The dreariness of boredom.

    Just then, Su Dongxue raised her head and suddenly caught sight of Qin Ye, and she immediately cried out with relief, ¡°King Yanluo, wee back!!¡±

    And then, she promptly knelt to the ground.

    One couldn¡¯t be too obvious when ites to using their lord and master as a pretext for escaping work.

    Her surroundings immediately fell silent. Qin Ye¡¯s tyrannical disposal of the rebellion was still a sight that was fresh in the hearts and minds of those around, and everyone promptly parted ways to allow him passage.

    ¡°You may rise.¡± Qin Ye raised his hand, ¡°The rest of you may take your leave. I¡¯ve got matters to discuss over here.¡±

    None dared to object. As soon as they left, he asked, ¡°Su Dongxue, what¡¯s happening over here?¡±

    ¡°My lord!!¡± Su Dongxue was actually on the brink of tears as she rted her difficulties, ¡°Your subject humbly prays that you will increase the manpower avable to deal with these applications and administrative issues! And also for the construction of more dedicated government facilities! We¡¯ve been swamped and overwhelmed by everything that¡¯s going on! We¡¯re truly on the verge of copse! Your subject¡­ ohh¡­ so handsome¡­ who might this be¡­¡±

    Su Dongxue was instantly dazzled by the beauty that had appeared in front of her, and she promptly slid over to Murai Sadakatsu¡¯s side, snuggled into him and ced his arms around her neck, ¡°My lord must have noticed that I¡¯ve been overworkedtely, and thus brought a gift for me? Your loyal subject humbly epts this gift with great gratitude¡­¡±

    Murai Sadakatsu¡¯s cheeks twitched uncontrobly, and he fervently repressed the urge to kick the bold female ghost away.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions instantly turned ashen as well - Image! Watch your image! Do I not have a single reliable person under my charge in Hell?! I¡¯ve got a foul-mouthed mirror, a gamer girl, and a female ghost who can¡¯t live without men¡­ Ah¡­ the only normal one I have under my charge is Gu Qing¡­

    Bloody hell¡­ can you please not ruin our image in front of our international friends? Ah, corrections¡­ they¡¯re already part of our family now¡­ But this is still an incredibly shameful sight¡­

    ¡°Cough¡­¡± Su Dongxue coughed lightly and peeked out from behind Murai Sadakatsu. Shepletely ignored Qin Ye, and instead gently caressed Murai Sadakatsu¡¯s face with her hair and begana speaking with an unbelievably enchanting voice, ¡°I¡¯m so busy~~! There are just too many people patronizing the business of this poor youngdy. Mr Charming, don¡¯t you feel sorry for me? Ever since King Yanluo brought back tons of goods thest time, idleness has already be a thing of the past~~¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye silently pulled out Hell¡¯s Records, flipped to the page on which Su Dongxue¡¯s name was recorded, and then motioned to erase her name. It was only then that Su Dongxue hurriedly knelt before Qin Ye and responded softly, ¡°Reporting back to King Yanluo. Ever since Your Majesty brought back the supplies thest time, we¡¯ve spent the next week sorting through the supplies, categorizing and organizing them. The full inventory list of goods has been prepared. After seeking Mr Gu¡¯s approval, we made the list of supplies public. That night, Hell¡­ exploded with ebullience.¡±

    ¡°Over thest two days, we¡¯ve seen countless groupse forward, applying for the establishment of various organizations, clubs and societies. And this is especially in light of the knowledge that Hell is soon to roll out the system of currency. I¡¯ve not seen any fewer than thirty people around these parts over thest two days. I¡¯ve even got peopleing forward, asking us when thepanies managing the production lines would be set up, whether the central bank would provide loans, how interest is calcted, and so on and so forth. I¡¯ve fended off these queries and made a tally of the most frequently asked questions for your review upon your return.¡±

    That¡¯s more like it¡­

    Qin Ye kept Hell¡¯s Records and remained silent.

    Thest few hundred tonnes of goods was like a master key to unlocking the soaring growth of Hell and the enrichment of the lives of his citizens. It served the primary purpose of keeping their minds upied so that their thoughts wouldn¡¯t stray to rebellion. It also served a secondary purpose of promoting the birth of the system of currency by giving the citizens tangible goods that they could long to purchase!

    Furthermore, the system of currency is predicated on the printing industry, which in turn is inextricably tied to the media industry that is so dear to Qin Ye¡¯s heart. One thing begets another. Besides, this was an industry that entailed the asional use of machinery, and required no more than the engagement of a group of editors and hundreds of reporters. Such a profitable, low cost industry was the exact thing that inspired Qin Ye¡¯s passion and joy.

    Look at North Daehan, and how its three plump leaders are overflowing with happiness and joy¡­ How did they achieve all that? Through media and a glib mouthpiece of the government! If one is surrounded by news media that reports things such as ghosts around the world are in dire straits, XX underworld is starting a war, a protest has broken out in YY underworld, or ZZ underworld has fallen into a financial crisis, wouldn¡¯t that make our own citizens count their blessings?

    And this was particrly when one could tangibly see the works of the government for their own citizens.

    Pulling a veil over the eyes of their citizens isn¡¯t umon after all¡­ I mean, you don¡¯t even need to look past the works of Cathay to realize this¡­

    Su Dongxue grew serious and began to ry her gripe to Qin Ye, ¡°And if that¡¯s all there is, that¡¯s still not too bad. Unfortunately, we¡¯re not only suffering from ack of manpower, there¡¯s also theck of space! We¡¯ve only got two annex halls in Hell¡¯s Gate right now! Just yesterday, Yin Construction, us, and Huang Liangchuan¡¯s group found ourselves in a situation where we had to split the annex hall into several areas for our own purposes. The discussions were so loud that we couldn¡¯t even hear our own thoughts at times¡­¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    Governance was tiring. And good governance was even more exhausting.

    All Qin Ye had been trying to do was to push for the establishment of the system of currency, and alsounch the prints and media industries along the way. But it was only when he began to take steps towards implementation that he soon realized that it involved several other anciry matters.

    Civil servants, the delineation of responsibilities between governmental departments and agencies, reassignment of work, issuance of orders¡­ Qin Ye had a skeletal n in mind, and he knew the direction that they should be headed. Unfortunately, it was difficult to see exactly where to start working from when the mess came crashing down like a huge tangle of rope.

    ¡°Establish a secretariat.¡± Arthis, who had been silent all this while, finally spoke up, ¡°I had ten secretaries under my charge back when I was governing the Province of the Great Heavens. With them around, we didn¡¯t have to do much ourselves. All we had to do was to endorse our agreement and give our consent or approval for works¡­¡±

    Eh? Lady, is that something to be so proud of?i

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes at Arthis - How can youpare this diligent King Yanluo to azy Infernal Judge like you?

    He promptly cleared his throat, ¡°Let¡¯s begin by recruiting a secretariatprising a hundred people¡­¡±

    ¡°... Wouldn¡¯t that be a little too many?¡± Arthis asked stiffly - Our dear King Yanluo¡¯s shamelessness has just risen to new heights. Congrattions are in order for the level up¡­

    Qin Ye coughed awkwardly. He, too, was well aware that he couldn¡¯t afford to be toozy. After all,ziness would beget shoddiness, and the problems arising out of such shoddiness would be far more difficult to remedy when it finally takes root.

    He collected his thoughts, sat down and tapped the table gently as he began to process the countless threads of information and considerations running through his mind. Just like that, he stared vacantly at the bustling sight of Hell outside. Over ten minutester, he finally instructed, ¡°Su Dongxue, I¡¯d like you to consolidate the jobs and duties of all major governmental departments around right now. I want everything to be kept simple. I don¡¯t want to see the type of bureaucracy like that in the mortal realm, where you would have to shuttle about various departments for a period of three days before you can even get a seal of approval for a simple request. Do your best to locate all the major departments within a single building.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, I¡¯d like you to assign civil servants to their respective jobs and duties. I¡¯ll allow you to allocate a special privilege - all civil servants shall be given first dibs on Qin Gardens Phase One upon itspletion.¡±

    ¡°Thirdly, I want you to suspend all official duties for now and reassign the current Death Inquisitors as civil servants of the various departments. In three days¡¯ time, I¡¯d like you to appoint fresh Death Inquisitors to take up the newly vacated positions, where they would start out as interns all over.¡±

    He thought for a moment more, and concluded that there was nothing else. But before he could end off his instructions, Arthis promptly added, ¡°Four. Summon all Yin spirits to witness the induction ceremony of the Book of Life and Death. Five. Have Gu Qing halt all construction works in progress to erect a high-profile monument, earmarked as a cultural heritage, tomemorate the induction of the Book of Life and Death in Hell. This is a groundbreaking event that should be recorded in the history books, and celebrated by all citizens of Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then casually muttered, ¡°But it¡¯s not that urgent, is it? We can induct the Book of Life and Death into Hell anytime. There¡¯s already so many things going on right now. Can¡¯t we shelve it for the moment?¡±

    Arthis shook her head, ¡°No¡­ we must prioritize the induction ceremony of the Book of Life and Death, by hook or by crook.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ still analyzing things from the perspective of mortal realm governance. There may be numerous simrities between the governance in Hell and the governance in the mortal realm. That said, there are just as many differences as well. For instance, the induction of a divine artifact would cause Hell¡¯s power to surge and even undergo a qualitative transformation. As for what exactly it entails, you¡¯d understand as soon as you saw it. In any event, it would be far more prudent to n and work around Hell after its transformation. Who knows, perhaps some of your present considerations might even fall out of the picture after the transformation of Hell?¡±

    Is the expansion of Hell truly that magical?

    Qin Ye stared quizzically back at Arthis, and she promptly chuckled softly, ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. Are you aware that¡­ the expansion of each and every underworld ispletely unique and different?¡±

    ¡°Just like how the various countries in the mortal realms each have their own sets of natural resources, climate, and unique ecological environment, the same goes for underworlds alike. What the old Hell gained with each expansion may not necessarily be present in the new Hell. Every expansion of an underworld brings it closer to perfecting the rules undergirding that underworld. I¡¯ve never personally experienced an expansion of Hell, but I¡¯ve gleaned from the records of Hell that it would invariably suspend all work first, give priority to the expansion, and then rejig and rework its ns after taking into ount the changes from the expansion.¡±

 Chapter 291: Ebullience (2)

    <h4>Chapter 291: Ebullience (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye was surprised, ¡°Why is that the case?¡±

    Qin Ye mulled over these things for several minutes before finally nodding in agreement, ¡°Let¡¯s go outside for a walk. If we¡¯re going to be suspending works for the induction ceremony of a divine artifact, and erecting a monument tomemorate the same, it would be better for us to make this announcement in person.¡±

    With that, the entire entourage walked back out of Hell¡¯s Gate, only to be greeted by the incessant mor of the newly invigorated Hell.

    If this had just been a month or two ago, most of the Yin spirits would most certainly have been seen idling about outside Hell¡¯s Gate, leaning against a tree or fooling about. Some would even stare vacantly at the sky, or gaze longingly at the scattered construction equipment in the distance.

    The arrival of hundreds of tonnes of materials packed into dozens of containers was no different from pouring boiling oil into water - it immediately ignited the bubbling enthusiasm of the ghostly citizens around.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. In fact, countless temporary staff members were drawing crowds to themselves at various parts of Hell with their loudspeakers, eloquence and rhetorics, ¡°... Riding the establishment of the central bank, the print industry cordially invites all experienced citizens to put in their applications! Ladies and gentlemen, it¡¯s easy to add icing to the cake, but we¡¯re looking for people who are willing to send coal in a snowstorm¡­ Just imagine the changes in Hell once the mary system has been established!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s furrowed brows finally loosened up.

    As long as we can tide through the nascent stages of growth, and as long as our rulers can maintain a clear mind and remain just as conscientious as ever, then¡­ all that awaits us is a soaring era of development!

    He nced at Qin Ye discreetly.

    The n was to iron out the creases and stabilize his governance over the next few months. And then, he would introduce the feudal officials to the state of the new Hell¡¯s development at the imperial court meeting at the end of the year. Not only would he be able to dispel any thoughts of usurpation, he might even be able to seal the perception of equality between nations from the onset!

    After all, it was only with the perception of equality that one could begin to discuss matters of strategic alliances and trade routes. Then, with money and resources in hand, Hell could continue to develop at a steady rate. Everything would give rise to a virtuous cycle of growth and prosperity!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t notice Oda Nobunaga¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°This is only normal.¡± Su Dongxue couldn¡¯t help but express her great emotions, ¡°My lord, do you know something? It wasn¡¯t too long ago that the mostmon expression to be heard and seen throughout Hell was that ofmentation andints. When thest Yin spirit riot broke out and the Wrath-fiend ravaged Hell, not a single person found ourselves surprised by it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Arthis remarked somewhat emotionally, ¡°Do you recall those advertisements in the mortal realm that sell us the dream of making money while idling? Well, that ¡®idleness¡¯ certainly doesn¡¯t contemte the exclusion ofputers, cell phones, luxurious afternoon teas, KTV, and other forms of entertainment. In fact, you can say that the new Hell has given idleness a whole new meaning over itsst year of existence.¡±

    ¡°They were already on the verge of insanity with the sheer boredom that gued them all the time.¡± She stepped forward, and her gaze carried some trace of warmth, ¡°The appearance of Qin Gardens Phase One had undoubtedly injected excitement into the hearts of the citizens and caused their blood to course through their veins once more. However, there was simply nothing to follow it up. It didn¡¯t matter how well your motivational speech was received, because anyone¡¯s heart would soon grow cold when they saw how sparse the construction site looked with the few feeble machines. But now, things are different. We¡¯ve got hundreds of tons of supplies to rejuvenate them time after time. Seize the momentum and win their hearts. As soon as you can do that, then catching up with Brittania and Usonia is only a matter of time!¡±

    The buzz of voices promptly subsided. Qin Ye had earned every bit of fear and reverence he was currently orded. Everyone knew that he wasn¡¯t to be trifled with. He paused for a moment, and then smiled faintly, ¡°The sight of your ebullience pleases me.¡±

    The voices that had just subsided instantly exploded once again. Countless ghostly citizens immediately exchanged looks of great disbelief with each other.

    Qin Ye made a grabbing motion in the air, and innumerable wisps of ck-and-white energy began to converge in front of his hand, where it soon took the shape of an ancient book.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡± There was a sudden flurry of activity, and a citizen couldn¡¯t help but raise his hand into the air, ¡°What kind of ns do you mean?¡±

    What the hell?!

    Arthis wasn¡¯t the only one who was shocked. In fact, every single citizen recoiled slightly in astonishment.

    As expected, real estate truly drives the economy¡­ Bloody hell, they¡¯re not even dead yet, and I¡¯m already expected to prepare a ce of lodging to receive them? Eh¡­ I suppose it does make sense, given how people purchase plots ofnds for their grave in advance¡­

    Qin Ye pretended not to notice the looks of confusion below. After all, he was fixated on marketing the draw of real estate. Thus, he continued with a look of righteous indifference on his face, ¡°Everyone, you¡¯ve already died once. Having spent your lives in tiny pens norger than the size of forty square meters, are you sure you¡¯ll want to spend your afterlife in the same conditions all over again?¡±

    The Yin spirits who had initially raised their hands into the air with questions on their lips feebly put down their hands - This speech is just too weird¡­ It seems to weave in and out of truth and lie¡­ Everything sounds prim and proper, yet a niggling part of my heart seems to be telling me that everything about what he¡¯s said ispletely wrong¡­ Is this feeling¡­ just an illusion?

    How can you even tie in the induction of the Book of Life and Death to the sale of real estate¡­ Arthis made up her mind to distance herself from the third King Yanluo of Hell.

    ¡°Apart from that, the Book of Life and Death also expands the capabilities of Hell as a realm.¡± Arthis could no longer resist interjecting. The future King Yanluo of Hell had gone on at length with his spiel about real estate in Hell, and she couldn¡¯t afford to let him get away with it any longer, ¡°As soon as the Book of Life and Death is set in its ce, it will act as a foundation for certain specialized facilities and buildings that are unique to Hell and Hell alone.¡±

    She took a deep breath and dered, ¡°Over the next month, the government is going to tally up its supplies and consolidate its personnel. Then, on this very day next month, we shall conduct the ceremony for the induction of the Book of Life and Death into Hell. At that time¡­ I believe everyone will personally understand the true nature of Hell as a realm.¡±

    ¡°How can I not?!¡± Arthis gnashed her teeth, ¡°Even the Book of Life and Death is weeping in sorrow from how much you¡¯ve been selling it short! Aren¡¯t you afraid of the prospects of being clipped to death by a book?!¡±

 Chapter 292: Ebullience (3)

    <h4>Chapter 292: Ebullience (3)</h4>

    The future King Yanluo clenched his buttcheeks tightly in fear, to the great amusement of a certain wicked Judge. Momentster, she rolled her eyes, ¡°Not really.¡±

    Unfortunately, no apuse was forting at all.

    The atmosphere soon grew awkward.

    p p p¡­ Su Dongxue winked and immediately began to p, rousing nothing more than sparse apuse from the audience. However, Qin Ye promptly raised both of his hands to silence the crowd, ¡°I know that everyone must be confused by the sudden turn of events. But, here¡¯s the thing - because of the copse of the old Hell, all of the famous generals across the history of Cathay have already been whisked off into paradise by Lord Ksitigarbha. Moreover, Hell presently only receives Yin spirits located within the City of Salvation. In other words, we simply don¡¯t have ess to any battle-hardened generals at this point in time.¡±

    Silence.

    Hell¡­ isn¡¯t the only underworld around?

    ¡°Will they¡­ invade us?¡± One of the citizens standing at the front blurted out in disbelief. Having experienced peace and prosperity in Cathay over thest few decades, the present news came as a rude awakening to them.

    Qin Ye built on what Oda Nobunaga had said, ¡°Therefore, it is imperative that we increase our strength so that outsiders don¡¯t covet ournds with great avarice! None can be trusted. We have no choice but to view all outsiders with great vignce! After all, we¡¯re the only ones who can protect our ownnds!¡±

    Silence.

    There was a thunderous mor. Arthis nced at Qin Ye discreetly - As expected¡­ those who¡¯ve lived through war and strife have a great fire in their bellies. Qin Ye¡¯s methods may be unorthodox, he can¡¯t do any wrong when ites to these things.

    Qin Ye knew that he had made the problem patently clear to everyone. That said, he knew that this was still insufficient.

    ¡°Silence.¡± He suppressed the stirring emotions in his heart and continued, ¡°It¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before Hell squares off against other underworlds, factions and Yin spirits in wars, battles and skirmishes. Our army isn¡¯t going to be one for mere show of power and deterrence. Sacrifice is inevitable. And it is precisely because of that that I give you my word to honour those who are willing to step up! Firstly, on the day that Hell¡¯s First Battalion is inaugurated, I¡¯ll alsomission the construction of a monument right in front of Hell¡¯s Gate where the names of all Yin soldiers who have perished in the line of duty shall be recorded. This is an evesting honour and glory that shall belong to you and you alone! No matter howrge Hell gets in future, the Martyr¡¯s Monument shall always remain right in front of Hell¡¯s Gate!¡±

    The mortal realm had failed to ce sufficient emphasis on the establishment of ideological norms during the nascent period of Cathay¡¯s reformation. Unfortunately, it was already toote by the time they realized their mistake. Hell was modelling its government after Cathay reformative efforts, yet¡­ they didn¡¯t have to take the exact same path.

    ¡°Secondly, all soldiers shall be given first dibs on Qin Gardens Phase One. And if they perish in the line of duty, their property shall be held in abeyance for the benefits of their next-of-kin. Finally, the army shall be given priority over all entertainment and recreational facilities and amenities!¡±

    Everyone was ostensibly surprised. Secondster, countless hands shot up into the air, ¡°I¡¯d like to sign up!¡± ¡°My life for Aiu--... Hell!!¡± ¡°Applying to join Hell¡¯s First Battalion!¡± ¡°Is there an age limit to this?¡± ¡°Do we need to have any prior experience in the army?¡±

    As far as the citizens were concerned, they had been idling about for almost a year, and the carrot of entertainment and recreational amenities were no different from a godsend to them.

    ¡°Silence!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice thundered, ¡°All applicants are to approach Su Dongxue¡¯s team of Death Inquisitors in two weeks to submit their applications. Now, we move on to the third order of business.¡±

    He cleared his throat, ¡°I think everyone deserves to know and be constantly updated of the things we¡¯ve done, and the things that we¡¯re doing. Furthermore, there¡¯s still the matter of the imperial court meeting that will be taking ce at the end of the year. If we can sessfully negotiate a deal with the other feudal officials, then that might lead to the bteral opening of borders and the issuance of visas for foreign journalism. That way, you can all learn a little bit more about the world that we live in, what the other underworlds look like, why we have to establish Hell¡¯s First Battalion, and the kinds of threats we¡¯re truly facing.¡±

    ¡°Finally, I¡¯ll be setting up ten Community Suggestion Boxes.¡± He pressed on despite the hoarseness of voice, ¡°All who have good suggestions may post them into these chests. We¡¯ll collect them every Mondays and I¡¯ll personally vet through all of them. However, please note that only suggestions should be posted - notints! All offenders will be punished severely.¡±

    With that, the citizens dispersed.

    Was there anything to be afraid of when everything was starting on a clean te?

    ¡°I¡¯d like everyone to take some time to digest the announcements I¡¯ve made earlier.¡± Huang Liangchuan, Gu Qing and the Yin Construction division heads remained behind. Qin Ye rubbed his temples softly, ¡°We¡¯ll hold an inaugural meeting to discuss the five-year n of Hell moving forward. All relevant personnel must be present.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, led the crowd back to the annex hall, and slumped back into the chair as he gazed vacantly at the ceiling, ¡°I¡¯m aware of that as well. But the first priority right now is to give Su Dongxue some time to organize the government. Besides¡­¡±

    None of the ones present were daft, and they immediately understood that there was more to the meeting. Hu Feng probed further, ¡°Is¡­ there something of particr importance to discuss?¡±

    Without missing a beat, he added, ¡°No! The truth of the matter is that even I¡¯m not aware of the exact number of feudal officials who will be visiting Hell at the end of this year. These visitors are in a way considered ¡®our own¡¯, and we naturally won¡¯t be able to conceal the truth about Hell from them. But¡­ if Hell doesn¡¯t get its act sorted out soon enough, they would most certainly see us as no more than a delectable piece of meat. When that timees¡­ ¡®our own¡¯ might well be des pointed straight at our hearts.¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s precisely because of the pressure that ¡®our own¡¯ has ced on us that Mr Nobunaga and I have returned to the old Hell to retrieve some items.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, and arge pile of Qiankun Pouches appeared on the table, ¡°These pouches contain some of the most important parts of the old Hell¡¯s legacy. You can delegate your regr work to others, but sorting out Hell¡¯s legacy is something you absolutely have to do personally! We cannot afford to get third parties involved!¡±

    ¡°After all¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice deepened, ¡°It¡¯s no more than six months until the end of the year¡­¡±

    After all, power and authority flows from the barrel of a gun.

    ¡°With this.¡± Qin Ye picked up a Qiankun Pouch and opened it eagerly. Truth be told, this was something he had already wanted to do back in the old Hell.

    It was a map of the East Continent, with various colours and markings decorating the entire map. Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, and then he promptly turned around and bellowed, ¡°Murai-kun, immediately stand guard outside the door. Nobody is toe in. Kill all who refuse toply!¡±

    Murai Sadakatsu left, and everyone else began to study the map. One by one, their eyes widened with great disbelief at the familiar names that were marked on the map!

    These were none other than the names of the feudal officials!

 Chapter 293: The Twelve Envoys (1)

    <h4>Chapter 293: The Twelve Envoys (1)</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ The map slowly unfurled in the air, revealing the names of all nations around Cathay and the names of all feudal officials sent out by Hell.

    Qin Ye gasped and slowly walked over to it. He gently ran a finger across its surface. This was the result of Hell¡¯s glory that spanned thousands of years, and yet they had all be feudal lords that were hot on Hell¡¯s tail right now.

    It¡¯s fine if these were just territorialnds that had been historically imed by the old Hell. But what I¡¯m most afraid of is that these fertilends are ruled over by an impressive feudal lord whomands an army that I won¡¯t be able to resist¡­ I don¡¯t want Hell to be a temptation to these men. I cannot afford to let Hell be a temptation to them!

    ¡°Are they¡­ all still alive in their respective underworlds?¡± Even Oda Nobunaga couldn¡¯t help but gasp at the sight of their names.

    Everyone waspletely bbergasted. There were districts of red located all around Cathay, each of which represented the fiefdom of twelve feudal officials. Furthermore, each of the twelve feudal officials¡­ were celebrities in their own rights, whose reputation and fame had spread far and wide to the furthest recesses of the surrounding nations.

    These were the names of legends and great heroes that had lived centuries ago. Yet, faced with the sudden prospects that these legends could end up bing their foe, the leaders of Hell were filled with a confluence ofplex emotions.

    ¡°I¡¯ve once heard that Cathay once used to have eleven vassal states and one special garrison. They didn¡¯t possess their own mythology. Rather, I should say that their folklore and myths weren¡¯t sufficient to fulfil the conditions for the establishment of their own underworlds.¡± Arthis looked at the names with great emotion and continued, ¡°Thus, after their annexation, Cathay sent eleven feudal officials and a special garrison official to thesends, and they were henceforth named the twelve envoys.¡±

    ¡°Envoys?¡± Qin Ye asked as he stared at the names with great disbelief. Each of these names were names of people that he admired greatly.

    Arthis withdrew her gaze, and her voice grew somber, ¡°The word ¡®envoy¡¯ gives us an insight of the sheer might and influence of the old Hell. It¡¯s almost as though the entire East Continent were tributaries of the old Hell, and none could escape from the reaches of Hell. We were once unassable and domineering.¡±

    Qin Ye retracted his gaze and sighed wistfully.

    Unfortunately, these twelve envoys are now looking back at Cathay just like how we once used to look at them. Of the twelve¡­ who¡¯s still loyal, and who¡¯s turned traitorous?

    ¡°Lord Tangming, better known as Zhou Gongjin!¡± He read out the first name on the list and couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°To think that he¡¯s still alive¡­ such a great name¡­ is actually still alive and kicking in the world that exists underneath the mortal realm!¡±

    Unbelievable¡­ simply unbelievable. Zhou Yu¡¯s feats have been watered down by the manner in which the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is depicted. ording to historical records, the main force of destruction that crushed Cao Cao was not Zhuge Liang, but Zhou Yu. His illustrious victories were what the Eastern Wu kingdom was built upon! Unlike his depiction in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he wasn¡¯t a petty man, and he was never a rival of Zhuge Liang, nor was his death triggered by the same. In other words, the historical novel had simply wanted to portray Zhuge Liang as a myth with 100 points in internal affairs and 80 points in military affairs, and the best stepping stone in that regard was naturally to put down Zhou Yu.

    Without Zhou Yu, who would even have heard of the folly of 800,000 troops residing on ships that were chained from stern to stern? Without Zhou Yu, how could one possiblye up with the stratagem of injuring oneself in order to win the enemy¡¯s trust? How could an army of 30,000 men possiblye up victorious against 800,000 troops at the Battle of the Red Cliffs?

    The prospects of squaring off against such legends and myths made Qin Ye¡¯s hair stand on end. Oda Nobunaga was silent, yet his eyes were evidently zing with passion and a deep intent to do battle.

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Oda Nobunaga suddenly stepped forward and cupped his hands respectfully to Qin Ye, ¡°If Zhou Gongjin rises against you¡­ please grant me the honour of facing him in battle!¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond right away. He knew full well just how widely proliferated the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was in Nippon. One could even learn of the historical novel through Nipponese animations! In this regard, a confrontation between the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven and Zhou Yu would practically be one that transcended time and space!

    ¡°He may not necessarily rebel against us¡­¡± Qin Ye rubbed his eyes and muttered, ¡°As far as Zhou Yu is concerned¡­ Sigh¡­ forget I said anything. I can¡¯t be certain either. Nobody can be certain of anything. After all, both Eastern Wu and the old Hell are no longer in existence, so who can say what¡¯s running through his mind right now?¡±

    How much benevolence could one reasonably expect of an evil ghost that had existed for over a thousand years?

    Not even Zhou Yu might be able to hold back the thirst and desires of his heart.

    ¡°I understand.¡± Oda Nobunaga stepped back in line once more, and yet his eyes continued to ze passionately, ¡°But if he is to turn traitorous, please¡­ leave him to me!¡±

    The likes of Zhou Yu is far greater than Tokugawa Ieyasu or Takeda Shingen, the Tiger of Kai.

    This is the type of opponent that I, Oda Nobunaga, can only dream of!

    Qin Ye pointed to the map and continued, ¡°Lord Tangming once established a feudal state known as the Lan Xang Kingdom, which wasrgely made up of Laotians. In the second year of Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Lan Xang Kingdom was officially recognized as such by the Ming Empire. Incidentally, this was also when the first major ethnic group of Cathay, the Lao Loum, first appeared in the nation¡­ This is definitely a ce that cannot be ignored.¡±

    Nobody responded, yet their eyes were filled with great sobriety. The Lan Xang Kingdom may not have made their name known in recent years, but add Zhou Gongjin to the mix, and they would indubitably still be able to make waves!

    Furthermore, one simply cannot look at underworlds through the lens of the mortal realm. For instance, even though the mortal realm Hindustan has taken a beating throughout history, they still possess one of the strongest, most esteemed underworlds in the world right now.

    This was the power of faith and belief.

    Qin Ye suppressed the rippling emotions in his heart and looked towards the second red dot, ¡°Lord of the Khmer Empire¡­ Guo Ziyi¡­ One of the two generals who made a name for themselves at the An Shi Rebellion. With such great achievements under his belt, it¡¯s no surprise he was appointed as lord¡­ I¡¯m just going to speak my mind about these things. I¡¯d like everyone to mull over and analyze which of these persons might be our enemies, and which ones--¡­¡±

    He drew a deep breath, and then continued with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°Which ones would pledge their allegiance to Hell once more after learning about the establishment of the new Hell!¡±

    There¡¯s bound to be some¡­

    There will definitely be some who are willing to pledge their allegiance to me! I refuse to believe that every single one of them will act like Emperor Wu of Song did. Even if only one or two are willing to return to Hell right now, our roster of generals will still receive an incredible boost in power!

    ¡°Lord Qin, hang on a moment.¡± Just then, Su Dongxue suddenly stood up, bowed respectfully, before heading out of the annex hall. She returned approximately fifteen minutester, bringing two men with her into the room.

    ¡°These are?¡± Qin Ye found the two old men somewhat familiar. They appeared to be in their eighties, and had probably died of old age. One was tall, while the other was short. As soon as they saw Qin Ye, they immediately cupped their hands respectfully to him.

    ¡°He¡¯s a famous historian of Insignia Province, and has served as a consultant lecturer on several TV stations in Cathay back while he was still alive. On the other hand, he¡¯s a history professor in thergest college in Insignia Province, the Insignia University. His achievements and des in the field of history are almost unparalleled in his time.¡± Su Dongxue exined calmly, presumably because she wasn¡¯t talking about handsome men, ¡°The man on the left is Professor Li Zhengchao, while the man on the right is Professor An Huai. I took notice of their rtively illustrious resumes and made a mental note of it. My Lord, do you think--...¡±

    ¡°Well done.¡± Qin Ye nodded. Hell wascking in talent - especially highly skilled talents like the two men standing in front of him right now.

    He was pleased with how Su Dongxue had been avidly carrying out her duties as the head of the Death Inquisitors. Talents and skill need not necessarily be innate and inborn. In fact, most talents were only deemed as such because of years of nurturing. In that regard, Su Dongxue had clearly been trustworthy with the little responsibility she had been given, and she had proven that she could handle more.

    Conversely, those who rest on theirurels and quickly growcent would never find themselves in Qin Ye¡¯s inner circle. He was willing to cut talents out just as much as he was willing to go out of his way to pick up foreign talents. Rtionship meant little to him at this point in time.

    ¡°Professor Li, Professor An, perhaps I¡¯ll hand over the time to you then. There¡¯s no need to say too much. We simply need to know from a historical point of view what each person¡¯s character is like, which of them is likely to return to their homnd and pledge allegiance to us once again, and which of them¡­ is likely to turn against us in half a year¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The two professors adjusted their sses and made their way towards the map. As soon as they saw the names on it, their breaths suddenly quickened, and their eyes darted about each and every red dot on the map as though they had just seen ghosts.

    The entire annex hall was filled with sounds of the professors¡¯ heavy breaths, interspersed only by the professors¡¯ unwitting exmation - ¡°How is this possible¡­¡± ¡°This person¡­ is still around in the underworld?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a famous general¡­ a reputable ancient warlord whose name flows in the river of history like a glowing star¡­ how could this person still be in Hell right now?¡± ¡°Dear heaven¡­ if we can enlist his help, no¡­ if any single one of these historical figures are willing to pledge their allegiance to us, it would be a massive help to Hell as it stands right now!¡±

    No one else interjected or disturbed them as they continued to analyze their profiles and recall the knowledge that was buried in the recesses of their minds. After ten full minutes, the two men finally turned around with bloodshot eyes. Even their voices were trembling slightly as they reported back, ¡°Your Majesty¡­ this is¡­ this is truly unbelievable¡­¡±

    Professor Li shuddered, ¡°These people¡­ all possess the talent and qualifications to conquer the world! Even though modern warfare in the mortal realm is quite different, but¡­ from what we can glean of Your Majesty¡¯s earlier announcements, the battles of the underworldsrgely still take ce in the absence of firearms. If that¡¯s the case, then these people¡­ would undoubtedly be famous generals, each of whom can turn the tides of war on their own! Even if only a single general joins the ranks of the new Hell, it would still be a great addition to our forces!¡±

    Professor An propped up his sses repeatedly in excitement, ¡°Of course, the poption size of the underworld would be far more numerous than their mortal realm counterparts, but¡­ so long as you can get these twelve people to join us, we can most certainly rest easy moving forward! Our military would improve by leaps and bounds! That said, I daren¡¯t say much about the influence they might have over politics, since modern and ancient governance styles are vastly different.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You may speak freely.¡± Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively.

    ¡°Yes!¡± The two men gulped excitedly. It thrilled the two professors to be able to analyze such historical celebrities, especially given the prospects that the twelve envoys were still alive and kicking in their respective underworlds. An Huai pointed to Guo Ziyi¡¯s name and began, ¡°Let¡¯s start with each individual fiefdom and their corresponding might. The one thing I¡¯ve discovered is that the feudal officials appear to have been conferred territories in an intentionally haphazard manner. For instance, the Great Viet should have been a fiefdom most suitable for Ma Yuan, also known as General Ma Fubo, one of the great military generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

    ¡°Even Mount Fubo in Guilin was named after him. Furthermore¡­ he was the ancient founder of the modern iteration of sandbox war simtions. Ma Yuan was best known for his depiction of the terrain on the battlefield using grains of rice heaped into piles where necessary. In fact, that was the first recorded instance when a militarymander used a 3D map on the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all. His conquests back in the day took him all the way to thends of Jiaozhi, or northern Great Viet, where he ughtered rebel groups so much that hepletely quelled all uprising. After stabilizing thosends, Lord Ma erected two bronze pirs on the new border as a symbol for the people and a warning for all rebels. The bronze pirs were etched with an inscription - ¡°Crush the statue, Jiaozhi falls¡±. With that inscription in ce, the natives of the Great Viet didn¡¯t dare to destroy the statues, and they would only go so far as to throw pebbles at the statues as they were passing by. These pebbles piled up over time, forming a small mound known as the Fubo Mound, which still exists to this day. Therefore, there¡¯s no doubt that the man best suited for the job as the lord over Jiaozhi is none other than Ma Yuan. I daresay that so long as Lord Ma Fubo takes the fiefdom over Jiaozhi today, nobody would dare to rebel against him.¡±

    Arthis responded, ¡°If that happens, would it be considered Ma Fubo¡¯s Jiaozhi, or would it still be known as the fiefdom of Hell?¡±

    The two men paused for a moment.

    Arthis snorted coldly, ¡°It¡¯s precisely because of this reason that we simply can¡¯t afford to let him return to Jiaozhi. This is also why the man appointed as feudal lord over Jiaozhi was instead Gao Changgong, the Prince of Lanling.¡±

    ¡°Continue.¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t mind such discourse. He sat down with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°I¡¯d like to hear how much of a name each of these twelve envoys have made for themselves in their own time. More importantly, I want to know¡­ how many of them still have their hearts with us today!¡±

    1. He will be introduced in greater detailter on, but here¡¯s a link if you want to know more on the man mentioned for now. He¡¯s also called Zhou Yu, but unfortunately I can¡¯t find any records on why the author calls him Tangming.

    2. Thirty-fourth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

    3. This is quite an amazing one. Cao Cao had forces of 800,000, most of which were deployed on warships that were chained together from stern to stern, presumably to minimize seasickness. Zhou Yu recognized that he was severely outnumbered, so he converted his fleet of ships to fire ships by filling them with incendiaries. Then, he sent a division out on the fleet on the pretext that they were defecting. When they drew close enough, the division set fire to the ships and escaped on smaller boats. The unmanned fire ships were carried by the wind and sped towards Cao Cao¡¯s fleet, setting it aze. With the entire army in confusion, Zhou Yu led the rest of the forces and assaulted the rest of Cao Cao¡¯s forces,ing out victorious.

    4. Lan Xang was another name for the Lao Kingdom that existed in a unified state from 1353-1707.

    5.

 Chapter 294: The Twelve Envoys (2)

    <h4>Chapter 294: The Twelve Envoys (2)</h4>

    There was silence in the annex hall as everyone listened intently to the two professors, ¡°Khmer Empire, also known as Funan and Che, is lorded over by General Guo Ziyi.¡±

    ¡°And here, the Lord of Siam is none other than Chang Yuchun. He was a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, and his aplishments are no less than any of the other envoys.¡± Professor Li spoke with great enthusiasm, ¡°In the fifteenth year of Emperor Shun of Yuan¡¯s reign, he submitted to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He was known for his bravery and prowess in battle, which earned him the nickname of ¡®Chang Hundred Thousand¡¯, because he was said to be as effective as a force of hundred thousand troops. Unfortunately, he died of illness at the tender age of forty, where he was posthumously granted the title of ¡®Prince of Kaiping¡¯ and given the posthumous name ¡®Zhongwu¡¯. He was then conferred the highest honour of a burial in the Imperial Ancestral Temple!¡±

    Professor An continued, ¡°He defeated the famous Yuan general known as Bayan of the Merkid at the Battle of Quzhou. He also crushed the barbarian Haiya at the battle of Caishiji. He even participated in the battles against Zhu Yuanzhang¡¯s rival, Chen Youliang, where he went on to eliminate them and capture the Yuan Dynasty¡¯s capital back then. He deserved every bit of the highest honour that was conferred upon him¡­¡±

    None interrupted him as he continued, ¡°The next person is Lord Ma Fubo of Bagan. Bagan is the ancient capital of Birmania. I won¡¯t repeat what has already been mentioned of him. He might not have been as reputable as some of the others over here, but his exploits were by no means any less incredible than the rest!¡±

    ¡°Next, the founding general of the Sui Dynasty, Lord of Sanfotsi, General Han Qinhu!

    Arthis chimed in, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of him.¡± Professor Li nodded with great emotion, ¡°It¡¯s quite something that Lady Arakshasa would have heard of his name. There are quite a number of generals who have made a name for themselves during the Sui Dynasty era, but this is definitely one of the most illustrious one of them all. He has served as a governor, assassin and county magistrate. He was also able to quell any uprising from Northern Qi. In the eighth year of the Sui Dynasty, he led an army to cross the Yangtze River by night, attacked Cai Shi, conquered the Vermillion Gate, upied Jiankang City, and captured thest ruler of Chen, Chen Shubao. He was conferred the title of the ¡®Pir of the State¡¯, ¡®Great General¡¯, and named the duke of Shouguang County. He was also appointed as the governor of Liangzhou. Unfortunately¡­ the thirty-odd years of the Sui Dynasty wasn¡¯t long enough for this esteemed general to truly shine¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nced at Arthis with some measure of astonishment.

    For some strange reason, the more Professor Li spoke, the more peculiar Arthis¡¯ expressions became, until finally, she revealed a faint, embarrassed smile.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Is he different from the Han Qinhu which you remember? Haven¡¯t you heard of the person that Professor Li is describing right now?¡± Qin Ye whispered to Arthis.

    Arthis nced back at Qin Ye, and then gnashed her teeth, ¡°It¡¯s somewhat different¡­¡±

    Eh?

    Is there a story here that I should know about? Qin Ye¡¯s eyes began to glow brightly, and he immediately pressed the issue, ¡°Pray, tell.¡±

    I¡¯ll tell your mother!

    Shouldn¡¯t you know better to keep your mouth shut rather than to ask these things? Do you think we can still be friends after I reveal these things to you? This is quite the unexpected turn of events¡­

    Arthis fervently repressed her great desire to give Qin Ye a flying p to the face, and she simply coughed awkwardly, ¡°Isn¡¯t Han Qinhu a jungler? I¡¯d heard that he can even transform into a leopard¡­ How would I know why the Han Qinhu mentioned by Professor Li is so different from the one I¡¯ve seen?!¡±

    The smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face faded away, and he stared at Arthis with a stiff expression for a long time, before finally muttering icily, ¡°Is the Honour of Kings really that fun?¡±

    Arthis nodded her head as though she were pounding garlic.

    ¡°Very well. Then¡­ you¡¯d better keep your mouth shut for the uing hero reviews - especially when they talk about the Prince of Lanlingter on. I don¡¯t want to hear anything about the Prince of Lanling being an assassin and having the ability to turn invisible. Speaking of which, can you bloody hell stop being a deadweight in Hell?! The average IQ of Hell has gone down by five because of your existence alone!¡±

    Naturally, the two professors were oblivious to the contents of the conversation that transpired between King Yanluo and Prime Minister Arthis. To their minds, this was no more than a discussion of great importance. Thus, as soon as the discussion was over, Professor An cleared his throat and continued, ¡°The next person is more well-reputed than Han Qinhu. He¡¯s none other than Ban Dingyuan, moremonly known as Lord Ban Chao!¡±

    This was a name that was familiar to most Cathayans. They might not necessarily have heard of his aplishments, but they would most certainly heard of his name being spoken of at some point or another.

    After all, there was a theme that seemed to undergird every single person being mentioned right now - a great general of their time.

    ¡°Lord Ban Chao¡­¡± Professor An¡¯s face reddened slightly, and his voice grew hoarse, ¡°I¡¯d never expected him to be appointed the Lord of Mya after his death. This valiant warrior started out by leading a team of only thirty-six men to open and secure trade routes to the Western Regions. He was generally outnumbered, but he always leveraged on his strategy toe out on top of his opponents. From there, he would go on to lead the Han forces against forty or fifty over countries in the western region! Your Majesty, it would be erroneous to downy his achievements by saying that the west were no more than nomadic tribes back then. After all, even nomadic tribes had several thousand people under their charge! This is a feat that waspletely unprecedented, and had never urred again thereafter! He was the only one who managed to achieve something like that in thest five millennia!¡±

    ¡°In the fifth year of Han Yongping¡¯s reign, Ban Chao¡¯s brother, Ban Gu, was summoned to the capital to serve as a schr and historian, and his mother followed him and lived together with him. Ban Chao was said to have a wide forehead and a thick neck like that of a tiger. He was so ferocious that his enemies would describe him as a man on wings who ate flesh. In the seventh year of the reign of Emperor He of Han, Ban Chao was by way of edict officially appointed as the Marquis of Dingyuan, together with a multitude of other titles and conferments.¡±

    Everyone sighed in exmation. Every single one of the great generals had aplishments so great that their names were firmly etched in the annals of history. Even the mention of these names would feel like a boulder weighing heavily on their hearts.

    ¡°Next up is Lord Gao Changgong. Perhaps this name of his isn¡¯t as familiar to all of you, but I¡¯m sure everyone must be familiar with his other name - the Prince of Lanling.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s one of the four most beautiful men of all times, and he was nigh undefeated in his entire life. Furthermore, it was precisely because he was so beautiful that he would have to cover his face with a mask whenever he went to battle. Unfortunately, even though he possessed extraordinary intelligence, and was incredibly courageous and fierce in battle, he wascking in his lineage. Therefore, the historical records of this man dwindled over time. Nevertheless, by our estimates of his achievements, this man is no less than any of the others mentioned before this!¡±

    Professor Li calmed his heart down with several deep breaths. The fact that these esteemed historical figures existed in theherworld filled him with great excitement, almost as though he had been transported thousands of years back in time to be given the opportunity to witness the full extent of Cathay¡¯s heyday. He looked at the map and pointed to the next ce, ¡°The Lord of Singapura, is none other than Marquess Wu of Qinghe, also known as Wang Meng! Everyone, this man¡­ is simply amazing. If not for the effluxion of time, his reputation would never be lower than any of the other eleven!¡±

    Qin Ye stiffened up.

    Alright, alright, alright¡­ If what you¡¯re saying is right, and every single person appearing here is like an SSR hero, then what in the world am I still doing fooling around with them?!

    The more I listen to these professors¡­ the more I think surrender is the best option!

    He silently stole a nce at Arthis, only to realize that she was already staring daggers at him. She was evidently already onto his thoughts. Qin Ye immediately sat upright.

    Professor An even tossed in a rare joke, ¡°Wang Meng is equally proficient in both his intellect and his mastery over military affairs. I¡¯m not going to go into too much details, but my assessment of this man is that he¡¯s in the same ss as Zhuge Liang when ites to matters of governance and internal affairs. He also yed an instrumental role in crushing the Former Liang and destroying the Former Ya. Anyone who pays close attention to historical records of that time would be able to tell you that this man is one with 100 points in governance and at least 70 points in military affairs.¡±

    ¡°Next up, is the Lord of Luzon, Yang Jiye, a feudal official of the Felipinas. I¡¯m sure you would all have heard of General Yang, haven¡¯t you? In order to immortalize the work of his life, an amazing bell tower was erected together with two huge steles etched with his incredible achievements. Your Majesty¡­ of everyone mentioned thus far, this man is most likely to return to Cathay and pledge allegiance to Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and nodded solemnly.

    God, please don¡¯t throw a spanner in the works now¡­ I sincerely pray that nothing untoward happens to General Yang¡¯s family¡­

    Professor Li looked at the map and stilled his nerves, ¡°This next one might seem unfamiliar, but the truth of the matter is that it¡¯s¡­ actually really close to our hearts.¡±

    Everyone looked to the ce he was pointing to.

    That ce was now known as Boutan.

    But on the map, it was written - ¡®Chaghan, Lord of the Bamboo Region¡¯!

    ¡°Boutan used to be known as the Bamboo Region.¡± Professor Li took over, ¡°Chaghan was also known as the first general of the Yuan Dynasty! We needn¡¯t go into detail about just how muchnd the Yuan Dynasty owned. The point here is that this man¡­ basically exterminated two of the Yuan Dynasty¡¯srgest rival powers at that time, the Western Xia and the Jin Dynasty.¡±

    ¡°One of the main reasons why he¡¯s not more well-known has to do with the special status of the Yuan Dynasty. The truth of the matter is that most people don¡¯t even wish to recognize the existence of the Yuan Dynasty, since that was the first time that Cathay had been ruled by foreigners for a hundred years or so. Furthermore, it¡¯s not disputed by any historical records that the people of Cathay at that time, otherwise known as the people of the Middle Kingdom, lived an incredibly hard life during that time. The Yuan Dynasty took on the world, but was unfortunately unable to conquer the world, thereby falling just as quickly as it rose. Under the confluence of these factors, his reputation was almost concealed by posterity.¡±

    ¡°But, had he still been around at the material times, it would have been anyone¡¯s guess whether Lord Chang Yuchun would even have been able to found the Ming Dynasty together with Zhu Yuanzhang in the first ce.¡± Professor Li revealed a somewhat profound smile on his face, ¡°His name is somewhat foreign to us all, but¡­ I¡¯ll tell you his other name that I¡¯m sure everyone will recognize.¡±

    He smiled faintly, ¡°Minmin Temur.¡±

    Everyone was taken aback. Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered wildly as he mmed his hands on the table, ¡°Zhao Min?! From the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Professor Li smiled with great joy, ¡°Zhao Min, the heroine of Jin Yong¡¯s Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, is exactly based on the image of Minmin Temur, the daughter of Lord Chaghan Temur!¡±

    ¡°No wonder his name sounded so familiar.¡± Qin Ye smiled with great emotion, ¡°To think that it would actually be my father-inw¡­¡±

    Everyone was momentarily lost for words.

    The seven division heads of Yin Construction stared at Qin Ye as though they had just seen ghosts. Arthis remainedpletely expressionless. Gu Qing coughed dryly and adjusted his sses as he fervently repressed the multitude of words that were on the verge of erupting from his lips.

    ¡°Cough¡­ I was just kidding. Please carry on¡­ carry on¡­¡± Qin Ye muttered awkwardly.

    With only two feudal officials remaining, Professor An took a deep breath and continued, ¡°The next person is the one who is most likely to return to his homnd. If we were to say that Yang Jiye had a 70% chance of return, then the possibility of this man¡¯s return would be even higher, at 85%!¡±

    ¡°Yu Qian, also known as Yu Shaobao, the Lord of Lhavi."

    ¡°No¡­¡± Arthis was just about to chime in when Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, and he grabbed her sleeves tightly in an instant.

    Arthis shook his hand away and stared at Qin Ye somewhat reassuringly, as if to say that there¡¯s no such character in Honour of Kings. And then, she dropped the bombshell, ¡°He¡­ isn¡¯t he that person who coborated with Guo Degang for crosstalk? Isn¡¯t he pretty good?¡±

    Professor Li and Professor An looked as though they were struck by a curse of silence as they red at Arthis with a grievous look.

    On the other hand, Qin Ye simply leaned back and gazed vacantly at the ceiling above - Arrrrggghh¡­ I knew it would be like this. As soon as the name of Yu Qian was spoken, I just knew exactly what she was going to say¡­

    ¡°Cough¡­ well, about that¡­ Lady Arakshasa, we were just talking about Yu Qian of the Ming Dynasty¡­¡± Professor Li sought to rify his earlier statement with a pained expression on his face, ¡°The Ming Dynasty praised him for being loyal and righteous. Together with Yue Fei and Zhang Huangyan, they were known as the three heroes of West Lake. Had it not been for Lord Yu Qian, the Ming capital would have lost much to the Oirat invaders during the Tumu Crisis!¡±

    Professor An was incredibly emotional at this point, ¡°Yang Jiye aside, this man is next in line for the title of a national hero. No amount of words could possibly describe his contributions to Cathay as we know it. Your Majesty, I won¡¯t go on at length about his des and aplishments, but if you¡¯re going to meet with the feudal officials out there, I would sincerely rmend linking up with Yu Qian and Yang Jiye as soon as possible! They¡¯re the ones who will most likely stand on our side!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head and looked at thest name on the list.

    It was a familiar one¡­

    ¡°Special garrison, official of Sindhu¡­ Gao Jianli.¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and went on, ¡°Sindhu is a part of Hindustan. This is the only feudal official stationed in another underworld¡­¡±

    Just then, he paused, lowered his head slightly, and shot Arthis a deadly re, ¡°Shut up! Don¡¯t you dare say a single word!¡±

    1.

    2.

    3. Sumatra.

    4. Unfortunately, there¡¯s no english wiki entry on this man, but you can glean a little bit of information about him off the wiki page for Sui Dynasty.

    5. You can read more about how the conquest happened here -

    6. This is a Chinese MOBA.

    7.

    8. This would refer to modern day Central Asia.

    9.

    10. SSR is a term of reference to the rarity of cards in games where lootboxes abound. The ranks are generally as follows - N: Normal; R: Rare; SR: Super Rare; UR: Ultra Rare; SSR: Superior Super Rare.

    11. Bhutan.

    12.

    13.

    14. This is a reference to the famous wuxia novel by Jin Yong.

    15. Nepal.

    16. Guo Degang is a famous chinese crosstalkedian and actor.

    17.

    18.

    19. Sindhu Kingdom is in fact an ancient kingdom that upies the northwestern part of India as we know it.

 Chapter 295: Whoâ€™s Good, Whoâ€™s Bad?

    <h4>Chapter 295: Who''s Good, Who''s Bad?</h4>

    Arthis was extremely displeased.

    She felt as though Qin Ye was getting more disrespectful with each day that passed. To think that what was once a budding Emissary of Hell had in the short span of a year grown so brazen to warn a judge with such a disrespectful tone of voice!

    Unfortunately, none of the rest cared about her feelings right now.

    Qin Ye stood up with a solemn expression, and the rest soon followed suit. Everyone stared at the map with indescribablyplex feelings.

    The pressure on them was just too great. It wouldn¡¯t be too far fetched to say that they were currently facing thousands of years of Cathayan history all at once. The prospects of every single envoy rising up against them was the stuff that would keep people up at night.

    Lord of Lan Xang, Zhou Gongjin, also known as Zhou Yu!

    Lord of the Khmer Empire, Guo Ziyi!

    Lord of Siam, Prince of Kaiping, Chang Yuchun!

    Lord of Bagan, Ma Fubo, also known as Ma Yuan!

    Lord of Sanfotsi, the lord of many isles, Han Qinhu!

    Lord of Mya, Ban Chao, also known as Ban Dingyuan!

    Lord of Jiaozhi, Prince of Lanling, Gao Changgong!

    Lord of Singapura, Wang Meng!

    Lord of Luzon, Yang Jiye!

    Lord of the Bamboo Region, Chaghan Temur!

    Lord of Lhavi, Yu Qian!

    Last but not least, Gao Jianli, Official of Sindhu, the special garrison of Hell. These were the twelve envoys who were listed on the map.

    This was a lineupposed of the great historical legends over thousands of years. Anyone faced with the prospects of confronting them would undoubtedly brim with a confluence of both excitement and fear.

    ¡°The only good news right now is that none of them will be stronger than an Infernal Judge.¡± Arthis stated gravely, ¡°Unfortunately¡­ you don¡¯t get any merit points for killing blight vermin. Otherwise¡­ if we can boost your rank to that of an Infernal Judge, things would go much smoother for us at the end of the year.¡±

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at the twelve names in front of him. And then, he suddenly blurted out, ¡°Why isn¡¯t Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s name listed there? Isn¡¯t he the Lord of Daehan?¡±

    ¡°Emperor Wu of Song is indeed a feudal official, but he¡¯s a special case.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°Do you know something? His abilities were personally sealed off by the most powerful entity of Hell that ever existed - the second King Yanluo himself. He can never be promoted any further unless otherwise approved by the second King Yanluo. Back then, the fear was that Hell would no longer be able to control him as soon as he joined the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect or even Yama-King. Thus, he¡¯s not part of the twelve envoys. He has every right to be held in higher regard than the twelve envoys, but he¡¯s technically still a feudal official through and through.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that, you¡¯ll also be pleased to know that a feudal official should not have more than ten thousand soldiers under hismand. This should be the best news to us yet.¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief as he turned to the two professors, ¡°Both of you, I¡¯d like to hear your thoughts on the matter.¡±

    Cathay was surrounded by thirteen other factions. Each of these factions should have been considered no more than a tributary state that was ready to serve the master in the middle. But now¡­ they were all ncing over at the throne with avaricious gazes. How many of them were there that still esteemed Cathay as they did in the past?

    It was only natural that they reviewed the risks before the work actually began. They needed to distinguish between friend and foe, so that they could consolidate their forces to fend off the rest. The more they could achieve right now, the stronger their negotiating power at the imperial court meeting, and the more Hell could benefit at the end of the day. In fact¡­ if everything went well for them, they might even be able to bring back several feudal officials to serve Hell altogether!

    ¡°Yes.¡± The two professors exchanged nces, and then coughed softly, ¡°Actually, this map might contain more information than meets the eye. Given the principles of governance that ancient rulers generally go by, the more loyal feudal officials would be assigned to feudal states that are further away. The converse is true as well - the closer the feudal states are, the more likely it is that the corresponding feudal officials are harder to control. Emperor Wu of Song, Liu Yu, who lords over Daehan is a good example of this. After all, he¡¯s only a stone¡¯s throw away from the three eastern provinces of Cathay¡­¡±

    Tap¡­ Just then, Arthis smacked the table gently and raised her eyes, ¡°I just remembered something.¡±

    She suddenly got to her feet, ced her hands behind her back and began to pace around, ¡°The three eastern provinces are garrisoned with 120,000 soldiers that are led by General Xu Da. They must have been garrisoned there for the primary purpose to keep an eye on Emperor Wu of Song, while maintaining a close eye on the Nipponese underworld as well. After all¡­ it doesn¡¯t take more than a few hours to get to Daehan and Nippon from the three eastern provinces.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Professor Li pointed to the map and continued, ¡°Let¡¯s take a closer look. First up, we¡¯ve got the Lord of Lan Xang, Zhou Gongjin. The vassal state isn¡¯trge, but it shares a border with Cathay. Therefore, there¡¯s a possibility that Zhou Gongjin might not be as much of an ally as we¡¯d like him to be!¡±

    Nobody responded. Truth be told, it was quite difficult to ept that such a famous historical figure borne out of Cathay¡¯s history would turn against his homnd.

    It was more psychological than it was rational.

    ¡°Naturally, there¡¯s more. The fact that Zhou Gongjin has been ced in charge of a rtively small territory with limited supplies lends credence to the fact that Hell was trying to limit his potential. Those who are truly loyal to thend generally wouldn¡¯t be ced in charge of such territories. That said, there¡¯s another possibility¡­¡±

    The two professors exchanged a nce, and Professor An took over, ¡°And that is that Zhou Gongjin ispletely loyal to Hell, and he was appointed as feudal official over Lan Xang precisely because Lan Xang is located right between the borders of Great Viet, Siam, Birmania and Cathay. It¡¯s geographical significance means that it would take a powerful and loyal envoy of Hell to hold the fort! If this were the reason why Zhou Gongjin were appointed as Lord of Lan Xang in the first ce, then there would be a 70% chance that he would be willing to return to Hell and submit to us.¡±

    ¡°Truth be told, it¡¯ll be quite hard to tell where his allegiance lies at this point in time. Those who had submitted to a major unified dynasty would tend to feel a greater sense of belonging to Cathay at this point in time. Unfortunately, Zhou Gongjin lived in an era where his deference was not to a major unified dynasty, and in the absence of other information about Hell¡¯s decision making process at the material times, it¡¯s anyone''s guess as to where his allegiance lies right now.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t express his thoughts on this matter. Instead, he simply listened intently and then nodded his head, ¡°Please go on.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Your Majesty, we go on to consider some of the others. Lord of the Khmer Empire Guo Ziyi, Lord of Mya Ban Dingyuan, Lord of Luzon Yang Jiye, Lord of Singapura Wang Meng, Lord of Sanfotsi Han Qinhu, and Lord of Lhavi Yu Qian - these six feudal officials are all geographically located far away from Cathay. At the very least, we can be certain that these officials were at some point in time loyal to the old Hell. Most importantly, they all existed in a time when a major unified dynasty was around, and they were all known for their loyalty to their emperor andnd at the material times. In fact, Guo Ziyi, Ban Dingyuan, Wang Meng and Han Qinhu were all known as the pirs of their respective dynasties. Therefore, I sincerely believe that¡­¡±

    He drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°We might just be able to draw these people back to the new Hell.¡±

    Arthis interjected, ¡°What about Gao Jianli?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡± Both professors sighed at the same time, ¡°If he learns that the old Hell has copsed, then, in the worst case scenario, he might just ry that information to the Hindustani underworld. If such a high ranking officer of ours defects to the other side¡­ the consequences could well be dire!¡±

    Qin Ye was in full agreement with the views of the two professors.

    It made sense that the most reliable and loyal ones should be ced further away, and the ones less so should be kept closer to Hell for ease of scrutiny.

    That deals with the two uncertainties, Zhou Gongjin and Gao Jianli, as well as the six who might just return to Hell, namely Yu Qian, Guo Ziyi, Ban Dingyuan, Wang Meng, Han Qinhu and Yang Jiye¡­ then that leaves¡­

    Qin Ye nced at the map once more.

    Ma Fubo, Gao Changgong, Chang Yuchun, Chaghan, and Emperor Wu of Song¡­ They belonged to vassal states located closest to Cathay! In other words, they were the ones that the old Hell was most wary of!

    The two professors immediately understood the thoughts on Qin Ye¡¯s mind as soon as they noticed his gaze. Thus, they promptly continued with their exnations, ¡°Gao Changgong didn¡¯t exist in the time of a major unified dynasty. Instead, he lived through the time of the Northern Qi dynasty, until he¡­ was murdered by poison. To make matters worse, it was the emperor who poisoned him because he felt threatened by Gao Changgong¡¯s achievements. And this happened in spite of the fact that Gao Changgong had done everything he could to keep a low profile. My best guess is that he had only reluctantly epted the fiefdom of the Great Viet at his conferment because the old Hell was already a great power by then, and he wasn¡¯t willing to betray Hell for a foreignnd at that time.¡±

    ¡°Emperor Wu of Song, or Liu Yu, is quite the foregone conclusion. Having been an emperor, he would never truly be willing to submit to anyone else. Chaghan Temur is also another foregone conclusion. Among all famous generals across the history of Cathay, he was the one who had control over the mostnd and territories. Furthermore, he despises the Han Chinese to the core. It¡¯s only natural that a person like him would be ced right under the watchful gaze of the old Hell. Moving on, General Ma Fubo enjoyed great glory in his life. Unfortunately, after his death, he was falsely used of many crimes, and the reigning emperor at that time posthumously stripped Ma Fubo of his fief and title. He wasn¡¯t even given a proper burial for a period of time. It was only when Ma Fubo¡¯s wife made the sixth application to the emperor that he finally relented. And then, it was only when Ma Fubo¡¯s wife died that he finally allowed them to be buried in a tomb and have a shrine built for their remembrance.¡±

    Professor Li sighed, ¡°Having be a sentient spirit upon death, he would most certainly have witnessed all of these things¡­ I¡¯m afraid¡­ that it¡¯s unlikely we¡¯ll be able to gather these people under our wings for now.¡±

    That¡¯s a pity¡­ Qin Ye sighed secretly. Gao Jianli and Zhou Yu aside, at least he was now finally aware of who his likely friends and foe were.

    These opponents¡­ truly give me goosebumps when I think about it!

    Professor An frowned, ¡°But what I find most puzzling is¡­ why Lord Chang Yuchun¡¯s territory is located in such close proximity with Cathay?¡±

    ¡°Back then, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the execution of practically all of his ministers, but he left Chang Yuchun untouched by these policies. Chang Yuchun eventually died of illness at the age of forty¡­ Logically speaking, he should hold no grievances against the state or the emperor at that time. Perhaps¡­ it was his heart that had changed over thest few centuries instead? That might have led to the change in his fiefdom.¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye stood up and ced his hands behind his back as he walked up to the map once more. Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes were filled with a bright gleam as he stared at Qin Ye. Every single cell in his body was filled with an intent to do battle. His body was raring to go, and he had never felt more alive in centuries.

    Perhaps¡­ I¡¯ve returned to life in order to wage war against these timeless warlords¡­

    Oda Nobunaga wasn¡¯t arrogant. After all, those who were arrogant andcent would never be fit to unify and rule over a nation.

    Nippon had always taken a keen interest in Cathayan history.

    Thus, Oda Nobunaga was well aware that the Nipponese Warring States era was nothing but a drop in the ocean whenpared to the extent of strife and war that had run rampant throughout Cathay to date. Whenever he read about the Cathayan history, he would alwaysment about being born in the wrong era and in the wrong country. But now¡­ Oda Nobunaga was finally faced with the prospects of squaring off against Chang Yuchun, Ma Fubo, Chaghan Temur, Gao Changgong, and possibly even Zhou Yu and Gao Jianli!

    He was absolutely stoked!

    In fact, the only other time that his heart had stirred this much was when he had earlier been promised the opportunity to fulfil his age-old dream of conquering and unifying Nippon!

    Qin Ye remained silent, but Murai Sadakatsu couldn¡¯t hold back any longer, and he promptly cupped his hands respectfully to Qin Ye, ¡°Your Majesty, the Oda n wees battle any time!¡±

    Like a chain reaction, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s heart stirred greatly, and he stepped forward as well, ¡°Lord Qin, the Oda n would do everything in its power to keep Hell safe from any danger!¡±

    The me in his eyes flickered wildly and passionately as he muttered hoarsely, ¡°I can¡¯t wait¡­ I can¡¯t wait to cross swords with these legends¡­¡±

    Qin Ye lifted his head to the ceiling, and then he suddenly chuckled coldly, ¡°Why, then, the world¡¯s mine oyster, which I with sword will open. That said¡­ Lord Nobunaga, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯re going to be disappointed. We¡¯re not going to be able to cross swords with them for at least the next twenty years.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga took a deep breath, ¡°Then, what happens after twenty years?¡±

    Qin Ye licked his lips, ¡°After twenty years¡­ I¡¯ll personally take back everything that belongs to Hell - one by one! Then¡­ I¡¯ll help you fulfill your dreams of conquering and unifying Nippon! I¡¯ve given you my word, so I¡¯ll do everything within my abilities to fulfill my promises!¡±

    The feudal territories¡¯ submission as vassal states will cause Hell¡¯s poption size to surge greatly. Then, with that many great generals now under my charge, perhaps we can even expand the horizon of Hell¡¯s ambitions beyond thends of Nippon¡­

    ¡°Certainly¡­ I¡¯ll bide my time.¡± Oda Nobunaga fervently repressed the desire to do battle in his heart, before taking a step back to his original ce.

    The most important thing right now is still internal development after all¡­ What¡¯s the purpose of reiming our lost territory? Isn¡¯t it precisely because we want to increase the size of the poption under our charge? Qin Ye sighed wistfully - Besides, what can we do when we¡¯re not strong enough? We can only bide our time for now. The imperial court meeting will take ce at the end of the year. That¡¯s when we¡¯ll know who¡¯s for us, and who¡¯s against us.

    And then, we can start to n ahead and strategize.

    We can think about where to ce garrisons of troops, where to establish ports for trade, and even¡­ where we can establish new cities!

    ¡°Everyone.¡± He swept a profound gaze at everyone present, ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone is clear on the identities of our immediate threats right now.¡±

    ¡°From now on, I¡¯ll be spending most of my time in the new Hell until the induction ceremony for the Book of Life and Death!¡±

    ¡°This time, I want the ceremony to be magnificent andvish, so as to inspire confidence across everyone in Hell! Su Dongxue!¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Su Dongxue stepped out and cupped her hands respectfully.

    ¡°You¡¯re in charge of the ceremony. I¡¯m not concerned about the exact details about it, so do as you see fit. But if it¡¯s not up to my standards, then¡­ you can count yourself fired.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Then, Qin Ye turned to the two professors, ¡°Professor Li, Professor An, there¡¯s still something more I¡¯ll need your help with.¡±

    ¡°Please give us your instructions.¡±

    ¡°The Book of Life and Death contains the power to summon an ancient army - one of the five unparalleled units. I¡¯d like you to pick out the unit that will be most suited for Hell¡¯s purposes right now.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye turned to everyone else and concluded solemnly, ¡°Everyone, let me conclude with a sinct message. I want to see Hell thriving with growth and prosperity by the end of the year! I want the visiting feudal officials to realize that even if we¡¯re nothingpared to them right now, we will be as good as or even better than them in just a few short decades from now! Hell will always be Hell. Hell is the only one that deserves to be the face of the Cathayan underworld! A vassal state shall never rise above us! The dao of the Yanluos shall reign supreme!¡±

    ¡°All who are unable to bring us closer to this goal can leave right now! Now, let me ask this - can we do this?!¡±

    Everyone cupped their hands and cried out in unison, ¡°Rest assured, my lord!¡±

    1.

    2. He lived from 541-573.

    3. This is actually a shakespearean quote.

 Chapter 296: Busy Summer Holidays

    <h4>Chapter 296: Busy Summer Holidays</h4>

    Local Bully was displeased.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Su Feng responded indifferently, ¡°The next semester is also the final academic semester before we delve into actualbat training. There¡¯s still quite a fair bit to cover. So, even if I¡¯ve finished preparing the lesson ns, I¡¯ll still need to spend the next several days reviewing it¡­ Speaking of which, can you please make sure you¡¯re not dragging the name of the ze Squad through the dirt? What else do you have to show for it apart from your appearances? Qin Ye here has already maintained his top spot in the rankings for an entire semester. Haven¡¯t you ever thought about ying catch up for once?¡±

    The other two instantly felt a prickling sensation on their hearts.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not the point!¡± Local Bully couldn¡¯t hold his attention span for longer than five seconds, and he immediately stood on his bed, eximing with great passion, ¡°So what about teaching credits?! I don¡¯t care for that! Is there even any meaning in being someoneparable to Einstein? What¡¯s most important is the social tonight! There¡¯s going to be a total of thirteen female instructors joining the Combat Faculty! I¡¯d treated them to a week¡¯s worth of milk tea before they finally agreed to invite me to the social, and you guys aren¡¯t even interested in attending it?!¡±

    To make matters worse, he hadn¡¯t even finished going through the contents of the first Qiankun Pouch he had opened.

    It all began with the inception of ideas and theories of Yin soldiers, to the appearance of the first batch of Yin soldiers when Goddess Mother Earth transformed her body into the six paths of reincarnation, and then down to the details of the finest considerations involved the Yin soldiers¡¯ ongoing process of adaptation and transformation. It even discussed how talismans should be drawn, why they chose a particr style of weapons, and why a particr material was even chosen. It waspletely enthralling, yet it also kept Qin Ye¡¯s hands tied.

    But before Qin Ye could even respond, Lin Han immediately raised a finger and pointed it straight to his face, ¡°Don¡¯t say a word! I knew you were up to no good! Just look at that worn-out expression on your face! Come clean - which female student have you hooked up with this time?!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re only trying to get another week¡¯s worth of free milk tea off you. They like the fact that you¡¯re no different from a loyal dog. If you ask me, we¡¯d be no different from their essories at the social.¡± Su Feng propped up his sses, ¡°Whatever the case might be, I¡¯m not attending. On that note, I¡¯ll be applying to write a thesis paper next semester as well. I intend topete with Qin Ye for the top spot¡­ Speaking of which, Local Bully, we¡¯re both products of the SRC, so why does there seem to be such a huge chasm between our respective images?¡±

    Su Feng appeared knowledgable and exuded the vibe of an elite, while Lin Han appeared as though he was on the other end of the spectrum - he was one who should be broken apart and studied as a specimen.

    With that, he left Lin Han¡¯s room and returned to his own dorm room.

    The part of the scroll that remained unopened was approximately one meter thick, and it dragged out across the ground. The part on the bed was filled with countless words and the drawings of various bizarre talismans. Arthis sat on the other side of the room, sorting through the other Qiankun Pouches. Qin Ye drew a deep breath and sighed in resignation as he picked up the scroll and continued reading where he left off.

    ¡°... Year 249 of Hell. Three million Yin soldiers marched against Shikoku of Nippon, and the Nipponese Yin solders were crushed instantly. Their artillery could not even breach our defensive formations and break our ranks. Izanami, goddess of the Nipponese underworld, surrendered in the same year. Thenceforth, the eastern and northern parts of Cathay were ascribed as Hell¡¯s territory¡­¡±

    Naturally, these weren¡¯t the only words written on the scroll. If it were, it wouldn¡¯t have weighed more than over a dozen pounds.

    ¡°The old Hell was particrly focused on technological development.¡± Arthis took a break from her sorting duties and poured herself a cup of coffee, ¡°The Yin Congration Cannon is the smallest weapon of mass destruction, and it looks no different to an ordinary cannon in the mortal realm. However, the crossbow and the coffin are weapons that are in the region of twenty to thirty meters in size. Furthermore, they¡¯re so dense and heavy that regr Yin spirits cannot possibly shift them about. Only Judges possess sufficient strength to shift them about. Unfortunately, most Judges aremanders of an army in their own right, so they would never condescend themselves to executing such a simple, menial task like this.¡±

    ¡°Yin beasts.¡± Arthis leaned over and pointed to the scroll, ¡°Yin beasts would generally appear when Hell expands into the size of a county. Then, as Hell expands, so does the strength and variety of Yin beasts that do. Thus, you can only imagine the strength and size of the Yin beasts that would appear by the time Hell reaches the size of an entire district. Some of these can even be tamed and used as part of the main force on the battlefield.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded thoughtfully. He was getting a clearer picture of the old Hell with each day that passed.

    He wasn¡¯t certain of the extent of technological advancements of the other underworlds at this point in time. However, given the rate of technological growth in the mortal realm, it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to say that the underworlds couldn¡¯t possibly be far behind.

    Money!

    Who¡¯s going to work for you if they don¡¯t get paid? I¡¯ve just been encouraging them to save up and work towards the purchase of real estate in Hell, so wouldn¡¯t I be giving myself a tight p in the face if I don¡¯t pay them their wages in the very next breath?

    Qin Ye rubbed his swollen eyes and set down his pen. His fingers were going numb with all the scribbling he had done.

    ¡°I used to think that all the high-ranking officials of the country did was to saunter about, unting their authority and power as they indulged in wine and other forms of debauchery. But I¡¯ve only just discovered that that¡¯s not the case¡­¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples and furrowed his brows, ¡°What¡¯s Su Dongxue doing? Isn¡¯t she done with the reorganization of the government just yet? Do I really have to go through everything over here?¡±

    Whatever happened to the promise of rxing drinks by day and thepany of models at clubs by night?

    Just then, almost as though she could detect Qin Ye¡¯s despondent thoughts, Arthis suddenly paused and stared daggers at Qin Ye, sizing him up from top to toe with a murderous gaze.

    And then, there was the Scarlet Sunset Senior Citizens Welfare Group that was applying for the establishment of a pension scheme for old folks. I¡¯ll be damned! What the Hell does the age of one¡¯s body have to do with the ongoing existence of Yin spirit altogether?! Are you tempting me to destroy humanity altogether?!

    ¡°A single factory building requires hundreds of thousands of square meters¡­ If I¡¯m going to be allocating a hundred hectares ofnd as reserve for these purposes¡­ and I still have to locate it some distance away from Qin Gardens Phase One¡­¡± Qin Ye slumped back weakly onto his bed, as though he were sinking deeper and deeper into the mires of despair, ¡°There¡¯s just not enough space to go around¡­ A vige sized Hell just isn¡¯t big enough right now¡­¡±

    No¡­ no, and still no¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s heart was on fire. He was practically on the verge of calling back to Hell and demanding that the entire system bepleted by tomorrow¡­ Then, just as he was about to retract his hand from the stack of reports, he suddenly paused and did a double take at the veryst document in the stack.

    ¡°Urgent report?¡± His eyes twinkled brightly as he picked it up.

    ¡°Report on the establishment of Hell¡¯s mary system - working report number one.¡± Qin Ye was immediately filled with a bad premonition of what was toe. He promptly flipped the report to thest page.

    Sender: Huang Liangchuan.

 Chapter 297: Monetary Crisis (1)

    <h4>Chapter 297: Mary Crisis (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye picked up the piece of paper and took a closer look at it, and his eyes instantly lit up. His heart began to race.

    A ck-coloured banknote.

    The flipside of the note bore Qin Ye¡¯s portrait, and there was even a faint watermark of his silhouette right in the center of the note.

    This was the first banknote of the new Hell!

    Then, before Qin Ye could even respond to herments, the note suddenly flew out of his hand and appeared in Arthis¡¯ hand in the very next moment. She studied it carefully and sighed with an exmation, ¡°It¡¯s indeed exquisitely made. Huang Liangchuan has pulled out all the stops this time. The design is far better than the notes used by the old Hell. That said, you have to think carefully before you set things in motion, because you probably won¡¯t be able to make any changes to it for the next hundred years or so once you implement it.¡±

    ¡°An Abyssal Prefect is an entity that can already influence a province or even a district altogether, and it naturally wouldn¡¯t take more than the flick of a wrist in order to brand a million banknotes all at once. Even if I go all out, I won¡¯t be able to brand more than a hundred thousand notes or two at any one point in time. That might suffice given Hell¡¯s poption right now, but I¡¯ll be overwhelmed as soon as Hell¡¯s poption size increases. And if nobody¡¯s an Abyssal Prefect at that time, then we might well have no choice but to roll out a fresh set of anti-counterfeiting measures¡­ Hang on, I know that gaze of yours¡­ What the hell are you thinking right now?!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and he smiled awkwardly, ¡°How¡¯s that possible? Do you really think that I¡¯m such an unreasonable King Yanluo¡­? Ah-ha-ha-ha¡­¡±

    With that, she vanished instantly.

    I guess I really can¡¯t afford to provoke her¡­ He sighed and picked up Huang Liangchuan¡¯s report once more.

    What¡¯s going on?!

    ¡°SHIT!!¡± He cursed at the top of his voice, activated the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and then vanished from his room a momentter.

    Back at Hell¡¯s Gate, right behind the statue of Ksitigarbha.

    Unfortunately, nobody could give him a response. After all, the answer was obvious. Huang Liangchuan sank into the stool beside him and rubbed his temples furiously.

    ¡°But we really did encounter a problem.¡± Huang Liangchuan responded in exasperation, ¡°So, what are we going to do now? How are we going to go on with the production? Where are the materials going toe from? What do you think¡­ Lord Qin is going to say when he finally arrives?¡±

    BOOM!

    ¡°I¡­ was wrong¡­¡± His mind instantly went nk. Everything he had earlier prepared to say waspletely useless in the face of Qin Ye¡¯s fury, and he knew that the best way to pacify Qin Ye was to wholeheartedly admit his ineptitude without qualification.

    The entire Hell¡¯s Gate went silent in an instant. The Death Inquisitors seated at the front of Hell¡¯s Gate immediately lowered their voices to a hush, while the Yin spirits approaching them stared apprehensively at the statue of Ksitigarbha. Just like that, there was a protracted period of tense silence, and it took Qin Ye dozens of seconds before he gradually managed to calm himself down. The amount of Yin energy billowing from his seven apertures began to subside. He snorted coldly as he slowly made his way to the annex hall, ¡°Follow me. What are you still doing standing there? Can standing around get us any work done?!¡±

    Back in the annex hall, Su Dongxue sensibly dispersed the rest of the staff the moment she sensed Qin Ye¡¯s explosive fury, clearing out a space so that Qin Ye could take his seat. Arthis was already seated to the side. Qin Ye unceremoniously sat on the throne and knocked lightly on the table. Then, he swept a cold nce at the entire troupe of people following him into the room, before finally speaking in a cold voice, ¡°Speak. What are your thoughts.¡±

    The more he spoke, the more infuriated he got, until he finally smacked the table and shot to his feet. Smack! Yin energy erupted from his body once more, and he transformed into his Hell¡¯s Emissary state in an instant. This time, Huang Liangchuan knew he couldn¡¯t hold back any longer, and he immediately fell to his knees and pleaded with a hoarse voice, ¡°Your Majesty¡­ I didn¡¯t expect it either¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t justifiably pin the me entirely on Huang Liangchuan either. After all, Huang Liangchuan did tell him that he had no prior experience with the implementation of a mary system altogether. Besides, he was reestablishing Hell from scratch, and he was most certainly bound to encounter some obstacles and bumps along the way. As a ruler and leader, it was also part of his duties not to condemn his subjects just because of a single mistake.

    The annex hall was so silent that Qin Ye¡¯s intense and ragged breaths were clearly audible to everyone. Huang Liangchuan was on tenterhooks, and every second that passed felt like days on end. A full minuteter, Qin Ye finally spoke up with a somewhat softer tone of voice, ¡°Get up, take a seat, and tell me what exactly is going on over here.¡±

    In that regard, Qin Ye knew full well that the needless venttion of his fury wouldn¡¯t go any way in resolving the mess that had arisen.

    ¡°Your Majesty, it¡¯s like this.¡± Huang Liangchuan¡¯s subordinate picked up another ck banknote and exined, ¡°We¡¯re currently able to mass produce the banknotes that you see right now. But¡­ even though they appear to be rather exquisite, I¡¯m afraid that they¡¯re not quite ready for cirction just yet.¡±

    ¡°Because of its poor resistance to abrasion.¡± Huang Liangchuan¡¯s subordinate exined, ¡°We ran an abrasion resistance test on the prototype note as soon as we printed it, only to realize that it breaks down very quickly. This is due to the ordinary paper that we¡¯re printing it on.¡±

    With a bitter expression, Huang Liangchuan continued where his subordinate left off, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of these inks. The production and use of these inks are so tightly controlled by the state that they even send military escorts for the purposes of transportation. Following that, we emboss the sheets, print a unique serial number on each note, and then cut the sheets to shape. I¡¯d initially thought that the paper and ink could be reced with regr ones. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    Qin Ye looked at the note. The surface of the note was fuzzy and damaged all around, and it looked almost as though it had been used for several years on end.

    ¡°By our estimate, this is how the banknotes will start to look after changing hands only a hundred times.¡± Huang Liangchuan sighed, ¡°On the other hand, the banknotes from the mortal realm are far more durable, oftensting well more than a year despite the number of times they change hands. Thus¡­ Mr Huang made the decision to halt production.¡±

    He mmed the bill onto the table and swept his gaze across Huang Liangchuan¡¯s subordinates, ¡°You knew that the consequences were dire, so why didn¡¯t you say anything earlier? Did we really have to wait for themencement of production before these things were disclosed to me? Furthermore, the existence of colour shifting ink and cotton paper must be ssified as state secrets, so how did you learn of it? Who exactly are you?¡±

    <hr>

    1. You can read more about the colour shifting ink and cotton paper at the following websites respectively:

 Chapter 298: Monetary Crisis (2)

    <h4>Chapter 298: Mary Crisis (2)</h4>

    He wasn¡¯t tall. Apart from a slightly squarish face of his, nothing else stood out in particr. He was fraught with anxiety when faced with Qin Ye¡¯s sudden line of questions, and he rubbed his hands together nervously as he replied, ¡°Your Majesty, all of the banknotes in Cathaye from Central Mint of Cathay and its eleven subsidiarypanies. Three of these eleven subsidiaries are banknote factories, located in Lotus City, Kunshan City, and Baoding City. I¡¯ve had the privilege of working in the Kunshan banknote factory in Su Province.¡±

    No wonder they only discovered something amiss after carrying out the abrasion resistance test. Qin Ye sighed. The fire in his heart hadpletely subsided by now.

    They were at a critical juncture of Hell¡¯s development right now, and Qin Ye knew that it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to strip Huang Liangchuan of his title and order a sudden and abrupt change in leadership. Since Huang Liangchuan had already been in charge for such a long time, it was definitely the more prudent thing to let him continue being in charge.

    ¡°I¡¯d previously thought that the minting and the banking industry were one and the same.¡± Qin Ye remarked, ¡°I was wrong. Su Dongxue.¡±

    ¡°Make preparations for the establishment of the Central Mint of Hell. As for the director¡­¡± He nced at Huang Liangchuan¡¯s subordinate, ¡°You¡¯ll take charge for the moment.¡±

    Huang Liangchuan couldn¡¯t help but sigh to himself. His heart was fraught with surprise, dness, and remorse, all at the same time.

    He was remorseful because he felt that he didn¡¯t handle the quandary well.

    This was Qin Ye¡¯s warning.

    ¡°You guys are dismissed for now. Let me sort out my thoughts.¡± Qin Ye massaged his temple as he waved his hands dismissively, and Huang Liangchuan and the rest promptly took their leave. It was only then that Qin Ye leaned back into his chair and stared vacantly at the ceiling, asking aloud, ¡°What should we do?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. The amount of those things they could produce was far too low. Besides, the raw materials of gold, silver and copper were far too expensive, and it wasn¡¯t something that they could obtain with just several billion RMB.

    ¡°Su Dongxue, what are your views?¡± Having discovered Su Dongxue to be a gem in the rough when ites to matters of governance, Qin Ye made it a point to guide her along as and when he could.

    That¡¯s true. Qin Ye sighed and stood up, tapping his fingers gently on the table as he fell into deep thought.

    That said, the establishment and implementation of the mary system could even be said to be crucial to the further development of Hell! Hundreds of tons of goods were flooding the market, while several production lines were in the process of being set up. Hell needed a system of currency in order to support its burgeoning market! And if they were to establish trade routes with other feudal officials at the end of the year, then the existence of amon currency would be even more crucial!

    Out of the question. It was far too antiquated. Besides, everyone used paper currency. Was Qin Ye really about to tell the feudal officials that the new Hell didn¡¯t even have a system of paper currency in ce? How primitive would they appear to be?

    He mulled over these matters for approximately half an hour more, before finally sighing wistfully, ¡°Issue a notice. Inform all of our citizens that the implementation of the mary system will be slightly dyed. This isn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing to them. After all, the system of currency is a form of restriction since it forces them to go to work. But given how things are, it looks like I¡¯ll have no choice but to give them sometitude to be mischievous now.¡±

    The scribes behind recorded everything which Qin Ye said without even lifting their heads. Then, just as Qin Ye was finally about to take his leave, Arthis quipped, ¡°How about asking what¡¯s-his-name, that old man who you saved thest time?¡±

    Su Dongxue raised her hand and boldly asked, ¡°Your Majesty, then will next month¡¯s induction ceremony for the divine artifact go on as scheduled?¡±

    As soon as Qin Ye returned to his dorm room, he immediately flipped open hisptop and began searching fervently.

    ¡°Banknote paper is a resource that is unique to each country. Both the materials required and the production method are generally considered top secret. All who are discovered in possession of these items can be prosecuted byw.¡± -- Baidu.

    ¡°Cotton paper is generally free from impurity, is naturally white, and requires no fluorescent brighteners. If exposed to ultraviolet light, it remains devoid of fluorescent reactions. In contrast, ordinary printing paper contains considerably more fluorescent brighteners, and they would tend to glow with a blue or violet light under ultraviolet light.¡± -- Google.

    Colour shifting ink was something that was even more precious than cotton paper, and Qin Ye didn¡¯t even want to open that can of worms. After all, these were controlled items that were exclusively transported by way of military convoys.

    ¡°Not good.¡± Qin Ye tapped on his keyboard, ¡°The only conclusion I have after an entire afternoon of research is this - forget about it.¡±

    He sipped his coffee gently and nced out of the window at the basketball court. Even though it was already end-July, there were still several well-built figures ying basketball on the court.

    He snorted coldly as he set down his coffee mug heavily, ¡°I refuse to believe that I¡¯ll get tripped up by something like this!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    If a government were intent on suppressing the true effects of a piece of news, the citizens generally wouldn¡¯t be able to sense anything amiss at all. It was just like news of the US-China trade war of 2018. What happened then?

    With that, Qin Ye temporarily shelved his concerns about the mary system and invested his time and effort into the construction efforts of Hell. He began to distribute and allocate the resources to the various departments, and he soon saw more and more citizens applying to be part of the construction team in Hell. Soon, new divisions were formed, blueprints were approved, and the booming construction industry finally entered into full swing.

    The entire organization was temporarily located in the left annex hall of Hell¡¯s Gate. The right annex hall was designated as the hall where important meetings requiring Qin Ye¡¯s personal attendance were conducted. When no such meetings were ongoing, it would be upied by the vigemittee of Hell instead.

    In other words, every inch of space within Hell¡¯s Gate waspletely and fully utilized. Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t any alternatives avable right now. The governmental building, the vige hall, and buildings holding the other major institutions of Hell were all still under construction, and they would only be avable next year, at the very earliest.

    15 August. Gu Qing heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had finallypleted his surveying and nning works. Following that, he began to delve into the design works of the important buildings which Hell needed as soon as possible.

    After all, the age of military prowess was generally consonant with the age of prosperity.

    The great induction ceremony of the first divine artifact of Hell was finally at hand.

    ¡°We¡¯re all set.¡± Professor Li and Professor An were waiting just outside the door. Qin Ye responded, ¡°Have you decided on which of the five unparalleled units we should be summoning?¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment. He didn¡¯t expect them to have chosen the ck Armored Troops. The two professors promptly exined, ¡°My Lord, Mr Oda has said that we¡¯ll soon see an influx of heavy armor. Incidentally, the ck Armored Troops are known to be an indomitable force, akin to tanks in modern warfare if you will. Of the five unparalleled units, the ck Armored Troops would bestplement the heavy armor spoken of by Mr Oda.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice came from the rafters above, ¡°We¡¯re going to put on a show that will forever be etched in their memories. Not even I have experienced any of the things you¡¯ve just mentioned¡­ so these Yin spirits can truly count their lucky stars that they¡¯ll personally witness all three at the same time!¡±

 Chapter 299: Divine Artifact Induction Ceremony (1)

    <h4>Chapter 299: Divine Artifact Induction Ceremony (1)</h4>

    His tongue hung out of his mouth in a grand manner. His pupils were white, his irises were ck, and his flowing white hair wasbed back neatly¡­ No matter how he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he couldn¡¯t help but feel an innate sense of pride at being one of the most beautiful Hellguards that existed right now¡­

    Arthis didn¡¯t understand why, nor did he bother exining it to her. Thus, he was probably the only one who understood the true significance of this event - that is, to establish the worldview of the Yin spirits in Hell.

    There was still going to be the same economic, society, culture and humanities that were seen in the mortal realm. However, it also had apletely different side to things, with the mix of Yin energy, magic arts, and Yin soldiers. The entuation of the differences is the only way to help all Yin spirits around thoroughly recognize that they are dead, and that they are currently living in a different world with different rules. This was the only way to pave the road ahead for education, research and apletely different and more suitable, open perspective. For instance, their minds would no longer be bound by the constraints of electricity, wind energy and fuel, and they would instead expand their thoughts to incorporate considerations of Yin energy, and even¡­ life and death.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± With that, he headed out without any hesitation, to the great mor apanying the gathering of Yin spirits.

    Yin Xiangnan was a high school student.

    He died trying to save an olddy who was crossing the road. Whenever he looked back at it, he couldn¡¯t help but feel like giving himself two tight p across the cheeks - The olddy should¡¯ve known her limits! What was she doing crossing the road when the lights were red against her? Why did you even bother attempting to save her? You deserve to be hit by the oing vehicle!

    It should have been a glorious underworld, but the present location he was in was pathetically small. The only building that stood across thends was Hell¡¯s Gate. However, he wasn¡¯t a troublemaker. Even though his days in the afterlife were fraught with boredom, it was still peaceful nheless. At least¡­ until a demonic young man showed up one day.

    Incidentally, Yin Xiangnan could be considered one of the first Yin spirits of the new Hell.

    They didn¡¯t need food or drinks, nor did they have to rest at night. Their bodies were filled with energy. In fact, there was a period of time that he felt like he was going crazy with boredom, almost as though he were going to turn into a zombie from lethargy. His days were devoid of any activities of ¡°life¡± altogether!

    Ripples of excitement were seen in Hell for the first time.

    That was when they first learnt that the young man was the man in charge of raising the new Hell.

    The dark clouds over their bleak future appeared to shift away at that moment, allowing a ray of hope to peek through. At that point, it didn¡¯t matter what it was - all they wanted was something to do! Yin Xiangnan immediately signed up to be a part of Yin Construction. Unfortunately, his application was dismissed.

    There were only a few construction machines and equipment scattered across sprawlingnds, and not more than a hundred Yin spirits were involved with the construction. To make matters worse, they worked on a rotation basis. The despairing sight caused everyone¡¯s newfound enthusiasm to fizzle out quickly. Yin spirits began to gather under trees and idle about once more, chatting with others and talking about everything from their birth to their death just so that they could kill time. Yin Xiangnan felt numb and dazed, andpletely jaded at the turn of events.

    One would know despair if they didn¡¯t know hope in the first ce. Unfortunately, the new Hell had given its citizens hope, only to dash it to the rocks in the very next instant.

    Unfortunately, reverence didn¡¯t do anything to kill his boredom.

    I would have fought to live.

    I didn¡¯t want to die!

    Why isn¡¯t the brave rewarded for their courageous and valiant acts?

    A smile curled up the corner of his lips. He could still vividly recall the atmosphere around him that fateful day, when the containers opened up, revealing its contents that were filled with books, footballs, basketballs, chess sets, table-tennis equipment, and a whole host of other sports equipment and recreational amenities. Yin Xiangnan couldn¡¯t help but shed a tear of joy.

    Countless Yin spirits watched as container after container fell to the ground and opened up, revealing its contents. Their surroundings were filled with silence, save for the soft symphony of ragged breaths, sighs of relief, and whimpers of joy, which soon burgeoned into an earth-shattering cacophony of screams, cheers and shouts of tion! It was spontaneous and natural.

    But to the citizens of Hell who walk the path of the dead, the appearance of these amenities were like a lifeline to them - a breath of fresh air when they needed it most!

    That fateful day one month ago was like a point of inflexion from which a series of earth-shattering changes urred!

    I¡­ feel alive again.

    He didn''t abandon us!

    The citizens could all see for themselves the great transformation Hell was going through over the past one month. A good number of Yin spirits signed up to contribute to Hell¡¯s development in some way or other. Having interacted with the Yin spirits around him for the past year or so, Yin Xiangnan naturally had his ear close to the ground in these matters. One of his acquaintances, Mr Zhao used to be a senior locksmith back when he was alive. He applied to join a factory for building materials, and was hired on the spot as a unit director.

    He also knew of another sorrowful looking middle-aged man who had signed up with the union of factor owners. I guess he must have been rather affluent while he was still alive¡­ how nice¡­

    Additionally, most of the conversation now went along the lines of - ¡°Which department did you join?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been selected to join the government? You¡¯ll be a civil servant! Not bad!¡± ¡°Hey, you there, wanna join us for ser? It doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t know us. We can still y on the same team! Do you have anyone else you can ask?¡± ¡°Old Zhao, how about a game of chess? And then, we¡¯ll pop over to the factory this afternoon to see if they¡¯ve got more application forms avable.¡±

    Thus, he was more excited about the induction ceremony today than ever, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even sleep properly at night!

    He was brimming with excitement to see what else he could look forward to.

    ¡°Little Yin?¡± As soon as he turned the corner, he bumped into two old men in the middle of a game of chess, ¡°Are you going to the ceremony?¡±

    ¡°Nearly.¡± Uncle Wang smiled back, ¡°What time is it now anyway? Isn¡¯t it a little bit too early for the ceremony?¡±

    However, the closer he drew, the more he realized something was wrong, and he suddenly began to sprint to Hell¡¯s Gate as quickly as he could.

    Hell¡¯s Gate was now closed, and there was a huge mirror set right in front of the gate acting like a clock. The divine artifact induction ceremony was scheduled to take ce at 10 a.m. It was currently only 8 a.m., and yet he could see that the open space in front of Hell¡¯s Gate was already packed full of Yin spirits!

    How early are these people?!

    He was caught in the midst of a sea of ghosts.

    They were packed so tightly like sardines that it was impossible to move about. If not for the fact that everyone present were Yin spirits, there would most certainly have been a stampede, and quite possibly injuries or even death. Yin Xiangnan couldn¡¯t help but grumble, ¡°What the heck¡­ is this really necessary?¡±

    The smile on his face was one filled with satisfaction and abundance.

    The young spirit sighed with great emotion, ¡°If this had happened more than a month ago, perhaps only a third of the Yin spirits in Hell would be in attendance¡­ But if an approval rating poll were carried out right now, I dare say that Lord Qin would have at least 95% approval, if not 100% altogether! There¡¯s no doubt that he would have something great hidden in store for us! Do you think anyone would want to miss out on that?¡±

    But there¡¯s just too many Yin spirits¡­ It was only 9.30 a.m., and there was already a gathering of a hundred thousand Yin spirits right outside Hell¡¯s Gate like a great ck tide. Oda Nobunaga and his Umamawari horse guards were dressed in their full battle armor, maintaining security in the area. 9.40 a.m¡­ 9.50 a.m¡­ Then, as the clock struck ten, the entire Hell went silent.

    Then, a cool horn sounded amidst the silence, followed quickly by the sound of drums and sornas as a line of ghostly women dressed in ancient Tang costumes drifted right out of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    No introduction was needed at all. Everyone instantly knew that the divine artifact induction ceremony had just begun!

 Chapter 300: Divine Artifact Induction Ceremony (2)

    <h4>Chapter 300: Divine Artifact Induction Ceremony (2)</h4>

    The traditional music was befitting of the grand magnificence of Hell¡¯s Gate. A secondter, a slew ofhermes lit up all around them like constetions littering the skies at night, gently illuminating Hell.

    However, Yin Xiangnan wasn¡¯t startled at all. Instead, the mystical opening only whetted his excitement for what was toe. Thehermes in the sky appeared no different from stagelights illuminating concert halls, except that this was made of real flickering mes. But, just a momentter, all of the Yin spirits gasped in great astonishment - Yin Xiangnan included.

    Click. There was a soft sound, and Ming Shiyin instantly blossomed with a radiant light that flooded the entire area. Following that, the space right in front of the gathering of Yin spirits suddenly rippled like water, and four ten-meter tall pirs of Yin energy suddenly erupted from the ground, forming an illusory light screen on which the ceremony could be watched. Simultaneously, the main stage rose from the ground right in front of Hell¡¯s Gate. For the very first time, they noticed Hell¡¯s Gate was now decorated in red and white silken cloth. Countless paper money drifted across the skies. It was an awesome and iparably grand sight.

    Their eyes turned back to the area around the incense burners at the front of Hell¡¯s Gate, where a hundred or so young Yin spirits were now formed up in ranks. They were half-naked, wearing only traditional trousers replete with red belts and ck shoes. Each of them had a one-meterrge drum ced right in front of them. Their leader waved a majestic g around, while the rest of the young Yin spirits struck their drums with great vigor.

    Dong!

    The rhythmic sounds of the drums reverberated across every part of the new Hell. Meanwhile, as soon as the first beat of the drums rang out, the vault of the heavens above suddenly trembled, before abruptly turning into a crimson red colour.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± Yin Xiangnan¡¯s jaws dropped. This wasn¡¯t just a light show and a magic performance put together. In fact, it was far more shocking than anything that could possibly be seen back in the mortal realm! This was a gathering of a hundred thousand Yin spirits, watching the unearthly ceremony intently with their mouths agape as a million spots of mes danced eerily in the skies. It suddenly dawned on him just what it meant to be in Hell.

    It was like the mortal realm, yet it wasn¡¯t quite the same.

    The opening of the ceremony had a massive impact on their perspective of Hell. There was no electricity, no sound, no equipment, and yet¡­ everything that¡¯s happening right now was made possible solely due to the existence of Yin energy!

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Every single Yin spirit around watched the ceremony pan out on the Yin energy light screens with great astonishment. There was a buzz of subconscious exmations, ¡°How did they do all that?¡± ¡°Yin energy¡­ right? Didn¡¯t Lady Su previously mention that even regr Yin spirits can get stronger by cultivating with Yin energy?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­ That¡¯s unbelievable¡­ Everything is being done without the aid of modern equipment. In fact, the entire setup is more primitive than anything you can find in the mortal realm, and yet the effects are a thousand times more spectacr!¡±

    Prrr prrr prrr¡­ Trumpets sounded, instantly overpowering all chatter in the audience. Just then, the second round of drumming began, If one was to describe the earlier series of drumming as a slow and rhythmic beat, like the regr pounding of one¡¯s heart, then the second series of drumming could only be described as a torrential downpour of beats, yet with some measure of order amidst the chaos.

    Dong dong dong dong dong!! The drumbeats were loud and deratory, almost as though it were announcing that the age of lethargy had passed, only to give way to the age of prosperity and passion! There was no rest between the beats! Something was happening with every minute and every second that passed!

    The vibrant beats were transmitted to every corner of Hell by virtue of Qin Ye¡¯s authority, and the entire realm thumped to the beat of the drums. Simultaneously, the constetion ofhermes in the sky pulsed lightly with every beat, changing colours every now and then, from a deste ck, to a miserable white, and a striking crimson red, each of which represented the three main colours of death that filled every corner of Hell.

    ¡°Pretty good.¡± Qin Ye stood at the top of Hell¡¯s Gate. Su Dongxue was standing right beside him, and she couldn¡¯t help but blush with excitement at his words of praise. Qin Ye smiled faintly and turned around, ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve been learning from concerts in the mortal realm? You¡¯ve tied in the various elements rather cohesively.¡±

    ¡°I sincerely thank Your Majesty for the kind words!¡± Su Dongxue bowed respectfully as she half-knelt on the ground, ¡°It is as Your Majesty has said - I¡¯ve watched some concerts, only to realize that we can replicate those effects by simply manipting the Yin energy at our disposal. Hell isn¡¯t the mortal realm. An opening like this might be ostentatious, but it will surely make a statement and attract the attention of all Yin spirits around.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head. It had just the right amount of sobriety and ostentatiousness. That said, these didn¡¯t mean much.

    After all, the only thing he wanted today was the attention of all citizens of Hell!

    He would give them a show they would never forget. He wanted all of them to bring back a single message today - that they were all dead.

    The world they were in right now was the afterlife. No matter how simr it was to the mortal realm, they would still have to adjust and reset their worldview to suit their new environment.

    This was a world where the principles of steam energy and magic ran in parallel. Whetherbourers, civil servants or scientists - especially scientists - all would do well to keep this thought at the back of their minds at all times.

    The trumpets sounded for the third time. This time, it yed a joyous, celebratory tuneden with expectancy, as though paving the way for what was toe right after. It was like the sun rising in the east, painting a bright sheen across a great flowing river. It was as though dering to all of the Yin spirits that the future was here, and it was glorious, magnificent, and would never fail them!

    DONG!! The drums ceased amidst a vibrant disy ofherfireworks. And then, there was an abrupt silence.

    Yin Xiangnan¡¯s mouth was agape, excitedly discussing the proceedings with the young Yin spirit beside him when he realized the entire world appeared to be muted once more. Not a single word could be heard from his lips. And right at that moment, all of thehermes in the sky suddenly turned ck.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Yin Xiangnan took a long breath. It¡¯s about to begin¡­ It¡¯s finally about to begin¡­ That said, the earlier opening ceremony was truly refreshing!

    Drums are amazing instruments.

    The pulsing sound they made felt as though they were beating at one¡¯s heart, sending blood coursing through one¡¯s veins instantly. In fact, there were several Yin spirits who were even subconsciously tapping their hands to the beat of the drums and shouting with great excitement. The performance of drums had evidently struck a chord with the Yin spirits around, as though validating their emotions of the bygone era, and assuring them of the times that were toe.

    ¡°It¡¯s truly¡­ awesome¡­ Looks like death isn¡¯t too bad after all¡­¡± As his earlier ecstasy faded away, he stared intent at the light screens once more.

    Everything was silent. And then, the void suddenly trembled, and countless spots ofhermes began to tremble, converge and swirl about, until¡­ it opened a hole in the clouds that was tens of meters wide. Wisps of Yin energy whistled through the area as it converged and swirled about the hole, just like the eye of a typhoon. Finally, with a loud tremor, Arthis¡¯ figure began to drift out from the hole.

    She had pushed her Hell¡¯s Emissary state to the extreme this time.

    She knew she wasn¡¯t made for governance, so she chose to trust Qin Ye on this. Otherwise, he would never have been given the privilege of seeing Arthis¡¯ true form for a second time. Incidentally, this was the form which Arthis had been in when he first crossed paths with her over a year ago, back at the Naraka Abyss in the old Hell.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± The appearance of her figure instantly struck fear in the hearts of all Yin spirits around. Yin Xiangnan was no exception to that, and he couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud.

    ¡°What the hell is that?!¡± ¡°Dear heavens! That¡¯s a ghost¡­ That¡¯s an evil ghost, is it not?!¡± ¡°Run? S-should we run?! T-t-t-this is an evil ghost!¡± ¡°But¡­ we¡¯re ghosts too¡­¡±

    There was instantly a thunderous mour, but even that waspletely drowned out by the overwhelming roar in the air that apanied the glorious descent of a beautiful head that was dozens of metersrge. She had a mouth full of sharp teeth, striking red lips, as well as the imposing gaze of a war god in her eyes. Most of all, the hair on her head appeared no different from thousands upon thousands of writhing snakes that were scattering about menacingly across the sky.

    This was the true form of an Infernal Judge!

    Countless Yin spirits immediately began to retreat from Hell¡¯s Gate, while the other Yin spirits witnessing this sight couldn¡¯t help but shudder coldly as they remained rooted to the ground in fear. Finally, Arthis¡¯ descent came to aplete halt, and her head hung in the sky as she opened her mouth to speak, ¡°Silence.¡±

    None dared to disobey.

    However, one could tell that each Yin spirit now had an iparablyplex gaze in their eyes right now.

    It was as though many of them were finallying to terms with the fact that they were actually in Hell right now.

    This otherworldly sightpletely shattered their worldview of Hell. Unfortunately, what they didn¡¯t realize was that this was only the beginning of the whole host of surprises lined up for them.

    ¡°Fellow citizens of Hell.¡± Arthis nced around, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. We will be establishing a School of Hell in due course. If you work hard at your cultivation, it¡¯s possible for each and every one of you to attain the same prowess as I.¡±

    ¡°I am none other than the prime minister of the new Hell, Arakshasa. Cathayans know me simply as Rakshasa. Now, I formally announce themencement of the divine artifact induction ceremony. First up, please join me in weing King Yanluo of the new Hell, Lord Qin!¡±

    Boom! A brilliant beam of white light erupted from Ming Shiyin¡¯s surface and cast the spotlight on Qin Ye in an instant. He walked out with great austerity, with his long hair flowing behind his head, basking in the splendour of the baptism of gazes from his citizens.

    One could say that the earlier opening events were still somewhat simr to that of a modern day concert. However, there was no way anyone would be able to justifiably say that the present events still bore any form of semnce to the mortal realm in any way.

    Nothing that was happening right now was something that could be seen in the mortal realm.

    In fact, everything happening right now could easily be considered a miracle by the standards of the mortal realm.

    Su Dongxue stared quizzically at the throng of Yin spirits, all of whom werepletely lost for words. She furrowed her brows - That¡¯s not right¡­ I¡¯ve done a public opinion poll over thest few days, and it seems that his public approval rating is as high as 97.52%. So why isn¡¯t anyone saying a single thing?

    ¡°They¡¯re probably still reeling from shock.¡± One of Su Dongxue¡¯s subordinates remarked. ¡°Lady Su, should we intervene?¡±

    Su Dongxue nodded, and several subordinates that had been nted in the crowd immediately felt their fingers moved. Then, three secondster, someone suddenly cheered with great tion, ¡°Lord Qin is awesome!¡±

    The single cry was soon followed by sparse exmations of gratitude and support from various parts of the audience, ¡°Lord Qin! We¡¯ll support your reign forever!¡± ¡°Thank you for doing so much to improve our quality of life!¡± ¡°I¡¯d never expected the afterlife to be something like this¡­ and you¡¯ve led us out of the most difficult time imaginable! Thank you!¡±

    It was important to give the citizens a nudge in the right direction.

    Fortunately, Qin Ye¡¯s public approval rating was at an all-time high.

    Thus, the simple exmations of the nted supporters were like a trigger that opened the floodgates. After all, the gathering of Yin spirits was just like a sea right now, and seas were naturally subject to the ebb and flow of tides.

    Three seconds passed¡­ five seconds passed¡­ And then, the first Yin spirit finally cried out, ¡°Thank you Lord Qin! Long live Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Thank you Lord Qin! Truly, from the bottom of our hearts!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll support your re-election! We¡¯re all for your reappointment as the ruler of Hell!¡± ¡°Thank you for giving us a glimpse of hope for tomorrow!¡± ¡°Things¡­ things are truly moving right now¡­ I¡¯ve waited for this moment for far too long! Thank you, Lord Qin! Thank you, Hell¡¯s government!!¡±

    There was one, and then two, and then three¡­ and then a thousand, and then ten thousand! A minuteter, tens of thousands of Yin spirits were cheering at the top of their voices - ¡°Lord Qin is awesome! Hell¡¯s governance is the best!¡± ¡°We support Lord Qin!!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve opened our eyes to a whole new world!¡± ¡°We¡¯vee so far in just a year! We truly and sincerely want to express our gratitude to you!¡±

    The tide of voices appeared to transform into a softhergale of approbation that swept across the entire Hell as it stood right now.

    This is the heart of my people¡­ Qin Ye sighed with great emotion as he took in the amazing sight. He had never expected to hear such cheers and praise for his efforts. Their cheers were like the senzu bean in Dragonball that instantly rejuvenated him and dispelled all of the weariness that was guing him just a moment ago. All that was left was satisfaction, fulfillment, recognition, a great sense of fullness, and¡­ a stirring determination to make Hell better than it ever was before.

    The voices were like a tidal wave that washed straight into his heart and lingered there for a long time.

    Everything he had done thus far had culminated in this single grand moment. He had sacrificed much for the path he had chosen. The road ahead was long and arduous, but the true dangery in lethargy and the fizzling out of his passion.

    But Qin Ye didn¡¯t give up, and his efforts finally paid off. He finally received the heartfelt approbation of his people.

    Looking back, he could still recall those moments when he was actually on the verge of shrugging off these burdens and escaping from his responsibilities. In fact, if not for the fact that the Harken was stirring right under the recesses of Hell, Qin Ye might very well have escaped to the ends of the earth by now.

    But as things stand now¡­ are all these things even still options?

    Qin Ye continued to take in the sight with great emotion. Countless Yin spirits were waving to him and raising their arms to cheer him on. These are my people¡­ They may be annoying and frustrating at times, but¡­ they¡¯re still my adorable subjects.

    Unbeknownst to him, his heart had already turned away from the question as to whether escape was an option, to the firm resolution that he wouldn¡¯t want to betray his own people.

    He was still young at heart. Thus¡­ he was willing to push on and give it his all.

    Qin Ye raised his hand and gently made a pressing motion in the air. Slowly, but surely, the mor began to die down and fade away. His image was projected onto each of the light screens at this very moment. A minuteter, he slowly swept an austere gaze across the entire gathering of his subjects, and then cleared his throat, ¡°Everyone, today marks the very first time that the entire popce of Hell is gathered in this one ce. And not for a meeting, but to celebrate a joyous asion. This may be the first time, but I sincerely believe it won¡¯t be thest!¡±

    He waved his hand at the roiling ck mist, ¡°As we continue to develop, so, too, will Hell continue to expand. Over time, our reign shall surely extend to the ends of the earth!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, there is hope! Together, we shall work towards these goals of ours, until our dreams are finally fulfilled and realized!¡±

 Chapter 301: Divine Artifact Induction Ceremony (3)

    <h4>Chapter 301: Divine Artifact Induction Ceremony (3)</h4>

    Silence.

    Which one of them didn¡¯t know the hollow words and empty talk that filled such governmental speeches?

    There was no nonsense. He immediately dove straight into his promise to his people. It was a refreshing approach, to say the least.

    Their invigorated cry was like a powerful tidal wave that crashed onto the shore, and it resonated strongly with the citizens around.

    But he was just a drop in the ocean. There were ten thousand others who had done just the same, and all of them pumped their hands into the air at the same time. Everything was spontaneous and unnned, and yet the sight of thousands of people pumping their fists into the air, coupled with a thousand Umamawari horse guards kneeling in front of Qin Ye and pledging their loyalty to him stirred the emotions of all in attendance to a new high.

    The derations of loyalty were endless and resounding.

    The Cathayan Yin spirits sincerely desired that their beloved King Yanluo reign supreme, both internally as well as externally!

    They desired revenge for the injustice done to them back in the mortal realm! They wanted to rule theherworld!

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qin Ye nodded in satisfaction, ¡°I¡¯m d that you have such a burning passion for Hell¡¯s sess. Hell¡¯s government shall never fail you.¡±

    ¡°Today, we formally induct one of these three major divine artifacts, the Book of Life and Death, to the new Hell. Mirror of Eminence!¡±

    A secondter, the foot-sized book unfolded in the sky and spread out like an omnipresent entity, and the pages began to riffle on its own. Then, golden name after golden name began to rise from the book in the form of butterflies that fluttered into the sky, before soon transforming into lotus flowers that faded away into the darkness. It was obviously a top-grade Yin artifact, and yet there appeared to be an unfathomable aura of heavenly splendour about it.

    ¡°My¡­ heavens¡­¡± Yin Xiangnan eximed with trembling as he stared at the sky vacantly. Everyone else around him had the exact same expression of shock and awe written all over their faces. The sight unfolding before their eyes right now was no different from the stuff of legends and myths!

    Nobody harboured a single trace of doubt.

    But there wasn¡¯t any sense of fear either.

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice continued, ¡°Legend has it that the world is governed by three books - the book of the heavens, the Investiture of the Gods; the book of the earth, the ssic of Mountain and Sea; and the book of Man, the Book of Life and Death. I assure you that the Book of Life and Death contains unimaginable power. Whether it be flora, fauna, man, divine beings, demons, ghosts, or even those who have be extinct as a result of the effluxion of time - all continue to exist in the annals of records in the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    He took a deep breath and continued with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°And now, the new Hell shall demonstrate its power by summoning one of the five unparalleled units that have existed across the history of Cathay - the ck Armored Troops. It shall henceforth be one of the strongest pirs of Hell¡¯s defenses¡­ Arakshasa!¡±

    Rumble¡­ Countless wisps of Yin energy began to converge together in the sky, forming a majestic, swirling vortex of Yin energy, illuminated only by the innumerable spots ofhermes that lingered within. The Book of Life and Death also riffled through its pages in tandem with the hand seals that were being made. As time went on, the names and silhouettes drifting out of the Book of Life and Death gradually became clearer, more material¡­ and more different.

    Next up¡­ was the Ming Dynasty, and then the Yuan Dynasty. Momentster, the silhouettes of galloping horses crumbled into sand, bringing back the Song Dynasty with its golden swords, war horses, and countless troops that added to the theatrics. And then finally¡­ it paused on the pages of the Tang Dynasty.

    Whoosh! The pages of the Book of Life and Death suddenly stopped flipping, and the void in front of it suddenly trembled. Then, countless names began to fade in and out on the surface of the Book of Life and Death, while the entire book began to glow with a golden lustre that slowly but surely grew more and more dazzling. A few secondster, the entire book erupted with a brilliant dazzle of golden light that filled the entire Hell!

    Every single Yin spirit below subconsciously covered their eyes and shielded their faces as a massive gust of wind swept through thends. The Book of Life and Death hung high in the sky like the sun, dazzling every corner of Hell with the warm illumination of light. As time passed, the glow of light grew more and more intense, until finally¡­ even the Book of Life and Death waspletely consumed by it.

    ¡°Hell¡­ has finally taken its first step to restoring its full functions. Hell lords over the cycle of life and death, and acts as the gateway to the reincarnation¡­¡±

    The crowd was still the same, and the canopy of the skies was still the same as ever before. However, when he nced down to Hell¡¯s Gate, he nearly cried out in shock.

    ¡°My god! W-w-what¡¯s this?!¡± ¡°Yin soldiers¡­ Are these Yin soldiers?! Is this the appearance of Yin soldiers like the stuff we¡¯ve seen on television?!¡± ¡°My god¡­ I-i-isn¡¯t this just crazy?!¡±

    Golden streams of light scattered across the dark sky, gently illuminating the thousands of shocked expressions of the Yin spirits below.

    These great armors were by no means ordinary. They appeared tattered, but it was evident that they weren¡¯t defects resulting from poor workmanship. Rather, it was simply the damage sustained from participating in hundreds of battles.

    None spoke a word.

    However, they weren¡¯t even given the chance to reel in astonishment, because as soon as the great armors materialized and formed up in ranks, they saw two spots ofhermes light up under the helmet of each set of armor.

    ck Armored Troops¡­ It¡¯s actually the ck Armored troops!

    Cathayans were also called the Tang Cathayans, or Han Cathayans.

    Was there anyone who didn¡¯t know the ck Armored Troops of the great Tang Dynasty? Was there anyone oblivious to the fact that this unitprised the most elite forces at the disposal of the Tang Dynasty? It wouldn¡¯t even be an understatement to call the ck Armored Troops one of the most powerful forces of all time!

    And they were even pledging to defend the new Hell with their lives!

    What else did they have to fear?

    ¡°Long live King Yanluo!¡± ¡°Long live Your Majesty!¡± ¡°Hell forever!!¡± ¡°Awesome! With such a powerful force protecting us, let¡¯s see if anyone else dares to mess with us from now on!¡± ¡°This is the ck Armored Troops of the Tang Dynasty! How is this possible?! Holy shit, I¡¯m getting goosebumps right now!¡±

    This was a meeting that transcended time and space.

    After all, a kingdom would never feel safe without the backing of a great army.

    Even the mes in Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes flickered wildly as he saw how the Yin soldiers materialized before his very eyes. He nearly broke out into song and dance to give praise to the heavens.

    Each of them stood at approximately two meters tall, clothed in ck armor with red lining, carrying a giant saber on their waists. This¡­ was the most elite force that existed at the peak of the Tang Dynasty!

    Would an opportunity like this ever have arisen had I decided to pledge allegiance to the Nipponese underworld?

    ¡°Izanami¡­ In life, I sought thends of Nippon, and in death, I seek the Yin spirits of Yomi-no-Kuni. Wait for me¡­ I¡¯m confident that it won¡¯t take more than a few decades before I personally lead the charge for your head!¡±

    ¡°Nippon can only have one emperor, and that would be me, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven!¡±

    <hr>

    1. This probably refers to how China has suffered from the 2 opium wars, amongst other things.

 Chapter 302: The First Great Expansion of Hell (1)

    <h4>Chapter 302: The First Great Expansion of Hell (1)</h4>

    Arthis¡¯ voice echoed back through his mind, ¡°It¡¯s that, and more. I¡¯d even go so far as to say that you¡¯re a man born to thrive in politics. You werepletely different from your usual self.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ It really wasn¡¯t bad. But¡­ I still don¡¯t think it¡¯s enough!

    ¡°Everyone.¡± His voice thundered through the skies once more, ¡°Silence. Now, we proceed to the final item lined up for you in the divine artifact induction ceremony of ours.¡±

    Qin Ye allowed the citizens to stir slightly with anticipation before he finally continued, ¡°Hell presently covers a very small area of approximately five square kilometers. That said, Hell¡¯s domain is a variable that can be changed. Whenever we retrieve one of the major divine artifacts of Hell, or when Hell attains a certain level of development, it will automatically undergo a great transformation and expansion.¡±

    Perhaps it was, if it were made for the purposes of a single Yin spirit. But if it were to fit a hundred thousand Yin spirits, it would easily be considered far too small, and far too in.

    So¡­ should I be hoping that Hell would soon transform so much that I could even hope to travel to different localities in future?

    He wasn¡¯t the only one whose thoughts immediately wandered to these things. After all, most young people bore a certain inclination to adventure and predisposition to exploration, and their eyes naturally lit up as soon as they heard these news. Several of them looked up and gazed into the distant sky.

    The huge head floating in the sky nodded slightly and turned to the crowd, ¡°Mortal realm Cathay has a plethora of sights and sounds to offer. So does Hell. Different cities have different sights, sounds and even unique cultures of their own. Where we are right now is merely the temporary capital of the new Hell. It¡¯s presently located in theher regions of the City of Salvation. As Hell expands, so will the number of cities under our central government, each of which upies a ce that corresponds to a different part of Cathay. Sights and sounds that you cannot even begin to fathom will soon appear in Hell, one by one. It¡¯s not a matter of ¡®if¡¯ so much as it is a matter of ¡®when¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Then, when the old Hell expanded into the Southriver Province, ake spanning a million meters across from length to length appeared from nowhere. There were even mountains extending out of various parts of theke, while the rest of the majesticke appeared so still and tranquil that it looked no different from a massive mirror. It was named the Mirror Mirage. It was a mystical realm altogether, something that one could never see back in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°... And when Hell expanded into the reaches of Jiuzhai, it actually created¡­ a fairnd in Hell. It was paradise - the only ce in Hell that resembled the most idyllic scenery back in the mortal realm. There was a nine-colouredke where nine-coloured divine deers lived and pranced about. Each mountain in the region had a slightly different hue of colour from the other¡­ And this is not to mention the valley located in Rich Province known as ¡®Neenth Abyss of Punishment¡¯, Southskirt Province¡¯s ¡®District of Three Realms¡¯, and the famous ¡®Immortal Ice¡¯ of the three eastern provinces¡­ The sights and sounds, and specialty produce of each area of Hell would bepletely different from that of the mortal realm.¡±

    Man feared the unknown, yet they also enjoyed mulling over the possibilities as well.

    Everyone was silent.

    ¡°Haa--!!¡± Arthis cried out softly, and the Book of Life and Death instantly erupted with a great explosion of iparably dense Yin energy. Qin Ye whipped his head around in surprise, only to realize that the density of this wave of Yin energy was so thick it was practically mind-numbing!

    Thus far, the strongest source of Yin energy he had experienced was that which flowed from the body of the Harken. Yet, to think that the quality of Yin energy that flowed from the Book of Life and Death was even purer than that of the Harken - and by a mile at that!

    If one were to say that the brilliance of the Book of Life and Death earlier were akin to the rising sun in the east, then the explosion of light right now would be akin to the intense light energy bursting forth from the singrity when the big bang urred. It was on apletely different level!

    It was as though he had opened his eyes, only to discover that he was the only one remaining in the entire world. His surroundings were filled with roiling clouds of Yin energy that slowly swirled and sloshed about like an ocean tide. Thunder rumbled in the distance, as though something were looming far away from him.

    Just then, both Qin Ye and Arthis abruptly paused and looked up with great astonishment.

    Something in the ck mist¡­ is staring intently at us!

    ¡°This Yin energy¡­ This is¡­ this is¡­¡± Even Ming Shiyin couldn¡¯t prevent his teeth from chattering this very instant, ¡°This is¡­ Lord Harken?!¡±

    Qin Ye could feel his scalp go numb in an instant. How terrifying was the Harken?! Having faced it once, he never wanted to face it ever again. Yet, to think that he would suddenly awaken now, of all times!

    ¡°What¡¯s it trying to do?¡± His throat felt parched, and he fidgeted about uneasily, bracing himself to return to the mortal realm at a moment¡¯s notice, ¡°Is it¡­ attempting to confront us?¡±

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯d be able to escape?¡± Arthis sneered, ¡°We¡¯re currently seizing Lord Harken¡¯s Yin energy. Based on our previous estimates, he should only have reawakened at least five hundred yearster, or even eight hundred yearster if we¡¯re lucky. It¡¯s definitely mad at us. So, rather than run, why don¡¯t we confront it directly?¡±

    But before it could even take effect, a series of golden eyes suddenly appeared in the ck fog around without any warning. If not for the fact that they were staring intently at him, he would¡¯ve thought that they appeared no different from the bright stars in the sky.

    ¡°You call this low-risk?! Not by my standards! Dear, please hear me out¡­ if you can¡¯t beat them, then there¡¯s nothing better to do than to run like the wind--... Holy crap! What are you doing?! You--...¡±

    He wasn¡¯t even given the time to curse out loud. Violent wind rushed past his ears as he sank straight into the abysses of Hell, almost as though he had descended through the eighteen levels of Hell in just an instant. Then, when he finally stopped, he was already back in the space right below where Hell was located.

    There wasn¡¯t any fog of Yin energy around him.

    Countless streaks ofhermes surged through these streams of Yin energy like ribbons of light, painting the up-falling waterfall in brilliant colours. From time to time, the illusory figures of Yin spirits would peek out from the surface of these streams, moaning and groaning as though they were suffering in pain. The entire space they were in looked no different from the deepest Abyss of Punishment. It sent chills down Qin Ye¡¯s spine.

    But Qin Ye knew better - it was the rustle of Lord Harken¡¯s scales¡­

    It looked like an ocean of Yin energy below, except that the Harkeny sprawling in the middle of everything, almost akin to a majestic dragon. Its body would emit copious amounts of Yin energy from time to time, most of which would end up being absorbed by Hell, whichy above it. The Harken had already awakened from its slumber at some point in time, and it was presently staring intently at Qin Ye and Arthis with its golden eye.

    ROAR!!! The Harken responded with an infuriated roar, causing the ocean of Yin energy below to quake violently, scattering Yin energy everywhere like a chaotic volcanic eruption. Innumerable spots ofhermes flickered and even went out in an instant. But, immediately following that, the Harken coughed violently, and its body which it had painstakingly propped up earlier crashed straight into the ground once more.

    ¡°ARAKSHASA!!!¡± A domineering voice thundered with fury as the Harken red murderously at them, ¡°You¡¯re an Infernal Judge of Hell! How dare you sneak up on a divine beast of Hell like that?! Aren¡¯t you afraid of being punished by King Yanluo himself?!¡±

    <hr>

    1. This was the hometown of Confucius.

    2. Referring to an idyllic location in China called Jiuzhaigou.

 Chapter 303: The First Great Expansion of Hell (2)

    <h4>Chapter 303: The First Great Expansion of Hell (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s first instinct was to mitigate the situation, ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, dear, it hurts your liver. We didn¡¯t have a choice either¡­¡±

    ¡°My lord.¡± Arthis bowed respectfully, ¡°Former Judge of the Province of the Great Heavens, Arakshasa. Together with me is the third King Yanluo of Hell. We¡¯vee today to pay our respects to you.¡±

    Strong¡­ His entire body was instantly engulfed in a marrow-piercing chill that spread from his heart. Cold sweat poured out of his forehead and trickled down the sides of his cheeks. And the stronger his opponent was, the more he could sense the insurmountable chasm that separated them. He felt no different from a baby in front of the Harken right now.

    After a protracted pause, the Harken finally spoke again, ¡°Third King Yanluo of Hell¡­¡± And then, before Qin Ye could even respond, an all-consuming murderous intent suddenly surged from below like a rising tsunami that swept across the skies!

    ¡°Who in the world allowed a mere human being to call himself the third King Yanluo of Hell?!¡±

    ¡°You just wait¡­ As soon as I rouse from my deep slumber proper¡­ I¡¯ll let you know the consequences of founding your own kingdom¡­ The Eighteen Abysses of Punishment is insufficient for your transgressions¡­ I¡¯ll personally see to it that you¡¯re afflicted with a skyntern punishment and banished to the boundless sea of souls, where you¡¯ll light the way for the ferryman for the rest of all eternity¡­¡±

    Krrr¡­ The Harken dug its ws deep into the ground, leaving several deep grooves in its wake. Its voice was trembling with intense rage, ¡°I¡¯m not going to sit still and listen to all this bullshit¡­¡±

    ¡°Otherwise what?¡± Arthis bowed gently, ¡°The Book of Life and Death is already in our hands. You won¡¯t be able to touch a hair on our body before you recover fully. Besides, Lord Harken, you¡¯d do well to note that we¡¯ve not linked Hell to you for our own personal gain¡­¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re different! Regardless of what has been said, you¡¯re still the future King Yanluo of Hell! It has to speak with you as an equal! To do otherwise would be to besmirch its own name and reputation as a divine beast of Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head fervently - Who the hell wants to talk to a monster like that?! How could a conversation like that ever possibly be a pleasant one?! Seriously, it would¡¯ve been a far better idea to have headed home to check on that stew of mine¡­

    Silence.

    Then, several secondster, Qin Ye waved his hand feebly at the Harken, and a drop of sweat trickled down the side of his cheeks, ¡°Hi. My¡­ my¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, ¡°My¡­ mynameisqinye¡­¡±

    Arthis looked up to the heavens in despair, while Qin Ye drew heavy breaths as he scrambled toy his hand on the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal once again. Just then, there was a loud sound, and his heart suddenly sank.

    Too familiar. It was none other than the sound of the Harken¡¯s reverse scale.

    ¡°Huu¡­ Haa¡­.¡± It breathed heavily, and then burst into an uproariousughter, ¡°King Yanluo¡­ HAHAHA! KING YANLUO!!¡±

    As soon as it said that, Arthis screamed at the top of her voice and took on her true form in an instant. The massive head of a woman hung suspended in the sky with thousands of strands of hair dancing about wildly like venomous snakes. Tens of thousands spots ofhermes drifted about both her and Qin Ye, shielding them and protecting them within.

    The ttering smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face suddenly subsided, and he simply stared intently at the Harken.

    ¡°You¡¯re a nobody! You¡¯re just a mere human being that has stumbled upon the opportunity to take the throne by an incredible stroke of luck, so how dare you talk terms and conditions with me?!¡±

    These were the Harken¡¯s true thoughts.

    On what basis?! On what grounds?!

    Furthermore¡­ how dare this puny ant-like existence team up with a trifling little Infernal Judge to take advantage of my injuries and seize my Yin energy?!

    But the meddlesome man was as insignificant as a speck of dust in its eyes. Thus, it refused to even acknowledge his existence!

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± Qin Ye rubbed his nose and coughed dryly, ¡°About that¡­ well¡­ if you¡¯re not happy about it, then why don¡¯t I simply¡­ resign?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t even looking at Qin Ye any longer. Instead, it turned to Arthis and continued, ¡°Cough¡­ haa--... The so-called third King Yanluo of Hell, huh? Cough cough¡­ I¡¯ll do you a favour and give you a way out - decouple the new Hell from my existence, and I¡¯ll spare your lives¡­¡±

    The Harken smiled.

    A split secondter, an upturned scale shot out like lightning.

    It was so fast that Qin Ye couldn¡¯t even react instinctively to the imminent danger that had arisen. Instead, he simply felt a violent wind rush past him, followed quickly by Arthis¡¯ shrill shriek from right behind him. Everything happened in just the blink of an eye.

    ¡°Cough cough cough¡­¡± The Harken¡¯s wounds began to bleed with golden blood once more. Then, gritting its teeth, it painstakingly mbered to its feet. Its entire body was sorge that even the simple act of getting up caused a massivehergale to sweep violently about them, sending a sea of ash and dust scattering around chaotically.

    Dong¡­ There was a muffled sound, and the Harken¡¯s towering body that was hundreds of meters tall stopped right in front of Qin Ye. A pair of golden eyes stared emotionlessly at him. Tension filled the air, so much so that everything appeared to freeze at that very instant.

    It cast another fleeting nce at Qin Ye, ¡°Considering the fact that you¡¯ve got some merit to your name as well, I¡¯ll give you a county to y king on your own. That way, you can stay out of the upper echelons of Hell and cease to be an eyesore for the rest of eternity.¡±

    Not to the Harken, but to the realms of the new Hell that hung overhead. And then, he shut his eyes.

    The future King Yanluo of Hell.

    So why should he listen to the usations of someone who hadn¡¯t even invested the slightest bit in the new Hell?

    As though she sensed something amiss, Arthis promptly called out, ¡°Qin--...¡±

    Without missing a beat, he continued, ¡°Then, what does that make you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a divine beast of Hell. Right now, the mortal realm is in chaos, and the three daolords are scourging the earth. The twelve envoys harbour ill intentions against the new Hell. We¡¯re desperately trying to establish a footing for ourselves, while you¡­ not only are you shirking your responsibilities as one of highest powers of the old Hell, you¡¯re even attempting to obstruct the new Hell in every way you can!¡±

    It had never expected a mere human being that it could easily squash with a single finger to castigate it with such a tone of voice.

    ¡°You¡¯re no King Yanluo¡­ Nobody is going to recognize a coward like you! Do you really think I dare not kill you, right here, right now?!¡±

 Chapter 304: The First Great Expansion of Hell (3)

    <h4>Chapter 304: The First Great Expansion of Hell (3)</h4>

    ¡°Qin Ye!¡± Arthis cried out, ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut your damn mouth.¡± Qin Ye interjected again with much impatience. Arthis¡¯ lips twitched slightly, and then finally shut her mouth with some measure of resignation.

    For some strange reason, there was an instant there when she sensed¡­ a sense of overwhelming authority from Qin Ye.

    His cultivation isn¡¯t even above mine, so why do I sense such a presence of authority from him?

    Qin Ye turned back and stared at the Harken. Everything he had done since the establishment of the new Hell shed across his mind in an instant, and he spoke with a deep, authoritative voice, ¡°I was living just fine back in the mortal realm. Why should the friction between the mortal realm and theherworld bother me in the first ce? Having consumed the taisui fungus, I can live for all eternity, until earth itself is destroyed, and then some. So, have you ever considered why I had to take up this office in the first ce?¡±

    He had initially thought that he would be able to take everything lying down.

    After all, his experiences in the mortal realm had trained his patience, endurance and forbearance to inhuman levels.

    But it was only when the Harken started undermining his efforts that he soon realized he couldn¡¯t take it lying down anymore!

    ¡°And do you think everything was a walk in the park? When I first took office, do you know how much I had to patiently endure the Yin spirits¡¯ displeasure and resentment against me? But I did it. And when I finally got over those humps, and Hell finally started to take shape, the satisfied smiles on the faces of these citizens of mine filled me with great joy. Do you think I¡¯m trying to take advantage of this office?! Do you think I¡¯ve got nothing better to do with my life?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice slowly got louder and louder, ¡°Do you know what made me finally ept and embrace the office of King Yanluo? It¡¯s all because of YOU!!¡±

    He raised his finger and pointed at the Harken. Seething with fury, he failed to notice that his voice had begun to reverberate endlessly throughout the entire realm they were in.

    It was almost as though¡­ countless people were echoing his words.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Arthis waspletely taken aback by the strange phenomenon. But a split secondter, a trace of ecstasy filled her eyes as she nced at Qin Ye with incredulity.

    The Harken was also startled, and its pupils narrowed as it nced around at its surroundings with disbelief.

    As a result of his boiling fury, Qin Ye failed to realize that the inverse scales on the Harken¡¯s back were no longer standing and primed to fire. Instead¡­ theyid t on its back and swiftly smoothened themselves out.

    There was a dead silence.

    The only thing that could be heard in the entire world right now was the manifestation and venttion of Qin Ye¡¯s fury, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you¡­ it wouldn¡¯t have mattered what Granny Meng entrusted to me at all - I could have simply absconded with the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and lived freely for the rest of my life! The only reason why I had reluctantly epted the office of King Yanluo was because I was afraid that you would arise from your slumber and kill us in cold blood! Do you think I was a willing party?! Do you really think I¡¯d rather not y with my phone and surf the inte all day long?! Why should I undertake all of this thankless work?! Who the hell cares about being King Yanluo in the first ce?!¡±

    Boom!!!

    Arthis nced at the vault of the heavens in shock. As Qin Ye¡¯s voice grew louder and louder, so did the new Hell begin to emit a soft humming sound.

    This was by no means a feat that a mere Hellguard could achieve.

    After all, no matter how small it was, the new Hell was still a realm of its own, one that was governed by its own set of rules! In fact, not even the Harken could make a realm tremble like that!

    But as it turns out, Qin Ye could.

    ¡°Unbelievable¡­¡± Arthis closed her mouth and watched the incredible sight in amazement.

    The preceding events began to rey themselves in Qin Ye¡¯s mind - from their humble beginnings back in Clear Creek County, all the way through to their journey to and through the City of Salvation. Thest year had been incredibly eventful. He wasn¡¯t pleased, nor was he happy. In fact, no matter how hard he thought about it, he simply couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around why he had epted the damned office of King Yanluo in the first ce, together with all of the trials and tribtions that hade along with it.

    You want to make a scene? Let me make this clear - I¡¯m not messing around anymore!

    ¡°Do you know how much it took before I finally managed toe to terms with the heavy responsibility that has been set on my back? And yet you deign to unt your arrogant attitude in front of my face?¡± Qin Ye opened his eyes and stared at the Harken without concealing a trace of his fury, ¡°Does it even ur to you what exactly you are?! You¡¯re a divine beast of Hell! Where were you when we ced our lives on the line for Hell¡¯s survival?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I may be a measly Hellguard in your eyes, but where were you when we were out there on the Strait of Tsushima, fighting to the death just to reim the Book of Life and Death?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve enjoyed the glories of Hell for such a long time, so it¡¯s only natural that you have your own set of duties and obligations to uphold! What¡¯s wrong with the third King Yanluo of Hell taking a little bit of your Yin energy?! Hell has copsed, and the mortal realm is in chaos. Are you happy about that?! We¡¯re slogging it out and working our asses off back in the new Hell, and where have you been this whole time?!!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice reverberated throughout the corners of Limbo, as though hundreds of thousands of people were moring behind him. He straightened his cor in exasperation as he continued, ¡°If you¡¯re as good as you say, then walk the talk! Don¡¯t just lie there and p your lips! If you still identify yourself as a divine beast of Hell in any measure, then stop being a deadweight and holding us back!¡±

    Arthis¡¯ jaws dropped in horror. She knew that Qin Ye was sore and displeased about having assumed responsibility as the next King Yanluo of Hell, but she had never expected him to¡­ ventte it all against the Harken with such sharp, incisive words.

    The human heart was a rather strange thing.

    Any person forced to change against his own will would invariably developints and grievances in his heart. Nobody could embrace change without the slightest measure of dissatisfaction in their hearts.

    Besides, humans aren¡¯t saints. Even Confucius had his moments of weakness.

    Arthis knew full well that no matter how satisfied and fulfilled Qin Ye felt with the works of his own hands, there would still be some trace amounts of resentment in his heart. It was inevitable - he wasn¡¯t pleased.

    After all, it was entirely a matter of fate that he had ended up where he was right now.

    Arthis had initially thought that if she forced Qin Ye to focus on the tasks at hand and the multitude of work to bepleted, the resentment in his heart would eventually diminish and vanish altogether. After all, the power of habit was undeniable. Besides, she could tell that Qin Ye thoroughly enjoyed matters pertaining to governance.

    Unfortunately, not even Arthis would have expected Qin Ye to have an outburst like that.

    And to think that the object of his outburst was even the Harken - one of the most powerful existences in the entire world at this very moment.

    Most of all, she would never have expected the Harken to stand down in the face of such a massive outburst. The Harken had even disarmed his reverse scales of its own volition.

    ¡°Arthis, let¡¯s go.¡± Qin Ye ignored the Harken, and turned to leave. Just then, the Harken called out with a somewhat muffled voice, ¡°Kid¡­ aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll wake up in just a few centuries, raze that sandbox Hell of yours to the ground, and then appoint whoever I wish to be the new lord and master over Hell?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, if you still consider yourself to be the divine beast of Hell by any measure, you wouldn¡¯t do it, nor would you dare to do it!¡± Qin Ye snorted coldly, and both he and Arthis promptly departed for Hell.

    Everything was serene once again.

    It wasn¡¯t until their silhouettes vanished into the new Hell that the Harken looked around warily, ¡°Admonition of the Heavenly Dao?¡±

    ¡°My murderous intent earlier¡­ had actually triggered a reaction from the Heavenly Dao?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­ Doesn¡¯t this mean that¡­ the heavens approve of him?¡±

    The heavens would naturally be watching someone in Qin Ye¡¯s shoes. There wouldn¡¯t be a mistake about this.

    He¡¯s taking the office of the future King Yanluo, and the heavens must have been watching his every move for some time now. And yet¡­ they¡¯ve actually¡­ approved of him?

    ¡°How is it possible¡­¡± The billowing Yin energy below began thickening once more, transforming into dense, roiling clouds that engulfed the Harken altogether, ¡°In other words, even the heavens believe that he will be able to restore Hell to its former glory? But does he have the guts to do so? Does he possess the requisite wisdom to do so? This puny human being, whose legs tremble at the earliest sign of trouble?!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it¡­ I refuse to believe it!!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Whoosh¡­ The clouds of Yin energy trembled. When Qin Ye opened his eyes again, he discovered he was already back in the new Hell once more.

    It was only then that he felt a chill run down his spine. He took several deep breaths, and then began to p himself gently across the lips, ¡°Damn you and your big mouth! Who told you to run off your mouth like that! It might have felt good for a moment, but you¡¯re going to regret it for the rest of your life! Where am I going to flee to once the Harken makes its way out of Limbo? Arrrrghhh it feels like the clock of death is now starting to tick down for me!¡±

    ¡°Do you finally realize what you¡¯ve done?¡± Arthis teased him from the dark clouds above, ¡°What gall¡­ Over all these years that I¡¯ve been with the old Hell, this is still the first time I¡¯ve seen someone speak to Lord Harken like that - and then live to tell the tale.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s hands paused for a moment, and then he asked with some measure of apprehension, ¡°Say¡­ If I present a hundred pound blood offering to Lord Harken and plead for forgiveness right now, do you think it¡¯ll ept it?¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± The clouds of Yin energy were so dense that it obscured Arthis¡¯ expressions altogether. Nevertheless, Qin Ye knew exactly how her expressions looked from the tone of her voice. She drew several deep breaths and suppressed the great vexation in her heart, ¡°Be at ease, and just fix your mind on your responsibilities as a King Yanluo. It¡­ wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to the new Hell right now.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Really.¡±

    ¡°Are you absolutely certain?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m absolutely certain!!¡± Arthis gnashed her teeth. Damn it¡­ To think that you¡¯d only be able to maintain that magnificent disy of yours for three seconds¡­. And to think that my heart had even begun to race for a moment there. I must¡¯ve made a fool of myself.

    Qin Ye patted his chest and heaved a sigh of relief. Just then, a ray of light peeked through the dense clouds.

    ¡°Prepare yourself.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice grew austere, ¡°Hell¡¯s first expansion isplete. Take a good look for yourself at the brand new ce to call home¡­¡±

    The ray of light promptly expanded before Arthis could even finish speaking. Then, just like that moment of brilliance when a glorious sun peeked out from behind the cloud cover, Qin Ye covered his eyes for a moment. Whoosh. When he opened his eyes once more, the dense clouds had already receded.

    Hell¡¯s Gate was still standing right where it was.

    And so was the gathering of a hundred thousand Yin spirits.

    However¡­ everything else had changed!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye nced at the sky with great delight, because he could see that there was now¡­ a glorious sun suspended in the skies!

    No¡­ It wasn¡¯t the sun. Rather, it was a fireball. Furthermore, there was even a small moon that was drifting silently in the background, some distance behind the sun.

    There was now day and night!

    ¡°That¡¯s incredible¡­¡± He smiled as he eagerly turned his gaze to the distance.

    It¡¯s changed¡­ Everything has changed!

    The area in the distance that used to be covered by a dense fog of Yin energy had now beenpletely uncovered! The endless fog of Yin energy had receded like the tide, revealing the vast world hidden within.

    There still wasn¡¯t any water in sight, nor animals for that matter. That said, he could see a vast region of silvery white below!

    They were trees.

    However, they were a species of trees that werepletely different from the Southsea Huanghuali!

    There was still a region of Southsea Huanghuali growing close to them. However, as the forest extended out into the distance, the leaves of the trees slowly turned into a mix of both red and white. And then, in the far distance, the canopy of the trees turnedpletely silvery white, almost as though they were covered in snow.

    ¡°That¡¯s beautiful¡­¡± Qin Yemented.

    Yet, perhaps the beauty that Qin Ye was referring to wasn¡¯t the scenery in Hell; perhaps he was simply referring to his bittersweet persistence.

    ¡°Oh dear heavens¡­ What are those silver things?¡± ¡°Snow? Is it snow?¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­ They look like trees¡­¡± ¡°White trees? Are there even such things?¡± ¡°Everyone, look! Look over there! There! Right there!!¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a mountain? A mountain!! It¡¯s really a mountain!!¡±

    The cheers of a hundred thousand Yin spirits below immediately shook the skies.

    The monotonous world of ck and red had finally weed a new colour to its palette, and everyone felt as though they were looking at a whole new world! It was the exhration that apanied the discovery of a new continent! Every single citizen of Hell couldn¡¯t help but cry out with astonishment at this moment!

    In fact, they¡¯ve already been screaming at the top of their voices for some time.

    Mountain? Qin Ye¡¯s heart thumped wildly as he nced over. The smile on his face grew wider and wider, until he confirmed it with his own two eyes.

    It¡¯s a mountain. It really is a mountain!!

    Even though the edge of Hell was still sequestered by walls of Yin energy, he could tell that the foot of a mountain had emerged from it and extended straight into the current Hell as it stood!

    The foot of the mountain was short - a hundred meters tall at best - and yet¡­ its existence was still sufficient to get everyone pumped up!

    ¡°Where¡¯s Yin Construction?!¡± Qin Ye pped his hands excitedly, and the seven division heads immediately stepped forward and responded, ¡°Your humble servants are here!!¡±

    ¡°Send out a team of surveyors right away and find out what that is! Actually, on second thought, I¡¯ll head over first. You guys catch up as soon as you can! Su Dongxue, preside over the rest of the ceremony and wrap up the proceedings here. As for everyone else here, wait for our confirmation that there¡¯s nothing dangerous in the new frontiers. We¡¯ll make an announcement in three days¡¯ time!¡±

    With that, he transformed into ahergale and sped into the distance.

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any Yin beasts.¡± Arthis flew right beside Qin Ye, ¡°Hell¡¯s still somewhatcking right now. There aren¡¯t many types of vegetation, and we don¡¯t have flowing waters either. But, even though there shouldn¡¯t be anything that can endanger our lives, it would be wise to keep our vignce about us as well. After all, the vegetation of Hell aren¡¯t always benign entities¡­ Hey, there¡¯s no need to rush that much.¡±

    Despite Arthis¡¯ warnings, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes simply gleamed brightly as he casually changed the topic, ¡°Arti, let me ask you something - have you ever seen a white tree before?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Arthis responded without hesitation, ¡°Like I said before, there are endless possibilities with each great expansion of Hell. The exact things that appear depend on a multitude of factors, such as the density of poption and the aggregate Yin energy of Hell, the influence of the reigning King Yanluo, as well as the local conditions of Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to stare intently at the white canopy of the trees as he licked his lips greedily, ¡°Then¡­ if these white trees are things even you haven¡¯t seen before, wouldn¡¯t it be safe to say that¡­ these things are now the first special produce of Hell?¡±

    Arthis blinked vacantly, and then gasped with great realization. A split secondter, Qin Ye felt himself being grabbed by something, and he shot straight into the distance, towards where the canopy of white treesy.

 Chapter 305: Specialty Produce!

    <h4>Chapter 305: Specialty Produce!</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye nced down at the forest below. It was easily apparent that the further he travelled from Hell¡¯s Gate, the lower the proportion of Southsea Huanghuali trees there were in the forest. He gulped excitedly and asked cautiously, ¡°Hey Arthis¡­ Do you even have a driver¡¯s license? I¡¯m not toofortable with the fact that you¡¯ve suddenly taken the wheel on this road trip¡­¡±

    Arthis smiled faintly. A split secondter, her trajectory changed from a smooth parabolic arc into that of a characteristic Brownian movement, and Qin Ye cried out miserably.

    Qin Ye¡¯s face was already iparably pale with fright by the time they touched down a few minutester.

    ¡°Eh? You¡¯re afraid of heights?¡±

    Nodding, Qin Ye clutched at his chest and gasped for air as he stared at Arthis with great displeasure, ¡°So have you seen me fly around Hell to begin with? Hell, I don¡¯t even dare to get anywhere close to the window seats on a ne!¡±

    Hell was his underworld. In other worlds, he was akin to the god of that realm, and flying was naturally within the ambit of his abilities. Yet, it was only when Arthis addressed her mind to it that she finally noticed how Qin Ye had never ever truly taken flight in his own realm before!

    Arthis¡¯ eyes gleamed brightly in an instant, almost as though they were filled with a mother¡¯s tender love, almost as though she were saying - ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk, look at how stubborn our cute, widdle Yanluo is!¡±

    ¡°... What kind of a devilish look is that? Forget it¡­ I can¡¯t be bothered with you anymore. Can we please focus on what tree this is instead?!¡±

    The duo were already standing right in front of the forest of silvery-white trees. They took a deep breath, and began to scrutinize the trees.

    These were¡­ banyan trees.

    At least, they looked that way.

    The entire forest of these white trees spanned at least ten square kilometers ofnd! The size of the forest itself was alreadyrger than twice the size of what Hell used to be before the great expansion.

    However, it wasn¡¯t the sheer vastness of the forest that surprised them. Rather, it was the fact that a colossal super-tree rose straight out of the heart of the forest, and the diameter of its trunk was easily at least a hundred meters!

    In fact, it wouldn¡¯t even be an exaggeration to say that approximately 70% of the total area upied by the entire forest was covered by the thick, bushy canopy of the super-tree itself! The rest of the forestprised of far smaller ¡°banyan¡± trees, each of which appeared to hold up bushy leaves that contributed to the thick, silvery canopy above.

    Its bark was ck, while its leaves were white. Each and every piece of leaf from the super-tree was approximately the same size as the human face. Its age was unknown, but it was easily apparent that the colossal tree had probably seen a fair number of years. Innumerable branches extended out of the colossal trunk, while gnarly roots intertwined endlessly along the ground like the majestic dance of dragons. The crown of the super-tree extended outwards in a chaotic yet elegant fashion. Anyone standing under the canopy of the super-tree would immediately feel as though he were being embraced by the forest.

    ¡°Banyan trees are known for their massive crowns, some of which can even be twenty times as wide as the width of its trunk. But, that said¡­ this is on apletely different level¡­¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath and looked around at its surroundings. Beams of light peeked through the dense canopy of leaves, casting a dark shadow onto the forest floor below. It had to be mentioned that Hell¡¯s sun was different from that in the mortal realm - its light was dim, and it did not emanate any warmth at all.

    Just then, Arthis pointed to the distance, ¡°That¡¯s not all¡­ Take a look.¡± Qin Ye looked over, and his jaws dropped with great incredulity, ¡°That¡¯s¡­ Are you telling me that the smaller ¡®banyan¡¯ trees around are all in fact no more than the aerial roots of the super-tree in the middle? Doesn¡¯t that mean that¡­¡±

    The entire forested area spanning ten square kilometers was the result of a single super-tree!

    The main trunk had a circumference of a hundred meters, while it stood as tall as eight-hundred meters in height! This was practically akin to the megaflora of the prehistoric ages! Not even Qin Ye could hold back his great astonishment right now!

    It stood majestically in front of his eyes like a glorious mountain range, while the silvery-white canopy of leaves were like the boundless oceans.

    Howrge exactly was ten square kilometers?

    To put things into perspective, it would be the same size as half of the area upied by the average county-city.

    After staring dumbfounded at the incredible sight, Qin Ye finally managed to retract his gaze and sigh with amazement, ¡°My goodness¡­ Is this going to be one of the most idyllic ces in Hell in future?¡±

    The forest floor was already covered withyer afteryer of its silver-white leaves. They appeared pristine and untouched, almost like ayer of newly fallen snow. There was even a somewhat pure and holy aura about it. Coupled with the super-tree that rose straight from the ground, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel as though¡­ he were already in paradise.

    It was simply unfathomable that one could witness such a magnificent sight in Hell!

    The two exchanged nces awkwardly, wondering how they should deal with the startling changes in Hell. But it was right at that moment that they both heard a series of footsteps behind them - the surveying team, Gu Qing, Huang Liangchuan, as well as the seven division heads had all rushed over as quickly as they could. Yet, like Qin Ye and Arthis, the trailing team waspletely thunderstruck by the spectacle before them.

    ¡°Dear heavens¡­ A-are these banyan trees?¡± ¡°How could there possibly be such a massive banyan tree?!¡± ¡°I¡¯d thought for a moment there that I was transported into a fantasy realm¡­¡± ¡°This¡­ is just beautiful¡­ It¡¯s unbelievable¡­ It¡¯s not even something you¡¯d be able to dream of back in the mortal realm!¡±

    There were gasps of shock and surprise everywhere. Meanwhile, Qin Ye massaged his brows and put on a high and noble persona once more, ¡°Silence.¡±

    Everyone immediately quietened down and formed up in ranks before him. And then, he sighed, ¡°Everyone, we¡¯ve got a massive problem in front of us right now.¡±

    ¡°What are we going to do about this tree?¡±

    Everyone immediately understood where he wasing from. But the more they thought about it, the more they furrowed their brows.

    Indeed, how should one deal with the super-tree?

    If thisndscape formed part of the mortal realm, then needless to say, it would be ssified as one of the greatest wonders of the world that would undoubtedly be on everyone¡¯s bucket lists! It wouldn¡¯t even be an exaggeration to call it a divine tree or the tree of gods! And there¡¯s no telling just how many Cathayans and foreign tourists would travel from far and wide just to ¡°make a pilgrimage¡±.

    After all, a great banyan sorge that it could cover an entire city was practically the stuff of legends and myths!

    And there was no reason why Hell should treat it any differently!

    This would be the first scenic sight in Hell. All they had to do would be to enclose the entire space within, and then select a few entry points. That would almost guarantee them a steady stream of visitors!

    Everyone was already sick and tired of seeing Hell¡¯s Gate looming tall and majestic over thends, right underneath the dark canopy of the skies and the constetions of eeriehermes. The abrupt appearance of such an enthralling sight was like a breath of fresh air altogether! One could only imagine the brimming thrill and excitement in the hearts of all Yin spirits who couldn¡¯t wait to explore these unchartered territories.

    In fact, with a size thatrge, one could even consider hollowing out a part of it to make a suspended tree house in the forest¡­ And there wouldn¡¯t even be an issue with building a tree house right at the top of the super-tree, because its colossal trunk would certainly have room for a giant, spiral staircase leading straight up to its peak. In fact, this would create apletely unprecedented experience that not even the mortal realm would have dreamt about! It was the stuff of fantasies! The mere prospects of it made their hearts thump wildly.

    The appearance of the super-tree would most certainly support the establishment of the mary system. In fact, it would even kickstart the internal tourism industry with a first wave of hype, giving the government a great boost to its ie revenue. The first scenic location in Hell had far greater implications than merely that of a beautiful sight.

    But¡­

    What if the super-tree was also a specialty produce?

    For instance¡­ What if it bore fruit?

    Banyan trees are fruit-bearing trees after all. As far as Hell¡¯s banyan tree was concerned, there simply wasn¡¯t telling where the fruits would be borne, whether on branches or leaves, or even attached to the trunk directly. And who was to say that the fruits wouldn¡¯t be useful?

    Or how long it would take to even bear fruit?

    And what if Hell only discoveredter on that the fruits were incredibly useful? If they had already developed the entire region into a tourism destination, wouldn¡¯t they have to forbid or restrict further entry to the region? And wouldn¡¯t that incur the wrath of the citizens and incite public outcry? This would be a huge problem unless they couldunch a second tourism destination at the exact same time to cate the citizens. But¡­ the present great expansion was a result of the massive amounts of Yin energy that Hell was imbibed with through the induction of the Book of Life and Death, and the next great expansion of Hell would only take ce at least fifty to sixty yearster. How would they deal with the situation if a public outcry were to take ce before then?

    And even if the specialty produce didn¡¯t lie in fruits, could it possibly lie in its wood or flowers?

    The work to be done was hardly as simple with mere nning prior to implementation. It required far more from everyone, reviewing their ns and considering all possible alternatives at every step of the way.

    Nobody spoke up. It was clear that this was a good thing. The only question was how much of a good thing was it. After ten minutes of mulling over the matter, Gu Qing finally broke the silence, ¡°Why don¡¯t we¡­ take a closer look at it for now and see if we can identify anything useful off the cuff?¡±

    Arthis responded somewhat disparagingly, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ll even be able to discover anything given the current state of Hell¡¯s research industry?¡±

    ¡°If we can¡¯t find anything useful now, we can still treat it as a tourism destination.¡± Qin Ye finally made the call, ¡°We¡¯ll need consistency in our policies if we are to earn the trust of our citizens. The first tourism destination in Hell will not only support the establishment of the system of currency, it will even kickstart tourism and nt the seed for the budding hotel and food and beverage industries¡­¡±

    He turned and gazed deeply at the great banyan tree - What a pity¡­ Given its size and the circumstances surrounding its appearance, there has to be something extraordinary about it. We absolutely have to find out what exactly it is. Unfortunately¡­ Hell doesn¡¯t even have aboratory for these purposes right now!

    We need talent! We can never have too much talent in Hell! If only there were some scientists, life sciences experts, and botanists around. I would do everything it takes to keep the great banyan tree off-limits until theboratory is set up!

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have such talent in Hell.

    So, rather than to sit around and engage in pointless spection, he would rather secure the immediate benefit that was staring him straight in the eye.

    Nobody had any objections.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re the ones in charge of Hell right now, and the government isn¡¯t quite fully functional just yet, I¡¯d suggesting to a consensus by a show of hands.¡± Arthis wasn¡¯t too well-versed in the matters of governance and policies, but she knew that things wouldn¡¯t go too wrong as long as she stuck close to Qin Ye¡¯s decisions.

    Qin Ye was the first to raise his hand, ¡°I suggest that we conduct a week-long investigation and inspection of the great banyan tree. If we¡¯re unable toe to any form of conclusions within the week, or if it bes apparent to us that we won¡¯t be able to find the answers we¡¯re looking for within the week, then we¡¯ll start making preparations to establish the tourism industry, andunch this ce as a tourism destination. We¡¯ll also start establishing a centralized hotel system and cateringpany for food and beverages. These are my proposals.¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces, before hands slowly rose into the air, ¡°Seconded.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°This is probably the best way moving forward right now.¡± ¡°No objections.¡±

    Qin Ye began to count the hands in the air - One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ ten hands. That¡¯s about ri--... Hang on--

    ¡°Where¡¯s Huang Liangchuan?¡± He furrowed his brows, ¡°Is he objecting to my proposal? What¡¯s the reason for that?¡±

    There were eleven people gathered in this ce, yet only ten hands had been raised into the air. The only one who hadn¡¯t given his approval was Huang Liangchuan.

    But, upon closer inspection, Qin Ye soon discovered that the reason why there were only ten hands in the air right now was because Huang Liangchuan had run off somewhere - he wasn¡¯t among the group right now.

    ¡°Bank President Huang.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice grew cold, ¡°What are you doing right now?¡±

    Saying that Huang Liangchuan was afraid of Qin Ye or held Qin Ye in awe was too much of an understatement. As soon as he heard Qin Ye call out his name with a frigid tone of voice, his entire body trembled violently, and then he immediately grabbed a pile of leaves from the ground and ran back to where the group was.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­¡± Everyone stared at him with great disbelief. He was the man who had been avidly promoting the mary system over thest month or so, and also the same person who was ted to be the next president of the central bank of Hell. And yet, here he was, with a handful of leaves, presenting himself with a disorganized appearance. His eyes were even slightly red because he had tripped over the roots after scrambling back too hastily.

    That said, he was evidently excited - extremely excited.

    Completely oblivious to the judgmental looks on him right now, Huang Liangchuan rushed before Qin Ye and began to exin himself with a trembling voice, ¡°M-m-m-m-my Lord¡­ t-t-t-the leaves¡­¡±

    Leaves?

    Qin Ye picked up a leaf from Huang Liangchuan¡¯s hands in bewilderment.

    It was smooth to the touch. In fact, it was so smooth that he couldn¡¯t even feel the presence of any veins running through the leaf. This feeling¡­ Qin Ye furrowed his brows. I¡¯ve felt it before¡­ but¡­ where?

    Suppressing the doubts in his heart, he took a closer inspection of the leaf in his hand. It was smooth as a mirror, and yet he could vaguely make out traces of fine, dense lines underneath the surface of the leaf.

    In fact, he could see that the pattern of the veins weren¡¯t messy at all. Rather, it was incredibly neat, and so fine that he wouldn¡¯t have noticed them had he not strained his eye with such a close inspection.

    The leaves felt magical, and yet he just couldn¡¯t put a finger as to how exactly it was magical. Everyone frowned at Huang Liangchuan. They simply couldn¡¯t understand what made him so excited that he wasn¡¯t even able to speak properly anymore. Nevertheless, Huang Liangchuan continued to shiver with excitement and wave the leaves victoriously, ¡°My lord¡­ T-t-t-his¡­ is money! It¡¯s money!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve counted my fair share of money back in the mortal realm! T-t-t-this is definitely money!!!¡±

    Money?

    Everyone frowned even more deeply. Qin Ye remained unresponsive as well - Does he mean to exchange these things for money? With other powers? Who¡¯s going to buy them? Arthis had mentioned previously that the specialty produce of every underworld ispletely different from each other, and this is probably the first time that such a godly banyan tree has appeared, so how could anyone possibly know of its uses?

    Hang on a minute¡­

    Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes abruptly lit up, and he turned to look at the leaf in his hands once more, before raising his head to gaze into the massive crown hanging overhead. And then, goosebumps crept all over his skin!

    ¡°Are you saying that¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice even grew slightly hoarse, ¡°These leaves¡­ are all¡­¡±

    Huang Liangchuan nodded fiercely, and he responded with such great exhration that he was practically shouting at the top of his voice, ¡°It¡¯s banknote paper!! This is definitely cotton paper material!! Even if the quality is different, it feels exactly the same!!¡±

 Chapter 306: Money from the Heavens!

    <h4>Chapter 306: Money from the Heavens!</h4>

    Everyone knew the importance of a mary system to a budding nation!

    Besides, would his government, factories and Yin Construction continue to work forever just because he told them to?

    Human beings are selfish creatures. The only people who aren¡¯t selfish are saints, and saints count for less than 1% of the total poption in the world.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes glistened as he stared at the leaves of the tree. That¡¯s right¡­ That¡¯s the feeling¡­ No wonder it felt so familiar all along! It¡¯s the exact same feeling as the banknotes of the mortal realm!

    ¡°Call him¡­¡± His breaths grew ragged, ¡°That guy--... The newly-minted director of the Central Mint of Hell. Call him over right now!¡±

    Nobody spoke in the meantime. The implications were beyond them. Qin Ye paced anxiously around the foot of the great banyan tree with his hands behind his back, ncing up every few seconds with a bright glint in his eyes. If we can really use this¡­ If this is truly banknote quality paper, then¡­ this tree should never be used as a tourism destination!

    The mary system was worth more than a tourism destination! It was worth far more than that!

    ¡°Greetings, dear lead--...¡± Gou Siping attempted to greet everyone, only to be promptly interrupted by Qin Ye, ¡°Spare the formalities! I want you to take a look at these leaves right away and tell me whether they can be used for the purposes of printing banknotes right now!¡±

    Gou Siping drew a deep breath as he looked at the sheet of snow-coloured leaves on the floor.

    If it could, then the problem guing the Central Mint of Hell would be resolved once and for all! Just look at the size of this colossal banyan tree! There must at least be several million leaves hanging overhead right now!

    Nobody rushed him. Everyone simply watched him intently with a burning gleam in the depths of their eyes, almost as though they were attempting to set him on fire by staring at him. Approximately ten minutester, Gou Siping finally stood up, and nced around with a look of amazement in his eyes, ¡°This is truly remarkable¡­¡±

    ¡°Incredible¡­¡± He eximed emotionally, ¡°The miracle of Hell¡¯s great expansion¡­ is truly beyond imagination!¡¯

    It was as though a huge load had been lifted off his chest in an instant. He opened his eyes slowly and smiled genially, ¡°Then, let¡¯s try searching around and see if we¡¯ve got any usible alternatives to be used as substitutes for the colour shifting ink. If we really can¡¯t find anything, then I¡¯lle up with something¡­¡±

    Without the colour shifting ink?

    ¡°Whether it be embossing, paper type, serialization, or even the use of the colour shifting ink, all of them serve one sole purpose.¡±

    ¡°Aesthetics are only secondary. The mary system is the driving force of any nation¡¯s economy, and anti-counterfeiting measures naturally take the top priority. That said¡­¡±

    Everyone had their own weaknesses. But making a mistake doesn¡¯t immediately make a person a failure.

    ¡°The second reason has to do with Hell¡¯s size right now. Given how small we are, all of the machines that can be used to mint Hellnotes are already under our control. Once we set up a system of registration, it will immediately be apparent who has been in contact with the minting devices. Counterfeit notes would practically be an impossibility.¡±

    And if that¡¯s the case, what reason is there to use colour shifting ink?

    Qin Ye paced around slowly as he listened. Then, as soon as Huang Liangchuan had finished making his rmendations, he took the next several minutes for his deliberation, before finally issuing his orders, ¡°Gou Siping, look for Su Dongxue immediately and have her start organizing the manpower required for the Central Mint of Hell. However, you will have to be mindful of the fact that the matters pertaining to the establishment of the Central Mint must be kept on the low profile. Everyone involved will naturally need to first pass a background check. You don¡¯t have the requisite ess to information in this regard. Have the Death Inquisitors take charge of these matters.¡±

    Gou Siping left. With that, everyone began to shower Qin Ye with ttering,udatory messages, ¡°Congrattions, Your Majesty. There¡¯s nothing stopping Hell¡¯s soaring growth anymore!¡± ¡°We¡¯re quickly bing a civilized society! It¡¯s Lord Qin¡¯s prescience that enabled Hell to achieve so much in less than a year!¡± ¡°Once the mary system has been fully rolled out, we¡¯ll have no issues driving the nation to work!¡±

    ¡°Let me know if there¡¯s anything of concern in the near future. Arakshasa, you¡¯re in charge of Hell for now. And make sure to properly brand the newly minted Hellnotes.¡± With that, Qin Ye eased the tension in his mind, operated the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and returned to his own dorm room back in the mortal realm.

    Hey in bed with his eyes wide open. Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and the summer vacations were over before he knew it. A month had never passed so quickly before, yet he could still clearly remember every single thing he had done over this period of time - even the exact documents which he had approved.

    ¡°Look at the silly smile on your face. You look like an idiot.¡± Arthis¡¯ voice resounded from behind him. Qin Ye didn¡¯t even look up, ¡°What do you know about these feelings of mine¡­ Sigh¡­ It¡¯s an indescribable feeling¡­ Speaking of which, why have you returned? Lady, how many times must I rehash to you that you¡¯re not my type?¡±

    Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°The Central Mint of Hell won¡¯t start its minting process for the next month or so at the very least. There are still the issues of office locations, deployment of security guards, establishment of printing lines, and so on and so forth. So, do you really take issue with the fact that I¡¯ve made a short trip back to grab myputer and my phone?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point.¡± Arthis masterfully interrupted Qin Ye with the switch and bait technique, ¡°So, what do you have lined up below?¡±

    That¡¯s a rather targeted question¡­

    ¡°Cough cough¡­ About that¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed up a storm as he adjusted the peculiar expressions on his face. And then, he finally spoke with a somber expression, ¡°With the establishment of the Central Mint of Hell and the minting of Hellnotes, we¡¯ll finally be able to pay the wages of our military personnel. So¡­ the only thing that¡¯s left to do pertains to our army¡­¡±

    Qin Ye bashfully set down his Sponge Bob pillow - Can¡¯t you just indulge me with some fun for once?

    Arthis responded quizzically, ¡°Isn¡¯t it the imperial court meeting at the end of the year?¡±

    If Hell didn¡¯t flex its muscles at the end of the year, then the nations that surrounded Cathay would instantly¡­ stir with an uprising!

    Arthis frowned in confusion, ¡°The construction of bridges? Roads?¡±

    ¡°The greatest expense to any government out there is to raise an army.

    ¡°And where would the moneye from?¡±

    Qin Ye answered his own question in a slightly despondent manner, ¡°Since there¡¯s no way for us to generate revenue for Hell internally, then¡­ we¡¯ll have no choice but to get in touch with external factions and forces. It doesn¡¯t matter whether it¡¯s Anubis or Hades¡­ But for now, the dozen or so feudal officials would naturally be the best candidates.¡±

    ¡°Whether Oda Nobunaga¡¯s training of our Yin soldiers, or the implementation of the mary system, everything is being done in order to solidify our odds of earning a ticket into the underworldly equivalent of the world trade organization at the show of power at the end of the year. So¡­ what do you think I¡¯m nning to do next?¡±

    ¡°A trading port city?!¡±

 Chapter 307: Qin Yeâ€™s Outrageous Desire

    <h4>Chapter 307: Qin Ye''s Outrageous Desire</h4>

    Thus, he knew what he was good at, and where his limitationsy. He would readily steer clear of any full-on confrontations that involved him personally, because he knew that his true strength lies in working in the shadows, and orchestrating scenarios ndestinely.

    Thus, Qin Ye had mulled extensively over how each step of Hell¡¯s development should proceed. His present approach was something that he had also already decided upon, except that he had in this instance raised it for Arthis¡¯ments and consideration.

    Arthis stared at him as though she had just seen a ghost, ¡°The new Hell is only at the level of a town, and you¡¯re already thinking of establishing a new city outside? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re putting the cart before the horse?¡±

    Arthis grew taciturn, and her eyes appeared to ze over as though she were deep in thought.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Even though I don¡¯t have the capacity to manage the establishment of several satellite cities for now, a single one¡­ would still be within control. Naturally, everything would only be firmed up after the imperial court meeting at the end of the year.¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye sneered, ¡°What do you think Oda Nobunaga is good for?¡±

    A cold glint shed across the depths of his eyes, ¡°Then I¡¯ll kill them again and again, until none dares to rise up against us again!¡±

    The rest of the day passed quickly, and the next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

    Yet as soon as he did, he saw a startling scene.

    It was now noontime. The academy¡¯s opening ceremony was ted to take ce in the evening at the grand auditorium. Thus, most of the students had already arrived back in the academy, and the school¡¯s basketball court was filled with people. Incidentally, this was also the reason why he saw a rather incongruous image.

    The idiot had actually scooched over to a seat close by with a silly smile on his face, where a prettydy of approximately 1.7m in height handed him a bottle of water!

    TRAITOR!

    Dogballs Qin stared at the incredulous sight with a fiery gaze in his eyes. If one were nearby, he might even have heard something snap within Qin Ye. Bloody hell¡­ Here I was, slogging my ass away during the summer holidays, while you¡¯re there frolicking away in the merriments of life?! Whatever happened to the promise we made to forever be angels to the other?! Are you shirking your responsibility just like that? No¡­ I¡¯m not bothered by the fact that you¡¯re no longer single¡­ What I¡¯m bothered by is the fact that you¡¯ve gotten yourself hitched while I¡¯m still single!!!

    Unfortunately¡­ his innards didn¡¯t erode.

    Damn these lovebirds! I hope they fall to their death!

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a rather twisted expression on your face¡­¡± Qin Ye turned the corner and bumped into Su Feng. ring at Su Feng with a lingering, unkind expression on his face, he responded with gritted teeth, ¡°There¡¯s a traitor among us.¡±

    ¡°Hang on right there¡­ Wallflower?! Who gave him that title?! Howe I was never consulted on this?!¡± Qin Ye refuted adamantly.

    Which idiots were the ones who came up with this ranking system anyway?!

    As an instructor, does it even make sense that you would care about such nonsense and turn a blind eye to what¡¯s truly of importance, such as the teaching credits and lesson ns?

    On the other hand, Su Feng was stunned by how quickly Qin Ye had snatched the phone away from his hands, and even more so by how incongruous it was when Qin Ye verbally dismissed the ranking system, yet continued to have a grotesquely twisted expression on his face¡­

    The mere fact that he had gotten a message wasn¡¯t important. What was important was the person who had sent it. It was Zhou Xianlong.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qin Ye frowned, ¡°Has Faculty Head Zhou just reached menopause? I didn¡¯t see him all summer. Not even Principal Xu was around either. Are they thinking of checking on our lesson ns?¡±

    He nced around, and then lowered his voice to a hush, ¡°I¡¯ve heard some news on the grapevine. Apparently, something big has been brewing over thest few months or so.¡±

    The first thing that struck him was that there probably wasn¡¯t anythingrger than the battle at the Strait of Tsushima taking ce over thest few months. The mortal realm might be unable to see Emissaries, but there was simply no way of concealing Justice Bao¡¯s authority, as well as the overbearing might of the Book of Life and Death!

    ¡°What is it?¡± Qin Ye asked softly.

    Qin Ye nodded his head. He had seen the map of supernatural activity, and there were threerge areas where the dots were abnormally red. This was the basis for his conjecture that each dot represented the area of activity of one of the daolords!

    Qin Ye listened calmly, but his palms were already dripping with sweat.

    The battle at the Strait of Tsushima must have stirred one of the daolords to action. After all¡­ the three eastern provinces are no more than a stone¡¯s throw away from the Strait of Tsushima!

    ¡°How did you learn of these things?¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°The school embargoes such information in an attempt to create a conducive environment for learning. Yet you¡¯ve even managed to learn of our principal¡¯s whereabouts?¡±

    Would he be able to track me down to the City of Salvation?

    ¡°Have you forgotten that I¡¯m from the SRC as well? And I¡¯m on apletely different level from that idiot Local Bully.¡± Su Feng paused for a moment, ¡°I¡¯m almost certain that they will be updating everyone on this situation this afternoon. Just wait and see. If my source of information is urate, then it is likely that the academy will be rolling out apletely different sybus for the uing semester¡­ Alright, that¡¯s enough fair warning for now. Let¡¯s see what the big boss says this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Damn¡­ what the hell is going on¡­¡± He sighed and finally got some shuteye till 2.30 p.m. Then, he made his way to the tiered lecture hall, only to discover that he was one of the first to have arrived.

    He observed them silently. Every single person had a somber expression on their faces. Tao Ran waved at him and forced a contrived smile to his face, ¡°Little Qin, did your academic exchange to Eastsea go well? Did you encounter any major incident or hup over there?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. Just asking.¡± Tao Ran smiled, before settling back into his seat together with the rest of the leaders of the academy in silence.

    ¡°Scram!¡± Qin Ye pointed to the seats around him, ¡°These seats are only for single dogs. Not for you!¡±

    He was the only one who remained seated where he was.

    A sudden wave of awkwardness filled the entire lecture hall.

    <hr>

    1. This is a LoL reference. Twitch is a champion that uses poison and stealth in battle.

    2. Red sus.

 Chapter 308: All Things Will Eventually Come to Light

    <h4>Chapter 308: All Things Will Eventually Come to Light</h4>

    ¡°Since when was I ever single?¡± Su Feng stared back at Qin Ye with incredulity, ¡°My other half simply isn¡¯t from around these parts.¡±

    His words were like an awl that was driven through Qin Ye¡¯s heart.

    Bloody hell¡­ Forget it, I can¡¯t be bothered with you ignorant fools.

    ¡°Yanqiu?¡± Qin Ye barked back, ¡°Are you two so close that you¡¯re already on a first-name basis already? So, what¡¯s next? The wedding?¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered with him any longer. Just then, Xu Anguo spoke up, ¡°Instructors, please settle down.¡±

    Everyone immediately grew silent.

    None of them were daft. If the matter to be discussed were something that could be resolved by Hellguard-ss cultivators, Xu Anguo would never prompt Zhou Xianlong to talk about it. The fact that it involved Zhou Xianlong meant that it was a matter that not even Hellguards were able to resolve, and it required someone as powerful as Zhou Xianlong to properly describe it in detail.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Zhou Xianlong stood up and swept a frigid gaze across the hall, before promptly breaking the news, ¡°The three eastern provinces¡­ have devolved into chaos.¡±

    The three eastern provinces have devolved into chaos? But¡­ how? There could only be one possibility - and that was the appearance of a Ghost King equivalent that was shing directly with the mortal realm!

    ¡°Don¡¯t be rmed!¡± Zhou Xianlong mmed the desk and continued, ¡°The situation has alreadye under control. The Eastsea Branch of the Special Investigations Department has already activated the highest level of alert on its supernatural perimeter, and the chaos is sequestered from the rest of Cathay for now!¡±

    Why?

    Qin Ye knew much more about the situation than any of the others seated around him right now. Most importantly, he was fully aware that the three daolords were all at the level of Incarnate Revenants!

    ¡°That¡¯s unbelievable¡­¡± He raised his head and gazed deeply at Zhou Xianlong.

    ¡°Old Qin, you look rather pale. Are you feeling alright?¡± Local Bully nced at Qin Ye in confusion, only to be rebuffed immediately, ¡°Pay attention! Why do you keep looking over?!¡±

    As expected¡­

    A sea that sat right between Cathay, Daehan and Nippon. It was a map of the Strait of Tsushima which Qin Ye knew all too well!

    To be precise, it wasn¡¯t jet ck.

    The wings of the butterfly effect have begun to p¡­ His heart grew somber and sullen. The consequences of the great battle at the Strait of Tsushima was only justing to light. It first triggered Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s visit to Cathay, and now¡­ even a daolord was beginning to stir.

    ¡°26 July. The Strait of Tsushima exploded with an incredible amount of Yin energy. By our estimates¡­ the Yin energy reading of the eruption was well over thirty million¡­¡±

    The entire hall was set abuzz instantly, but Xu Anguo rapped the table loudly, ¡°Silence.¡±

    It¡¯s impossible for mere mortals to see Emissaries of Hell¡­ but that idiot Azai Nagamasa was so confident that he didn¡¯t even bother concealing his own presence from the mortals around¡­ DAMN IT! Qin Ye cursed in his heart, and his heart began to palpitate wildly. His hand was already resting on the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his clothes, and he was ready to flee at the moment¡¯s notice.

    Unfortunately¡­ he also had a human form!

    Come to think of it, forcing the use of the Incense of Paramnesia back then was a masterstroke. The only ones who could possibly know of my true identity right now are the two monks from Mount Koya. But, that said¡­

    It was practically impossible to leave no traces behind regardless of the endeavours one undertook. Either refrain from a course of conduct altogether, or expect that traces would be left behind in some way or another.

    Zhou Xianlong had mentioned it in passing. However, Qin Ye keenly picked up on it, and he promptly opened up the y app on his phone and began searching for more information on the Albatross Division.

    The Albatross was the Special Investigations Department¡¯s most elite reconnaissance unit. All 108 personnel were minimally peak Soul Hunters, and they are moremonly known as the Strength of Malignance, because their involvement¡­ meant that Cathay was getting serious.

    They neither had names nor records of their achievements. The only other thing that was known about the Albatross Division was that they had never made any mistakes on their investigations, save for cases involving Judge-ss Yin spirits and above.

    Zhou Xianlong continued, ¡°Following the eruption of Yin energy at the Strait of Tsushima, we received news that there was a supernatural outbreak at Skytribute City at midnight on 4 August. Every single person forming part of the city, including the citizens of the remotest counties, towns and even viges, witnessed the birth of the nest of ten thousand captive ghosts. I¡¯d pause here tomend Instructor Qin for his predictions here. The term ¡®ten thousand captive ghosts¡¯ is all too apt for the phenomenon that has arisen.¡±

    Just then, the LED screen changed once more. This time, everyone sat up straight and stared at the screen with widened eyes.

    The time was indicated in red at the bottom right corner of the screen. At midnight, the vault of the sky suddenly trembled, and countlesshermes suddenly poured straight out from the sky, apanied only by a powerfulhergale that swept through thends. Within moments, a massive hole opened up in the clouds above the city. As far as the eyes could tell, countless illusory Yin spirits poured out from the hole in the sky, screaming and wailing at the top of their voices!

    ¡°All of the personnel belonging to the Skytribute City Branch of the Special Investigations Department immediately resisted with all their might as soon as they noticed the supernatural outbreak. Unfortunately¡­ they were all martyred in the line of duty.¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice had lowered to a hush, ¡°An hourter, one of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s strongest forces arrived on scene, and they were fortunately able to safely evacuate millions of citizens¡­ We should be grateful for their prompt response. If it weren¡¯t for them, Skytribute City would already have be and of the dead by now.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong presented his case without any exaggerated emotions. But all who were present in the hall could only imagine just how bloody and terrifying the battle would have been!

    ¡°This incident - the storm that is brewing outside, and the internal struggles that the nation is facing - are things that you needn¡¯t concern yourselves about. This is why I¡¯ve only given you the lowdown on things.¡± He swept a cid gaze across the room, ¡°Because even if you knew the full details of these things, this isn¡¯t a battle that you would be able to participate in.¡±

    He paused for a moment, ¡°We¡¯re going to be making some changes to the sybus next semester.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, I¡¯ll be personally taking charge of the actualbat training to take ce on a monthly basis. All other faculties apart from the Faculty of Combat will see their schedules rejigged slightly so that they will have time to join the Faculty of Combat for actualbat training.¡±

    After all, everyone could tell just how serious the situation out there must be if the academy were to take such drastic measures. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s tone of voice may have been cid, but the situation was most certainly grave.

    Zhou Xianlong couldn¡¯t be bothered about what the other instructors were thinking. He set down his documents, stared everyone in the eye, and continued to impress his point, ¡°This change in sybus has been presented at board meeting and approved unanimously. We¡­ can¡¯t getcent. Cathay needs new blood! We¡¯re cultivators. Having indulged in the benefits that the state has showered upon us, it is only our duty to take responsibility for our own duties and give back to our nation!¡±

    ¡°For every night of restful sleep you get, know that there are a multitude of other families out there who worry about what lurks in the dark.¡±

    ¡°The First Academy of Cultivators is not a ce for you to gild yourselves with gold and rest on yoururels! Anyone who even harbors a modicum of such thoughts can leave right now and head back to where you¡¯vee from!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Named after two of the 108 Stars of Destiny, namely the Strength Star (Ììî¸) and the Malignant Star (µØÉ·).

 Chapter 309: Butterfly Effect (1)

    <h4>Chapter 309: Butterfly Effect (1)</h4>

    Several instructors bowed their heads in shame.

    ¡°Alright, Old Zhou.¡± Li Tao saw that the point had already been driven home, and he stood up to y the good cop, "As mentioned earlier, we¡¯ve given you the lowdown on what has urred. The bottom-line is that you don¡¯t need to concern yourselves about these things. After much deliberation, the academy hase to the conclusion that we cannot afford to go on sheltering the students like this. After all, a belly-full of knowledge isn¡¯t going to save them on the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°We have to prepare their hearts and their minds as well. All theoretical knowledge is only as useful as their practical application. Yin spirits can show up at any time and in any form. The academy¡¯s leadership has concluded that we¡¯ve gone too easy on everyone over thest teaching semester.¡±

    He took a sip of his tea, ¡°However, we, too, are figuring our way out as we cross this river together. As soon as we discover mistakes, we correct our methods and continue to forge forwards. In future, I¡¯d like everyone to consciously imbibe these students with the duties and obligations of bing cultivators, and share with them more on the thoughts and emotions running through your minds at the earlier stages of your career, as well as drop hints on the current situation guing the rest of Cathay¡­ I can almost guarantee that after the supernatural outbreak at the three eastern provinces, the situation is only going to get worse.¡±

    ¡°Let the country deal with its citizens'' outcry and thoughts. All you need to think about is how to impart the students with a firm foundation of solid theories, immovable conviction, and a powerful cultivation.¡±

    He cleared his throat, ¡°With that, I shall now announce the assessment conditions for the second phase of the instructors¡¯ evaluation. Theing phase shall determine the number of associate professors to be appointed at the end of the two years¡¯ course. Do take note that the assessment conditions to be announced will also be applicable for the next year and a half. During this time, unless one is able to produce and publish a paper that attracts widespread attention like the one Instructor Qin did, everyone shall strictly be assessed in ordance with the conditions I am about to disclose.¡±

    Silence.

    This was the position of Associate Professor - one that gave rise to the substantial privilege of a 30% discount on all transactions! The teaching credits I have... Although Qin Ye had already embarked on his road to riches, he still couldn¡¯t help but smack his lips at the thought of such immense wealth that apanied professorship.

    I can¡¯t afford to stick out too much in the uing semester¡­ One final push,plete these two years in an uneventful manner, trade in all my teaching credits for resources, and run like the wind¡­ That said, I can¡¯t help but feel like the Albatross Division will eventuallye onto me¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s heart was gued by a series of conflicting thoughts.

    Li Tao looked at everyone and continued to announce in a deep voice, ¡°Moving forward, all students graduating from the First Academy of Cultivators shall be ssified in grades ranging from A through D. The assessment of instructors will take ce shortly before their graduation, and shall be dependent on which faculties have the most A-grade students, the overall performance of the individual instructors, as well as how the students view their instructors.¡±

    ¡°Your usual performance will also be graded by the students. The points umted will be considered bonus points that will also be taken into ount during your final assessment.¡± Zhou Xianlong waved a form in his hand, ¡°An instructor may be ster, but as far as we¡¯re concerned, he is only as good as he is an effective teacher. Therefore, the second phase of the assessment isrgely student-oriented. An instructor¡¯s individual performance is going to be only of secondary importance. Any objections?¡±

    Of course not!

    Many instructors couldn¡¯t help but turn back to nce enviably at Qin Ye. None of us can hold a candle to Qin Ye when ites to an instructor¡¯s individual performance after all¡­

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips felt iparably dry. Bloody hell¡­ why does it feel like they¡¯re reading my thoughts?!

    He had started the first semester with a bang because he had wanted to secure an insurmountable lead for himself on this road to riches. But now, it was clear that the change in rules once again endangered his ns to squirrel away the treasures of the Great Dipper Vault for himself!

    That said, it was a good thing that Qin Ye didn¡¯t need any resources urgently right now. Otherwise, the two principals would havepletely destroyed him with this sudden change of ns.

    Just as his heart began to thump wildly, Xu Anguo suddenly interjected with a sonorous voice, ¡°Instructor Qin, do you have any objections?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Not at all. I fully support the academy¡¯s decision.¡± Qin Ye responded with a helpless look on his face.

    Then, he suddenly sensed a gaze sweeping over his entire body.

    It was fleeting, but¡­ deep.

    Fast like a gust of wind, but incisive like a sharp de that prated his marrows.

    ¡°Since there aren¡¯t any objections, then this meeting is adjourned.¡± Li Tao stood up, ¡°Everyone, I imagine you¡¯ll have to rejig your lesson ns a little to provide some further guidance on the points earlier raised. I¡¯ll make an announcementter to push back the start of the iing school term slightly. The next semester shall officially start the day after tomorrow. Work hard, everyone.¡±

    With that, everyone departed.

    And since everyone departed, naturally nobody noticed Zhou Xianlong walking towards a door located at the side of the lecture hall.

    The door was unusual. There was a curtain drawn over the door, and the door directly faced the entire lecture hall. As soon as Zhou Xianlong drew the curtains, it revealed that there was actually another man standing right behind the curtains.

    He was a short man, with an unattractive appearance. In fact, he appeared so ordinary and unassuming that there was simply no better way to describe him.

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen the legendary Albatross Division in action.¡± Zhou Xianlong sighed with great emotion, while the other man smiled genially as he pulled a thin face-hugging mask off his face, ¡°Not quite.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zhou Xianlong raised an eyebrow, ¡°Then, at least I¡¯ve seen your figure. That¡¯s something that can¡¯t be--...¡±

    Before he could even finish speaking, the man¡¯s bones suddenly clicked, and his arm suddenly elongated itself. The man¡¯s voice even changed from that of a mature man to a young boy, ¡°It¡¯s bone shrinkage skills yo~! Something I¡¯ve been practicing since I¡¯ve been a kid~.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong shook his head with resignation and apuded that man. After some time, the smile on his face faded away, and he got straight to the topic at hand, ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    ¡°Not really¡­¡± The other man sighed, ¡°The only thing that I¡¯m certain about is that the man in the photograph resembles Instructor Qin. However¡­ I didn¡¯t detect any remnants of his true energy on the entire cruise ship at all.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong furrowed his brows, ¡°Then, doesn¡¯t that prove he didn¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t prove anything.¡± The man responded indifferently, ¡°If he was indeed on the cruise ship, and there wasn¡¯t a single trace of true energy about him, then¡­ that would be most frightening indeed.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong was slightly taken aback, and then his expression grew grave and somber.

    ¡°Speaking of which, I do find him somewhat out of the ordinary.¡± The man rubbed his chin, ¡°The arts he practices are very peculiar. I¡¯ve never heard of something like that before. Furthermore¡­ a Soul Hunter at the age of eighteen is truly out of the world. And what makes that all the more frightening is the fact that he¡¯s simply a rogue cultivator. This¡­ borders on impossibility.¡±

    The man continued, ¡°But¡­ he still has a shadow about him.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded.

    The man spoke in a deep voice, ¡°And that¡¯s what puzzles me the most. If the man in the photograph is truly Instructor Qin, then what exactly does that make him? If not for the fact that the eruption of Yin energy at the Strait of Tsushima was so important, the Albatross Division would never be investigating a living human being, no matter how suspicious he might be.¡±

    ¡°After all, it¡¯s an irond rule that the Yin and the Yang can never coexist. No living person would possibly be in cahoots with Yin spirits.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong grew taciturn as he considered the facts before him. After some time, he probed, ¡°Then, what about you guys?¡±

    ¡°Guardian Auctions¡¯ grandmaster of the house and second-in-charge are already in the sights of the Albatross.¡± There was a cold gleam in his eyes, ¡°Unfortunately, their memory was altered by the Incense of Paramnesia. No, rather, the memory of all who were present on that ship that day have been altered by the Incense of Paramnesia. Furthermore, all of the surveince cameras have beenpletely smashed to smithereens. There are even traces of Hellguard-ss Yin spirits on the ship. To make matters worse, I¡¯ve never seen Hellguard-ss Yin spirits as strong as these. And they¡¯re not even Cathayan Yin spirits to boot. The entire cruise ship was nearly destroyed by these Yin spirits.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a major setback.¡± Zhou Xianlong frowned deeply, ¡°It¡¯s going to take at least four to five years to reverse the effects of the Incense of Paramnesia. And if we¡¯re unlucky, it might even take ten full years.¡±

    The man shook his head and swept his gaze across the empty tiered lecture hall in front of him with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°Mr Zhou¡­ The fact that the Incense of Paramnesia was used means that someone is trying to hide something. The question is¡­ who?¡±

    ¡°The fact that he was able topel the lighting of the incense without proper authorization from the authorities means that this man possesses a special identity - one that is so special that he would even go so far as to break thew just to conceal all truth about it.¡±

    The man paced up and down as he continued speaking, ¡°Guardian Auctions have conducted an auction on the cruise liner. ording to their website, the auction involved the national treasure known as the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. The bowl went missing after the incident. Furthermore¡­¡±

    He took a deep breath, ¡°There were forty-seven main seats ced in the auction hall, while only one seat¡¯s owner wasn¡¯t on board the cruise liner at the material times!¡±

    ¡°When we received the distress signal from the cruise liner, and the search and rescue team finally arrived on scene, we found only forty-six members who would have qualified for these seats!¡±

    ¡°The missing person¡­ must have been among the VIP ck card members of Guardian Auctions. Otherwise, he could never be provided a seat at the auction that was conducted.¡± The man¡¯s eyes narrowed as he continued, ¡°He must have been the one thatpelled everyone to light the Incense of Paramnesia¡­ In other words, he was the only one who wasn¡¯t affected by the incense, and who had retained his memory of the entire incident! He¡¯s the only person who can tell us what happened at the Strait of Tsushima!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong pondered for a moment, ¡°Wasn¡¯t it said that there are still three others who have retained their memories?¡±

    The man chuckled bitterly, ¡°The three other persons arepletely out of our reach. Mitsubishi immediately sent over a nascent Judge-ss expert to rebuff our attempts, while approaching Mount Koya¡­ would bepletely overstepping the authority extended to us. Besides, they won¡¯t tell us anything. They¡¯ll simply dismiss our questions by saying that they don¡¯t know, and that they had fainted at the material times.¡±

    ¡°Otherwise, did you really think that I would be desperate enough to make the trip down to the First Academy of Cultivators to investigate Instructor Qin?¡± The man sighed as he pulled out the picture and scrutinized it once more.

    The photograph in his hand had been captured by satellite in the early parts of the morning.

    It was an image of a room, revealing Qin Ye¡¯s face as he peeked out of the windows and watched the sunrise over the seas.

    All it showed was a partial view of his face in the slit between the curtains. However, everything that was shown looked to be an exact match with Qin Ye¡¯s facial features.

    ¡°And what about the Strait of Tsushima? Have you guys sent anyone to check out those parts yet?¡± Zhou Xianlong looked at the photograph with aplicated gaze in his eyes.

    ¡°We¡¯ve sent people. We should be hearing from them today.¡± The man put away the photograph. Then, before he could go on, his phone suddenly rang.

    ¡°Speak of the devil.¡± He waved his phone in front of Zhou Xianlong, ¡°I¡¯ll apprise you of the results in a little while.¡±

    He turned around, plugged in his earbuds, and answered the call.

    However, a secondter, his expression suddenly went nk.

    Momentster, he suddenly pulled out his earbuds and rushed out of the room. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes flickered, and he immediately held the man back.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s happened.¡± The man gritted his teeth, ¡°Mr Zhou, please keep a close eye on Instructor Qin. I must make a trip to the Strait of Tsushima myself¡­ And if there are still no leads by next semester, I¡¯ll personally make the trip down again.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Strait of Tsushima.

    An eeriehergale swept across the surface of the waters, right over where innumerable dead fish were floating and drifting about endlessly. Even though it had already been a month since the battle at the Strait of Tsushima, the entire strait still appeared to be a forbidden zone for the living. Any fish that unknowingly swam over would immediately flip over and die, while all passing ships would instantly turn into ghost ships. All surrounding nations have alreadybelled the strait as a forbidden zone for the living.

    That said, that didn¡¯t mean that the sea waspletely deste and devoid of any beings.

    The time now was 6.00 p.m.

    The setting sun cast a stifling, golden sheen across the surface of the waters, while countless scarlethermes suddenly lit up in the roiling clouds of Yin energy drifting about the waters. Immediately after that, countless skeletal hounds with turquoisehermes zing from within their bones and scarlet pupils appeared as mysteriously as the sweepinghergales as they began to scour the entire district for signs.

    It was impossible tomit a deed without leaving any traces behind.

    It didn¡¯t matter whether the deed was a good or a bad one. As long as it had been done, there would indubitably be traces. Everything that happened from now on waspletely outside of Qin Ye¡¯s control. The butterfly effect was slowly beginning to unravel.

    The might of Justice Bao¡¯s disy of authority and the presence of the Book of Life and Death were each on its own sufficient to shake up the entire East Continent.

    Sniff¡­ sniff¡­ The skeletal hounds spread across the surface of the waters like a tide, growingrger andrger in number by the minute. They emerged from the Strait of Tsushima, and slowly expanded their search in the direction of Nippon and Daehan. But just as they were about to reach the Pusan waters, a ghostlyherme suddenly erupted, instantly reducing all of the approaching skeletal hounds to dust and ashes.

    ¡°Which daolord approaches? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re undermining the authority of I, Liu Yu?¡± A faint voice echoed through the dark surroundings, apanied by a chorus of endless ghostly cries. Soon afterwards, the surface of the seas began to stir violently.

    Whoosh¡­ An endlesshergale picked up and blew in the direction of Pusan. Likewise, a massive cloud of Yin energy surged from the heart of Pusan and drifted over in the direction of the Strait of Tsushima. Within moments, a cacophony of horse neighing echoed throughout the deste surroundings, and thousands of Yin soldiers wearing ancient Cathayan armor and riding bone horses began to emerge from the roiling dark clouds like a grand tsunami.

    All of the soldiers were skeletons.

    Completely intact skeletons, with their hair tied up in an ancient Cathayan bun, and wielding long spears in their hands. Gradually, they rode into formation and formed a massive wall of Yin soldiers, before finally stopping on the sea, directly in front of where Pusan was located.

    Dead silence.

    After an inordinate amount of time, a voice finally rang out from the darkness behind, ¡°So¡­ it¡¯s actually Emperor Wu of Song¡­¡±

    ¡°It seems like Lord Ksitigarbha didn¡¯t whisk you remnant feudal officials off to paradise after all¡­ But it¡¯s just as well. It¡¯s always easier to correspond with an acquaintance¡­¡±

    ¡°Liu Yu, do you remember me? I hope I didn¡¯t scare you back then, when I was screaming and wailing under the path of the asura.¡±

    1. I.e. Asia.

 Chapter 310: Butterfly Effect (2)

    <h4>Chapter 310: Butterfly Effect (2)</h4>

    A secondter, a stream of white paper money abruptly began to shoot into the air from the heart of the roiling Yin energy, scattering about endlessly as though paving the way for the arrival of an important person. It was followed quickly by the res of sornas that yed a shrill and peculiar piece, before dozens of humanoid paper effigies marched out of the roiling clouds, beating on gongs and drums as they did.

    An old, withered hand lifted the curtain, revealing a blood-red eye that peeked out from the darkness within. The remaining golden glow of the sun revealed the faint appearances of the man within.

    The old man had white eyebrows but no beard. His eyes were scarlet in colour, and he was dressed in a long, majestic robe that was befitting of emperors. His skin was covered with old age spots. He appeared to be a living person, yet at the same time seemed to be devoid of any traces of vitality, almost as though he was an entity that had just crawled right out of the grave.

    Secondster, the wall of Yin soldiers standing in front of Pusan neatly parted, making way for a two-meter tall bone horse carrying Emperor Wu of Song in the full glory of his gilded golden armor. Theherme in his eyes flickered brightly, and he stared at the old man directly across the waters, before finallymenting, ¡°So¡­ it¡¯s you¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It wasn¡¯t easy.¡± The old man responded hoarsely as heughed.

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to make an enemy of you.¡± The old man let down the curtain of his pnquin once more, ¡°I¡¯m looking for something. Grant me passage, and I promise not to touch a single hair of the Hanyang underworld.¡±

    ¡°Cough cough cough¡­¡± Violent coughs could be heard from within the pnquin, ¡°So¡­ Hell is actually still in existence¡­ That¡¯s right. I did sense some fluctuations resembling the establishment of an underworld just about a year ago¡­ Excellent. Truly excellent¡­ To think that you would speak of such matters in such a righteous way¡­¡±

    Before he even finished speaking, Yin energy erupted from the pnquin like a raging tsunami that rose a hundred meters high into the air! Innumerable spots ofhermes lit up in the darkness within, while a cacophony of ghostly cries filled the air. It was almost as though a rift had been opened to the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment!

    Emperor Wu of Song remained taciturn, but he held his ground stoically.

    They were lines of rednterns that appeared to line a boulevard leading straight into Fengdu Necropolis. An eeriehergale swept through the path, while Yin spirits abounded around it.

    ¡°Because you, too, wish to rise up against the authority of Hell! Our goals are aligned! We no longer want to be puppets of the old Hell. The world is our oyster, and it¡¯s ripe for our taking¡­ So, let me ask you again - what basis do you have to take the moral high ground in our conversation over here?!¡±

    He raised the spear in hand gently, and the thousands of Yin soldiers standing in formation did likewise in a majestic fashion. Then, they all pointed their spears directly towards the pnquin as Emperor Wu of Song continued, ¡°I am an existence that is blessed by the heavens and possesses eternal life! I deserve the throneship over all of Cathay! I¡¯m not an existence that can bepared in the same breath as the rest of the twelve envoys, much less the daolords of the six paths who are no different from Yin fiends in my eyes!¡±

    Back in the pnquin, the old man¡¯s eyes shrank when he heard these words. His grip tightened around his armrest, and the nails on his hands suddenly extended by an inch or so. The whites of his eyes turned ck, while his needle-eye shaped pupils abruptly turned white. Following that, copious amounts of Yin energy began to pour out of his seven apertures. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of humanity left on him in this very moment.

    It was corpse water.

    Within moments, the corpse water began to make a sizzling sound on his clothes, before slowly corroding it at a speed that was visible to the naked eye!

    It was a child¡¯s hands.

    ¡°You can try.¡± Emperor Wu of Song chuckled contemptuously, before raising his spear to the sky once more. A split secondter, earth-shattering thumps of war drums echoed from Pusan and swept across the surface of the waters, causing the sea to stir violently. Then, the wall of mounted soldiers parted like the red sea once more, and thousands upon thousands of Yin foot soldiers rushed out to the beating of the drums.

    BOOM!

    And this wasn¡¯t all.

    Whoosh¡­ One of the arrowheads lit up like an eerie fire in the dead of the night. Like a trigger, the other arrowheads soon began to light up on fire as well - a second¡­ a third¡­ a hundred¡­ a thousand¡­ five thousand¡­ ten thousand!

    ¡°Thirty thousand soldiers¡­ Hahaha¡­ Liu Jinu, feudal officials are only entitled to an army of five thousand. What audacity. To think that you would raise a private army!¡± The old man didn¡¯t sound panicked in the slightest. Instead, he simplyughed shrilly, ¡°I understand. What you¡¯re saying is that it doesn¡¯t matter which of the twelve envoys rise up against the new Hell. Whoever seeds will be the one who is blessed by the heavens to reign supreme. But¡­ I, a daolord, am precluded from all of this?¡±

    ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that none of you qualify at all!¡±

    The Yin energy on the sea in front of Pusan grew thicker and thicker, until it finally swallowed up all of the skeletal houndsying prone on the ground, and only innumerable spots of glowing red eyes could be seen peeking through the darkness. On the other side, the thirty thousand Yin soldiers were lined up in formation, awaiting the signal to rush into battle. The Yin energy that poured out was so dense that they blotted out the skypletely, while the red spots appeared no different from constetions in the sky. The silence was suffocating.

    After an inordinate amount of time, the sound of a pin dropping was heard across the vast seas in front of Pusan. Then, there was a cold snort, ¡°Alright¡­ I¡¯ll refrain from taking action just this once. But, I¡¯ve got a question, and I hope Emperor Wu of Song will answer me truthfully. Otherwise¡­¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song responded disdainfully, ¡°Shoot.¡±

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± Emperor Wu of Song held his horse reins tightly andughed uproariously. And then, he squinted into the darkness and quipped, ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    In that instant, the number of red spots in the cloud of Yin energy rapidly multiplied. It had numbered in the thousands before, but now¡­ the number went up to the tens of thousands! In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the number exceeded¡­ a hundred thousand!

    There was a deafening silence as the clouds of Yin energy continued to stir. A secondter, countless humanoid paper effigies with simple drawn-on appearances, wearing tall hats, ck robes and wielding mourning staves flew out of the clouds of Yin energy like a scattering swarm of bees!

    Not even Emperor Wu of Song was able to keep his pupils as cid as before.

    Emperor Wu of Song chuckled softly and lifted his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know where it is either.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ As he departed, so did the thirty thousand troops under hismand recede like an ebbing tide.

    Several minutester, a Yin spirit dressed in ancient Cathayan garments like a schr drifted towards Emperor Wu of Song, ¡°My lord, he¡¯s left.¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song looked up at the darkening sky and murmured to himself, ¡°The Book of Life and Death¡­ The Yin energy of the new Hell is incredibly weak, and nobody would be able to locate the new Hell if they¡¯re bent on remaining hidden. But if they¡¯ve managed to secure the Book of Life and Death for themselves, then Hell¡¯s Yin energy would most certainly receive a great boost, and they would instantly be visible. In other words¡­ even a blind man would be able to tell if the new Hell has managed to secure the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    And if it were¡­ who?

    Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s eyes gleamed coldly, ¡°Dispose of them.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The cufflinks of each corpse were etched with the mark of an albatross.

    <hr>

    1. Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s other name, apart from Liu Yu.

 Chapter 311: Butterfly Effect (3)

    <h4>Chapter 311: Butterfly Effect (3)</h4>

    Viang, capital of Lan Xang.

    The streets were lined with stores with Cathayan signs all over. The Cathayannguage was used in various ces in the country. Unfortunately, the country was poor, and the facilities avable to the National University of Lan Xang was somewhat limited.

    Everyone attending the National University of Lan Xang knew that Zhou Gu was one of the most famous students of his year. He was handsome, charming, elegant, and most importantly, he was proficient in all kinds of musical instruments, including the piano, electric piano, guitar, bass guitar, and even more traditional instruments such as the zither or the guqin. Every university performance would invariably feature his appearance.

    He seldom spoke to anyone, except for the purposes of discourse in music. Furthermore, he was known to payrge amounts of money in order to secure a single room for himself, as opposed to sharing a room with anyone else.

    Lan Xang was close to the tropics and the temperature tended to be on the higher side all year around. It was August, and yet most citizens in Lan Xang were still dressed in T-shirts, shorts and slippers. Nevertheless, Zhou Gu had a baseball cap on, wore a pair of headphones, and sneakers. As he trudged along the corridor in school, several female students couldn¡¯t help but steal nces at him.

    The girl next to herughed, ¡°Dream on. He¡¯s out of our league - a wallflower that knows nothing but music. Not even the other students from Cathay are able to elicit more than a cursory exchange from him.¡±

    Naturally, Zhou Gu didn¡¯t hear any of the exchange between the twodies. And even if he did, it wouldn¡¯t have bothered him one bit.

    His room waspletely different from what everyone had expected.

    The coffins were small. In fact, it would be a misnomer to call them coffins. They were more akin to some kind of human-shaped container, wrapped tightly by countless talismans that had cinnabar scribblings and drawings all over them. Furthermore, there wasn¡¯t even a bed in the room. The only other object sitting in his room was a statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!

    The look in Zhou Gu¡¯s eyes at this moment was nothing like that one would expect of an average college student. There was an iparablyplex look in his eyes, almost as though he were a man who was hundreds of years old.

    He waved his hand slightly, and a spot ofherme adhered itself to a piece of white paper in the Yin soldier¡¯s hands and brought it over to him. He picked it up and stared at it for a long time, before finally chuckling contemptuously, ¡°Does Liu Jinu really think of himself as an emperor? His time has long passed, and we¡¯re all no more than Emissaries of Hell right now¡­ No, in fact, we¡¯re not even Emissaries of Hell. Without any proper conferment of title, we¡¯re no different from Yin spirits and evil ghosts.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s inviting both myself and Yang Jiye to make a trip back to the old Hell? And he¡¯s even done this in the form of an imperial edict? On what basis? Isn¡¯t he aware that I was born several hundred years before he was?¡± Zhou Gu casually flicked the invitation, and the sheet of paper spontaneouslybusted with a jade-greenherme, before promptly turning to dust.

    ¡°No.¡± Unexpectedly, Zhou Gu raised his hand, ¡°There¡¯s no hurry.¡±

    As he spoke, the pupils in his eyes suddenly lit up with two spots of goldenhermes that flickered about wildly.

    Zhou Gongjin nced at the Yin soldier, and then suddenly changed the topic, ¡°Do you know why¡­ Liu Jinu didn¡¯t immediately turn against Hell?¡±

    The Yin soldier was stunned. Yin energy continued to flow from his seven apertures as he wracked his mind over the question that had been posed to him. Finally, after a long time, he responded, ¡°Didn¡¯t Lord Liu¡­ say something about independence?¡±

    The Yin soldier lowered his head in confusion, before finally shaking his head in dismay.

    He continued, ¡°One cannot simply look at the new Hell as it currently stands. Of the twelve envoys, some would immediately pledge their allegiance to the new Hell, some won¡¯t, while there are others who are simply undecided like myself. That said, even if we take the situation at its worst and say that none of the twelve envoys would pledge their allegiance to Hell, we still have to bear in mind the fact that the western underworlds are all eyeing Cathay like venomous vipers.¡±

    ¡°The privilege of our status as feudal officials allows us to learn of the copse of the old Hell before any of the other underworlds out there. None of them know about this right now. But whoever sits on the throne of the new Hell would immediately also assume the position as the new thorn in the side of the other underworlds! Think about it - how glorious did the old Hell use to be? Do you think the foreign underworlds would be able to resist trampling all over Hell now that they are given the perfect opportunity to do so? And we haven¡¯t even talked about the low-hanging fruit of the old Hell¡¯s legacy and how it is something that the other underworlds would attempt to secure at all costs!¡±

    The room went silent.

    ¡°There¡¯s no harm in taking a look.¡± Zhou Yu finally made up his mind, ¡°The imperial court meeting at the end of the year will see the reunion of the twelve envoys once more, together with that nutcase Liu Jinu¡­ Haha. None will pass up on this opportunity¡­¡±

    The Yin soldier pulled out another piece of white paper from his bosom and lit a spot of greenherme nearby, revealing a name on it.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°You¡¯ve finallye¡­¡± Arthis heaved a sigh of relief as she gazed into the distant sky, ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush. It¡¯s useless to rush. The one who sits on the throne will have to bear the weight of its crown. Did you really think that there wouldn¡¯t be any implications to receiving the Book of Life and Death back in Hell?¡±

    There was no way he wanted to reveal his true identity back in the mortal realm - at least, not until he had managed to squirrel away as much of the treasures stored in the Great Dipper Vault as he possibly could. After all, there was simply no telling how much supplies he would need for the future development of Hell. Besides, there was no downside in amassing these treasures either.

    The eruption of Yin energy at the Strait of Tsushima had attracted the attention of the entire East Continent. The butterfly effect was slowly stirring into full force¡­ and it was finally transforming into a terrifying tornado.

    Having understood the tension between underworlds globally, Qin Ye hardly dared to think about how great the repercussions would be if news of this incident spread to the Middle East, or even to Europa or Usonia.

    Arthis lowered her head, and her gaze grew deep and abstruse, ¡°Have you ever wondered¡­ why the three eastern provinces were suddenly thrown into such chaos?¡±

    She turned around and locked eyes with Qin Ye, ¡°Thus, you can¡¯t even begin to fathom how terrified these Yin spirits are of the new Hell right now.¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn, and his eyes flickered wildly.

    It suddenly dawned on Qin Ye that he might have been oversimplifying matters all this while. The big picture was no different from a chessboard, with a multitude of moves avable to him, yet a single misstep might well mean checkmate.

    ¡°Whatever the case might be, the best way moving forward is simply to remain inside for now.¡± Arthis cautioned gravely, ¡°Don¡¯t leave the City of Salvation under all circumstances, at least before the imperial court meeting at the end of the year! With Zhou Xianlong and the First Academy of Cultivators around, you¡¯ll be absolutely safe under the shelter of the City of Salvation!¡±

    1. Reference to Vientiane.

    2. Zhou Gongjin¡¯s other name.

 Chapter 312: Pitfall!

    <h4>Chapter 312: Pitfall!</h4>

    As the new Hell began to delve deeper into its development, so were there also increasingly more official documents that needed to be vetted and approved. He had originally thought to hunker down and properly think through and sort out the rtionship between the twelve envoys, the old Hell and the new Hell. Unfortunately, he was overwhelmed by the tide of official documents that soon engulfed him. There was nothing that couldn¡¯t be approved as long as they submitted a twelve-inch thick document. If there was, then it could simply be supplemented by another twelve inches of documentation¡­

    Fortunately, the blueprint for the new government building had already been drawn up by Gu Qing and approved, and construction works had already begun ten days ago.

    15 September. The First Battalion of Hell was officially established. There were a total of twelve thousand soldiers conscripted in all, most of which were Yin spirits under the age of thirty. Oda Nobunaga personally submitted a report, stating that they have officiallymenced drills, and that they¡¯re hoping that Qin Ye could return to Hell in two months time to join them in their first blight vermin sniping battle.

    He couldn¡¯t see what was going on, and there were times when he didn¡¯t even fully appreciate what the works entailed, but he still needed to keep track of the general developments in Hell. Besides, now that school had resumed, it was going to be far more challenging for him to return to Hell on a regr basis.

    All of the instructors knew how much Qin Ye enjoyed socials and parties. However, he had already refused one social and two parties to date, and had instead spent all of his waking hours studying in his room everyday.

    The one good thing about Local Bully was how straightforward he was. He never minced his words.

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye simply ignored him, and shut his eyes to catch forty winks. The passion of Hell was surging, but so was his workload. The reports that he was presented with everyday were at least a foot thick stacked together.

    Ding-ding-ding¡­ The bell for the next ss rang. Qin Ye opened his eyes with a sigh, picked up his lesson n and began to head out of the instructors¡¯ office once more. Just then, Lin Han knocked on the table, ¡°Hey, KTV tonight. It¡¯s a new branch. Two of the female instructors are joining us. Coming?¡±

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m asking you to go! It¡¯s my treat! Come on!¡± Lin Han yelled desperately from behind, ¡°What¡¯s the point of staying cooped up at home all day long? It¡¯s almost like you¡¯re hiding from the sun for thest twenty days or so. Are you trying to master some ghostly arts?!¡±

    Qin Ye nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge of turning around and dropping the bombshell on Lin Han - Brother¡­ the joke¡¯s on you, because I do practice some ghostly arts!

    The weight of the arm was approximately ten kilograms! Son of a¡­ Did he just throw a pig¡¯s trotter at me?!

    Bloody hell¡­ are you a dog?!

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been resting well.¡± It looked like Lin Han wouldn¡¯t stop badgering him until he had some answers, so Qin Ye suppressed the fire in his heart and attempted to ay his concerns for once.

    Ding!

    Lin Han stared at Qin Ye with a look of incredulity. Then, with a pained expression, he continued, ¡°Do you recall how Wargod Zhou mentioned that we¡¯ll bemencing actualbat practice this semester?¡±

    You¡¯re headed straight for a pitfall. Please be wise and go around it.

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Qin Ye astutely caught the nub of the issue - Bloody hell¡­ what¡¯s that supposed to mean?

    Kid, don¡¯t you think you¡¯ve omitted far too many details in the middle? You must have pulled this term out from your butt, haven¡¯t you?

    The perceptive Local Bully immediately understood the look in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, and he thus puffed up his chest proudly, ¡°Are you doubting what I¡¯ve said? I¡¯m not trying to brag, but your era of dominance is over. The present era is built on the surname Lin!¡±

    Lin Han scowled at him with a subtle yet arrogant look. He sighed pretentiously, but it was clear that he was tantly gloating.

    And then tapped on the First Academy of Cultivators Students Group.

    Qin Ye stared at Lin Han as though he were staring at a whole new person, ¡°Alright¡­ I didn¡¯t think you had that in you.¡±

    ¡°Instructor Qin¡¯s ss ising up next. What are we going to do?¡± -- Laughing Pea Shooter.

    Instantly, the group exploded with responses.

    ¡°I feel like my vitality is being sapped from my body with every minute that passes¡­ Don¡¯t you think Instructor Qin looks like he¡¯s been too tired ofte? Lack of sleep? He¡¯s the same age as us, but it suddenly feels as though he¡¯s aged by twenty years!¡± -- Your Bright Green Hat.

    ¡°Good-looking? I disagree. He¡¯s so scrawny. At best, his looks are only eptable. On the other hand, Instructor Lin¡¯s muscles, build, appearances, legs¡­ whoop whoop¡­¡± ¡°No-no-no¡­ Thisdy prefers the innocent, pretty boy look like Little Ye-Ye. Perhaps a certain part might even evolve into a little wolf too!¡± ¡°Cough¡­ You say it as though you¡¯ve been there, done that¡­¡±

    Just like the shape of Qin Ye¡¯s lips right now.

    Who¡¯s scrawny?! Come, tell that to me face to face! How would you know that without verifying it yourself? And how can you me me for naturally looking young? No¡­ I¡¯ve worked so hard for these lessons I¡¯m giving, so how can you simply dismiss my efforts and say that I¡¯m like a walking morgue?!

    Then again, how can I possibly have my cake and eat it at the same time?

    After all, Hell was his own, and the final bastion of his identity and assurances. This was something that the First Academy of Cultivators would never be able to rece.

    ¡°Mm.¡± Qin Ye peeked at his phone and quickened his pace. sses were about to begin.

    Ding!

    ¡°No need for thanks.¡± Local Bully smiled graciously, almost as though he were telling Qin Ye that there was no need for thanks. Then, with a toothy grin, he continued, ¡°Hale Province, adjacent to the three eastern provinces. There are even rolling grasnds there! Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s amazing? Aren¡¯t you grateful for it?¡±

    Qin Ye was going crazy!

    Arthis had solemnly warned him to stay in the confines of the First Academy of Cultivator until the end of the year. Yet, to think that there would be such a major turn of events in just the blink of an eye!

    Oh dear god, dear heavens, dear everything!!! Are you trying to sentence me to a quick and swift death? Is it because you think the story is progressing too slowly, so you have to suddenly drop a terrifying bombshell like this?!

    ¡°Hey? Old Qin? What¡¯s the matter with you? Why do you look so pale? You¡­ you¡¯re fainting? Holy shit! Are you really that excited?!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Another LoL reference.

 Chapter 313: To Seek Truth From Facts

    <h4>Chapter 313: To Seek Truth From Facts</h4>

    Lin Han held Qin Ye steady. What¡¯s going on? Is he really fainting? He must be overwhelmed with excitement¡­ Well, he¡¯s got to learn that there are people who would give up their lives for their friends like me out there in the world. It¡¯s only right that he¡¯s reacting this way.

    ¡°Who am I¡­¡± Qin Ye struggled to open his eyes. The blood coursing through his veins were frigid and cold, and he continued to hold tightly to Lin Han¡¯s cor as he murmured nkly, ¡°Where am I¡­¡±

    Pak! Pak! Lin Han gave Qin Ye two tight ps across the cheeks, ¡°I¡¯m pping you.¡±

    A secondter, Qin Ye transformed from a soft, innocent puppy into a ferocious mastiff, and he grabbed hold of Lin Han¡¯s neck, sent a knee flying straight between Lin Han¡¯s legs, and then pushed him right back into the wall. Lin Han cursed under his breath, ¡°What the hell¡­¡±

    Lin Han hunched over immediately. His face darkened, and he red right back at Qin Ye with a condemning gaze in his eyes.

    ¡°Change it back!!¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he continued to shake Lin Han by the neck with a vicious expression, ¡°Change it back immediately!¡±

    Lin Han was just about to massage hisher regions when he noticed out of the corner of his eyes Qin Ye moving his knee once more. Thus, he immediately raised his hands sensibly in an attempt to elicit a ceasefire, ¡°Stop¡­ I was just looking out for you. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t show me any gratitude, but how can youy a hand on your nephew like this?!¡±

    ¡°Nephew?!¡± Qin Ye nced down, only to realize what the hunk of muscle in front of him was referring to - We¡¯re akin to brothers, so my child is none other than your nephew. If you cripple me down under, then you won¡¯t have a nephew anymore¡­

    The logic was watertight!

    ¡°Believe it when I say that¡­ If you don¡¯t change it back right now, I¡¯ll foreclose any possibilities of a niece as well!¡±

    Lin Han coughed dryly, ¡°About that¡­ Faculty Head Zhou has already approved the swap¡­¡±

    Qin Ye finally loosened his grip around LIn Han.

    And then, he drifted down the corridor listlessly like a ghost, staring wistfully at the ceiling, ¡°Oh dear heavens¡­ Why are you always doing this to me? Why am I always surrounded by a bunch of idiots¡­¡±

    Lin Han sensed that Qin Ye was practically on the verge of snapping, so he cautiously minced forward and whispered to him, ¡°Hey, you¡¯re not thinking straight. Heading out isn¡¯t going to be any different from a walk in the park. It¡¯s even the perfect opportunity to enhance teacher-student rtions! This isn¡¯t something that I¡¯d simply extend to anyone who asks, even if they were to beg for it.¡±

    ¡°Then, can I beg you to change it back?¡±

    ¡°No way.¡±

    As soon as he said that, Lin Han promptly put a safety distance of three meters between them, ¡°Besides, Faculty Head Zhou says to head over to his office after this lesson to discuss the matters pertaining to the actualbat practice. Well, if there¡¯s nothing more, I¡¯ll make a move first, mmkay?¡±

    With that, he shot off like lightning, and not a moment too soon, because Qin Ye¡¯s teaching materials came flying swiftly after him like a cleaver, mming straight into the wall behind where Lin Han had been standing just moments ago.

    Qin Yepleted the rest of the lesson with a listless expression on his face. He read straight from his script, and it couldn¡¯t be anymore nd.

    Throughout the lesson, he was contemting how he would chop up Local Bully and sell him as meat to a duck shop owner. But¡­ it didn¡¯t help one bit.

    Now¡¯s not the time to be contemting these things! Hale Province! It¡¯s just a stone¡¯s throw away from three eastern provinces! That¡¯s no different from a kiss with the daolord through a thin sheet of ss! Lin Han has really done me in this time!!!

    He dawdled around after ss for a while, before finally dragging his feet towards Zhou Xianlong¡¯s office.

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡± This was undoubtedly Zhou Xianlong¡¯s office. However, there was presently another ordinary, unassuming man seated on the chair right opposite Zhou Xianlong, and they appeared to have been discussing some matters. As soon as Qin Ye entered the room, the man smiled faintly and nodded at Qin Ye.

    That man looked ordinary - so unassuming that it was difficult to say much more about it. His appearances were easily forgettable as well. He stood at an average height of 1.75m, and the true energy about his body revealed that he was a Soul Hunter.

    ¡°Take a seat.¡± Zhou Xianlong pointed to another chair in front of him. After Qin Ye took the seat, Zhou Xianlong got straight to the point, ¡°Your lessons haven¡¯t achieved the intended effect ofte, have they?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still alright. I¡¯ve got some ideas that I n to include in my lessons, but I haven¡¯t found the appropriate segues just yet. I¡¯ve been stuck in a ruttely, so hopefully things will be better once I¡¯ve finally found the solution.¡± Qin Ye regurgitated the response he had prepared for such questions to him. After all, it didn¡¯t matter how poorly he did this semester. Given the waves he had made with his publicationst semester, the academy would never fire him.

    Zhou Xianlong nodded, ¡°It¡¯s all about finding the right perspective. That said, you should pay closer attention to your rtionship with the students as well. Look, Instructor Lin has been faring well in this regard. ording to the feedback we¡¯ve received, it seems like you¡¯ve been rather stiff in your sses ofte. Therefore, this might just be the opportunity you need.¡±

    He pushed a pile of documents before Qin ye, ¡°As mentioned before, there has been a supernatural outbreak in the three eastern provinces, and arge number of refugees have flocked to the surrounding regions, including the Hale Province. Yan Capital and Jin Province are in the vicinity of the heavily guarded headquarters of the Special Investigations Department, so there¡¯s no need to worry about those regions. Hale Province, on the other hand, spans acrossrge grasnds, and the rate of supernatural outbreaks has historically been on the lower side. However, with the sudden influx of refugees, the number of supernatural incidents has since skyrocketed. The provincial government has requested the Special Investigations Department for help. I think this would be the perfect opportunity to hone the skills of our students.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed secretly, picked up the documents in front of him and began to skim through its contents.

    The documents listed detailed information about the Yin energy readings of Hale Province. The Yin energy index in the vicinity had recently grown from 3% to 19%. The supernatural perimeter in the vicinity had already been activated, but unfortunately, it hadn¡¯t done them much good.

    ¡°After much consideration, I¡¯ve decided to appoint you as the instructor in charge of the first actualbat practice.¡± Zhou Xianlong continued, ¡°Your strength is most certainly higher than Lin Han¡¯s. Prompted by his request for a swap, I thought hard about it, and agreed that you would be the most suitable candidate for the firstbat practice. Your objectives and the resumes of the students to be sent on the first trip are all included in this stack of documents. Study it well, and we depart next week at five in the evening. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed dryly and gazed expectantly at Zhou Xianlong, ¡°About that¡­ would I be excused if, say, I¡¯m not feeling well¡­¡±

    Zhou Xianlong stared straight back with an expression that meant - What do you think? Just like that, the two continued to lock eyes with great affection for several more seconds, before Qin Ye finally relented and nodded.

    It was because Qin Ye had caught a glimpse of Wargod Zhou¡¯s impatience that was burgeoning in the depths of his eyes.

    Bloody hell¡­ The actualbat practice is only going to be a weekter, and yet you¡¯re already telling me that you might not feel well? Are you truly that reluctant to ept the mission that has been entrusted to you by the state and I? Are you displeased with me, or unhappy at the academy?

    Why are you trying to shirk responsibility like that?

    ¡°One other thing.¡± Zhou Xianlong pointed to the man beside Qin Ye who was smiling faintly, ¡°Li Jixi, Specially Appointed Professor of the First Academy of Cultivators. He will be the one in charge this time.¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the man in astonishment. How is this unassuming man a Specially Appointed Professor? And¡­ how illustrious must he be if a Soul Hunter were to be appointed a Professor?

    Even though his heart was fraught with doubts and questions, Qin Ye still stretched out his hand and smiled radiantly at the man, ¡°Qin Ye, Instructor of the First Academy of Cultivators. I look forward to receiving your guidance.¡±

    ¡°It should be ¡®outstanding instructor¡¯.¡± Zhou Xianlong interjected, ¡°The teaching credits you¡¯ve umted fromst semester has already qualified you for an appointment as an outstanding instructor. We¡¯ve already submitted the papers on your behalf, and the approval should arrive within a month or so.¡±

    Li Jixi smiled and shook Qin Ye¡¯s hand, ¡°Li Jixi, investigator from the headquarters of the Special Investigations Department. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

    Their interaction was brief and cursory.

    Qin Ye picked up the stack of documents and left soon after. Since it was impossible to make adjustments to the schedule any longer, then the next best thing he could do right now was to be fully prepared for what was toe. Arthis had once mentioned that there were some Hell¡¯s Arts that he could still learn, even though he was no longer able to tap on the powers of the old Hell.

    The office room soon became silent.

    Zhou Xianlong made a cup of tea and offered it to Li Jixi, who received it respectfully with both hands. Yet, before he could even take a sip from the tea, Zhou Xianlong frowned and muttered, ¡°No need.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s really not him, and word of this investigation gets out, then¡­ I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯d be able to find a ce to hide this old face of mine.¡±

    Li Jixi suddenly revealed a deep, profound smile as he nced back at the door, ¡°There¡¯s more than meets the eye with that man.¡±

    ¡°Of course, everyone has their own secrets. But¡­ his identification documents¡­¡± He pointed upwards, and Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes flickered slightly. Li Jixi continued, ¡°Have been provided by someone from above - someone from the upper echelons. That man is still part of the upper echelons, and he still answers to others. However, what puzzles me the most is how he¡¯s been a rogue cultivator all this while? If he has someone as impressive as that backing him, then he should already have joined up with the Special Investigations Department a long time ago.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t say a word.

    Li Jixi continued slowly, but spoke with extreme rity, ¡°And even if this means nothing, there¡¯s still the question of how there weren¡¯t any traces of him in Eastsea in the few days when the incident at the Strait of Tsushima urred?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong finally responded, ¡°That suspicious mentality of yours is no different from wild spection. Didn¡¯t you check the surveince camera in the hotel? He wasn¡¯t feeling well during this period of time, so he had been holed up in his room all that while.¡±

    ¡°But he told Instructor Lin and Instructor Su that he had something to attend to!¡± A sharp, incisive look was now stered all over Li Jixi¡¯s face, somewhat incongruous to his usual dull demeanor, ¡°Mr Zhou, the Albatross would never suspect a human being without good reason. We¡¯ve run the photograph through facial recognition software and confirmed that there are only 82 people nationwide with a qualifying 90% match on the features. If we exclude those who couldn¡¯t possibly have been at the coastal region at the material times, as well as those who aren¡¯t practitioners, he is the only possible suspect that remains!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong sighed, ¡°As a colleague, it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate for me toment too much on this matter. However, the fact that you¡¯re clinging onto him as though he were yourst thread of hope is something that the First Academy of Cultivators can¡¯t agree to on principle.¡±

    Li Jixi sighed and smiled bitterly as he took another sip from his teacup, ¡°Truth be told, we¡¯re also at our wits¡¯ end. Even with our experts, I¡¯m afraid it will take us at least four years to reverse the effects of the Incense of Paramnesia on the rest of the eyewitnesses. We¡¯ve entered Guardian Auctions¡¯ system, but we didn¡¯t find an ount under Instructor Qin¡¯s name. That said, there was a dormant ount that was filled by someone. Unfortunately, it was filled with such haste in order to qualify for the then-uing auction involving the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl that Guardian Auctions didn¡¯t manage to obtain his full particrs. That said¡­¡±

    He gazed deeply at Zhou Xianlong, ¡°Mr Zhou, do you know whose ount it was that was filled?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong shook his head.

    ¡°Academician Gu Qing.¡± Li Jixi sighed, ¡°He loved Cathayan paintings and antiques, and he had more money than he could spend. Thus, he was naturally one of Guardian Auctions¡¯ visitors. His ount was reactivated once in recent times. Furthermore¡­¡±

    He continued with great emphasis, ¡°The request for reactivation came right from the City of Salvation!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s expressions turned grim and ashen.

    Whether time, location and appearance, everything appeared to be a match. Even Zhou Xianlong was beginning to grow suspicious of Qin Ye.

    ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t prove anything. After all, he was holed up in the hotel when the incident at the Strait of Tsushima urred.¡± In the end, Zhou Xianlong still fell back to the one piece of the puzzle that still seemed to baffle everyone. It was a good thing that Qin Ye had taken the necessary precautions back then, and even told Arthis to set up a formation array in the room to set up the perfect alibi. Otherwise¡­ his identity would have been exposed a long time ago under the impressive might of the state machinations.

    One should never underestimate the powers of the Albatross. The involvement of a secret division like them meant only one thing - it was only a matter of time that the truth came to light.

    Li Jixi¡¯s voice deepened, ¡°There are some techniques¡­ that can enable him to slip out under the radar. Unfortunately, these are all techniques that have been lost to us since ages ago. That said, am I not right to say that you know nothing of the arts and techniques he practices?¡±

    ¡°This is why I¡¯ve made it a point to personally observe him in action. Furthermore, I¡¯ve made it a point to include another particr student of interest. If all goes ording to n...¡±

    He stood up, took another sip of tea and gently set the cup down, ¡°I¡¯ll be at the First Academy of Cultivators until he¡¯spletely clear of all suspicion next semester.¡±

    ¡°Farewell for now, Faculty Head Zhou. Thank you for the tea. It was exquisite.¡±

 Chapter 314: Fantasy and Reality (1)

    <h4>Chapter 314: Fantasy and Reality (1)</h4>

    The ne flew across the sky in the beautiful parab, heading straight from the City of Salvation to Hale Province.

    ¡°Instructor Qin, you don¡¯t look so well.¡± A voice called out from beside Qin Ye. He turned his head, only to realize it was Li Jixi.

    Qin Ye discreetly shifted his body to keep some distance between them. His wealth of life experiences taught him to pick up information from the slightest of subtleties. Even though Professor Li was conversing with him very casually, he couldn¡¯t help but intuitively feel as though Professor Li was slowly but surely drawing closer to him.

    ¡°Would you like some coffee to perk up your spirits?¡± Li Jixi asked with concern. This was a chartered flight, and they could call for service from the flight attendants at any point in time.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯ll be fine after some rest.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, and then closed his eyes to catch some rest. He wasn¡¯t willing to say any more than that either.

    Anyone who had spent an entire week learning a new technique from scratch without rest would naturally be just as tired as Qin Ye, if not more.

    Fortunately, his efforts weren¡¯t in vain. The gruelling week had seen his internalization of his very first Hell¡¯s Arts, the Yoke of Five Ghosts.

    The name of this technique sounded simple and basic. In fact, it was in some ways rather simr to the summoning technique of the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts. The only difference was that the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts required fostered ghosts, failing which the user would run the risk of being afflicted with a bacsh of the technique. After all, it was part of a ghost¡¯s innate desire to lust for flesh and thirst for blood, just as much as a human needed food and water. Pushing the ghosts too far would easily result in the ghosts turning against the user.

    The second differencey in the fact that the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts can only be given a singlemand - and that was to gather and bless the user with great fortune. On the other hand, there wasn¡¯t any risk of bacsh with the Yoke of Five Ghosts. As an Emissary of Hell, the ghosts would never turn against him to begin with. Furthermore¡­ the five Yin spirits yoked would all be imbued with spiritual awareness, almost akin to a quasi-spiritual entity. As long as they remained yoked to Qin Ye, they would never devolve into the state of a mere wandering spirit.

    And since the Yin spirits possessed spiritual awareness, they could be tasked to do a great multitude of things.

    Lastly, the Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts were in fact incredibly inefficient in transporting money. The name itself might sound cool, but the truth of the matter is that they were only able to pick up about a hundred RMB a day or so. Furthermore, they could never seize the money of others, because that would entail picking up money that had changed hands several times and was tainted with Yang energy. The ghosts would dissipate into thin air as soon as they touched it.

    Fostering ghosts was a process that required well over ten years, and yet the only monthly payout was no more than three thousand RMB?

    The input waspletely disproportionate to the eventual output¡­

    The first thing I¡¯ll have to do when I arrive at Hale Province is to pick out five Yin spirits. Qin Ye thought to himself.

    Then, ten minutes after Li Jixi went silent, Qin Ye opened his eyes once more and began to look through the information avable to him.

    ¡°The destination is New Hale City, one of the localities with the highest urrences of supernatural incidents, second only to the provincial capital when ites to the number of refugees they have taken in. Our goal is to resolve twelve emerging hunting zones, D-72 through to D-84, as well as purge all other Yin spirits in the vicinity.¡± He adjusted his sses and read softly to himself, ¡°Apanying students¡­ Wang Chenghao, Ye Xingchen? What are they doing in there?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know any of the others¡­¡±

    Seeing that Qin Ye was absorbed in his work, Li Jixi stood up, walked to thevatory and shut the door promptly.

    However, he didn¡¯t need to use the bathroom. As soon as he closed the door, he pulled out a notebook and began to jot down some notes.

    ¡°Extremely vignt and wary.¡± He thought for a moment, and then supplemented his initial impression, ¡°Focus on subject Wang Chenghao. He should be the key to unlocking this puzzle.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s strange. From the records, it seems almost as though Wang Chenghao was the first person in the world to have met Instructor Qin. Prior to that, it seems that Instructor Qin had merely been running a coffin store back in Clear Creek County, and nobody can tell us where hees from. Additionally, there are no records of Instructor Qin taking a train or a ne prior to his arrival at the City of Salvation. Conjecture: The purchase of train or ne tickets requires the verification of identity. Is¡­ he covering his tracks?¡±

    He paused for a moment and deliberated over what he had written. Then, he cancelled the statement ¡°first person in the world to have met Instructor Qin¡±, and amended it to ¡°first person to have been documented with Instructor Qin¡±. Then, he murmured to himself, ¡°Ordinary human beings would generally prefer time and cost savings, but Instructor Qin appears to go against the grain of the norm. This was why there were no records of his existence until his ¡®debut¡¯ in Clear Creek County. He must have been deliberately avoiding all ces that would leave traces of his existence. Yet, the fact that he has managed to keep such clean records all this while tells me that he¡¯s no ordinary eighteen years-old teen¡­¡±

    ¡°The more I think about it, the more I¡¯m certain that I¡¯m on the right track. After all, you¡¯re just far too incongruous with who you make yourself out to be¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Whoosh! After several hours of internal flight, the ne finallynded and taxied into the airport. Qin Ye and Li Jixi were the first to disembark, followed quickly by the ten excited students who were all dressed in their camouge uniforms.

    After boarding the bus, Qin Ye nced about the students with an eagle eye, ¡°Let me reiterate this once more. I don¡¯t want any casualties, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll be blocking every single blow on your behalf. The academy¡¯s intentions have been made clear to you from the onset - the strength of a cultivator is built on the foundation of spilt blood. Once we arrive in New Hale City, all who disobey the instructions of Professor Li or myself shall immediately be repatriated back to the City of Salvation. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Understood!!¡± Ten students dressed in their uniforms bellowed back with great excitement.

    After all, how could they not be excited about the first proper mission that they had been entrusted with?

    Qin Ye nodded in satisfaction, and then lowered his eyes to observe his surroundings.

    His first impression was that the atmosphere was tense.

    They had taken a special route that led them straight from the airport to the deployment area where their chartered transport was waiting for them. They were currently located at Hale Province¡¯s capital, Triton City, while their destination, the New Hale City, was located at the easternmost part of Hale Province. Most of the personnel deployed to support Hale Province transited at the airport, so they could see more than a dozen jeeps parked in the distance waiting for them, and an endless stream of military personnel flowing to and from the special route they had earlier taken.

    A single change in shift saw the exchange of dozens of personnel. This was testament to just how bad the situation at Hale Province truly was.

    In fact, Qin Ye could see that many of these personnel plying the special route even bore the emblem of the Special Investigations Department, and even the SRC. There were even some who were wearing whiteb coats, and had emblems that he didn¡¯t recognize at all.

    In fact, the number of emblem-bearing personnel weren¡¯t small, and they ounted for approximately 20% of the stream of cultivators around. That said, the true energy in the region was very thin, and it was apparent to Qin Ye that most of the cultivators weren¡¯t even in the Operative-ss level. Naturally, given that Li Jixi and his cultivation were the highest of all present, they were instantly cast into the spotlight as soon as they got off the ne.

    ¡°That¡¯s the United Medical Department, a newly formed division.¡± Li Jixi exined with a faint smile on his face, ¡°It was only a few years back that the fate of all who were possessed by evil spirits was to slowly wait for death. But since then, with the aid of painstaking research, we discovered that evil spirits can only possess a person by extinguishing the three fires over the human body through the power of scaring, suggestion and intimidation. As long as a person remains impervious to these measures, the Yin spirits would have no avenue to take possession of a human body.¡±

    He gently rolled up the window in their transport vehicle, ¡°The purpose of the United Medical Department is to encourage the rekindling of the three fires of life through the power of psychological suggestion. It might seem ridiculous, but this solution is actually incredibly effective. It was founded earlier this year, not long after the inauguration of the First Academy of Cultivators, and its main focus is in the field of psychology. Following their establishment, most regr schools have now incorporated psychology as a part of their curriculum. The upper echelons of the government have also rolled out policies in order to support these initiatives.¡±

    He rolled the windows back up and turned to Qin Ye with a smile, ¡°Was Instructor Qin oblivious to all these developments? As a cultivator, it¡¯s part of your duty to keep with the times.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled back, and then promptly shut his eyes as though he were resting.

    Probing?

    Is he suggesting that all practitioners ought to be concerned with the developments of the system around, and it¡¯s not normal that I¡¯m not as invested in these matters?

    Zhou Xianlong should be the one leading the team, so why did Li Jixi suddenlye into the picture? Am I being too sensitive? Or is this person¡­ truly interested in learning more about me?

    They remained silent for the rest of the journey. The transport they were on didn¡¯t enter the city directly. Instead, it simply got onto the national highway. Hale Province was filled with grasnds. The rolling hills and grasnds appeared to set everyone¡¯s heart at ease. In fact, this was probably the first time seeing such rolling ins for many of the students, and they couldn¡¯t help but gasp and cheer with exhration.

    Several hourster, the vehicle finally pulled into New Hale City, and it didn¡¯t take long before everyone began to nce around with a heavy look on their faces.

    It was 7.00 p.m.

    The sky turned dark earlier in the northern parts of Cathay, and there wasn¡¯t a single soul in sight on the dimly lit streets.

    The city was devoid of the usual vibrant neon signs in most other cities. In fact, even the restaurants, KTVs and shopping malls which would have been bustling with activity earlier in the day were nowpletely silent and still.

    Thergestndmarks and shopping malls were only lit by the dim glow of the street lights around. From a distance, the blockish buildings appeared no different from¡­ a series of standing coffins.

    Not a single soul could be seen in sight. If one listened closely enough, they might just be able to hear the sorrowful wind whistling along the grasnds, almost as though it were weeping.

    Only the residential neighbourhoods in the city remained well-lit. But, even then, the stores in these neighbourhoods were all shut tight, while the doors to each residence in the area would invariably be decorated with thingsmonly used to ward off evil spirits.

    And there was also the usual broadcast of announcements¡­

    Everyone knew the drill by now. All cities that have seen a rise in supernatural incidents ofte would naturally be on the receiving end of the publicly broadcasted announcement. In this regard, more than 85% of the cities in Cathay would hear the very same announcement being yed in their cities right now.

    Anyone who entered one of these cities at night would only feel a stifling oppression about them, almost as though the darkness were closing in on them. All cultivators would inexorably notice unclean entities suddenly flickering in the shadows. And even if they didn¡¯t, they would still be able to detect unclean presences in the darkness,ying silently as they watched their prey intently.

    Silence.

    It was no different from the silence of a graveyard.

    If they didn¡¯t know any better, they wouldn¡¯t have guessed that this city was the home to hundreds of thousands of people.

    Their vehicle turned the corner again. From time to time, they would see a group of five cultivators patrolling the streets in the dark. They were part of the supernatural police force established by the Special Investigations Department of every major city, and also the only living persons that would be seen in the streets of these cities as soon as the supernatural broadcasts began. That said, the sparse deployment of troops was hardly sufficient to maintain the order in a city upying 145 square kilometers.

    Their presence was nothing more than a feeble constion.

    The deste sight tugged powerfully at Qin Ye¡¯s heartstrings. He had never expected his short six month stint at the First Academy of Cultivators thus far would trante to such earth-shattering developments in the rest of Cathay. Everything happening right now¡­ was indirectly caused by Hell.

    After all, if Hell was around, there was no doubt that the New Hale City would still be revelling in song and dance as night-life continued to escte to its peak. Restaurants would be filled with families, while friends would be singing at the top of their voices at KTVs. Even the schools would still be well-lit at night, filled with vibrant, youthful students who were catching up on their studies and homework in their ssrooms.

    But now, everything was silent and dead.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± He sighed wistfully and shut his eyes.

    He didn¡¯t want to see anymore.

    Did he not wish that Hell could immediately expand to the size of the entire nation, and resolve all supernatural incidents once and for all? Unfortunately, dreams were different from reality.

    Given the present rate of esction, it wouldn¡¯t be long before Cathay finally came clean to its citizens.

    The three jeeps carrying them were allpletely silent. Some of the students were filled with righteous indignation, while others simply gazed into the distance with tightly pursed lips. The muscles on their faces twitched slightly as they thought about the days they had spent back in the First Academy of Cultivators, when worry seemed to be a thing of the past, and the supernatural outbreak in Cathay seemed so far away.

    ¡°It is a cultivator¡¯s duty to ce others before themselves.¡± Ye Xingchen clenched his fists tightly as he gazed into the deep darkness outside.

    ¡°Soon. I¡¯ll learn what I can, and then I¡¯ll return to New Hale City!¡± Wang Chenghao gritted his teeth.

    The front car¡¯s dazzling headlights lit up the path ahead of them. Then, when they finally made the next turn, everyone¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up.

    Because they had finally entered a well-lit neighbourhood.

    There were countless dazzling lights all around them, numbering well in the region of a hundred thousand! They had entered a zone that was no different from a beacon of hope in the middle of the night!

 Chapter 315: Fantasy and Reality (2)

    <h4>Chapter 315: Fantasy and Reality (2)</h4>

    The source of the light came from countless shanties.

    Everything was immediately clear to them - these were the temporary residences of the refugees that had been evacuated from the nearby three eastern provinces. Naturally, it was obvious whaty right in the heart of the shanty town.

    There was no doubt that the city¡¯sw enforcement agencies would be based right in the heart of the shanty town. Their existence would serve two purposes. Firstly, their presence was needed to regte the safety and order around these parts. Secondly, evil spirits are naturally repulsed by the existence of the army. In other words, their existence would elevate the conduciveness of the shanty town as a temporary shelter for the refugees.

    They finally drove up to the main gate, and that was when they saw the first signs of life for a long time. A row of soldiers stood guard at the entrance, each of whom wore a cap with the words ¡°Unit 43151¡± embroidered across it in bright red lettering. There were already soldiers eagerly awaiting their arrival.

    Qin Ye could tell that the two men were only Operative-ss experts. ording to the reports he had received, Hale Province had always boasted of an extremely low Yin energy level, and it was practically impossible to see the appearance of arge hunting zone in the vicinity. Naturally, thew enforcement agents garrisoned in this locality wouldn¡¯t need a high level of cultivation to begin with.

    The policeman¡¯s eyes promptly lit up, and he walked over to greet them with great enthusiasm, ¡°Greetings, dear instructors and students. My name is Gao Hua, and I¡¯m the bureau chief of New Hale City. It must have been a long, arduous journey to these remote parts around here. We¡¯ve already prepared dinner and arranged lodging for you. Shall we take you there? I can brief you all on the situation at the D-72 hunting zone tomorrow morning.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and walked forward to receive Gao Hua¡¯s warm handshake with a faint smile on his face, ¡°Pleased to meet you. I¡¯m the lead instructor, Qin Ye, and this is Professor Li Jixi. Sorry for imposing on you.¡±

    Qin Ye grew taciturn.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was suddenly filled with an earnest expectancy - If only Hell¡¯s development would ur more quickly¡­ Any amount would do - as long as we could bring forward the end to the hundred-year cmity that has befallen Cathay.

    ¡°Consider it done!¡± Gao Hua was overjoyed.

    They could tell that the meeting room was frequently used. There were bits and pieces of rubbish littered all over the ground, while the ashtrays on the table were still full of cigarette butts. Gao Hua chuckled in a slightly self-deprecating manner, ¡°Pardon the mess. We just had a meeting before you guys arrived¡­¡±

    Everything was caused by the negligence of Hell!

    If not for Hell¡¯s negligence, how could so many people have been made homeless overnight?

    It was strange that the human heart was most easily moved by the hearts of other human beings.

    And carry it he would! If this had urred a year ago, when he had been his previous self, he would most certainly have rolled his eyes andbelled himself insane.

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Gao Hua sat at the head of the table and switched on the LED screen. Instantly, countless images and words appeared on the screen, and his expression turned grave, ¡°Gentlemen, an unknown incident has urred in the three eastern provinces, and refugees are pouring into the surrounding provinces. New Hale City has taken in 84,000 refugees, and we have hit our limit.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ that¡¯s about as much as we can do for now.¡± He sighed and continued with a deep voice, ¡°The poption size of New Hale City is 7.2 million. Most of our military forces are gathered over here, but that necessarily also means it is impossible to keep a close watch over the rest of the city. Then, just a week ago, arge number of supernatural incidents were reported to have urred in New Hale City.¡±

    ¡°Hale Province is located along the ¡®spine¡¯ of Cathay, while New Hale City is located on the easternmost part of Hale Province. In other words, we are located directly adjacent to the three eastern provinces and the Yan Capital and Jin province regions. Everyone, please take a look¡­¡±

    The three eastern provinces were so intensely red that they appeared to be tainted with ck. Yan Capital and Jin Province had clearly set up an imprable wall around their borders, and the dense Yin energy waspletely unable to breach these walls. Unfortunately, the flow diagram also showed how an orange shade of Yin energy had just begun to flow into New Hale City.

    Nobody said a single word.

    A single misstep¡­ might very well cause New Hale City to end up just like Skytribute City.

    His voice quivered softly, ¡°Five days ago, a bizarre murder case was reported in the Jadecloud neighbourhood in the eastern part of the city. A male worker was reported to have died of panic in his room. There were no trace of injuries on his body. Forensics reports confirmed that he had died of cardiac arrest, most likely as a result of being intensely frightened by something.¡±

    He took a deep breath, ¡°Here¡¯s the video footage from the morgue. Everyone¡­ please take a look for yourselves.¡±

    The perspective of the footage also revealed a clock that hung on the wall.

    Tick¡­ tick¡­ tick¡­ It was almost as though they could hear each and every tick of the second hand. And then, right when it struck midnight, there was suddenly a loud groan from the otherwise empty morgue!

    And then¡­ a white cloth was lifted off the bed.

    The footage went on to show the corpse stiffly lifting the white cloth, before getting to his feet robotically, almost as though he were slowly adapting to his new body. Following that, he began to trudge out to the main door with a peculiar gait.

    Qin Ye immediately understood what he had just witnessed.

    ¡°Four days ago, a female student passed by an abandoned building at 7.00 p.m. She went homete, just past the time of the supernatural broadcasts. At that very moment, she felt as though someone¡­ was watching her from the shadows of the abandoned building¡­¡±

    ¡°Three days ago, an elderly couple died inexplicably in their house. Nothing was moved, yet all of their joints were twisted together. All of the doors and windows were found to be tightly locked.¡± ¡°Also three days ago, a male teacher was reported to have died of shock in the very same neighbourhood.¡±

    And all of these incidents had been concentrated on the east side of the city!

    He bowed deeply, and his voice choked up, ¡°I¡¯ve never witnessed a phenomenon so terrifying and treacherous over thest thirty-seven years of my service to the nation! This isn¡¯t something that we can handle on our own. So¡­¡±

    Li Jixi stood up with an equally grave expression. This was the first time he had decided to speak up of his own volition, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Leave it to us.¡±

    Ah¡­ the passion of youth¡­

    ¡°Rest well tonight, and prepare the artifacts that you will be using.¡±

    ¡°YES!!!¡±

 Chapter 316: Sounding Out Each Other

    <h4>Chapter 316: Sounding Out Each Other</h4>

    To that end, both Qin Ye and Li Jixi had even been allocated single rooms.

    The three eastern provinces were too close forfort.

    The daolord might not have known of his arrival, and he still had the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal at his disposal. However, it would still be prudent to be guarded against all exigencies.

    However, such an orthodox Hell¡¯s Art could never be used in front of others around them. Thus, Qin Ye had already nned to bide his time until everyone was asleep, before finally heading out to go about his business. But now, given that he had been assigned a single room, it would make moving about far more convenient than before.

    Qin Yey silently on his bed, biding his time. The lights had just gone out, and the best time to head out would naturally be some hourster, ideally between 2.00 a.m. to 4.00 a.m. Qin Ye was waiting.

    He made a cup of coffee and likewise switched off his lights. Then, he set up a ck device on the door and the wall separating his room and Qin Ye¡¯s.

    It picked up every slightest bit of sound from Qin Ye¡¯s room and fed it straight into his wireless earpiece. Li Jixi was like a seasoned hunter, waiting patiently in the deep darkness of his room.

    Things went on just like a stalemate, until it was finally 2.00 a.m.

    Simultaneously, Li Jixi also opened his eyes and licked his lips greedily.

    He had done this because he didn¡¯t want any sound to distract him from the sounds that he was picking up.

    Yet, he remained still, no different from a corpse that was lying on the bed. He waited patiently, until he heard the listening device at his door pick up the soft shuffle of footsteps moving past his door.

    ¡°Fifteen minutes, and you¡¯re not back yet. Where could you have gone at such a time at night?¡± He muttered softly in front of his room door, before quietly opening it.

    His eyes flickered, and he promptly caught it before it hit the ground. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was a card that wasmonly seen everywhere small hotels like these. There was a portrait of a fine-lookingdy right on the front of the card, while a telephone number was printed on the back of the card.

    How coincidental.

    And what was more coincidental was the fact that their room doors were the only ones along the entire corridor with such cards on them.

    It was apparent to him that Qin Ye had begun to grow suspicious of him.

    Unfortunately, he needed much more than just what his intuition told him.

    And if he even shifted the card on Qin Ye¡¯s door, it would be tantamount to telling Qin Ye that not only did he leave his room, he had even entered Qin Ye¡¯s room in his absence.

    He might have set up the position of the card properly, but¡­ given how cautious he is, I dare say that he would most certainly have a secondyer of verification within.

    Then, sighing, he walked downstairs and picked up a phone, ¡°Hello, it¡¯s me. Yes¡­ I believe Chief Bai would already have briefed you on the details. I¡¯m taking charge, and I insist on a meeting right away.¡±

    Qin Ye might look like a grouse-filled teenager, but only an insider who had dealt with him could fully appreciate just how difficult he was as an opponent. After all, we¡¯re talking about a man who had kept the truth about his identity concealed over thest hundred or so years, without any blemish in his resume or loopholes in his activities. His stealth and life-preservation skill trees were clearly already maxed out.

    The windows on this floor werepletely covered by light-absorbing paper, and it would be pitch-ck within no matter when one looked at it. But notwithstanding the fact that it was 2.00 a.m. right now, the area within was still brightly lit.

    Li Jixi nodded and walked right in along the corridors. A series of ques identified the contents of each closed door along the corridor - a data room, an operations room, a nning office, a finance office, and so on. The final door on the corridor had a corresponding que that had only two words written on it.

    A man in his thirties dressed in his camouge uniform sat right in the center of the conference room. He was 1.84m tall, and had arge scar running across his face. Despite his young age, he was already a lieutenant colonel.

    Li Jixi nimbly caught the cigarette and sat down, while the door to the conference room shut on its own. He ced the cigarette into his mouth, ¡°It¡¯s a mask¡­ There aren¡¯t many who know my true appearances. Officially, I¡¯ve already perished in the line of duty. Even my parents have been notified of my ¡®death¡¯.¡±

    ¡°One week of solitary confinement, and a major demerit against my name.¡± Li Jixi rested his legszily on the round table in the conference room, ¡°Humans¡­ all have their own selfish desires. Otherwise, what makes us any different from the other Yin spirits out there?¡±

    Just like that, the two men finished off their cigarettes in silence, before the man finally spoke up once more, ¡°Let¡¯s get down to business. The fact that you¡¯ve gone out of your way to bring your team here means that there¡¯s something big going down. I¡¯m only a puny Operative-ss expert, and I¡¯m not sure I can be of much help to you.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The man responded directly, ¡°Hale Province boasts of the lowest rate of supernatural incidents across all of Cathay. Where would we find zones above regr hunting zones?¡±

    ¡°I recall that there was a record of a mutated zone, where the danger level was ssified just shy of the predatory zone. Wasn¡¯t it¡­ zone C-56?¡±

    ¡°Release it.¡± Li Jixi locked eyes with him, ¡°I want you to release it tomorrow night. Send it towards the D-72 hunting zone. Furthermore, I want you to direct it at a particr student when neither Instructor Qin nor I are around.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?!¡± The man gasped, ¡°Even though this hunting zone isn¡¯t properly a predatory zone, it¡¯s not something that regr Soul Hunters are able to deal with! Have you read the dossier about the subject? The subject had gotten lost in the grasnds, only to be devoured alive by wolves. Several cars passed him by, but refused to lend him a helping hand. Are you even aware of how grievous this soul must be? Are these students even Hunter-ss experts? If not, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to hold out for more than ten minutes on end!¡±

    The man snuffed out his cigarette and stared him straight in the eye, ¡°He¡¯s going to die because of this.¡±

    ¡°And for that conjecture of yours, you¡¯re willing to sacrifice an innocent student?¡± The man stared at Li Jixi with great disbelief, as though he didn¡¯t know him anymore.

    ¡°And I¡¯m not negotiating with you right now. I¡¯m ordering you.¡±

    Guan Gen stared at the document with disbelief, and then turned back to Li Jixi. Finally, he shut his eyes in dismay and sighed with great exasperation.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Li Jixi picked up the document and stood up, pausing on his way out, ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. If I end up perishing in the line of duty, please remember to report everything that has happened here. Also, don¡¯t tell my mother about what has happened.¡±

    After Li Jixi¡¯s departure, he turned to gaze deeply at the dark windows around him, muttering to himself with immense bitterness, ¡°Damn it all¡­ When will all of this madness finally end?¡±

 Chapter 317: Yoke of Five Ghosts

    <h4>Chapter 317: Yoke of Five Ghosts</h4>

    He masterfully avoided all of the nearby patrols. Furthermore, it didn¡¯t matter if his image was captured by the surveince devices in the region. After all, he could justify his presence as an attempt to understand the situation a little bit better. As far as the mortal realm was concerned, he was a Soul Hunter, and he was fully entitled to do so.

    ¡°They¡¯re too weak for my purposes¡­¡± He shook his head. The Yoke of Five Ghosts should never be used on regr wandering spirits. It minimally required the subject ghosts to bear some measure of grievances. That was the only way to ensure that the spirits remained with him for a long time.

    Like Moses parting the red sea, the Yin spirits around cleared a path for him wherever he went until he finally arrived at his destination.

    And for that reason, it didn¡¯t take long for Qin Ye to spot his very first target.

    Rather, a female ghost.

    A dance of solitude under the moonlit sky. The image would have been somewhat romantic if not for the fact that the female ghost¡¯s neck was also twisted a full 180 degrees.

    An innate yet inexplicable sense of fear welled up in her heart, and her instincts told her that Qin Ye was vastly different from other cultivators.

    It was a primal response.

    The female ghost shuddered all over. The fact that she possessed spiritual awareness meant that it wouldn¡¯t be long before she evolved into a vengeful apparition. Naturally, she would also possess her memory of her previous life. Hell¡­ She couldn¡¯t help but shudder at the mention of this word.

    ¡°Come with me.¡± Qin Ye turned around, ¡°Take me to four other Yin spirits that are simr to yourself. You¡¯ve struck the lottery.¡±

    Soon, with the help of the female ghost, Qin Ye managed to gather a following of five different Yin spirits - an old woman, a middle-aged man, a woman in a dress, a child, and a young man.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what kind of sins you might havemitted in your past life. But from now on, you¡¯ll submit to me and be at my disposal. Don¡¯t resist the bindings of my technique, and I¡¯ll guarantee you entry to Hell.¡±

    ¡°Smart. This is probably the only opportunity you¡¯re ever getting to enter Hell without first receiving any form of punishment whatsoever.¡± Qin Ye smiled and began to make a series of hand seals. As he progressed, the Yin energy around him began to intensify. And then, he yelled, ¡°HAA!¡± The surroundings trembled¡­

    He nced at the unchanged Yin spirits, and then looked at his own hands in dismay. A blood red runic symbol had already appeared on his hand, and countless wisps of Yin energy were already pouring out from his fingertips and swirling in a faint vortex. So¡­ why did I fail?

    ¡°My lord¡­ is this¡­ the Impure World Reincarnation Technique?!¡± The youth asked with great excitement.

    Qin Ye nearly leapt to his feet and gave him a p across the face. The most appropriate thing to do when your superior makes a fool of himself is to keep your damn trap shut! How dare you step forward and plunge another knife into my heart like that!

    Whoosh¡­ The Yin energy congealed into five ck cocoons, almost as though they were five swirling storms that scattered the leaves and dust around them. Three minutester, everything quaked violently, and the five vortexes silently crumbled, leaving five Yin spirits dressed in ancient Cathayan military uniforms. They stood at the very same ce, rooted to the ground with abject shock.

    ¡°Are we¡­ Emissaries of Hell?¡± The middle-aged man was simrly startled. Emissary of Hell?! That¡¯s the stuff that we only see in movies and television! It¡¯s a bona fide civil servant of hell! We¡¯re no longer homeless, drifting spirits like we used to be! We can even help rid the mortal realm of evil!

    ¡°You no longer have to linger about in the mortal realm now. That said,plete this mission, and you may well earn yourself the chance at a promotion to a fully-fledged Emissary of Hell.¡±

    It was peculiar, almost as though five new perspectives had opened up in his mind, and he could view the world through each of their eyes. Everything that went on in their minds was also transmitted directly to him. It was a technique that was far better than the useless Five Wealth-Generating Ghosts.

    So, I¡¯m only transmitted the general emotion in their heart, and I won¡¯t be able to know any more than that, huh¡­ Qin Ye nodded. It was still fairly decent. At the very least, this technique was akin to gaining five additional pairs of eyes.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    When he passed by Li Jixi¡¯s room, he casually swept a nce at it, and his eyes instantly grew cold.

    He immediately turned to look at the card on his door handle. It wasn¡¯t shifted. It was only then that he swiped his card and opened the door slightly - but only to a crack.

    The card was simply a cover. The nigh invisible thread was the real trap over here.

    Is this just a coincidence? He nced at the discarded card. But why now of all times? Is the dead of the night particrly attractive to some people?

    He slept straight through breakfast and woke up at only 11.00 a.m. After lunch, he met up with the rest of the students, and began to run through the reports of the local garrison.

    The officer standing at the front of the conference room had just finished his briefing on the first hunting zone, and was taking a break to drink some water. Li Jixi took the opportunity to rap on the table and address the students, ¡°Students.¡±

    ¡°I hope you¡¯ve been taking notes.¡± Li Jixi continued, ¡°You¡¯ve all just embarked on your long journey of cultivation, and none of you can be considered strong right now. When ites to hunting zones, the greatest advantage you can gather for yourself is to do your due diligence and prepare well.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± He nced at the students around, and then revealed the huge twist in what he was saying, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that there will still be students who won¡¯t take these lessons to heart regardless of how many times we repeat ourselves. Therefore¡­¡±

    Qin Ye frowned slightly, ¡°Professor Li, that¡¯s not a good idea, is it? They¡¯re all newbies, and most of them haven¡¯t even reached the level of an Operative just yet. I¡¯m afraid that they might find it difficult to protect themselves as soon as they encounter danger.¡±

    ¡°Students, these aren¡¯t enemies that you can see, touch or even kill conventionally.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡± Ten students responded impassionately.

    Qin Ye shook his head and stopped talking altogether.

    Unfortunately¡­ do you young calves truly understand what these Yin spirits are?

    ¡°Very well.¡± Li Jixi swept a gaze past Qin Ye, before drawing a deep breath, ¡°Dinner at 5.30 p.m. We gather right outside the D-72 hunting zone at 6.30 p.m. Then, we¡¯llmence our operations at 7.00 p.m. sharp. No matter how the situation goes, all are to return back to our rendezvous point at twelve midnight. Everyone¡­ please take care.¡±

    His gaze paused momentarily on Wang Chenghao, and he continued with a meaningful undertone to his voice, ¡°I sincerely hope that I¡¯ll still see each and every one of you standing right here before me tomorrow¡­ and not at the morgue.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is a reference to Naruto. Orochimaru is a viin in the story, while Impure World Reincarnation is one of the strongest skill he used to bind the soul of the dead to a vessel.

 Chapter 318: Hunting Zone D-69 (1)

    <h4>Chapter 318: Hunting Zone D-69 (1)</h4>

    Night wasing.

    The days were rtively short in the north. To make matters worse, it was a cloudy day, and dark clouds loomed right over the horizon. It was likely going to be a stormy night.

    After dinner at 5.30 p.m., three jeeps promptly departed from the military zone and sped straight towards the edge of New Hale City.

    ¡°Nervous?¡± Ye Xingchen smiled as he nced at Wang Chenghao. They were seated right beside each other.

    Ye Xingchen came from a family of cultivators, so he had naturally purged Yin spirits before.

    ¡°I¡¯m still alright.¡± Wang Chenghao smiled back. The incidents which took ce at Clear Creek County would forever be etched in the depths of his heart. The massacre of the puppet master and the river of blood which flowed from the corpses of his ssmates had been a sight far worse than any ordinary Yin spirit they could face right now.

    And it was precisely because he had prior experience in this regard that he began to carefully examine the magic artifact and talismans issued to him.

    He had been issued a gourd-shaped artifact that could easily be activated upon the infusion of true energy, as well as talismans called the ¡°Talisman of the Thundergod¡¯s Fury¡±. Over the course of the previous semester, he learnt that one of the things of nature most feared by Yin spirits was thunder itself.

    Each student had been issued with ten talismans and a single magic artifact. If they put to use everything they had learnt over thest semester, holding out for a period of thirty minutes wouldn¡¯t be an issue at all. That would buy Qin Ye sufficient time toe to their aid.

    Ye Xingchen nced at the other two students sharing the same jeep as them, both of whom possessed excellent grades in the academy. Right this moment, they were actually bragging to one another about what they were about to do, ¡°I¡¯m going to ughter all of the evil ghosts within the hunting zone assigned to me!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! Who needs these talismans! I, alone, will be enough to deal with the rabble around!¡±

    Pfft¡­ Ye Xingchen chuckled contemptuously, before giving them a friendly warning, ¡°It might still be better to err on the side of caution. You never know when you might need these things.¡±

    The jeeps had already driven out of the heart of New Hale City by now. The scenery ahead of them grew increasingly deste. Perhaps the vicinity once used to be hale and hearty, but right now, there was hardly any traffic seen plying these roads at all.

    Even the pedestrians on the roads all appeared to be in a hurry, scurrying away on foot or zooming off on their bicycles as they desperately sought to get back before the darkness fully set over thends. Public transport had already ceased operations by this time of the day. Taxis would also have called it a night early on.

    Every shop and store that lined the street were already shuttered for the day, while the lights illuminating the billboards and signboards were gradually extinguished. The entire city transformed from a thriving, bustling marketce to a deste wastnd in no more than an hour. And then, just as the oppressiveness in the air came to a head, the clock in the jeeps finally sounded its bells.

    Dong¡­ Dong¡­

    It rang a total of six times. It was now 6.00 p.m.

    Right at that moment, New Hale City, as well as the 85% of the rest of Cathay, began to broadcast the exact same announcement, ¡°Dear citizens. It¡¯s 6.00 p.m. again. The government solemnly reminds all citizens to be back at your ce of residence within the next twenty minutes. Please take heed. A failure to do so might potentially result in death.¡±

    ¡°All citizens still in public ces are reminded to depart by noter than 6.10 p.m. Please be mindful not to walk around ces with ss, mirrors or uninhabited locations. Kindly also avoid the vicinity of buildings that are in disrepair or abandoned. If you see anything unusual, please refrain from investigating on your own, and leave immediately. All citizens travelling along are reminded to never look back.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, please be mindful that all persons, whether local or foreigner, should not stay alone as far as possible, as that might pose a risk to life and limb. We strongly rmend that you stay in threes or more in a single apartment. Do not leave your ce of residence at night. Finally, please remain calm even if you encounter anything unusual. This message will repeat itself. Dear citizens. It¡¯s 6.00 p.m. again¡­¡±

    These broadcasts were heard all throughout New Hale City. Kakakaka¡­. The shops in the vicinity were shuttered promptly. Several owners could even be seen carefully putting up talismans and other wards and protection. Although the government had never provided full rity of the matter to their citizens¡­ most citizens would already have guessed as much by now.

    The only vehicles that remained on the streets were military vehicles. It was now 6.00 p.m.

    Whoosh¡­ Just then, all cultivators felt a prickling chill run down their skins.

    Yin energy in the surroundings was on the rise.

    Nobody said a single word. The battlegrounds were already in sight, and even the most boastful, confident students were silently checking their talismans and recalling everything they had learnt over the past one semester. Then, amidst the atmosphere of tension and silence, the jeeps finally pulled over in front of a small neighbourhood.

    Hunting Zone D-72.

    Mosaic Gardens Neighbourhood.

    The region was well-lit, and there were approximately ten soldiers guarding the main gate, all of whom were ostensibly relieved to see the arrival of their recements.

    ¡°You guys may take your leave.¡± Li Jixi and Qin Ye entered the guard room, ¡°Are the monitors all in order?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Everything has been set up in ordance with the instructions. The monitors are now receiving the surveince footage in the region.¡± A tall guard wiped off the cold sweat that was beading up over his forehead, ¡°Then, we¡¯ll be making a move first, alright? You guys¡­ have to be careful¡­¡±

    He gulped nervously as he leaned closer to whisper with a trembling voice, ¡°Evil lurks in this neighbourhood...¡±

    Li Jixi nodded. After the earlier shift departed, he promptly connected several devices onto the mainputer, and the twelve hunting zones promptly showed up on the monitors in the room.

    The ten students had already left for the respective hunting zones they had been assigned. Incidentally, the surveince footage for Hunting Zone D-69, which Wang Chenghao had been assigned, was disyed right in the center of the monitors in the guard house, in full view of both Qin Ye and Li Jixi.

    Qin Ye nced up cidly, before looking back down to continue ying with his cellphone.

    ¡°Students.¡± Li Jixi stood up. There was an ostensiblyplex emotion welling up in the depths of his eyes, ¡°I dere that the First Academy of Cultivators¡¯ cleanup operation henceforth begins.¡±

    ¡°Pleasee back alive.¡±

    Nobody was aware that this message was also simultaneously ryed to another location.

    Guan Gen stood right in front of an abandoned factory, wearing an earpiece, and apanied by several other cultivators. He, too, heard the deration of themencement of operations.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± He bit down hard on the cigarette butt in his mouth, before spitting it to the ground, ¡°Fellow colleagues¡­ at mymand. Release it!!¡±

    Ka¡­ As soon as the rusty steel mill gate in front of him opened up, a miserable, terrifying shriek promptly resounded from within the steel mill.

    It wasden with bloodthirstiness and cruelty, and filled with copious amounts of resentment for humanity and venomous grievances.

    ¡°Ssss¡­ Ahh¡­. Yaaarrrgggh¡­ Why¡­ Why didn¡¯t you save me¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­ I¡­ want to live¡­¡± The soft cry of a ghost weaved in and out of the soft howling of the wind. Chains could be seen extending into the heart of the steel mill, each of which were stered all over with innumerable talismans. They fluttered menacingly. In fact, even the inner walls of the steel mill was covered with talismans that were scrawled all over with striking cinnabar ink.

    Whoosh¡­ The leaves and twigs rustled softly on the ground. Guan Gen gritted his teeth, grabbed tightly to one of the chains with one hand, pulled out a de from behind his back, and then hacked straight down without hesitation!

    ng!

    SSSS!!!! The chain broke. Back in the steel mill, the heart-rending screams instantly grew far louder than they had been before. Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka! A split secondter, the remaining chains snapped at the same time! The talismans stered all over them also spontaneouslybusted in unison and were immediately reduced to ashes!

    Everyone could sense that something¡­ something no different from a gust of wind, had just barrelled straight out from within the steel mill, rushing straight across their bodies.

    It was a chilling to the bone.

    A secondter, Guan Gen¡¯s knees buckled, and he copsed to the floor weakly. He chuckled bitterly and lit up a cigarette, before picking up his phone with great trembling, ¡°Reporting to headquarters¡­ Subject at Hunting Zone C-56 has been released¡­ All personnel are to take defensive measures¡­ Its destination¡­ is Hunting Zone D-69¡­¡±

    ¡°Its previous ce of residence¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Blue Sky Neighbourhood.

    Wang Chenghao stood right in front of Building No. 2. He drew several deep breaths in order to suppress the wild thumping in his heart.

    This was the first time he would be facing these terrifying entities ever since the incident back at Clear Creek County. He kept telling himself that he shouldn¡¯t be afraid. After all, how much more terrifying could these Yin spirits bepared with the puppet master back then? However, he couldn¡¯t shake off the fierce beating of his heart no matter what he did.

    ¡°The Blue Sky Neighbourhood is where the supernatural incident was first reported¡­¡± He finally plucked up the courage to open the door. But as soon as he stepped into the door, there was a massive rumble and crash!

    ¡°Holy shit!!!¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s scalp immediately went numb. He turned around, only to be startled by his own blurry reflection on the ss door behind him.

    It was none other than the storm clouds which had been brewing the entire day. A torrential downpour had just begun.

    The rain pelted down heavily, rattling the trees in the vicinity. Wang Chenghao shook his head slightly, mustered his courage and began to head in.

    But¡­ just as he took the first step, the lights in the inner hallways suddenly flickered, and then¡­ they all went out.

    Simultaneously, the lights in the rest of the first floor also fizzled and popped. Everything was suddenly enshrouded in darkness.

    ¡°Curses!!¡± A startled cry of what sounded like an old man came from the elevator on the first floor as soon as the lights went out. And then, it was followed quickly by the sound of mashing of elevator buttons.

    Someone¡¯s still around?

    Wang Chenghao paused. And then, just as he was about to shout for the old man to stop, he heard the elevator doors begin to close.

    He snapped back to his senses. Then, without thinking too much about it, he immediately rushed towards the stairs!

    He wanted to save the person inside.

    His heart was filled with concern for his fellow human being in that very instant. The overwhelming sense of duty and responsibility even served to diminish the fear in his heart greatly, because he knew full well that there was something unclean in the area.

    There was something hidden in the shadows around him. Perhaps¡­ this thing had even been following him stealthily from when he first entered the building.

    Unbeknownst to Wang Chenghao at this point in time, the lift numbers were already changing frantically. What should have been 1... 2... 3¡­ had suddenly changed to -1¡­ -2¡­ -7¡­ -8¡­ -9!

    Inside the lift. The lights flickered wildly. When the lift door first opened, a young man within immediately jumped up and buried his head in his hands, screaming at the top of his voice, ¡°No! Don¡¯te over!!¡±

    His voice was incredibly hoarse.

    The open lift door slowly closed. The young man¡¯s face was immeasurably pale when he suddenly heard the voice of an old man speak up, ¡°What are you so afraid of?! You¡¯ve startled me!¡±

    Human?

    A living human being?

    The young man licked his drying lips and gulped nervously, before slowly lowering his hands.

    There was an old man who was likewise also scared out of his wits and leaning heavily against the walls of the elevator. The flickering lights in the lift entuated his pale and pastyplexion, and also revealed that the old man appeared to be holding something in his right hand. The old man¡¯s chest was heaving and falling sharply with every gasp of breath he took.

    He was very old.

    His face was covered with old age spots, but he still appeared to be filled with vitality for someone of his age. Yet, for some strange reason, the young man couldn¡¯t shirk off the feeling that the old man¡¯splexion was unusually¡­ pale.

    Thus, the young man didn¡¯t let down his guard entirely. Instead, he continued to keep his back pressed heavily against the walls of the lift. His eyes quivered in fear as he stared back at the old man, ¡°What¡­ are you holding in your right hand?¡±

    The old man had his right hand behind his back, and it was clear that he was holding onto a rope.

    However¡­ the other end of the rope waspletely empty!

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± The old man¡¯s ragged breaths had finally calmed down substantially, and he responded with an incredibly deep voice, ¡°Do you want to hazard a guess?¡±

    The young man¡¯s scalp went numb, and his legs grew weak, ¡°I-I-I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    The old man looked up. He looked almost deathly ill under the flickering light in the lift, ¡°Of course¡­ it¡¯s a dog¡­¡±

    The old man looked back.

    And then, he waspletely dumbfounded.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­ where¡¯s my dog?!¡±

    Before he could even finish speaking, the old man suddenly stiffened up like a rusty old robot.

    His pupils began to dte, while his lips dried up in an instant. A secondter, his entire body began to tremble violently, and he immediately pounded on the elevator doors, ¡°Open the door! Open the door! Let me out! I want to get out!!!¡±

    The walls of the elevator were well polished and smooth.

    So smooth that they were somewhat reflective on its own.

    Thus¡­ he could see that the teenager behind him had already peeled open his mouth half a meter wide, revealing rows after rows of teeth as sharp as canines!

    ¡°So¡­ it¡¯s a dog¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve scared the hell out of me¡­¡±

    ¡°For a moment there, I was actually afraid that a cultivator might have followed you into the lift¡­ Hahaha¡­ excellent¡­¡±

    Crunch!

    The lift shook violently to the tune of a heart-rending scream and the crunching of bones. Simultaneously, a stream of fresh blood began to flow down from the cracks within the elevator.

 Chapter 319: Hunting Zone D-69 (2)

    <h4>Chapter 319: Hunting Zone D-69 (2)</h4>

    Tap. Wang Chenghao finally arrived at the twelfth floor, panting heavily as he nced around at his surroundings vigntly.

    He hadn¡¯t spoken much with Qin Ye ever since his arrival at the First Academy of Cultivators. Whether intentionally or not, both men had tacitly decided to keep their distance with the other so that the incident back at Clear Creek County would forever be buried as a secret in their hearts.

    But whenever he encountered something that baffled him, he would always open up his Momo app to consult Qin Ye, while Qin Ye would exin every single thing to him with great patience. Thus, Wang Chenghao could be considered one of the best when it came to theoretical knowledge about the supernatural in the world. After all, not everyone had the privilege of a private tutor who could exin the greatest mysteries of life to him at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Thus, Wang Chenghao had already whipped out a talisman and primed it with true energy for activation at the moment¡¯s notice.

    He could tell that something wasn¡¯t right about this ce!

    The Blue Sky Neighbourhood was a thirteen-storey mid-rise development that was built some time ago. That said, not a single soul inhabited the twelfth floor. There once used to be inhabitants, but all of them would have shifted away by now.

    Thus, the twelfth floor was in shambles. Nobody knew when exactly it had been abandoned and left in ruins. The walls were mottled and covered in dark stains, while the musky smell of mildew filled the air. The door to every abandoned room was open. The torrential rain poured straight through the broken windows, pelting heavily onto the doors in the room, almost as though¡­ countless invisible hands were desperately banging on the doors.

    None of the lights were switched on.

    It waspletely dark within. The only source of light was the soft moonbeams that feebly attempted to peek out of the storm clouds, and it cast a pale, silvery sheen on the walls in the corridor. Anyone caught in such a situation would most certainly find themselves boosted with a great rush of adrenaline.

    Cold sweat rolled off Wang Chenghao¡¯s forehead. The palpably real prospects of being embroiled in a supernatural incident once again submerged the diminishing desire to rescue his fellow human being. He took several deep breaths to calm his heart down. Ding. Just then, there was a soft sound. He nced at the lift, only to realize that the lift had only just finally arrived.

    The elevator had gone before him, only to arriveter than he did.

    Furthermore¡­ he could smell the intense stench of blood even with the lift doors closed.

    ¡°Calm down¡­ calm down!¡± He took several more deep breaths, before gritting his teeth, heading to the lift and staring intently at the slowly opening doors. The doors looked no different from a rift to Hell.

    Kkkrrrrr¡­. The soft grinding of the mechanism was deafening in the silence of the night, and his body shivered slightly. Then, as soon as a crack opened up, he saw it¡­

    Blood!

    There was blood everywhere!

    An old man¡¯s head was set upright dead in the middle of the elevator. His entire torso was nowhere to be found, while his hands and his feet were ced in the four corners of the elevator. The grotesque sight under the dim flickering lights of the elevator was apletely startling sight!

    It¡¯s here¡­

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s breaths grew faint. His hair stood on end as he nced vigntly around him. He could tell that the culprit hade!

    The evil ghost had rushed out of his hiding in search of flesh and blood as soon as night fell. It didn¡¯t even give a damn about Wang Chenghao¡¯s existence!

    Gulp¡­ He gulped nervously. Ding. Just then, the elevator doors closed once more. And then, he suddenly saw it¡­ There was a silhouette of another man standing right behind him at this very moment.

    And that man¡­ had ced his hands around his neck, and was attempting to choke him!

    His body reacted on its own. Wang Chenghao¡¯s mind instantly went nk. There was neither any fear, nor the desire to scream out loud. Instead, he immediately ducked down and tossed out the talisman in his hand.

    SSS!!! A miserable scream echoed through the corridor. It was almost as though a dark rift had opened up right behind him, from whichrge amounts of Yin energy poured through. Wang Chenghao immediately turned around and attempted to stick his back against the wall, only to realize that¡­ there was nothing behind him.

    An intense wave of fear surged straight through his spine and filled his heart.

    I never knew that a person could be speechless from fear¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s mouth feltpletely parched. He wiped off the sweat beading up on his forehead as he chuckled hoarsely, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ did you see that? I¡¯m actually fighting a Yin spirit all on my own¡­ I¡¯m bing brave and courageous like you!¡±

    Just then, he paused abruptly, and he turned to look in a particr direction with a soft gasp.

    Creaaaaaak¡­ Somewhere deep along the corridor, the door to a dpidated room had just creaked open softly.

    It was mind-numbing to hear such a sound on a still, dark night!

    And then¡­ he heard¡­ footsteps.

    Right by his side¡­

    It was almost as though¡­ something invisible had been standing right beside him all this while, staring intently at him.

    And then, a second shadow suddenly appeared on the wall, right beside his own!

    It was the silhouette of a man of average height, and it¡­ had just stepped straight out of Wang Chenghao¡¯s shadow! Tap¡­ tap¡­ It plodded along the corridor, slowly making its way towards the door that had just opened.

    The man walked with a limp, alternating consistently between a hobble and a step. Thus, the corridor continued to reverberate with eerie sounds of a shuffle and a step, a shuffle and a step, as the man continued to make his way towards the door at the very end.

    It was strange. After the initial pang of intense fear, Wang Chenghao found that his heart and his mind had slowly calmed down. He had already prepared another talisman between his fingers, priming it with a thinyer of true energy as he followed slowly behind the shadow while suppressing the wild thumping of his heart.

    It was only natural to seek support in such circumstances. Therefore, Wang Chenghao subconsciously leaned against the wall as he followed behind the silhouette. He was only ten meters away from the room right now. Ten meters¡­ five meters¡­ And then, he suddenly paused, and his hair abruptly stood on end!

    It was damp¡­

    The part of the wall that he had just leaned against was damp¡­

    He nced at his hand instinctively. It was¡­ blood!

    He looked up sharply, only to realize that the closer he drew to the room at the end, the more the wall was covered with bloody handprints!

    Fresh, bloody handprints!

    In fact, it was so bloody that they were still dripping wet and trickling down slowly!

    Just a moment ago, someone had walked towards the end of the corridor while leaning against the wall in a simr fashion. The only difference was that this person had left a row of bloody handprints that extended straight into the room.

    Gulp¡­ He couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously. A novice like him would never be able to suppress the stirring fear in his heart. Right at that moment, the silhouette ahead of him suddenly paused where he was, and then looked back abruptly!

    But his body remained still.

    It was only his head that swiveled around.

    It swiveled a full 180 degrees, almost as though it werepletely detached and isted from the rest of its body.

    Wang Chenghao was barely half a meter aware from the shadow on the wall, and he could see that the second shadow appeared to be staring straight at his own shadow. He knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to lower his head or look away at this moment. Thus, he stared intently ahead.

    But, he couldn¡¯t see a thing.

    That is, apart from the window at the end of the corridor. As soon as the shadow on the wall turned its head around, the window suddenly blew open with a gust of wind, and an unusually chillinghergale swept into the corridor at once.

    Whoosh¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips werepletely devoid of the colour of blood by now. Yet, for some strange reason, the shadow turned back, and continued heading into the room.

    Bzzt¡­ The rooms on this floor had been abandoned for a long time. And yet, as soon as the shadow entered the room, the lights suddenly came on.

    A secondter, the glow of the light from the room projected two shadows out to the corridor - that of a man, and that of a woman.

    ¡°You¡¯re useless! I¡¯m not even asking for much, but you can¡¯t even afford to buy a single bag for me?! What the hell are you getting married for?!¡± The woman¡¯s hoarse voice lingered in the corridor. Wang Chenghao gritted his teeth, rushed forward and peered inside.

    Nothing!

    There was only the sizzling, flickering light.

    But there wasn¡¯t a single soul in sight!

    An endless gale continued to pour through the open windows, sending the torrential downpour scattering into the room. The tattered curtains fluttered wildly. Everything inside was a mess. Tables and chairs had all copsed to the ground, and there were a multitude of household objects such as calendars, vases and books lying all over the floor.

    Yet, the projection of shadows were still arguing with each other.

    ¡°Tell me!!¡± The woman¡¯s shadow picked up a vase and smashed it against the wall, ¡°What was the point in getting married to you?!¡±

    ¡°Useless piece of trash! Idiot! Why can¡¯t you learn a thing or two from Old Zhang next door and ply the Khumba line?!¡±

    The man responded timidly, ¡°The Khumba line¡­ runs through the deepest parts of the grasnds. It¡¯s not safe¡­ there are a lot of wolves in the area¡­ I hear they even chase after cars¡­¡±

    ¡°It would be best if they bite the crap out of you! My goodness! What dumb luck did I have to get married to a loser like you? You can¡¯t even earn a decent living, and the only food we¡¯ve had for the longest time is buns and pickles! Let me tell you something - if you can¡¯t buy me that bag I¡¯ve wanted for so long by next month, we¡¯re getting a divorce!¡±

    ¡°Then, you can see for yourself which other idiot would be willing to marry a useless piece of trash like you! It¡¯s my sheer dumb luck to have crossed paths with you in this damn life of mine!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Back in the guardhouse, Qin Ye watched this scene pan out with eyes filled withplex emotions.

    Wang Chenghao had once been so terrified of ghosts that he couldn¡¯t even move when he saw them. To think that he now had the courage to face these things on his own.

    Why were there people who encounter ghosts repeatedly, while others never encounter a single ghost in their entire lives?

    It was because the very first encounter with a ghost would leave trace amounts of Yin energy on one¡¯s body. As soon as that happened, the Yin spirits in the world would begin to perceive him as one of their own, and he would find more and more Yin spirits revealing their existence to him. In other words, the fact that Wang Chenghao had encountered a Yin spirit as strong as the puppet master meant that he could never return to the life of normalcy again.

    If not for the fact that he was residing in the City of Salvation all this while, he would already have encountered innumerable ghosts by now.

    Qin Ye had reminded Wang Chenghao to be brave time and again. However, no amount of words couldpare with the growth apanying such personal experience.

    Li Jixi gently concealed the surveilling gaze in his eyes and made a mental note in his mind.

    As suspected, he truly takes especial notice of Wang Chenghao¡­ He tapped his fingers gently on the table. Furthermore, Instructor Qin has never received any formal training, and yet¡­ he¡¯s actually sighing in exasperation?

    Qin Ye was naturally oblivious to Li Jixi¡¯s thoughts. Having watched the surveince footage for ten minute now, he was almost certain that this was merely an Operative-ss Yin spirit.

    But just then, his eyelids suddenly twitched wildly.

    In that very instant, the five ghosts under hismand had sent him two different sets of images.

    Quick. It was immensely quick! The two sets of images were transmitted to his mind almost in real-time speed, and¡­ they were bothden with immeasurable fear!

    It was a source of fear that afflicted Yin spirits.

    One set of images revealed a thick and dense cloud of Yin energy rushing straight onto the Blue Sky Neighbourhood like an unstoppable stream of mercury!

    Is this¡­ a Hunter-ss spirit? No¡­ it¡¯s probably on the verge of breaking through to bing a Hellguard-ss spirit! Such a vicious spirit is on the move?! Why?! The Yin spirits in New Hale City don¡¯t have someone like Cao Youdao giving them instructions! What¡¯s going on over here?! The students are in danger! Qin Ye lowered his eyes to conceal the sudden wave of astonishment that befell him. It wasn¡¯t normal for a Hunter-ss expert to have such an immense range of perception, and he didn¡¯t want Li Jixi to notice anything suspicious about him.

    This was all borne out of his acute intuition.

    Whoosh! The images in his mind continued to show the dense cloud of Yin energy rushing past his five ghosts. It was filled with shrieks, howls and groans, almost like a tidal wave of grief that was rushing straight towards them. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t given the luxury of time to scrutinize that image, because he was soon startled by the other set of images in his mind.

    New Hale City was located on the edge of the three eastern provinces.

    In fact, their borders were only separated by a single mountain range.

    The next image that startled Qin Ye revealed¡­ another cloud of Yin energy, thicker and more menacing than the one earlier, rushing straight up from behind a mountain. He could see the shadow of a single man running on the ground, and yet there wasn¡¯t a single fleshly body above it. The shadow had already rushed past the mountain range, and was now closing in on their position, fast!

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ Hellguard?!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s spine tingled.

    This was by no means a simple Hellguard-ss spirit.

    He knew, because he had sensed something like that twice before.

    This was¡­ Yin energy that was characteristic of the Assassin of the Underworld!

    What the hell is going on here?!

    It¡¯s normal to witness the appearances of ghosts at night, but¡­ why did two powerful Yin spirits appear at the same time? One is on the verge of breaking through to be a Hellguard, while the other is already a Hellguard! And they¡¯re both charging right to this location?!

 Chapter 320: Hunting Zone D-69 (3)

    <h4>Chapter 320: Hunting Zone D-69 (3)</h4>

    I¡¯ve been discovered.

    Realization dawned on Qin Ye in that very moment. The daolord had sensed his presence. Or, at the very least, he must have sensed something amiss. That was the only exnation for dispatching an Assassin of the Underworld against him.

    But¡­ where did the peak Hunter-ss Yin spirite from?

    And why is it targeting the Blue Sky Neighbourhood? There¡¯s only Wang Chenghao over there!

    Why?

    He was baffled. Simultaneously, there was a rare moment of hesitation in his heart.

    What do I do?

    Save him?

    Wang Chenghao won¡¯tst ten minutes if I hold back! There¡¯s still time if I make a move right now.

    But if I wait any longer, then¡­ I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have no choice but to reveal my true cultivation level if I¡¯m to be able to rescue him at all.

    ¡°What''s wrong? Instructor Qin?¡± Just then, Li Jixi nced over with great concern, ¡°You don¡¯t look too good. Did something happen?¡±

    Qin Ye repressed the stirring thoughts in his mind and responded cidly, ¡°Professor Li seems to be very concerned about me, huh?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with showing concern for an instructor of my own faculty, is there?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be showing more concern for the students right now?¡± Qin Ye feigned ignorance and nced at the monitors, ¡°They¡¯re all in a pretty pickle right now, while we¡¯re relishing in the safety of this guard room. Why don¡¯t we head over to the hunting zones to guide them along in person?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Li Jixi smiled, leaned back and lit up a cigarette, ¡°How can a cultivator possibly mature without spilling some blood? Did you learn to fight Yin spirits from reading a book? We are prepared for casualties with every actualbat training we embark on. It would be irresponsible of us to intervene prematurely.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and stood up, ¡°I¡¯m heading to the washroom. I¡¯ll trouble Professor Li to monitor them while I¡¯m away.¡±

    ¡°I need to go as well. Shall we head over together?¡± Li Jixi also stood up.

    Qin Ye remained silent.

    The two men made their way to the washroom together, and each went into their own cubicle. After they were done, and when they were washing their hands, Li Jixi suddenly quipped, ¡°How blessed¡­¡±

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about these students of ours.¡± Li Jixi¡¯s hands were long, fair and slender, and he washed his hands meticulously, ¡°We never had such luxuries back when I was with the Albatross¡­ Death meant death. The academy is simply pampering them too much.¡±

    Qin Ye paused momentarily, but his voice remained emotionless, ¡°You used to be a part of the Albatross?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Haven¡¯t I mentioned this before?¡± Li Jixi smiled as he pulled out a napkin to dry off his hands, ¡°But that was ages ago. Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t take any interest in prying into the private lives of others.¡±

    For some strange reason, Qin Ye could sense the assurances given by Li Jixi ebbing away at his vignce. However, he immediately forced himself to increase his wariness, ever more than before.

    This man¡­ is more than meets the eye.

    They took their ces in front of the monitors once more, but his vignce was now raised to the extreme. It would be fine if that had been a casual conversation with no other implications. But if he had dropped these pieces of information intentionally, then this man¡­ must be an expert in manipting the minds of others!

    The fact that he was being upfront and unobtrusive means that¡­ he has already detected my guardedness against him! After all, the best way to lower my defenses is to of his own volition make explicit any points of suspicion about him.

    Any normal person would have thought - ah, so that¡¯s how it is - and attribute any peculiarities in his behaviour to the habits developed through his previous profession. Then, they would let their guards down. But Qin Ye would never allow that to happen.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t formally trained in such matters of human psychology. That said, there was no better teacher in this regard than life and life itself.

    There¡¯s something wrong about this man.

    But just as he was about to delve deeper into these thoughts of his, the images in his mind suddenly trembled, and then vanished altogether.

    ¡°Ahhhh!!!¡± A shrill shriek promptly echoed through the recesses of his mind. He followed its source, only to realize it hade from the direction of the Assassin of the Underworld!

    The Assassin of the Underworld had already breached the five hundred meter perimeter around him, and killed one of the five ghosts which was keeping a lookout for him!

    He shut his eyes, and his chest rose and fell with every heave of a breath he took. Then, when he finally looked up once more, his eyes were already filled with a trace of determination, as though he were fully convicted on the course of action to take, ¡°Professor Li, call off the operations right away!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Li Jixi responded indifferently, ¡°The operations are supposed tost till twelve midnight. In fact, we¡¯ve onlymenced operations no more than forty minutes ago. Instructor Qin, don¡¯t let your concern for the students cloud your judgment¡­¡±

    BANG! Qin Ye mmed the table and interrupted him before he could even finish speaking, ¡°There¡¯s a terrifying evil ghosting our way! The consequences will be dire if we don¡¯t retreat right now!¡±

    Li Jixi didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he stared back intently at Qin Ye in silence. Tension filled the guardroom.

    ¡°Cultivators aren¡¯t generally too sensitive to the existence of Yin spirits weaker than them. This is all part and parcel of the principles of survival - one would always more readily react to existences that might threaten their own. I didn¡¯t sense anything, so how did you, a Soul Hunter, detect a threat?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my technique.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, but it was evident that the gaze in his eyes were only growing more deep and abstruse, ¡°Besides, how are you so sure that the threat isn¡¯t stronger than you?¡±

    This guy is hiding something!

    Both men had ascertained that the other was hiding something. The sudden onset of an exigent situation was sufficient to cause even the most proficient of experts to reveal the ws in their facade. Qin Ye was unable to properly exin why he could perceive the approach of an evil spirit from that far away, while Li Jixi couldn¡¯t exin how he was so certain that the threat was weaker than a Hellguard.

    ¡°It was a passing remark. I didn¡¯t detect any suspicious presence after all.¡± Li Jixi stood up and added, ¡°Instructor Qin, let me say it again - I¡¯m the one in charge of the operations over here, and I¡¯m the one taking responsibility for any idents and incidents that may ur. In my capacity as a professor, I¡¯m now ordering you to sit down. We¡¯ll stick to the n and close our operations at twelve midnight.¡±

    ¡°This was a gentle reminder of the dangers that are approaching.¡± Qin Ye sat back downzily, ¡°Since you don¡¯t believe me, then you can take it that I¡¯ve said nothing. Speaking of which, let me tell you something - the evil ghost that is approaching is a Hellguard. If you don¡¯t notify the whole of New Hale City right now, something big will go down tonight.¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡­ I hope Lady Luck favours you tonight¡­

    Rather than risk exposing myself, I¡¯m gambling on your luck right now¡­ After all, I¡¯ve already done everything I could.

    Hellguard? Li Jixi sat down silently. Impossible. The supernatural perimeter hasn¡¯t reacted with any alerts. Besides¡­ the Yin spirit that was released tonight is most certainly not a Hellguard.

    Is he simply trying to exaggerate the dangers?

    Well¡­ let¡¯s see if your heart is truly as cold as you present yourself to be.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Blue Sky Neighbourhood, 12th storey. Wang Chenghao stood at the door, shaking his head and wiping the cold sweat off his forehead. It was strange. He was obviously standing right at the heart of a supernatural incident, and yet he couldn¡¯t sense the presence of any Yin energy no matter what he did.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± There were already four talismans primed in his hands as he nced about warily around his surroundings.

    No¡­ something¡¯s not right!

    Then, a primal sensation rose from the depths of his heart - Leave this ce¡­ right now! Unfortunately, his feet were frozen in ce.

    This is the first opportunity that I¡¯m getting to purge an evil spirit¡­ so how could I retreat so quickly? What if all my other ssmates manage toplete their objectives as well? Wouldn¡¯t I be the only one to have achieved nothing? Wouldn¡¯t I be theughing stock of the entire cohort?

    Whoosh¡­ Right then, another flurry of torrential rain was sent scattering into the rooms by a powerful gale of wind. It was almost as though the stifling darkness in the room was suddenly stirred by an invisible giant hand.

    Wang Chenghao shivered all over. Bzzt¡­ The electrical lights in the room went out. Simultaneously, both Qin Ye and Li Jixi lifted their heads and stared intently at the central monitor, which revealed Hunting Zone D-69.

    Here ites¡­

    Here ites!

    A terrifying Yin spirit was approaching!

    They could see from the surveince monitor that showed the outskirts of the Blue Sky Neighbourhood¡­ the silhouette of a man covered in blood.

    He appeared crippled and immobile, but was somehow able to teleport from shadow to shadow. He was standing at the outskirts of the Blue Sky Neighbourhood in one moment, and then he was standing right on the rooftop of Building No. 2 on the next!

    Rumble! The sh of lightning briefly dazzled the twelfth floor, only to reveal that the man¡­ had no shadow under his feet!

    Tap¡­ The man ced his hand gently on the ss door and pushed it open softly, leaving a bloody handprint on it.

    Meanwhile, as soon as the lights went out, Wang Chenghao immediately sensed his presence. A cold chill went surging straight through his spine!

    This is different¡­ This Yin spirit is on apletely different level from anything I¡¯ve ever encountered before!

    He could tell that it was far stronger than the average Yin spirit, and its ferocity, bloodthirstiness, resentfulness and hatred for the world was far more intense than anything he had ever sensed before!

    Run!

    Run away!

    He immediately turned and dashed desperately towards the elevator!

    CLANG CLANG CLANG!!! As soon as he rushed out, the dpidated doors along the entire corridor suddenly mmed shut! Furthermore, the number on the elevator panel quickly changed from one to another¡­ 13¡­ 12¡­ 7¡­ 6¡­ 1¡­ All in a matter of just three seconds!

    And then¡­ it continued to head down!

    -1¡­ -4¡­ -9¡­ -18!

    ¡°An evil spirit is crawling up from the eighteenth Abyss of Punishment?!¡± Wang Chenghao gasped. How is this possible?! This is something that¡¯spletely outside the league of what I can handle! In fact, this isn¡¯t something that even our instructors can handle mano-a-mano!

    ¡°Shit!¡± He smashed on the elevator door hard and began to dash towards the stairs.

    But before he even made it two floors down, he suddenly heard a crisp coughing sounding from below.

    ¡°Cough¡­ cough¡­¡± The hoarse coughs were followed by the eerie reverberations of thousands of ghastly cries, almost as though the stairs were leading straight down into the depths of Hell.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there¡­ who--... who--...¡± A man¡¯s soulless voice called out, ¡°Help me¡­ save me¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­ it hurts¡­ it hurts!!¡±

    His voice grew shrill towards the end of his exmation, and the entire column of stairs reverberated coldly with his high-decibel screams. Wang Chenghao¡¯s face was now white as snow, and he subconsciously began to retreat, only to discover that¡­ his surroundings were suddenly engulfed in an unusual silence.

    There was neither the sound of rain nor the winds. Furthermore, there was no light in the area.

    The only thing he could hear was the endless reverberations generated by the man¡¯s heart-rending screams.

    Ka-thunk¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s knees buckled, and he promptly fell back onto the ground,pletely dumbfounded. Momentster, the onset of extreme fear over his heart caused him to leap to his feet once more. But when he turned around¡­

    Bang!

    The door leading to the stairs suddenly mmed shut.

    And it didn¡¯t only happen back at the twelfth floor. The initial mming sound was soon followed by a series of twelve others, amidst the lingering cries and moans of the man from below. Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart felt as though it was leaping straight out of his chest.

    This¡­ means that all of the doors leading out of the stairs¡­ have just been shut¡­

    He was currently trapped in the enclosed stairwell with an evil ghost.

    He was trapped between a rock and a hard ce. To make matters worse, the coughing man appeared to be walking upstairs, slowly but surely drawing closer and closer to him.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what a truly malicious ghost is like¡­¡± He gnashed his teeth and finally pulled out his magic artifact.

    It was a carved wooden gourd.

    He cut his fingertips and smeared a drop of blood on the gourd. He recalled the use of the artifact - it concealed the breath of the living for thirty full minutes, prevented the incursion of Yin energy and would even send out a distress signal.

    After all, regrmunication devices couldn¡¯t be used in a dense cloud of Yin energy.

    However¡­ as soon as he smeared the drop of blood on the gourd, the energy that blossomed from it wasn¡¯t that of true energy. Rather, it turned out to be¡­ Yin energy!

    A split secondter, the screams that echoed through the stairwell grew colder and more intense, while the sound of footsteps instantly picked up. Pure Yin energy was a far better tonic to a Yin spirit than mere flesh and blood!

    It¡¯s a fake¡­

    The gourd fell to the ground with a dull thud, and Wang Chenghao stared at his hands with disbelief.

    The academy had given us a fake magical artifact¡­

    tter! Back in the surveince room, Qin Ye instantly shot to his feet and stared at Li Jixi with great incredulity, ¡°Is this what you call the academy¡¯s magical artifacts?!¡±

    ¡°Professor Li, do you know what you¡¯ve just done?!¡±

 Chapter 321: Choices (1)

    <h4>Chapter 321: Choices (1)</h4>

    At least, he appeared stunned.

    ¡°Instructor Qin, what do we do now?¡±

    Wang Chenghao was his friend. Although he wasn¡¯t as close to Wang Chenghao as he was with Lin Han, he nevertheless still considered Wang Chenghao a friend of his.

    Furthermore, there was an added realm ofplexity in this matter given how Li Jixi had ced the problem on his shoulders.

    But just put yourself in his shoes. When an emergency arises, and someone beside you asks how they ought to react to the situation, what would be the first thing thates to mind?

    It was an almost primal response - one that arrived at the conclusion without passing through the usual logical thought processes.

    But, given the distance, a mere Soul Hunter would never be able to arrive in time! Unless¡­

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you earlier vow to take all responsibility for any problems that arise?¡± Qin Ye snorted coldly, ¡°Why are you asking me about the situation now? What do you think I can do? How could a Soul Hunter possibly arrive in time to save him? Professor Li, you don¡¯t take your students¡¯ lives seriously, do you? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be sure to report all of this to the academy as soon as we¡¯re back.¡±

    Unfortunately, Li Jixi switched off the intes before he could even finish speaking.

    ¡°We¡¯re not calling it off.¡± Li Jixi responded with an equal measure of frigidity in his voice, ¡°Student Wang is the only one who has encountered a problematic situation thus far. The other hunting zones are still fine. Let them continue. We¡¯ll make our way towards Student Wang in the meantime to retrieve his corpse.¡±

    Wang Chenghao was definitely rted to Qin Ye. Although he hadn¡¯t verified the extent of their rtionship just yet, he still never expected Qin Ye to be so indifferent to Wang Chenghao¡¯s death!

    But¡­ wasn¡¯t it pretty much a foregone conclusion by now?

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± Qin Ye felt a wave of anger surge from the bottom of his heart, and he shot to his feet, ¡°You¡¯re toying with the lives of others!¡±

    ¡°Whatever it might be, you should never be toying with the lives of other human beings! You¡¯re practically sending them to the ughterhouse right now!¡±

    ¡°What are you so afraid of?¡±

    ¡°Or should I say that you¡¯re¡­ afraid we¡¯ll finally discover what you¡¯ve done back at the Strait of Tsushima?!¡±

    Recording device¡­ And probably one that transmits the message real time at that¡­

    Li Jixi was dumbfounded.

    But a split secondter, just as he began to let down his guard, he suddenly noticed Qin Ye¡¯s lips curling up right at the edge of the teacup.

    Unfortunately, before he could even react, Qin Ye flicked a small drop of water at his fingertip straight into Li Jixi¡¯s pocket.

    Like a bullet, the drop of water ripped right through the pocket, and the wrecked recording device immediately fell out of his pocket.

    It¡¯s impossible for a Soul Hunter to breach my defenses so easily¡­ So, this means that he¡¯s¡­

    An eighteen years-old Hellguard?!

    tter¡­ As expected, Qin Ye grabbed the chain before it could strike his vitals. And then, his voice echoed out in the sudden darkness of the room, ¡°So it seems like the Albatross did send you¡­¡±

    ¡°What is there to ask?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice was cold and menacing, and evenden with a trace ofughter, ¡°About the incident at the Strait of Tsushima?¡±

    Li Jixi¡¯s body trembled with excitement as he continued hoarsely, ¡°I promise that no harm wille to you as long as you turn yourself in! All you need to do is to tell us the truth!¡±

    ¡°There are bound to be sacrifices under these circumstances!¡± Li Jixi roared loudly, and tried tugging hard at the chain in his hand. Unfortunately¡­ the chain didn¡¯t budge an inch.

    Qin Ye muttered indifferently, ¡°Then, are you aware of the fact that you should never tempt humanity?¡±

    A bad premonition rose from the depths of Li Jixi¡¯s heart, and he gasped deeply, ¡°You¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice was filled with satisfaction, ¡°And now¡­ he¡¯s right behind you.¡±

    With that, Li Jixi felt the chain in his hands loosen limply, and he could tell that Qin Ye¡¯s voice had already grown distant and far.

    Why was that sound so crystal clear?

    It was a rainy night, filled with thunder, lightning and a torrential downpour outside. But for some strange reason, he couldn¡¯t hear a single buzz of sound right now!

    Then, there was a sudden mming sound. Bang! The doors and the windows around were suddenly flung right open, and the torrential rain poured right into the room! Just as he was about to raise his hand to shield himself from the pelting rainwater, he abruptly froze.

    In fact, the series of footprints were preceded by a series of handprints, almost as though someone was crawling into the room on all fours!

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± Li Jixi¡¯s hair stood on end. He tightened his grip around the chains and was just about to lift his hand when he froze once more. Momentster, he stiffly lowered his head and looked down at his feet.

    To be precise, he could see a pair of white hands wrapped tightly around his legs.

    The child¡¯s entire body was pale, save for the countless spots of livor mortis that speckled its skin. The child¡¯s hair was tied in dreadlocks, and its gaping wide eyes werepletely devoid of colour, akin to an intense ck hole!

    ¡°Shit!!¡± Li Jixi cursed aloud as he scrambled backwards. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t manage to get far before his body struck something behind him.

    And rancid.

    ¡°Little baby, let¡¯s do it together, alright?¡± A hoarse voice reverberated through the corners of the surveince room, and Li Jixi promptly shut his eyes in despair.

    There really was a Hellguard-ss spirit¡­

    He could see from its reflection a woman in a navy blue dress and red embroidered shoes standing right behind him. Her hands were nearly a meter long, and bore two or three joints to them, and they were currently wrapped tightly around his neck.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Twelfth floor.

    Thus, he soon arrived right in front of the exit on the thirteenth floor. It was peculiar. The ¡°EXIT¡± sign on the door was illuminated with a scarlet hue, almost as though the blood from Hell had tainted and tarnished it. He turned the doorknob desperately, but it just wouldn¡¯t open for him no matter what he did!

    ¡°Ahhh!!!¡± Momentster, he slumped back down onto the floor and ran his fingers desperately through his hair in abject despondence, ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­ I don¡¯t want to die!!¡±

    A pale hand emerged from the stairs and held tightly onto the railing.

    ¡°No¡­ NO!!¡± Wang Chenghao shot to his feet like a madman, and began to kick and beat at the door, but to no avail.

    He didn¡¯t want to die. Not one bit! But what could he possibly do to get out of this predicament of his?

    ¡°Everyone runs¡­ Everyone! I¡¯ve pleaded time and again for the cars to stop¡­ but everyone ignored me!!!¡±

    How can I open the door?

    This was a talisman that Qin Ye had given to him. It was for self-defenses purposes, and it was something that he had never thought woulde in handy one day.

    It was pouring right outside. This was the thirteenth storey rooftop of the building. And yet, it looked no different from paradise to him right now.

    A pale, mangled corpse was already leaning heavily on his back, and it whispered softly to his ears, ¡°Why¡­ are you running?¡±

    And the corpse bit down with its sharp fangs the very next moment!

 Chapter 322: Choices (2)

    <h4>Chapter 322: Choices (2)</h4>

    Pssshhhh!

    Is this the end of my road¡­

    This evil ghost is totally out of my league¡­ Did the academy screw up? And who tampered with my magical artifact? What a pity¡­ To think I would be killed in the outskirts like this without even purging a single Yin spirit. I couldn¡¯t even keep the promise I¡¯d made to Brother Qin back then¡­ What a pity¡­ What an uneptable oue¡­

    Yin spirits?

    A split secondter, the four Yin spirits charged straight onto the male Yin spirit behind Wang Chenghao¡¯s body and began tearing away at its flesh.

    Wang Chenghao was taken aback. In that instant, his desire to live erupted like a powerful volcano, and he mustered every remaining bit of true energy in his body, grabbed hold of every remaining talisman in his arsenal and began to send them smashing into the evil ghost behind him.

    Just a moment ago, the four Yin spirits had clearly heard Qin Ye¡¯smand booming in their minds - If anyone of you can prevent the death of this young man, you will immediately be conferred the title of an official Emissary of Hell!

    ROAR! The evil ghost finally loosened its bite with a roar of frustration. Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao grasped every opportunity he was presented with to rush straight out of the door. And then, he nced back and caught a glimpse of the face of the evil ghost for the very first time.

    There were traces of bite marks all over the man¡¯s mangled body, and only half of it remained right now. His abdominal cavity waspletely empty and devoid of innards, half of his face was nothing but bones. Trails of ck corpse fluid flowed out of his wounds and left streaks of marks everywhere, leaving his clothes in tatters, while copious amounts of Yin energy continued to pour out incessantly.

    So far that¡­ it could plunge straight through my stomach?

    How¡­ did this happen?

    As his consciousness began to drift away, the excruciating pain in his abdomen engulfed him like a tidal wave. Yet, it was also right at that moment that arge vortex of Yin energy andhermes suddenly began to converge right on the rooftop.

    You¡¯re here¡­

    It was as though the tension in his heart had finally been released, and his head weaklynded on the ground with a thud.

    And in that instant, it was also as though time had stopped for him.

    Dead?

    That tyrannical kid from Clear Creek County High School that had fled with me from Clear Creek County all the way to the City of Salvation¡­ That very same teenager who begged me to be his friend¡­ is dead? Just like that?

    It wouldn¡¯t be right to describe his feelings right now as heartbroken. After all, he had lived for a long time, and seen his fair share of death and departure. His heart had naturally already grown numb to these things.

    And it was an intense ache at that.

    Momentster, he slowly turned his head and nced at the Yin spirit.

    Then, just as they were on the verge of defeat and contemting retreat, a wall ofherfire suddenly mmed straight down like a rushing waterfall.

    Yet it was also filled with killing intent.

    ¡°I could have let you perish swiftly and painlessly¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s face appeared incredibly calm, but the Yin energy around his body was twisting and roiling like an incredibly menacing aura. A split secondter, all of the Yin energy within a 100 meter radius around him suddenly converged onto his body. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes promptly inverted its colours, while copious amounts of Yin energy began to pour out of his body. In fact, one could even see illusory lotus flowers blossoming in the air where the Yin energy was densest.

    As he spoke, the Yin energy contracted violently, and then, with a loud bang, a figure wearing a long ck robe sporting a meter-long tongue and white hair that was scattering about menacingly descended from the sky like a god of all Yin spirits.

    That was also the very same instant that all of the Yin energy monitoring devices within New Hale City began to re with rms of distress.

    They were right in the middle of a meeting at the conference room, but the text on the LED screen behind him instantly vanished. Instead, there was simply a shrill voice speaking through the broadcast system.

    ¡°Perilous?¡± One of the officers in the room adjusted his sses and shot to his feet, ¡°Hellguard¡­ that signifies the appearance of a Hellguard-ss Yin spirit! Mobilize all troops!!¡±

    Back in the surveince room of Hunting Zone D-72.

    Just then, the two ghosts that were gnawing on his body suddenly lifted his head. And then, they shrieked at the top of their voice and shrank back into the corner of the room, ¡°Emissary of Hell! Emissary of Hell! It¡¯s a genuine Emissary of Hell!! That¡¯s our target!¡± ¡°It¡¯s him! He has finally appeared! There really was a genuine Emissary of Hell! His Excellency was right!¡±

    Ssss!! Meanwhile, back in Hunting Zone D-69, the evil ghost was smacked several meters back, and he dug his foot into the ground to stabilize himself, leaving two half-foot deep grooves in the ground just a short moment before he mmed heavily into the wall. A web of cracks immediately appeared on the walls.

    Furthermore¡­ he could sense a primal fear rising from the innermost parts of his heart whenever he came within a five meter radius of his opponent.

    The two remaining ghosts of Qin Ye¡¯s Yoke of the Five Ghosts didn¡¯t utter a single word. They simply hid in a corner, shivering uncontrobly - Our hunch was right¡­ this man¡­ is far too scary¡­ It¡¯s a good thing we¡¯ve pledged our allegiance to him¡­

    Curses¡­ CURSES!

    ¡°Was this the very same move that killed Wang Chenghao?¡± Qin Ye nced coldly at the evil ghost and flicked his spirit streamer. tter! Crunch! A split secondter, the evil ghost grabbed hold of his right hand and screamed in pain.

    The evil ghost¡¯s hand was already twisted beyond belief. The bones in his hand were shattered into innumerable pieces, while his razor-sharp nails were scattered all over the floor. But he wasn¡¯t given the room to breathe at all. A momentter, he suddenly felt¡­ as though something was grabbing onto his hair.

    Wang Chenghao knew that he was already on the verge of death, but he still managed to cling onto that very strand of life within by sheer willpower. And at this very moment, heughed.

    Blood sputtered and gurgled from his mouth like spring waters. Whenever it moved, some blood would spew out. However, his eyes gleamed brighter than ever as he watched Qin Ye subdue the evil ghost right in front of his eyes.

    ¡°Little Wang.¡± Qin Ye loosened his grip and stomped down hard on the evil ghost with his foot. A piercing cry resounded through the dark night as the evil ghost¡¯s head was pummeled straight through the concrete of the roof.

    Wang Chenghao continued tough feebly even as the entire world in front of him shook violently.

    Qin Ye sighed. Not even the Book of Life and Death could reverse the situation right now. Sure, the Book of Life and Death might be a divine artifact of Hell, but that didn¡¯t mean that anyone who got shot straight through the head would still be revived and healed back to the pink of health.

    Go in peace¡­ I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be seeing you again soon¡­

    Crack¡­ That was the sound of the skull giving way.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill me¡­ D-d-don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t¡­ kill me¡­¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to die?¡± Qin Ye appeared to be calm and at peace, while the evil ghost continued to il his arms about as he struggled desperately.

    ¡°On the other hand, it¡¯s only right to repay a life for a life.¡±

    Shk! With that, the spirit streamer plunged straight through the evil ghost¡¯s skull, instantly extinguishing the remainingherme that zed within him.

 Chapter 323: Grappling with Life and Death

    <h4>Chapter 323: Grappling with Life and Death</h4>

    Qin Ye gently supported Wang Chenghao and used his Yin energy to temporarily keep Wang Chenghao alive, ¡°Did you see that? I¡¯ve avenged you, so go in peace. Besides, you don¡¯t have any next of kin in this world any longer.¡±

    Qin Ye held Wang Chenghao¡¯s bloody hand and ced the spirit streamer in his hands, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll let you deal the final blow.¡±

    The rooftop was silent once more. Wang Chenghao felt slightly better, but he knew that this was no more than a momentary reprieve.

    Qin Ye promptly reverted back to his human form, and he continued holding Wang Chenghao in his hands. It was strange. He knew full well that he could simply end Wang Chenghao¡¯s life right now, and it wouldn¡¯t take long before they were reunited in the depths of Hell. That way, Wang Chenghao wouldn¡¯t have to go through all this pain and suffering either. However, he simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to do so.

    ¡°Am¡­ I¡­ cough cough¡­ about to¡­ die?¡± Wang Chenghao sputtered blood as he spoke intermittently. It was an ugly,ughable sight, yet Qin Ye couldn¡¯t bring himself to even smile at this moment.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ cough¡­ not lying?¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    ¡°But¡­ I want to live¡­¡± The second wind granted by Qin Ye had somehow ignited Wang Chenghao¡¯s passion for life, and his spirits clearly brightened. Nheless, Qin Ye sighed softly and ced his hand gently on Wang Chenghao¡¯s forehead, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was selfish.¡±

    Wang Chenghao grinned, and his voice was no different from a drawl, ¡°You were... torn between friendship¡­ cough cough¡­ and duty¡­ I don¡¯t me you¡­¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it toe so soon¡­ There are still so many things that I want to do¡­ Yet, to think that I would die here¡­¡± He chuckled bitterly, ¡°I haven¡¯t even cleared that game yet.¡±

    ¡°When you open your eyes again, everything will be fine once more.¡±

    Time to go.

    You shouldn¡¯t die with your eyes wide open like that¡­ Qin Ye sighed, and tried to brush down his eyelids once more. But before he could do so, Wang Chenghao grumbled, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ I can still hold on¡­ You¡¯re blocking my view of the sky¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth and set down his hand. Whatever happened to the fear of death?! Why do you seem so unafraid of what is supposed toe?

    ¡°I am¡­¡± Wang Chenghao coughed and smiled at the falling rain, ¡°But, you wouldn¡¯t lie to me¡­ cough cough¡­ I trust in you¡­¡±

    ¡°Truth be told¡­ I feel like my entire life has been aplete failure¡­¡± Wang Chenghao muttered softly, ¡°Come to think of it, I¡¯ve lived off my parents assets my entire life¡­ and I couldn¡¯t even make a name for myself after their death¡­ You know¡­ there was a time when I fantasized about bing as powerful as you¡­¡±

    Blood continued to pour out of his wounds, while Wang Chenghao held tightly to Qin Ye¡¯s hands, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ a man named Albatross approached me before¡­¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Qin Ye patted his shoulder assuringly, ¡°Speaking of which, your condition is getting dangerous. You¡¯ll want to go in peace. I¡¯m not lying to you - we¡¯ll be reunited in Hell in just the blink of an eye. I¡¯m going to confer you with a title, and you¡¯ll be able to return to the mortal realm to purge all the Yin spirits you want. How does that sound?¡±

    With a sputter of blood, his face began to grow more and more ashen by the minute.

    ¡°Take out your cell phone¡­¡± Wang Chenghao mustered the remaining strength in his body and continued weakly, ¡°Open a voice recording app¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡­ Wang Chenghao¡­ dead by the hands of an evil ghost¡­ hereby bequeaths all of my property¡­¡±

    How could¡­ you still be thinking of me at such a time like this?!

    He tightened his grip around Qin Ye¡¯s hand, and Qin Ye sighed wistfully, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll use it well¡­¡±

    Ding!

    You imbecile! Can¡¯t you just die well for once?!

    Do you believe it when I tell you that I¡¯ll send you as a gift to Su Dongxue¡¯s bedchambers? I¡¯m perfectly certain that you¡¯re just the type she would covet!

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye responded softly with some measure of frustration, ¡°Mm.¡± Then, Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes finally began to dte, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ do you recall¡­ the song that we heard when we were escaping from Clear Creek County?¡±

    ¡°Could you¡­ sing¡­ two lines of it?¡±

    His nose was cold, and his lips were pale.

    ¡°Some people say that life isn¡¯t worth it.¡± Qin Ye sighed and gently set Wang Chenghao down, ¡°But this life of yours has undoubtedly been spent well.¡±

    He slowly got to his feet. And then, with a flick of his wrist, his spirit streamer casually carved out a deep groove along the ground as he gazed into the corner of the rooftop, ¡°Come out. You¡¯ve been watching from the shadows from some time now. Did you enjoy the show?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, and then flicked his finger, causing one of the talismans hanging from the spirit streamer to shoot straight through the door. A split secondter, two shadows burst through the door and rushed onto the rooftop.

    Qin Ye immediately understood the extent of their abilities in a single nce.

    Her entire body appeared to be twisted beyond belief, almost as though she had suffered from some inhumane torture right before her death. Shey on the ground on all fours like a spider. Next to her, there was a child with dreadlocks dressed only in underwear. The child opened his mouth from time to time, revealing rows and rows of razor-sharp teethced with traces of grisly corpse fluid.

    Ka¡­ ka¡­ The woman¡¯s head began to swivel around stiffly in a horrific manner as she chuckled hoarsely, ¡°How touching¡­ To think that an Emissary of Hell would develop lingering feelings of attachment for the mortal realm¡­ Kekeke¡­ I nearly shed a tear for you back there¡­¡±

    ¡°In life, I was a shamaness of the seven underworldly craftsmen¡­ Kekeke¡­ Little Emissary of Hell, have you ever heard of the Assassins of the Underworld?¡± The shamaness cackled huskily. Then, she promptly added, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. I¡¯ve got a gift for you.¡±

    It was Li Jixi.

    His limbs had already been chewed right off his body, yet he still managed to survive despite the excruciating pain of the ordeal he had been through.

    ¡°Shh¡­¡± Qin Ye raised his finger to his lips and searched through Li Jixi¡¯s body before softly patting his face, ¡°Do you know that you¡¯ve murdered someone today?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be apanying him shortly. Even if these evil ghosts were to spare your life, I wouldn¡¯t.¡± Qin Ye spoke emotionlessly, ¡°You must still be wondering if I had anything to do with the incident back at the Strait of Tsushima back then, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Li Jixi¡¯s heart thumped wildly, and he struggled desperately, almost as though he had a multitude of things to say. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t say a single word.

    It was him¡­ It really was him!

    ¡°I sincerely respect you. The Albatross certainly lives up to its name. To think that you were actually able to track me down all this way.¡± Qin Ye straightened his body, and continued with a cold voice, ¡°Unfortunately, curiosity also killed the cat.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be able to live even if I don¡¯t kill you. Your body has sustained the incursion of copious amounts of Yin energy, and death is but an eventuality. So, let me¡­ finally provide you with release. You should be grateful that I¡¯m repaying your evil with good.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of me?¡± Qin Ye turned to look at the female ghost.

    ¡°Dear, he won¡¯t beughing soon enough. It¡¯s been fifty long years since we¡¯ve been dead, and we¡¯ve already killed far too many unsuspecting cultivators.¡± The female ghost responded huskily, ¡°Even though the daolord had only instructed us to head over for reconnaissance work, it wouldn¡¯t be bad if we could¡­ capture the target alive either¡­¡±

    When he was done, he slowly lowered his head back down and shook his spirit streamer in hand, ¡°Things are truly as Arti had mentioned.¡±

    ¡°The ignorance of a fifty-year evil ghost truly knows no bounds.¡±

    <hr>

    1. First appeared in Chapter 36.

 Chapter 324: 50 Years of Death

    <h4>Chapter 324: 50 Years of Death</h4>

    Qin Ye smiled faintly without saying another word.

    But now, he knew.

    The child licked his lips avariciously. The female ghost also narrowed her eyes as a murderous intent surged from the depths of her heart.

    Fast¡­

    Unimaginably fast!

    Sss!!! The child cried out miserably as its small frame suddenly swelled like a balloon to two meters in size. It desperately used its expanding body to fight and attempt to unravel the chains binding it, but to no avail at all. The chains emerging from Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves appeared to be endless, and as the child expanded, so did the length of chain emerging from Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves, thereby rendering the child¡¯s efforts futile.

    Whoosh¡­ Yin energy scattered everywhere like grim, fluttering butterflies. As the Yin energy slowly receded, it soon revealed the dumbfounded expressions on the female ghost¡¯s face.

    She gasped and turned her head sharply, staring in disbelief at where the child¡¯s Yin energy was promptly dissipating from. Her bloodshot eyes widened, while her jaws hung agape. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of terror. Instead, she waspletely swamped with an overwhelming sensation of astonishment.

    How is something like that even possible?

    Three long secondster, she turned her head around stiffly and stared nkly at Qin Ye as she asked, ¡°How¡­ did you do that?¡±

    Then, as soon as the fluttering talismansnded on the ground, they immediately red up with a deep ck luster, and they¡­ promptly began to swirl around, forming a wall of talismans that blocked off all escape routes.

    She shook her head stiffly.

    ¡°Because he¡¯s afraid.¡± The tip of the spear drew out sparks along the ground. Qin Ye continued to plod forward slowly, but surely, ¡°Didn¡¯t your beloved daolord tell you that all Emissaries of Hell have an absolute advantage over Yin spirits of an equal or lower cultivation level?¡±

    Qin Ye took another step forward. The female ghost¡¯s teeth began to chatter uncontrobly. How terrifying¡­ The fear in her heart was no different from that of a rat staring at a cat, or that of a mosquito staring down a spider in its web. It was a primal sense of fear that had spread from her heart.

    Dong¡­ A third step. Qin Ye was now no more than three meters away from the female ghost, and the anxiety in her heart came to a head. With a shrill shriek, the hair on her head suddenlyshed out and weaved themselves into a massive, while she scrambled away to the corner of the roof, leaning back heavily against the wall of talismans behind her.

    Ignoring her cries, Qin Ye continued to plod towards her. Step by step, his pace quickened. Three meters¡­ two meters¡­ and just as he closed the two meter gap, something in the female ghost¡¯s heart snapped! With another loud shriek, her web of hair suddenly rushed straight for Qin Ye like the rising tide of the sea.

    Kkkkrrrr¡­ It sounded just like a tightening bowstring. Her eyes appearedpletely bloodshot. Her hair had evidently been reinforced through the soaking of decades¡¯ worth of corpse fluid. It was incredibly thick, and even carried the gue of corpse poison with it. Anyone who was trapped in her binding of hair like that was bound to die - or so she thought. But somehow¡­ her heart continued to be gued by an unending sense of fear and terror.

    BOOM!

    Whoosh¡­

    She waspletely bbergasted.

    Completely unharmed.

    No response.

    Evil ghost¡­

    There were no longer any trump cards hidden up her sleeves, and this was clearly not a situation she would be able to get out of with sheer dumb luck. Their earlier exchange had taught her a simple yet profound truth - they were entities that were onpletely different nes of existence.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even attempt to obstruct her.

    And then, she knew nothing more.

    Approximately two secondster, she roused from her stupor, only to be electrified with an excruciating pain that surged throughout her body. She sought to scream, to cry out for help, but she soon discovered that¡­ a long spear had at some point run straight through her body and pinned her to the ground. The slightest of movements would send a mind-numbing pain throughout her body.

    Her head turned around mechanically, and she nced at Qin Ye in a pious and humble manner, almost prayerfully, as she fervently suppressed the intense paining from her chest, ¡°Please¡­ have mercy on me¡­ my¡­ my cultivation journey wasn¡¯t easy¡­ I hope my lord can show me some mercy¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve still got many, many questions that need answers. It¡¯s not everyday that Ie across a Hellguard after all¡­ and an Assassin of the Underworld to boot. I refuse to believe that you¡¯re not a trusted aide of the daolord.¡±

    ¡°T-thank you my lord¡­¡± The female ghost gritted her teeth and ignored the excruciating pain emanating from her chest as she transformed into ahergale and rushed into the soul sphere. The talismans around the soul sphere immediately lit up in a series of ring lights, before shrinking back tightly together and growing dull once more.

    ¡°But it looks like there are still some loose ends to tie up¡­¡± He stretched out his hand and clenched his fist, and all of the talismans swirling around him promptly flew back and adhered onto the spear, promptly transforming into a mourning staff. Meanwhile, his gaze had already turned to the outskirts of the neighbourhood.

    Everything was still dark, and yet the entire neighbourhood spanning over a thousand meters in circumference had already been cordoned off with tape. As soon as the swirling talismans vanished, he instantly heard the ttering sounds of military men disembarking and unloading equipment. Military vehicles of all shapes and sizes were already pulled over in the neighbourhood, while the spotlights above the vehicles were all shining straight towards the rooftop.

    There were a total of at least three hundred cultivators gathered below right now¡­ He silently lit an Incense of Paramnesia. Following that, the Yin energy around him transformed into illusory crows, and he stepped onto their backs and began to drift down to the ground.

    He needed to find a suitable excuse to exin how Qin Ye got here, and how Li Jixi and Wang Chenghao perished in the call of duty.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Exactly one hour ago, the eruption of Yin energy was first detected in the vicinity.

    And yet, the shsted no more than ten seconds - from the initial terrifying shockwaves of shing Yin energy, to the domineering deration of victory of one of the entities.

    Just like that?

    What¡¯s going on? Someone like Li Jixi¡­ He couldn¡¯t bring himself to condemn Li Jixi¡¯s actions. He didn¡¯t agree with the course of action undertaken, but he had always attributed it to the difference in their worldviews. Someone like that¡­ bears the weight of the world on his shoulders. So what exactly is it over here that had caused him to deprioritize all of his other missions ande to this god forsaken ce? Did he already know that there was going to be a sh between two Hellguard-ss Yin spirits?

    ¡°On alert!!!¡± Everyone jolted back to their sense and raised their vignce to the extreme. The Special Investigations Department was clothed with the authority to temporarily takemand of all military forces. Thus, with a single wave of his hand¡­ Click, click, click... Thousands of ck muzzles immediately pointed towards the sky, locked and loaded.

 Chapter 325: A Hellish Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 325: A Hellish Reunion</h4>

    What powerful Yin energy¡­ The three hundred or so cultivators silently pulled out their magical artifacts and primed them with their true energy. There were neither Hellguards nor even Soul Hunters in the vicinity, so how could they possibly know of such pure, dense Yin energy to begin with?

    It stood to reason that any entity emanating Yin energy wouldn¡¯t likely be a friend. But if that were indeed the case, then why didn¡¯t the unknown entity attack them? Why was he acting as though he wanted to talk?

    But, just a split secondter, everyone gasped in unison.

    ¡°Hellguard?¡± Guan Gen stared at the man. The pistol in his hands was ostensibly trembling violently, ¡°Hellguard¡­ Anitya Hellguard?! A living Anitya Hellguard?!¡±

    They had already sensed that the Yin energy emanating from his body wasn¡¯t anything like the ones that they faced on a regr basis. It wasn¡¯t evil and cold, nor did it bear any stench of blood or vicious incisiveness to it. That said, they would never have imagined him to be one of the Hellguards of the legends!

    The entire scene was silent.

    Qin Ye got straight to the point. He ran his finger along his waist, and a bright light shot straight towards Guan Gen. Then, just as several guns cocked and readied themselves to shoot, Guan Gen suddenly held up a hand, before turning to look at what was now already in his other hand.

    One that was dark and grim. The words ¡°Anitya Hellguard¡± were etched onto its surface with striking scarlet lettering. The flipside of the token bore the words ¡°Emissary of Hell¡±. The token zed endlessly with a jade-greenherme.

    His rationality told him that he shouldn¡¯t believe his eyes, but reality seemed to state otherwise. His chest rose and fell as he heaved deeply for some time. And then, finally, he cupped his hands respectfully once more, ¡°Lord Hellguard, pleasee with me.¡±

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Guan Gen continued hurriedly, ¡°Please, Emissary of Hell sir, could you tell us what happened over here?¡±

    ¡°Our people¡­¡± Guan Gen paused, and then replied promptly, ¡°What exactly happened? Where¡¯s Li Jixi? Is he still alive?!¡±

    Nobody dared to stop the Hellguard from leaving.

    Everyone exchanged awkward nces. The short exchange with the Hellguard of legends had been far too incredulous, and nobody knew just how to react to it. After all, today marked the day that they had seen a bona fide Hellguard from Hell.

    ¡°Chief¡­¡± One of the orderlies finally snapped back to his senses and looked to Guan Gen for directions. Guan Gen trembled slightly, and then gritted his teeth as he picked up the intes, ¡°Everyone, listen up.¡±

    With that, he walked straight over to the jeep.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°My god¡­¡± They all gasped as soon as they arrived at the rooftop.

    No¡­ there was even a sea of lingering Yin energy.

    ¡°Hurry! Mobilize the Special Investigations Department¡¯s medical team right now! Detecting vital signs!¡± With that, he picked up the phone and made a call, ¡°Chief Guan¡­ at present¡­ Mr Qin is barely breathing, while Student Wang Chenghao¡­ has been martyred in the line of duty.¡±

    Qin Ye could sense that he was being transported to the hospital. Naturally, all of the wounds and injuries on his body were no more than disguises. He had induced aatose state in his physical body by causing his soul to leave his body. His heart was still beating, but none of the medical experts would be able to detect what¡¯s wrong with his body, much less awaken him or recall his soul.

    After the grand performance below, he immediately returned to the rooftop while cloaked with the invisibility that apanied his Hell¡¯s Emissary state. The reason why he had chosen the interior of the building was because there were no surveince cameras thaty within.

    His soul lingered about in the air, invisible to all who were around. He nced carefully around the hospital, and then trembled softly, before vanishingpletely from the mortal realm.

    Hell was developing well, and it was starting to show signs of great prosperity and growth. All kinds of machinery were whirring in motion, whilerge tracts ofnd were ostensibly earmarked as construction sites. One could see Yin spirits drifting here and there hurriedly at every second of the day as they went about their various businesses. Soon, Qin Ye discovered that¡­ he had beenpletely ignored¡­

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ve made a record of it. Fengdu Literary Society, right? Applying for a start-up capital of 500,000 Yuan? That shouldn¡¯t be an issue, but your proposal to return to the mortal realm for immersion and to gather materials isn¡¯t very practical. After all, Hell doesn¡¯t have the technology to support that just yet¡­¡± A Death Inquisitor recorded everything swiftly. But before he was even done, another Yin spirit wearing a helmet drifted over and reported loudly, ¡°Mr Chen, the production factory in Lot No. 2 has run out of production materials. Could we trouble you--... Lord¡­ Qin¡­ Lord Qin¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, before pressing down with his hand to instruct them to be seated. He nced at the other Death Inquisitors who obviously heard that he was present. Their bodies trembled, but they weren¡¯t able to shift their bodies to greet him.

    After all, it was only when they were swamped with work that they would ignore such matters of formality to begin with. Did Qin Ye really need people to rise and formally greet him?

    He would very much rather have everyone preupied with work than to have them waiting on his arrival like how Hell used to be in the past! Hell was growing, and there were a multitude of things to be done. Rather than waste their time on such trivialities, it would be far better that they dedicate their time to their duties and obligations. In fact, he would deal harshly with anyone who shirked their responsibilities in favour of idling about.

    ¡°Why have youe?¡± Arthis drifted out of the annex hall.

    ¡°Busy.¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°Much busier than when I first became an Infernal Judge at that. In fact, you couldn¡¯t havee at a better time. There¡¯s something that I need to tell you - we¡¯ve got several special buildings that require Yin spirit stones for their foundations, and you¡¯ll have to find some way to obtain more Yin spirit stones from the mortal realm. Your standing instructions are to have some special buildings of Hell ready by the end of the year, so that we can show Hell¡¯s developmental capabilities to the feudal officials at the imperial court meeting. We won¡¯t be able to achieve this if we don¡¯t have sufficient Yin spirit stones.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t too difficult. If worsees to worst, he could always churn out yet another research paper to bag himself the merit points he needed for the exchange of spirit stones. After all, everything he needed for a research paper was recorded in the Qiankun Pouches he had recovered from the old Hell.

    She paused, and then supplemented, ¡°These are diplomatic documents.¡±

    As their discourse flowed, the two soon found themselves already at the soul induction tform. Arthis continued, ¡°Ah, speaking of which, now that the new Hell is already a town, the soul induction tform should also be able to withstand some measure of Yang energy. In other words, you should now be able to designate an entrance to Hell within the City of Salvation. Yin spirits can still enter Hell even if you don¡¯t designate one. However, it will naturally be a more arduous process before they can arrive in Hell. More importantly, the entrance to Hell would signify¡­ order. It shows that Hell is finally regaining some measure of control and order in the vicinity¡­ Eh? Hang on¡­¡±

    ¡°Cultivator?¡± Arthis stared at it for several seconds, before turning to Qin Ye, ¡°And two of them at that? Are you here for them? Hang on a minute¡­ one of them appears to be rather familiar at that¡­ Is this¡­ the little handsome guy from back in Clear Creek County?¡±

    Qin Ye nced coldly at her, ¡°You¡¯re very good at spotting a needle in a haystack.¡±

    Smack! Before she could even finish speaking, she was sent flying by a swift strike from Arthis. However, she flew back like a persistent cockroach.

    Meanwhile, the Yin energy about the tform suddenly trembled. Gusts of Yin energy swept through the area, converging onto the tform before swiftly condensing into two blurry silhouettes.

    <hr>

    1. These are the names of the Anitya Hellguards of the ck and White.

 Chapter 326: A Joyous Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 326: A Joyous Reunion</h4>

    It was almost as though a rift had opened up in the space above the tform, and sounds of wailing and ghastly cries filled the entire vicinity. Dozens of secondster, the Yin energy around rushed straight towards the center of the tform, and two new Yin spirits promptly materialized on it.

    Qin Ye was smiling, but he soon did a double take and promptly smacked his head, ¡°Hang on¡­ Someone like that can actually be considered a special Yin spirit?!¡±

    ¡°This dumbass died without naming me a beneficiary of his estate! We¡¯re talking about tens of millions!¡±

    However, there was no response.

    ¡°Hey there, handsome¡­¡± Su Dongxue spoke huskily as she ran her finger gently across Wang Chenghao¡¯s chin,pletely oblivious to the situation around her, ¡°Would you care to let me know if you¡¯ve got a boyfriend?¡±

    ¡°How about a girlfriend?¡±

    Su Dongxue smiled sweetly and caressed his chest, before raising her eyebrows in astonishment, ¡°Oh? What thick pectoral muscles¡­ Eh, Mr Handsome, you¡¯ve actually got six-pack abs too¡­ and your waist¡­ Whew¡­ Lord Qin, could you kindly betroth him to your humble servant over here?¡±

    These words instantly stirred the hearts of both Wang Chenghao and Li Jixi, causing them to raise their heads at the same time. A split secondter, a hand picked up Su Dongxue from where she was and sent her flying into the distance, while Qin Ye promptly appeared right in front of their eyes.

    Two voices cried out at the exact same time. Qin Ye smiled faintly, and then bowed gently and politely, ¡°Hello there.¡±

    Silence.

    The dark canopy of the sky was peppered with red and green clumps of driftingherme. Yin energy filled thends, and yet they didn¡¯t feel a single trace of difort. Instead, it almost felt as though they were like fish returning to water¡­ This was clearly not a sight that would be seen in the mortal realm.

    There were dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of people dressed in old-fashioned ck robes and tall hats, and they looked no different from a government official of the past. Then, as they looked up and into the distance, their eyes were immediately greeted with a sheet of silvery white leaves, all of which stemmed from a single tree that spanned an entire region of ten square kilometers!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t interrupt them. Instead, he simply lowered his head and whispered to Su Dongxue as she arrived back beside Qin Ye, ¡°Help me say hi to Mr Gu, and tell him that I might send someone his way shortly.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a walk.¡± Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and led the way. Li Jixi was just about to say something when a sudden sensation of extreme danger surged in his heart. He turned around, only to notice the seemingly harmless gamer girl staring at him.

    Arthis didn¡¯t pay him any heed. Instead, she turned around gracefully and followed in Qin Ye¡¯s footsteps.

    Li Jixi gasped. What¡¯s going on¡­ An Infernal Judge is actually following obediently behind a mere Anitya Hellguard? W-where¡¯s the logic in all that?!

    That¡¯s not even the main point!

    Only souls can enter Hell, so why did he have a fleshly body back in the mortal realm?

    His thoughts continued to bounce back and forth as they followed stiffly behind Qin Ye and Arthis. Everything around them simply passed them by without registering in their minds. Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s voice called out amidst the silence, ¡°Gentlemen, first and foremost, let me reintroduce myself. I am the new King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    This mind-blowing news came like a bolt out of the blue. If everything before had sent Li Jixi into a stupor of bewilderment, then the present news was simply so startling that Li Jixi jolted right back to his senses.

    Arthis turned around and red at him with a vicious stare. Her hair fluttered menacingly behind her, ¡°Just because His Majesty is speaking to you nicely doesn¡¯t mean you can respond to him as though you are an equal. Who do you think you are? What basis do you have to question his appointment as King Yanluo?¡±

    Even Wang Chenghao¡¯s jaws dropped, almost as though he had been thunderstruck a second time.

    A tide of Yin energy erupted from his body in an instant, and it was ostensibly filled with a murderous intent.

    ¡°That was the correct answer.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°Otherwise, you would have already been reduced to wisps of Yin energy by now.¡±

    Different¡­ Qin Ye is different from how he is back in the mortal realm¡­ But, that¡¯s not entirely true either. I¡¯ve seen this side of him before!

    Is this Brother Qin¡¯s real face?

    His voice grew frigid and cold, and the Yin energy in the air shook violently, ¡°You¡¯re already dead now, and you¡¯re part of my kingdom! You would do well to spare no thoughts for your former masters of the mortal realm moving forward. All Cathayan Yin spirits can only have one master, and that is me, Qin Ye. Do you understand?!!¡±

    Qin Ye gazed deeply into his eyes, ¡°Let me make this clear - I¡¯m not eding to your abrupt request because of your value to Hell. We have a multitude of talents in Hell, including Oda Nobunaga of Nippon, and the esteemed academician Gu Qing. The only reason why I¡¯m granting you this one-off indulgence is simply because we once cross paths in life. Notwithstanding the fact that you once used to be an opponent of mine, there aren¡¯t many familiar faces in Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Then, please ask your questions.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows quizzically, ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to push me so hard.¡± Qin Ye chuckled bitterly, ¡°Firstly, I can reassure you that Hell¡¯s objective is in line with that of the mortal realm. We, too, desire order and bnce between the Yin and the Yang. As for why Hell isn¡¯t doing anything right now¡­ the answer is simple, the elites of the old Hell are no longer around due to a cataclysmic event that urred in Hell. It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t want to make a move. Rather, it¡¯s simply because we don¡¯t possess the capacity to make a difference anymore.¡±

    Li Jixi nodded, and bowed deeply to Qin Ye, ¡°No further questions. I am very much obliged to Lord Qin for the guidance. Cultivator Li Jixi, henceforth pledges to serve Hell with every fiber of his being!¡±

    And what field of sub-discipline would he be granted oversight of?

    ¡°I want you to head to the army and get warmed up to the environment. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find it familiar in no time. Arti, take him directly to Oda Nobunaga.¡±

    It was a terrifying smile, so vicious that it left Wang Chenghao drenched in cold sweat in an instant.

    ¡°Unsettling?! I¡¯ll show you unsettling! Remember this pair of eyes, cause that¡¯s thest thing you¡¯re going to see!¡± Qin Ye raised his leg and sent Wang Chenghao flying back with a powerful kick. And then, he leapt into the air, mounted his body and started to grab Wang Chenghao by the neck and punch him in the face, ¡°I was kind enough to send you to the afterlife, yet you didn¡¯t even reward me with a bowl of soup?! And you have the gall to say that my eyes are unsettling right now?!¡±

    Wang Chenghao screamed tragically, ¡°No, stop¡­ Since when did I not think about you?!¡±

    ¡°Think about me?!¡± Qin-pauper-Ye twisted Wang Chenghao¡¯s ears ferociously and continued to stare at him with a vicious expression on his face, ¡°I was holding you back then, and yet your heart actually drifted to the Red Cross Foundation?! Eh?!!¡±

 Chapter 327: Department of Prudence

    <h4>Chapter 327: Department of Prudence</h4>

    ¡°Stop, stop, stop!!¡± Wang Chenghao grimaced in pain, ¡°I mean¡­ if everyone does their part and shows a little bit of love, the world would be a better ce¡­¡±

    ¡°Love? Who¡¯s going to love me after you give everything away?! We¡¯re talking about 10 million RMB here¡­ 10 million!!! I granted you a measure of mercy, and yet you chose to donate every cent under your name to the Red Cross Foundation¡­ If the heavens ever gave me the opportunity to have another go at life, I¡¯ll seal your lips the moment they even begin to tremble!¡±

    After some moments of tomfoolery, Wang Chenghao began to realize that this¡­ wasn¡¯t so different from the mortal realm after all¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you two choices.¡± Qin Ye extended an olive branch to him and granted him an ess route to the inner chambers through the back door.

    ¡°Number one. Hell will soon be opening a portal that leads directly into the City of Salvation through the soul induction tform. I can confer upon you the title of Soul Hunter, and you can go mess around in the mortal realm at your own free will.¡± Qin Ye straightened out his clothes and flicked his sleeves, ¡°Number two. Be Mr Gu Qing¡¯s understudy, learn from his wealth of knowledge and experience, and then enter my inner chambers.¡±

    ¡°... I-I-I-I-Inner chambers?!¡± Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye as though he had seen a ghost. What the hell do you mean inner chambers? Do you really want to be an emperor that badly?!

    Three pces, six courtyards and three thousand concubines? Your ambition is all too clear, brother¡­

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s how it is anyway.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s smile faded, and he patted Wang Chenghao on his shoulder, ¡°Rodent, you¡¯re the second person from my inner circle who hase to Hell. I hope you choose the path of discipleship. As more and more Yin spirits arrive in this ce, the management of this ce would only be more and more difficult. Everyone has their own agendas. In fact, we might even see other political parties emerging in due course¡­¡±

    He gazed deeply at Wang Chenghao, ¡°Therefore, I hope you¡¯ll be willing to help me.¡±

    ¡°Me?!¡± Wang Chenghao pointed to himself as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Are you messing with me?¡±

    Qin Ye turned around and swept his nce over Hell as it continued to stir like a pot of good stew, ¡°Of course, you wouldn¡¯t be able to render any measure of help right now, but¡­ if you can earn yourself a spot on a pivotal position in Hell in future, such as the¡­ Yama King of the Ten Pces, then that would be a different story altogether.¡±

    Wang Chenghao blinked with a vacant look in his eyes, ¡°King Qinguang? You think too highly of me, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just trying to make a general out of a midget.¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes and smoothly took a jibe at Wang Chenghao.

    ¡°Besides, you shouldn¡¯t call it the Yama King of the Ten Pces anymore. That¡¯s so old fashioned. We¡¯ve got to keep up with the times.¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin for a moment, ¡°My kingdom naturally isn¡¯t going to be the same as the previous Hell. I¡¯ve already thought of a far better title.¡±

    ¡°Such as?¡±

    ¡°One-Tail!¡± Qin Ye dered with great determination, ¡°If you be a Yama King, you¡¯ll be known as Wang One-Tail, also known as Shukaku. And I can formally be known as the Third Yin Shadow, the Ultimate Flying Thunder God¡­ What do you think?¡±

    Wang Chenghao reacted with such a contrived expression, as though he had just taken a mouthful of excretion. Like hell you¡¯re going to be a stupid Yin Shadow!

    Fervently suppressing the thumping sensation on his temples, Wang Chenghao responded, ¡°Then¡­ is Hell going to be called the Fire Vige? Something seems rather familiar about that name¡­ Speaking of which, Brother Qin, are you sure it¡¯s good to unt your abilities in your title¡­ And apart from that, are you sure Wang One-Tail isn¡¯t the name of a fish?¡±

    Wang One-Tail, Song Two-Tails, Ouyang Three-Tails¡­. And then Qin Ten-Tails? Are you sure you¡¯re not going to turn this ce into a seafood market?!

    Can you please be more serious about things like these?!

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point. The point is to have aspirations and ambitions!¡± Qin Ye decisivelyunched his switch and bait technique, ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s settled then. I¡¯ve already informed Mr Gu Qing about this. You¡¯ll report directly to him in a little bit.¡±

    ¡­ So what the hell was the point of giving me two options to begin with?! Wang Chenghao¡¯s cheeks twitched uncontrobly. Several momentster, he lowered his head in exasperation, ¡°Alright¡­ You¡¯re the boss, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯ve got anywhere else to go anyway¡­ Speaking of which, what exactly am I supposed to learn from Mr Gu Qing?¡±

    ¡°Cheating¡­ No! I mean, you¡¯ll have to start off by writing papers!¡± Qin Ye loosened a breath of relief - Phew¡­ I nearly let slip my true intentions there¡­

    Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye with disbelief, ¡°Paper? Speaking of which¡­ Instructor Qin¡­ I recall that you¡¯d published a paper just a little while ago in the mortal realm¡­ Could it be¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahh? Do you really have to act all serious about a matter as trivial as that¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit! So that¡¯s how it is¡­ that¡¯s how it is! H-how can you still hold your head up high after all that?! T-that¡¯s tantamount to cheating! Ah, by the way, would I ever get the opportunity to see the other students again?¡±

    ¡°Sure¡­ I can send them down here tonight if you wish. But it would probably be a one way trip¡­¡±

    After forcing Wang Chenghao into the machinations of the existing government, he sent him off, and then his warm expressions faded away once more.

    He slowly walked away, not in the direction of Hell¡¯s Gate, but in the direction of¡­ the money tree.

    A factory was already being constructed right underneath the money tree. Some distance away, there was another construction hoarding cordoning off an area spanning one square kilometer, and there were also construction works ongoing within. However, the hoarding around this construction area was actually ten meters high.

    There weren¡¯t many Yin spirits around these parts. Most of them would bow deeply to Qin Ye as soon as they saw him, but not a single one of them spoke to him. More importantly, the man supervising the construction in this area was actually none other than Murai Sadakatsu.

    The Central Mint of Hell was going to be the core of Hell in the near future, and all of the Yin spirits who are participating in the construction works would have to sign confidentiality agreements prior to receiving their assignments. In fact, they weren¡¯t even briefed on what exactly they were constructing. Qin Ye¡¯sst standing order was toplete the construction of the Central Mint within a single month no matter what it took.

    Given that Yin spirits needed no rest nor food nor drinks, it was actually possible to aplish this nigh-impossible feat.

    However, he didn¡¯t walk towards the construction area of the Central Mint. Instead, he walked towards the location where the ten-meter tall wooden hoarding had been erected.

    The ones patrolling the vicinity were all Yin soldiers who were dressed in ancient armors. They were none other than the Umamawari horse guards of the Oda n.

    The brief details of the project were set out on a board right in front of the construction site, and the words Department of Prudence was written in striking red ink.

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Murai Sadakatsu immediately walked over as soon as he noticed Qin Ye¡¯s approach. Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Get everyone to leave this ce. I¡¯ll need to use this ce for a short while.¡±

    Naturally, none dared disobey his orders. Within moments, everyone left the vicinity, and there was not a single Yin spirit left in sight. The entire area was suddenly enshrouded with a deafening silence.

    And it was only then that Qin Ye pulled out a soul sphere from his robe, infused it with his Yin energy, and the soul sphere promptly unraveled like a golden spider lily. A stream of Yin energy poured out promptly, only to notice Qin Ye standing right in front of her with a faint grin on his face. She immediately materialized, copsed onto her knees and cried out with a tremor in her voice, ¡°G-greetings, my lord.¡±

    This was none other than the female ghost Qin Ye had captured back at New Hale City.

    Murai Sadakatsu had sensibly prepared a chair for Qin Ye before he left earlier. Thus, Qin Ye sat majestically on it, crossed his legs, and tapped his fingers on the armrest softly, ¡°Wee to Hell.¡±

    This is Hell?

    The female ghost nced around warily, reserving anyments she had to herself.

    ¡°This is going to be Hell¡¯s Department of Prudence. The works are still in progress, but I imagine that as soon as works are done, we will be furnishing it with some skynterns, the six paths, as well as many other facilities and amenities.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly at her, ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    The female ghost trembled all over, before gritting her teeth and kowtowing desperately to Qin Ye. She still didn¡¯t dare to say a single word.

    Qin Ye continued, ¡°I¡¯m prepared to consider allowing you entry to Hell. Naturally, you can forget about getting any high appointments, but you¡¯ll most certainly be able to lead a stable and quiet life in these parts. Once the six paths of reincarnation are ready, I¡¯ll send you on your way. However¡­¡±

    He lifted the chin of the female ghost with his feet, ¡°All of that is on condition that your responses are satisfactory.¡±

    Naturally, he was a world-ss expert when it came to selling a particrly desirable oue in order to obtain the information he wanted.

    The female ghost didn¡¯t dare to say a word, and simply nodded in response.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask, and you can answer.¡± Qin Ye calmly rubbed his fingers together, ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of the three eastern provinces? How many Yin soldiers are there under hismand, and what does the upper echelon of his management look like? What role do you y in all of that?¡±

    The female ghost immediately bowed her head, ¡°My lord¡­ we all know the head of the three eastern provinces as the daolord. Specifically, the daolord of the asura. Nobody knows his real name. He has 200,000 Yin soldiers under hismand. However, none of them are of high quality.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded cidly. Her answer was within his expectations. After all, there was clearly a dearth of talents in Cathay right now.

    The only remaining sparks of firey in each of the twelve envoys that were scattered around.

    To have been suppressed under the weight of the six paths of reincarnation naturally meant that each of these daolords once used to be individuals so notorious that their names would be recorded in the annals of history. Looking back, it was clear that none of these men with such notoriety to their names were men of the military. Instead, they were generally either eunuchs, or powerful ministers.

    Three daolords that upy threerge districts in Cathay. They have a great number of Yin spirits under their disposal, but I wonder who lies in the background, training their armies for them?

    Quite unlike modern day armies, Yin soldiers fought without firearms. How many people of modern day society knew martial arts that could be imparted to these soldiers? How rare were people who were learned in the ways of battle formations and movements of armies? Who could possibly watch the flow of battle with an eagle eye and change the battlefield with a singlemand like a famous general in ancient times?

    Numbers were just numbers. He didn¡¯t mind it at all. After all, Arthis had once told him that the strongest part about Yin soldiers were the magic formations that they could employ. Without such formations, a single Judge could easily y ten million Yin soldiers without any issue. But once they begin to employ formations, even a hundred thousand Yin soldiers could easily take a Judge¡¯s life. In any event, the one that he was truly concerned about was the daolord himself.

    Abyssal Prefect¡­

    He was a true blue millennial ghost that possessed such intense Yin energy that it would easily read ten million on the scale. Qin Ye would never dare to pluck the tiger¡¯s whiskers before he had a million Yin soldiers under hismand.

    The female ghost continued, ¡°In addition to the 200,000 Yin soldiers under hismand, there are 36 noteworthy ghosts known as the 36 Heavenly Spirits. All of them are Hellguards. Additionally, he has two guardians who are Infernal Judges. These entities form the core of the daolord¡¯s inner circle. I¡­ happen to be one of the 36 Heavenly Spirit, ranked twentieth. I¡¯ve heard that the top three¡­ were once praised by the daolord himself as Yin spirits that are unique in their own rights. Although they are Hellguards, they can already be spoken of in the same breath as an Infernal Judge¡­¡±

    Special Yin spirits?

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin and mulled over these things. Seems like the strength of a daolord isn¡¯t too overbearing after all. To think that he would only be able to assemble a force of thirty-six Hellguards and two Judges after a hundred long years. These forces may be sufficient to turn Skytribute City into a forbidden zone for the living, but it¡¯s going to take far more than that to seize control of all of the forty-one cities in the three eastern provinces.

    He wouldn¡¯t even be able to send one Hellguard to each city in the vicinity.

    He¡¯s anxious¡­ A bright gleam shed in the depths of his eyes. The daolord of the asura is anxious. The incident at the Strait of Tsushima has stirred up an immense amount of fear in his heart, and he finally decided toe out of hiding and openly search for the new Hell.

    Qin Ye sneered inwardly. Even if you locate us¡­ would you dare toe here?

    His safety was assured in the City of Salvation. Furthermore, with the Book of Life and Death in ce, the new Hell was hardly the same defenseless little vige that it once used to be.

    ¡°But¡­¡± Almost as though she were recalling something, the female ghost paused for a moment, ¡°I recall¡­ someone had once called the daolord of the asura Lord Qin¡­ But I can¡¯t be sure about that¡­¡±

    Surnamed Qin? From the same n as I? Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly. Some momentster, he asked, ¡°Who was the one who addressed him that way?¡±

    It was only natural to divulge as much information as she could. After all, all the female ghost wanted was to live for another day. Thus, she immediately kowtowed, ¡°Liu Jinu. That¡¯s what the daolord called him.¡±

    Emperor Wu of Song, Liu Yu?

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened. Then, everything became clear. The three eastern provinces and the Hanyang underworld¡­ share the same borders!

    That¡¯s right¡­ that¡¯s the crux of it all!

    The rtionship between the three daolords and the twelve envoys was something that he had wanted to know in greater detail all this while! In fact, it wasn¡¯t longer than a week ago that he developed a niggling suspicion in his heart that the rtionship between these entities¡­ were much moreplicated than he had thought.

    The Pearl River Delta was located right above the four southern regions, including Lan Xang, Siam, Mya and Singapura. On the other hand, the three western provinces were adjacent to Boutan and Birmania. He simply refused to believe that the twelve envoys would remain indifferent to the advances of the three daolords altogether!

    Why did the daolords choose these locations as their base of operations?

    Why did they ce themselves in the vicinity of the twelve envoys?

    This was the crux of it all. In fact, this might even be the key to a greater opportunity that would present itself at the imperial court meeting at the end of the year!

    1. Said to be the king of the first of the ten pces. Also rumoured to be Jiang Ziwen.

    2. A Naruto reference. The great demons are all known as the One-Tail straight through to the Nine-Tails. The demon sealed within Naruto¡¯s belly, from where his chakra flows, is incidentally the Nine-Tails Demon Fox.

    3. The Third Yin Shadow is a reference to the Third Hokage in Naruto, who is also known as the Third Fire Shadow. The Ultimate Flying Thunder God is a reference to the space-time ninjutsu used by the Fourth Hokage (also Naruto¡¯s dad) to teleport around the battlefield.

    4. Department of Prudence takes charge of the martialws of thends. Loosely, one could say that it¡¯s akin to the Department of Justice or Ministry of Law.

    5. This is a reference to the 108 Stars of Destiny that is core to the plot of the Chinese ssical novel, Shui Hu Zhuan. The 108 are subdivided into 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly Demons.

 Chapter 328: Interplay Between East Continent Underworlds (1)

    <h4>Chapter 328: Intery Between East Continent Underworlds (1)</h4>

    It was at best a passing remark, and he didn¡¯t expect to get a positive response. Surprisingly, the female ghost kowtowed immediately, ¡°My lord, I have.¡±

    Sensing the sudden change in Qin Ye¡¯s attitude, the female ghost took the next few moments to gather her thoughts and sort through her memories before finally responding, ¡°My lord¡­ the twelve envoys¡­ used to be existences that the daolord was most jealous of.¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ they¡¯ve been attacking the armies of the daolord¡­ Furthermore, I can¡¯t speak of other envoys, but I¡¯ve personally been a part of the conflict with Liu Jinu at the Yalu River. Not only did they attack us, they even¡­ sealed off the route to Hanyang. The daolord has on several asions attempted to make contact with the Nipponese Hell, but all of his efforts were thwarted by Liu Jinu.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed like fire. It was almost as though something had just urred to him¡­ something¡­ that would make the imperial court meeting at the end of the year far more meaningful than anyone could ever imagine.

    He caught a glimpse of the big picture!

    ¡°Here.¡± Murai Sadakatsu immediately came in from outside the wooden hoarding and half-knelt to the ground. His response was gruff. He was obviously trying to learn thenguage of thend.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    He would never have issued an invitation to the twelve envoys if he hadn¡¯t managed to secure the Book of Life and Death earlier. After all, the human heart was unpredictable, and it was even more so as far as ghosts were concerned. The effluxion of time might very well have whittled away at the loyalty of even the staunchest of followers of the old Hell. He couldn¡¯t even be certain of the allegiance of someone like Yang Jiye right now.

    However--...

    Thus, the temptation of the potential reward far outweighed the risks involved.

    Which one of the twelve envoys weren¡¯t famous historical figures in their own right? The new Hell was currently deprived of talents, and their existences were far more valuable than any potential trade routes!

    Just then, Arthis arrived like the rushing wind, and the female ghost was so startled that she nearly screamed out loud. Arthis nced cidly at her, ¡°The daolord¡¯s subject?¡±

    Murai Sadakatsu had already shifted another seat in for Arthis¡¯ arrival. After she took her seat, Qin Ye lifted his chin and muttered with indifference, ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°In fact, the daolord had already nned to turn Skytribute City into a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts from the onset¡­¡± Qin Ye promptly interjected before she could finish, ¡°Why? The old Hell wouldn¡¯t have copsed too long ago. How could he have the gall to do such a thing?¡±

    ¡°The debilitative effects of opposing energies are mutual. Therefore, ever since the great copse of the old Hell, many Yin spirits who remain inactive naturally dissipate after some time, without ever transforming into a grievous spirit. Only those with true grievances or deep set attachments to the world would truly transform into ghosts. They would be imbued with spiritual awareness, and they would naturally possess the ability to cultivate with Yin energy. However, regardless of how strong they are or how strong they be, these ghosts would invariably still be subject to the slow, debilitative effect of the omnipresent Yang energy of the mortal realm. So long as they remain in the mortal realm, they would vanish in due course.¡±

    ¡°One, by devouring blood and flesh.¡±

    ¡°This also forms the foundation of your premise in your earlier paper, that the quickest way for ghosts to advance is to devour their own kind. The daolord of the three eastern provinces is an old ghost who has lived for over a thousand years. He naturally knows that he can¡¯t just sit around and wait for death to happen to him. Transforming a locality into a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts and making it thend of the dead is the only way to reverse the effects of the constant debilitation from the Yang energy around. In this regard, one needs to be at least an Infernal Judge if he were to artificially form a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts. Wait a minute¡­¡±

    The female ghost dared not lift her head one bit, and she nodded desperately.

    The female ghost replied fearfully, ¡°Mydy¡­ The truth of the matter is that many of the Yin spirits under the daolord¡¯smand did begin to show signs of dissipation just forty years ago. That was exactly when the daolord began to harbour thoughts of establishing a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts. I wonder if you¡¯ve heard of the grave-breaching incident in Mount Tai Development of Skytribute City?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Yes!¡± The female ghost was so startled that her voice began to crack, ¡°Mount Tai Development is located on a plot ofnd that used to be a mass grave. Just forty years ago, all the residents living on the ground floor heard something stirring below. It started soft and discreet, but slowly grew louder and louder. It sounded almost as though there were countless people wailing and whimpering in the middle of the night. Finally, they engaged an engineering team to dig down below, right past the foundation, before they finally realized¡­ there was a hundred-man grave located right below¡­¡±

    Her pale face appeared to be cramping as she continued with a tremor in her voice, ¡°If you look through the case files of the Special Investigations Department, you¡¯ll discover¡­ records of arge-scale supernatural event urring at Lucky City at the end of that very same year. I believe it should have been ssified as an A-grade incident or higher. That night¡­ tens of thousands ofhermes suddenly lit up across the Tumen River. The residents of Lucky City were reported to have heard the sound of thousands of galloping horses and the mor of war drums. In fact, the cultivators and ordinary humans who possess the Yin Yang Eyes personally witnessed thousands upon thousands of Yin soldiers rushing across the Tumen River and charging straight into Skytribute City.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his hand, and the female ghost paused for a moment. Qin Ye turned to Arthis, ¡°Rus doesn¡¯t have an underworld?¡±

    ¡°But there are garrisons in the region.¡± Arthis continued with a somber expression, ¡°Like I mentioned before, one of the prerequisites for the existence of an underworld is the existence of an apanying faith, religion, myth or legend. That would crystallize and perfect the office of the god of their underworld. Rus doesn¡¯t have this because their faithrgely lies in Orthodox Christianity, one of the three main schools of Christianity. Thus, the garrison there is known as the Holy Judgment Crusaders. They operate under the banner of a god of the underworld whose name isn¡¯t known to us. But you should never underestimate them, because they are incredibly powerful.¡±

    Arthis nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ It has no name, but the strength of their forceses close to that of the old Hell. The reference to its existencees from the gospel of Matthew, and it is simply known as the god of death. It has no name. It is known to wear a ck cloak and carry a scythe, but nobody knows its name since time immemorial. It doesn¡¯t reach out ormunicate with the outside world either--... Ah! I get it! So that¡¯s how it is!¡±

    ¡°Yama King?¡± Qin Ye gasped. Izanami is only an Abyssal Prefect, and yet the god of the underworld of Rus is actually a Yama King?

    She collected her thoughts and continued, ¡°The other underworlds aren¡¯t certain what exactly happened to Hell, so they¡¯re not willing to take on the risk of harbouring the daolord as a defector of Hell. Thus, he turned to the next best option¡­ which is none other than Liu Jinu! But what¡¯s most unexpected is how Liu Jinu would actually go back on his word!¡±

    Nevertheless, he had a hunch that the answer to this question of his could potentially change the manner in which negotiations are to be carried out in the imperial court meeting at the end of the year!

    ¡°More importantly¡­ have you ever considered the territorial map of the world?¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ That¡¯s it! That¡¯s exactly it!

    His mind was suddenly filled with great rity of thoughts, ¡°Furthermore, none of the twelve envoys know exactly what happened to the old Hell, and none dare to act on spections either. Thus, they most certainly wouldn¡¯t let it slide when a Prefect-level ghost attempts to establish a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts right in front of their doorsteps. After all, if Hell were still in existence, they would undoubtedly be stripped of their fiefdoms and executed summarily for their negligence! That was why Emperor Wu of Song sent troops against the daolord of the asura back then!¡±

    ¡°Of course there is!¡± Qin Ye shot to his feet, ¡°Oh foolish mecha valkyrie¡­ do you even realize the importance of our discussions right now?¡±

    <hr>

    1. A river that borders China and Korea.

    2. Reference to what Qin Ye called her back in Chapter 276/277.

 Chapter 329: Interplay Between East Continent Underworlds (2)

    <h4>Chapter 329: Intery Between East Continent Underworlds (2)</h4>

    Some of the fragmented notions that had been brewing at the back of his mind had finally been pieced together to form a cohesive train of thought. After spending the next dozen or so minutes sorting through his thoughts, he finally calmed himself down and turned to Arthis, ¡°Arti, don¡¯t interrupt me, and let me break it down for you.¡±

    ¡°Their thoughts are centered around one main purpose, and that is to prevent themselves from being captured by Hell and being imprisoned under the six paths of reincarnation again. Thus, they split up and set up shop at three different localities. That said, I¡¯m willing to bet that they must have some form of agreement with each other that as long as one isn¡¯t able to hold out any longer, the others would immediatelye to their rescue.¡±

    ¡°But have you ever properly considered the territorial map of the vicinity?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes glistened brightly, ¡°The Middle East has an underworld with a longstanding legacy, and it is located just west of Cathay. Hindustan sits atop one of the most powerful underworlds in the world, and is located southwest of Cathay. The Central ins of Cathay sit right smack in the middle of the entire country, and that¡¯s a region that used to be most heavily fortified by the old Hell. Think about it, if you were the three daolords, and you managed to escape from Hell, where would you run to?¡±

    It seems like¡­ the safest ce would be the region that borders Rus, or the coastal regions of Cathay.

    As for the three western provinces, although the tension between the various powers in the region was somewhatplicated, the upside to it all was the fact that everyone used to be under the wings of the same master. Besides, they wouldn¡¯t be sharing the same border as the Middle East in any event.

    She turned towards Qin Ye with a glint in her eyes. This man¡­ has a frighteningly acute grasp of matters of psychology¡­ To think that he could urately reverse engineer the thought processes of the three daolords with a few simple pieces of information. Not even ghosts are able to elude his keen senses¡­

    Arthis didn¡¯t immediately catch what Qin Ye was getting at. Thus, she went on, ¡°The feudal officials are tasked with oversight of the fiefdoms of Hell, and they are required to pay tribute to Hell with every fifty years that passes. In turn¡­ Hell would provide the feudal officials with the resources it needs, and even grant them a 30% discount on the special produce of Hell. This was a practice that had been established since the time of the old feudal dynasties, when none of the tributaries would ever return empty-handed. This was to signify the might and prosperity of their governing state¡­ Hang on¡­ are you saying¡­¡±

    Even if the old Hell had copsed, was there still the possibility that the markets of the old Hell would still be around? If it were, then the special produce of Hell would naturally be there as well! This was the special produce that had been aggregated from 9.6 million square kilometers which the old Hell had upied! How could the feudal officials simply swallow their pride and allow the daolords to seal off their path to potentially immense riches?!

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ the three daolords hadn¡¯t even considered the existence of the twelve envoys to begin with. There¡¯s a real possibility that it was only after they settled down in the various regions in Cathay that they soon discovered that they had essentially blocked off all of the twelve envoys¡¯ ess routes to the old Hell. The three daolords naturally knew of the copse of the old Hell. Upon further consideration, they would soon realize that their serendipitous positioning allowed them to obstruct the twelve envoys from seizing the old Hell¡¯s resources and legacy! And if that was the case, why would they ever allow the twelve envoys to increase in strength?¡±

    ¡°The tension between factions hassted for a hundred years or so. The fact that three powerful Abyssal Prefects armed with the knowledge that Hell has copsed had of their own volition refrained from waging war on the mortal realm is an aberration to the true nature of Yin spirits altogether. There was something more to it¡­ And this is the key - the mortal realm wasn¡¯t the only faction resisting their advances, the twelve envoys had also been keeping the hands of the daolords tied downpletely! They¡¯re practically surrounded on all sides. If not for the fact that they detected the energy signature of the Book of Life and Death from the battle at the Strait of Tsushima this time, they would probably have prioritized dealing with the twelve envoys before finally turning against the mortal realm.¡±

    Arthis nodded deeply, ¡°That means we¡¯ve got far more time to n our moves¡­ What¡¯s with that gaze of yours? Why do I get the feeling that the look in your eyes is filled with diminishing amounts of respect for me?¡±

    Arthis shook her head in bewilderment.

    What opportunity?

    Qin Ye signed with great resentment. Daft! Seriously daft! Why isn¡¯t there a single person around me who can discuss such matters with me as equals? It¡¯s truly lonely up here¡­

    Arthis still couldn¡¯t understand where Qin Ye was getting at, ¡°By waging war with each other?¡±

    Unfortunately, Arthis merely blinked nkly.

    Qin Ye rubbed his waist and pouted vexatiously. Ruffled¡­ She¡¯spletely ruffled¡­ Even her lioness mane is ring up. I¡¯ll bet she¡¯spletely embarrassed now, isn¡¯t she¡­

    Such an arrogant Judge¡­ How could she even think of doing such a thing to the King Yanluo of Hell¡­ Doesn¡¯t this constitute an uprising¡­

    ¡°Weapons.¡± Arthis replied. And as soon as she did, her entire body shuddered, almost as though she had just jumped straight into a clear spring in summer.

    I finally get it!

    ¡°Being an arms dealer is one of the easiest ways of prospering.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly as he dusted his clothes, ¡°Do you remember Iwasaki Kyouya? Mitsubishi? Are you aware that Mitsubishi has an arm called the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries? And do you know what they specialize in? Things such as aircrafts, artillery, ships and guns that were used in World War II¡­ Do you know how much money they made from all of that? In the end, the integrated conglomerate grew so big that the Nipponese government ordered their dissolution. Yet, even to date, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is still one of the top six major corporations in Nippon.¡±

    Arthis red fiercely at him, before promptly relenting. Qin Ye was akin to a gem hidden in the rough. The fact that he could identify such opportunities amidst a crisis sent chills down her spine.

    Qin Ye cleared his throat, ¡°A war¡­ can lead to great prosperity. Including the three areas of conflict between Hell and the daolords, we¡¯re talking about a total of fifteen battlefronts. Don¡¯t you think¡­ Hell will be able to soar on wings by capitalizing on all of this?¡±

    But before Arthis was done speaking, Qin Ye had already begun to wag his finger at her, ¡°No, no, no.¡±

    Arthis fervently suppressed the desire to tear Qin Ye to pieces as Qin Ye continued, ¡°Hell should never allow such weapons to leave its borders of Hell, right?¡±

    ¡°And it should also flow that the ces in which these weapons are stored are difficult to breach, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°What I mean is¡­ not even the blight vermin can breach the defenses of these storage facilities, can they?¡±

    Arthis reeled back as though she were just struck by lightning. Her lips trembled slightly, ¡°What kind of a devil are you¡­¡±

    Weapons of mass destruction should never fall into the hands of foreignnds - not even if they were the twelve envoys. In fact, the old Hell would never allow even the raw materials to end up in the possession of foreign entities. In other words, in the absence of such technological prowess, the battlefronts between the twelve envoys and the three daolords were bound to be fought through the simplest of melees.

    And to that end¡­

    Naturally, it wouldn¡¯t be much if this was all.

    His initial foray into the arms market would generate sufficient wealth in order to sustain the new markets of Hell. And then, that would cause the other underworlds to view the new Hell in the same light as the old Hell, wouldn¡¯t it?

    It didn¡¯t matter that the new Hell was already in possession of the legacy of the old Hell that had been seized from the Yin barracks, including the design drawings and blueprints of the old Hell¡¯stest technology. Qin Ye had already nned to channel the first fruits from the arms market into the development of Yin Talismanology. Furthermore, there were still the prospects that the old Hell¡¯s weapons of mass destruction were still intact in the secure storage facilities of the old Hell! Even if they weren¡¯t, the advent of Yin Talismanology would mean that they would still be able to reconstruct their first weapon of mass destruction from the blueprints avable to them right now!

    You want to instigate an uprising? You want to wage war?

    This is¡­ simply outrageous¡­ It¡¯s too much¡­ Arthis waspletely bbergasted.

    Where the hell has all your benevolence gone?!

    <hr>

    1. Taiwan

 Chapter 330: Interplay Between East Continent Underworlds (3)

    <h4>Chapter 330: Intery Between East Continent Underworlds (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye had no benevolence at all.

    And even if he had, it would already have been sapped away by the deste atmosphere and chaotic destruction in the old Hell.

    This was the new Hell¡¯s true road to riches! It¡¯s something that not even an entirend of Southsea Huanghuali could measure up to! After all, flooding the market would lead to a saturation in the supply, thereby lessening the market value of his goods. Besides, he was already beginning to worry about where his source of funds woulde from as soon as he ran out of Southsea Huanghuali to harvest.

    Some might suggest the printing of more money. However, those who knew any better with money would know that indiscriminate printing of money would lead to hyperintion and the eventual copse of an entire economy.

    On the other hand, the failure to print more money would lead to the inability to pay his own conscripted Yin soldiers.

    He was caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    But now, he was finally given a way out of the conundrum!

    No¡­ it was more than just a way out. It was practically a godsent opportunity for asting road to riches!

    War money! Arms dealer!

    Qin Ye suddenly discovered that he loved war.

    If not for the discovery of the tension between the three daolords and the twelve envoys, his mind would still be circling around the confines of the borders of his little townish Hell. He would still be thinking about how to tighten his belt while strengthening his army. But the discovery of this key had unlocked innumerable possibilities for him, and resolved all problems guing the new Hell at this point in time!

    His previous ns for Hell had brought some certainty to Hell¡¯s near future to the tune of a five years n. But the present earth-shattering discovery had essentially enabled him to crystallize the direction of Hell¡¯s development for the next few decades.

    ¡°So, what do you think? I wasn¡¯t lying back then when I said we were going to march against Nippon within the next fifty years, was I?¡± He lifted his chin with a light cough, and a faintly devilish smile crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°And... that¡¯s not all.¡±

    ¡°We were previously thinking of beefing up Hell¡¯s muscles in order to keep the twelve envoys in line and deter them from any thoughts of uprising. While that intention might still hold true for us, how could beefy muscles everpare with the security that lies in the privileged position of an arms dealer?¡±

    ¡°As long as the new Hell is able to be an arms dealer to the factions around us and establish for itself a reputation of being non-discriminatory to all, then, believe me¡­ these conflicts in our vicinity will continue to abound in the next hundred years. And over the course of this hundred years, I¡¯ll expand Hell to at least the size of a district!¡±

    Once cities are built, and their economies pick up, Hell would no longer have to rely on their arms dealing road to riches, and can instead finally shift the focus of their economy away from the military and towards their various domestic markets.

    It¡¯s a perfect solution!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but praise himself for his brilliance.

    p, p, p¡­ Arthis apuded after a protracted pause. She had to admit that Qin Ye was practically born to be a politician. She couldn¡¯t understand the intricacies and details of most of what Qin Ye was exining, but she was nheless enthralled by the sheer brilliance of his ns for Hell.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you my full support.¡± She gazed deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°I know that what you¡¯ve said is nothing more than the big picture, and the details will still have to be considered and ironed out. Furthermore¡­ everything would turn on the reactions of the twelve envoys at the imperial court meeting at the end of this year. That said, the fact that you¡¯re able to spot such a well-concealed opportunity amidst the chaos in the region has fully convinced me to ce all of my trust in you.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ¡°I¡¯ll go back and discuss the exact details with Oda Nobunaga. I¡¯m afraid that he¡¯s the only one who will understand the intricacies of these ns. That¡¯s right, Arti¡­¡±

    He turned to Arthis, ¡°About Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension¡­ I was just wondering if there¡¯s any possibility of survivors located in the other cities of Hell?¡±

    ¡°There must be!¡± Arthis responded affirmatively, ¡°Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension was a cataclysmic event that ravaged the entire Hell. Fengdu Necropolis has undergone several rounds of reinforcements and reconstruction over the thousands of years of its existence. This was why it was able to withstand the impact of Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension and remainpletely intact. It is also the main reason for the appearance of the blight vermin. Conversely¡­ the neighbouring cities closest to the epicenter of the st would most certainly bepletely razed to the ground. That said, the dampening effect of a radiating st would certainly mean that some cities on the fringe of Hell wouldn¡¯t bepletely levelled.¡±

    ¡°It would be incredible if we could find some of these lost cities and ruins. At the very least, we¡¯d be able to learn from how Hell used to construct its houses, buildings and facilities. Don¡¯t worry, these ces aren¡¯t difficult to locate. The copse of the old Hell and the loss of their source of Yin energy would cause these structures to gradually be visible. I estimate that this is a phenomenon that we will begin to see in a few decades¡¯ time. When that timees, we can simply head over to recover thesends.¡±

    She drew a deep breath, ¡°It¡¯s precisely also because of these locations that the twelve envoys have more reason to turn against the three daolords. I don¡¯t give assurances easily¡­ but I¡¯m willing to guarantee the existence of some surviving ces!¡±

    ¡°The first ce is the Kunlun Institution, otherwise known as the holy grail of Hell¡¯s academia. It¡¯s located on the peak of Kunlun Mountain, where the shockwave of Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension wouldn¡¯t be able to reach.¡±

    ¡°The second group of ces would be the armories of five main military bases of Hell. I don¡¯t know the exact location of these ces, but I¡¯m certain they exist because I¡¯ve once seen mention of it in the records of Hell! These five armories are chock full of super lethal weapons that are akin to the Soul-Launching Coffin. There are also copious amounts of Yin spirit stones stashed within these armories. Unfortunately, their location is secret, and it¡¯s still very much an uncertainty whether we will be able to locate them or not.¡±

    ¡°The third group of ces is the three main mining districts. These are located in the three eastern provinces, the vicinity of the Pearl River Delta, and the three western provinces. I¡¯m personally of the view that this is one of the reasons that drew the three daolords to these localities as well. After all, each of these locations sits on a huge vein of Yin spirit stones. As to the exact size of the reserves¡­ Have you heard of Nippon¡¯s world famous silver mine, the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine?

    Qin Ye gasped.

    But before Qin Ye could jump for joy, Arthis continued cidly, ¡°But all of this belongs to the old Hell. Although these ces exist out of the range of travel for the blight vermin in Fengdu Necropolis, they will still eventually fade away and vanish in ordance with the Heavenly Dao."

    ¡°How long will that take?¡± Qin Ye nearly cursed aloud. What kind of a Heavenly Dao is this?! I couldn¡¯t get Wang Chenghao¡¯s legacy, and now, even the old Hell¡¯s legacy is about to slip right through my fingers?!

    Do I naturally repel the legacies of others?

    He finally understood why Arthis hadn¡¯t asked him to locate a physical treasury when they previously returned to the old Hell.

    Fengdu Necropolis was the political centre of the old Hell, and it was naturally where the written and documentary legacy of Hell was stored. Other things, such as mineral veins and armories would most certainly not be located within Fengdu Necropolis.

    ¡°There¡¯s still time.¡± Arthis paused for a moment, ¡°It¡¯ll probably take two hundred years¡­ ah, which means that there¡¯s approximately ny years left. Besides¡­ you wouldn¡¯t be able to enter it right now anyway.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?!¡± Arthis was increasingly vexed by Qin Ye¡¯s response, ¡°The new Hell is norger than fart right now, and yet you¡¯re already thinking of expanding into other provinces? If you want a port city, fine, but there¡¯s really no need to consider anything apart from that! And I¡¯ve got my reasons for withholding these information from you. Everything will be revealed to you when the time is right!¡±

    Qin Ye paused, and then probed boldly, ¡°Like¡­ that day, when the existence of blight vermin just slipped your mind?¡±

    And that marked the end of their friendship.

    Arthis turned to leave in great exasperation. Just then, Qin Ye grabbed hold of her sleeves, ¡°Hang on¡­ one final question.¡±

    Arthis turned back with an expression that was iparably ashen, ¡°Let go.¡±

    Qin Ye squinted, nced at the female ghost who was still lying prostrate on the ground, and then lowered his voice to a hush, ¡°You mentioned that the twelve envoys and the three daolords are all illegal overstayers who are living on borrowed time¡­ so¡­ say I were to lend them a helping hand in this regard, do you think they would be grateful? And then collectively defect and pledge their allegiance to me? After all, you did mention that all who aren¡¯t formally registered under the wings of an underworld can¡¯t be promoted, and they would sooner orter be reduced to nothing more than a cloud of smoke and dust. Besides, wouldn¡¯t it be incredibly dangerous for them to be looking for blood and flesh everywhere in the mortal realm? What if they encounter a cultivator as handsome as me? Wouldn¡¯t they be scared soulless and be reduced to dust as well?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ eyes flickered for several moments, and then she finally responded, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be in such a hurry¡­ First, you¡¯re trying to recruit them, and then you¡¯re trying to be an arms dealer to them. You might just be the first one to get killed if you go about doing things like that. Besides, there¡¯s no harm waiting until we¡¯re stronger before attempting to recruit them¡­ That¡¯s right, you¡¯ll be undergoing actualbat practice next semester, so rather than purge evil ghosts, why don¡¯t you try to recruit them then? You¡¯ll be able to get a feel for their attitude towards you then.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me that you actually don¡¯t know the answer?¡± Qin Ye responded with astonishment.

    ¡°I¡¯m an Infernal Judge! Where do I have the time to consider the perspective of small fries like this?¡± Arthis rolled her eyes at Qin Ye as she finally slipped away.

    Momentster, Qin Ye picked up the soul sphere on the ground and sealed the female ghost back within it, before operating his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and returning to the mortal realm.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    New Hale City, the First People¡¯s Hospital.

    This was the best hospital in all of New Hale City. If this were any other regr day, the entire hospital would already be empty and deste. After all, few would deign to even consider working in ces like the hospital ever since the supernatural broadcasts began - even if they were offered an outrageously high sry. But now, the entire third floor was brightly lit.

    Qin Yey on the bed within one of the wards. His face was pale, and he was covered with a quilt. Guan Gen, several other cultivators, and the students from the First Academy of Cultivators sat by the side of his bed, watching him apprehensively.

    Various instruments were ced all about him, while several doctors were huddled about, frowning as they stared at the instruments nkly.

    ¡°Dr Chen, what¡¯s going on?¡± Guan Gen asked anxiously.

    Dr Chen shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say¡­ His heartbeat, sma levels and even his metabolism arepletely normal, and yet he¡¯s still not regaining consciousness. His brain waves are simply too unstable. It¡¯s almost like¡­¡±

    He thought for a moment, ¡°Depersonalization-derealization disorder.¡±

    Guan Gen furrowed his brows deeply.

    Depersonalization-derealization disorder isn¡¯t baseless. He had gone through great pains in order to gather these doctors at night, and to think that this was the only result he got.

    Things have blown right out of proportion. An Anitya Hellguard from Hell has appeared; a Hellguard-ss evil ghost has entered New Hale City for the very first time; the death of an Albatross; an outstanding instructor of the First Academy of Cultivators renderedatose; and the death of a student¡­

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± He sighed. I¡¯m afraid this is the end of the road for my career¡­

    The most troublesome part about all of this was the death of the Albatross. They were most certainly going to send others to investigate the incident and get to the bottom of it all. After all, he knew just how precious the lives of Albatrosses were.

    Just then, a nurse eximed. Dr Chen turned around with some measure of dissatisfaction, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Why are you making a fuss? You should watch your volume at night.¡±

    ¡°About that¡­¡± The nurse paused for a moment, before responding hesitantly, ¡°Dr Chen¡­ didn¡¯t you notice it? Did the patient¡¯s finger¡­ just move?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Dr Chen immediately got to his feet. Then, almost as though affirming the nurse¡¯s observations, Qin Ye¡¯s fingers twitched several more times, before he finally opened his eyes.

    ¡°Where am I¡­¡± Qin Ye acted all weak and confused.

    ¡°Instructor Qin!¡± ¡°Instructor Qin, you¡¯re awake?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s great that you¡¯re fine! Professor Tao just called!¡± ¡°Wuu-wuu-wuu¡­ Instructor Qin, you gave us a huge scare there.¡±

    His awakening triggered a mor of voices around. Dr Chen whispered forcefully, ¡°The patient has just regained consciousness. Hush! I want everyone to wait outside now. You cane back when we¡¯re done with the medical examination of the patient.¡±

    The students left promptly, leaving only Dr Chen and the nurses in the room. After checking on Qin Ye¡¯s condition, Dr Chen nodded to Guan Gen, and then took his leave as well.

    Thus, the only persons remaining in the room were Guan Gen and Qin Ye.

    After several minutes of silence, Guan Gen extended his hand and sighed wistfully, ¡°Guan Gen. Bureau chief of the Special Investigations Department, New Hale City Branch. I¡¯m very sorry about this incident.¡±

    ¡°The martyrdom of an instructor and a student waspletely outside our expectations. However, I hope you can understand that it is a cultivator¡¯s duty to stand in the front line against the incursion of Yin spirits, and such incidents are regrettably part and parcel of the vicissitudes of our lives.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. However, Guan Gen remained where he was, gazing deeply at Qin Ye as he lit up a cigarette. Qin Ye remained silent as well.

    Guan Gen took a deep drag, before gazing at the ceiling with great emotion and regret, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯ve known Li Jixi for several years now.¡±

    Qin Ye looked down, and a cold gleam flickered across the depths of his eyes.

    1. At its peak production, it produced 38 tons of silver a year.

    2. This is actually a thing. It¡¯s when someone feels disconnected from himself.

 Chapter 331: Daolord of the Asura

    <h4>Chapter 331: Daolord of the Asura</h4>

    Guan Gen didn¡¯t notice the cold gleam in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, and he naturally continued speaking, ¡°But that was before he left abruptly. Who would¡¯ve thought that we¡¯d no longer be in the same realm the next time we meet?¡±

    ¡°Condolences.¡± Qin Ye responded somewhat hoarsely.

    Guan Gen turned around and stared intently at Qin Ye. His lips trembled softly for some moments, before he finally asked, ¡°How¡­ how did he die?¡±

    ¡°Hellguard-ss evil ghosts. I was lucky to have survived.¡± Qin Ye replied weakly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be too emotional about this.¡±

    ¡°Why should I?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s response was cid, ¡°More than ten investigators from the Special Investigations Department perish to Yin spirits everyday. Am I supposed to feel sad and sorrowful for each of their passing? Mr Guan, this is probably the reason why you can never be transferred out of New Hale City.¡±

    His response was blunt, but Guan Gen couldn¡¯t help but nod in agreement. Then, sighing, he stood up, ¡°I was being paranoid.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ Mr Qin, farewell. Also, your flight back to the City of Salvation leaves in three days time. Apart from that¡­ I sincerely hope you¡¯ve been truthful with me.¡± He paused, and then continued meaningfully, ¡°His colleagues will definitely get to the bottom of the matter.¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent. Dong. The door to the ward shut.

    With that, he was finally the only person left in the room. He peeled and ate a fruit, and then an intense rush of weariness filled his heart.

    I¡¯m tired¡­

    He had been so busy thest few days that this was the first time he could fully indulge himself in rest. Both his mind and body werepletely worn out.

    It¡¯s time to rest¡­ He breathed a sigh of relief. The light switch was located at the head of his bed. He twisted the knob, and the lights went out. But¡­ just as he was about to retract his hand, he suddenly jumped, almost as though he had been given violent electric shock.

    Whoosh! Wisps of Yin energy masked as true energy began to pour out of his seven apertures. He rolled to the side, ripped off the medical instruments and then remained on all fours, like a cheetah that was ready to pounce. His eyes nced warily about his surroundings. His heart thumped wildly.

    Just a moment ago, when he retracted his hand, he felt¡­ another person¡¯s hand touching him.

    It was cold and stiff.

    It was most certainly the hand of a person who had been dead for a long time!

    In other words, there was another person hidden somewhere in the room together with him. And a dead person at that. A dead person that moved!

    tter! The windows in the room suddenly flung wide open, and the curtains fluttered wildly. Under the dim glow of the moonlight, Qin Ye soon discovered that¡­ there was suddenly another silhouette seated right beside his bed!

    This was a two-man ward, and the bed beside his was meant to be empty. But now, the silhouette was obviously seated on the edge of the second bed with his back erect and straight. Following that, he began to cry and whimper.

    Wuu¡­ wuuu¡­ His voice was hoarse, and bore a trace of unspeakable horror. An empty ward in the dark night. The windows mmed open suddenly. The howling winds rushed in and sent the curtains pping wildly. Everything caused goosebumps to creep up Qin Ye¡¯s skin in an instant.

    Wuu¡­ wuu¡­ Wuu-wuu-wuu¡­

    The man¡¯s voice faded in and out of the howling wind, and it sounded almost as though he were sobbing. And it was so bleak and horrific that Qin Ye¡¯s hair stood on end. He took a deep breath and ced his hand over the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.

    Evil ghost¡­

    This is the arrival of an evil ghost.

    Furthermore¡­ he¡¯s definitely stronger than a mere Hellguard! To think that it could remainpletely undetected despite being right beside me all this while!

    But just as he was about to activate the shard of his King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, the television in front of him suddenly flickered and switched on.

    It was clearly a television, and yet the image that appeared was grainy and purely ck-and-white. Qin Ye looked at the image, only to realize that the image depicted a passageway that was filled with people.

    Dead people.

    People who were entwined with copious amounts of Yin energy. The living dead.

    He couldn¡¯t see their faces clearly, but he could tell from the different shades of grey that they wore colourful garments, green, ck, blue, and white. And they even toted some tall, tattered oil paper umbres that reached the ceiling. They were lined up neatly in two rows, and they held a bell in their hands, drifting slowly through the hospital corridor. Copious amounts of Yin energy trailed behind them like a tidal wave. SHK! Right then, the door to his room suddenly opened up a crack.

    Qin Ye¡¯s hair stood on its end.

    This was a kind of horror that waspletely different from what he had encountered in the past. It was silent, oppressive and suffocating.

    Cold sweat beaded up on his forehead, and his palms were damp. He gripped the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal tightly. This was the final card up his sleeves.

    Arrrghhh¡­ Arrrrgghhh¡­ The cries of the evil ghosts lingered endlessly, as though his door led straight into the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment. Each cry seemed to pile on the weight of fear on his heart. He gritted his teeth and began to infuse his energy into the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, only to realize¡­

    It wasn¡¯t working.

    ¡°An Abyssal Prefect possesses the power to influence the use of Yin energy in an area¡­¡± A hoarse ghastly voice echoed down the corridor outside, ¡°Puny Hellguard¡­ stay right where you are¡­¡±

    Daolord!

    Qin Ye¡¯s scalp went numb. He immediately understood what was going on!

    This was the arrival of the daolord!

    He had personally underestimated the importance which the daolord attaches to the emergence of the new Hell! A bead of cold sweat rolled off his forehead. He had never expected the daolord to have personally made a move.

    Tap¡­ A hand abruptly opened the door to his room.

    Dong¡­ The door mmed against the wall with a dull thud. It was deafening amidst the still silence of the night.

    The hand was pale, stiff and cold. It was covered in livor mortis spots, and the corner of his sleeves revealed a smattering of colourful clothes. A split secondter, an oil paper umbre peeked around the corner and opened up, shielding the man beneath from the dim glow of the moonlight. And then, a man¡¯s head finally peeked around the corner. His hair was disheveled, and he gazed intently at Qin Ye with bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°Haa--...¡± Qin Ye sighed, biting his lips as he forcibly suppressed the roiling emotions in his heart. And then, right outside the door, a second oil paper umbre appeared¡­ and a third¡­ Within moments, the entire corridor outside was filled with oil paper umbres carried by ghosts with disheveled hair, twisting their heads as they gazed at Qin Ye with their bloodshot eyes. Then, it finally dawned on Qin Ye that all of these entities were¡­ humanoid paper effigies.

    Ding-a-ling¡­ ding-a-ling¡­ Bells rang at the entrance of their room. As the crisp, clear sounds of the bells reverberated through the corners of the room, Qin Ye discovered that the walls of his room suddenly began to peel away and be mottled, almost as though it had aged decades in an instant.

    The walls ckened, while mould bloomed in the corners of the room. Damp patches appeared on the ceiling, before¡­ drops of blood began to drip onto the ground like leaking rain. Within moments, he felt as though he had been locked up in an abandoned room for ages.

    Finally, a figure appeared in the doorway. He was the first one who wasn¡¯t carrying an umbre. And as soon as he appeared, the humanoid paper effigies around immediately knelt to the ground. The figure promptly transformed into a swifthergale and drifted forward, before finally transforming into a vortex of Yin energy in front of Qin Ye.

    ¡°Emissary of Hell.¡± The Yin energy toiled within the vortex, before condensing into the image of a twisted face, ¡°A genuine Emissary of Hell¡­ So it¡¯s true that Hell exists¡­ That¡¯s unbelievable¡­¡±

    ¡°Daolord of the asura?¡± Qin Ye spoke with great vignce. A sense of primal terror stirred in the depths of his heart, causing his breaths to grow ragged and difficult.

    ¡°This is a projection. Heavenly Spirit Twenty bears a mark of my Yin energy with her. No matter where she is, I can temporarily activate this mark on her and create a passageway between us. Even though this passageway is too narrow for my personal traversion, it¡¯s still not an issue to send a projection of myself through the same to kill you.¡± The human face in the vortex spoke slowly.

    To think that a mere projection could actually be so stifling and oppressive¡­ Is this the power of an Abyssal Prefect¡­? Qin Ye grew taciturn. His mind was already racing, assessing the possible responses he could give to extricate himself from the situation.

    What could I possibly do to appease him?

    There must be a way¡­ Where¡¯s the most fundamental point of conflict between the daolord and myself? As long as I can approach it from that front, I¡¯m sure I¡¯d be able to appease him for now.

    Nobody said a word, and it was only after a full minute that the daolord of the asura spoke again, ¡°How¡¯s¡­ the new Hell looking?¡±

    ¡°Not good.¡± Qin Ye sighed in dismay.

    There was another period of silence.

    The daolord was somewhat surprised and confused by his response.

    What¡­ kind of a response is that?

    Shouldn¡¯t the usual response be - ¡®The new Hell is strong and powerful, and it¡¯s not going to be a problem to rid the world of a g like you¡¯?

    That¡¯s how the previous Emissaries of Hell would respond, isn¡¯t it?

    Yet you¡­ The sudden concession by Qin Ye came without any warning at all, and the daolord was clearly not prepared for it.

    But before the daolord of the asura could collect himself, Qin Ye promptly borated, ¡°Neither the six paths of reincarnation nor the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment have been constructed. The old Hell has copsed, and blight vermin have appeared to devour everything. Nothing of the old legacy has been passed to us, so the new Hell has no choice but to be rebuilt from scratch."

    Daolord of the asura: ¡­¡­

    Dear, please wake up!

    You¡¯re an Emissary of Hell! When you etched your name into the records of Hell, weren¡¯t you clothed with the obligation to rid the world of us evil souls? Aren¡¯t we supposed to be natural enemies of each other? And speaking of which, why are you confiding your problems with the new Hell with me? Do you know how much that¡¯s breaking the tension between us? What the hell is up with that¡­

    I¡¯ve never seen an Emissary of Hell that tramples on his own pride of his own volition¡­ Have I encountered a fake Emissary of Hell¡­?

    But Qin Ye didn¡¯t give him the luxury of time to collect his thoughts at all. He promptly added without missing a beat, ¡°Do you think I¡¯m lying to you? I¡¯m not. Think about it - do you think the new Hell has any talent at all? Everyone has already been whisked off to paradise by Ksitigarbha. There¡¯s only a single King Yanluo in Hell right now, and we¡¯ve got our hands full dealing with the primary construction, so do you think we¡¯ve really got the time to focus on you at all?¡±

    Words poured out of Qin Ye¡¯s lips like a rushing river. He knew full well that a single misstatement could very well spell death for him. The extreme impending danger gave him a great rush of adrenaline, bringing rity of thought to his mind and broadening his perspective. He continued, ¡°Resources? We¡¯re breaking grounds on a whole new plot ofnd, and without any of the legacy of the old Hell, so where are our resources supposed toe from? And besides, if there were indeed resources, don¡¯t you think you three daolords would have seen some resistance from the new Hell by now? You would surely have seen some Emissaries of Hell vying with you for territory and Yin spirits by now. We wouldn¡¯t even have to do much more than randomly appoint some hundreds of Soul Hunters to run amok in your territory. How many Hellguards do you have? Would you really be able to deal with all of our troops like that? Do you think you¡¯ll be able to outpace Hell if that were the case?¡±

    That seems¡­ rather logical¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s rhetorics and arguments began to untangle the tension in the room further. But I get the feeling that something is still a little bit off about all of this¡­

    ¡°Without resources, how are we supposed to develop and grow? You should know far better than me just what it takes to construct the six paths of reincarnation from scratch, shouldn¡¯t you? I dare say that the new Hell wouldn¡¯t have the capacity to turn its focus to you within the next couple hundreds of years.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ That¡¯s the fundamental point of conflict that I¡¯m looking for!

    Hell¡¯s purpose was to punish the evil and reward the good. The six daolords must have done something unpardonable in life, and they were naturally afraid of being arrested once more. However¡­

    That was only true of the old Hell.

    The purpose of the new Hell was easily summarized in a single word - survive. Refrain from provoking powerful factions; curry favour with whoever they can; and muster a strong force before thinking about marching against others once more.

    Evil of the six paths?

    None of Hell¡¯s business.

    ¡°In fact, I¡¯ve heard King Yanluo mention something before.¡± Qin Ye pressed the point astutely, ¡°If you promise not to do any more evil and remain good and peaceable until the new Hell regains its strength, then¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be out of the question to confer a title upon you and enlist you into the ranks of the new Hell.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± The daolord of the asura waspletely shaken up.

    This is the third¡­ the third King Yanluo¡­ Is he a dog?!

    I¡¯m afraid the first and the second King Yanluos of Hell would jump right out of their graves if they heard this deration right now!

    This is an aberration to the decree of Hell! You¡­ you¡¯re traitors! The daolord of the asura had never in his wildest dreams fathomed the possibility of the present King Yanluo pulling something unorthodox out of the hat like that!

    He wasn¡¯t ying by the rules at all!

 Chapter 332: Talking Your Way Out

    <h4>Chapter 332: Talking Your Way Out</h4>

    The daolord of the asura wasn¡¯t an exception to this either.

    How does this man speak with such righteousness and dignity?

    Who exactly is he? What position does he upy in the new Hell? Could he be¡­ an illegitimate son of the third King Yanluo? If I abduct him¡­ how will the new Hell react?

    The daolord knew that his existence sat on a divergent end of the spectrum from Hell¡¯s purposes. This was almost an immutable truth that had alreadysted for thousands of years, and yet someone was now telling him that the new Hell was even willing to confer a title upon him? All kingdoms and polity needed a purpose for their existence. And yet¡­ the third King Yanluo of Hell was actually going to overturn and redefine the purpose of Hell¡¯s existence that had stood for thest thousands of years? Were they actually going to turn traitorous and mix with someone like the daolord?

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun rapidly. He knew that it wasn¡¯t possible to convince an old, crafty evil ghost with the few statements he had made earlier. However¡­ he was still confident!

    ¡°I bear¡­ the identity of the third King Yanluo of Hell.¡± His mind spun, and then he gritted his teeth before finally dropping the bombshell.

    ¡°Stay your hand.¡± Qin Ye raised his hand, ¡°Daolord of the asura, has it ever urred to you whatnguishing state the new Hell must be in if a scum like me can be a King Yanluo?¡±

    It was as though he were on the verge of ¡®release¡¯, only to discover that the opening had suddenly been tied up¡­

    Bloody hell¡­ Can you please pay closer to your identity as the third King Yanluo of Hell?! Why can¡¯t you speak with a little bit more dignity?!

    To think that you would debase yourself to such an extent¡­ Are you really willing to do that much just for your own survival¡­

    The daolord of the asura immediately responded, ¡°Punish the evil and reward the good. To deal with those that slip through the cracks of thew in the mortal realm and see that justice is done.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Of course!!¡± The Yin vortex erupted with a massive wave of Yin energy, and the daolord of the asura gritted his teeth as he suppressed the fear in his heart, ¡°You can¡¯t even begin to fathom what kind of punishment awaits a person under the path of the asura¡­ To be devoured by hundreds or even thousands of asuras on a daily basis¡­ Do you think I¡¯ll ever forget the pain of having my flesh being torn from my body bit by bit?!¡±

    The daolord of the asura froze.

    In that instant, his mind began to explore a whole new world of possibilities. Can he do it? Can he really do it? No¡­ no! How could he possibly do it! Hell isn¡¯t governed by just King Yanluo alone. There are other Yin spirits around as well. Have they agreed? Back when I was sentenced to an eternity under the six paths of reincarnation, it was done by way of a vote before the cab ministers. This man¡­ makes great promises, but I¡¯m afraid they carry no weight.

    He was truly afraid that he would be convinced by such an impossible suggestion.

    Qin Ye was staring intently at the Yin vortex, analyzing the daolord¡¯s thoughts from his micro-reactions.

    Did I fail to convince him? Where did I go wrong?

    ¡°They don¡¯t exist.¡± He chose his words cautiously, ¡°Daolord of the asura, think about it - who¡­ dares to oppose me?¡±

    ¡°Besides, even if they harbour any doubts, there simply isn¡¯t time for them to act upon it. After all¡­ the development of Hell is more important than anything else right now! You should know that Hellguards take charge of city level affairs. In other words, Hell could never berger than a city right now, and we could never march against a faction with troops even if we so desired.¡±

    ¡°You should have already realized by now that the world has changed greatly, much more than any of the changes that had urred in thest thousands of years. Thousands of years of feudal dynasties ended in the sh of an eye, and modern day Yin spirits arepletely different from the Yin spirits of the past. The great changes incidentally coincides with the great copse of Hell, and none of the modern day Yin spirits would find there to be anything wrong with the course of action I¡¯m proposing, because¡­ it doesn¡¯t matter the means, as long as I achieve the same end.¡±

    And this was no mere rhetoric - Qin Ye was speaking with such great conviction because he truly intended to make good on his word.

    Besides¡­ it¡¯s only when they have secured some form of closure on the looming threat of Hell¡¯s existence that they can finally wage war on the twelve envoys. Otherwise¡­ who would I deal arms to?

    Put differently, I¡¯m scared. Life isn¡¯t only about surviving in the present, it¡¯s also nning for survival in the future. Do I really want to be at your mercy all the time?

    He wasn¡¯t a fool. Fools wouldn¡¯t have been able to leave their mark in history after all, even if it were the mark of notoriety. Anyone who could achieve something like that was outstanding in his own right.

    He had escaped from Hell with the sole intent of never being subject to the torment of the six paths ever again. He had even attempted to form his own underworld and gotten away with it thus far. Nevertheless, he knew that the ¡®underworld¡¯ he had created would never be recognized by the Heavenly Dao. As they growrger andrger, so will the resistance he faces, be it from the mortal realm, Hell or the Heavenly Dao. Nobody would condone their existence. Conversely, his problems would be resolved once and for all if he could simply fall under the ranks of the new Hell.

    His heart was filled with an amalgam ofplex emotions. To think that a measly Emissary of Hell would casually rile up his thoughts and emotions from the time he made up his mind to escape from Hell, to the thoughts of everything he had achieved from sheer hard work. More than anything, he was reluctant¡­ but the olive branch that had been extended to him would guarantee a future free from the torment he had suffered under the six paths of reincarnation over thest thousands of years. The fear of Hell had already been etched into the deepest parts of his marrows. This was an undeniable truth, whether he wanted to recognize it or not.

    ¡°Does Hell truly wish to make me a part of its ranks? Haha¡­ this is something that the daolord of the beast and the daolord of the hungry ghost would find aplete joke.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re glib. You managed to broach a subject of conversation to throw me off and suppress my murderous intent. And then, you slowly but surely whittle away at it¡­ Not bad¡­ It¡¯s truly praiseworthy¡­ If you really are what you say you are, the next King Yanluo of Hell, then I truly look forward to what you might do with great expectations¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s suddenly tensed up his spirits, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Boom! An irresistible force surged forward like a tidal wave. Qin Ye felt as though he had been cast into the depths of an icy cer in an instant, and he spat out a mouthful of blood as he mmed back heavily against the wall.

    A palpable sense of fear emerged from the depths of his heart.

    ¡°Talisman of Life and Death. I¡¯ve read a good book in the mortal realm, and I¡¯ll be borrowing its name.¡± The Yin vortex began to shrink, ¡°Only an Infernal Judge can dissolve its effects. If you¡¯re truly the King Yanluo of Hell, then¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be too difficult to get an Infernal Judge to help you out, would it?¡±

    ¡°Remember this - the Talisman of Life and Death strikes three times, and each strike is stronger than the previous. If you aren¡¯t able to lift its effects by then, then you¡¯ll most certainly die.¡±

    Dong¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s spirits remained incredibly tense for several minutes, until thest traces of Yin energy had vanishedpletely. Then, he finally heaved a sigh of relief and copsed onto his bed.

    The world of Yin spirits can never be taken lightly. Who would¡¯ve thought that the daolord of the asura would actually leave a mark on his Heavenly Spirits and even appear in person? It looks like¡­ their fear for Hell runs far deeper than I imagined.

    But before he could even pursue this line of thinking, an intense pain suddenly spread violently from his chest!

 Chapter 333: Immortals at the Magpie Bridge

    <h4>Chapter 333: Immortals at the Magpie Bridge</h4>

    The Magpie Bridgees from the story of two star-crossed lovers whose love was forbidden by the gods, and they were thus banished to two sides of the silver river, also known as the milky way. But once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, a flock of magpies would form a bridge for these lovers to reunite. Thus, it came to be known as the Magpie Bridge.

    Àwë…ÅªÇÉ£¬ Clouds float like works of art,

    ãyhÌöÌö°µ¶É¡£ Across the Milky Way the Cowherd meets the Maid.

    ±ã„ÙÈ´ÈËégŸo”µ¡£ All the love scenes on earth, however many, fade.

    ¼ÑÆÚÈç‰ô£¬ Their happy date seems but a dream.

    ƒÉÇéÈôÊÇ¾ÃéL•r£¬ If love between both sides canst for aye,

    )

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°Aaaaarrrgghh¡­. Unnnggghhh!!¡± He covered his chest and screamed miserably. He gritted his teeth and mustered everyst bit of strength within his body to rip open his clothes, only to realize that there was a jade-green runic symbol imprinted on his chest.

    Qin Ye¡¯s appearance of intense pain instantly startled him. This also happened to be thest thing that Qin Ye saw. Before he fainted, his ears were filled with the rming cries of the students, ¡°Doctor! Hurry up and get the doctor!¡± ¡°Instructor Qin, hang in there!¡±

    After some time, he finally came to his senses. Everything appeared blurry, almost as though the entire world was constantly trembling. His eyes shifted about subconsciously, before someone beside him finally sighed. Several momentster, his appearances started to look clear once more.

    His surroundings were white, and there were instruments everywhere. A middle-aged man stood in front of him, holding up a finger in front of his eyes. Qin Ye had finally regained his consciousness, and the man also wiped off the sweat from his forehead, ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that you¡¯re fine.¡±

    It was painful.

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak.¡± The middle-aged man bore the badge of the Special Investigations Department Medical Division, and he continued gruffly, ¡°Your condition is terrible. You¡¯re currently on the ne back to the City of Salvation. Do you know how long you¡¯ve been unconscious? If you do, wink your left eye. If you don¡¯t, wink your right eye.¡±

    ¡°Three days.¡± The middle-aged man sighed, ¡°New Hale City wasn¡¯t able to treat you, so we¡¯ve had no choice but to send you right back to the City of Salvation. The academy already knows about your situation. Faculty Head Zhou will personallye to pick you up at the airport.

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak.¡± The middle-aged man reiterated, ¡°Your condition is grim, but not irreversible. Your internal organs were struck by a powerful wave of Yin energy, which then materialized into a powerfulherme. Fortunately, the me didn¡¯tst too long, because if it did¡­ your life would have been in danger.¡±

    With that, the middle-aged man left. Qin Ye lifted his head with much difficulty, only to discover that there was a pacemaker ced right on his chest, and there were tubes running all over the ce. Upon closer inspection, he could see that there was a burn mark that ran from his abdomen right up to his throat!

    He suddenly shuddered in fear. This is the daolord¡¯s handiwork¡­ What destructiveherme. To think that not even an Emissary of Hell is able to withstand it. And¡­ are outsiders actually unable to detect its presence?

    He immediately reached into his pocket and activated the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and his soul promptly entered Hell. The students might be greatly startled if he lost consciousness once more, but given the gravity of the situation, he couldn¡¯t be bothered anymore.

    When Qin Ye next opened his eyes, he was already in Hell. The Talisman of Life and Death was invisible in the mortal realm, but it glowed bright as a star in Hell. Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t stricken with any measure of pain right now. That said, he could sense that he had lost weight from the initial round of ordeal he had been through.

    ¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡± Qin Ye grunted in dismay, ¡°Hurry up and get this damn thing off me!¡±

    She meant it as an affirmative statement.

    ¡°That¡¯s not something I¡¯ll be able to do.¡± Arthis gently pursed her lips, ¡°This isn¡¯t called the Talisman of Life and Death. It¡¯s called Immortals at the Magpie Bridge. It¡¯s a curse that can only be used by an Abyssal Prefect. The only way to remove it is to meet your destined partner and share a night of passion with her.¡±

    It was a bolt out of the blue.

    He released Arthis¡¯ cors, ¡°That damn bastard¡­ He didn¡¯t want to make it easy for me! He wanted to see if what I said was true. If the new Hell is strong, then it would naturally have a way of unravelling his curse. And even if it wasn¡¯t, he could test out the strength of the new Hell with this move of his. In other words, he was prepared to let me perish from the onset!¡±

    ¡°Then, wouldn¡¯t I have to¡­ you know¡­¡± Qin Ye responded bashfully.

    ¡°Aplete, divine artifact. Lower grade artifacts won¡¯t do. After all, an Abyssal Prefect is already considered one of the strongest entities in the world. Most smaller underworlds are even ruled by Abyssal Prefects. In a sense, you can say that superpowers are exceptions rather than the norm, in that they are ruled by Yama-Kings as opposed to Abyssal Prefects. Naturally, Abyssal Prefects are already powerful enough to draw out the full strength of these divine artifacts. Only divine artifacts have the power to suppress and break this curse.¡±

    Arthis shook her head and chuckled bitterly, ¡°The Book of Life and Death is so powerful that even an Abyssal Prefect can only barely use it. Naturally, I¡¯m unable to tap on its full strength, and I can only ess some of its simpler functions. I can use it to suppress the curse temporarily, but I won¡¯t be able to remove it altogether.¡±

    Arthis nced back at Qin Ye, ¡°For instance, I can reduce the frequency of its effects from once per day to once per month. And even with its reduced strength, I can at best buy you five years of time. In other words, within five years¡¯ time, you¡¯ll have to¡­plete your harem, or I¡¯ll have to attain my next breakthrough to the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect. But you can forget about thetter, because I can sense that I¡¯ll still need at least thirty to forty years for that.¡±

    ¡°Do you think this is a matter of working harder or softer?! Do you think there¡¯s anything I can do about it if Cathay doesn¡¯t go to war?!¡±

    ¡°The third method¡­¡± Arthis slowly continued, ¡°Is something that you¡¯re most likely able to achieve.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed and gritted his teeth as he leaned back heavily on the pir behind him, ¡°Are you messing with me?¡±

    He suddenly shot to his feet, ¡°The old Hell?!¡±

    Arthis shook her head, sending his dreams crashing straight into the ground, ¡°Impossible¡­ The Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces have already ascended into paradise, leaving behind divine molts in their ce. Those locations must all be densely crawling with blight vermin now. There¡¯s simply no way of clearing out those areas given your military might right now. Besides, divine molts are the best form of nutrients to monarch vermins. Not even I could do a single thing against that monarch vermin back then, much less you and the Yin soldiers of Hell right now.¡±

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Arthis rebuked him, ¡°How could the future King Yanluo of Hell be so easily unsettled like that?!¡±

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ Otherwise, I might very well push him over the verge and into the point of no return¡­ Arthis ced her hand together and began to chant a calming sutra as she responded coldly, ¡°Are you aware that the seals of all feudal officials are conferred by the highest authorities in Hell?¡±

    Arthis interrupted him mercilessly, ¡°Unfortunately, these seals are carried by the feudal officials¡¯ sides. Losing the seals means losing their conferment of title as a feudal official of Hell. They would also have to face the wrath of the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    Sorrow once again washed through his heart.

    Qin Ye once again raised his head as Arthis continued, ¡°They are no longer feudal officials to begin with. These seals have already lost their effects as soon as the old Hell has copsed. They¡¯re no different from evil ghosts right now, and evil ghosts have no use for such seals.¡±

    The ocean of sorrow began to flow once more¡­

    ¡°That said¡­¡±

    He was steaming mad.

    ¡°Art is an explosion, so what do you know?!¡± Qin Ye barked back, fervently suppressing the desire to tear Arthis to shreds.

    Qin Ye listened intently, and then gulped as he probed further, ¡°This man¡­ could he be¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Arthis smiled faintly, ¡°It so happens that this is none other than Emperor Wu of Song, Liu Yu, otherwise known as Liu Jinu. The only man in Cathay ever known to be invincible.¡±

 Chapter 334: Destined

    <h4>Chapter 334: Destined</h4>

    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that¡­ the new Hell will absolutely need to get the approval of the twelve envoys at the end of the year and retrieve the great seal of the feudal officials along the way? In other words, while I¡¯m at it, I might as well both establish some trade routes as well as save my own life?¡± He finally calmed down, and he gazed cidly into the distance, ¡°But everything hinges on whether I can receive Emperor Wu of Song¡¯s approval altogether. At the very least, he will need to view the new Hell as an equal before we can even begin to negotiate something like that.¡±

    Previously, the imperial court meeting at the end of the year was no more than a peripheral, unimportant matter. But things had changed! It was an imperative right now - something that he had no choice but to go through with, and even seed in!

    Arthis nodded, ¡°Do your best¡­ We¡¯ll summon all twelve envoys at once. And when the timees¡­ it will be a good showing. Trust me, these envoys will all live up to your expectations, and then some.¡±

    After all, Hell¡¯s present prosperity and growth, coupled with the backing of the Book of Life and Death, and the existence of the Harken are all not to be underestimated at all!

    After mulling over these things, he finally lifted his head, ¡°Then, shouldn¡¯t we take a peek into the Book of Life and Death for now?¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled awkwardly, ¡°Well, I do have to get myself prepared, don¡¯t I? Given my looks and intellect, it¡¯s not necessarily going to be a problem to nt the seeds of the future generation. But the crux of the matter is that the seeds will have to be nted in the right ces, and I¡¯ll also have to be considerate and leave some for others in any event. Such a contingency is quite important in case we encounter any unforeseen circumstances at the end of the year. After all, one must at times be willing to unt their strengths and use their physical endowment for the pursuit of a pure life¡­¡±

    She snorted, and then turned a blind eye to Qin Ye¡¯s existence. Then, she waved her hand, and a huge Book of Life and Death drifted out of the sphere of endless Yin energy hovering right over Hell¡¯s Gate. A secondter, a tattered ancient book appeared right in Arthis¡¯ hands.

    ¡°A person might only be married once in his lifetime. But, often times, people end up marrying those who aren¡¯t the love of their lives. The perfect match, or the destined one or destined ones, are instead still out there atrge. The Book of Life and Death would record the names of these people in pink. Look closely, and record all the names of these people.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Arthis stared at the Book of Life and Death with great astonishment as it continued to pore through its records slowly. After fifteen minutes, the Book of Life and Death reached the end of its pages, and the back cover closed up. And then, it began to search from the front once more.

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Arthis¡¯ eyes widened, and her lips trembled as she continued to stare intently at the Book of Life and Death, ¡°Regardless of who it is¡­ everyone has a person that matches him or her perfectly! So, I don¡¯t understand why you don¡¯t!¡±

    Qin Ye: What the Hell are you talking about? Are you looking for a fight?

    What was someone like him doing looking for love to begin with?

    Look¡­ Even the Book of Life and Death understands that I fall outside of the system of karma¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s first run through was for the present century.¡± Arthis paused, ¡°In other words, nobody born in thest hundred years is a perfect fit for you. At first blush, you¡¯re fated to be alone. However, this fails to consider the preceding years before thest century¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re living in Hell! What¡¯s wrong with a posthumous marriage?¡± Arthis red at him, before instructing the Book of Life and Death, ¡°Expand the search criteria and start from the beginning. And ignore the gender.¡±

    He waspletely speechless.

    Ye Xingchen, Lin Han, Wang Chenghao¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s mind grew numb and fuzzy, and he immediately grabbed hold of the Book of Life and Death, ¡°Are you teasing me?!! Do you think I wouldn¡¯t rip you to shreds just because you¡¯re a divine artifact?! Where are you suddenly getting these strange ideas from?!¡±

    Momentster, Arthis coughed dryly, ¡°Calm down. Apologies for that, thatst search was for ¡®friends¡¯, and not ¡®lovers¡¯.¡±

    However, there were still no results.

    In other words, it meant that Qin Ye wasn¡¯t fated to be with anyone who was born within thest three hundred years - not even if they were ghosts.

    Qin Ye red wickedly at Arthis, to which she finally withdrew her gaze. Sigh¡­ speaking of which, I do vaguely recall that the first and second King Yanluos of Hell were also loners¡­ Is this the price to pay for being powerful¡­

    Arthis managed to read the emotions undergirding his statement for once. After all, anyone who was told with certainty that they couldn¡¯t find love would never feel good about himself.

    Qin Ye was already walking back into Hell¡¯s Gate when he suddenly paused and turned around in shock.

    This is¡­ 370 or 380 years ago, back in the era of the Ming Dynasty¡­

    Qin Ye stared nkly at the pink name, and a wave ofplex emotions stirred in his heart.

    There¡¯s someone¡­

    Unfortunately¡­ you were born before I was, and you were already old when I was born. You hate that I was bornte, while I hate that you were born early.

    What do I even do with this information?

    To think that love eludes me so¡­ How long do I have to wait before I truly find love?

    Thus, he had locked away his heart, resigned to the fate of never knowing love.

    ¡°Hah¡­¡± Heughed bitterly, and then turned around to walk away once more. However, Arthis called out after him, ¡°Hey¡­ wait a minute¡­¡±

    Xia Jinse¡¯s name¡­ had turned ck.

    Immediately after that, the Book of Life and Death began to flip around, desperately tracking her life until, just about a hundred years ago, her name turned ck once more!

    The pages kept flipping, until it was soon the present. And yet, her name was still pink. That said¡­ it was no longer recorded under the name of Xia Jinse!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on over here?¡± Qin Ye waspletely dumbfounded.

    How is that possible?!

    He grabbed the Book of Life and Death and gently ran his finger across her names once more, ¡°She¡¯s someone like me¡­ someone who has consumed the taisui fungus! She has died three times! She has died, lost her memory, and been reborn anew thrice now!¡±

    He wouldn¡¯t have believed a single part of it had it not been recorded in the Book of Life and Death. After all, he couldn¡¯t believe that there were others in this world who had consumed the taisui fungus as well! And she was still alive and kicking, and even destined to be the love of his life!

    Both were ageless and immortal, and their union would mean that they no longer had to worry about the passing of their loved ones. There would not be a concept of ¡®till death do us part¡¯. If this wasn¡¯t destiny, nothing was.

    ¡°Can we see where she is?¡± Qin Ye immediately asked.

    Secondster, her gaze flickered. Then, taking a few steps back, she muttered, ¡°Hanyang.¡±

    It¡¯s the twelve envoys again!

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Arthis asked.

    ¡°Just wait and see¡­ I¡¯ve never been so dedicated to self-improvement. My mind is set. I¡¯m going to give them a huge gift at the imperial court meeting!¡±

 Chapter 335: Premium Goods

    <h4>Chapter 335: Premium Goods</h4>

    However, he knew he had to suppress the excitement in his heart. After all, he was still on the ne right now, and he had to take every advantage of the situation to run through and carefully analyze his ns once more.

    ¡°Not enough¡­ Hell still isn¡¯t sufficient right now¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d oversimplified matters earlier. Things like armor require more than just the carapace of the blight vermin. I¡¯ll still have to consider matters such as the cords to be used, and the skill of my craftsmen, and so on. I should suspend all other research and the less important construction works to focus on the development of the armor. That way¡­ we¡¯ll be able to produce something truly exquisite by the end of the year - something that will cause the eyes of the twelve envoys to burn with envy.¡±

    He was going all out!

    Life was filled withplexities and choices. A hundred years wasn¡¯t a long time, but neither was it short.

    Not only would it leave a lingering regret in the heart of his loved one, it would also leave an indelible mark in the deepest parts of his heart. The more of these there were, the more tender his heart would grow, and the more vulnerable he would be to the vicissitudes of life.

    And yet, amidst these thoughts of resignation, he had finally found the one strand of hope for a rtionship that stands the test of time. The world was only sorge. Qin Ye refused to believe that someone ageless and immortal like himself would be unable to locate a single person!

    ¡°And this is especially the case if I want to assure the safety of the person I¡¯m looking for. In other words, I¡¯ll need them to treat me with the utmost respect, almost as though they¡¯re looking at the god of wealth in their ownnds. For that, it¡¯s not going to be enough to be an ordinary arms dealer. I¡¯ll have to bring out something that they absolutely cannot live without!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong and his entourage of people were already waiting to receive them at the airport as soon as they arrived. They expressed their deepest condolences for the passing of Wang Chenghao. The academy held a memorial service for him, and every single student attended it.

    This was his first true friend in the mortal realm after all.

    Qin Ye was also given leave for a month, and told to rest in his own dorm room. Several members of the SRC even personally made the trip down to check on his wounds. After all, the multitude of instruments and devices while he was on the ne had picked up on the anomalous condition that his body was gued with, and it was simply outrageous that they weren¡¯t able to spot any traces of the injuries that were causing him such immense, excruciating pain. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, none were able to discover anything amiss.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The SRC had already withdrawn their medical facilities and personnel back in the mortal realm. To make matters worse, the Talisman of Life and Death had triggered a second time while Qin Ye was in Hell, afflicting him with pain that was worse than death itself. Fortunately, with suppressive effects of the Book of Life and Death, there was no threat to life and limb just yet.

    Qin Ye put on a pair of sses. He had been reading too much recently, so much so that his eyes were getting slightly dazed. He adjusted his sses and responded softly, ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡±

    ¡°Take a seat.¡± Qin Ye nodded, and everyone took their seats promptly. Arthis and Wang Chenghao nced at Qin Ye, and they registered a slight measure of shock in their hearts.

    Qin Ye had always been maintaining a noble and cold persona. And what exactly did that mean? It meant that it was the impression that others got from the way in which he carried himself. It wasn¡¯t particrly reflective of his own personality.

    Even Arthis could sense that Qin Ye exuded a far greater aura of dignity than before. It was still noble and cold, yet it was no longer a mere pretension. Instead, they had begun to tell that it was now part and parcel of his identity in Hell.

    ¡°I¡¯ve read everyone¡¯s reports.¡± Qin Ye picked up a document and signalled for the secretary beside him to pass it around, ¡°This is the first diplomatic instrument of Hell that has been drawn up by our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Li Mohan, and it seeks to summon the twelve envoys back to Hell to participate in the imperial court meeting. Please take a look. If there are no strenuous objections to it, we¡¯ll be sending it to the various envoys in early November.¡±

    Thus, they looked through its contents very carefully, and they also raised points for discussion from time to time. Then, only when every crinkle had been ironed out, did they finally return the document to the front. Qin Ye knocked the table gently, ¡°Any other objections?¡±

    ¡°Very well. Let¡¯s finalize this version and have it printed. Agent Li Jixi shall be personally responsible for dispatching these documents.¡± He set the documents back in ce, while the scribes around him quickly recorded the minutes of the meetings. Then, after a few moments of silence, he continued, ¡°Twenty days ago, I asked everyone to suspend their works and direct the best craftsmen and workers to the design and development of the best style of armor and methods of production. I¡¯d like an update on that.¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin, I¡¯ve finished making the arrangements. We¡¯ve got several professors who are adept in the field of research. We¡¯ve also got several chemists and physicists who have been transferred to work under Mr Oda¡¯s charge. That said, might I suggest undertaking a more holistic developmental work? It might appear as though there isn¡¯t much progress right now, but¡­ as soon as the construction work is done, and the engineering industry takes off proper, that¡¯s when we¡¯ll start to see things properly taking shape around Hell. Most of the issues faced by the other industries have been resolved by these key members of their respective industries. To have them suddenly transferred out might unduly hinder the progress of developmental works in other fields.¡±

    That said, he was selfish. After all, who was to say that the King Yanluo of Hell couldn¡¯t be selfish?

    He paused and nced at his ministers with an impassioned gaze, ¡°They¡¯re here to suss things out! They¡¯re here to pry at our weaknesses! They¡¯re here to see if we still possess the ability to suppress them and keep them in check!¡±

    ¡°In other words, we need to show off our military prowess!¡±

    Wang Shu didn¡¯t push her point. Given her extensive involvement in the political scene, she knew far better than anyone here the dangers of speaking out of ce. After all, only the ones at the top of the organizations would know the full extent of considerations involved before they set their minds on a particr course of action.

    ¡°One. Such military armor and weapons can only be forged in a special building called the Hall of Tremors. This is Minister Arakshasa¡¯s field of expertise. Otherwise, there¡¯s simply no way to cut the blight vermin¡¯s carapace into shape. Incidentally, the Hall of Tremors gives us ess to a special forging process that is unique to Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°What¡¯s the estimated speed?¡±

    That¡¯s a little on the low side¡­ Qin Ye tapped his finger on the desk. All twelve envoys have at least five thousand Yin soldiers under theirmand. Even if only six of the twelve sought independence, that would still mean thirty thousand soldiers to equip with armor. That was an order that would easily take a year to fulfill. And this doesn¡¯t even take into consideration the envoys that must have begun to assemble their own forces after hearing nothing from Hell over thest hundred or so years. Just like Liu Jinu.

    Once doubled, the production would easily take two to three years. Such dismal speeds would spell an extended equipping process, amensurately low rate of cash flow, and a poor reputation to start things off. It might even lead toints and grievances.

    This was an idea that had just urred to Qin Ye, and he immediately mmed the table with a bright glint in the depths of his eyes.

    That¡¯s right¡­ we can go with the premium boutique route. I¡¯ve been so fixated on the twelve possible trade routes that I¡¯vepletely forgotten about¡­ the Yin spirits that I¡¯ve been trying to transact with.

    They¡¯ve got their own pride, so¡­ they might even be slightly snobbish and snide about Cathay¡¯s presentck of attention to their heritage and ancient culture. If that¡¯s the case¡­ we can use it to our great advantage!

    For instance¡­ the existence of luxury goods.

    In other words, Qin Ye was thinking of branding himself as the LV of arms dealers!

 Chapter 336: Tigerform Battle Armor (1)

    <h4>Chapter 336: Tigerform Battle Armor (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye understood a very simple principle as far as arms dealing was concerned, and that was that premium goods were always the most desirable. This was because premium goods almost always crushed regr goods in terms of their effectiveness in battle.

    For instance, when Formosa bought the Usonian avenger missiles and stinger missiles, they were told that the same price could also fetch them 10,000 units of gatling guns.

    But would they change their mind?

    What the hell would they need a gatling gun for, when they could simplyunch a missile and obliterate all of their enemies once and for all?

    And if Usonia had changed tacts and offered to sell Formosa a nuclear weapon for double the price, do you think Formosa would even hesitate a single bit before they jumped on the offer?

    The profit margin of premium arms are dozens of times greater than regr arms! I should have thought of something like this earlier!

    More importantly, if these feudal officials haven¡¯t done anything to keep up with the times¡­ hehe¡­ then, let¡¯s just see what happens when they get their very first taste of modern marketing and luxury goods salesmanship.

    ¡°Lord Qin?¡± Wang Shu was stunned. She suddenly paused to look at Qin Ye.

    ¡°Minister Wang, please stand down for a moment.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, and nced towards another chubby middle-aged man, who sensibly nodded back, ¡°Lord Qin, would you like to hear my report?¡±

    Minister of Industry, Rao Xingrui¡­ Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Minister Rao, if we focus all of our efforts on the construction of the auditorium, will we be able toplete its works before the end of December? Academician Gu, we¡¯ve got the design drawings for that, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Qing nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve churned out several design drawings some time ago, one of which includes that of an auditorium. It¡¯s not consideredrge by any means. I¡¯ve constructed it with the number of Yin spirits, governmental personnel, civil servants and organizational representatives in mind. Thus, the auditorium is designed for a maximum seating capacity of three hundred people.¡±

    Perfect!

    Qin Ye needed a proper stage if he were to promote Hell¡¯s armaments as the LV of all arms dealers!

    Somethingrger wasn¡¯t good, because it would feel empty and cold, and he naturally wouldn¡¯t be able to generate enough hype for his promotions. The present size of the auditorium was simply perfect for his purposes.

    Rao Xingrui thought for a moment, ¡°If we suspend all works and reassign all seasoned workers and experts to the construction of the auditorium, we might just be able to make it.¡±

    ¡°Firstly, there¡¯s no issue with the need for rest and sleep. The main factor to take into consideration is the issue of mental fatigue. This is something that can be easily resolved by working in shifts. The auditorium isn¡¯t aplex building, and there¡¯s hardly any difficulty in its construction. A three-hundred seater would be even less of a problem. We shouldn¡¯t have any issues meeting the end-December timeline given the circumstances. That said¡­ does Your Majesty truly wish to suspend all other works?¡±

    He was in agreement with Minister Wang Shu¡¯s perspective earlier.

    Qin Ye responded, ¡°Prime all construction units and divisions, and prepare a list of the personnel to be mobilized at the ready. Also, I¡¯d like you to make preparations for a shift schedule, with all Yin spirits to work in three hour shifts. This matter is of top priority. I¡¯ll apprise you of the exact particrs in due course.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say much more. He was the one who had called for such monthly progress report meetings. Thus, after receiving all of the progress updates, everyone left, leaving Arthis, Oda Nobunaga and Wang Chenghao in the meeting room.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need a set of premium equipment.¡± He got straight to the point, ¡°And it has to be the most premium, sturdiest product that Hell can produce without talismans. Furthermore, it has to be something that none of the other underworlds have ever seen, whether in terms of materials or workmanship. And they mustn¡¯t be able to replicate it.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Arthis raised her brows quizzically.

    ¡°Make a prototype!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed as he fervently suppressed the surging excitement in his heart, ¡°I¡¯ve just had an epiphany. The use of blight vermin carapace ispletely unprecedented in the field of armament productions. It has the potential to be marketed as brand names like Adidas, rather than our generic products like Adivon.

 Chapter 337: Tigerform Battle Armor (2)

    <h4>Chapter 337: Tigerform Battle Armor (2)</h4>

    Furthermore¡­ the survey questions were incredibly subtle. At the very least, nothing can be gleaned of the purpose of the survey from the questions themselves.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond, but merely lifted his head smugly. Wang Chenghao continued reading.

    ¡°Your favourite essory: A: Jade pendant. B: Folding fan. C: Watch. D: Perfume (not to be confused with scented pouches).¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew deep and abstruse, and he smiled wickedly, ¡°It¡¯s to test whether they¡­ keep up with the times!¡±

    He gently fanned out the stack of survey forms, ¡°This survey will take a month¡¯s time. And then¡­ we¡¯ll know exactly what kind of rulers they are. If they¡¯re truly fixated on the ways of antiquity, then they¡¯re bound to bembs to the ughter in this trip back to Hell.¡±

    After issuing his instructions, Qin Ye delved straight into the nning process, and began to hunt for talents with experience in conducting auctions. It had to be said that he secretly missed working with Master Bai¡­

    Time passed quickly. Two dayster, Arthis returned to Hell, somewhat weary and forlorn.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the stuff?¡± Qin Ye responded with urgency.

    The armor was pitch-ck in colour. The breastte and the shoulders were all adorned with the emblem of a tiger¡¯s head. The surface of the armor was shiny and smooth. It wasn¡¯t the best looking armor, but the Yin energy emanating from the entire set was undoubtedly top of its ss.

    He touched the tiger¡¯s head adornment on the bracers themselves. This adornment appeared somewhat different from the rest, in that this tiger head appeared to have a wider and higher jaw than the rest, almost as though it was hiding something. A de groovey right outside the adornment.

    ¡°Even if one loses his weapon, he will still have the means to preserve his own life with these hidden weapons.¡± He sighed with great satisfaction. This was the key to propelling the new Hell to the heights of a premium armament dealership. The stage had been set, and he was happy to be personally involved. But the most important thing of all was to have a truly premium product to sell.

    Defying modernization with adamance?

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all¡­¡± Arthis looked at the scroll and gasped in horror, ¡°It actually augments the effects of battle formations, such that one would only require ny percent of the actual number required to establish a proper battle formation?! Something like that¡­ are you sure you want to sell something like that to the twelve envoys?!¡±

    ¡°I fear you might be underestimating the potential of this set of battle armor¡­¡± Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°Battle formations¡­ constitute the heart of all potential of Yin soldiers. It enables the simplest, weakest Yin soldiers to stand tall against Infernal Judges and even Abyssal Prefects. The fact that 10% less soldiers are required to establish battle formations can mean that¡­ there is suddenly a great deal more Yin soldiers at their disposal on the battlefield! Can you imagine how terrifying its impact will be on any battles that they participate in?!¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    Arthis was stunned.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to fear if this isn¡¯t even going to be a possibility? The new Hell isn¡¯t anything like the Hanyang underworld. They¡¯ve had hundreds of years of history behind them, while we¡¯re still busy prioritizing the huge list of things that we have to get done. Million-men battle formations?¡±

    Then, his expressions changed, and he snorted at Arthis, ¡°Speaking of which, didn¡¯t you see anything else when you went back to the city walls? Why didn¡¯t you bring them back as well? Are you really going to follow my instructions to the tee, without the slightest bit of initiative altogether?! How are you going to take on the socialist lessons in future?¡±

    Qin Ye muttered, ¡°And don¡¯t tell me that you didn¡¯t see any siegebreaker crossbows or octagonal crossbows and the like¡­¡±

    What kind of a person are you?!

    Hanyang underworld.

    After all, it had been hundreds of years since the Hanyang underworld first became a tributary of the old Hell.

    If one walked through the main gate of the underworld, they would see that both sides were lined with Han Dynasty styled buildings, inteced with countless Buddhist temples. Many of the building also bore signs of affiliation with Buddhism. Everyone appeared to be thriving in harmony.

    And that was Liu Yu¡¯s royal pce.

    Furthermore, everyone sat in a kneeling posture.

    Everyone downed the contents of their cups at the same time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It should be a survey of your lordships¡¯ hobbies and interests.¡± Li Jixi naturally wasn¡¯t aware of the contents of what was discussed at the monthly progress meeting. He deliberated for some moments, before adding, ¡°But His Majesty mentioned that Hell would be preparing return gifts for each fiefdom based on the responses provided in these forms.¡±

    Li Jixi remained silent. After all, he was new in Hell, and he naturally hadn¡¯t begun to develop a sense of belonging for it just yet.

    Liu Yu lifted his robes, picked up his chalice of wine and asked casually, ¡°Imperial envoy, how do you view the Hanyang underworld? Is itparable to the underworld of your master?¡±

    Liu Yu stood up with his chalice in hand and smiled faintly, exuding an aura of great splendor and majesty, ¡°Do you know how many great poets speak of my reign back in the days of the Northern and Southern Dynasties? Thesends of mine are second to none, even among the multitude of fiefdoms which exist under Hell¡¯s overarching umbre. Mr Li, why don¡¯t youe work for me instead? Wouldn¡¯t it be far better here than the little vige that Hell is right now?¡±

    Truth be told, it didn¡¯t matter to him where he worked. However, Qin Ye had almost immediately conferred upon him the title of a Soul Hunter of Hell, and he knew full well that his conferment of title wasn¡¯t a glorification of the office he had been given. Rather, it signified the extent of Qin Ye¡¯s distrust for him, because it bound him inextricably to the ranks of an Emissary of Hell.

    Liu Yu watched silently as he left the hall. In fact, the entire hall was silent. Several momentster, Liu Yu finally chuckled bitterly and mmed his chalice to the ground, ¡°Insolence.¡±

    ¡°I gave him a way out, and he turned me down. What disrespect.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Liu Yu red at him fiercely, ¡°That man is an imperial envoy of Hell when all is said and done. The imperial court meeting hasn¡¯t taken ce yet, so any such acts might well constitute treason! Yu Qian and Yang Jiye are still scrutinizing my every action with great vignce as though they were protecting their sheep from a wolf.¡±

    ¡°My lord, it¡¯s just a in old sheet of paper. We¡¯ve checked and verified it¡¯s not hiding any Hell¡¯s Arts or techniques. What could he possibly want with it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not an edict either. The imperial envoy had mentioned that Hell would be preparing return gifts based on the responses provided in these forms. The way I see it, Hell¡¯s actually afraid.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯ve heard that he¡¯s summoning the twelve envoys back to Hell at the end of this year, and thises after a century of Hell¡¯s silence. How could he not be afraid of what might happen?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also heard that the new King Yanluo of Hell looks no different from a teenager. Haha¡­ the second King Yanluo had only taken the throne because of how formidable he was. Such positions can only be taken by those who possess the power to back their throneship. So how could Lord Liu possibly condone the existence of a young sprout ruling over his fiefdom?¡±

    ¡°Your subject is here.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°These are tricks befitting only of a kid. Even though I don¡¯t know what games you¡¯re trying to y over here, but¡­ I¡¯ll oblige you with much reluctance for once¡­¡±

    ¡°After all, even tigers have to give some indulgence to monkeys from time to time.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Patty is likely a reference to Patty Hou, a female anchor in Taiwan known for her beauty.

 Chapter 338: Transmission of Imperial Edicts

    <h4>Chapter 338: Transmission of Imperial Edicts</h4>

    Viang, capital of Lan Xang.

    Countless crows were converging from all directions, swiftly transforming into a tide of crows. Cell phones and cameras were shed and snapped away incessantly. Zhou Gu nced at the sky. Then, he made a hand seal, and one of the crows that had formed from pigeons immediately vanished from the sky and appeared on his hand.

    A split secondter, he rushed back into his dorm room, locked the door after him, and vanished from the room altogether.

    His appearance was different from the rest of the Yin spirits around. It wasn¡¯t lit with the usual greenhermes. Instead, the fire that zed was a Ninefold Karmic Soulfire, striking red in colour, and qualitatively more fiery and fearsome than all others around. This was Fire God Zhou Yu¡¯s true body - one that regrhermes were unable to even get close to.

    He had a striking gaze in his eyes, one that was so sharp and incisive it appeared to cut deep into the heart. His face was chiseled, and yet he exuded a peculiar sense of softness about him. Scarlet mes danced about in the depths of his eyes. He pulled on his cloak and gently waved it about, and the mes around him dissipated in an instant. Everyone, including the ten generals below, immediately knelt down respectfully, ¡°Greetings, Grand Viceroy!¡±

    An imperial edict!

    The edict was written in vermillion ink over a white backdrop. The scroll itself was golden in colour, decorated with the symbol of clouds on the outside, and even had long golden tassels hanging from it. It looked simply exquisite and austere.

    He could see the Mekong River roaring in the distance, with peculiarly shaped ships anchored stably on it. These ships were zing with incessanthermes. The coastal area marked the start of the ostensibly prosperous Tangming underworld.

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± One of the generals cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°Are we¡­ going?¡±

    ¡°Virtue dictates that we must go. Besides¡­¡±

    ¡°This is the first time the twelve envoys are being summoned since the copse of the old Hell. Without Sun Bin, Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bowen, Qin Qiong, and other famous generals of the past¡­ I¡¯d like to see what the new Hell is going to use to keep us in line!¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s Lu Ziming¡­¡± Zhou Yu smiled and waved his hand, causing his majestic cloak to flutter about. Then, his voice resounded like thunder throughout the Tangming underworld, ¡°All generals, hear mymand.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡± A unified response thundered across the entire Tangming underworld. A momentter, countless banners fluttered wildly like a surging tide, while the sky was lit up with scarlethermes like fireflies on a warm summer night.

    Zhou Yu picked it up, skimmed through its contents, and then chuckled listlessly, ¡°At a time like this¡­ Hell must have a million things to do in preparation for the uing imperial court meeting, and yet the new King Yanluo of Hell is doing this¡­ as a gesture of goodwill to us?¡±

    A pen appeared in his hand, ¡°But since you¡¯ve extended your hand to us, I¡¯ll happily indulge you in this game of yours¡­¡±

    Kantipur, capital of Lhavi, is dissected by the Bagmati river and the Bishnimati river, amongst others.

    It was ostentatious and luxurious.

    This was the Lhavi underworld.

    There was a room located at the highest point of this building, decorated with burnished braziers, vases of brilliant flowers and beautiful furniture. An elderly, schrly Yin spirit wearing a red robe and a belt decorated with jade pieces was trembling as he stared at the small table in front of him.

    The white-bearded man looked thin, and his face was covered with old age spots. He stared intently at the table in front of him, where a glorious scroll representing the imperial edicty. He read it carefully, word by word, as theherme in his eyes burned brightly.

    ¡°Lord Yu.¡± The attendant beside him immediately brought over a cup of tea and ced it gently on the table. Lord Yu picked it up and gently ran his finger across the lid of the teacup, before abruptly responding, ¡°Where¡¯s the imperial envoy? Have you made the arrangements for him?¡±

    Lord Yu closed his eyes and nodded gently. His voice was barely audible, and yet it was authoritative in a strange and peculiar way, ¡°Immediately have Qiu Dehuai assemble five thousand troops. And they have to be elites! Arm them to the teeth, and be ready to march back to the capital!¡±

    ¡°What else should we call the location of the new Hell if not the capital?!¡± Lord Yu mmed his teacup back onto his table, spilling tea everywhere. His chest heaved and fell heavily, almost as though he were fervently suppressing the welling excitement in his heart, ¡°It¡¯s been a hundred years since the copse of the old Hell¡­ and the new Hell has finally appeared! The establishment of a whole new dynasty must mean that they¡¯re facing a multitude of problems, both within and without. If we feudal officials don¡¯t show up to help stabilize the situation for them, who will?!¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­ please calm down.¡± His attendant patted him on the back gently.

    ¡°What do you know?!¡± Lord Yu waved his sleeves, ¡°We¡¯re doing this in order to protect the new king! What kind of military edict do we need?! I¡¯ll bet that the number of troops gathered at the City of Salvation this time is going to be in the region of thirty thousand or more! We can¡¯t afford to let others covet the new capital of Hell! The only trustworthy officials are myself and Yang Jiye, the Lord of Luzon. As for the others¡­ Let¡¯s just say that their great name and reputation would have faded away after a hundred years of silence. We would be wise not to underestimate the hearts of ghosts.¡±

    After a long time, the attendant finally whispered, ¡°Lord Yu, then what about the survey form that came together with the imperial edict?¡±

    Meanwhile, in Boutan.

    This was a kingdom of Yin spirits, and they looked no different from the flourishing era of the Yuan Dynasty. Countless skeletal horses mounted by Yin soldiers were seen all over the ins, while banners with symbols flew high in the sky. It was apletely different sight from some of Hell¡¯s other vassal states.

    After some time, he finally quipped, ¡°Everyone¡­ Emperor Wu of Song has personally sent me a missive. The new King Yanluo¡¯s edict has also arrived. All of you are my trusted aides, so I¡¯d like to hear your opinion on how you think we should respond.¡±

    A general finally chipped in coldly, ¡°My lord, Emperor Wu of Song has opined that the new emperor of Hell doesn¡¯t even look twenty years of age. Is he really¡­ able to firmly hold the throne?¡±

    The Book of Life and Death¡­ The mention of this artifact caused everyone to gasp in horror.

    The head honcho looked somewhat downcast. Then, secondster, he actually crushed the wine cup in his hands with great determination, ¡°No. We can¡¯t do anything to them, but they likewise won¡¯t have the ability to do anything to us either! Get in touch with the Lord of Jiaozhi, the Lord of Siam, and the Lord of Sanfotsi¡­ Let¡¯s see what they think of these summons!¡±

    The rest of the generals nodded. Secondster, one of the generals asked, ¡°Then, my lord, what about the questionnaire that was sent over together with the imperial edict?¡±

    ¡°Fill it out.¡± The chief general waved his hands impatiently, ¡°We¡¯ll indulge in his antics. After all, what can a little kid of no more than twenty years¡¯ of age know? Does he think he¡¯s ying house? We¡¯ll satisfy his curiosity and let him enjoy his brief moment of peace in the City of Salvation.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Vientiane, capital of Laos.

    2. One of the three major states that existed from 222-280, during the Three Kingdoms Period

    3. This refers to a military general called Lu Meng who lived from 178-220.

    4. Kathmandu of Nepal

 Chapter 339: The Final Sprint (1)

    <h4>Chapter 339: The Final Sprint (1)</h4>

    There was one thing that Qin Ye was thankful for.

    And that was the fact all Cathayans refused to air their dirty linen in public. Therefore, news of the great stir among feudal officials leading up to the imperial court meeting at the end of the year remainedpletely sealed within the boundaries of all feudal states of Hell.

    Internal affairs should be resolved internally after all.

    Within the following month, the vassal states situated around Cathay began to assemble their armies around Cathay¡¯s borders like a surging tide that was ready to rush to the center. Tensions abounded, not just with the new Hell, but even with the three daolords as well.

    The City of Salvation was located some distance away from the borders, and Qin Ye naturally wasn¡¯t bothered by the assembly of troops. It was 10 November right now, merely twenty days before the anticipated imperial court meeting!

    Hell was still bustling as it had always been. Only the upper echelons of Hell¡¯s present management knew exactly what was happening at the end of the year.

    An air of sobriety filled the left annex hall at Hell¡¯s Gate as an incessant stream of orders continued to flow through and from its gates like a never-ending conduit of information. On the other hand, the right annex hall was heated with an atmosphere of great passion.

    Oda Nobunaga, Arthis and Qin Ye were all situated here. In particr, they were located within a sequestered corner of the right annex hall, scrutinizing every part of a set of beautiful ck armor that had just been manufactured by Hell.

    The battle armor was entirely formed out of blight vermin carapace, and it looked almost exactly the same as the Tigerform Battle Armor. The only differences were the changes proposed by Oda Nobunaga, coupled with the integration of modern forging technology in the production process.

    For instance, they had added fine scales to the originally smooth surface of the armor, primarily to strengthen its defenses to arrows and sh attacks. The irregrity in the surface of the armor was intended to reduce the effectiveness of the attack. Although the effects weren¡¯t substantial, even the slightest edge might still mean the difference between life and death on the battlefield.

    Qin Ye had also personally tested out the strength of the materials. The blight vermin carapace was so strong that it would only crack to a serious strike from an Anitya Hellguard. In other words, the purchase of each set of armor effectively meant adding a quasi-Hellguard to one¡¯s army! It was definitely going to be the pir of the feudal officials¡¯ forces in the future! If not for the fact that the situation called for it, Qin Ye would never have willingly sold these to external forces!

    Click¡­ Arthis¡¯ hair wrapped tightly around a small de, imbuing it with Yin energy as she added the finishing touches on the designs which were to be etched onto the surface of the armor. Finally, she stood up and heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°It¡¯s done. Notwithstanding that I¡¯m an Infernal Judge, this entire process has still taken me an entire month. Our production efficacy is still far too low without the Hall of Tremors.¡±

    ¡°The Hall of Tremors is something that we¡¯ll be constructing over the course of the imperial court meeting. It¡¯s to let the feudal officials realize that we¡¯ll have the capacity to develop more armaments, and better armaments in the future. Thanks for your hard work thus far.¡± Ignoring the scattered fragments of the blight vermin carapace on the ground, Qin Ye stepped forward and touched the pitch-ck armor excitedly.

    It looked almost simr to the Tigerform Battle Armor, but was most definitely an improved version of that.

    The tiger¡¯s head on the shoulders and chest pieces had been done away with and reced with pure, unadulterated protective guard tes. These guard tes were forged from Yin spirit stones that were ground down into a thin sheet. Furthermore, Arthis had personally etched the outline of Yin talismans onto each te in order to strengthen the overall defense it proffered. The heart of the breast te hid a small groove within, where one could insert a piece of Yin spirit stone norger than the size of a baby¡¯s fist. Likewise, if one opened up the guard tes around the pectorals, they would also see two hidden grooves stretching out towards the shoulder pieces.

    The shoulder pieces were pure ck shoulder tes that simrly also hid two grooves that could be boosted by the insertion of Yin spirit stones. It was precisely the synergistic effects of these Yin spirit stone grooves that imbued this entire set of battle armor with the effect of reducing the number of Yin spirits required to constitute a battle formation altogether. In other words, this was the crux to all of its effects.

    Aside from that, the New Tigerform Battle Armor, or New Tigerform in short, was covered with fine scales all over its surface. Furthermore, it adopted a streamlined design which was intended to minimize the effects of air resistance as a Yin spirit¡¯s speed increased. In fact, it even took into consideration the prospects of underwaterbat and reduced water resistance as well. Finally, the icing on the cake meant that even if its wearer rode a Yin spirit beast mount, his presence wouldn¡¯t slow down the Yin beast substantially.

    ¡°This is as good as it gets.¡± Qin Ye sighed, and suppressed his emotions as he lifted it with a single hand, before cing it onto the electronic scale to assess the weight of the entire battle armor.

    Ten pounds!

    It was only ten pounds!

    Its lightweight was one of the other benefits to using the blight vermin carapace in the production of this armor!

    Since time immemorial, it had always been understood that the heavier the armor, the stronger the defense. Such a heaven-defying outlier to the well-epted rule had only been possible because of the emergence of the blight vermin, a magical beast that only appears upon the destruction of the old Hell. Otherwise, one could never attain such an unbelievable effect, even with regr magical beasts in the various underworlds. After all, amensurately high defense would naturally require aparatively dense material.

    Qin Ye pressed gently on the bracers, and a gleaming de shot out from each of the deep grooves on the bracers. Just like humans bled when they were stabbed, Yin spirits leakedhermes when they were stabbed by the right tools.

    This is a spirit-ying armament¡­ Qin Ye finally removed his hand from the battle armor and drew a deep breath ¡°Zhao Seven.¡±

    A burly man standing tall at about 1.85m stepped into the room as soon as he was summoned, and promptly knelt onto the ground, ¡°Your humble servant is here.¡±

    ¡°Meet us at the back of Hell¡¯s Gate. Be in your best condition.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Within several minutes, everyone assembled at the back of Hell¡¯s Gate. Zhao Seven was already standing erect at the back like a javelin. As soon as he saw the New Tigerform, his eyes immediately lit up.

    However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t hand him the armor straight away. Instead, he ced his hand behind his back and asked, ¡°I heard that you¡¯re a thousand-menmander of the ck Armored Troops, and your martial valor precedes your name. Unfortunately, the ck Armored Troops disallows the use of full names, and you¡¯re therefore referred to by your surname and registration number.¡±

    ¡°Your humble servant doesn¡¯t deserve such praise.¡± Zhao Seven responded humbly, yet his eyes were simply staring transfixed at the suit of armor in front of him.

    It was only natural for all valiant soldiers to covet the strongest armors and weapons. Thus, his heart had already begun to thump wildly as soon as he saw the New Tigerform.

    This armor¡­ is stronger than the ck Armor of the ck Armored Troops¡­ If I only had these back then, then I¡­ would¡¯ve been able to dominate the battlefield with ease!

    ¡°We¡¯ll know whether you deserve such high praise in a moment or two.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°Put it on and give it a shot. I¡¯ve already prepared your opponents. Mr Oda, bring in your men.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga nodded and pped his hand. At once, a warrior wearing ancient Cathayan armor but wielding a long katana walked right over like a towering rock.

    ¡°This is one of my personal guards, Owari. Well then¡­ Lord Qin, shall we begin?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and Zhao Seven promptly changed into the new armor. As soon as he picked up the New Tigerform, his eyes gleamed brightly, and he gasped in shock.

    How light¡­

    How incredibly light!

    It had to be said that Zhao Seven was incredibly strong. Yet even when he pressed down on the armor with all of his might, the armor didn¡¯t even show the slightest trace of deformation.

    What the hell is this thing?!

    It¡¯s practically¡­ born to be used on the battlefield. If only the Tang Dynasty had ess to such incredible armor back then¡­ we would never have suffered so hard against the enemy forces.

    He put on the armor with mixed feelings in his heart. Then, with two loud ngs, two gleaming des emerged from his bracers. He closed his eyes and drew his attention to every part of the armor that his body was slowly getting ustomed to. Then, three minutester, he swung his fists about with a majestic flourish.

    Whoosh! The air trembled slightly, and his eyes gleamed brilliantly for the third time straight.

    He could finally move at ease. One of the greatest drawbacks to the ck Armored Troops was the fact that their armor was incredibly heavy and bulky. In pursuit of an imprable defense, all of them had put on a suit of armor that was almost half an inch thick. Naturally, they acted like mobile meat grinders on the battlefield, hacking and chopping clumsily at their foes. Unfortunately, the armor was too heavy, and it was difficult for them to move about nimbly. On the other hand, this set of battle armor¡­ allowed him to unleash strength for the very first time.

    Speed was the only absolute advantage in the disy of all martial arts. And he was now light on his feet, and swift in his movements.

    He took a deep breath, and then nodded solemnly to Oda Nobunaga. The warrior standing opposite ambled towards him, tightening his grip around the hilt of his katana. Yin energy flourished in an instant.

    ¡°Owari is adept in the arts of Yagyu-Shinkage-Ryu, and he particrly specializes in iaijutsu, otherwise known as sword-drawing. Everyone, I don¡¯t want any injuries. Zhao Seven, please be careful.¡± Oda Nobunaga took a step back, and then swung his hand down mightily, ¡°Begin!¡±

    As soon as the duel began, theherme in Owari¡¯s eyes immediately flickered wildly. His grip tightened around the hilt of his katana once more, and a fountain of Yin energy erupted from his body, enveloping the entire de as he promptly struck out at Zhao Seven across the waist.

    Zhao Seven desired to know the extent of the defensive capabilities of the armor more than anything. Furthermore, he knew that Owari was holding back on the first, probative strike. Thus, he didn¡¯t move at all.

    Iaijutsu capitalized on the momentary burst of energy when the de was drawn from the scabbard, allowing the sword to reach a new level of speed and power which wouldn¡¯t otherwise have been possible. However, Owari had clearly intentionally reduced his speed as soon as the de was unleashed.

    ng!

    There was a muffled sound. Qin Ye and Oda Nobunaga stared at the aftermath with widened eyes. There was a bright sh and a flurry of sparks as the katana struck the armor cleanly across its waist. However¡­ it didn¡¯t even leave a single trace on the armor, much less breach its incredible defense!

    How tough¡­ Owari whistled in awe as he sheathed his sword. He finally understood what he was up against. Thus, a split secondter, his de surged out of his scabbard like a roaring dragon, leaving innumerable afterimages in its wake. He was now striking at the armor with all of his might.

    It had to be said that he was truly worthy of being Oda Nobunaga¡¯s personal guard. This attack of his was so powerful that it even created a domain of des around him, cutting up the Paramnesia Flowers on the ground and reducing them to nothing but fine dust.

    Fast. Incredibly fast. It was so fast that the attack was nearly invisible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, Zhao Seven was even quicker.

    As soon as the de appeared, Zhao Seven¡¯s body had already vanished from the ground. The domain of des appeared for three full seconds, before it suddenly ceased abruptly.

    When the dust settled, Zhao Seven¡¯s de was already lying horizontally across Owari¡¯s neck. Owari chuckled bitterly, ¡°Lord Qin, I¡¯ve lost.¡±

    p, p, p. Qin Ye apuded, ¡°Great. Excellent!¡±

    ¡°Mr Owari, why do you think you¡¯ve lost?¡±

    Owari looked at Zhao Seven with great envy and responded without hesitation, ¡°Equipment.¡±

    ¡°My weapon can¡¯t even leave a mark on his armor, much less breach his defenses. Furthermore¡­¡± He smiled bitterly as he raised his hand and shook it with much ttering, ¡°My armor weighs approximately fifty pounds. It¡¯s impossible to move any quicker than I have with the current limitations. It¡¯s difficult to change stances or react to exigencies as well¡­ That said, I can¡¯t even begin to fathom what kind of material proffers that much defense, and yet weighs no more than a feather.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed with great emotion, and then turned to Zhao Seven, ¡°And how do you feel?¡±

    ¡°My lord! It¡¯s a divine set of armor!¡± Zhao Seven¡¯s voice trembled with excitement, ¡°It¡¯s astonishingly light¡­ The ck armor we wore used to weigh 47 kilograms. Every part of the armor is dense and solid, but we can wear it for an hour at best. This set of armor is simply liberating to use! Furthermore, its defense is simply unbelievable!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga nodded deeply, ¡°Soul Hunter versus Soul Hunter. Owari is one of the strongest subordinates under my charge, and it¡¯s astonishing that he can¡¯t even leave a mark on the armor. Furthermore, its weight is its greatest advantage. ording to historical records, Song Dynasty armors generally weigh 29 kilograms, while its regr soldiers wear armor that weigh 15 kilograms in total. On the other hand, the New Tigerform Battle Armor only weighs no more than 5 kilograms in all. It¡¯s basically god-tiered. Anyone who buys this will have an absolute edge over the other feudal officials who don¡¯t!¡±

    He sighed wistfully, ¡°Unfortunately, if not for the present situation at hand, I truly wouldn¡¯t have wanted such a divine armor to be circted among other factions who could potentially turn against us.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. After several seconds of deep deliberation, he turned to the audience once more and asked curiously, ¡°Then, everyone, if these were to be sold as armaments to foreign factions, do you think they would be willing to purchase it?¡±

    The first to respond wasn¡¯t Oda Nobunaga. Rather, it was Zhao Seven, who cupped his hands at Qin Ye with great emotion, ¡°Absolutely!! If this were the Tang Dynasty, even the emperor wouldn¡¯t have any hesitation emptying half of his treasury in order to obtain such a powerful artifact as this! Equip five thousand to ten thousand troops with this set of armor, and the Tigerform division would most certainly be able to stand toe to toe against all enemy forces, even if they were outnumbered five to one, against mounted soldiers!¡±

    ¡°¡®Willing¡¯ would be an understatement. They would practically be vying desperately for it.¡± Oda Nobunaga added, ¡°Especially since¡­ its lightness can truly bring out the advantages of mounted troops altogether. Whether impact, offensive capabilities or defensive capabilities, not even the renowned Song Dynasty spear formation can stand toe to toe against the possibilities offered by this set of battle armor!¡±

 Chapter 340: The Final Sprint (2)

    <h4>Chapter 340: The Final Sprint (2)</h4>

    Oda Nobunaga was a warlord, and his assessment of the armor couldn¡¯t be far off. Zhao Seven was a captain who was habitually sent to the frontlines of battlefields. Their unanimous affirmation of this set of armor meant that the final and most important preparatory work leading up to the uing imperial court meeting was finallyplete!

    That said, he knew that it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to convince the twelve envoys to transact with him. For that, he would need leverage - one whichy in benefits, otherwise known as armaments!

    Armaments that only Hell could manufacture and produce!

    ¡°I¡¯m truly looking forward to it¡­¡± He sighed and retracted his hand, ¡°I¡¯m already eagerly anticipating your arrival¡­¡±

    Speak of the devil!

    He immediately received it with great excitement. Incidentally, the survey form right at the top of the stack was filled out by none other than Chaghan, Lord of the Bamboo Region.

    ¡°What is the preferred mode of entertainment in your fiefdom? He didn¡¯t fill this one out. The options given were A: LOL. B: Mahjong. C: Naruto. D: Patty. In other words, his answer wouldn¡¯t have been any of the above¡­¡± His crafty, cunning eyes curled up brightly, and a crooked smile crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°Question 3: What is your favourite brand and fashion style? A: Tang style. B: Ming style. C: Armani. D: Paul Smith. Still no response? Ah! That¡¯s right! There wasn¡¯t the option of Yuan Dynasty style.¡±

    ¡°... Question 12: How well do you understand electricity? If Hell were supported by the infrastructure of electricity, which electronic appliance or amenities do you find to be of greatest importance? A: Computer. B: Cellphone. C: Television. D: Movies. ¡­ No response!¡±

    He read on quickly and soon arrived at the final, twenty-fifth question, only to realize there was still no response. Furthermore, there were a few words written at the end in striking red ink.

    Very good¡­ Qin Ye could practically hear his heart thumping out of his chest. Chaghan¡­ I sincerely hope you don¡¯t regret these callous words of yours at the imperial court meetingter on.

    Not at all!

    Without hesitation, he picked up the second sheet of paper and looked at it.

    He had responded to at least ten questions, far more than the previous questionnaire that Qin Ye had just skimmed through. However¡­ it still wasn¡¯t enough!

    Rustle, rustle, rustle¡­ One by one, Qin Ye looked through each and every one of the survey forms that were returned to him. Then, when he finally got to the response from the Lord of Lhavi, he paused for a moment.

    He didn¡¯t respond to a single question.

    The results were far better than he could have ever imagined!

    Arthis and Nobunaga shook their heads at the same time.

    Qin Ye turned around, and his eyes glinted with confidence as he smiled faintly at them, ¡°It began in 1970, and it saw the advent of electronics, televisions,puters and cellphones¡­ It brought us out of the age of energy proliferation and sent us hurtling straight into the age of information. In other words, we transitioned from televisions intoworks ofputers and the inte in just twenty-odd years. Do you think this movement merely represents the addition of one type of resource to the list of many? No! This is the age of information explosion! You can¡¯t begin to fathom how fearsome societal progress has been thesest twenty years if you haven¡¯t personally experienced life in the mortal realm in recent times.¡±

    He gazed into the distance and snorted contemptuously, ¡°They¡¯ve been busy butting heads with the three daolords in a desperate struggle for territory! They¡¯ve been trying so hard with the sole intention of getting back into the old Hell in order to seize Hell¡¯s legacy! And the only other thing they¡¯ve been doing is to look internally to cultivate their own forces!¡±

    And this single unified notion was none other than the notion of information inequality.

    They didn¡¯t know. Isn¡¯t this simply going to be a conference of sorts? What¡¯s most important is still the product that is the set of battle armor, isn¡¯t it? What else could we possibly achieve with a mere conference?

    Arthis and Oda Nobunaga nced at each other, and immediately followed behind Qin Ye.

    It waspletely different from the usual ancient styled building in the vicinity. This was something that looked no different from the citizens¡¯ assembly halls back in the mortal realm. That said, the present building was far smaller. The entire structure was constructed with white pirs. Qin Ye walked right up to its luxurious mahogany doors and pushed on it. Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes brightened up immediately, ¡°This is¡­¡±

    There were rows after rows of seats arranged in tiers within the building. Countless Yin spirits from Yin Construction were putting on the final touches on the interior of the hall.

    It was new and novel.

    But if Wang Chenghao were here, the design of the building would most certainly have been met with disdain. After all, wasn¡¯t this structure no different from the tiered lecture halls back from the First Academy of Cultivators? The only difference was that it was a slightly more upmarket and luxurious version of it.

    As Oda Nobunaga looked over, both the astonishment in his heart and the curiosity in his mind only continued to grow. The auditorium was small, yet it was incredibly gorgeous!

    The walls on both sides were adorned with relief sculptures. This was a style that had never been seen in ancient Cathay. After all, ancient Cathayan architecture wasrgely centered around the use of wood, and its designs tend to be atmospheric and elegant. Yet the decors in this building exuded apletely different kind of magnificence that he was used to, and the key to all of thisy in the marvelous relief sculptures that ran down the hallways in the building. It was almost as though they were transported to a corridor of myths and legends.

    A particr notion was already at his fingertips, and yet he didn¡¯t quite manage to grasp it in hand.

    ¡°In other words, we¡¯re showing the twelve envoys apletely different culture despite being of the same heritage. Think about it. What happens when a person who has immersed himself in the ancient Cathayan culture for thousands of years sees the majestic pyramid for the very first time? The kind of shock and amazement is far more impactful than you could ever imagine.¡±

    Arthis froze in shock. Her mind spun, and she immediately connected the dots, ¡°Are you talking about¡­ the luxury stores in the mortal realm? And those ancient premium luxury restaurants?¡±

    Bzzt!

    He finally understood. He finally understood it! That said, it still astounded him that a simpleunch event could be used to achieve such incredulous ends!

    Everything from beginning to end would be undergirded by top-quality service...He swept his gaze about the auditorium, taking in every bit of the new culture he could see¡­ And then, he shook his head helplessly.

    Suppressing the deep admiration in his heart, he cupped his hands respectfully to Qin Ye, ¡°Lord Qin, what do you call this masterstroke?¡±

    ¡°This is called advanced marketing science. Or, you could simply call it¡­ a dimensional strike.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes zed with passion, and he licked his lips avariciously, ¡°I¡¯m crushing the existing two-dimensional feudal lords with a whole new dimension of reality. With this¡­ I¡¯m confident of taking them down and reining them inpletely!¡±

    <hr>

    1. The third industrial revolution brought forth the rise of electronics, tels, andputers.

    2.

 Chapter 341: Feudal Officials Arrive

    <h4>Chapter 341: Feudal Officials Arrive</h4>

    Hell stirred with a feverish pitch.

    The new Hell had just been established, and yet they were being scrutinized by the sharp, incisive gazes of the twelve envoys around them¡­ The imperial edict summoning them back to the capital had already been issued. The ghostly citizens were overjoyed. After all, all Cathayans enjoyed such festivities and excitement - this was something that had been etched into the deepest parts of their marrows. Thus, when the full names of the twelve envoys were finally disclosed to all of them, they couldn¡¯t help but gasp in surprise.

    In contrast to the stirring excitement in the hearts of the citizens, Oda Nobunaga was already preparing his troops, day and night. Ever since five months ago, the First Battalion had already entered a period of full military regimentation, and none could leave or enter the barracks at their own whims and fancies. Thus, nobody was aware of what Hell was doing, or what direction it was headed.

    There was a fifty-meterrge stage situated at the front of the army camp. Oda Nobunaga sat on the stage in his armor, carrying a small banner in his hand. With each wave of the banner, the Yin soldiers below would transition into the next martial stance. Nobunaga¡¯s personal guards and the Umamawari horse guards would then weave in and out of the ranks and files with whips immting with mes, and anyone who was caughtzing around would be ¡°gently reminded¡± with a softshing.

    The Nipponese warriors had already picked up the basics of thenguage of thend over thest half a year.

    It was a bird formed out of Yin energy.

    This was the mostmonly seen means ofmunication in Hell. Those who have attained the rank of an Infernal Judge would possess the ability to create such Yin messenger birds. Furthermore, the intended recipient would immediately know the identity of the sender from theherme that these birds were branded with.

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly lifted his hand, ¡°Rest for half an hour. Murai-kun, Nobutada,e here for a moment.¡±

    They¡¯re here¡­ These were two simple words, and yet they caused the hairs on Murai Sadakatsu¡¯s and Oda Nobutada¡¯s back to stand on end!

    The famous twelve envoys that the old Hell has stationed overseas are finally returning to the new Hell!

    The mere thought of such prospects stirred such great excitement in them that they simply couldn¡¯t contain themselves.

    ¡°Presumptuous!¡± Oda Nobunaga mmed down onto the table and continued with a deep, booming voice, ¡°Our soldiers haven¡¯t once spilled blood, and yet you¡¯re already suggesting squaring off against these famous warlords? Are you trying to put Hell in a difficult position?¡±

    With that, Oda Nobutada and Murai Sadakatsu left to disseminate thetest set of instructions. Oda Nobunaga took a deep breath, straightened out his clothes, and then transformed into ahergale and flew straight to Hell¡¯s gate.

    Arthis raised her hand, and everyone vanished from where they were, before promptly appearing on the rooftop.

    Nobody responded.

    After all, each and every single one of these warlords were formidable opponents in their own rights!

    He turned around and gazed at everyone, ¡°This is the first diplomatic interaction of the new Hell.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡± Everyone, including Arthis, responded in earnest.

    The others promptly transformed into ahergale and went about on their duties. On the other hand, Qin Ye simply sat down on the roof, squinting at the dark canopy of the skies.

    The sky appeared to depict the calm before the storm. For the very first time, the skies above his head wasced with traces of red, almost as though a tide of blood were washing into the new Hell from its surroundings. The Yin clouds in the sky were swirling about slowly, forming a dark hole in the sky. The sky was originally filled with red, green and white spots ofhermes. That said, the only colours that remained were the whitehermes that continued to swirl eerily around the vortex of clouds in the sky.

    Whoosh¡­ A peculiar wind swept from nowhere, causing Qin Ye¡¯s clothes to flutter about wildly.

    It then tilted up, almost as though it were looking into the canopy of the skies, ¡°Every underworld has its own unique colour. You¡¯ll understand what I meanter. You¡¯ll be able to distinguish the underworld that they hail from through the unique colour of their Yin energy, For instance, the present red colour in the sky signifies the approach of evil ghosts - Infernal Judges in particr. And it¡¯s precisely because they¡¯re approaching from all directions that the vortex has appeared in the sky.¡±

    After all, those who wereing weren¡¯t riffraff like Cao Youdao. They were feudal officials! Those who had maintainedw and order in their fiefdoms for some time! It was naturally far better to err on the side of caution!

    Dong, dong, dong¡­ Hell¡¯s main road - the one that extended out from Hell¡¯s Gate - was suddenly flooded with a great stream of Yin energy. Suddenly, everything became neat and orderly. The Yin energy drove all of the citizens to the side, followed closely by the government officials of Hell. Cordons were promptly set up, and an announcement was made to the citizens who were stirring with great excitement that anyone who came within a twenty meter radius of the cordon tapes would be killed without inquisition!

    They had already put on their imposing armor. It was massive, clunky and ugly. They were worlds apart from the New Tigerform Battle Armor. With their armor, each soldier stood at two meters tall, and they stood fifteen meters apart from each other. They rested their long polearms on the ground and stood unmoving on both sides of the road like ck iron pylons.

    Then, arge bundle of red carpet unrolled itself from the mouth of Hell¡¯s Gate, spreading out neatly across the entire toad. Two rows of female ghosts in ancient-style attendant uniforms drifted out from Hell¡¯s Gate, each of whom was toting a pcemp burning with a green me, and they arranged themselves neatly in front of the ck Armored Troops. The Yin spirits working on both sides of the road immediately paused and nced over curiously.

    BOOM!!

    Yin soldiers!

    tter, tter¡­ The new Hell came to aplete standstill. The deeply unsettling sound of innumerable soldiers crossing the void and entering the realms of the new Hell resounded like a distant tsunami that was pounding towards them. Back in Hell¡¯s Gate, Oda Nobunaga took a deep breath. His expression was deep and intense. With a single wave of his hand, the Yin soldiers under hismand scattered, swift as mercury, as they took their positions among the rest of the citizens of Hell, where they promptly surrounded Hell¡¯s Gate.

    But now was hardly time to analyze these things. She waved her hand, and copious amounts of paper money filled the air as she turned back into her true form of a Rakshasady. Then, ahergale swept over, sending her straight to the entrance of Hell.

    ¡°Lord Yu Qian of Lhavi.¡± ¡°Lord Yang Jiye of Luzon has answered the summons.¡±

    Qin Ye shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and transformed into ahergale and rushed to the entrance as well.

    There was no need to run, and no need to hide. The new Hell was here to stay, and it was going to wee all of its previous vassal states with open arms! This was the kind of magnanimity and chivalry that was befitting of Hell after all!

 Chapter 342: Convergence of Dragons (1)

    <h4>Chapter 342: Convergence of Dragons (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye soon caught up with Arthis, and they continued dashing forward together. Hell was shrouded in dead silence right now. Both Arthis and Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother exchanging nces. They simply stared straight forward, into the dark cloud in the sky, where a twisted, scarlet vortex had just appeared.

    It was massive.

    It was approximately fifty meters tall, and it looked no different from a bloody rift.

    ¡°Whateveres our way, you have to remain calm.¡± The two leaders of Hell had already transformed back to their Emissary state, and Arthis¡¯ hair scattered about menacingly as they continued forward. She cautioned, ¡°The specialties of each underworld is different from the other, and it¡¯s simply impossible to predict what exactly they are. That said¡­ you probably wouldn¡¯t worry about these things with the heart that you have in any event.¡±

    Is this your final attempt at suppressing the stifling tension here? Qin Ye smiled faintly, while his wildly thumping heart gradually softened.

    That¡¯s right. We¡¯re the mainstream Emissaries of Hell. I¡¯m diligent, I lead by example, and I inspire confidence in my subjects. So why should I feel such great apprehension when I¡¯m simply about to meet some of the old subordinates of Hell?

    As the blood vortex drew closer and closer, it appeared no different from a thin veil that separated two worlds, almost as though it were fading in and out of existence. Bunches of yellow paper money began to scatter across the skies and drift down from above. Countless eyes on either side of the immeasurable thin veil locked onto the other for the very first time.

    There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of hesitation as both Qin Ye and Arthis continued rushing forward. A split secondter, a world of ck and white opened up in front of their very eyes.

    The earth appeared white, while the surroundings appeared ck. Copious amounts of Yin energy fluctuated at the borders, causing the entire realm that had opened up to look almost illusory altogether. A massive shadow appeared to be wrigging and stirring in the depths of the darkness. But, more importantly, two sets of neatly arranged armies were situated right at the front of thesends that had opened up. Yin soldiers that numbered to the tune of tens of thousands stood neatly on the ins in front of their very eyes.

    Each of these Yin soldiers wore fine armor and wielded a spear in their arms as they stood their ground silently. From a distance, the countless flickeringhermes zing from their illusory figures appeared no different from a great wall of Yin soldiers. And that¡¯s not all - there were even ten 20-meter tall, oddly shaped Yin spirit beasts that were interspersed among the ranks of the Yin soldiers!

    These Yin beasts were all lying prone on the ground. They looked like cows, but there was a single long horn that grew straight out of their forehead, resembling a goat¡¯s horn. The muscles on their bodies revealed the pallor of death, twisting and weaving about like a pile of tangled corpses. Numerable scarlet eyes gleamed on both sides of its body, the pupils of which pulsated with turquoisehermes. Numerous ropes were tied to its body, tethering it to an exquisite, carved box.

    They were an oppressively imposing force.

    Standing against such a mighty force felt no different from squaring off against a monstrous tsunami or a sea of des. Such a stifling presence wasn¡¯t something that could be easily expressed in words.

    That said, the powerful forces stood obediently behind two majestic figures.

    One of these figures was dressed no differently from a Ming Dynasty official, sporting high cheekbones, white eyebrows and a white beard. The other wore the armor of a martial general from the Song Dynasty. As soon as Qin Ye showed up, the two Yin ghosts trembled slightly. Then, after sensing the Yin energy from Qin Ye, they promptly half-knelt to the ground, bellowing thunderously with voices that did nothing to hide their slight measure of surprise, ¡°Your loyal subjects, Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, pays their respects to the new King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    Rumble! As soon as the two men knelt down, the tens of thousands of Yin soldiers behind them promptly got on one knee after their master, repeating with a thunderous echo, ¡°Greetings, King Yanluo! Long live King Yanluo!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Ahergale swept violently through thends, sending the paper money in the air scattering about wildly. Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and stood tall in front of the two historical legends known for their unending loyalty, and he did everything he could to prevent his mind from being coloured by the assessment of these people from the history books. Then, after some time, he finally spoke up, ¡°Yu Qian, also known as Yu Shaobao. After the battle of Tumu, you learnt of the ambush against Emperor Yingzong of Ming, consolidated your forces southwards to assist the Ming capital, where you personally took to the battlefields, leading an army of 220,000 arrayed outside the nine gates of the capital against the advance of the Oirat invaders. When the Oirat invaders held Emperor Yingzong hostage and attempted to force a peace treaty, you famously dered that the stability of society was greater than the life of a leader. Because of that, you wereter falsely used of treason and executed.¡±

    Then, Qin Ye turned his head to the middle-aged man holding his helmet and half-kneeling on the other side, ¡°Yang Ye, reputable general of the Northern Song Dynasty, also nicknamed Invincible Yang. You defeated the Liao army at the Yanmen Pass and shocked the Khitans. Subsequently, you were forced to a greatly disadvantageous battlefield by a corrupt official Wang Shen, where you died valiantly in battle. You were posthumously awarded the title of grandmandant and the military governor of the Datong Command. You can be said to be the ancestor that set the Yang n¡¯s name into the annals of history. Both of you¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then ambled down, ncing down at the two famous historical figures who were still kneeling on the ground as he quipped, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Why are you here?

    Are you here in response to the summons for the imperial court meeting? Or do you harbour ulterior motives, and are prepared to draw a clear line demarcating the boundaries between your underworld and Hell altogether?

    Yu Qian, dressed in his crimson garments of a great official immediately responded while keeping his head bowed low, ¡°The new Hell has been established, and it only stands to reason that it continues to be worshipped by all who are around. Without any instructions from the new Hell, I¡¯vee bearing tributes in ordance with the standing taxation system of the old Hell, where the state would take a 50% tax from the produce of itsnds of which a fifth would be set aside for the old Hell as tribute. This is a hundred years¡¯ worth of tribute from the Lhavi underworld, and its value amounts to 10 billion Yin spirit stones. My lord, please verify. Gao Yue.¡±

    One of the Yin soldiers standing behind him, wearing a simr red uniform, walked out and cupped his hands respectfully to Qin Ye. What was noteworthy was the fact that the Yin soldier didn¡¯t even lift his head once to look Qin Ye in the eye. The Yin soldier quickly shuffled forward to Yu Qian¡¯s side and half-knelt down, opened a scroll and began to read softly, ¡°Reporting to King Yanluo. The following is the production report of the Lhavi underworld: Ten Mountain Beasts, five thousand tons of Yin spirit stones, fifty tons of sunken Yin wood, one ton of stone of reincarnation, one ton of water of extreme Yin, a hundred trunks of secret virtues¡­¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word, and simply allowed Gao Yue to continue with his report for the next few minutes. He didn¡¯t really listen to the report either. He simply gazed at the Yin beasts that were carrying boxes and crates of all shapes and sizes with a slightly drifty feeling in his heart. Then, when Gao Yue was finally done, he finally spoke with a profound tone of voice, ¡°Both lords, please rise.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yu Qian and Yang Jiye got up at the same time. But as soon as they straightened their backs, Qin Ye¡¯s somewhat inaudible voice suddenly sounded in their ears, ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    Anything else?

    Yu Qian and Yang Jiye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly. This time, it was Yang Jiye who responded with a firm resolution in his voice, ¡°Your Majesty, it doesn¡¯t matter how many of the feudal officials are eager to turn against Hell. We¡­ we¡¯ll always stand on the side of the new Hell!¡±

    Yu Qian echoed in a cold voice, ¡°How dare these Cathayan spirits plot against Hell after death?! So long as Your Majesty gives the word, we¡¯ll do everything it takes to take down the traitors of Hell, even if it means throwing ourselves into the zing furnace!¡±

    ¡°Only Hell should rule over the Cathayan underworld! All other existences are nothing but heretics and apostates! There can only be one ruler in the subterranean reaches of Cathay!¡±

    This was a pledge of allegiance!

    They were the first feudal officials to express their allegiance to Hell! Their previous assessment of these feudal officials weren¡¯t wrong after all!

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at the two men and nodded faintly.

    Unfortunately, their pledge of allegiance thus far was no more than lip service.

    Even if he were 99% certain that they were wholeheartedly loyal to Hell, Qin Ye still wasn¡¯t willing to take his chances with the remaining 1% chance that they were in fact disloyal.

    ¡°I sincerely hope that is the case.¡± He responded calmly, ¡°Both of you, follow me into the city. Everyone else can wait outside¡­¡±

    He turned his gaze to the ranks of Yin soldiers stationed outside, ¡°Hold your ground. All who enter the city without my permission shall be summarily executed for treason!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Yu Qian and Yang Jiye nodded solemnly to each other.

    ording to their intelligence, the new King Yanluo of Hell was no older than twenty years old. If this were ancient Cathay, it would be no different from having the imperial throne up for grabs, and everyone with some measure of backing behind them would most certainly be vying for supremacy. Such chaos in theherworld could very well spell disaster for the billion or so citizens in Cathay!

    There were three daolords within and twelve envoys without. In other words, Cathay¡¯s underworld was fraught with threats and issues both internally and externally. Under such circumstances, it was undoubtedly wise to disallow all troops from entering the city. Furthermore, they could tell that Qin Ye¡¯smand was absolute and non-negotiable. In fact, they would have found the present King Yanluo of Hell somewhat too rash had he believed their pledge of allegiance right from the onset. This would be their first time meeting after all. Thus, they weren¡¯t displeased by Qin Ye¡¯s probative questions at all.

    They knew all too well that actions speak louder than words, and the best way to prove themselves was to be the sword in the hands of their master!

    Thus, they resolved in their hearts to cut down any subjects that showed the slightest measure of insubordination!

    Even if it meant¡­ turning their des against their former colleagues.

    ¡°If they could even be considered colleagues to begin with.¡± Yang Jiye gazed icily into the distance, ¡°After all, wouldn¡¯t colleagues be more than happy to stand on our side? The unrivalled spear technique of the Yang n¡­ hasn¡¯t spilled blood for hundreds of years now¡­ Eh?¡±

    As he spoke, his eyes suddenly flickered with a cold gleam.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone around immediately noticed something amiss, and they turned to gaze into the darkness in the sky once more.

    Whoosh¡­ Thehergale howled violently, while the amount of paper money scattering through the air slowly increased, more and more, until it filled the entire skies. Then, a soft sound cut through the tranquil dark skies, growing louder and louder until it finally resounded like explosive thunder!

    Dong, dong, dong!

    The beat of the drums sounded in unison, sending deafening tremors vibrating through the entire new Hell. A secondter, seven pairs of huge pupils lit up in the darkness with strikinghermes. Then, seven terrifying waves of Yin energy swept towards them in an instant!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Arthis gasped deeply, ¡°Infernal Judges¡­ seven Infernal Judges! These are¡­ these are all feudal officials! There are actually seven feudal officials who have arrived at the same time! Who the hell are they?!¡±

    Yang Jiye was the first one to react to the situation, ¡°Stand in formation!!¡± In an instant, trumpets sounded among their armies. It was only at this instant that it dawned on Qin Ye how the two separate armies were bothmanded by Yang Jiye alone. Yu Qian had obviously ceded control to him.

    ¡°Prepare to meet the enemy forces!!¡± As soon as Yang Jiye shouted, he transformed into a swifthergale and dashed to the tallest Mountain Beast, and a spot ofherme simultaneously ignited in his hands. The previously silent Yin soldiers immediately echoed back in unison, ¡°Yes!!¡±

    tter!

    A split secondter, they all lowered their stances. The row of Yin soldiers standing in front raised a meter-tall shield in front of them, forming an impable wall of shields, allowing just enough gaps between the shields for three rows of pikes to jut out neatly with their tips pointing forward. It didn¡¯t take them more than an instant to adopt a threeyered defensive pike formation!

    This was the textbook counter to all iing cavalry forces. Any cavalry that charged straight towards the newly formed hedgehog of pikes would almost certainly be killed and wounded in an instant.

    Dong, dong, dong¡­ They were getting closer and closer! Arthis picked Qin Ye up and lifted him fifty meters into the air. They could now see that the Yin clouds in the sky were roiling so much that they appeared to be boiling and bubbling. The deafening sounds only grew louder and clearer as time slowly passed. Then, approximately ten secondster a thunderous tremor erupted from the skies! Seven dark-coloured Yin horses carrying two-meter high banners on their backs erupted from the roiling clouds of Yin energy! Their bodies were shrouded with dense Yin energy, while countless paper money fluttered in the sky all around them.

    The banners on their backs were all different in colour. And it was precisely because Qin Ye noticed the difference in colours that his heart immediately sank.

    ¡°Lord Guo Ziyi of the Khmer Empire!¡± ¡°Lord Chang Yuchun of Siam!¡± ¡°Lord Ma Yuan of Birmania!¡± ¡°Lord Liu Yu of Hanyang!¡± ¡°Lord Han Qinhu of Sanfotsi!¡± ¡°Lord Gao Changgong of Jiaozhi!¡± ¡°Lord Chaghan Temur of the Bamboo Region!¡±

    Seven of them¡­

    As soon as he noticed Liu Yu amongst their midst, Qin Ye immediately knew that this faction of powers was never going to stand on his side.

    Yet¡­ to think that there were seven feudal officials who had joined forces at the same time!

    To make matters worse, Guo Ziyi, Chang Yuchun and Han Qinhu, whom he had previously anticipated were likely to be friendly forces, weren¡¯t on his side either!

    1. First mentioned in Chapter 294.

    2. Not to be confused with the title or de of being actually invincible.

    3.

 Chapter 343: Convergence of Dragons (2)

    <h4>Chapter 343: Convergence of Dragons (2)</h4>

    That said¡­ he hadn¡¯t expected there to be so many disloyal feudal officials, much less that they would actually join hands to speak with a louder voice!

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have the time to consider these things any longer. Thehergale billowed powerfully, causing the seven banners representing each of the allied powers to flutter wildly in the wind. Each of these banners were embroidered with the same majestic soaring dragon on them. And as soon as the ranks of Yin soldiers appeared, the Yin cloud behind them¡­ breached its dike.

    From a distance, they appeared no different from a rushing ck tide, save for the fact that the front row of armors were brightly lit from within with a greenherme. A split secondter, the tens of thousands of Yin soldiers hidden in the ck tide of Yin energy behind the first row of cavalrymen suddenly flickered on with eerie greenhermes as well.

    Rumble! As the thousands of cavalrymen rushed right over, the paper money in the air began to scatter even more wildly. The sound made by the multitude of trampling hooves were so stifling that they may as well have been trampling directly on their hearts. Yet, these sounds only stirred the boiling blood that was in Qin Ye¡¯s heart, because he knew whose army constituted the vanguard forces.

    ¡°This is¡­ the Iron Stupa!¡± He grunted under his breath. The ferocious charge of iron-armored cavalrymen was typical of that of the Mongol Empire. This was naturally something that could only have been done by the Mongol feudal official.

    They were maintaining their own armies!

    He could only sense the Yin energy signatures of seven Infernal Judges, and yet the number of soldiers under theirmand numbered well in the region of a hundred thousand altogether! Wasn¡¯t this a show of great disrespect to the old Hell? Wasn¡¯t this an affront to his existence as the King Yanluo of Hell?!

    But ever since he had fully embraced his station as the new King Yanluo, and after investing so much in the revivification of Hell, he truly and sincerely felt wrath and indignation surge from the depths of his heart.

    And it was an active murderous intent at that.

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and suppressed the stirring indignation in his heart. Secondster, he finally opened his eyes once more and sneered coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not suicidal.¡±

    For the next twenty minutes, the Yin cloud in the sky looked no different from a rift to the underworld, and countless spots of eeriehermes continued to pour out of the darkness, only to join the torrent of armed forces that were already lining up in rank and file. Nobody had expected the twelve envoys to possess such depth of forces. A hundred thousand strong army¡­ was more than sufficient to sweep through the other nations in the regions, all the way through to the Spice Inds! And to think that all of these forces were now pointing their spears and edges directly towards Hell!

    Ka-ka-ka! Sharp ming arrows were strung to their bows in an instant. If the Iron Stupa represented the ferocious rush of a roaring river, then Yang Jiye¡¯s troops represented the great immovable dam that stood in the way of their charge. Within moments, the vanguard forces of Chaghan had already drawn as close as fifty meters from Yang Jiye¡¯s forces, well within the optimum striking range of his bows and arrows.

    A deste wind swept through thends, tousling Yu Qian¡¯s white beard even as he remained rooted to the ground, firm as a rock. After all, he had personally been involved in the battle of Tumu, when the enemy forces had even abducted his then-emperor. Sights like these were dime a dozen in his wealth of personal experience.

    There was no hesitation in their hearts.

    tter, tter¡­ clop! But at exactly fifty meters away, all of the war horses raised their front hooves, before mming it straight back onto the ground in unison. A great tter of hooves echoed endlessly through the still silence of Hell. A secondter, seven huge processions, replete with earth-shattering auras of Yin energy emerged from the darkness in the sky. Each of these processions were formed by hundreds of Yin spirits. With a cacophony of soft bangs, bundles of paper money were scattered into the air like confetti, as though they were dering the arrival of a majestic, otherworldly being.

    Whoosh¡­ The cavalry held their ground firmly. After some time, azy voice resembling that of an ancient eunuch called out from the darkness, ¡°Lord of the Khmer Empire, Guo Ziyi, answers the call of Hell¡¯s summons.¡± ¡°Lord of Siam, Chang Yuchun, answers the call of Hell¡¯s summons.¡± ¡°Lord of Hanyang, Liu Yu, answers the call of Hell¡¯s summons.¡± ¡°Lord of Bagan, Ma Fubo.¡± ¡°Lord of Sanfotsi, Han Qinhu.¡± ¡°Lord of Jiaozhi, Gao Changgong.¡± ¡°Lord of the Bamboo Region, Chaghan.¡±

    Seals¡­

    Therein lies the mark of a Yama-King¡¯s soulfire - all evil shall disperse!

    ¡°Naturally. But it¡¯s best that you shelve any designs for it right now. This isn¡¯t something that they would willingly hand over. Rather than obsessing over such things, why don¡¯t you¡­ take a good look at these feudal officials before you right now?¡± Arthis¡¯ voice carried a trace of fury and wrath. Qin Ye lowered his gaze from the gleaming seals in the skies above, and then, his eyes began twitching uncontrobly.

    The seven feudal officials weren¡¯t in their Hell¡¯s Emissary state either. Instead, they were simply dressed in the mboyant clothes and adorned with the exquisite perfumes that they had previously been buried with. Unfortunately, these did nothing to mask the stench of decay emanating from their bodies and plethora of livor mortis spots covering their skin. Not even someone who loved beauty as much as Lord Gao Changgong deigned to shirk that disgusting appearance of his.

    Such tant provocation caused Qin Ye¡¯s pupils to shrink intently. Nevertheless, he suppressed the raging fury in his heart and continued to observe them cidly.

    Each set of procession was surrounded by dozens of carriages, including a guiding carriage, a drum carriage, a white heron carriage, a luan banner carriage, a warding carriage, a pavilion carriage, and so on and so forth. Each of these carriages were drawn by four horses. A glorious mobile imperial residence was located in the middle of each procession, carried by hundreds of Yin spirits on their shoulders.

    But who was the true lord and master of Hell?

    How could she not be infuriated?

    You¡¯ve got nothing over us, whether seniority, cultivation nor wealth and resources. So, what gives you the right for this?

    Look at the glory and splendour of our fiefdoms. Are none of theseparable to the newly established, raggedy Hell that you stand for right now? We¡¯ve chosen to present ourselves in this form in order to register our disdain. After all, what right does a young Hell in a state of disrepair, led by a prepubescent youngster who calls himself the nominal King Yanluo, have to summon us back in our Emissarial forms?

    But our fiefdom¡¯s wealth and our present cultivation is still realms above yours. So what use is that meagre effort of yours? We¡¯re giving you face here. You¡¯d best be good and cross our names from Hell¡¯s Record once and for all. Otherwise¡­ don¡¯t me us for doing more than just knocking on your door and giving you a tight p across the cheek.

    After all, only they knew just how much they had sacrificed for the development of the new Hell thus far.

    ¡°The only thought on their minds is the fact that their escape from Ksitigarbha¡¯s clutches is tantamount to an endorsement to their existence. But haven¡¯t they considered what it means to have their names still etched in the annals of Hell¡¯s records?!¡± Arthis¡¯ expressions were ashen, and she ground her teeth coldly in seething rage, ¡°These ingrates¡­ To think that their heart and minds would stray so far from the path after merely a hundred years. Impertinence¡­ Insolence!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Stupa is Sanskrit for a mound-like structure.

    2. The eastern inds of Indonesia, not to be confused with Sumatra.

    3. Ancient capital of Burma.

 Chapter 344: Convergence of Dragons (3)

    <h4>Chapter 344: Convergence of Dragons (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a single word. In fact, he maintained an indifferent expression as he cidly swept a cold gaze across the seven seals high up in the sky.

    Terrific¡­ truly terrific. I¡¯ve lived for a hundred years, but I¡¯ve never once been trampled into the mud with such condescending provocation. These feudal officials truly have no regard for who I am!

    Then¡­ let¡¯s see who gets thestugh at the end of this imperial court meeting!

    The seven seals in the air glistened for several moments, almost as though they were showing off to Qin Ye the glory orded to each their own names. And then, before Qin Ye could give the order, they retracted back to where they hade from.

    Not a single question was asked of him.

    They didn¡¯t even deign to look to the nominal master of Hell for permission to do so.

    Qin Ye smiled.

    A tense silence filled the air for some time, before Liu Yu suddenly snickered, ¡°Yu Qian, Yang Jiye¡­ to think that I¡¯d even personally invited you to Hanyang for a short discussion. Is this your response to my invitation?¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be good for us to cross swords, would it?¡±

    Yet the only response which Liu Yu got was an instant consolidation of the spear formation, and an air of sobriety so dense that everyone could sense it.

    ¡°Liu Yu!¡± Yang Jiye responded without flinching in the slightest, ¡°King Yanluo is standing right in front of you. How dare you refuse to pay respects to him?! Do you still call yourself a feudal official of Hell?!¡±

    ¡°Oh? King Yanluo is here?¡± A somewhat effeminate voice drifted over from where Lord Gao Changgong of Jiaozhi was seated. That said, it hardly bore any trace of emotions at all, ¡°Why don¡¯t I see him?¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, a gruffughter echoed out from elsewhere, ¡°Haha, besides, since when has King Yanluo of Hell ever ced us meagre feudal officials in his sight? We¡¯ve not even had the luxury of crossing paths with the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces. So why would King Yanluo of Hell suddenly think about us? Weren¡¯t we always entertained by some insignificant officials of Hell whenever we answered the summons for the imperial court meetings and returned to pay tribute? Is Hell unable to delegate such menial tasks anymore? Does King Yanluo of Hell have to personally make an appearance for such matters? Where¡¯s his jade chariot? Where are the six banners of his majesty? Or are you telling me that¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then chuckled coldly, ¡°Hell isnguishing in the ruts of poverty right now? So much so that it even needs the help of its vassal states?¡±

    Another man quipped, ¡°And I¡¯ve heard that the new King Yanluo of Hell isn¡¯t older than twenty years of age?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ There would always be drawbacks to such interim appointments. After all, Hell is starting from scratch, ¡°Another voice chimed in, ¡°To think that the former glories and splendour of the old Hell has fallen to the extent of begging for scraps. But that¡¯s fine¡­ tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ If King Yanluo is truly around, then please send someone to receive our tributes. We were once a family after all, and it¡¯s difficult for us to sit around, watching the new Hell grit its teeth and endure such hardships on its own¡­ I¡¯ve brought 100,000 Yin spirit stones. I sincerely hope King Yanluo doesn¡¯t take issue with that¡­¡±

    Arthis¡¯ expressions twitched and contorted with great fury.

    What ingrates. To think that they would turn around and bite the hands that fed them for such a long time. To think that the feudal officials would have developed such inted egos after being unchecked for merely hundred years! 100,000 Yin spirit stones on ount for a hundred-year tribute?! Are you paying off a beggar?!

    ¡°Insolence!!¡± A sonorous voice thundered in response, startling Arthis. This was something already on the tip of her tongue, and yet the man who spoke these words took the words right out of her mouth.

    It was Yu Qian.

    ¡°Hell is the rightful authority of the Cathayan underworld. Without the official conferment of title from Hell, we¡¯re no different from the evil ghosts around us. If you¡¯re not here to pledge allegiance to the new Hell, then¡­ what exactly are your purposes foring?¡± Palpable murderous intent poured out from his body, transforming into a ferociousherwind that rushed over to the hundred thousand Yin soldiers lined up right in front of him. His Yin energy began to rush out like a rising tide, and thehermes in his eyes flickered wildly as he continued to speak with a chilling voice, ¡°Unless¡­ you¡¯re trying to take advantage of Hell¡¯s weakness right now?¡±

    ¡°Hell is the orthodox underworld, and it shall not condone foreign influences that attempt to undermine its authority! An instance of infraction, a life of requital! These are the ancient adages of Hell promulgated by the first King Yanluo of Hell. Have you already forgotten these things?!¡±

    ¡°Yu Qian.¡± The gruff voice responded with a cold chuckle, ¡°Just you and which army?¡±

    His voice carried with it a palpable sense of bloodthirstiness, ¡°Or are you suggesting that I, Chaghan, won¡¯t be able to take you down?¡±

    Boom!

    As they spoke, the hundred thousand Yin cavalrymen gradually lowered their stances and prepared their polearms so that they were ready to charge at the moment¡¯s notice. Simultaneously, Yang Jiye¡¯s army drew their bows and raised their swords and spears.

    They were on the verge of a great sh of powers!

    Paper money fluttered endlessly through the sky, while the rest of thends were shrouded in pindrop silence.

    The illusory bodies of the multitudes of Yin soldiers squared off against each other like two endless great walls. Qin Ye¡¯s gaze narrowed. Even though he had already expected the rebellious envoys to bring their armies along to the imperial court meeting, standing toe to toe against a tide of Iron Stupas and a reserve army to the tune of a hundred thousand Yin soldiers was somethingpletely different. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of apprehension surge in his heart.

    Twang¡­ Just then, the tension in the atmosphere was abruptly broken by the sound of a zither.

    A series of plucking notes soon followed, stringing together a melodious tune as tranquil and soothing as the sight of a flock of migratory birds flying in formation. A calm voice spoke from the darkness, ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s been a hundred years. We¡¯re all acquaintances, so is there really a need for all of this?¡±

    The interjection suddenly loosened the tension in the air like the release of a tightly wound clockwork. Everyone turned towards the direction of the zither. A split secondter, a series of thumping beats slowly pounded into existence, growing louder and louder as it sent tremors of increasing magnitudes throughout thend.

    It wasn¡¯t the sound of arge army.

    Rather, it was more akin to something massive that was stomping on the ground. The dark Yin clouds billowed wildly, and then six ten-meterrge pupils suddenly ignited withhermes in the deep darkness of the skies.

    It was as though a colossal being were approaching them from the darkness, drawing closer and closer with each pound and tremor. Everyone narrowed their eyes at the terrifying phenomenon, only to realize that an endless field ofhermes had just lit up right behind the sixrge pupils.

    Whoosh¡­ Three heads finally emerged from the overcast skies. They weren¡¯t living creatures. Rather, they appeared more mechanical than they were organic. Two of the mechanical beasts bore the heads of oxen, while the third resembled a horse. Their hundred-meter tall bodies soon followed, emerging from the clouds as they made their way straight to the aisle between which the two factions of forces were arrayed against each other.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye stared at the incredible sight before his eyes. The bodies of the mechanical beasts were shackled and bound with countless chains, and stered all over with innumerable talismans. They appeared no different from a moving fortress of sorts. Due to their size, the armies that were lined up on both sides subconsciously pulled back like the receding tide, leaving a great buffer zone of hundreds of meters between them. Naturally, the tension between the two forces was finally dissipated.

    The deste sound of trumpets resounded from the back of the mechanical beasts. There were innumerable tumor-like blocks on the back of their bodies, and each of these blocks were zing with endlesshermes within. It was evident that thousands more Yin soldiers had arrived. Moreover, threerge banners on the back of the beast fluttered in the wind - ¡°Lord Zhou of Tangming¡±, ¡°Lord Wang of Singapura¡±, and ¡°Lord Ban of Mya¡±.

    Thest three feudal officials had finally arrived!

    Zhou Yu, Ban Chao and Wang Meng!

    Dong!!

    The ground trembled violently as the three mechanical beasts slowly came to a halt in the buffer zone between the two forces. Then, with a stiff, mechanical sound, their bodies leaned forward, and they bent down andy prone on the ground, transforming into a great mechanical wall that separated the forces of both factions,pletely sequestering them from each other.

    After a protracted period of silence, Liu Yu finally asked, ¡°Zhou Gongzin, Ban Dingyuan, Wang Meng¡­ what is the meaning of this?¡±

    Although they had separated the two forces from each other, the three feudal officials who had just arrived likewise remained mounted on their war beasts. A cold, clear voice responded to Liu Yu¡¯s pointed query, ¡°Nothing much. Are you¡­ truly not afraid of the Heavenly Dao?¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you guys ever considered the fact that the Heavenly Dao has refrained from any actions ever since the establishment of the new Hell? Do you know what that amounts to?¡±

    ¡°It means that they have recognized the new Hell as the rightful masters of the Cathayan underworld!¡± Yu Qian¡¯s eyes glistened brightly, ¡°The Heavenly Dao would never tolerate the existence of an abominable underworld! The Yin spirits have to have some ce to return to after death! Good must be rewarded, and evil must be punished! The six paths of reincarnation must be rebuilt! Seven colleagues of mine, it¡¯s not toote for you to make amends for your erroneous ways!¡±

    Not bad¡­

    Qin Ye had remained silent all this while because he was observing the attitude and behaviour of the twelve envoys. He had to admit that Yu Qian and Yang Jiye werebative people by nature. He hadn¡¯t even taken a stand in these matters, and yet the two feudal officials had already confronted the others for their disrespectful behaviours.

    ¡°Ridiculous!¡± Liu Yu sneered, ¡°I¡¯m the one who is favoured by the heavens and blessed with longevity and eternal prosperity. I¡¯ve proven my mettle as the Lord of the Hanyang underworld, so why should I be denied the opportunity to lord over Hell altogether? Heavenly Dao? The Heavenly Dao only condones this because there is an absence of an underworld right now! Otherwise, how could a greenhorn kid possibly sit on the throne of Hell?¡±

    Gao Changgong muttered icily, ¡°The worst that could happen is for a devolution to the times of the warring states era before the First Yanluo unified Hell. Winner takes all. The choice that represents thest resort of the Heavenly Dao need not necessarily mean it¡¯s the best choice possible.¡±

    The owner of the cold voice smiled faintly, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, Liu Yu, why haven¡¯t you addressed yourself as ¡®This Excellency¡¯ in front of that ¡®greenhorn kid¡¯?¡±

    Liu Yu grew taciturn.

    ¡°You¡¯ve said it before that you¡¯ve detected the Harken¡¯s scent from his body previously. Lord Harken is a Yama-ss existence, and it¡¯s clear that they would have crossed paths with each other before. Yet¡­ even though Lord Harken has clearly managed to elude Ksitigarbha back then, why didn¡¯t he do anything against this new King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    Is he on my side?

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at the three mechanical beasts. No¡­ not necessarily. It¡¯s hard to say where their allegiance lies after a hundred years. The human heart is unpredictable after all.

    Besides, if they truly were on my side, they would already have knelt to pay their respects to me like Yu Qian and Yang Jiye have, rather than make an appearance like saviors to the rescue.

    Everything went silent once more. After a long time, a middle-aged man finally spoke up slowly, ¡°The three of you should know full well what happens to an opportunist.¡±

    ¡°At least we¡¯ll survive.¡± A hoarse voice responded, ¡°The fact that Mya, Singapura and Tangming aren¡¯t willing to participate in this little strife of yours doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that we¡¯re endorsing Hell¡¯s existence either. It simply means that we¡¯re not prepared to turn against Hell just yet, particrly since Lord Harken appears to have endorsed the existence of the new Hell. It¡¯s fine if you have a deathwish, but we¡¯d prefer to stay alive very much.¡±

    Liu Yu burst into an uproariousughter, ¡°Fools! If the Harken has truly acknowledged him as the new King Yanluo of Hell, then the words that you¡¯ve just spoken would be more than sufficient basis to put you to death a thousand times over!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, we¡¯re just not going to take any chances right now.¡± The cold voice responded slowly, but clearly, ¡°If you insist on making a move against the old Hell and defying the ways of the Heavenly Dao, then¡­¡±

    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

    The three mechanical beasts on the ground roared furiously. In an instant, thousands of Yin spirit emerged from the backs of each mechanical beast, armed with taut bows and ming arrows that were all pointed directly at the army of a hundred thousand!

    Dead silence.

    The atmosphere reverted to its tense state in an instant. Several secondster, the gruff voice spoke up with some measure of bloodlust, ¡°Are you¡­ really standing on the side of Hell this time?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± The cold voice chuckled softly, ¡°I¡¯d advise you against any rash decisions. While I was alive, I¡¯d sent an army of eight hundred thousand aze in a great inferno, thereby earning myself the nickname of fire god. This mechanical horse is armed with three million divine crossbows of karmic mes. Feel free to test it out¡­ and see if it doesn¡¯t annihte the forces that you¡¯ve brought together with you.¡±

    Fwoosh!

    As soon as he finished speaking, the crossbow bolts immediately ignited with a crimson me.

    It was clear that those mes weren¡¯t the usualhermes.

    Rather¡­ they were zing with none other than the menacing Ninefold Karmic Soulfire!

 Chapter 345: Convergence of Dragons (4)

    <h4>Chapter 345: Convergence of Dragons (4)</h4>

    Arthis drew a deep breath, ¡°You should remember never to underestimate an Infernal Judge. All who have attained the ranks of Judges would unlock a hidden ability that is unique to them. You can think of it as a specialty of sorts. Fortunately¡­ the one with the strongest battle prowess, Zhou Gongjin, is standing on our side this time¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just levelling the ying field.¡± Qin Ye abruptly interrupted her, ¡°He¡¯s not standing on either side. Rather, he¡¯s simply helping the weaker faction. What a joke¡­ To think that Hell would one day find itselfnguishing so badly that it would even be considered the weaker faction. Does he really think he can be an opportunist and get away with it? Does he really think that he can have his cake and eat it at the same time?!¡±

    But it¡¯s not the time to be thinking of these things right now. Sorting out the twelve envoys is something to be done muchter on in the future. Despite these thoughts, Qin Ye was finally able to set his mind at ease.

    After all, the two sides of the scales had finally bnced out.

    Previously, the weight of the scales were tilted well in favour of Liu Yu¡¯s faction. But the addition of Zhou Yu, Ban Chao and Wang Meng to the fray barely bnced the scales to the state of a tense equilibrium.

    They would never siege Hell. This was something that Qin Ye had always known. After all, the existence of the Book of Life and Death and Lord Harken were sources of deterrence that weighed heavily on their hearts. Rather, the envoys were merely posturing right now - something that wasmonly seen in most diplomatic exchanges. For instance, whenever Usonia wanted to secure a greater measure of benefit for themselves, they would always fire off a round of sanctions and brandish their military might to the world.

    It wasn¡¯t to dere war on others. Rather, it was merely to scare and shock others into submission, so that they would already have leverage to work with when negotiations begin. The twelve envoys were employing the exact same tactics.

    There was already some measure of closure to the earlier tension and conflict. Thus, it was finally his time to make his move.

    Whoosh¡­ Ahergale slowly converged around Qin Ye. The appearance of a Hellguard in the mortal realm was something that would draw the attention of throngs of people. But here, the appearance of a Hellguard was like a drop in the oceanpared to the billowing auras of the thirteen Infernal Judges and the multitude of Yin soldiers standing behind them.

    Nevertheless, everyone still turned to look at Qin Ye.

    They had already noticed his existence from the onset. And even if they considered him to be nothing more than a nominal third King Yanluo of Hell, they still couldn¡¯t simply ignore his very first reaction to all that was taking ce.

    Thehergale slowly wrapped around him and brought him to the forefront of everyone¡¯s attention. As a Hellguard, he was only equipped with the ability to fly and glide for a short duration of time, and he naturally didn¡¯t want to make a fool of himself in front of Judges who could hover for extended periods of time. Thus, he positioned himself on the ground right in the middle of the three factions of troops.

    Thump, thump, thump¡­ His heart was practically leaping out of his chest right now. There were thousands of Iron Stupa cavalrymen situated no further than three hundred meters from his location. A single stampede of hooves could most certainly trample him to his death.

    Countless Yin soldiers stood all around him, with bows and crossbows cocked and at the ready, and spears held high and primed to strike. Hundreds and thousands of mes flickered wildly about in the eyes of the Yin soldiers. Mountainous mobile residencesy in the backlines, doing little to conceal the explosive auras of Judges that were bearing down on him like a rushing tide.

    There were also tens of thousands spots of crimson karmichermes zing atop a stiff mechanical wall behind him. It was a stifling sight. As he stood between the towering, tyrannical forces, he felt crushed by their domineering presence.

    His senses were tensed up to the extreme, and his adrenal nd buzzed with activity. Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and tightened his grip around the shard of King Yanluo''s Seal, infusing it with his Yin energy and shrouding himself with a thin protectiveyer of the shard''s Yin energy. It was only then that he finally stopped trembling in his feet, and managed to stand tall against the overbearing pressure bearing down onto him.

    "Esteemed feudal officials." He swept a gaze around slowly, even as he did his best to speak calmly and slowly. That said, not even Qin Ye could tell whether his voice was trembling or not. He continued with the best normalcy he could muster, "Are you¡­ staging an uprising?"

    Some distance away, Arthis continuallypressed the Yin energy in her body to the extreme, ready to explode at the slightest sign of trouble. She was prepared to do everything it took to save Qin Ye''s life, even if it meant staking her life on the line like their earlier encounter with the Harken.

    She had unwittingly already given Qin Ye her own seal of approval since a little while ago. After all that he had done for Hell thus far, she knew full well that he could rebuild Hell as long as he was alive. On the other hand, she recognized that there were many things he could do that she simply couldn''t.

    "This kid¡­ actually isn''t shaking in the face of such imminent dangers anymore¡­ Not bad¡­ Even if you''re faking it, you''ve already improved by leaps and bounds¡­" A glint of satisfaction flickered across the depths of her eyes, but it quickly dissipated in her abstruse gaze of sobriety.

    Silence.

    "Are you, or are you not?!" He suddenly exploded. His heart thumped wildly, and his throat dried up. He ardently resisted the temptation to keel over and copse, only to realize that his back was already soaked through with sweat in that one single instant of outburst.

    Please don¡¯t say that you are¡­ Because if you do, I¡¯m really not sure what I¡¯m going to do next¡­

    Everything was still silent.

    After a full minute, Liu Yu finally responded from his mobile residence, ¡°Lord Qin, you¡¯ve been here all along?¡±

    In other words, he was taking a jibe at Qin Ye for being a Hellguard - an existence so low that he couldn¡¯t make his presence felt at all¡­

    ¡°Your Excellency is the future King Yanluo of Hell?¡± The gruff voice chuckled, ¡°Pardon me, I really didn¡¯t expect you to be here. Apologies for the rudeness.¡±

    ¡°Your lordship must be joking.¡± Gao Changgong tittered with an effeminateughter, ¡°Hell¡¯s doors have been closed to us for a hundred years on end, and we¡¯vee immediately as soon as we¡¯ve received the summons, so how could we possibly be staging an uprising?¡±

    That said, we¡¯re simply here to request for our independence from Hell.

    Now that they¡¯ve done the flexing, it was finally time to negotiate their terms and conditions. Qin Ye didn¡¯t press the point either. After all, he knew that it was pointless to do so, since they could always resile on the position that they had previously taken.

    When all was said and done, Hell was simply too weak to be interrogating the feudal officials right now!.

    The value of a single neighbourhood of theirs already exceeds thebined value of Hell as it stands right now. So on what basis was he going to allege unfairness?

    Was he truly going to press the issue on those humiliating words of provocation earlier?

    He would only be making a fool of himself.

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Qin Ye pretended to gloss over the earlier provocations as he continued, ¡°It¡¯s been a long journey for you esteemed feudal officials and your entourage. Come, enter the city together with me. Leave your troops outside. Any who disobey shall be indicted with treason.¡±

    With that, he transformed into ahergale and led the way back into the new Hell.

    Enjoy this moment while itsts, because as soon as you enter my territory¡­ I¡¯m going to make you eat your words, and then some!

    Arthis promptly erupted with a judge-ss aura and took to the skies, where she spoke coldly, ¡°Everyone, please.¡±

    Nobody said another word. Within moments, the twelve envoys, including the Lord of Hanyang, Liu Yu, followed after Arthis and made their way straight for Hell.

    Liu Yu led the way, and the other feudal officials followed closely behind. Yang Jiye positioned himself at the front of the pack, while Yu Qian sensibly positioned himself at the very back. All of them, apart from Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, were dressed in splendid robes, and their bodies were covered with dark livor mortis spots.

    Liu Yu nced around at his surroundings before whispering to Chaghan, ¡°What do you think the new Hell is going to look like?¡±

    Chaghan was a typical Mongol, and he was dressed in a domed helmet adorned with a ring of felt hair, together with a set ofcquered ck armor. He looked like a mighty, valiant warrior, and even had menacing red patterns tattooed across his face. Chaghan sneered, ¡°How else can it possibly look? Do you remember what it was like when we were first enfeoffed? Everything was destitute, and there wasn¡¯t even a single ghost in sight. How many years would you say it¡¯s been since the new Hell has been established? Three years? It¡¯s probably going to be worse off than when we first began!¡±

    Gao Changgong concealed his facial features with a green ghastly mask, but that did nothing to hide the splendour of the jade crown on his head. He wore royal ck robes embroidered with immortal cranes and the rising sun. He quipped, ¡°Previous imperial court meetings would always be apanied with a banquet or a feast. We wouldn¡¯t be¡­ leftnguishing in the woods tonight, would we?¡±

    ¡°Haha, I¡¯ve heard that whenever new underworlds are established, the Heavenly Dao would always bestow upon them the basic amenities of a gate of sorts. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll at least be offered a proper resting ce.¡± ¡°Oh? Would they even have chairs? I¡¯m afraid this must be the most visitors Hell is receiving since its inception, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°So¡­ Hell¡¯s Gate is where parliament is located? How shoddy¡­¡±

    The feudal officials didn¡¯t even bother lowering their voices as theyined and took jibes at the new Hell. Yu Qian followed closely behind, and his expression grew icier with every denigrating remark that the other feudal officials made.

    He naturally appreciated the significance of the present imperial court meeting.

    It was a deration to the rest of the East Continent that the Cathayan Hell was still in existence. No matter what the oue, this was an undeniable oue of the imperial court meeting.

    But, having witnessed the envoys flexing their military might and bullying Qin Ye, another worry soon surfaced on his heart.

    How¡¯s the new Hell?

    If the new Hell possessed the former glories of the old Hell, then there would most certainly be no need for the new King Yanluo of Hell to personally wee the feudal officials back. Thus, he knew that the new Hell was probably a far cry from what the old Hell used to be.

    Feasts, bestowments and other forms of luxurious treatments were all only possible with societal development, and it was therefore unlikely that Hell would be equipped for these as well.

    What Liu Yu and the rest are saying sounds terrible, but¡­ there¡¯s a good chance that this would be the reality of what we would be faced with.

    After all, the development of an underworld is something that would take hundreds of years on end, so what could the new Hell possibly have to show for it? Yu Qian knew it all too well - Aimless, lifeless ghost citizens, barren mountains and a lonely gate to the underworld. In fact, Hell¡¯s probably norger than the size of a vige. A ceremonial wee is probably out of the question¡­

    ¡°I just hope it¡¯s not too bad¡­¡± He shut his eyes in dejection, ¡°Hell¡¯s Gate should at least not be in disrepair. Otherwise¡­ even I wouldn¡¯t know what to say in Hell¡¯s defense¡­¡±

    Each of the thirteen Infernal Judges had their own thoughts and assessments as they stepped through a great vortex. A secondter, apletely different world opened up in front of their very eyes!

    Qin Ye stood atop a soft red carpet, observing them coldly as they each arrived through the portal. A soft, luxurious red carpet that stretched into the horizon wasid out right beneath their feet, while countless ck-armored, pylon-like Yin soldiers lined the entire length of the carpet.

    These soldiers were clearly elites!

    That much was clear with a single nce. The feudal officials could tell that the Yin soldiers lining the length of the red carpet were by no means putting on a pretense. The auras emanating from their bodies were qualitatively different from the usual Yin soldiers. It was clear that these had been true elites in life, and were powerful, evil ghosts in death. They carried thick polearms that were stained with copious amounts of blood. Their cracked armor didn¡¯t look weak or tattered in the slightest. Instead, it only entuated their identities as ferocious, seasoned warriors.

    ¡°This is¡­ the ck Armored Troops!¡± Guo Ziyi immediately recognized their existence, and a great sense of disbelief surged from the depths of his heart.

    He actually has the ck Armored Troops under hismand?

    How could the new Hell¡­ rein in such a powerful unit? It seems like¡­ they¡¯re not as weak as we¡¯d thought¡­

    However, this was only the beginning.

    As soon as they entered, the maidservants lining both sides of the red carpet immediately bowed in unison and lit the pcemps at the exact same time. Whether it was the angle of their bow, or the height at which they carried the pcemps, everything was done in perfect unison! In fact, they even lit up the pcemps at the exact same time! It was a marvelous disy of a ceremonial wee!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Yu Qian felt somewhat confused by the discordant sight he was greeted by.

    After all, an all-rounded person like him who appreciated the culture and the arts, as well as martial prowess, knew all too well what the present sight meant.

    This was¡­ societal development!

    It was impossible to master such ceremonies until a civilization reached a certain extent of societal development. After all, would anyone be bothered to engage in such trifles if everyone was busy looking after their own survival?

    The assurance of basic necessities was the foundation for secondary matters of virtue and etiquette. He knew the truth of this statement. After all, he could still remember the time when he first received the fiefdom. At that time, not even imperial envoys were willing to make the trip down to his fiefdom. From there, it took him a hundred years - quite possible a hundred and fifty years - before he finally developed his own ceremonial guard, otherwise known as the honor guard.

    And yet¡­ to think that the new Hell has already developed a ceremonial guard after merely two years of its establishment.

    Is this the extent of societal development he has managed to achieve?

    Has the new King Yanluo¡­ already resolved the issues of motivation to work? And the problems with entertainment? Without these things in ce, it¡¯s only a matter of time before the immortal ghostly citizens of Hell rebel and riot!

    The natural woods that they had anticipated were nowhere to be seen. There was a brief moment of dead silence, before the thirteen Infernal Judges looked up from the ceremonial disy to the rest of Hell.

    The incredible sight turned their view of the new Hell topsy-turvy.

    This is Hell?

    You¡¯re telling me that this is the very same new Hell that was established not more than two years ago?

    Are you kidding me?

    Do you think I haven¡¯t built my own underworld from scratch before?

    1. The original version makes mention of the official of Sindhu, Gao Jianli. However, that mention appeared to be the only time his name was mentioned. Even the calction of the envoys thereafter seemed to have excluded his existence. Thus, we¡¯ll take it that he hasn¡¯t been invited instead.

 Chapter 346: Imperial Court Meeting (1)

    <h4>Chapter 346: Imperial Court Meeting (1)</h4>

    Rather, it was more urate to say that there weren¡¯t many trees left in sight.

    Works had been halted for today. However, the scaffolding and machinery and tools on site, and even the towering cranes with their arms looming over them gave them an insight as to the buzz of construction works that would be carried out on a regr day in Hell.

    Is this truly the new Hell? An underworld that had barely turned one year old?!

    This was because he saw Hell¡¯s Gate. Logically speaking, Hell¡¯s Gate would be the only building in Hell right now. This was the default start-up mechanic, and Hell would be considered to have done fairly well if they could even maintain the order around it and keep out any unwanted Yin spirits. But now¡­

    Furthermore, Hell¡¯s Gate wasn¡¯t the only building that was standing in sight. He could tell that a snow-white building had been erected right beside Hell¡¯s Gate. It was built in apletely different style and aesthetic altogether, and its existence immediately drew the attention of the thirteen Infernal Judges. Their eyes lingered on the strange building for some time, before they finally turned away.

    But now that he had seen everything with his own eyes, he suddenly realized that¡­ the cited GDP growth rate of 1000% might very well have been true¡­

    Qin Ye had essentially turned a destitutend into a massive site for construction works. It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine the kind of soaring growth Hell would experience as soon as the works werepleted, and the basic amenities for his citizens were fully in ce. But¡­ how is all this possible?

    ¡°What is it¡­¡± Chaghan, the famous Mongol, responded with an equally drifty voice. What Liu Yu failed to notice was the fact that Chaghan¡¯s gaze was still lingering on the construction sites, the ghostly citizens around, as well as the auditorium that stoodpleted beside Hell¡¯s Gate.

    My grass ins¡­ have actually been surpassed by the new Hell!

    ¡°You¡­ back then, how long did it take you to control the grasnds and earn the trust of your citizens?¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ would you look over there¡­¡± Liu Yu pointed into the distance with great reluctance, right at the ghostly citizens who were hiding in their construction sites and in the distant woods, peeking out from behind their cover and watching the feudal officials with great interest.

    To their minds, a newly established underworld should be filled with helpless, confused and cranky ghosts.

    ¡°He¡¯s actually¡­ managed to earn the trust of his citizens?¡± Chaghan¡¯s facial muscles twitched uncontrobly, and he gnashed his teeth as he turned to Liu Yu, only to realize that Liu Yu had the exact same expression as him.

    We can¡¯t afford to wait any longer!

    This was undoubtedly the best shot that they had. An army of 100,000 was garrisoned outside, so why wouldn¡¯t the new King Yanluo of Hell consider their proposition seriously? On the other hand, if they held back now, they would never have the same kind of leverage over Hell again!

    They absolutely had to impel the new Hell to cross their names off the register in this very visit.

    Gao Changgong¡¯s green ghostly maskpletely covered the exact same expression of shock underneath, but it did nothing to conceal how he was rubbing his fingers against each other with immense vexation and frustration.

    ¡°A new underworld¡­ can actually achieve that much in just a single year¡­ How is it even possible¡­¡± He murmured to himself as he nced at the worksites and the forest of equipment and tools. Then, almost as though he recalled something important, he suddenly turned back to Qin Ye.

    What did you think the new Hell was supposed to look like?

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ flexing back at us right now¡­¡± He sighed softly. It was no different from their conduct towards him earlier. Qin Ye hadn¡¯t said much back then, and Gao Changgong had naturally interpreted it as a sign of weakness. That said, what else could Qin Ye do but to bite the bullet and suppress his rage back then?

    Absurd. Even a random conscription of troops from an underworld that has been in existence from hundreds of years would be able to level all of the forces that the new Hell could muster right now.

    You can pit your military might against me, but I¡¯ll raise you my rate of development and growth. And when Hell has reached a critical amount of growth, I¡¯ll take you all down in one fell swoop! What¡¯s the use of having a numerical advantage at the start?

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Guo Ziyi, Ma Fubo, Chang Yuchun and Han Qinhu still looked as glorious and magnificent in their shy outfits as ever, and they even carried themselves with the same measure of poise. Unfortunately, there was now an eerie, peculiar silence among all of the feudal officials.

    Nobody knew this, but his heart was momentarily swayed by what he had just seen.

    Had the new Hell been as barren and destitute as everyone else had expected, and if Hell was unable to retrieve any of the old Hell¡¯s legacy, then its development would most certainly only take off at least two hundred years in the future. And from there, it would take them yet another three hundred years before they could finally put themselves on par with the feudal officials. Then, unless the new Hell were blessed by a stroke of heavenly luck, they would need yet another several hundred years to muster a force powerful enough to stand against the twelve envoys, if they were bent on reining them in all at the same time. The horizon of such a timeline was well beyond their distant considerations.

    By then, wouldn¡¯t Hell be able to reim all of its lost territories? We¡¯re talking about a poption size of 1.5 billion people. How could us twelve feudal officialspare against these numbers? No¡­ in fact, there¡¯s only seven of us officials right now.

    This single ripple of Hell had silently stirred up great, tumultuous waves in their hearts.

    He was going to make them pay the price for running off their mouths earlier.

    Everyone snapped back to their senses. Yu Qian and Yang Jiye trembled with excitement, and they stared at Qin Ye with wildly flickering mes in the depths of their eyes.

    Yang Jiye also followed suit, ¡°The rapid development of the new Hell exceeds all measures of my imagination. I¡¯ve underestimated the will and foresight of Your Majesty. I¡­ am willing to put my life on the line for Hell!¡±

    He was making ast ditch effort.

    So long as they refrained from disengaging from Hell right now, then everything could still be resolved through future negotiations.

    They were essentially faced with a choice between life and death. Naturally, nobody was willing to pick death.

    Nobody spoke.

    ¡°Chang Yuchun?! What¡¯s the meaning of this?!!¡± ¡°Chang Boren, Siam is an affluentnd that represents the fruit of our jointbour! Are you thinking of ceding control of it to others?!¡±

    How could they not be startled?

    Are you hesitating? Are you looking to fly solo? Are you going to throw in the towel at the earliest signs of trouble?

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Liu Yu¡¯s face sank. He hadn¡¯t expected such a swift and powerful counterattack by the new King Yanluo of Hell, who simply let his actions speak far louder than any words he could possibly muster. More than anything, Liu Yu knew that things the longer things dragged out, the more difficult it was going to be to have a clean break from Hell.

    He stared straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, before making everything explicit, ¡°I hope to sign a treaty of non-aggression with Hell, and thus be grantedplete independence.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t expected the situation to take a turn for the worse so abruptly. Could he truly be certain that the others wouldn¡¯t have second thoughts on dering their own independence. After all, wasn¡¯t Chang Yuchun already showing signs of regret and remorse? And to think that he would actually be forced by the circumstances to be the first one to extend an olive branch to the King Yanluo of Hell! Who would have thought that the leverage that they¡¯ve earned through the daunting threat of 100,000 Yin soldiers garrisoned outside would so quickly be rebuffed as soon as they stepped into the new Hell?

 Chapter 347: Imperial Court Meeting (2)

    <h4>Chapter 347: Imperial Court Meeting (2)</h4>

    On the other hand, development and growth was the source of wealth.

    Liu Yu didn¡¯t want to give anyone the chance to dwell on the possibility of having second thoughts. Yet, little did he realize that had he truly been confident in his invincibility, then he would never have feared Chang Yuchun¡¯s mutiny to begin with.

    He wanted to leave himself a way out. After all, if the seven feudal officials dered independence at the same time, then perhaps, in the worst case scenario that Hell bes powerful in a hundred years¡¯ time, they might just be able to get off scot-free by standing strong together. After all, thew would never stand against the majority.

    My efforts over thest half a year have not been in vain¡­ Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief. The first impression of the new Hell was no different from a colossal reversal thatpletely blew the twelve envoys¡¯ minds away into oblivion. Everything was now different. The twelve envoys were obviously beginning to see the new King Yanluo of Hell in a new light! Even the ringleader Liu Yu had subconsciously begun to n for exigencies!

    Are you stupid?

    Yu Qian walked up to Qin Ye¡¯s side and bowed deeply with great respect to him, before continuing, ¡°They¡¯re still pushing through with it even though they know it¡¯s impossible. Historically, none of the vassal states had ever been attacked by Cathay, even when they staged an uprising. Thus, to their minds, taking control of the fiefdoms and dering independence from Hell isn¡¯t an affront to Hell¡¯s authority at all. This is why they¡¯ve limited their independence to the confines of their states. To their minds, it¡¯s not even considered a rebellion. Rather, they are simply asking to be free from Hell¡¯s rule.¡±

    Yu Qian immediately responded, ¡°Hell is fortunate to have a King with ambition and foresight that is befitting of its stature! Unfortunately¡­ the human heart is unpredictable. And we¡¯re talking about envoys who were once either framed and put to death, or emperors in their own right in life. No matter what it was, they were the masters of their own destiny, and such control was so important to them that it had be the basis to their lingering grievances and obsessions. Otherwise, how could they possibly turn into such heroic ghastly existences in death? There¡¯s no reasoning with these envoys. Do you really think they don¡¯t understand the implications of Hell¡¯s great revival? Do you really think they¡¯re oblivious to the fact that Hell would regain its former glories in less than a hundred years at this rate? Yet, despite all of that, they¡¯re still willing to put everything on the line.¡±

    With that, they took their position behind Qin Ye, making it all too clear where their allegiancey!

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Liu Yu took a deep breath, ¡°Have youe to a decision?¡±

    ¡°Who else intends to break free from Hell and dere independence?¡±

    Divide and conquer - this was the best strategy at times like this.

    Perhaps the heavens knew that it was going to be far too difficult for the new Hell to stand against an alliance formed by all twelve envoys, and they thus decided to give Hell a hand. Because at this very moment¡­ the three feudal officials were still just as silent as they had ever been!

    ¡°Chang Yuchun! Guo Ziyi! Han Qinhu! You¡­¡± Chaghan turned back and red at the three men in shock and anger. Nobody had ever expected the three men to have second thoughts only at the eleventh hour!

    ¡°Chang Yuchun, Guo Ziyi, Han Qinhu!!¡± Ma Fubo was a short man. He wore a scarlet robe adorned with embroidered dragons, replete with a white jade crown and a purple belt of royalty. He flicked his sleeves in fury as he continued, ¡°Turncoats¡­ Just because I¡¯ve not ridden to battle with my Iron Cavalry for some time, do you not have any regard for me any longer?!¡±

    Liu Yu waspletely silent. That said, one could easily see that he was clenching his jaws tightly. In fact, he was even squeezing his hands together repeatedly underneath the sleeves of his robes. He stared daggers at the three turncoats and cut them up into a million pieces in his mind.

    Before stepping into Hell, he didn¡¯t think for a single moment that something like that was even remotely possible.

    ¡°Three of you.¡± Liu Yu finally spoke up, ¡°I¡¯d hate to¡­ be forced to deal with you first. Honor your word. Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    ¡°What audacity.¡± Yang Jiye immediately stepped forward and snorted coldly, ¡°Hell should have the final say as far as the vassal states are concerned. What gives you, the lord over a vassal state, the right to dictate what another vassal state does? Lord Liu, do you think we¡¯re still in the warring states era? Don¡¯t you dare overstep your authority!¡±

    Boom!!

    He was furious.

    Things weren¡¯t going well for him. The state of the new Hell exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations, and the three feudal officials who had previously promised to stand together with him were now recanting their earlier position. His rage was finally at its limits!

    Boom!

    ¡°Lord Hanyang, you behaved with incivility in front of King Yanluo and berated Hell. How do you think you should be punished?!¡±

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Liu Yu¡¯s explosion of Yin energy was soon followed by the three other Infernal Judges in his faction. In an instant, a terrifying cloud of dense Yin energy formed in the sky and immediately bore down onto Yang Jiye!

    A confrontation between Judges was on apletely different level!

    The overbearing Yin energy in the air finally paused where it was, and Liu Yu turned to look at Chang Yuchun with an ashen expression. Without missing a beat, Chang Yuchun continued, ¡°Most of you have been framed and doubted by the kings and emperors of your time. Lord of Hanyang, you even nearly unified Cathay back in your time. But we¡¯re different. We¡¯ve benefitted from the grace of our kings and emperors, and eventually died an honourable death. Our earlier agreement to stand on your side was premised on the condition that Hell was a lost cause.¡±

    ¡°If things had panned out that way, there might even be a possibility of achieving imperial hegemony. So long as we are able to gain a firm foothold over our ownnds, the entire world is our oyster. There¡¯s Australis and the Spice Inds down south, or the Middle East to the west. Everything is potentially ours for the taking.¡± Han Qinhu chipped in with a deep voice, ¡°We were naturally willing to stand on your side had the risks indeed been as low as we¡¯d anticipated. But¡­ the reality of Hell ispletely beyond our expectations.¡±

    Lord of Hanyang drew a deep breath and gnashed his teeth.

    Barbarians¡­ Everyone else around us can only be considered barbarians! I¡¯ve never considered discarding my Cathayan heritage!

    But¡­ having prepared so long and hard for this day, and having been presented with such a prime opportunity, how am I supposed to simply let it go just like that?!

 Chapter 348: Imperial Court Meeting (3)

    <h4>Chapter 348: Imperial Court Meeting (3)</h4>

    ¡°Insolence!!¡± Yu Qian and Yang Jiye barked back at the same time. The polearm hanging behind Yang Jiye¡¯s back trembled slightly, and instantaneously appeared in his hands.

    Liu Yu truly lives up to his name. I nearly had him. Unfortunately, he¡¯s snapped back to his senses in the nick of time.

    You want to fight?

    Gao Changgong and Chaghan practically spoke at the same time, ¡°You three, Lord of Hanyang isn¡¯t wrong. You¡¯re all established heroes in the eyes of the mortal realm. How could you be blinded by what you¡¯ve just seen? Think about it. Hell has already lost control of the East Continent. Something like that could remain concealed for fifty years, but we¡¯re talking about a hundred long years ofplete inaction! Why did you think Izanami went to war in the Strait of Tsushima? If the old Hell were still around, do you think she¡¯d even dare to step a single foot outside of her abode?!¡±

    This imperial court meeting had already begun to see the convergence of many interests and the manifestation of ambitious hearts. The bnce of the situation was incredibly delicate and treacherous, tilting from side to side at the moment¡¯s notice. Not only did each faction have to react with great speed and adaptability, they also had to possess¡­ sufficient leverage to tilt the bnce in their favour.

    This shouting match between a king and his high officials bore some measure of semnce to the uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. Neither of them knew back then that their initial revolt would eventually spearhead the series of rebellions that eventually caused the downfall of the second Qin Emperor.

    Nobody knows what the future holds!

    This was his leverage! This was his bottom line!

    Chang Yuchun, Guo Ziyi and Han Qinhu grew taciturn once again.

    But, right at this moment, Qin Ye suddenly spoke up, ¡°I give you my word.¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin, the words of King Yanluo shall be taken as thew!¡± Liu Yu¡¯s eyes glistened brightly.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Arthis bowed slightly and turned to the twelve envoys, ¡°We¡¯ll be rendering a report on the development of Hell in the afternoon. Each of you will be given a copy of the detailed report for your reference. As for tonight¡­¡±

    ¡°I sincerely hope that everyone¡­ can let your hair down tonight¡­¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Arthis asked as soon as they sat down, ¡°The situation was already leaning in our favour, so why did you give your word for the four feudal officials in Lord of Hanyang¡¯s faction to break away from us?¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that the forces arrayed outside of Hell right now are merely for show?!¡± Secondster, he gritted his teeth and red at Arthis, ¡°Didn¡¯t you sense their will for war earlier? Are you aware that when Han Qinhu and the others were hesitating, they practically bore down on me with an overbearing wave of palpable murderous intent?!¡±

    He paused for a moment to take a deep breath, ¡°This imperial court meeting might very well spell themencement of a great war on the East Continent.¡±

    ¡°I can ept them trampling on my face for now, but¡­ I¡¯ll at least have to take some benefits in exchange.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Zhou Gongjin sat in the lounge, tapping gently on the goldcquered teacup in his hand as a dark wisp of Yin energy drifted out from the tea. He held a document in his other hand and stared intently at its contents. If one looked closely enough, it would be apparent that his fingertips were pinching at this sheet of paper so tightly that they had already turned pale and white.

    That said¡­ he couldn¡¯t justify any feeling of contempt for how the new Hell looks right now.

    ¡°What¡¯s this supposed to be?¡± Wang Meng finally asked after a long period of silence, ¡°These words arepletely foreign to us. Zhou Gongjin, you¡¯re the only one among us twelve envoys who¡¯s straddling both the mortal realm as well as the underworld. Do you¡­ understand what¡¯s stated over here?¡±

    After a long time, Zhou Yu sighed wistfully and gazed out of the window and into the distance. He slowly set down the itinerary on the table.

    ¡°6.10 p.m. Opening Ceremony. Music apaniment: Battle Without Honor or Humanity.¡±

    Tracks:

    Star SkyAlways MineThe Mass¡°I¡¯m going to take a rain check on theunch event tonight. If you guys insist on attending the event, then¡­ be my guest, and have a good taste of what modern strokes taste like. I sincerely believe that you¡¯ll personally want to immerse yourself in the brand new world in the mortal realm after this stumbling experience tonight. That¡¯s all I have to say. Lu Liu, show our guests out.¡±

    <hr>

    1.

    2.

    3.

    4. Do note that all of the music and soundtracks, save for ¡®Exodus¡¯, were written in english.

 Chapter 349: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (1)

    <h4>Chapter 349: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (1)</h4>

    Evening, at 6.00 p.m.

    He held a folding fan and fanned himself gently. There were three eunuch-like Yin spirits that stood behind him, waiting on him. He waspletely calm at this point in time. After all, he¡¯d seen his fair share of such imperial court meetings. Furthermore, King Yanluo had personally given his word that the time that followed was an extension of the host¡¯s obligation.

    Chaghan had also changed into a scarlet robe - a typical uniform of Mongol high officials. When he saw Liu Yu, he immediately snorted coldly, ¡°A lounge like this is worse than what I bestow upon my least favoured concubine. How dare he insult us with such terrible amenities?!¡±

    He took a deep gaze at therge clock that hung close to the top of Hell¡¯s Gate. It was exactly 6.00 p.m. He didn¡¯t know what exactly the new King Yanluo of Hell had in store for him because he couldn¡¯t make head or tail of the itinerary. That said, he could see that the program was simple, so what twists and turns could there possibly be?

    The entire series of dazzling disy was something that Ming Shiyin had constructed entirely out of Yin energy. In that instant, the previously dark canopy that loomed over Hell was suddenly decorated with innumerable purple and red explosions. The multitude of Yin spirits on the ground promptly looked up and gandered at the beautiful sight.

    But before the scattering scarlet mes evennded on the ground, a second and a third salvo of golden fireworks shot into the sky, exploding in a concerted pattern from low to high, and then back down once more, almost akin to a dazzling fountain. Momentster, a colourful array of fireworks burst into air from every corner of Hell, nketing thends with a brilliant, multicoloured canopy.

    The fireworks resulted in a moment of tranquility amidst the usual hubbub of Hell. The gloomy canopy of the skies suddenly became like a screen, rendered in vibrant, fiery colours that brought a surprising moment of sce to the hearts of the Yin spirits.

    Hell hade a long way from its days of destitution. It was clear that what awaited them was only days of prosperity.

    It was noisy but tranquil. Vibrant, but serene.

    It stood to reason. Fireworks were already in existence since the Tang Dynasty, and its use was greatly proliferated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Everything was recorded in the annals of history. Although modern day fireworks were magnificent in their own right, they still weren¡¯t sufficient to stir the hearts of the feudal officials at all.

    But just as he spoke, spots of light suddenly lit up around Hell¡¯s Gate.

    And it didn¡¯t light up in a neat fashion either. It started with a single one, before slowly but surely spreading to the rest who were around. Then, almost as though inspired by the beautifully soft sight, every part of Hell, whether under the trees, in the construction sites, or even in the hidden recesses and corners of Hell, everything suddenly lit up with simrly soft lights.

    Finally, the soft lights transformed into a beautiful sheen no different from a sea of flickering lights, reflecting the harsh fireworks in the sky with stillness and tranquility.

    Indeed, they were.

    Every single Yin spirit was holding onto a candle and basking in its warm glow. It was a soft tranquility, and yet the strange stillness and sullenness of the atmosphere was absolutely astonishing. Even the twelve envoys couldn¡¯t help but be started by the discordant sight.

    This is a ritual¡­

    Nobody said a single word.

    They were filled with an indescribable sensation of sobriety at this very moment.

    ¡°Disarmed.¡± Zhou Yu shut his eyes and retracted his gaze from the majestic sight with a soft sigh. The fireworks in the sky and the soft lights on the ground were no different from a carving knife in his eyes. He was the only one who knew at this very instant that the new King Yanluo of Hell was breaking out his carving knife tonight for a powerful showing!

    No diplomats.

    This was the true form of Qin Ye¡¯s dimensional strike!

    Back in the auditorium, Arthis stared at the twelve envoys with widened eyes. She was located within the auditorium, so she couldn¡¯t personally experience the extent of the astonishment that the envoys were faced with outside. Thus, greatly startled, she turned to Qin Ye, ¡°What¡¯s¡­ going on?¡±

    ¡°The sense of ritual carries with it several important psychological implications. Amongst other things, it bears the power of self-suggestion, the notion ofmon identity, tugs at the heartstrings, and stirs one to action. If the ruling authority knows how to make full use of rituals to its advantage, it would give rise to¡­ almost mythical effects. For instance, one of the most proliferated ancient rituals of any dynasty would be the imperial court meetings. Such rituals elevate the status of the emperor to that of a mythical existence. It has to be mentioned that us Cathayans possess the strongest inclination to rituals in the entire world. We¡¯ve lived under the feudal system for far too long, and that had led to rituals pervading every part of our human lives, be it in films, television serials, or even other forms of media. In fact, it¡¯s such a pervasive force that it affects us without us even realizing it.¡±

    He coughed softly, ¡°It reminds us that the future is meaningless and perfunctory.¡±

    You¡¯re like the typical student who mucks about with credits in college in a desperate bid to get by¡­ so since when are you so learned in the fields of psychology?!

    Qin Ye flushed slightly, ¡°Well, it¡¯s also because I was once adopted by a certain perverted psychiatrist when I was trying to get by¡­¡±

    ¡°I ended up going insane¡­ Hang on a minute! We shouldn¡¯t get sidetracked with these inconsequential things! Our guests are arriving!¡±

    But they quickly returned to their senses.

    Boom¡­ Just then, the auditorium doors opened wide with a bang, and rows of dozens of ptial maiden-like Yin spirits drifted out, half-kneeling on the ground as they lit up a passageway into the auditorium with the exquisite pcenterns in their hands. Everything from the manner of kneeling to the height at which they toted thenterns were perfectly aligned. All of the feudal officials, each apanied by two or three of their own Yin spirit attendants, drifted into the auditorium.

    Liu Yu was the first to enter. As soon as he did, his eyes immediately shrank.

    In fact, it waspletely different from all of the other underworlds. The room was constructed like terraced fields, and rows of seats upied each terrace. He immediately understood the benefits of such a design. The main stage in the center was clearly the lowest part of the room, and yet it was also undoubtedly the intended centre of everyone¡¯s attention.

    There was the story of Goddess Mother Earth transforming into the six paths of reincarnation. There was the story of Nuwa mending the skies. There was even a tall figure of the King Yanluo of Hell walking amidst everything, almost as though it were portraying a truth that he transcended time and walked through the long rivers of history. The fact that such a small space could portray all of these stories simply blew him away. It even stirred an excitement in his heart¡­ and caused his heartbeats to quicken!

    Three words immediately surfaced on his mind.

    This was an experience no different to that of a Cathayan stepping into the gorgeous Galerie d¡¯Apollon of the Louvre, and taking in the great amazement and awe of the fine reliefs all around and the endless frescoes above. It was also no different to the grand feeling that overwhelms the foreigners whenever they step onto the Great Wall of Cathay for the very first time, or when they stand on one of the watchtowers and take in the endless wilderness surrounding them.

    Qin Ye stared intently at the twelve envoys, taking in each and every one of their expressions. Then, he nodded subtly to Arthis. She waved back discreetly, muttering underneath her breath with a stern and somber tone of voice, ¡°We¡¯re starting¡­ Are you sure these little tricks of yours are going to work?¡±

    <hr>

    1. The wikipedia page has some pictures, but I¡¯d encourage you to go google the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre. It¡¯s pretty darn remarkable.

 Chapter 350: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (2)

    <h4>Chapter 350: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (2)</h4>

    Dong, dong, dong¡­ Dong, dong, dong¡­ Once the feudal officials entered the auditorium, the doors mmed shut, and music that they had never heard before began to fill the atmosphere.

    Simultaneously, all of the lights in the auditorium went out.

    Tonight, not a single other ce in Hell was powered by electricity apart from the auditorium. Every generator in Hell had been diverted to this ce for the grand stage which Qin Ye had prepared.

    As the feudal officials marched in, they felt like celestial beings. The music came from every single direction, almost as though they were doused in a sea of harmonious sound. Every single cell in their body was fully immersed and drifting about in the endless current of the overture.

    This was also the first time she had seen everythinge together so harmoniously, and she had never expected such an earth-shattering difference in the acoustics as soon as the doors to the auditorium was closed!

    ¡°Echo Wall acoustics.¡± Qin Ye maintained the faint smile on his face as he gnashed his teeth at Arthis, ¡°Can you please stop being so uninformed? Echo Wall acoustics is one of the fundamental architectural principles upon which all concert halls are constructed! It allows everyone to bepletely immersed in 3D surround sound. Different types of concert halls are also constructed for different kinds of music and repertoire. If you want to dampen the echo and reverberations in the hall, then make bumps and indentations in the walls just like we did¡­¡±

    Qin Ye snorted, ¡°Of course not! If we¡¯re going to be the LV of armaments, we¡¯ve got to give it our all and pay attention to the slightest of details! Take a look at how astonished they all are. And the show is only just beginning.¡±

    They were expectant and curious as to what else Qin Ye would do to satisfy this hunger and thirst of theirs. Theunch thus far had been several grades higher than what the musicians in their own ptial residences had to offer. No, in fact, they couldn¡¯t even bepared in the same vein! Only the grand orchestra of the emperor could hold a candle to this!

    Of course it would.

    Then, a secondter, almost as if to echo their moods, rows and rows of soft lights danced gracefully, ebbing and flowing like a sea of scintiting splendour. The lights were orderly and elegant, and the entire hall shimmered with light in an instant. Then, secondster, the lights suddenly converged onto the main stage below, transforming into a brilliant spotlight that shone directly on Qin Ye.

    His stage presence made him seem as though he were the one and only true lord of the underworld.

    Liu Yu gulped subconsciously, but he didn¡¯t know what exactly it meant. There was only a single notion running through his mind right now.

    He desired that feeling of taking center stage, having the spotlight on him, and being in the focal point of everyone¡¯s attention. He wanted to immerse himself in the glory of standing on top of the world. He wanted to indulge in the intoxicating feeling of basking in the baptism of gazes!

    ¡°Everyone, please take a seat.¡±

    Prrr¡­ Prr prr prr prr prr, prr prr prr¡­ Prr prr prr¡­ The majestic tones suddenly rushed at them, causing all of the feudal officials to jerk up their heads in an instant. The exciting beats¡­ waspletely enthralling!

    It was important to acknowledge one¡¯s weaknesses. After all, that was the first step to growth, improvement and development. The present repertoire of music had been carefully handpicked by him, and even the order was carefully sorted in order to stir and draw out the greatest passion in their adrenal nds!

    When one focuses too much on one thing, they would invariably obviate something else from their mind. Moreover, when adrenal nds fire up and passions soar, one would naturally find all measures of inhibition and moderation¡­ slowly slipping away.

    It would already sufficiently set the stage for the roaring New Tigerform to tear up the stage and blow their minds away! Everything now, including the sequence of songs to be performed, are all preludes leading up to the climax that was the unveiling of the New Tigerform Battle Armor.

    The grand music tickled his eardrums ceaselessly. As he shut his eyes to the things around him, he suddenly felt as though he were alone, standing on top of the mountains and looking over a sea of clouds. The sudden thumps of percussion stirred his heart, while the inconspicuous undertones of the bass guitar tugged at his mind, drawing him to the images of the past.

    In fact, he was alreadypletely lost in the music when he first sat down. He lifted the hem of his robes slightly and sat down in a manner that was befitting of the tune that was being yed. And he wasn¡¯t the only one. All of the other feudal officials reacted in a simr fashion.

    Music was boundless. The amazing piece that was being yed was known as one of the top ten ssics of modern music, and it immediately heated up the opening ceremony. It had to be mentioned that Qin Ye¡¯s decision to open theunch event with this piece was coloured by the inner troll residing in his heart. That said, anyone who had listened to the piece before would know that it fits perfectly with what he was trying to achieve!

    The tsunami of sound rushing at them from all directions only amplified the incandescence in the room to the highest order of magnitudes. As soon as everyone sat down, Ma Fubo lifted his sleeves slightly and noticed that there were already goosebumps creeping all over his skin.

    And that¡¯s just the opening track?

    His eyes gleamed with eager expectation. What¡¯s King Yanluo going to do? What hidden agenda does he have? These initial thoughts that were at the forefront of each feudal official¡¯s minds had slowly but surely begun to be washed away by the powerful rush of music that was tugging at their hearts.

    At the front, a conductor wearing a matching Cathayan tunic bowed deeply to everyone, before turning back to the orchestra and raising his hands.

    Is it starting now¡­?

    After a moment of silence, the conductor waved his hand, and a gripping, rhythmic tapping of the piano sounded in unison with the pizzicato of strings.

    The opening song: Victory.

    Ten seconds into the piece, the rest of the orchestra join in with a massive rush of sound, bringing the rhythmic music to new heights. It was a beautiful rise and fall in the tune, evoking the emotions of the glory and sorrow of a tragic war at the same time.

    The eyes of the feudal officials widened at the same time. Which of these officials weren¡¯t war heroes who had returned victorious from hundreds of battles? The soulful riffs of the tunes stirred the desire to do battle in their hearts. It invigorated them and brought them back to the time when they were still alive, leading the charge of a million troops against overwhelming enemy forces.

    That¡¯s it¡­

    It was the grand sight of General Chang Yuchun storming and overthrowing the Yuan capital. And Chaghan was exactly a feudal official who represented the leader of the Mongol forces.

    And as he stared intently at Chaghan, the orchestral piece slowly unfolded, until finally, everyyer of instrument slowly came together in a unified force, driving the vast battlefield to its climax!

    <hr>

    1. This is termed after the Echo Wall at the Temple of Heavens in Beijing. The space within the circr wall has unique acoustic properties, allowing people standing at opposite positions tomunicate clearly across the expanse, even if they are only whispering.

    2. Most of us would probably have heard of the song, but not know of its title.

    3. Victory -

 Chapter 351: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (3)

    <h4>Chapter 351: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (3)</h4>

    shing iron and bloodshed were synonymous with war, while battlefields saw endless tussles between life and death, and a permanent departure of those who were defeated. It was merciless, andpletely devoid of human emotion.

    Chang Yuchun¡¯s throat tightened up. The emotions buried in the depths of his heart were roiling together with the music, like an active volcano that was ready to erupt at the moment¡¯s notice. He was reminded of the grand battle which led to the defeat of the Yuan capital, where countless unsung heroes fought bravely, spilling copious amounts of blood, both theirs and their enemy¡¯s. Despite the towering walls that protected the capital, everyone on his side fought with vigor, because they knew that this was the final battle that would topple the Mongol Yuan empire.

    He could recall the vast formation of catapults and trebuchets arrayed against the capital, hurling massive stones that crashed into the walls and fell to the ground like the heavy drum beats in the music. Countless troops rushed up the tattered walls, shing courageously against its garrison. The capital was prosperous, because it represented the wealth of the Cathayan bloodline that had been wrested from them by the Yuan empire. Arrows rained down like a swarm of locusts, while soldiers flooded every corner of the battlefield, stepping and fighting over the corpses of those who went before them.

    And when the most magnificent section of the music started to y, Chang Yuchun¡¯s eyes snapped open, almost as though he saw¡­ the gates of the capital finally being breached. Countless allied banners led the charge into the inner sanctum of Yan capital with valiant battle cries as the tides of war finally leaned in their favour. Victory was nigh!

    Back then¡­ wasn¡¯t I called a national hero of the people?

    His throat felt parched and sore. And he was by no means the only one experiencing these emotions. Just then, the music roared into its climax, like a cataclysmic eruption that blew straight past the sea of clouds, with moltenva trickling slowly down the broken rivers, washing away their roiling emotions in an instant. Their blood boiled as they basked in the music with bated breaths.

    Dead silence.

    It was Liu Yu.

    ¡°Haa--...¡± Liu Yu shut his eyes and massaged his temples. His heart¡­ was surprisingly pumped up as a result of this single majestic tune. More than anything, he felt conflicted and confused, because this was something that he had never experienced before!

    He was no longer fixated on postting about what QIn Ye was trying to do. Instead, what reced his initial fixation was now an intent curiosity of what the next piece to be yed was going to be like. He wanted to relive the kind of feeling he got from the music earlier¡­ especially since he was briefly reminded of the legendary, magnificent sight of his own banner flying high over most of Cathay¡¯snds.

    Qin Ye stood on the second floor stage, while Wang Chenghao stood right next to him. Qin Ye tapped his fingers gently against the guard rails. He was certain that the adrenal nds of all the feudal officials below were already soaring, because he, too, felt exactly the same thing. He was filled with a sense of rash impulsiveness, as though he wanted to do something.

    What he was doing now was akin to stacking firewood.

    For instance¡­ he would allow them the opportunity to lose their sanity over the New Tigerform Battle Armor. After all, something like that¡­ might just spell the difference of a billion Yin spirit stones in price!

    Three minutester, another conductor stood up and bowed deeply to the audience.

    They were expectant. Even though they had time and again reminded themselves that something was up with the sequence of events tonight, and even turned their mind to the fact that Qin Ye may well be looking to unsheathe his sword over the course of the night¡­ this was undoubtedly still a de that they had never seen before.

    When had they ever seen a de as soft as this?

    There was none.

    There was also none.

    The conductor raised his hands, and then swung it down with a powerful motion.

    Unlike ¡®Victory¡¯, ¡®Star Sky¡¯ exploded with an intense rush of music right from the beginning, almost as though it picked up from where ¡®Victory¡¯ left off.

    Boom boom boom! Every note yed seemed to tug at the nerves of the twelve envoys. If the earlier piece was merely an appetizer, then the present piece could truly be called the apex of the night! The feudal officials gasped and watched with bated breath, indulging in electrifying ecstasy of music as it sent a current of pleasure washing right through their hearts.

    Everything appeared surreal, so much so that he could no longer distinguish reality from the vivid memories that were being drawn out. He could even hear the sound of the endless waves of stomping hooves rushing in like a torrential tide. It was almost as though he had been brought right back to the glory days at the peak of his military campaign.

    The imagery of nging irons was nothingpared to the valiant rush of ten thousand horses in formation, just like the time when he led his Iron Stupa into the Central ins of Cathay. But, just then, the piece flourished into a lyrical refrain that carried deep undertones of stifling sorrow. It was almost as though the piece were foreshadowing the ephemeral glories of the Mongol Empire. It was almost as though the facade of their prosperity were being torn away, revealing the deep, blinding wounds thaty within.

    As they continued to immerse themselves in the marvelous tunes, a new flute-like instrument took over the descant parts of the orchestral piece, each note perfectly articted. It was yed in such harmony to the piece that it seemed to flow naturally, barely noticeable to the untrained ears. However, Chaghan heard each note of it with pristine rity. The wistful cries of the flute represented the cries of the woman waiting for him back in the golden tent. It was thest smile which he had ever seen in life. His thoughts drew far and distant, almost as though he were drifting through the endless gxies of stars in the skies.

    The splendid waves of the piece washed over them repeatedly, signifying the grand crescendo into the climax of the song. It stirred their emotions so much that they simply wanted to cry out with great bravado. The lyrical tunes caused their blood to boil with strength and vigor. It even pricked directly at their hearts, agitating it with a ticklish yet painful sensation as the glorious climax of the song charged over like a vast array of chariots!

    It was almost as though he were venting every bit of that stifling feeling in his heart.

    He wanted to do something about it. He needed to do something about it! He needed change!

    But the third piece didn¡¯t even give them a chance for a breather.

    Exodus.

    None of the twelve envoys were weaklings.

    Ban Dingyuan was known for administrating the Western Regions. This was exactly what earned him his ce as one of the twelve envoys.

    The Western Region¡­ is a ce that is close to my heart. Who could¡¯ve thought that I would one day hear their music in death, and in Hell to boot?

    The piece wasn¡¯t as forceful as the previous two songs. But, like the two songs before, it sent waves of goosebumps creeping across the skins of the audience. He saw the thirty-six valiant warriors who had ridden with him to the Western Regions in the past. One by one, these thirty-six people ughtered their way through the Western Regions, taking down various strongholds for the glory of the Cathayan empire.

    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to be reminded of these things.

    He, too, felt the innate urge to do something right now. Raise a sword and sing at the top of my voice? Perhaps¡­ but¡­ that wouldn¡¯t seem to satisfy this thirst of mine.

    Dang!!

    ¡°Not bad.¡± A hoarse voice rang out, followed closely by a green light that shot right onto the stage. The pianist took a look at it, only to realize that there was a sparkling piece of emerald glistening on the stage, without a single trace of impurity on it.

    Good music touches the soul.

    They could no longer recall the reason for which they were here. More importantly, they had already shelved at the back of their minds the fact that¡­ they were still in thends of the new Hell. In fact, they had already long forgotten the mental notes to be prepared and guarded against any tricks that Qin Ye was to pull. Three consecutive feverish songs had stirred their souls so much that they were suddenly filled with intense patriotism. It tugged hard at their heartstrings and caused them to recall the glory days of their lives which they had long forgotten now.

    <hr>

    1.

    2.

 Chapter 352: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (4)

    <h4>Chapter 352: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (4)</h4>

    Their hearts are starting to ignite with passion¡­

    ¡°Rodent.¡± He leaned over and instructed, ¡°Go ensure that those in charge of the New Tigerform Battle Armor are on standby. As soon as thest piece, ¡®Go Time¡¯, is over, I want them to be ready for theunch at the moment¡¯s notice!¡±

    Time passed quickly. In the moments that followed, the feudal officials were bombarded by a structured sequence of deeply emotive pieces. The feudal officials did all they could to maintain a look of indifference on their faces, but a closer inspection would reveal their true emotions in their micro expressions.

    The music that was yed easily reminded them of the glories of their past lives.

    Dozens of minutes were all it took for them to transcend the vast rivers of time and return to their glorious era. It brought them back to the moments in which their hearts were the softest, and also reminded them of the times when their passions burned the brightest. When thest piece, ¡®Go Time¡¯, started, everyone immediately knew that it was thest piece on the list. The feudal officials had initially intended to start winding down the burning passion in their hearts when the final piece came on. But¡­

    It was the battle song that was listened to by tens of millions of summoners worldwide!

    Not at all. Anyone who knew this piece would know that whilst not as epic as ¡®Star Sky¡¯ or ¡®Victory¡¯, it was more than enough as a closing piece! It was filled with powerful, striking beats and heavy bass that would fire up every cell in one¡¯s body and ignite their weary and worn battle spirit with phoenix fire. It was a deratory piece that signalled themencement of battle!

    The orchestra yed their hearts out, while the conductor moved his entire body forcefully to the impact of each beat. The entire auditorium was instantly sent erupting to a whole new level of passion, flooding their senses with a new wave of energy like they had never felt before!

    This was the glory that should be orded to him in the first ce!

    After all, how could one simply get high like this, and then just leave without any form of closure?

    Thus, none of the feudal officials were willing to back down at all.

    The feudal officials¡¯ cerebral cortexes were buzzing with lingering intoxication as their goosebumps began to recede. The hotbloodedness had slowly begun to subside, causing everyone to finally breathe a soft sigh of relief. Just then, the lights suddenly came on again.

    ¡°Everyone, I hope you found the concert earlier satisfactory.¡± Without missing a beat, he continued with a faint smile on his face, ¡°But that¡¯s just an appetizer.¡±

    That said, the main course was finally going to be served.

    ¡°As you all know, the new Hell isn¡¯t well-off financially. In fact, this is an undeniable truth of every single new underworld out there. Therefore, this unworthy Third King Yanluo of Hell has no choice but to auction some things away. Please, have a look.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± The eyes of Liu Yu, Gao Changgong, Chaghan and some of the other feudal officials immediately lit up. They weren¡¯t even given a chance to catch their breaths. Just as their hearts were thumping wildly and still reeling from the effects of the stirring music, the object for their venting of stress had already appeared!

    Armor!

    Of course, they weren¡¯tpletely overwhelmed - at least, not yet. Their heart was already desperately nodding in agreement that they should let themselves loose and indulge in these temptations. Rationality was the only thing that was holding them back right now.

    Yet another voice whispered: Calm down. You have to calm down! Armaments are a massive expenditure. You have to make sure to only buy the best of the best!

    Whoosh¡­ Just then, a line of words appeared on the wall behind the New Tigerform Battle Armor.

    Defensive power: Hellguard-ss

    Features: Lightweight - the entire set of armor weighs only ten kilograms. Additionally, the breastte, spaulders and other joint areas have slots for the insertion of Yin spirit stones. Once embedded, they can amplify one¡¯s Yin energy, and even amplify the effects of battle formations such that 10% less Yin soldiers are required to set up all battle formations.

    It was a short and sinct introduction.

    This armor¡­ looked formidable, but armors that were merely good for their looks were dime a dozen. Anyone could make them look majestic, but aesthetics werepletely useless on a battlefield. What they needed was practical benefits!

    A set of armor that weighed only ten kilograms? And one which possesses Hellguard-ss defense?!

    That¡¯s impossible¡­ Although none of them had ever delved into the study of physics and were thus unaware of the corrtion between density and weight, their experience with armors had told them it was only logical that heavier armors would offer greater defense, and the converse was true as well. Yet this set of armor appeared topletely redefine this entire paradigm of theirs!

    It had to be said that every single feudal official in the room had only made a name for themselves because they were well-versed in both matters of governance and military endeavours. Thus, as soon as they drew their minds to the potential of such a set of armor, their eyes immediately burned bright with an intense gaze.

    Every single feudal official in the room had their own set of special forces under theirmand. As long as they could equip their special forces with this set of armor, it would be no different from giving tigers wings! Chaghan even thought of equipping his Iron Stupa forces with these armors - if he could really do so, he would be able to turn them into a mobile meat grinder!

    Both men practically moved at the same time, sending out a wave of Yin energy that promptly transformed into a w that sought to push Zhao Seven back behind the curtains. But as soon as they did, ten other sets of Yin energy erupted and collided directly against the two, sending their Yin energy scattering into the surroundings.

    He was intensely anxious.

    ¡°Lord Yu, has King Yanluo Qin said anything about this matter just yet? Is it proper for a eunuch to be speaking before the emperor does?¡± Gao Changgong was clearly speaking to Yu Qian, yet his gaze remained transfixed on Zhao Seven and the armor he was clothed with. He licked his lips, before turning to Qin Ye and bowing respectfully, ¡°Lord Qin, I wonder how many sets of the New Tigerform you¡¯re selling? And what¡¯s the selling price?¡±

    His first instinct was to purchase these sets of armor!

    The war songs earlier had caused his heart to boil ferociously. How could he embarrass himself by backing down now? And now that the perfect opportunity had presented itself, what was he still waiting for?

    Very good¡­ Qin Ye swept his gaze around. He was certain that the feudal officials were going to purchase the New Tigerform. It was the real deal after all. The earlier concert was just to smoothen out the decision-making process, as well as encourage them to loosen their wallets a little.

    ¡°Ten thousand sets.¡± As soon as Qin Ye responded, Yu Qian immediately cried out, ¡°My Lord! Please reconsider!!¡±

    That man walked out confidently and bowed at everyone, ¡°Your humble servant, Li Shunzhai, greets the esteemed feudal officials.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Yu turned and gave his attendant a meaningful look, and his attendant immediately exploded with a st of Hellguard-ss Yin energy and flew onto center stage.

    <hr>

    1. Here¡¯s the rest of the songs: 4: Always Mine 5: Final Hour 6: The Mass 7: Go Time (extended version)

    2. Summoners is a term used to refer to League of Legend yers.

 Chapter 353: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (5)

    <h4>Chapter 353: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (5)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed. Hellguard¡­ He nced about and saw that each of the twelve envoys had two to three personal attendants with them right now, and he couldn¡¯t even sense the extent of their Yin energy. If all were Hellguards, then¡­ wouldn¡¯t that mean that there were over twenty Hellguards present right now?

    What depth of forces¡­

    ¡°General Dao Hai, under themand of the Lord of Hanyang. Kid¡­ be careful.¡± He chuckled softly, and Zhao Seven immediately drew a deep breath and steadied his stance. But before Zhao Seven could do anything else, a gust of Yin energy immediately shot out of Dao Hai¡¯s body, transforming into a withered and thin palm and mming squarely against the armor with a resounding crash!

    ¡°Ungh!¡± Zhao Seven let out a muffled grunt. And then¡­ under the watchful gaze of every member of the audience, he was only struck back a distance of no more than five meters!

    A Soul Hunter had borne the brunt of a Hellguard¡¯s powerful strike, and then lived to tell the tale!

    Seriously¡­

    This armor can seriously withstand the attacks of a Hellguard?!

    The truth of the matter was simply unbelievable. However, this was only the tip of the iceberg.

    ¡°Blight vermin?!" General Dao Hao retreated several meters as he stared at Zhao Seven with a shrill voice, ¡°This is¡­ this is the blight vermin?! You¡¯ve made armor out of the blight vermin carapace?!¡±

    The twelve envoys who had just taken their seats immediately stood up in horror and stared intently at Zhao Seven.

    As though a light switch suddenly came on in their minds, they immediately understood its light weight and immense defensive capabilities!

    ¡°Blight vermin¡­ that¡¯s right. The copse of the old Hell will result in the spawn of countless blight vermin, and the only ones who have ess are the sessors to the throne. The only option avable to us is to send darkfeathers to hell¡­ No wonder the defensive capabilities of this set of armor is sopletely terrifying, and yet its weight is immeasurably light¡­¡± Chaghan might be rough around the edges, but his understanding of military affairs was undoubtedly top-notch. In fact, he even managed to extrapte more information from the bits and pieces he was given!

    ¡°Are you saying that the new Hell¡¯s military might is already sufficient to assault strongholds of thousands upon thousands of blight vermin all at the same time? Quick development is terrifying¡­ but that¡¯s supposed to be a thing of the future!¡±

    The afterglow of the earlier war songs was finally emerging from their hearts. Their emotions were in flux, but Qin Ye wouldn¡¯t give them the luxury of time topose themselves. There was only a single thread of thought in their mind right now.

    We have to get it!

    This set of armor is something that only appears once every three thousand years. It¡¯s something that only emerges under a great confluence of factors. To think that it would suddenly appear right in front of us today! If we don¡¯t seize this opportunity, we would regret it for the rest of our lives!

    He wasn¡¯t the only one. Every single feudal official was staring intently at Zhao Seven with a burning gaze in their eyes. If this is blight vermin armor¡­ then the scale of production is something that would never be possible without theplete copse of Hell! Super defense and lightweight¡­ Their eyes narrowed, and their hearts began to beat faster and faster.

    After a long time, Ma Fubo drew a deep breath and sank deeper into his seat. He appeared cid and calm, but the ferocious flickering mes in his eyespletely betrayed the appearances he was trying to maintain. He spoke in a calm voice, ¡°Old man, tell us the price.¡±

    Li Shunzhai bowed, before immediately responding, ¡°Everyone, kindly hold your horses and take a look at this.¡±

    Yin energy soon condensed and formed a screen of light, revealing the whole production line of simr pitch-ck armor, including the ck infusion mold and rolls of tan-coloured rope. Everyone could immediately tell that this was the New Tigerform production line. But what was most unusual was the fact that thousands of ck Armored Troops had already pulled out their des and appeared to be waiting for a singlemand.

    Whoosh¡­ The fiery gaze in the eyes of the feudal officials immediately rose to new heights! Likewise, Yu Qian and Yang Jiye bit down heavily on their lips, not daring to utter a single word more.

    Insane¡­ He¡¯s gone insane!~

    How could Hell sell something like that?! And¡­ do you really have to smash the entire production line?! This is a national treasure ss armament! And how could you auction away the only ten thousand sets that have ever been produced?!

    ¡°This is¡­ ridiculous!¡± Yu Qian gnashed his teeth and gripped his armrest tightly.

    But, apart from Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, the other feudal officials were all sitting up straight. A strange premonition surfaced in the depths of their hearts, but they summarily dismissed it as a mere farce¡­ because nobody had ever done something like this before!

    ¡°This is?¡± Han Qinhu queried.

    Li Shunzhai smiled faintly, ¡°This is the first set of armaments produced by the new Hell. Henceforth, all armaments produced by the new Hell will only be put on auction once.¡±

    Boom! Over a dozen Judge-ss sources of Yin energy erupted at once from their great astonishment. Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but let out a muffled grunt from the sheer force of the st.

    Limited edition!

    ¡°We¡¯ll be destroying the production line and molds on the spot right after the auction. There won¡¯t be another sale like this. The starting price is 800 million Yin spirit stones for 10,000 sets of the New Tigerform Battle Armor.¡±

    Dang¡­ dang dang dang dang dang¡­ ¡®Victory¡¯ began ying in the background once more, and the heavy drum beats sounded no different from the war horns of battle that everyone was all too familiar with. Trumpets re with banners flying high. Their hearts were instantly soaring and surging with emotions.

    This was a unique set of battle armor - the blight vermin battle armor!

    They were awash with the feeling of homing in this very instant.

    The thought of armaments filled their heart with a warm, satisfying feeling. And this was particrly so after being left hanging high after the stirring music extravaganza with no outlet to unleash and vent their emotions. There was neither the ecstasy of carnal releases, or the rush of primal battles. Yet, the next best opportunity that had just presented itself was the desire to splurge on a potential treasure for battle!

    It was like a poison kicking into effect, or a drop of water when hunger and thirst were at the extreme.

    There were already maidservants distributing wooden ques to the hands of each envoy¡¯s attendants. Li Shunzhai revealed a charming smile, bowed and stepped back slightly. The surrounding lights immediately went out, and the music immediately roused like a magnificent wave, amplified only by the diminishing of one¡¯s sense of sight. Only one beam of light remained on center stage, while the screen formed out of Yin energy revealed the going price of the auction lot.

    ¡°Those who wish to bid have to raise their ques and imbue it with their ownherme. If no bid is made within three calls from me, the lot of goods shall immediately go to the one who made thest bid. Each increment shall be no less than 10 million Yin spirit stones. Now¡­ let the auctions begin!¡±

    ¡°1 billion!¡± Liu Yu immediately raised the bid. However, before he could even put down his que, several others instantly called out bids at the same time!

    ¡°1 billion 500 million!¡± ¡°1 billion 100 million!¡± ¡°1 billion 130 million!¡± ¡°1 billion 150 million!¡± ¡°1 billion 200 million!¡± 1 billion 300 million!¡±

    The numbers on the screen flickered furiously, reflecting the rapid changes in bidding prices. Within moments, the numbers came up to 1 billion 500 million!¡±

    That said, everyone knew that the lot of goods being sold¡­ was worth far more than just that!

    It was worth at least 2 billion Yin spirit stones!

    Liu Yu paused. When he heard the number go up to 1 billion 600 million, the veins on his temples throbbed furiously.

    There are always such unruly people who attempt to seize what is rightfully mine¡­ For some strange reason, he felt somewhat more impulsive tonight than ever before. He grabbed the que that his attendant was holding and raised it up high, bellowing with a deep, booming voice, ¡°2 billion.¡±

    Instant silence.

    Nobody was a fool. It was certainly worth it securing the entire lot of goods for only 2 billion Yin spirit stones. In fact, there was still room to grow, but the tipping point might be in the region of 2 billion 500 Yin spirit stones. Emperor Wu of Song had only kicked up the bidding a notch as a test to hispetitors.

    That said, the moment of silence also filled Liu Yu¡¯s heart with great joy and satisfaction.

    Fantastic!

    The stifling, boiling blood in his heart felt like it had been granted relief as soon as he called out his bid of two billion Yin spirit stones. There were many modes of venting, including carnal pleasures, killing, binge eating, and even confiding in others. That said, dishing out copious amounts of money onrge expenditures was definitely one of the most satisfying.

    Especially when it resulted in such moments of silence.

    His entire body felt like it was burning up on fire.

    ¡®Victory¡¯ was still ying in the background, as though silently urging the feudal officials to action. The thumping drum beats fanned the mes of their hearts intently. Three secondster, Chaghan¡¯s voice called out, ¡°2.2 billion!¡±

    Back on the second floor, Qin Ye watched all of these with bated breaths. By his calctions, the lot of 10,000 sets of New Tigerform Battle Armor should sell for approximately 2.8 billion Yin spirit stones. He wasn¡¯t far from his target right now.

    But, as soon as thest bid was called out, the entire hall was filled with silence once more, so much so that he could even hear his own heart beats.

    It shouldn¡¯t be this way¡­ It can¡¯t be! We¡¯re talking about armor made from the carapace of blight vermin. The appearance of blight vermin on such a scale is something that had only happened once in thest three thousand years! There might not be many sets of armor, but it¡¯s definitely worth more than 2.2 billion!

    ¡°2.2 billion going once¡­ 2.2 billion going twice¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s grip tightened around the guardrails, staring intently at the audience below. Someone¡­ someone raise your hand! Even though I¡¯m already going to profit from a sale like this, it¡¯s not enough! Transacting at this price would thoroughly invalidate all of my efforts to date!

    Just then, an old voice called out like a heavenly chorus, ¡°Two and a half billion!¡±

    Well done!

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and breathed a long sigh of relief, before turning to look at the source of the voice. And then, he immediately frowned once more.

    Yu Qian.

    It was actually Yu Qian who had called out thest bid!

    Damn it!

    Qin Ye cursed in his heart. He hadpletely failed to take into ount the mindset of Yu Qian and Yang Jiye. They were so loyal that they would never allow such goods to flow out into the hands of outsiders! And it was already toote to apprise them of his ns!

    I can only hope that¡­ they can¡¯t fork out as much money as the rest of the feudal officials, and they would be naturally ousted from the running. Otherwise¡­ it¡¯s going to be no different from transferring funds from the left to the right pocket.

    ¡°Absurd.¡± Fortunately Yu Qian¡¯s bid acted like a catalyst that triggered a reaction. Gao Changgong sneered, ¡°King Yanluo has already given his word that he will henceforth treat us as apletely different and separate underworld! Do you think I¡¯m going to let you have it your way? 2.6 billion!!¡±

    ¡°2 billion 650 million.¡± Chaghan bidded again, ¡°This set of armor is of great use to me. It¡¯s practically made in heaven for my Iron Stupa cavalrymen. Gentlemen, apologies, but I truly can¡¯t pass up on this opportunity tonight.¡±

    Nobody spoke up.

    There were only a dozen foot-highhermes flickering wildly from their eyes.

    Everyone was calcting intently in their hearts. Was it worth it? How much could they afford to spend from their national treasury? Would it hinder the other work that they were doing in their underworld? How much would it affect them? What kind of impact would it have on their ongoing projects?

    Li Shunzhai coughed lightly, ¡°2 billion 650 million going once.¡±

    ¡°2 billion 650 million going twice.¡±

    Click¡­ Several feudal officials secretly tightened their grip around their armrests. Their hearts stirred with great emotion, in tandem with the moring music and wild thumping beats. The entire experience was almost painful to them.

    Li Shunzhai swung the hammer down, ¡°2 billion 650 million going thr--...¡±

    ¡°2 billion 700 million!!¡± Three voices called out at the exact same time, right before the gavel fell.

    It was Ma Fubo, Liu Yu and Han Qinhu.

    ng!

    Back on the second floor, QIn Ye mmed his heart down onto the guardrail and licked his lips avariciously.

    Back in the auditorium, the three men who had just called thest bid nced at each other, before calling out once more at the exact same time, ¡°2 billion 800 million!¡±

    It¡¯s here!

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and drew several deep breaths. 2.8 billion Yin spirit stones¡­ I¡¯ve finally reached my target price. Thest half a year hasn¡¯t been spent in vain after all!

    But¡­ it¡¯s definitely going to go up!

    How rich are these damned feudal officials to begin with?! This is 2.8 billion Yin spirits stones we¡¯re talking about! To think they were willing to fork it out without even furrowing their brows! Furthermore, there are still three feudal officials in the running right now. This auction¡­ we might even see the price breach the 3 billion mark!

 Chapter 354: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (6)

    <h4>Chapter 354: Inaugural Launch of an Armament (6)</h4>

    The three feudal officials who called out the exact same bid at the exact same time turned to look at each other once again. Then, just as Han Qinhu was about to raise his bid again, the attendants beside him immediately held him back.

    ¡°Lord Han, we can¡¯t afford it!¡± ¡°It¡¯s too much¡­ this lot of armor is worth 2.5 billion at best, and it¡¯s way overpriced right now. Please be mindful that we¡¯re not among the wealthiest of fiefdoms. At the very least, we can¡¯t hold a candle to the Lord of Hanyang!¡±

    Han Qinhu¡¯s nostrils red up slightly as he desperately struggled against the attendant¡¯s grip to raise his hand. Secondster, he finally sighed regretfully, ¡°Fine. Let go. I¡¯ll give in.¡±

    Although he conceded verbally, his heart still felt terrible, almost as though a viper was constricting tightly around it.

    It was subtle, yetpletely at odds with that feverish rush that he had experienced when he called out the bid earlier. That simple action had earlier filled him with the sensation of being on top of the world. But the decision to back out of the running made him feel iparably stifled and upset. He even wanted to scream out loud to ventte his frustrations, and it took him three full minutes of ragged breaths in order to properly suppress these stirring feelings in his heart.

    I¡¯ve been somewhat impulsive tonight¡­ He could only imagine the kind of feelings that the other twelve envoys were going through right now.

    The only two ostensibly left in the running were Ma Fubo and Liu Yu.

    ¡°Lord Ma.¡± Liu Yu nced at Ma Fubo with a faint smile on his face, ¡°Hanyang is the most prosperous of all fiefdoms around. Are you sure you want to contend with me?¡±

    ¡°How would I know unless I give it a shot?¡± Ma Fubo smiled back. ¡°Alternatively¡­ why don¡¯t you sell three thousand sets of the armor to me after winning the bid?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ you must be kidding¡­ 2 billion 830 million.¡±

    ¡°But I wasn¡¯t kidding at all¡­ 2 billion 850 million.¡±

    They were like jackals of the same tribe.

    The bid was no longer going up in 100 million increments. Instead, the variance was now far smaller, to the tune of 10 million. Within moments, the bid was already close to 3 full billion - a sum which represented the entire military budget for the preceding year. Naturally, everyone proceeded with far greater caution than before.

    Everyone seemed calm, but the tension in the air was white hot.

    It was obvious who held the pole position, and who was the contender.

    ¡°2 billion 870 million.¡± ¡°Two billion¡­ 900 million!¡±

    The voices echoed each other, while the number reflected on the Yin energy screen continued to climb rapidly. Then, just as the two men continued to butt heads in this tense tussle against the other, another deep voice suddenly boomed out.

    ¡°3 billion.¡±

    Three billion¡­ Qin Ye immediately gasped and nced in the direction where the voice had called out from.

    Yang Jiye.

    He had finally made a move!

    Things were no longer within Qin Ye¡¯s control. Yang Jiye¡¯s and Yu Qian¡¯s intervention was an oversight on his part. Right now, he could only bank on the fact that Liu Yu would see his bids through to the very end. After all, the Hanyang underworld was undoubtedly the most prosperous fiefdom of the twelve envoys. Ma Fubo was already struggling earlier, and it was clear that Qin Ye couldn¡¯t count on him to outbid Yang Jiye at this point in time. It naturally went without saying that it would be the worst case scenario if either Yang Jiye or Yu Qian ended up winning the bid at the auctions.

    But since things had alreadye to this, then he would leave everything to fate.

    Qin Ye sat down and closed his eyes, listening intently to the bids below. He left everything to the will of the heavens, and he braced himself for the worst case scenario.

    Whoosh! Down in the auditorium, both Ma Fubo and Liu Yu turned to stare at Yang Jiye with an expression filled with killing intent.

    Not under my watch!

    If Yang Jiye won the bid, it would be no different from equipping King Yanluo¡¯s troops with these sets of armor. This was something that neither of them wanted to see in Hell¡¯s possession if they could help it.

    ¡°3 billion 100 million!¡± Liu Yu raised his hand and muttered cidly, ¡°Do you really think Luzon is able to hold a candle against Hanyang?¡±

    Liu Yu could tell that the earlier bid of 3 billion was already Yang Jiye¡¯s limit. Yang Jiye sighed wistfully and turned to look at Qin Ye with a gleam in his eyes.

    My hands are tied.

    Lord Yanluo, what have you done¡­

    ¡°Anyone else?¡± Liu Yu nced at the audience around him as he slowly rose to his feet. The feeling of satisfaction was slowly burgeoning in his heart, and he felt as though he was drifting on cloud nine. The two mes in his eyes that were zing wildly slowly subsided and reverted to its original state. Momentster, he turned back to Li Shunzhai and lifted his chin, ¡°If nobody¡¯s calling out anymore bids, then¡­ auctioneer, what are you still waiting for?!¡±

    Li Shunzhai¡¯s body trembled, and he immediately picked up his gavel, ¡°3 billion 100 million going once, 3 billion 100 million going twice, 3 billion 100 million--...¡±

    ¡°Title deed to Begnas Lake of Pokhara, the secondrgest city in Lhavi!¡±

    Boom!

    Liu Yu¡¯s eyes immediately erupted with mes once more. Yu Qian¡­ you damned old fool! If you want to pledge allegiance to Hell, fine. But do you really have to stonewall me at every turn of the way?!

    Everyone has their own free will. I didn¡¯t stand in your way when you evinced an intention to rejoin Hell, so why are you standing in my way now?! We¡¯re colleagues when all is said and done! Are you really not going to give me the slightest bit of indulgence in this moment of our separation?!

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of such an attraction before, so how can you possibly use it to cover that bid of yours?¡± He sneered. Yu Qian¡¯s resurgence in the bidding war had caused the fire in his heart to ignite once again. He knew full well that the bidding was going to devolve into a battle of will, yet¡­ his emotions prevailed over rationality at this very moment.

    I¡¯m blessed by the gods with prosperity and eternal life. How dare a mere vassal lord - and a remote one at that - attempt to call my bluff?!

    The lingering intoxication from the earlier concert had red up once again.

    ¡°Besides, nobody has said anything about the use of deeds as security for one¡¯s bids, is there?¡± He nced at Li Shunzhai, ¡°I¡¯m asking you!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Li Shunzhai was startled, but quickly regained hisposure and bowed respectfully, ¡°In principle¡­ there¡¯s no issues with this. This humble servant has had the opportunity to visit that scenic spot before, and I can safely confirm that its value is definitely worth more than 3 billion Yin spirit stones. In fact, a rough estimation would peg its value in the region of 3.5 billion Yin spirit stones. My lord, what do you say?¡±

    ¡°Damn you and your 3.5 billion¡­¡± Liu Yu snorted coldly. The rage in his heart was stirring furiously right now. He red coldly at Yu Qian, ¡°Four--...¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, the two attendants standing beside him immediately held down his sleeves.

    ¡°My lord¡­ my lord! You can¡¯t! That¡¯s 4 billion Yin spirit stones you¡¯re talking about!¡± ¡°My lord! Please reconsider! I beseech you! That¡¯s well more than the value of these sets of armor! You cannot do this!¡±

    ¡°Scram!!¡± Liu Yu¡¯s furious bellow resounded through the entire auditorium. He flicked his sleeves in rage, and the two attendants immediately flew into the distance and mmed against the walls with a muffled grunt. Then, he suddenly shot to his feet and yelled, ¡°3 billion 600 million!¡±

    ¡°Yu Qian, I want to see what else you¡¯re going to bring out from Lhavi against the Hanyang underworld!¡±

    In the end, he still reconsidered his earlier bid and revised it downwards slightly.

    Up on the second floor. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes opened abruptly to the pleasant tunes of the sparks of conflict below.

    3.6 billion¡­ that¡¯s 800 million more than my initial expectations!

    Thest half a year of preparation, starting from the day on which I heard from Liu Yu for the very first time, has finally¡­e to fruition.

    Everything had been worth it!

    3.6 billion Yin spirit stones was a shocking price that astonished all of the feudal officials present. Even Li Shunzhai couldn¡¯t help but reel back in shock. The only thing that carried on as per normal was the rousing music that was still ying in the background.

    Drums, trumpets, and piano were among the instruments that were weaving together in great harmony, as though preemptively celebrating Liu Yu¡¯s triumph in that very moment.

    ¡°Three-three-three billion six hundred million going once¡­ going twice¡­ going thrice! Sold!!!¡±

    Li Shunzhai quicklyposed himself and shouted with a hoarse voice, ¡°Congrattions to Lord Liu Yu of Hanyang for sessfully bidding for this lot of premium battle armor at the inaugural armamentunch of the new Hell! Next, let us witness the destruction of the molds together. Henceforth, every New Tigerform Battle Armor that is destroyed will mean that one less such armor exists in the entire world! We will never forge another set again! What you see are the only ones in existence right now!¡±

    Liu Yu¡¯s heart stung with the pain from burning through that much of his national budget at once. But, at the same time¡­ he felt incredibly satisfied.

    Refreshing¡­ how refreshing. Ever since we¡¯ve stepped into this room, the musical extravaganza has really lifted our moods to new heights, bringing us back to those days of shing iron and bloodshed in the fields and the ins. And when my soul was stirring with great battle intent and ambition, I thought it was going to linger for a long time before this feeling would dissipate. Yet, to think that we would be presented with the perfect outlet for venttion immediately after that.

    The price of venting was undoubtedly painful.

    But¡­ he couldn¡¯t feel any of that right now.

    The satisfaction andfort apanying that release coursed through his body, numbing the pain which he would otherwise have felt.

    Crash! Just then, a loud smashing sound came from the screen of Yin energy. Instantly, the entire production line waspletely crushed to smithereens. Liu Yu raised his eyebrows in satisfaction, stood up and bowed slightly towards Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯ve benefited a lot this evening. I sincerely thank King Yanluo for your hospitality. If youe to the Hanyang underworld in future, I¡¯ll be sure to repay the favour.¡±

    ¡°Naturally. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t be too long before we meet in Hanyang again.¡± Qin Ye smiled and nodded back.

    ¡°I look forward to it.¡± Liu Yu transformed into ahergale and began to return to his resting ce, ¡°But¡­ what I¡¯m looking forward to even more is the negotiations which aremencing tomorrow.¡±

    Once the dust had settled, the feudal officials began to bid farewell to Qin Ye as they took their leave one by one. Their departure was somewhat symbolic. After all, the next time they met could very well be on the battlefield. That said, none of them dared to be arrogant before they left Hell¡¯s territory in any event.

    Just like that, everyone departed, leaving Qin Ye on the second floor with Wang Chenghao and Su Dongxue behind him.

    ¡°Goplete the rest of the transaction procedures with Liu Jinu.¡± Qin Ye rubbed his eyes. He was getting sleepy. He had achieved almost everything he wanted to this imperial court meeting. He had secured a good amount of funds for the construction efforts of the new Hell. After all, Arthis had told him to secure some Yin spirit stones. 3.6 billion Yin spirit stones would be sufficient to tide Hell through a period of time, wouldn¡¯t it?

    Besides, everyone knew exactly what was on the agenda for tomorrow¡¯s negotiations. No matter what happened, the results wouldn¡¯t be too far off Qin Ye¡¯s expectations.

    ¡°Me?¡± Wang Chenghao pointed to himself with his eyes wide open.

    ¡°Who else?¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°He¡¯s not going to devour you. You¡¯ll have to learn to stand on your own eventually. Otherwise, how am I supposed toze--... I mean, deal with my other duties?¡±

    That was a Freudian slip, wasn¡¯t it? It has to be!

    With that, Wang Chenghao took his leave, but Qin Ye remained behind. He remained on the second floor for some time, before speaking up again, ¡°Su Dongxue.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°Call Yu Qian and Yang Jiye over.¡±

    Su Dongxue promptly drifted away. Shortly afterwards, she returned once more together with Yu Qian and Yang Jiye. Both acted as though nothing had happened before, and immediately knelt respectfully before Qin Ye, ¡°Greetings, King Yanluo.¡±

    Qin Ye tapped his finger lightly against the guardrail for several seconds, before finally smiling at the two, ¡°Please rise. What do you think of the incident earlier?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unsatisfactory.¡± Yang Jiue spoke bluntly, ¡°Blight vermin carapace is incredibly difficult toe across. Hell is currently faced with a whole host of problems, both internally and externally. What¡¯s most important right now is a strong army. If we arm Hell¡¯s forces with the New Tigerform Battle Armor, we¡¯ll be able to quickly train up an elite force. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like making wedding clothes for others¡­¡± Yu Qian sighed wistfully.

    Qin Ye smiled.

    ¡°Hell may becking a powerful force, but itcks money even more.¡± Qin Ye stood up and ced his hands behind his back, ¡°Do you know why I¡¯ve put in so much effort to entertain them despite knowing their agenda of dering independence from Hell?¡±

    The two men shook their heads. The entertainment tonight could be said to bepletely unprecedented in certain ways, and it had undoubtedly exceeded all of their expectations. In fact, things had happened so quickly that they didn¡¯t even have the time to mull over these matters properly.

    ¡°Because you¡¯ve got to work hard for money. How much do you think Hell will be able to earn by relying on its own economy which is norger than the size of a small town? It¡¯s only by establishing sea trade that we can begin to make money everyday. Lord Yu, you¡¯ve lived in the time of the Ming Dynasty, and you should know far better than anyone else the pros and cons of establishing sea trade.¡±

    Yu Qian¡¯s eyes flickered with wildhermes.

    If that¡¯s the case, then everything would make sense. But¡­

    ¡°But even if that were the case, there¡¯s still no need to sell off the New Tigerform Battle Armor! This is going to be the stumbling block for Hell in future!¡±

    Qin Ye revealed a devilish smile to them, ¡°Esteemed feudal lords¡­ you worry too much. Get some rest. There¡¯s going to be a long day ahead.¡±

    Some things could never be discussed at this juncture. At least, not with Yang Jiye and Yu Qian, both of whom Qin Ye was only meeting with for the very first time.

    After all, who knows whether such a loyal minister would be a traitor after the turn of the flop?

    Yu Qian and Yang Jiye exchanged an awkward nce, before leaving without another word. Approximately ten minutester, Qin Ye spoke up once more, ¡°Mr Nobunaga.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Oda Nobunaga stepped out of the shadows. It was most surprising that none of the feudal officials had detected his presence earlier.

    ¡°Help me get in touch with the daolord of the asura.¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Tell him¡­ that I¡¯ve got another batch of armor produced using the carapace of blight vermin over here, totalling 5,000 sets, and ask him what he¡¯s willing to offer in trade for them. Furthermore¡­ you can reassure him once more that it¡¯s not out of the question to confer a title upon him and subsume his existence under the wings of Hell.¡±

    That¡¯s right. Qin Ye had always represented to the feudal officials that he would no longer be forging new sets of armor.

    But¡­ whoever mentioned anything about this being the only 10,000 sets that were produced in this first production run?

 Chapter 355: International Trade Conference (1)

    <h4>Chapter 355: International Trade Conference (1)</h4>

    Liar, liar, pants on fire.

    If only he would touch his heart and do a proper stock check on the number of such shameful deeds he had done to date, he would probably wish he had some ce to hide his face.

    What were his principles? Run from all who are stronger, and if running is impossible, then employ deception and smokescreens.

    In short, nothing was out of the question. So long as it could guarantee his survival, he was willing to do practically anything.

    He fully appreciated the kind of delicate predicament he was in.

    Perhaps the only other skill he had that wasparable to his survival instincts was his ability to tap on the economy of others to Hell¡¯s advantage. He was no different from an expert opportunist or a seasoned hunter that would lie silently in wait until it was time tond the killing blow and seize all glory and honor.

    ¡°3.6 billion Yin spirit stones¡­¡± His eyes flickered excitedly in the darkness, and he licked his lips as he slowly began to transform into a wave of Yin energy, ¡°Now that I¡¯ve done everything I can to seize a fraction of their military budget, then¡­ it¡¯s time to bring this factionized tussle to its conclusion once and for all¡­¡±

    ¡°This is going to be the first international trade conference. I¡¯m most certainly looking forward to it. With your intelligence, you¡¯ll soon discover the true reason for this splendidunch event which had you guys dancing at the top of my fingers. So¡­ what¡¯s your move tomorrow?¡±

    The second afternoon, at 2.00 p.m. A majestic horn sounded at Hell¡¯s Gate, and all feudal officials immediately drifted out of their rooms to answer the call.

    The conference was to be held within Hell¡¯s Gate, right under the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. A lush red carpet had been rolled out from their rooms to Hell¡¯s Gate, and hundreds of attendants half-knelt on the ground and tossed paper money all over like confetti as the feudal officials walked over. The ck Armoured Troops stood guard on both sides of the path like iron pylons, while thousands of ck-and-white ribbons were adorning Hell¡¯s Gate like beautiful streamers.

    Ahergale blew, causing the ribbons to flutter in the wind like a foreboding omen. Spots ofhermes darted about wildly, while the calligraphic strokes that spelt ¡®Hell¡¯s Gate¡¯ zed with powerfulhermes. Everything looked iparably grand and daunting.

    Hundreds more ck Armored Troops stood guard around the main hall of Hell¡¯s Gate where the conference was to be held, turning it into a watertight meeting room. Trumpets sounded, and a majestic atmosphere filled the air.

    There was neither a grand ceremony, nor a party to celebrate their arrival. Instead, the feudal officials entered the meeting room feeling almost as though they were enemies of Hell. The atmosphere was solemn and tense, and nothing about the conference venue felt rxed or weing in the slightest.

    The atmosphere is somewhat tense and somber¡­. Chaghan¡¯s attendant frowned slightly and whispered thoughtfully, ¡°My lord, why are you frowning? Hell¡¯s revealing the true extent of their strength to us right now. This is the main hall of Hell¡¯s Gate, and yet that¡¯s all there is to their honor guard. The extent of their poverty is simplyughable--¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± Chaghan interrupted him before he could even finish speaking. He wore a hat and braided his hair today. His fingers were adorned with gold rings iid with pearls, and he wore a white suit that was fastened together with a beautiful belt replete with a jade belt buckle. It was a surprisingly formal look.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one dressed in this manner. In fact, all of the other feudal officials were now dressed far more formally than before, and they carried themselvespletely differently. In fact, none of them were even carrying their weapons with them right now.

    ¡°Chaghan Temur.¡± A voice suddenly called out. Chaghan looked up, only to see Liu Yu dressed in a low-key ck robe and jade crown ensemble, rather than his golden dragon robe and imperial crown that wasmonly associated with an emperor. Four attendants escorted him by his side.

    The two were currently approximately a hundred meters away from Hell¡¯s Gate, and they cautiously kept their distance from each other. Chaghan nced at Liu Yu, ¡°It seems like Lord Liu has also figured it out.¡±

    Liu Yu nodded with a sullen expression, gnashing his teeth as he nced icily at Hell¡¯s Gate, ¡°It looks like we¡¯ve all been underestimating this third King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d only figured it outst night as well.¡± Chaghan retracted his gaze and continued with a cold voice, ¡°What was his objective with theunch eventst night?¡±

    ¡°Money?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ That may be important, but it¡¯s most certainly not the primary purpose. His main message is this - the new Hell¡­ can manufacture and produce armaments!¡±

    Chaghan¡¯s voice trembled slightly as he spoke. Liu Yu promptly responded, ¡°It¡¯s impossible to forge armaments without the Hall of Tremors. This is an iron rule of Hell! All of the weapons we possess have been issued by Hell since a hundred years ago. They¡¯re notpletely obsolete right now, but¡­¡±

    He nced at Hell¡¯s Gate, ¡°We¡¯re both officials who are looking to break away from Hell¡­ We need to do our level best to expand and grow as soon as we do. Otherwise¡­ given Hell¡¯s current rate of growth, it won¡¯t take more than a hundred years before they woulde knocking on our doors and asking us to answer for our crimes. That said¡­ expansion and growth is contingent on the possession of armaments. And where are the armaments supposed toe from?¡±

    Chaghan gritted his teeth, ¡°He¡¯s trying to be thergest arms leader across all of the East Continent! And he¡¯s not even attempting to conceal his intentions! Unfortunately, he¡¯s got both the Book of Life and Death and the Harken in his possession. If not for the fact that any dispute could easily escte into a life and death struggle, we would have flipped out against him a long time ago! He¡¯s practically trying to eat us out alive. Incredibly¡­ I would never have expected such a formidable killing strike in such an unassuming manner. Brother Liu, how¡¯s the situation with the nameless god of death on your side? You¡¯re the closest to them in terms of proximity. Haven¡¯t you personally visited them thrice now?¡±

    Liu Yu chuckled bitterly, ¡°The nameless god of death is rumoured to be a Yanluo-ss entity, so how could I possibly have had a personal audience with him? I¡¯ve only met the chief administrator of the Eastern Orthodox Underworld, the soul of Tsar Peter the Great. He doesn¡¯t want to get involved in the internal affairs of the Cathayan underworld, nor does he want to open any trade channels with Hanyang, much less export Yin weapons and armaments to us.¡±

    Chaghan snorted coldly, ¡°But he doesn¡¯t even know what¡¯s going on with Hell right now! That old fox clearly doesn¡¯t want to bother lifting a finger unless a threat is imminent! Brother Liu¡­¡±

    He gazed deeply at Liu Yu, before finally asking with some measure of apprehension, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t divulge to them what¡¯s going on with Hell right now, would you?¡±

    ¡°What kind of a person do you think I am?¡± Liu Yu red at Chaghan with great indignation, ¡°We should never air our dirtyundry in public! No matter howrge or outrageous this dispute is, it¡¯s still an internal affair at the end of the day! How can we allow outsiders to get involved in such matters? I can assure you that even if us twelve envoys end up perishing to Hell, not a single one of us would divulge the current status of Hell to foreigners! Besides, rather than worry about these things, shouldn¡¯t you be considering how to negotiate with this unassuming yet incredibly masterful King Yanluo of Hell instead? Arms dealing is his greatest leverage over us! Not only do we have to discuss the terms of independence right now, we¡¯ll even have to secure a diplomatic status for the purchase of arms! Aren¡¯t you afraid that he¡¯ll be using that as leverage to seek more from us?¡±

    Nobody said another word.

    Things like these weren¡¯t matters that could be thought up on the fly. In fact, the feudal officials who had decided to secede from Hell¡¯s rule, together with their advisors, hadn¡¯t managed to get a single wink of sleepst night. Qin Ye had revealed his cards too suddenly, and it didn¡¯t help that each of the cards revealed were astonishing in their very own right. After all, how could any one of them have guessed that a sproutling underworld could already be in the process of constructing the Hall of Tremors? And to think that they were even able to sell such premium armaments at their inaugural imperial court meeting!

    Something like that¡­ was practically the worst-case scenario possible! Yet, it actually happened!

    Thus, everyone decided to maintain a low profile today. They didn¡¯t have high hopes that a bted gesture like that would work, but at least it was a showing of their sincerity.

    Respect was something that only existed as between equals. Either be as powerful as them, or possess some other equally significant leverage over the other.

    Something like armaments.

    And the only reason why they didn¡¯t say another word to each other was because it was already toote to be nning these things only at the eleventh hour. Everything now depends on their actual performance at the negotiations proper. Both men walked into the great hall at the same time. Ka-ka-ka¡­ Countless ded polearms immediately obstructed their way. They tilted their heads, and each of their attendants promptly whipped out their official documents of entry and allowed the guards to conduct the necessary body search.

    Liu Yu sighed wistfully, and then cast a long nce at the couplets hanging by Hell¡¯s Gate.

    ¡°Sins of three lives in the mortal realm are orded to thee.¡± Nethermes roared around the calligraphic strokes. If this had been seen in the mortal realm, it would have been terrifying. But now, it only looked all too familiar.

    ¡°Hath Hell spared any since ages past.¡± Chaghan couldn¡¯t help but read on, and even raised his hand to touch the couplet. As soon as he touched it, the couplet immediately roared into mes which promptly wrapped around him like a poisonous snake.

    He froze, and then promptly withdrew his hand with a bitter smile on his face.

    Today, they would no longer be considered feudal officials of Hell.

    The old Hell has gone, and the new Hell hase. Their records had gone up in mes, just like the old Hell, and there was no longer a ce for them in the new Hell.

    We¡¯re¡­ no different from wandering ghosts now¡­

    How¡­ ironic¡­

    ng! Just then, the ck Armored Troops withdrew their ded barricade and allowed passage to the two feudal officials. It was only then that they discovered that many of their colleagues had already arrived.

    A dozen-meter tall statue of the thousand-handed incarnation of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva stood right in the middle of the great hall.

    He had a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. Every part of its body which could hold something had an oilmp attached to it, and each of thesemps were burning with flickering greenhermes. They could tell at a nce that there were no less than thousands of suchmps on the statue right now.

    Beyond the statue, there were countless mantles where scriptures were ced. But, more importantly, there was a massive twenty-meters round table that was ced right before the statue. Qin Ye sat on the main seat right under the cover of the Buddha statue where thousands of mes were burning bright, almost as though he were an incarnation of the earlier two King Yanluos.

    All twelve envoys soon arrived, and their advisors also took their seats right behind each of their masters. Qin Ye gently knocked on the table and spoke with a stern tone of voice, ¡°Today marks the first day of our international trade conference. The reason why I¡¯m not calling this the imperial court meeting, is because I personally am of the view that¡­ the imperial court meeting has already endedst night.¡±

    None of the feudal officials said a single word. Nevertheless, Qin Ye simply continued as nned.

    ¡°There are those who insist on abandoning me and leaving their long standing rtionship with Hell a thing of the past. Since I¡¯m unable to keep you, then I won¡¯t bother trying to keep you either.¡± He spoke calmly, as though Hanyang, the Khmer Empire, Siam, Bagan of Birmania, Sanfotsi, Jiaozhi, and the Bamboo Region had never been a vassal state in the first ce, ¡°Once wee to an agreement on the terms of our international trade, the following seven persons, Guo Ziyi, Chang Yuchun, Ma Fubo, Han Qinhu, Liu Yu, Gao Changgong, Chaghan Temur, will henceforth no longer be considered a part of Hell. I¡¯ll publicly strike off their names in Hell¡¯s Record at the end of this conference. Su Dongxue.¡±

    ¡°Your humble servant is here.¡± Su Dongxue stood up with a scroll, while Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Read out the articles of our charter for the seven feudal officials who are dering independence.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Su Dongxue unraveled the scroll and began to read softly, ¡°Article One. Once the vassal states known as Hanyang, the Khmer Empire, Siam, Bagan, Sanfotsi, Jiaozhi, and the Bamboo Region secede all vassge rtions with Hell, Hell shall henceforth suspend all business transactions with them. Article One shall take immediate effect as soon as the names of the feudal officials are struck off Hell¡¯s Records.¡±

    ¡°Article Two. The aforementioned seven vassal states shall henceforth no longer be granted easement through Cathay. Should they enter or cross the territorial borders of Cathay without Hell¡¯s permission, such entry shall be considered illegal entry, and they shall be dealt with in ordance with thews of the old Hell. Article Two shall take immediate effect as soon as the names of the feudal officials are struck off Hell¡¯s Records.¡±

    Liu Yu¡¯s face twitched slightly.

    Seceding from Hell had always been a dream of mine. The day has finallye to spread my wings and soar without looking back at the shackles of Hell, yet¡­ why is there some indescribable feeling that seems to be guing my heart?

    Remorse?

    Pain?

    Am I feeling remorseful that things had to be this way with the new Hell? Or am I feeling pained by the fact that I¡¯ll henceforth no longer be considered a Cathayan?

    He didn¡¯t have the answers to these questions, yet neither was he willing to delve any deeper into these things. Su Dongxue continued.

    ¡°Article Three. The old Hell¡¯s obligation to protect the said vassal states, and the said vassal state¡¯s obligations to pay tribute to Hell are henceforth abolished. Article Three shall take immediate effect as soon as the names of the feudal officials are struck off Hell¡¯s Records.¡±

    Line by line, these articles were read one after the other. None of them stood out in particr to the feudal officials. Finally, Su Dongxue was at the very end of the scroll.

    ¡°Article Twelve. Once the aforementioned seven vassal states secede from Hell, they shall no longer have ess to the Book of Life and Death and the Mirror of Eminence. Article Twelve shall take immediate effect as soon as the names of the feudal officials are struck off Hell¡¯s Records.¡±

    Bzzt!

    As soon as she finished reading the scroll, Liu Yu, Gao Changgong, Chaghan and Ma Fubo immediately shot to their feet! On the other hand, Yu Qian and Yang Jiye raised their heads abruptly, revealing bright mes that were burning from the depths of their eyes.

    Zhou Yu and the other two neutral feudal officials, together with the other faction who were sitting on the fence,prising Han Qinhu, Chang Yuchun, and Guo Ziyi, all gasped at the same time as they stared in astonishment at Qin Ye, only to realize that he was simply smiling faintly back at them.

    Damn it¡­ how could we have forgotten about such an important condition!

    Terrible. This is a terrible start to the negotiations. To think that he would bare his fangs at us with such audacity right from the onset!

 Chapter 356: International Trade Conference (2)

    <h4>Chapter 356: International Trade Conference (2)</h4>

    The mythology of Hell isn¡¯t something that only exists in name.

    And what purpose do each of these divine artifacts serve?

    There¡¯s nothing much to it, right?

    The loss of something like that would be no different from pulling a veil over the eyes of King Yanluo himself. Hell would no longer know when a person is passing, or predict the urrence of an epidemic. Without the aid of the Book of Life and Death, how many more emissaries would an underworld need to mobilize in order to cover the loss of function in that regard? How much of their city would need to be rebuilt? What kind of expenses would they incur in order to beef up their surveince efforts, both to draw in new Yin spirits and to keep any Yin spirits from escaping? What if a judge-ss entity suddenly escapes from their underworld yearster?

    ¡°Lord Qin!¡± Liu Yu immediately spoke up, ¡°The Book of Life and Death and the Mirror of Eminence has always been supporting the vassal states! How can you withdraw their support just like that?!¡±

    Liu Yu gulped and grew taciturn.

    After all, if only one party gained from such negotiations, then it might as well be called an invasion, rather than negotiations.

    That said, this masterstroke which Qin Ye had just pulled out of the bag was something that not even Liu Yu and his group of defiant officials had thought of!

    This final strike was like a sharp de that plunged straight into their carotid arteries, drawing copious amounts of blood at once.

    Ma Fubo drew a deep breath, ¡°Lord Qin, what if we agree to the resumption of tributes to Hell?¡±

    Liu Yu responded, ¡°Standing taxation system of the old Hell, where the state would take a 50% tax from the produce of itsnds of which a fifth of such tax would be set aside for Hell as tribute. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°You were once fiefdoms, and it¡¯s only natural that a portion of your taxes should be returned to Hell. Nothing in there contemtes the future rent and use for the Book of Life and Death and other artifacts of Hell! Besides, how do I know how much your fiefdoms have produced during this period of time?¡±

    Hell¡¯s military might wasn¡¯t something to be concerned about just yet. In fact, there was the possibility that Hell was so weak they weren¡¯t even able to withstand the slightest buffeting of winds. That said, Hell had still found a way to trip them up at every step of the way, so much so that Gao Changgong never wanted to deal with Qin Ye again if he could help it.

    ¡°Just your green papers? Heh, it looks like Lord Gao knows a thing or two about modern day matters.¡± Qin Ye leaned back into his chair, ¡°White paper, blue papers, yellow papers, and green papers are all outward facing papers intended to persuade other stakeholders or promote a viewpoint. In other words, this is merely a different form of saying the exact same thing right now. You want me to tell you my bottom line? Sure, we can revert to the old system of taxation of the old Hell. But you¡¯ll have to grant me ess to all of your white papers, and allow our embassy personnel full ess to peruse the archives of your underworld.¡±

    Bloody hell, we¡¯re still in the era of steam trains, and yet you¡¯re already thinking of exploring the moon?

    He stood up and leaned forward slightly with an increasingly aggressive stance, ¡°I can guarantee that as soon as you leave, and diplomatic rtions between both underworlds have been established, our embassy will arrive as scheduled.¡±

    Zhou Yu¡¯s gaze grew deep and abstruse, yet he simply continued to fan himself softly because he didn¡¯t want to get dragged through the mud. More than anything, he was curious about Qin Ye. Incredibly curious.

    He never once gave a proper response to any requests made by Liu Yu¡¯s faction. Instead, his responses were all full of empty promises that weren¡¯t possible to fulfill within the next fifty years.

    No. Zhou Yu had also entered the mortal realm, and he had previously spoken to several diplomatic ambassadors before. What Qin Ye was doing was to force Liu Yu¡¯s faction to take to his stride. Furthermore, what Qin Ye was truly seeking was hidden underneath the facade of these embellished words, yet they remained so deeply hidden that nobody knew exactly what it was just yet.

    ¡°So, what exactly does Hell want?¡± Liu Yu asked with great patience. This was the first time he had done so in death. After all, when did he ever have to enter negotiations with the old Hell while it was still in existence?

    Qin Ye finally revealed a sincere smile on his face.

    You¡¯re the one making requests, so you should carry yourself that way.

    ¡°Supplies.¡± Qin Ye finally retracted the smile on his face as he continued, ¡°And I want the special produce of each of yournds. I¡¯ll be sending an envoy of darkfeathers after you as soon as you leave, and I expect a response within six months¡¯ time. You need the Book of Life and Death? Sure. Trade your special produce for its services.¡±

    This time, not a single person spoke.

    Yin spirit stones were fine!

    ¡°Since everyone appears to need some time to consider these propositions, let¡¯s take a break for now.¡± Qin Ye looked at the time - it had already been an hour since the conference first began, ¡°Let¡¯s reconvene twenty minutester.¡±

    As soon as Liu Yu and his four attendants left Hell¡¯s Gate, they immediately heard Chaghan snorting, ¡°What a tricky and slippery brat! We¡¯d all started out with nothing. He¡¯s already done so well at the start, and he still wants more supplies to expedite his growth?!¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Ma Fubo mused, ¡°Who says that he¡¯ll be able to overtake our military developments? With just Yang Jiye alone? Besides, does that mean he¡¯s going to forgo the Luzon fiefdom? Is he going to bring Yang Jiye back from Luzon and send someone else to take his ce instead? Yang Jiye might be mild mannered, but not even he might be able to contain his anger if he were stripped of his position just like that.¡±

    Ma Fubo grew silent.

    So long as they could reim even a single province within Cathay, the sheer number of Yin soldiers they could muster would be sufficient to overwhelm them in a drawn-out battle of attrition.

    Chaghan gritted his teeth, ¡°Are you really going to raise it now?¡±

    Chaghan sighed, ¡°Fine. Anyway, ourst resort is to retreat to thends of Australis. That said, the only thing about that is that it¡¯s some distance away.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m all ears.¡±

    Qin Ye eyes abruptly lit up.

    Just then, Arthis leaned over from behind him and whispered softly into his ear, ¡°You can agree to these conditions.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Arthis responded gruffly, ¡°They can still gain ess to Hell through a different route. The Hanyang underworld might have their ess obstructed, but Chaghan and some others still have a direct ess route to Cathay. And the fact that they share a border with us means that they can continue to plunder our Yin spirits. Since we can¡¯t do anything about it now, there¡¯s no harm in eding to these requests of theirs so that the Yin spirits in these ces can survive for now.¡±

    ¡°Now¡¯s not the time to be discussing these things in detail. If you still wish to have your sea port and trade routes after this trade conference, I¡¯ll apprise you of everything.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already drawn up a term sheet.¡± Liu Yu responded as though he weren¡¯t surprised by this fact at all. He turned his head, ¡°Dao Hai, have the draftsmen take Hell¡¯s draftsmen through the term sheet and verify the terms, and then give me an update.¡±

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Just then, someone interjected. Han Qinhu slowly rose to his feet and spoke, ¡°Since when did the Lord of Siam, the Lord of the Khmer Empire and myself say that we wanted to break away from Hell?¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°Then, are you suggesting that you¡¯re being held hostage by me?¡± He red intently at Han Qinhu, ¡°Lord Han, you¡¯d better have evidence to back up your ims. Your words carry weight. If you hadn¡¯t had the heart to run with our suggestion earlier, would we possibly have been able to persuade you to stand on our side?¡±

    Haa¡­ Liu Yu drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the burning killing intent in his heart as he shut his eyes.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t go now, you¡¯ll forever be known as a Cathayan Yin spirit for the rest of your lives!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Green papers are tentative reports used for consultation purposes. It represents the best that a government can propose on an issue without beingmitted to anything. It sometimes culminates in a white paper that is a more authoritative stand on an issue.

    2. See the link to white papers for more information, including on that of blue and yellow papers.

    3.

 Chapter 357: International Trade Conference (3)

    <h4>Chapter 357: International Trade Conference (3)</h4>

    ¡°My mind is made up.¡± Han Qinhu didn¡¯t say much, and he promptly took his seat with that.

    Excellent¡­

    Qin Ye licked his lips. The situation was slowly but surely turning in his favour. The dark clouds that were looming over Hell since themencement of the imperial court meeting had already cleared up, and he could already see the rays of hope shining brightly over thends. Three feudal lords didn¡¯t count for much, but the recanting of their earlier position was still a cause for celebration.

    After all, it was akin to securing himself three overseas trade routes at once, together with a windfall of tributary offerings every fifty years!

    It even meant three additional sources of news and information for Hell, as well as the addition of three famous historical figures to Hell¡¯s ranks of officials!

    ¡°Good. Hell will never mistreat those who remain loyal to it.¡± He smiled, ¡°This is the first international trade conference ever since I¡¯d taken over Hell¡¯s reins, so there are quite a number of issues to be discussed on the agenda here. Why don¡¯t we move on from this and delve right into the next issue?¡±

    The agreement certainly wasn¡¯t something to be signed right now.

    What they would be inking at the end of this meeting was a document called a memorandum of understanding.

    It contained the material intention and points of agreement that both factions had agreed to. That said, the actual agreement would only be finalized pursuant to the results of a legal tug-of-war from both sides, through which many subsidiary issues and minutiae of detail would be ironed out. These included things such as where to draw the boundary lines, what kind of behaviour would attract a certain kind of sanction, and all other details that were incidental to and which arises out of the purpose of the agreement. We¡¯re talking about hundreds upon hundreds of uses and sub-uses! That¡¯s not what the present meeting was for. The feudal officials were only concerned about the grand scheme of things. The rest of the work was to be ironed out by the respective civil servants under the charge of their overarching government.

    Although the new Hell¡¯s legal department was sparse andcking in many ways, the silver lining was that it was at least still in existence. This would undoubtedly be a useful learning opportunity for them to hone their skills.

    The entire process would take at least six months to a year, before the actual agreement would be finalized and inked in counterparts. Such an experience would most certainly spur incredible growth and maturity in the legal team.

    Haa¡­ Thus concluded the end of the first item on the agenda. Both sides hade to apromise, and neither said anything more.

    Qin Ye coughed lightly, ¡°Then, moving on, we¡¯ll be talking about what each fiefdom will be offering to Hell aspensation for their independence.¡±

    Dead silence.

    The twelve envoys stared at Qin Ye as though they were seeing a living ghost. Buddy, what the hell do you mean? Are you hell bent on collecting every bit of money you can get your hands on? You¡¯re not even willing to spare a single drop? You wantpensation for leaving Hell? Have you ever considered your ownck of military might, and the fact that you can¡¯t actually stop us from leaving?

    And speaking of which, when did you develop such thick skin anyway?

    Zhou Yu stared nkly at Qin Ye, only to realize that Qin Ye was still smiling brightly despite the baptism of shocked gazes on him. In fact, his expression wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit unnatural. In that instant, it suddenly urred to Zhou Yu that he might very well have underestimated just how thick this man¡¯s skin was.

    But he soon snapped right back to his senses. Havinge this far into the negotiations, he knew that Qin Ye was soon about to reveal his true purposes. He couldn¡¯t wait to see what else this new King Yanluo had hidden up his sleeves, so that he could finally decide¡­ which way the Tangming underworld was going to go from here.

    Gao Changgong¡¯s face was flushed with fury, yet everything was hidden right underneath that mask of his. He was the first one who broke the silence, ¡°And what¡¯s thispensation you¡¯re seeking?¡±

    Qin Ye exined with a straight face, ¡°I¡¯ve checked Hell¡¯s records. Back then, the old Hell had invested hundreds of billions of Yin spirits stones in order to help each vassal state get up on its feet! This includes support in the construction of most national highways, and the establishment of your underworld¡¯s county-level and city-level government branches as well. That naturally includes all of the major special buildings that have been constructed in each of your underworlds. Hell was integral in bringing you up to bing what you are today. Unless¡­ you¡¯re denying this charge?¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s the input of the old Hell! What has that got to do with you?!¡± Chaghan snorted.

    ¡°It¡¯s got to do with me because I¡¯m the sessor of the old Hell!¡± Qin Ye mmed on the table and shot to his feet, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Gentlemen, you¡¯ve enjoyed the favor of Hell, and yet you¡¯re now turning your back on your obligations to Hell? All I¡¯m asking is that you render an ount just like you would to the old Hell. I¡¯m not even asking you to pay interest on the loans you¡¯ve made from Hell from ages past. Do you even consider yourselves Cathayan Yin spirits to begin with? Are you forcing me topletely erase all traces of each of you defiant Yin spirits from every single record we have?¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous!¡± Liu Yu flicked his sleeves and stood up with a defiantugh, ¡°I¡¯ve paid dozens of tribute to the old Hell since time immemorial, and I¡¯ve long since repaid all favours that the old Hell has extended to us! What gives you the right to make such demands of us in the first ce?! Lord Qin, please have some self-respect!¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous indeed.¡± Yu Qian stood up with his hands sped tightly within his long red sleeves as he sneered back, ¡°Liu Jinu, you died in 420 A.D., more than 1,600 years ago. Had Cathay not established and maintained a trade route to Hanyang over thest 1,600 years, do you think you would even have the ability to vie for independence right now? If not for the fact that Hell¡¯s Imperial College dispatches envoys to nurture and groom your underworld¡¯s potential talents into who they are right now, do you think any of your advisors standing here today would even exist?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a feudal official. Quite apart from the fact that you don¡¯t know how to repay kindness with kindness, you¡¯re even turning your back on Hell? The old Hell has copsed, and the new Hell is standing alone. You¡¯ve been blessed by the previous reigning King Yanluo of Hell for 1,600 years, and rather than serving the new Hell with gratitude, you¡¯re jumping on the earliest opportunity to take advantage of Hell¡¯s current predicament?! You don¡¯t deserve to be remembered in the annals of history! You¡¯re an ingrate! A shameless white-eyed wolf!¡±

    Boom!

    Liu Yu erupted with copious amounts of Yin energy, and a massive palm formed out of Yin energy alone flew right out of his sleeves and flew straight towards Yu Qian¡¯s head in an instant. Lightning arced all around and spots ofhermes red up from the palm. Simultaneously, Gao Changgong suddenly looked up, and two majestic wings congealed out of Yin energy abruptly unfolded from his back. Countless feathers were sent scattering into the skies in an instant. Ma Fubo also revealed a terrifying smile as his body floated up into the sky. He made a grabbing motion, and a massivence promptly materialized in his hands. Thousands of ghosts appeared to dance around thence, as though this were a needle that was forged in the deepest abysses of Hell.

    A split secondter, and with an earth-shattering tremor, a shockwave of Yin energy dozens of metersrge suddenly erupted from the epicenter of the sh. The envoys who weren¡¯t involved remained cid and indifferent, and yet they, too, were sent flying back dozens of meters by the powerful shockwave. But before the shockwave could travel any further, the ancientmps that popted every part of the statue of Ksitigarbha flickered slightly, and the me of a singlemp went out. Instantly, the expanding shockwave disappearedpletely, almost as though it had never appeared!

    Back at the conference table, Liu Yu, Gao Changgong, Chaghan and Ma Fubo¡¯s clothes continued to flutter wildly to the billowing Yin energy that continued to diffuse through the air. On the other side, Arthis and Yang Jiye had already moved from their seats, and were now standing directly in front of Yu Qian. The area between the two fighting factions were filled with countless spots of cracklinghermes.

    ¡°Do you four still have any regard for His Excellency, the King Yanluo of Hell?!¡± Yang Jiye berated them with a deep voice, ¡°And how dare you act this audaciously right under the feet of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! Do you not feel the slightest bit ashamed in your actions?!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t go overboard. If the Heavenly Dao perceives that Hell is once again thrown in chaos, it might just intervene against your actions. At that time¡­ the ones to be banished to the depths of the six paths of reincarnation¡­ might just be you!¡±

    Then, there was silence.

    Two opposing waves of Yin energy continued to sh powerfully against each other, causing sparks to fly from the tension and friction in the air.

    Qin Ye¡¯s back was now soaked through with cold sweat. He possessed the lowest level of cultivation among the people who were gathered at the table. In fact, he wasn¡¯t even able to react to the sudden sh of powers earlier. The only reason why he was still seated at the table was only because he was protected by the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his protection. This was the second time it dawned on him just how terrifying advanced Judge-ss entities were.

    ¡°Lord Yu¡­ what a sharp and incisive tongue you possess.¡± Gao Changgong breathed a long sigh and took his seat, before speaking with what little remaining etiquette he could muster, ¡°You¡­ be careful of yourself.¡±

    ¡°Do you really see yourself as the embodiment of justice?¡± Chaghan sneered as he sat down, ¡°You possess the weakest military might among all twelve envoys. How dare you even speak out at this conference against us?!¡±

    Liu Yu and Ma Fubo didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, they simply turned to look at Qin Ye as they promptly sat back down.

    ¡°My conscience is clear, and my heart is upright. On the other hand, I can tell that there are those among us who remain stubborn and obstinate. I shall continue to stand tall with my head held high as I watch what happens to you at the end of it all.¡± Yu Qian wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit daunted. In fact, his appearance didn¡¯t even shift in the slightest, almost as though the earlier altercation hadn¡¯t happened at all. He snorted coldly, and then grew taciturn.

    Qin Ye coughed lightly, and everyone promptly turned to look at him once more.

    ¡°So, does that mean that none of you are agreeable?¡± Qin Ye did his best to smile at everyone, but the truth of the matter was that his palms were already dripping wet with cold sweat.

    ¡°It¡¯s regrettable.¡±

    ¡°This way, I¡¯m afraid that the Book of Life and Death and the Mirror of Eminence--...¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Chaghan¡¯s head hung low and didn¡¯t even look at Qin Ye as he pulled out a tiger-shaped token and ced it on the table, ¡°Do you know what this is?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    ¡°The Yin Soldier Token.¡± Chaghan exined with indifference, ¡°This token was originally ck in colour, and the only part that was white was the head of the token. This token means that we can only conscript five thousand Yin soldiers. This was a prohibition ced on each of us feudal officials by the old Hell. As soon as the number exceeds five thousand, all excess Yin soldiers will vanishpletely. But now, with the copse of the old Hell, the entire token has now turned pure white. This means that¡­ we can nowmand a total force of a hundred thousand Yin soldiers.¡±

    ¡°Additionally¡­ as soon as I shoot this token into the air¡­ ¡°He leaned backfortably into his chair, ¡°Then, the army under my charge, garrisoned outside of Hell right now, will begin its siege against Hell withplete disregard to their own lives.¡±

    Ban Chao immediately interjected, ¡°I¡¯d ask the four of you to watch your words. It¡¯s fine if you want to dere independence. But¡­ if you¡¯re looking to usurp the throne of Hell right now, then don¡¯t me me for standing against you.¡±

    Chaghan snorted coldly and gently ran his finger across the tiger-shaped token, ¡°But if the new King Yanluo of Hell doesn¡¯t give me a way out, why should I bother with Hell¡¯s survival in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really bent on staging an uprising¡­¡± Wang Meng sighed lightly, but didn¡¯t say anything more.

    ¡°Lord Qin.¡± Gao Changgong looked at Qin Ye, ¡°The state is like family, and we¡¯re buting and going. Do we really have to make such a huge fuss with a small separation, so much so that we can¡¯t even maintain cordial rtions with each other now? If Cathay meets with any cataclysmic disasters or devastating civil strife, we¡¯ll still send troops over to lend our aid at the earliest notice. In fact, we¡¯ve never even thought of discarding or abandoning our Cathayan heritage at all, so why do you have to make us enter into such forced negotiations?¡±

    Liu Yu added with an expressionless face, ¡°But if Lord Qin is bent on having your own way¡­ then don¡¯t me us for now having any regard for our shared heritage and past.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly at the main perpetrators, all of whom were famous people in their own right. He could tell that they had all hardened their hearts against him, and were resorting to anything to have their way. They were but servants of the old Hell, and yet to think they had now stepped all over the new Hell¡¯s lord and master, and even had him in a chokehold, as though they were saying - I¡¯ve allowed you to shine, but don¡¯t you dare shine too brightly. I¡¯m giving you face, but don¡¯t you think that I¡¯m afraid of you!

    Despite that, Qin Ye knew that now wasn¡¯t the time to be putting them in their ce. He suppressed the burning mes of indignation in his heart and continued with a cid smile on his face, ¡°Fine. If you¡¯re not willing to pay us a one-timepensation, then, let me propose another means ofpensation.¡±

    Zhou Yu softly shut his folding fan as he nced intently at Qin Ye. Something told him that Qin Ye was finally going to reveal what he truly wanted!

    Make an impossible offer, and then make a far more yesable proposition and make it sound like the next best alternative. No, in fact, doing so might even cause the other parties to the negotiations to think that they¡¯ve managed to obtain what they were looking for.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be founding a new city in the coastal regions within theing year.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be a trade city. I hope that the four of you will agree to an overseas trade treaty with the new Hell. If you can¡¯t agree to this¡­¡± He nced at Chaghan, ¡°Then you¡¯ll have to surrender everything that you have in your possession right now.¡±

    ¡°Hell isn¡¯t a ce that you can simplye and go as you please!¡±

    Zhou Yu¡¯s mind was instantly dazzled with a ray of enlightenment.

 Chapter 358: Once and For All

    <h4>Chapter 358: Once and For All</h4>

    That¡¯s the thing he¡¯s truly looking for!

    But who do they trade with?

    Unfortunately¡­ the only ones who were open to the idea of trade routes were only Yu Qian and Yang Jiye.

    This was because the twelve envoys knew full well that trade would bring about the opportunity for the new Hell to develop rapidly, and this was something that not even those who were neutral and sitting on the fence were willing to have. After all, the only reason why they could remain neutral observers was precisely because Hell wasn¡¯t strong enough. Was there any room for neutrality once Hell grew powerful?

    Shk¡­ He gently snapped shut his golden folding fan. His heartbeats elerated, and he was somewhat surprised by the thoughts going through his mind. That said, something told him that this was indeed the true purpose of the new King Yanluo of Hell!

    Negotiations generally requiredpromise on both sides. If Liu Yu couldn¡¯t even agree to a proposition as yesable as the port city trade route, then he would truly be seen as being unreasonably stubborn. Moreover, the current request was only that of a trade treaty at an open port, and they would be given free reign as to the goods that they would be curating for export. Thus, Zhou Yu was practically certain that Liu Yu¡¯s faction would most certainly agree to thepromise.

    As soon as you agree, the consequences are going to be dire!

    Whoa!

    It was toote.

    The most powerful armaments card was yed at the most opportune time. He was essentially telling everyone that the new Hell was prepared to exclude the four feudal officials who were bent on independence. If they wanted new armaments, they would have to agree to open up sea trade. There weren''t any other alternatives for their consideration.

    It was checkmate.

    ¡°He looks like he¡¯s throwing out a whole bunch of unreasonable, ridiculous conditions, but the truth of the matter is that everything is tightly strung together like the links of an iron chain. He had spent dozens of minutes determining the fate of the new Hell for the next hundred years. Outstanding. Truly outstanding¡­¡± Zhou Yu closed his eyes and sighed with great emotion. Wang Meng was somewhat stunned, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± As soon as Zhou Yu finished speaking, Liu Yu responded in the exact same manner as Zhou Yu predicted, ¡°Let¡¯s have some representativese together to draw up the specifics of this treaty. But let me make this clear - there can¡¯t be any quota or restrictions. I¡¯ll have the final say as to what I want to export.¡±

    Zhou Yu smiled and fanned himself gently with his folding fan. You¡¯ve yed right into the palm of his hands. Liu Yu¡­ you still don¡¯t understand his true purpose for these negotiations. I can almost guarantee his agreement on these incidental requests you¡¯re making.

    As expected¡­

    He¡¯s truly terrifying¡­

    Time passed quickly. Then, when Qin Ye¡¯s final proposal of a military alliance was summarily rejected, it was already midnight once more.

    Both parties had made theirpromises, and also stood to benefit from the arrangements. Then, there were some that only benefited Liu Yu. However, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t care less. As soon as the sea port city was up and running¡­ he would show these feudal officials just how much influence he actually held over these officials without them even realizing it.

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Qin Ye smiled and cupped his hands back at Liu Yu. With that, everyone took their leave and returned to their temporary residence, where they promptly tossed their dockets into the cabs and slumped onto the bed at once.

    The short imperial court meeting had finallye to an end.

    And it wasn¡¯t so much physically tiring as it drained their spirits.

    No¡­ there¡¯s still some loose ends to tie up¡­

    Now that this has finally been set in stone, the external demand would be able to stimte their internal industries, thereby propelling their economy with an endless virtuous cycle. Supplies would pour in endlessly¡­ and he would even be able to begin reaping the Yin spirits who would enter Hell through the sea port city! The thought of these things caused his heart to thump wildly.

    ¡°Then¡­ let¡¯s settle all of these once and for all¡­¡± After resting for half an hour, he sat up,pletely rejuvenated, and took a deep breath. Then, he raised his hand and pressed gently on his chest, causing Hell¡¯s Record to fly out in an instant. He grabbed at the air, and a brush appeared.

    As he continued to flip through the pages, he saw that every single page was filled with darkened names, almost as though it spelt the fall of an entire dynasty.

    His fiery heart had already calmed down by now. Having looked through the extent of Hell¡¯s Records, he soon realized how much the new Hell had to go before it could even be considered in the same light as the old Hell.

    Whoosh¡­ After flipping for another ten minutes, he finally saw the records of Liu Yu, Ma Fubo, Gao Changgong and Chaghan Temur. All of their names were crimson as blood.

    I¡¯m afraid that the next time we meet is most likely going to be on the battlefields¡­

    A softhergale swept across the room, gently tousling Qin Ye¡¯s clothes and hair.

    This¡­ settles all of the loose ends.

    tter¡­ Meanwhile, Liu Yu and the other feudal officials who were bent on dering independence soon noticed the bolt ofhermes that burst straight into their room. It went just as quickly as it came, and yet the four men remainedpletely still, like wooden sculptures.

    The obverse side of the wooden token was etched with their names, while the reverse side was¡­pletely nk.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ where the words ¡®Emissary of Hell¡¯ used to be located¡­¡± Ma Fubo nced out of the window and into the dark night sky as he sighed wistfully. After some time, he let out a soft chuckle that was clearlyden withplex emotions, ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­ it¡¯s all over¡­ we¡¯ve managed to get what we¡¯vee for¡­¡±

    ¡°From now on¡­ there¡¯s no longer the Lord of Bagan, the Lord of the Bamboo Region, the Lord of Hanyang and the Lord of Jiaozhi. Instead, there are new nations - the state of Bagan, the state of the Bamboo Region, the state of Hanyang, and the state of Jiaozhi!¡±

    Three other streams ofhergale soon followed. These were undoubtedly Liu Yu, Gao Changgong and Chaghan.

    They also didn¡¯t think of bidding farewell to the Yanluo of Hell. After all¡­ they were now each the emperor and master of their ownnds as well! None of them were willing to see themselves as an entity subservient to such a weak Yanluo.

    ¡°Men.¡± Liu Yu had at some point already changed into a golden dragon robe replete with an emperor¡¯s crown. He waved his long sleeves and dered, ¡°We return to the Great Song Dynasty!!!¡±

 Chapter 359: The Golden Lotus of Virtue

    <h4>Chapter 359: The Golden Lotus of Virtue</h4>

    Qin Ye was going mad.

    No, rather, he already looked mad.

    He was practically rolling around in the copious amounts of Yin spirit stones, akin to a rat that had just fallen into the oil tank. He was so happy that he could even die right now.

    He was currently in an incrediblyrge cer. Everything around him was neatly paved with granite and polished to a spotless finish. The entire space was asrge as a regr football field, and it was currently piled up with Yin spirit stones and open boxes. Piles after piles of exotic treasures filled the space to the brim. It could be said that Hell was suddenly overflowing with wealth! The joy of rolling around in a pile of money was something that Qin Ye had never experienced before!

    ¡°Come on~~ Pleasure and joy~~ We¡¯ve struck it big time~~ Ahh~~¡± Qin Ye wrapped a string of ck pearl-like objects around his waist, acting as though he were a beautiful girl enjoying a bath. He made a questionable gesture, ¡°Ooo¡­ that hits the spot!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t care less!

    The twelve envoys had departed for their fiefdoms earlier this morning, and he was finally free to inspect the great harvest of the meeting. The ce he was in was the first vault of Hell that he had earlier dug out. The wealth stored within dazzled his eyes as soon as he stepped in. After staring in astonishment for five full minutes, he suddenly charged towards it like a dog running towards waters for the very first time, and he dove right into therge ocean of wealth.

    There weren¡¯t only Yin spirit stones in the cer. There were even all sorts of damask silken materials that were woven in a special way. The dense Yin energy emanating from these silken materials told him that it was probably a specialty produce of one of thends. He nced around him, only to realize that there was truly a wide variety of special products, all of which would undoubtedly give Hell¡¯s mary system a great boost!

    The system of currency was still in the midst of being ironed out. Huang Liangchuan had previously initiated a long discussion with him because he felt it was better toplete the establishment of all production lines and the manufacturing industries beforeunching the mary system simultaneously. Qin Ye had thought for a moment before promptly agreeing.

    But¡­ we can probably try and push for an earlier release, right?

    No¡­ now¡¯s not the time to be thinking about such things. I¡¯m rich! This is the pure bliss of wealth! C¡¯mon, get up! Let¡¯s get high!

    He was swimming about in the sea of silk. Breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke¡­ Thus, when Wang Chenghao turned back from the pile of Yin spirit stones he was inspecting, he happened to see a certain King Yanluo of Hell floundering about in the ¡°pool¡± with a glorious butterfly stroke.

    It was a rather awkward sight.

    The two men stared at each other stiffly. Three secondster, Qin Ye slowly got up to his feet as though nothing happened. Then, he walked forward and held Wang Chenghao by the neck, ¡°You¡­ didn¡¯t see anything earlier, did you?¡±

    There was an unusually vicious smile on his face.

    ¡°... That¡¯s right.¡± Wang Chenghao rolled his eyes slightly, wondering what he must have owed Qin Ye in his previous life.

    But before Qin Ye could even heave a sigh of relief, Wang Chenghao promptly raised his finger and pointed to the entrance, ¡°But¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure they all saw it.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped and turned back, only to realize that Arthis and Oda Nobunaga were both staring at him with a constipated look on their faces.

    He was immediately swamped with second degree embarrassment.

    AAARRRGGHHH¡­ Qin Ye wanted to bury his face deep within the pile of treasures and scream for three whole days and nights to vent his frustration. I¡¯m ruined¡­ I¡¯m totally ruined!!! How can I possibly hold my head up high as the King Yanluo of Hell any longer¡­ Mummy¡­ I want to go home!!!

    Speaking of which, why do people not make footsteps these days?!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve long grown used to such antics of yours.¡± Arthis walked indifferently into the cer. She took a deep breath, and then¡­ dove headlong into the pile of treasures, screaming and squealing with immense joy.

    ¡°Ahhhhh~~!!! We¡¯re rich!! We¡¯re finally rich!!¡± ¡°There¡¯s at least tens of billions here! We finally no longer have to scrimp and save, and the days of tightening the belt around our waists are finally over!¡± ¡°Qin Ye, you¡¯ve finally done something good!!!¡±

    Qin Ye, Wang Chenghao, Oda Nobunaga: ¡­¡­

    A few secondster, Arthis emerged from the piles of treasures and waved at Oda Nobunaga, almost as though she were beckoning to him, ¡°Do you want toe in?¡±

    Like hell I do!!

    Oda Nobunaga responded tly, ¡°No, thank you. Please go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Look at them.¡± Qin Ye looked at Arthis disdainfully, ¡°And look at how Student Wang One Tail is calm, steady and not fazed in the slightest. He¡¯s got the true making of a great general. As a talent who has been following me for some time now, don¡¯t you feel the slightest bit of shame in your behaviour?¡±

    ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Wang Chenghao coughed dryly, ¡°I¡¯ve already swum in the ocean of wealth all nightst night¡­¡±

    The rest of Qin Ye¡¯s words were immediately lodged in his throat. Brother¡­ can¡¯t you read the situation? That¡¯s why I say that you¡¯re honest to a fault¡­

    ¡°Well.¡± While they were distracted by their exchange of words, Arthis had somehow already made her way to Qin Ye¡¯s side. In fact, given the way she was carrying herself right now, nobody would have believed that she was the very same person who was swimming around the ocean of treasures if not for the fact that she still had more strings of ck pearl-like bracelets and nes wrapped all over her limbs.

    ¡°Have you managed to do a proper inventory of our takings from the imperial court meeting?¡± She raised her chin towards Wang Chenghao, to which he promptly nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve worked through the night and managed to sort out everything as soon as they sent it in. Then, pursuant to your instructions, I¡¯ve looked through the things of particr importance that you¡¯ve raised to my attention¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you mean of ¡®particr importance¡¯?¡± Qin Ye grew displeased, ¡°Everything that we see scattered all over the floor are of importance to Hell! Please be mindful of the use of yournguage!¡±

    Arthis nced stiffly at the sky - Uunnnggghh¡­. This kid has the airs of a prodigal son and a shrewd merchant¡­ I¡¯m not sure I can stomach the fact that he¡¯s also the King Yanluo of Hell¡­

    However, she knew that sulking wouldn¡¯t solve anything. Thus, she gathered herself and perked up her own spirits, ¡°Ignore these useless pieces of trash. Wang One Tail, lead the way.¡±

    Wang Chenghao didn¡¯t dare to reveal his indignance before the three standing in front of him. He simply turned to look at a hundred ck boxes that were quietly suspended in mid-air some distance away from him.

    That¡¯s right. They were just floating there silently.

    There was nothing to hold them in ce, and yet it was almost as though gravity were non-existent to them. The box appeared very ordinary, with regr ck walls with ents of golden-coloured edges. Apart from that, there was nothing much else that separated them from any regr ck box.

    ¡°What powerful chakra!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expression was filled with seriousness.

    ¡°... I don¡¯t know whether tough or to cry at the situation¡­ Do you know that once a crisis is over, you quickly revert back to your usual dirty, repulsive self, and your yapping mouth promptly bes no different from the floodgates of the sewers? Can you please be a little bit more serious over here?!!¡± Arthis barked back at Qin Ye.

    It was only then that Qin Ye began to reveal a more sincere expression. Arthis continued, ¡°This is the Tailed Beast Ball that is created by Otsutsuki Kaguya. These are artifacts used to seal the One Tail through to the Ten Tails¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nced coldly at Arthis.

    Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobunaga stared at the two leaders of Hell as though they were looking at two idiots.

    ¡°Why did you mention chakra in the first ce?! Do you know how you¡¯ve affected my train of thought?!¡± Embarrassed, Arthis shouted angrily at Qin Ye, before promptly drawing a deep breath and lifting the box, ¡°It¡¯s called¡­ the Yin Padma.¡±

    The bottom of the box was covered with ck velvet, while a brilliant mirror was affixed to the back cover of the box. A golden lotus flower was ced right in the center of the box. It was only the size of a teenager¡¯s fist, but upon closer inspection, Qin Ye soon realized that it wasn¡¯t a physical object at all. Rather, the wisps of Yin energy in the box were slowly wrapping together to construct the physical appearance of the lotus flower, and even giving the flower its¡¯ brilliant golden lustre!

    The lotus flower appeared somewhat illusory, and there was even some Sanskrit text written all over it. Arthis¡¯ expression grew stern and somber, ¡°Padma means lotus in Sanskrit. In other words, it¡¯s also known as the Yin golden lotus¡­ What are you doing now?!¡±

    Qin Ye had already ced one of the golden lotuses on his head, and he nced at the mirror with an effeminate disposal, almost as though he were attempting to bring out the daintiest look he could muster. He froze for a moment, ¡°Isn¡¯t this supposed to be a premium cosmetic box? I couldn¡¯t help myself there¡­ Eh? Lady, why does there seem to be a murderous aura burning from the depths of your eyes?¡±

    ¡°I sincerely believe you when you mentioned that you¡¯ve previously been adopted by a perverse doctor.¡± Arthis snatched the golden lotus back from his head and ced it back into the box and mmed the lit shut. Then, she slowly gazed to the skies, ¡°And it¡¯s only because I¡¯m not as perverse as you that I feel so out of ce right now.¡±

    ¡°Anyhow, there¡¯s no need for you to put yourself down. You¡¯re a talented individual after all--...¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!!¡± The entire cer trembled slightly in the wake of Qin Ye¡¯s sudden outburst. He gulped softly. He was angry. He was truly enraged. Thisdy¡­ really needs to learn her ce. She¡¯d do well to be careful¡­

    Arthis took the next three minutes to adjust her temperament, before finally exining, ¡°Originally, a box this size could be used to store a Golden Lotus of Ten Thousand Virtues. The one you have just seen is at best a Golden Lotus of a Thousand Virtues. The copse of Hell must have affected the vassal states¡¯ abilities to harvest such Golden Lotus of Virtues.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully.

    A secondter, Qin-fearless-Ye interjected without any hesitation, ¡°No wonder it didn¡¯t look good on my head.¡±

    Dead silence.

    Wang One Tail and Oda Nobunaga sensibly retreated three full meters.

    A momentter, there was a loud smacking sound, and Qin Ye was pped to the ground by tworge palms formed out of Arthis¡¯ hair. Then, they proceeded to hold Qin Ye up as though they were about to tear through a sheet of paper. Wang One Tail was scared witless, and immediately rushed forward to appease the furious Infernal Judge, ¡°Don¡¯t! Mydy, you must not! He¡¯s the only King Yanluo we have!¡± ¡°Let go! This was the straw that has finally broken the camel¡¯s back! Today, only one of us is getting out of this ce alive!!¡±

    It took a long time before Arthis was finally willing to release her grip on Qin Ye. She reluctantly set him down in front of the box, before proceeding with her exnation, ¡°Yin Padma has another name. Something practically ubiquitous in Hell. It¡¯s called¡­ merit.¡±

    Merit?

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly. Then, ignoring the bruises on his face, he immediately tapped on his chest, causing Hell¡¯s Record to appear before him once more!

    Whoosh. He immediately flipped to the entry where his own name was written.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    upation: Anitya Hellguard (Nascent). Distance to Anitya Hellguard (Intermediate) - 120,548/200,000 merit points

    Qin Ye rubbed his eyes. He was filled with disbelief, ¡°This isn¡¯t real, right? You¡¯re telling me that this is no different from merit points? Wang One Tail, tell me the truth!! Why does everything seem so surreal to me right now?!¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips stiffened up, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ your eyes are swollen¡­¡±

    Qin Ye struggled to open his panda eyes, ¡°Bloody hell¡­ since when did I manage to obtain a hundred and twenty thousand merit points?! Ah, that¡¯s right, aren¡¯t there three different stages to being a Hellguard? And here I thought I was still a freshman in school. How is it that I¡¯m already a senior, and yet I don¡¯t even know it just yet?¡± (TL: I know that the author had earlier written that it would take 200,000 merit points in order to attain the next level of Anitya Hellguard (intermediate). The analogy he uses here seems to suggest that 200,000 merit points would instead promote him to Infernal Judge. I¡¯m not sure what exactly it is, but I suppose it would be good to keep an open mind about this for now.)

    Back in the Strait of Tsushima, the only kill attributed to his name was Honda Tadakatsu. The rest didn¡¯t die, and thus¡­ they weren¡¯t counted.

    Blight vermin weren¡¯t counted either. Those were entities that lived beyond the three realms in the world, and they weren¡¯t part of the system of five elements. They were beasts that were born for destruction.

    Let¡¯s take a count¡­ Did I purge any evil ghoststely? No. So, where did all of these points suddenlye from? And I didn¡¯t even get a single prompt for these merits I¡¯ve umted!

    ¡°Breakthroughs require initiative! You¡¯ve always been lying around andzing in bed, so you obviously haven¡¯t noticed the surge in your merit points, much less the reason for the same!¡± Arthis rolled her eyes at him, before promptly changing the topic, ¡°Do you know why all the high ranking officials of Hell have all once been the governor of a region?¡±

    Is this a trick question?

    Qin Ye was drawn in by Arthis¡¯ encouraging gaze. Thus, he pondered for a few moments, and then responded sincerely, ¡°Just like you, they¡¯re greedy?¡±

    Greedy my ass¡­ how could you say something like that with such a straight face?!

    ¡°BULL SHIT!!!¡± Arthis¡¯ furious roar echoed throughout the cer. It suddenly dawned on her that ever sinceing to know Qin Ye, she had slowly but surely begun to lose all measure of decorum as ady, ¡°Everything that you do in Hell, whether it¡¯s incidental to or directly linked to the growth of hell, would be rewarded with amensurate amount of merit points! For instance, your establishment of Yin Construction and their construction of buildings would get you merit points. Furthermore, you will be rewarded with more merit points as soon as you sessfully roll out the mary system of Hell. Unfortunately, that hasn¡¯t been done just yet, but you¡¯re already on the verge of doing so¡­ Besides, isn¡¯t something like thatpletely obvious if you just addressed your mind to it?! What the hell is growing inside of your *bleep* mind?!¡±

    1. A Naruto reference. She¡¯s basically being a pot while calling the kettle ck here. Also, she got the lore wrong. A Tailed Beast Ball is something more of an ultimate technique used by the Tailed Beasts that are incredibly destructive in nature.

    2. The author literally censored it with bleep.

 Chapter 360: The Great Harvest!

    <h4>Chapter 360: The Great Harvest!</h4>

    So desu ne¡­

    He was restarting Hell from scratch, and there were a multitude of things to be done. How many merit points were there up for grabs?

    ¡°But why is it only this little?¡± He was still displeased. He had done quite a lot for Hell to date, hadn¡¯t he? So why wasn¡¯t it already in the millions?

    Five--... five million?!

    If¡­ everything within these boxes contains Yin Padmas, then even if they were only Golden Lotuses of a Thousand Virtues each, ten of them would give me ten thousand merit points; a hundred would give me a hundred thousand merit points; and two hundred--...

    An Infernal Judge¡­ Qin Ye was practically trembling with excitement, because he would no longer have to be subject to the abuse of the female devil next to him right now! He could finally stiffen his neck, hold his hand up high and say ¡®no¡¯ to her!

    Arthis could practically read his mind by now, and she nced cidly at him, ¡°A nascent Judge like you¡­ is still going to feel pain when I p you around.¡±

    However, Arthis simply looked to the ceiling with a profound glint in her eyes, ¡°Someone like you who has neither inherited the full legacy of Hell¡¯s Arts nor practices magic actively¡­ you might just turn out to be the embarrassment of all Infernal Judges out there¡­¡±

    And this was only a part of the great harvest from the imperial court meeting. He couldn¡¯t wait to hear what else the newly-filled treasury had in store for him!

    ¡°......¡± Wang Chenghao wanted to retort so badly, but immediately handled his urge with restraint after considering Qin Ye¡¯s cantankerous behaviour coupled with the level of stimtion of his mind right now. Thus, he swept Qin Ye¡¯s abrasivements to the corner of his mind.

    Qin Ye had already begun to fantasize about being the third-inmand of the entire Special Investigations Department. He raised his chin arrogantly and nced at Arthis, before booming with a deep,manding voice, ¡°Trantor.¡±

    Forget it¡­ endure... endure! If we kill him right now, we won¡¯t be able to find a suitable recement for him¡­ As expected, the present King Yanluo of Hell would revert back to his whimsical self as soon as his official business was done and dusted. In fact, he was so impetuous and unbridled that he wouldn¡¯t even bother with maintaining his self-image.

    ¡°Judges are able to fly for approximately thirty minutes or so. It¡¯s only when one attains the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect that they can break away from the rules of gravity of the Heavenly Dao and finally travel through the air freely without restraint. That said, to put things into perspective, the old Hell only had a hundred to two hundred Prefects among its entire poption of ten billion Yin spirits, and each Prefect is an esteemed lord or chief or governor in his own right. So, where does that leave the rest?¡± She ran her finger gently across the scroll, ¡°They¡¯ll have no choice but to rely on these Yin beasts.¡±

    Qin Ye was just about to blurt out those words when he cautiously looked up at Arthis, before probing with a more sensible response, ¡°Freight? Train service?¡±

    The imperial court meeting was over, but there were still a multitude of things to be done in Hell. To that end, the most important thing was naturally the establishment of the new port city for foreign trade.

    That was something that naturally couldn¡¯t be done with just mere Yin spirits alone. It was a problem that had been niggling at the back of his mind for some time now, and he was apprehensive of the prospects of having to ce the burden of transport on Arthis¡¯ shoulder. But even that wasn¡¯t going to be a long-term solution in any event. Fortunately, Yu Qian¡¯s gift in this regard had resolved every bit of this conundrum of his!

    ¡°Then, what about nes and cars? Are there equivalent Yin beasts?¡±

    There¡¯s seriously something like that?

    See if I don¡¯t try with your head!!!

    You piece of trash!!!

    ¡°The rest aren¡¯t all too important.¡± Arthis nced at the rest, ¡°We can¡¯t expect every single item here to be as precious or useful as the other in any event. Rather than spend so much time going through Lord Yu¡¯s tribute, why don¡¯t we¡­ turn our attention to Lord Yang¡¯s tribute instead?¡±

    That said, the only difference was that, apart from the trunks of secret virtues and Yin spirit stones, the rest of the tributes from the Luzon underworld had been packed into huge boxes that looked hefty and full.

    Both were loyal servants of Hell, so¡­ there should be parity in the usefulness of their tributes, right?

    Everything inside these boxes were thumb-sized, ck¡­ fruits.

    Qin Ye was somewhat confused, and he began to reach into the box to dig about for something different. Fruits¡­ and more fruits!

    That¡¯s not right!!

    ¡°What the hell is this?¡±

    Seeds?

    Maize, coconuts, mangoes, grapes¡­ All of Luzon¡¯s special products were actually seeds! No¡­ and there were even close to a hundred boxes that contained fabrics and cloths!

    When the penultimate box was opened, Arthis immediately darted over like lightning and picked up a piece of the fabric. She waved it gently, and the fabric instantly flowed with ripples like waters in a tranquilke. The texture was no different from that of satin, and the material was practically translucent. From a distance, it looked no different from a puff of smoke. It was well evident that this was a top-quality fabric.

    Arthis nced at the final box, within whichy thousands of snow-white ck Death Butterfly chrysalis.

    ¡°Excellent stuff!¡± The previous look of dismay had gone with the wind, and he grabbed a handful of golden seeds with a glint of joy in his eyes, ¡°This is the charm of establishing sea trade routes¡­ Arakshasa, what were you saying earlier? Please continue.¡±

    The effluxion of time didn¡¯t mean the diminishing of one¡¯s pursuit for greater quality of life. On the contrary, one¡¯s need for such luxuries would only increase precisely due to the increase in their lifespan. A single source of entertainment would only satiate one¡¯s thirst for a period of time, but it would take much more for a person to feel fulfilled in life.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t know about other countries, but Cathay was and that ced a huge emphasis on its culinary pursuits! The pursuit of taste was something that was better satisfied sooner rather thanter. Besides¡­ wasn¡¯t it great to be presented the opportunity to unlock the agricultural skill tree right off the cuff?

    Are you sure these seeds wouldn¡¯t grow into strange things like bleeding fruits and other simrly strange things?

    <hr>

    1. I.e., Brazil/Brazilian.

    2. One of the Nine Courts in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and it used to manage grain storage, warehouse management and the supply of rice for the officials.

 Chapter 361: Audience with a Feudal Official

    <h4>Chapter 361: Audience with a Feudal Official</h4>

    Our Yanluo is finally back to normal¡­

    She paused and looked at Qin Ye, before slowly nudging him towards self-enlightenment, ¡°Have you ever considered how the tens of millions of Netherworld Operatives firste to be? And how did Hell groom and nurture them to be who they are? By purging evil ghosts? That¡¯s only possible after they first be an official Emissary of Hell. So, how are they supposed to attain the most basic prerequisites before being appointed an Emissary of Hell?¡±

    ¡­ I knew I couldn¡¯t count on an idiot like him!

    Qin Ye was bewildered, ¡°Can¡¯t I just confer them the title and be done with it?¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­ Everyone¡¯s eyes met at the same time. Even Wang Chenghao realized the extent of the benefits of having a system like that!

    It was practically a hidden gem in the rough!

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ Qin Ye knew full well that he was once again bursting with excitement at the potential of his great harvest, but he also appreciated that these were matters that needed to be carefully considered, since they would have a great bearing on how Hell was going to develop in the long run. Furthermore¡­ he knew that the greatest priority right now was still to establish the sea port city.

    He took some time to verify the full inventory in his treasury right now. There were a total of twenty-three kinds of seeds, including five grains and sixteen kinds of fruits. Thest two were undoubtedly specialty produce, namely for the production of tea and tobo.

    He had even begun to daydream about the day when the sea port city was finally opened up, and a portion of the special products in the entire East Continent to be traded at the sea port city would naturally be diverted to the City of Salvation as taxes for Hell. He would be able to obtain all forms of treasures that he so desired! What an inspiring picture that would be!

    Just as he was reveling in his reverie, there was suddenly a knock on the door to the treasury.

    ¡°It is I, your humble servant. I have with me Lord Yu, Lord Yang, and Lord Zhou. They have been waiting for Your Majesty for some time.¡± Su Dongxue responded from the other side of the door.

    Lord Zhou?

    He couldn¡¯t think of anyone else apart from Fire God Zhou Yu.

    He snapped his fingers, and the door opened wide. Then, he turned to Wang Chenghao and instructed, ¡°Find someone to clean up the inventory list and file it away. Then, when you¡¯re done, you can shadow Su Dongxue for a period of time and learn a thing or two from her.¡±

    Wang Chenghao was an incredibly handsome man, so how did he suddenly turn into someone who may end up stealing her job? Furthermore, she could tell just how much Qin Ye valued Wang Chenghao in his heart.

    Ahh--... men¡­

    Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Due to the copse of the clothing industry together with Hell, Qin Ye and his entourage had no choice but to make a formal appearance in their emissary state. This caused him to miss the clothing and costumes industry.

    Arthis apanied him to the annex hall. Yu Qian, Yang Jiye and Zhou Yu were already waiting patiently for him. As soon as Qin Ye arrived, the three men immediately stood up and bowed nearly ny degrees. And then, they cupped their hands respectfully, ¡°Greetings, King Yanluo.¡±

    Do you intend to remain here, or do you intend to return to your fiefdom?

    Yang Jiye sighed, ¡°We would love to stay behind to aid Hell with its redevelopment. But¡­ Lhavi and Felipinas are truly treacherousnds, and we wouldn¡¯t feel at ease unless we¡¯re there to oversee its governance and security.¡±

    Lhavi¡­ it was a small country - an incredibly small one. However, it was sandwiched right between Cathay and Hindustan! In other words, it was the only buffer zone between the two great underworlds!

    Qin Ye was bent on such rapid development precisely because if the state of underworldly affairs was anything like that of their mortal realm counterparts, then¡­ it would never be in a state of peace!

    He hadn¡¯t said a word of this to anyone. In fact, it wasn¡¯t even the right time to be considering his potential conflicts with the rest of the world. That said, he couldn¡¯t deny the existence of a Sword of Damocles dangling right over his head, and he didn¡¯t know when it woulde cleaving down on his neck and deal him a fatal blow!

    Yang Jiye¡¯s expressions looked grim and serious, ¡°Shaman Yin spirits.¡±

    Yang Jiye hesitated for a moment, while Yu Qian shook his head, ¡°Lord Yang, it¡¯s best if you say it.¡±

    Yang Jiye hesitated for a few moments, before finally gnashing his teeth, ¡°Death God Ah Puch, Death God Supay, Death God Mtecutli, and Death God Masauwu. The darkfeathers under the charge of these gods of deaths are all called Shaman Yin spirits. Ever since twenty years ago, they¡¯ve begun to sneak across the Pacific Ocean, in an attempt to enter Cathay through the East Cathay Sea!¡±

    Qin Ye gasped. To think that there are four death gods coveting the East Continent right now! Fortunately¡­ it looks like Yang Jiye has managed to foil all of their attempts on his own.

    ¡°Not many darkfeathers are able to trek across the entire ocean like them.¡± Yang Jiye continued, ¡°These four are called the Federation of Four Gods, because their territories are all in the same region - they all hail from Central West Continent as well as Usonia.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yang Jiye took some time to sort through his thoughts, before slowly exining, ¡°Ah Puch is the god of death of the Mayan underworld, Supay is the god of death of the Incan underworld, Mtecutli is the god of death of the Aztec underworld, and Masauwu is the god of death of the Hopi underworld. All of them hail from Usonia, and even though their underworld isn¡¯trge, they¡¯ve still been around for at least a thousand years, and they¡¯re undoubtedly an entity that is strong enough to pose a threat to the new Hell.¡±

    ¡°My lord, it would be wise not to underestimate them.¡± Yu Qian cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°The civilization of these indigenous people can be traced back all the way to 200 BC. We¡¯re talking about a veritable 2,000 years old underworld. The only silver lining is that the proliferation of their beliefs are slowly dwindling in the mortal realm, and that is the only reason for which their territory isn¡¯trge. Even then, the fact that they have existed for two millennia necessarily means that¡­ their death gods are all Yanluo-ss entities!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered. He immediately understood what Yu Qian was getting at.

    Who was it?

    Almost as though he could read Qin Ye¡¯s mind, Yang Jiye continued exining, ¡°North West Continent is where some of the greatest powers of the underworld are located, including Thanatos and the nameless god of death. The nameless god of death has never participated in any wars. Thus, the only power that can possibly force these native gods to cross the Pacific Ocean can only be the other power residing in Usonia - Thanatos.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry too much for now.¡± Arthis suddenly interjected, ¡°So long as the Array of the Nine Gods isn¡¯t broken, there¡¯s simply no way for these entities to breach our Cathayan borders.¡±

    Arthis thought for a moment, before sighing wistfully, ¡°I¡¯d thought it best not to tell you these things in the past, since you might growcent about building up an army. But given the current circumstances¡­ perhaps it might be best toe clean with the truth.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­ It was as though the huge boulder that had been pressing on Qin Ye¡¯s heart had finally been lifted. That exins why the other underworlds still haven¡¯t detected anything amiss despite Hell¡¯s great copse a hundred years ago.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Yu Qian nodded, ¡°For instance, adopting the same analogy as before, the incense of these four death gods have already gone out. Their presence is almostpletely extinct from the human race in the mortal realm. Therefore, even if they are strong, they would still have to find refuge under the umbres of more powerful underworlds. Otherwise, if war breaks out, their underworld would bepletely exposed to the incursion of enemy forces, and the consequences could be dire.¡±

    ¡°On the other hand, Cathay is theplete converse of these underworlds. The old Hell has copsed, but the tradition and belief of Hell still runs strong in the hearts of the Cathayans. The Han Cathayans still remain a dominant force in the mortal realm, and the incense that has been burning for thousands of years still continues to burn brightly. In fact, it can continue to sustain the present Hell for the next two hundred years without any problems at all!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Reference first appeared in Chapter 207.

    2. Ah Puch is the Mayan God of Death. ; Supay is the Incan God of Death ; Mtecutli is the Aztec God of Death ; while Masauwu is the Hopi God of Death

    3. Central America.

    4. Do note that while the nameless god of death has spread to Russia, I believe the author means that North America (North West Continent) is where their headquarters is located.

 Chapter 362: The Tangming Olive Branch

    <h4>Chapter 362: The Tangming Olive Branch</h4>

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin as he mused in thought - Would a hundred and fifty years be sufficient?

    In other words, he essentially had a hundred and fifty years to expand Hell across all nine million six hundred thousand square kilometers that Cathay spanned across. Furthermore, he would have to establish an undefeatable army and a strong economy so that Hell wouldn¡¯t fall prey to the other underworlds as soon as their protective barrier vanishes. The fleeting thought of a coalition of underworlds rushing straight towards Hell instantly sent chills down Qin Ye¡¯s spine!

    Economy was the cornerstone of any powerful nation. Without money, everything they did would be no different from empty talk. Although their harvest this time was plentiful, it had to be said that such a harvest was only due to the imperial court meeting that urred only once every fifty years. Besides¡­ a harvest worth ten billion Yin spirit stones?

    ¡°Your Majesty is right.¡± Yu Qian nodded deeply, ¡°The memorandum of understanding inked between the new Hell and Liu Yu sets a time limit of two years for themencement of sea trade. If we can¡¯t meet that timeline, the amount of damages we¡¯ll have to pay would be exorbitant, and the new Hell might even have to enter liquidation. Hell is just starting to spread its wings, and we simply can¡¯t afford to taint our name with such notoriety.¡±

    There was a brief moment of silence.

    Yang Jiye also added anxiously, ¡°Your Majesty, we must not do so! This concerns the image of Hell as a whole, and it deserves the very best attention that Hell can give. Everything else must be put on the back burner. Either withhold our signature from the memorandum of understanding, or go all out in fulfilling it as soon as we¡¯remitted to it! Hell simply cannot afford to taint its reputation right off the cuff!¡±

    Eh? Come to think of it¡­ I guess they¡¯re not wrong to suggest that I¡¯m shameless¡­

    Both men turned to Zhou Yu at the same time, only to realize that he was simply fanning himself casually without a single expression of concern on his face.

    ¡°Good. Hell has a multitude of affairs to deal with, so I won¡¯t be sending you off. I wish you all a safe journey back.¡±

    With that, Zhou Yu and Qin Ye were the only two remaining in the room.

    Zhou Yu stood up, pulled out a scroll from his bosom and offered it to Qin Ye respectfully with both hands, ¡°Lord Yanluo, I¡¯vee in a hurry this time, and have thus failed to bring the tribute with me. This is the list of tributes from the Tangming underworld for thest one hundred years. I¡¯ve already sent out a messenger birdst night, and I estimate that the goods should arrive in the new Hell in the next ten days¡¯ time.¡±

    Fire God Zhou Yu, the man who single handedly torched eight hundred thousand troops in one fell swoop. He was considered one of the best, even among the twelve envoys.

    Qin Ye received the scroll, unraveled it and then began to read through its contents. His eyes immediately gleamed brightly. Then, he continued scanning through its contents for the next five minutes, before finally turning to Zhou Yu, ¡°Lord Zhou¡­ is this¡­ a peace offering?¡±

    Zhou Yu smiled faintly, ¡°The Tangming underworld hopes that we can scratch each others¡¯ backs. If Lord Qin is willing, I¡¯ll be willing to send a merchant fleet to the harbor city in two years¡¯ time as well.¡±

    Zhou Yu is far craftier than what was reported in the history books!

    He also knew full well that Hell wasn¡¯t strong enough to do anything about the attitude he was showing, much less fall out with a feudal official of the old Hell. Besides, there wasn¡¯t any pretext under which Qin Ye could do anything to him in any event, especially when his attitude took the form of goodwill to Hell.

    Everything about the future was unknown, and he wasn¡¯t ready tomit to a single position just yet.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions finally shifted slightly.

    ¡°What is it that you¡¯re looking for?¡± Qin Ye asked for the second time.

    Indebtedness.

    The room was silent once again. This time, Qin Ye mulled over the matter for ten full minutes, before finally looking back up and shaking his head cidly, ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

    With that, he quickly got to his feet.

    Then, without missing a beat, Zhou Yu chuckled softly, as though his following words would beden with deep, profound meaning, ¡°Hell¡¯s priority right now is to expand into other cities and develop new colonies. If you can¡¯t establish a sea port city, every bit of headway made during the imperial court meeting would have beenpletely in vain.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about me.¡± Zhou Yu shook his head and sighed wistfully, ¡°It seems like¡­ the Judge who is by your side hasn¡¯t apprised you of what exactly the establishment of a new city is going to entail, has she? The dangers of exploring new frontiers¡­ are definitely beyond anything you could fathom. I¡¯m not trying to toot my own horn over here, but I can assure you that without my assistance, you¡¯ll never be able to pave the way to the sea port city.¡±

    With that, Zhou Yu took his leave.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± He transformed into ahergale and made a beeline towards the construction site, ¡°I¡¯d like to see just what kind of dangers there areying in wait for us incidental to founding a new city. Are these really dangers that Oda Nobunaga can¡¯t handle on his own with ten thousand Yin soldiers? Do we really need to ept these Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows?¡±

    The soul induction tform was located not too far away from Hell¡¯s Gate. Thus, as soon as he stepped out of Hell¡¯s gate, he noticed that the soul induction tform was now covered with a strange phenomenon. Countless paper money was scattering everywhere on it, and there was even a barely audible trace of the Great Goddess of Mercy mantra echoing from the center of the tform.

    ¡°Is this a new special Yin spirit?¡± Qin Ye paused for only a moment, before immediately rushing straight over, only to realize that Wang Chenghao and Arthis were already present and waiting for him.

    ¡°There¡¯s no rush for that right now.¡± Arthis stared intently at the soul induction tform, ¡°Don¡¯t you find that¡­ the Yin energy emanating from the soul on this tform is¡­ rather familiar?¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ I don¡¯t have a Shukaku in my body!!!

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes at Wang One Tail, as though saying - What¡¯s that got to do with me?

    ¡°No¡­¡± Wang CHenghao stared back at Qin Ye, almost as though he were a retard. Then, he grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s arm and spoke with a slight tremor in his voice, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ how long have you been in Hell? By my calctions, it must already have been two weeks, right?¡±

    There had been too many things to deal with over thest two weeks, all of which required his personal attention in Hell. He had initially only intended to return to Hell at night. But ever since returning to Hell two weeks ago, he began to take personal oversight of everything leading up to the imperial court meeting, and he had thus stayed the entire duration in Hell.

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°I¡¯ve forgotten to scatter your ashes over the great oceans?¡±

    BOOM!

    Sweatdrops immediately started beading up over Qin Ye¡¯s forehead. His expressions looked contrived and horrid, and his lips quivered uncontrobly. Then, staring deeply into Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes, he grabbed his hands and spoke with a drifty voice, ¡°About that¡­ are you s-s-saying that¡­ I¡¯ve already beenatose for over two weeks back in the mortal realm?!¡±

    Before he could even finish speaking, Qin Ye transformed into a stream ofhergale and vanished from where he was.

    The First Academy of Cultivators¡­ I¡¯ve been so involved in the affairs of Hell that I¡¯vepletely forgotten about my duties back in the mortal realm!

    Damn it¡­ what¡¯s going to happen to all my teaching credits?!!

    <hr>

    1. Naruto reference. Shukaku is the name of the One-Tail Beast in Naruto.

 Chapter 363: White Flowers

    <h4>Chapter 363: White Flowers</h4>

    Advancement to an Infernal Judge - postponed.

    Coordinating the next developmental n of Hell - postponed.

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and rushed back to the mortal realm like a vicious, barking dog. One secondter, he desperately got into character, stirring slightly in bed and slowly opening his eyes in a pretentious manner as he murmured sickly, ¡°Who am I¡­ where am I¡­¡±

    Ah, I mean¡­ flower baskets.

    Fortunately, he could tell that he was still in a hospital ward right now.

    The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, Ye Xingchen shot to his feet and dashed out of the hospital like a mad man.

    Qin Ye gulped nervously as he scanned his surroundings. Alright¡­ I see some nts at my bedside table¡­ nt + patient¡­ a perfect match?! Are you suggesting that I¡¯m already in a vegetative state right now?!!

    Although he wasn¡¯t wholly devoted to teaching and instructing, he had still been involved with these duties for close to a year. Throughout the course of the year, he had rued sufficient goodwill for the students to be sending him well wishes and even watch over him on a rostered basis. It was a heartfelt, stirring sight.

    He felt a thread of pure true energy enter his body. He cast aplex nce at Zhou Xianlong - This man¡­ the incident with Li Jixi cannot bepletely unrted to this man, but¡­ given his stature, I guess it¡¯s understandable. On the other hand, the concern that he¡¯s showing for me right now is undeniable.

    Unfortunately, the true energy which Zhou Xianlong sent probing through his body waspletely ipatible with the cultivation system which Qin Ye practised. The only silver lining was the fact that the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal was barely able to keep the source of Yin energy in his body masked. Ten minutester, Zhou Xianlong finally opened his eyes and sighed wistfully, ¡°Does it feel ufortable anywhere?¡±

    He didn¡¯t intend to say anything at first. But as soon as he turned to look at Zhou Xianlong with a zed look in his eyes, his parched lips immediately parted and gave way to a hoarse voice, ¡°Thirsty¡­¡±

    Holy crap?!

    He puckered his lips and drank from the cup with much difficulty. Then, he muttered hoarsely, ¡°Hungry¡­¡±

    That said, Zhou Xianlong didn¡¯t even react with the slightest bit of hesitation. He got up to his feet and made his way straight to the kitchte, before soon returning with a piping hot bowl of porridge in hand. He picked up a small spoonful of it and brought it to Qin Ye¡¯s lips, ¡°Come, open your mouth.¡±

    Qin Ye opened his mouth with a pitiful expression in his eyes. And then--...

    Clink. There was a loud crisp sound, and the pain apanying the sh between teeth and the porcin spoon nearly caused him to jump right to his feet. Bloody hell¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have celebrated too soon¡­ this guy obviously isn¡¯t used to serving other people¡­

    Speak of the devil. As soon as he said those words, the door to his ward immediately opened up. Tao Ran led the way, followed closely by a handful of doctors. As soon as the doctors noticed the alertness in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, one of them immediately eximed, ¡°This is a medical miracle¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you remember who you are?¡± An old doctor asked with a pleasant disposition.

    ¡°That¡¯s good. There are neither blood clots nor bruises in the brain.¡± The old doctor sighed softly, ¡°Instructor Qin, you¡¯d already been lying unconscious in your room for a full day before you were discovered by Instructor Lin. And since then, it¡¯s been two full weeks. Over thest two weeks, we¡¯ve run multiple tests on you, only to discover that your brain doesn¡¯t seem to respond to any external stimulus. Thus, after ruling out all other possibilities, we¡¯d concluded back then that you were brain dead. Your heart was still beating, but every other bodily function apart from the excretion of bodily waste had ceased to work. Thus¡­ we all thought you would never wake up again.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded.

    Bloody hell¡­ ¡®Every other bodily function apart from the excretion of bodily waste had ceased to work¡¯?! Doesn¡¯t this mean that Local Bully has been handling my untouchables all this while?!

    The fear in his heart instantly shot through the roof, and he nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to interrogate that fool called Lin Han.

    I can¡¯t mention teaching credits right now¡­ that would only paint me in a terrible light¡­

    What a great instructor. To think that he would still be concerned about his duties and his students at such a time as this. How can we possibly afford to push an instructor as dedicated as this beyond the edge?

    Don¡¯t just say it¡¯s fine! Tell me how exactly it¡¯s fine! I¡¯m not going to be blowing all of my teaching credits like this, am I?!

    So long as the students are fine, his teaching credits would be intact. In other words, he was practically doing all he could to check on the status of his teaching credits in as indirect a manner as possible.

    Dear, that won¡¯t do!

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was filled with bitterness. He nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to strangle the two cultivation buffoons at the same time - Can¡¯t you open your eyes and take a good look at me?! How can you pass up on such a dedicated instructor to the school and the students?! Can¡¯t you see the tears that I¡¯ve managed to squeeze out from the corner of my eyes?

    Buzz! His ears buzzed with an incessant ringing, while the pain¡­ felt no different from being torn asunder from within. A pitch-ckherme zed from his chest so powerfully that it appeared to vaporize the blood in his body. Within moments, it consumed all of his internal organs and engulfed him with a heartstopping pain.

    What timing. To think that it would strike at this very moment.

    ¡°Hang in there!¡± Zhou Xianlong immediately snapped back to his senses and sent a wave of true energy rushing over to Qin Ye. But as soon as it met theherme, it reacted no differently from cold water meetingva, and it instantly dissipated into a cloud of white mist. Surprisingly, the white mist generated from the sh was somewhat material in nature, and it instantly sent Zhou Xianlong recoiling back into the wall.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, but true energy can¡¯t prate the wall ofhermes at all!¡± Zhou Xianlong gritted his teeth, ¡°We can only hope that¡­ he can pull himself through this ordeal¡­ What the hell is going on anyway? This hints at a Prefect-ss evil ghost! Why hasn¡¯t he said anything about this before?!¡±

    ¡°AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!¡± The miserable scream reverberated throughout the corners of the room. His cry came approximately twenty seconds into his re up. Fortunately, the Immortals at the Magpie Bridge soon subsided and faded away. (TL: If memory serves me well, the first two re ups seem to have taken ce in Hell, while this is the first time it has happened in the mortal realm. The author had previously mentioned that he would die after it res up three times, so I can only conclude that either the ones in Hell didn¡¯t count, or Arthis and/or the Book of Life and Death has managed to suppress the effects of the curse so that Qin Ye can survive for a longer period of time.)

    Qin Ye pushed them away weakly. He knew that they needed an exnation for this strange phenomenon. Incidentally, it was the perfect means to bring closure to the matters that had taken ce at New Hale City.

    After all, Li Jixi had once mentioned that the Albatross would never let a task remain unfinished. To make matters worse, not even Li Jixi himself knew what the other Albatrosses looked like. Each one of them had their own point of contact, and they were trained never to disclose their true appearances to others - not even their colleagues. Naturally, they would put on a different mask or appearance whenever they were meeting others.

    Zhou Xianlong held his hand tightly and interjected, ¡°Don¡¯t say anything¡­ You must have been afflicted with a curse of sorts. Rest well. I¡¯ll immediately look through the Special Investigations Department¡¯s docket of talented personnel. There must be someone in there who would be able to help you out.¡±

    Tao Ran¡¯s gaze flickered, and he promptly waved his arms, instructing all of the doctors in the room to take their leave. It was only after they had done so that Qin Ye finally continued feebly, ¡°Back in New Hale City¡­ we¡¯d encountered¡­ a Prefect-ss evil ghost¡­¡±

 Chapter 364: A Meaningful Expression

    <h4>Chapter 364: A Meaningful Expression</h4>

    Zhou Xianlong and Tao Ran gasped in horror, because they knew all too well what the emergence of a Prefect-ss ghost meant to humanity.

    He wanted to know more. But, after three full seconds of tense silence in the room, he slowly shook his head, ¡°Let¡¯s not discuss these things for now. Get some rest. We¡¯ll talk more once you get better.¡±

    With that, he pulled open his robes and revealed his chest, ¡°Do you see this?¡±

    As expected, you can¡¯t see it. But that¡¯s good. That means there¡¯s no way of verifying the truth after all.

    Zhou Xianlong couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. His heart was anxious, yet his voice remained calm and cid, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Little Qin. Even if you¡¯ve been targeted by a Prefect-ss evil ghost, I¡¯ll personally get you posted to the Special Investigations Department¡¯s headquarters. You¡¯ll be absolutely safe over there.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s felt a lump swell up at this throat - You guys are here to mess around with me, aren¡¯t you? How can you be so adept at stabbing me where it hurts?! Each strikees without any warning, and cuts straight at the heart and the marrows¡­ Are you bent on blocking every possible path of retreat I have prepared for myself?!

    I can¡¯t help but praise myself for my resourcefulness and quick-wittedness!

    I may be a husky that has sessfully infiltrated the ranks of a pack of wolves, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m ready to meet with the king of the wolves just yet!

    Silence.

    He gritted his teeth, ¡°We¡¯ll temporarily suspend your sses. Once you¡¯ve recovered, we¡¯ll prepare your hand-over documents. I believe that the two principals wouldn¡¯t have any objections to this arrangement either. At that time, we¡¯ll help you source out the best way to rid yourself of this curse altogether.¡±

    Qin Ye felt as though he had just been struck by a bolt out of the blue. He looked up at Zhou Xianlong and Tao Ran in despair. Wait, wait, wait¡­ that¡¯s really not how the plot is supposed to unfold! You¡¯ve misunderstood mepletely!

    The correct response should have been this - ¡®You can continue to rest and recuperate in the First Academy of Cultivators. The gates of the academy are always open to you, and we look forward to your recovery and your teaching contributions next semester.¡¯

    Shouldn¡¯t a terminally ill instructor be given the opportunity to teach at a podium until he falls in the line of his teaching duties? I promise that I won¡¯t look to you forpensation! Besides, what do you mean hand-over my duties and focus on rest and recovery anyway? Don¡¯t you know that even cancer patients can have periods of remission?! This¡­ this curse of mine won¡¯t affect my duties and obligations in any way!!!

    With that, he shook off Qin Ye¡¯s feeble grip on his sleeves and left the room so that Qin Ye could rest. He didn¡¯t even look back. Qin Ye, on the other hand, reached out after Zhou Xianlong, like a heroine of a bitter soap drama that was on the verge of calling out after the antagonist of the story.

    How did I end up digging such a huge pit for myself?

    After some time, the door opened softly again.

    Just then, Lin Han¡¯s voice suddenly cut through the silence in the room, ¡°I¡¯m relieved to see that you¡¯re still alive.¡± Qin Ye was so startled by his sudden, loud remark that he immediately sent a p flying the way of the voice, incidentallynding it right across Lin Han¡¯s cheeks.

    Then, a split secondter, he actually lifted Qin Ye up from the bed!

    He had already been overstimted today, and his mind was practically on the verge of copse.

    WTF?!!

    ¡°... Too hard, too hard¡­ Speaking of which, how can you possibly be so violent immediately aftering to your senses? Anyway, you don¡¯t have to be so shy¡­ It¡¯s not as though I¡¯ve not seen it before¡­¡± Lin Han set Qin Ye down on the wheelchair and immediately began to wheel him to the bathroom. And then...

    ¡°Holy crap?!¡± Local Bully reeled back in shock. It was far too shocking that someone who had just awakened from a two-weekatose could suddenly shoot to his feet like that. After all, wasn¡¯t he just recovering from a serious affliction?

    His voice was as cid as he could muster.

    ¡°... I want to get used to the feeling of ambting on my own earlier.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s facial muscles twitched uncontrobly, ¡°Besides, I¡¯d like to have a break from the world. Please help me shut the door from the outside. Thanks.¡±

    And then, he closed the door from the inside.

    His heart was in turmoil! The mere thought of Local Bully having handled his untouchables stirred such intense rage in his heart that he couldn¡¯t help but develop the urge to cast Local Bully into a swarm of blight vermin to bepletely and utterly destroyed.

    A few secondster, Qin Ye stered on his face the very best smile he could muster, before returning to his bed, lying down and beginning to use his phone once again. Lin Han didn¡¯t disturb him either. This appeared to be a rarepromise that the two men had managed to reach.

    The man was approximately 1.8m tall, with a youngish appearance. However, his movements and mannerisms said otherwise about his age. He exhaled a mouthful of cigarette smoke and nodded to the man across the room he was in, ¡°If that¡¯s how it is, then that would exin Albatross 032¡¯s bizarre death.¡±

    He folded his arms and propped up his head with a tightly clenched fist, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Student Wang Chenghao to have been martyred as a result of the investigations. These are regrets that I¡¯ll have to live with. As things are, there doesn¡¯t seem to be any further meaning in pressing on with these investigations. After all, there¡¯s no furtherplications resulting from the outburst of Yin energy at the Strait of Tsushima either.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong lifted his head and furrowed his brows, ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s gaze flickered, and his expression grew austere. Secondster, he shook his head to loosen up his tension.

    Zhou Xianlong slowly rose to his feet, ¡°I forbid you to continue any further with your investigations, and I hereby do so in my capacity as the second-inmand of the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    After some time, he finally spoke up, ¡°Actually, that¡¯s in line with my intentions as well.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that man?!¡± Zhou Xianlong barked back.

    Qin Ye¡­ actually knows someone like that?

    ¡°Besides, Zhang Baoguo of the City of Salvation seems to know more than he was willing to disclose, and he was clearly hinting that we shouldn¡¯t probe any further.¡± The man sighed, ¡°So, let¡¯s leave it at that and pretend nothing ever happened. From now on, we¡¯ll divert our attention away from Qin Ye and focus all of our efforts on investigating the nature and cause of the outburst of Yin energy at the Strait of Tsushima.¡±

    With that, he pushed on the door and left the room.

    Simultaneously, Zhou Xianlong picked up the phone in the ward he was in, ¡°Professor Tao¡­ Mm, it¡¯s me.¡±

    With that, Zhou Xianlong set down the phone and gazed out the window at the distant sky, sighing deeply, ¡°What an eventful year indeed¡­¡±

 Chapter 365: Choice

    <h4>Chapter 365: Choice</h4>

    During this time, his heart was fraught with iparable anxiety. The official documents alone would already pile up like mountains in his week-long absence, and there was still the need to keep Arthis in check to prevent all forms of¡­ corruption. They even needed to attend to the most pressing issue of firming up the next steps of Hell¡¯s developmental work. After all, they had only two years¡¯ time to establish a sea port city good enough formencement of their trade routes. There was truly no time to lose. That said¡­ he had no choice but to stick to his leave of absence.

    Local Bully was a man who waspletely oblivious to all forms of social cues whatsoever!

    One thing was certain - Local Bully would make for a good father in future. That said, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t wait to get out of this ¡®fatherly¡¯ hell as soon as he could.

    During this time, some of his other students had dropped by in their free time to visit him, and their presence was what helped sustain him through the long, arduous week. That said, he couldn¡¯t hold on any longer.

    It was already the final sprint leading up to the end of the semester, so most of the students were already holed up in their little booths in the library, and few could be seen scattered about the campus grounds. Everything looked bare and empty, save for the asional regr citizen passers-by who were pointing andmenting on the fence surrounding the campus grounds.

    He pushed open the door to the faculty office, only to notice Zhou Xianlong look up from his desk in surprise, ¡°Have you finally been discharged? I¡¯ve been anticipating your arrival. It¡¯s good to be young. Your rate of recovery is extraordinary. Come, take a seat. You¡¯re just in time, there are some things that I want to show you.¡±

    He had a request to make to Zhou Xianlong, so he would naturally have toply with Zhou Xianlong¡¯s instructions. I¡¯ll listen to the leadership, and thenply with their instructions so that I can remain with the organizatio--... What the hell is this?!!

    ¡°Take a seat, take a seat.¡± Zhou Xianlong ced his arm on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder and pressed him back down onto his seat, ¡°Little Qin¡­¡±

    Straight to the point. Zhou Xianlong had never expected Qin Ye to be so direct, and he paused for a moment, ¡°We don¡¯t operate cabs around here¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nearly rolled his eyes, ¡°Faculty Head Zhou, I¡¯ve already recovered, I can still continue to teach! We¡¯ve got to be responsible for the students under our charge! Can the other instructors possibly take over the matters which I¡¯ve been imbibing our students with? Would the students be able to understand these key concepts about the supernatural without my guidance? I¡¯ve been hearing the despondent cries of my students even in my sleep back at the hospital!¡±

    The students aren¡¯t as stupid as you make them out to be¡­

    Qin Ye still had arge amount of credits under his name that hadn¡¯t been spent. Although the evaluation guideline for the determination of associate professors had changed somewhat, he was undoubtedly still in the running for the highly coveted title. One could only imagine how the first batch of teaching staff were going to be treated after the graduation of the first batch of students! Qin Ye was naturally bent on fighting for his teaching post, even if that meant dragging his name through the mud!

    ¡°Or are you saying that I¡¯m not teaching well enough? Or am I not strong enough? Or do you take issue with my attitude?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong sighed softly. He had onlye to this very decision after having regard to a multitude of considerations. Yet, faced with Qin Ye¡¯s feisty, usatory gaze, he found himself renderedpletely speechless.

    Just then, a voice suddenly called out from the door behind Qin Ye, ¡°Instructor Qin, you¡¯ve misunderstood us.¡± Qin Ye turned back in surprise, only to see Xu Anguo standing at the door, holding a cup of tea.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Zhou Xianlong chuckled bitterly. He had already done much to restrain his vtile temperament, but there was admittedly still much room for improvement.

    Hmm?

    Couldn¡¯t you have told me these things earlier¡­

    ¡°Your situation is rather special.¡± Xu Anguo picked up the documents on Zhou Xianlong¡¯s desk and began flipping through them, ¡°There are several considerations that were ying on our mind when we decided to approve of the proposed course of action. Firstly, your physical condition is a huge issue. The First Academy of Cultivators doesn¡¯t possess the ability to undo the curse. Something afflicted by a Prefect-ss entity will require another Prefect-ss entity to undo. To this end, there are only three such existences in Cathay itself. Together, they constitute the Cathay¡¯s bulwark in this war against theherworldly forces. These experts are usually impossible to contact. Thus, if you remain with the First Academy of Cultivators, you¡¯d only be waiting for death. This is something that none of us want to see.¡±

    Three Abyssal Prefects, huh¡­ To think that there would be three Prefect-ss experts hidden within the mortal realm. The head honcho of the Special Investigations Department should be one. Then, what about the other two? Taoist? Buddhist?

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips trembled slightly, but he remained taciturn.

    What a wily old fox. What masterful use of rhetorics and soft-argumentative style. Qin Ye had a feeling that he would be fully persuaded by Xu Anguo today.

    ¡°And don¡¯t be in a hurry to refute me just yet. Consider this - how do you know when your curse would next act up? What if you¡¯re in the midst of an important lesson or a crucial demonstration? What happens if this happens during the actualbat practice? These aren¡¯t matters that we can gloss over lightly.¡±

    Having noticed his silence, Xu Anguo smiled faintly once more, ¡°Thirdly¡­¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped and turned to look at Xu Anguo with great disbelief.

    They hadid the groundwork for over a decade, and the consequences of the supernatural outbreaks across the three eastern provinces were clearly too severe to conceal any longer. Thus, riding the wave of the opportunity that had presented itself, the Cathayan government¡­ had finally decided that the time was ripe.

    Nobody knows what the future would hold for them. That said, one thing was for certain - everything would hinge on whether they could ovee this obstacle that was a tidal wave of Yin spirits headed for them right now!

    ¡°Over thest ten years, Cathay has established satellite offices across the entire nation, popting even the remotest counties with cultivators and experts of all sorts. Every county has at least a hundred cultivators protecting them. Unfortunately¡­ this is far from enough as far as cities are concerned.¡± Xu Anguo could tell that Qin Ye was mulling over these things, and he promptly added, ¡°It¡¯s not that there¡¯s insufficient headcount. Rather, what¡¯scking is the number of elites.¡±

    Xu Anguo sighed softly and set down his teacup, ¡°To make matters worse¡­ they¡¯re not at all familiar with Yin spirits at all. Supernatural outbreaks have only be moremonce in thest decade or so. On the other hand, the sects, ns and other forces haveplex and intricate organizational structures that are generally inward-looking. Their rate of development and adaptation is slow, and it was only in thest two to three years that some of these experts havee out of their seclusion to experience the changes in the world once more. What remains head knowledge requires time and bloodshed to be converted into practical experience and knowledge. This is why most urbanized areas are still looking for true experts who have the means of dealing with the increasing supernatural threat.¡±

    ¡°Everything is in the works right now.¡± Zhou Xianlong exined, ¡°Nobody knows exactly when it¡¯s going to happen, but it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time in the near future. This is why thepetition for cultivators over thest half a year has never been stronger, and I¡¯m afraid it will only continue to get more and more intense over the next decade or so.¡±

    Xu Anguo added, ¡°How to defend against or deal with Yin spirits are matters that must be learnt through practical experience. Besides, how many experts do you think there are in Cathay who actually possess the requisite ability to deal with the threat of the supernatural? Most of them have alreadye to the First Academy of Cultivators. We''ve already received over a thousand such requests and applications for assistance from various cities around. There are even some cities that havee together to pool their resources to attract the best talent around. Unfortunately, the pool of talents they''re vying for is simply too limited. Incidentally, you''re one of these talents that everyone is looking for."

    Of course I''m agreeable to this!

    "Excellent! I knew we could count on Instructor Qin!¡± Zhou Xianlong finally breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°Come, Instructor Qin, take a look at the cities we¡¯ve picked for you. We¡¯ve especially shortlisted the cities with the highest level of supernatural outbreak so that your talents wouldn¡¯t be wasted! Furthermore, when we previously channeled true energy through your body earlier, we¡¯ve discovered that you¡¯re already close to breaking through to bing an Anitya Hellguard. Being caught in life-and-death battles would only increase the odds of breaking through!¡±

    Qin Ye stared at Zhou Xianlong as though he had just seen a ghost.

    I¡¯d very much rather have a home with a sea view and wake up to the smell of a bed of roses!

 Chapter 366: Discovered Again?!

    <h4>Chapter 366: Discovered Again?!</h4>

    But he knew better.

    What? You don¡¯t want to go?

    As soon as Qin Ye considered responding with ¡®I¡¯d like to scrape by and survive¡¯... the sheer thought of the potential admonishment that would follow immediately sent shivers down his spine.

    Qin Ye held back the desire to spit out a mouthful of blood. Hellguards¡­ Who¡¯s to say for sure whether these Hellguard-ss evil ghosts are merely executing orders from a Judge-ss evil ghost?! And who¡¯s to say for sure whether these evil ghosts are part of an army of Assassins of the Underworld under the direct charge of a daolord altogether?! What if I purge one or two of them, only to attract the ire of the head honcho behind them? Don¡¯t you think an entity like that would be able to wipe out an entire n of Qin Ye¡¯s, and perhaps more?!

    Unfortunately, they obviously didn¡¯t hear Qin Ye¡¯s plea for help. Xu Anguo pointed to one of the documents, ¡°Take a look at this - Pearl River Delta. This is one of the locations where Cathay is experiencing the worst supernatural outbreak. It¡¯s on par with the three eastern provinces and the three provinces of Westriver Province, Cloudriver Province and Rich Province. This is one of the ces where you¡¯ll definitely find yourself hanging on by the thread of your life. If you go there, I¡¯m almost certain that you¡¯ll be an Anitya Hellguard the next time we meet.¡±

    Qin Ye felt his throat getting more parched by the minute. Pearl River Delta¡­ If memory serves me well, this would be the territory upied by the daolord of the hungry ghosts. If I head there, wouldn¡¯t I be¡­ consenting to my transformation into a little lump of dim sum for him?

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a look at the others¡­¡± His facial muscles stiffened up as he cated Xu Anguo awkwardly and unobtrusively.

    That¡¯s even worse¡­ Arthis had mentioned some time ago that there¡¯s probably a Prefect-ss evil ghost disguised as a human being hiding there!

    His lips trembled slightly, but he remainedpletely silent. Xu Anguo nodded understandingly, ¡°It¡¯s always good to look through the options before weighing them properly. How about this ce? Southriver Province? It¡¯s one of the most populous provinces with a fairly high rate of supernatural outbreaks. Furthermore, we¡¯re already starting to see signs of Incarnate Revenants appearing there¡­¡±

    Just like that, they went through a handful of other options, all of which were summarily dismissed by Qin Ye. Xu Anguo chuckled, ¡°Or perhaps you could let us know your requirements instead? That way, we can narrow the search a little bit better to suit your tastes. Don¡¯t worry about the pay, because every single one of these assignments are extremely high risk, and they naturally pay incredibly well.¡±

    His quick-wittedness immediately kicked in, and he promptly changed tacts, ¡°... to be ruled out. If I want to undo the curse on my body, I¡¯d have to be closer to the higher level hunting zones...¡±

    There¡¯s at least one predatory zone in each city or urbanized area. If luck isn¡¯t on your side, you might even see the emergence of a forbidden zone. On average, we¡¯re seeing approximately four or five forbidden zones in each province in Cathay. Cathay has a total of 152 Judge-ss cultivators, most of whom are currently located in urbanized areas where the presence of forbidden zones have been confirmed. The state of supernatural outbreaks in any area can be quite easily determined by the ranks of the watchmen deployed there.¡±

    His departure was now certain, but the oue wasn¡¯t too bad. His actions would no longer be subject to the scrutiny of the old foxes in the school, and he could even continue to rue teaching credits and merit points in the meantime. Since that was the case, all that remained was to carefully consider the best option for his next assignment.

    As long as it doesn¡¯t startle me any more than the plentiful surprises today¡­ Qin Ye grumbled to himself, before bidding the leaders farewell and returning to his own dorm room.

    And what¡¯s most frightening was the fact that they bore the appearances of Su Feng and Local Bully!

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you gained enlightenment yet?¡± Qin Ye nced suspiciously at them, ¡°What prompted you to finally emerge from your little turtle shell? Turtle¡¯s revenge?¡±

    ¡°Not bad.¡± Qin Ye was satisfied with their response, and he sat down on his sofa. That said, he couldn¡¯t help but feel like he¡¯d forgotten something important. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t put a finger on it. Thus, he simply pointed to them andmanded like a tyrant, ¡°Hey, wipe the table properly. Don¡¯t miss out on a single speck of dust there. I¡¯ve brought a pair of white gloves to check on your work.¡±

    A split secondter, Lin Han shot to his feet as though he had seen a living ghost. Both Qin Ye and Su Feng were puzzled at his response. Su Feng even pped Local Bully¡¯s butt with the feather duster with an annoyed disposition, ¡°The hell¡­ What was all that about? Hurry up and clean!¡±

    Hell? What hell?

    AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

    Arthis¡¯ carapace¡­ No, perhaps it would be more urate to say that Arthis¡¯ corpse was already collecting dust, and it was now peeking out from right under the bed.

    It had to be said that the destructive power of the husky that was Lin Han was truly startling. For some strange reason, his sensitive nose almost always allowed him to sniff out a startling surprise¡­

    The air was suddenly filled with silence and tension.

    Su Feng and Lin Han nced at him with disbelief. Secondster, Local Bully ced his hand reassuringly on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°It¡¯s fine, we¡¯re all men over here. I totally understand¡­ How long has it been since she wasst pumped?¡±

    ¡°Listen, this is all a misunderstanding.¡± Cold sweat was now beading up on Qin Ye¡¯s forehead, ¡°It¡¯s really a misunderstanding. I¡¯ve got no idea what this is! Why don¡¯t you¡­ give it a touch and see if there¡¯s any strange liquid inside?!¡±

    ¡°Get out!!!¡±

    Prince of Lordaeron¡­ I, Illidan, can never coexist with you!!!

    Boom!!!

    His murderous aura was palpable, and the Death Inquisitors that surrounded were all startled and stunned. The Chief Death Inquisitor only returned to his senses after three full seconds, and the whole lot of them immediately knelt down to greet their master.

    Excellent¡­ you¡¯re here¡­

    Arthis stared at him suspiciously for a few seconds, ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s all? Didn¡¯t I sense a palpable wave of murderous intent emanating from you earlier? Who was that directed towards? Did Something happen back at the mortal realm?¡±

    Count yourself lucky¡­ I¡¯ll deal with you when I finally be an Infernal Judge¡­ After all, revenge is a dish best served cold. A hundred-year wait would only make revenge all that more bittersweet when it¡¯s finally dished out¡­

    Everyone who was summoned soon arrived at the annex hall. There were dozens of people in all. Qin Ye made a casual hand seal,pletely sequestering the annex hall from the rest of Hell outside.

    ¡°Everyone, I¡¯ve convened this meeting because I¡¯ve got something of great importance that will be tabled for discussions.¡± He raised his chin, and Su Dongxue immediately passed along copies of the information that Qin Ye had brought back from the First Academy of Cultivators, ¡°First things first, I¡¯ll be leaving the City of Salvation soon.¡±

    ¡°The second order of business¡­¡± He drew a deep breath, before dering in a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯ve decided to pave the way to the new city in four months¡¯ time!¡±

    Most of the meeting¡¯s attendees had personally experienced modern day society, and they naturally knew how profitable sea trade could be! In fact, even those who had lived during the Southern Song Dynasty would be aware that the establishment of sea trade could feed an entire empire!

    It was more symbolic than anything, because it represented to the East Continent that the Cathayan underworld was finally beginning to regain control over the chaos in the region!

    <hr>

    1.

    2.

    3. It deals with alchemical practices

 Chapter 367: Sudden Revelation About the Ecology of the Netherworld (1)

    <h4>Chapter 367: Sudden Revtion About the Ecology of the Netherworld (1)</h4>

    Just then, Arthis suddenly asked, ¡°Lord Nobunaga.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga looked up at Qin Ye for his cue, only to receive a nod of approbation. It was only then that he responded, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Regardless of how strained their rtionship had been, Arthis had always given Qin Ye the respect due to his stature and office, at least in the public eye. Thus, he knew that her interjection meant that there was something of importance to be raised for their consideration.

    ¡°How¡¯s the training of the new recruits going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve recently managed to conscript more troops, and the total headcount of our army has now reached eight thousand men. Their training is going fine, but¡­¡± Oda Nobunaga paused for a moment, ¡°None of them have experienced actualbat just yet.¡±

    Are we already going to be mobilizing troops? The prospects of that immediately sent a rush of adrenaline coursing through their veins.

    These were matters that they had only seen on television back at the mortal realm. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would directly be involved with the mobilization of troops in the underworld?

    All eyes were transfixed on Arthis. She nodded, ¡°It¡¯s about time for them to draw blood. Prepare an expedition to the old Hell within a week¡¯s time. No matter what happens, we¡¯ll have to let them experience a proper battle before the next stage of Hell¡¯s development.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga frowned slightly, ¡°Forgive my impudence¡­ but could I know why?¡±

    Arthis turned to Qin Ye, only to be given the discretion to act as she willed. Thus, she drew a deep breath and stood up, before ncing at the meeting attendees, ¡°I believe everyone would have been apprised of the updates that Su Dongxue has disseminated just a few days ago. We¡¯ll be focusing all of our attention on the next stage of Hell¡¯s development in the near future! If we fail to meet the two-year time limit that had earlier been agreed upon, nobody would be willing to trade with us again. Having made such headway, the new Hell simply cannot afford to slip up at the eleventh hour. Thus, it¡¯s time for us to crank things up yet another notch!¡±

    ¡°But before that, it would be important to let everyone know what exactly we¡¯re facing. Establishing a trade route necessarily means opening our borders and forging a path to the locality at which we¡¯re establishing the new sea port city. This is an incredibly dangerous process. If luck isn¡¯t with us¡­ Let¡¯s just say that records of the loss of ten thousands or records of mishaps in some way or another, are dime a dozen in the annals of Hell¡¯s history.¡±

    Everyone listened intently. Everyone was familiar with the districts of Hell that were enclosed within Hell¡¯s Gate and its borders. But what was there outside? Nobody knew.

    It seems like¡­ this journey isn¡¯t going to be a smooth-sailing one.

    ¡°I¡¯ve prepared something to show all of you.¡± She stood up and waved her hand, and a Yin energy screen immediately unfurled at once.

    The image on the screen revealed a three-headed beast that roared at the sky. Its majestic wings were unfolded, and thunder and lightning dazzled the sky amidst a torrential downpour. The ground was aze with the chaos of war, and humans that appeared norger than the size of rice grains would asionally scramble underfoot in great despair. The great monster pped its wings madly at the object it was staring at.

    Right across it, there was another equally huge monster that appeared no different from a standing lizard, replete with a back full of bony barbs. The barbs on its back lit up with a brilliant blue hue. WIth a great roar, the lizard-like beast rushed right over towards the three-headed monster!

    Boom, boom, boom! Dust and debris scattered wherever the beasts passed, and the ground shook like a terrifying earthquake. Within moments, the two behemoths shed powerfully against each other.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± ¡°What the hell are these things?¡± ¡°Could it be that¡­ we¡¯ve got to face creatures like this out there? How is it even possible?¡±

    There was an instant mor below. Qin Ye blinked his eyes nkly, before slowly tugging at Arthis¡¯ clothes and whispering softly to her, ¡°Did you put in the wrong disc? Isn¡¯t this Godzi: King of the Monsters? Wasn¡¯t this released in the cinemas just a few days ago?¡±

    Arthis froze and took a closer look. Then, she coughed awkwardly, ¡°Sorry about that¡­ the image was too simr, so I¡¯d mistaken it for something else¡­¡±

    The Yin screen toggled to another image in an instant. This time¡­ the image depicted was that of a giant snake.

    It was pale white, and its body was covered in mud, woods and trees. From a distance, it looked no different from the size of a small mountain! Countless spots ofhermes red up from underneath its scales, almost as though it were a sojourner in Hell. It appeared unusually thin, but was undoubtedly colossal. In fact, one could even see that its scales were attached directly to the bones of its body, almost as though it were a skeletal snake!

    SSS!!! It raised its head to the sky and hissed menacingly, even as it continued to slither through the ground at the colossal beast in front of it. On the other side, a skeletal wolf whose head alone was fifty metersrge with a body of about the same size roared at the top of its voice and charged straight towards the skeletal snake!

    Rumble¡­ The ground trembled at the incredible sh of powers. A shockwave ofhermes erupted from the epicenter of their collision, turning the area within a ten-mile radius into a domain of death and destruction.

    The sight was so astonishing that not a single person watching spoke a single word. The projectionsted for a full minute, before the Yin screen slowly vanished.

    ¡°This is a video of the territorial war of two Yin monarch beasts in a locality under my charge while I served in office as an Infernal Judge three hundred years ago. The one on the left is called the Mutant Snake, and the one on the right is called the Nightmare Wolf. Their battlested for half a month and an entire county waspletely razed to the ground in its aftermath.¡±

    Everyone immediately understood what Arthis was getting at. After some time, Wang Chenghao was the first one to break the silence with a tremor in his voice, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ we¡¯re going to have to face these things?¡±

    That¡¯s impossible¡­

    That¡¯s practically asking the impossible! Each one of these beasts are at least thirty or forty meters tall! Are things like that really existences that our Yin soldiers can ovee?

    Arthis didn¡¯t answer the question directly. Instead, she simply nced around the meeting room with a solemn expression on her face, ¡°Before I answer this question, you should first be apprised of theposition of the mortal realm and theherworld. They¡¯re akin to the earth. The mortal realm represents the surface of the earth, while theherworld represents the core of the earth. That said, there¡¯s still argeyer of space that exists between the surface of the earth and the core of the earth, and that¡¯s the mantle.¡±

    ¡°The mantle represents Limbo. Lord Qin, do you still remember what that is?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Limbo was exactly where Lord Harken was resting. It was also the area where Incense of Paramnesia could be harvested.

    Arthis nodded in satisfaction, ¡°You can think of the mortal realm, Limbo and theherworld as three different realms that are rolled into a single ne of existence. That said, that¡¯s no more than a conceptual view that oversimplifies things.¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ the existence of these worlds can also transcend dimensions. For instance, we have Lord Harken residing below us right now. But, in reality, Limbo is in fact a realm that exists above allherworlds¡­ How do I put this¡­ Think of it as a set of rules that apply in a particr order. Notwithstanding the actual location of Hell, whether above or below, orteral or even within Limbo, the overarching principle remains that Limbo would always remain a realm that exists above the underworld. Its location has nothing to do with what one perceives with the human eye.¡±

    The scribes desperately recorded everything which Arthis was talking about. It was a difficult concept to understand, but fortunately, their job only requires them to take down the meeting minutes verbatim.

    All that they needed to know was the threeyer structure in the order of surface-mantle-core. The actual orientation of matters perceived by the naked eye did not affect the immutable rule that Limbo would always be located above theherworld. It was no different from how the ozoneyer would always exist over the surface of the world.

    Arthis waved her hand, and one of the scrolls she had extracted from the old Hell¡¯s legacy appeared out of thin air. It was two metersrge and half a meter wide. She waved her hand once more, and the scroll slowly unfolded, ¡°And since it¡¯s aplete realm of its own, there are naturally beasts and creatures which reside within it. Do you remember the flowers that exist in Limbo? The ones that were blooming around Lord Harken when we first arrived there?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. And then, his eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°Are you saying¡­ that those are nts?¡±

    Arthis nodded.

    Everyone grew silent. They fully understood what Arthis was getting at.

    The existence of nts generally meant the existence of animals and beasts. In other words, it lent credence to the existence of an entire ecosystem! And the existence of an ecosystem naturally meant that there would also be in existence such monarch beasts that sat at the top of the food chain, no different from the Mutant Snake and Nightmare Wolf!

    ¡°Are you saying that¡­ the entire journey would be filled with Yin beasts simr to those we saw earlier?¡± A female minister asked with a somber expression, to which Arthis nodded softly. She immediately probed further, ¡°Then, why haven¡¯t we seen any to date?¡±

    ¡°Because of Hell.¡± Arthis pointed to the roof, ¡°Hell is the most crucial realm among the three realms we¡¯ve been talking about. The Yin energy in this ce is the purest it can be, and can even be described as the source of all Yin in the world. So long as we don¡¯t leave Hell, there¡¯s no way those terrifying creatures outside would ever be able to step foot into this ce. In fact, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to discover Hell¡¯s location as it stands right now. It¡¯s only when Hell expands to the size of a county or a city that we risk our existence being discovered by these beasts.¡±

    Nobody said a single word.

    The implications of what Arthis was saying was clear as day - Hell was absolutely safe, but everything would change as soon as they stepped out!

    That was why they needed the protection of Yin soldiers! This was why Arthis was urgently telling Oda Nobunaga to get somebat experience under his soldiers¡¯ belts!

    Qin Ye wiped the sweat that was beading up on his forehead. Arthis referred to those things as ¡®terrifying¡¯... If a Judge that was ranked among the top of all Judges in the old Hell found these things terrifying¡­

    ¡°That settles it.¡± He resolutely stood up, ¡°This concludes the meeting. Inform the Lord of Hanyang that we¡¯ll be rescinding the agreement. Hell will mind its own business, and we¡¯ll never take a single foot outside of Hell¡¯s borders--¡­¡±

    Yet, cold sweat immediately bristled on his forehead even before he could finish speaking.

    Arthis had at some point in time formed a frightening pair of scissors and sent it threateningly close towards Qin Ye¡¯sher regions, right above his thigh and between his legs. She red menacingly at Qin Ye - Say that again?

    ¡°... Of course I¡¯m kidding!¡± Qin Ye continued in earnest, ¡°As a part of the new Hell, we must devote all efforts in pursuing growth and development. We have to keep with the times, reform our policies and open our borders at the necessary junctures to seize all opportunities presented to us! Thus, Oda Nobunaga, I¡¯ll entrust to you the tall order of paving the way to Hell¡¯s new frontiers. I eagerly await your good news.¡±

    Oda Nobuanga was somewhat stunned, ¡°Your Majesty, wouldn¡¯t you be going? We¡¯re talking about establishing a new city over here. Without you around, we¡¯ll have to rely on messenger birds to ry the news and take your instructions. It would be far too troublesome and inefficient.¡±

    Qin Ye snorted, ¡°My existence is important to the security of the world. It¡¯s only natural that I should take the backlines¡­ and send logistical support your way in order to ensure your sess!! And then, I¡¯ll join you in battle until we finally break new grounds and arrive at the promisednd!¡±

    Shk shk. The scissors poised at hisher regions made two startling snipping sounds.

    Bloody hell¡­

    Qin Ye wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. You¡¯re too cruel¡­ How could you threaten me with such inhumane torture¡­ What happened to all the respect I deserve as the King Yanluo of Hell¡­

    And I¡¯ve already agreed to enter battle with Oda Nobunaga, so why are you still threatening me?!

    And how can you even threaten me with the two snips of the scissors?! Get lost! You¡¯re encroaching into the personal space of my untouchables!! Do you think this is something that you¡¯ve got permission to ess?

    It had to be said that some people shine most in moments of crises. Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun, and then he abruptly looked up, ¡°Naturally, I should lead by example and take charge of the army myself!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga immediately looked up with an expression of great concern, ¡°Your Majesty, it would suffice that you remained in the middle of the army. It¡¯s too dangerous up front.¡±

    ¡°No! We¡¯re talking about the lives of the new Hell¡¯s citizens after all. I¡¯m on the verge of bing an Infernal Judge, so how can I simply hide behind my citizens?!¡± Qin Ye boomed with a righteous indignation.

    The scissors under the table finally retreated, and Qin Ye slowly sank back to his seat. Oh god¡­ dear lord! What have I justmitted to?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions immediately grew ashen. This was the first time it had actually dawned on him just how terrifying his survivalist nature could actually be. I¡¯ll stake everything on the line that I¡¯ll be the first one to betray Hell if I¡¯m captured by enemy forces¡­

    But¡­ is there really anything wrong with fighting for my own survival?! Why does the world have to oppose this simple desire of mine?!

    Arthis finally nodded with a sullen expression, ¡°That¡¯s right. As an Infernal Judge, it¡¯s only natural that you lead the troops into battle. Since that¡¯s the case, let me tell you a piece of news that is neither good nor bad.¡±

    Qin Ye could sense the dangerous undertones of what Arthis was alluding to, and he immediately interjected, ¡°If it¡¯s neither good nor bad, then why don¡¯t you just keep it to yourself?!¡±

    Please, stop¡­ I¡¯ve had enough! I don¡¯t think I could handle another shocking blow today!

 Chapter 368: Sudden Revelation About the Ecology of the Netherworld (2)

    <h4>Chapter 368: Sudden Revtion About the Ecology of the Netherworld (2)</h4>

    Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, especially Qin Ye.

    ¡°But now¡­¡± Arthis nced at Qin Ye mischievously and chuckled delightfully at his misery, ¡°The copse of the old Hell means the crumbling away of the old ecological system. Not even I can predict what we¡¯ll see after the span of thisst hundred years of uncertainty.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Hellguard-ss¡­ that¡­¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean we¡¯re going to see and sprawling with Judge-ss Yin beasts? Perhaps even Prefect-ss dogs?!¡± ¡°On the other hand, even if Lord Qin bes an Infernal Judge, we¡¯ve only got two Infernal Judges with us¡­¡±

    There¡¯s more?!

    Nobody said a single word. Amidst the deafening silence, Arthis continued, ¡°The other threat¡­ is theherworld itself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Arthis drew a deep breath, before ncing out of the window with a glint in her eye, ¡°Hell is simply too small right now¡­ So small that we can¡¯t even begin to fathom what we can expect of theherworld. There are two main sources of elements in theherworld, what we call the Great Yin and the Great Yang. There¡¯s also the elements of wind, rain and thunder, and frost and hail¡­ I happen to have another video footage that I¡¯m going to show you right here¡­ Take a gander at this. Incidentally, let me just state that the footage you¡¯re about to see is a once-in-a-century snowstorm that had urred in the Province of the Great Heavens that I was charged with oversight.¡±

    It was snow.

    Moreover, the snow that poured out was almost knife-like, striking the screen of light like an incessant series of vicious shes. They could tell that the trees outside of the light screen¡¯s protection had already been punctured with a thousand holes, and the aftermath of their destruction¡­ was actually burning in a massive green congration!

    Astonishing.

    To think that what was once known to be soft and harmless snowkes would in Hell transform into something so violent and destructive! There was no need for further examples. Everyone immediately understood that whether Yin beasts or natural phenomena, prudence would have them avoid these like the gue.

    ¡°There are a few immutable rules to always keep in mind if you¡¯re looking to survive in the wilderness of theherworld. Number one, hide when it gets dark. Number two, seek shelter when you encounter a natural phenomenon, such as rain, snow, windstorms and thunderstorms. Number three, run if you encounter Yin beasts. If you can¡¯t escape, then do yourself a favour and take your own life. Otherwise¡­ you might be subject to an eternity that is worse than death itself.¡±

    Deathly silence.

    It was unbelievable. Nobody could say for certain whether they would be able to return from such journeys alive.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right¡­¡± He probed deeper, ¡°There used to be Yin beasts around, so what about those that still exist from the old ecological system? Wouldn¡¯t they attack us? Are you sure they wouldn¡¯t ambush the Mountain Beasts that we¡¯ll be riding upon?¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­

    Such a journey was no different from the Journey to the West, and he didn¡¯t even have Sun Wukong¡¯s godly strength at his disposal!

    It took thirty more seconds before the meeting hall finally began to stir once more.

    Cities in theherworld, on the other hand, were built on the foundation of blood!

    Ah, and they would even have to protect the copious amounts of supplies and Yin spirit stones. After all, if Yin spirits are already considered delicacies to the wild Yin beasts hiding in the unchartered territories to be explored, then what about Yin spirit stones?

    ¡°L-let¡¯s disseminate the information first.¡± Qin Ye forcibly calmed himself down and began to pass around copies of the documents that he had obtained from the First Academy of Cultivators. Simultaneously, he turned furtively to Arthis and whispered to her, ¡°You weren¡¯t intentionally frightening me, were you?¡±

    Just look at how frightened you are with the truth. Had I intentionally added my own set of embellishments¡­ Arthis¡¯ lips curled up slightly at the thought of such possibilities.

    Having noticed the ashen expression on Qin Ye¡¯s face, Arthis finally relented and brought his mind to consider the silver lining, ¡°Truth be told, there are only benefits to be had in leaving the City of Salvation.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Arthis chuckled softly, ¡°The terrain of theherworld is inextricably linked to the terrain of the mortal realm, and their sizes are exactly the same. If one were to explore unchartered territories in theherworld, someone has to first cendmarks back in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°As it happens, I¡¯ve previously done this before, and I can vaguely still recall how to go about doing it. The more Yin spirit stones you have, the better it is for you. Ten tonnes of Yin spirit stones can be condensed into a singlendmark. We don¡¯t know just how much will be required, but andmark will be required with every two hundred kilometers you travel. Thesendmarks that you¡¯ll be nting are called the Beacons of Light. They serve as beacons to guide the armies of the new Hell, and it allows your men to remain calm and collected even when your armies are scattered and routed by a throng of Yin beasts. Those who have strayed from the main force wouldn¡¯t lose hope either.¡±

    ¡°Stop interrupting me! Listen carefully! Theherworld outside of Hell is a bleak ce, and it¡¯s easy to get lost in there. The terrain is alsopletely different from what we¡¯re used to back in the mortal realm. Not evenpasses would work in these ces. The Beacon of Light is an essential element to any exploratory efforts of Hell! From the moment you¡¯ve decided to splinter off and set up a sea port city of Hell, you¡¯d already sealed your fate and decided that you would no longer be staying at the First Academy of Cultivators. This is something that can only be done by you and you alone.¡±

    I sincerely wonder how the first generation King Yanluo of Hell had managed to achieve all of these things¡­ We¡¯re talking about a Judge-ss or even a Prefect-ss Yin beast¡­ To think that I¡¯m now forced to tread the very same path taken by the first King Yanluo of Hell¡­ That¡¯s incredible¡­

    The ministers had broken up into groups of five for their discussions, and none of them noticed the soft exchange of the first-inmand and second-inmand of Hell. Time passed by quickly. An hour went by in the blink of an eye, and the time for discussion was nearing its end. There was a dearth of information about the ces to be considered. Everyone was just as blind as the other, and there was naturally little to be discussed.

    Ahhhh¡­ Has the location of my burial finally been decided¡­? Qin Ye slumped back into his seat in despair, ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye looked up with some measure of surprise.

    Why?

    Doubt was the best way to distract the mind. Qin Ye immediately sat up straight, furrowed his brows and began to mull over their decision. The Eastmount Province isn¡¯t close by. From Insignia Province, we¡¯d have to traverse across Breakwaters Province before finally arriving at Eastmount. Granted, Eastmount is located extremely close to Nippon and Daehan¡­ Daehan¡­ That¡¯s it!!

 Chapter 369: Where the River Runs into the Sea

    <h4>Chapter 369: Where the River Runs into the Sea</h4>

    ¡°Then it¡¯s decided!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts came together all at once in a great wave of enlightenment, and he immediately gave his nod of approbation.

    ¡°Hang on a minute.¡± Arthis suddenly interjected and nced at Qin Ye suspiciously, ¡°How do I put this¡­ This situation is akin to you pulling off your protection, only to get hard and erect once more¡­ It¡¯s practically unscientific. Why did you suddenly agree to their suggestion? Come, please start your show of analytics.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­

    Qin Ye nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to give her two tight ps across the cheeks - This damned ghost¡­ She¡¯s starting to speak mynguage!

    That said, what do you mean it¡¯s unscientific?! Can¡¯t I have a short cooldown?

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s because of the excellent geographic location¡­¡± Qin Ye attempted to conceal his glee with a sullen expression.

    Arthis gazed deeply into his eyes and blinked vacantly, ¡°Do you know that dimples naturally form on your cheek when you begin to smile? Contracting your muscles to stifle that smile of yours makes your expression iparably weird.¡±

    What the hell?! Did my dimples do something to piss you off?!

    Qin Ye turned away to ignore her, but Arthis continued to press on, ¡°Given your personality, you would most certainly have chosen Breakwaters Province instead. That¡¯s perfect for a trading port city as well. Furthermore, it¡¯s closer to the City of Salvation, and you¡¯re even familiar with the locality because you¡¯ve just been there. Or you would have alternatively chosen the Fulling Province instead. So what was the deciding factor that made you depart from your personal inclinations?¡±

    Qin Ye coughed awkwardly, ¡°The most important thing is¡­ naturally the fact that Eastmount Province is close to both Nippon and Daehan. It would enable us to keep a close watch over the Nipponese underworld, and it would at the same time be more convenient to pop over to the Hanyang underworld to check on Liu Yu and his forces from time to time¡­¡±

    If Arthis didn¡¯t know Qin Ye any better, she might well have bought his story.

    After all, it was as good a reason as any other. It even paints the new King Yanluo of Hell in an exemry light.

    Unfortunately, he was dealing with none other than Arthis.

    She stared at Qin Ye for some time, before abruptly parting her lips and whispering with absolute certainty, ¡°Xia Jinse.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ Qin Ye''s eyes were practically zing with mes. He couldn¡¯t wait for the day when he could rain hellfire and brimstone on Arthis¡¯ head.

    Some people are just disgusting and vile. The more I try to conceal something, the more she¡¯s bent on digging it up. Shit doesn¡¯t smell bad unless you dig it up from the ground! I mean¡­ what are you trying to achieve by revealing everything over here?!

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Wang One Tail, who had been silent all this while, suddenly stirred in his seat. He turned to look at Qin Ye with a dogged gaze, ¡°Are there peach blossoms in this world that I¡¯m unaware of? Brother Qin, is she yours?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s face grew inexplicably ashen. Yet Arthis promptly remarked before he could even say a thing, ¡°Love¡­ what does it matter? Fortunately, you have your priorities right. After all, how are you going to trade with Hanyang without establishing a port city? Speaking of which, why do you suddenly look so¡­ invigorated? Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­d, you¡¯re in the springtime of youth, aren¡¯t you¡­¡±

    ¡°Since you know love doesn¡¯t matter, then what are you still doing pping your lips around here?¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and whispered back with a harsh voice. Then, he turned back to the meeting room and forcibly changed the topic, ¡°Who¡¯s willing to exin your decisions to me?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes immediately fell on Gu Qing, who promptly coughed softly as he stood up, ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Arthis casually made a hand seal, and a screen of Yin energy appeared once more, depicting a detailed topological map of Cathay divided into its provinces. Gu Qing walked over and pointed to Insignia Province, ¡°First of all, the closest location for a sea port city is undoubtedly the Breakwaters Province. If wey down our roots there, we¡¯d immediately be able to harvest a great number of Yin spirits. Naturally, it looks like an attractive option at first blush. But in truth, picking this as an option¡­ would be rather dangerous.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got no choice but to take into consideration the risks involved in having Your Majesty traverse the mortal realm to cendmarks for the purposes of Hell¡¯s expansion. To this end, Eastsea City is undoubtedly one of the most heavily guarded ces in the mortal realm. Whether Special Investigations Department, SRC or other organizations, sects or ns, most of them would have branches located within Eastsea. It¡¯s going to be incredibly difficult to navigate theplexworks of society there, so we¡¯ve all summarily excluded Eastsea from our considerations.¡±

    ¡°In fact, the same issue pervades the entire Breakwaters Province. Since time immemorial, Breakwaters Province has always been and of riches and a symbol of affluence. One could even say that Breakwaters Province is one of the provinces that drives Cathay¡¯s GDP and economy. Furthermore¡­¡± He waved the documents in his hand, ¡°The fact that not a single one of these requests havee from the urbanized areas in the Breakwaters Province tells us one important thing.¡±

    He cleared his throat, ¡°Breakwaters Province is rich and can easily attract the cultivators of their desired calibre with the resources at their disposal. In other words, they have no shortage of cultivators. Additionally, we need to consider the robust security of Eastsea City which naturally radiates to its surroundings, which includes Breakwaters Province. That, coupled with the existence of the two ancient capitals of Cathay nearby, means that the Breakwaters Province is nigh unbreachable when ites to its defences against the forces of theherworld. Under these circumstances, Your Majesty might not even get the best treatment in Breakwaters, even if you disy your Judge-ss cultivation.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not a Judge yet.¡± Arthis corrected, ¡°Once the preparations are done, I¡¯ll personally give him a hand in his breakthrough to bing an Infernal Judge.¡±

    Qin Ye red fiercely at Arthis.

    Gu Qing nodded and continued, ¡°Eastmount Province is different. Most of the requests made have emanated from cities in the province. This leads us to our next consideration, that¡­¡±

    He paused and drew a deep breath, ¡°Eastmount Province¡­ is located just a stone¡¯s throw away from the three eastern provinces. In fact, it¡¯s practically just a strait away. Since the daolord residing in the three eastern provinces has already begun to stir, he must be discontented with simply remaining within the three eastern provinces. His inclination is to leave and expand his coverage. And where can he do that? The Hale Province is already heavily guarded, while Yan Capital sits directly adjacent to them. The only way out is to cross the strait and head towards Eastmount.¡±

    ¡°This is an opportunity!¡± He stared at Qin Ye with a burning gaze, ¡°There¡¯s no better opportunity than this to suss out and grasp the situation on the outside. Over the past one year, Lord Qin has practically been living in paradise, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the rest of the nation isn¡¯t in chaos. And that¡¯s exactly what we¡¯re looking for. After all, opportunities only present themselves in chaos!¡±

    ¡°As mentioned earlier, the Breakwaters Province cannot possibly be strewn in chaos, while none of the other provinces apart from Fulling Province are located along the coastline. Distance-wise, Fulling Province and Eastmount Province are approximately equal from the City of Salvation. That said, Fulling Province is located in rather close proximity to the Pearl River Delta, where the threat of a daolord would be iparably real. Even though Eastmount Province is located close to the three eastern provinces, it¡¯s still separated from those regions by Yan Capital bynd, or a strait by sea. Thus, even though the trek to Eastmount Province might be dangerous, it¡¯s location in and of itself would not pose a threat to your life and limb. Apart from that, it¡¯s as Lord Qin had suggested, it also gives us a good vantage point to keep Nippon and Daehan under close scrutiny. Therefore¡­¡±

    All of the ministers stood up and bowed in unison, ¡°We are unanimously of the view that the new port city should be founded at Martial City, located within the Eastmount Province, where the Yellow River runs into the Sea!¡±

    Martial City? I vaguely recall having been there before¡­

    Qin Ye tapped his finger lightly on his desk as he thought more about it. Martial City was located on the top right corner of Eastmount Province. From the City of Salvation, he would have to travel across Fulling Province before finally arriving at Eastmount Province. The entire journey spanned approximately eight hundred kilometers. Taking into ount the fact that his Yin spirits would be travelling on foot, and having regard for the possible Yin beasts that they might encounter¡­ the entire journey was likely going to take approximately four or five months.

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll tentatively decide on Martial City.¡± None of them were any wiser as to the actual situation outside of Hell. At best, they could only hazard a guess by extrapting from the things that they saw back in the mortal realm, ¡°Following this, I want everyone to focus your efforts on research on the situation at Martial City. Ask around and see how many people have been to Martial City, and gather as much information as you can. Apart from that¡­¡±

    He turned to a chubby, middle-aged man, ¡°Minister Zhao.¡±

    ¡°Present.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll tentatively fix the date of departure exactly two months from now. Over these two months, I expect the Ministry of Manpower to be working at full steam. You should have your own records of the talents that are currently in Hell right now. The City of Salvation has its limitations, but opportunities to be made a civil servant of Hell are aplenty when we arrive at Martial City! Thus, in a months¡¯ time, I want aplete list of the names and profiles of the Yin spirits who would be taking charge of the Martial City administration. These people who have been named will be embarking on the long journey together with us! I don¡¯t care what preferential policies you¡¯re going toe up with, but if you can¡¯t put together a proper list of Yin spirits, or if they aren¡¯t well thought out or considered in any way, you¡¯ll have to answer directly to me!¡±

    Minister Zhao took notes quickly and responded in earnest, ¡°Although I was only a deputy mayor back in the mortal realm, I still had at least fifty thousand people under my charge. You can rest assured.¡±

    What a massive grassroots division¡­

    Qin Ye sighed softly. At present, he didn¡¯t even have a single person in Hell who used to be a county mayor or a county party secretary. However, it didn¡¯t bother him that much, because he knew full well that even the brightest talents had worked their way up from the very bottom of the food chain. Cathay was filled with hidden talents that simply needed the right opportunities.

    Incidentally, Hell had all the opportunities that they could ever ask for. The only thing Hell needed right now was Yin spirits! More Yin spirits meant more Yin soldiers. Then, coupled with the resources on hand¡­ Hell would finally be able to establish a provincial capital!

    And once that was done, Hell¡¯s foundation would finally beplete.

    ¡°Then, that settles it for now.¡± Qin Ye stood up, ¡°Everyone, let me stress it once again - the founding of a new city is of the utmost importance to Hell¡¯s development right now. If anyone slips up, then don¡¯t me me for being merciless to you. The meeting is adjourned. Arakshasa, Oda Nobunaga, Gu Qing, please remain behind.¡±

    Eh? The transformation is over?

    Arthis nced at Qin Ye with great satisfaction. This was what she admired most about him. There were some people who would simply grumble andin when push came to shove. These were naturally people who weren¡¯t destined to achieve anything. On the other hand, Qin Ye¡¯s wealth of life experience told him that when there was no longer anywhere to run or hide, then it was all the more important to rise to the asion and be more ferocious than the problem he was faced with. Consume the problem, before he was consumed by the problem. That was the only way to survive.

    This was undoubtedly the wisest approach in life. Although Qin Ye was usually unreliable, Arthis had faith that he would always make the right decisions when it actually mattered.

    Just like that, everyone departed from the meeting, leaving the three leaders behind in the annex hall. Qin Ye paced around the hall for some time, ostensibly deep in contemtion, before finally addressing them after a protracted period of silence, ¡°Everyone, I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯ll personally watch over the development of the sea port city as soon as our expedition arrives at Martial City. What do you think?¡±

    Gu Qing pondered deeply for some time, ¡°I think that¡¯s fine. The Yin spirits of Hell alle from the mortal realm, and their mindsets and perspectives are probably still set in their old ways. We don¡¯t have in ce an education system to imbibe them with the ways of Hell just yet. Thus, it might be better to go with the flow and keep their capitalist minds focused on economic growth and development. Once the sea port city is fully up and running, it would be no less significant than their Eastsea City counterpart back in the mortal realm. For us, it would be no different from a blood vessel that constantly sends a transfusion of blood straight into the new Hell. Given its importance, we can¡¯t afford to have untrustworthy people helming the operation over there.¡±

    ¡°But what about the City of Salvation?¡± Arthis furrowed her brows, ¡°This is where the foundation of Hell lies. And don¡¯t look at me, I¡¯m not cut out for politics at all.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would rise up to the asion anyway.¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes, before turning to Oda Nobunaga and nodding deeply at him, ¡°Nobunaga-kun, I¡¯ll entrust the City of Salvation to you from now on.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga, the man who was adept in governance and the military, was the best candidate for this role!

    Oda Nobunaga froze, and then slowly raised his eyebrows in great astonishment, ¡°Me?¡±

    Arthis¡¯ and Gu Qing¡¯s jaws dropped at the same time. They were leftpletely speechless.

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at them, before shaking his head, ¡°I¡¯d never use someone whom I¡¯d be suspicious of. I¡¯m not a man who discriminates based on heritage. Nobunaga-kun is now wearing our armor, speaking ournguage, and has even pledged his allegiance to Hell. He¡¯s one of us. What do you say, Nobunaga-kun?¡±

    He turned to Oda Nobunaga, just in time to catch the bright gleam in the depths of his eyes. Secondster, Oda Nobunaga stood up and ced his fist over his heart with a resounding thud, ¡°Lord Qin, rest assured.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Qin Ye smiled and turned to the rest, ¡°Tomorrow, wemence the construction of the Hall of Tremors, and then I¡¯ll return to the First Academy of Cultivators to report our decision. I¡¯m afraid things will move quickly from now on. Arakshasa, please refine thendmarks as quickly as possible. Nobunaga-kun, I want you to lead an expedition of all Yin soldiers to battle against the blight vermin in the old Hell, and I want this done before I¡¯m even done setting up thendmarks back in the mortal realm. That way, once the Beacons of Light begin to shine, I¡¯ll return to Hell as quickly as I can, and the army can march pronto!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Then, that settles everything. Meeting adjourned.¡±

 Chapter 370: The Demon Kingâ€™s First Expedition

    <h4>Chapter 370: The Demon King''s First Expedition</h4>

    He entered the fenced up area. There was an ancient brick-and-stone building that was located in the innermost part of the fenced area, upon whichy a massive stone tform that was none other than the general¡¯s tform. There was a massive clearance located right in front of the tform, where the entire garrison of troops were gathered. All eight thousand Yin soldiers were armed with simple wooden sticks and practising a thrusting motion right now, while the thousand or so Umamawari horse guards dressed in majestic Cathayan armor shuttled between their ranks, constantly pointing at them and providing them guidance.

    When he looked up at his father and caught theplex gaze in his eyes, Oda Nobunata blinked curiously, ¡°You¡¯ve¡­ got something on your mind.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he watched the thousands upon thousands of Yin soldiers moving uniformly with every raise of the drill master¡¯s spear. The glorious canopy of the money tree swayed softly over their heads, concealing the deep, austere atmosphere within the fenced up area. Then, Nobunaga suddenly remarked, ¡°Nobutada, do you think¡­ Lord Qin trusts us?¡±

    Trust?

    Nothing was overt, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that the Yin soldiers only looked at them with cursory respect in their eyes, and yet none of them deigned to report anything to them of their own initiative. Groups of Yin soldiers would be seenughing and chatting among themselves, only to be suddenly silent and distant as soon as they noticed one of the Nipponese men approaching their ranks. It was a silent, subtle rejection of their leadership.

    Distrust?

    Oda Nobutada didn¡¯t respond, and Oda Nobunaga suddenly smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t need an answer from you. But let me ask you something else. What kind of leader do you think he is?¡±

    ¡°A man of a thousand faces.¡± Oda Nobutada responded in earnest, ¡°He treats each person differently, in ordance with his assessment of them, and yet he does so seamlessly and proficiently. He has an excellent grasp over the human heart, and he¡¯s a master at manipting it. He has a keen sense for great things, and he¡­ most certainly isn¡¯t as young as he appears to be. In fact, there are even times when I feelpletely naked to his scrutiny, almost as though his intense gaze can prate the most perfect facade that I¡¯ve put up. He¡¯s¡­ formidable. Although he doesn¡¯t have the air of a leader about him, he¡¯s undoubtedly¡­ a natural born leader.¡±

    He sighed softly, and then smiled, ¡°So why would such a person suddenly put me in charge of the new Hell?¡±

    SMACK!

    ¡°Idiot!!¡± He grabbed his son by the cor and lifted him up, while the bones that were protruding out of his chest like willow branches promptly enveloped Oda Nobutada like a bone cage. Oda Nobunaga gnashed his teeth, ¡°Chance? What chance?!¡±

    ¡°This is a test¡­ the final test for us! Do you understand?!¡± He shook Oda Nobutada with one hand. He drew a deep breath, and the branching bones began to shrink back into his chest. His voice turned calm once more, ¡°So what kind of chance do you think this is? Idiot. Look up at the eyes of the Cathayan Yin spirits in front of you. You want to lead an uprising? Who¡¯s going to follow you?¡±

    ¡°What happens in future doesn¡¯t matter right now. What matters is that we must ensure that Hell has our backs. Without Lord Qin¡¯s endorsement, we¡¯d never be able to achieve anything in Hell. Come as you are, and fully embrace your new identity as a Cathayan Yin spirit. And you¡¯d be wise to erase those redundant thoughts in your mind! Don¡¯t even consider usurpation. It¡¯s impossible!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga sighed softly, ¡°My son¡­ Father has high hopes for you, but you¡­ should grasp every opportunity to watch and learn from Lord Qin. As long as you can grasp people¡¯s hearts, you¡¯d practically be able to stand on top of the world.¡±

    After some time, Oda Nobutada slowly rose to his feet, ¡°Rest assured, father, I¡¯ll carry myself as a Cathayan Yin spirit through and through, and I¡¯ll leave any baggage from before behind.¡±

    Oda Nobutada was baffled. What else did his father possibly want?

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be encountering wild Yin beasts along the entire expedition. There¡¯s no doubt that we¡¯re currently still a little bit out of ce, and the reason why we¡¯ve intentionally remained rather low profile to date is because we don¡¯t want to stir up the ambers of conflict. But as long as we head out on the expedition with our men and shed blood, sweat and tears together with them, then¡­ the Yin army of Hell will slowly but surely begin to ept us as one of their own. This way, when we finally embark on our great march towards Nippon, the Yin soldiers of Hell will wholeheartedly be willing to follow us and give it their all!¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Oda Nobutada¡¯s response was finally filled with sincerity and earnestness. He was now fully convinced by his father.

    ¡°From what we¡¯ve learnt, it seems like this journey¡­ is going to be one fraught with life-and-death struggles. The Yin beasts that we¡¯ll be encountering are minimally Hellguard-ss Yin beasts, and this is not to mention the terrifying natural phenomena that we might encounter along the way. Regardless of what happens, this is going to be a baptism by fire, and all who remain alive are qualified to be called the elite among the elites!¡±

    Oooooooo! Dong, dong, dong! The war trumpets red, and the war drums thumped with a rousing tempo. The Umamawari horse guards that were scattered throughout the ranks of the Yin soldiers immediately stopped moving and turned their attention to the general¡¯s tform. The rest of the Yin soldiers stood upright and at attention.

    Just you wait and see¡­ The twelve envoys might be illustrious in their own rights, but I, Oda Nobunaga, am no lesser than any one of you either!

    Several momentster, Oda Nobunaga erupted with the aura of a Hellguard-ss emissary. ¡°Gentlemen. It¡¯s been half a year of gruelling practice, and it¡¯s finally time¡­ to see the fruits of yourbour.¡±

    War is about to break out¡­

    No¡­ it doesn¡¯t matter. The Yin soldiers under Lord Nobunaga¡¯smand have already reached eight thousand men. Coupled with us thousand or so Umamawari horse guards, we practically have ten thousand men. We won¡¯t let him down!

    ¡°We¡¯ve only got the lowest-grade weapons right now, but we have an entire field of raw materials that are right for our plundering, and everything is located right in the old Hell! Furthermore, we have nearly ten thousand brave soldiers gathered in this location today. So, everyone, tell me, what shall we do?¡±

    ¡°Kill!!¡± A split secondter, the Umamawari horse guards and Oda Nobunaga¡¯s personal guards echoed in unison.

    It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but a moment to deploy them. Today marked the day that the new Hell¡¯s de was going to be unsheathed.

    Shk!

    Silence.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Oda Nobunaga thrusted Kiku-ichimonji into the ground with a brilliant me in his eyes, ¡°Murai-kun.¡±

    ¡°Takemand of two thousand troops and form the left vanguard!¡±

    ¡°Oni-kun, takemand of two thousand troops and form the right vanguard!¡±

    ¡°Nobutada, take two thousand troops and form the rearguard archers!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll personally take charge of the remaining two thousand troops and form the core of the army. We¡¯ll depart in one week! Everything will be executed in ordance with strict military regimentation! All who disobey shall be summarily executed!!¡±

 Chapter 371: Hall of Tremors

    <h4>Chapter 371: Hall of Tremors</h4>

    Hell was now in high gear.

    Even the blind could tell that Hell was currently filled with tension right now. Furthermore, Qin Ye hadn¡¯t embargoed the flow of any information, so word soon got around that Hell was going to be mobilizing its troops in the near future. That said, nobody knew for sure when it was going to happen, or who or where the target was.

    ¡°Some say that we¡¯re marching against Nippon, some say that we¡¯re marching for the old Hell, while others are saying that we¡¯re heading out on the expedition for the new port city. But the most popr rumour is still that Hell is going to march against the twelve envoys¡­ In short, there¡¯s practically rumours about everything.¡± Su Dongxue stood beside Qin Ye, staring at the flickering lights in the distance as she reported to him in a low voice.

    The sprawling Hell¡¯s Gate was right in front of their very eyes, and the Mirror of Eminence hung at the very top of the structure, shimmering with dazzling light as it shone a conspicuous dark beam of light across Hell like a massive searchlight. What it was doing right now was to locate Yin nodes where the concentration of Yin energy was the densest, because the special buildings of Hell could only be constructed upon such ces. Incidentally, these nodes could only be spotted by the Mirror of Eminence that hung high above Hell¡¯s gate.

    On the other hand, Qin Ye had long appreciated the fact that such Yin nodes were limited in number. When Hell was no more than the size of a vige, there was only in existence a single Yin node that allowed Hell to construct a single soul induction tform. But following the initial expansion of Hell, they now had three other Yin nodes to work with, and they were in the process of using one of them to construct the Hall of Tremors.

    The Hall of Tremors was the only location where Yin armaments could be forged. Nobody knew exactly what it was supposed to look like, or how the armaments were to be forged. Qin Ye had initially intended for the Hall of Tremors to be constructed right before the twelve envoys when they assembled for the imperial court meeting, so as to shock them into submission. However, he didn¡¯t need to do so. This was the sole reason for deferment of the construction of the Hall of Tremors to date.

    The construction of special buildings of Hell didn¡¯t require physical manpower. Just like that, pieces of Yin spirit stones hovered around in mid air, swirling together to form a massive Yin spirit stone vortex that even punctured a massive hundred-meterrge hole in the clouds. Dark greenish Yin energy poured out from the hole in the sky like a massive waterfall, sending wisps of Yin energy scattering everywhere upon striking the ground. Simultaneously, innumerable runes glowed brightly on the surface of the ground, right where the Mirror of Eminence had cast its bright beam of dark light.

    Buzz! The beam of dark light suddenly flourished and erupted, and countless Yin spirit stones immediately fell from the sky. A split secondter, thend below suddenly bulged upwards.

    Tens of thousands of Yin spirits gasped and watched with bated breaths as the bulge in the ground grew higher and higher, until it was a whopping hundred meters high! The surroundingnd mass rushed up from the ground as well, transforming into a man-made mountain that appeared like a perfect parab. Shortly afterwards, the dark light in the surroundings abruptly converged into the mountain, and a magnificent building instantly emerged to the great bewilderment of the onlooking Yin spirits.

    tter, tter¡­ Excess sand, mud and dirt were shaken off the side of the building, leaving a majestic, ancient Cathayan-style building in its ce, replete with ck-zed tiles and mahogany pirs. The entire building was in excess of twenty floors, and it covered an area of approximately one thousand meters. Spirit streamers lined the eaves of the building, each of which fluttered and pped in the wind with great elegance.

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s unbelievable¡­¡± ¡°This is really the underworld¡­ it¡¯spletely different from the mortal realm¡­¡±

    A series of exmations resounded from the onlooking crowd. Qin Ye had personally witnessed the construction of the soul induction tform, so he was hardly as surprised as the Yin spirits around. That said, he hadn¡¯t expected his armaments center to upy a space asrge as this.

    As soon as the Hall of Tremors waspleted, Qin Ye suddenly quipped, ¡°How¡¯s the reaction?¡±

    Su Dongxue was marveling at the construction of the Hall of Tremors, and was naturally taken by surprise at Qin Ye¡¯s query, ¡°Ahh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m asking you how the citizens¡¯ responses are.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Response to Your Majesty - the reactions are very good.¡± She quickly gathered her thoughts and responded with eloquence, ¡°For some reason, they¡¯ve responded positively to the changes, and¡­ even appear to be behind the erection of this building.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled faintly. This was only natural.

    The Yin spirits were currently filled with an emotion also known as a nationalistic pride and faith. Their nation was sending troops, rather than being oppressed by external forces. These actions were an embodiment of pride and self-confidence in their abilities. Naturally, their pride and faith had also slowly rued in light of the sessive victories in recent tussles.

    How did Usonia¡¯s confidencee about?

    It came from war and tension.

    In fact, the propensity to develop such feelings would only burgeon and flourish when the citizens saw that their government¡¯s actions hardly affected their lives negatively, and in fact even brought about positive changes to them. Who would condemn the government¡¯s actions in the present circumstances? To this end, Qin Ye was keenly aware that if he wished to continue deploying his soldiers, he would have to show his citizens the benefits of war in a manner that they could appreciate.

    But that was that for now. Qin Ye shelved these thoughts and turned to the Hall of Tremors. Its establishment was a good step forward for Hell. With it, they could finally start thinking about fulfilling Liu Yu¡¯s orders, and even begin considering the next armament to be produced in Hell. An artisan needs the best tools in order to do a good job. After all, even a beast knows that it needs to keep its fangs sharp if it were to hunt its prey well. The moment the next harvest of blight vermin carapace arrived was also the moment they departed for their eastbound expedition.

    Arthis led the way to the Hall of Tremors, while Oda Nobunaga, Gu Qing, the Minister of Logistics, and Qin Ye and his entourage followed closely behind.

    The first thing that caught their eye was a hundred-meter hall with a four-meter tall roof.

    There were spirit-summoning scriptures stered everywhere in the hall, giving the ce a hellish, atmospheric vibe. The first thing that they were greeted by was a twenty-meters by ten-meters mural of Zhong Kui capturing ghosts. The image of Zhong Kui and the hundred ghosts that he was after was portrayed vividly. The other decor adorning the surroundings were also perfectly suited to the hellish ambience of the hall, including statues of the Harken, the xiezhi unicorn, and so on. Even the bonsai nts were twisted in eerie, startling fashion. The first impression of the great hall immediately told them that this wasn¡¯t something that would ordinarily be seen in the mortal realm.

    The atmosphere was eerie and ghastly.

    The Hall of Tremors waspletely devoid of Yin spirits, and they could clearly hear the sound of their footsteps reverberating in the cold, empty hall. Qin Ye walked around the great hall, and soon discovered that there was a sign hanging on each door leading from the great hall.

    Yin Talisman Section, Yin Armaments Section, Yin Materials Section¡­ and so on and so forth. Each room was approximately forty to fifty metersrge, and the things inside were so odd and peculiar that it wasn¡¯t immediately apparent how they ought to be used.

    Finally, Qin Ye stopped right in front of the Trimming Section and asked with a frown, ¡°How in the world are we supposed to use these things?¡±

    Things werepletely different from the factory production lines back in the mortal realm. Even the Trimming Division had nothing more than a ring of colossal toad sculptures sitting around the room. That said, it was clearly iplete, almost as though it had been spliced from something. The nine sculptures had their backs propping up the roof, while their feet were firmly nted on the ground. That said, nobody could tell in what way they were used to trim or cut materials.

    ¡°If the materials to be used are minerals, they would be sent to the Melting Section. But if they¡¯re part of a living creature, it would be sent to this location instead.¡± Arthis ran her hand across the toads with some measure of reminiscence, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate Hell¡­ The fact that it looks dated and ancient doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that it¡¯s not advanced technology. Be careful of what you say now, cause you might just end up eating your words.¡±

    She waved her hand, and a Yin spirit carrying a box full of Yin spirit stones immediately came running over.

    With another wave of her hand, a blight vermin corpse appeared in her hand. She threw the corpse towards a toad¡¯s mouth and promptly made a series of hand seals. At once, the Yin spirit stones in the box immediately scattered in every direction. It was only then that Qin Ye discovered that the sculptures around the room, as well as the adornments along the walls of the room had some cleverly concealed nooks that were locations where Yin spirit stones could be socketed.

    These locations included inconspicuous indentations in the corners of the rooms, or the eye of Harken sculptures, and even holes in the flower pots. As soon as the Yin spirit stones were socketed to these regions, the entire room suddenly erupted with a violent buzz.

    Humm¡­ The toads¡¯ eyes began to light up all at once. Then, before the entire entourage of leaders could even gasp in surprise, the ground beneath their feet actually sank down below!

    Rumble¡­ They slowly descended as though they were on an elevator itself. Secondster, apletely different sight appeared right in front of their eyes!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Oda Nobunaga felt a rush of blood straight to his head as he nced around with great disbelief, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ simply unbelievable!¡±

    Gu Qing also froze in shock and stared at his surroundings. After some time, he drew a deep breath, ¡°I can¡¯t believe this¡­ to think¡­ to think that this was already present in Hell a hundred years ago¡­¡±

    Even Qin Ye¡¯s lips were slightly agape as he turned his head around stiffly like a rusty robot. Secondster, he swore under his breath, ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­¡±

    It was a massive cavern.

    A cavern that was at least tens of thousands of metersrge!

    A cavern located in the subterranean space below Hell itself!

    The cavern appeared no different from an upturned bowl. The ground was like a turntable formed by rings ofrge stone materials. Furthermore, each ring was formed using smaller crescent-shaped stone ts that were approximately a hundred meters long and tens of meters wide.

    There was a massive ancient Cathayan-styled alchemy furnace set right in the center of the room. It was approximately a thousand metersrge from end to end! A Taiji symbol was painted on its surface, and arge trench extended out from the mouth of the furnace.

    Next to them, the entourage of Yin spirits appeared norger than ants. The difference in size was as vast as the heavens from the earth. None of them could resist the urge toment the wisdom and grandeur of their predecessors, the ancient Yin spirits. The ceiling above was adorned with tens of thousands of relief sculptures of ghosts, while the walls of the cavern were adorned with several sculptures of the Harken¡¯s head, each of which was at least fifty-metersrge.

    It¡¯s breathtaking¡­

    It was the same kind of rush that assaulted a person when he saw the vast interior of the pyramid for the very first time. None of them could fathom how this could possibly have existed in Hell almost a hundred years ago!

    How could the Yin spirits of a feudal society¡­ create something as incredible as this? It¡¯s practically as unfathomable as the construction of the Great Wall of Cathay around the entire nation itself.

    ¡°It¡¯s no time to be dumbfounded.¡± Arthis pointed at the surroundings, ¡°Take a closer look, especially you, Mr Nobunaga. This is probably one of the ces you¡¯ll be frequenting in future.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s mind was already drifting aimlessly. To think that this is but a glimpse of the true majesty of Hell¡­ Next to the armaments factories of the Nipponese world and the individual kilns that we used in the past, this is on apletely different scale altogether! In fact, it¡¯s simply beyond belief!

    Izanami?

    Haha¡­ how amazing could she possibly be? I¡¯d once caught a glimpse of the Nipponese underworld before. It¡¯s nothingpared to this.

    Not even Yomi-no-kuni had an armaments production facility asrge as this. And the kicker was that this facility was only a provincial level armaments production facility of Hell.

    The thought of the potential armaments he could produce at this facility itself caused Oda Nobunaga¡¯s blood to boil intensely.

    ¡°Mr Nobunaga?¡± Arthis¡¯ words finally jolted him right back to his senses, and he promptly looked in the direction where her finger was pointing, only to discover that each of the stone ts had dozens of tables and benches surrounding them.

    The benches were made of wood, while the tables were made of stone. Upon closer inspection, one could even see several instruments and apparatuses ced around various parts of the table. Taking a step back, Oda Nobuanga could tell that the stone tables were lining the sides of therger rings of stones. He immediately understood the intention behind theyout.

    ¡°Assembly line¡­¡± He stepped forward and touched the stone tables, ¡°This is¡­ an armament production line?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The old Hell was also keeping up with the times.¡± Arthis smiled faintly, recalling how she had once been just as surprised when she first saw the interior of this ce.

    ¡°This is where the Hall of Tremors manufactures armaments. Directly upstairs is where raw materials are processed. Beyond that are simply floors where research and development is carried out. To that end, bows, spears, shields and armors have each their own rooms. Furthermore, each floor would have their own research focus pertaining to a different aspect of these armaments. The lowest floor is where these research theories are put into practice.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to see what this behemoth looks like when it¡¯s up and running?¡± She pointed proudly to the middle, and it was only then that Qin Ye realized that a dozen or so boxes had already been ced in a ring around the furnace.

    Could these be¡­

    A notion flitted across Qin Ye¡¯s mind, causing his eyelids to twitch and the veins on his forehead to bulge. But before he could even react, Arthis pointed her hand, and the thousands of Yin spirit stones within the boxes began to pour out like a tide and into the furnace. It was as though the ¡®on¡¯ switch had been flicked, and the entire furnace immediately roared into action.

    Kakakakaka¡­ The ground began to tremble, and the massive stone turntable finally began to shift. Each adjacent set of rings moved in opposite directions. The movements weren¡¯t quick, but these undoubtedly enabled the production lines to dovetail perfectly into each other!

    Whoosh!!!

    Their thoughts were soon interrupted by the massive ball ofherme that promptly erupted within the mouth of the furnace. Following that¡­ a bright glow of light lit up the entire underground cavern.

    The goldenhermes danced like a brilliant torch in the darkness, spreading its golden hues in all directions around through the crevices in the ground. It was as though the entire Hall of Tremors had juste to life.

    1. Zhong Kui is a folk legend who was said to have been appointed as the king of ghosts by King Yanluo. ).

 Chapter 372: A Bright Lustre

    <h4>Chapter 372: A Bright Lustre</h4>

    Just as everyone was gandering at the colossal furnace in amazement, the Harken sculptures on the walls of the cavern suddenly opened up their mouths, and long wooden tongues slowly extended outwards,nding precisely onto the stone tables. It was only then that they noticed a small relief sculpture of the taotie beast located at the head of each stone t. The Harken¡¯s long wooden tongue extended straight into the gaping mouth of the taotie beast, while the taotie beast¡¯s tail opened up into a groove that ran along the sides close to the lesser stone tables.

    Qin Ye stared at the object with great disbelief. This is processed blight vermin carapace, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s only been a while, so where have the rest of the body gone?

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡± He reached out to touch the blight vermin carapace in disbelief. But as soon as he made contact, the entire blight vermin carapace immediately came apart with a soft tter. It was only then that it dawned upon him - not only was the carapace stripped out from the rest of the body, it had even been segmented in a neat and precise fashion!

    ¡°How on earth did this happen?¡± He picked up a piece of the carapace and stared at the wall, ¡°There are actually tens of thousands of Yin spirits hidden in that wall, isn¡¯t there? How else could it be as perfect as this?!¡±

    Of course I can¡¯t do that¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to return with as many blight vermin corpses as we can possibly carry!¡± Oda Nobunaga drew a deep breath and stroked the carapace with a trembling hand, ¡°It would be far too much of a waste to let such an amazing facility sit idle¡­¡±

    This was the symbol of prosperity in Hell! It was a sign that Hell was thriving and growing!

    Arthis revealed a peculiar smile on her face, ¡°Alright. Just make sure you don¡¯t regret it¡­¡±

    The troupe of leaders were filled with anticipation. If the first floor is already that incredible, what would the second floor look like? What about the top floor?

    Could there possibly be Yin nuclear weapons hidden above?

    It was closed.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on over here?¡± Qin Ye asked in consternation.

    ¡°But now¡­¡±

    She sighed, ¡°Assemble all the pieces of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal as soon as you can¡­¡±

    That¡¯s easier said than done¡­ The shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal are in the hands of the daolord of the beast. It¡¯s like asking a weak carry hero at the start of the game to go up against a well-fed core of the enemy team - I¡¯d be killed in an instant. On what basis are you asking me to seize these shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal from them?

    Well¡­ that¡¯s possible¡­

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    He didn¡¯t care more about where the others went. That said, he didn¡¯t immediately return to the mortal realm either. Instead, he made a beeline towards Zhou Yu¡¯s room and arrived in an instant.

    He hadn¡¯t even left his room once over thest few days. Instead, he waited patiently in his room for Qin Ye¡¯s arrival. Thus, when Qin Ye arrived, he immediately heard the melodious sounds of a zither.

    Unfortunately, I¡¯m not really in the mood¡­ Qin Ye sighed softly. Zhou Yu happened to be at the end of his piece, so he promptly set his zither down and lifted his head, before cupping his hands respectfully with a smile on his face, ¡°Lord Qin had arrived more quickly than I had anticipated.¡±

    Zhou Yu lifted his teacup and asked cidly, ¡°So how does Your Majesty intend to deal with the things he doesn¡¯t have a firm hold on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a token gesture.¡± Zhou Yu¡¯s expressions remained cid. Destroy? The entire East Continent is hanging in delicate bnce right now. Do you really take Rus¡¯ nameless god of death and Hindustan¡¯s Yamaraja as benign, merciful gods that are passive and gentle? If pushes to shove, and the twelve envoys grow desperate, they might very well just end up pledging their allegiance to these other two powerhouses in the region. Lord Qin, where are you going to run or hide when that time finallyes?

    It¡¯s not that we aren¡¯t loyal, it¡¯s just that we all have our weaknesses and selfish ambitions. None of us had expected to see such a great upheaval in Hell, nor did we anticipate that the heroic passion in our hearts would be so stirred to action. Believe me, I¡¯ve never wished for things toe to this. Everything happening right now is no more than a byproduct of the circumstances around us.

    Zhou Yu¡¯s gaze flickered, and he responded sincerely, ¡°If that dayes, I might very well sincerely submit and return to the fold.¡±

    ¡°The fact that you are able to defeat a longstanding underworld means that it would only be a matter of time before you open your borders. I believe I would still sincerely submit to you under those circumstances.¡±

    Nobody wished to see the twelve envoys and King Yanluo duking it out against each other.

    The situation in the world wasplex, but Hell would undoubtedly have to open its borders to the world in no more than a hundred and fifty years¡¯ time. Incidentally, the twelve envoys and Qin Ye represented the only seeds of fire in Hell. Would they rather unite against theirmon enemy, or fight against each other?

    ¡°Truth be told, it would be nice if you could achieve all that.¡± He gazed deeply in the direction that Qin Ye had departed, ¡°War has ravaged thesends for far too long. Quell the fire of unrest in those unruly feudal officials, and make them submit to you. Unite the forces and face themon enemies. Let¡¯s return Hell to its former glory. But, s, the road ahead is fraught with much difficulty¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    He was finally done packing his things today. He looked at the threerge suitcases sitting in his room, before ncing out of the window with a wave ofplex emotions.

    Qin Ye had done a lot for the academy, and it was finally time to say his goodbyes. Even though he had only spent one year in his stint here, he was suddenly swamped with a great sense of reluctance.

    He experienced emotions and rtionships. He experienced care and concern. He even felt a sense of achievement and aplishment¡­ and now, a sense of sourness in his heart.

    Just then, an old voice called out from the hallway outside, ¡°Why are you sighing?¡± Qin Ye looked over and realized that Professor Tao Ran appeared to have been standing there for some time now.

    Qin Ye wanted tough, only to realize he was unable to do so.

    In fact, he had always found it stifling and depressing. It felt no different from living in the darkness, and looking at the bright world outside; or living in Hell and gazing at heaven. Yet, from the day he consumed the taisui fungus, he knew that he was fated never to live a normal life like anyone else again. He could no longer live normally, make friends, get married or have children.

    That said, feelings weren¡¯t things that would dissipate or dwindle. In fact, they would only grow richer and more profound as time went by. Qin Ye was already resigned to the fact that he was going to live the rest of his life simply cruising along endlessly and aimlessly. Yet, who would have thought that Granny Meng¡¯s unexpected arrival would change everything for him?

    His thanks were directed at all the people who had fueled his joy.

    ¡°What are you thanking me for?¡± Tao Ran obviously wasn¡¯t aware of Qin Ye¡¯s innermost feelings. He smiled faintly, ¡°You¡¯ve given a lot for the academy as well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, when do you n to depart?¡± Tao Ran suddenly asked.

    ¡°Tomorrow?¡± Tao Ran patted him hard on his shoulder, ¡°Have a good trip, then. I sincerely wish you great sess in Martial City.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is a MOBA reference. Cores in the team usually start off weaker than the rest of the enemy team, but they have the potential to be strong as long as they get sufficient farm.

    2. Taiwan.

 Chapter 373: Send Off

    <h4>Chapter 373: Send Off</h4>

    The sun was already setting, but he didn¡¯t want to move, nor did he want to return to Hell. Just today, he wanted to be selfish.

    It was soon 6.00 p.m. With the early dusk in spring, the campus grounds were soon illuminated with electric lights.

    Just then, someone suddenly burst through his door. A student rushed into his room, crying out at the top of his voice, ¡°Instructor Qin! Something¡¯s happened!!¡±

    ¡°A student has passed out!¡± Qin Ye had seen this student before. He knew that he was from the Faculty of Combat, but he couldn¡¯t recall his name in the heat of the moment. The student continued rattling on like an anxious machine gun, ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, but his pulse has stopped as well! I couldn¡¯t locate any of the other instructors around either!¡±

    The student led him straight towards the cafeteria. The closer they drew to the cafeteria, the more Qin Ye furrowed his brows.

    It should be mealtime right now. Although there¡¯s another cafeteria in the academy, it¡¯s highly unlikely that every single person has assembled there. So¡­ why is everything pitch ck in here?

    He kicked down the cafeteria door hurriedly, only to be greeted by the sudden illumination of light within. A split secondter, his jaws dropped slightly, and he nced about his surroundings with great astonishment.

    ¡°You guys¡­¡± Qin Ye continued to stare at his surroundings with great surprise. The tables in the cafeteria were covered with sumptuous dishes and even beer, something that was usually prohibited in the Academy. Every single student of the Faculty of Combat was present, while Lin Han, Su Feng and the other instructors were also smiling faintly at him. He raised his hands and waved bashfully at everyone.

    ¡°Come,e,e, don¡¯t be shy.¡± Lin Han dragged him over to the main table and sat him down, ¡°Were you not even going to say goodbye to us? If Professor Tao hadn¡¯t informed us about your departure, we wouldn¡¯t even have known about it. Do you even consider us your brother-in-arms?¡±

    Qin Ye was practically beside himself right now!

    Why is there a send off party for me?

    This was evidently a rare moment that couldn¡¯t be exined by his wealth of life experiences.

    The female ghost back in Wang Chenghao¡¯s home had a tragic story to tell, and yet he had simply watched on with a cold expression in his eyes, and dealt with her summarily ording to thews of the underworld.

    Come to think of it¡­ is it simply because¡­ those incidents didn¡¯t involve me personally?

    ¡°Thank you for your service, Instructor Qin!!¡± The students stood up in unison. Some faces were more familiar than others, but every single one of them had a sincere smile stered across their faces. Without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, they immediately downed the cup of beer in their hands.

    Qin Ye suddenly realized that Local Bully was rather unreasonable.

    ¡°Thank you for all you¡¯ve done for the First Academy of Cultivators.¡± Tao Ran spoke on behalf of the faculty staff, ¡°Without you, there wouldn¡¯t be the First Academy of Cultivators as we know it today.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, thank you. Thank you for sacrificing your precious cultivation time to nurture this garden instead. You¡¯re one of the best gardeners around. Rest assured, the academy¡¯s wall of honor will most certainly have a ce for your name!¡±

    Why are the rims of my eyes feeling so hot?

    After all, he had seen more than his fair share of departures and goodbyes. In fact, he thought that his heart had already turned to stone when he had said his goodbyes to Zhang Baoguo back then. Since then, he had always acted in ordance with his will, whetherugh or curse, or speak his mind. Thus, how could he have expected a day when he would actually be caught off guard and be renderedpletely speechless?

    He subconsciously downed the ss in front of him in response. Tao Ran smiled, ¡°Students, instructors and faculty staff, let¡¯s begin! We feast, so that we have the strength and energy to send Instructor Qin off on his way!¡±

    Qin Ye sat at the table where all of the instructors and faculty staff were located. Everyone spent the next ten minutes eating, before Xu Anguo picked up his cup and proposed a toast, ¡°We¡¯ll make an exception today, so long as it doesn¡¯t affect sses tomorrow. Come, Little Qin, have a drink with this old man over here.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t afford to get drunk no matter what. This was an irond rule that he had set for himself.

    ¡°Instructor Qin is an exception. He needs to get his body back in proper working condition.¡± Li Tao chipped in, ¡°But, Instructor Qin, your departure doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re leaving the First Academy of Cultivators. The ce of your assignment will be the First Academy of Cultivator¡¯s hunting grounds next time. You¡¯ll forever be a part of the First Academy of Cultivators! Would anyone oppose that?!¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which, a year has passed in the blink of an eye¡­¡± Tao Ran sighed and nced out of the window, ¡°Little Qin, you might not know this, but you¡¯re the one that I¡¯ve had highest hopes for.¡±

    Tao Ran¡¯s voice wasced with regret. Qin Ye finally responded, ¡°Is Professor Tao also leaving?¡±

    He gently raised his ss, ¡°Take heart, because our camaraderie lives on in our hearts. Decadester, when we all reunite in front of the wall of honor of the First Academy of Cultivators, we¡¯d relive these stories in our tales to our children. What a joy that would be.¡±

    The man of few words was suddenly speaking with great impulsiveness, and the atmosphere grew even warmer than it had ever been before.

    Qin Ye chuckled, ¡°You¡¯ll have your chance next time.¡±

    ¡°How could there possibly be someone who cultivates faster than me? And he even looks pretty decent to boot? You¡¯re practically an archnemesis of mine!¡±

    As time went on, Qin Ye indulged himself in hispany and drank several more cups of beer. That said, the fiery feeling in his heart was finally beginning to subside - That¡¯s right¡­ goodbyes are only part and parcel of life.

    He couldn¡¯t recall what his colleagues were bantering about. All he needed to do this indulgent night was to smile heartily at the friends around. There was no need to speak either, because words weren¡¯t able to express his feelings right now. The only thing he knew for certain was that the atmosphere was warm, and that he wanted to take in every moment of this rare experience and cherish it for the rest of his life.

    What¡¯s this kid talking about¡­ It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to die tomorrow.

    ¡°Rest assured!!¡± Ye Xingchen downed his cup in a single breath, ¡°You must make a visit to our n one day! I¡¯ll personally take you around to the mountaintops around! We¡¯ve got several famous mountains and ancient temples in the region! Until then, please take care of yourself! And feel free to call me if you need anything!¡±

    Her eyes were incredibly red, and she bowed deeply to Qin Ye, ¡°Instructor Qin, thank you very much!¡±

    Before Qin Ye could speak, the female student bit hard on her lips and muttered, ¡°When school first began¡­ I didn¡¯t know a single thing, yet you continued to be patient with me. And¡­ and you¡¯d even taken a rookie like me under your wing and showed me how to write a thesis proper¡­ and you¡¯d even included my name in the credits. I appreciate all the help you¡¯ve given to me, and I-I won¡¯t let you down! Even though you won¡¯t be physically around the academy anymore, I¡¯ll still continue to study harder than ever before!¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough, cough!¡± She obviously wasn¡¯t used to drinking, and she choked and sputtered from the strength of the alcohol. That said, her flushed face looked no different from a pristine gerbera, rosy and bright.

    The rest of the students soon followed suit, scrambling to get ahead of each other as they lined up to have an audience with Qin Ye. There were those who could hold their liquor, and those who couldn¡¯t. Boisterous or shy, every single one of them had heartfelt words to speak to Qin Ye.

    Just like that, two hours zipped by in an instant, and Li Tao finally stood up, ¡°Students, instructors and faculty staff, I believe everyone has had the opportunity to send their blessings to Instructor Qin in this send off party. I¡¯m sure he appreciates these gestures of ours. We¡¯ve still got sses tomorrow, so let¡¯s call it a night. Instructor Qin,e, let¡¯s make a move first.¡±

    A group of them left through the main door of the cafeteria. When nobody was looking, Qin Ye turned back and stole a fleeting nce at the cafeteria which was still abuzz with activity.

    The rtionships forged here are going to be etched in my heart forever¡­ The experience here¡­ has been incredibly satisfying.

 Chapter 374: A New Voyage

    <h4>Chapter 374: A New Voyage</h4>

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t sleep that night.

    He stared intently - almost avariciously - at the campus grounds of the First Academy of Cultivators, because he knew that he would never contact them again as soon as he departed. They had just earlier waved at each other, saying that they would ¡®see each other again soon¡¯. But Qin Ye knew better. With this, it was likely to be farewell for good.

    After all, he could never maintain a particr identity in the world for too long. Five years was the limit, and then he would have no choice but to fake his own death, before restarting afresh elsewhere with a different image and apletely fresh te.

    After a long time, he finally averted his gaze and sighed wistfully, ¡°Everything stems from the imbnce between theherworld and the mortal realm.¡± His heart was suddenly filled with a strong desire to rebuild Hell and make it stronger than it had ever been before.

    Doesn¡¯t it mean that I¡¯d be able to dere my identity openly in the mortal realm as soon as Hell is restored to its former glory?

    He would no longer have to worry about the daolords, nor be too concerned about the threat of foreign underworlds. He wouldn¡¯t even have to fear that there were evil ghosts who were stronger than himself.

    He would even be able tomunicate with everyone through the rying of dreams, revealing the fact that he was from the underworld, and not have to sneak about the underworld and assume a brand new identity every five years on end.

    Yet, at the same time, he suddenly realized that there was still an incredibly long road ahead to the restoration of Hell. Not only were there certain hard conditions that had to be fulfilled, because¡­ if possible, he wanted to openly reveal the existence of Hell to the mortal realm, and dere to the world that the evil which goes unpunished in the mortal realm would not go unnoticed by Hell. The crimes that slip through the rule ofw in the mortal realm would be captured and ounted for when each individual passes through the gates of Hell.

    Gods and deities would be a mainstay in the mortal realm. At that time, wouldn¡¯t it be possible for theherworld and the mortal realm to coexist in harmony? Wouldn¡¯t all deceased persons be able to reverse any lingering regrets they may have? Wouldn¡¯t it cause wrongdoers to feel ashamed and terrified of the prospects of having to answer to their victims?

    ¡°But I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s even possible¡­¡± He closed his eyes and listened to the chirruping insects and croaking frogs as he murmured softly, ¡°But it¡¯s not as though it costs an arm and a leg to give it a shot¡­¡±

    Give it a shot¡­ His heart cried out.

    For yourself, and for your country.

    After all, it¡¯s been a hundred years since you¡¯ve stolen by like that. Now that the prime opportunity has arisen, why not give it a shot?

    Soon, the night passed, and dawn came quickly. Last night, he had a long chat with Xu Anguo before returning to his dorm room, and Xu Anguo had specifically informed him of the things to look out for on his next assignment, including what he had to do, as well as where he had to go. Xu Anguo had taught him how to regte the number of hunting zones in a particr region such that they no longer affected the lives of its citizens, as well as the best ways in which he could monitor the predatory zones under his charge. Finally, Xu Anguo had asked Qin Ye if he would prefer to fly directly to the next ce of his assignment.

    Qin Ye naturally refused.

    He bought a train ticket for the afternoon. When his rm clock rang at 7.00 a.m., there were already students working on their morning exercises. Qin Ye activated his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and promptly returned to Hell.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look so good.¡± Arthis was already waiting patiently for him back in Hell¡¯s Gate. She promptly looked up and nced at him with a curious expression, ¡°That expression of yours¡­ tells me that there¡¯s something on your mind. Are you unhappy about something?¡±

    But that¡¯s not possible, is it? Most people would only act this way when their conscience ached, but since when did Qin Ye even have a conscience to begin with?

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond to her question. He silently picked up the Qiankun Pouch that Arthis had handed over and infused it with his Yin energy, and a hexagonal, transparent stone norger than the size of his thumb soon flew out of the pouch.

    It was thendmark, also known as the Beacon of Light. Arthis had worked endlessly since theirst meeting in Hell just so that she could condense thendmarks before Qin Ye¡¯s departure.

    ¡°The destination is eight hundred kilometers away, so we have four pieces right here. Don¡¯t lose them.¡± Arthis exined solemnly, ¡°Once you depart from the First Academy of Cultivators and leave the borders of the Insignia Province, you should immediately return to Hell. I¡¯ll help you breach the bottleneck and be an Infernal Judge. Once you¡¯re a Judge, and coupled with the fact that you¡¯re the master of Hell, you¡¯ll be able to perceive the location of Yin nodes without the aid of the Mirror of Eminence. But you¡¯ve got to be careful as well, because Yin spirits and evil ghosts naturally congregate near these nodes of Yin energy. In other words, you¡¯re almost certainly going to encounter some form of resistance when you attempt to nt one of the Beacons of Light in the mortal realm. They¡¯ll only scatter when you sessfully set thendmarks in ce.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and casually tossed the Qiankun Pouch into the air, ¡°Say¡­ do you think there¡¯s any possibility that Yin and Yang could coexist?¡±

    Arthis raised her eyebrow quizzically, wondering why he would suddenly ask her a question like that.

    ¡°If¡­ the mortal realm knows of the existence of theherworld, and theherworld can establish some form of symbiotic rtionship with the mortal realm, for instance, through mutual trade, do you think¡­ there¡¯s a remote possibility of sessful coexistence?¡± Qin Ye ignored Arthis¡¯ reaction and continued to press the point. His expression was cid.

    ¡°Have you taken the wrong medicine this morning?¡± Arthis waspletely baffled by the question. It wasn¡¯t characteristic of Qin Ye to be considering such troublesome things. After all, Qin Ye had historically only ever been concerned about his own survival, whether now or in future.

    ¡°Just tell me if there is such a possibility or not! There¡¯s no need to skirt around the issue!¡± Qin Ye barked back with some measure of exasperation.

    I¡¯ve been reprimanded¡­ Unexpectedly, Arthis didn¡¯t get angry. Instead, she simply gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, before slowly smiling faintly at him.

    ¡°Although I¡¯m not sure what kind of stimulus you¡¯ve been given back in the mortal realm¡­ but, the answer to your question is ¡®yes¡¯.¡±

    Qin Ye finally looked up at Arthis in surprise.

    Really?

    Arthis drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°Do you know¡­ why there used to be more myths passed down in ancient times?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s because¡­ there was once a time when the three realms were living in symbiosis. The so called gods and immortals didn¡¯t use to reside in heaven. But instead, they used to reside in the mountains and great swamps. Even the Primeval Lord of Heaven wasn¡¯t an exception to this. But, as time passed, the emperors of earth wanted to consolidate their power, and they could no longer condone the existence of the other two realms within the same ne of existence as them. This was all in ordance with the Heavenly Dao. Thus, the three realms were separated from each other.¡±

    ¡°And such true separation waspleted through the Heavenly Investiture of the Gods, Mankind¡¯s ssic of Mountain and Sea, and Hell¡¯s Book of Life and Death. These three divine artifacts bind each of the three realms to the Heavenly Dao, never to interact with each other again. From then on, myths and legends began to dwindle. If you want to restore things to the time of the First King Yanluo of Hell, when Yin and Yang coexisted with each other, then you¡¯ll first have to show the mortal realm the benefits of reestablishingmunication between them and theherworld.¡±

    ¡°Be more specific.¡±

    ¡°How do you expect me to be any more specific?¡± Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°These are all part of the records of Hell that I¡¯d read through in the past. Why would anyone pay any attention to the particrs of how exactly these are to be achieved, or what exactly the situation was back then? You¡¯ve seen howrge that scroll is, haven¡¯t you? There¡¯s probably well over ten million words in the entire records alone. Besides, even if you don¡¯t want to govern Hell like the first King Yanluo of Hell, you could always model your governance after the second King Yanluo of Hell. Be the strongest entity across the three realms, so much so that you live above thews of the Heavenly Dao. At that time, you can do anything you want, and anytime you so wish. But¡­ forget it. It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t consider these things now. After all, the second King Yanluo of Hell was unparalleled across all five thousand years of the history of Hell. What makes you think you could possibly match his abilities?¡±

    What do you mean by that? I¡¯m the Third Hokage, alright?!

    How could an arrogant person like Arthis possibly understand the thoughts running through Qin Ye¡¯s hearts right now? With a quick wave of her hand, the massive scroll documenting the records of Hell appeared in front of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, before promptly transforming into a wisp of Yin energy that shot straight into a Qiankun Pouch, ¡°Even if you¡¯re looking to reestablish the coexistence of realms, that¡¯s going to be aplete upheaval of mindsets that would take several centuries to achieve. Perhaps the records might give you a clue as to how to go about achieving something like this. That said, you cannot rush these things. Take the scroll along with you and see if you can find anything within. The records can take the shape of any book in ordance with your imaginations.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, before transforming into a stream ofhergale that promptly left Hell.

    Arthis¡¯ exnations had given him some food for thought.

    ¡°Does it benefit the mortal realm to be interconnected to theherworld, huh¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed, and some unorthodox contemtions began to stir at the depths of his mind.

    ¡°Forget it. I¡¯m afraid this is something that I can only attend to after Hell is properly restored. It¡¯s still too early to consider these things now in any event. Right now, the first order of priority is to pave the way to Martial City.¡±

    He returned to his dorm room, but remained within his room. Then, at 3.00 p.m. sharp, right after sses ended, he left through the main gate of the First Academy of Cultivators, carrying only his backpack.

    The academy had already made arrangements for the rest of his suitcases, because they knew that he would have wanted to take ast walk around the academy before finally departing for his next assignment. Qin Ye naturally didn¡¯t refuse. He slowly made his way towards the main gate of the academy, brushing past the area where some citizens were chatting heartily with the students of the school. And then, he turned back to take one final look at the First Academy of Cultivators.

    It looked no different from the first time he saw it. The gilded sign that read ¡®First Academy of Cultivators¡¯ glimmered blindingly in the sun.

    ¡°Farewell.¡± He smiled, before forcibly shutting the gates of emotion in his heart. He hailed a cab and went straight towards the train station.

    The City of Salvation wasn¡¯t connected to any high-speed rail facilities. That said, Qin Ye didn¡¯t mind taking a traditional train. It was nice to slow down once in a while, to watch the scenery pass by without a care in this world.

    He boarded the train and settled into the seats of his cabin, where he put on his headphones and silently watched as streams of people walked past in the crowded train station. Soon, several others also settled down into their seats in the nearby booths.

    There was a middle-aged man seated opposite him who looked like a wage worker, while a couple that appeared to be college students upied the booth on the other side. The couple was glued to each other as soon as they boarded the train. The girl whipped out her phone and immediately began watching Netflix, while the boy promptly pulled out some snacks and fed them directly to the girl from time to time.

    Qin Ye turned away from them and ignored the rest who shared the same cabin as him. In fact, he wasn¡¯t even in the mood to exchange a single word with them.

    Kacha¡­ kacha¡­ The train was about to depart. He couldn¡¯t resist the urge to look up once more at the train station, almost as though the train station were built in the likeness of the First Academy of Cultivators. And then, he suddenly froze.

    He froze because he saw Local Bully standing on the tform right in front of his window, giving him the middle finger.

    Qin Ye finally smiled, and shed back his middle finger as well.

    The feeling of being sent off¡­ is great.

    Just then, Local Bully drew a deep breath and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°Get lost!!!¡± The people who were just standing around on the tform were startled, and they red at Lin Han as though he were a psychopath. However, he ignored them, and only cupped his hands around his lips, ¡°You¡¯d bettere visit when I get married!! I¡¯ll go visit you in Martial City next year!!!¡±

    Tssss! The train finally started to pull off.

    Qin Ye waved his hand unwittingly as he watched Local Bully¡¯s tall frame slowly but surely vanishing into the horizon. It was only then that he retracted that smile of his and set down his hand.

    I¡¯m sorry.

    I¡¯m afraid¡­ it¡¯s goodbye forever.

    Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to respond to either Ye Xingchen or your invitation.

    ¡°Life¡¯s but a long, continuous journey that¡¯s meant to be made one step at a time...¡± Qin Ye smiled and retracted his gaze, ¡°Unfortunately, it seems like there are some glitches causing fragmentation in my life¡­¡±

    It was at that moment that he suddenly recalled Xia Jinse¡¯s name.

    He longed for a partner who could travel together with him on this journey called life. He longed for a partner so that he would never feel so lonely again.

    He didn¡¯t know what she looked like, nor what her personality was like, but Qin Ye still¡­ wanted very much to meet Xia Jinse if possible.

    It didn¡¯t matter what they were going to do. Even sharing a cup of coffee would suffice for him.

    Because they were the only ones in this world who could truly understand the loneliness of the other.

    Fortunately, humans were also forgetful beings, and their hearts were also prone to change. Thus, by the time the train reached the wilderness outside the heart of the city, Qin Ye¡¯s heart had already calmed downpletely.

    Modern day society was distant and aloof. Qin Ye could still recall that it wasn¡¯t even twenty years ago when the train passengers who were sharing a ride together would invariably start a conversation with each other to kill time andy waste to their boredom. And they were sofortable doing so that it wouldn¡¯t even take them half an hour to begin treating each other as family.

    But now?

    Everyone would simply poke and prod at their cell phones or tap rapidly on theirptops. It was almost as though there was an invisible screen that sequestered each passenger from the other.

    That said, he wasn¡¯t interested in actively breaking down these walls that others had built up around themselves. It wasn¡¯t necessary. In fact, nobody in the train car was morefortable with the cold atmosphere than he.

    He activated his disguised Yin energy and pulled out the scroll of the annals of Hell which Arthis had earlier passed to him. Incidentally, it had already transformed into a book entitled ¡®Cultivation System of A Heavenly Sovereign¡¯.

    Mm¡­ A novel authored by a fatso. Looks pretty good. It just so happens that I¡¯ve been reading his book over thest few days, so I¡¯ll just borrow the appearance of this book.

    This was the first time he had taken a look through the annals of Hell. He flipped to the first page, only to notice a sprawling directory of records, ranging from King Yanluo¡¯s birth, to the establishment of Hell, the maturing of Yanluo¡­ He continued skimming through the contents page, until dozens of secondster, when his eyes suddenly brightened up.

    ¡°There¡¯s something called the Dusk Legionnaire?¡± He pointed to one of the lines within and mumbled to himself.

    There¡¯s something like that?

    1. Primeval Lord of Heaven is said to be one of the highest deities of Taoism.

    2. Naruto reference.

    3. This seems to be one of the author¡¯s other books.

 Chapter 375: Valley County

    <h4>Chapter 375: Valley County</h4>

    He couldn¡¯t wait to read on. The introduction made him draw a deep breath.

    ¡°The Dusk Legionnaire was King Yanluo¡¯s imperial guard.¡±

    ¡°Yoke of Five Ghosts¡­ Yoke of Ten Ghosts¡­ Yoke of A Hundred Ghosts¡­ Yoke of A Thousand Ghosts¡­ Yoke of Ten Thousand Ghosts. The formation of the Dusk Legionnaire, otherwise known as the Dusk Voyage of Ten Thousand Ghosts, would bepleted at the final stage of the Yoke of Ten Thousand Ghosts. The Dusk Legionnaire would escort King Yanluo wherever he goes. Everything, including the exact number of ghosts involved, is dependent on the amount of Yin energy at the user¡¯s disposal. The ghosts that follow are also known as escort spirits, and their strength increases together with their user¡¯s strength.¡±

    A smile began to creep up the corners of Qin Ye¡¯s lips. Bloody hell¡­ would I even need to lift a single finger to purge ghosts in future? Who knew that the office of King Yanluo came with such incredible benefits? I¡¯d simply point a finger, and ten thousand ghosts would rush straight to my target until itpletely eradicates all traces of it.

    To think that he still had to bash the heads of each Yin spirit in with his spirit streamer right now. How weak was that?

    ¡°The Dusk Legionnaire requires the conclusive concentric seal, the requirements of which are as follows... and finally, conclude with a ghost knot seal. Note that the strength of the Dusk Legionnaire may vary, but it is important to ensure that every legionnaire appointed must possess a cultivation that is below the user. Otherwise, as soon as the user is unable to keep them in check, there would be a bacsh of legionnaires, and the soul of the user would be utterly destroyed.¡±

    He continued reading through the rest of the text until he finally internalized everything.

    His interest in the rest of the old Hell¡¯s legacy immediately soared.

    Who could have thought that it would actually document something as amazing as the techniques of the King Yanluo of Hell? Then¡­ what else could possibly be contained in the rest of the old Hell¡¯s legacy?

    With this in hand, what would Liu Yu even count for? I could stand against ten thousand all on my own!

    Firstly, the deeper their grievance, the more dangerous the Yin spirit after death. Such Yin spirits are generally more terrifying than ordinary Yin spirits. Obviously, my Dusk Legionnaire can probably support no more than ten ghosts right now. So, if I were to pick my Yin spirits, I¡¯d have to be circumspect and pick the most dangerous kinds - those who have been the worst of murderers before their death, or those who havemitted the most heinous of crimes!

    But if my Yin spirits were better at that¡­ ¡®Beautiful Teresa, Serious Fist Baldy, X-man Cyclops, and Sannin Orochimaru¡­¡¯

    Thedy sitting in the opposite booth red disdainfully at Qin Ye¡¯s perverse expressions, shifting away subconsciously before muttering under her breath to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend promptly looked up at Qin Ye with an equally disgusted look.

    Then¡­ since we¡¯re travelling towards Martial City, the predatory zones along the way are¡­

    Fear and cowardice? Not by my books!

    Just like that, Qin Ye remained silent for the rest of the journey, until the train finally pulled into the next station.

    ¡°The time now is 11.07 p.m. We are currently stopped at Valley County Station. For your own safety, kindly refrain from entering ces with many mirrors or reflective surfaces. Do not enter the washroom alone. Do not stray too far from the train to make purchases at this station. Passengers who alight at this station are reminded not to wander out from the train station. There is a hotel right next to the train station which provides food and lodging to those who need it, especially passengers who are departing after 6.00 a.m. tomorrow. We repeat. Attention, all passengers¡­¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows. Rivershade City¡­ has met with unforeseen circumstances? We¡¯re supposed to get off at Valley County instead?

    The style was somewhat dated, ostensibly built in the style of the 90¡¯s. The interior was clean, but it also had its fair share of mottled walls and crooked signboards, with traces of brooms, pipes and other work tools shelved in the corners of the station. Not a single person could be seen on the tform right now.

    Qin Ye picked up his bag and made his way towards the door, to the great horror of the couple in the next booth.

    ¡°I¡¯m alighting, can¡¯t I?¡± Qin Ye nced at the couple with great bewilderment - What¡¯s wrong with getting off at the station?

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Qin Ye frowned at the couple, only to realize that they weren¡¯t the only ones who were reacting this way. In fact, everyone in the same car appeared to be staring at him as though they had just seen a ghost.

    Just then, Qin Ye heard a shuffle of footsteps. Several train attendants were approaching them.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qin Ye was getting increasingly puzzled, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just broadcast an announcement, saying that all who are heading towards Rivershade City are to alight at Valley County?¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ are you mistaken about something¡­¡±

    What the hell is it¡­

    It was a red booklet. As soon as the man noticed it, his eyes immediately brightened. He had been a train attendant for a long time now, so he knew full well the standing instruction that anyone who produced these documentations were to be allowed disembarkation at any part of the journey.

    Qin Ye blinked back at him, but remainedpletely silent.

    Then, as soon as he got off, he was immediately assaulted with a frigid, marrow-chilling gale. He immediately wrapped himself tightly with his outer coat. But as soon as he looked up, the sight he was greeted by immediately caused his adrenaline to soar!

    No¡­ it wasn¡¯t that there wasn¡¯t a station. The tform was there, but¡­ it lookedpletely different from what he had seen from back in the train carriage. What he had seen earlier was a train station that appeared to have been built in the 90¡¯s, but what he saw right now¡­ was aplete wreck!

    Whoosh¡­ The night wind appeared to be blowing more strongly than ever. The overgrown foliage in the vicinity rustled menacingly, almost as though there were a thousand ghosts hiding in the shadows, whimpering and crying. The wreckage of the station was vandalized with a massive ¡®SLAY¡¯ word that was sshed across the entire walls with striking red lettering. Where were the brooms, water pipes, or tools that he had seen earlier? The only thing that remained were a thickyer of leaves that were scattered all about the dpidated tform. It was clear as day that this tform had been disused since eons ago. It was eerie and abandoned!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even turn around, ¡°You¡¯ve disembarked as well?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled as the man walked ahead of him slowly. Qin Ye followed after him, and the man promptly began, ¡°There used to be stations like Valley County in the past¡­¡±

    ¡°The silk factory had over a thousand workers, but¡­ cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!!¡± The man coughed violently. He didn¡¯t appear to be walking quickly, but if Qin Ye had just turned back slightly, he would have realized that¡­ they had already wandered dozens of meters from the train tform!

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Qin Ye lowered his eyes to the ground and asked softly.

    They had already gone around the disused station by now, and there was obviously a fence in front of their eye, replete with a thick iron gate in the distance. The iron gate was bolted up with chains, and the chains ttered as the talismans on them fluttered wildly with the wind.

    The man began to emit a strange, gurgling sound from his throat, while the gulping of his saliva between words became more and more apparent, ¡°Originally¡­ Valley County used to be a peaceful ce¡­ gulp¡­ sss¡­ But, just three years ago, for some strange reason, every train that passed by this location would broadcast the very same announcement¡­ gulp¡­¡±

    There was blood.

    Furthermore¡­ the man¡¯s feet¡­ were no longer touching the ground.

    A disused train tform in the middle of the night. Dim lights, mottled shadows and a mass grave in front of them. The shadows of horror were looming right over Qin Ye¡¯s head at this very moment!

    <hr>

    1. Teresa is a reference to the popr anime, ymore; Baldy is a reference to One-Punch Man; everyone should know about Cyclops, and Orochimaru is one of the baddies in Naruto.

 Chapter 376: How... Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 376: How... Are You?</h4>

    ¡°Incidentally, the ones who hear the announcement¡­ would still be able to see an intact train station when they look out of the window¡­ gulp¡­ Furthermore they would be able to see train attendants that otherwise can¡¯t be seen by other passengers¡­ gulp¡­ The government has already warned everyone not to alight at this train station¡­ gulp¡­¡±

    The man stopped in front of an earthen grave. It was already overgrown and broken in ces, yet the paper money that had been ced right atop the tombstone appeared to be written with fresh, vermillion ink, and¡­ they were even fluttering menacingly at Qin Ye!

    K-k-k-k-k¡­ The man turned around stiffly. His cheeks were now sunken, and blood was now pouring out his gaping eye sockets. In fact, his entire throat from the jaw down appeared to have beenpletely gouged out, leaving countless maggots and other worms crawling in ce of the gaping hole. His lips slowly cracked open from ear to ear, revealing a vicious, horrific smile, ¡°Number ny-nine¡­ Hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Fresh meat¡­ fresh meat! You¡¯re a fresh soul! Gulp¡­ Haaaa--!¡± He was practically screaming at this point in time. Blood poured out of his gaping mouth, scattering everywhere around on the ground. But as soon as he began charging towards Qin Ye, a foot suddenly stamped down on his head with a resounding crash.

    SSS!!! The evil ghost¡¯s head was firmly nted in the ground, and he couldn¡¯t extricate himself no matter how hard he iled his limbs about. Qin Ye looked up and swept his fringe to the side as he gazed deeply into the distant night sky, ¡°He truly needs some guidance. He only has one job. How could he even bastardize something as simple as that? The Yin spirits of recent times¡­ are truly getting more and more disappointing¡­¡±

    ¡°Y-y-you!!! Who are you?!¡± His originally hoarse and eerie voice was now instead filled with terror and panic as he squealed at the top of his voice, ¡°Who the hell are you?! Cultivator?! Hellguard¡­ You¡¯re an Anitya Hellguard!¡±

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly. Qin Ye had dressed himself in a down jacket because a camouge uniform made him way too conspicuous. He lifted his hands, and his soul shackle suddenly shot out of his sleeves, puncturing the man¡¯s ethereal figurepletely.

    Thehermes burnt for ten whole seconds before Qin Ye finally relented. The man¡¯s spiritual body was on the verge of copse, and it immediately slumped weakly to the ground.

    It couldn¡¯t be helped. Qin Ye was naturally just that domineering against evil ghosts that were of the same or lower cultivation level as he was!

    In fact, he was so tyrannical that he even surprised himself! He couldn¡¯t even recognize himself! Shurima, your emperor is back!

    ¡°But your strength isn¡¯t much, and you¡¯ve probably only just appeared. Otherwise, had you been any stronger, it¡¯s likely that the transport authorities would havepletely closed off this train route, rather than simply dmission the present train station. Soul Hunter? Or perhaps at best an Anitya Hellguard. It¡¯s going to be a walk in the park for me. In fact, this might even be a pretty good start to assembling my Dusk Legionnaire forces¡­ Come, tell me where your big boss is located so that I can sit down and have a nice cup of tea with him?¡±

    That¡¯s terrifying¡­ He can¡¯t possibly be a cultivator! Cultivators don¡¯t have such terrifying techniques! That chain¡­ is something that is specially crafted to dish out punishment against one¡¯s soul! This definitely isn¡¯t something that cultivators can use!

    ¡°AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!¡±

    The gaze in Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered before he could even finish speaking.

    It was night, but the fact that it was night didn¡¯t necessarily trante to dead silence. Dead silence¡­ was a phrase used to describe ces like the morgue.

    He stood up in silence.

    ¡°One of the top ten types of Yin spirits¡­ Phantom Spirit? Forsaken Spirit? Gluttonous Spirit? These Yin spirits all exhibit simr characteristics¡­ I wonder which one it is this time? Not bad¡­ to think that I¡¯d encounter such a pleasant surprise as soon as I leave Insignia Province. This is definitely a top-quality hunting zone in the region¡­ Well, I guess I¡¯ll help you guys out for free just this once.¡±

    The entire train station went dark in an instant, and the dark tform appeared loomed over him like a menacing behemoth.

    Sssss! Ahhhhh!! It plunged straight into the Yin spirit below, and it was instantly reduced to a cloud of Yin energy.

    ¡°To think you were actually able to hurt me.¡± His expressions turned grim. A split secondter, Yin energy suddenly erupted from his body like a colossal tidal wave that swept across everything in the darkness. The terrified cry of a female ghost echoed in the distance as the ground erupted with a zing green inferno that rushed out in all directions.

    Spiritual intelligence.

    What¡¯s this? I¡¯ve never seen anything like that before.

    Thus, he began to takerge strides towards the sealed iron door.

    The iron door was tightly shut, and about ten police cars were parked in this ce. The head of the group was a captain-ranked officer.

    Nobody said a single word, and everyone had an incredibly tense expression on their face. Even the man in a suit standing right next to the captain-ranked officer was staring intently at the iron door.

    The man in a suit was incredibly scrawny, and he appeared to be in his early thirties. He propped up his spectacles as he remarked, ¡°Things like that arepletely unpredictable. There¡¯s no need to think too much of it.¡±

    The man in the suit shook his head, before turning to gaze at the iron door with aplicated look in his eyes, ¡°Good? Hunting zones of such levels shouldn¡¯t even be appearing in counties to begin with¡­ But whether Breakwaters Province or Eastmount Province, we¡¯ve seen an increasing emergence of such hunting zones inrger counties in recent times. These things are no different from ticking time bombs that will blow up at any time. And yet, we don¡¯t even have the help of suitable cultivators to keep these in check and under control.¡±

    ng¡­ Just then, the iron door ttered with a muffled ng.

    He was an Operative-ss expert.

    One after another, the police officers cocked their guns and held their breaths.

    Gulp¡­ The officers gulped nervously and held their hands directly over theirmunications devices. This was the first time an anomalous situation had arisen ever since they first sealed off the locality altogether! What in the world was going on?

    It was a young man, ostensibly below the age of twenty. In fact, the young man was even staring at them as though he couldn¡¯t understand what was going on.

    Nobody said a word. They could even hear the sound of cold sweat dripping on the ground.

    Qin Ye stared right back at them with great bewilderment. Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ How could the main door be so weak and feeble? And how weak are these cultivators? They can¡¯t be considered anything more than hardbour if they enter Hell right now¡­

    Is it because I¡¯d shown up out of the blue?

    Instant silence.

    Very good¡­ All of the gun barrels were immediately lowered.

    Although the method of verification was somewhat unorthodox, it still managed to achieve all of its intended effects.

    <hr>

    1. A League of Legends reference. Shurima is the name of a civilization from which several champions arose.

 Chapter 377: Stone Buddha

    <h4>Chapter 377: Stone Buddha</h4>

    He could no longer sense the Yin spirit emanating from the evil ghost within!

    How is it even possible? I can¡¯t sense the presence of any true energy emanating from this young man. But what other possibility is there under the present circumstances, but for the fact that¡­

    A hunting zone with a Hunter-ss evil ghost was destroyed so swiftly and easily? And the man responsible for this is even walking out so casually? Doesn¡¯t this mean that¡­

    Both sides were silent. The expressions of the man in the suit changed vacited back and forth between shock and disbelief, to amazement, and then back to shock and disbelief.

    ¡°You are¡­¡± He drew a deep breath and fervently suppressed the tion welling up in his heart, ¡°An Anitya Hellguard?!¡±

    ¡°How is that even possible¡­¡± The police officer who was smoking immediately froze in shock. The ashes from the cigarette fell onto his clothes, but his eyes werepletely trained on Qin Ye right now. Then, the police officer dropped the cigarette altogether and eximed excitedly, ¡°Really? Is it true? Is he really an Anitya Hellguard?¡±

    Nobody dared to say a single word. Everyone could feel their hearts thumping wildly out of their chests as they stared transfixed at Qin Ye, waiting for his confirmation. On the other hand, Qin Ye simply furrowed his brows, ¡°What¡¯s going on? I¡¯ve already cleared out the hunting zone on your behalf, so why do you still seem so concerned about Valley County?¡±

    Qin Ye nced back at everyone, only to notice how everyone appeared to have an ingratiating smile on their faces. In all likelihood, the police officers were probably well aware that Qin Ye was only passing through, and yet they clearly still bore hope that Qin Ye would be willing to lend them a hand. Qin Ye didn¡¯t say more, and promptly boarded the police car together with the rest.

    That said, Qin Ye noticed a number of wandering spirits drifting about on the streets from time to time. The stores and even the hospital that they passed by were covered densely with talismans and spirit-warding bells. The eerie night breeze swept across the deserted streets, gently tossing about the litter on the ground as though they were paper money fluttering about in the skies of Hell.

    Ding-a-ling¡­ Every household in the region had their own set of talismans and spirit-warding bells sealing off all unwanted visitors from their homes. It was clear that the citizens had all begun to take things into their own hands. Although the government hadn¡¯t yet made things public with the supernatural outbreaks, it was clear that there was a tacit understanding of what was going on. The crisp jingle of the bells reverberated softly through the otherwise silent streets, yet it did nothing to liven the mood. In fact, it only filled the atmosphere with even more destion than before.

    Everyone was clearly living in fear. It was clear that the only moments of sce were in the day, before 6.00 p.m. struck. And even then, nobody dared to linger for long in any dark ces or corridors. Things were even worse after 6.00 p.m., when the entire family would huddle together under their nkets and silently pray to the gods of their faiths that they could make it through yet another night.

    ¡°These are the sins of Hell¡­¡± Qin Ye murmured softly to himself, before slowly shutting his eyes.

    Aren¡¯t you supposed to be benevolent?

    ¡°Qin.¡± Qin Ye responded curtly with a muffled voice. He clearly wasn¡¯t in a good mood in light of the thoughts in his heart.

    Clink¡­ Just then, there was a soft, crisp sound at the windows. Qin Ye nced up momentarily. Just as he was about to retract his gaze, he suddenly whipped his head around and did a double take what was outside the window.

    Pale-white paper money.

    ¡°These are probably just some mischievous ghosts that have strayed from the crowd.¡± Zeng Shuai sighed softly, ¡°Every single part of the county that was once inhabited by humans are prone to strange urrences like these. Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re only slightly stronger than wandering spirits, and they would never dare to approach a cultivator.¡±

    There was a very slight chance that his eyes might have been ying tricks on him, but he could have sworn that one of the sheets of paper money that was earlier stuck on the window earlier¡­ had words written on them!

    Impossible¡­ If this phenomenon had been caused by an evil ghost, there¡¯s no way I wouldn¡¯t be able to see them. Even if they were mutated spirits, I should still be able to detect their presence in the instant that they appeared.

    There¡¯s someone¡­

    From the rearview mirror, Qin Ye could see a long trail of people wearing white mourning robes replete with long fluttering sleeves following right behind the car! They were even holding their palms tightly together!

    In fact what was most peculiar was the fact that even though he couldn¡¯t actually see the procession with his naked eye, he could tell that there was not a single shred of Yin energy emanating from their bodies!

    Rather¡­ their bodies appeared to be shrouded with an aura that they had never felt before. What¡¯s more, they appeared to be corralling their police car towards a particr location!

    No one¡­

    And notwithstanding the fact that he was the only one remaining, the vehicle continued to steer and shift by itself, as though it were driving him to a predestined location!

    Cold sweat slid down the tip of Qin Ye¡¯s nose. He subconsciously nced at the window again, only to realize that¡­ he could still see Zeng Shuai and the rest seated in the vehicle, pale and limp as dead bodies in a morgue. It was almost as though¡­ they were currently trapped in apletely different world.

    The only other exnation for this phenomenon was the fact that he was simply surrounded by Yin energy so overwhelming that it was practically omnipresent. A deathly glint flickered in the depths of his eyes. After all, he had once experienced such a terrifying sensation before.

    Could there be¡­ a Harken-level existence hidden around these parts?

    Just then, the procession of mourners began to chant an eerie song, almost as though they were sobbing and croaking up for the loss of a loved one. They sounded no different from a chorus of crows. Qin Ye turned around and stared at them in horror. The songs of the mourners in the darkness of the night did nothing to reduce the fear coursing through his veins right now. Instead, it only agitated and stirred his heart even more, like water that was added to boiling hot oil!

    Click. The door unlocked itself and opened up.

    It was clear that the wooden niche had seen its fair number of years. The paint was mottled and peeling on all sides, while the remnants of torn red silk fluttered about with the gentle night breeze. Fruits were ced at the statue as offerings to the gods, while the statue itself held two thick red candles that remained lit with a gentle glow. Under the faint illumination of the candlelight, Qin Ye could tell that it was the statue of¡­ Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then turned back, only to realize that the maddening procession of mourners had already vanished with the wind, almost as though it had never appeared to begin with.

    ¡°So¡­ are you the one who called me to this ce?¡±

    Then, just as he decided to stand up, the stone statue suddenly opened his eyes!

    The darkness loomed all around them. Qin Ye could sense that the Yin spirits in the surroundings were crying out in fear as they retreated like an ebbing tide. But he soon discovered to his great dismay that¡­ he waspletely immobilized to the ground!

    Moreover, there was neither hostility nor bloodlust in that abstruse gaze of the statue. Instead, it was only filled withpassion and empathy.

    Ksitigarbha?

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly. He shook his head with great disbelief, and even took some steps back subconsciously. But as soon as he did, he found his sleeves caught by the statue¡¯s zen staff.

    ¡°Get behind me.¡± The stone Buddha slowly spoke, ¡°They¡­ are almost here.¡±

    <hr>

    1. The Eight Consciousnesses are derived from various Buddhist texts. From what I gather, theyprise five physical consciousnesses/senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste, together with three mental consciousnesses/senses that are loosely known as active thought (the sixth consciousness), disturbing emotions/attitudes (the seventh consciousness) and finally reflexive awareness formed from the basis of inferential cognition (the eighth consciousness).

 Chapter 378: Passage of Yin Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 378: Passage of Yin Soldiers</h4>

    Why?

    Why wouldn¡¯t I hide behind Ksitigarbha if he allows me such an indulgence? Do you think I have the qualifications to disobey someone that is on apletely different ne of existence?

    He cowered behind the strongest defensive tower in the game and waited as time slowly ticked by. Then, as soon as the clock struck twelve, the sound of a door opening resounded across all of Valley County.

    Sss¡­ aahhhhh¡­ It was quickly followed by a cacophony of long, ghastly moans.

    Clomp¡­ clomp¡­ The sounds were neat and uniform, and they were formed from objects both near and far. Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and peered beyond the niche for the very first time.

    It waspletely dpidated, and yet it still stood tall like a colossal giant that spanned an area of approximately one hundred meters. However, what was most astonishing was the fact that the weeds growing out of the cracks within the great ancestral hall were now swaying frantically, almost as though they were being stepped on by an invisible force. Furthermore, the damaged, tatterednterns that hung feebly on the walls of the ostensibly abandoned hall abruptly all lit up in unison.

    ¡°These are¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s scalp instantly went numb, ¡°The sounds of footsteps!¡±

    Prr, prr, prrrrr!! A terrifying trumpet red in the distance, as though dering the march of a valiant battalion. Meanwhile, the uniform sound of marching footsteps only grew louder and louder! In fact¡­ Qin Ye could even hear the faint nging of swords and spears against their sheaths!

    Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp¡­ The sound was slowly but surely getting louder and louder. Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts spun rapidly. From the sound of it, he could tell that there was quite the number of Yin soldiers marching over. By his estimates, the number was well in the region of ten thousand soldiers! Notwithstanding the fact that he was an Anitya Hellguard, he wasn¡¯t prepared to risk it all and make a move against the Yin soldiers without knowing everything he could possibly know about them, including what they were armed and equipped with.

    Qin Ye immediately shrunk back and leaned heavily on the stone statue.

    Friend¡­ have you considered the fact that such an action of yours might be seen as rather inappropriate?

    Clomp¡­ clomp¡­ The sounds were drawing closer and closer. Qin Ye clinched the seal in his hand tightly, while cold sweat beaded up on his forehead. He could tell that the Yin soldiers were now no more than five meters away from him, and they would soon be stepping right past his side.

    Then, a split secondter, he heard the even march of the footsteps engulf himpletely, reverberating softly from all around him. His surroundings immediately became chilling and cold, while the trees and flowers, and grass and weed on the ground immediately turned ck and withered as though the entire locality had transformed into thend of the dead! However¡­ there weren''t any sounds of weapons being unsheathed at all!

    What was invisible and unknown was the most terrifying thing. The uniform clomps of the Yin soldiers¡¯ march resounded with a terrifying tempo. It was incessant, invisible, and inescapable. For the next twenty arduous minutes, Qin Ye kept his head held low, until the footsteps finally drew out into the distance. As their footsteps subsided, the air was once again filled with the sounds of fluttering talismans and spirit-warding bells. These sounds felt like a breath of fresh air to him.

    He immediately pulled out his cellphone and began searching for the train ticket to embark on the next leg of his journey¡­

    ¡°Master Qin.¡± Just then, a voice suddenly called out from behind him once more. Without hesitating, Qin Ye immediately materialized his spirit streamer out of thin air andshed straight towards the source of the voice.

    The spirit streamer stopped just one meter away from him, unable to go any further. Zeng Shuai had his palms held together, and he appeared unimaginably peculiar right now.

    If one could describe his earlier aura as that of a budding practitioner who was filled with hope that Qin Ye would resolve all supernatural outbreaks that Valley County was gued by, then the present aura that emanated from his body would could only be described as the feeling of the towering mountains, the boundless oceans and the vast skies altogether.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Qin Ye tightened his grip around the spirit streamer and stared intently at Zeng Shuai.

    It was like a bolt out of the blue. Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Ksitigarbha?¡±

    Whoosh! The Yin spirits within Valley County immediately cried out at the top of their voices as soon as he lifted his head¡­ No, it wasn¡¯t just Valley County. In fact, the strange phenomenon with the Yin spirits was seen across Breakwaters Province and Eastmount Province¡­ Even the spiritually aware Yin spirits located in the Pearl River region paled in horror as they turned to look in the direction of Valley County!

    The woman remained silent, and turned to gaze into the distance. Her eyes flickered softly, and gleamed with an abnormal shade of red.

    ¡°This is¡­ Ksitigarbha? Lord Ksitigarbha?!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Wisps ofhergale immediately rushed into the restaurant, before materializing into entities that were half-knelt to the ground. Majority were Soul Hunters, a third were Hellguards, and three of them were even advanced Judge-ss Yin spirits! The woman clutched at her heaving chest as she ordered with trembling in her voice, ¡°Investigate¡­ Immediately investigate this urrence! Tell me¡­ what the hell is going on right now!!¡±

    The entire restaurant, including all of its staff and diners alike, had been strangled to death and then diced up into countless pieces of flesh by the hair on thedy¡¯s head.

    Back in Valley County. Qin Ye nced about his surroundings with great incredulity. The cries of the Yin spirit from afar told him that there was no need to doubt Zeng Shuai¡¯s identity any longer. After all, such an incredible disy of power¡­ meant that he was undoubtedly the esteemed Lord Ksitigarbha!

    Qin Ye smiled.

    With that, Qin Ye began to walk away. It wasn¡¯t until Qin Ye had covered several meters in distance that Zeng Shuai finally sighed, ¡°Master of the underworld, King Yanluo of Hell¡­ Qin Yanluo, please understand that I¡¯ve also had my difficulties. I know that your heart is gued with grievances, but¡­ please hear me out.¡±

    Nevertheless, he still stopped in his steps and waited for Zeng Shuai¡¯s response.

    ¡°That said¡­ he did possess the power to stop it all.¡± Zeng Shuai lowered his gaze and stared intently at Qin Ye¡¯s back, ¡°The second King Yanluo of Hell possessed strength beyond any of our imaginations. It wouldn¡¯t even be a stretch to suggest that he even held the power to transform and reinvent the world as we know it. Even the Heavenly Dao had to cease its effects if he so desired. His word was literally thews of thends. But¡­ even then, he chose not to do anything about it. Do you know why?¡±

    Qin Ye finally turned around.

    What kind of hidden agenda did he have?

    ¡°Master Qin, have you ever considered that the Hell before yours was purely run on the notion of feudalism? Hell¡¯s system of governance was modeled after the mortal realm. Having been in existence for thousands of years on end, how many powerful ns do you think have emerged in Hell? How many such warlords are there?¡±

    Zeng Shuai spoke hurriedly, almost as though he were afraid that Qin Ye would run away as soon as he stopped, ¡°By the time the second King Yanluo of Hell took charge of affairs, Hell was in truth already at the point of no return. It looked glorious on the outside, but its internal affairs¡­ were no different from the end of the Great Ming Dynasty. There were a thousand holes in the system, each of which were slowly expanded and pulled open with the effluxion of time. Innumerable members of the gentry and royalty slowly emerged from the shadows to be powerful forces to be beheld in their own rights. Even the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces ended up having to negotiate with them on the policies to be implemented. Only the second King Yanluo of Hell possessed the power to keep them in check.¡±

    He gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Can it be changed?¡±

    Qin Ye pursed his lips and grew taciturn.

    And what about Hell?

    Fengdu Necropolis has been in existence for over three thousand years. And this doesn¡¯t even take into consideration the ns and powers that have been in existence since before Fengdu was established. The internal trauma of Hell¡­ must have beenpletely torn apart by the rise of the gentries and royalties.

    Qin Ye had never expected such an opening from his encounter with the esteemed Lord Ksitigarbha himself. But¡­ he finally had a better idea as to what happened to Hell now.

 Chapter 379: The Truth About the Great Collapse

    <h4>Chapter 379: The Truth About the Great Copse</h4>

    Zeng Shuai sighed wistfully, ¡°When I fulfilled the Great Vow and ascended into paradise, the great copse was so powerful that only the second King Yanluo could resist its effects. Not even the first King Yanluo of Hell was spared. However, he didn¡¯t lift a single finger. He remained right there in his pce, watching my ascension with his hands behind his back. I was even pleading for him to resolve the problem that gued the mortal realm and theherworld. Unfortunately¡­ his response was curt and simple.¡±

    Silence.

    After a long time, Qin Ye hazarded a guess, ¡°Without destruction, there can be no renewal?¡±

    Zeng Shuai nodded, ¡°You can¡¯t even begin to fathom the situation that gued the old Hell. The Infernal Judge that apanies you right now has never seen the top secrets of Hell essible only by the upper echelons of Hell. Not even the twelve envoys were privy to such information. To their minds, Hell was simply domineering and powerful. Only the Harken and other Yama-King level entities were aware that Hell was already on the verge of crumbling on itself. If¡­ Hell sustained another invasion akin to the Eight-Nation Alliance that besieged Cathay some time back, then¡­ Hell would truly be in trouble. Furthermore¡­ Hell was already at the point of no return.¡±

    ¡°No matter how powerful the second King Yanluo is, it would still be impossible to resist a coalition formed by the top powers of the world, including Anubis, Thanatos, Yamaraja and Hades. Besides, there¡¯s still the tens of billions of invading Yin soldiers to take into consideration. And worse still, I dare not fathom whether the imperial giants in Hell would even be willing to stand united with Hell when such an invasion urs. Would they see the invaders as enemies? Or would they see it as an opportunity?¡±

    I understand¡­ I finally understand everything.

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully. The second King Yanluo of Hell¡­ was probably of the same mind as thetter Ming Dynasty monarchs - all of them would much rather destroy everything and rebuild it from the ground up than slowly excise the growing tumours in his body.

    That said¡­ not a single emperor has ever brought themselves to do something like that to date.

    Ksitigarbha¡¯s ount had given him a brand new perspective as the second King Yanluo of Hell. For one, the second King Yanluo was not one who coveted the position of Yanluo in the first ce. He might have been a cultivation maniac that is no different from the wuxia novels out there, but the one thing that Qin Ye was certain about was that the office of Yanluo was something he had merely casually assumed along the path of his cultivation journey. He couldn¡¯t be bothered about politics, but he also knew full well that he couldn¡¯t afford topletely turn a blind eye to the trouble that was brewing either. Unfortunately, his greatest failure was his inability to bring himself to do anything about it. Thousands of years of feudal dynasties, replete with thousands of heroes and heroines of their times had been woven into an inextricable, impermeable of intricacies in the old Hell!

    Who was he to move against first?

    The Confucian n? The Mo n? Or the Hundred Schools of Thought?

    Or perhaps the great Han gentry? The Tang gentry? The Sui gentry?

    And then there were still the ghostly citizens and armies that werepletely loyal to the charge of each feudal lord in Hell. Everyone expressly professed their undying allegiance to Hell, but was there any one of them who wasn¡¯t aware of the great web of interdependence that existed among the ns and gentries? Making a move against a single faction would be tantamount to testing the hearts of others.

    Even if the second King Yanluo were unparalleled across all three realms, the eruption of such civil strife would undoubtedly ruin Hell as they knew it. Besides¡­ despite his indomitable strength, could he truly stand tall against abined force of tens of billions of Yin soldiers all at once?

    A force of billions was nothing to be trifled with.

    Change required a catalyst.

    And the best catalyst was naturally an external one, because everything within¡­ was already in aplete deadlock.

    It was no different from a pool of stagnant water.

    The thousands of years of flowing feudalism had be so densely packed and interwoven that it had finally coagted into a pool of stagnant ice - one so thick and impervious that not even the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces or the strongest entity across all three realms were able to break. This was ice that had been formed from the names of far too many historically significant entities, including Liu Bang, Zhang Liang, Li Shimin, Zhao Kuangyin¡­

    Thus¡­ when he finally saw the power of Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension whisking away all Yin spirits of Hell to paradise, the second King Yanluo decided to go with the flow and bury the long legacy of Fengdu Necropolis together with the thousands of years of foiled feudalism.

    What resolve¡­

    Qin Ye was a man of great determination. But he simply couldn¡¯t hold a candle next to the second King Yanluo of Hell. He admired the second King Yanluo for his willingness to stick to his deep resolve.

    ¡°So¡­ you guys ended up searching for me instead?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice was slightly hoarse.

    Zeng Shuai nodded. His voice grew distant as the starry skies, ¡°When I first learnt of King Yanluo¡¯s inclinations, I¡¯d already begun to make preparations for the future. Unfortunately¡­ the fateful day arrived too quickly, and we were still underprepared.¡±

    ¡°Thus, I¡¯d in my final moments entrusted Granny Meng with the tall order to hand the final Emissary of Hell token to the most suitable candidate. This was the most pressing thing on my mind at that time, and this was also why I hadn¡¯t managed to bring away the three daolords and the twelve envoys to paradise with me. After all¡­ next to the weight of Hell¡¯s session, they are¡­pletely insignificant.¡±

    ¡°This was the only thing I could do for Hell back then. After that, I tried various means to re-enter the mortal realm, but¡­ I didn¡¯t have any opportunities to do so.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Qin Ye was befuddled, ¡°With your strength, why do you need someone to invite you to manifest in their bodies? Couldn¡¯t you just destroy the three daolords with a simple flick of your sleeves?¡±

    Zeng Shuai smiled bitterly, ¡°You should be aware that the premise of Hell is built on the foundation of faith. Fear of the unknown begets myths and legends, which gives rise to the system of gods and goddesses. In turn, faith in such systems is the precondition for Hell¡¯s existence. In a way, one could say that the mortal realm is the foundation of the three realms. After all, it is only when Man believes that gods and deities can roam the skies freely. So long as there is no fear¡­ mankind would slowly begin to reject the notion of gods and ghosts, following which we would slowly but surely be unable to enter the mortal realm any longer. Master Qin, think carefully about it. Do you think everything was really due to a careless omission on our part?¡±

    Qin Ye was somewhat taken aback, because he finally understood what Zeng Shuai was getting at.

    Hell would only flourish when mankind continued to fear, have faith and believe in the existence of gods and ghosts. So, when did such fear of ghosts and gods vanish?

    It was the advent of science.

    Incidentally, science was a concept that had only been propounded greatly in recent decades.

    The study of science had pervaded Cathay ever since the nation had opened its borders to foreignnds. The advent of science had led to the diminishing of feudalism, but it also slowly encroached upon the footholds of theologies and beliefs. Although some say that the end of science is theology itself, the current state of science is simply too far away to be usible right now.

    Do Cathayans still believe in gods and ghosts?

    90% of the poption would probably say they still do. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry, was it not?

    Unfortunately, such a cursory belief was hardly the same as faith. It was no more than a response borne out of convenience.

    Qin Ye, too, had once wondered whether the notion of faith and belief was a good thing or not. His personal conviction was that it was a good thing.

    Faith was a notion that was quite different from superstition. Faith begets principles and values through which a person would live life with conviction. But recent developments in the mortal realm appeared to show a growing inclination to the rejection of such notions, even to the point where all forms of spirituality would be censored from modern films and literature. Things were truly getting out of hand.

    Such circumstances were no different from the mortal realm¡¯s rejection of gods and ghosts, or the heavens and theherworld. The Heavenly Dao was still a force that undergirded the world, but how were the gods and ghosts supposed to get by?

    ¡°So¡­ you were unable to return to the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t even disy a fragment of my power in the mortal realm.¡± Ksitigarbha sighed softly, ¡°I¡¯ve got my difficulties as well. Causality undergirds everything around. The seeds that I¡¯ve sown should naturally be handled by the sower himself. Fortunately, I¡¯d managed to find the perfect opportunity to manifest in the mortal realm and meet you face to face, because¡­ I also want to do something for the establishment of the new Hell.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re willing to help me out?¡± Qin Ye eximed in shock. His heart was suddenly stirring with joy.

    ¡°Of course. If Hell isn¡¯t rebuilt, the Yin spirits would have nowhere to go. Speaking of which, haven¡¯t you ever wondered how Cathay¡¯s poption still continues to grow?¡±

    Qin Ye froze.

    He didn¡¯t quite understand what Zeng Shuai was getting at.

    Zeng Shuai smiled softly, ¡°The six paths of reincarnation are no longer in existence. Nobody is being reincarnated, so the poption size should logically be dwindling instead. So why is the poption of Cathay still growing?¡±

    That¡¯s right!

    This was something that had just urred to Qin Ye! Zeng Shuai ced his hands together and continued without missing a beat, ¡°And I¡¯m not the only one. Even the second King Yanluo of Hell isn¡¯t willing to stand idly and watch his sessor rebuild Hell with absolutely nothing. Thus, he has personally changed a part of the Heavenly Dao such that for the next three hundred years, the mortal realm can still continue to experience births and a growth in poption, even in the absence of the six paths of reincarnation. However, due to the urgency of the situation back then, this was the only thing he had managed to do as far as the Heavenly Dao was concerned¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened slightly - What do you mean this is the ¡°only thing¡± he managed to do? Dear, venerable monk, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a rather contrived description of what he¡¯s managed to aplish?!

    Bloody hell¡­ He has practically achieved the impossible! His achievements are practically in the realms of cultivation novels!

    ¡°Furthermore, he has also reinforced the Array of the Nine Gods so as to guarantee that Hell wouldn¡¯t experience an external invasion for a period of two hundred and fifty years. In fact¡­ from what I understand, he¡¯d even personally visited the other underworlds and dealt each of their kings a heavy blow. Otherwise¡­ think about it, the other underworlds might not be able to enter Hell due to the existence of the Array of the Nine Gods, but everyone can see that there is a problem with Hell from the problems manifesting back in the mortal realm. So why haven¡¯t any of the other underworlds sent more darkfeathers?¡±

    He continued gruffly, ¡°Because nobody dares to risk offending the second King Yanluo.¡±

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath, ¡°Then¡­ where¡¯s the second King Yanluo right now? I intend to¡­ invite him to be a patron saint of Hell or something. Why don¡¯t I¡­ cede control of Hell back to him? I¡¯m perfectly fine settling for the title of a head of the military division or something¡­¡±

    Their discussion suddenly took a turn for the weird.

    Zeng Shuai stared back at Qin Ye,pletely dumbfounded for the next five minutes, before finally responding, ¡°Nobody knows where he¡¯s gone. The strength of his cultivation means he¡¯s not confined by the limits of the three realms altogether.¡±

    That¡¯s not fair¡­

    Qin Ye pouted in dismay. He was filled with the urge to pull the second Yanluo back and smack him on the ass - ¡°Do you know what you¡¯ve done? How can you leave me with a bunch of socialists and just go about your own business like that? What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Just then, Zeng Shuai¡¯s body erupted with brilliant light, and blood began to seep out of his seven apertures.

    He froze for a moment, before sighing wistfully, ¡°This body is far too weak. To think that god¡¯s possession could onlyst for such a short period of time with his body¡­ But, I guess that¡¯s fine, because I¡¯ve already said most of what needs to be said. Before I go, I¡¯ve got two gifts I would like to hand over to you.¡±

    We¡¯re finally getting to the point!

    A bell chimed in Qin Ye¡¯s mind, and his entire body tensed itself up on end.

    My big break has finally arrived! I¡¯m going to be propelled to the top of the world! After all, how bad can something bestowed by Lord Ksitigarbha himself possibly be?

    I wonder what it¡¯s going to be? A small vial of priceless pills? A secret manuscript? A heaven-devouring gourd? A god-defying mount? ¡­

    A split secondter, Zeng Shuai pulled out a bell.

    An ordinary looking bell.

    It was full of rust, so much so that it didn¡¯t even ring when shaken.

    Qin Ye stared at it without motioning to receive it.

    The entire scene was suddenly filled with a sense of awkwardness.

    ¡°About that¡­ did you pull out the wrong artifact?¡± Having noticed that Zeng Shuai was still extending the bell to him, Qin Ye tried to prompt him with a friendly reminder, ¡°Don¡¯t you have any artifacts on hand that can elerate the growth of Yin flora and fauna? Or a gourd that wields the power to destroy the world with a single strike? Or perhaps even a wordless manuscript that can allow me to transcend the world? I¡¯d be happy to ept it even if it were just another divine artifact¡­¡±

    Zeng Shuai: ??????

    Don¡¯t you get what I¡¯m trying to say?

    Qin Ye continued to hint desperately to Zeng Shuai, ¡°Look, there¡¯s currently a multitude of things to do around Hell, so don¡¯t you think Hell needs someone powerful to helm its operation? Lord Ksitigarbha, don¡¯t you think I¡¯m a suitable candidate for that? The bones of my body are well-aligned, and I¡¯m a genius that¡¯s only seen once every century or so. I only appear unassuming because an old fogey in my ring has been suppressing the fighting spirit in my body¡­ In short¡­ there¡¯s no one more qualified than I am to receive the bestowment of a powerful legacy!¡±

    What the hell are you talking about?!

    Zeng Shuai¡¯s temples throbbed uncontrobly, and his eyelids twitched as he responded, ¡°This artifact¡­ is called the Yin Beast Bell. I¡¯ve been wearing it for thest thousands of years, and its presence is practically synonymous with mine. The Harken would only listen to themands of the holder of this--...¡±

    Bloody hell!!!

    Qin Ye immediately snatched the bell from Zeng Shuai¡¯s hands, and the atmosphere in the air changed once again.

    How could I have forgotten something like that?! How could it have slipped my mind that the Harken was this old man¡¯s pet? And wouldn¡¯t all pets have their own favourite bell? Something like that¡­ is simply too amazing!

    With it, Hell¡¯s bulwark will finally beplete! It will be utterly and thoroughlyplete!

    Who dares to invade Hell?

    Twelve envoys?

    Three daolords?

    It¡¯s not that I¡¯m looking down on you guys, it¡¯s just a fact that all of you are trash next to me!

    Want to fight me? Say hello to my dear pet first!

    ¡°Excellent treasure!¡± Qin Ye began to caress the rusty bell with great affection, ¡°I won¡¯t hide it from you, but the Harken is currently resting below Hell, and it sees us as its mortal enemy¡­¡±

    Zeng Shuai furrowed his brows, ¡°The Harken isn¡¯t a Yin beast that doesn¡¯t listen to exnations¡­ Did you guys¡­ do something to it?¡±

    Qin Ye was just ying with the bell in his hands when he suddenly paused and responded with an inexplicably natural expression, ¡°How is that possible¡­ Do I look like such a person to you?¡±

    Yes, you do¡­ Speaking of which, every sessive King Yanluo of Hell seems to be getting more and more extreme¡­ Zeng Shuai¡¯s lips trembled slightly, but chose to remain silent.

    ¡°The next gift from me isn¡¯t a Yin artifact. Rather, it¡¯s a phrase. But this phrase contains far more significance than even the Harken itself.¡± Zeng Shuai stared intently at Qin Ye, ¡°Do you know what the passage of Yin soldiers earlier signifies?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    ¡°This is the answer.¡± Zeng Shuai looked him straight in the eye, and continued gravely, ¡°Remember, if you¡¯re going to reestablish Hell, you¡¯re going to have to keep the ¡®flow¡¯ in mind. Those Yin soldiers earlier¡­ are the embodiment of truth of the ¡®greater flow¡¯. This is why I¡¯d brought you to this particr location in the first ce!¡±

    ¡°Hell has copsed. The mortal realm is changing, and so are the underworld and Limbo. The answers you seek cannot possibly be found back in the old Hell. You need real answers; you need to see the truth about the evil ghosts that still remain in the mortal realm to date. Valley County holds the key to these questions! In fact¡­ it is so crucial that it will determine the next course of actions you¡¯re going to undertake!¡±

    1. All famous people of China¡¯s history. Feel free to search them up on wikipedia. I won¡¯t introduce them unless they are important to the plot lines.

    2. The array itself was supposed to havested for 250 years, so I imagine he would have improved it by another 250 years. An alternative interpretation might be that Zeng Shuai was referring to it prospectively, meaning it would still be in force for 250 years from now, and that the second King Yanluo had merely extended it by 100 years.

 Chapter 380: Advancement to Judge

    <h4>Chapter 380: Advancement to Judge</h4>

    As Lord Ksitigarbha spoke, the golden light emerging from his body only grew brighter and more brilliant. Blood had even begun to seep out of the pores on his body.

    The physical body was clearly on the verge of copse. Qin Ye staggered back slightly, before sighing wistfully, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ leaving us again?¡±

    Golden rays of light rushed up to the sky, only to transform into golden petals that slowly drifted back down. That said, Zeng Shuai¡¯s expressions were filled with a sense ofpassion and eager expectation. He nodded to Qin Ye, ¡°Yes¡­ I cannot stay in the mortal realm for much longer. Master Qin, I¡¯ll see you again soon.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an interesting person.¡± His body was beginning to vanish amidst the overwhelming radiance of golden light, ¡°There are only six people in this world who are ageless and immortal. You are undoubtedly the most unique one of them all¡­ Most of them have be numb with the passage of time. Some even go so far as tomit suicide in order to be born afresh on apletely clean te¡­ Although you¡¯re the youngest one of them all, you¡¯ve undoubted carved out for yourself apletely different life from the rest.¡±

    ¡°Some may say you¡¯re childish and immature, but¡­ you couldn¡¯t be bothered about these passingments. You don¡¯t care about the things you say to the people unfamiliar to you, or what they think of you at all. Yet you remain willing to do everything you can for those who you care about. You act as you please, yet continue to take care not to hurt those around you. You know exactly when to push a point, and when to back off, and you even keep a lingering trace of your primal instincts around. The trials and tribtions that you¡¯ve been through in life have only imbibed you with a wealth of experience and wisdom. How rare. How truly rare.¡±

    ¡°Othersugh at me for being crazy and foolish, but Iugh with them because their eyes are blinded to the truth. Amitabha.¡±

    With that, the golden light in his body erupted with great brilliance, dazzling the surroundings and causing Qin Ye to cover his eyes. By the time the brilliance faded, Qin Ye discovered that he was once again standing in front of the stone Buddha statue in the Buddhist niche.

    If not for the fact that there was now a rusty bell hidden in the heart of his palm, he might well have dismissed the entire sequence of events as no more than a mere illusion.

    He fell into deep thought.

    What else is hidden within Valley County?

    What¡¯s so important that it warrants the personal appearance of Lord Ksitigarbha and a parting word of caution?

    The fact that Yin spirits could manipte their surroundings and even conceal it from an Emissary of Hell means that things were definitely not simple!

    ¡°He even mentioned that the truth would influence the next course of action I¡¯m going to undertake. What actions am I supposed to undertake? Establish a trade route? Further construction works in Hell? Connecting with the twelve envoys? He may have gained enlightenment, but the manner in which he carries himself is still incredibly enigmatic¡­¡± Qin Ye scratched his head with intense frustration. He hated hearing such mysterious words. Why couldn¡¯t he give a more upfront exnation?

    ¡°Regardless, it seems like I have to spend some time in Valley County after all¡­¡± He gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve, ¡°Valley County, two hundred kilometers from the City of Salvation. The first ce to start my recruitment drive for the Dusk Legionnaire, as well as the first location to receive a Beacon of Light. I¡¯d be killing two birds with one stone!¡±

    That¡¯s right.

    Everything else could take a backseat¡­ that is, everything save for the main objective that had catalysed his decision to travel eastwards.

    And that was to pave the way from the City of Salvation to Martial City!

    Whaty ahead of him was still fuzzy and blue, but¡­ all he needed to do was to focus on the objectives at hand.

    That said¡­ Qin Ye somehow always had his means of sensing potential dangers that were looming over the horizon¡­

    Put differently, Qin Ye¡¯s cowardly instincts were bristling with fear once more.

    He patted his clothes and stood up, before promptly activating the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and returning straight back into Hell.

    ¡°Arti.¡± He smiled brightly like a little butterfly beside Arthis, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that I¡¯m filled with vitality today?¡±

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­

    Arthis nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to give him two tight ps across his cheeks. She simply couldn¡¯t bear to see someone act this way around her!

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± She gritted her teeth and responded against her will¡­ I can see that you¡¯re brimming with vitality indeed¡­

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t we make the best of this glorious day and sprightly mood in the air and raise my spirit straight through the roof and into the realms of an Infernal Judge?¡±

    Arthis turned to gaze nkly at the dank, dark skies, wondering whether she could still validly rescind her previous offer to Qin Ye.

    Secondster, Arthis gnashed her teeth and barked at Qin Ye, ¡°Then, get your ass straight to the Hall of Tremors! Advancing to the ranks of an Infernal Judge is fairly easy given that you have Hell¡¯s Records at your disposal. However, the entire process may take a week or so. You¡¯ve got to be mentally prepared.¡±

    Qin Ye went straight to the Hall of Tremors.

    Arthis had clearly been making preparations for some time. As soon as he entered the Hall of Tremors, he immediately noticed a circle of arcane talismans that were stered all over the floor, seemingly haphazardly. That said, it was clear that there was order in chaos, and there was even amp ced on each node on the ground.

    Qin Ye rubbed his hands together with glee. Infernal Judge¡­ I¡¯m going to be an Infernal Judge soon! This damn silicone woman is going to get it soon¡­ I¡¯m going to show her what true authority actually means!

    I¡¯ve had enough of her antics for the entire year. Games, recharging of funds, and even catching up on drama serials¡­. We¡¯ll ount for all of these overdue debts of yours in one week¡¯s time!

    When Arthis arrived at the Hall of Tremors, the first thing she was greeted by was a radiant smile and a bright glint in his eye that told her he was ready.

    ¡°Why does it feel like¡­ allowing a scumbag like you to be an Infernal Judge¡­ is a great insult to all civil servants of Hell¡­¡± Arthis flicked her finger with a soft sigh. The twenty crates of Yin spirit stones that were ced right outside of the central furnace immediately opened up and poured right into the furnace like a massive tide. There was a massive roar, and a massive congration erupted and flowed straight through the gully on all sides.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Arthis boomed as she manifested her true form. Arakshasa, the colossal head slowly began to hover in the air like a majestic dragon, and her hair flowed magnificently across the entire space.

    Qin Ye retracted the smile on his face and nodded deeply.

    Arthis closed her eyes.

    She didn¡¯t open her mouth to say a single word, and yet a profound, ancient incantation began to resound from all directions. Her hair fluttered wildly in the sky, each of which acting as appendages that were forming a series of hand seals.

    The hand seals were incredibly strange. Not only did they not dissipate after some time. Instead, their lustre lingered in the air for some time, before floating up into the sky like beautiful butterflies. The number of such butterflies grew greater and greater, and their shape also grew more and moreplicated. After two full hours, Arthis cried out softly, and the talismans on the ground immediately rushed towards Qin Ye with incredible force!

    Boom!

    Just then, the mes on the ground trembled in unison, and a massive inferno roared into the sky, setting all of the talismans on fire. The next moment, the talismans began to swirl madly, transforming into a colossal vortex of me that revolved around Qin Ye.

    Whooooooo¡­ It was as though the Yin energy in the vicinity was answering the summons of the vortex of me. They quickly converged onto Qin Ye¡¯s position and condensed into a dense wave of Yin energy that promptly spun around Qin ye.

    And then¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s consciousness faded away.

    Meanwhile, just as the vortex of Yin energy began to swirl around his body, Hell¡¯s Record also emerged from his chest, desperately absorbing the surrounding Yin energy and infusing it straight through his body like a conduit. Just like that, the Yin energy in the surroundings continued to rush into his body, filling him up to the point of bursting.

    His body swelled and shrank, and swelled and shrank. The Yin energy within appeared to grow purer with every expansion and contraction that his body underwent, almost as though his body were slowly refining its energy into a higher order of power.

    It felt warm.

    It was like being in a mother¡¯s womb. The originally cold and frigid Yin energy was slowly transforming into a stream of warm energy that suffused throughout his body, filling him with a deep sensation that drove his consciousness to the back of his mind.

    It was akin to a metamorphosis of sorts, where he could subconsciously feel that he was slowly getting stronger. That said, he also wanted to continue indulging in that endless reverie of his.

    By the time Arthis managed to catch her breath, Qin Ye had already transformed into a massive cocoon of Yin energy - one that was farrger than the one that had enveloped him earlier when he was bing an Anitya Hellguard. The cocoon was almost a kilometer in size, and there were even faint Sanskrit words gleaming at the top of it all.

    A sea of Yin energy billowed and roiled all around the cocoon like a vast ocean of Yin energy. The cocoon rose from the heart of the heart of it all like a great pir that connected the seas and the skies. And there, an indomitable pressure belonging to an Infernal Judge began to unfurl slowly.

    Arthis closed her eyes and quietly stood guard by Qin Ye¡¯s side. Her hair silently weaved together to form a series of chains that watched the entrance like poisonous vipers, ready to strike at the moment¡¯s notice. Any Yin spirit that entered the Hall of Tremors at this point in time, regardless of who it was, would undoubtedly be assaulted by the full force of the great Arakshasa of Hell.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Time passed by quickly, and a week zipped by in the blink of an eye. A web of hair was spread out everywhere within the Hall of Tremors. Arthis remainedpletely motionless, almost akin to a wooden sculpture, while the massive cocoon in front of her was ostensibly ripe and ready to burst open at the moment¡¯s notice!

    Countless wisps of Yin energy were moring and roaring from within the cocoon, as though they were fighting to burst through the shell outside, even as endless Sanskrit scriptures glowed intermittently around the cocoon. It was clear that the aura of an Infernal Judge apart from Arthis had just appeared in the Hall of Tremors.

    This aura was different from Arthis in many ways. The air about Arthis was cold and cruel, while the breath of this Infernal Judge felt purer and vast.

    Just then, one of the hairs that had been spread into a web shifted slightly.

    Arthis opened her eyes and immediately looked to the sky. Ka-ka-ka-ka¡­ A split secondter, the cocoon of Yin energy that was suspended in mid air began to buzz with a violent hum. Momentster, it suddenly ruptured and erupted with a resounding bang!

    It was as though an avnche had run into the seas, causing the waves top against the shores. A blurry silhouette appeared out of the churning clouds of Yin energy, and the breath of an Infernal Judge instantly cascaded down to the grounds below. Despite the fact that they were currently located within the Hall of Tremors, a location that was well beneath the subterranean reaches of Hell, all of the Yin spirits residing on the surface of Hell could sense the aura of the new Judge that had appeared.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Gu Qing suddenly lowered his head and stared at the ground with great surprise, ¡°Infernal Judge¡­ this is an aura that appears to be on the same level as Lady Arakshasa!¡±

    Boom!!!

    Before he could even finish speaking, a massive pir of Yin energy erupted from beneath the grounds like a raging geyser. Countless spots ofhermes darted about the skies in a frenzy, while the trees on the ground swayed violently about under the overbearing pressure that had just been introduced to Hell. Even the colossal money tree in the far reaches of Hell trembled slightly at the emergence of the second Infernal Judge of Hell.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± The Yin spirits of Hell were immediately taken aback. The geyser of Yin energy had erupted from the ground just like what once used to be a dormant volcano. Then, before they could even recover from their great shock, a second geyser appeared¡­ and then a third¡­ and then innumerable others! The entire Hell appeared to be a deting balloon that had sprung a leak in several locations!

    ¡°Infernal Judge¡­ this is undoubtedly an Infernal Judge!¡± Huang Liangchuan trembled right under the money tree. He had just been instructing other Yin spirits on how they should be designing the other banknotes of Hell. However, none of the Yin spirits were drawing right now. Everyone was simply staring out of the window, gazing at the incredible phenomenon where innumerable geysers of Yin energy were pouring straight out of the surface of the ground.

    ¡°There¡¯s another Infernal Judge in Hell right now?¡± ¡°Who is it¡­ could it be Lord Qin himself?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ is this what an Infernal Judge is like when they go all out? How terrifying¡­¡±

    But they weren¡¯t the only ones. Every single Yin spirit in Hell was ncing in astonishment at their surroundings. Countless geysers of Yin energy were still rushing into the sky, transforming into a vast cloud of Yin energy in the air before sting straight down to the ground with immense pressure. None of the Yin spirits were even able to gasp in horror as they subconsciously obeyed the primal instincts in their hearts and knelt down in fear.

    The entire Hell was shrouded in silence at that very moment. Everyone was kneeling on the ground, paying tribute to the direction of the Hall of Tremors.

    Underground. Arthis looked up at Qin Ye with a faint smile on her face, ¡°Lord Qin, how does it feel?¡±

    ¡°Infernal Judge. You now have the ability to hover in the air for half an hour, and the power at your disposal is leaps and bounds greater than when you were a mere Anitya Hellguard. Congrattions. You¡¯ve finally arrived at the final stages of the middle grade Yin spirits. It must be said that there were only a thousand and two hundred Infernal Judges back in the old Hell. Moving forward, you¡¯ll be looking forward to the ranks of Abyssal Prefect - something that had only ever been experienced by hundreds of people in the history of Hell. When that timees, you¡¯ll truly be considered a first-rate official of Hell. By then, every step you take will cause thousands of evil ghosts to retreat in fear!¡±

 Chapter 381: I Am Still Your Daddy

    <h4>Chapter 381: I Am Still Your Daddy</h4>

    Qin Ye remained suspended in the air. His hat was no longer the pointed hat that he donned when he was an Anitya Hellguard. Rather, it now appeared no different from the Zhong Kui hats worn by traditional operatic actors. He wore ck imperial robes, with images of the Harken and the xiezhi unicorn embroidered on his left and right sleeves respectively. He held what appeared to be a Judgment Pen in his left hand, and what appeared to be the Book of Life and Death in his right hand. A graphic image of evil ghosts being vanquished was embroidered over the chest area of his robes. His belt buckle was made of luxurious jade, and his shoes were jet-ck in colour. His entire ensemble appeared far more exquisite than that of an Anitya Hellguard.

    ¡°I¡¯m an Infernal Judge?¡± He lifted his hands and examined the pen and book in his hands.

    He could sense that these artifacts were what used to be the demonhead sabre and the mourning staff that he had used in the past. It had simply changed forms, and naturally gained new functions as well. That said¡­ the pen was clearly mightier than the sword!

    In fact, it contained far more power within than even the mourning staff he had used as a Hellguard!

    He picked up the pen and gently dotted the air. There was immediately a loud tremor, and the space right in front of the Judgment Pen suddenly exploded with a roar no different than a sonic boom. It was almost as though he had just unleashed the most powerful drawing technique known to man, and the resultant impact sent Arthis¡¯ hair scattering about wildly.

    ¡°Haa--...¡± He gasped slightly. Is this truly the might of an Infernal Judge? I guess¡­ Arthis had clearly been holding back all this while. She mustn¡¯t even have used a tenth of the strength avable to her?

    Something told him that if he had gone all out, even the thick walls that were hundreds of meters away would bepletely sted through by the immense power now at his disposal!

    Arthis chuckled, ¡°Judgement Pen and the Book of Life and Death. These are no more than imitations of the true divine artifacts on which the foundations of Hell are built upon. As a Judge, the coverage of your senses have now expanded to the size of a province. So long as you will it, there¡¯s not a ce within a province-sized Hell that you wouldn¡¯t be able to see. And when you so desire to summon any Yin spirit before you, all you need to do is to write that Yin spirit¡¯s name on the imitation Book of Life and Death with the imitation Judgment Pen in your possession.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Then, he closed his eyes and began to sense the Yin energy flowing within his body. It was peculiar¡­ he could actually see and perceive the flow of energy within his organs and bones right now.

    Everything appearedpletely transparent to his newfound senses. What appeared to flow within the marrows of his bones was no longer blood, but Yin energy. Furthermore, his bones appeared to have been refined so much that they now appeared crystal clear, just like the Yin spirit stones that he had used for his breakthrough.

    Needless to say, there was no doubt that his body could withstand far greater punishment right now.

    After several minutes, he finally opened his eyes and suppressed the wild ecstasy in his heart as he curled his finger provocatively at Arthis, ¡°p me. I want to fight ten of you!¡±

    Arthis smiled menacingly, ¡°Then¡­ do be careful.¡±

    ¡°This time, I¡¯m going to go all out.¡±

    As soon as she finished speaking, countless spots ofhermes promptly erupted from her back. The sight of her technique looked incredibly familiar¡­ Then, just as Qin Ye¡¯s lips trembled, Arthis muttered, ¡°Ten Thousand Ghosts Ravage the Soul.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ NO! Wait! Hang on a moment! That¡¯s not what I meant¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, he simply wasn¡¯t given the luxury of time to wallow in his regrets. A tide of Yin spirits promptly rushed over, with each spot ofherme representing a grievous, burning soul. They screamed and shrieked and erupted with great Yin energy. Qin Ye cried out in rm and immediately curled up into a ball and held his hands tightly over his head.

    Bloody hell!!!

    Don¡¯t you know what a p refers to?!

    I¡¯m giving you an inch, and you¡¯re trying to take a mile?! Are you trying to get me kille--... Eh? Hang on¡­

    The copious amounts of Yin energy exploded around him with incredible tremors. Three full minutester, Qin Ye slowly lowered his hands with great astonishment and stared at the Prestige of the Luminary that surrounded his body.

    It was farrger than what it had been before when he was still an Anitya Hellguard. The Prestige of the Luminary was now a visible shield that epassed a sphere of ten-meters radius around Qin Ye. Arthis¡¯ powerful technique had struck the surface of Qin Ye¡¯s defenses, but it hardly left a single trace on it altogether.

    Ahh¡­ Qin Ye finally lifted his hand and ran his hand smugly through his somewhat disheveled hair. He coughed lightly, ¡°You¡¯re nothing much¡­¡±

    It had to be said that his actions appeared so natural that it even made Arthis second guess whether it was indeed Qin Ye who had been turtling up just moments ago.

    Nevertheless, Arthis rolled her eyes softly at him, ¡°You¡¯d be far more convincing if your legs weren¡¯t trembling so much.¡±

    Qin Ye cleared his throat and wisely ignored herst statement as he began to turn his attention to the Yin energy coursing through his body once again. If he wished, he could now finally project his form elsewhere like Arthis had once done, a technique moremonly known as the manifestation of the saint.

    He nced around using his inner senses. Not a single part of Hell was hidden to these ¡®eyes¡¯ of his. In fact, when he turned his attention to the rumbling clouds of dense Yin energy at the borders of Hell, he could tell that his senses could still go further, yet they were artificially obstructed by the borders in existence.

    Ten minutester, he finally retracted his senses and opened his eyes, ¡°So this is what an Infernal Judge is capable of¡­ It¡¯s on apletely different level from an Anitya Hellguard.¡± Then¡­ he turned to look at Arthis with an unkind expression undergirding his gaze.

    Arthis immediately caught sight of it. She promptly lifted her chin proudly and nced down at Qin Ye with disdain.

    An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. It¡¯s time for payback.

    Qin Ye sighed softly, ¡°You¡¯vee.¡±

    Arthis paused for a moment, and then immediately understood what he was getting at, ¡°Yes, I¡¯vee.¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have.¡±

    Arthis: ¡°But I have.¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°And I knew you would.¡±

    Arthis: ¡°Of course I would. And you would¡¯ve known this as well. Otherwise, why would you have let me leave a year ago?¡±

    Arthis lowered her gaze and stared intently at her long ck nails that were slowly elongating from her fingers. After some time, she slowly remarked, ¡°It¡¯s been a year¡­ A whole year.¡±

    ¡°What a long year it¡¯s been.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°What a short year.¡±

    Arthis: ¡°... You¡¯re addicted to it, aren¡¯t you? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re going too far with your role-ying with Fu Hongxue and Yan Nanfei¡¯s famous exchange? Can we make a move already?¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, ¡°Aren¡¯t we¡­ simply raring ourselves up for the battle ahead? The great duel to settle a grudge between father and son should always be preceded by a stirring exchange--¡­¡±

    He promptly transformed into ahergale and pounced towards Arthis before he could even finish speaking.

    It was a sneak attack to start off the duel - Qin Yanluo style.

    Arthis chuckled coldly and transformed into an equal, opposinghergale that shed powerfully against Qin Ye. It was like the sh of two mighty pythons, and the subterranean cavern immediately trembled and roiled with copious amounts of Yin energy.

    Qin Ye exploded with rage, ¡°Seizing myptop, huh?!!¡±

    ¡°Calling me dogballs, huh?!!¡±

    ¡°Looking down on me, huh?!!¡±

    ¡°You berate me and smack me around whenever you feel like it! And yet your greatest sin against me is when you used a silicone doll to disgrace me thoroughly!!!¡±

    Ten secondster, with a loud smack, the roiling Yin wind promptly scattered to the surroundings, revealing a peculiar sight of Arthis holding Qin Ye down by the ear, and Qin Ye grimacing in painful submission. Footlong nails extended out of his hands, and he frantically scratched at Arthis, yet to no avail at all, ¡°And¡­ and y-you still dare assault me, huh?!!¡±

    It was theplete sight of a tiff between roommates.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got quite the sharp tongue, haven¡¯t you?¡± Arthis muttered coldly as she twisted Qin Ye¡¯s ear, causing him to squeal like a pig in the ughterhouse.

    ¡°What¡¯s a junior Judge like you with no arts or techniques at his disposal doing challenging one of the top fifty Infernal Judges of the old Hell? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re overestimating yourself?¡± She casually waved her hand, and Qin Ye copsed straight to the ground.

    Three secondster, Qin Ye leapt straight to his feet and bellowed with rage, ¡°This ispletely unscientific!!! Aren¡¯t you supposed to be no better off than a rogue Yin spirit right now? I¡¯m of the same rank as you, so why can¡¯t I instakill you?!!¡±

    Arthis yawnedzily, ¡°I¡¯d long known that you¡¯ve been harboring a grudge against me. Therefore¡­ I¡¯ve made sure to personally preside over your promotion ceremony.¡±

    ¡°Do you know something? Anyone who presides over the promotion ceremony of another would gain the benefit of having their authority rub off on them. Thanks to you, I¡¯m already considered half a civil servant of Hell, and undoubtedly also an Emissary of the new Hell. I may not be considered someone who is officially appointed, but my name would still appear in Hell¡¯s Records as it stands right now. So on what basis are you going to instakill me? Whoo¡­ Do you know how long I¡¯ve waited for this day? Three hundred and sixty-five long days and nights! I¡¯d already known since the start that you were going to put me in my ce as soon as you attain the same rank as me!¡±

    Picking a fight with me?

    You¡¯re still too young and too immature!

    Nggghhh¡­ this is my loss! Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and summarily shelved all thoughts of revenge. It¡¯s fine¡­ I¡¯ll be promoted to an Abyssal Prefect in no time¡­ He picked up Hell¡¯s Records and flipped to his name, only to realize that he was now five million merit points away from the next promotion.

    It¡¯s fine¡­ revenge is a dish best served cold¡­ I¡¯ll sooner orter have you begging for mercy¡­

    ¡°What kind of expression is that in your eyes right now?¡± Arthis was displeased, ¡°Get lost if there¡¯s nothing more you need right now! Look at what kind of example you¡¯re setting for the rest?! Oda Nobunaga has already led your army to a great battle in the depths of the old Hell, so how can you, the King Yanluo of Hell, be dallying about and not setting up the Beacons of Light?! Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a deadweight around here?!¡±

    Endure¡­ I¡¯m still no match for this shrew at the time being¡­ He dusted his sleeves and straightened his robed, ¡°Well, there¡¯s one more thing. I¡¯ve just encountered Lord Ksitigarbha.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Arthis responded indifferently.

    ¡°... What kind of a response is that? Shouldn¡¯t you be incredibly shocked by something like that? Where¡¯s the expression of astonishment? Why is there such a nd look on your face?¡±

    Arthis waved her hand impatiently, ¡°That¡¯s just because there wasn¡¯t sufficient lead up to the incredible news you were disclosing. You should¡¯ve at the very least retracted that smile on your face and revealed an air of sobriety. Look at your expression now, it¡¯s no different from that which you have stered all over your face when you discharge your daily excrements. How do you expect me to respond appropriately?¡±

    Ahh¡­dy¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s hands shook softly, and the Yin Beast Bell appeared in his hands.

    ¡°Lord Harken¡¯s bell?¡± Arthis gasped in horror as she stared at Qin Ye, ¡°You¡­ seriously encountered Lord Ksitigarbha?!¡±

    ¡°I mean¡­ didn¡¯t I just tell you exactly that? Did you really think I was kidding earlier?!¡±

    ¡°... But our earlier exchange¡­ made me think that you were justing up with something more to annoy me with¡­¡±

    Qin Ye felt like throwing up. Do you really think I¡¯m capable of joking about something like that? Something else to annoy you with? Do you know how much you¡¯re annoying me right now?!

    Endure¡­ endure¡­ Qin Ye took several more deep breaths to regte his roiling emotion. Then, he slowly recalled to mind the words that Ksitigarbha had left him with, and his expressions turned somber once again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you more about our encounterter.¡± Qin Ye retracted his smile and then murmured, ¡°Have you ever heard of Valley County? Was it a location that had ever been recorded as part of the Annals of Hell?¡±

    Arthis shook her head without even thinking much about it, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows deeply.

    ¡°I¡¯m certain.¡± Arthis nodded, ¡°Apart from Fengdu Necropolis, every single city and county in Hell are well known to us. For instance, we¡¯ve got the Argen Town that is known to be the bulwark stopping the advance of the Middle East underworld, or the Darksnow City that guards against the Hanyang underworld. Valley County¡­ unfortunately does not belong to any one of these names. Furthermore, I can be sure that this wasn¡¯t a location that a renowned Abyssal Prefect once used to live in. After all, we¡¯ve heard all about the birth and life of the esteemed Prefects in Hell for hundreds of years.¡±

    Qin Ye gazed deeply into Arthis¡¯ eyes, before suddenly remarking, ¡°Why did you think I suddenly returned, asking for your help to promote me to an Infernal Judge? There aren¡¯t many incarnate revenants in the mortal realm to begin with, and it wouldn¡¯t be for another half a month until I arrive in Martial City either. So, there simply isn¡¯t any reason for me to be in such a hurry.¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t even have to think about it, ¡°Of course it¡¯s because you felt threatened¡­ I¡¯ve got to hand it to you¡­ your nose is far sharper than any Yin dog¡¯s nose that I know of. And you even run away from danger faster than any rabbits in Hell--¡­ Wait a minute!¡±

    She paused for a moment, before staring back at Qin Ye with widened eyes, ¡°Threatened?¡±

    ¡°What entity is there that possesses the ability to threaten your existence? I don¡¯t think you¡¯re the type to be actively provoking an incarnate revenant to begin with.¡±

    ¡°So, are you saying that¡­ there might be something that poses a threat to your life and limb back in Valley County?¡±

    1. For those of you who have forgotten, Zhong Kui is a deity known as the vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings. Here¡¯s an image of the cap he is usually depicted to wear.

    2. This was the technique she had used against the Harken.

    3. Their exchange is apparently a well-known part of a series of wuxia novels by Gu Long known as Xiaoli Feidao.

 Chapter 382: Rift

    <h4>Chapter 382: Rift</h4>

    He recounted Ksitigarbha¡¯s final ¡®gift¡¯ to Arthis with a frown on his face, ¡°Answers? What answers? What¡¯s the next course of action I¡¯m supposed to undertake? What could it possibly be? Lord Ksitigarbha had even mentioned that this was of far greater importance than the Yin Beast Bell itself.¡±

    Suppressing her curiosity about Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s appearances, she lowered her head and mulled over the situation. Both sides had their brows knitted tightly together. Several momentster, Arthis finally shook her head, ¡°Give me more details. How did you encounter Lord Ksitigarbha? What exactly transpired? What exactly did he say? What were your surroundings like? Don¡¯t miss a single detail.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve considered many possibilities, and even though I don¡¯t wish to admit it, but¡­ I sincerely believe that Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s word of caution is likely directed at the uing eastbound expedition. But what exactly could it be? What could be of such great importance that it warrants Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s word of caution in person?¡± Qin Ye continued with great hesitance, ¡°I¡¯ve also looked into other anciry matters. Martial City is neither a famous city nor the site of a great historical battle. In fact, it was only formally recognized as a county after the establishment of modern day Cathay as we know it. Under such circumstances¡­ what could possibly be so pressing that it requires my urgent personal attention? Any thoughts?¡±

    None of them said a single word.

    Arthis finally paused, but shook her head.

    But before Qin Ye could even express his distress, Arthis promptly waved her hand, and a strand of white hair appeared in her palm.

    ¡°Arya Sense, also known as the tathagata substrate.¡± Arthis gently blew on the white hair, causing it to drift up into the air, where it promptly burst into mes, ¡°This is thest of the eight Buddhist consciousnesses. It¡¯s impossible for anyone in the mortal realm to cultivate the Arya Sense, while only Judge-ss Emissaries of Hell are able to even begin cultivating it¡­ The Arya Sense allows a person to open his mind¡¯s eye and perceive things that Yin spirits otherwise wouldn¡¯t be able to. Furthermore¡­ it can even predict the urrence of an event in future.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s hair stood on end, ¡°So--...¡±

    ¡°The second question I asked was what exactly is the rtionship between Valley County and the eastbound expedition¡­¡± She nodded towards the ground, ¡°Take a look for yourself.¡±

    Arthis promptly exined, ¡°This means that everything in Valley City is inextricably intertwined with the eastbound expedition. But what the hell does this even mean? I¡¯m racking my brains, but I can¡¯t seem to find the link!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still in the mood for jokes?¡± Arthis chuckled softly as she waved her hands, causing a screen of Yin energy to appear before Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye gasped as soon as he saw it.

    In fact, the mark was in the shape of a character - an ink-ck Cathayan character for the word ¡®Ë®¡¯.

    ¡°Do you remember when this happened?¡± Arthis asked.

    Arthis nodded, but her expression remained as grave as ever, ¡°I¡­ remember this mark.¡±

    Arthis responded cidly, ¡°Confucius of Eastmount. Furthermore, I can tell from the nature of the seal that it¡¯s something that is only used in Hell. In other words, this is a Confucian seal that is used in Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s back was covered with sweat. Confucius¡­ It¡¯s actually the Confucian Family!

    He forced himself to calm down. There were just too many points of suspicion concerning the events to date. He shut his eyes and slowly sorted through his thoughts for the next ten minutes, before finally speaking up once more, ¡°The celebrities of the Confucian Family should already have been whisked off to paradise by Lord Ksitigarbha during his ascension. After all, Lord Ksitigarbha had earlier mentioned that the only ones who slipped through the are the three daolords and the twelve envoys. Besides, shouldn¡¯t the Confucian Family be more tame and mild-mannered? And why are they targeting me in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Then, how did he possibly escape from Ksitigarbha¡¯s grasp during his ascension? Not even the daolords were able to prevent themselves from being whisked off into paradise, so what makes him different from the rest?¡± Qin Ye calmly analyzed the situation.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered softly. He had a hunch that Arthis had just located the key to unlocking this mystery, and they were on the verge of a breakthrough.

    ¡°As for your question on the identity of the culprit, it¡¯s likely that the culprit is someone who has discovered something of great importance in Valley County, or someone who has done something of grave significance. Isn¡¯t it a well-known fact that Valley County doesn¡¯t have any cultivators stronger than an Operative-ss expert? At least, that was the case before you showed up. In order to prevent you from foiling their ns, it would naturally be crucial to cut you down and nip the problem at the bud. Put differently¡­ you¡¯ve basically stepped into the wrong ce at the wrong time.¡±

    The clouds of suspicion were thick and dense, and it was only by pulling on each and every thread of clue that one could truly ensure his own safety.

    Arthis nodded nkly.

    ¡°They¡¯re undoubtedly Yin spirits who were once a part of Hell. It¡¯s reasonable to guess that they were exiles who were banished to Limbo. After all, that¡¯s the only way to exin how they managed to elude the grasp of Ksitigarbha. But¡­ how does someone from Limbo enter the mortal realm?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s analysis was like a bolt of lightning that sted away the clouds in Arthis¡¯ mind. This time, even Arthis sensed that there was now only an inexplicably thin veil separating them from the truth.

    ¡°I get it¡­ I finally get it!¡± Arthis spoke hurriedly, ¡°Lord Ksitigarbha is trying to tell us that the impact of Hell¡¯s copse must have breached the walls of Limbo and created rifts which allow passage between Limbo and the mortal realm! That¡¯s right¡­ do you still remember who Cao Youdao is? And do you remember the entrance to hisir?! It¡¯s exactly there that we first discovered the Harken¡¯s presence!¡±

    ¡°In other words, the criminals who were once exiled from the depths of Hell¡­ might well be using these rifts to infiltrate the mortal realm once more! Arti, how many of these criminals do you estimate there to be?¡±

    She locked eyes with Qin Ye, ¡°That there aren¡¯t many who can survive such an ordeal! After all, Limbo¡­ Well, it¡¯s a realm that we¡¯ll have to traverse through our uing eastbound expedition. You¡¯ll see for yourself at that time. Those who can survive such an ordeal are definitely no mere simpletons!¡±

    The culprit was a former criminal of Hell, and a sinner of the Confucian Family. He was likely an Infernal Judge or slightly weaker than that. He was incredibly lucky to have been close to the rift in Limbo that was torn asunder during Hell¡¯s copse, thereby connecting the mortal realm and Limbo. It was only with such luck that he managed to escape through the rift and into the mortal realm. Today¡­ for some reason best known to him, he had already begun to keep a close watch of Qin Ye as soon as Qin Ye entered Valley County.

    Valley County was still shrouded in thick mystery that neither of them were able to peer beyond.

    Just then, he suddenly paused.

    Arthis pouted, ¡°But of course¡­ your damned sense of smell for danger is sharper than a rabid dog¡¯s. You can even sense danger located eight hundred kilometers away, so there¡¯s simply no way that anything untoward is going to happen to you¡­¡±

    Arthis barked back, ¡°What the hell are you talking about?! What¡¯s wrong with a plunging neckline? It¡¯s called unting your assets! Besides, is this really the attitude you should have when talking to someone as well-endowed as me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ How did you know that?¡± Arthis stared back at Qin Ye with shock.

    ¡°What reason is there for Lord Ksitigarbha to personally make an appearance and issue me with a word of caution? On what basis is your Arya Sense saying that I should proceed with care and vignce?¡±

 Chapter 383: Pit of a Thousand

    <h4>Chapter 383: Pit of a Thousand</h4>

    Arthis froze.

    That¡¯s right¡­ where is the danger supposed toe from?

    So long as he¡¯s of the same rank as the evil ghost he¡¯s facing, he¡¯s technically supposed to be able to instakill them. So why would the Arya Sense still reveal the presence of a life-threatening danger? And¡­ why would Lord Ksitigarbha personally appear to warn him about what lies ahead?

    ¡°First, tell me how you knew that only Yin spirits up to the rank of Infernal Judges would be banished to Limbo in the first ce. I don¡¯t recall ever telling you these things.¡± Arthis queried.

    Qin Ye snorted, ¡°It¡¯s simple. It¡¯s because I¡¯m a coward who is filled with fear! What if I die out there? Who¡¯s going to take care of all of these Yin spirits in Hell who are relying on me? Of course I would have to estimate the strength of what I might be facing up against. From there, I thought of the second King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°... To think you could even make cowardice and fear sound so justifiable and outstanding. Just don¡¯t get ahead of yourself¡­ I¡¯m already used to your antics by now. Go on, then¡­ you were just saying something about the second King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Think about it, if I were the second King Yanluo of Hell, and an Abyssal Prefect transgresses against me, would I really think to banish him to Limbo? That would only make his life slightly harder than it normally is, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°If I could have it my way, I would definitely ensure that they are afflicted with the skyntern punishment until their entire soul crumbles. The harsher the punishment, the more it would achieve the effects of general deterrence. Given how decisive and merciless the second King Yanluo of Hell is, do you think he would be willing to allow these wrongdoers to get away with life that is just a little bit worse for wear?¡±

    Arthis thought about it for a moment, before shuddering slightly, ¡°That would be impossible.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded gravely, ¡°Exactly. An Abyssal Prefect is already among the upper grade Emissaries of Hell. Anything higher would already be a Yama-King. There were billions and billions of Yin spirits in old Hell, and only a few hundred Abyssal Prefects at that. You could even go so far as to say it would be irresponsible to the rest of the Yin spirits in Hell if one were to exile such powerful entities to Limbo. Thus¡­ the exiles in Limbo are all Infernal Judges at best.¡±

    With that, the two immediately grew silent.

    Ksitigarbha¡¯s warning and Arya Sense¡¯s caution were undoubtedly both pointing towards the rift in Limbo. Unfortunately, it had just urred to them that what they had deduced did nothing more than scratch the surface of this Pandora¡¯s Box.

    What remained hidden within Valley County was still shrouded in mystery.

    ¡°I have a feeling¡­¡± Qin Ye gazed deeply at the ceiling, ¡°That when Lord Ksitigarbha told me that the answer holds the key to my next course of action, he might not have been referring specifically to the eastbound expedition, because¡­¡±

    ¡°He might have been referring to everything!¡±

    ¡°Including the restoration of Hell!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pointless to specte.¡± Arthis sighed wistfully, ¡°We¡¯d be none the wiser unless we take a look for ourselves. If something truly terrifying appears¡­ then we might have no choice but to awaken the Harken.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed. That¡¯s right¡­ spections are useless. I¡¯ll only know when we test these theories proper¡­ But what the hell is the answer supposed to be?! I¡¯m going out on a limb over here!

    It involves the warning of Ksitigarbha and Arthis¡¯ Arya Sense! How great is this danger supposed to be?

    There¡¯s a Lenc lying hidden in the fog of war, waiting to strike at this unsuspecting Teemo!

    It¡¯s great that we¡¯re putting our theories to the test, but the fact that I¡¯m involved in the testing¡­ makes it far more distasteful than it should be¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s expressions soured slightly, before he coughed lightly with a suggestion, ¡°About that¡­ is there any possibility that you might be willing--...¡±

    ¡°Nope. No way. Get lost!¡± Arthis immediately shut Qin Ye down, before sighing softly, ¡°It¡¯s not that it¡¯s impossible, it¡¯s just that the Arya Sense was used on your body specifically, meaning that the oue would be different if others went instead of you. You can choose not to go, or even reroute to a different location. That way, you would almost certainly avert the dangers thaty ahead. But¡­ it also means we¡¯ll never uncover the answers thaty hidden within Valley County.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever thought about the implication if your hunch were true? If the answers are going to affect everything moving forward, including the restoration of Hell to its former glory, then it¡¯s definitely worth investigating and uncovering these hidden clues! This is a huge door of opportunity! Are we going to skirt around it and only regret our decision when disaster strikes?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed.

    I¡¯d thought that I only needed to y a supporting role, only to realize that fate has forced me to be a tank. I hate this kind of feeling the most¡­

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Valley County, county hall.

    It was now 7.00 p.m., and the building was brightly lit.

    Just like New Hale City, Valley County had also established their military encampments around their county hall. Notwithstanding the fact that it was well past the time of the public broadcasts of warnings about the supernatural, the county hall¡¯s location ensured that everyone within was absolutely safe.

    Zeng Shuai stared nkly at the darkening skies outside. Today was the day of thentern festival. It was still spring, and the skies naturally darkened early in the day. It was only slightly over seven in the evening, and yet the entire ce already had to be illuminated by electric lights.

    ¡°Old Zeng.¡± Just then, someone pushed on the doors, and a worn-out man emanating faint traces of true energy walked over and handed Zeng Shuai a warm thermos, ¡°It¡¯s chicken porridge. Have some food.¡±

    Zeng Shuai chuckled bitterly as he nced cidly at the thermos, ¡°How can I eat--...¡±

    ¡°You have to eat even if you don¡¯t want to.¡± The old man sat on the bed and lit up a cigarette,pletely turning a blind eye to the regtions of the hospital wing. He yfully puffed out smoke rings as he gazed nkly at the ceiling. After a long time, he muttered, ¡°There¡¯s been another incident. Another death.¡±

    Zeng Shuai¡¯s eyes twitched softly, but he remained silent.

    ¡°There were two toons of soldiers guarding that area at the material times. Sixty of them¡­ are all dead.¡± He took a deep drag, ¡°So you have to get well soon. We¡¯re not the only ones experiencing this. Every part of Breakwaters Province is experiencing a surge in the number of supernatural outbreaks. Nobody from the Special Investigations Department is going to being to help us. If you don¡¯t get up soon¡­ I¡¯m afraid you might soon have to collect my corpse.¡±

    Zeng Shuai drew a deep breath and trembled all over, ¡°Have things¡­ already escted that much? Isn¡¯t our headquarters going to send any reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°Reinforcements?¡± The man chuckled bitterly, ¡°The situation varies from ce to ce. And some parts of the province have it even worse than us. So, who would dare to call the shots on the movement of personnel?¡±

    Silence.

    Zeng Shuai stared nkly out of the windows, fraught with despondence. After a long time, he turned back, as though clinging to a dim ray of hope, ¡°Old Chen, have you¡­ heard anything from Mr Qin?¡±

    The man chuckled bitterly and shook his head.

    A high-ranking investigator¡­ He¡¯s said to be a Hellguard-ss expert, but he probably has more urgent and important things to deal with elsewhere. How could we possibly expect him to stay in such a small county and deal with our problems? He¡¯d mentioned that he has some things to attend to, and would return in a few days¡¯ time. Isn¡¯t that tantamount to a polite rejection to us?

    The greater the hope, therger the disappointment. Old Chen patted his shoulders and sighed, ¡°Rather than count on others, perhaps it¡¯s best if we relied on our own strength¡­¡±

    Just then, his cellphone suddenly rang. He answered the call and listened for five seconds, before promptly cutting the call and dashing out of the room! He even cursed under his breath as he ran to the door, because he had inadvertently tightened his fist around his still-lit cigarette and burnt himself.

    Old Chen rushed straight to the entrance of the county hall. He didn¡¯t even bother to conceal the smile on his face. He was a man who was in his early-forties, and yet¡­ he greeted the visitor with some measure of respect!

    A young man in histe-teens was currently leaning against the door of the county hall. Old Chen did a double take at him with some measure of disbelief, before gulping nervously and approaching him cautiously, ¡°Mr Qin?¡±

    Qin Ye looked up and extended a handshake, ¡°Mr Zeng¡¯s friend?¡±

    Boom!

    It was almost as though fireworks had just erupted in Old Chen¡¯s heart.

    He had earlier received a phone call that told him one Mr Qin was still looking for Investigator Zeng. Even though he was filled with some measure of disbelief, he didn¡¯t express it, because he didn¡¯t want to risk offending the Hellguard-ss expert if he were truly here! And¡­ he was!

    He could sense the faint aura of Hellguard-ss true energy emanating from Qin Ye¡¯s body, yet he still couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. After all, how could a man still in his teens possibly be an Anitya Hellguard? However, he knew that these things weren¡¯t important at all. What was most important is that Qin Ye had kept his end of his promise, and had still arrived at the end of the day! He was actually willing to lend Valley County a hand with their problems!

    ¡°Yes¡­ my name is Chen Nian. I¡¯m one of the t-t-ten local investigators from the Special Investigations Department. Nice to meet you!¡± He wiped off the sweat from his palms before reaching for Qin Ye¡¯s outstretched hand. Then, he spoke excitedly, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ this is great! Valley County is saved! We truly didn¡¯t expect you to be willing to do this for us¡­ Thank you! Really, thank you!¡±

    He could sense wisps of Hellguard-ss true energy tickling the surface of his palm, and he was so excited that he was on the verge of screaming at the top of his voice! What kind of dog-shit luck does Zeng Shuai have?! We¡¯re talking about an advanced Hellguard-ss expert to boot!!!

    It had to be said that an advanced Hellguard-ss expert would usually be helming the operations in a provincial capital city, or at least be the second inmand in such operations to boot. These are illustrious figureheads that would usually only be seen through television and screens. In fact, most investigators had signed up with the Special Investigations Department with a hope that they could one day meet one of the fabled existences of Hellguard-ss cultivators. To think he would actually encounter someone like that today!

    I¡¯m not going to wash my hands for the next week¡­

    ¡°These are my identification documents. Speaking of which, my time is rather tight. If possible, could we get started as soon as possible?¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly and got straight to the point.

    Chen Nian promptly verified the documents as he suppressed the raging fire in the depths of his heart. Then, he nodded with a bright smile on his face, ¡°Of course we can. Then, might I invite you to rest for a moment in the lounge over here? I¡¯ll immediately notify the county governor and his secretary, as well as the bureau chief. Then, we¡¯ll take you to the scene as soon as possible!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and was immediately brought to the lounge by some of the staff in the building. The lounge of a county hall wasn¡¯t luxurious like their counterparts in the city hall. There was a national g hanging on the wall, with some newspapers and magazinesying around on the tea tables in the room. Apart from that, there were two sets of heavy mahogany tables and chairs, as well as some potted nts in the corner for some added greenery to the room. Qin Ye didn¡¯t need to wait for long, because the door soon opened again, and three middle-aged men strode right into the lounge.

    ¡°Mr Qin!¡± The leader was a bespectacled man in his mid-forties with graying hair and a squarish face. As soon as he entered, he immediately reached for Qin Ye¡¯s hand and shook it with unparalleled enthusiasm, ¡°I¡¯m the county governor of Valley County, Su Defang. Thank you¡­ I truly appreciate your help! The fact that you¡¯re willing to take time off your busy schedule to lend us your assistance¡­ is truly a ray of light in such dark times for the people of Valley County!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in charge of these affairs, and my secretary is currently out and about assuring the citizens. I do apologize on his behalf for his absence right now.¡±

    His posture was low filled with humility. Qin Ye smiled and nodded back cursorily. As Su County Governor retracted his hand, the other two men standing with them immediately introduced themselves, ¡°Chief of Public Security, Lu Ping.¡± ¡°Armed Police Unit No. 85478, Instructor Li Zheng.¡±

    Politics, police and the military. It was clear that everyone apprised of the supernatural outbreaks was already present, with the sole exception being the secretary who was out and about on his duties and obligations. Qin Ye could sense just how important his presence was to Valley County. Taking a step back, he could even tell just how terrible the shortage of cultivators was in Cathay right now.

    Once the introductions wereplete, Qin Ye promptly retracted his smile and got straight to the point, ¡°Fellow colleagues, I don¡¯t think we need to delve into how terrible the situation is around Cathay right now. You have your fair share of supernatural outbreaks, but so do the other parts of Cathay. I will soon be making my way towards Eastmount, so I naturally won¡¯t be staying too long in Breakwaters Province. That being the case, why don¡¯t we¡­ talk as we go? We¡¯ll save the pleasantries for another time.¡±

    Everyone exchanged a nce, before Su Defang pped, ¡°The matter is of grave importance and implications. Let¡¯s speak on the way.¡±

    With that, he bowed respectfully to Qin Ye with an inviting gesture, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ we¡¯re counting on you!¡±

    They cut straight to the chase. Lu Ping personally drove them on an off-road vehicle towards their destination, while Qin Ye rode shotgun, surveying his surroundings inplete silence.

    Any locality that experiences a supernatural outbreak would naturally see the manifestation of destructive effects on the ecology of the area. The longer these supernatural phenomenasts, the more uninhabited the locality would appear to be. However, Valley County didn¡¯t appear this way. Instead, it was exactly the converse - the closer they drew towards the center of the county, the denser the concentration of Yin energy was. That said, the surrounding schools and stores clearly hadn¡¯t been evacuated either.

    Was this a¡­ sudden outbreak of supernatural incidents? Qin Ye retracted his gaze and probed thoughtfully, ¡°What happened to Valley County? Would someone care to apprise me of the situation?¡±

    The car was instantly shrouded in tense silence.

    Then, after some time, Lu Ping finally gritted his teeth and began, ¡°Pit of a thousand.¡±

    ¡°Three days ago, it was formally ssified as a predatory zone¡­ You¡­ wouldn¡¯t be able to fathom just how vicious and evil this supernatural incident is¡­ Not even the city or the province has seen anything quite like that at all¡­¡±

    1. This is a LoL reference.

    2. Another MOBA reference.

 Chapter 384: The Gathering of Three Yins (1)

    <h4>Chapter 384: The Gathering of Three Yins (1)</h4>

    Emotions couldn¡¯t be faked. As a native of Valley County, Lu Ping couldn¡¯t help but gasp slightly when he first brought up the murder mansion. Even his hands that were holding onto the steering wheel trembled slightly.

    Chen Nian could sense the great emotions that were stirring in Lu Ping¡¯s heart, and he thus volunteered, ¡°Let me do it instead.¡± His expressions turned grave as he flipped open the folder in his hands, ¡°Eastrise Neighbourhood was known to be a mass grave from the 50¡¯s to the 80¡¯s. Then, the neighbourhood was used by the state-run Valley Agricultural Cooperative, which was shortly thereafter repurposed into the Valley Leather Chemical nt. From the mid-80¡¯s, riding the sess of the leather chemical nt, the state began to construct dormitories and residences in the vicinity. This was the rise of the Eastrise Neighbourhood.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t umon to hear of three generations in a family working for the very same factory or nt. In fact, many citizens prided themselves in the ability to work for such state-run enterprises.

    ¡°Then, the 90¡¯s saw the decline of the leather chemical nt, until itpletely went insolvent, leaving behind a legacy of neighbourhood andmunity that was formed around the nt. After some discussion, the nt manager and its staff decided to sell thend on which the nt was built on. But¡­ the excavation works resulted in an incident.¡±

    As they continued on this side road, Chen Nian continued, ¡°When demolition works began, the constructionpanies had invited Taoist Wu Weiguan of the nearby Mount of Three Immortals to preside over the works. We aren¡¯t fully aware of the details of what exactly happened. But... that very night, the entire county heard the cries of a thousand women, almost as though they were right outside their doors and windows! Yet, none of them were able to see a single person in sight! The next day, Taoist Wu Weiguan was discovered dead at the site of the demolition works, with blood seeping out of his seven apertures. Even then, the developers didn¡¯t want to lose their investment, so they pressed on with the works.¡±

    Qin Ye shut his eyes and hazarded a guess, ¡°Another supernatural incident urred?¡±

    Chen Nian was done speaking, but everyone remained silent.

    ¡°What a pity.¡± Qin Ye was the first one to break the silence, ¡°Wu Weiguan must have been at least a Hunter-ss expert, or perhaps even a Hellguard-ss expert.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve seen it before. Some practitioners in this world employ unique techniques in order to conceal their true abilities. I postte that¡­ he must have discovered something amiss about the Splendid Gardens Neighbourhood when it was first demolished. So, he tried to suppress whaty within with a formation array of his own. Unfortunately, the evil ghost was equally powerful, and both ended up being gravely wounded. In the end, the old Taoist sumbed to his wounds and departed from the world without leaving a message.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just hazarding a guess.¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t mind whether the rest believed him or not. After all, everything stemmed from a single lead he had - that is, that the predatory zoney right beneath the Splendid Gardens Neighbourhood. Unlike other predatory zones, there was no need for him to look around for clues pertaining to the exact location of the source of evil ghosts. This was good news to him, especially since he didn¡¯t wish to stay for too long within Valley County.

    Crack, crack¡­ Qin Ye gently cracked his knuckles. Are you really so ferocious that you simply can¡¯t resist the taste of flesh and blood? I¡¯m sorry, let me show you just how much more ferocious I can be to all entities below the rank of an Infernal Judge.

    Things at Valley County might be even weirder than we had earlier anticipated.

    ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll know once we see it. Cultivators have their own nebulous sense of intuition. If the old Taoist had known that he wasn¡¯t able to hold on any longer, he would definitely have left a hint for those picking up after him.¡±

    The area just ahead of them was cordoned off, not with ordinary tape, but thin chains with talismans and bells attached to them. The surrounding areas had already beenpletely evacuated, and what remained was only the police and the military that were patrolling the vicinity.

    They exited the vehicle, and the surrounding officers promptly saluted them all. Lu Ping nodded and promptly led the way.

    It was a construction site. The perimeter of the site was still hoarded up, but there wasn¡¯t a single sound of construction works at all. Instead, what remained was an eerie, deafening silence.

    Qin Ye nced around. The greenery in the county was rathermendable. The trees in the vicinity were all banyan trees with massive canopies that stirred and rustled with a gentle breeze.

    ¡°Old Chen.¡± As soon as they arrived, three men dressed in whiteb coats immediately walked out. But as soon as they saw Qin Ye, they immediately gasped and flushed with delight. They scrambled to set down the documents in their hands and then hurriedly pressed their fists to their chest as they greeted, ¡°SRC t-trainee researcher, Shen Mo, greets esteemed investigator, sir!¡±

    It looked no different from a massive arena with only one entrance and exit. The rest of the hoarding was bound up tightly withyers uponyers of chains. As soon as they entered, Qin Ye¡¯s pupils immediately shrunk!

    The temperature dropped abruptly by several degrees. It was approximately 20 degrees outside, yet the area within the hoarding was only approximately fifteen degrees at best! All kinds of machinery and construction equipment were parked across the entire construction site like massive, towering coffins. For some strange reason, their equally massive shadows on the ground¡­ appeared almost as though they were shifting slightly on their own¡­

    It was almost as though the pit itself were the eighteen abysses of punishment, filled with endless hellfire and apanied by heart-wrenching screams and tortured groans. There were even dozens, perhaps even hundreds of charred hands sticking out of the pit, desperately picking and twisting and scratching the walls of the pit as they continued to howl at the top of their voices, before slowly being dragged back into the seemingly bottomless pit.

    ¡°Death by congration?¡± Qin Ye remained silent. He hadn¡¯t expected to gain the ability to perceive a Yin spirit¡¯s life and death at a single nce together with his promotion to an Infernal Judge. Arthis had never told him about such powers either.

    ¡°It¡¯s strange that we aren¡¯t able to get a proper reading on the Yin energy in this area.¡± A voice suddenly spoke up beside Qin Ye, causing him to snap back from his reverie. Qin Ye turned to look at Shen Mo, who now had an eight-trigramspass in his hands as he peered over the edge of the pit.

    It was as though countless people were chattering around them, and thousands of ghosts were wailing in chorus. In that instant, Qin Ye saw a scene that made his heart skip a beat.

    The base of the pit was approximately five or six meters from ground level, but¡­ there weren¡¯t stones in the pit. Rather¡­ the pit was filled with bones and skeletons!

    Yet, what was even more peculiar¡­ was the fact that they were all wearing clothes! And brand new clothes at that!

    How could this be?!

    ¡°This is thetest report.¡± Shen Mo¡¯s voice trembled softly, ¡°In fact¡­ before its usage as a leather chemical nt, and even before its usage as a site for mass graves, this ce¡­ had another horrific past¡­¡±

    ¡°There were twelve hundred employees working here, all of whom were women. Then, one week before the end of the war, all of them suddenly went missing altogether.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Also known as the Second Sino-Japanese War, which took ce in 1937-1945.

 Chapter 385: The Gathering of Three Yins (2)

    <h4>Chapter 385: The Gathering of Three Yins (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows slightly, ¡°Have you checked on the corpses below?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Shen Mo gulped as he responded cautiously, ¡°All of the people who have attempted to head into the pit¡­ are dead¡­¡±

    ¡°The casualties included two investigators and the workers who were working on the foundation¡­ As soon as they went into the pit, the scaffolding and steel beams that were erected over the pit immediately copsed, falling straight into the pit like a rain of steel¡­¡± His voice trembled slightly, and he shut his eyes, ¡°It was appalling¡­ some of the steel bars plummeted straight through their skulls or their mouths, skewering the full length of their body and emerging from their pelvis, almost as though they were targeting by homing arrows!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and his eyes experienced a brief moment of colour inversion. Nothing can escape from the all-seeing eyes of the King Yanluo of Hell. At a nce, he could tell that the pit of the thousand in front of him¡­ was in fact billowing with copious amounts of Yin energy, as though it were the sea!

    The Yin energy was incredibly dense, far more than any other hunting zones that he had ever witnessed before. However¡­

    It appeared turbid.

    Just like the Yin energy within the mortal realm, it was a murky green colour. That said, the generally murky green hue of the sea of Yin energy was mixed together with some wisps of pure ck. Furthermore, nothing beneath the surface could be seen clearly at all. It was strange. He was able to see the bottom of the pit with his naked eye, yet the eyes of an Emissary of Hell could only see the surface of the sea of Yin energy billowing from the pit.

    The roiling Yin energy made it look no different from the depths of Hell. From time to time, an illusory image of a pained expression would surface from the Yin energy, wailing and hissing before being swallowed up by other simr faces. It looked¡­ no different from a boiling cauldron of dense Yin energy.

    If that¡¯s the case, then what the human eye sees must be nothing more than an illusion¡­ This ce must have been sealed up by someone. Was it the old Taoist¡¯s handiwork? He¡¯s most certainly at least a Hunter-ss expert¡­ Qin Ye retracted his gaze and squinted at the pit. An unusual chilling sensation washed over his heart.

    It was his sixth sense that was warning him - whaty beneath the surface of this pit cannot possibly be a good thing! The danger that Ksitigarbha and Arthis¡¯ Arya Sense so desperately warned Qin Ye against could well be lying in wait below right now!

    His infernal eyes were able to see the wisps of green Yin energy in the air converging on this location. There was no doubt that this was the core of the supernatural outbreak that was urring throughout Valley County. Incidentally, the fact that it was and of extreme Yin made it the best location to set down the Beacon of Light.

    Having noticed Qin Ye¡¯s somber expression, Chen Nian prompted, ¡°Mr Qin?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head softly, before looking down and carefully scanning for any traces of clues or hints he could pick up. If not for the grave warnings he had received from both Ksitigarbha and Arthis¡¯ Arya Sense, he would almost certainly have dove headlong into the pit by now.

    The fact that the Yin energy is so thick¡­ means that there¡¯s only an immeasurably thin veil separating Limbo from the mortal realm. I¡¯m willing to bet that we wouldn¡¯t need to dig further than another ten meters or so before we discover the rift that leads straight into Limbo.

    Furthermore¡­ He huffed softly.

    Thisnd of extreme Yin is no ordinarynd.

    Not only is it filled with dense Yin energy, I can even catch a whiff of the nauseating corpse stench that is emanating from within. But what¡¯s most peculiar is that¡­ there is another sensation that ispletely new to me. It¡¯s obviously Yin energy, but for some reason it appears to be infused with a sense of brilliance and even righteousness within.

    A gathering of three Yins¡­ Yin energy, corpse stench, and an unknown sensation¡­ And to think that I can¡¯t even see what lies in the depths of the pit? Qin Ye furrowed his brows deeply. I¡¯m not even surprised to see the emergence of a Hellguard-ss evil ghost. A gathering of three Yins¡­ had we left it unchecked for another few decades, it wouldn¡¯t even be far-fetched to witness the rise of a Judge-ss Yin spirit. That said¡­

    I¡¯ve got to take into ount the fact that the evil ghost has been sealed within. Is he emerging from the depths of the pit because he cannot resist the sight of flesh and blood? Or is it¡­ murdering in order to conceal something else whichys within?

    The difference between these two possibilities were far too great. If it were the former, then the question remained who his assant back at the train station was. Not only did the assant possess attributes that could be considered anomalous among Yin spirits, it was undoubtedly of high spiritual intellect as well. The ability to silence another evil ghost to conceal a greater secret is not something that could be done by just any Yin spirit with no spiritual intellect whatsoever.

    After a long time, Qin Ye finally asked, ¡°Shen Mo, have you detected any movements from the evil ghoststely?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Shen Mo responded affirmatively, ¡°The entire county has been incredibly high strung ever since the construction site was formally recognized as a predatory zone, so I¡¯ve naturally been keeping a close watch over the situation on a daily basis. The array outside can contain incarnate revenants for three full hours. No matter how tense the situation may be, we¡¯re certain that stronger reinforcements would arrive before the array¡¯s effects wear off. I can personally guarantee that the array outside has never once been activated.¡±

    The creases in Qin Ye¡¯s brows deepened even more.

    If the surroundings have already beenpletely sealed off¡­ then how did the evil ghost get out in the first ce?

    He nced at the rest of Valley County beyond the construction site - If it¡¯s true that this evil ghost remains unable to escape, then that leaves us with only one other possibility.

    Someone else is around¡­

    There¡¯s something else lurking in the shadows of Valley County, scrutinizing every single step that I take.

    Is this¡­ what Ksitigarbha and Arthis¡¯ Arya Sense were trying to warn me about?

    He had slowly but surely begun to get a feel of the secondyer of the magic box he was so desperately trying to unlock. Unfortunately, it was as elusive as smoke, and he wasn¡¯t able to get a clear glimpse of its contents at all.

    He stared intently at the pit of a thousand for several more seconds. And then, he drew a deep breath and rushed straight in without any warning!

    In the end, seeing was believing. All Yin spirits that were Judges or below were unable to hurt him at all.

    ¡°Mr Qin!¡± Everyone standing around the pit gasped in horror and cried out in rm.

    Unfortunately, their desperate cries were too little, toote. They didn¡¯t receive any response from Qin Ye. As soon as he leapt in, he could sense himself being sequestered from both the Yin and the Yang. The colour of the sky above him quickly darkened as he descended. Finally, by the time his feet touched the ground, his surroundings werepletely pitch-ck in colour!

    Countless ckish-green Yin clouds had at some point already begun to flow overhead, obscuring his surroundings from any sources of light. His surroundings were chilling, and the temperature was at best three degrees Celsius. Qin Ye was just about to straighten his body when he suddenly paused where he was.

    He could sense that he was standing right on top of a skeleton.

    In fact, he was standing right on top of the skull of this skeleton.

    The skeleton was yellow, and even turning ck at certain portions. Clearly, this skeleton had been here for ages by now. Ity on the ground with its arms crossed before its chest. Most of it had already sunken into the earth, leaving approximately only a fifth or a sixth of its remains visible externally.

    ¡°This is a woman¡¯s skeleton.¡± Qin Ye squatted down and ran his finger along the skeleton¡¯s shoulders and pelvis. The shoulders and the hips are of the exact same width. It must be ady. Furthermore, women tend to haverger bones at their pelvis, while men tend to have more elongated femurs.

    Then, he gently scratched the surface of the bone, carving off the yellowish outeryer and revealing the snow-white bones within. Incidentally, human bones were the only bones that wouldn¡¯t turn ck, even if incineratedpletely.

    ¡°This tells me that they were already dead before they were burnt. This isn¡¯t cremation, because the process of cremation would never leave a person¡¯s bones intact. On the other hand, if she had truly been burnt to death, she would have convulsed and spasmed before her death, and not beenying in such a peaceful posture.¡± He ran his finger along the sternum until he reached the skull. And then¡­ his pupils suddenly shrank.

    Because whaty above the skull¡­ was another pair of feet.

    The feet of a skeleton.

    He drew a deep breath and looked up around him, only to discover that¡­ every part of the ground he could see waspletely covered with skeletons that were arranged in an incredibly orderly fashion!

    They were all over the ce! By his estimate, there were at least a thousand sets of skeletons!

    Furthermore, all of them were women¡¯s skeletons!

    A prickling sensation of terror immediately surged throughout every part of his body. The surrounding Yin energy and the asional spot ofherme drifted by slowly, while echoes of ghastly moans continued to reverberate from the clouds of Yin energy above. His shoes made a soft rustling sound as he carefully trod upon these skeletons. Eee¡­ kkkk¡­ Their macabre interaction was like the rise and fall of sobbing voices. The surroundings were so silent that he could hear the deafening thumps of his own heartbeat. He was undoubtedly standing right in the heart of the pit of a thousand!

    And he was the only living person here right now.

    These bones appear to be spelling out something... Just as he was preparing to straighten up his body, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

    He took a deep breath and fervently fought back the mind-numbing sensation that was surging from his heart as he nced down, only to realize that another hand that was covered with livor mortis spots had just reached out from the ground and firmly grabbed hold of his hand!

    Even an Emissary of Hell couldn¡¯t help but shiver at such a sight. He instinctively stood up. But as soon as he did¡­ Thud!

    He¡­ bumped into something.

    Something¡­ had at some point in time¡­ appeared right behind him.

    It stood there silently and motionlessly, staring straight at Qin Ye as though it were a corpse.

    Qin Ye remained absolutely still. He didn¡¯t even turn his head.

    The only thing he knew was that something was standing behind him right now.

    Then a soft tap cut through the tense silence of the darkness - a pitch ck hand had justnded on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder.

    Simultaneously, he sensed the soft breath of the person behind as a hoarse female voice croaked ufortably close to his head, ¡°Silk¡­ silk¡­¡±

    The voice was filled with extreme bitterness. It was incredibly soft, but her words strangely lingered throughout the space below, almost as though countless dead people were whispering back in response to her.

    The hair on the nape of Qin Ye¡¯s neck instantly stood on end and only calmed down once more after Qin Ye took a deep breath of his own. Things down here¡­ are far worse than I had imagined. He tilted his head slightly and nced at his shoulders.

    The hand that was resting on his shoulder wasn¡¯t ck because of her garments.

    Rather¡­ it was because the hand waspletely charred! It was the hand of the dead!

    The skin waspletely ckened and even cracking in parts, revealing the grotesque, scorched red flesh thaty hidden underneath. A trickle of blood continuously dripped down her arm.

    Just like that, Qin Ye found himself caught in apromised position, with a charred corpse leaning over his back inplete darkness.

    ¡°Turn around¡­ and look at me¡­¡± The woman repeated that phrase over and over again with great grievance.

    It was often said that if you¡¯re walking back alone in the darkness at night, and you hear someone calling out your name, never, ever turn back.

    Because as soon as you do, an unclean entity would immediately blow out two of thenterns on your shoulders. And then¡­ you would forever be forced to see things that you¡¯d rather not see.

    Qin Ye snorted contemptuously, and then finally responded, ¡°Do you know something? You stink.¡±

    With that, his Judgment Pen appeared out of thin air and thrusted backwards!

    BOOM!!

    ¡°AAARRRRRGGGHHHH---!!!¡± A shrill shriek instantly erupted, but it quickly drew further and further away.

    It was only then that Qin Ye finally turned back to look behind him. However, his line of sight was no longer obscured by a denseyer of fog. Instead¡­ he saw a massive factory!

    Furthermore, he found himself standing right in the middle of a wide road.

    He was familiar with the architectural style of the 40¡¯s and 50¡¯s. After all, he had personally experienced life during those times.

    He was the only one standing in the middle of the lonesome road. The two rows of houses on both sides of the road were flying Nipponese gs. An eerie wave of destion rushed straight at him like a rising tide. The roads appeared endless. Two neat rows of ck electricmps lined the sides of the road, while a faint mist of Yin energy lingered about his surroundings. He could also see stores interspersed among the houses, including those which sold medicine, grain, and handicrafts. There was even a vague silhouette of a person manning each store.

    But upon closer inspection, he could tell that the silhouette wasn¡¯t a person.

    Rather, it was merely a humanoid paper effigy!

    Some were locked in a pose as though they were speaking with customers, while others simply appeared to be taking something from the shelves of the store. Yet, the somewhatughable attempt at mimicking the reality of those times looked iparably grim given Qin Ye¡¯s current circumstances. It felt no different from stepping into a funerary street in the middle of the night. There was an unspeakable sense of terror and oppression that seemed to loom over his head.

    ¡°Is this¡­ what this ce originally looks like?¡± He nced around warily at his surroundings. Bzzt! Just then, one of the electricmps suddenly flickered and came on at the end of the road.

    And then, a secondmp came on, and then a third¡­ within seconds, the electricmps lining both sides of the road came onpletely!

    It was startling. The electricmps shone with a scarlet red hue, painting a striking red sheen over the already terrifying ambience of thend. And then¡­ the humanoid paper effigies that were frozen in action¡­ suddenly moved.

    They still maintained the exact same posture that they were in before. However, each of them had now swiveled about on their feet such that they were all staring straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes - the eyes of the only living person standing in the middle of the road right now.

 Chapter 386: The Gathering of Three Yins (3)

    <h4>Chapter 386: The Gathering of Three Yins (3)</h4>

    Dark, dreary houses and shops sat right beneath the street lights, shrouded with wisps of misty Yin energy. Jade-green spots ofhermes burned brightly at the eyes of the humanoid paper effigies, even as they stared at Qin Ye from their respective houses and shops. Not a single living person could be seen anywhere on this wide road Qin Ye was on. If he had been any other ordinary human being, he would have been scared out of his wits by now.

    It was built in the architectural style of the early 1900¡¯s, replete with white bricks and wooden doors. Nobody could be seen on the streets right now, but the wooden door still opened up.

    That said, he couldn¡¯t hear exactly what they were talking about. Everything was hazy to him. He walked along the main street, listening intently as he desperately attempted to pick up clues from the conversations that were carried along with the wind, until¡­ he finally found himself standing right before the massive three-storey structure. Then, he stepped through the external gate.

    Instantly, all of the sounds that he heard outside waspletely shut off to him. Even the howling winds appeared to havepletely ceased altogether.

    ¡°A naturally-uring space¡­¡± Qin Ye murmured to himself, ¡°The Yin energy here is so thick that it has even condensed into the exact snapshot of the ce as it originally was?¡±

    The lights in the building were still blood-red in colour. He promptly walked up to the door and knocked gently on it.

    Knock, knock, knock! Nobody responded. Qin Ye knocked on the door several more times, before the door finally opened with a soft, muffled creak.

    Eeeaaaakk¡­ The creak of the wooden door sounded like a cat¡¯s ws on a chalkboard. Yet it only revealed a gaping darkness beyond the frame of the door that appeared no different from the orifice of a terrifying beast. Qin Ye peered in cautiously. He could see that the interior was designed in the style of the 40¡¯s or 50¡¯s. The great hall within had a ceiling that was a whopping ten-meters high. Both sides of the walls were covered with long, draping curtains, while a two-meter wide wooden reception counter was ced right at the front of the hall. A man appeared to be manning the counter.

    That said, this man was also a humanoid paper effigy.

    ¡°You¡¯rete.¡± He pushed forward a wooden token, ¡°There shall be no next time.¡±

    Splutter! It looked no different from a bursting head. A fountain of blood instantly sprayed everywhere, and the exploded head instantly transformed into a stack of paper money that scattered everywhere in the sky. Qin Ye watched on with amazement.

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t be bothered about that. He pushed on the door to the dressing room and promptly walked in.

    The dressing room was ratherrge. The length of the dressing room was approximately twenty meters. Then, just as Qin Ye walked along the corridor of closets, he suddenly heard¡­ a terrifying sound reverberate through the corners of the room.

    The open closets were filled only with dirty work clothes. They hung within the closets motionlessly, almost as though they were each a corpse that were just hanging around, observing the lonesome human being in this deste ce.

    He retracted his gaze and continued walking forward. Everytime he walked past a closet, it would open up with a terrifying creak. Eeeaak¡­ eeeaak¡­ Door after door opened up in the dark, faster and faster in ordance with Qin Ye¡¯s increasing pace. Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but be drawn into the increasingly tense atmosphere in the room. His heartbeat elerated. He walked quickly to the iron door and turned back vigntly even as he ced his hand on the handle.

    Not a single soul could be seen in sight.

    In fact, these footprints appeared incredibly dense and chaotic, almost as though hundreds of people had followed him and were now standing right around him. A stifling, coldhergale swept by, bringing with it a strong, nauseating stench with it.

    ¡°Not bad¡­ You¡¯re stirring up a pretty decent atmosphere over here.¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath to calm his emotions. And then, he turned the doorknob, ¡°But you¡¯re not even Operative-ss Yin spirits, so what can you possibly do with all of these wandering spirits?¡±

    It was arge room.

    Beyond that, there was a massive pond thaty right in the center of therge room. Aplex series of pipes ran overhead, replete with several exhaust holes that opened up on the sides. There were a number of mirrors that were hung neatly at the same height, with sinks right below them that were now covered with dust. This was probably where the washroom used to be.

    Logically speaking, the temperatures in this room should be incredibly high. However, it was not. In fact, the temperature here was already below zero degrees. Specks of dust were swept about by the rushinghergale, almost as though the thin veil of the mortal realm were soon to be lifted to reveal an entire factory filled with evil ghosts.

    This was undoubtedly a silk factory. He¡¯d seen many of these in the past.

    In fact¡­ it was distinct, because this process usually also generated a somewhat salty and otherwise indescribably disgusting stench.

    Bzzt! Bzzt! The entire room flickered between darkness and redness, almost as though the entire realm straddled the mortal realm and the world of the dead. Then, momentster, when the lights came back on again, Qin Ye was greeted by an incredibly startling sight. Even he couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror and feel goosebumps creeping up all over his skin!

    The entire factory was now filled with people!

    A split secondter, the light flickered back on again. It was no different from watching a frame-by-frame horror movie. And this time¡­ all of the women who were working had turned around, and were staring straight at him right now!

    Every single one of them had bodies that werepletely charred and ck - a clear sign of being burnt to death. Their grisly raw flesh peeked out from their cracking, ck skin, making each of them look no different like the vilest of spirits of the underworld!

    Bzzt. The lights went out again.

    This was because he could sense a hand caressing his face in the dark.

    Fear was an integral part of the human instinct that nobody could disengage, unless and until they be Yin spirits. Thus, notwithstanding the fact that Qin Ye was also an Emissary of Hell, he, too, felt the emotion of fear and terror. To that end, it had to be said that the sights and sounds he experienced within the pit of a thousand ranked first among all of the supernatural incidents he had ever encountered.

    Urrrkkkk¡­ uurrrrkkkkk¡­ The same throaty, guttural sound could be heard right beside him. In other words, more than one ¡®person¡¯ had arrived by his side within thest fraction of a second.

    In that instant, Qin Ye saw a series of burnt, ckened and bleeding faces staring at him from no more than a foot away. Each of these faces were twisted and contorted in grotesque manners as they did so.

    Urrrkkkk¡­ uurrrrkkkkk¡­ The guttural sounds continued almost mechanically. The wall of ck eyes looked deep as the oceans. Bzzt¡­ The lights flickered once more, and the next frame that was visible to Qin Ye reminded him of the sight of a prey being surrounded by a ferocious pack of wolves!

    Wider, and wider, almost as though they were a python that was poised to devour a human whole. He could even see the grisly teeth within their mouths.

    And this time, the lights didn¡¯te on again.

 Chapter 387: Dusty Affairs (1)

    <h4>Chapter 387: Dusty Affairs (1)</h4>

    A split secondter, the Yin spirits surrounding him roared at the top of their voice as they lunged straight for Qin Ye¡¯s jugr.

    It was like a chaotic dance of a thousand ghosts.

    One secondter, a boundless wave of Yin energy erupted from the mound of corpses like a terrifying explosion. The evil ghosts that were clinging desperately to Qin Ye suddenly shrieked in unison, before promptly being blown away in all directions like shrapnel from an exploding grenade.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t fully in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state just yet. He was already dressed in the garments of an Infernal Judge, but his form was still that of a human body. He nced around the surroundings, only to discover that the entire factory¡­ was once againpletely empty.

    It was almost as though everything that had just happened was nothing more than an illusion.

    He gently curled his fingers, and all of the loose sheets of papers flew towards him and stacked themselves up neatly.

    ¡°11 December, 1947.¡±

    ¡°When will days like these ever end¡­ It¡¯s already December, yet I don¡¯t even have sufficient clothes to keep myself warm at night. How ironic is it that the only time I feel warm is the time spent working in the silk factory? I don¡¯t even get sufficient food¡­ how is the kid in my womb supposed to grow big and strong¡­? As things are right now, the future seemspletely bleak and hopeless¡­¡±

    Qin Ye continued reading on, ¡°It¡¯s meaningless to continue living like that. Every day is spent living in fear. If those demons realize that I¡¯m pregnant with a child, I won¡¯t be able to continue working here any longer¡­ I even have to tighten my belt each day to keep things under wraps. Things might be difficult around here, but it¡¯s the only ce I can still make a living at. I¡¯ve got to support my parents as well¡­ I can¡¯t afford to lose my job! Even if it means working for the Nipponese!¡±

    Qin Ye maintained a calm expression on his face as he flipped the page. He had seen too many such incidents of death and departure, so he wasn¡¯t the slightest bit moved by her journal records.

    ¡°12 December, 1947.¡±

    This person¡¯s handwriting was ostensibly a little bit more forceful than the one before. It revealed traces of her emotions at that time - her apprehension, fear and hesitance in her heart, ¡°What do I do¡­ What do I do?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve even got a six year old daughter to feed! As things stand right now¡­ we¡¯re stranded in the midst of a living hell. I can still scrape by with the food I earn from remaining around here. But if I leave this ce right now¡­ I might not even be able to survive this winter!¡±

    Qin Ye was slightly astonished.

    Human nature.

    Someone had once said that all humans are selfish. Qin Ye subscribed to this notion. No matter how noble a person was, that person would invariably ce the considerations of self before others.

    The third page was of yet another person¡¯s handwriting.

    ¡°Yu Lishan is pregnant¡­ Her belly is already starting to show it¡­ All of us in the team are on tenterhooks right now. Even the leader of our team has personally spoken to her, yet she¡­ knelt down in front of all of us and begged us not to sell her out to the demons. She¡¯s promised to resign as soon as the days of winter are over. I¡­ don¡¯t know what I should do.¡±

    ¡°The weather will soon get warmer in April wouldn¡¯t it? That¡¯s no more than a month away. Perhaps¡­ everything will be fine after all?¡±

    ¡°Dear lord! The demon has noticed her! Although she¡¯s tried her best to cover it up¡­ the traitorous supervisor has already begun to ask our team leader about what¡¯s going on over here!!¡±

    ¡°I just hope it¡¯s not already toote! The demon is going to personally investigate matters this afternoon¡­¡±

    ¡°Yu Lishan is dead¡­¡±

    After all, when teardrops fall onto paper made of poor quality, it would naturally leave a simr stain when it driedter on. All who had written such emotional letters in the past would have had a simr experience.

    There were four exmation marks in a row, each of which were ostensible written with greater force and emotion. Even the paper was torn at the end of it all.

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be this way¡­ It should never havee to that! We¡¯d only asked her to leave! Nobody wanted her to die! Who was the one who snitched on her? Which one of us told that demon about this secret?!¡±

    The pages at the back were all slightly torn and tattered. Qin Ye could practically imagine the grotesque, horrific sight ying out right in front of his very eyes, and not even he could help but frown subconsciously.

    ¡°It was a stillborn.¡± She appeared to have calmed down in this journal entry. Her handwriting was far softer than before, ¡°Yu Lishan had tightened her belt too much in order to keep things under wraps, and¡­ the baby ended up dying of suffocation in the womb. It was a baby girl. I¡¯ll never forget that image for the rest of my life - that purple-looking baby that was¡­ held up in the air by that demon, before being tossed into the pool of boiling water used for cocoons¡­¡±

    The journal entry ended there abruptly.

    Qin Ye had his suspicions. These were the memoirs of the dead. All Yin spirits that harboured grievances would naturally leave behind a set of memoirs or simr memorabilia that documented the source of their grievances. Incidentally, it also formed the evidentiary basis of all investigations by Emissaries thereafter. But these journal entries clearly meant that¡­ he was only at the prologue of the matter.

    ¡°There are ghosts!!!¡±

    Then, the next entry was scribbled as though with frantic writing, ¡°There are ghosts¡­ there are ghosts! There really are ghosts!!! Ahhhhhhh!!! I can¡¯t stay here any longer! I¡¯m going crazy!!¡±

    Rustle¡­ rustle¡­ He flipped through the pages quickly. Then, after fifteen or so pages, he finally arrived at the next entry that was filled with writing once more.

    The top half was filled with text, while the bottom half was covered in blood.

    It was obvious that the author of this journal entry was trembling profusely, almost as though he were desperately trying to suppress the fear in his heart, ¡°I¡¯m next¡­ I know that I¡¯m next¡­¡±

    ¡°And I know it¡¯s true because every morning, when I get up, I can still see signs of a baby havingid on my bed before!!!!¡±

    ¡°Was that just a reflection? I don¡¯t know¡­ I don¡¯t know anymore¡­ There¡¯s something here¡­ there¡¯s definitely something unclean here! She¡¯sing for me! Yu Lishan and her child areing for me!! I shouldn¡¯t have told that demon that she was pregnant with a child! I didn¡¯t expect them to kill her! I only wanted them to chase her away!!!¡±

 Chapter 388: Dusty Affairs (2)

    <h4>Chapter 388: Dusty Affairs (2)</h4>

    It was right there that the rest of the page was stained with blood.

    Qin Ye silently picked up that sheet of paper and held it in front of him as though he were writing a journal entry. Then, his pupils promptly narrowed.

    He could tell that the author of this journal entry had been decapitated cleanly across the jugr from behind, thereby causing the stter of blood tond directly on the journal entry.

    Qin Ye posited that the author of the bloody journal entry should have been in her room at the material time of the incident.

    Completely alone, when the clock struck twelve.

    Given the extent of fear she was stricken with then, she would never have opened the door for anyone. Likewise, the windows and doors would have been tightly shut and bolted. Moreover, the mounting anxiety in her heart also meant that she would have jumped at the slightest bit of sound in the middle of the night.

    In other words something else had been in the room with her in the middle of the night, silently sneaking up right behind her before slitting her throat cleanly.

    There was no struggle.

    In fact, she probably didn¡¯t even know how she died.

    I shudder to think what it could have been like back then¡­ Qin Ye shook his head and flipped to the next page.

    ¡°1 April, 1948.¡±

    ¡°The silk factory is ruined¡­ It¡¯spletely ruined¡­¡±

    ¡°I was sick yesterday, so I didn¡¯t go to work, but I soon heard that a massive congration consumed the entire factory at night, burning more than a thousand people alive¡­ A thousand people! All of them are dead by the fire!¡±

    ¡°It was impossible to work under such conditions¡­ We¡¯d heard rumours of people dying everyday! The Nipponese soldiers had already engaged monks and priests to cleanse the area, but nothing seemed to work. Everyone working in the factory was listless andnguid, and not a single soul had any motivation to continue working there. Thus, the Nipponese actually resorted to locking up everyone in the factory topel their submission! And it was precisely because of this that not a single worker managed to escape from the firest night¡­¡±

    ¡°The nightmare is finally over¡­ I¡¯m going to pay my respects to these poor colleagues of mine. I might be the only one who survived this nightmarish ordeal¡­ But, not long after setting off, I soon overheard rumours that the Nipponese are actually going to bury the entire silk factory! And this is notwithstanding the fact that there might still be survivors who are trapped within! I¡­ I was so scared that I immediately turned back and locked myself at home.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s horrible¡­ When will these days of hopelessness end?¡± Tonight, I stole a look at the factory from afar, only to notice that the plot ofnd that it sat on was already being filled in¡­ Also, I¡¯m not sure if I was hallucinating then, but¡­ I heard the cry of a baby girl¡­¡±

    The middle section of the page was left nk.

    The next line of the journal entry appeared haphazard and twisted, ¡°No¡­ things aren¡¯t over yet! She¡¯s here! She¡¯s here!!¡±

    ¡°The baby girl is looking for me!! She must be looking for me right now!!!¡±

    ¡°Someone has been knocking at my door all night long! And I don¡¯t even know who it is! I peeked out from the peephole, but not a single person was there! But¡­ when I bent over and peeked through the crack underneath the door¡­ I could¡¯ve sworn that¡­ I saw a baby girl¡¯s hands and feet right there!!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s looking for me¡­ she¡¯s still looking for me! Why won¡¯t she give up!! Why?!! I didn¡¯t do anything to her!!¡±

    ¡°Leave me alone¡­ please¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡±

    And the journal entries ended abruptly.

    There were only a few other sheets left. Qin Ye flipped the page, only to realize that the next sheet of paper waspletely dyed red with blood.

    There was only a single line of ck text on it.

    It appeared crooked, almost as though it were written by a child who had just learnt to write.

    ¡°You¡¯re here¡­¡±

    Whoosh!

    Qin Ye immediately jerked back from the stack of journal entries and nced vignt at the surroundings.

    This wasn¡¯t written by a human being!

    The writing on the page was clearly filled with Hellguard-ss Yin energy. It was¡­ ghostwriting!

    Furthermore, the message on this page was clearly written for his eyes!

    The next sheet of paper was also entirely dyed with blood. It waspletely empty. But as soon as he flipped the page over, cursive words slowly began to surface on the page.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°Am¡­¡±

    ¡°Watching¡­ you¡­¡±

    Bzzt!!

    As soon as the phrase wasplete, the lights around them immediately fizzled and went out!

    The antagonist has finally arrived.

    This is the source of all supernatural events urring in Valley County¡­ Perhaps the antagonist might even be the source of the warnings from Ksitigarbha and Arthis¡¯ Arya Sense. Qin Ye nced around, before slowly fixing his eyes on the central pool.

    The pool was still filled with cocoons right now. Incidentally, it was also where the corpse of the baby girl had first been discarded. But now¡­ the pool appeared to be boiling vigorously, while wisps of Yin energy were emerging along the edge of the pool.

    More and more, and denser and denser! Within a minute, the entire area surrounding the pool was now filled with ayer of dense Yin energy that was almost material. Yet, the central pool continued to bubble dangerously, almost as though it were the mouth of an active volcano that was ready to erupt.

    Advanced Hellguard-ss entity¡­ one that is merely a step away from bing an Infernal Judge at that. Wild ghosts weren¡¯t taught any techniques to control their Yin energy, so Qin Ye could easily tell the extent of their cultivation at an instant. That said, there were also questions that arose at the same time.

    How could evil ghosts under the level of Infernal Judges possibly threaten me?

    Fwoosh¡­ Just then, Qin Ye heard the sound of a behemoth emerging from the central pool, and the Yin energy that flooded the area instantly became far more terrifying than before. Qin Ye drew a deep breath and immediately dashed over to the central pool to take a closer look.

    Unexpectedly¡­ there was nothing.

    What was even more surprising was the fact that the central pool was so clear that he could see the bottom of it. And there was nothing inside. Yet, copious amounts of ckish-green Yin energy continued to pour out of its edges.

    Something¡¯s amiss¡­ His intuition told him that there must be something still hidden within. But¡­ could it really be something that I can¡¯t perceive with my infernal eyes?

    He thought for a few seconds, before making a quick grasping motion, causing all of the mirrors hanging along the sides to fly over towards the central pool, forming a massive mirrorparable to the size of the massive pool.

    Legend has it that the mirror was the gateway between the Yin and the Yang.

    Many things that were hidden to the naked eye could only be perceived when viewed through the reflection from a mirror. This was also why it was often said that one should neverb their hair at midnight, nor look at your own reflection in the mirror.

    This was because¡­ you never know what else you might see in the reflection behind you.

    Qin Ye immediately saw the truth of the central pool as soon as the panel of mirrors was formed.

    Skeletons¡­

    Skeletons dressed in Nipponese uniforms were lying all around the base of the pool! To think that this was actually a skeletal pool!

    There were also a great number of heads that were bobbing and floating on the surface of the boiling pool. They were¡­ heads of the deceased people!

    All of them were men, some old, and some young. Their faces were red and flushed from being cooked in the boiling water. In fact, their heads were so bloated that they were three timesrger than the average human head. Their hair was even scattered about the surface of the waters.

    Qin Ye finally understood where the horrendous stench came from.

    It was the stench of¡­ cooking dead people!

    Chen Nian had earlier mentioned that there were two investigators who had entered the pit for investigations who never came back. There was also the old Taoist who had been found bleeding from his seven apertures. And then, ther were the construction workers who had earlier been skewered by the copsing scaffolding. Each and every single person was here right now.

    But that wasn¡¯t the most important thing.

    What was most striking was the fact that there was a woman dressed in white clothes that was floating right in the middle of the pool.

    It was a headless corpse. The only reason he could tell that it was a woman was because her flesh was still intact, and her body and build was clearly like that of a woman. Furthermore¡­ he could tell that she was holding in her bosom¡­ a baby¡¯s head that was purplish in colour and covered with spots of liver mortis! And the baby was currently staring directly at Qin Ye!

    Sss!!! The baby unleashed a terrifying hiss as ck hair erupted from the top of her head, extending well over two meters in length and spreading across most of the surface of the pool! Within moments, her expression had changedpletely. Her face was now green, and long canines extended two inches right out of her lips like the fangs of a wild beast!

    Jiangshi!

    Qin Ye sighed softly. This was the best ce for the cultivation of a corpse. It was naturally no surprise that something like that would emerge after decades of nurturing. Incidentally, it had to be mentioned that real-life jiangshis were not the same as the ones that were depicted on television - stiff, immobile andcking in spiritual intelligence.

    Although he hadn¡¯tpletely internalized the information recorded in the old Hell¡¯s legacy, he still knew enough to distinguish between various grades of evil ghosts. Jiangshis¡­ might be known as stiff corpses, but the truth of the matter was that they moved quickly as lightning, and possessed incredible strength. They were definitely among the aristocrats of evil ghosts around!

    Any zone which sees the emergence of jiangshis should never be underestimated.

    ¡°Advanced Hellguard-ss jiangshis¡­ You¡¯re only a step away from bing an Infernal Judge. It¡¯s just your luck that you¡¯ve crossed paths with me today.¡± Qin Ye muttered softly, ¡°You¡¯ve really let yourself loose upon death, and killed a number of people along the way. Now, be good, and I¡¯ll send you on your way.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The Judgment Pen appeared in his hand. But just as he was about to tap in their air at the jiangshi, Qin Ye suddenly paused.

    Something¡¯s not right!

    It¡¯s only a single Hellguard, so how did it actually conceal its presence from my infernal eyes?

    It¡¯s not a mutated Yin spirit, and not even the highest-ranking ssifications of Yin spirits possess the ability to mask their presence from the infernal eyes. So how could a Hellguard-ss jiangshi that hasn¡¯t even reached full maturity yet possibly do such a thing?

    This was a situation that had earlier also appeared at Valley County train station. But back then¡­ the entity that he had encountered was the sinner of the Confucian Family that had been exiled and banished to Limbo. On the other hand, the ruler of this pool was clearly either Yu Lishan or her dead infant daughter. Their identities didn¡¯t add up!

    There¡¯s still one other possibility¡­

    Qin Ye gasped in horror, before turning back without any hesitation and rushing straight back to the iron door behind him.

    The other possibility was¡­ that the jiangshi was working with someone else to deal with Qin Ye right now!

    Just then, the iron door shifted on its own. The chains and talismans binding it immediately rattled and red up, and it was only then that Qin Ye discovered that the talismans had been drawn up entirely out of human blood. Furthermore¡­ they were written using a script that had only been seen in the old Hell!

    ¡°Shit!!¡± Qin Ye cursed aloud. He¡¯d fallen for the trap. The unseen opponent had never once let Qin Ye out of his sights at all!

    Why?!

    Unfortunately, now was not the time to consider these questions. A split secondter¡­ Boom, boom, boom!!! Several explosions erupted, and seven figures rushed out from the pool and immediatelyunched vicious attacks that were aimed directly at Qin Ye¡¯s vitals!

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!¡±

    Just then, the hair that was scattered about limply in the pool suddenly tensed up and rushed towards Qin Ye like a menacing tide!

    The lights in the room suddenly fizzled and went out. They were now fighting in pitch-ck darkness. Fortunately, Qin Ye was already clothed in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state, and his vision wasn¡¯t inhibited in the slightest bit.

    Therefore, he saw everything clearly.

    He was now squaring off against seven additional corpses, all of whom were dressed in ck. And the only reason he knew why they were corpses¡­ was because the intense wave of corpse stench emanating from their bodies wasn¡¯t something that could be concealed or covered up.

    They were dressed in ancient ck garbs replete with a conical bamboo hat, almost like the other assassins in traditional wuxia novels. But even though they were corpses, their movements were as soft and nimble as a poisonous snake. Within moments, their des were already thrusting straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s vitals!

    By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!

    These words were all too familiar to Qin Ye, yet hearing it spoken by someone else for the very first time made him somewhat dibobted. That said, he quickly snapped back to his senses. After all, if his opponents were indeed sinners from the Confucian Family, then it only made sense that they would be familiar with this ubiquitous phrase of the old Hell!

    In fact, everything only made sense when he considered the talismans situated around the room right now! This was the first time he had seen talismans drawn up by Yin spirits. Something like this wasn¡¯t possible unless his opponent were an entity that had been a part of the old Hell!

    Unfortunately, his opponents made full use of that moment of disorientation. Their des were now no more than three meters away. Qin Ye could even feel the trajectory of the weapons that were imbued with dense Yin energy. That said, he didn¡¯t panic. The seven corpses appeared only to be no stronger than Soul Hunters, so none of them could possibly breach the protection of the Prestige of the Luminary, much less hurt him. But, just then!

    The seven corpses abruptly spun in mid-air, tearing apart their ck garments, revealing¡­ the exquisite armor that they were wearing beneath their cloaks!

    Time seemed to pause at this very moment. Within moments, copious amounts of Yin energy burst out from each of their armor, enveloping their wearer¡¯s body and causing their level of Yin energy to surge qualitatively! Things immediately got heated up!

    Crack!! The air was suddenly filled with the sounds of sonic booms, while rm bells instantly red in Qin Ye¡¯s mind.

    These are¡­ sonic booms that only Hellguard-ss entities are able to generate!

    Then, before he could even react to the situation, he heard a shrill whistle, and seven hoarse voices promptly roared in unison, ¡°y him!!!¡±

    The daggers in their hands had disappeared.

    Instead, what appeared in their ces were meter-long sawtooth edged des that cleaved straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s head like a bolt of lightning! Qin Ye had immediately been forced to eat his own words!

    They¡¯re really Hellguards¡­

    Seven Hellguards!!

 Chapter 389: Assassinating the King Yanluo of Hell (1)

    <h4>Chapter 389: Assassinating the King Yanluo of Hell (1)</h4>

    CLANG!!!

    A Judge-ss Prestige of the Luminary.

    Qin Ye shut his eyes as soon as he noticed the assants being repelled backwards. His forehead was already percting with cold sweat. He gritted his teeth and lifted his hands, and countless chains suddenly shot out from within his long sleeves, swiftly coiling around the retreating ghosts and binding the ghosts who were desperately retreating!

    Qin Ye¡¯s chest heaved and fell slightly as he nced about his surroundings warily. His fingers were still trembling slightly underneath his sleeves, ready to react at the moment¡¯s notice. This was the first time he had felt such a fleeting moment of death and crisis arise from the depths of his heart.

    But it only stood to reason. Back then, he knew full well that he always had the option of retreat when push came to shove. The only trade off was forgoing his possession of the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. On the other hand¡­ his current opponent¡¯s intentions were patently clear - he was after Qin Ye¡¯s life!

    Assassination of the King Yanluo of Hell!

    The sheer thought of the potential consequences sent shivers down Qin Ye¡¯s spine.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was still thumping wildly. He forced himself to calm down as he turned his gaze to the jiangshi back at the central pool. He couldn¡¯t be bothered with the mastermind for now. What was more pressing was¡­ whether there were any clues left behind for him.

    Why does this person have such an intense desire to murder me in cold blood? He¡¯s failed once, and yet he keepsing again and again?

    That¡¯s impossible. Even if that were the case, how could they possibly ascertain my identity as the King Yanluo of Hell? Moreover, it¡¯s not likely that they¡¯re able to detect the presence of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal on me, since it¡¯s a divine artifact after all. Even Honda Tadakatsu was able to detect the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s seal only due to the resonance arising out of the Book of Life and Death. It¡¯s practically impossible in the current circumstances.

    But just as the corpse was flying through the air, it suddenly paused, almost as though there were an equal and opposite force that was pulling the corpse straight back towards the pool. Just like that, the corpse trembled in the air where it remained motionless!

    It was only then that he realized that a meter-wide hole had at some point in time silently appeared in the middle of the pool. Water poured straight into this peculiar sinkhole, together with the body of the female jiangshi.

    The sinkhole was consuming things around it almost as though it were a swirling ck hole! The entire realm that Qin Ye was in right now, including the dead female workers, the factory, and even¡­ the pharmacy, hotels, roads, street lights and humanoid paper effigies outside were being sucked straight into the sinkhole as though they were nothing more than a painting on a canvass being drawn into a powerful vortex.

    Infernal Judge¡­

    ng! The corpse was finally pulled into the sinkhole, and his shackle snapped back suddenly, pulling back the armor around the corpse that promptly transformed into the size of a matchbox andnded in his hands.

    Within moments, he was clothed in the garments of an Infernal Judge, replete with the Zhong Kui hat. His white hair scattered about menacingly, while the goldenherme in his eyes glimmered brightly like the moon in the dark night sky. He held a Judgment Pen in one hand, and the Book of Life and Death in the other. Then, he chuckled coldly, ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡±

    SSSSS!!! She threw both hands up before her and struggled to pull out the shackles that had plunged straight through her body. Meanwhile, everything around her was rapidly transforming into a ck-and-white vortex that was being consumed by the sinkhole. The humanoid paper effigies around were screaming at the top of their voices, even as they swirled about helplessly within the massive vortex that was swallowing up everything in its surroundings. Within moments, Qin Ye and the female jiangshi were both swept straight into the sinkhole.

    Rumble! The entire space trembled. A Judge¡¯s might was so overwhelming that it could easily trigger abrupt changes to its surroundings.

    Sss¡­ SSS!!! Qin Ye¡¯s attack was like a bolt of condemnation that crashed straight towards the female jiangshi¡¯s body. Her entire body trembled, and she shrieked at the top of her voice, ¡°Didn¡¯t¡­ you promise¡­ to save me?!!!¡±

    AHHHHH--!!!! A miserable shriek filled their entire surroundings. However, the source of the scream wasn¡¯t the female jiangshi. She was still clinging tightly to her head and ring viciously at Qin Ye at this very moment.

    Qin Ye remained silent as he nced vigntly about his surroundings.

    Ten thousand Yin soldiers¡­ The cloud of mystery in Qin Ye¡¯s mind was suddenly swept clear in this very instant.

    The cause of Ksitigarbha¡¯s warning was indeed located in the heart of Valley County! In fact, it had only appeared when the Yin soldiers were marching! Therefore, Ksitigarbha¡¯s warning must have been intended to tell me¡­ to be careful of these Yin soldiers.

    The Yin soldiers around looked no different from the famous terracotta warriors. They weren¡¯t living beings at all. Instead, they appear to have been formed entirely out of y, while the armor on their bodies were made entirely out of paper.

    There was a sea of Yin soldiers around Qin Ye as far as he could see. It was the optical effect of having ten thousand or more Yin soldiers arrayed against him. Yet what was perhaps even more astonishing was the fact that there was arge ancient pnquin that stood out in the midst of the Yin soldiers around him. We say it was a pnquin, but¡­ it would be more urately described as a mobile imperial residence carried on the backs of hundreds of Yin spirits.

    Dead silence.

    Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal appeared to be activating much slower than before.

    ¡°How bold.¡± A man¡¯s voice chuckled coldly from within the mobile residence, ¡°Trifling Infernal Judge¡­ You now stand before a direct descendent of the Confucian Family - a spiritual leader of Cathay as you know it, and yet you¡¯re not even kneeling to pay your respects to me?!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze shrunk. This man¡­ is a direct descendant of Confucius himself? How many people surnamed ¡®Kong¡¯ are there in Cathay in the first ce? And how many of these are notorious for their crimes? Of all people, why was he the one who was able to evade the cataclysmic consequences of Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension?

    Truth be told, he was already starting to panic within. Is the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal taking longer than usual to activate because we¡¯re in Limbo right now? That said, he knew full well that the disy of fear could never resolve and dispel the source of danger in the first ce.

    The voice in the pce chuckled lightly, ¡°Esteemed Infernal Judge, are you currently thinking of how you can escape from this ce?¡±

    ¡°And if you¡¯re thinking of throwing around baseless ims that a genuine Emissary of Hell can instantly purge an evil ghost¡­ take a look for yourself and see what this is.¡±

    Furthermore, a faint, white lustre glowed beneath the feet of the Yin soldiers in the shape of a tiger-shaped pattern.

    That¡¯s it¡­

    ¡°This is a military formation.¡± The cold voice continued to exin from within the mobile residence, ¡°I know all twelve hundred Infernal Judges of the old Hell, but I haven¡¯t seen you before. By my guess, you must have only be an Infernal Judge within thest hundred years. In other words, you would have only recently advanced to this new rank, and you naturally wouldn¡¯t know how to deal with such terrifying, terrible things.¡±

    ¡°Kill him!!¡±

    With that, the Yin soldiers echoed with an earth-shattering battle cry and loosened a volley of ming arrows at Qin Ye!

    <hr>

    1. It¡¯s not a verymon surname.

 Chapter 390: Assassinating the King Yanluo of Hell (2)

    <h4>Chapter 390: Assassinating the King Yanluo of Hell (2)</h4>

    ¡°Just you guys?¡± Although Qin Ye snorted back coldly, the truth of the matter was that his forehead was already percting with cold sweat. After all, this was the first time he had been caught in such a dangerous predicament ever since the founding of the new Hell. Arthis had always told him that theherworld was in chaos, but it was only today that he truly understood the full implications of such a phrase.

    Given just how outnumbered I am, it¡¯s going to take more than a miracle to get out of this bind¡­

    They felt incredibly heavy!

    Arthis had on various asions informed Qin Ye of the importance of military formations. In fact, she had even gone so far as to inform Qin Ye that armies were practically built around military formations. Yet he had never in his wildest dreams expected his first encounter with an enemy military formation to be under such conditions. Furthermore¡­ the military formation he had encountered was far more troublesome than he could ever have anticipated!

    Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt¡­ Qin Ye desperately maintained his Prestige of the Luminary as the rain of arrows continued to pelt down and Yin energy continued to erupt all around him. But before Qin Ye could even take a breather, he heard yet another disheartening roar, ¡°AGAIN!!!¡± Within moments, a second volley of arrows hurtled through the sky like an endless tsunami!

    ¡°These arrowheads are forged from human bones at the hour of extreme Yang. They can even be said to be the natural counter to all defensive abilities powered by Yin energy. Even if you¡¯re a Judge, you¡¯ll still feel the pain of Yang energy coursing through your body as soon as these arrowheads strike you¡­¡± The man within the mobile residence nced up at the sky that was filled with arrows with a sneer as he took a sip from his vermillion wine cup, ¡°When ites to our understanding of Yin spirits, the Confucius Family is second only to the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces. On the other hand, you¡¯re just a newly minted Infernal Judge. So, if you¡¯re even contemting the prospects of escape¡­ I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s wishful thinking.¡±

    Unfortunately, it also remained a fact that the arrows were forcefully mming against Qin Ye¡¯s Prestige of the Luminary, so much so that it had already begun to visibly wear down!

    There was no reason to be thinking of other contingencies.

    Just then, there was a loud ttering sound - the Prestige of the Luminary had finally been breached!

    My defenses have actually been breached!! The five or six volleys of arrows have whittled down the density of my Prestige of the Luminary so much that they¡¯ve actually managed to breach my defenses!

    The next thing Qin Ye knew, the sounds of drilling had vanished, only to be reced by the rushing sound of the arrows gaining momentum once more. In that instant, Qin Ye moved instinctively. He unleashed the full extent of his energy and immediately darted down below.

    Yin soldiers empowered by military formations were clearly on a whole different level altogether!

    Qin Ye knew better than to underestimate the weapons that had been made entirely out of paper. In fact, he had no doubts that the pit of spikes was no less powerful than the rain of arrows that had assaulted him above!

    No way up, and no way down¡­ Qin Ye could practically feel a lump in his throat right now. Not only was a military formation powerful, it even had the ability to snare its target and make escape no more than an impossibility!

    Instantly, a Judge-ss shockwave of Yin energy swept across the field, repelling the rain of arrows in the sky and creating a buffer zone of fifty-meters radius around him. The Yin spirits directly under his feet weren¡¯t even able to grunt in pain before they promptly exploded into a cloud of flying ash.

    These were Yin soldiers after all¡­ and much had to be invested in conscripted Yin spirits before they could be considered true Yin soldiers!

    No response.

    Still, no response.

    On the other side, Qin Ye had finally managed to catch his breath.

    Admittedly, the effects of the military formation meant that the Yin soldiers were far more powerful than before. However, a single strike from his Judgment Pen had easily erased hundreds of Yin soldiers in one fell swoop. If that were the case, wouldn¡¯t disposing of the rest of the military formation simply mean blotting several more times with his Judgment Pen? Although he might not be able to sustain that many attacks with what little remained in his tank right now, the only thing he needed to do right now was to drag things out until the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal could finally respond to his desperate cries!

    I can hold on!

    To be fair, it was a misnomer to say that this happened in the distance, because apart from the array of ten thousand Yin soldiers surrounding Qin Ye, everything around them was concealed by a dense fog of Yin energy. But now, Qin Ye could see that the fog was slowly clearing up, only to reveal¡­ countless shadows among their midst, together with a massive silhouette that looked like a small hill!

    Wuuuuu¡­ The cold re of war trumpets soon reverberated through Limbo. Dong, dong, dong¡­ Tremorous sounds of war drums echoed in the distance. Qin Ye was stunned. He nced around with great dismay, only to realize that countless gs embroidered with peculiar designs had been raised in the areas where the Yin energy was dispersing. Yet what was most terrifying was the fact that the gs stood tall amongst¡­ countless other Yin soldiers!

    It was as though an icy god of death were standing tall on the horizon, staring avariciously at Qin Ye¡¯s soul.

    Ten thousand Yin spirits was merely a number in writing, but it was only when one stood face to face with an army of such magnitude that he would truly be able to appreciate the depth of such forces. Qin Ye was fighting desperately for his survival against ten thousand Yin spirits, only to discover that reinforcements of six times that number had just arrived. To this end¡­ the reinforcements could practically be said to be vast as the skies and deep as the oceans.

    And that wasn¡¯t all. There were another eleven mobile imperial residences clustered together in the midst of the army of sixty thousand Yin soldiers. Moreover, Qin Ye could sense copious amounts of Judge-ss Yin energy emanating from each of these mobile residences! The mountain-like existence also slowly emerged from the fog, appearing no different from a giant tortoise. Most surprisingly, the colossal tortoise was also a Judge-ss entity! A terrifying amount of Yin energy diffused from its body. Its back was covered in barbs, while its eyes were zing with menacingly greenhermes. Qin Ye¡¯s heart practically froze in that instant.

    Why? Why do they have to go this far?

    That was the sound of sixty thousand Yin soldiers charging en masse!

    And that wasn¡¯t all! Qin Ye soon heard a muffled sound, before a majestic tsunami soon rose from behind the vanguard of spearmen.

    Countless ming arrows instantly blotted out the sky with a fine curtain of light, and every single one of these arrows in the sky were aimed directly at Qin Ye!

    ¡°Damn it!!¡± Qin Ye cursed at the top of his voice. Without any further hesitation, he mustered every modicum of energy within his body and wrapped himself tightly with his Prestige of the Luminary.

    One second¡­ two seconds¡­ three seconds...

    Shk! Shk! Shk! The only thing that Qin Ye saw was a shower of arrows that were pouring towards him. There was no room for mistakes. Qin Ye drew down everyst bit of Yin energy in his body, gritting his teeth as he desperately kept the arrows outside of his body!

    The bravado of a man¡­ At that very moment, it suddenly dawned upon him that next to the might of tens of thousands of Yin soldiers backed by the strength of military formations, a single man¡¯s bravado¡­ was iparably small.

    I don¡¯t even have any Yin artifacts at my disposal! There¡¯s still much to be done for the new Hell, and not even my citizens could be said to have been properly settled in. So, where are the Yin artifacts supposed toe from?

    In fact, I don¡¯t even have any colleagues to call upon for reinforcements¡­ In that instant, despairpletely filled every corner of Qin Ye¡¯s heart.

 Chapter 391: Escape on the Verge of Death

    <h4>Chapter 391: Escape on the Verge of Death</h4>

    ¡°How long will you be able to hold out with just your Yin energy alone?¡± The man in the first mobile residence rumbled like thunder as heughed menacingly, ¡°One day? Two days? The Yin energy at the disposal of these military formations are unceasing. Resign yourself to your fate¡­ Hell is now a thing of the past, and any lingering legacy should die off along with it--... Eh? This is--... How is this possible?!!¡±

    The veil of the mobile residence was instantly flung aside, and a figure dressed in majestic long ck robes immediately darted out and stared at Qin Ye with great astonishment in his eyes.

    Qin Ye was also reeling in shock, because a golden sphere of light had just appeared around him. All of the iing arrows that were still pouring into Qin Ye immediately froze as soon as they touched the golden sphere of light. And then, they would turn illusory, tremble slightly like water, before finally¡­pletely disintegrating in mid-air.

    King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, before ncing at his chest ecstatically.

    You¡¯ve finally responded¡­ Although things are still slow, but¡­ at least I can finally return to Hell within the next ten seconds¡­

    No wonder¡­ it¡¯s no wonder Arthis said that the situation would be dangerous, but notpletely inescapable.

    ¡°A divine artifact of Hell¡­ You¡¯ve actually got a divine artifact of Hell with you?!¡± The man dressed in ck robe suddenly looked up with a pair of gleaming, scarlet eyes, ¡°You¡¯re by no means an ordinary Judge¡­ Who the hell are you?!¡±

    However, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t even be bothered to respond to him. He wiped off the cold sweat percting his forehead. He was finally safe. He could finally sense the call of the new Hell once more.

    I¡¯m going back to rally the troops, and then we¡¯ll have another go at this. Let¡¯s get this clear, this isn¡¯t cowardice¡­ it¡¯s simply self-preservation.

    Buzz¡­ The vibrations emanating from the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal were growingrger and faster, and his entire body was slowly growing more and more illusory. The ck-robed man gasped deeply and looked around him with a grim expression, ¡°Everyone¡­ what are we still waiting for?!!¡±

    In an instant, the entire army arrayed against Qin Ye unleashed yet another volley of ming arrows! The sky was once again filled with devastating attacks, almost as though it were a meteor shower!

    On the ground, countless Yin soldiers were gathered right beneath Qin Ye¡¯s feet like a swarm of ants emerging from the mouth of an anthill. Every single Yin soldier was staring intently at him, waiting to strike as soon as he got in range!

    Shk! Shk! Shk! But as soon as the arrows reached a hundred-meter radius from where Qin Ye was located, they suddenly slowed down abruptly, so much so that their movement could even be seen with the naked eye. And this strange phenomenon continued even as more and more arrows continued to rain down on Qin Ye location. The domain of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal had practically caused time to stand still for these plummeting arrows. Each of them could do no more than ¡®hurtle¡¯ towards Qin Ye inch by inch. In fact, even the Yin soldiers who were standing within the hundred-meter radius of the domain of the King Yanluo¡¯s Seal found themselves unable to move quicker than a dismal snail¡¯s pace.

    Qin Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ten seconds¡­ looks like I¡¯m going to be safe and secure over the next ten seconds.

    He nced around at the skies that were now filled with innumerable ming arrows with a great sigh of relief. He truly dared not contemte the consequences had the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal not responded when it did. How terrifying would it have been had the nket of arrows copsed on him all at the same time?

    Just then, his eyes suddenly twitched, and he promptly turned to look at the ck-robed man.

    A trump card¡­ They¡¯ve got a trump card hidden up their sleeves that can still threaten my life!

    ¡°Those fluctuations tell me that it¡¯s nothing more than a mere fragment¡­ Like I said, how could Limbo possibly suppress the effects of a true divine artifact? Has Hell already fallen to such an extent? To think that even the divine artifacts in its possession have been broken up into no more than weak little fragments like these¡­ That said¡­¡± The man gazed intently at Qin Ye. His sleeves fluttered wildly as he lifted his hands, only to reveal a pale arm that was covered in livor mortis spots.

    ¡°I must say that¡­ I¡¯m pretty fortunate.¡±

    Whoosh! He released his clenched fist, revealing a small pcenternying in the heart of his palm. But as soon as it did, the pcemp immediately grew to the size of a human head in an instant.

    Thentern had six sides to it, each of which was painted with the image of a noble Yin spirit that looked like a general. Within moments, it began to spin on its axis, quicker and quicker. Then, a tiny golden me lit up abruptly in the heart of thentern, casting the faint silhouette of a person onto the sides of thentern.

    Whoosh¡­ Simultaneously, the Yin soldiers that were previously surrounding Qin Ye suddenly receded like an ebbing tide. Yet, Qin Ye remainedpletely rooted to the ground as he stared grimly at the rotating pcentern.

    This was undoubtedly a Yin artifact. Although he hadn¡¯t seen too many of these before, he could tell that they belonged to the same category of goods as the artifacts earlier used by Cao Youdao.

    That said¡­ this particr Yin artifact was far more powerful than those used by Cao Youdao! In fact¡­ he could even detect traces of an Abyssal Prefect from the Yin artifact right now!

    In other words, this was a Prefect-ss Yin artifact!

    That¡¯s right. Hell¡¯s copse had caused the Book of Life and Death to be swept away into the depths of the Strait of Tsushima, the King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to be shattered into pieces and scattered everywhere, and even the whereabouts of the Judgment Pen was still unknown. Wasn¡¯t it normal for Prefect-ss Yin artifacts to have been simrly swept away from Hell into various parts of the world?

    Despite that, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel as though he had just beenpletely doused in iced water.

    As thentern rotated, so did it cause thehergale in the surroundings to pick up and sweep straight into the heart of thentern. Within moments, a massive vortex of wind picked up, swirling powerfully like a hundred-meterrge hurricane that howled around thentern. Then, the space around it abruptly trembled, and the sound of a bowstring¡¯s release was heard.

    Shk!

    It was incredibly quick. The surrounding Yin spirits were still scrambling back when a dazzling light flickered right in front of Qin Ye¡¯s very eyes. He reflexively leaned to the side, but he soon felt an excruciating pain spreading from his shoulder.

    ¡°AAARRRGGHH--!!!¡± The sharp pain was so intense that he couldn¡¯t help but scream at the top of his voice. He reflexively clutched at his shoulder, only to realize¡­ that it was aplete mess of blood and gore.

    Had he not reflexively leaned to the side earlier, the point of impact¡­ might very well have been his throat instead.

    T-t-t-t¡­ His teeth chattered, and sweat beaded up on his forehead from the excruciating pain he was fighting back. He gritted his teeth and looked down to his shoulder, only to realize that there was now a gaping wound staring straight back at him.

    The attack had gone straight through his shoulder.

    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re pretty lucky yourself, aren¡¯t you?¡± The man standing some distance away appeared much weaker than before. However, he continued to stand strong as he lifted the pcentern with much trembling in his arm, ¡°I¡¯d never expected you to have a fragment of a divine artifact in your possession in the first ce. Had I not personally intervened, I¡¯m afraid you might actually have been able to give us the slip. But now¡­¡±

    Shk! Shk! Shk! Qin Ye heard three more sounds of bowstrings being released, followed closely by the roaring sounds of projectiles tearing through space.

    ¡°You don¡¯t stand a chance.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s forehead was drenched in cold sweat, while his eyes hadpletely turned bloodshot. He desperately sought to muster everyst bit of his Yin energy to protect himself, but to no avail.

    It was fast.

    Too fast! The sound of the bowstrings¡¯ release and the roar of the projectiles were heard practically at the same time. An intense wave of chilling fear filled his heart, mind and soul as he watched intently as the projectiles closed in on him, unable to react to the situation at all.

    Is this¡­ really the end of the road for me?

    How regrettable¡­ For some strange reason, the very first notion that appeared in his mind at this very moment wasn¡¯t fear, but instead, regret.

    To think that I¡¯d just learnt of the existence of the perfect match for me. Xia Jinse. I haven¡¯t even seen your face at all¡­ In fact, I was supposed to have thousands of years to enjoy everything life had to offer¡­ and yet of all things, I had to pick the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to start everything off¡­

    Qin Ye finally shut his eyes.

    Forget it. It looks like I¡¯ll just have to tread more carefully with my next life so that I never get myself into such a bind again¡­

    But, right at that moment, a dazzling sh of golden light erupted from Qin Ye¡¯s bosom and faded away as abruptly as it appeared. Qin Ye had instantly vanished from right where he was.

    Dead silence.

    Three secondster, the man silently put away the pcentern. And then, gnashing his teeth in rage, the man bellowed, ¡°Find him¡­ Immediatelyunch a county-wide search and see if his physical body can be located at any part of Valley County at all! A genuine Emissary of Hell¡­ must never be allowed to live in this world!! Not even if he¡¯s gravely wounded! He absolutely must die!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡± Tens of thousands of Yin soldiers responded in unison, before scattering about their duties and vanishing from Limbo within the next few moments.

    The surroundings were soon silent once more. The ck-robed man had already returned to his mobile residence, where he sat on his seat and picked up his ss. Clink¡­ With a muffled crack, the wine ss promptly shattered into pieces.

    ¡°Howughable.¡± Just then, another voice sounded in the empty mobile residence, ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be the chosen one who had managed to escape from Hell¡¯s great copse? To think that abined military formationprising the armies of several ns can¡¯t even stop a single Infernal Judge.¡±

    However, the ck-garbed man simply snorted, ¡°Fool¡­ You don¡¯t know what a genuine Emissary of Hell means, do you? Yin spirits born in recent times¡­ truly are ignorant.¡±

    ¡°So what? I¡¯m still in the same rank as you are in any event. I¡¯d much rather be born with a silver spoon in my mouth than work so hard at my cultivation anyway.¡± The voice responded cidly, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not going to beat about the bush. We¡¯d only intervened because you were telling us how dangerous a genuine Emissary of Hell could be. But how did it turn out?¡±

    ¡°We all know the kind of situation that is guing Cathay right now. To think that we¡¯d mobilized so many people, only to have achieved absolutely nothing. Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ you truly deserve to be called a relic of the bygone eras indeed¡­¡±

    Crash!! A wine ss flew through the air and smashed against the wall. Then, the ck-robed man slowly turned around, ¡°Kiddo, you¡¯d better learn a thing or two about respect for your elders. The glories of the bygone eras¡­ isn¡¯t something that you young sproutling ghosts can even begin to understand at all.¡±

    The voice drew softer and softer, until it finally faded awaypletely, ¡°Haha¡­ Are you enraged? I¡¯m only here to ry a message to you - we¡¯ll pick up your ck after you...¡±

    The ck-robed man muttered softly, ¡°You can say what you want, but let me leave you with another word of caution¡­ This Emissary of Hell¡­ There¡¯s something about him that gives even me goosebumps¡­¡±

    Dead silence again.

    The wind outside gently tousled the veil hanging outside the mobile residence.

    After a long, long time, the ck-robed man chuckled coldly, ¡°Ignorant and fearless¡­ That¡¯s fine. When you finally realize how terrifying a genuine Emissary of Hell truly is, you might juste back to me, crying and begging for help.¡±

    ¡°I suppose this is the only way to help the other factions around realize that so long as Emissaries of Hell are still in this world, we¡¯d never be given full reign to do as we so desire.¡±

    ¡°My lord.¡± Just then, another voice called out from outside the mobile residence, ¡°It¡¯s almost time.¡±

    The man drew a deep breath, before responding cidly, ¡°Let¡¯s return.¡±

    ¡°Prepare to depart~~~¡± At once, suonas, gongs and drums began to y outside the mobile imperial residence as it slowly took off and soared through Limbo and into the distance.

    If one looked closely in the direction the residence had departed in, they might just notice the faint silhouette of an ancient city right over the horizon.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It hurts¡­

    It really hurts¡­ This was the only thought that was bouncing about every corner of Qin Ye¡¯s mind.

    In fact, the pain was so intense that it soon jolted him awake from his deep slumber. He opened his eyes slowly and took a deep breath, before soon realizing that he was drenched in sweat and lying in a bed right now.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± He moved a little, only to recoil at once with the excruciating pain from his shoulder. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that he was currently lying bare-chested on a bed and had a quilt pulled up to where his shoulders were. He could vaguely tell that the design of the roof appeared to be no different from the designs of the annex hall of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    And then, he immediately lifted the quilt and looked down under.

    Bloody hell¡­ who took off all my clothes?! Aren¡¯t you embarrassed looking at my stark naked body like that?!

    ¡°It¡¯s quite rare to find someone awakening from theiratose state, and the first thing they check on is the state of their chastity. Not bad, not bad¡­ It certainly looks like you¡¯re well-spirited.¡± Arthis remarked cidly as she continued to peel an apple with a paring knife.

    At least you¡¯ve got some conscience about you. Qin Ye rolled his eyes at her, before leaning back into the bed and wiping off the cold sweat on his forehead, ¡°Who was the one who changed my clothes for me?¡±

    ¡°Su Dongxue was the one who had bravely volunteered for it.¡±

    Crap¡­ I knew it was her! She must have been waiting for an opportunity like this to fall on herp, hasn¡¯t she? Have my untouchables finally been tainted by her untowardly ways¡­?

    Arthis slowly pared down the apple into the shape of a skeleton,pletely ignoring the fact that there was a sickly patient lying right by her side. Qin Ye red at her in annoyance - Forget it¡­ I¡¯m thirsty anyway. Some juicy apple might just hit the spot. I¡¯ll forgive her just this once.

    Besides¡­ it¡¯s not like I can do anything to her even if I didn¡¯t forgive her, right?

    Then as he slowly reached out for what remained of the apple in Arthis¡¯ hand, she promptly tossed it straight into the bin.

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    ¡°Does that make you happy? Is this really a meaningful way to be spending your free time?¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and barked back, ¡°I¡¯m dying of thirst over here! Are you really going to let me turn into a parched, dry corpse?!¡±

    ¡°Oh. You wanted some?¡± Arthis recoiled in shock. And then, she picked up the apple from the bin, wiped it on the bed and then brought it close to Qin Ye¡¯s mouth, ¡°Say ¡®ahhh¡¯~~¡±

    Ah your ass!!!

    Qin Ye could barely resist the urge to give her two tight ps across her cheeks right now. He bellowed back hatefully, ¡°What were you doing peeling an apple if it weren¡¯t for me in the first ce?!¡±

    Arthis responded, as though with righteous indignation, ¡°Can¡¯t I even peel an apple for myself? Or for fun for that matter?! Besides, don¡¯t you seem to be recovering well on your own? Come on, stop digressing! Hurry up and tell me what kind of awesome stuff you encountered this time! What was it that caused you toe back so gravely wounded?¡±

 Chapter 392: Peach Blossom Lantern

    <h4>Chapter 392: Peach Blossom Lantern</h4>

    Is this an attitude that you should have when visiting a sick and wounded patient?

    It had to be said that Dogballs Qin¡¯s tyrannical aura was at an all-time high after having returned to the safety of his own territory. He swept Arthis a cold nce, ¡°If you can survive the onught of attacks of sixty thousand Yin soldiers led by thirteen Infernal Judges no less, and then still live to tell the tale, I¡¯ll immediately take on your surname.¡±

    Arthis immediately froze and retracted the mischievous smile on her face, ¡°What happened? Why are there Yin soldiers out there? Don¡¯t spare any details!¡±

    Just then, a male voice resounded interjected from the doorway, and Oda Nobunaga and Gu Qing both walked in at the same time, ¡°I¡¯m also curious as to why Lord Qin would suddenly show up at Hell¡¯s Gate that day,pletely covered in blood. Do you know what kind of shock you¡¯ve caused everyone in Hell? Who could have possibly injured you to such an extent?¡±

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s body armor was now tattered and broken in several ces, and there were even traces of Yin energy bubbling from the dark crevices on it. His expression wasced with some measure of grim hostility, and he exuded both the majesty and ferocity of the infamous Demon King of the Sixth Heaven that rattled Nippon four hundred years ago.

    On the other hand, Gu Qing¡¯s expression wasden with worry and concern. After all, Qin Ye was undoubtedly Hell¡¯s main pir of support. Everyone else in Hell waspletely expendable, especially since it was only a matter of time before Hell became filled with talents once again. However, the one person that was practically irreceable was Qin Ye alone.

    Glossing over his usual impish and whimsical self, Qin Ye has never once made a single mistake when it came to the important decisions and matters of Hell.

    It was almost as though he had a strict n in mind all this while.

    The annex hall had recently been sorted out, repurposed, and decked out with a plethora of medical implements to facilitate Qin Ye¡¯s recovery. Qin Ye turned to look at Oda Nobunaga with a quizzical look in his eyes, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Complying with your orders.¡± Oda Nobunaga smiled back, ¡°Half a month ago, I led the Yin soldiers on an expedition towards the southwest gate of Fengdu Necropolis, where we sessfully reimed the seventh battlement. It¡¯s already been temporarily designated as the new Hell¡¯s forward base. If Lord Qin is free, you may head down to have a look for yourself.¡±

    The first battle with the blight vermin is over?

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered wildly, and the sheer excitement in his heart even distracted his mind from the pain from his shoulder. This was an important milestone for Hell. For one, every single one of Hell¡¯s goals was dependent on the sess of Nobunaga¡¯s mission. After all, the eastbound expedition to Eastmount required all of their soldiers to be armed to the teeth with armaments forged from blight vermin carapace. And beyond that¡­ the fact that they had made some headway in the old Hell meant that the other pieces of treasures stillnguishing in the depths of the old Hell could potentially be recovered. The prospects of something like that were of great significance!

    Besides, Qin Ye knew better than to gloss over Oda Nobunaga¡¯s achievements right now. Qin Ye had personally been to Fengdu Necropolis before. He knew full well how long the necropolis walls were, and he naturally knew how significant the remation of a single battlement atop this wall meant to their future endeavours in the old Hell. To a certain extent, it was no different from capturing an entire town. The ability to achieve such results despite being surrounded on all sides by blight vermin was something incrediblymendable.

    ¡°What about the casualties?¡± Qin Ye continued to ask cidly, even though he had already on several asions shed his cold and distant persona before Oda Nobunaga. After all, Qin Ye had already resolved to maintain such a persona for as long as he could.

    ¡°Two thousand five hundred Yin soldiers.¡± Oda Nobunaga cupped his hands respectfully as he reported back, ¡°The blight vermin habitually live in packs, so it was necessary to subdivide our forces in order to divide and conquer. Lord Zhou¡¯s Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows have been of great help. The blight vermin carapace won¡¯t be damaged by the mes of the crossbow bolts, but the intense mes of the karmic fire would still destroy them from within. Over the course of this expedition of ours, we¡¯ve expended a total of 83,542 Karmic Fire crossbow bolts, and killed over a hundred thousand blight vermin!¡±

    Excellent!

    Qin Ye breathed a long sigh of relief. It looked like we won¡¯t have to worry about raw materials for armaments in Hell for a very long time. The only bottleneck keeping them from immediately embarking on their eastbound expedition to Eastmount Province was the results of Oda Nobunaga¡¯s expedition to the old Hell, as well as his establishment of the Beacons of Light to guide the eastbound expedition.

    Yin beasts¡­ That¡¯s where the Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows truly shine!

    ¡°What about you, Mr Gu?¡± Qin ye was in a good mood, and he smiled genially as he turned to Gu Qing.

    Gu Qing smiled back, ¡°Lord Qin, there weren¡¯t any major incidents in Hell during this period of time. After several meetings, we¡¯vee to the conclusion that it might be in Hell¡¯s best interest tounch Hell¡¯s mary system only when the new port city of Hell is finally inaugurated. Otherwise, the present output of Hell is so low that it wouldn¡¯t be able to support and stabilize a mary system at all. Rather than to let it die off in the near future and then struggle to bring it backter on, it might be better tounch it at a more opportune time and let it soar once and for all. This way, it would also save us resources which may be better channelled to other areas.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. This was something he had already anticipated would happen.

    He wasn¡¯t a god. Hell was a town at the nascent stages of development. Yet it was also a ce one that was meant to house over a billion ghosts by the end of the century. Naturally, Qin Ye could only roll out policies on the most generic level with such considerations in mind, but the specifics and implementation of these policies would naturally be left to others who had more time and expertise than he did to deal with the practical considerations.

    ¡°That said, there¡¯s one other piece of good news, and that is the fact that the establishment of Hell¡¯s Media Group has already been finalized. We estimate that it would be officiallyunched before the eastbound expedition begins.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered once more, ¡°Mr Gu, you¡¯ve personally seen the importance and influence of the media, and you should know better than anyone that the media is undoubtedly the mouthpiece of a nation. I won¡¯t say much more, but I trust that you¡¯ll deal with the specifics of theunch, and ensure that the leadership candidates are considered thoroughly.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Gu Qing bowed, ¡°The best candidate we have shortlisted for the head of Hell¡¯s Media Group so far is Mr Cang Jie, the Minister of Doctrine. He was previously one of the main hosts of the City of Salvation¡¯s national television, and he¡¯s even got experience working with other television stations in the provincial capital of Mount Tai City. He¡¯s not bad. Furthermore, it¡¯s precisely because I¡¯m aware of how important the media is in depicting the image of a nation that I¡¯ve specially reported this news to Lord Qin for your approval. Once you give the go ahead, I¡¯ll immediately set things in motion."

    As soon as the eastbound expedition begins, Oda Nobunaga would with immediate effect be promoted to the sitting ruler of Hell, while Gu Qing would act as the prime minister in ce of Arthis. Qin Ye had already instructed that the two should fully cooperate with each other.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine so long as you¡¯ve discussed things with Oda Nobunaga.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand casually, before suddenly freezing in ce.

    He had subconsciously waved his right hand.

    And that was incidentally also his injured hand.

    But¡­ the injuries on his shoulder that had been wrapped up in bandages¡­ had actually already recovered?

    Qin Ye was astounded, but Arthis simply responded cidly, ¡°Why do you look so shocked? You¡¯re the lord of one of the three realms in the world. You shouldn¡¯t take more than a day or two to recover from Injuries like those. In fact, the new Hell can even restore a wounded soul topleteness so long as your soul isn¡¯t shattered to pieces by your enemies.¡±

    Hell can even do something like that?

    Qin Ye removed the bandages from his shoulder, only to discover that his shoulder was now good as new. In fact, there weren¡¯t even any traces or scars from the harrowing wound he had sustained.

    Very good¡­

    He gently ran his finger along his shoulder, and the smile on his instantly turned icy cold. If they can¡¯t kill me, then¡­ it¡¯s about time for me tounch my counterattack!

    Trying to shake things up, aren¡¯t you?

    Did you really think I didn¡¯t have any clean-up batters behind me?

    You¡¯re going to tremble when you see our legendary batter Oda Nobunaga walk up to the field! Two can y this game, my friend!

    ¡°Mr Oda.¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth, ¡°Immediately summon your troops¡­ ande with me to Valley County! We¡¯ll exterminate all of the Yin spirits over there! Not a single one of them shall be spared!¡¯

    You dare to assassinate the future king Yanluo of Hell? That¡¯s treason! All Yin spirits of Valley County areplicit in this, and not a single one of them shall be spared from their crimes! We¡¯ve got to set an example for the rest! Otherwise, where are they supposed to learn to respect and fear Hell¡¯s existence?!

    All great nations had to be orded the respect that they deserve.

    They are to be revered as a saint from within, and a formidable force from without!

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Arthis raised her hand, ¡°What¡¯s going on? You¡¯ve got a better sense of smell for such dangers than any other Yin spirit around. The fact that they could reduce you to such a state means that¡­ they should never be underestimated.¡±

    It was then that Qin Ye finally drew a deep breath and recounted everything that had urred in Valley County from start to finish.

    Everyone gasped in horror when they finally heard about the existence of the sixty thousand strong army of Yin soldiers led by thirteen Infernal Judges.

    This was a force that was powerful enough to overthrow an entire district in Cathay! Furthermore, it was clear that the force Qin Ye had encountered was an alliance of sorts!

    ¡°Kill them. We need to obliterate them.¡± Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes were zing with a ferociousherme, ¡°Lord Qin, rest assured. You¡¯ve been in a state ofatose for two days, and the First Battalion of Hell has already rested for five days since theirst expedition. I¡¯ll immediately summon my troops and follow you straight back to Valley County to purge the enemy forces!¡±

    ¡°Slow down!¡± Gu Qing immediately interjected with great concern, ¡°Mr Oda, we¡¯re talking about an enemy force formed by sixty thousand Yin soldiers and thirteen Infernal Judges. Sending the First Battalion of Hell against something like this¡­ is no different from throwing eggs at a rock. We cannot afford to put all of our eggs in one basket like that!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly, ¡°Mr Gu, we can¡¯t sit idly by and do nothing either. If the Tang Dynasty were to encounter something like that, they would most certainly go all out and destroy the offending faction! A great nation must live up to its name! Do you know what their actions amount to? It¡¯s a rebellion! How can we sit by and tolerate such treasonous actions?!¡±

    However, he immediately continued with a peculiar smile on his face, ¡°That said, it¡¯s going to be a show more than anything. I¡¯m not stupid enough to sh directly against sixty thousand Yin soldiers.¡±

    ¡°Then, you¡¯re--...¡± Gu Qing was confused. These discussions were clearly geared towards military affairs, and it was naturally out of thefort zone of someone like Gu Qing, who was more adept at domestic affairs.

    ¡°Peach Blossom Lantern.¡± Just then, Arthis gazed into the distant and murmured under her breath, ¡°I¡¯d never expected to see something like that appear in a ce like this¡­¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°Peach Blossom Lantern¡­ Is that the Yin artifact that was able to hurt me? You know where ites from?¡±

    Arthis slowly lowered her head and sighed softly, ¡°Yes. I know of it¡­ because it was the Yin artifact that my teacher had used. And my teacher¡¯s name is¡­ Gyasa.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. Who¡¯s that supposed to be?

    ¡°Gyasa¡­¡± Everyone was silent, until a few secondster, when Gu Qing suddenly jumped out from his seat, ¡°Gyasa? Gyasa?! Your teacher¡­ is actually her?!¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Qin Ye immediately pursued the question.

    Gu Qing gulped nervously and stared at Arthis with great disbelief, ¡°¡®Gya¡¯, in Bodese, means a female of Han descent. ¡®Sa¡¯, refers to a deity. Put together, Gyasa refers to a female Han deity. Historically¡­ there¡¯s only been one person who has been conferred this title before¡­ Rather, might I say, one princess¡­¡±

    He drew a deep breath, ¡°Princess Wencheng.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly, before turning back to Arthis as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Princess Wencheng¡­ King Songtsen Gampo¡¯s Princess Wencheng?¡±

    Arthis nodded.

    Bloody hell¡­

    Qin Ye stared at Arthis with an increasingly incredulous look on his face - How could Princess Wencheng possibly raise ruch a regicidal, patricidal witch who defected from Northrend to--...

    Sorry, I might have gone off topic there¡­

    But¡­ I mean¡­ shouldn¡¯t some of her royalty and dignity at least rub off on you?!!

    ¡°She¡¯s just my teacher! My academic teacher! What the hell¡¯s going on in your mind right now?!¡± Arthis red ferociously at him, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that my teacher managed to breakthrough to the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect thirty years before the great copse of Hell. The Peach Blossom Lantern was an artifact that she had loved and cherished in life, and had subsequently been buried together with her in death. That was why it ended up bing the Yin artifact at her personal disposal. I would never have expected to see it being used in the depths of Valley County either!¡±

    ¡°But now that something like that has appeared¡­¡± A glint of murderous intent flickered across the depths of her eyes, ¡°Then¡­ we must absolutely retrieve such an artifact from the grasps of the undeserving ones!¡±

    ¡°One moment, mydy.¡± Oda Nobunaga interjected, ¡°It was precisely because of this that I¡¯d earlier suggested putting up a show.¡±

    ¡°First of all, we know for a fact that one of the greatest sinners from the Confucian Family has managed to escape into the mortal realm. He might not be aware of the situation in Hell, but he can probably guess a thing or two from the state that the mortal realm is in right now. If you were him, would you still remain in Valley County after swinging and missing the mark?¡±

    Definitely not.

    Qin Ye secretlyuded Oda Nobunaga in his heart, and even cast upon him a favourable nce.

    He¡¯s truly worthy of being known as one of the greatest generals and warlords of all time. Qin Ye knew exactly what he was getting at. The attempted assassination of the King Yanluo of Hell was something that could never be covered up. At this point, it was more about the dignity of Hell than anything else. In modern terms, it would be akin to someone bombing a Cathayan embassy in a foreignnd. Strictly speaking, the culprits would be no more than the few actual perpetrators who were involved in the act itself. But why would Cathay step up and give the foreignnd a good shelling and even a p across the face?

    It was a show of force undergirded by the principles of deterrence.

    They knew for a fact that they wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat the perpetrators in a full frontal sh. Mobilizing troops for that reason was therefore naturally out of the question. So, what do they do?

    The current situation was a perfect set up for them.

    Fight!

    Raze all hunting zones and predatory zones within Valley County to the ground, and leave none alive!

    None of the perpetrators would be aware that the force that was mobilized constituted the entire fighting force of the new Hell. Their show of force was intended to strike fear into the hearts of the perpetrators and stem the flow of all momentum before it picks up! This was the first time Hell was making its presence known outside the City of Salvation, and the idea was to make the biggest deal out of it that they could, as a warning to all Yin spirits out there that they should never step on the tiger¡¯s tail!

    1. Used to refer to Tibetian. Prospectively, Tibet shall be referred to as Bod.

    2. Princess Wencheng (628-680/682) was a member of a minor branch of the royal n of the Tang Dynasty, and she allegedly married King Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire in 641.

 Chapter 393: Misgivings

    <h4>Chapter 393: Misgivings</h4>

    Now you¡¯re talking.

    Oda Nobunaga cupped his hands respectfully towards Qin Ye, ¡°Lord Qin, I¡¯ve once asked Lady Arthis about battles between Yin soldiers, and her response was that the level of their cultivation doesn¡¯t matter very much. What is more important is the strength of the military formation, spell arrays, as well as the armaments at their disposal. I wonder if you¡¯ve seen anything noteworthy about their Yin soldiers on your sh against them?¡±

    ¡°Military formation?!¡± Arthis gasped in horror, ¡°How is that possible--... No, it¡¯s possible after all. If the great sinner of the Confucian Family is among their midst, then it stands to reason that they know a thing or two about drawing up military formations.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes, ¡°Hang on, you don¡¯t know about military formations?¡±

    Silence.

    The silence was awkward.

    ¡°There are too many.¡± Gu Qing chuckled bitterly, ¡°The Confucian Familyprises several factions, each of whom alleges that the other is more evil than them. Furthermore, every dynasty has seen the emergence of their own sets of schrs who subscribe to Confucianism. How are we supposed to distinguish between them all?¡±

    ¡°After all, the military formation means nothing in light of the Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows at our disposal. We¡¯ve still got approximately nine hundred thousand bolts in our arsenal to boot. If we sh head on right now, we might not be able to gain a wless victory, but we wouldn¡¯t have any issues holding our ground and protecting ourselves either.¡±

    He flicked his finger, and a matchbox-sized item flew straight into Oda Nobunaga¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Armor?¡± Arthis was taken aback, ¡°They¡¯ve actually got something like that at their disposal?¡±

    Silence.

    Secondster, Gu Qing coughed dryly, ¡°Lady Arthis¡­ I¡¯ve personally read the Saint Seiya: Hades series when it was first released¡­¡±

    Arthis coughed dryly, ¡°Ahem¡­ sorry about that. What I meant is that you shouldn¡¯t underestimate the fact that this artifact is made entirely out of paper. The fact that it was strengthened and imbued with Yin energy means that it can exhibit properties that are no different from refined steel back in the mortal realm. Did you say that¡­ they were all wearing armor simr to this?¡±

    ¡°Then that makes things even worse than it already is.¡± Oda Nobunaga finally looked up with an iparably grim expression, ¡°My lord, mydy, this time¡­ I¡¯m afraid we might have encountered the greatest obstacle Hell has seen since its reestablishment!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga flipped up the paper armor in his hand and immediately infused it with his Yin energy. At once, the paper armor glowed with a bright sheen as though it were steel. Then, Oda Nobunaga struck it with a powerful palm strike. To everyone¡¯s great surprise, the armor didn¡¯t shatter into pieces as they had expected. Instead, only a small part of it broke off, almost like it was made out of steel.

    Nobunaga¡¯s actions caused everyone to tense up their spirits. Arthis promptly shook her head in response, ¡°Not possible.¡±

    Without missing a beat, he immediately continued, ¡°Furthermore, that very same entity also possesses the ability to train Yin soldiers. They¡¯re basically equipped for the industrial production of Yin soldiers, from training straight through to equipping works. They even have the backing of an alliance of Judge-ss entities behind them!¡±

    Everyone was in deep thought, including Qin Ye himself. Then, momentster, something clicked in Qin Ye¡¯s mind, and an electrifying sense of fear surged throughout every corner of his body!

    He finally understood the full implications of what Oda Nobunaga was trying tomunicate to them all. He also finally understood why he had earlier felt as though something was amiss. The implications of these matters were so grave that not even Nobunaga dared to speak openly about it!

    Only a secret of this level was worth Ksitigarbha¡¯s time making the trip down to the mortal realm just to warn Qin Ye about it!

    ¡°Here.¡± Oda Nobunaga cupped his hands back respectfully.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Oda Nobunaga immediately knelt down on one knee and responded with gusto.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already decided.¡± Qin Ye turned to the two who were still befuddled and responded with categorical determination, ¡°This battle must be fought.¡±

    Nobody dared to raise any objections after his decision because Qin Ye had the final say in these matters. With that, Qin Yeid back down on his bed and waved his hands, ¡°Mr Gu shall take over my work in Hell for now. The rest of you may take your leave. Mr Oda, please remain behind.¡±

    However, Qin Ye simply remained silent. He nced out of the window and into the distance skies, reeling from shock by the matters that had struck him just moments ago.

    What location could possibly train such multitudes of Yin soldiers like that?

    A city.

    Apart from the new Hell¡­ ghost cities had already begun to sprout up across the rest of Cathay!

    The bunching effect!

    And the new Hell¡­ was no different from Liu Bei of the period of Three Kingdoms. It was undoubtedly the true lord of thends, but they were still relegated to the same treatment as though they were but another vassal state in the region.

    Right now, Qin Ye had a namesake that was passed on to him through the legatic inheritance bestowed upon him by Granny Meng, but Hell most certainly didn¡¯t have the strength to live up to its name!

    This concerned the movement of powers within Cathay¡¯sherworld!

    He was still in the dark as to just how many ghost cities had appeared in Cathay¡¯sherworld. Hell was still nestled away in a remote corner known as the City of Salvation. If not for Ksitigarbha¡¯s warning, and Oda Nobunaga¡¯s astute deductions, he would still have been none the wiser despite having seen the sheer extent to which the Yin soldiers were all clothed with armor.

    Especially since¡­ the great sinner of the Confucian Family would immediately have been able to identify Qin Ye as a genuine Emissary of Hell.

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­ That¡¯s how it is¡­

    ¡°It is said that the first King Yanluo of Hell had fought for a thousand long years before finally establishing Fengdu Necropolis as the core of Hell. But how many ghost cities did he have to get through at that time? And how many are there now? Even if there are others, my guess is that there can¡¯t possibly be more than four or five out there. And these are only spections at that. The truth about this matter¡­¡±

    ¡°There will definitely be clues left behind in the wake of an army¡¯s march, and it¡¯s from these clues that we would be able to infer and deduce many things about the state of theherworld right now. Therefore, this battle must absolutely be fought at all costs! To protect Hell¡¯s integrity and reputation, as well as to uncover the truth about this horrific spection of ours!¡±

    It¡¯s a good thing that we discovered these things early on. The earlier we learn of the bigger picture out there, the more advantage we have to work with. At the very least¡­ we¡¯d be able to stem all potential sources of rebellion before they even rise up against Hell!

    And most importantly¡­

    No matter how Qin Ye thought about it, there was only one answer.

    It was a location that was only three cities away from Martial City!

    The de¡­ must be drawn!

    <hr>

    1. Gank is a MOBA term used to refer to ambushing others and taking them by surprise.

    2. This is where the hometown of Confucius, the Confucius mausoleum, and the official residence of his descendants are all located.

 Chapter 394: Universal Grand Shift

    <h4>Chapter 394: Universal Grand Shift</h4>

    The only reason why he was certain that their ghost city would be located in Qufu¡­ was because it was so inextricably interlinked to Confucianism that all Confucianists would never be able to pass it up.

    With this, the ying field would be tipped in Hell¡¯s favour. After all, the opposing forces were still in the dark as to where the new Hell was located!

    In other words, Hell¡¯s greatest advantage right nowid in the fact that the rival forces were unable to strike at their base of operations!

    That said, there were still many questions that Qin Ye was unable to figure out for now.

    For instance, he had noticed that Yin spirits would generally appear on the surface of the mortal realm, but such a phenomenon would immediately be rendered impossible as soon as a ghost city was established. This was peculiar, because not even the great and powerful Fengdu Necropolis was able to do any more than to open a portal on the mortal realm that led Yin spirits directly towards Hell¡¯s Gate.

    Therefore, Qin Ye postted that the Confucian Family¡¯s ghost city might very well be located in Limbo itself. This was how they had managed to attempt an assassination on Qin Ye at the material times.

    That said, everything remained no more than posttions and spections. Arthis would probably know the specifics, but he had no intentions of disclosing these terrifying news before personally ascertaining its veracity.

    ¡°If this much is true, then there¡¯s just too much to be done moving forward¡­ Everything, including the eastbound expedition, would be affected¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed and murmured softly, ¡°We¡¯re going to be sending the expedition through the ¡®mantle¡¯ of the earth, and subsequently opening up in the mortal realm an entrance to the next sea port city that is to be established. If the Eastmount Province is indeed under the control of the Confucian Family right now, they¡¯d most certainly take notice of our movements. And when that timees¡­¡±

    He looked up, and a cold glint shed across the depths of his eyes.

    Everything can only be resolved through warfare.

    ¡°You may take your leave. Ride the momentum of your first victory, and don¡¯t let the Yin soldiers cken off. Make all preparations necessary for the uing march to Valley County.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    With that, Nobunaga took his leave. Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then made a quick hand seal and summoned a messenger bird. He recorded his message, before promptly sending it on its way.

    Soon, another Yin spirit pushed on the door and entered with a respectful bow, ¡°Lord Qin.¡±

    It was Li Jixi.

    Qin Ye looked at him with nary an expression on his face. As an albatross, Li Jixi was hardly fazed by something like that. Secondster, Qin Ye finally instructed, ¡°I¡¯ve got two secret missions to entrust to you. If you do a good job, and Wang Chenghao is willing to forgive you, then everything that has happened between us will be written offpletely. You¡¯ll be allowed to officially enter the ranks of civil servant of Hell, and¡­ I might even begin to entrust other tasks to you.¡±

    It had to be said that these were but empty threats. Li Jixi was a talent that was much needed in Hell, and Qin Ye naturally wasn¡¯t going to let any of that go to waste. That said, wasn¡¯t making empty threats and using them as leverage one of Qin Ye¡¯s greatest talents?

    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Jixi responded equally cidly.

    Qin Ye gazed deeply at him for several more seconds, before finally lowering his voice to a hush, ¡°I want you to immediately depart for the Felipinas, seek an audience with Lord Yang Jiye, and request him to immediately send troops to the City of Salvation. I¡¯ll also pass you a sealed letter that you must personally hand over to Lord Yang. This is a mission that we simply cannot afford to fail!¡±

    Great sinner of the Confucian Family¡­ Although I don¡¯t know who you are¡­ but did you really think you¡¯d be able to dominate the world with a measly army of sixty thousand Yin soldiers?

    If I muster all of my forces and march straight for you, I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t even know what hit you¡­

    That said, Qin Ye didn¡¯t intend to mobilize Lord Yu Qian of Lhavi. After all, Lord Yu Qian was located in a precarious position, namely, the sole buffer zone that separated the Hell and the Hindustani underworld. In a hundred and fifty years¡¯ time, he might well require Yu Qian to take the vanguard and lead the great defence against the assault of the alliance of other underworlds!

    To think that the third King Yanluo of Hell would be required to repay the debts of the second King Yanluo of Hell¡­ What kind of logic is this¡­

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that¡­¡± Qin Ye pondered for a moment, ¡°When you return, I want you to immediately train other albatrosses at the fastest possible speed! I¡¯ll give you charge over all of the worst criminals from the mortal realm, so that you¡¯ll have free reign to do what you wish to all of them. Anyone that is assigned to you will have his or her namepletely written off from Hell¡¯s Records altogether. It¡¯ll be as though none of them have ever existed.¡±

    Li Jixi listened silently, before slowly responding, ¡°Lord Qin, it takes approximately two years to train an albatross in the mortal realm. But in Hell¡­ given that Yin spirits neither require sleep nor rest, I believe I¡¯d be able to deliver results within a single year.¡±

    ¡°Very well. After one year, I want you to send them out to scour Cathay for any locality with a particrly dense concentration of Yin spirits. As soon as they locate one, I want them to enter these ces and investigate it thoroughly. All information pertaining to the situation in these locations must be personally delivered to me.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You may take your leave. Please invite Arthis over on your way out.¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes and slowly sorted through his thoughts, prioritizing everything that he had to do next for Hell. His brain cells had been whirring at top speed for some time, and he was feeling rather drained and worn out.

    Li Jixi promptly took his leave, and Arthis soon knocked on the door and entered the room. She nced at Qin Ye with some measure of displeasure, ¡°What instructions do you have that can¡¯t be said in my presence? Huh? Is there some little secret between you and Oda Nobunaga that you¡¯re desperately trying to protect?¡±

    ¡°... No¡­ Do you know that you¡¯ve got a very peculiar outlook on life in general¡­¡± Qin Yeined yfully, before reverting back to the topic at hand, ¡°I¡¯ve asked someone to invite Yang Jiye to send troops to Valley County as soon as possible. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°... What¡¯s that got to do with me?¡±

    ¡°... C¡¯mon, tell me. I don¡¯t want to go down in history as a dictator who rules with an iron fist or an executioner that kills all who stands in his way.¡±

    Arthis red impatiently at him, ¡°So what if you¡¯re known as a killer or the one who massacres? I used to be renowned for my ability to y thousands of Yin spirit with a single sweep of my de! Such a puny ce like Valley County can¡¯t even begin to withstand the chaotic tip of my destructive de. Have I ever told you what my nickname used to be? Meat Grinder of the Great Heavens! Hunting zones and Yin spirits are only kept around to maintain some form of bnce between the realms. It¡¯s fine if you purge thempletely from the surface of this world. As for the rest of the wandering spirits, they aren¡¯t even creatures with spiritual awareness to begin with, so they¡¯re arguably no different from the weeds that grow in fields and ins. Just kill them all. What does it matter?¡±

    I like your candour, girl!

    Qin Ye silently gave Arthis a nod of approval in his heart - You certainly live up to your name as the prince of Lordaeron¡­ I¡¯ll keep such profound teachings on the outlook on life in the depths of my heart¡­

    He, too, knew that wandering spirits were only allowed to remain in the mortal realm in order to add Yin energy in order to bnce out the overwhelming amounts of Yang energy there. He even knew that Yin spirits would only regain their spiritual awareness upon returning to theherworld. However, as soon as his mind turned to the fact that the drifting spirits had once used to be living human beings, he began to feel torn about the decision he had made. He didn¡¯t want to cause a genocide. Fortunately, ady known as Arthis immediately dispelled these thoughts with her candid, simplistic outlook on life, and Qin Ye immediately felt much better about his decision¡­

    I guess my heart isn¡¯t hard enough topletely disregard my humanity after all¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s get back to the point.¡± He retracted the burgeoning smile on his face and continued with a deep voice, ¡°Here¡¯s the problem. Valley County is about two hundred kilometers away from the City of Salvation, and we¡¯ve not yet managed to pave any roads between the two locations, so how are we supposed to get there?¡±

    Arthis was somewhat taken aback as well, ¡°Weren¡¯t you going to wait for the eastbound expedition before destroying Valley County along the way?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head and tly refused, ¡°No. The troops must be sent to Valley County at the quickest speed possible.¡±

    Arthis finally furrowed her brows. She huffed and got up in exasperation, and then began to pace about the room. After a long time, she finally threw her head into the air and murmured softly, ¡°Universal Grand Shift.¡±

    WAAAAAT?!!!

    You¡¯re pulling my leg, aren¡¯t you?!

    Qin Ye stared at Arthis with a look of disdain, almost as though he were castigating Arthis for being so callous and trivial at a time like this.

    However, Arthis maintained apletely somber expression on her face, ¡°I¡¯m not even kidding over here. This is the name of one of Hell¡¯s mostplex arts. Depending on the level of Yin energy at its user¡¯s disposal, it can potentially shift anywhere between a hundred thousand to a million Yin soldiers all at once. I used to call it the Call the Wind, Summon the Rain, Magic Arsenal, Lands Copse, Mountains Crumble, Dark Moon, Clear Skies¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait right there.¡± Qin Ye raised his hand, ¡°Please stop giarizing the works of Renegade Immortal, alright? That¡¯s a book that was written almost a decade ago¡­ So let¡¯s not digress, and get back to the point.¡±

    Arthis paused for a moment, and then red viciously at Qin Ye, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault for introducing the world of the inte to me! Do you even know how much you¡¯ve ruined my youth ever since opening my eyes to that damned, hellish ce?! Are you a demon?!¡±

    Qin Ye sneered as he turned a blind eye to Arthis¡¯ reproach. How can you me me when you¡¯re the one who got addicted to the inte in the first ce? What¡¯s next? Are you going to me the Heavenly Dao for giving you a voracious appetite, huh?!

    ¡°Back to the topic at hand, Universal Grand Shift. How many Yin soldiers can you shift given your current cultivation level?¡±

    Arthis stared at Qin Ye as though she had just seen a ghost, ¡°Were you not listening to me? Which part of ¡®one of Hell¡¯s mostplex arts¡¯ do you not understand? That¡¯s a technique that only upper grade Emissaries of Hell are able to perform! Besides, do you think I¡¯d look so perplexed earlier if I could resolve your problems with the use of the Universal Grand Shift?!¡±

    Very well.

    That¡¯s just like Arthis, isn¡¯t it?

    ¡°But¡­¡± Before Qin Ye could even unleash the verbal assault had prepared against Arthis, she immediately exined, ¡°This is a technique that can barely be used by an Abyssal Prefect. That said, the fact that I¡¯m unable to perform a technique like this doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that nobody in Hell can perform it.¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking about?¡± Qin Ye asked reflexively, only to realize who Arthis was getting at, ¡°The Harken?!¡±

    Arthis had already pulled out the Yin Beast Bell that Qin Ye had earlier handed to her, ¡°How about it? Are you keen on meeting up with our old friend once more? If you can wake it up once more, then even if you tear up the trading city agreement right in front of Liu Yu¡¯s face, he still wouldn¡¯t dare do a single thing against Hell.¡±

    Say what?

    Let¡¯s go.

    With that, a man and a ghost immediately transformed into a swifthergale and shot straight to the depths of Hell.

    Logically speaking, they had already transcended the walls of an entire realm and entered Limbo, but Qin Ye wasn¡¯t able to distinguish between the two realms.

    Almost as though she could sense the perplexity in his eyes, Arthis exined softly, ¡°Actually, you can even try to understand it through cultivation terms. Limbo and Hell are both built upon the use of Yin energy. That said, the only difference is that Hell is a more refined version of Limbo, almost as though it is a realm that is superior to Limbo. On the other hand, Limbo can be considered the ¡®starting vige¡¯ of all protagonists in wuxia novels. The only distinction between the two is the quality and density of Yin energy in these realms.¡±

    Understood. Qin Ye stared at the Harken with an intense, burning gaze in his eyes. A thick, dense mist of Yin energy was rising from its body and drifting up towards the base of Hell¡¯s foundation where it was summarily consumed. Had I known I would be given the Yin Beast Bell, I would never have added to the Harken¡¯s woes in the first ce¡­

    Unfortunately, it was toote for regrets. Qin Ye drew a deep, long breath, and then slowly began to shake the Yin Beast Bell.

    Ding¡­ It hadn¡¯t made a single sound when Qin Ye first shook the bell back in the mortal realm. But now, a simple shake of the bell actually sent visible golden waves rippling out into the surroundings.

    Simultaneously, the Harken¡¯s ears suddenly twitched slightly.

    It¡¯s working!

    Qin Ye licked his lips. The Harken¡­ We¡¯re talking about a powerhouse that represents thirty million Yin! With it around, would there still be any Yin beasts that can threaten Hell¡¯s existence? Would the daolords even form part of my considerations anymore? I sense hope on the horizon!

    His hand shook quicker and quicker, and the sound of the bell grew more and more intense. Below, the Harken¡¯s huge body shifted for the very first time in a long while, almost as though it were trying to open its eyes. Unfortunately, it appeared to be unable to do anything no matter how hard it tried.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qin Ye was practically shaking the bell to the beat of the March of the Volunteers, and yet the Harken simply twitched softly, without showing any signs of its eyes opening up at all.

    ¡°Stop it.¡± Arthis sighed. The sound abruptly stopped, and she nced up into the sky, ostensibly filled with exasperation, ¡°Lord Harken is too badly injured. If it could move, it might already have reduced us to a gory mush by now¡­ It¡¯s clearly picking up the call of the bell, but unable to react in the slightest bit.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned deeply. It was only because they had no choice that they had built Hell over the Harken. Who would have thought he would soon after encounter Lord Ksitigarbha and even obtain the treasured Yin Beast Bell?

    Everything hade full circle. The Harken was powering Hell¡¯s existence right now, but¡­ the drain on its energy meant that he was no longer able to move, even in the slightest.

    Sigh¡­ As they say, everything has its predetermined causes and effects.

    ¡°Rather than worrying about Lord Harken right now¡­¡± Arthis remarked abruptly, jolting Qin Ye back from his thoughts in an instant. Qin ye looked up, only to realize that Arthis¡¯ hair was already scattering about menacingly, while her Judge-ss Yin energy was pouring out of her body like a fountain, ¡°Why don¡¯t we¡­ first entertain these aborigines that have also responded to the call of the Harken¡¯s cat toy?¡±

    Qin Ye froze. His gaze promptly flickered, and he turned to look at a particr direction where the depths of Limbo was located.

    Dong¡­ The ground trembled softly. A colossal figure emerged from the shadows of the ck-and-white mist, trudging towards them with heavy footsteps.

    It was incredibly tall. By Qin Ye¡¯s estimates, it was practically five to six hundred meters in height! In fact, it was arguably even taller than Lord Harken itself! Qin Ye and Arthis could only vaguely make out its haze shadow in the distance, and yet they could tell that the uninvited guest appeared no different from a majestic ancient mammoth that was slowly making its way to answer the bell¡¯s call.

    1. This is actually a reference to the technique called Ç¬À¤´óÅ²ÒÆ, which first appeared in Jin Yong¡¯s The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

    2. Shoutout to Rex, trantor of Renegade Immortal, for helping me on this! Please check out his novel on WXW if you haven¡¯t already done so!

    3. This is the national anthem of China.

 Chapter 395: Yin Beast - Elder Soul Devourer

    <h4>Chapter 395: Yin Beast - Elder Soul Devourer</h4>

    SSSS!!! A mournful scream tore through Limbo¡¯s void, sending wild fluctuations rippling through the drifting mist. The sea of paramnesia flowers were bending back as a result of the terrifying scream, and even Arthis and Qin Ye¡¯s robes were fluttering about wildly. Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered as he looked up to the source of the sound.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s expressions grew sullen, ¡°An Infernal Judge?¡±

    ¡°A Judge-ss Yin beast.¡± Arthis licked her lips, ¡°Like I said before, Limbo is filled with living creatures. It¡¯s only natural to see a Yin beast around these parts. And don¡¯t even think about taming them for your own use. They feed on Yin spirits. If you bring it to Hell, I can assure you that your entire poption of a hundred thousand Yin spirits wouldn¡¯tst for more than three years.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the figure that was still trudging through the mist, ¡°What gives it the guts to even draw close to the Harken?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Lord Ksitigarbha tell you?¡± Arthis snickered, ¡°The Yin Beast Bell¡­ is an artifact that we call a cat¡¯s toy bell. However, it makes sounds that are practically irresistible to all Yin beasts. In other words, the sound it makes is practically akin to the sound of destiny¡¯s call. Different Yin beasts might perceive it differently - perhaps the call of a nemesis, or perhaps even the call of a¡­ mating partner. The Harken is so weak right now that it¡¯s not even able to disy its aura. It¡¯s only natural that monarch beasts would dare to approach the Harken right now.¡±

    Boom! The ground trembled once more. The colossal beast appeared no different from a fortress that was slowly emerging from the veil of the mist. Slowly, it approached Qin Ye.

    Nobody said a single word. This was merely a Judge-ss Yin beast. Qin Ye was confident that he could easily defeat the beast in an instant. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to see what a legendary monarch Yin beasts looked like.

    Dong¡­ dong, dong¡­ Dull footsteps reverberated through Limbo like heavy drum beats. Each step on the ground sent tremors rippling through the earth, almost as though they were experiencing repeated earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude on the Richter scale. It drew closer and closer¡­ and the hazy silhouette slowly grew clearer and clearer. A minuteter, a pair of jade-greenhermes lit up from within the darkness.

    It would be more urate to describe them as two spots of zing congrations, because each clump of terrifyingherme appeared to be at least ten meters wide! With a great roar, the behemoth erupted with a powerful wave of Yin energy and appeared right before Arthis and Qin Ye.

    It¡­ appeared to be a man.

    However, he was walking on all fours like how a mammoth would. In fact, its body was practically shaped like a mammoth¡¯s, but its limbs appeared to be reced by human hands. Moreover, the Yin beast bore the head of a smiling old man, replete with a bald head and two sets of long, white sideburns that draped down alongside its head. Each of the sideburns were hundreds of meters long, and they hung loosely around its body.

    The smile on its face was even more peculiar, almost as though it waspletely frozen and locked in ce. Rows of sharp teeth could be seen in the gap between its lips, while two massive tusks hundreds of meters long protruded from its mouth just like that of an ancient mammoth!

    It was incredibly bizarre.

    Arthis turned to Qin Ye cidly, ¡°Elder Soul Devourer. A carnivorous Yin beast that devours souls for food. It¡¯s incredibly ferocious, and equally bloodthirsty. Shall I? Or will you do the honours?¡±

    ROOAAAARRRR!!! Just then, the Elder Soul Devourer suddenly opened its mouth and bellowed at the two seemingly insignificant existences in Limbo.

    Instantly, the area was swept clear of all lingering Yin mist. A scarlet forked tongue tens of meters long iled about and licked its lips as the Soul Devourer stared intently at Qin Ye.

    To be more precise, it was staring at the Yin Beast Bell in Qin Ye¡¯s hand.

    Qin Ye looked startled, ¡°Can¡¯t it sense the aura of an Infernal Judge from us? What gives it the guts to act this way?¡±

    ¡°You overestimate them. Yin beasts move only on instinct. Where are they supposed to get the spiritual awareness to be conscious of all these things?¡± Arthis snorted softly. But before they could even finish their exchange with each other, a flicker of red lightning suddenly bolted across the sky!

    Qin Ye reflexively waved his hand, and the Book of Life and Death instantly grew in size, transforming into a wall that obstructed the path of the bolt of red lightning.

    It was the tongue.

    The forked tongue of the Elder Soul Devourer.

    The Elder Soul Devourer still had the same, peculiar smile on its face. A split secondter, and with a great hiss, a dozen or so other tongues suddenly emerged from its lips and mmed directly against the wall formed by the book.

    Qin Ye was just pulling out his Judgment Pen when suddenly, all of the slithering tongues seized up in mid-air.

    It was almost as thought time had frozen. The Elder Soul Devourer froze in ce. Its huge body twisted slightly, and then the expression on his face finally changed from the same cid smile to an expression of intense, frenzied rage.

    Sss¡­ ROAR!! It roared furiously, but its entire body appeared to be helplessly caught by something. A split secondter, with an ear-splitting shriek, its entire being mmed sideways into the ground, where it was quickly dragged off into the distance!

    It clearly wasn¡¯t a series of movements made of its own volition.

    In fact, Qin Ye could see that it was iling its limbs about as it struggled desperately against the external force. However, it was almost as though there were an even more tyrannical giant snake dragging it off to the side. No matter how much it struggled, everything appeared to be in vain.

    Sss¡­ SSSS!!! Its cries were immediately filled with panic. It wed desperately against the ground with its pale white hands, digging up deep, long grooves in Limbo and unearthing the beds of flowers of paramnesia. Unfortunately¡­ its efforts were clearly useless against the indomitable force overpowering it!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped deeply. What the hell is going on? What could there be lurking in the dark that can possibly render the Elder Soul Devourerpletely helpless?

    BOOM!!!

    Just then, there was an abrupt quake that shook the entire Limbo. Three secondster, a ck hole visible to the naked eye formed right above the Harken, where it slowly but surely began to consume everything around it - flowers of paramnesia, Yin energy, Elder Soul Devourer, and so on. Everything¡­ save for Qin Ye and Arthis.

    Whoosh!!! The suction force from the ck hole was so terrifying that it soon transformed into a massive tornado as they slowly consumed everything around it! Even the Elder Soul Devourer couldn¡¯t do a single thing against the terrifying might of the ck hole, and it was likewise tossed about in the raging tornado as though it were made with paper mache.

    Buzz¡­

    Ten secondster, everything subsided. The surroundings were silent once more.

    Countless flowers of paramnesia which had earlier been sent scattering through the skies were slowly drifting down like a rain of petals. The Harken was still motionless, while the Elder Soul Devourer had vanishedpletely.

    That said¡­ Qin Ye and Arthis could both tell that the terrifying wound on the Harken¡¯s back had healed by a trace amount!

    None of them said a single word. Qin Ye silently wiped off the sweat on the forehead. The Harken¡­ must have been feeding earlier.

    Despite its state ofatose, it¡­ was still at the apex of all Yin beasts! It eats when it so desires! Nothing can stand in its way!

    That¡¯s insane¡­ What transpired earlier ruffled Qin Ye¡¯s feathers even more than the Harken¡¯s earlier altercation with Arthis some time ago. An entire Infernal Judge had beenpletely reduced to nothingness¡­ Qin Ye shifted his weight to the balls of his feet uneasily, ready to make his great escape at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Unfortunately, as soon as Qin Ye began to slowly shuffle away, a clump of hair wrapped itself tightly around his waist and dragged him back to his original spot, ¡°Hang on right there.¡±

    ¡°Shh¡­¡± Qin Ye red back at Arthis and made a shushing gesture, ¡°Keep it down! It wouldn¡¯t be good to awaken Lord Harken from its beauty sleep! Can you please conduct yourself with some measure of propriety here?¡±

    Arthis: ¡­¡­

    Aaarrrgghh¡­ Calm down, calm down¡­ You¡¯re used to it¡­ It¡¯s important to keep the peace in your heart¡­ With a cid expression on her face, she responded, ¡°Do no other thoughts ur to you at this point in time?¡±

    Qin Ye blinked back vacantly, before turning to the Harken and bowing deeply to it, ¡°Pardon the interruption. We¡¯ll take our leave right now.¡±

    With that, he began to drift away once more.

    Shk, shk, shk! This time, countless clumps of hair immediately wrapped around him like bondage y. Arthis leaned in closer. Her face was alreadypletely twisted with the tumultuous emotions that were raging in her heart, ¡°Did you forget why we¡¯re here in the first ce?! Universal Grand Shift!!! That¡¯s our true purpose! Can you please grow a brain for once?!¡±

    Ah. That¡¯s right. There¡¯s still that¡­

    ¡°I mean¡­ weren¡¯t you the one who told me to stop it in the first ce? Why are we still wasting our time and effort over here--... I get it! You¡¯re trying to trip me up and get me killed over here, aren¡¯t you? Nuh-uh-uh, there¡¯s no need to exin anything. The more you exin, the more guilty you appear! I¡¯ve hit the nail on the head, haven¡¯t I? The truth has just been revealed!¡± Qin Ye barked back with a verbal diarrhoea of allegations.

    ¡°You--... I--...¡± Arthis¡¯ heart was swelling with mounting rage. Is it against thew to kill the King Yanluo of Hell? C¡¯mon, I really need to know right now!

    Arhtis shut her eyes and summarily dispelled all of the other distracting thoughts clouding her mind. Then, she turned back to the issue and hand and gnashed her teeth softly, ¡°I¡¯ve just recalled how Lord Ksitigarbha used to y with his cat--... I mean, the Harken. Turn the Yin Beast Bell around, and see if there¡¯s some wool stuck up the bell to dampen its call?¡±

    Qin Ye flipped it over, and was astonished to find that there was indeed a clump of wool hidden within!

    ¡°The Yin Beast Bell can potentially overstimte the Harken into a state of great excitement. Thus, in order to prevent that from happening, Lord Ksitigarbha has modified the bell in order to dampen the effects of its chime.¡± Arthis exined, ¡°To that end, it is said that Lord Ksitigarbha has opened a small chamber within the bell and stashed it with some divine objects. Word has it that it¡¯s only when these divine objects are used in tandem with the bell would one truly be able to excite Lord Harkenpletely.¡±

    So desu-ne¡­ Qin Ye ripped off the cotton wool within the bell in a few swift strokes, and then finally drew another deep breath, ¡°I¡¯m starting.¡±

    Arthis nodded, and then sensibly moved back several steps.

    DING!!!

    Qin Ye shook the Yin Beast Bell gently, but the sound it emitted was far more crisp and resonant. Qin Ye could even feel his bones vibrating to the natural resonance of the bell. This time, the golden ripples of sound waves flowed much more smoothly and majestically, almost like the surge of a tsunami that spread out in all directions. The fog of Yin energy in the surroundings was immediately swept away.

    As the bell rang, wisps of green silken threads began to slowly drift out from its core and fill the surroundings. Initially, it appeared fine and misty like a refreshing spring drizzle. But within five seconds, the threads promptly erged in size, turning into a rain of feather-like objects that slowly drifted down like snow, falling softly onto Lord Harken¡¯s colossal body.

    What a familiar smell¡­ Qin Ye thought as he continued to shake the bell. He blinked vacantly for a moment, before suddenly being struck by a brainwave. He immediately grabbed a handful of the green silken object and took a whiff of it, before barking at the top of his voice, ¡°Holy shit!! Isn¡¯t this catnip?!!¡±

    ¡°You know about it?¡± Arthis stared at Qin Ye as though she had just seen a ghost, ¡°You¡­ actually know about Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s divine object?¡±

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t even be bothered with Arthis at this point in time. He stared at the Harken with great disbelief - This can¡¯t be real¡­ I must be dreaming right now¡­ How in the world are you the same as a cat?! Where is the resemnce? No matter how I see it, you¡¯re nothing like a cat at all! Why would you be excited about catnip?!

    It had to be said that the usually dark and gloomy Limbo was suddenly filled with a dazzling disy of what appeared to be special effects. And then, to Qin Ye¡¯s great surprise, the Harken¡­ actually opened his massive eyes!

    I¡¯ll be damned¡­ it¡­ really works¡­

    Qin Ye waspletely lost for words. He didn¡¯t know where to begin, so he sensibly kept his mouthpletely shut.

    Just like that, a massive beast, an evil ghost, and a frail human locked eyes with each other. With the Harken¡¯s awakening, the Yin energy in the surroundings immediately began to stir tremble like boiling water. The cries of Yin beasts echoed out in the distance, before slowly but surely fading away into the background as though they were fleeing for their lives.

    Whoosh¡­ A sea of Yin energy surged from the ground like a vast ripple. Nobody said a single word. Arthis and Qin Ye were tense to the extreme. Without a word to each other, they had both tacitly begun to operate the Yin energy within their body so that they could escape at the earliest sign of trouble.

    The tense silence went on for half a minute. And then, the Harken blinked its eyes, and then opened its jaws wide, ¡°Meow~~~¡±

    What the hell?!!

    Aaarrrggghhh¡­ Is it really responding to the catnip like any other cat out there would? I¡¯d never thought that catnips could be used like that as well¡­ didn¡¯t it use to hiss and roar at us? This¡­ I still can¡¯t believe this¡­ How has the all-knowing and all-powerful Lord Harken been reduced to a mere house cat¡­

    But little did he know that this was only just the beginning¡­

    The Harken didn¡¯t even look them in the eyes. It promptly squinted its eyes, almost as though it were enjoying the shower of catnips over his body. Then¡­ three minutester¡­ it actually began to roll about the ground with its colossal body!

    Its tail even shot into the sky and began to wag about like a happy cat!

    ¡°Meow~~~ Meow~~~¡± Its cheerful meows reverberated throughout the depths of Limbo. The entire ground was trembling like a cataclysmic earthquake from the Harken¡¯s yful rolling on the ground. Completely disarmed, Qin Ye gazed up silently into the distant sky, wondering whether he had dialed the wrong number with the Yin Beast Bell...

 Chapter 396: The Harkenâ€™s Response

    <h4>Chapter 396: The Harken''s Response</h4>

    Arthis and Qin Ye hovered about in mid-air, silent and speechless, refusing to believe that this was what had be of the divine beast of the old Hell. Nope¡­ We don¡¯t know each other¡­ not at all¡­

    Silence.

    ¡°Come on, tell me, how did you encounter Lord Ksitigarbha, and how did you get your hands on the Yin Beast Bell?¡± The Harkenidzily on the ground. He wasn¡¯t even looking at Qin Ye right now. Instead, he was simply rubbing its face against the ground it had earlier tenderized, ¡°And don¡¯t you dare lie to me. This is the only chance at reconciliation that I¡¯m giving you.¡±

    I¡¯d almost forgotten that this was the Harken we¡¯re talking about¡­

    Thus, for the next ten minutes, Qin Ye recounted everything leading up to his encounter with Lord Ksitigarbha, without missing a single detail. Then, as soon as he was done, the Harken snorted coldly, ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit that you¡¯re pretty smart.¡±

    Arthis and Qin Ye both heaved a great sigh of relief.

    ¡°We were forced to do so only by the circumstances at that time.¡± Qin Ye sighed and smiled bitterly. Regardless of how the Harken had behaved earlier, an existence representing thirty million Yin was still nothing tough at.

    As soon as the Harken fully recovers, they can immediately march for Amano-Iwato!

    Was it simply because he was unhappy with them?

    What was more important¡­ was the big picture he was working towards!

    Once the Array of the Nine Gods that had been strengthened by the second King Yanluo of Hell finally wears out after a hundred and fifty years, the truth about Hell would finally be made public. Unfortunately, no matter how confident Qin Ye was in his own abilities to rebuild Hell, it was quite something else to say with confidence that he would make Hell regain its former glory in just a hundred and fifty years.

    But¡­ what if they managed to raze a longstanding underworld to the ground in the meantime?

    War was always the best way to flex one¡¯s muscles to the world. The other options around were only the small countries and their corresponding underworlds, as well as the nameless god of death of the Orthodox Church of Rus. Naturally, the Nipponese underworld was the perfect choice for Hell.

    The Harken was clearly unaware of the contemtions in Qin Ye¡¯s mind. However, it still responded to the question, ¡°It¡¯s not as though there isn¡¯t¡­ but¡­ it¡¯s these options are just too difficult.¡±

    It nced up at the tiny Hell that hovered above its head and snorted unabashedly, ¡°Even if I consumed the Hell in its entirety right now, it would barely elerate the healing process.¡±

    Qin Ye suppressed the stirring emotions in his heart and continued to perk up his ears to Harken¡¯s spiel, ¡°However¡­ there¡¯s hope to be found in Limbo.¡±

    Qin Ye glossed over the Harken¡¯s mockery and got straight to the point, ¡°But¡­ what if we have the Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile broadened, ¡°Fortunately, I¡¯d just called for an imperial court meeting, and Lord Zhou was willing to offer up to Hell twenty thousand sets of Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows and a million Karmic Fire Divine Bolts.¡±

    Goodd¡­

    The Yin Beast Bell had secured him an audience with the Harken, and Qin Ye was seizing every opportunity to ride the momentum here. He sounded like he was stating facts, but the truth of the matter was that he was merely raising the Harken¡¯s assessment of him.

    Did Liu Yu and the rest turn vegan or something?

    But before the Harken could even finish mulling over these things, Qin Ye promptly leaned over and added, ¡°And everything seems to have fallen into ce nicely, because I was just nning on using these one million Karmic Fire Divine Bolts to pave a way from the City of Salvation to Martial City.¡±

    This time, the Harken¡¯s eyes widenedpletely, and he stared intently at Qin Ye.

    Arthis had somehow already slipped away before Qin Ye was even done with his request. The Harken drew a deep breath. Its colossal body rose and fell heavily. And then¡­ it slowly got to its feet.

    It was an affirmative statement.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do the math.¡± It raised its paws and pinched its fingers together, ¡°Three days. It¡¯s only been three days, and yet you¡¯ve already understood the intricacies of it all. Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s warning concerns the entire situation in the world. I would have thought that only a high ranking Emissary of Hell would have had the exposure to understand the depths ofplexities undergirding his warning to you. Who would¡¯ve thought¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple.¡± Qin Ye responded with confidence. He was fully aware that even the tone of voice in which he carried out this exchange with the Harken was of utmost importance. He couldn¡¯t afford to reveal the slightest traces of weakness. On the other hand, the Harken knew that his intuition was right - That¡¯s right, he¡¯s already secretly begun to seize the initiative.

    ¡°One would be able to guess pretty much everything by making extraptions and inferences from his warnings. That said, what I understand is no more than a guess on my part. If Lord Harken is willing, would you perhaps consider breaking it down for me so that I can dispel any lingering doubts on my heart?¡±

    The Universal Grand Shift was important, but learning the truth from the Harken¡¯s mouth was of even greater importance!

    The Harken was growing increasingly breathless, presumably because its body was unable to sustain such an extended period of speech. Nevertheless, it continued, ¡°Entities above the ranks of Abyssal Prefects are considered the true elites of Hell. We¡¯re talking about a few hundred existences among billions of Yin spirits. The topic is merely a hypothetical situation, but it is still important to treat something like that with great importance for session¡¯s sake. After all, Hell faces a great number of rivals, and there¡¯s always a possibility that it would one day be destroyed by an external coalition of forces. Apart from that, there¡¯s an even greater likelihood that Hell would one day implode upon itself because of the disjointed gentries that tear Hell apart from within. Thus, the true elites and leaders of Hell would always have toe together to consider what they would do when a remote possibility like that bes an eventuality.¡±

    Thus, Qin Ye listened intently. This was the first time he was hearing an analysis from an entity that belonged to the core circle of the old Hell¡¯s leadership, and he knew that an opportunity like that might note again in the near future.

    ¡°Back then, all of the big shots agreed that¡­ as soon as Hell copses, what follows next¡­ would undoubtedly be a reversion to Hell¡¯s warring states era!¡±

    ¡°Kiddo, do you think you¡¯re fortunate? You¡¯re¡­ merely at the opening act of a great era of war and strife. You¡¯re nothing more than a digit among thepetitors who have thrown their names into the ballot box. It¡¯s going to be a battle royale out there, and the winner takes all. Do you think you¡¯re already the King Yanluo of Hell? Haha¡­ that¡¯s nothing more than a ceremonial title right now. The road ahead is still long and fraught with uncertainties and difficulties. The dominos from Hell¡¯s copse are still falling, and we¡¯re only just beginning to see its effects¡­¡±

    <hr>

    1. This first appeared in Chapter 93.

    2. This is what Izanami¡¯s home is called.

 Chapter 397: Vying for Supremacy

    <h4>Chapter 397: Vying for Supremacy</h4>

    Qin Ye listened intently as the Harken continued with its exnations.

    ¡°That Rakshasa woman must have already informed you of the dangers of venturing out and paving a way to other localities. Unfortunately, a nascent, vige-sized Hell would never possess the finances to support such endeavours. Therefore¡­ it only stands to reason that Hell would for some time be unable to even keep in check the existing incarnate revenants across Cathay, much less prevent the rise of new incarnate revenants. Based on our hypothetical estimates back then, I¡¯m afraid we¡¯re talking about the existence of at least a hundred of such existences!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only a matter of time before these incarnate revenants soon realize that there aren¡¯t any natural predators that are keeping them in check! Do you think you can really rely on those organizations in the mortal realm to keep their numbers down? Let me tell you something, so long as an incarnate revenant is intent on hiding and is able to abstain from feeding, then given the mortal realm¡¯s current means of detection, there¡¯s not a single chance that they would be able to uncover the evil ghosts that are hidden among their midst! The world is practically their oyster right now! How quickly do you think incarnate revenants are going to start spawning? How rapidly would their strength increase? Everyone¡¯s attention is currently fixated on the three daolords still in existence in this world, but¡­ they fail to realize that this is only the tip of the iceberg. What lies beneath the surface¡­ is the true fighting force of theherworld that stands ready to crush all living forces!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly. He hadn¡¯t considered these things in such great detail, and it was naturally enlightening to hear such depth of analysis from the mouth of the Harken.

    The Harken paused to catch his breath, before slowly continuing, ¡°We¡¯re talking about high-ranking evil ghosts with their spiritual awareness fully unlocked. Once they discover that Hell is now dormant, the next thing they¡¯d do is to test the waters of the mortal realm. As soon as they realize that there is nothing in existence that can stand in their way, they would immediately swoop down like a ferocious eagle and snag any territory they can find for themselves!¡±

    Qin Ye finally spoke up, ¡°Would you not have told me about these things if I hadn¡¯t realized it myself?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± The Harken chuckled, ¡°This is the path which the first King Yanluo of Hell had taken. Fengdu Necropolis has been built upon eons of bloodshed. It¡¯s a glorious and magnificent process. If you weren¡¯t able toe to this realization of your own abilities, then it simply tells me that you¡¯re stillcking in your intellect. Then, rather than fight with the few factions that have already started to emerge, I¡¯d much rather you look inward and work on your personal growth.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re one of the rare few who transcend the physical limitations of life and death. The fact that you have unlimited shots at life is your greatest advantage. It might take time, but you¡¯ll eventuallye to realize these things of your own abilities. By then, the world will in all likelihood already be fraught with wars and strife, and provinces and cities will all belong to each their own factions. But it is precisely also because dangers abound that amensurate measure of opportunities would arise as well. At the same time, I would probably have recovered by then, and would naturally be able to lend you my assistance. By strikingter, you might end up having a greater advantage instead.¡±

    The Harken nced slyly at Qin Ye, ¡°Unfortunately, it seems like I won¡¯t be able to relive the path of glorious conquests taken by the first King Yanluo of Hell¡­¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that there¡¯s most certainly a precinct of Yin spirits on the mortal realm right now?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± The Harken chuckled softly, ¡°In fact¡­ I can assure you that there is more than one precinct of Yin spirits in the mortal realm, and at least two of them would already be on the municipal scale.¡±

    City level?!

    Qin Ye gasped deeply, and his pupils immediately narrowed.

    How fast¡­ How could they be so quick! How did they be a fully-fledged city in such a short span of time? Hell is only at the size of a town right now!

    ¡°Are you wondering how they could possibly be so quick?¡± The Harken chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s because¡­ they¡¯ve moved preemptively.¡±

    ¡°They would have embarked on these grand endeavours decades ago. Incidentally, that would have been during a time when Cathay was at war, and the number of Yin spirits generated during this period of time was naturally higher as well. Unfortunately, I can only vaguely sense their existence, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell you where exactly they are. Their existence lies in apletely different realm, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to move beyond ten miles from where I am right now. That said, I¡¯ve got to remind you that your opponent this time is by no means a simple one. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem to lend you a hand with the Universal Grand Shift. However, aren¡¯t you afraid of¡­ biting off more than you can chew?¡±

    It snickered softly, ¡°It¡¯s not going to be easy to conscript new troops once they obliterate Hell¡¯s main fighting force right now.¡±

    Glossing over the Harken¡¯s somewhat derisive attitude, Qin Ye responded in shock, ¡°You know who it is?!¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ there¡¯s nothing about Hell that I wouldn¡¯t know.¡± The Harken panted softly as it slowly retracted its smile, ¡°Throughout the generations, there exists only one man of the Confucian Family who has ever been exiled from Hell and banished to the realms of Limbo! Incidentally, he¡¯s the only one deserving of the title of great sinner of the Confucian Family. Thus, as soon as you mentioned something about a sinner of the Confucian Family, I already knew who it was. The original punishment of exile was intended to deny him all opportunities of reincarnation. And yet, to think that he would actually be able to escape back into the mortal realm¡­¡±

    Itmented for a few seconds, before drawing a deep breath and muttering softly, ¡°Kong Mo.¡±

    Kong Mo?

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. He did his best to recall what he knew of Kong Mo, but he drew aplete nk.

    The Harken continued, ¡°Come to think of it, Kong Mo and Liu Yu have some connections to each other. Liu Yu was the founding emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty. In the 19th year of Liu Song of the Southern Dynasties, an imperial edict was passed down, ordering the five households in the closest proximity to the Confucius mausoleum to free their corvees from their bondage to their masters and decreeing that these freed corvees and their descendants serve as the groundskeepers of the Confucius mausoleum for the rest of time. The corvees of the five households didn¡¯t bear the surname, Kong. But, in ordance with the customs of their times, they changed their surnames to fit that of their masters, and thereby took on the surname, Kong. One of these corvees was named Kong Jing.¡±

    ¡°Later, in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the entire nation was in chaos. Those of the Confucian Family, including the major ns and descendants of Confucius and even those who used to be groundskeepers of the Confucian mausoleum, were scattered across various parts of the country. Only those of authentic lineage continued to reside in Qufu. Kong Mo is a descendant of Kong Jing¡¯s lineage. Taking advantage of the fact that the extended Confucian Family were scattered across the rest of thends, he marched into Qufu with a mob in tow, massacring everyone, including Kong Guangsi, forty-first generation of the authentic lineage of Confucius. He seized thends, and usurped their position, dering himself to be the one of direct Confucian lineage. This incident went down in history as the turmoil of the Confucian lineage.¡±

    ¡°This was the first massacre that urred in the history of Confucianism. When Kong Mo entered theherworld, he rejoined the Confucian Family, and eventually worked his way up to the ranks of an Infernal Judge. Unfortunately, as time went by, so did the number of Confucian disciples in the official services of Hell. Finally, in one concerted effort, the Confucian Family of Hell ousted him from his post and exiled him to an eternity in Limbo. I¡¯m not sure if there were other instances where the Confucian Family privately banished someone to Limbo, but strictly speaking, Kong Mo is the only one ording to Hell¡¯s official records!¡±

    Qin Ye waspletely dumbfounded by the time the Harken was done.

    How could something like that have happened?!

    Kong Mo is a savage beast! How could he, as a ve, massacre the direct lineage of the Confucius bloodline and dere himself a direct descendant?! Banishing him to Limbo was already going easy on him!

    Meanwhile, his fear response system was already whirring at top speed - This opponent¡­ is incredibly ferocious, and by no means brainless at all!

    How bold did he have to be? How meticulous would his nning have to be? This was the Confucian Family they were talking about after all. The residence of the authentic lineage would most certainly be served by a multitude of servants. Back in those days, the servants ofrge ns would generally also be fighting fit so that they could protect their masters. Given that the Qufu Confucian Family was also ranked among the top of aristocrats, their servants would be even more well-ced to protect their masters. Yet, despite all odds, a mere servant was actually able to rally a mob and cut down everyone who stood in their way!

    And quite apart from what went down in history, Qin Ye only had to look at his opponent¡¯s crafty ns in the assassination attempt he had inadvertently triggered!

    There were rings after rings of traps, smoke and mirrors that left him barely any breathing room. If not for the fact that he had the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his possession, he would most certainly have been crushed by Kong Mo¡¯s craftiness.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ever underestimate these former relics of dated dynasties. The Confucian Family used to be one of the top gentries in Hell. The Infernal Judges in their n¡­ would have had ess to countless secrets methods and confidential information. Even the other Abyssal Prefects around would think twice before stepping on their toes.¡± The Harken spoke with some measure of excitement as he continued to gaze upon Qin Ye, ¡°He once used to live under the system of the old Hell. Naturally, from the moment he saw you, he would immediately have recognized where you¡¯re from. If their objective is to dere independence and establish their own kingdom, then Hell¡¯s existence would naturally be the biggest stumbling block in their way! I¡¯d even go so far as to say that the moment they manage to track down your exact location would also be the moment when you start to find yourself at the end of assassination attempts, drive-bys and the like. And this will go on¡­ until one of you finally falls¡­¡±

    ¡°This is fate. It¡¯s impossible to escape from the powers of destiny. Oh, ande to think of it, if Kong Mo was indeed the one who had managed to escape into the mortal realm, then there is a reasonable possibility that one of the two city-level precincts of Yin spirits might very possibly be under his charge. Little brat, are you sure you still want to use the Universal Grand Shift as originally nned?¡±

    Qin Ye was so tempted to say ¡°Sorry, nope. Goodbye.¡±

    But s¡­ it was the first proper exchange with the Harken. He needed to leave it with a good impression. Besides¡­

    He chuckled bitterly, ¡°I¡¯m not willing to either. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    Qin Ye sighed as he turned to look at the distant sky, ¡°Hell has already signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a trade route with Liu Yu and the others. Trade is supposed tomence in two years¡¯ time. They are the only prospective trading partners of Hell in the near future. If we fail to hold up to our end of the bargain, not only would Hell lose all face and respect of the twelve envoys, we¡¯d even crush any prospects of establishing trade routes with them in future.¡±

    ¡°So, what does that mean?¡± The Harken listened intently.

    Qin Ye shook his head and smiled bitterly, ¡°To make matters worse, the ce we¡¯ve chosen to establish our sea port city is only three cities away from Qufu.¡±

    There was a moment of tense silence.

    The Harken stared at Qin Ye with great disbelief. Secondster, it snickered softly, tilted its head and allowed a golden scale on its body that was glowing faintly to fly over to Qin Ye¡¯s side.

    ¡°You can activate it using the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. It¡¯s a one-use artifact. The Universal Grand Shift has already been cast on it.¡± With that, it hung its colossal head down low, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing more, you may take your leave. I¡¯lle look for you as soon as I¡¯m awake once more. Naturally, if you can¡¯t survive the sh against Kong Mo¡­ Hahaha¡­¡±

    Qin Ye shrugged, and then picked up the golden scale that was hovering before his eyes.

    As soon as he wrapped his hands around the scale, a mighty wisp of Yin energy immediately entered his fingertips and swept straight into his heart. He gasped softly, and released his grip instantly. Then, after reeling with shock for several more moments, he finally returned to his senses.

    ¡°A test?¡± He picked up the scale once more and transformed into ahergale and left the vicinity. It was only when he drew closer to Hell once more that he turned back and looked deeply at the sleeping Harken, ¡°Had you told me all these things six months ago, I might truly have given up there and then. But now¡­¡±

    He looked up at the dark and dreary Hell hovering above, and he couldn¡¯t help but recall the joyous expressions of his citizens when they first received the containers of goods, as well as the thriving construction grounds.

    ¡°As a human, I, too, have feelings that I find difficult to let go of¡­¡±

    It was only after his presencepletely vanished from Limbo that the Harken finally lifted its head once more. But this time, there wasn¡¯t a single trace of mockery in his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to learn of the tactics of these ancient relics of the old Hell as well. After all¡­ he might not be the only exile who has made it to Limbo. If you truly wish to restore Hell to its former glory, you¡¯re certainly going to have to stand toe to toe against the powers of the old Hell, as well as the monarchs of the modern Yin spirits alike. For now, you¡¯re still far too young and inexperienced. If you can¡¯t even cross the hurdle that is Kong Mo and his fogeys, what more do we have to talk about in future?¡±

    ¡°The warring states era of theherworld. Do you think this is really no more than a term of reference? The warring states of theherworld is far more cruel and vicious than you could ever imagine. I hope you return alive and in one piece. That way, I might just be able to elevate my assessment of you that much more. Otherwise¡­ on what basis or qualifications do you have to order me around?¡±

    Qin Ye had already returned to Hell by now. However, he didn¡¯t immediately issue any orders. Instead, he returned straight to the annex hall, where he began to break down everything he had just learnt.

    Kong Mo''s existence is incredibly dangerous to me right now. And this is particrly the case when¡­ he might not be the only one around!

    He could tell that the Yin spirits of Breakwaters Province and Eastmount Province seemed to have forged an alliance. This was one of the clearest signs that the establishment of an empire could soon follow. If he didn¡¯t strike hard now, he might potentially find himself squaring off against a muchrger behemoth in the near future - one that he had no possibility of appeasing or entreating in the first ce.

    Fate didn¡¯t favour a rtionship of cooperation between them.

    Moreover, Qufu and Martial City were incredibly close to each other. Even if they changed the location of the sea port city, the result would still be the same, because Breakwaters Province was likewise still a part of the alliance¡¯s territory. The daolord of the hungry ghost was below them; the daolord of the asura was above them; while the daolord of the beast was further ind to them. And then, there were still the innumerable hidden incarnate revenants that had already realized Hell¡¯s dormancy and were now slowly stirring and mustering their own forces.

    They were on the cuff of another warring states era, and the current facade of peace was quickly wearing away!

    ¡°We must send troops as soon as we can.¡± He tightened his grip around the scale with great resolve. In that very moment, the realization that time was of the essence gave birth to a great sense of urgency on his part.

    Can I really pacify and unite the forces of Cathay in a hundred and fifty years? Would I truly be able to open Hell¡¯s door to the rest of theherworld and openly confront the world powers out there?

    The current crisis was intense, but it was nothing next to the entities that stood on the world stage! Hades, Yamaraja, Thanatos and the nameless god of death were all indomitable forces that were standing on the world stage, awaiting his grand debut!

    ¡°Li Jixi¡­ hurry up¡­ I truly don¡¯t think I¡¯ve got the luxury of time to wait much longer¡­¡±

    1. Confucius is also known as Kong Zi. Therefore, Kong Mo essentially takes the same surname as Confucius.

    2. I would think that this is sometime in AD 382.

    3. This would be from AD 907-979.

    4. I couldn¡¯t find any english websites that talk about this. If anyone can, please PM me on discord, and I¡¯d be happy to include a link here so that everyone can read more about it.

 Chapter 398: General Yang

    <h4>Chapter 398: General Yang</h4>

    Mayn, capital andrgest city of the Felipinas.

    Mcanan Pce, official residence and workce of the president of the Felipinas. It was a colonial-style building. The time now was midnight. Only the streetlights and some surveince lights were switched on in the pce. Just then, some of the presidential guards suddenly felt a chill across their bodies. Simultaneously¡­ the trees, flora and fauna in the surroundings keeled over with a soft rustle, almost as though something was softly brushing past their rich canopies.

    Unfortunately, none of them were aware that a magnificent ghostly city was flourishing with dazzling lights right underneath the Mcanan Pce.

    Anyone who entered the city would immediately wonder if they had gone back in time and entered the Song Dynasty once more, albeit one that was far more prosperous than it had ever been before.

    ¡°Great General, is there any reason for which you¡¯ve summoned us today?¡± A man with a stern expression asked respectfully from the left side of the hall.

    Everyone was silent.

    He looked up, and a brightherme flickered in his eyes, ¡°Who¡¯s willing to go?¡±

    Yang Jiye smiled, ¡°It¡¯s not possible to send everyone. We still need people to stand guard in the Felipinas. Over thest ten years, we¡¯ve seen an increase in the number of incursions on our territorial waters. In fact, justst month, during the imperial court meetings, we¡¯ve even spotted an Overwatch Sea Beast not more than three hundred nautical miles away from us. We cannot let our guards down. Furthermore¡­¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°I am also willing to head out on this expedition.¡± Another general promptly stood up as soon as the young general was done. It was a female general this time. Yet, not a single person in the hall appeared to be surprised by her response at all.

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to go!¡± ¡°I¡¯m also willing to lend aid to Hell!¡± ¡°Same here!¡±

    Yang Jiye nced about the hall and sighed wistfully as he nodded, ¡°Yang Yanzhao.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Most certainly!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Four female voices responded with great determination.

    After all¡­ everyone present today was in some way or another a famous general of the Yang n in their own right!

    To that end, perhaps the only other envoys who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Yang Jiye would be Zhou Yu and Liu Yu.

    Apart from that, Yang Yande, also known as Yang Wng (TL: Wng means the 5th son), was in life conferred the title of General Xuan Wei, appointed themander-in-chief of the infantry and also tasked to protect the emperor. In the Battle of the Golden Beach, he was cut off from the rest, surrounded by enemy forces andpletely outnumbered. Thus, he cut his hair and pretended to be a monk in order to escape his pursuers.

    The imperial edict had been served, and the Yang n had selected the best of the best. Hundreds of years after Yang Jiye¡¯s enfeoffment, they were finally returning back to Hell for the very first time!

    Where did theye from?

    Even the most stiff-necked folks would learn to be more adaptable after hundreds of years in Hell and theherworld.

    Didn¡¯t you see how Liu Yu had alone mustered forces of well over ten thousand back during the imperial court meeting?

    With that, he stood up and nced about the hall.

    This was a kind of silent tension before war broke out. An air of sobriety filled the entire hall.

    ¡°Apart from that¡­¡±

    Then, he turned to each of the generals whom he was sending out to war, ¡°If Hell is razed to the ground or Lord Qin perishes, and yet you still remain alive¡­ I shall summarily put you to death without any mercy!!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    That said, Hell had also slowly but surely begun to stir into motion. But this time, it was slightly different from the hustle and bustle of prosperity that filled Hell in the past. Instead, Hell was filled with an air of tension¡­ almost as though everyone could sense that war wasing.

    This had only been done in ordance with Qin Ye¡¯s instructions. This was a decision which Qin Ye had made as soon as he realized that they were on the cuff of the warring states era.

    The only piece of good news was the fact that Hell¡¯s Media Group had already been officially established. The Minister of Doctrine, Cang Jie, had been appointed the chairman of the group. On the very day of its establishment, thousands of workers worked overtime to print out thirty thousand copies of the newspaper which was distributed to all major work sites.

    One of the more important things on the pipelines would naturally be to locate an independent source of power generation. However, now was not the time to consider these things. After all¡­ the new Hell was stirring with passion and apprehension at the prospects of war.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to war¡­¡± ¡°Indeed. I¡¯d never expected such tension in the underworld as well.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it just the same back in the mortal realm as well? The Middle East has been in conflict for the longest time.¡± ¡°I just hope that these conflicts don¡¯t affect us back in the City of Salvation. I¡¯ve not even had a proper chance to enjoy life after death just yet¡­¡±

    News?

    Photographs?

    And tabloids and entertainment news waspletely out of the picture as well. Therefore, Qin Ye knew better than to waste his time and resources on this for the time being.

    However, Qin Ye shook his head and nced out of the window. He could tell that Hell had been filled with a rather restless atmosphere as ofte. The prospect of war stirs up the most primal instinct of the human heart, and such stirring emotions would only be quenched by the stimulus of the spoils of war.

    Even though Qin Ye was aware of his opponent¡¯s identity, he still couldn¡¯t wait for war to happen!

    There would always be clues left behind wherever an army passes.

    Time was of the essence.

    ¡°What about the citizens of the county?¡± Gu Qing continued with great concern, ¡°We¡¯d have to conduct a thorough sweep through thends for Yin spirits. If any patrolling officers are inadvertently drawn into this altercation of the underworld, they won¡¯t be able to survive!¡±

    Gu Qing froze, and then gasped in horror, ¡°Inform¡­ who? You don¡¯t mean--...¡±

    Gu Qing¡¯s jaws dropped slightly, and his entire body trembled a little.

    Would they show fear, or respect?

    Would they cooperate with us, or reject uspletely? Would they celebrate our arrival, or show us a look of disgust?

    ¡°Alright.¡± Gu Qing no longer had any concerns. Instead, he turned and bowed deeply to Qin Ye, ¡°Then, I sincerely wish King Yanluo a triumphant return! A hundred victories for a hundred battles ahead!¡±

    ¡°The first battle of Hell must end with a resounding victory!¡±

    <hr>

    1.

    2.

 Chapter 399: Declaration of War (1)

    <h4>Chapter 399: Deration of War (1)</h4>

    Valley County.

    Clouds were drifting about endlessly - almost sorrowfully.

    The pit of a thousand hadn¡¯t erupted just yet. In fact, the Yin energy bubbling within had almost vanished altogether, and the recent spate of supernatural outbreaks had already subsided! That said¡­

    The Hellguard-ss expert that had dove headlong into the pit had vanishedpletely!

    It had been five days, and yet they¡¯ve heard nothing from the Hellguard-ss expert. Everyone was astonished when they first learnt of Qin Ye¡¯s background through other sources, because¡­ he was actually an expert from the First Academy of Cultivators!

    Over thest few days, the First Academy of Cultivators would always call Valley County at 5.00 a.m. sharp, almost as though it was a routine call. However, County Governor Su Defang would always fidget and hesitate, wondering if he should pick up the call or not. After all, he was most reluctant to respond to these calls with a simple ¡°no news¡± update. Even his heart trembled whenever he uttered these words.

    ¡°... Yes, we understand. We will definitely mobilize all the resources avable to search for his whereabouts. Rest assured¡­¡± Su Defang hung up the phone and wiped off the cold sweat that was beading up on his forehead. Then, he promptly turned to Chen Nian and Zeng Shuai, ¡°Are there any updates? It¡¯s no longer just the First Academy of Cultivators now¡­ even Cloudrise City is calling to check on us. We¡¯ll have nothing to report back with if we don¡¯t locate Mr Qin soon!¡±

    There was no resentment or hatred on their part.

    Qin Ye had vanished, while the pit of a thousand hadpletely quietened down. Everyone had guessed that Qin Ye might well have sacrificed himself in order to dismantle the pit of a thousand altogether. However, none of them dared to report back as such, because they needed something to show for it. But as the days wore on, so did their hopes slowly diminish. Yet, despite the infinitesimally slim chances of locating his whereabouts, they knew that they had to forge on with the search.

    It was a cloudy day today.

    Leaden overcast clouds rolled along the canopy of the skies, while the afterglow of the setting sun peeked out from beneath. Su Defang nced soullessly at the darkening skies over Valley County as he murmured to himself, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ where in the world are you¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Just then, Zeng Shuai and Chen Nian both looked up at the same time and at the exact same location. And they weren¡¯t the only ones. In fact, all of the cultivators in the county looked up in unison and turned their gaze to a particr location in the skies.

    The Yin spirits¡­ are stirring?

    Yin spirits don¡¯t generally manifest themselves actively, and most cultivators weren¡¯t able to see wandering spirits either. However, they were all fully aware that the mortal realm was filled with countless wandering spirits, and their presence could be sensed and perceived through the density of Yin energy in the air around. And right now, they could all sense that the Yin energy in Valley County¡­ appeared to be trembling.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t agitation as well¡­ Instead, it looks to be borne out of¡­ fear?¡± Chen Nian remarked aloud, and then turned to look at the time. It was nearly 6.00 p.m.

    That was when the public announcements about the supernatural warnings were broadcasted to the citizens.

    ¡°But what are they afraid of?¡± Zeng Shuai nced around intently, ¡°Overwhelming fear has caused all of the Yin energy to start drifting about in Valley County. There must be something stirring within Valley County right now - something that can cause all of the Yin spirits to feel fear in their bones!¡±

    Anyone who possessed the ability to see Yin spirits would have noticed that the Yin spirits on the road leading to the county¡¯s television station were all screaming at the top of the voices as they scattered about wildly. There were even some who werepletely seized up by the overwhelming fear that consumed their senses, and they found themselves copsing to the ground with great trembling as they pleaded for mercy.

    Just like that, the entire road spanning several hundred meters was filled with kneeling Yin spirits who were begging for their lives. Everyone else had already fled the scene for their dear lives.

    This was because they could see two terrifying people.

    Two beings whose existences weren¡¯t perceptible to normal human beings.

    They were dressed in ck robes replete with a conical bamboo hat, and they had a terrifying white mask that concealed their appearances. Their feet were hovering an inch off the surface of the ground, while their hands were sped together and hidden underneath their long sleeves. A ferocioushergale swept around them wherever they passed. But, unlike the green coloured Yin energy of the mortal realm, the Yin energy pouring out from their bodies were of the purest, deepest ck. Even the trees on the side of the road couldn¡¯t help but tter in fear.

    It was still springtime, so the skies darkened early, and the streetlights were already switched on by now. However, with every step that they took, the streetlights around them would fizzle and snap off!

    This was a clear indication of an evil ghost making a dawn voyage!

    ¡°Holy crap¡­¡± Valley City High School was in the vicinity. The students who were just dismissed from school were immediately greeted with a spine-chilling sight that caused their hair to stand on end. The streetlights flickered out, while the surrounding trees rustled peculiarly, almost as though they were bowing down to a greater being that was located in the center of the road. However, the students promptly jolted back to their senses. Screaming and squealing at the top of their voices, they hopped onto their bikes and pedalled home as quickly as their legs would take them.

    The witching hour wasing soon.

    Everyone could sense that¡­ something terrifying was going to happen tonight.

    Even the rickshaws, motorcycles, and other vehicles on the road immediately paused to stare at the peculiar sight, before desperately zooming off to the closest shelter where they would spend the rest of the night.

    Valley County Television Station was located right at the end of the road. Incidentally, the radio hall where the daily public announcements were broadcasted from was also located adjacent to the television station. The soldiers standing guard at the gate to these buildings could see the streetlights flickering out right in front of the television station, and the trees swaying wildly despite theck of wind. They exchanged a knowing nce, and then immediately pointed their guns right towards the main road without any hesitation!

    The road waspletely empty, and yet¡­ there was a palpable sense of fear that caused goosebumps to creep up all over their skin.

    ¡°Immediately report back to thepanymander¡­¡± A sergeant stared intently at the deste road as his heart thumped wildly. The fear of the unknown was the most terrifying kind of fear.

    ¡°Television station requests support¡­¡± He spoke with a quiver in his voice. However, the recruits pointing the guns at the empty road ahead responded with a drifty voice, ¡°But¡­ there doesn¡¯t seem to be anything over there¡­¡±

    The sergeant immediately snapped back in fury, ¡°It¡¯ll be toote once we see them! Get going!!¡±

    Little did they know that the two ck-robed men were already at the bottom of the stairs of the television building right now. Their clothes fluttered about wildly as they watched the somewhat amusing sight y out before their eyes.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Qin Ye spoke softly.

    However, Wang Chenghao responded with some measure of bitterness, ¡°Technically, I am¡­ but¡­ did you really have to go so far and be so shameless?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s responded cidly, ¡°We¡¯re wearing masks. Besides, how can there be no ceremony when the King Yanluo of Hell is about to make his grand debut in the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s still terribly embarrassing!! Do you even know what face means?!¡± Wang Chenghao was practically hissing back at Qin Ye, ¡°How about this - I¡¯ll just hand you the phone! Take it!¡±

    Qin Ye stared at Wang Chenghao as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°What bullshit are you spewing? Are you suggesting that I¡¯m being shameless over here?¡±

    ¡°What the heck¡­¡±

    ¡°Besides, that¡¯s not the point! What time is it now?¡± Qin Ye was like a well-oiled machine when it came to interrupting at the most opportune timing.

    Wang Chenghao drew a deep breath. Endure¡­ endure it all¡­ Just like how Brother Qin continues to put up with Arthis¡­ Secondster, he pulled out the phone with a sickly expression on his face, ¡°5.30 p.m¡­.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Qin Ye responded in English, ¡°It¡¯s SHOW TIME~!¡±

    Wang Chenghao followed closely behind with resignation.

    With a snap of his finger, Qin Ye suddenly appeared right in front of the broadcasting building. All of the cultivators and guards around immediately gasped in horror.

    BOOM!

    But before they could even respond, a terrifying cloud of Yin energy immediately engulfed the entire Valley County!

    Rumble¡­ The sky instantly darkened. This was the first time Qin Ye was revealing his true form within the mortal realm. Judge-ss Yin energy rippled through the air like massive waves. Two spots of goldenhermes abruptly lit up from beneath the morbid mask, instantly petrifying the countless warriors around, ¡°Do not be afraid. I am not an evil ghost.¡±

    Just then, the series of sensors detecting paranormal activity red in unison. The entire county government, and all of the garrisoned troops immediately turned to the instruments around them that were beeping wildly, ¡°Judge-ss Yin energy detected at the television station. Total amount of energy is estimated to be above four million Yin. All personnel are to be prepared for battle. I repeat¡­ Judge-ss Yin energy¡­¡±

    Dead silence.

    Everyone grew taciturn immediately. Two secondster, Su Defang jerked to his feet, ¡°Mr Chen, Mr Zeng, rally our defenses immediately! Summon your troops and head out right now! Hurry!!¡±

    The two men immediately rushed out of the room with bloodshot eyes and wild palpitations in their hearts.

    Judge¡­ Judge-ss Yin energy¡­ It¡¯s not true energy!

    Does this mean that a Judge-ss evil ghost has appeared? How could this be? Why Valley County of all ces?

    Their minds were still buzzing with questions when they arrived at the barracks. That said, there was no need for them to summon the troops, because¡­ as soon as they arrived, a convoy of over a dozen military vehicles were just on the way out. The special forces garrisoned here had already armed themselves with Yin-piercing ammunition, and were already rushing to provide support at the television station.

    Back in the county hall. Having entrusted the county¡¯s defenses to the other two men, he immediately picked up his cellphone, ¡°Old Xu, immediately mobilize all police forces to appease and assure the people! Arrange lodging for those who haven¡¯t managed to return home as yet! Then, I want you to disseminate orders that nobody is to step out of their households or neighbourhoods until further notice! Everyone is to be prepared to evacuate at the moment¡¯s notice!!¡±

    Then, before the other party could even respond with any form of verbal acknowledgment, he swiftly hung up and dialed another number, ¡°Secretary Wang¡­ You¡¯re aware of the situation? Great. Please request emergency support from Cloudrise City! What? You¡¯ve already done that? Perfect¡­¡±

    He promptly hung up. Just then, the door to his room swung wide open, and an otherwise usually steady secretary rushed into the room with sweat beading up all over his forehead as he yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°Governor Su! Run--... run away now!!¡±

    However, Su Defang remained right where he was.

    The national g hung right behind him in his office. He sat down and poured himself a cup of tea. His fingers were ostensibly trembling, but he continued to stare intently at his secretary, ¡°You¡¯re hereby dismissed from your duties.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± The secretary froze in shock.

    ¡°Are you even aware of the implications of what you¡¯re suggesting right now? How can a leader flee from the county?! What about the hundreds of thousands of citizens who are still residing here?!!¡± Su Defang abruptly shot to his feet and threw his ashtray at the secretary, ¡°Do you know why Cathay hasn¡¯t copsed yet? It¡¯s because none of the leaders are willing to give up on their people! Secretary Cheng, I¡¯m disappointed in you! Assistant Gao!!¡±

    A man outside immediately answered the call and entered the room. Su Defang¡¯s chest was rising and falling with his ragged breaths, ¡°Get rid of this riffraff for me! Our county government has no room for such trash!!! Public servants are meant to serve the people, not to entitle us to the privilege of information so that we can escape first!¡±

    The man nodded, but promptly added, ¡°But¡­ wasn¡¯t Secretary Wang just carrying out his duties¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I can assure you he knew the implications of what he was suggesting.¡± Su Defang snorted coldly. His emotions had finally calmed down once more, ¡°Prepare the car, and summon all departmental heads to the television station right away! All who don¡¯t show up shall be summarily dismissed!!¡±

    Qin Ye was unaware of what exactly transpired. That said, given that this was the first time that Hell was emerging from the shadows in the mortal realm, he naturally expected his appearance to make waves among the mortal leaders. However, he couldn¡¯t care less about these things for the moment. He nced cidly about the row of mortal soldiers standing like a wall in front of him, before raising his hand slowly. ck! He snapped his finger, and everyone¡¯s knees promptly buckled, and they copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Their knees are obviously shaking, so why are they putting up such a fierce resistance?¡± Qin Ye sighed, ¡°Humans¡­ The power of faith is trulymendable. It¡¯s precisely because of this that they¡¯re able to stand tall under the oppression of the three daolords to this day. One Tail¡­ Eh?! Why aren¡¯t you revealing your true form as nned?¡±

    ¡°Apologies¡­ it¡¯s embarrassing beyond belief¡­ Notwithstanding the mask that is already concealing my appearance, I can still feel my cheeks burning underneath¡­¡± Wang One Tail responded softly. A split secondter, the main entrance to the television station burst open, only to reveal the fact that the lobby was in a great mess. Anyone could tell that all who were working within had scrambled to find a hiding ce, and the documents that they were carrying were now scattered all over the ce.

    As soon as they made their way into the television station, a thumping bass immediately resounded, followed quickly by a rousing background music. Wang Chenghao gritted his teeth, pulled out his backpack, and began to scatter paper money around into their surroundings.

    Prrr¡­ Prr prr prr prr prr, prr prr prr¡­ Prr prr prr¡­ As soon as the familiar melody started ying, Qin Ye immediately rose up from the sea of billowing Yin energy, ascending straight into the second floor under the fluttering confetti of paper money.

    ¡°This is¡­ the soundtrack for Kill Bill, Battle Without Honor or Humanity¡± The people hiding in the rooms within the television station had earlier had their hearts at their throats. But now, their tense spirits promptly subsided, while their eyes widened intently.

    I mean¡­ isn¡¯t this supposed to be an incarnate revenant or something? What the hell are they ying Battle Without Honor or Humanity for?!

    A theme song specially selected for his appearance? I didn¡¯t know that Yin spirits y with such high stakes too!

 Chapter 400: Declaration of War (2)

    <h4>Chapter 400: Deration of War (2)</h4>

    ¡°Is this¡­ supposed to be an episode of Kill Bill?¡± One of the female employees dressed in overalls asked her colleague with great astonishment.

    ¡°It seems to be that way¡­¡± Her colleague responded with an equally stunned expression. And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone who was hiding under their desk right now werepletely bbergasted by the appearance of this peculiar Yin spirit.

    I mean¡­ something doesn¡¯t feel right about this image! We¡­ weren¡¯t prepared for something like this! Aren¡¯t Yin spirits supposed to be terrifying, frightening and shrieking at us from the moment they appear? Why¡­ would these legendary Judge-ss Yin spirits appear with such ghastly tunes?

    Qin Ye was naturally unaware of these thoughts in the hearts of the television station employees. With his head held high, and his palms hidden under his sleeves, he drifted high into the sky, riding the majestic riffs of the familiar tune.

    Ah, that¡¯s right. And there was also a bashful-looking Yin spirit who went before him, hiding in any way he could as he scattered paper money before his master.

    The television station was a two-storey building. As soon as Qin Ye arrived on the second floor, the doors to the rooms all flung wide open on their own. The staff within screamed and reflexively lowered their heads. Documents were tossed about by the yfulhergale that swept through the rooms. Countless people huddled underneath their desks and shivered in fright.

    Is he an idiot?

    Indeed, he must be an idiot.

    Unfortunately¡­ none of them were able to bring themselves tough at Qin Ye!

    His overflowing Judge-ss Yin energy was oppressive and stifling. It swept through each room and crashed against the walls like powerful tsunamis. The primal realization that they werepletely helpless against such a terrifying, otherworldly existence filled the staff¡¯s hearts with fear and reverence.

    The sky was filled with fluttering paper money everywhere. Two ck-robed Yin spirits hovered in the sky against a backdrop formed from dense clouds of Yin energy, walking out proudly to the riffs of a familiar Kill Bill tune like the self-absorbed idiots they were. Nobody dared to look up, because they didn¡¯t know why exactly these Yin spirits had called on the television station today. None of them knew who or what they were looking for, so the only thing that they knew to do was to sp their hands together and humbly pray that they weren¡¯t the targets today!

    tter¡­ The door to the broadcasting room opened up, and the two startling figures stopped right outside. An endlesshergale appeared to howl and billow outside, while a man and a woman were trembling under their desks within, praying with bated breaths that the two figures would just pass them by. And then¡­ they slowly heard a soft rustle.

    It was the sound of ahergale sweeping straight into the room.

    T-t-t-t¡­ The female broadcaster¡¯s teeth chattered wildly, and herplexion promptly grew pale as she looked up, only to notice Qin Ye and his fluttering robes standing right in the center of the room.

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ please don¡¯t!!¡± She had bitten down so hard on her lips that a trickle of blood was already running down her mouth. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she clutched desperately at her head and screamed at the top of her voice, ¡°Don¡¯t kill me¡­ I don¡¯t want to die!!!¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips were practically twitching at this point in time - Hang on,dy¡­ May I know how you¡¯re sensing the threat of death from such a ridiculous image as this?

    The only thing this theme song is killing is the mood over here¡­

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye slowly reached out with his hand. A split secondter, both the male and female broadcasters screamed at the top of their voices. Then, before their fear could even subside, both of them flew straight up into the air, before being ced gently back down onto their chairs once more. Unfortunately, their eyes soon rolled back, and they both passed out at exactly the same time.

    ¡°Such tacit behaviour¡­ I refuse to believe that they aren¡¯t husband and wife¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed. They were now entering into the climax of the piece, Battle Without Honor or Humanity.

    He nodded at Wang Chenghao, and made a firm gesture. Wang Chenghao rolled his eyes in response, before softly switching off his phone.

    Alright¡­ Whatever you say, boss¡­ My heart is already dead from this entire incident... This is practically the most shameful thing I¡¯ve done in my entire life¡­

    The surroundings grew silent. The only thing that remained was the endless Yin energy that roiled around them. Even the lights had all fizzled and snapped out, only to be reced by the eerie glow ofhermes. Qin Ye hovered behind the podium softly, and drew a deep breath before calming his heart down.

    Damn, this song is toxic¡­

    Dong¡­ Just then, the clock in the room struck six. The witching hour had finally arrived.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­ shall we begin¡± Wang Chenghao retracted the peculiar smile on his face and asked with a grim expression.

    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry.¡± Qin Ye nced out of the window, ¡°The King Yanluo of Hell is personally here, so how can we begin without any audience?¡±

    Hell was unable to manufacture a great number of things right now, including clothes, daily necessities, and even construction equipment and materials. Rather than sneaking purchases from the mortal realm indefinitely, why not explore the possibilities of¡­ a mutually beneficial partnership?

    Naturally, this was only if something like that were truly possible.

    And today was the prime opportunity to explore such prospects of cooperation. After all, ever since he¡¯d learnt of the true state of matters surrounding the tension between the mortal realm and theherworld, his heart was fraught with a deep sense of crisis. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t let any possible opportunity slip by.

    After all, nothing was for certain until it was properly put to the test.

    If I don¡¯t seed, I would still walk away from the potential coboration without any regrets.

    On the other hand, if I seed¡­ Qin Ye eyes flickered, but his thoughts soon faded away, because he could see that a convoy of over a dozen military vehicles had just appeared on the horizon, and were quickly approaching them.

    Wooooop wooop-- Three secondster, the sound of ring sirens instantly cut through the tense silence of the night, and a line of athletic figures armed with guns immediately rushed forward towards the television station building. Dong, dong, dong¡­ They ran up the stairs and took their position. Within thirty seconds of their arrival, the entrance to the broadcasting hall was already filled with countless police officers and military personnel, all of whose infrared sights were clearly aimed directly at Qin Ye¡¯s forehead.

    Right behind them, Chen Nian, Zeng Shuai, and several other cultivators whom Qin Ye had never met before, were all peering intently into the heart of the broadcasting hall. The source of the Judge-ss Yin energy caused their eyes to remain transfixed on Qin Ye¡¯s body.

    Infernal Judge¡­ an incarnate revenant!

    It truly is an incarnate revenant¡­ but¡­ why hasn¡¯t it begun its ughter of the people around?

    Nobody said a single word. They simply peered into the room, staring at the clumps ofhermes darting like meteors in the sky. Qin Ye¡¯s lips twitched slightly as he stared at the infrared aiming devices that were trained on his forehead. Although such firearms are probably no longer effective against me, a King Yanluo of Hell can still be afraid of these things!

    Qin Ye lowered his head and softly muttered to Wang Chenghao, ¡°Stand in front of me.¡±

    Wang Chenghao turned and stared at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost. What¡­ the hell do you mean?! Do you think I¡¯m no longer gued by the lingering fears of the mortal realm?!

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to be able to die on behalf of the King Yanluo of Hell! What are you still waiting for?¡±

    No response. Secondster, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes twitched in rage as he watched Wang Chenghao slowly sneak behind his own back. Then, just as he was about to p Wang One Tail to death with two powerful smacks across the cheek, amanding voice soon broke the tense silence for the very first time, ¡°The weapons you see right now are known as BH21, special guns developed by the government for use against Yin spirits.¡±

    Su Defang and another bespectacled middle-aged man stood in the center of the armed forces, where they stared vigntly at Qin Ye, ¡°Additionally, the ammunition loaded in these guns are forged from talismans designed to cripple Yin spirits. We¡¯ve also just dispatched two Judge-ss cultivators from Echo City twenty minutes ago, and there are other high-ranking cultivators who are also on their way right now.¡±

    Not bad.

    Qin Ye turned away from Wang Chenghao and slowly sized Su Defang up. With a man of such courage helming the operations here, Valley County is certainly in good hands. The man beside¡­ must be his secretary, right?

    ¡°Ordinary firearms are useless against powerful Yin spirits.¡± Qin Ye depressed the button on the podium and responded cidly, ¡°Echo City is thirty minutes away from Valley County. That¡¯s more than sufficient time for me to eliminate all of the current leaders of Valley County.¡±

    ¡°Cathay has a poption size of well over a billion people. We can always find someone to rece a mere secretary like myself.¡± The bespectacled man responded boldly, ¡°Leave Valley County immediately! Otherwise, we¡¯ll record your Yin energy signature and spread it throughout the entire nation! When that timees, you¡¯ll have no other ce to hide within the vast reaches of Cathay!¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled.

    And as he did, his Yin energy instantly surged like a tidal wave, causing the temperatures around to dip by several degrees. ck, ck, ck! The sounds of the cocking mechanisms meant that they were now locked and loaded. Meanwhile, the cultivators around mustered what they could of their true energy and prepared themselves tounch their most devastating attacks at Qin Ye.

    Then, just when everyone thought that Qin Ye was actually going to make his move, he instead flicked on the radio broadcast switch.

    ¡°Fellow residents of Valley County. It¡¯s 6.00 p.m. again.¡± His voice was broadcasted throughout the entire county. In that instant, countless citizens of Valley County looked up in astonishment, wondering why the content of today¡¯s broadcast sounded different.

    The usual announcement was a rey of a recorded audio that they were all too familiar with by now. However, this announcement was obviously a manual broadcast.

    ¡°Today¡¯s announcement is going to be slightly different from before¡­¡± His voice echoed throughout the streets in the county. Hundreds of thousands of people in the county listened intently for the new message they were about to receive, ¡°Because from today onwards, Valley County will not be hearing this message for a long, long time.¡±

    It was a simple statement, and yet Su Defang, Chen Nian, the bespectacled man, and all of the others looked up at Qin Ye in unison.

    Why?

    What does he mean by that?

    Their thoughts were all over the ce, and everyone had their own guesses. However, Qin Ye simply ignored the confusion in their eyes and continued with gusto, ¡°Tonight, the government shall be experimenting with some weapons of mass destruction. Following this announcement, we ask that you kindly evacuate from Valley County. All residents who choose to ignore this message and remain on the streets by 8.00 p.m. shall bear the consequences of their own actions and choices.¡±

    Click¡­ With that, Qin Ye switched off the radio broadcast. Dozens of eyes were pinned on him right now. An elderly cultivator drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his great fear of incarnate revenants, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and raised his right hand, ¡°Nothing much.¡±

    Pak! Someone snapped. Simultaneously, a captain yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°FIRE!!!¡±

    Bang, bang, bang!!! The sounds of gunfire rattled the air for a long time. However, everyone¡¯s eyes soon widened in horror when they realized that¡­ all of the projectiles had been stopped mid-flight by the dense Yin energy around!

    It was almost like the Matrix¡¯s bullet time! No¡­ even more terrifying than that!

    In this instance, the projectiles actually came to aplete halt!

    ¡°So, this is the strength of an incarnate revenant¡­¡± Chen Nian¡¯s back waspletely drenched with cold sweat. He couldn¡¯t help but think of his wife and his daughter¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m afraid¡­ that this might very well be goodbye¡­

    ¡°Die!!¡± His body moved on its own. Mustering every ounce of true energy within his body, he rushed right forward into the direct line of fire, only to realize that all of the other cultivators had done exactly the same thing!

    However, speed was a rtive thing.

    In Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, their movements were as slow as a turtle. In that instant, another snapping sound soon echoed out into the surroundings.

    Snap. BOOM!!

    It was almost as though Yin energy hade to life as it swept across and filled the entire hall. Within moments, Su Defang, the bespectacled man and the captain soon discovered that¡­

    Their field of vision had beenpletely blotted out by the dense Yin energy around, so much so that they could only see each other right now!

    Everyone else, including cultivators, soldiers and police, hadpletely vanished altogether! It was almost as though they had been isted and cut off from the entire world!

    So that¡¯s what a true supernatural incident is like¡­ A great wave of immense fear surged through their spines. But before they could even pull themselves together, the Yin energy crumbled away as quickly as it arrived, and they soon realized to their dismay that they had at some point been dragged into the broadcasting room, right in front of Qin Ye¡¯s face!

    Thump¡­ thump¡­

    Nobody said a single word. Their hearts were all beating out of their chests right now. It was only when they came face to face with such a powerful Yin spirit that they understood how terrifying the supernatural could be. However, none of them took a single step back.

    The captain gritted his teeth, ¡°If you dare touch even a hair of the county governor and secretary, I assure you that your wanted poster will be spread all across the nation in an instant.¡±

    I guess this is it¡­ With that, the captain shut his eyes and waited for the curtains to be drawn.

    If resistance is futile, then at least die with your dignity!

    However, the excruciating pain that he had so anticipated never quite arrived. Instead, all he heard was a soft chuckle.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous.¡± Qin Ye bowed elegantly to them all, before cing his hand across his chest with a respectful salute, ¡°Let¡¯s make some formal introductions. I¡¯m Kui Wood Wolf, an Infernal Judge of Fengdu Necropolis. I¡¯ve been tasked to resolve the issue of Yin spirits that have been guing Valley County.¡±

    Boom!

    It was like a bolt out of the blue - everyone reeled back,pletely dumbfounded. They opened their eyes abruptly and stared at Qin Ye with great disbelief.

    What did¡­ we just hear?

 Chapter 401: Declaration of War (3)

    <h4>Chapter 401: Deration of War (3)</h4>

    Emissary of Hell?

    Fengdu?

    Resolve the issue of Yin spirits in Valley County?

    How¡­ is this possible?! They had already resigned themselves to perishing within the building as soon as they entered it earlier. After all, reinforcements were only arriving in half an hour, and they knew all too well how vicious and ruthless Yin spirits could be. They had expected it to be a bloodbath and a massacre. They had also anticipated that the Yin spirit would put forward some unreasonable demands and conditions, such as a tribute of human blood and flesh. Whatever it was, they hadn¡¯t expected¡­

    Their uninvited guest to actually be a genuine Emissary of Hell!

    ¡°A genuine Emissary of Hell of Fengdu Necropolis?!¡± The county secretary was the first one toe back to his senses. But even then, he waspletely frazzled, ¡°That¡¯s impossible! We¡¯ve never heard of a genuine Emissary of Hell reaching out to the mortal realm of their own volition!¡±

    Qin Ye was just about to respond, when he suddenly caught himself, almost as though he¡¯d recalled something of utmost importance. Then, he murmured softly, ¡°Earth Bat of the Girl Mansion.¡±

    Wang Chenghao red back coldly at Qin Ye - What the hell do you mean by Earth Bat of the Girl Mansion? Why does it sound so much worse than the Kui Wood Wolf? How dare you call me slow and effeminate in a single breath? Do you have something against me?

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Qin Ye cleared his throat, ¡°Defender Crane.¡±

    Don¡¯t you realize that supporting casts only exist to make the protagonist look good? Can you please have some sense of self-awareness?!

    Wang Chenghao finally responded with great reluctance and half-knelt to the ground, ¡°Here.¡±

    As soon as he appeared, everyone around them subconsciously took a step back.

    Most leaders would have in their possession a meter used to detect and measure the concentration of Yin energy.

    However¡­ it hadn¡¯t responded earlier.

    Nobody had noticed Wang Chenghao¡¯s existence until he first revealed his presence to them!

    Is this really someone from Hell?

    ¡°Introduce yourself to everyone.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wang Chenghao stood up and opened his mouth, only to soon discover that he waspletely unable to make a single peep of sound!

    ¡°Alright, stand down.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand casually. As expected¡­ it isn¡¯t so much the fact that Hell has never attempted to reach out to the mortal realm before; it¡¯s just that something like that is practically impossible! Because the Heavenly Dao wouldn¡¯t allow Yin and Yang to mix in the first ce!

    At best, one could only make a single sweeping statement, or a deration of sorts, like Arthis had done a little while ago. But anything more specific than that waspletely prohibited under thews of the Heavenly Dao.

    It looks like¡­ I¡¯m the only one who could bridge the gap between the mortal realm and theherworld.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we have no means of proving our identity to you.¡±

    ¡°Then how do you expect us to believe you?¡± Su Defang responded boldly.

    Qin Ye¡¯s response was simple and indifferent, ¡°The fact that you¡¯re still alive, and that not a single person has yet perished in Valley County is the best proof of our identity.¡±

    Everyone grew silent. Such evidence was tenuous at best, yet¡­ there still seemed to be some force in what he was saying.

    Regardless of what they thought, Qin Ye continued exining, ¡°A Hellguard-ss cultivator stumbled into theherworld a few days ago. This is how we first learnt of the rift between the Yin and the Yang within Valley County. By our investigations, we¡¯ve learnt that the rift hides sixty thousand Yin spirit insurgents, as well as thirteen Judge-ss evil ghosts. Therefore¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then dered with a cold voice, ¡°Hell has decided that we shall purge Valley County of all Yin spirits tonight. There¡¯s a possibility that the army of Yin spirit insurgents have already departed from Valley County, but¡­ there is an equally likely possibility that a great battle of theherworld will unfold tonight as well.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, due to the urgency of the matter, I¡¯ve had no choice but to travel by day, and hijack your announcement to the citizens in order to warn them all.¡±

    Buzz¡­ The bombshell was like a massive rock that had been cast into ake, shattering the facade of peace and setting off ripples that numbed everyone¡¯s minds!

    A rift between realms, and aherworldly battle¡­ Everything waspletely outside of the ambit of their imaginations!

    This ounted for Qin Ye¡¯s whereabouts. However, it wasn¡¯t a situation that the leaders could rejoice in. The county secretary gulped nervously, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ not pulling our legs, are you?¡±

    ¡°The march of Yin soldiers is taking ce at midnight tonight. You¡¯ll see then. Make sure nobody takes a single step outside after 8.00 p.m. sharp, including all county government and the military alike. I can¡¯t guarantee the lives of any living beings that remain outside on the streets after 8.00 p.m.¡±

    Dead silence.

    Their minds were all buzzing with an electrifying sensation from what they had just learnt, and it took them all several minutes before they finally pulled themselves together again. These news hade crashing into their minds far too suddenly, leaving them with little to no room for mental preparation at all. After a long, protracted pause, Su Defang finally probed further, ¡°What should we do?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. Just take care of your people. Beyond that¡­ don¡¯t interrupt us.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s figure slowly vanished into the deep, dark night, ¡°This isn¡¯t a battle that the living can participate in.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ With that, thest bits of Yin energy in the room dissipatedpletely. Everyone exchanged nces with each other,pletely lost for words and actions alike.

    ¡°Do you believe him?¡± The county secretary asked softly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Su Defang massaged his temples. Whether the march of the Yin soldiers, or aherworldly battle¡­ neither are incidents that have ever been recorded in the annals of history! I¡¯m afraid that Valley County¡­ is going to make history soon!

    Granted, it was any and every leader¡¯s aspirations and dreams to see their own precinct be the center of the nation¡¯s attention. That said, such means were hardly desirable at all.

    They were ying with fire.

    ¡°But¡­ we don¡¯t lose out in any way.¡± After much deliberation, Su Defang finally gnashed his teeth, ¡°There was supposed to be a curfew after 7.00 p.m. anyway, so all we have to do now is simply to cancel the patrols and¡­ disseminate these messages! As for what exactly needs to be done¡­¡±

    He turned and gazed deep into the distant skies, ¡°I believe that the high-ranking investigators who are arriving soon will be far more well-ced to call the shots.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    11.40 p.m.

    Valley County was adjacent to a river. The two men were seated atop the riverbank in their Hell¡¯s Emissary state, ying games on the cell phones that they haven¡¯t touched for the longest time. Wang Chenghao appeared somewhat distracted. On the other hand, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes darted about his screen as he tapped rapidly, ¡°Look, you¡¯re dead again. I¡¯ve told you that Zhuang Zhou is now a tank with high killing potential. You should just support me well with your Cai Wenji. I¡¯ve told you to get back, so what are you still doing up on the frontlines treading on thin ice?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it, Brother Qin!¡± Wang Chenghao switched off his cellphone in an instant, ¡°We¡¯ve been here for several hours now! Do you really not care about what¡¯s going on back in Valley County? Even I could sense the arrival of two Judge-ss experts arriving in Valley County almost three hours ago, and they¡¯re not any weaker than you to boot. How are you still in the mood to be ying Glory of Kings right now?!¡±

    Unfortunately, it was impossible to defeat their opponents with only four yers. Qin Ye swiftly reported Cai Wenji, before switching off his phone and turning away from Wang Chenghao in a fit of annoyance, ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡±

    ¡°... Did you really have to turn away from me when asking me that? Besides, don¡¯t you want to use this opportunity to speak with the mortal realms and pave the way to our future cooperation? I can¡¯t wait to see how they react to that!¡± Wang Chenghao was bursting with anxiety. This is Hell¡¯s first battle that we¡¯re talking about¡­ Word has gone out, and we¡¯ve even seen the swift arrival of two Infernal Judges. It¡¯s anyone¡¯s guess how many others are watching us right now! We¡¯re the first ever Emissaries of Hell to have been documented proper after all! How can I not be anxious about this?!

    ¡°... Not bad, you¡¯re finally growing some wings¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed dryly, before crossing his legs in a prim and proper fashion, ¡°Defender Crane¡­ you cannot just look at what is in front of your eyes right now. You¡¯ve got to broaden your horizon, and look at the bigger picture.¡±

    Wang Chenghao knew full well that these were matters that were right up Qin Ye¡¯s field of expertise, so he suppressed all of his emotions and listened on intently.

    ¡°Hell has been silent for a hundred years now, so we can only expect the mortal realm to have lost confidence in us. In fact, this can even be seen through the mannerisms of Zhou Xianlong and the other high-ranking cultivators. If we want to establish a good foundation for our rtionship, we first have to rebuild confidence. It¡¯s a long process.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, the mortal realm and theherworld are ultimately two different realms. If nations can¡¯t get along with each other, how do you expect realms to do so? To build asting and strong rtionship, we first have to show them how we can benefit them. So¡­ what benefits do you think Hell can bring to the table right now?¡±

    Wang Chenghao blinked vacantly, ¡°Isn¡¯t purging Yin spirits from the mortal realm the greatest benefit to them?¡±

    Qin Ye replied, ¡°That¡¯s what I used to think as well, until I realized that it was no more than our duty. And can our duty truly be considered bringing benefit to the table?¡± Qin Ye exined with great patience, ¡°Trade is the only way to bring about mutual benefits to each other. This is where our interests lie. Unfortunately, Hell has absolutely nothing to offer right now. Or are you saying you¡¯re willing to sell your ass to them?¡±

    He gently ran a finger across Wang Chenghao¡¯s ass.

    Wang One Tail immediately rolled his eyes back as far as he could.

    ¡°But the crux of the matter is that there might not be a demand for that at all.¡±

    Wang One Tail covered his chest with a paroxysm of pain.

    ¡°And even if I sold you to some poor, blind soul¡­ what does that make me? An old pimp? I don¡¯t want to disgrace myself that way.¡±

    Wang One Tail began to squirm on the ground,pletely defeated by the merciless onught of verbal abuse. Aren¡¯t you afraid of losing your beloved child over here?! You¡¯re breaking his heart into a million pieces!

    I¡¯d really like to kill someone¡­ is that illegal? Really? Please, someone, tell me already!!

    ¡°Pay attention to me. What kind of listening attitude is that anyway?¡± Qin Ye prodded the still and motionless body on the ground, ¡°Thirdly, it¡¯s me. Having consumed the taisui fungus, I now have the privilege of traversing both realms. But I¡¯m only a single person, and my time is still limited. Do you expect me to be present at every transaction, and have oversight of everything? That¡¯s just impossible.¡±

    ¡°Given that both parties are starting off on a foot of mistrust, someone has to make the first move. So¡­ what harm is there if I reach out first?¡± Qin Ye nced softly at the surface of the waters, ¡°And while I¡¯m at it, there¡¯s no harm improving my own standing in their eyes either.¡±

    Dong¡­ Just then, the clock struck twelve.

    The moon was swallowed up by thick, dark clouds. Qin Ye switched off his rm clock, retracted his smile, and then flicked his finger. Shk! The Harken¡¯s scale shot out from his fingertips and hovered in mid-air. A split secondter, a massive spell array abruptly unraveled itself in the middle of the sky.

    Wang Chenghao froze as he stared at the majestic sight. And then, he subconsciously gasped deeply and retreated several steps.

    The waters¡­ The river¡¯s waters instantly began to tremble with a multitude of ripples, right in front of their very eyes! Within moments, a wisp of jet-ck Yin energy erupted from the surface of the waters like a ck spider lily.

    Then, more and more, and thicker and denser. Secondster, the entire river turnedpletely ck in colour! Back in the sky, the spell array glowed brightly and shone down onto the surface of the river¡­ where it revealed countless silhouettes creeping out from the darkness!

    One silhouette¡­ ten silhouettes¡­ fifty silhouettes¡­ a hundred silhouettes¡­ a thousand silhouettes¡­ ten thousand silhouettes!

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The eyes of the Yin soldiers flickered wildly as they exploded with murderous intent. All of them had been waiting impatiently for their moment of glory!

    The army of Hell had been waiting for a long time, and they couldn¡¯t wait any longer!

    Boom! The center of the array red up with a thick pir of light that appeared to connect heaven and earth. Simultaneously, the entire river sloshed about wildly, sending massive wavespping against the shore with great ferocity. Just then, a massive skeletal war horse leapt straight out of the curtain of waters, carrying a valiant figure wearing a billowing cloak behind!

    Kiku-ichimonji gleamed coldly and menacingly in the dark of the night, while res of menacing scarlethermes burst out all around. The valiant figure unleashed a deratory whistle, ¡°Oda Nobunaga, Chief of the First Battalion, greets King Yanluo of Hell!¡±

    It was at that exact moment that the curtain of water finally fell, revealing¡­ ten thousand Yin soldiers lined up neatly behind him. ¡°HOO-AH!¡± They echoed in unison. Every single one of them were wearing blight vermin armor and blight vermin spears forged from the Hall of Tremors. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to arm everyone with Tigerform Battle Armors, so these sets of armor were naturally of somewhat inferior quality. Nevertheless, they stood tall and imposing like an indomitable force.

    A tidal wave of Yin energy instantly swept through the entire Valley County, battering against the trees around, and causing the temperatures to dip instantly. Qin Ye turned around to Wang Chenghao and grinned brightly at him, ¡°I¡¯m in no hurry, because¡­ they¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    Meanwhile, every single sentient Yin spirit in Valley County immediately turned towards the location of the river and balked in horror. Even the Yin spirits who had no spiritual awareness of their surroundings could feel an innate, primal fear surge from the depths of their hearts as they turned to look at the river as well.

    It¡¯s time!

    Every single Yin spirit in the vicinity could feel the tremor of Hell¡¯s arrival. Oda Nobunaga drew a deep breath and pointed Kiku-ichimonji at the sky with valor, ¡°First Battalion, heed mymand!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡± A dozen or somanders responded in unison.

    ¡°Tonight¡­ we shall purge the Valley County! Leave not a single stone unturned! Whether hunting zone, predatory zone, or mere wandering spirits, every Yin spirit must be rounded up!!¡±

    ¡°Let Valley County tremble for their crimes of attempted assassination of the King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°CHARGE!!!¡±

    1. This is a reference to a star called Earth Bat among the Girl Mansion constetion, one of the 28 mansions of the chinese constetions.

    2. The word ÍÁ can mean earth, but it can also be a derogatory term which referring to a slow/retarded person.

    3. They¡¯re ying a MOBA called Glory of Kings that is popr in China.

 Chapter 402: Purging Valley County (1)

    <h4>Chapter 402: Purging Valley County (1)</h4>

    Midnight.

    Previously, this would have been the time when the nightlife in Cathay truly kicked into full swing. Unfortunately, the only thing that buzzed in the air was a grave silence and the mncholic note of death. Countless families were huddled together, shivering in fear as they awaited the rays of warm light from dawn that seemed still so far away.

    Perhaps the only silver lining was the assurance of a steady source of electricity, unlike the frequent power outages or circuit overhaul exercises that were conducted in the past.

    After all, light was the only thing that kept darkness at bay.

    Such was the reality for Zhou Mingliang¡¯s family. Zhou Mingliang was born and bred in Valley County. He had just turned seventeen, and also justpleted his college entrance examinations. He was eagerly looking forward to the next chapter of his life, not for wealth, but for better safety and security against the unspeakable forces of the dark.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that there are some big cities out there that don¡¯t even need to impose a curfew at night.¡± Hey on the couch, staring out of the window at the dark night sky longingly, ¡°I¡¯ve only seen it once before I turned ten. I can barely recall what it was like back then¡­¡±

    The phone in his hand buzzed with a notification. He nced at it, only to realize that it was his ss WeChat group. Everyone was sending their prayers and well wishes for the night ahead.

    We¡¯re just done with our college entrance examinations. We should be meeting up face to face and chatting about our dreams and our ambitions. How did thingse to this?

    ¡°This damned world¡­¡± He sighed softly and tightened the grip around his phone as he murmured to himself, ¡°What¡¯s the government doing? Aren¡¯t they going to make a statement about these things? Everyone already knows of their existences by now¡­ Are they not allowed to talk about these things just because their existence can¡¯t be proven by science? What good does it do by hiding it anyway?¡±

    Just then¡­ he heard a sound.

    Click¡­ ck¡­

    What kind of a sound is this?!

    Under these circumstances, hearing unexpected sounds in the middle of the night would most certainly give anyone goosebumps. Zhou Mingliang drew a deep breath and suppressed the urge to scream out loud as he crept up to his windowsill, towards the source of the noise.

    The sound hade from some distance away, but he couldn¡¯t see a single thing. That said¡­ there was something about the sound that seemed very familiar to him.

    Where have I heard something like that before?

    Just then, the entire ss chat group instantly went mad with messages - ¡°Did you guys hear that?!¡± ¡°I did! I really did! What the hell is going on out there?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the only one, am I? That¡¯s great¡­ I don¡¯t want to be the next Zhao You¡­ Nobody knows where he¡¯s gone, or why he¡¯s stoppeding to school altogether¡­¡± ¡°h, h, h! I¡¯m not listening to these inauspicious talk!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s heard it? Zhou Mingling gently bit down on his lips and forcibly suppressed the sweat nds that had started to kick into high gear. Then, he slowly peeked over the edge. What sound is that¡­ I¡¯ve definitely heard it before. Ah, that¡¯s right! It¡¯s the sound of several people marching together¡­

    Just then, his eyes flickered wildly, and he immediately opened up his group chat once more, ¡°Military parade! Doesn¡¯t it sound like a military parade?!¡±

    ¡°Holy shit! You¡¯re right! That¡¯s got to be a parade!¡± ¡°Who are you kidding¡­ who do you think would be marching out on the streets in the middle of the night? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s midnight right now!!¡± ¡°I--... I think I¡¯ve got it¡­ The so-called military parade must be the march of the Yin soldiers that we¡¯ve heard so much about in the legends!!¡±

    March of the Yin soldiers?

    Zhou Mingliang¡¯s mind slowly went numb, and he immediately thought to turn away from the windows. Unfortunately¡­ it was toote.

    Qin Ye had specifically instructed the Yin soldiers to march in their true forms because he wanted to make an impact with this opening salvo. Thus, Zhou Mingliang, and everyone who was still awake or had been roused from their slumber saw it with their own two eyes - row after row of neatly lined troops with zing pupils and wearing pitch-ck armor and wielding a grim ck spear were marching right through the main road of the county. Their bodies were clearly illusory, and yet they were undoubtedly marching in unison with imposing footsteps as the night around them darkened!

    ¡°Oh, dear lord!!¡± There was a loud exmation upstairs, followed closely by the sound of a falling stool and the mming of a door. Likewise, various parts of the neighbourhood were filled with sounds of startled people tripping and falling, or knocking things over. These were usually followed closely by the sounds of a door mming shut as well. Zhou Mingliang continued to stand motionlessly by the windowsill,pletely stupefied by what he saw.

    Ghosts¡­

    There really are ghosts!!

    Some of his ssmates had vanished without a trace, and everyone had been discussing the possibility of supernatural urrences. Unfortunately, those who had personally witnessed and experienced such supernatural incidents¡­ were all dead. But this time¡­ given the sheer scale of the supernatural phenomenon, it wouldn¡¯t be too far-fetched to say that the entire popce of the Valley County were practically witnesses at this point!

    These were real ghosts - and proper Yin soldiers at that!

    The Yin energy spreading from the bottom of their feet was so dense that they could be seen with the naked eye. Furthermore, they could even hear the faint cries and moans of grieving souls echo in the dark night sky. The Yin soldiers appeared to be going somewhere. They appeared to know their direction.

    ¡°What are you doing?!!¡± Just then, a panicked voice called out from behind him, and began pulling him back. It was his father. He held Zhou Mingliang tightly and did what he could to calm his nerves down, ¡°Don¡¯t look¡­ Don¡¯t even listen anymore¡­ Just¡­ go to sleep¡­ alright?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    SSSS!!! A cry of rm resounded from a mass grave. Following that, a pale hand that was covered in liver mortis spots burst through the lid of a coffin and wed desperately through the rest of the lid, before a cloaked figure finally sat up straight.

    It was a white-haired olddy dressed in ancient garments. However, her clothes were already torn and tattered in various parts. She was thin. Yet what was most striking was the fact that her teeth protruded out of her mouth in the shape of an ¡®x¡¯. Her body was enveloped with dark-green Yin energy, while thehermes in her eyes flickered wildly.

    A 300-meter enclosure of chains and talismans had already been set up around the mass grave. This was Hunting Zone D-53, and the evil ghost residing within it was nearly a Hunter-ss Yin spirit. She was confined within the barrier, fated to thirst and lust for the blood and flesh outside of her enclosure for the rest of eternity. And yet, at this very moment, she was struck by an iparably greater sense of fear.

    T-t-t-t-t-t¡­ Her razor-sharp teeth chattered for no reason. Who would have thought that something as terrifying as an evil ghost in fact knew fear, so much so that it would even tremble within and without? In fact, she even shrank back into her coffin because of the immeasurable fear that overwhelmed her entire being. The enclosure erected around her was something that used to stop her. But now, she even seemed to find sce in the fact that there was something to keep out whatever terrifying existence was around! She wasn¡¯t sure where the guards around her had gone, but she couldn¡¯t care less either.

    Run¡­ RUN! I¡¯ve got to get out of here!

    Her primal instincts of fear screamed from within her heart. She tried to straighten up, only to discover that her legs had actually gone weak.

    Something¡¯sing¡­ It¡¯s fast, and it¡¯s close¡­ She could sense that what was closing in on her wasn¡¯t something she could resist. It was a primal sense of fear that shrieked from the depths of her heart.

    Just then, the chains of the enclosure suddenly rattled and copsed! The links in the chain were sent flying everywhere, while the talismans were tossed up into the sky and immted in the air. A figure dressed in ancient armor and zinghermes in his eyes stepped out of the encroaching cloud of Yin energy within moments.

    SSS!!! Fear mounted, andpelled her to scramble to the side.

    But soon paused in her steps and retreated with great trembling once more.

    It was because¡­ she could see another fifty scarlet dots on the periphery of the cloud of Yin energy aimed directly at her.

    These scarlet dots were none other than fifty Yin soldiers who were all carrying the Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows.

    Karmic me zed at the tip of the crossbow bolts. The evil ghost¡¯s instincts told her that she would be good as dead as soon as she touched the seemingly harmless me. On the other hand, she could also sense that the Yin spirit behind her was even more terrifying than the fifty Yin soldiersbined!

    ¡°Li Xiangou, born in 1932, died in 2019 at the age of 87. She sold her three daughters asmodities and ended up bing a bloodsucker of her son-inw¡¯s family. Tsk, tsk, tsk, that¡¯s practically trading your own children in exchange for your own desires. To think that you even emotionally ckmail your children by alleging unfilial piety, and even threaten your own death when they don''t give you what you want.¡± Oda Nobutada held a copy of the Book of Life and Death as he walked over, shaking his head with great vexation as he continued reading, ¡°After forcing your eldest daughter to her own death, you began to extort money from your second daughter because you wanted to buy a new house. When she refused, you even abducted her child - your grandson - and sold it to a human trafficker¡­ You¡¯re a vicious beast. No - not even tigers eat their own offspring like that. You¡¯re worse than a beast.¡±

    Pak. Oda Nobutada shut the Book of Life and Death, ¡°Do you think¡­ death means that everything is over?¡±

    ¡°No, this is just the beginning.¡±

    Sss¡­ SSS!!! The evil ghost trembled all over. I¡¯m no match for them¡­ The difference is just too great! She gnashed her teeth, and began to drool all over as she pleaded with him, ¡°Who¡­ are¡­ you?¡±

    Oda Nobutada smiled as he slowly sank back into the recesses of the dense cloud of Yin energy behind. The Yin soldiers in the surroundings echoed in unison, ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!!¡±

    Dong¡­ Her body copsed to the ground limply. She hadpletely lost the will to put up a fight. The Yin soldiers immediately tied a ck chain around her neck.

    ¡°Hunting Zone D-53 has begun to move.¡± ¡°Hunting Zone D-72 has begun to move.¡± ¡°Hunting Zone D-33 has begun to move!¡± While the masters of the hunting zone were all slowly led away from their base of operations, the county government was stirring with great activity!

    It was impossible to say what exactly was on the minds of the civil servants.

    It could very well be the ploy of a highly intelligent evil ghost. The prospects of such thoughts immediately sent chills down their spines. However, most of them clung desperately to the hope that what the self-professed Emissary of Hell had said waspletely true!

    Because if it were, then tonight would mark the night that Valley County would finally be out of the woods!

    ¡°Alert! Alert! Intense Yin energy fluctuations have been detected. All locations in Valley County are affected. Total Yin energy reading is over four million and seven hundred thousand. Of that, the presence of one entity with Yin energy readings of over four million has been detected. We have confirmed the existence to be a Judge-ss Yin spirit. Complete evacuation advised. Repeat -plete evacuation advised¡­¡±

    The sounds of rming sirens echoed through every part of the county hall, yet not a single person paid any attention to the announcements. The surveince room was crammed full of people from all over, including members of the SRC, the Special Investigations Department. They were all staring at the flurry of data as well as the shifting heat map of Yin energy on the screens. Government officials shuttled about like busy bees, carrying stacks after stacks of information from ce to ce.

    Knock, knock. A civil servant drew a deep breath, knocked on the door, and entered the room while wiping off the sweat on his head. Then, he promptly handed over a stack of documents, ¡°Thisprises all of the data pertaining to Hunting Zone D-33, together with the live video footage! Please take a look!¡±

    It was arge conference room.

    There were two national gs ced right beside the main seat at the ten-meter long table with matching mahogany chairs on all sides. It was 2.00 a.m., and yet the room waspletely filled with people.

    Su Defang, the county secretary, military officers, SRC representatives, Special Investigation Department investigators, and so on and so forth. However, the ones who sat right at the head of the table¡­ was a man and a woman.

    Both appeared to be middle-aged and rtively young. However, the true energy flowing from their bodies was dense to the extreme. Their presence at the head of the table gave the rest of the room an immense sense of security and reliability.

    They were Infernal Judges!

    The two Judge-ss experts had arrived at Valley County just three hours ago. When they heard the reports of the shocking news of Hell¡¯s reappearance, they remainedpletely rooted to their seat, watching the surveince monitors closely as they eagerly anticipated the next move that Hell was going to make.

    The hunting zones in the county were undeniable a headache for the government, no matter how one looked at them. So, who could have thought that they wouldn¡¯t put up any form of resistance when arrested by the Yin soldiers? That said, not a single one of them could smile at the situation. In fact, their expression only turned even more somber.

    Arrested but not purged? What are these Yin soldiers going to do to them?

    Moreover, they could tell that the evil ghosts were all slowly but surely being led straight to the front of the county hall. Although there were two Judge-ss experts present right now, everyone still knew just how much chaos would ensue if the evil ghosts were released all at once.

    ¡°To think that we would see Yin soldiers with our own two eyes¡­¡± One of the Judge-ss experts sighed wistfully, ¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re authentic Yin soldiers¡­ but no matter what the case may be, this¡­ is the first time in the history of supernatural incidents that such a powerful Yin spirit has ever revealed itself in the public eye. And if they¡¯re authentic Yin spirits¡­¡±

    He clenched his fists tightly, and the other Judge besidemented softly, ¡°Then¡­ the implications are truly immense - so immense that it can go down in history as one of the greatest revtions of all time.¡±

    ¡°This could well be Hell¡¯s deration to the world that they¡¯re going to be retaking the underworld! And that they are going to be ending the chaos that is guing the mortal realm once and for all!¡±

    ¡°Hold your horses.¡± The first Judge pouted slightly and stared intently at the screen, ¡°There¡¯s still Predatory Zone A-49 remaining - the pit of a thousand.¡±

    ¡°That is the true focal point of Valley County!¡±

 Chapter 403: Purging Valley County (2)

    <h4>Chapter 403: Purging Valley County (2)</h4>

    Pak¡­ A twisted pale hand reached out of the soil at the bottom of the pit. Following that, the soil around the hand immediately caved in, giving way to a one-meter wide fissure that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

    The ck hair of the evil ghost scattered about. She was dressed in white, ancient garments, and her hands were holding the head of a grotesque, malformed baby whose head was covered with ayer of fine, wispy green hair. One could tell through the shape of the evil ghost that it was ady.

    What a familiar smell¡­

    And if that were all, it wouldn¡¯t have justified burrowing through the pit of a thousand and scrambling to the surface in order to take a look for herself. The true reason why she felt an intense wave of uneasiness sweep over her was because¡­ she could sense fear drifting about in the dreary night sky.

    She nced around, and yet¡­ she couldn¡¯t even see a single Yin spirit in sight!

    The attraction of stronger Yin spirits was undeniable to weaker Yin spirits. In the past, this evil ghost would invariably see a multitude of Yin spirits hovering about the vicinity whenever it emerged from the pit of a thousand. Thousands - and quite possibly ten thousand - wandering spirits would linger around these parts of Valley County. As long as she even released a single breath outside, the wandering spirits would alle scrambling to her, hoping to snag a wisp or two of Yin energy as nourishment for their own bodies. However¡­ all of that was missing today.

    Her chest rose and fell greatly. A split secondter, she steeled her nerves and scrambled right back into the fissure from where she came from.

    ¡°Who is it?!!!¡± She whipped her head around and hissed menacingly. Rings of sound waves visible to the naked eye instantly swept across the ground, sending dust and debris scattering about. Her hair had once again begun to scatter like a ck tide, while the green hair on the head of the baby stood up at its roots, as though in fear.

    How terrifying¡­ What the hell is this thing?! Is this an evil ghost? But¡­ I¡¯m an evil ghost too, so why do I feel so rattled by his existence?

    She red vigntly at the figure that had appeared out of the darkness as he raised the katana slightly and ran a finger across its surface, ¡°Had you known this was going to be the oue, would you have done it all in the first ce?¡±

    She naturally obeyed her instincts.

    Unfortunately¡­ as soon as it approached the fissure, a scarlet light instantly appeared at the top of the pit. One scarlet spot¡­ two scarlet spots¡­ ten spots¡­ fifty spots¡­ a hundred spots¡­ a thousand spots!

    Ssss¡­ The female jiangshi immediately froze on the spot. Something deep within her heart told her that so long as she took another step forward, her enemy would immediately release a volley of those dangerous red bolts, puncturing a thousand holes straight through her body in an instant!

    He cut straight to the case. A mighty skeletal horse and its rider instantly leapt straight through the air.

    Fast.

    It was swift as lightning, and fleeting as a rainbow.

    The thousands of Yin soldiers that were lingering about immediately came forward. The female jiangshi gritted her teeth as she clutched at her wounds. The left part of her torso, starting from the left shoulder and running straight through her left abdomen, had beenpletely cleaved away from her body in an instant!

    I¡­ was actually defeated in a single strike?

    ¡°How¡­ is this¡­ possible¡­¡± She stared at the valiant horseman in great astonishment. Unfortunately, the horseman immediately stamped down on her head and sent it straight into the mud below.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    He wasn¡¯t the only one. Zeng Shuai, Chen Nian and some others were all staring at the surveince monitors,pletely bbergasted. In an instant, the thumb-sized red blip on the screen representing Predatory Zone A-49 had shrunk to the size of a single dot, and it was even moving straight towards the county hall!

    Is this the might of Hell?

    Zeng Shuai was the first one to snap back to his own senses. He immediately looked at the time. It was 4.30 a.m.

    Although they were currently located in the basement, they could sense that this phenomenon definitely wasn¡¯t caused by any particrly powerful Yin spirit. Rather, it felt more akin to¡­ the convergence of countless ants!

    This was the ultimate goal of all investigators around. Unfortunately, it was an immensely tall order than none had ever aplished. Yet¡­ to think that they were on the cusp of making their dreams a reality like that!

    No. The skies were no longer as dark as they had been before.

    There were old and young, and male and female Yin spirits alike. None of them possessed any sentience, but they could still instinctively feel fear. Just like that, they knelt on the ground with their heads bowed low. Not a single one of them dared move a single muscle at all.

    ¡°To think they used only four and a half hours¡­¡± One of the human Judges gasped coldly, ¡°To purge a hundred years¡¯ worth of Yin spirits within Valley County.¡±

    Not only were they located at the za in front of the county hall, they were even spilling over into the surrounding streets. It wasn¡¯t even an exaggeration to call this a tide of Yin spirits right now.

    What a spectacle to behold!

    Ta-ta-ta¡­ A skeletal warhorse carried Oda Nobunaga all the way to the entrance of the county hall.

    Is it finally about to go down? Everyone back in the county hall was staring intently at the za. Zeng Shuai and other lower-ranking cultivators even left the safety of the county hall and arrived right outside the za. The tide of Yin spirit out there was a shocking sight to behold. Zeng Shuai shut his eyes softly, and could immediately sense a mild throbbing sensation in his eyelids. He couldn¡¯t believe that everything he had ever dreamed of was now standing right in front of his very eyes.

    ¡°Nine years¡­¡± Chen Nian¡¯s response was equally drifty. One could even hear him choking up slightly, ¡°To think that we would one day see salvation like this¡­¡±

    Dead silence. Then, suddenly, the Yin energy in the vicinity converged towards the center of the za, forming a massive vortex of Yin energy, from which Qin Ye stepped out in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state.

    The two human Judges couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously. What a majestic sight¡­ This is what a genuine Infernal Judge looks like! He holds all authority over millions of lives in his hands! He¡¯s the true master of life and death!

    She was trembling profusely. Her lips parted several times, almost as though she wanted to say something. Unfortunately, a confluence of awe and fearpletely overwhelmed her, so much so that she was renderedpletely speechless. She made nary a sound, yet the opening and shutting of her mouth appeared to be a wordless plea - Have mercy¡­

    Qin Ye looked away. Then, when he looked up once more, thehermes in his eyes were instead zing with golden mes that were as bright as the sun. He spoke with great indifference, ¡°All Yin spirits of Valley County are charged with the crime of conspiring to kill King Yanluo of Hell. You are hereby convicted and sentenced to the skyntern punishment forthwith.¡±

 Chapter 404: Sky Lantern Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 404: Sky Lantern Punishment</h4>

    There was dead silence everywhere. Oda Nobunaga nodded and slowly raised his hands. Just then, the female jiangshi suddenly shrieked at the top of her voice, ¡°Let me go¡­ let me¡­ go!!!¡±

    ¡°I can tell you¡­ where he is¡­ I-I didn¡¯t have any choice¡­ He told me that he would kill me if I didn¡¯t do as he said! He¡¯s an Infernal Judge as well¡­ please let me go¡­ I-I don¡¯t want to die just yet!¡±

    The other sentient ghosts in the area also kowtowed to Qin Ye, pleading for their lives. Although most of them weren¡¯tpletely sentient beings just yet, they could all feel it in their bones that everything they did right now might very well spell the difference between life and death.

    ¡°My lord¡­ please spare us!¡± ¡°We¡¯re willing to tell you everything we know!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡­ I don¡¯t want my soul to disintegrate into nothingness!¡±

    Hmph¡­ Oda Nobunaga snorted coldly and swept an icy nce across all of the Yin spirits around, ¡°There can be no mercy for all who have consumed blood and flesh in Valley County. As for the rest of you, the mere fact that you reside in the same locality and did nothing about it makes youplicit in these crimes. Save your regret¡­¡±

    With that, he swung his hand down violently. A split secondter, everyone who was watching this scene intently immediately gasped deeply.

    An invisible ripple instantly swept through all of the Yin spirits, turning all of their bodies somewhat illusory for a split second before quickly reverting back to normal. Following that, all of the Yin spirits unwittingly opened their mouths, and a little glittering soulfire began to burn from within their lips.

    ¡°Unnngghhh¡­. Aarrrrrgggghhhh!!!¡± The female jiangshi shook her head, desperately trying to scream at the top of her voice, yet all she managed was only a muffled groan.

    She regretted everything. She regretted boarding the bandwagon of the other evil ghosts. Life back in Valley County used to bepletely stable. Faced with thepulsion of the Judge-ss Yin spirit, she could always have left the county. Yet, she chose toply with his directions and execute his instructions to the tee. This was especially when he had dangled the carrot of telling her how to advance to the ranks of an Infernal Judge as soon as shepleted her task.

    Yet what she regretted most was the fact that she was unable to kill that cultivator in the first ce! Otherwise, how could things possibly havee to this?

    She didn¡¯t want to die. She wasn¡¯t willing to die! But unfortunately, she could only watch as her soul was slowly but surely being burnt away by the skyntern punishment.

    WAAARRRGGHHH¡­. UNNNNGGHHH!! A wail of utter terror filled the entire county hall. The skies were still dark, and yet there were now the glittery lights of soulfires illuminating every corner of the za and roads around the county hall altogether. Everything cast a silvery white sheen on the county hall, almost as though it were a holy mountain that stood erect in the center of the county - bright and radiant.

    It was incredibly spectacr. The zing soulfires of over a million Yin spirits was more gorgeous than the glow of fireflies on a warm summer night. Even the Judge-ss expert upstairs couldn¡¯t help but sigh in exmation at the sight, ¡°Even the ugliest of humans have souls that burn with the same silvery white sheen. How poetic.¡±

    Tak¡­ Oda Nobunaga snapped his fingers, and the soulfires immediately flourished in unison and became meter-tall mes! The whimpers and groans of the Yin spirits around grew even louder and more intense. They could all feel their souls burning out and departing from their very own bodies. Even the millions of unsentient wandering spirits could tell that this was undoubtedly going to be their moment of demise.

    Oda Nobunaga drew his katana once more and tightened his hands around the hilt, before finally swinging it around with a perfect circle.

    Buzz!!!

    A shockwave of Yin energy visible to the naked eye immediately swept out across the entire Valley County. With this mighty sh, all soulfires zing from the mouths of their masters were instantly severed from their bodies. And then¡­ they began to slowly drift over like fireworks, right to the entrance of the county hall!

    Whoosh¡­ It looked no different from a beautiful meteor shower. The bright soulfires hurtled through the sky, leaving a long trail of light in its wake, and they all gathered together like the dance of a million light dragons converging on a single location. A moment or twoter, and with a bright eruption of light, the convergence of soulfires promptly transformed into a meter-high ancientmp that zed right at the entrance of the county hall!

    Meanwhile, countless streaks of soulfires were still pouring over. The ancientmp initially started out with a weak and feeble me. Then, as more spots of soulfires poured into themp, the me within slowly burgeoned into a soft me, and then finally¡­ a massive skyntern that zed with a me almost ten meters tall!

    This was the skyntern punishment - the most severe form of punishment recorded in the annals of Hell. It was akin to the death penalty of the mortal realm¡­ no¡­ in fact, it was far worse than the death penalty, because the souls within the skyntern would not immediately perish.

    Instead¡­ they will continue to burn and suffer in the great congration of souls for the next hundred years, before they finally perish. And until they finally perish, they would continue to experience every moment of pain in their souls - unquenching, undying, and unrelenting.

    With the skyntern nowplete, the empty shells that once used to house the souls of these Yin spirits remained on the ground as though they were no different from y sculptures. A soft wind swept through thends, and they instantly disintegrated into ashes that were carried away with the wind.

    Everything is over¡­ Back in the county hall. One of the human Judges opened his mouth slightly and stared at the incredible sight below with great disbelief. Everything is finally over¡­ Valley County has truly be the firstnd to be liberated of the forces of theherworld ever since the incipience of supernatural outbreaks!

    Even if this were but a single county, it was still an incredibly significant event!

    Suppressing the stirring excitement in his heart, the Judge asked softly, ¡°Did you manage to record it?¡± A civil servant behind responded immediately, ¡°Everyst bit of it. We¡¯ve used SRC¡¯stest imaging technology. Although the technology isn¡¯t fully developed yet, we can still record the appearance of Yin spirits for twenty minutes straight.¡±

    The Judge-ss expert nodded his head, and then opened his eyes suddenly to reveal a bright sparkle within. He turned to hispatriot, ¡°Yu Guanzhu, what do you say we personally make contact with this Kui Wood Wolf?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Yu Guanzhu continued to gaze intently at Qin Ye, ¡°This is the first ever recorded sighting of an Emissary of Hell. We can¡¯t let this opportunity go to waste at all!¡±

    While everyone was focused on the events taking ce right in front of the county hall, something else was brewing softly at a ce just five kilometers away. It was a construction site. A middle-aged worker was dressed in camouge uniform, hanging upside down from the ceiling, staring intently in the direction of the county hall with his bulging eyes.

    He wasn¡¯t a dead man, but his entire body was trembling. Secondster, he fell from the ceiling with a soft thud andy prone on the ground just like a spider, ¡°Is this what a genuine Emissary of Hell is like? Is this the so-calledw enforcement of Hell that Lord Kong was telling us about?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s frightening¡­ I¡¯m afraid not even Lord Kong is aware that Hell has their own army! Didn¡¯t he say that Hell has most likely copsed in thest hundred years? Without any Emissaries of Hell, there can¡¯t possibly be any Yin soldiers either!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that Lord Kong left me around to keep watch over this predatory zone. No¡­ this is something that I must immediately ry back to Lord Kong¡­ Hell has Yin soldiers¡­ I¡¯m afraid this is going to affect our ns in the future!¡±

    He ced a golden leaf into his mouth, and it immediately masked his Yin energy and even caused his body to emit a soft aura of Yang energy, no different from a regr human being. With that, he promptly transformed into ahergale and vanished from the ground.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Back at the county hall. Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered softly as the empty shells of the Yin spirits slowly began to vanish. He could sense two sources of true energy no weaker than his own erupt from the upper floor of the country hall.

    Momentster, two figures promptly appeared right next to him.

    Are you finally here? Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed. Judges of the mortal realm¡­ This was the first time he was meeting other Judge-ss experts apart from Zhou Xianlong. He had already disyed what Hell was capable of. The ball was naturally in the courts of the mortal realm right now.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­ Are you really going to deal with the government? Weren¡¯t you¡­ always cowering from them?¡± Wang Chenghao asked softly. The citizens of Cathay were always somewhat afraid of their government.

    After all, they were a mysterious body of centralized power - at least, this was the impression that most Cathayans had of their government.

    ¡°Times have changed¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed wistfully. He, too, would like to act in moderation. If he could have it his way, the best time to deal with the government was still a long time away on the horizon. Unfortunately¡­ time wasn¡¯t on his side.

    It was imprudent to wait for theherworldly warring states era to unfold before finally dealing with the mortal realm. These were the nascent stages of the formation of a new era, and it was best to strike while the iron was hot. He would have a frank and honest discussion with the mortal realm right now, so that when the conflict grew red hot, they could build on the foundation of trust that had already been established and capitalize on each other''s strength!

    Perhaps it might take another decade or even a century for theherworldly warring states era to go into full swing. However¡­ Qin Ye couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He didn¡¯t want to have to do what the first King Yanluo of Hell had done.

    Within moments, the two figures promptly revealed themselves. A slender old man wearing a taoist robe cupped his hands respectfully and introduced himself, ¡°I¡¯m Yu Guanzhu, an intermediate Judge-ss expert. He is Chief Fang, the branch chief of the Special Investigations Department located in Echo City. He¡¯s also the head of the human resources department of the Special Investigations Department. Greetings to you.¡±

    With that, he turned to the crowd of humans around, where a camera was already filming the proceedings.

    Over thest few hours, they had all received their instructions from the upper echelons of the organization. At this moment, over twenty Judge-ss experts and even the legendary Prefect-ss expert of the Special Investigations Department were currently gathered in a conference room back at Yan Capital, watching intently as mortals and Hell finally made contact with each other for the very first time!

    Their every action and word were transmitted and yed directly on the monitors in the room, while the audio was ryed to them through earpieces on a need-to-know basis. In fact, even the other two legendary experts from Dragon Gate Grotto on Greencity Mountain were staring in the direction of Valley County with great disbelief!

    The three pirs of strength located across all of Cathay, and the upper echelons of the government were all awake at this very moment right now.

    The mortal realm had far too many questions that they wanted to ask! None of them wanted to pass up the perfect opportunity to do so!

    Qin Ye nodded softly, putting on a convincing front of a dignified and cold persona.

    ¡°I know what you want to ask.¡± He responded cidly, ¡°But¡­ Yin and Yang are primarily distinct existences. There are certain things in Hell that I simply cannot tell you about. That said, I can give you my word that Hell is in the process of recovering from the damage it has suffered, and will soon be in the position to trade mutual benefits with the mortal realm. We will soon restore Hell to its former glory and end this strife once and for all.¡±

    ¡°How soon is ¡®soon¡¯?¡± Chief Fang found his multitude of doubts summed up in a single question. This was the core question on everyone¡¯s minds.

    Qin Ye shook his head with a soft sigh, ¡°Unfortunately, there isn¡¯t much that the mortal realm can help with Hell¡¯s restoration efforts. The upheaval in Hell is beyond what the mortal realm can possibly fathom. If the stars are aligned, we would never shy away from asking the mortal realm for help. After all, Yin and Yang are like two sides of the same coin. None can exist without the other.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s manner of speech immediately stemmed several follow-on questions before they could even arise, and even precluded any depths of discussions altogether. Nevertheless, Yu Guanzhu was unwilling to let up, and he immediately pressed further, ¡°So is there anything we can do to help right now?¡±

    Wang Chenghao was puzzled. Why is Brother Qin saying this? There are plenty of ces that Hell needs help with right now! Isn¡¯t it good to be frank and upfront with the mortal realm in this regard?

    ¡°Hell is currently in a state ofplete disarray. There are in fact many things we will need to purchase from the mortal realm, but we¡¯re still searching for the appropriate modes ofmunication. Perhaps¡­¡± Qin Ye paused, before continuing enigmatically, ¡°In the near future, we might just set up a proper phantom market to facilitate trade between the mortal realm and Hell.¡±

    The two men nodded with a cid expression in their eyes.

    Qin Ye stared intently at them for the next few seconds, before slowly retracting his gaze, ¡°Apart from that, starting two yearster, I hope that you¡¯ll be willing to allow the caskets of all talents who perish in Cathay to stop by Martial City for a single day.¡±

    The two men waited for several seconds, before asking with great disbelief, ¡°Is that all?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded.

    Wang Chenghao tugged softly at Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves, only to be ignoredpletely by him.

    Why?!

    Wang Chenghao stared usatorily at Qin Ye, but nobody could see the look in his eyes underneath the mask that he was wearing right now. He was incredibly bewildered. Have you done so much only for the opportunity to say these few words to the mortal realm? They were practically offering a nk cheque to you, so why did you only put forward these few simple requests?!

 Chapter 405: The Way of the Aristocrat

    <h4>Chapter 405: The Way of the Aristocrat</h4>

    Nobody said a single word.

    The two Judge-ss experts werepletely silent. They had expected the negotiations to proceed formally and with great sobriety. In fact, they were even prepared to adjourn to a conference room promptly after introductions, where the top brass of the mortal realm would begin to consult with Hell how they should best go about quelling the supernatural outbreaks across the nation.

    None of them had ever expected the negotiations to proceed on an open-and-shut basis.

    ¡°Could it be that¡­ Hell has no intentions of intervening with the outbreaks in the mortal realm?¡± Yu Guanzhu¡¯s heart sank as he murmured back.

    Qin Ye smiled as the flickeringhermes in his eyes turned to Yu Guanzhu, ¡°Don¡¯t overthink things. Like I said, Hell and the mortal realm are like two sides of the same coin. Without Hell, it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before the mortal realm copses. At the same time, Hell cannot possibly exist without the mortal realm either. You are us, and we are you. As long as either one of us faces a problem, the other would most certainly reach out with unconditional assistance. It¡¯s not that Hell isn¡¯t willing to lend the mortal realm a hand right now. Rather, the heart is willing, but the flesh is weak. King Yanluo has personally asked me to ry his promise to the mortal realm - as soon as Hell resolves the issues guing it, Hell will immediately send troops into the mortal realm to reap all souls that are lingering where they shouldn¡¯t be!¡±

    Not a single person objected to what Qin Ye had just mentioned.

    It was true that they were both sides of the same coin, and there naturally was no good reason why Hell wouldn¡¯t be willing to lend aid to the mortal realm. There had to be some extraneous reasons for Hell¡¯s inactivity thus far. The two Judge-ss experts sighed softly. There were countless questions wing at them from the bottom of their hearts, but they knew that it wasn¡¯t appropriate to ask these things right now.

    That said, Chief Fang was unable to hold himself back, and finally asked with much hesitation, ¡°At risk of asking, what happened to Hell?¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent for some time, before finally disclosing what he could, ¡°Lord Ksitigarbha has fulfilled his great vow and ascended.¡±

    ¡°And the might of his ascension¡­ is approximately equivalent to thebined forces of a dozen or so Yama-Kings. We¡¯re still reeling from the aftermath of his ascension right now. Everyone, let me say it once again - it¡¯s not that we¡¯re unwilling, but it¡¯s simply that Hell is barely holding itself together.¡±

    The two human Judges gasped in horror. Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension¡­ It was impossible to fathom what kind of terrifying power that must have entailed. That said, they appreciated the fact that a Yama-King was an existence qualitatively more powerful than an Abyssal Prefect.

    The mortal realm didn¡¯t have any Yama-ss cultivators for now, but that didn¡¯t mean that they were unable to extrapte from their own experiences and draw their own conclusions. After all¡­ a Prefect-ss expert was already an otherworldly existence to their minds!

    ¡°Agree to his requests.¡± Just then, the two Judge-ss experts heard the voice of an old-man speak directly into their earpieces, ¡°Tell them that the mortal realm will do its best to fulfill any needs of theirs. Starting next year, we¡¯ll be establishing a cemetery in Martial City for all talented personnel across Cathay.¡±

    The eyes of the two Judge-ss experts flickered wildly, because they could immediately tell who the old man was. Is he actually concerned about our interactions with Hell?

    ¡°However¡­¡± The old-man¡¯s voice soon continued, ¡°Ask that Infernal Judge of Hell what Hell has to offer back to the mortal realm.¡±

    The two exchanged a knowing nce with each other. As expected of a leader. How did he remain so objective after hearing what Hell has had to say thus far? This is truly the difference between him and us¡­

    Chief Fang no longer hesitated, ¡°We are prepared to agree to your requests. However, the mortal realm is also in hot waters, and we are hoping that we can finalize our partnership with Hell as soon as possible. I wonder what Hell has to offer back to the mortal realm in exchange for our acquiescence to your requests?¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even pause to consider these things, ¡°We still possess the full extent of knowledge umted in Hell over thest few millennia. This would include the various methods of dealing with Yin spirits, the detailed ssification of Yin spirits, information pertaining to each type of special Yin spirits, and the documented locations of all powerful evil ghosts that have been sealed across the entire history of Cathay. King Yanluo has decreed that all of this information be released to Cathay¡¯s government. We¡¯re currently in the process of proofreading everything and verifying the details, and we should be prepared to furnish you with all of this information within the next half a year.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not trying to undermine the mortal realm¡¯s abilities in this regard. However, the mortal realm¡¯s research on Yin spirits is probably only at the same level that Hell was at just a thousand and five hundred years ago.¡±

    At the receiving end of the audio transmitting device was an old man who appeared to be in his seventies. Several bodyguards stood around him, among which included¡­ two Infernal Judges!

    As soon as he heard Hell¡¯s offer, he immediately shut his eyes and smacked the table with a soft sigh.

    ¡°Agree to his terms. Immediately!¡±

    Elsewhere, in the heart of a massive room surrounded byputer screens and wall-mounted LCD screens, five white-haired old men dressed in whiteb coats were seated right in front of a screen that was broadcasting the very same negotiations which were taking ce in a tiny ce called Valley County.

    The little-known county was drawing a lot of important attention to itself right now.

    As soon as Hell¡¯s offer was made, the five old men immediately gasped in unison. A split secondter, one old man immediately grabbed the phone beside him, ¡°Get up right now! Immediately notify all doctoral researchers and professors to report to the SRC headquarters in Yan Capital right away!¡±

    He cut the call and stared intently at the screen with a faint flush on his face, ¡°This gift¡­ hase at the most opportune moment!¡±

    Back in Valley County. Yu Guanzhu and Chief Fang heard Qin Ye¡¯s somewhat derisive remark, yet they didn¡¯t respond with the slightest trace of anger. Instead, their eyes gleamed brightly, and their faces flushed with a bright red hue.

    ¡°Deal.¡± Secondster, Chief Fang cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°We look forward to Mr Kui Wood Wolf¡¯s visit half a yearter!¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the dark skies, ¡°And that leaves us with one final thing to do.¡±

    ¡°A rift between the mortal realm and the underworld has opened up in Valley County, and we must seal it right away. Our Yin soldiers will immediately withdraw thereafter. Everyone¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s physical form slowly began to drift away like a softhergale, ¡°See you in half a year¡¯s time.¡±

    As he vanished, so did the rest of the Yin soldiers that came together with him. Ten minutester, all of them appeared right next to the pit of a thousand once more.

    ¡°My lord, when breaching this predatory zone, I detectedrge amounts of residual Yin energy still lingering about in the crevasse below.¡± Oda Nobunaga reported solemnly, ¡°But it¡¯s not enemy Yin soldiers either. Those would already have withdrawn by midnight earlier tonight. However, the residual Yin energy still hasn¡¯t dissipated for now.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately gazed deeply at the fissure in the ground, ¡°Such coincidence?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not.¡± Oda Nobunaga nced at the ground with a flicker in his eyes. The darkness in Valley County was ebbing away, and the break of dawn was merely moments away, ¡°Perhaps¡­ our opponent might have left some pawns around. I¡¯ve heard my lord speak about Kong Mo¡¯s modus operandi before. He¡¯s by no means a person who takes things one step at a time without nning ahead. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising to see him leave troops lingering about. My lord, would you like us tob through the fissure below?¡±

    If tens of thousands of Yin soldiers were indeed hidden here, there was no way they could possibly remain hidden under a thorough search of the region.

    ¡°No need.¡± Qin Ye responded softly, ¡°He can keep an eye on us if he truly so desires.

    ¡°Our battle with the Eastmount alliance of evil ghosts is only going to be a matter of time. It¡¯s fine to let them know of Hell¡¯s stance against any attempted assassination of its officials. We¡¯ll let Kong Mo know that Hell still possesses a powerful army to deal with unruly Yin spirits. Let it be known to the alliance that they have stirred the ho¡¯s nest! The realization on their part would be far better than any warning I could possibly give.¡±

    And as for now¡­ the priority is naturally to suss out what stage of development my opponents are at!

    As long as they¡¯ve been here before, they would most certainly have left traces. Sixty thousand Yin spirits have marched to thesends, stayed for some time, and even executed their ns. The amount of preparation work must have been immense. It would be impossible for them not to have left any traces of clues around! Not even the most capable of generals could achieve such an impossible feat as that!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Qin Ye stepped right into Limbo, together with Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobunaga. It waspletely dark, almost as though they had entered a primeval corridor of sorts. Wang Chenghao immediately seized the opportunity to rify with Qin Ye, ¡°Brother Qin, why? Why don¡¯t we open up trade routes with the mortal realm right away? This would enable us to immediately strengthen Hell, right? Didn¡¯t you say that this was the n to begin with?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good to ask questions. But before you do, it would also be wise to first ce yourself in my shoes and ask why I could have possibly done what I did.¡± Qin Ye was pleased that Wang One Tail was beginning to act the part of a Defender Crane, and he promptly reinforced his conduct with positive affirmation, ¡°But since you¡¯re begging with me that sincerely, I¡¯ll let you know out of the goodness of my heart.¡±

    Wang Chenghao: ¡­¡­

    Beg? What do you mean beg? I¡¯m just asking you a question over here!

    Qin Ye sorted through his thoughts and exined patiently, ¡°I didn¡¯t know anything when I first inherited the old Hell¡¯s legacy just one year ago. I¡¯d just been a mere Netherworld Operative back then. What do you think would¡¯ve happened if I¡¯d revealed myself to the mortal realm back then and told them - ¡®Hey, I''m the next King Yanluo of Hell. I can lead you right out of the predicament you¡¯re faced with right now.¡¯¡±

    Wang Chenghao immediately cut to the chase, ¡°Human body centipede¡­ no! Human sashimi!¡±

    Qin Ye red at him viciously - What the hell are you talking about?! What do you mean by ¡®human body centipede¡¯? Do you believe that I¡¯ll immediately send you straight for reincarnation?

    ¡°That¡¯s right. They would immediately arrest me, cut me apart and experiment on me. To put it bluntly, our words carried little weight back then. In fact, it would have been useless even if I¡¯d imed to be the incarnation of Buddha. How could Hell¡¯s sessor only be a Netherworld Operative? Would I really be able to answer the multitude of questions they had for me? If not, what good would I be to them? Wouldn¡¯t they be able to extract more answers out of me by dissecting me and experimenting on my body parts?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s a rather apt analogy - so apt that I can¡¯t help but feel somewhat nauseated¡­ Urgh¡­ Ah, it¡¯s not that I find your flesh repulsive¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up! Listen carefully!¡± Qin Ye red at Wang Chenghao, ¡°I¡¯m finally in the position to prove a point. An Infernal Judge would undoubtedly be considered a strong pir of support in the mortal realm. After all, it¡¯s only one qualitative step away from the strongest existence in the mortal realm. When a Judge says something, it definitely holds weight. If I wanted to, I would have been able to secure an important position for myself within the Special Investigations Department - perhaps even get myself appointed as a vice-chief of bureau of one of their city branch offices. That said¡­ the more knowledge you gain, the more you realize howcking you are as well.¡±

    He retracted his smile and sighed softly, ¡°The first issue is that of trust. If words have no consequences, then anyone would be more than ready to ce their trust in what I say. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that Hell hasn¡¯t manifested any traces of its existence for thest hundred years. How much do you think the human government is willing to trust in such an existence right now? Your guess is as good as mine.¡±

    Wang Chenghao was about to say something, when Qin Ye promptly shook his head, ¡°Were you going to say that if Hell and the mortal realm were two sides of the same coin, who else would they trust if not for us? You¡¯re wrong. They could still very much prefer to trust in their own abilities. What has Hell got to show for itself? What has Hell done in recent times that justifies such immense investments on the part of the mortal realm? Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how far Cathay¡¯s GDP has fallen? It¡¯s only grown by 4% this year, as opposed to 6-7% in previous years. Do you know what ounts for the decline in growth? It¡¯s all due to the extra resources channeled into scientific research on Yin spirits, developing weapons against Yin spirits, and provision of resources and materials for cultivators. Cathay has been doing this for well over a decade, so do you think they would trust us enough to invest heavily in us, just because we cleaned out Valley County for them? No. They would never. The advent of science means that they would much rather trust their own processes and their own abilities than put their faith in us once again. This is how humans behave after all.¡±

    ¡°Do you remember when I earlier mentioned to the judges that we could potentially set up a phantom market where trade could take ce? I watched their reactions closely, and I noticed that there was barely any trace of excitement in their hearts at all. This tells me that they¡¯re still unconvinced by what I¡¯m saying. They have their reservations as to how much benefit Hell can truly bring to the mortal realm apart from assisting them with the purge of Yin spirits in certain parts of the nation. They may be expectant, and they may be excited, but as far as faith and trust is concerned¡­ we¡¯re currently still at rock bottom.¡±

    Wang Chenghao frowned, ¡°But¡­ all they need to do is to give us a single batch of resources! They would do something like that, wouldn¡¯t they? After all, a county¡¯s worth of supplies isn¡¯t much as far as Cathay is concerned as a whole. On the other hand, it would springboard our development, and then they would reap the manifold profits of their investments in due course!¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. A faint mist of ckish-green Yin energy was now blurring their field of vision. Limbo was just ahead of them. Qin Ye responded coldly, ¡°Sure, we might get a batch of supplies, but¡­ what about Yin spirits?¡±

    Wang Chenghao instantly figured out the crux of the problem, and he promptly grew taciturn.

    ¡°Have you finally figured it out? I haven¡¯t opened trade talks with the mortal realm because all we can do right now is to ask for investments, yet we have nothing to show for it. Without Yin spirits, we won¡¯t have Yin soldiers. And without Yin soldiers, we won¡¯t be able to purge morends and recover more lost territories for the mortal realm. Like I said, trust is already at rock bottom right now. They might respond to our requests for funds once, but as soon as they see no returns on their investment, they would never put us in further funds thereafter. Thus¡­ we have to make sure that we would be able to repay them greatly with the first tranche of resources that they invest in us! They would have to be able to reap a huge amount of returns!¡±

    ¡°How are we supposed to do that?¡± Wang Chenghao asked in bewilderment.

    Qin Ye smiled softly, ¡°Whenever we purge a precinct for them, we could establish a city right there and then. We may not have the requisite resources required for the same, but we could always ask the mortal realm to invest in us! That way, any ce we purge in the mortal realm can be consideredpletely reimed by Hell as well! Naturally, the precondition to these ns is that we have to be able to purge thesends in the first ce.¡±

    His gaze flickered wildly like a zing congration as he stared intently at Limbo, ¡°Therefore, the eastbound expedition to Martial City is the first and most important step to our negotiations with the mortal realm. The daolord has already crossed the waters and entered Eastmount Province, while the alliance of thirteen Judge-ss evil ghosts are moving together. Things in the mortal realm must be on the verge of copse. We take down Martial City, and destroy the legions of Yin soldiers currently garrisoned in the mortal realm. That way, we would be able to put our money where our mouth is, and finally negotiate proper terms with the mortal realm!¡±

 Chapter 406: Garrison

    <h4>Chapter 406: Garrison</h4>

    He was slowly ruminating over what Qin Ye had said. After all, he had always wondered why Qin Ye hadn¡¯t immediately reached out to the mortal realm for aid and assistance as far as Hell¡¯s development was concerned.

    Loquaciousness and eloquence wasn¡¯t going to get Hell anywhere as far as the negotiations were concerned. Just take a good look at the leaders around. All of them were expert negotiators in their own right, and they would be easily able to see beyond the farce of words and fully grasp the substance of whaty behind.

    On the other hand, what Hell needed the most right now was Yin spirits, because they could only develop Yin soldiers if they had Yin spirits in the first ce. In turn, it was only with sufficient Yin soldiers that they could slowly but surely begin to take back some of thend that had been lost to Hell. These were all issues that couldn¡¯t be solved as easily as the injection of funds and resources.

    Infrastructural works, such as the construction of a national highway that connects city to city, was still something that could only be aplished with an investment of proper ghostpower. Yin beasts, nature, and even Limbo were all variables that could easily wipe out Yin spirits who were involved. Without sufficient Yin spirits, the amount of resources generated by cities would far outweigh the ghostpower avable to process them. Efficiency would fall. And then, to make matters worse, how were they supposed to pay dividends to the mortal realm¡¯s investments in the absence of national highways? Make another rift connecting Limbo and the mortal realm? Impossible.

    ¡°Therefore, it would be prudent to first establish the national highway before wemence the partnership between Hell and the mortal realm¡­¡± Having sorted through his thoughts, Wang Chenghao finally nced at Qin Ye in amazement, ¡°Brother Qin, you¡¯re amazing. To think that you were able to--...¡±

    The words of praise that Wang Chenghao had for Qin Ye immediately dissipated into thin air. He waspletely blown away by Qin Ye¡¯s outstanding ability topletely halt all avenues for conversation.

    ¡°This is a sign of chaos descending into the world. The end of any dynasty would always see the rise of warlords. That said, it¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing. The alliance means that they would likely be gathered in a single location as their base of operations. So long as we destroy them, we¡¯d immediately be able to dere that the entire Eastmount Province has been liberated from the forces of theherworld. The other riffraff that remain in the remote regions of the province aren¡¯t worth considering at all.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve got to have something to show for my hundred or so years in the mortal realm, don¡¯t I? At the end of the day¡­¡±

    Granted, it was always an option to construct his national highway from the City of Salvation. However, that would immediately disclose the location of his base of operations. He couldn¡¯t afford to lose his cover back in the mortal realm either.

    ¡°Truth be told¡­ there¡¯s still one additional reason why I¡¯ve decided as such.¡± Qin Ye turned his eyes to the billowing Yin energy ahead of him. They slowly walked into the cloud of Yin energy, with the ten thousand Yin soldiers in tow. Oda Nobunaga heard his words, and immediately gasped in shock.

    Oda Nobunaga had thought that he had already figured out the hidden intentions behind Qin Ye¡¯s decision. He had never expected there to be yet anotheryer of considerations hidden beneath the surface!

    Tap. Tap. Tap. There were the soft sounds of three footsteps, followed soon by the rumble of footsteps caused by the rest of the army, who promptly surrounded Qin Ye, Oda Nobunaga and Wang Chenghao in the center and pointed the tips of their spears outwards. Everyone held their ground in a watertight circle of defense.

    No Yin beasts¡­ Qin Ye furrowed his brows, desperately recalling to mind the characteristics of Limbo that he knew. As the realm that was sandwiched between Hell and the mortal realm, it was known for its abundance of Yin beasts. Unlike Hell, where the Yin beasts thrived in flocks, the Yin beasts in Limbo were far sparser inparison. To this end, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising to see only a single Yin beast appearing in a ten kilometer radius. That said, whenever the density of Yin beasts increased, it would invariably give rise to the king of the pack, otherwise known as the monarch beast.

    These weren¡¯t matters that could be understood through the lens of simple human logic.

    Qin Ye made a shushing gesture, before flying high into the sky and responding to Oda Nobunaga¡¯s query with a hushed tone of voice, ¡°Not much. It¡¯s just a hunch on my part. But if my guess is right¡­ we might actually be able to reap some unexpected rewards in our trip down to Limbo this time.¡±

    However, he didn¡¯t stop looking. Instead, he looked up, and slowly began to scan across the entire horizon, until finally¡­ he noticed the faint silhouette of what appeared to be a city!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Both Oda Nobunaga and Wang Chenghao also couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock as they saw the towering silhouettes in the distance slowly growrger andrger.

    A terrifying thought suddenly urred to Oda Nobunaga, and he abruptly turned to Qin Ye once more, ¡°This was the other reason that you were talking about? Your guess was actually right?¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you guys talking about?!¡± Wang Chenghao waspletely dumbfounded. Unfortunately, no one was in the mood to respond to his outburst, because both Oda Nobunaga and Qin Ye were staring intently at the city with zing passion in their eyes.

    The city was surrounded with ten-meter high masonry walls. He couldn¡¯t tell what kind of adhesive was used between the blocks forming the walls, but he could tell that there were even some kind of sharp horns or barbs that were protruding from the external facade of the walls. These looked razor-sharp, almost as though they were plucked out from the teeth of Yin beasts. The city didn¡¯t look luxurious, but it was clearly designed with practicality in mind. There were several precincts within the city, and each of these precincts appeared to be built around the concept of military regimentation. It was patently clear that this was a military city, or a garrison of sorts!

    However, there was not a single Yin spirit in sight.

    Qin Ye¡¯s body flickered softly, and he soon appeared right in front of the smithy in the city. Oda Nobunaga immediately ran over.

    Qin Ye walked around, deep in thought. He could tell that the smithy was divided into various sections, in the style of an assembly line. There were even several sets of unfinished armor left on the work benches, with their work tools scattered all about. The furnace itself was ten metersrge, and a bright greenherme raged within it.

    There was a small mound of ck objects lying right beside the furnace. Qin Ye picked up one of these and looked at it. A briquette? Charcoal fire? Perhaps. It felt like bones, but there was clearly something else that had been added to the mix. He tossed it into the furnace, and thehermes immediately snapped and crackled.

    ¡°Chemicals industry.¡± Qin Ye maintained a cid expression on his face and walked towards the workbenches where the assembly linesy. There, he pointed to the armor, ¡°Military industry.¡±

    Qin Ye soon walked out of the smithy. The rest of the Yin soldiers had just arrived, and had just formed up in ranks. Oda Nobunaga nodded at them, and they immediately spread out across every part of the city, kicking down doors and clearing the rooms.

    Wang Chenghao was observing the conversation between Qin Ye and Oda Nobunaga all this while. He knew that he was far too inexperienced to be interjecting with his insights, orck thereof. Therefore, he paid close attention to the details and picked up what he could. After all, he wanted to do his best; he didn¡¯t want to disappoint either of his mentors at all.

    ¡°Why do we seem so overjoyed?¡± It finally urred to Qin Ye that there was a young, naive Wang One Tail that was following them, and he promptly turned back and chuckled softly, ¡°It¡¯s simple¡­ it¡¯s because¡­ this is simply a teaser of the spoils of war that are toe in future.¡±

    Are you mistaken? How is their rate of economic development considered a spoil of war?

    ¡°This garrison gives us an insight as to the extent of development in Kong Mo¡¯s capital! This is what I¡¯d hoped to see! So long as we can take down Qufu, we¡¯d be able to devour all their technology and make it our own. And even if we aren¡¯t able to do so, we¡¯d still have earned ourselves a free city. And in the worst case scenario, if we turn these cities into nothing more thanunching pads within Limbo, we¡¯d still make loads from these expeditions! In other words, all your base are belong to us!¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is a popr inte meme from the past that has often also been used as cheat codes in games.

 Chapter 407: War Riches

    <h4>Chapter 407: War Riches</h4>

    What¡¯s the fastest way to get rich?

    Bank robbery?

    No, no, no. That would at best get you a few hundred thousands, or perhaps a few million at best. Banks wouldn¡¯t carry that much cash at any one point in time, especially those in Cathay. Everything was now digital! Damn this cashless society!

    War - the only way to do it was through war!

    War riches were on apletely different scale. The wealth garnered would be in the region of trillions! We¡¯re talking about a country, a city, and millions of people! And that¡¯s not even taking into ount the special products of each city, gold, silver and other precious gems and minerals!

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s jaws dropped. He finally understood everything.

    An entire city¡­ An entire city with moreplete facilities and amenities than the new Hell!

    The entire city had beenpletely emptied out and cleaned for use, just like a naked maidenying in wait for them. And right now¡­ it¡¯s ced right under our very eyes!

    ¡°Holy shit¡­ a¡­ a new city? We¡¯ve got¡­ a whole new city for ourselves?!¡± Wang Chenghao shot to his feet several momentster, ¡°I mean¡­ we didn¡¯t even do anything¡­ s-s-so how did we even end up with a whole new city?!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions dulled, ¡°About that¡­ can¡¯t you do something about your ability to think for yourself? Do you not realize that the entire ce has been abandoned? Do you not understand what the implications of that are? Also, what do you mean nothing was done? That¡¯s rather offensive¡­ Did I not mobilize ten thousand troops and march them through the city?¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart instantly swelled with the desire to cuss Qin Ye out. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t the appropriate time for these things. With trembling lips, he stared at the ground and the walls around him, almost as though he were a two hundred pound kid that had just obtained a new toy. Five minutester, he turned around once more with a bright flush on his face, ¡°S-so we basically earned ourselves a city¡­ with just a simple parade?¡±

    That was the moment that Qin Ye decided to terminate the One Tail training programme. It was far better to let someone like that rot in the path of man.

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°Tell me, are you good for anything else apart from that face of yours?¡±

    Wang Chenghao touched his face in horror, ¡°Is this not good enough for you?¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ see if I don¡¯t rain down on you hellfire and brimstone today¡­ Nobody - I say - nobody stop me!

    Just then, Oda Nobunaga suddenly interjected, ¡°A well-equipped city can be used as aunching pad to explore Limbo, and it can also be a bastion of safety for retreating armies. Its value is practically incalcble. Moreover, the surrounding Yin beasts have already been swept away, and you can tell that this definitely isn¡¯t a makeshift city. This military garrison¡­ is definitely worth at least a billion Yin spirit stones or more! s¡­ war is truly profitable!¡±

    Qin Ye slowly walked to the restaurant and ran his finger across the ck chairs and tables, ¡°Its true value still lies in the advancement of technologies it brings to us. I¡¯ve got to say that they¡¯re truly worthy of being called the original gentry of Cathay. Notwithstanding the fact that they¡¯ve had several decades of head start over us, the fact that they¡¯re able to develop the chemicals industry and the food and beverages industry is already an incredible feat in and of itself. And that¡¯s not to mention the fact that this alles after the great copse of Hell¡­ Now I¡¯m even more curious than ever as to what else they might possibly have in store for us?¡±

    ¡°Is this really ours now?¡± Wang Chenghao touched the wooden railings of the stairs excitedly, ¡°They¡­ wouldn¡¯te back for these, would they?¡±

    Qin Ye ignored his ridiculous query. It was instead Oda Nobunaga who nodded with great patience, ¡°No.¡±

    Without missing a beat, he began to draw a simple map on the table using his own Yin energy, ¡°Mr Wang, you¡¯ll need to appreciate why they abandoned the city in the first ce.¡±

    Qin Ye was ostensibly inspecting the ancient countertop with great excitement, but the truth of the matter was that he was in fact listening closely to what Oda Nobunaga had to say. He wanted to know how astute Oda Nobunaga was with his observations.

    This was very much a test of the depth of his perception.

    Oda Nobunaga exined patiently, ¡°Do you still remember when Lord Qin mentioned that the daolord of the three eastern provinces would never dare to draw close to Yan Capital, so they¡¯d much rather cross the strait and head towards Eastmount?¡±

    Wang Chenghao nodded, and Oda Nobunaga promptly continued, ¡°If that¡¯s indeed the case, then¡­ Eastmount Province is quite likely up to its neck in the mes of conflict right now. There¡¯s the daolord of the asura right above them, and the alliance of the thirteen Judges right below. Leaving sixty thousand Yin soldiers garrisoned here might trigger a great battle against Hell. At that time, they would no longer have the opportunity to pull back their forces, and that would give the daolord of the asura the opening that he needs.¡±

    He squatted down and began to draw more on the ground with his Yin energy, ¡°The stakes are simply too high. It would be imprudent to stay around and risk getting held back. Therefore, they chose to pull back. But, most importantly...¡±

    ¡°Do you know the identity of the perpetrator this time?¡±

    The sudden question took Wang Chenghao by surprise. That said, Qin Ye had already informed everyone about his earlier conversation with the Harken. Thus, Wang Chenghao pondered for a moment, and then responded, ¡°Kong Mo?¡±

    Oda Nobunaga smiled brightly, while Wang Chenghao promptly smacked himself on the head as enlightenment struck, ¡°Yes¡­ that¡¯s right! Kong Mo is incredibly wary of the old Hell! He knows all too well that the old Hell would never retreat with a cursory sweep through the city. In fact, he¡¯s so afraid of Hell that he¡¯d much rather abandon the entire city than risk getting into an altercation with Hell right now! Isn¡¯t that the true reason we could get away with such great spoils of war in the first ce?¡±

    Oda Nobunagaughed boisterously, ¡°To be more precise, the others were simply rallying their troops in this region when they suddenly discovered Lord Qin by chance. To their minds, the threat of the old Hell is most certainly far greater than the threat of the daolord located geographically above them. Thus¡­ they temporarily rallied the members of the alliance to take down Lord Qin once and for all. Then, after Lord Qin¡¯s departure, they received news that Hell had mobilized a great army to take them down, so they immediately retreated all the way back to Eastmount, where they came from. This is the truth surrounding this empty city right now.¡±

    Wang Chenghao stared at the ck arrows that Oda Nobunaga had drawn on the ground, before turning to look at Oda Nobunaga with great admiration. No wonder you¡¯re qualified to be the protagonist in several games. Truly awesome!

    Oda Nobunaga didn¡¯t notice the bright glint in Wang Chenghao¡¯s eyes. Instead, he continued to draw arge ck dot where Qufu was located, before mming his fist on his palm, ¡°We¡¯re probably not wrong about this! But if we¡¯re right, then this also means that Eastmount Province contains both the alliance of Infernal Judge and their troops, as well as the daolord of the asura and his forces! It¡¯s not going to be a walk in the park by any means!¡±

    p p p¡­ Qin Ye apuded, ¡°It looks like I haven¡¯t entrusted the new Hell to the wrong hands.¡±

    After all, it was only through trials that the wheat would be separated from the chaff.

    And the one standing right beside him was probably the most premium of grains at that.

    Anxious to prove himself, Wang Chenghao immediately blurted, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ You¡¯ve got to think carefully about this next move of ours. I can¡¯t help but feel as though the Eastmount Province is going to go down as a race to the bottom. Are you sure you still want to cast your lot into this ballot box and participate in such a terrifying conflict?¡±

    ¡°So what if they had a head start over us?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s smile faded away, and he snorted coldly, ¡°They only managed toe out on top of us thest time because they took us by surprise with their strength in numbers. But this time¡­ there¡¯s me, Arakshasa, and the ten thousand Yin soldiers of Hell. Furthermore, Lord Yang¡¯s reinforcements are going to be arriving in no time! We¡¯re talking about tens of thousands of genuine Yin soldiers! How are they going to gain an advantage over us this time?! Do you really think the phrase ¡®By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse¡¯ is something that we say for fun?!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes instantly gleamed brightly, ¡°My lord¡­ You¡¯ve invited Lord Yang?¡±

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows and nodded softly.

    Oda Nobunaga took a deep breath to suppress the surging emotions in his heart. If not for the fact that he¡¯d been entrusted with the task over overseeing Hell¡¯s development, he would have unsheathed Kiku-ichimonji and charged straight into battle!

    After all, it wouldn¡¯t be much of an exaggeration to suggest that the uing war would either make or break Hell altogether!

    Had they not struck the deal with the twelve envoys just a little while ago, where would they get the confidence and courage to march for Qufu, where an Abyssal Prefect and an alliance of Infernal Judgesy hidden?

    But should they seed, the powerful Yin spirits there would immediately pledge allegiance to Hell, and Hell would consequently gain the ability to protect and watch over Eastmount Province. Naturally, the resources from the mortal realm would begin to flow, and Hell¡¯s development and growth would truly take off from there!

    And it was precisely because Qin Ye was confident in his victory that the glimpse of the technology within this garrison truly stirred his excitement for what was toe.

    Mine! It¡¯s all mine!

    Wang Chenghao could practically hear the herald of the angels and the victorious re of trumpets. Thus, he promptly drifted back onto the streets and began issuing directions to the Yin soldiers tob through the city properly.

    As soon as Wang Chenghao left the room, Oda Nobunaga immediately walked over and probed further, ¡°My lord¡­ are those¡­ truly your thoughts?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze narrowed softly, ¡°I was kidding. Whilst I had been confronted with an army of sixty thousand back then, we still don¡¯t know how many Yin soldiers are gathered in Qufu right now. The power of Yin soldiers empowered by military formations is truly terrifying. Arakshasa and I have done some initial projections, and the conclusion is that unless we have ten times the number of troops that they have in theirmand, we can¡¯t be assured of victory.¡±

    Silence.

    Ahergale swept by, gently tousling the garments of the two men. Neither knew what else they could add.

    The Eastmount Penins was obviously controlled by the alliance of evil ghosts. Otherwise, they couldn¡¯t possibly encroach upon the boundary lines separating Breakwaters Province and Insignia Province and extend their influence all the way to Valley County. That would be way too far. And to that end, would an alliance who have had control over the Yin spirits in Eastmount Province for over a hundred years truly have no less than a hundred thousand Yin spirits?

    Unfortunately¡­

    ¡°The battle must still be fought.¡± Qin Ye drove the point home, ¡°Even if Hell bes a war-torn, destend, the spoils of war would still be sufficient to restore us toplete health, and well beyond that! It would even set us up properly for the rest of all time. I simply cannot find any justification not to push through with this war.¡±

    A burning gaze filled Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes. Secondster, he half-knelt to the ground and roared with determination, ¡°I give my life for Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Lord Yang¡¯s troops should be arriving soon. This is the historically renowned family of generals we¡¯re talking about. Their arrival will mark theunch of Hell¡¯s official eastbound expedition!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Whoosh¡­ A bright lustre erupted in the canopy of Hell¡¯s sky, and the Yin spirits garrisoned there immediately nced over in shock.

    Rumble¡­ The red light in the sky flickered like lightning hidden behind a canopy of dark clouds. And then, the clouds of Yin energy in the sky parted, giving way to a scarlet river of mercury that roared loudly, before slowly extending out in a particr direction.

    Just like a scarlet road, it extended well into the horizon.

    ¡°Beacon of Light?¡± The Mirror of Eminence gleamed brightly. Secondster, countless images flickered across its surface, until it finally paused on an image of Valley County. Qin Ye could be seen holding a hexagonal, thumb-sized crystal and pushing it deep into the pit of a thousand. Instantly, the pit roared with a scarlet light, sending a flurry of light rays spilling out onto the surface of the ground for a dozen minutes or so before it finally subsided.

    Back in Hell¡¯s Gate. Arthis looked up at the sky with great emotion. The crimson pir of light appeared no different from a lighthouse that gave hope and direction to those who were lost in the vast depths of darkness around. That said, the fiery beam in the sky was also somewhat stifling and maddening all at the same time.

    The uing expedition was one where none could say for certain whether they would end up perishing in the wilderness, or discovering newnds.

    The still, red pir of light made it seem as though nothing had happened back in Valley County at all. The near future was uneventful for Hell. Apart from the return of Oda Nobunaga and the rest of the Yin soldiers, everything seemed to have returned back to status quo.

    That said, every single Yin spirit in Hell could sense the storm brewing in the distance.

    The Hall of Tremors was churning out goods, day and night, without any rest or break whatsoever. It emitted green, ck and white coloured Yin energy, almost as though it was a giant factory that was pouring pollutants into the sky.

    As soon as Oda Nobunaga returned, he immediately stepped up the Yin soldier¡¯s training. Determined shouts and valiant cries could be heard anywhere close to the money tree. In fact, they even began to jog around the circumference of the money tree everyday at the exact same time.

    Yet what was most notable was naturally the newspapers that Hell¡¯s Media Group had begun to publish and distribute. All causes and catalysts, as well as effects and consequences were exined in a professional manner. Practically everyone could tell that war wasing.

    They were currently living in the calm before the storm.

    The Beacon of Light red up in the middle of the dark wilderness. It was their first step into thends where two powerful factions were already tussling against each other. Hell¡¯s appearance would undoubtedly cause thosends to erupt into the white-hot mes of conflict.

    Everyone was waiting for the signal toe. The moment thest of the four Beacons of Light was set into ce was also the moment when the army would finally move out!

    They would finally embark on their first foray into the wilderness proper, where they would search out and confront a lord of the region! And this expedition would either catalyze a major breakthrough, or¡­ mark the end of their journey altogether.

 Chapter 408: State of Affairs at Eastmount

    <h4>Chapter 408: State of Affairs at Eastmount</h4>

    ¡°Little brother, wake up.¡± Qin Ye looked up in a stupor. He had just been awakened by a stewardess who was smiling faintly, ¡°We¡¯re arrived at the final station, Qizhou Railway Station.¡±

    Have I finally arrived? Qin Ye rubbed his eyes and sat up. The sign boards outside clearly read ¡®Qizhou¡¯.

    Qizhou, otherwise known as Spring City, was the provincial capital of Eastmount Province. Unfortunately, long gone were the stalls and vendors that once filled the train station. Passengers dragged their suitcases and made a beeline for the exits in a chaotic, yet somewhat orderly fashion.

    It¡¯s been five days since I departed from Valley County¡­ Qin Ye nced at his watch as he followed the streams of people while taking in the surrounding scenery.

    Hisst stop was Anyi City, located on the border between Breakwaters Province and Eastmount Province. And the final leg of his journey had taken him straight to Spring City, the provincial capital of Eastmount Province. Yin and Yang have always had an inextricable rtionship from each other. What happens in theherworld would be reflected in some way or another in the mortal realm, and vice versa.

    It was now noon. Qin Ye dragged his suitcase towards the exit of the station, right into the waiting arms of a team of armed policemen with fully loaded weapons.

    There was clearly an undercurrent of tension underneath the surface of human interaction out there. The trains were still just as noisy, but what should have been a rtively noisy process of disembarkation of passengers was instead unusually silent and somber.

    There were dozens of armed policemen out there, yet none were exchanging even a single word with the other. There were only two sets of voices that cut through the still silence of the tform.

    The first was the security checkpoint. What was at the exit was no longer a machine used for the purposes of scanning for dangerous devices. Instead, it had been reced with a never-before-seen instrument that would emit a soft ¡®ding¡¯ with each person that passed.

    The second was an announcement that was broadcast across the tform. The voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it was clear and distinct, ¡°This is a gentle reminder to all passengers to ensure that they have all their belongings with them. Please proceed to the security checkpoint in an orderly fashion. If the machine rings, please do not be rmed. We repeat¡­¡±

    It looks like the situation in Eastmount Province might be worse than we imagined¡­ Qin Ye sighed softly and shook his head. It was finally his turn to clear the security checkpoint. But as soon as he stepped through the machine, it immediately began to re with an incredibly loud rm.

    An ear-piercing siren immediately shattered the austere silence around the tform. Everyone looked up in an instant, while the people located close to Qin Ye immediately squealed and retreated a good distance away from him while screaming in rm. The surrounding armed police forces promptly raised their guns and stared at the teen sternly. Within moments, he was left all alone standing right in the middle of an encirclement of armed police forces.

    Qin Ye sighed and remained helpless in ce. The police forces parted slightly, giving way to a man dressed in a ck knee-length trench coat who was clearly emitting Hunter-ss true energy.

    ¡°Entry without notice? ¡­ And to think that you¡¯re even at least a Soul Hunter...¡± He grunted as he slowly made his way over to the security instrument. But he was immediately taken aback by what he saw.

    There was an abrupt silence. A momentter, the man jerked his head up and stared at Qin Ye. He even rubbed his eyes, before turning to look at the instrument once more. After a long time, he asked with great disbelief, ¡°Hellguard?¡±

    How could someone so young already be an Anitya Hellguard¡­ This was the first thought that urred to his mind.

    However, Qin Ye could hardly be bothered with his astonishment at all. He swiftly produced his personal documents and handed them over for their verification. Then, it took all of three seconds before a radiant smile filled the face of the Hunter-ss expert, ¡°To think that it¡¯s none other than the esteemed Mr Qin from the First Academy of Cultivators. This way, please.¡±

    He immediately led the way, while the armed policemen sensibly lowered their guns.

    Qin Ye¡¯s first thought was to refuse him outright. After all, he had just reported his safety back to the First Academy of Cultivators, and Martial City was still eagerly looking forward to his arrival. But he soon had second thoughts.

    I¡¯d still need to transfer to the high-speed rail if I¡¯m to arrive at Martial City. Why not take this opportunity to catch a glimpse of the situation guing Eastmount right now?

    After all, the best ce to catch wind of the situation across the entire province would undoubtedly be the provincial capital.

    However¡­ the experts of the Special Investigations Department stationed here should be rtively strong, so why does this young man seem to be currying favour with me? He¡¯s obviously not here with the sole intention to receive me. Could he be¡­ lusting after my flesh?!

    The two men soon entered a military jeep. The man dressed in a trench-coat took the driver¡¯s seat, ¡°Mr Qin, would you be headed towards the high-speed railway station? We¡¯re currently at Spring City¡¯s north station. Unfortunately, the high-speed trains only connect to the south station.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for taking care of all these.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly as he sankfortably into the seat, ¡°Is this how Spring City wees its guests? You even have the personnel to pick up and drop off agents?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ you tter us¡­¡± The manughed softly and started the engine, before slowly making their way towards the heart of the city.

    Eastmount Province was clearly a locality that was steeped in culture. As they made their way towards their destination, Qin Ye discovered that there were spiritual objects emanating true energy located everywhere along the way. They also came in all shapes and sizes, including stone tablets or rock formations in a small, quaint park, or perhaps even a sculpture that stood in a public square. These were all objects that were extremely well hidden in thendscape and architecture around, and they hardly stood out at all. That said, there was some order to their appearance as well - Qin Ye soon noticed that they were in fact ced methodically at a distance of two kilometers apart from each other.

    Qin Ye stared out the window, while the trench-coated man kept stealing nces at him. Then, after ten full minutes, Qin Ye finally withdrew his gaze, and the trench-coated man coughed softly, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ what do you think of the security measures in Spring City right now?¡±

    What a question. Am I, an outsider, really in the position toment on these things?

    Qin Ye smiled back at him with some bemusement in his eyes, ¡°Not bad. At the very least, it''s far better than most other municipalities and counties around. Is this your idea?¡±

    ¡°This was all done pursuant to regtion 107 that was passed downst month.¡± The man smiled and pulled out a cigarette, ¡°One for you?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. The man didn¡¯t mind. He lit up his own cigarette and took a deep drag before continuing, ¡°This is a nation-wide policy that is being rolled out as quickly as possible. We aremencing these defensive measures at the provincial capital, before slowly rolling it out to other cities in a radial fashion. Spring City may not be the best right now, but we¡¯re undoubtedly one of the best next to the other cities around.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, the treatment here at the Spring City Special Investigations Department branch is probably one of the best, if not already the best. Our monthly sry is 150,000 RMB. We even get credited with two hundred merit points just by being stationed here, or a further 100,000 RMB in lieu of that. That much is entirely up to us. Apart from that, we even get benefits such as full reimbursement of all business trips, as well as overseas team-building trips. There are even bonus merit points to be earned from each festivity that passes.¡±

    He exhaled a mouthful of smoke and continued with a bright smile, ¡°The apartment provided is a hundred square meters, especiallymissioned and built for us in the heart of the city. Each of us also gets a car worth approximately 600,000 RMB. If it gets destroyed in our call of duty, we¡¯d even get a full recementpletely free of charge. We even organize periodic academic conferences in partnership with Yan Capital, Eastsea, and the other famous research institutes. Every year, our investigators are given the opportunity for a work secondment to other cities as well. Simultaneously, our duties are rostered on a rotational basis. It¡¯s far better than the unpredictability that anyone would be faced with in other cities around.¡±

    Are you perhaps¡­

    Qin Ye finally understood what the man was trying to do. He stared at the man as though he¡¯d just seen a ghost, ¡°Is this your task?¡±

    ¡°Aha¡­ What do you mean by mission¡­ I¡¯m just making small talk on a long, idle journey.¡± The trench-coated man chuckled dryly as he continued, ¡°Anyway, if an investigator as powerful as you is willing to join us, the formalities can all be dealt with summarily and without any hitches. You¡¯d even be ced in charge of a neighbourhood in the city. Ah, that¡¯s right. Do note that I was only talking about Operative-ss experts earlier. As for someone like you¡­ Let¡¯s just say that asking for half a million in monthly sry wouldn¡¯t be an issue at all. But what is more important is that you can even get a monthly stipend of five hundred merit points!¡±

    Brother, does Eastmount truly need people that badly? Are you all not even going to pass up on a Hellguard-ss expert who is just passing through the region? And what if I reveal my true nature as a Judge-ss expert? Wouldn¡¯t you have to get on your knees and lick my feet?

    Perhaps anyone else in Qin Ye¡¯s shoes right now would have agreed to join in a heartbeat. But Qin Ye knew better. After all, only the brave would be rewarded by more.

    And why be brave?

    It was naturally because¡­ the situation in thesends had already reached a state of white-hot tension!

    They were¡­ essentially trading money for lives!

    Qin Ye stared intently at the man, before gently patting the man¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Brother¡­ I¡¯m on my way to Martial City to take on the position of branch head."

    ¡°That¡¯s fine!¡± Unexpectedly, the man immediately responded, ¡°We can always send them a missive, and Martial City would never say a single word about the change of ns. So long as you¡¯re willing to stay here, we¡¯ll do all the grunt work to ensure the results you want! If you evene so close to feeling dissatisfied at all, you¡¯re always at liberty to go anytime!¡±

    Well, well¡­ Aren¡¯t Spring City and Martial City supposed to berades in arms? Damn¡­ Qin Ye no longer wanted to flog the dead horse, so he turned to look out the window once more as he queried softly, ¡°Has the situation in Eastmount Province reached such a point where¡­ even sister cities are beginning to seize talents from one another?¡±

    He doesn¡¯t have any intentions to join us¡­ The man sighed and retracted his smile as he finally responded sullenly, ¡°Don¡¯t you know? Ah, right¡­ you¡¯ve been at the First Academy of Cultivators, where information about the outside world is embargoed.¡±

    He snuffed out his cigarette with great exasperation and stared vacantly at the roads ahead, ¡°Logically speaking, we shouldn¡¯t be doing these things. But now¡­ Spring City is on the verge of copse. And as soon as we do, the entire Eastmount Province is going to be shaken uppletely. After all, we¡¯re the first bastion of defence in the supernatural perimeter across the entire province!¡±

    There was an abrupt silence in the car that only entuated the man¡¯s increasingly ragged breaths. Qin Ye nodded softly, ¡°Has it gotten that dangerous?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The man gnashed his teeth and exined, ¡°Earlier this year, Eastmount Province detected the arrival of an immeasurable source of Yin energy to Spring City itself. Branch Chief Liu immediately dered a state of emergency and called for support from those around. But before reinforcements arrived¡­ another source of Yin energy erupted from elsewhere in Eastmount Province. Initial readings revealed that this other source of Yin energy was no less powerful than the first!¡±

    ¡°That said, the only difference was that the second source of Yin energy was more urately described as a convergence of a dozen or so sources of Yin energy. They rushed straight towards Spring City and shed head on against the first source of Yin energy within moments! Those who haven¡¯t personally witnessed that moment of devastation would find it impossible to fathom altogether. The leaves of the trees immediately yellowed and turned ck. Livestock perished instantly, while other wild animals around, be they rats or birds, or wild dogs and cats, died immediately. Take a look outside - do you see a single person with a pet right now?¡±

    Qin Ye looked out, only to realize for the very first time that not a single person had a pet with them right now!

    The man pulled out a second cigarette in frustration, but didn¡¯t light it up this time. Instead, he simply bit down hard on the cigarette butt, ¡°Those two sources of Yin energy tangled with each other for three full days and nights. During this time, the sun waspletely blotted out from the sky, while Yin energy abounded. And immediately after that, supernatural incidents began to sprout up all over Eastmount Province at an rming rate! In fact, certain locations have already begun to show signs of gathering of Yin spirits, clusters of hunting zones, and even¡­ internal strife among Yin spirits themselves.¡±

    Qin Ye was still gazing out of the window, yet his heart was already racing with several trains of thought.

    The daolord of the asura had clearly crossed the straight and entered Eastmount. But what he hadn¡¯t expected to see was the presence of an ambitious alliance of evil ghosts who did everything they could in order to stop the daolord¡¯s advance. They mustered their Yin soldiers, and braced themselves for a fight to the death with the daolord of the asura. It was show of strength to warn the daolord of the asura of the difficulties he would be faced with in the time toe, in the hope that he would return to where he came from.

    It was true that warlords thrived in troubled times. No matter how peaceful things seemed back in the mortal realm, the undercurrents of theherworldly warring states era had already begun to stir.

    Meanwhile, the daolord of the asura clearly had no ce to return to.

    His back was against one of the twelve envoys, Emperor Wu of Song, otherwise known as Liu Yu. A Yama-ss existence, the nameless god of death of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was located right above him. And whaty in front of him was the great defense line helmed by Yan Capital, the capital of the entire nation of Cathay. Thus, the only ce he had left to turn to was Eastmount Province. As soon as the gears of conflict were set in motion, it was impossible to stop them anymore.

 Chapter 409: Entering Martial City

    <h4>Chapter 409: Entering Martial City</h4>

    The man chuckled bitterly, ¡°We¡¯re not sure why the evil ghosts are killing each other, and the mortal realm¡­ still seems somewhat safe for now. But we know that this sense of security is only fleeting at best. Over thest few months, we¡¯ve detected a surge of Yin energy in several urban areas, especially after midnight. Upon closer investigation, these sudden outbursts of supernatural activity are in fact caused by the sh between factions of Yin spirits. To date, we¡¯ve recorded hundreds of such skirmishes, and their conflict only appears to be getting more and more frequent!¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it is.¡± The man¡¯s voice quivered, ¡°The mortal realm seems peaceful on the surface, but there are two locations in Eastmount Province where the gathering of Yin energy is already well beyond what Spring City is able to measure with the instruments avable to it!¡±

    ¡°Weedt City and Qufu City!¡± The south station was slowly pulling into view in the far distance ahead. Meanwhile, the man bit down hard on his cigarette butt and exploded with hatred, ¡°Earlier this month, some personnel from the SRC headquarters arrived in Spring City, bringing with them the state-of-the-art instruments all the way from their headquarters. It was only then that we discovered¡­ that the Yin energy reading in Weedt City has already reached 21,470,000, while Qufu City isn¡¯t far behind, with energy readings as high as 18,420,000!¡±

    Qin Ye abruptly turned around and stared at the man with great horror. Simultaneously, the man chuckled bitterly, ¡°I¡¯m not lying. This is why Eastmount is desperately recruiting right now. We¡¯re trying to increase the strength across the board as far as possible. The citizens of Qufu and Weedt have already been evacuated. If you take a trip around the city right now, you¡¯ll see millions of makeshift housing where the refugees have been relocated. Mr Qin¡­ you¡¯re going to Martial City. That¡¯s still some distance away from those damned cities. But¡­ you¡¯d still do well to be careful yourself.¡±

    He had always taken the eastbound expedition with the highest level of seriousness. Unfortunately, it seemed that even that wasn¡¯t quite sufficient right now!

    As an Infernal Judge himself, he was confident of taking down Kong Mo and the other Judge-ss Yin spirits of the very same alliance. After all, it was a known fact that Emissaries of Hell were empowered to instakill evil ghosts of the same level of cultivation. He would even have ten thousand Yin soldiers, coupled with Yang Jiye¡¯s reinforcements that would raze the opposing forces. Was there any reason he wouldn¡¯t be able to take down Qufu itself?

    If that were indeed the case, then it wouldn¡¯t be congruous in any way that the army of Qufu would be able to stand toe to toe against an Abyssal Prefect and his forces! In other words, his opponents possessed the ability to confront an Abyssal Prefect and even force the Prefect into a deadlock!

    Come to think of it, the military formation and the Prefect-ss Yin artifact might well be only a fraction of the cards they¡¯ve still got hidden up their sleeves. There must be something more they have hidden that gives them the confidence to openly confront an Abyssal Prefect and his forces! He was slowly but surely gaining a deeper understanding of things in the underworld.

    That¡¯s right¡­ If I delve deeper into the logic behind it, then everything makes sense. Emissaries of Hell are able to instakill Yin spirits of the same cultivation level as they are. At least, this is only the case in a mano-a-mano situation, or perhaps in a small skirmish involving few Yin spirits. If a single Emissary of Hell is able to take down innumerable Yin spirits of the same cultivation level as them, then what reason was there to groom Yin soldiers? Wouldn¡¯t wars have historically been fought over whose cultivation was the strongest? Furthermore¡­ Hell wouldn¡¯t need to support so many Emissaries of Hell if that were indeed the case. A single Anitya Hellguard would be able to helm the operations within any given city. The entire governmental structure of Hell would be an incredibly lean one. However¡­ this was clearly not the case!

    This is truly a reversion to the old warring states era. As soon as a monarch emerges among the rabble in a particr given territory, his power would quickly bloat and burgeon in the absence of any form of resistance whatsoever. If we don¡¯t nip the problem in its bud right now, I¡¯m afraid we might truly have to pay the price of our negligenceter on!

    How could others sleep soundly with a tiger right underneath their noses?

    Screeeeech¡­ Just then, the car screeched to a halt. A lofty building greeted them from behind the signboard that read ¡®Qizhou South Railway Station¡¯.

    The man smiled bitterly.

    He raised his finger. The space where he was looking trembled slightly, and a messenger materialized out of nowhere and darted straight to his finger beforending on it softly. He leaned close to listen to the message.

    It would be imprudent to have the messenger bird carry any more information than that. That said, it did the job. Qin Ye now knew that the Yang n¡¯s forces had finally arrived. They were talking about six generals, sixty thousand Yin soldiers and four Yin beasts! Having learnt that his enemies this time were factions worth 20 million Yin of Yin energy each, these news were a breath of fresh air for him!

    The train slowly began to depart. He drew several deep breaths to calm his mind down. I cannot rush things. What is most important right now is to keep calm and remain as objective-minded as possible. I¡¯ve got to consider all possibilities and perspectives so that I can best deal with any exigencies which may arrive. Havinge so far, I need to make sure that thest Beacon of Light is properly set in ce. I cannot afford any slip ups right now!

    Two hours passed uneventfully. It was already past 6.00 p.m. by the time the train finally pulled into Martial City. The public broadcasts of the supernatural announcements had already begun, and the crowds in the train stations had thinned out considerably. Even then, there were several men standing at the tform of the train station, waiting for him.

    Qin Ye was somewhat shocked, but then he soon chuckled softly. That¡¯s right¡­ they¡¯re all Hellguard-ss experts. What have they got to be afraid of?

    After greeting everyone formally, he boarded the car that was prepared for him. Mr Jiang personally drove the car, while Qian Jianjun and Gao Lin followed him in another car that followed in the two-car convoy.

    ¡°This information has been verified by the First Academy of Cultivators. It¡¯s also reflected on the website detailing all records of Cathayan cultivators. There¡¯s no faking it.¡± Gao Lin appeared equally amazed, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that he¡¯s one of the youngest, if not the youngest Hellguards in all of Cathay¡¯s history. Excellent¡­ excellent! Martial City finally has a Hellguard to helm its operations! This way, we can truly rest assured.¡±

    Most importantly, Qin Ye knew that his actions here in Martial City were going to set off a chain of butterfly effects.

    The threat of their enemies was staring them right in the eyes. There was no room for internal strife and such banal conflict. All who stood in the unified front of the government would be dealt with summarily and removed from their offices. This was a directive that had been explicitly passed down from the General Secretary himself, to be ryed to all major governmental agencies, including the Special Investigations Department and the SRC alike.

    How could a gathering of Cathayan officials be without alcohol? Unexpectedly, this was precisely the case today. Not a single bottle of wine or other form of hard liquor sat on the table. Even the dishes presented were merely the specialties of Eastmount Province, and not the usual luxurious delicacies that one would expect of someone of Qin Ye¡¯s stature.

    Although there was no wine at the table, the old and experienced politicians at the table would never allow the mood to grow sullen or awkward. Just like that, time passed by quickly amidst boisterousughter and wild, banal chatter. Meanwhile, Qin Ye tucked in straight into the delectable dishes that were ced before him. Granted, they weren¡¯t the usual luxury cuisine expected of such meals, but Qin Ye was still pleasantly surprised by the food that was prepared for him. In fact, there was something special and unique about the dishes from this region, to the extent that he would ce it well within the top few specialty dishes he had tasted before. They were tasty and aromatic, and yet not spicy like Westriver cuisine at all. The vours were also pleasantly moderate, and they lingered and danced about the pte, bringing joy to one¡¯s senses for a long time.

    Instantly, the entire cafeteria grew silent. All eyes were intently on Qin Ye as he slowly continued, ¡°I might have to enter a period of closed door cultivation for the next four to six months.¡±

    After some time, Secretary Ma finally lifted his teacup and quipped back, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ could there be something urgent on your end we need to know about? Because¡­ the citizens of Martial City are equally urgent as well.¡±

    The daolord of the asura would still be skirmishing with Kong Mo and his forces in the near future, and they would have neither the time nor the resources to wreak havoc in the mortal realm as well. But half a yearter, the new Hell¡¯s troops would finally arrive at Qufu and thereby inaugurate the very first national highway leaving from the City of Salvation to Qufu. At that time¡­ Eastmount Province would be the stage where the Romance of the Three Kingdoms would finally pan out. Regardless of the strength and might of each faction at that time, the powerful sh of these factions would still send the mortal realm into chaos.

    A thin man abruptly stood up and stared at Qin Ye.

    Infernal Judge?!

    ¡°Y-y-you¡­ D-didn¡¯t you¡­ j-j-just be an Anitya Hellguard?!¡±

 Chapter 410: Assemble the Forces

    <h4>Chapter 410: Assemble the Forces</h4>

    What do you mean you¡¯re about to be an Infernal Judge soon?!

    It wasn¡¯t Qin Ye¡¯s desire to stand out too much either. Unfortunately, this was already the best excuse for what was toe. After all, Martial City would never react well to the news of his absence over the next four to six months. Furthermore, he couldn¡¯t afford to strain rtions, especially since he would have to remain in Martial City for some time thereafter. The eastbound expedition was only intended to pave the national highway between the City of Salvation and Martial City. Following that, he would still have to see through the construction of the sea port city in Martial City,b through the far reaches of Eastmount Province to purge all residual Yin spirits that have been left unchecked, and then finally¡­ ride the newfound stability of Eastmount Province and reopen negotiations with the mortal realm!

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that there¡¯s something you haven¡¯t been apprised of just yet. I had an encounter back in Valley County just a little while ago.¡± Qin Ye smiled and pulled out the excuse he had already earlier prepared, ¡°More specifically, I¡¯d encountered an incredible opportunity that triggered the expeditious growth in my cultivation. I¡¯ll inform the First Academy of Cultivators in a little bit.¡±

    Everyone knew exactly what an Infernal Judge meant. Put differently, they all knew that so long as Qin Ye truly attained the ranks of an Infernal Judge, the Martial City would be able to rest on hisurels entirely!

    There was no reason not to ept Qin Ye¡¯s condition!

    Dong¡­

    ¡°Alright.¡± Secretary Ma sighed softly and set down his chopsticks, ¡°When will you begin? Apart from that, please take note that we do not represent the Special Investigations Department. I¡¯ve heard that Infernal Judges would be given an opportunity to take on an assignment at themittee level. You¡­ wouldn¡¯t ept such an opportunity if it were extended to you, would you?¡±

    Secretary Ma thought about it for a moment, before turning to his personal secretary, ¡°Little Jiang, I recall there¡¯s still a waterfront vi avable near Section Chief Liu¡¯s ce of residence, isn¡¯t there? If Mr Qin doesn¡¯t mind that, we¡¯ll immediately have someone clean out that ce, and you should be able to move in tonight. As for Mr Qin¡¯s specific treatments and benefits, should we defer these discussions until you¡¯re out from your closed door cultivation?¡±

    Qin Ye silently gave a nod of approbation to Secretary Ma in his heart. The location was great, and all arrangements would be made for him in time for his ns.

    ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°We look forward to the day when Mr Qin returns from his closed-door cultivation.¡± There was a series of grattory words, before everyone left with great satisfaction. Everyone had managed to obtain what they were here for.

    There was no better ce than this.

    Whenever a person was about to embark on a task of great magnitude, they would always first seek out a moment of sce and inner tranquility.

    He shut his eyes and immersed himself in his tranquil surroundings. Secondster, he opened his eyes once more, before turning to look at the downtown district, ¡°No¡­ there¡¯s still yet another Beacon of Light to be set in ce¡­¡±

    The new Hell.

    Three massive pirs of light peeked through the darkness beyond, shining faintly like lighthouses in the dreary darkness outside.

    Back in the annex hall. Arthis was just reading through the Annals of Hell when she suddenly jerked her head up and murmured to herself, ¡°Hell¡¯s still too small right now¡­ Had it been the old Hell, it wouldn¡¯t tremble one bit even if we set dozens of Beacons of Light all at the same time. Regardless¡­ this must mean that thest Beacon of Light has finally been set in ce.¡±

    There, right in the infinite sea of darkness, a massive pir of scarlet light burst straight through the clouds of Yin energy and plunged straight into the mortal realm! The fourth Beacon of Light had finally been lit!

    It was almost as though the drums of war had begun to beat. In that instant, Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada and Murai Sadakatsu all felt their hearts surge with the exact same emotion - a shuddering of excitement that they had long forgotten.

    Rather, there was something more primal within - an adrenaline rush of sorts thatpelled them to charge headlong into battle again in a sh of tens of thousands of Yin soldiers at once!

    It was the cry of their boiling Yin energy within.

    The sword that represented the embodiment of all conquests across Oda Nobunaga¡¯s life, was now¡­ the adumbration of victory.

    Hepletely glossed over the kneeling Yin spirits and immediately cast a deep, long look at the river of blood that ran deep in the sky. Even a coward like him couldn¡¯t help but feel something primal stirring from deep within him.

    This was a battle that would inaugurate theherworldly warring states era.

    But he knew better than to dwell on these emotions. He promptly set aside his moment of mncholy, and swept his gaze across the vast expanses of Hell as it stood. As far as he could tell, the new Hell was now filled with strong, valiant soldiers who were ready for war. Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Murai Sadakatsu and the rest of the Oda vassals were all staring back at him with a zing passion in their eyes, almost as though they were eagerly anticipating themand to be issued.

    Four other female generals stood behind the two men. None of them had any softness in their eyes. Instead, they practically radiated an intense, murderous intent.

    Furthermore, Qin Ye could tell that there were four colossal silhouettes that stood tall within the massive army. Each of these silhouettes were easily thirty to forty meters tall, and together, they looked like a small range of hills.

    Qin Ye felt an inexplicable wave of pride rush straight up to his chest. It was strange. This wasn¡¯t a feeling that he should be experiencing. After all, did it really make sense that a coward like him felt empowered by the grandeur and majesty arrayed before him?

    Perhaps¡­ men are just creatures that can never let go of excitement, the mysteries of the unknown, and the allures of adventure.

    The six generals promptly half-knelt to the ground and cupped their hands respectfully to Qin Ye, ¡°Greetings, King Yanluo of Hell!¡±

    ¡°HOO-AAHHH!!!!¡± Tens of thousands of Yin soldiers echoed valiantly behind them. They all wore a simr paper armor to that worn by the Yin soldiers of the Kong alliance forces. Even the overcast clouds in the sky trembled to their cry, as though with fear.

    It was wonderful.

    But he didn¡¯t.

    Huang Liangchuan was going about his business under the money tree when he heard the valiant cries of the troops. He paused for a moment, and then promptly shook his head with great emotion, and wished Hell the best in his heart.

    Any spectator around right now, including the most block-headed of men, would feel the great stir in their hearts. Qin Ye swept a gaze around coldly, before turning to Oda Nobunaga, ¡°Nobunaga-kun, I¡¯ve asked you to prepare everything to do with the eastbound expedition before I departed thest time. Is everything ready?¡±

    Wise.

    ¡°All relevant Annals of Hell have also been prepared.¡± Arthis appeared from behind Qin Ye with her hair scattering wildly, almost as though she were a demon god descending into the world, ¡°I¡¯ll also be embarking on this expedition, together with the Mirror of Eminence.¡±

    They were eagerly anticipating hismand.

    ¡°Yes!!¡± Several voices responded in unison.

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    Then, the dark clouds in front of Hell¡¯s Gate parted for the very first time, revealing the existence ofnds thaty beyond the four walls of Hell!

    It was pitch ck, deep, and ostensibly filled with mystery.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Chronicles, Year 0001 A.D. King Yanluo¡¯s sessor, Qin Ye, with an army of 70,000 Yin, marched for the Eastmount Province. Thus began the first war of expansion - the eastbound expedition to Martial City.¡±

 Chapter 411: Uncharted Territories (1)

    <h4>Chapter 411: Uncharted Territories (1)</h4>

    With amand, the army of seventy thousand immediately turned to face the majestic door. Incidentally, the army was lined up neatly on both sides of the door, with a ten-meter aisle running straight down the middle of the army like Moses parting the red sea. Qin Ye took to the front of the army, while Arthis took to the rear. Both Infernal Judges hovered in the air in their Hell¡¯s Emissary state. It was a grand sight. They were a glorious army of magnificent proportions, yet they were still nothing more than a speckpared with the size of the towering door.

    The army of Yin spirits looked like they were preparing to challenge the vast world out there. The juxtaposition of the insignificant and small against the boundless reaches of the world filled everyone with sobriety. Not even the rest of the citizens who were witnessing the grand face-off between david and goliath could help but watch with bated breaths.

    ¡°I¡¯m starting to feel as though I¡¯m cut out to be a god of the world.¡± He swept his gaze around the army of tens of thousands that were staring right back at him. His body trembled slightly, and he smiled softly to himself, ¡°Looking back, I truly can¡¯t help but wonder how innocent and naive I used to be just a single year ago. To think that I even have to be a cult leader right now¡­¡±

    ¡°... Anyhow, I¡¯m absolutely ttered that you think of me that way¡­ Speaking of which¡­ I really need to use the bathroom right now. What do I do?¡± Qin Ye mped his legs firmly together, ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel the urge to visit the washroom whenever I¡¯m nervous¡­ I might need to get it checked out--¡­¡±

    Qin Ye felt a spine-tingling sensation of fear wash through his heart. It didn¡¯t matter whether Arthis was referring to number one or number two¡­

    Just then, a violent tremor echoed out in the distance. It was so startling that it even drove away Qin Ye¡¯s desire to relieve himself. Then, a split secondter, a crack opened between the majestic door, revealing a brilliant, dazzling light behind.

    ¡°What¡¯s that¡­¡± Back in the construction grounds, a Yin spirit raised his head and stared at the door in the sky with great disbelief. Hell only knew three colours, ck, white and red. And yet, in that moment when the towering door cracked open, the entire surface of Hell was covered with a soft golden sheen. It was something that they were all familiar with, but which they hadn¡¯t seen for more than a year.

    A buzz of chatter instantly swept through thends like a flood of sound. Even the trees in Hell began to rustle softly, almost as though they were discussing these developments.

    ¡°There¡¯s sunlight in Hell?¡± Qin Ye asked.

    There were green skies and warm sunshine all around. Although the ground wasn¡¯t filled with lush, green grass, they could still see that it was filled with pale yellow sand and rocks of all kinds. It wasn¡¯t quite the deste and barrennds that they had expected. In fact, they could even see all sorts of vegetation thriving outside in thosends.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one possibility¡­¡± She gnashed her teeth, ¡°Hell¡¯s copse has caused aplete overhaul of the entire ecological system out there. This is exactly what I¡¯ve alluded to in the past! Everything outside has changedpletely.¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, ¡°What about your Arya Sense?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. An unknown fear quietly spread from the depths of his heart. He lifted his hand slowly, and then swung it down with great determination. At once, a long horn sounded, and war drums beat with great vigor. With a thunderous cry, the entire army of seventy thousand Yin soldiers immediately rushed out into the uncharted world out there like a crashing ride.

    Nobody could tell if it was newnds out there to be explored, or simply the Bermuda Triangle that was waiting to swallow up anyone that stepped into its deep abyss.

    Just then, someone shouted, ¡°May the new Hell return triumphantly!!¡±

    Meanwhile, the colossal doors had finally openedpletely. A sea of light poured in, lighting the way for the onward march of seventy thousand soldiers. With that, Qin Ye and Arthis both stepped out into the new world at the exact same time.

    A Judge¡¯s ability to remain afloat in the air hadpletely vanished here.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Qin Ye asked. He could sense something amiss as well. Sunlight, grass, trees, sand and rocks¡­ Everything appeared peaceful, but¡­ it felt almost too peaceful to be true.

    They could see mountain ranges in the distance and all sorts of vegetation around. In all likelihood, there would even be water bodies flowing somewhere close by. However, there wasn¡¯t a single trace of sound of nature to be heard. It wasn¡¯t anything like the real world experience at all.

    It appeared no different from a beautiful, tranquil facade that was ready to be shattered at any moment, only to reveal the true horrors of thends beneath.

    She paused, and then squinted into the distant sky. There was clearly sunlight in the vicinity, yet she couldn¡¯t see the sun no matter where she looked.

    ¡°But if this ce ispletely sequestered from the effects of the Heavenly Dao, then you can take it that anything that appears would no longer be considered a part of the three realms of the world. This is a concept that is practically inexplicable, and unfathomable, but you¡¯ll know it when you finally see it. Believe me, we¡¯re talking about things that are far more terrifying than the Elder Soul Devourer.¡±

    Buzz!! Even the Yin soldiers on the ground immediately erupted into a soft mor!

    ¡°Silence!!!¡± Qin Ye bellowed almost reflexively, ¡°What¡¯s there to be afraid of? Hell¡¯s still here. All we need is my permission to enter.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s back was covered with cold sweat. None of the other Yin soldiers were any wiser to the fact that Qin Ye had earlier shivered uncontrobly as well. What the hell is going on?! How could the colossal door just vanish like that?! This is truly the stuff of nightmares!

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond. Instead, she nced warily at the edge of the horizon for several more seconds before finally responding, ¡°This is¡­ Hell¡¯s automatic self-defense mechanism.¡±

    ¡°Underworlds would almost certainly be razed to the ground as soon as it¡¯s discovered by these existences. It would be impossible to develop any underworlds like that. Thus, the Heavenly Dao has equipped the underworlds with some self-defense mechanisms. So long as an underworld was weak and small enough, and on condition that there were existences around powerful enough to threaten that underworld¡¯s existence, then that underworld would gain the ability to remain undetected by the more powerful presences around!¡±

    ¡°At the very least, this was true when Hell was just formed.¡± Arthis sighed as her eyes narrowed slightly, ¡°Moreover, the new Hell had obviously detected something rming¡­ Come to think of it¡­ I finally understand why we don¡¯t hear any sounds of Yin beasts around here. Our environment here can be considered a proper ecosphere, so why is it still so quiet?¡±

    Why was it so quiet?

    If there exists a tiger in the woods, its surroundings would be absolutely silent as well.

    Just then, Qin Ye noticed some movement from behind a mountain range. It was a pair of wings.

    It was a sight as beautiful as a butterfly breaking out from its chrysalis.

    It was a tiger. In that instant that it spread out its wings, a tide of Yin energy that was ostensibly on the verge of breaking through to the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect immediately swept over!

    Cooooooooo!!! A crisp chirp caused all of the vegetation in the area to tremble softly. The Yin soldiers raised their weapons nervously. Just then, Yang Yanzhao stood tall in front of the mighty army and roared at the top of his voice, ¡°Shields up! Tighten the formation! Iing!!¡±

 Chapter 412: Uncharted Territories (2)

    <h4>Chapter 412: Uncharted Territories (2)</h4>

    The war horns red, and the war drums thundered. Under Yang Yanzhao¡¯smand, the Yin soldiers rapidly shifted into formation. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but sigh with great amazement.

    The bowmen retreated, while the shield-bearers shifted to the front. The Savage Tiger Raiders skirted around and formed up on the side, ready to nk the enemy at the moment¡¯s notice. Within moments, the entire army became entirely poised to strike. The zing Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows were aimed straight at the location from which the wings were still slowly unfurling.

    It was a ce of rolling hills. The hills were only approximately twenty meters tall - just sufficient to obscure the true appearances of the winged-beast behind. That said, this also meant that the Yin beast behind was at least twenty meters in size.

    Silence.

    With bated breaths and intense gazes, the two factions confronted each other in silence for the next ten minutes. Then, just as Qin Ye and Arthis turned to look at each other, the Yin soldiers suddenly parted ways, allowing passage to theirmander, Yang Yanzhao, who promptly darted over.

    ¡°My lord, there¡¯s something strange about this.¡± He cupped his hands respectfully, before promptly exining himself, ¡°Hell was just formed, so it might not have had the chance to see what Yin beasts could be like, but Felipinas is practically surrounded by sea Yin beasts, and we¡¯d like to think that we¡¯ve seen enough to understand their habits. Generally speaking, so long as a Yin beast disys some form of aggression to us, we can take it that they¡¯ve taken an interest in us as a prey. And to that end, a Yin beast would never rest until they finally capture what¡¯s in their sights.¡±

    His eyes narrowed, ¡°Furthermore¡­ there are a multitude of means in which a Yin beast can disy their aggression. Making a cry or a call is but one of those means. There¡¯s no doubt that the Yin beast over there has detected our presence, but they would never stop at making a single disy of aggression, especially not over such a long period of time. Furthermore, a monarch beast would be surrounded by countless other beasts. What usually follows after the initial disy of aggression is a multitude of menacing hisses and prowling of subordinate beasts. That¡¯s how Yin beasts generally behave. But¡­ I just can¡¯t figure out what this Yin beast is doing.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, before turning cidly to Arthis, ¡°Go take a look.¡±

    However, he received a death re from Arthis in return.

    Qin Ye immediately softened his tone of voice, ¡°Fine, don¡¯t go, then. Did you really have to be so fierce? Well, then, who¡¯s willing to scout ahead for me?¡±

    Arthis continued to stare threateningly at Qin Ye. Her intentions were clear - Say another word of the sort, and I¡¯ll immediately take your life.

    Thus, without another word, Qin Ye turned around with great despondence and slowly began to approach the hill in the distance.

    He rode thehergale and drew closer and closer. Ten minutester, he finally entered the vicinity of the rolling hills.

    Sss¡­ Coooo!! Almost as though the Yin beast could sense his presence, its cries gradually grew more urgent and flustered. The unfurled wings vibrated rhythmically. Qin Ye drew a deep breath. Then, just as he was about to reach the top of the hill, he suddenly crouched down.

    Something¡¯s not right.

    The closer he drew, the more he felt that this particr Yin beast didn¡¯t seem too interested in him.

    It had obviously discovered him, but it remained unmoving. Its wings were vibrating softly, but they were most certainly not pping in a threatening fashion. If the Yin beast had been interested in them, it would most certainly have made a move by now, and not remain just as still and motionless, almost as though it were¡­

    Asking for help.

    ¡°Legend has it that when a man removed the thorn from a tiger¡¯s paw, the tiger willingly submitted to the man as a means of repaying his act of kindness.¡± Qin Ye cautiously peeked out from over the hill, ¡°Would I be so fortunate to find myself in such a situatio--... Holy shit?!!¡±

    An intense wave of fear washed over him before he could even finish his spiel.

    It was a basin below.

    A huge basin.

    It was approximately tens of thousands of meters wide, and surrounded by what appeared to be small rolling hills on the side. And there, right at the edge of the basin,y a creature that was rather difficult to describe.

    It looked like a butterfly with six colourful wings, yet the patterns on the wings were all human faces. And it¡¯s body¡­ appeared no different from the body of apletely naked woman!

    At least a naked woman with no legs, no head, and six arms. Moreover, there was arge slit in the middle of the body from which rows after rows of fine, razor-sharp teeth peeked out threateningly.

    Countless tentacles stuck out from the head of the creature, each of which tentacles had an eye on it. The creature was approximately thirty meters from end to end, and it was staring right towards Qin Ye!

    However, that wasn¡¯t even the scary part.

    What was truly terrifying about this all was the fact that this Yin beast¡­ was actually trapped on a massive spider web!

    That¡¯s right - the basin appearedpletely bottomless.

    It was an endless abyss.

    At the same time, therey suspended across the entire basin a massive spider web spanning tens of thousands of meters. Countless Yin beast bones could be seen scattered all over the web. Some were dposing, while others were not. Apart from that, there were even small eggs lying around various parts of the web, with a shell so thin that one could even see the soft squirming of the embryo within!

    Yet what was most striking was the creature sleeping soundly in the middle of the web. It was a dark, long-haired creature that was approximately a hundred meters in size. Its body pulsed softly.

    That¡¯s the apex of the food chain around here!

    It only took Qin Ye one nce to notice the near-Prefect-ss Yin energy that was emanating from the spider¡¯s body! The butterfly creature was no more than an advanced Hellguard-ss Yin beast.

    In other words, the spider was the monarch beast around these parts!

    Gulp¡­ Qin Ye gulped softly, and began to slowly crouch back down and vanish from the top of the hill. The spider was coiled up into a ball right now, so much so that it was impossible to tell whaty underneath the surface of its appearance. That said, he could already tell that its exoskeleton wasn¡¯t going to be easy to deal with!

    I¡¯ve gotta get out of here while it''s still sleeping¡­ Qin Ye was delighted by the fact that they¡¯ve departed from Hell at the perfect moment while the monarch beast was still deep in slumber. But just as he began to slowly trudge down the side of the hill, the butterfly Yin beast suddenly unleashed a terrifying shriek!

    SSSSSSSSS!!!!

    This cry was far louder than any cry it had earlier emitted. In fact, it was so loud that the surrounding hills and basin trembled violently. Qin Ye froze for a moment, before quickly jolting back to his senses. That¡¯s right - the creature had indeed discovered their presence a long time ago. It¡¯s previous cry was an appeal for help, so it was naturally cautious and careful. But as soon as it noticed that it''s only lifeline was about to turn tail and flee for their own lives, what would it do?

    Qin Ye¡¯s departure meant certain death to the butterfly creature. The primal fear in its heart naturally caused it to shriek in despondence!

    ¡°Screw you!!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes instantly grew bloodshot, and he transformed into a swifthergale and rushed back to his army in an instant.

    Because he could sense¡­ that the powerful source of Yin energy¡­ had finally awakened.

    Whoosh! A massive gust ofhergale sted out from the abyss. Far away, Yang Yanzhao heard the loud shriek of the butterfly Yin beast, before noticing Qin Ye¡¯s full on retreat back towards the warm embracing arms of the Yin soldiers behind. At once, he shouted, ¡°All troops, on alert!!¡±

    Rumble! The bows and crossbows were loaded and ready. Shields stood erect in front of their entire formation, while their spears were held upright. The great army stood their ground, waiting for the nextmand. Meanwhile, the butterfly Yin beast¡¯s cries only grew increasingly loud. Even Arthis couldn¡¯t help but be taken aback by its cries, because she could tell that they were all desperate pleas for help.

    Why is it pleading for help?

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought¡­¡± Her hair began to scatter like a thousand poisonous vipers, while a bloodthirsty smile crept up the corner of her lips, ¡°It¡¯s only been a few centuries since myst wanton massacre. It looks like these newly-minted monarch beasts no longer know how terrifying a Rakshasa can truly be¡­¡±

    SSSSSS!!! SSSSSS!!!! The further Qin Ye got from the basin, the more anxious and urgent the butterfly Yin beast¡¯s cries grew. Meanwhile, as Qin Ye ran, he couldn¡¯t help but develop the urge to give the butterfly Yin beast a tight p across the cheeks - Idiot! You should shut the hell up if you want to live a little while longer!

    Unfortunately, it wouldn¡¯t.

    Yin beasts didn¡¯t possess any spiritual awareness or intelligence at all. Everything they did was based entirely on their instincts. Thus, the shrieks from behind only grew louder and louder. At the same time, Qin Ye¡¯s heart only grew more and more apprehensive.

    It¡¯s awake¡­ it¡¯s definitely awake¡­ He could sense that the terrifying source of Yin energy behind him was slowly but surely getting stronger and stronger. A split secondter, the butterfly Yin beast cried out with a heart-rending scream.

    SSSSSSS!!!

    It started loud and clear, but it soon softened and faded away, almost as though its life were swiftly being drained from its body. And then, it vanishedpletely.

    It¡¯s dead¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s army was right in front of him, and he charged into their open arms at full speed. Just then, he sensed a chilling gazending directly on his back.

    ¡°Retreat!!¡± As soon as he arrived within a thousand meters away from his army, he immediately barked his nextmand, ¡°The entire army is to march full speed towards the next Beacon of Light right away!¡±

    As soon as he gave themand, the entirend behind him rumbled and trembled. A secondter, ayer of pitch-ck carpet that appeared no different from a swarm of ants immediately rushed out from the depths of the abyss.

    They were¡­ innumerable ck spiders!

    Although they appeared rather small from afar, Qin Ye could tell that each of them was at least half a meter in size! Each of them would be a monstrosity in their own right if discovered back in the mortal realm!

    Wave after wave of excited squeaks could be heard in the distance, ostensibly triggered by the sight of prey sufficient to feed them all. Meanwhile, a colossal creature approximately one hundred meters in size finally crept out of the basin in the midst of the outpouring of spiderlings.

    ROARRRR!!! It lifted its two front limbs and mmed down onto the closest hill, instantly shattering it into an explosion of boulders. And then, it began to lumber towards the army!

    Whoosh! Just like that, they covered thousands of meters in the blink of an eye. Qin Ye¡¯s forehead was already covered in sweat as he promptly turned to Yang Yanzhao, ¡°General Yang! Full speed ahead! Follow the Beacon of Light in the sky right away!¡±

    Yang Yanzhao didn¡¯t even have the luxury of time to respond. The war horns sounded, and the banners fluttered. The army immediately turned around and began to march full speed towards the Beacon of Light in the sky.

    Unfortunately, the marching speed of Yin soldiers wasn¡¯t quick.

    At the very least, they would never be able to move as quickly as the tiny spiderlings that were hot on their tail. The colossal spider behind was slow in its movement, but the scuttling spiderlings in front were able to cover hundreds of meters in a short few moments. They kicked up sand and dirt behind them, leaving a menacing yellow cloud that appeared to roar towards the army!

    ¡°This isn¡¯t going to work.¡± Arthis nced behind and spoke with a cold determination in her voice, ¡°Every single one of these spiderlings are at least Operative-ss Yin beasts. They¡¯ll be able to whittle down our army in no time. It¡¯s up to us to stop them in their tracks. Then, once our main army is far enough, the monarch beast will realize that it can¡¯t take us down, and will naturally leave--... Where the hell is he?!?!?!¡±

    Arthis turned back, only to realize that Qin Ye had already snuck into the midst of the great army and begun to retreat at the same time. She chuckled softly, ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡±

    She promptly sent a lock of hairshing hundreds of meters into the heart of the marching army and dragged a single person back to her.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Qin Ye red back at Arthis, ¡°Do you realize the kind of situation we¡¯re in right now?! Do you know how dangerous it is back here?!¡±

    Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°A general may be the heart and soul of the army, but the soldiers are still the limbs of the body. Do you want to see your entire army reduced to nothingness even before you face off against Kong Mo?¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m afraid! Have you never heard of arachnophobia before?! It¡¯s a thing!¡±

    ¡°If I can stand tall against it, I don¡¯t see why you can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m a human! A human being!! You¡¯re a bloody ghost! Do you think we have the same kinds of fears and considerations?!¡±

    Before they could go on, both Arthis and Qin Ye raised their hands at the same time, sending a powerful st of Yin energy towards the rushing spiderlings and reducing many into nothing more than ashes. Thebined forces of two Infernal Judges had stopped the rush of Operative-ss spiderlings in an instant!

    This was the might of Infernal Judges.

    Without the backing of military formations, the Operative-ss Yin beasts were no different from fodder.

    ¡°Eeeeyucks! That¡¯s disgusting!¡± Qin Ye bared his teeth and rolled up his sleeves, ¡°Do you see the goosebumps that are creeping up all over my skin?!¡±

    ¡°Is now really the best time for these things?¡± Arthis bellowed back. Her hair stretched out thousands of meters in a criss-crossed fashion, before swiftly trapping another wave of spiderlings before dicing them into pieces.

    Rumble¡­ Countless spiderlings continued to pour towards them in endless waves. Qin Ye no longer had the luxury of time to engage in banal discourse with Arthis. He whipped out the faux Judgment Pen and blotted it straight at the distance. In an instant, a massive tremor erupted from the ground, generating an invisible shockwave that sent thousands of spiders scattering into their demise. Just like that he kept blotting away at the waves of spiders, until momentster, he suddenly noticed that the number of spiderlings had decreased substantially.

    He paused for a moment, and then scanned his surroundings carefully. Indeed, there were now fewer spiderlings than before.

    The spiderlings were no longer rushing forward to their demise like they had done before. Rather, they appeared to be waiting for something. And it was only then that Qin Ye realized that there was now an iparably dense cloud of Yin energy that was fast approaching them.

    Time seemed to stand still in that very moment.

    Qin Ye squinted his eyes. A soft wind swept through thends.

    It carried a horrid stench as it caused his robes to flutter wildly. The wind even came and went with soft huffs and puffs. And it even hid a soft, bloodcurdling sound within, almost as though it was the sound of incisors rubbing against each other.

    It was then that it dawned on Qin Ye that it wasn¡¯t wind after all.

    Qin Ye held up his Judgment Pen. This was¡­ the monarch beast¡¯s breaths.

    Just like that, the dense cloud of Yin energy squared off against Qin Ye and Arthis. It was a confrontation between three Infernal Judges.

    Thump¡­ thump¡­ Things were so silent and tense that they could all hear their own heartbeats. And then, a split secondter, eight startling green eyes suddenly opened up within the dense cloud of Yin energy, and a behemoth rushed out with a loud bang!

    ROOOAAAARRR!!!

 Chapter 413: Uncharted Territories (3)

    <h4>Chapter 413: Uncharted Territories (3)</h4>

    Boom, boom, boom¡­ Yang Yanzhao led the Yin army¡¯s march, skirting around the basinpletely as they rushed towards the first Beacon of Light as quickly as they could.

    This was the benefit of having Beacons of Light. The underworld was a vast and boundless ce. Without anyndmarks or guiding lights, an army might in its anxiety to avoid a monarch beast unwittingly step into an even more dangerous territory. But with the Beacons of Light set properly in ce, everyone would now have a glimmer of light to fix their eyes upon. Even if a Yin soldier ended up getting separated from the main army, they would still take heart in the fact that they could still rendezvous at the very next location.

    I wonder how Lord Qin¡¯s side is doing right now¡­ Yang Yanzhao¡¯s heart was filled with anxiety. However, he knew that he couldn¡¯t stop to set up a camp until he knew that the army waspletely out of danger. This was an opportunity that Lord Qin and Lady Arthis had bought for them, and he absolutely had to make the best of it!

    He nced back by chance, only to notice the gathering of a dense cloud of Yin energy some ten kilometers behind them right now. He could even detect three unique sources of Judge-ss Yin energy erupting from within and shing against each other. Gnashing his teeth, he turned to his army and bellowed at them, ¡°Full speed ahead! The ck Armored Troops will take the back lines! All troops that fall behind the ck Armored Troops shall be dealt with in ordance with martialw!¡±

    ¡°My lord.¡± Just then, a young Yin spirit riding a skeletal war horse rushed to his side. Yang Yanzhao nced at him, only to realize that it was none other than Oda Nobutada. It was strange. He was obviously a Nipponese, but he didn¡¯t sense any ill will from him.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t we fighting back?¡± Oda Nobutada asked softly, ¡°Our army is fully capable of taking down these Yin beasts.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao shook his head. Instead, he tugged on the reins of his war horse and elerated the pace of their march.

    ¡°We can¡¯t.¡±

    Without missing a beat, he exined coldly, ¡°Ours is an army of seventy thousand. There are bound to be casualties unless we rely on the Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows at our disposal.¡±

    ¡°Five bolts per Yin soldier means three hundred and fifty thousand bolts expended. It¡¯s only the first day of the eastbound expedition right now. What about the monarch beasts that we might encounter in future? And even if we don¡¯t meet a single monarch beastter on, Lord Qin had previously mentioned that Qufu is a heavily-guarded city. If you think about it, Kong Mo has already taken control of the Eastmount Province, and he¡¯s even been trying to expand his reach across the Breakwaters Province. We¡¯re talking about Yin spirits and Yin soldiers that he¡¯s been aggregating for almost a hundred years, so do you think he¡¯s only going to have a hundred thousand Yin soldiers at his disposal? If we use up everything right now, what are we going to use against the alliance of Infernal Judges in future?¡±

    ¡°And even if we manage to take them down, how are we supposed to deal with the daolordter on?¡±

    The implications of their actions were great. This was precisely why Qin Ye¡¯s first reaction had been to escape from the monarch beast.

    Naturally, it was also a byproduct of Qin Ye¡¯s cowardly nature.

    Oda Nobutada nodded in realization. Nobody had expected to encounter a monarch beast as early as their first day in the eastbound expedition. The journey to Martial City was expected to take three full months. In other words¡­ they had only just taken their first peek under the veil at this magnificent world out there.

    Naturally, it wouldn¡¯t be wise to tap on their trump cards as readily as this.

    Yang Yanzhao couldn¡¯t be bothered about what Oda Nobutada thought right now, ¡°Fortunately, there¡¯s already a city underneath Valley County right now. That¡¯s a safe zone where we can rest up and regroup. Hell already has a team of five hundred Yin spirits holding the fort over there. Thus, our top priority right now is getting there as soon as we can!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but turn back for a second nce at the swirling clouds of Yin energy behind that were now roiling with thunder, ¡°I sincerely believe that Lord Qin wouldn¡¯t let us down.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The might of an Infernal Judge was incredible.

    Arthis had once revealed her true form back in Clear Creek County in the mortal realm. Her entire being stood tall as the heavens and sent tremors of rms across thends nearby. In fact, all Infernal Judges in the mortal realm would have to suppress their abilities when going about their day-to-day activities. Otherwise, the simplest of their unbridled actions could even cause mountains to tremble and the earth to shake. That said, none of them were holding back right now.

    This was because holding back might immediately spell death for them.

    Yin beasts were qualitatively different from Yin spirits. The ubiquitous rule that Emissaries of Hell were able to instakill Yin spirits of the same cultivation level didn¡¯t apply to Yin beasts at all. Right now, Arthis, Qin Ye and the monarch beast were locked in a terrifying confrontation. The eruption of Yin energy from their beings swirled about menacingly, transforming into a massive vortex of dark clouds that surrounded them altogether.

    SSSS!!! Just then, the monarch spider roared and charged over. But in that instant it was about to trample on Qin Ye and Arthis, it suddenly shrieked and backed off once more. And then, it stared intently at them with all eight of its eyes.

    Powerful. Very powerful!

    It could tell that the two beings standing in front of it werepletely different from the Yin beasts that it had preyed on before. In fact, something within it was crying out to its mind, telling it not to cross the two beings. Unfortunately¡­

    The eight eyes swiftly turned to nce at the rapidly retreating army behind the two Infernal Judges, and the monarch spider couldn¡¯t help but gulp avariciously.

    It couldn¡¯t just watch its prey get away like that.

    Sss¡­ The bristles on its body stood up all over. This was a disy of aggression, warning the two Judges to stand down, or face the wrath of its attacks.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if you understand what we¡¯re saying right now.¡± The Yin energy swirled about them menacingly as Arthis remarked cidly, ¡°Get lost, or¡­ die.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened.

    Are you sure this is how we should be begging for our lives?

    I mean, aren¡¯t we giving him a backhanded p over here?! How can we be so arrogant when we¡¯re the one asking it for a favour?

    ¡°No¡­ I mean¡­ Spider brother? Brother Spider, let me exin¡­¡± He immediately pulled Arthis to the side and stepped forward with a dry cough, ¡°Look, we don¡¯t even know each other. But just look at us - our skin is rough and our meat isn¡¯t tender at all. We aren¡¯t tasty. How about this instead - let¡¯s each take a hundred steps back, and dere a line that separates us. And then, we¡¯ll each mind our own business. I know you might be upset about the death of your kids and grandchildren, but we¡¯re still neighbours when all is said and done. Let¡¯s bury the hatchet and let bygones be bygones, alright?¡±

    See? Isn¡¯t that a better way to do things?

    The dense Yin energy in the surroundings somewhat obscured the appearances of the spider monarch beast. But as soon as Qin Ye was done with his spiel, thehermes in the spider monarch beast¡¯s eyes immediately flickered, and it promptly shrunk back.

    Qin Ye wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead and turned around to face Arthis with great displeasure, ¡°How many times must I tell you that if you want to be part of the socialist movement, you¡¯ve got to pay attention to how you treat others. Is that how we should be asking others for a favour? It¡¯s a good thing we¡¯ve met a reasonable spider brother. Otherwise--...¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, Arthis promptly pulled him to the side, closely avoiding a projectile that had shot over in an instant. The clouds of Yin energy around them instantly parted.

    Screeee¡­ A deafening screech echoed throughout the surroundings, while a scarlet tongue could be seen slowly retracting back to the mouth of the monarch spider beast.

    Qin Ye rubbed his waist as he slowly got to his feet, ¡°Bloody hell¡­ How dare you show me such disrespect when I¡¯m giving you an easy way out?¡±

    Ssss!!! Yet the only response he got was a fiery shriek that stirred even the Yin energy in the sky. The colossal figure raised its front two limbs, signifying its deration of aggression and war.

    Arthis chuckled.

    ¡°Be good and stay over there.¡± She stepped out. Her hair fluttered about menacingly like a crown of thorns, ¡°Watch and learn. This is how an Infernal Judge does battle.¡±

    A split secondter, her expression turnedpletely serious, and she made a swift series of hand seals, ¡°Haa!!!¡±

    A split secondter, the spider monarch beast also erupted with terrifying Yin energy. The massive head of a beautyy suspended slightly off the ground. Her hair scattered about menacingly like poisonous vipers, while spots ofhermes flickered wildly around her. She opened her mouth and unleashed a thunderous bellow at the monarch beast.

    ROAAAARRRRRR!!!

    SSS!! Provoked, the monarch beast arched its back and roared equally loudly at the beautiful head that was squaring off against it. Simultaneously, the hair on her head twisted and formed a sharp w that shed head on against the monarch beast¡¯s limbs.

    BOOM!

    Thends trembled. This was a duel between two bona fide monsters. Neither used any spells or techniques at all. Instead, they appeared to be striking at each other with the most basic attacks. The earth trembled under the weight of their immense blows, and cracks soon appeared on the ground in an instant.

    Qin Ye watched with bated breath.

    This was a duel between Infernal Judges.

    If this had taken ce back in the mortal realm, an entire city would undoubtedly have been razed to the ground. It was no wonder that Infernal Judges were existences that were given charge over an entire province.

    He carefully watched the duel pan out. Strictly speaking, Arthis wasn¡¯t the spider monarch beast¡¯s match when it came to a contest of pure strength. However, she didn¡¯t seem suppressed in any way at all. In fact, she employed a multitude of bizarre techniques that even allowed her to slowly gain the upper hand.

    Countless icy mes erupted from her seven apertures. These were the cold mes of Hell that would instantly freeze anything it touched. The monarch beast shrieked as it desperately scraped off the ice on its body. Unfortunately, the ice was forming quicker than it could shake them off, and theyer encasing it soon grew thicker and thicker!

    ¡°How dare a mere Yin beast challenge a genuine Infernal Judge of Hell?!¡± Arthis sneered, ¡°We gave you a way out¡­ but do you really think that was because we were afraid of you?!¡±

    As soon as she said that, her hair suddenly scattered to the sides and held the spider monarch beast firmly in ce. Then, the rest of her hair formed two gargantuan hands that made hand seals in the air so quickly that it even left afterimages in its wake.

    ¡°Despair of Ghosts, Manifestation of Demons!¡±

    With a majestic cry,hermes immediately bloomed from her seven apertures, spreading all over her body until it consumed every part of her, immting even the tiniest strands of hair. In an instant, she was transformed into a fiery ball ofhermes that was zing with glorious splendour.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye froze. Burning up her life force? Impossible¡­ Arthis is one of the top fifty Infernal Judges across ten billion Yin spirits of the old Hell! There¡¯s no way she would have to resort to burning up her own life force to fight against a Yin beast like this.

    But before he could even consider these things any further, Arthis erupted with Yin energy far stronger than what she usually disyed!

    BOOM!! A hundred-meterrge fireball erupted in the air, and a mighty shockwave of Yin energy swept out in an instant. However, this wasn¡¯t just a pure explosion of Yin energy - it generated a wave of fire that soon gave way to a hundred-meterrge ming lotus tform!

    The lotus tform had a total of eighteen tiers, each of which was ostensibly built upon a foundation of human bones. There was a ming lotus flower perched right at the top of the lotus tform, immting endlessly with a jade-greenherme. It bloomed brilliantly, revealing a ten-meterrge figure seated right in the center of it all.

    It was still incredibly small next to the monarch beast¡¯s body that was a hundred-metersrge. However, the monarch beast couldn¡¯t help but unleash a session of terrified screams as it began to scramble backwards, ploughing outrge grooves in the ground as it retreated for its life.

    Dead silence.

    Things had ostensibly slowed downpared to the heated exchange between the two Judge-ss entities just a little while ago. Ding-a-ling¡­ There was the crisp jingle of bells. Qin Ye nced up, only to notice the appearance of the being that was now seated right on top of the tform.

    The entity had three heads and six arms. Each of the three heads represented sorrow, fury and joy. Menacing sharp fangs protruded from each of the mouths, and they were adorned with ostentatious nes and other ornaments. Just then, her eyes opened all at once.

    This was Rakshasa¡¯s true body!

    This was a true demon from Hell! Arthis had finally revealed her true form. Just then, the six arms opened up to reveal a brilliant golden wheel that was spinning rapidly.

    She opened all three of her scarlet lips, and the three faces dered with great authority, ¡°Revolution of the Purgatory, Heavenly Dance of the Treasured Wheel.¡±

    Boom!

    Lines of illegible scriptures appeared in front of Arthis, while endless pale souls visible to the naked eye danced in and out of these texts. Momentster, the gathering of scriptures suddenly erupted with pitch-ck ripples that ravaged the destends around!

    The Operative-ss spiderlings, the air and thend were all diced up by the expanding scriptures¡­ and then to even smaller bits, until¡­ they were finally ground up into nothing more than fine dust!

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped as he watched everything pan out. The colossal monarch beast stood there, rooted to the ground no different from a statue. Then, a split secondter, there was a loud bang, and the monarch beast was shattered into countless tiny pieces that began to drift down slowly from high up in the sky.

    It suddenly dawned on Qin Ye just how terrifying Emissaries of the old Hell must have been in the past.

    It suddenly urred to him that if Arthis was already this terrifying, then how much more outrageous would the number one Judge of the old Hell, Liu Yu, have to be?

    And if Kong Mo still dared to vie for territorial rights despite knowing that Qin Ye was a genuine Emissary of Hell, how many secrets would the Confucian gentry have to be harbouring? How many magical techniques did they have ess to, and how many cards did they still have up their sleeves right now?

 Chapter 414: Uncharted Territories (4)

    <h4>Chapter 414: Uncharted Territories (4)</h4>

    Sss-- Yet what was most shocking to Qin Ye was the fact that the monarch beast didn¡¯t even shed a single drop of blood despite having been diced into a million pieces. Instead, all that remained of it seemed to be an endless, heart-rending shriek.

    ¡°No way¡­ it¡¯s not even dead yet?!¡± Qin Ye was astounded by both Arthis¡¯ incredible disy of power, and the monarch beast¡¯s seemingly unlimited will to survive. He gulped nervously. A split secondter, the pieces of the monarch beast that were just drifting down to the ground suddenly rushed madly back to the depths of the bottomless abyss.

    It was afraid¡­

    The monarch beast was truly frightened by Arthis. It had never expected to encounter such a powerful presence and it didn¡¯t have any courage to remain here any longer.

    Whoosh¡­ A ck gale swept across Qin Ye¡¯s head, and the bits and pieces that formed its whole body rushed along with it like a massive flock of crows, leaving in its wake the victor of the skirmish.

    It was a Lady Rakshasa who was still seated atop her eighteen-tiered lotus tform.

    Qin Ye coughed dryly and mustered all of his courage, before cautiously approaching the tform, ¡°Hello? Is Arti there? Could I ask her to help me take control of Lordaeron--¡­¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, the lotus tform was promptly consumed by a magnificent congration. Momentster, the great ze faded away just as abruptly as it came, leaving Arthis in her usual form as she fell straight from the height of the residuary mes. Without thinking, Qin Ye reached out to catch her as she fell.

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Qin Ye immediately gasped in horror. He could sense that Arthis¡¯ body was icy cold and covered with frost, and he promptly began to pat off the ice covering her body.

    But just as he was pping the ice off her body for the third time straight, Arthis suddenly grabbed his hand and muttered with a quiver in her voice, ¡°We have to go¡­¡±

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly at her.

    So¡­ was everything that you¡¯d done earlier nothing more than a farce?

    ¡°What do you know?!¡± Despite the weakness oveing her body, she mustered everyst bit of strength and barked back at Qin Ye, ¡°Sure, I can suppress it, but I would never be able to destroy it. Do you think that peak Judge-ss Yin beasts are that easy to kill? Besides¡­¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough, cough¡­¡± She coughed several times, before panting breathlessly, ¡°It¡­ didn¡¯t run because it was terrified of me¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve exchanged blows with it, so I¡¯m naturally aware that it¡¯s still got a trump card hidden up its sleeve that it hasn¡¯t utilised. Yet... it still decided against using it and chose to retreat instead. It wasn¡¯t afraid of me¡­ It was afraid of something else¡­ and whatever it might be¡­ I fear... it might being soon¡­¡±

    ¡°We have to go¡­ Immediately! Hell¡¯s copse has resulted in earth-shattering changes to the environment. Nobody knows what¡¯sing next¡­¡±

    That said, Qin Ye simply nced thoughtfully at the canopy of the skies, ¡°I¡¯m guessing¡­ whatever it¡¯s afraid of¡­ is already here.¡±

    Rumble!

    Just then, the skies promptly darkened, and a lightning bolt fell from the sky with a resounding crackle.

    The lightning bolt was visible to the naked eye. Furthermore, it was scarlet in colour.

    The first bolt of lightning fell approximately one kilometers away, and yet it sent such a powerful shockwave rippling into the surroundings that its effects could be seen with the naked eye. Arthis and Qin Ye gasped at exactly the same time.

    What the spider monarch Yin beast was afraid of was nature itself.

    Rumble!

    The sky was covered with dark clouds that were crackling with shes of lightning every now and then. If one listened close enough, they would even be able to hear the faint sounds of an infant¡¯sughter prating the low rumble of the thunder.

    ¡°Hehehe¡­ hehehehe¡­¡± It was terrifying!

    Just then, a re rose high up into the sky and exploded like fireworks.

    It was Yang Yanzhao¡¯s signal.

    ¡°They¡¯re approximately ten kilometeres away. They¡¯ve probably exhausted all of their Yin energy by now.¡± Qin Ye squinted at the distance as he carried Arthis on his back and darted straight towards the location where the signal re had exploded.

    Rumble¡­ The rumbling in the sky grew louder and louder, almost as though it were foreshadowing the arrival of a great thunderstorm. Bolts of lightning would strike the ground every few minutes, stingrge holes in the ground and sending a massive shockwave rippling out from its point of impact. Qin Ye was scared witless by the sheer power of the lightning bolts. Bloody hell! How can you call this a lightning bolt?! Isn¡¯t it more like a nuclear warhead?! It¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess how much of an Infernal Judge would remain if struck by something as devastating as that!

    Especially since¡­ He nced back at the menacing sky, trembling at the prospects of when the thunderstorm would truly begin. However, he quickly shook off these redundant thoughts, and turned his mind to the more pressing concern at hand - I sincerely hope Yang Yanzhao has already set up camp as he fired off his signal re. Because, if he hasn¡¯t¡­ the consequences could very well be dire!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to pit his Judge-ss physical body to the test against the mighty bolts of scarlet lightning if he could help it at all!

    He suppressed the deep anxiety in his heart and dashed towards the location of the signal re at top speed. Meanwhile, the overcast clouds in the sky only continued to grow thicker and darker, until it waspletely saturated and spilling. And then, he finally reunited with the rest of his forces.

    They were currently located at a mountain range.

    As it turns out, Qin Ye didn¡¯t have to worry one bit at all. Yang Yanzhao truly lived up to his name as one of the most reputable generals of the Yang n that ever existed. Their current location was the perfect campsite. The mountain range appeared rather beaten by the elements. It stretched on for kilometers on end, and the entire mountain range was covered with holes and crevices that led into a deep system of caverns. As soon as Qin Ye arrived, he noticed the entire army swiftly mbering into the various holes that were scattered about. It was the perfect hideout to weather the iing thunderstorm. Incidentally, Yang Yanzhao and Oda Nobutada were waiting for him right in front of the mountain range.

    ¡°Is Lady Arakshasa alright?¡± Yang Yanzhao immediately noticed something amiss when he saw Qin Ye carrying Arthis back, ¡°Anyhow, my lord, let¡¯s seek shelter first! The thunderstorm is almost here!¡±

    Needless to say, Qin Ye immediately followed him into a cave, only to realize that all of the other generals were already there, waiting for his arrival.

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡± As soon as he entered, all of the generals immediately got to their feet and cupped their hands respectfully. Suppressing the deep vexation that was boiling in his heart, Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively at them. Everyone sat back down on the ground. They could all understand how frustrated he was at the stifling thunderstorm that was quickly bearing down on them. Naturally, everyone grew silent as they stared pensively out at the dark and dreary skies outside.

    Not a single one of them possessed the ability to brave the elements to givemands to the Yin soldiers around. None of them were willing to take on the risk of being blown up by a powerful bolt from the skies.

    The atmosphere inside was stifling. Outside, the dark clouds had finally grownpletely saturated. There was aplete silence for a single moment, before all hell broke loose. Countless bolts of lightning immediately pelted down to the ground as though they were raindrops from a torrential downpour.

    Qin Ye stared at the incredible sight outside and sighed with great emotion.

    He had seen thunderstorms, but never something quite like what he was seeing right now.

    An entire field of lightning bolts roasted the ground like a thundergod¡¯s wrath. Qin Ye had heard of curtains of rain before, but this was the first time he had witnessed something quite so spectacr as a curtain of lightning. Moreover, the lightning bolts appeared to be fundamentally different from the ones in the mortal realm. Quite apart from the obvious difference in colour, each bolt of lightning also appeared to contain far more energy than regr lightning bolts. The st from each and every single bolt of lightning sent dirt scattering everywhere, almost as though someone was plowing the fields.

    The sky was filled with a curtain of dazzling red lightning, while the ground was covered with endless clouds of dust and debris that were constantly being scattered by the sts of lightning. It was a breathtaking sight - one thatsted for ages before the entire thunderstorm finally subsided and vanished without a trace.

    That said, the thunderstorm left a series of indelible scars on thends that it had ravaged through. Yang Yanzhao was just about to get to his feet and instruct the rest of the Yin soldiers to begin setting up campsite when he found someone suddenly grabbing hold of his wrist.

    ¡°Your Excellency?¡± Yang Yanzhao looked puzzled, but allowed Qin Ye to slowly lead him out of the cave in silence.

    Secondster, Qin Ye finally retracted his gaze and addressed Yang Yanzhao, ¡°Take it easy. Let¡¯s see how Lady Arakshasa is doing first.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± A voice responded from behind Qin Ye, ¡°That said, why do you say that there¡¯s no hurry? I may not know much, but I do know that every decision you¡¯ve made in your serious-mode has never been wrong before.¡±

    It was only then that Qin Ye slowly straightened up and leaned against the wall of the entrance of the cave, ¡°It¡¯s been a hundred years since the copse of the old Hell, right?¡±

    He promptly continued, ¡°How often does a thunderstorm like that ur? Once every hundred years? Could things be so coincidental?¡±

    Arthis frowned. She couldn¡¯t understand what Qin Ye was getting at, and it didn¡¯t help that she was still feeling weak all over.

    On the other hand, Yang Yanzhao¡¯s eyes immediately flickered brightly, ¡°I understand what Your Excellency is getting at.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qin Ye responded with great fascination.

    ¡°Thunderstorms are obviously natural phenomena, much like a torrential downpour back in the mortal realm. It¡¯s amonce urrence.¡± Yang Yanzhao walked to the front of the cave and peered over at thends below. His pupils immediately narrowed as he continued with his exnations, ¡°But such a horrific thunderstorm ispletely unheard of. In fact, it was so strong that itpletely changed thendscape altogether. Take a look at the kind of devastation left in the wake of such a terrifying thunderstorm. If it truly were an urrence asmonce as any other thunderstorms out there, then why didn¡¯t we see any traces of it when we first departed from Hell?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Oda Nobutada rubbed his chin as he thought aloud, ¡°If that¡¯s indeed the case, thesends should have been torn and tattered by now. But¡­ it¡¯s not.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao took a deep breath and waved at the crowd around while making a shushing gesture, ¡°It¡¯s because of this¡­¡±

    Everyone gathered around the mouth of the cave and peered over, only to gasp in horror.

    The ground was indeed covered with a multitude of cracks from the aftermath of the thunderstorm.

    But what was most startling was the fact that there were a number of figures seated right beside each crack!

    They weren¡¯t humans. Rather, they were skeletons with long hair, dressed in ancientdies¡¯ garments, and armed with needles and thread as they slowly sewed thends back together once more!

    Furthermore, they could all see that the cracks in the earth revealed a scarlet pink flesh within, almost as though the cracks werecerations of the skin of a creature that revealed pink muscle tissue below! One could even vaguely make out the greenish veins thaty beneath the surface of the flesh! Apart from that¡­ they could all see that there were a number of golden eyes peeking out of the cracks in the ground below!

    Meanwhile, the skeletaldies were doing their utmost, stitching thecerated earth back together with a needle and thread. The entirends were covered with cracks, and just as many skeletal attendants. It was also a magical sight at that. Wherever the needle and thread passed, the entire crack in the ground would vanishpletely. And when a crack was sealed uppletely, so would the attending female skeleton also vanish from sight and turn into a wild flower or a stalk of grass. At the same time, thends that were sewn over would be sealed so seamlessly that they revealed no traces of ever being damaged at all!

    It was unbelievable. It was a sight beyond anyone¡¯s imaginations. Everyone watched with bated breaths as thends were slowly but surely being mended. Secondster, Yang Yanzhao retracted his gaze with great emotion, ¡°This is inconceivable¡­ I¡¯ve neither seen something like that, nor even heard my father talk about something like that before. In fact, I might even venture so far to say that this is something that has never been recorded across the entire Annals of Hell!¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I can confirm that.¡± Arthis barely made it to the mouth of the cave and gasped with her interjection, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even dare to hazard a guess as to what that might have been. All I can say is that this entire realm that we¡¯re in right now exists with its own sets of rules,ws and principles. If we look at the earlier thunderstorm through the lens of the old Hell¡¯s knowledge, then it naturally leads us to the conclusion that it would be a wastnd out there with no creatures at all. But, the fact remains that these skeletal attendants were able to negate the effects of the terrifying thunderstorm earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°In other words, the little that we can glean from the Annals of Hell can no longer be relied upon. Put differently, we will almost certainly have to draw up a new set of records for Hell. General Yang, did you bring a scribe along with you like I¡¯d told you to?¡±

    ¡°Yes. They¡¯re all hiding out in the adjacent cave next door. Every single one of them are talents in their own rights in the fields of description and drawing.¡± Yang Yanzhao nodded.

    Everyone grew taciturn. Each of them fell deep into their own trains of thought.

    They had just realized the full implications of what ecological changes out here truly meant.

    Everything in the past could no longer be relied upon. All they had left was their own senses, their own experience, and their own intuition about the dangers thaty waiting for them ahead in this journey.

    Everyone had finally begun to understand just how dangerous and difficult the eastbound expedition was going to be.

    It was like the first ship to sail out on a voyage into the vast worlds out there. Nobody knew what was waiting for them on the other side - whether a devastating storm that would consume them at sea, or a whole new continent with treasures in store for them.

    This was the immense risks and rewards apanying the act of pioneering. It was awe-inspiring. And today, they officially embarked on their journey to reshape the world out there.

    ¡°General Yang, help me find a way to ry a message to the rest of the soldiers. Let everyone know that they should rest until the skeletal attendants are finally done sewing thend back together. Apart from that¡­¡± Qin Ye walked back towards the cave, ¡°Summon allmanders. We¡¯re convening the first meeting of our eastbound campaign.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao did as he was told. By the time he returned, everyone who was summoned had already arrived at the bottom of the cave. It wasn¡¯t ustrophobic inside, but it couldn¡¯t exactly be described as spacious either. All who were gathered right now were at leastmanders of ten thousand soldiers. Coupled with Yang Yanzhao and the other generals of the Yang n, together with themanders of Qin Ye¡¯s faction, there were approximately twenty people gathered in the small room right now.

    Qin Ye nodded as soon as he noticed Yang Yanzhao enter the room, ¡°I didn¡¯t participate in the pre-expedition campaign meeting because of two reasons - firstly, I didn¡¯t have the time; and secondly, there was no need. That¡¯s why I wasfortable having everyone conduct the campaign meeting in my absence. And when I returned to Hell after setting up the Beacons of Light, I likewise chose not to convene a campaign meeting as such because the journey ahead to Martial City is a long one, and we could convene a meeting at any time it was convenient. However¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment and waved his hand. A wisp of Yin energy immediately turned into a screen that appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.

    It was a map from the City of Salvation to Martial City.

    It showed everything in great detail, including every vige and city along the way, as well as the topography of the area including all rivers and hills, and other terrain features alike.

    ¡°Unfortunately, such a meeting has now be a necessity.¡±

    ¡°And the first problem that we¡¯ll need to address is this - how do we get there?¡±

    He slowly ran his finger along the surface of the map, tracing the route to Qufu, before finally tapping on their destination, ¡°If we don¡¯t make proper ns right now, I¡¯m afraid¡­ we might not even make it to Qufu in one piece!¡±

    1. Warcraft/WoW reference.

 Chapter 415: Eastbound Expedition Campaign Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 415: Eastbound Expedition Campaign Meeting</h4>

    Not a single person felt that Qin Ye was being an rmist right now.

    Having witnessed the devastation brought about by the thunderstorm earlier, everyone was filled with awe and respect for whaty hidden within these unchartednds. The conditions of their campaign meeting were as humble as it got, but none of them minded this one bit. In fact, everyone could feel the adrenaline coursing through their veins as they continued to listen to Qin Ye.

    After all, trials and tribtions were akin to a rite of passage for all superpowers that have existed since time immemorial. Incidentally, these were also the best times for any nation, when the leaders and subordinates were united in heart and mind as they worked towards the very same goal.

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ we can trek through Limbo instead?¡± Huyan Chijin suggested.

    She was of the minority race. Her hair was tied up neatly with pigtails, and she was dressed in a full outfit of leather. She sported a high nose bridge, deep eyes, and a tall figure, all of which made her look like a foreigner.

    That said, she was by no means a weak and fraildy. This was quite apparent from the two long swords that slung over her back.

    ¡°I disagree.¡± Qin Ye immediately frowned, ¡°First, and foremost, quite apart from the goals and oue of our eastbound expedition, there¡¯s one other thing that we have to do faithfully - and that is to rewrite the entire Annals of Hell including every bit of headway that we¡¯ve made thus far. To my mind, these records are no less important than the goals of our eastbound expedition itself.¡±

    ¡°Corrections - this is an expedition that absolutely must seed!¡± Arthis promptly interjected, ¡°Its implications are too far-reaching. We¡¯re talking about the inaugural battle of theherworldly warring states era. We¡¯ll need to seize the first mover¡¯s advantage. Sure, it may be possible toy low with a view of taking down our enemiester on, but they¡¯re just going to get stronger as well! It¡¯s undoubtedly going to be an uphill battle! The ability to find one¡¯s footing amidst the chaos means that we will be able to seize more resources and opportunities for ourselves, while forcing other emerging underworlds to submit to us!¡±

    ¡°Secondly, should we fail to establish the sea port city, we¡¯ll forever bendlocked and bound by the natural geographical constraints of the City of Salvation. Lord Qin, please be mindful that our true enemies aren¡¯t the twelve envoys or the three daolords. Those are just some appetizers before we get to the main dish. Our true enemies lie well beyond our borders, and they are the true gods of theirnds, including Thanatos, Anubis and Yamaraja. We¡¯re nothing more than a speck in their eyes right now. It¡¯s only by devouring other emerging underworlds that we can truly rise from the ashes and be a force to be contended with!¡±

    Yang Yanzhao gazed deeply at Qin Ye. He could clearly recall the conversation that he had with his father Yang Jiye before he answered Hell¡¯s summons. Back then, his father had told him that Qin Ye was a very interesting King Yanluo of Hell. Then, when Yang Yanzhao first arrived in Hell, he felt somewhat disappointed by what he saw. Nevertheless, he pressed on with the eastbound expedition, only to be surprised by Qin Ye¡¯s true colours that were hidden beneath the surface. Qin Ye was finally baring his fangs for the very first time.

    ¡°Are you confused?¡± Oda Nobutada was keen to learn a thing or two from Yang Yanzhao, and he had been keeping a close eye on Yang Yanzhao¡¯s expressions all this while. Thus, when Yang Yanzhao revealed a puzzled expression, he immediately leaned over, ¡°Lord Qin might have unorthodox means, and might even seem childish at times. But my father readily swears on his heart that he¡¯s as reliable a leader as it gets.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s willing to delegate and trust his people, and he hardly even postures to those whom he¡¯s familiar with. Most of all¡­ he¡¯s never made a wrong decision concerning Hell¡¯s future thus far.¡± He paused for a moment of deliberation, and then continued, ¡°ording to Father, Lord Qin¡¯s attitude towards the circumstances is highly dependent on the level of danger that he¡¯s faced with. In other words, he would habitually joke around and be cheeky with others so long as he¡¯s snuggled up in the arms of safety. But as soon as danger rears it ugly head, he, too, will show his true colours.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao nodded with understanding. But of course¡­ Everyone has their own masks in this world. Even the most honest person in this world would react differently when their emotions kick in.

    The only difference was that Qin Ye¡¯s wealth of life experiences had taught him everything he knew about controlling, manipting and even concealing his emotions as he saw fit.

    Nobody paid any heed to the private conversation going on at the side. Arthis stood up and tapped on the screen of Yin energy, and it immediately zoomed out and transformed into a map of Cathay, ¡°Everyone, please take a look at this. Once we take down Eastmount Province, we¡¯ll be able to bide our time for the right opportunity to take down the three eastern provinces in the northeast. Down south, the City of Salvation will continue to act as a bulwark for all of our operations. The daolord of the hungry ghost rules over three great provinces surrounding Pearl River Delta in the heart of Cathay, and his existence is still very much a variable for now. But even if he can breach the tight defenses around him, the City of Salvation would be able to stem his approach. In other words, we¡¯d have control over Eastmount Province, Breakwaters Province, Insignia Province and its adjacent Fulling Province. We¡¯d have an entire district in our hands!¡±

    Yang Yanzhao nodded deeply. He was adept at war strategy, and he could naturally tell that Eastmount Province and Insignia Province were both strategic locations in their own rights. Anyone who controlled both would undoubtedly also control Breakwaters Province that was sandwiched between. Even the next province of Fulling would be well within their reach at that time. Moreover¡­ all of these provinces were considered rtively rich and prosperous back in the mortal realm!

    Yin and Yang were all inter-rted. Prosperity in the mortal realm naturally meant a wealthy pool of talents for the picking! That would be exactly what the new Hell needs at this point in time!

    After deliberating for a short moment, Yang Yanzhao added, ¡°That¡¯s not all. The mouth of the Yellow River is located at Eastmount Province, while the mouth of the Yangtze River is located at Breakwaters Province. So long as we have control of these provinces, we¡¯ll be able to ess and even raid the other surrounding provinces through the rivers. From there, we¡¯ll slowly conquer more and more of the coastal regions, and that will set us up to march ind for the rest of the nation! The big picture would beplete!¡±

    And this was especially when such a course of action would require them to pass through Southriver Province, the most populous province in all of Cathay!

    This was naturally another key objective they needed to take if Hell was to overtake the rest of the emerging underworlds!

    Arthis nodded softly and went on, ¡°Thirdly, it¡¯s only with these provinces that we¡¯d finally be able tomence our sea trade. In the absence of any flying Yin beasts right now, especially those that are capable of international flight, we simply must seize control of all seaport cities.¡±

    ¡°Finally¡­¡± She paused for a moment, ¡°I¡¯m not able to say with any certainty whether this is still applicable or not, but back when the old Hell was still in existence, the monarch beasts would always gravitate towards locations where Yin energy is the densest. These are also locations where one is most likely to see the appearance of rare artifacts and priceless treasures. Even if we can¡¯t dispose of these Yin beasts as yet, we can still take down the location of their dens and nests, before returning to im our prizes in future. In turn, these artifacts and treasures may be used to elerate Lord Harken¡¯s recovery. And once he reawakens and officially joins the ranks of Hell¡¯s forces, Cathay¡¯s internal strife will be as good aspletely resolved!¡±

    ¡°Therefore, I, too, am not in favour of marching through Limbo in lieu of the underworld. Although it would indeed be less dangerous, but¡­ we all know that danger is synonymous with opportunity.¡±

    Arthis¡¯ exnation was the final nail in the coffin as far as the first item on the agenda was concerned.

    Oda Nobutada consciously took on the role of the scribe and recorded everything furiously. Qin Ye thought about it for several more moments, before finally nodding, ¡°Alright, then that settles it. We¡¯ll continue to forge forward. The second item on the agenda is this - how do we deal with Qufu?¡±

    ¡°Our advantage lies solely in the element of surprise. They don¡¯t have any knowledge that we¡¯ve got a seventy thousand strong army marching for them right now. Furthermore, we¡¯re marching for them through the core of the earth, and not the mantle, which is where they¡¯re located. They would never be able to detect our approach.¡±

    ¡°That said, our disadvantage lies in the fact that it¡¯s going to take us at least three months to traverse several hundreds of kilometers before we finally arrive at Qufu. Add any encounters with monarch beasts and natural phenomena, and we¡¯re bound to have casualties along the way. The entire journey is going to take a toll on our limited weapons and resources as well. General Yang, do you have any thoughts on this?¡±

    It was only natural to leave such matters to the professionals. This was Qin Ye¡¯s usual practice in any event.

    As a leader, it was his duty to know who to use, and when to use them.

    Yang Yanzhao immediately stood up and went to therge map and cupped his hands respectfully at the rest of the meeting, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about this before, and I firmly believe that our best bet is tounch a sneak attack on Qufu!¡±

    Nobody interjected, so he promptly continued, ¡°We¡¯ve brought four Yin beasts along with us - the Nine-Eyed Siegebeast, the Scarlet Lotus Beast, the Yin-Footed Beast, and the Cloud Devourer. All of them are capable of mass destruction. Once they enter the city, all hell will break loose. We can take advantage of the opportunity to ughter the enemy forces and capture Qufu in one fell swoop!¡±

    Mu Guiying finally spoke up, ¡°Sneak attack¡­ Are you saying that¡­ we¡¯re no match for them in a full-on confrontation?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yang Yanzhao pointed at the map and responded with a deep voice, ¡°Lord Qin has apprised us of some of the crucial facts which he¡¯d gleaned back in the mortal realm. Firstly, Kong Mo¡¯s influence extends well into the Breakwaters Province! This tells us that the entire Eastmount Province is already under the control of Kong Mo¡¯s alliance by now. This is the only reason why he would consider moving beyond the boundaries of Eastmount Province to consider Breakwaters Province in the first ce. Moreover, we¡¯ve got to take into ount the fact that there have been instances of civil strife within Eastmount Province over thest hundred years. In other words, there¡¯s no dearth of Yin spirits for his taking over there!¡±

    ¡°Beyond that, whilst Valley County is admittedly a strategic location for an alliance like theirs, the fact that they were willing to deploy sixty thousand troops there suggests that there can easily be ten times this number back at Qufu, hometown of the Confucian Family! And we¡¯ve not even considered the existence of military formations at their disposal¡­ Lord Qin, we cannot underestimate things like military formations. Even the previous King Yanluo of Hell would find it troublesome to deal with Yin soldiers imbued by the effects of military formations! The fact that you were able to return to Hell under siege by an army of sixty thousand Yin soldiers empowered by military formations is already a great feat in and of itself.¡±

    Qin Ye leaned over and asked Arthis curiously, ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Arthis responded solemnly, ¡°That¡¯s right. Military formations and spell arrays are the foundation of every underworld¡¯s fighting force. The crux of how certain underworlds are able to seize control ofrge territories from the onsety in theirmand over these formations and arrays. These are all information that have been recorded in the Annals of Hell. Unfortunately, we have neither the luxury of time nor capacity to delve deeper into a study of these details. For starters, these are matters that require a foundational knowledge in Yin Talismanology. To that end, your best bet is to wait for the experts from SRC to pass on and enter Hell before having them pound out something more easily digestible on our end. Not even I can do something like that.¡±

    ¡°Each and every military formation and spell array you umte under your belt is no different from having another trump card hidden up your sleeves¡­¡± She gazed deeply at the sky outside, watching as the dark clouds in the sky slowly dispersed, ¡°Kong Moes from the lineage of one of Hell¡¯s top gentries. This was how he was able to get his hands on something like military formations in the first ce. Unfortunately, there are limits to how much Emissaries of Hell can instakill evil ghosts of the same cultivation level as them. Do you really think that a single Netherworld Operative would be able to take down an army of a hundred thousand all by himself?¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin, ¡°What kind of ratio are we talking about?¡±

    ¡°One is to thirty. And this is on the basis that there are no other variables involved, and that all things are equal. For instance, say you encounter someone else just as weak as you are¡­ cough, cough, cough¡­ I mean, someone like you who doesn¡¯t have any extraneous means of saving themselves, you¡¯d be able to stand toe to toe against thirty of them all at once.¡±

    Qin Ye red fiercely at Arthis. Bloody hell¡­ I heard you! That¡¯s a Freudian slip right there! I finally know exactly what you think of me right now!

    You bloody ingrate! Don¡¯t you even have a single word ofpliment for me? What¡¯s the use of keeping you around?!

    Don¡¯t you know that my true value lies in my brain?!

    Arthis deftly avoided Qin Ye¡¯s usatory gaze and continued cidly, ¡°But if we factor in military formations, we¡¯re talking about a ratio of approximately one is to ten. In other words, a single genuine Yin soldier of Hell would be able to kill ten rogue Yin soldiers of the same cultivation level as him. If we factor in spell arrays, then¡­ we¡¯re talking about a ratio of one is to one.¡±

    ¡°Think about it - were you able to instakill Kong Mo back then when you squared off against him? With the Peach Blossom Lantern in hand, he was even able to threaten your life so long as you slipped up in the slightest!¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is.

    Everything was now crystal clear to Qin Ye. He deliberated over these things for the next few moments, before turning back to Yang Yanzhao, ¡°Do you think that the number of soldiers garrisoned in Qufu would number greater than seven hundred thousand? Sufficient to consume our army?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Yang Yanzhao shook his head.

    With a faint smile on his face, he continued, ¡°My lord, this is our greatest advantage.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t even know that we¡¯reing! The Beacons of Light are things that only the citizens of Hell can see! Over thest hundred years, Eastmount Province must have seen the rise of tens of millions of Yin spirits. A part of Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers would already have perished in the skirmishes against the daolord, but Qufu still wouldn¡¯t have any issues mustering a force of at least a million soldiers. That said¡­¡± He hammered heavily on the Yin energy screen, ¡°They couldn¡¯t possibly all be at Qufu!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes immediately lit up at the same time. They immediately understood what Yang Yanzhao was getting at.

    Qufu was hidden deep in the hintends of Kong Mo¡¯s territories. It was essible by neither sea nor river. For someone like Kong Mo who was desperately searching for ways to expand the far reaches of his influence, gathering troops in the hintends would most certainly be thest thing he was willing to do.

    Moreover¡­

    A daolord lies just north of Eastmount Province!

    How could he afford to leave the bulk of his million Yin soldiers garrisoned in Qufu?

    Even the consolidation of his forces earlier garrisoned in Valley County was undoubtedlyrgely due to the pressure he was facing from the daolord to begin with! What reason was there to be fortifying his capital? Was he simply going to allow the daolord to encroach upon his territory until the daolord surrounded his capital?

    Qin Ye immediately understood everything, and his eyes flickered with wild passion.

    That¡¯s right¡­ And if that¡¯s indeed the case, then the possibility of taking down Qufu would be far higher than expected!

    And once we seed, Kong Mo¡¯s alliance would find themselvespletely sandwiched between a rock and a hard ce. With the daolord in front, and us behind, it would only be a matter of time before they¡¯repletely swallowed up!

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ we can even consider extending an offer of cooperation to the daolord.¡± Qin Ye licked his lips as he rubbed his chin sinisterly, ¡°An enemy of an enemy¡­ I wouldn¡¯t have any reservations turning my back against them in future anyway. Well, it¡¯s decided then!¡±

 Chapter 416: Surprise Attack

    <h4>Chapter 416: Surprise Attack</h4>

    Even then, Qufu was definitely going to be a piece of work to take down.

    The fact that Kong Mo even knew of military formations meant that he was likely to have various other tricks hidden up his sleeves.

    Furthermore, Qufu was thest bastion of their defenses. Although they might not have arge number of troops garrisoned there, it by no means meant that it was of little importance to them. In fact, the possibility that there could be other unknown forms of defences in Qufu in lieu of Yin soldiers was even more terrifying in and of itself.

    Therefore, a sneak attack was undoubtedly the best and safest option.

    Having decided their next course of action, they naturally had to delve into the details. Qin Ye turned to Arthis, ¡°How are we supposed to tear through the veil separating the realms and enter Limbo from the underworld?¡±

    ¡°Simple.¡± Arthis chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ll deal with it when the timees. ording to lore, Limbo is a lesser realm of the underworld. A lesser realm would find it impossibly difficult to bridge the vast chasm separating them and ascend into the upper realm, the underworld. Conversely, it wouldn¡¯t be in the slightest bit difficult for the upper realm to descend into the lower realm.¡±

    ¡°Then, how do you know where we¡¯re going to emerge in the lower realm?¡± Qin Ye asked in bewilderment, ¡°Aren¡¯t we no different from moles, popping our heads out into Limbo to check every now and then? What if we end up right underneath the hammer itself?¡±

    The atmosphere instantly grew awkward with silence.

    Not a single person knew how to respond to Qin Ye¡¯s peculiar analogy.

    I mean¡­ Lord Qin, you know that you could simply refrain from using analogies instead of employing such unsuitable ones, right? And even then¡­ moles? Really?!

    Fortunately, Arthis was already numb to Qin Ye¡¯s strange antics, ¡°That¡¯s an easy one. Why did you think we¡¯ve brought the Mirror of Eminence along on this expedition? We¡¯re talking about the eye of god! The ability of irvoyance! Our enemies are none the wiser to our approach, while we have the support of a global positioning system and satellite scans! So long as they don¡¯t have sufficient troops in garrison, there isn¡¯t any reason why we can¡¯t take them down!¡±

    Oda Nobutada continued excitedly, ¡°Then, we can use Qufu as a forward base to destroy the strongest opposing force in Eastmount Province, before conquering the rest of thends altogether! Breakwaters Province will be next, followed closely by the Pearl River Delta region!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes flickered with an intense gaze of passion. They weren¡¯t being delusional. In fact, there were indeed reasonable prospects of sess in this regard!

    But as an experienced general, Yang Yanzhao naturally knew that pride begetscency. Therefore, he immediately bnced things out, ¡°Naturally, everything is only spection for now. Although there¡¯s some likelihood of things panning out this way, everything is still subject to the exigencies of war. Until it actuallyes to pass, it would be wise to treat these as no more than mere spection at best.¡±

    ¡°What if arge army on their side happens to pass through the vicinity of Qufu when weunch our surprise attack? What if Kong Mo summoned his forces and convened an urgent meeting at Qufu, and his forces happen to be consolidated? All of our ns hinge on the spection that Qufu is currently empty. But how certain are we? And how empty are they? Do we know what kind of defences they might have in lieu of Yin soldiers? There are a whole host of variables that we¡¯re still none the wiser to! We simply cannot afford to let our guard down!¡±

    Qin Ye sighed softly. That¡¯s right. These are no more than mere spection on our part. Qufu may be an easy picking if our spections are right. But¡­ what if we¡¯repletely wrong, and it turns out to be a heavily fortified city?

    The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. One should never allow their troops to lose morale even before theymence their siege on their objective.

    Qin Ye scanned the scene, before drawing a circle around Valley County, ¡°There¡¯s truth in what General Yang is saying. We cannot jump straight to conclusions based solely off a few conjectures of ours. Since the sky has already cleared up, we might as well hit the road immediately. We¡¯re still more than a hundred and fifty kilometers from Valley County, and the trek there is still going to take us approximately two weeks¡¯ time. By the time we¡¯re there, we¡¯ll have more experience with our surroundings, and we¡¯d naturally be more well-ced to consider our next options there.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    Prrrr-prrrrrrrrrrrr¡­ The war horn sounded, and the army of seventy thousand immediately set off once more.

    Their experience with the monarch beast and the wrath of nature was like a baptism of fire. It taught them all exactly what to expect along this eastbound expedition of theirs. Thus, given their newfound wariness of their surroundings, they maintained at all times a battle formation throughout the march of their forces. A thousand units of the ck Armored Troops would always march at the front of the army, followed by the shield-bearers, and then the bowmen. Finally, the Savage Tiger Raiders took the rear guard, ready to move at the moment¡¯s notice.

    To that end, Qin Ye only brought a thousand units of the ck Armored Troops with them on the eastbound expedition, all of whom would act as an indomitable killing force that would lead the charge against any enemy forces. The other two thousand were all stationed back in Hell.

    Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye, and Qin Ye and his forces finally saw a huge column of scarlet light appear well on the horizon.

    They had finally arrived at the location of the first Beacon of Light, which was also where Valley County was located. All of the Yin soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. But, rather than bing more rxed, they looked all the more tense than before.

    The war horns sounded once more, signifying that the troops should hold their position and get some rest. That said, all of the shield-bearers warily moved into formation and set up their shields to surround the bowmen within. Their weapons were showing traces of cracks, and even burn marks in certain areas. That said, each of the soldiers had a special glint in their eye that hid a firm determination to return alive.

    These scars, whether physical or spiritual, were all their medals of honour.

    Hell¡¯s expedition forces had encountered yet another monarch Yin beast just four days ago. Then, just as Qin Ye and Arthis were jointly fending off the monarch beast¡¯s approach, the entire army encountered yet another monarch Yin beast during their retreat!

    Yang Yanzhao was the first one to snap right to his senses. He immediately realized that they had somehow stumbled upon a tussle between two monarch Yin beasts, and it was incidentally after a long struggle, when both monarch beasts werepletely exhausted. There was no doubt that the monarch beasts saw the Yin soldiers as nothing more than a wee snack in the heat of battle.

    Naturally, they soon learnt that the ¡®snacks¡¯ were also covered with thorns and bristles.

    Yang Yanzhao calmlymanded his troops and desperately fought off the oing herds of terrifying Yin beasts. They expended another 150,000 Karmic Fire Divine Crossbow bolts as they slowly retreated from the monarch beasts and inched towards the Beacon of Light. Fortunately, they were able to hold out until Qin Ye and Arthis arrived to render their assistance. That said, it was a costly retreat, and they lost three thousand of their troops. The silver lining was that their troops were instantly sublimated by such a life-and-death encounter.

    The new recruits of Hell that were initially scattered among the rest of the sixty thousand veterans were now far more reliable than before. At the very least, their hands and feet would no longer tremble when they encountered a monarch Yin beast. In fact, they now even dared to lift their spears valiantly and charge headlong into battle for theirrades in arms!

    Then, two days ago, they encountered yet another natural disaster. A snowstorm poured down like pelting des, even tearing straight through an entire mountain peak in the wake of its destruction. Fortunately, Hell¡¯s forces were able to find shelter in the nick of time.

    Time and again, the forces of Hell found themselves straddling the narrow path between life and death. Under such circumstances, even the most timid of Yin spirits would evolve into a brave soul.

    Prrr-prrrrrrrr¡­ The war horn sounded, signifying the halt of their march. The multitude of neatly-arrayed soldiers paused at the same time. Qin Ye and Arthis stood in front, while the rest of the sea of Yin soldiers stood in neat ranks behind them.

    Valley County is right above us¡­ Arthis raised her hand, and a messenger bird congealed from Yin energy immediately shot off into the distance.

    ¡°They¡¯ve had their fill of experiences, and it¡¯s about time for them to consolidate their thoughts and digest everything. It¡¯s been a time of great ups and downs. Let¡¯s take a break for the next two days for them to collect themselves and regroup.¡± Qin Ye twirled a scroll in his hands. This scroll contained cartography and the records of everything noteworthy as they traversed through the unknownnds of the underworld. It marked out where the new Hell was, and even carefully marked out the nests of all monarch Yin beasts that Hell had encountered along the way, including their unique characteristics and points of identification.

    Such information was practically priceless. So long as they were able to discover somemon features across all Yin beasts that they had encountered to date, such knowledge would certainly help with future expeditions across uncharted territories.

    The more battles they fought, the more the eastbound expedition was shaping up to be a grand show. The little skirmishes along the way were preparing them all for the grand climax toe!

    A softhergale swept silently through thends. Qin Ye waited cidly for the messenger bird to return. But five minutes passed¡­ ten minutes passed¡­ fifteen minutes passed¡­ and yet, the messenger bird still hadn¡¯t returned!

    Just then, the Yang n generals, the ck Armored Troops and Arthis all looked up in unison at the exact same spot.

    Red Yin energy twisted and mixed with the surrounding ck Yin clouds at the top of the column of light. Just like that, it swirled slowly and silently, almost as though it were foreboding death.

    It was almost akin to the entrance to Hell that marked the end of all life.

    ¡°The messenger bird has vanished.¡± Arthis exined as soon as everyone turned towards her, ¡°There are two possibilities. The first possibility is that it was captured by a monarch beast of the underworld, while the second possibility is that the messenger bird didn¡¯t find its intended target.¡±

    Silence. Several secondster, Yang Yanzhao added, ¡°Or perhaps¡­ it¡¯s neither of those two.¡±

    Qin Ye interjected with his own thoughts, ¡°Yin beasts would never bother themselves with something as insignificant as a messenger bird. You¡¯ve described the messenger to have vanished, as opposed to merely being unresponsive. In other words, a sentient Judge-ss entity must have destroyed it the moment it showed up on their radars.¡±

    He raised three fingers, ¡°Firstly, they know what a messenger bird is. Secondly, they don¡¯t want us to see what¡¯s going on up there. Lastly, ¡®they¡¯ are not one of ours. I recall that we¡¯d convened a meeting soon after taking down this military garrison, and it was recorded in the minutes that hundreds of Yin spirits were sent to upy the garrison in this location. We can rule out mutiny, because none of them holding the fort there possess the ability to rebel in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ are they all dead?¡± Mu Guiying was a valiant heroine no matter how one looked at her. She sported long hair that draped over her shoulders, and her striking eyes stared intently at the swirling vortex over the top of the column of light above, almost as though she were gazing straight into the eyes of an invisible demon.

    Several momentster, Arthis finally broke the silence, ¡°King Yanluo and I will head up first. Wait for my signal before following in my footsteps. All you¡¯ll have to do is simply to stand in the center of the pir of light."

    On the other hand, Qin Ye simply stared at Arthis as though he had just seen a ghost - Did I wrong you in any way?! What¡¯s the point of having scouts? Do you know how priceless an existence I am? What are you doing allowing a Teemo to head into the frontlines to begin with?

    Unfortunately, his protest fell on deaf ears.

    Arthis ignored Qin Ye¡¯s fiery gaze and continued softly, ¡°Abyssal Prefects are already the strongest entities across all of Cathay right now, and there shouldn¡¯t be more than three of them. As Judges, we¡¯d have no issues holding out for a moment or two, even if we encounter the strongest possible existence in Cathay. This is naturally also the safest option, all things considered. Lord Qin, do you have any thoughts?¡±

    Incidentally, there was also a sharp pointed edge made from hair that was hovering right between Qin Ye¡¯s thighs.

    Qin Ye gazed vacantly at his surroundings and gritted his teeth, ¡°N-n-no objections.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Yang Yanzhao responded.

    Then, just as they stepped into the heart of the pir of light, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t resist the urge any longer and blurted softly, ¡°Though we say that, you¡¯ve got toe quickly when we call for help¡­ alright?¡±

    But before Yang Yanzhao could give any cating response, Arthis promptly snapped her finger, and the two entities suddenly vanished into the vortex above.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Everything was a blur.

    Crossing an entire realm in a single moment was apletely disorienting feeling. Both sight and sound were aplete mess. But in his stupor, Qin Ye heard a clear sound - shk. It sounded as though something were being released¡­

    It was a familiar sound. Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun slowly. Then, a split secondter, his Prestige of the Luminary suddenly trembled violently, and then there was the sound of something attempting to drill past his defenses!

    That¡¯s right¡­

    He slowly came to his senses, and immediately gasped with widened eyes.

    That¡¯s right. It¡¯s those arrows! It¡¯s the arrows used by Kong Mo when they attempted to assassinate me back then!

    He could hear a multitude of sounds in his state of stupor. Unfortunately, the earlier sound of the arrow being loosened didn¡¯te in istion. Rather, it was merely the first of an entire flurry toe!

    There are Yin spirits around¡­ no¡­ there are evil ghosts around!

    And to make matters worse, they were all lined up in a neat military formation!

    His heart was already screaming at him in rm and distress. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t manage to react in time. Yin energy instantly erupted from the heart of his being, and the Prestige of the Luminary red up. But, a split secondter¡­

    ROARRRR!!! There was an earth-shattering roar, and the surroundings immediately heated up. Meanwhile, the sounds of bowstrings being loosened from tension continued to pour in like an incessant, crashing wave.

    Qin Ye could even hear the sounds of countless projectiles slicing through the air, leaving sonic booms in their wake.

    1. Whack-a-mole!

 Chapter 417: Lord of Darkriver

    <h4>Chapter 417: Lord of Darkriver</h4>

    These arrows were stronger than any before.

    They felt heavier, and even more¡­ alive. It pushed hard and drilled against Qin Ye¡¯s Prestige of the Luminary. Then, as Qin Ye¡¯s eyes finally recovered from his initial dibobtion, he soon discovered that there was nothing in sight.

    Everything was ck.

    It was an endless darkness..

    The skies and thends, and everything around were all pitch-ck.

    The arrows had ck feather tails, and there were at least tens of thousands that were still rushing towards him right now,pletely blotting out the rest of his surroundings. It was a chaotic shower of arrows that appeared no different from a towering, crashing wave. Then, before he could even react in time, everything mmed straight down onto the Prestige of the Luminary.

    Dong, dong, dong! The intense pulses of drilling caused Qin Ye¡¯s heart to stiffen with fear. The strength of tens of thousands of arrows was different on a qualitative level. From the outside, it looked as though Qin Ye had turned into a human pincushion of sorts.

    Just then, he suddenly heard a voice.

    It was a man¡¯s voice.

    It was soft, but still iparably clear despite the sonic booms generated by the arrows slicing through the air. This was only possible if that man was a Judge-ss expert.

    ¡°Explode.¡±

    A split secondter, Qin Ye suddenly felt his entire surroundings tremble violently!

    Whoosh! Bursts of light prated the dark sphere of his Prestige of the Luminary. It was only then that Qin Ye noticed how there was a talisman tethered to the end of each arrow, and each one of these were trembling violently.

    The tremors grew wilder and wilder, and the intense Yin energy that surrounded him began to prate his defenses like mercury seeping through the ground. From outside, he appeared to be no more than a ck speck that was consumed by an entire sun raging with sr res.

    I can¡¯t hold on any longer¡­

    He knew the gravity of the situation he was in right away, thus he immediately whipped out the faux Book of Life and Death. Meanwhile, with a resounding bang, the entire sun appeared to twist and contort as both its heat and vtility intensified!

    Rumble! A massive sr re swept through the entire military garrison, leaving a cloud of smoke and debris in the wake of its eruption. But before the dust could even settle on that, a second sr re erupted, followed closely by a third, a fourth¡­ until there were ten eruptions of sr res!

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Even the monarch Yin beasts in the distance couldn¡¯t help but look away in fear. Despite the allure of Yin spirits, their instincts told them that what they were witnessing was undoubtedly more than what they could devour.

    The res transformed the suspended sun into a twisted spider lily that blossomed in the sky. Momentster, the spider lily slowly wilted away, leaving countless sparks and mes in its wake, all of which rained down on the ground as though they were now in a fiery hell. As the mes gradually subsided, they also revealed two spots of darkness within. On the left, there appeared to be a Book of Life and Death enclosing a humanoid figure within, while on the right, Arthis remained suspended in mid-air, with her hairpletely wrapped around her entire body.

    ¡°Not bad, eh¡­¡± With a hoarse chuckle, the hair forming the hairball slowly receded, revealing the entity within, ¡°The Three Yin Netherme Talisman¡­ To think that you would employ a hundred twenty thousand C-grade talismans just to take us down¡­ How ostentatious¡­¡±

    Rustle¡­ The book¡¯s defensive manifestation on the left soon opened up, and countless loose sheets of paper began to scatter all over the sky as it transformed back into the image of the Book of Life and Death and returned to Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    ¡°You tter me. It¡¯s a pity I wasn¡¯t able to take you down.¡± A man¡¯s voice responded softly.

    Qin Ye¡¯s senses had returned to normal by now, and he could finally perceive everything in his surroundings.

    Yin soldiers¡­

    Countless Yin soldiers!

    The entire military garrison waspletely swamped with rank after rank of Yin soldiers. Innumerable spots ofherme drifted in the void spaces around them, while a ferocioushergale swept through thends. Everything waspletely dark save for a single source of light.

    There was a skyntern.

    And it was ced right in front of their eyes.

    Thentern was a meter tall, with mes shooting up over ten meters high. If one looked closely enough, they would even be able to see faces of certain Yin soldiers of the new Hell fading in and out of the flickering mes. These faces were clearly screaming, crying and begging for mercy, only to be dragged straight back into the zing me where they would continue to fuel their own suffering with their own souls.

    How dare you¡­ how dare you subject the citizens of Hell to the skyntern punishment?!

    And to think you would do so in front of King Yanluo of Hell to boot?!

    There was no way Kong Mo hadn¡¯t disclosed Qin Ye¡¯s identity to the rest of the alliance as yet. In other words, this man¡­ clearly looked down on the new Hell¡¯s existence!

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s pupils shrunk as he nced at the man.

    A mobile ptial residence approximately ten meters long was set right in the middle of all the Yin soldiers around. It was carried by a group of headless, topless ghosts who were all hunched over subserviently and dressed only with a pair of red trousers. The residence was shaped like an ancient pavilion, while its inner chamber was concealed by a thin, green veil. A hazy silhouette could be seen sitting right in the midst of the residence. Apart from that, there were seven other Anitya Hellguards standing around the mobile pce - some were holding their heads, some had tongues that were trailing to the ground, while others had their abdominal cavitiespletely exposed to the elements. Yet these Hellguard-ss ghosts were all staring at Qin Ye and Arthis with palpable murderous intent.

    ¡°Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness, Lord of Darkriver, Sha Xiangzu.¡± The voice from the mobile residence responded with great indifference.

    Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness¡­ Qin Ye made a mental note of the name, before discreetly ncing at Arthis. Immediately, his eyes lit up.

    He could tell that Arthis¡¯ hands were shifting slightly behind her, albeit with movements that were barely noticeable. Fortunately, having worked with Arthis for some time now, he immediately understood what she was up to.

    ¡°Kong Mo?¡± Qin Ye chuckled softly, ¡°The great sinner of the Confucian Family seems to have gathered some terrible henchmen for himself.¡±

    Sha Xiangzu snorted, ¡°The underworld has changed, and Hell is no longer in existence. Anyone who can reshape the world would naturally be crowned the next king of Hell! He imparts techniques to us, tells us stuff that we never knew before, and even lets us in on secrets on how to advance quickly. Do you think I¡¯d care who he is?¡±

    Qin Ye nced at Arthis, only to realize that her hands were still going. This was the first time he had noticed Arthis making such a long hand seal. Nevertheless, he sensibly turned back to the Lord of Darkriver and continued, ¡°I¡¯m curious.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Sha Xiangzu looked up curiously at Qin Ye with a gaze akin to a cat toying with its prey.

    Let¡¯s see how you¡¯re going to escape this time!

    Kong Mo wasn¡¯t able to do it, so let me pick up the ck after him. I¡¯ll bring this man¡¯s head back to the alliance to show that the student has already exceeded the master! Let¡¯s see how that old man is going to justify sitting at the head of the alliance¡¯s table at that time!

    ¡°How did you know that I was going to be here?¡± Qin Ye stared intently at the skyntern that was zing right in front of his eyes. There was simply no way that they could have detected Hell¡¯s approach.

    Sha Xiangzu chuckled softly, before he slowly gnashed his teeth in response, ¡°Because¡­ this used to be my fiefdom! This is exactly where Iid down my roots and began to assemble my own forces!!¡±

    ¡°Valley County is a part of Darkriver City, and I¡¯m none other than the Lord of Darkriver! I was blessed by the gods. Upon death, I found myself wandering about thend of extreme Yin. In five short years, I became an Anitya Hellguard. I then answered my calling and founded Darkriver City over here¡­ So, who do you think you are? Who gave you the permission to upy my territory like that?!¡±

    ¡°Here, I¡¯m the one with the final say! Not even the monarch beasts dare take a step into my territory without my permission! So what gives you the right to do something like that? You¡¯re no more than a fleeting speck of the former dynasty of Hell!¡±

    ¡°Times have changed. Things are no longer the same as they used to be in those bygone eras! It is now my time to shine!!¡±

    Boom!! His voice crescendoed to its peak, and the thin green veil was instantly flung wide open. Every single Yin spirit of his great army instantly hissed and roared in support of their king.

    But Qin Ye was undaunted, and he simply smiled, ¡°You must be rtively young and inexperienced.¡±

    The ferocious roar suddenly paused.

    ¡°You speak with a modern ir, and this tells me that¡­ you¡¯re still too green around the ears. You can afford to be more steady and resolute. Whilst I tend to maintain a young disposition about me, I still make it a point never to reveal my bottom line.¡± He smiled faintly, before gently taking a step back. This was because Arthis had finally looked up, and her hands were no longer moving.

    ¡°The Yin spirits of thest century truly know nothing¡­ Hahaha¡­¡±

    Just as Qin Ye began to retreat from his position, Arthis also took a step forward and nced at the zing skyntern that was ced in front of her. She muttered cidly, ¡°Are you responsible for this?¡±

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± Sha Xiangzu responded with another question, ¡°No need for thanks. After all, you¡¯ll be joining them in no time at all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m no longer in the mood for games. Kill them both.¡±

    With hismand, the Yin soldiers below instantly moved with an intense gaze. But just as the entire army began to move, copious of Yin energy suddenly erupted from Arthis¡¯ body like a surging tide, and her voice soon thundered as though it wasing from every single direction around, ¡°It¡¯s been centuries since I¡¯vest seen evil ghosts with the gall to challenge the authority of Hell¡­¡±

    Rumble¡­ Countless Yin soldiers poured forward with the tips of their spears aimed towards either Arthis or Qin Ye. The ground shook under the weight of their footsteps. But Arthis simply ignored their approach, ¡°But that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll let you personally experience the weight of the oft-cited phrase - By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse.¡±

    Snap. Everyone heard the crisp, soft snap of a finger.

    A split secondter, the multitude of advancing Yin soldiers suddenly stopped in unison and stared in front of them with great incredulity.

    That was because copious amounts ofherme was suddenly pouring out from the ground right where Qin Ye and Arthis were both standing!

    It was almost akin to a volcano eruption! Whitehermes poured out of the ground and rushed straight towards both Arthis and Qin Ye like a meteor shower before slowly enveloping and consuming the both of them.

    Shk! The man within the mobile residence drew the veil and revealed a shockinglyrge head that was approximately half a meter wide.

    It was none other than Sha Xiangzu.

    He was a young man with ordinary appearances, but hisplexion was tainted with a peculiar green hue. His skull was split right down the middle, while a terrifying scarlet me zed within his three eyes. His razor-sharp teeth protruded from his mouth in an interlocking fashion. Sha Xiangzu stared transfixed at the horrifying scene that was panning out in front of him.

    Yin energy¡­ What a powerful outpouring of Yin energy!

    It¡¯s not even inferior to thebined strength of my hundred thousand Yin soldiers in the slightest!

    This is¡­

    Whoosh!! A magnificent cosmic river suddenly emerged over Arthis'' and Qin Ye''s heads, while they both looked no different from the sun and the moon that radiated great light from the middle. Then, just when the Yin soldiers thought that they had seen it all, the whiteherme that had enveloped their bodies¡­ slowly transformed into another mighty army of Yin soldiers!

    Furthermore, they could all tell that this army wasn''t in any way weaker than they were! In fact, they could even sense that the Yin energy emanating from this mighty army appeared far more terrifying than theirs!

    How many of them are there¡­ Sha Xiangzu''s army nced around, but were dismayed to discover that the iing army simply appeared vast as the oceans.

    Just then, a dull war horn sounded, and Hell¡¯s army immediately mmed their shields on the grounds and raised the tips of their spears up high to face their enemies. Tens of thousands of bows and crossbows zed withhermes and karmic mes right behind the imposing line of shield-bearers and spearmen. And all of them surrounded Qin Ye and Arthis. "HOO-AH!!" With a great war cry, the entire army of troops stationed back in the military garrison trembled softly.

    tter¡­ Some of the loose tiles atop the houses slid off and shattered as soon as they struck the ground.

    A terrifyinghergale swept across thends. Then, Qin Ye slowly rose from the heart of his troops and addressed his troops with indifference, ¡°Everyone, tell them who we are?¡±

    ¡°BY HELL¡¯S DICTUM, ALL RABBLE SHALL DISPERSE!!!¡±

    It was an earth-shattering roar! If their earlier cries could be likened to a majestic and solemn oath, then their present shout would be no different from a fiery deration of victory! In fact, their roar was so powerful that their voices instantly melded together into a tangible sound wave that erupted with Yin energy and swept throughout their surroundings.

    ¡°Yin soldiers¡­ Hell¡¯s Yin soldiers?!¡± Two secondster, Sha Xiangzu snapped and screamed, ¡°Where the hell did you guyse from?! No¡­ how is this possible? Didn¡¯t a massive upheaval ur in Hell? How could so many Yin soldiers appear all of a sudden when we haven¡¯t seen the emergence of even a single one in thest hundred years?!¡±

    This was by no means any weaker than his own army. In fact, Sha Xiangzu could tell that the Yin energy at their disposal was of far better quality than what they had ess to!

    It was one thing to square off against two Infernal Judges in istion, and quite something else to confront tens of thousands of Yin soldiers altogether!

    Qin Ye continued coldly, ¡°Here¡¯s a lesson for you.¡±

    ¡°Everyone would have some cards hidden up their sleeves. And you apparently aren¡¯t important enough for Kong Mo to have disclosed these matters of importance to you.¡±

    Dead silence.

    The murderous intent diffusing from their confrontation was so strong that even the nearby monarch beasts subconsciously began to retreat. The tension in the air was so thick that it could practically be cut with a knife. The atmosphere was incredibly stifling.

    It was an unadulterated face-off.

    Soldier to soldier, and general to general. Spear against spear, and bow against bow.

    They stared at each other with an intense gaze in their eyes, while the Judges on both sides acknowledged the presence of the other.

    The faint stench of blood could even be detected drifting amidst the oppressive air about them.

    Everyone was waiting for the very samemand.

 Chapter 418: Battle of Darkriver (1)

    <h4>Chapter 418: Battle of Darkriver (1)</h4>

    This was the realm of spirits.

    Neither was prepared to give an inch to the other. A battle among soldiers numbering close to two hundred thousand was on the verge of breaking out. Even the Lord of Darkriver, Sha Xiangzu couldn¡¯t help but find his forehead percting with cold sweat.

    He obviously knew themand he needed to give, but he still hesitated.

    Despite all that, he still managed to pull himself together secondster, and he looked straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes as he bellowed with ferocity, ¡°Inform the Alliance of Darkness immediately!! Tell them that an army of Yin soldiers is closing in on them!! And the strength of the army is far beyond that which had swept through Valley County earlier--...¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, terrifying res ofherme immediately shot into the sky all around the military garrison. It was ostensibly a warning that escape was impossible.

    ¡°We¡¯ll only be able to leave this ce after the victor is clear. I¡¯ve admittedly taken quite some time in order to prepare this technique. Fortunately, someone was sensible enough to help buy me some time. Otherwise¡­ do you really think I¡¯d have the patience to talk such nonsense with you?¡±

    Damn it¡­ DAMN IT!!!

    ¡°Dare not make a move?¡± Qin Ye smiled as he slowly raised his hand, ¡°Then, why don¡¯t we draw the curtains on this act summarily? I wouldn¡¯t want to risk letting you escape alive by a stroke of luck.¡±

    ¡°Kill.¡±

    Damn it!

    He didn¡¯t know. All he knew was that Kong Mo had on several asions cautioned him against the armies of Hell. But do all these things really matter? I have an army of a hundred thousand Yin soldiers!

    ¡°Kill them all!¡± The green veil in the mobile residence fluttered wildly as Sha Xiangzu¡¯s furious bellow echoed throughout the entire military garrison. If the approach of Qin Ye¡¯s army of seventy thousand could already be described as the rivers rushing into the sea, then the charge of Sha Xiangzu¡¯s army of a hundred thousand would be no different from a roaring avnche from a towering mountain top. Both forces barrelled down straight towards each other and shed right in the middle of thends.

    The vanguard of Hell¡¯s forces were none other than the one thousand units of ck Armored Troops. They marched ahead of the rest of the army like indomitable gods of death, firmly putting a stop to the rush of Sha Xiangzu¡¯s troops.

    Sssss!!! Yaaaaaa!!! The one thousand units of ck Armored Troops were like an insurmountable mountain range to Sha Xiangzu¡¯s troops. Conversely, Sha Xiangzu¡¯s troops were likemb to the ughter to the devastating shes of their long swords. Sha Xiangzu¡¯s Yin soldiers screamed miserably as they were instantly cleaved into pieces, and their bodies promptly burnt up in a bright ze ofhermes. They weren¡¯t even able to slow down the march of Hell¡¯s forces at all!

    Whoosh!

    Sha Xiangzu¡¯s vanguard forces froze in fear in an instant, and their hands trembled softly. Soldiers weren¡¯t supposed to know fear, but¡­ they were truly terrified of what stood in front of them.

    It was on apletely different level from the Yin spirits they were used to seeing!

    Terrifying¡­ Every single one of Sha Xiangzu¡¯s Yin soldiers had the exact same thought on their mind in their final moments.

    Arthis snickered, ¡°What else did you think it would be? They don¡¯t have a significant numerical advantage over us, so on what basis do you think they have to stop the march of our forces? Do you think the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness has Oda Nobunaga or Yang Jiye training their Yin soldiers? You¡¯ve got to realize that your army is trained by historically renowned generals. But what about theirs?¡±

    Back in the mobile residence, Sha Xiangzu eximed hoarsely at the top of his voice, ¡°How is this possible?!¡± This battle had only begun just ten minutes ago, and yet his own vanguard forces were alreadypletely beaten down and routed, while his enemy¡¯s forces were clearly stillpletely unharmed. The casualties on his side numbered well in the thousands!

    Military formation!

    That said, the ck Armored Troops were clearly on route to a slow death. They had already taken down thousands of Yin soldiers, but the damage umting on their armor was also getting more and more apparent. But just then, a loud war horn red from deep within Hell¡¯s forces. With a loud cry, the ck Armored Troops suddenly bellowed loudly, before unleashing a powerful sh with all of their might.

    Retreated¡­ These demon gods have finally retreated!

    But their newfound excitement soon turned into abject despair.

    Gulp¡­ A young Yin soldier from Sha Xiangzu¡¯s faction tightened the grip around his spear even as his scalp tingled softly.

    They¡¯re on apletely different level¡­

    That said, such realization onlysted for a single moment.

    A split secondter, countless bowstrings twanged, and thousands of arrows pierced the skies, sending karmic fire crashing straight through the clouds before hurtling straight down onto the Yin spirits below!

    A crimson flower of me blossomed on the horizon, followed closely by karmic mes that appeared to have a life of their own. These mes homed madly into the nearby enemy Yin soldiers, causing everything they touched to instantly be reduced to ashes. But this time, rather than reducing the Yin spirits tohermes that flew into the air, the spots ofhermes were instantly consumed by the devastating karmic fire, subjecting them to an eternity of burning agony.

    Back in the mobile residence, the Lord of Darkriver found himselfpletely dumbfounded by what he was seeing.

    He had never expected to be defeated so one-sidedly.!

    He had only temporarily submitted to Kong Mo¡¯s tutge in order to learn more about his own potential. Admittedly, the strength of the Alliance of Darkness was undeniable. Kong Mo had many techniques up his sleeves, including various formations and arrays of all sorts. Unfortunately, Sha Xiangzu clearly wasn¡¯t qualified to be privy to all these things!

    That was only a mere ten thousand troops.

    And it wasn¡¯t only his expectations on the numbers. Hell¡¯s forces hadpletely crushed his own troops on every single front, be it appearance, armaments and overall abilities!

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum¡­ All rabble shall disperse?¡± He finally spoke with great trembling as he swept a stiff gaze across the devastation on the battlefield.

    How did things end up this way?!

    In fact, there were seven unique energy signatures in this wave of energy, and he could tell that these were all locked directly onto him right now.

    ¡°How dare you!!¡± With a furious roar, the veil of the mobile residence fluttered, and Sha Xiangzu rushed straight out towards the source of these energies.

    I¡¯ll only be able to escape from this dastardly technique if I take down all the leaders of Hell¡¯s forces!

    This is the only chance I¡¯ve got!

 Chapter 419: Battle of Darkriver (2)

    <h4>Chapter 419: Battle of Darkriver (2)</h4>

    ¡°What are you still waiting for?!¡± Sha Xiangzu turned to the seven Hellguards around him and bellowed with rage, ¡°Their army is incredibly strange, and I didn¡¯t bring much with me this time! My army--...¡±

    But what frightened him even more was the fact that he could see the dark silhouettes of the ten thousand Savage Tiger Raidersying in wait right behind the spear and shield formation. Like vipers, the tiger raiders were allying low, biding their time to deliver that fatal strike.

    ¡°Bunch of useless things!¡± He gnashed his teeth and retracted his gaze. His army had appeared powerful when they were trampling over the monarch beasts of the fields, but it was only when they encountered the genuine army of Hell that they finally revealed their true weaknesses!

    Two Judges¡­ damn it¡­ DAMN IT!

    The fear of the unknown had finally broken him. With a maddened shriek, Sha Xiangzu opened his bloody mouth, and his tongueshed out like a bolt of lightning, straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s jugr.

    The scarlet tongue was as quick as lightning, and there were even sounds of the air itself being torn apart. But just as it was about to plunge straight into Qin Ye¡¯s body, Yin energy suddenly began to pour out from Qin Ye¡¯s seven apertures. It was dark as ink, and it slowly began to blossom like a spider lily in the air, ¡°It looks like Kong Mo has concealed many things from you¡­ To think that you would even have the guts to approach an Emissary of Hell at the same level as you. Your courage is bothmendable¡­ andughable.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The majestic Yin energy billowing from Qin Ye¡¯s body had transformed into a terrifying vortex by now, and two spots of goldenhermes lit up from within, ¡°I¡¯ve always been a coward. And there¡¯s only a single exception to this rule.¡±

    ¡°Sigh. The evil ghosts of the recent century really don¡¯t know any better at all¡­¡±

    It was a soft action.

    ¡°Damn!!¡± The intense gaze in his eyes flickered wildly, and he immediately tossed out ten Yin artifacts as though they were loose change. These included a human skull with horns, a ne of finger bones, palm-sized skeleton puppets, and so on and so forth. Following that, his entire world suddenly grew silent, almost as though he had beenpletely cut off from the rest of the world.

    ¡°This--...¡± The seven Hellguards surrounding him had barely managed to escape to the side just as Qin Ye was making his move. They stared with their jaws hanging low as they stared at the source of the Yin energy eruption, where Sha Xiangzu had been just moments ago. It had already transformed into a terrifying ck hole, and they could even hear Sha Xiangzu screaming tragically from within. The terrifyinghergale generated by the shockwaves sent ripples fluttering through their clothes.

    Are they truly the fabled existence of Hell that I¡¯ve heard so much about just before I died?

    The terrifying aura of an Infernal Judge bore down so strongly on them that they didn¡¯t even dare to move a single muscle. Just then, the ball of Yin energy finally began to fade away, revealing the silhouette of a man who still appeared intact, albeit barely. His hair was now disheveled, while his skin was clearlycerated in more ces than it was intact.

    The seven Hellguards jolted out of their stupor and stared at each other with great fear in their eyes.

    One of the Hellguards immediately gasped in horror, ¡°Then, what about you?¡±

    His words sent chills running down the spines of the Hellguards. They didn¡¯t even respond. Instead, they immediately shrieked in terror as they transformed into seven roaring streams ofhergale and rushed straight down at the armies below.

    Gulp¡­ Dozens of Hell¡¯s Yin soldiers were immediately consumed by the rushing Hellguards. Then, with a few sickening crunches, the Yin soldiers were reduced to nothing more than wisps of Yin energy that slowly seeped back out of his lips.

    Boom!!

    Terrifying¡­ This is simply too terrifying!

    That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯m a Hellguard. I¡¯ll kill them¡­ I¡¯ll kill them all! We still have a way out!

    The overbearing terror had triggered the most primal of instincts in the hearts of the Hellguards. The bald old many on all fours on the ground, surrounded by an encirclement of valiant Yin soldiers from Hell. The army of Sha Xiangzu followed closely behind him. He stretched out his scarlet tongue and licked his pale lips, ¡°Charge¡­ and kill! All who retreat shall die!!!¡±

    The Yin soldiers of the Alliance of Darkness behind them drew a deep breath. The presence of a Hellguard reinvigorated them with great confidence. They had earlier felt lost and hopeless because Hell¡¯s forces felt practically invincible. But now¡­ don¡¯t they have the assistance of a powerful Hellguard that was leading the charge ahead of them?

    Onward! Let¡¯s trample over the enemy forces! We won¡¯t stop until they¡¯re all dead! Their eyes gleamed with bloodthirstiness. Spears and swords shed mightily, and Yin spirits shrieked as they were reduced into clumps ofhermes. As soon as the ones heading the charge were felled, the backlines immediately rushed over to fill their ce. The battlefield was merciless and boiling with passion, so much so that even the most cowardly of Yin spirits felt their soulspletely aroused and ignited with bloodlust. One by one, and wave after wave, they continued to pour forward, as they threw themselves at their opponents, doing everything they could to take down as many as they could before they were cut down.

    And they weren¡¯t the only ones.

    In the southeast corner, Hell¡¯s forces could be seen backing off from their opponents, leaving arge berth of a hundred meters. Thousands of Hell¡¯s forces held up a wall of shields in a tight formation, leaving just enough room for spears to protrude from the formation. At the same time, thousands of spots of Karmic Fire Divine Crossbow bolts were clearly raised above the shields and aimed towards the center of their encirclement.

    She was wearing a ck halter dress, andpletely barefooted. Her hair draped down all around her shoulders, and she was hugging herself as she screamed and trembled, ¡°How terrifying¡­ how fearsome!¡±

    She didn¡¯t have any facial features at all.

    As though staring, she swept the gaping hole across the surrounding Yin soldiers as she muttered with a trembling voice, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯m an Anitya Hellguard¡­ I¡¯ve already died once, so there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of¡­ nothing¡­ nothing at all¡­¡±

    The scarlet eyes underneath the curtain of ck hair finally turned from fear to calm, ¡°I¡¯m a Hellguard indeed¡­ Hehehe¡­¡±

    The Yin soldiers of the Alliance of Darkness followed closely behind her with an earth-shattering roar, ¡°Chaaaaaarge!!!¡± With that, they rushed straight into the enemy forces after their Hellguard general.

    This was the battle song of shing armaments and abounding Yin energy. It was a battlefield of the undead. Nethermes marking the end of a Yin spirit¡¯s life flourished with every moment that passed, while the grim, ck armaments and dark Yin energy covered the entire Darkriver City with a terrifying ck sheen. One of the alliance¡¯s Yin spirits pulled out his spear from the chest of one of Hell¡¯s soldiers, trembling with excitement as he saw his opponent transform into a clump ofherme - Amazing¡­ such ecstasy¡­ But in the very next moment, he, too, found another spear running straight through his chest.

    The only thing that could strike fear in an evil ghost¡¯s heart was another evil ghost.

    And the only way to end a battle was through battle itself.

 Chapter 420: Battle of Darkriver (3)

    <h4>Chapter 420: Battle of Darkriver (3)</h4>

    The alliance¡¯s soldiers were greeted by rows of shield walls with protruding spears that appeared no different from the teeth of wolves.

    However, there was no fear in their eyes.

    Even rabbits would be filled with the courage of lions in such a stirring environment. Countless Yin spirits locked eyes with their opponents across a backdrop of endlesshermes. But, even then, not a single Yin spirit retreated anymore. The only thought in their minds right now was to kill and destroy each other.

    The front lines shed, and the seven Hellguards plunged straight into the ranks of Hell¡¯s forces. Nethermes filled the sky wherever they passed, and Hell soon took over a thousand casualties in the blink of an eye. Yang Yanzhao was astonished to see Hell¡¯s forces breaking ranks at the location of the seven Hellguards, and he furrowed his brows, ¡°Hellguards? Are they already revealing their cards? And don¡¯t these Hellguards have any bodyguards at that? They¡¯re just rushing headlong into our armies with wanton disregard for their own lives? Are they nuts?¡±

    Mu Guiyin remarked from behind, ¡°Do they even know what military tactics are? As soon as we stem the flow of the wave that they¡¯re currently riding, their surge of passion would immediately dip, and they would no longer be able to muster any fighting spirit beyond that.¡±

    The army of Hell was retreating slightly, but Yang Yanzhao didn¡¯t panic in the slightest. He nced around at the people in front of him, ¡°Who¡¯s willing to go?¡±

    One of the female generals immediately responded, ¡°I am. How dare they charge right in front of their armies without any fear of Hell¡¯s forces at all? The Yin spirits of recent times truly know nothing about us at all¡­¡±

    With that, she transformed into a stream ofhergale that rushed straight into battle.

    West of the battlefield. ¡°Ahhhahahaha¡­¡± An obese middle-aged woman wearing ill-fitting nanny clothes hurtled straight for Hell¡¯s forces, leaving a trail of smoke and dust wherever she passed. The alliance¡¯s soldiers shouted at the top of their voices as they charged right after her, going around her massive body as they shed against the rest of Hell¡¯s shield formation.

    She appeared no different from a heavy tank, plummeting straight into Hell¡¯s forces and sting Yin soldiers about wherever she passed. Within moments, she breached a massive gap in the formation of Hell¡¯s western army, and the alliance soldiers poured into the breach right after her.

    She nced fearfully at the sky, before roaring at the Yin soldiers around her, ¡°Hurry up! Get in there and ughter everyst one of them! All who retreat shall be annihted! Or are you waiting for Lord Sha to indict you with the skyntern punishment?!!¡±

    Punishment was naturally the best motivation!

    We¡¯ve only got this one window of opportunity. If Sha Xiangzu can¡¯t hold out any longer, and the Infernal Judges in the sky turn to us¡­ She didn¡¯t dare dwell on such thoughts any longer.

    ¡°Chaaaaaaarge!!!¡± The Yin soldiers behind her poured forth like a surging tide. Lord Sha¡¯s banners flew high in the sky. The obesedy was just about to charge into the breach after the alliance¡¯s soldiers when she suddenly froze in ce and turned to look at her own calf.

    For some strange reason, she discovered that her leg was now tethered to a long silver chain.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± She blinked vacantly and gazed towards the middle of Hell¡¯s forces.

    And just as she did, an even more tyrannical Hellguard-ss Yin energy erupted from the midst of Hell¡¯s forces. It was clear that this hidden entity was making its presence known to the alliance¡¯s Hellguards.

    The advancing Yin soldiers instantly froze in shock. Simultaneously, the obesedy subconsciously let out a shrill shriek as she noticed herself suddenly being dragged through the air by the chain tethered to her calf!

    tter, tter¡­ Her body dug deep grooves through the ground as she was dragged back helplessly. How could such a thin iron chain be so strong?! What the hell is at the other end of the chain?

    ¡°How¡­ is this¡­ possible?!¡± She was dragged along the ground quicker and quicker. All the Yin soldiers obstructing her path of travel were instantly sent flying away, while sand and dirt scattered everywhere. She fought hard to look up at the source of the chain, but as soon as she did, her face quickly plunged back into the dirt, and she bounced up with a clump of soil in her mouth.

    She didn¡¯t manage to get a good look at the person at the end of the chain.

    Unfortunately, the fear in her heart only grew, because she soon noticed all six of her other fellow Hellguards being dragged towards the exact same location! Seven locations on the battleground were kicking up a cloud of sand and dust as the alliance¡¯s Hellguards were involuntarily dragged towards the exact same location.

    It was almost as though a giant spider were pulling all of its prey towards itself.

    ¡°Is this an Emissary of hell as well?!¡± The faceless female ghost cried out in fear as she stared at the chains tightly wrapped around its neck. Her hair plunged straight into the ground, desperately trying to anchor herself to the ground and resist the tug of the chains, but to no avail.

    They feltpletely helpless, no different from a farmer¡¯s plow as they were dragged through the fields of the battlegrounds. Several secondster, the faceless female ghost cried out in shock as she felt her body being tugged into the air.

    Boom, boom, boom¡­ Everything had happened in no more than a dozen or so seconds. The alliance¡¯s Yin soldiers looked up with intense terror. Their Hellguard generals had all vanished as quickly as they had arrived in the first ce. All that was left were seven deep grooves in the ground, all of which appeared to converge at a particr location among Hell¡¯s forces.

    What could have dragged our Hellguard generals away?

    The surging trajectory of their morale had suddenly taken a turn for the peculiar. The Yin soldiers exchanged awkward nces, not knowing what to do. Not a single one of them continued their charge ahead.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Pttoooi! The faceless female ghost spat out a mouthful of mud from her mouth and stood up with a huff. The six other Hellguards from the alliance were located around her as well. Each of them were also slowly mbering back to their feet.

    The first thing that they noticed was how they had once again found themselves in the heart of a massive encirclement of troops.

    This was an encirclement of troops formed by Hell¡¯s soldiers altogether. The diameter of the circle was approximately three to four hundred meters wide, and a wall of shield interspersed with protruding spears stood erect all around them. They could even see the menacing re of Karmic Fire Divine Crossbow bolts zing all around them, as numerous as the stars in the sky.

    Dead silence.

    It was evidently the calm before the storm.

    In fact, it was almost as though thesends were a graveyard for Yin spirits - for them.

    But none of these mattered at this point in time.

    What was more important was the fact that there was a single Yin spirit standing right in front of the seven of them.

    It was a woman, d in leather clothes of ancient nomads. Her hair was neatly tied up in pigtails, and she sported refined features, including a high nose bridge, deep eyes, and an unusually tall figure. She carried two long des behind her back.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± All seven Hellguards of the alliance had already worked with each other for some time now, and they promptly stood back to back in a circle as they confronted the soledy who was staring down at them. However, the nomadicdy simply ignored their anxiety as she slowly pulled out the sabers behind her back, inch by inch.

    In some ways, she appeared no different from a slowly-blooming red spider lily.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that an army like that can still muster the courage to fight back against us.¡± The nomadicdy held the sabers in front of her and scrutinized the appearances of her opponents on the t surfaces of her sabers.

    ¡°So, you were the ones, huh¡­¡± A softhergale swept through the battlefield, gently tousling the nomadicdy¡¯s long hair. She continued cidly, ¡°I guess we should be able to end this battle as soon as I take you down. I¡¯ve got to say, having traveled with the genuine army of Hell, you guys sure as hell are boring.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just you?¡± The obese middle-ageddy gnashed her teeth and sneered back, ¡°A nascent Hellguard-ss Yin spirit dares to challenge seven Hellguards all by herself?¡±

    The nomadicdy finallyughed, and she raised her arms. Instantly, over thirty saber-wielding arms suddenly blossomed all around her!

    Yin energy erupted from her body and poured out from her seven apertures all at once, causing her to look no different from a hellish asura. Her Yin energy clearly wasn¡¯t strong, yet the seven Hellguards of the alliance immediately shrieked in unison and instinctively retreated tens of meters at once.

    It¡¯s that thing again!

    It¡¯s that suffocating pressure again! They clearly didn¡¯t know what exactly it was, yet they could still sense that it was the very same feeling that stirred a palpable fear in their hearts. They felt like rabbits confronting a ferocious tiger, or gazelles facing a lion.

    She felt like a natural predator to them! She exuded the presence of someone standing at the top of the food chain!

    ¡°Pfft. Challenging me?¡± The nomadicdy was slowly but surely turning hazy and illusory from the outpouring of Yin energy, yet her striking scarlet eyes clearly continued to stare intently at the seven, ¡°Don¡¯t you think you guys are mistaken about something?¡±

    ¡°Evil ghosts of the recent century truly don¡¯t know anything at all¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Huyan Chijin, Emissary of Hell of the Yang n. The least you could do is to remember the name of the Emissary who bestowed the mercy of death upon you.¡±

    With that, she tore through the air like lightning, and the entire domain of their confrontation promptly darkened.

    The surrounding Yin soldiers immediately gasped in horror. They saw it all. A massive shadow had suddenly appeared and transformed into a ck sphere that consumed all seven Anitya Hellguards of the alliance. A split secondter, the silhouettes of thirty hands showed up from within the ck sphere, all of which were attached to a body that appeared no different from a merciless Rakshasa!

    ¡°Fengdu¡¯s Flourish, Ghosts of Sorrow.¡±

    Whoosh!

    Innumerable de lights instantly erupted from within the ck sphere. Like constetions in the sky, the flurry of attacks left terrifying trails in their wake. The thirty arms moved gracefully through the air with dignity and poise, drawing perfect trajectories across the entire ck sphere, triggering seven miserable screams from the grim, ck sphere.

    ¡°SSSS!!!¡± ¡°AAAARGGGHHH!! This¡­ this is impossible!!¡± ¡°What the hell is this thing?! Why hasn¡¯t Lord Sha told us about these things before?!¡± ¡°Impossible¡­ she can¡¯t be a nascent Hellguard-ss YIn spirit!¡±

    Shk shk shk shk¡­ There was order in the chaotic flurry of de attacks. Fifteen secondster, the ck sphere exploded, and Huyan Chijin stepped out from it in her Yin spirit form. Seven clumps ofhermes hovered softly beside her.

    A gently breeze swept by andpletely snuffed out the driftinghermes.

    There was no struggle.

    There was no resistance.

    They were no match for her at all.

    It was apletely one-sided fight!

    The surrounding Yin spirits froze for a few moments, before a few finally managed to pull themselves together, ¡°Vic-... Victory!!!¡±

    ¡°Victory!!¡± ¡°Victory to Lady Chijin!¡± ¡°Lady Chijin is brave and invincible!! Victory!!¡±

    The thrill and excitement of instantly disposing of seven Hellguards of the alliance immediately filled Hell¡¯s forces with great pride and confidence. It was their general who had achieved such great feats! The Yin soldiers of the alliance would never be a match for them no matter how hard they tried!

    ¡°Glory to Lady Chijin!!¡± ¡°Victory!¡± The roars of victory surged like a tide and spread like a virus. Within moments, their cheers of victory spread across the entire army! The earth-shattering cheers caused the vanguard forces of Hell to be reinvigorated with great passion. Soon after, a sergeant leapt forward with his spear and yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°Everyone, chaaaaarge!!!¡±

    ¡°Yaaaaaaaaaa!!!¡± At once, tens of thousands of troops tightened their grips around their shields and spears and rushed forward with their final assault on the enemy forces.

    ¡°Spread the word.¡± Huyan Chijin sheathed her sabers coldly, ¡°The seven Hellguards are now dead. We spare only those who surrender to us.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    Almost every sergeant of Hell¡¯s forces had reacted in the exact same manner. Most of them were sergeants who had served under Yang Jiye in all too many battles, and they could easily read the flow of the battle. Naturally, they could all tell that it was time to end it all.

    ¡°Chaaaaarge!!¡± The entire battlefield trembled with their cries, ¡°The seven Hellguards have perished. Hell has won the battle! Spare only those who surrender!¡±

    These words were like a stimnt for all of Hell¡¯s forces. On the other hand, the Yin soldiers of the Alliance of Darkness simply exchanged awkward nces of great disbelief. Although Hell¡¯s forces were now no more than thirty meters away from them, none of them knew how to react to the situation.

    We¡¯ve¡­ lost?

    Our Hellguard generals have perished?

    Weren¡¯t they still charging valiantly into the enemy lines just a moment ago? How did they all perish in just a few short moments?

    ¡°We can¡¯t win¡­¡± One of the alliance¡¯s Yin soldiers trembled as he stared at the advance of Hell¡¯s soldiers, ¡°This is a bona fide army of hell¡­ We¡¯ve--...¡±

    Pshk!

    A spear plunged straight through his chest before he could even finish speaking. His eyes dulled, and his body soon transformed into nothing more than a clump ofherme. The multitude of Yin soldiers behind immediately threw their spears onto the ground, ¡°I surrender! I surrender!!¡±

    One by one, the number of Yin soldiers surrendering soon spread throughout the entire army!

    In an instant, the entire battlefield was covered with Yin soldiers that were kneeling in submission on the ground.

    The morale of the alliance¡¯s army hadpletely copsed.

    The courage that was stoked by the appearance of their Hellguard generals had faded together with their death. Back in the sky, Sha Xiangzu heard the sound of surrender ringing out across the battlefield, and his expression immediately turned ashen.

    How can this be¡­ Seven Hellguards! These are my precious generals who have followed me for over a decade!

    He wanted to deny everything, but no matter what he did, he simply wasn¡¯t able to detect the presence of the seven Hellguards from anywhere on the battlefield any longer. As far as he could tell, the situation below had quickly taken a turn for the worst. What had appeared to be an impasse just moments ago had quickly devolved into aplete copse of his own army¡¯s morale.

    ¡°Do you think this is merely an ident?¡± An intense vortex of Yin energy continued to swirl across Sha Xiangzu. Qin Ye chuckled from within it, ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel bad about this. I¡¯ll tell you why Kong Mo was so terrified of us when he first noticed our appearance, so much so that he even mobilized the entire army against a single Yin spirit.¡±

    Boom!

    His Judgment Pen appeared in the clouds. This time, it was clearly gathering far more energy than before, and they could even see a faint trace of Zhong Kui¡¯s silhouette peeking through the cloud of Yin energy around the Judgement Pen in the sky.

    And then, he pushed the brush forward slightly. The entire canopy of the skies trembled wildly.

    ¡°It¡¯s because Emissaries of Hell possess the ability to instakill all evil ghosts at the same cultivation level as them. Like I said, Yin spirits of recent years truly know nothing at all.¡±

 Chapter 421: Prisoner of War (1)

    <h4>Chapter 421: Prisoner of War (1)</h4>

    Sha Xiangzu stared intently at Qin Ye. A crystal clear baby skeleton was suspended in the air right in front of him. This was the artifact that had prevented Qin Ye from taking him down all this while.

    Their duel hadsted some moments, and it was already apparent to Sha Xiangzu that Qin Ye didn¡¯t have any spells or techniques hidden up his sleeves. All Qin Ye did was to repeatedly blot the air in front of him with the brush in hand. And yet, to Sha Xiangzu¡¯s dismay, he simply couldn¡¯t do anything to block these attacks at all!

    He had no choice but to resort to the crystal skeleton that had earlier been bestowed upon him by Kong Mo. In fact, the skeleton had started out pitch ck, but over time, its colour had faded substantially, and it was even beginning to show signs of cracking on its surface. Sha Xiangzu had a feeling that all it took was a single more attack, and his Yin artifact would shatterpletely.

    I can¡¯t drag this out any longer¡­ He nced around at his surroundings, only to realize that there was still the Infernal Judge waiting nearby, tracking his gaze and showing up in his field of vision wherever he looked. There was simply no room for escape at all!

    Regret. He was finally regretting his actions.

    I shouldn¡¯t havee¡­ I should never have disregarded Kong Mo¡¯s admonition. Unfortunately, his realization hade far toote.

    Boom! Meanwhile, the vortex of Yin energy directly opposite him erupted, and a pitch ck bolt of lightning that was half a meter thick roared from the tip of the brush andpletely obscured his entire field of vision. The vault of the heavens trembled violently at the appearance of this terrifying bolt of lightning. A deafening crackle silenced everything around.

    CRACK¡­ Even the air it passed sounded like it was shattering under the weight of its incredible might. Sha Xiangzu gasped in horror, and poured all of his energy into the crystal skeleton hovering feebly in front of him. But as soon as the bolt of lightning came into contact with the skeleton, it shatteredpletely with a soft, crisp clink.

    ¡°I--...¡± Before he could evenmunicate his intention to surrender, he instantly felt his entire soul on fire, and an excruciating pain surged throughout his body. He threw his head back reflexively and widened his eyes in horror as he screamed at the top of his voice, ¡°AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!¡±

    A massive column of lightning had flickered for a moment, followed closely by Sha Xiangzu¡¯s intense cry of agony. This was a sight that was witnessed by all of the soldiers below. Within moments, the alliance¡¯s soldiers silently lowered their weapons.

    A multitude of paper spears and swords fell to the ground in an instant. The military garrison that was filled with the mes of war was finally granted a moment of reprieve for a much needed breather. The tide of Hell¡¯s forces hadpletely overrun the city, leaving tens of thousands of unarmed Yin spirits kneeling on the ground with their hands over their heads inplete submission.

    Thud¡­ Sha Xiangzu fell from the sky and mmed straight into the ground, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust. He struggled to open his eyes, only to witness his own g being torn asunder by the enemy forces.

    It¡¯s over¡­

    It¡¯s all over¡­ He closed his eyes in anguish. But, just then, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him.

    ¡°Lord of Darkriver?¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly as he spoke down onto the forlorn man, ¡°You weren¡¯t that impressive after all.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be wise not to be too gleeful just yet!¡± Sha Xiangzu gritted his teeth and forced his eyes open once more, ¡°You¡¯re heading for Qufu, aren¡¯t you? Go on, then¡­ Hahaha¡­ Lord Kong is going to avenge me for sure¡­¡±

    ¡°Would you like to ept a conferment of title in Hell?¡±

    All of a sudden, Sha Xiangzu found all of his wordspletely lodged in his throat, and he stared at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost. Qin Ye stood right where he was, with folded arms, staring back at Sha Xiangzu with a favourable gaze in his eyes.

    ¡°I--...¡±

    ¡°Yes or no?¡± A softhergale swept by and tousled his robes. Qin Ye gently straightened his outfit, ¡°ept your conferment, and you¡¯ll be an official Emissary of Hell. You, too, will be imbued with the ability to stop a hundred Yin spirits with a single strike of yours. So long as your enemy is an evil ghost of the same level of cultivation as you, you will be able tough in their faces and treat them as a kid.¡±

    He nced at Sha Xiangzu, ¡°Just like how I did to you.¡±

    Sha Xiangzu drew a deep breath and shut his eyes once more.

    His heart thumped wildly! Ah, that¡¯s right - he didn¡¯t have a heart to begin with.

    Three secondster, his eyes snapped open, and he nodded desperately!

    Even an idiot knew that the government was where one could find the most job security. And this was especially since¡­ the government that had approached him was far stronger than he had thought!

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qin Ye turned around, ¡°Lord Yang, get someone to take this man in. I¡¯ve got some things I¡¯d like to ask him first.¡±

    Then, he brought Arthis along and entered a nearby dpidated building. As soon as they entered, Arthis hurriedly turned to him and asked with a soft voice, ¡°Are you really prepared to spare him?¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that even possible?¡± Qin Ye stared back at Arthis with incredulity, ¡°How dare he put the citizens and officials of Hell through the skyntern punishment?! What are others going to think if I spare his life? Would anyone even willingly recognize him as a fellow official of Hell?¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t you earlier say--...¡±

    ¡°You believe what I said earlier?!¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m d you¡¯re at least somewhat sensible¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, someone helped Sha Xiangzu to his feet.

    It was only then that he noticed how his entire surroundings were nowpletely in ruins. Buildings were in mes, and broken tiles were scattered everywhere. The aftermath of his surroundings revealed that a great battle had just torn through the area. Farther away, he could see that the soldiers of the alliance were all kneeling in the ground. He sighed wistfully, and turned his head to follow Hell¡¯s representative.

    Behind him, all of the generals of the Yang n stared at him with an intense re in their eyes.

    There were at least four hundred bowmen armed with Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows standing around the abandoned house, aiming their weapons at Sha Xiangzu and ready to release at the earliest signs of trouble.

    There was no path left for him but to enter the door. He knew better than to misbehave at this very moment. Thus, he entered the door silently, only to discover that there was even a chair that had earlier been prepared for him.

    ¡°Sit down.¡± Arthis stood behind Sha Xiangzu. Qin Ye sat right in front of him, nodding and smiling at him, ¡°Hell never treats its own people poorly. But, I¡¯m afraid those thoughts would have to be shelved for the moment.¡±

    Sha Xiangzu nodded in silence. He felt safe. Nobody treated prisoners of war in this manner. It felt equitable and respectful. This wasn¡¯t something that could be easily feigned to begin with.

    The room fell silent. Secondster, one of the ck Armored Troops walked in withrge strides, and reported with an impassioned voice, ¡°My Lord! Commander of the ck Armored Troops, Zhao Seven, reporting in.¡±

    ¡°Over 67,000 enemy Yin soldiers were killed in action, with the remaining 30,000 captured. Spoils of war include over 40,000 sets of armors, spears and shields, 30,000 bows and quivers of arrows, and over 20,000 crossbows and quivers of bolts. We await my lord¡¯s instructions on how the captives are to be dealt with.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes instantly lit up.

    War riches¡­

    Spears and shields, armor, bows and arrows, crossbows and bolts¡­ These were all military products that weren¡¯t in production in Hell just yet! To think that such a great harvest would arise from a single battle!

    The strength of Hell¡¯s military forces would never stagnate at a mere ten thousand forever. Beyond that, Yang Jiye¡¯s army would also have to return some day, particrly when the Felipinas was the gateway to the water body leading directly to Cathay. They were needed to keep prying eyes of other underworlds at bay!

    But the greatest spoil of war was undoubtedly¡­ people! No--... ghosts!

    ¡°What about the casualties on our side?¡±

    ¡°Response. 6,400 Yin soldiers were killed in action. Most of these had been decimated by the enemy¡¯s Hellguard generals before they were summarily disposed of by our own Lady Chijin. All in all, this can be considered a great victory for us!¡±

    Qin Ye deliberated for a moment before finally responding. ¡°Make arrangements for the assimtion of their numbers into the rest of our army. Break them up into separate units, and have themanders take note of their presence. I¡¯ll have my own arrangements for themter on.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhao Seven left the room. Qin Ye sank back leisurely into his chair and propped his head up with a single hand. He crossed his legs and continued cidly, ¡°Hell might ept your defection, but the exact arrangements to be made depends entirely on the value of the intelligence you can provide us with. Do you¡­ understand what I¡¯m getting at?¡±

    The negotiations have begun¡­ Sha Xiangzu pursed his lips and nodded deeply.

    Between his pride and his life, thetter was clearly of greater importance.

    And since everyone had already decided to surrender, then there was no reason not to bare it all at once. After all, what use was there keeping these information to himself?

    ¡°Very well. I like a Yin spirit who knows how to behave himself. First question - why are you here?¡± Qin Ye narrowed his eyes, ¡°I don¡¯t believe you were able to sense Hell¡¯s approach from afar, yet you still somehow managed to appear just as we emerged from the underworld.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all a coincidence.¡± Sha Xiangzu responded respectfully, ¡°This city was something I¡¯d been developing ever since my death. Naturally, it was no bigger than just a few dpidated houses at the beginning. Later, Lord Kong Mo - sorry - Kong Mo came down and helped to expand the city, making it a fiefdom and appointing me as his subordinate. At the instigation of Kong Mo, I was also involved in the earlier attempt at assassinating you. Back then, the situation wasplex and urgent, and all troops were ordered to withdraw back to Qufu. I knew that an established city like this would never be abandoned by the iing forces, so I--...¡±

    He hesitated for a moment and nced at Qin Ye. However, Qin Ye simply smiled genially, ¡°You can speak your mind. It¡¯s all in the past now. I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Arthis couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes - Such hypocrisy!!!

    If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would¡¯ve thought that the man gnashing his teeth for revenge earlier was apletely different person!

    Sha Xiangzu lowered his head and drew a deep breath, ¡°I knew you would never abandon this city, and might even return in the near future to inspect the spoils of war. So, if I could seize that opportunity to annihte all of Hell¡¯s forces, then¡­ I¡¯d be able to dispose of one of the main threats against Darkriver City altogether.¡±

    He continued respectfully, ¡°But Your Excellency needn¡¯t worry. This city belongs to Hell now. Your subordinate has got no intention of seizing it back!¡±

    Your subordinate huh¡­ Arthis smiled contemptuously - What a smooth change of allegiance¡­ Why does it feel like I see a particr someone in you?

    ¡°I¡¯m d that you have such harmonious intentions. Hell''s policy is to destroy all resistance and assimte all willing parties in order to unify Cathay once more.¡± Qin Ye smiled and nodded, ¡°Second question - is the base of operations currently located in Qufu right now? I¡¯m particrly curious about Qufu, including how it came to be, how long ago it was constructed, and how their military strength and defenses currently are. You¡­ wouldn¡¯t mind telling me all this information, would you?¡±

    Sha Xiangzu¡¯s eyes flickered wildly. Even a daft person would be able to tell that this was the core of the information Qin Ye was after!

    Where else could Hell be sending such arge army towards?

    They had ostensiblye from the south, and had clearly chosen to take the route through Insignia Province and Breakwaters Province. Their objective was clearly Qufu! Thus, he knew full well that if he didn¡¯t respond well enough to Qin Ye¡¯s question right now, then everything Qin Ye had promised him to date would simply evaporate into thin air.

    Therefore, he mulled over the question for the next thirty seconds. Qin Ye didn¡¯t rush him either. After thirty seconds, Sha Xiangzu looked up with renewed determination in his eyes, ¡°My Lord¡­ You¡­ wouldn¡¯t be lying to me, would you?¡±

    ¡°How could I be?¡± Qin Ye smiled sincerely, ¡°A promise is a promise. We have a gentleman¡¯s agreement. Besides, there¡¯s no reason for me to take back what I¡¯ve said.¡±

    Sha Xiangzu took a deep breath, retracted his smile and then finally began to exin, ¡°Qufu is indeed the main base of operations of the Alliance of Darkness. But its origins¡­ are subject to divergent opinions.¡±

    ¡°Divergent opinions?¡± Qin Ye frowned.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Sha Xiangzu looked Qin Ye straight in the eyes, ¡°Nobody knows how it came to be. It¡¯s almost as if, overnight, a city suddenly appeared right at Qufu.

    ¡°I¡¯ve only died not too long ago. Truth be told, I didn¡¯t have a strong lingering grievance, and I wasn¡¯t entitled to enter Hell at all. Instead, I was fated to drift about within the mortal realm. It just so happens that the ce where I was buried was none other than the pit of a thousand - and of extreme Yin that is a rarity among all rarities. If you flip through the records of the Public Security Bureau to the urrences just twenty-five years ago, you¡¯d notice that there were a slew of unsolved murder mysteries with headless victims. Anyway, I slowly developed a spiritual awareness due to thend in which I was buried. And just as my spiritual awareness fully awakened, Kong Mo came looking for me.¡±

    Then, as though immersed in distressing memories, he shut his eyes and furrowed his brows with a pained expression on his face, ¡°He was strong¡­ terrifyingly strong. I mean, his strength might merely be on par with the three strongest Judges in the Alliance of Darkness, but he¡­ has ess to an incredible wealth of artifacts and wisdom that sets him apart from the rest of us!¡±

    ¡°He possesses antern that exudes a Prefect-ss aura. That in itself is already terrifying enough. But do you know he has two other artifacts of simr capabilities?! Back then, I had no choice but to ede to any request he was making. And this was despite the fact that I¡¯d already assembled three Hellguards around me and thousands of Yin soldiers at that time!¡±

    ¡°He took me to Qufu¡­¡± He opened his eyes and continued with a hoarse voice, ¡°And that was the first time that I saw a city as magnificent as that.¡±

    ¡°It was like travelling back in time and personally experiencing the splendour of the cities of the Tang Dynasty¡­ It was as though a sprawling city over a thousand years old had opened up right in front of my eyes! My Lord, it was a sight that I¡¯d never forget for the rest of my life! It¡¯s practically indescribable! It¡¯spletely and utterly glorious and overwhelming!¡±

 Chapter 422: Prisoner of War (2)

    <h4>Chapter 422: Prisoner of War (2)</h4>

    Based on what Sha Xiangzu was saying, it was clear that Qufu¡­ was an incredibly developed city!

    ¡°Forty square kilometers?¡± Qin Ye asked with a burning gaze in his eyes. That was already twice asrge as what Hell had initially predicted.

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°Sixty?¡±

    ¡°Eighty?¡±

    A hundred square kilometers!!

    We¡¯re no longer just talking about great losses over here¡­ It could practically even be a bloodbath!

    This was because they wouldn¡¯t even be able to patrol the streets of a city that size without that many troops around.

    Yang Yanzhao, Oda Nobutada, Mu Guiying, and the rest were all deep in thought. None of them were smiling any longer. It was as though the prospects of victory had just slippedpletely out of their grasp. Qufu¡¯s development waspletely outside of their expectations! Granted, if they were able to take down Qufu, the entire city would be theirs. But besieging a city that size was something far more easily said than done. In fact, it was a mission that was nigh impossible!

    ¡°I was the twelfth Judge to join the alliance. I asked the other Judges about Qufu City, but¡­ their answers werepletely mind-boggling to me!¡±

    ¡°Reflection Pce?!¡± Arthis suddenly eximed in shock.

    Arthis reeled in shock for the next few moments, before slowly murmuring to herself, ¡°How is this possible¡­ How can something like that be with a great sinner of the Confucius Family?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s able to take a snapshot of one of Hell¡¯s cities, and then reproduce the city in whole at a location of the user¡¯s choice! That¡¯s right¡­ if memory serves me well, this might well be the only object that can possibly cause a city to appear out of thin air! But¡­ an artifact like this wouldn¡¯t even be easily found in the possession of a direct descendent of the Confucius Family, so how could a great sinner of their family have his hands on something as precious as that?!¡±

    ¡°Impossible! The Mythic Pce of Reflections is the only artifact that can achieve such effects!¡± Arthis responded with categorical determination.

    Both Qin Ye and Yang Yanzhao immediately noticed the crux of the matter.

    That¡¯s right¡­ This must have been how hended his hands on the Peach Blossom Lantern in the first ce.

    ¡°Kong Mo is one thing¡­¡± Arthis bit down on her lower lip, ¡°What I¡¯m more concerned about is¡­ which city did he reproduce in Qufu?¡±

    Sha XIangzu frowned deeply for a minute, before finally shaking his head, ¡°It¡¯s too big. I haven¡¯t had the chance to go around the city at all. Whenever we go to Qufu, it¡¯s always for an official reason, and we¡¯d always be escorted to specific locations for our meetings. Kong Mo would never allow us to visit other parts of it¡­ Ah, that¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°The stone stele is very old ,but there are some words that have been inscribed on the stele. I can¡¯t remember the first two lines, but thetter two lines are¡­ umm¡­ yes, it¡¯s this - Through Elm¡¯s Pass by night, to barren deserts in the morrow.¡±

    Both Qin Ye and Arthis immediately turned to Yang Yanzhao at the same time, ¡°General Yang, you know this?¡±

    ¡°Vige Pass?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows. It was an unfamiliar name. But before he could go on any further, Yang Yanzhao promptly stood up and smiled bitterly, ¡°The only reason why I called it the Vige Pass is because I hesitate to say its other name. I¡¯m afraid that its other name might¡­ cause us all to feel more hopeless than we already do¡­¡±

    Yang Yanzhao grew taciturn. Secondster, after much deliberation, he finally muttered, ¡°Shanhai Pass.¡±

    Qin Ye stared dumbfounded at Yang Yanzhao for three full seconds, before finally responding with great trembling in his voice, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°My Lord!¡± ¡°Lord Qin!¡± ¡°Your Excellency!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Arthis added with a deep voice, ¡°We¡¯re travelling through the underworld. After ascertaining our position, we¡¯d be able to emerge from within Shanhai Pass itself. Shanhai Pass is a pass designed to keep intruders out. I refuse to believe that its internal defenses are as solid as gold!¡±

    All of the generals stepped forward and cupped their hands earnestly at once.

    This was a battle that would dictate the course of Hell¡¯s future. Once they managed to take down Qufu, the returns would be immeasurable. But no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn¡¯t turn his mind¡¯s fixation away from the terrifying words, ¡®Shanhai Pass¡¯!

    Granted, it¡¯s true that even a good city requires good soldiers for a proper defence. But¡­ a city like that would undoubtedly have defensive establishments, bunkers, crossbows and bolts, and the like, wouldn¡¯t it?

    Gritting his teeth, Qin Ye turned to Sha Xiangzu, ¡°What¡¯s it like within the city walls? How do the industries and amenities look? How many citizens are there? What number of Yin soldiers are we looking at?¡±

    820,000?!

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples with a pained expression. The only silver lining was the fact that they had discovered this early on. Otherwise, if Hell¡¯s forces were to discover these things only at the siege of the city itself, they might very well lose their fighting spirit all at once.

    ¡°My Lord, there are 820,000 Yin soldiers located in Qufu. Apart from that, the alliance has under its charge another 1,500,000 or so Yin soldiers, and they¡¯re currently¡­¡± Sha Xiangzu paused for a moment and gnashed his teeth, ¡°Along the coastal areas of Eastmount Province, duking it out against a monster¡­¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s the situation there?¡±

    That much is obvious. We¡¯re talking about one of the strongest fighting forces across Cathay after all. It would be more peculiar if Kong Mo weren¡¯t afraid of him in the slightest.

    What should I do¡­

    Sha Xiangzu heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Take him out.¡±

    But before he could finish speaking, Arthis hair crept all over his body like a poisonous viper, instantly binding up all of his limbs. Sha Xiangzu watched with great astonishment as he was firmly held down. Then, he looked up at Qin Ye and gnashed his teeth, ¡°You¡¯ve tricked me¡­ You¡¯ve deceived me!!¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ve promised me¡­ You promised not to kill me!!¡± Sha Xiangzu screamed hysterically.

    ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve only asked you whether you were willing to ept Hell¡¯s conferment of title, didn¡¯t I? Are you deaf? Can you really say I haven¡¯t held up my end of the bargain?¡±

    Unfortunately, Sha Xiangzu¡¯s mouth was alreadypletely sealed by Arthis¡¯ hair. He stared at Qin Ye with bloodshot eyes, making whimpering sounds as his body trembled profusely.

    Then, he leaned over and whispered in Sha Xiangzu¡¯s ear, ¡°Remember, there¡¯s only one ce for the evildoers in Hell.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you can get away with death aftermitting the crime of genocide? Far be it from that. All evil that goes unpunished in the mortal realm shall be paid in full in Hell. Don¡¯t you still recall the slew of unsolved murder mysteries with headless victims? That¡¯s great¡­¡±

    ¡°Drag him out and subject him to the skyntern punishment.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is a loose trantion of the poem that reads Ç°Çý½Ô´ó½«,ÁÐÕó¾¡ÔªÈÖ¡£Ò¹³öÓÜ¹ØÍâ,³¯¿´Ë·Ä®¿Õ.

    2. It¡¯s one of the major passes of the Great Wall of China.

 Chapter 423: Prisoner of War (3)

    <h4>Chapter 423: Prisoner of War (3)</h4>

    Wilderness.

    If one looked close though, they would be able to see innumerable spots ofhermes hovering about atop the mountain range. Massive tents stood stoically at the top of the ridges, while countless Yin spirits were seening and going from its midst. Massive ballistas were erected along the edge of the coastal ridges, and there were evenrge machines resembling Yin beasts that appeared to be stationed around the vicinity in strategic locations.

    There was amp hanging in the middle of each tent, powered by a pitch-ck crystal rock and emitting a dim light. Thergest tent was located right in the middle of all the other tents, and there was a wreath of human skulls hanging from themp that burned with a cold, red me.

    It was so grim that it almost looked like a demonic scarlet star in the middle of the night sky.

    There were twelve spots of soulfires zing atop the wooden que. But one of them had just fizzled out a moment ago.

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± His shriveled hand tightened its grasp around the wooden que, ¡°He was tasked to guard Qufu with three other evil ghosts. How could he possibly be dead?¡±

    He immediately shot to his feet at such a thought. However, he soon flopped back down to his seat again.

    The Yin spirits outside heard themotion in the room. At once, an attendant dressed in likeness of a Tang Dynasty official immediately drifted into the room, ¡°Lord Kong, it¡¯s time for you to change your clothes again.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The person had already passed out a long time ago. The attendant promptly lowered the veil after him, while a bloodthirsty smile soon crept up the corners of Kong Mo¡¯s lips. Then, he pulled out a pair of scissors.

    Without any hesitation, he plunged the scissors into the human being¡¯s belly button, and then began to cut open the man and strip him of his skin as though he were doing arts and crafts!

    Themp in the room flickered softly. Ten minutester, Lord Kong called out to his attendant once more, ¡°Come in.¡±

    Nothing seemed different about the tent, save for another human skull that had ostensibly been added to the wreath of human skulls. Lord Kong¡¯s appearances were nowpletely different.

    ¡°How?!¡± The attendant gasped in horror, ¡°I¡¯ve not received word that Qufu is under siege. It¡¯s safe to say that they¡¯re not facing any situation right now! The daolord of the asura has also been kept at bay by our forces over here, especially given the high-quality Yin artifacts at your disposal right now. So, who could possibly kill the Lord of Darkriver?!¡±

    He raised his eyes sharply and gazed deeply into the eyes of his attendant, ¡°Sha Xiangzu and his army of a hundred thousand were decimated in an inordinately short amount of time. If there¡¯s someone in this world that can do something like that¡­ then, it has undoubtedly got to be them¡­¡±

    Are they finallying?

    But¡­ who¡¯s even supposed to be considered Hell at this point in time?

    ¡°Are you thinking that Hell might be gathering Yin spirits under its wings once more? Or perhaps¡­ that they even know of the existence of Qufu right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The attendant responded affirmatively, but he couldn¡¯t help but worry about this location, ¡°But, what about here?¡±

    ¡°Anyhow, I want you to take my tiger talisman with you. If you should discover that someone has turned traitor against us, I give you the authority to purge them without question. But if everything still seems peaceful back in Qufu, then you must inquire exactly how and where Sha Xiangzu died, and then go to the scene of the crime immediately to conduct the necessary investigations. I want a detailed report.¡±

    With that, the Yin spirit went away.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse. These aren¡¯t just words, you know¡­¡±

    Sss¡­ All of the Yin soldiers that had surrendered themselves gasped in horror when they witnessed the execution of Sha Xiangzu by way of the skyntern punishment.

    Sha Xiangzu is dead. The tyrannical Lord of Darkriver is burning in a skyntern right in front of our eyes. Innumerable spears, and projectile weapons were all pointed at the Yin spirits that had earlier been rounded up. Not a single one of them dared make any sudden moves. No. They couldn¡¯t. Their entire beings were paralyzed with an intense fear that permeated the depths of their hearts.

    Crackle¡­ crackle...The stifling sound of the skyntern punishment weighed heavily on their hearts. The atmosphere in the area was still and heavy. Ten full minutester, Qin Ye finally stepped forward and addressed everyone.

    He spoke without any haste, ¡°You were a part of Kong Mo¡¯s army of insurgents. Logically speaking, you should be executed for your crimes.¡±

    ¡°But the heavens have eyes as well. You¡¯ve been deceived by Kong Mo and his lies. The ignorant shall be spared. Therefore, I¡¯m willing to give you a chance to make amends for your crimes.¡±

    In order to quell any lingering embers of resistance and snuff out all possible sources of rebellion, all officers of the Alliance of Darkness had naturally been executed together with Sha Xiangzu. Otherwise, how could the skyntern be zing so vigorously right now?

    The heavy atmosphere in the za loosened up slightly as soon as Qin Ye gave them the low down.

    Qin Ye responded calmly, ¡°That¡¯s a given. Don¡¯t forget that these are Yin spirits who have perished in recent years. None of them possess any of that foolish loyalty of bygone eras. These days, people are only loyal to their own country. Bring up the fact that we represent the orthodox Hell of the nation,bel them as traitors and spare their lives, and they naturally would take a certain course of action.¡±

    He sighed softly, ¡°People these days¡­ are truly afraid of death¡­¡±

    Arthis red at him fiercely - Aren¡¯t you just talking about yourself?!

    Naturally, not a single Yin spirit stood to Qin Ye¡¯s left at all.

    The Yin spirits did as they were told. Qin Ye watched as the number of names within the Book of Life and Death slowly increased, and he fervently repressed the surging joy in his heart. He kept a cid expression on his face as he continued to address the Yin spirits, ¡°Everyone. First of all, wee to the new Hell. Hell is the orthodox underworld of Cathay. Everything else that exists apart from Hell is heretical, and cannot be condoned. You may treat the eastbound expedition that we¡¯re on as a test of sorts. Once we seed, you will be treated the same as any other citizen of Hell. You¡¯ll be given benefits and jobs, and everything will be reminiscent of life back in the mortal realm.¡±

    Can¡¯t be bothered about these things?

    As soon as he said these things, countless Yin spirits immediately looked up at Qin Ye with great astonishment.

    He was content to leave all other arrangements to Yang Yanzhao.

    ¡°Your Excellency needn¡¯t worry. Everything has already been prepared. All Yin soldiers will be broken up in pairs and separated from the rest of their forces. There¡¯s no way any chaos can ensue this way.¡±

    Thoughts about how we are to attack Qufu!

    Fortunately, Arthis had been to the Shanhai Pass of the underworld, and still had some impression of it left to work with.

    ¡°How big is the city? What are the strategic choke points? What spell arrays are there? Are there any traps? It¡¯s going to be practically impossible to take down such an indomitable pass unless we have intelligence on all of these things!¡±

 Chapter 424: Shanhai Pass

    <h4>Chapter 424: Shanhai Pass</h4>

    A month and a halfter.

    Back in the underworld. A 100,000-strong army was resting in a huge cave located in the valley of a mountain range. The corpse of a monarch Yin beastypletely motionless at the side of the cave. It was a nascent Judge-ss Yin beast that didn¡¯t possess any particrly outstanding abilities. In all likelihood, it had probably only be a monarch beast a little while ago. That would exin why it decided to make the barren mountain range its own territory, far from the dwelling of any other monarch beast nearby.

    But it was unfortunate.

    There were indeed no other monarch beasts around, but it had instead stumbled upon the great army of the new Hell, who happened to be seeking shelter from the rain outside.

    Qin Ye stood at the entrance of the cave, staring at the rain outside. The rain of the underworld was terrifying indeed. It poured straight down, perfectly perpendicr to the ground. Wherever it fell, it would plunge straight through the surface, leaving nothing more than a needle-sized hole in the ground. Qin Ye shuddered to think what would happen if something like that struck their own bodies.

    The entire cave was dead silent as the Yin soldiers rested against the walls of the cavern. It had been two months since themencement of the eastbound expedition, and they were immeasurably close to the edge of the Eastmount Province right now. It wasn¡¯t a particrly long time, but they had grown by leaps and bounds in their experience and exposure.

    The assimtion of the additional 30,000 Yin soldiers had also gone smoothly and uneventfully. Since then, they had been part of two encounters with monarch Yin beasts, and they were able to move in formation and fight just as seamlessly as any of Hell¡¯s other Yin soldiers. Due to the sess of these encounters, the morale of Hell¡¯s forces only grew. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t be right to say that they had assimtedpletely, but at the very least, there weren¡¯t any issues with insubordination at all.

    That said, all of them knew better than to let their guards down or growcent.

    After all, they could all sense that this was the final stretch. They were approximately only ten days away from Qufu. They could smell blood in the air, and their hearts were thumping wildly.

    Shanhai Pass, otherwise known as First Pass Under Heaven. There were 820,000 Yin soldiers garrisoned there, and over 8,000,000 citizens. Qin Ye sighed, ¡°How vexing.¡±

    This was Hell¡¯s first war of expansion. It was more symbolic than anything. It was a deration to the citizens that there will be war in future. Qufu was a strategic location that would enable Hell to hold three provinces in its control. Not only would they be able tomence trade talks with the mortal realm, they would even have an entire district to work with! It was also the stepping stone for the inauguration of Hell¡¯s sea port and trade routes. The implications were far too great. Qin Ye could hardly imagine what Hell would do if the eastbound expedition were to end in failure.

    This was undoubtedly the battle which would determine the fate of Hell.

    Just then, Yang Yanzhao¡¯s voice jolted Qin Ye back from his reverie, ¡°My Lord, Lady Arakshasa is awake.¡± Qin Ye rxed his brows, and immediately followed Yang Yanzhao back into the depths of the cave.

    The Yang n had stationed an entire row of their personal guards around Arthis, who was resting on a t stone bed. Arthis was sitting on the side, with arge stone table that was right in front of her. She waved her hands about gracefully with a grim expression on her face, manipting a mound of sand to create camps in the forest that surrounded a great, wide wall. There were even multiple pavilions located within the walls itself.

    The Yang n generals were staring at the table with an equally grim expression. Oda Nobutada stood by the side as well. Qin Ye hurried over, and everyone promptly made way for him. He walked right up to Arthis and murmured softly, ¡°Any results?¡±

    Arthis was unusually focused on the task at hand. She nodded gently, and responded after mulling over her words for some time, ¡°Legend has it that Shanhai Pass was thest pass taken by the first King Yanluo of Hell. Back then, thesends, together with Hanyang, used to be under the charge of the nameless god of death. The Shanhai Pass was also a ce where all Anitya Hellguards would have to pass through.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Qin Ye asked curiously.

    Arthis waved her hand once more, before promptly ring at Qin Ye, ¡°A rite of passage. A pilgrimage of sorts, understand?¡±

    Loud and clear. To think it would be a ce of historical significance for the purposes of ideological and political education¡­

    Arthis focused her mind once more on the sandbox creation, and continued exining without peeling her eyes off the tabletop, ¡°I¡¯ve only been there once, and the reason is precisely because of this pilgrimage. To recall these memories, I¡¯ve had to resort to poring through my memories using the Rippling Waters, Moon Reflection technique. Unfortunately, given how old such a memory was, it¡¯s taken me a full month of searching before I finally managed to locate it and return to my senses. The good news is that I was able to recall exactly what I saw in the past, and I¡¯ve reproduced it from memory right here. There you go.¡±

    All eyes turned straight to the stone table in front of her.

    There was now a foot-high sandbox model that upied the entire table. It was a quadrteral city surrounded by magnificent city walls. The city within was ostensibly bustling with activity and exuded great prosperity. But nobody paid any attention to the interior of the city. Instead, the generals¡¯ eyes were all staring at the top of the city walls. Their pupils immediately shrunk, and thehermes within their eyes flickered wildly.

    Arthis¡¯ reproduction of the Shanhai Pass was truly exquisite. Her eye to detail naturally also meant the reproduction of all forms of colossal ballistae that were mounted on the top of the battlements and city walls. These ballistae were located every thirty meters apart, and each of them were armed with two sets of firing mechanisms able tounch over ten bolts all at once. Each bolt was asrge as a human being!

    ¡°Winstrike Ballista.¡± Yang Yanzhao recognized them at a single nce, ¡°These are long-range weapons that can strike targets over three kilometers away. Its strength¡­ is no different from a modern-day heavy tank.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped as he turned to look at the city walls once more. There were easily thousands of such crossbows mounted everywhere along the city walls. Doesn¡¯t this mean that any region within a three-kilometer radius of the city would be considered its absolute domain?

    We¡¯re talking about thousands of tank firing all at once! How can we possibly stand up against these ballistae?

    Wouldn¡¯t all of our 100,000-strong army turn to fine dust even before they reach the city walls at this rate?

    And that wasn¡¯t all.

    The ends of each section of the city walls were clearly marked by battlements. However, these battlements appeared somewhat¡­ different. It was bizarre because they looked akin to mechanical beasts that could be mounted and operated from within.

    The twelve zodiac¡­ He counted them all. There were a total of twelve battlements. Intuition told him that this was by no means a good thing.

    ¡°The Mohist Mechanical Beasts.¡± Arthis looked at him and took a deep breath, ¡°These beasts can be mounted and operated from within. I recall being told that every scale of these Mechanical Beasts can be lifted and opened. It¡¯s no different from a system of bunkers within. Do you know what a honeb looks like? The Mechanical Beasts were inspired by that design. They protect their own bowmen from receiving damage, while allowing them to strike at their opponents from safety.¡±

    Holy shit¡­ Qin Ye gasped. But Arthis clearly didn¡¯t intend to give him the luxury of time to even catch his breath, ¡°And that¡¯s not all. Do you see the mouth of the Mechanical Beast?¡±

    Arthis gently tapped the table, and one of the Mechanical Beasts opened its mouths.

    A terrible premonition instantly surged from within Qin Ye¡¯s heart. He gulped nervously, ¡°And what¡¯s this supposed to be¡­?¡±

    ¡°Karmic Fire Cannon.¡± Yang Yanzhao sighed, ¡°If necessary, it possesses the ability to create a moat of Karmic Fire below to stem the approach of any other Yin spirits.¡±

    Even Oda Nobutada couldn¡¯t help but tremble in fear.

    It might well be an understatement to describe Qufu City as a fortress.

    Silence. Qin Ye slowly shifted his gaze to behind the city walls, desperately searching for signs of where the city wascking, yet only to realize that Shanhai Pass was located along a slope. It was only then that he noticed a hundred coffin-like objects perched right at the top of the slopes.

    Soul-Launching Coffins!

    He had finally seen something that he personally recognized. Unfortunately, that did little to lighten his mood at all. Having noticed anything else of interest, he finally spoke with great sullenness, ¡°Everyone, I¡¯d like you to speak your mind. There¡¯s no need to hold back right now.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other awkwardly, before Yang Yanzhao finally took the lead, ¡°One thing is certain - any approach from the outside is no different from a suicide mission. It¡¯s no longer a matter of numbers at this point in time.¡±

    ¡°However!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered. The use of such a conjunction after a terrible premise would, logically speaking, be followed by words that were music to their ears.

    ¡°But, what lies within is just equally as bad.¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye red at Yang Yanzhao - Yo, goodd, how dare you mess with my mind? Do you even know the proper rules of pance?

    ¡°Cough¡­¡± Having noticed Qin Ye¡¯s death re, Yang Yanzhao immediately coughed dryly, ¡°Lord Qin, did I say something wrong?¡±

    Qin Ye secretly rolled his eyes at Yang Yanzhao, ¡°Not. At. All. Continue!¡±

    Yang Yanzhao simply couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that there was something strange about Lord Qin right now. However, he couldn¡¯t care more to delve any deeper into this line of thought. After consolidating his thoughts, he continued, ¡°First of all, let¡¯s look at the road within the city. Have you noticed it? If everything is built ording to scale, these roads must at least be a hundred meters wide. But, why?¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin and mused, ¡°To facilitate the march of their troops?¡±

    Yang Yanzhao nodded, ¡°Not just any army. We¡¯re talking about cavalry! These roads are designed this way precisely to allow cavalrymen to build their momentum before emerging from the city gates. We all know how terrifying a stampede of cavalry charging at full speed can be. Take a look at the city gates. They¡¯re exactly the same width as the roads within. This tells us that as soon as a battle breaks out, the cavalry can immediately rush out of the city!¡±

    ¡°And herein lies the problem.¡± He traced his finger along the wide roads, ¡°The cavalry would naturally be dispatched from a military camp. But all of the roads appear to point to a particr location.¡±

    The generals around watched as his finger slowly stopped at a single location.

    The heart of the city!

    It was very bizarre.

    The city centre was usually where andmark was erected. But, not here.

    Whaty in the middle of the city was instead a series of architecture that covered an incredibly wide area. There was even a row of walls surrounding the series of architecture that was about two-thirds as tall as the outer city walls. Yet what was perhaps most astonishing was the fact that the space upied by the inner walls was approximately one-tenth of allnds within the city!

    It was a city within a city!

    ¡°Is this the¡­ military camp?¡± Mu Guiying stared intently at the sandbox for a few moments, before her eyes soon brightened up, ¡°Did they build the military camp right in the heart of the city itself?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no doubt that the Mythic Pce of Reflections is located right there.¡± Arthis suddenly interjected, ¡°The city would take bearing from the Mythic Pce of Reflections¡¯ physical location, and then unfurl around it. Furthermore, the stronger the Yin artifact, the more Yin spirit stones required to support its operations. It¡¯s hardly surprising that they would guard the heart of the city with such arge army.¡±

    She straightened up and turned to everyone, ¡°As long as we can breach these inner walls and shut down the source of Yin energy that is powering the Mythic Pce of Reflections, the rest of the defenses around the city would immediately be crippled! That¡¯s the only way we can take the city. Otherwise¡­ if they can buy sufficient time for Kong Mo¡¯s forces to return before we can conquer Qufu in its entirety, then we will definitely lose!¡±

    Yelu Jiner interjected, ¡°Mythic Pce of Reflections¡­ I¡¯ve only heard legends about it. To think it actually exists¡­ But once we get hold of it, then it would be no different from having control of the entire Shanhai Pass in our hands! With its defenses, not even ten million Yin soldiers would be able to threaten us at all!¡±

    She sighed softly and stared at the sandbox, ¡°I¡¯m not even sure whether I should be thanking Kong Mo or holding a grudge against him.¡±

    Knock, knock, knock¡­ Just then, Yang Yanzhao rapped loudly on the table. He was an interesting general who was clearly born with a knack for controlling the morale of troops on the battlefield. And he was even bold enough to make a move despite Qin Ye¡¯s presence right now.

    Perhaps it was precisely this devil-may-care attitude of his that led to his persecution¡­ Kudos to me for being such a wise leader and giving him such a widetitude¡­ Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but smile to himself.

    The thickness of one¡¯s skin was most objectively defined as whether one could make it shine from any perspective, anytime and anywhere¡­

    ¡°Everyone has made some good points. But everything hinges on whether we can take Qufu or not.¡± He ced both hands on the table and leaned over with a glint in his eyes, ¡°Everyone, didn¡¯t you notice the crux of what you¡¯ve all alluded to earlier?¡±

    He drew a circle around the center of the city, ¡°Whether we shut down the Mythic Pce of Reflections, or seize control of it, everything requires us to capture the heart of the city. And if that is the case, it naturally lends credence to my posttions that the heart of their military and economy are both located in the core of the city. In other words¡­ this must be the barracks of the 820,000 troops!¡±

    ¡°The only advantage that we have right now is that we can descend directly into the inner city. But if we do that, then the entire city would be able to mobilize their forces against us all at once. Sure, we might have a chance of taking such a fight, but everything still hinges on the fact that we can defeat the enemy forces! We¡¯re treating it as a battlefield in the wilderness, and not a siege of a city!¡±

    ¡°What happens if we¡¯re trapped within the inner city walls, and unable to seize or deactivate the Mythic Pce of Reflections? What contingency is there left for us? Just those few Yin beasts that we¡¯ve brought along with us?¡±

 Chapter 425: Who Will Go?

    <h4>Chapter 425: Who Will Go?</h4>

    There was a sudden silence.

    Apart from Qin Ye and Arthis, everyone else present were all famous generals, and they naturally understood the undertones in what Yang Yanzhao had just said.

    Three full minutes of tense silenceter, Mu Guiying chuckled softly, ¡°Who else could possibly bear the burden of such heavy responsibility but me?¡±

    ¡°General Yang, I will go.¡± She stepped forward and cupped her hands respectfully, ¡°I¡¯m an advanced Anitya Hellguard, and I¡¯m one of the frontrunners among all generals here today when ites to my martial prowess. And our logisticsmander Yang Yande aside, I¡¯m a head and shoulder above the rest when ites to my aptitude as a militarymander as well. Therefore, please allow me the honour of doing the heavy lifting this time.¡±

    ¡°Haha, sister is far too confident in her own abilities.¡± Hua Jieyu promptly smiled and stepped forward with an equally respectful demeanor, ¡°I¡¯ve had more battlefield experience than any other around here. I¡¯m confident that I should be the one to shoulder this responsibility instead.¡±

    ¡°General Yang, although I¡¯ve joined the ranks of the Yang n¡¯s forces not too long ago, regard must be given to the fact that I¡¯ve practically grown up riding a horse. I¡¯m second to none when ites to horseback archery. I, Yelu Jiner, humbly requests for the honour of being part of this battle.¡± ¡°General Yang, I¡¯m willing to go. Please make a fair decision.¡±

    All of the generals stepped forward in an instant. Oda Nobutada was bewildered at their response. On the other hand, Yang Yanzhao boomed back, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Nobody responded.

    The atmosphere around them was stiff and sullen. All of the generals were still cupping their hands respectfully with their heads slightly bowed, while Yang Yanzhao¡¯s expressions gradually turned cold and grim. His voice even grew frigid, ¡°Are you trying to influence my decision?¡±

    ¡°I have my own arrangements as to the deployment of troops. You¡¯re in no ce to make such decisions at all!¡±

    Knock knock¡­ Just then, Qin Ye rapped on the table twice, before slowly speaking his mind, ¡°We¡¯re at most a month away from our arrival at Qufu. It¡¯s time to call upon the help of the Mirror of Eminence. A giant city like Qufu is bound to attract new establishments in the nearby vicinity. Perhaps¡­ we might stumble upon some unexpected gains along the way.¡±

    Arthis nodded and made a grasping motion. At once, the Mirror of Eminence appeared. Then, before it could begin unleashing its usual barrage of curses and swears, Arthis snapped her finger, and the Mirror of Eminence vanished with a soft ripple in the air once more.

    ¡°Everyone, the Mirror of Eminence may be able to project the detailedndscape around us, but it won¡¯t be able to give us our exact coordinates. In other words, there may be some variance in what we see, and where we end up as soon as we descend into Limbo. We need to be mentally prepared for these potential deviations. General Oda.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re to monitor the images that show up on the Mirror of Eminence.¡± Arthis pulled out a bronze mirror and tossed it to Oda Nobutada, ¡°Lord Ming would scan the vicinity located within a thirty kilometer radius around us. Immediately report back as soon as you notice something amiss, or something of interest.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Then, that settles everything. Meeting adjourned.¡±

    All of the generals departed without another word. It was only when the entire room was vacated that Arthis softly whispered to Qin Ye, ¡°What was going on earlier?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew deep and abstruse. He sighed softly, before finally exining slowly, ¡°What General Yang was alluding to earlier was that Hell¡¯s defeat is certain as soon as we find ourselves surrounded. In other words, Hell¡¯s forces would find themselvespletely helpless as soon as the rest of the Alliance of Darkness returns to reinforce Qufu. Naturally, there is only one option left if we are to take down the Mythic Pce of Reflections.¡±

    He turned around and stared Arthis deep in the eyes, ¡°And that is to mobilize an army for a frontal assault against the city¡¯s defenders in order to draw out the guards of the inner city. That is the only way to ensure sess in our sneak attack on the inner city.¡±

    Arthis blinked vacantly - A full frontal assault¡­ Soul-Launching Coffins, Karmic Fire Cannons, Winstrike Ballistae¡­ And that¡¯s not to mention all of the rest of the hundreds of thousands of troops¡­ This is¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s a suicide mission¡­¡± She gasped in horror. Her jaws dropped slightly, and she stared at Qin Ye with great shock, ¡°Then¡­ weren¡¯t they all begging for death earlier?¡±

    ¡°What they were trying to do was to cede the opportunity to live to their loved ones.¡± Qin Ye felt conflicted when he exined their intentions. After all, he had just witnessed his generals¡¯ willingness to sacrifice their own lives for Hell¡¯s greater good, so what right did he have to shrink to the backlines?

    Arthis remained taciturn for some time, before finally muttering, ¡°Is there really no other way?¡±

    ¡°Not for the moment.¡± Qin Ye retracted his gaze and turned back to the terrifying city on the table, ¡°This battle is destined to be recorded in the annals of Hell¡¯s history books. Regardless of our casualties, I¡¯m going to honor all who perish as a pioneer of the nation as soon as Hell establishes itself.¡±

    ¡°As it should be.¡±

    ¡°The names of the fallen shall also be engraved on monuments at the entrance to Hell, as well as in all textbooks for the education of future generations. They are to be remembered for all time. I want all citizens to know that their safety andfort was built upon a foundation of bloodshed and war.¡±

    Arthis¡¯ voice grew soft and drifty, ¡°You¡¯ve got a heart for the people.¡±

    The assembly had dispersed, and the rainstorm had finally stopped. The army was ready to set out once more.

    Nobody was aware that a 100,000-strong army was currently marching for Qufu through the core of the earth. FIve days passed¡­ ten days passed¡­ fifteen days passed¡­ As the army of Hell slowly drew closer to Qufu, so did the nerves of the generals gradually tense up.

    The final act was just around the corner.

    Their eastbound expedition hadsted for two and a half months thus far. They had seen their fair share of encounters with monarch beasts and natural disasters during this time, and they were finally no more than a hundred kilometers away from the First Pass Under Heaven. The tension was palpable, and they could even smell the sparks of conflict in the air.

    As they forged onwards, Qin Ye would pass down any news or instructions through the generals and ten-thousand-menmanders, who would then ry that information down the chain of thousand-menmanders, hundred-menmanders, ten-menmanders, and five-menmanders. Qin Ye knew what to y up in order to get the fists of the Yin soldiers pumping high into the air. Coupled with their continuous victories over all obstacles that hade their way thus far, the morale of Hell¡¯s forces was as high as they could be.

    This was the battle that would determine Hell¡¯s future.

    Even the most ordinary of Yin soldiers understood the implications of something as great as that. Some of the newer recruits naturally grew increasingly anxious. Fortunately, the majority of the forces were raring to go, and their passion soon quelled any unease in the hearts of the newer recruits.

    Annals of the New Hell: 78th Day of the Eastbound Expedition. A ghastly windstorm swept through thends and tore the ground asunder. Dark Yin clouds were spotted rolling through the skies, emitting the faint cries of a chorus of ghosts prior to the urrence of the windstorm. Ordinary Yin soldiers who heard the cries of the windstorm developed symptoms of mania. Lord Qin and Lady Arakshasa unleashed their Prestige of the Luminary and sheltered the entire army throughout the great disaster. Casualties: 342 Yin soldiers.

    Annals of the New Hell: 82nd Day of the Eastbound Expedition. Sinking Blood Disaster. Fresh blood surged from the ground, swallowing up all objects within a ten-kilometer radius and transforming the entirend into a swamp of blood. The ground showed signs of redness like that of irritation on human skin prior to the disaster. Hell¡¯s army took shelter in a pool of water and was safe from the disaster.

    That same day, Hell¡¯s forces encountered a monarch Yin beast shaped like a Xuanwu Turtle in the depths of the waters. It was beheaded. Casualties: 400 Yin soldiers.

    Annals of the New Hell: 87th Day of the Eastbound Expedition. Encounter with two monarch Yin beasts that were vying for territorial supremacy. Both monarch Yin beasts were peak Judge-ss existences. All Yin beasts within a ten kilometer radius ran for their lives, thereby stirring up a great tide of Yin beasts. Hell¡¯s forces took a detour around the monarch Yin beasts. Casualties: 1,320 Yin soldiers.

    Annals of the New Hell: 89th Day of the Eastbound Expedition. Both rainstorm and lightning storm fell at the same time. The cave which Hell¡¯s army was taking shelter in was partially destroyed by the lightning storm¡¯s devastation. Casualties: 947 Yin soldiers.

    It was now the 90th day of the eastbound expedition.

    It was a clear day.

    No monarch Yin beasts.

    No natural disasters.

    ¡°My Lord.¡± Qin Ye was riding a skeletal war tiger along the middle of the pack when Oda Nobutada suddenly came up to him, ¡°We¡¯ve finally arrived at Eastmount Province.¡±

    Is that so¡­

    Qin Ye looked up and heaved a great sigh of relief.

    We¡¯re finally here¡­ The long, arduous journey was a test of one¡¯s resilience, willpower, and fighting spirit. Every single Yin soldiers who had survived this expedition to date were all qualified to be called an elite in their own rights.

    The encounters with the monarch Yin beasts and natural disasters had precipitated their personal growth and equipped them with the cumtive experience and know-how to tide them through every battle that was toe. Now, they were at the cusp of the final act. It was finally time to put into practice everything they had learned.

    Qin Ye gazed deep into the sky and murmured to himself, ¡°I thought I would be more excited than this when we finally arrived at the Eastmount Province. But little did I expect the first reaction to be a sigh of relief.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because¡­ we finally have a target in our sights.¡± Arthis was also riding a skeletal war tiger right beside Qin Ye. A softhergale tousled her hair gently, yet there was an iparably grave and somber expression on Arthis¡¯ face right now.

    This isn¡¯t just an illusion¡­ Qin Ye nced about him. News that they had arrived at Eastmount Province had already spread throughout the entire army, and he could tell that Hell¡¯s forces were clearly exuding a different kind of aura right now.

    Their target was finally in sight. Their arduous journey had culminated in this very moment, and all of Hell¡¯s forces were clearly bursting at the seams with a wolfish air about them.

    ¡°My Lord!!¡± Just then, someone called out with ostensible anxiety in his voice. Qin Ye nced back, only to realize that it was Oda Nobutada.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Oda Nobutada nced warily at his surroundings, before running forward to Qin Ye and whispering into his ears, ¡°Lord Ming¡­ has revealed an image of interest.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered. He immediately picked up the mirror that Oda Nobutada had handed to him to verify the image, and his pupils instantly shrank in confirmation of what he had just seen. Then, he promptly called out to Yang Yanzhao, ¡°Let¡¯s rest here for a while. Have all generals assemble immediately for a campaign meeting.¡±

    A long horn sounded, and the army soon halted its march. The contingent of troops parted in the middle, leaving a wide berth of space for the generals that soon answered Qin Ye¡¯s summons for a meeting.

    ¡°This is the message that we¡¯ve just received from the Mirror of Eminence. Let¡¯s take a look at it together. It¡¯s still going on right now!¡± Qin Ye immediately handed the mirror to them before they could even take their seats.

    Yang Yanzhao picked it up in an instant. He was like a ferocious tiger with its hair standing on end. Ever since he got wind that they had finally arrived at Eastmount Province, his heart boiled with such intensity that he couldn¡¯t contain the tyrannical bloodlust that poured forth from his entire being. But, even then, he couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock as soon as he saw the mirror.

    It was like a gxy!

    The Mirror of Eminence was obviously flying high above in the sky as it captured and transmitted the image of Limbo back to Hell¡¯s forces in the underworld. Unfortunately, because of the height at which it was flying, everything below was a patchy, tawny colour, almost like it was capturing sepia, monochromatic photographs. But what was most shocking was the fact that there were a great number of spots of light radiating from the image below! And all of them were clearly moving towards a particr direction, almost as though they were a thunder of dragons charging straight into the oceans!

    The image appeared as dazzling as the milky way on the canvass of the dark night skies. But due to the height at which the Mirror of Eminence was capturing these images, the little spots of light appeared to be moving very slowly, no different from the stars in the sky that shifted in tandem with the rotation of the earth.

    It was spectacr and majestic.

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­?¡± Everyone froze in horror. Arthis waved her hand, and the image immediately grewrger andrger, until finally saw what the light spots represented.

    They were¡­ Yin spirits.

    Endless Yin spirits that numbered well in the millions - possibly even in the tens of millions!!

    It was as numerous as the stars in the sky. Each spot of light represented thehermes that flickered in their eyes. They were gathered in groups, and moving around along certain paths, almost like they were flowing along the milky way in the skies. It was a gxy of Yin spirits!

    These weren¡¯t Yin soldiers. Rather, they represented the most ordinary of Yin spirits - small and insignificant by themselves, but indubitably spectacr and majestic when viewed all together.

    Silence.

    So many...The sheer number of Yin spirits was stifling and terrifying. It even caused chills to run down the spines of those at the meeting. Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened, and he suddenly pointed to a particr location, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Arthis waved her hand once more, and the perspective immediately swung over to focus more closely on where Qin Ye was pointing. Everyone stared intently at it, and then their eyes soon brightened up.

    The army!

    It was arge number of troops!

    They could tell at a nce that the number of troops under theirmand was by no means less than Hell¡¯s forces! And they were still galloping through Limbo right now!

    Additionally, they could tell that these troops were clearly of higher quality than Sha Xiangzu¡¯s army. The paper armor they donned waspletely ck in colour. Furthermore¡­ they were all cavalrymen!

    They were currently riding skeletal war horses, and they kicked up a cloud of dirt and dust in the wake of their march, all of which lingered for miles and miles on end. Their g bearer carried a banner that was embroidered with a monster that somewhat resembled a snake, and striking red words that read ¡°Umbral Alliance¡±.

    Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness. They were¡­ the army of the Shanhai Pass!

 Chapter 426: Consolidated Power

    <h4>Chapter 426: Consolidated Power</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered wildly, and he suddenly spoke directly to the Mirror of Eminence, ¡°Lord Ming, please take a look and see where these Yin spirits have gone.¡±

    Just then, a wisp of cloud drifted past the surface of the mirror.

    The Mirror of Eminence continued to pan out for a long time, and clouds would pass by the surface of the mirror from time to time. Then, after ten minutes, another cloud passed by. When the image finally cleared up, everyone practically gasped at the exact same time.

    It was akin to the sun god¡¯s residence, or the pce of the heavens.

    There was no need to even take a closer look at it. Everyone could tell in an instant the identity of that location.

    They were on guard.

    We¡¯ve been detected¡­ They¡¯re actually on full alert right now! What the hell is going on?

    ¡°They¡¯reing from the direction of where the Beacons of Light are located. This means that¡­ they¡¯ve all taken the exact same route as us. They¡¯re returning from the Darkriver City!¡±

    Yang Yanzhao nodded, ¡°That¡¯s the only possible exnation. The disappearance of a hundred thousand Yin soldiers must have triggered the rm, and they¡¯re now preparing themselves for any possible enemy invasion. That¡¯s why they¡¯re now consolidating their forces and evacuating all citizens to safety.¡±

    This was what led to Qufu¡¯s consolidation of power.

    Silence.

    Ten minutester, Qin Ye raised his head and looked at everyone with unprecedented determination in his eyes, ¡°We march full speed ahead. We won¡¯t rest until we arrive at Qufu!¡±

    Are we still going to besiege Qufu?

    ¡°Our greatest advantage earliery in the fact that we could take thempletely unaware. But this city¡­ isn¡¯t something that we can take down without such an advantage...¡±

    They had suppressed their ferocity for thest three months, and it was finally time to bare their fangs!

    What the hell is going on?!

    ¡°General Zhao.¡± The Yang n generals stood up in unison. Yang Yanzhao¡¯s eyes were zing with mes half a meter high, evidently a reflection of the stirring emotions in his heart right now. He responded hoarsely, ¡°With all due respect, I sincerely believe that¡­ now is the best time to attack the city!¡±

    He exined with great excitement as he pointed towards the terrifying defenses surrounding the sprawling city, ¡°First and foremost, this means that Kong Mo isn¡¯t located within Qufu right now!¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s not the case. It¡¯s clear that their army has gone to Valley County. The time taken for that¡­¡± He turned around and looked at the map on the ground, before tracing a line from Eastmount to Valley County, ¡°It would have been just enough time for them to have taken the coastal route straight towards Darkriver City, carried out the necessary investigations, and then returned to Qufu before finally reacting in this manner. This is the only way we could have caught sight of them in the midst of their evacuation.¡±

    Arthis¡¯ gaze flickered wildly, and her emotions surged like the rising tide. Even her hair was now scattering about like a nest of poisonous viper, ¡°If Kong Mo isn¡¯t here, then the Mythic Pce of Reflections is as good as an unmanned Yin artifact right now! Believe me - an A-grade Yin artifact in the hands of an equally skilled operator and an A-grade Yin artifact in the hands of an unskilled Yin spirit are practically worlds apart. Given how powerful a Yin artifact the Mythic Pce of Reflections is, there¡¯s simply no way Kong Mo would have taught anyone how to draw out its full potential. At best, these Yin spirits are only granted the permission to utilize a part of its abilities.¡±

    When was thest time something like that happened?

    The situation back then was just as bleak, but someone had at the most critical of moments found a ray of light and clung desperately to it.

    Qin Ye nodded as he nced at the mirror once more, ¡°There¡¯s more.¡±

    He ced his hands behind his back and hung his head low as he sorted through his thoughts, ¡°If I had discovered the death of the Lord of Darkriver and the disappearance of a 100,000-strong army, I¡¯d be equally ready to subject Qufu to martialw for a period of time. However¡­ that would have been weeks ago. I might sense danger on the horizon, but it certainly wouldn¡¯t be with the kind of urgency that they¡¯re demonstrating right now. And this is particrly when there¡¯s simply no signs of the enemy¡¯s movement in the vicinity of Qufu at all. They would never know that we¡¯re travelling through the core of the earth, rather than through the mantle, which is Limbo.¡±

    ¡°All four gates are open, and they¡¯re disying a shy defence. This is a telltale sign of a great opportunity.¡±

    ¡°Your Excellency is wise.¡± Yang Yanzhao nodded in concurrence. Truth be told, he hadn¡¯t even considered the thoughts in the minds of the enemy forces when he reached his own conclusion of the matter. His decision was based entirely off his keen intuition arising out of his soaring tactical literacy. His heart had screamed at him, telling him that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had just presented itself!

    So long as they arrayed their forces properly, and struck up a situation of chaos, then¡­ the Yin spirits within the city were bound to panic, and Qufu would internally be in a great mess!

    And the more chaos broke out, the more attention would be drawn to the outer city of Qufu where the citizens were located. Troops would be diverted away from the inner city, and then¡­ that would be the moment to deliver the final blow against the enemy forces!

    ¡°The day of reckoning is at hand!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    gs were lined up neatly right above the eastern gate, and at least ten thousand Yin soldiers were patrolling the vicinity. Countless Yin soldiers were manning the Winstrike Ballistae, loading it with ammunition and drawing its string to the nock. That way, a singlemand would instantly release hundreds of bolts that would tear through the wind and rain destruction on their targets up to three thousand meters away.

    The city gates were located right beneath their feet, and an endless number of Yin spirits were slowly streaming through with some measure of unease. Even then, there was still an entire sea of Yin spirits out there that were eagerly awaiting entry through the city gates. After watching for several minutes, the Tang Dynasty Yin spirit located right in the middle of the residence raised his head and spoke hoarsely, ¡°How much longer is this going to take?¡±

    Lai Junchen¡¯s eyes narrowed. Like Kong Mo, his eyes were devoid of any flickeringhermes. Instead, there were only two tiny red spots where the mes should have been.

    And any person to be subjected to such torment would undoubtedly have been a notorious man of his time.

    ¡°No, no, no. You¡¯re Lord Kong¡¯s trusted aide after all.¡± The Yin spirit responded casually, ¡°That said, we were the ones who had over decades painstakingly nurtured everything you see in the near vicinity. It¡¯s fine if you round them up, but you also have to be responsible for sending them backter on. I don¡¯t want to see these areas that we¡¯ve invested so much ine to wasteter on.¡±

    The Yin spirit snorted, before walking back into the residence, ¡°Then, thanks for your trouble.¡±

    The door mmed shut, and copious amounts of Yin energy immediately poured out from his seven apertures. His face contorted in a grotesque fashion, and his lips peeled open all the way from ear to ear, ¡°Screw this shit!¡±

    One of the Yin spirit attendants beside him immediately asked, ¡°Lord, should weply with Lord Lai¡¯s instructions and speed up the process of corralling all Yin spirits back into the city gates?¡±

    ¡°My ass we will!¡± The Yin spirit sneered, ¡°If he really wants to do it, then let him do it himself! Lord Kong has entrusted the defense of Qufu to the three evil ghosts of Breakwater Province. All three of us are special Yin spirits in our own right. Are any of us weaker than him in any way? Pfft. He only became an Anitya Hellguard when he was a thousand years-old. What basis does he have to order us around like that?!¡±

 Chapter 427: Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 427: Arrival</h4>

    Tromp, tromp, tromp¡­ tter, tter¡­ The sounds of the romping skeletal tigers and the march of Yin soldiers resounded throughout the underworld as the 100,000-strong army forged forward without stopping at all.

    The Beacon of Light painted a river of blood right across the canopy of the skies above them, indicating the direction of their march. Nobody said a single word. A softhergale swept by, gently tousling the great banners of their army that had a single word written on them - ¡°Yang¡±. They could even smell the faint stench of blood in the air.

    They had embarked on this expedition over three months ago, and they were now on the cusp of the first war for expansion in the history of the new Hell. A thousand ck Armored Troops marched ahead as the vanguard of the entire contingent. Zhao Seven ran his hand slowly across the hilt of his ancient sword, while the fires in his heart continued to rage with passion.

    How long has it been?

    When was thest time I¡¯d participated in such a war that would be recorded in the annals of history?

    The ck Armored Troops had perished together with the Tang Dynasty, and he had been thirsting for such action for a long time now. In fact, it even felt as though he had been in deep slumber all this while, only to finally rouse up to the call of war.

    He couldn¡¯t help but nce around at hisrades-in-arms. These were the same few warriors who had been recalled from the long flowing rivers of history for a greater purpose. There was neither fear nor thoughts of retreat written on their pale faces. The only thing that existed in their hearts was an unrelenting will to do battle. They were all stoked to be part of a war of destiny. Then, Zhao Seven nced back at the army that was following them. Banners were flying high, whilehermes filled the air. The tempo of their march was devoid of any traces of hesitation altogether. Everyone¡¯s eyes were fixated on the dark skies beyond.

    They could all see a massive whirlpool slowly swirling in the sky on the horizon, right at the end of the crimson road. Green, ck and red energy filled the air, while the softhergale scattered the stench of blood into the vicinity about. The flora and fauna swayed softly, and thends were devoid of the presence of any monarch Yin beasts. Their instinct had told them that somethingrge was about to go down in these areas, and they had fled the vicinity as quickly as they could.

    A 100,000-strong army was slowly but surely making their way towards the ce of reckoning.

    Oda Nobutada rode on a ferocious skeletal war tiger as he tramped along beside Zhao Seven. The war tiger growled softly as it slowly picked up its pace. Hua Jieyu, Mu Guiying, Yelu Jiner, and the rest of the Yang generals also marched alongside Oda Nobutada with their cloaks fluttering softly to the billowing winds. None of themgged behind in the slightest.

    Perhaps this is the destiny of a Yin soldier¡­ Zhao Seven slowly retracted his gaze. With a renewed determination in his eyes, he, together with the ck Armored Troops, led the rest of Hell¡¯s forces straight towards the swirling vortex of Yin energy.

    The closer they drew, the clearer everything got. The Yin soldiers had no trouble covering the remaining distance in less than a day. Finally, the troops arrived right at the doorsteps of the swirling madness.

    Arthis¡¯ hair was scattered everywhere as a result of the billowinghergale. She pulled up right alongside Qin Ye¡¯s war tiger as they both peered into the swirling vortex, ¡°Shanhai Pass is right above us.¡± The entire contingent of Hell¡¯s forces were lined up right behind them, almost akin to the great wall of Cathay. Even then, none of them could resist goosebumps creeping up all over their skins as soon as they considered the prospects of what they were soon about to face.

    Even Qin Ye was no exception to this. He could sense an overbearing wave of Yin energy bearing down on his contingent of troops. The army of Shanhai Pass clearly exceeded that of his own.

    After all, there were millions of Yin spirits, and 820,000 Yin soldiers. The sheer concentration of power was sufficient to send waves of Yin energy prating the boundaries separating Limbo and the underworld and bear down on Hell¡¯s forces with stifling oppression.

    It¡¯s finally time¡­

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath. His heart was filled with a multitude of emotions right now. Anticipation? Anxiety? Perhaps a confluence of both, but he couldn¡¯t tell if either was more intense than the other.

    Nheless, it was the stirring feeling of finally arriving at one¡¯s prey after a long, arduous pursuit.

    It marked both the curtains of an era of old, and the opening act of an era toe.

    His heart thumped like a resounding war drum. After some time, when his emotions had finally settled, he opened his eyes once more, before slowly turning to face his army.

    In that instant, the great army of 100,000 Yin soldiers immediately gazed back at him with eager anticipation in their eyes. Banners flew high and war drums sounded. The atmosphere was filled with great tension, and a palpable intent to do battle.

    All eyes were on Qin Ye.

    They were waiting on him. They were awaiting the instructions of King Yanluo of Hell.

    They had obviously seen Qin Ye countless times throughout the course of the eastbound expedition, yet none of them could help but feel their hearts thump wildly once more. After a long time, Qin Ye nced up at the scarlet vortex above his head with an iparablyplex gaze in his eyes.

    The rise of every great empire was apanied by the mes of war and built upon a foundation of blood. Qin Ye might not be used to a lifestyle like that, but he had no choice but to adapt to it right now.

    After all, this was just the beginning.

    He took several more deep breaths and calmed his mind. Then, he raised his hands, and a screen of Yin energy immediately unfurled in the air, revealing the shape of a magnificent, sprawling city on it.

    It spanned miles from end to end, sitting silently on a vast ins in Limbo, just like a colossal beast at the apex of the food chain. Countless spots of cold light shone from the top of the city walls, while innumerable Yin spirits were seen scuttling through the four city gates as they entered the security of the four walls of the city. Mounted Yin soldiers could also be seen galloping in all directions, patrolling about as they maintained the order. Qin Ye nced at the Yin soldiers before him, before thundering aloud, ¡°Everyone, what you see on the screen right now is our target - Qufu City.¡±

    Everyone remained silent. A fiery atmosphere instantly swamped the entire contingent of troops.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone has heard a thing or two about this city along the way. That¡¯s right. It¡¯s a mega-city. In fact, you can even say that this city isrger and more domineering than any opponent which the new Hell has faced to date. We¡¯re talking about 820,000 Yin soldiers and millions of Yin spirits scattered all across approximately one hundred square kilometers ofnds. And then, there are still the military formations and Yin artifacts of all sorts to contend with.¡±

    ¡°However¡­ Hell will never condone the existence of any rogue Yin spirits!!¡±

    His speech had started somewhat contrived. This wasn¡¯t something in hisfort zone. However, Qin Ye knew that he would have to rally the troops with a rousing speech before themencement of any great battle. And this was especially so when the great battle was one that would determine the fate of the new Hell itself.

    But as he spoke, he felt something in his heart click, and words began to pour out far more smoothly than he had anticipated. He had inadvertently revealed¡­ a part of his true nature to all of his troops.

    It was the part of him that had always remained hidden in the depths of his heart. This was quite possibly the most urate representation of Qin Ye¡¯s personality to date.

    ¡°I won¡¯t say much more about the importance of this battle, save that it¡¯s not an exaggeration to call this battle one which will determine the future of Hell for the next hundred years. You might think nothing of this, but so long as we fail to take Qufu, Hell will forever be confined to the boundaries of the City of Salvation! We will remain as insignificant as ever! Sure, we might find peace in the safety of Hell¡¯s borders for now, but I can assure you that the international powers would alle knocking on our doors in just over a hundred years¡¯ time!¡±

    You might not have lived through that era of war and strife, but I have!¡± His voice was hoarse and riveting, ¡°Blood was spilt everywhere on Cathayan soil! I don¡¯t want to see something like that ever happening again! The fates of Yin and Yang are both inextricably intertwined with each other. If Hell falls, the mortal realm would be in danger! Or are you telling me that you want Cathay to return to those dark days when it was enved by foreigners?¡±

    Countless Yin spirits couldn¡¯t help but gasp sharply in response.

    Qin Ye shut his eyes, and his lips quivered softly, ¡°I sure don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I never want to experience such dark times again if I can help it at all. I don¡¯t want ournds to be a living hell for the people. Cathay was built on the foundation of 5,000 years of history. We¡¯re supposed to be standing at the top of the world! Right now, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has presented itself, and we can only seize it by taking the entire city in one fell swoop! It¡¯s only by unifying the Cathayan underworld that we¡¯d be able to stand tall against the foreign invaders a hundred years from now!¡±

    He opened his eyes once more, ¡°And if Hell should exist, it should exist in the underworld.¡±

    ¡°Take it down, and I give you my word that your individual names would be remembered for a thousand generations toe. I guarantee that every city under Hell¡¯s charge in future shall have a monument erected at its entrance,memorating each and every single casualty in this eastbound expedition as one of the pioneers of Hell. I give you my word that all of your loved ones will be well taken care of in the future which you have paid for in blood, sweat and tears! Now, tell me, who are we?!!¡±

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!¡± An army of a hundred thousand bellowed in unison, sending tremors echoing through their surroundings in an instant.

    The humiliation of subjugation was still weighing heavily in the hearts of all Cathayans.

    Nobody was willing to live on their knees.

    Nobody wanted toy low all their lives and merely look up to their lords and masters!

    It was for this reason that Cathay had caught up with the development of other countries in a short span of just thirty years. It was for the very same reason that Qin Ye was working desperately in the underworld, and it would also exin why each and every one of them were standing right here, right now! Everyone was fighting hard for the unification of the Cathayan underworld. They wanted nothing more than to restore Hell to its former glory, and be like their mortal realm counterparts, standing shoulder to shoulder against the rest of the world.

    ¡°Good. For today, we rest. Tomorrow, we¡¯llunch our all-out attack against Qufu City without reservation!¡± Qin Ye ended up spilling the thoughts on his mind.

    These were evidently his thoughts, particrly in light of the great copse of the old Hell.

    He had experienced all these things, and even been stricken with the grief and sorrow of those times. Naturally, he wanted nothing more than to leave those in the dust behind him forever.

    This was why Hell needed to unify the underworld and create a grand and glorious empire!

    The empire of Hell!

    Sins of three lives in the mortal realm are orded to thee.

    Hath Hell spared any since ages past.

    All injustices that slip through the cracks of the legal system in the mortal realm shall never go unchecked in Hell.

    And it all begins with the great sinner of the Confucian Family - Kong Mo.

    Just then, all of the generals and Yin soldiers half-knelt to the ground and cried out at the top of their voices, ¡°Glory to Hell!!!¡±

    ¡°Passable.¡± Arthis remarked softly. She could tell that Qin Ye¡¯s face was slightly flushed from his impassioned spiel, ¡°To think that I¡¯d actually witness you speaking from the bottom of your heart.¡±

    Qin Ye ignored her. Instead, he turned to Yang Yanzhao and cupped his hands respectfully at him, ¡°General Yang, I¡¯ll leave it in your good hands.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Yang Yanzhao bowed back with the same measure of respect, ¡°We die without regrets for the unification of Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and solemnly reminded them, ¡°Remember to include both myself and Lady Arakshasa among the forces that are to siege the inner city.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao was just about to protest when Qin Ye shook his head adamantly, ¡°There are going to be several Infernal Judges hole out within Qufu that you guys won¡¯t be able to deal with. If you don¡¯t mobilize us, they¡¯ll be able to stop our entire siege with just two Infernal Judges. There¡¯s no need to dissuade me. My mind is made up.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao gritted his teeth and sighed in resignation, ¡°I take full responsibility for my ipetence. I would never have wanted to mobilize Lord Yanluo for the fight if I could help it at all. Please¡­ the only thing I ask is that Your Excellency takes care of himself. Swords have no eyes.¡±

    With that, he lifted his cloak and walked into an isted, open space.

    All of the generals were already gathered there right now.

    The rest of the Yin spirits were all staring at the generals with a fiery battle intent zing from the depths of their eyes.

    This was going to go down in history as one of the three greatest battles of the new Hell. This was the honor of all Yin soldiers, and the glorious medal of all generals around.

    Yang Yanzhao walked to the centre of the space where a makeshift table had already been set up. There were ten Tiger Talismans ced neatly on the table.

    He picked up one talisman gingerly and gently ran his finger across it.

    It was incredibly smooth, and somewhat cold to the touch. After a long time, he looked up at the generals with a resolute coldness in his eyes, ¡°Mu Guiying, step forward.¡±

    ¡°Here!¡± Mu Guiying stepped forward and cupped her hands respectfully, before half-kneeling on the ground with an air of sobriety about her.

    ¡°I¡¯ve confirmed the details of our deployment with Lady Arakshasa before. While we can be certain that our deployment would be within the city, we can¡¯t be certain of exactly which location we are going to appear.¡±

    ¡°I want you to lead an army of 20,000 and siege the western walls. Ignore the city for now. No matter what happens, I want you to be the first one to take control of the western walls! Your goal is to pester and harass the defenders of the city, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    Mu Guiying drew a deep breath and received the conferment of a Tiger Talisman, before stepping back into her ranks. Yang Yanzhao didn¡¯t hesitate, and he immediately turned his electrifying gaze to the next general, ¡°Hua Jieyu!!¡±

    ¡°Here!¡±

    He was practically sending his generals and soldiers to a suicide mission. However, his instructions were met with neither refusal nor shirking of responsibility. There was no room for kindness, nor care and concern. Everyone knew that there was only one way forward, and that was to advance courageously until death stopped them in their tracks.

    ¡°Take 20,000 troops and storm the southern city walls. Disregard anything else that happens within the city itself. Keep at the offensive, and wreak havoc atop the city walls. Can you do that?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yelu Jiner, take 20,000 troops and storm the eastern walls! Keep advancing forward, even if it costs you your life!¡± ¡°Huyan Chijin, you are also charged with 20,000 troops. Siege the northern walls. Until Qufu is broken, and everyst soldier falls, you absolutely must not fall from the city walls!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Understood!¡±

    ¡°Everyone.¡± After barking a series of orders, Yang Yanzhao felt a lump swell up on his throat. Then, he stood up and bowed deeply.

    After this day¡­ the next time we meet might well be on the stele monuments of remembrance.

    But having said that¡­ us members of the Yang n live and die with no regrets.

    ¡°Death is universal, but our deeds live on forever.¡± His voice choked up. ¡°Take care, everyone. Do your best toe back alive.¡±

 Chapter 428: Enemy Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 428: Enemy Attack!</h4>

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Where are you going to be?¡±

    At least, that would be the case in a more private setting. It was still an inappropriate term of address in public, especially when military orders were being dished out. But, given the current circumstances, nobody made a meal about it.

    Mu Guiying bit her lower lips and continued with a tremor in her voice, ¡°Then¡­ what about fifth brother?¡±

    Without missing a beat, Mu Guiying promptly went on, ¡°And if my posttions are right, Lord Qin would also be participating in the battle, wouldn¡¯t he? Without him and Lady Arakshasa, we would have no way of dealing with their Infernal Judges in the first ce. So who¡¯s supposed to protect Lord Qin in this uing battle?¡±

    Truth be told, the most dangerous task in the uing battle wasn¡¯t that of storming the city walls at all. Rather, it was indubitably the task of protecting Qin Ye, because the Yin spirit tasked to do something like that would have to throw himself in harm¡¯s way in order to preserve Qin Ye¡¯s life.

    Yang Yanzhao grew taciturn for a few moments, before speaking with an equally indifferent voice, ¡°This is a military order. Nobody is allowed to question my decision.¡± Nobody noticed the softhermes in his eyes flicker dangerously, almost as though they would go out in an instant.

    He stood at 1.84m tall, and sported squarish, chiseled appearances that exuded reliability and trustworthiness. But anyone who had seen him on the battlefield would know that rather than being as firm and indifferent as a mountain, his personality was better described as intense and aggressive, just like a roaring inferno.

    Yang Yanzhao nodded in silence as he gazed intently into his brother¡¯s eyes. After some time, Yang Yanzhao finally bowed deeply to him, ¡°Fifth Brother, you are to follow Lord Qin into battle in the inner city. Please take care¡­¡±

    With that, he smiled softly, ¡°What¡¯s up with that expression of yours? Is there any general that shuns the battlefield? Mu Guiying and the rest may be brave and courageous, but their aggression is still a far cry away from mine. Ever since you told me not to attend the campaign meetings, but tasked an attendant to ry the minutes to me instead, it was already apparent who you were going to task to watch over Lord Qin.¡±

    They had experienced the vicissitudes of life twice over now. Anything they said now would be nothing more than pretentious titudes.

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    Boom, boom, boom¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s robes fluttered wildly in the wind, and he slowly swept an electrifying gaze across the entire assembled army that was raring to go, until it finallynded atop the surface of the mirror.

    An hourss congealed out of Yin energy hovered slightly over the mirror, with ostensibly only a few grains of sand remaining.

    ¡°Victory to Hell!!!¡±

    ¡°Sister¡¯s still just as anxious as ever¡­¡± Mu Guiyingughed boisterously as she, too, tugged the reins in her hands! The 20,000 troops assembled behind her rallied together and followed closely after Hua Jieyu¡¯s forces!

    ¡°For the glory of Hell!!!¡±

    ¡°May Hell triumph!¡± ¡°May Hell return victorious!!!¡±

    Annals of the New Hell: Year 001 of the New Hell, 12.00 noon in the mortal realm. Under themand of Pioneer General Yang Yanzhao, Generals Hua Jieyu, Mu Guiying, Yelu Jiner and Huyan Chijin led 80,000 troops in a surprise attack on Qufu¡¯s Shanhai Pass.

    Qufu, Shanhai Pass. A city within a city.

    Although the city government was also located here, much of the other space within the inner city was upied by the military, and the minority would naturally conform to the architecture and style of the majority. It was for this reason that everything was constructed in a simple and pragmatic fashion. Even the tallest building here was no higher than six-storeys in all.

    The first and the second floors were regr office spaces. The third and fourth floors were upied by the top brass of the military forces. The fifth floor was where monitoring and surveince took ce, while the sixth floor¡­ was a location that nobody had ever entered.

    It lookedpletely different from the usual surveince rooms back in the mortal realm. The fifthyer upied a space asrge as a regr football field, and everything was decorated with traditional Cathayan ir. Star chartsy sprawling on the ceiling overhead, while all sorts ofrge machines and instrumentsy all over the ce. There were even smaller exquisite instruments located at the fringe of the room that appeared to power a small screen of Yin energy filled with scrolling details and numbers. Each screen of light was located right above a long table with four or five chairs, all of which werepletely upied by Yin spirits.

    ¡°Haaa--...¡± One of the Yin spirits rubbed his throbbing temples. Thest week of work had been so hectic that he could feel thehermes in his eyes slowly going out. He slumped deep into his chair as he muttered softly, ¡°What in the world is Lord Lai thinking? Just a week ago, he suddenly summoned all 9.72 million Yin spirits in the vicinity right back into the city. Sure, it¡¯s easy to just fire amand off his hip like that, but does he realize how insane things have been for the Administrative Department and our Surveince Team ever since then?!¡±

    The first Yin spirit chuckled bitterly. Then, he nced around, before lowering his volume slightly, ¡°We¡¯re talking about nearly 10 million Yin spirits¡­ Are they even able to fit into Shanhai Pass? The city itself already houses something like 10 million Yin spirits, so how are housing arrangements going to work in the near future? Things are still looking alright for our team for now. Things will naturally lighten up after these initial few days. But, what about the various ministries in the city government? They¡¯re going to have to bust their asses dealing with the sudden doubling of numbers.¡±

    ¡°Pfft¡­ That¡¯s an overreaction. So what if the Lord of Darkriver is dead? Who would dare to make a move against Qufu¡¯s Shanhai Pass?¡± The first Yin spirit snickered as he turned back to the screen of Yin energy in front of him with zed-over eyes, ¡°This is hell. There¡¯s no doubt about it. In fact, I¡¯d never thought that theherworld would be anything like this. To think that we¡¯d have such a sprawling city with hundreds of thousands of troops guarding its borders. And Lord Kong¡¯s no more than three days away from these parts as well. So¡­ who would possibly dare stir up a fight with us?¡±

    An illusion?

    Purple?

    Two secondster. He suddenly shot to his feet. And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Practically everyone on the entire fifth floor shot to their feet in unison as they gasped in horror at the rare sight on the screen of Yin energy!

    He remembered it now. Purple represented an instance of spatial teleportation!

    But before they could even find the words to speak, the entire room suddenly red with ear-piercing shrieks of rms.

    Someone¡­ Someone actually dares to make a move against Qufu¡¯s Shanhai Pass! Someone actually dares to make a move against thergest hell among all neighbouring provinces!!

    They all stared transfixed at the screen, only to discover that therge purple dot soon began to spawn tiny red dots all around. A single one appeared, followed by another¡­ and then there were ten¡­ a hundred¡­ a thousand¡­ and ten thousand!

    BEEEEEEEEP!!! A shrill rm instantly red across all governmental buildings. A split secondter, a mechanical voice spoke through the city¡¯s broadcast system, ¡°Warning. Foreign Yin energy signatures detected. Yin energy readings have exceeded the count of eight million Yin. Warning¡­¡±

    The entire room fell into a deathly silence.

    Enemy attack¡­ it¡¯s really an enemy attack! This isn¡¯t a drill at all!

    The entire ce still appeared calm and tranquil. The Yin spirits outside were still working in an orderly fashion. Yet, the Yin spirits following Lai Junchen were all stunned to find that his entire body was trembling, while thehermes in his eyes were quivering uncontrobly.

    ¡°My Lord¡­ you¡­¡±

    ¡°Immediately¡­ immediately mobilize all forces!! Notify Lord Kong of the enemy attack¡­ An unknown force is invading Qufu! And they¡¯ve even managed to breach the outer city walls!!¡±

    His attendants immediately went about their duties, while Lai Junchen slumped back down onto his seat with great unease.

    It took him some time before he finally regained hisposure. Then, gritting his teeth, he stood up and addressed his attendants once more.

    It was only when he finished speaking that he noticed his hands trembling profusely.

    His gaze remained transfixed on the city walls. But¡­ since you¡¯re here, why don¡¯t you stay for a while and trade some pointers with us.

    Let¡¯s test and see whose de is sharper than the other!

 Chapter 429: The Definitive War (1)

    <h4>Chapter 429: The Definitive War (1)</h4>

    The Yin spirits within the city walls hadn¡¯t even had the opportunity to look up.

    Because if they did, they would have discovered the spell arrays that had appeared right above the four city walls.

    They appeared with mysterious runic symbols that emanated hellish ck Yin energy. The spell arrays rotated slowly, but the shockwave apanying its appearance immediately blew away all Yin spirits within a fifty meter radius.

    A split secondter--

    Whoosh!

    It was like a majestic meteor shower.

    As the spell array continued to spin, it began to pour out spots of sparkling white light, almost as though constetions of the milky way were being created from nothingness. Qin Ye, Arthis and the remaining 20,000 Yin soldiers watched the massive screen of Yin energy with bated breaths and clenched fists.

    There¡¯s no room for mistakes¡­ We absolutely have to win this war!

    There was an unprecedented urgency stirring in the depths of Qin Ye¡¯s heart, far beyond any that he had ever experienced before. His heart was practically leaping out of his chest, and his breaths grew ragged. The palms of his hand were alsopletely soaked through with sweat. Incidentally, Arthis was experiencing the exact same thing.

    This was a war that would determine the fate of the nation. Nobody wanted to leave something like that to pure chance and luck.

    Limbo. All the Yin spirits, whether within or without Shanhai Pass, stared at the massive spell arrays above the city walls with their jaws agape. Two secondster, the panic-stricken Yin spirits screamed in terror and began to scatter in all directions as quickly as they could!

    From afar, it looked no different from a sun suddenly exploding on itself as the bits and pieces forming the whole splintered in all directions.

    ¡°My¡­ god¡­¡± One of the ghostly citizens trembled as he stared at the sky, before shrieking at the top of his voice, ¡°Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!! Oh god!!! Someone dares to attack hell¡­¡±

    Shk!

    But a stray arrow soon plunged straight through his head. Unfortunately, the ghostly citizens soon discovered something far more startling.

    The wide roads in the city that they all knew too well was now filled with countless skeletal war horses that were rushing out like a tidal wave. Endless Yin soldiers followed closely behind the charge of the cavalry with their spears and shields raised menacingly in the air. Then, thest to follow were the archers. Banners of war flew high everywhere across the city. It was as though someone had trampled on an anthill, and the entire swarm of ants were pouring out from hiding right now!

    Boom, boom, boom! The entire ground shook to the beat of their march.

    ¡°These are¡­ the banners of all of our forces¡­¡± The ghostly citizens retreated from the main roads as they retreated to the sides. Those who recognized the gs eximed in horror, before fleeing back to the safety of their own homes where they took shelter from the chaos that ensued.

    War¡­

    War had begun! This was a real and proper war! A war of the underworlds! A war that was taking ce under the mortal realm!

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!!¡± The Qufu Yin soldiers yelled at the top of their voices. The ghostly citizens who weren¡¯t able to escape from the main roads in time were instantly decimated with a single sh. In fact¡­ this wasn¡¯t the only road on which the exact same scene was panning out. In fact, all four inner city gates of Shanhai Pass had earlier opened at the exact same time, making room for the march of fourrge armies as they rushed straight for the outer city walls.

    Meanwhile, the ballistae and cannons located on the inner city walls slowly began to charge up with Yin energy. Everything happened in the blink of an eye, almost as if the entire colossal city was baring its fangs the moment it was attacked!

    Come¡­

    Even broken jade is more precious than a piece of ceramic tile!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    West outer city walls.

    All the Shanhai Pass Yin soldiers stationed here were frozen in horror as the massive spell array blossomed with starbursts right in front of their very eyes.

    Theirmander was a soldier dressed in modern military uniform, and he knew full well that this was no starburst. Rather¡­ they were all spots ofhermes!

    Enemy attack¡­ It¡¯s an enemy attack!! He turned around and bellowed, ¡°Stop them!! They¡¯re dead meat as soon as our reinforcements arrive!¡±

    Boom!! But before he could even finish speaking, a vast shockwave of Yin energy blossomed from the westerly walls, and a valiant figure rushed straight out like a bolt of lightning. The long spear in her arm flourished with Yin energy like a blooming flower as it flew straight towards the enemymander¡¯s head!

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± The Qufumander yelled at the top of his voice as he drew his sword to confront the enemymander.

    Sparks flew. A split secondter, a miserable scream rang out. One partynded stably, while the other copsed limply onto the ground. The rest of the Qufu Yin soldiers who were standing behind the enemy femalemander stood frozen in ce as they watched their ownmander turn into a clump ofherme that soon dissipated into the sky.

    Dead?

    Shanhai Pass was an immenselyrge city, and there were easily tens of thousands of troops guarding the walls that stood hundreds of meters wide from end to end. Countless Yin soldiers surrounded the enemy femalemander and her troops like a watertight barrel, but none of them dared to make a single move.

    He¡¯s seriously dead? A single sh, and he was reduced to nothing buthermes?

    Killed in a single blow?

    Several lessermanders stepped forward in ce of their now-deceased mainmander and spoke with great trembling, ¡°W-who are you?!¡±

    Mu Guiying stood her ground valiantly with a long spear in hand. Her hair was swept to the side along with her majestic cloak, and she hardly exhibited any traits one traditionally would associate with women. Instead, she exuded a ferocious aura of an apex predator, waiting to strike.

    Whoosh¡­ She raised her spear and pointed its tip at the lessermanders who had stepped forward, and they immediately cowered and even retreated several steps back.

    This was the overbearing valiance of thousands. The notion of instantly disposing of a Hellguard-ssmander was simply too shocking, and every single one of the Qufu Yin soldiers who had witnessed this sight couldn¡¯t help but feel awed and fearful of the valiantdy general that was Mu Guiying.

    ¡°Mu Guiying, Emissary of Hell.¡± Mu Guiying swept her gaze frommander tomander, ¡°I wasmanded to y the impertinent. Evildoers shall be purged, but those who surrender shall be spared!¡±

    Buzz¡­ As soon as she said this, a multitude ofhermes erupted in the sky behind her. The transmission of Hell¡¯s forces was finallyplete. At once, all 20,000 troops roared in unison, ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡±

    Spear to spear, and sword to sword. Hell¡¯s forces were surrounded on all sides, and yet¡­ not a single one of Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers dared to make a single move.

    This very moment exemplified the gap in military literacy of both factions.

    70% of Hell¡¯s forces were in fact Yang Jiye¡¯s soldiers. They have been trained day and night back in the Felipinas, so much so that they had internalized everything they were to do in the event of war. In fact, not a single one of them could properly be called uninitiated when it came to doing battle in the first ce.

    But Shanhai Pass waspletely different. They didn¡¯t have the support of famous, reputable generals of ancient times, and they were forced to train their own soldiers from scratch. To make matters worse, the true elites among their midst were all deployed to the coastal areas to deal with the daolord¡¯s approach. Furthermore, none of them had experienced proper warfare before. At best, they would only have scouted out the regions and taken down a Yin beast or two as prized trophies for their lords and generals.

    But how could a Hunter-ss Yin beast possibly resist the march of an army in the first ce? Even a sea of Yin spirits could achieve the same effects!

    Beyond that, the Yin soldiers of Qufu had never experienced proper warfareprising the mighty sh of forces numbering tens of thousands at once.

    Thus, none of them responded. None of them even knew remotely what the appropriate response should be.

    They werepletely stunned. But Mu Guiying clearly wasn¡¯t having any of that. Three secondster, she erupted with a furious cry, ¡°CHARGE!!!¡±

    The tip of her spear gleamed coldly, and then, a dazzling dance of spear strikes flourished.

    She rushed forward in an instant, taking the lead as she dove headlong into the enemy lines. She raised her spear high, and then mmed it down onto the ground with mighty devastation!

    BOOM!!!

    A massive gully instantly appeared right above the city walls, spreading tens of meters with an ear-splitting crack. It was almost as though the entire enemy formation had been split into two by her powerful strike, and dust and debris scattered everywhere. Simultaneously, the 20,000-strong army behind her roared with fury and poured forth towards the enemy lines like raging waters!

    ¡°Victory to Hell!!! Charge!!!¡±

    ¡°Resist them¡­ Fight back!!!¡± The lessermanders of the Qufu army felt a chill run down their spine as they desperately shouted, ¡°We must hold on! Reinforcements will be arriving here shortly!!¡±

    They could already see the wave of Yin soldiers rushing out from the inner city gates.

    The front lines of the Qufu Yin soldiers wanted nothing more than to retreat. Whether military discipline, morale or fighting spirit, they had already been utterly defeated. The great difference between war veterans and greenhorns was as apparent as it got. Unfortunately¡­

    They were obstructed by the ranks of their ownrades that stood behind them. The backlines pushed forward, propping up the entire formation of troops. Unfortunately, this also meant that the front lines had absolutely no room for retreat!

    A terrifying disy of Yin energy erupted from the forces that bore down onto them. In that very instant, Hell¡¯s forces appeared no different from an avnche roaring down the sides of Mount Tai. The battle-hardened veterans rushed valiantly ahead like a roaring tiger, disying without reservation their terrifying murderous intent. Trembling with fear, Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers instinctively picked up their long spears and held it up feebly. Yet, they found themselves unable to even muster the slightest of peeps.

    Unfortunately, their worst nightmare was only just beginning.

    When Hell¡¯s forces were only ten meters away from the frontlines of the Qufu Yin soldiers, their formation suddenly staggered slightly, allowing an entire row of a hundred ck Armored Troops to surface onto the frontlines of the charge unhurriedly and in unison. Then, they drew their weapons.

    ck Armored Troops of the Tang Dynasty!

    Buzz!!

    The air crackled and popped with tension.

    And this was the final scene that the frontlines of Qufu¡¯s army saw.

    It was in and simple, and yet the cold gleam of the ck Armored Troops¡¯ concerted sh instantly decimated the frontlines of all who stood in their way, reducing them to nothing more than wisps ofhermes and clouds of Yin energy. The ck Armored Troops marched in front like reapers of souls with no emotions whatsoever. Every location that they passed waspletely reduced to dust.

    Dozens of Yin spirits fell with every swing of their des. Qufu¡¯s soldiers were arrayed with a seemingly watertight formation, and yet not a single one could resist the firm approach of the ck Armored Troops. Within moments, Hell¡¯s forces had already pushed Qufu¡¯s soldiers back by hundreds of meters!

    They were unstoppable!

    This was the might of the true forces of Hell!

    One sh, and the skies were filled with countless spots ofhermes. Another sh, and thehermes would be reduced into a cloud of Yin energy. They marched on with a ferocious tempo, never stopping and never slowing. On the other hand, the morale of Qufu¡¯s frontline forces instantly fell to rock bottom. Every single one of them desperately fought to retreat from the frontlines - This is war¡­ This ispletely different from our expectations!

    But their heads were sliced cleanly off their shoulders as soon as they turned back. At some point in time, another group of Yin soldiers dressed in Tang Dynasty armor had arrived right behind the dwindling Qufu forces.

    And the man who stood right in the middle of these Tang Dynasty reinforcements was a man dressed like a Tang Dynasty official. However, it was not Lai Junchen.

    He didn¡¯t say a single word. Instead, he simply gazed coldly at a location that was three hundred meters away, where the ck Armored Troops were still advancing like demon gods descending into the mortal realm. It had only been a few short moments since the arrival of the enemy invaders, and yet the segment of the city walls that were hundreds of meters wide had already transformed into an advancing moat of sorts due to the hundred or so ck Armored Troops interspersed between the regr forces of Hell. They were practically invincible!

    This is the bona fide army of Hell¡­ And these are the fabled ck Armored Troops!! The man screamed in horror in his heart. The ck Armored Troops were practically the pride of all who lived during the great Tang Dynasty. He was all too familiar with what their existence represented. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t keep his lips from quivering slightly.

    There were over a dozen Hellguard-ss Yin spirits and over fifty Hunter-ss Yin spirits standing right behind him, zing with battle intent at this very moment.

    Apart from that, there were a multitude of Yin soldiers dressed in ck armor that was formed up in ranks right behind what appeared to be themander of these reinforcements.

    These Yin soldiers stretched on for a hundred meters or so. At a nce, one would be able to tell that there were easily 30,000 Yin soldiers gathered up atop the city walls with an air of sobriety about them. However, not a single one of them marched ahead.

    Rather, they were unable to march ahead.

    The city walls that once used to look far too wide to them were now way too narrow for their current purposes.

    At least, it wasn¡¯t wide enough for tens of thousands of troops to sh against each other.

    They must be stopped!

    If we allow this to go on any longer, then everything that Qufu is built on is bound to copse bit by bit like a shattering mirror.

    But¡­ how am I supposed to go about doing that?!

    After a long time, he gnashed his teeth, ¡°Onwards¡­ And hold them off! All who dare retreat shall be executed for treason!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡± Seven Hellguards bellowed back, leading their own army of soldiers forward like another wave in the ocean to reinforce the crumbling line of defense ahead of them.

    The shield-bearers marched in front like a wall of shields that stretched on for hundreds of meters. Countless spears peeked out from the gaps between the shields, followed by archers who soon ignited their arrows withhermes.

    Everyone was poised to strike!

    The archers at the backlines had their arrows trained on Mu Guiying¡¯s forces. Once Qufu¡¯s frontline forces crumbledpletely, what awaited them was going to be an all-epassing counterattack.

    Qufu¡¯s reactions weren¡¯t slow, especially given the fact that none of them had ever anticipated someone breaching the outer walls and entering the city in the first ce!

    After all, Qufu¡¯s Shanhai Pass was supposed to be an unbreakable fortress!

    Then, as soon as the army marched out, the Tang Dynastymander turned around and whispered through gnashed teeth, ¡°Prepare the Mohist Mechanical Beast.¡±

    ¡°Mr Li!!¡± The rest of the Hellguards couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror, ¡°But there are still tens of thousands of our own forces on the city walls!¡±

    ¡°Do you not understand what I¡¯ve just said?!!¡± Mr Li bellowed back with great rage, and thehermes in his eyes immediately turned red, ¡°We cannot let them enter the inner city at any cost! Qufu has fifty-six years of history right now. So long as we can stand firm, we¡¯d undoubtedly be the next hell!!¡±

    ¡°Go! Prepare the Mohist Mechanical Beast!¡± His seven apertures were billowing with Yin energy by now, ¡°I don¡¯t want to see a single living creature on this city wall when I¡¯m done¡­ not even a single ghost!¡±

 Chapter 430: The Definitive War (2)

    <h4>Chapter 430: The Definitive War (2)</h4>

    Zhao Seven was also marching within Mu Guiying¡¯s army.

    The western outer walls was one of the most heavily guarded locations, and it was also the location where the highest concentration of Hell¡¯s elites were deployed. Naturally, he was one of those who had been deployed among them all.

    He swung his saber mightily, instantly decimating the enemy Yin soldiers that stood in front of them. There was even the urge to toss his head up into the air and sigh softly to himself - That¡¯s the feeling. The feeling of cutting down my enemies is truly where the heart of a soldier lies.

    It didn¡¯t matter that he was already dead. The sheer thought of paving a way for Hell¡¯s future caused his blood to boil, and he drew out every ounce of strength from within his body to act as the ferocious de of Hell that would cut down everything in his path.

    Shk! Shk! Shk! The ck Armored Troops paved the way for the march of Hell¡¯s forces. Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers were inept in military literacy, and the limitations of space prevented them from utilizing their numbers to their greatest advantage. Naturally, Hell¡¯s forcespletely ran them down without a single casualty in no more than half an hour!

    However, not a singlemander among Hell¡¯s forces revealed the slightest trace of joy in their expressions.

    They knew that this was by no means the true strength of Qufu¡¯s forces!

    After all, how could a giant city protecting the Mythic Pce of Reflections and millions of Yin spirits only contain defenses of such dismal standards? They wouldn¡¯t even be able to stand against a single monarch Yin beast at this rate.

    Thus, they all knew better that the current calm was naturally one that preceded the storm. These Yin spirits were undoubtedly the lowest tier of Yin soldiers, and Qufu was simply using them as fodder to buy time to prepare the rest of their forces. Then, only when the rest of the army arrived, would it be the time for the final showdown.

    The ck Armored Troops were like chisels that ruthlessly chipped away at the walls crumbling defenses. Unfortunately, the city walls extended for a distance of well over twenty kilometers. The thousand meters that they had advanced was nothing more than the beginning of their march.

    After all, the only way down from the city walls were through a series of steps that only existed at the battlement at the end of the road.

    It was only by breaching the battlement and entering the city that they would finally be able to take this battle to the next level.

    ¡°Onwards!!¡± Zhao Seven knew full well that this was only the beginning, yet the more they killed, the easier it seemed to be. A troubling atmosphere loomed over their heads, while a murderous intent spread swept across the troops from all directions, palpable and real.

    One could only imagine the number of traps and obstacles that were stillying in wait for them on the long road ahead.

    They swung their des like indomitable dragons. Then, as soon as the veryst Qufu Yin spirit was in, and before they could even catch their breath, they heard the sound of countless bowstrings being released at the very same time.

    ¡°Release!!¡± With a furiousmand, a volley of arrows were instantly released through the air like a swarm of flying locusts, and it soon pelted down like a dense shower of meteorites! Meanwhile, a pure white light glistened from father ahead. Zhao Seven swung his de to block the arrows, yet his eyes immediately flickered in horror.

    The arrows¡­ have be far heavier than before. They¡¯re nothing like the arrows that regr Yin soldiers can fire.

    Pshk! That moment of distraction was costly. Another arrow plunged straight into his shoulder, where the gaps of his armory. He stumbled back with a baffled grunt, while the shield wall behind him soon filled the gap that had opened up in their formation ahead.

    They could tell that another army had lined up neatly in front of their very eyes. There was likewise a shield wall protecting the front of the formation, while a multitude of archers remained hidden at the very back, firing volley after volley of arrows. However, the one thing that caused his heart to sink slightly was the fact that¡­ the enemy Yin soldiers appeared to have pieces of talisman attached to their feet. In turn, these talismans were glowing brightly, revealing a soft glow of the figure of a phoenix to appear at the bottom of the entire formation!

    This was the Soaring Phoenix Formation!

    These were undoubtedly the main army of the Shanhai Pass!

    Ding, ding, ding! The volley of arrows meant that they were unable to advance another step further. Mu Guiying didn¡¯t charge ahead either. After all, such a terrifying rain of arrows was difficult to resist, even for an Infernal Judge. So how much more difficult would it be for a Hellguard like her?

    It¡¯s finally here¡­ This is the moment when both sides sh with the true might of their des¡­ She carefully surveyed her opponent¡¯s military formation. Truth be told, she hadn¡¯t expected the arrival of the main army this swiftly and suddenly.

    While they were busy killing the frontline forces defending the city walls, Qufu¡¯s main forces had already been busying themselves to receive the approach of Hell¡¯s forces. Quiet as a river, they established their formation andid the trap in wait for Hell¡¯s forces to finish off their own foder.

    Admittedly, Qufu¡¯s grasp of military affairs was nothing whenpared with Yang Jiye¡¯s army. However¡­ the numbers advantage still weighed heavily in their favour. Furthermore, they even had the homeground advantage! To this end, Hell¡¯s forces could all tell that they were easily outnumbered by at least ten thousand Yin soldiers!

    Shk! One of the shield-bearers nearby was struck by an arrow that plunged straight through the gap in his armor, and he immediately turned into a wisp ofherme that quickly faded away. Mu Guiying clenched her fists tightly - This can¡¯t go on!

    I¡¯m not sure how the situation is like at the other city walls now. I¡¯ve rushed into battle first because I¡¯m hoping to clear the path to be able to render aid to my other sisters. But even if I¡¯m thest man standing¡­ I hopefully still be able to lighten the burden of Qin Ye¡¯s forcester on.

    There was a price to pay for every war fought.

    Ding, ding, ding¡­ A blizzard of arrows continued to pelt down onto Hell¡¯s soldiers, and it was incredibly difficult to even advance another step further. Mu Guiying drew a deep breath, and then suddenly whistled loudly.

    Fweeeee! The crisp sound of the whistle was lost in the raging rain of arrows. But as soon as it sounded, the spell array in the sky that had already faded away¡­ suddenly came back to life with renewed vigor!

    ¡°Reinforcements?¡± Mr Li had already arrived at the head of the Mohist Mechanical Beast by now, and he was incredibly astonished to see the spell array blossoming in the sky once more, ¡°Hurry¡­ HURRY!!!¡±

    ¡°Immediately load up the Yin spirit stones! Activate the Mechanical Beast!¡±

    He was in a massive room.

    It was approximately one hundred and fifty meters wide in diameter, and thirty meters tall. This was the inner portion of the head of the Mechanical Beast, and it was further subdivided into three different tiers.

    Each tier was filled with Yin spirits wearing ck robes with talismans on their foreheads and a white cyclops mask.

    Pale, dry hands reached out from underneath the dark robes, moving about quickly as they manipted the instruments around them. Dozens of secondster, with a loud bang, the internal machinery finally started moving.

    Mr Li sighed in relief as he stared at the screen of Yin energy in front of him.

    ¡°Go to hell¡­¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who you are¡­ This is the Twelve Zodiac Beast, the greatest mechanical creation of the Mohist n in all two thousand years of their existence. None can possibly stand against it!¡±

    ¡°All who march against Qufu must die!¡±

    Meanwhile, the sky trembled, and countless wisps of Yin energy began to converge onto the city walls. A split secondter, a majestic shockwave of Yin energy erupted from the heart of the convergence and swept through thends with visible devastation. A savage beast had appeared right in the middle of the battlefield!

    Its body was shaped like a rhinoceros, yet it was also covered with chilling bone spines. Terrifying Yin energy poured out of every pore on its body. The head of the beast was somewhat squarish in shape. More urately speaking, the beast sported a t four-sided bone crown at its forehead, almost akin to that of a triceratops. Furthermore, there were even countless sharp protruding spines that pointed ahead from the top of its head.

    Most of all, everyone could tell in an instant that this was without a doubt a Judge-ss Yin beast!

    ¡°This is¡­¡± A Judge-ss aura swept the city walls clean of all dust and debris, almost as though it were restarting things from apletely clean te. Back on the Mechanical Beast, Mr Li stared in horror at the appearance of the Yin beast with great trembling on his lips.

    In that very instant, he finally realized just how determined Hell was to take down Qufu, regardless of the costs involved!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this¡­ the Nine-Eyed Siegebeast? They¡¯re actually mobilizing Yin beasts now?!¡± Gasping in horror, he turned back sharply and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°How much longer before we can activate the Mechanical Beast?!!¡±

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± One of the Yin spirits nearby lowered his head softly, ¡°We still need to service it properly¡­¡±

    Before that Yin spirit could even exin himself, Mr Li drove his hand straight through his skull, reducing that Yin spirit to a cloud of Yin energy that soon dissipated. Mr Li¡¯s voice trembled once more, ¡°Do you not understand the question I¡¯m asking?¡±

    ¡°How much longer before we can activate it?!!¡±

    ¡°Twenty minutes, my lord! Twenty minutes!¡±

    ¡°Very well¡­¡± Lord Li felt his throat go parched. Then, as he slowly lowered his trembling hands, he turned to the attendant at his side and barked his next order, ¡°Immediately¡­ Immediately notify Lord Lai and apprise him of our current situation! We cannot dy any longer¡­ We need to take down our opponents while they¡¯re still on the city walls! We cannot risk having them enter the city itself. Qufu is toorge. If they take control of our alleys and form strongholds to receive their reinforcements at ater time, then Qufu would truly be in real danger of falling to their hands!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Back on the west outer city walls. The Nine-Eyed Siegebeast slowly opened its eyes. Its body was twenty meters long and eight meters tall when stretched from end to end. It shook his body, and slowly rose to its feet. And then, with an earth-shattering roar, it began its charge straight towards the enemy formation!

    The seven Hellguards were standing in the front of Qufu¡¯s military formation. One of the Hellguards sporting a half-meter long tongue and dry and withered skin that appeared no different from that of a jiangshi bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°Hold your ground!! All who retreat shall be executed without trial! Spear and shield formation, march forward! No matter what happens, we absolutely cannot allow our enemy to breach our formation at all!¡±

    Dong, dong, dong!! The city walls trembled under the weight of the colossal beast¡¯s gallop. The army that stood tall against it was worthy to be called a part of Qufu¡¯s main army. Despite facing the terrifying charge of a Judge-ss Yin beast, they were able to deny the fear in their hearts and march forward with their shields and spears still held up high. Not a single one of them retreated in the slightest. The spearmen anchored the base of their spears to the ground with every step that they took, while the arches continued to fire volley after volley of arrows at the Yin beast.

    Unfortunately, most of these arrows were now blocked by the charge of the Yin beast. With the weight of the rain of arrows lifted off their shoulders, the forces of Hell soonmenced their march ahead once more.

    They weren¡¯t quick, but they never stopped moving.

    Although there were still some stray arrows that would slip through Hell¡¯s defenses and take down a Yin soldier from time to time, the gaps in their formation would soon be filled in with the troops around. Thus, within three minutes, Hell¡¯s forces advanced yet another hundred meters or so, such that they were now only fifty meters away from the front of the enemy line!

    Incidentally, the Nine-Eyed Siegebeast had also arrived right in front of the enemy forces!

    BOOM!!!

    There was an earth-shattering bang. The ghostly citizens watching from within the city walls were startled to discover that Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers were starting to be tossed over the top of the city walls.

    However¡­ its charge was soon halted!

    ROARRRR¡­ SSS!!! Its entire body was covered with arrows and spears. And yet the Nine-Eyed Siegebeast had of its own strength ploughed straight through the front line of the enemy, and knocked back the entire formation by five full meters. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t able to advance even an inch further.

    The huge crown on its head was now covered with broken spears. The Yin soldiers below gritted their teeth as they desperately held their ground against the charge of the colossal beast. And this was despite witnessing how the colossal beast had just turned several rows of theirrades-in-arms into a cloud of Yin energy andhermes.

    Sigh¡­ Qufu¡¯s Hellguardmanders heaved a sigh of relief. But, just then--...

    A figure suddenly leapt high up into the air.

    It was as graceful as a dragon emerging from the waters, or a phoenix ascension into the skies.

    Everyone saw how this figure leapt straight into the air, well within the range of the incessant rain of arrows. The figure was slender and dressed in ck armor. Yet what was most terrifying about it was the murderous intent that she exuded. Coupled with the exquisite spear in her arms that were imbued with wisps of pitch-ck Yin energy, her flourish of moves looked no different from the dance of a menacing ck dragon.

    Time seemed to freeze in that very moment.

    Nobody had expected someone to be bold enough to charge right behind the Nine-Eyed Siegebreaker, much less that a single person would even rush headlong into an army of tens of thousands.

    Qufu¡¯s Hellguards could all see the appearance of this terrifying figure.

    It was ady.

    She wasn¡¯t incredibly beautiful, but the fresh aura of a warriordy caused them to be unable to take their eyes off her.

    Thedy¡¯s hair scattered about wildly like a descending demon. And then¡­ they transformed into two massive crow wings.

    They were ck crow wings.

    Whoosh¡­ Thehergale gently tickled Mu Guiying¡¯s ears. Thehermes in her eyes hadpletely vanished, giving way topletely pitch-ck eyes. And then, she parted her lips and spoke a single statement softly.

    ¡°Fengdu¡¯s Flourish, Loathsome Ghosts.¡±

    Boom!!!

    The ck feathers immediately erupted with a fiery ze that spread as far as a thousand meters from her body!

    Meanwhile, a soft ¡°shk¡± sound was heard, followed closely by the sound of something tearing through the air.

    Something was currently approaching with great ferocity.

    Zhao Seven had been keeping a close watch of Mu Guiying all this while.

    He knew that the heart of amander was where their army was. Therefore, while Mu Guiying had been watching her own troops, Zhao Seven noticed what was going on from afar.

    Naturally, he noticed the Mechanical Beast firing off a spear that was approximately four-meters long. Tethered to an iron chain, the spear hurtled through the air.

    Yet what caused his pupils to narrow even more was the fact that this wasn¡¯t the only spear hurtling through the air right now.

    Countless ballistae were perched right atop the Mechanical Beast in the distance. The Mechanical Beast was facing the western walls right now, and the sights of the ballistae were all trained on a single moving target.

 Chapter 431: The Definitive War (3)

    <h4>Chapter 431: The Definitive War (3)</h4>

    If he had a heart, it would most certainly have skipped a beat. He could even sense all of his muscles tense up in this very moment. His mouth was wide agape, and his eyelids twitched uncontrobly. Then, a split secondter, he dashed right out of formation.

    Both factions were locked in an intense sh of power. Hell¡¯s forces were clearly advancing despite the rain of arrows, while the other continuouslyunched volley after volley of arrows that slowly but surely prated the defences of the other. Every moment that passed saw Yin spirits turn tohermes that quickly dissipated into the surroundings. Practically every single Qufu soldier was staring transfixed at Mu Guiying, whose crow wings were spread so far and wide that they practically blotted out the sky above. Naturally, not a single one of the Qufu soldiers noticed the ferocious attacks pouring out towards them from the Mechanical Beasts from afar.

    Mu Guiying was momentarily taken aback.

    A split secondter--...

    Pshk!!

    He was instantly pinned straight into the ground by the massive spear, and his soulfire trembled violently. He tried desperately to remove the spear from his chest, but to no avail.

    Mu Guiying turned to where the spear came from, only to discover to her horror that there were countless simr spears pelting down towards them like a torrential downpour!

    ¡°Raise your defenses!!¡± She yelled with all her might. Unfortunately, it was all toote.

    It was Hell¡¯s desire to take down Qufu at all cost, but little did they realize that Qufu also wished to defend its city at all costs. The rain of spears was going to leave few Yin spirits on the western city walls alive. It wasn¡¯t that bad for stronger Yin spirits, because while the long spears might seriously wound them, they still wouldn¡¯t perish immediately. But the rest of the Yin soldiers¡­ would definitely be ughtered!

    A split secondter.

    ¡°How could this be¡­¡± One of the Qufu Hellguards dressed in modern work overalls with only half a head remaining desperately fought off the rain of spears that continued to pour down from the skies. Between his attacks, he nced at the Mechanical Beast with bloodshot eyes and gnashed his teeth with great fury, ¡°Li Linfu¡­ You are ruthless!!¡±

    The other spears that were raining down on them plunged straight into the city walls, prating the ground by at least half a meter! A multitude of Yin soldiers were helplessly skewered on the field of spears. Within moments, it became impossible to distinguish which side each of these skewered soldiers were from. Many of them also quickly exploded into a cloud of Yin energy without even being given the chance to scream out in pain and anguish.

    Hunter-ss Yin spirits would end up seriously injured.

    Shk! Shk! Shk! Mu Guiying continued to avoid the spears that were narrowly grazing her. That said, she didn¡¯t bother even ncing at Zhao Seven. After all, she knew full well that this was hardly the time to be developing feelings for anyone.

    If they managed to activate something as powerful as that, then the only thing that awaited them was permanent death itself!

    Looks like Qufu¡¯s forces are bent on turning the western walls into a great wall of mes¡­ She gritted her teeth and made a decision that could only be described as heroic.

    She appeared incredibly smallpared to the hulking Mechanical Beast that stood as tall as the heavens. But even then, her actions were striking.

    ¡°My lord¡­ We¡¯ve already fired everything¡­¡± One of the Yin spirits reported back with a tremor in his voice, ¡°The reloading time is another twenty minutes¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t quite understand it.

    Having already died once, wouldn¡¯t Yin spirits know all the more how important it is to cherish life?

    Annals of the New Hell: Year 001 of the New Hell. During the definitive war against Qufu, Yang Jiye¡¯s daughter-inw, Mu Guiying, heroically broke into the heart of the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull.

    Because even Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers could all see for themselves what she was about to do. Notwithstanding the remaining rain of spears that were still pelting down onto them, several lessermanders eximed in shock and yelled with all their might, ¡°Kill her! Protect the Mechanical Beast no matter the cost!! Hurry!!¡±

    Mu Guiying hadn¡¯t even gone several hundred meters when ten other Qufu Hellguards stepped out from the entrance of the Mechanical Beast with a cold sneer, ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± ¡°What gall!!¡± ¡°What do you take us for, huh?¡±

    She promptly made a series of hand seals, mustering every bit of Yin energy in her body that erupted all at once!

    Closer and closer. The rush of thehergale screamed in her ear, while the Hellguards approaching her surged towards her like a rushing river filled with the moans and groans of countless Yin spirits. Nethermes abounded like constetions in the sky, while Yin energy flourished like the base of a waterfall. And it was right at that time that Mu Guiying suddenly paused.

    ¡°Die!!!¡± Simultaneously, one of the Hellguards rushed right in front of her. He was wearing a short coat that had burst at the abdomen to reveal a massive mouth that ran right up to his chest. A scarlet tongue immediatelyshed out towards Mu Guiying¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Crystal Heart¡­ Clear Mind.¡±

    A terrifyinghergale swirled mightily around her, while innumerable spots ofhermes darted everywhere in the vicinity. She appeared no different from a Bodhisattva of Hell. A split secondter, her hundred arms moved at the same time, revealing each their own preferred set of weapons. Her gaze ofpassion soon turnedpletely frigid.

    ¡°How dare you confront us Emissaries of Hell without any high-grade Yin artifacts in your possession? You Yin spirits of recent times truly don¡¯t know a thing at all¡­¡±

    SSSSSS!!! They could only see a bright beam of light surge past themselves. Nobody saw how she moved, or when she struck. However, every single Qufu Hellguard instantly cried out miserably as they retreated from the terrifying light. Their bodies were instantly covered with wounds, and Yin energy poured out profusely!

    ¡°Crazy¡­ You¡¯re crazy!!!¡± One of the Qufu Hellguards clutched at his injuries, desperately gasping for air as he retreated as far as a hundred meters away. He stared scornfully but fearfully at the woman of Hell. In that instant earlier when she brushed past his body, he could sense such a thick murderous intent from her that he could practically see¡­ Hell itself!

    At this very moment, Mu Guiying was only three thousand meters away from the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull.

    Apart from Li Linfu¡¯s army, another army of at least 100,000 troops had at some point in time ascended the western city walls to obstruct Hell¡¯s approach.

    She didn¡¯t even retreat in the slightest.

    ¡°In life, I took from my country. In death, I repay my duties¡­¡± Despite the endless sea of Yin soldiers, her eyes remained as deep and abstruse as ever. Then, she gently unfolded her hundred arms, ¡°Either get lost, or die.¡±

    Back in the underworld, Qin Ye, Arthis and Yang Yande were all watching this heroic scene pan out on a screen of Yin energy in front of them. Yang Yande shut his eyes and choked up softly, ¡°Crystal Heart, Clear Mind¡­¡±

    Arthis lowered her gaze and softly responded, ¡°A forbidden art. One of the forbidden arts hidden in the deepest parts of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva¡¯s Great Benediction¡­ Once used, the user will lose herself, and be unable to return to her senses ever again. But while the technique remains in effect, the user will be impervious to the feeling of pain, and¡­ even have their abilities forcefully raised to the peak of the cultivation that they are at.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly. Even though they weren¡¯t participating in the battle just yet, they could see for themselves just how terrifying and cruel the bloodshed in Limbo was. Hell¡¯s forces were forging ahead despite the casualties to their numbers, while Qufu¡¯s forces were so bent on taking down Hell¡¯s forces that they would even sacrifice their own troops with a carpet bomb of colossal spears. Even the generals were forced to resort to throwing their lives on the line for the definitive war of Hell.

    Silence.

    ¡°No!¡± Yang Yande immediately barked sternly, ¡°Once my sister-inw has decided on a certain course of action, there¡¯s simply no turning back at all. She¡¯s¡­ a very stubborn person.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve only got one shot at this. As soon as the enemy troops pour out of the inner city in an attempt to reinforce their own forces, that would be the time for us to strike with our 20,000 troops. We¡¯re the assassins in this entire operation. We cannot afford to jeopardize our chances just because of our personal emotions! The nation before the self! Lord Yanluo cannot act upon his emotions at this point in time!¡±

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth and nodded softly.

    Now, it felt as though he had reverted to those times. For Hell¡¯s future, Yin spirits were throwing themselves in harm¡¯s way without asking for anything in return.

    How he wished that they would react with greater abandon and more wanton recklessness.

    Send your remaining forces at once. Our generals have already thrown themselves into the fray. Doesn¡¯t that deserve more attention from the rest of your forces?

 Chapter 432: The Definitive War (4)

    <h4>Chapter 432: The Definitive War (4)</h4>

    Everything was silent in the underworld.

    As the great war escted, so did each Yin spirit tighten their fists in anxiety. Everyone was desperately resisting the urge to rush straight to the surface and join theirrades-in-arms in battle.

    Countless Yin spirits gritted their teeth and tightened their grasps around their weapons, eagerly anticipating the moment that their King Yanluo would give themand. If not for the fact that their role was to bide their time for the perfect opportunity to deal the final blow, they would already have sought permission to enter battle by now.

    Nobody knew how devastating their casualties were going to be, but it wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that at least half of the Yang n forces would be decimated in this war.

    The assassins were only supposed to strike at the most critical of times! The time clearly wasn¡¯t right!

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Several Yin spirits abruptly shot to their feets, breathing raggedly as they stared at the screen of Yin energy that was disying the southern city walls. Even their hands were trembling profusely.

    They¡¯ve breached it!!

    That¡¯s where Hua Jieyu had been deployed¡­

    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled!¡± Just as both Arthis and Qin Ye were stirring with great joy, Yang Yande dragged them right back to reality, ¡°Look here¡­ They¡¯re¡­ doing this on purpose.¡±

    The area below the city walls was far wider than atop the city walls itself, and it would make manoeuvring arger army far easier for the Qufu soldiers!

    ¡°I wonder if General Hua would notice this in time¡­¡± Yang Yande derw a deep breath, ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling that the core defensive forces at the southern walls are going to appear soon enough. They¡¯re not going to let an opportunity like this slip through their hands¡­¡±

    It was an opportunity to both Hua Jieyu as well as Qufu alike!

    ¡°God!!¡± Oh god!!! Help!!!¡± ¡°Yin soldiers have entered the city! Yin soldiers have entered the city!!¡± ¡°Where are the guards? How can the city guards allow them to trample over the city like that?!¡±

    Hua Jieyu was dressed in an imposing ck armor, sweeping through the streets of Qufu with nary an expression on her face. At least, until she got to the end of the street.

    The surroundings were also sparsely popted with civilian houses. But as soon as Hua Jieyu¡¯s forces showed up, countless Qufu archers immediately ran to the top of the houses, holding up bows and arrows that were trained directly on Hua Jieyu¡¯s army. There were approximately 20,000 or so archers in all.

    The design of the walls within Shanhai Pass were exquisite and ingenious. The inner city walls were constructed at the top of ramps and slopes that led straight down to the outer city. Incidentally, the Soul-Launching Coffins were located right at the top of these ramps. Such a design made it easy for the forces located within the inner city to descend to the outer city, but incredibly difficult for the invaders to siege the high ground.

    She turned her attention away from the forces arrayed before her, and straight to the city walls apart from the one that she hade from. Each of the walls were erupting with intense Yin energy and an explosive disy ofhermes. She immediately knew that she was the only one who had managed to breach the city walls and arrive at the urban areas.

    It was dangerous. But it was likewise also an opportunity to her.

    And if there wasn¡¯t any room left for retreat¡­ then there was no need to contemte retreat at all!

    No words were needed.

    A split secondter, the war drums began to sound from behind the enemy lines, and an entire row of Qufu¡¯s forcesprising thousands of war horses began to charge wildly at the same time.

    The houses around them quivered softly to the rumble of hooves. Tens of thousands of cavalry charged towards Hell¡¯s forces at the same time! It was a spectacr sight! Smoke and dust scattered behind them, interweaving with the dark, billowing Yin energy about them. Everything became a hazy blur, and the only things they could see were spots of flickeringhermes that peeked out from within.

    It appeared no different from the rumble of a demon god¡¯s approach. Given the speed of their approach, it wasn¡¯t going to take more than thirty seconds before all hell broke loose. Each stomp of the hooves weighed heavily on the hearts of Hell¡¯s Yin soldiers. In ancient times, the sound of the approach of ten thousand cavalry was something that could even cause Yin soldiers to desert their armies and turn tail to run.

    Three hundred meters¡­ two hundred meters¡­ one hundred meters!!

    It was a military formation!

    Back in the underworld. Both Qin Ye and Arthis were watching this sight with great astonishment. Neither of them had expected the Yang n to actually be in possession of a mighty military formation!

    It was also a military formation!

    It was a full-on confrontation of strength. Hell¡¯s Yin soldiers possessed the ability to face ten rogue Yin spirits at once, but the Qufu forces clearly had an edge in the speed of their cavalry¡¯s charge. There were no tricks in their uing sh. It was an unadulterated contest of strength.

    While the loser would perish and be buried in the ground.

    ¡°Victory to Hell!!!¡± Hua Jieyu swung her hand down mightily, and the Yin soldiers tightened their defenses, yelled at the top of their voices and braced themselves for impact.

    BOOM!!!

    It was so deafening that everything appeared to go silent.

    When all was said and done, neither side had much of an edge over the other. All that remained was a messy melee of Yin spirit against Yin spirit.

    Ssss!!! Countless Qufu soldiers screamed miserably as they were reduced into spots ofhermes that quickly faded away. Yet, this was only the first wave of cavalrymen. A farrger wave of cavalrymen were approaching fast from behind!

    The sessive waves of Qufu cavalrymen were like mighty tidal waves that constantly battered against the shores. Qufu soldiers were pounded away desperately at Hell¡¯s defensive formation. One wave¡­ two waves¡­ five waves¡­ ten waves!! By the time the twelfth wave of cavalry arrived, Hell¡¯s forces could no longer resist their approach any further.

    Bang¡­ One of Hell¡¯s soldiers was knocked into the air, and the watertight defenses of Hell¡¯s formation finally sprung a small leak. But before they could even patch things up with their reserve forces, the rest of Qufu cavalry immediately rushed straight to the gap like sharks that had smelled blood, and they tore frantically into it.

    ¡°Chaaaaaarge!!!¡± It was infantry against cavalry. Whenever a part of Hell¡¯s formation was forcefully torn open, what soon followed was a raging avnche of destruction. Fortunately, most of Hell¡¯s soldiers who were knocked back didn¡¯t dissipate immediately. Under Hua Jieyu¡¯s calm leadership, they gritted their teeth and fought through the pain, before promptly rejoining the formation from behind.

    They could tell that these forces were undoubtedly part of Qufu¡¯s core forces! Otherwise, they would never have been able to go toe to toe against genuine Emissaries of Hell.

    ng, ng! Metallic shes rang out throughout the battlefield. The battle raged with a white hot intensity. Hua Jieyu¡¯smands were no longer useful. In the ensuing chaotic melee, what truly shone was the disciplined leadership of the five-men leaders. As formations slowly broke up, the cavalrymen who charged into the heat of battle soon found themselves surrounded by several Yin soldiers armed with spears.

    tter, tter¡­ Swords and spears flourished like the dance of dragons. Wherever they passed, Hell¡¯s forces would scream miserably in defeat and perish inhermes. But they would soon be reced by fearless warriors that rushed up to take their ce. Meanwhile, the waves of cavalry continued to pour in like unrelenting waves, while arrows continued to pelt down in a chaotic fashion all around. Hell¡¯s military formation had already crumbledpletely by now, and the Yin soldiers no longer had the ability to resist the impact from the cavalry¡¯s charge.

    ¡°Long live Lord Kong!!!¡± With a maddened roar, the final wave of cavalry charged forward bravely into the fray. Hell had finally breached thest of Qufu¡¯s military formation!

    Now¡¯s the time!

    While they¡¯re in the midst of regrouping their forces, I¡¯ll head into the fray and take down the scraps of cavalrymen that remain on the battlefield. And then, I can break my army up into 100-men groups to wreak havoc across the entire city of Qufu!

    She hadn¡¯t felt a single trace of fear back during their earlier skirmish. But now¡­ her back suddenly felt soaked through with cold sweat as a chill ran down her spine. She turned her head stiffly to locate the source of her fear at the end of the street.

    She had just noticed the existence of a massive residence parked right in the center of the street.

    Infernal Judge¡­ The mainstay of their defenses has finally showed up¡­

    ¡°Come, tell me, what power do you serve? If you do, I--...¡±

    There was the soft sound of gnashing teeth, ¡°Might just consider letting you die a quicker death!¡±

 Chapter 433: The Definitive War (5)

    <h4>Chapter 433: The Definitive War (5)</h4>

    There was a magnificent cloud of Yin energy spreading at least a thousand square meters all around. Yet, even then, Qufu¡¯s soldiers could vaguely make out the silhouettes of blurry soldiers marching within its midst.

    ¡°Fire!!¡± Themander behind bellowed at the top of his voice, and thousands of crossbow bolts shot through the air. Unlike arrows, crossbow bolts were far more powerful when fired straight ahead. The crossbow bolts flew straight through the cloud of Yin energy and directly towards the Cloud Devourer. However, there simply wasn¡¯t any tactile response at all. The bolts plunged straight into the Cloud Devourer as though they were just any other object falling straight into quicksand. Although the Cloud Devourer¡¯s movements appeared to be slowing down slightly, Qufu¡¯s soldiers knew that their attacks hadn¡¯t injured their target in the slightest.

    But¡­ what are we going to use to defeat our enemies?!

    Damn it¡­ DAMN IT!!!

    ¡°My lord¡­¡± The Yin spirit responded hoarsely, ¡°Without Lord Li¡¯s orders, we have no means of activating the Mechanical Beasts. Furthermore¡­ we require Lord Li¡¯s Tiger Talisman for that¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t able to establish contact with him. In fact, none of them had ever fathomed the possibility that someone could actually fight their way straight into the heart of the Mechanical Beast! This was practically an impossibility in their minds!

    The Hellguardmander nced down. He could see that reinforcements had already arrived, yet were unable to reinforce his army at the top of the city walls as a result of Qufu¡¯s unique terrain. His army was no smaller than the Almanac Army, and they were already formed up in a long snaking formation, eagerly waiting for Hell¡¯s forces to finally charge into their midst and duel to the death.

    Unfortunately, Lord Li wasn¡¯t able to hear his cries.

    The western walls were where most blood was spilt thus far. The entire section of wall was over twenty kilometers long, yet there was not a single part of the wall where blood hadn¡¯t been spilt. Hell¡¯s forces had begun its siege on Qufu over four hours ago, yet Mu Guiying¡¯s army was still eight kilometers away from the exit of the western walls!

    Everyone on the battlefield, both friend and foe, were all hiding underneath the shields of their own forces. There was a tense ceasefire - almost a tacit agreement not to attack each other. A whimpering wind howled across the lonely battlefield. Innumerablerge spears were extending from the ground of the city walls like tombstones, meters apart from each other. The city walls were covered in cracks, and the entire ce was eerily silent.

    The rain of spears had decimated over half of Qufu¡¯s own forces! Over 30,000 Yin spirits had perished, while Hell also lost a fraction of its forces.

    Nobody had expected Lord Li to be as ruthless as he was. But it was precisely so that he had actually managed to hold the city walls thus far!

    ¡°Men!!¡± He bellowed with all his might, ¡°Ourmander has charged straight for the mouth of the Mechanical Beast! Even if she manages to take it down, there will be a throng of enemies waiting for her below. She¡¯d have no ce to run or hide! As her army¡­ what should we do?!!¡±

    There was no room for retreat.

    ¡°Kill them.¡± Another wounded soldier from the Yang n gritted his teeth and scrambled to his feet. Although thehermes in his eyes were already on the verge of flickering out, he still leaned heavily on his spear, signalling his intent to fight until his veryst breath.

    It was akin to an abyss of endless killing.

    This was despite the fact that the city walls were covered with the aftermath of the terrifying rain of spears.

    Just like before, they would have to give it their all in order to wrest every inch of the city walls from the hands of their foe!

    ¡°For Hell¡¯s glory!!!¡± Instantly, the remaining forces behind him numbering well over ten thousand roared at the top of their voices, and they followed suit, forging forward along this endless trek on the enemy walls.

    The screen revealed that a single Yin spirit of Hell¡¯s forces had breached the seventh level of the Mechanical Beast!

    How did she do this?!

    Her back waspletely covered with a multitude of arrows, and yet she clearly didn¡¯t even deign to remove them from her back. Instead, she would simply forge forward, allowing some of the arrows to fall off on their own from time to time. Her entire body was covered with terrifying wounds. Her cloak was in tatters, and her armor was practically cracked everywhere. But¡­ even then, she continued to forge forward to the entrance of the eighth floor!

    They were afraid.

    ¡°Make way.¡± Mu Guiying held her spear horizontally, pointing it at each and every one of the Yin spirits ahead of her. Her voice quivered slightly, ¡°Either make way¡­ or die.¡±

    Back on the ninth floor, Li Linfu stared at the screen of light with bloodshot eyes.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The main street on the south of the city.

    There were exquisite pcenterns brightly illuminating the surroundings with brillianthermes. They were surrounded by a circle of humanoid paper effigies holding spirit streamers, prayer gs and other kinds of banners. There were even ten Hellguards kneeling on the ground with no other soldiers around. Just like that, they remainedpletely still and motionless in the middle of the street, almost as though they were part of apletely different world.

    These parts appeared to bepletely sequestered from the rest of the city. Nothing could be heard of the chaos breaking out in other parts of the city. That said, Hua Jieyu could clearly hear what her next opponent was saying. Thehermes in her eyes flickered wildly as she stared intently at the veil.

    Hua Jieyu stared intently ahead. Her ears were buzzing, while her heart was thumping wildly. Then, she looked down slightly and scanned her surroundings.

    Of course, there were still the 50,000 cavalrymen awaiting the enemy forces at the end of the streets leading from the city walls. The murderous intent emanating these forces was palpable and clearly cognizable.

    She turned her gaze back to the residence in front of her.

    Their final line of defense is finally moving... Given the chaos breaking out everywhere on the battlefield, perhaps not a single other person but herself knew that Qufu was finally tapping on the reserves of their final line of defence!

    This meant that Qufu had already deployed over half a million troops by now!

    Their armor waspletely tattered and broken. Countless Yin soldiers hadhermes in their eyes that were on the verge of going out. But this stood to reason. After all, it was no mean feat for infantrymen to fend off the onught of charging cavalrymen, much less a dozen or so waves of them. Each wave of cavalry numbered thousands at once, and the impact was sorge that it could send tremors across the grounds of the city. Hell¡¯s forces had managed to massacre the Almanac Army, but the Almanac Army had likewise¡­ been able to deplete most of the energy of Hell¡¯s forces.

    They raised their shields high, but there were no spears this time. Instead, the surviving Yin soldiers cast aside their spears and picked up their crossbows instead.

    Boom! The terrifying karmic mes instantly ignited the surrounding Yin energy, causing the air to crackle with a burning smell.

    It¡¯s still not enough¡­

    And since that is the case¡­ then, with the rest of our Yin soldiers¡­ let¡¯s trade, life for life.

    We¡¯ll keep going until thest trace ofherme finally wickers out! We¡¯ll keep going until wepletely unsettle Qufu¡¯s foundation!!!

 Chapter 434: The Definitive War (6)

    <h4>Chapter 434: The Definitive War (6)</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± With a furious shout, the green veil of the residence suddenly drifted up. tter, tter¡­ Momentster, countless sources of Yin energy suddenly rushed out from behind the residence, blotting out the sky with their presence altogether!

    There were at least 50,000 Yin soldiers in all!

    These were all¡­ humanoid puppets.

    Dead silence.

    It¡¯s all worth it now. Lord Qin, do you see this? The Yang n would never betray your expectations of us. We¡¯re willing to give up our lives for Hell¡¯s glory! Dear sisters¡­ do you see this? The Infernal Judge and the army of mannequins are moving together. The situation with Qufu¡¯s forces¡­ isn¡¯t as good as it seems as well!

    Lord Qin, I hope you¡¯re ready. Qufu¡¯s already digging deep into their reserves. I hope you¡¯re ready to deliver the final blow to crush thempletely!

    Shk, shk, shk!!!

    It was the battle between hidden trump cards of both forces.

    Sss!!! Like falling stars, the humanoid puppets promptly descended upon the rising mes of the crossbow bolts below. The two meteor showers collided in an instant!

    Dong¡­ A grand bell rang from the sixth floor of the six-storey tall building within the inner city.

    Lai Junchen stood in front of the door, holding the railing tightly with flickering mes in his eyes as he carefully surveyed the situation at the three sides of the city walls that could be seen from his vantage point.

    asionally, they would see shockwaves of Yin energy rippling out from the city walls in the distance. And it was only through the reflections of the glistening shockwaves that one could even catch a glimpse of the 200,000 humanoid paper effigies hidden below, resting on a scarlet tform like inanimate wooden sculptures.

    But that wasn¡¯t the case.

    The reflection of the mirror revealed the entire image of Qufu¡¯s Shanhai Pass. In fact, there were even rolling clouds and brilliant golden beams of light that poured out of the surface of the mirror. However, it hardly exuded any traces of immortal energy at all. Rather, the energy it exuded was undoubtedly Yin energy of the densest and purest quality.

    Back at the door. Lai Junchen¡¯s expressions made it clear that his heart was hardly relieved by the current situation. In fact, it was apparent that his worst fears were alling true.

    This was also exactly why they had been able to consolidate their forces so swiftly as soon as they discovered the death of the Lord of Darkriver.

    By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse. The mere mention of these words were more than sufficient to cause them both to break out in cold sweat.

    He subconsciously tightened his grip around the railings, digging his dark, grisly ws deep into the metal and grated against it with a harsh sound. His heart was filled with great apprehension and anxiety right now.

    He was afraid.

    That said, he had allowed the Lord of Huayin to take 30,000 of these with him.

    The weight of Hell¡¯s advance might be great, but it still wasn¡¯t heavy enough to cause his mind to snap with tension. That said, the appearance of an Infernal Judge might just tip him over the scale.

    Knock, knock! Just then, he was jolted back to reality by a loud rap on the door leading up to the sixth floor. Several voices trembled with great anxiety from the other side of the door, ¡°Lord--...¡± ¡°Get lost!!¡±

    One was a tall, thin, man with traces of countless grisly knife wounds all over his body. The other was a headless woman. Both exuded Yin energy that were clearly in the realms of an Infernal Judge.

    ¡°Mr Lai.¡± The headless woman¡¯s diaphragm bulged as she shrieked, ¡°Do you even know what you¡¯re doing right now?!¡±

    ¡°What do I mean?!¡± The tall thin man¡¯s voice was as loud as thunder. He smacked the railing loudly, causing a piece of it to fall off the building. His expressions contorted in a twisted manner as he gnashed his teeth at Lai Junchen, ¡°Bloody hell¡­ are you even aware that the soldiers perishing right now are all our own forces?!¡±

    Ssssssiiiikk!! Before she finished speaking, her entire body abruptly split from the middle, revealingyers uponyers of teeth from within, ¡°What the hell are you doing?! Do you think that we wouldn¡¯t dare make a move against you?!¡±

    Idiots!!

    The two feudal lords before him were truly incensed.

    To their minds, this was simply a situation of mismanagement of troops. There were far more disposable skeletal puppets that could have been deployed, and yet Lai Junchen still chose to deploy the Yin soldiers instead. How could they stomach such a terrible decision?

    His voice promptly drifted off, because a pale bone spike and a scarlet tongue had promptlyshed straight towards his forehead.

    Had Yang Yanzhao been here, he would have been able to affirm what Lai Junchen had done. Unfortunately, the two Infernal Judges were evil ghosts of the modern era, and they weren¡¯t able to dissociate themselves from their immediate benefits to look at the bigger picture. All they could see was the fact that they had lost a multitude of Yin soldiers that they had painstakingly nurtured. They were too focused on the small matters before them that they hadpletely lost sight of the more important ones.

    ¡°Then trade your soldiers for ours.¡± The tall thin man sneered as he stared right back at Lai Junchen, ¡°If Hell could do it, they would already have deployed soldiers in the inner city with those spell arrays of theirs. But they did not. They clearly cannot do such a thing! Mr Lai, we all know full well from the history books how cowardly you are, so you can stop pretending now. You¡¯re just an old man who managed to scrape by on pure cowardice for a thousand years until you finally became a Hellguard-ss Yin spirit.¡±

    What in the¡­

    Both of the other Infernal Judges also soon followed suit.

    This was a sound that had simrly rocked the entire Shanhai Pass when it was first established as well. The twelve zodiac beasts ced at the head of Shanhai Pass could be considered one of Hell¡¯s millennial masterpieces. And the sound was one that apanied the ultimate attack of each of these twelve zodiac beasts.

    No. There are still hundreds of thousands of Qufu¡¯s soldiers alive right now. We¡¯ve got more than enough to slowly whittle down Hell¡¯s forces until they all perish. So¡­ why would the ultimate attack mode of these Mechanical Beasts be activated?

    Buzz¡­ The Ugly Bull¡¯s eyes lit up. Momentster¡­ a ten-meter-sized ck orb suddenly appeared right in front of its mouth.

    Buzz¡­ BUZZ!!! The entire western walls were now trembling profusely. Hell¡¯s forces and Qufu¡¯s forces had once again broken away from their melee and turned to stare at the terrifying sight. Even Oda Nobutada couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror. Those who were situated closest to the Mechanical Beast could most clearly sense its might. Even the impregnable walls of the Shanhai Pass were starting to show signs of cracks from the terrifying tremors.

    This was the name of the ultimate attack of the Ugly Bull Mechanical Beast.

    The ck orb was slowly growingrger! Twenty meters¡­ thirty meters¡­ and then, after a dozen or so seconds, it finally grew to be a fifty metersrge ck orb!

    It was almost as though the surroundings had lost all measure of weight.

    Have we¡­ finallye to the end¡­?

    The world is my oyster¡­ yet I cannot enjoy a single moment of it¡­

    It was a stifling silence that forebode death.

    Nobody even thought about escape at this moment. After all, it was a warrior¡¯s pride and glory to live and die by the battlefield.

    And then, he shut his eyes.

    The heavens and earth shook.

    To their horror, the ck orb of Yin energy¡­ was actually fired straight at the Lord of Huayin and the throng of skeletal puppets arrayed behind him!

    <hr>

    1. From what I gather, these skeletal puppets are the same as the humanoid puppets referred to above.

 Chapter 435: The Definitive War (7)

    <h4>Chapter 435: The Definitive War (7)</h4>

    Time seemed to freeze in that single moment.

    Back in the underworld. Qin Ye abruptly shot to his feet as soon as he saw the incredible sight. His eyes glistened brightly, and he clenched his fists tightly.

    Has a general¡­ managed to break into the Mechanical beast?

    And even take control of it?!

    Countless thoughts immediately surfaced in his mind. First of all, the armies of Hell couldn¡¯t be deployed within the inner city from the onset. After all, that would cause them to end up bing surrounded on all sides by an army of 800,000 troops. Such difference in numbers would immediately be felt in a qualitative, rather than a quantitative manner. Even though 100,000 soldiers of Hell could theoretically stand toe to toe against a million Qufu soldiers, there were still a multitude of other variables that could tip the scales against Hell¡¯s forces. He wasn¡¯t going to risk everything like that. It was imprudent to leave something of such importance to be decided with the toss of a coin.

    And since that was the case, then there would naturally be two locations where Hell¡¯s forces were going to show up - within the outer city, or on the city walls.

    That said, there were way too many Yin spirits residing within the outer city right now. If Hell¡¯s forces entered the city without doing any damage to Qufu¡¯s forces at all, then there was possibly even a chance that they could mobilize the general popce to rise up as militia to resist the approach of Hell¡¯s forces! The situation could potentially be far worse than if Hell¡¯s troops were deployed within the inner city to begin with!

    Furthermore, if Hell¡¯s forces were deployed directly within the outer city, then this would necessarily mean the city walls were still under Qufu¡¯s control. If they didn¡¯t care about preserving the lives of the Yin spirits within the city, they could even employ carpet bombing techniques. The sheer thought of the defenses erected on the city walls sent shivers down Qin Ye¡¯s spine.

    This left onest possibility.

    The city walls.

    Capture the city walls. Firstly, they would be able to cease all operation of the weapons of mass destruction from the top of the city walls. Secondly, they would be able to secure a path of retreat. Finally, they could even draw Qufu¡¯s attention away from the inner city. That said, neither he nor Yang Yanzhao had ever thought of seizing the defenses for their own use to begin with!

    After all, the defensive armaments situated on the outer city walls were fixed in ce, and each of them were easily located thousands of meters apart from the other. They neither had the ability nor the time to remove and reposition these weapons.

    However, these considerations were naturally only limited to the Winstrike Ballistae. There was yet another defensive armament that hadpletely slipped their minds. It was none other than the Mechanical Beast!

    It was massive. Sorge that it fell outside of their considerations, just like how a target was hidden right underneath the radar. Who could have thought that someone would take the initiative to siege the Mechanical Beast, and actually seed at that?

    Shouldn¡¯t there be arge number of Yin soldiers defending the Mechanical Beast?

    How did they seed?

    No¡­ Now¡¯s not the time to consider these things. Such opportunities are fleeting! Qin Ye¡¯s eyes instantly reddened with excitement, and he bellowed with all his might, ¡°Prepare to move out!!¡±

    ¡°All glory to Hell!!¡± An earth-shattering roar echoed after him. The Yin soldiers behind him had already picked up their shields and formed up in their ranks.

    Everyone knew that they were the final 20,000 troops in the reserve of Hell¡¯s forces, yet they still shouted back with great gusto, almost as though they were but a part of millions of troops marching to Qufu in an instant.

    Qin Ye¡¯s body trembled. How is this possible? I¡¯m supposed to be a coward. When did such a stirring scene of war cause my adrenal nds to soar like that?

    But¡­ I¡¯ve got to say that this feels rather good.

    He had watched Hell grow from absolute nothingness. Bit by bit, Hell grew stronger under his patient nurturing, and his efforts finally culminated with today¡¯s determinative war. The sense of achievement, pride, satisfaction and even identity was undeniable at this point in time!

    His eyes stared transfixed at the screen of Yin energy. This counter-attack¡­ would undoubtedly have dealt them a devastating psychological blow!

    Unleash the ultimate attack of the Mechanical Beast with no hesitation, st one of Qufu¡¯s most powerful forces to smithereens, and let Qufu tremble in fear!

    ¡°Are you really going to let things go on as they are?¡±

    ¡°Are you not going to release the reserves of your forces to deal with the devolving situation at hand?¡±

    An electrifying sensation coursed throughout Qin Ye¡¯s entire body, and his hair stood on end. He knew full well that the single moment of opportunity that he had been so painfully waiting for, and the very same opportunity that the 80,000 troops were fighting so hard for, was soon about to arrive¡­

    Keep at it! Two more attacks! That will be sufficient to draw out thest of Qufu¡¯s reserve forces!

    I¡¯m waiting for you.

    I¡¯m waiting for the sound of your triumphant horn.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    On the ninth level of the interior of the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull. Pshk¡­ Li Linfu stared at Mu Guiying with great disbelief. Copious amounts of Yin energy were pouring out of every orifice of his body, and he trembled as he slowly retreated into a corner of the room.

    Arge part of Mu Guiying¡¯s body, from the left shoulder to her waist, had beenpletely eviscerated from her body. It was a fatal blow. However¡­ she still remained standing!

    Why isn¡¯t she falling?!

    On what basis is she still standing before me?!

    Li Linfu fervently suppressed the urge to cry out in horror. This doesn¡¯t make sense! Injuries like this should have reduced her to a cloud of Yin energy by now, so how could she possibly still be alive?!!

    A singledy had plowed through nine whole floors of defenses within the Mechanical Beast. Countless spots ofherme drifted about behind her. The casualty count was well over a thousand Yin soldiers. The remaining guardsmen dressed in ck robes retreated from Mu Guiying in unison. None of them dared to make any sneak attacks against her. In fact, none of them even dared to move in front of such a terrifying existence.

    This was the power of conviction.

    An immovable conviction in the path that she had chosen.

    It was also a manifestation of her undying loyalty to Hell, so much so that she would even ce Hell¡¯s purposes before the importance of preserving her own life!

    She exuded an iparably tyrannical aura in that very moment.

    Although Mu Guiying was fatally wounded, these injuries did nothing to militate the esction of her imperious disposition.

    ¡°Mercy¡­ MERCY!!¡± Li Linfu finally broke down under the stifling pressure that bore down on him. Unfortunately, a spearshed out even before he could finish his pathetic plea and plunged straight through his throat.

    Kukk¡­ He wasn¡¯t even able to scream in pain. Li Linfu¡¯s scarlet pupils suddenly shrank, and then, mes suddenly erupted violently from his body, rising several feet high into the air. His hands trembled profusely, almost as though he was attempting to hold onto something on the ground, yet the spear that was still stuck right through his throat prevented him from uttering even a single word.

    He wanted to ask why.

    I¡¯ve begged you for mercy, so why didn¡¯t you spare my life?

    And you¡¯re in a worse shape than me, so why aren¡¯t you dead yet?!

    Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t given the chance to do so.

    One secondter, he vanished amidst the brilliant congration, as his entire being was reduced to nothing more than a cloud of Yin energy.

    The entire room was filled with silence. Mu Guiying appeared to be oblivious to all feelings of pain. Then, she slowly turned around. Her appearance was still that of ady, but to the eyes of all Yin soldiers around, she looked no different from a hellish asura.

    ¡°The second salvo¡­¡± Her voice was as hoarse as it got. Yet, even then, she slowly pointed the tip of her spear across all of the Yin spirits around, ¡°Strike the target of my choice with the second salvo.¡±

    ¡°Any objections?¡±

    Obviously, there was none.

    Annals of the New Hell: Year 001 of the New Hell. General Mu Guiying sessfully took the western walls of Qufu City¡¯s Shanhai Pass and seized control of the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull. This was a key turning point of the Qufu siege.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    BOOM!!!

    A ck pir of light tens dozens of meters across in diameter burst forth in an instant. It engulfed all sources of light around, and even consumed the stars. Scarlet bolts of lightning crackled all around it as it shot straight towards the Lord of Huayin, interrupting his confrontation with Hua Jieyu.

    How is this possible?!

    This was the first reaction in his mind. He stared nkly at the ck beam of light, opening his mouth slightly with great trembling and shock.

    This doesn¡¯t make sense¡­

    The citizens in the vicinity peeked out from their homes, staring stiffly at the all-consuming beam of light.

    Time appeared to freeze in this very instant.

    The might of such a devastating attack stripped all measures of logical thought from everyone¡¯s minds.

    The destruction that ensued was an unforgettable sight. Bzzt¡­ The ck beam of light covered the remaining distance to the residence in the middle of the street in just an instant. The ground crackled, debris floated into the sky, while the veils of the residence was thrown to the sides with a loud bang.

    The death beam that was rapidly bearing down on the Lord of Huayin caused him to snap back to his senses. He screamed and darted out of the pce, screaming at the top of his voice, ¡°Protect me¡­ PROTECT ME!!¡±

    He iled his arms about frantically, causing the dark threads connected to the skeletal puppets in the air to fly right back before him in an instant with a shrill whistle.

    tter, tter, thud! Layer uponyer, tens of thousands of skeletal puppets suddenly wrapped around him like an impregnable fortress. And then, destruction arrived.

    There was no sound.

    Yet it felt like a deafening silence. Whether Yin soldiers or citizens alike, every single person shut their eyes at the moment of impact.

    There was light.

    Boundless light.

    The explosion of the pitch-ck light filled every single crevice in the vicinity. The ultimate attack of the Ugly Bull was at least equal to thebined attack of dozens of advanced Infernal Judges. In fact, the power it contained vaguely resembled an attack of an Abyssal Prefect.

    Crack¡­ tter¡­ The ground began to crack and fissure. Countless houses were torn off the ground by the gravitational pull of the beam, before disintegratingpletely.

    It was only after an inordinate amount of time that the Yin spirits around finally lowered their arms and took a peek at where the Lord of Huayin¡¯s residence originally was.

    A massive pit had appeared right where the residence was. Hua Jieyu was standing right merely ten meters away from the edge of this hole.

    The pit was at least three hundred meters from end to end, and the surface of the ground waspletely smooth and empty.

    It wasn¡¯t more than a dozen seconds ago that the entire street was still arrayed with tens of thousands of Qufu¡¯s soldiers in preparation for their confrontation against Hell.

    Ah--... To be exact, the army was still around.

    A paper crane that had already been burnt to a crisp drifted down from the sky. Momentster, puppets began to tter as they fell lifelessly onto the ground, only to reveal the battered body of the Lord of Huayin.

    He was still alive.

    But his entire body was already covered with cracks no different from that of a shattered porcin vase. Copious amounts ofhermes were spewing out of these cracks. His body trembled as he turned around slowly to scan his surroundings.

    Alive?

    I¡¯m still alive?!

    ¡°I¡¯m still alive¡­ I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m still alive¡­¡± Secondster, he trembled as he nced at his hand, before turning abruptly to Hua Jieyu, ¡°Screw you¡­ SCREW YOU!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all because of you¡­ bitch¡­ you deserve death!!¡±

    As he shrieked, his entire body transformed into ahergale, and he began to move once more. But just then--¡­ BOOM¡­ Another earth-shattering sound erupted from the western walls again.

    To be exact, it came from the mouth of the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull.

    It had just turned its head, and its target this time¡­ was clearly Qufu¡¯s inner city!

    Whoosh! A softhergale began to sweep through thend once more as Ugly Bull began to gather Yin energy once more. They could all sense that the concentration of Yin energy was far weaker than before, but it was undoubtedly getting stronger with each moment that passed.

    Back on the sixth floor of the building located at the heart of the inner city. Tap, tap¡­ Lai Junchen subconsciously took a step back. His expression was pale from the sheer horror of what had just transpired. If not for the fact that there was an attendant holding him up now, he might well have even copsed to the ground weakly.

    But he wasn¡¯t the only one. The other two Infernal Judges who were just confronting him moments ago were bothpletely dumbfounded.

    That¡¯s got to be a lie¡­ This was the first thought that urred to them.

    How did we end up with friendly fire?

    But they were soon jolted back from their reverie by a hand that grabbed each one of them by the chest of their garments. Lai Junchen stared at them manically with widened eyes, and ferocioushermes raging from all seven apertures on his face. Even his voice had grown hoarse in an instant.

    ¡°Move out¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± The two other Infernal Judges were still trying to process the situation, but Lai Junchen promptly shook them back to their senses with a ferocious hiss, ¡°Move out! MOVE OUT!!! Mobilize everyone you can!! Leave only 100,000 skeletal puppets here!!¡±

    ¡°I want you to kill them¡­ I want you to kill them all!!!¡±

    His entire body was trembling as he supported his own weight with the railing nervously, ¡°This is the ce where the Mythic Pce of Reflections is located¡­ If we let them fire the next blow, the consequences are going to bepletely unthinkable!! And¡­ if the rest of the invading forces are going to follow suit, Qufu is going to be razed to the ground in an instant!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re all too green around the ears. You don¡¯t know a thing at all! Do you know what awaits us great sinners if we¡¯re captured by Hell¡¯s forces? We¡¯d be banished to an eternity of punishment in the abysses of Hell!!¡±

    ¡°Move out at once¡­ And no matter the cost, take back the Mechanical Beasts!!! We take this battle back to them!!¡±

 Chapter 436: The Definitive War (8)

    <h4>Chapter 436: The Definitive War (8)</h4>

    The Lord of Huayin froze.

    It was impossible to unleash the Dark Dazzle attack multiple times in a row. There was supposed to be a cooldown of forty-five minutes between each attack. But the increasingly dense Yin energy about the mouth of the Mechanical Beast sent a cold chill running straight down his spine. Within moments, he turned around from Hua Jieyu and dashed straight towards the Mechanical Beast instead.

    I¡¯ve got to stop them!

    I can¡¯t let them fire another shot of the Dark Dazzle again. The consequences would be unthinkable!

    But as soon as he began to take off into the distance, a long ming de instantly cleaved down straight for his back.

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± The Lord of Huayin shrieked with rage, and his arms instantly swelled manifold, bursting right through the sleeves of his garments and revealing the pale, white skin below that was now covered in cracks. He didn¡¯t have any nails at all. Instead, his fingertips hadpletely transformed into a terrifyingly sharp edge. He swung his hand back with great ferocity in an instant.

    Ungh! A loud, muffled grunt came from behind, but he didn¡¯t even turn to look at the damage his callous attack had caused. Instead, he dashed straight for the Mechanical Beast as quickly as his feet would take him.

    Mythic Pce of Reflections¡­ That¡¯s the foundation of the entire Shanhai Pass. If we lose it, we¡¯d be no different from drifting flotsam in the waters once more!

    But just as he attempted to take flight again, something promptly wrapped itself around his legs and tugged down hard at him once more!

    This time, he didn¡¯t take flight.

    Krr-krr-krr¡­ His head swiveled about bizarrely as he looked at the chains around his leg coldly, before looking behind him with intense murderous rage.

    There was a gleaming silver chain locking him down around the ankles. Then, as he followed the chain to where it came from, he soon noticed a majestic, blossoming cloud of Yin energy, from which a twenty-meter tall figure zing with illusory Karmic Fire emerged.

    He had rings around his neck, bracelets around his four arms, and a spinning Karmic Fire wheel right behind his back that was topped with three spots of one-meterrge mes. His eyes were tightly shut, and long fangs protruded from his green-coloured face. A crack ran down the middle of his brows where the third-eye would be, while his arms were covered with a multitude of eyes. Each of his hands held a different weapon, all of which were aimed directly towards the Lord of Huayin.

    ¡°Aryadeva?¡± The Lord of Huayin drew a deep breath as he muttered with trembling lips. He wasn¡¯t afraid. He was incensed.

    ¡°Get lost!!!¡± He roared with a twisted expression on his face, ¡°Scram!! I¡¯ll spare you from certain death today!!¡±

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t get the verbal response he was hoping for.

    Instead, it was a response though action. A multitude of de lights soon flickered before his eyes. It was an attack that was filled with an unwavering source of determination!

    Damn it¡­ DAMN IT!!

    The Lord of Huayin gnashed his teeth so hard that they clicked and ttered against each other. Aryadeva¡¯s massive size wasn¡¯t a cause of concern for him. But what angered him the most was the fact that he was currently the closest in proximity to the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull, and the fact that he had expended too much energy resisting the might of Dark Dazzle, so much so that he barely had anything left in the tank.

    So much so that he¡­ was forced to contend with something that he would readily consider vermin on any other day!

    The de lights soon arrived before his eyes. He looked up with an explosive intensity. An eerie wail of a thousand ghosts suddenly echoed from within his body. A split secondter, his chest suddenly tore open from the middle, and countless grievous spirits abruptly poured forth from within, congealing in an instant into a pitch-ck hand that instantly ran straight through Hua Jieyu¡¯s abdomen.

    Pshk¡­ Hua Jieyu was sent flying away hundreds of meters, while copious amounts of Yin energy poured out from her seven apertures. Yet the Lord of Huayin didn¡¯t even bother looking back at her. He turned back to the Mechanical Beast in the distance. Then, just as he was about to take flight, he was once again stopped for the third sessive time.

    tter tter tter¡­ His teeth began to chatter in fury. He turned around and stared at his ankles. The damned chain is still there?!

    ¡°You¡¯re asking for it!!¡± His fury went straight through the roof. The giant, illusory hand once again manifested itself. But this time, a scarlet eye materialized right in the heart of the palm and stared directly towards Hua Jieyu.

    Just then, an earth-shattering sound rumbled from the heart of the inner city. Two majestic clouds of Judge-ss Yin energy rushed straight into the sky like the duet of two ck dragons.

    Back on the streets, countless citizens couldn¡¯t help but exim in horror as they took shelter back in their own homes, ¡°My god¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening to Qufu¡­ W-what in the world is going on?!¡± ¡°Hide! Quickly, hide!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know whether these Infernal Judges are friend or foe!¡±

    Unfortunately, the ghastly citizens were clearly outside of the considerations of the two Judges in the air. The two mighty clouds of Yin energy suddenly red up with copious amounts ofhermes, before they soon exploded!

    A tall, thin man and ady stepped straight out of the clouds of Yin energy and onto the air. They were now in their true forms, and both of them appeared incredibly bizarre. Yet, even then, both of them were staring intently at the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull. A mighty army numbering approximately 200,000 was formed up in ranks behind them, almost as though they were a dark canopy of clouds that nketed thends below.

    The tall thin man took a deep breath, and thehermes pouring forth from his body flickered wildly. His chest rose softly, and then he bellowed with all his might, ¡°CHARGE!!!¡±

    Whoosh!!! In an instant, countless spots ofhermes rushed straight towards the western walls of the outer city, just like a great flock of migratory birds. The sight was incredibly stunning and majestic. Meanwhile, everyone on the eastern walls, northern walls and southern walls felt their hearts stir and their blood boil as soon as they saw this scene.

    Yelu Jiner nced vacantly at the sky above the inner city. The paper cranes blotted out the sky like clouds, while the Yin energy pouring forth appeared no different from a curtain of rain. Her body was trembling because she knew that this definitely had to be one of Qufu¡¯s hidden trump cards! These had to be one of thest of their troops!

    They were finally copsing under the pressure of Hell¡¯s invasion. They were finally moving the final pieces of the puzzle.

    Everyone, are you seeing this?

    Her heart was filled with passion in an instant. With a long, shrill whistle, she instantly transformed into her true form as a Rakshasa, and the Yin energy in the vicinity promptly poured towards her like a raging tide. The cold gleam of her de shone as bright as ever amidst the darkness, almost as though it were a glimmer of hope.

    ¡°Everyone¡­¡± She drew a deep breath, before charging onwards with reignited vigor, ¡°All glory to Hell! Onwards, with me!!!¡±

    ¡°All glory to Hell!!!¡± The remaining 8,000 Yin soldiers behind her echoed with passion as they rushed forward after their valiant general.

    Boom, boom, boom¡­ Back on the ground, Hua Jieyu desperately held back the Lord of Huayin. Meanwhile, in the heart of the Mechanical Beast, Mu Guiying drew on thest of her strength to charge up the next Dark Dazzle attack. Likewise, Yin energy erupted from two other city walls, bringing the intensity of the definitive war to yet greater heights!

    The battle on all four outer city walls was now white hot. The effects of tactics were slowly giving way to a battle of sheer endurance. Even in the face of Hell¡¯s all-out attack, they were likewise greeted with an equally desperate counterattack!

    Clouds of Yin energy and res ofherme abounded on the city-wide battlefield.

    Every instant saw more and more Yin soldiers perishing for all eternity. There was indiscriminate bloodshed everywhere.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Back in the underworld. Everyone watched with bated breaths.

    All eyes were staring transfixed on the screens of Yin energy in front of them. Severalmanders were already cupping their hands respectfully towards Qin Ye as they pleaded for him to give the order, ¡°Lord Qin¡­ please give us themand!!!¡± ¡°Qufu has already pulled out their hidden trump card! They must have deployed at least another 100,000 troops. The inner city would at best have no more than 150,000 troops remaining! No matter how powerful the Mythic Pce of Reflections is, we¡¯ll still have a 50% chance of sess!¡± ¡°Lord Qin, if we don¡¯t seize the opportunity and make the move now, it might all be toote! Our generals on the battlefield can¡¯t hold on much longer!¡±

    Everyone could tell that thetest deployment of troops led by two Infernal Judges were no mere rabble.

    Each and every single skeletal puppet was at least an Operative-ss Yin soldier!

    And the difference would be even more stark under the might of a military formation!

    On the other hand, Mu Guiying and the rest of Hell¡¯s forces were undoubtedly drawing down on their final reserves. To that end, the skeletal puppets were by no means an easy force to contend with, even if Hell¡¯s forces had confronted them right from the onset.

    ¡°Insolence!!¡± Yang Yanzhao bellowed back before Qin Ye could even respond, ¡°There¡¯s no room for emotions on the battlefield! As Yin soldiers, we live by the battlefield, and die by the battlefield!¡±

    With that, he turned towards Qin Ye and bowed respectfully, ¡°Lord Qin¡­ please¡­ be patient!¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond outright. His eye glistened, and his chest rose and fell with greater intensity than before.

    ¡°Lady Arakshasa has already made her move.¡± Yang Yanzhao added hurriedly, ¡°My lord¡­ we cannot rush things¡­ we absolutely cannot rush things! These can¡¯t be the only cards hidden up Qufu¡¯s sleeves! Please wait a little while more¡­ The Mechanical Beast is already aimed at the inner city. Coupled with Lady Arakshasa¡¯s deployment, we can be sure that Qufu¡¯s hands would be forced in no time. And that¡¯s when we can finally unsheath our de and deliver the final blow!¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word. He simply bit down on his lower lips and nodded softly.

    Nobody noticed that his hand was already wrapped tightly around his faux Judgment Pen under his sleeves.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qufu City, Shanhai Pass.

    Back in the air, the tall, thin man and the female ghost that was split right down the middle jointly led an army of 200,000 troops as they made a beeline straight for the Mechanical Beast.

    Their eyes werepletely bloodshot. How did thingse to this? How could Qufu, a city with millions of Yin spirits, be forced to such a tragic situation?

    But it clearly wasn¡¯t the time for such thoughts. The tall, thin man shrieked hoarsely, ¡°How much longer?! How much longer do we have?!¡±

    ¡°Eighteen minutes!¡± The female Judge gnashed her teeth, ¡°The Dark Dazzle will fire again in just eighteen minutes!¡±

    Eighteen minutes¡­ We¡¯re cutting it too close¡­ The man¡¯s heart thumped wildly. We still have a chance at stopping its next attack. The Mythic Pce of Reflections might still have other secrets hidden up its sleeves that Lai Junchen has never told us before. But even then, this next attack¡­

    ¡°We cannot let you have your way!¡± Gritting his teeth, the tall, thin man whistled through the air at top speed towards the Mechanical Beast.

    But a split secondter, an iparably tyrannical source of pure Yin energy suddenly roared from the heavens with domineering might!

    Buzz¡­ A spell array far greater than any other before appeared in the sky. It was thousands of metersrge, formed by a series of iparablyplex patterns and symbols. A terrifying pressure, one that caused all ghosts to retreat instinctively, instantly enveloped the entire city.

    Back on the sixth floor of the building in the heart of the inner city. Lai Junchen shrieked in horror as he looked to the east, ¡°A Judge?!¡±

    A split second after the spell array appeared, a massive hand formed out of Yin energy materialized from nothing and with a soft, dull thud¡­ pped hard onto something.

    What is it?

    Was there something there in the first ce?

    Lai Junchen blinked vacantly, and then gasped in horror as he leaned heavily against the door behind.

    The Yin energy signature of the Lord of Huayin had vanishedpletely.

    ¡°This is¡­ a true Emissary of Hell!! An Infernal Judge at that!! They¡¯re finally pulling out the big guns!!¡± He clenched his fists tightly, while his heart was almost bursting at its seams, ¡°They have a Judge¡­ they actually have a Judge! Are they trying to intercept the two vassal lords that have just been deployed? Are they trying to protect the Ugly Bull?!¡±

    That would be the worst case scenario for them.

    But it would also be the most realistic assessment of the things toe.

    Because in an instant, the massive hand disintegrated into countless ck butterflies that soon transformed into a hundred-kilometer long curtain stretching directly from the eastern outer city walls to the western outer city walls!

    A terrifying source of Yin energy erupted, and a bizarre talisman appeared right above the curtain of Yin energy. Just then, Arthis¡¯ voice thundered loudly with oppressive, murderous intent, ¡°Hell¡¯s Talisman, Ninth Style - Godless.¡±

    BOOM!

    An endless stream of mixedhergale and white bones swept through the air, while a terrifying hole appeared in the sky right in front of where the army of skeletal puppets were arrayed. And then, a dazzling ck light erupted from the hole in the air, sending a soft shockwave of dark energy rippling through the city. Finally, a hundred-meter high lotus tform formed out of human bones appeared from the hole in the cloud, almost as though it were a hellish Bodhisattva.

    ¡°True Infernal Judge of the Dark Leader Star, Arakshasa.¡± Arthis slowly opened her eyes and looked around with a deep, abstruse gaze, ¡®By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse.¡±

    She stood right in front of the two Qufu Judges, as well as a multitude of skeletal puppets that filled the sky.

    1.

 Chapter 437: The Definitive War (9)

    <h4>Chapter 437: The Definitive War (9)</h4>

    The jaws of both Qufu Infernal Judges dropped at the sight of the hundred-meter tall lotus tform that was constructed entirely out of human bones. The petals of the lotus seat blossomed magnificently, adorned by spots of zing karmic fire, while a female Rakshasa with three heads and six-arms sat right atop the lotus throne.

    It was no different from the fear that a rabbit felt when a wolf fixed its eyes on it.

    Onward, and they would have to square off against the indomitable force that stood before them.

    Checkmate.

    The tense confrontationsted for two full minutes. Even then, the ck orb at the mouth of Ugly Bull continued to growrger andrger. Finally, the tall, thin man steeled his determination and took a deep breath, ¡°... Shove off¡­ Leave, and Qufu will look past your misdeeds!¡±

    This ring appeared to contain the howls and shrieks of billions of Yin spirits, and yet it also seemed to gleam with an arcane holy Buddha light. They were presently only about ten kilometers away from the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull. However, what would otherwise be an incredibly short distance for Yin soldiers to close was presently no different from the chasm that separated heaven from hell.

    Nobody was able to retreat.

    Back on the sixth floor of the building in the heart of the inner city. ¡°Idiot!!¡± Lai Junchen¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. The appearance of an Infernal Judge of Hell frightened him so much that his soul nearly left his body. And yet¡­ to think that the two Qufu Infernal Judges would actually make a move against Hell¡¯s Infernal Judge without any measure of hesitation whatsoever! He instantly tore the talisman which he had long been holding in the palm of his hand.

    They¡¯ve still got a Judge¡­ I¡¯ve got to preserve as much of my own forces as I possibly can. At the very least, I can¡¯t afford to lose any more Judges to the forces of Hell. As much as he didn¡¯t want to rescue the two Qufu Judges, he knew he had no choice!

    ¡°This--...¡± The tall, thin man stared at his hands in dismay. It was covered with cracks. He was immensely shocked. Is this what Hell¡¯s Infernal Judges are like?

    He had thought of escape. But the moment Arthis¡¯ ring began spinning, he immediately felt crushed by her overwhelming aura, almost as though his entire body had sunken into a mire of dense Yin energy. He simply no longer had the ability to make off!

    It was a sense of fear that was deeply engraved on his soul.

    Arthis¡¯ eyes suddenly flickered wildly as she turned to look at the inner city. Simultaneously, Qin Ye, Yang Yanzhao and Yang Yande stood up at the exact same time. All of them were staring intently at the projection of the mirror.

    Boom!!!

    It was a spectacr sight, almost as though the stars and the moon were all setting at the same time that the sun was rising from the east. A majestic aura rose from the ground. Something¡­ was appearing on the horizon.

    ¡°All Yin soldiers are to begin marching towards the pir of light¡­¡± Qin Yemanded.

    Their banners fluttered majestically behind them. A softhergale swept by. They were all ready for war.

    Just then--!!

    A lofty structure suddenly rose from the ground amidst the flourish ofhermes in the sky. To be more precise, it was a towering altar. As it rose from the ground, the barracks and houses located at the foot of the altar slowly began to disintegrate into ashes. Ripples of shockwaves spread out across the entire city. The final 100,000 skeletal puppets rose high into the sky with a shrill shriek andnded on top of the altar, almost as though they were the guardians of the god of death.

    Back in the underworld. Qin Ye slowly shut his eyes.

    The inner city was nothing more than a facade concealing its true appearances, and Qufu¡¯s forces were clearly stripping off all pretenses and revealing it to all Yin spirits around. Anyone could guess that such a huge sacrifice must necessarily mean that Qufu was now preparing tounch a terrifyingly powerful counterattack!

    They had to kill Arthis as quickly as they could.

    Naturally, the next best option they had was to resort to the Mythic Pce of Reflections!

    He was fearful that Qufu was on the cusp of copse in an instant.

    And he was terrified by the prospects¡­ of what else Hell¡¯s forces might have in store for them.

    ¡°Who cares if you¡¯re the authentic Hell of the underworld?! We¡¯re on the cusp of the warring states era! Only thest faction standing deserves to call itself the authentic Hell! We, the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness, are going to be the one to have thestugh!!¡±

    It was the Peach Blossom Lantern.

    Shk!!

    The entire airspace between the inner city and Arthis instantly crumpled as a projectile surged straight towards Arthis¡¯ chest. There was a deep rumble of a sonic boom, and the building in the nearby vicinity instantly disintegrated into nothingness.

    In an instant, Arthis adjudged that the projectile wasn¡¯t aiming towards her, but rather the Mechanical Beast, Ugly Bull, that was situated directly behind her. If she dodged right now, they would lose all the advantage that they had fought so hard for.

    ¡°Assembly of Warriors!¡±

    SSS!!! She opened her mouth several meters wide and unleashed a mighty shriek inaudible to the ears that swept throughout the entire Qufu City. Thousands of Yin spirits perished in an instant, while others grabbed their heads in anguish as they convulsed on the ground.

    Pshk!

    ¡°AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!¡± Arthis threw her head back and cried out with great anguish. It was nothing like what Qin Ye had ever heard before. Yin energy poured out from her body like a massive geyser. But¡­ she ignored it all. Her face was filled with an iparably hideous smile as she uttered a single word.

    Charge.

    Rather¡­ it was directed to the underworld. It was a message directed at Qin Ye!

    All rebellion shall be quashed without mercy!

    Their lips trembled. Three secondster, a Yin spirit abruptly knelt down on one knee as he bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°All glory to Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye could feel his ears abuzz with ringing.

    Charge.

    ¡°Charge!¡± Qin Ye swung his hand with immeasurable determination, ¡°All forces, move out!!¡±

    A gleaming sword had been unsheathed.

    And they were lunging straight for Qufu¡¯s jugr.

    Qufu City, Shanhai Pass.

    Thatst strike didn¡¯t kill the Infernal Judge?!

    No¡­ That¡¯s not important¡­ What¡¯s more important is¡­ who was her final statement directed to?

    His lips trembled, and his throat feltpletely parched, ¡°M-m-men¡­ P-protect¡­ protect¡­¡±

    A massive teleportation spell array appeared right beneath the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    It was because another 20,000 Yin spirit had just appeared in the middle of nowhere. They were waiting with ease, without any damage on them whatsoever, and they had appeared right at the base of the towering altar.

    We¡¯ve been had¡­ These were the only words that reverberated endlessly in his mind. A frigid chill filled his heart.

    Whoosh! Even the brilliant lustre of the Mythic Pce of Reflections was momentarily dimmed by the roar of temerity.

 Chapter 438: The Definitive War (10)

    <h4>Chapter 438: The Definitive War (10)</h4>

    There was only five minutes remaining before it would fire the next st of Dark Dazzle. Unfortunately, Mu Guiying¡¯s vision was quickly fading away.

    It¡¯s just as well¡­ I¡¯ve got no regrets. Perhaps the only regret I have is that I can¡¯t perish back in the Felipinas¡­

    The ck-robed Yin spirits were all stiff with shock. The tragedy of war could no longer be justifiably described with mere words. The revtion of the true form of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, and the activation of yet another teleportation spell array and the appearance of another 20,000 troops of Hell right in the heart of the inner city sent chills running down their spines.

    Every single Yin spirit stared at the screen of Yin energy within the Mechanical Beast,pletely speechless and silent. Right behind them, Mu Guiying leaned heavily on her spear as she slowly slid to the ground. She was nearlypletely drained of all Yin energy, while her body was slowly but surely disintegrating into ck butterflies that slowly drifted into the surroundings.

    In her final moments, she saw from the screen of Yin energy a swarm of Hell¡¯s forces rushing straight up the colossal tower on which the Mythic Pce of Reflections was perched. She could even tell that the one leading the charge was none other than Lord Qin himself.

    In fact, not a single one of them even thought to stop Ugly Bull from unleashing the next salvo of Dark Dazzle.

    Back on the streets of Qufu. Hua Jieyu smiled softly as she shut her eyes.

    General Mu¡­ are you well? I¡¯m still alive¡­ Lady Arakshasa stepped in to save me at the eleventh hour¡­ But that¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is that she actually managed to hold back the other two Qufu Judges¡­ Ahh¡­ my eyelids feel incredibly heavy¡­

    Meanwhile, the remaining forces of Hell werepletely dumbfounded as they stared at the countless spots of hellishhermes ascending the colossal tower on which the Mythic Pce of Reflections was perched. Then, almost as though they werepletely drained of theirst modicum of strength, they slowly copsed and slumped to the ground.

    ¡°Victory to Hell!!¡±

    Back in the air, the two Qufu Judges stared aghast at the Yin soldiers who were making a beeline for the Mythic Pce of Reflections. They froze in horror for several moments, before suddenly shrieking at the top of their voices as they, too, rushed back frantically.

    But just as they began to rush towards the inner city once more, hair suddenly swept over from every direction, instantly weaving together and forming a massive of hair tens of thousands of meters wide that trapped the two Qufu Judges together with all of the skeletal puppets under theirmand.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going without my permission?¡± Arthis muttered softly, yet the mes in her eyes rekindled with great passion, ¡°The stage is set for the final moments of this war. Be good, and remain here obediently. I might just find it within me to let you die an easier death.¡±

    tter, tter¡­ The multitude of skeletal puppets arrayed in the air immediately roared as they plummeted down like a crashing tide, straight towards Arthis.

    ¡°Explode!!¡± The two Qufu Judges practically yelled at the same time. In an instant, there was a loud bang, followed quickly by a roaring congration thatpletely consumed Arthis. Not even a Judge as powerful as Arthis could help but cry out in pain.

    ¡°Ssss¡­ AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!¡± An anguished cry exploded from Arthis¡¯ lips, but the tall, thin man didn¡¯t even bother to see the fruits of theirbour. He immediately turned around and motioned to leave, ¡°Hurry!!¡±

    The ck of hair that had earlier surrounded them still had some ostensible gaps in its haphazard weave. But now, it was so tight that not a single trace of gaps existed altogether. It was almost as though they had suddenly been enshrouded in a realm of endless night.

    Thehermes in the eyes of the tall thin man flickered wildly in horror. That¡¯s the self-detonation of 70,000 skeletal puppets that we¡¯re talking about! How did she survive that?!

    Just then, a slit suddenly opened in the dark night that seemed to engulf them, and a scarlet eye appeared to peek down at them.

    ¡°Until the battle at the Mythic Pce of Reflections is over, you shall all remain here obediently!!¡±

    ¡°Charge!!!¡± The 20,000 Yin soldiers of Hell shouted in unison as they charged straight up the stairs towards the peak of the tower where Lai Junchen was located.

    Lai Junchen stared nkly at the rising tide of Yin soldiers below. And then, something clicked in his mind, and he understood everything.

    He hadn¡¯t moved because he trusted in his calctions. By his estimates, Hell¡¯s forces couldn¡¯t number more than 100,000 troops, while Qufu clearly had over 800,000 troops garrisoned in the Shanhai Pass. Granted, 100,000 Yin soldiers of Hell could easily run over a million Qufu Yin soldiers. But it was still Qufu when all was said and done! There were military formations, as well as countless protective Yin artifacts, and even Infernal Judges to consider!

    But little did he expect Hell¡¯s forces to give them a taste of his own medicine. The single variable that changed everything was the moment when Hell seized control of the Mechanical Beast and aimed it straight towards the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    It wasn¡¯t that Hell wasn¡¯t able to deploy its forces directly within the inner city. Rather, it was simply because it was far too dangerous to do so, because that would be tantamount to a deployment of its forces directly in the midst of 800,000 Qufu Yin soldiers. This was why they chose to attack the city walls instead. Then, Qufu crumbled under the pressure of the threat of the Mechanical Beast and revealed every hidden ace up its sleeve. And that was exactly the moment when Hell finally revealed its cards.

    ¡°My lord¡­ my lord!!!¡± The attendant beside him was already covered profusely with cold sweat as he tugged gingerly at Lai Junchen¡¯s sleeves, ¡°What do we do? What do we do?!¡±

    His teeth chattered as he nced back at the surging tide of Hell¡¯s forces below. He knew full well that as soon as Qufu fell, Hell might choose to spare the weaker Yin soldiers around, but as a close aide to Kong Mo himself, he would never be spared.

    Whoosh! He raised his hand, and a talisman flew into the sky. The massive altar on which the Mythic Pce of Reflections was perched had ten tiers to it. The 100,000 skeletal puppets scattered throughout the entire altar from the third straight through to the tenth tier. As soon as they were in ce, Lai Junchen gave themand, ¡°Obstruct their approach at all costs!!¡±

    Sss!! With an ear-piercing scream, the skeletal puppets tore through the clouds of Yin energy and rushed straight for Hell¡¯s forces which were still charging upwards.

    He was thirsting to kill.

    The resilient, onward march of the Yin soldiers of Hell reminded him of the struggle of the early days of Hell. It reminded him why he never wanted to be a ve to anyone in his life!

    As the dense clouds of Yin energy erupted from the tiers above him, he twirled the Judgment Pen in his hand, and then softly pointed it towards the skeletal puppets and dabbed forward.

    It immediately set off a chain explosion among the skeletal puppets in the vicinity.

    This is the final battle¡­

    Victory was theirs for the taking!

    Boom, boom, boom! The pages of the faux Book of Life and Death fluttered out, wrapping his entire being in a tight ball as he crashed forward for dozens of meters, straight through the ranks of the skeletal puppets. Unfortunately, dozens of meters was barely the tip of the iceberg. Meanwhile, the rest of the skeletal puppets around him were already glowing brightly with a talisman that had surfaced from the depths of their bodies. They were about to self-detonate around Qin Ye!

    Innumerable skeletal puppets exploded at the same time, sending a massive shockwave of energy rushing out from the sky as it swept across Qufu. The trees in the vicinity bent back in an instant, while the tiles of the roof were immediately peeled off and flew away. The Qufu citizens squealed as they hid in the safest ces they could find. Qin Ye fervently suppressed the murderous intent in his heart and roared at the top of his voice, ¡°Listen up. Surrender, and I can guarantee you a swift and easy death!¡±

    The intense fear and terror in his heart had pushed him to the verge of insanity.

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯ll actually be able to breach the First Pass Under Heaven with your meagre army of Hell?!¡±

    He cackled like a madman as he formed a series of hand seals. In an instant, the Mythic Pce of Reflections began to glow with a brilliant lustre, and an iparably ancient talisman dyed ck with Yin energy flew out from within the mirror and into Lai Junchen¡¯s hands.

    An illusory silhouette slowly appeared at the forefront of the altar as he continued to chant.

    Rumble!!! There were sounds of explosions as the void in the air shattered around him. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he immediately came to a halt. His faux Book of Life and Death was still wrapped tightly around him. Yet, even then, the rest of Hell¡¯s forces continued to charge forward.

    It was uproarious.

    And devoid of any traces of regret.

    No matter how powerful the Yin artifact was, everything had to be powered by the user¡¯s Yin energy.

    I can¡¯t sustain it¡­

    And then, he steeled his mind and abruptly stood up once more with a ferocious expression on his face, ¡°Want Qufu? I¡¯d rather perish together with you!!¡±

 Chapter 439: Breaching the Mythic Palace of Reflections (1)

    <h4>Chapter 439: Breaching the Mythic Pce of Reflections (1)</h4>

    A wave of terror instantly filled the attendant¡¯s heart. He wanted to run, only to discover to his despair that Lai Junchen was grabbing tightly onto him.

    ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m not¡­ my lord! Y-you¡¯ve misunderstood!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A ripple instantly spread across the surface of the mirror, followed closely by line after line of ancient talismans. It was almost as though someone were slowly drawing these talismans, one sheet at a time.

    ¡°Hohoho¡­ HAHAHAHA!!!¡±

    Do you think that¡¯s all the Mythic Pce of Reflections is capable of?!

    As Lai Junchen continued making his hand seals, Qin Ye soon discovered that the swarm of skeletal puppets all around him suddenly flew straight up in an instant.

    However, he knew better to linger on these thoughts. After all, victory was just around the corner. As long as they could seize control of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, then Qufu¡­ would be a part of the new Hell! Hell would gain a massive plot ofnd to supplement its dismal state of affairs right now!

    Thus, he shelved all thoughts about what Lai Junchen was doing. He didn¡¯t even have the luxury of time toment the sacrifice of the Yin soldiers who had perished just moments ago. Wrapped up in the defences of the faux Book of Life and Death, he took the lead once more and hurtled forward like a fearless meteorite.

    The Judgment Pen in his hand began to draw in the Yin energy around, expanding profusely until¡­ it finally transformed into a silver spear.

    Now was hardly the time to be observing these changes. Nevertheless, he was still pleased with the changes, because a spear was far easier to manipte than a brush. He jabbed the spear forward without much further thought. Bang! Yin energy far greater than any he had mustered before instantly converged into a foot-sized orb of Yin energy and exploded where he had jabbed!

    Qin Ye felt as though something within his body had just snapped.

    But now¡­ he could sense something more welling up from deep within him. It was an almost physical change that gave rise to a renewed confidence in his ability to defeat Arthis.

    They were at the final stretch of this long, arduous journey of theirs!

    SSS!!! The monstrous bird hissed as it ruffled its own feathers, disying the flourishing spots ofhermes that danced about. A split secondter, it spread its wings and tilted its ferocious feathers straight down towards Hell¡¯s forces!

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed. Over a hundred thousand skeletal puppets hadbined forces to transform into a Judge-ss colossal bird!

    Pshk, pshk, pshk! A rain of feathers pelted down in an instant, plunging straight through Hell¡¯s Yin soldiers and killing at least two thousand of them in the blink of an eye. But before Qin Ye could even turn back to assess the damage, Yang Yanzhao¡¯s fiery voice trembled in his ears, ¡°Lord Qin, don¡¯t look back.¡±

    ¡°Continue the charge¡­¡± He stared intently at the peak of the altar with a fiery gaze, ¡°Take the peak of the altar so that their deaths won¡¯t be in vain! Given the number of Yin artifacts in his possession and control, the Yin spirit up there must be one of Kong Mo¡¯s most trusted aides. You can do it!¡±

    Simultaneously, he jabbed towards the monstrous bird¡¯s chest ferociously with his spear.

    BOOM!!

    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Back at the peak of the altar. Lai Junchen was now immeasurably withered and dry as a bone. But, even then, he tossed his head up into the air and cackled madly, ¡°Die¡­ DIE! I¡¯m content to drag so many people down to the abysses of Hell with me¡­¡±

    Dead silence.

    Thud¡­ Like a lifeless ragdoll, he copsed onto his knees at the peak of the altar. Secondster, he trembled profusely as he craned his neck out once more and peered down below.

    All Yin spirits were destined to be instakilled by an Emissary of Hell of the same cultivation level.

    He¡¯s trying to kill me¡­ This man is after my life!

    ¡°AHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Every bit of Yin energy that remained in his body was instantly sucked into the mirror, and Lai Junchen couldn¡¯t help but scream miserably.

    ¡°AHHHH!¡± He screamed desperately as he fought hard to pull his hand back from the Mythic Pce of Reflections. Unfortunately, that hand had already vanishedpletely. As he gasped desperately for air, he continued to nce about with a manic look replete with a bizarre smile on his face. And then, he began to draw up aplicated Yin talisman on the ground.

    ¡°Victory to Hell!!!¡±

    We¡¯re only over a hundred meters away¡­ Once we close the gap, we¡¯ll be home free!

    ¡°Charge!!!¡± Their hearts were palpitating with great excitement. Qin Ye led the charge like a valiant general, cutting down every obstacle in their way. But, just then, they suddenly saw¡­ countless flowers blooming in the void above them.

    ¡°Paramita of the Yellow Springs, Blossom of the Millennia Flower¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­¡± Lai Junchen chuckled hoarsely as he sat limply in front of the mirror, ¡°Curse of the Spirits, Withered Boat of the Dead¡­ This is the final Yin artifact that Lord Kong Mo has entrusted to me. If you can ovee this¡­ I¡¯ll concede defeat!¡±

    No gimmicks. It was a full-on confrontation of strength against strength.

    Just then, the sea of flowers suddenly trembled, sending rings of ripples sweeping across the air and revealing¡­ an immeasurably deep abyss below the canopy of flowers.

    The skeleton was pale white in colour, and its joints were covered in scarlet tendons and veins. Tworge eyeballs filled the sockets of its eyes, and a massive clump ofherme burned from its chest. As soon as it appeared, it appeared to draw a deep breath, causing its chest cavity to expand in an exaggerated fashion. Then, in the next second, it opened its mouth abruptly, only to spew out a shower of meteoric mes!

    Perhaps beauty and death were two sides of the same coin.

    Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! A crimson waterfall of mes instantly poured down from the peak of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, felling countless Yin soldiers of Hell without even giving them the chance to respond to the situation. It was but a dozen or so seconds since the attack was unleashed, and yet there was already over 8,000 casualties among Hell¡¯stest deployment of 20,000!

    None of them wanted to stymie Hell¡¯s chances at seizing the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    This was their only shot at survival.

    As soon as he began to show even the slightest signs of slowing down, the throng of Yin soldiers around him immediately yelled at him, ¡°My Lord! You cannot!¡± ¡°My Lord! Onwards! Ignore us!¡± ¡°My Lord¡­ It¡¯s our honour to die for Hell¡¯s glory! We have no regrets!¡± ¡°Lord Qin, it¡¯s all up to you! We¡¯re useless against such spells! Everything¡­ is all up to you!¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t let our deaths be in vain!!¡±

    But they died smiling.

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth and turned back to the front, staring intently at the peak of the altar with the scarlet mes in his eyes zing with passion. He held his spear up and mustered all of his strength, before thrusting it out with full force!

    And as soon as he did, the situation became patently clear to him.

    The spear surged forward a hundred meters, while Qin Ye allowed himself to be dragged along with the momentum of the spear. In an instant, he closed the remaining distance to the top of the altar.

    Lai Junchen¡¯s pupils shrank yet even more. It was now immeasurably close to fizzling out.

    However, Lai Junchen was alsoughing.

    Shk!

    It was the sound of a bowstring¡¯s release.

 Chapter 440: Breaching the Mythic Palace of Reflections (2)

    <h4>Chapter 440: Breaching the Mythic Pce of Reflections (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. This attack probably wasn¡¯t able to kill him, but¡­ it could undoubtedly send him flying thousands of meters away! The consequences of that could be potentially unthinkable!

    Just then, Qin Ye noticed out of the corner of his eye that Yang Yanzhao appeared to be shouting something¡­ Eh?

    Where¡¯s Yang Yande?

    ¡°Fifth brother!!¡± Yang Yanzhao¡¯s eyes blistered with rage as he roared at the top of his voice. But just as he was to rush forward recklessly, he caught himself and gritted his teeth as he held himself back. His chest heaved greatly with every breath he took.

    I can¡¯t afford to be distracted now!

    Qin Ye nced past Lai Junchen and looked directly at the massive mirror located right behind where Lai Junchen was. And then, he promptly turned to look beyond the mirror, and at thends below. In an instant, he took in the full view of the entire city of Qufu. It was an astonishing sight.

    The houses were constructed mainly from wood, and they were designed with an ancient Cathayan ir. They were all neatly arranged alongside broad roads for ease of ess and to minimize congestion. The entire city was clearly well nned out. In fact, it almost resembled the time of the Han or Tang Dynasties, when the splendour of the city dered the prosperity of the nation.

    It was because in that instant when a general or king stands at the peak of the world, ncing down at hisnds and subjects that were bowing in submission to him, it wouldpletely fill their hearts with an unquenchable feeling of achievement.

    This war hadsted all of but twenty hours, yet how many brave souls had perished in this short span of time? Qufu City¡­ He slowly scanned the entire city around him, ncing greedily at the millions of Yin spirits who were stealing nces at him from the safety of their abodes. And then, he turned his gaze right back to the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    ¡°And now, it¡¯s mine!¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes and allowed his clothes to flutter softly with thehergale as he drew a deep breath.

    He could sense something within his body fusingpletely with him. It was a light and fleeting sensation, yet palpable at the same time. He tried to recall when he had felt something like that before, but he simply wasn¡¯t able to put a finger on it.

    No¡­ I¡¯m still a single step away from all that.

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ He fervently repressed the stirring emotions in his heart before turning to Yang Yanzhao, ¡°Where¡¯s General Yang Yande?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, before turning to look at Qufu once more.

    It¡¯s time to end everything¡­

    A ferocious river of Yin energy poured into the Mythic Pce of Reflections through the ws of the two divine beasts. This was the source of energy that was sustaining the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    Qin Ye¡¯s once again imbued his spear with his Judge-ss Yin energy. Then, with a mighty thrust, he struck the sculpture, causing it to crumble and copse with an explosion of dust and debris. Boom!! The delicate mechanism feeding Yin energy to the Mythic Pce of Reflections was revealed at once, together with¡­ a heap of Yin spirit stones asrge as a small mountain!

    tter¡­ Just then, the Mythic Pce of Reflections began to dazzle once more.

    The entire world around them was instantly engulfed in a green hue. The Mythic Pce of Reflections had lost its source of Yin energy, and yet rather than fizzling out, its radiance even turned more demonic than ever! In fact, rows of red talisman had now begun to surface on the surface of the mirror, almost as though someone were slowly drawing them up on the surface from within. Furthermore, there were only a few rows of talismans left to draw up before the entire Mythic Pce of Reflections would bepletely covered in talismans.

    Just then, Qufu City trembled violently once more. And then, Qufu¡¯s outer city walls drifted up from the ground, before slowly disintegrating into a world of ck butterflies that scattered into the surroundings. It was almost as though the entire city had entered the final countdown to its end!

    He wasn¡¯t the only one who froze at the sight. In that instant, practically the entire Qufu, including their remaining hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers and tens of millions of citizens, froze in horror.

    What do we do?!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Is it an earthquake?¡± ¡°Is Qufu¡­ vanishing?¡± ¡°Look! Look at the outer city walls! ck butterflies! Yin energy butterflies! What the hell is going on right now?!¡±

    Just like a prelude to destruction, the Yin energy on which the entire city of Qufu was built slowly peeled away, wisp by wisp, before transforming to countless ck butterflies that soon scattered into the surroundings. It was almost as though the entire city was proiming the end to its era.

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye pressed his spear onto Lai Junchen¡¯s throat, ¡°Stop it at once, and I¡¯ll bestow upon you a swift and easy death.¡±

    It was only a natural response. When people were pushed off the precipice of reason and rationality, they would naturally act in an uncharacteristic fashion.

    ¡°This is the Curse of Reincarnation Privation.¡± Just then, a majestic voice that was inteced with some measure of ostensible weakness resounded at the top of the altar.

    Qin Ye froze, ¡°Harken?¡±

    The enunciation of a single word caused Lai Junchen to stir madly once more. He tried desperately to get up, only to be forced back to the ground by Yang Yanzhao again. His lips were trembling profusely, almost as though his entire world was copsing right now. Lai Junchen turned to stare at Qin Ye, and then began to speak with a drifty voice, ¡°No¡­ that¡¯s impossible¡­ Lord Harken is still around? That¡¯s impossible¡­ that¡¯s absolutely impossible!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m indeed not in the underworld. Besides¡­ who does Kong Mo think he is? How dare he even specte about my existence?¡± The Harken snorted coldly, ¡°Mythic Pce of Reflections, huh¡­ I¡¯ve not seen that in a long time. Haah¡­ it¡¯s not difficult to gain control of it. Earlier, I sensed that both the heavenly realm and the underworld have approved of your status as the future King Yanluo of Hell. A Yanluo is in charge of everything in the underworld. All you need to do is to drip a drop of blood onto its surface, and it will immediately recognize you as its master. Once you do that, I¡¯ll take over and help you break all of these restrictions ced upon it.¡±

    ¡°But before that, you¡¯ll have to find a way to remove the Curse of Reincarnation Privation. Sigh¡­ Although Kong Mo hadn¡¯t handed hisckey the full reins of controlling the Mythic Pce of Reflections, he did hand him the means of destroying it. You¡¯ve got another five minutes at best. Otherwise, as soon as the entire surface of the mirror ispletely filled with talismans, it will clear the entire Qufu City of all Yin spirits within. At that time¡­ I¡¯m afraid you might be the only one left alive.¡±

    Lai Junchen listened to everything that was said with a stiff expression on his face. And then, he suddenly began to lunge towards Qin Ye with his mouth wide open.

    No¡­ it shouldn¡¯t be like this¡­ Why¡­ why did Lord Harken suddenly appear like that?

    Qin Ye mulled over Lord Harken¡¯s words, while Yang Yanzhao began to nce about worriedly - Where are we going to find a Hellguard on such short notice?

    He nced at Arthis, only to realize that the ck sphere of hair was still as solid as ever. He tried calling out to her, but received no response whatsoever.

    The Mythic Pce of Reflections was like a time bomb with only five minutes remaining on the timer. Even if they win this battle, they would still lose the war!

    ¡°Lord Qin¡­¡± Yang Yanzhao was at his wits¡¯ end. A minuteter, he gnashed his teeth and turned to Qin Ye once more, ¡°Lord Harken didn¡¯t say that¡­ it has to be an enemy Hellguard.¡±

    ¡°This is the only way!¡± Yang Yanzhao blurted back without any hesitation. But before he could go on, Qin Ye suddenly shook his hand dismissively as he turned back to Lai Junchen, ¡°What are you talking about? Isn¡¯t there someone far more suitable than you are over here?¡±

    He must have been hidden right under my radar¡­ No wonder he would react with such madness earlier¡­

    Qin Ye smiled and patted the dust off his clothes, before making a gesture of invitation, ¡°Mr Lai, please.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This is quite an interesting one. From Wiki - That year, a famous incident involving Lai and fellow secret police official Zhou Xing urred.

 Chapter 441: Breaching the Mythic Palace of Reflections (3)

    <h4>Chapter 441: Breaching the Mythic Pce of Reflections (3)</h4>

    Dead silence.

    The top of the altar was instantly shrouded in silence. Lai Junchen stared nkly at Qin Ye with his lips trembling and his mouth agape. Three secondster, he dashed straight for the edge of the altar. But before he could even make his way out, a sharp, long spear skewered his shoulder and lifted him right back to the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    ¡°Please, Mr Lai. This is fate¡­ Zhou Xing, the man whom you invited into the urn that fateful year, will be so relieved to see thingse full circle like this¡­¡±

    ¡°No¡­ No¡­ NO!!!¡± Lai Junchen screamed frantically, ¡°Don¡¯t be like this! I don¡¯t want to die!! Let me go¡­ Put me--...¡±

    Qin Ye forced his head straight into the mirror before he could even finish his plea for mercy.

    He muttered softly, ¡°Unfortunately¡­ you don¡¯t have the right to be spared.¡±

    SSS!!! A miserable shriek erupted from the top of the altar, and Lai Junchen¡¯s body convulsed violently. Wisps of Yin energy were forcibly being extracted from his body and absorbed into the surface of the mirror. A split secondter, his hideous face appeared on the massive surface of the mirror!

    The talismanic writing appeared to be on the underside of the mirror, followed immediately by Lai Junchen and his terrified expression. He looked from side to side, rapping desperately on the mirror from the other side, almost as though he were yelling out something of great importance. Unfortunately, nobody could hear his silent cries.

    Elsewhere in the outer city. The cavalrymen who were desperately rushing back to the Mythic Pce of Reflections suddenly tugged hard on their reins and looked up in horror.

    ¡°Is that¡­ Lord Lai?¡± One of the generals muttered under his breath with a tremor in his voice, ¡°Commander-in-chief of the forces in Qufu City, Shanhai Pass¡­ Lord Lai?¡±

    No one responded.

    That said, every single Yin soldier who was in the midst of rushing back to the inner city couldn¡¯t help but exchange awkward nces as they paused in their steps.

    Nobody understood what they were supposed to make of the peculiar sight.

    Just then, everyone saw Lai Junchen clutching at his head with both hands, ostensibly screaming silently on the other side of the mirror. They could all see copious amounts of Yin energy pouring out of his seven apertures like a raging tsunami. Within moments, the Yin energy that filled the entire mirror transformed into countless ck butterflies that soon drifted away, and the eerie green radiance emanating from the surface of the mirror quickly faded back into a soft, white light.

    A secondter, a majestic voice echoed throughout the entire Shanhai Pass, ¡°The enemy general has fallen! All who surrender shall be spared!¡±

    The forces of Hell who were still locked in the heat ofbat with Qufu¡¯s Yin soldiers, as well as the forces of Hell who werepletely spent of energy and resting both echoed at the top of their voices, ¡°The enemy general has fallen! All who surrender shall be spared!¡± ¡°Hell has emerged victorious!!!¡±

    In an instant, the four outer city walls erupted with a triumphant shout!

    It was filled with the excitement of seeing the sun after a torrential downpour. It was the joy of seeing the fruits of their hardbour and sacrifice. Everyone burst out in a celebratory cry of victory in an instant!

    Granted, they were but a miniscule drop in the oceanpared with the sheer size of Shanhai Pass, but even then, their mor of victory was still just ring and grating to the ears of the Qufu Yin soldiers.

    ¡°We¡¯ve¡­ lost?¡± News of the death of theirmander-in-chief instantly spread like the gue among the Qufu forces, dealing a fatal blow to their morale. The general of the Qufu cavalry stared nkly at the top of the altar, where a figure stood valiantly with an exquisite spear in his hand. The general softly repeated his words to himself.

    ng¡­ A crisp, clear sound of metal jolted him back from his reverie. Following that, there was a cacophonous ring of heavy objects falling to the ground.

    He didn¡¯t need to turn his head to know that these were the sounds of heavy weapons falling to the ground.

    Nobody had the will to do battle anymore.

    The First Pass Under Heaven, Shanhai Pass, had beenpletely and utterly defeated. The loss of their bulwark had stripped the Qufu forces of every measure of battle spirit within them. Besides, what was the point of fighting when they had already lost theirmander-in-chief?

    There was a loud mor of soundsing from all around him, including the sound of a whistling gale, explosions, and nging of heavy metal. But¡­ it was also the first time the general felt such intense peace, almost as though his heart waspletely dead to the world.

    Yet, even then, he could hear the victorious cries of Hell¡¯s forces scraping against his eardrums. The soft shouts of victory were like heavy strikes of the drum that beat heavily on his heart.

    ¡°General¡­¡± Just then, a lessermander arrived at the side of his general, ¡°We--...¡±

    ¡°Surrender.¡± The general continued to stare nkly at the sky, ¡°Lower our banner¡­ and cast down your weapons¡­ We surrender¡­¡±

    It was calm.

    It was practically emotionless.

    The lessermander didn¡¯t say much more. Secondster, he mumbled softly in response, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as they lowered their banner, the rest of the cavalrymen immediately dismounted from their war horses and cast down their weapons silently.

    They were the first ones to react as such. Soon after, and elsewhere on the battlefield, everyone made the exact same decision with each their own contingent of troops.

    tter¡­ Just as quickly as the mes of war roared like a great congration within the city, so were they extinguished in just an instant. Various armaments of all sorts were instantly cast onto the ground, while the various armies lowered the banners of the Alliance of Darkness ordingly. The only ones who were still rushing back towards the altar was a faction of approximately 100,000 or so remaining Yin soldiers.

    These were the die-hard loyalists of the Alliance of Darkness. They were the ones who had a vested interest in preserving the status quo. So long as there was even a modicum of hope left to salvage the situation, they would never be willing to give up on that!

    There were always people like that in any organisation.

    Over ten million ghastly citizens stared nkly at the incredulous spectacle panning out before their eyes. Nobody rioted. They were simply dumbfounded. They were apathetic to war, so long as they weren¡¯t inadvertently drawn into the midst of the battlefield. Kong Mo had ruled over them with the basic governmental amenities, but he wasn¡¯t able to provide them with any significant benefits, like that which Qin Ye could offer with the Book of Life and Death.

    Qin Ye watched all of these things with great indifference. The die-hard loyalists rushed past the forces that had already surrendered. As they passed by, the loyalists attempted to stir the surrendered forces back into action by cursing and insulting them, yet to no avail.

    Qin Ye gently shook his head. Do you really think that¡¯s going to work?

    No.

    The big picture has already been decided! The curtains have been drawn!

    In fact, Qufu had already fallen as soon as the first contingent of Qufu¡¯s forces lowered their banners. Would the remaining stubborn loyalists truly be able to stand toe to toe against the Infernal Judges of Hell?

    Besides¡­

    Qin Ye gazed into the distant sky. He could sense a magnificent aura rapidly coalescing overhead.

    What wasing next was truly going to be the final nail in the coffin that breaks the fighting spirit of all remaining Yin soldiers in Qufu City, Shanhai Pass.

    The city had been ruled by Kong Mo for decades now. None of the citizens nor Yin soldiers here had ever experienced the reign of the old Hell, much less realize that they were in fact a rebel force.

    But it didn¡¯t matter.

    It was easy to teach them the truth.

    A miracle.

    All Qin Ye needed to do was to show them a miracle.

    ¡°Kill them all!!!¡± One of the loyalist generals yelled at the top of his voice as he continued charging towards the top of the altar. There were only a few thousand Yin soldiers of Hell remaining at the altar. So long as they rushed over, they would be able to take down every single one of them. Then, with the Mythic Pce of Reflections back in their possession, they would have control of Qufu once more!

    They couldn¡¯t afford to lose Qufu! The loyalist general was the deputymander-in-chief of Qufu¡¯s forces. He knew he would never be able tomand such an important station if Qufu¡¯s leadership changed hands. Thus, he would very much rather stake everything in thest hurrah at taking Qufu back.

    Over 20,000 Yin soldiers followed closely behind him. None of them said a single word. Their morale was at an all-time low, but¡­ they were at least still following his lead.

    ¡°Anyone who can retake the Mythic Pce of Reflections shall be promoted threefold and rewarded with ten thousand catties of Yin spirit stones!!¡± He threw down a magnificent reward in ast-ditch attempt to lift the morale of his troops once more. He could see several other generals leading the charge not far away, Chen Fudai, Cao Putang, General Zhou and others leading at least eight other contingents as they rushed back towards the Mythic Pce of Reflections. Each one of these generals had thousands of Yin soldiers following close behind them.

    The forces rushing back numbered close to 100,000! They definitely had a fighting chance!

    Thus, he lowered his helmet and gritted his teeth as he continued onwards. Close¡­ we¡¯re getting close! Five kilometers¡­ three kilometers¡­ one kilometer! Five hundred meters¡­ three hundred meters¡­ one hundred meters!

    ¡°Kill them all!!¡± The Mythic Pce of Reflections was right in front of his eyes! He yelled at the top of his voice and began to ascend the altar.

    But a split secondter, with a miserable scream, he was sent flying hundreds of meters away with a loud bang.

    What happened?!

    His jaws dropped as he stared nkly at the Mythic Pce of Reflections. It felt almost as though¡­ there was an invisible wall erected around it right now.

    Just then, a loud bang suddenly erupted in the air above them. A momentter, a colossal hole asrge as the entire city of Qufu opened up in the canopies of the sky above. Countless spots ofhermes poured out from it, followed closely by an overwhelming pressure that descended from the sky.

    None of them could even consciously react to the situation. Thud, thud, thud¡­ Across the entire Qufu, every single Yin spirit fell to their knees with great trembling as they stared at the sky in horror.

    It was a crushing pressure.

    It was the arrival of Lord Harken itself!

    BOOM!!

    Shanhai Pass trembled violently, and even began to contort slightly. All of the Yin spirits stared nkly at the sky, not knowing what cmity wasing. Meanwhile, the scarlet writing on the surface of the mirror slowly vanished and faded away even as Shanhai Pass continued to quake incessantly. Then, several momentster, there was a massive tremor, and then the entire Qufu¡­ vanished without a trace!

    All that remained was arge, empty plot ofnd, together with rolling mountains in the distance. After a long time, a monarch beast in the distance suddenly nced over in horror, wondering where the magnificent city that had stood for such a long time had gone.

    And¡­ what about the other Yin spirits that roamed thends? Where have they gone?

    All that was left was apletely barrennd.

    Annals of the New Hell: Year 001 of the New Hell. Third King Yanluo of Hell, Qin Ye, led an army of 100,000 and took down the rebel forces of the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness. Hell¡¯s forces took down 570,000 enemy troops, seized control of Qufu City¡¯s Shanhai Pass, and recovered one of Hell¡¯s grade A Yin artifacts, the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    Hell¡¯s casualties numbered 68,000 troops in all. Pioneer General Mu Guiying and Pioneer General Yang Yande were martyred in the call of duty. Their death paved the way for Hell¡¯s sess in the first war for expansion against Qufu City, Shanhai Pass.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ck cliffs overlooking the vast oceans.

    Eastmount Province, Limbo. The forces of the Alliance of Darkness were stationed along the cliffside. Their military garrison was well illuminated with zinghermes. Yin soldiers patrolled along the coast, watching cautiously for any enemy movement from the scarlet spots that hovered menacingly above the ocean.

    Just then, an infuriated roar erupted from the central tent of the military garrison. ¡°Who¡­ who the hell did that?!¡± All of the surrounding Yin soldiers turned to look sheepishly at the tent.

    That¡¯s Lord Kong¡¯s tent¡­

    ¡°My Lord!¡± An attendant immediately entered the tent, only to have his approach rebuffed by an equally furious cry, ¡°Scram!!¡± He promptly backed out of the room.

    There was still the same chandelier of human bones hanging in the room, as well as a map of Eastmount Province hanging at the back of the tent. However, everything else in the room was aplete mess. Kong Mo had already knocked over the table in front of him, sending his brushes, ink, paper and inkstone scattering everywhere across the ground. But he didn¡¯t even care to look at the mess around him. Instead, he gnashed his teeth bitterly and furrowed his brows.

    Therey beneath his palm an eyeball that appeared no different from a mirror, and it was currently slowly but surely fading into nothingness. He desperately clung onto the eyeball, and even bashed his head against it so hard that Yin energy andhermes spewed out from what remained of it. He wasn¡¯t willing to let it go.

    But, in the end, it was all in vain.

    A split secondter, the eyeball flickered softly, and thenpletely vanished into thin air. He screamed at the top of his voice, clutching madly at his head. His expression grew twisted in rage.

    ¡°Damn it¡­ DAMN IT!!¡±

    ¡°Is it Hell? Or is it other alliances of the underworld?! The Mythic Pce of Reflections¡­ My Mythic Pce of Reflections has actually vanished from Limbo?! Whoever did this¡­ you¡¯d best be prepared to suffer under the eighteen abysses of punishment!!!¡±

    The intense shock and rage flowing from the horrific turn of events caused his entire body to tremble violently, and it took him dozens of minutes before he finally regained hisposure once more. Yet, even then, he found himself gazing into the distant sky helplessly.

    How did this happen?

    How did thingse to this?!

    I can ept Qufu¡¯s defeat, no matter how miniscule the possibility might have been. But¡­ how could the entire Shanhai Pass simply vanish just like that?

    Where has it gone? Who could have done this? The Mythic Pce of Reflections is my greatest source of confidence! Whose hands did it end up in?!

    And¡­ where does that leave me?

    Have I actually be caught between a rock and a hard ce?

    Several momentster, he vented every bit of frustration and vexation in his heart with a crazed roar that resounded throughout the entire coast, ¡°I¡¯ll curse you to death!!!¡±

 Chapter 442: First Assembly of Citizens

    <h4>Chapter 442: First Assembly of Citizens</h4>

    The mes in Wei Youliang¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and he trembled as he tightened his grip around the newspaper in his hands.

    These were paper newspapers, just like the ubiquitous kind back in the mortal realm. The quality of the paper was neither excellent, nor terrible.

    He had heard news on the grapevine that this was one of the special products of Hell, and King Yanluo had only been able to transport it here through the use of a technique known as the Universal Grand Shift. Having worked hard for a month, the only thing they had all received in exchange were these millions of newspapers that were distributed to the variousmunities in their world.

    That¡¯s right. Community. It was a word that invoked deep emotions of familiarity in his heart.

    There were a number of other Yin spirits around him who were also speaking loudly in turn. This was amunity reading group - a society that was established pursuant to the orders of the so-called King Yanluo of Hell, who had ordered all who were keen to establish societies to submit their application forms and name lists within a three-day time period. Naturally, the objective of these societies had to cohere with, promote orplement the intentions of the King Yanluo of Hell, just like what they were doing now.

    None of the other Yin spirits gathered around them spoke a single word. They were all regr ghostly citizens of Qufu City¡¯s Shanhai Pass - the most ordinary, plebeian kind. After their death, they had unwittingly arrived in the heart of Shanhai Pass.

    At that time, they were none the wiser, and they had naturally thought that they had arrived in Hell.

    That¡¯s right, with such a majestic, lofty and magnificent city from which millions of ghostly citizens came and went, how could this not be the fabled existence known as Hell?

    They could tell it was powerful, because even the terrifying monarch beasts were unable to evene close within a three kilometer radius of the outer city walls of Shanhai Pass.

    The city¡¯s defenses were solid as gold. None of them had any doubts that this was indeed the First Pass Under Heaven.

    But, just a month ago, they learnt for the very first time that they¡­ were in fact part of a rebel force.

    They weren¡¯t living in Hell. Everything was an illusion generated by a mirror in the possession of an evil mastermind. And the true Hell¡­ had actually mobilized its forces under the charge of the renowned General Yang to quell the rebellion that was Qufu City!

    Ever since then, for one whole month, the entire city was put on curfew. What would previously have been a well-lit city even in the middle of the night becamepletely silent like a tomb as soon as the curfew kicked into force. Countless Yin soldiers of Hell would patrol the streets and the alleys at night, arresting all who were found to be breaching the curfew.

    ¡°Everyone¡­ take a look.¡± He shut his eyes and began to hand out the newspapers to the ghostly citizens around, ¡°It¡¯s all written very clearly on it¡­¡±

    ¡°Let me add something.¡± A man among the crowd quietly stood up, revealing the fact that he was dressed in ancient armor. He spoke unhurriedly, ¡°Lord Qin doesn¡¯t pursue the past. He only punishes the evil masterminds orchestrating everything. You may be ghostly citizens, but¡­ you¡¯re also the ghostly citizens of Hell.¡±

    ¡°And as for why Hell is called Hell¡­ you¡¯ll soon find out.¡±

    Wei Youliang sealed his lips tight and thought to himself - Oh¡­ Speaking of which, I¡¯ve heard that our King Yanluo is surnamed Qin¡­

    Word on the grapevine was that Yanluo Qin had personally instructed the foremen of each neighbourhood on their responsibilities in terms of the ideological and political work they were to engage in.

    Concerned that he might give the citizens a wrong impression, the armored foreman smiled faintly and added, ¡°Kong Mo is a traitor of Hell who has absconded to Eastmount after stealing Hell¡¯s precious Yin artifact, the Mythic Pce of Reflections. He might have been able to protect you from external harm, but that¡¯s probably all he could do for you.¡±

    ¡°Do you know when your loved ones areing down to join you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to ry messages to your loved ones through dreams?¡±

    ¡°These are the benefits that only the true Hell can render! We¡¯re talking about the authentic Hell of the underworld, and not one ruled by a rebel leader!¡± With that, the foreman nodded, ¡°This is a special edition newspaper disseminated by Hell¡¯s Media Group. Take a good look for yourself. The causes and consequences that triggered the war have all been exined in detail. Apart from that¡­ tonight at 6.00 p.m., Lord Qin will be personally presiding over the First General Assembly. There will be a live broadcast of it as well. I believe¡­ the agenda to be covered will give rise to a paradigm shift in the way you view Hell.¡±

    Ah¡­ that¡¯s right. There¡¯s also news of the First General Assembly of Citizens. I¡¯ve heard that Hell has randomly selected fifty participants from each neighbourhood to attend the proceedings in person. The rest will be watching it on live broadcast.

    Wei Youliang nced at the hourss on the table. There was still approximately two hours before themencement of the general assembly.

    But he wasn¡¯t the only one who was eagerly awaiting that moment. All eyes were staring at the clock slowly ticking down.

    Even then, they continued to go about their duties, disseminating news of the general assembly as much as they could. It was naturally impossible to ensure that the entire popce of over ten million Yin spirits would watch the uing assembly, but the least they could do was to inform them of the same. In fact, operations to spread the word about the general assembly had alreadymenced three days ago, and this was thest neighbourhood that they were rostered to spread the news to. They were on the verge of fully discharging their obligations.

    One of the plumper Yin spirits standing to Wei Youliang¡¯s side couldn¡¯t help but snatch over the newspapers as he read it with great excitement.

    ¡°Victory!!¡± A striking celebratory word was sshed across the headlines.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s first war for expansion is otherwise known as the eastbound expedition. After an arduous neen-hour tussle with the rebel forces, Hell managed to seize control of Qufu City¡¯s Shanhai Pass, Kong Mo¡¯s main base of operations. The Mythic Pce of Reflections, one of the most prized treasures of Hell previously stolen by Kong Mo, was also returned to Hell, its rightful owner. The enemy forces saw casualties numbering more than half a million, while Hell¡¯s forces sustained substantially lower casualties of over 60,000 Yin soldiers. This is the new Hell¡¯s first victory since its establishment! Hell overcame all odds and imed a miraculous victory!¡±

    ¡°Kong Mo is devious and crafty. Back in the mortal realm, the execution of his devious ploys culminated in the turmoil of the Confucian lineage, and he became notoriously known as the great sinner of the Confucian Family. Even after death, his heart continued to stray from the path of righteousness, and he continued to plot and scheme against Hell by stealing the Mythic Pce of Reflections from Hell. Incidentally, his escape coincided with the ascension of Lord Ksitigarbha and the great copse of the old Hell. Yanluo Qin seeded the throne of Hell amidst one of the greatest crises to befall Hell. But as a result of the multitude of other more pressing needs of the new Hell, he remained unable to pursue the retrieval of the Mythic Pce of Reflections. Thus, it remained lost to Hell for a hundred or so years.¡±

    ¡°But what goes around muste around. Revenge is a dish best served cold. One hundred years since Kong Mo managed to make off with the Mythic Pce of Reflections, Hell¡¯s great army marched into Eastmount Province, trampled over Shanhai Pass, and reimed what rightfully belonged to it. The following is a blow-by-blow report of the great battle that took ce¡­¡±

    Rustle, rustle¡­ Several Yin spirits leaned in closer to read the reported ount of the war. Approximately forty minutester, the obese Yin spirit heaved a long sigh of relief as he flipped the page.

    What came next was a full ount of the copse of the old Hell, and the current status of the new Hell. Then, as the article delved into greater detail about Hell, including the provision of particrs pertaining to the Book of Life and Death, King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, as well as the Harken, the Yin spirits reading the article couldn¡¯t help but gasp aloud.

    Only the true Hell could have ess to such things!

    Have we¡­ truly been misled into being a part of the rebel forces?

    The newspaper articles were incredibly detailed. It started right from the inception of transition, with the Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension, and set out in detail everything that transpired until Yanluo Qin took over as the third King Yanluo of Hell. It also described Lord Qin with such perfection that he was practically like a god incarnate - the kind that was so deviously charming that nobody would be able to resist¡­ spreading their legs for him?!

    Dead silence.

    Everyone continued to read the news articles until they finally arrived at thest page.

    It was a list with countless names written on it.

    ¡°This is a tribute to all who have martyred themselves in the eastbound expedition.¡±

    ¡°Hell¡¯s pioneers: Mu Guiying, Yang Yande, Zhao Seven.¡±

    ¡°Cheng Zili, Wang Youde, Lei Ming, Tang Wenshan, Qi Xiangwu, Long Tiao, Wang Lun, Feng Rao¡­¡±

    There were tens of thousands of names printed on thest page of the newspapers!

    Everyone could sense some measure of sobriety fill the air, almost as though they were given a glimpse of the tragedies of war. After an inordinately long time, they finally returned the newspapers to Wei Youliang, who respectfully received it with both hands, before passing it back to the foreman behind him.

    Then, just as the foreman received the papers from Wei Youliang, the sound of a lilting bell suddenly sounded in their ears.

    Dong¡­ Dong¡­ The sounds of the bells echoed throughout the entire Shanhai Pass.

    Everyone nced at each other with a flickering gaze in their eyes, and their hearts immediately began to thump wildly.

    This was the Bell of a Thousand Souls that was erected at the top of the tower that overlooked the entire city. Back when Kong Mo had rules over the city, he had mentioned that it would only sound at the most critical juncture. As long as the bell didn¡¯t sound, the citizens could take it that their lives would be absolutely safe.

    But¡­ Qufu had fallen without the bell resounding even once. How ironic that it would sound now of all times.

    Lord Kong can¡¯t protect us at all.

    Perhaps¡­ it might be a good idea to serve the authentic Hell after all. That said, it would be prudent to see what kind of governance style they adopt. They can write what they want in the news articles, but us citizens have all lived and died once before. We¡¯ve had our fair share of life experiences as well. So let us judge with our own eyes whether this is truly the authentic Hell, or whether it¡¯s nothing more than yet another rebel force attempting to cast smoke and mirrors before us¡­

    Once bitten, twice shy. They were only willing to trust their own eyes now.

    With that, they opened the doors and slowly made their way towards the nearby za. After all, the instructions were that all Yin spirits should gather on the zas as much as possible.

    Creak¡­ They opened the door, only to be momentarily dazzled by a brilliant radiance. That said, they had already gotten used to this by now.

    Qufu City, Shanhai Pass. For the most part, it still looked like the original, save for the several new structures erected within the inner city now.

    One of them was a huge white building spanning several kilometers and twenty meters tall. That said, all twenty or so meters of itprised only a single floor. It¡¯s grandeur and magnificence was on the same scale as any Athenian temple, replete with stairs that led up into the sprawling sanctum within. It also bore some semnce to the general assembly halls of citizens back in the mortal realm. A sprawling symbol of the Harken was etched onto the ground in the middle of the building, while the rest of the building was constructed in pure, unadulterated ancient-Cathayan ir, replete with carved beams and painted pirs. All in all, the entire building struck the perfect bnce between splendour and majesty.

    This is something that has never existed in Shanhai Pass before¡­ Wei Youliang stared dumbfounded at the building. Just like how Shanhai Pass has suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the majestic structure which now stood in the heart of the inner city seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

    He was located quite some distance away from the inner city, and could thus only see the very top of the building. Yet, even then, he was able to vaguely make out a couplet located along the top edge of the building. It was barely in sight, and yet the words of the couplet instantly branded itself directly within his heart.

    Lights fizzle at midnight, snared by uncanny dreams.

    Brilliance of darkness, writhing hearts in enchanting paradox.

    The more Wei Youliang stared at the couplet, the more his hearts thumped with unease. He promptly turned his nce away towards the other buildings in the inner city.

    The other building was just as lofty and magnificent. It stood seven storeys tall, and the eaves extending from the structure were all adorned with exquisite sculptures of the divine beasts of Hell. Likewise, there was a couplet disyed at the top of the building. He couldn¡¯t really see the words written on them, but the words of the couplet were still somehow imprinted on his heart.

    Yin and Yang, shadows born of light.

    Realms of mortals and realms of ghosts, inextricably intertwined.

    There were three other buildings in the vicinity. The inner city used to be Qufu¡¯s military barracks,pletely out of bounds to the ghostly citizens of the city. Yet it was now ostensibly different from before. There was something else noteworthy about the inner city.

    It was a withered tree.

    The tree was covered with peculiar fruits that bore the appearance of a man¡¯s face. Countless spots ofhermes hovered eerily about the tree, and there was even a murder of skeletal crows perched atop the tree¡¯s withered branches. These skeletal crows had glowing red spots for their eyes that appeared to be staring right back at Wei Youliang. They immediately gave him the chills.

    Whatever!

    Gritting his teeth, he drew a deep breath and marched on out.

    The next few moments are going to determine whether I live or I die!

    That said¡­ this Lord Qin isn¡¯t possibly going to ughter all ten million of us Yin spirits, right?

    He¡¯s got to know that even rabbits bite back when pushes to shove!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Inside a tall building within the inner city. Arthis waved her hand casually and rolled her eyes at Qin Ye, ¡°You seem rather indifferent. I mean¡­ you¡¯ve been so busytely that you seem to have forgotten something.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve finally managed to take Qufu, but whates next is just as important. How do we settle the hearts of the citizens in order to quell any possible uprising? Yet, by summoning my presence now¡­¡± She surveyed her surroundings.

    It was a room that was approximately one thousand meters wide.

    The image of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was etched on the ground and surrounded by the symbols of the eight heavenly dragons. They were located high above the ground, and they naturally had a good vantage over the entire city below.

    ¡°Have you finally begun to covet my beauty and lust after my flesh?¡±

    Qin-Ipman-Ye instantly adopted his trademark battle stance, cing one palm before the other, ¡°Cut the crap. I¡¯ve been waiting for you for a long time!¡±

    ¡°Bring it on. I want to fight ten of you!¡±

    Arthis red dismissively at him, ¡°What gives? Since when have you be so arrogant?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Qin Ye began to stretch his legs, ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve evolved from a second-tier manga into a Shonen Jump worthy protagonist. There¡¯s something boiling within me that tells me I can easily put you down now.¡±

    Crack, crack¡­ He cracked his neck and his knuckles as he nodded at Arthis. Mm. I¡¯m in tiptop condition.

    Then, he locked eyes with Arthis, ¡°It¡¯s time to settle the ounts!¡±

    Arthis immediately responded with a pensive disposition, ¡°That¡¯s right, our ill-fated rtionship has dragged on for over four hundred chapters now¡­ What a mess it is¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye began to gather Yin energy about him in order to transform into his Hell¡¯s Emissary state. But just as he was on the verge of his transformation, Arthis responded with great elegance, ¡°I concede.¡±

    And then, she turned around and began to walk away without even looking back once more.

    With a flick of her sleeves, she left him in the dust once more.

    What the hell?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened in horror.

    Bloody hell¡­ How can you do something like that?!

 Chapter 443: True Infernal Judge

    <h4>Chapter 443: True Infernal Judge</h4>

    Qin Ye followed Arthis along the long corridor in the building, buzzing around her like a persistent fly, ¡°Where are you going? Come on, let¡¯s give it a shot¡­ My reactions are excellent¡­ I¡¯m like the kind of person that copses to the ground after a single p, unable to get up for three days and night on end¡­¡±

    Yet Arthis simply continued to walk along the corridor,pletely unfazed by what Qin Ye was saying.

    Qin Dogballs chattered, ¡°Do you know how differently I thought this was going to go? Can you at least help me resolve the cognitive dissonance going on in there? Speaking of which, don¡¯t you realize that I¡¯ve just established the foundation for an entire realm? Why aren¡¯t you giving me any credit for it? Hang on--... Can you please slow down?! Do you know what it feels like possessing a world of power yet beingpletely helpless against a demoness? It¡¯s vexing to bottle it all up¡­¡±

    ¡°Keep bottling it up.¡± Arthis responded with some measure of exasperation.

    ¡°... I¡¯m practically on the verge of exploding! You should be thankful that I¡¯m not tying you up and flogging--... Sorry, what I meant to say is that life seems to becking something without a proper spar or exchange of pointers with you¡­¡±

    Creaaaak¡­ A thick wooden door opened up. Qin Ye was finallying to terms with the fact that Arthis was never going to ede to his request for a spar. With a soft sigh, he followed her out.

    The heart is willing¡­ but her flesh is weak.

    Intuition told him that he had already be much stronger than before. Even the sense of dread or fear against Arthis he used to feel was now substantially diminished, if notpletely gone altogether. So how could she simply walk out on him without any warning at all? What¡¯s that supposed to be?

    After busying himself for an entire month, he was all prepared to let out all of the pent up steam with a fantastic spar with Arthis. But now, he simply had no outlet for release at all.

    No¡­ I have to find an outlet for release¡­ Qin Ye nced about with a sinister expression, only to notice Wang One Tail right outside the door.

    Wang Chenghao had been transported over to Qufu together with others using the Universal Grand Shift technique. There were far too many things that Qin Ye needed to do over thest month, including a proper ount of the rank and rtionship between the Yin soldiers that have surrendered and submitted to Hell. These were matters that could never be left to outsiders, so Qin Ye had sent for reinforcements to assist him with these matters.

    ¡°Brother Qin.¡± Wang Chenghao was now wearing a pair of sses, replete with a suit ensemble that made him look absolutely dapper.

    ¡°ording to the signal we¡¯re getting from the Mythic Pce of Reflections, most of the Yin spirits have begun to emerge from their homes and are now gathering in the public zas and squares. There¡¯s only forty minutes before showtime. Should we begin with preparations now?¡±

    Qin Ye ignored his query. Instead, he sized up Wang One Tail from head to toe, before abruptly responding, ¡°Tap me on the shoulder.¡±

    The antennae on Wang One Tail¡¯s head instantly sprung up, vibrating with great warning like a ring rm.

    ¡°Just do it. What¡¯s the big deal?¡± Qin Ye chuckled softly as he grabbed Wang Chenghao¡¯s hand. Then, to Wang Chenghao¡¯s great horror, Qin Ye forced Wang Chenghao to tap him on the shoulder.

    And as soon as he did, Qin Ye¡¯s expression immediately turned somber and stern, ¡°How dare you attempt to sneak up on me?!¡±

    Thud! There was a muffled sound. A split secondter, and with a look of great disbelief, Wang One tail found himself flying back dozens of meters and colliding into the wooden door behind that ttered loudly.

    Arthis wisely leaned back against the wall on the side and yawned softly.

    Qin Ye¡¯s posture was frozen mid-kick. A secondter, countless chains suddenly flew out of his sleeves and poured out towards Wang Chenghao like a violent tide.

    These chains werepletely different from the soul shackle at Qin Ye¡¯s disposal earlier when he was just a Netherworld Operative. First of all, the quantity of chains at his disposal was higher by orders of magnitude. Secondly, each of the silver chains had a dark red hook attached to its tip, almost as though they were ws of demons that had risen from the pits of Hell. Their release was instantly apanied by the ghastly cries of Yin spirits throughout the building.

    tter, tter! They spread out in every direction in an instant, just like a massive spider web. Meanwhile, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes becamepletely ck in colour.

    He could now see Wang Chenghao cowering and trembling in the corner of the room. Like augmented reality, a series of scarlet words immediately appeared right above Wang Chenghao¡¯s head in Qin Ye¡¯s visual perception.

    ¡°Name: Wang Chenghao.

    Gender: Male

    Date of Death: X day, X month, 20XX. X hour, X minutes.

    Age: 18+

    Cause of Death: Haunting

    upation: Netherworld Operative

    Specialty: Good-looking¡±

    Qin Ye waspletely speechless.

    I can ept the earlier aspects of Wang Chenghao¡¯s particrs, but¡­ isn¡¯t there something wrong with thetter half?

    However, that was hardly important right now. He read the series of particrs hovering over Wang Chenghao¡¯s head with great interest. Over thest month, he had discovered to his pleasant surprise that he could perceive all important particrs of Yin spirits around him at will, including their date of death, upation, age and cause of death.

    He had been dying to ask Arthis about these newfound abilities of his, but he simply hadn¡¯t had the time. To make matters worse, he was always interrupted by something of greater importance just as he was about to broach the question.

    But now, he had finally found the right time. He turned around and nced at Arthis.

    ¡°Name: Arakshasa.

    Gender: Female

    Date of Death: 24 March 1542, 13:23 hours.

    Age: 572

    Cause of Death: Reaped by an evil ghost. Reborn as a Rakshasa after death.

    upation: Apocryphal Infernal Judge

    Specialty: LoL. Position: Jungler.¡±

    No way¡­ Eyes, can you please rein in the misinformation?!!

    How the hell can this be her specialty?! What¡¯s that got to do with her upation in the first ce?

    ¡°I¡¯m aiming for the top spot, alright?¡± Arthis furrowed her brows, ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time to close your eyes, you peeping tom.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this supposed to be?¡±

    Arthis didn¡¯t respond directly to Qin Ye¡¯s question, ¡°Truth be told, you can even use its function on yourself.¡±

    You can do something like that?

    Qin Ye froze. Just how am I supposed to do that? But just as he began to harbour thoughts of looking down at himself, scarlet words appeared in his visual perspective once more.

    ¡°Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    Gender: Male

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    Date of death: Nil

    Age: ¡­¡±

    He promptly skimmed past the irrelevant portions, until he got to the important details.

    ¡°upation: True Infernal Judge

    Specialty: Despicable¡±

    ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Qin Ye rolled his eyes and promptly turned his gaze away from his specialty - There¡¯s definitely something wrong about this¡­

    ¡°Why am I listed as a True Infernal Judge, while you¡¯re only an Apocryphal Infernal Judge?¡±

    Arthis made a hand seal, and an hourss promptly appeared in front of her. She took a nce at it before quickly stashing it. Then, she turned to Qin Ye with a somber expression on her face, ¡°Do you know why you weren¡¯t a match for me before this?¡±

    ¡°What rubbish are you talking about? I was just letting you win out of the kindness of my heart. Don¡¯t you know how we¡¯re supposed to show respect to our elders?¡± Qin Ye responded indignantly. What¡¯s that supposed to even mean? You¡¯d better watch your words if you still want to serve in a high official post in Hell.

    Arthis remarked with a stiff expression, ¡°I¡¯m willing to bet that your specialty is ¡®being despicable¡¯!¡±

    It truly is impossible to have a proper conversation with people who know me too well¡­ Qin Ye red at Arthis, ¡°Get to the point!¡±

    ¡°How can I get to the point if you keep interrupting me like that?!¡± Arthis snorted disdainfully, before turning her head away as she continued with her exnations, ¡°The greatest difference in our ability is the techniques at our disposal. The second greatest difference is the Yin energy at our disposal.¡±

    ¡°We can deal with the issue of techniques summarily. The old Hell has copsed, and its rules are no longer in force. The only reason why I still have ess to the techniques of the old Hell is because I¡¯ve been branded by the mark of the old Hell. But, given that you¡¯re apletely new Emissary of Hell, you naturally have no means of tapping on the power of the old Hell. This brings me to the second point, which is that the Yin energy at your disposal¡­ has been partially locked all this while.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the difference between what is True and what is Apocryphal.¡± Arthis exined carefully, ¡°You can liken this to the system of ancient times, when you have ruling officials, as well as reserve or substitute officials. When there are too many officials for the number of offices in Hell, those who don¡¯t have official appointments would be considered Apocryphal Emissaries of Hell. In other words, even if your cultivation level is strong enough, you wouldn¡¯t be considered a True Infernal Judge until you have charge over an entire province. Corory, the Yin energy at your disposal will be locked until the right conditions are met.¡±

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, before rifying thoughtfully, ¡°So, that is to say, I¡¯m finally in charge of a province now? Is that why I¡¯ve finally be a True Infernal Judge? Is that why I¡¯ve finally gained ess to this¡­ divine power?¡±

    Arthis nodded, ¡°You can say that. Are you going to go on and argue that Eastmount has a total of 17 prefecture-level cities and 3 county-level cities, while we¡¯ve done nothing more than take but one of the prefecture-level cities? No, that¡¯s not how it¡¯s meant to be calcted.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s more important¡­ is whether you have managed to unify the Yin spirits of an entire province.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly as he began to rub his chin, ¡°I understand now. The battle at Qufu has secured the submission of millions of Yin spirits umted across Eastmount over thest century. That must be why I was deemed befitting of the title of a True Infernal Judge.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is that the Heavenly Dao has adjudged that the Yin energy in the other parts of Eastmount Province can¡¯t hold a candle to that which has gathered in Qufu. Now that Qufu is in our hands, you were deemed worthy of being the Infernal Judge to rule over the entire province, without having the need to physically seize each and every other location.¡±

    She sighed with emotion, ¡°Hell once used to have 1,200 Judges, of which at least two-thirds were but mere reserve or Apocryphal Judges. There¡¯s a world of difference between a True Infernal Judge and an Apocryphal Infernal Judge. I¡¯m sure you can understand why. After all, it¡¯s an immense responsibility to rule over and manage an entire province of Yin spirits, not to mention the other duties of the office that will have to be dealt with. These aren¡¯t things that mere Apocryphal Judges can deal with.¡±

    So, that¡¯s how it is.

    Qin Ye sighed as he looked at his own hands. No wonder my body felt different when I dealt the finishing blow against Lai Junchen back then. Was that when the Heavenly Dao determined that I hade out victorious? Was that the moment I was officially promoted to a True Infernal Judge?

    True and Apocryphal¡­ They¡¯re just like the chairman and the vice-chairman of an organisation¡­ No, Apocryphal Infernal Judges can¡¯t even be discussed in the same breath as a True Infernal Judge! No wonder Arthis conceded so readily without a fight.

    Is this called¡­ my office?

    ¡°What do I call this?¡± Qin Ye pointed to his own eyes, before pointing to the chains that were still spread out like a spider web.

    Arthis once again recalled the hourss and took a nce at it, ¡°We¡¯ve still got approximately twenty minutes. There should be enough time. I was actually going to let you fumble about and learn of these new skills on your own. Do you know that I didn¡¯t have anyone to teach me these things back then? You can count this your own dumb luck.¡±

    She grunted proudly, beforemencing with her exnations, ¡°A True Infernal Judge will gain ess to five divine abilities. The first is their eyes.¡±

    She drew a deep breath, ¡°It¡¯s called¡­ the Judge¡¯s nce.¡±

    ¡°A single nce is all it takes for you to learn of the life and death of a person. None of the Yin spirits would be able to hide any information from your eyes. Moreover, as long as these Yin spirits don¡¯t have any special means hidden up their sleeves, or any particrly special spiritual bodies, you¡¯ll even be able to perceive the details and particrs of any Yin spirit and evil ghost within a thousand mile radius of your current location. And the icing on the cake is that¡­¡±

    She paused for a moment, ¡°It can even be used in the mortal realm.¡±

    That¡¯s pretty awesome!

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly. This means that¡­ as long as I¡¯ve got my eyes fixed on a single target, there¡¯s no way that target can get away from me?

    ¡°Do you really think it would be any less powerful than this?¡± Arthis snickered, ¡°Oh, you himbo¡­ do you think the title of a Judge is merely for show? Ah, I guess I can¡¯t even call you a himbo given how you look¡­ Besides, do you realize that Judges are already infinitely close to the realms of upper grade Yin spirits? Judges are entities that govern an entire province! What would we make of them if they can¡¯t even capture a single evil ghost?¡±

    She pointed to the chainsing out from Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves, ¡°These are called the Heavenly Dra. Its maximum range is a whopping 200 square kilometers. Frightening, right? But that¡¯s not all. What¡¯s even more terrifying is--...¡±

    She pursed her lips, ¡°Do you know what a spider is?¡±

    Without missing a beat, she continued, ¡°Once it unfolds, it acts exactly in the same manner as a spider web. So long as you can see the target, you¡¯ll be able to drag it right back to you. And if any target even does so much as to makerge movements or attempt to escape, you would be able to sense all such movements from the centre of the web, including the exact details of where they¡¯re going¡­¡±

    Just then, the Heavenly Dra trembled.

    Arthis promptly paused, and the two Judges instantly noticed the chains ttering wildly as it shifted eastwards, almost like a gentle wave.

    Oh, my dear, naive ssmate, Mr Wang One Tail¡­ Qin Ye sighed wistfully and curled his finger. In an instant, Wang One Tail screamed loudly as he was dragged over from dozens of meters away. As the chains rattled, he was violently dragged back in front of Qin Ye within a short span of three seconds!

    The hooks at the tip of the chains appeared to have a life of their own, hovering menacingly about Wang One Tail, almost as though they were venomous snakes. Wang Chenghao¡¯s expressions instantly turned pale, and he shivered uncontrobly.

    Qin Ye and Arthis exchanged a knowing look.

    Ahhh¡­ Isn¡¯t this picture a perfect prelude to some S and some M? We¡¯ve got whips¡­ and our candles aren¡¯t far away from us either...

    1. Not sure why it all appears in X¡¯s. Privacyws on personal details?

    2. These refer to Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings.

 Chapter 444: Reverence and Miracle (1)

    <h4>Chapter 444: Reverence and Miracle (1)</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯m warning you¡­ You¡¯d better dispel those untoward thoughts in your mind right now!¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s senses had evolved so much through his interactions with Qin Ye and Arthis that he could already tell that the smiles on their faces were hardly smiles at all.

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, before raising the chains in his hands with a wicked smile, ¡°What are you talking about, Rodent, I¡¯m just going to--...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it! Thinking is just as bad as doing! Thinking is sinning!¡± Wang Chenghao reacted just like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

    You¡¯re no fun, you know that?

    There¡¯s no resistance at all¡­ and what¡¯s with the screams before I even dish out the punishment? Qin Ye put away the chains with great despondence - Speaking of which, these tools are pretty evil indeed¡­

    Arthis also nced at Wang One Tail, irate at his unfulfilling response, ¡°Don¡¯t say it¡­ ssmate Wang is still pretty much as good a punching bag as it gets¡­ Do you think the name ¡®Local Bully¡¯ is just for show¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stared at Arthis as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°No¡­ I mean¡­ Why does it seem like there¡¯s even a trace of regret in your voice? What the hell are you thinking about?! He¡¯s just a kid!¡±

    Arthis coughed dryly, ¡°That¡¯s true. Sigh¡­ Kids these days are all so well-endo--... I mean, well developed these days. It truly messes with the mind¡­¡±

    Both Arthis and Qin Ye tacitly knew that it was a conversation best shelved for another day. Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Going back to the main topic at hand, that deals with two of the divine abilities. What about the other three?¡±

    The segue couldn¡¯t have been more contrived.

    ¡°The other three aren¡¯t abilities that can be perceived on the surface.¡± Arthis shelved the unnecessary thoughts on her mind and continued with great focus, ¡°The third divine ability is called¡­ Judge¡¯s Stroke.¡±

    ¡°A single stroke is all it takes to determine the life and death of all creatures.¡± She pointed to the Book of Life and Death in Qin Ye¡¯s hands, ¡°That said, one of the prerequisites to usage is that the Book of Life and Death must be in Hell¡¯s possession first. That¡¯s where the faux Book of Life and Death draws its powers from. All natural life is bestowed by the Heavenly Dao. Apocryphal Emissaries of Hell have no rights to get even a glimpse of such information. Additionally¡­¡±

    She retracted the smile on her face, ¡°This ability, the Judge¡¯s Stroke, can also be used in the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly for some moments, before finally shaking his head.

    He could understand why Arthis had said these things with such great sobriety.

    It was because, moving forward, he would be no different from the mythical existence known as Zhong Kui!

    He was now armed with eyes to discern, and a pen to determine life. He had never possessed the ability to directly reap the lives of the mortal realm. But now¡­ the ambit of his authority had clearly expanded greatly!

    As long as he so desired, he could even transform the entire mortal realm into a sea of blood. If the True King Yanluo of Hell decrees the death of a person, how could he possibly run from his fate?

    That said, Arthis had spoken with such sobriety because she was also warning him to be circumspect in his usage of these abilities. After all, it was a very real possibility that one could lose his heart and mind with such heaven-defying powers at his disposal.

    ¡°I understand.¡± Qin Ye finally nodded after a long time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll always be watching you.¡± Arthis continued cidly, ¡°ording to the Records of the old Hell, all who were found to have abused the power of the Book of Life and Death were sentenced to at least a millennium in the abysses, or even eternal imprisonment. You¡¯d¡­ be wise to be cautious.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded deeply. Arthis then withdrew her gaze, ¡°The fourth divine ability is your de release.¡±

    ¡°Hell has three divine artifacts, namely King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, the Book of Life and Death, and the Judgment Pen. When an Emissary of Hell bes a True Infernal Judge, he or she would be bestowed with the Book of Life and Death and the Judgment Pen. While they are nothing like the real thing, they are still modeled after divine artifacts. Naturally, their de release will now bepletely different from before. As to how exactly it differs¡­ you¡¯ll have to try it out for yourself. I¡¯m toozy to talk about the exact details right now. Suffice it to say that it will be so awesome that it¡¯ll render youpletely breathless.¡±

    But I wanna try it out now¡­ Qin Ye nced up at Arthis with a wicked smile.

    And then, he noticed Arthis pull out the Peach Blossom Lantern.

    You¡¯re making things really uninteresting, you know that?!

    Qin Ye sighed softly, before grimacing back at Arthis, ¡°About that¡­ why did you suddenly pull out something so dangerous? Put it back¡­ put it back¡­ That¡¯s terrifying¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh? I¡¯d just taken it out for fun. Otherwise, who knows if a particrly petty leader would have designs on me, huh?¡± Arthis smiled back. ¡°And thest divine ability¡­ is something that you don¡¯t need to know of for now. This can wait until you¡¯ve finally settled the citizens of Qufu. As a True Infernal Judge of Hell, you now hold an immense responsibility over the lives and deaths of millions of Yin spirits. There¡¯s much to be learned there as well.¡±

    Qin Ye was displeased, ¡°You whet my appetite so much, only to show me up at the very end? Hurry up and tell me!¡±

    ¡°Are you even conscious of the fact that the first general assembly of the citizens ising up shortly?¡± Arthis pulled out the hourss once more and nced at it, ¡°We¡¯ve got eight minutes left. Are you certain?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Hurry up!¡±

    Arthis rolled her eyes, ¡°Thest one¡­ is called Spirit Particle Affinity.¡±

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly as he stared intently at Arthis, while Arthis did the same as well.

    Ten secondster, ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°... You¡¯re not messing with me, are you? Why does thest one sound so different from the previous four? The image isn¡¯t coherent with the graphics card that we have at all¡­ Bloody hell¡­ Why does it feel like the cultural influences have shifted from the east to the west from thest one? Is this a misapprehension on my part?¡±

    Arthis red at him, ¡°This is indubitably the name. Like I said before, you¡¯ve got much to learn as a True Infernal Judge. The final divine ability has got to do with the three major rules of Hell, and it¡¯s not possible to talk about everything in just a short span of time. In fact, it¡¯s not even something that I¡¯m very familiar with myself¡­ So shelve it for now, you hear?¡±

    Just as she said that, a lilting bell resounded throughout the entire Qufu City, and Qin Ye and Arthis promptly transformed into ahergale and headed out from where they were.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Wei Youliang stood quietly on the street right in front of the neighbourhood.

    The entire street was already so crowded with Yin spirits that they couldn¡¯t even see the end of the roads. He silently nced at the city walls not too far away. Their neighbourhood was located rather close to the city walls, and he could naturally see thousands of Yin soldiers standing guard on the city walls,pletely dressed in full armor.

    They were ready to unleash a torrent of arrows as soon as they detected the slightest sign of trouble.

    What¡¯s Lord Qin going to do? He¡¯s not really going to massacre over ten million Yin spirits, is he? He looked around at the rest of the Yin spirits around him, all of whom were ostensibly just as apprehensive as he was.

    Oh, how things have changed¡­ He sighed softly in his heart, pursed his lips and lowered his head.

    This was probably how it was in ancient times when a new emperor was appointed¡­

    ¡°Old Wei.¡± Just then, a voice beside called out to him, and a thin Yin spirit continued uneasily, ¡°What do you think¡­ Hell is going to do with us?¡±

    He nced at the city walls, before continuing with a parched voice, ¡°S-sorry¡­ It¡¯s just that my heart is beating really quick, and I need someone to talk to¡­ You used to be a clerk in the governor¡¯s office, didn¡¯t you? What do you think¡­ Hell is going to do?¡±

    Wei Youliang pursed his lips tightly - That¡¯s right¡­ Is there any one of us Yin spirits who aren¡¯t worried right now?

    Aren¡¯t we all part of the ¡®rebel forces¡¯? Wouldn¡¯t it only be natural that Hell makes an example of all of us?

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know¡­¡± Wei Youliang responded with an equally hoarse voice, ¡°Let¡¯s just hope that we¡¯re still of some use to the new Hell. That way, Hell might just want to keep us around¡­¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ between Hell and Lord Kong, who do you think would be a better ruler?¡±

    Wei Youliang chuckled bitterly, ¡°Who knows¡­¡±

    ¡°But does it matter? We¡¯re likemb to the ughter right now¡­¡±

    In fact, none of them knew where exactly they were right now.

    The sun in the sky was reced by endlesshergale and eerie spots ofhermes. It looked no different from the underworld that they had all heard so much about¡­

    Then, just as he began to delve deep into his own train of thoughts, a sea ofhermes suddenly rushed out from the inner city like a massive wave. Then, amidst the sea of mes, a massive figure began to rise from it, almost as though it were a 3D projection.

    ¡°Sss¡­ What¡¯s this¡­¡± ¡°My god¡­ Is this King Yanluo himself?¡± ¡°Is this what Hell is capable of?¡± ¡°That¡¯s Lord Qin?¡±

    Silence.

    A split secondter, there was a series of gasps, and then a buzz of soft murmurs throughout the entire city. It began small, but soon began to spread like wildfire across the entire city!

    It was the manifestation of the shock and awe of millions of Yin spirits!

    ¡°This¡­¡± Wei Youliang abruptly looked up to the sky. He could see a Yin spirit hovering in the void with brillianthermes billowing from his eyes. The figure was dressed in the ck garments of an Infernal Judge and wielding a Book of Life and Death and a Judgment Pen in his arms. The figure had appeared suddenly with a bang. His white hair scattered menacingly, and he stood close to a thousand meters tall, so tall that his entire being practically appeared to connect heaven and earth. That figure could be seen from every single location in Qufu right now!

    It was like the descent of a god!

    He¡¯s just like the myths of ancient times¡­ The figure exuded such might and authority that the Yin spirits of Qufu immediately felt an unspeakable terror arise from their hearts. It was terror and dread that arose from the suppression of their souls. It was a reverence apanying the realization of the truth of the myths that have been passed down for thousands of years.

    This is¡­ something that not even Kong Mo was able to do¡­ Wei Youliang¡¯s lips werepletely parched by now. He stared nkly at the towering figure in the sky. None of them had actually expected the first general assembly of the citizens to be so unpretentious, and yet at the same timemand such great reverence and awe from all of them. Even Kong Mo had no choice but to enlist the aid of the Mythic Pce of Reflections before he was able tomand the respect of all the citizens at once!

    Qin Ye nced about the entire city, only to notice countless flickeringhermes staring back at him. It was a sign of psychological shock. He secretly nodded with approbation.

    Over thest month, the officials of Hell had been incredibly busy scrambling about with background checks on the Yin soldiers who had submitted to Hell, doing up an inventory of Qufu¡¯s assets,pleting a census of the people and cartographing the vicinity that Qin Ye hadn¡¯t even had the chance to do a proper walkabout Qufu itself! In fact, he had only managed to catch about four hours of sleep every night over thest month or so.

    And it was precisely because of his busyness that he had alsoe to a realization about one thing.

    And that was¡­ the fact that Kong Mo wasn¡¯t able to deify himself before his subjects!

    This was a right orded only to a True Infernal Judge of Hell!

    Authentic or Genuine, Apocryphal, and then True. These were the three different kinds of Emissaries of Hell - and Kong Mo and his people weren¡¯t even considered Genuine Emissaries of Hell. They were but a bunch of rogue Yin spirits who had banded together, relying on the power of the Mythic Pce of Reflections to perpetuate a lie that they were the true Hell.

    Just as quickly as the citizens had begun to mor, everyone soon fell silent once more. And then, one by one, the Yin spirits immediately began to bow down low, in awe of a miraculous sight that they had never seen before.

    ¡°Everyone, I am the Third King Yanluo of Hell, Yanluo Qin.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice boomed throughout the entire city with an unhurried pace. He spoke with an authoritative voice because he didn¡¯t want to be too rxed and cause the Yin spirits to be under a misapprehension that they coulde and go as they pleased. Yet he also measured the forcefulness of his words because he didn¡¯t want to scare the little babies bowing down before him.

    We¡¯re talking about over ten million Yin spirits! This is the popce of a provincial capital back in the mortal realm! And it would easily even be among the more densely popted ones at that!

    Over the dozens of meetings he had held with the other officials of Hell across thest month, the goal he had set for himself was this - I can spare you, but this is no democracy! This was the message that he intended to convey to the citizens of Qufu today.

    We¡¯re still a developing country, and you¡¯re already talking to me about democracy?

    Sure.

    You¡¯re the demos, and I¡¯m the kratos.

    I can assure you that the Yin soldiers patrolling the city walls aren¡¯t just for show. We¡¯ll make an example out of any potential rebels out there.

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to look past your transgressions. But you¡¯ve now returned to Hell, and you must also be aware of your duties and obligations as citizens of Hell.¡±

    His voice was cid, yet still just as authoritative as ever. This was the result of his special training in the past, ¡°Firstly, you must always remember that you are ghosts and Yin spirits, and there¡¯s only one authority that has been recognized by the three realms of the world as the true governor of all such entities.¡±

    ¡°And that is none other than Hell itself!¡±

    ¡°All who dare provoke the ire of Hell by failing or refusing to enter Hell will be considered a rebel. All who fail to submit shall summarily be purged and executed!¡±

    1. He¡¯s known to be a vanquisher of ghosts in the Japanese and Chinese mythology.

    2. This is the etymology of democracy - demos meaning citizens, and kratos meaning power/rule.

 Chapter 445: Reverence and Miracle (2)

    <h4>Chapter 445: Reverence and Miracle (2)</h4>

    Executed¡­ executed¡­ executed¡­

    Thest word spoken by Qin Ye reverberated endlessly throughout the entire city. All of the Yin spirits couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously. None of them dared to say a single word right now.

    They could all sense the palpable murderous intent undergirding Lord Qin¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Everyone, you¡¯d do well to bear that in mind. That is the most cardinal rule in Hell.¡± And then, Qin Ye silently swept his gaze across the entire city for the next thirty seconds, before continuing icily, ¡°You were born a Cathayan, and you die a Cathayan. Loyalty and allegiance to Hell is the only possible way forward.¡±

    He was keenly aware to keep his message short, sinct and as forceful as possible. After all, the more verbose he was, the more watered down his message would be. Thus, he only said what was absolutely necessary.

    After sweeping yet another gaze across the citizens of Qufu, he slowly continued, ¡°Secondly. Three monthster, Hell will be rolling out a new system of currency. Regardless of what kind of currency you¡¯ve been using before, everything shall be reced by the new uniform system of paper currency of the new Hell.¡±

    These words instantly caused a stir among the citizens.

    ¡°We¡¯re changing a new set of paper currency?¡± One of the Yin spirits immediately looked up in astonishment, ¡°Then, what about the monies of the past?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯ve painstakingly saved up over thest twenty years. Has everything just gone down the drain?¡± ¡°No way¡­ how can our savings be dissipated in just the blink of an eye?¡± ¡°Even though Hell and Lord Kong are under different regimes, but¡­ us citizens earning an honest living shouldn¡¯t be faulted for this!¡±

    The voices of dissent slowly burgeoned. What initially began as a whispered discussion soon grew into the buzz of a rising tide.

    It was the tide of the grievances on the hearts of the Yin spirits.

    This was the heart of the people.

    They couldn¡¯t care less whether they were under Hell¡¯s rule or Kong Mo¡¯s rule. All they cared about was what they could see before their eyes and how it affected their day-to-day living.

    And as soon as this simple bottom line was threatened, they would immediately rise up against the reigning governors.

    ¡°Silence.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice cut through the stirring buzz of the crowds below, ¡°We shall now announce the Official Decree of Hell No. 001.¡±

    He picked up a scroll and flicked it softly. A great flourish ofhermes instantly erupted from it, and it soon unravelled slowly.

    Whoosh¡­ Line after line of blood-red lettering appeared in the sky. What was most peculiar about these words was the fact that the words appeared directly in front of the citizens, no matter which part of the city they were staring at it from. It was mighty and authoritative.

    ¡°Proviso - Hell promulgates the Official Decree of Hell No. 001 in order to integrate all Qufu Yin spirits into Hell as smoothly and quickly as possible¡­¡± Wei Youliang softly read out the contents of the decree, ¡°All timelines henceforth set out in this decree shall begin running as soon as the decree is officially announced to the people. Hell shall establish the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Hell by 01 August this year. Branch offices shall be opened on all major streets by 15 August. Thereafter, from 15 August to 15 November, all citizens may turn in all currency in their possession and exchange them for Hell¡¯s new currency at par value¡­¡±

    ¡°Deposits aren¡¯t invalidated?!¡± Other Yin spirits were already eximing with pleasant surprise before Wei Youliang could even finish reading the rest of the decree, ¡°You mean to say that our previous savings are still intact?¡±

    ¡°And there¡¯s not even amission charged for the exchange?¡± Another bespectacled Yin spirit propped up his sses and reread what he had just seen.

    But¡­ aren¡¯t we meremoners who had served under the rebel forces?

    There were even bows and arrows trained on us earlier by the Yin soldiers on the city walls, so why did they suddenly extend such an attractive package to us?

    ¡°No¡­ there¡¯s more¡­¡± Another Yin spirit gasped in shock as he pointed at the sky, ¡°Look there! Guys! Look!¡±

    Wei Youliang turned to the sky once more as he read with great disbelief, ¡°Over the next six months, Hell shall continue to pay each citizen¡¯s wages in ordance with your registration information. All deposits shall remain intact, and prevailing interest rates shall be adjusted upwards slightly¡­ You mean to say that not only are our savings intact, they¡¯re even increasing the interest rates on our savings?¡±

    ¡°Increased interest rates?¡± ¡°Really?!¡±

    The tides ofints had nowpletely transformed into a tsunami of excitement.

    Stirring chatter rose and fell. The fluctuating emotions of the Yin spirits were well apparent from the flickering mes in their eyes. Qin Ye could see everything from his vantage point, and he heaved a sigh of relief and nodded to himself softly.

    These were all Yin spirits who had spent decades under Kong Mo¡¯s rule. He naturally understood that it was impossible to win over theirplete submission with just a few words. To that end, Hell¡¯s forces were no more than wallflowers right now. Hell as it stands now could nevermand as much respect as the old Hell did. Therefore, even if the new Hell did in fact manage to wrest control of Qufu from the hands of Kong Mo, there was nothing incentivizing the citizens¡¯ recognition of their new masters, or disincentivizing the converse.

    Consequently, Qin Ye knew that more needed to be done in order to win their hearts. What he needed was action - something rtable to the man on the street so that they could sense Hell¡¯s sincerity!

    And this was naturally Hell¡¯s answer to the situation!

    Hell¡¯s response was obviously satisfactory to the Yin spirits. In an instant, the news caused a stir among the Yin spirits just as much as a spige of blood into a shiver of sharks. A buzz of excitement filled the air. Just then, the scarlet words in the air drifted away. Qin Ye¡¯s swept an electrifying gaze across the entire city once more, ¡°Everyone, let me remind you of something of importance.¡±

    ¡°One. Over thest month, Hell¡¯s officials have scrambled toplete a full ount on all registered bank ounts and the corresponding savings to each citizen.¡±

    ¡°Two. Only the evil masterminds shall be punished for the Qufu war. To that end, all who have to be punished have already been so dealt with, while the ignorant leaders who have been misled by Qufu¡¯s leadership have already submitted and absorbed back into Hell¡¯s governance. Hell is keenly aware of everything that you had ess to, including your wages and benefits.¡±

    His eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°Therefore, should we find anyone attempting to cheat or deceive Hell, or even conspire to further an illegal intent, all perpetrators of such crimes, regardless of how devious or harmless they may be, shall summarily be sentenced to the skyntern punishment! Crimes shall not be tolerated in Hell!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, please be mindful not to test Hell¡¯s limits with your own bodies.¡±

    Their excitement was instantly doused by Qin Ye¡¯s words of caution, and the citizens soon fell silent once more. It was only then that Qin Ye nced at the scroll and went on, ¡°Three. Effective immediately, Qufu City, Shanhai Pass, shall be renamed as Ashmound.

    This was to eliminate all traces of the former ruler.

    Qin Ye nced around as he spoke, only to realize that the citizens were all just as silent as ever. Their eyes didn¡¯t even flicker as he announced this. Obviously, the citizens couldn¡¯t care less about nomenture.

    He drew a deep breath and nced down, only to find himself pausing on the fifth item on the list.

    This order was clearly of the most crucial importance in the current general assembly of citizens~!

    Naturally, everything had to be done in good order in order to ease into what he properly needed to achieve. Every single article of the decree leading up to the fifth one had been carefully drafted out in order to smoothen the path to the most important article. First, let them taste the sweetness and goodness of Hell and appease their minds, so that Hell can dampen the effects of the fifth article to be rolled out!

    And it was precisely because of this fifth article that the city walls were currently covered with Yin soldiers.

    There¡¯s no need to worry¡­ we¡¯ve gone through all possible scenarios several times by now¡­ He couldn¡¯t help but tighten his grip around the scroll in his hands as he drew closer to the fifth article, ¡°Four. Ashmound shall gradually resume all activities over the next six months.¡±

    ¡°Firstly, the major governmental branch offices shall be in charge of a full verification of your job particrs. This will dovetail nicely with our record-keeping purposes. Once the verification process ispleted, we will restart all major industries of Ashmound. All citizens shall be given unconditional priority to resume the work that they have previously engaged in. That said, all who are keen to change industries may register their interest with Hell¡¯s officials at the governmental branch offices. Everything will be sorted out over the next half a year.¡±

    Sigh¡­ Many citizens couldn¡¯t help but heave a sigh of relief as soon as they heard the fourth article.

    And then, there was a brief moment of silence.

    Qin Ye put away the scroll and looked back up at Ashmound, before slowly going on, ¡°The next article is thest, but most important article of all.¡±

    The citizens immediately perked up their ears.

    There was silence once more.

    None of them were aware of the fact that both Oda Nobutada and Yang Yanzhao¡¯s eyes were now frosty and cold, and they had even slowly begun to raise their hands. Countless Yin soldiers softly drew the strings of their arrows and crossbows, raising their arms and aiming directly at the citizens of Ashmound!

    The air of tension in this moment of silence caused the citizens to be filled with unease. Then, Qin Ye finally went on, ¡°Before I introduce it, I want everyone to understand something.¡±

    He paused for a moment, and swept a tense gaze across the entire city. An oppressive silence filled the air. None of the Yin spirits even dared to breath as they eagerly awaited what was toe.

    It was only after a full minute that Qin Ye finally continued, ¡°Do you know why we can call ourselves Hell?¡±

    What¡¯s that got to do with the articles he was previously talking about? The Yin spirits below couldn¡¯t help but exchange awkward nces. They couldn¡¯t understand what Yanluo Qin was getting at right now.

    ¡°Why are Hell¡¯s rules so strict?¡±

    There was a pin-drop silence. Qin Ye smiled faintly, as he slowly raised his hands. His garments fluttered majestically with the wind. Then, just as the Yin spirits were all baffled by what he was doing, a brilliant radiance suddenly rose from behind him like the rising sun!

    It looked no different from the moment at which the sun rose in the east. The ferocious radiance of the sunbeams swept straight through the darkness of thends, dazzling the eyes of the Yin spirits so much that their eyes instantly narrowed to a squint!

    Then, just as their eyes slowly began to adapt to the re of light, a magnificent, ancient book drifted into Qin Ye¡¯s arm, and the dazzling light vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

    What¡¯s that?

    All eyes were now staring transfixed at Qin Ye right now. Wei Youliang was no exception to this. Then, as soon as he nced at the book, he gasped in horror, and his eyes flickered wildly. And he wasn¡¯t the only one - every single Yin spirit who had nced down at the book immediately found themselves renderedpletely speechless in astonishment!

    The book had a ck binding, and appeared incredibly ancient. There were only a few words embossed on the cover of the book, yet it invoked the utmost reverence in the hearts of all Yin spirits.

    ¡°The Book of Life and Death?¡± One of the Yin spirits covered his lips, and his voice trembled, ¡°This is the fabled Book of Life and Death? This can¡¯t be a lie, can it? The Book of Life and Death from the stuff of myths and legends?!¡±

    ¡°The Book of Life and Death¡­ Is this truly the Book of Life and Death?¡± Wei Youliang¡¯s eyes narrowed - That¡¯s what the mythical Book of Life and Death looks like? I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m looking at it right now!

    The myth of Hell had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. What was the most symbolic existence in Hell?

    It had to be the Book of Life and Death! Not even the greatest divine artifact of Hell, King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, held the same kind of reputation and influence in the mortal realm as the Book of Life and Death did!

    It was a symbolic existence.

    It was a spiritual beacon.

    It was the hallmark of authenticity!

    It was like living persons seeing the holy grail with their own eyes, or discovering the elixir of immortality. The Book of Life and Death was a mythical, symbolic existence that was beyond the realms of their imaginations. This was the stuff of legends that everyone had heard of for thousands of years yet never seen. The shock and awe of witnessing its¡¯ appearance for the first time was beyond anything they had ever felt before. In fact, it even exceeded the kind of amazement that filled their hearts when they first witnessed the power of the Mythic Pce of Reflections!

    After all, the Mythic Pce of Reflections might be an amazing Yin artifact, but have any of them truly heard of it before they entered the afterlife?

    Sounds of discussion immediately swept through thends like a buzzing swarm of locusts once more. Within seconds, the entirends were filled with a cacophony of chatter!

    ¡°The Book of Life and Death¡­ Am I reading it right?¡± ¡°It really is the Book of Life and Death! Only the orthodox Hell would have possession of such things!¡± ¡°It really is the Book of Life and Death¡­ Lord Kong has never brought out something like this before!¡± ¡°This must be the authentic Hell¡­¡±

    ¡°Silence.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t loud at all. But as soon as he spoke, the Yin spirits below immediately shut up at once.

    This was the manifestation of reverence directed at the presence of a mythic existence in front of their own eyes.

    Rustle¡­ The pages of the book slowly began to rustle as Qin Ye riffled through its pages. Secondster, he began to read, ¡°Zhou Kun. ce of origin - Second Li n Vige, Yangsu County, Tongzhou City, Eastmount Province. Born in 1962, died in 2019. Cause of death - car ident.¡±

    ¡°Wife - Zhao Fanghua. ce of origin - Chaoyang Vige, Yangsu County, Tongzhou City, Eastmount Province. Born in 1962, dies in 2048. Cause of death - cerebral thrombosis.¡±

    ¡°Son - Zhou Xianlong. ce of origin - same as his father. Born in 1990, dies in 2074. Cause of death - diseases associated with old age.¡±

    Thonk¡­ He softly shut the Book of Life and Death, ¡°Where¡¯s Zhou Kun?¡±

    A voice immediately yelled out shrilly from the crowd below, ¡°I¡¯m here! I¡¯m here!!¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin! I¡¯m here!! I¡¯m right here!!¡±

 Chapter 446: Reverence and Miracle (3)

    <h4>Chapter 446: Reverence and Miracle (3)</h4>

    Wei Youliang looked up, only to see a Yin spirit desperately jostling his way out of a group of Yin spirits, waving his hands as he yelled with a shrill voice. All eyes in the nearby vicinity were on that very Yin spirit.

    Excellent¡­ Qin Ye curled his finger, and that Yin spirit suddenly flew up into the air to his great surprise. But, even then, he immediately bowed with great trembling, ¡°My Lord¡­ The year 2048 is almost 30 years from now¡­ I-is my wife really going to die of cerebral thrombosis?¡±

    ¡°The Book of Life and Death would never lie.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, before lowering his finger, allowing that Yin spirit to fall gently to the ground once more.

    He casually flipped through the Book of Life and Death once more and continued to read, ¡°Ma Gaoyuan. ce of origin - Longhua Neighbourhood, Qufu City, Eastmount Province. Born in 1955, died in 2017. Cause of death - natural death.¡±

    ¡°Li Xiangyang. ce of origin - Longma County Liquor Chemical Factory, An City, Eastmount Province. Born in 1943, died in 1999. Cause of death - heart disease.¡±

    ¡°Gao Weiquan. ce of origin¡­¡± ¡°Wang Fangfang. ce of origin¡­¡±

    He continued reading out the names and particrs of dozens of Yin spirits, before shutting the Book of Life and Death calmly again, ¡°All of you are located in Ashmound, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Needless to say, dozens of hands instantly shot up into the air like brilliant beacons of light in the dark night sky.

    ¡°I¡¯m Li Xiangyang. Everything is urate¡­ It¡¯s urate to the tee! T-t-this truly is the Book of Life and Death!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Gao Weiquan. I¡¯m here as well! Everyone here from my neighbourhood will be able to verify the uracy of my particrs! I can swear that the government has never approached me before this! I haven¡¯t been nted here in the audience!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Wang Fangfang¡­¡±

    Rustle, rustle¡­ Everyone looked over at the Yin spirits who had their hands in the air with great astonishment.

    It¡¯s true¡­

    It really is the Book of Life and Death!

    The citizens didn¡¯t think much more about it. It was easy to persuade a crowd of the authenticity of certain products. This was how scams thrived back in the mortal realm. Besides, what Qin Ye was promoting was hardly a scam in the first ce.

    What he possessed was the genuine Book of Life and Death after all!

    Everyone exchanged tacit nces with each other. There was only one thread of thought in their minds right now - This is without a doubt the Book of Life and Death! This is the genuine Hell of the underworld¡­ We¡¯ve truly been following a rebel force all this while!

    Then, riding on the buzz and chatter that abounded among the citizens, Qin Ye immediately followed up with a booming voice, ¡°With that, I shall go on to read the fifth article of the Official Decree of Hell No. 001.¡±

    Back on the city walls. The strings of the bows and crossbows tightened softly.

    Qin Ye¡¯s expressions were still cid as he stared intently at the throngs of Yin spirit around, ¡°Five. In six months, we¡¯ll be reorganizing the entire Ashmound City.¡±

    ¡°Ashmound City has a poption size of over ten million Yin spirits. Coupled with the other ten million or so Yin spirits that have taken refuge in Ashmound City when Lai Junchen earlier consolidated his forces, we have now in excess of twenty million Yin spirits in Ashmound City itself. There¡¯s simply no way the city is able to sustain such arge poption size.¡± His voice grew stern and somber, ¡°Therefore, the government has decided to divide Ashmound into one city and eight counties. Each county shall be in charge of ten townships, and each township shall take charge of twenty administrative viges. Moving forward, Ashmound City shall be conferred the title as the provincial capital of Eastmount Province, and shall sustain a popce of seven million Yin spirits. Priority shall be given to management staff, technical staff, military forces and special talents. No applications for domestic migration shall be epted by the government in the next five years!¡±

    There was instantly a stir as soon as Qin Ye finished speaking.

    But, there was more!

    ¡°Hell¡¯s government shall be assembling Frontier Brigades that will be led by the staff of the First Battalion of Hell. 50,000 Yin spirits shall form one such brigade, and there will be a grand total of 200 brigades formed to deal with Ashmound¡¯s needs on various levels, including county-level, township-level and vige-level Frontier Brigades. Hell¡¯s government shall be providing support in the form of construction resources and Yin spirit stones, but everything else will have to be forged and built from the ground up moving forward!¡±

    ¡°With Ashmound as the center, the eight counties shall be located around it and named as Leader County, Malignant County, Brave County, Prominence County, Magnificent County, Majestic County, Hero County and Unique County, after the first eight of the 72 earthly fiends. The closest shall be located 100 kilometers from Ashmound City, while the farthest shall be located not more than 300 kilometers away. There shall be no restrictions ced on the city area for now. To this end, Hell has an urban nning team which shall be spearheading the entire nning process¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t say anymore.

    Everyone below was stirring with ferocity!

    The mor below had reached blistering levels in an instant, and outcries of rage and grievances poured out like a waterfall.

    Yet Qin Ye simply remained silent and watched the outcry cidly.

    The absolute limit on the number of Yin spirits that Ashmound City could amodate was ten million in total. Yet, the Harken had brought every single Yin spirit located within the four walls of Ashmound with it. Upon a proper census, Hell discovered that the total popce housed within Ashmound at this very moment was well in excess of twenty million!

    Over thest month, both Qin Ye and Arthis had gone through the figures several times, before finally determining the total prevailing poption size to be 21,422,000.

    What did this mean?

    To put things into perspective, Eastsea City, Cathay¡¯s special economic zone, houses a total popce of 25 million. However, the totalnd size theymanded was in excess of 2,600 square kilometers!

    On the other hand, Ashmound City spans and size of only 124 square kilometers. How could it possibly maintain a poption size of over twenty million Yin spirits?

    If Hell didn¡¯t do something about this urgently, Ashmound would no longer be able to deal with the surge in demand for the goods produced by the various industries. The consequential problems that came with such issues would be multifaceted and multitudinous in nature. Simultaneously, Hell¡¯s government would still be easing into its new role, and it would neither have the ability nor the capacity to deal with such immense issues that could rock the foundation of an entire city.

    For instance, residential problems.

    It wasmon to see skyscrapers filled with tiny apartments back in the mortal realm. That was the mortal realm¡¯s solution to the growing poption size ofrge and dense cities. On the other hand, the architecture within Qufu City had all been constructed in the manner of ancient-style buildings, most of which were at best three-storeys high. To make matters worse, it was modelled after the famous Shanhai Pass, and it naturally wasn¡¯t designed with neighbourhood amenities ormercial buildings in mind!

    It was already brimming with people. Fortunately, Kong Mo wasn¡¯t stupid. In order to retain full control over the overflowing poption within the city, he decreed that all residential lodging were to be transformed into public lodging, with ten beds located within every twenty square meters of space. It was a good thing that Yin spirits didn¡¯t need to wash up or discharge excrements. Otherwise, such contrived stop-gap policies would have given rise to terrible consequences by now.

    For further instance, work.

    The poption size of the city had already well exceeded the number of job opportunities avable within Ashmound City. Job creation would necessarily entail the construction of more factories and facilities, and yet the demolition of a neighbourhood for such purposes would immediately disce hundred or even thousands of Yin spirits all at once, giving rise to a multitude of immediate problems.

    Fortunately, these problems haven¡¯t had much time to fester for now. Otherwise¡­ the marite of wrath might well make its resurgence in the heart of Ashmound City.

    And it would be far more powerful than it used to be before.

    Overpoption gives rise to unemployment, and unemployment gives rise to a surge in grievances, thereby triggering a Yin spirit rebellion or even insurgency! It would be a vicious cycle!

    Therefore, despite knowing that it would stir up great unrest in the hearts of his citizens, Qin Ye knew full well that the fifth article absolutely had to be rolled out, by hook or by crook!

    ¡°What buffoonery is this?! I¡¯ve been a Qufu ghost all my life! On what basis are you telling me to move?!¡± An aged Yin spirit was so infuriated that he stumbled slightly on his cane, ¡°Why should I move?! Why should Yin spirits with talents be given preferential treatment? We¡¯re Yin spirits too! How can the government be this biased?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Not even Lord Kong dared to tell us to shift out! Look, aren¡¯t we all living peacefully and in harmony right now?¡± ¡°What kind of a sick joke is this? I¡¯ve done so much work for Qufu when it first came into existence. And now that it¡¯s been changed to Ashmound, I¡¯m supposed to move out?! How does that make any sense?!¡±

    Granted, not everyone was willing to live within the four walls of such arge city, particrly when it was already so crowded. But¡­

    There were still Yin beasts out there!

    Ashmound City may be packed, but at least it was safe!

    This was the real reason why none of the Yin spirits wanted to move out!

    Frontier Brigade¡­ The sound of the name caused their hearts to shudder. They were living well and good. It might be slightly ufortable, but at least they were still alive. But just how much sacrifice would breaking new grounds have to entail? And quite apart from the Yin beasts out there, wouldn¡¯t the natural disasters out in the wilderness be sufficient to tear them to bits and pieces?

    ¡°Silence!!¡± Just then, Qin Ye clicked his tongue like a peal of thunder, before booming with great authority in his voice. The mor below instantly weakened. Momentster, they heard a soft creaking sound.

    What¡¯s that¡­ Wei Youliang gasped in horror as he nced behind him.

    As a former public servant, he knew full well that¡­ this was the sound of the Soul-Launching Coffin charging up!

    The terrifying sound of the Soul-Launching Coffin powering up caused the entire popce to turn silent in an instant. Qin Ye swept his gaze slowly across the entire city once more. Truth be told, the situation was far better than he had anticipated. After all, he knew that it was useless to exin everything to the Yin spirit around. At the very least, they would never understand when told that they would transform into a horrific monster if they continued to allow their grievances to fester and grow.

    What do you mean turn into a monster? What difference is there when we can¡¯t even live the life that we used to live?

    The oft-spoken phrase ¡®governing arge country is no different from cooking a small dish¡¯ instantly surfaced in his mind. Although he was merely in charge of a city, it felt just as applicable all the same.

    Season it too much, and the dish would be inedible. Use insufficient heat, and the dish wouldn¡¯t be cooked through.

    ¡°It¡¯s difficult¡­¡± He sighed softly. Even the general assembly of citizens today was apletely rushed affair. After all, how could they properly sort through a poption of over twenty million in less than a month¡¯s time? Yet the fact remained that they had to engage the citizens within a reasonable time frame from when they first took over the governance of the city. This was why Hell had decided to push themselves to the limit in order to have the Third King Yanluo of Hell personally address his subjects.

    ¡°Breaking new ground is naturally dangerous, but there are also benefits to be had to those participating in the Frontier Brigades.¡± He looked around, before continuing with a booming voice, ¡°All who participate will be entitled to work credits. The full particrs of the entitlement qualifications will be disclosed in three days. But those who manage to umte a thousand work credits¡­ shall be entitled to¡­¡±

    He raised the Book of Life and Death in his hands, ¡°Ry dreams to their loved ones.¡±

    Dead silence.

    For the umpteenth time.

    But this time, it was quite different from before. Earlier, it was silence arising out of intense rage and indignation. But this time, notwithstanding the lingering expressions of fury on the Yin spirits¡¯ faces, they couldn¡¯t help but curl up their lips with pleasant surprise, almost as though they had encountered an ecstatic situation amidst their earlier episode of rage.

    Back on the city walls. Yang Yanzhao clenched his fist and continued to hold it up high.

    They had just seized a massive city from the hands of their foes, and it was still very much known to them whether there were still remnant forces of Lord Kong who were still hidden amidst the citizenry. If they even came so close to inciting a Yin spirit rebellion, Kong Mo could easily take advantage of the opening created by the wave of chaos andunch a counter-attack! That would truly endanger Hell¡¯s reign of Ashmound City!

    Fortunately¡­ the ¡®clean-up¡¯ works seem to be working out just fine.

    Like a magician of emotions, Qin Ye felt like he had apletely firm handle on the emotions of the citizens. With a smile on his face, he continued, ¡°Five thousand work credits, and you would be given the opportunity to return to the mortal realm for a period of six hours.¡±

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± The citizens¡¯ anger and rage had nowpletely faded away. Instead, they were all now staring at Qin Ye with a look of abject disbelief.

    Returning to the mortal realm¡­

    That was everything that the Yin spirits had hoped for, and then some!

    The underworld. If one didn¡¯t mind the loneliness, they could easily get by without working at all. All they needed was some measure of shelter against the elements of the underworld. That said¡­ the natural disasters in Limbo were just as frightening. They were only able to get through each urrence of natural disaster because of the defenses proffered by the city itself.

    But besides that, there was no need for food, drinks or even sleep in the first ce. Naturally, the only other possible source of incentive that could motivate the Yin spirits¡­ would be in rtion to their loved ones back in the mortal realm!

    In fact, this was a deadly bait that immediately got all Yin spirits hooked by their noses!

    ¡°This kid¡­ really does y dirty. And he¡¯s got to be one of the dirtiest I¡¯ve ever seen¡­¡± Arthis sighed softly in the shadows.

    Completely oblivious to Arthis¡¯ments, Qin Ye continued, ¡°I¡¯m sure I won¡¯t have to remind you that the Book of Life and Death contains all of the particrs of your loved ones, including the cause of death.¡±

    The silence continued.

    That said, Qin Ye could tell that over twenty million pairs of eyes were all flickering wildly right now - without exception!

    And there was even a soft sound of ragged breathing echoing through thends.

    The opportunity to return to the mortal realm¡­ and the ability to ry dreams¡­ If we could just obtain the requisite amount of work credits and ry all of these information to our loved ones, then¡­ wouldn¡¯t it mean that we can be reunited once more as soon as the new cities or counties are ready?

    Wouldn¡¯t we be able to live happily with each other at home once more?

    ¡°Finally, there are three additional points to note about the fifth article.¡± Strike while the iron was hot. Qin Ye seized the opportunity and continued to push his point, ¡°The first is that the credits umted from your contributions in the Frontier Brigade, or your pioneering efforts, would also double up as the basis for assessing the distribution of housing when the works are finallyplete. You can think of it analogous to the basis on which apartments were allocated to workers in the past, in ordance with their contributions. To this end, the assessment of distribution of housing will not draw down on your work credits for the purposes of returning to the mortal realm or rying dreams as well. It¡¯s just for the purposes of assessing your contributions.¡±

    ¡°The second point to note is that searching through the records of the Book of Life and Death is also going to cost you one thousand work credits.¡±

    ¡°Thirdly, while there¡¯s no limit on the number of times you can return to the mortal realm and ry dreams, this is a privilege that will only be extended to citizens for as long as Hell is still participating in frontier expeditions. Hell will immediately retract these privileges as soon as the Frontier Brigades¡¯ works arepleted, and such privileges will only be avable again when the need arises for a whole new cityter on.¡±

    ¡°Everyone, do you have any questions?¡±

    1. These are named after the 108 stars of destiny, which is core to the plot of the chinese ssical novel, Water Margin.

 Chapter 447: A Dirty, Scheming Heart

    <h4>Chapter 447: A Dirty, Scheming Heart</h4>

    Wei Youliang¡¯s ears were buzzing.

    He felt as though he was goingpletely mad!

    Was anyone even still thinking about Kong Mo and his distant manner of governance? Did anyone still remember what Qufu was? Wei Youliang nced about at the Yin spirits around them. The older they were, the more their breaths were ragged and their eyes flickered. He could even see how much their hands were trembling at the news.

    The younger Yin spirits appeared to be in a better condition, and yet their breaths were still equally heavy and intense. There were even several Yin spirits who immediately buried their faces in their hands and began to bawl at the top of their voices.

    Granted, Yin spirits didn¡¯t have tears, but the intense mes that were peeking through the gaps in their fingers still spoke volumes about the pain and anguish in their hearts right now.

    Everyone had clearly fallen, hook, line and sinker. The bait set by Qin Ye had ostensiblytched onto the deepest and softest parts of their hearts!

    ¡°My daughter¡­¡± Wei Youliang¡¯s eyes blurred somewhat, and his entire body began to feel drifty, ¡°Do I¡­ actually have a chance of seeing her again?¡±

    He fiercely turned to another Yin spirit beside him and grabbed his arm, ¡°I-I haven¡¯t heard wrongly, have I?¡±

    ¡°No! Not at all!!¡± The middle-aged man choked as he screamed back at Wei Youliang emotionally, ¡°Your ears aren¡¯t ying tricks on you!! You¡¯ve heard exactly the same thing we have!!¡±

    The Yin spirits below soon gathered together in small groups of threes to fives, regardless of whether they knew each other or not, and they shouted with unbridled excitement, ¡°That¡¯s right! I don¡¯t care how many work credits it takes! My grandmother has been paralyzed all this while. I¡­ I¡¯m going to return to see her! We¡¯re going to get a chance to return to the mortal realm¡­ the mortal realm!! Lord Kong¡­ No--! Kong Mo has never mentioned something like that before!¡± ¡°This has to be the authentic Hell! This is the true royal lineage that is approved by the gods! I-I¡¯m suddenly thankful that they¡¯vee to take down and seize control of Quf--... Ashmound City!¡±

    Wei Youliang was on cloud nine. His memories of the mortal realm suddenly shed past his eyes - his gentle wife, his obedient daughter¡­ Wait for me¡­ You must wait for me!

    Dad¡­ will be right back to visit you shortly!

    Turmoil.

    The hearts of the Yin spirits in the entire city were all in turmoil, and Qin Ye simply allowed them to get carried away in their own thoughts. Then, after some time, someone yelled out at the top of their voices, ¡°Long live Hell!!¡±

    Following that, a second voice echoed the same message, and then another¡­ then there were five¡­ ten¡­ hundreds¡­ thousands¡­ ten thousands!

    Within the span of a minute, what started out as soft, sparse cries soon spread like a contagion throughout the entire city, until everyone was chanting in unison, ¡°Long live Hell!! Long live Hell!!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile and heaved a sigh of relief in his heart, before chuckling softly, ¡°I can sense your readiness and enthusiasm. Very well. Effective immediately, we will be setting up a registration desk in the inner city, where the altar of the Mythic Pce of Reflections once was. The registration desk shall be open 24/7, and we are epting applications for all positions on the Frontier Brigades, including leaders, technicians, professionals, and regr citizens. Registrations shall be concluded in one month¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°I will definitely go!!¡± Wei Youliang shouted at the top of his voice, almost as though that would increase his chances of being selected. It was a naive approach, yet the irony was that there were a multitude of other Yin spirits who were just as naive as well.

    With that, Qin Ye¡¯s projected figure slowly began to fade away from the sky, ¡°The first general assembly of the citizens is hereby concluded. Dismissed.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, a row ofnterns within the inner city suddenly lit up with flickeringhermes.

    Scarlet mes.

    They were all located on a massive za spanning 10,000 meters from end to end. As far as the eyes could see, there were dozens of rows of neatly-arranged desks and chairs, with 3,000 Yin soldiers seated across the entire za. Apart from that, there were tens of thousands of Yin heavily armed Yin soldiers standing guard around these desks and at every corner of the za.

    It was a simple design.

    The desks and chairs appeared in and simple, and werecquered with ayer of glossy-ck paint. However, the sprawling sight of the same desks, chairs and Yin soldiers across the entire za was incredibly imposing, to say the least.

    Yet, whether in or imposing, nothing seemed to matter, because in the next second, at least 60% of the entire city instantly began to rush towards the registration desks!

    ¡°Stop pushing! Do you think you¡¯ll be able to register more quickly by jostling?!¡± ¡°Please give way! My wife and son are still waiting for me back in the mortal realm!¡± ¡°What do you mean give way?! My husband is still waiting for me back home!¡± ¡°Stop pushing! Stop squeezing! Who the hell is touching me?!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The sprawling za was located right in front of the six-storey building that was originally already located within the inner city. Qin Ye stood at the terrace of the fifth floor, sighing softly as he saw the ugly sight of jostling Yin spirits below. But it wasn¡¯t long after that a disdainful voice remarked from behind, ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ How dirty¡­ how unbelievably dirty!¡±

    It was ssmate Wang One Tail.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a rather spectacr sight?¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t even look back. Instead, he simply enjoyed the breeze and allowed the wind to gently tousle his hair.

    It was a magnificent sight.

    There was a berth of 1,000 meters between Qin Ye and the start of the registration desks, and yet he could already see millions of ghastlyhermes converging all around the desks - no different from that day when Qufu was still consolidating its forces!

    Wang One Tail walked up to his side and leaned on the railing with a cold chuckle, ¡°I know for a fact that they will have to work incredibly hard under the current system of work credits. And even then, after all pioneering works in Ashmound City are fullypleted, they will only get exactly one opportunity to inquire of the Book of LIfe and Death, one chance at rying a dream, and one chance to return to the mortal realm. Lord Qin, you¡¯re truly unparalleled when ites to making the best of the situation¡­¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! Do you know what kind of privilege returning to the mortal realm is?!¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes at Wang Chenghao, ¡°If not for the fact that these new buildings have appeared in the inner city, not even I would dare make such promises to them!¡±

    I mean¡­ if you ask me honestly¡­ I think you¡¯re absolutely capable of making such empty promises to them¡­ Really¡­

    Wang One Tail pursed his lips tightly and remained silent for the next few minutes, before finally quipping back softly, ¡°Whates next?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed and turned around. Then, he threw his head back, leaned on the railings and stared nkly at the ceiling above with a bitter smile, ¡°Whates next? To hell with you!!¡±

    ¡°Seriously, do you even have to ask something as obvious as that? Are you even aware of howrge Qufu is? I¡¯ve not even had the chance to take a quick look around. Qufu--... Ah, I mean, Ashmound¡¯s industries and specialties are still mysteries to me. We¡¯ve been so busy with the census and registration of the twenty million or so people over thest month that I haven¡¯t even had the chance to see the treasury of Ashmound that we¡¯ve brought back with us! I haven¡¯t even seen the Mythic Pce of Reflections after the Harken brought it back together with all of us!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, Ashmound was a city that was already running on a system of currency under Kong Mo¡¯s reign. This means that we¡¯ll have to push on with theunch of Hell¡¯s system of currency as soon as possible! Apart from that, we¡¯ve still got to properly set up the security forces of Hell in Ashmound, as well as sort through the registration for the Frontier Brigades¡­ My god! I feel horrendous just thinking about the sheer amount of work in store for us!¡±

    Yet Wang One Tail continued to rub salt in his wounds, ¡°Ah, don¡¯t forget, there¡¯s also the possibility that Kong Mo mightunch his counter-attack against us at any moment. And then, there¡¯s also the threat of the daolord¡­ Oh, that¡¯s right, weren¡¯t you saying something about trading with the mortal realm as well? You¡¯ll have to head back there to begin liaison efforts and negotiations with them once more. Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ I dare say that you might just run yourself into the ground with the sheer amount of work piling up, eh?¡±

    ¡°... Are you delighting in my misery?¡±

    ¡°... Is it obvious?¡±

    ¡°... No, not at all. Here, why don¡¯t you tap me on the shoulder again¡­¡±

    Wang One Tail immediately stared back at Qin Ye as though he had just seen a ghost. He could tell that Qin Ye was looking for a target to vent all of his anger and frustration on, but¡­

    He wasn¡¯t going to fall for the same trick twice!

    ¡°The ministers are all waiting for you¡­¡± Wang Chenghao weakly rebuffed Qin Ye¡¯s approach, before promptly scuttling off into the distance with his tail tucked between his legs.

    Qin Ye stared nkly at the Rodent scuttling away into the distance, while he began to massage his own temples.

    Over thest month, he had reliedrgely on the reports of the Chief Secretary of Hell, Su Dongxue. To that end, he hadn¡¯t even had the opportunity to meet with his newly-promoted ministers at all!

    This was testament to how busy he had been.

    ¡°Once the matters that need to be sorted out have finally been addressed, I should head back to the mortal realm as originally promised¡­ I¡¯m alreadyte by one month. I imagine that the government officials in Martial City must be going mad by now. Mmm¡­ I¡¯ll stay here for at most another week.¡± He sighed softly. Truth be told, he didn¡¯t know whether one week was sufficient time for him to sort through everything else that needed his attention.

    Today was the day when he was scheduled to meet the ministers of various departments, as well as receive reports and updates of all works done to date.

    There were still a multitude of things to be done. Hell was all ready to overtake the other cars ahead of it on the bend. They had sessfully approached the turn, and they were even on a Lamborghini. However, as the driver, he would still have to steer Hell in the right direction and set the course for overtaking. To that end, his various ministers could be likened to the car¡¯s mechanism - everyone would have toe together nicely with the same goal in mind so that the car that is Hell wouldn¡¯t plunge off the cliff and into its demise.

    One could only imagine how busy he must have been in thest two years, when he had been busying himself with the affairs of the mortal realm by day, and in Hell by night. Fortunately, the fact that he was now an Infernal Judge meant that he no longer required sleep or food. Otherwise, there simply wouldn¡¯t be enough time for him to discharge all of his duties and obligations.

    Ah¡­ and then there¡¯s still Kong Mo and the daolord, and then the resumption of negotiations with the mortal realm¡­ The sheer thought of everything piling up ahead of him practically drove him mad!

    ¡°I¡¯ll just take things one step at a time¡­¡± His temples throbbed in pain as he chuckled bitterly to himself. Then, just as he was about to head down the stairs, he suddenly paused.

    Whoosh¡­ Hell¡¯s Records had of its own volition flown out from his chest, and it opened up with a faint lustre on its pages as it began to scribble down lines after lines of updates.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes immediately brightened as soon as he saw what page Hell¡¯s Records was on. He read on keenly.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    upation: Infernal Judge.

    Merit Points: 370,000/5,000,000

    ¡°Awarded 300,000 merit points for capturing a colossal city and suppressing rebel forces. The full particrs are set out below¡­¡±

    370,000 merit points!

    Qin Ye was so ted that he couldn¡¯t help but develop the urge to jump up and down for joy!

    It was an unprecedented surge of merit points under this name!

    This was undoubtedly the charm of war!

    That said, he immediately noticed some peculiarities as well, ¡°Hang on¡­ why is it only being recorded now? We¡¯ve already taken Ashmound City over a month ago! Ah, that¡¯s right¡­ today marks the day when the citizens of Ashmound havepletely submitted to me. In other words, Ashmound City couldn¡¯t be said to be fully mine until the citizens have pledged their allegiance to Hell. And this is only when we¡¯ve properly finalized the numbers within the city, counties, townships and viges around, as well as stabilized the hearts of the citizens. Is that why these merit points are only being rued to my name right now? And there¡¯s even a list of detailed breakdown on the merit points I¡¯ve earned! This is something that I¡¯ve never seen before!¡±

    ns and strategy - 50,000 merit points.

    Leading the charge - 20,000 merit points.

    Establishing the first national highway of Hell - 100,000 merit points.

    Conquering Qufu - 30,000 merit points.

    Earning the trust of the citizens - 100,000 merit points.

    retion of entries in the Annals of the New Hell (in progress). Initial stages - 50,000 merit points.

    First Inspector-General (in progress). Initial stages - 20,000 merit points.

    There were six items on the breakdown in total, and Qin Ye finished reading everything in an instant. And then, he began to mull over them.

    ¡°The ones that umted the highest merit points was to establish the national highway, as well as earning the people¡¯s trust.¡± He ran his finger gently across the railing as he pondered aloud, ¡°Needless to say, establishing the national highway is one of the most important steps in restoring Hell to its former glory. After all, such a move is symbolic of the new Hell¡¯s preparedness to step into the underworld once more. 100,000 merit points is reasonable given the significance of its symbolism itself. Besides, the achievement clearly indicates ¡®first¡¯, which means that the next time won¡¯t get me anywhere near that many merit points.¡±

    ¡°On the other hand, earning the trust of the citizens might not be a reliable method moving forward. Ashmound had a poption size of 20 million Yin spirits, and yet this only trantes to 100,000 merit points. Furthermore, all future developments within Eastmount might not even count as achievements in future, given how I¡¯ve already been recognized as a provincial governor.¡± He furrowed his brows, ¡°But¡­ what about Insignia Province?¡±

    ¡°Can I still fulfill the criteria required for the achievement of earning the trust of the citizens there? Hmmm, perhaps I should let Oda Nobunaga try his hand at that instead¡­ Ah, that¡¯s right! Given the overpoption in Ashmound right now, perhaps it might be high time that we migrated some of them towards the Insignia Province instead. But¡­ are we really going to be able to scramble together an army to escort them all the way back? The costs might outweigh the benefits involved. But I can¡¯t ask the Harken for another scale to use the Universal Grand Shift, can I? He''d give me a tight p across the face!¡±

    The war had opened his eyes to a whole new world out there, and he suddenly discovered that there were in fact a multitude of ways to earn merit points for his promotion!

    He still didn¡¯t have a clear picture of what exactly he needed to do to attain more merit points. After all, he had a bunch of hypotheses that needed trying and testing. That said, he at least knew now that the 5,000,000 merit points required for his promotion to an Abyssal Prefect wasn¡¯t a remote dream of his!

    Abyssal Prefect¡­ I¡¯d be one of the strongest forces in Hell apart from the Harken!

    Once I¡¯m an Abyssal Prefect¡­ even if I might be the most cowardly Prefect in the history of the world, I¡¯d still be powerful enough to be the god of death of a small country!

    And once I¡¯m there, it probably wouldn¡¯t be impossible to rise once more to attain the ranks of a Yama-King, would it?

    ¡°No! Calm down¡­ calm down!¡± He yelled at himself to calm his mind down, before turning back to thest two lines etched on Hell¡¯s Records.

    It was quite clear where his credity in the first few lines. However, thest few lines were where things appeared to be somewhat enigmatic!

    ¡°If my guess is right¡­ this might be a euphemism for recording the conversion of achievements under the Heavenly Dao to that of merit points¡­ and it might just be the best way to rue merit points moving forward!¡±

 Chapter 448: Thriving Government of Hell

    <h4>Chapter 448: Thriving Government of Hell</h4>

    Just then, Wang One Tail peeked around the corner once more, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ the various ministers are all ready and waiting on you.¡±

    ¡°Tell them that I¡¯ll be there in approximately twenty minutes.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand and continued staring at the contents of Hell¡¯s Records that were still hovering before him.

    ¡°retion of entries in the Annals of the New Hell (in progress). Initial stages - 50,000 merit points. First Inspector-General (in progress). Initial stages - 20,000 merit points.¡± He gently ran a finger along the text of Hell¡¯s Records as he read it aloud, ¡°One gave me 50,000 merit points, while the other 20,000 merit points¡­ And these are both recorded to be in its initial stages. The merit points to be had from pushing these achievements beyond its initial stages would probably be immense.¡±

    ¡°retion of entries in the Annals of the New Hell¡­ All I¡¯ve done was to task the book keepers to keep a close record of all activities. Does that also count? And if these initial steps are already worth 50,000 merit points, then what kind ofpletion bonus am I going to be entitled to? Considering that the old Hell has copsed, and we¡¯re starting off on apletely clean te, we¡¯re practically recording knowledge that is going to benefit Hell for thousands of years toe! It only makes sense that I¡¯d get amensurately high number of merit points forpleting these records!¡±

    ¡°Inspector-General¡­ If memory serves me well, Inspector-Generals used to be the provincial governors of ancient times. If I had to hazard a guess, this seemingly unimportant title is only made important as a result of necessity. Hell currentlycks officials in high ces, and it desperately needs someone to take the reins as the King Yanluo of Hell. That¡¯s probably why it¡¯s worth so many merit points.¡±

    But he soon frowned slightly, ¡°No, that can¡¯t be it either. There must be a reason why upper grade Emissaries of Hell are treated differently from middle grade or even low grade ones.¡±

    Thinking aloud was slowly helping with demystifying the process, ¡°There¡¯s one thing that thest two points have inmon, and that is the fact that they¡¯re not limited by the confines of a city or location in general. Rather, they¡¯re more focused on the big picture of Hell¡¯s development. That¡¯s why the merit points awarded are so substantial to begin with!¡±

    His eyes flickered with excitement. If this were indeed the case, it would be excellent!

    First of all, themencement of sea trade next year would most certainly reap me a huge harvest of merit points!

    That would be an incredible milestone! It could even be considered a historical moment!

    Secondly, capturing the daolord would also me a handsome profit! After all, the daolord was once considered the cornerstone of the six paths of reincarnation. Capturing him would be no different from the act of rebuilding the six paths¡­ No, in fact, such an achievement might be even more lucrative than what I¡¯ve done to date! With any luck, I might even be able to earn myself sufficient merit points to blow right past the bottleneck and into the realms of an Abyssal Prefect!

    That¡¯s right!

    Qin Ye suddenly mmed his fist into his palm - I wonder how many merit points I¡¯d get for reiming the old Hell from the onught of the blight vermin?

    That said, this isn¡¯t a very realistic thought for now. There are millions of blight vermin to talk about, not to mention the monarch vermins in the mix. It¡¯s impossible to make a move against them right now. And that leads to the other issue, when Hell is finally strong enough to make a move against the blight vermin, I wonder how much of the old Hell would be left¡­

    The mist in his mind slowly began to clear up. With folded arms and a glint in his eye, he continued to articte his thoughts aloud, ¡°Truth be told, I should have noticed that the requirement of 5,000,000 merit points for the next promotion was well beyond the realms of normalcy. A regr Emissary of Hell might be able to attain the ranks of Infernal Judge if luck were on his side, but the number of merit points required for the next breakthrough to the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect is simply an order of magnitude higher. I should have known that the requirements were no longer limited to that of personal achievements by then.¡±

    He propped up his hands on the railing and watched the sprawling mass ofhermes slowly shifting about the square on Ashmound¡¯s inner city. His thoughts were now clear.

    He had to widen his perspective from a fixation on his own personal achievements to a broader view of national achievements. That was the best way to secure the most merit points for himself!

    ¡°Well then¡­ I guess I¡¯ll have to test out my hypotheses, one by one¡­¡± He took a few deep breaths to regte his surging emotions, before finally turning around and heading down the stairs, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not going to be too difficult to be an Abyssal Prefect after all.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Inner city. There were at least fifty Yin spirits seated neatly in a massive hall right now. The atmosphere was somewhat tense, and none of them spoke a single word to the other.

    They were all dressed differently - most were dressed in traditional Cathayan tunics, while some were donned with mourning clothes. They also sported each their own distinct facial features. Yet the onemon feature that they all possessed was the fact that they all carried themselves with an air of dignity and nobility around them.

    To that end, the sense of dignity was nothing more than an aura about them that distinguished them from other bystanders because of their outstanding self-confidence. It was an aura that leaders would generally develop over time, especially after getting used to having charge over others and people answering to them.

    The hall that they were seated in wasrge and opulent, lit softly with majestic pcenterns that zed with palehermes. They were seated in three blocks, each of which contained several rows of seats. The tables and chairs were all constructed out of pure wood, while an exquisite screen embroidered with scenic mountains and flowing rivers provided the perfect backdrop behind them. The entire hall had a seating capacity of over a hundred persons.

    Unable to bear with the stifling silence any longer, a bald, middle-aged man spoke softly to the man beside him, ¡°Old Ge, what kind of person do you think Mr Qin is like?¡±

    The person called Old Ge was a slightly plump man in his fifties. Old Ge looked up softly, before murmuring back, ¡°At the very least, I can tell that he¡¯s a diligent person.¡±

    ¡°But apart from that, I can¡¯t say for certain. Just like you and your team in the Ministry of Industry, our team from the Armaments Division have likewise never personally seen him before. That said, I¡¯m sure we can all tell from his approvals that he¡¯s been reading the reports we¡¯ve submitted with great diligence and caution. Little Xu.¡±

    Old Ge nodded at a young man who was standing by the door, ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°This is our first meeting with our new government. We can¡¯t afford to have anything go wrong.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured.¡± Little Xu was a young Yin spirit in histe twenties. Even though he was clenching his fists nervously, his voice remained just as cid and calm as ever, ¡°Everything has been prepared. With Minister Qian of the Ministry of Internal Affairs personally overseeing the meeting this time, nothing is going to go wrong.¡±

    Everyone gathered in the hall spoke with confidence and preparedness, and with a steady tempo. In fact, their interactions were so textbook perfect that it looked no difference from the provincial-level meetings back in the mortal realm!

    Just then, the door suddenly opened up, and Qin Ye drifted into the hall eerily in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state. A softhergale swept into the room. Five other Yin spirits followed closely behind him, namely Wang Chenghao, Su Dongxue, Arthis, Oda Nobutada, and Yang Yanzhao.

    The Yin spirits already gathered in the hall froze for a moment, before they promptly rose to their feet and bowed slightly to the guest of honour, ¡°Mr Qin.¡± ¡°Leader, you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Greetings, Your Excellency.¡±

    None of them spoke with any measure of ttery. Every single word they spoke exuded sincerity and earnesty.

    Almost as though such interactions had been drilled into their skulls through endless repetition.

    ¡°At ease. Take a seat.¡± Qin Ye made a pressing motion with his hands. His heart was in flux because he knew exactly who each of his ministers were!

    Over thest month, he¡¯d worked himself to death poring through the census of the citizens of Ashmound. But it was precisely because he had done so that he had managed to pick out each and every single one of these pearls in the ocean. He was even willing to vouch for each and every single one of them. After all, these were all talents that were in high demand no matter where they went.

    They were all sensible people. Although Qin Ye had told them to be at ease and take their seat, none of them took their seats until Qin Ye made the first move.

    ¡°I¡¯m the Third King Yanluo of Hell. You may address me as Yanluo Qin.¡± Qin Ye spoke without any restraint at all. Ever since bing the lord and master over Hell, he had been through the battle of the Strait of Tsushima, to the pit of a thousand, and even a great war involving over a million Yin soldiers! He had seen way too much to be fazed by a simple meeting with talents in the world.

    ¡°I only care about one thing, and that¡¯s pragmatism. I don¡¯t care how you¡¯ve dealt with such affairs back in the mortal realm, but I don¡¯t want you to bring any of those bureaucratic habits picked up in your officialdom down with you into Hell. We¡¯ll have a secret poll every twenty years. Those who are capable will be promoted, and those who aren¡¯t will be demoted. Everyone¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°I hope that I¡¯ll continue to see some familiar faces in the next twenty year cycle.¡±

    It was a short speech.

    The Yin spirits who were present exchanged knowing looks at each other. Others might not understand what Qin Ye was getting at, but how could these old fogeys be unable to read between the lines?

    Pragmatism was everything. Yanluo Qin didn¡¯t need good speakers; only results.

    ¡°This is the very first provincial ministry meeting.¡± Qin Ye continued without missing a beat, ¡°Ashmound has officially returned to Hell, and the change of leadership will naturally see the creation of new posts, offices and ministries. All major ministries will have to meet and coordinate with each other. Unfortunately, I¡¯ve had my hands full before this, and I wasn¡¯t able to call for a meeting with all of you until today. Pardon the neglect.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that.¡± The leader of the officials immediately responded, ¡°Everyone has their own roles and responsibilities. In truth, we¡¯ve all been so busy that we¡¯ve hardly managed to catch a wink of rest as well.¡±

    Several members of the meeting immediately chuckled softly to the lighthearted quip. Qin Ye was no exception to this, ¡°Put bluntly, this is all because we don¡¯t have enough civil servants in Hell. The purpose of our meeting today is to rify and streamline each of our roles and responsibilities. I¡¯d also like to take this opportunity to simplify any processes and do away with any unnecessary rubber stamping or approvals. I don¡¯t want a repeat of what we see in the mortal realm right now, when a single docket would have to be pushed across eight ministries before it can finally be approved. Time savings equates to efficiency. This would be a time to air any issues, grievances or rifications alike, so that everyone has a better understanding of the workflow ahead. Meanwhile, I¡¯ve also instructed the imperial chef to prepare a banquet. Once we¡¯re done here, we can adjourn the meeting to the banquet hall, where we can all unwind a little and get to know each other better.¡±

    With that, he nodded to Su Dongxue. She bowed slightly, and then took over, ¡°As Lord Qin has mentioned, efficiency is everything. Ashmound¡¯s founding is an opportunity to start afresh. With that, may I have the pleasure of dering themencement of Hell¡¯s first conference of provincial governors open.¡±

    ¡°First order of business - roll call.¡±

    She opened up a scroll and began to read from it, ¡°Former eleventh governor of Eastmount Province, Zhang Zeguang.¡±

    A hand was raised. Su Dongxue saw it and nodded at the man, and he put down his hand once again.

    ¡°Former twelfth provincial secretary general of Eastmount Province, Liu Zili.¡±

    Another hand was raised.

    ¡°Former tenth governor of Eastmount Province, Zhu Tao.¡± ¡°Former eleventh provincial secretary general of Eastmount Province, Zheng Tongguang.¡± ¡°Former director of Eastmount Province¡¯s Department of Land and Resources, Huang Mingyue.¡± ¡°Former deputy director of the same, Sha Liming.¡± ¡°Former director of Eastmount Province¡¯s Department of Finance, Wang Wu.¡± ¡°Former deputy director of the same, Tao Rong.¡± ¡°Former director of Eastmount Province¡¯s Department of Reform and Development, Ma Ronghua.¡± ¡°Former deputy director of the same, Jiang Siyuan.¡±

    ¡°Former mayor of Qizhou City, capital of Eastmount Province, Wan Quan.¡± ¡°Former secretary general of Qizhou City, capital of Eastmount Province, Mo Gaoming.¡± ¡°Former director of Eastmount Province¡¯s Market Supervision Administration, Ren Fangyuan.¡± ¡°Former director of Eastmount Province¡¯s Department of Education, Tang Zheyuan.¡±

    One by one, she continued to call out their names, only to see apliant show of hand to signify their attendance. Qin Ye smiled softly as he watched the roll call.

    Kong Mo, oh Kong Mo¡­ You really don¡¯t know what kind of hidden gems you¡¯ve been missing out on!

    How could you simply allow these people to disappear into the sea of Qufu¡¯s citizens? On the basis of different political ideals? Instead, you sought to forcibly rule over a city using an antiquated governance style that is over a thousand years old? Do you really think you can hold par against the wisdom of these collective professionals?

    We¡¯re talking about the gathering of top talents of their times - provincial governors and ministry heads in their own times! Do you know how many people would die to even meet a single one of these talents? Yet, to think that all of them would be assembled and reunited under Hell¡¯s charge right now! There are even arge number of municipal-level or county-level leaders that haven¡¯t been called just yet, simply because we haven¡¯t had the opportunity of assigning them the right roles!

    The fact that only provincial governors and mayors were called didn¡¯t mean that Qin Ye was making light of the work of a county governor. After all, he knew full well that even the governor of arge county was one who had influence and control over hundreds of thousands of people all at once!

    But credit where it was due, the provincial governors were undoubtedly the cream of the crop - those who had risen through the ranks despite thepetition until they sat right at the top of a province, watching over tens of millions of people all at once!

    Hell was reaping the reward of a demographic dividend right now!

    Just how many governors and secretaries has Eastmount Province seen over thest hundred or so years?

    No¡­ In fact, there¡¯s more!

    Qin Ye nced excitedly to the side, where ten men dressed in old-fashioned military uniforms stood silently. Their chests werepletely covered with medals and awards.

    Eastmount was a province where a Marshal-ranked militarymander was based!

    Granted, the most famous Marshals across Cathay were those buried in the Yan Capital Revolutionary Cemetery, but there were still two generals, three politicalmissars and five divisionalmanders, all of whom were active during the second Cathayan-Nipponese War, also known as the war of resistance!

    This had to be the greatest rewards reaped from seizing control of Eastmount Province!

    No¡­ this is only the tip of the iceberg...

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly as he stared nkly at Su Dongxue. His heart was clearly on an emotional rollercoaster today. He was finally free to count the spoils of thest war for expansion, and the ounts were only slowly beginning to unfold...

    1. Politicalmissars were no different from political leaders, and are generally heads of party cells in the military, and generally in charge of political education and ideology.

 Chapter 449: Cornucopia of Strategists and Generals

    <h4>Chapter 449: Cornucopia of Strategists and Generals</h4>

    After all, none of them had expected such aplete, star-studded line-up of all the recent leaders of Eastmount Province to be gathered in the same hall right now! There were even generals and politicalmissars from the time of the War of Resistance!

    He knew full well that he would have to be upfront with them if he wanted their full cooperation. He couldn¡¯t afford to conceal anything from the Yin spirits present today, because they were all supposed to work towards amon goal.

    ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s been tough on you over thest month or so.¡± Qin Ye paused for a moment, before adding, ¡°But there are still a multitude of things to be done in the new Hell. You must have many questions on your mind. Today, I hope to provide you with a better rity about the situation in Hell.¡±

    Of course they had questions.

    This definitely wasn¡¯t the norm. Normally, the conquest of a nation would be followed closely by the influx of armies and citizens in order to dilute the concentration of the surrendered forces. Then, after a census is conducted on the surrendered forces, they would be broken up and dispersed to the surrounding major cities in order to weaken any possibility of collusion and uprising.

    It was almost as though there was only one city in Hell, and it was for that reason that Hell had no choice but to go out of its way in order to appease the hearts and minds of the citizens of the city. Such conduct certainly wasn¡¯t normal at all!

    Yet, Qin Ye didn¡¯t directly address the most pressing thought on their mind. Instead, he slowly began to pace about the room as he skirted around these queries, ¡°I know, given your positions, that you¡¯ve had oversight of the files pertaining to supernatural incidents over the years. There¡¯s nobody more qualified to know of these things than you are. You¡¯re probably even one of the few mortals around who know of the exact locations where dangerous evil ghosts have been sealed by the experts back in the mortal realm.¡±

    He paused for a moment, before finally dropping the bombshell, ¡°It¡¯s because¡­ the old Hell no longer exists.¡±

    Unfazed, Qin Ye continued, ¡°Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has ascended into paradise, and the old Hell no longer exists. Granny Meng found me and started me off on the journey by entrusting me with a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. Then, I found the Harken as well as the Book of Life and Death. The journey hasn¡¯t been easy, but we¡¯ve finally given Hell a proper footing to stand on. From what I¡¯ve said so far, you might probably have already guessed why you haven¡¯t seen any Emissaries of Hell around.¡±

    ¡°Currently, the only ones remaining are the twelve feudal officials of Hell, also known as the twelve envoys. They include the renowned Zhou Yu, Yang Jiye, Yu Qian, amongst others. Yang Jiye and Yu Qian are on Hell¡¯s side, and Zhou Yu is currently sitting on the fence. But, apart from that, the rest, including Liu Yu, Han Qinhu, Gao Changgong and the other feudal officials have all dered their own independence as soon as they learnt of the copse of the old Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly turned around and stared at them with a burning gaze in their eyes, ¡°To make matters worse, Lord Ksitigarbha has failed to bring three of the six daolords with him, while the Harken is severely injured and in deep slumber. How could Hell afford to look after the mortal realm when it can¡¯t even handle its own affairs?¡±

    Dead silence.

    They were destined to stand with Hell.

    Cathay was bound to be thrown into chaos in light of Hell¡¯s great copse. Even though they were no longer living back in the mortal realm, they still had family and loved ones residing back there. Thus, whether for the benefit of those who were still alive, or for vengeance for those whose lives had been taken, they all had to stand on Hell¡¯s side whether they liked it or not!

    After a protracted period of silence, an old man dressed in military uniform sighed tersely with a hoarse voice, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. My grandson¡­ died a victim to one of these supernatural incidents. Investigations turned up no results whatsoever¡­¡±

    He nced at Qin Ye, ¡°I finally understand that all we¡¯ve been doing is merely addressing the symptoms, and not the cause.¡±

    The atmosphere in the room instantly loosened up slightly. Just then, another old man wearing a myriad of military medalsmented, ¡°Well said¡­ The current situation is so much better than back then during the revolution. At the very least, we¡¯ve got a city and Yin spirits to work with. And you could even say that the defenses of this city renders it practically impregnable. So long as we have our base of operations, we can n ahead with assurance in our hearts. There¡¯s no need to be hasty, and we can slowly work out the finer details.¡±

    The old man raised his eyebrows curiously, before asking in dismay, ¡°What does Mr Qin mean by that?¡±

    He paused for a moment and drew a deep breath, ¡°All hell will break loose. I¡¯m afraid that the underworldly Eight-Nation Alliance mighte knocking on Hell¡¯s doors once more.¡±

    There was a period of protracted silence. Several momentster, everyone gasped in exmation, while Old Zhao was the first one who managed to collect himself, ¡°You¡¯re saying that¡­ there are other underworlds out there?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Arthis finally spoke up, ¡°Theherworld is simr to the mortal realm in that an underworld¡¯s jurisdiction is limited to its territorial boundaries. How many different nations are there up in the mortal realm? Many of them have their own sets of religions or mythology. Everyone¡­ you don¡¯t actually think that Cathay¡¯s underworld rules over the entireherworld, do you?¡±

    She hunched her back slightly, ¡°Let me just put it out there. Each of these mythic figures possess strength that is at least equal to Lord Ksitigarbha. Their underworlds possess thousands of years of heritage and history behind them, and none of them are weaker than us in any way. Any one of these underworlds would easily have hundreds of millions of Yin soldiers under their charge, including a multitude of Abyssal Prefects, a sea of Infernal Judges and an ocean¡¯s worth of Anitya Hellguards and Soul Hunters! Tamed Yin beasts are dime a dozen. If we allow them to march into ournds, Cathay¡­ would truly be no different from purgatory on earth.¡±

    Pin drop silence. Everyone grew taciturn as they wondered how terrifying the cataclysmic invasion of forces was going to look. They had initially thought that Hell was already well on the road to recovery, so how could they have expected the sudden curve ball by Arthis, telling them about the armageddon that was soon to befall both Hell and Cathay alike?

    After all, such baggage would only cause them to overthink things, which would in turn unduly shackle their decision-making processes.

    It was no different from how Cathay boldlyunched its thirty-year reform policies with its eyes fixed solely on the goal of leaving the most embarrassing chapter of its empire in the past! Anything that was beneficial to the nation was absolutely worth the attempt.

    ¡°We were able to seize control of Eastmount Province in no more than a year since the founding of the new Hell. Hell¡¯s capital is located back in Insignia Province. With Eastmount Province in the bag, the other localities sandwiched between these locations, including Breakwaters Province and Insignia Province itself, would be ours for the taking. From there¡­ we can proceed south and upy all four coastal provinces! Then, with Eastsea acting as a stronghold, Hell would practically have the perfect opening to this grand game of chess!¡±

    They were only at the opening of the grand 100-year n of the new Hell.

    Arthis remainedpletely silent as she leaned against the doorway with a somewhatplicated gaze in her eyes.

    With Ashmound under Hell¡¯s control, Eastmount was ripe for the taking. The only obstacles standing in their way right now were the daolord and Kong Mo. For all intents and purposes, Qin Ye was already working with a brand new province.

    He was actually able to speak eloquently to a group of bigwigs and assuage all of their concerns even when they were flustered. Everything waspletely outside of Arthis¡¯ expectations.

    It would be apletely new age of Hell!

    Arthis was full of confidence in that very moment.

    The young Yin spirit from before immediately walked over and bowed with a pristine smile, ¡°Greetings, Mr Qin. My name is Xu Changyou, first assistant to the current secretary general of Eastmount Province. I¡¯m also among the first batch of Yin spirits to havee to Ashmound City. I¡¯ll be rendering the full report of our inventory.¡±

    ¡°The full list of industries and professionals under Hell¡¯s charge are as follows. Law enforcement - 470,000 Yin spirits. Agricultural and farming industry - 200,000 Yin spirits. Clothes and fabrics industry - 240,000 Yin spirits. Food and beverage industry - 530,000 Yin spirits. Beauty industry - 470,000 Yin spirits. Light industry and chemicals - 1,340,000 Yin spirits. Weapons and armaments industry - 150,000 Yin spirits¡­¡±

    ¡°There are a total of 17 industries which currently employ a total of 3,420,000 professionals. Sir, please feel free to inspect the list of technical professionals in Ashmound right now.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This refers to the multinational coalition that invaded China in 1900 and saw the looting and piging of Beijing and North China for over a year. The Boxer Protocol was signed as a result of the invasion.

 Chapter 450: Fruits of Labour (1)

    <h4>Chapter 450: Fruits of Labour (1)</h4>

    He received the list with some trembling in his hands - 17 industries¡­ with 3,600,000 technical professionals to boot! And this includes Yin spirits of all sorts, ranging from the most mediocre ones to thergest industry leaders and powerhouses!

    This was the full extent of the benefits of war!

    It was also just like the great age of navigation, filled with cannons and gunpowder. Countless invaders seized treasures of all sorts, including gold, silver, tobo and spices. Wars were the triggers that made the nations in the mortal realm as we know them.

    What did this represent?

    It was only when the issues of basic amenities were addressed that one could properly even begin to talk about development, culture and society in general. What was there to discuss if the citizens were constantly worrying about food and shelter? It was only when there was stability in ess to the basic necessities that one could begin to talk about physics, chemistry, and even nuclear energy and the like.

    ¡°Agricultural and farming industry¡­¡± He ran his finger across the list with a bright gleam in his eyes.

    ¡°Granted, the four siege Yin beasts sent by the Yang n are in some sense an example of domestication, but Ashmound¡¯s breeding industry tells me that Yin beasts aren¡¯t just for warfare. They can be bred as poultry as well! It¡¯s animal husbandry we¡¯re talking about! It¡¯s breeding!¡± His mind began to flutter with tion.

    Or perhaps, decadester, we¡¯ll see Yin spirits running back home, only to be greeted by their mother with the usual naggy attitude - ¡®Hurry up and go get ready! Your father ising down today! I¡¯m going to make him his favourite dish! Go wait for him at the soul induction tform!

    He shook his head and sighed softly.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that the sheer thought of these prospects would even bring me such¡­ excitement?

    The food and beverage industry tells me that animal husbandry isn¡¯t in its nascent stages. They¡¯re definitely on the right track. Perhaps one day¡­ we might even be able to embark on a course meal in Hell!

    No. No¡­ I have to stop¡­ the more I think about these things, the more excited I¡¯m bing¡­

    They even have the beauty industry! That¡­ that said, they¡¯re probably just hiring powerful Yin spirits to manipte Yin energy for use on their customers¡¯ faces, right?

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°As fellow administrators of Hell, I want you to know what exactly is in Hell¡¯s possession, and how to use it as well. Therefore, I¡¯ve never intended to conceal the other treasures from you in the first ce.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The door opened silently, and Qin Ye transformed into ahergale and flew out immediately. Arthis raised her hand promptly, and a cloud of Yin energy wrapped itself around the rest of the Yin spirits and consumed them altogether. A split secondter, the gathering of Yin spirits vanished from sight.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Everyone nced about at their surroundings, somewhat startled. They couldn¡¯t tell where they were. It felt almost as though they were located within a huge pce that was approximately the size of a formal sports stadium. There were a number of buildings in the vicinity constructed in the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty. The majestic sunk panel on the ceiling of the building was held up by colossal pirs that were at least twenty meters tall. Yin spirits appeared absolutely tiny and insignificant next to the glorious buildings.

    There were at least two hundred Yin soldiers stationed here, patrolling the vicinity like a hive of worker bees. There was a cordoned off area spanning approximately 500 meters from end to end located right in the heart of the building.

    There was a bronze mirror approximately 500 metersrge that was ced in the heart of the sunk panel. From afar, it looked almost as though the nine dragons were dancing about a priceless pearl at the heart of it all. Faint traces of runic symbols appeared and faded away from the surface of the mirror. It exuded a deep sense of mystery.

    I¡¯m never going to show up in Hell in my human form ever again. I look too young after all. I can onlymand the requisite respect and fear as a leader in my Hell¡¯s Emissary state¡­

    ¡°This is undoubtedly the most valuable spoil of war this time. So long as we can master its mode of operation, it can even be used as a spatial portal. The Confucian Family truly lives up to its name as one of the top gentries of the old Hell. To think that they were even able toy their hands on something as priceless as this.¡±

    Qin Ye fervently suppressed the raging excitement in his heart. He couldn¡¯t deny the fact that he was truly tempted to show off the various uses of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, such as by borating more on the potential of its spatial portal uses!

    And then, Ashmound could simply unleash a full barrage of attacks from its Soul-Launching Coffins, Winstrike Ballistae and Mohist Mechanical Beasts all at the same time! Who could possibly stand against such an outrageously powerful surprise attack?

    That said, he didn¡¯t intend to apprise them all of the killing potential of Ashmound City. After all, the less people knew of these hidden trump cards of his, the better!

    ¡°Open it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it before.¡± Qin Ye remarked aloud, ¡°Why did Kong Mo leave the Mythic Pce of Reflections over here? Did he have any particr reason for doing so?¡±

    The pit in the ground felt no different from a bottomless abyss that was echoing with soft moans and groans at every single moment. All who stood at the edge of the pit couldn¡¯t help but feel goosebumps all over.

    ¡°And I kept on wondering¡­ until General Yang discovered this.¡±

    ¡°This is¡­ My god¡­¡± Zhang Zeguang stumbled back several steps after a single nce of whaty within. His legs trembled like wobbly jelly.

    There was a moment of mor, and then everything was silent.

    It was a 500 meterrge pit.

    Pitch-ck crystals.

    ¡°These are¡­ Yin spirit stones.¡± Arthis had also seen them countless times by now, yet her eyes continued to gleam with passion. Even her voice trembled slightly with intense excitement, ¡°This is a massive vein of Yin spirit stones! This must be the reason why Kong Mo had erected the Mythic Pce of Reflections in this ce!¡±

    Nobody could find the right words to express themselves right now.

    These Yin spirit stones emanated dense Yin energy that drifted slowly about the rest of the pit. The plenary of leaders revealed a multitude of shocked expressions.

    ¡°And back in the mortal realm, we¡¯d even have to extract the minerals from the mud and soil and other impurities. But this is¡­ practically the converse - we¡¯re extracting mud and soil from the rest of the precious resources! No¡­ there are even parts of the resource vein that appear to possess no impurities at all!¡±

    Arthis licked her lips with glee, ¡°I can responsibly confirm that every industry in Hell would require Yin spirit stones in some way or another. To that end, arge city like Ashmound could definitely use a pure source of energy! This pit¡­ contains more than enough resources to power Ashmound¡¯s operations for a thousand years! We can even think of exporting these resources to the other cities around!¡±

    The crowd of Yin spirits looked over, only to discover¡­

    And these steps appeared to open up to a grotto every fifty meters it went down.

    <hr>

    1. I personally am not too sure this is the truth. I¡¯ve done a search on wiki, and yes, there was the history of the potato.

 Chapter 451: Fruits of Labour (2)

    <h4>Chapter 451: Fruits of Labour (2)</h4>

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes when I first saw it either.¡± Qin Ye eximed under his breath, before taking the lead and walking down the steps, ¡°And what lies within is none other than Kong Mo¡¯s treasury.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, you won¡¯t be able to follow me into the grottos. The Yin energy down here is far too dense for your bodies. Without a formal conferment of title as an Emissary of Hell, you would never be able to survive a trip down there. The only reason why I¡¯ve decided to bring you here is so that you know the resources we have on hand, and you can begin to think about how to integrate the use of Yin spirit stones in each of your industries. The underworld ispletely different from the mortal realm, be it considerations in development or in life in general. You have to be able to adapt to these changes.¡±

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Another Yin spirit interjected before the first Yin spirit could even finish speaking, ¡°Truth be told, it¡¯s not as though we haven¡¯t witnessed the use of Yin spirit stones before. Do you remember the time when a monarch beast entered a 5,000 meter radius of Ashmound in the past? That was the only time when the Soul-Launching Coffin was activated. If memory serves me well, I recall that the military had loaded the Soul-Launching Coffin with a piece of crystal that was one meter long. Come to think of it, that must have been a Yin spirit stone.¡±

    Meanwhile, just as the Yin spirits engaged in discourse about the potential uses of Yin spirit stones in various industries, a jade-greenherme slowly ran down thedder, leaving a trail ofherme that softly illuminated the path down. Then, as the me spread, it slowly began to turn white!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The entire pit appeared no different from one of the underworldly abysses in Western mythology, where a circle of spiral steps ran down a five-hundred meter wide pit, replete with iron handrails and iron suspension chains hanging overhead. A groove ran in the wall for the purposes of their antiquated lighting instation, and it soon lit up the entire pit with a soft, eerie glow.

    ¡°Do you think Kong Mo would be able toe up with anything like our modern day innovations?¡± Arthis nced overhead, ¡°But¡­ that said, I find that the lighting is fairly decent.¡±

    The lighting was soft - neither harsh on the eyes, nor unduly dim at that.

    ¡°Were you suggesting that we should consider adapting this system as a substitute for electrical lights?¡± Qin Ye thought aloud.

    Qin Ye froze for a moment, before turning back to re viciously at Arthis, ¡°So are you saying that all of your remarks made earlier were borne entirely out of the fact that the lighting looked familiar to you?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice was as frigid as a cold-hearted murderer, ¡°What a pity. I was hopeful that you would finally have attained some measure of spiritual awareness, just like apes evolving into human beings. Unfortunately, you¡¯re just as primitive as a pacific saury.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha¡­ you make it sound as though I used to treat you with respect and awe. Let¡¯s get this straight - it was simply because I couldn¡¯t defeat you in the past! I¡¯ve put up with the endless humiliation for long enough!¡±

    I can¡¯t hear anything~~ Can¡¯t hear anything~~... I don¡¯t hear anything, and I don¡¯t see anything~~...

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin for some time before turning back, ¡°General Yang, was this pit only opened today?¡±

    Whilst they spoke, they soon arrived in front of the first chamber. Qin Ye coughed pretentiously, and then¡­

    Empty! Empty!

    It was because the entire chamber waspletely empty.

    ¡°How can this be¡­¡± Qin Ye stared at the offering table,pletely dumbfounded. It was almost as though his innards were twisted and wrenching about in abject pain.

    Qin Ye neither turned around to face Yang Yanzhao nor did he get back up to his feet. Instead, he spoke with a trace of sulkiness in his voice, ¡°Mine.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my stuff!¡± Qin Ye suddenly leapt up, ¡°The stuff originally ced here is mine to begin with, and I¡¯m just taking back what is rightfully mine! How can I just allow that old fogey to abscond with everything like that? Do you understand what I mean?¡±

    Father, I know you¡¯ve mentioned that Lord Qin is a rather interesting leader, but don¡¯t you think you¡¯ve used the term ¡®very interesting¡¯ far too loosely this time?!

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye¡¯s dreams and his reality were just as distant as Qin Ye was from his girlfriend. The cruel reality was just as elusive as the beloved woman that was the love of his life.

    He was still considerably calm at the start of this journey of despondence. Yet, twenty such chamberster, Qin-Dogballs-Ye¡¯s eyes were fuming with dazzlinghermes. He appeared far more diabolical than the evilest of ghosts.

    Nothing. Nothing at all!!!

    Qin Ye¡¯s breaths were already ragged and shallow, while his eyes were flourishing with flickering mes. Kong Mo¡¯s actions had stripped him bare of all of his senses and sanity.

    How afraid of death do you have to be?! How could you even think of bringing all of your belongings with you just for a stupid little daolord?! Can you please take a leaf out of my book? Have you ever seen a Netherworld Operative tag alongside an Infernal Judge since the beginning, without once shrinking back at all?!

    Yang Yanzhao raised his eyebrows quizzically. Without question, he transformed into ahergale and shot into the chamber.

    Qin Ye paced up and down the stairs with great vexation. Arthis frowned, ¡°Calm down. If there¡¯s anything to be had, then everything is fine and dandy. But even if there¡¯s nothing, life still goes on! Besides, what you¡¯ve gained from Ashmound more than sufficiently makes up for all of these things.¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin!! I¡¯ve found something!!¡±

    Just then, he suddenly froze and blinked vacantly, before ncing at the final chamber, and then turning back once more.

    In an instant, he vanished from where he was, and appeared right in the heart of the final stone chamber.

    It was an ancient scroll.

    ¡°What¡¯s this--...¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows. It was strange. The scroll exuded a sense of crisis. The danger seemed to emanate from the scroll, and yet¡­ bepletely apart from the scroll at the same time.

    He inched forward, trying to get a better look at it. But, just then, a bolt of Yin energy shed like lightning and instantly struck him back. A split secondter, Arthis bellowed with fury, ¡°Back off!!¡±

    A tense silence filled the chamber. After a protracted pause, Qin Ye finally pulled himself together and asked Arthis, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Arthis stared intently at the scroll for a full minute, before finally murmuring, ¡°I¡¯d never thought that I would see something like that here¡­¡±

    Without missing a beat, she continued with a deep, hoarse voice, ¡°You--... can just take a look for yourself with the Judge¡¯s nce.¡±

 Chapter 452: Secret Memorial

    <h4>Chapter 452: Secret Memorial</h4>

    Arthis spoke with an iparably grave expression on her face, causing Qin Ye to retract the smile on his face as well. His eyes instantly turned pure ck, and he widened his eyes and took a closer look at the scroll, only to be struck by a wave of intense pain in his pupils, so much so that he recoiled back in shock and squatted down at once.

    ¡°Lord Qin!¡± Yang Yanzhao swiftly moved in front of Qin Ye and held up his hands as he nced about warily. A spear formed from Yin energy instantly materialized out of thin air.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­¡± Secondster, Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and looked up once more. His eyes were already back to normal, yet copious amounts of Yin energy continued to pour out from his entire body. Arthis spoke softly, ¡°What did you see?¡±

    Qin Ye wiped off the cold sweat that was beading up on his forehead. His heart was still thumping furiously, because just a moment ago, he saw¡­ a majestic, towering figure!

    It was incredibly tall, and indescribably majestic, almost as though it were the embodiment of the heavens and the earth. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t even be an overstatement to describe the entity he saw as the centre of the universe!

    It wasn¡¯t a human.

    He had once seen the illusory projection of King Song, Yama-King of the Third Pce. However¡­ this figure he just saw was orders of magnitudes more terrifying than even King Song himself!

    It was a qualitative difference. If King Song were described to be a river, then the figure that Qin Ye had just seen would be as vast as the oceans. At the very least, he could still see King Song¡¯s entire back in his previous encounter. But now¡­ he couldn¡¯t even see where this figure began and ended at all!

    How terrifying¡­ He closed his eyes and ced his hand over his wildly beating heart. It took him several more moments before he finally managed to gather himself and speak up once more. Yet, even then, his voice was incredibly hoarse and filled with tremors, ¡°Who was that?¡±

    Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t Arthis who responded this time. It was Yang Yanzhao, ¡°The Second King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    The spear in his hand once again transformed into a cloud of Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the surroundings. All this while, his eyes were filled with reverence - possibly even some measure of fanaticism - as he continued to stare at the scroll!

    ¡°This is a secret memorial, short for a secret memorial to the throne.¡± He exined immediately, ¡°It¡¯s a document that can only be tendered by Heaven¡¯s Path, the secret guards of the Second King Yanluo of Hell. I only know the name of this organization, but no Yin spirit has ever seen them before. Nobody even knows the names of these Yin spirits. That said¡­ back when the Second King Yanluo was in power, his asional appearance in the imperial court was always triggered by the appearance of such secret memorials, which also tended to be a precursor to the urrence of a catastrophe!¡±

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Qin Ye raised his hand, ¡°asional appearance?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Yang Yanzhao chuckled bitterly, ¡°The Second King Yanluo of Hell hated appearing in the imperial courts. Truth be told, he wasn¡¯t willing to be the sessor to the First King Yanluo of Hell either. Unfortunately, the First King Yanluo duped him into the role, and he had no choice but to ede to the session. I know for a fact that this isn¡¯t a rumour, because¡­¡±

    He coughed dryly, ¡°Whenever the Second King Yanluo spoke of the First King Yanluo, he would alwaysmbast the First King Yanluo with a ten-minute long preface before getting into the meat of what he was going to say¡­¡±

    What a retard¡­ Qin Ye pursed his lips to stifle hisughter - Your cultivation prowess is through the roof, yet you still ended up being duped into submission by the First King Yanluo? You¡¯re obviously all brawns and no brains¡­ Eh? Hang on a minute¡­ I seem to have been duped by the Second King Yanluo into epting session as well¡­ Could this be the start of a fine tradition of Hell¡¯s session? No¡­ Hang on a minute! Doesn¡¯t this mean that I¡¯m at the very bottom of this damn food chain of idiocy?!

    After thinking things through, Qin-Dogballs-Ye immediately shut his mouth, and turned his mind to other things of greater importance.

    Well, I guess that exins why this seemingly in and simple scroll looks so immeasurably daunting. What¡¯s unusual about it is the fact that this is a secret memorial that is directed straight to the Second King Yanluo of Hell!

    The endorsement of the Second King Yanluo might well contain the words ¡®read¡¯ or ¡®approved¡¯, yet to think that these simple words could cause us to feel nothing more than a drop in the vast ocean out there. No wonder he dares to act so arrogantly towards the underworlds out there even after the old Hell¡¯s copse. He doesn¡¯t care about the Heavenly Dao at all! If he did, he would never dare to call his own secret guards the ¡®Heaven¡¯s Path¡¯. Holy crap. I¡¯ll be damned.

    ¡°So this is a secret memorial belonging to the Second King Yanluo¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed softly, then promptly turned to stare at Arthis and Yang Yanzhao, ¡°What is this secret memorial doing here?¡±

    ¡°For submission--...¡± Arthis was just twirling her hair about nonchntly when she abruptly looked up and stared at the scroll. Yang Yanzhao did the exact same thing.

    Dead silence.

    That¡¯s right. What¡¯s it doing here?

    ¡°Lady Arakshasa¡­¡± With his eyes still trained on the secret memorial, Yang Yanzhao blurted his thoughts, ¡°The secret memorial¡­ couldn¡¯t have been leaked, could it?¡±

    Arthis shook her head with the same measure of sobriety, ¡°Impossible. All secret memorials are transmitted by Heaven¡¯s Path from its source directly to the Second King Yanluo or vice versa, and then destroyed immediately after being read. We¡¯ve never heard of a secret memorial being leaked before.¡±

    ¡°Then that leaves only one other possibility.¡± Qin Ye began to pace around slowly, ¡°The Confucian Family stole this secret memorial."

    Everyone grew silent.

    Not a single one of them refuted Qin Ye¡¯s conjecture.

    It soundedpletely out of the world, but the two who had formerly been part of the old Hell knew full well that this was indeed a very real possibility!

    Qin Ye continued, ¡°Extrapting from this, it is patently clear that the Confucian Family is truly worthy to be called one of the greatest gentries to have existed in the old Hell. But from the manner in which you two have been portraying the Second King Yanluo, I daresay that not even the Confucian Family would dare to seize such a precious missive from his hands. Furthermore, you had earlier mentioned that these secret memorials would be transported from point to point, which means that once the Second King Yanluo gives his approval, it would have to be returned into the hands of the agents of Heaven¡¯s Path¡­¡±

    Yang Yanzhao immediately gasped and recoiled with great disbelief, ¡°The Confucian Family¡­ have managed to locate Heaven¡¯s Path agents?¡±

    The whereabouts of the elusive Heaven¡¯s Path have actually been discovered by the Confucian Family?!

    What kind of heaven-defying means must they have resorted to?!

    ¡°It might have been even worse than that. I¡¯m afraid¡­¡± Qin Ye chuckled coldly, and his voice drifted off.

    ¡°Let me put it differently. Think about it. Why did the Second King Yanluo of Hell stand idly by and watch with inaction as Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva ascended?¡± Qin Ye walked over to the table and boldly ran his finger across the secret memorial, ¡°Even if this secret memorial wasn¡¯t the catalyst, it would most certainly have been one of the main fuses leading to the great copse!¡±

    It was well apparent just how rotten to the core Hell had been at the time of the great copse.

    To think that the secret memorial to the throne had ended up in the hands of a gentry of Hell!

    Had this happened in any other dynasty, it would most certainly have been a telltale sign of the imminent copse of that dynasty.

    ¡°Unbelievable...¡± Arthis sighed after some time, ¡°I¡¯ve always been located a great distance away from the Confucian Family¡¯s base of operations, so whilst I¡¯ve heard that they were a strong force to be contended with, I didn¡¯t expect them to be this ridiculously powerful¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point.¡± Qin Ye wagged his finger, ¡°Haven¡¯t you guys ever wondered what this might contain?¡±

    ¡°Why is this secret memorial located down here? The Confucian Family might be a force to be contended with, but why was it specifically entrusted to the hands of Kong Mo?¡±

    This single statement rattled the other two like a bolt out of the blue that instantly dispersed the clouds of doubts in their minds.

    ¡°Kong Mo was an agent that was specially sent out on a mission by the Confucian Family?¡± Arthis¡¯ eyes gleamed brightly as she postted, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ that would exin why he has so many powerful Yin artifacts in his possession! Ah! That would also exin the Mythic Pce of Reflections! How else could Kong Mo haveid his hands on such a priceless artifact unless specifically bestowed upon him by the entire Confucian Family?¡±

    Yang Yanzhao also snapped to his senses, ¡°That¡¯s not all. A single exile could never have been in possession of as many prized artifacts as would fill thirty of these chambers. It¡¯s just not possible. Others from the Confucian Family must have been sent to assist him!¡±

    ¡°In other words, the Confucian Family were attempting to pursue a ndestine objective. That was why they had decided to ostensibly banish him to Limbo and cast him out of the limelight. Otherwise, the secret memorial could never have ended up here!¡±

    Qin Ye looked up at the ceiling and nodded softly.

    There was another strand of thought that had surfaced on Qin Ye¡¯s mind.

    It was a mere possibility, but a terrifying one at that. In fact, it was a thought that would in any other situation have been easily deemed absurd, but Qin Ye still wasn¡¯t willing to dismiss it.

    Here was his thought - Kong Mo had been exiled to Limbo precisely because of this secret memorial. This must have stirred the ire of the Second King Yanluo. But it so happened that Ksitigarbha gained ascension, and Hell copsed soon after. It was the perfect opportunity to deal with the sleeping behemoth in Hell that was the Confucian Family, so the Second King Yanluo rode on the wave of destruction and allowed the Confucian Family to perish with all of Hell.

    It was something that waspletely absurd, and outside of anyone¡¯s expectations altogether.

    Something extraordinary must have urred in order to stir the ire of the Second King Yanluo to such an extent. The Confucian Family must have screwed up somewhere, thereby alerting the Second King Yanluo to the rottenness of Hell. If this were indeed the case¡­ one can only imagine how vitally crucial things must have been¡­ perhaps so crucial that it was the precursor to the great copse of Hell!

    And this thing - or this incident - might possibly be recorded on the scroll in front of me right now!

    Naturally, this was nothing more than mere hypotheses that were based on nothing more than the confluence of timings, circumstances and clues. With that, Qin Ye shelved these thoughts and immediately reached for the secret memorial.

    No matter what the case was, the contents of the scroll must still be of great importance. Count Qin Ye¡¯s curiosity piqued to the extreme!

    ng!!

    Just as he reached out to grab it, he felt a massive wave of recoile from the secret memorial itself, striking his hand so hard that it instantly went numb.

    ¡°A seal?¡± Arthis looked up with bewilderment. Two peculiar symbols appeared in her eyes as she scrutinized the scroll for some time, before finally nodding softly, ¡°Fortunately, it¡¯s not the seal of the Second King Yanluo. This is something that has been ced on the scroll by the Confucian Family. Although it might be a little bit more cumbersome, it¡¯s not impossible to unravel and open it.¡±

    ¡°You can open it?¡± Qin Ye asked Arthis with some measure of suspicion. It wasn¡¯t because he doubted Arthis¡¯ statement. Rather, it was simply because the Confucian Family appeared to have a multitude of peculiar means hidden up their sleeves, and he simply couldn¡¯t fathom Arthis possessing the same means to match an entire top gentry of Hell.

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Arthis responded matter-of-factly.

    Then what¡¯s the point of saying all that?!

    Qin Ye¡¯s diaphragm stirred with a slew of expletives crafted and directed straight at Arthis. But before he could fire even the first salvo of it, Arthis immediately continued, ¡°But Lord Harken can.¡±

    ¡°Apart from Lord Ksitigarbha, Lord Harken is second to none when ites to issues of Yin Talismanology.¡±

    Qin Ye fervently repressed the cuss-words that were already on his lips. At this point, his curiosity about the contents of the secret memorial trumped anything he had to say to Arthis. What exactly was it that was worth concealing with such smoke and mirrors, exiling Kong Mo to Limbo, and even entrusting him with the Mythic Pce of Reflections?

    Qin Ye understood that the matters contained in this secret memorial might well have be a thing of the past together with the old Hell.

    That said¡­ he was still incredibly curious about its contents!

    Qin-nosy-Ye nodded and picked up the secret memorial once more. But instead of attempting to open it again, he simply tossed it to Arthis for safekeeping.

    And it was only then that he suddenly discovered that there was something else hidden right underneath the secret memorial itself!

    It was a ck ball.

    More specifically, it was a ck bead that was embedded in the stone tform below. The ball¡¯s existence had earlier beenpletely hidden by the secret memorial that was resting on top of it. Unless one lifted the scroll, they would never be able to discover the presence of the ck ball below.

    The bead was only asrge as the size of one¡¯s thumb. But as soon as Qin Ye saw it, he instantly heard the cries of countless grieving souls wailing and mourning at his ears, almost as though he had just been plunged into a boundless sea of suffering. A split secondter, the ck bead suddenly burst up from the offering table and flew straight out of the stone chamber!

    ¡°Is that¡­ the Incense Bead of a Million Souls?¡± Arthis paused for a moment, and then immediately grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s hand and rushed out of the stone chamber.

    Whoosh! The ck bead sank straight into the cloud of dense Yin energy below, leaving a trail of ck light in its wake.

    Silence.

    Absolute silence.

    The falling of the ck bead appeared to consume every measure of sound in the world. The entire surroundings became eerily silent, almost as though the softest of whispers would generate endless echoes in the surroundings.

    ¡°Our luck isn¡¯t half bad¡­¡± Arthis stared avariciously at the cloud of Yin energy that was still rising from the depths of the pit, ¡°I¡¯d never expected Kong Mo to have something else hidden up his sleeves!¡±

    ¡°Kiddo, you¡¯d better count your lucky stars. This is the real spoil of war!¡±

    1. The Chinese words used for his secret guards are the same words used to describe the Heavenly Dao. That said, I thought it would be clearer if we ascribed it a slightly different name, as Heaven¡¯s Path.

    2. In ancient times, memorials to the throne are documents submitted to the emperor which are intended to surface the misdeeds of corrupt officials which might otherwise have gone unnoticed. In other words, they are channels for whistleblowing. But in this case, I think the author treats it more as a secret missive.

 Chapter 453: Three Lives, Three Worlds

    <h4>Chapter 453: Three Lives, Three Worlds</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ The Incense Bead of a Million Souls dove straight into the sea of Yin energy like a hurtling meteor. Then, a split secondter, the originally tranquil sea of Yin energy suddenly started to bubble and toil profusely!

    Click¡­ There was a soft sound, almost like that of chains falling apart. The eyes of Arthis, Qin Ye and Yang Yanzhao flickered intently at the same time, and then they immediately rushed back into the heart of the stone chamber.

    It was the sound of a seal being opened.

    Boom!! There was an earth-shattering bang as soon as they managed to retreat to the heart of the stone chamber. Then, as though a geyser erupting from a spring, the sea of Yin energy instantly surged into the air with a mighty roar. Even the Yin spirits that had all been gathered around the mouth of the pit couldn¡¯t help but jump in surprise.

    Whoosh¡­ Fortunately, the geyser of Yin energysted for only a moment. It¡¯s eruption was soon followed by a copse of all Yin energy back into the pit, and then everything went dead silent.

    Qin Ye silently poked his head out of the chamber, clutching tightly onto the handrails as he craned his neck over the edge and looked down. Arthis also stretched her head out five meters long and rested her head on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder as they both peered down.

    It was the manifestation of heartfelt caution.

    The dense Yin energy below scattered for a moment, revealing the fact that there was an endless abyss located right below the pit!

    It was practically bottomless.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed in exmation and straightened his back, ¡°How in the world did they manage to transport this vein of Yin spirit stones out here?¡±

    Just then, he noticed something bright fall straight into the bottomless pit. Arthis craned her neck out, ostensibly listening intently to when the object finally struck rock bottom, yet neither of them heard any sound for the next ten seconds.

    Then, Qin Ye turned and stared at Arthis as though he had just seen a living ghost, ¡°Hang on a minute¡­ Wasn¡¯t that bright object earlier¡­ my new Samsung phone? I could¡¯ve sworn that it looked just like the phone¡¯s brand new ceramic screen!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®like¡¯?¡± Arthis red back fiercely. But before Qin Ye could even heave a sigh of relief, Arthis promptly added, ¡°It¡¯s exactly what you think it is!¡±

    WTF?!!

    Qin Dogballs lips trembled in rage, and his eyes grew bloodshot. Gnashing his teeth, he immediately reached out and motioned to strangle Arthis and her elongated neck. Just then--!!

    SSSSS!!!

    A chorus of ghastly shrieks and moans echoed from the depths of the bottomless abyss. Within moments, a terrifying gust ofhergale rushed out of the abyss, causing Qin Ye¡¯s clothes and hair to flutter wildly with the wind! Following that, a glittery white object that seemed to rumble from time to time slowly rose up from below.

    T-t-t-t¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s teeth chattered as he shivered subconsciously. It was far too bizarre. He was already an Infernal Judge - and a True Infernal Judge at that - and yet the chorus of ghastly shrieks and moans was so otherworldly that a chilling sensation of fear still rose from the bottom of his heart.

    It was fear borne out of the qualitative suppression of abilities. It was fear that only rose when one encountered apletely overbearing force to be reckoned with!

    What the Hell is located down there?

    His Samsung phone was now thest thing on his mind. Qin Ye peered cautiously over the edge, only to notice a hexagonal tform rising from the depths of the abyss.

    It was a regrly shaped tform that was approximately ten meters in size. There were chains tethered to it, each of which was stered with copious amounts of talismans. The chains rattled softly to the billowinghergale.

    Apart from that, there was an altar located right in the middle of the hexagonal tform.

    Itprised nine levels in total.

    And it was an altar constructed entirely out of human heads!

    More specifically¡­ it was a mound of heads!

    Moreover, the heads located here weren¡¯t skulls - they were the heads of what appeared to be living beings! There were men and women, and old and young alike, and yet the one thing that they all had inmon was the fact that their expressions were twisted and anguished, while thehermes in their eyes zed almost a meter high. Even then, the focal point of the entire mound of heads was located right at the top, where a blood-scarlet flower blossomed proudly.

    Its petals were slender and long, and itprised threeyers of petals in total. That said, what was most peculiar about it was the fact that these petals were formed entirely out of zinghermes! It appeared almost as though this single blossoming flower was drawing on the souls of the entire mound of heads!

    ¡°Three Lives, Three Worlds?¡± Arthis gasped in horror. Qin Ye blinked vacantly as he added, ¡°Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms?¡±

    Arthis immediately red at him with a burgeoning desire to kill.

    ¡°Ranked eighth among the ten wonders of the underworld. Who would¡¯ve thought that it was actually still in existence¡­¡± Yang Yanzhao eximed from behind. He had at some point also minced his way over, and he was now staring intently at the blooming flower, ¡°Each of the ten wonders of the underworld arepletely unique in their own right.¡±

    He continued to stare at the flower with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°That is to say, the Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of--... ahem¡­ I mean¡­ the fact that this flower is appearing here means that it can never appear anywhere else. It can only begin to grow elsewhere after apse of fifty years after the original is plucked and harvested."

    Phew¡­ I nearly said it. I wonder why that phrase just rolls off the tongue¡­

    On the other hand, Qin Ye pursed his lips and stifled hisughter - Pfft¡­ Brother Yang¡­ weren¡¯t you just about to say ¡®Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms¡¯ there? Heh¡­ I¡¯d never thought that you would be the sort to chase dramas as well¡­

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯m seeing something so amazing.¡± Yang Yanzhao heaved a sigh of exmation, ¡°Unfortunately, I only know of its name, and not what it can be used for.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be used per se.¡± Arthis chimed in with unconcealed excitement in her voice. For the very first time, Qin Ye could even hear palpable tion in her voice, ¡°These ten wonders of the underworld don¡¯t possess any special or magical functions at all. Rather, each of them are merely objects that¡­ contain a vast amount of Yin energy.¡±

    ¡°To be more precise, they all contain Yama-ss Yin energy, at least in terms of quality! Since Yin energy is the building block to practically everything in Hell, there are practically a multitude of ces in which these ten wonders can be employed! They don¡¯t need to possess any other functions! The pure Yin energy they possess already makes them among the most coveted things in the underworld! Incidentally, the ces capable of supporting these wonders would also be well-known as ces of absolute Yin!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed, ¡°Can they, for instance, propel me into the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect?¡±

    ¡°That would be aplete waste of it!!¡± Arthis red at him fiercely, ¡°There¡¯s no doubt it would be able to propel you straight through to the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect, and quite possibly push you to the verge of bing a Yama-King. However¡­¡±

    She waved her hand gracefully, and the blood-scarlet flower trembled slightly, before fluttering over andnding on her hand.

    ¡°There¡¯s yet a better use for it right now.¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then his eyes widened abruptly, ¡°The Harken?!¡±

    It was a rhetorical response. He already knew the answer to the question!

    The Harken was currently so badly wounded that he couldn¡¯t even move a muscle. But as long as he could recover so much as to even regain his ability to move, then he would no doubt be one of the greatest sources of help that Hell could ask for in the next century or so!

    Firstly, even if the mythical flower could propel Qin Ye to the bottleneck approaching the ranks of a Yama-King, he would still by no means be considered a fully-fledged Yama-King. On the other hand, the Harken was an authentic Yama-ss divine beast of Hell! Moreover, even if Qin Ye were indeed lucky enough to attain the ranks of a Yama-King, he would still need time to master the arts and techniques avable to Yama-Kings of Hell. Beyond that, there was still much to be done before he could be considered a True Yama-King.

    Additionally, there were still the personality issues apanying Yama-King Dogballs to be considered. What was the use of having a cowardly Yama-King?

    Conversely, the Harken would never shrink away from a challenge.

    Secondly, there was the Harken¡¯s experience to be considered.

    The Harken was no doubt considered one of the top brass of Hell. Even if it weren¡¯t involved in politics on a regr basis, it would still have picked up a thing or two from simply apanying Lord Ksitigarbha.

    And these were the true top secret information of Hell to boot.

    In other words, the Harken would possess knowledge about Hell far beyond that which Arthis could ever have been exposed to. It was about time to change the used silicone doll of Hell¡­

    Qin Ye fell deep into thought. I recall the Harken mentioning that only the most otherworldly of treasures could elerate its rate of recovery. Three Lives, Three Worlds has to fit the bill perfectly! Kong Mo, oh Kong Mo¡­ I guess I can forgive you for leaving 29 empty stone chambers on ount for the heaven-defying treasures you¡¯ve left behind in this veryst one!

    Kong Mo obviously couldn¡¯t have brought something like this around with him. That must have been the only reason why he left this treasure here. I¡¯ve truly lucked out this time.

    Buzz¡­ As soon as Three Lives, Three Worldsnded on Arthis¡¯ hands, a boundless wave of Yin energy instantly rippled out into the surroundings, sending everything scattering out and causing all of thehermes in the chambers to flicker wildly.

    Whoosh¡­ A lock of Arthis¡¯ hair fell off her head and transformed into a series of talismans that weaved themselves into a squarish box. Then, it enveloped the immaterial flower and boxed it up safely.

    It was only then that everyone finally heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± She smacked Qin Ye softly with her hair, ¡°Hurry up and offer this treasure to Lord Harken. Like I¡¯ve said before, True Emissaries of Hell possess far greater power than Genuine or Apocryphal Emissaries of Hell. The Yoke of Five Ghosts is but a drop in the oceanpared to the rest. But rather than have me exin these to you, it would be far more beneficial to hear it from the lips of a divine beast of Hell instead. The knowledge I possess about these things can only be said to have scratched the surface, and if you¡¯re going to be the Third Yanluo of Hell, knowledge that merely scratches the surface would never be enough¡­¡±

    Haha¡­ Have you finally realized that you¡¯re never going to be able to match my ungodly rate of cultivation? Qin Ye nced disdainfully at Arthis. Then, just as he was about to shift his leg, he suddenly paused.

    Something¡¯s wrong?

    It feels as though I¡¯ve forgotten about something¡­ something of utmost importance¡­?

    Unfortunately, the notion in his mind was fleeting like the wind, and it vanished without a trace as soon as he tried to delve deeper into it.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are you dissatisfied with the packaging?¡± Arthis furrowed her brows, ¡°Or are you really thinking of consuming it for your own benefit instead?¡±

    Of course not¡­ Do you really see me as a person with such little restraint? Qin Ye shook his head and followed closely behind Arthis as they ran back up the stairs. Even then, he continued to wear a frown on his face.

    Infernal Judges were incredibly quick on their feet, and it didn¡¯t take them more than a few moments to return to the surface. Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately turned around and pointed directly at the mound of heads.

    Arthis smiled faintly at the Yin spirits around, before turning back to Qin Ye and gnashing her teeth, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Can you please pay attention to your own image, at least in front of these future provincial governors of yours?!¡±

    However, there was no response.

    Qin Ye continued to point at the mound of heads.

    Mount of heads¡­ What¡¯s the issue there? Any problems?

    Arthis did a double take at it, and was just about to speak up when she suddenly heard Qin Ye whispering directly at her, ¡°You¡¯ve earlier mentioned that onlynds of absolute Yin can support the existence of the ten wonders of the underworld, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Arthis wasn¡¯t dumb.

    She may have been controlled by the Lich King, but at least she was still the Prince of Lordaeron--¡­ Ahem! She was once a True Infernal Judge of Hell! Thus, she gasped as soon as she heard Qin Ye¡¯s words, and she immediately turned around and stared intently at the mound of heads.

    Three seconds of silence.

    Immediately afterwards, both Infernal Judges rushed straight back down into the pit at top speed!

    No! There was something wrong with the mound of heads!

    Thend of absolute yin could only exist in either the mortal realm or the underworld!

    The mortal realm marked the start of a Yin spirit¡¯s journey, while the underworld was its final destination. Limbo was nothing more than a point of transit between the mortal realm and the underworld. How could it possibly sustain the development of and of absolute Yin? This was something that had never happened before in the history of the world!

    And if it wasn¡¯t naturally formed, then it must mean that it was man-made.

    All ten wonders of the underworld possess Yama-ss Yin energy. In other words¡­ the mound of heads that was supporting its growth¡­ must contain a Yama-ss Yin artifact!

    So long as they possess a Yin artifact as powerful as that, then whether daolord or Kong Mo, none of these immediate threats would be able to imperil Hell¡¯s existence anymore!

    After all, the greatest threat in Cathay were only Prefect-ss entities. Possessing weapons like this would be no different from wielding a sword of state or a royal regalia of sorts!

    Boom! Both Judges raised their hands as soon as they were ten meters away from the mound of heads. A ferocioushergale sted forward, sending the human heads scattering everywhere, revealing¡­. The tip of a spear.

    Filled with rust.

    A rusty tip of an ancient spear, buried deep in the ground.

    1. The words used here is ¾©¹Û, which refers to the act of stacking enemy corpses on the sides of the road, before stacking soil on them and ramming them together to form mounds of corpses. It was a technique used in ancient warring times to show military might and deter enemy forces.

    2. This is a reference to a show called Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, also moremonly known as Eternal Love. .

 Chapter 454: Legacy of a Ghost King

    <h4>Chapter 454: Legacy of a Ghost King</h4>

    There¡¯s something¡­

    There¡¯s actually something!

    Both Infernal Judges stared at the mound with bloodshot eyes - Yama-ss¡­ A Yama-ss artifact has finally surfaced since the copse of Hell! This¡­ is akin to fitting out the racecar of Hell with nitrous in order to boost its efforts at overtaking the others!

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Qin Ye was the first toe to his senses. He pped himself hard and forced himself to calm down, ¡°There¡¯s something amiss¡­ We¡¯re talking about a Yama-ss artifact that has just been revealed, so why can¡¯t I sense its existence?¡±

    It was only then that Arthis returned to her senses as well. She studied the artifact for the next few moments, and then softly murmured, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ My best guess is that it might have something to do with the fact that its owner has been whisked off into paradise by Lord Ksitigarbha, and its connection is now lost. Has a conjunct Yin artifact lost function?¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that conjunct Yin artifacts don¡¯t lose their function?¡±

    Arthis shook her head, ¡°No. Conjunct Yin artifacts, also known as origin Yin artifacts, are known to exist and perish together with their master. Anyone who touches such Yin artifacts would immediately see where the master was in the final moments of his life. But if the artifact¡¯s master is still alive, then no matter where he might be in the three realms of the world, the artifact would never lose its function.¡±

    So, it¡¯s not an origin Yin artifact¡­ Qin Ye sighed, but then immediately thought to p himself to his senses.

    So what if it¡¯s not?

    It¡¯s still a Yama-ss Yin artifact that¡¯s ced right in front of me now! These are things that I would previously have only dreamed about! In fact, I would have gone gaga in the past at the sight of a Judge-ss artifact, so how is it right that I¡¯m feeling displeased at a Yama-ss artifact?

    He drew a deep breath, transformed into a stream ofhergale and rushed forward. Then, with great trembling in his arms, he wrapped his hand around the spear tip and pulled it forcefully.

    tter¡­ The entire hexagonal tform copsed instantly, revealing the fact that there wasn¡¯t anything more than the tip of the spear. Arthis sighed, ¡°It looks like this is an iplete Yin artifact. No wonder we couldn¡¯t sense its existence--¡­¡±

    Arthis suddenly shrieked mid-sentence and immediately rushed back to the safety of one of the stone chambers, before slowly peeking out at Qin Ye with great trembling all over her body.

    Just a moment ago, she had heard a shrill and ethereal shriek from the depths of the abyss. It waspletely silent, and yet she felt it reverberating through every corner of her mind.

    The shriek was soft and distant, and yet it was so authoritative that it appeared to demand the submission of all Yin spirits who heard the cry.

    It stirred fear from the innermost parts. It was overbearing by virtue of the authority of its bloodline.

    ¡°This is¡­ this is¡­¡± Her entire body trembled as she stared at Qin Ye, because she could see wisps of pure white Yin energy wrapping around Qin Ye¡¯s entire body, forming a white Han Dynasty armor that was damaged and tattered. It had also caused Qin Ye¡¯s gaze to grow deep, abstruse and majestic beyond belief.

    This definitely wasn¡¯t the Dogballs that she knew!

    Whoosh! Countless strands of hair immediately surged from her head and stuffed up the entrance to the stone chamber she was in. Her body trembled violently as she leaned heavily against the walls of the chambers, ¡°Sixfold Ghost King¡­ It¡¯s the Sixfold Ghost King!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the very same one that sealed me into the depths of the abysses back then! He was the one that took over custody of me from Granny Meng!!¡±

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye could no longer hear her cries anymore.

    He was locked in a trance, almost as though the world had gone dark for a moment. Then, when he opened his eyes once more, he suddenly found himself¡­ on a battlefield.

    There were at least 100,000 soldiers on the battlefield.

    Some of them were wearing simple leather armor, but there were more that werepletely unarmored. Everyone wielded their own spears or sabers, shouting valiantly as they tore at their enemies¡¯ jugrs. Devastation abounded on the battlefield. The grounds were littered with corpses and bleeding skulls.

    Swathes ofnds were dyed dark red from the blood that was spilt.

    Qin Ye scanned through the horrific battlegrounds from a bird¡¯s eye view. And then, he suddenly paused, and did a double take at the banners flying high.

    Logically speaking, a battle on this scale would have been fought between two mighty armies.

    But it wasn¡¯t.

    The entire army appeared to be in pursuit of something, and only a small part of it appeared to be moving vigorously, as though attempting to surround its target. The rest of the army simply followed closely behind. The banners were all ck in colour, and had the embroidered words ¡®Cao¡¯ disyed prominently on them.

    Where the hell is this supposed to be?

    His eyes ran across the pursuing soldiers andnded directly on the pursued. To his amazement, he saw a red-and-white figure attempting to shake off an army of pursuers.

    He rode a white horse, and his entire body was red - not because it was the natural colour of his armor, but because it was dyed red with blood. His cloak was torn and tattered. He wore a long sword on his waist, and wielded a spear with such proficiency that it looked like the dance of a dragon whenever he thrusted at his enemies. He appeared to be riding freely away from his enemy forces. No matter what the Cao forces did, they were unable to stand in his way!

    The Cao forces would from time to time manage to form a wall of shields to obstruct his approach, and yet he would unleash a series of spear thrusts that appeared to slither and slip between the minutest gaps like a venomous viper, cutting down all obstacles and forging for himself a new path of blood.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± Qin Ye stared at the figure almost as though he had just seen a ghost. Li Bai¡¯s poem came to mind - ¡®Silver-saddled horse, valiant as a meteor. A life with every ten steps, onwards for a thousand miles.¡¯ I used to think that Li Bai¡¯s poetry was just a figment of his imagination. But¡­ it¡¯s actually true?!

    Moreover, this isn¡¯t even ¡®a life with every ten steps¡¯... we¡¯re practically talking about ten lives with every single step! Just look at the path of blood you¡¯re leaving behind! Do you know you¡¯ve already killed hundreds of people on end?!

    Just then, the man suddenly turned around.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat - How striking¡­

    Sharp brows and deep eyes, a tall figure and well-proportioned build. He¡¯s practically a walking aphrodisiac¡­ how could people possibly keep their legs closed at the sight of that?!

    I hate people who look as handsome as that!!!

    For instance, people such as Wang Chenghao and Lin Han.

    Then, just as he was about to explode with cuss and swear words, something caught his eye, and he immediately did a double take at the bulging muscles of the rider¡¯s chest--¡­ Sorry - I mean - at whaty just in front of his breastte.

    There was a baby swaddled in cloth.

    A living baby.

    The foul winds and bloodbath around the baby made him wail at the top of his voice. The rider¡¯s entire body was covered with wounds, and yet the one single location that remainedpletely unscathed was the area right in front of his chest.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± He stared at the valiant warrior, ¡°Zhao Yun?! Zhao Zilong?! One of the Sixfold Ghost Kings?!! This is his Yin artifact?!¡±

    ¡°This is Adou, the child of Liu Bei?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be damned¡­¡± He stared nkly ahead and murmured with great disbelief, ¡°This is¡­ the Battle of Changban?¡±

    Boom!!

    As soon as he spoke of the Battle of Changban, the perspective in front of him instantly shattered, and then slowly began to dissipate like wisps of smoke.

    Momentster, he discovered that he was still hovering in the air, holding the tip of the spear in his hands. He could even smell the faint stench of rust from it.

    After a long time, he stared nkly at the spear tip in his hands and murmured softly, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°This is¡­ the Sixfold Ghost King¡¯s origin Yin artifact¡­¡± A hoarse voice responded from within a stone chamber. Qin Ye nced over, only to realize that there was now a crack in the wall of hair that had sealed up the entrance to the chamber. Arthis looked at the spear tip with palpable fear in her eyes, ¡°If my guess is right, then that must be the origin Yin artifact of Lord Zhao Zilong, one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head, and then suddenly looked up once more,pletely startled, ¡°Origin Yin artifact? You¡¯re saying that this is Zhao Zilong¡¯s conjunct Yin artifact?¡±

    Arthis nodded. Her hair had beenpletely white in colour, and it was only now that it slowly began to regain its ck hue. She hissed back softly, ¡°Furthermore¡­ the fact that the origin Yin artifact is still around tells us that¡­ Lord Zhao Zilong is still around in one of the three realms of the world!¡±

    Silence.

    None of them said a single word.

    Both Arthis and Qin Ye were astounded by the implications of such a postiluation.

    One of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, a Yama-ss entity, is still alive?

    There was yet another pair of eyes that had been watching the developments in the mortal realm and the underworld all this while?

    A minuteter, Qin Ye eximed, ¡°Impossible! If Zhao Zilong is still around, he cannot possibly be oblivious to the fact that the new Hell has been formed! And if that¡¯s the case, why didn¡¯t he drop by? Unless¡­ he¡¯s thinking of revolting?¡±

    ¡°Pah!!¡± Arthis¡¯ eyes raged with intensehermes and she immediately hissed back to Qin Ye, ¡°My darling hero would never do something like that!! Can you please be a little bit more respectful of what you say?!!¡±

    Abrupt silence.

    An awkward, abrupt silence.

    ¡°Darling hero?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts lingered on the keywords of Arthis¡¯ earlier statement, ¡°Could you kindly repeat yourself?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the big deal?!! Why wouldn¡¯t I repeat myself?!¡± Arthis¡¯ cheeks werepletely flushed. Truth be told, this was the first time that Qin Ye had ever seen her this way. Even the roots of her hair were standing abashedly. Her expression looked no different from the one painted on the face of the silicone doll.

    She forcibly suppressed the tremor in her voice, and then shouted in an almost-deratory manner, ¡°Lord Zhao Zilong is the number one male idol of Hell! Do you know how many female ghosts keep tabs on every single piece of news about him? Even the maidens of the Confucian Family, the Li n of the Tang Dynasty, the Zhao n of the Song Dynasty, are ardent followers of Lord Zhao! What¡¯s the matter? Do you think I haven¡¯t been young once?! Is an old woman not allowed to have a few idols?!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head - I understand.

    The fact that you¡¯re even conceding the fact that you¡¯re an old woman speaks volumes about the truth of these statements. Speaking of which, Arthis, do you know that you¡¯re rather unorthodox? For more than four hundred chapters, you¡¯ve acted in the same manner, putting me down with the sharpest tongue and the crassestnguage. Who would¡¯ve thought that you would reveal this side of you today?

    You, of all people!

    The fact that Qin Ye had just uncovered the tip of a secret as important as this meant that he was bound to continue stabbing it deeper into Arthis¡¯ heart. It wouldn¡¯t be anything like his personality to let things slide just like that. Thus, he coughed dryly, and then began to rain on Arthis¡¯ parade, ¡°Don¡¯t speak of it as though he¡¯s got you in his sights¡­ Look at that damned waist and legs of yours¡­ Even I can¡¯t help but close my legs involuntarily¡­¡±

    ¡°You. Piece. Of. Shit!!!¡± Arthis rushed at him with an unprecedented fiery gaze zing from her eyes, ¡°Who do you think you are?! How dare you even speak of yourself in the same breath as Lord Zhao Zilong?! We¡¯re talking about a walking aphrodisiac! The embodiment of masculinity! How can someone as weak as you be even mentioned in the same breath as my darling Brother Zilong?!!¡±

    Pfft¡­ Brother Zilong¡­ very good¡­ Qin Ye nearly gagged at that statement.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever thought about how you¡¯re going to exin everything to your future husband when he hears of such infatuation of yours?¡±

    Arthis turned away shyly before whispering back, ¡°What do you mean? Why can¡¯t my future husband¡­ be him?¡±

    WTF?!

    Qin Ye recoiled with a disgusted expression.

    ¡°Perhaps Brother Zilong fought to remain behind in the underworld precisely because he knew that I was still around in these parts¡­¡±

    Disgusting!

    Gross!

    I¡¯m getting goosebumps!!

    Qin Ye sneered, ¡°But think about it, you¡¯re just a head. Wouldn¡¯t you be making things difficult for Brother Zhao? He wouldn¡¯t be able to--¡­ I mean, where would he begin? Do you think he only wants someone who is good at¡­ pping her lips?¡±

    ¡°Get. Out. Right. NOW!!!¡± Arthis roared furiously. Qin Ye could tell that he had just inadvertently prodded her most sensitive spot¡­

    Tsk, tsk¡­ I can¡¯t bear to watch on anymore¡­

    Three minutester. Arthis finally managed to calm herself down once more, ¡°You there, Dogballs. Do you know the sheer magnitude of these implications?¡±

    Of course I do!

    Qin Ye finally set aside his venomous tongue and rubbed his chin as he began to delve deep into thought.

    Why would the spear tip of the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear be in Kong Mo¡¯s possession?

    Did the Confucian Family send Kong Mo out¡­ because of this matter with Zhao Zilong?

    Furthermore, how did this origin Yin artifacte to be separated from its master? What the hell happened over there?

    ¡°There¡¯s only one possible answer.¡± He nced back into the depths of the stone chamber once more. In their earlier excitement, they had left something of great importance here, ¡°The answer to all these mysteries must be hidden in the secret memorial right there.¡±

    There was no doubt that the secret memorial was one of the main purposes of sending Kong Mo into exile in the first ce!

    The Confucian Family had even whipped out the Mythic Pce of Reflections, together with over thirty pieces of Yin artifacts for this mission!

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling that there¡¯s an earth-shattering secret hidden within the secret memorial! Arthis¡­¡± He drew a deep breath and nced at Arthis, ¡°Immediately bring Three Lives, Three Worlds to the Harken. I want a response within the next three months.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured!¡± Arthis snorted, ¡°After all, you can be sure that I¡¯m far more anxious than anyone to get my hands on any clues on the whereabouts of Lord Zilong!¡±

    1. The child¡¯s real name is Liu Shan.

    2. Cao Cao led a 5,000-strong army against Liu Bei and routed his army. While Liu Bei abandoned his family and fled, Zhao Yun carried Liu Bei¡¯s young son, Liu Shan, and Liu Bei¡¯s wife and escorted them to safety.

 Chapter 455: News from the Mortal Realm

    <h4>Chapter 455: News from the Mortal Realm</h4>

    Unlocking the ¡®lustful ghost¡¯ achievement gave Arthis a great boost to her IQ. Even her abilities appeared to soar to new heights. Before Qin Ye could even respond any further, she had already transformed into ahergale and drifted away without reservations.

    Silly woman!

    Qin Ye thought disdainfully - Do you think you¡¯ve reallynded the perfect opportunity to be a hero to a damsel in distress? That¡¯s not possible. Believe me. Do you think idols truly care about what their fans think of them? It¡¯s all a front! An outward-facing persona that they artificially establish and maintain!

    ¡°That said¡­ there¡¯s really more than meets the eye here¡­¡± Qin Ye carefully addressed his mind to the entire sequence of events once more, before ncing around the empty cave thoughtfully, ¡°Firstly, what we can be sure of is that Zhao Zilong must have received a secret imperial edict, or met with a mishap of sorts. The Second King Yanluo of Hell must have caught wind of this, but failed to appreciate what the Confucian Family was attempting to do behind his back.¡±

    ¡°The Second King Yanluo must have been oblivious to how truly terrifying these so-called schrs used to be in the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. He must have underestimated the Confucian Family, only to finallye to his senses when he first discovered the missing secret memorial. Incidentally, that event coincided with Ksitigarbha¡¯s ascension. Having sobered up to the true situation guing Hell, the Second King Yanluo must have steeled his heart and watched idly as the entire old Hell copsed altogether.¡±

    After deliberating for several more moments, Qin Ye nodded, ¡°It sounds logical, but unfortunately¡­ it¡¯s still no more than a posttion. The only evidence I have is that everything seems to fit squarely in the grand timeline of events. However¡­¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°I¡¯ve got no concrete evidence. But then again¡­ why do I have to prove my conjectures? This is something that only feeds my curiosity. Besides¡­ everything is now in the past.¡±

    ¡°What I should be addressing my mind to is the question of what the Confucian Family is or was attempting to do here?¡±

    ¡°Firstly, I know that they have sent Kong Mo. He¡¯s the most suitable candidate to have been sent to Limbo on the pretext of being exiled. Thus, he was the one who was ¡®banished¡¯ to Limbo. As a great sinner of his time, he was bestowed with the Mythic Pce of Reflections¡­ Hahaha¡­ there¡¯s nothing to go on beyond that. I¡¯ll need more clues. Perhaps I¡¯d only be able to learn more about their true purposes by unravelling the secret memorial.¡±

    He nodded his head and turned around to leave. Just then, a soft golden light suddenly lit up between his brows.

    He paused for a moment and probed at the golden light in his mind. Instantly, an anxious figure immediately appeared beside him.

    It was Wu Wenqing, deputy chief of the Martial City branch of the Special Investigations Department. This was the seal which Qin Ye had left back on his door in the mortal realm. So long as someone knocked on his door, he would be able to see and hear what was going on in the mortal realm from wherever he was. To that end, this was the very first time that Martial City hade calling on him.

    That said, it made perfect sense that they did. He had already been missing in action for over five months now. It had been far longer than he had previously promised them.

    ¡°Mr Qin!¡± Wu Wenqing¡¯s anxious voice reverberated in his mind, ¡°We¡¯ve encountered a rather critical situation in Martial City. We implore Mr Qin to exit from his closed door cultivation if possible! We have yet to apply for external assistance in this regard. Mr Qin, please respond within the day! We will send someone to call on you again tomorrow!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly.

    Critical situation... Martial City is a coastal city located at the upper part of Eastmount Province. Coastal city¡­

    Daolord!

    Is he making his move? Has he finally wised up to Kong Mo¡¯s situation? Is he finally trying to press the advantage? Doesn¡¯t this mean that he was previously afraid of Kong Mo? No¡­ the daolord would have his own army that is just as imposing as well. Since that¡¯s the case, then the only other possibility would be that the daolord is afraid of the Yin artifacts currently in Kong Mo¡¯s possession. He¡¯s afraid of the depth of the arsenal at the Confucian Family¡¯s disposal.

    In other words¡­ Kong Mo must have in his possession an artifact that can even threaten an Abyssal Prefect! It would have to be something even more terrifying than the Peach Blossom Lantern! The Confucian family has truly pulled out all the stops this time¡­

    With Ashmound now under our control, there¡¯s no way Kong Mo would think of reiming it. After all, Ashmound¡¯s defenses aren¡¯t things to be trifled with. If not for the fact that we could drop right into the heart of Ashmount through the underworld, there¡¯s simply no way we could have taken Ashmound in the first ce. But the recent developments must have flustered Kong Mo, and¡­ the daolord must have noticed it.

    Three powers are contending for sovereignty in the Eastmount Province right now. Kong Mo is already out of the running, and he¡¯s only desperately maintaining the facade that he¡¯s had all this while. Moving forward, I¡¯ll have to trample over Kong Mo and sh head on against the daolord.

    ¡°But before that, there are some things that I¡¯ll still have to resolve.¡± He smiled and rubbed his hand, savouring the lingering feeling of the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear in his hands, ¡°Kong Mo is well on the path to demise. I¡¯m pretty sure that the daolord would be happy to join forces with me to rid the world of that verminpletely, wouldn¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°General Yang.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°What are your thoughts on joining forces with the daolord?¡±

    Yang Yanzhao immediately opened his mouth, but sensibly held back his initial reaction. After some time, he finally chose the right words to speak, ¡°The six daolords are all sinners of their times that havemitted unforgivable, heinous crimes. Truth be told, I would not approve of such a course of action. But given the limitations faced by the new Hell right now, I would have no objections so long as it can restore Hell to its former glory in the next hundred years.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯d actually reached out to the daolord of the asura immediately after thest imperial court meeting. However, he didn¡¯t give a damn about me back then. He didn¡¯t kill Li Jixi, the messenger I¡¯d sent, but he didn¡¯t grant him the audience that I¡¯d sought either. He didn¡¯t even bother to let him into his borders.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s best that you continue to think this way. You¡¯ve been following Yang Jiye, so you would have been exposed to the developments in the mortal realm. I¡¯m sure you would have noticed over time that the allegiances in the mortal realm have never been as prized as they make them out to be. Every country will sway from position to position from time to time. Allegiances are never permanent. The only thing that is evesting is a nation¡¯s own interests.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao nodded deeply.

    ¡°But before we get to that, there¡¯s still something that we¡¯ve got to do.¡± Qin Ye made a grabbing motion in the air, and some flowers of paramnesia appeared in his hand.

    ¡°Are you¡­ going to see them?¡± Yang Yanzhao responded with a hoarse voice.

    Qin Ye nodded softly, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡­ they need an answer.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m going to tell them to rest in peace, because everything is fine, and everything will be fine. What they have exchanged their lives for shall be carefully and cautiously preserved and developed for hundreds of years, and even thousands of years. Their legacy shall continue to stand in these greatnds that we see right now.¡±

    ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t be able to rest at ease until I personally give them an answer.¡±

    With that, he transformed into ahergale and flew out of the pit. Before leaving, he informed all of the Yin spirits gathered by the pit to return to their duties, begin to sort through their own work, and that they would reconvene in a week with a follow up provincial working group meeting.

    Then, he flew straight into the air and rushed right to the southern part of the city.

    Within moments, both Qin Ye and Yang Yanzhao arrived at their destination.

    ¡°Greetings, my lord.¡± A thousand ck Armored Troops were stationed here. As soon as they noticed Qin Ye¡¯s arrival, all of them knelt to the ground on one knee and greeted him respectfully.

    ¡°Rise.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice deepened. His eyes nced right past the ck Armored Troops, at the location just behind them.

    There was a stone monument located in the empty space behind.

    It was arge monument - ten meters wide and five meters tall. It looked like a rectangr block that was etched with a series of words.

    Besides that, a cemeteryy right before therge stone monument, replete with hundreds upon hundreds of tombstones.

    The cemetery was very silent. There were a multitude of things to be done in Ashmound right now, which was why he had only deployed hundred of Yin spirits to stand vigil about these parts, and erect a monument and hundreds of tombstones in memory of all who had perished. There weren¡¯t even fresh flowers offered to the deceased persons.

    Qin Ye and Yang Yanzhao slowly walked through the entire cemetery. The tombstones were all constructed with an ancient Cathayan ir, replete with some rather intricate carvings. Qin Ye walked over and gently ran his finger across the tombstones. ¡°When are you returning to the Felipinas?¡±

    ¡°In one week¡¯s time.¡± Yang Yanzhao responded. His heart was iparably heavy at the sight of the memorial for the deceased soldiers.

    Months ago, they were still standing together, asrades-in-arm, vowing to fight for the glories of Hell. Yet, today, they were standing worlds apart from each other.

    ¡°Ry my thanks to General Yang for me. Tell him that I¡¯ll never forget everything that the Yang n has dedicated to Hell.¡± Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°You might say that this is entirely born out of obligation, but obligations don¡¯t preclude sentimentality.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve extended help to Hell in the most critical times. Such kindness in times of need will always be remembered.¡±

    He stopped before a tombstone with the words Mu Guiying etched on it, together with her date of birth, date of death, as well as¡­ the date on which her soul dissipated. Thereafter, it listed the countless achievements orded to her to date.

    ¡°Zhou Yu thought that his contributions of Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows and its bolts would leave asting impression on Hell.¡± Qin Ye stuck a flower of paramnesia into the ground. Its petals fluttered beautifully in the wind.

    Then, he stood back up with a sigh, before pulling out another flower and walking over to Yang Yande¡¯s tombstone and setting it down once more, ¡°It won¡¯t. At best, I might just go a little bit easier when settling the ounts with them in future.¡±

    ¡°There can only be one voice in the underworld, and that is the voice of authority thates from Hell.¡± He straightened up, stepped between the two tombstones and bowed to the multitude of graves in front of him, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard.¡±

    ¡°Rest well. You won¡¯t need to spill anymore blood.¡± He bowed deeply for a long time, ¡°It was my ipetence that has resulted in your eternal rest in these graves. But¡­ I promise that as long as Hell shall stand, you will all live on in the hearts of Hell¡¯s citizens.¡±

    It was a brief condolence.

    And an evesting promise.

    He finally straightened up. As they took their leave, Qin Ye exined, ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m averse to burying them in ordance with the ancient Cathayan customs. It¡¯s just that the number of sacrifices are only going to grow in this long and arduous journey of ours. Hell simply cannot afford the space to bury each and every one of them in their own plot ofnd. That¡¯s why only Yin soldiers who are regimentalmanders and above have been given the honour of a grave and tombstone. The others¡­¡±

    He turned his head to where a massive ancient-style mausoleumy. There were tens of thousands of vigilmps lit outside, each of which represented the lift of a Yin soldier lost in battle.

    ¡°The others can only be buried here.¡±

    ¡°I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I¡¯ve got to n for the future. I humbly seek your understanding.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then turned back to look in the other direction.

    There was a three-meter tall skyntern located some distance away.

    Hundreds of Yin spirits were moaning and crying from within, fated to suffer in anguish for the rest of eternity.

    ¡°All 340 of Kong Mo¡¯s trusted officials are answering for their crimes here.¡± His voice was calm and cid, ¡°I hope the anguish of their souls will give our martyrs some rest. Do you think I¡¯m being too cruel?¡±

    Yang Yanzhao shook his head, ¡°No. While there may be the possibility of a wrongful conviction and sentence, it¡¯s still far better in times like this to err on the side of caution rather than let one slip through our grasp! We simply cannot afford mistakes at times like this.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and continued, ¡°There were also a total of 17 city-grade supervising officers that I¡¯ve spared.¡±

    Yang Yanzhao looked at Qin Ye in astonishment. He smiled softly and waved his hand. Instantly, 17 souls flew out from his hand and transformed into images of Yin spirits.

    However, they looked nothing like they were in the afterlife.

    Rather, they took on the image that they had right before their death in the mortal realm.

    Some of them were headless, some of them appeared to have been run over, and some even had their tongues hanging out of their bloated bodies.

    ¡°Yoke of a Hundred Ghosts. It¡¯s a proprietary spell of the King Yanluo of Hell.¡± Qin Ye nced at his fingers, only to see 17 threads tethering his fingers to each of the 17 Yin spirits. He moved his finger slightly, and one of the Yin spirits immediately cried out in anguish and convulsed on the ground, ¡°Lord Qin¡­ mercy! MERCY!!!¡±

    ¡°These were the officers who attempted to regain control of the Mythic Pce of Reflections towards the end of the war. They deserve to die. But there are three special Yin spirits among their midst, and I found it too much of a waste to simply purge them. Thus, for now, I¡¯ll keep them by my side to execute mymands. If you so desire, you can im their lives from me at any time.¡±

    This is the extension of His Excellency¡¯s grace¡­ Yang Yanzhao pursed his lips. His heart was on fire. His actions in the cemetery, including the act of offering up flowers to Mu Guiying and Yang Yande, as well as his words right now, told Yang Yanzhao that he would always treat the Yang n as a vital part of Hell. He would never rid them once they cease to be useful!

    Such measure of grace extended by a king would in any past dynasty be greater than the highest conferment of title!

    Yang Yanzhao drew a deep breath, cupped his hands respectfully and responded with the utmost sincerity, ¡°Thank you, Your Excellency!¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ safe journeys back.¡± Qin Ye shook Yang Yanzhao¡¯s hands hard, ¡°Unfortunately, I must return to the mortal realm, so I won¡¯t be able to see you off.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Yang Yanzhao boomed back with gratitude, ¡°Please call on your humble servants when you need our assistance again. Through hell or high waters, we will definitely respond!¡±

    He looked up with a zinghermes in his eyes, ¡°My Lord¡­ the Yang n eagerly awaits that moment we can once again don our battle armors for Hell once more!¡±

    ¡°There can only be one voice of the underworld, and that is the voice of Hell, the one and only true master of the underworld!¡±

    ¡°All things are made for Hell, and they will one day return to their rightful owners once more!¡±

    ¡°The Yang n might have missed out on the pioneering works of the First King Yanluo of Hell, but we¡­ will definitely leave our mark in history this time!¡±

 Chapter 456: End of Closed Door Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 456: End of Closed Door Cultivation</h4>

    Martial City, inside a seaside vi.

    It was now 10.00 p.m. Logically speaking, they should be hearing an endless repetition of the usual public broadcast announcements about supernatural events, and all homes should still be brightly lit at night. However, the residents along the entire row of seafront vis had long since moved out. Even the neighbourhoods in the vicinity werepletely abandoned and dark at night.

    ¡°Secretariat Jiang, let¡¯s return.¡± A plump man standing behind sighed softly, ¡°You¡¯ve already been waiting for six hours now. You haven¡¯t even had your dinner. Mr Qin must be at a crucial juncture of his breakthrough. After all, we¡¯re talking about breaching the ranks of an Infernal Judge¡­¡±

    ¡°Can he seed?¡± Secretariat Jiang raised his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes, ¡°He promised to be done in four months, but it¡¯s already been close to half a year! Do you think I¡¯d be so anxious if our situation here weren¡¯t urgent?! Unfortunately¡­ things here are truly critical right now! If he still doesn¡¯t emerge from his closed door cultivation by midnight tonight, we absolutely have to write to Qizhou for assistance!¡±

    Rather, having been a secretariat for such a long time, he already knew the mindset and inclination of the leaders around.

    Therefore, Martial City had thought to consult Qin Ye at the earliest possible time.

    His anxiety could be felt through the short phrase he had spoken over the phone.

    He wanted to say more, but found himselfpletely lost for words. After all, he knew that the emergency in Martial City was raging like a wildfire right now. There was no ce for titudes and words offort.

    ¡°If he doesn¡¯te out by midnight, I¡¯ll be firing off my request for emergency assistance. You have to return by then, understand?¡±

    With that, Secretariat Jiang hung up and nced at the vi once more. Had this been any other time, there would have been a weing party eagerly awaiting the day when a new Infernal Judge emerges from his closed door cultivation. The Special Investigations Department would also be here, prepared to report back to the upper echelons the results of his attempt at breaking through. After all, even the director overseeing operations at the Eastmount Province was only a Judge-ss expert. In other words, Judges are revered experts across the entire nation!

    Besides¡­ can he even seed?

    The ember of the cigarette bud glowed softly in the night sky, almost as though flickering like the wavering anxiety of his heart, ¡°Old Zhou, Old Yu, do you think¡­ Mr Qin can actually seed?¡±

    Several secondster, the plump man sighed as well, ¡°It¡¯s going to be difficult. Incredibly difficult. Nigh impossible.¡±

    He chuckled bitterly, ¡°We¡¯re talking about 176 across more than a billion people. If the three pirs of strength across Cathay refuse to move, these 176 Judge-ss experts would already be considered the strongest battle force across the entire nation. They¡¯re existences akin to the provincial governors of the nation.¡±

    The other man also sighed as he added, ¡°In fact, a Judge is no different from these provincial governors or general secretaries, in that they are for all intents and purposes the top of the food chain. Getting there is just about as difficult as rising through the stiffpetition in civil service and bing a provincial governor. I recall a report I¡¯ve read states that the average age of all Infernal Judges across Cathay are aged 70 years-old. The journey there requires the umtion of life experiences, together with an unceasing determination to push one¡¯s cultivation to the limits. Making such a breakthrough at only age twenty¡­ is practically an impossibility.¡±

    Secretary Jiang leaned against the wall and sighed softly once more.

    But, s, I guess it¡¯s true. If it weren¡¯t a tall order, why would he have taken five months and ten days when he had earlier promised to be done in only four months?

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a little longer¡­¡± Hope was slowly fading from his heart, yet he continued to look at the vi with a bitter smile on his face, ¡°No matter what, we¡¯ll have to extract a response from Mr Qin toda--... to--... to¡­¡±

    Secretariat Jiang¡¯s hands were trembling as he slowly pointed to a location in the distance, ¡°Look there¡­ Isn¡¯t the window up there¡­ open?¡±

    Then, he immediately caught himself, and a grave expression crept up his lips as he nced about warily, ¡°Have the supernatural urrences followed us out here?¡±

    But a split secondter, before any of them could even go on with their spections or posttions, the ground floor lights of the vi came on.

    They froze for three seconds, before ecstasy immediately swelled from the innermost depths of their hearts!

    Secretariat Jiang drew a deep breath, and began to run straight towards the vi. But, just then, the vi¡¯s windows and doors immediately flung wide open at the exact same time, and an immense wave of majesty like that of a god descending upon earth immediately filled the entire coastline they were on!

    Secretariat Jiang felt a gust of wind rush out from the door to the vi, and his clothes and hair were immediately sent flying everywhere. That said, the st of wind onlysted for a moment. He blinked his eyes vacantly, before abruptly turning back, ¡°Old Yu, Old Zhou, d-d-does this mean he¡¯s seeded?¡±

    Right behind him, Investigator Zhou and Investigator Yu were trembling profusely, so much so that they weren¡¯t even able to stand properly on their feet. While Secretariat Jiang had felt a st of wind, the two investigators behind him had instead felt a tyrannical aura pour out from the vi like a ferocious tiger that was released from his shackles.

    It was overbearing as a result of its qualitative difference. There was apprehension surging from their hearts that arose from facing a force so colossal and unpredictable as a mortal faced the elements of nature.

    It was no different from a man standing on top of a mountain, watching the magnificent sunrise emerge from the fog in the east. It was the feeling of being small in the presence of the great.

    Infernal Judge!

    Only a Judge-ss expert could give off such immense pressure. It¡¯spletely different from when Mr Qin first arrived in Martial City! In fact, this is no different from the sensation we get when we return to the provincial capital and report straight to our director!

    ¡°We congratte Mr Qin on bing an Infernal Judge!!¡± The two investigators subconsciously spoke at the same time. What followed immediately after their momentary shock was immense ecstasy that filled their hearts. Even their voices had turned hoarse as they screamed at the top of their voices in adtion of the new Infernal Judge in Cathay.

    Secretariat Jiang froze.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± He asked with a quiver in his voice.

    Are you sure you¡¯re not mistaken?

    ¡°I¡¯m certain! I¡¯m absolutely certain!!¡± Investigator Zhou stared at the vi with a fiery gaze in his eyes. Although he wasn¡¯t able to see anyone within the vi just yet, he still continued to cup his hands in the direction of the vi in a most courteous and polite fashion. He didn¡¯t even bother to straighten his body as he eagerly awaited the Judge, ¡°This is definitely a Judge¡­ Only a Judge would be able to give off such pressure! Something like that simply cannot be feigned!¡±

    ¡°This is unbelievable!¡±

    They had just dered it to be impossible a moment ago, so who could have thought fate woulde right around and give them a tight p in the face the very next moment? Yet, even then, they didn¡¯t find it painful; it even felt somewhat good to be proven wrong in such circumstances. In fact, if being pped in the face could give rise to such results, they wouldn¡¯t mind being pped repeatedly, even until their entire face bes swollen!

    Both nodded their heads promptly, before pointing to the coastline that wasn¡¯t far away. Secretariat Jiang nced over, and immediately narrowed his eyes. After a protracted pause, he finally gasped in horror.

    Waves were supposed to move in only a single direction, and that was to crash repeatedly against the shore. But now¡­ they appeared to be flowing backwards, almost as though they were terrified of something and escaping from its presence. To that end, the cascading tides even formed waves that were more than a meter high that continued to crash back into the depths of the sea!

    Gulp¡­ He couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously. Just then, a voice spoke softly and cut through the tense silence, ¡°Pardon the tardiness. I¡¯ve managed to break through the shackles of a Judge ten days ago. I¡¯d merely been trying to get a hold of my newfound abilities. Apologies.¡±

    ¡°I-I¡¯ll immediately report this to the top brass! Infernal Judge¡­ We¡¯ve now got a new Infernal Judge in Martial City! They¡¯ll be sending someone down to verify your breakthrough shortly! I-it¡¯s my honour to have witnessed the emergence of a brand-new Judge from his closed-door cultivation!¡±

    ¡°Immediately call Secretary Ma!¡±

    ¡°Apart from Qizhou, the provincial capital of Eastmount Province, there is now another city with the presence of an Infernal Judge!! Oh, that¡¯s right! Notify the First Academy of Cultivators¡­ as well as thework of cultivators! Never mind, we¡¯ll do thetter! Oh, I¡¯ll also contact Cultivators Fortnightly for you! Something as special as this will immediately be an overnight sensation!!!¡±

 Chapter 457: Alarm in Martial City

    <h4>Chapter 457: rm in Martial City</h4>

    Just as they were done speaking, a figure suddenly walked through the door of the vi.

    It was Qin Ye.

    He had initiallymitted to a period of only four months, yet ended up taking an additional month and ten days. He couldn¡¯t afford to disappoint the government of Martial City any longer. That said, he hadn¡¯t had the time to contemte how he was going to act in his newfound role as a Judge - to act all noble and distant, or to continue being warm to his loyal subjects.

    It was an issue.

    I should have addressed my mind to this before returning¡­ Qin Ye sighed, deciding that the best way forward was to act as he had always acted in the past to these people. Thus, with an amiable smile, he looked up and nodded at them, ¡°Sorry that I¡¯ve kept you all waiting.¡±

    The two investigators were filled with excitement. This was the first time that they hade this close to an Infernal Judge! It¡¯s a Judge! A real-life, living and breathing Judge! And the youngest Judge-ss expert in the history of Cathay to boot! Thesest few hours haven¡¯t been spent in vain at all! It¡¯s all worth it in the end!

    Ah? Did Mr Qin¡¯s lips move earlier? He seems to have said something?

    Unfortunately, the howl of the wind was far too loud, and they weren¡¯t able to make out what Qin Ye was saying¡­ Holy crap! Lord Judge is speaking to us right now!

    The two fanboys immediately snapped back to their senses, drew a deep breath and cupped their hands respectfully, ¡°Not to worry, sir, thesest few hours don¡¯t count for anything much! The fact that we were able to witness the glorious emergence of an all new Judge makes everything well worth it!¡±

    As soon as they said those words, they immediately developed the urge to give themselves a tight p across the cheeks.

    Who are we kidding? A few hours isn¡¯t considered long? Aren¡¯t we implying that he¡¯s been making us wait? Why the hell is our IQ so out of whack today?!

    Fortunately, Qin Ye didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. He smiled, ¡°Did something happen in Martial City?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Secretariat Jiang sighed softly and finally managed to calm down. Even then, he didn¡¯t bother concealing the tion on his face, ¡°Twelve hours ago, we detected a Hellguard-ss eruption of Yin energy. And not just one source of it, but three sources to boot! Martial City¡¯s Special Investigations Department wasn¡¯t able to cope with these developments, and that was why we were specially sent down to seek your assistance.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned slightly.

    Yin spirits were territorial in nature.

    All Yin spirits under the ranks of Hellguards are loosely considered earthbound spirits. The term earthbound spirit refers to Yin spirits who are unable to move beyond one hundred meters in radius from their ce of death. That said, Hunter-ss and Operative-ss Yin spirits are ghosts that can continue to move around within a city or a county without requiring their physical bodies to be shifted. It was for this reason that That Amorous Affair was only able to act as she did when her corpse was shifted to Clear Creek County.

    But Hellguards were different.

    Hellguards were already able to embark on dawn voyages, which meant that they were also free from the shackles of the location of their corpses. That said, 99% of Anitya Hellguards would still continue to act in ordance with their concept of territoriality rather than move about like wandering nomads. This was an observation backed by thousands of years¡¯ worth of data from the old Hell. To that end, the supernatural perimeter established by the mortal realm was erected primarily to contain ghosts that are Hellguard-ss and beyond, rather than to keep them out of a location altogether.

    Thus, a Hellguard-ss ghost would never of their own volition cross territorial borders and enter other territories unprovoked, especially not territories where supernatural perimeters were set up and running. Even if a Hellguard-ss ghost were being hunted down, the first thing on their minds would be to escape to the far-flung corners of the forests or mountains, rather than encroach upon the territory of the living where the supernatural perimeter is likely the most active. Besides, three Hellguards at one time?

    Without much further ado, Yin energy that was disguised as true energy erupted from his body. The two investigators felt their hearts skip a beat as the air around them almost appeared to stop moving altogether. A split secondter, the lights by the streets some distance away appeared to stop flickering altogether. Even the shadows that appeared to dance like demons celebrating darkness seemed to shrink back in the face of Qin Ye¡¯s eruption of energy.

    This is a Judge¡¯s disy of strength¡­ Both investigators exchanged a tacit nce before sensibly shifting to the side.

    Whoosh!

    Qin Ye¡¯s energy appeared to nket the entire city, almost as though it were a dark cloud. Not a single supernatural being was able to elude his gaze. In that very moment, every single Yin spirit across the entire Martial City was able to feel Qin Ye¡¯s presence.

    Whether streets, cemeteries, roads, or even the deste parts of the city most of the Yin spirits in the vicinity had already been captured by Kong Mo and whisked off to Qufu. The ones that remained were naturally the weakest of wandering spirits. Their bodies trembled under the weight of Qin Ye¡¯s gaze, and their ethereal bodies even appeared to be on the verge of copse. Their knees buckled, and they all knelt down to the ground. Thud, thud, thud¡­

    Anyone in Martial City who possessed infernal eyes would marvel at the amazing sight of all Yin spirits kneeling prostrate on the ground right now. There wasn¡¯t a single exception, and they all kept their heads bowed low, cowering like cicadas as they feared to even raise their heads in the slightest.

    At the edge of Martial City, atop an abandoned construction building. Three pairs of flickering eyes looked up in unison at the sky. Horror filled their eyes. Momentster, they trembled profusely, and then struggled against the innermost desire to bow down in submission.

    Unfortunately, the weight bearing down on them felt no different from an overbearing mountain. Secondster, they all knelt down to the ground with a resounding thud, bowing so low that they were practically kowtowing to the ground.

    ¡°Infernal Judge¡­ Infernal Judge!! How could there be a Judge around these parts?!!¡± One of the Yin spirits nced around with bloodshot eyes. It was a man with terrifying cut wounds across his throat. The words spoken were hoarse and airy.

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ But I can tell that this is a genuine Infernal Judge¡­ A living Infernal Judge! It¡¯s no mere pretense!¡± The Yin spirit beside him was an old man covered with dark livor mortis spots, almost as though he had just mbered out of his coffin after countless years in the ground. His voice quivered violently, ¡°A-and it¡¯s different from the other cultivators we¡¯ve encountered before¡­ I-I can feel it¡­ T-t-there seems to be an innate majesty and authority flowing from his body¡­ How terrifying¡­¡±

    The final evil ghost was a middle-aged woman, somewhat plump with a bloated body. Her teeth chattered softly, ¡°Do you think that¡­ it¡­ it will stille after us? T-t-there¡¯s an Infernal Judge in Martial City after all¡­¡±

    Dead silence.

    Secondster, the old man gritted his teeth and responded in the affirmative, ¡°It will.¡±

    ¡°Run¡­ we¡¯ve got to get out of here. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but the entire Eastmount Province has been incredibly chaotic¡­ And lest you¡¯ve forgotten, it¡­ is also a mighty Judge¡­¡±

    ¡°Once this Infernal Judge is done with his scrutiny of the area, we¡¯ve got to go! We have to leave immediately! I can see that it¡­ is nearing Martial City in no time¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Martial City.

    The supernatural broadcasts that have been ying ever so regrly had caused the outskirts of the city to be no different from deste, barrennds. Even then, nothing prevented a bold old man on crutches from hobbling and limping down the road.

    He was abnormally thin - so much so that he appeared practically skin and bones. His eyes were shut tight, but the direction of his travel was undoubtedly Martial City. Just then, he suddenly opened his eyes.

    There were no eyeballs underneath his eyelids. Instead, there were only two point-sizedhermes that were pulsating softly. The mes leapt half a foot high into the air in the instant he opened his eyes, before promptly shrinking back to where it came from again.

    ¡°Infernal Judge?¡±

    ¡°Martial City doesn¡¯t have any records of Infernal Judges¡­ So¡­ has this Judge suddenly appeared out of nowhere?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m still too far away. There¡¯s no telling who this Infernal Judge is. That said¡­ is he¡­ a demonstration of his ability to me?¡±

    Silence.

    Several secondster, he snorted coldly, before forging forward once more, ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve not tasted the flesh of a Judge for a long time now. A Judge-ss mortal expert¡­ Hahaha¡­ Next to Hell, the mortal realm is truly a heavenly existence¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye slowly retracted his Yin energy.

    There are indeed three Hellguard-ss Yin spirits here. What are they doing here?

    He didn¡¯t speak out. Instead, his eyes narrowed slightly as he went deep in thought. Truth be told, he could have easily destroyed the three Hellguard-ss Yin spirits earlier, but he decided against it anyway.

    It was because intuition told him something was amiss.

    It couldn¡¯t have been catalyzed by the appearance of a treasure of sorts. Qin Ye didn¡¯t believe in such tropes or plot devices. Having ruled out those matters, Qin Ye turned his mind to address another possibility for the appearance of the three Hellguards.

    Ashmound was crumbling!

    Things were taking a twist for the unusual. The old Hell¡¯s copse saw the dispersion of three daolords. The daolord of the asura managed to escape to the three eastern provinces. After a hundred long years, they finally guessed that Hell had copsed, and they began to reach back into the heart of Cathay.

    By then, the three eastern provinces had already be a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts. The daolord of the asura sought to return to the heart of Cathay bynd, but their efforts were obstructed by the great bulwark of defenses put up by Yan Capital and Jin province. Not even a powerful daolord dared to push their luck that way. Thus, they decided to cross the sea and enter Cathay through Eastmount instead. Unfortunately, little did they expect Eastmount Province and even Breakwaters Province to be under the control of the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness.

    Homeground advantage meant that their forces were practically at a deadlock against each other. Besides, Kong Mo was clearly a pawn of the Confucian family. He was armed with dozens of powerful Yin artifacts, together with the space fortress that was the Mythic Pce of Reflections. Fortunately, with the bulk of their forces deployed in the deadlock against each other, Hell managed to sneak between the gaps and steal a base from the Alliance of Darkness from behind.

    The tussle of forces had transformed Eastmount into the stage for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. An obscure hell had been propelled into fame by their calcted conquest, and the tides of war had turned in their favour.

    I wonder how the war ravaging through Eastmount is affecting the Yin spirits?

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Would the presence of the three Hellguards be nothing more than the byproduct of the great war between the three factions?

    Perhaps¡­ I might even be able to understand a thing or two from these Yin spirits¡­ This was why Qin Ye had decided to spare the three Hellguards their lives.

    Naturally, there were other contributing reasons as well. For instance, the fact that they were fleeing to Martial City meant that these Yin spirits were by no means a part of the forces of the Alliance of Darkness or the daolord of the asura. In fact, they probably didn¡¯t understand the implications of war, and they weren¡¯t even qualified to be a part of the great tussle of powers. Beyond that, there were other reasons that could be gleaned from the clues in the mortal realm.

    ¡°When did it begin?¡± Qin Ye asked as he walked towards the SUV that was parked outside. Secretariat Jiang handed his cell phone over, ¡°12 noon. There was a series of reports of supernatural incidents, all of which were determined to have been caused by ghosts that are Hunter-ss or stronger. Finally, after further investigations, we¡¯ve finally managed to determine that it was caused by three Hellguard-ss ghosts, and we confirmed their direction of travel as well. Secretary Ma has given the go ahead to show you these case files. Everything is on the cell phone.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately recoiled in shock as soon as he received the phone.

    It was incredibly hot!

    Furthermore, it was vibrating incessantly.

    ¡°Samsung, right?¡± Qin Ye quipped back, ¡°Recently, there has been a spate of reports stating that this brand of cell phone is prone to spontaneousbustion. Look at your phone. I¡¯m guessing that it¡¯s almost there as well.¡±

    Secretariat Jiang smiled bitterly, ¡°I¡¯d like to get it changed as well. Unfortunately, the city government is on good terms with Samsung. Due to our location, Samsung Group¡¯s first port of call has always been in the Eastmount Province. Furthermore, given how Eastmount has managed to make a name for itself as an industrial powerhouse province, Samsung Group has already set up forty parts assembly nts here in Eastmount.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll just have to be careful.¡± Qin Ye tapped on the screen as he frowned slightly. ¡°Otherwise, you might actually just end up--...¡±

    Then, before he could finish speaking, the cell phone exploded in his hand. Fortunately, Qin Ye was already prepared to react to such exigencies, and he promptly contained the explosion and shattering debris with his Judge-ss Yin energy.

    Things immediately turned awkward.

    It had exploded as soon as Qin Ye called it, almost as though¡­ the phone was waiting for Qin Ye¡¯smand¡­

    ¡°About that¡­¡± Secondster, Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Should I buy a new one for you?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s fine¡­¡± Secretariat Jiang grimaced, ¡°I can get it reced by the government. This was issued by the government anyway. Everything we use is provided by the Samsung Group¡­¡±

    I guess there¡¯s no choice but to return to the city hall¡­ Qin Ye thought to himself as he began to catch some shuteye.

    Soon, the car arrived at the entrance to the city hall. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Secretary Ma of the municipal partymittee, Qian Jianjun, captain of the 856th regiment, as well as the cultivators of the Special Investigations Department, Martial City branch office, led by their deputy chief, Wu Wenqing. Everyone was waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s arrival with expressions of great excitement.

    As soon as he got out of the car, Wu Wenqing immediately rushed over, ¡°Mr Qin! Have you¡­ finally broken through to the ranks of an Infernal Judge?¡±

 Chapter 458: Astonishment of the Investigators

    <h4>Chapter 458: Astonishment of the Investigators</h4>

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Luck was on my side.¡± Qin Ye spoke as casually about it as he could.

    Watch the public persona! By hook or by crook, I¡¯ve got to make sure that my public persona remains as intact as it can be!

    He knew that he bore the appearances of a man in histe teens or early twenties at best. If he didn¡¯t carry himself with some measure of dignity, he wouldn¡¯t be able tomand the respect that he so deserved. This was the reason why he had always watched his public persona at all times.

    Qin-longsuffering-Ye frowned softly, ¡°What happened in Martial City? Were there no symptoms before the supernatural incident struck?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Secretary Ma sighed softly and shook his head, ¡°And that¡¯s precisely why it feels extremely fishy. Generally speaking, we would always see signs before the formation of all hunting zones and predatory zones. But these were the exception to the norm. Supernatural incidents suddenly urred without any warning, and the severity of the outbreak is even akin to that of a predatory zone. We¡¯re talking about twelve lives in a dozen or so hours - an average of one per hour. This is truly beyond our capabilities. It¡¯s only for this reason that we had no choice but to seek your assistance.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded slightly.

    If these were indeed Yin spirits that had escaped from the battlegrounds at which Kong Mo and the daolord of the asura were shing, then it would only mean that there have been further developments on the battlefields!

    Possibility one: Kong Mo possessed might that could even threaten an Abyssal Prefect, and had no choice but to use it. The coteral damage from such attacks routed the Hellguards that were now in town.

    Possibility two: The daolord of the asura had wised up to Kong Mo¡¯s predicament. If the daolord had truly learnt that Kong Mo had lost Ashmound to Hell, then rather than remain passive, the daolord would most certainly seize the initiative and push Kong Mo off the precipice of no return. ordingly, the all-out attack startled the rest of the Yin spirits in the vicinity, sending all evil ghosts who were in hiding fleeing for their lives.

    Secretary Ma noticed that Qin Ye appeared to be deep in thought. Thus, he coughed dryly to get Qin Ye¡¯s attention, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ shall we speak inside?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and followed the entire entourage of people into the city hall. It was only after he entered then that a number of men dressed in camouge uniforms silently strode out from their hiding ces.

    It was as if they had been hiding and watching for an inordinate amount of time now.

    Camouge uniforms were generally worn by soldiers. However, these men were clearly not part of those ranks. After all, soldiers didn¡¯t wear cor pins, but they did. They were pins that depicted the red g of Cathay. Their epaulets also revealed a unique insignia of a hand with a clenched fist, different from any of those worn by the military soldiers of Cathay.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± One of the men dressed in camouge uniform walked over. It was a young man who spoke with a flushed expression, ¡°Are we certain that he¡¯s indeed a Judge?¡±

    Wu Wenqing remained silent as he turned to look at the entrance to the city hall that Qin Ye had just entered.

    Momentster, the young man couldn¡¯t help but raise his voice slightly, ¡°Sir, is he, or is he not?!¡±

    It was only then that Wu Wenqing finally responded with a harsh re, ¡°Can¡¯t you sense it yourself?!¡±

    ¡°I-I was scared stiff by his aura. Truth be told, I could barely breathe in his presence. Seriously? Is he seriously an Infernal Judge? The one and the same Infernal Judge like our head honcho back in Qizhou?¡±

    Wu Wenqing nodded softly, before turning to gaze softly at the entrance to the city hall once more. His heart was in flux, and it took him a long time before he finally sighed with great emotion, ¡°A 19 years-old Judge¡­ Dear heavens¡­ I wouldn¡¯t have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I¡¯m nearly 45 years-old, and I¡¯m still no more than a mere Soul Hunter at that¡­¡±

    Secondster, he turned back around, ready to address his men, when he suddenly noticed all of his camouged subordinates staring down at the phones in their hands. He immediately frowned, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Adding him as a friend, of course.¡± The young man dressed in camouge stared back at Wu Wenqing inexplicably. And then, he was struck with an epiphany, ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right! Chief, you don¡¯t like increasing your circle of friends, do you¡­¡±

    ¡°Tomfoolery!¡± Wu Wenqing snorted as he snatched the phone from the young man¡¯s hand, only to notice that the young man had already posted a public message, ¡°Amazing! Witnessed the birth of another Infernal Judge! The youngest Infernal Judge in the history of Cathay!¡±

    In just a few seconds, there were already a dozen or soments, and even more likes.

    ¡°You¡¯re in Martial City?¡± ¡°Is there really a new Judge? My god¡­ there¡¯s going to be an upheaval in the bnce of political powers once more.¡± ¡°A new Infernal Judge, huh¡­ Why am I still a Netherworld Operative?! When will I finally be an Infernal Judge?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s time to sleep.¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and delete it!¡± Wu Wenqing tossed the phone back and addressed his warning to everyone, ¡°Judge-ss experts are equal to the deputy director of the Special Investigations Department! Representatives of his alma mater, the First Academy of Cultivators, will have to verify his status and personally update his resume. Someone from Qizhou will being over shortly as well. We will have to issue a proper press release in our capacity as the Special Investigations Department, Martial City branch office, and not disclose such information in our own personal capacities! Then, there¡¯s still thework of cultivators, as well as the various cultivation journals and magazines to notify! Finally, there will be a confirmation from the headquarters on the veracity of our press release! Who do you think you are?! Do you think you can simply circumvent the entire press release system that has already been set in ce before you were even born?!¡±

    The young man seized up for a moment, before immediately deleting his social media post. Even then, his expression appeared incredibly constipated.

    This was the prime opportunity to secure myself a whole wealth of likes¡­ What a wasted opportunity¡­ Perhaps I¡¯ll just circte a message to my inner circle of friends, rather than by way of a public message¡­

    The others who heard the word of caution also deleted their messages hastily. Wu Wenqing snorted once more, before walking over, ¡°Let¡¯s follow them for now. Listen to what a Judge says, and analyze it thoroughly. It might just point us in the right direction for the future.¡±

    You can still do something like that?

    Everyone immediately followed closely behind, but their hearts were clearly elsewhere, because they were still busy tapping on the phones in their hands.

    Martial City Community of Cultivators.

    ¡°Breaking news! Mr Qin has broken through and attained the ranks of an Infernal Judge! He¡¯se out of his closed door cultivation!¡± ¡°That¡¯s awesome! We finally have an Infernal Judge here in Martial City! My goodness¡­ I¡¯d never thought that a day like that woulde in my lifetime!¡±

    A series of messages immediately began to bombard themunity chat. Even a number ofmunity group members who had never surfaced for anything were dragged right out of their hiding by the incredible news.

    ¡°Is this a dream?! Mr Qin? The one who took up the assignment here in Martial City, before immediately entering closed door cultivation for over five months? He¡¯s actually managed to break through to the ranks of an Infernal Judge?! Holy crap!!¡± -- Flowers Blooming.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that a Judge can practically guarantee the lives of his subordinates if he¡¯s willing. Doesn¡¯t this mean that any missions we carry out here in Martial City would be 100% safe? All we need is to make a timely plea for help, right?¡± -- That Old Dream

    ¡°Are you saying that¡­ we will all have the privilege and honour of working under such an otherworldly figurehead? A small fourth-tier city like us is actually going to be no different from the great cities like Eastsea or Yan Capital?!!!¡± -- Self Pleasuring Dog Licks

    ¡°Preceding user is reminded to be more mindful of your username. The administrators of this group have been rather strict in recent times. You may even get blocked. Anyway, can I check if Chief Wu will be abdicating from giving our monthly ideological education lectures from now on?¡± -- Long Horse Face

    ¡°Definitely! Please abdicate your responsibility, Chief Wu!¡±

    Qin Ye obviously was unaware of these things that were taking ce behind his back. He knew that the emergence of an Infernal Judge in the mortal realm was something groundbreaking that would need to be verified thoroughly. But, even then, he didn¡¯t think much of his own achievements.

    I¡¯m just an Infernal Judge¡­

    Our enemies are currently Prefect-ss or even Yama-ss entities! We¡¯ve even just uncovered the silver spear belonging to one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, Zhao Zilong¡­

    I really can¡¯t help but make light of Infernal Judges...

    That¡¯s right! Zhou Xianlong, I¡¯m talking about you!!

    Whenever his thoughts drifted off to the miserable times when he was nearly wrung dry back at the First Academy of Cultivators, he couldn¡¯t help but develop the urge to provoke Zhou Xianlong to a fight to the death - Bring it on! I want to fight ten of you!

    But he forcibly suppressed these roiling emotions and maintained a cid, unwavering expression on his face that was befitting of a Judge as he followed Secretary Ma into the conference room. This was the situation room that Wu Wenqing usually presided over. However, Wu Wenqing had sensibly moved to the side of the table, and made an inviting gesture to Qin Ye for him to take the head.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t struggle against the decision either. Then, just as he was about to take his seat, several men and women dressed in camouge uniforms cautiously entered the room.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Secretary Ma was somewhat startled.

    ¡°This is the captain of the Martial City branch office of the Special Investigations Department.¡± Wu Wenqing exined, ¡°These developments havee suddenly, but your assessment of the situation might just be a good learning point for them all. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve taken the liberty to ask them to sit in while you break down the situation. Mr Qin, would you mind?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded with approval. Having presided over a general assembly in front of tens of millions of Yin spirits where he even had to make the difficult decision to break up the overflowing poption of Ashmound into smaller districts, something like that was truly nothing to be too concerned about.

    With that, everyone took their seats in silence.

    Everyone¡¯s breaths heated up and grew shallow, while Qin Ye could sense a multitude of passionate gazesnding on him as they slowly sized him up.

    Ignoring them all, Qin Ye turned to Wu Wenqing and nodded at him. Wu Wenqing immediately stood up and walked towards the back of the room, where a map of the Yin energy distribution across the city was disyed. Martial City was covered all over in orange splotches.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Qin Ye frowned slightly. Orange¡­ This reflects the alert status. Is the entire city on orange alert?

    Since this was the first time he was chairing the meeting in Martial City, he decided to get the lowdown on the details, ¡°Was it like this before?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Everyone¡¯s expressions turned somber as Wu Wenqing shook his head, ¡°Before noon today, our entire city was stillrgely green, with only tinges of yellow in certain areas. Most areas can be considered safe zones, with the exception of a few hunting zones.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly. So, that¡¯s how it is¡­

    He had been negligent.

    Arge number of other Yin spirits had also entered the city together with the three Hellguard-ss Yin spirits!

    Having been immersed in the presence of a multitude of Yin spirits over thest few months, he had subconsciously glossed over the presence of the other ordinary Yin spirits in the mortal realm. Only Hellguard-ss Yin spirits and above were entities that would draw his attention. Who would have thought that something as seemingly insignificant as mere ordinary Yin spirits would end up hiding right under the radar?

    But that makes sense¡­ If my posttions are right, then¡­ the confrontation between Kong Mo and the daolord of the asura would definitely have affected a multitude of other Yin spirits as well. The three Hellguards may have led the escape, but arge number of ordinary Yin spirits would have taken the opportunity to tether themselves to the Hellguards and flee alongside them. They might be no more than wandering spirits now, but given the concentration of Yin spirits around, it¡¯s only going to be a matter of decades before their presence begets an incarnate revenant¡­

    These events had deepened his understanding of the world of Yin and Yang.

    The confrontation between the daolord and Kong Mo was indubitably taking ce at Limbo.

    Since that¡¯s a different realm altogether, it wouldn¡¯t affect the mortal realm, right?

    Wrong. Battles on this scale involving millions of Yin soldiers would generate ripples and ramifications that transcend the limits of realms. For instance, albeit located in different realms, many Yin spirits in the vicinity are terrified of being drawn into the war between the two mighty factions, and therefore end up scattering to the neighbouring cities like cancerous cells. Should these developments be handled poorly in the mortal realm, things in Eastmount Province could quickly spiral out of control in no time.

    Just then, he recalled the recruitment advertisement that he noticed back in the First Academy of Cultivators - No¡­ things are already beginning to spiral out of control¡­

    The daolord and Kong Mo both head incredibly powerful factions. Previously, things still looked somewhat in control because most of the Yin spirits were concentrated in the vicinity of Ashmount City and subject to the control of the Alliance of Darkness. Havinge from the Confucian Family in Hell, Kong Mo must have known the importance of maintaining bnce in the mortal realm and preventing things from spiralling into chaos. This is one of the prime benefits of keeping the entities of the underworld under the control of a single government. However, the arrival of the daolord was like the catalyst that ignited the fuse. It didn¡¯t take long before countless low-grade and mid-grade Yin spirits slowly began to crawl out of the cracks of Limbo and into the mortal realm.

    Naturally, these were nothing more than spection on his part. It was entirely premised on the notion that the three Hellguard-ss Yin spirits and the throng of Yin spirits that followed them had all escaped from the point of confrontation between the two mighty factions.

    That said, this was an easily proven hypothesis.

    ¡°Chief Wu, please apprise me of the location of these supernatural incidents, and the exact time at which they happened."

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wu Wenqing took a deep breath and pointed to a location, ¡°The first supernatural incident took ce at 10.00 a.m. It happened on the outskirts of the city, on Bright Avenue.¡±

    ¡°This road is a rather long road that runs straight through the entire city of Martial City, and connects directly to the national highway.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the LED screen that Wu Wenqing was pointing at - It happens to be located right on the borderline dividing two adjacent cities, namely Martial City and Stalwart City!

    The location of the incident made him almost certain of his judgment!

    But he remained silent, because¡­ he suddenly noticed that something else was amiss.

    Dawn voyage? Why?

    There was a tense silence in the room, broken only by the soft taps of Qin Ye¡¯s fingers on the table.

    Something¡¯s still not right!

    Even if the battle were taking ce at Stalwart City, what¡¯s the urgency in rushing out in broad daylight?

    And even then, it would suffice to simply leave the border of Stalwart City. There wouldn¡¯t be a need to rush along by day. This almost feels like they¡¯re trying to escape through Martial City itself!

    A ravaging battleground wouldn¡¯t be sufficient to trigger such a response from them.

    What¡¯s causing such panic in their hearts?

    It¡¯s almost as though¡­ something was chasing after them?

 Chapter 459: The Shepherd of Souls (1)

    <h4>Chapter 459: The Shepherd of Souls (1)</h4>

    ¡°1407 hours, An old man was discovered hanging from a drying rack inside a six-story low-rise building along Chongming Road. A resident who was hanging up hisundry noticed him. Upon closer inspection, he discovered the old man to be nothing more than¡­ dangling human skin.¡±

    Qin Ye picked it up and scanned through its contents. Credit where it was due, the city government had acted with incredible speed. Within the span of merely a few hours, they had already managed to gather all rted information, including details pertaining to the resident¡¯s rtionship with his neighbours, full particrs of his children and their whereabouts, and so on and so forth. Their inferences and conjectures were also done up neatly and cogently.

    The pale old man still wore a creepy smile on his face, and his entire skin appeared to be shrouded in darkness. It was a startling sight. One could hear from the audio of the recording that there were a number of dogs barking incessantly, almost as though they were desperately warning their owners of the impending dangers.

    The captains sitting in for the meeting desperately jotted down notes for themselves. One of the men leaned over to the side and asked softly, ¡°Evil ghosts who possess the ability of dawn voyage would never--... Hey, whates after that? I need to record these details. This is likely going to be used in the uing examinations.¡±

    Did something go wrong somewhere?

    ¡°1520 hours. Wild dogs were spotted barking madly at a dumpster. Policemen were called in to investigate and clean out the dumpster. It was only then that they uncovered¡­ literally, skin and bones! It was actually skin and bones! If one even mishandled the bones in the slightest, it would undoubtedly puncture the skin and emerge from within.¡±

    ¡°1603 hours. Three elderly people died at the same time after looking into the mirror at a home for the elderly. ording to the attendants, they had earlier eximed that they¡­ saw a reflection of themselves when they were young in the mirror.¡±

    ¡°Next up--...¡±

    Wu Wenqing smiled bitterly, ¡°Jumping off a building is nothing. What¡¯s bizarre is the autopsy report.¡± He drew a deep breath and continued, ¡°This male teacher¡­ was determined to have died three hours ago, and his body was already covered in livor mortis spots at the point of death. We¡¯re talking about¡­ a corpse jumping off the roof of a building. Furthermore, we couldn¡¯t find any traces of fingerprints belonging to any others on his body at all.¡±

    Evil ghosts capable of dawn voyage truly have a plethora of means when ites to disposing of their victims.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows, ¡°Let¡¯s zoom out on the map a little.¡±

    ¡°It all started with Bright Avenue, and then Wanda za some distance south of where the first incident urred¡­¡± Qin Ye picked up an electronic pointer and made some red markings on the screen, before going on, ¡°And then, we move on to the Loquat Mountain Neighbourhood, which is approximately three kilometers south of Wanda za. Next up, the Dayang Neighbourhood, which is located below the Pipa Mountain Neighbourhood. By this point, we¡¯ve already crossed almost half of the city.¡±

    Wu Wenqing looked at the red markings on the map and pondered aloud, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Qin Ye asked cidly, ¡°How long has it been since thest supernatural incident?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°And if my guess is right, then the next ce¡­¡±

    Silence.

    Several secondster, Secretary Ma queried, ¡°Have you¡­ seen the reports?¡±

    ¡°Because, just two hours ago, the spate of supernatural incidents have spread to the Antai Neighbourhood, which is located right above the Southbrook Neighbourhood.¡± Wu Wenqing continued, ¡°Mr Qin, did you pick up on something?¡±

    ¡°Fleeing?¡± Everyone immediately looked up in shock. It was a concept that was foreign to them.

    Something like that¡­ can actually sense fear as well?

    Yin spirits did feel fear. In fact, they were terrified of many things.

    ¡°This is the only exnation for their behaviour. Something terrifying to the Yin spirits is currently hot on their tails.¡± He pointed to the screen and continued, ¡°Martial City is where the Yellow River runs into the sea. The ocean sits on the north, and Stalwart City sits on the south. The city of ironwood lies to the east, while Stillmound City lies to the west. These Yin spirits must havee fleeing from the east, even bringing a whole host of Yin spirits alongside them. Everyone¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t they go directly to Stillmound City?¡± One of the captains couldn¡¯t help but interject with a question, ¡°Doesn¡¯t Stillmound City also border Martial City?¡±

    He paused for a moment and lit up a cigarette, but left itpletely untouched. Two minutester, he shook his head despondently, ¡°But why would they pause along the way to kill human beings? It doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡±

    ¡°No.¡¯ Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°My perspective on the matter is the exact opposite. This, to me, is the telltale sign that they¡¯re currently on the run, and that there is indeed something terrifying that is hot on their tails.¡±

    The implications underlying that statement immediately jolted everyone out of their reverie and right back to their senses.

    ¡°And the fact that they¡¯ve still been going strong at it tells me that they haven¡¯t recovered from their wounds as yet!¡± Another investigator chimed in.

    ¡°Well, then. Leave this matter to me.¡± Qin Ye chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s just as well, because I¡¯m personally quite curious as to what could possibly cause three Hellguards and such arge pack of Yin spirits to flee for their lives.¡±

    Wu Wenqing was just about to respond when he noticed everyone¡¯s looks of eager anticipation. And then, he held himself back.

    We¡¯re talking about something that we could only pray for on the forums!

    After all, this was an incident involving three Hellguard-ss Yin spirits. If they tailed alongside Qin Ye, they might well end up being a cumbersome deadweight. Wu Wenqing chuckled bitterly and cupped his hands, ¡°Then I suppose we have no choice but to entrust this matter to Mr Qin.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Coastal area.

    There was nothing else on the surface of the sea, because it was practically impossible to stay afloat on the surface of the waters. Anyone who entered the waters would end up being dragged into the waters and perish in its depths.

    That said, there was one gigantic ind that had appeared on the surface of the seas. The peak of the mound was surrounded by endless clouds of Yin energy, while countless skeletal crows flew across the surface of the ind. The crimsonherme that filled the sky covered thends with a sinister scarlet hue, making it look no different from a terrifying demon that was emerging from the depths of the abyss.

    In fact, it looked almost like a magnificent pce seen in the glory days of the old Hell. Furthermore¡­ it was still moving!

    Furthermore, it wasn¡¯t the only creature that was swimming in the ocean!

    Scarlet mes danced about the paper pce, while skeletal dogs roamed itspound freely. Someone stood right at the top of the paper pce, gazing out into the distance without any emotion in his eyes at all.

    ¡°My Lord.¡± A humanoid paper effigy walked over, ¡°It¡¯s time for your medicine.¡±

    The humanoid paper effigy didn¡¯t dare to say more. The only thing separating him from the figure within was the thin green veil that was fluttering with the wind. And yet, he didn¡¯t dare to even look up at the figureying on the bed. The eyes of the paper effigy were obviously painted on, and yet they still trembled with great fear.

    ¡°I was the one who created you, and I naturally have every right to take your life away.¡±

 Chapter 460: The Shepherd of Souls (2)

    <h4>Chapter 460: The Shepherd of Souls (2)</h4>

    The figure behind the veil slowly sat up, ¡°Where did today¡¯s medicinee from¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°N-n-none¡­¡± The humanoid paper effigy immediately set down the bowl and began to kowtow to his master, ¡°My Lord¡­ it¡¯s impossible to get it! The mortal realm is watching us far too closely. It¡¯s impossible to dispatch Hellguard-ss Yin spirits to the mortal realm to harvest what My Lord is looking for¡­¡±

    The humanoid paper effigy continued to kowtow resoundingly as he responded softly, ¡°My Lord, the two battalions have been ordered to wrap around through the surrounding cities in order to prevent Kong Mo from getting away.¡±

    The humanoid paper effigy didn¡¯t dare answer.

    The figure within the veil continued speaking, almost as though he were speaking to himself. Then, his iparably old and hoarse voice suddenly transformed into that of a young child, and a chorus of mourning ghosts appeared to echo alongside his voice as he chuckled eerily, ¡°Armed with this sword, the Yellow Emperor cleaved a realm into two, forming the mortal realm and the underworld as we know it. Chaos ensued, and Yin and Yang were divided. This was the origin of the underworld as we know it. From then on, only half of the sword remained in the mortal realm. Legend has it that the other half was lost in the underworld. It was an artifact that not even Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was able to destroy.¡±

    ¡°But little did I expect¡­¡± A head suddenly rose up from behind the veil, staring intently at the endless darkness outside with two spots of ghastly scarlethermes in his eyes, ¡°The other half of the sword was actually in the Confucian Family¡¯s possession! And they would even entrust it to the hands of someone like Kong Mo! They¡¯re truly worthy of their name as one of the top gentries of Hell¡­ no wonder Kong Mo dared resist our forces at the Azurewaters City for such a long time¡­ cough cough¡­¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t die from this.¡± The figure hidden behind the veil cackled softly as a scarlet tongue wrapped around the floating head, stroking it as though he were ying with a cat, ¡°There¡¯s hardly any more Yin spirits out there that have lived for over 100 years. Conversely, we see the rise of proud, arrogant young ghosts who are no more than 50 years-old. Haha¡­ none of them can even begin to fathom how terrifying millennial ghosts truly are¡­ Sure, the Sword of the Yellow Emperor may be powerful, but do they really think that I¡¯m a pushover? I¡¯ve been suppressed under the six paths of reincarnation, and yet survived thousands of years of relentless torment. Sure, had the Sword of the Yellow Emperor ended up in the hands of other Abyssal Prefects, I might have been terrified - perhaps even to the point of being unable to rest properly at night. But if it¡¯s just Kong Mo¡­ Haha¡­¡±

    ¡°Go. Pass down my orders to the Howling Wolves Battalion and the Mourning Apes Battalion.¡± The veil fluttered softly, ¡°Wrap around the surrounding cities! Watch for any potential openings! And mobilize all Shepherds of Souls. When we finally nk Kong Mo and surround him, I want to know directly from the horse¡¯s mouth what¡¯s really happening back in the hintends.¡±

    ¡°Onest thing.¡± The figure behind the veil added, ¡°Any deserters or defectors of my army who are Soul Hunters and beyond shall be executed summarily! Even if I¡¯m going to have to pursue them to the ends of the earth, I¡¯m going to capture their souls and rip them to shreds, piece by piece.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    There was once again a pin drop silence in the room.

    The green veil fluttered wildly, revealing a pale old Yin spirit lying restlessly on a bed within.

    One could see right through the grotesque wound on his body. The wound bubbled with traces of pitch-ck Yin energy.

    ¡°What a ruthless attack¡­¡± He clenched tightly to the sides of his bed, gnashing his teeth as he fought to distract himself from the pain, ¡°Yama-ss Yin artifact¡­ How can the Confucian Family entrust something like that to you?! You cannot possibly have failed to realize that you¡¯ve struck me squarely with that devastating attack. But, even then, you¡¯ve chosen to pull back your forces and retreat¡­ Something ground-breaking must have happened back in Qufu that demands your attention! Good¡­ excellent¡­ Once I take down your soul, I¡¯d like to see which saint it was who had helped me take control of the entire Eastmount Province!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Prosperity Street.

    Cathay¡¯s silent handling of the situation had been very effective thus far. Although the government hadn¡¯t taken an official stance on the supernatural incidents just yet, every member of the public had already more or less guessed what was going on. Across the entire popce of approximately 1.5 billion people, there was not a single household that hadn¡¯t purchased an artifact or talisman of sorts to ward off evil spirits.

    At least, he hated them for what he perceived to be inaction.

    He was also afraid of waking up in the middle of the night. He slept with the lights off, in ordance with the habits he and a multitude of other people have built over the years. If he woke up in the middle of the night, he would have to face the terror of boundless darkness, as well as the peculiar sounds that seemed only to surface in the middle of the night. He was afraid that the sources of supernatural incidents he had heard so much about and even seen in news reports would suddenly creep out from the darkness, right onto his back and dribble drool all over the nape of his neck.

    A constricting sensation in his dder told him that the toilet was beckoning. He clenched his thighs tightly, doing his level best to hold it in.

    Humans were naturally passive creatures.

    Thus, Ding Xuan rushed straight out of his bedroom and into the toilet without switching on the lights.

    The urge to pee immediately shrank back where it came from, and an electrifying sensation of fear spread from his heart and surged straight through his limbs. Fear caused his heart to thump out of his chest, while cold sweat instantly emerged from his forehead.

    It was soft.

    But it was incredibly familiar.

    Nobody apart from his father was allowed to use the teacup!

    It was clearly in the wee hours of the morning. He was scrambling through the dark living room. The doors leading into the living room were all closed, and the windows were tightly shut. He could even hear the faint sound of his father¡¯s snoringing from the adjacent room.

    Could there have been something seated right there on the sofa, watching me at night whenever I scramble for the toilet?

    The refrigerator was located right ahead of him, while the sofa was located behind him. Slowly, he turned stiffly around and nced at the sofa.

    Haah¡­ He heaved a sigh of relief, only to discover that his palms were already soaked through with cold sweat. Even then, he still felt somewhat uneasy. Thus, he called out with a slight tremor in his voice, ¡°Dad?¡±

    ¡°Mum? Mum?¡±

    I must be thinking too much. It might have just been a rat¡­ He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. Then, just as he was about to turn back--...

    Creeaaaakk¡­ It was the sound of something being opened.

    His heart instantly began to thump wildly once more. He immediately jumped up in shock and began to scramble back in horror. He wanted to scream, but he simply couldn¡¯t make a single peep of sound.

    There¡¯s something!

    Ding Xuan knew better than anyone that there was something unclean in his home right this moment!

    Right in front of his very own eyes!

    His parents were right there in the refrigerator - in pieces.

    The middlepartment of the fridge was where their torso was ced.

    ¡°AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!¡± He screamed at the top of his voice. Terror filled his entire being!

    Who¡¯s the one who responded to me earlier?!

    Someone¡¯s here!!

    Thud!

    Terror had faded, only to give way to endless rage that was surging from the depths of his heart.

    He could tell from the shadows on the refrigerator that there was currently something standing behind him!

    ¡°AHHHHHH!!!¡± He shrieked even louder than before. It was a shriek of terror that had taken him byplete surprise. Something had just appeared right behind him without any warning whatsoever! He reacted reflexively, twisting his body and swinging his fist at full force at the unknown entity behind.

    ¡°Let it go¡­ Remember this - when you report to the Death Inquisitors in Hell, tell them that Lord Qin has personally instructed them to look kindly upon you.¡±

 Chapter 461: Escape

    <h4>Chapter 461: Escape</h4>

    Am I¡­ already dead?

    Strangely enough, Ding Xuan¡¯s entire world shook violently as soon as addressed his mind to this thought, before everything became monochromatic moments before they started to turn blurry.

    He had been forcibly ¡°awakened¡± by someone.

    His grievances ran deep, and the endless repetition of the end of his life had slowly but surely begun to transform him into an evil spirit. Fortunately, he¡­ was jolted right back to his senses in the nick of time.

    Or perhaps it would be more urate to describe him as finally resting in peace.

    He nced dumbfounded at his bloodstained hands, and then cracked his neck. It appeared to be broken, but he didn¡¯t feel any pain. Instead, he simply stared at the young man in front of him, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Was it you who clinked the teacup on the coffee table earlier?¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye. Just a mere passer-by.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°Do you know something? If you let your grievances fester any longer, you will be just like the thing that killed your family. I clinked the teacup to drag you away from these endless repetitions of your memories, but you¡­ still ended up walking to the refrigerator.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s fine. Everything is all in the past now.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed and lifted his hands, ¡°In your next life, always remember to at least nce at the living room to see if there¡¯s anyone watching you from the sofa in the living room.¡±

    ¡°And if there is, alert your parents and hide together. At the very least¡­ you would be able to perish together.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ With the wave of his hand, Ding Xuan¡¯s soul finally dissipated with the wind.

    Qin Ye remained rooted to the ground as he sighed wistfully.

    Sometimes, all it takes is a soft, familiar sound to seize the attention of a person in a stupor. Perhaps the strum of a piano string, or a high pitched clink of a teacup.

    In that instant, Qin Ye was suddenly filled with a longing desire to see what things would finally look like after all the reconstruction efforts of Hell were finallypleted.

    Would these tragic incidents cease to ur for the rest of time?

    Secondster, he retracted his distant gaze, before turning to the refrigerator, ¡°Come out. Is it really that fun, hiding behind the corpses of dead people?¡±

    No response.

    ¡°You have two choices.¡± Qin Ye continued indifferently, ¡°Firstly, you will be subject to an eternity of torment, without any reprieve of death. Every moment of every day and night, you will continue to hear the endless screams and cries of the souls of the lives you¡¯ve taken. Meanwhile, your soul will forever roast in karmic mes without respite.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye plonked himself down onto the sofa and casually looked at the refrigerator.

    Three secondster, the three doors to the refrigerator opened once more, revealing the same body parts as before. The heads of Ding Xuan¡¯s parents were already covered in frost. But as soon as the doors opened up, the father¡¯s head suddenly opened its eyes.

    ¡°Who¡­ are you?¡±

    Frigid mist appeared to flow from the dead man¡¯s skull, and his eyeballs were so deeply frozen over that one couldn¡¯t even see the pupils of his eyes that had already rolled back upon death. Even then, the head continued to stare intently at Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ never heard of you before¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve lived in Eastmount Province for 34 years now, and I¡¯ve never ever seen a Judge like you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re still too young.¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes.

    It was a dark night, and there was an entire swarm of Yin spirits on the loose. He shouldn¡¯t be indulging in such merriment right now. However, he couldn¡¯t help but take interest in the situation right here.

    There were also times when he missed his interactions with the Local Bully.

    Dead silence.

    Secondster, the human head spoke up hoarsely once more, ¡°And what¡¯s the second option?¡±

    ¡°Die a swifter and more painless death, and you¡¯ll be given the chance to be reborn once more.¡± Qin Ye spoke without even raising his eyes.

    Just then, a wisp Yin energy rushed straight at Qin Ye¡¯s chest like a bolt of lightning. However, he didn¡¯t even move in the slightest. A Yin spirit dressed in ancient armor suddenly materialized right in front of him. Copious amounts of Yin energy flowed from the Yin spirit¡¯s seven apertures, and he opened his mouth wide and unleashed a terrifying roar.

    ¡°A bizarre spirit?!¡± The head in the refrigerator also screamed at the top of his voice. Unfortunately, the ferocious roar quickly drowned out his shriek.

    In an instant, a spiderweb of cracks appeared on the ground of the house, and bit by bit, the floor began to crumble. The electrical appliances around exploded with a bang, raining showers of sparks everywhere. The wooden frame of the sofa and the coffee table in the room were suddenly crushed together, before shattering with a smattering of wooden splinters. Even the stainless steel objects in the living room began to twist together with gut-wrenching creaks.

    All of thissted only for five seconds, and then everything stopped just as suddenly as it began. But, even then, the state of the living room was already well beyond recognition. The head in the refrigerator widened his eyes. Then, a split secondter, a spot ofherme emerged from the forehead of the dead man¡¯s skull and made a beeline for the door like a slithering snake.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother to nce at it.

    Because as soon as the Yin spirit rushed out of the door, it immediately let out a muffled groan, before screaming once more at the top of his voice, ¡°Evil ghost?! There are more evil ghosts?! Are these all your servants? You¡¯re a Shepherd of Souls?! Sss--!!!!¡±

    The exmation of shock ended with a cry of pain. Secondster, another illusory Yin spirit dressed in an ancient armor marched through the door. He was somewhat plump in stature, and sported a glorious beard that tangled together like gnarly tree roots. Pale whitehermes flickered softly underneath his disheveled eyebrows.

    There was arge bulge in his mouth that seemed to continue all the way into his stomach. Wisps of Yin energy even sought to escape from his pores, almost as though there were something struggling desperately for its life within his body.

    It was only when the plump Yin spirit stood in front of Qin Ye that he finally opened his mouth and spat out onto the ground what was earlier trapped in his body. A bald old man with a white towel draped over his shoulders and faded grey overalls gasped for air as he sat on the ground, somewhat dibobted.

    ¡°Spatial Spirit.¡± Qin Ye looked up and exined without any prompting, ¡°Ranked 29 among all special Yin spirits. Don¡¯t look down on it. It can swallow targets asrge as four cubic meters, and unless he personally decides to regurgitate its target, there¡¯s simply no way of escaping from within. Not even the strongest of Yin spirits would be able to escape from the fate of certain death. For a Spatial Spirit to appear, he would have to have lived life as a gourmand, die while eating, and even bear resentment in his heart that remains unresolved, even at death.¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough!!¡± The old man coughed violently, but couldn¡¯t help but nce warily at the other Yin spirit standing right behind Qin Ye.

    ¡°This is a Porter Spirit. Most of these used to be singers, actors or ywrights in life. To be a Porter Spirit, one must have died by the side of apanying musical instruments, and harbour great grievances that remain unfulfilled for ten years. Once a Yin spirit bes a Porter Spirit, it is fated to keep its lips sealed shut for the rest of its life, because as soon as its lips even part in the slightest, it would immediately unleash the purest, most terrifying shrieks that ghosts like you could never stand against. Oh, I¡¯ve forgotten to mention that it¡¯s also ranked 32nd among the top 50 special Yin spirits.¡±

    Qin Ye finally straightened his posture, ¡°Let¡¯s make some formal introductions. Yanluo Qin, lord and master of Hell. Now, tell me your decision.¡±

    The old man gasped deeply. Then, just as he was about to speak, extremely dense Yin energy suddenly poured out in all directions, causing him to tremble all over.

    It was qualitatively different from what he was used to! Not even the terrifying existence residing in Limbo beneath Azurewaters City had made him tremble like that before!

    The Yin energy was on apletely different level.

    Just like a pound of diamond and a pound of brass. The terrifying existence thaty hidden beneath Azurewaters City was clearly stronger than this man, yet¡­ he couldn¡¯t help but sense a more primal fear rising up from the depths of his heart!

    It felt almost as though his blood and soul were both screaming in terror!

    In an instant, he felt as though he had just perished a second time. Even thehermes in his eyes nearly went out as he copsed to the ground. Five minutester, the source of the billowing Yin energy helped him back to his feet, and the Yin spirit on the ground responded bitterly, ¡°I choose¡­ the second option¡­¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think anyone would be so foolish as to choose the first option either.¡± Qin Ye crossed his legs and also crossed his arms across his abdomen. His summer clothes fluttered wildly, while dense Yin energy continued to pour out endlessly from his seven apertures. The old man on the ground nced up, and then sensibly looked back down on the ground.

    ¡°Before you go, I¡¯ve got a few questions for you.¡±

    The old man muttered hoarsely, ¡°If I answer you¡­ can I be spared?¡±

    ¡°Can you reverse the death of Ding Xuan and his family?¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°Here¡¯s the lowdown, you¡¯re going to die today, regardless of how you respond. That said, I can give you my word that your children and grandchildren may be spared from the weight of your crimes.¡±

    The old man finally looked up. His body trembled violently as the look of resentment on his face finally dissipated. Then, he respectfully kowtowed to the ground.

    ¡°Where did youe from? Why are you running away? Who¡¯s chasing after you?¡±

    These questions struck the old man like a bolt of thunder. He abruptly looked up once more and looked Qin Ye straight in the eye.

    Silence.

    The old man¡¯s lips quivered slightly, and then his entire body began to shiver uncontrobly. Within moments, he could no longer even support his own weight, and he promptly copsed to the ground.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the soul collector¡­¡± He hugged himself tight and struggled to speak with a shrill voice, ¡°The Shepherd of Souls¡­ He¡¯s the one who¡¯s trying to reap all of our souls!!¡±

    ¡°Speak properly. There are limits to my patience.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The old man gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and then forcibly suppressed the roiling emotions in his heart. It took him several more minutes before he finally managed to calm his mind and collect his thoughts, ¡°I¡¯ve escaped here from Azurewaters City.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve not been out of the Eastmount Province before. That said¡­ there exists in every major city in Eastmount Province a rift between the mortal realm and Limbo that we can enter and exit freely. Limbo used to be deste and barren, at least until a year ago¡­¡± He gulped nervously as he muttered through gritted teeth, ¡°Everything changed. It became a battleground for war without any warning at all.¡±

    ¡°One faction is called the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness. They appeared out of nowhere and seized control of the entire Azurewaters City. We don¡¯t know who their opponents are. The only thing we know is that the Alliance of Darkness is a coalition force of at least ten Infernal Judges! And their opponents aren¡¯t weak either! The battlefield was located along the coastline. Truth be told, so long as we avoided the areas that were sealed off, its effect on us isn¡¯t great at all. But, just ten days ago¡­¡±

    Almost as though he recalled a terrifying scene, the Yin spirit took a deep breath, and then continued with much difficulty, ¡°The Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness¡­ suddenly used a terrifying Yin artifact.¡±

    Azurewaters City?

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered brightly, and he finally heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.

    I¡¯ve finally found you!

    He recalled to mind the map of Eastmount Province - Azurewaters City¡­ is located on the ¡®horn¡¯ of Eastmount Province, surrounded by the sea on three sides, with only one path leading southeast into the rest of Cathay. Incidentally, this is where thergest port of Eastmount Province is located back in the mortal realm. Who would¡¯ve thought that Kong Mo would choose this city as the ce of war?

    Truth be told, the topography of Azurewaters City was as suitable as it got for anding zone. Although the topography of Limbo would be somewhat different from the mortal realm, the annals of the old Hell and Arthis have both mentioned that the differences would not be significant at all. At best, most of the recorded differencesy only in the direction of the mountain ranges. Meanwhile, it was also the perfect ce to obstruct enemy forces fromnding and disembarking on the maind.

    So long as they could hold their ground, then the battle would certainly not ebb ind.

    The old man¡¯s eyes flickered wildly as he spoke, ¡°You can¡¯t even begin to fathom how terrifying that Yin artifact was¡­ We¡¯re talking about an extent of destruction that ravaged hundreds of kilometers of city in an instant. That single strike was so great that it even forcibly tore multiple rifts between the mortal realm and Limbo in an instant!¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­

    Qin Ye narrowed his eyes - Something more terrifying than the Peach Blossom Lantern? Is this Kong Mo¡¯s hidden trump card?

    What could possibly give Kong Mo the confidence to stand tall against the daolord? It would minimally have to be as powerful as an Abyssal Prefect. What in the world is it? It¡¯s got to be no different from a nuclear bomb!

    After all, only fools would remain in such close proximity to the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

    Furthermore, the sheer power of the attack had caused rifts to open up between the mortal realm and Limbo. In other words, what was otherwise a city on lockdown had be as porous as it got, and it was the perfect opportunity to flee for one¡¯s own life! Who would deign to stay and see if a second nuclear bomb would be detonated in their faces?!

    The old man gritted his teeth, ¡°Azurewaters City in Limbo has copsed, and innumerable Yin spirits are rushing out from the multitude of rifts. We¡¯re not just talking about regr Yin spirits anymore. There were at least a dozen or so Hellguards hiding in the crevices of Limbo back then! There was even a Judge-ss Yin beast! Unfortunately, the rift appeared to be too small, and I recall seeing the Yin beast get stuck in the process of escape. But I didn¡¯t have time to take a closer look, because¡­¡±

    His entire body trembled all over as he stared fearfully out the window, ¡°They¡­ sent out an army of Assassins of the Underworld! To make matters worse, these were all the top soul collectors, otherwise known as the Shepherd of Souls!¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t know how terrifying they are¡­ They¡¯ve¡­ even chased us for well over a hundred kilometers! And they seem to be bent on pursuing us to the ends of the earth! There¡¯s nowhere to run, and no ce to hide!¡±

 Chapter 462: Shadowless (1)

    <h4>Chapter 462: Shadowless (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically at the brand new nomenture.

    Perhaps¡­ the soul collector woulde from one of them?

    Soul collector¡­ If anything, I¡¯m certain that I¡¯ll be able to learn more about the war in Azurewaters City from his lips!

    But as for how to rid himself of this cancerous tumour¡­ Qin Ye already had some thoughts of his own¡­

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes promptly narrowed. The Alliance of Darkness was formed by a coalition of twelve Infernal Judges, excluding Kong Mo. Hell¡¯s forces had disposed of three back in Qufu, leaving a bnce of nine. That said, none of the remaining nine could possibly be the so-called soul collectors. Besides, Kong Mo couldn¡¯t have sent soul collectors after fleeing Yin spirits, especially having just learnt the news of Ashmound¡¯s copse, and in light of the daolord¡¯s boundless armies that were arrayed against them.

    The Alliance of Darkness had twelve Infernal Judges holding control over the Eastmount Province and the Breakwaters Province. If the daolord had indeede from the three eastern provinces, then it¡¯s not likely that the number of Infernal Judges under hismand would be less than that of the Alliance of Darkness! With the Abyssal Prefect helming operations at the frontlines of the war, he could certainly afford to send out Infernal Judges to pursue the fleeing Yin spirits.

    ¡°As for how to locate him¡­¡± The old man gnashed his teeth morosely as he tugged at thepels of his suit, revealing a chain running right through his chest.

    Interesting¡­ Pleasantly surprised, Qin Ye flipped up the suit and looked beneath, only to notice that there was a gaping dark hole on the vest beneath, almost as though someone had hollowed out a portion of it. Wisps of Yin energy appeared to creep out of the gaping dark hole, while the ck hole appeared to be slowly rotating. Yet, even then, the ck hole appeared no different from a portal that led to a vast expanse of the void.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got no idea what this damned thing is¡­¡± The old man neatened his clothes and gnashed his teeth once more, ¡°I can sense that this chain is connected directly to my soul, while the other end of the chain is in the hands of the soul collector. He can vaguely pinpoint our location this way¡­¡±

    This is a technique that employs spatial knowledge in practice¡­ This was a thought that had urred to me some time ago when I firstid hands on the Qiankun Pouches. Theherworld and the mortal realm may appear simr, but the truth of the matter is that they¡¯re worlds apart. If I could only master this aspect of knowledge, I¡¯d likewise be able to forge a Yin artifact as amazing as the Mythic Pce of Reflections¡­ Qin Ye rubbed his chin as he mused to himself - Yin Talismanology is truly a discipline that Hell is practically built upon. Just like atoms and cells, the mastery of such a discipline would undoubtedly be the key to unlocking the full arsenal of Hell¡­

    This would be his swan song, even in death.

    Countless wisps of Yin energy spewed out from his body, as though the vent of a pressure cooker had just been released. The old man wasn¡¯t even given an opportunity to scream in the slightest as his soul returned to Hell.

    Ding-a-ling¡­ Ding-a-ling¡­ The barely audible bell rang in the middle of an otherwise silent street, almost as though it were a prelude to midnight.

    ¡°No.¡± His partner was a ck-haireddy with soft looks. Yet the camouge uniform seemed to imbue her with a sense of sharpness like the edge of a knife de.

    The buildings were spread out between the trees, almost as though they were silent tombstones that stood in the dark, cold and lonely.

    It can¡¯t be. I could¡¯ve sworn that I heard the jingle of a bell cutting through the whimpering winds.

    It was a full moon tonight. A soft sheen was painted across thends below, but the presence of light also begets darkness and shadows, from which countless hidden entities scrambled and stirred¡­ No!

    Ding-a-ling¡­ Ding-a-ling¡­ But before he could even cry out in surprise, the goosebumps-inducing bells jingled again. In that moment, his heart was filled with terror. He could sense that something else was hiding amidst the world of lost shadows, and staring directly at him!

    With a soft thud, a chain plunged right through his partner¡¯s chest. Time seemed to slow down at that very moment, and he saw everything happen in slow motion - right down to the very details of the silver chain. The tip of the chain was shaped like a ghastly w, and it had clearly been fired from hundreds of meters away like a bolt of lightning. His partner¡¯s true energy wavered as she stared at her own chest in great astonishment.

    ¡°Save me!!¡± A harsh scream rang out from the rooftop. The man rushed forward desperately, only to narrowly miss grasping onto his partner¡¯s iling hands.

    Stunned.

    ¡°Damn it!! How could something as powerful as that be here in the downtown district?!¡± Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his cell phone and began to punch in a series of numbers as he retreated towards the gate behind him. But as soon as he opened it, he immediately jerked back with a cold gasp.

    There was a young man staring right at him with great indifference.

    ¡°You¡­ you are¡­¡± He had a vague impression of who the young man was. But just as he was about to call out the identity of the young man, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his neck, and then his vision went dark, and he passed outpletely.

    ¡°And this is especially the case for Yin spirits like you. Do you know how ugly you look as a skeleton, huh?¡±

    To be precise, it wasn¡¯t a flower.

    He was thin. Abnormally thin, almost as though he were purely skin and bones. Thehermes in his eyes were also so dim that they could barely be seen. Dressed in a long ck robe, he toted antern burning withhermes in his arms. The handle of thentern was connected to a series of chains that ran straight into the sleeves of his arms.

    The old man didn¡¯t have any shadows.

    It was a dry smile. Ordinary people smiled with all of their facial muscles, but the old man did not. Instead, his lips simply cracked slightly as he extended his crooked finger and pulled on the chains.

    ¡°You actually dare to hold onto a soul collector¡¯s chain? There truly are many people out there who aren¡¯t afraid of death itself¡­¡± The old man revealed a disgusting smile on his face, while his body began to tter like the stiff joints of a zombie, ¡°I am Shadowless, a Shepherd of Soul of the Assassins of the Underworld. My courtesy name was personally conferred by the daolord of the asura, and I¡¯m here in his name to send you off to the afterlife.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond. Instead, he simply blinked vacantly at the old man. The circumstances prompted him to do a little bit of role-ying.

    ¡°I mean¡­ do you know that you cosy just like the professionals? Are you wielding a scythe over there?¡±

    It was a piss-poor opening line. Was this truly the conversation between two Infernal Judges?

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I think so too. However, there¡¯s just one thing that I¡¯ll have to remind you of.¡±

    Qin Ye shut the door, and then nced behind him, ¡°Do you know why I knocked him out earlier?¡±

    Just then, he abruptly snapped his eyes wide open with disbelief and stared intently at Qin Ye with a fiery gaze.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ not a human?!¡±

    But Qin Ye simply ignored his barrage of questions. A dense vortex of Yin energy engulfed himpletely as he continued where he left off, ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret. I happen to be a rather unorthodox living person.¡±

    ¡°How dare you rob an equal-ranking Emissary of Hell of the opportunity to act all high and mighty? Are you tired of living already?!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Lucian refers to a champion in LoL. He wasmonly referred to by themunity as Obama.

 Chapter 463: Shadowless (2)

    <h4>Chapter 463: Shadowless (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s Yin energy erupted in an instant and engulfed himpletely!

    Like a blooming ck spider lily, the talismans around them abruptly rose into the air and fluttered wildly with the wind. Dense, dark Yin energy filled the entire roof of the building, and even began to pour down the sides of the building like a majestic waterfall.

    Whoosh¡­ Just then, juxtaposed against the dark canvass of the night, two gleaming spots ofhermes silently flourished like brilliant stars in the sky. An icyhergale roared furiously at the roof of the building. Shadowless raised his hand in front of his face, desperately shielding himself from the force of the wind, even as his robes continued to flutter wildly.

    How is this possible?

    Thehermes in his eyes had narrowed so much that they were practically the size of the needle tip right now. His nerves were stretched to its limits. He could tell that the Yin energy flourishing in front of his very eyes was unprecedentedly vast and boundless! Even though he was likewise an Infernal Judge, he could tell that the entity in front of him was orders of magnitudes more powerful than he! In fact, he felt no different from a man standing right in front of Mount Tai!

    They were equals in terms of cultivation rank, but the quality of the power at their disposal was on apletely different level! It was akin toparing the director of a Forestry Bureau in charge of desert wastnds, and a director of the same that was actually in charge of vast jungles and forests. He felt like a mere digit faced with the wrath of the vast oceans and skies. Perhaps not even the daolord possessed such dense Yin energy at his disposal!

    Run!

    The threatening words he had directed against Qin Ye just moments ago were still fresh in his mind, but he couldn¡¯t be bothered about his pride any longer. As soon as the boundless Yin energy erupted from Qin Ye¡¯s body, his feet immediately kicked off, and he scrambled to dash away without any hesitation. Simultaneously, he flicked his finger, causing over ten wisps ofhermes to rush out from the ancientmp in his hand and hurtle straight towards Qin Ye.

    ¡°You collect Yin spirits for your own use, hence the name, soul collector?¡± Qin Ye mused aloud. His voice carried a tone of indifference, and yet it made Shadowless¡¯ entire body tremble profusely.

    He can¡¯t even be bothered with this¡­ Does it mean that my attack ispletely powerless against him?

    Where in the world did hee from? How could there possibly be a human that coexists in both theherworld and the mortal realm?!

    Shadowless screamed in his heart. His journey to Judge-hood had been paved with the merciless ughter of ordinary humans and cultivators alike. He could tell how critical the situation was - a split second could spell the difference between survival and the dissipation of his soul. There was simply no room for hesitation.

    Thus, he tossed out themp in his hands. Every single chain tethered to it broke off in an instant, and thehermes in his eyes suddenly surged a meter into the sky. Then, he copsed his hands together as he dashed away as quickly as his feet would take him!

    Faced with an opponent like this, he knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to hold back. Otherwise¡­ he might not even get a chance to use his trump cards at all!

    No¡­ I¡¯ve got to alert the daolord about the situation here! This man is far too bizarre! He¡¯s obviously a Judge as well, but my heart and mind are both telling me that I¡¯m no match for him!

    ¡°SSSSS!!!¡± Thentern in his hand exploded, and hundreds of Yin spirits rushed out all at once. Like a tsunami of ck and green, the wave of Yin spirits abruptly swept towards Qin Ye. But before they could even get close to him, the entire rooftop suddenly trembled. A split secondter¡­ the Yin spirits shrieked in unison and began to scatter desperately. Unfortunately, they soon found themselves forcibly dragged back to the ground, almost as though there were a giant, invisible hand restraining thempletely.

    Bang! Meanwhile, Shadowless had finally managed to arrive at the edge of the formation array¡¯s domain. Mustering all of his force, he smashed down hard against the invisible wall that stood in his way.

    There was a loud sound, and the mighty impact sent ripples running through the entire formation array. However¡­ it remainedpletely intact!

    Damn it¡­ Shadowless gritted his teeth and turned around, ready to ce his life on the line to make a final stand. But as soon as he did, he was greeted with a terrifying sight.

    He noticed a Yin spirit dressed in ancient armor standing right in front of Qin Ye. That Yin spirit had his mouth open almost a meter wide, just like a ck hole, and hundreds of Yin spirits that had been unleashed from the confines of hisntern earlier were currently in the process of being swallowed up by that single Yin spirit. Boundless Yin energy poured out from every orifice of this Yin spirit, while Qin Ye stood behind, watching casually as he remainedpletely unharmed!

    ¡°This skill is practically tailor made for azy oaf Yanluo like me¡­¡± Qin Ye tutted to himself and sighed as he walked forward, ¡°There¡¯s actually no need for me to even personally make a move. How awesome¡­ don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Shadowless remained rooted to the ground,pletely speechless.

    That single Yin spirit¡­ is by itself stronger than the hundreds of souls I havebined. Furthermore¡­ it¡¯s one of the special spirits that urs once in every thousand or so Yin spirits. It¡¯s what we moremonly know to be a bizarre spirit.

    I¡¯m¡­ supposed to be a Shepherd of Soul - the cream of the crop among the Assassins of the Underworld. Yet, to think that I can¡¯t do a single thing against this man standing in front of me right now?

    We¡¯re both Judges, so how could the gap between our skills be thisrge?

    Am I missing something?

    ¡°Tsk¡­ look at you. You¡¯re obviously in a misanthropic mood right now. Like I said, quality trumps quantity. Take a look.¡± He waved his hand, and to Shadowless¡¯ horror, another Yin spirit dressed in ancient armor materialized out of thin air.

    Another bizarre spirit¡­ Shadowless gasped in horror. Was he truly qualified to call himself a Shepherd of Souls in front of this man?

    But I¡¯m already strong enough tomand three hundred Yin spirits under my charge!

    We walk the same path, so why the hell are you that much more outstanding than I?!

    ¡°This is called the Yoke of a Hundred Ghosts. Don¡¯t you find it fascinating? For ease of reference, I call it the Red Secret Technique - Performance of a Hundred Puppets.¡±

    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Yin energy spewed out of Shadowless¡¯ seven apertures. It was a manifestation of abject fear. Qin Ye responded softly, ¡°Hidden Sand Vige, Sasori of the Red Sand.¡±

    Sasori? Hidden Sand Vige?

    Shadowless firmly etched these names in his heart. Meanwhile, Qin Ye muttered cidly, ¡°Destroy his fleshly body, but leave the soul intact. I¡¯ve got my uses for him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll admit defeat.¡± Instantly, Shadowless knelt straight to the ground with a soft thud, before kowtowing to Qin Ye with the utmost respect and submissiveness.

    Qin Ye was promptly filled with a sense of mncholy.

    Bloody hell¡­ did you really have to admit defeat that swiftly? I¡¯ve not even had time to try on my other Yin spirits yet. Thus far, Qin Ye had only used two of the Yin spirits subjugated by his spell, the Yoke of Hundred Ghosts. This left him feeling terribly unaplished.

    ¡°You--¡­¡±

    ¡°You need only ask!¡± Qin Ye found himself cut off by Shadowless¡¯ concessions once more, ¡°So long as I know it, I¡¯ll definitely say it.¡±

    ¡°But I--...¡±

    ¡°Your enemy is my enemy! From now on, Shadowless operates under the banner of the Hidden Sand Vige. I no longer consider the daolord of the asura the master of Shadowless!¡±

    ¡°You know, I¡¯d be happy to allow you sometitude to consider acting all heroic--...¡±

    ¡°Lord Sasori!¡± Shadowless looked up with the utmost ttering smile on his face, ¡°Your humble servant would like to partake and share in your burdens and woes! Let me take some of the responsibility off your shoulder! I¡¯ll live as the ghost of the Hidden Sand Vige, and die by the steles of the Hidden Sand Vige!¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ Did you really have to cut off all ties so swiftly and decisively? What pretext do I have left to kill you with?

    I mean¡­ are all of the Yin spirits under the charge of the daolord of the asura as disloyal as that? What¡¯s with the instantaneous surrender without the slightest bit of struggle? Do you know that you¡¯re tarnishing the integrity and reputation of Yin spirits as a whole?

    Silence.

    Shadowless gulped and stared at Qin Ye with great apprehension. After a long time, Qin Ye finally looked up at him, ¡°Get up.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, My Lord.¡± Shadowless finally heaved a sigh of relief and scrambled to his feet. What Qin Ye didn¡¯t notice was the fact that Shadowless¡¯ hands and feet were all trembling profusely under his long, loose garments.

    He feared eternal death.

    As soon as he noticed how Qin Ye could easily crush him like an ant, he immediately understood that it was already impossible for him to return to the daolord¡¯s side.

    It had been a long and difficult journey to Judge-hood, and between his pride and his life, the choice was patently clear to him. If he struggled, he would certainly die. On the other hand, there was a chance that he might still live if he surrendered, no matter how small that might have been. What did one¡¯s pride matter in the face of death?

    Yet, little did he expect the terrifying existence before his eyes to actually spare his life with great magnanimity!

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re lucky?¡± Qin Ye suddenly stared at Shadowless soullessly with a faint smile on his face.

    Without missing a beat, he continued, ¡°Because the truth of the matter is this - I¡¯d never thought of letting your soul dissipate to begin with.¡±

    Why?

    Shadowless hung his head low and furrowed his brows deeply. His heart began to palpitate once more, and his adrenal nds fired up like a roaring engine. Within moments, thehermes in his eyes began to flicker wildly.

    It had only been mere moments, but his mind had already processed countless possibilities.

    Eastmount Province originally belonged to the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness. To that end, there¡¯s no way that the Alliance of Darkness could have gained the cooperation of such a domineering Judge as Lord Sasori over here. But¡­ the fact remains that Lord Sasori has never shown up in the past.

    His sudden appearance¡­ seems to coincide with Kong Mo¡¯s bizarre withdrawal of troops. Are we¡­ talking about a third faction in the fray?!

    A third faction has appeared in Eastmount Province?!

    Someone actually dares to enter the sh of forces between an Abyssal Prefect on the one hand and an alliance of a dozen Infernal Judges on the other? They dare to insert themselves into a great war involving millions of Yin soldiers?!

    Thehermes in his eyes flickered wildly as he looked at Qin Ye once more, but in a whole new light. Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word either - he simply allowed Shadowless¡¯ thoughts to run wild.

    Kong Mo must die!

    Qin Ye knew that he could never run the daolord over. Next to the aggressive daolord who had always taken the offensive, Kong Mo was clearly the weaker of the two who was relegated to passively defending against the encroachment of enemy forces. Yet, even then, it didn¡¯t change the fact that Kong Momanded a million Yin soldiers, and had over 20 top-grade Yin artifacts at his disposal!

    Now was the best opportunity to run Kong Mo into the ground and destroy himpletely. He had to be thinking of escape and fleeing for his life right now. After all, with the daolord in front of him, and Hell¡¯s forces behind him, Kong Mo was currently trapped between a rock and a hard ce. But if Hell didn¡¯t seize the opportunity to eliminate the Alliance of Darkness right now, and instead allowed them to escape down the river and into the hintends of Cathay where other stronger forcesy hidden, then the consequences might well be unfathomable.

    Besides, Hell¡¯s forces currently had their hands full with the work in Ashmound and the processing of their spoils of war. Where would they locate the manpower and military force to go after Kong Mo?

    The war might be taking ce in Limbo, but Limbo was still the gateway between theherworld and the mortal realm! Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to have another kingdom appear and establish their base of operations in Limbo, regardless of who it was!

    Qin Ye had a somewhat naive idea to close the loop on this, but he knew he couldn¡¯t execute it on his own.

    But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t kill with a borrowed knife.

    ¡°First of all, I¡¯ve got a few questions for you.¡± Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and began to pace around, ¡°Your previous boss is none other than the daolord of the asura, an advanced Prefect-ss Yin spirit, is he not?¡±

    ¡°He is¡­¡± The mere mention of the daolord¡¯s name caused Shadowless to tremble profusely. The daolord possessed might that was worlds apart from Shadowless!

    Abyssal Prefect¡­ The mightiest among all Yin spirits and experts in Cathay right now!

    Qin Ye took a step closer to Shadowless and stared him right in the eye, ¡°Tell me his name.¡±

    ¡°Which one of the great sinners of the history of Cathay is he? How long has he been alive for?¡±

    Dead silence.

    Shadowless struggled in his heart. Secondster, he kowtowed to Qin Ye, ¡°Lord Sasori.¡±

    ¡°As Abyssal Prefects are concerned¡­ If someone calls their name, they would know of it no matter where they are currently located! Are you¡­ aware of what that means?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, and then he nodded deeply.

    He actually knows the true name of the daolord!

    He would know if I called out his name. This is something that Arthis had mentioned briefly in passing, but she unfortunately didn¡¯t know the daolord¡¯s true name. Who would¡¯ve thought that one of the daolord¡¯s subordinates actually would?!

    Oh, three daolords¡­ we¡¯re finally about to make an acquaintance, aren¡¯t we?

    ¡°You¡¯re seeking asylum?¡± Qin Ye forcefully suppressed the ecstasy in his heart as he responded to Shadowless¡¯ cryptic request.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Shadowless gritted his teeth and boldly made his request, ¡°As soon as I mention his name¡­ he will immediately know that I¡¯ve betrayed him. I¡­ don¡¯t wish to die!¡±

    Qin Ye looked him straight in the eye, before finally straightening up, ¡°I give you my word.¡±

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Shadowless finally shut his eyes, concealing the madly pulsatinghermes beneath. Three full minutester, he finally spoke up once again with great trembling and fear in his voice, ¡°The daolord of the asura¡­ was in life known as¡­ Qin Hui.¡±

    Qin Hui?

    Someone from the same lineage as I?

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows as he began tob through his memories. And then, a notorious figure suddenly surfaced in his mind!

    ¡°Qin Hui, born of Jiangning, Huangzhou?! It¡¯s him?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s him!¡± Shadowless trembled, ¡°The daolord of the hungry ghost is known as Su Daji¡­ She¡¯s ady from the Shang Dynasty in life, moremonly known as the fox spirit or demon queen!¡±

    ¡°The daolord of the beast is known as Dong Zhuo, or Dong Zhongying. He was known in life for torturing captives by tying them up with fat-soaked clothes and starting a fire from their foot, watching their expressions and enjoying their screams as they burned to death. In death, he was banished to the path of the beast where he suffered for his crimes for thousands of years!¡±

 Chapter 464: Trigger

    <h4>Chapter 464: Trigger</h4>

    Qin Ye was somewhat startled by their identities. The three named by Shadowless were all figureheads who had etched their marks of notoriety in the annals of history. All of them were somehow rted to the fall of a dynasty back in their lifetime. Most, if not all, would consider their crimes unforgivable. Who would have thought that after thousands of years, these infamous people would escape the clutches of eternal death and set foot in the mortal realm once more?

    ¡°Lord Sasori, the daolord of the asura has never concealed their true names from us. In fact, all of the important, trusted aides under hismand know of the names of the daolords.¡± Shadowless responded in great detail, ¡°In fact, he has been in correspondence with the other daolords, and there were several asions where he would instruct us to read the contents of the messages and respond on his behalf. That¡¯s why we know their names. But, that said, that¡¯s also the extent of all we know of their interactions.¡±

    He would have denied it vehemently.

    After mulling over his thoughts for several more minutes, Qin Ye continued, ¡°What about the forces that are under Qin Hui¡¯smand? How was it back in the three eastern provinces?¡±

    He hesitated for a moment, before finally steeling his heart and continuing with great determination, ¡°Has already be a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts, and the daolord was already in the process of transforming their base into an underworld altogether. It¡¯s going to take another ten years at best. The concentration of Yin energy there¡­ at least, ording to the daolord himself¡­ is no weaker than that located in Hell.¡±

    We¡¯re both Yin spirits, so how could we be handling our interactions with the mortal realm that differently? Perhaps this must be why we¡¯re considered the orthodox Hell, while the other is just a rebel force in the making¡­

    Since when¡­ is there a procedure pertaining to surrender?

    Shadowless trembled, and his jaws dropped. He couldn¡¯t conceal the abject shock and horror on his face. But before he could even retort and make any form of resistance whatsoever, Qin Ye added, ¡°I¡¯ve got something that I¡¯ll need you to hand over to Qin Hui. Once you have done so, let him know that my old master would like to meet with him.¡±

    Shadowless¡¯ pupils narrowed abruptly. There seemed to be many startling pieces of news today. First, there was the appearance of the ridiculously powerful Infernal Judge, and then¡­ this Judge even mentioned that he had an old master?

    Boom!!

    He held the scales with both hands, with a frozen, reverent expression.

    What the hell¡­ is this?!

    It was almost as though an ineffable being from a distant ce had transcended time and space, and were staring straight into the depths of his soul.

    Where in the world is the Hidden Sand Vige? Who in hell is Lord Sasori supposed to be?!

    ¡°Tell him to consider what I¡¯m saying carefully if he doesn¡¯t want to be ced underneath the six paths of reincarnation again.¡± Qin Ye stood up and vanished in a cloud of Yin energy, ¡°Additionally, don¡¯t even think about absconding with that scale. I can assure you that your soul will dissipate in an instant the moment you do so.¡±

    Abscond? Would I even dare contemte something like that?

    In that instant, he even questioned whether it was the right move to defect to Qin Ye¡¯s side. After all, he might well havee out of the frying pan and into the fire.

    After approximately five more minutes to his own thoughts, he finally sighed wistfully, and transformed into ahergale as he vanished into the distance.

    Hell can¡¯t destroy Kong Mo, but the daolord definitely can!

    ¡°Shadowless might not appreciate what that scale was, but I¡¯ve got no doubts that Qin Hui would know at a nce that this is none other than one of the Harken¡¯s scales. A Yin spirit that can pull out and hand over a piece of the Harken¡¯s scales cannot possibly be a small fry. So¡­ I wonder what his decision is going to be?¡±

    ¡°And to that end, the fear of Hell is something that has already been etched deep in their bones. Qin Hui would probably ede to my request.¡±

    And then, he grew taciturn.

    Furthermore, a particrly cowardly Yanluo had previously divulged the entire truth about Hell in exchange for keeping himself alive! Who would¡¯ve thought that we¡¯d meet each other face to face so soon! Qin Ye couldn¡¯t resist the urge to give himself two tight ps across the cheeks!

    ¡°But where am I going to find someone like that¡­¡± Qin Ye chuckled bitterly.

    He would have to appease the hearts of the citizens, stabilize the economy, and then, only when he had sufficient backing could he finally start recruiting fresh troops and delving into his research endeavours.

    He¡¯s an Abyssal Prefect¡­ The sheer thought of that already makes my legs weak. Should I ask someone else to go on my behalf? But no matter how I think about it, Arthis is the only other possibility. Sure, her martial abilities might be there, but she¡¯s no different from a piece of shit when ites to politics. If I throw her into the open arms of the daolord, I¡¯m quite certain that it wouldn¡¯t take more than a minute for war to break out¡­

    ¡°Pfft, you irreverent child. I¡¯m a daolord and an Abyssal Prefect, while you¡¯re just a measly Infernal Judge. How dare you look me in the eye like that?¡±

    ¡°I dare you to try it again.¡±

    Arthis perishes.

    I truly hate that Hellcks talents right now¡­

    Then, just as he was about to delve deeper into that train of thought, he suddenly paused.

    It felt as though he had entered a pitch-ck realm. It was strange, but he also had the sense that so long as he willed it, he would be able to leave this peculiar dimension at a single thought.

    Just as he was considering these things, the void in front of him suddenly rippled, and a ck-and-white image appeared right in front of his very eyes.

    There were two other men in ck suits kneeling beside him as well, both of whom also had their hands sped together. They, too, were chanting together with the middle-aged man.

    ¡°Is this¡­ thenguage of Daehan?¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows. Daeians¡­ are praying to me?

    Qin Ye was fraught with bewilderment. But, just then, the man on the left suddenly spoke up with perfect Cathayan, ¡°Lord of Hell, Director Kim was personally tasked by the chairman of the board to entreat you with this request. If Hell can hear us, please reap her soul¡­¡±

    ¡°Open your eyes to us¡­ We call upon you from the farawaynds of Daehan. And¡­ this may be the only shot we have at that! She¡¯s not a human¡­ she has to be an evil spirit! She¡­ she has to be an undead evil spirit! Please¡­ take her soul away with you! We¡¯ll do anything you ask of us!¡±

    Qin Ye was just about to leave when he suddenly froze in ce.

    The ones who possess the requisite knowledge to reach out to Hell are by no means ordinary mortals. After all, such rituals have already long ceased to exist. If I ede to their request¡­ would I perhaps¡­ be able to locate Xia Jinse¡¯s whereabouts?

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It was a veryrge room in what appeared to be a quaint temple. The incense pot was only sparsely filled, because they were currently in a temple that was dedicating offerings to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

    An entire series of bodyguards stood right outside the temple. The entire temple was empty. Even the abbot and monks were nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Nobody can prove the existence of gods or demons in the first ce. This temple is already supposed to be the most numinous temple of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. But even then--...¡±

    ¡°You say that the existence of gods and demons are but legends and myths, but¡­ Mr Quan, have you forgotten how long that terrible monster has been alive?!¡±

    ¡°Meanwhile, I¡¯ve gotten married, had a child, and my son is already 18 years-old this year! Yet, she still looks exactly the same as she used to!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a monster¡­ an ageless and immortal demon! We, the Samsung Group, cannot afford to let a monster sway us!¡±

 Chapter 465: Lee Jung-sook (1)

    <h4>Chapter 465: Lee Jung-sook (1)</h4>

    It was eerily silent in the temple hall.

    ¡°And if she¡¯s a demon god, then¡­ why can¡¯t there be other demon gods in existence?¡± After a long time, Director Kim continued wearily, ¡°Haven¡¯t you guys been following the news in Cathay? The series of supernatural events guing Cathay have already begun to draw interest from other countries. I reckon that¡­ she must be an evil spirit that has escaped from the clutches of Hell! So long as Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is willing, he can definitely take her with him!¡±

    Nobody had any further reservations. At once, they shut their eyes and began to chant softly under their breaths. But, just then, loud thumping sounds suddenly came from the doors to the prayer hall.

    Pak! Pak! Pak! The doors to the prayer hall were all mming shut!

    Whoosh¡­ The sound of rustling leaves came from outside the doors. At some point, the wind outside had burgeoned from a gentle night breeze into a terrifying gale, and the bodyguards stationed outside even fell to the ground!

    No response.

    Whoosh! A powerful gale swept through the prayer hall through the vents in the ancient building. It was colder than usual, and the entire hall was filled with pitch-ck Yin energy in an instant.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid¡­ We¡¯re standing at the feet of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!¡± Director Kim gritted his teeth, ¡°Even if there¡¯s something here with us, it wouldn¡¯t dare to behave irreverently!¡±

    Director Kim immediately nced at the man angrily and muttered under his breath, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?! Stand up!¡±

    The statue?

    The statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had at some point in time already opened its eyes!

    ¡°AHHH!!!¡± The three men screamed in unison as they scrambled back to the pir nearby, only to realize that their backs were already soaked through with cold sweat. Director Kim grabbed the pir with his hands as he murmured to the rest with great trembling, ¡°Are you guys¡­ certain that we¡¯ve invited Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?¡±

    Mortals?

    What a big shot!

    Truth be told, he didn¡¯t know how he was supposed tomunicate with them. It was only a littleter that he noticed how the bodies of the ordinary human beings and Ksitigarbha¡¯s statue alike were all radiating faint traces of golden lustre. At once, a mysterious intuition surfaced in his mind, telling him that so long as he made contact with it, he would immediately manifest in that vessel.

    After all, he would never touch, much less enter the bodies of those filthy men!

    The Samsung Group is one of the pirs of Daehan¡¯s economy, while a group executive director would undoubtedly be among the top brass of the organisation. What are they doing here in Cathay seeking the aid of a foreign god? Logically speaking, shouldn¡¯t Liu Yu be responding to his cries for help instead? After all¡­ Liu Yu should for all intents and purposes be considered a True Infernal Judge in his own right as well. He should likewise possess the ability to answer the prayers of his people.

    Just as his fantasies began to take a turn for the weird, Kim Jae-huan promptly continued, ¡°Apart from that¡­ I¡¯m also the son-inw of one of the descendants of the founder of Samsung! So long as you¡¯re willing to lend us a hand, no form of repayment is out of the question!¡±

    Corrections. This man is an even bigger shot than I¡¯d earlier assessed him to be!

    Kim Jae-huan was the son-inw to a direct descendant of the Lee lineage. Quite apart from his rtionship with the rest of the Lee family, the fact that his marriage was even approved by the Lee Family was already in and of itself a vote of confidence in his abilities and potential. To think that someone as amazing as that would personallye forward to personally offer up prayers in a rtively unknown temple in Cathay.

    After all, maintaining his appearances was of the utmost importance right now!

    Thus, he responded curtly with a soft, ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    He fumbled about as he pulled out a ck-and-white photograph from his pocket and offered it up for inspection with great reverence, ¡°This is¡­ a photo that I¡¯ve found by chance at my grandfather¡¯s ce. The Kim Family likes to think that we have a monopoly in the shipbuilding industry in Daehan. It¡¯s for this reason that we¡¯ve always maintained a close rtionship with the Samsung Group. This is a photograph of my grandfather¡¯s new year¡¯s reunion¡­¡±

    There were two middle-aged men in the photograph smiling genially as they sat in front of the coffee table. Ady dressed in what appeared to be a white dress sat between the two men, holding both of their hands with a graceful poise.

    For a split second there, Qin Ye found himself lost for words. Thedy looked fairly young. By his estimates, she appeared no older than herte teens - just like he was.

    Even then, he could sense that¡­ there was something else rather strange about thisdy.

    Seven silhouettes!

    That said, each of the silhouettes appeared incredibly blurry, and not even Qin Ye was able to get any rity on their images with his Judge¡¯s nce.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Kim Jae-huan responded, ¡°But she¡¯s definitely not a human! Nobody has ever been able to maintain their looks for decades on end!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened abruptly as he continued to press on with queries, ¡°Why did youe to Cathay?¡±

    Could it be that--... A wild posttion immediately surfaced in his heart - Lee Jung-sook¡­ is none other than Xia Jinse?

    Kim Jae-huan grew silent.

    He panted softly, ¡°This photograph was taken in December 1938, more than 80 years ago. 1 March 1938, the founding chairman of Samsung, Mr Lee Byung-chul, with 30,000 won in his pocket, established the Samsung Chamber of Commerce. That was the predecessor of the Samsung Group as we know it, and it was also when the Lee Family began to work closely with the Kim Family. The man on the left of the photograph is none other than Mr Lee Byung-chul himself.¡±

    He nced at the two men beside him, and they immediately got up at once and left the prayer hall. It was only then that Kim Jae-huan lowered his voice and exined in greater detail, ¡°This concerns hearsay that I only came to learn about after joining Samsung Group¡­ No, to be more precise, I only came to learn of this in recent times.¡±

    ¡°But she--¡­ At that time, Mr Lee personally saw it--!! He saw her being burnt to a crisp in the fiery ze!¡±

    ¡°Do you believe it? Someone who had obviously been burned to death actually came back to life! That said¡­ she couldn¡¯t remember a single thing about her past!¡±

    Qin Ye felt his fingertips quiver slightly.

    A wave of heat filled his heart in an instant.

    Yet the Book of Life and Death just had to state that this was the one who was destined for him, and that he absolutely had to go after her.

    That said, he knew that if there were to be a person in the world who could understand him, then it would undoubtedly have to be Xia Jinse!

    Eternal life wasn¡¯t a blissful thing.

    With the advent of modern identification cards, Qin Ye was even forced to uproot his life and reinvent himself every five years or so. If not for the favours he had called in back then, he could well be among the lost members of society right now.

    Fraught withplex emotions, Qin Ye drew several deep breaths and muttered softly, ¡°Continue.¡±

 Chapter 466: Lee Jung-sook (2)

    <h4>Chapter 466: Lee Jung-sook (2)</h4>

    ¡°He discovered that her appearances remained exactly the same, despite the fact that ten years had passed!¡±

    But that¡¯s only natural¡­ If she¡¯s indeed Xia Jinse, she would have experienced three whole dynasties across the history of Cathay! She would have internalized her experiences with human interaction spanning four hundred long years and developed a sharp acumen for the human psyche. Even the dumbest of fools would have be a genius by then!

    Kim Jae-huan continued, ¡°Now that things havee to this, we can¡¯t help but wonder if she¡¯s been slowly sowing seeds all this while, grooming and nurturing her supporters in order to cement her foothold in the Samsung Group! Presently, most of Samsung Group¡¯s directors are all personnel who only made it to the top under her rmendations! Of ten of them, at least half are aware that she¡¯s not a human, and yet¡­ they¡¯re still undyingly loyal to her!¡±

    I think I¡¯ve got something to say to that.

    A confluence of strategy, politics and the grace of promotions¡­ tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ I¡¯m afraid she must have managed to garner herself quite the following within the organization hasn¡¯t she? She¡¯s the whole package that grants benefits and fulfils ambitions and dreams. It would be a wonder if people aren¡¯t blindly following and supporting her! She¡¯s also a Lee after all!

    Qin Ye sighed. He¡¯s really run himself into a corner. I¡¯ll bet old Mr Lee must be regretting his actions back then. It¡¯s no wonder that you¡¯re here begging the Cathayan gods for help. I¡¯m sure you must have prayed to the gods in Daehan before. Unfortunately, they were all powerless. For instance¡­ do you think Liu Yu would even care about something like that?

    Of course I¡¯d take an interest in this matter!

    ¡°Right now, the pressure¡¯s all on old Mr Lee¡¯s shoulders¡­ because no matter who takes on the mantle of being chairperson of the Samsung Group, not a single person is able to shake the foothold Lee Jung-sook has established for herself in thepany!¡± Kim Jae-huan gnashed his teeth, ¡°She¡¯s a monster! She shouldn¡¯t even be alive in this world! So long as you reap her soul and cause her to die, then every single one of us in the Lee Family would even be willing to fork out 200 million RMB per person! Or its equivalent in Hell¡¯s notes!¡±

    What the hell am I supposed to do with hell¡¯s notes?!

    But¡­ what frustrated Qin Ye the most was the fact that he simply couldn¡¯t express these grievances of his!

    Besides, it would be far toote for Qin Ye to now state that his identity was only that of Ox-Head or Horse-Face!

    He was indescribably vexed in his heart, yet the only response he could think of was a soft, cid ¡°mm¡±.

    Are you serious?

    And as for Xia Jinse, huh¡­ There¡¯s naturally a ce in Hell for her, where she can with her acumen help with the tall, arduous task of empire-building. Qin-far-sighted-Ye nodded to himself, approving of his own wless ns.

    ¡°Her entire body¡­ is covered with tattoos. Cathayan characters, as well as arabic numbers. I couldn¡¯t read them, but Imitted the shape of a few to memory, reproduced them and showed them to others. Unfortunately, the only response I got was that they don¡¯t mean a single word. Apart from that¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    Why?

    Qin Ye knew that he wouldn¡¯t have been able to do the same himself.

    ¡°Where¡¯s she?¡± Qin Ye asked again. It was of utmost importance to make contact with her at the earliest possible time.

    Azurewaters City? What¡¯s she doing there?

    ¡°Because as soon as we¡¯re discovered¡­ she would stonewall our proposed resolutions in thepany at every step of the way. At present, more than half of Samsung Group¡¯s board of directors are loyal to her! Furthermore, with a 5% stake in thepany, she¡¯s one of the few shareholders of Samsung who¡¯s holding more than 2% in thepany! In other words, her instructions and opinions hold sway! One could even say that¡­ she¡¯s the true empress behind the Samsung empire!¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­

    They are of the view that only the Cathayan underworld could do something about ady of Cathayan descent. Furthermore, they would never get a chance to visit Cathay on any other asion.

    Could I have been doing it wrong all this while? Should I have ridden the wave and been as high-profile as I could¡¯ve been? Just like how I am in the mortal realm right now, raking in all the dough as though it didn¡¯t mean a thing!

    Smack! Smack! There were two muffled smacks, followed by the heavy thuds of something falling on the ground. A momentter, the door to the prayer hall was flung wide open with a loud m.

    Even though Qin Ye had seen his fair share ofdies from questionable online sources, he couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the magnificent work of the creator.

    Snow-white skin; deep, abstruse eyes that appeared to contain the starry night skies; sharp ebony brows; high nose-bridge; and cherry lips.

    She was beautiful, but¡­ he could tell she wasn¡¯t to be messed with.

    It arose from her temperament and disposition.

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s eyes shrank abruptly as soon as she entered the prayer hall.

    ¡°Everyone out.¡± She spoke calmly, and the two rows of bodyguard nodded and walked out without question.

    Silence. The only sounds that could be heard in the prayer hall were the soft chirps of the crickets outside, and the loud cks of Lee Jung-sook¡¯s heels.

    Lee Jung-sook wore long stockings over her legs, and she walked towards Kim Jae-huan with elegance and grace. And then, she ced her wrist directly in front of Kim Jae-huan¡¯s face.

    ¡°Do you know the answer now?¡± Lee Jung-sook asked with a faint smile.

    A split secondter, she pinched his cheeks violently and continued with a frigid tone of voice, ¡°It¡¯s four.

    ¡°I¡¯ve rushed to the processing nts to deal with the issue of the Samsung cell phone explosions, and yet you stab me in the back by visiting such ces?!¡±

    And then, she pushed hard and tossed Kim Jae-huan to the ground with a look of disdain in her eye, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what you say. Samsung has only managed to be what it is now because of me. Do you know how manypetitors I¡¯ve taken down on my own? Don¡¯t you dare say that the other directors are loyal to me. No. They¡¯re just being loyal to the interests of the Samsung Group. They know that Samsung Group would never fall as long as I¡¯m around. So, tell me - am I missing something? Did I shortchange the Lee Family in some way? Or do you find the dividends or directors¡¯ remuneration insufficient? Why are you so intent on putting me down?!¡±

    ¡°Get out.¡± She turned around to look at the statue in the room, ¡°This is going to be thest time. If something like this ever happens again, then don¡¯t me me for taking more drastic measures. I¡¯ve put up with you guys long enough now.¡±

    It was quite the sight seeing someone so fraught with hatred suddenly tuck his tail between his legs and scuttle off obsequiously. As he left, he even mmed the door shut behind him.

    It was so silent that even the soft whistle of the night wind sounded deafening.

    After a protracted pause, Lee Jung-sook spoke up again. But this time, her voice carried a trace of weariness. The previously overbearing persona had faded away, revealing a far more innocent disposition of a young girl who gently tucked her hair behind her ear as she spoke with a smile , ¡°He¡¯s really managed to invite something, hasn¡¯t he¡­? A god?¡±

    Formidable. Cutthroat and decisive. But¡­ I don¡¯t like women like that.

    ¡°Or demon?¡±

    Lee Jung-sook nodded softly, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    And then¡­ she¡­ began to undo her blouse.

 Chapter 467: Lee Jung-sook (3)

    <h4>Chapter 467: Lee Jung-sook (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind instantly went numb.

    What the hell is happening right now?!

    sphemy! You¡¯remitting sphemy right now!!!

    Fortunately, the dark eyes of the statue didn¡¯t betray the wild fluctuations of Qin Ye¡¯s hearts. In fact, he even began to wonder when thest time he saw the body of the opposite sex was. Ten years ago? Twenty years ago? What was on his mind was naturally limited to the scope of seeing it in person, and not the artistic action movies that were so widely proliferated these days.

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s soft shirt fell off her shoulders and into the cradle of her arms, revealing her white bra within. Whilst provocative, she didn¡¯t look the slightest bit unnatural at all. In fact, it was incredibly seductive especially given how beautiful and elegant she looked.

    It was because he could see that her entire body was covered in words like what Kim Jae-huan had earlier mentioned!

    In fact, he could even tell that there were old scars that had been re-carved into her skin in order to prevent them from fading away. Qin Ye simply couldn¡¯t understand why ady like her had to do something as ruthless as that to herself.

    There were many arabic numerals interspersed between the words, all of which appeared to be unrted to the other. For instance, the numbers 16xx were followed immediately with the word ¡°me¡±.

    It was like an artwork.

    ¡°Xia Jinse?¡± He finally spoke up, and for the first time, Lee Jung-sook reacted.

    ¡°It¡¯s been ages since I¡¯ve heard that name¡­¡± She slowly ran her finger along the scarred shoulders of hers, ¡°A god, then? You have to be one if you know that name¡­ What an unforgettable name that is¡­¡±

    He felt unprepared.

    The prayer halls were filled with an air of a serendipitous encounter.

    His eyes flickered wildly as he astutely caught the crux of the issue.

    After all, anyone who dies after consuming the taisui fungus would lose all memories of their past lives! She would never remember her own name!

    He suddenly gasped softly, and then turned his gaze to her body once more.

    A terrifying posttion suddenly surfaced on his mind. A lump swelled up on his throat, and he found himself renderedpletely speechless.

    de by de, she screamed in agony as she carved everything onto her skin¡­

    She didn¡¯t forget herself.

    She still knows what she¡¯s been through, who she loved, and who she hated.

    He now saw a humble soul who was filled with the determination to live on and remember everything in her past lives.

    That was her true name.

    Qin Ye sighed softly and shut his eyes.

    ¡°All of my past experiences have been recorded on my body.¡± Lee Jung-sook once again put on her clothes as though nothing had happened. She had the same expression on her face, but her voice had ostensibly grown somewhat distant and drifty, ¡°From my birth, to the schr I first fell in love with¡­ through to the founding of modern day Cathay¡­ and until the day I became the queen of the Samsung empire¡­¡±

    ¡°Every life I¡¯ve lived, all I¡¯ve loved, and all I¡¯ve hated, are etched onto my body. Nothing can erase the existence of Xia Jinse - not even the heavens.¡±

    After a long time, Qin Ye finally responded, ¡°What do you¡­ wish for?¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t need to be pitied.¡±

    She took a step forward without any form of reverence for the statue of Ksitigarbha and smiled faintly at it, ¡°I wish¡­ to die.¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°Why?¡± Qin Ye did his best to sound as normal and indifferent as possible.

    ¡°He was a very handsome man. A detective in Daehan.¡±

    ¡°He told me that he¡¯d just gotten one leg amputated. And then¡­¡±

    ¡°That was the most moving proposal I¡¯ve ever heard in my entire life.¡± Her smile was ostensiblyced withplex emotions. It was filled with some measure of retrospection, and also a tinge of helplessness.

    He was listening to the encounters of another person who was immortal like he was. He was listening to her recount the most precious moments of her life - fragments of her memories that probably nobody else in the Lee Family ever knew about.

    After a protracted pause of three full minutes, Lee Jung-sook finally continued, ¡°I refused. I definitely refused. I remember telling him this - ¡®I won¡¯t spend my life with a man who can¡¯t look after me.¡¯¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t spread rumours, or have his parents condemn me. He didn¡¯t even make a scene at thepany. He simply quietly vanished from my life altogether.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d give him a substantial sum of money to treat his leg injury every month. That ount was directly bound to my phone, and each month, I¡¯d wait patiently to hear of news of the funds being used and depleted. But¡­ the only news I¡¯d received was of the money in the ount growing.¡±

    ¡°He was only in his fifties when he died. Unfortunately, his leg injury had also afflicted him with a stubborn ailment that he was unable to rid himself of. After his death, I found some way to transfer the untouched ount to his parents, together with the ess code to the funds.¡±

    Just like their encounter, it happened without any warning.

    There wasn¡¯t any smell of nicotine. Instead, there was only the faint scent of orange blossoms.

    It was a responsibility she wasn¡¯t quite willing to assume.

    Thus, she could only shoulder the burden of being called an irresponsibledy and vanish from his life.

    ¡°I swore in my life that I would never love anyone again. Incidentally, it was also at that time that I shifted my attention to Samsung. I¡¯ve got today¡­¡± A smile crept up the corner of her lips once more, ¡°It¡¯s fun to go toe to toe against others.¡±

    ¡°Not quite. Perhaps it might be more urate to say that those things have just faded into the recesses of my life.¡± The night breeze picked up and gently tousled Lee Jung-sook¡¯s hair. She lifted her hand and adjusted her hair softly, ¡°Time is the best medicine. There¡¯s nothing it can¡¯t resolve. This incident happened decades ago. With his death, it¡¯s be a thing of the past.¡±

    Besides, her body was already covered in scars, so what is one more to add to the count?

    With that, she put on her suit and stered a cold expression on her face once more. Then, just as she was about to step back out of the prayer hall, she suddenly turned around once more, ¡°That¡¯s right, how might I address you?¡±

    Shouldn¡¯t I be considered one of the gods as well?

    It was only when Lee Jung-sook shook her head and was about to step out of the door that he suddenly spoke up, ¡°King Yanluo.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯ve got someone that you wish to look after, you can let me know.¡±

    Then, for the very first time, she revealed a genuine smile on her face.

    ¡°What¡¯s in the past is in the past. Besides, they¡¯re all good people, so I¡¯ve no doubts that they¡¯d do well with their next reincarnation.¡±

    But Qin Ye¡¯s next statement caused her to pause right where she was.

    His final statement caused Lee Jung-sook to remainpletely rooted to the ground.

    ¡°There¡¯s another person in Cathay right now.¡± Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°He¡¯s¡­ searching for you. You¡¯d be a good match¡­¡±

 Chapter 468: Of Stories Untold

    <h4>Chapter 468: Of Stories Untold</h4>

    The fact that she¡¯s immediately picked up the most problematic part of the sentence is clearly a sign of having interacted with humans for far too long¡­ Qin Ye sighed. The first response of any other ordinary human would¡¯ve been more along the lines of ¡®Who?¡¯ ¡®What¡¯s his name?¡¯ or ¡®How old is he?¡¯

    Silence.

    Momentster, she broke out into an uproariousughter without regard for her image, almost as though she had heard the funniest joke in a long while, ¡°D-destined? Don¡¯t tease me, alright? I¡¯ve lived seven lives now. And each time I did, I would encounter someone whom I thought was the one destined for me. But look where I am now?¡±

    With that, the entire prayer hall went silent.

    Back on the rooftop of a building in Martial City, Qin Ye opened his eyes at the same time.

    ¡°What a coincidence¡­¡± He rubbed his chin and muttered to himself, ¡°Thisdy isn¡¯t too bad after all¡­ She might be a little on the feisty side, but her character is pretty good. Furthermore, I can tell that she¡¯s pretty soft and tender beneath that harsh facade of hers¡­¡±

    When exactly did it happen?

    Or was it when I heard her talk about the stories of her past lives?

    Just then, his eyes suddenly twitched, and he nced at the rest of the city.

    He nced at his cell phone. It was 5.00 a.m.

    He was tempted to rush straight into Hell and ask Arthis what his earlier encounter was all about! Why did he suddenly be summoned like a beast? However, he knew that now wasn¡¯t the right time for that.

    ¡°It¡¯s just as well. I¡¯ll have to reconvene the meeting with Hell¡¯s ministers one weekter to discuss Ashmound¡¯s direction moving forward. I¡¯ll shelve my return till then. It wouldn¡¯t be good to vanish into thin air just after I exit my closed door cultivation in any event¡­¡±

    That¡¯s right! It¡¯s not for the money! Nor is it because I¡¯m hoping to receive some other form of gratification in kind!

    Thus, Yanluo Qin rode a stream ofhergale right back to the city hall. Naturally, it was a stream ofhergale disguised as a stream of true energy.

    Infernal Judge¡­

    It seems like¡­ this is a nascent Judge-ss expert? We seem to be rather simr in terms of abilities. At the very least, I can tell he¡¯s far weaker than Zhou Xianlong. Where did hee from?

    There were still a number of ordinary citizens who hadn¡¯t been exposed to the existence of cultivators, and the cultivation world naturally took great pains to maintain the fragile bnce between the two seemingly diametrically opposed realms.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Qin Ye smiled as he followed Wu Wenqing¡¯s lead. Meanwhile, Wu Wenqing continued to exin the situation, ¡°After you left, we immediately got down to notifying everyone about the news of your breakthrough. Just an hour ago, the director of the Qizhou branch of the Special Investigations Department, Mo Changhao, arrived here in person. He¡¯s apanied by a team of evaluators from the SRC, and we¡¯ve received word that a team of reporters from Yan Capital is even on their way right now! Apart from that, there¡¯s even a team of web editors and reporters from the Auspicious Omens website who¡¯s now on their way, and they are all expected to arrive in Martial City at 8.00 a.m.! Martial City will truly be making a ssh in the cultivation realm this time!¡±

    That said¡­ have I finally made my way into the upper echelons of the Special Investigations Department?

    Qin Ye casually asked, ¡°And who might that be?¡±

    Qin Ye nearly bit his tongue. His eyes instantly widened as he turned around abruptly once more, ¡°Who was that again?!¡±

    Of course there is!

    I¡¯d left the First Academy of Cultivators precisely because I didn¡¯t want to attract unnecessary attention to myself. This way, I could simply make an excuse for my breakthrough and slip into the shadows of the upper echelons of the Special Investigations Department. Thest thing I¡¯d wanted was to attract the jealousy and ire of the instructors and perhaps even the principals of the First Academy of Cultivators. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d summon the big boss back there over here?!

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve still got some preparatory work for the reception. Thank you, Mr Qin, for your kind understanding and consideration.¡± Wu Wenqing scooted off in an instant, ostensibly filled with excitement at the proceedings to follow.

    He began to pound on the sink in anguish.

    I don¡¯t want to be sent to the SRC to be cut up into pieces! I¡¯ve been cruising along in the shadows of the Special Investigations Department for such a long time! Wu Wenqing, I¡¯d never thought I¡¯d fall to the unassuming ploys of a mere branch chief! You must be a double agent engaged by others to execute their masterful ploy, aren¡¯t you?!

    And it was only then that he noticed a strange man, standing right behind him, staring at him as though he had just seen a ghost.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Holy crap¡­ What the hell are you doing in the toilet at five in the morning?! If you¡¯re facing urinary issues, you should just get your prostate checked out!

    It was embarrassing. Qin Ye knew that this man was raising an embarrassing incident of his own in order to lighten the mood, but the atmosphere was still as awkward as ever¡­

    He sported a long thin face, and the hair at his temples were clearly greying with age. A scar ran across his cheeks, but his eyes still looked as bright as ever.

    ¡°In the flesh.¡± Both men dried off their hands with the hand dryer. Then, Mo Changhao smiled and made a gesture of invitation, ¡°Come, let me take a good look at the youngest Infernal Judge in the history of Cathay. The governmental office restaurant has already prepared breakfast for us. Let¡¯s talk as we eat.¡±

    Qin Ye gulped down his soy milk voraciously, before raising an eyebrow quizzically, ¡°Reassigned?¡±

    My deepest apologies¡­ It¡¯s almost about time for me to feign my own death¡­ Otherwise, Yan Capital and Professor Yu are going to witness a proper miracle with their own eyes¡­

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qin Ye set down his soy milk, ¡°What division or department?¡±

    Ahem¡­ apologies, but are you aware that the mastermind responsible for the interoperation you¡¯re talking about is sitting right in front of you now? Qin Ye coughed dryly, evidently displeased with the mortal realm¡¯sck of enthusiasm in forming the task force, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Cathayans have always had a propensity for creating their own gods or deifying certain people. In fact, almost every generation of emperors would have at some point in time been revered and worshipped as gods. To that end, it¡¯s taken quite a lot for the government to detach its citizens from faith and lead them towards science. Can you imagine what¡¯s going to happen if we establishmunication channels with Hell? Can you imagine what the consequences might be?¡±

    Are you saying that you don¡¯t want Cathayans to create gods or deify people anymore?

    Besides, do you know that deification and faith are two separate concepts? Faith isn¡¯t a bad thing in and of itself. At the very least, its existence would teach people boundaries and give them a moralpass. After all, it¡¯s only with faith that men would fear the consequences of their sins.

    Qin Ye nodded. He wasn¡¯t in a hurry. The interoperation between the mortal realm and theherworld was first broached back in the Valley County, between him in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state and one of the upper echelons of the mortal realm. Back then, he¡¯d set a projected timeline of two years in future precisely so that he could weed out the rest of Kong Mo¡¯s rebel forces in the interim.

    Just then, there was a knock on the door. A row of white coats marched into the room. All of them had a badge with the SRC logo prominently disyed on their chests.

    Hang on a minute¡­ Qin Ye stared at the chief researcher as though he had just seen a ghost.

    Should you be measuring the extent of my true energy, before assessing the constitution of my body? With the way you¡¯re speaking¡­ I can¡¯t help but feel a little bit nervous about what is toe...

 Chapter 469: Examination of A Judge

    <h4>Chapter 469: Examination of A Judge</h4>

    This was the city government¡¯s conference room. That said, it was no longer recognizable as such, because there were a plethora of instruments and thin screens located along the sides of the walls. But the most conspicuous part of the room was still a vertical, cylindrical machine that was located right in the middle. Surveince monitors were also located at various parts of the room. There was even a spherical robot assisting with the operations of these instruments and devices.

    But, just as the wave of pride washed over him, a sensation of having just eaten shit soon surfaced in his heart¡­

    But what other choice do I have than to remain adamant against it? Hang on a minute¡­ Aren¡¯t Hellguards already supposed to be considered a middle-grade cultivator, in ordance with the ranking system of the Emissaries of Hell? Why weren¡¯t there such requirements back when I broke through to the ranks of an Anitya Hellguard?

    Really?

    Researcher A: We¡¯re going to do a full-body examination of a 19 years-old Infernal Judge tomorrow. Any volunteers?

    Researcher C: You can count me in as well! I¡¯d like to see if there¡¯s anything unique about his physique. My fingers are itching terribly!

    One of the researchers smiled faintly, ¡°Strip naked and get into the device.¡±

    Secondster, Qin Ye coughed dryly and probed nervously, ¡°And my underwear?¡±

    ¡°You can actually take off your clothes within the device itself. The clothes will automatically be extractedter.¡± Mo Changhao¡¯s statement finally gave Qin Ye some measure of hope.

    It was a cylindrical device, almost akin to devices used to store alien specimens in the sci-fi films of recent times. It wasrge and spacious, two meters in diameter and as tall as the ceiling of the room. The inside of the device was pitch-ck in colour. As soon as he entered, a soft mechanical voice immediately came from within, ¡°Entry of investigator no. S9527 detected. Please remove all clothing as soon as possible. Examination shallmence in five minutes.¡±

    Qin Ye was approximately 1.8m tall. He sported the appearances of a pretty boy when clothed. That said, the muscles of his body were undeniably toned andpact, and he clearly exuded a sense of primitive masculinity without his clothes on.

    The clothes rack behind him silently withdrew. An oxygen mask and a pair of goggles promptly descended from overhead, and Qin Ye sensibly put them on. Momentster, countless tubes with electrode attachments dropped from overhead and automatically attached themselves onto various parts of his chest.

    ¡°Five, four, three, two, one¡­ Commence examination.¡± As soon as the countdown ended, copious amounts of transparent liquid instantly surged from underfoot and began to fill the entire device.

    Then, just as Qin Ye slowly immersed himself in his own thoughts, the walls of the device suddenly opened up!

    To be more precise, the walls that had opened up were merely the external shell of the device, and there was still a ss surface separating Qin Ye from the rest of the room. That said, it was undoubtedly Qin Ye¡¯s worst nightmare, because the external walls of the device had retractedpletely, giving the rest of the room an all rounded perspective of Qin Ye! It was aplete exposure!

    Bloody hell¡­

    ¡°Hello.¡± Just then, one of the researchers spoke into the headset, and his voice echoed throughout the waters. It was incredible how he was able tomunicate so clearly through liquid.

    Get lost!

    Qin Ye stared at the old researcher with infuriation. Unfortunately, his expressions were misinterpreted to be that of astonishment, ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised. You¡¯re not the only one who finds this unbelievable. We feel the same way too. That said, it¡¯s one of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s policies not to inquire deeper into the techniques and heritage of one¡¯s abilities, especially that of skilled individuals who have managed to attain a ster cultivation rank. So long as you¡¯re a human, nobody would question you.¡±

    ¡°Examination results: S9527, human.¡±

    ¡°Reaction time: Ordinary humans - 0.2-0.3s. S9527 - 0.0001s.

    ¡°True energy reading: 4,200,000.

    Limit break: 6,000,000. Conclusion: Excellent.¡±

    Top Speed: Running - 200m/s; Flight - 350km/h.

    As line after line of text appeared on the surface of the cylindrical wall, the entire room quickly became silent. All of the researchers propped up their sses in unison as they read the results of his examination, before turning their attention to Qin Ye as though they had just seen a monster. And then, they all promptly lowered their heads to conceal the excitement in their hearts.

    It was only then that he felt assured enough to go on reading the rest of his personal data. To that end, it was absolutely fascinating to view his own body through the lens of data. It was the perfect opportunity to get a good grasp of his newfound abilities. After all, the ranking system proffered by Hell was far too nebulous a concept to give him anything concrete to work with.

    Explosive burst refers to the amount of energy which I can utilize in an instant. I presume that an excellent rating should be the highest rating under the system. As for limit break¡­ I suppose that would refer to the energy I can muster under desperate circumstances? I¡¯ve heard that all human beings are all capable of mustering inhuman strength when driven into a corner¡­

    And if I just extrapte from these results, doesn¡¯t this mean that Abyssal Prefects are already entities that can exceed the speed of sound and all aircrafts known to Man now?! That¡¯s absolutely terrifying. Infernal Judges can still be considered among the realm of the living, but Abyssal Prefects are definitely entities that are out of this world. Well¡­ if Shadowless seeds in his mission, I¡¯ll definitely have to be as vignt as possible in the uing negotiations. After all¡­ I might not even see it if heunches an attack that is beyond the speed of sound¡­

    Did you guys get stunned by my ferocious manly weapon?

    That¡¯s because your daddy has gone down a more unorthodox path to power, you bunch of dirtbags!

    Buzz!

    Holy crap?!

    Qin Ye immediately broke out into cold sweat. Is the little daisy that I¡¯ve guarded for more than a hundred years finally about to bloom? But this object isn¡¯t even a human being! Isn¡¯t this too much?!

    The walls of the cylindrical device closed up once more, and Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief. Truth be told, he hadn¡¯t yet figured out how to fool Zhou Xianlong.

    Back outside. Mo Changhao furrowed his brows, ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong.¡±

    The head researcher adjusted his sses softly. The frenzied expression on his face had already faded away. He pushed on a button to set the wash-up timer to 20 minutes, before nodding at Mo Changhao and walking out of the conference room.

    There was another man leaning against the wall in the corridor outside. That man wore a ramrod straight Cathayan tunic suit, and he was currently in the midst of lighting up a cigarette.

    ¡°Deputy Director Zhou?!¡± Mo Changhao did a double take at that man, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just call some moments ago to send your apologies? Didn¡¯t an emergency crop up?¡±

 Chapter 470: Sculpture

    <h4>Chapter 470: Sculpture</h4>

    ¡°The emergency happens to be right here.¡± Zhou Xianlong appearedpletely calm as he nodded softly and led them deeper into the city hall, ¡°It¡¯s my intention to keep it this way. How¡¯s Little Qin?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no issues. Sir¡­¡±

    Zhou Xianlong looked up and shook his head softly, and Mo Changhao immediately fell silent. With that, the two men plodded along the corridors in silence, almost as though they were invisible to the rest, until they arrived in front of an emergency passageway. And then, they headed in.

    They were already on the ground floor, and yet¡­ there were still stairs within that led deeper down!

    That said, neither of them appeared to be surprised by its existence. They marched through it and continued walking for approximately five minutes, until they arrived in front of an iron door.

    ¡°DS008. That¡¯s the code that you¡¯d fixed back then.¡± Mo Changhao sighed softly as he pulled out a keycard and tapped it over the keyhole of the door.

    Strangely, the ancient-looking iron door suddenly spoke with a mechanical female voice, ¡°High-level authorization detected. Please scan your iris.¡±

    Bzzt¡­ A smallpartment on the iron door silently opened up, revealing the most cutting-edge iris verification instrument within.

    Mo Changhao leaned in closer, ¡°Verificationplete.¡± The iron door clicked softly and opened up promptly, only to reveal a chamber within that was filled with high-tech implements!

    It was none other than the headquarters of the Special Investigations Department, Martial City branch office!

    ¡°Chief, what¡¯s there that we can¡¯t talk about up there?¡± Mo Changhao couldn¡¯t keep it within any longer, ¡°And why did we have to put Mr Qin through a full body examination? It¡¯spletely unnecessary! He¡¯s got a shadow! Yin spirits can¡¯t fool us like that! He¡¯s undoubtedly an Infernal Judge!¡±

    ¡°Have you ever seen a cultivator advance so quickly?¡± Zhou Xianlong continued walking forward without even turning back. The corridor wasn¡¯t long, and it soon opened up into a hall with countless devices that appeared to monitor every corner of Martial City. A number of investigators dressed in camouge uniforms and whiteb coats shuttled about inside as they busied themselves with their tasks and duties.

    Mo Changhao shook his head, but remained adamant about his position, ¡°So long as he¡¯s a human being, I couldn¡¯t care less about what secrets he¡¯s harbouring. Chief, you know full well the kind of situation Cathay is faced with right now! That evil ghost terrorizing Eastmount Province might well be a thousand-year ghost, and he¡¯s running rampant about! Is now really the time to be bothered about such trivialities?!¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Zhou Xianlong entered the hall. At once, everyone turned and bowed respectfully to him. He nodded slightly, and then led Mo Changhao straight to another room on the side.

    It was a round room that was approximately 100 square feet in size. There was nothing noteworthy within apart from the beehive structures that ran along every part of the walls.

    Whoosh¡­ The door shut behind them, and it was only then that Zhou Xianlong finally turned around to look Mo Changhao straight in the eye, ¡°But first, he has to be a human being.¡±

    With that, he turned around and spoke loudly, ¡°Bring up Docket 871.¡± At once, a mechanical sound began to whir in the ¡®hive¡¯ behind. Secondster, a mechanical female voice responded, ¡°High-level authorization detected. Deputy Director Zhou Xianlong, please hold on as your request is being processed.¡±

    There was a period of silence as both men awaited what came next.

    Mo Changhao furrowed his brows. Last night, he received direct orders from Zhou Xianlong to preside over Qin Ye¡¯s promotion ceremony here in Martial City. He had never heard of such a request before! Historically, all Infernal Judges were to report directly back to Yan Capital for their promotion ceremony, enter the academy to further their studies for several months, and then hold a press conference before finally being given a new appointment after a year or so.

    Mo Changhao knew about Qin Ye.

    He knew about the instructor who authored the first ever thesis to be published by the First Academy of Cultivators. Thus, he had initially thought that all of this was done because the upper echelons of the Special Investigations Department favoured a young talent like him, and they wanted him to garner a little bit more experience here in Martial City before transferring him to other tasks. Zhou Xianlong had personally called because he was Qin Ye¡¯s mentor back in the First Academy of Cultivators, and the promotion of a cultivator to the ranks of an Infernal Judge was a matter that clearly deserved his attention. But now¡­ having personally seen the instruments and devices used earlier in the conference room, he knew that there was more than meets the eye!

    He knew these instruments and devices.

    They were SRC¡¯s most cutting-edge detectors that were designed to pick up the most insidious parasitic spirits or symbiotic spirits. After all, such Yin spirits that boarded and lived within the vessel of a human body were most difficult to detect. And to that end, scanning a newly-minted Infernal Judge with such devices couldn¡¯t be considered favouring him in the slightest!

    Rather, it was suspicion.

    Extreme suspicion!

    With Judges around, it was impossible for Yin spirits to conceal their identities and pull a shade over their eyes unless they were Prefect-ss Yin spirits. Coupled with the examination results, Mo Changhao thought that these suspicions would be snuffed out there and then. Yet, little did he expect things to go on endlessly like this!

    Docket 871. Mo Changhao swiftly recalled the numbering system of dockets. It runs chronologically and sequentially from the smallest number, which means that this¡­ must be one of the newest dockets?

    And quite possibly one that was opened only in thest three months?

    He recalled reviewing some of the dockets just over three months ago, and their serial numbers at all started with ¡®86¡¯.

    Just then, one of the hive structures buzzed softly, and a small tablet was pushed out from the recesses of the hives. The screen of the tablet flickered softly, and then a video appeared on it.

    It was the video of an excavation site that had excellent protective measures in ce. A series of cultural relics were in the process of being excavated from the ground.

    Mo Changhao wasn¡¯t familiar with such artifacts. That said, he could tell from the way they looked that these artifacts were clearly hundreds of years old. They appeared ancient and dated, but he couldn¡¯t tell from the style what dynasties they were from. More than anything, he couldn¡¯t understand why Zhou Xianlong was showing him this video. After all, Zhou Xianlong had never struck him as one for cultural appreciation.

    Could it be that these archaeologists woulde to excavate an ancient coffin? Or perhaps a Yin artifact?

    s, he was wrong.

    This was one of the most ordinary excavation sites of cultural relics. Thergest artifact excavated was nothing more than a stone tablet. Five minutester, the video of the excavation came to an end, and the screen toggled to reveal each piece of artifact unearthed. Unable to fend off his curiosity any longer, Mo Changhao finally queried, ¡°What¡¯s all this about?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong also hit the pause button at about the same time.

    The video paused at one of the stone tablets that had been excavated.

    The image revealed the front of the stone tablet. It was very old, and even covered with ck decay marks. The entire tablet was approximately four or five meters from end to end. There was also an ancient relief sculpture atop the stone tablet depicting the image of a man, followed by two lines of words that ran down. One line was long, while the other was short.

    Zhou Xianlong zoomed into the frozen image, and it became clearer and clearer. Mo Changhao could now see the two rows of words, and he couldn¡¯t help but read them aloud, ¡°King Qinguang, Bao Tianzi, King Zhuanlun¡­ these are the names of the Yamas of the Ten Pces¡­¡±

    He continued to scan through the long line of text. If the long line of text was etched with the names of the Yamas of the Ten Pces, then the short line of text would in all likelihood reflect the name of King Yanluo himself.

    But as soon as he turned to the shorter line of text, he abruptly straightened his back and did a double take at the screen. Mo Changhao was a provincial governor, and yet even he wasn¡¯t able to conceal the great astonishment in his heart.

    ¡°T-this is¡­¡± He shook his head with great disbelief. Even his lips were trembling uncontrobly, ¡°This has got to be a coincidence, right? A coincidence¡­¡±

    There were only four words on the next line.

    King Yanluo: Qin Ye!

    Mo Changhao muttered to himself, ¡°He¡¯s only 19 years-old. The fact that their names happen to coincide doesn¡¯t mean anything¡­¡±

    ¡°But, is it really a coincidence?¡± Zhou Xianlong nodded in silence, and then tapped on the screen, ¡°Then¡­ this¡­ must also be a coincidence, right?¡±

    The docket revealed a photograph of Qin Ye taken from right in front of him.

    Thick eyebrows,rge eyes, pale skin and a faint smile on his face. He was charming, youthful and rather good-looking.

    Just then, Zhou Xianlong booted up another software where he superimposed Qin Ye¡¯s photograph onto the relief sculpture of the stone tablet.

    In that instant, Mo Changhao¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    The face on the stone tablet was wearing a Zhongkui headdress and the robes of an Infernal Judge, and yet¡­ his facial features were exactly the same as that of Qin Ye¡¯s photograph! They were practically two peas in a pod!

    Thump, thump, thump¡­ Mo Changhao¡¯s heart was practically thumping out of his chest right now. He had experienced a multitude of peculiar things in his life, and yet this coincidence was so otherworldly that it felt no different from a dream right now.

    Just then, Zhou Xianlong released the click of his mouse and allowed Qin Ye¡¯s photograph to directly ¡®fall¡¯ onto the image of the stone tablet. At once, a series of numbers began to show up at the sides and corners of the screen, while a progress bar began to fill from the left to the right.

    Dead silence.

    Ten secondster, with a soft ding, a mechanical female voice delivered the startling results, ¡°Facial recognition scanpleted. The results are as follows.¡±

    ¡°Distance between eyebrows: 2.2cm. Width of nose: 4.57cm. Philtrum: 2.87cm¡­ The tilt and angle of all five senses are exactly the same. Image detected on the photograph is a 100% match to the image ofparison. Result: Same person.¡±

    Silence.

    Deathly silence.

    Mo Changhao closed his eyes once more and immersed himself in the wild palpitations of his heart. His lips had grownpletely parched by now.

    Three minutester, he muttered hoarsely, ¡°When did this¡­ happen?¡±

    ¡°One month ago.¡± Zhou Xianlong crossed his arms and pinched between his brows, ¡°Know how we found out?¡±

    Mo Changhao shook his head. He didn¡¯t know what to believe anymore.

    There were too many questions lingering on his mind right now. King Yanluo¡­ what a reverential figure¡­

    King Qinguang, King Dushi, King Zhuanlun, and the other Yamas of the Ten Pces can all be traced back to the mortal realm. King Yanluo was the only one who couldn¡¯t.

    He¡¯s practically a nameless god.

    But now¡­ we finally have some evidence of his name?! By whose ount?

    That 19 years-old boy is none other than the King Yanluo of Hell?

    No¡­ Let¡¯s take a step back. If he¡¯s really the King Yanluo of Hell, then what¡¯s he doing in the mortal realm in the first ce? And how did this stone tablet appear? The fact that King Yanluo is in the mortal realm means that there is necessity for his presence. So why would a stone tablet disclosing his identity like this suddenly appear in the mortal realm?

    A series of queries continued to surface on his mind just like bubbling, gurgling waters.

    Zhou Xianlong leaned back on his chair and tapped his fingers on the table, ¡°We were able to discover this because¡­ in the span of a single month, 364 pieces of simr stone tablets were found to bear the very same line of text that says ¡®King Yanluo: Qin Ye¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Do you know something? It feels almost as though these stone tablets were all hiding and waiting for us to notice them at the exact same time. But is that even possible?¡±

    ¡°King Yanluo¡­ If he¡¯s truly the King Yanluo of Hell, then there would have been records of his identity across monuments, temples and other ancient steles. But there isn¡¯t. Every single record alleging his identity as King Yanluo of Hell had only just suddenly appeared, almost as though¡­ something¡­ has approved of his office, and is doing everything it can to force our agreement!¡±

    Mo Changhao grew somber and stern, ¡°Are you suggesting that¡­ a new god has appeared?¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then continued, ¡°Are you certain that¡­ this isn¡¯t the works of an evil ghost?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong shook his head firmly, ¡°No. That¡¯s not possible.¡±

    ¡°The 364 stone tablets that I was referring to earlier weren¡¯t all newly unearthed artifacts. It¡¯s not possible to unearth so many new artifacts in a single month.¡± Zhou Xianlong cast a deep gaze at Mo Changhao, ¡°Do you¡­ get my drift?¡±

    Mo Changhao furrowed his brows, and then suddenly gasped as he stared at the image on the tablet with a soft quiver in his eyes.

    ¡°Are you saying that¡­ over three hundred artifacts rting to the records of King Yanluo¡­ had all been changed overnight to reflect Qin Ye¡¯s name?!¡± Even an Infernal Judge had limits to theirposure, and the magnitude and implications of this urrence had clearly exceeded that of Mo Changhao. After all, something like that¡­ represented the change in the entire dynasty of Hell!

    It was the ascension of a new king!

    Zhou Xianlong stared intently at the screen as he continued softly, ¡°All of our records about the King Yanluo of Hell, whether Taoism, Buddhism, or other ancient tablets or steles, appeared to be altered by an invisible hand overnight. The words ¡®Qin Ye¡¯ have been added to these records without any measure of concealment whatsoever. In fact¡­ it almost feels as though that mysterious entity is¡­ notifying us.¡±

    With that, both men grew silent.

    Who¡¯s this mysterious person dering the truth about the identity of the King Yanluo of Hell? Why would all signs be pointing towards Qin Ye?

    Hell?

    Impossible. If it¡¯s truly Qin Ye, then the fact that he¡¯s currently back in the mortal realm means that he¡¯s got his purposes and objectives. How could Hell be attempting to blow the cover of its own head honcho?

    An evil ghost?

    That¡¯s even less likely!

    Would evil ghosts dare to spheme against the name of the King Yanluo of Hell? To date, we¡¯ve not heard of Yin spirits even tampering with records pertaining to the Emissaries of Hell - even those pertaining to lower officials including Hellguards and Judges. And this held true even when the incidents involved incarnate revenants.

    So¡­ who the hell could this be?!

 Chapter 471: Crow Tengu

    <h4>Chapter 471: Crow Tengu</h4>

    He still maintained his perspective, but it was now obviouslyced with some measure of uncertainty.

    ¡°You did what?¡± Mo Changhao instinctively thought that to be ridiculous, but soon capitted on second thoughts, ¡°Actually¡­ had I been in your shoes, I would¡¯ve done the same as well.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Mo Changhao was startled again, ¡°The albatross is dead? They¡¯re true survivalists that never seem to perish in the line of duty. They¡¯re elites in every right! How did they die?!¡±

    They had unwittingly begun to specte and speak about their uncertainties.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Zhou Xianlong sighed, ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯ve kept a close watch over Little Qin over thest year or so. There¡¯s no way he would have had any opportunities to execute his duties and functions as King Yanluo. But still¡­ don¡¯t you think that everything happening right now is far too coincidental?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong turned around and gazed deeply at Mo Changhao, ¡°Ever since enrollment, he¡¯s only redeemed his merit points on one single asion. And do you know what he asked for? Neither treasures nor artifacts, but Yin spirit stones. It¡¯s almost as though he can advance in his cultivation without putting in any effort at all.¡±

    He got to his feet and began to pace about, ¡°Have you heard about Valley County? Two Emissaries of Hell have shown up to broach the idea of interoperations between theherworld and the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°And do you know what the top brass¡¯ assessment of this matter is?¡± Zhou Xianlong turned around and recited their conclusion word for word, ¡°The mannerism of speech and action of these two Emissaries of Hell tells us that they have an intimate understanding of the mortal realm¡­ They definitely know everything that is happening in the mortal realm! In other words, Hell has an insider in the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. What a perfect coincidence.¡± Zhou Xianlong shook his head wearily, ¡°Over thest month, we¡¯ve escted this matter and been granted full authority to thoroughly investigate these coincidences.¡±

    Mo Changhao shut his eyes.

    Zhou Xianlong sighed, ¡°The master of the Sword of the Yellow Emperor has emerged from reclusion.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s him.¡± Zhou Xianlong nced up at the ceiling wistfully, ¡°He has personally instructed us to stand down. To his mind, it doesn¡¯t matter whether Qin Ye is human, or if this is a mere coincidence, or otherwise. What¡¯s more important is that it has already been two years since Qin Ye¡¯s emergence in the cultivation realm. Anything he has set out to do would have already beenpleted, or at least be nearpletion. The fact that he¡¯s not harmed the interests of the mortal realm in the slightest means that there¡¯s no harm in letting the matter rest.¡±

    Momentster, Zhou Xianlong continued hoarsely, ¡°But¡­ how do you expect me to let things rest like that?!¡±

    He gazed deeply into Mo Changhao¡¯s eyes, ¡°And I¡¯vee here precisely because I¡¯m looking for answers.¡±

    Mo Changhao could empathize with Zhou Xianlong¡¯s feelings. It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to state that Qin Ye was absolutely outstanding. The rate of his cultivation growth was incredible. He was neither arrogant nor impatient, and had even propelled the First Academy of Cultivators into stardom with the publication of his paper. A talent like that would most certainly be the centre of attention of any institution around.

    ¡°I¡¯ll render my fullest cooperation.¡±

    The car slowly rumbled along the city¡¯s main avenue.

    It cruised along, whizzing past the regr cars around them with ease as it attracted a series of envious stares.

    ¡°Brother, I¡¯m afraid this isn¡¯t a local car.¡± The passenger behind the cab driver yawnedzily, ¡°Earlier, while you were enthralled by the car, I managed to get a look at its license te. It¡¯s just a series of numbers. I think it might be a car from Daehan.¡±

    The supercar whizzed along the roads. The ss on both sides were tinted, and nobody was able to peer into the vehicle. Otherwise, they would have realized that the driver was in fact ady.

    She was dressed in a dapper woman¡¯s suit with an earphone stuffed into her ears. She wore a pair of exquisite earrings that were clearly encrusted with diamonds. Even the pendant on her chest was clearly carved from the most luxurious jade piece.

    All eyes were on the supercar. If they could see past the tinted mirrors, they would realize that thedy was the only one in the car right now.

    Just then, a red coloured hand suddenly reached out from behind her.

    It looked like a human hand, but a closer inspection would reveal that there were only four fingers on the hand. Furthermore, the red hue wasn¡¯t anything like the usual pink hue of the healthy human body. Rather¡­ it appeared grisly, almost as though someone had been yed alive, revealing the scarlet muscles beneath the human skin!

    ¡°Head¡­ east¡­¡±

    Drip¡­ There was the sound of a water dropletnding in the vehicle. Thedy immediately raised her brows without flinching in the slightest, ¡°This car is very expensive¡­¡±

    Lee Jung-sookpletely turned a blind eye to the presence of the wed hand. Instead, she simply flicked open her cigarette case, picked out her cigarette of choice, and then pulled out her diamond-encrusted lighter. Then, she lit up and took a deep drag of her favourite orange-scented cigarette, ¡°Crow Tengu, ck Yaksha¡­ I would be grateful if you could truly kill me and dispose of me for all eternity.¡±

    The one on the left sported hideous appearances, with one eye and a mouth filled with canine teeth like a ferocious beast. His entire head was covered with white hair, while its body was covered with bloated veins. He wore an onmyoji¡¯s cap over its head.

    The other entity appeared far less daunting. However¡­ he was a dog!

    The head of the dog appeared no different from that of a human being. He wore the snow-white robes of an ancient hunter with a high ck hat. Soft strands of ck hair hung loosely by the sides of his head. He appearedpletely calm and cid - a stark contrast next to the ferocious creature beside him that appeared ready to explode in fury at any time! That said, the Yin energy emanating from the Inu Yaksha was far more terrifying than that of the Crow Tengu beside him!

    ¡°You¡¯d best not be ying any tricks on us.¡± The Inu Yaksha crossed his legs and ran his razor-sharp ws along the windows of the car, emitting a hair-raising screech, ¡°You might be immortal, but¡­ immortals still feel pain¡­¡±

    Bang!

    Yet Lee Jung-sook wasn¡¯t frazzled at all. She continued to chuckle softly, ¡°But that also makes sense. After all, I¡¯m the only one who can freely enter and exit the Array of the Nine Gods. Who else could you approach for help but I?¡±

    ¡°[in Nipponese] Fool! Stop!¡± ck Yaksha snapped as his entire body erupted with terrifying Yin energy. In an instant, his hair turned ck, and his eyes turned bloodshot, just like a hellish asura.

    ¡°Cough, cough¡­¡± Just then, Lee Jung-sook coughed softly. The eruption of Yin energy had caused the temperature within to suddenly dip, so much so that the interior of the vehicle was now covered with ayer of frost. Crow Tengu¡¯s golden pupils narrowed slightly. Then, with a cold snort, he sat back down onto the rear seats.

    The car continued driving into the outskirts of the city. The entire journeysted another twenty minutes before they finally stopped.

    Lee Jung-sook was in attendance personally. Naturally, every single key Samsung personnel located in Eastmount had to be present as well!

    Lee Jung-sook first put her slender, pale leg and her scarlet heels out of the car, and then with her head held high and a graceful poise, she finally stepped out.

    <hr>

    1. So the author provides these details, but then goes on to talk about the car as though it¡¯s a 4 seater. I¡¯ll presume that this is one of Ferrari¡¯s 4 seaters that have 949 horsepower in the parallel universe.

 Chapter 472: Black Yaksha

    <h4>Chapter 472: ck Yaksha</h4>

    ¡°Thank you. I can¡¯t wait.¡± The shades concealed her bloodshot eyes due to theck of sleepst night. With a faint smile, she strode right into the arms of the weing party and marched off with them.

    ¡°Not good.¡± A middle-aged man behind her nced around and responded with a hushed voice, ¡°We¡¯ve already dismissed ourmunications executive because of the poor manner in which they¡¯ve handled the situation. However¡­ what¡¯s done is done. What¡¯s more important is to salvage the situation.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook drew a deep breath and sighed softly, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect things toe to this either. We¡¯ve already recalled the general manager in charge of the operations here. I want us to issue a sincere apology in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook shook her head, ¡°First, we¡¯ll have to locate the source of the problem. I¡¯ve looked through the design drawings. The model in question implements the most cutting-edge technology publicly avable, and there aren¡¯t any issues with the design in theory.¡±

    Thedy nced around warily, before taking two steps forward and whispering softly, ¡°He hopes that we¡¯d be able to settle the issue as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he won¡¯t be able to suppress the tide of public opinions much longer.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Nobody¡¯s there.¡± Thedy bowed respectfully, ¡°As you¡¯ve requested, we¡¯ve already put up a maintenance sign on the door.¡±

    She was an extremely disciplineddy.

    The restroom was extremely clean. There were white tiles, and a faint scent of sandalwood filled the entire area. As soon as she stepped into the restroom, she immediately bit down softly on her lips, ¡°Do you really have to watch ady do her business in the restroom?¡±

    She didn¡¯t head into the cubicles.

    ¡°Lee Jung-sook, you¡¯d best not try anything funny.¡± Crow Tengu cautioned with a hoarse voice, ¡°Do what you must with your exploding cell phones, and then get the hell back to Daehan immediately! Otherwise¡­ I¡¯ll personally see to it that you return in pieces!¡±

    She made her way straight into the innermost cubicle, drew a deep breath, and then¡­ knocked softly on the partition separating her and the next cubicle.

    Knock, knock¡­ knock¡­ Just then, two long knocks and one short knock responded on the very same partition wall.

    It was incredibly faint, almost as though someone had buried their face in her hands, biting her lips hard and sobbing because of excessive fear.

    Then, mustering the calmest voice she could, Lee Jung-sook responded, ¡°9.30 a.m. You¡¯re bang on time.¡±

    Knock!

    ¡°Sister Jung-sook!!¡± The voice from the next cubicle hissed, ¡°But¡­ but we¡¯re practically sabotaging ourselves! We¡¯re causing the Samsung phones manufactured tobust and explode on their own! W-what are you trying to do? Isn¡¯t Samsung a business you¡¯ve built up from scratch?!¡±

    Her voice appeared to soothe Huizhen¡¯s roiling emotions.

    ¡°After all, I¡¯ve got the final say when ites to the appointment and removal of directors in Samsung.¡±

    ¡°Continue.¡± Lee Jung-sook, ¡°Continue until the problem is uncovered.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t afford to stay for too long. After all, suspicions would grow if she did.

    ¡°Are you trying to get yourself killed?!¡± Lee Jung-sook barked through gritted teeth, ¡°Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha are out there right now! They can easily summon an entire army of Yin spirits out of nowhere. We¡¯re talking about evil ghosts that have been notorious in Nippon for thousands of years, second only to Izanami who emerged into prominence a century or so before they did. You¡¯re bound to be killed as soon as they discover your presence!¡±

    ¡°Are you deliberately allowing defects in the parts just so that you have a reason toe to Cathay? We¡¯re talking about a marketprising 1.5 billion people! Why do you have to do this? Didn¡¯t you say you were unafraid of death?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I might not be afraid of death itself, but that¡¯s on condition that I¡¯m the one seeking my own death. The situation would bepletely different if others are plotting against me.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how they stare at me back in Daehan, even when I¡¯m eating? Given their presence across the entire East Continent, the only countries that they wouldn¡¯t dare make a move against me would be Cathay and Hindustan. I¡¯m willing to give up on the entire Cathayan market if that means preserving my own dignity and pride. Thepetition here is too stiff anyway.¡± After drying her hands, she opened her cosmetics bag and gently traced lip gloss over her lips again, ¡°I recall that¡­ the Hungry Ghost Festival ising up again soon?¡±

    ¡°Think about it¡­¡± She packed up her cosmetics bag and slowly sauntered to the exit, ¡°When Yin spiritse out to y, only to be greeted by the presence of two Nipponese Infernal Judges, how do you think the Cathayan Emissaries of Hell will react?¡±

    Unfortunately, Lee Jung-sook had already walked away from the mirror by now. The mysterious presence manifested on her brooch and continued to holler madly, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ve thought things through?! That¡¯s the Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha that we¡¯re talking about! Existences that have ravaged Nippon for centuries on end! Their names can be found on every record of Nipponese legends and myths! They¡¯re even older than Oda Nobunaga! How could you smuggle them into Cathay like that?! And without suppressing their abilities to boot?!¡±

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s heels cked against the white tiles of the restroom as she responded with a voice that was as calm as ever, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, these are all evil ghosts that have only experienced death once anyway. Besides, who is to say that my life experiences are any less than theirs? I¡¯ve done my fair share of time in the mortal realm after all¡­¡±

    Two weekster, Martial City.

    It was everything he could have asked for, save for thepanionship of a hostess.

    Who could¡¯ve imagined that there would be so many things to be done in the mortal realm after bing an Infernal Judge? He had an appointment with the representatives of a website today, while his schedule tomorrow waspletely blocked out for a series of media interviews. In short, his schedule was absolutely packed. In fact, as soon as news got out of his ascension to an Infernal Judge, he had received a multitude of solicitations from all over the world by various means - including even requests for his cell phone number.

    ¡°Speaking of which, what reason is there for me to remain in the mortal realm?¡± He stared nkly at the ceiling and wondered aloud, ¡°Hell can already hold its own by now. Rather than struggle to earn merit points back in the mortal realm, why not devote all of my attention to Hell instead? Besides, it¡¯s not as though there¡¯s no benefits in setting about my business back in Hell. In fact, all ground-breaking achievements in Helle withmensurate benefits! So what the hell am I still doing here?!¡±

    Just then, his cell phone buzzed.

    ¡°Hurry up!¡± He answered the call, only to be greeted by the bare-chested body of Local Bully. He had evidently just emerged from the showers, ¡°I¡¯ll forfeit my surname if we don¡¯t stomp some pub games today!¡±

    With that, they immersed themselves right into the arena of summoners.

    Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and it was soon midnight. Qin Ye stared at the series of losses on his record of games, and he couldn¡¯t even bring himself to cuss and swear at anyone.

    And he would even foil his teammates ns to gank the enemy forces!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ you guys are trash¡­ When the hell can I get out of the silver mire¡­¡± Qin Ye slumped back onto the sofa with great despondence. Fortunately, the fact that he was now a Judge meant that he no longer needed food or sleep. This meant that he had essentially gained far more time to work with at night.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s these people that are holding me back right now¡­¡± He sighed softly as he pulled out his phone, staring at the group video call involving several people who were still brimming with energy. Qin Ye yelled, ¡°You guys are pieces of shit!!!¡± And then, he couldn¡¯t help but smile once more.

    This is a rather¡­ fascinating feeling¡­

    With that, Qin Ye shelved his thoughts. But just as he was about to march into the showers to freshen up, a voice suddenly echoed in his ears.

    It was Arthis¡¯ voice.

    Has Three Lives, Three Worlds worked?

    Then, three secondster, he reappeared in his room once more, picked up a sack of catnip, and then vanished again.

    <hr>

    1. They were ying LoL.

 Chapter 473: Four Forbidden Arts

    <h4>Chapter 473: Four Forbidden Arts</h4>

    A beast that was approximately 20 meters in sizey on the ground, radiating golden brilliance all around like a bright sun in the dark crevasses of Limbo. It was iparably dazzling and majestic.

    This was the sight that Qin Ye was greeted by as soon as he arrived in Limbo.

    He was stunned to see that the colossal beast that Harken was had condensed so much! That said¡­ he could tell that the Yin energy radiating from its body was still just as intense!

    The terror that filled Qin Ye¡¯s heart was no longer something that a prey experienced when faced with a predator. Rather, it felt more like the terror and despondence ofplete suppression, as though the entire realm of Limbo was now under the control of the single presence before his eyes. It felt as though the single bat of the Harken¡¯s eyelid could cause meteors to fall from the sky and crash directly on him.

    The Harken remained silent.

    Just then, the Harken¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and its nose twitched slightly. Then, it whipped its head around and stared directly at the sack in Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Ahem¡­¡± The dignified divine creature of Hell interrupted itself mid-speech and pointed at the bag, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Majestic, huh?

    How dare you summon me to Limbo? Look at you now, wagging your tail all so eagerly at me, almost as though you¡¯re begging me for mercy, huh?!

    With that, he untied the drawstring of the sack.

    Then, there was a series of loud chewing sounds. The Harken¡¯s face was still filled with an expression of sobriety, but his tail was wagging so much that it looked no different from the propeller of a ne! It even kicked up a sandstorm of dust and debris behind it!

    Bloody hell¡­ this is the sh between two prideful, arrogant beasts! Arthis couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes in her heart.

    Qin Ye smiled and nodded - That¡¯s great. Now that you¡¯ve had a little treat from me, I hope you¡¯ll look upon me a little bit more favourably. With that, Qin Ye cleared his throat, ¡°Lord Harken, I wonder what business you might have with me today?¡±

    Boom!

    Holy crap¡­ It feels so good that I can¡¯t even breathe¡­

    A momentter, one man and one Harken locked eyes, as though in a tense confrontation. Then, the Harken finally relented with a casual remark, ¡°As far as the contents of that sack is concerned... the more, the better.¡±

    Qin Ye took his seat somewhat begrudgingly - An entire sack of catnip for only the right to sit in front of the Harken? What am I to you? A kiwi fruit?

    Qin-kiwi-Ye¡¯s eyes immediately flickered wildly.

    That¡¯s a Yama-ss strike!

    ¡°But¡­¡± The Harken promptly delivered the bad news that came along with the good, ¡°There¡¯s no way I can properly determine the location of this strike. Whilst I may have recovered somewhat, it¡¯s still not to the extent that I can do as I freely will.¡±

    It¡¯s worth it!

    The Harken continued, ¡°I¡¯ve summoned you today because I want to exin to you how a True Infernal Judge is different from any other Emissary of Hell. The fact that you¡¯re concurrently also the next sessor of the King Yanluo of Hell means that these differences would be limited to merely internal changes, but also external changes that affect the entire underworld!¡±

    The Harken¡¯s voice rumbled with sonorous majesty, ¡°Arakshasa might be powerful as far as Judges are concerned, but there are a multitude of things in Hell that not even Judges have ess to. So, today, I¡¯d like to personally exin to you the kind of changes that have urred.¡±

    He¡­ was no longer in Limbo right now!

    To think that the Harken is able to drag me straight into an illusory realm without any fluctuations of Yin energy¡­ Qin Ye once again learnt something new about the terrifying powers of a Yama-ss Yin spirit.

    ¡°An Emissary of Hell can only be known as a True Emissary of Hell if theymand an office or jurisdiction that ismensurate with their current cultivation rank. To that end, jurisdiction here doesn¡¯t refer to territorial jurisdiction, but the submission of a corresponding number of Yin spirits. The Yin spirits consolidated in Qufu when you tookmand of it is equal to the total output of Yin spirits across Eastmount over thest hundred of years. Furthermore, the Yin spirits are variegated, each contributing in various ways, whether politics, economics, military or the humanities. This was why the Heavenly Dao recognized you as a True Emissary of Hell when the Battle of Qufu was about to be won.¡±

    BOOM!!!

    ¡°These are--...?¡±

    ¡°Only Infernal Judges are able to make contact with Yin talismans, and only True Emissaries of Hell are able to perceive them. Yin talismans are the building block of all things in theherworld, just like atoms are the most basic building block of all things in the mortal realm. Whether you, I, or any other part of Hell, everything is entirely constructed out of Yin talismans.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s hair instantly stood on ends, and his entire body shuddered!

    The Harken¡¯s illusory w continued to draw in the air. It moved slower and slower, but the number of Yin talismans that converged on its fingertips only increased more and more! Five minutester¡­ it appeared as though a radiant sun had formed right at its fingertips! It was a dazzling sun that was formed out of Yin energy!

    Furthermore, countless Yin talismans were still pouring over from all directions, almost as though¡­ it was a milkyway of Yin talismans!

    Qin Ye¡¯s perspective flickered for a moment, and it zoomed straight down onto a city below. There, he watched from a bird¡¯s eye view as the massive sun copsed right onto a city below, causing the city to be obliterated in its entirety. Countless bursts of Yin energy shaped like skeletons drifted up from the ground, and all creatures below were instantly annihted. Even the clouds above the city were all swept away. Shortly afterwards, his perspective drew back further from the ground, until he could see an entire province.

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± He gasped in horror, ¡°Is this¡­ a nuclear weapon?!¡±

    ¡°Forbidden art of the Cathayan underworld - Immortal Sanction.¡±

    ¡°Forbidden art of the Argosian underworld - Spear of the Divine Oath.¡±

    Even Harken couldn¡¯t help but speak about these forbidden arts with a quiver in his voice, ¡°This was but a simtion, and yet I¡¯ve already consumed much of the Yin energy at my disposal. Kiddo¡­ do you understand what this means?¡±

    Secondster, his entire body trembled as he bbered back, ¡°Isn¡¯t this¡­ aherworld treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons?!¡±

    What kind of position did the nations who possessed nuclear technology hold on the global stage?

    They were the lords of their respective regions!

    Why was Cathay still considered the voice of the East Continent?

    Certainly, these were contributing factors.

    And that was the fact that they possessed nuclear weapons!

    Even if Yin talismans could serve no other function, the fact that they could be harnessed for the creation of such terrifying arts of mass destruction could already justify sinking substantial expenses into its research and development!

    Cathay¡­ no longer had ess to such forbidden arts or even the use of Yin talismans.

    For the first time in a long while, Qin Ye felt chills run down his spine. 150 yearster, when the Array of the Nine Gods copses, I¡¯m afraid what lies in wait for us might not simply be armies of the other underworlds arrayed against us.

    We might potentially be faced with the threat of several forbidden arts all at the same time!

    <hr>

    1. These refer to China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

 Chapter 474: The Second Essential

    <h4>Chapter 474: The Second Essential</h4>

    ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± The Harken could tell that Qin Ye understood the implications of what it was saying and thus went on, ¡°The concept of Yin talismans can be implemented in many ces, ranging from defense technology, to the design of armaments, and even to the improvement of standards of living. This is no different from the concept of science in the mortal realm - the underworld that is furthest ahead in their understanding of Yin Talismanology would naturally be considered a superpower to be contended with.¡±

    ¡°To that end, the four underworlds that are most developed in this regard are known among the United Underworlds as the four pirs, or the council of four. This may be a term that is adapted from the mortal realm equivalent of the United Nations Security Council, but it¡¯s indubitably a useful term of reference. Furthermore, Cathay is generally considered the strongest among the four.¡±

    ¡°The basis forparison is quite different from that in the mortal realm. In the mortal realm, you¡¯d look at a variety of factors, such as a nation¡¯s economy. But as far as theherworld are concerned, the underworld with thergest poption size is generally known to be the strongest. That said, the management of Hell¡¯s development isn¡¯t as simple as it sounds. Once you establish the six paths of reincarnation, you¡¯d have to decide who to make a Yin soldier, and who to send for reincarnation. These are privileges that the rest of the lesser underworlds don¡¯t even have ess to. But as far as we are concerned¡­ we can even work with the mortal realm to maximize the returns on our demographics. This is what we call the demographic dividend.¡±

    The Harken paused to allow Qin Ye to take in all of the information, and Qin Ye mulled over it for a good, long while before finally heaving a long sigh.

    Yin Talismanology¡­ It looks like I¡¯ll have to delve headlong into this fresh new discipline as soon as I¡¯m done with processing the spoils of war in Ashmound.

    He definitely didn¡¯t want to find several forbidden arts aimed straight at Hell as soon as the effects of the Array of the Nine Gods was finally lifted. After all, he could tell that the forbidden arts at the disposal of the council of four were clearly far more powerful than any nuclear weapons in the possession of any mortal realm nation! It was practically a hard reset button for an entire locality!

    ¡°But¡­ how am I supposed to get started?¡± He sighed as he turned to Arthis.

    Trash!

    You don¡¯t even know a single thing about Yin Talismanology! What use do I have for a person who¡¯s only good for reading books?!

    Qin Ye knew he could never show himself at theherworld congress or theherworld summits at this rate. After all, he risked revealing the current state of affairs of Hell in an instant.

    I¡¯ll have to push it aside for as long as I can. Ideally, I¡¯d like to have the full 150 years to establish Hell proper again¡­

    The Harken chuckled, ¡°I personally witnessed the sight of Hell¡¯s great copse. I was even there when Lord Ksitigarbha pleaded for the second King Yanluo of Hell to step in and rescue Hell from certain death.¡±

    ¡°The second King Yanluo was savage and ruthless, but also incredibly smart. The only drawback to his personality was that he was alsozy. He only ended up assuming the throne as the second King Yanluo of Hell because he was set up and entrapped by his predecessor. Thus, he wasn¡¯t fully invested in Hell¡¯s growth, and reliedrgely on ruling with an iron fist. That said, there is one incredibly good trait about him.¡±

    It smiled brightly, ¡°And that¡¯s the fact that he kept with the times.¡±

    ¡°Cathay was practically a warmonger while he was in power. And it was precisely because of how outward-looking he was that the top gentries in Hell had suchtitude for growth and development. But s, I digress. Back to the topic at hand - I wonder if you¡¯ve heard of a concept called an academic exchange?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of--...¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows for a moment, before jumping up abruptly as though he was struck by a bolt of lightning!

    Academic exchange¡­

    Are you saying that¡­ there were foreign celebrities in Cathay?! Renowned scientists?!

    The Harken chuckled, ¡°I vaguely remember a few names. For instance, Dalton.¡±

    Hang on a minute¡­

    Qin Ye stared at the Harken as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Please say it again. That doesn¡¯t sound like a Cathayan name at all¡­¡±

    ¡°Of course it isn¡¯t. Year 1844 in the mortal realm. The second King Yanluo of Hell formallyunched what he called the Dalton n in order to reap his soul back to Hell. To this end, the old Hell mobilized 17 darkfeathers for the operation, all of whom were the elites of elites. 16 perished in the line of duty, but the surviving darkfeather barely managed to seed in the operation.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples - Dalton¡­ bloody hell¡­ why does this name sound so familiar?

    Dalton¡­ Dal¡­ ton¡­

    Holy shit?!!!

    Qin Ye suddenly looked up, ¡°The father of atomic theory? That Dalton?!¡±

    How amazing was this man, you ask? Quite apart from his other achievements, the mere fact that nuclear bombs were built on his theory spoke volumes about how ster his mind was.

    He was a trailzer for his time - a man who broke the bnce of the world with his theories alone.

    The Harken proudly added, ¡°Did you really think someone less ster than he would be deserving of King Yanluo¡¯s personal attention? Apart from that, Hell had also sent a number of its talents out for such academic exchanges when Hell copsed. Some of the more noteworthy people included Zu Chongzhi, Zhao Youqin, Zhang Heng, Lu Ban, Mo Zhai, Li Chun¡­¡±

    Holy crap! Qin Ye was so overjoyed that he nearly leapt straight to his feet!

    Bloody hell¡­ Who could¡¯ve thought that something like this was possible?!

    But it all makes sense when I think about it. After all, how could one of the top underworlds gather its talents in only a single ce? I should¡¯ve thought of this right from the onset!

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that all of these renowned persons must already be desperately attempting to get in touch with Hell. You¡­ would be wise to pay close attention to any signs of their whereabouts.¡± The Harken muttered softly.

    The Harken¡¯s final statement instantly doused the mes of excitement in Qin Ye¡¯s heart. Qin Ye looked up with a slight pout on his lips, ¡°In other words, you don¡¯t have any clues where they might be at?¡±

    ¡°I know where they have been assigned, but not where they are right now. That said¡­¡± The Harken paused for a moment and began to pick at his own scales, ¡°They are most likely residing in the neighbouring countries around Cathay.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s only there that they would be able to keep a close eye over the Array of the Nine Gods.¡± Arthis responded even before the Harken could say a thing, ¡°They¡¯re no different from vagrants and illegal immigrants right now. Certainly, other nations would probably receive them with open arms if they so desired, but¡­ they probably wouldn¡¯t defect. And if that is indeed the case, the next best thing would be to wait right next to Cathay¡¯s borders and keep a close eye on whether they have any opportunities to slip right back home. In other words, the best ce to be right now would be in the neighbouring countries around Cathay.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and made a mental note of these details. Then, he turned to stare at the Harken with a bright gleam in his eyes.

    Lord Harken, what other goodies do you have for me? Hurry up!

    The bright glint in his eye made the Harken ufortable. After a momentary pause, it continued, ¡°The second essential you have to keep in mind would be the two greatws of theherworld.¡±

    ¡°Arthis has probably already informed you of the five divine abilities that are now at your disposal. You probably don¡¯t know a thing about the fifth divine ability, otherwise known as the Spirit Particle Affinity, but¡­ you¡¯ll soon understand its significance.¡±

    The Harken paused for a moment to consolidate its thoughts, ¡°The firstw is called the Zhao Youqin¡¯s Law of Yin Talismans.¡±

    Zhao Youqin again? Who the hell is this person? Qin Ye scratched his head as he made a mental note to look him up on the inte as soon as he was back in the mortal realm.

    ¡°He posits that there are three kinds of spirit particles. The term ¡®spirit particle¡¯ is used to refer to the form which Yin talismans take as soon as they constitute an object. It can be likened to an atom back in the mortal realm. The three kinds of spirit particles are, namely, that which constitutes living beings, that which constitutes inanimate objects, and that which constitutes treasures and artifacts. He managed to prove his theory true after a long period of study and research.¡±

    ¡°Once you master the technique of arranging spirit particles , you¡¯d possess the ability of creation. Unfortunately, the practical reality of it is that this is practically a road with no end in sight. The reason this fifth divine ability is called Spirit Particle Affinity is precisely because True Emissaries of Hell have a greater affinity for spirit particles, and would be able to attract and manipte them with greater ease. As for the technique and abilities, one can even omit the step of making hand seals and the like.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded slightly. It sounded simple, but he knew that these were matters of profound mystery.

    After all, it was one and the same as breaking down theposition of all matter in Hell, including Yin spirits!

    Aparable concept in the mortal realm would be that of breaking down the human body into parts, including blood and bones, and understanding how each of them function, and how they alle together to form the whole.

    Unfortunately, such knowledge was hardly useful to him right now.

    ¡°The secondw is¡­ Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction.¡±

    Cui Jue? Isn¡¯t that one and the same as Prefect Cui? To think he would actually also be a man of knowledge¡­ Qin Ye cussed in his heart as he continued to listen intently to the Harken.

    ¡°Always bear this in mind. Thisw is crucial!¡± The Harken reiterated the importance of thisw before going on with the exnation, ¡°The firstw deals with the basics, and it suffices that you should know about it. But thisw¡­ would affect how you perceive and interact with the underworld!¡±

    ¡°The Law of Yin-Yang Coaction states that anything that exists in theherworld will certainly appear in the mortal realm. So long as you establish a city befitting of an Infernal Judge like you¡­ the same thing will appear in the mortal realm as well! And there would also be an entrance to theherworld located in themensurate city!¡±

    ¡°Take Fengdu Necropolis for instance. Fengdu Necropolis first started out in theherworld, and then a corresponding city soon appeared back in the mortal realm. With your founding of Ashmound City, I can say with the utmost certainty that a corresponding Shanhai Pass will soon appear in the mortal realm in due course! There may be some variance in the size and scale of the city that appears, but you can be sure that something like that will still appear!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, you can rest assured that such cities wouldn¡¯t suddenly appear overnight as though they were the result of a supernatural incident. Rather, they would slowly sprout up over time, almost as though it were due to the logic of cause and effect. For instance, it could be catalyzed by the discovery of antiquities or an ancient underground city, and the like. If we take a proper count of the qualifying cities, the mortal realm should have 35 main entrances to hell, and countless smaller entrances such as hell rifts and the like. Some of these are unnatural rifts which will have to be closed properly, but most of them can be considered smaller entrances to the underworld that are a byproduct of the operation of thisw!¡±

    Qin Ye fell into deep thought. Two words came to mind - Mirror world.

    Yin and Yang were but two sides of the same coin. What¡¯s present in theherworld would naturally also be present in the mortal realm. Meanwhile, the establishment of aherworld city would cause a natural rift to appear in theherworld. It was also understandable that all other unnatural rifts must be closed up, because the rifts would allow Yin energy and Yin spirits alike to pour into the mortal realm. Fortunately, the extent of this problem was diminished by the presence of a buffer zone between the two realms, also known as Limbo.

    That said, Limbo was an unregted zone. So long as Yin spirits entered thesends, they were bound to either end up dead¡­ or be a terrifying evil ghost that would one day find its way back into the mortal realm through another rift.

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­ But how is this supposed to be useful to me?!

    Qin Ye began to develop a begrudging attitude towards these seemingly uselessws.

    We want tangible benefits! Do you even understand what benefits mean? I don¡¯t want mere knowledge!!

    Besides, how can you expect the heir to the throne to waste his time delving into such trivial fundamentals of theherworld? Do you expect me to slowly grind my way up to the top?

    ¡°About that¡­ How does it affect me?¡±

    The Harken gazed upon Qin Ye deeply as it responded, ¡°The fact that you¡¯re a True Infernal Judge means that a corresponding entrance will appear in the mortal realm, and the Yin energy which flows out into thosends would naturally change the bnce of forces. In future, you might see the resurgence of more people with infernal eyes,herwalkers, or other ancient professions dealing with the supernatural.¡±

    Qin Ye continued listening intently, but there was a period of silence.

    Secondster, Qin Ye finally looked up and asked, ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± The Harken grunted back.

    ¡°Ah-haha¡­ Well, then¡­ would you look at the time. I¡¯ve answered your summons today to check on the esteemed Lord Harken¡¯s state of recovery. Besides, I¡¯ve got an important ministerial conference that would soon be taking ce back in Hell. We¡¯re going to talk about important things, such as the future developmental path that Ashmound is going to take. I hope you don¡¯t mind that¡­ I¡¯ll be taking my leave.¡±

    This was just like Qin Dogball¡¯s usual modus operandi of slipping away after securing all the benefits he can.

    The Harken flopped over onto its bellyzily, ¡°Mm.¡± Meanwhile, Qin Ye cautiously retreated a few steps, before vanishing from where he was just moments ago.

    Dead silence.

    Limbo was now as quiet as ever. After an inordinate amount of time, Arthis finally sighed, ¡°Lord Harken, I suppose I¡¯ll take my leave as well. This uing ministerial conference is indeed of great importance, and my attendance is crucial as well.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± The Harken gruntedzily for the third time.

    With that, Arthis took her leave. But before she could get far, she promptly turned back with a question she couldn¡¯t hold back any longer, ¡°My Lord¡­ Why didn¡¯t you tell him what you actually had to say?¡±

    The Harken respondedzily, ¡°I¡¯ve already said all that needs to be said. Some things don¡¯t have to be made explicit. If he doesn¡¯t get it on his own, then perhaps it¡¯s just his sense of danger that iscking and wanting.¡±

    ¡°But--...¡±

    The Harken immediately interrupted with another query, ¡°Arakshasa, don¡¯t you think he¡¯s been in the mortal realm for far too long?¡±

    ¡°The longer one stays, the more he would pick up the habits of human beings. Humans¡­ are fundamentally different from Yin spirits! Where¡¯s your sense of duty? You¡¯re the only Emissary of Hell that is around him right now. You¡¯re even an Emissary of Hell that has survived the great copse! Why haven¡¯t you warned him of what is toe?!¡±

    Arthis grew taciturn.

    ¡°Seize this opportunity. It¡¯s about time that¡­ his interactions with the mortal realmes to its close.¡± The Harken shut its eyes cidly.

    ¡°My Lord¡­¡± Arthis hesitated, ¡°But¡­ he¡¯s¡­ not too bad now, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°Not bad?!¡± The Harken snapped his eyes open and red at Arthis, ¡°He¡¯s the sessor to the throne! Does a King Yanluo of Hell only work eight hours a day? And only in the middle of the night to boot? Do you think there¡¯s a reserve King Yanluo covering for his absence?! If we can¡¯t develop a forbidden art as powerful as Immortal Sanction in 150 years, we¡¯ll all be subjugated and made into ves for other underworlds! I¡¯d much rather die than submit!!¡±

    ¡°Have you already forgotten the great tragedy that befell Cathay a hundred years ago?! Have you forgotten about the blemish of Cathay¡¯s history triggered by the Eight-Nation Alliance?! And what about the great ze that consumed the Old Summer Pce? Or the great massacre in the ancient south capitol?! The destruction of those ces would also trigger the fall of the corresponding cities in theherworld! We¡¯ve only got 150 years to aplish a multitude of tasks. Do you think he would be able to do everything that is required of him with his current rate of efficacy? Having wasted away thest hundred years, how can we afford to be cking around like this?!¡±

    ¡°Mark my words, we¡¯ll regret it if we don¡¯t nip this problem in its bud! The office of King Yanluo isn¡¯t a ceremonial one! Since he¡¯s chosen to tread this path in Hell, he will have to forfeit his presence in the mortal realm. He can¡¯t both have his cake and eat it at the same time! And if you¡¯re not going to steel your heart to help him ovee the demons in his heart¡­ I¡¯ll do it for you!¡±

    1. For those who are interested in reading more about him -

    2. These are all Chinese astronomers, mathematicians, scientists and the like.

    3.

    <hr>

    1. Thanks retired_penguin for the suggestion on the term to use!

 Chapter 475: Fate

    <h4>Chapter 475: Fate</h4>

    Limbo trembled as a result of the Harken¡¯s infuriated roar. Thehermes around quivered in fear, while Arthis shut her eyes in awe as her hair fluttered wildly.

    Qin Ye¡¯s attitude wasn¡¯t right. Despite being the King Yanluo of Hell, he would be absent from Hell for protracted periods of time. And even when he was around, he would be approving documents in the wee hours of the night when none of the other Emissaries of Hell were working. Hell couldn¡¯t possibly force all of their civil servants and officials to work around the clock just to match Qin Ye¡¯s schedule. Even though Yin spirits didn¡¯t physically need sleep, they would still grow tired and weary.

    And even if he could, then what about the next steps? Could he really chart a course for Hell¡¯s growth without proper discourse with his ministerial team? Is he really that naive to think that everything could be addressed in a single meeting?

    Even his advancement to the ranks of an Infernal Judge was in part attributable to his efforts back in the mortal realm.

    Now, Qin Ye was a True Emissary of Hell ruling over Ashmound City and the rest of Eastmount Province. In fact, they were arguably even on the cuff of taking control of all of the coastal provinces in the region. That would ce an entire district of Cathay in their charge. Hell might have needed the aid of the mortal realm when it first began, but it certainly didn¡¯t with Ashmound now under its control!

    ¡°Back then, he¡¯d willingly assumed responsibility over the redevelopment of Hell because the copse of the delicate bnce between the mortal realm and theherworld would lead to his eternal death. His actions implicated billions of Yin spirits. However, his mentality hasn¡¯t changed once ever since his assumption of responsibility. Ashmound is a crucial point of inflexion for Hell¡¯s development and growth. Back then, Hell was nothing more than the size of an insignificant speck, and it didn¡¯t matter how Qin Ye wished to conduct himself. But now, with Ashmound and its 20 million Yin spirits and hundreds of square kilometers of territory under his control¡­ how can he act that way?!¡± The Harken snorted.

    Arthis heaved a long sigh, before finally adding, ¡°Nobody¡¯s perfect¡­ And he¡¯s¡­ still a human being after all.¡±

    ¡°And do you think I could care less if he weren¡¯t the next King Yanluo of Hell?!¡± The Harken¡¯s golden eyes red up with rage as it scrambled to its feet, ¡°So long as he remains a sessor to the throne, he remains duty-bound to see through this task to the very end! Arakshasa, this isn¡¯t the time to be soft-hearted. You¡¯ve been following closely by his side for such a long time, and yet you haven¡¯t done anything to nudge him in the right direction? What a disappointment!¡±

    Was Qin Ye wrong?

    After all, he¡¯d just been living his own way, without deviating from his principles or path in the slightest. He was the first one to notice the importance of Ashmound. In fact, every single one of his decisions thus far were more far-sighted than anyone could have imagined. He had considered everything around him as best as he could, and from every perspective possible, and yet, the one perspective that he did miss was the perspective of the self.

    From his own perspective, yes. But if simply one considered his role as the sessor to the throne, then the answer would be a resounding no.

    Rumble¡­ The presence of the small brush bore down on Limbo with such great force that everywhere within a hundred-mile radius trembled violently. All monarch beasts instantly bowed down in submission and remainedpletely still and silent.

    ¡°Yes¡­ Fate.¡± The Harken gazed deeply at the brush that appeared to be constructed out of pure gold. The shaft of the brush was even hollow carved with exquisite patterns of the goddess of the moon, while a pure gold soul could be seen tossing and turning within.

    ¡°Everything will fall into ce, bit by bit, giving rise to the end state that is reflected by the prophetic statement. Not even the King Yanluo of Hell can reverse its effects once it has been properly set into motion.¡±

    The Harken paused and turned to Arthis, ¡°You¡¯ve got something to say?¡±

    She understood Qin Ye better than anyone else.

    He might be flippant at times, but he was never sloppy whenever it came to the decisions that mattered. Apart from that, she also knew that Qin Ye¡­ was a man who valued the self.

    And to that end, Fate was something that would allow him to soar in the sky in exchange from ever returning to the ground again.

    She knew something didn¡¯t quite fit, but she couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on it. She didn¡¯t have the right words to describe the harmonious middle ground between the two pr opposites of the self and the greater good.

    The Harken responded softly, ¡°That he¡­ bes apetent King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°Arakshasa, you still don¡¯t get it.¡± The Harken sighed and continued solemnly, ¡°If he was just any Emissary of Hell, be it Hellguard or even Prefect, I wouldn¡¯t even have considered using Fate to begin with. But the crux of the matter is that he¡¯s the next King Yanluo of Hell, and the only sessor to the throne. All hopes of Hell¡¯s future lies solely on his back. He needs to have the heart and the mind¡­ as well as the attitude befitting of a King Yanluo.¡±

    ¡°Let me make this clear once and for all - our borders will be open to the world in just 150 years¡¯ time. Do you really think we have a year or two to spare on such trivialities?¡±

    ¡°My Lord, please hold on!¡± Arthis grew considerably anxious, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that this would cause the rift between you both to widen so much so that your rtionshippletely breaks down?¡±

    As it spoke, Fate¡¯s tip struck the canvass of the void and began to write with stiff, majestic strokes.

    ¡°As a divine beast of Hell, I¡¯m under the responsibility to support the revivification of Hell. I¡¯ll support him where he¡¯scking. And if he can¡¯t steel his heart, then I¡¯ll have no choice but to help him, no matter the cost - even if it means being hated by the next King Yanluo of Hell for the rest of all eternity!¡±

    It wrote slowly. Each stroke of the brush was apanied by the ragged breaths of the Harken, who had just recovered from grievous wounds. Evidently, the use of Fate was taking a huge toll on the Harken.

    She sincerely hoped for Qin Ye toe to this realization on his own. That said, just as the Harken had said, she also appreciated the fact that time wasn¡¯t on Hell¡¯s side!

    Several words werepleted in the blink of an eye - ¡®Let Qin Ye be apetent King¡­¡¯ Just then, Arthis spoke up once more, ¡°My Lord, please wait a little while longer.¡±

    ¡°Just today!¡± Arthis gritted her teeth, ¡°Do you know what he¡¯s going to do today? He¡¯ll be convening the provincial-level meeting with all ministers today. He¡¯s still working hard at it¡­ and there¡¯s going to be many things to be discussed today. I expect that this uing meeting is going to give him a better perspective of the things to be done, and hopefully, the pressure weighing on his shoulders¡­ would suffice to show him the folly of his ways.¡±

    Arthis took a deep breath and continued, ¡°And I¡¯ll have a word with him about this proper - honestly and without mincing any words! But you¡¯ve also got to give him some time!¡±

    ¡°And if you still aren¡¯t--... Ah?¡± Arthis was just about to go on when she suddenly paused mid-statement. Then, she nced up with great tion and bowed deeply to the Harken.

    ¡°Mm.¡± The Harken nodded as he ingested Fate once more, ¡°But you cannot let him know about Fate.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Arthis promptly vanished without another word.

    ¡°I can even imagine what kind of response he¡¯s going to give. He¡¯s smart, but perhaps too smart for his own good, so much so that he might well think that there¡¯s nothing he can¡¯t do. Sure, he will listen very carefully, and perhaps even undertake a proper assessment of himself, but he will never be able to let go off the mortal realm just like that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because that¡¯s the proof of his existence as a human being - the seal of being part of the living. Why else do you think I would even consider using Fate to begin with?¡±

 Chapter 476: Persuasion

    <h4>Chapter 476: Persuasion</h4>

    Qin Ye rushed right back to theherworld.

    He didn¡¯t want to learn such trivial things if he could even help it at all!

    I¡¯m the boss of 20 million Yin spirits!

    Can you please take your concerns about Yin Talismanology elsewhere? I¡¯m a busy man! Do you think I have the time to be dealing with Spirit Particle Affinity? If I don¡¯t understand, I¡¯ll just ask the expert on this subject matter! What¡¯s the big idea summoning me here just to talk about these things?! Where¡¯s your respect for your superiors?!!

    Sigh¡­ That said, should a big man like me really be so calctive with a mere Yin beast? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll continue to supply you with catnip. I would never put down a Yama-King--... I mean¡­ a pet just because of such a minor transgression!

    With that, his entire being transformed into a ferocioushergale and vanished from sight. When he next appeared, he would already have arrived back in Hell, right in front of King Yanluo¡¯s office on the fifth floor of the building located in the inner city of the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    ¡°This is my first timeing in here.¡± He surveyed his new office with great interest. Even though he was already mentally prepared for it, he still found himself enchanted by the sprawling view in front of him.

    It was both luxurious and austere at the same time. The two seemingly divergent styles blended seamlessly into each other.

    The entire office spanned nearly a hundred square meters in size, while most implements were constructed out of a striking maroon wood with deep ck ents.

    The ancient Cathayan desk was approximately two metersrge, while the Ming Dynasty chair replete with a lush yellow cushionplemented it perfectly. The entire furniture set appeared to be made for each other with a running theme of brilliant lotuses and exuberant carps carved onto their surfaces. It was tastefully exquisite, and hardly ostentatious in the slightest.

    Two rows ofttice shaped bookshelves lined both sides of the room, while the covers concealing the contents of eachpartment came together to form the exquisite carvings of Zhong Kui capturing ghosts. Eachpartment even sported a goldentch that was etched with the designs of the xiezhi unicorn. It was ssy and charming.

    The corners of the room were decorated withcquered gold vases with sculpted golden lotus flowers. His seat in the office gave him the best vantage point of the view outside, and it felt as though he were on top of the world. It was a view befitting of the ruler of thends around.

    He rapped gently on the table, fervently suppressing the intense excitement from his heart. At once, a Yin spirit outside walked in and bowed respectfully, ¡°Leader.¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the side of the table where a calendar was ced. It was 25 July - the date appointed two weeks ago for the provincial ministry meeting.

    ¡°How are the preparationsing along?¡±

    ¡°Rest assured that everything is going to be of the highest quality.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Then, let¡¯s begin.¡±

    Dong¡­ Dong¡­ A dulcet bell sounded from the sixth floor of the building, reverberating grandly across the vast expanse of the inner city of the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Back in the governmental building. As soon as the bell rang, all high officials who were qualified to attend the provincial meeting promptly shot to their feet. Gao Ming, the former mayor of Martial City, packed up his documents and smiled faintly, ¡°Chief, everything¡¯s been prepared.¡±

    This was the Department of Ghost Resources, and the appointed minister was none other than Zhang Zeguang, the eleventh governor of the former Eastmount Province. Gao Ming was also his former subordinate in life, and they were familiar with each other¡¯s working styles. Needless to say, they got along fine with each other.

    However, Zhang Zeguang didn¡¯t respond directly to him. Instead, he stood by the window and simply gazed into the distance. A system of streets spread out into the distance, running in various directions under the overwhelming canopy of clouds in the skies above.

    What an unnerving moment¡­

    After a few seconds of silence, he pushed on the door and stepped out of his room. Momentster, he arrived right in front of a conference hall, where a gathering of high officials had already assembled. Each of them greeted each other with some measure of reservation before making their way into the hall.

    Zhang Zeguang immediately raised his eyebrows in surprise as soon as he entered the room, ¡°What¡¯s this¡­?¡± And he wasn¡¯t the only one; almost every other Yin spirits around were ncing around the hall with great astonishment.

    Kong Mo had never treated his subjects with any measure of importance at all. Such gatherings of high officials in grand conferences were nothing more than a distant fantasy of theirs.

    But as soon as Zhang Zeguang entered the hall, he suddenly discovered that the conditions in Hell couldn¡¯t be said to be worse than the treatment he used to get in the mortal realm at all!

    The conference hall was approximately two hundred meters wide and filled with hundreds of seats. To that end, each seat came with a corresponding long table and a luxurious seat for each individual high official¡¯s personal use. There was even a bright chandelier hanging over each table, illuminating it with the most pleasantherme for reading purposes.

    Each table was furnished with a teacup and writing pads. Female attendants shuttled silently between the rows of seats and tables, topping up the teacups with water or their beverage of choice. An army of dozens of scribes were also seated right at the back of the hall, ready to record the proceedings with the utmost precision.

    The main stage was located right in front of the rows of tables and chairs, while a huge mosaic of the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment hung on the wall behind the main stage, striking awe and fear into the hearts of each high official in attendance today.

    It was indescribably majestic and austere; opulent and magnificent. It was far beyond what any of them could have ever imagined! It was absolutely befitting of the grand scale of their provincial meeting!

    The air was filled with a sense of ceremony and ritual.

    Qin Ye was seated right on the main stage, taking in the expressions and reactions of each and every renowned Yin spirit as they entered the room. His heart was filled with a sense of achievement. Just then, a vortex of Yin energy erupted from beside him, and Arthis appeared momentster.

    ¡°What have you been up to?¡± Qin Ye smiled and raised his eyebrows lightheartedly, only to realize that Arthis appeared somewhat uneasy.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± He froze, and then smiled once more, ¡°Is it because you¡¯re dissatisfied with where your seat is located? Look, there are only two seats located on the main stage right now, and that¡¯s for both you and I. Nobody can deny your contributions to Hell thus far.¡±

    ¡°Yanluo Qin.¡± Arthis responded stiffly, ¡°Do you think¡­ you can handle everything?¡±

    Qin Ye frowned.

    Arthis seems strange. Even her smile appears forced.

    There¡¯s no reason for such a reaction of hers. After all, we¡¯re still enjoying the spoils of war of the Battle of Qufu. Incidentally, we¡¯ll be taking stock of our intangible spoils of war today through this provincial ministry meeting of ours. This will dictate the direction of Hell¡¯s development in future. Even I can¡¯t help but keep my heart from overflowing with excitement and aplishment, so what the hell is wrong with her right now?

    ¡°Menopause?¡± Qin-treading-on-thin-ice-Ye whispered softly.

    Instantly, a palpably murderous aura erupted from Arthis, before promptly fading away. Then, she turned to stare intently at Qin Ye once more, ¡°Answer me.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his eyes and red at Arthis as he rubbed his chin, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you? Ah¡­ forget it. Women like you all have their own little secrets, but¡­ I can indulge in this question of yours.¡±

    ¡°Of course I can!¡± He dered with confidence, ¡°Aren¡¯t things going to be the same as before? Sure, Hell¡¯s territory might have expanded a little, but I¡¯ve also done away with the need for sleep as soon as I became an Infernal Judge. Wouldn¡¯t I be able to clear any work thates my way with six hours a day?¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s six after-work hours we¡¯re talking about.¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°If any issues surface when you¡¯re clearing your work, there won¡¯t be any Yin spirits around to respond to your queries.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be able tomunicate directly with them. And besides¡­ are you really that confident in your own abilities?¡±

    She nced at Qin Ye, ¡°Ashmound City has 20 million Yin spirits, and upies and size of over 100 square kilometers. Beyond that, there¡¯s still the affairs across the entire province of Eastmount and Breakwaters to consider as well. Are you sure everything can be resolved with only six hours a day? And what if your duties call in Martial City, and you¡¯re no longer able to return to Hell that night? None of the high officials are going to get any face-time or audience with you until you set aside time for them in conferences such as these. So, with that meagremitment of time each day, are you truly confident that you¡¯ll be able toy a firm foundation for Hell¡¯s development from this point forward?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile faded away.

    ¡°What exactly are you trying to get at?¡± He gazed deeply at Arthis, ¡°Are you suggesting that I¡¯m not trying hard enough?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m not trying hard enough; and if I¡¯m notmitted enough, would we be where we are today?!¡±

    He had a vague idea of what Arthis was getting at, but his heart was all over the ce right now.

    Things aren¡¯t supposed to be like this today.

    Arthis didn¡¯t avoid his gaze either. They locked eyes for several tense moments, before Arthis finally added calmly, ¡°You¡¯re spending way too much time in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to be in the mortal realm any longer.¡±

    ¡°Hell¡¯s great copse means that people who straddle both realms like you are bound to perish. Sure, you can say that you¡¯re extending Hell a helping hand, but Hell is likewise extending you a lifeline at the same time. Since you¡¯ve already epted this task, you should be mindful of the responsibility that weighs on your shoulder.¡±

    She continued to speak with a deep voice, ¡°Ashmound isn¡¯t the same as the old Hell.¡±

    ¡°Have you not realized this? Or are you simply unwilling to consider these things?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s smile hadpletely faded away by this point. He paused for a moment, and then muttered back, ¡°The Harken must have said something to you, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± Qin Ye turned his head away, ¡°I know you too well. Such thoughts would never ordinarily ur to you. What audacity¡­ to think he would start finding fault with me as soon as he regained his senses¡­ Who does he think he is?! Am I the King Yanluo of Hell, or is he the King Yanluo of Hell?!¡±

    Boom!

    Qin Ye mmed his fist down onto the table in a fit of rage, causing a wave of Yin energy to erupt in a mighty shockwave that quickly spread to his surroundings. The garments of all Yin spirits around fluttered wildly, and everything went silent in an instant.

    Everyone look at Qin Ye in great astonishment - What¡¯s going on? Haven¡¯t Yanluo Qin and Lady Arakshasa always been on fairly good terms? Why does it suddenly appear as though there¡¯s now a rift between them?

    ¡°Did I get your G-spot?¡± Arthis nced slyly at Qin Ye, ¡°It looks like you haven¡¯t actually thought things through, huh?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°Give me a year¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ll take this throne.¡±

    Arthis lowered her eyes softly, ¡°Given the current situation¡­ do you really think that time is on your side? Do you really think that you have a year to settle your affairs outside?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going to happen in the interim? Kong Mo still runs free, while the daolord is still knocking on our doors with the massive army of his. We now have sufficient Yin spirits under our charge, and we¡¯ll be able to send scouts to probe at the enemy forces. However, many of these missions will culminate with results that need to be acted upon immediately. Are you sure you can give such matters the requisite attention it needs from back in the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°Have you ever considered what¡¯s going to happen in the event of an urgent crisis? What if a meeting needs to be convened in Hell right away, but you¡¯re stuck in your duties back in the mortal realm? What would you do?¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯te¡­ Just as much as you know me, I know you equally well. Sure, you might know exactly what needs to be done in order to discharge your duties as a King Yanluo of Hell, but your heart isn¡¯t with Hell. If things carry on like this¡­ it¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before cmity befalls us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get everything sorted as quickly as I can.¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°Some things require time; and some rtionships require¡­ farewells.¡±

    With that, he turned to the rest of the Yin spirits that had already assembled in the hall and began to address them without giving Arthis the chance to respond further, ¡°Everyone, thanks for waiting.¡±

    Fifteen minutes had psed since the agreed time for the convening of the meeting, and yet not a single one of the Yin spirits mumbled or grumbled.

    ¡°I hereby dere the first provincial ministerial meeting of Hell now in session.¡± His voice was filled with sobriety and austerity, ¡°Before we begin with the agenda, I¡¯ve got a few words to say.¡±

    He swept a fierce nce across all Yin spirits, ¡°Hell iscking in many ways now, and our role here is to get things done. I don¡¯t care much for the pretension and charade that some of you might be used to back in the mortal realm, nor do I care for titudes or cliches. If you can¡¯t get used to the style of governance here, then please settle for being an ordinary citizen of Hell and wait patiently for the six paths of reincarnation to be built. Hell¡¯s payroll only supports the Yin spirits that are useful to us.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that, I hope you don¡¯t bring any of your own standards and baggage into Hell. This is a brand new Hell, and results are the only way to rue goodwill and merits to yourself to ensure a better rebirth, visit the mortal realm or even ry a dream to your loved ones. Remember, you are public servants, and not ve masters! Anyone found to be abusing your powers shall be punished severely!¡±

    ¡°And now, let us begin proper.¡±

    1. Think human resources, but ghost resources.

 Chapter 477: Wheels of Fate

    <h4>Chapter 477: Wheels of Fate</h4>

    Limbo.

    Everything was still and silent. Not a single Yin spirit dared approach such a terrifying divine beast. Just then, there was a soft sigh, and yet the Harken remained deep in its slumber!

    It was a man¡¯s hand, bony at the joints, while a system of veins could be seen right underneath the skin. Calluses could be seen on the underside of the hands. These were a telltale sign of habitually handling weapons.

    He did so right in front of the Harken¡¯s eyes, and yet the Harken waspletely unaware of his presence or his actions at all.

    Let Qin Ye be apetent King Yanluo of Hell!

    Whoosh! Golden light filled thends in the moment of radiance. The Harken trembled softly, and then abruptly shot to its feet, ¡°Who is it?!!¡±

    Fate¡­ had been activated!

    But before it could go on, a blurry figure suddenly appeared right above the Harken¡¯s head and gently patted it.

    The blurry silhouette smiled faintly as he continued to stroke the Harken across its head, ¡°I¡¯vee back because I¡¯ve lost everything I had.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s naturally elsewhere.¡± The man responded cidly, ¡°I¡¯d say I¡¯ve lost about a billion Yin spirit stones. I get the feeling that the fe seated opposite me called the Destroyer is cheating, but unfortunately I¡¯ve got no evidence to back up my ims. Say, do you still have the key to Hell¡¯s treasury that I¡¯d entrusted you with? Do you mind if I¡­ borrowed it for a moment?¡±

    Those are public funds we¡¯re talking about! Do you know what public funds are meant to be? Besides, do you really think there¡¯s still a treasury to be exploited now?!

    Silence.

    ¡°Then what about my debt--... I mean, does that mean there¡¯s absolutely nothing left of Hell? Eh, I recall there¡¯s still the divine molt left behind by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. That¡¯s got to be worth at least a few billion Yin spirit stones¡­¡±

    ¡°Nobodyined when you chose to remain absent from imperial court meetings back then, but you absolutely cannot remove the divine molt from where it is right now! If you do, the blight vermin will almost certainly pour out to the rest of the world!¡±

    Buzz¡­ Just then, a soft sound of an unlocking mechanism echoed through the void. The man and the Harken both looked over, only to realize that Fate had begun to write in the air of its own ord.

    Secondster, the Harken coughed softly, ¡°My Lord, why were you so intent onpleting that statement of Fate?¡±

    Momentster, he retracted his gaze and continued speaking with sobriety, ¡°I can¡¯t deny that Granny Meng has found us a decent sessor. However¡­ it doesn¡¯t change the fact that his life is currently too closely intertwined with the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°This is the process of growth. Growth entails retaining what is important, and discarding the rabble. And to that end, it¡¯s about time that he cuts off his ties with the mortal realm.¡±

    The figureughed, ¡°Once the wheels of Fate begin to turn, it will set into motion urrences that form the basis of causality. Everything would happen as though it were a series of coincidences, and there wouldn¡¯t be any traces of human maniption in the slightest. Besides, you probably won¡¯t recover for the next thousand years if you were to bear the weight of karma for influencing the life of a King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    Then, he suddenly asked a seemingly unrted question, ¡°Do you know what being powerful means?¡±

    The Harken chuckled, ¡°Power could refer to both physical strength, as well as mental acuity. That said¡­ anyone who doesn¡¯t have amensurately strong heart to set the stage for his disy of strength would never aplish great things.¡±

    ¡°While I can appreciate his perspective, I cannot indulge in his actions.¡±

    ¡°The one who wants to wear the crown, must bear its weight.¡±

    The figure stood up, ¡°He says that he needs one year¡¯s time to tie up all the loose ends. Unfortunately, Hell doesn¡¯t have such luxury of time to keep waiting for him at this point of inflection.¡±

    The golden light shone brightly once more, and a line of words appeared right beneath the statement of Fate that had earlier been written - ¡®Hungry Ghost Festival¡¯.

    The Harken breathed a sigh of relief as it chuckled bitterly, ¡°That¡¯s right. Do you know something? When I first met him, he was ridiculously weak, while the new Hell was aplete wastnd. It was difficult to even keep an eye on them. Back then, the first thought that urred to me was to kill him, seize the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and pick a new sessor.¡±

    ¡°And since he¡¯s earned his recognition, then the next best thing I could do would be to act as his auxiliary. To this end, I saw nothing wrong with his means prior to taking Qufu. After all, Hell had nothing, and it was necessary to draw from the mortal realm in order to elerate Hell¡¯s growth. But things are now different after seizing Qufu!¡±

    The silhouette nodded, and then promptly vanished from sight, ¡°Then protect him well. He¡¯s not bad.¡±

    With that, the figure vanished, leaving no traces behind.

    Besides¡­ nothing is insurmountable.

    It stared silently and intently at the golden words in the air,pletely lost in its own thoughts. Then, after an inordinate amount of time, Fate began to write in the air once again.

    Another name; another coincidence.

    The Harken frowned and thought for some time, but concluded that this wasn¡¯t someone that it knew of.

    Conference hall of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, Hell.

    There was the smell of sparks of tension and ignition.

    Just then, another voice cut through the tense silence of the room, ¡°I¡¯ve got something to add.¡± Everyone looked over.

    He was one of the few who hadn¡¯t taken sides just yet. Qin Ye nodded at him, and Zhang Zeguang picked up a document and cleared his throat, ¡°Just like the Department of Human Resources in the mortal realm, the Department of Ghost Resources is in charge of the major districts of Hell and all neighbourhoodmittees. It¡¯s the ministry that walks closest to the grassroots. And because of this, we have received word from the ground that the public have some requests, which to our minds, are rather reasonable.¡±

    ¡°Festivities are one of the things that remain constant throughout history. They both nurture spirituality, as well as act as a cultural carrier for Hell. Now that Ashmound is on the right track for growth, I think it¡¯s about time to establish a few festivities for the people to celebrate.¡±

    Besides, I¡¯ve heard Arthis say in passing that these festivities are also an important pir of support for the economy of Hell¡­

    ¡°First of all, I would propose the institution of a national day.¡± Zhang Zeguang exined, ¡°I believe that this is a festivity or a holiday that every Yin spirit should remember and celebrate. As for the time, I¡¯d humbly leave it to Yanluo Qin¡¯s determination.¡±

    ¡°To that end, the most well-known festivities celebrated in hell are undoubtedly the three major ghost festivals, namely the Qingming Festival , the Winter Clothes Day, and¡­ the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    <hr>

    1. That¡¯s also called the Tomb-sweeping Day or the Ancestor¡¯s Day, when people visit the graves of their ancestors.

    2. This is the first day of winter in the Lunar Calendar, when the living would burn offerings of winter clothes to their loved ones to keep them warm.

 Chapter 478: The Grand Festivity of the Hungry Ghost Festival

    <h4>Chapter 478: The Grand Festivity of the Hungry Ghost Festival</h4>

    There were a great number of things in Hell that needed to be addressed and aligned, but now clearly wasn¡¯t the right time to broach these issues.

    Why did the Qin Dynasty require everything to be unified and streamlined?

    The odd ones out were what others viewed as a deviant of social norms.

    Having personally experienced the effects of reform since Cathay opened up its borders, Qin Ye resolved in his heart - I can¡¯t ignore the construction of spiritual civilization. Otherwise, people might lose their sense ofmunity and responsibility to each other¡­ and the entire fabric of society wouldpletely fall apart.

    ¡°Give me the specifics.¡± Qin Ye responded curtly.

    ¡°Your Excellency¡¯s portrait is printed on the front of Hell¡¯s notes, while the images of the two predecessor King Yanluos are printed on the back. These notes are separated into denominations of 1 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, 100 yuan, 500 yuan, and 1,000 yuan. We have adopted the same denominations as that found in the mortal realm to facilitate familiarity with the use of these notes. We¡¯ve also regted the market such that the value of Hell¡¯s notes qua a fixed basket of goods would also be pegged to a rate that is simr to that of the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°Very high.¡± Zhang Zeguang chuckled, ¡°After all, the poption explosion in Cathay had only urred after the founding of modern day Cathay. 70% of the citizens in Ashmound are Yin spirits born in thest 50 years, while the Yin spirits born in the preceding 50 years ount for the remaining 30% or so. There¡¯s no impediment to implementation at all. And this leads me to my point about the uing Hungry Ghost Festival. Having considered these things, I¡¯ve taken the liberty to draft up a n for a great celebration during the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    Arthis pointed her finger at the stack of paperszily. At once, the stack of proposals distributed themselves and flew into the hands of each minister around. Qin Ye and Arthis naturally had a copy of the document each as well.

    The Department of Ghost Resources¡¯ n was simple, and that was to hold a great celebration during the Hungry Ghost Festival itself. It would be a grand festival celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival!

    Firstly, it would officially mark the closure of Kong Mo¡¯s reign. Broadly speaking, it was a form of ideological and political education that informed the citizens that Hell could do everything that Kong Mo could, and then some!

    Secondly, and most crucially, it would give rise to an inflow of funds!

    But the genius of ity in the fact that everything could only be traded with the new currency of Hell. Not even barter trade was allowed!

    Finally, it would be the creation of andmark.

    In the past, these streets would generally be located near the homes of high-ranking officials. Likewise, they would be located in the most built up and essible areas in modern cities and towns.

    Rustle, rustle, rustle¡­ All of the Yin spirits scanned through the contents of the written proposal, before ncing up at Zhang Zeguang with a look of approbation.

    This was the might of a provincial governor of the mortal realm! Sure, the proposal might not be watertight, and one might even argue that it still reeks of predisposition to a certain perspective, but these minor drawbacks were absolutely insignificant next to the benefits to be reaped with such a proposal! It was well-bnced, judicious and even logical when an incremental developmental approach was to be considered! He was obviously the real deal through and through!

    Qin Ye suppressed the great excitement in his heart and nced around at the ministers around who were all either whispering excitedly to each other or immersed in their own thoughts. This was a gathering of talents, all of whom were at least aspetent as Zhang Zeguang, if not more! Qin Ye was almost certain that Hell¡¯s progress was only going to skyrocket from now on.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve got a few queries. Firstly, Ashmound has 17 industries, most of which pertain to the provision of basic necessities for our citizenry. Do we have sufficient inventory for your n to work?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got sufficient inventory of goods.¡± Zhang Zeguang cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°But barely enough. I¡¯ve already touched base with the other ministers around as soon as the proposal was firmed up. If we keep the industries fully operational and run productions through day and night, we''d be able to produce sufficient goods to meet the needs of the uing grand festival.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already reached out to them and put our ears to the ground. To this end, we were thinking that if Lord Qin could satisfy their deepest desires to listen to the voice of their loved ones once more, they would be more than willing to cooperate. Most if not all of the merchants were in support of the ns. They were even willing to offer discounts on their goods.¡±

    The best incentive he could provide in the underworld were still things of the mortal realm. The ability to ry dreams to loved ones or return to the mortal realm was one exclusive to Hell alone. This privilege alone already sets him miles apart from his nearestpetitor!

    Zhang Zeguang nodded and sat back down with a bright smile on his face.

    Tension?

    I¡¯ll just watch silently from the sidelines. Then, when the tension gets red hot, I¡¯ll douse it all out with my cool proposal that¡¯s impossible to reject. Sure, you may have your eyes on the horizon, but what I¡¯m proposing is something that Hell needs right now.

    Every Yin spirit instantly perked up their spirits and looked up at the main stage with a bright gleam in their eyes.

    ¡°And to that end, Yin virtue will be directly linked to the privileges of returning to the mortal realm or rying a dream to a loved one. Only those who make direct contributions to Hell will be attributed these Yin virtues.¡±

    The Book of Life and Death allows one to return to the mortal realm, ry dreams and even check on when a loved one will pass, and the cause of death itself. No wonder it¡¯s known as one of the three divine artifacts of Hell! No wonder Liu Yu¡¯s face instantly turned sour as soon as I threatened to withdraw all privileges of using the Book of Life and Death back then!

    So what if you¡¯ve gained independence? You don¡¯t even know when a living person is going to die! Qin Ye clearly bore a grudge with a certain Mr Liu.

    ¡°Minister Zhang¡¯s proposal was excellent. ording to the current reward system, he is hereby awarded with 5,000 merit points.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Incidentally, 5,000 merit points is just enough to be traded in for a three hours return trip to the mortal realm.¡±

    The ministers immediately reeled back from the impact of this bombshell!

    ¡°Return trip to the mortal realm?¡± One of the ministers couldn¡¯t help but remark aloud.

    Qin Ye added, ¡°The location is entirely up to one¡¯s own preferences. If you¡¯re not aware of where the person you wish to see is currently located, Hell can even provideplimentary GPS services.¡±

    Several ministers'' faces werepletely flushed by now. It was obvious how stirring these news were!

    To think that someone has just earned himself a trip back to the mortal realm right in front of our very eyes!

    Who could possibly be unmoved by the prospects of seeing their loved ones, their former homes, and their descendants back in the mortal realm?

    In an instant, everyone¡¯s hearts were filled with the desire to contribute and identify with Hell!

    Why wasn¡¯t I the one who came up with that?

 Chapter 479: A Heavy Blow

    <h4>Chapter 479: A Heavy Blow</h4>

    The first time they heard about the prospects of that was at the general assembly two weeks ago. However¡­ nothing was quite like witnessing it with their own two eyes!

    Their colleague, Zhang Zeguang, was about to be the first Yin spirit of Hell to return to the mortal realm!

    Zhang Zeguang showed no reaction at all. If this had been any other day, he would have weed any awards he had been conferred and then sit down gracefully. However, he simply appeared stunned.

    Return to the mortal realm¡­ Can I really return to the mortal realm?!

    Excellent¡­ It seems to be that so long as the Book of Life and Death remains in my possession, nobody would be able to usurp my rule over Hell. I mean, just look at Minister Zhang! The fact that a former provincial governor of the mortal realm is so astounded means these benefits are clearly well beyond his expectations.

    The excitement in his voice was palpable, and yet his voice sounded as harsh as a cat¡¯s w on a chalkboard. In an instant, everyone¡¯s minds began to kick into high gear, contemting what other needs Hell might need to address in the near future.

    Zhang Zeguang couldn¡¯t retract the bright smile on his face, ¡°Can Your Excellency¡­ truly send me back to the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°This is only something that can be done by the orthodox Hell.¡± Qin Ye casually jumped at the chance to school his ministers on the ideological and political front. Rewarding Zhang Zeguang in this manner was also to set a precedent and goal for the rest of them to follow. It was akin to telling the ministers of Ashmound City that so long as they pledge their allegiance to Hell, then only good thingsy in wait for them. It was also a clear message to them, stating that so long as they worked hard, Hell would never shortchange their efforts!

    Would you like a tour of the primeval forest? I can assure you that these ces are so scenic that they wouldpletely blow your mind!

    Just then, Arthis spoke up, ¡°A point to note is that there¡¯s always a certain amount of risk in returning to the mortal realm. So long as your soul has been tainted by the energies of Hell, you¡¯d almost certainly be a target for the wandering spirits out there. That said, you will be escorted by your own personal bodyguards during your trip out to the mortal realm, so you can rest assured.¡±

    Even though the meeting went on for some time thereafter, nothing registered in his mind.

    The impact from Qin Ye¡¯s bombshell had sent all of their minds reeling with shock. Qin Ye could tell that they were greatly distracted by what they had just witnessed, and it wouldn¡¯t be too fruitful if he continued to force the issue. Thus, he decided to wrap up, ¡°We¡¯re 18 days away from the Hungry Ghost Festival. I want all departments to cooperate and work together leading up to that. Minister Zhang, I¡¯d like you to form amittee that will take charge of the grand festivity, and then link up with me again. I¡¯d like the list of people in thismittee by tonight, and I¡¯ll also want to see a detailed proposal of the itinerary for the festivity itself in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    ¡°Meeting adjourned.¡±

    Within moments, the entire hall was filled with silence. Qin Ye was just about to pack up his things and take his leave when Arthis suddenly quipped, ¡°Can you handle the workload?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who voluntarily assumed responsibility for the grand festivity.¡± Arthis continued, ¡°It¡¯s true that you¡¯re the most suitable candidate for the job. You¡¯ll need to walk the grounds and visit every part of Ashmound in the 18 days leading up to the Hungry Ghost Festival so that you know what to do, and where each part of the itinerary is going to pan out. You¡¯ll need to decide on the main focal point, and the facilities and amenities that will have to be prepared. You¡¯ll also have to decide the overall theme of the festivity. Once themittee is formed, how are you going to oversee their work? Are you still going to return at night to visit their ns, before leaving your suggestions behind and return to the mortal realm in the day?¡±

    ¡°That might not necessarily be the case.¡± Qin Ye turned to leave, ¡°As a high-ranking Judge-ss expert back in the mortal realm, I should have a little bit moretitude with what I want to do with the time that I have. Therefore, I should be able to make the necessary arrangements to be around more often than not.¡±

    ¡°Nobody has ever had such freedom with their own time.¡± She muttered faintly to herself, ¡°What we do have¡­ is our responsibilities and priorities.¡±

    ¡°You know what you should do, and you clearly know your limits. It¡¯s about time for you to find closure to your mortal life.¡±

    With that, Arthis vanished into thin air. When she appeared again, she was already standing in front of the Harken once more.

    She bowed deeply, and then remained silent.

    Arthis shook her head, ¡°He says that¡­ he¡¯ll need a year¡¯s time--¡­ W-what¡¯s this?!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve¡­ activated Fate?¡± She turned to look at the Harken with a startled expression, only to notice it shake its head, ¡°It wasn¡¯t me.¡±

    ¡°The Second King Yanluo of Hell returned just a moment ago.¡±

    The corner of the Harken¡¯s lips twitched at the mention of the Second King Yanluo of Hell, but it went on to respond reluctantly, ¡°He¡¯s doing pretty fine I suppose¡­¡±

    To think he¡¯d even think of taking the divine molt for his own uses¡­ I¡¯m sure Lord Ksitigarbha would be horrified to learn of this¡­

    She was just about to ask if the Second King Yanluo of Hell had ever thought about lending some help stir the development of the new Hell.

    The First King Yanluo of Hell had forged the empire of Hell by ying all of hispetitors in an arena of blood. The Second King Yanluo of Hell had established Hell on a global footing by singlehandedly fending off the concerted siege of several major underworlds all at once.

    There aren¡¯t any other Yanluos vying for the same spot. Hell still has the Array of the Nine Gods, the Harken, Ashmound City and millions of Yin spirits to boot! It was in a far better ce than Hell was in during the time of the First King Yanluo¡¯s road to power. If Qin Ye still couldn¡¯t seed with a start like this, then perhaps he simply wasn¡¯t the right person for the job.

    She nced at the golden words in the sky, and there was a soft flicker in her gaze.

    ¡°My Lord, why does Zhang Zeguang¡¯s name appear to be iplete?¡± She furrowed her brows.

    ¡°Fate works with a confluence of coincidences. A single person might not be involved with only one such coincidence. He could be directly involved in multiple coincidences, or he may be directly involved with one, and then indirectly involved with others. Zhang Zeguang might be involved in one of the opening coincidences, but that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that this is thest of his involvement.¡±

    Just then, Fate suddenly erupted with another dazzling disy of light as it began to write once more.

    Not only did Fateplete Zhang Zeguang¡¯s name, it even wrote a second name afterwards¡­ Oda Nobutada!

    It was just like the notion of the butterfly effect, where a seemingly harmless butterfly pping its wings on one side of the ocean could potentially cause a hurricane to blow on the other side.

    And then, Fate wrote down two more words.

    ¡°Fate will continue to count down to the day of reckoning, and each and every name written will form a part of the whole mysterious picture.¡± The Harken sighed, ¡°Anyone and anything can be implicated, so long as they reside within Cathay. No wonder it¡¯s known as the most terrifying artifact apart from the three divine artifacts of Hell. It¡¯s ranked even higher than the Mythic Pce of Reflections. If not for the fact that Fate can only be used once every hundred years, I¡¯m afraid it would already have been listed as the fourth divine artifact of Hell.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Kong Mo didn¡¯t build any fancy courtyard homes for his subjects, and everything was still as they had used to be in ancient times. Since Qin Ye hadn¡¯t had the time to regte the housing market, all of the high officials of Ashmound City lived along the same street for the time being. Zhang Zeguang naturally lived within a small home.

    He picked up some of the keepsakes he had at home. There were some photographs and rings, all of which were burnt offerings directed to him. He was contemting which of these to bring with him back up to the mortal realm to identify himself.

    After a long time, he finally sighed and sat down by the side of his bed, ¡°Forget it. Let¡¯s shelve these thoughts for now. Yanluo Qin should be making the necessary arrangements. As for when I¡¯ll go¡­¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow!¡¯

    Just then, there was a knock on the door.

    ¡°Good¡­¡± Zhang Zeguang took a deep breath and immediately picked up the document.

    The first line read - ¡°Return to the mortal realm at your own risk!¡±

 Chapter 480: T Minus 18 Days

    <h4>Chapter 480: T Minus 18 Days</h4>

    Several minutester, he set down the materials and thought aloud, ¡°So, as it turns out, there are a good number of ghosts still wandering about the surface of the mortal realm, and they can¡¯t help but find themselves drawn to visitors from Hell who are returning to the surface¡­¡±

    ¡°Last, but not least, there are also special organizations and rogue cultivators who would kill on sight. Not only do I have to steer clear of their way, I¡¯ve also got to keep an eye out for their magical artifacts and traps. For instance, a seemingly harmless copper coin could potentially contain so much Yang energy that it can instantly cause my soul to dissipate¡­¡±

    The rest of the document pertained to the code of conduct he had to adhere to.

    ¡°Number two. You shall note into contact with any other human being other than the one you are returning to see. What¡¯s the rationale for this? Ah, I see¡­ so it turns out all returning souls are still considered a Yin spirit. It¡¯s fine to interact with one¡¯s loved one or rtive, but any other human beings would naturally be affected by the returning soul¡¯s Yin spirit, thereby triggering a supernatural incident.¡±

    Secretary Zhou waited patiently by the side as Zhang Zeguang continued scanning through the contents of the documents for another half an hour or so. When he was finally done, he looked up and sighed wistfully.

    ¡°Not at all. Minister Zhang, have you decided? If so, I¡¯ll ry your decision to Lord Qin immediately. The date of departure will be final and irreversible as soon as we lock it in.¡±

    Secretary Zhou nodded and left promptly. Zhang Zeguang lived somewhat near to the main building of administration in the inner city of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, and it didn¡¯t take long for Secretary Zhou to return to Qin Ye¡¯s office.

    A soldier dressed in ancient armor was seated on a chair right in front of Qin Ye¡¯s table. Being Qin Ye¡¯s personal secretary, he knew full well that anyone who could be seated across Qin Ye and speak with him without titudes was naturally someone important. Thus, he knew better than to interject.

    ¡°It just urred to me that my father¡¯s birthday is only a weekter. Incidentally, it would be his first birthday ever since pledging allegiance to Hell. As his son, it¡¯s my duty to return to pay my due respects to him.¡± The soldier spoke with a in smile on his face.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The soldier stood up and bowed deeply, ¡°Lord Qin, I¡¯d like to depart tomorrow. My father also loved Cathayan tea back when he was still alive. With your permission, I¡¯d like to take some with me.¡±

    It was a simple query.

    ¡°Sir, Minister Zhang has already made his decision.¡± Secretary Zhou answered with a respectful bow, ¡°He would like to return to the mortal realm tomorrow night. But, sir, might I ask who would be in charge of escorting Minister Zhang? We don¡¯t seem to have any corresponding division for the dispatching of escorts at the moment.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples. He was certain that 99% of all Yin soldiers in Ashmound weren¡¯t aware of the proper procedures to undertake in such escort missions. Nobody knew these processes better than Arthis and himself. But were they really going to send him back to the mortal realm personally?

    There¡¯s really no one to ask!

    After all, this was intended to be a huge incentive to spur the other Yin spirits of Hell to work.

    Then, after some moments of deliberation, Qin Ye finally made up his mind ¡°I want you to go look for the man who just took his leave.¡±

    ¡°Oda Nobutada.¡± Qin Ye responded, ¡°Tell him to escort Minister Zhang before heading back to the City of Salvation. It¡¯ll dy him for a few hours, but we¡¯ll make it up to him. Take him directly to Minister Zhang.¡±

    Elsewhere, in a dark mobile residence.

    Thehergale that swept through the hall carried faint traces of blood-curdling cries and ghastly wails. The atmosphere was absolutely chilling.

    He didn¡¯t even dare to look up at the faint silhouette hidden behind the veil. The terrifying Yin energy pouring out of the silhouette¡¯s body was like the vast mountain and the boundless seas. It was so terrifying that Shadowless couldn¡¯t help but tremble in submission.

    ¡°Sasori¡­ of the Hidden Sand Vige?¡± The man behind the veil deliberated for a few moments, before snorting contemptuously, ¡°What buffoonery. I¡¯ve never heard of that name before. But the fact that a Shepherd of Souls is no match for him strongly suggests that he¡¯s an Emissary of Hell alright.¡±

    The man behind the veil intently. He could tell that Shadowless¡¯ eyes were flickering wildly. The next moment, Shadowless promptly kowtowed to the ground and gritted his teeth as hepleted his statement, ¡°He said that¡­ he¡¯s your old master.¡±

    Like Lai Junchen and Li Linfu, this was a sign of the drying out of one¡¯s soulfire after having been suppressed for far too long under the six paths of reincarnation!

    Rustle¡­ There was a series of soft rustles, and Shadowless¡¯ eyes promptly erupted with flickering mes.

    They were the hands of infants.

    Then, with a great burst of Yin energy, the countless hands grabbed tightly to Shadowless, plunging their dainty yet destructive fingers right into his skin, eyes and lips! Shadowless immediately unleashed a harrowing scream as he squirmed desperately on the ground!

    The excruciating pain tore away at Shadowless¡¯ soul.

    This was the might of an Abyssal Prefect.

    ¡°I heard you¡­ speak my name back in Martial City.¡± As Shadowless continued screaming his lungs out, he suddenly felt countless more arms emerge from within his throat and mouth! It was almost as though there was an evil ghost hidden right in the depths of his body, trying its level best to break out of the empty shell! It was an incredibly bizarre and terrifying sight!

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you before that I would know as soon as someone says my name. Yet, despite knowing this¡­ you still called my name?¡±

    ¡°And to whom?¡±

    Just then, the man suddenly shrieked at the top of his voice. The pale hands tormenting Shadowless¡¯ body vanished in an instant, and a dazzling golden light erupted from Shadowless¡¯ chest with a resounding bang!

    He wore a cored, scarlet robe with white embroidered flowers and arge matching belt. A jade sword with trailing brocade tassels hung by his waist. His face was unusually pale, almost as though there was no flesh and blood coursing through his veins at all. He was also practically skin and bones. There were only two tiny spots of red in his eyes.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡± The fluttering veils drooped down once more, while he continued to clutch desperately at his chest, staring in shock at the scale that was floating in the sky. After a long time, he shrieked at the top of his voice, ¡°Is this¡­ the¡­ the Harken?!!¡±

    He screamed and babbled on like a madman. The fear of the old Hell swelled up from the depths of his heart in an instant. It was a nightmare that he desperately wanted to leave in the past. He didn¡¯t want to face something as terrifying as that ever again!

    And this¡­ was undoubtedly the scale of one of the strongest entities of the old Hell - Ksitigarbha¡¯s beloved pet, the Harken!

    He¡¯d thought about escape, but he was unable to do so. Thus, he continued to stare intently at the golden scale for the next ten minutes, until he realized that all the scale was doing was merely emitting golden light. Then, he finally loosened the tension in his mind and slumped back down onto his throne.

    But as soon as he did, his chest split open right down the middle, straight through his muscle tissues, nerves and bones, revealing a gaping cavity in his chest.

    ¡°What did he say?!¡± The infant gnashed his teeth, ¡°Tell me word for word. And you¡¯d best not leave any details out¡­¡±

 Chapter 481: T Minus 17 Days

    <h4>Chapter 481: T Minus 17 Days</h4>

    There was only one toll of the bell, mellifluous and ethereal.

    For some reason, the familiar sound of the bell seemed to soothe the man behind the veil. He paused for a moment and collected himself, before tossing Shadowless right back to the ground and growing taciturn.

    The man frowned softly. He was initially bent on searching Shadowless¡¯ soul, but the toll of the bell had for some strange reason caused him to drop his intent to kill.

    He stared intently at Shadowless, before turning to look at the scale that was suspended in the air. Yin energy flourished from his body, and then ebbed away, and then flourished again, and then ebbed away again. After vaciting for some time, he finally retracted all of his Yin energy and muttered hoarsely, ¡°Send word back to him.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The first name - Qin Hui!

    It recalled what the Second King Yanluo had said back then - Fate brings about a confluence of coincidences, but nobody can say for certain whether any dangersy hidden amidst these opportunities.

    This meant that he was going to be involved again sometimeter.

    Just as the Harken started to get lost in its own thoughts, Fate started to move once more.

    ck Yaksha, Crow Tengu!

    It crinkled its brows like a human being - I wonder where the source of danger is supposed toe from?

    These two Nipponese Yin spirits?

    They definitely possessed the ability to threaten the incumbent King Yanluo of Hell.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about those.¡± The person to whom the guide was exining all these things retracted her finger. It was a beautiful woman wearing sunsses, almost as though it was designed to conceal her appearances.

    And that was exactly who she was.

    Nobody was in the exhibition hall apart from her and the seven bodyguards following her. There were also two children whose hands she was holding. These children were approximately seven and eight years old respectively.

    Ms Lee was currently pointing directly to a stone tablet.

    Ms Lee lowered her hand, and then her entire body trembled slightly. Then, she promptly looked up and smiled as she turned and walked away, ¡°What an eye-opener¡­ I didn¡¯t know that the King Yanluo of Hell was called Qin Ye.¡±

    ¡°Qin Ye?¡± The guide was taken aback, ¡°That¡¯s not right. The King Yanluo of Hell had always been known to be a nameless god ever since time immemorial--...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The tour guide turned to look at the stone tablet, ¡°Likewise, this stone tablet wouldn¡¯t have the name of the King Yanluo of--... Eh?!¡±

    The stone tablet was approximately two meters high, and the painted relief sculpture depicted a young man wearing a long robe with a vivid expression on his face. Yet what was perhaps most astonishing was the fact that four additional words had mysteriously appeared right by the sculpture of the man.

    How is this possible?!

    Impossible. This is definitely the authentic stone tablet, but none of us have ever noticed any names written on it before! When did these words appear?

    ¡°Lee Jung-sook¡­ Have you already forgotten our word of caution?¡± The boy on the left remainedpletely motionless as he turned around bizarrely to face Lee Jung-sook. Copious amounts of Yin energy poured straight into his pores, and ck Yaksha promptly rose from the cloud of Yin energy. It sported the appearance of a white dog, and both its robes and its hair fluttered wildly as it bared its razor-sharp fangs at Lee Jung-sook.

    It was precisely because of this nail that her entire body had trembled earlier.

    Whoosh! Crow Tengu¡¯s hideous head instantly appeared right in front of her with a twisted and manic expression, ¡°Curious?¡±

    ¡°This is one of the distinguishing features of Cathay¡¯s feudal era. It¡¯s taboo to address the venerated by their names. Instead, they¡¯d simply refer to them using a pronoun. Which of you have ever heard a king being addressed using his first name? Besides, did you see the guide¡¯s expression? He¡¯s clearly never seen those words on the stone tablet before.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s real.¡± ck Yaksha walked up to the disy case and scrutinized the stone tablet, ¡°I can sense the aura of antiquity from it, and there¡¯s even¡­ a trace of domineering Yin energy. It¡¯s absolutely terrifying, almost as though we¡¯d instantly be crushed as soon as wee into contact with something like that. Besides, given Ms Lee¡¯s identity and the sheer amount of investments she¡¯s poured into Azurewaters City, they¡¯d never ever think of pulling a veil over her eyes with counterfeit goods.¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°The new King Yanluo of Hell is about to appear--... Or perhaps I should say, has already appeared. And he¡¯s making his presence known to the entire world!¡±

    This was by no means a trivial matter. The change of a dynasty might mean nothing to Hell as it stands, but¡­ the change of dynasty to a powerhouse underworld is undoubtedly breaking news to the smaller surrounding underworlds!

    Is he hawkish or dovish?

    Perhaps one way of looking at it would be to liken it to the change of presidency in one of the world¡¯s leading powers, such as in Usonia.

    Lee Jung-sook stood behind the two evil ghosts and shut her eyes, ¡°So, aren¡¯t you guys going to take a closer look at the source of such breaking news?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Lee Jung-sook ran her finger slowly across the disy cab as she continued, ¡°The Hungry Ghost Festival is almost upon us, and the gates of Hell would be opened once more. If there¡¯s truly a change of dynasty, we¡¯d surely be able to pick up some clues about it during this major ghost festival.¡±

    ck Yaksha instantly ced his ws around Lee Jung-sook¡¯s neck without showing any trace of mercy. Her beautiful face flushed red with suffocation at once.

    ¡°Because we¡¯ve already been around in these parts before you were even born.¡±

 Chapter 482: T Minus 16 Days

    <h4>Chapter 482: T Minus 16 Days</h4>

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ck Yaksha turned his back and began to head out. The dim light of the museum halls gently illuminated the ck Yaksha¡¯s foreboding figure, causing him to look all the more like a hellish asura.

    Lee Jung-sook clutched at her chest as she got to her feet and slowly made her way out. Meanwhile, ck Yaksha gave one final look at the stone tablet, before muttering aloud, ¡°I¡¯d never expected to encounter something as significant as this in this journey. This alone has already made our trip to Cathay worthwhile.¡±

    ck Yaksha remained silent for some time. Then, approximately three minutester, he turned around muttered coldly, ¡°Ms Lee¡­ is a person who clearly knows what makes a person tick.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what kind of undertones there must have been in order to trigger a political change of dynasty? Even the slightest glimpse of a clue in this regard would enable Nippon to make substantially better preparations against what is toe. The implications of this might even outweigh locating Oda Nobunaga¡¯s whereabouts.¡±

    ¡°Cathay¡¯s Emissaries¡­ haa¡­ are far too powerful¡­¡±

    ¡°We should know our limits too¡­¡±

    This time, it was Crow Tengu who grewpletely silent. He had a palpably grim expression on his face, and one of his eyes couldn¡¯t stop spinning around as though he were deep in thought. After a minute or so, he murmured softly, ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ wait and see. Haa¡­ I¡¯m still somewhat reluctant to poke at the ho¡¯s nest and risk stirring the ire of the Emissaries of Hell. After all, this is one of the four top underworlds we¡¯re talking about. Their military might is on apletely different level¡­¡±

    ¡°Meanwhile, keep a close watch over Lee Jung-sook, especially when I¡¯m not around.¡±

    Crow Tengu nodded firmly in assent.

    The Harkeny silently in Limbo.

    Countless coincidences had already begun to sprout up around Yanluo Qin, and a terrifying storm was clearly brewing on the horizon. Its role right now was clearly to keep the next King Yanluo of Hell safe as best he could.

    ¡°Midnight of the 16th day¡­¡± The Harken¡¯s eyes widened.

    T minus 16 days.

    To think that even I would be involved¡­ Or should I say that it¡¯s finally my turn to be involved? The Harken¡¯s heart skipped a beat, but it soon calmed down once more.

    But this time, Fate didn¡¯t write any new names. Instead, four names that were already written, namely ck Yaksha, Crow Tengu, Oda Nobutada and Qin Hui suddenly emitted a ring red glow, before they unexpectedly came together as though they were being drawn together.

    Why?

    But s, Fate was unpredictable.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Meanwhile, Oda Nobutada, together with 20 Umamawari horse guards showed up at the entrance to Minister Zhang¡¯s room.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go.¡± Oda Nobutada wasn¡¯t one for small talk. Truth be told, he couldn¡¯t care less about escorting Zhang Zeguang back to the mortal realm. However, he hadplied because the instructions hade directly from Yanluo Qin himself.

    With that, he pulled Zhang Zeguang up onto the back of his horse, and the twenty or so Yin spirits vanished in a bluster ofhergale.

    Zhang Zeguang was scared witless by the sight. Fortunately, Oda Nobutada remained as stoic as ever. Without flinching one bit, he turned back and smiled faintly at Zhang Zeguang, ¡°With Ashmound under our control, most of the Yin spirits still lost in Eastmount would already be able to sense the presence of the passageways leading to Hell. Naturally, there¡¯s no longer any need for the Beacon of Light. This is also the quickest way back to the mortal realm. Where¡¯s your destination?¡±

    Oda Nobutada didn¡¯t say another word. He flicked his reins, and his skeleton war horse instantly sped forward towards the Azurewaters City, together with the other Umamawari horse guards that followed closely behind.

    Zhang Zeguang looked up, only to see a sprawling barren world ahead of him. It was devoid of all living things, be it the most resilient weed, or the Yin beasts that habitually roamed thesends. Instead, the only thing he could see was a ten-meter wide ck vortex that swirled menacingly overhead, almost as though it were a vault to the heavens. Endlesshermes red up around the edge of the vortex, while traces of auras ostensibly foreign to theherworld appeared to diffuse from the depths of the vortex.

    ¡°Once we head up, we¡¯ll wait for you right outside your house, and escort you back as soon as you¡¯re done. Any questions?¡±

    The only thought on his mind was simply to rush headlong into the vortex!

    Zhang Zegaung drew a deep breath, ¡°Will I be safe?¡±

    With that, the twenty or so horses charged straight into the reverse waterfall and got carried with the current straight into the heart of the vortex.

    The moon.

    His fingers trembled softly, and then he looked down at the ground.

    His heart was awash withplex emotions. Ghosts have no tears, yet he still couldn¡¯t help but choke up slightly, ¡°I remember the way. Straight ahead, and then left at the fourth intersection¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, the only response he got was the sound of a sword being unsheathed from its scabbard.

    What¡¯s going on?

    What the hell is going on?!!

    ¡°Not just any evil ghost¡­ This is one that possesses terrifying Yin energy¡­¡± Oda Nobutada tightened his grip around his katana and held it horizontally right in front of his face, ¡°This energy¡­ is even more ferocious than what Lady Arakshasa can muster¡­ It¡¯s the most terrifying Yin energy I¡¯ve encountered in my life! We¡¯re undoubtedly talking about an Infernal Judge, and worst of all¡­ it¡¯s already detected our presence!¡±

    From where?

    And then¡­ he saw it. The doors to the museum opened silently.

    Just then, a child¡¯s hand peeked out from the darkness hidden behind the museum doors.

    That¡¯s right - the child was drifting. He nced around his surroundings, before finally staring dead on at the entourage of Hell¡¯s troops escorting Zhang Zeguang.

    He was anxious to return. After all, he didn¡¯t feel at ease leaving Crow Tengu to guard Lee Jung-sook all by himself.

    A murderous intent instantly erupted from the depths of his heart.

    No¡­ These are Emissaries of Hell served to me on a silver tter! What luck¡­ if I capture them right now, wouldn¡¯t we be able to elicit some news of the change of dynasty from the horse¡¯s mouth? That said, I wonder if there are any reinforcements lurking in the darkness behind them? Would there perhaps be any Infernal Judges?

    This is¡­ a katana!

    And if that¡¯s the case¡­

    ¡°Oda n¡­¡± The child licked his lips and smiled innocently, ¡°I¡¯ve finally found you¡­¡±

 Chapter 483: Dance of the Yaksha

    <h4>Chapter 483: Dance of the Yaksha</h4>

    It was frigid and viscous, almost as though his Yin energy were a swamp pit that mired the feet of its enemies. It erupted with tyrannical force, and it filled the air with the stench of blood. Even then, the child clearly knew restraint, and resisted the urge to unleash all of its power at once.

    Momentster, a man stood tall where the child once was. He wore a clergyman¡¯s uniform, and sported ck hair on his head in contrast with the coat of white fur on the rest of his body. The oppressive aura filled the entire museum hall, and then some.

    At once, the Umamawari horse guard turned around and rushed right back into the rift behind.

    Her dark hair danced about like venomous vipers, obviously acting as an impediment to their path of retreat!

    Meanwhile, a sonic boom roared through the air. Zhang Zeguang shivered, and cold sweat emerged from every pore of his body.

    It was almost as though the evil ghost had just swept all around it with an invisible death scythe, levelling everything within a fifty meter radius with ease.

    ¡°ck Yaksha¡­ one of the most ferocious evil ghosts ever known in the history of all Nippon!¡± The wind whistled past Oda Nobutada¡¯s ears as he continued speaking with a hoarse, drifty voice, ¡°Legend has it that ck Yaksha was born only several hours after Izanami herself, and is one of theary existences of the Nipponese underworld. He can easily summon a hundred evil ghosts to do his bidding, no matter where he might be¡­¡±

    ck Yaksha didn¡¯t give chase. Instead, he simply watched the horses gallop into the distance as he assessed what measure of Yin energy to best employ in order to capture his target.

    If I go too far and inadvertently alert any other Emissaries of Hell, I¡¯m afraid that it¡¯s only going to be moments before the Cathayan Abyssal Prefects arrive. If that happens, then I¡¯ll never be able to evade capture!

    Oda Nobutada heard the burst of Yin energy from behind and nced back immediately, only to realize that ck Yaksha was still over a hundred meters away from them. Furthermore, he could sense that ck Yaksha¡¯s energy levels had fallen to that of an Anitya Hellguard.

    But everything became clear to him in an instant, ¡°He¡¯s afraid of making his presence known in Cathay! He¡¯s not going to summon any other evil ghosts to lend aid!¡± Oda Nobutada roared as he charged away as quickly as his war horse would go.

    But¡­ that¡¯s a secluded location that is outside of the city and close to the sea. I¡¯m afraid ck Yaksha would reveal its true form if we head there!

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to contemte his options at all. ck Yaksha had already sealed their path of retreat as soon as he discovered their existence. This was the only other escape route avable to them right now! Besides, there was no way in hell that Oda Nobutada wanted to go up against a mythical existence like ck Yaksha himself!

    The difference in our abilities is just too great¡­

    The museum was already at the edge of the city to begin with. Naturally, the number of structures and buildings grew increasingly sparse. In fact, even the national highway had begun toe into sight!

    ¡°Why bother running?¡± ck Yaksha nced around at the increasingly remote surroundings as he licked his lips, ¡°We¡¯re going further and further away from the city¡­ You¡¯re clearly fleeing towards another rift, aren¡¯t you? Do you really think you¡¯ll be able to seed?¡±

    He was now no more than 70 meters from Oda Nobutada and his formation of horse guards!

    Spots ofhermes began to converge on his location, as his voice grew to a shrill shriek, ¡°Today would mark the death of your souls!!!¡±

    Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts - Subus.

    ¡°Run, my liege!¡± The Umamawari horse guards following behind immediately stopped dead in their tracks and held their des up valiantly as they took theirst stand.

    Shk! The Umamawari horse guards roared at the top of their voices and swung their katanas masterfully, surprisingly cutting down over a dozen subi in an instant!

    Copious amounts of Yin energy scattered in the air, before once again coalescing into the figure of ck Yaksha. ck butterfliesposed entirely of Yin energy scattered everywhere behind him as he looked up with a vicious smile.

    I know I¡¯m strong enough to rank well among the top few Infernal Judges even of the Cathayan Hell. On the other hand, you¡¯re just a measly Hellguard. Do you really think you¡¯ve got a chance of escape?

    It was understandable, but inappropriate at this time.

    But despite all that, he still caved to his own desires.

    Fate¡­ had stirred ck Yaksha into action.

    That moment of despondence¡­ would be immensely satisfying¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s right there!¡± Oda Nobutada gnashed his teeth, ¡°That¡¯s the other entrance set out in Kong Mo¡¯s records! Minister Zhang, even if I must perish right now, you absolutely must return to Hell! My war horse knows the way. Tell Lord Qin about this ce if you can!¡±

    He was terror stricken. It felt as though they were being relentlessly pursued by a shadow of death that was unshakable no matter what they did! To make matters worse, the source of their terror had a twisted idea of fun by keeping the pursuit going, almost as though he were intent of giving them a glimpse of hope at the end of the tunnel.

    Limbo. The same cliffs separated the vast oceans from the sprawlingnds. But in that moment, there was a huge mobile residence that stood right at the edge of the cliff.

    The pce appeared incredibly old, yet its opulence transcended the effluxion of time. That said, the one thing new about it was the fact that there was a que hanging from the eaves of the pce with two words etched in powerful strokes - Qin Pce.

    ¡°Is this¡­ the scent of an Emissary of Hell?¡±

    The figure shrank back behind the veil, ¡°I must be thinking too much. Hell might be aware of a rift leading to the mortal realm, but they can¡¯t possibly know that this rift opens up directly to where Kong Mo used to have his forces arrayed.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ I can sense another aura far stronger than the Emissary hot on its tail. That¡¯s¡­ an advanced Infernal Judge? And a foreign one at that?¡±

    He roughly grasped the situation back in the mortal realm, and the two specks ofhermes hidden in the depths of his eyes flickered wildly.

    Shadowless should still be on his way back to Martial City right now. Is this¡­ a messenger sent by the new King Yanluo of Hell?

    A split secondter, a pitch-ck pir of light burst through the clouds with a cacophony of ghastly shrieks! The impact was so great that even the crashing waves rolled back to where they came from.

    All of them were screaming and shrieking as they rushed into the sky amidst a colossal vortex of Yin energy.

    Rumble!!! It soon breached the surface of the mortal realm and erupted out of the ground right in front of Oda Nobutada!

    This is¡­ an Abyssal Prefect!

    The daolord of the asura is currently in Azurewaters City!

    No way¡­

    It couldn¡¯t be so coincidental¡­ could it?

 Chapter 484: Coincidence and Doubt

    <h4>Chapter 484: Coincidence and Doubt</h4>

    ck Yaksha seized up.

    What¡¯s an Abyssal Prefect doing here?

    He knew he would certainly die if he turned back.

    Meanwhile, ck Yaksha had apletely different view of the matter.

    Is this the person from Hell who¡¯s meant to be receiving him?

    Run!

    But before he could even finish his statement, his entire body suddenly trembled violently. His hair and clothes scattered about wildly, and he even let out a shrill shriek of terror, because he could sense¡­ a terrifying presence staring directly at him.

    No words were needed. At once, ck Yaksha gnashed his teeth and scuttled off into the distance as quickly as his legs would take him.

    Everything was dark. The stream ofhergale that represented ck Yaksha continued to flee as quickly as it could until it was thousands of meters away, before he finally paused and nced behind him with much palpitation.

    If not for how wildly his heart was still thumping right now, he would never have believed that he had just had an encounter with an Abyssal Prefect.

    Just then, ck Yaksha felt someone suddenly tap on his shoulder.

    Thud¡­ Crow Tengu¡¯s head was cleanly sliced off his neck, and it fell straight to the ground in an instant. The rest of the body clumsily hobbled over to its head and picked it up, ¡°Haa¡­ What the hell is wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­ Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve put her to sleep for some time. She¡­ won¡¯t being to her senses in a little while¡­¡±

    ¡°An Emissary of Hell?!¡± Crow Tengu blurted back with a tone of voice nearly an octave higher than before.

    ¡°Apart from that¡­ I also saw Oda Nobutada¡­ and he was wielding the very same Kiku-ichimonji used by the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven.¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­ Has the Oda n earned the favour of an Abyssal Prefect?¡± Crow Tengu muttered hoarsely as it slowly began to reattach his own head.

    Crow Tengu looked back at ck Yaksha with a confused expression, clearly unsure of what to make of it.

    ¡°We¡¯re in Eastmount, the closest ce to Nippon!¡±

    ¡°Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be any reason to station an Abyssal Prefect here, together with the Oda n! We¡¯ve got all the intel on where the Cathayan Abyssal Prefects are stations. The Abyssal Prefect overseeing the Eastmount and Breakwaters region is located at Skytribute City, and not in the Azurewaters City!¡±

    ¡°Moreover, the Oda n is naturally the best n to involve as far as a siege against Nippon is concerned. Sure, if either one of them had been here, it could simply be exined away as a mere coincidence¡­ but this is just one too many to still be a coincidence!¡±

    ¡°Are you nuts?!¡± Crow Tengu stared at ck Raksha with great disbelief.

    ¡°But that¡¯s an Emissary of Hell we¡¯re talking about¡­¡± Crow Tengu gulped nervously, ¡°How are we supposed to get away after that?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Oda Nobutada kept his eyes tightly shut until his skeletal war horse stood up from the ground and neighed powerfully. It was only then that he opened his eyes apprehensively and nced about his surroundings with great trepidation.

    ¡°I¡¯m still alive¡­¡± Zhang Zeguang spoke with palpitations in his heart. Again, there was a period of tense silence between the two ghosts. And then, they slowly turned to look behind with tacit understanding.

    A chorus of ghastly wails echoed everywhere, while the skies were concealed by a dense canopy of dark clouds. Illusory images of agonized human faces even appeared on the surface of the clouds from time to time, before slowly fading away, as though they were being dragged right back into the mires of despair. A frigid gust swept through the seaside cliffs, sending chills down the two ghosts¡¯ spines.

    Dong~! Just then, a loud gong chimed from the depths of the clouds, followed closely by the promatory re of sornas and celebratory chimes. A split secondter, the gloomy clouds parted like the red sea, and 32 figures appeared, toting a majestic pnquin on the back of their shoulders.

    Dong, dong¡­ ng! Paper money scattered everywhere in the sky. Within moments, an otherwise secluded cliffside was instantly transformed into a ceremonial ground weing the arrival of a procession of humanoid paper effigies. Oda Nobutada gulped nervously as he pulled Zhang Zeguang behind him. He held Kiku-ichimonji horizontally across his chest and gazed intently at the arrival of the procession.

    Run! Get out of here right now! There¡¯s a monster standing right before you!!!

    Boom!!

    How terrifying¡­ What the hell is that thing?!

    ¡°Who are you?¡± A hoarse voice cut through the tense silence in the night sky.

    ¡°Nipponese?¡± The voice from the pnquin responded with some measure of surprise, ¡°Are you a messenger sent by the Third King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Minister of the Department of Ghost Resources, Zhang Zeguang.¡± It took Zhang Zeguang almost all of his might to respond under the enormous weight of the Yin energy bearing down on him. Even the Yin energy from his body had begun to seep out through his pores.

    ¡°Haha¡­¡± The voice from the pnquin chuckled hoarsely. Meanwhile, a tense rustling sound could be hearding from the pnquin, almost as though maggots were writhing around excitedly from within, ¡°The Third King Yanluo of Hell seems rather cautious¡­ As I¡¯d imagined, something cmitous must have happened to Hell. Otherwise, why would Hell even bother sending a pawn to me? The old Hell would have sent an army in a heartbeat¡­¡±

    Zhang Zeguang lowered his head and gnashed his teeth as a multitude of thoughts began to spin in his mind.

    ¡°For all intents and purposes, Hell is currently already in charge of several provinces. In the process of doing so, we¡¯ve defeated the Umbral Mount Tai Alliance of Darkness, and taken down Kong Mo¡¯s base of operations. Had we not done so, you wouldn¡¯t be standing here right now. I wonder if you know about the Mythic Pce of Reflections?¡±

    ¡°Mythic Pce of Reflections?¡± The voice in the pnquin finally grew somewhat austere, ¡°What city did it project?¡±

    Shanhai Pass!

    Shanhai Pass¡­ The Mythic Pce of Reflections actually replicated the Shanhai Pass, and¡­ Hell actually managed to breach its defenses?!

    Didn¡¯t the dynastic change affect the might of Hell¡¯s forces in the slightest bit?

 Chapter 485: Warning

    <h4>Chapter 485: Warning</h4>

    The daolord of the asura instantly rebuffed the initial thoughts on his mind.

    That said, it remained an irond fact that Emissaries of Hell no longer roamed the surface of the mortal realm after Hell¡¯s great copse!

    K-k-k-k-k¡­ The daolord tightened his grip around the handrail, instantly digging deep grooves into it. If this weren¡¯t the case¡­ then wouldn¡¯t I be digging my own grave right now?!

    Perhaps Hell simply didn¡¯t have the time to attend to us for the time being. But if that were the case, what in the world would Hell have been busy with? ¡­ The change of dynasty? That¡¯s right! Hell must have been busy handing matters over to the Third King Yanluo of Hell!

    Crack! The daolord of the asura practically crushed his armrest, and his soul was filled with turbulence.

    Back to the three eastern provinces?

    Are they telling me the truth or not?

    It was a familiar feeling. It was a feeling of fear and reverence for the immutable authority that was known as Hell. That said¡­ he wasn¡¯t fully convinced.

    Because such ims would be no more than mere hearsay. Seeing was believing!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    There was a video conference today that all Infernal Judges must attend remotely. He was seated right in the midst of the Special Investigations Department¡¯s conference room, dialing into the conference call together with Wu Wenqing and the others at the same time. Naturally, he had his notebook opened on the table in front of him in order to keep up the pretenses.

    However, Qin Ye simply shook his head. Fortunately, it was breaktime, and Qin Ye promptly slipped out of the conference hall and made his way to the bathroom.

    Buzz¡­ The shard vibrated as soon as he touched it, and he stared intently at the shard¡¯s unprecedented response.

    But he knew better. In that instant, he saw an image of two monsters surrounded by countless evil ghosts. He could tell that these weren¡¯t even Cathayan evil ghosts, because the ghosts came from apletely different set of folklore, including subi, spirits of snow, Nurarihyon, Ibaraki Child, Yamauba, Long-haired Seductress, and so on and so forth. All of the Yin spirits appeared toe together in a terrifying vortex of Yin energy, ravaging the mortal realm and leaving a trail of bloodshed and destruction in the wake of their passage.

    He squinted at the shard, before furrowing his brows even deeper, ¡°That¡¯s not right. We¡¯re talking about the Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts in the mortal realm¡­ The shard must be showing me an image from a psychological thriller anime, right? How else could we possibly exin something like that?¡±

    It was an image of Lee Jung-sook, otherwise known as Xia Jinse, aiming a gun directly at her own head and firing without hesitation!

    Qin Ye abruptly shot to his feet as he stared at the shard in his hands - What the hell is going on?!

    It was a man dressed like a Song Dynasty official, with two specks of red where his eyes should have been. The man had a look of respect stered all over his face. It looked like a calm and harmonious sight. And yet, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but tremble in horror.

    Then, just as he was about to turn to the next facet of the shard, someone in the next cubicle suddenly knocked on the wall.

    ¡°Brother¡­ sorry to trouble you, but do you... happen to have any tissue paper to spare?¡± The man in the next cubicle spoke with great embarrassment. Qin Ye rolled his eyes as he passed a packet of Kleenex to the man from the gap beneath the cubicle walls.

    Then, Qin Ye promptly sat back down onto the toilet seat with furrowed brows, mulling over the images he had just seen.

    Xia Jinse¡¯s going to die?

    And who¡¯s that terrifying existence that was following me?

    What he didn¡¯t realize was the fact that all of the cubicles that were still locked right now were in fact upied by men in ck suits. They weren¡¯t using the washroom proper. Rather, just like Qin Ye, they simply sat on the lid of the toilet bowl, silently ncing at a slimptop thaty open on theirps.

    The interface in their screens disyed a software formunications. That said, it was neither y nor Momo. There were only slightly over ten people in the chat group they were in, each of whom were codenamed ¡®A¡¯ through ¡®H¡¯, as well as Zhou Xianlong, Mo Changhao, and the ID of the big boss who was also the administrator of the group.

    ¡°Detected true energy fluctuations. He wasn¡¯t using the washroom. Instead, he sealed his cubicle with his true energy. Unfortunately, we wouldn¡¯t dare attempt to peer beyond the domain established by an Infernal Judge for fear of alerting him to our surveince.¡± -- C.

    Zhou Xianlong finally chimed in, ¡°Well done.¡±

    Several secondster, a single word appeared on the chat group, ¡°No.¡±

    Naturally, Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to everything that had just happened. Instead, he went straight to Limbo. The Harken could tell from a mile that he wasing, and it promptly tapped its finger and caused Fate and the words written by Fate to vanish into thin air.

    ¡­ How materialistic. Sometimes, I truly wonder why I actually tremble before the Harken. Qin Ye rolled his eyes at the Harken, before rubbing his hands with a ttering smile on his face, ¡°Well, about that¡­ the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal revealed a series of images to me earlier. Do you happen to know what this might mean?¡±

    No wonder it¡¯s called a divine artifact of Hell. Notwithstanding the fact that it¡¯s merely a shard, it could still sense that someone has manipted Fate, and has thus revealed its suspicions to its owner? No¡­ perhaps this has nothing to do with suspicions at all. Perhaps it¡¯s just reminding its owner of potential dangers from time to time¡­ That¡¯s only to be expected of a divine artifact of Hell after all¡­

    ¡°Don¡¯t know?¡± Qin Ye raised his brows and nced at the Harken. For some strange reason, something told him that there was something fishy about the Harken¡¯s response.

    Qin Ye grew silent. He was once again reminded of the terrifying images he had just seen, and he was deeply unsettled by the fact that these were going to happen in the near future.

    Qin Ye¡¯s suspicions only grew stronger. It felt almost as though the Harken¡­ didn¡¯t want him around at all.

    ¡°There¡¯s still one thing.¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples and pinched between his brows, ¡°The Hungry Ghost Festival ising right now, and Hell is going to celebrate it with a grand festivity. So¡­ there are some things that I was hoping to enlist your help with.¡±

    The Harken¡¯s pupils narrowed.

    It simply couldn¡¯t wrap its mind around how Fate was going to turn Qin Ye into a morepetent King Yanluo of Hell in just over ten days.

    Impossible. As far as I¡¯m aware, anyone who has consumed the taisui fungus could potentially appear anywhere in Cathay as soon as he perished. Things are still manageable if Lee Jung-sook dies, since Daehan only has a poption size of just over 50 million. But Qin Ye¡¯s death would require us to search through 1.5 billion people to locate him once more! That would be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack!

    But it¡¯s just ten days¡­ How is it possible to cause someone to have aplete change of heart in just ten days?

    And to that end, how many more ster folks is Fate going to involve?

    <hr>

    1. I¡¯ve added some links here to the Nurarihyon, Ibaraki Child and Yamauba in case you might be interested to read more. They¡¯re basically demons of Japanese folklore.

    2. A World of Warcraft/ Warcraft 3 reference.

 Chapter 486: T Minus 15 Days (1)

    <h4>Chapter 486: T Minus 15 Days (1)</h4>

    ¡°Take a look at these things¡­ Do you think you¡¯d be able to do them for me?¡± Qin Ye gazed deeply at the Harken¡¯s back and continued exining in a deep voice, ¡°These are just some tentative ns of mine. The primary purpose of the grand ceremony is to smoothen the rolling out of our mary policy. These festivities will give the citizens of Hell a ce to spend and a reason to buy--¡­¡±

    Regret?

    These festivities are more symbolic than anything. The establishment of a new system of currency wouldpletely sweep Kong Mo¡¯s name into the annals of history, while the festivity itself would promote the development of culture and heritage, and through that, foster amon identity. This would seal their pledge of allegiance to Hell! There are absolutely no downsides to this, so why would the Harken speak with such a tone of voice? It¡¯s almost as though¡­ he doesn¡¯t find the result satisfactory at all.

    As if it could sense Qin Ye¡¯s burning scrutiny, the Harken shrank its entire body as it finally responded, ¡°How are you going to generate your electricity to power these amenities?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°There¡¯s still a second option. I know that we¡¯ve got no sources of energy right now, but we can still achieve the same ends by manipting Yin talismans. So¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, ¡°If you would be so kind--...¡±

    Chat window closed. Again.

    Holy shit¡­ you¡¯re actually pulling this move on me?!

    ¡°500 pounds.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye left and returned to his own office back in Hell. Yet, even then, he couldn¡¯t help but keep his brows furrowed. There was a niggling sensation in his heart that gave him a bad premonition about what was toe.

    In fact, the Harken didn¡¯t even deign to look him in the eye.

    ¡°It was all triggered by the mention of the Hungry Ghost Festival. And as soon as I was done talking about that, the Harken immediately reverted back to its original self. Does it know something about the Hungry Ghost Festival that I don¡¯t? Or perhaps¡­ something is supposed to happen at the Hungry Ghost Festival itself?¡±

    Shadowless?

    Qin Ye immediately vanished from his office without a trace and reappeared in the mortal realm.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you at Old Street Teahouse in ten minutes¡¯ time. You may attach yourself to any person of your choosing.¡±

    ¡°Fool.¡± Qin Ye responded coldly, ¡°If that¡¯s truly the case, then how do you think the mortal realm defines the boundaries of all hunting zones and predatory zones? Don¡¯t underestimate the mortal realm. The technology avable to mankind is far beyond what you can even begin to fathom.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye departed from his room, called a cab and immediately made his way towards the agreed location. Unbeknownst to him, there was a man dressed in a Cathayan tunic suit who saw everything that had just transpired.

    ¡°Target is moving.¡± The man¡¯s face was as featureless and forgettable as it got - the kind that would easily blend into a crowd of people and vanish without a trace. His voice was also in and nd, ¡°I¡¯ve checked his schedule and confirmed that there¡¯s nothing fixed in Martial City for him this afternoon. As you¡¯ve instructed, I¡¯ve ensured that there will be no emergency or distress calls ryed to him this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The man nodded, and then twisted a knob on his headset, ¡°Stand down.¡±

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. There were easily at least a dozen iron sights trained onto Qin Ye¡¯s body just moments ago.

    Elsewhere, in an apartment building. This was by no means an office of the Special Investigations Department. Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, and he propped up his head with interlocked fingers as he stared deeply into the screen in front of him.

    The curtains had beenpletely drawn, and the light in the room was somewhat dim. Six screens hung all around the room, each of which appeared to be connected to various devices and instruments. Anyone would easily mistake this room for a set used for sci-fi movies.

    Zhou Xianlong nodded, sighed, and then shut his eyes.

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice was soft, but the man in ck clearly heard the words spoken. After much hesitation, the man in ck remarked, ¡°Leader, all Infernal Judges would generally undergo observation for several years before we fully entrust them with their office. Such high-profile review isn¡¯t umon to begin with. After all, Infernal Judges are part of the core forces of the Special Investigation Department, and they¡¯re granted ess to the most confidential files. Your caution is not misced.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong shut his eyes once more, only to reveal a bitter smile on his face.

    Qin Ye used to be an instructor that he favored the most. Yet, by some sick twist of fate, he had nowe to tap into the highest authority conferred upon him as a deputy director of the Special Investigations Department in order to conduct an audit of the highest specification on the very same person. The emotions involved¡­ were something he couldn¡¯t ept.

    This was a gathering of experts that would ordinarily only be seen in the Special Investigations Department¡¯s annual debrief!

    ¡°Leader, they¡¯re both involved in their own assignments right now, and I¡¯m afraid that they¡¯ll only arrive around 15 August, during the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    He gazed deeply at the photograph without saying another word.

    ¡°Alert! Alert!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong stood up haughtily and dragged the screen until he came to the location with the coordinates X431Y242. And then, he immediately zoomed in onto the location to get a clearer view of it.

    To make matters worse, they had just received confirmation of a report of a Judge-ss evil ghost travelling in broad daylight!

    Their target - the newly promoted Judge, Qin Ye - alighted from the cab, marched over to the door and entered the teahouse.

    There were no additional alerts¡­ The screen continued to flicker, but there weren¡¯t the usual alerts that they received as soon as they picked up a sh between true energy and Yin energy.

    And there was no way they couldn¡¯t have sensed each other¡¯s presence!

    It was almost as though they were interacting with each other like old friends reunited. The Old Street remained as calm and peaceful as it had always been, yet chillingly so.

    Silence.

    He paused for a moment, and then bit his lips and stared at Zhou Xianlong¡¯s back as he continued, ¡°That said, the possibility of errors and omissions cannot be ruled out¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    What the hell are you doing?!

    Don¡¯t disappoint me¡­ You were my favourite instructor. I sincerely hope you don¡¯t wrong Cathay¡­

    Clink¡­ He identally shattered the teacup in his hand, and everything came crashing to the ground at once. Even then, he simply stared at his own hand with disbelief, almost as though he were numb to all sensation.

 Chapter 487: T Minus 15 Days (2)

    <h4>Chapter 487: T Minus 15 Days (2)</h4>

    He was an old man who appeared to be in his seventies. His face was covered with age spots, yet his hands were firm and steady as he took a sip from his teacup and sighed wistfully.

    The young man had striking brows, deep eyes and a sharp nose. He appeared young, yet the abstruse gaze in his eyes caused the old man to tremble all over. At once, the old man set down his teacup and motioned to cup his hands respectfully at the young man. But before he could even do so, the young man grabbed his hands with a faint smile and pulled him into a warm embrace.

    Click¡­ The door gently closed behind them. None of the other customers in the teahouse even raised their eyes to nce at the unremarkable interaction that had just taken ce between a young man and an old man.

    The booth waspletely silent. Momentster, the young man shook his head, ¡°Ghosts these days¡­ tsk. Take a seat.¡±

    The old man was just about to take his seat when he immediately shot right back to his feet as though his bum had been pricked with a pin. His entire body began quivering in fear once more, ¡°My Lord¡­ it¡¯s not like that¡­¡±

    ¡°But--¡­ Lord Qin, apologies for the oversight!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The old man sat down apprehensively with his hands on his knees and his head hung low, ¡°He¡¯s¡­ agreed.¡±

    As expected¡­

    ¡°I want you to head back to Azurewaters City and tell Qin Hui that I¡¯ll be there in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, before the clock strikes five. I¡¯ll head over in a little while.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled and grew taciturn.

    He¡¯d be sorely disappointed if he thinks that I¡¯m still the same man that I used to be. If he¡¯s going to treat me as such, then I¡¯ll make sure to make a long,sting impression that willpletely renew his mind.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    It was the picture of Qin Ye embracing the old man in the teahouse.

    ¡°ording to reports, the Yin energy¡­ emanated from him¡­¡± The man in ck reported back with a hushed voice. He had been in service for decades now, yet this was still the first time he had personally witnessed something as bizarre as this. This was a long-drawn war between realms. Countless brethren had perished in the line of duty, and not a single one of his humankind brethren have been ever known to have betrayed Cathay at all!

    ¡°Why?¡± Zhou Xianlong shut his eyes so tightly that even his eyelids were trembling. His voice was incredibly hoarse and filled with great disbelief.

    Nobody said a word.

    This was the clearest sign of betrayal.

    In that instant, they were almost certain that Li Jixi must have died by Qin Ye¡¯s hands!

    They had their own means to deal with traitors like that!

    ¡°Should we¡­ take action?¡±

    A few secondster, the leader of the operations gave his firm response, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m for it as well.¡± Mo Changhao seconded Zhou Xianlong¡¯s opinion as he sighed wistfully, ¡°Each and every Judge is precious to Cathay - especially one with talents as high as his. We cannot afford to act hastily or with presumption. Sir¡­ the A754 monuments are going to be unearthed soon. By theirst estimates, it¡¯s not going to take longer than a dozen or so days. Preliminary scans reveal that¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s name has also been etched on the surface of the stone monument.¡±

    ¡°Approximately 15 August.¡±

    ¡°Such news is to be embargoed from the target. We¡¯ll notify the target on the 15th itself. This will be his final opportunity to prove himself.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    T minus 15 days.

    Dong¡­ Dong¡­ It was midnight. The investigator on duty was seated right in front of hisputer, and he yawnedzily as he turned to his colleague, ¡°Shall we go out for a smoke?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± The colleague stretchedzily and followed the other man to the smoking room. There, he pulled out a box of cigarettes and tossed it to the other man, ¡°Hey, any ideas what the hell happened yesterday?¡±

    ¡°First, we detected the Yin energy from two sources, one Infernal Judge and one Anitya Hellguard. And then, at 1.08 a.m., there was an eruption of Yin energy with energy readings well above the ranks of Judge-ss Yin spirits. To bepletely honest with you, my first inclination is to think that our instruments have malfunctioned.¡±

    Just then, the lights went out.

    A secondter, both investigators stood up in unison and flicked on their lighters in the dark for some light. Both men could see the astonished expression in each other¡¯s eyes.

    Impossible. The Special Investigations Department has backup generators that guarantee round-the-clock power. Even if the entire city suffers from a power outage, we¡¯d still be able to keep things operational. So what the hell is going on here?

    ¡°H-hey¡­ It¡¯s me¡­ Can you get us back onto the power grid? What¡¯s going on? You don¡¯t know? What? The power is also out in your neighbourhood?¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­ That scared the hell out of me¡­¡± One of the investigators slumped down into his seat with a bitter smile on his face, ¡°I¡¯d actually thought that we¡¯ve personally encountered a supernatural incide--...¡±

    Both men had slumped down into their seats, only to jerk their heads up at the monitor with great surprise, so much so that even the expressions on their face werepletely frozen.

    Within a minute, the entire city was thrown into an oppressive darkness. A spine-tingling chill instantly filled their hearts and minds!

    This naturally left them with only one other possible exnation¡­

    And an incredibly powerful one at that!

    Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t the response they were expecting.

    Dong, dong¡­ ng!

    ¡°A building in front of the hearth, built on the cornerstone of silver and gold. Four doors to the four corners of the world, and single path to heaven. Brilliance shines from heaven, illuminating the Golden Pce of Jade. The scent of incense fills the air; the dragon and phoenix tent covers the earth. The sun and moon hang high in the sky, next to the clouds of rainbow¡­¡±

    Thud! One of the cell phones fell onto the ground. Even the dumbest of fools would be able to tell that this was the onset of arge-scale supernatural incident in Azurewaters City!

    It didn¡¯te from the lights above. Rather, it came from all of the surveince monitors around!

    The surveince monitors disyed various images of streets and homes in the city. Unbeknownst to them, scarletnterns had at some point appeared at every corner of the streets and in front of each and every home within the city, and they all lit up in unison at 12.01 a.m.! It was like a constetion glowing with a foreboding omen in the dark night sky!

    Simrly, the paper money fluttered eerily above the national highway, dancing wildly with the wind and softly reflecting the scarlet hues of thenterns everywhere around. Meanwhile, a procession of people appeared out of nowhere and half-knelt to the ground in the direction of the national highway.

    Theyprised both men and women paper effigies. Some blew on the sornas, while others nged on the gongs or yed the chimes, almost as though they were dering the arrival of an important guest.

    ¡°Dear heavens...¡±

 Chapter 488: Second Meeting with the Daolord

    <h4>Chapter 488: Second Meeting with the Daolord</h4>

    Ahergale swept across thends, silencing even the softest whispers of life in Azurewaters City. The citizens were all holed up in their homes, trembling with bated breaths as they prayed hard that the night would pass in peace and serenity.

    She didn¡¯t dare to speak loudly. Her father hadn¡¯t told her about the reason for the publicly broadcasted announcements that they had heard every night, but her instincts were screaming from within, telling her not to make even the slightest peep of sound.

    Just then, the shadow of a procession of figures holding spirit streamers, prayer gs and scattering paper money suddenly appeared on the walls in the room. Both father and daughter held each other as closely as they could, afraid to make even the slightest of sounds. The father stared at the wall with bloodshot eyes. He could tell that the shadows were all moving as though they were drifting above the surface of the ground!

    It took merely 30 seconds before the entire procession passed, and yet it felt like eons to them. Then, it was only when the procession passed that the father gnashed his teeth and carried his daughter back to the bedroom where they hid under their covers, praying that dawn would rise soon. Incidentally, it was only then that the father noticed that his entire back was already soaked through with cold sweat.

    If it were any constion to him, he wasn¡¯t the only one this night whose heart was awash with fear. In fact, almost every resident living along the national highway could see gut-wrenching shadows of the procession of ghastly silhouettes appear on the walls of their rooms.

    ¡°Alert, alert, Judge-ss Yin energy detected. Yin energy readings amount to¡­ 12 million in total. Red alert. Repeat. Alert, alert¡­¡±

    ¡°12 million¡­¡± The branch chief sat paralyzed in his chair. He was merely a Hunter-ss expert, and the current situation was clearly well beyond the league of his abilities. His mind instantly went nk.

    Just then, a major of the military forces jolted him right back to his senses, ¡°Chief Wang, now¡¯s not the time to be specting about these things! Immediately request support from the other Special Investigations Department in the vicinity! Director Mo is currently stationed in Qizhou! And we¡¯ve still got the newly-minted Judge, Mr Qin, who is stationed in Martial City! I¡¯ve read that Infernal Judges can travel at speeds that are already close to the speed of sound. It wouldn¡¯t take them long to get here!¡±

    ¡°Then what are we supposed to do?!¡± The major mmed his fist heavily onto the table, ¡°We¡¯re talking about hundreds of thousands of citizens residing in Azurewaters City¡­ Are we supposed to simply watch as they all get massacred?!¡±

    ¡°Understood¡­¡± Chief Wang gritted his teeth and immediately made the call. Yet the tension in the room was still at an all-time high. Everyone stared intently at the screen in silence, until one of the secretaries spoke up, ¡°Sir¡­ what should we do?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    As he ran, he pulled out his cellphone and immediately scrolled through his contacts to find Qin Ye¡¯s number. Then, he abruptly paused and turned the corner to enter a small meeting room.

    ¡°We¡¯re already aware.¡± Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao were seated in the middle of the room, surrounded by a series of talismans that contained their true energy and concealed it from the rest of the world outside.

    ¡°Stand down.¡± Zhou Xianlong responded cidly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Mo Changhao opened hisputer and squinted at the screen which depicted a small red dot over a downtown city district.

    Rather¡­ it was the map of Azurewaters City!

    He paused for a moment, and then continued, ¡°Appears to be weing him¡­¡±

    Just like how the delectable cuisine of meat and poultry was only possible with the death of animals. Likewise, Qin Ye had to carry his cell phone with him.

    After all, his cultivation prowess meant that he would have to be on standby at all times, in order to attend to any emergencies that arose within the mortal realm. At the very least, this was the only way he could maintain the pretenses of his identity that he had so painstakingly developed. That said, the presence of his device on him also meant that the state could track him anytime they so desired.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± Mo Changhao turned to Zhou Xianlong, but his lips were parched, and he waspletely lost for words.

    Then, he tapped on Qin Ye¡¯s contact detail with a quiver in his fingers.

    Azurewaters City. The procession of Yin spirits stopped at the national highway entrance.

    Behind them, each Judge was followed by several Hellguards, then dozens of Soul Hunters and Netherworld Operatives. Each of these Yin spirits were nked by humanoid paper effigies toting spirit streamers and prayer gs. The Yin spirits didn¡¯t have any shadows, but the sheer number of humanoid paper effigies in the procession more than made up for it.

    The processionpletely blocked off the entire national highway. It was evident just how much importance the daolord of the asura attached to this meeting.

    BOOM!!

    The surrounding trees swayed helplessly as though they were on the verge of being uprooted entirely. Even then, copious amounts of Yin energy continued to pour down like an endless waterfall from the sky.

    Whoosh¡­ Suddenly, a majestichergale picked up out of nowhere and rushed across the national highway, instantly sweeping away the entire procession, including the Infernal Judges that led the march. Every single evil ghost in the procession was swept well behind the carriage, leaving a single carriage remaining on the massive highway in the blink of an eye.

    A hand covered with livor mortis spots raised the veil of the carriage, while the man within peeked out with great trepidation. At once, his memories of the thousands of years he had spent in Hell flooded right back into Qin Hui¡¯s mind.

    Unfortunately, his reverie didn¡¯tst long. An Emissary of Hell known as Ran Min appeared in the mortal realm to arrest him and bring him back to Hell, where he would be suppressed under the six paths of reincarnation for thousands of years, suffering from endless torment without any hope for reprieve.

    He waspletely helpless against Hell¡¯s forces.

    All previous thoughts of putting on airs and negotiating for the best terms and conditions had been cast right out of the window. All that was left was the reverence for Hell that had been etched into his marrows after thousands of years.

    What the hell is going on?

    This was the difference between the evil ghosts who had experienced Hell¡¯s might, and the modern ghosts who werepletely ignorant to that fact.

    Because they knew that if they courted death¡­ then it would most certainly be death that they got.

    Dead silence.

    ¡°To be honest, when I saw you receiving me in your carriage earlier, I really thought you had forgotten what gives Hell its name.¡±

    Even then, Qin Hui didn¡¯t dare specte too much. Instead, he simply continued to kowtow repeatedly to the ground, ¡°This little one would never dare! This little one is a great sinner that deserves death. I only pray for mercy and a chance at redemption!¡±

    Very sensible¡­ Qin Ye tapped the sack on his back - It¡¯s a good thing that I¡¯ve remembered to bring this¡­

    Qin Ye frowned. He knew he couldn¡¯t afford to ignore the call.

    ¡°Mr Qin, it¡¯s me.¡± Unfortunately, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t aware that he was currently on speakerphone, and Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao were located right beside Wu Wenqing.

    ¡°Resting at home. What¡¯s up?¡± Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically and responded without batting an eyelid.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Qin Ye acknowledged the message and promptly cut the call.

    There was a small line of text on the upper left corner of the screen - Yin energy reading: 62,410,000 Yin.

 Chapter 489: Negotiations

    <h4>Chapter 489: Negotiations</h4>

    Azurewaters City, at the national highway. Qin Ye slowly drifted down before the daolord of the asura and smiled faintly at him, ¡°Looks like we meet again.¡±

    Qin Hui was just in a midst of a kowtow when thehermes erupted from his eyes and he immediately looked up.

    I remember¡­ I remember now! This was a voice that I¡¯d heard just a few months ago!

    ¡°It¡¯s you?!¡± He was instantly filled with the urge to strike out at Qin Ye. Fortunately, his fear of Hell forcefully restrained him from any rash acts. Thus, he simply shot up to his feet and red at Qin Ye. His fingers trembled, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to point at Qin Ye at all.

    Watch your persona! Watch your persona!

    Had Wang Chenghao been the one in the daolord¡¯s ce right now, Qin Ye would most certainly have teased him with a friendly revtion, ¡°Surprise~~!!!¡± However, Qin Ye was keenly aware that this wasn¡¯t the case. Thus, he put on the most noble smile on his face, ¡°Did you really think I was deceiving you when I told youst time that I¡¯m the new King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    Of course I did!!!

    Qin Hui¡¯s lips parted, and shut, and parted, and shut. Yet he found himselfpletely dumbfounded at the situation.

    How is this possible?! What kind of venerable figurehead is the King Yanluo of Hell supposed to be? How could it be a puny Hellguard--... eh? He¡¯s already an Infernal Judge. But¡­ that¡¯s still only an Infernal Judge!

    There were only two possibilities on his mind right now. The first possibility was that Qin Ye must have by some stroke of luck managed to dispel the curse on his body. After all, Qin Ye was clearly caught in a bind in their previous encounter, and he had no choice but to bber some rubbish in order to extricate himself from the situation. If this was indeed the case, then Qin Ye could not possibly be anyone important.

    The second possibility was that he had to be the child of some high official in Hell. And this was the main reason which caused the daolord to have stayed his hand back then. Even if there were only a 50% chance of this being the case, the potential bacsh against the daolord would bepletely disproportionate to the gains he could have had at that time.

    But now¡­ Qin Ye was once again iming that he was indeed the King Yanluo of Hell!

    His cognitive dissonance militated against hisprehension of the situation. Thus, the daolord found himselfpletely lost for words as he stared intently at Qin Ye with a bbergasted look on his face.

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye was also staring right back at him.

    This was the renowned daolord of the asura that he had heard so much about. He was the sole cause of the nest of ten thousand captive ghosts back in the three eastern provinces. He was dressed like a Song Dynasty official, simr to the Tang Dynasty hemmed gowns with curved cor andrge sleeves, and fastened at the waist with a leather belt. Everything was a royal ck colour. The daolord was incredibly thin, and appeared ancient and frail, and practically skin and bones. If one looked close enough, one could even spot traces of dark Yin energy writhing in the veins underneath his semi-translucent skin, almost as though they were maggots under the skin of a rotting corpse.

    This isn¡¯t the real body. The real body is hidden elsewhere. This is nothing more than a useful instrument that he uses to execute hismands. Qin Ye quickly made an assessment of the situation.

    Qin Hui lowered his head and remained silent for over twenty seconds, before he finally managed to pull himself together, ¡°King Yanluo, what is your name?¡±

    Wisps of dense Yin energy peeked out from within the daolord¡¯s lips, almost as though his body contained the vast expanse of an underworld altogether.

    ¡°You may address me as Yanluo Qin.¡± Qin Ye stared Qin Hui in the eye. He could tell that Qin Hui had already calmed downpletely. Thus, Qin Hui retracted his gaze and made a respectful inviting gesture, ¡°I wonder if this little one has the honor of inviting Yanluo Qin toe with me?¡±

    Is this a test?

    Qin Ye nced suspiciously at Qin Hui, and then at the carriage, before finally responding with a faint smile on his face, ¡°I¡¯ll let you have the honour just this once.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye boarded the carriage, only to be momentarily stunned by what he saw.

    The inside of the carriage was incredibly spacious, and adorned only with antique furnishings. A two-meter wide square table with two chairs on both sides was ced right in the centre of the carriage. A stick of incense emanating green smoke was burning in the corner of the room, while a series of sutras hung right beside the curtains. Whilst it upied only a footprint of approximately 20 square meters, it still did the job as far as privacy and seclusion was concerned.

    The seat was covered with thick cushions, but there clearly wasn¡¯t any tea or fruits ced on the table to entertain his guests. Evidently, Qin Hui hadn¡¯t been able to develop a sustainable economy in his underworld. That said, Qin Ye didn¡¯t mind, ¡°Abyssal Prefects are few and far between after Hell¡¯s great copse. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have personally made this trip down today.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s hands were already wrapped tightly around the sack behind his back.

    Therey a ck wooden box within the sack which contained a rusty spear tip.

    Would Qin-coward-Ye have dared to confront the daolord of the asura without this mighty artifact? Sorry, let me rephrase that - Qin-rational-Ye would have chosen to avoid a confrontation with the daolord had he not possessed this mighty artifact.

    That¡¯s right. It wasn¡¯t a cowardly move. It was all carefully calcted.

    Qin Ye¡¯sst statement was intended to probe at the daolord¡¯s bottom line. He wanted to assess if the daolord still harboured any murderous intent towards him, as well as suss out how the daolord viewed the new Hell altogether.

    This was a meeting that hade so abruptly that neither side could properly be said to have had the luxury of time to craft its approach. This could both be a bad thing and a good thing. It could be a bad thing because either side could potentially make an irretrievable mistake. That said, it was also a good thing because both sides would see the genuine attitude of the other towards themself.

    The daolord of the asura leaned back into his seat and gently ran his fingers along his armchair. However, Qin Ye could tell that the daolord¡¯s spine was erect and straight.

    It was a sign of being on guard at all times.

    After some time, the daolord finally smiled, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ Who am I to deserve an audience with the mighty King Yanluo?¡±

    They appeared to be speaking of seemingly unrted matters, but the truth of the matter was that they were both carefully crafting their responses in order to glean the most information about the other without disclosing their own positions.

    Incidentally, the daolord of the asura had already managed to suss out the events leading up to their present meeting.

    During their first encounter, he was clearly the uninformed aggressor, and Qin Ye naturally had no choice but to divulge the truth in exchange for his own life. Therefore, Hell must indeed have copsed. And the fact that Qin Ye wasn¡¯t able to send anyone else in his ce was yet another indicator that confirmed this suspicion.

    ¡°I wonder what instructions you might have for this little one?¡± The daolord promptly gathered his hands respectfully into his sleeves as he continued. A split secondter, two infant hands emerged from his limbs and began to make a series of hand seals in the dark, and a talisman appeared in the middle of his palm. Yet, he chose not to detonate the talisman just yet. Meanwhile, Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to the threat that had just emerged.

    Truth be told, Qin Hui¡¯s acts were hardly borne out of hatred. Rather, it was borne out of the fear for Hell that prated his marrows.

    He was waiting - waiting for that moment when Yanluo Qin employed the Yama-ss Yin artifact against him, only to realize that it was unable to overpower Qin Hui¡¯s mighty attack. After all, Qin Hui could sense that the Yama-ss Yin energy emanated from a broken Yin artifact.

    That said, all that didn¡¯t change the fact that he was still afraid!

    He was afraid of the possibility that Yanluo Qin wouldn¡¯t die in a single blow. He was afraid of the consequences. He was afraid of things reverting back to how it used to be thousands of years ago! Thus, notwithstanding the fact that there was only a 10% possibility that his attack would fail, he still refused to take any chances.

    This was entirely borne out of a fear that ran way too deep in his heart. In fact, he didn¡¯t even realize that he was speaking to Qin Ye with honorifics, like a lowly subordinate speaking to a highly official.

    This was a conversation between an Abyssal Prefect and an Infernal Judge, and yet the Prefect was clearly the more timid of the two!

    Qin Ye sized up Qin Hui for several more moments, before suddenly chuckling and cing the sack on his back onto the table.

    It had been over ten minutes since the start of their discussions, and yet both men hadn¡¯t exchanged more than ten simple sentences. There were clearly a multitude of thoughts on each of their minds. Both were clearly cautiously probing at each other, desperately testing the waters to see how far they could go.

    Boom! The daolord of the asura leapt straight to his feet as soon as the sack hit the table. Yin energy instantly erupted from his body, and his chest squirmed violently as though something were about to emerge. Thehermes in his eyes flickered wildly with apprehension. There was chaos for a moment, and then everything quickly grew calm once more.

    Damn it¡­ The daolord of the asura felt a chill run down his spine - I¡¯ve moved too presumptuously!

    His simple reaction had clearly ced himself on a backfoot in these discussions.

    ¡°What are you so afraid of?¡± Qin Ye stared him in the eye as he slowly untied the sack. As each knot was undone, the daolord of the asura would back off an inch. The daolord knew that the process was only being protracted because Qin Ye was pressing his initiative, but¡­ he still couldn¡¯t help it!

    He had never expected to react with such conditioned reflex towards an Emissary of Hell despite the effluxion of over a hundred years of time!

    Whoosh¡­ The sack was finally unraveledpletely, revealing the dark wooden box within. The daolord of the asura stared agape at it. His rational mind was shrieking at him at the top of his voice. There was even a foreboding premonition in his heart telling him that as soon as the box was opened, the Yin artifact within would immediately plunge straight through his heart and kill him despite the fact that it was broken and tattered!

    But¡­ how am I supposed to stop this?!

    Lord Qin, I¡¯m begging you! I¡¯ll assent to anything you ask for!

    His attitude at this point was a far cry from what he had always intended. Even he couldn¡¯t help but sense his cheeks burning up with heat.

    Qin Ye gently ran his finger along the lid of the wooden box. ck. He utched the metal catch. At once, the sounds of shing weapons and galloping horses erupted from within, together with dense Yin energy that filled the entire carriage.

    The daolord¡¯s breaths instantly grew ragged! The source of the Yin energy was all too familiar to him, and his entire body trembled profusely.

    Zhao Yun¡­ This is the spear tip of one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, Zhao Yun!

    By now, the daolord had already retreated to the corner, clutching tightly to anything he could grab hold of. His menacing ck nails had already emerged from his fingertips, and he no longer harbored any intention to conceal the thoughts on his mind. His lips quivered as he red intently at Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    Qin Ye¡¯s fingers were slender, but immeasurably frightening.

    Is he already so terrified that he can¡¯t be bothered with his own image any longer? Qin Ye stared at the daolord of the asura, before slowly opening the box, inch by inch. The increasingly burdensome weight of such slow actions caused the daolord to open his lips several times, only to barely hold back the words ¡°stop¡± from his lips!

    ck¡­ Just then, Qin Ye suddenly snapped the box shut once more, ¡°It looks like the daolord knows what this is?¡±

    It¡¯s much more than that¡­

    As soon as the box was shut, the daolord slumped straight back into his seat, ring scornfully at Qin Ye, only to be met with an annoyingly bright yet somewhat incisive gaze.

    The hunt wasplete.

    The predator and the prey had finally been identified.

    They had barely exchanged any words since boarding the carriage. Both were posturing with their simple remarks and soft gestures. Both sides were desperately trying to seize the initiative and elicit the other¡¯s weaknesses before the other could do the same to them. Each and every action was calcted to the tee, designed to draw out more about the other person¡¯s state of mind, be it within the glint of the eye or the twitch of the muscle.

    Even then, Qin Ye had never expected to be able to seize the initiative that quickly! It was almost akin to opening a LoL match with a pentakill!

    Truth be told, Qin Ye had never expected Hell to have left such a strong,sting impression in the mind of the daolord. It was now clear that his fear ran deeper than any other emotion he had - so much so that even despite knowing full well that Hell had copsed, he was still willing to maintain an equal dialogue with Qin Ye!

    Naturally, being the ferocious dog that he was, Qin Ye would never release his grip on his opponent¡¯s weaknesses as soon as he got a firm hold of it.

    And his efforts were finally bearing fruit. It was finally time tomence with the negotiations.

    ¡°Someone has entrusted me to bring this artifact to your attention.¡± Qin Ye hammered the final nail on the coffin, before finally leaning back into his seat leisurely, ¡°Hell has no time to care about you right now, so we¡¯ve decided to make a special offer to you.¡±

    Now that the hunter and the hunted were clearly defined, there clearly wasn¡¯t any reason to posture any further. Thus, the daolord spoke respectfully, ¡°Please speak, Your Excellency.¡±

    Even a Prefect-ss Yin spirit had to bow his head when speaking with an Infernal Judge of Hell.

    After all, the Judge was clearly backed by entities that he could never afford to cross. He naturally didn¡¯t even bother toying with the idea of testing Qin Ye¡¯s authority any further.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t speak immediately. Instead, he simply tapped his fingers gently on the table for some time, as though drumming his authority deep into the heart of the daolord, stirring the daolord¡¯s anxiety and apprehension.

    Ten secondster, Qin Ye finally retracted his gaze and slowly ran a finger along the edge of the wooden box, ¡°Kill Kong Mo.¡± The wooden box sat silently on the table, nondescript and forgettable, yet its presence was indescribably ring to the daolord.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s not going to make a move. We¡¯ve already sealed his path of retreat. Bring me his soul as a peace offering, and then go back to the three eastern provinces where you¡¯vee from. If you can do this, then I, in my capacity as the King Yanluo of Hell, give you my word that I will not build the six paths of reincarnation on the foundation of your soul. In fact¡­ it might not even be entirely out of the question to make you a feudal official of a foreignnd.¡±

    Whoosh! The daolord of the asura raised his head violently and stared at Qin Ye with great disbelief.

 Chapter 490: Wily Old Fox

    <h4>Chapter 490: Wily Old Fox</h4>

    Qin Ye nced at the daolord of the asura with displeasure. Had this been Wang One Tail, he would¡¯vein prostrate on the ground by now¡­

    After some moments, the daolord of the asura sighed wistfully and then hung his head low, ¡°Are you willing to guarantee this?¡±

    But the devil is always in the details¡­

    The daolord of the asura lowered his head, and thehermes in his eyes flickered wildly. He remained silent for the longest time.

    At least, he wasn¡¯t so next to the modern day Yin spirits who averaged only 50 years of age.

    Does Yanluo Qin intend to build the six paths of reincarnation on my soul or not?!

    I can make an oath like that?!

    What the hell is that? Why hasn¡¯t anyone told me about something like this? Why didn¡¯t the Lord of Darkriver mention anything about this before? Is his ignorance because he was too weak?

    The daolord of the asura didn¡¯t rush him either. Instead, he simply waited patiently for Qin Ye¡¯s response while Qin Ye wracked his mind for an appropriate response.

    The abruptness of their meeting was bound to trip them up at some point or another. If he responded with ignorance, then that might lead to suspicions that he was merely putting on a farce. In the worst case scenario, the daolord might evene to suspect that he wasn¡¯t authorized by the master of the Yama-ss Yin artifact to employ the functions of the spear tip freely, and that he had only brought it along as a form of deterrence. And if things came to that, would an artifact used for mere deterrence actually be able to impede the advances of an Abyssal Prefect?

    He knew full well that he hadn¡¯t done anything deserving of any respect in the daolord¡¯s eyes. His first impressions in his earliest meeting with the daolord had been dismal after all. Instead, what the daolord respected right now was merely the presence of the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear¡¯s gleaming tip.

    It was a simple question, and it would arouse suspicions if Qin Ye took too long for his response.

    But before the daolord of the asura could even heave a sigh of relief, Qin Ye went on, ¡°But not now.¡±

    A brainwave struck Qin Ye, and he responded with a crafty smile on his face, ¡°Because I¡¯m still not the official King Yanluo of Hell. I¡¯ll let the Harken speak with you in this regard.¡±

    Wait a minute¡­ What the hell are you talking about?!

    Did I miss something?

    But¡­ what made matters worse was the fact that there was no room for discussion in this regard.

    One man had been desperately probing at Hell¡¯s bottom line, and even to some measure of sess when he managed to elicit the confirmation from the other. Yet, by some strange twist, thepromise didn¡¯te cheap, because it was soon followed by a horrific switch-and-bait technique. At once, the negotiations appeared to be at an impasse.

    The ultimatum ising¡­ The daolord of the asura nodded respectfully, and Qin Ye continued. ¡°Firstly, go back to the three eastern provinces where you came from. Secondly, bring me Kong Mo¡¯s head on a silver tter. Fail to achieve these things, and your next meeting wouldn¡¯t be with me.¡±

    As expected¡­ The daolord of the asura narrowed his eyes, ¡°Kong Mo is still in possession of a rather terrifying Yin artifact. And if I were to kill him, I¡¯d still have to get through the Yin soldiers around him. This is by no means an easy process. We¡¯re talking about the Confucian Family, one of the top gentries of the old Hell. Do you know how deep their resources run? What if - and I mean hypothetically speaking - I pay such a huge price to take him down, yet Hell goes back on its word and refuses to pardon my sins? What am I supposed to do then?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t return to the three eastern provinces right away, I can assure you that the next Emissary of Hell you meet will be none other than the Harken itself. Hell might be shorthanded, but you¡¯re just an Abyssal Prefect. There¡¯s nothing indisposable about you.¡±

    Whoosh!

    A terrifying murderous intent erupted from within, almost as though the abysses of Hell were baring its fangs, ready to devour the entire mortal realm. At once, an electrifying sensation of fear surged straight from the depths of Qin Ye¡¯s heart and into every fiber of his being.

    As they locked eyes with each other, the Yin energy underneath Qin Ye¡¯s skin writhed uncontrobly, as though they were being forcibly extracted from within his body. The carriage was instantly filled with a tense silence, so much so that every thump of his heart could be heard in his ears.

    He might have heard about the might of an Abyssal Prefect, but experiencing it first-hand was quite something else altogether!

    ¡°Hell¡¯s imperial edict cannot be retracted.¡± He sighed wistfully as he got to his feet, ¡°One year.¡±

    You need that long? Qin Ye¡¯s eyes quivered for a moment, before realization dawned on him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll eagerly await the news of your victory.¡± Qin Ye straightened up his body and began to make his way out of the carriage, ¡°Bring me Kong Mo¡¯s soulfire, and Hell will hold up to the terms of this official edict.¡±

    Shk¡­ Qin Ye lifted the veil of the carriage and disembarked from it. It was only then that he noticed how his entire back was already soaked through with cold sweat.

    His mind was already at its limits, and he was pleased to call it a day.

    It was a casual nce.

    The surface of the table was slightly damp.

    The daolord ran his finger gently across it, before cing it right before his nose and taking a whiff. Then, he nced in the direction that Qin Ye had departed.

    Cold sweat.

    He was finally able to think freely after Qin Ye had left, and a vital observation immediately popped up in his mind, and that was the fact that Qin Ye¡¯s position was premised on the facts that the Harken was still around, and Hell was still in existence!

    ¡°I¡¯d asked the Nipponese spirit if someone had managed to obtain the Book of Life and Death, and I was told that Cathay had reimed it. But more importantly¡­ why did the Book of Life and Death appear in the Strait of Tsushima?¡±

    ¡°Does this mean that¡­ he¡¯s messing with me?¡±

    Qin Ye was startled.

    The daolord had his hands gathered in his sleeves, and his body was suspended in the air. If he had a heart right now, it would most certainly be thumping right out of his chest.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wisps of Yin energy peeked out of his teeth as he continued, ¡°Yanluo Qin, I wonder if you¡¯ve heard of the technique known as Auxiliary Heart Transmission?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve dabbled a little with these techniques. So long as I take possession of the body of a person who has recently passed on, I¡¯d be able to tread the path to Hell vicariously through the soul of the one who had perished. It doesn¡¯t require much; all it takes is a little bit of my soulfire. Do you remember the time I encountered you when you were back at the hospital? It just so happened that a soul had passed by back then, and I happened to catch a glimpse.¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Qin Hui cupped his hands respectfully, yet did nothing to conceal the ferocious glint in his eye. He gazed intently at Qin Ye and continued with a hoarse voice, ¡°Would Yanluo Qin be so kind as to indulge this little one here with another look at the new Hell? I recall that my conviction was sealed by Lord Harken back then, so you can also consider us¡­ old friends.¡±

    Is he onto me?!

 Chapter 491: Hungry Ghost Festival... Again?

    <h4>Chapter 491: Hungry Ghost Festival... Again?</h4>

    The daolord of the asura took a deep breath. If he had a heart, it would be beating right out of his chest right now. Meanwhile, Qin Ye watched silently as the daolord slowly descended from the sky. The two locked eyes with each other in tense, electrifying silence, until the daolord finally spoke momentster, ¡°Unless¡­ Yanluo Qin is unwilling?¡±

    Qin Ye gazed deep into the daolord¡¯s eyes. He was almost certain by now that the daolord had sensed something amiss. But even then, he couldn¡¯t understand what went wrong with his performance earlier.

    Bluntly put, the key to ying poker was to have gonads of steel. And to this end, Qin Dogballs was clearly in a league of his own.

    ¡°Are you not afraid that the Harken would send you flying as soon as it sees you?¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly as he continued to maintain his pretenses, doing everything he could to leave things as open as possible.

    ¡°Of course I am.¡± The daolord lowered his head and concealed the palpable murderous intent stirring in the depths of his eyes, ¡°But¡­ you¡¯ll be there, won¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Besides¡­ what I¡¯m even more terrified about is the prospect of being used without even knowing so. I¡¯ve had my fair share of stepping on others, and I don¡¯t intend on having a taste of my own medicine anytime soon¡­¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qin Ye nodded calmly.

    Qin Ye could tell that this was one of those situations where the more he said, the worse things would get.

    The daolord of the asura cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°Your Excellency, there are only a few pockets of time within each calendar year where the separation of realms is least distinct. What you know as the infernal eyes and the night of the returning souls are all phenomena that would mostly ur during these pockets of time. Incidentally, the three major ghost festivals are when the barrier between realms are at an all-time low. These are pockets of time that even children would be able to see unclean things moving about within the mortal realm. Apart from that, nights of the full moon are also when the Yin energy is densest within the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°If I were to vicariously roam theherworld in the body of a mere mortal using the Auxiliary Heart Transmission technique, it would only be possible when the gates of Hell are wide open.¡±

    The daolord lifted his head and put on his best smile, yet his expression only looked as vicious as ever, ¡°So, then, this little one shall schedule his visit to Hell during the Hungry Ghost Festival itself. It¡¯s just as well that I¡¯ve got two guests with me whom I¡¯ve picked up on their trip back to the mortal realm. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be happy to show me the way.¡±

    ¡°As you please.¡± Qin Ye promptly transformed into a stream ofhergale that swept into the distance, ¡°I don¡¯t have the time to personally receive you.¡±

    ¡°Until then, Your Excellency.¡± The daolord of the asuray prostrate on the ground and bowed deeply as he slowly sensed thehergale drifting into the distance. It wasn¡¯t until a minuteter that he slowly lifted his head once more.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s 15 days away¡­¡± He licked his lips venomously, ¡°If you¡¯re trying to pull a fast one on me, there¡¯s nothing you¡¯d be able to do to salvage the situation with just 15 days¡¯ time.¡±

    ¡°Granted, I¡¯m truly astounded that you were even able to take down the Shanhai Pass. But¡­ do you even have the strength to harness the power contained within? Do you think I can¡¯t peer beyond that shanty farce of yours? You¡¯ve underestimated me¡­ Have you forgotten? I was once the chancellor of the great Song Dynasty before I died¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Qin Ye flew away at top speed. His expression right now was hideous, twisted, and filled with palpable vexation.

    Where did I go wrong?

    Over and over again, he ran through the entire process of negotiations in his mind, yet he simply couldn¡¯t understand what let the cat out of the bag. That said, it didn¡¯t matter any longer. Both sides were at risk of stumbling and falling during the negotiations. In fact, the daolord had stumbled throughout the entire negotiations, and had only managed to pick himself back up and salvage the situation towards the very end.

    He wasn¡¯t angry. After all, he knew full well that he was neither omniscient nor omnipotent. At best, he simply resented how he came so close, and was yet so far.

    Anyone in his shoes would have felt as vexed as he was.

    The winds rushed past his ear, while he kept his eyes fixed on his destination ahead. His hair scattered everywhere, fluttering wildly in tandem with his clothes. Ten minutester, he finally came to a halt.

    ¡°Qin Hui used to be the chancellor of the Song Dynasty. Sure, he might be a little rough around the edges, but so long as he takes a look around Hell and makes a few inquiries, he would be able to piece together the truth about Hell as it stands right now! And the worst part about all of this is the fact that I simply can¡¯t refuse this request of his!¡±

    After all, the daolord of the asura wasn¡¯t the only daolord in Cathay.

    Dong Zhuo, the daolord of the beasty in the west, slowly but surely umting all of the other shards of the King Yanluo¡¯s Seal.

    Granted, the Harken¡¯s presence means that the daolords would never dare to make a move against Hell. However, what Qin Ye was more afraid about was the possibility that they would take flight!

    What would happen if they took flight with the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?

    The Hall of Tremors would forever remain in a dormant state! Worse, they might even defect to other top underworlds of theherworld! The consequences would be dire, to say the least!

    ¡°Oh, how times have changed¡­ To think that the things that I fear are no longer the daolords themselves, but the prospects that they would escape!¡± He ran his fingers through his hair in great frustration as he sighed deeply and continued thinking aloud, ¡°Fortunately, Hell¡¯s government is already making the necessary preparations. What would be most terrifying would be the absence of hope. It¡¯s a good thing that Hell is going to be promulgating the new system of currency and celebrating a grand festivity during the uing Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    Just then, he paused.

    The Hungry Ghost Festival¡­ again?

    Why does it seem like everything is leading right up to the Hungry Ghost Festival? The promulgation of Hell¡¯s currency, Hell¡¯s market stimtion, and then now the daolord of the asura¡¯s personal visit to Hell¡­

    Just then, he felt something at his chest.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He pulled out the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal from within his garments. To his surprise, it was again emitting a faint luster on all of its facets. Just like thest time, each facet revealed apletely different image.

    Having already experienced this phenomenon once, he decided to focus on a single facet this time, and he stared intently at it, ignoring the rest of the facets.

    The images were blurry, but he could tell that he was clearly featured in it!

    It depicted the image of some ruins. But he wasn¡¯t the only one depicted in this image. There was also¡­

    ¡°Mo Changhao?¡± He raised his brows quizzically and brought it closer to his eyes as he carefully scrutinized it, ¡°And he¡¯s¡­ striking at me? What the hell is going on here?¡±

    In the image, Mo Changhao appeared to be speaking with him. Then, without any warning, he suddenly unleashed an attack from a bizarre angle, striking Qin Ye squarely across the back.

    Whoosh¡­ Just then, the image blurred away, and everything vanished as abruptly as they had appeared.

    He held the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal tightly in his hands for some time, before frowning deeply as he stashed it right back in his garments, ¡°There¡¯s neither a time stamp nor any context in these images. Are these¡­ omens? Regardless, the Hungry Ghost Festival takes priority for now. I¡¯ll just lessen my face time with him in the near future.¡±

    With that, he turned his mind right back to the issues at hand.

    ¡°Going back to where I was¡­ Although I might not be able to conceal Hell¡¯s shoring from the daolord¡¯s eyes, all I need to do is to make it clear to him that Hell¡¯s presence will overshadow anything he can possibly achieve in just ten years¡¯ time. That way, he would never dare make another move against hell.¡±

    ¡°And if I¡¯m going to do that, then I guess I¡¯ll just have to increase the specifications for the uing grand festivity. I shouldn¡¯t see him as any other Abyssal Prefect. Rather, I should see him as a spokesperson for the three strongest revolutionary forces in existence in Cathay right now. So long as they refrain from making a move against Hell, then it wouldn¡¯t take me longer than a couple of decades to unify the Cathayan underworld once more! What¡¯s most difficult is reaching out to them to begin with!¡±

    Having cleared up his mind, his heart was finally at peace once more. Thus, he transformed back into a stream ofhergale and rushed right back to Martial City.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Meanwhile, back in Limbo. The Harken was just lying motionless on the ground like a stone sculpture when it abruptly opened its eyes.

    Fate had begun to move once again.

    ¡°Mm?¡± The Harken frowned, ¡°It¡¯s already 6.00 a.m., and it¡¯s only moving now? But¡­ why?¡±

    Furthermore, its movements this time appeared far more arduous than before. With each stroke of the brush, golden lotus of virtues would blossom in the void and erupt with a brilliant golden lustre, almost as though it were a consummate opus of creation itself.

    It was beautiful.

    At the same time, each stroke of the brush sent ripples flying through the air. These might not even seem like words to others, but the Harken was able to read it all the same.

    ¡°Is it¡­ attempting to hide from something?¡± The Harken observed Fate keenly for several more minutes, before realization suddenly dawned on him.

    ¡°It must be because the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal has sensed its presence¡­¡± It licked its lips in surprise, but continued with some measure of excitement, ¡°Nothing in Hell escapes the watchful eyes of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal - even if it¡¯s in pieces right now. If I had to guess¡­ it must have attempted to warn Qin Ye about the things toe.¡±

    ¡°But even then, these warnings shouldn¡¯t be too overt. Fate is after all second only to the three divine artifacts of Hell. It¡¯s definitely superior to the Three Births Stone and Granny Meng¡¯s Soup. It¡¯s practically impossible to expect a single shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to stop the wheels of Fate.¡±

    ¡°Everything¡­ will still eventually y out as scripted. Come now, let¡¯s see whose name is written this time.¡±

    T minus 14 days.

    A few strokes were added to Lee Jung-sook¡¯s name. In addition, another name that waspletely foreign to him was added to the list.

    ¡°Yu Changle?¡± The Harken thought about it for a moment, and then shook his head, ¡°Never heard of it¡­ I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s a man or a ghost. But it matters not. The fact that Fate had written this name means that this person would undoubtedly be a part of the grand y that is being scripted¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    ¡°You¡­ What the hell are you trying to do?!¡± Kim Jae-huan screamed at the top of his voice, pulling on his quilt to cover his body, but to no avail. The sheets were clearly too small to conceal the folds of his body. That said, he was still able to cover the other person in his bed.

    He was dead certain that this was the ce that he had rented.

    He had rented a seafront vi in Azurewaters City. Although he can¡¯t im to be in charge of Samsung, the fact of the matter was that he had never been short changed as far as his privileges were concerned.

    Even then, humans were creatures that knew no contentment.

    It was both a good and a bad thing.

    He had screamed because the door to his room had suddenly flung wide open, and a group of ck-d bodyguards rushed right in, ignoring his screams and shouts as they cleared all the rooms.

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Just then, ady¡¯s voice spoke from just beyond the door. Kim Jae-huan grew silent at once.

    Lee Jung-sook.

    The true queen of Samsung.

    He couldn¡¯t help but nce at his cellphone. It was 5.20 a.m.

    Lee Jung-sook strode into his room wearing a perfectly-fitted suit, almost as though nobody else were around. Her heels cked heavily against the ground with every step that she took. As soon as she entered, one of her bodyguards pulled a chair over and offered her a seat.

    ¡°You¡¯re truly living the life, aren¡¯t you?¡± Lee Jung-sook smiled as she sat down. Then, she lit up a cigarette and puffed it gracefully, ¡°Why are you always courting trouble?¡±

    She waved her hands casually as she spoke. At once, her bodyguards bowed respectfully and made their way out of the room.

    ¡°What are you still waiting for?¡± She closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat.

    Kim Jae-huan didn¡¯t understand what she was driving at. But then, it soon dawned on him, ¡°You mean¡­¡±

    Lee Jung-sook tapped her armrest lightly, ¡°Let the person in yourforter out. I¡¯ve got something to discuss with you in private.¡±

    Kim Jae-huan gulped nervously. For some strange reason, he couldn¡¯t help but feelpletely exposed whenever he was in front of Lee Jung-sook. His lips quivered as he turned stiffly to the person in hisforter, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what she said?¡±

    ¡°I--...¡±

    ¡°Now! Nobody¡¯s going to look at you!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Thedy within covered her chest and lowered her head as she crawled out from under the sheets. Lee Jung-sook nced at her, before adding softly, ¡°At least let her have theforter to protect her modesty.¡±

    Kim Jae-huan tossed theforter over with great vexation, and thedy quickly wrapped herself with it as she ran out of the door.

    And then, there was silence.

    Kim Jae-huan subconsciously shrank back under the sheets, while Lee Jung-sook chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not that hungry for food. Besides, I¡¯m rather picky about my target of choice.¡±

    ¡°What is it that you want?¡± Kim Jae-huan gnashed his teeth.

    Lee Jung-sook gently snuffed out her cigarette as she gazed out the window and into the distance. And then, she suddenly quipped, ¡°Do you know what time it is now?¡±

    ¡°Five in the morning.¡± Kim Jae-huan snorted, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to know what time it was, given how you¡¯ve barged in here.¡±

    Ignoring his retort, Lee Jung-sook replied, ¡°Wrong.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ the witching hour.¡±

    ¡°The moment of dusk, is when all evil ghosts awaken. And the moment of dawn is when most would return to their slumber.¡± She turned around and red icily at Kim Jae-huan, ¡°Tell me exactly how you performed the ritual back then, and what instruments are required right away!¡±

 Chapter 492: T Minus 14 Days (1)

    <h4>Chapter 492: T Minus 14 Days (1)</h4>

    In that instant, it felt almost as though there were countless pairs of eyes hidden in the dark shadows outside, watching him intently from the abysses of darkness. Terror filled his mind and gripped his heart.

    Suppressing the fear rising from within his heart, Kim Jae-huan mustered every measure of courage he could, ¡°What do you want with it?¡±

    With gritted teeth, Kim Jae-huan pulled out his phone and forwarded a document to Lee Jung-sook. Then, he sighed, ¡°Satisfied?¡±

    Click. The door clicked behind her, and Kim Jae-huan¡¯s heart was finally set at ease once more. He ran his finger through his hair as he secretly cursed in his heart, ¡°Damn it¡­¡±

    He knew he could no longer sleep with so much on his mind. Thus, he got out of the bed, walked to the window and watched as Lee Jung-sook entered her car together with her entourage of bodyguards. Meanwhile, he poured himself a ss of wine and stood sullenly in front of the window like a stone statue.

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s presence in his life was just like the long, dark nights, endlessly recurring, and ever so persistent.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Kim Jae-huan turned around in great astonishment. This was a luxury vi, and it didn¡¯t make sense that it would face any issues with its electrical wirings and the like. And even if the authorities were carrying out a check on the power cables in the vicinity, there was no reason to do so this early in the morning.

    Kim Jae-huan¡¯s entire body seized uppletely. A split secondter, he began to shiver in fear. Cold sweat percted from every pore on his forehead, while his heart began to beat out of his chest.

    He was stunned.

    Hoo¡­ Haa¡­ The sound of ragged breaths came from right behind him. He could tell that something was standing right behind him, and quite possibly leaning right over his shoulder!

    A spine-tingling sensation instantly surged from his tailbone and shot right through his mind. Goosebumps crept all over his skin. Then, with great trembling, Kim Jae-huan mustered every bit of courage within him and turned to look towards the floor-to-ceilling window.

    It was because he saw a two-meters tall, white-haired monster with a red body and one golden eye staring right at him!

    ¡°No.¡± The figure of ck Yaksha appeared on the floor-to-ceiling window, ¡°He¡¯s already considered a high-ranking official in Daehan. Make a move against someone like that, and you¡¯ll suffer the full brunt of karma¡¯s bacsh. If you¡¯re willing to take that risk, then, be my guest.¡±

    ¡°She was just here, but left approximately 20 minutes ago.¡± ck Yaksha scanned the room for clues, ¡°Well, well, well¡­ Should I say that this is only to be expected of a person who has lived for hundreds of years? To think that she even understands when underworld emissaries habitually rest. A singlepse of vignce, and she vanishes from right underneath our eyes. It looks like we¡¯ll have to teach her a lesson she¡¯ll never forget¡­¡±

    A supercar roared along the mountain roads.

    ¡°Slow down¡­ slow down!¡± Her Chanel bag that was on the passenger seat opened up, revealing a hand mirror that was used for makeup. An image of a pale infant child could be seen in the reflected image of the mirror, screaming at the top of its voice, ¡°Are you trying to get yourself killed again?¡±

    The mirror drifted up andnded on Lee Jung-sook¡¯s shoulder, ncing at the cliff next to them, before turning its attention to the vast expanse of the sea and the rising red sun. Then, it eximed, ¡°What I¡¯m more afraid of is how difficult it would be to locate you again after your death. I don¡¯t want to be separated from such a good host!¡±

    ¡°Do you remember when you first summoned me in your first foray with the Ouija Board? You were only a teen back then, and my first thought was to consume every single one of you present at that time. But it was also at that time that I discovered that you were actually able to forcefully subjugate me¡­ Furthermore, it was a different form of subjugation from that between Yin spirits.¡±

    The mirror turned around andmented, ¡°Thest few decades have passed in the blink of an eye¡­ That¡¯s right, decades¡­ Anyone who spends such a long time together is bound to start developing feelings for each other¡­¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m still alive, I¡¯ll summon you with the Ouija Board again.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to trouble you to locate me.¡± Lee Jung-sook depressed the gas pedal further, ¡°If you¡¯re willing, that is.¡±

    Several minutester, it sighed wistfully, ¡°Feelings¡­ are such troublesome things.¡±

    Whoosh! The clouds in the vicinity were instantly dyed ck, while Yin energy spread hundreds of meters around. An intense wind picked up and buffeted against the trees lining the roads. Within moments, the previously clear mountain path was concealed by an ominous ck fog.

    Anitya Hellguard!

    They were still thousands of meters away from Lee Jung-sook, yet their speed waspletely unfathomable. Furthermore, the quality of their Yin energy was far higher than that of the Yin spirit from the mirror!

    At once, the otherwise silent and deste mountain path was filled with the roar of mighty ghosts. Majestic Yin energy poured out of ck Yaksha and Crow Tengu¡¯s illusory bodies as they hurtled through the air and made a beeline towards the red supercar whose speed was feeble at best. The two mighty ghosts didn¡¯t even bother ncing at the cloud of Yin energy that was separating them from their target.

    She didn¡¯t have a face. To be more precise, the only aperture on her face was that of her round mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth.

    SSS!!! A split secondter, countless tongues shot out of her mouth like venomous vipers and bound up the limbs of Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha in an instant.

    Shk, shk, shk! ck Yaksha unleashed a flurry of strikes in an instant, cleaving at the multitude of tongues that were stilling their way without lowering his speed in the slightest. Unfortunately, they were forced toe to a halt in mere moments afterwards.

    All evil ghosts were terrifying in their own rights.

    ¡°Haha¡­ You¡¯re free to reveal your Judge-ss abilities¡­ That is, if you dare.¡± A young girl spoke from behind the giant of tongues. Her voice was eerily crisp and filled with mischief, ¡°Qizhou is located right next to Azurewaters City. The movement of a Hellguard can still be attributed to the development of a predatory zone, but the movement of a Judge¡­ would undoubtedly attract the attention of the Judge-ss experts of the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°Can I¡­ eat her now?¡± Crow Tengu prowled along the ground like a cheetah ready to pounce. His veins rippled all over his body, while saliva continuously dribbled along the ground.

    With that, he burst forth with a ferocious howl, darting forward like a bolt of lightning, tearing the away, inch by inch!

    At once, Crow Tengu¡¯s body flickered and vanished from the spot. Countless scarlet tongues attempted to follow closely in the direction that Crow Tengu had vanished, but they soon seized up.

    ¡°How bold and ignorant¡­¡± ck Yaksha hovered in the sky with his arms spread wide open, revealing the multitude of weapons held in the palm of each hand. There were swords, spears, magic bells andnterns, among others, ¡°You¡¯d be considered among the strongest Yin spirits back in Daehan. So, why are you courting death like that?¡±

 Chapter 493: T Minus 14 Days (2)

    <h4>Chapter 493: T Minus 14 Days (2)</h4>

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯re all doing our work here.¡± Qin Ye smiled. It was already 7.00 a.m. by the time he returned, and he immediately rushed over to the office of the Special Investigations Department as soon as he had his breakfast.

    ¡°Take me to him.¡±

    ¡°This is Mr Qin. He¡¯s Martial City¡¯s leading experts in archaeological findings.¡± Wu Wenqing introduced Qin Ye with an amiable smile on his face, ¡°Mr Qin, this is the deputy general manager of Prosperity Developers, Yu Changle. He¡¯s the one in charge of the worksite that has unearthed the Yin artifact.¡±

    Yu Changleplied, before taking a deep breath and exining with great anxiety, ¡°Mr Qin, here¡¯s how it happened. We¡¯ve recently won the tender for the redevelopment of the Lush Garden Acres, and construction works have been ongoing for a month now. Then, something happened yesterday - something indescribable¡­¡±

    Almost as though he recalled something horrific, Yu Changle shut his eyes and continued with a quiver in his voice, ¡°We¡¯ve sent people down to check, but¡­ everyone who even came close to the worksite¡­ all passed out as well¡­¡±

    ¡°In fact, anyone standing a hundred meters away from this hole would be able to hear eerie moans from below, almost this was a portal leading to the gates of Hell!¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye raised his hand, ¡°Did you say that¡­ they simply fainted?¡±

    ¡°So, they¡¯re not dead?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Then, he turned around and asked Wu Wenqing, ¡°Are monks and taoists even blessing worksites now?¡±

    So desune¡­ It looks like the outbreak of supernatural incidents have given businesses founded on superstitions and the supernatural a new lease of life. Even if things in Hell don¡¯t work out for me, I can still make a name for myself back in the mortal realm¡­ Qin Ye rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

    He knew full well that if he ever said something like that, Arthis would be the first to strangle him with the venomous locks of hair on her head, while the Harken would be waiting next in line, poised to give Qin Ye a tight p across the cheek.

    With that, Qin Ye promptly shelved the unhealthy thoughts on his mind and turned to Wu Wenqing, ¡°Have you taken a look at it?¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll--...¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice trailed off, and then he suddenly froze. His eyebrows were even knitted tightly together, as though he were attempting to sense something.

    Someone¡¯s praying to me right now?

    Rather, it was something that was only possible through borate rituals, strict offerings, a devout heart and precise prayers.

    On the contrary, the ones moremonly spoken or preached about are the prayers to the Goddess of Mercy or the Taiyi Zhenren .

    Regardless, Qin Ye¡¯s first inclination was to ignore the prayers. After all, he wasn¡¯t quite in the right situation to be responding to prayers. And then, he saw who the person praying to him actually was.

    Whoosh¡­ He opened his eyes back in the city hall and abruptly turned to Wu Wenqing, ¡°I suddenly recalled something urgent that I¡¯ve got to attend to. Let¡¯s head over to the worksite at noontime instead. This way, we¡¯d be sure that Yang energy would be at its peak as well.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Zhou Xianlong remained silent. Mo Changhao continued, ¡°What have we learned?¡±

    He adjusted his sses and spoke in a well-considered manner, ¡°Firstly, his actions cohere with our earlier spections of him.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, he¡¯s truly unaware of what Prosperity Developers has unearthed. In fact, if I might hazard a guess, he probably hasn¡¯t even read thetest dossier released by the Special Investigations Department. Otherwise, he couldn¡¯t have reacted with such calm and indifference.¡±

    ¡°Unlikely.¡± The bespectacled man shook his head, ¡°He acts with great caution. There¡¯s no way he will act without ensuring that he¡¯s isted from any possibility of audio or visual surveince. Such caution is not something generally seen in young men his age. But that only strengthens our inference that he¡¯s a man of many secrets.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all.¡± Just then, another man turned around and crossed his arms, ¡°He¡¯s also¡­ adept at maintaining a low-profile.¡±

    The man shook his head, ¡°Mr Mo, we¡¯ve been scrutinizing Mr Qin¡¯s dossier over and over, and we¡¯ve discovered something interesting about it.¡±

    He turned back and pressed a button. At once, lines of words began to show up on theputers in front of Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao, ¡°He was only a Soul Hunter when he first entered the First Academy of Cultivators. Then, shortly after the incident with Mr Gu Qing¡¯s funeral, he broke through to the realms of Anitya Hellguard. Following that, he advanced yet again during the Yin spirit rebellion back in Valley County.¡±

    The bespectacled man adjusted his sses once more, ¡°It¡¯s impossible not to leave traces in the path one has taken. In the very worst case scenario, his so-called advancement to an Infernal Judge might have been a move calcted to erase any traces of his past. Unfortunately¡­ it¡¯s backfired on him.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong chuckled bitterly.

    However, he held himself back.

    ¡°Carry on with what you were doing.¡± He snorted coldly, and waited patiently until all albatrosses had returned to their tasks at hand, before finally turning to Mo Changhao with a hushed voice, ¡°Who else knows of the truth about what Prosperity Developers have unearthed?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded, ¡°So, what exactly did you find down there?¡±

    Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes narrowed as soon as he took a nce at the photograph.

    Rather, it was an ancient sculpture that waspletely intact!

    Furthermore, the image of the sculpture bore an uncanny semnce to Qin Ye¡¯s features. In fact, it was best described as an exact replica of Qin Ye! There was also a small line of text engraved right at the base of the sculpture that read: ¡®King Yanluo of Hell, born in 1938, of Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City¡¯.

    ¡°The appearance is a 100% match.¡± Mo Changhao spoke in a deep voice, ¡°Furthermore, it¡¯s incredibly fortunate that Qingguang City is located in the western autonomous region, where the records of ancestry are well-kept and intact. I¡¯ve already sent someone there to investigate further. We should have a response by 15 August!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll wait for Lin Han and Su Feng to arrive, as well as the response from your agents¡­¡±

    ¡°15 August¡­ isn¡¯t too long away after all...¡±

    <hr>

    1.

 Chapter 494: T Minus 14 Days (3)

    <h4>Chapter 494: T Minus 14 Days (3)</h4>

    ¡°Ma¡¯am!¡± Just then, the door flung wide open, and a bodyguard barged in with cold sweat percting all over his forehead, ¡°Please hurry--...¡±

    The bodyguard hesitated, but nevertheless responded with gritted teeth, ¡°Ma¡¯am, you¡¯ve got to get away! Something unfathomable is happening outside! And under broad daylight! It¡¯s simply unbelievable!¡±

    She could tell that this was no ordinary wind.

    Have they alreadye? How quick¡­

    Then, she suddenly spoke, ¡°I¡¯ve experienced far too much in this little life of mine.¡±

    After all, her calmness in the situation meant that the bodyguard had a pir of support to lean back on.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen far too many unbelievable urrences in this lifetime of mine, and I know about this unseen kingdom that coexists with us far better than any of you do¡­ and so I¡¯m aware that¡­¡± Her voice grew cold and frigid, ¡°Our destiny is always in our own grasp.¡±

    ¡°Guard the gate well. You have permission to fire your weapons in the event you sense danger¡­ although I¡¯m not sure how much that would help. Every single one of you who survives this ordeal would be rewarded with 10 million won. Don¡¯t fret about the consequences. I¡¯ll sort things out with the government. And if you should die, I¡¯ll personally see to it that your families have nothing to worry about for three generations toe.¡±

    Thud¡­ The main door shut again, leaving the entire hall shrouded with a tense silence. Lee Jung-sook shut her eyes and began to chant softly once more. Then, less than a minuteter, she heard the sound of violent gunfire and screams from outside.

    Ignoring these sounds, Lee Jung-sook wrapped a string of yellow Buddhist beads around her hands and began to chant slightly faster.

    Three secondster, the door to the main hall burst open once more. But this time, they shattered into pieces and scattered everywhere.

    ¡°I see that not even my Yin spirit was able to impede your advances¡­ You truly are worthy of being called one of the oldest ghosts in Nippon.¡± Shebed through her hair unhurriedly, almost as though she¡¯d just gotten out of bed, ¡°Unfortunately, everything about you two have already been erased from all written records, and all that is left are but two mysterious names¡­ What happened to my bodyguards?¡±

    ¡°Are you really trying to incite fear in the heart of a person who has already died seven times before?¡± Lee Jung-sook sighed and stared intently at the statue of Ksitigarbha, ¡°The greatest fear known to Man is simply death.¡±

    The temple door right behind Lee Jung-sook had beenpletely blown apart, and Crow Tengu stood right at the door. Even then, his eyes narrowed briefly, and he gasped in shock, ¡°What sound was that?¡±

    Then, there was another click.

    Crash!! The infuriated cry of an Infernal Judge instantly reduced everything in the temple to dust and debris, leaving only the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattvapletely intact.

    A goddess who held a gun to her own chest.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t kill myself if I could help it either.¡± Lee Jung-sook responded cidly, ¡°It still hurts to die. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s something I¡¯ll ever get used to. That said, do you dare pit your speed against my trigger finger?¡±

    How ruthless! I¡¯ve never expected a human to act so ruthless to herself!

    Crow Tengu took a third step back.

    Just then, the shadows right underneath Lee Jung-sook¡¯s feet suddenly shifted! Then, almost as though they had a life of their own, two dark hands suddenly reached out from behind and gave the back of her knees a violent push!

    Damn it. Lee Jung-sook shut her eyes. She knew that she had only one shot at suicide in the face of such monstrosities. Once bitten, twice shy. They would never give her a second chance at doing something even remotely close to suicide.

    However, he didn¡¯t manage to touch her.

    Within moments, what started out as an eruption of golden light soon blossomed into a five-meterrge golden lotus flower that gently supported Lee Jung-sook before she fell to the ground!

    They were both staring right at the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. The statue had at some point already opened its eyes, and it was looking at Lee Jung-sook with a soft,passionate gaze.

    She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.

    While Lee Jung-sook reacted with great consternation, Crow Tengu instead recoiled with immense terror in his eyes. At once, he motioned to transform to a stream ofhergale and escape as far as he could. But just as he was about to do so, countless talismans suddenly materialized out of nowhere and remained suspended in mid-air. These talismans were all written with Nipponese words.

    Lee Jung-sook froze for a moment.

    But before she could even finish making her plea, a massive ck spider lily bloomed from the ground. Countless Yin spirits danced within it, while dazzling bolts of jade-greenhermes darted about menacingly. A paw covered in white hair reached out from the heart of the flower and grabbed hold of Lee Jung-sook, before promptly vanishing from where they were.

    ¡°What gall...¡± She could hear a voice speaking through gnashed teeth from behind her, ¡°Anyone else pulling the same stunt would have died a million times over by now¡­ Don¡¯t test our limits. Otherwise¡­ I¡¯ll make sure youe to realize that death is but a reprieve.¡±

    She remained that way for a long time, sorting through her own thoughts. And then, she finally picked up her sunsses and ced them on, before starting her engine, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be more careful next time.¡±

    Yet her query was met with a cold chortle, ¡°Do you really think that was Ksitigarbha?¡±

    ¡°That said, there are powerful Yin spirits around who can prevent the other side from closing the ¡®door¡¯ ofmunication. This is how many foolish human beings end up being possessed by evil spirits after messing with the supernatural. Unfortunately for you, I happened to be around while the channel was open.¡±

    Her supercar roared forward, while ck Yaksha stared intently at Lee Jung-sook through the rear-view mirror at the front of the car. Some timeter, he spoke telepathically to Crow Tengu¡¯s mind, ¡°Make sure you keep a close watch on her. This woman isn¡¯t simple. Do not underestimate her or treat her as you would any other ordinary humandy. So long as we even give her an opening, she will most certainly seize it and make the best of it. Her absence would make our capture of the Cathayan Emissary of Hellpletely meaningless, because we would never be able to escape without her!¡±

    ck Yaksha nodded and sighed wistfully, ¡°Do you think I really don¡¯t want to return to Nippon as quickly as possible?¡±

    ¡°First of all, Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul has been seized by the Cathayan Yin spirits. In all likelihood, this might well have been rted to the incident involving the Book of Life and Death, one of the three divine artifacts of Hell. More importantly, is there anyone who dares force Hell to disgorge Oda Nobunaga¡¯s soul? Ever since time immemorial, there has always been an unwritten rule between underworlds that all who find their celebrity spirits seized by a foreign underworld can only attribute it to their own rotten luck. Not even Cathay would say anything about losing their Yin spirit to a foreign underworld, much less Nippon itself. So, we¡¯ve got to act ndestinely.¡±

    ¡°Finally, the truth about Hell¡¯s lockdown could likely be tied to the change of dynasty. Who is the new King Yanluo of Hell? Is he a dove, or is he a hawk? There¡¯s not a moment too soon to learn of these things. In fact, the credit to be gained with such news would most certainly be greater than bringing the whole Oda n back to the Nipponese underworld!¡±

    He looked intently at Crow Tengu, ¡°So, regardless of what happens, we absolutely have to act during the Hungry Ghost Festival on 15 August. And Lee Jung-sook is the key to our escape!¡±

 Chapter 495: T Minus 8 Days (1)

    <h4>Chapter 495: T Minus 8 Days (1)</h4>

    He frowned deeply. In that instant when his consciousness was forcibly cut off, he saw two monsters standing right by Lee Jung-sook¡¯s side.

    In fact, they were so strong that he wasn¡¯t even sure if Arthis could hold her own against either of them. Perhaps they weren¡¯t as strong as Liu Yu, but they definitely weren¡¯t far off. Furthermore, he could tell that they were both dressed like Nipponese Yin spirits.

    Qin Ye rubbed his chin and slowly walked out of the cubicle and to the sinks where he began to wash his hands - Was she forcefully captured by the two evil ghosts? And what was she saying about the hungry ghost? What hungry ghost? Daolord of the hungry ghost? No, she wouldn¡¯t know anything of it. And if that¡¯s the case, she must be referring to the Hungry Ghost Festival.

    Why does everything seem to be happening on the very same day?

    It had nothing to do with romantic feelings. Instead¡­ it was more of a trust between kindred spirits.

    With that, he walked out of the washroom. Wu Wenqing walked right up to him with a genial smile as soon as he was out, ¡°The executivemittee in Prosperity Developers have indicated their preference to halt all works until investigations areplete. I¡¯ve already notified the top brass of the Special Investigations Department, and they¡¯ve asked you to go take a look at the site, and then give them your preliminary thoughts. You¡¯re also given thetitude in ordance with your discretion.¡±

    The most important thing to him right now was the grand festivities at the uing Hungry Ghost Festival, because that was exactly when the daolord of the asura would be visiting Hell. He had to do everything he could to take things up another notch at the uing festivities! Where was he supposed to find the time to care about such trivial matters such as the excavation of an artifact right now?

    It was part of his duties and responsibilities.

    ¡°Yes. Our transport is ready and waiting.¡±

    They boarded the car, and the driver soon sped off towards the Lush Garden Acres worksite, while Qin Ye shut his eyes to get some rest. Approximately ten minutester, Qin Ye abruptly opened his eyes and nced around the vehicle, before immediately yelling at the top of his voice, ¡°Stop the car!!¡±

    But Qin Ye remainedpletely silent. He simply gazed at the canopy of the skies with a grave expression on his face.

    ¡°See what?¡± Wu Wenqing was baffled.

    ¡°Yes¡­ How did you know that?¡±

    The car moved off immediately, and Wu Wenqing remainedpletely baffled by Qin Ye¡¯s sudden outburst. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t notice that Qin Ye¡¯s attention waspletely enraptured by the sky above Lush Garden Acres.

    In fact, the vast canopy of the skies above appeared no different from the tranquil surface of the waters, while drops of red dye appeared to be added slowly to it, gently diffusing throughout the skies with a smoky, wispy presence. Then, as the redness slowly tainted the skies, it gradually transformed into a massive vortex!

    Whoosh¡­ Just as Qin Ye was staring intently at the night sky, countless dark silhouettes suddenly appeared in the skies above like the rolling waves of the seas, crashing and swirling menacingly around the vortex in the middle.

    Dear heavens¡­ Qin Ye retracted his gaze and began to massage his temples - What the hell is going on here?! How am I supposed to rest in peace like this? Why do these things keep happening around me?!!¡±

    In fact¡­ he could tell that the aggregate Yin energy easily exceeded the Harken¡¯s Yin energy readings!

    What in the world is this thing?! And why wasn¡¯t it here when I returned earlier? Why aren¡¯t these mortals able to detect it?

    All works had been halted, and the usual construction and engineering equipment had all been removed. As soon as Qin Ye entered the worksite, several others bearing the emblem of the Special Investigations Department immediately came forward to receive him.

    The closer he drew to this ce, the more his heart palpitated. This was aherworldly phenomenon well beyond what he had ever witnessed before. Indeed, not even Arthis¡¯ earlier disy of her Judge¡¯s authority could evene close toparison. Yet, even then, the daunting phenomenon didn¡¯t attract any trace of fear from his heart. Instead¡­ he even felt a strange sense of familiarity to it.

    Wu Wenqing was the first one to sense Qin Ye¡¯s peculiar silence, ¡°Mr Qin?¡± However, Qin Ye simply marched forward, and the rest of the investigators soon followed closely behind him.

    Construction sites were generally cordoned-off with a stic fence together with prominent signs designating the cordoned-off areas as construction sites and to caution all potential trespassers. However, this construction site was in particr different. Instead of the usual stic fence, it was cordoned-off with wooden hoardings.

    It¡¯s already been sealed. I¡¯ve got to hand it to Wu Wenqing for his efficiency. To think it would already be sealed so well in such a short span of time. But, no matter.

    I shouldn¡¯t stay here for long if I can help it¡­

    Just then, the chains rattled softly.

    The wooden hoarding was easily over two meters high, and the door was naturally asrge as the gates to a grand home. In that instant that the chains rattled, a talisman slowly floated onto the ground. Following that, a hand gently pulled the door to the hoarding on the other side and opened it with a soft creak.

    Dead silence.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered softly. He was used to observing the minutest details to pick up traces of the supernatural, so while the others might have been focused on the opening hoarding, he had instead noticed the figure inside reaching out with several fingers, before slinking away into the depths of the inner reaches.

    It was broad daylight, yet things were as chilling as opening a cursed closet in the depths of a musky home.

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­¡± Wu Wenqing gulped nervously, ¡°Nobody¡¯s in there¡­¡±

    ¡°This work site has been earmarked as a special location, and none are authorized to enter save for the strongest cultivator in the region..¡±

    If that¡¯s the case¡­ who opened the door?

    It¡¯s just as well¡­ Qin Ye calmed his heart and mind down, ¡°I¡¯ll head in to investigate. You guys wait outside.¡±

    He crossed a hundred meters or so in the blink of an eye. And then, as soon as he entered the wooden hoarding, the door mmed shut with a loud bang.

    Eerily silent.

    Furthermore, he didn¡¯t see a single person in sight.

    He could see that the area enclosed by the wooden hoarding was clearly a construction site. The excavated portions of the ground were covered with neatly ced rebars, clearly intended to form the foundation of the next development in this locality. That said, whaty below the rebars wasn¡¯t the usual hard soil. Rather¡­ it was a bottomless abyss!

    Wisps of ck energy rushed out from the depths, spiralling into the skies above, where they would congeal into the Yin messenger birds that would fly high into the vortex in the sky, blotting out the sun like a boundless ck tide. Even then, this was a sight that waspletely hidden to the eyes of mere mortals.

    It was almost as though they were all weing the arrival of the King Yanluo of Hell, and whaty at the very depths of the seemingly bottomless abyss was none other than his mighty throne.

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth and began to walk over the intertwining rebars to get a closer look. He peered down through the gaps between the rebars, only to be buffeted by the chilling winds below.

    ¡°What the hell is that thing?¡± He felt conflicted. As the Infernal Judge of Martial City, he knew that resolving matters pertaining to the supernatural was a part of his duty. However, his own intuition told him that whaty below was closely rted to him as well.

    After several seconds of silence, he took out his cell phone and captured a five minute video of the incredible phenomenon, together with dozens of photographs. Then, just as he was about to leave, his hand suddenly trembled so hard that he nearly dropped his phone.

    Someone was calling him from the bottom of the abyss.

    The voice from below was faint, yet it seemed to carry traces of both bitterness and joy, ¡°Can¡¯t you¡­ tell?¡±

    Secondster, his eyes quivered softly, and then he peered over into the abyss once more.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Qin Ye asked again with an iparably somber gaze.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ faith¡­¡±

    Then, the voice trailed off.

    There was a grave expression on his face. Momentster, he snickered, ¡°Do you think you can bully me just because I¡¯m new?¡±

    ¡°Try me. You¡¯ve messed with the wrong person now.¡±

 Chapter 496: T Minus 8 Days (2)

    <h4>Chapter 496: T Minus 8 Days (2)</h4>

    And even if Arthis didn¡¯t know, the Harken would definitely know something about this.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°There¡¯s something very strange here. Notify the top brass immediately.¡±

    Wu Wenqing red fiercely at the young man, before turning back to Qin Ye with a soft smile, ¡°Apologies. That¡¯s Maverick, a greenhorn who doesn¡¯t quite know the rules. Please don¡¯t mind him. Anyhow, I¡¯ll notify the top brass immediately. What other preparations do we need to undertake?¡±

    Preparations? What preparations?

    Secondster, Qin Ye responded vaguely, ¡°Do it in ordance with our usual protocol. I¡¯ll personally keep watch in this vicinity until our headquarters send reinforcements.¡±

    With that, both Qin Ye and Wu Wenqing departed, leaving the star-struck investigators to their own devices. Yet, little did they realize that the ordinary-looking young man who had interjected earlier secretly fell behind the rest of the pack of investigators. It was almost as though there was a veil pulled over his existence, and his presence was barely noticeable to others.

    He entered through the rear door of the car and took his seat, before bowing respectfully to the other man in the vehicle, ¡°Deputy Director.¡±

    ¡°How was it?¡± Zhou Xianlong shut his eyes as he held the cap of a ck thermos filled with fragrant ck tea.

    ¡°I listened to your conversations earlier.¡± Zhou Xianlong pointed at the Bluetooth headset that was clearly hanging from his ears, ¡°I didn¡¯t pick up anything suspicious, but I naturally trust your judgment more as one of the elites among the albatross.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong nodded.

    Zhou Xianlong remained taciturn.

    ¡°Or should I say, how would you, along with 99% of the other Infernal Judges, acted in such circumstances?¡±

    Maverick redirected the focus to the topic back at hand, ¡°That¡¯s right. But what did he do?¡±

    After all, suspicion was something that umted in the smallest drops, yet the impact of these droplets would disclose a raging tsunami brewing in the distance.

    He nced around meaningfully, ¡°I¡¯m afraid he must have detected something that puts him in a conflicted position. He wants to resolve it, but he daren¡¯t do so. Unfortunately, his office in Martial City puts him in a spot, and shirking responsibility here and now would clearly blow his cover. Therefore, he¡¯s chosen to dy matters so that he can think of a better way out. His approach isn¡¯t problematic in and of itself, but his response in the context of the situation leaves much to be desired. Naturally¡­ this is all borne out of a suspicion on my part.¡±

    ¡°The camera it uses has been specially set up by the Lupin Group in order to capture the most inconspicuous of supernatural sightings. Take a look for yourself.¡±

    The statue of Qin Ye was patently clear.

    It was impossible to see just how tall orrge it was. Yet what was certain was the fact that Qin Ye¡¯s statue was located at the highest point of the building!

    ¡°So what if they are?¡± Zhou Xianlong responded with a booming voice, ¡°What has Hell been doing thisst ten years? Sure, the mortal realm could do with any help it can get, but we¡¯ll still get by regardless of it.¡±

    ¡°We want results. Don¡¯t you realize the implications of this? If he¡¯s indeed one of the legendary Emissaries of Hell, then what does his presence here mean? Why does he have to hide among the mortals, and even slip into the ranks of the mortal realm¡¯s solution to the problem just to fight against the Yin spirits? What kind of danger would this ce him in? What would happen if his cover is blown? Why is he taking such risks to begin with?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll dig and dig, and then dig some more, until everything finallyes to light! Don¡¯t you worry, even if it so happens that he¡¯s none other than the real King Yanluo of Hell, I¡¯ll take responsibility for it all!¡±

    Things at the Special Investigations Department got busy as a result of their investigations at the worksite. Wu Wenqing brought a number of documents over for Qin Ye¡¯s personal vetting and endorsement, including their action ns moving forward. Their work took them several hours and straight through the evening. By the time Qin Ye got back to his apartment, it was already 8.00 p.m.

    He appeared right next to the Harken. Without saying a word, he immediately dropped threerge bags of catnip down like a carpet bomber, only to hear a cold snort from below, ¡°What the hell?¡±

    Qin Ye slowly drifted to the ground, before blinking vacantly at the Harken, ¡°Have you been possessed by someone?¡±

    That¡¯s true¡­ Qin Ye walked before the Harken and hugged the Harken¡¯s head like a loving father, ¡°Menopause?¡±

    Qin Ye instantly backed off from the Harken - I guess that¡¯s got to be the case¡­ He sighed in his heart, and then sighed wistfully before exining everything that had transpired earlier that day, ¡°So, what in the world was that supposed to be? How will it affect me?¡±

    Thus, Qin Ye waited patiently. Five minutes¡­ ten minutes¡­ fifteen minutes¡­

    ¡°Ah¡­ hmm? That¡¯s it¡­ that¡¯s the spot¡­¡± The Harken rolled over ecstatically, before quipping with some measure of sarcasm, ¡°It looks like you still know the best way to elicit a response from me¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stepped back sheepishly, ¡°What do you mean¡­ Am I not working hard enough everyday?¡±

    ¡°Haah? What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye froze for a moment and searched through his memory for the answer, only to realize that his thoughts appeared to bepletely covered in a thickyer of dust. He wasn¡¯t able to peer beneath its surface, and his conclusion was naturally that it didn¡¯t have anything to do with himself.

    The Harken got up, cracked its neck, and then stared intently into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes.

    Qin Ye frowned deeply, and then shook his head.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Qin Ye pressed the point, ¡°Is there any way in which I could make this problem simply vanish?¡±

    Tsk¡­ This feels like the incipience of a messy situation¡­ Then, with a soft sigh, Qin Ye motioned to leave for Hell.

    Qin Ye coughed sheepishly - I do vaguely recall something like that, but I recall that I¡¯ve already learnt a lot that day, and it didn¡¯t sound like it¡¯s got anything to do with me¡­ So, how could I possibly still remember any of that?

    ¡°Your heart clearly isn¡¯t with Hell!¡± The Harken snorted coldly, ¡°Then, go. Go on, and reap what you¡¯ve sown.¡±

    ¡°My Lord¡­ why didn¡¯t you exin it to him?¡± The miniature Harken that stopped out stared nervously at therger Harken.

    ¡°Fate is something that only I can stop.¡± he sighed and gazed deep into the void, ¡°I¡¯d even given him onest chance at that.¡±

    The man slowly walked along the sea of flowers of paramnesia. With a casual wave, he caused the petals of the flowers to transform into various images in front of him, ¡°Anyone who has lived long enough in the mortal realm would naturally pick up a habit or two from them. He longs to continue straddling both realms. But, s, he¡¯s no mere merchant. He¡¯s¡­ the King Yanluo of Hell - one of the rulers of the three realms of the world¡­ and also my sessor.¡±

    The man smiled faintly, ¡°Have you forgotten? The Hungry Ghost Festival ising right up. This is the first Hungry Ghost Festival that is being celebrated in thest century. Do you know how symbolic something like this is? Incidentally, it also coincides with Hell¡¯s operationsing back into full swing, and also the recognition of the future King Yanluo of Hell as a True Infernal Judge. If I tell you that Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction is in operation here, what do you make of it?¡±

    The man promptly interrupted the Harken, ¡°Keep watching. The start of a story usually sees the appearances of various seemingly unrted characters, their backstories, as well as their character development. But once all that is done, their lives will begin to intece and point towards a single direction¡­ I¡¯ve got the feeling that every character in the great y written by Fate has already been introduced¡­¡±

    ¡°Besides, I¡¯m also curious to see what twists Fate will bring us? What will Fate orchestrate that triggers in him such a massive change of heart in just the span of a single day?¡±

    <hr>

    1. Who let the cat out of the bag?

 Chapter 497: T Minus 8 Days (3)

    <h4>Chapter 497: T Minus 8 Days (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye was incredibly vignt. His wealth of life experiences had taught him to be wary of everything that happened around him, and it didn¡¯t help that he even felt as though the things happening around him were being orchestrated by a greater being that seemed to loom over him.

    The few days of calm and peace appeared to assuage the tension in his heart slightly. But, even then, he couldn¡¯t shake off the niggling feeling that this was more indicative of the fact that the pieces had all fallen into ce, and the storm was ready to erupt. The fact that no other incidents were happening was no different from the calm before the storm. Thus, he was unable to let uppletely.

    Qin Ye¡¯s secretary knocked on the door to his office, ¡°Sir, Mr Wang has arrived.¡± Momentster, the door opened, and Wang Chenghao walked right into the room.

    ¡°Yes.¡± With that, the secretary left the room.

    Time trickled by quickly as Qin Ye went about his duties, while Wang Chenghao continued to inspect the grand office space he was in. Twenty minutester, Qin Ye finally set his documents down and massaged his temples as he leaned back into his seat to get some rest. He picked up a teacup without a word.

    Wang Chenghao could sense that there was something different about Qin Ye from when they¡¯dst met.

    Perhaps this is only befitting of the leader of a sprawling city having charge over 20 million Yin spirits¡­

    It¡¯s warm¡­

    Items that bore or transmitted warmth were incredibly precious in theherworld because they gave Yin spirits the illusion of being alive. Sure, Wang Chenghao might have already gotten used to living in the icy cold reaches of Hell by now, but that only made the warm cup of tea even more surprising and pleasant to the taste.

    Qin Ye set down his teacup, leaned back into his seat and chortled softly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Looks like you¡¯ve picked up a thing or two in your previous few internships, haven¡¯t you? Are you finally getting used to things around here?¡± He had been far too busy with official matters in both the mortal realm and theherworld that banal interactions such as these were actually a breath of fresh air to his weary mind.

    Wang Chenghao nodded, ¡°So, what exactly is the difference between an assistant and a secretary?¡±

    ¡°......¡± Wang Chenghao was momentarily dumbfounded by Qin Ye¡¯s response - Bloody hell¡­ what a good response. But why does it still feel like there¡¯s something amiss here¡­

    And then, both men began to guffaw at the idiocy of their exchange.

    Havingughed their fill, Qin Ye rapped the table softly, ¡°But, seriously, if we look at the two, the secretary¡¯s role would be to take charge of the clerical affairs, including writing letters, handling correspondence, and so on and so forth. On the other hand, the assistant would be tasked with the more administrative affairs, including attending executive meetings on my behalf when I¡¯m not around. You will be conferred the authority to handle these administrative matters as you deem fit and call the shots where decisions are concerned. These are all functions that the secretary cannot perform.¡±

    ¡°One must start somewhere.¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples, ¡°Besides, with the backing of someone as powerful as I, are you truly satisfied with simply getting by as an ordinary Yin spirit? What do you think your other ssmates from the First Academy of Cultivators are going to say when they finally descend into Hell? You¡¯re going to be a hugeughingstock!¡±

    Even then, Qin Ye didn¡¯t bother giving Wang Chenghao any further room for retort. Besides, no measure of retort would change Qin Ye¡¯s mind, ¡°How¡¯s things in the City of Salvation been?¡±

    Qin Ye retracted the incredulous look on his face and nodded in agreement, ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s not going to be easy to achieve something like that in the near future. I¡¯ve also had this discussion with Arthis, and it would seem that transportation between cities isrgely dependent on the particr type of Yin beasts avable to us. Now that the ecosphere of the entireherworld has changedpletely, we¡¯ve been unable to locate any suitable Yin beasts to facilitate transportation. ns in this regard will have to be shelved for now. What¡¯s the other point you were going to raise?¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows and nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve got it. I¡¯ll get down to it some time this month, I suppose.¡±

    Wang Chenghao looked up, only to find Qin Ye standing to his feet and gazing out into the deep night sky - he was probably the only one still hard at work at this ungodly hour at night. Qin Ye stretchedzily and cracked his joints as he continued, ¡°To make the new currency more appealing to the masses, I¡¯ve dangled the fruit of higher interest rates to the citizens. However, all of that is still contingent on their eptance of the new currency. Therefore, my intention is to smoothen the path to eptance with a great sale.¡±

    ¡°And what about this? What purpose does this serve?¡± One Tail pointed to the ns for a massive amusement park with great astonishment, ¡°You n to erect an amusement park in the middle of the underworld? Who¡¯s going to do it? How will we power its operations?¡±

    ¡°However, this method can only be used to power a single city.¡± Qin Ye opened the door and allowed a soft breeze to sweep into the room, ¡°Meanwhile, Hell will still need to find a more sustainable source of energy to support its operations. The Harken was only willing to make an exception for Hell because these uing celebrations coincide with the first celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival in thest century. The gates of Hell will be open once again. It¡¯s symbolism is undeniable.¡±

    ¡°Are you an idiot?¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes at Wang One Tail, ¡°On what basis would Kong Mo be receiving Yin spirits from the mortal realm? Qufu was established decades ago, and the Yin spirits he¡¯d received back then are all Yin spirits who were already wandering about the mortal realm back when Qufu was first inaugurated. But it¡¯s been decades since then. Who knows just how many more Yin spirits are wandering the mortal realm again? What do you think these Yin spirits are? Dead?¡±

    Qin Ye red ferociously at Wang Chenghao. At once, Wang Chenghao made a mental note never to kid around about the vtile King Yanluo of Hell ever again.

    Yet what was the most astounding about these ns was simply the sheer scale of its implementation!

    And the only means of entry is through the purchase of tickets using the prevailing currency of Hell! In fact, that wasn¡¯t the only condition to enter the amusement park. All who had satisfied the first condition of purchasing a ticket using the new currency of Hell would even have to register their unique Yin energy signature with Hell¡¯s government for verification before they would be allowed entry! Such registration was something that closely involved Hell¡¯s arts, and its operations naturally required the personal oversight of both Qin Ye and Arthis!

    The old school zone would be filled with entertainment facilities designed around themes that have traditionally been popr throughout Eastmount Province, includingmentaries of the region, operas,nterns, and even pear garden districts. On the other hand, the new school zone would feature the more popr and trendy new-age themes, including Naruto, LoL, Starcraft, Diablo and other big names!

    Ah, that¡¯s right - he had no heart.

    This was a remarkable feature that the nningmittee had ironed out with Qin Ye. They would be creating a giant robot Diablo that moved just like the real thing. Numerous spaceships would shuttle about around the Diablo replica, dangerously avoiding the destructive burns of its ¡°lightning fury¡± attack as they swooped about on one of the most thrilling attractions in the amusement park. The specifications of the rides here were absolutely through the roof!

    ¡°Holy crap¡­¡± Wang Chenghao gasped in amazement, ¡°That¡¯s awesome¡­¡±

    Ah, that¡¯s right¡­ they¡¯re already nothing more than souls¡­

    ¡°But I¡¯ve got a question.¡± Wang Chenghao wondered aloud, ¡°Brother Qin, how do you deal with the issue of security at such a massive amusement park?¡±

    ¡°This is going to be the first grand festivity celebrated in an entire century! We simply cannot allow for any mistakes! Besides, the urrence of the Hungry Ghost Festival is also when the Special Investigations Department will be on full alert. You¡¯re now known as an Infernal Judge back in the mortal realm, and would be regarded as one of the mainstay pirs of existence in the mortal realm. How¡­ would you bnce thesemitments of yours?¡±

    <hr>

    1. A ck hole-ish technique.

 Chapter 498: T Minus 8 Days (4)

    <h4>Chapter 498: T Minus 8 Days (4)</h4>

    After all, what were Yin spirits supposed to do whilst waiting to be reincarnated?

    Therefore, this amusement park stood for far more than mere entertainment facilities. It represented both the longevity of Hell¡¯s governance, as well as a simple probe at the entertainment appetite of the Yin spirits currently in Hell.

    Qin Ye responded softly, ¡°The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal would enable me to go anywhere in Hell I so desire, so long as it forms part of Hell¡¯s territory. I¡¯ll do my best to return as often as I can. Besides, the Yin spirits would only be even more orderly when the gates of Hell open up. Furthermore, the mortal realm wouldn¡¯t be too concerned about one of their own, so I wouldn¡¯t be too concerned on that front.¡±

    He blinked and stared intently at Qin Ye, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ are you¡­ still living in the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡­ that¡¯s rather inappropriate?¡±

    Wang Chenghao gulped and went on, ¡°Brother Qin, you¡¯re the King Yanluo of Hell! Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s not appropriate to be habitually absent from events as major as this? Are you nning to throw it all to Arakshasa? The Frontier Brigade hasn¡¯t beenmissioned yet, so we¡¯re expecting theplete attendance of 20 million Yin spirits! Do you think she¡¯d be able to have oversight of everything happening all on her own?¡±

    Wang Chenghao wasn¡¯t a fool. He knew full well that if these were questions that had urred to his mind, there was no way Qin Ye wouldn¡¯t have considered these things as well.

    ¡°There¡¯s no longer a need, is there? Doesn¡¯t Ashmound give you more than enough to go on? You¡¯ve got over 20 million Yin spirits, and a multitude of things to be done! What good would remaining in the mortal--...¡±

    ¡°N-no.¡± Wang Chenghao was somewhat stumped by Qin Ye¡¯s question.

    ¡°What do you mean by ripe? All you need to do is simply to fake your own death¡­¡±

    ¡°One year! That¡¯s all I¡¯m asking! Why is everyone forcing me to sit in the throne right away?!!¡±

    Wang Chenghao opened his lips to respond, but found himself renderedpletely speechless.

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t dare go on.

    ¡°There are only eight days until the grand festivities celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand somewhat wearily, ¡°I¡¯ll be addressing the citizens tomorrow to notify them of the details of these festivities. Everything has already been vetted through and approved by Hell¡¯s ministers. We¡¯re well on track as far as the Hungry Ghost Festival is concerned. You may take your leave for now. Go inquire of Secretary Zhou as to where your lodging is going to be. He will show you where you can get your supplies as well. I¡¯d like to be alone for a while.¡±

    Qin Ye crossed his arms, shut his eyes and lowered his head, where henguished in his own thoughts. After some time, he got to his feet and took his leave from the building located in the heart of the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    Damn these plethora of loose ends¡­

    He felt terrible that he couldn¡¯t always be around for the uing Hungry Ghost Festival celebrations. It was almost akin to the head honcho making nothing more than a cursory appearance every now and then during the grand national day celebrations.

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully in his heart. Hell¡¯s needs hadpletely changed ever since he¡¯d seized control of Ashmound. After all, the moment he seized control marked the moment that he had discarded his role as the mayor of a small town and assumed responsibility as the mayor of arge municipality. It marked a qualitative change in his role and responsibilities. Naturally, he knew that it wasn¡¯t appropriate to continue straddling both realms. He lusted after his old lifestyle back in the mortal realm, and he also wanted to do well as the mayor of the city. That said, he knew he couldn¡¯t have his cake and eat it as well.

    It felt like getting used to the high life, only to have to take the plunge in pursuit for something more.

    Then, just as he was walking down to the fifth floor of the building, he heard a voice suddenly call out to him, ¡°It¡¯s rare to see you in such a intive and contemtive mood.¡±

    The sixth floor of the building was where the Mythic Pce of Reflections was located, and not a single Yin spirit was allowed toe close to those parts - not even Arthis. This was a barrier that the Harken had personally erected, and Qin Ye was the only exception to the rule.

    ¡°Because I couldn¡¯t find you during the day.¡± Arthis responded cidly, ¡°You¡¯ll be addressing the people tomorrow to inform everyone about the details of the uing festivity. That said, don¡¯t you think you¡¯ve forgotten to fix a time for the same?¡±

    Arthis paused for a moment, and then responded with some measure of disdain, ¡°Well, then, Lord-Busy-Qin, when would be a good time for you? I hope you¡¯re not thinking of holding a general assembly in the middle of the night like our meeting today, right?¡±

    Her words were filled with undeniable sarcasm, yet Qin Ye didn¡¯t even know where to begin with a retort. Thus, he paused for a moment, and then responded curtly, ¡°Seven.¡±

    ¡°Nah.¡± Arthis tly refused as she motioned to take her leave, ¡°It¡¯s probably better that I refrain from doing something like that. I wouldn¡¯t want to have to do all the legwork, only to have you cancel on us because of something you have to attend to in the mortal realm. Besides, as soon as you manifest your spiritual body, everyone in Hell would be able to see you.¡±

    7 August. 8 days until the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of Hell were opened once more.

    He was somewhat drained from having to deal with all of the documentation at night. Truth be told, there were a number of questions that arose in his mind when he was going through the documents, but the Yin spirits responsible for the paperwork had all retired for the night, and were nowhere to be seen.

    Qin Ye was just about to head out for breakfast when he received a phone call.

    Qin Ye thought about his engagements for the day, and then promptly responded, ¡°Let¡¯s do it right now.¡± With that, he hung up, gged a cab down and made his way straight towards the Special Investigations Department.

    Mo Changhao¡¯s here as well?

    Mo Changhao nodded at Qin Ye, ¡°I didn¡¯t intend to head down personally, but I was informed that Mr Qin had personally investigated the site and determined that the threat might be at the level of an incarnate revenant. There are only two Infernal Judges in the Eastmount Province right now, so I¡¯d thought to head over in person to take a closer look at matters.¡±

    Given their age, they must each be subject-matter experts¡­

    The notion of the calm before the storm once again surfaced on his mind.

    It felt almost as though everything were stirring beneath the facade of calmness, ready to erupt at the slightest of catalysts.

    Naturally, none of them would object to an Infernal Judge¡¯s use of the washroom. This time, as soon as Qin Ye entered a cubicle, he immediately retrieved his shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and took a nce at it.

    This time, every facet of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal depicted the exact same image.

    Even then¡­ he could sense that the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal felt slightly different from before.

    And right now, he was experiencing the calm before the intense, raging storm.

    ¡°Furthermore, our investigations reveal that there are some mega structures located below that appear to have been in existence for the longest time. We¡¯ve already sent word back to the SRC headquarters to request support from the most professional archaeological team. They should arrive shortly, and the excavation date is presently ted for 15 August.¡±

    15th? Again?

    Everything appeared to be converging together like the tightly knit fuse of a pack of dynamite, whose fuse had just been lit.

 Chapter 499: Festivities Announced (1)

    <h4>Chapter 499: Festivities Announced (1)</h4>

    Even then, Qin Ye maintained the cid expression on his face, ¡°Is it possible to bring it forward?¡±

    How would such a date possibly be convenient for me?!

    The 15th was Hell¡¯s grand festivity in celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival - the first one in a hundred years! It would be a deration to Eastmount Province that Hell was in charge once again!

    This was the first festivity to be presided over by their new government as well. Its significance was tantamount to the first national day celebration since the founding of a new nation!

    And they would even be implementing their new system of currency!

    But now, he was suddenly thrown a curve ball and told that the excavation was going to take ce on the very same day, on 15 August itself. Where was he going to find the time to return to Hell? How could an Infernal Judge be absent when they were excavating a site suspected to harbour an incarnate revenant?

    ¡°As a matter of fact, that is a rather inconvenient date for me.¡± After deliberating for a moment, Qin Ye smiled, ¡°The 15th is also the death anniversary of my only rtive, my grandfather. He passed away on the day of the Hungry Ghost Festival itself, and I simply must pay my respects to him.¡±

    Half of those who consumed the taisui fungus would gain eternal life, while the other half would transform into a monster. Back then, both he and his grandfather had consumed the taisui fungus at the same time, but he was the only one who survived the ordeal. Since then, he had always believed that it was his grandfather who had ceded the chance to survive to him. Had the present circumstances not forced his hand, he would never have wanted to bring up this grandfather of his as an excuse.

    Nor was anyone overtly threatening him or cing him under duress.

    ¡°We can¡¯t afford any dys.¡± Mo Changhao smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t we usually pay our respects to our ancestors during the Qingming Festival instead? That said, I guess I can understand the reason for your choice to remember him on this day¡­ But it matters not. How long would paying your respects take? When the timees, I¡¯ll help to hold the fort for a moment while you go do the needful.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t forgotten the image revealed by the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal depicting Mo Changhao making a move against him.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Mo Changhao took a sip from his cup of tea, ¡°An incarnate revenant¡­ isn¡¯t something that a single Infernal Judge can deal with alone.¡±

    Shit¡­ Qin Ye cursed in his heart. These were matters that he hadn¡¯t considered.

    It wasn¡¯t that it was taboo. Rather, it would simply invite more queries if he said anymore.

    Resisting for the third time would be highly inconsistent with his office as the Infernal Judge of Martial City.

    His heart was suddenly awash with a sense of urgency, but he knew better than to say anymore.

    Wu Wenqing stood up, ¡°We await your instructions.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Damn it¡­ Are there seriously that many things to be done? Can¡¯t I get a moment to catch a breather here?!

    There were only 7 days left until the Hungry Ghost Festival! Theyout of the amusement park, the cement of the facilities and amenities, and even the various security measures to roll out were likewise waiting for his review and approval!

    ¡°Mr Qin?¡± Just then, Mo Changhao called out to him, and Qin Ye instantly snapped out of his stupor and shook his head bitterly, ¡°Sorry. I got lost in my thoughts for a moment.¡±

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically, ¡°Begin? With what?¡±

    He gazed at Qin Ye with meaningful eyes, ¡°What do you say?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Zhou Xianlong sat in front of the sofa, watching the images on the screen calmly. After some time, he remarked, ¡°Tell Mo Changhao that he should do his best to keep Qin Ye busy over the next 7 days. Don¡¯t give Qin Ye any free time apart from his usual sleeping hours.¡±

    Then, Zhou Xianlong shut his eyes and sighed wistfully, ¡°I¡¯d like to hear your analysis of what you¡¯re seeing thus far.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all borne out of your duty to the nation.¡±

    ¡°But if you really must hear it, let me preface it with a warning that it¡¯s not going to be nice.¡± The albatross sighed and turned back, ¡°First of all, let¡¯s talk about the Hungry Ghost Festival. Ever since the uptake of supernatural incidents, we¡¯ve been witnessing Yin spirits running rampant across every corner of Cathay during each of the three major ghost festivals. The Hungry Ghost Festival is when Hell¡¯s gates are supposed to be opened once more, and we¡¯d all have to be mobilized for a period of three days in order to keep things orderly, safe and secure.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°That said, sir, let¡¯s wait for the results.¡±

    With that, the albatross turned back to his screen and got right back to his duties.

    ¡°Carry on as nned.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    They were just done with their protracted meeting concerning tens of thousands of households, the evacuation of residents, and the deployment of their personnel. Thest few hours of nning had only culminated with a skeletal n at best.

    8.30 p.m¡­.

    He rushed straight home and activated the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. In an instant, he appeared right back in his office in theherworld.

    ¡°I--...¡±

    Wang One Tail opened his mouth, but didn¡¯t have anything to add.

    Qin Ye received the draft speech with great reluctance. For some strange reason, he couldn¡¯t help but sense that Arthis was getting increasingly colder and more distant to him.

    But he knew better than to concern himself with these matters right now. Within moments, he shelved his thoughts and delved right into the heart of the speech. Half an hourter, he nodded to the two. At once, their Yin energy erupted and filled the entire city like a tidal wave.

    Qin Ye¡¯s tall, illusory image was projected high into the sky, as though he were holding up the heavens. He stood right in the midst of the swirling tide of Yin energy, while countless spots ofhermes darted around him. He was visible from every corner of Ashmound City. At once, the citizens of Ashmound who were just going about their own business and daily affairs dropped what they were doing and looked over in shock.

    Thus, it was amon sight for neighbourhoodmittee leaders to host get-togethers around a single source ofherme, almost as though they had gone back to the days of ages past without the presence of electricity. To this end, the lifestyle associated with urbanization seemed ever so far away.

    This is my kingdom¡­ I¡¯m the master of the underworld, the ruler of the kingdom of the dead!

    ¡°Now, I shall announce the Official Decree of Hell No. 002.¡±

 Chapter 500: Festivities Announced (2)

    <h4>Chapter 500: Festivities Announced (2)</h4>

    Tang An was a Yin spirit living in the Northwest District. He was a Yin spirit who had died only in thest ten years due to leukemia. When he heard the announcement of the Official Decree of Hell No. 002, he immediately raised his head just like any other Yin spirit around and stared expectantly at the illusory figure projected into the skies.

    Hell was a ce that wascking in entertainment. Thus, any incident that was out of the ordinary was bound to draw the attention of all Yin spirits around.

    This was the by-product of extreme boredom. Things had returned to how they were back in the Qin and Han Dynasties, when every sunrise and sunset was a thing to behold. If the present ruler of Hell was going to keep things status quo, just like how Kong Mo did, then it wouldn¡¯t be long before a major riot urs here in Ashmound.

    After all, every Yin spirit here felt as though they had taken several steps back, reverting from life in the information age to the prehistoric era upon death. It was easy to change one¡¯s habit from that of a frugal lifestyle to one of great extravagance, but far harder to do the converse.

    Within five minutes, everyone in the city poured out of their homes and offices and stared intently at the skies. It was only then that Qin Ye continued to speak in a deep voice, ¡°Official Decree of Hell No. 002. With immediate effect, 15 March is to be designated as the National Day. Together with the National Day, the Hungry Ghost Festival, the Winter Clothes Day, and the Qingming Festival are all to be designated as public holidays. The details are as follows.

    The Hungry Ghost Festival, the Winter Clothes Day, and the Qingming Festival shall each be celebrated with a two-day public holiday. All Yin spirits may receive burnt offerings, sacrificial goods and Hell¡¯s notes during this period of time. The National Day is to be celebrated with a three-day public holiday. Effective immediately.¡±

    The eyes of the citizens didn¡¯t flicker one bit.

    After all, this much wasn¡¯t enough to stir the hearts of the citizens at all.

    Rest¡­ We¡¯re already resting everyday!! Sometimes, I even wish we could work overtime all the time!

    Qin Ye ignored the thoughts of the Yin spirits. This was only the first of the one-twobination punch he had prepared to deliver today.

    ¡°I hereby announce the Official Decree of Hell No. 003.¡±

    ¡°With effect from the date of the Hungry Ghost Festival this year, all use of prevailing currencies shall be abolished, and only Hell¡¯s notes shall be epted moving forward. Starting tomorrow, you may exchange all prevailing currencies for the unified currency of Hell at all designated ces of exchange located in the Central District. Please note that the designated ces of exchange shall close in one month¡¯s time.¡±

    Tang An sighed and turned around, and an older Yin spirit beside him remarked in surprise, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Not going to listen any longer?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no point.¡± Tang An yawnedzily as he tried to squeeze out of the crowd, but to no avail. There were several others who clearly thought the same way as he did, but the crowd was simply too packed for them to even move an inch.

    ¡°How naive¡­¡± Another old man shook his head, ¡°These are all matters that will be closely rted to our future. You¡¯ll only regret missing out on the rest of these announcements.¡±

    Tang An rolled his eyes and pouted his lips.

    Things were exactly the same as they had been back while he was living. He would habitually hear about the implementation of new social security rules, as well as lower interest rates in banks. But did they really have an effect on how he lived?

    Social security was something that sounded great, but he¡¯d never needed to use. And as for bank interest rates¡­ his money was stored in his Alipay and WeChat ounts, where they rued interest on independent rates. Thus, to his mind, rather than focus on these anciry matters, he would much prefer it if the government focused on actually improving their quality of life!

    We¡¯ve got no inte, noputers, and no cell phones. Do you know what we¡¯ve been doing all these nights?

    We¡¯ve been spending all our free time on the streets, interacting with those Yin spirits that have died well over sixty years ago! I swear I can even tell you their life story, word for word by now!

    That said, everyone remainedpletely silent.

    Qin Ye nced around the city. The second decree had stirred some ripples across the citizens, but it clearly wasn¡¯t anything more than a faint ripple across stagnant waters.

    Clearly, the previous two decrees weren¡¯t enough to cause a ssh in the waters.

    ¡°With that, I go on to the next piece of announcement.¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath and drew his eyes to thest two items on the agenda. These were the heavy blows that were intended to cause a ssh to begin with!

    ¡°With effect from the date of the Hungry Ghost Festival, the first giant entertainment facility shall be opened on Spider Lily Ind. This entertainment facility will cover an area of 14,562 square meters, and shall be opened 24/7¡­ Silence!¡±

    His announcement instantly stirred a buzz among the crowd below!

    Tang An was just about to leave when his feet suddenly paused. Then, he turned to look at the lofty, illusory figure above in the skies. And he wasn¡¯t the only one. In fact, countless Yin spirits, regardless of when they perished, all stared intently at the skies above with a fiery gaze in their eyes!

    mor.

    There was an uproarious mor!

    What started out as soft whispers of discussion soon burgeoned into a wave of excited discussions and excited cheers!

    ¡°Spider Lily Ind? Giant entertainment facility? What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got an entertainment facility? Is Hell finally getting down to improving our quality of life?¡± ¡°I¡¯d always known that Hell is the real deal! You could tell from the moment they¡¯d promised to give us an avenue to return to the mortal realm! When did Kong Mo ever consider such things for us?¡±

    The mor only grew. Tang An froze for a moment, and then turned to the Yin spirit located right beside him, ¡°Exactly howrge is 14,562 square meters?¡±

    ¡°Howrge?¡± The Yin spirit who responded was also a rtively young Yin spirit, and he was practically smiling from ear to ear, ¡°Do you know Wanda za? Wanda za itself covers and area of about this size!¡±

    In other words, it was an entertainment facility that was practically the size of Wanda za!

    Tang An¡¯s mind instantly went numb. At once, the images of countless entertainment facilities surfaced on his mind.

    What would there be?

    Arge shopping za?

    Food street?

    Or perhaps amercial street just like the ones we had back in the mortal realm?

    Regardless, this means that we¡¯ll have a ce to go at night now! We¡¯ll no longer have to settle for meeting up with our neighbours at night and chatting about everything under the sun! Oh gosh! The heavens have heard our cries! There¡¯s simply nothing we have inmon with those who have lived in the ¡®30s and ¡®40s!

    His breaths grew ragged, and the soulfire in his heart began to flicker because of the intense fluctuations in his emotions. However, this wasn¡¯t the end. If this were everything, why would Hell have been so busy over thest few weeks?

    Everyone stared intently at Qin Ye with an intense gleam in their eyes. They¡¯d all waited far too long for something like this. Their idleness was finally about toe to an end, and the promise of night life was peeking right over the horizon!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t beat about the bush either. He waved his hand, and a massive screen of Yin energy instantly appeared right over the city of Ashmound.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± Tang An froze at a single nce.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone else stared at the screen,pletely dumbfounded.

    The screen depicted the image of a massiveke, on which sat a not-so-small ind. And right there, on the ind¡­ was the promisednd built with countless entertainment facilities!

    There were roller coasters, space shuttle rides, operatic stages, music halls¡­ At a nce, everything one could possibly think of was already there in some form or shape. It was an all-epassing entertainment facility that was designed with the coolest features!

    There was a massive sculpture of Diablo that appeared to be situated at the core of the space shuttle rides. That said, each of the space shuttles appeared no different from neatly rolled up scrolls that appeared pristine and intact. There was also a huge space mothership suspended in the sky above. Elsewhere, there was an ancient battlefield, where terrifying mechanical beasts appeared to be duking it out against countless terracotta warriors armed with the sharpest spears. Furthermore¡­ there appeared to be the image of Goddess Mother nature transforming into the six paths of reincarnation, and other entertainment facilities rted to the legend of the white snake, and so on and so forth!

    Tang An greedily scrutinized every part of the ind. Yet, the more he looked, the more excited he became, because he immediately understood that the so-called entertainment facility wasn¡¯t designed to be a series of malls and food streets. Rather, it was designed to be a colossal amusement parkrger than thergest Disnend amusement parks!

    In fact¡­ it was probably ten times more awesome than the best facilities and rides Disnend could provide!

    Look at that¡­ Diablo is even spewing out a huge column of lightning that seems to tear away at the skies. And the legends and myths district of the facilities appears to have a flooded temple guarded by the white and green snakes, replete with wave-generating facilities. Are these things that Disnend can do? I mean¡­ you don¡¯t even see Hollywood effects as awesome as this!

    Everyone was eagerly taking in the amazing sight of the amusement park. The younger Yin spirits would be more taken by the references to pop culture, while the older Yin spirits would be enraptured by the legends and myths sections, together with the opera houses and theaters of all sorts. Each and every single one of these rides, facilities and amenities were equipped with the most outrageous and explosive special effects, designed to capture the hearts of Yin spirits in an instant. At once, Qin Ye could sense that the hearts of the Yin spirits were beating through the roof!

    How many of these Yin spirits had been to Disnend to begin with?

    And how much more awesome was the Spider Lily Ind going to be?

    Is this the upside to life after death?

    Ashmound City was instantly filled with crashing waves of mor, followed by a moment of silence in response to Qin Ye¡¯s domineering roar. And now, there were signs of boiling excitement among the citizens again.

    Qin Ye remained silent as he took in the reactions of all Yin spirits around. His heart and mind were filled with a burning passion. This was the result of careful consideration from the presiding top brass in Hell.

    Entertainment facilities were things that had existed since time immemorial. Television andputers were built upon the infrastructure of electricity andworks, and could only keep a handful of Yin spirits upied at once. On the other hand, operas and theatrics could easily entertain arge venue full of Yin spirits all at the same time.

    That said, while these venues can amodate many Yin spirits, the turnaround time was far too long. Concert halls wouldn¡¯t do either, since they faced the same limitations. However, amusement parks werepletely different, because the Yin spirits would happily wait in line¡­

    And the process of queues would even stoke the food and beverage industry!

    Additionally, amusement parks were things that could easily cater to Yin spirits of all times. The older folks would be captivated by a festival ofnterns, riddles, and acrobatic performances and stunts such as fire-breathing and martial arts performances.

    On the other hand, the younger folks would enjoy their fair share of rides, including space shuttle rides, pirate ships, roller coasters, water parks, and the list just keeps going on! The vast menu of entertainment facilities meant that these Yin spirits would never be able to test everything out in just a single day. Furthermore, the fact that such amusement parks have existed throughout the various eras in history also meant that it was something that stood the test of time.

    He was rolling out something ground-breaking when the underworld wasnguishing in entertainment facilities. It was like discovering an oasis in the middle of the desert! By his estimates, Spider Lily Ind would continue to be a zing hot destination in Hell for at least over a year!

    And this would more than sufficiently smoothen the path to rolling out the new currency of Hell.

    To this end, the entire government of Hell hade together to brainstorm various ideas to appeal to Yin spirits of all ages, ranging from the 1920¡¯s to the 2020¡¯s. Their answer was to provide a multitude of facilities of all kinds, including eastern and western elements, operas, myths and legends and wars, amongst others. Qin Ye was willing to guarantee that every single Yin spirit whoes to this ce would find something of interest here.

    But¡­ was that everything?

    Of course not!

    The finishing blow hadn¡¯t made its appearance just yet. After all, the inauguration of the amusement park might be astonishing, but it certainly wouldn¡¯t highlight the importance of the three major ghost festivals.

    The amusement park was intended to be one of the entertainmentndmarks in Hell to be open around the clock. However, something more had to be done to tie it in with the three major ghost festivals to be celebrated around the year. For instance¡­

    ¡°Silence.¡± Qin Ye instantly quelled the enthusiasm of all his citizens as he spoke in a deep voice, ¡°The Spider Lily Ind may be open around the clock, but there is a special section known as the Light of Yin and Yang located on the western part of the ind that will only be opened three times a year, during the days of the three major ghost ghost festivals.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only during the three major ghost festivals that you¡¯d be able to spend the new currency of Hell in exchange for¡­ the opportunity to return to the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°In particr, the opportunity to witness your loved ones pay tribute to you.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°You can do that?!¡± ¡°Everyone¡­ everyone!!! The Hungry Ghost Festival is just around the corner! Doesn¡¯t this mean we can see our loved ones soon?!¡± ¡°Dear heavens¡­ t-this is something that only the orthodox Hell can do! Kong Mo would never be able to achieve something like this!¡± ¡°Three times a year¡­ I¡¯ll be able to see my beloved daughter again!¡±

    At once, the entire city erupted with mor. But this time, Qin Ye no longer called for silence.

    After all, he knew full well just how obsessed Yin spirits were with the mortal realm!

    1. This is just a building in China that houses the HQ of the Wanda Group.

 Chapter 501: Festivities Announced (3)

    <h4>Chapter 501: Festivities Announced (3)</h4>

    Tang An was so excited that even his body was trembling.

    Buzz¡­ The mor soon burgeoned into a flood of chatter. And then, the illusory figure suspended in the sky raised his hand and made a pressing movement with great authority. At once, the Yin spirits were astonished to discover that they couldn¡¯t make a single other peep of sound.

    The citizens were clearly brimming with excitement. However, Qin Ye wanted them to channel their excitement to the right ces.

    Everything had been done in order to pave the way for their one true purpose here.

    ¡°That¡¯s all for my announcements. Please be reminded to trade in your prevailing currencies for the new unified currency of Hell. There¡¯s only one week remaining until the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    Yet, they remained silent.

    Just like a spring released from tension, their suppressed excitement exploded once more like a stirring wave in the ocean. Then, with expressions of feigned calmness, groups of citizens slowly began to disperse, almost as though they were returning to their rooms.

    ¡°What are you still standing around for?¡± A middle-aged man brushed past him with some measure of consternation, ¡°Let¡¯s go! What are you still waiting for?!¡±

    ¡°Uncle, what¡¯s the hurry? We don¡¯t live that far away after all. Ah, speaking of which, was there an attraction earlier that took your fancy?¡± Tang An trotted along,pletely oblivious to the stirring undercurrents under the actions of the entire city.

    Tang An shook his head,pletely baffled by the situation.

    ¡°And if you can¡¯t, how do you expect to participate in the grand festivities in celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival?!¡±

    Damn it!!!

    20 million Yin spirits¡­ in a week¡¯s time¡­ Bloody hell!!!

    Without further ado, Tang An also dove straight into the crowd, pushing and jostling as he made a mad rush around. Just then, there was a ttering sound of armor, and countless Yin soldiers suddenly appeared on the city walls all around.

    Unfortunately, none of the Yin spirits paid any heed to these words.

    ¡°Make way! Make way!¡± An olddy dressed in clothes from the ¡®30s or ¡®40s ran quicker than anybody else as she held a white cloth bag in her hand. Her voice was incredibly shrill, ¡°Respect your elders! Respect your elders! Let me pass! I promise to be quick! I don¡¯t have much money, so I¡¯ll be done in a jiffy!¡±

    ¡°Are you messing with me?¡±

    ¡°From ¡®42. And you?¡±

    Simr exchanges were taking ce throughout Ashmound City. The great stir had finally disrupted the earlier tense silence throughout the city like a floor breaking the dike! The entire city was filled with the sight of Yin spirits of all shapes and sizes carrying rushing here and there, scattering from certain ces and recongregating at others. But one thing they had inmon was the fact that everyone was slowly but surely making their way towards the Central District!

    ¡°Friends, that¡¯s where yourck of experience truly shows. I¡¯ve already taken two days off work. I¡¯m going to get the new currency of Hell before the Hungry Ghost Festival at all costs!¡± ¡°No way! Your supervisor approved it?!¡± ¡°Well¡­ he¡¯s standing approximately 20 meters ahead of me in the queue. He¡¯s also taken two days off work¡­¡±

    The entire road was already so packed that nobody could move in the slightest.

    This was a crowd that definitely surpassed the fan meetings of thergest stars or the most highly-anticipatedunch events! And yet every single Yin spirit in the vicinity didn¡¯t show the slightest signs of letting up!

    After decades of waiting, the mortal realm is finally in sight¡­

    Nobody said a word. The air was only filled with ragged breaths and a multitude of desperate expressions. The reservations and concerns of a new unified currency had gonepletely out of the window, only to be reced with an intense stir of eager anticipation.

    He couldn¡¯t even see the end of the queue in sight. There were endless Yin spirits ahead of him, and yet¡­ he couldn¡¯t retreat and return even if he¡¯d wanted to.

    Annals of the New Hell: Year 001 of the New Hell. The citizens of Ashmound City flew into a frenzy for the new unified currency of Hell.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Thousands upon thousands of Yin spirits packed into every street in the city that led towards the Central District, and yet none appeared to be grumbling orining about the ordeal. The Minister of Finance finally heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°Our efforts for thest month haven¡¯t been in vain¡­¡±

    Another veteran minister added, ¡°Even then, everything would still depend on the festivities themselves. Sure, we may be off to a good start as far as the promotion of the new currency is concerned, but we¡¯ll still have to do our best to carry the hype through to the very end.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed with relief.

    The sessful adoption of Hell¡¯s new currency would naturally smoothen the path to the things to be done in future.

    The proof was in the pudding, and everything would depend on the actual festivities during the Hungry Ghost Festival!

    And the only ones in Ashmound who could keep things in check were only Qin Ye and Arthis.

    15 August was the scheduled date of excavation of the Lush Garden Acres. Mo Changhao, the Special Investigations Department, and the SRC would all being together to work in tandem in this regard. He simply wouldn¡¯t have the time nor the opportunity to slip away to Hell for his business!

    Arthis squinted at him slightly, ¡°You seem a little bit distracted. What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Sometimes, a woman¡¯s intuition was far more reliable than even logic itself. Arthis stared intently at Qin Ye for the next few moments, and then suddenly quipped, ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me that¡­ you won¡¯t be in Hell at a time as crucial as this, are you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Arthis retracted her gaze and responded solemnly, ¡°Everything in Hell is riding on these uing festivities, and any mistake could potentially be fatal to our governance in future. You and I must both monitor the amusement park on all fronts, at least until the festivities celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival is over. In other words¡­ we definitely have to hold things up over the two public holidays until the crowd subsides!¡±

    ¡°There is.¡± Thehergale gently tousled her hair as she continued to speak with great sobriety, ¡°Yin spirits have the capacity for emotions and desires. When these are taken to its extreme, they would go out of control, and the situation can quickly devolve into a riot, rebellion or even an insurgency. Why do you think the Yin marite you once destroyed was called Wrath? It¡¯s precisely because it¡¯s formed from an aggregation of wrathful emotions.¡±

    She turned around and nced at Qin Ye, ¡°The implementation of the new currency of Hell, the arrival of the daolord of the asura, as well as the first celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival in a hundred years are all taking ce on the same day. We¡¯ve got a perfect start thus far. And if we don¡¯t see things through to a perfect grand finale in seven days¡¯ time¡­ Yanluo Qin, are you even aware how many pairs of eyes are watching you here? If things don¡¯t go well, we¡¯re talking about the ire of 20 million Yin spirits.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not privy to what difficulties you might be facing in the mortal realm, but you¡¯d better straighten your thoughts out and identify what constitutes your primary function, and what are but secondary functions.¡±

 Chapter 502: The Final Week

    <h4>Chapter 502: The Final Week</h4>

    All officials in Hell were busy, regardless of whether they held executive roles or not. The implementation of a new unified currency in exchange for all prevailing currencies of old was no trivial matter. Furthermore, the development of the Spider Lily Ind didn¡¯t merelyprise the establishment of an amusement park, it even incorporated a variety of stores, including clothing stores, food and beverage stores, costume stores, and so on and so forth. Everything was to be rolled out under the government¡¯s oversight.

    In fact, even the ordinary Yin spirits of Hell were busy with their own affairs. During this time, there was an endless queue of Yin spirits leading straight into the Central District that continued straight through the night, clogging up the streets so much so that the government of Ashmound had no choice but to establish four new exchange points in each of the other four major districts of Hell. Each of these had 2,000 tills, and Hell had no choice but to hire several thousands more civil servants to plug the gap in their workforce!

    That said, they were also apprehensive. Although they had personally experienced some of the differences between theherworld and the mortal realm, they couldn¡¯t profess to know the limits of just how different things could be. The only thing they knew thus far was the fact that announcements could simply be broadcasted instantly throughout the city, and this was something that Kong Mo had never done in the past. Thus, with the new notes of Hell now in hand, they began to wonder why Spider Lily Ind hadn¡¯t made its appearance just yet.

    Unfortunately, the passage of time didn¡¯t help with the tension in their hearts. Time kept on moving, marching towards the 15th at a constant tempo.

    Thunder rumbled, and forked-lightning arced menacingly in the sky. A single Yin spirit stopped dead in his tracks, followed by another, and then tens, thousands, hundreds of thousands, and then tens of millions. Soon, everyone halted what they were doing to observe the terrifying phenomenon in the sky. The citizens of Ashmound erupted into a mor in an instant.

    The preparations leading up to the much-anticipated Hungry Ghost Festivals were finally beginning!

    The Harken had made its move!

    The Yin energy poured down like a mighty waterfall pouring right out of the skies, almost as though the heavens had crumbled. The fluid that poured out appearedpletely dark, but crystal clear, almost as though it was liquid ss. The Yin spirits could tell that the seemingly liquid ss appeared to stack atop each other as they fell to the ground, just like a series of building blocks. The deafening roar of construction instantly drowned out the silent cheers across the entire city, and it continued for several more hours until it finally ceased entirely. Then, as the works finally came to a close, the diminishing construction noise once again gave way to the wave of whistles and cheers that tore through the city. Everyone located within buildings that were slightly on the taller side desperately crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the works that had just beenpleted.

    11 August. The sky cracked open once again, and countless facilities descended from the skies. The uing festivities were like a young lutist ying lilting tunes, tickling the hearts and drawing in the souls of all Yin spirits. This time, a ferris wheel, a pirate ship, and even an entire water park were among the facilities that were gently set in ce, as though by an invisible hand.

    So it turns out that one can enjoy entertainment facilities in Hell too. It¡¯s all a matter of whether Hell has the heart to do something like that for us.

    There were only four days until the Hungry Ghost Festival.

    Fortunately, Hels came in several denominations, including 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 8,000 and 10,000. Otherwise, it would be impossible to have printed so much money in a single month¡¯s time. After all, Hell had neither sufficient printers nor sufficient power supply to support an expansion in their production. Hell still needed to locate an alternative source of electricity or energy.

    The first batch of Yin soldiers that had been deployed to the Spider Lily Ind finally returned from their shift. At once, all of their friends and acquaintances alike swarmed around them like an unsolicited tidal wave, instantly filling their usually vacant and quiet residences into an echo chamber of questions, ¡°How¡¯s the situation over there?¡± ¡°Would Spider Lily Ind be ready in time for the Hungry Ghost Festival?¡± ¡°How much more work is there to be done?¡± ¡°Is it truly as miraculous as what we see over here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s absolutely astonishing¡­ Never in my wildest dreams have I imagined construction works to go on like that¡­ There¡¯s simply no way to put it in words. Anyway, you¡¯ll know on the morning of the 15th¡­¡±

    That night, the rate of distribution of the new notes of Hell reached a new height, amounting to a total of 430 billion HL in value. To date, more than 60% of the total savings in Ashmound had already been traded in for the new currency of Hell.

    Silence.

    Tang An was among the Yin spirits that had flocked to the city wall exits. His heart was practically thumping with excitement. He wanted to scream! He wanted to roar! He wanted to share his joy with everyone around him!

    He already had the perfect n of the ces he was going to visit. He longed for kindred spirits to share his joy, to scream together on the roller coasters, and to ssh about in the water parks. Yet he soon discovered that the younger Yin spirits appeared to be the minority among the Yin spirits that had gathered.

    There was a tacit understanding between them borne out of their deep desire to confide in others, yet an inability to locate a kindred spirit. Locating each other amidst the crowd of seniors felt like a breath of fresh air alleviating the stifling sensation in their hearts.

    ¡°Same here! Shall we go together?¡± They weren¡¯t from the same neighbourhood. In fact, it might even be a stretch to call them acquaintances, given that they had done nothing more than to exchange a few words or nod at each other when they crossed paths. Even then, they were speaking with each other like long lost friends who were once again reunited with each other.

    There were sights simr to this spawning everywhere around the city wall. People of various generations and times were spontaneously forming their own social circles and sharing their spections about the Spider Lily Ind with great excitement. Meanwhile, everyone had each set their eyes on a specific goal.

    Every minister standing on the wide terrace of the building located in the core of the Mythic Pce of Reflections only felt their eyes burn with passion as they saw this sight unfold. If ghosts could shed tears, perhaps the ministers would already be bawling and weeping by now.

    Naturally, everyone who had been involved in the nning process couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of pride and aplishment swell up in their hearts. It was an incredibly satisfying sight to behold.

    Thousands of civil servants located down below responded in unison, ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    The Yin spirits were gathering silently and patiently like the rain clouds in the sky.

    It was a spectacr scene,parable to the annual New Year¡¯s Eve festival in metropolitan nations.

    Bolt after bolt of light lit up the sky. The first wave was silvery white, just like a flurry of cold winter snow. Then, before the dust could even settle on the first wave, a second volley whistled into the sky, lighting it up with a majestic disy of striking crimson.

    At once, the eternal darkness looming over the dark skies of Hell lit up with a glimmer of brilliance. At once, the hearts of the Yin spirits were lit with the fuse of fascination and their faces the expressions of tion.

    <hr>

    1. Moving forward, I¡¯ll refer to Hell¡¯s notes currency as HL, or Hel. This will make distinguishing Hell¡¯s notes from mortal currency far easier.

 Chapter 503: Countdown

    <h4>Chapter 503: Countdown</h4>

    It was almost as though the fireworks were a final salute to the life they once used to have.

    Their mind was in flux, and their hearts were filled withplex emotions.

    ¡°I feel¡­ respected¡­¡± An old Yin spirit eximed hoarsely as he shut his eyes. It was the first time he had felt such warmth in his heart.

    ¡°I hope that this is a sign for the things toe¡­¡± Yet another young female Yin spirit smiled faintly as she prayed with her hands sped tightly together, ¡°This has to be Hell - the true, orthodox Hell which upholds the dignity of the dead. This is the ce where all of the dead should go.¡±

    The fireworks continued to crackle in the sky, filling the air with an atmosphere of festivity. Just then, four sets of illusory numbers silently appeared right above the city walls surrounding Ashmound City.

    Only 7,200 seconds remained until the start of the Hungry Ghost Festival!

    Just then, someone shouted at the top of his voice, ¡°99.¡±

    ¡°97!!¡±

    Each tick of the numbers tugged strongly at their souls. The heartfelt shouts of 20 million Yin spiritspletely drowned out the crackling sound of the explosive fireworks. Sure, they might have continued to erupt with fiery passion, but nothing couldpare to the earth-shattering countdown that was taking ce on the ground below.

    They longed for entertainment. They longed for festivities. Most of all, they longed to catch even a glimpse of the mortal realm. And now, their deepest desires would be fulfilled all at once. This night was destined to be remembered in the annals of Hell.

    With the countdown now in full swing, even the most reticent of Yin spirits couldn¡¯t help but chant along with the rest of the city. Decades of longsuffering had finally culminated in this one single moment.

    Countless faces beamed brightly under the brilliant fireworks as they roared with all their hearts.

    Limbo. The Harken suddenly opened his eyes. Fate had once again erupted with glorious golden lights as illusory waves began to ripple through the names previously written. A split secondter, they slowly converged towards the tip of the brush, swirling about slowly as it transformed into ck ink.

    After a long time, he suddenly smiled, ¡°This kid¡­ isn¡¯t too shabby.¡±

    The man chuckled, ¡°And you¡¯re content with being a mere power generator at that?¡±

    ¡°9!!¡± Meanwhile, the unified cheers of the Yin spirits in Hell rocked Ashmound at its very core.

    Meanwhile, back in Azurewaters City in the mortal realm. Whoosh¡­ Two pairs of eyes abruptly opened in the darkness.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Lee Jung-sook responded without hesitation, ¡°9 seconds till the jaunt of a thousand ghosts in Cathay. Since you guys are so bent on courting death, I¡¯ll y along. I can¡¯t die after all.¡±

    Even a ravenous ghost like Crow Tengu nodded with great sobriety at the thought of the threat to his life and limb.

    Unfortunately¡­ time wasn¡¯t on their side!

    Whoosh!!! Ahergale rushed right in, causing all of the prayer gs located around the city to flutter wildly in the sky.

    The fireworks continued to crackle and pop in the sky, giving Ashmound a brilliant ssh of colour that was all toocking in the dreary underworld.

    That¡¯s it¡­ Let¡¯s mark a clean start to Hell with a glorious bang!

    He didn¡¯t turn on his cell phone.

    He wanted to witness the grand finale that he had worked so hard towards.

    Besides¡­ the daolord of the asura was still on his way, and he absolutely had to be in Hell to receive him!

    After all, how could he even think of leaving an Abyssal Prefect to roam freely in the vast reaches of Ashmound?

    A middle-aged man sat inside the pnquin, silently radiating the aura of an Abyssal Prefect.

    Countless fireworks were illuminating thends below that were filled with peculiar structures and buildings. It was clearly his destination - Ashmound City.

    ¡°What--...¡± He paused for a moment, and then gulped hard as he continued staring with great disbelief.

    How is this possible?

    His heart was truly shaken by the startling sight. It took him ten seconds before he finally withdrew his gaze and lowered the veil.

    He wanted to see what kind of underworld the new Hell was!

    ¡°3!!!¡± The voices of the Yin spirits were hoarse and cracking. There were a total of nine gates, onerge one and eight small ones, and they were all slowly opening up in front of their very eyes.

    Meanwhile, back in the mortal realm. Wu Wenqing held onto his phone with great astonishment as he reported back to Zhou Xianlong, ¡°Sir! We can¡¯t get through to Mr Qin¡¯s cell phone! It doesn¡¯t seem to be in any service area!¡±

    Has the day¡­ finallye?

    They were in the conference room, where all the captains of the Martial City branch of the Special Investigations Department were located. ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡± He shut his eyes and muttered softly. At once, everyone stood up and responded with a sharp salute, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    This is going to be the festival of the dead, and a jubilee for the living¡­ so long as we can keep our guard up.

    This was how things had been like for the past ten years, and not a single person in the mortal realm had witnessed Hell¡¯s gates for the longest time. From past experience, it was clear that the wandering spirits were going to continue patrolling the streets from dusk to dawn for the next two nights.

    Zhou Xianlong slowly rose to his feet, drew a deep breath and then cupped his hands respectfully to every single person around, ¡°Everyone, please take care.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t wish to see your souls wandering the streets at the next Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    ¡°1!!!¡± Meanwhile, the bell perched atop the Mythic Pce of Reflections finally tolled, sending waves of cheer resounding across every corner of the city.

    Because what appeared in front of their eyes was a gorgeous world that they had never imagined possible!

    It was also in that very moment that Hell trembled with a deafening bang, both in the City of Salvation and Ashmound City alike.

    It was a sound that could only be heard by Hellguards or stronger Yin spirits.

    A blood-coloured rift had torn the skies above the two cities apart. At once, a mighty ck tide soared up from both cities and straight into the sky!

    ¡°And now that a city has appeared in Ashmound, and a nest of ghosts in the City of Salvation¡­ Yanluo Qin, haven¡¯t you considered what might appear in the mortal realm during the Hungry Ghost Festival?¡±

    ¡°This is going to be the first time in a century that the gates of Hell are opened once more. This¡­ is a night that will go down in history. Yet you¡¯ve¡­pletely failed to consider the implications of something as important as Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction¡­¡±

 Chapter 504: Hungry Ghost Festival (1)

    <h4>Chapter 504: Hungry Ghost Festival (1)</h4>

    But no words were needed. With the simple act of opening the city gates, everyone tacitly knew that the Hungry Ghost Festival that they had all been eagerly anticipating had finally begun.

    The bridges outside the gates were in, straight bridges that stretched on for thousands of meters, covering the vast expanses of a body of water that appeared to flow around a particrly eye-catching ind in the middle.

    Countless spots ofhermes darted here and there around the outskirts of the majestic building in the background, filling the air with a sense of profound mystery. At a nce, it felt no different from being transported right out of the pits of Hell and into a fantasy world. Seeing the stuff of dreams appear right in front of their very eyes caused their minds to go numb with intense excitement.

    ¡°Wang Pingan¡­¡± Wang Pingan responded as he continued to stare nkly ahead of him. Momentster, Tang An tugged at his clothes, ¡°Well, stop staring! What are we waiting for? We¡¯re alreadygging behind the rest of the pack!¡±

    ¡°Is the Diablo statue¡­ moving?¡±

    He froze.

    In fact, everyone else trudging along the long bridge to the ind paused and looked up with great astonishment.

    The mes on his feet spread rapidly along the scales of its body. Its eyes lit up with an obscure light. And then, it bowed its body, revealing ckened barbs running down the spines on his back. Fieryva appeared to course through the veins running underneath its skin. Just then, it crossed its arms over its head, and then unleashed a terrifying roar that sent chills down everyone¡¯s spines.

    The space shuttles have begun to take flight¡­ Everyone knew what this meant - the pack of Yin spirits leading the charge had already arrived on the ind and picked out their rides.

    Qin Ye had once revealed his grand ns for the amusement park, but everyone had thought that this was no more than an animated effect designed to draw their eyes in back then. But seeing was believing. The buildings¡­ were actually moving!

    How thrilling¡­ Tang An and Wang Pingan¡¯s jaws dropped as they shook their heads with amazement. They had never dreamed that they would one day be able to experience firsthand the feeling of being chased by Diablo in an amusement park.

    No, not with fear. But rather, it was entirely borne out of the intense rush of a thrilling ride!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­ That¡¯s awesome¡­¡± Wang Pingan gulped nervously as he tugged at Tang An¡¯s arm, ¡°Let¡¯s go! Hurry up! I can¡¯t wait anymore!¡±

    Suppressing any measure of expectation swelling from the depths of his heart, Wang Pingan nced over to where Tang An was pointing, only to freeze in ce once more.

    A split secondter, Diablo opened its mouth and unleashed a terrifying pir of lightning mes that were hundreds of meters long, sweeping the violent wave of destruction desperately around him!

    Even the Yin spirits who were unfamiliar with the Diablo series couldn¡¯t help but look up at the skies with great astonishment.

    It was a feast for the eyes.

    This was the first amusement park of its kind. And it was located in Hell.

    AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! The screams and shrieksing from the space shuttles went through the roof. Unfortunately, Diablo¡¯s lightning fury attack was futile, and wasn¡¯t even able to graze them in the slightest. Every time it drew close to a space shuttle, it would narrowly miss by a hair¡¯s breadth, only to have the space shuttles slip beneath the farthest arc of lightning or course right over it. Yet, even then, the thrill of such close calls drove the Yin spirits aboard the space shuttles crazy! It was absolutely terrifying and thrilling.

    Momentster, Diablo had finally expended thest of its energy, and the space shuttles slowlynded to the ground once more. But before the Yin spirits could even disembark from them, the next wave of Yin spirits was already stirring with great anticipation.

    Wang Pingan and Tang An finally snapped to their senses once more. They nced at each other, only to notice the zinghermes burning in the depths of each other¡¯s eyes.

    They had unwittingly stood rooted to the ground for a full fifteen minutes, watching the entire sequence of a ride in an amusement park that they wouldn¡¯t normally even care about. Tang An drew a deep breath, and then muttered softly, ¡°Shall we?¡±

    As they ran, they could tell that the entire ind had already sprung to life.

    The colossal body of the snake mmed down into the water, sending a curtain of water rushing high up into the sky. The Yin spirits who were locked into the seats of their rides squealed in joy as two massive snakes tussled against each other, shuttling between the ck clouds in the sky as they sent showers of water pouring down like a massive waterfall.

    They were flying high in the sky without any instruments at all. The mere sight of something that extraordinary caused both Yin spirits to subconsciously turn their feet in the direction of the water park rides.

    We can¡¯t be like the old fogeys! Do you see the rides filled with old grannies and grandads? We should rightfully be more inclined to rides like the ferris wheel and the Diablo space shuttles!

    With pangs of regret radiating from their hearts, they finally arrived at Spider Lily Ind itself. Their hands and feet were already trembling with excitement. At once, they rushed straight to the Diablo space shuttle ticketing booth and pulled out a hundred-note, ¡°Two tickets! No, make that four!¡±

    So cheap?

    ¡°Have you already forgotten? Everything is 70% off in celebration of theunch of the new currency of Hell.¡±

    The two Yin spirits subconsciously nced at the paper money in their hands. How convenient. Who cares if this is Hell inducing our usage of their new currency. The only thing I care about is whether it benefits me! And to this end, the new currency of Hell is already proving to be far more useful than the old currencies we¡¯ve had!

    Tang An nodded reflexively, and then it dawned upon him what the ticketing attendant was saying. He stared at him with great disbelief - C-c-can you repeat yourself? We¡¯d only dallied for a little while, and the queue has already grown to an hour long? What in the world?!

    The attractions and rides were simply off the charts. There wasn¡¯t a single attraction that wasn¡¯t in operation. Everything was so over-the-top that the Yin spirits were all willing to throw good money for an experience of a lifetime. In fact, they could tell that the entire ind was so thriving with exuberance that if they didn¡¯t make haste to the other rides at once, the waiting time for every other ride might well be just as long, if not even longer!

    Qin Ye was already at the top of the city tower, the building located at the core of the Mythic Pce of Reflections.

    Qin Ye was filled with pride and a sense of fulfilment. Likewise, Arthis was right beside him, gazing afar at the sights and sounds in the distance. It was a sight that left an indelible mark in her heart.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qin Ye retracted his gaze and murmured to Arthis, ¡°What was that sound earlier? Did something rush up to the surface just a moment ago?¡±

    The daolord of the asura stepped out of his pnquin and respectfully cupped his hands towards Qin Ye, ¡°As promised, Great Sinner Qin Hui has arrived.¡±

 Chapter 505: Hungry Ghost Festival (2)

    <h4>Chapter 505: Hungry Ghost Festival (2)</h4>

    He didn¡¯t move quickly, yet his heart thumped wildly with every step he took.

    Why do things here lookpletely different from what I had in mind?

    Hang on¡­ But if that were indeed the case, then why did you have me personally visit the King Yanluo of Hell? You clearly knew that I was slowly establishing myself in the three eastern provinces, so why didn¡¯t you do a thing about it?

    That said, such level of development is by no means a paltry fledgling civilization that¡¯s stillnguishing in the stone ages! No! This is alreadyparable to the Song Dynasty¡­ and quite possibly even beyond that!

    Despite the fact that he was only being escorted by measly Yin soldiers, the daolord still sped his hands together as a sign of great respect. Meanwhile, Qin Ye closely observed every move he made.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Qin Ye squinted, ¡°A Yin spirit¡¯s personality is highly dependent on his inclinations in life. Qin Hui was a scheming man in life, and it¡¯s clear that he would always have his own interests before others. Sure, he¡¯s like a fish in water when ites to manipting weak and gullible kings, but that¡¯s the situation back in the mortal realm at his time.¡±

    ¡°Tell the escorts to take their time. Meanwhile, send word to Lord Harken to have him be ready to appear at the moment¡¯s notice.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The Harken lowered his headzily before abruptly opening his eyes again, ¡°Do you think Yanluo Qin would actually conscript him?¡±

    Arthis froze, and then her entire body trembled.

    At once, shey prostrate on the ground and worshipped wholeheartedly, ¡°Greetings, Second King Yanluo of Hell! Long live the Second King Yanluo of Hell!!¡±

    His exnation gave Arthis some food for thought. So that¡¯s how it is¡­ From what he¡¯s saying, it would seem that the Second King Yanluo of Hell would only have wreaked havoc in the top four underworld in theherworld. It does make sense. Given his pride, he would never stoop so low to visit the other lesser underworlds. Who knows, perhaps he might not even have visited the nameless god of death in Rus.

    Of course not!

    The Second King Yanluo of Hell continued, ¡°Once Nippon has been ttened, Hell would once again receive the soul of Yue Wumu with open arms. Do you expect Yue Fei to get along with the daolord of the asura? If you had to choose, would you rather have Yue Fei, or Qin Hui?¡±

    ¡°Qin Hui was the one who killed Yue Fei back then. In fact, you can even say that he single handedly caused the downfall of an entire dynasty. The thousands years he¡¯s spent in the depths of the path of the asura would only have amounted to propitiation of his sin of causing the downfall of the Song Dynasty. There¡¯s still the heinous crime of plotting and killing the hero Yue Fei. Let¡¯s see what my sessor decides in this regard.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who wrote his name.¡± The Second King Yanluo of Hell responded unapologetically, ¡°If he¡¯s displeased with the oue, he can take it up with me personally.¡±

    Just then, Arthis gasped once more, because it just dawned on her that Fate was nowhere to be seen this time. ¡°Then¡­¡±

    ¡°And it seems like Qin Hui is the first pawn to make its move on this grand stage called destiny.¡±

    The daolord of the asura followed his escorts and approached the city gate. But before entering the city, he was invited to head up the stairs on the side onto the top of the city walls. The path wasplex and winding, and his gaze slowly grew more and more apprehensive.

    Qin Hui wasn¡¯t too well-informed.

    The defense of this armor is so strong that only Hellguards are able to breach it¡­ and yet all of the Yin soldiers I¡¯ve seen thus far have been equipped with it! The new government of Hell is only supposed to be at its infancy right now! How do they possess the wealth and depth of resources to manufacture these sets of armor with such abundance?!

    He was confused.

    His first impression of the new Hell was that it was only forcibly putting on a facade of strength, and yet¡­ it was only when he made a trip to the new Hell that it dawned upon him how his own Yin soldiers could hardly hold a candle to the mighty forces of Hell!

    And if they¡¯re armed with military formations¡­ there¡¯s simply no way I¡¯d be able to contend with the forces of Hell¡­

    To that end, thanks to Oda Nobunaga¡¯s personal training regime, the experiences gleaned from the Yang n forces, as well as the battle of Qufu, the Yin soldiers located in Ashmound were clearly to be considered elites in their own right.

    I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s no way I¡¯d be able to take Ashmound City as it stands right now - not even if I mustered every single Yin soldier I have stationed across all three eastern provinces.

    ¡°Sir.¡± Just then, the Yin soldier leading the way turned back and cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°The meeting point is just ahead. Please.¡±

    With that, the Yin soldier cupped his hands respectfully and left calmly.

    Why does everything here appear to be running like clockwork, and with such immy?!

    The strength of my army is by no means a match for these Yin soldiers! No¡­ quite apart from the Yin soldiers, just the Harken itself is more than sufficient topletely level my forces!

    I¡¯ve been had...

    Yanluo Qin¡­ His acting skills are top-notch. He must have done everything to lead me on. I¡¯ve been dancing in the palm of his hands all this while!

    The Harken¡­

    An expression of bitter astringency crept onto his lips, and he hung his head low as he walked stiffly up to the city tower.

    With intelligence came the prospect of overthinking matters. Conversely, a simpleton might well havee to apletely different conclusion.

    And then, he nced to the right.

    It was a mess. His ns and his mind were all in a mess.

    He promptly marched over. Meanwhile, Qin Ye had also noticed the approach of the daolord of the asura. As the daolord closed the gap, so did Qin Ye secretly tighten his grip around the spear tip that was tied to his forearm and concealed under his sleeves.

    What have I done? I¡¯d best brace myself for what is toe¡­

    Indeed, Qin Ye did have the intention of giving Qin Hui a rude shock in order to soften him up for submission. But he never expected things to go as smoothly as this.

    I mean¡­ what in the world is going on in his mind?!!

 Chapter 506: Hungry Ghost Festival (3)

    <h4>Chapter 506: Hungry Ghost Festival (3)</h4>

    Perhaps he might have been caught off guard at our first meeting, but he¡¯s undoubtedly extended me an olive branch at our second meeting. But I¡¯ve failed to seize it properly!

    He kowtowed so hard that there were even cracks on the ground, ¡°This sinner¡­ deserves nothing but death! I¡¯ve transgressed against the authority of Hell! But¡­ on ount for the fact that this great sinner may still be useful to Hell, please be merciful to me! I¡¯m willing to do anything for Hell!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The daolord responded with the utmost respect and caution, ¡°Shadow Replica is a concept derived from Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction, and it refers to the phenomenon that whatever appears in theherworld would most certainly appear in the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye froze.

    An intense sensation of fear surged from his spine and filled every fiber of his being, because it finally dawned on him the implications of what he had failed to realize.

    Come to think of it¡­ The implications are indescribably immense! No wonder it¡¯s called one of the two greatws of theherworld!

    ¡°So¡­ Ashmound City¡­ is located right beneath Martial City!¡±

    A wave of chill instantly filled his heart.

    He had failed to consider how the Yin spirits in the mortal realm were going to enter theherworld.

    Tonight is going to be the night of a thousand ghosts! What¡¯s the mortal realm government going to do? How will it affect Hell?

    ¡°My Lord?¡± Having received no response from Qin Ye again, the daolord of the asura prompted him cautiously. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and he immediately responded, ¡°I¡¯ll have Lady Arakshasa show you around for a bit. You may return in an hour and a half.¡±

    Qin Ye watched the daolord¡¯s figure vanish around the corner of the city walls, before clenching his fist tightly and mming it against the city wall.

    His heart was in a mess right now.

    We¡¯re talking about hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits lining up on the national highway. What¡¯s the mortal realm going to do about that? How will this affect the negotiations I¡¯ve got lined up with the mortal realm?

    This is far worse than even the implementation of Hell¡¯s new currency!

    He refused to admit it. He simply refused to admit that this was a result of the dereliction of his own duties!

    Who else is there¡­ who else is there?!

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ Lush Garden Acres in the mortal realm¡­ That must be where Hell¡¯s gate is located! The Yin energy pouring out from within should have alerted me to that fact! We¡¯re talking about the energy of 20 million Yin spirits after all! The allure of suchnd of milk and honey is most certainly going to draw a multitude of Yin spirits towards it¡­¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes in agony and sighed wistfully. The signs were all there, yet he simply didn¡¯t think to address his mind to it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve definitely got to head towards the mortal realm. That¡¯s something I¡¯ve got to do as the King Yanluo of Hell. Incidentally, this is also the best way of increasing Hell¡¯s poption size. That said¡­ how could I possibly leave the daolord of the asura here unattended?!¡±

    ¡°Granted, I can ask Harken to keep an eye out for him, but¡­ that¡¯s about all the Harken can do! It¡¯s currently still severely wounded, and it¡¯s not able to return to Hell. If I allow the daolord of the asura to wander about freely, he¡¯d most probably discover what¡¯s truly going on in Hell. And to that end, he doesn¡¯t simply represent himself, because he¡¯s undoubtedly still in contact with the two other daolords - it¡¯s three Abyssal Prefects we¡¯re talking about! These are the threergest rebel forces that are currently hindering Hell¡¯s remation of the rest of the Cathayan underworld!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll need full control over where he can go, and where he can¡¯t; what he can see, and what he can¡¯t! Nobody knows the intricacies of such an operation better than I. But¡­ how am I supposed to do that when I¡¯ve got to head straight back to the mortal realm right now!!!¡±

    At times like this, the ones he could trust were naturally only those closest to him.

    ¡°Immediately mobilize all troops¡­ We¡¯re deploying to the mortal realm right now!¡± Qin Ye spoke with great urgency as he grabbed Wang Chenghao¡¯s hands, ¡°Have the generals rally the troops! As soon as they¡¯re ready, have them assemble outside the city walls!¡±

    ¡°Just get it done!¡± Qin Ye bellowed back, before shaking his head with resignation, ¡°My intentions have been far too obvious thus far. And now that the daolord is here, I daresay that he¡¯s watching every single one of my moves closely. At a time like this, there¡¯s simply no way I can publicly make an announcement to notify everyone of the exigent situation that has just arisen! The Hungry Ghost Festival¡­ The perfect start to the Hungry Ghost Festival must go on! I can¡¯t let the citizens panic at this moment!¡±

    They were like invisible threads of silk, weaving around and all over Qin Ye¡¯s body, so much so that he suddenly felt bound and restrained. The events this night felt much too coincidental, almost as though it were all scripted and designed to trap him in an inextricable mire.

    ¡°Hang on.¡± Qin Ye added, ¡°Make it a point to notify the ck Armored Troops first. They¡¯re the most adept force Hell has when ites to resisting an onught of Yin spirits! We¡¯re going to see an influx of Yin spirits tonight. I¡¯m afraid that something terrible is going to happen if we leave the mortal realmpletely unguarded. This is a situation that we¡¯ve never experienced before! We¡¯ve got to be prepared for anything!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    ¡°As a Yanluo, you¡¯re clothed with duties and responsibilities, and everything has its causes and effects. Well¡­ I¡¯d ask that you have a good taste of the karma which you¡¯ve sown for yourself¡­¡±

    ¡°This is your duty. The King Yanluo of Hell has to shoulder the heavy burden of billions of Yin spirits while keeping things in bnce.¡±

    Bit by bit, everything was slowlying together to set the stage for the climax. Arthis respectfully got down to a knee, ¡°Mr Lord¡­ Regrettably¡­ I¡¯m afraid that we¡¯ll lose hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits tonight.¡±

    ¡°Historically, Hell has always deployed a multitude of troops to stand guard against any exigencies in the mortal realm. The same situation must be taking ce in the City of Salvation right now, but I¡¯m not too concerned because there¡¯s Oda Nobunaga taking charge there. Conversely, given the sheer size and magnitude of Ashmound City, the gates of Hell that will be appearing in the mortal realm around these parts is going to be absolutely extraordinary. Furthermore, the mortal realm must already be aware that something is brewing on the horizon. The Yin spirits of the entire Eastmount Province must be heading over right now. In fact, the allure of Hell¡¯s gate might even be affecting the Yin spirits of Breakwaters Province. After all¡­ we¡¯re talking about the fragrant allure of the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s on him.¡± The Harken interjected, ¡°I¡¯ve tried to exin to him Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction, but he left in the middle, clearly disinterested in all this. I didn¡¯t even get the chance to tell him about the changes that would affect him. But if he¡¯s not interested in listening, I¡¯m not going to waste my efforts on him.¡±

    ¡°He needs a year, but do we really have that luxury of time?! There¡¯s a multitude of things to be done! Do you know that I was initially hesitant to even assist him with his idea of the amusement park. If not for the fact that it concerned the lives of 20 million Yin spirits, do you really think I¡¯d have relented in the end?!¡±

    ¡°One must always pay the price for their own wrongdoing. That¡¯s how this world has always been.¡± It stared into the skies in the distance, ¡°Look¡­ It¡¯s already begun. The jaunt of a thousand ghosts in Eastmount Province. What a rare sight to behold¡­¡±

 Chapter 507: Hungry Ghost Festival (4)

    <h4>Chapter 507: Hungry Ghost Festival (4)</h4>

    ¡°Alert, alert. Ultra-high Yin energy detected in the city. 10 million¡­ 11 million¡­ 13 million¡­ Warning, Yin energy readings have surpassed 15 million Yin. Evacuation is advised if the situation esctes further¡­¡±

    15 million Yin¡­

    He wasn¡¯t the only one who froze in horror. In fact, practically every other investigator in their office right now stopped what they were doing as they attempted to process the news that they had just heard.

    But he was soon startled to find Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao already standing right outside his door.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic!¡± Zhou Xianlong spoke with a grave expression. Nobody expected such a seemingly ordinary midnight to be no different from a death knell in Martial City. The rift to Hell opened wide like the jaws of death. Dense Yin energy poured out from beneath the surface of the ground, intensifying only as time went by. Everything happened like a bolt out of the blue.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible!¡± One of the investigators seated right in front of a monitor immediately turned back and responded with great anxiety, ¡°The entire city¡­ is in the midst of an outbreak! Take a look¡­¡±

    It wasn¡¯t formed by the ovey of a massive red dot over the map of the city. Rather, it was tainted red due to the convergence of dense red dots that appeared to be popting every single corner of Martial City as a whole!

    At once, Wu Wenqing roared at the top of his voice, ¡°Where¡¯s the backup generator?!!¡±

    ck Bamboo Road, North Misty Road, South Misty Road, National Highway 27, the City Hall, the Poly Centre¡­ Not a single one of them was spared from the fizzle out of footages. Wu Wenqing shut his eyes in despair.

    And one that took ce at midnight marking the start of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

    The entire room fell silent at one. The only sounds that could be heard were the increasingly ragged breaths of the investigators in the room. An unspeakable sense of terror bound their hearts tightly like a boa constrictor, causing them to scream wildly in their minds. It was no different from walking alone in the streets at night, only to sense a third hand gently running across one¡¯s cheeks.

    Suddenly, the rm sounded again, ¡°The backup generators have encountered an unknown failure. Forced start-up has been activated. Time remaining: one minute. The city¡¯s power map is disyed on all screens. Kindlyply with the government¡¯s instructions and prepare to evacuate¡­¡±

    This time, it was a map of Martial City¡¯s power lines.

    Bzzt¡­ Theputer screens went out in an instant. Meanwhile, a mechanical voice reported through the public broadcasting system, ¡°Yin energy readings have officially exceeded 20 million Yin. This is the fourth highest recorded eruption of Yin energy in Cathay¡¯s history. City-wide evacuation rmended. The Vault of the Sky system has now entered a dormant state¡­¡±

    What in the world is going on here in Martial City? Is this happening in other cities as well? Is every other city out there facing the same problem?

    ¡°Sir¡­ we¡¯re unable to pinpoint an epicenter to the outbreak!¡± One of the investigators working on hisptop typed rapidly, before soon revealing a bitter expression on his face, ¡°Martial City has already begun to show signs of Yin-Yang Symbiosis. Without the Vault of the Sky in operation, it¡¯s simply impossible to pinpoint the source of the supernatural outbreak! Even the main frame has been forcibly shut down as a result of the city-wide ckout!¡±

    It was a sword.

    It was incredibly old, with countless seals and runic symbols affixed to it. Only a small part of the de was exposed at this very moment, and yet it revealed countless images that flickered by, before it finally paused on a single image.

    Zhou Xianlong heaved a sigh of relief as he respectfully cupped his hands towards the person holding the sword in the darkness. Then, he turned around and addressed the rest of the investigators waiting for orders, ¡°All Hunter-ss investigators and above are to follow me to the Lush Garden Acres. All investigators lower than the rank of Hunters are to be deployed throughout the city to protect its citizens as much as possible! Stay vignt! All who retreat without reason shall be court-martialed as deserters!¡±

    At once, there was a mad scramble of footsteps as the rest of the investigators took to their tasks. Zhou Xianlong stepped forward and set his hand on the handle of the main door to the city hall. He pushed hard¡­ only to realize that it didn¡¯t budge in the slightest!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Mo Changhao walked over. He was just about to reach out for the handle when everyone suddenly took a step back in unison, almost as though they had just been manipted by a master puppeteer.

    ¡°Who might you--...¡± ¡°Shh--.¡±

    The room instantly fell silent, and every single investigator pricked up their ears. And that was when they heard¡­ rustle, rustle¡­ It was the sound of someone sweeping the floor.

    This would at any other time have been an incredibly ordinary sound.

    Who¡¯s there? Who¡¯s sweeping the floor on the midnight of the Hungry Ghost Festival, right in front of the floor-to-ceiling ss panels?

    Gulp¡­ The investigators inside city hall gulped nervously.

    ¡°Shut up.¡± The man standing in front of the door reached his hand out and ced it right on top of a panel of ss.

    They were dressed in all kinds of clothes and standing at the entrance--... Or perhaps it would be more urate to say that they were floating at the entrance, because not a single one of them had their feet touching the ground right now!

    They came in all shapes and sizes, whether young or old, male or female. Yet the one feature that they all shared was the fact that their eyes were zing with two spots of jade-greenhermes, and the fact that their bodies were covered with dark purple livor mortis spots!

    In other words, arge group of corpses had at some point already gathered around the entrance to the city hall, obstructing any of their way out!

    The silver lining was the fact that the ones gathered in the city hall were all courageous and bold investigators. Anyone else would have fainted from fear by now!

    As he spoke, the front door to the city hall exploded into smithereens, and the cloaked old man stepped out boldly. Momentster, dozens of talismans appeared from nowhere and began to fold themselves into paper cranes, before falling into each person¡¯s hands.

    Everything¡­ had changed.

    But this was nothing like the greenish wisps of Yin energy they were more ustomed to. Rather, it appearedpletely ck in colour, almost as though a tank of pure Yin energy had exploded and contaminated the entire city.

    It was delicate and beautiful; demonic and moving.

    After all, it was only in Hell that one could see such solitary red spider lilies instead of several of them blooming in a bed of flowers. Legend has it that every red spider lily that bloomed represented an aggrieved soul that was dying to enter Hell but unable to do so. And in this moment¡­ they could clearly see that the number of such flowers peeking out of the dense fog of Yin energy¡­ was clearly in the thousands!

    What was truly terrifying was the fact that the Yin spirits were all toting a whitentern that was lit with a scarletherme within. And one by one, in an incredibly orderly fashion, the Yin spirits were all hovering in ce with their feet just off the round, waiting patiently for the hearse of Hell to receive them with open arms.

    This was clearly the sign of the jaunt of a thousand ghosts!

    <hr>

    1. For those who need pictorial reference -

 Chapter 508: Jaunt of a Thousand Ghosts (1)

    <h4>Chapter 508: Jaunt of a Thousand Ghosts (1)</h4>

    Boom! The ss door shattered. He pulled out a handful of talismans and tossed it into the air casually. At once, the talismans spread out and adhered themselves to the bodies of the investigators like homing devices. Momentster, the investigators soon discovered that¡­ they could actually see properly!

    Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao took the lead, while the rest of the investigators soon mustered every bit of courage within them and followed suit.

    It was almost as though an entourage of the living had entered an immeasurablyrge morgue the size of a city, or as though they were walking amidst the abysses of Hell. The entire city was dark, and the silence was horrific.

    The further they went, the more gulping sounds they heard, and the more they were kept on their toes. Everyone subconsciously tightened their grip around their weapons and artifacts. None dared speak a single word for fear of leaking Yang energy into the surroundings. It was almost as though they were treading a high wire as they went from cliff to cliff. It was almost as though the slightest peep of sound they made would cause the wire to snap and all of them to fall straight into the abyss below.

    Lin Han nodded at Su Feng, and then raised his chin slightly to the front - Who¡¯s that? How is he actually suppressing the movements of thousands of ghosts?

    Finally, they marched out of the governmental district, and it was right there and then that the cloaked old man suddenly paused and raised his hand.

    There was only a single chime.

    A momentter, there was suddenly the sound of a soft ¡°click¡± behind them.

    Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t bring any sense of relief at all, because it was lit¡­ withherme!

    Oooooooo¡­ A ghastly cry resounded throughout the entire city. This wasn¡¯t the voice of a single ghost. Rather, it was the cry of thousands of ghosts all at once, almost as though it were a chorus of wails, moans,ughter and curses alike. Just then, every Yin spirit in sight began to move.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± One of the investigators finally couldn¡¯t resist the urge to speak up, ¡°This is exactly the same as our records of how the legendary gates of Hell would open up--¡­¡±

    It was because countless Yin spirits had turned their heads back to him¡­ and even stopped drifting forward.

    Gulp¡­ The investigators subconsciously huddled closer together. Meanwhile, the Yin spirits around them stared menacingly at them with ragged breaths. Their pale faces were stiff andpletely devoid of any emotion, and yet¡­ their gazes resembled that of a hungry man staring at food. At once, an electrifying sensation filled the minds of every single investigator in the entourage!

    ¡°The contemporary owner of the Sword of the Yellow Emperor humbly greets the Emissaries of Hell.¡± His cloak was shredded into pieces at once, revealing a fine ancient robe as he boomed with a majestic voice that filled the entire city, ¡°Emissaries of Hell are invisible to all humans weaker than an Abyssal Prefect. Hell hasn¡¯t interfered with the affairs of Man for a century now, yet it has clearly seen it fit to open the gates of Hell on this very night once more. Might I be so bold as to pay my respects to Hell?¡±

    There were only the distant cries of Yin spirits brought over by a frigid stream ofhergale.

    ¡°You refuse my request?¡± He didn¡¯t seem to mind theck of a response. That said, his robe suddenly drifted up slightly, and he chuckled hoarsely, ¡°Yin and Yang are but two sides of the same coin. We¡¯re facing a multitude of problems here in the mortal realm. Since you¡¯re not willing toe meet me, then I¡¯ll make my way to where you are¡­¡±

    ¡°Remember to keep your emotions under control. This is the first jaunt of a thousand ghosts in a hundred years, and the gates of Hell are about to open¡­ I won¡¯t be able to help you if you leak too much Yang energy.¡±

    The investigators on the ground, whether Operatives or Hunters, or even Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao, couldn¡¯t help but freeze in ce as they stared at the stifling darkness ahead.

    It was like a bolt out of the blue!

    The legendary gates of Hell had finally opened!

    The gates of Hell hadn¡¯t opened for a hundred years, and yet, tonight, it was actually opening up right here in Martial City!

    Does this mean that¡­ things are going to take a turn for the better from now on?

    Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao also remained frozen in ce. Neither of them had expected such an earth-shattering turn of events to ur off the cuff of the Hungry Ghost Festival. The sound of ragged breaths all around were borne out of excitement at the prospects of what this could potentially mean for them. Zhou Xianlong was the first to react to the situation. He nced at everyone, and then muttered softly through gritted teeth, ¡°Silence!!¡±

    And they knew it was borne out of the fact that they were able to personally witness this incredible phenomenon for the first time in a hundred years.

    Mo Changhao closed his eyes and spoke softly, ¡°Everyone is toply strictly with Deputy Director Zhou¡¯smands. All who fail to do so shall be court-martialed!¡±

    ¡°Do you hear me?!¡±

    Instead, they did what they knew best - they saluted to the call of duty with the utmost respect.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say a word. Don¡¯t even nod or shake your head. I¡¯ve already told the headquarters to ry information on the Yin energy indicators to us. You¡¯re responsible for getting in contact with Qin Ye tonight. As soon as he responds, notify me immediately!¡±

    Lin Han¡¯s eyes widened.

    His phone record has revealed that he was not currently in any service area. He wasn¡¯t home either, but the surveince cameras in the vicinity didn¡¯t reveal any signs of anyone leaving his apartment either. It was almost as though he had just vanished without a trace.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way this can be a mere coincidence. How could it be that a situation involving a powerful Yin spirit would ur wherever he goes? And then, there¡¯s still his rendezvous with the evil ghost, and the appearance of the Abyssal Prefect in Azurewaters City, and now¡­ the jaunt of a thousand ghosts during the Hungry Ghost Festival. It¡¯s too much to be a mere coincidence¡­ it¡¯s simply too much!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an irond rule that Yin and Yang never coexist.¡± Zhou Xianlong responded indifferently, ¡°He cannot possibly be an Emissary of Hell. I believe he¡¯s simply a person who knows a little bit more of the truth than others. We won¡¯t kill him, but we must force the truth from his lips. Anything we learn from him would be of great help to the situation in Cathay. In any event, we¡¯re simply carrying out orders. Besides, taking a step back, even if he¡¯s indeed an Emissary of Hell, dealing with him would be something left to the purview of those above us.¡±

    Just then, the canopy of the skies suddenly erupted with a tremendous buzzing noise!

    A ring of pitch-ck waves rippled through the air like the aftershocks of a nuclear explosion, sweeping across the entire Martial City in an instant. Wherever it passed, the Yin spirits wouldy prostrate to the ground and bow towards its direction in reverent worship.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the direction of the Lush Garden Acres!¡± Mo Changhao gasped and rushed over at full speed.

    And the Lush Garden Acres was located right at the center of this pir!

 Chapter 509: Jaunt of a Thousand Ghosts (2)

    <h4>Chapter 509: Jaunt of a Thousand Ghosts (2)</h4>

    ¡°T-the preparations a-areplete!¡± Wang Chenghao gaped for breath as he reported back. But before he could even finish speaking, Qin Ye vanished in a cloud of Yin energy and leapt straight down from the top of the city tower.

    That said, he did leave something behind.

    ¡°Hang on to that. If anyone disobeys orders, kill them without mercy!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s parting words boomed in Wang Chenghao¡¯s ears.

    Boom! Qin Yended right in front of the city walls, where thousands of Yin soldiers were already waiting for him. The ck Armored Troops stood at the very front of the formation, dark and imposing. As soon as Qin Ye descended from the skies, the leader of the troops immediately cupped his hands and greeted respectfully, ¡°King Yanluo, the 8,000 Yin soldiers of Hell have assembled, and we humbly await Your Excellency''s instructions.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth, ¡°Gentlemen, I¡¯ve got news. The gates of Hell are opening in the mortal realm, and tens of thousands of Yin spirits are currently swarming towards Martial City from all directions. I¡¯ll need everyone toe with me to the mortal realm to deal with the situation.¡±

    Qin Ye furrowed his brows. Why does everything seem to be an issue today? What should we do? How should I know?!

    Neither Arthis nor the Harken had responded to his cries for help. The daolord of the asura might know a thing or two, but Qin Ye would never ask him about something as sensitive as this, even if it meant losing a million Yin spirits back in the mortal realm.

    He noticed two figures drifting towards him from the distance. It was Arthis and the daolord of the asura.

    Yet Arthis simply nced at him cidly, ¡°You¡¯re the King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s always been the practice for Hell to open the gates of Hell during the three major ghost festivals. Why didn¡¯t it ur to you this time? Or should I say¡­ has it never urred to you before?¡±

    Arthis grew silent. After a long time, she finally responded, ¡°You don¡¯t need to guide them at all. From the gates of Hell diffuses the Yin energy of Hell. All who detect its presence will naturally be drawn towards it. After all, high-quality Yin energy is like a godsend to them. There¡¯s simply no way these Yin spirits would be able to resist its allure.¡±

    Her exnations eased up the tension in Qin Ye¡¯s heart. He sighed softly with relief, ¡°Do me a favour.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take the daolord of the asura to the gates of Hell.¡±

    ¡°No! I¡¯d feel even more insecure leaving him here in Hell!¡± Qin Ye replied resolutely, ¡°I¡¯ll just have him stand right at the gates of Hell and not take a step from it! Only by doing so would I feel assured!¡±

    Arthis was just about to say something when she suddenly pulled back. Then, she simply stared Qin Ye in the eyes, ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    Arthis smile, ¡°Alright.¡±

    Because you might not even get the chance for regret!

    ¡°For Hell¡¯s glory!!¡± The cries of the Yin soldiers resounded in unison.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha stood at the top of the building, carefully scanning the sea of Yin spirits below. Lee Jung-sook was sandwiched right between the two evil ghosts.

    Those who straddle both realms are entities rejected by both realms just as much as they are epted in the same.

    ¡°Do you sense it? This is the transition between the Yin and the Yang. Get ready. Hell¡¯s gate will be opening in just half an hour¡¯s time.¡±

    ck Yaksha¡¯s expression was equally grave and somber, ¡°That¡¯s right. Logically speaking, we should already be seeing Yin soldiers patrolling the area. All we were supposed to do was to grab their leader and escape at once. It was part of the escape n to trigger a riot among the Yin spirits here in Azurewaters City. That will keep their hands full and away from their pursuit of us. After all, the Hungry Ghost Festivals have been celebrated for a long time now, and Hell would never send out any Emissaries stronger than Judges. The odds of escape are reasonably high--¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A terrifyinghergale picked up out of nowhere, sending their clothes fluttering all about. At once, a chilling sensation permeated every fiber of their beings.

    At once, countless images flickered past Crow Tengu¡¯s mind, until it finally paused on the ruins of what appeared to be a construction site. There, he saw a huge pit spanning 10,000 square meters from which dense Yin energy was spewing out, cutting through the inteced steel rebars above like tofu.

    ¡°Hoo¡­ It¡¯s not happening in Azurewaters City!¡± Crow Tengu stood up abruptly, ¡°Hoo¡­ It¡¯s happening in Martial City!!¡±

    The Buddhistmp was still lit right now, and it emitted a deep green aura of lustre about it, almost as though it had imprisoned within it countless aggrieved souls. ck Yaksha quickly flew into action, making a series of quick hand seals before sping his hands together. Within moments, their movement speed surged well beyond that of the speed of sound, and they left afterimages in the wake of their path of travel!

    Neither said a word. Lee Jung-sook curled up into a ball, shielding herself from the terrifying wind resistance as they continued to fly at top speed. Soon, arge city appeared on the horizon.

    Whoosh¡­ Both Nipponese Emissaries screeched to a halt as they stared at the city with an immeasurably grave expression.

    They didn¡¯t have the answers.

    ¡°Crow Tengu¡­¡± There was a tremor in ck Yaksha¡¯s voice, ¡°We¡¯re soon going to face off against the Emissaries of Hell. Are you afraid?¡±

    Fwoosh!! Just then, a ck glow erupted from the ground, so conspicuous that even Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha could see them from miles away.

    The Emissaries of Hell had finally arrived!

    BOOM!! A geyser of Yin energy shot straight into the sky, before promptly scattering into the surroundings and pouring right back down onto the ground like a shower of rain. However, what descended was nothing like rain. Rather, they were the silhouettes of imposing figures that appeared no different from deities in their own right.

    He had never expected a situation like this to ur in the mortal realm during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

    These were Yin spirits of an entire city! There were easily more than a hundred thousand of them! Thenterns set down beside them lit up thework of paths and streets in the entire city, filling it with an eerie green hue!

    It was a magnificent sight. Every corner of the city was pale and bleak, while the darkness of the peripheries appeared to blend into the darkness across the horizon.

    The bottomless abyss was right beneath their feet, but the intecing steel rebars that used to be situated right over the pit hadpletely vanished without a trace.

    The wheels of Fate had caused everything toe together.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye could tell that this clearly wasn¡¯t the time to mull over these things.

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    Who¡¯s¡­ watching me?

    That wasn¡¯t an illusion¡­

    That gaze had triggered the most primal fight-or-flight response in Qin Ye¡¯s body. He was absolutely certain that someone was out there, watching his every move!

 Chapter 510: Jaunt of a Thousand Ghosts (3)

    <h4>Chapter 510: Jaunt of a Thousand Ghosts (3)</h4>

    Who was it?

    Was it really an illusion?

    He shook his head to dispel these thoughts in his mind. Even then, he found himself unable to shake off that niggling feeling at the back of his heart. And then, he furrowed his brows once more.

    And it¡¯s stirring greatly.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Is this an illusion?¡± His mind was on fire. Everything had been done in haste, and hasty decisions were never good decisions. He fervently suppressed the anxiety that was brewing in his heart as he delved deeper into the consciousness of the Yin spirits in the vortices.

    Evil ghosts¡­

    Thousands of evil ghosts¡­ were being born right now!

    Ahergale swept past and Arthis soon coalesced right by his side, ¡°The gates of Hell are open. The attraction I was talking about is a natural, primal response to the Yin energy that pours out from within. The three major ghost festivals are when the separation between realms are the weakest, and countless beings of theherworld ride on this opportunity to return to Hell. That said, these are also times when the pure and dense Yin energy of Hell permeate the mortal realm, feeding the Yin spirits around and causing many to awaken and develop spiritual intelligence.¡±

    Qin Ye massaged his throbbing temples - Instincts. Damn them and their stupid instincts! The jaunt of a thousand ghosts may mean the influx of Yin spirits to Martial City, but it also means a greater number of evil ghosts taking shape! I¡¯ve been too poorly prepared for a situation like this¡­ But¡­ who can I me?

    His perspective of things was slowly transforming and taking shape in the face of the harsh realities of the world.

    He turned to the daolord of the asura, only to be greeted by a ttering smile. ¡°Stay right there.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Arthis whispered back softly.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t ever forget who it was who allowed this all to pan out in the first ce!¡± Arthis retorted with incisive words spoken from the moral high ground, ¡°It¡¯s been two months since you¡¯ve taken Ashmound! Had your heart and mind been more focused on the matters in Hell, do you think we wouldn¡¯t have warned you about these things toe?!¡±

    ¡°Do you think you can continue to manage Ashmound City just like you¡¯ve governed the City of Salvation? That¡¯s wishful thinking! Has it finally gone through that thick skull of yours that Hell and the mortal realm arepletely different ces?!!¡±

    At once, there was a tense silence. But, just then¡­ the entire city turned red.

    Whoosh¡­ All at once, hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits looked over towards Qin Ye, and not even he could help but feel a chill run down his spine.

    ¡°One of the other irond rules of Hell.¡± Arthis stared at the sky as she exined, ¡°All Yin spirits would naturally be attracted to Yin spirits of a higher order.¡±

    All that remained were deep, ragged breaths that rustled softly in this kingdom of the dead.

    She nced to the rest of the city, ¡°They would simply swarm over - eager to devour, or be devoured.¡±

    At once, the previously prostrated Yin spirits mbered back to their feet like maddened spirits, shrieking at the top of their voices and rushing right over like a furious tide, eager to consume all in its path.

    It was a chilling sight.

    His mind went nk in an instant. He no longer asked Arthis why she hadn¡¯t told him about all these things. Instead, he simply nced about in all directions, watching vacantly as thehermes around him poured directly towards him.

    He didn¡¯t know that the gates of hell were going to be open tonight. His preparations were made in haste, and he didn¡¯t even have time to properly muster the Yin energy from the Book of Life and Death. Then, as the gates of Hell opened, the Yin energy that poured out drew to it all Yin spirits, and even triggered the development of spiritual intelligence in some.

    The six paths of reincarnation¡­ ording to legends, the six paths were formed out of the body of Goddess Mother Earth¡­

    How could they not go wild in the face of such temptation?

    Qin Ye finally realized his mistake. With a great shudder, he immediately turned back and bellowed at the daolord, ¡°Get back down to Hell right now!!¡±

    ¡°Right now! Head back to Hell immediately!¡± Qin Ye drew a deep breath - No¡­ you cannot lose your cool! If the daolord of the asura discovers that the Hungry Ghost Festival isn¡¯t being handled as well as he thought, his subdued attitude might take a turn for the worse.

    The invisible threads that were spread all around him had finallye together, binding him up so tightly that he could barely breathe.

    The wheels of Fate would always give rise to results.

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The daolord of the asura responded. Then his lips parted slightly, almost as though he were saying something.

    RUMBLE!!! An earth-shattering sound rumbled from the abyss beneath the daolord¡¯s feet. In that instant, the pit had already expanded to tens of thousands of meters wide, swallowing up the countless streets and parks around it. Soon after, a monstrous pir of Yin energy erupted from behind the daolord of the asura, sending his clothes and hair scattering everywhere.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡± Arthis muttered softly under her breath, ¡°The gates of Hell have finally surfaced.¡±

    It was a statue of himself.

    The base of the statue was etched with a few words - ¡®King Yanluo of Hell, Qin Ye¡¯.

    Is something like this also surfacing in the other Cathayan cities?

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to ponder over these things. With a great rumble, the building continued to rise higher and higher into the sky! Whaty right beneath the statue was an ancient-looking ceremonial door. The height of the ceremonial door wasn¡¯t yet visible, but anyone could tell that the width of the ceremonial door was already thousands of meters wide.

    Rumble¡­ The rise of the buildingsted ten full minutes, until finally, a massive door appeared right in front of Qin Ye¡¯s eyes.

    The rednterns swung hanging on the sides of the doorway swayed with the wind, depicting the words of a pair of couplets.

    The second couplet read: And the wicked with trepidation.

    The three major ghost festivals marked the appearance of Hell¡¯s gate where Yin spirits roaming the mortal realm could finally make it to Hell. Qin Ye stared vacantly at the massive door before him. Just then, there was a soft click.

    Oooooooo¡­ A faint moan of ghosts emanated from within. Even then, what took Qin Ye by surprise was the fact that it wasn¡¯t Ashmound City that appeared in the doorway. Instead, they were¡­ hands!

    It was almost as though anyone who drew too close to the entrance would find themselves forcibly dragged down to the pits of Hell.

    To make matters worse, there was clearly a wave of Yin spirits that were rushing straight towards him like a rapid river!

    In that instant, Qin Ye felt immeasurably helpless.

    Was I¡­ truly abdicating from my duties and responsibilities?

    ¡°Hoo¡­ What a coincidence¡­¡± Just then, a hoarse voice cut through the tense silence of the night, jolting Qin Ye right back to his senses.

    Strong¡­

    They¡¯re definitely stronger than Arthis! In fact, they¡¯re probably not far off from Liu Yu¡¯s strength. Furthermore¡­ they¡¯re wearing a Nipponese uniform, which means that they¡¯re extraterritorial emissaries! There¡¯s no way I¡¯d be able to instakill these Yin spirits!

    There was only Arthis around.

    The other 8,000 Yin soldiers¡­ had already been deployed to various other parts of the city.

 Chapter 511: The Vortex of Fate (1)

    <h4>Chapter 511: The Vortex of Fate (1)</h4>

    It was the perfect target. Infernal Judges were by no means the bottom of the hierarchy in Hell, and there was no way that Judges wouldn¡¯t be in the slightest bit unaware of the reasons for a change in dynasty. That said, they weren¡¯t considered the top officials of Hell either. Hell might not necessarily react swiftly even if an Infernal Judge were captured from them.

    ck Yaksha and Crow Tengu could sense the existence of thousands of Yin soldiers scattered throughout the entire city, yet not a single one of them was by the Infernal Judge¡¯s side right now!

    Her infuriated cry was like a massive boulder that shattered the otherwise tranquil surface of ake. At once, a massive wave surged in the wake of her cry!

    ¡°Hah!!!¡± Yin energy erupted once more as she unleashed the might of the Dance of the Heavenly Wheel. Two brilliant rings of light burst forth from the wheel like deadly des, carving deep cracks in the ground wherever it passed. Even the trees in the vicinity were sliced into pieces with immacte, clean cuts. Likewise, the buildings and street lights around instantly copsed to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris.

    Arthis¡¯ eyes turned bloodshot. She promptly turned towards Qin Ye, intending to rush to his aid. However, she stopped after a single step, and instead drew upon every bit of Yin energy in her body.

    The two Nipponese emissaries knew full well the stakes in these operations. They had to move swiftly and decisively, and there was simply no room for reservation!

    Arthis gasped deeply. With a grave expression, her hands flew into action, forming a series of hand seals as quickly as she could. And then, there was an earth-shattering bang.

    Everything on the streets in a twenty meter radiuspletely disintegrated. The trees, buildings and streetmps which had earlier been sliced into pieces by Arthis were crumbled to dust in an instant, before being sent scattering away in a shockwave of dust and debris several meters tall.

    Even then, his eyes were hardly rxed at all. Crow Tengu¡¯s golden pupils darted here and there, scanning his surroundings vigntly, while his body was hunched and poised to strike. Just then, the shadow beneath his feet suddenly shifted, stretching tens of meters in an instant, before rising from the ground and lurching straight towards Crow Tengu¡¯s jugrs.

    ng ng ng!! The sound of shing iron resonated incessantly as the two mighty ghosts traded blows. As soon as he detected the opening strike of the shadow on the ground, Crow Tengu concealed his entire being with his glorious winds, repelling every single attack with a soft ng. Five secondster, with a furious whistle, Crow Tengu opened his wings abruptly, unleashing a shockwave of Yin energy that swept thousands of meters in all directions. Meanwhile, a five-meter tall monster rose from the darkness that was earlier concealed by the feathers.

    Before he could even finish, the shadows around him promptly converged into a massive ball that was hundreds of meters in circumference. Within moments, blood-red cracks appeared on the ball of shadow, followed by the appearance of bloodshot eyes that were all trained onto Crow Tengu.

    ¡°You¡¯re getting desperate, aren¡¯t you?¡± Crow Tengu¡¯s feathers ruffled up, and his ws dug deeper into the ground below. A split secondter, his entire body erupted intohermes, and he swiftly rushed towards the ball of shadow like a terrifying meteor!

    Meanwhile, Arthis spread her arms almost as though she were embracing a blood moon. At once, a scarlet light erupted from the bloodshot eyes, pouring forth in all directions like a tide of blood washing straight into the oceans!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ck Yaksha.

    Liu Yu aside, perhaps not even Zhou Yu, Ma Fubo and the other envoys of Hell would be a match for the Nipponese emissary standing right before his eyes!

    Then, just as he was about tounch a preemptive strike against ck Yaksha, he was suddenly dismayed to find that his opponent was no longer standing right where he was!

    He swung his spear back with all his might. The air roared with the sound of sonic booms. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t feel the tactile sensation of striking something. Instead, he only felt the tip of his spear being depressed slightly. He turned around at once, motioning to retract hisnce, only to witness a sight that caused his heart to sink.

    Countless human faces, including those of men and women, old and young alike, rushed out from these cracks. Meanwhile, hundreds of hands rushed out from the cracks on his back just like a thousand handed goddess of mercy.

    ¡°Come¡­ with us¡­¡± The faces emerging from the body cried out with twisted expressions, ¡°Do you agree, or do you not?!!¡±

    Without hesitation, he forcibly stopped his attack and bowed back as he retreated. Meanwhile, his Zhong Kui hat shattered into pieces as dozens of hands swept past where he was just an instant ago.

    How powerful¡­ He¡¯s far more powerful than I¡¯d expected him to be!

    He¡¯s trying to reduce my being to nothing more than a soul before forcibly capturing me¡­ Qin Ye finally understood what ck Yaksha was trying to do. With gritted teeth, Qin Ye unleashed a flurry of attacks to repel ck Yaksha ws of darkness.

    ng ng ng!!! Qin Ye parried a series of strikes. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t a Yin spirit adept atbat. After just ten seconds, he backed off with a muffled groan. Countless cracks had already begun to appear in his armor formed by the Book of Life and Death, while his breastte was already on the verge of breaking down.

    I can¡¯t allow things to drag on any longer!

    ¡°Damn it¡­ And just when I¡¯d instructed the daolord of the asura to back off as well! Otherwise¡­ do you really think you¡¯d be able to act so arrogantly in front of me right now?!¡± Qin Ye red intently at ck Yaksha. Needless to say, this monster had opened his eyes to a whole new level of oppressiveness,bat experience and techniques altogether! The only thing Qin Ye could do right now was to fight for his own life!

    Time seemed to freeze in that very instant.

    It was as though a wave of stifling silence and terror had just washed over his body.

    His heart screamed in terror and fear. An electrifying sensation filled every fiber of his being. His clothes were blown back by the gust of wind that came together with ck Yaksha¡¯s swift approach. Right now, he was only half a meter away from Qin Ye, and already stretching his ws out towards Qin Ye¡¯s jugr!

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± ck Yaksha turned around, only to see a plump man dressed in ancient armor standing right behind him with arge sac beneath his throat and his mouth wide open!

    Voyage of Ten Thousand Ghosts - Spatial Spirit!

    SSSS!!!

    He was now certain of one thing.

    Otherwise, there¡¯s simply no way he would be granted the protection of this many special Yin spirits!

 Chapter 512: The Vortex of Fate (2)

    <h4>Chapter 512: The Vortex of Fate (2)</h4>

    These were goldenhermes that were easily a hundred meters high, and extended well into the distance. It even engulfed the entire gate of Hell. Qin Ye stood right in the heart of this sea of mes, basking in the glory of the golden mes. The spear in his hand had vanishedpletely, yet what was clear was that there was now a bizarre infant sitting atop his shoulder.

    This was Qin Ye¡¯s de release!

    RUMBLE!!! It was an earth-shattering sound. Dust and debris were scattered everywhere, while countless grooves and cracks appeared in the ground all around. The terrifying rumble of sonic booms pierced through the air. As soon as Qin Ye unleashed this heaven-defying strike, he, too, turned tail and ran.

    So long as I can jump down, I¡¯d be able to escape into Hell. And if they dare to follow me down into the pits of Hell, I¡¯m pretty sure the Harken would immediately move into action and teach him a thing or two about the might and majesty of Hell!

    The pit was but a thousand meters away. Given the speed of an Infernal Judge, it was a distance that only required a few seconds. 700 meters¡­ 300 meters¡­ He could already see the gates of Hell right in front of his eyes. It had remainedpletely intact despite the mighty sh between four Infernal Judges. He knew that he would be safe so long as he leapt straight through the door.

    1 meter!

    The bottomless abyss was right in front of his eyes.

    Damn it!!!

    ck Yaksha¡¯s body was now covered with wounds, including puncture wounds from which wisps of Yin energy poured out endlessly. However, ck Yaksha didn¡¯t even seem to mind these in the slightest. Instead, he gasped raggedly as he supported an ancient mirror that hovered right in front of him.

    RUN!

    But¡­ where am I supposed to go?

    There¡¯s no way ck Yaksha is going to relent, especially after what I¡¯ve done. He¡¯s definitely after my life!

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes darted about rapidly, desperately seeking a hiding ce that could buy him just five seconds of time. So long as he had that window of time, he would be able to activate the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal and return to Hell. There, he would have his homeground advantage. Unfortunately¡­

    There was nothing but wreckage and ruin around him. Apart from that, he could tell from the sound of Arthis¡¯ duel that she had her hands full as well. There was simply nothing that he could use to buy himself the time he needed!

    With that, ck Yaksha picked up the mirror and pointed it directly at Qin Ye.

    The ancient mirror appearedpletely ordinary.

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± He gasped in horror and immediately opened his eyes, only to witness his own shadow being sucked into the heart of the mirror!

    That¡¯s my soul¡­

    ck Yaksha hadn¡¯t given him the luxury of even five seconds to escape to the pits of Hell.

    Almost as though he¡¯d discovered something startling, ck Yaksha turned back to look at the mirror with an incredulous expression, ¡°Shadow¡­ The thing that was captured was your shadow?! You¡¯ve got a shadow?!¡±

    ¡°Are you a living Emissary of Hell?!¡±

    ¡°The living¡­ wouldst no more than dozens of seconds. To think that I¡¯d actually managed to nab us such a priceless target this time¡­¡±

    Qin Ye froze.

    ck Yaksha also froze.

    It was the sound of a gun being cocked.

    They had all¡­ forgotten about the existence of a person.

    ck Yaksha¡¯s pupils instantly narrowed, and his hair immediately stood on end. But before he could even say a word, his head jerked forward slightly.

    Just then, a female voice spoke from behind ck Yaksha¡¯s back, ¡°Smith & Wesson Model 500 firing the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum cartridges. It generates a muzzle energy of over 3,030 foot-pounds force, more than twice that of the renowned Desert Eagle. These bullets are loaded with the ashes of the monks of Mount Koya. Even I only have two such bullets with me.¡± It was none other than Lee Jung-sook from the basket formed entirely out of ck Yaksha¡¯s hair.

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped,pletely astounded by the sheer audacity of her actions. ck Yaksha raised his hands, and his body trembled wildly. At once, he ceased channeling his Yin energy into the Eight-Foot Mirror, and Qin Ye¡¯s image inside the mirror promptly faded away.

    BANG!! BANG!!

    ¡°You¡¯re Qin Ye?¡± The hair binding up Lee Jung-sook in the basket promptly fell away, and she jumped down to the ground, ¡°You¡¯re not worthy of me at all.¡±

    As she spoke, Qin Ye suddenly gasped. Lee Jung-sook froze for a moment, and then rolled to the side without any hesitation.

    BOOM! Just then, a terrifying source of Yin energy erupted from Qin Ye¡¯s left, and Crow Tengu rushed over like a bolt of lightning, ¡°Hoo¡­ What happened?!¡±

    Yet, ck Yaksha didn¡¯t look at him in the slightest bit. Instead, he kept his eyes dead on Lee Jung-sook. A split secondter, he vanished with a sharp whistle, and appeared right behind Lee Jung-sook.

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips parted, but he wasn¡¯t able to say a single word.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been patient with you time and time again¡­ but do you really think that we wouldn¡¯t dare to kill you?!¡± He plunged his w straight into Lee Jung-sook¡¯s back and right through her chest.

    Are you dead?

    You¡¯re a woman who has lived for seven lifetimes¡­ How are you unable to put up any resistance in the slightest? How can you be dead?

    He subconsciously reached out as he watched Lee Jung-sook¡¯s body turn into wisps of Yin energy. And then, he suddenly froze and did a double take at the sight.

    At once, he jolted right back to his senses, only to discover¡­

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s corpse had simply dissipated into a cloud of Yin energy without a single trace of blood!

    Spirit of a brush¡­

    Things had happened so quickly that none of them were able to react to the situation.

    ¡°Worthless!!!¡± The white hair of his body stood on end, ¡°Didn¡¯t you kill Lee Jung-sook¡¯s guardian spirit back then?!¡±

    ¡°That day¡­ time was too tight¡­ hoo¡­ and I didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to do it¡­¡±

    ¡°Look!!! Look at what''s going on here!!¡± He lifted Crow Tengu straight towards Hell¡¯s gate.

    The tide ofntern-toting Yin spirits in Martial City were currently only a thousand meters away from Hell¡¯s gate!

 Chapter 513: The Vortex of Fate (3)

    <h4>Chapter 513: The Vortex of Fate (3)</h4>

    However, the Yin spirits still had a handle of hisst known location.

    It was like the arrival of crashing waves!

    Lee Jung-sook¡­ How ruthless. To think that she would bide her time for an opportunity with such patience until that very instant when ck Yaksha¡¯s mind waspletely distracted. ck Yaksha must have been astounded by the fact that I was a living Emissary of Hell, and subconsciously let his guard down in that very instant. It was also at that time that she held up her pistols to ck Yaksha¡¯s head.

    Well done! Qin Ye smiled radiantly. Everything began to turn illusory, and a hellishhergale began to swirl about him.

    After ten arduous minutes of intense pursuit, he had finally caught the breathing room required to slip back to Hell.

    Back in Limbo, where the Harken was.

    Bit by bit, it wrote the script for the convergence of coincidences taking ce back in the mortal realm. The Harken watched quietly from the sidelines, while an illusory figure leaned over the Harken¡¯s head.

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± The Second King Yanluo of Hell spoke without hesitation, ¡°People¡­ would invariably encounter twists of fate in their lives. Some would bring joy, while others would bring sorrow. Nobody¡¯s life can possibly bepletely smooth sailing. He must feel incredibly vexed at the amalgamation of confluences. But even then, it¡¯s far better that he should suffer from the immense vexation now, than have the entire Cathay be deeply frustrated at him for the rest of time toe.¡±

    ¡°You can rest assured with me around.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this--...¡± The Harken was stunned. But before he could say anything, the illusory figure opened his eyes for the first time. Then, his body suddenly flickered, and he instantly appeared right next to Fate and held Fate in the cusp of his hand.

    The golden light flowed right out of Fate like a roaring tide, sending the Second King Yanluo¡¯s clothes scattering everywhere. Even the Harken¡¯s scales rattled incessantly. Fate struggled desperately in the hands of the Second King Yanluo, and it even let out an ear-splitting scream.

    The veins along the Second King Yanluo¡¯s hand bulged as he forcibly wrested control of Fate in its entirety. This was the man known to be the strongest among the three realms. He drew a deep breath, gave it a hard thump, and then bellowed authoritatively, ¡°How dare you!¡±

    The Harken gasped, and then asked, ¡°My Lord¡­ what was that?¡±

    ¡°Earlier, he¡¯d managed to find the time to activate the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. However¡­ I don¡¯t want him to have it so easy.¡±

    ¡°Critical?¡± The Second King Yanluo sat like a statue and shut his eyes once more, ¡°Critical is good¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, not even I can fully suppress a divine artifact. All I¡¯ve done is to dy its effects¡­ The destiny of a King Yanluo of Hell shouldn¡¯t be written by Fate to begin with. Instead, we¡¯ll let the natural order of fate take its course, whether it be the urrence of an ident, or the resumption of Fate¡¯s writing. Five minutes. If he canst for the next five minutes, then he¡¯ll have thestugh.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo responded cidly, ¡°Do you still recall the rules of Hell as far as external forces are concerned?¡±

    The Second King Yanluo nodded, ¡°Izanami¡¯s biting off more than she can chew.¡±

    Back in the mortal realm. Qin Ye¡¯s smile suddenly froze.

    ¡°How is this possible?!¡± He nced at his chest with disbelief. What could possibly interrupt the operation of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal?

    Without hesitation, Qin Ye turned and made off into the distance. It was clear that Lee Jung-sook had something that the two Nipponese emissaries needed. To that regard, it was also clear that one of the only things that both Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook had inmon was the fact that they had both consumed the taisui fungus. If Lee Jung-sook could no longer be located, the next best target was naturally Qin Ye!

    Yet, to his dismay, the first thing he saw was the fact that the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal was covered with ayer of golden substance. It was neither Yin energy nor true energy, yet it was clearly of a quality far beyond anything that QIn Ye had seen before. And it was precisely this unique energy that had broken off the connection between Qin Ye and the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, preventing him from operating it altogether.

    Crow Tengu nced at him, while ck Yaksha stared in the direction of Lee Jung-sook¡¯s escape. A momentter, ck Yaksha raised his ws to the air and gnashed his teeth, ¡°Damn it¡­ DAMN IT!!!¡±

    His clothes fluttered wildly with the terrifying roar of his. At once, he flew into action, making a series of hand seals so quickly that it left afterimages in its wake. Momentster, a ck dot appeared underneath his foot.

    To make matters worse, ck Yaksha was standing right next to Hell¡¯s gate. Naturally, escape through Hell¡¯s gate at this point was impossible. The next best thing for Qin Ye right now was to immediately rush out and to rendezvous with the rest of his Yin soldiers. After all, they were all elites in their own rights, and they should easily have detected the mour back here.

    ¡°Are you¡­ hoo¡­ unleashing the Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts?! Are you mad?!¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t find Lee Jung-sook, we¡¯d all have to die!!¡± His mouth opened up a meter wide, and hundreds of scarlet eyes opened up in the void right behind him. At the same time, he grabbed Crow Tengu¡¯s hand, and both figures instantly transformed into ahergale that quickly melded deep into the swirling vortex around them.

    And what was even more frightening was the fact that there were approximately one hundred spots in the vortex where Yin energy appeared to be rapidly coalescing, each of which exuded an aura bearing the qualities of an Anitya Hellguard!

    The creature bore two heads, one resembling that of Crow Tengu, and one resembling that of ck Yaksha. Its entire body was bursting with sinewy, red muscles, while sparse white hair appeared to cover scant parts of its body. The creature was clothed with a tattered magus robe, and the Yin energy about its body¡­ was actually in the realms of an Abyssal Prefect!

    A deep sense of regret gnawed at his heart. He hadn¡¯t expected things to go south so quickly during the Hungry Ghost Festivals. His preparation had been far too scant. In fact, exigencies like this were dime a dozen in the case files of the old Hell. Theck of preparation was clearly remiss of him.

    It was horrific. He saw something right at his feet. The swirling ck vortex appeared no different from an underworld on earth, and a bizarre figure had climbed right out of the vortex and appeared right underneath his feet!

    It was a dwarf. The garments concealing his limbs appeared to be illusory, yet Qin Ye could tell from the Yin energy about them that they were a hundred percent real.

    A bona fide Hellguard.

    It was a Nurarihyon, a type of yokai. Legend had it that the Nurarihyon was a suprememander among yokais, easilymanding a hundred yokais at once.

    Some wore kimonos, some looked like spiders, some looked like subi, some wore a terrifying Hannya, some werepletely engulfed inhermes, some carried antern and formed part of a procession of skeletons¡­ At once, countless evil ghosts emerged in a chaotic dance of darkness!

    A momentter, the chimera turned and looked right at Qin Ye.

    <hr>

    1. Yokais are Japanese folk ghosts, of which Nurarihyon is a part of.

    2. A type of Japanese mask used in Noh theatre. [ref]

 Chapter 514: Fated Finale (1)

    <h4>Chapter 514: Fated Finale (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. It was borne out of fear - pure unadulterated fear.

    It¡¯s chaos¡­ All hell has broken loose¡­

    Meanwhile, it was evident that the chimera intended to capture Qin Ye himself. It was a two-pronged approach.

    ¡°Our father is none other than Susanoo-no-Mikoto¡­¡± The chimera simply gazed intently as Qin Ye took off into the distance, ¡°He goes by a few other names, including the strongest god, or the ancestor of all ghosts.¡±

    ¡°Naturally, we possess the ability to summon a hundred ghosts under ourmand any time, anywhere. This is one of the talents we¡¯ve inherited by virtue of our bloodline¡­¡±

    Within moments, he managed to dash right out of the clearance around Hell¡¯s gate and into the endless sea of hysterical Yin spirits that had earlier detected the aura of the six paths of reincarnation. Meanwhile, Susa Boy had already begun his approach, moving well beyond the speed of sound.

    How unfortunate that the weapons I have are merely copies of the actual Judgment Pen and the Book of Life and Death¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s heart was awash with regret. Would he still be afraid of this monster had he had the real Book of Life and Death with him right now?

    He desperatelymunicated with the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. A minute hadpsed, and there were but four minutes remaining. So long as he could hold out for another four minutes, he would be able to return to Hell once more!

    But no matter how bad this approach seemed to be, there was no better option avable to him right now.

    Meanwhile, Susa Boy was only less than a thousand meters away from him right now!

    No response. Qin Ye thrusted again with his spear, but with even greater force this time. At once, a terrifying st of Yin energy shot straight through the tide ahead, sending the Yin spirits scattering everywhere, and clearing out a path that was hundreds of meters long.

    Qin Ye ignored his taunts and simply kept forging ahead. Without hesitation, he released yet another st of Yin energy ahead.

    It took time for him to muster his Yin energy, lift his spear, and then swing or thrust it.

    The shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal had been dormant for over a minute now, and Qin Ye could sense that the golden substance on it was slowly melting away.

    ¡°My Lord!!¡± Just then, he noticed a clearnding ahead. Amidst a smattering of rednterns, he noticed a group of ck Armored Troops rushing over to him anxiously. They had rushed over as soon as they noticed the mour in the distance, and the first thing they noticed was the terrifying figure of Susa Boy hot on Qin Ye¡¯s tail.

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and bellowed at thim, ¡°Stop him!!¡±

    The few thrusts of his spear earlier had depleted a substantial part of his reserves, and he knew that this would only increase the rate at which Susa Boy closed the distance. That said¡­ it was necessary because of the smoke signal he had fired. It was a signal to his forces!

    The signal bore the energy signature of the King Yanluo of Hell. Naturally, none dared to ignore it.

    They immediately knew that it wasn¡¯t going to be an easy opponent.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even turn back. He knew full well that he simply couldn¡¯t afford to fall into the hands of the Nipponese underworld. Thus, he continued to rush forward for some distance, before finally breathing a sigh of relief and wiping off the sweat that was beading up on his forehead.

    There was no shame in retreat. Live to fight another day - this was a maxim that would take a dynasty from strength to strength.

    Two and a half minutes have passed¡­ The golden substance over the shard has begun to seep away. Just two minutes more¡­ and I¡¯ll let Susa Boy know just who the master of these festivities is supposed to be!

    BOOM!!!

    How is this possible?! There were at least 500 Yin soldiers! Like a slow-motion, silent film, Qin Ye slowly turned back, only to see Susa Boy standing right in the center of the devastation, with the towering Hell¡¯s gate standing well in the background.

    ¡°Protect him!!¡± The reinforcements roared at the top of their voices and charged forward in spite of the destruction they had personally witnessed. The juxtaposition of stillness of death and the movements of the reinforcements was no different from the elegy of the Yin spirits.

    A split secondter, Susa Boy raised his hand, ¡°Without military formations, you¡¯re nothing but ants. Glow of the Firefly.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ boom, boom, BOOM!! What initially began as a soft stir slowly grew to a rustle, and then some. Within moments, an unspeakably mighty attack exploded from the orb!

    It was a silent rampage.

    Qin Ye dove straight to the ground as soon as the explosion urred. And as soon as he did, several others of his men piled themselves right over his body. In theirst moments, he heard them cry out with great valor, ¡°My Lord¡­ godspeed!!!¡±

    Otherwise¡­ how could two extraterritorial emissaries wreak such havoc right in front of Hell¡¯s gate?!

    Soon after he got started, he heard Arthis speak directly into his ears once more. But this time, her voice sounded much weaker than before, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you returning to Hell?!! Don¡¯t you know that if you get caught, the sacrifice of all these Yin soldiers would have beenpletely in vain?! It would be the shame of a lifetime to have the King Yanluo of Hell captured by enemy forces!!¡±

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Arthis gritted her teeth and drew a deep breath, ¡°Head towards the office of the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    Just then, two palehermes lit up amidst the cloud of dust and debris behind them.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote. Your fate had been sealed as soon as we¡¯d unleashed our true form. I¡¯m curious. Who exactly are you? How are you able to survive till now?¡± Susa Boy¡¯s heart was filled with maddened rage. Time and again, he had been tripped up by the hateful creatures who had consumed the taisui fungus, and each one appeared to be more troublesome than the other!

    Thehermes in Susa Boy¡¯s eyes flickered wildly. Within moments, he reached out from the cloud of Yin energy and took a swipe at Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder.

    A sh of golden light appeared right out of nowhere, and Susa Boy instinctively shrank back with a cry of surprise.

    Qin Ye instantly sensed the eruption of the vast true energy as well. He turned back and gasped in horror.

    That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯d sensed someone sizing me up as soon as I¡¯d entered the vicinity of this location. Was it him?

    But before he could even delve deeper into this train of thought, he suddenly shuddered like a wave of electricity had just run through his body. Then, he nced up towards the sky.

    How could a human being possibly see an Emissary of Hell?!

    In that instant, he was suddenly reminded of the statue sitting at the top of Hell¡¯s gate - the unique statue bearing his own image.

 Chapter 515: Fated Finale (2)

    <h4>Chapter 515: Fated Finale (2)</h4>

    Just then, an intense chill swept across their heads, and he instantly retracted his hands. Even then, he continued to hold his cell phone up midway, shaking it slightly.

    ¡°[In Nipponese] Delicious food--¡­¡± She ran her fingers gently across her lips. But before she could go on, her body suddenly contorted and vanished with a flourish ofhermes.

    He could sense the movements of over a hundred Hellguard-ss Yin spirits. It was a chilling sight. There were clearly over a hundred Hellguard-ss Yin spirits swooping about menacingly right here in Martial City, and he could even tell that not a single one of them originated in Cathay!

    Not far away, a ghastly ming wheel rolled along the street, consuming every singlentern-toting Yin spirit in close proximity wherever it passed. Then, almost as though it had sensed Zhou Xianlong¡¯s aura, it swiftly did an about-turn and screamed as it rolled swiftly in the opposite direction.

    Mo Changhao nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve just detected intense energy fluctuations from the Lush Garden Acres site!¡±

    No!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already done that.¡± An albatross walked over proudly, ¡°Coincidentally, he¡¯s also at the Lush Garden Acres site.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve detected Prefect-ss Yin energy fluctuations emanating from there just moments ago. Would he still be alive by the time we get there?¡±

    ¡°I can tell you with certainty that we¡¯ve detected several energy fluctuations from him in quick session earlier.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The albatross nodded, ¡°And not true energy at that.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Speak of the devil. How could I have forgotten about this damn bystander over there¡­

    In fact, Susa Boy could sense the presence of a terrifying aura of a god-tier artifact.

    ¡°You seek death?!¡± Susa Boy bellowed with great fury. It had been 15 minutes since Hell¡¯s gate had first opened and the Yin soldiers had appeared. ording to the records, the Abyssal Prefects of Hell would soon arrive in the mortal realm. The old man¡¯s intervention hade at the most ill-opportune time! It was an intervention that hadpletely snuffed out his chances of catching up to Qin Ye altogether!

    ¡°Try me.¡±

    But, he dared not.

    ¡°Count yourself lucky¡­¡± With that, Susa Boy¡¯s body began to transform into ahergale as he motioned to retreat.

    That said, he didn¡¯t expect to elicit a response from Qin Ye, ¡°Count myself lucky?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s body fluctuated like a reflection in rippling waters. Copious amounts of Yin energy dispersed around him as he looked up with a grimace, ¡°You¡¯re the one who should be counting your lucky stars¡­¡±

    A full five minutes had finallypsed!

    Buzz¡­ Fate erupted with brilliant golden light once more. But this time, Fate didn¡¯t tremble with the eruption of light, because it was instead the words that had already been written that glowed with a radiant lustre.

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be long now¡­¡± He nced at the vast canopy of the skies ahead, ¡°The grand finale to this masterpiece¡­ is almost upon us¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll meet with him eventually. But now isn¡¯t the time.¡± The Second King Yanluo stood up, ¡°There are some things that I¡¯ll have to personally teach him. But¡­ I¡¯d like to put off getting pummeled by that man for as long as I can.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait until the grand finale is over.¡± He patted the Harken¡¯s paw gently, ¡°I¡¯ll help you out. You¡¯ve not gone back to the mortal realm for some time, have you? Go give him your support. It pains me to see Hell¡¯s decrepit state right now.¡±

    With that, he tapped the Harken gently, and the Harken vanished instantly.

    Whoosh¡­ The daolord of the asura immediately greeted Qin Ye as soon as he appeared in Hell once more, ¡°Dear me, dear me¡­ Yanluo Qin, what happened--¡­¡±

    He could clearly see Qin Ye¡¯s pale expression, the trickle of blood running down the corner of his lips, and¡­ even the stench of an Abyssal Prefect on his body.

    This was the first thought that urred to him.

    Hell¡¯s gate had opened once more on the day of the Hungry Ghost Festival. The King Yanluo of Hell had personally taken to overseeing things back in the mortal realm, only to return wounded and weary. Hell clearly wasn¡¯t doing as well as it made itself out to be.

    ¡°Yanluo Qin.¡± He helped Qin Ye up, ¡°How did you get yourself injured like that?¡±

    At once, Qin Ye grabbed him by the throat and lifted his frail and feeble body up.

    ¡°Daolord of the asura¡­¡± Qin Ye grimaced as he wiped the trickle of blood off the corner of his lips, ¡°If you still wish to earn yourself that ce in Hell, you¡¯d do well to behave yourself and watch your words.¡±

    But he sensibly suppressed his innermost desires as soon as he heard Qin Ye¡¯s words of caution to him.

    ¡°Concern?¡± Qin Ye suddenlyughed. Then, with a firm nod, he leaned in and whispered to the daolord, ¡°Would you like to see the true might of Hell?¡±

    ¡°Is that a yes, or is that a no?¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qin Ye smiled and took a step back. A split secondter, a piece of scale flew into the air, and a wave of boundless Yin energy filled the air. At once, the daolord¡¯s mind went numb, and he knelt to the ground with a resounding thud.

    This is Lord Harken¡¯s Yin energy!

    How fortunately that he had only been probing at the depths of Hell¡¯s might earlier. Otherwise, who knows what fate would befall him?

    ¡°T-t-this lowly one humbly greets Lord Harken!!!¡± The daolord hissed at once. That said, the Harken didn¡¯t even bother to acknowledge his existence. Instead, the Harken simply turned to Qin Ye, ¡°What is it?¡±

    The six paths of reincarnation!

    This was the first time his heart had been filled with such intense murderous intent¡­ as well as a trace of worry.

    Qin Ye wanted to save Lee Jung-sook.

    ¡°All troops, heed mymand!¡± His voice suddenly thundered in the ears of all Yin soldiers, ¡°Assemble at once. We move out in three minutes to quell a rebellion!¡±

    It was only then that Qin Ye turned back and nced at the scale that was suspended in the air, ¡°Lord Harken, do I have the honour of yourpany as well?¡±

    ¡°It is my duty and honour to do so.¡±

 Chapter 516: Fated Finale (3)

    <h4>Chapter 516: Fated Finale (3)</h4>

    ¡°Where to?¡± Mo Changhao responded.

    Abyssal Prefect¡­ Zhou Xianlong gnashed his teeth as he waved his hand, casually reducing a Nipponese Yin spirit to ashes. He wore an iparably grave expression on his face.

    ¡°Any updates on Mr Qin?¡± Zhou Xianlong led the charge, reducing all Yin spirits to clouds of Yin energy in the wake of his path of destruction. He didn¡¯t pause in the slightest. Their destination had earlier been the Lush Garden Acres, but there were unfortunately too many obstacles impeding their path of approach. Not only was there a tide of maddened wandering spirits to contend with, there were even the ghosts who had developed spiritual intelligence, as well as the Hellguard-ss Nipponese Yin spirits that had been unleashed by Susa Boy. Everything acted as an impediment to their approach.

    ¡°Vanished?¡± Mo Changhao turned his head in shock, ¡°How could he just have vanished like that? Or are you telling me that he¡¯s no longer in Cathay?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s incredibly difficult to damage that chip.¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s expressions grew more sullen than before, ¡°The smaller something is, the lower the odds of damaging it in arge-scale battle.¡±

    For some strange reason, his heart eased up at the notion of that thought.

    ¡°Hang on¡­¡± Just then, the albatross cried out once more, ¡°Mr Qin¡­ has appeared again!¡±

    At once, Mo Changhao and Zhou Xianlong snatched the phone from his hand and stared at the screen.

    And it was impossible to determine just how many Yin spirits there were!

    Nobody said a single word.

    ¡°Let¡¯s forgo all ns pertaining to Mr Qin for now.¡± Zhou Xianlong gritted his teeth and made the call, ¡°Rendezvous with the big boss at once. We¡¯ll restore order to Martial City first before we deal with anything else!¡±

    Back in front of Hell¡¯s gate. The devastating battle that took ce earlier here had reduced everything to scorched earth. The ground was strewn all over with trees, bricks and tiles.

    Thenterns were also fading from red to white, almost as though they were bing a milkyway of stars once more. Their breaths were no longer ragged, and thends were still once more.

    But just as order was finally restored to thends, thenterns they were carrying suddenly turned a striking red colour once more!

    They were manifesting an even stronger temptation than before!

    tter¡­ The hands reaching out from Hell¡¯s gate paused for a moment, and then slowly retracted into the depths of the portal, leaving a swirling darkness in the wake of their disappearance. Something was clearly brewing from within.

    Just then, a pair of hands zing with scarlethermes reached out of Hell¡¯s gate and emerged from the portal. The daolord of the asura peered out at once, ncing about warily as though he were clearing the way for the arrival of his king.

    They moved ording to their intuition.

    The daolord of the asura yanked on the door frame, and the portal that he came out from grew even darker than before. Momentster, it revealed the image of a magnificent, ancient city.

    At once, countless spots of glowing ck light emerged from the heart of the hazy portal like a reverse meteor shower that plunged straight into the earth!

    It wasn¡¯t so much a conscious response as it was an instinctual one.

    Rumble¡­ The ck spots of light were all figures that were wrapped tightly with Yin energy. They flew straight to the ground, lining up in a neat, square formation of thousands of men. The banner of Qin fluttered wildly in the ferocioushergale. As soon as the army assembled, they ,too, got down on one knee just like the daolord of the asura and bellowed in unison, ¡°The forces of Hell wee the arrival of the esteemed King Yanluo!¡±

    It was immting with purplehermes and covered with scales, just like that of a mythical dragon!

    The heavens thrummed as soon as it appeared.

    But that wasn¡¯t all.

    In fact, what was most terrifying about it wasn¡¯t the Yin energy pouring out of the book, but the unspeakably holy aura that appeared to be radiating from it, almost as though all the heavens and the earth are contained within its chronicles!

    At once, the rest of the Yin spirits of Martial City cocked their heads in the direction of the Lush Garden Acres. And then, one by one, they all knelt to the ground in reverence and awe. Even the Yin spirits who had developed spiritual intelligence screamed in terror as they fell to the ground with great trembling.

    Meanwhile, gasps rang throughout the Special Investigations Department offices located in Eastmount Province, Breakwaters Province, and other parts of the coastal region.

    Meanwhile, in the basement of Stalwart City¡¯s city hall. The rms red loudly, ¡°Warning, warning. Yin energy readings of one billion Yin detected. This is the highest Yin energy reading detected in the history of Cathay. It¡¯s source is located in Martial City. Threat level - armageddon. Evacuation from Eastmount, Fulling, and Breakwaters Provinces advised¡­ The threat has been escted directly through the Vault of the Sky system. Repeat. ¡­¡±

    Countless cities in various regions and districts of Cathay sprung into action at once. Even the top brass located in Yan Capital were awakened at 4.00 a.m. by the sounds of urgent phone calls. Momentster, they got into the respective vehicles that had been prepared for them and were transported directly to the war room.

    The Yin soldiers stood tall in formation, basking in the glory of Hell.

    Hell¡¯s earlier siege of Qufu wasn¡¯t borne out of anger. It was a war for expansion, and all is fair in love and war.

    Prior to this, not a single Yin soldier had known the full extent of Hell¡¯s reserve forces. But now, the realization of the extent of Hell¡¯s might filled them with pride and excitement that went through the roof!

    ¡°All hail King Yanluo of Hell! All glory to Hell!¡± There was a tremendous roar from the heart of the work site. Qin Ye nodded softly, and then turned to the daolord of the asura. At once, he trembled profusely, ¡°Your Excellency¡­ This great sinner humbly awaits yourmand!¡±

    ¡°Tell me, are you able to purge that evil ghost?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Qin Ye licked his lips, ¡°Go after Susa Boy. I intend to teach him the consequences of acting willfully here on Cathayan soil!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Lee Jung-sook was nowhere to be seen. Martial City wasn¡¯t a small city by any means. Having missed his chances to capture Qin Ye, Susa Boy knew that Lee Jung-sook was hisst bastion of hope. Unfortunately¡­ she was nowhere to be found!

    ¡°Get the hell out of here!!¡±

    As soon as I find her, I¡¯m going to beat her down and tear her to shreds!

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± He paused for a moment and nced back in the direction of Lush Garden Acres.

    Meanwhile, the Sword of the Yellow Emperor¡¯s master also paused in mid-air, equally dumbfounded. The broken sword in his hand thrummed loudly as it swung up and pointed straight in the direction of the Lush Garden Acres.

    This is at least in the region of 500 million Yin¡­

    Hell¡¯s forces are moving!

    Susa Boy shuddered violently. At once, he dove straight into the tide of Yin spirits and stepped up his search efforts.

    ¡°LEE! JUNG! SOOK!!!!¡±

 Chapter 517: Duty (1)

    <h4>Chapter 517: Duty (1)</h4>

    Susa Boy continued to search frantically as he fled for his life.

    No¡­ it¡¯s not the time to think about these things right now. What¡¯s more important is to locate Lee Jung-sook and get the hell out of Cathay! Capturing that man is already out of the question! Evading capture is the next best thing I can hope for!

    ¡°Are they bowing in response to the arrival of a Yama-King?! Damn it!!¡± Fear loomed over his mind, threatening to consume everyst measure of hope in his heart. He roared with great exasperation and wed desperately at the Yin spirits in front of his eyes. Unfortunately, Lee Jung-sook was still nowhere to be found.

    T-t-t-t¡­. His teeth began to chatter wildly. His future was looking bleak. A god of death had just appeared in Cathay, exuding such domineering Yin energy that caused him to feel no different from a juicy, fatmb in front of a ferocious tiger. Dread and terror slowly tightened their grasp around his heart.

    Meanwhile, the Sword of the Yellow Emperor¡¯s master simply gazed in the direction of Lush Garden Acres with a series ofplex emotions swelling up from the depths of his heart.

    Being one of the three most powerful experts living in Cathay right now, he naturally knew far more than most other people. After all, the Divine Protectors had passed down their legacy from generation to generation, and everything was documented in great detail. At once, he turned to address his mind to the records of the ancient past.

    It¡¯s probably Yin soldiers. Having a Yama-ss entity deal with an Abyssal Prefect would be too much of an overkill. That said¡­ just how many soldiers did Hell mobilize in order to cause such a massive eruption of Yin energy?

    BOOM!! Violent waves of Yin energy rippled out from Susa Boy as he unleashed a terrifying wail that reverberated through the air for ten seconds before finally dissipating altogether.

    Rather, he was venting his fear and dread for what was toe. It was the state of frenzy apanying his final hurrah.

    Just then, the entire world went silent.

    He turned back stiffly with great trepidation. Meanwhile, the Sword of the Yellow Emperor¡¯s master turned to stare at Susa Boy¡¯s back, watching intently with bated breath.

    The elites of Hell have finally arrived!

    Just then, a fiery red rift appeared soundlessly from behind Susa Boy like a bloodstain in the void. At once, a domineering st of Yin energy poured right through the crack!

    The Yin energy pouring out of the rift wasn¡¯t so much copious as it was iparably dense and pure. In fact, it was precisely because it was made of the purest wisps of Yin energy that the Sword of the Yellow Emperor¡¯s master stared agape at it. All that remained in his mind was a single notion of thought.

    Has a Yama-King actually arrived here in the mortal realm?!

    But whoever it is, all Yama-Kings have been known to be noble in life and heroes in death! To be able to bask in their glory and splendor is my honour in life!

    T-t-t-t-t¡­ Meanwhile, Susa Boy couldn¡¯t help but shudder violently as his entire body trembled.

    It felt like the chilling touch of a hand in the middle of a dark room. At once, the Yin energy in his body curdled with fear.

    These ck balls of light glowed brightly as it writhed intently, before soon coalescing into the hazy figures of Yin soldiers, each of whom were armed with ferocious spears and dressed in valiant armor. At once, they surrounded Susa Boy at the heart of their formation. Arge banner bearing the word ¡°Qin¡± fluttered wildly with the wind as the Yin soldiers bellowed in unison, ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!!¡±

    Just then, two massive hands reached out from the rift in the void, almost as though it were forcibly widening the gap!

    A thin man dressed like an official of the Song Dynasty slowly emerged from the heart of the rift, all the while staring at Susa Boy with an abstruse gaze in his eyes.

    The master of the Sword of the Yellow Emperor gasped in astonishment - What extravagance! To think that the esteemed Yama-King would be clearing the path with an Abyssal Prefect - and one that is not far from the ranks of a Yama-King to boot! The old man could clearly sense his own true energy fluctuating violently as soon as the Prefect-ss Yin spirit stepped out of the rift in the void.

    ¡°Is this¡­ the true depth of Hell¡¯s might?¡±

    ¡°Are you the Abyssal Prefect in charge of the coastal district?¡±

    ¡°May the King Yanluo of Hell reign for all eternity!!¡± The Yin soldiers echoed in unison. The sea of mes around them roared at once, and the mes licked the skies.

    The sea ofhermes receded at once, almost as though it were ebbing in submission to the domineering presence of the Harken.

    Both Susa Boy and the master of the Sword of the Yellow Emperor werepletely astonished by these developments. Their mind instantly went numb, and they found themselvespletely unable to process the sheer incredulity of what was taking ce right now. Even then, they both lowered their heads at once.

    This was the dazzling majesty and authority of the King Yanluo of Hell!

    The might of Hell is far beyond what us mortals had ever imagined! This is the arrival of the King Yanluo of Hell we¡¯re talking about! Isn¡¯t this tantamount to a deration to the nation that Hell is well-ced to take charge of matters in theherworld once more?

    The thought of such prospects caused goosebumps to creep up all over his body. The old man clenched his fists tightly.

    Just then, Qin Ye gritted his teeth and spoke solemnly, ¡°Daolord of the asura.¡±

    They wanted nothing more than to gaze upon the true appearances of the King Yanluo of Hell. Unfortunately, neither one dared to raise their head in the slightest. They feared the wrath of Hell.

    Qin Ye turned to Susa Boy and spoke with a cold voice, ¡°Trespassing constitutes a challenge to Hell¡¯s authority. Committing genocide on the Yin spirits of Hell constitutes a deration of war.¡±

    He was waiting for the final verdict.

    Kkkkrrrr¡­ Susa Boy sank his ws deep into the ground.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qin Ye raised his hand, and then brought it down forcefully, ¡°Kill him!!¡±

    ¡°Charge!!!¡± At once, the Yin soldiers poured towards Susa Boy from every direction. The Yin ones leading the charge were naturally the ck Armored Troops. They trudged forward valiantly, dragging their long swords along the ground, ready to strike at the moment¡¯s notice!

    No¡­ I cannot afford to get caught by them! At once, the fear that once paralyzed him went through the roof, bing the very source of motivation that stirred his heart once more. With a shrill shriek, his ws extended out dozens of meters and he swiped madly at the ck Armored Troops closest to him.

    SSS!! The fear in Susa Boy¡¯s heart only escted as time passed. With another powerful swipe of his w, Susa Boy shrieked as he attempted to fly up and away from the encirclement that had him surrounded. But as soon as he did, countless bolts flew through the air, leaving dazzling streaks of light in their wake as they hurtled towards Susa Boy¡¯s body.

    Sensing the sheer destructiveness of the Karmic Fire bolts, Susa Boy took a deep breath and spread his wings out without hesitation, releasing a barrage of white feathers that shot out to intercept every single arrow in the air. Then, without pausing, he made straight for the coast.

    There¡¯s no way I¡¯d be spared if I hang around any longer!

    The daolord¡¯s body trembled instantly, and he bellowed with great fury, ¡°What gall!!¡±

    A split secondter, his chest burst open, revealing a ckened infant dripped wet with corpse fluid. It stared straight ahead with its scarlet eyes, and then slowly opened its mouth wide.

    The world instantly went silent.

    Theherme in the surrounding immediately converged towards the infant¡¯s mouth. Momentster, every Yin spirit and artifact within a thousand-meter radius of the infant suddenly lifted off the ground¡­ and then rushed straight into the infant¡¯s mouth as well!

 Chapter 518: Duty (2)

    <h4>Chapter 518: Duty (2)</h4>

    Rumble¡­ Within three seconds, a vortex hundreds of metersrge formed right in front of the infant¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°These¡­ these damn things¡­¡± He gnashed his teeth with bloodshot eyes, fighting desperately against the invisible forces that appeared to be restraining him. But within ten seconds, and with a startled cry, his body fell from the sky like a falling meteorite, straight into the mouth of the daolord of the asura.

    Susa Boy¡¯s mind went nk in an instant. He couldn¡¯t help but begin to doubt the strength of his own abilities.

    Riiiiip! The moment of distraction proved to be fatal. At once, his garments were torn apart, and the feathers in his back stood on end, as though they were desperately resisting the tug of the daolord¡¯s mighty attack. A split secondter, and with a miserably shriek, every single feather on his back was torn right off his back and consumed by the daolord.

    Wheee!!! With a long whistle, the infant in the daolord¡¯s chest instantly tightened his lips, causing the suction force to grow several times stronger. To Susa Boy¡¯s great dismay, he soon realized that Yin energy had begun to pour right out of the pores where his feathers used to be! It was as though thousands of streams of Yin energy were all pouring out from his body and flowing straight to the infant¡¯s lips!

    No¡­ I can¡¯t let things go on like this¡­ I cannot let myself get caught by the Emissaries of Hell¡­ At once, he made the snap call to transform his entire body into a ck ball of Yin energy that was a hundred metersrge. A split secondter¡­ it exploded!

    Countless shockwaves rippled out like tsunamis of Yin energy. With the terrifying explosion, Susa Boy had actually managed to wrestle free of the daolord¡¯s grasp. Momentster, a figure rushed right out of the billowing clouds of Yin energy and dashed straight into the sky.

    At once, a silver light shed brightly, and the figure that was just dashing away instantly came hurtling down to the ground once more, just like a fly that had been swatted.

    In fact, nobody saw where it came from, or where it went afterwards.

    He didn¡¯t see what caused it, but he could tell that the Harken had casually flicked its tail.

    It was impossible to fathom the depths of Hell¡¯s might without witnessing it with one¡¯s own eyes.

    They poured towards Susa Boy like a swarm of hungry vultures.

    ¡°AAHHHHHHH--!!!¡± With an anguished roar, the figure mbered up to his feet in a desperate attempt to get away from the attacks.

    His golden eyes werepletely bloodshot as he gave a maddened nce at the Yin soldiers around him. He swiped his ws around him in an intense frenzy, only to be greeted by yet another wave of ferocious strikes.

    Crack! His knuckles cracked as he tightened his grip around their throats. Just then, two mighty shes plummeted straight from the sky, slicing off Crow Tengu¡¯s arms cleanly at the elbows.

    Within moments, countless Yin soldiers rushed over and pinned Crow Tengu to the ground, restraining all further movements.

    Qin Ye leapt off the Harken¡¯s back at once.

    ¡°Trying to capture me?¡± Qin Ye quipped with a frigid voice as he plunged the sword softly into Crow Tengu¡¯s head. At once, he screamed with great anguish.

    The Hungry Ghost Festival. The preparatory work was aplenty, and the citizens of Hell were clearly enjoying themselves back in Hell. He¡¯d wanted the festivities to have gone on without a hitch at all. He¡¯d wanted the first Hungry Ghost Festival in a century to go down in history as one of the best celebrations in Hell¡¯s history.

    ¡°Kill me!¡± Crow Tengu gritted his teeth, ¡°Hell was the one who said that emissaries may be killed, but never disgraced.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever thought about whose territory you were in when you wreaked havoc earlier?!¡±

    ¡°How dare you!!¡± The Yin soldiers standing around immediately pinned down Crow Tengu with all their might. At once, Crow Tengu waspletely immobilized once more.

    ¡°Because of your efforts, I¡¯m going to give you the perfect gift to remember me by.¡±

    With that, an ancient book flew out of Qin Ye¡¯s garments and drifted over to Crow Tengu, before slowly opening up.

    Nobody was holding down Crow Tengu anymore. But, even then, he continued to tremble violently as he stared at the book that had opened up in front of his very own eyes.

    ¡°Oh, but I can.¡± Qin Ye aimed the book towards Crow Tengu, ¡°Because I¡¯m¡­ none other than the Third King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    It was a one-inch sized figure of Crow Tengu that was struggling frantically and screaming with fear.

    Qin Ye snickered contemptuously. The inch-sized figure of Crow Tengu was already half exposed, and he was clearly trying desperately to shrink back into his forehead, but to no avail.

    The daolord of the asura stood beside Qin Ye and responded respectfully, ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Nippon¡¯s strongest Yin spirit is none other than Izanami, a Peak Abyssal Prefect. Susanoo-no-Mikoto¡­ is at best an intermediate Abyssal Prefect.¡±

    Crow Tengu trembled. In that instant, he recalled how he had once seen Izanami cower before the rulers of Hell. In fact, he recalled the moment when he witnessed all leaders of underworlds in the East Continent, save for the leaders of Hindustan, trembling in fear as they addressed the two powerhouses. Then, his mind subconsciously drifted to the days of glory when the Second King Yanluo was in charge of the old Hell.

    He even felt desperate and helpless. How could a child of one of the strongest ghosts in the Nipponese underworld not even be qualified to negotiate with the Cathayan underworld?

    With that, Qin Ye snapped shut the Book of Life and Death. At once, the inch-tall figure of Crow Tengu was dragged out from his forehead and flew straight into the Book of Life and Death itself.

    From dust to dust.

    ¡°ce it in front of the martyr¡¯s cemetery to pay tribute to the Yin spirits that were lost today.¡±

    It was only then that Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he turned and nced at the sky in the distance.

    This chaotic night¡­ is finally nearly over.

    Crow Tengu might have been dealt with, but ck Yaksha still remains atrge! I refuse to let him see the dawn of another day!

    ¡°Your will is mymand.¡± The daolord of the asura responded respectfully.

    One of the images in the sky was presently flickering wildly.

    She held her hands together in deep and desperate prayer, ¡°Save me¡­ save me!¡±

    Qin Ye could see that she was currently located in a dpidated temple. Lee Jung-sook was holding her gun tightly as she leaned fearfully against the back of the statue of Buddha.

    It was¡­ ck Yaksha!

    He had actually managed to stumble upon Lee Jung-sook in her hiding ce!

 Chapter 519: Duty (3)

    <h4>Chapter 519: Duty (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and reached his hand out to the screen. And then, he suddenly paused.

    But he knew he was no match for ck Yaksha.

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± The Harken responded softly, ¡°I¡¯ve only been able toe to the mortal realm by borrowing the strength of the Second King Yanluo of Hell. Please be mindful that I¡¯m still recovering from some grievous injuries, and there¡¯s simply no way I can move about freely. I can¡¯t even return to Hell to recover from my wounds.¡±

    ¡°That said¡­ there¡¯s someone who can help you.¡±

    The Harken nced at the daolord of the asura.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    How strong¡­ How terrifying!

    He¡¯d thought that he was certainly dead. However¡­ his own brother had in the moment of crisis acted with great resolution, forcibly disengaging their Susa Boy transformation so that he could escape unscathed.

    Instead, the one that he hated most right now was none other than Lee Jung-sook!

    He rushed away at top speed with gritted teeth. Although his brother had disengaged their Susa Boy form in the nick of time, he was still somewhat injured by the force of the Harken¡¯s mighty attack. The fact that he was still able to escape at top speed for five full seconds was already a feat in and of itself.

    BOOM! He rushed straight into the temple at once. It was decrepit. Even the statue in the heart of the temple was barely intact, with nothing more than half of its body standing. There were cobwebs everywhere. With no ce left to go, ck Yaksha escaped into the temple to catch a quick breather. His chest rose and fell greatly as he panted violently.

    He¡¯s dead¡­ Crow Tengu is dead!

    ¡°AHHHH!!!!¡± He clutched desperately at his chest. His wails of grief reverberated endlessly throughout the broken temple like the cries of mournful ghosts at night.

    Ghosts had no tears, so it was Yin energy that poured from his eyes instead. After several moments of grieving, ck Yaksha gritted his teeth and mbered to his feet once more.

    Crow Tengu has given his life for me. I can¡¯t let him down!

    His mind was in a mess, yet he continued to trudge back towards the entrance of the temple with ragged breaths. Then, just as he arrived at the door once more, he suddenly paused, and his nose twitched slightly.

    And¡­ a very familiar one at that¡­

    Lee. Jung. Sook!

    Shk! Shk! Shk! Several cold glimmers of light swept throughout the temple, and the rickety temple copsed to the ground at once.

    She bit her lips gently and tightened the grip around her gun.

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s entire body trembled profusely. She hadn¡¯t expected to run into ck Yaksha so quickly, especially after she had sessfully made her great escape earlier.

    I wonder if I¡¯ll be able to hold on till help arrives¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s because of you¡­¡±

    Boom! His robes fluttered wildly as the shadows beneath his feet shuddered and trembled. Momentster, a series of scarlet eyes emerged from the shadows and pounced straight towards Lee Jung-sook like a tide of angry shadows.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you just sit still and behave yourself?!!¡±

    ¡°You deserve death¡­ You deserve to perish right here, right now!!¡±

    ¡°Escape?!¡± ck Yaksha tossed his head into the air andughed like a maniac, ¡°You dare flee in front of a mighty Infernal Judge?!¡±

    ¡°If not for the fact that I¡¯ve still got a use for you¡­ you¡¯d long have been sentenced to a fate worse than death by now!!¡± ck Yaksha roared as he stared intently at Lee Jung-sook¡¯s back, ¡°Ahh¡­ That¡¯s right, you don¡¯t fear death. But¡­ what about this--...¡±

    At once, she made the snap decision to hand the gun over to her left hand, where she raised it to her chest without hesitation.

    ¡°Dream on.¡± ck Yaksha barked as another shadow bound up her left hand tightly,pletely immobilizing her. Lee Jung-sook sighed deeply and shut her eyes in despair.

    Is this¡­ the limits of a mere human being?

    I¡¯m still alive?

    Two figures had suddenly appeared in the sky, followed closely by a dozen or so figures standing on the ground behind them. The Yin energy in the sky was beaten back by the true energy emanating from the human being that had just surrounded the temple ruins.

    This Yin spirit¡­ is incredibly powerful!

    ¡°He¡¯s right here.¡± An albatross fiddled with his phone, ¡°We¡¯ve got a lock on his position. He¡¯s been rushing straight to this ce since dozens of seconds ago, and¡­ the strength of his energy signature is still growing!¡±

    The albatross nced back, ¡°The target.¡±

    Two human Judges and just over a dozen Hunters had surrounded the temple ruins on all sides. But ck Yaksha simply nced around and chuckled contemptuously.

    Mo Changhao snorted, ¡°There¡¯s no ce for you here in the mortal realm.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong pulled out a leaf from his pocket and waved it in front of his face, ¡°2,000 years ago, our ancestors nted a peach tree on Greencity Mountain. After a thousand years, the peach tree withered up, but remained alive. Thereafter, two green leaves would grow on the withered peach tree with every decade that passed. All who wipe their eyes with these leaves would be bestowed with the ability to see all that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡± ck Yaksha¡¯s lips curled up with a smile. And then, his eyes suddenly opened abruptly.

    BOOM!!! At once, copious amounts of Yin energy spurted out of his seven apertures. However, it was different from before - it was so powerful that it even caused the heavens and the earth to tremble wildly!

    ¡°To think that you were actually able to force my dear child to reach out to Yomi-no-Kuni to channel my might. It looks like¡­ he was clearly being forced to a corner¡­¡± ck Yaksha interlocked his fingers and covered his lips daintily as he cackled, ¡°The use of this ability sends its user into a deep slumber for a hundred years. It¡¯s the final trump card hidden up their sleeves. A hundred years in exchange for fifteen minutes of power. But¡­¡±

    Boom, boom, boom! Layers uponyers of overwhelming Yin energy erupted from ck Yaksha¡¯s body, obscuring the clouds and blotting out the moon in the sky. The faces of countless humans appeared to be trapped in the clouds of Yin energy, struggling and moaning as though they were suffering in an endless living underworld!

    ¡°Abyssal Prefect?!¡± Mo Changhao also froze for a moment, before bellowing at the top of his voice, ¡°Retreat!!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ At once, countless hands emerged from the depths of the Yin energy clouds, whistling shrilly as they grabbed at the investigators around them. The force of their approach was so intense that cracks even began to surface in the air!

    ¡°Prefect?! A Cathayan Prefect?!¡± The woman screamed at the top of her voice as she promptly retracted the expanding cloud of Yin energy. The investigators also froze as they turned to look at the source of the scarlethermes.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word as he nced around with some measure of consternation - Why is the Special Investigations Department here?

    And how is the ck Yaksha able to exhibit might in the ss of an Abyssal Prefect?

    A series of twists and turns that were scripted by Fate were alling together in perfect dissonance.

 Chapter 520: Duty (4)

    <h4>Chapter 520: Duty (4)</h4>

    Nobody knew what Fate had in store for them. There could be pain, yet there could also be pleasure. It was a series of unexpected encounters. Qin Ye had never expected Lee Jung-sook to be crying out to her for help in the darkest moment of her life. He hadn¡¯t expected ck Yaksha to still have yet another ace hidden up his sleeves. And most of all, he hadn¡¯t expected to encounter the folks of the Special Investigations Department in these far-flung parts.

    What do I do?

    Save Lee Jung-sook, and they¡¯ll likely recognize who I am. Forsake her¡­ Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. He knew full well that Lee Jung-sook wouldn¡¯t die for good, but he still wouldn¡¯t be able to live it down.

    Lee Jung-sook wouldn¡¯t die because she was ady who had consumed the taisui fungus. However, that didn¡¯t change the fact that she had once risked her life to save Qin Ye, and he was now in the position to do the same for her. If he didn¡¯t act upon his principles right now, this would undoubtedly be a decision that would eat away at his soul from the inside for eons toe.

    Don¡¯t say a word. So long as I don¡¯t say a word, nobody would be able to recognize who I am. I¡¯ll dispose of ck Yaksha as quickly as I can, and then take Lee Jung-sook and depart from this ce. At best, I¡¯ll just resign from the Special Investigations Department tomorrow¡­

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The female voice asked with great caution, ¡°There¡¯s nothing I don¡¯t know about high-ranking Emissaries of Hell, but I¡¯ve never heard of you before.¡±

    He found himself suddenly filled withplex emotions. In the past, he would have run at the earliest signs of trouble like this. But now¡­ he was actually brandishing his spear and charging valiantly towards the enemy in front of him!

    Perhaps I have. But perhaps this is also why people say hard times make a strong man.

    Whoosh! A scarlet figure plunged straight down from the sky.

    Insanely quick.

    ck Yaksha had spun rapidly on the spot before the spear could strike him, and then exploded into a cloud of Yin energy that quickly sank deep into the ground.

    There was a soft, foreboding rustle, almost like a death knell in the wee hours of the morning. Within moments the shadows in a thousand meter-radius poured towards the cloud of Yin energy and transformed into a ten-meterrge vortex.

    Both had their own reasons for not dragging things out, and they were clearly letting their actions do the talking.

    Yin energy andhermes poured out in all directions at once, sweeping away the cloud of Yin energy that was concealing Qin Ye¡¯s appearances, only to reveal the fact that the spear in his hand had now taken the bizarre shape of a scythe. Apart from that, there were spirit streamers all around him and even a ne of human bones. The shing Yin energy caused his illusory form to flicker wildly. His clothes and garments appeared to be sublimating, as though steam were rising straight into the sky. Within moments, the sublimating Yin energy transformed into countless birds that twittered loudly as they fluttered around him.

    Absolute darkness. And without any warning.

    The eye had vertical pupils, and the glistening surface reflected the image of ady in ck kimono. An entire field of red spider lilies bloomed all around her.

    Just then, the massive eye vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. But that allsted only for a split second, before countless scarlet eyes began opening up in the vast canopy of darkness around!

    It was just like being lost in an eternal river of darkness!

    Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao gasped in horror. Mo Changhao sped his hands together, causing a scarlet talisman in his hands to promptly transform into a white armored barrier. At once, an endless barrage of sound struck the surface of the barrier, causing copious amounts of true energy to fade away into the darkness.

    CRASH!! Within ten seconds, the entire barrier shattered with a resounding crash. At once, the investigators within were thrown everywhere, and the terrifying rainstorm of Yin energy soon rushed straight towards them!

    That said, his efforts appeared to be worthless.

    ¡°The witching hour is before us. Let ck Yaksha go, and I give you my word that he will never set foot in Cathay ever again! I¡¯ll even give you a huge gift at the end of this year!¡±

    Qin Ye smiled.

    ¡°Your death¡­ would be the best guarantee to that promise.¡±

    ¡°Only death¡­¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he mustered every bit of strength in his body to plunge the scythe that much deeper, ¡°Would quell the fury in my heart¡­¡±

    It was the Harken¡¯s scale.

    5.00 a.m. The witching hour.

    Five?

    What is he getting at?

    The tide of Yin energy rose and fell like a roaring dragon weaving through the tight spaces in the city. Then, one by one, thenterns carried by the Yin spirits in the city began to get snuffed out.

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± His mind was filled with a bad premonition. Without missing a beat, the Harken¡¯s voice boomed in his head once more, ¡°Hell¡¯s Gate can only be opened or closed by you or the representative that you¡¯ve clothed with the authority of Hell. As things stand, you don¡¯t possess the capacity to confer such authority on Yin spirits. Therefore¡­ you¡¯ll have to personally see to the closure of Hell¡¯s gate.¡±

    ¡°Then these Yin spirits that have been exposed to the purest Yin energy of Hell would remain in the mortal realm, where all of them would slowly but surely develop spiritual intelligence. All of them.¡± The Harken paused, ¡°We¡¯re talking about approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Yin spirits. There¡¯s been an instance in history that Hell¡¯s gate wasn¡¯t closed properly. In just six short months, that city was transformed into a city of the dead on earth.¡±

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and stared at the eye with deep murderous intent. The kimono-garbeddy in the eye turned to look at Qin Ye once more, ¡°Give me Lee Jung-sook and ck Yaksha, and I¡¯ll leave at once! I won¡¯t stand in the way of your duties!¡±

    ¡°Conversely, if you don¡¯t agree to these terms¡­ then I¡¯m not going to let you leave this ce!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll have my way by force?¡±

    ¡°You should know full well that you aren¡¯t able to purge me!¡±

 Chapter 521: Duty (5)

    <h4>Chapter 521: Duty (5)</h4>

    Damn it¡­ Damn it!!!

    He should have ended the night of the Hungry Ghost Festival with over a million new Yin spirits in Hell. Unfortunately, there were only several hundreds remaining that were waiting in front of Hell¡¯s gate right now. He¡¯d caught up with ck Yaksha, but only at the witching hour. There was no choice but to turn back to shut Hell¡¯s gate before the break of dawn.

    He wasn¡¯t willing to let things end like this!

    Unfortunately, Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao were the only Infernal Judges in sight. The others were mere Soul Hunters, no different from fodder before ck Yaksha.

    He nced at thedy in the eye, only to witness her scan her surroundings cidly. Just then, her lips parted slightly, and she revealed an expression of disbelief.

    Her gaze was somewhat frail, and her lips trembled ceaselessly. A wisp of blood trickled down the corner of her lips.

    Qin Ye waspletely dumbfounded.

    That¡¯s right. They had momentarily forgotten about Lee Jung-sook¡¯s existence as a result of their intense tussle earlier.

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind wentpletely nk in that instant.

    ¡°How dare you!!¡± At once, anger, regret and resentment erupted from his heart all at once. He roared at the top of his voice as he burst forward. Unfortunately, he was still a step toote.

    Lee Jung-sook¡¯s outstretched hand immediately flopped down limply, and her pupils began to go blurry and hazy.

    Why¡­

    Haven¡¯t I worked hard enough?

    I¡¯ve assumed responsibility as the King Yanluo of Hell. I¡¯ve done everything I could to discharge the duties I have. Yet the perfect asion to open Hell¡¯s gate waspletely ruined by my moment of negligence. Everything in Hell is going so smoothly, so why didn¡¯t I think about the fact that Yin and Yang are two sides of the same coin?!!

    He wasn¡¯t saddened by the prospects of losing Lee Jung-sook. Their rtionship was hardly on such a deep level. This was simply thest straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. Ever since midnight, a multitude of emotions had already begun to stir in the depths of his heart, churning and festering until it finally ignited with a great explosion.

    ¡°Leave!!!¡± Thedy hissed wildly. Her clothes pped wildly in the frightening eruption of Yin energy, while the ground began to crack and split in every direction. Qin Ye might have been despondent, but it was thedy who was iparably anxious at this point in time.

    Crack! The demonicdy tightened her grasp around Lee Jung-sook¡¯s neck, causing Lee Jung-sook to grimace miserably.

    He¡¯d made up his mind.

    This was his duty as the King Yanluo of Hell. He had to choose to sacrifice Lee Jung-sook at this turn of events.

    He spoke softly, but clearly. Then, as he looked up once more, he saw the members of the Special Investigations Department staring directly at him in shock.

    Lin Han and Su Feng were also staring at him with their mouths agape. They even subconsciously retreated several steps back, as though they were attempting to escape from the reality that had just presented itself to them. Their lips trembled as though they wanted to say something, but they forcibly repressed their remarks.

    Qin Ye felt the urge to exin himself, but words eluded him.

    Just then, the tense silence was shattered by the sound of a loud bang. Time seemed to pause in that very instant. Qin Ye froze, and then turned to the source of the sound abruptly.

    The gun was pointed straight to her chest, and blood and gore sttered everywhere.

    ¡°To save¡­ is¡­ affection¡­¡± She spoke with great difficulty, ¡°What you chose¡­ was duty¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ lived¡­ well--...¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°How dare you die?!! How dare you die?!!¡±

    Lee Jung-sook is dead¡­ ck Yaksha is doomed!

    She simply couldn¡¯t ept it!

    Just then, a spear immting with mes thrusted straight into the demonicdy¡¯s chest at supersonic speed.

    The demonicdy looked down at her own chest, before revealing a gnarly smile on her face, ¡°One day¡­ I¡¯ll make all of you¡­ eat your words.¡±

    Boom! As she spoke, a ck Sanskrit seal branded itself into Qin Ye¡¯s chest. Then, a grim, ck sun formed entirely out of Yin energy appeared right behind her, consuming her altogether. Momentster, the body of ck Yaksha emerged from the heart of the ck sun and fell straight to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris.

    Her face was pale and supple, and her hair fluttered softly with the wind. She was still as beautiful as ever, and yet she showed no semnce of life.

    No response.

    He wasn¡¯t anguished by the death of Lee Jung-sook. Rather, it was the fact that her death¡­ carried with it a multitude of implications.

    If only I¡¯d listened to Arthis and abandoned the mortal realm more decisively¡­

    I mean¡­ aren¡¯t I already doing it?

    Unfortunately, there was no use crying over spilt milk. Nothing could reverse what had already been done.

    He wanted so much to return to that day when Arthis had sternly warned him against the dangers of doing too much. If he could have a do-over, he¡¯d have done everything to ensure that the Hungry Ghost Festival went as smoothly as it could.

    He reached out and attempted to grab one, only to have it slip right through his fingers and flutter off into the distant skies.

    ¡°I took pride in the fact that I¡¯ve lived for a hundred years, and yet I don¡¯t even know some of the simplest truths. It¡¯s impossible to have your cake and eat it as well¡­¡±

    Just then, a ck lustre suddenly erupted from his chest, and then¡­ the roaring Yin energy from his body slowly began to recede like the ebbing tide.

    It was a process that took time. He saw his human hands, and even his camouge uniform peek out from right underneath the billowing Yin energy.

    A softhergale swept across thends.

    Just then, it suddenly urred to him that the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in his possession had once revealed these sights to him.

    With aplex smile, Mo Changhao marched forward and patted Qin Ye¡¯s back, affixing a talisman onto his body. It was ancient and yellowish, and yet the cursive writing on it appeared as striking as ever.

    ¡°Impossible¡­¡± Lin Han felt his throat go parched as he stared at the man he thought he knew well. It was the young man who had given him a terrible nickname. It was the same young man who had beenpeting with him, only toe out a head and shoulder above hispetition to be touted as a genius among his contemporaries. And now¡­ that same young man was covered with copious amounts of Yin energy.

    He finally understood how this young man advanced so quickly.

    He suddenly had answers to all the mysteries that appeared to be enshrouding this young man.

    It was betrayal! It was deception!

    Then¡­ What about the friendship we once used to share?

    ¡°Instructor Qin.¡± Zhou Xianlong finally spoke with a deep sigh, ¡°We meet again.¡± It sounded cid, but Qin Ye could tell that he was speaking with great despondence in his voice.

    ¡°When did you begin to harbour suspicions regarding my identity?¡±

    ¡°Right before Li Jixi died.¡±

 Chapter 522: Fulfillment

    <h4>Chapter 522: Fulfillment</h4>

    ¡°So¡­ have you always been an Infernal Judge?¡± Zhou Xianlong asked softly. It was evident that he didn¡¯t want to believe the reality before his eyes if he could help it.

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye responded curtly. He wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk. There were times when people were filled with epiphanies that forced them to mature and grow up in just a short span of time. He was in that state right now.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got no time.¡± Qin Ye sighed softly. Then, gathering his thoughts, he scanned the expressions of each investigator around, ¡°Why bother asking? You probably knew my response anyway.¡±

    Zhou Xianlong shook his head, ¡°Not everything can bebelled with right or wrong.¡±

    ¡°Besides, it¡¯s not as though we can simply let you off scot-free. Even murderers could be a good husband or son to their loved ones. The mortal realm can no longer afford to live with the uncertainties to your identity. ¡®Who you are¡¯, and ¡®what are you¡¯, are questions that the government will need full rity on. We cannot afford to let such critical variables go unchecked anymore.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed. That¡¯s right. We¡¯re all discharging our obligations and duties. Zhou Xianlong has set aside his rtionship with his mentee for the sake of his overarching duties and responsibilities. Likewise, Lin Han and Su Feng are clearly also struggling right now.

    To think that Zhou Xianlong would still be teaching me such a crucial lesson at times like these¡­

    He¡¯d already fixed the date of negotiations with the mortal realm to be in approximately two years time. At that time, Hell would already have several provinces under its control, and it would be far better ced to negotiate with the mortal realm than in front of Hell¡¯s gate right now.

    Qin Ye nced at his hand, calmly sensing the slight warmth exuding from the heart of his palms, ¡°Are you certain that you want to fight me?¡±

    Lin Han¡¯s lips parted, but he chose to swallow his words.

    ¡°You, too, would understand the weight on my shoulders when you go through the multitude of dossiers describing how families can¡¯t sleep at night, and how infants and childrens are so terrified of the dark that they¡¯d only fall asleep in the warm embrace of their parents.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ I should have known that the mortal realm would never trust Hell.

    Could the mortal realm truly ept Hell¡¯s ims after hearing nothing from them for a hundred years on end?

    Who would¡¯ve thought that the very same people who weed me with open arms back then would one day stand before me, brandishing their weapons?

    Life was like a stream, and men are like the fish within, swimming along, wondering where the turbulent currents would carry them. Some would find their way intorger rivers, while others would enter a massiveke.

    He could tell that his life in the mortal realm was slowly drifting away.

    I¡¯ve long known that this day woulde, but who knew it woulde so suddenly and unexpectedly?

    His abilities had clearly fallen beneath the realms of an Abyssal Prefect under the effects of the demonicdy¡¯s spell. This, coupled with the leaves of the peach tree that grants them vision of the unseen, filled the investigators with confidence to move against Qin Ye.

    BOOM! Dust scattered everywhere, and Mo Changhao was sent flying back dozens of meters in abject shock. He turned back fiercely and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°What are you still waiting for?!¡±

    ¡°Do it!¡± Zhou Xianlong boomed. Electricity arced from his seven apertures as he sprang into motion like the descent of a god of lightning.

    There were many things on his mind right now, and he wanted nothing more than to find a quiet ce where he could sort through his thoughts.

    Even then, the thought of Hell¡¯s prospects reinvigorated him. He finally had some rity as to the path he should be taking.

    Meanwhile, the investigators sprung into action. Mo Changhao boomed, ¡°Be careful! He¡¯s a true blue Infernal Judge. You can¡¯t afford to growcent!¡±

    Mo Changhao suddenly roared in fury. Qin Ye nced over coldly, only to realize that¡­ Lin Han hadn¡¯t made a move.

    ¡°You¡­ bastards!!¡± Zhou Xianlong gritted his teeth and cursed. However, he knew better than to pause right in the middle of the battle to berate his own students. The terrifying Prefect-ss duel that took ce just moments ago was still lingering in their minds. He couldn¡¯t afford to take Qin Ye lightly.

    Whoosh! Several artifacts plunged straight through Qin Ye¡¯s body. Unfortunately, all that remained was no more than an illusory bodyposed entirely out of Yin energy. Just then, a soft sigh resounded through the air.

    It was a sigh of resignation. He¡¯dpletely given up.

    Furthermore, it was also a sigh that told them he was finally cutting off all ties with the mortal realm. The next time they meet would naturally be during the uing negotiations between Hell and the mortal realm.

    Lin Han¡¯s lips trembled softly as he took a few steps forward. The memories that they shared during their time at the First Academy of Cultivators surfaced in his mind once more. Everything appearedpletely dissonant next to the present sight of albatrosses desperately attempting to trap Qin Ye in the heart of their Big Dipper Archfiend Array. He knew full well that joining the fray was the right thing to do, but¡­ his hands felt iparably heavy. He simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to lift his hands against Qin Ye.

    ¡°He¡¯s leaving!¡± Mo Changhao shouted, ¡°All who are still mobile are to seal off all paths of escape! This is an order!!¡±

    Order¡­

    I¡¯ll just block a random one¡­ that should suffice¡­

    Fate sure had its way with people.

    ¡°Stop him!!¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s voice boomed from behind them. Su Feng and Lin Han¡¯s bodies trembled as they began to summon the true energy from within their bodies. They each held a talisman that emitted an ancient, austere aura.

    Whoosh¡­ The talisman glowed with a silver light. A split secondter, Qin Ye abruptly raised his hand and grabbed Lin Han with an arm congealed out of Yin energy.

    Pak¡­ It had been a year since the twost met, and the first thing they did was to exchange blows again. They stood less than a meter away from each other, and either could see the expression in the other¡¯s eyes.

    He didn¡¯t think that Lin Han would actually attack him. That said, even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t be surprised.

    That said¡­ it didn¡¯t change the fact that his heart was incredibly heavy right now.

    As expected¡­ The mortal realm isn¡¯t quite worth it.

    Many know that extreme sorrow brings about weariness. But few would know that heaping yet even more sorrow upon a weary heart would instead bring about peace and tranquility.

    Just like an artifact that had lost its source of energy, the tesseted pattern of hexes quickly dimmed as it flowed back into the heart of the talisman.

    ¡°But¡­ thanks.¡±

    ¡°Why did you have to hide all this from us?!¡±

    ¡°Instructor Lin! What are you doing?!!¡± Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao roared at him from behind.

    ¡°Well then¡­ farewell.¡±

    Farewell¡­ It¡¯s not even ¡®see you again¡¯... Lin Han slumped back against a nearby tree with a nk look in his eye. He could feel a lump swell up in his throat, rendering himpletely speechless.

    ¡°After all the hard work that we¡¯ve put in, you¡¯ve¡­ single-handedly put all of our efforts to waste! Where is your sense of duty?!¡±

 Chapter 523: Meeting Between Past and Present

    <h4>Chapter 523: Meeting Between Past and Present</h4>

    Buzz¡­

    It was over. Everything was over.

    ¡°Nobody en route to bing the lord of an entire realm should expect the journey to be a smooth-sailing one. Life will always have its ups and downs, just like how one must tide through the bleak, harsh winters in order to see the first fruits of spring once more. Only in dreams can things remain constant and stagnant. And I can assure you that you would never be able to cope with the true functions of being a King Yanluo of Hell in that previous dream-like stupor of yours.¡±

    With that, his body vanished in a cloud of smoke that quickly dissipated into the surroundings, ¡°And with that, it¡¯s about time for me to hand over what I can to my next sessor¡­¡±

    ¡°Light?¡± One of the Yin spirits gasped as he gazed into the distant sky. A split secondter, he screamed at the top of his voice, ¡°Everyone! Everyone, look there!¡±

    ¡°My god¡­ what is this?!¡± ¡°That¡¯s unbelievable¡­ T-t-there¡¯s actually light in Hell?¡± ¡°Is that¡­ the sun?¡± ¡°No! The light appeared to be shrinking back!¡±

    Whoosh! A ring of golden shockwave swept across the entire Ashmound City, followed closely by the faint sounds of indistinct music that emerged from nowhere. Chimes, flutes and even multiple guzheng were ying a soft, lilting tune that spread everywhere throughout the city.

    Back in the mortal realm. A softhergale swept by, and countless wisps of Yin energy coalesced and took shape. A momentter, Qin Ye stepped out of the cloud of Yin energy and looked towards the gates of Hell.

    The mountain of Yin spirits had already vanished without a trace. The previously wide open gates of Hell had been tightly shut, and a figure stood right in front of the closed gates.

    It was a man who stood at 1.85m tall. He wore imperial robes, but his robes were adorned with neither the Harken nor the xiezhi unicorn. Rather¡­ it was adorned with the Aurogon, otherwise known as the Torch Dragon.

    His robes were tightened around his waist by a yellow belt, and he wore a matching imperial crown on his head. The man was incredibly handsome. His brows were sharp as a knife, and he sported angr, chiseled jawlines. He exuded an air of sharpness and incisiveness about him.

    Qin Ye made his way over and slowly sized up the man¡¯s appearances. After a long time, he murmured, ¡°Second King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    ¡°The Harken is a proud beast. There aren¡¯t many people who can make the Harken willingly bow in respect. So¡­ what brings you here?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly, and then nced at the ruins around him, ¡°Did you do this?¡±

    Even then, there was only one answer to the question.

    ¡°This is called Fate.¡±

    Just then, his eyes twitched, and his body moved reflexively. However, his conscious thought soon took over his body¡¯s reflexes, and he forcibly suppressed any movements.

    ¡°This is a matter between the King Yanluos of Hell.¡±

    Arthis and the Harken gritted their teeth and remained knelt in ce, staring at the scene panning out in front of their eyes with great fear and trepidation. The usually cowardly Qin Ye had rushed forward like a ferocious tiger, punching and striking the Second King Yanluo¡¯s body with all of his might. Although his blows weren¡¯t imbued with the force of his own Yin energy, they could all easily tell that he wasn¡¯t pulling any punches. Three full minutester, Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and kicked the Second King Yanluo squarely across the chest. With a muffled grunt, the Second King Yanluo stumbled back several steps.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath. With the flick of his fingers, his faux Judgment Pen appeared in his hands, and soon transformed into a mighty spear that pointed its tip straight towards the Second King Yanluo.

    ¡°And then you can find someone else to rece me! I¡¯ll quit right here, right now!!¡±

    ¡°No matter where I¡¯ve been, nobody has ever dared point a weapon at me.¡± He ced a single finger on the tip of the spear and gently pushed it aside. Qin Ye mustered all of his force, only to realize to his dismay that it felt as feeble as fighting against the weight of mountains upon mountains. They were clearly of different sses of strength.

    The Harken¡¯s eyes twitched. Here was a man who was touted as the strongest across all three realms, and yet he would stoop so low as to apologize to a newly-minted King Yanluo of Hell?

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear any apologies!¡± Qin Ye muttered coldly, ¡°I want to know the reason!¡±

    ¡°Why did you have to do this?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that got to do with me?!¡±

    Qin Ye paused abruptly and looked at the Second King Yanluo in shock.

    ¡°There are manyws and rules governing the existence of these three realms, yet the ones who truly understand these rules are few and far between. And as far as the Cathayan underworld is concerned, nobody knows thesews and rules better than Ksitigarbha and myself.¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent. He understood that being the King Yanluo of Hell was akin to being the lord of a realm. There were many secrets and mysteries that cannot be disclosed to outsiders. He couldn¡¯t risk transmitting the priceless legacy of Hell through written means.

    At the same time, he would also pass onto his sessor everything he needed to know about being the next King Yanluo of Hell. Incidentally, the Second King Yanluo was probably the only person who coulde and go from the three realms as he so desired.

    ¡°I can understand how you¡¯re feeling right now.¡± The Second King Yanluo looked Qin Ye right in the eye, ¡°But in life, one much first sow the seeds, before he can reap the harvest. If possible, I¡¯d have done it a different way. Unfortunately, time isn¡¯t on my side.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly as he picked up on a certain keyword, ¡°Trial?¡±

    ¡°Do you think the uniqueness of your identity automatically qualifies you to be the next King Yanluo of Hell? Granted, it might help smoothen the path, and it might even cause you to be the most unique King Yanluo, but that in itself hardly suffices.¡±

    ¡°No matter how broken Hell might be, it¡¯s still an underworld backed by thousands of years of heritage and legacy. Do you know just how many pairs of eyes are watching you from the heavenly realm with each day that passes? The old ministers of Hell who have all ascended into heaven are listening to every single word you speak and scrutinizing every move you make. I¡¯m here to put you through the trial that all of them have prepared for you. It¡¯s only by passing this trial that you¡¯ll finally be qualified to seed the throne as the next King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°Again, I¡¯m sorry.¡± He gazed sincerely into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°That said, I regret nothing. Everyone has to undergo a period of growth in their lives. A single misstep on your part could potentially result in a cmitous end to the entire nation. We can¡¯t take any chances like this. And neither can Cathay. Therefore, I hope you can understand where we¡¯reing from as well.¡±

    He knew full well that what the Second King Yanluo had done was all for his own good. But he still couldn¡¯t ept the fact that it had been done.

    This was only to be expected. Only a saint could find it in themselves to ept something like that so quickly.

    ¡°This is called Fate.¡± The Second King Yanluo ced it in front of Qin Ye, ¡°Its primary function¡­ is to cause anything that is written down toe to fruition. Its effects are closely intertwined with the strength of its holder. Now, it¡¯s yours.¡±

    Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°For instance?¡±

    ¡°For instance¡­ the Imperial Pce?¡±

 Chapter 524: Ascension?

    <h4>Chapter 524: Ascension?</h4>

    The Second King Yanluo smiled, ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s true that there wasn¡¯t such a ce before, but¡­ who knows? Perhaps things might be a little bit different now.¡±

    What used to be an empty room containing the Mythic Pce of Reflections had apparently undergone a massive change. There was a glorious golden throne located right in the middle of the room, a meter and a half wide, and two meters tall in height. The dragon that adorned the back of the throne wasn¡¯t the usual dragons of the mortal realm either - it was the Aurogon, or the Torch Dragon.

    The beams in the hall were now decorated by luxurious soft veils. Huge pirs carved with an image of the Eighteen Abysses of Hell rose from the ground and right to the ceiling. A series of copper braziers shaped like Rakshasas brightly lit the imperial hall, while a series of tables and chairs were neatly arranged before the throne like an ancient imperial court. Seen together, everything appeared to exude an air of sepulchral opulence.

    They seemed unaffected.

    The revelry was ted to go on until midnight tonight. The night of the Hungry Ghost Festival was when their loved ones would burn paper offerings for them.

    After some moments, he finally shut his eyes and sighed softly.

    ¡°You will die, together with all Yin spirits who have served you faithfully all this while.¡±

    Perhaps an ordinary person might have thetitude to act willfully and with wanton disregard to his duties and responsibilities. For instance, students or the employees of regr jobs might throw caution to the wind and resign to y, or act on their whims and fancies with little to no implication to the rest of society. But as the King Yanluo of Hell, a single moment of abdication of his responsibility would cause the mountain of paperwork to copse under its own weight.

    He couldn¡¯t afford to be the bottleneck causing the stoppage of the flow of information any longer. The one who wears the crown must bear its weight. It was a tall order, and anyone who answered this calling would have to first be able to deny himself.

    Just then, Qin Ye asked softly as he continued to watch the revelry on Spider Lily Ind, ¡°What does it mean to be the King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then turned around.

    Qin Ye nced past the two, and allowed his gaze to follow the plush red carpet on the ground until itnded right on the golden throne at the end of the hall. Then, he slowly walked over.

    He had started his journey from the tiny Clear Creek County. That was when he first encountered Granny Meng and the terrifying supernatural incidents. He¡¯d even been scared witless at that time. And yet¡­ to think that he would finally sit on the throne as the King Yanluo of Hell.

    He once used to have only Arthis under hismand. And now, he had an entire government of talents working like clockwork under his charge. Ksitigarbha had personally made the trip to see him, while the Second King Yanluo returned from afar to pass down his legacy. Even the daolord of the asura which he once feared intently was now waiting on him outside the Imperial Pce, cowering in fear and submission.

    But he still sat down on it without any hesitation.

    ¡°The Third King Yanluo.¡± The Second King Yanluo stood right in front of the imperial throne and cupped his hands with great respect, ¡°Henceforth, you are charged with the official functions of the King Yanluo of Hell. You hold the authority to all life and death in your hand, bear the burden of maintaining the bnce between Yin and Yang. You shall be one of the signatories to thews of the three realms. You are Hell. May you reign with boldness and decisiveness, and may your kingdom prosper for all eternity. Have you thought things through?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    It was bound tightly by a red rope. Qin Ye tried tugging to it, but the rope appeared to be tightly bound, as though by a magical force. It appeared impossible to open.

    King Yanluo¡¯s Token!

    The Second King Yanluo continued, ¡°Henceforth, you live and die together with Hell. Hell is honoured by you. If you should betray Hell, I¡¯ll personally see to it that your actions don¡¯t go unpunished. But if you shall walk with your subjects and aim for the stars, Hell shall not be destroyed for all eternity. Do you understand?¡±

    He should have known that it was impossible for Hell to have recognized him as the King Yanluo of Hell simply by virtue of the fact that he possessed a meagre shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. It came with a long, arduous trial, personally invigted by the gods and deities unseen.

    It was only when he finally passed the trial that everything would finallye to an end, and he would ascend the throne with an indispensable ceremony.

    With his affirmative response, two scrolls suddenly appeared in the air before him, shining with a brilliant lustre. One of them flew to the table in front of him and slowly unfurled.

    From there, a series of shocking names appeared!

    And his name was followed by sixteen names, including Jiang Ziwen, Li Changde, Lu Shuwen, Bao Xiern, Xue Shengde, Zhao Zilong, Ran Yongzeng¡­

    And there was an empty row right above all of these names, right underneath two other names that had previously been written.

    I¡¯ve only heard of these people in legends and myths¡­ Who would¡¯ve thought that I¡¯d one day be given a chance to etch my name in a ce higher than their names¡­

    Qin Ye drew a deep breath and held Fate gingerly.

    He wanted to know the names of his predecessors!

    It¡¯s him!

    Bo Yikao¡­ Born to Ji Chang, King Wen of Zhou, he was appointed one of the true gods. His name was¡­ none other than the Great Arctic Emperor Ziwei!

    Of course, these are all but myths and legends. And the truth¡­ was written right in front of Qin Ye at that very moment!

    However, to his great surprise, the name of the Second King Yanluo¡­ was actually blurred out!

    After several attempts, Qin Ye finally looked up, ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, and then began writing with Fate.

    Is my name¡­ truly considered in the same ranks as these legendary existences?

    The Harken had already shrunk down to the size of a meter. At once, hey prostrate on all fours and kowtowed to the ground with a mighty bellow.

    Arthis gently lifted the hem of her skirt and spoke with unprecedented solemness, ¡°Your humble servant, former Infernal Judge of the Province of the Great Heavens, witnesses the session of the new King Yanluo of Hell. I live and die for the glory of Hell.¡±

    It was the formal ascension of the new King Yanluo of Hell!

    There weren¡¯t many witnesses, but the identities of the witnesses more than made up for theck of numbers!

    So this is what it feels like to be the King Yanluo of Hell.

    The earlier scroll was the Records of the Three Realms. So¡­ I wonder what this is?

    <hr>

    1. He¡¯s apparently the son of King Wen of Zhou, who lived from 1112 BC to 1050 BC. I guess that makes Hell only approximately 3000 years old?

 Chapter 525: Paper Flower Boat

    <h4>Chapter 525: Paper Flower Boat</h4>

    The title was written in striking red ink - Land.

    ¡°Li Yun: Lord of Zhoufang County, Martial City. Identity: Forestry Administrator of the Zhoufang County.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Liang: Lord of Whitecloud County, Martial City. Identity: Medical doctor operating out of Whitecloud County Hospital.¡±

    Qin Ye looked up and took a deep breath. If memory served him well, there were incidentally over a thousand counties across all of Cathay.

    ¡°Is exactly the one that you¡¯re thinking of.¡± The Second King Yanluo smiled, ¡°The mortal realm is the foundation of all three realms. Both Heaven and Hell are premised on the foundation of the mortal realm. Anything that urs in the mortal realm would have to be immediately reported to the two upper realms, especially if it be a massive upheaval. This is because¡­ the mortal realm is the weakest realm among the three realms.¡±

    ¡°Why not resolve the problems guing Cathay?¡± The Second King Yanluo finished his question for him, ¡°Have you ever seen the heavenly realm resolve the problems of the mortal realm of its own volition?¡±

    He looked Qin Ye in the eye, ¡°You must remember that the existence of gods and deities are built upon myths, legends and faith. This is the true foundation of all things. Such beliefs transcend the rise and fall of a city or even a civilization. So long as faith exists, so will gods and deities.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just a casual remark on my part.¡± The Second King Yanluo chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s good to learn from one¡¯s mistakes, but as far as this is concerned, it¡¯s fine to keep it on the backburner for now. After all, the three realms are separate and distinct from one another. All you¡¯ll have to do is to mind your own business. They¡¯d¡­ naturallye knocking on your door.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the Second King Yanluo. I¡¯m not afraid of ghosts knocking on my door, but as far as gods and deities are concerned, I¡¯m really not that certain¡­

    ¡°There exist many things across the three realms that cannot be resolved through the efforts of a single realm. Interoperation is a necessity. There are names of approximately 1,400 people written on this scroll, all of whom act as the eyes of Heaven as far as the mortal realm is concerned. They are otherwise known as the Lords of the Land. They have a divine appointment, but no divine abilities. If you liken the heavenly courts to the courts of the mortal realm, the Lords of the Lands would be no more than the smallest officials possible - almost akin to pawns on a chess board. Even then, they are the only line of contact between Heaven and Hell. So long as you have need, you may call upon the Lords of the Land.¡±

    ¡°One thing to note is that you can currently only summon the Lords of the Lands in the mortal realm. That said, once you regain control of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, they would sense the resumption of order and annually provide you updates on the affairs of the mortal realm and Heaven. Beyond that, you¡¯d even be able to activate King Yanluo¡¯s Seal if you have need for them, and the Lords of the Lands would at once rush straight to theherworld to answer your summons. Incidentally, each and every Lord of the Land is equivalent to a Soul Hunter.¡±

    Two words were written in striking red ink right after the 1,400 or so names.

    And then, everything below was nk.

    The Second King Yanluo responded slowly, ¡°The City Gods are the only officials that Hell are able to appoint within the mortal realm. To better understand their function, it would be important to understand Hell¡¯s system of governance as a whole. Hell employs a central governance system that operates top-down like a pyramid. It is differentiated by regions, starting from counties, then cities, provinces, districts, with the central government sitting at the very top. Every county is divided into two portions, namely the Orderly Desk, and the City God. The Orderly Desk is in charge of their territory in Hell, while the City God is in charge of the mortal realm. As far as the City God is concerned, its function is to monitor the emergence of any powerful evil ghosts, keep track of the mortality rate, keep an eye out for any foreign emissaries, ensure that the rifts between the mortal realm and Hell ar intact, ensure that no Yin beasts escape from Limbo into the mortal realm, and so on and so forth.¡±

    Qin Ye suddenly raised his hand and looked intently at the Second King Yanluo, ¡°If memory serves me well, Ksitigarbha¡­ had only whisked off the officials in Hell when he gained ascension, right?¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ what about the 1,400 or so City Gods in the mortal realm?!¡±

    The Second King Yanluo smiled faintly, ¡°About that¡­ You¡¯ll find out soon enough.¡±

    At once, Qin Ye had the urge of stamping his foot straight into the face of the Second King Yanluo for his annoying response. But, on second thought, he held himself back.

    He turned his attention back to the issue at hand and slowly began to wrap up the scroll, ¡°So, how should I go about appointing City Gods moving forward?¡±

    Is tonight¡­ finallying to its close?

    Henceforth, I shall shoulder my responsibilities as the King Yanluo of Hell.

    There were times when a man would be filled with passion and ambition. But it faded away as quickly as it came, and Qin Ye chuckled with a bitter smile on his face.

    Lee Jung-sook, as well as the hundreds and thousands of innocent Yin spirits were gone without a trace. Qin Ye would always remember this Hungry Ghost Festival as one of the greatest sources of regret in his life.

    Perhaps¡­ life is made perfect because it is built on the foundation of regret¡­ The bright gleam in his eyes gradually faded away. At once, he waved his hand and summoned the Book of Life and Death. Brilliant light erupted from within, and a split secondter, a creature almost two-meters tall appeared in the imperial hall.

    ¡°You¡­¡± His teeth chattered wildly. But just as he was about to go on, he felt his heart suddenly awash with a frigid chill, and he immediately copsed onto his knees.

    ck Yaksha¡­ The mere sight of this Nipponese Yin spirit caused a deep resentment to re up in Qin Ye¡¯s heart, and yet he did nothing more than reveal a soft smile on his face, ¡°Raise your head.¡±

    And there¡¯s also Lord Harken¡­ A Yama-King and a King Yanluo¡­ Even his bones were shaking uncontrobly. The pressure was so immense that he was practically on the verge of copse.

    Thud!

    This is¡­ the Imperial Pce¡­

    I can only hope that our actions don¡¯t implicate Yomi-no-Kuni¡­ Otherwise, the use of Immortal Sanction will cause the entire world to tremble, and Yomi-no-Kuni¡­ might cease to exist altogether¡­

    It¡¯s a good thing that the Third King Yanluo is willing to grant me an audience. There¡­ there¡¯s still hope yet!

    Just then, he heard a cold chuckle, ¡°You¡¯re ck Yaksha.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a stain in the eyes of Your Excellency! I deserve nothing but death!!¡± ck Yaksha kowtowed resoundingly once more. In fact, he mmed his head against the ground so hard that his head cracked slightly, and Yin energy spilt out from within.

    Your actions have also caused the demographic dividends that Hell was supposed to reap at the end of the Hungry Ghost Festival to go up in smoke. Hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits have perished as a result of your actions! You¡¯ve caused my meticulous ns to kickstart the Hungry Ghost Festival celebrations with a bang to be theughingstock of the town!

    ¡°You knew full well that your actions would attract the death penalty, and yet you still dare intrude upon the sanctity of the Hungry Ghost Festival?! What gall does Izanami have?!!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s murderous intent skyrocketed, and he mmed his fist hard onto the table. ck Yaksha shuddered and begged for mercy at once, ¡°Your Excellency, this has nothing to do with Yomi-no-Kuni! Everything¡­ everything was a result of my own wilful actions! I¡­ I deserve nothing but death!¡±

    ¡°May the esteemed Hell have mercy on us!¡±

    Qin Ye licked his lips and nced at the Harken, ¡°What¡¯s the most painful death sentence that Hell is capable of?¡±

    ¡°Your Excellency.¡± The Harken bowed respectfully, ¡°Under the current circumstances, the skyntern punishment would be the most painful death sentence. But¡­ there once existed another kind of death sentence known as the paper flower boat.¡±

 Chapter 526: Arrival of the Deities

    <h4>Chapter 526: Arrival of the Deities</h4>

    ck Yaksha¡¯s jaws dropped, and his mind instantly went nk.

    Very well¡­

    ¡°No.¡± The Harken smiled. ¡°And this is the beauty of the paper flower boat punishment. The light in the middle of the boat would protect his soul and keep it from dissipating. The debilitation only eats away at his physical body.¡±

    The Harken sighed, ¡°It depends entirely on the strength of the one who metes out the punishment.¡±

    ck Yaksha¡¯s eyes rolled back at once, and he nearly passed out.

    The Second King Yanluo of Hell?! Doesn¡¯t this mean that I¡¯m going to suffer until the end of time?! I won¡¯t be granted any moment of reprieve!

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief. Then, just as he was about to rise from his seat, the Second King Yanluo suddenly shook his head, ¡°Please wait a moment.¡±

    Unfortunately, the Second King Yanluo nodded, ¡°The ceremonial procedure requires all officials of Hell to pay tribute to the new King Yanluo of Hell as soon as he ascends the throne.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about them.¡± The Second King Yanluo turned back and nced at the vast expanse of the skies, ¡°I¡¯m talking about the ones out there who are able to return to Hell.¡±

    ¡°Although they have no divine abilities, they are still the only ones from the heavenly realm who possess the ability to travel to Hell. I¡¯m sure they must all be eagerly awaiting your summons right now. We¡­ probably shouldn¡¯t keep them waiting, should we?¡±

    His voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it clearly sent ripples travelling through the boundaries of Hell and straight into the two other realms. Meanwhile, the echo from his voice lingered endlessly in Hell.

    He can directly transmit messages across the three realms without King Yanluo¡¯s Token? Once again, Qin Ye discovered something new about the transcendent might of the Second King Yanluo of Hell. Ten minutester, over a thousand pirs of light suddenly plunged straight through the vast canopies of the skies and straight into Hell!

    Back on Spider Lily Ind. A Yin spirit was just screaming atop the roller coaster when he suddenly blinked vacantly and yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°Look!! Look over there!¡±

    ¡°Is the sun finally shining upon the abysses of Hell?¡± ¡°No¡­ Perhaps it¡¯s because one of the great officials of Hell has gained enlightenment!¡± ¡°Could Yanluo Qin be introducing something new to Hell again?¡±

    Just then, the timbre of a clear voice suddenly echoed throughout the vast expanse of Hell, ¡°Yuen Long, Lord of Muyin County, answers Hell¡¯s summons.¡± ¡°Zhou Chaofang, Lord of Zhenshan County, answers Hell¡¯s summons.¡± ¡°An Yitai, Lord of Heiliang County, answers Hell¡¯s summons.¡±

    On the other side of Spider Lily Ind. Tang An¡¯s jaws dropped, and he stared vacantly at the sky above Ashmound City some distance away. It just dawned on him that Hell was far more formidable than he had previously imagined.

    ¡°These are all Lords of the Land¡­ The mythical existences known as the Lords of the Land¡­¡± Tang An eximed with a soft sigh as he felt a tingling sensation run down his spine. He nced around at the Yin spirits beside him, only to realize that everyone was gazing intently at the magnificent sight some distance away.

    They might have thought highly of Kong Mo earlier, but that was because they hadn¡¯t personally witnessed what the true Hell was like. But today, they had finally witnessed the grand arrival of the deities!

    Back on the city walls. Countless Yin soldiers watched with great disbelief as the brilliant eruption of golden light continued to dazzle the skies in Hell. And then, they turned to look at the front of the city tower, where countless figures dressed in pure white robes and jade crowns bowed deeply in reverent worship. At once, the hearts of the Yin soldiers stirred with pride.

    It included the soldiers of the Yang n and Nobunaga¡¯s Umamawari horse guard. There were even the other elite Yin soldiers that used to form a part of the defences of Shanhai Pass. Previously, Kong Mo would repeatedly assure the citizens that they were the one true Hell, but it was only Hell seized control of Ashmound City that they finally witnessed Yanluo Qin assuring them with actions, rather than words.

    It was glorious. At some point, one of the Yin soldiers couldn¡¯t help but fall on one knee as he dered at the top of his voice, ¡°May the King Yanluo of Hell reign for all eternity!¡±

    Meanwhile, the 1,400 Lords of the Land remainedpletely silent as they continued to maintain a bowed posture towards the city tower. Theyprised people of all ages, whether young or old, men or women. Back in the mortal realm, each of them were gods in their own rights. But here, none of them dared act brazenly.

    There was a pin drop silence. Several minutester, a tide of boundless Yin energy erupted from the heart of the city tower.

    A momentter, the Harken appeared right above the sixth floor of the city tower. With the snap of its finger, stairs that were 300-meters wide coalesced entirely from Yin energy began to unfurl from the sixth floor of the city tower and extend all the way to the ground. Then, it spoke with a lofty voice, ¡°Greetings to all.¡±

    They were immediately greeted by a lush red carpet adorned with ents of glorious gold. However, nobody dared raise their heads in the slightest. Instead, they knelt down as soon as they entered the sixth floor. A man who appeared incredibly old took a step forward from andy prostrate on the ground, kowtowing as he spoke, ¡°On behalf of the Golden Immortals, greater deities and lesser deities from the heavenly realm, this lesser deity, Sun Lifa, Lord of Chaoyang County, Yan Capital, sincerely congratte to King Yanluo for your honourable ascension to the imperial throne.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be treated on the same level as the Jade Emperor. Both are considered the lords of an entire realm.¡± The Second King Yanluo lowered his voice to a hush, ¡°This is nothing. Back in the glory days of the old Hell, we used to have a great pilgrimage every fifty years, where officials from everywhere would send greetings to the imperial throne of Hell. Back then, even getting through the congrattory words was something that could easily take an entire day. Once you reassemble the King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, you¡¯d be able tomunicate with the heavenly realm, and you might be required to head up to the heavenly realm whenever something important happens. At that time, you¡¯lle to realize that save for a handful of Golden Immortals, not a single one of them would even dare make eye contact with you.¡±

    Is this the might of the King Yanluo of Hell?

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t one who dreams about waking up to the world beneath his feet and his arms wrapped around the bosom of countless beauties. But now¡­ he couldn¡¯t help but savor the sweet, intoxicating first taste of power.

    ¡°Nothing. This is the first pilgrimage, so you can just sit back, watch, and learn. The Lords of the Land will pay you a visit every five years to brief you on any updates. You¡¯ll have to do this on your own next time.¡±

    It was only then that the Lords of the Land finally stood up. Yet, even then, they continued to keep their heads bowed low. Nobody dared to meet his eyes.

    ¡°Yes, sir!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically, but he didn¡¯t say anything more. He continued listening intently.

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Sun Lifa responded on behalf of all of the Lords of the Land. Following that, they each retrieved a scroll from within their sleeves and held it up gingerly with two hands as they retreated to the sides of the imperial hall.

    ¡°Of course.¡± The Second King Yanluo responded indifferently, ¡°Remember this - in their eyes, you¡¯re someone no different from the Jade Emperor. Don¡¯t act out of line.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo didn¡¯t keep him around any longer. After all, he could tell that Qin Ye had a multitude of things to process from this eventful night.

    He needed to digest what exactly it meant to be a King Yanluo of Hell, and how exactly he should behave moving forward.

    ¡°After all, anyone who¡¯s consumed the taisui fungus would have rued sufficient life experiences to handle something like this. Even if they wish to simply cruise along, it wouldn¡¯t change the fact that they¡¯d already be equipped with all the right skills.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

 Chapter 527: Green Lotus Cave

    <h4>Chapter 527: Green Lotus Cave</h4>

    Time passed by quickly.

    A weekter, Wang Chenghao stood right beside Qin Ye in King Yanluo¡¯s office, waiting on him as Qin Ye flipped through therge red-coloured stack of documents that was one-foot thick.

    ¡°1,000,000 kilograms of ck Netherjade; 1,000 Sun Roosters; 500 kilograms of Qilin Blood; 1,000 kilograms of Authentic Dragon Horns¡­ The Supreme Venerable Soverign, otherwise known as the Taishang Laojun.¡± Qin Ye finally got through the final page of the documents, and massaged his temples. His heart was filled withplex emotions beyond words.

    These weren¡¯t information. These were aplete inventory of the tributary gifts he had received.

    These were gifts brought by the Lords of the Land on behalf of the members of the heavenly realm to congratte Qin Ye¡¯s ascension to the throne as the Third King Yanluo of Hell.

    Qin Ye had dove straight into work as soon as he emerged from his short stint of self-seclusion. It was only then that he truly understood the sheer amount of responsibilities he had been abdicating from back then. It had only been a few hours since themencement of his work, yet there were peopleing up to him almost every ten minutes, either sending in their respective department¡¯s reports, or registering the opinions of the respective ministers on certain important issues.

    This gave him a brand new perspective of King Yanluo¡¯s office. Previously, nobody would seek an audience with him because he returned in the middle of the night. Naturally, he was alsopletely oblivious to the thoughts and concerns of the ministers under his charge. But now, his personal exchange with his ministers and subjects filled him with a greater appreciation and fulfillment for the work that he was doing.

    In his rare moment of respite, he¡¯d thought to flip through the reports of the Lords of the Land, only to discover to his great surprise that each and every Lord of the Land was backed by a reputable immortal or deity.

    Immortals¡­ He rubbed his neck as he turned around and gazed upon the dark night skies, ¡°I¡¯ve never felt this close to immortals before¡­¡±

    Taishang Laojun, Taiyi Zhenren, and Eng Shen¡­ These ubiquitous names were all featured in some form or other on these red documents sitting on his desk. He didn¡¯t know what each of these tributary gifts could be used for. In fact, he hadn¡¯t even heard of them back in the mortal realm. That said, he could tell that these gifts were all extraordinary in their own rights.

    Wang Chenghao didn¡¯t speak either. He¡¯d been scuttling about all day, acting as Qin Ye¡¯s arms and legs, and he was d to finally have been given a breather. Even then, he couldn¡¯t help but look intently at Qin Ye, scrutinizing Qin Ye¡¯s every movement.

    Something about Qin Ye felt different from before.

    He couldn¡¯t say what exactly it was. In part, it felt as though Qin Ye¡¯s old thick-skinned self had returned, and yet, it also felt as though he had gained an aura of dignity and nobility about him, so much so that Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t tell if it were still appropriate to be joking about Qin Ye.

    In fact, Wang Chenghao wasn¡¯t the only one who sensed these changes in Qin Ye¡¯s demeanor. All of the ministers who have had the opportunity to interact with him found Qin Ye a lot more reserved, cautious and meticulous than before. They could even tell from the manner in which Qin Ye¡¯s personal assistants were treating him that there was now an added degree of reverence and awe.

    That¡¯s right - they might have been treating Qin Ye with respect for the office he upied in the past, but all that has changed to reverence and awe for the person himself.

    Just then, the Second King Yanluo entered the room and addressed Qin Ye directly, ¡°The first thing you¡¯ve got to do is to familiarize yourself with Hell¡¯s Records. It contains the exact specifications and materials required to construct the six paths of reincarnation.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already started to realize the importance of maintaining good rtions between Heaven and Hell.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo leisurely sat down onto the sofa in the room, and Wang Chenghao sensibly offered him a cup of tea. His intuition told him that this was not a man to be messed with.

    ¡°The specifications and materials required to construct the six paths of reincarnation?¡± Qin Ye turned around in shock, ¡°Isn¡¯t it too early to construct that right now?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡± The Second King Yanluo sipped his tea cidly, ¡°Firstly, you¡¯ll have to decide on an appropriate location. There are many strange localities hidden across the three realms, and especially so in the mortal realm, otherwise known as the foundation of the three realms. We¡¯ve been unable to discover these hintends precisely because Hell hasn¡¯t been able to properlyb through thesends before.¡±

    ¡°For instance, the six paths of reincarnation is an amenity that upies an incrediblyrge area, but the truth of the matter is that it used to be located in a special dimension that exists between realms. This dimensional rift could be as small as a drop of water, or be represented by the form of a valley or a cave by the ocean. Think about it, the six paths are supposed to amodate hundreds of millions of sinners. How much space would you need to hold that many people? That¡¯s easilyrger than a major province in Cathay! Hell doesn¡¯t have such luxury of space to support the physical existence of the six paths of reincarnation. Therefore, the next best choice is to have it situated in a special dimensional rift, one which we moremonly call the Sumeru Mustard.¡±

    Qin Ye took a sip of tea and sighed softly, ¡°Unfortunately, Hell is still a far cry from what it used to be. We don¡¯t have many Yin soldiers to begin with. Having just put the Battle of Qufu behind us, I¡¯d like to wait at least another year before conducting a mass conscription exercise if possible. That should give the citizens sufficient time to ease into the new regime and earn their trust. That puts our current numbers at only slightly over 10,000 Yin soldiers. To make matters worse, this is the tally before we take into ount the fact that Susa Boy had easily killed thousands more. So where are we supposed to find the requisite manpower to explore new frontiers?¡±

    Qin Ye gently set his teacup back onto the table, ¡°Moreover, I¡¯ve got no clue where exactly this Sumeru Mustard is going to be located. It¡¯s going to take an incredible investment of manpower from Hell¡¯s security forces to locate this. Going by my current estimates, I don¡¯t think it would even be possible tomence the construction of the six paths of reincarnation before Hell¡¯s poption size grows to the hundreds of millions, and there exists at least 10 million Yin soldiers under ourmand--¡­¡±

    But his voice soon trailed off, because he realized that the Second King Yanluo was simply holding his teacup and smiling intently at Qin Ye.

    The smug expression that the Second King Yanluo was wearing told Qin Ye that there was something more than meets the eye. At once, Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Allow me to ponder about this a little while longer¡­¡±

    The Second King Yanluo waited patiently for the next few minutes as Qin Ye pored through the deepest recesses of his mind for an answer. Then, his eyes suddenly lit up, ¡°Cui Jue¡¯s Laws of Yin-Yang Coaction?¡±

    The Second King Yanluo nodded with a smile, ¡°Goodd. You are teachable after all.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ Qin Ye fervently resisted the urge to give the old man a tight p across the cheeks.

    Qin Ye despised all men who looked more handsome and charming than him.

    Forget it¡­ Since I can¡¯t defeat him, I¡¯ve got no choice but to endure it with long-suffering instead. Qin Ye coughed dryly as he gently tapped the table, ¡°You¡¯d earlier mentioned that there are many ces in the mortal realm that conceal great secrets, but have remained undiscovered all this while because there¡¯s no way Hell canb through thosends. But ording to the Laws of Yin-Yang Coaction, what exists in the mortal realm would exist in theherworld, and the converse is also true. In other words, so long as I can locate the existence of the Sumeru Mustard in the mortal realm, it must necessarily flow that the same thing would exist in theherworld.¡±

    ¡°But therein lies the problem - how am I supposed to go about with a search like that?¡± He didn¡¯t go on. If there¡¯s one thing he learnt from his governance of Ashmound, it would be the fact that hope was of paramount importance.

    And the greatest hope that one could give to the ghostly citizens of Hell is the hope of returning to the mortal realm!

    It could be the hope of making a trip back to the mortal realm; it could be the hope of rying dreams to their loved ones; and it could even be the hope of reincarnating for good and regaining life back in the mortal realm!

    The construction of the six paths of reincarnation was most definitely one of the most important milestones in Hell¡¯s development! Once the works wereplete, Hell could then properly be said to have regained its true function across the three realms. This would be the best way to keep the citizens of Hell under control!

    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry.¡± Unexpectedly, it was the Second King Yanluo who interjected with a response, ¡°The six paths and the Eighteen Abysses of Punishments may both be considered part of the core functions of Hell. Not only would they require specialized materials for constructions, they are even contingent on a deeper study of special disciplines, including Yin Talismanology and Yin Spirit Biology, and the like. It¡¯s still far too early for Hell to be delving straight into these things. That said, this doesn¡¯t mean that Hell can¡¯t startying the groundwork for the future.¡±

    He stood up, ¡°Anyhow, it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t fully grasp what I¡¯m driving at right now. For now, what do you say to getting started on breaking down Hell¡¯s legacy?¡±

    Qin Ye retracted his smile and nodded deeply, ¡°That¡¯s right. You don¡¯t have much time left in these three realms, do you?¡±

    ¡°Two months.¡± The Second King Yanluo responded casually.

    How are there still two months?!

    Aren¡¯t you supposed to be leaving earlier? Does time flow differently where youe from?! Or did someone somehow manage to nail you to the chair?

    Do you know how costly it is to maintain your existence? Do you know what kind of pressure your existence brings to me? Do you know how hard it is to feign diligence everyday just because of you? Besides, haven¡¯t you heard of the QQ messaging tform? Can¡¯t you just leave your instructions by way of messaging? Are you personally hanging around Hell because you¡¯re coveting my flesh?!

    Fear filled his guts, while his heart surged with rage. Even then, he sensibly suppressed the outpouring of emotions in the interest of preserving his own life.

    ¡°Well then¡­ shall we get right down to it now?¡± Qin Ye asked with a contrived smile.

    If I could have it my way, I¡¯d much rather learn of Hell¡¯s legacy through the QQ messaging app, rather than right under the close scrutiny of your watchful gaze!

    The Second King Yanluo did nothing more than raise an eyebrow at Qin Ye¡¯s response, and at once, Qin Ye¡¯s surroundings began to turn illusory and fade away.

    Momentster, when everything became clear once more, Qin Ye was astonished to discover that he was now located in the midst of a boundless sea of lotuses.

    Both he and the Second King Yanluo were seated in the middle of a boat approximately ten meters in size. The carvings on the ship were incredibly exquisite, and it looked as though it had materialized out of the finest ancient paintings.

    ¡°Red flowers, green leaves and white lotus roots. The Three Religions all stem from the same root. They were both located at the head of the boat. The Second King Yanluo gently poured out a cup of tea and handed it to Qin Ye, ¡°My body has been tainted by the karma of the Three Religions, so I¡¯d thought of creating this Green Lotus Cave. I hope it¡¯s not an eyesore to you.¡±

    He must be seeking validation of his efforts¡­

    Qin Ye coughed lightly as he held up his teacup, ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo chuckled as he patted the side of the boat. At once, the boat rocked softly, and began to traverse through the boundless sea of lotuses. As the lotuses were swept to the sides, it revealed countless koi fishes gathered under their boat, almost as though the koi fishes were holding up the weight of the boat and ferrying them along the waters. The lotus leaves were massive, while the stalks looked like the trunks of towering trees that extended high into the skies. The brilliant sunlight in the distance shone right through the gaps between the lotus leaves, casting patchwork shadows on the shimmering waters below.

    It was a tranquil sight that offered Qin Ye a reprieve from the hectic lifestyle of a King Yanluo of Hell.

    ¡°You seem to know how to enjoy life.¡± Qin Ye set aside all pretension, kicked his legs up andy back on the boat as he stared at the lotus leaves hanging overhead, ¡°Tell me, how long has it been since you first developed the intention to pass on your duties and responsibilities, and retire in his ce of tranquility?¡±

    Thud¡­ The Second King Yanluo followed suit andid back, crossing his legs and shaking it casually, ¡°The only other person to ever havee to this little domain of mine apart from you is Bo Yikao. But he¡¯s an idiot. Don¡¯t you ever learn from him.¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­ Aren¡¯t you a pot calling the kettle ck? Didn¡¯t you set me up for this as well? Speaking of which, is this supposed to be one of the traditions for handing over one¡¯s duties to their sessors now? I feel obligated to carry things forward properly¡­¡±

    The Second King Yanluo leaned his head on his hands and muttered backzily, ¡°... I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. Besides, do you know how boring it is to stagnate in the same ce for hundreds of years on end? As soon as a government takes shape, everything will continue to run like clockwork so long as there aren¡¯t any major exigencies which precipitate changes. But, even then, your subjects would still long to stand out from theirpetition, constantly reporting to you the most illustrious things they¡¯ve done. You¡¯d have no choice but to end up nodding like a little bob-headed machine. And since they¡¯re part of your own government, you can¡¯t even smack them like you would swat a pesky fly!¡±

    Silence.

    It was an incredibly peaceful sight. Both of them were clearly enjoying their moment of respite, and they continued to stare nkly at the passing sky for the next five minutes or so, before Qin Ye finally broke the silence, ¡°Speaking of which, I still haven¡¯t got your name. Your current title is too long, and it¡¯s rather difficult to keep addressing you by that.¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, not even a peep? You¡¯re going to leave soon, aren¡¯t you? I¡¯ll have to burn some incense for you in theing few Qingming festivals, but it¡¯s far too much work writing out ¡®Second King Yanluo of Hell¡¯ for every time I have to do so¡­¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes, ¡°And if you¡¯re thinking of saying ¡®peep¡¯, just know that even my patience has its limits. Do you know how much I¡¯ve wanted to send you to the after-afterlife? It¡¯s too bad that I¡¯m no match for you.¡±

    Still, no response.

    Truth be told, Qin Ye hadn¡¯t expected a response from the Second King Yanluo. By now, he had already sat up, reached over the waters and begun paddling in the water, enjoying the touch of the koi fish gently pecking at his fingers. Thirty more seconds passed. Just then, the Second King Yanluo suddenly spoke, ¡°Xu Yangyi.¡±

    ¡°Never heard of it before. It¡¯s not a bad name, but why does it sound like ¡®potato¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d that¡¯s the case, because it would raise questions about your identity if you¡¯ve actually heard of that name.¡± Xu Yangyi responded cidly, ¡°Speaking of which, can¡¯t you move over slightly? You¡¯re not tall, so why do you take up so much space?¡±

    ¡­ Fine, tall freak. Stop being such a bully!

    1. He is one of the three pure ones, the highest divinities of Taoism.

    2. These are all renowned gods of the Chinese mythology.

    3. The Sumeru Mustard takes its name from a sutra which states that Mount Sumeru can be inserted into a mustard seed. In turn, Mount Sumeru is known to be the centre of all universes.

    4. The three religions refer to the three major religions in China, of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

    5. Xu Yangyi isn¡¯t a real historical figure. He¡¯s named after the protagonist of the author¡¯sst novel.

    6. ÑôÒÝ (yangyi) sounds like ÑóÓó (yangyu), which means potato.

 Chapter 528: Hellâ€™s Legacy (1)

    <h4>Chapter 528: Hell''s Legacy (1)</h4>

    Theyy on the deck of the boat, resting for the next thirty minutes, until the lotus leaves hanging overhead grew sparser and sparser, and a small ind appeared in view over the horizon.

    ¡°This will be your home for the next few months. Don¡¯t even think of taking a step out of this ce until you¡¯ve learnt all that you need to.¡± Xu Yangyi spoke cidly, ¡°You can leave the affairs of Hell to the Harken for now. He¡¯ll be able to do a far better job than you for now.¡±

    The ind ahead wasn¡¯trge, but there was clearly a magnificent building situated on it, surrounded by forests of green bamboo, as well as an ancient peach tree whose blossoms carpeted the ground below. The entire ce looked almost as though it was paradise.

    That said, Qin Ye had also discovered that his ire for the Second King Yanluo had diminished quite substantially.

    The juxtaposition of Xu Yangyi¡¯s sloppy appearances and unorthodox methods against the aura of nobility and dignified manner of conduct made him an interesting character to behold. More than anything, Xu Yangyi felt like just any other human being.

    ¡°No matter how I look at it, you don¡¯t seem like the appropriate archetype to be seeding the throne as the King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°The Harken told me that you were tricked into it by your predecessor. You didn¡¯t have any choice, did you?¡±

    Awkward silence.

    ¡°You¡¯d best worry about yourself.¡± He grabbed Qin Ye¡¯s shoulders and vanished from the boat, ¡°It¡¯s not that easy getting through Hell¡¯s Legacy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just for show, isn¡¯t it? I can tell that you¡¯re hardly proficient at performing tea ceremonies. Even the manner in which you¡¯re conducting yourself isn¡¯t quite suitable for the circumstances!¡± Qin Ye scrutinized every move that Xu Yangyi was making as he performed the tea ceremony. As soon as he heard Qin Ye¡¯sments, Xu Yangyi¡¯s hands trembled, and he nearly sshed boiling hot tea directly onto Qin Ye¡¯s face.

    Xu Yangyi fervently repressed the murderous intent in his heart as he finished performing the tea ceremony, filled up two teacups, and gingerly set them onto the table. Then, he finally looked up, ¡°Well then, let¡¯s begin.¡±

    ¡°You probably didn¡¯t know this, but the mortal realm had already noticed you even before I decided to steer your future with the power of Fate--... What are you doing?¡±

    Endure¡­

    How in the world did Arthis manage to put up with this on a daily basis?

    ng!

    Hang on a minute¡­ I thought we¡¯d got off to a pretty good start back there¡­ I¡¯m just testing my boundaries over here. How could your bottom line be so shallow¡­

    ¡°Subscription?¡± Xu Yangyi sipped his tea and raised an eyebrow as he red at Qin Ye.

    ¡°QQ?¡±

    Qin-coward-Ye shuddered violently.

    Seeing that Qin Ye was no longer ying a fool, Xu Yangyi retracted the smile on his face, ¡°Practically every relic and monuments in the museums that purport to depict some record of the King Yanluo of Hell have been reced with your name or your likeness.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still early days. Give it a few months, and all Buddhists, Taoists, and even the headquarters of the seven underworldly craftsmen would discover for the very first time that the King Yanluo of Hell actually has a name.¡±

    ¡°Partly.¡± Xu Yangyi mused, ¡°It¡¯s also caused in part by the fact that all previous King Yanluos of Hell have always been powerful entities that were at least of the level of a Yama-King. Since that was the case, they were easily able to use their own power to suppress all information pertaining to their identity, such that none of their details or particrs would be disclosed to the rest of the world. But you, on the other hand, are the weakest piece of--... cough¡­ the weakest King Yanluo to ever seed the throne in Hell. There¡¯s simply no way you can embargo the natural flow of information. This is one of the reasons why various signs have started to appear in the mortal realm some time ago.¡±

    ¡°This is how it all begins - with the manifestation of your identity through Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction.¡± Xu Yangyi coughed softly as he continued, ¡°Why do you think that the government in the mortal realm would make a move against you, despite being aware of the possibility that you could very well be the King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    ¡°I can understand their actions.¡± Qin Ye gulped down his tea as he consolidated his thoughts, ¡°As the government, my first priority would be to maintain stability in my citizens. Sure, there was a possibility that I could be the King Yanluo of Hell, but the prospects of something like this is simply too much for the government to deal with. What they want is an Emissary of Hell that they can grasp in the palm of their hand, and not a king of the underworld who cane and go from the mortal realm with impunity.¡±

    Why should the government let Qin Ye off the hook just because his name appeared right after the words ¡®King Yanluo of Hell¡¯? Besides, it might have been nothing more than a coincidence that they bore the same name.

    They needed answers!

    Therefore, the government had adopted an active approach in seeking out answers. They wouldn¡¯t have hurt Qin Ye in any way, but there was simply no way they would allow Qin Ye to run about with impunity without furnishing them some answers. This was the best position to take in the circumstances. The government shouldered the weight of over one billion lives on their shoulders, and there was clearly no room for any errors.

    Xu Yangyi looked Qin Ye straight in the eyes, ¡°And that¡¯s faith.¡±

    But Xu Yangyi didn¡¯t immediately exin everything to Qin Ye. Instead, he asked, ¡°What is faith? Is it merely superstition?¡±

    ¡°And if we go beyond the technical stuff?¡±

    ¡°Truth be told, I¡¯ve always thought that the loss of faith was never a good thing. Not everything qualifies as superstition, even though they might admittedly be difficult to distinguish. Superstition is abel that should only be reserved for situations where one allows his belief to get an excessive foothold in his heart. If we craft it any wider than that, I¡¯m afraid that many other things would end up falling within the definition of superstition, including our cultures, our fantasy novels, and even certain religions that have stood strong against the test of time. In fact, there are times when I even think that societies first formed as a result of superstitions.¡±

    Xu Yangyi hadn¡¯t expected Qin Ye to say so much. He raised an eyebrow and nodded with exmation, ¡°Very pertinent. Then, between faith and superstition, which do you think is the more important of the two?¡±

    This was a question that was far too philosophical for his consideration right now. Since Xu Yangyi had asked it, then he naturally had an answer for it.

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°It¡¯s him¡­¡±

    Qin Ye cleared his throat, and danced wildly on the thin ice he¡¯d previously been treading on, ¡°Love~~ even in death~~, do it wholeheartedly or not at all¡­ At the end of the universe~~ Love~~ goes~~ on!!!¡±

    At once, a massive sword plunged three inches into the ground, thrumming with power.

    <hr>

    1. This is a Chinese rock song known as <<ËÀÁË¶¼Òª°®>> You can watch it on youtube at this link.

 Chapter 529: Hellâ€™s Legacy (2)

    <h4>Chapter 529: Hell''s Legacy (2)</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯m only doing this because the atmosphere in this ce is far too tense¡­ The best way to go about moral education is connection and proper engagement of the students¡­¡± Qin Ye muttered sheepishly. What the hell is wrong with this man?! How can he be so easily aggravated? This is a conversation between two King Yanluos, is there really a need for everything to be so somber and grave? I¡¯m seriously doing my best to liven the atmosphere around here, so can you please stop being a downer on my parade?!

    ¡°Faith stems from belief.¡± And then, he appeared to suddenly change the topic, ¡°Myths were born because there were just far too many things that math and science simply couldn¡¯t exin. Myths and faith are two sides of the same coin, and faith is incidentally the foundation of all underworlds out there! The best proof of this is the disappearance of countless underworlds since the beginning of time. Some were besieged and razed to the ground, either by way of being overrunpletely, or perhaps with the death of their god. But more often than not¡­ they fell to the test of time.¡±

    ¡°Yanluo Qin, now, I¡¯d like you to think about the current situation in Cathay. Do you think that time¡¯s on your side? No¡­ the situation surrounding Hell is as imminent and critical as it gets! This is one of the main reasons why I¡¯d spared no punches in forcing you toe to the realization of what exactly your function as the King Yanluo of Hell is. The fact that you weren¡¯t able to conceal your identity from the mortal realm puts your cover at risk, but it is likewise a prime opportunity for you!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s breaths grew ragged at once.

    Something told Qin Ye that Xu Yangyi was going to segue straight into the core of this topic.

    Qin Ye paused, and then began to scrunch up his face in deep thought.

    Cathay was still reeling from the effects of the cultural revolution. Cathay had risen from the ashes of it all, abandoned everything that it deemed to be of little value to its development, and turned to believe fully in science. Unfortunately¡­ it had gone a little bit too far.

    There was no one left to tell the stories of myths and legends.

    ¡°Do you understand it now?¡± Xu Yangyi tapped gently on the rim of his teacup, ¡°For too long, Cathay hasnguished in its state of feudal governance. Given its intense desire to keep with the times, Cathay has subtly decoupled society from its cultural heritage, including its belief in myths and legends. I¡¯ve personally seen some visions of the future in the instant that Hell copsed. Had I halted the process of copse back then and allowed things to go on as they had been, I¡¯ve got no doubt that Hell would undoubtedly cease to be considered one of the four superpowers of theherworld in no more than 500 years¡¯ time.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just exaggerating, aren¡¯t you?¡± Qin Ye responded softly, ¡°Sure, Cathayans might turn to medical science and medicine when they fall sick or grow old, but they¡¯d likewise also make their trips down to the temples to pray for blessings.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit that the western underworlds are doing far better than us in this regard. While we arenguishing in cultural disconnect, their religions and faiths are growing stronger than ever. In fact, I can even sense that¡­ Thanatos is already showing signs of another breakthrough¡­¡±

    ¡°This would constitute immense merit to the continuation of Hell. So long as you can seed in this¡­ such an achievement might even propel you straight into the ranks of a Yama-King!¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°What difference does it make? I¡¯m the lord of the entire Hell. What does it matter if I treat Ashmound City or the City of Salvation as the core of Hell?¡±

    ¡°The first city of Hell is also the embryo of Hell.¡±

    Xu Yangyi chose his words carefully, ¡°Are you aware that¡­ back during Bo Yikao¡¯s era, there were only two divine artifacts of Hell - the Judgment Pen, and the Book of Life and Death.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly, and then everything clicked in ce, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ these artifacts¡­ were all forged using an entire city?!¡±

    ¡°Some other conditions would have to be met for the development of such artifacts, but believe me, there are some things I can see and have seen that you still can¡¯t. There currently already exists many ¡®primordial¡¯ level existences in the underworldly city back in the City of Salvation. But you don¡¯t have to be too concerned about these things for now. In future, once you be a True King Yanluo of Hell, I¡¯ll return to Hell once more.¡±

    Silence.

    A split secondter, Qin Ye coughed dryly and revealed a ttering smile, ¡°About that¡­ I couldn¡¯t help it¡­ couldn¡¯t help it¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded.

    ¡°And to that end, nuclear weapons have to be built upon the fission and fusion of Yin Talismans, which in turn are highly dependent on the existence of faith.¡± Xu Yangyi finally concluded, ¡°Therefore, faith is the most important ingredient in the continuity of the Cathayan myths and legends.¡±

    ¡°This is also the most important function of the King Yanluo of Hell. In fact¡­ you can say that it is the only function that is unique to the King Yanluo of Hell!¡±

    Once was more than enough.

    ¡°You can say that.¡± Xu Yangyi nodded affirmatively, ¡°Infernal Judges don¡¯t have their own functions, but Emissaries of Hell from the ranks of advanced Abyssal Prefects and upwards would have their own unique functions. You can think of them as various aspects that govern thew of thend, such as how seawater¡¯s function is to nurture life, or howrge trees constitute the foundation of an entire ecosystem.¡±

    After pondering for several more minutes, Qin Ye got to the nub of the issue, ¡°So, how am I supposed to go about developing and promulgating faith? By creating miracles?¡±

    With a wave of his hand, countless stories of myths and legends appeared in the void around them. He pointed at them and continued, ¡°And the core of faith is belief¡­ and an encounter with god!¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the various popr titles of the myths and legends that have been promulgated through time. And then, his eyes brightened, almost as though he¡¯d finally grasped something, ¡°Manifestation of a vision?¡±

    Qin Ye rapped the table with great realization.

    No wonder I started hearing the prayers of people as soon as I became an Infernal Judge!

    ¡°The appearance of your name on the ancient artifacts is already a miracle in itself. Seize the opportunity and ride the wave, and you¡¯ll be known throughout the mortal realm as a living myth!¡±

    ¡°There are limitations as to the number of prayers you can answer. You¡¯d have to pick the ones that are most significant, or the ones made by supplicants of the highest status and influence, or the ones most likely to be celebrated, or the ones with the greatest impact. Thus, what¡¯s more important is actually the second point that I¡¯m driving at - revealing a true miracle.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, obviously hoping to obviate the need to think for himself.

    ¡°Of all myths and legends, at least 99% of themprise at least two parties, or two sides.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned. He didn¡¯t understand what Xu Yangyi was getting at.

    ¡°For instance¡­ a powerful evil ghost emerged from the abyss and ravaged a city, and the King Yanluo of Hell appeared when all hope was lost, trampling on the evil ghost and banishing it to the pits of Hell where it belonged. What do you think of¡­ this script?¡±

    He finally understood what Xu Yangyi was getting at!

    This was the means of promulgating myths that Xu Yangyi was getting at!

    <hr>

    1.

 Chapter 530: Hellâ€™s Legacy (3)

    <h4>Chapter 530: Hell''s Legacy (3)</h4>

    That said, I¡¯ve got to hand it to him! This suggestion might be wicked, but its effect is undeniable!

    There wasn¡¯t even a shred of doubt in his mind at this point.

    And there were even incidental benefits to be had, such as the stimtion of growth of powerful Yin spirits!

    But¡­ doesn¡¯t this mean that the living would have to live in fear at night? How can I perpetuate something like this as the King Yanluo of Hell? It goes against the grain of my moral integrity and principles¡­

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Not at all¡­ But do you mind persuading me a little bit more? I feel like I¡¯ll need something more concrete to go on if I¡¯m going to climb down from this pedestal of mine and adopt your suggestion¡­¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, this is the quickest way to enhance Hell¡¯s might and its foothold in Cathay.¡± He sighed softly, ¡°The strongest medicines are often bitter. Once the concentration of Yin energy in Hell goes beneath a critical point, you might even find it hard pressed to groom an Infernal Judge in a hundred years, much less an Abyssal Prefect. Do you think nuclear arms such as the Immortal Sanction would still be on the horizon at that time? Dream on.¡±

    ¡°Everyone is simply looking for means in which to manifest their presence and win the faith of men! Their respective gods of the underworld are simply discharging their duties and function! What reservation do you still have?¡±

    Xu Yangyi nearly spat out a mouthful of tea when he heard Qin Ye¡¯s response, ¡°Have you even been listening to what I¡¯ve been saying?!¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye noticed Xu Yangyi¡¯s eyes nce back to the longsword on the ground, almost as though he were calcting how he could pick it up and thrust it right through Qin Ye in the swiftest possible manner. At once, Qin Ye fidgeted with unease.

    ¡°A man¡¯s gotta do what a man¡¯s gotta do!¡± Qin Ye puffed up his chest, ¡°How could I possibly hesitate when the safety and security of Hell hangs on the bnce? I¡¯ve got no choice but to deny myself and do it all for Hell¡¯s glory!¡±

    Qin Ye stared intently at Xu Yangyi¡¯s expressions, ¡°Why do you appear to be in such a sour mood? It¡¯s almost as though you¡¯re not quite willing to converse with me.¡±

    Xu Yangyi¡¯s silence gave Qin Ye a window of opportunity to delve deeper into the matters he had just learnt.

    Cathay was the chessboard, and the millions and millions of human beings were all pawns under his control.

    This isn¡¯t simply about elevating my status to that of a god¡­ We¡¯ll even have to create an evil ghost, and then use that ghost to validate my existence as the lord of a realm¡­

    After over a dozen minutes of silent contemtion, Qin Ye finally looked up at Xu Yangyi once more, ¡°Have you ever done something like this before?¡±

    ¡°Yan Capital¡¯s demonic catdy, and the rumours of the empty buses that run in the middle of the night, are both rumours spread by yours truly. But I didn¡¯t see things through to the very end because I lost interest soon afterwards.¡±

    Perhaps he might even give those old fogeys a taste of their own medicine or two¡­

    ¡°As far as the specifics are concerned, you¡¯ll have to devise the origin or source of the legend, preferably something that was already existing deep in the recesses of the mortal realm. It can be something like a murder case that has remained unsolved all these years. Ideally, you¡¯d want it to be a shocking case that had be a widespread sensation in society. In fact, these cases would usually produce several evil ghosts, most of which would linger on in the mortal realm, especially given Hell¡¯s reach over the mortal realm right now.¡±

    Xu Yangyi smiled, ¡°If the evil ghost gets exterminated even before Hell can do something about it, then the entire script would be a flop. Believe me, such examples abound throughout history. Unless things are directed perfectly, it would be nigh impossible to achieve the intended result. Why else do you think there are so few famousherworldly tropes for each underworld that are so often talked about?¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Xu Yangyi responded reflexively, only to regret his actions. Something told him that there was a stumbling block ahead in their conversation.

    ¡°C¡¯mon now, don¡¯t be silent! Look, we should be bouncing ideas off each other so as toe up with the best possible solution. We could even take a trip to various parts of the underworld to do our research. Who knows, this might inspire in us a second wind for our film-making careers! Eh? What are you doing brandishing your sword? Hey¡­ Stop!!!¡±

    The cold edge of the sword appeared right beside Qin Ye¡¯s neck in an instant.

    Qin-cowardly-Ye¡¯s eyes instantly narrowed, and he sensibly raised both hands slowly, surrendering to Xu Yangyi.

    ¡°Do you understand what this means? It means that they will be tainted with your divinity and godhood so long as you give them the nod! Sure, they might not realize what it means at once, but unless this is someone that you¡¯re willing to entrust your life to, then, believe me, you don¡¯t want to know how dire the consequences might be.¡±

    ¡°I do¡­¡± With that, the de suddenly vanished, and Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief.

    First, you ask me to do something. And then, you tell me not to do it. Can¡¯t you make up your mind, or speak with a little bit more precision?

    ¡°I¡¯ll also give you periodic tests of what you¡¯ve learnt to date. If you fail¡­¡±

    Shk! At once, the longsword in his hand plunged so deep into the ground that only the hilt could be seen.

    Thus, Qin Ye remained obsequiously on the ind.

    Three weekster¡­

    But Qin Ye still sighed with relief.

    It was Arthis.

    Arthis red at him, ¡°Should I praise you for hitting the nail on its head? There is indeed a document that we unfortunately need you to cast an eye over. Here¡¯s the thing - Liu Yu has sent to Hell a congrattory gift. But at the same time, he¡¯s also extended to you an invitation to participate in the opening ceremony of Hanyang¡¯s new underworld at the end of October.¡±

    Qin Ye probed cautiously, ¡°Why don¡¯t you¡­ attend to it on my behalf?¡±

    ¡°This is perfect for you.¡± Xu Yangyi responded indifferently, ¡°If it¡¯s useful, use it. If not, kill them.¡±

 Chapter 531: The Hanyang Underworld

    <h4>Chapter 531: The Hanyang Underworld</h4>

    His words were sharp and incisive.

    Of course I don¡¯t want to go!

    I wasn¡¯t able to retain a feudal official under mymand, and he¡¯d instead struck out on his own and founded a whole new underworld! How could I even have the nerve to show up?

    ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll reject--... WHAT?!¡± Qin Ye turned back as though he¡¯d seen a ghost, ¡°Are you throwing me under the bus just because you¡¯re no longer going to be around?! Let me make this clear - whoever wants to go can sign up for it! I¡¯m not going!¡±

    Qin Ye relished in Xu Yangyi¡¯s praise for a moment, before his eyes flickered wildly, ¡°Are you suggesting that¡­ someone is trying to contact us through Liu Yu?¡±

    Both men locked eyes and eximed in unison, ¡°The nameless god of death of the Russian Orthodox Church!¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Xu Yangyi muttered softly, ¡°International politics are mercurial in nature. Rtions between underworlds can change in the blink of an eye, and there can be a multitude of reasons for which they¡¯re looking to contact you. If we take things at face value¡­¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t hold back?¡± The prospects of a thought like that caused his heart to skip a beat, ¡°Is there¡­ any way to keep them restrained?¡±

    Three secondster, Xu Yangyi retrieved his club and leaned it against the side of his bed, ¡°Sorry, what were you saying earlier? I didn¡¯t quite catch you there.¡±

    Xu Yangyi cast Qin Ye a look of approbation as he sighed, ¡°Cathay and Rus may share much of its borders, but they rarely have any territorial disputes. That said¡­ ¡®rarely¡¯ isn¡¯t quite the same as ¡®never¡¯.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°Hell and the Russian underworld¡­ are also facing some insignificant territorial disputes that can easily be glossed over?¡±

    On the other hand, Xu Yangyi couldn¡¯t even be bothered engaging Qin Ye on this front. Over thest three weeks, his interactions with Qin Ye had given him new insights about the Third King Yanluo of Hell, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel a little bit disappointed.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not underestimating him!¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°Just tell me whether you want me to go or not, and how you¡¯re going to guarantee my safety!¡±

    ¡°Back then, he was able to hold out for ten moves against me. Even Anubis didn¡¯t hold out for any more than thirteen moves against me. I¡¯d taken his essory sword as a symbol of my victory. You may return it to him. Once you do, I¡¯m sure he¡¯d have no choice but to hold back with whatever demands he¡¯s making.¡±

    He tried again, and failed once more.

    ¡°The odds of sess in casting myths dependsrgely on the depth and breadth of your experiences.¡± Xu Yangyi was no more than 20 centimeters away from Qin Ye right now, and he gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°You have to make the trip to Hanyang.¡±

    ¡°He must be sending you an offhanded message that he currently has the favor of the nameless god of death of the underworld of the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is only to be expected. After what transpired at the previous imperial court meeting, he¡¯s clearly aware that he would have to curry the favor of another major underworld if he¡¯s looking to maintain his independence in the world. Unfortunately, within the East Continent, Hindustan is too far away, while Izanami is simply too capricious, unreliable and weak. By elimination, the only one who could possibly help him cast myths is naturally none other than the nameless god of death.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right.¡± Xu Yangyi finally released his grip on the sword and leaned back onto his bed, ¡°The nameless god of death isn¡¯t actually nameless. Every god of death out there knows his true name, so don¡¯t just address him as the nameless god of death. You¡¯d be aughingstock of all underworlds out there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s his real name.¡±

    But he didn¡¯t leap right into action. Instead, he slowly ran his finger along the scabbard of the gemstone-encrusted sword for some time, before revealing a bitter smile on his face.

    To think that the Second King Yanluo was able to decipher that much information from a single statement. He¡¯d even been able to determine who my next opponents may be, and what I can learn from them. Such elegant moves and decisiveness is clearly borne out of his wealth of experience as a King Yanluo of Hell.

    Qin Ye shook his head in dismay, and then turned to inspect the sword in his hand.

    And yet¡­ it remained lodged in its scabbard.

    ¡°Of course...¡± Qin Ye tossed the sword onto the table helplessly, ¡°Liu Yu is unting it before me. He¡¯s waving it in my face, telling me that he¡¯s got his arm wrapped around the thigh of the Tsar. If I don¡¯t go and make an example of him, then¡­ I¡¯m sure more would follow soon after. Gao Changgong, Han Qinhu, and the rest who have dered independence would soon pledge their allegiance to the god of the Hindustani underworld. And when that timees, not even the Yang n would be able to do a thing about the chaos that would ensue.¡±

    Qin Ye red at her.

    Meanwhile, Arthis gave Qin Ye a contemptuous nce - Kiddo, don¡¯t you realize that I¡¯ve got you all figured out?

    ¡°Uhuh.¡± Arthis¡¯ expression stiffened, ¡°And then, what happens after you see her?¡±

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡± Arthis lowered her voice, ¡°You¡¯d better not let word get out that you¡¯re rted to her. Otherwise¡­ you wouldn¡¯t be repaying your debt to her. You¡¯d be¡­ setting her up.¡±

    The room was filled with silence again. Qin Ye picked up the reports on his table and began to look through them. All of them already had the Harken¡¯s endorsement, and he was just looking through the documents to get up to speed once again. But, several momentster, he discovered that he simply couldn¡¯t peel his eyes off the report that Arthis had ced on the table.

    The intentions were clear. It was an invitation issued to the King Yanluo of Hell, inviting him to witness the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld. It was even sealed with their own unique seal.

    ¡°You rebel against your mothend, and still have the gall to invite me as a witness to the opening ceremony of your underworld? Liu Yu¡­ you truly leave me with no other choice¡­¡± Qin Ye gently flipped over the invitation and chortled bitterly.

    So what if he¡¯s strong? I don¡¯t want to suffer a fate like Cao Cao did¡­

    With that, Qin Ye crossed his arms across his chest and sank deep into his own thoughts.

    Unfortunately, the confrontation on the international stage hade so quickly and stealthily that Qin Ye simply didn¡¯t have the time to prepare himself for it. And this issue was particrly aggravated by the fact that Cathay still hadn¡¯t managed to establish its global intelligencework. To make matters worse, Cathay had been absent from the international stage for the longest time.

    Is this invitation also going to be used as a sounding board to test Hell¡¯s readiness to emerge onto the international stage?

    Hell was currently at its weakest across a timespan of thousands of years. Qin Ye didn¡¯t possess any capacity to deter Arturo. And without deterrence, how was he to make a statement?

    He massaged his temples for some time, wracking his brains to think of means to deal with the troublesome situation, but to no avail.

    As the newly-minted King Yanluo of Hell, he simply couldn¡¯t afford to reject an invitation that had been sent straight to his office!

    ¡°Forget it, I¡¯ll deal with them as theye. Besides, there¡¯s at least the silver lining of learning how to properly cast myths and fabricate miracles¡­¡± He stood up and sighed wistfully, ¡°I¡¯ve still got two months until the end of October. That¡¯s just right. I¡¯ll get properly acquainted with the functions of a King Yanluo, and then, I¡¯ll go meet Liu Yu and this legendary nameless god of death of the Eastern Orthodox Church!¡±

 Chapter 532: Preparing for Departure

    <h4>Chapter 532: Preparing for Departure</h4>

    ¡°It¡¯s been six weeks since I¡¯ve started imparting to you the knowledge pertaining to Hell¡¯s legacy, and I could tell that you clearly exhibited a surge in your intellect in thest three weeks. But that¡¯s simply impossible! It vites allws of human growth and development¡­¡± Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows as he stared at Qin Ye, ¡°Or are you simply being motivated and driven by stress? Did I not put sufficient stress on you previously?¡±

    Xu Yangyi didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he frowned and thought for a moment, ¡°Yesterday, I taught you about your function of administeringws. Why don¡¯t you give me a quick rundown of that, together with the function of Abyssal Prefects?¡±

    ¡°People sin, and they would be meted out punishmentsmensurate to the extent of their sins. Abyssal Prefects are in charge of punishments, with each Prefect in charge of a specific type of punishment, some of which would be carried out in the lives of these sinners in their subsequent lives.¡±

    ¡°To that end, the Yanluo has the power to determine the measure of punishment applicable in each instance, such as whether a person should simply suffer a minor burn, or be put to death, as well as the measure of pain and suffering to be inflicted. In a nutshell, while Prefects are the masters of individual punishments, the Yanluo is the one who decides what the punishment is. Furthermore, the Yanluo has the right to overturn the conviction of all Prefects. Finally, the Yanluo has ess to the vital information and particrs of all persons, including their date of birth and death, and the things they have done in their lives¡­¡±

    Xu Yangyi gazed deeply at Qin Ye, and then nodded with approbation, ¡°You¡¯re getting the hang of it. Generally speaking, that is correct. But as for the specifics¡­ well, I¡¯m sure you¡¯de to deal with it in due course.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all because I had a good teacher.¡± Qin Ye smiled with much ttery, just like how Qin Hui used to smile at Qin Ye.

    ¡­ Is it not because I¡¯m seeking your validation? Qin Ye grumbled in his heart, but continued to smile genially, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just that Teacher has been working so hard, and I¡¯d be letting Teacher down if I don¡¯t learn well.¡±

    Xu Yangyi raised his eyebrow quizzically. Then, after some deliberation, he probed, ¡°You have something to ask of me?¡±

    s¡­ you actually would do something like that¡­ Xu Yangyi understood Qin Ye¡¯s nature, and therefore nodded in a nonmittal fashion.

    Here ites!

    Xu Yangyi¡¯s eyes wavered slightly as he saw Qin Ye pull out two airne tickets, ¡°It would be winter in two months¡¯ time. I¡¯d have undergone studies for a full term by then. Logically speaking, it would be about time to take a winter vacation¡­¡±

    I¡¯ll y along with you.

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice rose with enthusiasm, ¡°You might not know where the Daehan Tower is, but surely you¡¯ve heard of the Daehan show, My Love from the Star, or Legend of the Blue Sea! That¡¯s right, the Daehan Tower overlooks an entire city below! It¡¯s practically a ce of pilgrimage!¡±

    Xu Yangyi nodded, and then got straight to the nub of the issue, ¡°And where might the Daehan Tower be located?¡±

    Xu Yangyi chortled, ¡°Not bad, huh¡­ To think that the eminent Third King Yanluo of Hell has even mastered the art of bending time and space over this short span of time! Do you think I don¡¯t know a thing about the geography of the world?¡±

    Xu Yangyi nodded, ¡°Not too shabby. But did you notice that your reaction has changed?¡±

    Xu Yangyi continued, ¡°Two years ago, your first reaction upon encountering trouble would¡¯ve been to hide and avoid. Now, even though you¡¯re still a coward--... I mean, although you¡¯re good with matters of self-preservation, you still choose to seize the opportunity to make the first move.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ I¡¯ve unknowingly changed.

    Even though inviting the Second King Yanluo along with me was a rather bold and tant move, at least there were no longer any thoughts of shirking responsibility or escape.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got something that you¡¯ll need to confront, so I won¡¯t be going along with your suggestion.¡± Xu Yangyi tly refused, ¡°If I¡¯m there, you¡¯d always have that reliance on me, and you¡¯ll never develop a sense of independence. Unfortunately, the fact remains that you¡¯ll have nothing to rely on in just two months¡¯ time. You¡¯ll be on your own, and left to your own devices entirely.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°But¡­ wouldn¡¯t we already be heading down after the event?¡±

    He nced at Qin Ye¡¯s sullen expression, and then sighed softly, ¡°Ah, fine.¡±

    ¡°With it, you¡¯ll be able to contact me on three separate asions. Remember, it only allows you to ask me a question, and not to make a move. So long as I¡¯m still within the boundaries of these three realms, I¡¯ll definitely answer your call.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡±

    He sat down, took a sip of tea, and then gnashed his teeth with regret.

    Xu Yangyi had never offered to protect him.

    ¡°Did I really choose to confront the problem?!¡± He pped his hands hard on his cheek and pulled a long face, ¡°That¡¯s not right! This isn¡¯t like me at all! I didn¡¯t even realize it until I said it myself! Am I being possessed by something?!¡±

    And since he¡¯d already made the promise, then there was clearly no reason for him to shirk responsibility any longer. Thus, he began to wrack his mind about the things he needed to pay close attention to in the uing visit to Daehan.

    ¡°Arthis is right¡­ I can¡¯t let anyone know about our rtionship. Otherwise¡­ I wouldn¡¯t be repaying the favour. I¡¯d only be cing her in even greater danger.¡±

    If he visited Hanyang with a great procession led by gongs and drums, then every single move he made would most certainly be subject to close scrutiny. That being the case, it meant that it was far better to travel light and head there alone, or at best with few people.

    Since Liu Yu dared to send the invitation straight to Hell, he would most definitely have responded with the most luxurious honor guards to dazzle and blind Liu Yu¡¯s eyes!

    Sure, the Harken could create a huge procession in the likeness of the processions of old. However, the splendour of the old Hell didn¡¯t lie in the numbers that made up the procession, but more in the materials involved and symbolism with it. It was impossible to counterfeit such opulence and majesty!

    In fact, it would bepletely inappropriate to fabricate a fake procession right now. Liu Yu might be fooled, but it was going to take far more than that if he were to fool the man acting in the shadows, Tsar Arturo.

    He was a true, blue Yama-ss god of death lording over his underworld.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯d be able to conceal it from him¡­¡± Qin Ye raised his head slowly, revealing slightly bloodshot pupils. He squinted slightly, ¡°Tsar Arturo is orders of magnitudes more experienced than I am, and he would know full well how Hell¡¯s procession should look like. He¡¯d be able to tell at a single nce if I were pulling a fast one on him. If he dares to reach out to me through Liu Yu, there¡¯s a good chance that he¡¯ll be there himself!¡¯

    After all, Cathay had traditionally always given others the impression that it was thend of gold. Nobody would ever believe that Hell wascking just because their King Yanluo decided to dress shabbily for once.

    Travelling light was hisst resort, but it was also the best move avable to him right now. And since there were no other options, then the next best thing to do would naturally be to make preparations for every step of this journey.

    Secondster, he picked up King Yanluo¡¯s Token and infused it with his Yin energy. In an instant, several men answered his summons and appeared in the room.

    ¡°Your humble servant, Liu Changhe, Special Lord of the Springlight County City along the Cathay-Rus border, greets the esteemed King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°Your humble servant, Pei Shao, Special Lord of Brisk County, Longsky City, located along the Cathay-Rus border, greets the esteemed King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Canada.

 Chapter 533: Train to Pusan

    <h4>Chapter 533: Train to Pusan</h4>

    There were ten Lords in all. Qin Ye nced around his office, only to realize that it was somewhat small for an audience with ten Lords of the Land. At once, he got to his feet, ¡°Secretary Wang, bring them to the conference room and wait for my arrival.¡±

    Naturally, not a single Lord dared take their seats before Qin Ye did.

    ¡°Take a seat.¡± Qin Ye nodded casually and raised his hand in an inviting gesture. He took his seat first, and then the Lords of the Lands soon followed suit, subconsciously angling their bodies towards Qin Ye with bodynguage that spelt enthusiasm.

    The Lords of the Lands immediately exchanged baffled nces, before shaking their heads.

    Qin Ye frowned. The only way Rus could gain ess to Daehan would be through the three eastern provinces. If the Lords of the Land detected nothing amiss, then this could only mean one thing - and that is the fact that there has been norge-scale mobilization of the Russian Yin soldiers. In fact, their messengers probably weren¡¯t even at the rank of an Infernal Judge.

    ¡°Your Excellency.¡± Just then, one of the Lords stood up and bowed deeply, ¡°It is true that there¡¯s been no changes in theherworld, but¡­ there are some incidents in the mortal realm that may be noteworthy to you.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, ¡°Tell me more.¡±

    This location¡­ is incredibly close to where Daehan is located!

    The process of casting myths would necessarily entail the fabrication and emergence of a supernatural incident, before the evil ghost is purged or seized, and the entire situation is resolved by the lord of the underworld. This was how the existence of Yin spirits could fortify the foothold of a god in the hearts of Man. That said¡­ it was a long-drawn process.

    Liu Yu definitely has no clue that such a function is unique to the lord of the underworld. After all, it hadn¡¯t been more than a year since the Hanyang underworld had dered its independence from Hell. That said, the fact that the god of death acting behind Liu Yu was able to nurture something that seems ripe for the harvest in such a short time tells me that he¡¯s definitely not a trivial existence by any means!

    There might even be the possibility that the evil ghost responsible for the supernatural outbreak might have been personally groomed by Tsar Arturo for the purposes of developing faith in himself, only to bestow it upon Liu Yu as a gift of goodwill. And the fact that it was a Yin spirit groomed and nurtured in the Russian underworld probably means that even if Liu Yu is to purge it at the end of the day, Arturo might still stand to gain from it.

    Tap¡­ tap¡­ Qin Ye gently tapped his fingers on his desk as he contemted these things. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have any evidence. The only thing going for him right now were the fact that the timing happened to coincide, and everything seemed to fit within a cohesive narrative. Qin Ye frowned and turned to nce at the Special Lord of the Land, Liu Changhe.

    ¡°What¡¯s thetest on the Daehan Penins, especially Daehan?¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡± Qin Ye responded impatiently.

    He silently stole a nce at Qin Ye, before going on, ¡°But there¡¯s hardly any news of the same online. Everything has been censored real-time, leaving nothing more than a few seemingly unrted stories drifting about in the sea of information out there.¡±

    Qin Ye looked at him silently, and then smiled, ¡°You¡¯ve been keeping with the times.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then his voice grew cold and stern, ¡°Then you¡¯d do well to remember this--...¡±

    At once, all Lords of the Land immediately shot to their feet with fear and trepidation, and cupped their hands respectfully, ¡°We wouldn¡¯t dare!¡±

    Qin Ye swept a cold gaze across the gathering of Lords. He may be the new King Yanluo of Hell, but he was still merely an Infernal Judge, and he possessed no means of establishing awork of city gods right now. Thus, he had no choice but to rein in the Lords of the Lands and whip them into shape. Otherwise, hiswork of intelligence would be toocking for his purposes.

    ¡°I¡¯ll gloss over your iniquities this once.¡± Qin Ye lifted his hands, ¡°Get up. Remember to report everything factually in future. Everything else is outside the scope of your responsibilities. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Sit down. Lord Liu, please continue.¡±

    He cleared his throat and continued, ¡°Secondly, legend has it that the residents of Gyeonggi Province have gone crazy and begun to flock towards Hanyang. Some ounts even report residents approaching the border separating North Daehan and South Daehan, almost as though¡­ something terrifying had urred or emerged in Gyeonggi Province. Few dare remain in Gyeonggi Province.¡±

    Train to Pusan, huh¡­ Who knows? Perhaps this might truly be the living urrence of the Train to Pusan¡­

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Wang Chenghao promptly walked forward and offered him a cup of tea. Then, after ncing at the ugly expression on Qin Ye¡¯s face, he probed with caution, ¡°Andropause?¡±

    ¡°Awesome! Is Hell finally going to engage with foreign underworlds on the international stage?¡± Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t contain the excitement in his heart, ¡°Where to? Nippon? I didn¡¯t manage to get a reservation in a proper sushi restaurant thest time. Daehan isn¡¯t fun! Hanyang and Lotus City aren¡¯t too different. Siam, on the other hand, is pretty good as well. The things there are cheap, and thendscape is also--...¡±

    Aren¡¯t you supposed to be expressing your gratitude for such an opportunity, rather than pick and choose where you¡¯d like to go?! I¡¯m the one who hasn¡¯t been out of the country before!

    Wang Chenghao was overflowing with excitement, at least until he discovered several secondster that Qin Ye was staring at him with a frigid gaze. At once, he shut his mouth sensibly.

    ¡°Haha¡­ What do you mean? I was just¡­ offering my suggestions! That¡¯s right, I was just offering my suggestions!¡±

    ¡°Oh--...¡± Wang Chenghao scratched his head, and then blurted, ¡°Daehan?¡±

    ¡°Nothing¡­¡± Wang Chenghao frowned for a moment, before looking up with a grave expression, ¡°Brother Qin, don¡¯t you know? Something¡¯s brewing in Daehan right now! Everything¡¯s spiralling out of control! It¡¯s been that way for approximately half a year now!¡±

    ¡°He definitely didn¡¯t die a normal death. He was on exchange at the Martial City Medical University. But when he arrived¡­¡± The Lord trembled profusely, ¡°He appeared no different from a living corpse¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered. He couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of the Train to Pusan once more.

    ¡°Where is he from?¡±

    Zombies were in fact a variant of Jiangshis. However, as far as zombies were concerned, they¡¯d still have the three fires zing above their shoulders. ording to the Second King Yanluo of Hell, nobody in the entire world has been able to uncover the root of the problem, and it still remains an unsolved mystery to date.

    Gyeonggi Province again?

    Wang Chenghao continued, ¡°Arakshasa took it upon herself to purge that Yin spirit. That said¡­ we discovered some messages that were of interest in the student¡¯s cell phone.¡±

    ¡°The message said - ¡®Save me¡­ I¡¯m suffering¡­¡¯¡±

    ¡°The sender¡­ was his father.¡±

    <hr>

    1. A province surrounding Seoul (Hanyang).

    2. Wikipedia: Seong-kyeong and Su-an are forced to stop at a blocked tunnel just before Busan and walk. At the tunnel''s exit, military snipers prepare to fire until they hear Su-an sob singing of "Aloha ''Oe". They then realize that the pair are human, and quickly help them to safety.

 Chapter 534: LSD

    <h4>Chapter 534: LSD</h4>

    Things aren¡¯t over. Just like what the Second King Yanluo mentioned, casting myths and fabricating miracles is a never-ending process.

    Liu Yu might be relying on the strength of a foreign underworld, but he probably also understands that he cannot fully ce his trust in a foreign entity. He¡¯s wary of the possibility that Tsar Arturo might just be helping him out because their interests are aligned for now. And if that¡¯s the case¡­ does that mean that he¡¯s trying to remove all traces of Arturo from the equation? To think that he wouldn¡¯t even spare the passengers from Pusan.

    These conjectures are far too arbitrary.

    ¡°Separately, I¡¯d like you to notify Oda Nobutada as well. He¡¯lle along with us.¡±

    ¡°Got it¡­¡± Wang Chenghao was dismayed to learn of the fact that their destination this time was Daehan. His impression of Daehan was that there was hardly anything to do there. To make matters worse, there seemed to be some clues pointing to unrest in those parts¡­

    ¡°Have you finally made a decision?¡± Xu Yangyi wasn¡¯t surprised to see Qin Ye¡¯s appearance back here. But, on the other hand, Qin Ye was astonished to find Xu Yangyi¡­ washing his dog¡­

    With eyes gleaming with spiritual awareness and intelligence.

    Xu Yangyi was somewhat baffled by Qin Ye¡¯s silence. Thus, he turned back, only to notice how Qin Ye and the husky were staring at each other. Xu Yangyi coughed dryly, ¡°You two¡­ know each other?¡±

    How did I end up beingpared with a silly little dog?!

    ¡°I¡¯ll be heading there unobtrusively.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled bitterly. Needless to say, the first thought to cross their mind would most certainly be along the lines of - Dayum¡­ Are they really so poor and weak that they can¡¯t afford a simple ceremonial procession? Why don¡¯t we send some troops over to have fun in their territories?

    ¡°Separately, take a look at this.¡± Xu Yangyi made a grabbing motion, and at once, a document flew right over to Qin Ye¡¯s side.

    It¡¯s an SOS¡­

    Intended Recipient: Headquarters of the Special Investigations Department, Yan Capital, Cathay.

    It¡¯s Gyeonggi Province again¡­ How can it be Gyeonggi Province again?!

    Qin Ye nodded gravely.

    Sure, a Prefect-ss expert might only be in charge of a district in Cathay, but in Daehan, he could easily be in charge of the entire country! No wonder the Daehan LSD would react this way¡­

    ¡°They can run, and they can hide, but every victim cursed by the nameless god of death would still certainly die.¡±

    Is that to say that the exchange student from Gyeonggi Province had died from the curse? Wouldn¡¯t this exin how he ended up turning into a zombie?

    Zombies!

    ¡°Why should I alert him to these things?¡± Xu Yangyiy back down onto his bedzily and shut his eyes, ¡°As a King Yanluo, I¡¯d expect him to have an extremely keen sense of smell. Just think about how many attempts were made at my life when I was first appointed the King Yanluo of Hell? They didn¡¯t stop until they realized that they were no match for me. It¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before Qin Ye faces the same hardships I did back then, so why not sooner rather thanter? Besides, I¡¯ve already warned him.¡±

    Just then, the hundred pound husky suddenly pounced on his stomach and began jumping around as though he were a trampoline.

    ¡°I still remember the good old days when you were such a pure and innocent man. To think that your heart is this tainted now¡­¡±

    Hanyang Underworld.

    The surroundings were filled with dazzling colours, and ghastly citizens bustled about in a busy rhythm of footsteps. The prosperity of the Hanyang Underworld wasn¡¯t in the least bit inferior to Ashmound City. After all, this was an underworld that had existed for a thousand years under the shelter of Hell¡¯s wings, and it had never been ravaged by war.

    The entire city was constructed with a distinct Ming Dynasty charm, and it was hardly influenced by the colours of Daehan at all. Streamers of scriptures and red ribbons decorated the eaves of the buildings, while the towering stores and restaurants emitted uproariousughter and apuse from time to time.

    ¡°Damn it! What the hell is this?!¡± ¡°Do you even have respect for the citizens? How can we trust you to protect Hanyang?¡± ¡°Sue him! Let¡¯s go to the ministry of civil affairs and sue the hell out of these people! How dare they disrespect thew?!¡±

    And it was precisely for that reason that none of the ghastly citizens noticed how the Yin soldiers were all wearing formal armor, replete with weapons hanging from their waists.

    There was apletely different air about them. One exuded the aura of an Anitya Hellguard, while two others were clearly Soul Hunters. The Yin soldiers that had arrived were all only in the ranks of Netherworld Operatives.

    Nobody said another word. The entire forest was filled with dead silence.

    Where are the usualhermes?

    But the truth of the matter was that there was indeed none around these parts.

    Urrrgggghhhh¡­ Just then, a low, droning voice cut through the silence of the forest, as though a howl of a menacing beast. But¡­ it was undoubtedly the voice of a Yin spirit.

    They were all short and hoarse, just like the unintelligible sounds made by a man in his dying moments.

    There¡¯s something hiding in the forest¡­

    Within moments, they noticed a stir in the distance, and they finally saw it - countless figures were emerging from the shadows of the forest.

    It was an unforgettable sight, even for evil ghosts.

    They moved slowly. However, the Yin soldiers could tell that there was a menacing grin on the faces of the zombies covered with hideous livor mortis spots.

    ¡°These are corpses that are entering the underworld with only their corpses! The only way to purge them is to cleave their heads from their bodies. Onward!¡±

    These were the stuff of nightmares. Never in his wildest dreams would he imagine facing these things one day.

    As he spoke, the chain in his hand slowly fell straight to the ground, slithering and spreading across the ground like awork of venomous vipers. Meanwhile, the zombies in the distance gradually moved quicker and quicker. At first, they were merely hobbling, and then walking¡­ and several secondster, every single one of them were screaming and snarling with drool dripping from their lips as they rushed over at speed!

    Innumerable hands mottled with livor mortis spots reached forward, partially obscuring their contrived faces as they bared their yellowing teeth at the Yin soldiers. At once, the Yin soldiers found themselvespletely engulfed by the tide of corpses.

    Dong¡­ Meanwhile, a bell rang from the top of a splendid mansion situated at the heart of Hanyang City. Liu Yu, dressed in a ck robe, slowly raised his head.

    Liu Yu ignored her. After a long time, he chortled softly, ¡°Empress Catherine¡­ you¡¯ve never told me that these zombies would even devour Yin spirits.¡±

    ¡°Therefore¡­ you¡¯d best be clear about your lot in death.¡±

    <hr>

    1. The author has actually written LSD and Lee¡¯s Sharp Edge in English. Beats me why it isn¡¯t LSE. Haha.

    2. The Blue House is the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea.

    3. This refers to Catherine II, more often known as Catherine the Great, the longest ruling female leader of Russia.

 Chapter 535: The Living Dead (1)

    <h4>Chapter 535: The Living Dead (1)</h4>

    25 September.

    ¡°Sir¡­ are you feeling alright?¡± A stewardess asked a man who sported unbelievably paleplexion.

    The stewardess continued to size him up for another moment, before asking softly, ¡°Sir, would you like a cup of hot tea, or some hot coffee?¡±

    The stewardess pursed her lips. Then, just as she was about to press further, another stewardess walked past with a knowing look, and promptly shook her head. It was only then that the first stewardess bowed gently and walked away.

    The stewardess strutted along the aisle in her bright red heels until she arrived at the staff lounge. There weren¡¯t any other stewards or stewardesses around apart from one man dressed in a ck suit seated in the lounge.

    ¡°Senior Kim.¡± The stewardess shut the door with a look of concern stered all over her face. She rubbed her fingers in front of her body, anxiously tugging her clothes, ¡°Earlier this month¡­ Daehan Air issued a notice to all stewards and stewardesses, directing that all sightings of slurred speech, slumped postures and loss of mental capacity aboard our flights should immediately be notified to the special agents.¡±

    The headlines read - The President sends his condolences to the disaster-fraught region of Gyeonggi Province experiencing the widespread proliferation of an unknown virus. All citizens are to take the necessary precautions. The most severely-affected city of Gwangju City in Gyeonggi Province may soon be put underplete lockdown. Meanwhile, there are reports that the Usonian virologists who have arrived in Daehan a month ago might have hit a breakthrough in their research¡­

    The stewardess gently bit her lips. It was peculiar that Daehan Air would suddenly require all flights to and from Daehan to include an ¡°observer¡±. Furthermore¡­ she had previously heard rumours that some airnes that had reported incidents¡­ simply vanished without a word.

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that¡­ the passenger seated at H32 doesn¡¯t look too good. Hisplexion is unusually pale. I wonder if Senior Kim would mind taking a look?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    It¡¯s far too troublesome to even take a ne right now¡­ I¡¯ll need to get Hell¡¯s transportwork going as quickly as I can¡­

    Even then, the process was absolutely tortuous.

    And then, once crunch time arrived and his identity was exposed, everything that he did would necessarily be subject to the scrutiny of all stakeholders around. He would never be able to achieve his anciry purposes thereafter, much less make contact with Lee Jung-sook to return the favour.

    ¡°It¡¯s all done.¡± Wang Chenghao had been well-trained as Qin Ye¡¯s personal assistant. He was now dressed appropriately, replete with a thick pair of squarish sses as he responded with pride, ¡°Atst month¡¯s general meeting, every single department reported that there¡¯s been a surge in the new initiatives in Hell, and it would be good to give people some time and space to process and digest all of the new information. Everyone¡¯s still trying to work their way through these changes, so it wouldn¡¯t be good to overwhelm them with even more.¡±

    These were obviously good policies, but should he proceed with its implementation? He hadn¡¯t even managed to gather feedback on the sess of the existing policies on the ground right now. Should he roll out more policies right away, the failings of the earlier policies might easily roll over into thetter policies, leading to a chain copse of policies implemented thus far! Thus¡­ it was only at this moment that he truly appreciated how short a span of time 150 years was when it came to matters of governance.

    ¡°What about the matters to follow-up on?¡±

    ¡°Additionally, Hell¡¯s Media Group has already begun toy out the groundwork for conscription of Yin soldiers moving forward. To that end, the old generals have already rolled out a welfare scheme for the veterans. Everything in Ashmound City that needs to be done has already been done. What¡¯s left is for us to let it run on its own, and give it the time and space for resource retion. Every ministry has their own tasks to follow-up on, and we¡¯ll be receiving periodic reports on a monthly basis. We¡¯re still within Cathay¡¯s territory right now. Would you like to take a look at these reports?¡±

    So long as the foundation wasid properly, cities were meant to run on their own with clockwork precision. The officials in charge of each city had two roles. Firstly, they were to keep oversight of the machinations undergirding the city. So long as a problem arises, they have to deal with it swiftly so that things can continue to run as they always have. Secondly, they were to think of new ways to rece the working parts so that the machinations of the city would run with greater efficacy.

    They would wait for Ashmound City to grow from strength to strength, until it was finally time for the next great expansion!

    Wang Chenghao thought for a moment, and then responded softly, ¡°We¡¯re currently facing a serious shortage of Yin soldiers. After what happened at thest Hungry Ghost Festival, we¡¯re left with just enough resources to send out some freshly-trained agents to Breakwaters Province, Fulling Province, and Insignia Province for scouting missions. To this end, I¡¯m afraid that we¡¯ll only receive updated intelligence on these regions six monthster. Let¡¯s hope that we can see some returns on the groundworkid by Hell¡¯s Media Group, and we¡¯ll have more troops to send out by then. Speaking of which, Brother Qin, Li Jixi doesn¡¯t have an official conferment of title just yet. Shouldn¡¯t we--...¡±

    That said, he was keen on reviewing Li Jixi¡¯s role in Hell.

    Wang One Tail paused for some time, before slowly returning to his senses, ¡°Ah¡­ right¡­ I¡¯m already dead¡­¡±

    With intellect like that¡­ how can I possibly entrust him with more important things in future? Speaking of which, why haven¡¯t those more reliable folks such as Lin Han, Su Feng and Zhou Xianlong kicked the bucket yet? Even the Book of Life and Death is slowly bing dumber as a result of existences like Mr Wang One Tail¡­

    A doctor wearing a whiteb smiled as he approached them along the aisle.

    ¡°Kim Sang-woo.¡± The man approaching them smiled faintly as he bowed slightly, ¡°I¡¯m a doctor. The stewardesses have informed me that there¡¯s a passenger on board that didn¡¯t seem to be well.¡±

    Oda Nobutada couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes at the statement. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m feeling ufortable¡­ Rather, I¡¯m just afraid you might be scared witless if I truly let loose right now¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m alright. My blood sugar was just a little bit low.¡± Oda Nobutada smiled back.

    The man secretly heaved a sigh of relief as soon as he made physical contact.

    No signs of a zombie. Excellent.

    Is there¡­ something right outside the window?

    We¡¯re on a ne¡­

    We¡¯re thousands of meters high in the air, and yet¡­ something¡­ appears to be out there, knocking on our window?

    It was a pen.

    However, it exuded the aura of an Anitya Hellguard!

    It was written in the Cathayannguage.

    And what¡¯s it doing looking for us?

    Qin Ye also discreetly released a wisp of Judge-ss Yin energy through the ss panel. At once, the ballpoint pen trembled fearfully. Several secondster, it wrote back, ¡°Lee Jung-sook¡­¡±

    No sudden movements were made.

    The ballpoint pen promptly wrote, ¡°I¡­ am Lee Jung-sook¡¯s guardian spirit. I¡¯m a spirit pen, and I happened to answer Lee Jung-sook¡¯s summons back when she was dabbling in these things. I¡­ wanted to control her, but then soon discovered that she¡¯s a being that transcends the mortal realm. Rather than controlling her, I ended up being trapped in her body, having no choice but to remain boarded in her! I was there during the Hungry Ghost Festival as well. Please, I beg you¡­ take me back to Daehan. I¡­ will perish if I¡¯m not reunited with her¡­¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± The spirit pen responded at once, ¡°We can¡¯t be separated. I¡¯d lost all hope when I first discovered that I was trapped in Cathay and unable to return to Daehan. Who would¡¯ve thought that I¡¯d serendipitously run into you¡­ You¡¯re practically like a godsend to me!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with this ne!¡±

 Chapter 536: The Living Dead (2)

    <h4>Chapter 536: The Living Dead (2)</h4>

    ¡°He¡¯s about to act up¡­ I can sense it. There¡¯s an incredibly powerful force emanating from his body, and it¡¯s neither man nor ghost!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered softly. He was suddenly reminded of a statement that he¡¯d heard just a little while ago.

    ¡°They can run, and they can hide, but every victim cursed by the nameless god of death would still certainly die.¡±

    Whether for fear or concern, they¡¯re thinking of returning to Daehan for a visit¡­ and they¡¯re currently on board this ne?

    It was because the people of Gyeonggi Province would most probably have experienced the abyss of the living dead!

    With the curse came the living dead, otherwise known as zombies. If memory served him well, all who had been bitten by zombies, or had somehow had their bodies tainted through blood contamination or suffusion of energy, would all find themselves cursed and doomed to devolve into another zombie!

    To be fair, Qin Ye would never worry if that were all there was to it. Zombies weren¡¯t even Operative-ss Yin spirits, and they would at best be slightly stronger than regr human beings. To an Infernal Judge like himself, dealing with a whole truckload of them would be as easy as batting an eyelid.

    If a pathogen like that was allowed to spread unchecked, everything they had nned thus far would be doomed to fail!

    ¡°Tsk¡­¡± Qin Ye frowned with annoyance. He wanted to alert his counterparts, and yet Kim Sang-woo¡¯s presence made it difficult for him to do so. Then, just as he was about to shut his eyes to get some rest, the curtains separating the cabin ahead suddenly flung open, and a stewardess dashed out with an ashen expression. Within moments, she rushed right up to Kim Sang-woo and spoke in English, ¡°Senior¡­ Y-you¡¯ve got toe see this¡­¡±

    He had a bad feeling about this.

    Kim Sang-woo shuddered violently. Then, just as he was about to rush right over, he caught sight of something on the stewardess¡¯ wrist, ¡°What happened there?¡±

    Before she could even exin herself, Kim Sang-woo wrested her hands free from each other, only to discover three bloody wounds on her wrist.

    ¡°I-is something going to happen to me?¡± Their eyes met. She could tell that Kim Sang-woo was hesitant right now, and she grabbed his sleeves desperately, ¡°N-nothing¡¯s going to happen to me¡­ right?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine.¡± King Sang-woo stood up and led the woman back towards the VIP cabin.

    There are somevatories ahead of us. Kim Sang-woo was filled with vignce, and his hair stood on end. Bit by bit, he led the stewardess towards thevatories. Yet he was the only one who knew the truth of what he was holding onto right now.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Is everything alright?¡±

    However, the stewardess didn¡¯t respond to them. Instead, she simply stood up with great trembling. At once, Kim Sang-woo grabbed her hand tightly. His heart was thumping right out of his chest as he nced around at the passengers, ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­ she probably just tripped and fell. I¡¯m a doctor, I¡¯ll take care of it¡­¡±

    Nobody could see the stewardess¡¯ head, so nobody would be able to see the fresh wound on her head right now. When she fell earlier, she had struck her head against the armrest of an empty seat so hard that her face hadpletely caved in!

    She seemed to be sniffing at¡­ the fragrance of blood.

    The vile creature in front of him was poised to strike at any moment, and there was even the source of pathogen to deal with ahead of him!

    Crack¡­ Just like a broken toy, the stewardess crashed into the toilet seat, and her limbs cracked and snapped, and becamepletely twisted at noce. King Sang-woo stared at the horrific sight nkly. Just then, the stewardess that was slumped on the ground suddenly lifted her head and smiled at Kim Sang-woo.

    At once, he pulled out hismunications device.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ¡°Shh. Stop being ridiculous.¡± Her mother hastily covered her mouth, ¡°How is it humanly possible to have one¡¯s feet twisted backwards? Now, be good. We¡¯ll be back in Hanyang soon.¡±

    ¡°You saw it as well?¡± Another man to the left wearing a hat chuckled grimly, ¡°I thought my eyes were ying tricks on me as well¡­ That stewardess seems to have been hurt rather badly by the fall.¡±

    Just then, a high-school boy nced at thevatories with a frown, before turning to the girl beside him, ¡°Sister Kim Shu, I saw the doctor shove the stewardess into the washroom, before scuttling off to the front. Why do you think he did that?¡±

    Changho paused for a moment, ¡°I mean¡­ haven¡¯t you read the newstely? About¡­ that super virus? The one that¡¯s already taken a lot of lives¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not remain here in this cabin any longer¡­¡± Changho whispered, ¡°We should head forward into the VIP cabin ahead of us. The doctor went that way, didn¡¯t he? He¡¯ll know where the safest ce on board would be. Besides, that¡¯s also where the staff lounge is located. I¡¯m certain that would be the safest ce on board this ce. Given how the doctor was acting earlier, I sincerely think this is the best option¡­¡±

    But just as they passed by thevatories, there was suddenly a loud thud, and thevatory doors bulged slightly.

    ¡°AHHHH!!!¡± Kim Shu screamed and fell to the ground at once.

    It¡¯s begun.

    Given the sealed environment that we¡¯re in right now, it¡¯s spread¡­ will definitely be extreme!

    It was powerful and intense, nothing like the strength that a mere stewardess could muster. Instead, it sounded almost as though a ferocious beast were desperately trying to burst out of its enclosure right now!

    Changho stood right in front of the door, caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    ¡°Tsk¡­¡± Wang Chenghao sighed, ¡°Mortals¡­ are so troublesome¡­¡±

    The silence came so abruptly that it caused Changho to gulp nervously.

    Time seemed to freeze in that instant. Changho felt shivers run down his spine. His back was damp with sweat, and he could hear Kim Shu¡¯s heavy breaths at the side of his ears. And then, he proceeded to wrap his fingers around the handle of the door and open it slightly.

    He saw it. He saw it!

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± An old man stood up in consternation and marched right over, ¡°We¡¯ve got to save her! That¡¯s the most important thing right now! What are you doing shutting the door?¡±

    CRASH!!!

    It was almost as though all of the VIP passengers had assembled, yet all of their limbs were horrifically twisted. Their eyes were dark and hazy, and their hair was scattered everywhere. They stood around stiffly like a series of puppets on strings.

    ¡°Ah¡­ ha--...¡± Changho and Kim Shu were located closest to them right now. Their pupils shrank, and they immediately scrambled back with abject fear.

    This was a flight to hell - a flight of the living dead!

    ¡°AHHHH!!¡± ¡°Haaa--...¡± ¡°Sss!!¡± Blood-curdling shrieks and terrifying sounds filled the cabin. Within moments, blood and gore were sttered everywhere in the cabin.

    ¡°RUN!!!¡± With a desperate cry, the entire cabin of passengers flew into chaos as they scrambled for their lives!

 Chapter 537: The Living Dead (3)

    <h4>Chapter 537: The Living Dead (3)</h4>

    Dozens of zombies had burst through the front of the cabin, congesting the aisles between the seats and grabbing at everything they could with their outstretched arms. All of them sported twisted and gnarly expressions as they stared menacingly at the human beings in the cabin. It was almost as though¡­ the front of the ne had turned into a living hell.

    Everyone was running away as quickly as they could.

    Qin Ye sighed softly. He wasn¡¯t cold-hearted. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to rescue these people.

    Being in the spotlight would necessarily give rise to unwanted attention. And if that were the case¡­ then he wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve the purposes for which he had been maintaining a low profile.

    The authority of the new Hell didn¡¯t extend to thends of Hanyang. The one who had authority in thesends¡­ were naturally none other than the former feudal official, Liu Yu, the present Lord of Hanyang.

    They couldn¡¯t do a thing about it even if they wanted to.

    tter¡­ At once, the oxygen masks fell from overhead, and the parachute kit also sprung up from below the seats. Even then, not a single person reached out for these items.

    Meanwhile, the zombies snarled and hissed as they charged forward, pouncing on her and dragging her back as quickly as they could.

    Whoosh¡­ She happened to nce up as she was dragged past Qin Ye¡¯s aisle. At once, her eyes were filled with a glimmer of hope. Mustering everyst bit of strength in her body, she grabbed the armrest and pleaded with great trembling, ¡°Save me¡­ I--... don¡¯t want to die!!!¡±

    Just then, Oda Nobutada turned to Qin Ye and nodded softly, ¡°My Lord, can we finally make a move?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The entire cabin had been emptied out. The rest of the living passengers were already gathered at the other cabin, staring through the frosted ss emergency doors at what appeared to be hell on earth. All that remained in this cabin were about a hundred zombies.

    The sound of chewing and grinding of bones filled the cabin of death. But as soon as the first zombie¡¯s head exploded, every single other zombie stopped what they were doing and looked over.

    Food¡­

    Why¡­ didn¡¯t we see them earlier?

    BOOM!!

    ¡°How young and fearless.¡± Two striking spots ofhermes suddenly erupted from within the vortex. Oda Nobutada chuckled hoarsely, ¡°How dare Daeian ghosts act without restraint in the presence of Cathayan Emissaries of Hell?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A hand congealed out of Yin energy reached out from the vortex of Yin energy.

    Just then¡­ Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

    Countless hands continued to emerge from the swirling vortex. The zombies paused for three full seconds, and then, with a terrified roar, they rushed madly back to the VIP cabin where they hade from!

    Scary¡­ How terrifying! Get out of here! This¡­ this thing is the real monster around here!

    In a sh, the hands congealed out of Yin energy rushed forward like a swarm of venomous vipers. Heads of zombies would be forcibly split open and explode wherever they passed. Their bodies soon went limp like cotton. Terrified groans and shrieks rang out for a few moments. Meanwhile, Qin Ye sat silently in his seat, listening to the chorus of cries as he furrowed his brows.

    Are foreign evil ghosts really that weak?

    Thirty secondster, all traces of thehergale vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, and Oda Nobutada sat back down on his seat in his human form, ¡°My Lord, the purge isplete.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    This was his best option. Given his cultivation, he would achieve nothing from rushing headlong into the tide of zombies. He might even end up sacrificing his own life. Thus, he had decided to hole himself up at the front of the ne, hoping and praying that he could hold out until the ne arrived in Hanyang.

    The stewards and stewardesses were all gathered back in the lounge, staring at the entrance to the cabin in horror. Several of them held tightly to the crosses that they were wearing, praying hard for the safety of their lives.

    ¡°Senior Kim¡­¡± One young steward asked softly, ¡°T-there¡¯s still 30 minutes before we arrive in Hanyang¡­ T-the ne has already begun its descent. We¡¯ll be fine¡­ wouldn¡¯t we?¡±

    It¡¯s gone¡­

    How is this possible?!

    ¡°How is this--...¡± He finally straightened up his back and turned around, ¡°The zombies¡­ have vanished?¡±

    ¡°Is it over? Are we safe? We¡¯re saved, aren¡¯t we?!¡±

    There¡¯s neither Yin energy nor true energy, so why did the zombies suddenly vanish?

    There¡¯s no way I wouldn¡¯t have sensed any fluctuations of true energy if someone had acted earlier!

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go out to have a look.¡± He took a deep breath and steadied his trembling hands before opening the door slowly, ¡°Even if I knock on the door, asking to be let in, you must never open it for me! Don¡¯t do anything until you get to Hanyang, understand?!¡±

    He opened the door, stepped out, and then promptly shut the door behind him. At once, his pupils shrank in horror.

    There were countless corpses littered everywhere.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ the best way to purge these zombies is to cut off their heads¡­¡± He bit down on his lower lips with great astonishment, ¡°But who exactly was it¡­¡±

    His heart was still thumping wildly. He was now absolutely certain that all of the zombies werepletely dead. Thus, he began to scan the rows of seat in the cabin for any survivors. Just then, his eyes brightened up, and he immediately rushed over.

    Even then, he could tell that their chests were still rising and falling with the breaths that they took. They must have fainted! They¡¯re not dead! They¡¯d survived the onught of the zombies!

    He remembered this man. He was none other than the man with the unusually paleplexion whom he was trying to ¡®cure¡¯ earlier.

    ¡°And more importantly, did anyonee by earlier?!¡±

 Chapter 538: Arrival at Hanyang

    <h4>Chapter 538: Arrival at Hanyang</h4>

    Kim Sang-woo¡¯s eyelids were trembling. He stared straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, scrutinizing any traces of wild movements to see if he was telling the truth. Unfortunately¡­

    Qin Ye clutched tightly at his heart, and tried to stand up. But as soon as he did, his legs went limp, his knees buckled, and he fell right back into his seat. At once, he began to gasp for breath, and his face flushed with an unusually red hue.

    ¡°Are you ok?¡± He helped Qin Ye to his feet, to which Qin Ye promptly responded, ¡°I¡¯m fine, thank you.¡±

    A momentter, he ¡®noticed¡¯ the death and destruction in the cabin around him. Qin Ye gasped in horror, his eyes rolled back, and he passed outpletely.

    He waspletely baffled!

    He turned his gaze towards Wang Chenghao. Wang Chenghao was desperately trying to roll his eyes back to reveal only the whites of his eyes. Unfortunately¡­ his skills were far toocking.

    Wang Chenghao nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°What the hell just happened?¡±

    Damn it¡­ Kim Sang-woo gritted his teeth and turned to look at Oda Nobutada, ¡°Sir, what about you?¡±

    One can only hope that there are still eye-witnesses around¡­

    There were a lucky few who had managed to survive the great ughter.

    ¡°I imagine we¡¯ll have to give our statements once we touch down in Hanyang.¡± Qin Ye straightened out his clothes and nced out the window. He could already see some farnds below. The cars below appeared to be swarming straight to Hanyang, just like an army of ants.

    This is like a new director running along with the script of an old screenwriter. Isn¡¯t he afraid that the film will be a flop?

    Incheon International Airport, located on Yeongjong Ind in the western part of Incheon, a famous seaside resort city in South Daehan. It was 52 kilometers from Hanyang, and 15 kilometers from the coast of Incheon. Incidentally, this was also the sixth busiest international airport in the East Continent.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Why is the army mobilizing in full force?¡± ¡°Is this a terrorist attack? Are we experiencing a terrorist attack?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ As soon as the door opened, the middle-aged priest at the head of the pack narrowed his eyes and eximed aloud in English, ¡°What a heavy stench of blood¡­¡±

    A secondter, a team of soldiers rushed in with their guns raised. Minutester, they transmitted through their intes, ¡°All clear. There are survivors. Requesting evacuation.¡±

    The passengers were all howling and screaming in anguish and fear as they were slowly escorted out of the ne. All of them were covered in blood that wasn¡¯t their own, and their legs were still numb from the horrifying ordeal that left a plethora of scars in their heart.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    As they drove along, Qin Ye slowly scanned the surroundings in Daehan. Although Gyeonggi Province must be experiencing a terrifying supernatural outbreak no different from hell on earth, the general atmosphere around Daehan was still far more rxed than it was back in Cathay. At the very least, the households didn¡¯t have crosses or talismans hanging by their doors, and the citizens weren¡¯t looking over their shoulders with tension and worry like the ones back in Cathay.

    ¡°A demon hunter.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s lips parted slightly. The staff sergeant seated in the front of the car was keeping a close eye on them through the rear-view mirror. Qin Ye could tell from his expression that he was silently warning them not to step out of line.

    Oda Nobutada continued with a deep voice, ¡°Hanyang is known as the city with the most churches in the entire world. The organization we know to be the Special Investigations Department will have an equivalent counterpart in foreign countries as well. As far as that man is concerned, it¡¯s not wrong to refer to him as a demon hunter. I¡¯m not surprised that he would enter Hanyang as a priest either. That said¡­ this tells us that the strength of cultivators here in Hanyang isn¡¯t too strong. It¡¯s surprising that only an Operative-ss expert was deployed for an incident as serious as this.¡±

    Qin Ye responded softly, ¡°Currently, South Daehan forces would all fall under Usonian control should war break out. Demon hunters and the army should be inmunications with each other, just like how the Special Investigations Department works closely with armed forces back in Cathay. The Special investigations Department has been conferred the highest authority to mobilize military forces¡­ Speaking of which, the Second King Yanluo was right - it¡¯s only when you make the trip abroad that you start to see Cathayparatively from the lenses of other nations, as well as the developments in other nations.¡±

    He continued with his analysis, ¡°Daehan Catholicism is rather well known throughout the world. They have a total of 15 dioceses, including three archdioceses and one military ordinariate.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded slightly and nced at the soldier who was keenly observing them through the rearview mirror, indicating that they should revisit this issue sometimeter.

    He had two primary objectives in his trip to Daehan. Firstly, it was to see if the nameless god of death was pulling the strings in the shadow. Secondly, if the answer to the former question was in the affirmative, he wanted to see with his very own eyes how Tsar Arturo would actually sessfully cast myths and fabricate miracles in the short span of a single year, thereby allowing Liu Yu to firmly establish his foothold as the Hanyang Underworld.

    Liu Yu was hardly an important existence to his mind at all. In fact, he was as good as dead to Qin Ye ever since he first made the call to dere his independence from Hell.

    An instance of ignominy, an eternity of penance!

    LSD was the Daeian counterpart of the Special Investigations Department. Lee¡¯s Sharp Edge. However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t trust them.

    Their absence of faith would necessarily prevent them from peering beyond the facade concealing the truth. They would never be able to understand the intentions of all that was happening!

    In fact, Qin Ye had already decided upon his angle of entry as soon as he saw the priest and the Usonianmander back at the airport - through the church!

    I¡¯m the source of their pain, and yet we¡¯d simply brush past each other¡¯s shoulders¡­

    ¡°Sorry about that. Just onest thing, you¡¯ll be allowed to leave once you sign and endorse this agreement.¡± The equally tired police officer pulled out an agreement and ced it before the three men. Qin Ye took a quick skim through it, only to realize that it was a confidentiality agreement.

    Excellent¡­

    Qin Ye picked up a pen and promptly signed the agreement. Investigations at this level would never attract the attention of the Hanyang Underworld. There was still over a month until the end of October. This would give them plenty of time and space to go about their business and slowly peel back theyers of facade that were concealing the truth of the living hell in Gyeonggi Province.

    <hr>

    1. A military ordinariate is an lesiateical jurisdiction of the church responsible for the care of Catholics serving in the armed forces of a nation. They used to be called military vicariates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ordinariate

 Chapter 539: Kwon Kyung-ho

    <h4>Chapter 539: Kwon Kyung-ho</h4>

    As Qin Ye left the police station, he nced at his cell phone. It was already midnight.

    Qin Ye sighed in his heart as they checked into a decent-looking hotel. Qin Ye, Wang One Tail and Oda Nobutada each had one room to themselves. As soon as Qin Ye entered his own room, he set up a barrier sequestering him from the rest of the mortal realm, and then pulled out the spirit pen.

    The spirit pen didn¡¯t respond. Qin Ye frowned and promptly tightened his grip around the pen. At once, his arm moved as though he had a life of its own, and the pen began to write on a piece of paper.

    ¡°The closer we are, the clearer the sensation will get. Besides, I was nearly reduced to dust in the battle with Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha earlier. Please understand my situation, my Lord.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    His entire body appeared pale and pasty, almost as though he¡¯d been soaking in the waters for far too long. The rims of his eyes were dark, while bloody tears trickled out of the dark crevices in his eyes. A stream of ck blood also poured out from his slightly agape lips. It was an iparably hideous sight.

    What a strong aura of resentment¡­

    Bloop¡­ bloop¡­ Qin Ye frowned. It was the sound of people breathing out underwater.

    ¡°Save me¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a demon here¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­ I¡¯m only 15¡­¡±

    He abhorred the living.

    He became a Hellguard as soon as he passed on?

    ¡°Logically speaking, you shouldn¡¯t be filled with that much resentment even if you¡¯d died by drowning.¡± Qin Ye didn¡¯t have the slightest fear of the spirit pen. Instead, he simply stared at the mirror in front of him with great interest, ¡°I¡¯d initially thought that it was only a weak benign spirit that had attached itself to Xia Jinse. Who would¡¯ve thought it would be an evil ghost as powerful as you are? But it stands to reason as well. The lord and master of the Hanyang Underworld is only an Infernal Judge. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve managed to survive for such a long time as an Anitya Hellguard without being caught by the underworld. You must have died a horrific death in order to progress that quickly. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°How did you die?¡± Qin Ye opened a bottle of water and continued his line of questioning cidly.

    Unfortunately, Kwon Kyung-ho remained silent.

    Just like human beings, ghosts had their grievances and regrets as well. Qin Ye didn¡¯t intend to press the point either. Hey back onto the bed and nodded softly, ¡°How long have you been following Lee Jung-sook?¡±

    He¡¯d clearly been following Lee Jung-sook for some time.

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t interested to find out just how onedy and one ghost had encountered each other. Rather, what he was more curious about was the fact that if Xia Jinse had encountered a true evil ghost, then there was a high chance that she would have been in touch with the forces dealing with the supernatural in Daehan as well!

    Incidentally, that would be Qin Ye¡¯s best bet if he were to uncover the truth about the living hell guing Gyeonggi Province in Daehan!

    ¡°I¡¯ve been following her for three years. She was first exposed to these things in a small church in Hanyang. Zion City Church¡­¡± Kwon Kyung-ho spoke raspily, ¡°The pastor is called Ahn Jun-ho, a devout clergyman. You know, it¡¯s possible to tell at a nce whether a man was pious and devout or not. All you had to do is to look behind that man and see if there were any spirits following him. And to this end, that man didn¡¯t have a single spirit within a ten meter radius of his presence.¡±

    Qin Ye lowered his eyes and pondered for some time, ¡°Has he always been at Zion City Church?¡±

    ¡°And how are the defenses of the church like?¡±

    Excellent¡­ Qin Ye tapped his fingers gently on his bedside table, before adding, ¡°Incheon is only approximately 50 kilometers from Hanyang. We¡¯ll head straight there tomorrow morning.¡±

    The second day. Qin Ye got up at 8.00 a.m. sharp, and took a taxi straight to Hanyang. Soon, a bustling city appeared on the horizon.

    That said, it wasn¡¯t quite as prosperous as Eastsea. After all Eastsea was well-known for its construction and infrastructure mania. As far as Hanyang was concerned, its infrastructure and urban facilities were probablyparable to some of the second-tier cities in Cathay at best. Even then, the streets were still bustling with activity.

    Theirplexion and the colour of their pupils were all simr to that of Cathayan people. Qin Ye was initially curious as to the sights that he would behold, but he soon got used to the fresh ¡®scenery¡¯ around him.

    ¡°Things aren¡¯t too different around these parts¡­¡± Wang Chenghao was clearly dismayed by theck of freshness in his surroundings, and he continued to mumble and grumble, ¡°I mean, that¡¯s all there is to Hanyang. The city centre is located near Namsan, and Myeongdong is located in the vicinity as well. You¡¯ll see many schools around, including Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, and Changyonggung¡­ Eh, speaking of which, isn¡¯t our cab travelling in the direction of Myeongdong? I recall taking this highway that runs around the mountainous region thest time I¡¯vee here¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s situated next to Hanyang Eagle Peak Elementary School and Kwanghee Middle School. The Yingchunghwa Park and Eagle Mountain are situated just behind, together with¡­ Zion City Church.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ a building?!¡± The young child of andlord was incredibly startled, ¡°Please be mindful of the words you¡¯re using¡­¡±

    Qin Ye pulled out his phone and booted up the map of Hanyang, located Daelim One Apartments, and then pointed to the map, ¡°6B is this building. The entire building is owned by ady called Kim Tae-ji, who is known to be as close as a sister to Lee Jung-sook, and incidentally also one of the minor directors of Samsung. Even then, the true owner of this building is in fact Lee Jung-sook. Theyout of this building ispletely different to that of other buildings around.¡±

    Wang One Tail gulped nervously. His pride as the prodigal son of andlord had crumbled in an instant.

    To think that I¡¯d still acted all high and mighty back in Clear Creek County. Sister Lee would¡¯ve guffawed at my naivete¡­

    Wang Chenghao scanned through the contents of his phone, desperately searching for a way to change the topic of their conversation, ¡°Speaking of which, don¡¯t you think there are many churches in Daehan? There¡¯s practically a church in every neighbourhood¡­ Catholicism seems to be rife around these parts¡­¡±

    Just then, the car finally came to a halt. The Daelim One Apartments development was now located right in front of them.

    Things here weren¡¯t vastly different from a regr Cathayan development. The security guard was merely ceremonial in nature. All they had to do was to hang around outside the gate, before tailgating the ajummas returning from their marketing into the development. And then, they simply waltzed right up to the front of Building 6B.

    Building 6B was ostensibly different from any other buildings around. The entrance to the building was protected by an electronic lock mounted on a fiberss door.

    ¡°The ess code is Irewi54#@. There¡¯s likely nobody around right now. Kim Tae-ji generallyes by once every six months. If no one is in, you can punch in the code and enter the building directly.¡±

    Neither Qin Ye nor thedy said a single word. Qin Ye hadn¡¯t expected someone to be around, nor had she expected any visitors today. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she finally spoke with unmistakable wariness, ¡°Who sent you?¡±

 Chapter 540: Kim Tae-ji

    <h4>Chapter 540: Kim Tae-ji</h4>

    The best way forward¡­ was naturally to locate Lee Jung-sook, and then ride on the auspices of her identity.

    He would have to attend the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld at the end of October, and as soon as he did, Liu Yu was sure to keep his whereabouts under close scrutiny. Naturally, he would no longer be given anytitude to carry out any investigative work once that happened.

    His thoughts began spinning rapidly at once. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t given the luxury of time to craft his response, as thedy soon barked through the inte with a deeper voice. That said, she spoke in Daeian, and nobody could understand what she was saying.

    Holy shit?!

    Wang Chenghao stared at Qin Ye with consternation. Unexpectedly, Qin Ye¡¯s response was met with silence on the part of the olddy.

    This time, she spoke with fluent English, but with a distinct Daeian ent.

    The inte shut off as soon as Qin Ye finished speaking. Three secondster, the door to the main entrance opened with a soft click.

    ¡°What¡¯s that--...¡± Wang One Tail was clearly oblivious to his surroundings.

    Naturally, Qin Ye had his means to get about these devices. As they walked along, his voice suddenly sounded in the ears of the other two.

    ¡°If we can get Kim Tae-ji on our side, it¡¯ll most certainly smoothen things out here in Daehan. After all, Samsung is practically synonymous with privilege here in Daehan.¡±

    Wang Chenghao frowned, ¡°She¡¯s Kim Tae-ji? Are you sure she¡¯d help us out in our search for Lee Jung-sook? How can you be so certain about people¡¯s hearts¡­¡±

    After all, how could a 700 years-olddy be swindled by a mere 70-years old infant? That¡¯s¡­ practically impossible.

    They went straight to the top without stopping. Then, as soon as the elevator doors opened, their eyes immediately widened.

    The entire 24th floor was designed with an open-concept in mind. Everything was constructed with a luxurious baroque style, adorned with religious elements and gold ents that brought nobility to the elegance of the ssical brown furniture. The curtains, carpets and antique chandeliers all came together to make the entire space look grand and elegant.

    A silver-haireddy sat right atop a grand sofa, holding a ss of red wine in her hand. As soon as they entered, she nodded softly at them, ¡°Take a seat.¡±

    That¡¯s a great start¡­ Qin Ye sorted through his thoughts and organized what he had to say. He needed to have some measure of restraint while speaking with a member of the upper echelon of society. Sure, she might not be the top when it came to influence and finances, but she was still undoubtedly one of the top 200 most influential people in Daehan.

    Therefore, Qin Ye chose to burst through the doors to Kim Tae-ji¡¯s heart with the most straightforward approach. After all, time wasn¡¯t on his side. ¡°Miss Lee isn¡¯t dead.¡±

    It took her some time before she finally retracted her gaze and stared nkly at her own reflection in the wine ss, ¡°Then why didn¡¯t she contact me? And why didn¡¯t she even preside over the monthly council meeting?¡±

    ¡°The fact that you know of this ce might bepelling evidence in and of itself, but that¡­ is still insufficient. I need something more concrete; something more incontrovertible.¡± She set down her ss and gazed deeply at the trio, ¡°I don¡¯t sense the qualities of a professional bodyguard or assassin from you, so you may speak your mind. I¡¯ll listen to what you have to say.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s lost her memory.¡±

    Finally, the third salvo from Qin Yepletely crushed all psychological defenses in her heart.

    Clink¡­ Kim Tae-ji identally knocked over her wine ss, and the scarlet liquid flowed down the surface of the solid wooden table. Even then, she appearedpletely oblivious to that right now.

    This was one of the secrets that the top brass of Samsung had sworn to keep to themselves. Everyone seated at the top of the organization knew that Lee Jung-sook was a monster originally from Cathay. She had died once, but had returned to life, and her appearances had maintained just as young as she had always been decades ago.

    ¡°Why?¡± After a protracted pause, she finally shut her eyes, yet her eyelids continued to tremble softly, ¡°I mean¡­ she¡¯s got bodyguards around her. Who could possibly harm her?¡±

    ¡°It was an Infernal Judge.¡± Qin Ye took in every bit of expression in Kim Tae-ji¡¯s eyes. Apologies. Unfortunately, you¡¯ve met your match today. You¡¯re still decades away from my level of experience.

    This would dictate how he was going to proceed with his objectives in Daehan, and how forcefully at that!

    Even though she had mentally prepared herself for some earth-shattering news, she didn¡¯t expect her defenses to have crumbled this quickly!

    That¡¯s¡­ the term used to refer to the god of death!

    ¡°To be more precise, it¡¯s two Infernal Judges.¡±

    Kim Tae-ji grew taciturn. Momentster, she picked up another wine ss and gently poured wine into it from the carafe. Everything seemed calm and cid on the surface, yet Qin Ye could clearly tell that her knuckles were quivering slightly.

    Unfortunately, not even the slightest movements could elude Qin Ye¡¯s keen vision. He was incredibly adept at reading the contemtions of other¡¯s hearts through the subtlest of movements. This was a skill that was almost second nature to him, after having honed it well for a hundred years.

    ¡°Look for her.¡± Qin Ye spoke through gritted teeth, ¡°She¡¯s somewhere in Daehan, but we don¡¯t know exactly where. It¡¯s not exactly convenient for us to be moving about overtly, but we know you¡¯d have your means to locate Miss Lee¡¯s whereabouts. After all¡­ Daehan isn¡¯t toorge by any means.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Give me a week.¡± She set down her wine ss once more and brushed her silver hair elegantly, albeit with a bitter smile, ¡°Samsung¡¯s already in a pickle without her around to steer the helm. I¡¯m still counting on her to take good care of my offspring. Rest assured, I¡¯ll have an answer for you in one week at most. How should I get in touch with you?¡±

    Kim Tae-ji smiled and sighed with relief as she began to swirl the contents of her wine ss about once more, ¡°This is the best news I¡¯ve heard in recent times. Would you like a drink?¡±

    Then, she smiled and got to her feet, ¡°Then, is there anything else I can do for you?¡±

    ¡°Are they somehow involved?¡±

    ¡°Alright. Return here tonight. I¡¯ll make the necessary arrangements for a meeting.¡±

    Kim Tae-ji remained seated right where she was.

    She remained silent as she drove around the vicinity. Finally, she gritted her teeth, pulled out her cell phone and made a call.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Kim Tae-ji¡¯s eyes werepletely devoid of any warmth or tenderness. Instead, she bit down hard onto her lower lips as she fervently sought to suppress her ragged breaths. Several secondster, she instructed, ¡°I want you to send 15 people to the Daelim One Apartment tonight. I¡¯ve got three targets for you.¡±

    Kim Tae-ji took a deep breath and stared at the traffic lights ahead, ¡°One condition. You¡¯ll have to leave one target alive. I¡¯ll deal with the police.¡±

    The vehicles behind sounded their horn.

    ¡°I¡­ cannot trust you!¡±

 Chapter 541: Ahh... Shit

    <h4>Chapter 541: Ahh... Shit</h4>

    Night. 12.00 a.m.

    In fact, the nightlife was so alluring that the trio could barely keep their eyes on their objective. It took them great pains and perseverance to walk right past the enchanting colours of nightlife and right up to the entrance of the Daelim One Apartment.

    ¡°One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ There¡¯s a total of 20 people, including one Operative-ss expert?¡± Oda Nobutada stared at the tall building looming over their heads with furrowed brows, ¡°My Lord, it seems like Kim Tae-ji has some ideas of her own.¡±

    Qin Ye snorted. Did Kim Tae-ji betray Lee Jung-sook? No¡­ that¡¯s not quite possible. Sure,mercial rtions may be fragile and paper thin, but it¡¯s only been one month since Lee Jung-sook¡¯s disappearance. Kim Tae-ji would never dare take the risk of incurring her empress¡¯ wrath.

    What exactly did I say that caused Kim Tae-ji to overturn her earlier judgment of us? But, I¡¯ve got to hand it to her. She¡¯s truly an elite in her own right. She must¡¯ve discovered something amiss in our earlier conversation, yet managed to maintain the same expression on her face. Hmm¡­ that¡¯s right. There was a moment back then when she asked for my contact details. She must¡¯ve discovered something amiss back then, didn¡¯t she? In Daehan, handing over one¡¯s telephone number to Samsung would be tantamount to allowing them to track and trace one¡¯s movements. And since I didn¡¯t offer up my contact details, she must have intentionally fixed the appointment for tonight.

    A multitude of thoughts filled their minds in an instant. Just then, Oda Nobutada bowed respectfully, ¡°My Lord, should we--...¡±

    Since the bridge of trust has irretrievably broken down, then it¡¯s time to change things up and trek down the path of fear.

    Building 6B. Only the lights on the 24th floor were brightly lit at this moment. And to that end, there were 15 guns aimed straight at the elevator doors. There were even five men dressed in camouge uniform keeping a lookout over the emergency exit.

    And definitely those that had seen blood countless times. They exuded an incisive, cold-blooded aura that lingered around like a fog of death.

    Click¡­ The main entrance to the building slowly opened, and three men waltzed right into the building, seemingly unaware as to the destruction that awaited them. The leader lowered the barrel of his gun slightly and whispered into his headset, ¡°Miss Kim, they¡¯reing up.¡±

    ck, ck, ck¡­ To the surprise of the mercenaries in the building, a series of metal shutters slowly lowered themselves from an inconspicuous crack located on the outside of the building, sealing off every single ss panel in the building. Finally, with a soft ck, the metal shutters formed a seamless shell thatpletely sealed off the building.

    With these in ce, not a single person in the development would hear anything even if gunfire went off in the building.

    Another man dressed in camouge uniform responded softly, ¡°Do you remember back in the old days, when we used to fight in wars and conflicts? Do you remember the years we used to spend out in the battlefield for such paltry sums? But now, it¡¯s so easy with these missions. It¡¯s nothing more than the gentle pull of a trigger.¡±

    And as far as Qin Ye and hispanions were concerned, they could tell that things were going to go without a hitch tonight. Several mercenaries even subconsciously lowered the tense posture of their bodies.

    ¡°Three ordinary men.¡± A bald man muttered softly, ¡°They¡¯re not even in the slightest bit wary of their surroundings at all¡­ People in our line can¡¯t help but keep vignt about us at all times. This is something thates with years of toeing precipice between life and death. These men¡­ are truly adorable little dolls.¡±

    Just then, another man suddenly gasped, ¡°Hang on¡­ Where did they go?!¡±

    There was no one!

    None of them said a single word, nor were there any further exmations as to where the trio had gone. Everything fell silent in an instant.

    ¡°Miss Kim!¡± The leader of this operation switched on his intes. Cold sweat was already beading up across his forehead, and he spoke with great trembling in his voice, ¡°They¡¯re¡­ not men from ¡®that¡¯ side, are they?! You only offered us 200 million won for an operation like this?! Are you messing with me?!!¡±

    There was an eerie silence from the other end of the intes, almost as though it were a portal to a bottomless abyss.

    Unfortunately, they received no response whatsoever from the other end of the intes.

    ¡°Good evening, everyone¡­¡±

    The hellish voice had been transmitted through the headsets of all 20 mercenaries!

    Unfortunately, as he said those words, the lights in the entire building went outpletely. Even the lights within Kim Tae-ji¡¯s room went out in an instant. Everything was consumed by darkness.

    Just then, a dark silhouette appeared on the surface of the frosted tempered ss in the main hall.

    Oda Nobutada.

    Here, he was undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares to countless people - and even experts around.

    ¡°Gulp¡­¡± The mercenaries gulped nervously as they huddled closer together. An odd gurgling sound came from Oda Nobutada¡¯s throat. And then, without any warning, his head suddenly fell from his body like a broken puppet!

    ¡°Ahh¡­¡± One of the mercenaries couldn¡¯t help but exim with a weak, terrified groan. The piston in his hand trembled from the unsteadiness of his hands. The tion of earning 200 million won from a simple job hadpletely vanished into thin air.

    It was midnight, and they had just witnessed something that they had never ever wanted to see in their entire lives! These were things that they had only heard of in stories or watched in movies and shows!

    This was the hardest mission that they had ever agreed to!

    Unfortunately, there was no use crying over spilt milk.

    ¡°AHH... SHIT!!!¡± It was an ordinary, cid smile, and yet it gave all of them goosebumps in an instant. Some of the mercenaries couldn¡¯t take it anymore, and they immediately turned and made a beeline towards the emergency exit. Unfortunately, as soon as they did, they saw someone watching them intently on the surveince monitor!

    But in that instant, her pupils had already expanded to the size of two inches, so much so that even the whites of her eyes had turnedpletely ck!

    ¡°Fire!!!¡± It was thest straw. The leader finally broke down and gave themand to fire with a terrified roar. At once, a series of gunfire reverberated within the four corners of the 24th floor.

    ¡°Are they going to die?¡± Nobody knew how tightly Kim Tae-ji was clutching at her skirt in the luxurious room behind the ss door. She gritted her teeth tightly, fervently resisting the urge to copse to the ground. She trembled profusely, staring at the figure sitting on the sofa in front of her. That man was also holding up a ss of red wine. However, copious amounts of Yin energy was pouring right out of his body - a telltale sign that he wasn¡¯t a human being.

    He took a light sip. It was as smooth as silk. The alcohol and the fruity fragrance were perfectly blended together. He raised an eyebrow and nced at Kim Tae-ji with a smile, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are you still wondering if these borrowed knives are sharp enough for their purposes?¡±

    These people aren¡¯t human being!

    Have I¡­ actually been messing with a god of death?!

    ¡°What do you want?¡± She immediately continued with a change of tact, ¡°Just say it! I¡¯ll do anything for you, so long as it is within my means!¡±

    ¡°Why struggle against an oue that is already decided?¡±

    ¡°Now, tell me. Where did we go wrong in our conversation earlier this morning? What mistake was it that was so grave that you¡¯d even go out of your way to kill Miss Lee¡¯s representatives? I think¡­ there¡¯s got to me something I¡¯m missing over here, and I¡¯m curious as to what that might be. Wouldn¡¯t you care to enlighten me?¡±

 Chapter 542: The Dead Pastor

    <h4>Chapter 542: The Dead Pastor</h4>

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re still in a position to be discussing terms and conditions right now?¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°We¡¯d earlier been prepared to discuss terms at arms¡¯ length, but you¡¯ve pushed us to a corner. That option is no longer on the table.¡±

    Her heart was instantly awash with regret. Kim Tae-ji¡­ you idiot! What the hell are you doing stirring the ho¡¯s nest like this? Not even the parish would be able to do anything to keep these monsters in check! Had I known these men didn¡¯t belong to the mortal realm, I would never have made such a stupid decision!

    It suddenly dawned on her that the lives of mortals were absolutely fragile.

    Ahn Jun-ho is dead?!

    Not bad. Lee Jung-sook¡¯s seven lifetimes haven¡¯t been in vain. To think that she would even be able to convince ady as shrewd as Kim Tae-ji to serve her this wholeheartedly. On the other hand, I¡¯ve clearly got some ways to go¡­ I mean¡­ I can¡¯t even rein in the other Infernal Judge under my charge. What a great disparity in our skills¡­

    ¡°He¡¯s been dead¡­ for 12 years.¡±

    Her voice trembled softly as she delivered the bombshell news. Then, she turned and looked Qin Ye straight in the eye, as if to say - How did you encounter Ahn Jun-ho?

    Kim Tae-ji couldn¡¯t hear the spirit pen¡¯s voice, so she thought to go on. However, Qin Ye promptly raised his hand towards Kim Tae-ji as he sought rification with the spirit pen with a voice that only the spirit pen could hear, ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    The spirit pen went silent, as if Qin Ye had hit the nail on the head.

    ¡°Are you saying that--...¡± The spirit pen¡¯s trembled in response.

    ¡°Furthermore, it was probably a powerful zombie that was at least an Anitya Hellguard.¡±

    Qin Ye grew silent. He wasn¡¯t certain. However, the timeline of events would suit his conjectures perfectly!

    How could he possibly sow the seeds of faith and cause it to sprout and be ready for harvest in a single year?

    Things must have been brewing for a long time¡­ Qin Ye swirled the wine in his ss as he began to expand his perspective to look at the bigger picture.

    The Rus Underworld definitely had the power to shelter Liu Yu under their wings against Hell in its weakened state!

    ¡°His interests are incidentally aligned with that of Liu Yu¡¯s interests¡­¡± Qin Ye muttered to himself as he took a sip of the fragrant wine in hand. And then, he delved deeper - Unless the stars were aligned, casting myths and fabricating miracles is a protracted process that takes ages toplete. Tsar Arturo must have triggered these events through divostok as a channel. He¡¯s thinking of lending Liu Yu a hand in his deration of independence. This must have been in the works for the longest time.

    Finally, given Lee Jung-sook¡¯s unique identity, they wouldmunicate with and through her, allowing her to act as the active conduit between the mortal realm and the underworld. If I were Liu Yu, I¡¯d have done the same as well. Mm¡­ That leaves no stones unchecked. So, then, would Ahn Jun-ho still be moving about within Zion City Church?

    Ahn Jun-ho was the next node of information that would tell Qin Ye all about the amazing script which Tsar Arturo had written - one that was so ingenious that even the Daeian government would deign to conceal it from the eyes of its citizens.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Kim Tae-ji sighed softly, ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that she¡¯d¡­ actually beenmunicating with a dead man over thest decade or so!¡±

    We¡¯re talking about a person that we¡¯ve personally buried¡­ and yet¡­ she¡¯s actually been in contact with him over thest ten years?! Who the hell has she been talking to?

    Qin Ye frowned.

    ¡°Fool.¡± Qin Ye snorted coldly, ¡°We¡¯re on the cusp of the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld. All of the main yers involved in this would be tense to the extreme, and incredibly vignt of their surroundings. Are you saying that we should risk getting noticed for something as trivial as this lead?¡±

    The spirit pen paused, and then registered his rebuttal feebly, ¡°But¡­ I didn¡¯t sense any Yama-ss Yin energy from him¡­¡±

    After a long time, he finally dered, ¡°We¡¯ve got to locate Ahn Jun-ho. But we cannot take the initiative. He¡¯s got to be the one to do so.¡±

    ¡°My Lord, how are we supposed to do that?¡±

    Kim Tae-ji thought about it for a moment, and then her eyes glistened brightly, ¡°In fact, there is¡­¡±

    Qin Ye followed Kim Tae-ji right out of the 24th floor. As soon as they emerged from the room, they saw countless bodies dressed in camouge uniforms sprawled all over the ground. A dark figure emanating copious amounts of Yin energy was holding up his head as he respectfully waited Qin Ye¡¯s further instructions.

    ¡°Not dead?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded with approbation. Then, turning a blind eye to the mercenaries around, he pressed the button to the 25th floor. Kim Tae-ji followed closely after him.

    The entire floor was decorated with a Cathayan ir. To be more precise, it was a massive room.

    Unfortunately, neither one of them had the heart to appreciate these things right now. Kim Tae-ji turned the corner, walked past a few photographs, and arrived right in front of another tightly-sealed free-standing room within the apartment.

    Qin Ye looked around. The room didn¡¯t have any windows around it, and the main door was locked with a 9-rod Lu Ban Lock.

    I see¡­ Qin Ye nodded - Simple.

    Qin Ye could hardly be bothered with the shock in Kim Tae-ji¡¯s heart. Instead, what intrigued him more was with the contents of the room.

    There was nothing in the room apart from a clean dresser located in the middle of the room.

    A candle was situated right in front of the mirror, but only half of it remained. There was also a white jadeb located on the dresser itself. At once, Qin Ye pictured a singledy sitting here in darkness in the middle of the night,bing her own hair under the dim illumination of the candlelight in the room. And then, out of nowhere, the curtains would begin to sweep about eerily, just like a scene right out of a horror film!

    Then, just as he was about to pick up theb for a closer inspection, he suddenly froze.

    This is¡­ ab made out of a human bone!

    At once, the temperature in the room dipped drastically, and continued to go even colder and colder!

    ¡°She¡¯smunicating with the spirits.¡±

    ¡°These elements tell me that this isn¡¯t a ritual intended to summon righteous gods and deities of the orthodox underworlds. Rather, it¡¯s intended to summon¡­ evil spirits and grievous ghosts. You¡¯ve lived for a long time now, so there¡¯s no way you wouldn¡¯t be aware of something like this. So¡­ who might you be trying tomunicate with using this seance of yours?¡±

    ¡°I wonder if the evil ghost will be surprised to see me on the other side.¡±

    <hr>

    1. These are unique mechanical locks that are akin to modern day lock-boxes with hidden mechanisms.

 Chapter 543: Midnight Seance (1)

    <h4>Chapter 543: Midnight Seance (1)</h4>

    If you gaze deep into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

    Lee Jung-sook must have been involved in so many supernatural incidents that¡­ the supernatural began to take special notice of her. Perhaps that was why she was first discovered by Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha to begin with.

    He understood Lee Jung-sook. She wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit afraid of the supernatural. In fact, she would even dance along to their haunting tunes, because¡­ she was looking for a way to die for good.

    Those who lived an inordinate amount of time sought death, while those who had perished for a long time sought the hope of life once again.

    Just then, he suddenly paused, and he turned to look at his reflection in the mirror.

    ¡°A copper mirror cannot distinguish between the Yin and the Yang.¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s voice sounded from right behind Qin Ye. He had at some point entered the room in the very same fashion, ¡°It would prevent both parties from seeing the other¡¯s appearances clearly.¡±

    He withdrew his hand and raised his eyebrow quizzically, ¡°Ironwood.¡±

    Tap, tap, tap¡­ Qin Ye rapped his fingers on the dresser, as though deep in thought. After some time, he looked up, ¡°I¡¯ve got a posttion.¡±

    The sudden use of English instantly triggered a rted memory in Wang One Tail¡¯s heart, and he cleared his throat briefly, ¡°Tell me why¡­ does it have to be like this¡­ Tell me why¡­¡±

    ¡°I mean¡­ How did you even pick up on Den Galbraith¡¯s song featuring the Young Voices Choir? What kind of choir are you supposed to be from?¡± Qin Ye waspletely stunned.

    Qin Ye stared intently at him for some time, and then sighed softly, ¡°There¡¯s still another purpose for this¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Wang One Tail froze, and he began to take another deep breath.

    ¡°The first one is Ahn Jun-ho. Unfortunately, he passed on in an ident, and can no longer continue with the facade of being a living dead. Thus, the task of acting as a channel formunications was entrusted to the second evil ghost, who would continue to receive her messages, before engaging with her in person in the likeness of Ahn Jun-ho. This would ensure that they wouldn¡¯t attract undue attention to themselves. And to that end, perhaps the evil ghosts actively reached out to her after Ahn Jun-ho¡¯s death. She didn¡¯t feel at ease letting them know of her whereabouts, so she specially erected this seance station for her own protection.¡±

    Wang One Tail stared at him,pletely bbergasted. They locked eyes for several awkward moments, and then Wang One Tail exploded in fear, ¡°What the hell are you doing?! Let me make this clear once and for all - I¡¯m straight!¡±

    Several secondster, Qin Ye huffed softly with one foot over One Tail¡¯s body. Ahh, that felt good¡­ It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve had such a nice warm-up. It¡¯s truly important to invest in the right sandbag.

    Wang One Tail got up with an ashen expression, ¡°That¡¯s good to hear¡­ But Brother Qin, promise me you¡¯d never open that door to forbidden love. Otherwise¡­ I¡¯d feel threatened with these looks of mine¡­¡±

    What a downer on our conversation¡­ Wang Chenghao mumbled and grumbled as he transformed into ahergale and vanished from where he was. When he next showed up, he carried a small bag of items in hand.

    Wang One Tail - Holy crap?!

    Wang Chenghao sized up the svelte figure sporting shoulder-length hair that was standing in front of him, and he couldn¡¯t help but gulp nervously.

    Qin Ye gazed at the ceiling sullenly, ¡°There are always dark moments in a person¡¯s life when one has no choice but to swallow a bitter pill¡­¡±

    A split secondter, a gust of wind sent Wang One Tail mming straight into the wall of the room.

    ¡°How deeply embarrassing¡­ This is something that I¡¯d never thought I¡¯d one day do! Bloody hell, this had better turn up some leads. Otherwise, I¡¯m gonna go straight back to Clear Creek County and destroy every member of the surviving Wang n!¡±

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths to calm his heart, and then he finally proceeded to light up the candle.

    At once, the mirror in front of them felt somewhat different. The eerie silence of the night, coupled with the soft dance of the candlelight made everything feel almost otherworldly.

    However¡­ this room had walls on all sides without any windows! It was impossible for there to be any wind in the room!

    It was almost as though something was approaching this closed chamber of Building 6B!

    All seances were simr in some way or another. It followed the process of calling, locating, responding, and finallymunicating. The medium or channel acted like a door, while the party calling and the party responding were like two parties standing on either side of the door.

    Something¡¯s trying to locate me. Qin Ye nced at the fluttering curtains as he thought to himself.

    Unseen figures were wandering the streets and searching for something anxiously, but to no avail.

    It was 1.00 a.m. in the morning. In a dimly lit room, a reflection in the mirror had suddenly lifted its head to stare at the owner of the reflection!

    The owner of the reflection had remained just as still as before.

    Everything in the copper mirror was blurry and hazy. Qin Ye watched on as his reflection leaned its head forward, attempting to stick its head right out of the mirror! It was incredibly peculiar!

    Fortunately, as soon as the reflection touched the frame of the mirror, it immediately let out a muffled grunt and sat back down immediately.

    Qin Ye looked at it soullessly, and then¡­ picked up hisb and slowly began tob the wig on his head.

    A ghost had just blown out the candle light!

    What masterful strokes¡­ I can tell that this entity is at least a 100 year ghost, and an Anitya Hellguard to boot! By frightening the summoner, you must be attempting to weaken the three mes over the summoner¡¯s shoulder so that you can forcibly take control of her body, aren¡¯t you? Qin Ye gazed intently at the mirror. He had the feeling that someone was looming right over his shoulder right now.

    Why don¡¯t we see who finds the other first?

    But this time¡­ a line of words appeared on the surface of the mirror.

    And they were written in blood.

    The words read - Found you¡­

    Saint Virtue High School.

    The power was out¡­

    ¡°What kind of otherworldly encounter is this supposed to be?¡± He rubbed his eyes sleepily, ¡°It¡¯s September, for goodness sakes¡­ How is it possible to be awakened by the chill of the night in these months?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Two dark eyes opened up amidst the darkness of the night.

    The owner of these eyes was beautiful. She had a sharp chin and pronounced features. But the hair that fluttered menacingly about her made her look iparably terrifying.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ You¡¯re just like one of us¡­ You¡¯re a monster¡­¡±

    Whoosh!

    You never know whaty beneath the skin of the person closest to you.

    <hr>

    1.

    2. Liang Zhi Lao Hu is a popr nursery rhyme with a song,

    3. Used by a girl to refer to a youngerdy.

    4. Used by a girl to refer to an olderdy.

 Chapter 544: Midnight Seance (2)

    <h4>Chapter 544: Midnight Seance (2)</h4>

    Bzzt¡­ The electric lights went out at the same time. Somi stood in front of the mirror. Her reflection in the mirror had already begun to distort, almost as though the other end of the mirror was a portal that led straight into a bottomless abyss.

    It started out small and dainty, but her smile soon grew wider and wider, until the sides of her lips suddenly parted and split open until she was practically smiling from ear to ear, revealing a series of razor-sharp teeth from within! Her scarlet tongueshed out like a vicious snake and began writing a few words on the surface of the mirror.

    The surface of the mirror appeared no different from still waters that rippled to her touch. Slowly, but surely, she plunged her head deeper and deeper through the surface of the mirror, almost as though she were being drawn in by the mirror itself. Her hands were propped up against the frame of the mirror, revealing countless horrific spots of livor mortis on the surface of her skin. These spots emanated a rancid smell. In fact, there were even countless maggots squirming about underneath her dposing skin. Copious amounts of Yin energy poured out of the pores of her body.

    ¡°Damn that cautious old hag¡­¡± She pulled her head out of the mirror, only to reveal a slight scorched mark on her forehead. She gritted her teeth in chagrin and retracted all sources of Yin energy pouring out from her body. At once, she transformed right back into the image of a pure high school student that was innocently staring at her own reflection in the mirror.

    This man looked thin and frail. He wore the ck robes of a pastor, and even hung a cross around his chest. There was a calm and affectionate gaze in his eyes. In some ways, there was an uncanny semnce between his appearance and that of Ahn Somi.

    That was the name of her nominal father.

    No response.

    Naturally, she hadn¡¯t considered the possibility of a ballsy man ying dress up before her right now.

    ¡°Are you thinking of asking me for assistance to help rid you of the Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha following you?¡± Ahn Jun-ho smiled faintly, ¡°It¡¯s toote¡­ Their father is the renowned Susanoo, father of over eight million kunitsukami, or the gods of thend. Their true form is that of the Susa Boy. Unfortunately, the Hanyang Underworld isn¡¯t strong enough to keep them in check.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s acting skills were on point. ¡®Lee Jung-sook¡¯ ced her hands around her arms with a slightly defensive posture, almost as though the fear in her heart were causing her to feel cold and exposed.

    ¡°Why did you refuse the proposal of Lord Rumyantsev, the king of the Danube? He¡¯d even informed you that the Tsar is personally involved and invested in the Hanyang Underworld. He¡¯s the only one who can save you from your ordeals. Sure, you might not die, but that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re impervious to all pain.¡±

    ¡°Who do you think you are?¡±

    Ahn Jun-ho spoke in fluent Cathayan. Yet, it was only after he said all that he did that he slowly began to find something slightly amiss with Lee Jung-sook tonight.

    The hair in the mirror appeared absolutely disheveled, and it concealed Lee Jung-sook¡¯s facial features altogether.

    Suddenly, Somi¡¯s heart was filled with an ominous feeling, almost as though she were traipsing through the forest, only to discover that she had just been targeted by a giant beast!

    Sure, she could be likened to a powerful Yin spirit having charge over city level affairs, but the predator lurking in the shadows was a Yin spirit in charge of national affairs! It was the lord of over a billion Yin spirits! It was the monarch of the dead!

    This isn¡¯t Lee Jung-sook!

    She promptly sought to wrap up the seance. At once, she mustered her Yin energy and channeled everything she had in order to get a better glimpse of the other party¡¯s appearances as she barked through gritted teeth, ¡°Who the hell are you?!!¡±

    It was obviously a man¡¯s voice.

    ¡°I am¡­ Luo Tianyi.¡±

    Somi nearly cursed under her breath - Are you trying to mess with me?!

    Damn it¡­ he¡¯s¡­ an Infernal Judge!!!

    She could tell that the quality of Yin energy emanating from the other side of the mirror was even more terrifying than that which was at Lord Rumyantsev¡¯s disposal! To make matters worse, her moment ofcency had allowed the Infernal Judge on the other side to jam the portal with his true energy, causing her to be unable to close off all connections at once!

    One of thest things she¡¯d expected was the fact that the Infernal Judge on the other side was in fact a man!

    As she spoke, the surroundings suddenly went silent.

    In that instant, she felt as though she¡¯d just been isted from the world.

    Somi gasped and retreated from the mirror as she stared at it in shock.

    The Infernal Judge had been able to close the channel ofmunication at all times, but had clearly elected not to do so because, just as she was locating the Infernal Judge, the Infernal Judge was likewise also locating her.

    If you gaze deep into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

    Unfortunately, the Infernal Judge was quicker than she was.

    Is this¡­ one of the four major underworlds in theherworld?!

    Somi¡¯s heart practically stopped altogether.

    Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t given the luxury of time to delve any deeper into these thoughts. With a soft buzz, the mirror in front of her eyes cracked apart, revealing a scarlet eye that stared directly at her with a deadly gaze. At once, a young man¡¯s voice broke the silence.

    Whoosh! Ahn Jun-ho¡¯s appearances vanished, revealing Ahn Somi¡¯s true form. A frigid sensation washed over Somi and she squealed as she transformed into a ck shadow and ran straight out of the windows. She didn¡¯t dare remain in this ce any longer!

    But just as she was about to head out the windows, the eye in the mirror suddenly vanished, only to be reced by a huge ck hand formed out of Yin energy and glistening with the glow of a silvery talisman. To her great surprise, the ostensibly material hand rushed right out of the mirror like a bolt of lightning and made a grab at Somi!

    Just then, the shadows in the surroundings suddenly converged like a tsunami, forming a hazy, ghastly shadow that promptly struck out and parried Qin Ye¡¯s attempt at capturing Somi.

    A visible shockwave erupted from the epicentre of contact. The hazy, ghostly shadow dissipated at once with a muffled grunt. But, at the same time, the crack in the mirror finally closed up altogether.

    ¡°This is terrible¡­¡± She leaned against themp post and huffed anxiously, ¡°I have to report this to Lord Liu immediately¡­ One of the four major underworlds in theherworld is currently eyeing Hanyang¡­¡±

    Daelim One Apartments, Building 6B, 25th floor.

    It was slightly red.

    The makeup and essories box was already lying open in front of him, and he continued to pick out an eyebrow pencil to shade his brows masterfully, ¡°Fortunately, I¡¯ve learnt a lot from the other side this time. ¡®Nameless Sacrifice¡¯ and ¡®Terminus of Terror¡¯... What are these? Are they some form of steps or rituals that are necessary for fabricating miracles?¡±

    His hands finally stopped. At some point in time, he¡¯d already picked up the lipstick and carefully traced it around his lips three times.

    Qin Ye waspletely creeped out by his subconscious mind. At once, he tossed down the lipsticks, pulled up his skirt and rushed right back out of the room.

    ¡°You--...¡± She stared at the ¡®youngdy¡¯ in front of her with aplex gaze in her eyes.

    Kiddo, I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t have a boyfriend just yet. You¡¯re practically bending the boundaries of all norms right now¡­

    After clearing his voice, he forcibly spoke with the voice of a young man, ¡°Do you know who thisdy is? If not, I¡¯d like you to locate her at once. I want answers within a day.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t she¡­ Ahn Jun-ho¡¯s daughter¡­ Ahn Somi? She¡¯s a student of Saint Virtue High School.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Luo Tianyi is the name of a virtual singer built from voice synthesizing technology called Vocaloid. It is also the first Vocaloid Chinese singer.

 Chapter 545: Saint Virtue High School (1)

    <h4>Chapter 545: Saint Virtue High School (1)</h4>

    Located at the south end of Hanyang, it was an education hub for the children of many plutocrats or other influential members of the Daeian society.

    The boys wore white shirts, ties, and gray shorts, while the girls wore the same, but with short skirts and bowties. Suffice it to say that the school uniform here looked far more splendid than those back in Cathay.

    ¡°Hey, did you hear about the Nam-joon oppa fan meeting tomorrow? Is anyone going? Let¡¯s head over together! I absolutely adore Nam-joon oppa!¡± One of the girls screamed joyously with a spring in her step.

    One of the girls hurriedly switched on her phone, only to sigh in dismay, ¡°Damn it¡­ The tickets are all sold out! My goodness¡­ Oh yeah! Somi, do you think you¡¯d still be able to get us tickets? You¡¯ve got rtives working in the government sector, don¡¯t you? Help me out and get me a ticket, pretty please~?¡±

    However, she jumped in shock as soon as she made skin contact with Somi.

    Everyone looked over as a result of themotion. The girl who was trying to get Somi¡¯s attention stared at her hand, wondering if it had been an illusion on her part. She had inadvertently touched the hands of their wallflower, Ahn Somi, and to her surprise¡­ her body felt as cold and frigid as a dead body.

    ¡°I¡­ am fine.¡± Her face was unusually pale. The dark circles around her eyes only entuated her bloodshot eyes. She smiled bitterly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ You can have my ticket¡­ I won¡¯t be going¡­¡±

    Damn!

    This was a symptom of having been attacked by high quality Yin energy. It had caused her own Yin energy to copse, and it didn¡¯t look like it would get any better until she had some blood food.

    ¡°Then¡­ do you want to have dinner¡­ together?¡± The girl who touched her just a little while ago asked with a tremor in her voice. For some strange reason, she couldn¡¯t help but feel as though... the current Somi was somehow terrifying¡­

    ¡°Dinner?¡± Somi licked her lips discreetly, ¡°No thank you¡­ Rather than dinner, I¡¯d much preferte night snacks¡­¡±

    Thus, one by one, the students left the ssroom. Unfortunately, none of them noticed how Somi¡¯s facial features were slipping out of ce, almost as though they were drifting about her face like flotsams in ake!

    ¡°This damned Yin energy is definitely from one of the top underworlds in theherworld¡­ I can¡¯t take it much longer¡­¡±

    The entire ssroom was empty. Nobody was around at all.

    It was the demonic hours. Just then, Ahn Somi¡¯s silhouette flickered softly, and then vanished for three minutes without appearing once.

    Unfortunately, the only response he received was an endless gurgling and gulping of spittle.

    The contact she was searching for was¡­ Hanyang Wanderer.

    I¡¯ve got to line my stomach with some food first. Then, I¡¯ll wait for Lord Rumyantsev to arrive, and everything will be resolved. Damn it¡­ Who the hell was it in that mirrorst night?!

    No¡­ he probably wouldn¡¯te so quickly. I can¡¯t leave my station in any case. Hanyang is the gateway from North Daehan to South Daehan. So long as I remain here, I can be the first one to receive the lord of the envoy¡­

    A teenager walked into the room with a baseball cap and a stic bag in hand. He walked straight up to Ahn Somi and gently ced the stic bag on the table, ¡°Somi¡­ Are you alright?¡±

    A few secondster, she spoke hoarsely, ¡°Go¡­ away¡­¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°How can I ignore you after seeing you in that state?¡± Seongho furrowed his brows and pressed his hand to her forehead, ¡°If you don¡¯t feel well, you should just apply for medical leave. I¡¯ve brought you your favourite bibimbap located at the entrance of school. You should at least have some food--...¡±

    And then, he raised his hand with consternation and stared at his fingers with great surprise.

    But¡­ I¡¯ve¡­ just touched her forehead¡­

    ¡°S-s-s-s-somi¡­¡± Seongho¡¯s voice trembled as a wave of terror surged from the bottom of his heart. He gasped in horror and took a few steps back. And then, he did a double take at a certain part of the ssroom.

    Everyone was supposed to have shadows, but¡­ Ahn Somi clearly did not!

    T-t-t-t¡­ Seongho¡¯s teeth began to chatter uncontrobly, while his hair stood on end. Without hesitation he turned around to leave. But, just then¡­ Bam, bam, bam¡­ The doors and windows to the ssroom mmed shut all at once!

    She¡¯s not a human being¡­

    Gurgle¡­ gulp¡­ The gurgling and gulping sounds grew louder and louder in the tense silence of the evening light. Just then, Ahn Somi spoke for the second time, ¡°I¡¯m¡­ hungry¡­¡±

    Drip¡­ drip¡­ The drops of blood sounded like a deafening death knell.

    But as he spoke, the lights in the ssroom suddenly flickered wildly! And then, the books on the table suddenly rose into the air and riffled through their pages, while the pens on the desk suddenly began to write on them in unison!

    ¡°AHHHHH!!!!¡± That was thest straw. He screamed at the top of his voice and braced himself to kick down the door, only to find a series of words written on the door in chalk and blood.

    Seongho shivered wildly.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡­ So hungry¡­ And you¡¯ve delivered yourself at just the right time¡­ Well, since you care about me so much¡­ then, what do you say to staying by my side¡­ forever?¡±

    And then¡­ drip, drip, drip¡­ Several more drops of blood began to patter down like an indoor shower of blood, dyeing his entire body a gory, scarlet hue.

    Right there, he saw Ahn Somi¡¯s twisted bodypletely covered with livor mortis spots. Her features werepletely misaligned, while her entire being was covered with horrific wounds. She stared intently at him with her tongue hanging loosely a meter out of her mouth. Blood dripped slowly from the tip of her tongue.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always had an eye on you¡­ You like exercising¡­ so the muscles on your body¡­ must be delicious¡­¡±

    ¡°AHHHHHH--!!!!!¡±

    <hr>

    1. This refers to 6 years of primary school, 3 years of middle school, 3 years of high school, followed by 4 years of tertiary education.

    2. Oppa is the term used by a girl to refer to an older guy.

    3. Hyung is used to refer to an older guy.

 Chapter 546: Saint Virtue High School (2)

    <h4>Chapter 546: Saint Virtue High School (2)</h4>

    He¡¯d already discovered that she was located somewhere in Saint Virtue High School. Unfortunately, the school was situated on arge plot ofnd, and that made it more difficult to pinpoint her exact location.

    The spirit pen whispered directly to Qin Ye, ¡°There¡¯s no way she would go out on a rampage and massacre numerous humans in the vicinity. Liu Yu would never let it rest if she went on to kill indiscriminately in the mortal realm. Conversely, it would only be expected if she kept the kill count low. After all, death is but an inevitability if one were to condone the existence of evil ghosts in the mortal realm. You¡­ aren¡¯t thinking of rushing to the scene of the crime to rescue him right away, are you?¡±

    Why did he choose to wait until the demonic hour before searching out Ahn Somi?

    A single lead wasn¡¯t quite enough to go on¡­ I mean¡­ I¡¯ve even resorted to cross-dressing, and it¡¯s only turned up a single lead?!

    For all we know, I might just be able to put together the entire contents of Tsar Arturo¡¯s script after these investigations!

    He closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, ¡°If she tells us the truth, I might just be able to spare her life. That said, it¡¯ll only be after I leave Daehan once and for all.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Where¡¯s Seongho hyung?¡± It was 6.30 p.m., and most of the students were already back from dinner. Their session of self-study wasmencing in just half an hour. Yet, Seongho was nowhere to be found.

    ¡°ying truant again?¡± Another girl chuckled, ¡°Somi, Seongho hyung clearly likes you. Why would he go out on a frolic on his own without bringing you along?¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which, Somi, you look to be in far better spirits than before, huh?¡± The girl marched over and leaned in to take a closer look at Somi¡¯s face, ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°You know, there actually is.¡± The girl pursed her lips and wiped the trace of red off the corner of Somi¡¯s lips.

    In that instant, everything was shrouded in a moment of tense silence.

    An inexplicable chill surged through her heart, and the girl shuddered uncontrobly. Her breaths suddenly grew quicker and more shallow, while her heart thumped quicker. For a moment there, she couldn¡¯t help but feel as though she were staring straight into the eyes of a vicious beast.

    Three secondster, Ahn Somi smiled faintly and hung her head low, ¡°Ah, I see¡­ That¡¯s right, it¡¯s probably just some sauce. Thanks, Bomi noona.¡±

    Truth be told, they were supposed to be seated together for the evening self-study session, but she simply couldn¡¯t bring herself to return to her designated seat before the session began proper.

    Somi¡­ Bomi gulped nervously and shook her head, almost as though she were trying to shake off the feeling of difort that swamped her heart and mind earlier. Then, she forcibly stered a smile on her face and responded, ¡°What¡¯s up? Am I not wee here? I just felt like it today. Songchae, would you like to change seats with me?¡±

    Bomi perked up her spirits and tugged Songchae¡¯s hands, ¡°C¡¯mon, Songchae noona, just this once, please~?¡±

    ¡°Certainly¡­¡± Bomi finally heaved a sigh of relief as she watched Songchae walk over to the other table.

    These were the thoughts in Bomi¡¯s heart earlier.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Songchae sucked on the lollipop in her lips as she turned back.

    ¡°Weirdo.¡± Songchae rolled her eyes and finally took her seat.

    ¡°She¡¯s not feeling well. And¡­ there¡¯s something not quite right about her tonight¡­¡±

    Somi propped up her head with her hands and smiled radiantly back.

    ¡°You seem fine to me.¡± Songchae nudged Somi with her elbow, ¡°Hey, do you think Bomi¡¯s a little bit strange today?¡±

    Ding¡­ Just then, the school bell marking the start of their self-study session rang, and everyone began to bow over their desk. Some would read their textbooks, some would chat discreetly with each other, while some would use their cell phones under their tables. There were even some who would from time to time reach beneath their desk and pop snacks into their mouths.

    ¡°No.¡± Ahn Somi continued staring nkly at her textbook that had remained untouched since the start of the session.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Ahn Somi¡¯s head was still bowed low. She pulled something out from underneath her desk and began chewing on it.

    Ahn Somi finally turned around and stared at Songchae. After a long time, she finally smiled, ¡°You¡­ might not be used to this.¡±

    Thud!

    How odd¡­

    It¡¯s almost as though¡­ she¡¯s a monster wearing the skin of a human being!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± ¡°Awesome! Everyone! It¡¯s time to pack up and go home!¡± ¡°Shh!¡±

    She could see a shroud of darkness that was invisible to mere mortals slowly diffusing over and spreading quickly along the path into the school.

    Absolute silence.

    At once, goosebumps crept all over Somi¡¯s skin, and her heart thumped wildly, because she was certain of something - He¡¯sing¡­ He¡¯sing!!

    ¡°Oooooo¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ take me away¡­¡± ¡°It hurts¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡±

    He¡¯s here¡­

    He¡¯s actually here!

    Ahn Somi desperately shrunk back into her seat. Her entire body was trembling as she watched the movement of the mysterious figure helplessly.

    Whooooosh!!! A ferocioushergale tore through the room, as countless Yin spirits poured out of the man¡¯s sleeves. It didn¡¯t take more than two minutes for the man toplete his search of the ssroom.

    He¡¯s searching for me!

    It felt stifling and suffocating, almost as though she were being submerged into freezing seawaters.

    It was a powerful Yin spirit who was here to reap her soul!

    Meanwhile, a man seated in the teacher¡¯s office raised his head abruptly and gasped in shock.

    ¡°His target is Ahn Somi!!¡±

    He didn¡¯t dare¡­

    ¡°This is¡­ someone from one of the top four underworlds in theherworld!!¡± He screamed and transformed into ahergale, retreating straight into the cracks and crevices of his chair.

    ¡°Run¡­ Ahn Somi¡­ Run!! We cannot afford to let that man discover the secrets that we carry with us!!¡±

    The temperature of the vicinity fell rapidly with the arrival of the mysterious man. The students were rowdy and noisy amidst the intense darkness, yet none of them were aware that a god of death was just passing by right outside their ssroom.

    It was the kind of fear that caused even the soul of a ghost to seize uppletely.

    Somi remained silent. The excessive fear surging in her heart caused her to be oblivious to the things spoken by Songchae. There was only one thing on her mind right now.

    How do I get out of here?!

    She nced around the ssroom with bloodshot eyes.

    There are still three ssrooms to search through before he arrives at this ce. That gives me six minutes. That¡¯s more than enough time! I¡¯ll be able to devour everything in this ssroom in less than three minutes!

    A split secondter, she paused.

    As she removed her hand from Somi¡¯s forehead earlier, she had inadvertently brushed her hand against Somi¡¯s eyes. Yet, what would otherwise have been a simple, harmless motion, had somehow caused Somi¡¯s eyes to shift onto her forehead!

    She¡¯s¡­ not human!

    She reached her hand into her desk, and then¡­ pulled out a human hand that she¡¯d earlier been gnawing on. All five fingers had already been chewed off. She smiled faintly, ¡°This¡­ is Seongho hyung.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s delicious. Would you¡­ like some?¡±

 Chapter 547: Saint Virtue High School (3)

    <h4>Chapter 547: Saint Virtue High School (3)</h4>

    ¡°AHHHHHH--!!!¡± Following that, Songchae screamed at the top of her voice and frantically pushed the table away, ¡°A ghost! A ghost!! There¡¯s a ghost!!¡±

    Just then, the windows to the ssroom abruptly mmed shut. Songchae rushed straight to the door, desperately hammering on it as she cried at the top of her voice, ¡°Open up¡­ open the door! Ahhhhhhh! I don¡¯t want to die! Help me! HELP!!!¡±

    ¡°My god¡­¡± ¡°Dear heavens¡­ is¡­ is it really a ghost?¡± ¡°Ahh shit¡­. AHHH SHIT!!¡± ¡°ARRGGHHH--!!!¡±

    Her entire body was floating in the air. She clung to the window like a giant spider. Her tongueshed about wildly outside her mouth as though it were a two-meter long venomous viper, and her bloodshot eyes darted about various parts of the ssroom, staring at them menacingly as though she were looking at her prey.

    Her hoarse voice sounded like a cat¡¯s ws on a chalkboard. At once, the curtains of the ssroom fluttered wildly.

    Seongho¡¯s dismembered body had been sewn right to the top of the curtains, with the blood dripping from each piece dyeing the curtain scarlet red. Yet, for some strange reason, not a single person had noticed this earlier!

    A split secondter¡­ ¡°AHHH!!!¡± ¡°Ghost!!¡± ¡°Help! Help!!!¡± Daddy! Please save me!¡±

    Crack! There was the macabre sound of snapping bones. At once, the students hung limply from the ceiling by the hair that bound them.

    Pshk¡­ At once, a river of blood began to pour out onto the ground, filling the entire ssroom with a nauseating stench.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gone nuts.¡± Just then, there was a knocking sound on the window. The silhouette of a young man showed up right outside. He shook his head with disapprobation, ¡°I was still contemting whether I should spare your life. Do you think you deserve it?¡±

    Crash! The ss windows shattered in an instant. The sudden eruption of Yin energy knocked the young man back several paces, but he soon hovered in the air cidly in front of the ssroom. Meanwhile, Ahn Somi hung from the surface of the ssroom wall like a giant spider.

    ¡°You were the one who forced me to do it¡­ Grrrrr¡­. SSS!!!¡±

    ¡°An eye for an eye, and a life for a life. Remember my name - Qin Ye.¡±

    Meanwhile, back in Hanyang, at the headquarters of the LSD. Beep, beep, beep! The instruments in their surveince rooms red with rms and warning lights at once.

    ¡°Hellguard?!¡± One of the investigators stared at his monitor with his mouth agape, ¡°How can it be an Anitya Hellguard? Thest time something like this was detected was seven years ago! This is a second-tier alert...¡±

    He promptly ran outside, ¡°Teams 7 and 8, follow me to Saint Virtue High School at once! Pronto!¡±

    Ding¡­ Just then, the rmed paused for a second. And then, it red with even greater ferocity, ¡°Warning, warning! Maximum alert! Apocalyptic danger detected! Location - Saint Virtue High School. Two Infernal Judges detected. Please evacuate all citizens immediately! This message will automatically be transmitted to the Blue House. Effective immediately, all Republic of Daehan troops in Hanyang are to move out and head to Saint Virtue High School right away. Repeat. Warning¡­¡±

    He was absolutely stunned.

    Yet we¡¯re witnessing the emergence of two Judge-ss Yin spirits tonight?!

    ¡°What are you still doing here?!!¡± The investigator was the first one to return to his senses, and he immediately bellowed at the others who were equally bbergasted, ¡°Cancelst¡­ Tell the bishop to make his move right away! Hurry!!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ¡°SSS!!!¡± Ahn Somi screamed in anguish as she rolled on the ground in pain. Shockwaves rippled visibly through the clouds of Yin energy around her.

    Terrifying¡­ so terrifying!

    Qin Ye transformed into a cloud of dense Yin energy right in front of her very eyes. The remaining teachers and students in the school had long since fainted. Frost grew around the groundpped by Qin Ye¡¯s dense Yin energy. The purity of the Yin energy at his disposal was already at the level where it could already affect the mortal realm. Momentster, the Yin energy formed a mighty bearded face that was tens of meters wide!

    Two massive spots ofhermes pulsated brightly in the eyes of Zhong Kui¡¯s face. The trees in the vicinity would bend over in submission with every breath he took. Ahn Somi¡¯s teeth chattered wildly as she dug her nails deep into the ground.

    ¡°Hah¡­¡± There was a cold snort. Ahn Somi trembled profusely as the majestic head raised his voice, ¡°I¡¯ll give you another chance!¡±

    Boom!!

    ¡°I¡­¡± She knew exactly what Qin Ye was asking, but she simply didn¡¯t dare to answer him.

    ¡°Please spare me¡­¡± Her body was covered in wounds, almost as though it had been cut in numerous ces with a sharp knife. She kowtowed desperately to the ground and pleaded with a tremor in her voice, ¡°Let me join Hell, and I promise to tell you everything!¡±

    Qin Ye snickered.

    So long as an evil ghost has taken the life of a mortal in death, then no matter where they went, it was an underworld¡¯s duty to ensure that justice was served!

    ¡°If your answer is still ¡®no¡¯, then¡­ I¡¯ll let you experience a fate that is worse than death¡­¡±

    Time was tight. Qin Ye was certain that there were definitely powerful emissaries of the Rus Underworld here in Daehan, and they were probably rushing here right now.

    A Yanluo¡¯s function was a secret not to be disclosed to outsiders!

    ¡°Two!¡±

    ¡°Hmph¡­¡± Qin Ye snorted, and continued counting down.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Ahn Somi bit down on her lower lip, yet remained absolutely silent.

    A split secondter, a dazzling golden light erupted from the mouth of the illusory face!

    ¡°ARRRGGGHHH!!!¡± She screamed hoarsely and miserably. It felt reminiscent of the days when she was still an Operative-ss Yin spirit, and had inadvertently been exposed to sunlight.

    ¡°No¡­ NO!¡± The Yin energy in her body trembled, and her lips finally parted once more, ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡±

    Is iting¡­?

    Abyssal Prefect?

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Emissary?¡± A voice of scorn called out from the void. A split secondter, a massive hand formed out of pitch-ck Yin energy coalesced right before Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, and swung straight down towards the illusory face on the ground!

 Chapter 548: Third Chapter of the Miracle (1)

    <h4>Chapter 548: Third Chapter of the Miracle (1)</h4>

    Whoosh¡­ There was a stir throughout Hanyang City.

    Meanwhile, countless mortal experts who possessed the Yin-Yang eyes shuddered violently and shrank back behind the altars in their churches and cathedrals with intense fear. The mournful chorus of ghastly wails resounded throughout 600 square kilometers ofnd. Even their religious sculptures and stained ss windows rattled as though they were experiencing a minor earthquake.

    Qin Ye could tell at once the cultivation of the mysterious entity that had just joined the fray. At once, his mind was filled with a series of thoughts.

    The attack on me is just a farce. His true intention is clearly to rescue Ahn Somi. After all, that seemingly grand attack of his is so diffuse and sparse that it doesn¡¯t contain the density of Yin energy required to threaten my existence. Rather, it¡¯s clear that he¡¯s doing all this in order to channel his Yin energy towards Ahn Somi in preparation to draw her back and rescue her from certain death.

    ¡°But to think you¡¯d actually personally show up just for Ahn Somi. Is a mere Hellguard-ss Yin spirit really worthy of the protection of an Abyssal Prefect? What secrets does she hide? Why would you treat her with such importance that you¡¯d expose yourself to one of the four major underworlds just to rescue her? You know, the more you feel like rescuing her¡­ the more I¡¯d like to know what¡¯s written in the script of your so-called god of death¡­¡±

    An Abyssal Prefect is practically a god-like existence. Fortunately, our enemy this time is merely an Infernal Judge. He wouldn¡¯t be able to--... Hang on¡­ W-what¡¯s going on?!

    The massive cloud of Yin energy arising out of the Abyssal Prefect¡¯s earlier strike had transformed into a funnel of energy. Meanwhile, another Yin spirit wearing ancient Cathayan armor had opened up his mouth at the end of the funnel, devouring the Yin energy from the Abyssal Prefect like a tiny ck hole!

    Ahn Somi was horrified to discover that the ck hole contained such great suction force that even she was frantically being sucked into its mouth!

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± The Abyssal Prefect sighed.

    It was precisely because the Abyssal Prefect¡¯s earlier strike had a far stronger bark than its bite that Qin Ye decided top it all up with his spatial spirit. To think that this Infernal Judge was able to discern our rtive positions in just the spur of the moment¡­ Is this the might of one of the top underworlds of theherworld?

    Ahn Somi was only an Anitya Hellguard. There was no way she could escape from the mighty suction force of one of the most powerful special Yin spirits known to theherworld. If the Abyssal Prefect were to rescue her, he would have no choice but to take the fight directly to Qin Ye. That said, the longer time dragged on, the more likely his identity would be exposed to the Infernal Judge!

    Just then, the cries of innumerable ghosts suddenly erupted from all around Ahn Somi. She was ostensibly being dragged back from mid-air when she gasped in horror and nced around, only to realize that the Yin energy that had earlier enveloped her had already transformed into countless grievous spirits that were screaming, hissing and madly pouncing at her body, as though they were desperately trying to tear her to shreds!

    No response.

    ¡°What¡¯s that¡­¡± The evil ghosts in the cloud of Yin energy shrieked in fear, while two scarlet eyes abruptly lit up from the cloud and stared straight in Qin Ye¡¯s direction

    It was golden in colour, with exquisite patterns carved in gold. A golden spirit could be seen screaming and pulsing from within. The ink at the tip of the brush was also gold in colour. It looked shy, bright and royal. All it took was one look for the Abyssal Prefect hidden in the cloud of Yin energy to shriek at the top of his voice and recoil in horror.

    Its voice was filled with fear. A split secondter, it transformed back into a stream ofhergale and whisked away all of its remaining Yin energy in the vicinity, together with the multitude of grievous spirits that were earlier guing Ahn Somi. All it took was three seconds before the skies above Saint Virtue High School cleared up once more, leaving Ahn Somi all alone.

    ¡°Woah. That good?¡± Qin Ye stared at the brush in his hand with astonishment as he yfully drew in the air, ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ What kind of evil things have Brother Xu done abroad to cause an Abyssal Prefect to discard everything on hand and retreat at once? To think he couldn¡¯t even be bothered about the clues pertaining to the script of the nameless god of death!¡±

    In that instant, Qin Ye got the feeling that this trip to Daehan might possibly go much smoother than he thought, particrly when he had Fate to rely on. He reveled in his joy for several moments more, and then finally turned to Ahn Somi.

    Fortunately, she was still alive.

    Woooooo!! Just then, a series of sirens red from right outside Saint Virtue High School. Qin Ye curled his finger, and his spatial spirit swallowed Ahn Somi in one bite. Then, they both vanished without a trace.

    Pain. There¡¯s pain everywhere.

    She couldn¡¯t tell whose home this was, but she could tell it was adorned with luxurious Cathayan elements and decors. SHe gritted her teeth and examined her surroundings, fighting through the pain of having her body devoured by a group of grievous ghosts. Momentster, when her gaze fell on the sofa in the room, she paused. And then, she shuddered wildly.

    The distinct aura of an Infernal Judge was pouring out from his body. Meanwhile, an Anitya Hellguard and a Soul Hunter sat right beside the Infernal Judge. All three were staring right at her.

    Her lips trembled. Did I¡­ end up getting captured by him after all? In that instant, she knew full well that her chances of survival were slim to none.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qin Ye gently swirled the tea in his teacup. He was pleasantly surprised to discover Lee Jung-sook¡¯s abode stocked up with good tea.

    Ahn Somi smiled bitterly.

    ¡°All I ask is that you allow me a quick and painless death¡­¡± She suppressed the intense pain surging from her spiritual body as she continued hoarsely, ¡°There no longer any ce for me in Daehan. The fact that I was captured by you will be known to everyone, and even if you decide to let me off, nobody would ever trust me again¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered softly. He was deliberating how he should go about with his interrogations.

    Three questions that pointed to three different objectives.

    After pondering for some time, Qin Ye finally got down to business, ¡°Are you a Daeian Yin spirit?¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re doing business for the Russian Eastern Orthodox Underworld?¡±

    How shabby¡­ Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically as he continued to listen intently.

    ¡°In the beginning, we were wholeheartedly devoted to Liu Yu. He¡¯s powerful¡­ terrifyingly powerful. But, as you know, there¡¯s never been a break inmunications and interactions between nations.¡± She bit down on her lower lips, and then suddenly quipped, ¡°My Lord¡­ is it possible to relieve some of the pain I¡¯m experiencing right now? It¡¯s¡­ distracting me from my train of thoughts¡­¡±

    Ahn Somi¡¯s eyes flickered, and she heaved a long sigh of relief as she went on, ¡°Furthermore, one of the most prevalent religions in Daehan has always been Catholicism. Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church both hail from the same lineage. Thus, since time immemorial, Daehan has always seen a number of Russian Yin spirits among its numbers.¡±

    This was a little tango between nations. In future, when Hell finally opens its gates on the international tform, it will likewise see an influx of Yin spirits of other religions or allegiances. This was a situation that he would eventually have toe to terms with.

    The room was silent. Qin Ye knew that she was getting to the climax of her story.

    Qin Ye raised his hand with a question, ¡°Marquis?¡±

    That certainly gives it a local ir¡­ Qin Ye nodded, ¡°So who was the one who made you this offer? And what were you required to do?¡±

    ¡°Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, nicknamed the Lord of the Danube. He¡¯s one of the ten marshals of the Russian Underworld, and also the director of this mission! Consul General! One of the special Russian envoys to Daehan!¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then shook his head with great emotion.

    How did the dispute between modern day Rus and Turquiae about?

    It was all because of this man!

    <hr>

    1. By the way, for those who have forgotten, the four major underworlds are those with ¡®nuclear¡¯ powers, which are Hell, the Argosian underworld, the Hindustani underworld, and the Aegyptian underworld.

    2. Turkey.

 Chapter 549: Third Chapter of the Miracle (2)

    <h4>Chapter 549: Third Chapter of the Miracle (2)</h4>

    It can be said that the modern day tensions between the two nations was the culmination of the seeds of conflict sown by Rumantsev hundreds of years ago.

    His heart was awash with emotions, yet the most dominant emotion right now was that of caution.

    After a few seconds of deliberation, Qin Ye spoke, ¡°Continue.¡±

    Sometimes, all a person had to do was to loosen the drawstring of a bag. Everything would flow out on its own after that.

    She opened her mouth, and a scroll of parchment flew out. Without hesitation, Oda Nobutada immediately received it and carefully examined its contents. After some time, he finally nodded and passed it on to Qin Ye.

    This serpent was so ubiquitously known that there was no need for exnations. Qin Ye scrutinized the etching, only to discover that the snake¡­ was in factposed by countless Yin talismans!

    ¡°Ouroboros¡­¡± He tapped his armrest and muttered to himself, ¡°It symbolizes the unity and eternity of the universe. In ancient Norse mythology, it represents the giant serpent, Jormungandr, that encircled the world and bit its own tail. Its shape represents immortality,pleteness, infinitude, the world, and a multitude of other meanings. But, most of all, this isn¡¯t a technique of the Russian Underworld.¡±

    ¡°Is this the root source of the zombies that you¡¯ve been creating?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered wildly at once.

    He had gone to great lengths to capture Ahn Somi in order to pursue the lead he had on the nameless god of death¡¯s script! This one one of the primary reasons why he was in Daehan this early on!

    By now, Qin Ye had already braced himself for the reality that casting myths and fabricating miracles was going to be an incredibly difficult process. Everything would have to be well-considered, while the implementation would have to be done like a tightly-run ship. Even the script would have to be as watertight as possible.

    ¡°They¡¯ve selected a total of three persons. This little one doesn¡¯t know their identity¡­¡± Ahn Somi delved deep into her memories, ¡°The first time we came together was 14 years ago. Back then, we all wore masks, and I could tell that we were all Anitya Hellguard. I¡¯m not quite sure where the meeting location was as well. It was almost as though I was suddenly whisked off to oblivion, only to suddenly appear in the meeting a momentter¡­ I-I know it sounds outrageous, but I¡¯m telling the truth! Please believe me!¡±

    It was a simple task for an Abyssal Prefect to drag a few Abyssal Prefects to a particr location.

    ¡°Whenever a crucial phase of our work isplete, there would be a need to handover the work properly. That¡¯s the only instance that the three Yin spirits involved would all be present at the meeting. Otherwise, we¡¯d ordinarily pass on our work to each other through the envoy as a conduit. There¡¯s no chance for us to meet up with the other Yin spirits involved at all.¡±

    Everything works through point-to-point interactions. None of them would ever be given the opportunity to get in contact with each other¡­ The Russian Underworld clearly knows that they¡¯re ying with fire, but I¡¯m willing to bet that they¡¯d never have expected Hell to not give a damn about these things!

    ¡°Details.¡± Qin Ye spoke curtly.

    ¡°The Eternal Serpent Technique was given directly to me. I¡¯m not sure if the other two Yin spirits received the same technique or not. Regardless, my mission¡­¡±

    ¡°Over thest ten years, I¡¯ve transported at least hundreds of zombies in the exact same fashion!¡± She gritted her teeth, ¡°I was only responsible for manufacturing and shipping, but nothing else beyond that. I don¡¯t know where exactly it was sent to, or who the intended recipient was. I only know that¡­ my task is onlyplete when a train full of zombies arrives in Gyeonggi Province at the scheduled intervals.¡±

    Three Yin spirits, three roles and functions. It is only when these functions are stitched together that one would finally have the full picture of the nameless god of death¡¯s script, and the corory myth and miracle that he was attempting to fabricate in order to give the Hanyang Underworld proper footing to stand on.

    The three ghosts clearly didn¡¯t know each other. This would ensure that none were any wiser as to the true form, means and purposes of the nameless god of death¡¯s script. Sure, there weren¡¯t many Hellguard-ss Yin spirits in Hanyang, and it wasn¡¯t entirely impossible for them to get in touch with each other privately. However¡­

    Three was the perfect number. Involving only two Yin spirits would mean that there were only two pieces to the puzzle. They¡¯d easily be able to reverse engineer the workings of the other Yin spirit from the overall results and decipher just what exactly the script entailed. But with three parts to the puzzle, things would only be far moreplicated. Not only would each of their roles be smaller and more limited, and they would be that much further away from the truth.

    The true function of King Yanluo should never be disclosed to others.

    Ahn Somi remained silent. She had said everything there was to be said about the duties entrusted to her. Their roles were broken up like an assembly line. Each Yin spirit was responsible for oneponent, but Tsar Arturo was the director who was putting everything together behind the scenes.

    ¡°Firstly, why did you reach out and contact Lee Jung-sook?¡±

    She took a deep breath, ¡°It was only after I took over this portfolio that I finally understood how terrifying this woman was. She¡¯s obviously a mortal, but she¡¯s got the conglomerate Samsung dancing in the palm of her hands. That¡¯s Samsung we¡¯re talking about! It¡¯s one of the pirs of the Daeian economy!¡±

    Holy crap¡­

    Bloody hell¡­ We¡¯re talking about a giant alligator in the river! How peculiar would a train containing that many zombies be? Yet¡­ she¡¯d actually been able to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Railways all this while?!

    Qin Ye looked up with aplicated gaze, ¡°What were her views on these things?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips parted slightly, and his lips grew parched.

    She wanted ess to the underworld so that she could be given eternal death. This was one of the means she was pursuing to end her life once and for all.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart was wrenched with pain.

    ¡°Secondly.¡± He gazed deeply into Ahn Somi¡¯s eyes, ¡°About Daehan¡­ Did anything happen here recently that caused a stir in society, or quite possibly even tore the fabric of society and struck fear into the hearts of the citizens?¡±

    No?

    Ahn Somi frowned. After some time, she shook her head firmly, ¡°I¡¯m certain that there was none.¡±

    Just then, she paused. Qin Ye immediately caught on, ¡°You¡¯ve thought of something else?¡±

    Unfortunately, it was impossible for any suppression of information to bepletely watertight.

    ¡°That said, these are just rumours and hearsay. We¡¯re strictly forbidden from probing into each other¡¯s areas of responsibility, and that area... ¡° She paused for a moment, ¡°Is the responsibility of No. 2.¡±

    Daehan had no military sovereignty.

    But Qin Ye had a feeling that none of these were the ces he was looking for.

    And that was in the headquarters of the Catholic Diocese in Daehan!

    Ahn Somi shook her head. She nced at Qin Ye¡¯s expression, only to realize that he was frowning deeply. Thus, she immediately went on, ¡°But¡­ I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a person who would definitely know! And she would even be granted free ess to these ces!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Ahn Somi nodded affirmatively, ¡°All you need to do is to locate her, and all of your problems will be resolved!¡±

    Qin Ye frowned once more.

    I guess¡­ there¡¯s no point pursuing the lead on the script anymore. But should I look further into the identity of ¡®No. 2¡¯... or should I search for Lee Jung-sook?

 Chapter 550: The Sinking of MV Sewol

    <h4>Chapter 550: The Sinking of MV Sewol</h4>

    Ahn Somi smiled bitterly, ¡°Pastor Ahn was the pastor who administered Lee Jung-sook¡¯s baptism. And he¡¯s¡­ also the nominal father of my physical body.¡±

    But of course¡­ Qin Ye shook his head - How could someone who¡¯s lived for such a long time still cling onto the hope given by a particr set of faith or belief?

    Qin Ye was deep in thought when Ahn Somi went on with a statement that jolted him right back to his senses, ¡°But¡­ five years ago, she saw to it that we could no longer locate her whereabouts.¡±

    If Lee Jung-sook had resorted to such measures in order to preserve her own safety and security, she would have done so right from the start! This was why I¡¯d thought this to be Lee Jung-sook¡¯s preferred mode ofmunication all this while.

    Qin Ye gently rested his chin on his hands, and his eyes gleamed brightly - If Lee Jung-sook didn¡¯t use the ironwood frame together with the copper mirror, then this must mean that Lee Jung-sook still trusted them, and in particr, trusted the Lord of the Danube. Although there¡¯s a possibility that she might not have known who she was actually dealing with, these things hardly mattered to a person who was courting her own death.

    So if that¡¯s the case, then why did she suddenly have to implement such security measures just five years ago?

    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely impossible, because Ahn Somi is speaking from her own perspective. She was allowed tomunicate with Lee Jung-sook, but there¡¯s likewise also a possibility that No. 1 and No. 2 were also given ess tomunications with Lee Jung-sook. None of them are aware of what the others have spoken to Lee Jung-sook about, or what requests they might have made of Lee Jung-sook. Therefore¡­ it¡¯s not surprising that Ahn Somi doesn¡¯t find anything amiss with this.¡±

    ¡°No, but¡­ something did indeed happen.¡±

    ¡°Five years ago, on 23 April. That¡¯s when¡­ I gained spiritual awareness for the first time. And as soon as I woke up, I saw her, and noticed how she was different from the others. That¡¯s why I followed her all the way to Hanyang. And then, when she tried to perform a seance, I attempted to possess her.¡±

    ¡°My intuition told me that if I could seize control of her body, I¡¯d be able to learn the truth about what happened back then. Unfortunately¡­ I failed.¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± As soon as he appeared, Ahn Somi trembled and stared at him with great disbelief. Her lips parted slightly, ostensibly with an intention to speak, and yet she remained absolutely silent as a result of the immense shock that filled her mind.

    Ahn Somi remained silent. Her lips trembled as she continued to stare at the spirit pen. It was only after an inordinate amount of time that she finally found her own voice, ¡°MV Sewol¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡­ were a student who was on MV Sewol? Five years ago¡­ 23 April¡­ you¡­ had to be it if you were born an Anitya Hellguard¡­¡±

    Qin Ye had always found Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s story rather strange. Had he only died by drowning, there would have been no way he would have been born directly as an Anitya Hellguard. Therefore, he knew that Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s death wasn¡¯t as simple as it sounded. It must have been the result of shocking injustice. However, he couldn¡¯t be bothered to think about the cause of the death. The spirit pen was a Daeian Yin spirit after all, and any injustices were naturally Liu Yu¡¯s business. He couldn¡¯t care less about picking up after Liu Yu¡¯s ck. That said, he¡¯d never thought that his back story would somehow be rted to the nameless god of death¡¯s activity in Daehan.

    ¡°I can still remember it clearly.¡± Kwon Kyung-ho gnashed his teeth. It sounded as if he was both crying andughing at the same time, ¡°16 April was a foggy day. Every single ship docked in the Incheon port had cancelled their scheduled departures¡­ except us!¡±

    They all had a grim smile on their faces. They said¡­ ¡®don¡¯t move¡¯.¡±

    ¡°We all listened, because we were too small and frail to defend ourselves¡­¡± Kwon Kyung-ho snapped his head up to the ceiling and continued with a hoarse, spiteful voice, ¡°And then¡­ they ran away! They abandoned the ferry!!!¡±

    At once, the room was filled with the gurgling sound of water.

    Qin Ye was somewhat startled. He hadn¡¯t examined the spirit pen up close, and he naturally hadn¡¯t expected it to be a special Hellguard-ss Yin spirit.

    ¡°Not the military; not the shippingpany; and not even the crew members! I watched my ssmates sink down below the surface of the waters, one by one, as they all drowned in the water¡­¡±

    ¡°I can still vividly recall the taste of the seawater to this very day. That salty, bitter, and cold seawater.¡±

    There was pin drop silence in the room. Wang Chenghao¡¯s lips parted slightly, and then closed again without saying a word. Oda Nobutada also stared intently at Kwon Kyung-ho.

    Qin Ye also remained silent because he knew that this was an incident that shook the world. Furthermore, things were clearly more than meets the eye with this incident!

    However, that was highly inurate. In fact, not a single ship had in fact gone out to sea. In fact, all of the private rescue organizations werepletely sidelined.

    The despair and loneliness apanying the abandonment¡­ must have been absolutely unimaginable.

    Andst, but most certainly not least¡­

    In other words¡­ they were from a cult!

    It was a sacrifice that was performed with the acquiescence of the government!

    Back then, many people thought that this was nothing more than a rumour.

    Why the charge of homicide through gross negligence, otherwise described as murder?

    The former chairman of Chonghaejin, Yoo Byung-eun, born in 1941, was sentenced to 4 years in prison for the mass suicide of 32 members of the sect in 1987.

    A chill went down Qin Ye¡¯s spine. It suddenly dawned on him that there was a real possibility that the incident with MV Sewol could have been a part of the Tsar¡¯s script!

    After all, the ones who could make all of this happen in Daehan were few and far between, and to that end, Lee Jung-sook happened to be one of them.

    Didn¡¯t they get in contact with Lee Jung-sook precisely because they wanted to circumvent some of the government machinations in Daehan in the first ce?

    The fact that they were able to suppress news about the MV Sewol for a good period of time before it finally exploded was terrifying indeed! Furthermore, if this were truly a part of the Tsar¡¯s script, and given Lee Jung-sook¡¯s importance in the eyes of the Russian Underworld, there¡¯s no doubt that she would have been involved in some way or other!

    I wouldn¡¯t even bother looking for her.

    The lives of hundreds of innocent students were involved! From the reports, the oldest was 15 years old, while the youngest was only 8 or 9 years old. How could anyone have condoned burying such innocent lives in the bottom of the ocean?! Qin Ye could never bring himself to do something as ruthless as that - not even in his capacity as the King Yanluo of Hell.

    He sighed softly, and then turned to Kwon Kyung-ho once more, ¡°When did Lee Jung-sook arrive? What did she do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the seventh day.¡± Oda Nobutada interjected, ¡°The night where the soul returns.¡±

    Qin Ye lifted his brows, ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ he didn¡¯t die!¡±

    Author¡¯sments: Those who are interested should really go read up more about the truth about the MV Sewol incident¡­ It¡¯s truly horrific.

    There¡¯s also a video interview with the family members of those who perished in the MV Sewol incident, with parents bawling their eyes out as they cry out for justice. Death is truly too cheap for these criminals!

    1. I¡¯ll just put this out here right now. It was a horrific disaster that was shrouded with mysteries and conspiracies. There were even ties between this event to certain cults in Korea.

    2.

 Chapter 551: No. 2

    <h4>Chapter 551: No. 2</h4>

    These were the incidents leading up to his birth as a Hellguard-ss Yin spirit.

    Kwon Kyung-ho paused for a moment to search through his memory.

    At once, Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s eyes lit up, and he looked up abruptly, ¡°His hands and neck are both covered with knife wound scars! These were clearly wounds from a long time ago that he¡¯s since recovered fully from, only leaving in its ce indelible scarring!¡±

    ¡°I get it¡­ I finally understand why Miss Lee suddenly grew wary of us five years ago! It¡¯s definitely because she personally witnessed the incident, and she¡­ no longer approves of Lord Rumyantsev¡¯s orders!¡±

    He turned to Kwon Kyung-ho, ¡°Do you still recall that man¡¯s appearances?¡±

    Yin energy began pouring out of his body, coalescing slightly to form the appearances of a man.

    These were ostensibly scars from ages past. His right eye appeared gray and lifeless, while his left eye was filled with an otherworldly sense of calmness and tranquility.

    At once, the room was filled with nothing more than the soft sound of breaths once more. Qin Ye nced at Ahn Somi, while she bowed her head low with great trembling.

    Naturally, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t care less about the deliberations in her heart. He continued cidly, ¡°A ssroom full of students. We¡¯re talking about dozens of lives here. The death penalty is a given. That said, I can agree to make it less painful for you.¡±

    No¡­ NO¡­ I don¡¯t want to die!!!

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s fingertip rested on her head, and Ahn Somi¡¯s entire body shuddered violently. Qin Ye¡¯s scarlet ming pupils caused her heart to beat wildly.

    ¡°After this, death is only going to be a reprieve for what you¡¯re about to be put through.¡±

    Without missing a beat, she went on, ¡°I¡­ have been given another order just two days ago. The task this time¡­ is to fill the train.¡±

    ¡°In the past, the orders that havee down have always been to send carriers of the spell onto the train arriving at a particr tform at a particr time. There¡¯s never once been an order like this one! W-what I¡¯m trying to say, Your Excellency¡­ is that the grand ns of the Russian Underworld are still underway! But I¡¯m willing to act as a double agent for you! I¡¯ll go back to being No. 3 as usual, and I¡¯ll keep Your Excellency posted about anything that happens!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered slightly as he tapped his fingers gently on the armrest. After some time, he muttered, ¡°Fool.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s all yours.¡± Qin Ye nodded at Kwon Kyung-ho. At once, he licked his lips and smiled ferociously as he drew closer and closer to Ahn Somi. Meanwhile, Qin Ye could no longer be bothered with the grotesque sight of an evil ghost devouring another one, and led both Oda Nobutada and Wang Chenghao to the other side of arge folding screen.

    ¡°Idiot!¡± Qin Ye red back at Wang Chenghao and snorted, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯ve got a creature this stupid following me around!!¡±

    What¡¯s wrong with what I said?!!

    Just then, Oda Nobutada interjected, ¡°One¡­¡±

    How dare you call me One Tail?! Go on, I dare you! Do you think I¡¯m all bark and no bite?!

    Wang Chenghao frowned, ¡°Then why--... I get it. It¡¯s too troublesome having her join us. After all, who knows whether she¡¯d go on to seduce someone else in Hell? And there¡¯s also the possibility that the Russian Underworld has cast some tracking spells in her body¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao mmed up and pouted slightly.

    ¡°My Lord.¡± Oda NObutada bowed and spoke gravely, ¡°This tells us that¡­ the Russian Underworld is still carrying out their ns.¡±

    Just then, Ahn Somi¡¯s mournful shriek tore through the still silence of the night. Even then, the trio that were discussing the implications simply looked at each other with a bright gleam in their eyes,pletely indifferent to the fact that Ahn Somi had just perished.

    After all, the context was everything.

    Faith is something that could never be generated so long as the grand ns of the Russian Underworld are still in progress, because the script is one that was built upon blood and gore, and horror and terror. It was quite evident that everything done by the script to date was intended to set the stage for Liu Yu¡¯s grand appearance, where he would finally exterminate all evil ghosts and prove his existence as a god to the people! This was how he would go on to be known as the guardian god of all who had faith in him! This was how he would go on to earn the faith of all citizens!

    ¡°The invitation has stated that it would be the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld. In other words, that¡¯s going to be the moment in which Liu Yu bes Daehan¡¯s hero. It¡¯s the moment in which everyone willingly chooses to have faith in him as a god, and also the moment in which he ascends to the ranks of a god of death! That¡¯s where the grand n of the Russian Underworld is headed!¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart twitched slightly. He had a bad premonition of what was toe, ¡°In other words, are we--...¡±

    At once, Wang Chenghao turned and stared at Qin Ye with a nk look in his eyes, and then shook his head with great disbelief, ¡°No¡­ You¡¯re definitely not Brother Qin¡­ He¡¯s a coward through and through. He couldn¡¯t possibly act as valiantly as Sun Wukong. So¡­ tell me¡­ who in the world are you?¡±

    Ahh¡­ Here we go again¡­ I¡¯ve got to say that the Hungry Ghost Festival has really been messing with my mind¡­ Why am I even contemting these things?

    Firstly, the script that had been running for well over a decade was designed to incite widespread fear among the human race, so that a saviour could rise from the ashes in the darkest moments of despair. But it is precisely because of this that the resultant threat to underworldly emissaries was in fact surprisingly low. If this was something that even Liu Yu could single handedly resolve, why wouldn¡¯t Qin Ye be able to do it, especially when he had in hand powerful Yin artifacts such as the Peach Blossom Lantern and Fate itself?

    Ahn Somi was the best proof of this.

    This was a script that the Tsar had personally written for Liu Yu, and it would have to be executed to perfection. Would he entrust such a tall task to the rtively weaker Daeian Yin spirits if he could help it? Most certainly not!

    Hell clearly had three factors working in their advantage right now. That said, there were still risks involved. For one, the Tsar would never have agreed to roll out his ns unless he was of a certain level of confidence. What was unseen and unknown was undoubtedly the most terrifying thing of all.

    But now¡­ there wasn¡¯t even a shred of such thoughts in Qin Ye¡¯s mind!

    ¡°You¡¯re right. This isn¡¯t like me at all¡­ Did I¡­ somehow get possessed by someone else?¡± Qin Ye scratched his hair irritably. He sought justification to resile on his earlier decision, yet each time he came close to doing so, he would hear a voice in his heart telling him - You cannot back down! We¡¯ve got a good shot at this! Nobody would expect Hell¡¯s Emissaries intercepting Liu Yu¡¯s grand reveal!

    And most importantly¡­

    We¡¯ll be able to let everyone participating in this grand ceremony know once and for all who exactly is in charge around these parts!!!

 Chapter 552: Conceptualization

    <h4>Chapter 552: Conceptualization</h4>

    Their breaths were clearly heavier and quicker than before, but all three men remainedpletely silent. After some time, Qin Ye abruptly raised his hand and summoned Fate to his hand. Then, in ordance with the methods taught to him by Xu Yangyi formunication, he wrote a few words in the air. At once, the void in front of him fluctuated wildly.

    At once, the silhouette of a fat husky appeared in the space in front of them.

    A split secondter, the fat husky was promptly kicked away. Xu Yangyi¡¯s face finally appeared on the screen of light in front of them, ¡°What is it?¡±

    Xu Yangyi¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, and then he smiled with relief, ¡°If you manage to do something like that, all odds of establishing a Hanyang Underworld would be entirely foreclosed to them. On the other hand, the faith that you rue to your name will earn you sufficient merit points to propel you through to the ranks of an Abyssal Prefect. Your name will be celebrated and proliferated through newly unearthed artifacts and relics in Daehan¡­¡±

    Rumours are going to spread, saying that the legend of the new Hell was first founded in the far-flungnds of Daehan!

    ¡°That¡¯s not important.¡± Xu Yangyi looked him straight in the eye, ¡°What¡¯s more important is that you think this through before making your decision. The dangers are easily apparent. You¡¯ll be cutting Liu Yu offpletely, and there will be no turning back.¡±

    He paused for a moment, ¡°It all boils down to the Russian Underworld¡¯s decision at the end of the day.¡±

    He¡¯d already crossed paths with the Russian Underworld in his Hell¡¯s Emissary state. They would definitely be wary of his presence moving forward. The road ahead was going to be fraught with danger if he was to push through with his current ns.

    Xu Yangyi thought for a moment, ¡°Well, if it makes things any better, the Russian Hell has already made a decision.¡±

    ¡°Your analysis is spot on. Liu Yu is clearly stirring with excitement. The prospects of fulfilling his great ambition of finally establishing his own independent state haspletely cooked his brain. To think that he would even extend to us an invitation to the opening ceremony before the nameless god of death¡¯s script hase to fruition.¡±

    ¡°Well, I suppose we can¡¯t me him either. He¡¯s not a god of death, and he¡¯s naturally unaware of the true functions of one in such positions. That said, have you ever wondered why¡­¡± Xu Yangyi smiled mysteriously, ¡°The Tsar¡­ didn¡¯t stop him?¡±

    ¡°Tsar Arturo is behind Liu Yu. There¡¯s no doubt about that. My judgment on this cannot possibly be wrong. And to this end, Liu Yu would definitely have sought the Tsar¡¯s consent before sending out invitations, and yet¡­ Tsar Arturo didn¡¯t even warn him about the potential dangers of doing so¡­¡±

    ¡°You can say that he¡¯s trying to kill two birds with one stone.¡± Xu Yangyi¡¯s rich experiences shone through in their exchange, ¡°If Liu Yu seeds, then Hanyang¡¯s allegiance would naturally change, and I can assure you that you¡¯ll never be able to take it back when Hell opens its borders to the world in future. Being located at the intersection of three major underworlds, the Daehan Penins is clearly of strategic importance. The Tsar would never be able to resist the temptation to seize control of this territory.¡±

    ¡°Whatever the oue, they stand to gain. Brother, learn from them. The underworlds that have survived to date are all excellent in their own rights.¡±

    This was the difference in their experience.

    ¡°But¡­ there¡¯s something else you didn¡¯t notice¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled and paced about with his hands behind his back, ¡°If Tsar Arturo and the Russian Underworld were indeed intent on killing two birds with one stone, then¡­ we definitely wouldn¡¯t be faced with a strong resistance force!¡±

    Qin Ye continued muttering to himself, ¡°He would tell Liu Yu how dissatisfied he was, and then tell him how it is incredibly dangerous to do so, before finally¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll instigate Liu Yu to put up defensive measures to guard against the potential dangers that might arise, and even alert him to the fact that Hell¡¯s Emissaries had infiltrated their midst and already killed No. 3.¡±

    I¡¯m not trying to belittle them¡­

    I¡¯ve now got Fate and the Peach Blossom Lantern in my possession! Does Liu Yu still think that I¡¯m the same person he¡¯d crossed paths with at the imperial court meetingst year?

    We¡¯ve actually got a decent chance at intercepting the nameless god of death¡¯s script! I have to say that international politics are far more treacherous and multifaceted than I¡¯d anticipated. How fascinating!

    The thought of being involved in such battles filled Oda Nobutada with excitement beyond belief. Meanwhile, he was filled with confidence that the day would soone when they would take Nippon by its horns and subjugate itpletely!

    Hell¡¯s eyes are fixed on the pedestal that they once used to upy in the international stage - the title of the supreme underworld. Their rivals are none other than the Argosian Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and others, led by Anubis, Thanatos, and Shiva¡­ So where does Yomi-no-Kuni even feature in all of this?

    ¡°The most important thing right now is to unveil the Russian Underworld¡¯s perspective. All that had been said earlier was nothing more than our inferences and conjectures. Nothing is more important than verifying the truth.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°The best way is to put our conjectures to the test.¡±

    Incidentally, the phone on the 25th floor rang at the same time, almost as though it happened by divine appointment.

    After Qin Ye gave her the nod, she personally came up to the 25th floor and respectfully reported back to him, ¡°Mr Qin, I¡¯ve justpleted the background check. This man is Mukov, a clergyman of the Full Gospel Church at Yeouido. To be precise, he works as an unassuming cleaning staff, and by all ounts have been reported to be a devout Catholic. He is unmarried, has no children, no known hobbies, and no close friends.¡±

    The second administrator of the script of death!

    Then, without missing a beat, Kim Tae-ji bowed respectfully, ¡°Just say the word. I¡¯ll make the arrangements and secure you train tickets for any trip you so desire.¡±

    The Tsar¡¯s perspective would be apparent from how closely guarded No. 2 would be!

    But if the protection around No. 2 is stillcking, then¡­ in all likelihood, the Hanyang Underworld is going to get lively in October¡­

    He wanted to know more about the incident pertaining to MV Sewol just some years back.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t bring around her identification documents?¡± Qin Ye frowned, but then immediately understood why that was the case.

    But so long as she didn¡¯t bring her identification documents along with her, then nobody would know where to send her. Even the regr police officers wouldn¡¯t know where she would havee from. Everything would start on apletely clean te until she could make sense of the things around her.

    Momentster, Qin Ye turned to Kim Tae-ji once more, ¡°I need to be at the Yeouido church before midnight tonight.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    It was located at the center of Hanyang, right along the Myeongdong shopping street.

    The main altar was located on a raised tform in the center of the cathedral, while the area right underneath served as a ce of offering and consecration where the Eucharist was performed. The crypt of the cathedraly right beneath the altar, spanning nearly 100 square meters with nine altars. That said, only two remain standing to date. These were dedicated to the priests martyred and canonized as saints.

    ¡°When it opens, Mary will shed tears of blood¡­¡± A ck-cloaked clergyman muttered softly to himself as he stared right ahead.

    He continued sweeping his gaze across the crypt until he saw another statue of the Virgin Mary.

    As the tears flowed, the mes in the room flickered wildly, and then¡­ suddenly turned green. An eeriehergale suddenly picked up out of nowhere, and soon converged into a three-meter ck vortex. Momentster, two scarlet clumps ofhermes erupted from within like bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°Lord Rumyantsev.¡± The clergyman knelt down respectfully and removed his cloak.

    His entire body was covered with scars, all of which appeared to have once been incredibly deep knife wounds.

    ¡°No. 3¡¯s messenger bird has vanished.¡± He gently kowtowed to the ground, ¡°My Lord, I await your guidance on whether to receive her train as scheduled.¡±

 Chapter 553: Tales of Yeouido

    <h4>Chapter 553: Tales of Yeouido</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯re already dead. Act more discreetly.¡± The vortex of Yin energy contracted slightly and boomed with an authoritative voice. At once, the three sarcophagi grew silent without a single word.

    It was a delegation of work, but the eyes of the ck-cloaked man immediately narrowed at once, and he kowtowed with great respect, ¡°Esteemed Lord Marquis¡­ Would I¡­ have other assistants?¡±

    No. 3 is dead. How did she die? Who was the one who purged her soul? Wouldn¡¯t I end up in the same fate if I take on No. 3¡¯s responsibilities as well? Lord Marquis hasn¡¯t mentioned this, but¡­ I don¡¯t want to end up like No. 3.

    Dead silence, just like in a morgue where all of the corpses suddenly sat up at the same time.

    Every bit ofhergale concealed by the four walls of the age-old cathedral converged into a mighty vortex in the crypt, from which a hand formed right out of Yin energy emerged. A chorus of grievous ghosts wailed from all directions. A split secondter, the hand grabbed the ck-cloaked man tightly and lifted him right up to the face that had just emerged on the surface of the swirling vortex.

    ¡°Silence!¡± Rumyantsev¡¯s voice was like a bolt of thunder. Even the lids of the sarcophagi shook and rattled, ¡°I make the orders, and you execute them. Any questions?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ At once, the dense, swirling Yin energy dissipated into the surroundings, and the wildly flickering candles reverted back to their original colour and form. Rumyantsev¡¯s voice lingered on softly in the distance, ¡°That¡¯s good. The Russian Underworld will keep its word and make you Infernal Judges once all of these operations are over. But the precondition is that you have to give your best for us right now.¡±

    A cab crossed the Mapo Bridge and drove straight into Yeouido Ind.

    Ever since the construction of the Mapo Bridge in the ¡®70s, Yeouido has be one of the most coveted locations in Hanyang and even South Daehan. A good number of businesses have now situated their headquarters in Yeouido, a ce known to be the old headquarters to two of the three main broadcasting stations, MBC and KBS. Then, there is still the South Daehan National Assembly Hall, as well as the unmistakablendmarks of Hanyang International Financial Center, Daehan Life 63 Building and the world¡¯srgest Christian church, the Yeouido Full Gospel Church.

    It was exactly noon. Qin Ye nced at his watch and then smiled radiantly, ¡°Shall we go try out some traditional Daehan fanfare?¡±

    Although Oda Nobutada didn¡¯t overtly indicate his preferences, his stance was likewise clear from his response as well, ¡°I personally am of the view that since Your Excellency is thinking of snatching the meat from right underneath the tiger¡¯s nose, we should make haste to the Yeouido Full Gospel Church as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°... But--...¡±

    Excellent¡­ Just like that, Wang Chenghao followed closely behind in ¡®forced worship¡¯. But as they walked, Wang Chenghao soon noticed that there was an increasing number of pedestrians staring at them. At once, he turned to look ahead where they appeared to be heading, and the corners of his lips twitched uncontrobly, ¡°Boss¡­ are you looking to¡­ debut?¡±

    There are many cherry blossom trees located on the ind of Yeouido. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t springtime right now, and the trees naturally weren¡¯t flowering. Three letters were disyed prominently on the building situated at the end of the road - KBS.

    What the hell?! S.H.E.?!

    Besides, is it really that good to be ignoring theposition of members, including our age and gender?

    There was a shopping mall right in front of them. Amidst the dense forest of billboards, advertisements and idol training institutions, Qin Ye had spotted a simple restaurant called ¡°Dng ssic Daehan Food¡±.

    Rather than describing this ce as ssic Daehan food, wouldn¡¯t it be more urate to say that this is ssic Daehan fast food?! Stop messing with my mind like that!

    Objection overruled.

    Surprisingly, it was rtively quiet on the inside. The eatery was filled with many men and women in suits who were speaking softly to each other. The trio picked out a seat, called the waiter, and then ordered food in broken English.

    Grilled meat around these parts aren¡¯t quite the same as the kind that they had back in Cathay. The dipping sauce was built upon a sesame sauce base, and far less spicy than the ones back home. Furthermore, the table would even be filled with countless small dishes of appetizers and pte cleansers called banchan before the main dishes were even served up.

    Qin Ye finally retracted his gaze, picked up his plum juice and took a sip, ¡°Have you guys noticed--...¡±

    ¡°[in English]Yes.¡± Wang Chenghao responded. It was a tall balding man who appeared to be in his forties. His eyes gleamed brightly as he stared at Qin Ye, ¡°At the risk of asking¡­ do you happen to know anything about the Daeian entertainment industry? At present our entertainment industry can certainly be considered the best in the East Continent. Sir, I¡¯d like to ask if¡­ you have any intentions to debut?¡±

    Wang Chenghao nearly spat out the food inside his mouth. Both he and Oda Nobutada stared at each other as though they had just seen a ghost.

    ¡°Who¡¯s your supervisor?¡±

    The bald man¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and he immediately pulled out a business card with great excitement, ¡°I¡¯m a talent scout in charge of the Yeouido region, and Ie from Daehan¡¯srgest entertainmentpany, SM Entertainment. Sir, I¡¯m aware that Cathayan tourists whoe over to Daehan are generally quite well to do, but have you ever thought of what it feels like to stand on stage at the center of all attention, with countless fans of all ages screaming out your name--¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gently pulled the man¡¯s ear closer to him and whispered to him, ¡°What I¡¯m asking is¡­ which underworld are you from?¡±

    The man was still smiling.

    Before he could go on, Qin Ye promptly flicked the man¡¯s ear, causing a wisp of Yin energy to flow straight into the man¡¯s ear. At once, a centipede-like creature with a sharp head formed out of Yin energy screamed and crawled out of the ear.

    No¡­

    ¡°Sss¡­ SSS!!!¡± The worm struggled to extricate it from the man¡¯s brain. Its shrieks were soft and low, but the part that had crawled out of the ear was already rapidly swelling up. Scarlet vessels bulged on its body. A split secondter, Qin Ye gently pinched his fingers together, and the worm¡¯s entire body froze with a dazzling green sh, before disintegrating into flying ash.

    Dead silence.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qin Ye nced at the banchan in front of him and exined, ¡°If we¡¯re going to seed at taking a chunk of meat from right underneath the tiger¡¯s nose, we¡¯re first going to have to understand the attitude of the Russian Underworld. Their unknown emissary has seen me twice now. If he¡¯s really intent on protecting Liu Yu, then¡­ Yeouido should undoubtedly be covered with emissaries! Who knows, Liu Yu himself might even be here to eagerly wee my arrival.¡±

    ¡°He was searching for me¡­¡± Qin Ye chuckled as he nced at the patrons that were still stunned by the sudden copse of a man, ¡°Interesting, isn¡¯t it? Instead of alerting Liu Yu to my presence, he¡¯d chosen to search for my whereabouts through the Mite Overlord.¡±

    Oda Nobutada chuckled coldly, ¡°Simple.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the notorious nameless god of death of the Eastern Orthodox Church is prepared to give up the Hanyang Underworld in order to curry favour with Hell!¡±

    <hr>

    1. S.H.E. is a C-pop girl group from Taiwan with 3 members.

    2. Another C-pop group boy band from Taiwan with 4 members.

 Chapter 554: Fate Moves Again

    <h4>Chapter 554: Fate Moves Again</h4>

    ¡°This gentleman here is a talent scout, and he was just talking to us when he suddenly fainted.¡± Qin Ye added, ¡°Hurry up and call an ambnce to take him to the hospital.¡±

    ¡°There are none.¡± Qin Ye shook his head and motioned to wipe off the remaining Yin energy on the table. And then, he suddenly froze.

    ¡°What¡¯s this--...¡± He immediately got to his feet and marched for the bathroom, straight into the cubicles, and then set up a barrier sequestering himself from the rest of the world. Then, he transformed into his Hell¡¯s Emissary State once more in the shadows of the domain he had carved out for himself.

    My sleeves¡­ He blinked his eyes vacantly, lifting his sleeves slowly, only to notice¡­ a multitude of small golden words written right beneath!

    Qin Ye gasped. He knew full well that there was only one thing that could do something like that¡­

    This was Fate¡¯s true form. It was also a spirit pen.

    The only person who could possibly activate Fate was the Second King Yanluo of Hell.

    Liu Yu aside, not even the death god Arturo could hurt me one bit!

    And besides, when did this all begin?! Are you a cosmic weasel? Did you make all the requisite hand seals with your feet?!

    He swore in his heart a little bit more, before calming his heart down and addressing his mind to the actual prose written by Fate.

    ¡°Introduction: Hell has copsed. The twelve envoys are filled with doubt. Everyone knows that without Hell¡¯s support, it was only going to be a matter of time before they were annexed to the other underworlds¡­¡±

    ¡°Liu Yu¡¯s thoughts are unsurprising.¡± Fate¡¯s prose was written in the form of a third-person narrative, ¡°That said, he¡¯s still proud and arrogant, and unwilling to pledge allegiance to any other underworld. The rest of the twelve envoys are simr in that most of them would not have given Hell their unqualified nod of approval. That said¡­ as the only envoy who had once been a founding emperor of a dynasty, Liu Yu¡¯s thoughts ran far deeper than any of the rest.¡±

    ¡°This was quite understandable. Truth be told, all twelve envoys would have contemted or pursued a simr course of action to varying degrees. That said, everyone continued to keep the truth about Hell concealed to external forces. This was their hidden trump card after all. Unfortunately, even though Liu Yu was widely acimed as a hero of his generation, he was still nothingpared with the leaders of underworlds that have been in existence for over a thousand years. He was still a fledgling in their eyes.¡±

    ¡°Tsar Arturo needed Liu Yu¡¯s help to reach out to Hell, while Liu Yu needed the Tsar¡¯s might and backing. To this end, Liu Yu appreciated the fact that things had to be done sequentially. If he were to unify Hell and be its leader, he would first have to establish his own underworld and be the Lord of the Hanyang Underworld. The first step in his grand ns was naturally to establish first the Hanyang Underworld.¡±

    Qin Ye read on carefully. Fate¡¯s writing confirmed his conjectures to date. In fact, it even rified certain points of doubt that were previously on Qin Ye¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Meanwhile, Liu Yu also acted discreetly in order to keep things hidden from the rest of the twelve envoys, and he entrusted these operations to one of his Hellguard-ss aides. This was done under Tsar Arturo¡¯s instructions as well, especially since he was concerned that the rtively young envoy¡¯s inexperience would result in a mistake and militate against the smooth execution of the script of death.¡±

    ¡°Daehan has no mythological systems of its own, and it would take far too much time to sow such seeds and slowly nurture the growth of a brand new mythology. Thus, the quick and dirty n set out in the script of death was put into motion more than ten years ago, slowly but surely giving rise to the tense situation of present-day Daehan. All that was needed right now was a catalyzing event to push Daehan over the precipice of despair and despondence.¡±

    He read on.

    For further instance, one need only look at the situation in the Middle East. The tension culminating in unceasing conflict had already begun brewing since hundreds of years ago.

    ¡°The preparations wereplete in theherworld.¡± There was a twist in the story, ¡°But, what about the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°With the promise of an open gate to the Russian Underworld, Lee Jung-sook also became embroiled in the script of death. She went on to jot down everything she was tasked to do and stashed them away in a safe hiding ce. Then, five years ago, tragedy struck with the incident of MV Sewol.¡±

    ¡°But this didn¡¯t mean much to Rumyantsev. After all, her existence in the mortal realm was as ring as a brilliant sun in the dark night. That said, everything that Lee Jung-sook did was an expression of her attitude. It revealed an attitude of being prepared to make a clean break.¡±

    ¡°Thus, in order to prevent Lee Jung-sook from asking too much, they decided tomunicate with her through a zombie - a living dead without spiritual intelligence. It was only able to perform the task it was instructed to execute. Rumyantsev programmed the zombie with an ¡®activate¡¯ switch so that Ahn Jun-ho would only respond when Lee Jung-sook called. This would of itself act as a natural barrier to stem the flow of information to Lee Jung-sook.¡±

    ¡°Ahn Somi spoke about No. 2.¡±

    ¡°This story follows the moment when the esteemed Third King Yanluo of Hell, Yanluo Qin, first stepped foot onto the Daehan Penins.¡±

    ¡°The stars were aligned. One by one, coincidences began toe into ce and flow into one another like a series of dominoes that caused the wheels toe off.¡±

    <hr>

    1. These are all the heroes of the show who help purge the evil from the world.

 Chapter 555: Yanluo Qinâ€™s Fate

    <h4>Chapter 555: Yanluo Qin''s Fate</h4>

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye nearly tore his robes in half when he read this statement.

    Can you please record things in an unbiased fashion?!

    How did things suddenly take a turn for the weird? Were all thepliments earlier just to lead up to these deting remarks?!

    ¡°Thus, Yanluo Qin chose to head straight to Lee Jung-sook¡¯s stronghold, and thereiny the first coincidental encounter. Kim Tae-ji happened to have made a trip down to Lee Jung-sook¡¯s building, and was just enjoying a ss of wine on her own.¡±

    Hoo¡­ Qin Ye took a deep breath and tightened his grip around his robes so hard that his knuckles went white.

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart tingled with pain.

    ¡°This theorem posits that the less likely something is to happen, the more likely it will ur and give rise to a surprise encounter. After all, coincidences are the urrences of such improbable events that one does not even address its mind to it or anticipate it. They can appear as far-flung as thes in outer space, yet everything stilles together to form thepleteness of the universe.¡±

    ¡°For instance¡­ the Hungry Ghost Festival¡­¡±

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ What¡¯s the point of getting upset at an inanimate object? This is probably nothing more than the weight of cognitive dissonance telling you that Brother Xu is the dominant one, while you are the submissive one¡­

    ¡°When he first discovers these records and reads it up to this stage, he will experience the weight of cognitive dissonance with the notion that Big Brother Xu is the dominant one, while he is the submissive one¡­ That¡¯s right. Congrattions on the realization. Unfortunately, you will continue to be a ything dancing about in the palm of the esteemed Second King Yanluo of Hell until you finally gain full mastery over Fate!¡±

    For some strange reason, the golden words on his robes appeared to jump out at Qin Ye as though they were exerting dominance over him altogether.

    What the hell¡­ Do you¡­ have a problem with me?

    ¡°He did not expect Ahn Jun-ho to have passed on. This slip-up on his part triggered Kim Tae-ji to call in her assassins. The fate of her entire family rests in Lee Jung-sook¡¯s hands. Naturally, she was inclined to take out every single person who may threaten Lee Jung-sook¡¯s life¡­ including a certain toad lusting after a swan¡¯s flesh.¡±

    He pulled Fate out of the pocket of his robe, opened the lid of the toilet bowl, and then held Fate over the gateway to the sewers, ¡°I¡¯ll give you one chance to amend its content.¡±

    It held fast to its belief that Qin Ye would never dare to flush it down the toilet bowl.

    ¡°Obviously, the firearms used by mortal assassins werepletely useless against Yanluo Qin. Eventually, Yanluo Qin discovered Lee Jung-sook¡¯s secret room where she performed seances tomunicate with Ahn Somi. He performed the ritual and called upon Ahn Somi. Fortunately for him, Ahn Somi couldn¡¯t resist Yanluo Qin¡¯s paper-thin Yin energy, and she inadvertently revealed her true form to him.¡±

    ¡°This led to Qin Ye¡¯s discovery of the existence of the second liaison officer. There couldn¡¯t have only been one liaison officer. After all, Ahn Jun-ho had already died as a result of the ident, and no seance could put him in contact with an empty shell of a living dead whose physical body was already buried deep in the ground. Therefore, Yanluo Qin knew at once that there was a second liaison officer, and he could even tell that it was alive.¡±

    Fortunately, Qin Ye was already numb to Fate¡¯s propensity to self-aggrandizement. He read on.

    ¡°Meanwhile, Ahn Somi was the nominal daughter of Ahn Jun-ho, and the truth of the matter was that she was an evil ghost. She had never expected Emissaries of Hell to show up at her doorstep so quickly. In fact, she hadn¡¯t even expected to hear from them in the first ce! Here, it would be poignant to point out the fact that there was another coincidence of fate at y right here.¡±

    ¡°Being finally faced with the prospects of establishing a whole new underworld and fulfilling the dreams that he had held dear to his heart for centuries on end, Liu Yu was filled with such excitement that he began to send out invitations to the surrounding underworlds before the script of death had evene to fruition.¡±

    ¡°After all, it was necessary to give other underworlds sufficient notice to make the necessary preparations. The more important and powerful the lord of each underworld, the busier their schedule would be. He wanted nothing more than a bright, banging ceremony to dere to the underworlds around him that Hell had finally allowed him to establish his own country! This was incredibly important if he were to go on to interact with others on the international arena. After all, unless Hell gave its nod of approbation, nobody would dare to interact with one of Hell¡¯s vassal states as an independent underworld for fear of straining rtions with Hell itself.¡±

    ¡°And to that end, Ahn Somi was clearly unaware of the fact that she had already been swept into the powerful storm. She was unaware that Hell¡¯s Emissaries had arrived in Daehan, and she naturally saw no need to be vignt against Lee Jung-sook, even though thest time they hadmunicated with each other was over a month ago. Unfortunately, their nextmunication was also Ahn Somi¡¯s fated finale.¡±

    ¡°Credit where it was due, Yanluo Qin has slowly begun to seize the initiative ever since the Hungry Ghost Festival. Incidentally, it is worth mentioning that he was not the most intelligent leader, and was even by nature a coward.¡±

    He nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to flush the robe down the toilet bowl at once!

    ¡°Rumyantsev also discovered the existence of an Emissary of Hell, and he reported it ordingly.¡±

    ¡°Thus, an interesting twist urred.¡±

    ¡°As far as the Russian Underworld is concerned, the ability tomunicate directly with Hell is far better than speaking through Liu Yu as a conduit. Why should one owe a favour to a mere vassal state when they can ingratiate themselves to one of the top underworlds in theherworld?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, there is no way to tell what the Russian Underworld is about to do, because the contemtions of an entire underworld is quite different from that of an individual emissary. Their considerations extend well beyond personal gains. Thus, they did not overtly search out the location of Yanluo Qin.¡±

    ¡°Liu Yu¡¯s story has crumbled, but he doesn¡¯t even know it yet. He had personally made the butterfly effect at the imperial court meetingst year that triggered the mighty storm to which he is currently at the mercy of. He would never expect to be cut out of the script of death in such an abrupt and discreet fashion. The Yin Chik-ha of ¡®A Chinese Ghost Story¡¯ was a role that can be yed by almost anybody. Liu Yu was hardly a chosen one as he thought.¡±

    ¡°Is that even possible?¡±

    ¡°Yanluo Qin, the incumbent Third King Yanluo of Hell, was no different from a hungry dog clinging on to every piece of meat that it could find. The Russian Underworld had only overlooked such a possibility because they could not even begin to fathom the current state of weakness of the new Hell¡­¡±

    ¡°The perspectives of the parties had clearly given rise to a blind spot that one Mr Dogballs decided top up happily. What happens next? Stay tuned for the installment of the series!¡±

    Qin Ye nearly flipped.

    And why isn¡¯t there anything else apart from this?! Is that all your analysis contains?! Do you know what kind of review you deserve?!

    Xu Yangyi, I demand to know what the meaning of this is! Why couldn¡¯t you just finish writing the entire story and let me know how it ends? How can you just write half of it and leave me in the lurch like this?! Do you know what death by a thousand cuts means?!

 Chapter 556: No. 2â€™s Whereabouts

    <h4>Chapter 556: No. 2''s Whereabouts</h4>

    He could tell that this was the Second King Yanluo¡¯s test for him. He¡¯d previously misinterpreted the golden words written by Fate as evidence of Fate¡¯s orchestration of the current course of events. Unfortunately, that was clearly not the case.

    That said¡­ Fate¡¯s tone is¡­

    Fate had clearly set out the entire sequence of causes and effects, and yet Qin Ye wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit thankful for that - It really doesn¡¯t take much for someone toe up with something like this¡­

    After some time, he began to mull over what the Russian Underworld was about to do.

    For instance, the Russian Underworld¡¯s perspective.

    Not a chance!

    This newfound rity had brought several more considerations to the forefront of his mind. Even though he hadn¡¯t decided on the next course of action, he still had some leads to work with. Thus, he straightened out his clothes and finally stepped out of the cubicle.

    Qin Ye finally sat down and took a bite of his food. It had to be said that the unadulterated vour of the barbecued meat coupled with the fragrant sesame dipping sauce and a nice mouthful of soup truly hit the spot. It wasn¡¯t fancy, but it was far tastier than he¡¯d previously anticipated.

    The Yeouido Full Gospel Church was one of thergest Christian Churches in the world, and Qin Ye had a good view of the church building from here. Naturally, he could also tell that there were at least hundreds of Brain Mite carriers walking about the church grounds right now.

    They¡¯re probably aware that I¡¯ll only act after midnight.

    Night. 10.00 p.m.

    The entrance was already closed, leaving the soft glow of light sources within peering through the stained ss windows. The entire church looked more sacred and holy than ever. The grand corridors in the church were illuminated with only candles, casting a soft sheen of reverence about the ce.

    Clutching his Bible, he strode through the grand corridors of the church, nked only by the fine sculptures andrge paintings. The ground was polished so smoothly that he could even see his hazy silhouette on its surface. That said, given the deterioration of his faculties that came with his age, he somehow got the feeling that the sculptures were always staring back at him whenever he walked down this corridor.

    However, after walking for about 10 paces, he suddenly stopped.

    Nothing.

    Tap, tap¡­ It was almost as though it was mimicking his footsteps.

    He continued walking once more. This time, it only took three steps before he paused once more and jerked his head up. His entire body trembled softly, and his pupils contracted.

    He had heard another footstep! The footstep had echoed through the grand corridor only after his feet had struck the ground!

    Even a pastor couldn¡¯t help but get goosebumps all over his skin. The church was closed. The only people around were the security guards, as well as the cultivators who upied the rooms in the church manse. Who could possibly be looking for him here?

    It wasn¡¯t even a meter away from him!

    He took a deep breath, and the muscles of his face tensed up. A momentter, he ran forward as quickly as he could and yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°Someone¡­ Anyone!!¡±

    Strangely, nobody seemed to respond to him.

    His cry of despondence lingered in the grand corridors . He could see the end of the corridor. It was the light at the end of the tunnel. But, just then¡­ Clink¡­ Another glint of light flew straight ahead.

    The cross that was all so familiar to him.

    This is¡­ the cross I wear around my neck¡­ How did it fall in front of me? Andre froze where he was, and then stiffly raised his hand to his neck. He was filled with the fear that his neck wouldn¡¯t even be there right now.

    Because he felt another hand around his neck.

    There¡¯s¡­ really someone¡­

    After some time, he gasped loudly and jolted back to his senses in horror. But as soon as he did, he immediately screamed again.

    This is all a misunderstanding¡­ Qin Ye was just about to speak up when he suddenly noticed a problem¡­

    Just like that, a man and a ghost stared at each other in aplete deadlock. Andre trembled like a leaf in a hurricane, while Qin Ye did his best to cate the pastor and calm him down, ¡°Excuse me¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­ Qin Ye cursed under his breath.

    Besides, why didnguage suddenly be an issue?

    Take him away?

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t prepared to meet up with Rumyantsev just yet. However, there was no doubt that he was still carrying information that Rumyantsev wanted to know about.

    Hmm¡­ Samsung¡­

    No response.

    Still no response.

    ¡°Hi?¡± Qin Ye felt stifled. It felt no different from travelling to a foreign country and walking into a foreign shop to ask about something he wanted to purchase.

    This series of eventspletely blew his mind!

    To think he¡¯d even use a question mark at the end of his sentence¡­

    Andre nearly dropped his Bible onto the ground. Since when are demons polite?! What in the world is going on right now?!!

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    Old man, are you teasing me?

    With that, Qin Ye suddenly found himself faced with a grade 6 oral examination.

    Andre picked up the phone, stared at the screen for some time, and then coughed dryly as he painstakingly gesticted at Qin Ye until Qin Ye finally understood what he meant.

    It was incredibly awkward. A pastor and an evil ghost were putting their heads together, trying desperately to call up the keyboard function on a Samsung phone¡­

    ¡°Mukov went to the Jukseong Dream Cathedral earlier at noon.¡±

    Qin Ye could sense a particr spirit pen in his robes stir with excitement as soon as he saw this statement.

    Kwon Kyung-ho desired revenge. He longed to exact vengeance on behalf of all the children who perished on MV Sewol!

    The world of adults was a dark and terrifying ce. But, be that as it may, he would bnce things out by exacting vengeance in the most unadulterated way. Kwon Kyung-ho was simply going to kill them.

 Chapter 557: City of the Living Dead (1)

    <h4>Chapter 557: City of the Living Dead (1)</h4>

    They were leaving after one night on Yeouido Ind. Their next destination was Pusan.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t know what the Russian Underworld was thinking, but the one thing which he knew was the fact that they were iparably wary.

    ¡°They¡¯ve made no contact. Perhaps Rumyantsev is still considering how exactly to make contact, and what exactly they should talk about. Are they going to show their hand all at once, or are they going to probe at our existence slowly? If the talks fall apart, they¡¯ll probably still want to fall back on the Hanyang Underworld as a conduit to reach out to Hell¡­¡± Qin Ye leaned back in his chair as he thought aloud, ¡°Or is he simply sitting back and observing Hell¡¯s actions to see what they can deduce about Hell after radio silence for a hundred years?¡±

    He stared nkly at the shing sign boards outside. After a long night of deliberation, he had finallye to a decision.

    I cannot afford to appear weak and any less domineering than Hell used to be before it shut its borders to the world! I need to make a statement and show them that Hell is still the peerless underworld in theherworld! This is the true legacy of Hell - the most invaluable inheritance that I¡¯ve obtained from the old Hell!

    Finally, I¡¯ll have to minimize contact with the script of death as much as possible. After all, that¡¯s the incontrovertible function that will be safeguarded by the nameless god of death.

    ¡°Huurrgh¡­¡± There was a gagging sound beside him. Qin Ye ignored it and continued to think aloud.

    Qin Ye massaged his throbbing temples. He didn¡¯t have a better n for now. Thus, he shelved these thoughts of his for now and turned his attention to the other agendas he had.

    In short, it wasn¡¯t something that a fledgling King Yanluo could easily master.

    ¡°Simply put, the script of death is no different from a reality show, albeit a far more dangerous and bizarre one that takes ce on a far grander scale. It¡¯s as though¡­ the film, A Chinese Ghost Story, is acted out in the mortal realm so the mortals would slowly begin to believe in the existence of ghosts on earth.¡±

    ¡°So, in the end, we still need a hero to reap the harvest and be the subject of the people¡¯s faith. Anyone who steps up to this role would be the one to im sovereignty as the orthodox underworld of Daehan.¡±

    Admittedly, Tsar Arturo was truly a seasoned god of death. The MV Sewol incident was truly ruthless and horrific, but its effects were outstanding. Meanwhile, Qin Ye was willing to bet that Tsar Arturo would have left something at the scene of the incident which would have been picked up by investigation agencies and led them to consider Liu Yu. This would sow the seed for his eventual appearance as the protagonist and hero of the script of death.

    A certain younger King Yanluo was about to outshine him.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Wang Chenghao opened a bottle of mineral water and took a huge gulp, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ don¡¯t you smell that?¡±

    Wang One Tail slumped limply into his seat, rubbing his stomach listlessly, ¡°I don¡¯t know if my nose is just being oversensitive, but¡­ I¡¯ve been picking up a revolting smell ever since we¡¯ve boarded the train.¡±

    There really is something¡­

    At once, Qin Ye nced around at the other passengers, only to realize that nobody appeared to be showing any signs of uneasiness.

    ¡°I should be--... Huuurggghh¡­¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°We¡¯re just about to move off. Hang in there for a little bit more, and I¡¯ll help you to the washroom.¡±

    Qin Ye began to help Wang Chenghao out of his seat. At once, an attendant immediately walked over with a smile and addressed them in Daeian, ¡°Sir, you¡¯re not allowed to leave your seat in this carriage. Please understand.¡±

    ¡°[in English] What?¡±

    Unfortunately¡­ she received the exact same response.

    Kiddo, are you messing with me?

    The attendant turned and nced around her. The high speed train wasn¡¯t even vibrating in the slightest. She turned back to Wang Chenghao at once.

    I¡¯ve seen motion sickness before, but I¡¯ve never heard of someone feeling sick on a high speed train. That said¡­ he does look a little bit pale and worse for wear¡­

    That¡¯s something I can understand¡­ Qin-flunkee-Ye supported Wang Chenghao and followed closely behind the attendant.

    The door to the crew¡¯s room was slightly ajar, and Qin Ye noticed out of the corner of his eye that the inside of the room was stered all over with talismans!

    ¡°Sorry.¡± The attendant paused for a moment, and immediately marched ahead of them to shut the door. She turned around in relief and smiled faintly at them, ¡°Please?¡±

    ¡°Shh. I saw it.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed with vignce. Over thest few months, he¡¯d learnt a multitude of things about some of the techniques employed by the mortal realm against supernatural urrences. And he knew exactly which method this set-up was.

    This was the full name of the technique employed. One could probably tell from its name that its function was to suppress evil spirits. However¡­ that wasn¡¯t its main function.

    How?

    Put differently, something has happened on this train, and they were forced to keep things concealed using the technique of Demonic Suppression! What they were seeing wasn¡¯t what it actually was!

    Endless interactions with the unseen like that was only going to earn him a free stay at the mental asylum¡­

    ¡°Keep her upied.¡± Qin Ye whispered softly as he slowed down to a half. At once, his eyes turned ck, and he scanned his surroundings. A split secondter, his lips parted in astonishment.

    The passengers were still one and the same.

    And it was by no means regr blood stains from idents. Rather, they appeared to be stters of blood, almost as though one¡¯s arteries were cut right open in a horrific incident, sending showers of blood sshing everywhere in the carriage!

    Anyone would be horrified to see a carriage stained with blood on a regr and unassuming train that was plying one of its usual routes.

    It was the stench of blood and rotting flesh that was masked byyers uponyers of detergent and disinfectant.

    They had just marched right past the bathroom!

    He turned to look at the bathroom door, only to notice a yellow sign hanging on the door with the words ¡°Under Repair¡± written in english. Furthermore¡­

    It was almost as though there was a rotting corpse hidden right behind the bathroom door!

 Chapter 558: City of the Living Dead (2)

    <h4>Chapter 558: City of the Living Dead (2)</h4>

    Fwoosh¡­ Everything in his eyes turnedpletely monochromatic. Everything within a radius of ten meters around him became clear as day. The rest of the carriages beyond that appeared grainy and hazy. The door to the washroom opened slowly with a soft creak.

    Red. The colour of blood!

    There were discarded heels, broken cell phones, and even clumps of hair that were drifting in pools of blood. They haven¡¯t had the time to clean up the bloody mess in the washroom just yet!

    Pak! A hand suddenly appeared right in front of his face. The attendant had stormed right back in her heels, darting right in front of her door and mming it shut, ¡°Sir? What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    She was clearly preventing Qin Ye from entering the washroom.

    ¡°[in English] What¡¯s in it?¡± Qin Ye looked her straight in the eye, ¡°[in English] Why close?¡±

    She¡¯s truly unaware of what¡¯s going on inside. But I¡¯m afraid I can somewhat guess how the entire carriage would look without the effects of Demonic Suppression¡­ Qin Ye turned and gazed down the aisle.

    It was almost as though the train was hurtling straight into the Yellow Springs.

    She took a single step, and then she paused again.

    T-t-t-t¡­ Her teeth chattered wildly. She could clearly hear a voice call out to her.

    ¡°AHHHHH!!!¡± She screamed at the top of her voice and ran helter-skelter away from the washroom. At once, the other passengers in the carriage turned to look at the source of themotion.

    Holy shit!

    Both men cursed under their breaths - Bloody hell¡­ How are we supposed to clear up the air?!

    He had a grave expression on his face. The previous female attendant followed closely behind him, still trembling from fright. The male attendant marched right up to Qin Ye, nodded slightly, and then addressed him in fluent Cathayan, ¡°Sir, pleasee with me.¡±

    Everyone appeared just as oblivious as the other. It was almost as though they had boarded a midnight train, only to discover that everyone around them were dead people, and they were the only odd ones out.

    It was only when they had finally arrived at the fourth carriage that they were finally allowed to enter the washroom.

    In fact, there were only seven or eight passengers on board this carriage right now.

    We¡¯re currently aboard a train that hasn¡¯t even beenpletely disinfected and cleaned of its stains, and everything has to be concealed by the deployment of the Demonic Suppression!

    That said, what caught his attention was the fact that there was a door separating the dining carriage from the carriage further up the train, and the fact that there were heavily armed Daeian policemen standing guard by the door to the next carriage!

    ¡°Greetings.¡± Wang Chenghao had gone to the washroom, and the man at the table gesticted for Qin Ye to take a seat. The earlier attendant acted as a trantor between the two. The middle-aged police officer nodded and seized the initiative, ¡°May I have a look at your travel documents?¡±

    Qin Ye felt somewhat puzzled. He stared right back into the man¡¯s eyes for several more seconds before the middle-aged police officer finally sighed and responded in a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯m talking about¡­ the Pusan Special Zone ess Permit.¡±

    At once, Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun with thoughts.

    But why would it be designated as a special zone?

    But¡­ didn¡¯t they happen in Gyeonggi Province?

    His gaze flickered slightly - That¡¯s right, didn¡¯t the Lord of the Springlight County City, Liu Changhe, earlier mention something about the urrence of a real ¡®Train to Pusan¡¯?

    Qin Ye ignored the scrutiny of the middle-aged police officer¡¯s gaze and nced back from where they hade from.

    Is this train¡­ the very same one on which the Train to Pusan incident took ce?

    It was possible to transport carriages of the living dead from ce to ce, so long as the ¡°cargo¡± was properly secured. In other words¡­ they might very well be riding a corpse-carrying train right now!

    Dong dong! Just as Qin Ye was delving deeper into his thoughts, the middle-aged policeman rapped loudly on the table, causing Qin Ye to turn back to the front, only to discover that the other policemen standing behind the middle-aged man were also staring at him.

    But the answer was obvious. There wasn¡¯t much to mull over.

    Someone was showing him goodwill.

    Who?

    ¡°You don¡¯t have one?¡± The middle-aged policeman¡¯s voice grew stern. Just then, one of the police officers standing beside him who had been looking at something on his phone suddenly set it down, bent over and whispered something into the middle-aged policeman¡¯s ears.

    As expected¡­ Qin Ye smiled warmly back. It was great being at the top. Sure, Lee Jung-sook might be missing in action, but the Russian Underworld most definitely had other contacts in high ces. One couldn¡¯t expect anything less of a death god of a powerful underworld.

    The middle-aged policeman smiled, ¡°Well, then¡­ shall I exin everything to you?¡±

    The middle-aged policeman pondered for several seconds, retracted his smile and then finally exined with an authoritative voice, ¡°First of all, the journey from Hanyang to Pusan takes two hours. Try not to leave your seat as much as possible.¡±

    ¡°When we¡¯re passing through, you should refrain from looking out of the window no matter what happens. The train is equipped with sufficient defensive measures. Also¡­ if you hear any strange sounds, do not respond.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Wang Chenghao hade out of the washroom by now. He listened silently as the middle-aged policeman finished up, and then they both left.

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°He wouldn¡¯t say a word. Besides, these are things that we should be in the know of, especially given that we¡¯d been granted special ess from above. Ask too much, and we might just let the cat out of the bag and strain the privileged position we¡¯re currently in.¡±

    You¡¯re really good at sucking up to others, aren¡¯t you¡­

    Wang One Tail was slightly taken aback.

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°The one that eventually made it to the screens is that the daughter and the pregnant mother were forced to stop at a blocked tunnel just before Pusan, and they walked through the dark tunnel on foot. The other end of the tunnel was garrisoned with soldiers with loaded guns and weapons of all sorts. They had their weapons trained at the entrance of the tunnel at all times to ensure not a single one of the living dead could make it through the tunnel. However, because of how dark the tunnel was, it was impossible to see whether the ones walking through the tunnel were living human beings or the living dead.¡±

    Wang One Tail looked baffled, ¡°So? What¡¯s the point you¡¯re trying to make?¡±

    ¡°In that other version¡­ the little girl and the pregnant woman who managed to escape from the horde of living dead managed to get to the edge of the safe zone, where they entered the tunnel. But just as soon as they saw the light at the end of the tunnel¡­ they were shot down by the soldiers garrisoned at the other end.¡±

    ¡°... You¡¯re a ghost. And you¡¯re telling me about darkness?!¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes and went on, ¡°Apart from that, the actual filming location of the show was¡­ none other than the third tunnel at Pusan!¡±

    Just then, there was darkness everywhere, and the lights in the carriage came on promptly.

    ¡°Have we arrived?¡± Wang Chenghao was taken aback, ¡°So quick?¡±

    ¡°But... darkness has.¡±

    <hr>

    1. See Chapter 533.

 Chapter 559: City of the Living Dead (3)

    <h4>Chapter 559: City of the Living Dead (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye nodded and turned to the bewildered Wang Chenghao, ¡°This is the third tunnel of Pusan, but it¡¯s also not.¡±

    ¡°When the Yin energy and air of resentment trapped within a particr location umtes beyond a certain point, it would create a special supernatural zone.¡± Qin Ye nced out of the carriage, only to realize that a series of louvres had already been lowered over the windows, blocking out all sources of light from outside.

    Qin Ye massaged his temples in dismay, ¡°Did you really only inherit your family¡¯s fortune and not the smarts? Didn¡¯t I make myself clear enough? Why don¡¯t you try sensing it for yourself?¡±

    At once, two iparably sharp sources of Yin energy jolted straight through his mind.

    Click, click, click¡­ Then, just like old films, the images began to run in sequence. Thedies quickly drew closer and closer, until thest frame which depicted thedy and the girl at point nk, right in front of his face!

    ¡°Haa--...¡± Wang Chenghao gasped loudly as he opened his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually the three of them.¡± Oda Nobutada spoke with a deep voice, ¡°There¡¯s another one in the pregnantdy¡¯s womb. But, even though there are three of them¡­ they move with one body, bound by a single strand of fate and destiny.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s most special about them is that they¡¯re also earthbound spirits.¡±

    ¡°So close, yet so far. To perish only when you see the light and havee so far; and to die by the hands of your own people even after narrowly escaping the grasp of the living dead. They werepletely helpless. They had no ability to refuse, and no ability to resist. They¡­ were fated to spend the rest of eternity with the living dead. Their resentment against the world is immense. Thus, as their Yin energy grew, they consumed everything around them¡­ and constructed an entire supernatural domain around them that is akin to the third tunnel in the mortal realm, but which does not upy the same physical space. Incidentally, all trains headed to Pusan would have no choice but to pass through this tunnel.¡±

    ¡°That certainly seems to be the case.¡± Qin Ye sighed.

    First, it was the incident of MV Sewol, and then, we¡¯re seeing the aftermath of Train to Pusan¡­ Do casting myths and fabricating miracles always have toe at the cost of human lives?

    ¡°What the Daehan government has been desperately covering up is probably the great stir caused by the living dead that have been transported from Pusan to Gwangju. When the film premiered, one of the only things it probablycked was a line that says - ¡®This film is adapted after a true story¡¯.¡± Qin Ye sighed, ¡°Retract your Yin energy and get some rest. This three-in-one Hellguard isn¡¯t something that either of you can handle. It¡¯s not easy to find naturally born Hellguards, even in Cathay. Who would¡¯ve thought we¡¯d encounter two of them in our short stay in Daehan thus far.¡±

    Qin Ye leaned over and looked down the aisle, only to discover that a tempered ss door had already been raised in the connecting corridors between carriages. Bzzt! The entire train fell into pitch-ck darkness.

    ¡°Good excuse. Power supply system failure, huh¡­¡± Qin Ye continued to gaze out of the window after the lights went out.

    It was clear and distinct, and evidently no trick of the ear. They were currently travelling with a high speed train across the inexplicable third tunnel of Pusal, and yet to think that they would actually hear strange knocking sounds on their windows?!

    It was neither fast nor slow, and incredibly rhythmic and consistent. Yet it was precisely because of this that the knocks felt almost as though they were hammering straight into his heart.

    ¡°Farewell to thee, farewell to thee¡­ The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers¡­¡± As the train continued to plough through the darkness, a soft cry suddenly cut through the tense silence of the third tunnel.

    The passengers tightened their grips around the armrests, and several of them even drew a deep breath.

    Train to Pusan¡­ This is the exact same song sung by the little girl in thest scene! It¡¯s exactly the same!

    And as soon as it did, a ghastly, pale face instantly appeared on the crack along the window!

    Her pallid white face and contorted features masked the fact that she was only a little girl. Her short hair waspletely disheveled, and blood poured out of her seven apertures. Yet perhaps what was most striking of all was the gaping bullet hole that was right between her eyes.

    BOOM!!!

    Wait a minute¡­ Aren¡¯t I supposed to be the one scaring the people within?

    The little girl¡¯s expressions grew more and more twisted and contrived as time passed. Three secondster, she pouted.

    Qin Ye watched in astonishment as the little girl bawled at the top of her voice and flew away like a kite with a broken string.

    She¡¯s actually crying?!

    Oh no¡­ What have I done... Forgive me for frightening a poor little child to tears¡­ Qin Ye sped his hands together and made an insincere prayer before ncing out the window again.

    The dim lights on the exterior of the train cast just enough light on the surroundings to illuminate the pallid appearances of the twisted figures outside. Each and every single one of the living dead were currently staring intently at the train as it passed.

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°Of course I¡¯d have loved to take her in. She would be an excellent sprout to nurture into a fine ghost. Unfortunately¡­ we¡¯re not at the third tunnel just yet.¡±

    ¡°Their essence and true form are still located within the real third tunnel to Pusan. We¡¯ll have to go there if we want to take them in. Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have the luxury of time to achieve something like that right now. The high speed rail takes no more than ten seconds to travel through the entire third tunnel from end to end. That¡¯s far too little time to reap the souls of the three-in-one Yin spirit that was a naturally born Anitya Hellguard.¡±

    It should be fine. Besides, what¡¯s a little girl doing jumping out at a fast-moving train in the middle of the darkness? They should be studying hard and working on their future! What happened to proper parenting these days?

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to study hard?! What are you doing scaring people all day long? You¡¯re banned from having your blood and flesh today!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s imaginations ran wild.

    The Train Captain¡¯s room waspletely dark.

    ¡°The train¡¯s power supply was restored in just 12 minutes¡­ Doesn¡¯t it usually take 30 minutes to cross the ¡®Abyss of the Third Tunnel¡¯? Why did it take 18 minutes less this time?¡±

    The man¡¯s appearances remained hidden in the shadows and yet he spoke with clearly suppressed excitement. The Train Captain responded, ¡°Sir, then¡­ should I ignore them and carry on as scheduled in five days¡¯ time?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± The Train Captain¡¯s voice burst with excitement, ¡°Just say the word, and I¡¯ll send the train off its rails at once!¡±

    ¡°Pusan to Hanyang¡­ Haha¡­ Everything you have done will surely rock this entire world. And my Lord will most certainly open the gates of the underworld and wee you with open arms.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take 30 minutes. In fact, they soon ¡®exited¡¯ the third tunnel as soon as Qin Ye scared away the naughty poltergeist earlier.

    We¡¯re finally arriving¡­ Qin Ye nced about at the houses and fields passing by on both sides on the train. His expression turned grave and somber.

    Just then, something stirred excitedly from within his clothes.

    He opened his palm, and the ballpoint pen spun around like the needle on apass, before finally pointing towards a particr location!

    Secondster, Kwon Kyung-ho responded, ¡°Yes.¡±

    1. These are lyrics of Aloha ¡®Oe.

 Chapter 560: Red Zone (1)

    <h4>Chapter 560: Red Zone (1)</h4>

    ¡°Impossible.¡± The spirit pen rasped excitedly, ¡°There¡¯s only one living human being that my dowsing abilities would point me towards, and that¡¯s none other than Lee Jung-sook. Don¡¯t take this wrongly - although you may be my host for the time being, but¡­ if I don¡¯t return to Lee Jung-sook, my soul will eventually scatter and dissipate into the surroundings.¡±

    Fate must¡¯ve had a hand in these things¡­ He couldn¡¯t help but nce at his sleeves. If he was to go about investigating the script of death any further without alerting the Russian Underworld, any assistance that he can get from the mortal realm would certainly be of great help!

    This was the power of a plutocrat in a capitalist society.

    Hmm¡­ I guess I could draw closer to her on the pretext of repaying my debt of gratitude¡­ I wonder if she would wisen up to the fact and reject my advances¡­

    The train soon arrived at Pusan Station.

    It was quite possibly a byproduct of the fact that it was now a special zone. Passengers alighting at the station were few and far between. In fact, there were possibly more police officers stationed around the tforms, chokepoints and exits on the station than there were other pedestrians right now.

    ¡°None.¡± Trantor One Tail made his grand entrance, ¡°Special ess granted.¡±

    Qin Ye picked up the three green cards. Before he could even take a closer look at them, the policeman smiled, ¡°Apart from that, we¡¯ve prepared another document for you setting out a detailed report about the Pusan Special Zone, including particrs of all the danger zones within. All cabs within Pusan are currently only allowed to travel within the safe zones. If you wish to enter the danger zones, you¡¯ll have to undergo a special test, and then rent a specially-modified car.¡±

    Qin Ye read through the materials he had been handed with a glint in his eye.

    Truly interesting.

    And this was exactly why the present situation was rather interesting.

    ¡°It seems like¡­ the ones who have granted special ess are none other than Cathayan cultivators. Thus, I¡¯ve also been recognized as such. Incidentally, these special ess permits are the best way to get us into the restricted zones around. Besides, the person summoning me must be someone incredibly powerful and influential. Otherwise, there¡¯s simply no way that both the military and police would wee my arrival, especially given the fact that my name isn¡¯t part of the list of experts furnished by the Cathayan authorities to Daehan.¡±

    ¡°Having witnessed her conduct at the time of the incident, as well as observed her actions over all these years, you clearly know it isn¡¯t her. So, hasn¡¯t she told you who the culprit is? I refuse to believe that she wasn¡¯t able to identify the culprit given her resourcefulness and influence.¡±

    I mean¡­ Just look at how Kim Jae-huan was sopletely terrified by her back then! He didn¡¯t even dare to make a peep of sound!

    ¡°But¡­ she refused to tell me who it was. She simply said that the culprit isn¡¯t someone we could mess with, because he even had Infernal Judges protecting him. I¡­ didn¡¯t dare to take action. I had no choice but to bide my time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Lord Qin, you don¡¯t live in Daehan, so you naturally wouldn¡¯t know how powerful and influential Ms Lee actually is. The Queen of Samsung isn¡¯t a title that¡¯s just for show! As long as she so desires, there¡¯s nothing in Daehan that can be concealed from her! Thus¡­ I would be daft not to heed her advice.¡±

    Whoosh!

    This was the manifestation of the deep resentment of over three hundred lives that had been taken at the MV Sewol tragedy! It was murderous intent that had been festering and brewing for five long years!

    Qin Ye smiled in his heart. This was a special Yin spirit that was naturally born as an Anitya Hellguard. He wanted nothing more than to bring the spirit pen back to Hell. Arturo had admittedly been too harsh with his ways. It suddenly urred to Qin Ye why the Second King Yanluo had previously told him that when he reaped the harvest of the script of death, he would also receive a coteral reward of a powerful Yin spirit.

    If I continually cast myths and fabricate miracles, such evil spirits would continue to appear, and the citizens faith will also continue to deepen. I¡¯ll attain the rank of King Yanluo in no time, and then continue the works of casting myths and fabricating miracles at an even higher pace! This way, I¡¯ll finallyplete my personal collection of Yin spirits in my Dusk Legionnaire, otherwise known as the Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts! The functions and abilities of a King Yanluo of Hell absolutelyplement each other!

    ¡°There aren¡¯t many people with such power and influence in Daehan. Besides, even Lee Jung-sook herself thought it wasn¡¯t a good idea to mess with this culprit, and advised you to simply bide your time for the right opportunity instead. The Russian Underworld would never pass up an opportunity to tie up with someone as important as this.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡­ the profile of the culprit behind the MV Sewol incident is somewhat simr to the person who granted me the special ess permit?¡±

    He finally gets it.

    Lee Jung-sook was their cover, but they would naturally have contacted others and required them to carry out certain orders in the dark¡­ such as the MV Sewol incident. They would coordinate their movements with agents such as Mukov and cast their web of influence far and wide! This was how they had managed to suppress news of the entire incident for an entire year!

    Did Qin Ye have any evidence of these conjectures?

    But everything checked out logically, and that meant that there was a possibility that he was absolutely on point!

    In other words¡­ now that Qin Ye had an inkling as to the identity of the person pulling the strings from the shadows, he could almost certainly work back and ascertain his location and whereabouts!

    ¡°Sir?¡± The policeman finally prompted Qin Ye in the face of an inordinate period of silence.

    The policeman paused in confusion. Wang Chenghao immediately tranted it in English. At once, the policeman smiled bitterly, ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know which high official it was who approved of these permits, but¡­ I do know that these were orders issued from the Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House.¡±

    What an important person¡­ Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically, and refrained from probing any further. He nodded, and Wang Chenghao immediately understood what he meant, ¡°There¡¯s no need to test the levels of our true energy. Prepare the camouge and concealment supplies at once, as well as a specially-modified car. We¡¯ll depart immediately.¡±

    It was almost as though they were given VIP treatment.

    Empty.

    There were only a few cabs parked here and there, but it was hardly anythingpared with its heyday in the past. To make matters worse, there were even fewer pedestrians than there were cabs. A sign with a notice drafted in fournguages was disyed on each cab.

    Wang Chenghao looked at it for a while, and furrowed his brows, ¡°Permitted zones¡­ There are only ten permitted zones. The rest are all listed as restricted areas¡­¡±

    Pusan upied a ratherrge area that was close to 800 square kilometers in size. This wasrger than most prefecture-level cities in Cathay. To be precise, it was sub-divided into 16 areas, namely the westernmost Gangseo District, followed by the Saha District, Sasang District, Buk District, Busanjin District, Dong District, Seo District, Yeongdo District, Nam District, Dongnae District, Haeundae District, Geumjeong District, Jung District, Suyeong District, Yeonje District, and Gijang County.

    ¡°The eastern side¡­¡± Qin Ye turned and looked to the distant east, only to sense a cold breeze gently tousling his hair.

    The eastern side¡­ The easternmost parts would take us to Gijang County, and then working backwards, we have both the Geumjeong District and the Haeundae District. All three are red zones!

    Sigh¡­ Please don¡¯t make things too difficult for my rescue efforts¡­

    <hr>

    1. Do note that the author seems to be using interchangeably the terms Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts and the Dusk Legionnaire which he¡¯d previously mentioned, so I¡¯llrgely be using Dusk Legionnaire from now on since it¡¯s far less clunky.

    2. You can take a look at the map of the administrative divisions to get a better understanding of the locality.

 Chapter 561: Red Zone (2)

    <h4>Chapter 561: Red Zone (2)</h4>

    The map revealed that Geumjeong District and Gijang County were both scarlet, red zones.

    Unfortunately it wasn¡¯t the time to be thinking about these things. As he drew closer and closer to the edge of the boundaries that separated the two districts, a massive wall appeared right in front of his very eyes.

    The way through was obstructed by a giant 20-meter wide gate bound up tightly with chains and stered all over with talismans. The talismans were drawn up with intricate patterns and Cathayan words on them. Qin Ye could even sense a faint trace of Judge-ss true energy lingering along the surface of these talismans.

    Whoosh¡­ An icy wind swept from beyond the gates, carrying with it traces of the hissing of wild beasts. The faint stench of death and the oppressiveness of the silence on the other side of the fence was chilling.

    ¡°Vajra Voodoo Array?¡± Wang Chenghao adjusted his sses, ¡°Why is Daehan using our Cathayan arrays at every turn of the road?¡±

    One of the officers marched right over and scanned the permits, and then nodded. Just as he was about to address them, QIn Ye promptly asked, ¡°How many living people are there on the other side?¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Qin Ye gently tapped on the window to his vehicle with a faint smile, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to rescue them?¡±

    He nced at the towering wall that kept the abyss of zombies out, ¡°Every day, we airdrop supplies and ammunition to the survivors on the other side. There are still two divisions of military troops on the other side¡­¡±

    Hut! Taking cue from theirmander, the other soldiers in the vicinity promptly followed suit.

    He didn¡¯t have a good impression of Daehan thus far.

    After all, all things were equal when it came to matters of life and death.

    Wang Chenghao shook his head, ¡°No, Brother Qin, I think that¡­ perhaps this might be exactly why Granny Meng and the others have selected you among everyone else.¡±

    Eh? Why does it seem like a certain One Tail has suddenly gained enlightenment?

    Whoosh... A tide of dark Yin energy rushed out from within. It was clearly daytime, yet the Geumjeong District appeared as dark as night, just like a deep abyss devoid of sunlight. Countless scarlet eyes lit up in the darkness at once and looked over to the other side.

    It was the sound of a stampede of countless people.

    Sss¡­ Ahh¡­ Urrrgghhh¡­ The rumble of footsteps were interspersed with snarls and groans that were filled with avarice and bloodlust. The sea of scarlet eyes were rushing straight towards the main gate, bringing with them a wave of nauseating stench arising out of their festering flesh and gnarly bodies. Amidst the cacophony of gasps and ragged breaths of the living, the specially modified car revved its engine and hurtled bravely through the main gate.

    They could sense that¡­ there were no living human beings in this vehicle.

    If he were going to intercept Liu Yu¡¯s harvest of faith, he would first have to understand the script of death in its entirety. Moreover, he would have to act without divulging his own identity as the King Yanluo of Hell. Otherwise¡­ the fact that the King Yanluo of Hell is acting upon something as trivial as this would give the Russian Underworld far too much insight as to Hell¡¯s current state of affairs.

    Eh? Someone¡¯s a little impatient today, isn¡¯t he?

    Hmph¡­ I¡¯ll show you¡­¡±About that¡­ I¡¯m about to head out to do something outrageous. Wouldn¡¯t I be daft not to reach out to someone as intelligent and all-knowing as you before I do?¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡± The Second King Yanluo of Hell didn¡¯t even deign to look Qin Ye in the eye.

    ¡°I¡¯d like your help to disguise me as one of the most well-known Infernal Judges known to theherworld.

    The Second King Yanluo looked at him with a smirk. After some time, he finally chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re finally shaping up a little.¡±

    Why are you giving me that ¡®my foolish brother¡¯ look?

    ¡°Liu Yu is merely an Infernal Judge. Who cares if he¡¯s the most powerful one of them all? All traitors must die!¡± The Second King Yanluo calmly sentenced Liu Yu to death, ¡°The fact that I can¡¯t care less about him doesn¡¯t mean that he¡¯s automatically given the right to act all haughty and mighty. The twelve envoys have been left as a sort of proving ground to you. Deal with them well, and you¡¯ll naturally be qualified to take to therger international stage and take on the old fogeys of the long-standing underworlds around.¡±

    ¡°You might have some lingering hatred for me from the Hungry Ghost Festival, but¡­¡± Xu Yangyi smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±

    Qin Ye cursed under his breath.

    Isn¡¯t this¡­ one of the four evil arts of the East Continent, the Metamorphosis Technique?

    Whoosh! Qin Ye¡¯s Yin energy soared, and he promptly clothed himself with his Hell¡¯s Emissary state.

    He¡¯d now be far more awe-inspiring. He was clothed with a Tang Dynasty round-necked robe that was embroidered with the Torch Dragon holding up amp. His head was wrapped with a soft veil, and a sword hung loosely by his waist. There was even a snow-white cloak attached to his scarlet official robes.

    However, the screen of light soon vanished without a trace. Qin Ye tutted softly - What kind of a fe is this? How dare he act so arrogantly to me when he¡¯s still living and feeding off the food that I bring to the table?!

    He wanted them to act more scrupulously and fall in line. This would most certainly smoothen the path to reaping the harvest of faith.

    All Infernal Judges were bestowed with a Book of Life and Death. Naturally, this wasn¡¯t quite the same as the divine artifact of Hell, but it was for all intents and purposes a replica of the same. To this end, the first page of the faux Book of Life and Death would also be embossed with the name of the holder.

    There were two words written in calligraphic strokes.

    That¡¯s the epitome of identity theft¡­ Qin Ye took a deep breath and tightened his grasp around the Book of Life and Death as he turned to look at the lifeless city in the distance.

    There weren¡¯t any pedestrians out on the roads. The tall buildings in the downtown areas werepletely dark and devoid of light. Even the roadside stores and supermarkets were all tightly shuttered with ¡°temporarily closed¡± signs hanging right at the front of these buildings. The entire city appeared to have entered the twilight zone, and the air felt dead and dank.

    And¡­ that¡¯s not all.

    Whether young or old, male or female, all were all dressed in modern clothes in their pre-mortem attire. However, most of their bodies appeared gnawed and mutted, almost as though Pusan had just experienced a terrifying stampede of demonic beasts that had poured out from a portal to the abyss and turned the entire city into a living nightmare overnight.

    ¡°There were so many living dead just a little while ago. We¡¯ve not traveled for more than a few minutes, but¡­ where have they all gone?¡±

 Chapter 562: Reunited with Lee Jung-Sook (1)

    <h4>Chapter 562: Reunited with Lee Jung-Sook (1)</h4>

    Pusan Geumjeong District. Everything was silent.

    All that remained was a series of high-rise buildings, just like an urban forest.

    In fact, the only traces of civilization around these parts were the blood stains that were sttered all over the roads, walls and buildings around. Dark trails of dried blood remained where streams of blood used to flow. The scarlet hue of the blood appeared ever so striking, just like poppy flowers growing out of a war-torn zone.

    ¡°This is nuts¡­¡± Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but sigh in exmation.

    How desperate did Liu Yu have to be to assent to such madness?

    That said, they couldn¡¯t help but feel as though countless eyes were watching them from the shadows, scrutinizing their every movement. They would see nothing when they took a closer look, but they simply couldn¡¯t shake off the niggling feeling that something was staring intently at them. It was an ufortable feeling.

    Oda Nobutada froze, and then whispered back, ¡°Are you afraid that we might attract Liu Yu¡¯s attention now?¡±

    ¡°Then--...¡±

    Wang Chenghao tutted softly, ¡°I think someone¡¯s really fallen in love--¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gave Oda Nobutada a deep nod of appreciation - Exceptional! Like father, like son!

    Then, Qin Ye turned to give Wang One Tail a disdainful look - Can you please learn more from Oda Nobutada, you piece of trash?!

    ¡°I want the specific location!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Her beauty was practically indescribable. It was hard not to go overboard given how much of a rare beauty she was, and yet one would also run the risk of understating her beauty if one chose to err on the side of caution. Her appearances weren¡¯t the kind that would astound the world, but rather¡­ the kind that looked so pleasant that it was difficult to keep one¡¯s eyes off her.

    They had a good vantage of the devastation that had torn through the entire district. Everything in sight waspletely deste and barren.

    Countless talismans hung from endless chains on the outskirts of Husaeng Middle School. Meanwhile, she could also see people moving about and ying with each other on the yground within the Middle School¡¯s grounds. The juxtaposition of the destion on the outside and the vibrancy on the inside made Husaeng Middle School appear no different from an oasis in the desert.

    Thedy behind her sighed and sat down on the table beside her, ¡°Perhaps¡­ never in this lifetime¡­¡±

    Lee Jung-sook remained silent.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Lee Jung-sook frowned immediately as she bent over, lifted the two boxes at her feet and began to head back from where she came.

    She lifted them up and carried them to the door of another ssroom. The tables and chairs within this ssroom have long been emptied out, and the room had been further subdivided into different areas by white canvases. There were varying sizes to these areas, depending on the number of family members staying within a single partition. She walked straight into the innermost partition. As soon as she opened the door to her partition, a dense stench of smoke wafted out, causing her to frown hard.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally back?!¡± Thedy immediately tossed away her phone as she snapped at Lee Jung-sook. The anger and frustration of being cooped up in a single location, coupled with the loneliness of istion and endless boredom caused her to explode like an active volcano. She pointed usingly at Lee Jung-sook and berated her, ¡°How long does it take to get the damn supplies? How could that short trip have taken more than ten minutes?! Are you being intractable just because you see that I''m getting old? How did I end up with such a heartless daughter-inw like you?!¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m talking to you!¡± Lee Jung-sook¡¯s silence only seemed to stoke the frustrations in the middle-ageddy¡¯s heart. At once, she pointed her finger directly at Lee Jung-sook¡¯s nose and yelled at her at the top of her voice, ¡°To think that our family has worked so hard to raise you, and this is how you repay me? Why aren¡¯t you saying anything? Are you deaf or dumb?! My god! What kind of dumb luck does my son have to have married such a good-for-nothing like you?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that the queue today was a little bit longer than usual¡­¡±

    Lee Jung-sook bit down on her lips - It shouldn¡¯t be this way¡­ Her mind throbbed in pain. A little voice within her mind told her that this couldn¡¯t be real. But whenever she tried to probe a little deeper, she couldn¡¯t recall a thing of the past.

    ¡°Shut up.¡± Just then, the man ying with his ipad in the corner of the room finally interjected, ¡°Do you want everyone else in the ssroom to hear you? Have you gone mad?!¡±

    Lee Jung-sook sighed in resignation, ¡°My feet hurt¡­¡±

    She couldn¡¯t understand how Lee Hyomin could have so many orders for her that she couldn¡¯t even catch a breather between tasks.

    Lee Jung-sook stared at Lee Dae-jung and his gruff beard. He was looking at her with a bright gleam in his eyes. And then, she turned to nce at her mother-inw who was lying on the bed like a sleeping Buddha, nit-picking at every single thing she was doing. She simply couldn¡¯t ept the reality before her eyes.

    Lee Jung-sook gritted her teeth, picked up the bucket at the corner of the room and walked out of the partition.

    ¡°What do you know?¡± Lee Hyominid backzily on her bed with a snicker, ¡°Thisdy looks amazing, and she even has an air of dignity about her¡­ If not for the fact that I found herpletely passed out in the garbage dump, do you think you old good-for-nothing would have been able to marry such a finedy?!¡±

    ¡°Then shut up and stop interfering with my ns!¡± Lee Hyomin red at him fiercely, ¡°Look at her right now! Do you really think you¡¯ll be able to consummate the marriage with her as things currently stand?! You¡¯ll have to first properly educate her on what being ady is all about, and then make her life revolve around you! You have to be heaven to her!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where that littledy hase from, but this is practically a godsend to you. I was the one who saved her life anyway. How can shein that I¡¯m nit-picking on her? I¡¯m just training her to be a good daughter-inw! If not for me, she would have starved to death in the garbage dump a long time ago!¡± With that, Lee Hyomin sped her hands together and respectfully prayed, ¡°Bless us, God¡­¡±

    She didn¡¯t want to go back at all.

    Life like this was far worse than death itself.

    I shouldn¡¯t be here¡­ She rubbed her temples, trying desperately to remember where she hade from, but to no avail.

    This isn¡¯t who I am¡­ This isn¡¯t me...

 Chapter 563: Reunited with Lee Jung-sook (2)

    <h4>Chapter 563: Reunited with Lee Jung-sook (2)</h4>

    Even if it was just for a moment, she desired peace and solitude.

    It was the rooftop.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± She gently ruffled her hair as she scanned the devastation out there. Her heart was filled with sorrow and sadness.

    Just then, a voice spoke from the rooftop, and the door to the roof mmed shut with a resounding bang, ¡°Are you wondering if your life is going to go on like this?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± She took a deep breath and immediatelyy prone on the ground, yet to her great surprise, she couldn¡¯t see the feet of any single person at all!

    ¡°Lee Jung-sook, Queen of Samsung, a pir of the Daehan economy. Even the president of Daehan has no choice but to defer to your decisions. Say the word, and there¡¯s nothing you cannot obtain here in Daehan. Everything will be prepared for you on your desk so long as you give your instructions¡­¡±

    Lee Jung-sook clutched at her head.

    Waves of stabbing pain surged through her mind, filling her mind instantly with countless images. Her mind was filled with ady just like her, and yet clearly wasn¡¯t her right now.

    ¡°Haaa¡­¡± Finally, with a deep sigh, she raised her hands and looked at the tattoos etched on her arms.

    Whoosh¡­ The breeze gently tousled her hair, revealing the expression of mild bitterness on her face right now. The floodgates of her memories had been opened.

    ¡°You are a proud woman¡­ and rightly so! You should never be content with your life right now!¡±

    These final statements were like bolts of lightning that struck deep into Lee Jung-sook¡¯s mind. She clutched her head in pain and copsed to her knees. At once, her face was filled with all sorts of expressions, flowing from indecision, to confusion, anguish, and then finally¡­ determination.

    That¡¯s right¡­ I remember now. I¡¯m¡­ Lee Jung-sook¡­

    I¡¯ve died, but I¡¯vee back to life again¡­ That¡¯s right, I¡¯m a person who transcends the limits of life and death itself¡­

    The important memories rued over the past 700 years!

    She was still the very same person, but the fierce look in her eyes and the aura about her waspletely different.

    ¡°Qin Ye?¡± She smiled, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Lee Jung-sook smiled faintly, just like a beautiful orchid blooming at midnight. There wasn¡¯t much fragrance to speak about, but it clearly bore a trace of otherworldly seductiveness about it.

    Lee Jung-sook smiled, ¡°You spoke to me in Cathayan.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook elegantly swept her hair back behind her ears, ¡°Of course not. When I prayed to Lord Ksitigarbha earlier, he once mentioned that you and I were¡­ verypatible with each other. I roughly understood what he meant. He was talking about your mentality - the solitude thates with the inability to die. There are many men suffering from deep inferiorityplex who woulde to Daehan to jolt me back to my senses. But there¡¯s only one Emissary of Hell who woulde to these parts to do the same.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled back, ¡°Naturally. We¡¯ve both clearly moved well beyond the stage of passion and lust. I¡¯de over only because¡­ it cannot bear to see a kindred spirit suffer like that. Besides, I still owe you one for saving my life back during the Hungry Ghost Festival.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Lee Jung-sook smiled mischievously.

    Qin Ye proceeded to exin the current state of affairs here in Daehan.

    Qin Ye walked over with a light cough.

    Qin Ye red at her, and then turned to look at her hooked finger.

    ¡°Phone.¡± Lee Jung-sook sighed.

    ¡°Samsung?¡± Lee Jung-sook nced at him and smiled radiantly as she dialed a number and switched on the speakerphone.

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Lee Jung-sook¡¯s voice was terrifyingly calm and cid, so much so that it even made Qin Ye doubt the events that had happened over thest two months.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Lee Jung-sook¡¯s response was brief and concise, ¡°Put Ahn Dong-wook on the line immediately.¡±

    Five secondster, an equally excited voice spoke from the other end of the line, ¡°Ms Lee¡­ Ms Lee, you¡¯re finally back! This is excellent!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry.¡± Lee Jung-sook interrupted him cidly, ¡°Let them stir up all the trouble they want for now. Besides, I¡¯m currently in Pusan¡¯s Geumjeong District.¡±

    ¡°Why are you--...¡±

    ¡°Firstly, inform the people in charge of Pusan that I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Thirdly, protect and secure all of my strongholds at once. At the same time, notify all of our personnel in Cheongwadae that I¡¯ll need all the information rting to the MV Sewol incident as well as the Pusan incident, pronto.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook smiled, ¡°Director Ahn, I believe in your resourcefulness, mm?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Lee Jung-sook promptly hung up the phone and dialed a second number, ¡°Sylow, have your mene pick me up from Pusan¡¯s infected zone at Geumjeong District right away.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook snorted, ¡°That¡¯s none of your business. Since when do mercenaries probe into their client¡¯s affairs? Your customer service is worsening.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Head over to the Usonian military base in Hanyang, and I¡¯ll make the arrangements to grant you permission to fly. I expect to see you all here in 90 minutes tops.¡±

    With that, Lee Jung-sook hung up the phone and dialed a third number, ¡°Kim Tae-ji, it¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m now in one of Pusan¡¯s infected zones at Geumjeong District. Immediately get in touch with the Pusan military and have the soldiers stationed here protect me with the highest level of security. Meanwhile, someone will soon be heading to the Usonian military base in Hanyang. Tell them to grant permission to fly so that they can make their way over to the infected zone for evacuation. Meanwhile, sound the emergency alert within the infected zones and clear these areas of all cultivators.¡±

    She proceeded to make a series of a dozen or so other phone calls before finally tossing the scalding hot cell phone back to Qin Ye, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°I give you three minutes! If you don¡¯t show up in three minutes¡¯ time, then don¡¯t ever think of showing up before me ever again! The Lee family doesn¡¯t raise idle good-for-nothings like you!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Lee Jung-sook revealed a frigid smile, ¡°I, for one, have never been one to repay evil with good.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to kill them?¡± Qin Ye was clearly taken aback.

    ¡°What do you think about this - I¡¯ll build two special huts to lock them up for twenty years, before releasing them back to where they hade from. Of course, I¡¯ll see to it that they will be well fed with food and drinks, but¡­ they won¡¯t be able to see each other, and they won¡¯t have ess to any entertainment facilities.¡±

    Sister¡­ Are you ruthless, or are you ruthless?

 Chapter 564: Oldboy

    <h4>Chapter 564: Oldboy</h4>

    Oldboy!

    It was a ssic Daeian movie. In the film, Oh Dae-su was arrested for drunkenness. After his friend picked him up from the police station, he was kidnapped and woke up in a sealed hotel room, where he remained trapped for the next 15 years. The same food was delivered to him daily through a trapdoor, and he could do nothing but watch the television. There was no sunlight, nor was he able to tell night from day. The only illumination in the room was the dim electric lighting that he had ess to.

    But Lee Jung-sook was even more ruthless than that.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m being too ruthless?¡± Lee Jung-sook casually ruffled her hair, ¡°Eat, or be eaten. Be nice to others, and they¡¯ll step all over you. Or do you really think that¡­ they deserve forgiveness?¡±

    Having noticed that Lee Jung-sook had lost her memory, this family was nning to brainwash her and force her to marry a good-for-nothing jobless man. Had he been in her shoes, he would most certainly have reaped their souls at the earliest possible opportunity and subject them to the strictest punishments avable in Hell.

    None of these matter in Hell. Even if one cannot justifiably sentence them to punishment, there¡¯s always plenty of hardbour that needs to be done.

    ¡°How dare you?!!!¡± Lee Hyomin screamed at the top of her voice and rushed in with a group of people following closely behind. She pointed at Lee Jung-sook in an using manner as she stormed over, ¡°How dare you hook up with other men after marrying into our Lee family?! Look, everybody! You¡¯re all eye-witnesses today! This is the daughter-inw of the Lee family! What have I done to deserve this?!!¡±

    ¡°Tell me¡­ how long have you been hooking up with this pretty boy?! Let¡¯s see if I don¡¯t beat you to death--...¡±

    Lee Hyomin had just arrived in front of Lee Jung-sook when she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her cheeks. A split secondter, she felt her entire world spin about her and copsed to the ground in a daze.

    A bright red palm print appeared on her cheeks. At once, she began to wail at the top of her voice, ¡°Everyone¡­ You¡¯re all witnesses to a travesty today!¡±

    The crowd that had gathered behind to watch themotion immediately exploded into a buzz. Just then, Lee Dae-jung burst through the crowd, ¡°Mom! What¡¯s the matter with you!¡±

    ¡°She even dares to hit her mother-inw¡­¡± She howled wildly as she scrambled to her feet. Her son¡¯s arrival must have filled her with courage, because she immediately charged forward boldly again, ¡°Are you trying to take my life?! How dare you abdicate your duties to take care of your mother-inw and your family?! And you even have the gall to ask us to take care of you?! I was just wondering where you¡¯d gone to fetch a pail of water! To think you were here on the rooftop, seducing some young man!¡±

    ¡°Hurry! Right now!!¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Lee Jung-sook waved her hands, and themander immediately heaved a sigh of relief as he rushed over, ¡°Why are you here? Do you know you gave us a huge scare? How are we supposed to exin things if something happened to you?!¡±

    At once, all eyes fell on Lee Dae-jung and Lee Hyomin. Both of them werepletely dumbfounded.

    Three stars¡­ We¡¯re talking about the colonel! He¡¯s the second-inmand around here! And the soldiers who keep us safe all this time are actually treating her like a god?!

    Who the hell is she¡­ At once, a wave of indescribable fear surged in their hearts. Unfortunately, their hearts soon sank even further when they saw Lee Jung-sook approach them with a group of bodyguards around her.

    Even a fool could understand what was going on right now. Lee Dae-jung shuddered violently, ¡°You¡­ you¡­ you¡¯ve recovered your memory?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± She smiled faintly, ¡°I¡¯d like to thank you for your kind hospitality all this while, so¡­ I¡¯ve prepared a special ce just for the two of you. I assure you that it will be absolutely safe.¡±

    Then, with two swift chops of their hands, the Lee family mother-and-son duo passed out without a sound.

    Lee Jung-sook picked up an article of clothing that the bodyguard had handed over to her, and she began to straighten out her appearances, ¡°Prepare a room and aputer for me. I don¡¯t need any inte connection.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    This was a tent that had been specially set up by the soldiers. The men in ck were all standing guard immediately outside the tent, whilst several other mercenaries stood guard in another ring as an added defensive measure. In short, the security around the tent was so tight that not even a fly could break through. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel awed by the sheer extent of Lee Jung-sook¡¯s power and influence.

    The tent was brightly lit. Aputer had already been set up in the room, and a series of documents bearing the seal of Daehan¡¯s Blue House had already been loaded onto the screen.

    ¡°I won¡¯t look at these for now.¡± Qin Ye clicked on the ¡®x¡¯ button at the top right of the screen, and then turned to Lee Jung-sook, ¡°What I truly want to know about is your interactions with the Russian Underworld over all these years.¡±

    Qin Ye continued to stare intently at her, ¡°But I¡¯d still like to hear you talk about it.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook took a sip of coffee and nced at Qin Ye with a bemused smile, ¡°Alright. I don¡¯t like owing others a favour either. But¡­ let me think for a moment where best to begin.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the same in theherworld as well. I¡¯ve crossed paths with several of these entities. After all, my position of power and influence here in Daehan naturally draws these entities to me. Over thest 50 years, those that have contacted me include spies from Nippon, Rus, and several other ces. The Daehan Penins is a treacherous ce. In fact, it might not even be an overstatement to say that it¡¯s still a hotly-contested territory.¡±

    Her gaze grew distant, almost as though she were looking back at the past, ¡°It¡¯s a long process. Then, some timeter, a high official of the sect finally became its leader, setting the perfect stage for coboration. And it was precisely for this reason that some time ago, around the 1940¡¯s, Russian Emissaries finally got in touch with a man who held enough power and influence to change Daehan.¡±

    What a familiar name¡­ Qin Ye tried recalling who it was, but to no avail. Thus, he continued listening intently.

    She sneered and took a sip from her cup of coffee, ¡°It was the god of death.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°Do you really have to put things that way? It makes my heart beat faster¡­¡±

    Qin Ye gasped in shock.

    Shelving his thoughts, Qin Ye probed deeper, ¡°Did she¡­ believe him?¡±

    <hr>

    1.

    2. Some of this was in fact real, while other parts are naturally embellishments.

 Chapter 565: The Other Chess Piece

    <h4>Chapter 565: The Other Chess Piece</h4>

    ¡°Thus¡­ Choi Tae-min¡¯s daughter, Choi Soon-sil, also ended up bing Ms Park¡¯s BFF.¡± Lee Jung-sook gently swirled the coffee in her cup as she nced up meaningfully at Qin Ye, ¡°Have you¡­ finally thought about the implications of this?¡±

    How could he not?

    And to make matters worse¡­ Big Momma Choi was none other than the daughter of the cult leader, Choi Tae-min!

    ¡°Do you know the name of the religious sect involved in the MV Sewol incident?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly, and he shook his head with great exmation.

    That¡¯s not merely 15 years! We¡¯re talking about a time frame of well over 40 years!

    Is this how an underworld sows the seeds of myths and fabricates miracles?

    In that instant, every notion he had about the process of casting myths waspletely blown away, and he wanted nothing more than to learn about the entire truth surrounding the script in the hands of No. 2.

    ¡°And the day that MV Sewol sank¡­¡± A frigid smile crept up the corner of her lips, ¡°Was none other than Master Choi¡¯s 20th death anniversary.¡±

    No way¡­

    Not even the King Yanluo of Hell could achieve something like resurrection from the dead. Even if they managed to make something rise from the burial mound, it would be no more than a monstrosity like the living dead. This is the incontrovertible way of the Heavenly Dao. Yet, to think that they¡¯d done all these for a fragile myth propounded by a mere human being¡­

    ¡°I knew all about them. Just one week before the MV Sewol incident, Cheonghaejin Shipping called in favours and reduced the number of ships sailing out to sea. I caught wind of it. After all, this was one of the coborators of the god of death. Nobody can hide anything from me so long as it urs here in Daehan.¡±

    ¡°It was already night when I next learned of these developments. I can¡¯t possibly be monitoring the situation all the time. After all, there were too many things that needed my attention. Unfortunately, it was all toote by the time I finally arrived.¡± She sighed wistfully, ¡°I saw the pictures of the MV Sewol incident. It was undoubtedly the Resurrection Ritual.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples as he sorted through his thoughts.

    Everything in theherworld stemmed from the mortal realm, but they cannot reach out andmunicate directly to the mortal realm. Therefore, the next best thing that all underworlds have done since time immemorial was to promote faith in them through legends, myths and religious institutions.

    Only with faith, would there be believers; and only with believers, would there be a proper stage for which miracles and myths could manifest properly. Although the mortal realm and theherworld hadn¡¯t interfered with the affairs of the other, they had still, through the hands of fanatic faithfuls, orchestrated a series of shocking tragedies!

    Qin Ye could write all the scripts he so desired, but the true administrators of these scripts would still have to be the faithfuls and the believers living in the mortal realm.

    ¡°No. 3 is in Pusan. No. 2¡­ was originally in Gyeonggi Province, but would now be located in Pusan¡¯s Gijang County. If they each preside over a locality, then¡­ where would No. 1 be in charge of?¡± Qin Ye thought aloud.

    ¡°Pusan is the secondrgest city in Daehan. It stands to reason that they¡¯d kick things off here to test the waters. Last month, when the living dead incident first broke out, the Daeian government urgently closed all borders to Pusan, quarantined all of the living and urgently reached out to Cathay for assistance.¡±

    ¡°Gyeonggi Province, Gwangju City.¡±

    ¡°How are you so certain that it¡¯s got to be Gyeonggi Province and Gwangju City, and not Hanyang?¡± Qin Ye asked.

    She retracted her smile, and then took a deep breath, ¡°Because¡­ Gyeonggi Province, Gwangju City, is home to one of the seven most supernatural ces in the world - the Gonjiam Asylum!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the Russian Underworld is trying to do, but what I do know is that if they are about to do something, it would definitely involve Gonjiam!¡±

    His trip here clearly hadn¡¯t been in vain.

    This is one of the top seven ces in the world for paranormal activity. Countless people have witnessed supernatural incidents there, and those who head in after midnight were never heard from again¡­ In fact, there are a multitude of legends and stories told of this ce itself. To think that it¡¯s actually located right in Gwangju City!

    This was nothing more than a conjecture, but one which Qin Ye was willing to put high stakes on.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t mere spection.¡± Lee Jung-sook leaned back on the sofa and exined cidly, ¡°Last year, the cultivators under my charge have informed me through their reports that the Yin energy readings around the Gonjiam Asylum area¡­ have reached levels as high as five million.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo had mentioned that if things went well, then the harvest of faith would alwayse together with amensurately powerful Yin spirit.

    In other words, they were artificially creating a powerful evil ghost!

    But if that were truly the case, then it would only require the works of No. 1 and No. 3¡­ So why would the script of death require No. 2 to carry out the MV Sewol incident¡­

    ¡°... Hang on a minute¡­ Who¡¯s Twisted Fate?¡± Lee Jung-sook responded stiffly. She clearly hadn¡¯t heard of this name before.

    Lee Jung-sook gave him a deadly re, and Qin Ye promptly stopped - It¡¯s not my fault that you keep calling him Master Choi here, there and everywhere¡­

    If that¡¯s the case, then everything makes sense!

    No. 1 would helm the Gonjiam Asylum, the node where Yin energy would converge in the Daehan Penins, thereby setting the stage in preparation for the great harvest.

    It¡¯s the perfect script of death!

    ¡°No¡­ Even if he were resurrected, he¡¯d be nothing more than a hideous monstrosity. No one can properlye back to life after death¡­¡± Qin Ye frowned, and then suddenly smacked his head hard, ¡°Idiot! You¡¯re an idiot! Liu Yu basically wants to create another monster just like Choi Tae-min!¡±

    ¡°Needless to say, the disclosure of Choi Tae-min¡¯s identity would cause everyone to erupt with gratitude! The newfound faith in Liu Yu once that happens would trigger a stir in Daehan, filling their citizens with faith for their saviour who had dished out justice for their people once and for all!¡±

    He could see how the script of death was tying everything together masterfully.

    The presence of such a script was simply perfect for his own reference!

    In fact, he was confident that he might even have a clearer grasp of the entire picture of the script of death than Liu Yu right now. Heck, Qin Ye could even head back to Cathay right now if he¡¯d wanted. Who cares about the grand opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld?

    It doesn¡¯t matter who you are. The one who kills the viin would undoubtedly be heralded as the hero of the nation!

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ I suddenly feel as though I can¡¯t control the outpouring of energy from my body¡­ The fact that Arturo has written this script of death with you in mind means that it would have to be a viin that you can take on with your current abilities. He wouldn¡¯t create a basilisk that you cannot y. And if you can deal with this problem¡­ who''s to say that I shouldn¡¯t personally deal with this problem myself?¡±

    <hr>

    1.

    2. A LoL reference. Twisted Fate is a Champion.

 Chapter 566: The Walking Corpse

    <h4>Chapter 566: The Walking Corpse</h4>

    ¡°Is she the culprit behind it?¡±

    Kwon Kyung-ho was practically hissing towards the end. At once, the surroundings were suddenly filled with the muted sound of gurgling bubbles and a sunken atmosphere.

    Kwon Kyung-ho paused for a moment, and then responded hoarsely, ¡°Thanks¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry.¡± Qin Ye interjected, ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily Ms Park either. The cronies around her could well have been involved as well. Had I been the one pulling the strings from behind the scene, I would definitely surround Ms Park with my people as soon as I discover the connection between Choi Tae-min and the Park family. For instance, her secretaries, personal assistants, spokespersons, and so on and so forth, would all be clothed with authority as her representative to trigger the MV Sewol incident. All Ms Park needs to do is to acquiesce with a nod of approval.¡±

    ¡°All I ask is the life of the culprit behind the MV Sewol incident. I¡¯ve already waited for five years. What¡¯s another one short month of waiting¡­?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and finally sat down in front of theputer, where he began to browse and peruse the documents presented to him.

    This wasn¡¯t an unorthodox means to investigations. Many mystery cases since time immemorial had been resolved using such methods after all.

    Qin Ye immediately flipped to page 21.

    There was a western-style coffin located right in the center of the photographs. This wasn¡¯t unusual. After all, it wasn¡¯t umon to hear of Catholics in Daehan. That said, there were various sculptures ced around the coffin, all of which were clearly unrted to the doctrines of Catholicism. Vibrantly-coloured scripture streamers hung loosely all around the coffin.

    To be more precise, these werenterns, and each of thenterns were illuminated with a soft¡­ green me.

    Lee Jung-sook walked right up behind him, reaching over and taking control of the mouse to zoom in on the important parts of the photograph.

    Qin Ye¡¯s pupils quivered slightly, and a wave of adult-rated thoughts immediately washed straight into his mind¡­

    Here was an exquisite beauty coveted by the men of the world, standing no more than three inches from him in an unintentionally questionable posture. The faint fragrance of alluring perfume wafted right into his nostrils, assaulting the logical faculties of his mind and sending his heart thumping wildly. In his mind, he¡¯d already bitten down tenderly on her corbone, licking it slightly as he inched closer and closer¡­

    It was incredibly awkward.

    Lee Jung-sook smiled.

    Could it be that¡­ today¡­ I¡¯m going to--...

    The adult-rated fantasies swirling in Qin Ye¡¯s mind instantly sank to the bottom of the ocean. Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and then he immediately shook his head fervently.

    ¡°The next time I catch you stealing nces at me with such an indecent look in your eyes, I¡¯m gouging them out.¡± Lee Jung-sook released her grip around Qin Ye¡¯s jaws and casually slumped back into the sofa, ¡°I¡¯ve got to say that your looks are rather baffling¡­ Are you 16 or 18? You must have had the taisui fungus, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°...¡± Lee Jung-sook rolled her eyes, barely concealing the regret that had surfaced in her heart - Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have recognized this man as a kindred spirit after all¡­ He appears to have a brain defect somewhere¡­

    Inch by inch, he navigated the erged photograph until it crossed thenterns on the ground. And then, he suddenly paused.

    All of them appeared to bear the appearances of young children, ranging from 10 to 16 years of age, and every single one of these children appeared to be screaming and crying in anguish and pain.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m unable to investigate the contents of the coffin. The loyalty of the cultists guarding this is absolutely staggering. But, ording to the reports of the subsequent police investigations, the coffin was in fact¡­ empty.¡± Lee Jung-sook lit a cigarette and crossed her legs, ¡°Are you able to see anything?¡±

    Without my eyes?

    He knew what Kwon Kyung-ho was suggesting.

    Tell him¡­ all about the truth of the tragedy that sank to the bottom of the sea on that fateful day¡­

    Blurb¡­ blurb¡­ The sound of bubbles rising from underwater filled the room at once, causing Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook to nce reflexively at Kwon Kyung-ho, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not me!¡±

    The power had gone out in the room, but theputer was still working!

    The maximum magnification with the software should have been ten times. However, the magnification right now went well beyond that! 12 times¡­ 15 times¡­ 20 times!

    ¡°Haaa--...¡± Even Lee Jung-sook couldn¡¯t help but gasp in consternation at the peculiar series of events.

    The corpse in the coffin¡­ was alive!

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. The coffin has to be empty. My guys never make any mistakes.¡± Lee Jung-sook frowned and whispered to Qin Ye.

    Lee Jung-sook sighed softly, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ there was a corpse in the coffin before the police investigations, and that these images are telling us what happened in the interim?¡±

    Kkkrrrrr¡­ As the gap to the coffin opened up more and more, the darkened room suddenly began to echo with the wails and cries of countless ghosts.

    ¡°Die¡­¡± ¡°Die, die, die, die!!!¡± ¡°You deserve to die¡­¡± ¡°Go to hell!!!¡±

    Boom! The lid slid right off the edge of the coffin, and a bald man wearing a ck missionary suit with a cross disyed right across his chest stepped out from within.

    Meanwhile, the chorus of ghastly cries around him escted to its climax. Qin Ye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He thought of a possibility, and he promptly turned to Lee Jung-sook, seeking verification.

    It¡¯s actually him!

    My conjectures are right¡­ Arturo¡¯s script of death has been designed around the cult leader, Choi Tae-min, the cause of the MV Sewol incident, the Train to Pusan incident, and close-knit rtionship between Ms Park and Choi Soon-sil¡­ To think that he was actually resurrected through the MV Sewol tragedy five years ago!

    And as he had predicted, such a monstrosity would serve as the perfect viin for the emergence of the hero!

 Chapter 567: VIP Express of the Dead (1)

    <h4>Chapter 567: VIP Express of the Dead (1)</h4>

    A man, a woman and a ghost were watching a flickeringputer monitor inplete silence, while a wave of spine-tingling ghastly wails echoed from all around them.

    Choi Tae-min was actually drawing closer and closer to them!

    Click¡­ Another frame passed, but¡­ Choi Tae-min appeared to havepletely vanished from sight!

    ¡°Has he left?¡± Lee Jung-sook frowned.

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye and Kwon Kyung-ho got up at the same time and leaned closer beside her with great vignce, ¡°He¡¯s still around.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The image disyed on theputer monitor began to move smoothly. It no longer flickered like a slideshow. At the same time, a terrifying white sphere rose from the bottom of the screen.

    Click. Lee Jung-sook cocked the pistol in her hand. Anyone could tell that something was soon about to go down. In fact, something told her that the evil spirit residing in the depths of the terrifying photograph was soon about to crawl out from within!

    His facial features were twisted beyond belief. His eyes were wide open, revealing empty sockets that appeared to contain an endless abyss within. It was a horrific sight.

    His lips parted slightly, revealing dark, grisly teeth within. Streams of dark red blood appeared to flow out of the corner of his lips as he stared intently at the trio in the room, almost as though he were peering right into their souls.

    Bzzt¡­ A split secondter, the entire screen went out, and the lights in the room came back on once more.

    Where the hell did you hide your gun earlier?! Qin Ye sized up Lee Jung-sook several times, before finally clearing his throat in response, ¡°A photograph of the paranormal. Ordinary human beings won¡¯t be able to glean much from it, and even those with the highest affinity for the paranormal would be able to see nothing more than some moving shadows in the photograph. However, this photograph records the grievances and obsessions of Choi Tae-min, together with all who perished in the MV Sewol tragedy. To that end, you can say that it¡¯s already gone well beyond the realms of an ordinary photograph of the paranormal.¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then tutted softly, ¡°He should have detected my presence as well.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned.

    The Russain Underworld had initially reacted with a submissive attitude, but that was clearly on the condition that Hell wouldn¡¯t overstep its boundaries and influence the script of death. Unfortunately, he had clearly just probed into the truth thaty at the core of the script of death, and even gotten himself detected by the Yin spirit designed to be the ultimate viin in the script of death. It was difficult to say exactly what reaction this would draw from the Russian Underworld.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯ll lend me your strength. Lee--... How should I address you? Don¡¯t you think it would feel too distant if we were to address each other by our full name?¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then coughed dryly, ¡°How about just Xia?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Deep, intense darkness.

    The rest of the cavern was shrouded inplete darkness.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Ahhhh--!!¡± A soft, hissing sound came from within the coffin. A momentter, a hand covered with grisly, ck fingernails and purple livor mortis spots reached out from within and rested on the edge of the coffin.

    ck¡­ At once, there was a sound of a cane striking the ground. It was rhythmic and unhurried. A dozen seconds or soter, a man dressed as an ancient marquis marched up to the side of the coffin and peered right in, ¡°There are many cultivators who want you dead, and even more evil spirits who desire the same. You¡¯re the root cause of Daehan¡¯s current instability. The Tsar has searched far and wide before finally locating you. What have you to fear?¡±

    The man in the coffin appeared to be on the verge of tears, ¡°Lord Rumyantsev¡­ I¡¯m afraid¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you know something? Ah¡­ Actually, you probably don¡¯t. How can a third-rate underworld possibly be aware that there¡¯s an internationally epted ranking standard for special Yin spirits?¡±

    ¡°And you¡­¡± He patted the coffin, ¡°Are the uncrowned king of Daehan, and mass that sits across 220,000 square kilometers. In life, you were the head of a cult, and in death, your legacy continues to spread in the country in turmoil. The Church of Spirit World continues to grow from strength to strength¡­¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Number 7. Extreme evil. You¡¯re known as the Spirit of Mutted Corpses, or alternatively the Odious Spirit of Filth. Ignore the terrible name you¡¯ve been given. The international rules are written by the ones in power. In particr, the list of 50 special Yin spirits are specifically published by the Cathayan Underworld, also known as Hell. You should feel honored that you¡¯re ranked 7th on this list.¡±

    Boom¡­ A far more terrifying wave of Yin energy erupted like a crashing tidal wave, causing countless spots ofhermes to soar throughout the massive cavern like dancing swallows. The coffin rattled softly in the wake of the powerful st.

    Rather¡­ they were the living dead!

    ¡°Besides, I¡¯m here as well.¡± Copious amounts of Yin energy were now pouring out from every pore of his body, allowing Rumyantsev to slowly drift up into the sky. At once, thehermes dancing in the sky began to swirl about him, transforming into a terrifying white ming vortex.

    ¡°Furthermore, you¡¯ve also got the support of our strongest darkfeathers, the souls of deceased KGB agents, one of the most prestigious spy organizations of modern day society! We have five ¡®swallows¡¯ and five ¡®crows¡¯. As far as the Cathayan Emissary is concerned¡­ I¡¯ve given him sometitude on ount for his backing. But if he dares set foot in this ce¡­ then don¡¯t me me for erasing him off the surface of this world. Nobody would know what happened to him!¡±

    He nced at the coffin, ¡°Then you can count yourself lucky¡­¡±

    The entire cavern went silent instantly.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    As far as they could see, everything had been abandoned. The deste winds sent dust and debris scattering everywhere. They couldn¡¯t see any of the living dead in sight, but wherever they went, they couldn¡¯t help but sense countless gazesnding upon them, scrutinizing their every movement.

    They were already at the edge of the Geumjeong District. ording to Lee Jung-sook¡¯s intelligence, the outbreak of the living dead was first spotted in Gijang County. There were two high speed rails in Pusan. One ran from Buk District into Gyeongsangnam Province, while the other one ran from Gijang County into Gyeongsangbuk Province. The Train to Pusan urred on thetter line.

    ¡°Brother Qin.¡± Wang Chenghao asked as they continued speeding along the highway, ¡°Why aren¡¯t we going to Gonjiam Asylum instead? Didn¡¯t you say ¡®the faster, the better¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Oda Nobutada nodded, and then chose his words carefully, ¡°One Tail--¡­¡±

    Oda Nobutada coughed lightly, ¡°Mr Wang, have you ever wondered how so many living dead have been transported to and from Pusan without alerting anyone?¡±

    Wang Chenghao pondered for a moment, ¡°Are you suggesting--...¡±

    Oda Nobutada promptly cut him off, ¡°Chances are that there¡¯s another direct route that connects Pusan to the Gonjiam Asylum, and this line would only be essible from Gijang County. In fact¡­ it¡¯s probably quicker to take this route than to go by rail!¡±

 Chapter 568: VIP Express of the Dead (2)

    <h4>Chapter 568: VIP Express of the Dead (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye put away the map and was just about to respond when he suddenly noticed an obscure golden light glowing from the palm of his hand.

    In an instant, the entire vicinity around them turned absolutely silent. The hidden entities that were staring at them from the shadows scattered with a cacophony of shrieks, almost as though they were rabbits darting back into their burrows as soon as a tiger appeared.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Qin Ye red back at Wang Chenghao. He was already clothed in his Hell¡¯s Emissary State, and he searched meticulously through his robes, only to discover Fate writing on the robes with great jocrity once more.

    ¡°This expedition to Daehan was a learning journey - and an astounding one at that. It was Mr Dogballs¡¯ first exposure to the ever-stirring tension on which international rtions are built. Quite apart from the usual straightforward economic sanctions or an overt disy of military might, this was the little tango between two powerful underworlds, each of which were fervently testing and probing at each other¡¯s bottom lines through the pretext of operations in another third-rate underworld.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, what about the millions of living dead that entered Gonjiam Asylum without even causing the slightest stir in the nation?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded deeply.

    Firstly, the script of death wasn¡¯t written at a whim and fancy. It wasn¡¯t the result of a sudden thinking at the spur of the moment to create a particr Yin spirit.

    Where will it be born? Where will it go? Where will it peak? And most crucially, who would be the chosen one? Who was to fill the role of the ultimate viin, and have his name go down forever in the annals of history?

    For instance, Tsar Arturo or Marquis Rumyantsev could have easily resolved the problem of transporting the living dead to Gonjiam Asylum with their supernatural abilities. But, they didn¡¯t.

    Not once did the Russian Underworld have their emissaries take any overt action or send powerful evil ghosts out to wreak havoc in the mortal realm.

    A macro perspective on the script of death would reveal that the parties involved, whether Choi Tae-min, Choi Soon-sil, Ms Park, or others, were all like individual pearls on a pearl ne. Meanwhile, the script of death itself would be the thread that ties the parties together with the other pearls that would include the MV Sewol, Gonjiam Asylum, as well as the Train to Pusan, forming a perfect string of pearls.

    In other words, the author of the masterpiece known as the script of death had remained absolutely silent through decades on end. There were hardly any traces that things were being strung together by a hidden mastermind from behind the shadows. And even if there were, nothing would point them towards the identity of the mastermind!

    Shelving these thoughts in his heart, Qin Ye read on.

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    ¡°Secondly, if negotiations fall through, they¡¯ll still need to keep Hanyang around as a backup n. After all, most issues that undergird international rtions don¡¯t end up with a sh of swords and spears. Rather, they tend to be resolved by way of a battle of the wits. Incidentally, this was also one of the things that the great, handsome and domineering Second King Yanluo was trying to impart to the weak and timid Third King Yanluo.

    ¡°Meanwhile, the Russian Underworld has been secretly collecting information about a certain Dogballs andpany. They are keeping close tabs on whether Hell is now but a fraction of its former glory and strength. After all, it is only natural for one to question Hell¡¯s existence after a hundred years of lockdown and absence from the international arena. Meanwhile, Yanluo Qin has done nothing more than to skirt around the peripheries of the script of death. Both sides were clearly content scouting each other out and probing at the other¡¯s abilities during this period of buffer.¡±

    ¡°And right now, he is but a single step away from discovering the whole truth about its mysteries!¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The words below suddenly turned scarlet, causing Qin Ye¡¯s pupils to shrink in an instant.

    Qin Ye tapped his finger gently on thest statement he had just read.

    Why would negotiations fall through?

    Nevertheless, Qin Ye put these thoughts on the backburner and continued reading ahead. That said, he couldn¡¯t help but feel as though he¡¯d overlooked something of great importance.

    ¡°Meanwhile, countless rifts have already opened up in Gyeonggi Province, bridging the gap between the Hanyang Underworld and the mortal realm, and Liu Yu can send his troops pouring into the mortal realm in an instant. Things in Gwangju City are going to be on apletely different scale from what Yanluo Qin had ever witnessed before! The script of death can never be desecrated. Marquis Rumyantsev will do everything he can in order to protect the administration of the Tsar¡¯s script of death!¡±

    ¡°You are treading on the peripheries and threatening to encroach on another god of death¡¯s primary function!¡±

    ¡°The international arena is just like the ocean. The winds might be calm, but the undercurrents beneath might just stir up a huge wave in the very next second! The perceived silence might be nothing more than the calm before the storm!¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye suddenly jerked his head up, while both Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada quipped at the same time, ¡°Brother Qin¡­¡± ¡°Someone¡¯s here¡­¡±

    It was dense and dark, just like a thick fog that instantly blotted out all sources of light. Even then, the dysfunctional street lights suddenly lit up all at once.

    Clop, clop, clop¡­ An ancient carriage slowly emerged from the depths of the fog. It waspletely ck in colour, and pulled by a series of headless skeletal horses. The coachman was dressed smartly with a long ck tailcoat and a top hat. The entire carriage behind was constructed out of skeletons and bones, while four screaming human faces were situated where the spokes of the wheels usually were. A hollowed-out skull hung loosely at the front of the carriage, acting like antern that illuminated their path.

    Unfortunately, it was also in that instant that Qin Ye finally noticed what he had previously overlooked.

    Hell¡¯s persona on the international arena!

    He wasn¡¯t just an Abyssal Prefect, but a negotiator sent by the Russian Underworld! In other words, Marquis Rumyantsev was going to be the first foreign underworldly ambassador that he was going to deal with in his capacity as an Emissary of Hell!

    The former was a deration of Hellish hegemony across the entireherworld. Preeminence within, and supremacy without.

    The abruptness of the sudden appearance of crossroads caused Qin Ye¡¯s forehead to percte with cold sweat. He knew full well that his choice right now would determine the attitude of the Russian Underworld towards Hell moving forward. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t prepared to make such an important decision right now!

    The coachman dismounted from the coach and bowed respectfully, ¡°Esteemed Mr Earl, Marquis Rumyantsev, ambassador atrge of the Russian Underworld, cordially invites you to dine with us at the first banquet hall. Kindly grace us with your presence.¡±

 Chapter 569: Grim Banquet (1)

    <h4>Chapter 569: Grim Banquet (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t the Second King Yanluo of Hell. He hade to Daehan with a mind to learn. He wanted to know how to perform the most important function only known to masters of underworlds. Naturally, it didn¡¯t ur to him that this trip would also trigger his very first informal meeting with an ambassador-atrge. No matter where one went, ¡®dinner banquets¡¯ between national representatives were synonymous with ¡®informal meetings¡¯. Anything he said or did would allow the Russian Underworld to gain a better insight into Hell¡¯s strength and weaknesses.

    For instance, right now.

    This would entail agreeing to the request of the Russian Underworld, and disregarding their trespass into a fiefdom of Hell. That way, these newfound ¡°allies¡± would finally let down their guard, and he would be granted the opportunity to slip right into the heart of Gonjiam Asylum and be given the opportunity to intercept Liu Yu¡¯s harvest of faith.

    Just look at Arthis, the Harken and even the Second King Yanluo of Hell! How would each of them have reacted to the situation? What would they have done? Hell¡¯s standing in theherworld was no different from Usonia¡¯s standing in the mortal realm! Refuse toply? I¡¯ll sanction you, raise tariffs, and then send guards to protect your territorial borders. Oh, by the way, you have to repay us for these protection services, whether in cash or in kind.

    So retreat is out of the question, and hard ball is the only remaining option.

    Soon, a multitude of thoughts flooded Qin Ye¡¯s mind. Rus and Cathay shared a substantial part of their territorial borders. Then, there was still Hindustan to contend with. If things with the Russian Underworld went south, then he would practically be surrounded on all sides. Rus above, Hindustan below, and then there was even one of the other top underworlds, Aegyptus located slightly to the west¡­

    ¡°Why does he have to be an advanced Prefect-ss Yin spirit at that!!!¡± Qin Ye massaged his temples in frustration. Rumyantsev would never step out of the carriage for an Infernal Judge. In fact, he was already being courteous by inviting Qin Ye to board the carriage of an Abyssal Prefect. Just then, Rumyantsev smiled faintly and his voice boomed from within the carriage, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Do you scorn Abyssal Prefects from the Russian Underworld?¡±

    Persona. Watch the persona. You are now Zhong Kui, not the Third King Yanluo of Hell.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Both men nodded in unison. They both knew that a banquet in such contexts was never just a banquet. After all, loyalties between nations were fickle, and everything depended on the price of betrayal.

    Zhong Kui¡¯s name clearly preceded him. As soon as he got off the car, the four skeletal horses immediately neighed loudly and kicked up their front hooves. Rumyantsev eximed softly, ¡°It¡¯s you¡­ To think that these trivial affairs in the far-flungnds of Hanyang would deserve the attention of Judge Zhong himself. Please.¡±

    Rumyantsev had arge frame. He was approximately 1.9m tall, and he wore a blond wig - a necessity for nobility of their times. He wore a fitting waist-coat tuxedo ensemble made of blue materials and red stripes for ents, and the frills on his inner shirt peeked out of his suit. His knight¡¯s boots were decorated with a scarlet cross pattern and buckled in ce with brilliant gold buckles.

    Qin Ye looked at Rumyantsev, and his heart sank at once.

    Thus, they would all cut their hair short.

    In other words, Rumyantsev was undoubtedly treating this banquet as a formal meeting with him.

    Damn it¡­ are you trying to force me into a corner?

    Rumyantsev hadn¡¯t expected Qin Ye to speak first. At once, he retracted his deadly gaze and shifted his posture, before responding with equally fluent Cathayan, ¡°You can say that I hadn¡¯t expected you to show up without observing any formal etiquette.¡±

    ¡°Judge Zhong, are you looking down on this Marquis?¡±

    He could tell in an instant that Rumyantsev was a veteran who had been forged through the sands of negotiation.

    And riding on those presumptions, he directly rebuked Zhong Kui for his presumptuousness in deciding this to be a private meeting. Truth be told, he would never dare make such bold statements in a bteral meeting between underworlds. Instead, this was simply a test to determine where Hell was right now. The actual nature of this meeting rode on how Qin Ye responded to these seemingly benign statements.

    Several secondster, with palpitations in his heart, Qin Ye steadily took his seat, ¡°Then, perhaps Marquis should just treat this as a private meeting, nothing more.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s fingertips were trembling profusely. It was unbelievably daunting dealing with an Abyssal Prefect that appeared to be restraining his overbearing might. The fact that Rumyantsev could make minced meat out of him in an instant caused his back to be filled with sweat.

    And for that matter, if he so dared.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld.¡± Rumyantsev gently sipped his ck tea, ¡°Hell has flourished for over three millennia now. How could you possibly ept Liu Yu¡¯s deration of independence?¡±

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye had no choice but to nod faintly in acknowledgment of Rumyantsev¡¯s suggestions, pretending to be indifferent about his suggestions - He¡¯s clearly trying to seize the initiative in these negotiations¡­ Without doing much, he¡¯s actually gained the upper hand in dictating the rules of engagement moving forward.

    They remained silent the entire way. When the carriage finally came to a halt, Qin Ye discovered to his surprise that they were already standing by the beach, with a church steeple towering over them.

    The church wasn¡¯trge. It had a red roof, white walls, and grey brick edging.

    Had this been any other time in the past, one could easily see countless tourists wandering about the vicinity and taking photographs with their favourite poses. Unfortunately, the Jukseong Dream Cathedral was now located right in eastern-Pusan, deep in the hearts of the red zones. Qin Ye looked to the entrance of the church, only to notice a monk covered in scars that was lying prostrate on the ground.

    The banquet¡­ is actually going to be held in the Jukseong Dream Cathedral? Is this a reminder? Or perhaps a threat? Are they warning me against going any further?

    These were negotiations of theherworld.

    ¡°Greetings Marquis Rumyantsev and esteemed Earl!¡± Mukov kowtowed heavily to the ground, ¡°Your humble servant, Mukov, sincerely wees the arrival of both lords. Your presence will make the Jukseong Dream Cathedral shine with radiance! Please!¡±

    There were approximately 20 female attendants, each of which were holding onto scarlet spider lilies and dressed in their hanboks as they bowed respectfully on the two sides that led right up to the entrance to the church.

    They¡­ were all zombies!

    <hr>

    1. Traditional Korean garments.

 Chapter 570: Grim Banquet (2)

    <h4>Chapter 570: Grim Banquet (2)</h4>

    Bloody beautiful.

    It was an indescribably bizarre sight.

    It was the living dead everywhere he looked. The actions of the female living dead were sluggish, and their bodies were covered with livor mortis spots. They also wore traditional Daeian clothing, also known as hanbok, all of which bore some semnce to the outfits worn by women during the Cathayan Tang Dynasty, except that¡­ all of their breasts were exposed.

    It was ridiculous.

    ¡°To think that a nation that had just learned the basics of civility is actually thinking of dering independence¡­ Is Hell only evicting them because you find their ways too barbaric?¡± He chuckled softly at his own joke, and then led the way straight into the church. Qin Ye followed closely after him.

    The piece that they yed was like a song of grouse. It was incredibly harsh on the ears, and even interspersed with howls and screams. Rumyantsev briefly introduced the piece, ¡°The original ck Friday. Russian Underworld¡¯s Theatre of the Red Square Collection. I¡¯ve pulled out all the stops for my meeting with you today.¡±

    Four other Yin spirits dressed just like Rumyantsev were already standing in front of the banquet hall. As soon as they noticed Rumyantsev and Qin Ye entering the hall, they immediately raised their hands and bowed with great ir and poise, ¡°Warmest greetings to the esteemed Emissary of Hell! You bring glory to the banquet hall this evening!¡±

    They all looked human, but it was clear to Qin Ye from the stiff expressions on their faces that they were nothing more than skeletons wearing the skins of human beings.

    Rumyantsev smiled genially and bowed back elegantly. Then, he snapped his fingers, ¡°Everyone, please take your seats.¡±

    As soon as the doors shut, there was the soft tingle of a bell. Momentster, a number of living dead attendants carrying silver trays walked out of the shadows and set them gently on the table, before revealing its contents.

    ¡°Yinsnake Berry apanied by Serpent Grass.¡± Oleg smiled and made a gesture of invitation, ¡°The chefs have specially brought this all the way from the headquarters of the Russian Underworld to introduce the local delights back in the North. Sir, have a taste.¡±

    After all, he wasn¡¯t prepared to participate in these negotiations to begin with. The longer things dragged on, the more unfavourable the situation would be for him. The best thing to do right now would be to end things as quickly as he could.

    Unfortunately, this was more easily said than done. From the onset, the Russian Emissaries had been dragging things out, buying as much time as they could to continue observing the Emissary of Hell before them. Qin Ye needed to broach a topic that would force them to talk. But what could he possibly say to achieve something like that?

    ¡°150 years ago, when you apanied Prefect An Daoquan of Yan Capital to the Tsar¡¯s birthday celebration, you didn¡¯t seem to be in such a hurry.¡±

    Qin Ye cursed in his heart. He didn¡¯t lose hisposure, but he knew thatposure alone wouldn¡¯t be able to tide him through the multifaceted problems that had arisen. He didn¡¯t know the right words to speak, the right procedures for such diplomatic exchanges, or even the right etiquette for presenting himself! Given the circumstances, there was no doubt that the longer he remained here, the more likely he was to let the cat out of the bag!

    Rumyantsev raised his hand, and a living dead attendant immediately walked up and handed him a silky white napkin. He wiped his mouth with great poise before addressing Qin Ye¡¯s sudden remark, ¡°A banquet isn¡¯t the right forum to be discussing matters of business. It¡¯s more important to enjoy the food now, is it not?¡±

    Whoosh. At once, the evil ghosts seated around the table jerked their gazes over abruptly.

    No matter how they tried to couch it, they were still undoubtedly trespassing the fiefdom of another underworld without their consent. This was an encroachment on the sovereignty of a nation. Qin Ye¡¯s angle of attack was spot on!

    Qin Ye swept a deadly re across each Yin spirit at the table, ¡°Entry of ambassadors and a diplomatic delegation? Did Hell agree to this? Or does the Russian Underworld already think nothing of Hell after a hundred years of silence?!¡±

    Ten secondster, Valentin quipped back, ¡°Sir, might you have failed to notice the fact that Liu Yu has already dered independence?¡±

    At once, there was silence.

    Rumyantsev had already tightened his fist so hard that his spoon waspletely bent. He drew a deep breath and turned to Zhong Kui, ¡°Previous dynasty?¡±

    He knew that it was only a matter of time before Hell had to give a reason for its sudden silence. And since that was the case, now was a better time than any other to disclose the reason for the same. After all, it was the perfect bombshell for the purposes of seizing the initiative.

    BOOM!

    This is news to us¡­ This is phenomenal!

    What¡¯s more, this was an incredibly heavy statement,den with implications - What¡¯s the new King Yanluo of Hell like? Is he a hawk or a dove? Zhong Kui has mentioned that the Harken is personally leading troops and marching for Daehan right now¡­ Is he¡­ trying to make an example of the Russian Underworld to the rest of theherworld?!

    This wasn¡¯t a topic of discussion he could just sweep under the rug and ignore! These words were probably false, but even in the 1% off-chance that this was true, he couldn¡¯t fathom what kind of implications this would bring to the rest of theherworld! As an ambassador-atrge, he didn¡¯t answer merely to his own actions. He was answerable for the actions of the Russian Underworld as a whole!

    However, Qin Ye simply turned and gazed deeply at Rumyantsev, ¡°Mr Marquis, there¡¯s no need for adtions where none is sought. Furthermore, you needn¡¯t even think about entering Hell to scout Hell out. If there¡¯s something you must do, then perhaps you should turn your attention to something that the preceding King Yanluo of Hell had tasked me to hand back to the Russian Underworld.¡±

    ¡°This is--...¡± The Russian delegation froze, and then immediately shot to their feet!

    Humiliation¡­ This is a disgrace!

    Rumyantsev was keenly aware that the First King Yanluo of Hell was the one that defeated all of hispetition and raised Hell as a superpower, and the Second King Yanluo of Hell was the one that allowed Hell to stand on top of the world!

    He¡¯d naturally also heard that the Second King Yanluo of Hell had once challenged Tsar Arturo, save that¡­ he hadn¡¯t heard anything about the Second King Yanluo taking the Tsar¡¯s dagger with him! And to think that this dagger was actually tossed onto the table like that under the hand of a mere Infernal Judge!

    But over and above the humiliation they were facing, Rumyantsev was filled with deep scorn and resentment for Hell right now.

    Why did they have to invite him to a dinner banquet and treat him well even though he¡¯s prying at the core of our script of death?

    It was all because of the entity behind this dagger - the underworld that represented infinite strength!

    The words ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse¡± that have resounded for ages throughout theherworld would never fade simply because of the passage of a hundred years!

    <hr>

    1. The breast exposing hanbok is actually real?!

 Chapter 571: Silent Rage

    <h4>Chapter 571: Silent Rage</h4>

    What should we do?

    These were the words that were now echoing endlessly in Rumyantsev¡¯s mind.

    Nothing could have prepared him for this news.

    His heart toiled with intense rage. The humiliation was no different to the kind faced when one discovers one of their long-lost treasures of their own heritage being sold on the auction house of another nation. It was indescribable.

    The dagger was clearly a warning, but also a way out. The message was clear - If I can do it once, I can most certainly do it again. I am still your father, regardless of who the presiding King Yanluo of Hell may be.

    These words were no different from delivering a p to his own face. The four other diplomatic officers around him were flushed with fury, but they knew better than to speak out of turn.

    Whoosh! The mighty eruption of Yin energy caused the entire nation of Daehan to tremble. At once, every single rm in the various offices of LSD went off with loud wails.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡± ¡°15 million¡­ I-is this the appearance of the legendary Abyssal Prefect?¡± ¡°Oh god¡­ What the hell is happening to Daehan over thest few years?!¡±

    Back in the Jukseong Dream Church. The living dead within the church were reduced to ashes at once. They didn¡¯t even get the chance to scream in fear. Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but look up in horror.

    Qin Ye was clearly treading on thin ice.

    Without any outlet for the intense rage in his heart, he had no choice but to vent it all on the living dead around him. At once, the entire church was filled with an intense silence amidst a heavy atmosphere. Far off in the distance, the long horn of a ship red.

    ¡°Useless pieces of trash.¡± After some time, Rumyantsev finally turned back with a smile. He raised his hand slightly, and a gentle breeze picked up the ashes on the ground and sent it right back out of the church in an instant. Then, he slowly poured himself a ss of vodka and rubbed his brows in agony.

    Beforeing, he¡¯d already thought of some ways of potentially dealing with simr situations should they arise. However, the two powerful blows dealt by Qin Ye hadpletely messed up his rhythm, and he was no longer in the mood to y games.

    ¡°Please pardon our underworld¡¯s rudeness.¡± For the very first time, Rumyantsev nodded sincerely towards Zhong Kui, ¡°Well, then, how about we get right down to business?¡±

    I¡¯ve finally gotten through¡­ As expected, if I take my time with diplomatic etiquette, my identity will certainly be exposed! Speaking of which, how did such a fine diplomatic banquet end up with a massacre of the waiters and waitresses? Tsk¡­

    Who?

    Emperor Taizu of Yuan¡­ Genghis Khan?

    Sensing Qin Ye¡¯s confusion, Rumyantsev took a deep breath and continued gravely, ¡°There¡¯s a 40% chance that¡­ the soul of Emperor Taizu of Yuan is still in his tomb.¡±

    ¡°Like I said, there¡¯s only a 40% chance of the same. But¡­ it¡¯s still worth a shot, is it not?¡±

    ¡°By chance. We¡¯re not at liberty to disclose the exact circumstances surrounding our discovery, but His Majesty the Tsar has personally checked and verified this news.¡±

    ¡°This is exactly why we need Hell¡¯s assistance.¡± Rumyantsev paused and continued with gritted teeth, ¡°It¡¯s located in the territory of the Mongol Empire.¡±

    Traditionally, the Mongol Empire was recognized as a buffer zone between Hell and the Russian Underworld.

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t recall the exact name of the vassal, but he could recall that this vassal was native to the Mongol Empire and was also said to be a direct descendant of the Yuan Empire at one time.

    No¡­ that¡¯s not all.

    After all, it was an unwritten rule across the entireherworld that no underworld would pursue the souls of any Yin spirit that was seized by another underworld¡¯s darkfeathers. In other words, they were to count it their own misfortune should another underworld manage to make off with the soul of a deceased from right underneath their noses, and vice versa. It was for this reason that Yue Wumu¡¯s soul was stillnguishing in Nippon. Rus would never pass up on such a great opportunity unless the circumstances required as such. Yet, the fact remained that they were now requesting to join forces.

    After all, Russian darkfeathers were known to be the top darkfeathers in the world. They bore the marks of the KGB, and anyone who understood world history would be able to tell you their thunderous achievements throughout the first and second world wars.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Hell can take the soul of Genghis Khan. Believe me, the Tsar has no intention of vying over the souls belonging to Hell. All we ask is that we split the territory of the Mongol Empire into two equal halves.¡±

    Rumyantsev hadn¡¯t flinched in the slightest, even when he was talking about the annihtion of an entire country.

    That said, Qin Ye knew that he would get himself into trouble if he acted out of line and showed any inclination to the offer on the table. After all, if the tomb of Emperor Taizu of Yuan were indeed located in the heart of the Mongol Empire, the Second King Yanluo would have sent troops at once without even consulting with the Russian Underworld.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Rumyantsev smiled, ¡°The Russian Underworld eagerly awaits your good news. Our Undead Crusaders grow impatient. This concerns matters that we¡¯ve discovered 30 years ago after all. The fact that we have not overstepped the ambit of our authority all this while is testament to the Tsar¡¯s sincerity.¡±

    That said, Qin Ye didn¡¯t want to engage with them any further than he had to, so he promptly nodded, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    With that, the door finally shut on him.

    Everything in the church fell silent. Rumyantsev swirled the contents in his ss, as though deep in thought. Meanwhile, the other four Yin spirits at the table stared intently at him, ostensibly with a multitude of words at their lips, yet none dared say a single word.

    ¡°My Lord¡­¡± Igor asked cautiously, ¡°Is that¡­ really a good idea?¡±

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s still the time to be considering these things? Igor, you¡¯ve been following me for over a century! Do you really not understand? It¡¯s no wonder you¡¯re unable to move beyond the ranks of a mere secretary!¡± Rumyantsev shot to his feet violently. Thehermes in his eyes zed in fury, and he gritted his teeth, ¡°Judge Zhong didn¡¯t even have us in his sights! And couldn¡¯t you tell? There¡¯s something wrong about him!¡±

    ¡°Since when does Hell move with such frugality?¡±

    ¡°Truth be told, I hadn¡¯t wanted to talk about the matter concerning the soul of Emperor Taizu of Yuan, but¡­ Judge Zhong came prepared, and even yed his cards in apletely unexpected fashion. Admittedly, he was able to send my thoughts into disarray with his bizarre manner of speech, but more than that, it feels like he¡¯s attempting to conceal something from us.¡±

    Then, Rumyantsev suddenly lowered his voice to a whisper and sneered softly, ¡°His Majesty the Tsar has instructed me that, be it human or Yin spirit alike, none shall be allowed to enter the Terminus of Terror. All who trespass must be killed without mercy!¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s none other than the Lord of Hanyang, Liu Yu.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s far more terrified of Hell than we are. After all, he knows all too well what kind of monstrosity he would be dealing with¡­¡±

 Chapter 572: Encounter with MV Sewol

    <h4>Chapter 572: Encounter with MV Sewol</h4>

    ¡°Eh? What¡¯s the matter?¡± Wang Chenghao made an expression like that of a pimp, ¡°Did someone lose their way?¡±

    It was no different from how one would prepare himself as well as he possibly could before a test, and thereafter have some inkling on how he would have done at the end of the entire session. He was praying for a miracle, but he wasn¡¯t too hopeful.

    With a soft sigh, he slumped back into his seat and began to sort through his thoughts.

    If we don¡¯t massage the point and apply lubrication, then pushing the point would cause hurt. Hurt would make for an unpleasant experience, and an unpleasant experience¡­ would most certainly lead to a whole host of unpredictable consequences¡­

    ¡°Once he leaves, I¡¯ll be forced to walk down this path of governance with at best an injured Harken to fall back on. He¡¯s allowing me to experience first-hand the negotiations between underworlds under the shelter of his wings. What I¡¯ve just experienced isn¡¯t even a formal negotiation to boot. It¡¯s just a private meeting, and yet¡­ I was sorely unprepared for it¡­¡±

    He very much wanted to intercept Liu Yu¡¯s harvest of faith.

    How often would you see a vassal state dere independence in the face of their masters? What kind of blemish would it etch on the name and reputation of their sovereign? In fact, how weak would their sovereign have to be in order to ede to such a ridiculous request by the vassal state? Qin Ye didn¡¯t even dare to think of the implications of something like this, especially when the rest of the world were all eagerly scrutinizing any movements around Hell in an attempt to uncover their current state of affairs.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew deep and abstruse, and he gently tapped his fingers on the window, ¡°Things had only gone so smoothly earlier because we were still dancing about on the peripheries of the script of death, and the Russian Underworld was still keen on discussing matters civilly with Hell. But given the manner in which I¡¯d responded earlier¡­ I¡¯d practically snatched the initiative right out of their hands and behaved like a brat who unts his might and majesty in an attempt to give himself an advantage. I sincerely hope Rumyantsev wouldn¡¯t wisen up to these little telltale signs, but¡­ given his experience and performance earlier¡­ Who am I supposed to be kidding?¡±

    ¡°Had my performance earlier been perfect, they would have let their guard down and addressed their mind fully to cooperating with Hell. Unfortunately, I¡¯m afraid that my earlier performance is worth nothing more than 60 points, or perhaps even less. They¡¯re definitely going to keep a close eye on us. It¡¯s going to be incredibly difficult to get any closer to the script of death now¡­¡±

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that I¡¯d use up these three chances so quickly.¡±

    Qin Ye pursed his lips, ¡°The Russian Underworld may know where the soul of Emperor Taizu of Yuan is. They¡¯re thinking of joining forces with Hell to wipe out the demilitarized zone upied by the Mongol Empire, and they were eager to get in touch with Hell for this reason.¡±

    Genghis Khan¡­ What¡­ What kind of existence is he going to be?!

    Qin Ye frowned with some measure of exasperation, ¡°I¡¯ve just had an encounter with Rumyantsev.¡±

    These were clearly rhetorics. He knew the answer all along.

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    ¡°But anger and rage doesn¡¯t solve any problems. Hell cannot afford to get into a war - especially not against the four underworlds at the summit of theherworld. I¡¯m not afraid of the forbidden arts that they may employ, but that doesn¡¯t address the possibility of substantial coteral damage that may ensue. I eventually learned to hone my skills in negotiations as well.¡± Xu Yangyi responded calmly, ¡°So, what requests do you have this time?¡±

    Forget it, I shouldn¡¯t be thinking about these things right now. Qin Ye pondered over his next move for some time, and then smiled radiantly, ¡°I¡¯ve actually just called to chat with you and give you a report on my progress. Surely this wouldn¡¯t count as the use of my third and final chance, would it?¡±

    ¡­ How cold and unreasonable!

    Xu Yangyi: ???

    ¡°Lend me your wisdom perspective~!¡± Qin Ye sped his palms together and sted at the top of his voice, ¡°Let me see things with the utmost rity~~!¡±

    Qin Ye immediately ceased his performance and continued solemnly, ¡°I¡¯d like to borrow your eyes to check the vicinity around the Jukseong Dream Cathedral at Gijang County to see if there¡¯s a vessel or ship nearby.¡±

    But what was a ship doing close to the source of the outbreak of the living dead?

    Ahn Somi was dead, and Mukov had taken over her role. How can the Russian Underworld be certain that the routes overseen by Ahn Somi haven¡¯t beenpromised?

    Within moments, the screen of light flickered slightly, and then apletely different image appeared on it. A massive shadow of a ship appeared in the picture, surrounded by the living dead that appeared to be queuing to board it. Several other figures could be seen ushering and giving directions to the living dead.

    It looked worn and weathered, covered in rust and hardly functional. In fact, there was no doubt that the ship must be grounded, because Qin Ye could even see several gaping holes on the hull of the vessel! There were also some Daeian words written on the side of the vessel.

    The MV Sewol had never been salvaged.

    Would they make a move at the bequest of a few families when not even someone as powerful and influential as Lee Jung-sook was able to do a thing about it?

    Yet, who would¡¯ve thought that it would somehow be seen once more near the Jukseong Dream Cathedral in Gijang County?

    Everyone nced over and took a closer look at where Oda Nobutada was pointing at. At once, chills ran down their spines.

    It was the face of a man!

    And it was clearly moving and living!

    There were clearly thousands - possibly even tens of thousands - of living dead carrying the ship from beneath it, just like a funeral procession carrying a coffin.

    Kwon Kyung-ho nced at them, and then immediately leaned closer into the screen with bloodshot eyes, ¡°These¡­ These are¡­ Eun-joo? Min-tae? Sang-woo? W-what are they doing here?! What the hell is going on?!¡±

    ¡°Ghost ship, and Earthbound Spirits. Furthermore, as a result of the intense resentment and grievances filling the area, MV Sewol itself¡­ has evolved and developed spiritual awareness as well¡­¡± Qin Ye was also taken aback by the sight before his eyes. Admittedly, Cathay and Daehan had always been dealing with each other with a rather strained rtionship. But, even then¡­ These were innocent children! Hundreds of teenage lives that were sacrificed for nothing!

    ¡°Odious Spirit of Filth.¡± Just then, the Second King Yanluo spoke from the other end of the screen of light, ¡°It¡¯s good news for us?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. ck Yaksha and Crow Tengu aren¡¯t formal Abyssal Prefects, and they wouldn¡¯t be stable enough as a foundation for the six paths of reincarnation. But¡­ it would suffice so long as you add the Odious Spirit of Filth to the mix.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly as he continued to stare intently at the screen of light.

    But¡­ would the ship be going bynd or by water? Qin Ye couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    Qin Ye nodded nkly, and then suddenly smiled, ¡°Just an inkling. Perhaps¡­ nothing ventured, nothing gained?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°I know. But surely it wouldn¡¯t be too much to ask you for help to pull a veil over Marquis Rumyantsev¡¯s eyes, would it?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, and then nced nkly at the roof of the car with a bitter smile on his face, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it. I simply can¡¯t tolerate having Liu Yu trample all over me and giving me a tight p to the face. Besides, it does seem that a moment of tolerance here would lead to far greater consequences¡­¡±

    ¡°This is the second time.¡±

    ¡°Can you not mention these things already?!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Qin Ye was singing a Chinese song called ÎíÀï¿´»¨

    2. The author states at the end of this chapter that this isn¡¯t true. The MV Sewol was in fact subsequently salvaged, but this little twist in the fact was needed for the storyline.

 Chapter 573: Plants vs Zombies

    <h4>Chapter 573: nts vs Zombies</h4>

    After shutting offmunications with the Second King Yanluo, Qin Ye went on to recount everything that had transpired during the banquet, and then proceeded to put on makeup for all three of them. It was all for the purposes of what they were about to do, but none of them had expected the makeup to be that out of the world!

    Location - a convenience store.

    Qin Ye smoothly grabbed a handful of blood from the face of a living dead nearby and smeared it all over Wang Chenghao¡¯s face, ¡°What¡¯s the point of saying all that? Look at the situation we¡¯re in right now. What else can we possibly do?¡±

    He didn¡¯t look any bit like a living human being anymore. Every single part of him appeared no different from a chewed up living dead, just like any other beside him! And what was even more infuriating to Wang Chenghao was the fact that Oda Nobutada didn¡¯t even appear the slightest bit ufortable despite being given the same treatment!

    About a dozen or so minutester, Qin Ye finally stood up with great satisfaction. He had even torn Wang Chenghao¡¯s clothes in several ces to make it even more believable. With that, he finally sized up his masterpiece, ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t you stand up and take a few steps around?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin and turned to the side. Oda Nobutada frowned slightly, ¡°He doesn¡¯t look rigid enough.¡±

    Famousst words.

    One shot, one kill! Nail on the head!

    Wang Chenghao stared agape at Oda Nobutada.

    He wriggled his neck slightly, and then even began to make several popping sounds at his lips¡­

    ¡°Cough¡­ sorry¡­ It was a reflexive action¡­¡± Wang Chenghao cleared his throat and began to massage his temples, ¡°Brother Qin, what exactly are you trying to do here? There¡¯s no need to go this far, is there?¡±

    At once, the two zombies standing before Qin Ye shut their lips. A split secondter, the ground trembled slightly.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon.¡± Qin Ye squinted his eyes and nced outside, ¡°From now on, don¡¯t speak, and blend into the crowd.¡±

    BOOM!!!

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± Wang Chenghao nced over, only to notice that the man leading the charge was d in golden armor, while his cavalry followed closely behind him in a tight formation, almost like a roaring dragon tearing through thends. The Yin spirits behind carried massive gs that valiantly dered their allegiance - Liu.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Qin Ye rolled his eyes back and worked hard to blend into the spiritually unaware living dead situated all around him. He couldn¡¯t afford any mistakes right now.

    The three men stared intently at the door to the supermarket. Secondster, it burst open, and a shadowy spirit dressed in the spanking new Tigerform Battle Armor and riding a skeletal war horse immediately appeared at the doorway. Copious amounts of Yin energy poured out all around him, and he swept a deadly gaze around as he surveyed the supermarket.

    Surprisingly, no other Yin soldiers came by afterwards. Approximately half an hourter, the streets outside finally began to calm down. Wang Chenghao whispered, ¡°Can we finally head out now?¡±

    ¡°Stop with the acting!!¡± Wang Chenghao was on the verge of losing his mind. The nauseating stench of corpses around him was killing him slowly from within!

    I¡¯m already dead!!

    ¡°So?¡± Wang Chenghao queried back, ¡°Why do we need to get to where MV Sewol is located?¡±

    Wang Chenghao blinked his eyes vacantly. The information was slowly sinking in.

    ¡°Why did Liu Yu appear at this time? It¡¯s because the Russian Underworld has finally alerted him to our existence. This is slightly unexpected, but still makes sense. Liu Yu is undoubtedly the one most ufortable with our presence in Daehan. His first reaction would undoubtedly be to increase the number of his soldiers stationed in Gonjiam Asylum. Meanwhile, the Second King Yanluo had mentioned that the script of death was located well beyond the bottom line of any underworld.¡± His eyes burned with passion as he nced at the map of rtionships he had just outlined in the air, and his mind began to spin with thoughts.

    Qin Ye had depicted Pusan as a mountain with an axe above it. He then proceeded to draw a red cross above Pusan, had a rethink, erased the symbol and reced it with a coil.

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°Doesn¡¯t this symbol generally mean dizziness or giddiness? Isn¡¯t that a form of mental illness? Any other questions?¡±

    No.

    Qin Ye drew a line connecting the coil and the axe-mountain representing Pusan, and then murmured softly, ¡°In other words, that ce would be no different from the dragon¡¯sir. We¡¯re talking about the allure of a harvest of faith sufficient to found an entire underworld. The risk of having the function of their death god seized from right underneath their noses might drive them absolutely insane. After all, to be able to create a monster like Choi Tae-min, this script of death would have to be absolute madness in and of itself. And if I still wish to head right into the dragon¡¯sir and intercept Liu Yu¡¯s harvest of faith, the best way to do this would naturally be to¡­¡±

    With that, Qin Ye proceeded to carefully sort through his thoughts once more. These ns were incredibly risky. He didn¡¯t have any information on the depth of security forces surrounding MV Sewol, or how exactly they should blend in or fit in. To this end, he would have no choice but to take things one step at a time.

    It was the difference between 1% and 0%, yet he was still willing to push forward with it. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t believe the inclination in his mind right now.

    Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao tried desperately to find inspiration from Qin Ye¡¯s soul painting. But, s, the two were onpletely different nes of understanding, and they simply couldn¡¯t understand what the other was thinking.

    ¡°What advantages?¡± Wang Chenghao promptly pressed the point on the statements he could actually understand. Meanwhile, Oda Nobutada was clearly deep in thought.

    Wang Chenghao rubbed his chin, ¡°But that¡¯s not right¡­ Hasn¡¯t Liu Yu crossed paths with you before? Surely he wouldn¡¯t expect anything more of you given your cowardly demeanor¡­¡±

    ¡°The Third King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    ¡°Lord Qin? Daddy Qin? Brother Qin?¡±

    At once, Wang Chenghao understood where this was all going.

    In other words, Hell would never stoop so low!

    Oda Nobutada nodded deeply, ¡°The ability to be critical about oneself is a quality that a high-ranking official of any underworld should possess. After all, it¡¯s this quality that enables one to broaden his horizon and expand his perspective quickly. That said, isn¡¯t this attribute now our greatest advantage?¡±

    ¡°To their minds, I¡¯m still unaware of the exact transport route used by them for the shipment of the living dead! It was byplete coincidence that I¡¯d heard the sound of the ship¡¯s horn during the dinner banquet. However, this was probably something that they¡¯re already ustomed to hearing from time to time, especially when Rumyantsev gets upset. Unfortunately¡­ I caught wind of it.¡±

    Wang Chenghao shook his head and nced at Qin Ye with great exasperation, ¡°Brother Qin¡­ This isn¡¯t like you at all.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye lifted his sleeves and revealed the bulging muscles on his arm, ¡°Could you repeat yourself? I didn¡¯t get you earlier.¡±

    ¡°...... You¡¯ve always been cowardly and all for safety and security. But to think a day would finallye when you would even think of seizing the initiative, and even be so bold as to dive right into the lion¡¯s den without any knowledge of the extent of their defenses! Do you know how dangerous things are?! Your persona¡­ haspletely copsed!¡±

    <hr>

    1. I¡¯ve got no idea where or why this reference suddenly came up btw.

    2. Crazy Dave is something like the storyteller/narrator in nts Vs Zombies.

    3. In Chinese, Pusan is ¸ªÉ½, which sounds like ¸« and É½, which would mean axe-mountain.

 Chapter 574: Into Enemy Lines (1)

    <h4>Chapter 574: Into Enemy Lines (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye would have shown him that not even the tailed beasts were invincible existences!

    Sensing the absence of any murderous intent, Wang Chenghao sighed softly to himself and continued boldly, ¡°But credit where it¡¯s due, the look on your face earlier was pretty damn smart. I guess it¡¯s true when they say that men are the most good looking when they¡¯re serious¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao nearly coughed up blood. Suppressing the rage in his heart, he frowned back at Qin Ye, ¡°Speaking of which, it¡¯s crazy that you¡¯re able toe up with a n like that despite theck of information. That said, have you ever considered how we¡¯re supposed to extricate ourselves from this sea of living dead in the off-chance that if your ns fail? We¡¯re ying with fire over here!¡±

    Oda Nobutada thought for a little while, and then nodded affirmatively.

    To his mind, there was a 50% chance that they would risk straining rtions with Hell and go all out against the trio.

    He nced at Qin Ye cautiously, and then chose his words wisely, ¡°Haven¡¯t even tried your hand at it before.¡±

    Wang Chenghao: ¡­¡­

    Shouldn¡¯t your next statement have been a drop of wisdom in the ocean, revealing that there is in truth no danger with these operations?

    Qin Ye began to touch up the blood of the living dead on the faces of the other two, ¡°Never, ever let the cat out of the bag.¡±

    ¡°Naturally, we can only expect them to treat us with the utmost ruthlessness - far beyond anything we can expect of the Russian Underworld. Rumyantsev might not dare to stain his hands with the blood of an Infernal Judge of Hell, but so long as we continue to threaten the grand opening of the Hanyang Underworld, Liu Yu¡¯s forces would most certainly not hesitate to squash us like an ant¡­¡±

    Pak!

    His pce was constructed in the most luxurious manner, and with the most precious of materials. There were walls of gold, coiled dragon pirs, and even a golden well etched with the reliefs of nine majestic dragons. A throne of dragons was situated on a raised tform in the grand hall, while a goldcquered table was ced right in front of his throne, on which rested a turquoise jade seal.

    ¡°Gijang County is where you first employed the Ouroboros spell! Zhong Kui would have had to travel across the entire Buk District, through the Geumjeong District in order to get to Gijang County! You even allowed him to slip into the Jukseong Dream Cathedral before you finally informed me about their infiltration?! What in the world are you trying to do here?!!¡±

    Anyone familiar with world history would recognize this emblem, because this emblem once represented the supreme power of Rus!

    It was once the most powerful spy organization in the world, bar none! They shone so brightly that even the FBI could do nothing more than bow down to them in submission, at least until they were finally disbanded in 1991, and what remained of them changed their name to the Russian Federal Security Service.

    Do you think that British MI6 is a big deal? How about the Cambridge Five double agents?

    And what about President Putin?

    The Red Terror.

    The man standing in front of Liu Yu was merely a Hellguard-ss Yin spirit, but he stood valiantly and without fear before the Infernal Judge Liu Yu.

    His voice deepened as he continued, ¡°Earl Liu, it¡¯s our right to withhold any information from you. This information has merely been disclosed to you out of goodwill. Besides, rather than pointing fingers, shouldn¡¯t you be channeling your mind towards how you can salvage the situation?¡±

    As the figure of the Hellguard faded away, he left Liu Yu with some parting words, ¡°Marquis Rumyantsev is already heading to Gonjiam Asylum. Ah, that¡¯s right. He¡¯s asked me to specifically inform you that this Infernal Judge carries two high-quality Yin artifacts with him.¡±

    ¡°Who knows¡­?¡± The man chuckled softly, ¡°The Russian Underworld may be strong, but we certainly don¡¯t have as much gall as Earl Liu when ites to standing tall against one of the four strongest underworlds¡­¡±

    With that, the stream of Yin energy vanished into the distance. Liu Yu stood nkly where he was for a long time, before suddenly jerking his head up with an intense, murderous intent brewing in the depths of his eyes.

    Having done so much¡­ and having been presented with such a prime opportunity¡­ how can I simply call it quits right now?!

    The humiliation today shall be repaid double once I im the Central ins as mine. Who cares if you¡¯re the Lord of the Danube or not? You weren¡¯t even born when I first called myself an emperor!

    ¡°My Lord, we await your orders.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± A Hellguard responded, but then immediately paused, ¡°But, My Lord¡­ we can¡¯t get inside¡­¡±

    Such humiliation¡­

    It was no different from how the Daeian Armed Forces still needed the nod of approval from the Usonian forces!

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    tter¡­ Momentster, pieces of golden battle armor appeared in the air and began to affix themselves onto Liu Yu¡¯s body.

    The entire pce was brightly lit, and filled with an atmosphere of vibrancy and excitement.

    ¡°When the cat¡¯s away, the mice will y. You should leave now if you know what¡¯s best for you. Once the Hanyang Underworld is properly established, and the trade talks with Yanluo Qin resume, I¡¯ll naturally see to it that I reward you ordingly. But should you dare linger around any longer where your presence isn¡¯t wee¡­¡±

    Boom! With that, Liu Yu transformed into a majestichergale that swept right out of the golden pce. As he charged out, tens of thousands of skeletal war horses and cavalrymen followed his lead and rumbled right after him.

    Dong¡­ dong¡­ Midnight. The toll of bells cut through the dead silence of the night, stirring to life the multitude of living dead in the city.

    As soon as the bells rang, the living dead in the convenience store looked up in unison and nced avariciously at the empty city streets outside.

    Nobody was kidding around anymore. Each of the trio put on their best performance, doing everything they could to blend into the group of the living dead that was marching out onto the streets.

    The aura of Yin energy quickly shifted away from him, and only then did he feel his heart palpitating with fear. The Yin energy was clearly filled with bloodlust. Who knows how many humans it had devoured by now? At the very least, he could tell that this was in no way a trifling Yin spirit.

    He silently surveyed the surroundings of Gijang County after midnight. The entire county reeked of decay and fetid odor as living corpses with twisted expressions and contorted limbs took to the streets, wandering aimlessly about. It was an incredibly bizarre sight under the pale sheen of the moonlight. The only sounds were the rustling of feet and the involuntary gurgling sounds made by the throats of the living dead. His eyes passed over a few buildings, and then¡­ he suddenly paused.

    These were regr Yin soldiers of the Hanyang Underworld!

    <hr>

    1.

    2.

 Chapter 575: Into Enemy Lines (2)

    <h4>Chapter 575: Into Enemy Lines (2)</h4>

    Wang Chenghao twisted his body and nced over towards the prompt.

    They were wearing ck robes, almost as though they were the monks of a sect. They wore ck crosses, and carried pitch-ck chains in their left hand and a greenntern in their right.

    The Russian Underworld¡­ The trio exchanged knowing nces, and then promptly retracted their gazes.

    Nobody said another word, and they all melded inconspicuously into the throng of the living dead. Even then, they couldn¡¯t help but feel like they were standing out among the rest, like the radiant sun amidst the dark night skies. Not only that, they could sense gazes of scrutiny pass by from time to time, together with a hair-raising oppressive aura of murderous intent.

    The consequences of even the slightest mistake on their part would be unthinkable. Furthermore, the elite Yin soldiers of the Hanyang Underworld looked no different from daunting ancient Roman statues that told them everything they needed to know about Liu Yu¡¯s attitude towards them. It revealed the stark contrast in security before and after Qin Ye¡¯s meeting with Marquis Rumyantsev!

    Damn¡­

    Gwangju City needs to be evacuated. I¡¯m afraid not even the LSD is aware of just how dangerously close they are to the edge of the precipice right now. They¡¯re practically on the verge of the most intense supernatural outbreak that the entire East Continent has seen in thest 50 years!

    Unfortunately, he was no longer at liberty to simply reach out to her right now. He nced at the Russian Underworld Emissaries that were weaving through the crowd of the living dead. Although the three of them were separated from each other by a few living dead, they still did their best to keep a reasonable distance from each other whilst trudging slowly towards the MV Sewol.

    It was as though they were shepherds of darkness moving about by night.

    Qin Ye nodded slightly. Wang Chenghao trembled, ¡°Then¡­ doesn¡¯t that mean that we¡¯ll¡­ have to get ourselves selected? Doesn¡¯t that mean that we¡¯ll have to get up close and personal with the Russian Underworld Emissaries?¡±

    It was for this precise reason that when he put on makeup for all three of them earlier, he deliberately refrained from making them look too ¡°broken¡±. This would increase their odds of being selected to carry the massive ghost ship. After all, disabled living dead could never support the weight of such a massive vessel.

    There was no warning.

    Wang Chenghao froze in horror, while Qin Ye and Oda Nobutada immediately lowered their heads.

    Wang Chenghao didn¡¯t move. His mind went numb for an instant, and then a flurry of thoughts suddenly poured forth like a flood.

    Should I do something? Or should I wait?

    Damn it¡­ Then, just as the bony handnded on the crown of his head, he mustered thest of his willpower and fought hard to put on a nk look on his face.

    Then, the Russian Emissary promptly raised his other hand to Wang Chenghao¡¯s cheeks and forcefully lifted his head.

    The Russian Emissary was staring dead into his eyes, almost as though he could stare straight into his soul.

    Wang Chenghao discreetly tightened his fists. Then, with everything he had, he tensed up all of his facial muscles, and his expression began to grow listless and nk once more.

    It was a moment of extreme crisis, but he had actually managed to rise up to the asion and put on a perfect performance!

    ¡°Haa--... Ssss¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao¡¯s limbs nearly weakened and went limp at that statement. Fortunately, his mind was still alert, and he immediately tensed up his muscles and maintained the rigidity of his body so that the Russian Emissary wouldn¡¯t detect anything amiss.

    Fortunately, the Russian Emissary didn¡¯t notice the real reason he was unable to get to his feet - his legs were trembling profusely underneath his tattered pants.

    Meanwhile, a turquoise light erupted from underneath thentern in the hands of the Russian Emissary, enveloping all of the living dead around him. Incidentally, both Qin Ye and Oda Nobutada were swept up at once as well.

    Thud¡­ Wang Chenghao slumped back down onto the ground,pletely covered in cold sweat. The living dead around them appeared to have received some order of sorts, and they began to follow the path traced out for them by the blue light on the ground.

    Two secondster, Qin Ye suddenly asked without looking back, ¡°If it were you, what would you have done?¡±

    Then, he added with great emotion, ¡°To bepletely honest, I¡¯d expected Mr Wang to have lost his cool. Unexpectedly¡­ he rose to the asion and actually pulled through.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Wang Chenghao actually managed to pull through!

    Again, Oda Nobutada responded without hesitation, ¡°Because he knew that he would implicate us if his identity were exposed. Lord Qin, even though Mr Wang may becking in some ways, there¡¯s no doubt that he¡¯s loyal to you.¡±

    He could see what Qin Ye was about to do.

    Qin Ye grew taciturn as he continued to plod on with the rest of the living dead. After a long time, he smiled listlessly, ¡°But doing so would mean the loss of a dear child¡­¡±

    War would change everything.

    The group of select living dead followed the guidance of thentern¡¯s blue light straight towards MV Sewol. It took an inordinate amount of time, but they finally saw the cruise ship appear on the horizon.

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. His guess had been right. The ship¡¯s horn was something that Rumyantsev and his men were already used to, and it was for that reason that they hadpletely obviated its existence from their mind. Little did it ur to them that the sound of the ship¡¯s horn that they had so taken for granted was the very same sound that had triggered inspiration in Qin Ye¡¯s mind.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t Choi Tae-min¡¯s body. It¡¯s just a ghost ship. It¡¯s only because it¡¯s closely linked to Choi Tae-min that it bears the same semnce to Choi Tae-min¡¯s face.¡± Oda Nobutada spoke gruffly, ¡°My Lord, please be careful. There¡¯s something unusual about this ghost ship¡­¡±

    Most of all, it was a palpably evil existence.

    Holy shit! Qin Ye cursed in his heart. Nobody could anticipate what was going to happen, but even this was a little too much by his standards!

    Crunch, crunch¡­ Blood and bone sttered everywhere in an instant. However, Qin Ye remained as vignt as ever, because¡­ he could sense the face still staring at him with slight astonishment.

    How could it possess such keen senses? How did it sense me among the tens of thousands of living dead? Logically speaking, the concealment bestowed by the Second King Yanluo should never be detected by anyone!

 Chapter 576: King of Spies

    <h4>Chapter 576: King of Spies</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s actions caused him to fall to the ground. Meanwhile, Choi Tae-min¡¯s face at the bow of the vessel immediately scanned the entire group of living dead once more. At once, he unleashed a terrifying shriek, and countless chains formed out of Yin energy burst forth from his lips in all directions.

    Just like now.

    Why?

    No, it wasn¡¯t of its own volition. In that instant, Qin Ye sensed an incredibly unsettling aura sweep across the vicinity, forcefully suppressing the riotous actions of the MV Sewol.

    Just then, another silhouette suddenly appeared atop the bow of the vessel.

    His cor was down, and he wore a striking leather hat over his head. That said, his facial features were clearly visible at a nce. But as soon as Qin Ye did, he immediately cursed under his breath.

    There was once a couple who adopted him who were both famous professors at a well-known university. During that time, he took advantage of the resources they had ess to and read through various books in their library. Incidentally, this man¡¯s portrait was featured on one of the covers of these books he had read.

    How good was he, you ask?

    In other words, it wouldn¡¯t be an overstatement to say that he had single-handedly influenced the entire course of World War 2!

    There was the head of a woman that was growing right out of his back!

    ¡°What¡¯s this--...¡± Qin Ye froze for a moment, and then soon recalled something else that was noteworthy.

    It was a confluence of such coincidences that one couldn¡¯t help but think that Fate had something to do with it.

    By coincidence, the Nipponese army detected a signal from the house in which Richard lived, and that led to the arrest of Hanako Ishii. From there, they would go on to locate a lighter that Hanako Ishii had previously removed from a drawer when she was smoking in Richard¡¯s room just a few days ago. What¡¯s more, this had only happened because she had taken it out and forgotten to put it back into the drawer. Instead, she left it in the pocket of her coat.

    In November 1944, the King of Spies was finally sentenced to death by the Nipponese army. The Yin spirit attached to his back would undoubtedly have to be Hanako Ishii.

    Shit¡­

    The concealment of appearances and camouge of Yin energy waspletely useless in the face of such experts! What they picked up was other cues and signals that only experts would know about!

    ¡°Tsk¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed softly. He couldn¡¯t help but get the urge to give himself a few tight ps across the cheeks - What¡¯s going on? How can you still think of pushing on with the n? Who knows where the King of Spies features in this grand scheme that the Russian Underworld hase up with?

    Is this merely because of man¡¯s inclination towards taking risks?

    ¡°I must be going crazy¡­¡± Qin Ye massaged his throbbing temples and muttered back under his breath, ¡°By all means possible, stay away from that man.¡±

    We¡¯re just 300 meters away. Once we pile into the hull of the vessel, everything should be alright¡­

    Back on the bow. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Richard frowned as he asked with fluent English.

    ¡°Earlier, I thought I saw a delicious snack. But in the blink of an eye, he vanished¡­¡±

    Richard squinted his eyes and calmly swept a gaze across the sea of living dead that were swarming all around them. Secondster, he waved his hand. At once, a male shadowy silhouette dressed in ancient Daeian garments immediately drifted over, ¡°I await yourmand.¡±

    ¡°After the meeting with Hell, His Excellency suddenly lost track of their Emissaries. Thus, he¡¯s rushing back to Gyeonggi Province at top speed.¡±

    Secondster, he silently fished out a goose feather quill from his pocket.

    They were worshipping the god of death!

    ¡°Get down!¡± As soon as the goose feather quill appeared, Qin Ye¡¯s voice immediately boomed in hispanion¡¯s ears. The living dead were all on their knees within moments. Fortunately, his reminder came swiftly enough, and Oda Nobutada and Wang Chenghao were both able to react just in time to blend in to the crowd.

    This was¡­ the arrival of the god of death!

    Even Qin Ye couldn¡¯t stop his heart from palpitating with fear.

    A split secondter, countless eyes emerged from a rift in the darkness, and they began to slowly scan the living dead that were kneeling on the ground.

    Everyone knew exactly what would happen if their cover was blown right here.

    ¡°Nothing?¡± The ghost ship asked.

    ¡°Kill him!!¡± The woman whose head emerged from the back of his neck screamed at the top of her voice. Meanwhile, the trenchcoat behind him fluttered wildly, almost as though another person were going to emerge from within. A faint silhouette of a woman appeared on the back of his trenchcoat.

    The ghost ship sighed softly, ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°Instincts¡­¡± The ghost ship snorted.

    ¡°So, what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°The KGB never fails!¡±

    Beneath the vessel. Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief.

    The negotiations have fallen through, and both sides will soon be ying the cards hidden up their sleeves. I wonder how many more hidden powers we¡¯re going to see emerge from the shadows as we take on this journey straight into the heart of the Gonjiam Asylum?

    Meanwhile, the trio were paddling desperately on a frail little boat out in the roaring sea of the living dead, in danger of capsizing at the slightest misstep. Unfortunately for them, their voyage was only just beginning.

    <hr>

    1. The story told here is somewhat different from the ount on Wiki, so take it with a pinch of salt.

 Chapter 577: Run, Child!

    <h4>Chapter 577: Run, Child!</h4>

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye opened his eyes and scanned the vicinity, ¡°In fact, I suspect that¡­ they might already have noticed us.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore¡­¡± Qin Ye lifted his chin and directed Wang Chenghao¡¯s gaze to the area just outside the ferry, ¡°Haven¡¯t you noticed that we didn¡¯t encounter any obstacles along the way at all?¡±

    Ignoring Wang Chenghao¡¯sints, Oda Nobutada asked, ¡°So, why aren¡¯t they making a move?¡±

    He nced up at the dark night sky in the distance, ¡°Well, one thing is certain - they wouldn¡¯t make a move right away¡­¡±

    ¡°Just like a hunter, I¡¯d wait and bide my time for the right opportunity to move. And believe me, thest thing that a person like himcks is patience. His strongest trait is the fact that he¡¯s cunning, just like a snake in the desert. So, from now on, you guys better stay on top of your toes. You¡¯re here to help me out, and not to act as a hindrance.¡±

    It was the witching hour. Just then, a long horn sounded from the heart of the Jukseong Dream Cathedral.

    ¡°Haah!¡± The living dead suddenly roared at the top of their voices. And then, they unanimously moved a step forward.

    ¡°Is this ship¡­ actually going bynd?!¡± Qin Ye nced around in astonishment. He had a bad feeling about this, and his heart promptly skipped a beat.

    Thump! Like the neatest of boatmen, all of the living dead neatly lifted their left legs and marched forward in unison, almost as though they were military soldiers who had performed the same drill countless times.

    Thump, thump, thump! It was neat and rhythmic. After floundering about for a bit, Qin Ye and the rest managed to find their rhythm and move in tandem with the rest of the living dead. As they marched, the ghost ship that had been buried on the seabed for years began to shift out of the coast and into Gijang County.

    Whoosh¡­ From time to time, the hull of the ship would collide with the building on both sides, causing the walls of the building to crumble and copse everywhere. After marching for about a kilometer, Qin Ye suddenly jerked his eyes up and nced right up towards the national highway.

    It was a t expanse.

    Qin Ye nodded. He finally understood where his bad premonition earlier hade from.

    So, how would they possibly arrive at their destination in just a few days¡¯ time?

    They must have a way of manipting the living dead such that they could move at breakneck speed!

    Besides, who¡¯s going to be casting this spell?

    Or is it¡­ the quill of the god of death?

    The bow of the vessel was aimed deep into the horizon, where the national highway extended. It felt almost as though a raging wave had risen high up above them, ready to crash down on them at the moment¡¯s notice.

    The Tsar¡¯s personal Yin artifact was located right above their heads. Regardless of how powerful the Second King Yanluo was, it didn¡¯t change the fact his concealment ability had been casted on Qin Ye¡¯s party from beyond the realm. Who knows whether it would be able to hold up underneath the might of the Tsar¡¯s abilities?

    These were heads of women. No, to be more precise, they were the heads of Hanako Ishii!

    It¡¯sing¡­ Qin Ye pursed his lips tightly. At moments like this, his intuition was the only thing he could actually trust.

    Just then, a thin white line of white plumes show down from the bow of the ship and into the spines of all the living dead.

    Meanwhile, the living dead around them had already begun to breathe once more. As they breathed, Yin energy filled their bodies, and their muscles immediately began to bulge wildly at once.

    A split secondter, the living dead suddenly began to run forward as it carried the massive vessel!

    Thump, thump, thump! Tens of thousands of living dead were carrying a ferry and running across the national highway with incredible speed! Borrowing the rtive speed of modern day transportation, they slowly elerated to the speed of RC cars, and then buses, and then cars¡­ until a minuteter, when they actually reached speeds no different from that of an express train!

    What kind of ridiculous spell is this?!

    Yet what was even stranger was the fact that as their speed increased, their physical bodies slowly began to fade and grow hazy, almost as though they were rushing straight into thends of the undead.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to consider these things in detail, because¡­ he could hear soft gaspsing from right behind him.

    The tide of corpses was zing through the national highway of Gijang County. Yet what was perhaps most terrifying was the fact that their speed had reached that of peak Hellguard-ss Yin spirits! This was simply beyond the speed that the other two could sustain!

    In that instant, Qin Ye suddenly understood how the King of Spies was nning to sieve out the living from the living dead.

    Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao desperately maintained the dull look of a living dead without even ncing up at them. That said, it was clear that his face was getting flushed.

    This would include sweating, and increase in body temperature, and a rise in blood pressure.

    We¡¯ve been discovered.

    The white mist that was emerging from their lips with each breath that they took stood out among the throng of living dead around them. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would be caught in no less than ten minutes of their sessful infiltration of the living dead?

    Regardless, I¡¯ll hold on for as long as I can¡­ Wang Chenghao gritted his teeth and continued running forward. Unfortunately, as his breaths grew more ragged, so did the number of female heads that slowly gathered around him. Momentster, they suddenly opened their mouths and unleashed a terrifying shriek!

    Their eyes bulged wildly, while their lips split open from ear to ear, revealing row after row of razor-sharp teeth within. A second ago, they all bore the same appearance of a beautifuldy, and yet a momentter, they all appeared no different from a terrifying asura. At once, they lunged straight for Wang Chenghao¡¯s jugrs!

    Right now, only one option remained - mutiny!

    Back on the bow of the vessel. As soon as the human heads began to surround Wang Chenghao, Richard¡¯s eyes snapped open, and he sneered, ¡°Found you. Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Richard transformed into ahergale and flew straight into one of the cabins of the ship, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent a messenger bird out to notify Liu Yu. The one who wants that Judge-ss Emissary of Hell dead isn¡¯t us, but him.¡±

    ¡°Straddling the line between Yin and Yang?!¡± Qin Ye nced around with disbelief as everything slowly turned illusory. Is this really what the Odious Spirit of Filth is capable of? Is this the might of the 7th-ranked special Yin spirit?!

    No¡­ Regardless of where it might be, I simply cannot allow them to seize the initiative!

    ¡°Ahh¡­ it hurts¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡± ¡°Save me¡­¡± ¡°Ssss!!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here¡­¡± Choi Tae-min licked his lips excitedly, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right¡­ You¡¯re the one¡­ I remember you! You want to go to Gonjiam Asylum? I¡¯ll give you a ride for free! Hahahaha!¡±

    But not on your terms. I¡¯d never think of charging right into the waiting arms of Liu Yu¡¯s army and the forces of the Russian Underworld.

    It was because antern was slowly emerging from the heart of the vortex.

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± Richard was just holding a ss of wine in his cabin as he jerked his head up with great disbelief, ¡°Marquis?¡±

    ¡°Marquis-ss Yin energy?!¡±

 Chapter 578: Aversion (1)

    <h4>Chapter 578: Aversion (1)</h4>

    The Yin energy raged wildly outside, causing all of the living dead standing beneath the vessel to tremble violently. The human face on the bow of the ship shrieked in terror, and it instantly tensed up the chains tethered to the heads of the living dead, forcing them to turn their heads around.

    Many of them shuddered violently as a majestic wave of Yin energy swept over their entire beings like a mountain looming over them. In an instant, many of them fell to their knees with a soft thud, and they instinctivelyy prostrate on the ground with ragged breaths. The entire ghost ship sank slightly as it rested on the backs of the living dead after their change in posture.

    Aren¡¯t we supposed to have the backing of a Yama-ss Yin artifact?!

    Richard held the quill in his hand with the same measure of disbelief as he watched it spin rapidly around. He could sense the Tsar¡¯s Yin energy slowly diffusing from the heart of the quill. What¡¯s going on? This shouldn¡¯t be happening. The god of death¡¯s quill should¡¯ve been able to suppress all Prefect-ss Yin artifacts on a qualitative level! How could this be happening?!

    Gritting his teeth, he pushed on the door, only to notice that the vortex of Yin energy was already close to a hundred meters wide! The Peach Blossomntern swept up all of the surrounding Yin energy, pulling it all into the heart of thentern where it slowly but surely condensed into a brilliant golden light. Meanwhile, the chilling creaks of a tightening bowstring could be heard from the heart of the vortex, amidst the cacophonous cries of an entire abyss of ghosts. The terrifyinghergale emitted by the vortex sent Richard¡¯s clothes fluttering everywhere, almost as though he were standing by the shore facing an iing tsunami.

    ¡°My Lord!!!¡± The ghost ship shrieked back. Choi Tae-min¡¯s pupils had narrowed so much that they were no longerrger than the eye of a needle. Meanwhile, copious amounts of Yin energy were still rising from the hull of the ship and scattering into the air.

    ¡°It may be powered by an Infernal Judge, but the energy output of this Prefect-ss Yin artifact is definitely strong enough to st us out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine...¡±

    As he spoke, a brilliant golden light suddenly erupted like the sun rising from the horizon, consuming all of the darkness shrouding the region at once.

    Whoosh! A mighty golden ck shockwave visible to the naked eye erupted from the heart of the vortex and swept through hundreds of miles in an instant. The power of the shockwave was so strong that it caused the ghost ship to scream and its hull to decay even further!

    I can¡¯t hang on any longer¡­

    The reality instantly filled the ghost ship with despair.

    Just then, a grey plume erupted from within and spread out above the frame of the ghost ship, covering itpletely and keeping the brilliant radiance of the Peach Blossom Lantern outside.

    Unfortunately, the grey barrier was like an indomitable wall. No matter how heavily the beams of light mmed against the barrier, it remained tall and immovable, just like a lofty mountain.

    ¡°Haa--...¡± MV Sewol finally heaved a long sigh of relief. Sure, it might have been dragged out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine, but at least it managed to survive.

    Click¡­ At once, the entire world turnedpletely dark.

    Click, click, click, click¡­ The image before its eyes flickered rhythmically, causing a feeling of uneasiness to mount in its heart. Even though it couldn¡¯t sense anything unusual around it, the voice in its heart screamed frantically at it - Get out! Escape at once! There are terrifying creatures descending upon you from above!

    Whoosh¡­ The ghost ship could no longer tell where he was, because there was a thick, dense fog thatpletely enshrouded him at this moment.

    ¡°This is¡­ the descent of a high-ranking predator! It¡¯s a powerful Yin spirit!¡± The living dead below were alreadyying prostrate on the ground once more. Yet what was perhaps more surprising to him right now was the fact that he simply couldn¡¯t sense the Yin energy of both Mukov and Richard. It was almost as though he had been sequestered in apletely different realm!

    It clearly possesses the ability to straddle Yin and Yang in the Yin Yang Mezzanine¡­ Could it¡­ Could it perhaps be stronger than Choi Tae-min himself? How could something like this appear in Daehan? H-how is this possible?!

    ¡°Farewell to thee, farewell to thee¡­ The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers¡­¡±

    It was a child¡¯s voice.

    Two scarlet eyes opened in the vast expanse of darkness within his consciousness, staring intently at him as though they were peering straight into its soul with overflowing resentment.

    No¡­ NO!!!

    Three words were written in Daeian - Tunnel No. 3.

    ¡°Mr¡­ Mr Richard¡­¡± The ghost ship¡¯s voice trembled, ¡°Mukov! Mukov!!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°Vanished?¡±

    His voice grew a little hoarse and shrill with disbelief. A hoarse voice responded from within the coffin, ¡°It¡¯s a Yin spirit¡­ An evil ghost¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s even higher up on the pecking order than I am! It¡¯s a good thing this is an earthbound spirit! As a Yin spirit, I can tell exactly what it is!¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s possible¡­¡± The voice from the coffin gasped softly, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to you guys¡­ Have you already forgotten about the third tunnel?¡±

    It was a term of reference that triggered a shback in Rumyantsev¡¯s mind, and he immediately knew what the voice in the coffin was talking about.

    That¡¯s where a mother, a daughter, and an unborn infant were destined to wander about for the rest of eternity. Even I didn¡¯t dare to venture into the heart of the third tunnel after the Train to Pusan incident.

    Unexpectedly, the most terrifying thing created by the script of death turned out not to be Choi Tae-min, but rather, someonepletely different altogether!

    With another deep breath, Rumyantsev¡¯s body vanished from where he was, and he promptly appeared elsewhere.

    Every single Yin soldier of the Hanyang Underworld had assembled at this moment.

    Liu Yu remained on the back of his horse as he nced back at Rumyantsev, ¡°We¡¯re still three days out from the scheduled date.¡±

    Silence.

    Tonight would be the night that I, Liu Yu, would finally be restored to my rightful ce at the throne as an emperor!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The MV Sewol had stopped moving. That was sufficient for him. He could tell that the MV Sewol¡¯s earlier intention was to make a beeline for Gonjiam Asylum without giving him any time to make the necessary preparations. At this very moment, there wasn¡¯t even the slightest doubt in Qin Ye¡¯s heart that Liu Yu¡¯s army and the forces of the Russian Underworld, including Marquis Rumyantsev himself, would all be garrisoned there, waiting for his arrival.

    Qin Ye wiped off the cold sweat that was beading up on his forehead and tightened his grip around Fate - the final trump card hidden up his sleeves. He would never resort to it unless he absolutely had to. After all, so long as there remained hidden in the shadows another darkfeather of the same capabilities as Richard himself, then there was no doubt that news of this would immediately reach the ears of those awaiting his arrival back at Gonjiam Asylum.

    ¡°Kwon Kyung-ho!!¡± Qin Ye shouted, ¡°Do it!¡±

    Within moments, an endless sea of blood filled the area all around Kwon Kyung-ho and slowly enveloped the MV Sewol!

    He may not be the mastermind, but¡­ he definitely had a role to y in the MV Sewol tragedy!

    Today, I¡¯ll finally have vengeance for the transgressions against all of us five years ago!

 Chapter 579: Aversion (2)

    <h4>Chapter 579: Aversion (2)</h4>

    ¡°Uwuuu¡­ Save me!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡­ Why isn¡¯t anyoneing to save us?¡± ¡°Dad¡­ Mum¡­ Help us!!!¡±

    Rattle rattle rattle!! The chains that stretched out from the bow and into the heads of hundreds of teenage living dead instantly snapped with a loud bang. The appearance of Choi Tae-min¡¯s face on the bow of the ghost ship immediately twisted with great disbelief, ¡°I¡¯ve seen your picture¡­ You¡¯re¡­ a special Yin spirit born from the MV Sewol tragedy?! And such a high-ranking special Yin spirit at that¡­¡±

    Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s entire body was trembling with excitement. His lips had cracked open from ear to ear, and bloody water was bubbling and pouring out of his seven apertures. The hideous expression on his face appeared to be frozen in ce as he charged straight towards the MV Sewol in an instant.

    ¡°The sins of five years¡­ You¡¯re just a measly Hellguard. How dare you challenge an Infernal Judge?!¡±

    Kwon Kyung-ho turned abruptly and nced back at the two visitors that had suddenly appeared.

    T-t-t-t¡­ What the hell¡­ what kind of a monstrosity is this?! Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s teeth began to chatter madly at once. Surprisingly, the appearance of the silhouettes instilled in Kwon Kyung-ho an unprecedented sensation of dread and fear. It had to be said that he was a brave evil ghost who didn¡¯t even feel fear standing in the face of ck Yaksha and Crow Tengu, yet to think that something like this would cause his mind to go numb in an instant!

    His jaws-dropped, and he immediately nced down at his knees in astonishment - he¡¯d actually reflexively knelt down without even realizing it!

    Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s entire body was trembling. He could only see their backs, but he could tell that their backs¡­ werepletely pitch-ck in colour!

    ¡°What¡­ what kind of a monster is this¡­¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t look down below him. At some point in time, his surroundings were already filled with a dense, cold fog, so much so that only the vague silhouette of the MV Sewol¡¯s frame could be seen. However, he couldn¡¯t be bothered about these things right now. He had already transformed into a mightyhergale that was charging straight towards the bow of the ship.

    With such a huge ship, this many living dead, and such a bizarre mode of transport, how were they supposed to enter the Gyeonggi Province without being noticed?

    There had to be a massive rift between theherworld and the mortal realm hidden right beneath Gonjiam Asylum itself! At the very least, it would have to be a portal of sorts that enabled one to travel from the mortal realm straight into the underworld! And to that end, the MV Sewol clearly wasn¡¯t taking an established route in the mortal realm, but rather heading directly towards the rift between realms by employing its ability to travel through the Yin Yang Mezzanine!

    Unfortunately, the longer the MV Sewol dallied, the more likely it would rouse the suspicion of the enemy forces garrisoned at Gonjiam Asylum. Since Qin Ye had already decided to make his move, then he may as well go all out and strike hard and fast!

    Buzz¡­ The pressure of Qin Ye¡¯s attack appeared to weigh down heavily on the MV Sewol itself. Qin Ye¡¯s faux Judgment Pen promptly transformed into a majestic spear, and he promptly unleashed a series of mighty thrusts.

    At once, Qin Ye¡¯s spear began to spin into action against the rain of fire and bullets that were pelting down onto him. Fortunately, Qin Ye managed to sweep a nce across the entire ship in that moment right before the attacks came crashing down onto him.

    Richard held two sniper rifles in his arms that were each as long as his arms. He stood at the top of the mast, while the trench coat on his back drifted up like the wings of a bat. The blood vessels on his face bulged and throbbed wildly, while copious amounts of energy poured out of his body and into the sniper rifles as he desperately pulled the trigger. Meanwhile, thehermes drifting about in the sky ignited the rain of bullets that pelted down heavily onto Qin Ye, just like zing meteorites!

    Richard thought that it was luck that Qin Ye was able to hold out under the weight of his weapons bolstered by the Russian Underworld¡¯s Yama-ss Yin artifact for ten seconds with only the meagre Prefect-ss Yin artifact from Hell. Yet, little did he know that Qin Ye was already holding Fate in his hands.

    Ten seconds passed in the blink of an eye, yet it was more than sufficient to cause a crack to emerge on Fate itself. Furthermore, Qin Ye could see the crack slowly growing with the naked eye! It hadn¡¯t been easy for Qin Ye to pluck up the courage and decide to seize the initiative and point his sword directly at Gonjiam Asylum. But just as much as Qin Ye desired victory, Richard likewise loathed the idea of bearing the brunt of the punishment for the failure of these operations.

    The rain of bullets was so dense that it left no room for Qin Ye to avoid getting hit. But, just as the bullets arrived right next to Qin Ye¡¯s body, they suddenly slowed down and softly grazed his body, just like the bullet time in the Matrix!

    Five meters behind Qin Ye, a pale hand tore a rift through the darkness, revealing a Yin spirit wearing ancient Cathayan armor. His mouth tore open a meter wide, and then, like a rushing river, the bullets immediately began to flow straight into his mouth!

    But before Richard could even react to the sudden change in circumstances, another tall figure suddenly rose from behind Qin Ye.

    Dusk Legionnaire - Porter Spirit!

    Meanwhile, the bullets that were pelting down met with a simr fate of disintegration under the overwhelming wave of sound. At once, many of them burst into mes like fireworks on a new year disy.

    He¡¯s gone.

    After the rain of bullets, Richard had swiftly vanished right back into the shadows, disappearing from sight as though he had never appeared before.

    True Infernal Judge Divine Ability - Heavenly Dra!

    Nothing!

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± He cursed and pulled out his cell phone. It had been approximately two minutes since their identity was first exposed. After a moment of deliberation, he transformed into a stream ofhergale and dove headlong into the cabin of the ship.

    Mukov.

    And to that end, Qin Ye¡¯s Heavenly Dra had just a little while ago detected his presence earlier. He¡­ was located in the captain¡¯s cabin.

    He transformed into a stream ofhergale and rushed straight towards the captain¡¯s cabin. But after approximately ten seconds, he suddenly paused.

    How quick was an Infernal Judge on his feet? A dozen seconds was more than enough time for him to dops around the entire ship. Even then¡­ he still found a long passageway stretching out ahead of him.

    At once, his hair stood on end, and his back began to be filled with cold sweat.

    Neither Richard nor Mukov can possibly achieve something like that. In other words¡­ there must be¡­ something else around these parts?

    At once, his heart began to thump wildly. He drew several breaths and forced himself to calm down. Then, he was just about to turn back when a sudden feeling of danger erupted in his heart and caused his mind to go numb at once.

    Don¡¯t turn back¡­ You can¡¯t turn back¡­ the evil ghost is currently standing right behind you¡­

    The entire ship had suddenly turned as silent as a morgue. An icy fog of Yin energy slowly swept across the corridor, almost as though there were something creeping about in the darkness that was slowly enveloping him.

    The walls were covered with seaweed, and the dim, flickering lights only served to make the eerie corridor even more terrifying than ever. And then, a soft whimper suddenly came from behind Qin Ye. Uwu-uu-uu...

    It was ady shrouded in boundless Yin energy. She was dressed in maternity clothes, and holding her young daughter of approximately six or seven years of age. Both sported disheveled appearances and an entire body covered with blood. Yet what was perhaps even more frightening was the fact that thedy¡¯s stomach had been cut right open, and¡­ a hazy figure appeared to be hidden within the bloody depths of the womb. Not even Qin Ye could see the exact figure that resided within.

    Unfortunately, the most horrific thing that Qin Ye could see was the fact that there was currently a dark shadow standing right behind thedy, staring at him with scarlet eyes.

    After all, some have been waiting for far too long with festering hatred in their hearts.

 Chapter 580: Aversion (3)

    <h4>Chapter 580: Aversion (3)</h4>

    A pregnantdy and a child walked right past Qin Ye¡¯s left and right, brushing past his shoulder. Their posture was distorted and twisted, and they left bloody marks on the ground wherever they passed. The long and narrow corridor looked no different from a long, dank and dark third tunnel of Pusan.

    The two blood-stained faces turned to stare at Qin Ye at exactly the same time. Their heads were lined up in a row. Qin Ye could see out of the corners of his eyes that each of their seven apertures were flowing with copious amounts of dark Yin energy. Meanwhile, blood was also flowing from underneath their scarlet eyes.

    Her voice was hoarse and harsh beyond belief, while her pupils appeared to be staring at various ces like a chameleon, ¡°My¡­ husband¡­ died¡­¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye felt someone tugging at his hand, and he promptly turned around, only to notice the little girl on his other side clinging onto his hand. Blood continued to pour out of the gaping bullet hole on her forehead as she stared at Qin Ye as though from beyond the realms, ¡°My¡­ father¡­ also¡­ died¡­¡±

    And then, both voices spoke in unison, ¡°Now, we¡¯re both dead¡­¡±

    After saying these words, the two evil ghosts walked right past Qin Ye, hand-in-hand, as they traipsed along the corridor towards the captain¡¯s room at the end.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word. He simply stared at the dark shadows on their backs as they plodded away from him. Meanwhile, the scarlet eyes peeking out of the shadows continued to stare back intently at him. He knew full well that this was the embodiment of hatred that had been festering for five long years. Anyone who stood in their way would be cut down as foe.

    Their loved ones had died right before their very eyes in order to allow them to live on. Unfortunately, their path came to an abrupt end as soon as they saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

    It had been 15 minutes since his mutiny. That said, with MV Sewol anchored to a ce, every minute that passed would undoubtedly give rise to unpredictable changes. He was already on the verge of capturing Mukov. Who would¡¯ve thought that he would suddenly encounter such an unexpected variable?

    The two figures didn¡¯t move too quickly, and they had only covered a distance of approximately 10 meters thus far. Qin Ye took a deep breath and called out to them, ¡°Hey.¡±

    That said, the scarlet eyes peeking out of the darkness did open their eyes abruptly and re back at him.

    Still no response.

    This time, both mother and daughter turned their heads 180 degrees around and stared right back at Qin Ye. A split secondter, their mouths split right open, revealing row after row of razor-sharp teeth stained with grisly ck blood and residue as they shrieked at the top of their voices, ¡°SSSS!!!¡±

    ¡°You three-in-one Yin spirits are incredibly terrifying, do you know that? The pregnantdy and the little girl are nothing but puppets, and yet the ghastly baby in her womb is actually a terrifying Yin spirit in the ranks of an Infernal Judge? What kind of Yin spirit is this? What secrets do you conceal that triggers my wariness and vignce?¡±

    Qin Ye slowly picked up his spear, ¡°As expected, you want me to do all the talking, don¡¯t you? Well, why don¡¯t I propose approaching the discussions in a different manner¡­¡±

    For instance, we can discuss using our fists!

    What¡¯s going on?

    It was almost as though there were an invisible wall ahead in the corridor that waspletely obstructing him.

    It was simply impossible to advance!

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Qin Ye gasped with astonishment. A split secondter, he unleashed his Porter Spirit andmanded it to unleash its silent scream at the two figures standing some distance away.

    The physical corridor around them trembled violently, and debris tumbled everywhere. However, there was a point along the corridor right before where the pregnantdy and the girl were where the sound waves would simply bounce back, almost as though it marked apletely separate domain!

    In his words, ¡°Their innate abilities confer on each of them the potential to be Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces.¡±

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye had never expected there to exist such a wide chasm between those with the 1% talent and those without.

    Ashmound City.

    Just then, he suddenly looked up and gently patted the head of the Harken.

    That said, Xu Yangyi¡¯s gaze appeared to be far and distant, almost as though he were peering through realms. After some time, he muttered a few words under his breath, ¡°The Death of March.¡±

    Just then, the Harken suddenly stopped, and then turned and nced in the direction of Daehan, ¡°Do you mean¡­ there in Daehan?¡±

    ¡°Arturo¡¯s ying with high stakes here¡­¡±

    Xu Yangyi nodded, ¡°In other words, it was created incidentally. Arturo was nning to create a serpent, yet he¡¯d inadvertently also created a basilisk as a result of his efforts.¡±

    He silently scratched the white fur on top of the Harken¡¯s head, ¡°This is an extremely rare opportunity. This would give the Third King Yanluo a better insight on what to look out for when casting myths in future.¡±

    As he spoke, he shut his eyes, and something appeared to rise high into the sky. The Harken sighed, ¡°Transcending the Void? Tsk tsk¡­ isn¡¯t he also overstepping the bounds of the Three Realms? Speaking of which, why does it feel like his cultivation has improved by leaps and bounds every time I see him?¡±

    MV Sewol, Daehan.

    10 meters.

    Just then, they finally arrived at the door of the captain¡¯s cabin. With a mournful cry, the Yin energy in the vicinity rushed straight towards the door of the cabin and mmed hard against it.

    Qin Ye sighed as he retracted his spear. It had already been twenty minutes since his mutiny. There was no way the enemy troops arrayed at Gonjiam Asylum would still be ignorant of the fact that something had happened along the way. The first reason why he sought to capture Mukov was to ask him about the part of the script of death he was responsible for. After all, learning was one of the main reasons why Qin Ye hade to Daehan in the first ce.

    Last, but not least, he wanted to seek out Richard¡¯s hiding ce. As the administrator of the MV Sewol incident, Mukov would naturally know best the structure of the vessel. Sure, Mukov might not know anything about Gonjiam Asylum, but Richard was quite different! Given his status in the Russian Underworld, he would most certainly possess some knowledge of Gonjiam Asylum!

    Leave!

    But just as he turned around, a golden light suddenly glowed from within his clothes.

    At least,pared with the rest of the dark, billowing Yin energy in the corridor, it appeared incredibly faint.

    Just like the glow of the morning dew, the appearance of the golden glow instantly dispersed all of the ck fog lingering about the corridor, and the mournful, ghastly cries in the vicinity faded away. Meanwhile, the two figures standing right at the captain¡¯s cabin suddenly turned back for the very first time.

    Then, the golden outline of the hand began to move. Momentster, a Cathayan word representing the word ¡®dispel¡¯ appeared from the void.

    A golden shockwave swept across the entire MV Sewol, dispersing all of the ck fog at once. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t tell how the rest of the ship looked from the outside, but he could see the golden light permeating every corner of the corridor. Meanwhile, the hair and clothes of the mother-daughter duo scattered everywhere, and then¡­ under the warm glow of the golden light, finally revealed their human forms.

    ¡°One minute.¡±

    ¡°The Death of March, otherwise known as the Spirit of Avernus, is one of the top special Yin spirits in theherworld. You will never be able to transcend thisw of hers unless you possess abilities far superior to hers. Unfortunately, even I can only buy you a minute of time given the physical distance I am from you right now.¡±

 Chapter 581: Aversion (4)

    <h4>Chapter 581: Aversion (4)</h4>

    The corridor was filled with silence.

    It¡¯s now or never!

    One minute.

    He trusted in Fengdu¡¯s legacy of over three thousand years. He also trusted the Second King Yanluo with his back.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    Whoosh!!

    SSS!!! The mother-daughter duo instantly snapped back to their senses. s, it was already toote to block the iing attack. They immediately dodged to the side, leaning back against the sides of the corridor at once. Everything had happened out of pure reflex. Having never participated in an actual duel before, everything they did was borne out of pure instinct. However, it was precisely because of the manner in which they avoided Qin Ye¡¯s attack that¡­ a path finally appeared right between them.

    With a mighty crash, the door to the captain¡¯s room ruptured violently, and Qin Ye dashed straight into the room with his entire body wrapped in Yin energy.

    This was Mukov, administrator of the second part of the script of death!

    Simultaneously, the mother-daughter duo turned their heads around at the exact same time. Their eyes had turned scarlet once more, and they stared intently at the clergyman in the room.

    Years of hunger.

    They simply weren¡¯t willing to allow anyone to seize this man from right underneath their noses!

    They might be quick, but unfortunately, Qin Ye was quicker. Mukov was only a Hellguard. But as soon as he was about to say something, Qin Ye¡¯s spear plunged straight through his chest.

    He had already sensed the presence of two terrifying Judges waiting outside the door. He¡¯d thought for a long time, and he wanted to tell them that he was also a victim of circumstances. He wanted to tell them that he was forced toply. Unfortunately, Qin Ye made his move even before he could say his piece.

    His entire body turned to ash and slowly began to scatter into the surroundings. The only thing that remained was his cloak that swiftly fell to the ground. Qin Ye immediately reached over.

    He didn¡¯t need Mukov to tell him anything. After all, he had a more reliable way of seeking the truth from a soul, such as by putting him through the process of soul searching.

    Crrkk¡­ Crrkk¡­ In the split second that truly mattered, the hair of the mother-daughter duo had rushed over just in time to restrain his hands altogether. In fact, the hair wrapped around his hand so tightly it appeared no different from cobras trying to break his bones!

    ¡°You¡­ killed him¡­ You¡¯ve killed him¡­¡± The little girl¡¯s features werepletely distorted. The excessive shock and anger at Qin Ye¡¯s actions had allowed them topletely wrestle free from the Second King Yanluo¡¯s seal which had earlier suppressed their abilities, ¡°You¡­ deserve¡­ DEATH!!!¡±

    Qin Ye was astounded - What kind of Yin spirit is this?! How could they actually break free of the godly Second King Yanluo¡¯s seal?!

    Qin Ye reacted reflexively. Without thinking, chains rushed out of his sleeves in an instant, wrapping around the right hand of the humanoid shadow. At once, Mukov¡¯s scream echoed through the corners of the captain¡¯s cabin.

    But just as Qin Ye was about to pull him back, he discovered that a ck-and-red tongue was concurrently also wrapped around the left hand of the humanoid shadow. Mukov¡¯s scream of agony wasn¡¯t purely because of the tightness in which his hands were bound, but it also arose from the fact that he was currently being pulled by Judges on both sides. The soul of a mere Hellguard couldn¡¯t possibly withstand such punishment for long.

    There was a brief moment of peculiar harmony.

    ¡°Give him¡­ to me! I¡­ will never stand in your way!¡±

    As she spoke, the cobra-like clumps of hair tightened their grip around Qin Ye¡¯s body, intensifying in strength as it continued to creak with a hair-raising sound. Meanwhile, Qin Ye fervently resisted her attacks as he continued to tug unrelentingly at Mukov¡¯s soul.

    ¡°Listen.¡± Qin Ye barked back with gritted teeth, ¡°He¡¯s not the mastermind for your deaths. The true culprit is someone else!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± The mother-daughter duo chuckled hoarsely, ¡°Regardless of who it might be¡­ This soul¡­ is still mine!!!¡±

    Crises can surface even in the best of ns. The three factions were clearly trapped in a deadlock, and neither dared to push their luck too far. Qin Ye retracted his gaze and took a deep breath.

    ¡°You¡­ let go!!¡±

    A split secondter, his eyes flickered wildly, and a spot of golden light appeared from his left sleeve and thrusted straight at the mother-daughter duo!

    He was gambling on Fate transcending the bizarre 10-meter restriction. So long as he could even get them to defend themselves, the soul of Mukov would be his for the taking.

    He stared intently at the mother-daughter duo as soon as he sent Fate hurtling towards them. He was ready to tug at the chains wrapped around Mukov at the moment¡¯s notice. However, the mother-daughter duo only flinched for a moment, before promptly turning back to Mukov, instantly pulling him closer to them by arge margin!

    Did it fail?

    Qin Ye stared at Fate with great disbelief. He simply refused to believe that they could be that indifferent to Fate. The only reasonable exnation for this was that they didn¡¯t know what Fate was. However, his heart soon sank to rock bottom at the sight of reality. The golden beam of light shot straight into the 10-meter restriction zone, and then¡­ abruptly slowed down, as though it had just fallen into a thick mire!

    Disbelief filled his mind, and disappointment filled his heart. Unfortunately, he simply didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to dwell on these emotions. At once, he softly loosened the chains and chuckled bitterly, ¡°He¡¯s all yours.¡±

    And if he couldn¡¯t seize Mukov¡¯s spirit, the next best thing he could do was to locate Richard¡¯s soul as quickly as possible.

    Whoosh¡­ Another golden light blossomed just like a rising sun on the darkest of nights. Following that, everything in the captain¡¯s cabin frozepletely!

    Second King Yanluo? Qin Ye nced around, only to realize that the mother-daughter duo werepletely frozen in ce, almost as though they were trapped in a frozen frame. That said, he could still see a dark cloud of Yin energy writhing madly within the pregnantdy¡¯s stomach.

    ¡°This is beyond you.¡± The Second King Yanluo promptly interjected, ¡°These are entities to be dealt with by the likes of the Sixfold Ghost Kings. Infernal Judges don¡¯t have the power to deal with Yin spirits like these. And when a student encounters a problem that is well beyond his depth, the mentor should naturally step up.¡±

    Almost as though it was held firmly by arge hand, it quickly surged forward towards the pregnantdy¡¯s crown, poised to plunge straight through it.

    It stopped just shy of making contact. There was nothing more than a 0.001mm gap between Fate and her head. Qin Ye immediately tilted his head with great bewilderment, wondering why the Second King Yanluo did this.

    ¡°No matter how much force I use, the result will still be the same.¡±

    Qin Ye gasped - Is the Second King Yanluo actually powerless against her?

    ¡°Spirit of Avernus, otherwise known as the Spirit of Aversion to Life. It is in her nature to keep her distance due to her ¡®aversion¡¯. So long as she remains unwilling, nobody will be able to touch her. In the past, all Spirits of Avernus had to be purged by a carpet bombing of abilities, including especially shockwave-based attacks. It¡¯s well beyond your abilities to deal with an opponent like this.¡±

 Chapter 582: Spirit of Avernus

    <h4>Chapter 582: Spirit of Avernus</h4>

    That¡¯s absolutely ridiculous!

    What¡¯s terrifying isn¡¯t the fact that she possesses a domain ability, but the nature of this ability of hers! I mean¡­ what¡¯s with the increasing resistance with every half the distance covered?! Isn¡¯t that too overpowered?!

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes and nced about at the three-way deadlock he was trapped in.

    Qin Ye coughed softly at once, ¡°Spelling Bee?¡±

    A split secondter, waves of murderous intent permeated the four corners of the captain¡¯s cabin, almost as though it were hell bent on putting him out of his misery.

    ¡°What¡¯s it missing?¡± An icy cold voice resounded in the room, ¡°Conscience? Well, what are you still waiting for?! Do you think I¡¯m here to do all the work for you?!¡±

    He was currently at the edge of the Avernus Spirit¡¯s absolute domain, and so was Mukov. Things were much easier now that he knew exactly what the Avernus Spirit¡¯s abilities were. The Second King Yanluo¡¯s so-called ¡®test¡¯ had beenpletely unnecessary.

    Since it was impossible to enter the Avernus Spirit¡¯s absolute domain, then the next best thing to do would be to cut off what was outside of the field!

    Their hair immediately swept over like a rushing tide. However, it was already toote. Qin Ye allowed Fate to secure his position, while he promptly poured his own Yin energy into Mukov¡¯s soul.

    This was an idea developed from having gained a greater understanding of the script of death. In fact, the trip to Daehan was already worth it given his current level of understanding of the script of death.

    There was everything - from Mukov¡¯s death, to his possession of the clergyman, to his eptance of the Tsar¡¯s orders and then to the orchestration of the MV Sewol tragedy. Everything was there, including the exact people he¡¯d gotten in touch with, and how he¡¯d executed each part of the ns. Everything was finally falling into ce.

    Whoosh¡­ The screens slowly began to arrange themselves, presenting themselves in order of his deployment to Daehan, and then the MV Sewol incident, and finally his act of taking over Ahn Somi¡¯s role pertaining to the living dead. He nodded softly, ¡°Even the Second King Yanluo might have neglected something of great importance¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re far from the third tunnel of Pusan.¡±

    He calmly looked away. Fate had already transformed into a golden curtain of light that kept away any attacks at his life. Outside, the pregnantdy and the little girl assaulted the golden curtain of light furiously with deafening noises, leaving handprints stained with ck blood all over the surface of the curtain of light, yet to no avail. They leaned in with their hideous expressions, revealing their ckened teeth as they stared menacingly at Qin Ye.

    ¡°I¡¯ll never let you off¡­ I¡¯m going to kill you! I¡¯m going to kill you!¡±

    Bang! As he spoke, the little girl madly gnawed at the curtain of light, causing Qin Ye to retract his hand in shock.

    He slowly poured Mukov¡¯s memories into Fate. A split secondter, Fate chirped softly, and then began to draft up an outline.

    ¡°Henceforth, you shall take over Ahn Somi¡¯s works.¡± ¡°This is her job description. You¡¯ll need to transport thest batch of the living dead to this location.¡± ¡°The MV Sewol will have to be sent there. There are probably about 100,000 living dead in Pusan. We¡¯ll depart in one week¡¯s time.¡± ¡°ce Ouroboros under the Jukseong Dream Cathedral and protect it well. That¡¯s the source and core of the living dead.¡±

    They were no longer human, and they moved in ordance with the endless resentment and deep-seated grievances in their hearts. However, it was precisely so that certain obsessions of theirs were far stronger than that possessed by any other human being.

    How did I die and end up in this horrible ce?

    Nobody spoke. The captain¡¯s cabin waspletely silent. They watched intently as Mukov entered the Jukseong Dream Cathedral, summoned the living dead, the wreckage in Pusan, and then finally, Rumyantsev conveying his orders to Mukov.

    Whoosh¡­ At once, the blood pouring out from their seven apertures immediately retracted back to where they hade from. Their expressions still looked hideous, but at least they were no longer twisted and vile.

    ¡°See?¡± Qin Ye persuaded, ¡°Had Mukov died, would you have known these things?¡±

    No response.

    Whoosh¡­ As the pregnantdy and the little girl blinked, their ck skeleton glowed faintly from beneath their skin. They were now back in their original state, but they appeared not to have lost any resentment. Rather, it appeared as though the fury and resentment in their hearts had only deepened and consumed their entire being.

    Why did we have to be the sacrifice for your ns?

    Why¡­ WHY?!!

    ¡°I resent¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just an ordinary person, trying to live an ordinary life¡­ I just wanted to live normally¡­¡±

    BOOM! The curtain of Yin energy suddenly erupted. However, the mother-daughter duo was no longer there. Instead, there was in their ce now a naked, pasty-skinned baby overflowing with nascent Judge-ss Yin energy.

    This was the nascent form of a Yama-ss existence!

    The aversion didn¡¯t mean hatred. Rather, it stemmed from a confluence of overflowing longing and desire that was met with the despondence of failure. It was a transformation of fervor into aversion - an aversion and abhorrence for everything even as he was still an infant in his mother¡¯s womb. He hated the fact that he fell before he could even see the world.

    The Spirit of Avernus suddenly opened his eyes. There were no eyeballs in his eye sockets, only gaping holes. He reached up with his scarlet hands and opened his mouth, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth as he responded with great determination, ¡°Yes!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and continued patiently, ¡°I¡¯ve got a few questions. Firstly, did you use your Yin energy to conceal the MV Sewol itself? Is this the space you¡¯ve created? In other words, do you have other abilities besides your untouchable absolute domain?¡±

    ¡°For instance, I can expand the 10-meter range to a 1,000-meter range and create my own rift between theherworld and the mortal realm. Within this space, unless I die, nobody will be allowed to enter or leave. But when I employ this ability of mine, then my untouchable absolute domain would naturally weaken substantially.¡±

    What can I say?

    ¡°Second question. How did you suddenly get here? It¡¯s unlikely that we¡¯re in the third tunnel to Pusan. After all, your presence is far too conspicuous, and Rumyantsev must have known that your existencey outside the script of death. The MV Sewol¡¯s path of travel must naturally have avoided the third tunnel to Pusan. That¡¯s a restricted zone across all of Daehan.¡±

    Instantaneous ability? Teleportation?

    This was a means of predation that was unique to it as an earthbound spirit. To that end, the Avernus Spirit must have detected the tear in the rift when the MV Sewol was forcibly ripped out from the Yin Yang Mezzanine. Then, having sensed the thick stench of the living dead, the Avernus Spirit must have rushed over at once without hesitation.

    ¡°Because¡­ you seem trustworthy.¡± The infant chuckled softly with a vicious expression, ¡°People can sometimes be more terrifying than ghosts. Over thest few years, I¡¯ve seen far too many humans aboard the trains that have passed through the third tunnel¡­ And human nature is¡­ pfft¡­¡±

    ¡°Take me to them, and I promise to give you everything I have and never let you down!¡±

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and slowly got to his feet.

    ¡°I do. But¡­ it all depends on whether you¡¯re willing or not.¡±

 Chapter 583: The Avengers

    <h4>Chapter 583: The Avengers</h4>

    The captain¡¯s cabin was silent.

    And that was what he had seen on the Train to Pusan. There were those who abandoned their own parents, or even used their ssmates as meat shields in an attempt to live on. Of all the people on board that train at that time, at least one-fifth had died not by the hands of the living dead, but by the works of their own kind.

    And to that end, he saw no darkness of any negative emotions and feelings in Qin Ye¡¯s heart right now, including that of deception or malice. Everything was a deep, verdant green in colour.

    After some time, he finally took a deep breath, ¡°Would my freedom be taken away from me if I join you?¡±

    After all, they were the ones who had fired the fateful shot that had extinguished all of his hopes at life.

    Qin Ye silently walked to the other side of the room and slowly extended his hand, ¡°However, being bound to my technique would alsoe with aplete change to your nature. You¡¯ll change from an evil ghost into merely part of my technique. I¡¯ve thought long and hard about this, but this is the only way I can get you out of the third tunnel. If you can¡¯t agree with this¡­¡±

    ¡°Come and join Hell¡¯s legion. Although I wouldn¡¯t be able to guarantee youplete and unfettered freedom, what I can promise is that I¡¯ll do my best to seek vengeance for you. Moreover, you¡¯ll most certainly have more freedom than being trapped in the third tunnel of Pusan.¡±

    Those who live in the darkness would only naturally thirst for the light, because it was something that used to be within their reach.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t rush him. The Avernus Spirit was undoubtedly the most terrifying Yin spirit he had encountered thus far. In fact, the quality of its spirit alone already sets it apart from the rest of Hell¡¯s Emissaries - even Arakshasa herself! Having such an existence form part of his Dusk Legionnaire would simply make him a far more formidable existence altogether!

    This was like a Warlock having a Doomguard, or a Hunter taming a Broken Tooth! It was when one¡¯s pets were stronger than its master!

    ¡°Naturally!¡± Qin Ye forcefully suppressed the wave of excitement that was surging in his heart. At once, he waved his hand, and a golden bamboo scroll unraveled itself in the air.

    The bamboo scroll had only two names etched on it thus far, namely the Spatial Spirit, Chen Zhiyuan, and the Porter Spirit, Lin Wenqing. Their names were etched on one bamboo slip each. Qin Ye swiftly proceeded to write the words ¡®Spirit of Avernus¡¯, and the words promptly etched themselves onto the third bamboo slip.

    ¡°Name?¡± Qin Ye asked cidly.

    His names were written with a great flourish. At once, a dark silken thread drew out from the Avernus Spirit¡¯s crown and tethered itself to Qin Ye¡¯s finger.

    After a brief moment of silence, Ryu Changmin finally spoke, ¡°Mukov¡¯s memory reveals that this vessel is headed straight for Gonjiam Asylum. What are your ns?¡±

    Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and scanned round the vicinity, ¡°Search.¡±

    Ryu Changmin immediately stared at Qin Ye with consternation, ¡°You¡­ don¡¯t even have a detailed working n right now?¡±

    Ryu Changmin shook his head with great disbelief. His lips parted slightly, and it took him several moments before he finally managed topose his thoughts again, ¡°We¡¯re dealing with a legendary Abyssal Prefect here¡­ Don¡¯t you have the slightest bit more details to work with?¡±

    ¡°Of course there is.¡± The smile on Qin Ye¡¯s face faded away, and his gaze grew deep and abstruse, ¡°But¡­ everything is still built on the intelligence avable to us. All of this would be no different from empty talk unless we manage to capture Richard. To be perfectly honest with you, I was on the verge of giving up on my ns before you appeared.¡±

    ¡°Time.¡± Qin Ye exined, ¡°Your interception of the rift between the mortal realm and theherworld caused the MV Sewol to vanish for over 20 minutes. As you already know, they have an Abyssal Prefect helming operations on their end. Do you think they¡¯re idiots? They¡¯re most certainly aware that something is amiss right now!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°After learning of your special abilities, I had a rather unorthodox idea¡­¡±

    This isn¡¯t one of those old-school cultivation novels. The difference between cultivation levels was like a heavenly chasm that was practically insurmountable.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Ryu Changmin cursed loudly and spoke in a manner inplete contrast to his innocent, infantile looks, ¡°How certain are you?¡±

    ¡°But you never know until you try. Besides¡­ I have the utmost confidence that I can leave at any time I so desire.¡±

    Ryu Changmin took several deep breaths. He was no longer interested in such banal discourse. At once, the Yin energy around them began to swirl and funnel towards him, causing the darkness around to recede, revealing the mortal realm outside.

    They didn¡¯t know where exactly they were, but it was clear that they hadn¡¯t left Pusan just yet. As far as they could see, there were dpidated farmhouses and fields everywhere, including random living dead wandering aimlessly across the streets. The MV Sewol was hiding behind a curtain of Yin energy that was quickly receding.

    Richard, King of Spies!

    Yin energy stirred within Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves. He was ready to unleash his Heavenly Dra at the moment¡¯s notice. However, almost as though he could sense Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts, Ryu Changmin immediately licked his lips, ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­¡±

    ¡°I can tell he was no ordinary person in life. I can sense that his entire being is filled with bloodlust, caution and deceit. However, what¡¯s more important to a Yin spirit is resentment and grievances. He doesn¡¯t hold a candle to me in this regard.¡±

    ¡°Not one bit!¡±

    Boom! Yin energy filled with extreme hatred and resentment erupted from the MV Sewol, sending shockwaves rippling ten miles from it. The living dead wandering the fields immediately copsed onto their knees, shivering and bowing down as though they had seen the most terrifying disy of hell in that instant. Even then, the massive simply ignored these lowly living dead as they slowly began to pluck out of the air the ck butterflies that were scattering in all directions.

    How is this possible¡­

    Countless questions surfaced on his mind in that instant. Unfortunately, time waited for no man. As soon as he appeared, scarlet eyes began to appear in the plume of Yin energy billowing behind the majestic.

    It was a storm of ghastly hands!

    Incredibly fast. It was almost as though innumerable wisps of Yin energy were hurtling down from the sky and crashing directly onto Richard¡¯s body.

    Crunch, crunch¡­ Richard¡¯s soul flew up into the sky, and Yin energy began to pour out of his body like a broken dike. A split secondter, the Yin energy wrapped around him like a ck cocoon.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Ryu Changmin licked his cracking lips with great excitement, just like how a young child took pleasure in a brand new toy, ¡°It¡¯s fun¡­ It¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve preyed on Judges, but it¡¯s no doubt the first time an emissary was able tost this long in my personal domain. If not for this unique ability of mine, I¡¯m afraid I wouldn¡¯t even have noticed if he crept up behind my back.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, he¡¯s clearly met his match today¡­ Hehehe¡­¡±

    <hr>

    1. WoW references.

 Chapter 584: Gate of the Dead (1)

    <h4>Chapter 584: Gate of the Dead (1)</h4>

    No¡­ In fact, I might even have been misdirected by his tricks and look in all the wrong ces. That¡¯s where his specialties lie after all¡­

    Meanwhile, the ck cocoon slowly condensed into the shape of a writhing human, creaking and cracking as it appeared to reach its limits. Then, five secondster, the top of the cocoon exploded, and the pale figure of a human burst out from within.

    As soon as he emerged from the cocoon, hair instantly flowed out from thedy¡¯s head and weaved together to form a pair of feathery wings. With a mighty p, the man instantly darted towards the closest gap in the massive of voracious hands!

    However, as soon as the wings unfolded, tongues instantlyshed out from the palm of every voracious palm and leashed him to the spot.

    ¡°AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!¡±

    Still not caught?!

    Leather clothes, and then the human skin, and then flesh and bones¡­ Is he only going to stop when he sheds everything?

    SSS!!!

    The entire canopy of the skies were filled with coravious hands and copious amounts of Yin energy. Answering the call of their master, they immediately bore down at once in an attempt to envelop Richard. At once, Richard looked up. His body clicked into the shape of a bow, with bones forming the bowstrong and his spine as the arrow. This was the face-off between a monster of a man and a terrifying ghost. Even the air made crackling sounds under the might of their abilities.

    Pshk! The ball of Yin energy that had enveloped Richard was instantly torn apart. With a mighty sonic boomced with the cries of a million ghosts, the bone arrow hurtled through the air, crossing the vast expanse of a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. It was aimed straight at Ryu Changmin¡¯s head.

    BOOM!!

    Qin Ye could even see the tip of the arrow shaking violently as Yin energy continued to pour out of the arrowhead. Like a viper, it struggled to bore through the invisible wall obstructing its advances. It was only ten meters away, and yet the distance feltpletely insurmountable.

    Whoosh¡­ The Yin energy that had previously wrapped itself around Richard drifted away with the wind, revealing hundreds of tongues binding up Richard¡¯s skull. Richard¡¯s eyes were clearly trembling with fear, and he appeared to be trying to say something. Unfortunately, his lips werepletely bound up by the tongues around him.

    Very good¡­ Qin Ye nodded and walked over.

    He could simply walk away from everything right now. After all, he¡¯d learnt most of the things he could already learn from the script of death. All that remained was but one final step. However, Qin Ye refused to be humiliated like this!

    ¡°You¡¯re a talent in your own right.¡± Qin Ye ran his finger gently across Richard¡¯s skull and smiled faintly at him, ¡°Do you know something? I¡¯ve read your biography. You¡¯ve¡­ lived an incredible life.¡±

    With that, Qin Ye clenched his fist and crushed the skull into pieces. A sharp, mournful scream filled the air. What remained of the King of Spies turned to ashes.

    After all, he could always glean the truth from Richard¡¯s memories.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The fiercely haunted mental hospital that was ubiquitously known throughout Daehan. In fact, its legends were so well known that none dared to even draw close to it.

    It was located on the outskirts of the city, and regr taxis would never think of picking up any customers here at this time of the night. Even then, there were hundreds of brave agents dressed in camouge uniform stationed at every intersection of the roads here both day and night.

    Forbidden zone for the living.

    Forbidden Zone S001.

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡± A Daeian man dressed in whiteb coat barked at the gathering of people around him in English, ¡°Gonjiam Asylum¡¯s seal is on the verge of shattering! The Yin energy reading within has already exceeded 20 million! When will reinforcements from your country be arriving?¡±

    ¡°Sir!!¡± Several men from the LSD immediately interjected, and one exined, ¡°But this is the Gyeonggi Province we¡¯re talking about! It¡¯s the heart of Daehan, and also where Hanyang is located!¡±

    A middle-aged woman who was an advanced Hellguard-ss expert looked up at the Cathayan man with despair written all over her face, ¡°Sir¡­ I¡¯m begging you! Please call for aid from the three strongest powers of your country! The paranormal within Gonjiam Asylum has already been brewing for several years, and it seems to be on the verge of eruption tonight! By our estimates, the evil ghost within will emerge in no more than three days¡¯ time! You¡­ You¡¯ve got to spare a thought about the lives of millions living in Gyeonggi Province!¡±

    ¡°Rather than begging us for help, shouldn¡¯t you be seeking aid from Adrian, the Archbishop of the East Continent, who is also an intermediate Prefect-ss expert? We¡¯ve already been kind enough to help Daehan with the construction of several counter-supernatural facilities since the founding of modern day Cathay.¡±

    There was a thin LCD scream located in front of them depicting a particrly remote part of the Gonjiam Asylum. Nobody was there, and yet¡­ the entrance slowly opened up on its own.

    The ferocious beast was finally baring its fangs. They were on the cusp of the final act of the script of death.

    Elsewhere, at Gonjiam Asylum. A Yin spirit stood out on the open road, decked out in brilliant golden armor and holding an exquisitence in his hand.

    It was none other than Liu Yu.

    This was the calm before the storm. The night seemed particrly dark, and the rustle of the leaves seemed to stir with great uneasiness. Even the skies were overcast and rumbling with thunder and lightning.

    There were 20,000 cavalrymen arrayed behind him, of which the first 10,000 were decked out in their newest Tigerform Battle Armor. Theirnces rested softly on the ground, while scarlethermes peeked out from behind their ck masks like fiery constetions in the sky.

    Furthermore, there were 30,000 infantrymen with their bows and arrows at the ready.

    In fact, it would be more urate to describe the carriage as a skeletal throne. It was ten meters high, formed entirely out of stacked human bones and dragged by skeletal horses. Rumyantsev was decked out in his decorated marshal¡¯s uniform as he sat on the throne, resting his hand on the hilt of the sword that was plunged straight into the ground. The nine KGB agents around gazed intently at the road ahead.

    Anyone who dared pass through without his permission would instantly be greeted by thousands of arrows and the charge of thousands of cavalrymen!

    The numbers of soldiers arrayed in this ce spelt war. No Emissary - not even Abyssal Prefect - would be allowed entry into Gonjiam Asylum, no matter the cost!

    ¡°He will.¡± Rumyantsev responded curtly and without any hesitation, ¡°So long as he¡¯s an Emissary of Hell, he will surelye.¡±

    ¡°The mighty Russian Underworld has never set cowards in their sights.¡±

    There were underworlds out there who would bang the table and make a fuss during international conventions, yet their actions would hardly cause a stir because of how insignificant they were.

    Everyone knew that the dragon was merely sleeping, but most certainly not dead.

    And sooner orter, it would arise and make its grand appearance once again!

 Chapter 585: Gate of the Dead (2)

    <h4>Chapter 585: Gate of the Dead (2)</h4>

    ¡°How did it go?¡± Ryu Changmin immediately asked with concern.

    It revealed the image of a passageway - a massive one at that.

    The road appeared to stretch on endlessly into the horizon. A tall iron gate stood at the other end of the road.

    It exuded an air of piety. That said, whether the road,mp, or even the eye-catching door, everything appeared somewhat illusory. Meanwhile, anyone could tell that the vicinity was also filled with dense Yin energy.

    As soon as he saw it, an ominous feeling rose in Ryu Changmin¡¯s heart, ¡°Gonjiam Asylum.¡±

    Gonjiam Asylum was well known throughout all of Daehan, and it naturally needed no introductions.

    Their mission was to beat the MV Sewol into submission, and they had obviously seeded. MV Sewol was likewise a peculiar object.

    ¡°You¡¯re just in time. Come over and listen to the n.¡± Qin Ye nodded slightly back at them. Then, just as he was about to continue, Ryu Changmin interjected with widened eyes, ¡°... Could you hang on a minute?¡±

    Deep breaths¡­ Ryu Changmin took several deep breaths andposed his thoughts¡­ and then bellowed, ¡°These are all the people participating in this n of yours?!¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ Where the heck did this kide from?!

    However, he¡¯d overexerted himself, and he simply didn¡¯t have the energy to respond and fend for himself. Instead, he simply nced up at Qin Ye pleadingly. At once Qin Ye frowned back at Ryu Changmin, ¡°What do you mean he appears to be a deadweight?¡±

    ¡°He is a deadweight!¡±

    ¡°Haa--...¡± Ryu Changmin snorted angrily. Yin energy spewed from his nostrils as he chuckled coldly, ¡°I was a fool to have believed you¡­¡±

    ¡°Nobody¡¯s a deadweight in this n of mine.¡±

    ¡°Gonjiam Asylum sits beyond these doors. Perhaps one might ask - isn¡¯t it the same if we enter it from elsewhere?¡± He swept a nce around, before dering affirmatively, ¡°So, let me make it clear once and for all¡­ You can never enter the real Gonjiam Asylum without going through these gates!¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces. Ryu Changmin also grew silent and listened on intently.

    ¡°MV Sewol.¡± Kwon Kyung-ho responded through gritted teeth.

    Everyone fell deep into thought. Momentster, Wang Chenghao¡¯s hand abruptly shot up into the air, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ it can be seen by ordinary human beings?¡±

    SHIT!

    ¡°From the onset, I¡¯ve always wondered how the MV Sewol was supposed to go the distance and travel right into the Gonjiam Asylum without being discovered by anyone. After all, not only is itrge, its mode of travel is peculiar, and it would even have to pass through some of the more important parts of Daehan. So, how was it supposed to do so?¡±

    ¡°Meanwhile, their destination is the Gonjiam Asylum. Don¡¯t you find that strange?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Qin Ye licked his lips with excitement, ¡°This vessel cannot possibly fit in that dpidated building that we¡¯ve seen! And that aside, what about all the living dead that have been transported from Pusan to Gyeonggi Province all this while? Gonjiam Asylum looks norger than a fart-sized mental hospital, so how could it possibly contain millions of living dead?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Qin Ye snapped his fingers, ¡°It¡¯s a special passageway, simr to a rift between the mortal realm and theherworld. But to be more precise, it probably exists in a special space between the mortal realm and theherworld. We can¡¯t discount this possibility because Gonjiam Asylum sits directly above thergest rift to the underworld. The emergence of a unique feature in the geography wouldn¡¯t be surprising at all! And if this were the case, it¡¯s practically impossible to enter such a unique space from the mortal realm unless Gonjiam Asylum were demolished to reveal the rift beneath it.¡±

    As he exined these things, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh with amazement. How long did Tsar Arturo spend drafting up this script of death? Every seemingly useless or irrelevant detail turned out to y an indispensable role in the administration of the entire script.

    I guess I¡¯ve still got much to learn.

    ¡°Naturally!¡± Qin Ye dered affirmatively.

    ¡°Richard.¡± Qin Ye suppressed the swelling excitement in his heart as he exined patiently, ¡°Sure, these might all have been conjectures before I¡¯d conducted the search on his soul. But after the fact, I know for certain that these conjectures are absolutely spot on!¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately for them, Ahn Somi¡¯s death was also the start of a chain reaction, setting off the butterfly effect. Rumyantsev was worried that Mukov would learn of something if he simply entrusted Mukov to the works of No. 3 as well, so at the same time, he sent Richard, his chief intelligence officer to monitor the situation and keep a close watch on him. This is the reason why we saw both parties on board the MV Sewol earlier.¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye grew silent.

    In fact, there were still some things he didn¡¯t have the answers to, such as what would happen if someone recognized the script of death and proceeded to ruin it. At the very least, he now knew that nothing would happen if someone knew the true contents of the script of death, just like how he did.

    The n that he had in mind would require the joint efforts of everyone present, and he naturally needed everyone to be on the exact same page as him. Thus, he took great pains to exin everything in detail.

    Oda Nobutada raised his eyebrows quizzically, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because the MV Sewol can transport more living dead? Or perhaps¡­ now that they¡¯re getting closer to the end of October, they¡¯re preparing to detonate this bomb sitting right underneath everyone, and for that reason, they¡¯re consolidating their forces?¡±

    He paused for a moment, ¡°The MV Sewol represents the other half of Choi Tae-min! That¡¯s his coffin! This is why the MV Sewol bears the appearance of Choi Tae-min in the first ce!¡±

    ¡°In other words, his coffin is the only ce he can exist right now. But when he finally enters the captain¡¯s cabin of the MV Sewol - the exact site where the cultists once decided to sacrifice everyone, then he will finally be able to break away from his current earthbound form and take on the true form of the seventh on the list of special Yin spirits, the Spirit of Mutted Corpses, otherwise known as the Odious Spirit of Filth!¡±

    ¡°The MV Sewol is toorge to be able to enter the rift that sits beneath the Gonjiam Asylum. Don¡¯t forget that that¡¯s also the holding ce for millions of living dead. It would be a waste of space sending the MV Sewol over too early. Besides, it¡¯s also not in their interest to release Choi Tae-min too early on. After all, keeping him there and under restraint would also act as a constant reminder to Choi Tae-min to always remember who his master and creator was. You may be a monster, but you¡¯d best be thankful to the one who gave you life again!¡±

 Chapter 586: Crashing Waves

    <h4>Chapter 586: Crashing Waves</h4>

    He drew a series of stickmen in front of a square, which ostensibly represented a building.

    Endure¡­

    Wang Chenghao squinted his eyes, and then immediately burst into song, ¡°My left hand holds the earth, and my right hand holds up the sky. From my palm erupts lightning that arcs everywhere¡­¡±

    Take a deep breath. Don¡¯t explode now¡­ Qin Ye fervently repressed the boiling rage in his heart as he continued to draw a massive space right underneath the square building.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Oda Nobutada immediately exploded with what everything else was thinking in their hearts, ¡°How is it that everything you say feels like an insult to my intelligence? Are the brains of youngsters these days so incredibly stunted? Back in our time, if anyone acted like you did, they would have been disemboweled a long time ago!¡±

    Abrupt silence.

    Damn you for poisoning my mind with those things!!!

    ¡°......¡± Everyone grew silent.

    Fortunately, Qin Ye was thick-skinned. Ignoring the ugly expressions all around, he went on, ¡°The current situation is that the MV Sewol has already vanished for 60 minutes, and Gonjiam Asylum¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± One Tail frowned, ¡°The army would have assembled by now, waiting for us to rush over. Didn¡¯t Richard instigate the MV Sewol to move more quickly so that we wouldn¡¯t have the time to prepare to face tens of thousands of troops waiting for us over there?¡±

    At once, everyone¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    Oda Nobutada gasped in amazement, ¡°Brilliant! Given the tonnage of the MV Sewol, crashing it straight into the Gate of the Dead at full speed would definitely cause a huge tremor! Are you suggesting that we¡¯ll seize the opportunity in the ensuing chaos to slip into Gonjiam Asylum?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled viciously as he began to connect the swordsmen and shieldbearers on the path with a wisp of Yin energy, ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t underestimate an Abyssal Prefect. In fact, the Abyssal Prefect¡¯s presence is exactly why I have serious doubts that the MV Sewol would even be able to ram through the Gate of the Dead. Besides, I believe that I know far better than any of you here just how terrifying an Abyssal Prefect can be.¡±

    Qin Ye promptly interjected, ¡°But what if¡­ at the most crucial moments, we all jump off the ship to divert Rumyantsev¡¯s attention?¡±

    Wang One Tail nodded affirmatively, ¡°They¡¯ll definitely choose us. The MV Sewol might be a big ship, but we¡¯re living, breathing nuclear weapons!!¡±

    How can you even im to be a living nuclear weapon?! You¡¯re at best a walking meat (beeep) machine!

    Qin Ye smile deepened. At once, he drew a rectangle in the air, depicting the MV Sewol and sent it crashing into Gonjiam Asylum and breaching its defences!

    ¡°But that alone isn¡¯t enough! It¡¯s not ruthless enough! It¡¯s not powerful enough topletely obviate the Russian Underworld and the Hanyang Underworld from all other considerations!!¡±

    At once, the drawing revealed the rectangle crashing straight through the severalyers of boxes below, before finally arriving at the vast space below andnding right next to another small rectangle representing the coffin.

    ¡°There¡¯s no longer any hope of intercepting Liu Yu¡¯s harvest of faith. And ording to your n, that would still leave us surrounded by Yin soldiers! My Lord¡­ you have to look at the bigger picture! Your safety is of paramount importance!¡±

    ¡°No¡­ Perhaps¡­ this n might just work out¡­¡± Just then, a soft voice interrupted their thoughts.

    Then, just as everyone nced over with a bewilderment written all over their faces, Ryu Changmin continued hoarsely, ¡°There¡¯s one fundamental premise that your n is built upon, and that is¡­ I have to be present.¡±

    Ryu Changmin¡¯s voice trembled. He even began to break out in cold sweat because of how whimsical the idea was, ¡°When that happens, I will be able to seize the exact location of its dimensional rift, and immediately teleport over like a ferocious predator!!¡±

    ¡°In other words, the MV Sewol has suddenly be our greatest source of strength in our time of need!¡±

    That¡¯s right. He was already prepared to give up intercepting Liu Yu¡¯s harvest of faith. After all, there were just too many variables involved for such efforts to be worth his time. Ryu Changmin¡¯s sudden appearance had given rise to a fatal dy in the execution of his earlier ns. But after hearing more about the distinct unique abilities of his, Qin Ye suddenly discovered that¡­

    The path to infiltration had closed, but the option to barging right through the doors of their ns had now burst wide open. And if one thought more about it¡­

    The Second King Yanluo, Arthis and even the Harken would never condone such petty actions.

    It¡¯s possible¡­ It¡¯s actually reasonably possible!

    All it took was five men, and yet the perfect leverage of their abilitiespletely opened a world of possibilities to them! Everyone had a role to y in these ns.

    He stood up at once and cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°Lord Qin, please allow me to take on the most dangerous task possible!¡±

    ¡°I want Choi Tae-min¡¯s life!¡± Ryu Changmin barked through gritted teeth and with palpable bloodlust.

    ¡°I¡¯ll shred him to pieces!¡± Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s voice trembled.

    They were all waiting for the light of dawn in the unending darkness, and Qin Ye had brought exactly that.

    Just then, Qin Ye nced out and suddenly smiled, ¡°The most dangerous task?¡±

    With that, he promptly retracted his smile and boomed authoritatively, ¡°Oda Nobutada, heed mymand!¡±

    ¡°You are responsible for knocking the MV Sewol out of the dimensional rift at the appropriate time. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°One Tail, heed mymand!¡±

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye didn¡¯t give him any room to shrink back to. He looked Wang Chenghao straight in the eye, ¡°You¡¯re responsible for operating and maneuvering the MV Sewol. No matter what happens, you absolutely have to make it stop right next to Choi Tae-min¡¯s coffin! Nothing can go wrong, do you understand?!¡±

    Qin Ye coughed softly, ¡°... And remember never to will everything to the Red Cross Foundation. I should be the named beneficiary instead¡­¡±

    Then, Qin Ye turned his head to look at Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin, ¡°You two¡­ are with me. The three of us will bear the brunt of the firepower. Ryu Changmin, I want you to know that our sess in these operations lies in three factors. Firstly, we need to resist the frontal attacks, and we absolutely cannot break formation. Secondly, the other two are responsible for positioning the MV Sewol and ensuring when it¡¯s dragged out of the dimensional rift. Thirdly¡­ it¡¯s you!¡±

    Holy shit¡­ Can I give myself two tight ps across the cheeks right now?!

    Damn¡­ To think I¡¯ve got such dangerous thoughts and perspectives these days¡­

    ¡°Whether drawing the attacks of the Russian and Hanyang Forces, or the millions of undead below, none of the tasks are easy. We¡¯ve got a good shot at this.¡±

    In that moment, the entire script of death had finallye full circle and returned to the very source and purpose for which it was created.

    <hr>

    1. This is a reference to Sa Dingding¡¯s Ashes of Love.

 Chapter 587: Titanic and the Iceberg (1)

    <h4>Chapter 587: Titanic and the Iceberg (1)</h4>

    Gonjiam Asylum, Gwangju City, Gyeonggi Province.

    A massive tent was erected as their forward base, and everyone important, including the governor of Gyeonggi Province, the leader of the Daeian Special Forces, the ¡°ck Berets¡±, the 707 Brigade, and others, were all gathered in this location. In fact, there were even several priests and investigators of the Cathayan Special Investigations Department present. Furthermore, everyone was clearly staring intently at the screen in the center.

    ¡°Make the call¡­¡± The governor of Gyeonggi Province gritted his head and turned to the mayor of Gwangju City and the cultivators standing around him, ¡°There¡¯s only about an hour remaining till midnight, and the Yin energy readings are already at unprecedented heights. We¡­ can¡¯t wait any longer!¡±

    ¡°We think you should hold onto Gwangju City.¡± An elderly priest who appeared incredibly shriveled and wrinkled responded at once, ¡°After all, if you remain here, then no matter how dangerous things may be, the situation wouldn¡¯t continue to expand. But if you choose to abandon this ce, then there¡¯s no doubt that the situation will quickly worsen and spread at unimaginable speeds!¡±

    Usonians enjoyed a high status here in Daehan. Naturally, every Daeian dignitary listened intently to the priest¡¯s advice. That said, they couldn¡¯t help but reveal an ugly expression in no time.

    Are we Daeians not qualified to be human beings in your eyes? Is this why you¡¯re treating us as nothing more than meat shields and fodder?

    ¡°Evacuate.¡± The cultivator from Cathay responded tly, ¡°20 million Yin energy¡­ Let¡¯s not even talk about a small province like Gyeonggi Province, this is something that not even the strongest province in Cathay could afford to take lightly. Choosing to remain here would be no different from sentencing your citizens to death.¡±

    In other words, what basis do you have to be interfering with our bteral affairs?

    ¡°Hey¡­ Mr Zhao, you can¡¯t¡­ Do you really have to be in such a rush? We¡­ we haven¡¯t made a decision yet!¡± ¡°Mr Zhao! Cathay¡¯s advice is extremely important to us! Please¡­¡± ¡°Mr Zhao, Father Michel didn¡¯t mean anything with that. Please stay on our ount!¡±

    The chief of the LSD is only an advanced Hellguard-ss expert. In other words, he was of the same cultivation level as Mr Zhao. How could they simply allow someone so powerful to leave while they were faced with a crisis like this? At once, many Daeian officials cursed at Father Michel under their breaths, but not a single one of them dared express their thoughts.

    A split secondter, the entrance to the tent was lifted, and a stylishly-dressed woman marched right in with elegant poise, carrying a ck clutch bag. Several bodyguards followed right behind her.

    ¡°All citizens are to evacuate to Seoul. We¡¯ve only got one hour remaining.¡±

    However, the governor of Gyeonggi Province immediately responded as though his pir of support had finally arrived. At once, he rushed over and bowed deeply to her, ¡°Miss Lee? You¡¯vee! This is truly great!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Is¡­ is this true?¡± ¡°Is the storm brewing underneath Gonjiam Asylum¡­ finally going to erupt?¡±

    All eyes turned to Lee Jung-sook. This was the first time that most of the senior officials were seeing thedy that had just barged into the room, but they could tell from the incredibly respectful demeanor of the governor that she had to be extremely important.

    ¡°I¡¯ve also informed the mayor of Hanyang and the Cheongwadae that Hanyang will be subject to martialw from midnight tonight for one full week. All ess to and from Hanyang will be strictly prohibited. So¡­ you best make the call right away if you don¡¯t wish to run out of time. As for the citizens here, evacuate them from Gwangju City at all costs.¡±

    Her bodyguards lifted the curtains to the tent, and des of the chopper¡¯s propellers began to whir outside. She paused for a moment outside, and then turned back with a faint smile, ¡°A god of death.¡±

    Whirr¡­ The helicopter took to the skies and flew at full speed towards Hanyang. Gwangju City wasn¡¯t far away, and within moments, she could already see the skyline of the majestic buildings in Hanyang.

    Half of the perimeter surrounding Gonjiam Asylum had already copsed. Humans and cultivators alike couldn¡¯t see Emissaries, but she could.

    Meanwhile, there were tens of thousands of Yin soldiers standing by with their spears at the ready and bows primed to fire.

    Who the hell are all these Emissaries waiting for?

    She couldn¡¯t help but turn her attention back to the short text message she had received from Qin Ye ten minutes ago. It bore only one line of message: ¡°Leave Gwangju immediately, and evacuate all citizens!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s strange¡­¡± She gently ran her finger through her wind-swept hair, ¡°We¡¯re not that close, but I still chose to believe him unconditionally¡­ Is this the tacit understanding we kindred spirits have with each other?¡±

    There was a dark cloud of Yin energy that was hurtling towards Gonjiam Asylum, and it appeared to to fade in and out between reality and illusory, as though it was straddling the realms of the illusory and the corporeal!

    With speeds like that¡­ it would arrive in no more than 30 minutes!

    There¡¯s going to be chaos in thesends tonight!

    Rumble¡­ The stones on the ground rattled softly. Liu Yu stood in the middle of a wide, open road a thousand meters in front of the massive, illusory gate. A dense army formed from tens of thousands of soldiers was arrayed behind him, followed by Rumyantsev and his nine KGB agents that stood as the final line of defense before the gate. All eyes were trained on the horizon ahead of them.

    Yin energy erupted like a rising tide across the horizon, screaming and churning as it hurtled straight towards Gonjiam Asylum.

    ¡°Perhaps they might not even have left Gijang County in the first ce¡­¡± Liu Yu licked his lips as he spoke with great bloodthirstiness, ¡°Marquis Rumyantsev, your eyesight must be failing...¡±

    Secondster, Rumyantsev sneered, ¡°To err is human. That said, the more important question to ask is who¡¯s steering the MV Sewol right now? Richard may not have responded, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the battle for control of the MV Sewol is over. Do you know what you have to do?¡±

    Silence.

    Closer and closer¡­ They could already begin to see the faint traces of spatial distortion around the MV Sewol as it hurtled towards them. In fact, they could even see the tens of thousands of the living dead sprinting below the MV Sewol!

    100 kilometers¡­ 50 kilometers¡­ 30 kilometers!

    10 kilometers!

    8 kilometers¡­ 5 kilometers!

    They¡¯ve got no intention of stopping¡­ Liu Yu, Rumyantsev and the KGB continued to stare intently at the MV Sewol that was approaching them. 5 kilometers¡­ If Richard¡¯s still on board the ship, he will definitely make a move now!

    Whoosh¡­ Rumyantsev shot to his feet. His wig was now fluttering wildly with the wind. The skin of his face had already split open, revealing a pitch-ck skeleton within with two specks of scarlethermes as his eyes. Meanwhile, he licked his lips with a menacing, crimson tongue, ¡°Richard is dead.¡±

    That¡¯s only to be expected¡­

    However, he immediately raised his hand and bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°All troops, at the ready!!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t retreat! He would never retreat!

    He was the renowned Emperor Wu of Song after all. His only regret was that he wasn¡¯t able to unify Cathay. Then, in death, he was once again presented with the prime opportunity to rule over Cathay once more. How could he possibly step down from this challenge and pass it up without even giving it a shot?!

 Chapter 588: Titanic and the Iceberg (2)

    <h4>Chapter 588: Titanic and the Iceberg (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye, Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin stood at the bow of the ship, while Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada remained in the captain¡¯s cabin. Nobody said a word. All eyes remainedpletely transfixed on Gonjiam Asylum thaty straight ahead of them.

    In a few minutes¡¯ time, the punitive expedition from Cathay was going to sh directly against the tens of thousands of troops from the Hanyang Underworld, together with the few special agents from the Russian Underworld as well.

    After all¡­ they were but five men¡­

    The MV Sewol drew closer and closer. 2,000 meters¡­ 1,500 meters¡­

    Here stood the only man across the entire history of Cathay to have been hailed as invincible. All eyes were naturally on him.

    ¡°I represent the glorious Hell. What reason do I have to cower?¡± Qin Ye licked his lips greedily. It was strange. Now that things havee to this, he didn¡¯t feel even the slightest bit of fear in his heart. He had a wealth of chaotic experiences under his belt, ranging from the tragedy of the Hungry Ghost Festival, to the battle at the Strait of Tsushima, and even the bloody Battle of Qufu. Although it was the first time he was standing toe to toe against an entire underworld at once, he felt indescribably calm.

    ¡°Go faster.¡± He shut his eyes and spoke directly to the two in the captain¡¯s cabin, ¡°Full speed ahead.¡±

    His entire body zed with jade-greenhermes. He wore ancient Cathayan armor, carried his head in one hand and the Kiku-ichimonji with the other. He was ready for war.

    Within moments, MV Sewol¡¯s entire body was covered with even denser Yin energy that appeared to even glow with a brilliant dark luster. It¡¯s target was clear - the Gate of the Dead!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Thump, thump, thump!

    However, Liu Yu couldn¡¯t care less about these things. His eyes remainedpletely transfixed on the wreckage of the massive ship that was still hurtling towards them at top speed.

    Just like Qin Ye, he too had reasons for being unable to back off.

    Liu Yu seemed petrified. His Yin energy stopped flowing, and his entire breadth of perspective was filled with Choi Tae-min¡¯s desperate, pleading expression that was etched onto the bow of the ship. At the same time, the only things that seemed to be moving were the countless living dead that continued to plow forward like an entire army of marching ants.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    10 meters!

    As the boundlesshergale buffeted their clothes and caused everything to flutter about wildly, Liu Yu finally thrusted forward mightily with his spear with a deafening bellow!

    Time seemed to freeze at that moment. With an earth-shattering bang, the spear struck the MV Sewol¡¯s bow dead on. But, a split secondter, Liu Yu found himself being pushed back by the MV Sewol¡¯s relentless charge. That said, the spear didn¡¯t break, and he continued to hold on fervently as he resisted the MV Sewol¡¯s approach!

    Qin Ye¡¯s pupils narrowed at once.

    How could one person actually stop the momentum of the MV Sewol that we¡¯ve been building up over such a long time?! Is this the might of the strongest Judge in the history of Hell?

    The MV Sewol is still 1,000 meters away from the Gate of the Dead!

    ¡°How is he actually able to achieve with just pure Yin energy what special Yin spirits can achieve only with their unique abilities?¡± Ryu Changmin couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. Everything was borne entirely out of the might of an Infernal Judge that had refined and condensed his abilities several times over!

    He had simply dug deep into the ground, dragging out two long grooves as he continued to be pushed back!

    Rumyantsev hasn¡¯t even made his move yet¡­ That¡¯s right, he couldn¡¯t care less what bes of the Hanyang Underworld. All he cares about is the safety and security of the script of death. He¡¯s the true ¡®insurance¡¯ standing before the Gate of the Dead.

    Distance¡­ I need more distance!

    Closer¡­ I need to get it a little bit closer!

    Back in the captain¡¯s cabin. Oda Nobutada gasped softly, ¡°My Lord¡­ If we speed up any further, we might not be able to maintain our stability and bnce! This ship is carried forward by the living dead after all¡­ If we push them any harder, they wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain their stance and form any longer!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Oda Nobutada gritted his teeth. At once, Kiku-ichimonji lit up with several ck runic symbols and surged straight into the ship below.

    Choi Tae-min¡¯s face on the bow of the ship immediately twisted with pain and agony. The chains emerging from his mouth rattled violently and tightened up even more. Meanwhile, the living dead below looked up as though they had heard another order. At once, they roared at the top of their voices and charged forward at maximum speed, no longer bothering to keep cadence with the other living dead around them!

    At once, the MV Sewol began to leave a trail of red in the wake of its travel. It was a path forged by the blood from the countless living dead who had been trampled over in the wake of the MV Sewol¡¯s burst of speed.

    ¡°Stop the ship at all costs!!¡±

    The 20,000 skeletal cavalrymen rumbled at once, charging forward like a rushing tsunami. The front of their formation was located only about 100 meters from the MV Sewol. Within moments, they moved so quickly that they appeared no different from a mighty stream ofhergale, converging together like a river delta and sweeping straight into the MV Sewol!

    Like a terrifying wave striking an indomitable force! It was a battle for territorial rights that was invisible to all humans. Within moments, a series of gleaming lights from des flickered coldly, and the sound of swords slicing through flesh echoed through the surroundings. The cavalrymen weren¡¯t aiming their attacks at the body of the MV Sewol. Rather, they were targeting the living dead that were carrying the MV Sewol forward.

    ¡°CHAAARGE!!!¡±

    Qin Ye cursed under his breath.

    I can¡¯t wait any longer¡­

    BOOM!! A terrifying wave of Yin energy erupted in the sky. At once, Qin Ye swooped down from the skies like a majestic eagle, thrusting his spear right towards the crown of Liu Yu¡¯s head.

    Liu Yu exploded with rage. Meanwhile, the MV Sewol pushed forward yet another 100 meters.

    All nine KGB agents standing in front of the throne of bones immediately looked over.

    ¡°Liu Yu!¡± Qin Yeughed boisterously, ¡°Have you no shame? As a feudal official of Hell, how could you prostitute yourself to other underworlds in search for glory?! The Third King Yanluo has promised you independence, but when did he ever allow you to allow other underworlds to intervene with your affairs?!¡±

    ¡°Absurd! You can only be considered truly independent once you have properly established your own underworld! And before you do so, the solicitation of the aid of foreign underworlds without Hell¡¯s consent is naturally an act of rebellion and treason! Liu Yu, do you really think you will be able to stand against the wrath of the new Hell?!¡±

    Rumble¡­ A mighty shockwave of Yin energy rippled out, sweeping right across the entire Gwangju City.

    ¡°Then¡­ we have nothing more to talk about. DIE!!!¡±

 Chapter 589: Titanic and the Iceberg (3)

    <h4>Chapter 589: Titanic and the Iceberg (3)</h4>

    One of the men dressed in camouge raised his head and nced at the time. It was midnight.

    Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t leave.

    ¡°There¡¯s going to be chaos here in Gwangju City tonight¡­¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s the situation downtown?¡±

    Just then, he suddenly froze and shot to his feet.

    The man shook his head, and his lips twitched uncontrobly, ¡°Listen¡­¡±

    The tent was filled with pin-drop silence in an instant. Nobody said a word. A split secondter, everyone heard shouts of death reverberate endlessly throughout the wilderness!

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± A man froze and rushed out of the tent as he took a closer look at Gonjiam Asylum.

    It was the march of Yin soldiers!

    ¡°Oh god¡­¡± One of the men¡¯s knees buckled, and he copsed to the ground, ¡°What the hell is going on in this ce¡­¡±

    ¡°Damn!!¡± Oda Nobutada gritted his teeth fiercely and hammered his fist down onto the instruments before him.

    The Yin soldiers were reaping and incapacitating the living dead below, and their numbers were dwindling rapidly. If things went on like this, they wouldn¡¯t have enough living dead to hold up the ship any longer, and they would be no different from pickles in a jar!

    ¡°This is all because he trusts us.¡± Oda Nobutada took several deep breaths to calm his mind down, ¡°Someone needs to give the MV Sewol orders. He¡¯s responsible for drawing away the enemy forces, so that means he¡¯s left entirely to us the tall task of ensuring that the MV Sewol makes it straight to the Gate of the Dead!¡±

    ¡°Fool!¡± Oda Nobutada was clearly losing his patience, ¡°The enemy forces will raze all of our living dead to the ground before Lord Qin can level the enemy forces!¡±

    Given the way the situation was developing, he simply didn¡¯t have the luxury of time tomunicate his instructions to them. Besides, it was a manifestation of the trust he had in them. He trusted them with the key to the ns. He trusted that they would wrack their minds toe up with a viable solution to their problems.

    What do we do? What can we possibly do?

    Granted, it was always an option to depart from this ce and have nothing to do with the Hanyang Underworld moving forward. But¡­ if Qin Ye could ept Hanyang¡¯s independence and the fact that it was pledging its allegiance to the Russian Underworld, he would have departed from this ce a long time ago! In other words, Oda Nobutada was keenly aware that Lord Qin was vastly different now from when he had epted Liu Yu¡¯s deration of independence in the past.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we throw it over?¡±

    What kind of a silly proposal is that?!

    Throw it over?

    If the living dead could lift the boat, there was no reason why they couldn¡¯t take things one step further and toss the boat over!

    Wang Chenghao responded affirmatively, ¡°That¡¯s right! Throw it over! That should work!¡±

    Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t any time to hesitate.

    He immediately stood up and looked around. Qin Ye was floundering about like a clumsy fish under Liu Yu¡¯s flurry of attacks. In fact, he could tell that Qin Ye wasn¡¯t even able to find any reliable opening to make any counterattacks.

    Three secondster, Oda Nobutada plunged the Kiku-ichimonji in his hands straight into the instrument controlling the ship. At once, MV Sewol froze.

    ¡°Throw.¡± Oda Nobutada ran his fingers through his hair with a zing scarlet fire in his eyes, ¡°Throw it over!!¡±

    ¡°Or do you wish to perish under my sword?!!¡± Oda Nobutada was even more anxious than the MV Sewol was. At once, he drew back his sword and braced himself to plunge it down further. But, just then, the chains tethering MV Sewol to the living dead suddenly snapped at once.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Each thrust from Liu Yu came with a roaring sonic boom. Qin Ye was unable to believe that this was the handiwork of a meagre Infernal Judge. The air was filled with frigid tension, so much so that the temperature in the surroundings were even dipping rapidly.

    And it was precisely for this reason that he had allowed Qin Ye to catch a little breather.

    Meanwhile, Liu Yu was slowly closing the distance, bit by bit. Qin Ye could tell that Liu Yu¡¯s patience was wearing thin. Sure, he could tolerate Emissaries of Hell going about their business here in Hanyang. Sure, he could tolerate Emissaries of Hell bossing him around as though he were still a part of Hell. But his bottom line was now being threatened - he simply couldn¡¯t tolerate Emissaries of Hell staining the sacred Gonjiam Asylum with their dirty hands!

    Liu Yu took a deep breath, and thehermes in his eyes instantly surged to over a meter high, ¡°Let¡¯s see who¡¯s the traitor when my banner flies high across all of Cathay!!¡±

    With that, he immediately moved into action and thrusted his spear directly towards Qin Ye¡¯s chest.

    Unbelievably quick.

    Whoosh! The spear hurtled straight through the air with a deadly silver gleam. And when it next stopped, it was no more than an inch from Qin Ye¡¯s chest!

    His life shed right before his very eyes. Just then, the Spatial Spirit appeared right behind Liu Yu with his mouth agape, fervently devouring everything around it.

    Had Qin Ye made his move even a split secondter, he would have been headed straight to the well of reincarnation by now.

    Time seemed to freeze at that moment. In the backlines, Rumyantsev and the rest of the KGB agents abruptly looked up. Likewise, Qin Ye nced back in surprise at the source of the sound.

    To be more precise, the MV Sewol was now tilted upwards. The living dead standing closer to the front of the ship had piled up into a little mound that was approximately 10-meters tall. The living dead breathed in a ragged fashion as they red intently at the Gate of the Dead.

    The Titanic was finally about to crash straight through the iceberg!

    His words instantly jolted everyone out of their moment of stupor. Liu Yu lowered his head and turned right back to Qin Ye. Then, with a furious cry of rage, he cocked back the spear in his hand and thrusted it straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s chest once more!

    Whoosh¡­ The tip of his spear appeared right before Qin Ye in the blink of an eye. Qin Ye¡¯s mind went numb in an instant.

    He was also astounded by the solution that Oda Nobutada and Wang Chenghao hade up with to bridge the final gap of 1,000 meters!

    Rather, he was looking at the backlines of the Yin soldiers arrayed before him. He was looking at Rumyantsev.

    Almost simultaneously, a brilliant golden light erupted from out of nowhere.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Not even Liu Yu could help but mutter with great trembling in his voice at this moment.

    ¡°This is none other than the brush used by the Second King Yanluo himself!!!¡±

 Chapter 590: Titanic and the Iceberg (4)

    <h4>Chapter 590: Titanic and the Iceberg (4)</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± Rumyantsev bellowed as the mighty w formed out of Yin energy swiped hard at the MV Sewol in an attempt to grab it!

    He hadn¡¯t wanted to make an enemy of the Emissaries of Hell. However, the Russian Underworld had their bottom line as well.

    Granted, Fate was terrifying. It represented an existence that was well beyond hisprehension. However, there was something equally as terrifying acting as a countervailing consideration to any thought of retreat.

    BOOM!

    This was the might of an Abyssal Prefect.

    ¡°How is this possible?!¡± He stared at the ws formed from Yin energy with consternation. It appeared as though he¡¯d managed to capture the MV Sewol, but the truth of the matter was that the entire hand was still one centimeter away from the surface of the MV Sewol all around, and it was precisely because of this one centimeter that he wasn¡¯t able to get a good hold of the MV Sewol at all!

    He froze for a second. Then, with a mighty roar, the MV Sewol reached the peak of its parabolic arc and began to plunge right down!

    tter, tter¡­ Dust and debris scattered everywhere like rain as the massive shadow of the MV Sewol continued to sweep across the ground, like the impending impact of a cataclysmic meteor hurtling towards the earth. It was absolutely hair-standing!

    Five seconds at best¡­

    He wore a finely carved crown and wore a ruffled cor made out of the feathers of a ck swan. His entire body was enshrouded in the mightyhergale swirling around him, while the scarlethermes in his eyes promptly erupted into two spots of two-meter tall infernos.

    This was the appearance of an Abyssal Prefect in his true form!

    At the same time, hundreds of scarlet eyes opened from the darkness of the formless mass, each of which went on to survey the world with a vile, scheming look.

    Two seconds¡­

    The cross-hilted des were etched with soaring eagles and majestic grizzly bears, and topped off with iid pearls and jades. However, not even the opulence here could quite hold a candle to the brilliance of the attack that was just unleashed. The heavens were torn asunder, while the ground split open. Endless Yin spirits poured forth with mournful cries, forming a bleak ck curtain that rose slowly into the sky.

    Countless birds that were slumbering for the night suddenly cawed or cooed at the top of their voices, before promptly plunging down from the trees, as dead as ever. Stray dogs that roamed the streets at night immediately scuttled to cover and cowered in fear, while some of the newborn Yin spirits that were drifting about aimlessly were instantly reduced to ashes.

    Crack¡­ crack¡­ Time seemed to stand still at this moment. Arge web of cracks began to split open from right underneath Rumyantsev¡¯s feet. A split secondter, he sighed in relief. But just as he was about to get up, an even more brilliant radiance of golden light suddenly pierced the seemingly endless darkness that had poured out of Rumyantsev¡¯s body.

    Fate!

    Qin Ye read the situation well.

    BOOM! It didn¡¯t matter how mighty Rumyantsev¡¯s earlier attack was. Nothing could stop the light of Fate. The golden soul flickered around rapidly in the heart of the brush, causing innumerable illusory golden lotuses to grow and bloom in the void. At once, Rumyantsev felt a chill run down his spine, and he yelled without any hesitation, ¡°Guards!!¡±

    In fact, the nine KGB agents promptly transformed into nine shields that transformed into a massive parasol that promptly shielded Rumyantsev from all oing attacks. A split secondter, the golden lotuses in the sky suddenly exploded at the same time like a big bang, causing a golden wave of energy to rush through thends like a tsunami ravaging the fields!

    As he hid behind his bone parasol, he saw countless Yin soldiers out there screaming in terror as they were swept up into the air by the golden shockwave like a massive tide of Yin spirits. Within moments, the skeletal war horses werepletely crushed and reduced to ashes, while the Yin soldiers numbering tens of thousands were instantly reduced to swirling spots ofhermes in the sky. In other words¡­ Liu Yu¡¯s base waspletely ravaged and destroyed by the golden wave of devastation!

    And that wasn¡¯t all. The golden light was still intensifying. Secondster, there was a deafening, earth-shattering rumble, and Rumyantsev promptly shut his eyes.

    It was an unimaginable force.

    After some time, Rumyantsev shuddered violently as he slowly peeked out from behind the bone parasol.

    However, he didn¡¯t even turn to give it any attention. Instead, he clutched ardently at his chest as he scrambled to his feet with great trembling. Yin energy continued to gush out of his body like a tidal wave.

    How terrifying¡­ He clenched his trembling fists. His Yin energy was nowpletely in disarray. The earlier shockwave of golden light seemed almost as though it bore some kind of hidden energy that militates against the operation of the energy reserves in his body. It took him several more seconds before he finally regained full rity of vision, and he immediately surveyed his surroundings.

    The area that was once filled with a multitude of Yin soldiers was nowpletely barren, almost as though the devastating impact of a meteor hadid waste to thends. The ground was covered with a plethora of weapons ranging from swords to spears to bows and arrows. Carcasses of skeleton war horses were strewn all over the ce, while clumps ofhermes of lingering souls continued to drift about listlessly in the air. Devastation was so rife that it looked no different from any of the great wars of ancient past.

    Rumyantsev¡¯s pupils narrowed as he nced up, only to notice a massive shadow still hurtling through the air, still aimed directly at the Gate of the Dead!

    The MV Sewol¡­ was crashing down.

    The movements of such a massive ship caused the winds to rush about violently, kicking up his clothes and sending them dancing wildly. Rumyantsev wanted so much to move. He wanted to pour all his strength into catching hold of the ship and stopping it where it was. Given his abilities, it would have been as easy as the flick of a finger on any other day. Unfortunately¡­ the stroke of Fate earlier changed everything.

    Unfortunately, he could only watch with bated breaths, praying hard that things wouldn¡¯t go Hell¡¯s way.

    BOOM!!!

    Had this been any other day, the MV Sewol would simply have cruised along at a leisurely pace as it slowly edged its way into the heart of Gonjiam Asylum. However, the captain today was clearly a different person.

    tter¡­ Time seemed to freeze in that instant. Debris from the gate scattered everywhere together with wisps of Yin energy, while a massive vortex instantly formed right behind the Gate of the Dead. With nobody left to stop it, Rumyantsev and Liu Yu both watched with bloodshot eyes as the MV Sewol rushed straight into the heart of Gonjiam Asylum!

    The heart of the mission the Tsar has entrusted to me is hidden right inside that ce¡­

    He had clearly underestimated Hell. After all, who would¡¯ve thought that mere Judges would actually be able to achieve the impossible and breach their defences and enter the restricted zone?

    ¡°Zhong Kui¡­ You¡­ You¡¯re courting death!!¡± Rumyantsev¡¯s eyes were still trained on the Gate of the Dead ahead of him. He could see Zhong Kui holding a spinning pcentern in his hands, gasping for breath as he stood valiantly in front of the MV Sewol, protecting it from any external interference!

    No response.

    ¡°Very well¡­¡± His bones cracked menacingly as an impending gale slowly picked up around him, ¡°Then¡­ die before me!!!¡±

 Chapter 591: Underworld

    <h4>Chapter 591: Underworld</h4>

    RUMBLE!!!

    Countless pieces of broken bones and shattered parts of the hull¡¯s wreckage followed closely behind as they all plunged straight down into what appeared to be a deep cavern. Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada gritted their teeth as they stared straight down into the abyss.

    Rumyantsev¡¯s earlier attack had left a profound and indelible mark in their minds. Besides, Yanluo Qin had hardly ever dealt with a monster like that, so how long could he possibly hold out for?

    1 minute passed¡­ 5 minutes¡­ 10 minutes¡­ Nobody said a word. Then, finally, after 15 full minutes, the image ahead of them finally started to shift.

    Rumble¡­ A violent roar rumbled through the void. Yin energy stirred and swirled about wildly, sweeping up thehermes around into a massive vortex of clouds in the sky as the MV Sewol shot right out of its midst and continued to fall down from the heavens!

    Whoosh! The MV Sewol hurtled right out of the vortex of Yin clouds and plunged down at top speed. Wang Chenghao cried out in rm, while Oda Nobutada held him tightly with reassurance and immediately scanned his surroundings.

    Thesends were so vast that he couldn¡¯t even see its end on the horizon. In other words, thesends were at least tens of thousands meters wide in radius. A series of structures ostensibly formed out of human bones held up lighted candles, dimly illuminating the otherwise overwhelming darkness around. However, the flickering shadows that appeared as a result of light seemed only more menacing and evil than ever before.

    However, they had no faces.

    All of them appeared to be asleep with their eyes closed, and each of them had a talisman attached to their forehead. They were densely packed together, and it was impossible to tell just how many of them there were! In fact¡­ it was almost as though they had just entered a huge mortuary!

    Crackle, crackle¡­ Demonic sparks showered everywhere, revealing the true image of the entire underworld. Not only were there densely-packed living dead everywhere, they even appeared to be standing on tiers just like in an arena. As the candles roared into mes, the talismans pasted on the heads of each living dead slowly began to drift up and flutter without any wind!

    Isn¡¯t this supposed to be a glorious underworld?

    Unfortunately, time wasn¡¯t on their side. A split secondter, the chains held by the faceless pce maids rattled violently, and the talismans stuck on the heads of the living dead immediately started falling like autumn leaves.

    The dead were rising. Evil ghosts wereing out to y!

    ¡°How could they have awakened?!¡±

    A split secondter, the ground shook violently, and a scarlet wave suddenly surged tens of meters high into the air,pletely obscuring the view in front of them.

    Ssh!! The massive ship plunged straight into the pool. Fortunately, the waters were at best only five to six meters deep, and the bow of the ship instantly crashed into the bottom of the pool. Crack¡­

    No¡­ rather, it was flooring¡­

    CRASH!! Then, with a loud bang, the groundpletely gave way and crumbled. Wang One Tail screamed at the top of his voice, and the MV Sewol began to hurtle down once more!

    Whoosh! Violent wind rushed past his ears once more as they fell deeper into the cavern. None of them knew exactly how deep these caverns ran. This time, there were coiling mountain paths that ran all around them. Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada could see a number of Yin soldiers of the Hanyang Underworld staring in horror as the MV Sewol crashed straight through the skies above and came hurtling down amidst a downpour of debris and blood rain.

    No¡­

    ¡°W-w-w-what¡¯s going on?¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s voice trembled.

    ¡°Those are messenger birds.¡± Oda Nobutada responded cidly, ¡°Exigencies have arisen, and we¡¯ve got to adapt. The one thing that we¡¯ve failed to consider is¡­¡±

    Roar¡­ Just then, a chilling scream echoed from the darkness. It sounded like the concerted cry of thousands of people, and yet it also sounded like the roar of a mighty beast. There was a soft rustle of pping wings from the messenger birds ahead of them, as well as the distant shouts of the Yin soldiers behind. However, it was surprisingly silent where they were.

    Oda Nobutada turned back and nced down. Yin energy had already begun to pour out of his body, ¡°If you don¡¯t, please hide somewhere safe, because I won¡¯t be able to save you.¡±

    Crack¡­ rattle¡­ The walls of the cavern rattled softly in response. Countless rocks were clearly sliding off the sides of the walls, as though something were stirring and rustling impatiently.

    Something¡¯s crawling out of the bottomless abyss¡­

    The ship was still plunging down, bow forward. And it was for that reason that he could see the deep darkness below. Just then, two scarlet lights lit up from below.

    Those were¡­ two massive eyes!

    BOOM!!! At almost the same time, a furious source of Yin energy erupted from beside Wang Chenghao, and a series of scarlethermes quickly drifted alongside them. A palpable murderous intent filled the air at once, sending chills down Wang Chenghao¡¯s spine so much so that he couldn¡¯t help but take a few steps back in fear.

    All of them appeared to be crying and wailing in pain and anguish. Meanwhile, two spots ofhermes lit up from beneath the mask. At once, Oda Nobutada¡¯s Yin energy climbed to its peak.

    ¡°Murder Acumen.¡± Oda Nobutada nced at Wang Chenghao, ¡°You best get further from me.¡±

    No words were needed. She opened her mouth, revealing bits and pieces of broken limbs that peeked out from between her gnarly, grisly teeth. Blood trickled down the sides of her lips like endless streams, and she immediately attempted to take a bite at the MV Sewol without hesitation!

    ¡°The Gwisin, one of the few evil ghosts of Daehan folklore. This should be the strongest defensive force in this ce.¡± As the fishy stench of the evil ghost assaulted his senses, Oda Nobutada shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, his entire body ignited inhermes, and he leapt right off the MV Sewol and dove straight towards the massive head that was approaching them!

    BOOM!!!

    Torrent of Spirits.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The moon shone brightly, but it wasn¡¯t enough to prate the darkness enshrouding the ghosts and the spirits strewn all around him. The surrounding trees swayed wildly, almost as though it were being tossed about by an invisible giant hand.

    With such a beautiful night sky, shouldn¡¯t I be seated by the roadside, enjoying a marvelous cup of wine and several delectable skewers? What in the world am I doing in this ce?

    It had broken apart the shell of his cowardice and forced him to mature and rise to the asion.

    There was simply no way he could tap into the power of those artifacts a second time!

    But, be that as it may, he knew that now wasn¡¯t the time to falter.

    He didn¡¯t know what Rumyantsev was nning to do, but he knew it couldn¡¯t possibly be good for him. The stirring anxiety from within slowly ate away at him from within. Meanwhile, Rumyantsev¡¯s hatred and murderous intent only burgeoned and flourished, until¡­ it came to a tipping point.

    As he spoke, he raised and brandished the sword in his hand. But, just then, a mighty wave of Yin energy surged from nowhere and viciously thrusted straight towards Rumyantsev¡¯s skull!

    One that was wrapped with dense Yin energy.

    It was Liu Yu¡¯s spear!

 Chapter 592: Benefits and Interests

    <h4>Chapter 592: Benefits and Interests</h4>

    ¡°Are you mad?¡± Rumyantsev stared at Liu Yu with great consternation. Likewise, Qin Ye stared at Liu Yu, wondering why he would suddenlyy hands on Rumyantsev.

    He¡¯s not acting¡­ Has he really gone mad?

    ¡°Am I mad?¡± Liu Yu¡¯s entire body was shrouded with Yin energy. Even then, with a grimace on his face, he slowly marched forward towards Rumyantsev. A web of cracks appeared on the ground with each step that he took.

    As he spoke, he suddenly leapt up into the air as quick as lightning. The dim moonlight shone down on his body, and a shadow actually appeared right beneath his feet!

    Qin Ye was located dozens of meters away right now, but even he couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill run down his spine. It was obvious that Liu Yu was putting his entire heart and soul into killing Rumyantsev right now.

    Boom!!! The ground rumbled, and dust and debris scattered everywhere. At once, Liu Yu¡¯s attacks caused ten deep grooves to appear in the ground where Rumyantsev had been just a moment ago. He slowly straightened his body and revealed a hideous smile on his face. All this while, his eyes remained transfixed on Rumyantsev and Rumyantsev only.

    Thehermes in Rumyantsev¡¯s eyes pulsated for a moment, and he slowly tightened his grip around the cross-hilted sword under his cloak.

    Rumyantsev was taken aback, and he immediately grew taciturn. However, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly because he immediately understood what was going on.

    The reason? Because¡­ his entire army of Yin soldiers was gone!

    Besides, how much could they possibly expand their forces in just ten years?

    And of that number, approximately 50,000 Yin soldiers had beenpletely reduced to dust from Qin Ye¡¯s stroke of Fate earlier. This was undoubtedly a devastating blow, especially to someone who was nning to seize control of Hell with the forces he had!

    Power and authority flows from the barrel of a gun. Without military might, his fate was clear.

    This would bepletely different from what he had been working towards all this while! He desired independence. He desired his own kingdom. Don¡¯t forget - how did these Yin soldiers perish?

    All alliances were built on the foundation ofmon interests. Liu Yu was filled with indignation, so much so that his heart verged on madness. He truly desired to kill Rumyantsev, but he knew better. He wasn¡¯t a match for Rumyantsev. And even if he were, he couldn¡¯t afford to make an enemy of the Russian Underworld, especially after already making an enemy of Hell.

    ¡°My Lord¡­ Have they¡­ rebelled?¡± Kwon Kyung-ho muttered with astonishment.

    He needed an outlet for venting.

    And who was the most suitable candidate for his venting of frustration?

    There weren¡¯t any other emotions apart from the pure, unadulterated murderous intent that poured forth like waters from a cold spring. It was chilling to the bone.

    ¡°Do you sense the MV Sewol being dragged right out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine?¡± Qin Ye asked softly.

    Damn it!

    His heart thumped wildly, and his palms were covered with sweat.

    ¡°How do you want to do this?¡± Rumyantsev nced at Liu Yu, ¡°Time is of the essence. I can get rid of him summarily¡­¡±

    With a faint smile, the Yin energy behind him erupted with such intensity that the surroundings even began to somewhat distort, ¡°Let me do it.¡±

    If I can¡¯t take your head with me, I¡¯ll at least have to take the head of the other source of all my pain and problems!

    After all, he wasn¡¯t just a Marquis. He was also a special emissary of the Russian Underworld. And since that was the case, it was only natural for him to be considering the interests of the Russian Underworld before his own.

    Granted, they had befriended Liu Yu with the primary intention ofmunicating with Hell through him. And now that direct negotiations with Hell had clearly fallen through¡­ it was clear that they needed Liu Yu now more than ever.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t take him down in three minutes¡¯ time, then¡­ I¡¯ll make my move.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t even need three minutes.¡±

    Qin Ye remained silent. He didn¡¯t care to say a thing at all. After all, it was only on the cusp of a duel with the strongest Infernal Judge in the history of the old Hell that he finally understood how overwhelming the pressure was. As Liu Yu spoke, his Yin energy slowly faded away, until there waspletely nothing left emanating from his body.

    Rather, it was because Liu Yu had simply returned to his roots. It was like the sheathing of a sword in preparation for the battle ahead. The next release would undoubtedly be a fight to the death!

    Just then, Liu Yu sighed, ¡°We were once colleagues. Why did you have to force my hand like this?¡±

    Kkkrrr¡­ His feet dug deep grooves as he ground to a halt. Momentster, he turned his attention to his arms, discovering to his horror that it was throbbing with immense pain.

    Unfortunately, before he could even process what went on, he immediately detected another wave of Yin energy aimed directly at his back, and a great sense of crisis surged from the base of his spine. At once, he turned his Judgment Pen into ance and swung it behind his back.

    In fact, it was so fast that Qin Ye couldn¡¯t even keep up with his movements altogether!

    ¡°My Lord!!!¡± Ryu Changmin yelled out after Qin Ye. However, he could see Qin Ye discreetly shake his head back at him in the midst of his evasive maneuver.

    He had to keep his cards hidden close to his chest. Who knew whether Rumyantsev would be able to breach Ryu Changmin¡¯s Judge-ss domain ability or not? And if so, how long could Ryu Changmin possibly hold out under his sheer pressure? It was clearly premature to be taking action. Besides, it wasn¡¯t as though Qin Ye werepletely powerless right now.

    Just then, his body came to a sudden halt.

    Rattle! At once, countless chains emerged from beneath the ground like venomous vipers, rising high into the air as they attempted to bind and tie up Liu Yu.

    So quick?

    ¡°After so many years, you still haven¡¯t improved in the slightest bit.¡± Liu Yu chuckled coldly from behind, before whispering into Qin Ye¡¯s ears through gritted teeth, ¡°You¡¯ve killed tens of thousands of my precious Yin soldiers¡­ So, now, you pay with your life!!¡±

    However¡­

    ¡°Haah--...¡± Qin Ye gasped for air, ignoring the throbbing pain in his bones, joints and internal organs in his entire body. At once, he whipped around and grabbed Liu Yu¡¯s throat, ¡°Colleague?¡±

    With ragged breaths, Qin Ye slowly tightened his grip around Liu Yu¡¯s throat, ¡°And the Emissaries of Hell have never recognized a traitor as one of their colleagues¡­ ever!!¡±

    Just then, the Spatial Spirit appeared right behind Liu Yu with his mouth wide open, fervently devouring Liu Yu with all of his might. Meanwhile, as Liu Yu flew back, countless chains emerged from Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves and instantly bound up Liu Yu¡¯s body in the air.

    Rattle¡­ The chains forcibly hoisted up Liu Yu¡¯s body. Ignoring the sharp pain ravaging his entire body, Qin Ye yelled at the top of his voice and rode a ferocioushergale forward as he charged forward towards Liu Yu at once!

    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± Rumyantsev¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, and he shook his head as he slowly began to walk towards the vortex at the Gate of the Dead.

    What he saw waspletely different from what Qin Ye perceived.

    Liu Yu had clearly been bound up and hoisted into the air, yet Qin Ye still saw¡­ a terrifying evil ghost opening his bloody mouth!

 Chapter 593: Terminus of Terror (1)

    <h4>Chapter 593: Terminus of Terror (1)</h4>

    He appreciated the fact that Liu Yu was of a ss of his own. Having once been hailed as the peerless Infernal Judge of Hell, he would never fall to such frivolous attacks on Qin Ye¡¯s part.

    ¡°Pretty keen senses¡­¡± Liu Yu suddenly raised his head and revealed a bloodthirsty smile, ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s toote.¡±

    The intensity of the murderous intent and the denseness of the Yin energy were both indubitably the strongest he had ever witnessed among any Infernal Judges he had encountered before!

    Qin Ye was quick on his feet. Unfortunately, the shadows were even quicker. In the blink of an eye, the shadows swept across thend, consuming an entire area within a 10-mile radius from Liu Yu in an instant!

    He slowly reached out with his hand. Although it was but a single hand, it appeared sorge and domineering that it felt almostrge enough to nket the earth. As he opened his palm, the shadows all around suddenly rushed right back into his palm, coalescing into a ck ball 1,000 meters in circumference thatpletely enveloped both men.

    He held his spear horizontally across his chest. Surrounded by extreme darkness, he could hear every bit of raggedness in his own breaths. There wasn¡¯t any wind or other sounds in this space, and yet he couldn¡¯t help but feel as though someone were gently leaning over his back, breathing down the nape of his neck.

    And in that instant, every single sword was pointed directly at Qin Ye!

    Before he could even go on, the bone swords plunged straight towards Qin Ye like a torrential downpour of death!

    ¡°AHHHHHH!!!¡± With a defiant roar, Oda Nobutada rushed down with a maddened frenzy as he rushed straight at the Gwisin. Each of his six arms held tightly to their swords as karmic fire erupted from his body like a blossoming red lotus.

    In turn, this might give Ryu Changmin a misleading signal, causing him to teleport right over, only to realize that Choi Taemin¡¯s coffin was nowhere in sight.

    Right now, they were ying for time. No matter how perfect the n was, every second counted. They needed to kill Choi Taemin in the quickest possible time. And as things were right now¡­ it still wasn¡¯t enough!

    I¡¯ve got one shot¡­ I need to end this with a single strike¡­ With the MV Sewol right behind his back, Oda Nobutada knew that he only had one chance at stopping the Gwisin. He couldn¡¯t risk allowing the Gwisin to collide into the MV Sewol at all. And if he couldn¡¯t stop the Gwisin, then¡­ it would spell a cataclysmic disaster for the n.

    With each word that he chanted, the swords in his hand began to emit a crimson lustre, and the muscles of his body began to swell and bulge rapidly. His Yin energy surged to the extreme peak of all Anitya Hellguards.

    Oda Nobutada could practically hear his soul screaming by now.

    ¡°Form is but emptiness, and emptiness only form¡­ Feeling, thought and choice, is but one¡¯s consciousness¡­¡± His voice gradually became louder and more domineering as the beads hanging from his chest began to drift up into the air and ck wildly against each other. Meanwhile, a patch of crimson totem glowed brightly on his body, revealing a demonic sense of beauty and brilliance.

    This littleckey actually wields that much power on his own?!

    ROAR!!! The Gwisin opened her mouth wide, revealing rows after rows of razor-sharp teeth within, almost as though she were about to devour the entire cavern itself. A putrid stench instantly filled the air.

    AS soon as he did, boundless karmic fire instantly rose to the sky, and coalesced into a scarlet wheel behind him. His six hands came together and formed a massive hand seal. At once, the six des immediately came together and transformed into a pitch-ck bone sabre that was 30-meters long!

    BOOM!!!

    He could tell that as Oda Nobutada swung his bone sabre, the MV Sewol was no more than 30 meters away from the Gwisin.

    Is our missions going to fail like that

    One second passed¡­ two seconds¡­ three seconds¡­

    At once Wang Chenghao shot to his feet and climbed straight to the windows and peered out again.

    The Gwisin had been cleaved into two equal parts, while Yin energy surged up like massive tidal waves from the grisly wounds on both sides of its body. In fact, Wang Chenghao could even see its eyes that were still filled with grievances, almost as though it were in denial that it had died.

    Oda Nobutada was hurtling forward like a fiery meteor, crying out valiantly as he cut through every obstacle that stood in their way!

    He raised his hands slowly and wiped off the cold sweat that was beading up all over his forehead.

    Wasn¡¯t I a student of the First Academy of Cultivators back in the mortal realm? Why have I suddenly be as useless as calefare down here in the afterlife?

    Time seemed to elude him so much that he didn¡¯t even realize it when Oda Nobutada returned to the vessel once more.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Oda Nobutada¡¯s footsteps in the captain¡¯s cabin jolted Wang Chenghao right back to his senses.

    He smiled faintly. Then, he opened his lips as though he were about to say a word, before copsing onto the ground without any warning.

    The mes in Oda Nobutada¡¯s eyes flickered so weakly that it seemed almost ready to be snuffed out in an instant, ¡°No matter what happens¡­ we must¡­ get to the very bottom¡­¡±

    ¡°Even if¡­ we can¡¯t¡­¡± Oda Nobutada gasped desperately for air. With each breath that he took, Yin energy poured out of his body, almost as though his body were about to dissipate altogether in an instant, ¡°You must¡­ protect Lord Qin¡­¡±

    Wang One Tail bit down on his lower lips and nodded with great determination.

    It¡¯s all up to me¡­

    If it¡¯s all up to me, then I¡¯ll just have to rise to the asion!

    With that, he leapt right up to his feet and made his way straight to the bow of the ship as he peered ahead into the darkness.

    At once, he began to steer the MV Sewol and adjust the direction of its trajectory even as he stared intently at the white hole that was slowly growingrger. 1,000 meters¡­ 500 meters¡­ 400 meters¡­

    And their murderous intent was palpable to boot!

    Whoosh¡­ Yin energy erupted from his body, enveloping himpletely in a Yin vortex. Momentster, he stepped out in his true form for the very first time.

    Most of them looked just as they were in the moment right before their death. However, there were a select few whose true bodies werepletely different from while they were alive.

    And for further instance¡­ him.

    Unfortunately, he had never revealed this fact to anyone, nor had he ever thought of revealing this to anyone.

    ¡°ROARRRRRR!!!!¡±

    Just then, he saw it. The guards at the exit included Yin soldiers and the faceless pce maids that they had encountered earlier. But with this one furious shriek, the exit was instantly cleared of all guardsmen! Every single one of the Operative-ss and Hunter-ss Daeian Yin spirits were instantly reduced to ashes.

    It was¡­ a corridor ahead.

    What¡¯s this¡­ Wang Chenghao paused for a moment, and then immediately surveyed his surroundings.

    This was the substratum of the caverns hidden beneath Gonjiam Asylum!

    This was the source of all horror stories of Daehan. This was the Terminus of Terror!

 Chapter 594: Terminus of Terror (2)

    <h4>Chapter 594: Terminus of Terror (2)</h4>

    Moreover, there were countless scratch marks, bloody handprints and irregr and distorted writing everywhere on the walls. Meanwhile, the MV Sewol abruptly slowed down in the corridor, almost as though it had just encountered the most terrifying Yin spirit ever.

    They looked no different from the benches ced around at old hospitals.

    And they were all wearing the uniforms issued to them by the mental asylum to boot!

    ¡°Uurrrrghh¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid¡­ I¡¯m not afraid¡­¡± Wang Chenghao felt goosebumps creeping up all over his body. The corridor was filled with many psychiatric patients that lined benches along the sides of the corridor, while the lights swayed softly above him. He took several deep breaths, and then took a closer look.

    Bzzt¡­ bzzt¡­ The corridor was silent as a morgue. Then, just as Wang Chenghao nced around, the 42 psychiatric patients raised their heads abruptly, and then¡­ revealed a hair-raising smile at the same time!

    Almost as though they had just discovered the best toy or the most delectable delight. Some drooled from their lips, while blood seeped out of the lips of others. Wang Chenghao¡¯s heart instantly skipped a beat!

    He wanted to jump down and rush forward like how Oda Nobutada had done on several asions, but¡­ he couldn¡¯t. His legs were shaking too hard.

    ¡°AHHHHHH!!!¡± His scream resounded throughout the entire corridor. Then, as soon as hended on the ground, he lowered his head and barrelled forward straight towards the iron door.

    ¡°Heh¡­ herees another¡­¡± ¡°Wee¡­¡± ¡°Come¡­ join us¡­¡±

    But just then, he suddenly paused right where he was.

    What is this sound?!

    Thump, thump¡­ Thump, thump! The thumping sounds grew increasingly crisp and clear. A split secondter, they grew louder than Wang Chenghao¡¯s footsteps itself, filling the entire corridor with the oppressiveness of its irregrity.

    There was nothing.

    This time, he heard the sound of ping pong balls.

    The dean of Gonjiam Asylum that had vanished¡­ was said to have loved ying ping pong when he was alive¡­

    Nobody knew whaty within, nor did anybody desire to know whaty within. That said, the significance of the sound of ping pong balls was a ubiquitous tale that had been passed down from generation to generation.

    It was almost as though the bolted iron door hid the way into the morrowind underworld!

    The sound of nging iron caused an electrifying sensation so surge through his mind. At once, he drew another deep breath and turned back to the iron door.

    ¡°Gulp¡­¡± Wang Chenghao gulped nervously. As far as he could tell, the bolt on the iron door had fallen off, revealing three numbers in striking red lettering - ¡®402¡¯.

    ¡°Is that you¡­?¡± A hoarse voice spoke from behind the door. With a soft gulp, Wang Chenghao took a step back.

    ¡°Is that you? Have you finally arrived?¡± The man¡¯s voice appeared more eager than ever, ¡°Come¡­e over here¡­ You and I are supposed to be one body¡­ Come to me!!!¡±

    Creeaaaaakk¡­ The iron door opened wider and wider. Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao stopped retreating altogether.

    At once, countless thoughts flowed through his mind, and everything slowly began to fit into ce to form a coherent story.

    So had his earlier statements.

    I¡¯ve found it¡­ Wang Chenghao¡¯s jaws dropped as he took several more steps back reflexively. Even then, he continued to stare intently at the darkness on the other side of the door - I¡¯ve found it¡­ I¡¯ve actually found this ce! All I need to do now is to drive the MV Sewol in, and then forcibly drag it out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine, and¡­ my job would beplete!

    He paused for a moment, and then chuckled bitterly.

    Everyone has a fixed role, and everyone is clearly doing their best. And now¡­ it¡¯s finally time for me to step up¡­

    Instead, he was filled with a deep sense of responsibility. He was filled with the notion that he must never let the rest down, and it was this sense of responsibility that filled him with a peculiar sense of feverish passion!

    He didn¡¯t say another word. At once, thick Yin energy shrouded around his entire body, and a behemoth appeared.

    ¡°So¡­ you guys know fear too, huh¡­¡± The face on his chest and abdomen revealed a strange smile. And then, with a deep breath, he charged straight into Room 402!

    Who cares what I might be?

    Thunk, thunk, thunk! The entire corridor trembled under the weight of the behemoth. The sarcophagus grew silent for a moment, before the man within hissed coldly, ¡°Kill him!¡±

    The head¡¯s features were all obscured by his disheveled hair, revealing only a single scarlet eye that peeked out from within!

    SSS!!! Faced with Wang Chenghao¡¯s unrelenting charge, the Yin spirit abruptly opened its mouth to half a meter in size and unleashed a heart-rending scream. At once, countless pitch-ck hands emerged from behind the door and began to grab desperately at Wang Chenghao like a raging wave!

    ¡°DIEEE!!!!¡± It was only by yelling at the top of his voice that Wang Chenghao could ease the fear in his heart. Thus, he shouted in a maddened frenzy as he charged forward at top speed. Like a hurtling meteor, he left a trail ofhermes in the wake of his charge of destruction. Meanwhile, pieces of armor appeared out of nowhere and adhered themselves to his body. Finally, a spear immting with greenhermes materialized from the air, and Wang Chenghao wielded it valiantly like a war hero.

    He absolutely had to cut down all obstruction before the MV Sewol could arrive at the iron door itself!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    He had felt sufficiently vented, and he waved his hands as though nothing happened, ¡°Is everything alright down under?¡±

    As they spoke, Rumyantsev promptly transformed into a stream ofhergale and prepared to rush right into the vortex.

    Rumyantsev and Liu Yu paused and turned back in astonishment. A dazzling golden light shone radiantly, transforming into an indomitable arrow that flew straight towards the vortex!

    ¡°How can you still be alive after being struck by my Dark Soul Inferno?!¡±

    <hr>

    1. He uses his nipples as eyes and belly button as a mouth.

 Chapter 595: Terminus of Terror (3)

    <h4>Chapter 595: Terminus of Terror (3)</h4>

    Not a single person other than Ryu Changmin could sense anything amiss with Qin Ye. That said, the truth of the matter was that even speaking alone took almost every bit of energy and strength that Qin Ye could muster.

    These injuries are terrible¡­ In fact, they¡¯re probably far worse than back then at the Strait of Tsushima. I¡¯m afraid that several of my internal organs are already bleeding¡­ is this¡­ the price of holding out for another three minutes?

    ¡°Lord Qin¡­ Can¡­ can you still hold on?¡± Ryu Changmin could sense something amiss with Qin Ye. After all, he knew that Qin Ye had mobilized his Dusk Legionnaire again earlier in order to fend off Liu Yu¡¯s killer technique.

    ¡°Three minutes are up.¡± Rumyantsev was just about to go on when a scarlet me lit up in between his eyes. He paused for a moment, and then hurriedly crushed the scarlet me with his hands.

    ¡°The dean is dead¡­¡± Rumyantsev¡¯s bones rattled softly, and he murmured softly with a grave expression in his eyes, ¡°They¡¯re¡­ approaching Choi Tae-min¡¯¡¯s coffin¡­¡±

    Two secondster, both men turned around and rushed frantically towards the swirling vortex in the distance.

    His hands trembled wildly, so much so that even his veins began to bulge on his skin.

    Shut your trap! Shut your damn trap!!!

    Everything fell silent. Both Liu Yu and Rumyantsev could still recall how terrifying Fate¡¯s earlier attack had been. If they were struck cleanly across their bodies without any form of defensive measures whatsoever¡­

    Rumyantsev gnashed his teeth as he fervently suppressed the urge to give Liu Yu a tight p across the face, ¡°And what are you going to do?!!¡±

    ¡°A mere Earl dares to order a Marquis about?!¡±

    No response.

    ¡°I said no?¡±

    These words seemed to be the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. The difficulties in their operations here in Daehan, the Tsar¡¯s strict orders, and the threat of Fate¡­ Rumyantsev¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and he revealed a menacing chortle, ¡°Then, you leave me with no choice but to take your life.¡±

    Prefect-ss Yin energy erupted in full force!

    Since he¡¯d decided to go down the path of no return, then there was simply no point in pulling any punches any longer!

    It was still Rumyantsev, but his entire body was covered with bones from top to toe. There were even bone spurs protruding from each of these bones like vicious barbs. Meanwhile, his cloak drifted up softly with thehergale, revealing countless scarlet eyes hidden beneath in the shadows. Rumyantsev tightened his grip around the cross-hilted sword in his hand and finally unsheathed it!

    Faced with the risk of another devastating blow from Fate, Rumyantsev had decided to go all out against Qin Ye!

    The abilities of an Abyssal Prefect were clearly on a whole other level. Rumyantsev could easily squash him to death!

    Fast.

    Palpable murderous intent filled the air. Rumyantsev didn¡¯t show any signs of holding back at all. He moved well beyond the speed of sound, so much so that it didn¡¯t even generate any sonic booms. In fact, he moved so quickly that it was even impossible to follow his movements with the human eye. A split secondter, there was a startling bang, and Qin Ye found himself knocked tens of meters away into the distance!

    30 seconds¡­

    Crack, crack¡­ A couple of Qin Ye¡¯s ribs fractured as a result of the overwhelming impact of the blow. However, he still fought through the pain and stood up valiantly. The notion of turning tail and escaping didn¡¯t even cross his mind.

    When one¡¯s opponent called the bluff and decided to go all out, a simple threat would never be able to guarantee one¡¯s survival.

    ¡°I¡¯ve given you a chance.¡± Rumyantsev nced up at the pitch-ck skies as dense Yin energy poured right out of his body. Even Liu Yu couldn¡¯t help but retreat until there was a berth of at least a hundred meters between himself and Rumyantsev.

    And it was still going down!

    With an explosive roar, the Yin energy in the surroundings immediately copsed onto the sword, forming an intense de of darkness. A split secondter, it cleaved down mercilessly, sundering the heavens and seas alike. Qin Ye drew a deep breath and shut his eyes.

    His consciousness went nk. So did his auditory and visual senses.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Rumyantsev heaved a long sigh and sheathed his sword. Then, just as he was about to turn back and link up with Liu Yu once more, he suddenly paused and stared agape in the distance.

    He¡¯s actually still standing?!

    To think that a mere Infernal Judge was able to receive two mighty blows from an Abyssal Prefect and still remain standing!

    ¡°My Lord¡­¡± Ryu Changmin choked up slightly. Only he was aware of just how beat up Qin Ye¡¯s body was right now.

    ¡°Lord Qin! Why are you still hanging on?!¡± Ryu Changmin¡¯s voice was growing shrill, ¡°You¡¯ll die at this rate! The domain of the Spirit of Avernus doesn¡¯t render you impervious to all attacks! Your opponent is just far too strong!¡±

    Ryu Changmin grew taciturn.

    ¡°This is why I always ask¡­ what¡¯s so good about being the King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    Copious amounts of Yin energy was once again rising from the ground and pouring into Rumyantsev¡¯s sword once more like the dance of a thunder of ck dragons. As the Yin energy grew denser and denser, the sword slowly turned ck, before a scarlet eye suddenly opened on the hilt of the sword.

    ¡°Be honored to have heard its name.¡±

    This time, it was a pure, unadulterated attack.

    Everything happened in the blink of an eye, well beyond the speed of sound. Qin Ye¡¯s mind went numb at once, and he called upon Ryu Changmin¡¯s abilities without any hesitation at all.

    However¡­ the attack didn¡¯t stop!

    Rumyantsev was actually able to breach the absolute domain!

    The attack bore down on him at once. However, Qin Ye slowly raised his head, ¡°There¡¯s still 10 seconds of time - a second for each meter.¡±

    Ryu Changmin¡¯s lips trembled wildly - How in the world did I end up with such a crazy master?!

    ¡°Have you heard anything from them?¡±

    ¡°Sigh.. We¡¯ve done all we could. Let¡¯s leave everything to destiny.¡± Qin Ye sighed and turned back to retreat.

    What a pity¡­

    What a pity that the heart is willing, but the flesh is weak.

    Just then, Qin Ye suddenly turned back and stared at Ryu Changmin in consternation, ¡°You¡­¡±

    Rumyantsev¡¯s sword had already prated more than half of the absolute domain. Yin energy roiled everywhere, while the billowing shockwaves generated by the devastating attack caused his hair to fly everywhere.

    Time seemed to freeze in that instant.

    A split secondter, he threw his head back andughed uproariously, but the only thing that came out was the mouthfuls of blood that he had so fervently repressed earlier.

    There was no longer a need to put up with his pretenses.

    One second.

    I¡¯m the one who has thestugh!

    With the removal of the 10-meter absolute domain, the Thorn of the Rose Queen struck the ground in an instant, causing a terrifying explosion that swept Yin energy everywhere across the entire Gyeonggi Province!

 Chapter 596: Terminus of Terror (4)

    <h4>Chapter 596: Terminus of Terror (4)</h4>

    Ashmound City, Hell.

    The Second King Yanluo opened his eyes, revealing a gaze so deep and abstruse that it appeared to contain the entire universe, ¡°Before embarking on this learning journey to Daehan, I¡¯d at best give my sessor a passing grade of 60 marks. That said¡­ he¡¯s undoubtedly earned himself the right to be assessed with full marks.¡±

    ¡°After all, what¡¯s an opulent city full of gold good for without a domineering leader filled with righteous pride and haughtiness?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ finallyplete.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo smiled faintly as he gazed deep into the skies, ¡°Take over the rest of the King Yanluo¡¯s tests.¡±

    However, the Second King Yanluo didn¡¯t say another word. Secondster, an inch-sized, gold-coloured man emerged from between the Second King Yanluo¡¯s brows and knelt on his palm, ¡°Greetings, Yellow Emperor.¡±

    The inch-sized man kowtowed respectfully, ¡°An instance of infraction, a life of requital! An instance of ignominy, an eternity of penance!¡±

    ¡°If the tiger slumbers for too long, all kinds of rabble wille out to y.¡±

    Yin energy bloomed like glorious rose petals, drifting softly to the ground like velvety feathers. From afar, the Gonjiam Asylum appeared to have been nketed by these soft, ck petals within a ten-mile radius. It was beautiful.

    There wasn¡¯t even the slightest bit of gravel, debris or bones and skeletons around them. Everything had beenpletely swept away by Rumyantsev¡¯s earlier blow.

    Something told him that there was something peculiar about Rumyantsev¡¯s mental state right now.

    Five secondster, Liu Yu pressed the issue, ¡°My Lord¡­¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t die¡­ He¡¯s actually still alive!!¡± Rumyantsev turned back and red at Liu Yu, revealing the fact that thehermes in his eyes were flickering wildly, ¡°Lord of Hanyang¡­ Tell me¡­ Tell me where he has gone? Where is the ce that you least hope to see him at?!¡±

    ¡°Then what are you still waiting for?!!¡± At once, Rumyantsev turned into a violenthergale and rushed straight into the vortex.

    The journey to the substratum of Gonjiam Asylum would entail a transition from the mortal realm into the underworld. Even for an Abyssal Prefect, this was a journey that would take at least five minutes!

    Please don¡¯t be there¡­ Please don¡¯t be in the dean¡¯s office right now¡­ His hair stood on end as he screamed in abject frustration, ¡°AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!¡±

    None shall act in defiance of the Tsar¡¯s orders. I will take him down, even if it costs me my life!

    Room 402. ¡°Haa¡­ Haa..¡± Wang Chenghao¡¯s entire body was covered with countless wounds, from which Yin energy poured out like a river with broken dikes.

    This was the aftermath of a fierce battle between two evil ghosts. It was a fight to the death, where neither party held back. In the end, one side was forcibly torn to bits, and had its soulpletely shattered.

    ¡°Who the hell are you?! And what are you trying to do?! Do you know who brought me back to life? How dare you rebel against such a mighty power?!!¡± Choi Tae-min spoke with an anxious tremor in his voice as he sensed the soft approach of the MV Sewol.

    ¡°Do you even know the consequences of your actions?! Do you know who I am? What are you after? Money? Power? That¡¯s not an issue at all! Mr Park and I are close friends. I can give you anything you¡¯re looking for!!!¡±

    He suddenly understood the meaning of the couplets at Hell¡¯s Gate.

    Hath Hell spared any since ages past?

    Choi Tae-min¡¯s hands had been stained by the blood of countless people, beginning with his establishment of the Church of Spirit World, to the Train to Pusan incident, the MV Sewol Tragedy, and even the organized mass suicide incidents of the followers of his sect. It wouldn¡¯t even be an overstatement to say that thousands of people have died because of him!

    And now¡­ the time hade for him to finally pay for his debts.

    There¡¯s one final step to this process¡­

    Unfortunately, his steps felt incredibly heavy. He took two steps, and then fell face t onto the ground. Yin energy continued to pour out profusely from his body, and his vision slowly turned blurry.

    Wang Chenghao couldn¡¯t hear a single word of his rambling. His eyes were staring transfixed at the MV Sewol.

    I feel like a worm, destined to crawl forward slowly on the ground. Speaking of which, the ground is ratherfortable¡­ Perhaps I should just take a nap¡­

    ¡°AHHHHHH!!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve¡­ done well¡­¡± Oda Nobutada gasped as he sat on the prow of the ship, ncing down at Wang Chenghao with a nod of approbation for the very first time, ¡°Excellent¡­ You¡¯ve even exceeded my expectations¡­¡±

    ¡°No¡­ damn it! NO!!!¡± Choi Tae-min screamed hoarsely. This wasn¡¯t the end he was looking for!

    Rumyantsev had told him that if the ones captaining the ship weren¡¯t Richard or himself, then he should immediately take his own life. Otherwise, Rumyantsev would see to it that he took Choi Tae-min¡¯s life instead. That said, he did qualify these statements with another sentence, as if in jest - ¡°But nothing of the sort would happen.¡±

    And he didn¡¯t even know who these perpetrators were!

    Where exactly did things go wrong?

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± Wang Chenghao finally rxed his body and slumped to the ground. Back on the bow of the ship, Oda Nobutada did exactly the same thing.

    The source of the nightmares that had gued Daehan for decades on end would finally pay for his crimes in this very ce.

    The despair of unpaid injustice would finallye to an end today.

    Rumble! A rift tore open in the void, and Qin Ye stepped staggered out,pletely covered in blood. Ryu Changmin appeared right beside him.

    The MV Sewol had already transformed into a terrifying vortex of Yin energy that swirled violently around the sarcophagus. A man¡¯s silhouette could be seen hidden within.

    ¡°Rumyantsev will definitely arrive in five minutes.¡± Qin Ye nced around at the swirling vortex nkly. Just then, it suddenly exploded and filled the entire room with a dense fog of Yin energy.

    Choi Tae-min!

    He screamed and embraced the void with excitement, unfolding his arms as though praising God for his divine mercy. That said, his face was filled with an amalgam ofplex emotions.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Momentster, he turned around and gnashed his teeth at Qin Ye, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    BOOM!! Two sources of Yin energy no weaker than Choi Tae-min¡¯s in any way suddenly erupted from nowhere!

    ¡°Choi! Tae! Min!!!¡± Two bloodthirsty voices roared at the same time, ¡°We¡¯re here¡­ to im what is rightfully ours¡­¡±

 Chapter 597: Terminus of Terror (5)

    <h4>Chapter 597: Terminus of Terror (5)</h4>

    Endless clouds of Yin energy rolled about like dense plumes of smoke, while innumerable scarlet eyes slowly opened in the shadows of the darkness, gulping avariciously as they shuffled around.

    Because that was where the avengers were facing off against the ultimate viin.

    ¡°Who the hell are you guys?¡± Choi Tae-min looked at the two Yin spirits standing in front of him. At once, he glossed over Kwon Kyung-ho and looked at Ryu Changmin.

    He¡¯s also an Infernal Judge¡­ so how could his abilities be even stronger than mine?!

    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! A split secondter, a blood-coloured tide poured forth out of nowhere, almost as though the invisible floodgates of hell were opened all at once! The red waves were high as the skies, and it instantly filled the entire Room 402 with over a meter of red-tinted waters.

    Meanwhile, with each step he took, his body slowly began to fester, just like how one¡¯s body would decay in an elerated fashion in water. His skin slowly became whiter and whiter, while dark figures of teenagers slowly emerged from the depths of the scarlet seawaters.

    ¡°My ssmates¡­¡±

    He didn¡¯t use any techniques. His mouth was now open at least a meter wide, while his nails had grown at least a foot long. This was the purest, most unadulterated of melee between evil ghosts. This was also the best way of quelling the intense frustration and resentment that had been festering in the hearts of all who had died unjustly.

    ¡°My father¡­¡±

    ¡°And the thousand passengers on board Train 7448 are all waiting for this moment!!! AHHHHH!!!¡±

    Several years of resentment! Several years of rage! And the hatred and grievances of thousands on end! Everything was culminating in this one ephemeral encounter!

    ¡°Never seen us before?! HAHAHA!!!¡± Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. At once, he dashed right behind Choi Tae-min and swiped down with his ws. Choi Tae-min raised his hand in self-defense, and the attack instantly tore apart the sleeves of his robes.

    SSSS!!! Bursts of Yin energy filled the air in an instant.

    ¡°Changmin!!!¡±

    Chomp! As she shrieked, she took yet another bite at his leg. It was almost as though she were hell bent on tearing out all of the flesh on Choi Tae-min¡¯s leg!

    No techniques were used.

    In fact, it was only by such means that they would be able to release all of the pent-up anger and hatred in their hearts!

    ¡°Daddy¡­ Mommy! Grandma!!! Wuuu-wuu-wuu!!! AHHHH!!!! Hahahaha!!!!¡± Streams of bloody tears rolled off her cheeks and stained Choi Tae-min¡¯s legs, ¡°I listened to you¡­ I listened to you and hid! That¡¯s how I managed to survive the disaster!¡±

    Qin Ye sighed wistfully.

    There was always someone watching from up above.

    Someone was watching as the recalcitrant offended evaded the long arms of thew time and again.

    No matter what one has done, Hell¡­ would always make you ount for every bit of it - even if it were nothing but a gentle prod, or an innocent peek, and even when there was no evidence. After all, Hell needed no evidence. Hell would examine one¡¯s heart and force the truth from one¡¯s lips!

    Choi Tae-min¡¯s entire body was fraught with excruciating pain. He could no longer care about who they were. After all, he had indirectly caused the death of far too many people in his lifetime, and had already grown numb to the act of murder. Yet, despite all that, he wanted nothing more than to live.

    At once, innumerable bone spurs began to emerge from his body, forcefully tearing apart his skin. Momentster, he shrieked wildly as a two-meter tall figure shed the skin of Choi Tae-min and emerged from within his body.

    Therefore, the so-called resurrected Choi Tae-min wasn¡¯t human to begin with. These were mere pretenses.

    The tattered robes still hung loosely over the frame of his skeleton, barely concealing his muscles that had winding tendons wrapping around them on the outside. Foot-long bone spurs protruded everywhere, making him look no different from a horrifying thorned beast. Scarlet mes zed in the depths of his eyes, and he promptly sought to retreat, yelling at the top of his voice, ¡°Do you know who I am?! I¡¯m the best friend of the former prime minister!! What do you want? Just name it! I can give you everything you want!!!¡±

    Unfortunately, the only response he got were bloodthirsty screams and resentful roars.

    Clunk¡­ Ryu Changmin was also an Infernal Judge, and an even stronger one on the list of special Yin spirits to boot. At once, he caught up with the Odious Spirit of Filth and pounced on his neck, and plunging his teeth down into Choi Tae-min¡¯s neck at once!

    There was a sickening crunch, and Choi Tae-min screamed in agony. Mustering every bit of energy within his body, the bone spurs on his body suddenly extended and plunged straight into Ryu Changmin.

    Evil ghosts knew themselves best.

    In particr, they knew that tearing each other apart in the purest, most unadulterated form of meleebat was the best way.

    SSS!!! Ryu Changmin raised his head violently and chewed off arge piece of his flesh, swallowing it with two quick bites. His voice trembled with great excitement, ¡°Do you know how long I¡¯ve been dreaming about this day?¡±

    He chomped down onto Choi Tae-min¡¯s neck forcefully.

    ¡°I still find tearing you to shreds with my own lips the best way to quell the endless hatred and resentment in my heart!¡±

    A split secondter, the pregnantdy, the young girl and Kwon Kyung-ho charged over at once and piled onto Choi Tae-min¡¯s body as well.

    Qin Ye watched from afar. At the beginning, the bone spurs that were protruding from Choi Tae-min¡¯s body was still desperately extending out into the bodies of the few Yin spirits that were gnawing away at his flesh and bones, yet¡­ it didn¡¯t stop them or inhibit the Yin spirits in the slightest.

    Two minutester, Choi Tae-minypletely motionless on the ground.

    All that remained was a single head on the ground.

    He¡¯d been resurrected.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Kwon Kyung-ho stood where he was, slightly dazed. Tears of blood were still streaming down his face. Momentster, with a dull thud, he finally fell to his knees and desperately kowtowed towards the south.

    ¡°I¡¯ve avenged you guys¡­ I¡¯ve actually managed to avenge you guys!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!¡±

    On the other hand, Ryu Changmin didn¡¯t cry.

    ¡°Train 7448¡­¡± He stared nkly into the air, ¡°Rest in peace¡­¡±

    ¡°Just like how you guys had died back then¡­ I¡¯ve also gnawed him up on your behalf¡­¡±

    One vented overtly, while the other remained introspective. Yet both of them clearly bore the same kind of burden, pain and hurt of ages past. Qin Ye sighed softly. By his estimations, it was almost time. Thus, he slowly walked past them and made his way over to Choi Tae-min¡¯s head.

    Whoosh¡­ In an instant, its appearance began to change from that of bone and tattered flesh to¡­ something that appeared to be made of paper¡­?

    However, there was no sun. Rather, it was a small golden parchment scroll that had unraveled itself in mid-air, and it clearly bore the writings of the Russian underworld.

    This was¡­ the true form of the script of death!!!

    <hr>

    1. Seok-woo is the name of the father

 Chapter 598: Arturo Alexander Vladimir

    <h4>Chapter 598: Arturo Alexander dimir</h4>

    Why couldn¡¯t the script of death be discovered by anyone?

    All of the answers were contained in the single scroll hovering in front of his very eyes.

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly for a moment, and then began to recount the events that had just passed - Wouldn¡¯t it already have been over six minutes since I¡¯d entered Room 402?

    ¡°Looks like I was right about something¡­¡± Secondster, a smile crept up the corner of his lips, and he looked up above him, ¡°If you haven¡¯t arrived by now, then, chances are, you¡¯re probably noting.¡±

    That said, closure wasn¡¯t a simple thing. It included the harvest of faith, as well as¡­ extraction from Daehan.

    This was because¡­ he was hedging his bet on something.

    He took a deep breath and sorted out the thoughts in his mind before turning back to the scroll that was suspended in the air. This was the greatest reward in his trip to Daehan!

    His fingers trembled slightly as he slowly reached for the scroll.

    Instead, he had entered a pitch-ck passageway, through which he was slowly ascending higher and higher! Meanwhile, the garments on his body slowly faded away and transformed into the garments of an official which he had never seen before!

    Within moments, he was d incquered ck robes so masterfully embroidered with the Torch Dragon that it appeared almost life-like.

    ¡°This is my spiritual body¡­ No, rather, I should say that it is my consciousness.¡± He touched his body in bewilderment, only to have his hand run straight through his chest. Then, he slowly ran his finger across the crown on his head, ¡°Are these¡­ my imperial garbs?¡±

    Just then, he jerked his head up abruptly, only to realize that a glorious golden cathedral had appeared right before him!

    However, the two massive candles lit at the entrance to the cathedral were clearly supported by a candlestick made out of human bones!

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s consciousness flew straight into the interior of the cathedral, where he finally saw for the very first time exactly whose consciousness his own had been linked to.

    However, Qin Ye could hardly be bothered about such revelry at this moment. His eyes immediately looked beyond all of this, right to the back of the room where there was a throne located right underneath a sculpture of the crucifixion. That said¡­ it was a reverse crucifixion. The statue was upside-down!

    He appeared to be a human.

    There was no other way to describe such an existence.

    Needless to say, he already knew the man¡¯s identity.

    He was seated right in front of him, and yet he couldn¡¯t even see his features. It was almost as though time and space appeared to warp around Tsar Arturo himself. That said¡­ what he did see was Tsar Arturo¡¯s real name!

    Moreover, even though not a single other part of his body could be seen with any rity, the one part that he could see was Tsar Arturo¡¯s palms. And in that moment, his palms slowly began to turn ck, decay, and then finally¡­ reveal a cross shaped mark in each hand!

    Arturo also paused in some measure of consternation and nced at his own hand. Then, he abruptly snapped his head up and looked at Qin Ye, before rising to his feet with a loud bang!

    Qin Ye nced around. He was still at the substratum of Gonjiam Asylum. Rumyantsev and Liu Yu still hadn¡¯t arrived. That said, his hand was now already wrapped tightly around the scroll. Even though the words on it were written in Russian, every bit of the contents had clearly already appeared in his mind.

    He had now gained certain other pieces of information.

    Severny Ind? Isn¡¯t that a site used by Rus for nuclear weapons testing? The ck Fortress sits underneath that? Russian Underworld¡¯s KGB headquarters¡­ Hang on a minute¡­

    To think that I¡¯ll actually learn of the location of their underworldly KGB¡¯s headquarters by simply reading the script of death!

    Cold sweat beaded up on his forehead.

    These were potentially hidden trump cards that he could y in moments of crises! And even if he didn¡¯t, the fact that such sensitive and crucial information was in the hands of a foreign underworld would undoubtedly still ce a huge burden on the Russian Underworld!

    If not, the uncertainty would be yet another source of leverage that I can capitalize on!

    ¡°Say¡­ I hear that the Russian Underworld intends to form a strategic alliance with the forces of Hell?¡±

    There¡¯s no better opportunity than this!

    Whoosh¡­ A golden light flourished from his chest, and Hell¡¯s Records flew out and began to write frantically.

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    Rumble¡­ Just then, the entire ground trembled as if an invisible source of energy were rushing over from every corner of the Daehan Penins!

    ¡°Merit Points have been awarded as follows.¡±

    One million?!

    The international arena is truly far more rewarding than the domestic stage!

    His mind stirred with great excitement. Moreover¡­ Hell¡¯s Record wasn¡¯t quite done just yet!

    600,000¡­ Doesn¡¯t this mean I have 2 million merit points now?! I¡¯m almost halfway there!!! Qin Ye immediately felt goosebumps creeping up all over his skin, and he stared intently at Hell¡¯s Records.

    Although the Second King Yanluo had already briefly mentioned in passing that as soon as he sessfullypleted this ¡°learning journey¡± of his, he would immediately break through the ranks of an Infernal Judge and be an Abyssal Prefect, hearsay waspletely different from seeing it happen with his own two eyes! The joy and excitement of being part of such a process was absolutely indescribable!

    ck words slowly began to surface on Hell¡¯s Records once more. The third item - ¡°Completion of the tests for the session to the throne - Merit Points: 3,000,000.¡±

    The impact of these words was like when a cataclysmic meteor struck the earth. At once, hepletely obviated from his mind all considerations pertaining to what the so-called tests were all about. The numbers spelling out three million was simply too striking to his eyes.

    In other words¡­ I¡¯m¡­ going to be an Abyssal Prefect?

    What was once nothing more than lofty ambition has now actually been attained? Doesn¡¯t that mean that thest hurdle to cross in the realm of my cultivation is none other than the final rank of Yama-King?

    ¡°Abyssal Prefect, huh¡­¡±

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that I¡¯d actually be able toe so far in just a short span of two years¡¯ time¡­¡±

    BOOM!!!

    The living dead in the surroundings appeared to know what was going on, and every single one of them began to shrink back into the darkness of the shadows around, cowering in fear. Countless scarlet eyes stared intently at Qin Ye with awe and reverence.

    They came through the walls of the room, and bubbled up from the surface of the ground. In fact, it was almost as though they were rushing over from every part of the Daehan Penins!

    It was a family.

    It was an image of a couple kneeling in front of a prayer tablet, offering an incense in prayer. A monochromatic photograph of the deceased was adhered to the prayer tablet, and a line of text was etched at the base below.

    Qin Ye touched another ball of light. This time, it was the image of an elderly woman resting beside the photograph of a middle-aged man located on her bedside table.

    ¡°Bae Jae-jung, deceased victim of the shipwreck 12 years ago.¡± ¡°Jung Sang-kyung, deceased victim of the mass poisoning incident 20 years ago.¡± ¡°Shin Eun-chae, lost in the mass suicide incident 8 years ago.¡± ¡°Im Jae-hwan, protester of the Choi Soon-sil debacle.¡± ¡°Lee Rae-won, police superintendent of the Choi Soon-sil protests.¡± ¡­

    These were all victims of Choi Tae-min¡¯s sins.

    Whoosh! At once, the darkest depths of the Gonjiam Asylum substratum was filled with intense white light!

    <hr>

    1. The math didn¡¯t quite add up on the author¡¯s works, so I tweaked it slightly.

 Chapter 599: Abyssal Prefect (1)

    <h4>Chapter 599: Abyssal Prefect (1)</h4>

    He could sense massive fluctuations of Yin energy below. Choi Tae-min was clearly fighting, and his guess was as good as anyone¡¯s as to who exactly he was fighting. That said, he knew that Choi Taemin was still in a rather vulnerable state, and if he didn¡¯t get there in time, something huge was bound to happen!

    Rumble! The path down into the depths of Gonjiam Asylum was filled with Yin energy and wreckage. The living dead groaned as they ducked away from Rumyantsev¡¯s impressive charge, while the faceless pce maids cowered and prostrated themselves on the ground. Within moments, Rumyantsev rushed straight past the first level and arrived at the long passageway that led straight into the depths of the substratum.

    ¡°Trifling Infernal Judges¡­ Trifling Infernal Judges!!!¡± He gnashed his teeth in exasperation as his eyes remained transfixed on the exit below. His heart was burning with humiliation.

    Just then, he suddenly paused.

    But he clearly wasn¡¯t.

    Whoosh¡­ Just then, a softhergale swept up from below, gently tousling Rumyantsev¡¯s garments as though it were the breath of a wild beast. A split secondter, an overbearing aura suddenly filled the entire passageway. The weight of the aura was incredibly immense, and yet at the same time so incisive and sharp that it felt no different than if the tip of a sharp de were pointed straight at Rumyantsev himself!

    Something like this¡­ could only have been done by a top-ranking emissary!

    No¡­ there must be other emissaries around here! And one that is stronger than myself¡­ In fact, I¡¯m quite certain that the strength of this emissary is well above my own! If he¡¯s intent on killing me, I¡¯m afraid that¡­ I might notst long.

    Unfortunately, he got no answers.

    ¡°Esteemed Emissary¡­ Do you have business with me?¡± He probed cautiously, ¡°Liu Yu has already gained independence, and is now the master of his ownnd. This certainly doesn¡¯t count as trespassing, does it?¡±

    It was impossible to see where he came from. In fact, his appearance was so natural and seamless that it almost felt as though he had been there all this while.

    It was the silhouette of an old man with a ck cloak around his entire body, and a mask of a demon in anguish concealing his facial appearances. He held a sword in front of him with two hands.

    Shk!

    ¡°Do you know your crimes?¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± The old man sneered, ¡°No matter what kind of fuss the Hanyang Underworld kicks up, it¡¯s still part and parcel of Hell¡¯s internal affairs. And since when did foreign underworlds start having the gall to meddle with the internal affairs of Hell?¡±

    Rumyantsev gulped bitterly.

    They¡¯re not afraid of Hell in the slightest. After all, they, too, were one of the top four underworlds in the entireherworld, and they even have a history of intense rivalry with the authority of Hell!

    But now¡­ all was lost.

    Rumyantsev¡¯s heart was filled with regret and resentment. There were endless words he wished to say, and yet he couldn¡¯t bring himself to say anymore than a most respectful and cating, ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Rumyantsev felt incredibly stifled. That said, he also couldn¡¯t help but heave a sigh of relief in his heart.

    ¡°No--...¡± Before Rumyantsev could even plead for mercy, a bolt of ck light erupted in the dark. Rumyantsev felt an intense pain course through his body, and he couldn¡¯t help but scream miserably. At once, his left index finger waspletely obliterated and vanished into thin air!

    It was because he suddenly discovered a long, ck de pressed threateningly across his neck at that very moment.

    Whoosh¡­ With that, the old man¡¯s silhouette vanished into thin air. It was only then that Rumyantsev covered his wound and curled up softly. His entire body trembled both from the excruciating pain, as well as the overbearing humiliation he had just experienced.

    ¡°Hell¡­ Hell!!!¡± Yin energy burst forth from between his teeth as he slowly looked up with a menacing gaze in Cathay¡¯s direction, ¡°One day¡­ I¡¯ll make you pay the price for your arrogance today! ARGGGHHHHHH!!!!¡±

    There was no longer any need to go down.

    But¡­ why?

    Where exactly did things go so horribly wrong?

    Countless balls of white light had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, gushing straight towards the substratum of Gonjiam Asylum, almost as though the milky way was shifting! Furthermore¡­ he could sense a somewhat familiar source of Yin energy quickly getting stronger below!

    ¡°How is this possible?!¡±

    It was now 5.00 a.m.

    They were located along the outskirts of Gwangju City. It was only five in the morning, yet the streets of Gwangju City were all well lit, and countless military vehicles plied each and every street as they did their level best to convince the citizens to load their valuables into their own vehicles and drive off into safety. Several military supervisors shuttled back and forth various streets, holding their loudhailers and barkingmands at their soldiers, ¡°Hurry up!¡± ¡°A breach has been found in a bioweapons facility near Gonjiam Asylum! Hurry up and evacuate! Don¡¯t bring along anything that is not of vital importance! Your life is at stake!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, please hurry up!! Lives are at stake! The explosion at the bioweapons facility was due to an oversight on our part! The Gwangju Municipal Government will bear all of the losses that you¡¯ve suffered from this evacuation! Hurry up! Hurry, hurry!!¡± A middle-aged man stood on a tform with his loudhailer as he attempted to hasten the process, even in the slightest bit. As soon as he was done, he coughed violently and marched down with the loudhailer.¡±

    It was only after he finished saying these things that he noticed that he was getting slightly too agitated. He nced around, before ignoring the awkward nces and marching forward to his next task. Meanwhile, the secretary followed closely behind him and reported with a somber tone of voice, ¡°Only one-tenth of the citizens have been evacuated thus far¡­ Meanwhile, the situation at Gonjiam¡­ has only worsened. Mr Lee, please board the ne and make your way to Hanyang. Given the current Yin energy readings, I¡¯m afraid¡­ we might not be able to hold onto Gwangju City.¡±

    How could something like this happen¡­

    Ah¡­ that¡¯s right¡­ Gwangju is nothingpared to Pusan. But¡­ Why?!

    Just then--!!!

    The secretary who was just speaking with the vice mayor dropped the ss of water in horror. His jaws dropped and his eyes widened as he turned back, almost as though he had just seen a living ghost. Then, with great trembling, he took several steps back. He looked as though he had something to say, yet he was unable to say a single thing because of the intense shock at the supernatural phenomenon.

    The sky¡­ had opened up.

    As soon as the purple haze appeared, countless pitch-ck birds flew out of the crack in the sky, chittering madly as they swooped straight down into Gonjiam Asylum, forming a massive swirling vortex of ck birds.

    Dead silence.

    ¡°Is this¡­ God?¡± An old man with a walking disability stared agape at the crack in the sky, gently bringing his son and daughter behind him. Secondster, the two children gasped at the same time, ¡°Oh shit¡­¡±

    ¡°God¡­¡± A monk that was being evacuated among the crowd of citizens immediately trembled and fell to his knees, ¡°It¡¯s you! It¡¯s the omnipotent God! God has appeared before us! This is a holy gift from God!!!¡±

 Chapter 600: Abyssal Prefect (2)

    <h4>Chapter 600: Abyssal Prefect (2)</h4>

    Meanwhile, invisible to ordinary people, countless Yin spirits trembled and fell prostrate to the ground in deep reverence and awe. They could all sense a boundless source of unadulterated Yin energy spilling out from underneath the haunted house. There wasn¡¯t even the slightest intention to keep this source of energy concealed, almost as though it were a deration of sorts that an Abyssal Prefect had arrived.

    Click¡­ A teenager snapped two photographs, and then eximed with a tremor in his voice, ¡°Holy shit¡­ W-what the hell is this supposed to be?! Is this a natural phenomenon? Or is it a supernatural one?!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get going, then!¡± His daughter tapped him from behind, ¡°Dad, what¡¯s the matter? Didn¡¯t you say that there¡¯s been an incident with the bio-weapon facility nearby? We¡¯ve got to get going!¡±

    Secondster, the father took a few steps back, and leaned heavily against the wall as he pointed at Gonjiam Asylum in horror, ¡°Is¡­ is this something we would see from a mere incident at the bio-weapon facility?¡±

    Right there.

    The entire Gwangju City trembled as the ck vortex poured straight into the haunted asylum!

    BOOM!!!

    At once, the incredible supernatural phenomenon was picked up by special organizations across Cathay, Nippon, South Daehan and North Daehan alike!

    Cinnabar City, three eastern provinces, Cathay. Surveince Station 8742, easternmost surveince station on Cathay.

    That said, the researcher and the cultivator couldn¡¯t help but stare incredulously at the screen in front of them, which revealed the image of Gyeonggi Province, together with a red dot that was expanding incredibly quickly!

    Beside him, the SRC researched likewise felt his lips dry up and his throat go parched in an instant, ¡°8.7 million¡­ 9.2 million¡­ 9.6 million¡­ 10 million!!!¡±

    BEEEEEEP--!!! The rm red with an ear-piercing tone, and a female voice immediately prompted them, ¡°Yin energy readings of 10 million Yin. Energy signature detected from a single source. Prefect-ss Yin spirit detected in Daehan. Satellite scans reveal the source of these energy readings to be one of the top seven locations for paranormal sightings, the Gonjiam Asylum.¡±

    BEEP! ¡°Emergency. Ten seconds ago, three Judge-ss investigators have been deployed from the three eastern provinces. All existing militarymands have been ced on hold, and all authority to dispatch military forces have been diverted exclusively to the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    BEEP! ¡°One of the three top powers of Cathay has been notified of the emergency, and is currently making his way over from Kunlun Mountain.¡±

    Yin energy darkened the skies all around them, and everything waspletely silent. Even the birds of the air and the stray cats and dogs of the streets were huddled up in the corner, cowering in fear and refraining from making even a single peep of sound. After all, they were far more in tune with their primal instincts than humans could ever be.

    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± The vice mayor¡¯s jaws dropped as he stumbled back at the situation. He was a cultured man who would generally refrain from cursing and swearing. But under such circumstances, cursing and swearing was the best and only way to describe his current feelings. He stared nkly at the sky.

    The vice mayor took a few steps forward, before turning back to the secretary, ¡°Where¡¯s the LSD?!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    It depicted a detailed map of Gwangju City.

    Meanwhile, the red dot was clearly formed from countless smaller red dots that surrounded arger red dot in the center with energy readings of 15 million in total. The total Yin energy readings of the smaller red dots amounted to 8 million Yin. That said, what was most startling was the fact that there was another massive red dot that was slowly emerging out of nowhere!

    But nobody responded to him. All eyes were fixed on the screen. The existence of a Prefect-ss Yin spirit would bring about huge changes to the delicate bnce between the mortal realm and theherworld in the East Continent. Nobody wanted something like that to happen.

    Beep¡­ A crisp beep cut through the tense silence in the tent. The red dot beside swelled violently, until it finally exceeded 10 million Yin!

    ¡°Senior Jeon!¡± ¡°Senior Lee!¡± ¡°We need a doctor! Where are thebat medics when you need them?! Men!!!¡±

    Momentster, he bowed deeply to everyone in the room, ¡°Everyone¡­ Please¡­¡±

    There were several foreign cultivators sent here by the surrounding nations in response to Daehan¡¯s distress call. However, it was only natural that none of these nations would be sending their nation¡¯s top fighting force into the fray. After all, this was a Prefect-ss Yin spirit.

    There was a brief period of silence. Somewhat unexpected, but not entirely unreasonable. The old man sighed wistfully as he straightened out his body and looked to the screen again.

    If the Abyssal Prefect so desired, it could immediately turn Daehan into a living hell!

    Silence. Some timeter, a middle-aged man from LSD gritted his teeth, ¡°Daehan¡­ has never activated the special psychic transmission protocol before.¡±

    ¡°Mr Jeon.¡± A foreign cultivator finally spoke up, ¡°Did you just say¡­ to let it leave, rather than to destroy it? Where is it supposed to go after it leaves?¡±

    You guys want to use Daehan as fodder?

    Even if we¡¯ve got to fight it, we¡¯ll do everything we can to drive it out of Daehan!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The balls of light around him that represented faith all began to converge onto his body. It was a strange feeling that felt slightly warm to the touch, almost as though it bore the warmth of the mortal realm. He could hear a multitude of words echo from everywhere around him. However, these weren¡¯t the usual curses of anguish or cries of pain. Rather, they were warm words that were filled with gratitude and thanks.

    There were words of thanks from the souls that had died at the hands of Choi Tae-min with grievances and resentment in their hearts. They were swimming over from the crevices all over Daehan to register their gratitude for Qin Ye. There were also words of faith emanating from people who were still alive, especially rtives of the ones who had been lost to Choi Tae-min¡¯s acts of travesty in some way or other. At once, at least half of the people of Daehan began to bow down and worship Qin Ye with deep faith and gratitude.

    An Infernal Judge could still be considered somewhat akin to a human being, but an Abyssal Prefect¡­ was of a whole other ss of its own. It could no longer be considered a living creature. Rather, it was now closer to that of a spiritual existence that straddled the fine line between the mortal realm and theherworld.

    No¡­ In fact, it wouldn¡¯t even touch his body.

    Something in him clicked, and he felt his entire being metamorphosize!

    These words surfaced in his mind, yet he didn¡¯t quite know how to react to the situation. It was just a sensation of unprecedented calm and peace in his mind.

 Chapter 601: Sincerity

    <h4>Chapter 601: Sincerity</h4>

    Qin Ye opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings.

    Whoosh¡­ A majestic, scarlet robe soon fell to the ground.

    A jade belt ran around his waist, with the exquisite designs of a dragon¡¯s head carved directly onto the belt buckle. A fine crown iid with precious pearls rested on his head, and adorned with two striking jewels carved in the shape of the Harken on the left, and the xiezhi unicorn on the right. Every bit of the crown could be described as a brilliant piece of art.

    Wang Chenghao, Oda Nobutada, Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho appeared around him as soon as the Yin energy vanished. At once, they stared at Qin Ye with great astonishment.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and sensed his abilities for a moment, and then nodded softly, ¡°I think so.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve actually seeded.¡± Oda Nobutada looked at Qin Ye with great excitement. He was clearly more powerful than a particr one-tailed colleague of his. And it was precisely because of his acute senses that he could tell how¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s appearance was clearly different.

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t wrong to suggest that his being was akin to the embodiment of Hell.

    Yin spirit beyond the ranks of Infernal Judges had no permanent form to their body! This was one of the fundamental reasons why history had never been able to record the appearances of such powerful Yin spirits.

    It was precisely because they had no true form.

    ¡°Heartiest congrattions to Lord Qin for your ascension to an Abyssal Prefect!!¡± Oda Nobutada eximed with unbridled excitement as he bowed deeply to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye smiled. He could clearly sense the power welling up from within. And along with that, came confidence.

    ¡°It¡¯s been two days since Marquis Zhong breached the bottleneck.¡± Strangely, it wasn¡¯t Wang Chenghao or Oda Nobutada who answered Qin Ye¡¯s query. Rather, it was another hoarse voice that came from right behind him. A momentter, the door to Room 402 opened with a bang, and a magnificent carriage rolled in.

    It was still the same carriage as when they had first met. There was still the same skeleton coachman, the same skeletal war horses, and the same gorgeous, gothic carriage he had seen in the past. The difference this time was the fact that the body of the carriage clearly bore Rumyantsev¡¯s n emblem this time. It was the emblem of a grizzly bear surrounded by ribbons on a white background. One word was emzoned with golden Russian words - Pyotr.

    Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky.

    In their eyes, the world had suddenly turnedpletely monochromatic in colour. All ambient noise had faded away, and the only sounds that they heard were the stifling sounds of the horses¡¯ hooves clopping away as it dragged Rumyantsev¡¯s carriage forward. Each sound pounded hard on their souls with unbearable force!

    Just then, Qin Ye stepped forward and stood right in front of the other four. At once, all of these illusions vanished into thin air, and they discovered to their surprise that the carriage had already stopped 10 meters in front of them.

    That feeling just now¡­ felt no different from falling straight into the abyss of the underworld. It¡¯s almost like the source of all nightmares.

    Dead silence. Secondster, the coachman jumped off the carriage and respectfully opened the door to the carriage. A swanky leather boot stepped out onto the ground. Rumyantsev had already transformed back into his human form, and he walked out of the carriage with great decorum and dignity.

    The warmth in his attitude waspletely dissonant from the manner in which he had been treating the Emissaries of Hell just a few days ago when they were just tearing at each other¡¯s throats.

    International politics could be described as two men dining at the dinner table. Under the cover of the tablecloth, both men would be kicking wildly at each other, desperately trying to gain the upper hand, but outwardly, they would appear to be seated elegantly, pouring champagne and reminiscing about the good old times when they had both first met.

    It suits my taste well!

    The veins on Rumyantsev¡¯s forehead instantly bulged and throbbed. However, he still managed to maintain the same cordial smile on his face like a well-oiled machine.

    Unfortunately, a loss was a loss, and a loser had to be able to lose graciously, because¡­ he was dealing with a top underworld of theherworld after all!

    ¡°It was my honor to have been involved in the process.¡± Rumyantsev bowed gracefully once more. He was faultlesslyplying with the strictest rules of etiquette, ¡°The Russian Underworld has no intention of straining rtions with Hell. In order to clear the air and consolidate the friendship between the Russian Underworld and Hell, we¡¯ve specially prepared a sumptuous banquet reception for you. I wonder if¡­ Marquis Zhong would be avable at midnight, in exactly one week¡¯s time?¡±

    Such phrasing. Such mannerism of speech.

    ¡°We?¡± Fortunately, they were now dealing with each other on terms that Qin Ye was mostfortable with, ¡°Liu Yu?¡±

    ¡°If you think that trespassing on thends of a vassal state and staging a coup is merely a misunderstanding, I wouldn¡¯t mind passing on that message to the King Yanluo of Hell.¡± Qin Ye responded coldly.

    Rumyantsev took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart. What blunt contempt¡­ We¡¯ve always been the ones dishing it out to other lesser underworlds around us. Yet¡­ to think that we would one day be given a taste of our own medicine, and by a top underworld no less!

    Regardless, you¡¯ve won. I¡¯ll admit you¡¯ve got all the right to im whatever spoils of war you desire.

    Rumyantsev maintained a humble gesture. He couldn¡¯t afford to make any more mistakes. Thus, he held his tongue and made a simple inviting gesture.

    The awkward situation was so humiliating it was painful to watch. Rumyantsev gnashed his teeth in pain. Such condescension made his life feel even worse than death itself!

    For the next 20 seconds, he maintained the exact same posture. It was simr to how he had invited Qin Ye up onto his carriage just a little while ago, yet his attitude was worlds apart from before. Qin Ye finally shook his sleeves and cidly asked, ¡°Address.¡±

    ¡°We eagerly await your presence.¡±

    As the carriage drove farther and farther away, his expression grew colder and colder. Then, as soon as the iron doors to Room 402 shut once more, the entire carriage exploded with a bang, and half of the carriage was instantly reduced to ashes.

    ¡°sted Hell! Screw you and your international standing!!¡±

    ¡°Damn it!! Wastrels!¡±

    ¡°My Lord, are you going?¡± Oda Nobutada asked with great reservation.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid--...¡±

    ¡°Besides¡­¡± He licked his lips excitedly, ¡°Isn¡¯t this the best time to be scavenging for the spoils of war?¡±

    The four other ghosts nced at each other nkly. None of them were quite on the same wavelength as Qin Ye.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can assure you that over the next few days, we¡¯ll be treated as gods of the Hanyang Underworld. The defeated must lose graciously. Besides¡­¡±

    Everyone stared at Qin Ye as though they had just seen a ghost.

    ¡°By spoils of war¡­ are you actually referring to¡­ them?!¡±

 Chapter 602: Double the Reparation, Double the Delight (1)

    <h4>Chapter 602: Double the Reparation, Double the Delight (1)</h4>

    The countless living dead bowed down to the ground with deep respect to the transcendent being standing before them. By spoils of war, Qin Ye had actually been referring to the living dead standing around him!

    Qin Ye nodded and turned to the Yin spirits with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°Well, let me ask you - what is the one thing that Hellcks most right now?¡±

    Qin Ye immediately rolled his eyes, ¡°You brainless oaf! Mr Pea Shooter, please step aside and work on the development of your primitive mind.¡±

    It was highly unlikely that there would still berge groups of armed forces like the ones previously garrisoned at Qufu back then. After all, most of these would have been either subjugated or vanquished by Kong Mo a long time ago. In fact, he would likely even have driven out most if not all of the monarch beasts in the region. Under the circumstances, the Frontier Brigades were unlikely to face much resistance, and the engineering corps would likely be able to carry out their jobs smoothly.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Qin Ye sighed, ¡°Eastmount Province may have a poption size of over 20 million Yin spirits, but establishing new cities is a highlybour intensive process. Sure, we might have a stronghold set up for ourselves right now, but it¡¯s not unreasonable to expect a number of messenger birdsing our way in the near future, seeking manpower, money and resources! Where are we supposed to get all this manpower from? If we mobilize everyone from Ashmound City, then how is it supposed to function properly as a city and keep its current industries going? Remember, Ashmound City is still the foundation of all of our operations in Eastmount Province. But, on the other hand, if manpower remains an issue, then we might be spread so thin that we barely see any progress at all!¡±

    Wang Chenghao staggered back a few steps.

    ¡°And while we¡¯re at it, I¡¯ll still have to return to Ashmount City to study the script of death in detail to see if there are other means avable to us to increase Hell¡¯s abilities. Forget it, it¡¯s draining to talk about such things.¡± He waved his hands in anguish. The thought of returning to Ashmound City to a mountain full of responsibilities and work to be done caused the veins at his temple to throb uncontrobly.

    ¡°I want the Ouroboros technique!¡± Qin Ye flicked his sleeves, ¡°Or at the very least, the means of controlling and manipting the living dead. Don¡¯t you think that they¡¯re the perfect workforce for our purposes? They never die, never get tired, and don¡¯t even get bored like those demanding Yin spirits back in Hell! They won¡¯t even ask for money or think of rebelling against poor leadership! Don¡¯t you think that this is the greatest spoil of war from our trip here to Daehan?¡±

    And since that deals with the issue of manpower, all that remains is the issue of money¡­

    ¡°Go get some rest.¡± He concluded their discussion, ¡°And let¡¯s look forward to their VIP treatment from now onwards. I imagine Liu Yu must be fuming mad right now.¡±

    Mortal realm, entrance to the Gonjiam Asylum.

    No. In fact, it would be more urate to say that the entire Gonjiam Asylum had been tightly bound up by silver chains, while multiple wind chimes hung from the corner of the eaves of Gonjiam Asylum. A team of elite forces were fully deployed and waiting just 30 meters from the main entrance.

    Most of them wore the emblem of the LSD on their chests as they stared intently at the main entrance. Meanwhile, there were 5 other men and women wearing ancient Daeian garments and holding various strange instruments in their hands.

    Dead silence. Nobody said a single word. Everyone knew full well why they were called to be here today. More importantly, they knew exactly what they were potentially facing - the most terrifying evil ghost that Daehan had ever faced to date!

    It was noon.

    And yet¡­ the trees around Gonjiam Asylum were swaying wildly in unison!

    T-t-t-t-t¡­ Whoosh¡­ Rustle¡­ The skies suddenly darkened. Meanwhile, the ground trembled softly, and the wind chimes dangling around the eaves of Gonjiam Asylum soon began to tinkle.

    ¡°It¡¯sing¡­ It¡¯sing!!¡± A white-haired old man gazed intently at the ground and dered at the top of his voice. It was none other than Mr Jeon.

    ¡°You five are the most famous psychics across the entire nation. Please proceed as I had briefed you, and make no mistake. Otherwise¡­ I¡¯m not sure if the citizens of Daehan would ever be able to forgive you!!¡±

    That said¡­ this was still the first time in decades of work they were looking tomunicate with such a powerful Yin spirit!

    Unfortunately, they knew they had no choice but toply with the instructions they were given. Otherwise, the guns trained at the entrance might well shift slightly and find their crosshairs on their backs.

    Even though the fear in his heart hadn¡¯tpletely subsided, he knew that he could dally no longer. With a quick wave of his sleeves, a monkey jumped out from within. It was only the size of an adult¡¯s fist, and yet the monkey dragged along with it a foot-long sledgehammer.

    The old man patted the monkey¡¯s butt with his right hand and pulled out a gong with his left hand. At once, the monkey swung the hammer into the gong.

    The monkey immediately covered his eyes and chattered excitedly. Momentster, when he opened them again, his eyes werepletely pitch-ck in colour, almost as though he were gazing deep into apletely different world altogether!

    ¡°Go!!!¡± The old man holding the gong shouted loudly, pulled out a nail and then hammered it straight through the monkey¡¯s skull.

    They were still tinkling, but they no longer moved with such agitation and terror. Instead, they were now moving far more calmly, almost as though someone were tinkling the chimes intentionally. The sound generated was also far more soothing than before.

    Mr Jeon immediately walked over and looked them in the eyes, ¡°How was it?!¡±

    Mr Jeon gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and then turned back.

    She was going to say that if the evil ghost didn''t answer, it would mean that it wasn¡¯t interested in negotiations, and that would spell instant death for everyone present!

    And then¡­ he would move to Gyeonggi Province, and then Hanyang, and then the rest of Daehan altogether!

    Unfortunately, was it really going to be that easymunicating with an evil ghost of such terrifying power?

    Unwittingly, every single LSD agent located right at the front of the main entrance to Gonjiam Asylum was praying silently in their hearts.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Wang One Tail asked curiously, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    A pitch-ck passageway suddenly appeared, and a hazy, distorted light appeared at the end of the passageway. Just then, a dark figure appeared from within the passageway.

    No¡­ rather, it was the monkey¡¯s skin!

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye was curious what technique this was.

    ¡°The stronger evil ghosts are, the more intelligent they tend to be. Throughout history, there have been asions where powerful evil ghosts appear in smaller nations, and therger nations aren¡¯t willing to lend any assistance. Therefore, they are left with no choice but to employ such means to enter into ¡°peace talk¡± with the evil ghosts. At least, this is what I understand from the story of Shinto. These are techniques that must have existed since at least 300 years ago. They must already be fading into obscurity in Nippon by now. Who would¡¯ve thought that we¡¯d see it here in Daehan?¡±

    Oda Nobutada: ¡­¡­

    Qin Ye beckoned, and the monkey skin immediately flew over andnded in his hands. He promptly unfolded it and found a series of writing in scarlet ink.

    ¡°Presented by the LSD of the Republic of Daehan in hope of an audience with the esteemed Abyssal prefect.¡± Qin Ye immediately raised his eyebrows with great curiosity and read on with keen interest.

 Chapter 603: Double the Reparation, Double the Delight (2)

    <h4>Chapter 603: Double the Reparation, Double the Delight (2)</h4>

    ¡°What do you know? These are symbols of delight! Double the symbols mean double the delight!¡± Qin Ye snorted as his eyes gleamed brightly.

    He had gained much from the acquisition of the script of death. Not only were there the two special Yin spirits, Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin, there was still the harvest of faith, as well as other gains.

    ¡°What perfect timing. Come, let¡¯s go see what these foreign special organizations have to say to us.¡±

    Back in the mortal realm, right in front of the entrance to Gonjiam Asylum. The psychics were all staring at the main door with their hearts beating right out of their chests.

    That said¡­ they were still thest bastion of hope for the entire nation. The president and other high officials of the nation had already boarded the nes a little while ago. As soon as the uing negotiations go south, the nes would immediately take off, and bring them straight to Usonia where they would seek refuge there. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of the East Continent still hadn¡¯t arrived yet.

    We¡¯ve seeded?!

    A wave of ecstasy filled his mind in an instant, but it was soon swept away by the overwhelming sensation of fear. This was an Abyssal Prefect. They were allpletely at his mercy.

    Qin Ye nodded. Then, just as he was about to go on, a thought suddenly struck him.

    They¡¯re operating under the impression that I¡¯m a Daeian ghost! If I speak in Cathayan, wouldn¡¯t the cat be out of the bag?!

    Everyone straightened their backs at once. As they did so, Jeon Yunji discreetly scanned the evil ghosts standing in front of him and couldn¡¯t help but break out in cold sweat.

    What kind of an incredible line-up of evil ghosts is this?! His heart began to palpitate, and his hair stood on end.

    The other leaders standing around him couldn¡¯t help but purse their lips and gnash their teeth as soon as they heard Jeon Yunji speaking with such humility.

    Qin Ye gave Wang Chenghao a knowing nod, and Wang Chenghao immediately smiled, ¡°For instance?¡±

    I¡¯d initially thought that I would feel overwhelmed by fear negotiating with such a terrifying ghost. Who would¡¯ve thought that¡­ I would be filled with such burning humiliation instead?

    ¡°Why should I leave Daehan?¡± He suddenly burst into rhetorics, ¡°Is there anyone who can stop me here in Daehan?¡±

    Every single member of the LSD felt their lips quiver as soon as they heard these words. They were livid. Meanwhile, Jeon Yunji gulped in embarrassment and bit the bullet, ¡°Sir¡­ Cathay is located on our left, Rus is above us, and then there¡¯s Hindustan located not too far away. All of them have Prefect-ss experts¡­ I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve heard of the three strongest warriors in Cathay or Hindustan, but even closer to home, we have Archbishop Adrian of the East Continent who is also rushing here overnight¡­¡±

    BOOM!!

    ¡°Do you think you can mess with us just because we¡¯ve just been born?!¡±

    He gnashed his teeth and went on, ¡°Countries would begin to use you as leverage for their international negotiations. Are you¡­ willing to be pushed about and used like a pawn? And as soon as they are done with you, do you think they would even bother to keep you around? No! You¡¯ll suddenly see several Prefect-ss experts knocking on your door and disposing of you summarily! This is the natural order of events if you go on a rampage right now!¡±

    He took a deep breath and went on, ¡°Cheongwadae has already issued a preliminary concession as a sign of goodwill. So long as you give the nod, you¡¯ll be given full authority to do as you will to all felons sentenced to an imprisonment term of over ten years¡¯ jail¡­ even if you wish to kill or torture them!¡±

    How ruthless.

    In that instant, it suddenly dawned on him that even though it was often said to be an immutable rule that Yin and Yang do not mix, there were still various means and ways of getting about such a rule.

    Wang Chenghao took a step back and awaited Qin Ye¡¯s instructions. Meanwhile, everyone from LSD waited with bated breath. Each minute felt like an eternity to them. After ten minutes, Wang Chenghao finally heard a voice speak directly into his ears.

    Whoosh! At once, everyone looked up with bloodshot eyes.

    Just like when the Treaty of Nanking was signed for the withdrawal of troops. The humiliation was fleeting, and what ensued was days of revelry and celebration.

    ¡°Please state your conditions!¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Jeon Yunji immediately gave his word. At the same time, he couldn¡¯t help but give him a curious look - This request¡­ is incredibly peculiar!

    Almost as though he could read Jeon Yunji¡¯s mind, Wang Chenghao exined, ¡°We¡¯re preparing to head over to Cathay.¡±

    Although there were still a multitude of questions on his heart, he knew it clearly wasn¡¯t the right time and ce to be asking these questions. Thus, with gritted teeth, he nodded back at Wang Chenghao, ¡°No problem! I¡¯ll give you my word right now!¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled coldly - I¡¯m only afraid you might regret it when you finally realize the sheer size of a prefecture-level city in Cathay. Do you really think it¡¯s of the same scale as the prefecture-level cities here in Daehan?

    It¡¯s naturally got to be the government!

    ¡°The first shipment should arrive after the uing new year festivities in Cathay. You are to transport them to Martial City in Eastmount Province.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that, there¡¯s also a need for essentials and necessities, including tables, chairs, silk, fabric, stationery, and so on and so forth. We will need supplies to sustain a poption size of 30 million people. We¡¯ll provide you with a full inventory list of the items required during our detailed discussionster on. Any questions?¡±

    He finally understood just what kind of trouble he was getting himself into. 30 million people¡­ was nearly Daehan¡¯s entire poption size! It was alreadying close to the end of October, and they only had slightly more than a quarter until the new year celebrations in Cathay! It wouldpletely paralyze their light industry workforce in Daehan if they were to rush the production of these goods to meet the request! And to make matters worse, everything was supposed to be done for free! Zilch! Nothing!

    And that wasn¡¯t all. Given the construction materials earlier sought, the production of the same would take up at least 50% of the heavy industry¡¯s bandwidth as well! Likewise, it was work without any form of rpense! The corory was obvious.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± He wiped the cold sweat from his temples and pleaded cautiously, ¡°Aren¡¯t these figures¡­ a little bit on the high side?¡±

    ¡°Five years.¡±

    Raise an impossible condition, and then dangle a far more yesable proposition. Jeon Yunji couldn¡¯t help but heave a sigh of relief and nod solemnly.

    ¡°Lastly¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing much.¡± Wang Chenghao cut him off, ¡°All it takes a little bit of effort and time.¡±

    One could say that they were finally making a request expected of evil ghosts.

    The earlier two requests were so bizarre that he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Daehan was being forced to sign an unfair treaty after losing a war.

    Wang Chenghao waved his hand dismissively, ¡°There¡¯s no rush. I¡¯ll be staying for another week, at the very least.¡±

    He bowed to the back, ¡°Miss Lee, we¡¯ll leave our esteemed guest in your hands.¡±

    <hr>

    1. This was the treaty signed after the first opium war.

 Chapter 604: Escort

    <h4>Chapter 604: Escort</h4>

    He knew that Miss Lee wasn¡¯t simple. The fact that she even had intelligence on what exactly was going on was a clear indication of her influence. Thus, he couldn¡¯t quite wrap his mind around why she would be the first one toe forward and stand at the frontlines at the earliest sign of trouble to Daehan.

    Wang Chenghao waved his hand indifferently. At once, Qin Ye and his party of people immediately vanished from the spot, together with Lee Jung-sook. On the other hand, Jeon Yunji didn¡¯t leave immediately, as he had earlier indicated. Rather, he simply stared vacantly at where Qin Ye and the rest were for several more minutes, before finally sighing wistfully and leading everyone to where the cars were already waiting.

    As soon as he got onto the car, he stared at the roof and massaged his temples in anguish.

    He didn¡¯t dare delve any deeper into his current train of thoughts.

    ¡°So, this is Gonjiam Asylum, huh?¡± Lee Jung-sook nced around at the interior of Gonjiam Asylum with great interest. She appeared just like a fish in water in the presence of evil ghosts.

    At once, Lee Jung-sook rolled her eyes, ¡°You¡¯re talking about one of the top seven ces in the world for paranormal sightings. Have you forgotten that I¡¯m ady?¡±

    Lee Jung-sook nced back at him as though he were an idiot, ¡°Do you even realize that this is a mental hospital? Does it even make sense that I venture into these parts to begin with?¡±

    Qin Ye yawned, ¡°Speaking of which, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Truth be told, my presence here makes no difference. Daehan will certainly bend over backwards and ept all of your conditions. After all¡­¡±

    Without missing a beat, she gently waved her clutch bag around, ¡°You might not know this, but 3% is a pretty significant number as far as the economic growth rate is concerned. Sure, it might be arbitrary, but it¡¯s well epted that a 3% growth rate would signify that there are no major problems with a country¡¯s economy. But so long as it falls below 3%, it would represent problems in the country - and not an insignificant one to boot. Not too shabby, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯ve actually managed to stifle the economy of an entire country and achieved what many other countries aren¡¯t able to do. Should I award you with a medal or something?¡±

    ¡°But don¡¯t get ahead of yourself.¡± Lee Jung-sook pulled out a cigarette, ¡°You¡¯ve asked for too much. It¡¯s well beyond Daehan¡¯s bottom line, and I¡¯m rather certain they wouldn¡¯t be able to agree to it. Half of what you¡¯re asking for would be a far more ptable option. Would you consider that?¡±

    Lee Jung-sook nced at him and then giggled softly, ¡°How could I possibly be representing the government? You know, you should really learn a thing or two about finances.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook skirted around the questionpletely. Instead, she continued to survey her surroundings within Gonjiam Asylum, illuminated only by the sunbeams peeking through the cracks and windows of the building. She took a puff of her cigarette and then exhaled the smoke with elegance and poise. And then, she suddenly quipped, ¡°Do you find Daeian food ptable?¡±

    Am I getting old? Why does it feel like I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying anymore?

    Qin Ye was led away,pletely frazzled with confusion.

    Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada stood right behind the two with their eyes bulging out. Several secondster, Wang Chenghao coughed dryly, ¡°It¡¯s over¡­ I can sense our big boss¡¯ soul leaving his body.¡±

    ¡°How can you evenpare the two of them in the same breath?! They¡¯re worlds apart! Secretary Su might be a vixen, but I can assure you that I saw nine tails unravelling behind Lady Lee earlier!¡±

    ¡°... I don¡¯t think I want to talk to you anymore.¡±

    It was the scent of orchids, fresh but elegant. The fragrance immediately conveyed the imagery of a great beauty emerging from the gardenia after the rain, and without any forewarning whatsoever. It was akin to a pleasant, unanticipated surprise.

    Any normal man approached by a top beauty in such a fashion would be beguiled by her in an instant.

    Am I¡­ finally going to get some after all these years? T-this is as tant an invitation as it gets, isn¡¯t it? Doesn¡¯t this mean that she has feelings for me? Born out of a mutual reliance arising out of the fact that we are kindred spirits? Reliance and responsibility, huh¡­ Doesn¡¯t this mean that I should already start to consider what to name our children? What¡¯s a good kindergarten to send them to? Unfortunately, we haven¡¯t even begun to roll out any form of education industry back in the underworld, so we¡¯ve got no choice but to send our kids to schools in the mortal realm¡­ Ah, but that would make sense! Our children would be humans after all!

    The etchings on her body were clear evidence of her life experiences.

    Contradiction?

    That said, his feelings for her were only limited to that of passive attraction, and would never instigate him to take any initiative in that regard.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± Lee Jung-sook turned on the radio, and a pleasant tune immediately formed the ambience for their interactions, ¡°Do you really think that we¡¯re a good match?¡±

    But what he hadn¡¯t expected was just how much of a handle she had over his thoughts. It was almost as though she was running circles around him¡­

    Anddy, can you please be more reserved?!

    ¡°No¡­ I think¡­¡±

    Ah, there it is¡­ Qin Ye knew that he couldn¡¯t go on anymore. Several secondster, he cleared his throat and attempted to change the topic, ¡°Well, I was just thinking of getting to know each other better, since we happen to be kindred spirits.¡±

    ¡°... Did you have to put it so bluntly?¡±

    What car?!

    Lady, please have some restraint! Do you think I¡¯d actually fall for such shallow seduction tactics?

    They zipped through the roads, passing by cars and scenic fields alike. It was daytime. The clouds in the sky drifted about aimlessly. As he looked upon them, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel as though the tension in his heart had eased all at once.

    ¡°Hotel Shi, part of a group that is affiliated to Samsung. There¡¯s a good restaurant located on the roof.¡± A valet officer immediately ran over as soon as the car stopped. Lee Jung-sook stepped out, tossed the car keys over in style and marched off without a care in the world.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. The usual will do. Two portions, please.¡± Then, without turning back, Lee Jung-sook approached the elevator and began to make her way up.

    ¡°This is one of the only two restaurants here in Daehan that have been awarded the coveted 3 Michelin stars. It¡¯s also ranked as the 38th best restaurant here in the East Continent. It offers Daeian cuisine that is as authentic as it gets. Please have a taste.¡± As soon as she entered, a waiter immediately received their coats and led them to their seats.

    The waiter specially allocated to serve them had already poured out the drinks for them. The transparent sses held a milky white liquid. Qin Ye took a sip of it, and his eyes immediately brightened.

    The bnce of sweetness and slight tartness in the wine was perfect, and it even elevated the fragrance of the alcohol within. La Yeon was clearly a celebration of Daeian cuisine.

    ¡°Can you finally tell me now?¡± Qin Ye raised his ss respectfully to Lee Jung-sook, ¡°Why do you say that you couldn¡¯t possibly be lobbying for the Daeian government? And if that¡¯s the case, what are your intentions here?¡±

 Chapter 605: La Yeon

    <h4>Chapter 605: La Yeon</h4>

    It was a sweet cinnamon tea that was served cold. Traditionally, the tea would be made by boiling ginger and cinnamon together with sugar or honey, and then cooled before drinking. Qin Ye took a sip of the tea. It tasted sweet, and bore a strong cinnamon vour. It didn¡¯t suit his taste buds, but it immediately dispelled his earlier impression of monotony that he had of Daeian food.

    ¡°How¡¯s your rtionship with the Cathayan government?¡± She suddenly asked.

    They¡¯ve probably got pictures of me spreading all across the system right now. I used to be one of the runners for the Special Investigations Department after all¡­ No, in fact, you can say that I was probably a pir of support for them. Speaking of which, that¡¯s a rather pointed question¡­

    The food was served promptly, presumably because of Lee Jung-sook¡¯s status in Daehan. The first course was chestnut porridge. It looked crumbly on the surface, but the thick chestnut paste beneath was fresh and moist, and yet also tasted pure and sweet. It tastedpletely different from the dishes one could get back in Cathay.

    ¡°Me?¡±

    She leaned back into her seat, ¡°Both light industries and heavy industries would immediately bustle with orders. Unfortunately, these are orders that wouldn¡¯t trante into any value for the industry. Millions of people in Daehan would be working for you, and yet it wouldn¡¯t pay their wages at all!¡±

    Qin Ye listened intently to her analysis.

    Lee Jung-sook was just about to go on when the waiter walked over again. He was a man who appeared to be in his thirties, and slightly on the plump side. He gently set down a colourful tray on the table and exined everything in fluent English, ¡°tter of Nine Delicacies. Shredded pumpkin, shredded cucumber, shredded mushroom and other shredded vegetables rolled into a wheat crepe and dipped in mustard sauce. Please enjoy.¡±

    But just as the waiter left, his hand identally bumped into a cup of water, and a little bit of its contents spilled out and sshed onto Qin Ye¡¯s clothes. At once, Lee Jung-sook raised a brow with a frigid expression on her face, ¡°How can you be so careless? Is La Yeon thatx with their new waiters these days?¡±

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, indicating that they should take their leave. What¡¯s a King Yanluo of Hell doing arguing over something so trivial with a mere waiter? He obviously didn¡¯t do it on purpose anyway.

    ¡°Thank you very much!¡± The manager and the waiter bowed deeply once more, and then hurriedly took their leave.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, there won¡¯t be a next time.¡± Mr Zu lowered his head and responded softly.

    All of La Yeon¡¯s employees had their own rooms in the dormitories on site. At once, he returned to his room that was approximately 40 square meters in size, which was just about enough space for two beds and their belongings.

    ¡°They¡¯re here¡­ They¡¯re finally here!!!¡±

    ¡°No wonder I sensed something amiss earlier! It¡¯s a good thing that I went out of my way to create the right opportunity to spill some water on him!!¡±

    Without hesitation, he promptly whipped out his Samsung cell phone, opened up his messaging app, selected the ¡°Fengdu Orphans¡± group and sent a voice message like a pro.

    ¦Ð: Come gather in Hanyang at once! And if you can¡¯t get here in time, you¡¯ve got to notify us. I¡¯ll do my best to keep him around!¡±

    Daehan, Hyundai Group.

    Hyundai Group¡¯s headquarters. They were looking at a bridge that connected both banks of the Han River. Construction equipment roared like a wild beast on both ends of the river. A middle-aged man with an air of somberness about him listened intently to the reports of the two directors standing beside him.

    That said, the most peculiar part of the reporting process was that even as the director exined with great proficiency, there stood another man beside him who was tranting everything for the middle-aged man. And thenguage that he spoke with¡­ was none other than Cathayan!

    Just then, Chief Engineer Lu raised his hand and pulled out his earbuds and stuffed it into his ears. He listened for a moment, and his eyes immediately gleamed brightly!

    ¡°¦Ð: Absolutely! I¡¯ve personally made contact with him and verified this information. Haven¡¯t you guys noticed that something has been brewing in Daehan in recent years? And didn¡¯t you sense how terrifying the Abyssal Prefect that had just emerged was? But where has it gone? Don¡¯t you get it? When has Hell withheld our assistance from the Hanyang Underworld whenever something happened?¡±

    ¡°unter: Wonderful¡­ After a hundred long years, we¡¯ve finally been given the opportunity to return to our home. <crying emoticon>¡±

    ¡°I resign.¡± Chief Engineer Lu looked at the director and spoke firmly.

    ¡°Trante this for me.¡± Chief Engineer Lu nced at him, ¡°I¡¯ve been engaged on an annual basis to begin with. It¡¯s already October, so it¡¯s just about right that I tender my resignation this year. There¡¯s no need to renew my contract this year.¡±

    The entire scene was filled with silence. A few secondster, the director yelled at the top of his voice, ¡°Senior! You can¡¯t leave just like that!!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need¡­¡± Chief Engineer Lu gazed to the west, almost as though he could see the faint traces of Hell across the horizon.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ¡°So, Samsung is looking to expand its operations.¡± Lee Jung-sook exined indifferently, ¡°Cathay is obviously a good ce to start. This won¡¯t be the first time we¡¯ve made a foray into the market, so people will already know a thing or two about our products. But this time, I intend to personally helm operations there and stand toe to toe against the top dogs, Xiaomi and Huawei.¡±

    Lee Jung-sook sneered, ¡°Make no mistake - we live in a capitalist world.¡±

    She sat upright and smiled as she lifted her ss, ¡°So, Mr Qin, I hope you¡¯ll look out for me in future. At the very least, I can rest assured knowing that you¡¯ve got my back.¡±

    She¡¯s looking for a backing before making a move?

    They continued to chat for a little while. Lee Jung-sook essentially wanted Qin Ye to guarantee her safety and even sign an agreement with Hell seeking an assurance that no supernatural incidents would break out in Samsung¡¯s factories and work sites. In turn, Qin Ye proposed a fee for his troubles. Broadly speaking, they managed toe to anding on the value of approximately one million RMB in respect of Samsung¡¯s main factory per year of operations, which would be converted into objects and items to be sent directly to Hell.

    The food was great, and Qin Ye continued to enjoy the delectable cuisine that had been served to him. He had gained much from this trip to Daehan. All that remained were the uing negotiations with Rumyantsev and Liu Yu. He was intensely pleased with the oue. In fact, he was so pleased that he even began to contemte developing his rtionship with Lee Jung-sook.

    It wasn¡¯t a matter of the utmost urgency. After all, both sides had matters of great importance that they had to attend to.

    Is this¡­ Yin energy?

    But why didn¡¯t I sense anything earlier? Why did I only sense it when thetent Yin energy manifested itself?

 Chapter 606: Ancient Reception (1)

    <h4>Chapter 606: Ancient Reception (1)</h4>

    Impossible!

    Only a Yama-ss Yin spirit could conceal its presence from me. But here in Daehan¡­ so long as the Harken is sleeping, and the Second King Yanluo isn¡¯t bored out of his mind¡­ there¡¯s simply no way someone of that caliber could be here! Tsar Arturo wouldn¡¯te over for no reason, and Yamaraja from the Hindustani Underworld is unlikely to travel all the way down here just to ruffle the tiger¡¯s fur.

    Qin Ye retracted his gaze. Just then, he suddenly paused.

    This statement didn¡¯t mean much, but Qin Ye immediately knew who the one who had left the message was.

    It¡¯s actually him! Qin Ye hammered the table in joy andughed uproariously.

    However, Qin Ye simply shook his head andughed heartily as he left the restaurant.

    Hanyang had never felt as lovely as this before. Even the air suddenly became fresh to his nose.

    Cathay¡¯s borders had been sealed offpletely, and Yin spirits were no longer able to enter or leave freely. That said¡­ he was a man who straddled both the mortal realm and theher world! He¡¯s both dead and alive at the same time!

    ¡°The thing that Hellcks most right now is manpower - especially talents! The return of these elites would most certainly help tremendously in Hell¡¯s development. They would be more familiar with the previous polity, science and technology, and¡­ if I¡¯m lucky enough, there may even be Yin talismanology experts hidden within! Perhaps Waiter Zu might even be one! And if that¡¯s the case¡­¡±

    If that¡¯s truly the case¡­ then we might just be on the cusp of Fengdu¡¯s revival, and that naturally means¡­ the rebirth of Immortal Sanction!

    The position of P5 wasn¡¯t based on the size of one¡¯s territory. It was based solely upon strength!

    Time was ticking down slowly but surely. If they weren¡¯t able to get their nuclear weapons up and running by the time the Array of the Nine Gods dissipates, then needless to say, it wouldn¡¯t take long before the other underworlds came knocking at his front door.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye asked in bewilderment.

    Qin Ye naturally obliged.

    After all, he was keenly aware that human beings couldn¡¯t function like machines. If they remain fully wound up all the time, it would only be a matter of time before they finally break down.

    They were ferried straight to a private resort that was presumably one of Lee Jung-sook¡¯s holiday homes. The interior was entirely furnished likevish buildings in the Cathayan countryside. There were vis and water pavilions within, as well as adornments of golden chrysanthemum everywhere. It exuded the feel of a Cathayan water town, while the buildingsrgely sported ck tiles and white walls. A traipse through the hallways would send one straight back through the history books into the Han and Tang Dynasty eras.

    The fact that she owns such a massive plot ofnd in the heart of Hanyang speaks volumes of the sheer extent of her wealth¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s not too far from this ce. That¡¯s where Changdeokgung is located, otherwise known as Changdeok Pce. The rear garden is particrly famous, and it represents the epitome of all Daehan courtyards. In fact, it is so well known that it made it to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. Would you like to make a trip there, sir? Ah, I¡¯ve forgotten to mention that there¡¯s a 24-hour on-call driver who will attend to your needs wherever you may wish to go, regardless of time.¡±

    As the driver left, Qin Ye immediately nodded towards Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada with eagerness, ¡°I¡¯d like you to apany me somewhere tonight.¡±

    Qin Ye nced back at them in surprise, ¡°Hang on¡­ How did you know about it? Even I have only just learned about something like this. Could they have¡­ already informed you beforehand?¡±

    He stared intently at Qin Ye, ¡°Brother Qin has a specific n of attack?! As expected! That¡¯s the Brother Qin I know!¡±

    ¡°Cheongnyangni! ¡± Wang Chenghao eximed, beaming with excitement, ¡°That¡¯s where most of the massage parlors in Hanyang are located! Can you call yourself a man if you don¡¯t sow some of your seeds here in a foreignnd?¡±

    Wang Chenghao immediately leaned in closer with keen interest, ¡°What if I tell you that¡­ I¡¯ve got an even better n than that?¡±

    ¡°... Understood¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Hanyang was once again brightly lit with neon lights. The Changdeok Pce was already closed to the public by now. That said, the streets were still bustling with traffic, and youngsters would pass by from time to time, decked out in thetest fashion trends.

    ¡°Misook unnie, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Her friend asked curiously.

    Naturally, they couldn¡¯t see that there were currently six old men standing right at the entrance of Changdeok Pce, dressed in their ck official garments, pacing about anxiously as though they were waiting for something or someone. None of the passers-by could see them at all. The Changdeok Pce was located right behind them, brightly lit with scarletnterns swaying gently about. Meanwhile, the entire courtyard was filled with spots ofhermes that were invisible to the eyes of mortals.

    ¡°Fellow Daoist Zhao, don¡¯t be impatient.¡± Another old man beside him responded cidly, ¡°It¡¯s only been five minutes.¡±

    After all, it¡¯s been a hundred years since they¡¯vest been home. How was the country doing?

    In fact, they hadn¡¯t even mentioned to others that they were unable to contact Fengdu Necropolis. They had even maintained the cover story that they were still in contact with Hell from time to time all this while.

    ¡°It¡¯s already 10 minutes past midnight.¡± Another old man chimed in, ¡°Mr Zu, are you sure you¡¯d sessfully passed the message on to him?¡±

    As he spoke, a powerful stream ofhergale swept through the entrance of Changdeok Pce. At once, two golden spots ofhermes appeared amidst the swirling Yin energy, and a scarlet robe fluttered majestically in the wind. The familiar designs of the xiezhi unicorn, the Harken and the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment unravelled right in front of their very eyes. At once, every single one of the old men felt a lump swell up in their throats, and their minds went numb. All of them copsed to their knees at once.

    There was so much that they had to say.

    They wanted to tell the Emissary of Hell just how much they¡¯d been through all this while, and how they¡¯ve floundered about just to get by.

    At once, an old man choked up and pounded heavily on the ground, ¡°We¡¯ve¡­ been waiting for a hundred years for this moment!¡±

    ¡°Li Chun, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of State Construction, humbly greets Your Excellency!¡± ¡°Lu Ban, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of State Construction, humbly greets Your Excellency!¡±

    Qin Ye gasped and sighed softly in his heart.

    Shang Yang, Wu Daozi, Zhang Heng, Zhang Zhongjing, Lu Ban, Li Chun¡­ Their expertise covered medicine, geology, engineering, art and arithmetic, a grand total of five major disciplines! This was a great surprise, even for Qin Ye who hade eagerly anticipating a windfall. At once, his heart leapt with joy.

    He helped everyone up and then immediately eximed with profound resignation, ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s been hard on you thisst hundred years. But¡­ it¡¯s finally time to go home. I sincerely apologize for the tardiness.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Third King Yanluo of Hell, Qin Ye. The Second King Yanluo has stepped down, and he¡¯s still in the new Hell.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s sadness immediately vanished without a trace, and they all stared intently at Qin Ye in horror. None even bothered concealing the shock in their hearts.

    Third King Yanluo of Hell?

    And there¡¯s even been a change of regime, and a new Hell to boot?

    Are we even¡­ going to go to the right home?

    <hr>

    1.

    2. This is their red light district.

 Chapter 607: Ancient Reception (2)

    <h4>Chapter 607: Ancient Reception (2)</h4>

    Historically speaking, the change of dynasties in Cathay had always been apanied by bloodshed and massacre. Most newly-ascended incumbents would never leave theckeys of their predecessors around. After all, it was the instinct of the new emperor to jealously guard his throne and weed out all potential sources of strife.

    ¡°Yes. This way.¡± The hearts of the ghosts were still filled with suspicion and doubt. Nevertheless, they stered a kind and warm expression to their faces and made a gesture of invitation, before promptly leading the way in.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye asked curiously. Lu Ban smiled and exined everything, ¡°These people here aren¡¯t your usual rabble on the street. They are the research teams that have apanied us on our foreign assignment years ago. They¡¯ve all learned a thing or two of their own, and they¡¯re more than happy to return to their home country and serve Hell.¡±

    Maintain your persona! Maintain your persona!!! He cried several times to himself before he finally managed to suppress the desire to cheer and dance in his heart.

    They¡¯re practically geniuses in their own rights - the kind that are raring to put their knowledge into practise and change the world as we see it! And if that¡¯s the case, how could Hell possibly have sent them out to foreign underworlds on their own?

    And now¡­ the time has finallye for them to return home, take root and blossom as beautiful flowers!

    At once, hundreds of voices erupted with their response in unison, ¡°We¡¯re willing to serve Hell until we die!!!¡±

    Truth be told, it was a little contrived saying that this was a great hall. After all, having witnessed the great hall of the Forbidden City, few pces out there couldpare in terms of their magnitude and splendour. To this end, Qin Ye had always considered the Pce of Versailles, Buckingham Pce, the Kremlin, the White House and the Forbidden City ranked among the five top pces in the world.

    It looked exactly the same as it did in the day. However, the table and stools were already set up with a jug of jade-coloured wine. Lu Ban remarked with some measure of embarrassment, ¡°Apologies for thecking reception. Time was tight, and we wanted to keep things low profile. Thus, these were the only things that we had managed to prepare thus far. Please forgive us.¡±

    Zhang Zhongjing, a thin Yin spirit with greying temples gently stroked his beard and sighed softly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy.¡±

    Li Chun¡¯s expressions were ordinary. He had a slightly droopy nose and a head full of ck hair. He looked the youngest of the six Yin spirits at the table. He poured himself a ss of wine and gently sipped at it, before reminiscing about the past, ¡°We obviously aren¡¯t going to join them. But, as time went by, and as they continued to attempt to reach out to Hell and discovered Hell to be unresponsive, they gradually became more and more aggressive in their attempts at persuasion. There came a point where it became so difficult for us, because there would be darkfeathers knocking on our doors almost every other day¡­ Sigh¡­¡±

    Hang on¡­ did you say arranged for transportation? WeChat?

    That said, he didn¡¯t interject, and simply continued listening intently. Zu Chongzhi bowed slightly and sighed, ¡°We located all the schrs we could find using the contacts we had in the mortal realm. Then, 60 years after Hell first closed its borders, we leveraged on an international conference and left the underworlds that we were at.¡±

    And if they had indeed been posted to the top underworlds in theherworld, then there was no doubt that they would be ced under close surveince. It would have been incredibly difficult for them to find the right opportunity to leave.

    He gulped down the rest of the wine in his cup, and then sighed with relief, ¡°Today arrived.¡±

    When Hell is finally strong.

    There wille a time when the words ¡°by Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse¡± shall strike fear in the hearts of all Yin spirits once more!

    Every single Yin spirit at the table tightened their grip around their sses. Nobody said a word, but they knew that this was just like the Hell that they had always known.

    The somewhat somber atmosphere eased up slightly with this question, and Shang Yang chuckled, ¡°Because the Second King Yanluo of Hell had enchanted all of us with a spell of protection. All whose power does not exceed his would never be able to perceive our presence. In fact, this was critical in our escape ns. It was the key to how we were able to elude the major underworlds all this while.¡±

    Just then, he suddenly noticed Lu Ban winking at him, and he immediately drew a deep breath and asked respectfully, ¡°Speaking of which, I wonder how the Second King Yanluo is doing?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s doing well.¡± Qin Ye smiled and continued, ¡°If you return now, you might just be in time to see him before he goes.¡±

    Everyone stared at Qin Ye with aplex gaze. Meanwhile, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but develop the urge to give himself two tight ps across the cheeks.

    Are you trying to tell them that he¡¯s on the verge of death, and you should hurry back if you want to see him for thest time?!

    Forget it. I guess I¡¯ll have to apprise them of the ongoings in Hell sooner orter. With that, Qin Ye waved his hand, and the doors suddenly shut. Outside, Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada immediately stood guard to ensure nobody entered the room. The Yin spirits in the room immediately exchanged nces, and their expressions turned somber.

    ¡°Your Excellency, don¡¯t, please.¡± ¡°Sir, you¡¯re--?¡± ¡°My Lord, you¡¯re a ruler! How can a ruler be bowing to his subjects?¡±

    These words exploded like a mighty bombshell, rendering all of the Yin spiritspletely bbergasted.

    Dead silence.

    After some time, Lu Ban finally asked with great trembling in his voice, ¡°Lord Ksitigarbha¡­ has gained ascension?¡±

    He shifted his gaze away from Lu Ban and turned to everyone else, ¡°What¡¯s worse is that everything in Hell has to bepletely rebuilt from scratch. Therefore, you guys should know just what your return to Hell would mean to us right now.¡±

    It was like a morgue filled with Yin spirits.

    Thud¡­ Zhang Zhongjing lost his bnce and fell to the ground. His eyes were somewhat nk and listless, ¡°3,000 years of Fengdu is gone¡­ just like that?¡±

    Zhang Zhongjing turned back to Qin Ye and stroked his beard with great trembling, ¡°The Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces, the Sixfold Ghost Kings, and the hundreds of Abyssal Prefects are all gone, just like that?¡±

    ¡°Technically speaking, I¡¯m the only Abyssal Prefect in the new Hell right now.¡±

    Besides, if these people harboured the slightest bit of ulterior motives in their hearts, would the Second King Yanluo ever pardon them?

    ¡°30 million.¡± Qin Ye nced around, ¡°We¡¯re currently working on iming Eastmount Province and Insignia Province for ourselves. The Book of Life and Death, the Mirror of Eminence, and Fate have already been reimed to Hell. We¡¯ve got leads on the whereabouts of the next shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, but the location of the Judgment Pen is still unknown to us.¡±

    As he spoke, a thread of Yin energy slowly began to congeal around his fingertip.

    Sure, Qin Ye might have a whole host of weaknesses, but the one thing he was most adept at was his rity of mind on the things he needed to do for Hell.

    As far as these Yin spirits were concerned, he wanted to be sure of them all!

 Chapter 608: Final Negotiations (1)

    <h4>Chapter 608: Final Negotiations (1)</h4>

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Zhang Heng expressed with great determination, ¡°Sure, there may be a multitude of things to be done, but we¡¯ve all got to start somewhere. In fact, it¡¯s our honour and joy to be able to share in the First King Yanluo¡¯s experiences of founding Hell from scratch.¡±

    The threads of Yin energy emerging from Qin Ye¡¯s fingertips slowly faded away. Nodding his head, he responded in a deep voice, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll have to trouble all of you.¡±

    Qin Ye made a pressing gesture, ¡°Excellent. I assure you that the new Hell will never betray you either. But before that¡­¡±

    This could be said to be a test of sorts.

    Furthermore, he didn¡¯t have the kind of courage that the Second King Yanluo had to allow Hell to be broken before rebuilding it once more.

    ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all¡­¡± Zu Chongzhi added, ¡°While I was in the Argosian Underworld¡­ I learnt that they were already developing the second generation of nuclear weapons. They¡¯re seizing the initiative! You may not be aware of this, but the Argosian Underworld is known to delve deepest into the study of Yin Talismanology among the four major underworlds. These efforts are spearheaded by the ¡®sages¡¯ of the academia, Archimedes, Pythagoras, Euclid, Thales of Miletus, Diophantus of Alexandria, and Apollonios of Tyana. They¡¯re known as the frontrunners in the field of Yin Talismanology, and their status in theherworld is equivalent to that of the Silicon Valley in Usonia right now.¡±

    Every name was like a towering figure. Perhaps their names had faded into obscurity because of the emergence of the more popr scientists such as Newton and Einstein, but the academics of ancient past were definitely no less smart than Einstein, Oppenheimer and other ubiquitous names of the modern era!

    After some moments of hesitation, Qin Ye asked, ¡°By your assessment, how far do you think we are from their understanding of Yin Talismanology right now?¡±

    The fact that nuclear weapons could be forged from delving deep into Yin Talismanology was in and of itself sufficient to justify its importance.

    Bloody hell¡­ Qin Ye could still recall the day that the Harken revealed the power of Immortal Sanction to him - That was a cmity in and of itself, and yet it¡¯s still ranked at the bottom of the list?!

    At once, he received a baptism of slightly judgmental gazes, just like the kind that Qin Ye habitually showered upon Wang Chenghao. Some of the Yin spirits immediately poured themselves a drink, while the other immediately lowered their heads.

    ¡°My Lord.¡± It was Shang Yang who relieved the awkward tension in the room. He was clearly the most mellow of the lot, ¡°That would be impossible. Not in your lifetime--... Sorry, what I mean to say is that no matter how difficult things are going to be, Hell would still have to prioritize research of nuclear weapons!¡±

    Qin Ye nearly choked¡­ I mean¡­ how are you guys using such modern terminology? Are you guys really from the ancient past?

    Zhang Heng¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot as he hissed, ¡°Back then, when Cathay firstunched its nuclear research programmes, how many people thought it was a waste of time and a waste of national resources? But what was the truth of the matter?¡±

    ¡°Besides, we wouldn¡¯t need the participation of Hell¡¯s citizens in general. All we need is to earmark some talents for nurturing and cultivation!¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s probably not the time or ce to be discussing these things in detail.¡± Qin Ye raised his cup, ¡°Come, everyone, drink up. These are matters that will have to be decided in the long run. We¡¯ll speak more of these things once we return home. For now, let¡¯s drink to our heart¡¯s content and set aside our worries and concerns for the morrow!¡±

    Time flew by in the blink of an eye.

    Qin Ye relented. After all, he knew that it was important not to harm the sheep while shearing its wool. Otherwise, there would be no harvest in the long run. This way, he could return five yearster, create another incident just like what happened back in Gonjiam Asylum, and then hop over for a gentle traipse through the park. It was a thought that brought a wide smile to Qin Ye¡¯s face.

    There was steel, concrete, all kinds of machinery and tools, and thousands of generators all listed under the first batch of delivery. Each delivery woulde with aplete inventory list for the next batch to be delivered as well. With these deliveries, the development of Eastmount Province will indubitably take off! The engineering corps apanying the Frontier Brigades wouldn¡¯t even feel stretched with such immense logistical support!

    However, this was clearly the warm-up to the real negotiation - that which was to take ce between two underworlds!

    It was nowte at night on the sixth day. He had just returned from the negotiations with the Daeian government, and yet he already had to delve straight into his revision of the paperwork for the uing negotiations with the Russian Underworld. He was going through and familiarizing himself with his bottom line, and the kind of materials he would have to im from the Russian Underworld.

    The chancellor who had cleared the way for Qin Ye¡¯s hegemony couldn¡¯t be unfamiliar with negotiations.

    ¡°You can just speak your mind.¡± Qin Ye nodded at him.

    He doesn¡¯t have the slightest bit of respect for a higher authority! Piece of trash!

    Look at that¡­ look at his level of speech! Even these statements calcted to curry favour is of apletely different ss of its own. Deference to wisdom and preferences? Why do I even keep this stupid tailed beast around me?

    He didn¡¯t think much of the statement at first. But then, after several moments of consideration, he suddenly realized something.

    Wang Chenghao coughed dryly, and then spoke with much hesitation, ¡°I think¡­ well¡­ is it because we didn¡¯t specify whether the Yin beast should be tamed or not? And if it¡¯s tamed, wouldn¡¯t it mean that we would have tomunicate with it using Russian? Wouldn¡¯t that be rather inconvenient?¡±

    Oda Nobutada immediately stood up and rolled up his sleeves. Meanwhile, Wang One Tail immediately shuddered violently.

    ¡°AH!!! Y-you can¡¯t do this!! Holy shit! Damn it! I¡¯m the one who saved your life! Don¡¯t¡­ not the face! That¡¯s all I have!!!¡±

    Hell couldn¡¯t afford to allow foreign underworlds to get even a sneak peek into the actual state of Hell¡¯s condition within.

    ¡°How dare you question your superiors? Insubordination. Nobutada¡­¡±

    Wang Chenghao automatically shrunk into a ball.

    Furthermore, they were asking for several specialty products, all of which were avable in the Russian Underworld.

    These were his spoils of war.

    Everything would culminate in his performance tonight.

 Chapter 609: Final Negotiations (2)

    <h4>Chapter 609: Final Negotiations (2)</h4>

    At some point, the courtyard right outside was already filled with Yin energy. Qin Ye pulled up the curtain and took a peek, only to see a magnificent carriage pulled by eight skeletal war horses pulling over at the main entrance. The coachman and the attendant stood upright at attention at the side of the carriage.

    It was a Cathayan-styled carriage, covered with an exquisite relief of the bright rising moon as well as the majestic Aurogon holding up antern. The beautiful pcenterns shaped like lotuses also hung from the four corners of the carriage. Wisps of teal smoke rose into the air from thesenterns, before quickly dissipating into the surroundings.

    The procession was followed closely by an armed escort unitprising 99 Yin soldiers wearing their newest Tigerform Battle Armor. Intensehermes zed from the masks on their faces, making them appear ever more domineering than before.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Shang Yang sneered, ¡°Liu Yu hasmitted the heinous crimes of colluding with a foreign underworld. Death would be but a reprieve for him! He¡¯s definitely shivering in his pants right now. Do you really think he would still dare to put on airs around us?¡±

    Whoosh¡­ At once, the procession of Yin spirits and the armed escort knelt to the ground at once. Meanwhile, Qin Ye, Wang Chenghao and Nobutada vanished from their rooms and appeared right in front of the carriage in a gust ofhergale.

    Within moments, there began a soft chanting around them. Wang Chenghao peeked out of a crack in the curtains, only to realize that the entire entourage was floating an inch above the ground. Yin energy billowed below, while res ofhermes flourished overhead. The ceremonial procession behind tossed paper money in the air as they rumbled towards their destination. Wherever they passed, wandering Yin spirits would scream and retreat in fear.

    ¡°Are we entering a rift to the underworld now?¡± He closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings. He could detect that the source of light outside of the carriage was slowly undergoing a qualitative change. The breath of the living was also fading, while Yin energy was slowly taking its ce.

    At just about the same time, the skeletal horses neighed loudly and stoppedpletely. Secondster, there was a knock on the door to their carriage, ¡°Esteemed Emissaries, we¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    This was the first time he had entered a foreign underworld.

    Qin Ye nced back beyond the pce walls. The vast expanse outside was brightly lit withnterns of all shapes and sizes. Citizens sang and danced in joy in the middle ofrge Cathayan pavilions. The sea ofhermes appeared no different from the constetions in the sky. The splendour and prosperity of Hanyang was probably only second to Ashmound City itself.

    In that instant, he was suddenly filled with the urge to go outside and see the world.

    He finally retracted his gaze and looked ahead where two figures stood, weing his arrival.

    ¡°Wee, Marquis Zhong.¡± Rumyantsev earnestly made a gesture of invitation as though there had never been any friction between them before, ¡°Please, Earl Liu has already arranged a glorious banquet, and we¡¯re waiting on our guest of honour.¡±

    ¡°Judge Liu.¡± Qin Ye smiled back and shook Liu Yu¡¯s hand, ignoring the ugly expression on Liu Yu¡¯s face when he heard himself being addressed as ¡®Judge Liu¡¯. A momentter, Qin Ye turned his gaze past the two men and onto the gold-painted roof at the back, ¡°Golden ze, huh¡­ That¡¯s strictly for royalty, isn¡¯t it? You might have overstepped your boundaries here.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded cidly. Then, escorted by Rumyantsev, he walked into the main hall in a breezy manner.

    Some of therger fixtures akin to the golden zed roof outside couldn¡¯t be changed that quickly. Within, there were the golden pirs, the Torch Dragonmps, and frescoes of the Harken, just to name a few.

    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to the blessings of King Yanluo.¡± Liu Yu¡¯s smile stiffened. He was now more tempted than ever to burn bridges and call upon his army to tear the Emissary of Hell to shreds!

    A loss was a loss. Although he had to pick himself up, he also had to know when to bow in front of one stronger than himself.

    Qin Ye immediately nodded, and then suddenly quipped, ¡°But I¡¯ve heard that Judge Liu hasn¡¯t been sleeping too welltely.¡±

    This was no different to a p to the face. He could already guess what Zhong Kui was about to say. In fact, his hand even shifted slightly towards his waist where his sword was located. However, it was only when Rumyantsev grabbed his hand and red at him in the eye that he finally backed down.

    ¡°Lord Zhong!¡± Liu Yu finally exploded. He tossed away Rumyantsev¡¯s hand and stared Zhong Kui in the eye as heined through gritted teeth, ¡°The Third King Yanluo of Hell has already promised me independence! Just what¡¯s the meaning of this? Are you telling me that these actions are all sanctioned by the King Yanluo? How could Hell, one of the four major underworlds in theherworld, not keep to its word? How would this make Hell look in front of other underworlds?! How do you expect them to treat Hell at arms¡¯ length in future?!¡±

    A leopard never changes its spots.

    Does he not know that history is written by the victors? The losers have no rights! Contracts and agreements? Who¡¯s going to enforce them, especially if they¡¯re nothing more than verbal agreements? In fact, who would possibly believe that the King Yanluo of Hell personally assented to the independence of one of his twelve envoys?

    ¡°Absurd!¡± Qin Ye barked back louder, sneering, ¡°Sure, the Third King Yanluo may have agreed to it, but has he ever agreed to an official date of independence, or made a formal international announcement? You knew full well that you didn¡¯t have any formal deration of independence to work with, and yet you went ahead to conspire and collude with foreign underworlds, and even allowed them to set foot in Hell¡¯s territory! Are you trying to conceal your actions from Lord Harken? Or are you banking on your suspicions that the Second King Yanluo can¡¯t be bothered anymore?!¡±

    ¡°You--...¡± Liu Yu was livid.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that Qin Ye would immediately retort like a ferocious general, bringing up the Harken and the Second King Yanluo to make it clear once and for all what the situation of Hell was like.

    Not even the man once hailed to be invincible would dare stand toe to toe against the peerless Second King Yanluo of Hell!

    ¡°Pardon my interjection.¡± Rumyantsev chipped in at the most opportune time and smiled dryly, ¡°What¡¯s the point of bringing up these things of the past? What¡¯s happened has happened. Everything could in some way or other be attributed to a misunderstanding. Besides, aren¡¯t we here today to figure out a good way to resolve these differences? Come, please take a seat.¡±

    And then he added the masterstroke, ¡°If you¡¯re looking for a way out¡­ I¡¯m sorry, but I think that might be a conversation better left for the Second King Yanluo of Hell and the Tsar of the Russian Underworld.¡±

    Rumyantsev forcefully suppressed the disgust in his heart and continued tugging at Qin Ye¡¯s sleeve with the sincerest smile he could muster, ¡°That¡¯s right,pensation. The Russian Underworld would definitely offer Hell fairpensation for its transgressions, and hopefully finally close the chapter on this episode. Marquis Zhong, please, have a seat.¡±

    Emissaries of Hell naturallymanded at least that much respect.

    This was the angle of attack that they had previously agreed upon. Push Liu Yu too hard, and he might actually go ahead and disclose Hell¡¯s current condition. That would most certainly end up in a lose-lose situation.

    Liu Yu and Rumyantsev both heaved a sigh of relief in their hearts.

    ¡°The total value of the reparations we¡¯re asking for amounts to the sum of approximately one billion Yin spirit stones. The full particrs of it are set out in the scroll. Mr Marquis, if you have no further questions, please sign and endorse this treaty on behalf of the Russian Underworld.¡±

    <hr>

    1. New Delhi, Cairo and Athens respectively.

 Chapter 610: Final Negotiations (3)

    <h4>Chapter 610: Final Negotiations (3)</h4>

    One billion was just above the bottom line of his mandate. Broadly speaking, the Russian Underworld¡¯s GDP was in the region of 80 billion Yin spirit stonesst year. They could make excuses and say that they had been unaware, and that everything was unintentional, but so long as it wasn¡¯t an economic tussle or a full blown war, reparations of one billion Yin spirit stones was still something that they were willing to pay to make the problem go away.

    Without saying a word, Rumyantsev handed the list to Liu Yu for his perusal, and Liu Yu immediately knew what was going on. Hell was still scrambling to get back on its feet, and there were naturally things that it desperately needed.

    That said, he could still give Prefect Zhong a hard time. After all, he was thoroughly disgusted by the manner in which Prefect Zhong was acting.

    Qin Ye picked up his wine cup and pretended to take a sip from it. However, the truth of the matter was that he was already increasingly vignt.

    He had thought of many ways to deal with this, but had finally settled on a particr y.

    That¡¯s right. It was all about maintaining Hell¡¯s hegemony!

    We¡¯re not discussing trade deals!

    ¡°Marquis Rumyantsev.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s voice grew cold and frigid, ¡°Are you sure the Russian Underworld is sincere in paying reparations for its trespasses? Why are you bargaining? Are you trying to tell us to change the list of items sought for reparations?¡±

    The more he looked through the list, the more he felt that there was an issue with the items sought. Unfortunately, he just couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on it.

    But how could Hell possibly be considered a small underworld?

    That said, the dismissal of these thoughts didn¡¯t diminish his political awareness in the slightest bit.

    Yin cotton was a useful material for weaving fabrics. In fact, it was one of the most quintessential agricultural produce in theherworld, alongside silk. Clothes made of Yin cotton would fill the Yin spirit wearing it with a touch of warmth, just like that of the mortal realm. It was one of the most highly sought materials in theherworld.

    Abyssal Rainbow Flower, ranging from number one all the way through number seven. Each number corresponds with one of the colours of the rainbow, and they were each sub-divided into three different ssifications, namely, low, medium and high. These flowers were mainly used in dyes. To this end, Hell had actually demanded 200 tons of these flowers at one shot. This was easily worth millions of Yin spirit stones. Furthermore, what was most peculiar about such a request was the fact that Hell had never imported such goods from the Russian Underworld because they had their own substitute products used to make dyes. What kind of madness was this?

    Then, there was the Rift Grass, otherwise known as the Dead Arhat in Hell. It was a material rich in fiber, and widely used to produce paper in theherworld. Aren¡¯t the mountains of Hell covered with these nts? I¡¯ve once visited Hell, and I could¡¯ve sworn that I saw terraced cultivation of such Rift Grass¡­ The more he thought about it, the more perplexed he was.

    Drunken Jewel, a material necessary for brewing alcohol... Soulfall Tree, foodstuff¡­ Earthbound Dragon, foodstuff¡­ Inmed Abomination, foodstuff¡­ The entire list appeared to cover every aspect of need, and yet disclosed nothing. The more Rumyantsev looked at it, the more he felt as though a higher power had instructed him on exactly what to ask for. He could tell that there was clearly more than meets the eye, but he simply couldn¡¯t quite understand what it was.

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye lowered his eyes and fervently suppressed his racing heartbeats as he stole nces at Rumyantsev from time to time.

    This time, Rumyantsev mulled over the list for half an hour before finally setting it down, and then tapping his finger on the table pensively.

    ¡°The scope of goods you¡¯re asking for is too wide, and we might not be able to gather them on such short notice.¡± He smiled bitterly and looked Qin Ye in the eye, ¡°So, could I counter-propose that we pay the reparations by way of Yin spirit stones instead?¡±

    After all, Liu Yu knew full well that if reparations were made in the form of Yin spirit stones, rather than in kind, Prefect Zhong would never be able to fulfill the request that was entrusted to him!

    The pursuit of these ordinary items doesn¡¯t cohere in the slightest bit with Hell¡¯s status internationally. But if they chose to refrain from making a demand like that¡­ Pfft¡­ I¡¯m certain that the wily old Third King Yanluo of Hell must be worried sick by the oue of this seemingly unimportant task he had entrusted to Prefect Zhong.

    Rumyantsev grew taciturn.

    The Tsar would never have imagined being presented with a list of demands like that!

    ¡°I¡¯m not bargaining. All I¡¯m asking is that we pay in Yin spirit stones a price equal in value.¡± Rumyantsev remainedpletely calm, yet scrutinized every micro-expression made by Qin Ye, ¡°Could it be that¡­ Hell isn¡¯t in need of Yin spirit stones at all? Or does Hell find these things which Hell already has are worth even more than Yin spirit stones?¡±

    Qin Ye cursed in his heart, before drawing a deep breath and looking up at Rumyantsev with a meaningful smile, ¡°Do you know why the Tsar had specifically instructed you as such?¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled. Then, he imbued a wisp of Yin energy with his voice spoke directly into Rumyantsev¡¯s ears, ¡°How¡¯s the ck Fortress located under Severny Ind been?¡±

    That¡¯s the Russian Underworld¡¯s KGB headquarters¡­ He actually knows where the KGB headquarters are located?! I dare say not more than 50 Yin spirits of the Russian Underworld even know of the existence of this ce!

    Hell was still the same Hell - as powerful as it had ever been! The revtion of the ck Fortress¡¯ location had been disclosed directly to him to quell all resistance on his part!

    ¡°You--...¡± Rumyantsev spoke with a slight tremor on his lips. However, Qin Ye immediately interjected him and raised his ss cidly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Hell has never failed its allies.¡±

    Having sessfully seized the initiative, Qin Ye smiled and pressed the issue, ¡°Now, let me ask you again - do you still have any issues with the list of demands Hell is making?¡±

    He no longer had any suspicions about Hell or the requests that were being made.

    Fortunately, Hell had always yed hardball in these bteral negotiations. Fortunately, Hell used to be one of the strongest underworlds around. Otherwise, had Rumyantsev delved any deeper into the possibility that Hell could be no different from a small underworld, it would most certainly spell disaster for Hell¡¯s future development. Qin Ye swirled the contents in his cup, concealing the fact that his palms were mildly damp with sweat.

    Rumyantsev abruptly paused and looked up in astonishment once more.

    Even if it¡¯s just a city, we can glean much of what might have happened to Hell over thest 100 years! Has the change of political regime been concluded? Is Hell finally prepared to retake its throne on the international stage once more? A series of thoughts immediately filled Rumyantsev¡¯s mind, and he couldn¡¯t wait to return to Rus immediately to convey the earth-shattering news. He¡¯d been rattled several times over the course of this short banquet, and he clearly had much to report directly to the Tsar!

 Chapter 611: Overlord of the Grasslands

    <h4>Chapter 611: Overlord of the Grasnds</h4>

    How long has it been since I¡¯vest been to Hell?

    At once, his mind was filled with a multitude of thoughts.

    Regardless of what reason it might have been, the weight of these implications were still unbearably heavy.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Rumyantsev agreed with little hesitation.

    ¡°No problem.¡± Rumyantsev immediately agreed on Liu Yu¡¯s behalf, before giving him a knowing look.

    Within moments, the warm fragrance of the tea wafted up and soothed their senses. Each of them took a few sips of the tea and nodded in approbation. Without missing a beat, Qin Ye cleared his throat and raised his teacup, ¡°Well, then, the business is done, and I¡¯m d we were able toe to a consensus. Now, shouldn¡¯t we move on to the main course of business?¡±

    ¡°So, shall we begin?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s heart pumped with passion. Genghis Khan¡¯s soul¡­ It¡¯s actually Genghis Khan¡¯s elite soul!

    It was a name that put everyone at the table to shame. Rumyantsev took a deep breath, gently ran his finger around the edge of the teacup and then went on with a trace of unconcealed fervor, ¡°Now, let me start with what happened 70 years ago. Ah, but before we begin, let me first caveat that by no means do we in any way guarantee the existence of his soul. ¡±

    Qin Ye retracted his smile at once.

    He¡¯d already guessed that the grave of the Great Khan would be anything but simple. Otherwise, Fengdu would already have reimed his soul by now. That said, what took Qin Ye by surprise was just how difficult it was. After all, he would never have imagined that even a Yama-ss Yin spirit would be unable to ovee the obstacles involved.

    ¡°Marquis Zhong should be no stranger to this.¡±

    There was barely any Yin energy dissipating from the crystal. Nevertheless, Qin Ye activated his Judge¡¯s nce. At once, apletely different world appeared before his very eyes!

    ¡°Are these¡­ the runes of Yin Talismans?¡± Qin Ye gasped in his heart. Then, just as he was about to take a closer look, he realized that each rune appeared to contain an entire universe within, and the mere touch of the symbol dazzled his mind.

    Suppressing the palpitations in his heart, he decided not to ask what this was. Instead, he simply nodded.

    ¡°Khuree belongs to the demilitarized zone that the First King Yanluo and Tsar Arturo had agreed upon, so we didn¡¯t send troops marching into it immediately. Instead, we simply sent darkfeathers to scout out the vicinity. The results left uspletely bbergasted.¡± Rumyantsev sighed, almost as though he could still vividly recall the day it urred, ¡°Khuree had experienced a tectonic shift, the impact of which tore a tiny rift between the mortal realm and theherworld. It was only then that we incidentally discovered a massive seal hidden in the subterranean reaches of the earth!¡±

    Tantra¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered slightly. He could vaguely recall some connections there.

    The Buddhist faction was led by Master Namo; Drogon Chogyal Phagpa of the Sakya Sect; Karma Pakshi, second Karmapa Lama of the Kagyu Sect; Hexi State Preceptor; five foreign monks; Dali State Preceptor; elders of Shaolin Temple; elders of Mount Wutai; elders of Yuanfu Temple; and about 300 others. On the other hand, the Taoist faction was led by the elite Quanzhen School, otherwise known as the School of Complete Perfection, and a team of more than 200 equally illustrious experts and schrs.

    From then on, the Yuan Dynasty dered that their state religion was to be Buddhism.

    Historically, Buddhism had faced four asions of persecution, the first three of which were known as the Three Disasters of Wu, namely ordered by the Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, and Emperor Wuzong of Tang. Tantric Buddhism had no ce to flourish back in the Central ins. Therefore, its continuity must have been due to its spread and influence to foreignnds. This was entirely consistent with the sighting of traces of Tantric Buddhism in the tomb of Genghis Khan. The great seal that can conceal its presence from the prying eyes of a Yama-ss Yin spirit must have been set in ce by the masters of an orthodox Tantric Sect, quite possibly even one who might be hailed as a living Buddha. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if someone like that had appeared in thends of the Mongol Empire.

    A hero like this would definitely be buried in ordance with his religious beliefs.

    ¡°After the Empress¡¯ returned and reported back, the Tsar was certain that the subterranean reaches of the Mongol ins hid a great secret. And to that end, there¡¯s no secret greater than the existence of Temujin¡¯s soul - that is, the soul of the Great Khan. Even if it turned out not to be Temujin¡¯s tomb below, there should still be a vein of crystallized resentment hidden below. Thus, the Tsar personally took action.¡±

    ¡°That scene was indescribable. The clouds parted, the waves stirred up even in the stillest of waters, and the entirends trembled. This was the impact of the sudden charge of 100,000 undead cavalry. It was as crazy as a freak tsunami that appeared without any warning!¡±

    The resurgence of 100,000 undead cavalry thought to be lost to time, sweeping up a storm that consumed everything. If this were truly the tomb of Genghis Khan, then the Mongol cavalry that they had encountered were likely one and the same troupe that had ravaged the world centuries ago.

    His voice trembled, ¡°I¡¯d never thought that I would one day see the Tsar take action, and yet fail! It was as if his Yin energy appeared, and then silently vanished in a plume ofhermes. And in the instant that it did, I detected an unusually powerful presence hidden beneath. I¡¯ve thought about other possibilities¡­ but¡­ the only thing that could possibly match such power would be the divine Yin artifacts from the four major underworlds in theherworld! But how could those things possibly be located in the Mongol ins?!¡±

    Qin Ye maintained an appearance of calmness, but his heart was already surging with turmoil.

    That said, Rumyantsev had also mentioned that these were matters that they had discovered some 70 years ago. Could it be that¡­ the Judgment Pen had washed up in thosends? And its intense energy must have triggered the earthquake? That would also exin the formation of the vein of Crystallized Resentment as well!

    The great hall fell silent. After some time, Rumyantsev queried cautiously, ¡°Prefect Zhong, what¡¯s your assessment of the situation?¡±

    Rumyantsev responded hoarsely, ¡°The Tsar says that¡­ there¡¯s no rush.¡±

    Duchess¡­ A Yama-ss entity?!

    <hr>

    1. In other words, anbaatar.

    2.

    3. Do note that the Tsar was described to be an Archduke, which ranks higher than the Dukes and Duchesses historically.

 Chapter 612: Heavenly Curtains

    <h4>Chapter 612: Heavenly Curtains</h4>

    I definitely should not underestimate these first-rate underworlds¡­

    Thehermes in his eyes zed as he stared intently at Qin Ye. Unfortunately, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t able to give his response right away. In fact, he even hesitated a little - Should I even participate in this?

    That¡¯s most certainly going to be a telltale sign that Hell is no more than a barren wastnd right now!

    ¡°I¡¯ll convey your suggestions to the upper echelons of Hell in full.¡± Qin Ye spoke with great sincerity, and then paused for a moment, ¡°But, let¡¯s say we¡¯re actually able to take it--...¡±

    What the hell is a vein of Crystallized Resentment good for anyway?

    ¡°And what if there happens to be no souls?¡± Qin Ye probed deeper, ¡°Since there¡¯s no rush, why don¡¯t we negotiate more with each other and finalize the exact agreement on the distribution before making our move? Besides, we¡¯re talking about wiping out an entire country. Even though the Mongol Empire doesn¡¯t have much of an international presence right now, it¡¯s still better to stick to the proper procedures.¡±

    Yanluo Qin was filled with doubt with all that he had just mentioned - I hope I didn¡¯t say anything wrong there. I guess I¡¯ll have to pick up diplomatic etiquette and some basic knowledge about such political negotiations as soon as I get back. I don¡¯t ever want tonguish in such heart-stopping moments ever again¡­

    ¡°Perhaps?¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, and clinked sses with Rumyantsev.

    Not even Tengrism could save them from the march of several Yama-Kings, including the Empress¡¯ personal guards as well as the Cossacks Cavalry Regiment!

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t prepared to tell the six Yin spirits about all that had just transpired. After all, the implications were far too heavy. Not only did they rte to Hell¡¯s international image and regional expansion efforts, it even concerned the possibility of one of Hell¡¯s divine artifacts!

    Besides¡­

    It was about time to leave Daehan.

    The answer he received surprised him. It was impossible to go bynd, because the Array of the Nine Gods was as seamless as it got onnd. The only ce where gaps even existed was over the seas, and that was the only way he could possibly return to Hell with all of the Yin spirits in tow.

    The journey from Hanyang to Jeju took approximately 10 hours. Thereafter, the boat would depart at 9.00 p.m., and wouldter arrive at 8.00 a.m. in the morning.

    Time flew by quickly. Lee Jung-sook didn¡¯t bother sending him off because there were just too many things that she needed to do. Samsung was changing its strategy and shifting its focus, and she naturally had to be there to give oversight to thepany. That said, the one thing that she was absolutely right about was the fact that Daehan wasn¡¯t able to do a thing as far as Samsung¡¯s future ns were concerned.

    Oooo¡­ With the long re of the horn, the ship finally departed from the port and began making its way westwards.

    By now, the deck was already devoid of people. The surrounding wavespped against the hull of the ship, while the dim moonlight gleamed like stardust on the ripples in the seas. The crashing waves were loud, but it was also surprisingly tranquil.

    ¡°You mentioned that we can only see it during the witching hour?¡± Qin Ye took a sip of his fruit juice and asked cidly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried to return home once. I chartered a boat and went around the circumference of the array, but no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to find any gaps in the Array of the Nine Gods. It was then that I happened to witness the sight. It was¡­ truly beautiful beyond belief - far more than even the aurora borealis often spoken about. Mr Wu Daozi has also made the voyage to these parts several times just to admire the incredible sight. If possible, it would be great if we could keep it, or even a part of it in future.¡±

    Qin Ye nced at the pitch-ck night sky with some measure of anticipation. The Array of the Nine Gods could never be seen fromnd. It was only when one was out in the seas during the witching hour that they would be able to witness the spectacle for a brief moment of ten minutes.

    Qin Ye filled his time with conversations and discourse with the famous schrs around him, gleaning what he could from their wealth of knowledge and experience, especially in rtion to what they had learnt in their time with the foreign underworlds. Before he knew it, it was already 4.50 a.m.

    It was almost divine in nature, just like the presence of a god that demanded worship.

    We¡¯re almost there¡­ He stood at the railing at the front of the ship, and everyone else stood behind him in absolute silence. Everyone was waiting for the moment of miracle with bated breaths.

    The dark night sky waspletely cleaved in two halves by the eruption of radiant golden light, almost as though one was watching Moses part the Red Sea from below. Golden runic symbols leapt right out of the gap in the sky, nked by rolling dark clouds, almost as though a golden river of light was cutting through the canopies of the skies.

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye was taken aback by the dazzling sight in the skies. In that instant, he felt as insignificant as a grain of sand on an endless beach. He had never felt as small and redundant before.

    The curtain of light shimmered softly, while the ship continued to plod on, closer and closer to the light. Qin Ye watched as the curtain of light erupted from nothingness, just like a midnight blossom. And then, it finally vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. Qin Ye immediately pulled out his phone and looked at the time.

    Given the location of the curtain of light earlier, Qin Ye estimated that they were at best a thousand meters away from the Array of the Nine Gods.

    Thump, thump¡­ Their hearts were beating right out of their chests as the ship ploughed forward. Zu Chongzhi, Wu Daozi, Li Chun, Lu Ban, and the rest of the Yin spirits scrambled close to the front of the ship, watching as the bow of the ship cut through the vast seas with bated breaths.

    50 meters¡­ 30 meters¡­ 20 meters¡­ 10 meters!

    The ship was still beneath their feet.

    ¡°We¡¯ve made it¡­¡± Zhang Heng¡¯s hands trembled profusely, before he suddenly turned around and yelled excitedly, ¡°We¡¯ve made it¡­ We¡¯ve finally made it!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve¡­ finally returned¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin also appeared and took in their surroundings curiously. It was a voyage into the new chapter of their lives as well.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Just as the rough silhouette of their homnd appeared on the horizon, Qin Ye smiled radiantly at them all, ¡°We¡¯re home.¡±

    <hr>

    1. His real name is actually Pyotr Alekseevich, but the acmation was anglicised as Peter the Great.

 Chapter 613: Divine Witnesses (1)

    <h4>Chapter 613: Divine Witnesses (1)</h4>

    Do you think he¡¯s actually working hard?

    That¡¯s right, the man was doing exactly what regr human beings liked to do - watching variety shows. Furthermore, he was incredibly picky, and was naturally toggling through the shows on different channels.

    ¡°Yin Construction Division One has already arrived at the designated location, and they¡¯re requesting for materials to be sent.¡± ¡°Yin Construction Division Seven has also arrived at the designated location, and have reported that there are building ruins that have copsed through the rift. They are applying for permission for demolition of these buildings.¡± ¡°Yin Construction Division Three has arrived at the designated location, but have reported that the terrain is treacherous, and they would unfortunately have to halt works while an expert assesses ground suitability for works.¡±

    tter! The Second King Yanluo wasughing so hard at the shows that he nearly fell off his chair. Just then, he heard the Harken tap his pen impatiently, and he promptly sat up with a straight expression and responded coolly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Sigh¡­ I¡¯m used to it. What can I say? That¡¯s how things have always been. It was naive of me to think that things would be different when he returned from his trip out¡­

    ¡°Must he go?¡± The Second King Yanluo frowned and took a sip from the cup of tea in front of him.

    ¡°Four, the new Hell doesn¡¯t even have a name just yet. It needs a name. Five, we shouldn¡¯t give different cities different developmental opportunities. Bnced development is the way forward. Six--... I¡¯m just repeating the things you¡¯ve taught me in the past!!!¡±

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you go on behalf of--...¡±

    At once, the room was silent. The Second King Yanluo shut his eyes for several moments. Then, when he finally opened his eyes, he also revealed a faint smile on his face.

    ¡°I finally feel at ease leaving my position to you.¡± He smiled and waved his hand casually in the air. At once, a spatial rift tore open, revealing the image of a ship chugging along the waters.

    ¡°These realms are incredibly interesting after all¡­¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Several figures marched out of the darkness of the Yin energy around, only to be greeted by dazzling resplendence. They were back in Ashmound City, right at the top floor of the City Tower where the Mythic Pce of Reflections was located!

    ¡°Greetings, Second King Yanluo!¡± ¡°Greetings to the Yanluo of Hell!¡± At once, the six returning Yin spirits immediately knelt down in unison. Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada also knelt down at the same time. Meanwhile, Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin simply felt a buzz in their heads. It was akin to a human seeing the vast universe out there for the very first time. The pressure was so immense that they subconsciously knelt to the ground without even realizing it.

    What kind of cultivation does he have?

    It was several sses beyond his imagination.

    Before the trip to Daehan, Qin Ye had been exactly how he appeared -pletely harmless. But now, he might appear as harmless as a hairball, but one could no longer ignore the niggling sensation in their hearts that the ostensible harmless facade might well be concealing sharp steel needles within.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done well.¡± He praised Qin Ye and nodded with approbation, ¡°You¡¯ve exceeded my expectations. If this were an examination of a maximum score of 100 marks, you would almost have obtained the perfect score.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you one chance to adopt a different response!¡±

    Meanwhile, the six schrs who had returned felt incredibly assured at the sight of the Second King Yanluo of Hell.

    ¡°Your Excellency¡­¡± The Yin spirits stood up, and Zhang Zhongjing immediately stepped forward and cupped his hands, ¡°Can you¡­ really not stay any longer?¡±

    ¡°This is going to be the start of a brand new era, with neither the baggage nor the prosperity of yesteryears. You¡¯ll be pioneering and forging your own sess ahead.¡±

    He retracted his gaze, swept a gaze around, and then cupped his hands respectfully at them all, ¡°Everyone, you¡¯ve worked hard.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    But this time, they were no longer at the pavilion, but an ind instead. There was a transparent stone on the ind, yet it appeared to contain the profundities of reincarnation in the world. A lush peach tree provided shelter overhead, and endless peach blossoms continuously fell from the tree.

    ¡°Qin Ye, receive the edict.¡± With his back to Qin Ye, the Second King Yanluo waved his hand, and a golden scroll suddenly appeared right in front of him, held up only by countless illusory roots of the lotuses. It only took Qin Ye a single nce at the scroll before his knees weakened and cold sweat beaded up on his forehead. He could sense some kind of supreme heavenly divine power contained in the scrolls.

    ¡°Let the great gods of the heavens, the five sovereigns, namely the Wood Sovereign Taihao, the me Sovereign Yan Emperor, the Earth Sovereign Yellow Emperor, the Gold Sovereign Shaohao, the Water Sovereign Zhuanxu, and the Jade Emperor, and the founding Yanluo of Hell and other heavenly envoys, gods and deities bear witness.¡±

    This is the imperial edict¡­

    The imperial edict wasn¡¯t short by any means. At first, there wasn¡¯t much more than the usual titudes. But as time wore on, he soon discovered that the entire world appeared to fade away, and a new world seemed to take its ce.

    He looked over through the lenses of a god, and he saw creatures that appeared no different from human beings, save that they hadrge ears and long tails. They were decked out in a wide variety of clothes, ranging from dated Cathayan garments to modern attire. Some were even dressed in ancient leather skirts and clothes.

    The demon race¡­

    As soon as he looked over, all of the demons immediately perked up their spirits, almost as though they could sense his presence. At once, they gasped in consternation, and the bonfire in the middle of the vige suddenly rushed up into the sky like a column of fire. With a loud bang, the entire vige full of men, women and children immediately shuddered andy prostrate on the ground, shouting at the top of their voices, ¡°We rejoice with King Yanluo on his ascension to the throne!!¡±

    He willed his perspective to shift up towards where the source of the summons was beckoning from. At once, his perspective pierced through theyers of white clouds, and rose higher and higher into the sky¡­ until he finally saw a cloud-topped heavenly pce located right behind the white clouds!

    The central gate in the region had two words written on it - Heaven¡¯s Gate!

 Chapter 614: Divine Witnesses (2)

    <h4>Chapter 614: Divine Witnesses (2)</h4>

    Following that, they swiftly got down to their knees and shouted at the top of their voices as well, ¡°Glory to the new King Yanluo of Hell!¡±

    Qin Ye stole a nce at the Second King Yanluo, before promptly retracting his gaze and taking in the heavenly realms once more.

    This was the praise of the Three Realms!

    Qin Ye nodded.

    And this world beyond was so gorgeous and vibrant that he couldn¡¯t help but be filled with excitement and eager anticipation!

    Thanks, but nobody asked. Please get lost.

    ¡°Hang on¡­ Why does your calction of two months seem to be so vastly different from mine?¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help butin, ¡°It¡¯s nearly been half a year since you¡¯ve been freeloading off Hell!¡±

    The Second King Yanluo poured himself a cup of tea and raised his brows quizzically, ¡°Didn¡¯t I mention?¡±

    Damn you and your loophole¡­ Qin Ye crossed his legs and sat down. Then, he poured himself a cup of tea and looked up at the Second King Yanluo, ¡°Speaking of which, Brother Xu, what exactly did you do to make the celestial beings so mad at you? I can sense their joy and delight at finally ridding themselves of your existence¡­¡±

    Qin Ye took hold of the scroll, and discovered that¡­ there was nothing on it.

    These events were all recorded clearly in chapters, and each chapter was signed off with a name.

    As the chapters wore on, the names and titles of the gods endorsing their names only increased. Qin Ye mulled deeply over the names written on the scroll. In fact, towards the end of the scroll, it revealed the esteemed name of the venerable Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

    Thetest records of the script of death incident was even signed off with the name of the Yellow Emperor. And then, the ck scroll ended there.

    ¡°This is an examination.¡± Qin Ye took a deep breath and looked up at the Second King Yanluo, ¡°When did it begin? And did these examinations only just end?¡±

    ¡°The name of this scroll is called the Records of the Divine Witnesses. It¡¯s only when the master of a realm takes over under extremely special circumstances that this test will appear. The scroll is formed by the Heavenly Dao itself, and endorsed only by the great immortals in the Heavenly Realm. This would include the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the Jade Emperor, as well as yours truly. Everything you¡¯ve done thus far has been done under the scrutiny of these esteemed individuals.¡±

    ¡°The throne of a master of one of the Three Realms isn¡¯t something that you can take on callously. Every move you make will affect the bnce of the Three Realms. I¡¯ve mentioned before that everything is a test. Do you think it had only begun when you first met me? Do you think that I¡¯ve got nothing better to do with my life?¡±

    ¡°And if that happens, the Mythic Pce of Reflections will cease to exist. Ashmound City will disappear, and even the new Hell as it currently stands will vanish into nothingness. The Book of Life and Death will be lost to the next sessor once more. Everything¡­ will have to start all over again.¡±

    ¡°All of the tests have officially ended.¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the Second King Yanluo with great consternation.

    To think that these great celestial beings were able to condone my behaviour all this while¡­ No wonder they¡¯re often hailed to be beings of great mercy and patience¡­

    The Second King Yanluo tapped the scroll. At once, a screen of light projected above the scroll, and the images wound back to the very beginning, when Qin Ye first encountered the Special Investigations Department.

    That must have been¡­ AC285, right?

    Whoosh¡­ Before Qin Ye could react in shock, he found the screen zipping straight into the hotel where he managed to purge the evil ghost that had been haunting the Wang n.

    His eyes were filled with a murky white colour, almost as though they were imbued with the ability of seeing everything. Then, as soon as Qin Ye returned after purging the evil ghost on the roof, he immediately set down his head and shut his eyes, almost as though he had never been awake before.

    Every incident had been witnessed by an invisible figure. A being of light had remained hidden in the shadows, watching him furtively and observing his actions over thest two years.

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly, and he shook his head with great disbelief, ¡°But--...¡±

    ¡°Granted, the Three Realms should never intermingle. But what happens when a sudden and dramatic change urs in one realm? Shouldn¡¯t the other two realms immediately render assistance? Ry such urgent messages through the Lords of the Land? Who are they supposed to be rying the message to? Who¡¯s supposed to make the call? And how are the realms supposed to cooperate?¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly. He truly didn¡¯t suspect a thing¡­

    It suddenly dawned on Qin Ye that there was still much to be learnt.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. Every realm has countless exotic treasures.¡± The Second King Yanluo sipped his tea cidly, ¡°The mortal realm has mountains and swamps which conceal divine treasures and materials. The heavenly realm is blessed with treasures that promote longevity and even grant immortality. While Hell¡­ contains treasures that reverse the flow of Yin and Yang!¡±

    Qin Ye blinked his eyes vacantly, ¡°Legend of the White Snake? Was that the immortal grass that they were talking about?¡±

    ¡°I recall several hundred years ago, Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing ventured into Hell to steal immortal grass. They were originally sentenced to death. However, the entire Snake n rallied the support of their rtives, the Dragon n, and petitioned against the death sentence by organizing a sit-in outside Heaven¡¯s Gate thatsted one full year, and that eventually led to an uprising¡­ Well, let me give you another example that is closer to your heart. For instance, what if a manmits a crime in Usonia, and the first thing that the Judge considers isn¡¯t the severity of his crime, but the skin colour of the man? Don¡¯t you think that would trigger a movement for equality and against racism?¡±

    The Second King Yanluo went on, ¡°And as for potential gains¡­¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes brightened at once, ¡°There¡¯s also a Yanluo-like existence in the mortal realm?¡±

    The Second King Yanluo retracted his smile as he went on somberly, ¡°The Equal to Heaven, Benevolent and Sacred Great Emperor of the Eastern Summit Mount Tai; the Charge of Heaven, Bright and Sacred Great Emperor of the Southern Summit Mount Heng; the Peak of Heaven, Lofty and Sacred Great Emperor of the Central Summit Mount Song; the Treasure of Heaven, Prudent and Sacred Great Emperor of the Western Summit Mount Hua; and the Peace of Heaven, Mysterious and Sacred Great Emperor of the Northern Summit Mount Heng. These are the five gods who preside over all matters in the mortal realm. Sooner orter, you¡¯ll have the opportunity to meet them.¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°How could I even think of doing something like that¡­ Besides, what exactly are they in charge of?¡±

    His words ended there abruptly.

    Damn it! It feels like I was just on the verge of learning why Heaven is so delighted to get rid of the Second King Yanluo! I mean, how could they let someone like him continue in a position of power? What kind of example would he set for his sessors?

    Hang on¡­ Aren¡¯t I his sessor?!

    <hr>

    1. These are the white snake spirit and green snake spirit respectively in the Legend of the White Snake.

 Chapter 615: All Good Thing Must Come to an End

    <h4>Chapter 615: All Good Thing Must Come to an End</h4>

    The knowledge that the Second King Yanluo was soon about to leave for good, and the fact that he would have no choice but to stand alone made him extra dedicated and serious about learning the ropes about being the King Yanluo of Hell.

    Without even realizing it, they had already drawn close to the end of the month of intensive learning.

    Granted, it had been impossible to impart everything he knew to Qin Ye, especially since most things could only be learnt through practical experiences. That said, they still focused on the more important aspects that were crucial to his role, such as theposition of Hell, functions and distribution of official positions, key locations in Cathay, dangerous locations and potential pitfalls, and so on and so forth.

    ¡°Answer - Unrted. They are aspects of Hell that are specifically designed to strike fear and awe into the hearts of Yin spirits. All of them can be subsumed under the Courts of the new Hell. Therefore, there is no need to consider these aspects at all, much less bother to rebuild them.¡±

    Qin Ye continued with his test paper, ¡°Discuss the rtionship between City Gods, Emissaries of Hell and Lords of the Land. Answer - They are different on a qualitative level. Even though the City Gods can broadly speaking be considered a type of Emissary of Hell, they are in charge of the affairs of the mortal realm. Their role is to inform Hell as soon as they discover anything amiss in the mortal realm. Not only do they act as the ears and eyes of Hell in the mortal realm, their role even extends to prevention of disasters that result in great attrition of numbers in the mortal realm, such as the flood of 1998, the earthquake in 2008, and so on and so forth.¡±

    ¡°On the other hand, the scope of authority of an Emissary of Hell is far more restricted in that they would only be called upon to reap a soul when a person is knocking on death¡¯s door. Their authoritysts only for a period of seven days, or until the soul steps onto the Naraka Bridge, whichever is shorter. In reality, this might even be something that takes only one day. Previously, Emissaries of Hell would treat their soul-reaping assignments as a publicly-funded trip to tour the mortal realm. Even though things now are slightly different, I don¡¯t see a need to ban such frolics. After all, if everything is done in moderation, the dy might give the souls in the mortal realm some time to say their parting goodbyes to their loved ones. Meanwhile, the only thing we need to do on our end is to instill some integrity on the part of the Emissaries and prohibit publicly funded food and drinks during their travels. Some Emissaries of Hell¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, the Second King Yanluo simply sat behind, observing everything Qin Ye had written and nodded repeatedly in approbation. His wealth of experiences told him that Qin Ye was already starting to show signs ofteral thinking, which is one of the necessary features of a good King Yanluo of Hell.

    As soon as he turned back, he was astonished to see that the Second King Yanluo¡¯s body was slowly but surely beginning to turn transparent.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s time to go.¡± The Second King Yanluo nced longingly at his surroundings, ¡°The Green Lotus Cave will vanish together with me. You¡¯ve done well on the written test. You¡¯d at least be awarded 80 marks for all of your answers. There are no problems with your basic theory. The only area you might need some work in is your understanding of the actual practice of these theories.¡±

    ¡°All good things muste to an end.¡± The Second King Yanluo smiled, ¡°As a King Yanluo, you¡¯ll have to get used to living with the vicissitudes of life. This is part of the Heavenly Dao, and it is also how these Three Realms work. This is but farewell. There¡¯s nothing to be sad about.¡±

    Qin Ye felt a lump swell up in his throat. He wanted to crack a joke to cut through the somber atmosphere around them right now, but he couldn¡¯t help but speak his mind, ¡°You know, you¡¯re actually alright, despite your tomfoolery at times¡­ Sigh¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. I don¡¯t belong here in the Three Realms. Alright.¡± The Second King Yanluo raised his hand to pat Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder, only to realize that his hand went straight through Qin Ye¡¯s body. He paused for a moment, and then chuckled softly, ¡°As a King Yanluo, you¡¯re not allowed to reveal such weak expressions. Listen well, I¡¯ve got a few parting words for you.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo retracted the smile on his face, ¡°Allies can never be trusted - no matter how close they appear to Hell! Theherworld is an even more cutthroat ce than the mortal realm. Betrayal is but part and parcel of international politics!¡±

    ¡°In other words, the responsibility of creating a new Hell rests entirely in your hands. Remember this - you must not be soft-hearted! Kill all who you need to kill, regardless of who it may be! Besides, the examinations and tests may be over, but the heavenly realm, including the Jade Emperor and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, are still watching you.¡±

    ¡°Thirdly¡­¡± The Second King Yanluo suddenly smiled, ¡°Do you still recall how¡­ Ashmound City still hides a secret?¡±

    ¡°Whenever you feel confused, open it and take a good look at it. I believe¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be long before you might need it¡­¡± The Second King Yanluo revealed a mysterious smile on his face, ¡°Last but not least, always keep in mind the irond rules of Hell.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ With that, his body abruptly transformed into a bright light and beamed away. Meanwhile, the entire Green Lotus Cave began to shake violently.

    ¡°Farewell¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    It was the Golden Hall, replete with the familiar vermillion pirs and Torch Dragonmpstands. He took in the sight, and he couldn¡¯t help but wonder how things were like back then when Fengdu dominated the entireherworld - Was it just as magnificent and luxurious as this back then?

    Truth be told, he had long since wanted to get out of the abyss of endless tutoring under the Second King Yanluo of Hell, so he should have been delighted at his graduation from the same. However, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to celebrate.

    ¡°Where did this stupid doge from?¡± Qin Ye shook his head and remarked under his breath. Then, sighing, he began to mull over how he was nning to tell Arthis and the Harken about the Second King Yanluo¡¯s departure.

    ¡­ WTF?!

    Is this¡­ your true form?!

    ¡°Speaking of which, you look like you¡¯ve recovered even more. I mean, you¡¯re able to reveal your true form¡­ I mean, you can shapeshift now? Did the Second King Yanluo help you with your recovery?¡±

    Qin Ye: ???

    Qin Ye: #^*$&@#?!

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see that I won¡¯t be able to keep up with the pace of your feet with my tiny paws?! A pooper scooper like you should have the self-awareness befitting of a pooper scooper!¡± Before Qin Ye could even react to the situation, the Harken immediately showered him with insults. Qin-no-dignity-Ye immediately rushed over and held up the Harken in the air, and patted it on the head lovingly.

    The Harken bit down on his arm ferociously, ¡°Daddy?! Hmm?! A walk?! Hmm?! You should be d I haven¡¯t swallowed you up at once, understand?!¡±

    After a painful tussle, the man and the dog finally managed toe to a ceasefire. Incensed, Qin Ye picked up the dog and walked outside. At once, the splendour of Ashmound City filled his eyes, while theherwind howled softly, easing his heart.

    Sure, it might only have been a fragment of the glory of the ancient Hell, but he could still see ghastly figures drifting about everywhere he looked, like a vastwork of constetions drifting about in their own axes in the skies.The bright light from the sea of pavilions out there appeared to a silent chorus, singing praise to their king, dering themselves loyal subjects to their only king. This was his city. This was his kingdom.

    ¡°But you haven¡¯t actually witnessed the old Hell. Fengdu was orders of magnitudes more prosperous than Ashmound City could ever be. We¡¯re talking about the sheer sight of interweaving civilizations from various dynasties, from Xia, Shang and Zhou, to Tang, Song and Ming. There was even the celebration of the culture of foreign underworlds in various parts of Hell, including churches, Buddhist temples, Taoist Temples, as well as other lesser-known sects and religious institutions¡­ What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Qin Ye stared back at it in astonishment.

    Without hesitation, Qin Ye activated the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and they promptly transformed into a mightyhergale that vanished from Ashmound City. Momentster, they appeared in the old Hell.

    Krr¡­ krr¡­ Qin Ye could hear a sea of crunching sound, almost as though everything that had been submerged was slowly but surely being devoured and eaten up. Qin Ye nced around. Something told him that something was amiss, but he couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on it.

    Qin Ye nodded, and then shook his head once more, ¡°Just a little¡­ It feels like something has vanished, but¡­ I can¡¯t quite put my finger on it.¡±

    ¡°That shameless oaf actually had the gall to steal Ksitigarbha¡¯s divine oaf as he left!! Can¡¯t he spare a thought for Hell at all?! Shameless! How utterly shameless!!!¡±

 Chapter 616: Forbidden Arts (1)

    <h4>Chapter 616: Forbidden Arts (1)</h4>

    ¡°Holy shit!!! Let go! Let go!!! He¡¯s the one who took the divine molt, so why are you biting me?! Sss¡­ Agh! I¡¯m bleeding! I¡¯m bleeding!!! Hurry up and let go of my hand, you rebel!!!¡±

    ¡°... Did you really have to do that? It¡¯s just the disappearance of the divine molt. At most, we can just abandon the forward base to the sea of blight vermin. They¡¯ll vanish as soon as they finish devouring the old Hell, and there will be nothing more to worry about them. So, did you really have to bite me that hard?!¡±

    And when thesehermes were finally extinguished, the old Fengdu Necropolis would finally be washed away by the effluxion of time and be nothing more than a memory in the annals of the new Hell.

    The Harken grew taciturn. After some time, it finally responded, ¡°Has the Second King Yanluo departed?¡±

    ¡°So, all that¡¯s left is us, huh¡­¡± The Harken panted softly as it stared nkly at the writhing mass of blight vermin below, ¡°You know, I¡¯ve been wondering whether I¡¯d actually managed to evade Lord Ksitigarbha¡¯s capture when he gained ascension, or whether¡­ my escape was all part of their ns¡­¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t know how to respond to that.

    ¡°Have you ever considered how I¡¯ve never treated you with respect after discovering that you¡¯d received the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal? Even if there was nothing deserving of respect about you back then, I should at least have orded you some respect on ount of the fact that you had the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal with you. But¡­ I¡¯d thought of killing you on more than one asion.¡±

    He had thought about these things before. However, he didn¡¯t have a clue on what to think about these things.

    ¡°Moreover, the Second King Yanluo¡¯s ascension was reported all over in the news, whether in the Heavens or on Earth, and regardless of the media. In short, the entire world flew into a frenzy across all Three Realms. But, with you, there was nothing.¡±

    The Harken went on with some measure of emotion, ¡°Had I known that there had always been someone watching you, and that this was all part of a greater examination for your right to ascension, I would have restrained myself. But¡­ my injuries were too great, so much so that I wasn¡¯t even able to peer into the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and patted the Harken¡¯s head, ¡°Likewise, I didn¡¯t know I was undergoing a test either. Had I known, I would¡¯ve felt some form of pressure to do well, and I wouldn¡¯t have been driven into a corner on several asions.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly, ¡°Speaking of which, I¡¯ve got something I¡¯d like to pick your mind on.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    The Harken pondered for a moment, before responding, ¡°That¡¯s a difficult question.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°Are you suggesting that we should temporarily set it aside? But that doesn¡¯t cohere with what some of the other schrs think. ording to their sources, some of the foreign superpowers have already started to develop the second generation of Forbidden Arts¡­¡±

    It paused for a moment, and then continued, ¡°I presume you haven¡¯t had the time to read the scrolls about the Forbidden Arts, right? Forbidden Arts aren¡¯t entirely akin to the nuclear weapons of the mortal realm. Anyway, take me back to the Mythic Pce of Reflections first. It¡¯s not good to be discussing such matters here.¡±

    The hall was just as quiet as ever. As soon as they appeared, the Harken leapt down from Qin Ye¡¯s arms and raised its paws. At once, Yin energy flowed out, and a five-meter long sword covered with runes of Yin talismans and shrouded with Yin energy appeared in mid-air.

    ¡°Over 400 years ago, the Argosian Underworld triggered the Second Netherworld War. 30,000 Thebes Crusaders led the charge out from Mount Olympus, followed by tens of millions of Hierapolis Warriors, countless Glory Soldiers, Teutonic Knights and Macedonian Phnx¡­ You can¡¯t even begin to imagine how crazy Thanatos had to be back then. He even mobilized his Twelve Pontiffs, ravaging Europa with his forces in an instant. Thend of vampires, Transylvania, was nearly razed to the ground.¡±

    Qin Ye listened intently as the Harken taught him more about the history of theherworld. To this end, the Second King Yanluo had only alluded to these events, but never bothered delving any deeper into the details which were all set out in the records that the new Hell had on hand.

    They were just like the mortal realm, but not quite like it at the same time. They were simr in terms of their geographical locations as well as their terms of reference, but the bnce of power waspletely different. The understanding of such differences was an impactful insight that opened his eyes to a whole new perspective.

    ¡°They don¡¯t have any formal underworld in Alkebn. In fact, each different locality even has their own method and means of tribal worship. For instance, the Sahara Desert is ruled over by only one powerful totem, but the vast oasis between the Sahara Desert and the Khari Desert situated south of the Sahara Desert is home to a dozen other tribes and corresponding totems¡­¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say anything. The manner in which the Harken put it across meant that there was more to it than meets the eye.

    Holy shit!

    ¡°After the Argosian Underworld swept through Europa, they were faced with two choices - Firstly, they could head east into the Middle East, where they would face the challenge of another one of the top four underworlds, the Aegyptian Underworld. At that time, the Ten Pharoahs of Aegyptus, Khufu, Menes, Ramses, Tutankhamun and so on, had already received news of the fall of Europa. The famous Mamluk Army that once defeated the Mongol Empire¡¯s forces were even garrisoned at the borders of modern day Turquia. Anubis even personally took to the fore and stationed himself at the forefront of the potential location of the sh. Obviously, Thanatos would never in his right mind pit himself against the world¡¯s oldest underworld.¡±

    ¡°He chose to fight against the dozen or so Yama-ss entities, led by Quetzalcoatl.¡±

    So, was the first underworld to sessfully develop Forbidden Arts¡­ the Argosian Underworld? Qin Ye mulled over these thoughts.

    ¡°Incidentally, it was also this battle that catalyzed the Forbidden Arts research and developmental efforts of all underworlds. Approximately 100 yearster, the four top underworlds dered that their research had borne fruit, and they cemented their position as the top underworlds in theherworld. With that, they dispelled all their naysayers and determined the bnce of power for the next few centuries toe.¡±

    This is the prime opportunity to learn more about Forbidden Arts!

    But if that¡¯s the case¡­ why does the Harken still say that it¡¯s a difficult question?

    <hr>

    1. Romania.

    2. For those of you interested in reading up more about the Mamluk Army, here¡¯s a link to the wiki page.

 Chapter 617: Forbidden Arts (2)

    <h4>Chapter 617: Forbidden Arts (2)</h4>

    Thus, he listened intently.

    Qin Ye nodded. The sword was likely the medium that Hell had designed for Immortal Sanction, just like how nuclear warheads in the mortal realm were carried through missiles and rockets. Sure, they might look different, but the idea of using a medium to deliver the devastating attack was quite the same.

    Qin Ye massaged his temples. It sounded no different from a bomb that will be ignited as soon as the fuse burns down into its core. That said, the fuse or fuel around it that triggers the explosion would also add to the effect of the explosion, giving rise to a more splendid, powerful effect.

    Nuclear fusion is the synthesis of two atomic nuclei of a small mass into that of arger nucleus. On the other hand, nuclear fission entails a radioactive decay that involves the split of atomic nuclei into two smaller nuclei. Both are processes that can release a huge amount of energy, although nuclear fusion admittedly releases more energy. However, the technology employed by the mortal realm in their development of nuclear weapons lies in nuclear fission. That said, the Harken¡¯s description of Forbidden Arts sounded more akin to nuclear fusion.

    Unfortunately, the Harken didn¡¯t understand what he was saying, ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean. But, going back to what happened in the past, the Argosian Underworld had only created one instance of the Forbidden Art at their disposal. This was why they eventually bowed back and relented under the pressure of the alliance of the three top underworlds to release the technology behind their Forbidden Art.¡±

    ¡°Main sequence stars?¡± Qin Ye mulled over these words. Before the burden of re-establishing Hell fell on his shoulders, he spent a good part of his time reading books and absorbing any knowledge he could.

    The Harken shook its head, ¡°I don¡¯t get what you¡¯re saying, but the most important thing you¡¯ll have to do right now is to decide whether this is an endeavour that you wish to channel your resources into.¡±

    The Harken gazed deep into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°For now, we can only work with how terrifying a second generation Forbidden Art is potentially going to be. Even if you have in your possession the first generation Forbidden Art, its presence may well be overshadowed by the stronger second generation Forbidden Arts, so much so that it may no longer constitute a proper threat or deterrence. And if that happens, Hell might very well lose its standing as one of the P4 on the Federation of Underworlds.¡±

    ¡°Top-grade Spirit-Quenching Jade. These were one of the specialty products of the old Fengdu Necropolis. Its function was to expel all impurities and leave only Yin Talismans within the body of the sword. There are six other simr purifying instruments located in the hilt of the sword alone. The price of this little piece of jade alone is worth more than Ashmound City itself!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly, and his expressions stiffened. He most certainly understood what this meant.

    Everything requires ghostpower. Furthemore¡­ Ashmound doesn¡¯t have any specialty produce right now!

    How the hell am I supposed to get my hands on such things?

    Exploration!

    How many people would that take? How much would it strain them, both financially and in terms of materials and resources? But on the other hand, could he really afford to dally too long?

    Everything was primed and ready for theunch of the research. After all, they didn¡¯t need the presence of more than a dozen or so Yin spirits tomence their research and development of the project. Unfortunately, the sourcing and gathering of materials was a long drawn process that would exhaust an incredible amount of resources and materials. The wait was going to be excruciating and painful, and impatience was never a good thing for a newly appointed leader as he was!

    To make matters worse, they weren¡¯t even looking at the first generation Forbidden Art, but a second generation Forbidden Art¡­

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± The Harken asked for a second time. Qin Ye finally stopped pacing around and sighed softly, ¡°Study!¡±

    The Harken nodded, ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve got another suggestion.¡±

    ¡°Heaven¡¯s Gate.¡± The Harken continued, ¡°The Gates of Heaven should open in five years¡¯ time. There may be certain things that Hell doesn¡¯t have, but this doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that Heaven wouldn¡¯t have it either.¡±

    But the Harken swiftly doused Qin Ye with cold water before he could even jump for joy, ¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself. What you have to note is that Heaven is a ce that functions entirely on spiritual energy. Even if there might be treasures that arepatible with Yin energy, there definitely wouldn¡¯t be many of them. The prices would also bemensurately high. What do you n to exchange them with?¡±

    There¡¯s simply nothing in Hell right now. You may as well tell me to sell my ass to them¡­

    ¡°To study!!!¡± Qin Ye barked back, before finally vanishing into thin air.

    Time passed by quickly, and five days passed in the blink of an eye. Qin Ye holed himself up in his room, carefully poring through the multitudinous scrollsid out in front of him.

    ¡°Divergence¡­ Unique casting material harvested from the bones of the Spirit of Divergence, the second on the list of special Yin spirits¡­¡± Qin Ye furrowed his brows in distress.

    The more he read, the more he felt a throbbing headache. At this rate, he would need far more than a research team adept in the field of Yin Talismanology. He would need the assistance of countless experts to look into biology, minerals, and the environment in general!

    Qin Ye suddenly paused.

    He frowned for a moment as he mulled over it. And then, he suddenly shot to his feet.

    Doesn¡¯t this mean that the Russian Underworld has also begun to dabble in the Forbidden Arts?! Qin Ye¡¯s mind churned with thoughts, and cold sweat began to emerge from his forehead.

    It wouldn¡¯t change the fact that Hell would effectively be surrounded on all sides, with the Aegyptian Underworld on the left, the Russian Underworld above, and the Hindustani Underworld below us. The situation would be horrendous!

    ¡°No¡­ but if they¡¯re indeed developing Forbidden Arts, why would they disclose the presence of Resentment Crystals to me?¡±

    ¡°Damn, and I only gave Rumyantsev a nonmittal answer back then. I should have rebuked him harshly, just like how the old Hell would! Damn it! My knowledge is far toocking¡­ Who would¡¯ve thought that Rumyantsev still had a card hidden up his sleeves?¡±

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and shut his eyes - The international arena is truly far moreplex than I¡¯d anticipated. There¡¯s always more than meets the eye! Had I not seen this scroll, I¡¯m afraid I would have made a huge mistake just a few monthster!

    After all, how can Hell watch on silently as the Russian Underworld takes steps to develop Forbidden Arts?!

 Chapter 618: Opening Curtains (1)

    <h4>Chapter 618: Opening Curtains (1)</h4>

    This was one of his personal resolutions ever since the Second King Yanluo departed - he would think twice before he acted from now on.

    ¡°My Lord.¡± Wang Chenghao answered his call at once. Qin Ye instructed, ¡°Prepare a tea reception for some guests that are about to arrive.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t long before several Yin spirits dressed in ancient attire drifted into the City Tower and entered straight into the conference room.

    Qin Ye sat at the head of the table, followed by Zu Chongzhi, Li Chun, Lu Ban, and so on and so forth. He smiled at everyone and nodded his head, ¡°Everyone¡¯s been back for a week now. I¡¯ve asked Arakshasa and the Harken to make the necessary arrangements for you. I wonder if you¡¯re satisfied with it thus far?¡¯

    Qin Ye was fairly young as far as King Yanluos were concerned. In fact, given their experiences with the previous King Yanluo of Hell, they could tell that Qin Ye was at times still rather brash and naive, at least in his demeanor and bodynguage.

    ¡°I¡¯m grateful to King Yanluo for your care and concern.¡± He smiled in response, ¡°We¡¯ve all been assigned to different departments as advisors in our fields of expertise. Colleague Lu Ban was even appointed the chief engineer.¡±

    The tea was clear and cold. Unfortunately, nothing in Hell was warm. Even then, tea could be considered a luxury in the underworld right now, because there was only a small plot ofnd dedicated for tea ntations. It was a prized product that regr citizens of Hell would never even dream of having.

    ¡°I am.¡± Zu Chongzhi chuckled, ¡°We¡¯ve always been focused on our research in the past, so there¡¯s no way we would be equipped with the skills to lead our respective departments in any event. Over thest week, we¡¯ve spent most of our time speaking with our colleagues and getting up to speed. The way Hell handles things right now is very different from the way it used to be. We¡¯re still adapting.¡±

    He chuckled, ¡°You can even say that I¡¯m willing to drag my pride and face through the mud in order to stand tall as the pir of Hell. It¡¯sughable, but I¡¯ve been undertaking every foreign expedition thus far, albeit with a change of my appearances. I long for the day when¡­ I have an army of strategists and experts more qualified than I to send on these missions. Everyone, please hang in there.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and took another sip of his tea. He would always have to be teachable and willing to learn. But at the same time, he would always need to act the part as the King Yanluo of Hell.

    ¡°I¡¯ve summoned everyone here today because there¡¯s something else I would like to talk about.¡± He set down his teacup and tapped his finger. At once, a map of theherworld appeared in the air in front of them, ¡°I¡¯ve not quite had the chance to have a chat with you esteemed schrs ever since your return. What I¡¯d like to know is how the situation outside currently looks.¡±

    ¡°Then, let me begin.¡± Wu Daozi didn¡¯t reject the implicit nomination, and he walked out calmly, cupped his hands respectfully to Qin Ye, and then addressed everyone, ¡°Ever since the Second Battle of the Oracle, it became apparent that there was a need for the underworlds toe together for international discourse. The Federation of Underworlds was formed by the top ten underworlds in theherworld. From there, they went on to nominate the four strongest underworlds to act as the permanent members of the federation. 200 yearster, they came to be known as the Permanent Four, or the P4.¡±

    Meanwhile, Wu Daozi couldn¡¯t help but nod in approval at Qin Ye¡¯s teachable heart. At once, he pointed to Cathay¡¯s location on the map, ¡°Geographically, Hindustan and Cathay are at a disadvantage. Aegyptus is in a slightly better position, but the most advantageous location is indubitable that of the Argosian Underworld.¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled.

    How dare they test the knowledge of their King? If I didn¡¯t know any better, I might well put Wu Daozi to death right away.

    But Qin Ye knew better. They were actually running the risk of ruffling the dragon¡¯s whiskers in order to fill any potentially debilitating gaps of knowledge that they could right away!

    ¡°But things are different once you cross the Straits of a. Borneo, Mya, Ceylon, and the Spice Inds are all tributaries to the Hindustani Underworld. To put it bluntly, we have far fewer vassal states than the Argosian Underworld.¡±

    Qin Ye immediately considered the implications of something like this, ¡°Then¡­ how are we supposed to expand our wealth? Do we have toplete our internal exploration, before finally trading our specialty products for Yin spirit stones?¡±

    Everyone fell silent, and Shang Yang gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes and spoke respectfully, ¡°And that is to¡­ increase our international influence.¡±

    ¡°Then, there¡¯s the various indigenous gods of death of South Usonia. These territories are extremely rich in resources of all kinds. For instance, over thest hundred years, the Aegyptian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld have been vying over the agricultural mountain ridges belonging to the Incan Death God Supay. In the end, the Hindustani Underworld prevailed. Their spoils - wealth! Endless wealth and resources!¡±

    ¡°However, they also need to develop their own underworlds. After all, war and conflict is a costly affair. Thus, they have no choice but to invite tenders from the powerful underworlds in the world, trading the natural resources in theirnds in order to meet their immediate needs. You can most certainly find ghostpower easily essible in these regions! Furthermore, resources for the development of a basic underworld are rtively inexpensive. So long as you are willing to share some of your profits and resources with these underworlds, it¡¯s basically no different from money falling from the sky!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded in realization. It wasn¡¯t too different from how things were in the mortal realm.

    ¡°The profits to be gained for rendering aid in these situations aren¡¯t low as well! It¡¯s a good way of broadening our ie streams!¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ what about the Russian Underworld?¡± He finally asked, ¡°Where do they stand?¡±

    ¡°First, and foremost, they possess thergest territory in the world, and they must bemensurately rich in natural resources.¡±

    Qin Ye rapped the table gently, ¡°Then what¡¯s keeping them from bing one of the top underworlds to date?¡±

    ¡°In turn, they face difficulties nting cities and expanding their infrastructure. Although they may have the knowledge of exactly where the natural resources are located, theck of connectivity forces them to prioritize, pick and choose the resource veins to tap into. Your Excellency, despite this fatal w that limits their growth, we definitely shouldn¡¯t underestimate them, because¡­ their strength in other aspects are incredibly strong!¡±

    At once, everyone fell silent.

    Disaster.

    One faction would fight hard for their rights, while the other faction would fight equally hard to stifle it. The end result would naturally be war - a true, cataclysmic disaster for theherworld!

    A King Yanluo never beats about the bush. Thus, without missing a beat, Qin Ye picked up his teacup and went on, ¡°The Russian Underworld wants to strike a deal with Hell. This was the main reason why they appeared in Daehan in the first ce. And for this reason, they¡¯d even waited patiently for decades on end.¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ they¡¯ve discovered traces of a Resentment Crystal Vein in the Mongol Empire.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± ¡°H-how is this possible? Since when did the Mongol Empire get their hands on a divine Yin artifact? The conditions don¡¯t seem right for a Resentment Crystal Vein to appear!¡± ¡°No way¡­ Resentment Crystals¡­ What are they nning to do with it? These are one of the main sources of fuel for a spirit crystal reactor--¡­ Are they¡­ trying to secretly develop Forbidden Arts?!¡±

 Chapter 619: Opening Curtains (2)

    <h4>Chapter 619: Opening Curtains (2)</h4>

    They were all Yin spirits that had experienced their fair share of tumultuous times, so they were quickly able to regain theirposure. Momentster, they all turned to Qin Ye for his instructions.

    He leaned over the table, almost ravenously, and then spoke in a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about these matters as well, and there are some questions on my mind that I¡¯m afraid only you schrs are able to answer.¡±

    ¡°It will!¡± Zhang Zhongjing stroked his beard, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that when the Resentment Crystals first appears, an area within a ten mile radius will instantly be purged of all living things. Any living creature that steps into this domain will instantly perish without fail. Day and night, you¡¯ll be able to hear a chorus of ghosts wailing from within.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± Zhang Heng quickly chimed in, ¡°I¡¯ve personally participated in the design and construction of a spirit crystal reactor. Resentment Crystals. Its name makes it sound far more unassuming than it actually is. After all, the truth of the matter is that its natural function¡­ is to act as a filter! Even though it is a material found only within the mortal realm, its purpose is to filter out everything that is not of theherworld!¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°That must also mean that this process runs slowly?¡±

    ¡°In essence, it¡¯s no different from a ck hole to the mortal realm!¡±

    The eyes of the Yin spirits flickered wildly. Secondster, Shang Yang took a deep breath, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ the Resentment Crystal Vein is sorge that they simply cannot keep its existence under wraps?!¡±

    ¡°Join these two, and you¡¯ll essentially have yourself the very core of a Forbidden Art - the means of ignition to a Forbidden Art!¡±

    Shang Yang¡¯s eyes flickered with great excitement, ¡°That¡¯s the only means they have of dragging Hell out of seclusion after all. In turn, that would allow them to formally enter into negotiations with Hell. And if Hell doesn¡¯t even respond to Liu Yu¡¯s deration of independence, then they would probably wait a couple more years before finally moving to extract the Resentment Crystals at their own time. In other words¡­ the incidents in Daehan were all an opening act to the true plot that has just unfolded before our very eyes!¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°The Russian Underworld is essentially asking Hell¡­¡± Shang Yang looked menacingly out of the window, almost as though he were ring directly at the Tsar in contempt, ¡°They¡¯re asking for our permission.¡±

    ¡°If we allow them to take it, they will most certainly repay the favour with a multitude of rare giftsmensurate to the value of the crystals we have ceded to them! And then, in exchange, they willpletely trample over the Mongol Empire and even blot out the entire country without even requiring us to send a single troop. This is¡­ probably what they are going to do next.¡±

    It¡¯s alling together¡­ He suddenly recalled something that seemed to cohere with everyone¡¯s conjectures.

    Why would they need to mobilize two Yama-Kings for such an inferior underworld?

    ¡°There¡¯s more.¡± Shang Yang¡¯s voice grew somber, ¡°And this concerns the epitome of breakthroughs in the field of Yin Talismanology, and is one of the defining features of the top underworlds in existence. We¡¯re talking about something that is difficult, even for first-rate underworlds. You have to tread carefully. If the Russian Underworld is truly developing Forbidden Arts, then¡­¡±

    If that were indeed the case, then there could be a chance that one of the four top underworlds might even be secretly plotting against Hell! They must have disclosed their research behind Forbidden Arts to the Russian Underworld!

    Hell¡¯s century-long lockdown hade like a bolt out of the blue. Even though nobody knew what exactly happened to Hell, anyone could guess that something earth-shattering was taking ce within! Had Qin Ye been the lord of any of the other top underworlds around, he would probably have done the same thing!

    ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have sufficient information to say for certain.¡± Shang Yang¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, ¡°But even if they¡¯re harbouring designs against Hell, what we know for sure is that they¡¯re still using the Russian Underworld as a pawn to test the waters. All they would need to do would be to disclose a thing or two about Forbidden Arts to the Russian Underworld, and then wash their hands off the matter altogether. This isn¡¯t very different from how things work in the mortal realm. For instance, the Aegyptian Underworld could easily have a secret bteral meeting with the Russian Underworld and say - ¡®Hey, I¡¯ve got something about Forbidden Arts to share with you. Interested?¡¯¡±

    Shang Yang sighed softly, ¡°Using the Russian Underworld to test the waters is the best possible method. Besides, they don¡¯t even need to disclose the exact means of developing Forbidden Arts. All they need to do is to disclose a little bit of the concept behind Forbidden Arts. After all, the process of research and development is something that will take a long time. If Hell still has its edge, and is still qualified to take its ce among the P4, there¡¯s no chance that Hell wouldn¡¯t notice something like that brewing in the Russian Underworld. Hell would never allow any of their neighbours to evene close to developing Forbidden Arts. Conflict would be unavoidable.¡±

    Shang Yang smiled coldly, ¡°Then, the top underworlds of the Federation of Underworlds will naturally step in and forcibly prohibit the Russian Underworld from further researching and developing Forbidden Arts.¡±

    Even the winds and the clouds that rolled in the international arena were incredibly treacherous. All must tread lightly.

    The conference room was silent as a morgue. Secondster, Qin Ye looked up, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    Shang Yang shook his head, ¡°Nothing more than spections. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that Hell simply cannot afford to open its borders right now, nor can it send out Emissaries of Hell to ascertain any of these conjectures of ours. That said, we can always see who stands to gain most from such courses of actions. To this end, it¡¯s anyone¡¯s guess which of the three other top underworlds it could be. In fact, I¡¯m more inclined to think that the three other top underworlds might even be acting together at the same time! After all, they had all once sieged Hell together, but to no avail. Besides, I reckon that they wouldn¡¯t act so boldly if they were merely acting alone.¡±

    The Yin spirits were all deep in thought. Just then, Qin Ye suddenly smiled, ¡°So, now, we¡¯ve found the problem, and we¡¯ve also done a thorough analysis of it. The next step is to find the solution to this problem.¡±

    ¡°If we want to extricate ourselves from this conundrum, we¡¯ll have no choice but to give the Russian Underworld a tight rap on the wrist and deter them by force so that they¡¯ll abandon these reckless designs of theirs once and for all. But¡­ Lord Qin, we might be ying straight into the hands of the scheming underworld. This is a problem that can only be ssified as a diplomatic dispute. And something of this scale is far more serious than the incident that had just transpired in Daehan. We¡¯re talking about Forbidden Arts after all! This is something that will have to be announced internationally, so that the Federation of Underworlds can take notice and be on alert!¡±

    Shang Yang continued with gritted teeth, ¡°We¡¯ll first have to send missions to consult with the other underworlds. And then, the leaders of Hell would have to take to the stand! Your Excellency, if this is the scheme of the top underworlds out there, I¡¯m afraid that this would be what they¡¯re really after! They would be able to assess the current situation in Hell and the forces avable at Hell¡¯s disposal through the attitudes and demeanors of these missions!¡±

    That was certainly neither a desirable nor a viable option.

    How were they supposed to send out an ambassadorial mission right now? Who are they supposed to choose? What are they to say? There was a potential pitfall at every turn of the way! Forbidden Arts was a matter of such gravity that the King Yanluo would necessarily have to be involved, and yet¡­ he barely knew as much as the Yin spirits standing around him right now.

    ¡°Yanluo Qin, I think that you will first have to determine Hell¡¯s attitude towards Forbidden Arts, and then decide what to do next.¡± Wu Daozi finally chimed in, ¡°We must first decide whether to develop Forbidden Arts right now. That will give us more rity on the attitude we should take towards the Resentment Crystal Vein.¡±

    ¡°In other words, your opinion on Forbidden Arts will determine everything in the near future! It represents the will of the new Hell, and it will manifest in an overt stand that Hell will take on the international arena!¡±

 Chapter 620: Opening Curtains (3)

    <h4>Chapter 620: Opening Curtains (3)</h4>

    This was a Resentment Crystals Vein, and quite likely a massive one at that. After all, Resentment Crystals were a resource that were generally measured in pounds.

    Seizing our Resentment Crystals after we told you about it of our own volition? Hmm?

    Adopting such a stance might well shatter their fragile dreams of owning Forbidden Arts and push the Russian Underworld over the edge.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it yet.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s temples were throbbing, and his veins clearly bulging, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to delve deeper into these thoughts, but¡­ it¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t quite found the time. You¡¯ve seen the situation here. We¡¯ve only just managed to take Ashmound City about half a year ago, and we¡¯re still developing the industries within. Currently, the only strongholds we have are located here in Eastmount Province and back in Insignia Province. In fact, we haven¡¯t even had the time to regroup and rally our military forces to take Breakwaters Province.¡±

    ¡°The Harken is still recovering from his grievous wounds, and he can only muster a single strike at best. However, I¡¯d rather not have him make a move if I can help it. This is the biggest deterrent force avable to us. And even then, the strike of a Yama-ss divine beast cannot really be considered much of a deterrent force in the face of a first-rate underworld. Rus alone already has three Yama-Kings. Meanwhile, the works of our Frontier Brigades and construction corps are still in progress, so Eastmount Province cannot truly be considered ours for now. And without Eastmount in hand, there¡¯s no leverage for which I can use in my negotiations with the mortal realm!¡±

    There were a multitude of things to be done, yet, at that very moment, Qin Ye didn¡¯t quite know where to begin.

    They could all understand Qin Ye¡¯s plight and predicament, but¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re talking about the potential cement of a top underworld after all! We¡¯re talking about the nuclear weapons of theherworld!¡±

    ¡°In the ¡®60s, Lop Nor exploded with a mushroom-shaped plume. Do you think Cathay would have been named one of the Permanent Five of the United Nations had it not been for that incident that shocked the world? It¡¯s the same in Hell as well. We need the second generation Forbidden Arts. 100 years isn¡¯t a long time by any means. To put things into perspective, a single technical dy might easily give rise to dyssting well over a decade. Therefore, I sincerely suggest that¡­ we start right now!¡±

    That¡¯s right. Nations with no nuclear weapons would never be given the time and opportunity to develop it at ater date. The international pressure that they would face would be enormous.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t something that the few of us can decide alone.¡± Qin Ye stared vacantly at the ceiling, ¡°At the very least, we¡¯ll first have to wait for news from the other two daolords, as well as the return of Arakshasa, before we decide.¡±

    The Yin spirits exchanged sheepish nces before drifting out with a sigh.

    Sigh, truth be told, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We¡¯ve yet to even explore the entire nation. Far be it from that case.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t he understand the importance of nuclear weapons here in theherworld?¡±

    ¡°Mr Shang, there¡¯s only 148 years remaining! Back when Fengdu first developed nuclear weapons, we practically invested hundreds of billions - in Yin spirit stones at that! Not fiat currency! In other words, we¡¯re talking about the value of trillions of Hel! And back then, despite the wealth of talents we had, it still took us 80 good years to research and develop nuclear weapons. We¡¯re already a step behind in the race to develop the second generation Forbidden Arts!¡±

    Shang Yang sighed, ¡°Both you and Lord Qin are both concerned about reality. But you¡¯re looking at the problem from an academic point of view, while Lord Qin is looking at it from the perspective of the state. Ashmound City doesn¡¯t have any specialty products. In fact, we haven¡¯t even taken Eastmount Province to begin with. How are we going to delve straight into the research and development of Forbidden Arts?¡±

    He cleared his throat, ¡°First, we need soldiers - a mass conscription of soldiers. And then, we¡¯ll have to equip everyone with fine equipment, train them, and then send them out to take control of the entire nation!¡±

    ¡°No--...¡± Zu Chongzhi was just about to interject when Shang Yang promptly shut him down, ¡°Mr Zu, hear me out. As you would be aware, the change of every dynastyes with a change of the ecology and geography of the rest of Hell. Are you even sure what materials and resources can still be used in the development of the Forbidden Arts? We¡¯ll need at least 10 years to establish a firm footing in material sciences to ascertain which materials can be used and which ones cannot.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, it would be important for the new Hell to dig deep and develop its amenities and infrastructures first. Develop talents, and then education and pedagogy, before stabilizing Eastmount Province, linking back up with Insignia Province and taking Breakwaters Province along the way. And then, we would consolidate our forces so that we have sufficient leverage tomence negotiations with the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°People!¡± Shang Yang¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°No. To be more precise, souls.¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°No.¡± Shang Yang¡¯s response caused all of them to frown. And then, he chuckled bitterly, ¡°Truth be told¡­ we¡¯re truly caught between a rock and a hard ce.¡±

    He gazed deep into the dark canopies of the skies, ¡°After all, who would still remember the former hegemon of theherworld if Hell remains closed to the rest of the world for yet another hundred years? Look at us now. From what I understand, Nippon has already probed at our borders twice, while the Russian Underworld has also tried their luck with the recent affairs in Daehan. Let things go on for another hundred years, and¡­ I wonder who else mighte poking and prodding at us?¡±

    Wu Daozi chuckled, ¡°So¡­ what exactly do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Come on. I see a tavern ahead. Let¡¯s forget about these worries in drunken reverie for now.¡±

    Pearl River City, provincial capital of the Pearl River Province.

    But today, the entire city is as good as any other abandoned city. The only lights in the city were located in the north of the city, while the south of the city waspletely dark.

    A long cordoning tape ran around the darkened districts that were lost to supernatural forces. These tapes were fortified with chains, from which countless yellow talismans hung, rustling uneasily in the night breeze, almost as though they were summoning souls before them.

    The other side of the cordons were garrisoned with tens of thousands of soldiers, policemen, as well as investigators from the Special Investigations Department. Everyone gazed intently at the south of the city. Meanwhile, an old man dressed in a monk¡¯s robe situated in the heart of the military garrison hovered approximately ten meters above ground.

    Dong¡­ The clock struck twelve. At once, the personnel stationed around the cordon immediately stirred with vignce.

    They were literally walking along the precipice of death.

    A soft wind blew.

    It was almost as though an invisible funerary procession were just passion through the area.

    The researcher paused, and then desperately nodded his head.

    It was all too bizarre! Without warning, a Prefect-ss Yin spirit had suddenly appeared out of nowhere at a location just 127 meters away from the cordoned-off areas of the city!

    The researcher gulped nervously, before whispering, ¡°Should we activate emergency protocols--...¡±

    ¡°So long as I shall live, I vow to keep thesends safe, until my dying breath!¡±

 Chapter 621: Gathering of the Daolords (1)

    <h4>Chapter 621: Gathering of the Daolords (1)</h4>

    After chanting a passage from a scripture, the old monk sped his palms tightly together and asked with downcast eyes, ¡°What business does this benefactor have here in the humble Pearl River City?¡±

    ¡°Amitabha¡­¡± The old monk¡¯s eyes remained cid, ¡°This venerable monk cannot afford to pass on while evil remains in the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡°I can sense that you emanate the same kind of revulsive Yin energy as the other Prefect-ss Yin spirit here in Pearl River. This tells me that¡­ you stand in the way of humanity.¡±

    Silence.

    Chan Ming¡¯s eyes flickered wildly as he stared intently at the national highway ahead. Three secondster, he shook his head, ¡°If youe under the auspices of the new Hell, you must be an Emissary of Hell. Emissaries of Hell are invisible, but I can see you.¡±

    ¡°Stupid! Pedantic!¡± Qin Hui sneered, ¡°I didn¡¯t bring any paperwork of authenticity with me because I¡¯d left Hell in such a hurry. Let me ask you something - if I truly intended to meet with her, would I have had to take the high road of the national highway? Do you think I can¡¯t sense the presence of an intermediate Prefect-ss expert waiting for me? Why didn¡¯t I make a detour? Does that make any sense to you?¡±

    ¡°Do you detect any stench of blood or flesh from me?¡±

    I actually can¡¯t¡­

    How is that possible?

    Recognizing the preliminary sess with his reasoning, Qin Hui smiled, ¡°Old monk, you¡¯d best head back to your White Horse Temple and retire in peace. Let me tell you something, I¡¯m here today on the orders of the King Yanluo of Hell! In fact, I¡¯ve specifically been tasked to sway the Prefect-ss Yin spirit that resides here in Pearl River. If I seed, Pearl River will no longer face the threat of a Prefect-ss Yin spirit anymore, and the entire Pearl River district will once again fall under the banner of Hell. How great would such merit be? So, would you allow me to go about my business, or would you still stand in my way?¡±

    Time seemed toe to a standstill, and they stood at an impasse for approximately a minute. After that, Master Chan Ming smiled, ¡°It would indeed be a great merit. Benefactor Qin, please.¡±

    Back in the carriage, Qin Hui gently lowered the curtains at the windows. He rubbed the string of Buddhist beads that hung in his fingers, while thehermes in his eyes pulsed softly. After a long while, he tutted softly to himself.

    He was in a hurry, and he was incredibly anxious.

    Furthermore, Qin Hui got the feeling that Yanluo Qin didn¡¯t seem to have a very good impression of him to begin with. Thus, in order to reverse this, he sincerely believed that the best thing to do would be to convince the other two daolords to pledge their allegiance to him. If he could fulfill these objectives of his, he would most certainly be able to gain the favour of the King Yanluo of Hell.

    He knew neither the habits nor the thought patterns of the other two daolords. After all, there was a stiffpetition among Yin spirits - even Yin spirits of that level, especially since the quickest way to advancement was to devour each other!

    Just then, an odd sound found its way into the carriage.

    The lonesome carriage rolled along the streets of the abandoned city, surrounded with an ever-present beat of a temple block. The winds around the carriage stirred, whimpering softly as though he were approaching a different world altogether. Qin Hui lifted the curtains, and his eyes immediately shrunk.

    For the most part, the city was dark and dreary. However, there were some sshes of white and red.

    The sshes of white came from the pale human bones that hung from the streetmps. The bones of practically every part of a human body were hung with ck ropes in a manner that caused them to act like wind chimes, jangling with a horrific tune as the night breeze swept by. This was where the temple block sounds hade from. To make matters worse, if one looked close enough, they could probably even see traces of the bones being gnawed clean before being repurposed as wind chimes.

    There were even numerous skulls hanging from themps that hadn¡¯tpletely been cleaned out, with pieces of rotting flesh still glued to the skull with patches of dried blood.

    Qin Hui¡¯s lips parted slightly, and he immediately rolled up the curtains once more. A split secondter, he vanished into a trace ofhergale and appeared outside the carriage.

    He was dressed in red clothes, but his face waspletely pale and devoid of colour. Following that, a second humanoid paper effigy emerged from nowhere¡­ followed by a third¡­ until there were approximately a dozen or so humanoid paper effigies!

    ¡°My Lord, would you like me to clean up the mess?¡± The corpse seated at the front of the carriage asked cidly.

    As he spoke, two four-meter tall figures suddenly emerged from around the corner.

    They were hungry ghosts.

    At once, a procession of hundreds of Yin spirits marched out from between them!

    Having witnessed the majesty of Ashmound City, he knew full well howme the furnishing around these parts were.

    He stood right at the crossroad, yet the procession simply ignored himpletely. It went right past him, turned at the intersection, and then marched straight for the bridge ahead.

    For one, it waspletely red in colour.

    The massive procession of Yin spirits separated Qin Hui from the massive bridge that connected both banks. Qin Hui stood motionless as a statue, while his coachman stood silently behind him. Both of them watched intently as the procession of Yin spirits finally marched up to the bridge.

    Whoosh! The Yin spirits weren¡¯t even able to struggle as they were swallowed right into the mouth of the hideous monster. As it turned out¡­ the bridge was actually the tongue of a ferocious monster situated at the other bank of Pearl River!

    It was a startling, demonic sight. And they were separated from it only by the river that ran straight through the city. The north bank of the river was shrouded in darkness, while the skies above were filled with countless spots ofhermes. Just then, a colossal being suddenly rose up from within the dense ck fog, rising hundreds of meters high into the sky! Copious amounts of Yin energy poured out of her body, as she stretched her neck.

    This was the clear sign of having had their souls burned away by the Karmic Fire in the six paths of reincarnation.

    This was the true form of the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost, Su Daji!

 Chapter 622: Gathering of the Daolords (2)

    <h4>Chapter 622: Gathering of the Daolords (2)</h4>

    Soon after devouring the procession of Yin spirits, she lowered her head softly and murmured like a madman, ¡°Hungry¡­ so hungry¡­ so very hungry!!!¡± Saliva dribbled down the sides of her lips, while her sharp teeth peeked out from the gap in her lips. With her squinty eyes, she scanned the entire city avariciously, ¡°Food¡­ I want more food! Find me food! I¡¯m hungry!!!¡±

    And the corpse wasn¡¯t the only one. In fact, every single Yin spirit across the entire city fell to their knees andy prostrate on the ground in unconditional worship. They shuddered in fear, not daring to make the slightest peep of sound.

    It was hell on earth.

    Their eyes met.

    No response.

    ¡°Su Daji, thedy who once used to be the irresistible beauty of her time, has actually turned into something like that¡­ Don¡¯t you think that Fate has a cruel sense of humour?¡± Qin Hui chuckled softly to himself.

    ¡°How¡­ fragrant¡­¡±

    Crackle!!!

    The ck infant slowly retracted back into Qin Hui''s body, while the red lightning vanished without a trace. However, the aftermath of their quick altercation left hundreds of trenches tens of meters deep in the ground between where the two Prefect-ss Yin spirits were. It was terrifying!

    She stood right in the middle of rolling clouds of Yin energy, towering over the buildings of the city, almost as though she were a demon of the legends.

    ¡°How dare you!!¡± With a furious cry, the waters behind Su Daji suddenly rose up tens of meters high into the sky, and countless hands with exposed flesh emerged from beneath the surface of the waters, each of which was more than ten meters long. It was almost as though¡­ the entire Pearl River was filled with ghastly hands like these!

    She was reaching right across the Pearl River, across a vast expanse of over a thousand meters to give Qin Hui a good, tight p across the cheeks! The river waters erupted like underwater explosives had just detonated! It was a hundred times more outrageous than the exaggerated films of the 90¡¯s!

    Whoosh! Su Daji¡¯s left hand abruptly stopped just one meter away from Qin Hui¡¯s face. The violent rush of wind apanying her attack uprooted the decaying trees around her, and even turned the corpse coachman standing behind Qin Hui to disintegrate into ashes. Qin Hui¡¯s clothes fluttered wildly, but, even then, he remainedpletely still.

    Silence.

    She was beautiful. Qin Hui was a man who had seen countless beauties in his lifetime, and even he couldn¡¯t help but be dazzled by the beauty of this girl.

    But if one looked closely, her stomach appeared to be sunken in.

    ¡°Perfectplexion. I believe you must have personally handpicked her as your avatar, haven¡¯t you? What¡¯s the matter? Not hungry anymore?¡± He beckoned, and the golden Buddhist beads that were scattered all over the ground immediately flew back into his hands and formed a string of beads once more.

    ¡°Are we going to continue with our discussions here?¡±

    Qin Hui followed closely behind her without saying a word. After 300 meters, he finally spoke, ¡°The new Hell has just been established. You should¡¯ve detected it.¡±

    After all, certain fears were etched deep into the marrows of their bones.

    ¡°Who¡¯s the current King Yanluo of Hell?¡± She didn¡¯t even notice how her body was trembling slightly when she spoke of these things, ¡°The fact that it¡¯s just established¡­ means that it probably wouldn¡¯t be too strong. Should we--...¡±

    Silence.

    It was fear.

    Qin Hui¡¯s next statement made Su Daji look up abruptly in shock, ¡°I¡¯ve seen the new King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    ¡°To be honest, the situation in the new Hell is even worse than you think. Hell is practically starting from scratch. That said, I bring three pieces of information I believe you want to know more about.¡±

    Su Daji¡¯s lips trembled, ¡°But¡­ there¡¯s the problem of the Array of the Nine Gods¡­¡±

    Su Daji gulped nervously. All thoughts of her hunger had already gone out of her mind by now.

    ¡°Although it was just a glimpse, I¡¯m pretty sure it was him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s¡­ still around?!¡±

    As she spoke, she began to retreat madly. However, Qin Hui promptly held her back by the hand, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry!!!¡± It was only when Qin Hui bellowed at her that Su Daji finally came back to her senses andposed herself once more.

    ¡°I¡¯m here on the instructions of the Third King Yanluo of Hell, Yanluo Qin. He instructs me to ry a message to you.¡± Qin Hui¡¯s heart burned with passion as he stared at Su Daji, ¡°Return to Hell and serve him faithfully, and he might just spare our lives. However, we¡­ may never return to the mortal realm again.¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t be trusted!¡±

    ¡°The Mythic Pce of reflections has duplicated the Shanhai Pass, and yet the new Hell has managed to seize it from right underneath Kong Mo¡¯s nose! They were defeated by Hell! We¡¯re talking about a battle between hundreds of thousands of yin soldiers! Hell is now ironing out the creases and taking the rest of Eastmount with it, before moving down along the coast. Do you know what that means? You¡¯re next! Pearl River Delta! How far away are you? How far away is Eastmount Province from this ce?!¡±

    Smack! Su Daji smacked his hand away with a maddened frenzy in her eyes, ¡°Surrender? What if we get sentenced to an eternity under the six paths of reincarnation again? Have you ever considered the possibility that even if we help him recover all the lostnd and restore Hell to its former glory, he might still sentence us to the depths of the six paths of reincarnation?¡±

    ¡°How can you guarantee that we won¡¯t go back to that dark ce?!¡±

    The three daolords were all different in their personalities. Naturally, they each had their own perspective of Hell and the rest of the world.

    And it was for this reason that he was here today.

    Therefore, she wasn¡¯t able to steel her resolve and make up her mind.

    She wanted to seize the opportunity, but she was afraid ofmitment. The indelible marks that Hell had once left on her would never fade away from her mind.

 Chapter 623: Gathering of the Daolords (3)

    <h4>Chapter 623: Gathering of the Daolords (3)</h4>

    ¡°Do you know why we¡¯ve managed to stay alive all this while?¡±

    He took a deep breath and stared Su Daji in the eye, ¡°Because the current King Yanluo is a living person, and he¡¯s still new to theherworld.¡±

    She suddenly paused.

    After all, if she were daft, she would never have lived for as long as she did. If she were daft, she would never have been able to earn the favour of the incumbent kings, regardless of how many times the one sitting in the throne had been. If she were daft, she would never have gained such a measure of influence to dictate who lived and who died around her.

    Whetstone¡­

    Qin Hui continued, ¡°They had left us around to sharpen the Third King Yanluo of Hell. Right now, Hell already has a reasonable base of operations, and they¡¯re sitting on tens of millions of Yin spirits. Furthermore, they even have the backing of the Harken and the Second King Yanluo. Don¡¯t you think¡­ they might very soon turn their attention towards us?¡±

    ¡°Or do you think you¡¯ll be able to breach the Array of the Nine Gods that locks us in Cathay?¡±

    His once-cold heart ignited with passion once more, and he continued hoarsely, ¡°If you can¡¯t, then there¡¯s no choice but to fall in line.¡±

    Some timeter, she finally responded, ¡°Truth be told, I didn¡¯t have any intentions to meet with you from the onset. You¡¯ve made the trip from afar, evidently from the east. I sensed a great stiring from Eastmount Province during the Hungry Ghost Festivals that had just passed, and I¡¯ve more or less made some sense of what happened there. In fact, I¡¯d already guessed that you¡¯d already defected to Hell before you came to me today.¡±

    You say that, but¡­ Yanluo Qin has never given me his word before¡­

    ¡°I wanted to indulge in this drunken reverie of mine - even just for another day. Who would¡¯ve thought¡­¡± She nced hatefully at Qin Hui, ¡°You didn¡¯t give me a chance at that at all.¡±

    And these were times when the stakes involved were all too clear. It was a life-or-death situation.

    Qin Hui raised a brow in consternation - Are you mad? How can there possibly be a third option in front of both that man and Lord Harken? However, he held back and sneered, ¡°Daolord Dong?¡±

    Qin Hui shook his head, ¡°He¡¯s a write-off.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°In fact, he¡¯s only two pieces short from putting together theplete King Yanluo¡¯s Seal!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no doubt that the final two pieces must be in the possession of the new Hell.¡± Su Daji licked her lips and chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t you think there might just be a chance at a great reversal if we gave it our all?¡±

    Qin Hui quicklyposed himself again. Credit where it was due, Qin Hui was probably the one who had the keenest sense of danger of the three. He immediately shook his head, ¡°How can three Prefects possibly suppress the Harken?¡±

    Qin Hui sneered, ¡°Do you think its injuries would remain there forever?¡±

    ¡°And what about him?¡± Qin Hui stared at Su Daji, ¡°What about the Second King Yanluo? Have you forgotten what kind of existence he is?¡±

    With a soft sigh, she shook her head and gazed high into the sky, ¡°Because¡­ there¡¯s no chance of defeating him¡­¡±

    ¡°Allow me some time to mull over these things.¡± Su Daji withdrew her gaze and nced southwards, ¡°One month.¡±

    Qin Hui¡¯s heart was filled with tion, almost as though he had just participated in a coup that had given the forces of resistance a new lease of life. He felt as important as someone who had been invited to the opening ceremony of the new Hell. Suppressing the wild surge of excitement and anticipation in his heart, he spoke as calmly as he possibly could, ¡°Don¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t warn you - certain things might not be worth as much as time wears on.¡±

    Su Daji waved her hand, ¡°I¡¯ve already prepared a chamber for you to spend the night. Get lost.¡±

    Su Daji watched him leave silently, and then continued to stare into the darkness for several more minutes. After that, she suddenly spoke, ¡°Shen Yin.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m giving you a letter. Take it with you¡­¡±

    Shen Yin maintained a bowed posture as he eagerly awaited his orders.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Shen Yin received the letter respectfully, and then vanished without a trace. Several minutester, Su Daji spoke once more, ¡°Huan Xing.¡±

    ¡°Immediately notify all generals that¡­ they are to cease all expansion efforts right away.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Qin Ye naturally wasn¡¯t aware of the ongoings in Pearl River Province.

    There were too many things happening right now!

    Secondly, the developments within the City of Salvation were all going ording to n. The Ministry of Communications had informed him that they were making arrangements for a political show for him, with the intent that he should return to show his support for several key projects in the City of Salvation, such as a tour around the newly reimed tea mountains, as well as the new menagerie where they would breed Yin beasts. After that, Hell¡¯s Media Group would publish a full-page feature in the papers, discussing how deep Yanluo Qin¡¯s love for his country and his people ran.

    There was even a fourth item on the agenda. Rus and Hanyang were ted to send merchant ships at the end of the year. This was the first time Hell was going to be opening its borders to theherworld out there. No¡­ rather, it was only limited to the East Continent. Hell was opening a small crack in its door. This was Hell¡¯s first probative attempt at stepping out of its shell. He had once consulted the Harken on the possibility of opening a sliver of their borders for a period of time.

    It wouldn¡¯t berge - probably notrger than a vige at that. However, its importance was a far cry from its unassuming size.

    For instance, as far as the mary system was concerned, one of the burgeoning issues was how the citizens were constantly finding their savings increasing. This might be a good sign in the mortal realm, but it was a sign of danger in theherworld - it indicated that there were no longer sufficient supplies on the market to support the existing consumption of Hell¡¯s citizens! Even the amusement park that had been built just a few months ago wasn¡¯t able to support the spending power of the citizens. After all, they couldn¡¯t possibly y every day. They had to work on most days, and they would at best visit the amusement parks on their days off or on the weekends. How much could a day ticket or two cost? Besides, the citizens would grow weary of even the most exciting attractions after some time.

    Furthermore, there were various other anciry issues, such as Hell¡¯s Media Group. Given Ashmound City¡¯s size, there were only so many things that could be reported on. As the quality of reports dwindled, they slowly even began to report on the most mundane things, including the death of Yin beasts.

    And that was none other than the development of nuclear weapons.

    Should Hell devour the Resentment Crystals Vein? If so, how? And if not, how were they going to prevent the Russian Underworld fromying their hands on it?

    Arthis had been sent to the Mongol Empire. She was the only other powerhouse in Hell that could be sent out into a foreignnd apart from himself. Naturally, he was waiting eagerly for her return.

    To make matters worse, these were the pressing issues faced by Hell. Apart from that, there were other not-so-pressing issues, including the three daolords, the unification of the nation, and how Hell was going to step back into the international arena¡­

    He didn¡¯t even want to think about these things.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to get used to it.¡± The Harkenyfortably on one a ¡®Ashmound City¡¯s First Quarterly Agricultural Report¡¯, ¡°You best focus your mind on the works here in Eastmount Province. That way, you¡¯ll finally be able to earn yourself some leverage tomunicate with the mortal realm once more. Then, you can finally get them to ship us some bodies of the academicians that have perished to fill the hole caused by theck of talents in Hell. And with some talents in Hell, you can finally organize your own team of administrators and finally rid yourself of this sea of suffering.¡±

    The Harken continued to take a jibe at him, ¡°So how do you n on getting started on the mountain of tasks?¡±

    As for the rest?

    After all, Hell would be in chaos if its main pir of support lost its cool.

 Chapter 624: Return to the City of Salvation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 624: Return to the City of Salvation (1)</h4>

    City of Salvation, Hell.

    They were all built in variegated styles, including modern western minimalist styles with reinforced concrete structures and tempered ss facades, as well as ancient Cathayan courtyards in the middle. These buildings had all been erected in concentric rings built around Hell¡¯s Gate as andmark. Hell was bustling.

    Today, the buildings were all surrounded by a scarlet silk, both high-rise buildings and ancient pavilions alike. The streets were lined with festiventerns that emitted a soft green glow, while countless Yin soldiers patrolled up and down the streets.

    ¡°How young and naive.¡± A middle-aged man smiled back, ¡°Today, Yanluo Qin will return to cut the ribbon in an inauguration ceremony. Besides, it¡¯s for your own good that they¡¯re not allowing anyone to enter these buildings just yet. They haven¡¯t been tested after all. The smell of new buildings can¡¯t be great anyway.¡±

    ¡°I just knew you haven¡¯t been dead for a long time.¡± An old man in his nies picked up a smoking pipe and puffed it habitually. Unfortunately, there was no tobo in it.

    Several young ghosts immediately gathered around curiously and listened to what the old woman had to say.

    The young man shook his head.

    ¡°But¡­ isn¡¯t that a little bit too harsh?¡± The young man gasped in horror.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± The olddy pped her thigh, ¡°How dare these criminals of the mortal realm covet the throne here in Hell? Have you seen the couplet adhered to Hell¡¯s Gate? Who has Hell spared? I think there¡¯s nothing wrong with what Lord Qin did!¡±

    After listening for some time, the young man finally nodded in realization. And then, he frowned, ¡°Then¡­ where¡¯s Lord Qin?¡±

    The old man sighed, ¡°Back then, Hell sent tens of thousands of troops to the Eastmount Province. I¡¯ve heard that they managed to take the city that they were sieging. And then, he set up a permanent residence over there, from which he would remotely issue orders to the office back here¡­ If I had to say it--...¡±

    The olddy also nced over, but she shook her head and sighed, ¡°It¡¯s only been two years¡­ Who could¡¯ve imagined that the destends that Hell once used to be could undergo such a massive transformation in such a short time?¡±

    Almost as though they were affected by a contagion of sorts, the Yin spirits standing around promptly swept their gaze beyond the bamboo forest and gazed at the vast courtyard behind them.

    Qin Gardens Phase One!

    A tall building sat right under the shade of the colossal ancient pine trees and within the natural fence formed by the bamboo forest.

    Every day, and every night, countless Yin spirits came here to peek through the gaps in the bamboo forest. The elegance of the development touched their hearts. Furthemore, many of the Yin spirits had never experienced the life of a gatedmunity that allowed them to both live individually, yet interact with amunity around them as well. This excited many young Yin spirits. Meanwhile, the older Yin spirits couldn¡¯t help but find such lodging nostalgic to them.

    The only difference was that things used to be a lot simpler back then.

    Qin Gardens Phase One was a luxurious and elegant development that stole the hearts of all Yin spirits alike. Unfortunately, none of them were able to find the sales department for this development!

    ¡°An internal quota? Who decided this? Where¡¯s the transparency in that? Did you manage to snag a ce there?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by tainting your image? I swear I saw you entering Qin Gardens the day before yesterday with my own two eyes!¡±

    The tiff that ensued isn¡¯t worth talking about. Suffice it to say that the onlookers couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the petty quarrel over nothing. The atmosphere was lively and hearty, to say the least.

    The Yin spirits were eagerly anticipating the inauguration ceremony. More than anything, they couldn¡¯t wait to see which lucky soul would be the first ones to get their hands on the much-coveted home!

    ¡°Mr Gu.¡± A man in his early thirties ran up to Gu Qing and reported back, ¡°No problems have been found on the fifth floor for the time being! All venttion and drainage pipes are smooth and intact. There¡¯s also no issues with the clearance left for cables and fiber optics in future¡­¡±

    Oda Nobunaga chuckled bitterly, ¡°Mr Gu, there¡¯s no need to get so worked up.¡±

    ¡°How can I not get worked up?!¡± Gu Qing barked back, ¡°Don¡¯t you know how important Qin Gardens Phase One is? You and I both know exactly what it represents! Project eptance is one thing, but who¡¯s going to take responsibility if something goes wrongter on? How can I condone such vagaries in a project that requires precision and uracy? Isn¡¯t this just a feeble attempt at shirking responsibility if something crops upter?!¡±

    This was Gu Qing after all! He was a construction guru for his time. In fact, the supervisor had probably read dozens of papers and articles personally penned by Gu Qing. How could he possibly refute what he had said?

    Oda Nobunaga waved his hand dismissively, and the supervisor promptly slunk away. He then apanied Gu Qing with the rest of the inspections, ¡°Mr Gu, what gives, huh?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t possibly change it now.¡± Oda Nobunaga nced around, and then whispered, ¡°Whatcha think Lord Qin gonn¡¯ do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about the instructionsst night, and thought we must chatter¡­¡± Oda Nobunaga pulled a slip of paper out from his sleeves. Gu Qing picked it up and took a nce at it, and his eyes immediately twitched.

    ¡°The City of Salvation will roll out its mary system within the next six months.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga was just about to speak when Gu Qing sighed softly, ¡°I get a headache hearing you yabber on with that ent of yours. I¡¯ll do the asking, and you just give me the simplest responses you can muster.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga spoke without hesitation, ¡°Leverage.¡±

    Gu Qing nodded and nced unexpectedly at Oda Nobunaga, wondering where he¡¯d started picking up a thing or two about modern economics.

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes lit up. Gu Qing continued, ¡°My Lord learns quickly. The specifics aren¡¯t clear just yet, but when I first received reports that works wereplete, I immediately thought of using it to promote the mary system. After all, theunch of any mary system requires an opportunity. And this...¡±

    He nced around Qin Gardens, and then turned his attention to the innumerable Yin spirits peeking in, ¡°I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s no opportunity better than this¡­¡±

 Chapter 625: Return to the City of Salvation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 625: Return to the City of Salvation (2)</h4>

    An exquisite carriage stopped right in front of a light barrier formed by Yin energy.

    These were the veterans who had survived the great Battle of Qufu and experienced the massive upheaval during the Hungry Ghost Festival. There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of ck in their postures. Each soldier stood erect as a javelin. The contingent wasn¡¯t formed by many soldiers, but it exuded a sharp and oppressive aura.

    White words flickered about on the golden barrier of light that appeared to flow endlessly, thousands of meters long, almost as though it wereposed of the gxy of stars in the sky.

    Back then, when they first stepped out of the City of Salvation and marched towards Ashmound City, the portal of light that represented their only gateway back into Hell promptly shrank and vanished before their very eyes. Back then, all that remained was a vast world out there, filled with wild monarch beasts prowling about, waiting to devour them. And right now, they were all back, standing right before Hell¡¯s Gate once more.

    This was the ce where it all began.

    This was also where he first purged Wrath, mustered tens of thousands of troops, and departed for Eastmount Province. As soon as his hand made contact with the barrier of light, it immediately blossomed with golden ripples like a glorious haze. And then, the barrier of light split open right in the middle.

    Buzz¡­ At once, even the Yin spirits back in Ashmound City sensed that the vault of the heavens had opened, and a scarlet light that symbolized death erupted from within. Following that, a somewhat familiar source of Yin energy erupted like a powerful volcano, and its outpouring of energy nketed the entire City of Salvation at once!

    That said, it felt strange¡­ because it was far, far stronger than what it used to be when it first left Hell!

    ¡°He¡­ Lord Qin is actually a Prefect now?!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga had spoken of this a little while back. However, witnessing the might of a Prefect and experiencing it with his body was quite something different. After all, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t even a Judge back when he departed from Hell back then! His rate of growth was simply astonishing!

    There were a row of Yin soldiers standing in front of them, each of which were equipped with ck armor that was forged from the carapace of the blight vermin. They also carried three-meter longhorns made of the white bones that were harvested from the marite of Wrath.

    OOOOOOOOOO!!!

    tter! A deafening tter of armor striking the ground resounded throughout the City of Salvation, followed quickly by another wave of trumpet re from all directions. Meanwhile, a majestic g bearing the Qin emblem fluttered gloriously in the wind.

    Meanwhile, countless Yin spirits throughout the entire city did the same. So long as they had once experienced life under Qin Ye¡¯s leadership, all bowed respectfully and deeply to the scarlet sliver in the sky. As a result, even the Yin spirits who had never seen him before couldn¡¯t help but bow in reverence because of the solemn sense of ritual that filled the air.

    Buzz¡­ the sliver in the sky opened up bit by bit, until, with a loud bang, the scarlet light melded together with the darkness around, transforming into an avenue a hundred meters wide. A figure dressed in a vermillion garments stood right at the other side of the avenue, followed closely by hundreds of Yin soldiers.

    The ghastly citizens of Hell wanted so much to lift their heads to see what exactly this fabled young King Yanluo of Hell looked like. However, not a single one of them dared look up in the slightest.

    Just then, Qin Ye finally walked forward.

    The forest was gone. An urban forest of towering buildings stood in its ce. The seeds he had sown - the works he had started before he left, had alle to fruition and be reality.

    I guess¡­ I¡¯m not that ipetent after all¡­

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Oda Nobunaga nced around in consternation - Enemy attack?

    The look in his eyes quickly changed from surprise to shock, and then to abject disbelief, because he could see that the Yin energy surrounding Hell was suddenly rapidly dissipating!

    He had experienced something like this before!

    But just because he knew what was going on didn¡¯t mean that others knew just as well.

    And there was more!

    There was even a mound that bore a flower the size of an entire basin that sported the appearance of a beautiful woman!

    ¡°My god¡­¡± A Yin spirit looked around,pletely dumbfounded, ¡°What the hell is going on here?¡±

    At the beginning, there were nothing more than a few whispers. But, within ten seconds, the entire city was abuzz with excitement!

    That said, even Qin Ye was astonished.

    BOOM!

    The entire process of expansionsted for what felt like an inordinate amount of time, before everything calmed down.

    ¡°Arthis mentioned before that Hell has its own defences. Back when I first departed from the City of Salvation, I wasn¡¯t even an Infernal Judge yet¡­¡± Qin Ye could sense his fingers tingling with excitement, ¡°Does this mean that¡­ Hell no longer sees the need to defend itself anymore? Does it already feel ready to unveil the fangs of Hell¡¯s current civilization to the great unknown that exists in the surrounding ecosystem? Was it¡­ waiting for my return to indulge in the second great expansion?¡±

    However, he wasn¡¯t a True Abyssal Prefect.

    Sure, even though he might not be a True Abyssal Prefect, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that his official status is still that of a True Infernal Judge, and that was because Eastmount Province was for all intents and purposes already under hismand! Thergest armed group belonging to Kong Mo had already been defeated!

    He nced around, murmuring to himself, ¡°The City of Salvation and Ashmound City can be likened to the Yan Capital and the Eastsea Province of the mortal realm. My official status is closely intertwined with the size of Hell¡¯s capital here in the City of Salvation! This¡­¡±

    If I¡¯m right about Hell¡¯s capital being of a sizemensurate with my official status, then the City of Salvation probably has the area of a province right now!

    Put differently, 2 of the 34 provinces in Cathay had already been reimed by Hell!

    This was the ce where he had founded Hell with the investment of a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal. His return had practically cut his time investment required to unify the entire country by as much as half! To this end, the current expansion wasn¡¯t quite like his ventures in Eastmount that entailed exploration, shing against the incumbent powers and seizingnd and territory for Hell. Rather, the entire province could already be considered part of Hell as soon as its expansion wasplete! They were able to travel anywhere they wanted to go!

    Just then, a violent roar suddenly came from the mountains around the valley. Shortly afterwards, a colossal head peeked out from behind the mountains, scanning its surroundings warily with its eight eyes.

    Only a year had passed, but it felt like such a long time that he¡¯d nearly forgotten how his sproutling army was trampled all over at the start of their eastbound expedition.

    To think that you¡¯re still here?

    The Broodmother carefully surveyed his surroundings.

    Moreover, it couldn¡¯t sense any traces of danger from the city. In fact¡­ all it could detect was the fragrance of delectable food. Naturally, all eight eyes gravitated towards the city that had just appeared. But, just then, a violenthergale promptly coalesced at the top of the valley, and a Yin spirit dressed in vermillion garbs suddenly appeared.

    It saw churninghermes and a roaring abyss. It saw¡­ endless destednds covered with a nket of white bones!

    Run away immediately! This Emissary of Hell is a monster!

    The man¡¯s aura is incredibly familiar. I could¡¯ve sworn that it had encountered this man just a year ago. But¡­ how could he possibly be so terrifying? If he were as terrifying as this, I would¡¯ve abandoned this nest a long time ago!

    Qin Ye smiled at the monarch beast that had caused him much anguish back then, ¡°It¡¯s been a while.¡±

    SMACK!!!

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you.¡±

 Chapter 626: The Skies Beyond

    <h4>Chapter 626: The Skies Beyond</h4>

    SMACK!

    A smattering of blood and flesh scattered everywhere, while Yin energy poured out profusely from its body. However, Qin Ye took care to ensure that the eggs below weren¡¯t harmed.

    Besides, Arthis had once told him that where there were monarch beasts, there would also be treasures. Naturally, Qin Ye wanted to take care not to damage anything that could be potentially useful to Hell.

    He was just about to say ¡°alright¡± when he noticed the bloodied carcass of the monarch beast some distance away. At once, he gasped in consternation.

    For instance, the freak thunderstorms that they encountered.

    But now¡­ it was nothing more than a carcass of what once used to be an advanced Judge-ss monarch beast.

    He¡¯s¡­ truly be an Abyssal Prefect¡­

    ¡°Mr Oda, it¡¯s been a while.¡± Qin Ye greeted Oda Nobunaga first, ¡°Thanks for all your hard work over thest year. Rest assured, Nobutada has been well trained during this period of time.¡±

    ¡°Hang on!¡± Qin Ye stared at Oda Nobunaga as though he¡¯d just seen a ghost, ¡°Say that again? What did you just call the City of Salvation?¡±

    What the hell?!

    ¡°Who did you¡­ learn that manner of speech from?¡± Qin Ye asked,pletely heartbroken.

    ¡°A sis.¡± Oda Nobunaga responded with embarrassment, ¡°I mean¡­ my secretary?¡±

    ¡°Where the heck did your secretarye from?! And what the hell is she doing here in the City of Salvation?!¡±

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes, ¡°Hurry up and have Gu Qing teach you properly! We can¡¯t let this cancerous virus continue to spread like this! Speaking of which, bring your secretary along when you get remedial sses from Gu Qing!¡±

    Oda Nobunaga felt bitter, ¡°But she swore that I was picking up regr speech!¡±

    Then, seeing that Oda Nobunaga was about to retort, Qin Ye promptly waved his hands dismissively, ¡°Stop. Have Gu Qing ry your opinions to me for now. I want to steer clear from picking up any bad habits. For now, have some Yin soldiers clean up this ce, and then bring in some of the talents we have in the field of biology and material sciences to harvest some samples from the nest for testing.¡±

    Is there something wrong with my manner of speech?

    Downcast, Oda Nobunaga transformed into a stream ofhergale and drifted away gloomily. It was only then that Qin Ye finally shut his eyes and allowed his mind to wander. At once, the clouds of Yin energy in the skies stirred, almost as though there were an invisible shockwave running spreading through thends.

    That said, Qin Ye was an Abyssal Prefect, and the range of his ability was naturally well beyond the borders of Hell. Thus, within an instant, he saw everything that he wanted to see.

    Hell was finally the size of a province - and of the exact shape and size as the Insignia Province of the mortal realm at that!

    The first thing that he noticed were six massive nodes of Yin energy.

    Just as he nced over, the six monarch beasts also nced up into the sky, as though meeting his perspective.

    At once, he sensed six sources of Yin energy tremble, followed soon by a sense of submissiveness.

    Haha¡­ He would never believe such cursory submissiveness of wild beasts.

    ¡°And that is to surrender yourself to Hell in three days¡¯ time, and pledge your allegiance to act under the banner of Hell from now on. Otherwise¡­¡±

    Monarch beasts might not possess the ability to speak, but they were still intelligent creatures. Therefore, Qin Ye said his piece and left them to their own thoughts. Without caring about their responses, he turned away from them and began to survey the other surroundings.

    Even Kwon Kyung-ho or Ryu Changmin could deal with them on their own.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Something caught his attention. He turned around, only to realize that there was a little glint of light.

    He lifted his hands and rubbed his eyes, only to realize to his great embarrassment that¡­ there was nothing in his eyes¡­

    He still couldn¡¯t get a clear look at the source of the light!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this Chuzhou City?¡± He took several looks at it, before furrowing his brows, ¡°Is there¡­ something there?¡±

    It was almost as though an invisible sword had cleaved the sea of mist apart, scattering them to the sides as his piercing gaze connected with the contents beyond, and his perspective instantly drifted right into the skies.

    ¡°A spell¡­¡± He murmured softly to himself, ¡°It¡¯s a concealment spell that spans both theherworld and the corresponding location in the mortal realm¡­ But it doesn¡¯t make sense. What¡¯s it trying to conceal? No¡­ That¡¯s not important. What¡¯s more important is the fact that it¡¯s still in existence. This means that the concealed secret still has yet to be discovered¡­¡±

    He grew taciturn.

    In other words, it was an era when Hell was the strongest it had ever been!

    Then, just as his mind was filled with bewilderment, something else suddenly caught his eye.

    There¡¯s something else here!

    That said, he didn¡¯t detect any traces of Yin energy emanating from this shadow!

    tter! With the casual flick of his sleeves, countless chains rushed straight into the clouds below. A split secondter, a voice of shock and anger came from the clouds.

    Qin Ye¡¯s body shook softly, and he nced down in disbelief.

    Without further thought, he tugged his hand up hard, and his Heavenly Dra retracted violently. Momentster, a colossal shadow was dragged up from beneath the clouds.

    A golden monstrosity of a fish.

    ROARRRRRRR!!!

    At once, time seemed to slow down.

    BOOM!

    ¡°Is this¡­ a Dragon Carp?¡± He blinked and stared vacantly at the clouds below, ¡°There¡¯s a Dragon Carp here in Chuzhou City?¡±

    ¡°How could neither Hell nor the mortal realm have discovered something as amazing as this?¡±

    This time, the tremors were even more violent than before. In fact¡­ it was so powerful that even the surroundings were starting to glow with a golden hue. Meanwhile, day turned to night, while the sea of clouds beneath his feet slowly began to stir and swirl about, faster and faster, and with ever greater intensity. Then, finally¡­ it transformed into a massive whirlpool of clouds!

    ¡°I obviously can¡¯t sense any Yin energy, and yet¡­ this source of energy¡­ actually feels as powerful as an Abyssal Prefect?¡± Qin Ye gnashed his teeth, because he could see the Dragon Carp rising through the heart of the whirlpool.

    It quickly grew finer and sharper. Within three seconds, the entire Dragon Carp that was hundreds of meters long actually shrank and transformed into¡­

    A golden sword!

    <hr>

    1. Do note that the author has kept all references to the name of the city and all of the counties within, presumably because of the historical significance of this ce, so I¡¯ll be doing a transliteration of the names as far as these references are concerned.

    2. Chinese legends have it that carps that jump out of the water and through a mythical gateway known as the dragon¡¯s gate would evolve into a dragon.

 Chapter 627: Dragon Carp

    <h4>Chapter 627: Dragon Carp</h4>

    Get out of here!

    What the hell is that thing?!

    His consciousness quickly receded back to where it came from. He was quick, but unfortunately, the golden sword was quicker! In the blink of an eye, it tore right through the clouds, hurtling straight towards Qin Ye¡¯s consciousness with great ferocity!

    BOOM!!!

    Whoosh¡­ His consciousness faded away. Back in Hell, he slowly opened his eyes once more. His mind was abuzz with a numb sensation. A split secondter, his eyes nked out, and he copsed right into the ground.

    ¡°Lord Qin!¡± ¡°Lord Qin, are you alright?¡± ¡°Men! MEN!!!¡±

    Fortunately, he regained consciousness quickly - within the matter of seconds. He promptly opened his eyes, only to hear the ragged breaths of anxious Yin soldiers scrambling all about him.

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± The Yin soldiers exchanged awkward nces as they responded. Meanwhile, Shang Yang took a step forward and asked with great concern, ¡°My Lord, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Wang Chenghao walked over with bewilderment, only to look up with great astonishment as Qin Ye suddenly grabbed hold of his arm.

    Wang Chenghao blinked - Have you finallye out of the closet and begun to covet me for my good looks?

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Although Qin Ye appeared to be holding onto his arm, Wang Chenghao soon discovered that¡­ it didn¡¯t quite feel as though he were being taken advantage of.

    ¡°Brother Qin¡­¡± Having finally recognized something amiss, he looked up, only to gasp in horror when he suddenly discovered that Qin Ye¡¯s pupils had turned a peculiar golden colour!

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Wang Chenghao fervently repressed the tension in his nerves. He simply couldn¡¯t believe his assessment of the situation - Is this¡­ blindness?

    And¡­ despite the sudden onset of darkness, as well as the countless soldiers that had rushed over to assist him, how could he¡­ possibly remain so calm now? Did he make the split-second decision not to shake the spirits and morale of the Yin soldiers around?

    Without missing a beat, Qin Ye immediately ryed his instructions, ¡°Firstly, arrange a carriage for my transport and help me board it. Then, summon Oda Nobunaga and Gu Qing.¡±

    ¡°Lastly, turn away all visitors for now. Tell them that I¡¯m in the process of gaining new enlightenment, and all are forbidden to enter.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no choice! Now, go!¡± Qin Ye barked back coldly.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Ye spoke calmly, ¡°I can sense that a foreign power has simply pervaded my body and sealed off one of my senses. Unfortunately¡­ I¡¯m unable to release this seal myself.¡±

    Hang on¡­ did Brother Qin say that¡­ he couldn¡¯t release the seal?

    Doesn¡¯t that mean that the seal hade from¡­ a Yama-ss existence?

    Shuddering softly, Wang Chenghao immediately shelved these thoughts, and decided that he wasn¡¯t going to let any other Yin spirits discover anything amiss with Qin Ye. The carriage soon arrived, and Wang Chenghao carefully helped Qin Ye board the carriage. Both of them worked with seamless tacit cooperation. It was only when the curtain of the carriage was lowered that he nodded to the eunuch-like Yin spirit standing beside him.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    ¡°Guard this ce. Nobody is to enter!¡± Oda Nobunaga¡¯s voice echoed in the corridor as soon as the door mmed shut.

    ¡°Could it be that there¡¯s an urgent matter to be attended to?¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably the case¡­ Do you think we might see a new decree being handed down in the next few days?¡± ¡°Perhaps. In fact¡­ don¡¯t you think we might potentially even be receiving news of Qin Gardens Phase Two?¡±

    It¡¯s a good thing that Lord Qin handled the situation well, and he managed to keep things under wraps. Otherwise¡­ Hell might well be in chaos right now.

    Pfft! Qin Ye immediately spat his tea out all over Wang Chenghao¡¯s face, drawing an iparably upset re from him.

    Oda Nobunaga couldn¡¯t help but pout in dismay.

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao¡¯s shoulders quivered as he stifled hisughter.

    The Harken¡­

    Truth be told, the Harken was a legendary figure whose name preceded it!

    Gu Qing was also slightly taken aback. However, he appeared more concerned than anything else, ¡°How long will it take before Lord Harken arrives?¡±

    ¡°Go to Chuzhou.¡± Qin Ye continued, ¡°Observe that ce closely, and report back immediately if you notice anything peculiar.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga: ¡­¡­

    That has to be it. Its Yin energy is so dense and thick that I can¡¯t even look directly at it.

    ¡°Gentlemen, there¡¯s something I need to discuss with Yanluo Qin in private.¡± The Harken addressed the Emissaries in the rest of the hall. At once, Gu Qing and Oda Nobunaga gave each other a knowing look, before leaving the room together with Wang Chenghao.

    ¡°Holy crap! Can¡¯t you have a little bit more respect for your superior?! Take a whiff at your fur! How many days has it been since youst showered?!¡± Qin Ye was just about to push the Harken off his shoulder when the Harken¡¯s voice echoed authoritatively in his ears, ¡°At ease.¡±

    It was almost as though he¡¯d just gone through a cataract surgery. The obstruction caused by the thickyer of golden light that sealed off his vision was instantly breached by the thin wisp of Yin energy that pervaded his eyes. Within moments, he saw a glimmer of light peek through the darkness. Following that, the Harken helped Qin Ye to shut his eyes while it continued with the treatment.

    Qin Ye opened his eyes, and nced around with his new-found appreciation for vision. His surroundings soon became clear to him once more, and then he turned his eyes to the ostensibly drained Harken that was resting on the table.

    How could it drain the Harken of its energy?

    Qin Ye raised his brows quizzically. Then, just as the Harken tore a rift open in space, he suddenly asked, ¡°Why don¡¯t I¡­e along with you?¡±

    With that, it vanished into thin air at once, almost as though it were afraid that Qin Ye would follow it. Qin Ye retracted his gaze andyzily on the bed, staring nkly at the ceiling as he relished in his own thoughts. After some time, he suddenly smiled.

    At the very least, he could tell that what he had encountered wasn¡¯t simple.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine with me. I¡¯m not abat-type Yin spirit to begin with after all.¡± With that, Qin Ye shelved these thoughts for now and took a deep breath.

    It was hard to imagine that the City of Salvation had grown this much over just a single year.

    He could see countless Yin spirits crowding around the circumference of Qin Gardens Phase One, peeking in curiously as they chattered amongst themselves. Qin Ye smiled faintly as he withdrew his gaze.

    Since the precious diamond in the rough has already begun to reveal a little bit of its lustre, then¡­ why don¡¯t I make it shine even more brilliantly tomorrow?

 Chapter 628: Everburn (1)

    <h4>Chapter 628: Everburn (1)</h4>

    Dong, dong, dong!

    The drumsticks were raised high above their head, before they came crashing down into the surface of the drum in unison, thumping with a deafening sound that could be heard from well over a mile away. It was a signal to the entire city that a ceremony was about to begin. Within moments, a crowd gathered around Hell¡¯s Gate, abuzz with activity and spections. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, it waspletely silent within Hell Gate.

    A teenager standing in the midst of the crowd jumped up and down in his spot, attempting to catch a glimpse as to what was ahead, but to no avail. After some time, he finally gave up, ¡°How can there be so many people?! I was here at eight, and I¡¯m not even within 500 meters of Hell¡¯s Gate?¡±

    ¡°Holy crap. Why is it so packed?¡± ¡°Please, can everyone kindly make way for me?¡± ¡°Haha¡­ Do you think that¡¯s even humanly possible given how tightly packed we are?¡± ¡°Hey! Who¡¯s touching me?! Bloody hell, stop taking advantage of me!¡±

    ¡°Old Zuo? Aren¡¯t you going to head over to Hell¡¯s Gate today?¡±

    ¡°Preach it, brother. I¡¯d informed some of my new neighbours about how such matters would generally be conducted, but not only did they refuse to believe me, they insisted that they were going to jostle with everyone else just to get a closer look. Look at them now! Squeezing like sardines with the rest of the folks out there. Tsk. They¡¯d better note crying back to uster.¡±

    Dong, dong, dong¡­ There were 11 mellifluous chimes of the bell. Following that, the entire Hell suddenly erupted with brilliant golden light.

    It lit up the sky just like a sudden burst of fireworks. That said, it didn¡¯t bear the slightest bit of ghastly eeriness about it. Rather, the golden light appeared brilliant and righteous, almost as though it were dering the arrival of a majestic hero of ubiquitous folklore. At once, the golden light cast a brilliant sheen on the ground, causing new sprouts of flora and fauna to emerge from the ground, covering thends with a thick bed of spider lily flowers in an instant. Even the trees and nts that weren¡¯t in season began to bloom radiantly in unison with the rest of Hell.

    This magnificent illusion manifested itself for three full minutes. Then, thousands of bright spots of light appeared in the canopies of the skies, following which¡­ they all began to plummet down into Hell¡¯s Gate like a meteor shower!

    ¡°Are these¡­ immortals?¡± A young Yin spirit stared at the incredible sight,pletely bbergasted - What the hell is going on here? Aren¡¯t we ghosts? Why do there seem to be¡­ immortals arriving to extend us their greetings and well wishes?

    ¡°Look there!¡± ¡°Holy shit! Is that¡­ a projection?!¡± ¡°We can actually watch the proceedings like that?¡± ¡°Bloody hell¡­ what the hell am I doing squeezing with everyone here, then?!¡±

    At once, the Yin spirits located on every road leading towards Hell¡¯s Gate grew silent. Their faces were filled with expressions of embarrassment and astonishment.

    How unscientific and illogical is that?!

    Unfortunately, they soon learnt that they weren¡¯t able to move an inch!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± ¡°I truly regret my actions. Why didn¡¯t I believe what those old ghosts had told me earlier¡­¡± ¡°Who could¡¯ve thought that Hell was able to do something so amazing?! Aren¡¯t things here of apletely different realm?¡± ¡°Holy crap! I swear on my name that I¡¯ll never fight my way to the front of the line ever again! Next time, I¡¯ll lie down on my chair and enjoy myself like those stupid old fogeys!¡± ¡°Brother¡­ You¡¯re the stupid one here¡­¡±

    Nobody wanted to miss the uing extravaganza in the slightest. They didn¡¯t want to miss even a single moment of it.

    An old Taoist standing on the right-most formation waved his whisk as he drifted down amidst falling flower petals, ¡°The 64 Lords of the Land of the Eastmount Province send Hell their heartiest congrattions!¡±

    Su Dongxue smiled back. However, her heart was filled with anxiety and tension. This was the first proper ceremony she was presiding over, and she naturally wanted to do her best in the public eye. With impable etiquette, she received the brocade box with gratitude and handed it to the Death Inquisitor behind her.

    That said, this was only the beginning.

    One by one, a series of voices dered their well wishes for Hell neatly and orderly fashion, all of which was heard across every corner of Hell. All in all, there were a total of 2,700 Lords of the Land representing 34 provinces who answered Hell¡¯s summons bearing gifts.

    ¡°Are these¡­ Lords of the Land? The very same ones from the myths and legends back in the mortal realm?¡± A young Yin spirit¡¯s lips trembled as he marveled at the unreal phenomenon he was witnessing with his own eyes.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that Hell was actually so awesome?!

    These were the only words that could express their astonishment and hysteria in their hearts right now.

    None of the Yin spirits interrupted the proceedings in the slightest. In fact, not a single one of them even felt annoyed by their circumstances. For a full 20 minutes, the 2,700 or so Lords of the Land from 34 provinces presented Hell with their gifts. Then, as soon as thest set of gifts were presented to Hell, the figure of a man suddenly appeared before their very eyes.

    Yin energy billowed with heavenly awe, while res ofhermes filled the skies. His vermillion robes fluttered wildly like sloshing waves. The awe-inspiring image of the Harken and the xiezhi unicorn embroidered on his robes looked as vivid and lifelike as ever. At once, his illusory projection towered at a height 200 meters or so above the entire city - clearly visible from any part of the City of Salvation. Beside him stood Oda Nobunaga and Gu Qing, both of which appeared approximately 100 meters tall. The rest of the 200 Death Inquisitors could be seen standing in the background behind Qin Ye.

    Everyone was bbergasted. They were so shocked by what they saw that the entire city was filled with a pin-drop silence. They wanted to say something to exim the stirring emotions in their hearts, and yet not a single one of them could even find the words or the voice to express themselves.

    ¡°May Hellst for thousands of generations, and may its brilliance shine for all eternity like the sun!!¡± At once, neat cries echoed throughout the entire City of Salvation. The ground rumbled slightly.

    Yin spirits needed to undergo a rite of passage in order to truly understand that they were dead. They needed to be shown an otherworldly sight to clear up any doubt in their mind that they now belonged to apletely different realm. Having done something simr on several other asions, Qin Ye was now far morefortable with something like this.

    ¡°Damn¡­¡± After ten seconds of silence, one of the Yin spirits in the crowd finally managed to muster a soft whisper, ¡°Did you see that? How awesome and terrifying! My god¡­ This is even more terrifying than what we hear of Hell back in the mortal realm!¡±

    At once, discussions and remarks began to spread like wildfire. What began as a smattering of whispers soon grew into a raging tide ofmotion. At once, Hell ignited passionately with a mor that drowned out even the heavens! With their knees to the ground, the citizens even began to cheer and scream excitedly. That said, the mess of sound soon converged into a unified cheer.

    The cheers and screams resounded throughout every part of the City of Salvation like sloshing waves. Qin Ye smiled widely as he nced around.

    Not so much akin to the joy that came with a windfall.

    Rather, it was a more profound, spiritual satisfaction.

    ¡°Silence.¡± His voice boomed like thunder, quelling all the mour on the ground within moments.

    ¡°The new Hell is often referred to as the City of Salvation because that¡¯s where it was first founded. However, it¡¯s high time it was given a name of its own.¡±

    ¡°We burn with the fire of the old Hell. Their light might have gone out, but their fire shall be passed on for all eternity and burn ever brighter than before.¡±

    Dead silence.

    Doesn¡¯t that mean that¡­ we¡¯re going to be citizens of the capital of Hell?

 Chapter 629: Everburn (2)

    <h4>Chapter 629: Everburn (2)</h4>

    More specifically, these four orders of business were abination punch that would determine the direction of Everburn in the near future. Thus, without missing a beat, Qin Ye continued.

    ¡°This is a good thing!¡± The older citizens seated far away in a leisurely manner nodded in approbation, ¡°The current City of Salvation-- I mean, Everburn, is a little bitcking. Even the borrowing of books or loaning of entertainment facilities requires us to ce our identification documents as coteral. It¡¯s far more convenient if we have money.¡±

    The older Yin spirits nodded silently to themselves. The mary system was one of the pirs of social development. Sure, the City of Everburn might not have needed something like this before, but it was simply because nobody had any use for it before. That said, after Qin Ye had managed to glean and gain much for Hell during his few trips back to the mortal realm in the interim. Even though Hell¡¯s specialty products were still the Southsea Huanghuali and the money tree, there were now far more entertainment facilities and amenities to go around than before!

    But, without a system of currency, one could only imagine the kind of hassle they would have to go through in order to borrow or loan these facilities from others.

    That said, the younger Yin spirits weren¡¯t able to appreciate the implications of theunch of a mary system. After all, they hadn¡¯t garnered enough life experiences under their belt to understand the importance of a mary system to a developing city. Thus, they waited with bated breaths as Yanluo Qin went on.

    For instance, the first and second orders of business were both of profound significance to any nation out there. However, he didn¡¯t do anything more than skim the surface of these matters because these high-level policies weren¡¯t matters that themon man was able to appreciate. That said, the next order of business was something that was far closer to their heart.

    ¡°Hell will be diving straight into an industrial revolution immediately after the uing spring festival at the start of the next lunar new year.¡± Qin Ye spoke cidly, ¡°As most of you are aware, Everburn has just undergone its second great expansion, and has already grown to the same size as the Insignia Province of the mortal realm¡­ Silence!¡±

    Everburn might be a reasonablyrge city, but it was still small given the sheer number of Yin spirits present in the city. Even though the recent developments in the city had practically given them aplete facelift, they were still faced with the same constraints of several square kilometers of space!

    And who knows - perhaps these developments might even spell the incipience of the tourism industries, where Yin spirits could indulge in their wanderlust and scale mountains or conquer the wild, and so on and so forth!

    However, everyone soon suppressed their excitement and eagerly awaited what Qin Ye was about to say next, ¡°Everburn won¡¯t be the only city located within Insignia Province. There are bound to be several other satellite cities. The provincial ns will be left in the hands of Mr Gu Qing. Bear in mind that this is a process that could potentially take a long time. After all, there will be a need to first survey the entire topography of the entire province. That said, I can assure you that the expansion works here in Everburn City are of the utmost importance in the entire Hell.¡±

    We¡¯re diving right into the most sensitive order of business now¡­ Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but draw a deep breath as he continued to pad the ground to soften the impact of the knockout blow he was about to deliver, ¡°Ashmound City located in Eastmount Province will officiallymence with international sea trade after the uing spring festival. Everburn can expect to see arge influx of crops, agricultural produce, and Yin beasts that can be used to support other industries. Fuelled by that, Everburn can expect amensurate rise in the speed of its development.¡±

    ¡°After this general assembly, Mr Oda will be leading a special teamposed of representatives of Yin Construction together with elite Yin soldiers on an expedition to survey every corner of theherworld¡¯s Insignia Province to make detailed topological maps. All citizens who intend to set uppanies may approach the government to see if they qualify for the disbursement of low-interest loans ranging from 5 to 10 million Hel. Interest rates shall not exceed 0.1%... Silence!¡±

    The Yin spirits were going wild!

    What¡¯s most important to a city¡¯s development?

    No. It would be governmental policies!

    As Hell¡¯s capital, Everburn was naturally given top priority as far as the government¡¯s policies were concerned!

    Was there anyone who didn¡¯t have ambition?

    Qin Ye could tell that the eyes of the Yin spirits in the crowd were all gleaming brightly. A 50 year old Yin spirit stroked his beard and nudged another old Yin spirit beside him, ¡°Old Li, any ns to revive our old textiles factory? We¡¯ll definitely be able to qualify for the loans given our experience!¡±

    They weren¡¯t the only ones. At least a thousand or so other Yin spirits had their own thoughts. At once, a series of soft discussions blossomed among the gathering of Yin spirits.

    ¡°Old Pan, would you be up for a game of chess at my ceter? We can also discuss the matter of¡­ the hotel that we¡¯d been talking about for the longest time?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯d most certainly take you up on that offer¡­¡±

    It took some time before the mor finally faded away. Even then, Qin Ye could sense that the Yin spirits were all staring intently at him with a renewed glint in their eyes, replete with soft, ragged breaths. It was only then that Qin Ye finally continued, ¡°This is one of the facets of the uing industrial revolution. The other facet which is equally as important¡­ deals with the improvement of the citizens¡¯ quality of life.¡±

    This is the most crucial portion¡­ Qin Ye braced himself and deepened his voice, ¡°Since this will be everyone¡¯s first housing purchase, the government shall be offering a 0.05% per annum low-interest loan without requiring any down payment on your part--...¡±

    If the earlier instances of mor were likened to a missile, then the mor right now could only be described as a nuclear explosion!

    Down payment¡­ loan¡­ Why do these words sound so familiar?

    The tiger was finally released from its enclosure!

    The entire city of Yin spirits snapped back to their senses within three seconds, and a wave of deafening chatter erupted at once.

    ¡°Are there any other requirements before I¡¯m allowed to make a real estate purchase?¡± ¡°Work¡­ Bloody hell! From today onwards, I swear that I¡¯m going to work the life out of me so that I can rise above the ride!¡± ¡°Do we need a residence permit? Are there any other special conditions?¡± ¡°What about Qin Gardens Phase Two? How do we buy it? Or¡­ is it also not for sale?¡±

    It was only then that Oda Nobunaga finally spoke up, ¡°Silence.¡±

    Are you suggesting that¡­ there maye a time when it would?

    After all, who knows what the future would hold?!

    ¡°Firstly, a single person would only be entitled to one apartment or home. All are strictly prohibited from buying and selling. Anyone caught doing so will have their homes forcibly repossessed by Hell.¡±

    ¡°Everyone, the situation in Hell is different from that in the mortal realm. Back in the mortal realm, each family is allocated one such permit to own public housing. But here, each ghost would be entitled to a home. Work hard for now, and your family members are sure to reap the rewards of your efforts. Rest assured, the prices here in Everburn City will be kept under strict control.¡±

    The Yin spirits were finally appeased after learning of the additional rules and regtions in ce.

    At the very least, they could tell that Hell¡¯s government was going to prohibit spective purchases. Each ghost was to be entitled to only one home, and not a single one more. Furthermore, everyone would have to repay their loans.

    Want houses?

    The Insignia Province was on the cusp of an industrial revolution. But, without any form of motivation or incentives, how long would these works take? This was a pilot programme. It was a pilot test as to how the real estate industry could beunched together with governmental loans to be disbursed in tandem with theunch of the mary system.

    Ashmound City was clearly the only exception to the norm.

 Chapter 630: Everburn (3)

    <h4>Chapter 630: Everburn (3)</h4>

    ¡°We can most certainly consider that.¡± The other old Yin spirit responded with a gleam in his eyes, ¡°King Yanluo isn¡¯t simply promoting a mary system. Everburn is practically looking to develop the entire Insignia Province. How many jobs do you think will be created in the process? How many industries wille into being? More importantly, such a rapid development here in Everburn will most certainly form a stable foundation for the banking industry to find a footing. In other words, Everburn is slowly but surely shaping up to be a moreplete society!¡±

    Because there was amensurateck of motivating factors!

    Besides, there were loopholes that others could easily exploit.

    This meant that there were also several Yin spirits who were enjoying themselves without working. Furthermore, notwithstanding the increasing number of citizens in Everburn, there were only so many jobs to go around. How many jobs were required for a construction site that spanned only several square kilometers?

    But what Qin Ye was doing right now was essentially the same as recing an old engine with a brand-new turbo engine in the sports car that is Everburn!

    Then, once everyone has a ce to call their own, we can finally start looking at the possibility of mortal realm visitations again. Ashmound City had spearheaded such operations only because the required facilities were already in ce. But, that said¡­

    Were merit points really that easily earned?

    At the rate they were ruing merit points, one could only expect to make a trip back to the mortal realm afterpleting a project in a few years time. Theunch of the real estate industry, coupled with the prospects of returning to the mortal realm, was like abination punch that would knock out all inclinations to idleness in the hearts of the Yin spirits in Hell. Meanwhile, theunch of the variegated industries in tandem with these developments would provide everyone in Everburn with a renewed sense of meaning and purpose in life.

    ¡°The fourth order of business.¡± Qin Ye went on, and everyone immediately fell silent, ¡°The fourth order of business is none other than the inauguration ceremony of Everburn City.¡±

    Is that it?

    ¡°They clearly haven¡¯t seen the world out there.¡± The old Yin spirits had already returned to their senses from the shocking news that they had received earlier, and they couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the contrived expressions on the faces of the younger Yin spirits around, ¡°Since when has Yanluo Qin ever said anything more than he has to at these general assemblies? The day he does is the day I find something wrong with him.¡±

    ¡°Exactly¡­ That¡¯s why the news back in the mortal realm has always been the same. The first ten minutes would discuss how the world is at peace, and our nation is flourishing. Then, for the next ten minutes, they would talk about how there are still some changes to be made to society so that we can keep with the times. Then, thest ten minutes would speak of how the rest of the world isn¡¯t doing quite as well as us¡­ Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­¡±

    Qin Ye ignored the chatter of the citizens. With the quick wave of his hands, the red silk wrapped tightly around the new buildings in Everburn snapped in unison. Oda Nobunaga immediately apuded, following which the entire city erupted with apuse.

    Just then, as the crowd was slowly about to disperse, a boundless aura of Yin energy suddenly descended from the sky without any warning.

    ¡°What the hell is this?!¡± ¡°What powerful Yin energy¡­ It feels¡­ almost as though it¡¯s more powerful than even Mr Oda himself!¡± ¡°A-a-a-are theying to Hell?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± At once, 2,000 ck Armored troops rushed out from nowhere and stood valiantly in front of the city. The leader of the troops half-knelt to the ground and ced one hand across his chest, ¡°We live and die for Hell!¡±

    At once, a trumpet sounded, and 1,000 ck Armored Troops rushed forward like a ck torrent that dammed up the entrance to Everburn City. It was only then that Oda Nobunaga turned back and dered valiantly, ¡°With our King Yanluo here in Hell, is there any reason to be afraid of merely six Judge-ss Yin beasts?¡±

    Rumble¡­ The ground trembled softly. Everburn City didn¡¯t have the protection of city walls.

    ¡°Monarch beasts¡­¡± Themander of the ck Armored Troops gnashed his teeth and bellowed his instructions at once, ¡°Shields!!¡±

    ¡°Yaaaa!!!¡± With a valiant cry, the ck Armored Troops standing at the front of the formation nted their shields into the ground, while the rest of the troops pulled out their sabers at once. Their fighting spirit flourished as they stared down the Judge-ss monarch beasts that were approaching quickly.

    The tremors slowly drew closer and escted in intensity. One second¡­ two seconds¡­ three seconds¡­ Five secondster, with a terrifying roar, six colossal figures rose up from behind the mountain range in the distance as they charged towards Everburn City!

    On the ground, five other peculiar Yin beasts, each of which was approximately 100 meters in size, charged over furiously. One appeared to have tentacles with innumerable heads in ce of their limbs; one appeared to be a bloody creature of exposed flesh without skin; one had twisted limbs; while another crawled along the ground like a spider. But the one that remained in the center of the formation appeared no different from a massive head that had been split right down the middle, and a terrifying jade-greenherme burnt from where its brain was. They charged towards the ground with pounding tremors that shook the hearts of all Yin spirits around.

    1,000 meters¡­ 800 meters¡­ 600 meters!

    500 meters¡­ 400 meters¡­ 300 meters!

    With that, his illusory figure abruptly vanished. Meanwhile, the stampede of monarch beasts was only 200 meters from the formation of Yin soldiers!

    This was why it was often said that soldiers were trained for a thousand days for a single moment of war.

    ¡°Prepare for battle¡­¡± He took a deep breath, and then took the lead and charged valiantly towards the monarch beasts, ¡°We fight to the death!!!¡±

    ¡°Holy crap¡­¡± The citizens back in the city werepletely bbergasted by what they saw. The older Yin spirits in Hell didn¡¯t seem too astonished, but the younger Yin spirits couldn¡¯t help but watch with their jaws agape.

    ¡°A-aren¡¯t these things that we only see in the movies?¡± ¡°Is this the power of our King Yanluo? Is this the might of Hell¡¯s master?¡± ¡°That¡¯s got to beparable to the impact of a missile, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Is that an Emissary of Hell? A powerful one at that? Could we ever be something like that?¡±

    Everything that was happening before their very eyes was simply too outrageous.

    And Qin Ye remained suspended in the air right in the heart of the plume of Yin energy like the monarch of hell.

    200 meters¡­ 100 meters!

    SSS!!! A two-headed monarch beast scrambled to bring itself to a halt, just like any other monarch beasts around them. Nethermes scattered everywhere, while they hissed and spat desperately. At once, their actions kicked up a huge cloud of sand and dust.

    And then¡­ they all bowed their heads down in unison.

    It was a smile that appeared even uglier than if it was crying.

    ¡°Do you understand?¡±

 Chapter 631: Eight Great Clans

    <h4>Chapter 631: Eight Great ns</h4>

    Qin Ye nodded, and departed at once. He knew he could entrust the administrative matters that followed to Oda Nobunaga. Henceforth, there would be no other force that could possibly threaten Everburn City¡¯s existence.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± An elderly Yin spirit fanned himself as he craned his neck and peered over at the six monarch beasts, ¡°Are these Yin beasts? What a colossal being¡­ and to think that they would be kneeling in obedience, just like a docile house cat¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you know something? Yanluo Qin didn¡¯t conceal from us the fact that Hell had undergone a massive upheaval. As things stand right now, Hell is but the size of two provinces if we take into ount Ashmount City of Eastmount Province.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty bad, but I think we can count ourselves lucky. I wonder how many Yin spirits there are out there in the other provinces, wondering what to make of theck of an underworld?¡± ¡°They¡¯d practically be homeless, drifting Yin spirits. I sincerely pray that Hell will regain all of its lostnd soon.¡±

    What the hell is this?

    These are things that only appear in wuxia novels and films augmented withputer graphics! This is¡­ indescribable!

    ¡°Is Hell still recruiting civil servants?!¡± A young Yin spirit turned excitedly and looked at his friend, ¡°Did you see that? Holy crap! Awesome! How did he make such a colossal beast fall down on its knees?!¡±

    Qin Ye was naturally unaware of the reactions of the Yin spirits out there.

    As soon as he took his seat, Wang Chenghao immediately approached him with a pot of freshly brewed tea. This was what Qin Ye had brought along with him from Ashmound City. After all, Everburn didn¡¯t have any agricultural produce or livestock in its possession. He gently lifted the lid to the teacup and then raised two fingers, ¡°There are two things we need to do right now.¡±

    ¡°Mr Oda, after today, I¡¯d like you to enhance our efforts at conscription for the army and recruitment of civil servants. I believe that with the allure of Qin Gardens Phase Two and my show of power today, this probably wouldn¡¯t be too much to ask of you. From there, this group of new recruits should be sent out together with the existing civil servants to survey the new frontiers that have been unlocked to us. All are to head out unless their presence is for whatever reason required here in Hell.¡±

    Gu Qing nodded, ¡°That means that before the new year, I¡¯ll only be able to work on the terrain that has already been explored. The design of a city, whether it be square or round, high-rise or low-rise,rge or small, are all things that have to be adjusted in ordance with the conditions on site¡­¡±

    He lowered his voice and whispered softly, ¡°Remember, you¡¯re the only ones who know of this thing.¡±

    Oda Nobunaga¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°Lord Qin, are you concerned about¡­¡±

    After all, who can say what will happen after 148 years, when the Array of the Nine Gods finally falls?

    And once both cities are fully developed, then all that¡¯s missing from the trifecta of the coastal regions would be the Pearl River Province!

    So long as the issue with the three daolords were resolved, then the warring states era of theherworld would practically be over before it even began!

    The more Qin Ye thought about these things, the more he felt that his taking of Ashmound City could be considered one of the greatest points of inflexion in Hell¡¯s development to date.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Oda Nobunaga recorded Qin Ye¡¯s instructions in a little book that he carried about with him, and then asked curiously, ¡°Then¡­ would Your Excellency be heading back right away?¡±

    Qin Ye could¡¯ve sworn that the Harken was wearing a look of slight excitement on its face.

    Click¡­ The door shut gently behind them. Gu Qing sighed softly, and then turned to Oda Nobunaga, ¡°Did you sense that?¡±

    Gu Qing sighed in exmation and walked some ways beside Oda Nobunaga, before finally looking up once more, ¡°Might and dignity.¡±

    Gu Qing continued softly, ¡°Furthermore, these two provinces are crucial regions that upy the bulk of the coastal region in Cathay. The daolord residing in the Pearl River Province must be shaking in his boots right now. Our ess ind is now secure through the rivers that run through our provinces¡­ The unification of the Cathayan Underworld¡­ will probably happen in no more than a few decades from now. All that remains is to rebuild and restore.¡±

    ¡°We would be pioneers of the new Hell. Don¡¯t you think that¡­ this is truly an honor for us?¡±

    ¡°Done already?¡± Qin Ye asked immediately as the door closed, ¡°What was it?¡±

    Qin Ye recounted his experiences at once. The Harken listened intently in silence, and then finally eximed when Qin Ye was done, ¡°As expected¡­ No wonder¡­¡±

    As he spoke, he suddenly vanished from the room. When he reappeared again, he was already high above the ground, and still ascending into the sky. In fact, he could already see a vague trace of greenish Yin energy in sight - a clear sign of Limbo in the distance.

    He went higher and higher. Then, at some point, he slowly began to see the warm glow from the mortal realm prating the greenish-white clouds of Yin energy above. He raised his brows in consternation, ¡°It¡¯s in the mortal realm?¡±

    The Harken would never mention anything unrted at a time like this¡­ Qin Ye looked at the Harken deeply in the eyes, and then shook his head.

    ¡°Cathay¡¯s top gentry is naturally the Confucian Family, or the Confucian n.¡±

    ¡°Zhang n?¡± Qin Ye frowned at the thought, and then immediately understood who the Harken was referring to, ¡°Taoism? The Celestial Masters?¡±

    Qin Ye could only imagine the kind of power these Eight Great ns wielded in their hands. The fact that the Second King Yanluo of Hell was prepared to allow Hell to copse before restoring order to it once more only went to show how terrifying the Eight Great ns truly were.

    Hang on¡­

    The Harken responded cidly, ¡°Their reign was too short, and their legacy was short-lived. Naturally, they didn¡¯t have the requisite resources to found a powerful n of their own after death. As for the Yuan Dynasty¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded.

    ¡°It was for that reason that¡­ the Eight Great ns¡­ were always prepared for the worst crises. Come to think of it, this might well have been the reason for which the First King Yanluo had beseeched the Second King Yanluo to assume the throne at all costs.¡±

    ¡°Had someone else taken over, then I¡¯m afraid that there might well be blood on the throne of Hell by now!¡±

 Chapter 632: Land of Longxing

    <h4>Chapter 632: Land of Longxing</h4>

    He¡¯d never expected the Eight Great ns to be so powerful that they could even threaten the seat of imperial power!

    ¡°They definitely will!¡± Qin Ye responded affirmatively, ¡°At the very least, they would make ns to provide for their future generations.¡±

    ¡°As far as the Eight Great ns are concerned, I think it is safe to say that they would all have made provisions such that, even if they were to bepletely erased from the surface of theherworld, their future generations would still be able to rise from the ashes and gain clout in Hell once more. They wouldn¡¯t even consider establishing for themselves an empire overseas. This is their home, and their pride wouldn¡¯t allow them to consider shifting out of thesends. Suppose, for instance, The Li n of the Tang Dynasty werepletely and utterly crushed by the Second King Yanluo in a fit of rage, the descendants of the Li n would wait and bide for their time, rebuilding their power in a remote ce for hundreds of years, until they finally have sufficient strength to make a resurgence in Hell.¡±

    However, he wasn¡¯t quite able to put a finger on it just yet. Thus, he simply continued where the Harken left off, frowning slightly as he continued with the Harken¡¯s analysis, ¡°And that¡¯s not all, because rebuilding their strength would not only require a protracted period of time, it would even require an immense amount of resources. Was this what you¡¯d meant earlier when you spoke of provisions and contingencies?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and came to aplete halt. Then, he proceeded to pace about in the air with his hands behind his back, ¡°As you¡¯d mentioned earlier, these provisions may include contacts and resources¡­ but over and above that, they may possibly even include armaments.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ The Harken¡¯s words were like a bolt of the blue that crashed straight into Qin Ye¡¯s mind, sting all haze and doubt away. At once, he chuckled coldly, ¡°But¡­ that¡¯s only limited to Hell.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s the best ce to do that?¡± He smiled brightly, ¡°The Second King Yanluo may be the master and lord of Hell, but to pry into the affairs of another realm would clearly be to act beyond his authority. Besides, he¡¯s azy old fogey, just like myself¡­¡±

    Qin Ye coughed dryly, ¡°I mean¡­ I just thought it was a suitableparison¡­ Besides, we¡¯re quite simr with each other in many other ways¡­¡±

    Would you know gratitude for what I¡¯ve done for Hell if I don¡¯t make suchparisons?

    Just like that, they stared at each other in deadlock for the next three seconds, before the Harken finally relented and lowered its head, ¡°Fine. I concede that I¡¯m hardly as thick-skinned as you.¡±

    ¡°And that is the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ That has to be the case. I was still wondering who it might¡¯ve been who possessed such Yama-ss might at their disposal. If the source of this power came from one of the Eight Great ns, then that would exin everything. In fact, it would only make sense that they would employ such concealment techniques and traps. Otherwise, who knows whether the Second King Yanluo would incidentally spot their presence when he suddenly indulges himself in a leisurely stroll through the mortal realm?¡±

    He licked his lips, and then transformed into a furioushergale that dragged the Harken right along with it as it hurtled straight towards the mortal realm.

    ¡°And it¡¯s got to be in Chuzhou, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Qin Ye responded with pride, ¡°I¡¯ve gained quite a fair bit of knowledge while I was scraping by back in the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°After all, Fengyang is the ce where the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Emperor, otherwise known as Zhu Yuanzhang, was born! And that¡¯s not all. Fengyang County even hides the 2,600 years old ruins of the ancient, mysterious Zhongli State, as well as the 1,700 years old ruins of the ancient city of Haozhou! It even used to be the Linhuai Pass, the ce where one of the Eight Immortals of the Taoist pantheon gained immortality. It was also the ce where Hongwu Emperor had once spent two years as a monk, and heter personally honored it by giving it the name of Fengyang¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? Hasn¡¯t that always been the--... Holy crap! Let go! That¡¯s my butt! Don¡¯t bite me! Bloody hell, can¡¯t you find a proper resting ce for your mouth?!¡±

    Fengyang County, Chuzhou City.

    It was strange. Fengyang County was a ce that contained immense spiritual energy. However, it also appeared to bepletely untouched by the supernatural gue that was breaking out in every other part of Cathay. In fact, there wasn¡¯t even a single Yin spirit around these parts. It was almost as though the Yin spirits had allpletely forgotten about this ce.

    And it was also precisely because of how unique Fengyang County was that there was only one investigator from the Special Investigations Department who was posted here. To that end, his task wasn¡¯t to monitor the changes to Yin energy around these parts, but¡­ to clean up the base of operations at Fengyang County.

    Therefore, in the absence of any further supernatural outbreaks, cleaning was the investigator¡¯s main function, while surveince was only his incidental job.

    ¡°When will this finally end¡­¡± He yawnedzily, ¡°It¡¯s already been three years since I¡¯ve been posted here, and yet it¡¯s only been half of my assignment?! I¡¯m bored to death! At least send a researcher here to apany me so that we can still y a game of chess or two¡­ Do you really think it¡¯s fun watching the empty surveince monitors and sweeping the floor everyday?¡±

    This was an rm for a critical situation. However, the investigator did nothing more than sweep it a casual nce, before ignoring it again.

    Nobody would dare act brazenly around these parts.

    Judge-ss?

    He calmly flicked off the ashes on the cigarette butt and got to his feet. A split secondter, a deafening rm tore through the still silence of the night!

    Dead silence.

    Meanwhile, the number shown on the upper right corner of the surveince monitor only continued to go up. He nced at it, and at once, his legs went limp and numb.

    Abyssal Prefect!

    ¡°H-how can this be?! Something¡¯s gone wrong with the machine, hasn¡¯t it?! This is Fengyang County after all - the ce blessed by the spirit of Emperor Hongwu!¡± He grabbed his hair and yelled at the top of his voice. Then, a split secondter, he mustered every modicum of energy he could and charged right out of the door, making his way straight towards the office of the county government.

    Unfortunately, those weren¡¯t ck clouds.

    As an investigator of the Special Investigations Department, he immediately noticed the difference - a difference that clearly spelt trouble for Fengyang County!

    He stared nkly at the sky with his phone in his hand. Then, with an equally lost and listless expression, he raised his phone and dialed a number, ¡°It¡¯s me¡­ Fengyang County, Special Investigations Department¡­ Please put me through to Chief Mo Changhao¡­ Bloody hell, just do it already!! Right now! Right now! This is a special emergency! Prefect-ss levels of Yin energy have appeared in Fengyang County! Do you want to get fired?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ outside right now¡­¡± The Fengyang County investigator stared at the sky with a bleak expression on his face, ¡°The sky is overcast with clouds of Yin energy, almost as though the Gates of Hell are opening right in the mortal realm. We¡¯re definitely talking about a powerful Yin spirit! I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s just passing by, or if¡­ if¡­ it¡¯s destination is here in Fengyang¡­¡±

    Two secondster, Mo Changhao made the call, ¡°Protect Fengyang with your life.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    A sudden dip in the ambient temperature¡­ This is definitely the sign of the arrival of an evil ghost¡­ The investigator couldn¡¯t help but recall the telltale signs that he¡¯d learnt from the expert investigators. Shuddering violently, he sat down helplessly on the steps of the entrance to the county government building and wrapped his arms around himself.

    Meanwhile, dozens of Underworldly Craftsmen plying their trade in the heart of Fengyang County stopped everything they were doing.

    In another store selling talismans and spells on the second floor, an old woman trembled violently as she peeked out of the store for a nce. Then, with a shrill shriek, she immediately shrank back and locked all of the doors and windows to her store.

    BZZT¡­ The entire city went dark.

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that I would one day return to the mortal realm? Oh, I¡¯ve missed you so¡­¡±

    <hr>

    1. For those who want a better idea of the geography involved -

 Chapter 633: Longxing Temple

    <h4>Chapter 633: Longxing Temple</h4>

    Longxing Temple.

    The city-wide power outage had little effect on Longxing Temple. Monks were still going about with their evening sses, while an old monk remained seated in the middle of the main hall, leading a few other novice monks in the sutras that they were chanting. They were surrounded by dozens of lit candles.

    The novice monks nced at each other in dismay. Master Yuanzhi may appear to be kind, but they knew that in reality he was one of the strictest masters around, and he would never allow them to leave earlier than their regr dismissal time. Was something wrong with him today?

    ¡°And close the door after you.¡±

    ¡°Today isn¡¯t the day that I die.¡± Yuanzhi stopped chanting and spoke without even turning back, ¡°The Longxing Temple isn¡¯t a ce where you curmudgeons cane and go so freely. This is your final warning.¡±

    ¡°Then, prepare to be punished for your transgressions!¡± Yuanzhi¡¯s body spun right around, only to notice a dark figure standing with his hands behind his back right in the middle of the swirlinghergale. At once, a scroll of ancient scriptures emerged from his long sleeves, unravelling itself as it shot towards the dark figure like the emergence of a yellow dragon.

    Om mani padme hum¡­ The six-sybled mantra? Qin Ye watched with great interest as Yuanzhi proceeded to perform a somewhat awkward dance. Before long, his limbs began to glow with a golden light, and then he suddenly turned and patted between the brows of the Buddha statue.

    Unfortunately¡­ nothing happened.

    Yuanzhi nced at the Buddha statue behind him, and patted between its brows once more.

    Momentster, the sound of rapid smacking of palms against a statue echoed out throughout the main hall. After some time, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t take it any longer, ¡°Come on, that¡¯s enough. Even the statue¡¯s going to get swollen from those palm strikes¡­¡±

    ¡°Impossible, right?¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I¡¯m rather surprised too. I¡¯m surprised to find that the presiding monk here in Longxing Temple is actually an intermediate Judge-ss expert. Fairly good.¡±

    Before he could even finish speaking, a dark and heavy object flew straight into his hand.

    The identity token was like a sun to Yuanzhi - a sun formed out of Yin energy. In fact, it emitted such intense Yin energy that Yuanzhi wasn¡¯t even able to get a good hold of it.

    ¡°Abyssal Prefect?¡± He drew a deep breath and waved his hand casually, causing the token to fly right back into Qin Ye¡¯s hands. Then, he gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes for some time, before finally asking, ¡°It¡¯s well known that Emissaries of Hell can¡¯t be seen with human eyes. So, why is it that I can see you?¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your guidance.¡± Yuanzhi sighed softly, and then bowed deeply, ¡°Yuanzhi greets the esteemed Abyssal Prefect. What business might you have with us today?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to look for something. I¡¯ve thought about it. The only two possible ces are the Zhongdu Imperial City of the Ming , and the Longxing Temple. I¡¯ve taken a good look around the Zhongdu Imperial City, but I¡¯ve found nothing. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t seem to get a good read on the Longxing Temple.¡±

    Qin Ye looked him deep in the eye, ¡°Visions of Emperor Hongwu, or some divine revtion? Nothing of that sort?¡±

    Just then, a ripping sound came from Qin Ye¡¯s sleeves, and the Harken leapt out and raised its front paws. At once, Daddy Qin immediately picked him up and held it in his hands.

    Momentster, the Harkeny downfortably in Qin Ye¡¯s bosom and turned to Yuanzhi, ¡°Old monk, are you sure you¡¯ve got it right? Hell has it recorded clearly that Emperor Hongwu was once a monk with the Longxing Temple. Are you suggesting that Hell was wrong?¡±

    How terrifying¡­

    It was only when it showed itself that he suddenly discovered an overbearing source of Yin energy washing over him like the waters in the ocean. It was stifling and suffocating.

    This is someone stronger than an Abyssal Prefect¡­ It¡­ has to be at least in the realms of a Yama-King!

    The Sixfold Ghost Kings?

    ¡°The Harken.¡± As soon as Qin Ye disclosed the dog¡¯s identity, Yuanzhi shuddered profusely, and then copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Do you believe me?¡±

    ¡°Will you require him to reveal his true form?¡±

    I¡¯m afraid Fengyang County wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the descent of such a mighty presence¡­

    ¡°Nothing¡­¡± Qin Ye gritted his teeth and red at the Harken - What the hell is this? Are you biting me just because I¡¯m not paying any attention to you? Are you having a bad hair day or something?!

    After spending the next few moments cating the Harken, Qin Ye turned back to the old monk, and the old monk slowly rose to his feet again. With a long sigh, he finally addressed the Harken¡¯s earlier query, ¡°You are right. And I have an inkling I know the exact ce that you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Qin Ye immediately pressed the point, ¡°Where¡¯s the other Longxing Temple?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly. Yuanzhi¡¯s meditation room wasn¡¯t far from the main hall, and it was in and simple. There was a bookshelf filled with books that one would expect of a monk, and then some.

    ¡°The real Longxing Temple is where Emperor Hongwu became a monk, and it¡¯s none other than the temple originally named the Huangjue Temple, or otherwise known as the Yuhuang Temple. Most of the history books would have referred to it by thetter name. Established in the Northern Song Dynasty, it waspletely destroyed twice over.¡±

    Two Longxing Temples¡­ there¡¯s no better smokescreen than this!

    ¡°Then, at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, one of the monks who had fled for his life back then returned and rebuilt the temple. However, because the original site was already upied by an imperial office, he built the temple 300 meters away from the old site. Later, in the 4th year of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk in this ce. Some say he was a monk for 8 years, while others say that he only spent 50 days in this ce. Regardless, in the 12th year of the Yuan Dynasty, and during Zhu Yuanzhang¡¯s campaign, the Yuhuang Temple was destroyed by a fire.¡±

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­

    ¡°So, where¡¯s the original Yuhuang Temple located?¡±

    Furthermore, they didn¡¯t even bother disguising their Judge-ss aura that was pouring out of their bodies. One had a blistering aura like the embodiment of a thunder¡¯s wrath, while the other appeared soft as a gentle river. Qin Ye was just stroking the Harken when he suddenly paused. The Harken¡¯s eyes widened slightly.

    However, it didn¡¯t say a single word.

    Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao were standing right outside the door to Yuanzhi¡¯s meditation room. Furthermore, they could all sense the presence of several others in the distance with their infrared sights all trained at Qin Ye¡¯s body. A number of other shadowy figures remained hidden in the darkness of the night.

    ¡°Greetings, esteemed Abyssal Prefect.¡± Zhou Xianlong cupped his fists respectfully and bowed slightly, ¡°I wonder where you hail from? And what might your purpose be here?¡±

    Mo Changhao¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly as he added, ¡°The Divine Protectors has an ancestral admonition that has been passed down through time, and that is that Yin and Yang do not intermingle. You¡¯ve entered the mortal realm without first informing the Divine Protectors. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re acting beyond the scope of your authority?¡±

    There were times when Fate just had a twisted sense of humour.

    <hr>

    1. This refers to a project of Emperor Hongwu to build an imperial capital near his hometown, but it was eventually abandoned.

 Chapter 634: Yuhuang Temple

    <h4>Chapter 634: Yuhuang Temple</h4>

    That voice sounds familiar¡­

    Qin Ye smiled and turned around, ¡°It hasn¡¯t been that long since ourst encounter at Martial City. Have you already forgotten about me?¡±

    Dead silence.

    What¡¯s he doing here?

    The Hungry Ghost Festival was just a few months ago, and yet he¡¯s already an Abyssal Prefect now? Just how blessed by the gods is he supposed to be?! Words can¡¯t even describe how outrageously quick this cultivation speed is!!!

    Zhou Xianlong was the first one to return to his senses. However, the first thing that he did was not respond to Qin Ye, but instead to shut the door behind him.

    There was a muffled sound. Mo Changhao turned to look at him with his lips slightly agape, but said nothing afterwards.

    They¡¯d already agreed to part ways and cut off all ties with each other, and yet his first reaction was still to shut the door behind him.

    ¡°How thoughtful.¡± Qin Ye responded softly as he continued to stroke the Harken.

    Zhou Xianlong simply looked at Qin Ye with aplex gaze in his eyes.

    However, there were also traces of reluctance, resentment, anger, and a whole host of other emotions, all of which culminated in a single statement, ¡°How have you been?¡±

    Had I turned a blind eye back then, would the Cathay have finally seen the emergence of a fourth Abyssal Prefect in their battle against theherworld?

    Another period of silence.

    ¡°No, you would have.¡± Qin Ye immediately rebutted, ¡°What the mortal realm seeks is stability and unity. Even if I revealed the fact that I represent Hell, you would still have done the same, simply because¡­ the mortal realm cannot tolerate the existence of anyone else in the team with hidden agendas. You would never tolerate the existence of potential variables, including Emissaries of Hell that you don¡¯t have any control over!¡±

    Zhou Xianlong and Mo Changhao grew silent, while Qin Ye continued, ¡°The only way out is¡­ if I hadn¡¯t joined the Special Investigations Department to begin with, but to interact directly with you in my capacity as an Emissary of Hell back then. That way, you¡¯d probably be more willing to trust me. Ironic, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qin Ye chuckled bitterly.

    Back when he first joined the Special Investigations Department, how could he possibly have known that things woulde to this? How weak had he been back then? He was merely a Soul Hunter when the Daolord of the Beast had set him in his sights because of the shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal he was carrying. Where could he possibly have hidden if not for the safest ce then that was the Special Investigations Department?

    It was only after he became an Abyssal Prefect that he truly understood how terrifying such an existence was.

    A bird in hand was worth two in the bush. This was the reason for which the Special Investigations Department had acted on their suspicions against him on several asions. Fortunately, they had only acted, and not eliminated. After all, that was reserved for a situation where things escted beyond their bottom line.

    The coldness in Qin Ye¡¯s voice filled Zhou Xianlong¡¯s heart with dejection. After a long period of silence, he nodded softly, ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°By the way¡­¡± Just as they were about to open the door to the main hall, Qin Ye suddenly spoke up once more, ¡°I¡¯ve got some good news to share with you.¡±

    Eastmount Province was currently in the process of building cities and connecting infrastructures. This was fundamentally different from Insignia Province. After all, Insignia Province was where the core of the new Hell was located, and their earlier expansion meant that they now had the entire province under theirmand. There was no need to venture out into the wilderness for pioneering works, including taming or quashing monarch beasts and establishing safe passageways.

    ¡°Hell will be unifying the Cathayan Underworld over the next few decades. And to this end, we¡¯ll be starting off with the coastal regions here. Don¡¯t you think you should count your lucky stars?¡±

    Qin Ye continued, ¡°Hell had previously broached the idea of trade with the mortal realm during an encounter back in Valley County a little while ago. I¡¯ll be personally presiding over the terms of the trade. Since you¡¯re here, why don¡¯t you take a message for me and save me a wasted trip?¡±

    The liberation of Insignia Province and Eastmount Province¡­ This is great news!!

    ¡°I¡¯d like to bring forward the negotiations.¡±

    ¡°Will there be anyone else?¡±

    Mo Changhao took a deep breath, ¡°That¡¯s fine. You can tell me what you¡¯re interested in, and I¡¯ll ry your message to the big boss, and have him personally escte your request to the central government!¡±

    Then, he smiled, ¡°Rest assured, there¡¯s no limit to what we can take back in Hell.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± With that, the two men finally took their leave.

    ¡°No.¡± Mo Changhao remained firm, ¡°Everyone has their own circumstances. Take the president of Usonia for instance. He¡¯s always been treating Cathay as foe, and we¡¯ve always found him to be in the wrong. But, in the eyes of his own citizens, he¡¯s the one who¡¯s acting reasonably.¡±

    ¡°Besides, all we¡¯ll have to do now is to report back in a timely fashion.¡±

    ¡°We live with no regrets.¡± He put the pedal to the metal, ¡°As for who¡¯s right and who¡¯s wrong, let¡¯s leave these questions to be assessed by our future generations.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    It was now nothing more than a farnd with a small well located to the side. Qin Ye had ascertained with Yuanzhi that this was indeed where historians confirmed the original Yuhuang Temple used to stand.

    ¡°Kiddo, you¡¯re still a little bit too young. I¡¯m willing to bet that if Lee Jung-sook were in your shoes, she wouldn¡¯t even have second thoughts in doing what you¡¯ve just done. Neither of you were in the wrong. It¡¯s all a matter of your duties and obligations. Besides, time is the best medicine that can heal all wounds. Everyone is treading on thin ice right now, particrly when the lives of millions of people rest on their shoulders. It¡¯s understandable how they would act this way¡­¡±

    ¡°Come, take a look and see if there¡¯s anything wrong with this ce?¡±

    Endure¡­ There¡¯s no use getting upset over such trivial provocations¡­ The Harken sniffed around a little while, and then frowned after a minute.

    ¡°No?¡± Qin Ye froze, ¡°That¡¯s unlikely.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then began to pace about with his hands behind his back, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be this way. Everything points to there being something hidden in this ce. They would never bother hiding something in the existing Longxing Temple given the human traffic in that ce. Concealing it in what is now a farnd is the best option. Besides¡­ you didn¡¯t sense anything out of the ordinary back in the existing Longxing Temple.¡±

    This was a treasure vault that had practically been served up to Hell on a silver tter.

    But what exactly is it?

    <hr>

    1. This is a n established in 2008 to recognize and recruit international experts.

 Chapter 635: Crafty Old Foxes

    <h4>Chapter 635: Crafty Old Foxes</h4>

    I can see the reflection of the moonlight, and¡­ damn, there¡¯s a good looking man right there¡­

    Qin Ye froze.

    Qin Ye turned back coldly, only to be greeted by an equally frigid expression on the Harken¡¯s face.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a shameless King Yanluo as you! Shameful! You¡¯re the greatest embarrassment to Hell there is!!¡± Three secondster, the Harken bared its fangs and pounced over at Qin Ye.

    ¡°I asked you to look for the treasure, and you ran over to look at a mirror instead, huh?!¡±

    ¡°This is a form of concealment, understand?! People might think that I¡¯m a cat, but the truth of the matter is that I¡¯m a dog! And people may misunderstand me to be a dog, but the truth of the matter is that I¡¯m the Harken! This is a twofold concealment! What business is it of yours anyway?!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately went into deep thought.

    ¡°It¡¯s really not in this ce!¡±

    It couldn¡¯t quite understand how Qin Ye could locate it when it wasn¡¯t able to.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember the old monk mentioning how the Yuhuang Temple was destroyed twice?¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that--...¡± The Harken¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Their contingency n is located in neither the Longxing Temple nor the location of the Huangjue Temple, but the location of the original Yuhuang Temple?¡±

    ¡°No! In fact, it¡¯s highly likely!¡± The Harken immediately leapt up into the air. Then, with its body still suspended in the air, it unleashed several waves of undisguised Yin energy into the surroundings. At once, the Yin spirits of Insignia Province immediately shivered in terror, while the rms of the Special Investigations Department went off.

    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s an irond rule that the mortal realm and theherworld don¡¯t intersect! It¡¯s troublesome for even someone like me to take even a peek into the mortal realm, much less Zhu Yuanzhang himself. So if he wants to have the best of both worlds, the only possibility is if he ces it in a location that he can check on wherever he might be!¡±

    Qin Ye gasped - That¡¯s right¡­ Longxing Temple has to be one of Zhu Yuanzhang¡¯s sources of grievances. After all, it was this very ce that he finally broke away from his identity as a vige boy and a monk, and joined the rebel forces. This was the ce which marked the beginning of his campaign that culminated in the establishment of the great Ming Dynasty!

    At once, Yin energy converged from every direction, coalescing into a 10 meter thick and 300 meter wide giant palm beneath the ground. Then, inch by inch, the palm slowly closed up.

    ¡°And the third Longxing Temple¡­¡± It licked its lips avariciously, ¡°The old monk had said that it was located approximately 300 meters away from the second Longxing Temple¡­ It was only because an imperial building was already there that the monk back then had no choice but to construct the Longxing Temple off-site! However, given the close proximity, Emperor Hongwu immediately realized that he could use that as anotheryer of smokescreen in order to conceal the true location of the Zhu n¡¯s contingency ns. Who says that the Zhu n are uninformed brutes? They''re as crafty and wily as an old fox!¡±

    The Harkenughed.

    Four of the colossal fingers formed from Yin energy continued to lift the ground closer and closer towards the Harken, but a single one abruptly paused.

    And a regr one at that, replete with regr soil.

    tter, tter! The farnd waspletely helpless to their search. The chains weaved in and out of the soil, while Qin Ye stared intently at it, attempting to catch even the slightest traces of anomalies. Bit by bit, the chains tossed up every bit of soil lifted by the Harken, until five minutester, a bright gleam suddenly shed in his eyes.

    tter! He immediately retracted his chains, only to pull out a lump of y.

    He couldn¡¯t see anything peculiar about it.

    The Harken chortled, and then blew gently at the y. At once, the shell of y fell off, revealing a grain of¡­ seed.

    Qin Ye stared at the seed in disbelief, and then turned to the Harken. How could this be a treasure? This crazy dog is ying me, isn¡¯t it?!

    Ah¡­ Fine, fine, you didn¡¯t have to yell at me¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes instantly inverted in colour, and his earlier suspicion promptly turned into shock!

    It appeared ancient, yet opulent. The entire structure seemed somewhat transparent, but he couldn¡¯t see exactly what it was.

    There were countless such runes. In fact, it was by far thergest gathering of such runes he had ever seen thus far! The brilliance of the golden symbols glowed like a radiant sun hovering around the surface of the ground.

    ¡°Haa--...¡± He stumbled softly to the ground. When he next came to his senses, he felt waves of stabbing pain in his mind. With palpitations in his heart, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    This is unreal! This can only have been done by a divine being!

    ¡°This is the means of a Yama-King.¡±

    Is there really such an unbelievable technique in the world?

    ¡°Zhu Yuanzhang¡­ was a Yama-King?¡± Qin Ye asked cautiously.

    ¡°Not really?¡±

    ¡°This seed was one that was forged by Emperor Hongwu himself. After all, nobody else in the Zhu n apart from him had the means of employing such techniques.¡± The Harken wagged its tail with some measure of annoyance, ¡°Anyhow, this isn¡¯t the time to be discussing such theories. Don¡¯t you n to take a look inside? Need I remind you that this is a priceless treasure left behind by the great ancestor of a Great n. It will be an eye-opener.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t the time to ask the Harken just what it had done. That said, he realized that he could now look at the runes of Yin Talisman directly without being dazzled by them. At once, he leaned in for a closer inspection.

    The entire structure appeared ck, but somewhat translucent at the same time.

    Where have I seen it before?

    ¡°It¡¯s Yin jade.¡± The Harken licked its lips excitedly, ¡°Something that is one grade higher than regr Yin spirit stones. Regr Yin spirit stones appear mottled because they contain impurities. However, Yin jade does not, and it appears wless, radiant and transparent. One can liken Yin spirit stones to gold, and Yin jade to actual jade of excellent quality. Zhu Yuanzhang, oh Zhu Yuanzhang, wouldn¡¯t you be squirming in your grave right now when you learn that the contingency n that you¡¯d reserved for your own descendants had somehow be the betrothal gift to be used by Hell?¡±

    Even though he had anticipated some measure of wealth and resources apanying the contingency n, it had turned out to be far more outrageous than he had ever fathomed!

    We¡¯re talking about a sculpted Yin jade that spans 10,000 meters from end to end! This¡­ is practically a work of art! This isn¡¯t something that can even be measured with the currency we have in Hell!

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye waspletely lost for words.

    And this was just the surrounding walls to boot.

    ¡°Look there.¡± The Harken was far calmer than he was. After all, this was a dog that had seen Hell in its former glory. Thus, it tugged at Qin Ye¡¯s garments and forced him to turn towards the main entrance to the entire structure.

    This was the fourth Longxing Temple¡­

    And also the location of the hidden treasure of the Zhu n!

 Chapter 636: Longxing Temple (1)

    <h4>Chapter 636: Longxing Temple (1)</h4>

    How significant would this contingency n be to spur the developments in Hell?

    He gazed deeply at the two words, Longxing Temple, before turning to the rest of the treasure of the former era.

    They were all constructed out of the same material and equipped with Ming Dynasty armour. Their bodies were sculpted with the exact same pose, with their left arms holding up a bow and their right arms drawing the bowstring!

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He frowned.

    At once, the sculptures¡­ sprung into action!

    Qin Ye gasped and immediately ducked down. Meanwhile, countless arrows formed a terrifying, dark wave that hurtled right past his head. It was dense and impermeable, and they whistled by with a terrifying buzzing sound. It was absolutely astonishing.

    ¡°Puppets of Ten Extinctions.¡± The Harken¡¯s eyes flickered as it exined itself, ¡°Inherited from the Ten Immortals in the age of the Investiture of the Gods, it isposed of ten great formations, namely Heaven¡¯s End, Earth¡¯s Fracture, Roaring Wind, Frigid Ice, Golden Light, Boiling Blood, Fiery Congration, Fallen Soul, Scarlet Seas, and Vermillion Dune. It contains enough power to resist the advances of a Yama-King.¡±

    The Harken shook its head, ¡°No¡­ What you see is theplete formation. Ever since Hell gained knowledge of the Puppets of Ten Extinctions, it¡¯s undergone several evolutions and revisions. What you see here is likely the version that the Zhu n hase up with after various iterations. Don¡¯t underestimate the Yin Talismanology experts of the Zhu n in the slightest. Liu Bowen can be considered a top-tiered talent that only appears once every 500 years. The modifications he has made must have enabled him to integrate all ten formation arrays into a single cohesive one.¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± The Harken nced to the sides of the Longxing Temple, ¡°Take a look and see where this structure is erected.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t realized it earlier, but apart from the array of puppets located right at the entrance, both sides of the Longxing Temple were practically surrounded bykes!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t bother raising any silly suggestions, including the idea of flying right over, because¡­ he could sense the figure of a giant dragon stirring in the heart of the waters in Longxing Temple.The dragon was approximately 30-40 meters long, and it was emanating brilliant golden light, almost as though it were a bright sun hiding in the depths of the waters!

    Beyond that, he could see a pair of golden eyes akin to two boiling underwater furnaces, staring intently at him. It was almost as though it were daring him to take a step forward to incur its wrath.

    ¡°1000-year Bones of Eternity¡­¡± The Harken looked away softly. Even the Harken couldn¡¯t help but be startled by its presence, ¡°In life, it would have been a carp that had managed to leap right over the Dragon¡¯s Gate, only to perish to the heavenly tribtion that ensued before it sessfullypleted its metamorphosis. This is a priceless treasure that is covered with blood and flesh, and known to contain the spirit of Heaven and Earth. To put things into perspective, if I managed to consume one such treasure, I¡¯m pretty sure that it would immediately allow me to recover from half of these existing injuries of mine.¡±

    Qin Ye nced at theke, and his eyes gleamed with a touch of respect, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that the Zhu n were able to find themselves aplete skeleton like that, and even fuse it together with a Yin spirit? Even though the resultant spirit doesn¡¯t have spiritual intelligence, it¡¯s still got its instincts. I¡¯m afraid that¡­ its strength is probably on par with the patriarch of the Zhu n. At the very least, it would certainly be beyond that of a mere Abyssal prefect.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    Holy shit¡­

    Impermeable defenses?

    ¡°Is there any other way to circumvent the defenses?¡±

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°I guess I was being a little bit too hopeful there.¡±

    Just how powerful and resourceful are these Eight Great ns? Is there really no way to get around this problem?

    Both of them fell silent. Neither were willing to simply abandon such an immense treasure that appeared so close, and yet so far. Both Qin Ye and the Harken couldn¡¯t suppress their desires to see whaty beyond the defenses at the entrance to the Longxing Temple!

    Qin Ye blinked vacantly, and then turned to the Harken with his lips slightly agape, ¡°You want to strike it with full power?¡±

    However, if they used it right here and now, then Hell would have nothing left to use as a deterrent against others!

    That¡¯s right - negotiations.

    But if the Harken employed his full-force strike here and now, Hell would no longer have that deterrent force avable to them. After all, the daolords must already know a thing or two about the Harken¡¯s physical condition. Otherwise¡­ they would already have marched right up to Hell and surrendered themselves by now.

    Qin Ye chuckled bitterly, ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about overexerting yourself?¡±

    That¡¯s¡­ surprisingly logical and irrefutable¡­

    Qin Ye ced his hands behind his back and slowly paced about, ncing up from time to time at the colossal structure before his very eyes. After an inordinate amount of time, he finally sighed and turned back, ¡°Please, Lord Harken, may I seek your assistance in this regard.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head firmly, before turning his gaze to the structure.

    For one, it would immediately solve the needs of the uing sea trade. Even if they discount the possibility of finding any priceless treasures or valuables hidden in the depths of the Longxing Temple, just the sculptures on the main courtyard alone would already be worth an inordinate sum!

    Granted, art might not be useful to a developing underworld, but the state of Hell¡¯s development was in no way representative of the foreign societies and cultures! There was absolutely no way these objects wouldn¡¯t fetch a high price out on the global market!

    Then, with the resources and wealth he gained from such sales, it would in turn spur the expansion of the army and construction corps, which would then in turn advance the pace of his unification of the underworld. So long as Hell had Yin soldiers, what could the daolords possibly do to them?

    Equipping his soldiers with military formations would be no different from giving a tiger wings. He would finally be equipped with the strength to take down the daolords with his own armies!

    ¡°Today, I¡¯ll show you what a true Yama-King¡¯s full power looks like!¡±

    At once, Insignia Province trembled violently.

    How terrifying¡­ How absolutely terrifying!

    ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened as he stared at the dog some distance away from him.

    The Yin energy that swirled about was practically indescribable. Calling it a tsunami would be too much of an understatement. Rather, it was more akin to the primordial beginnings of the world, when the universe was first born!

    BOOM!!! A shockwave of Yin energy instantly burst out of the pea-sized treasure in the mortal realm. In fact, it was so dense that it even formed a curtain that seemed to blot out the sky. Meanwhile, every single mortal below watched in horror at the astonishing phenomenon that suddenly befell them!

    Is that¡­ the Harken?

    How terrifying¡­ Even they couldn¡¯t help but tremble in their shoes.

    Insignia Province¡¯s capital city.

    ¡°Warning, warning! Yin energy has exceeded 30 million¡­ Yin energy has exceeded 40 million¡­ Yin energy has exceeded 50 million¡­ 60 million¡­ 80 million¡­ Ding!¡±

    ¡°Warning, warning, god-level threat detected. Extinction imminent. Immediate evacuation of the Insignia Province and all surrounding provinces advised. Repeat, warning¡­¡±

 Chapter 637: Longxing Temple (2)

    <h4>Chapter 637: Longxing Temple (2)</h4>

    The shrill rm caused a tense silence to fill the room. Some of the personnel in the room silently helped the fainted researcher back to his feet, while others simply stared at the screen. The blinding scarlet blip on the screen was like a lump that stifled all the words in their throats. Even breathing was difficult for them right now.

    Nobody said a word.

    However, the earlier number had sted past any Yin energy readings that they had ever seen in their entire lives.

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t just the Insignia Province.

    Apart from these duties of theirs, they were no different from mere mortals in the face of such absolute power.

    His voice thundered throughout the otherwise silent room, ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever considered the possibility that a day like this woulde when you first joined the Special Investigations Department? Which one of us doesn¡¯t face death everyday when we fight against the supernatural forces? Don¡¯t you know how many of us perish each year in these encounters? This outbreak simply means that¡­ our turn has finallye.¡±

    One by one, he named the key personnel holders and dished out his instructions to them. Meanwhile, the investigators who were called immediately stood at attention and responded at the top of their voices, ¡°Understood!!¡±

    ¡°So long as we can get these things done before this madness befalls us¡­ perhaps we might still have the time to pen down our final words or our wills¡­¡±

    ¡°Chief Mo! Please--...¡± Just then, he suddenly paused.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± One of the investigators paused and probed cautiously, ¡°What instructions did the upper echelons ry? Protect the important sites at all costs?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    An Abyssal Prefect and a Yama-King were here. Even if they might be Emissaries of Hell, it was part and parcel of their duties to remain behind.

    How powerful¡­ How insanely powerful!

    Yin energy that gave rise to physical changes in the mortal realm. This was the first time a Yama-King had made its appearance in the mortal realm in recent times. Moreover, Fengyang County - a ce that had never witnessed any supernatural outbreaks, had suddenly fallen prey to one of the most intense outbreaks in the history of Cathay. No matter how one looked at it, this was an incident of historical significance.

    The dark clouds of Yin energy had already obscured the moon and the stars from their vision. Meanwhile, a hole opened up right in the middle of the swirling clouds in the sky. Green lightning arced menacingly within the hole that had opened up, and if one looked closely enough, they could even see the illusory appearance of a dragon hidden within.

    ¡°What exactly does Fengyang County hide that requires the attention of a Yama-King?¡±

    SSSS!!! The Bones of Eternity in theke screamed madly as soon as the Harken¡¯s Yin energy erupted.

    Meanwhile, the Puppets of Ten Extinctions turned around stiffly, but they didn¡¯t fire any arrows at all. Instead, a wave of Yin energy emerged from their bodies, coalescing into a boundless, material curtain of Yin energy that slowly unraveled itself just like a blooming lotus flower.

    It was a military formation!

    Whoosh! It opened its two golden eyes as it spoke! At once, with a terrifying howl, the cloud of Yin energy concealing the Harken suddenly exploded, revealing the Harken¡¯s true form.

    The Harken¡¯s golden scales gleamed like the sea under the radiant sum, shimmering softly with fine golden light. A long mane of white fur ran straight from its head all the way to its tail, flowing about like majestic ocean waves, even in the absence of wind.

    That said, the Yin energy in the surroundings were still roaring and rumbling as they poured straight into it. Meanwhile, the ball of light was ruing more and more energy, almost as though it were a singrity that contained the universe. The extent of its might was easily apparent to anyone watching the terrifying sight. Even Qin Ye who was hiding some distance behind couldn¡¯t help but feel his footing grow slightly unstable, as though he could easily be swept away at any time.

    It had no spiritual intelligence, but it still had its instincts.

    Sss¡­ SSS!!! Its scales trembled violently as it iled about within theke. However, the Harken simply squinted its eyes and murmured softly, as though dering the onset of aw, ¡°Hell¡¯s Art, First Style - Divine Dust.¡±

    Light.

    An intense light erupted from the Harken¡¯s mouth, filling the heavens and the earth, and then the realms beyond. It was almost as though the sun had beenpressed to the point of a singrity, before exploding with a big bang. An astonishing shockwave swept through thends. Qin Ye immediately crossed his hands in front of his body, shielding himself desperately even as his clothes fluttered wildly. In that instant, he even had the absurd sense that the Harken¡¯s strike spelt the end of the world.

    He could tell that the ocean of light was filled with the primordial powers of the universe, and he could hear the rumbling sounds of destruction around him

    No change?

    And the Puppets of Ten Extinctions were still standing right where they were.

    The surface of theke was still sloshing about with waves. However, Qin Ye could tell that the Bones of Eternity had vanished without a trace.

    It was a sensation of realization that was difficult to express. Put differently, it was almost like a beautiful maiden d in a thin veil, yet nothing could be seen. But now, it was like thest bastion of defences had been removed.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Art?¡± Qin Ye surveyed his surroundings intently, before sighing with uncertainty as he turned to the Harken, ¡°With that earlier strike of yours, did you¡­ sever all of the Longxing Temple¡¯s connections with the runes of Yin Talismans within? I can¡¯t tell exactly what you¡¯ve done, but my intuition tells me that there¡¯s no longer any danger.¡±

    It coldly raised its front paws, ¡°After all, I, too, wish to see what kind of treasures one of the Eight Great ns would consider important enough to include as part of their contingency n for their future generations.¡±

    It took Qin Ye several deep breaths to calm his mind down. And then, he picked the Harken up like a well-oiled machine, gulped nervously, before rushing forward in a violent stream ofhergale.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t even nce at them. Each of these statues were precious works of art in their own right, but even then, it didn¡¯t matter. After all, how precious could the statues in the front courtyard be aspared to the treasures hidden within the Longxing Temple?

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing much to see below. Most of the items here are merely collector¡¯s items in Hell. Just grab a handful of them, and you should have enough to cate the merchant ships that will being in the opening of the sea port. We¡¯ve no need for Hell''s artwork for now. After all, these are things that only the nobles and royals have a use for.¡± The Harken¡¯s eyes remained transfixed at the top of the temple, ¡°Head to the very top. That¡¯s where the most precious things here are kept.¡±

    Qin Ye ascended the tower floor by floor. As soon as he arrived on the eighth floor, Qin Ye could already sense soft fluctuations of Yin energy from the artifacts stored there. However, he didn¡¯t even bother pausing to take a closer look.

    There weren¡¯t any other obstacles that stood in Qin Ye¡¯s way. The Zhu n probably knew that so long as someone could breach the Longxing Temple¡¯s external defenses, they would be able to clear any hidden traps within as well. Thus, rather than conceal or hide the treasures, everything within the tower wasid out openly and without restrictions.

    Treasures¡­ Treasures everywhere!!

    It was absolutely astonishing.

    The visual impact was simply too stunning.

    Wealth was great. But there was something else in the room that clearly stood out to him like the moon among the stars.

    Each of them was wrapped with a golden sleeve, and bound up with a luxurious vermillion band. Beyond that, each scroll emitted terrifying fluctuations of Yin energy.

    These were hands down the most beautiful things in the room.

 Chapter 638: Treasures of the Great Ming Dynasty

    <h4>Chapter 638: Treasures of the Great Ming Dynasty</h4>

    ¡°I want you guys to make aplete inventory list of everything that you find in this ce, right from the first floor all the way to the ninth floor. Record it clearly, and ssify them ordingly.¡± With a wave of his hand, the two evil ghosts flew downstairs and got started at once. Meanwhile, he turned to the eight scrolls suspended in mid air.

    ¡°Are you looking down on me?¡± The Harken grunted with frustration, ¡°Do you know how long it has been since they¡¯vest maintained these formation arrays? Would I really be fit to call myself a Yama-King if I couldn¡¯t even take down these things?¡±

    He didn¡¯t face any sort of resistance whatsoever. It didn¡¯t take long before the scroll was in his hands. He promptly unraveled them, only to find golden words revealing themselves against the white backdrop of the parchment.

    No. In fact, it was even more than that! Far beyond that!

    As soon as Qin Ye saw it, his consciousness was immediately drawn to apletely different ce, almost as though he were located in the heart of thousands upon thousands of soldiers. A terrifying, bloodthirsty aura exploded around him and bore down on him like a suffocating vortex, stimting his nerves and stirring his soul. At once, Qin Ye forcefully shut the scroll and recovered from his momentary stupor. The hairs of his body were trembling as though they were overcharged with static electricity. His heart was thumping wildly against his chest.

    ¡°Wu (Îä) represents might and excellence, stability and order, the willpower to ovee, and the ambition to rise to new heights, while Mu (ÄÂ) represents the reverence of virtue and justice, and unending loyalty.¡±

    The Harken stared at the scroll, ¡°As far as military formations are concerned, Hell had always sub-divided them into superior, intermediate and lesser formations. To put things into better perspective, Hell had only ten different types of superior military formations, all of which were used and wielded by the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces. I¡¯d always thought that these have been lost to us together with the sudden ascension of the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces. Who would¡¯ve thought that the Eight Great ns were actually able to get their hands on such things¡­¡±

    That said, their power and influence turned out to be one of the greatest blessings to the new Hell right now. After all, if not for them, it would¡¯ve taken the new Hell¡¯s brightest talents decades upon decades toe up with something like that.

    ¡°Let¡¯s put it this way. The lesser military formations would imbue 50,000 regr Yin soldiers with might equivalent to that of an Infernal Judge; intermediate military formations would imbue 500,000 Yin soldiers with the might equivalent to an Abyssal Prefect; while superior military formations would imbue 1,000,000 Yin soldiers with the might equivalent to a Yama-King! Don¡¯t underestimate these military formations just because of the sheer number of Yin soldiers required. The power of a Yama-King is well beyond your imaginations! If left unopposed, it wouldn¡¯t even be out of the question to have them wipe out an entire continent!¡±

    Qin Ye fervently suppressed the excitement in his heart as he began to consider the possibilities.

    After all, they had made a request that Hell absolutely had to consider and give an answer to. It was a request that was built upon Hell¡¯s regional influence, and the difficultyy more in how he should reject and suppress the Russian Underworld, as opposed what he should do with the Resentment Crystals Mine.

    And to that end, suppression on such magnitude would unfortunately require more than shouting louder than the other side. Hell would need to back its words withmensurate actions and threats.

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye had only managed to dy his negotiations with the Russian Underworld thus far, because he knew full well that Hell didn¡¯t have anything to match such a show of force with!

    Fortunately, this scroll has now given Hell a way out of what earlier appeared to be a dead end.

    What was one resource that Cathay was best known for?

    If a million Yin soldiers could already disy the same might as a Yama-King¡­ How strong would Hell¡¯s forces be in just a hundred years¡¯ time? How many Yin soldiers would Hell have? This was the key to putting Hell back on the map of theherworld again!

    Qin Ye took a deep breath, and then turned to the second scroll. He did likewise and pulled it into his hands, before finally opening it up slowly.

    It was an incredibly detailed map, and the focal point of the map was clearly Lotus Peak of Huangshan, otherwise known as the Yellow Mountain!

    ¡°It¡¯s normal. The direct descendants of the Zhu n probably have their own means of internalmunication. If they could omit certain things from their written records, then there was no reason why they wouldn¡¯t do so. But whatever this might be, I¡¯m pretty sure it would be on the same level as the Wumu military formation¡­¡± The Harken¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, ¡°If you ask me, I¡¯d guess that this would be a rare treasure, or perhaps even the nascent form of a Yama-ss Yin artifact in the making!¡±

    ¡°And whichever it is¡­¡± It licked its lips, ¡°This only goes to show that the Eight Great ns have contacts in the mortal realm. After all, they would definitely need someone to safeguard the treasure or watch over the forging process of the Yin artifact. In other words, doesn¡¯t this mean that they might have made contact with some of their direct descendants back in the mortal realm?¡±

    The next few scrolls were also maps devoid of much particrs or details. It would seem that the Zhu n were clearly being careful not to ce their eggs all in one basket. Such a realization filled Qin Ye with both curiosity and dismay. He was also filled with some measure of disappointment.

    Have you never considered the possibility that your descendants might be idiots who cannot unlock the mysteries of the maps you¡¯d left to them?

    What kind of a person are you?!

    Forget it. It¡¯s not too bad to have these maps either. It¡¯s only going to be a matter of time before we reim and unify the Cathayan Underworld after all¡­ With a soft sigh, he slowly unravelled the eighth scroll, bracing himself to see yet another map again.

    He froze for a moment, and then immediately took a closer look at it.

    Regr words¡­ constitute thest and final scroll?

    ¡°Year 1801. First contact with Unkulunkulu. Traded 100 kilograms of Grade A materials, and 10,000 pieces of Yin jade for the right to develop a port at theherworld¡¯s Cape of Good Hope.¡±

    They were absolutely floored by what they had read because it was incontrovertible evidence that the Zhu n had been frolicking with foreign underworlds!

    Nevertheless, these words instantly began to set in motion a train of thoughts in Qin Ye¡¯s mind, and he mused, ¡°Cape of Good Hope¡­ That¡¯s in Alkebn. Doesn¡¯t this mean that¡­ they¡¯d been in touch with the Alkebn Underworlds?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ We can¡¯t really consider them selling us out either.¡± The Harken shook its head and immediately qualified his earlier statement, ¡°After all, it¡¯s an open secret that the Eight Great ns have always been colluding with foreign underworlds and gaining private benefits from these transactions. The Cape of Good Hope¡­ Does this mean that¡­ the Zhu n had nned to open a sea port for their use? Are they¡­ smuggling?!¡±

    ¡°How well received are the ¡®made in Hell¡¯ goods in the rest of theherworld?¡±

    ¡°No wonder¡­ no wonder the Zhu n is so well off! The Sixfold Ghost Kings had roamed the entire East Continent, and yet found no evidence of them establishing diplomatic rtions with any of the countries there. To think that they¡¯ve actually extended their reach this far! Keep reading. I want to know just how many countries they¡¯ve managed to extend their influence to!¡±

    ¡°Year 1832. With the aid, rmendation and introduction of Mythic Spirit Unkulunkulu and another, we paid a hefty price to establish the Alkebn Rift Valley ess.¡±

    ¡°Year 1900. With the aid, rmendation and introduction of five Alkebn Mythic Spirits, the Zhu n was finally allowed to dock our ships at the major Alkebn ports. We made contact with the Mythic Spirits of thends, and also brought ambassadors back to Hell for the very first time.¡±

    Almost as though it understood what was going through Qin Ye¡¯s mind, the Harken shook its head, ¡°It¡¯s not as bad as you think.¡±

    ¡°Yin and Yang do not intersect, but there are still ways of circumventing this so-called irond rule. For one, Alkebn is and that believes in ancestral spirits, and some of the Alkebns living in Cathay right now could very well be proxy scouts of the Alkebn Underworld--¡­¡±

    The Harken looked over immediately, and his eyes immediately gleamed brightly.

    ¡°Aplete list of Alkebn missions in Cathay, where each of them are stationed, the means ofmunicating with each of them, and the date on which contact was previously made.¡±

 Chapter 639: A New Twist (1)

    <h4>Chapter 639: A New Twist (1)</h4>

    It sighed deeply. Treason? Far be it from that. At best, this can only be considered tax evasion. Who knows just what kind of mountainous wealth of Yin spirit stones each of these ns had umted through suchrge-scale smuggling activity? If the old Hell would just probe deeper, their investigations would easily uncover a massive syndicate involving a multitude of corrupt civil servants, ranging from the most insignificant of border agents, right up to governors and high officials. In fact, the Zhu n probably had so much influence that they probably even had the Abyssal prefects of the Pearl River region answering to them.

    That¡¯s not right¡­ Given your bubbly personality, you should already have leapt right out of your pokeball just like a mischievous little pikachu¡­ Or did I inadvertently cast a downer on the atmosphere with my masterball antics?

    Just what was it?

    He furrowed his thick brows. Just then, Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin finally returned with their faces glowing and flushed with excitement, ¡°My Lord! We¡¯ve taken a look. We¡¯ve struck gold! This is practically a mountain of treasures--...¡±

    Oblivious to his surroundings, Qin Ye massaged his temples as he slowly began to pace around, evidently swamped in his own thoughts. That brilliant notion still eluded him, but he simply wasn¡¯t willing to let things lie just like that - That earlier spark of inspiration had arisen when we were talking about Zhu n¡¯s contact to the Alkebn missions back in Cathay¡­

    He had a feeling that he was immeasurably close to the answer that he was looking for. In fact, he could sense that he was on the cusp of a massive discovery, and so long as he could find and open the right door, it would open his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities out there!

    That¡¯s not it¡­ Qin Ye stared nkly at the opulent decor adorning the ceiling as he murmured back, ¡°Then, what about those in the mortal realm?¡±

    It¡¯s not this either¡­ But I¡¯m definitely getting closer!

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely the possibility of harm, but I think that the bigger problem that Hell is facing right now is how to deal with the first official talks of bteral diplomacy with the Russian underworld. The potential harm that these Alkebn missions can cause¡­ is but a drop in the oceanpared to the threat of the Russian Underworld that looms right over your head.¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened abruptly.

    Qin Ye shook his head softly as he continued to delve deeper into his own thoughts. That said, his eyes gleamed ever more brightly as time went by. Then, after approximately 10 minutes had passed, he suddenly smiled, ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    The Harken stared at him with eyes filled with sheer disbelief.

    Firstly, they were testing Hell¡¯s attitude towards the Russian Underworld¡¯s development of Forbidden Arts.

    Thirdly, this was an issue that Hell could only resolve through pure, unadulterated diplomacy. Unfortunately, Hell simply wasn¡¯t prepared for something like that right now. They didn¡¯t even have the right ceremonial lineup to match up to the Russian Underworld. They didn¡¯t have a single Yama-King that could front negotiations on their behalf, nor did they have anymensurately powerful armies to be mobilized on short notice. If not for the fact that happened to chance upon the Zhu n¡¯s treasure trove, Hell¡¯s armies wouldn¡¯t even have a military formation at their disposal. Every single omission on Hell¡¯s part would be interpreted as evidence of loopholes in the narrative that Hell was attempting to sell to the rest of the world.

    In other words, Hell had essentially been forced into a situation where it had no choice but to respond to a regional development in its capacity as one of the P4 of the Federation of Underworlds. All eyes were on Hell, and if Hell even did so much as to slip up in the slightest, the consequences would be unthinkable!

    ¡°What should we do?¡±

    The Harken nodded.

    The best course of action right now was to stymie any developments by ignoring foreign affairs. Unfortunately, the Russian Underworld had alreadye knocking on their door, and even sessfully made contact with an Emissary of Hell. The development of Forbidden Arts was a massive thing, especially since it affected the right of any underworld to hold clout among the Federation of Underworld. Naturally, it was impossible to simply turn a blind eye to it.

    The Harken¡¯s eyes gleamed softly, almost as though he finally understood something. However, he didn¡¯t interject, and instead continued to listen intently.

    ¡°Your deductions are spot on.¡± Qin Ye turned to the Harken and continued, ¡°The Russian Underworld wants to avoid the sanctions of the international underworlds, so it has likely already made contact with one of the four top underworlds. After all, they probably also appreciate that if they hadn¡¯t obtained the support of the four top underworlds, they would never be able to stand up under the sanctions against them!¡±

    ¡°Haa--...¡± The Harken took a deep breath and continued where Qin Ye left off, ¡°And that¡¯s just the start. Once they learn of the truth about Hell, then the underworlds that wish to kick Hell out of the P4, as well as those who wish to get a foot into P4 would immediately seize the opportunity to test their suspicions of what might have happened to Hell. And the best means to do so would be to strike at Hell¡¯s vassal states in order to draw Hell¡¯s attention. We would be forced to retaliate and engage with them on these skirmishes. This will stretch Hell¡¯s resources and finances even more, and put a huge strain on Hell¡¯s future development¡­¡±

    Put differently, Hell didn¡¯t have any room for error in the way in which they handled the Russian Underworld¡¯s request! They were essentially standing at the precipice between life and death!

    ¡°Notify the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds.¡± Qin Ye chuckled coldly, ¡°Tell them that one of the P4 underworlds is currently supporting the Russian Underworld¡¯s efforts to develop the Forbidden Arts, and tell them that it¡¯s likely going to be the second generation of Forbidden Arts at that. How do you think those Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds are going to react?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely feasible!¡± Qin Ye responded with categorical certainty, ¡°And that¡¯s because¡­ this is the Russian Underworld we¡¯re talking about!¡±

    ¡°Second premise. The Russian Underworld shares a long border with Europa. In turn, Europa is currently governed by the Argosian Underworld under the charge of none other than Thanatos. On the other hand, it is separated from the Aegyptian Underworld of the Middle East by other nations. Therefore, which underworld do you think the Mythic Spirits of Alkebn will think is the culprit for stirring the Russian Underworld to the research and development of Forbidden Arts? Is it Argos, or Aegyptus?¡±

    ¡°Not war, but¡­ the fact that they were the first ones to have been attacked with Forbidden Arts! The Mythic Spirits, the pirs of the Alkebn Underworlds, sustained heavy injuries and casualties as a result of the Forbidden Arts! One can only imagine the kind of revulsion they have against Forbidden Arts!¡±

    ¡°Granted, they wouldn¡¯t usually deign to interfere with global politics, but what if they were faced with the prospects of Forbidden Arts?¡±

    ¡°And what about the prospects of the development of second generation Forbidden Arts spurred on by none other than the Argosian Underworld?¡±

    The Harken gasped, ¡°And¡­ the Russian Underworld can¡¯t even clear its own name, because¡­ the Resentment Crystal Vein is currently located in the Mongol Empire!¡±

    ¡°Atst count, there were 37 Mythic Spirits in Alkebn¡­ And that¡¯s not counting the Yanluo-ss Plumed Serpent God, otherwise known as the Quetzalcoatl¡­¡±

 Chapter 640: A New Twist (2)

    <h4>Chapter 640: A New Twist (2)</h4>

    It was an unexpected moment of dazzling inspiration. Furthermore, after a cursory discussion, they discovered that¡­ it was actually usible!

    What the Russian Underworld desired was a nod from Hell. So long as Hell gave the go ahead, they wouldn¡¯t mind even if Hell didn¡¯t send a single soldier toy waste to the Mongol Empire. In other words, the Russian Underworld would do all the hard work, and then offer up half of the territory of the Mongol Empire as tribute to Hell, while keeping the Resentment Crystal Vein and the other half of the Mongol Empire for their own use. It was a tacit deal.

    They were truly caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    We can acquiesce to your seizure of the Resentment Crystals, and we¡¯ll take a step back and watch your grand performance at the Mongol Empire. But as soon as youy your hands on the crystals and gain full control and possession of them¡­

    The entire hall was filled with only sounds of ragged breaths. The Harken¡¯s first thoughts were that it was possible. It was absolutely possible!

    That said, this was only a preliminary posttion. Furthermore, the result that they desired would only ur in the best case scenario. Therefore, it was still important to discuss the specifics of this n in order to maximize their chances.

    ¡°Three steps.¡± Qin Ye responded with a burning gaze in his eyes, ¡°First step. We¡¯ll enter into negotiations with the Russian Underworld and agree to their conditions.¡±

    The Harken immediately leapt to the ground and began to pace about. After some time, it responded, ¡°These are the main steps. Let¡¯s leave aside step one for now. Step two, contact the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds - how are we supposed to do that? Hell has been in seclusion for thest 100 or so years. There¡¯s simply no means of reaching out to them anymore. And then, there¡¯s still the third step of convincing them. They¡¯re not stupid. Although this is a topic that presses on their pain point, it¡¯s still quite something else to have them mobilize so many Yama-Kings!¡±

    ¡°Granted, it doesn¡¯t matter whether they¡¯re trying to research and develop the first or the second generation of Forbidden Arts. That said, we¡¯ll still need something more than what we currently have on hand. Yama-Kings aren¡¯t entities that underworlds would mobilize frivolously after all! This is going to be an inordinately difficult n to execute. Not only would we have to y all our cards right so that Hell doesn¡¯t have to mobilize a single troop, we¡¯d even have to fully convince the Mythic Spirits of Alkebn of our ims¡­¡±

    Qin Ye slowly unraveled the scroll and ran his finger along its contents, ¡°Suppose I make a request in my capacity as an Emissary of Hell for an audience with one of the Mythic Spirits in Alkebn. Do you think they would grant me ess that way?¡±

    ¡°So¡­ We¡¯ll just have to figure out a way to get in touch with them through other means!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s finger finally paused on a name.

    ¡°This is thest piece of the puzzle.¡±

    His thoughts spun rapidly, and sparks of inspiration flew everywhere. However, the Harken knew it was better to address all of the loopholes as early as they could. Thus, it continued, ¡°How do you know whether he¡¯s still alive? This is a scroll from a hundred years ago.¡±

    ¡°Then, how are you supposed to locate the key point of contact?¡± The Harken continued to y the devil¡¯s advocate, ¡°We¡¯re talking about the Pearl River Delta! That¡¯s the territory of the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost! Pearl River Delta is currently one of the darkest spots in Cathay, so how do you expect to go about with this business of yours?¡±

    The Harken continued, ¡°And then, even if you manage to pinpoint the point of contact¡¯s exact location, how are you supposed to enter the Pearl River Delta? We can¡¯t be said to be on good terms with the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost¡­¡±

    The Harken drew a deep breath, ¡°Last question, who do you n on sending to Alkebn to negotiate with the Mythic Spirits over there?¡±

    Naturally, this left only one usible candidate.

    The Harken sighed softly, ¡°None.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. His mind was slightly worn out from his thought processes earlier, so he massaged his temples as he responded softly, ¡°Well then, time is of the essence. Let¡¯s head back to Ashmound City right away. Once the preparations are done, I¡¯ll immediately depart for Pearl River. Ah, that¡¯s right, do have Assistant Wang help Arakshasa sort through and organize the information once she¡¯s back. As soon as my trip to Pearl River bears fruit, I¡¯ll be heading for Alkebn in the quickest possible time.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t long before the arrival of the new year. That was the deadline on which Hell had to give the Russian Underworld a response. Any further dys¡­ would be hard to exin away.

    Rather, it had everything to do with the attitude that the master of a region should carry itself with - if youe to me with a request, I¡¯ll naturally respond as quickly as I can.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ¡°More importantly, reports have shown that the number of Hellguard-ss Predatory Zones have been vanishing at a rapid pace. At the same timest year, Insignia Province reported 24 such Predatory Zones. But today, we have only 17 such Predatory Zones remaining. The exact reason for this phenomenon is unknown¡­¡±

    The First Academy of Cultivators had undergone an expansion in thest semester, and its efforts have been rather well received thus far. It was also for this reason that Zhou Xianlong had been incredibly busy, so much so that he had to make time in order to tune in to the important conferences. After all, he was still in title the Head of the Faculty of Combat.

    Just then, the lights suddenly flickered, and then went out with a snap.

    ¡°Who goes there?!¡± Zhou Xianlong¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. He could sense that the uninvited guest was emanating powerful Yin energy even though he was clearly already suppressing it. There was no way the uninvited guest was weaker than Zhou Xianlong in any way!

    Qin Ye¡­

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye had his back to the bright ambient lights of the campus grounds that were shining in through the window, and he couldn¡¯t see Qin Ye¡¯s appearances no matter how hard he tried. Just then, Qin Ye spoke softly, ¡°Hell has a request to make of the mortal realm, and I wonder if the Special Investigations Department would be willing to consider such a request?¡±

    Five secondster, Zhou Xianlong finally responded, ¡°Please tell us your request.¡±

    Perhaps¡­ this was something that had been a long timeing¡­

    ¡°The former chef of Abra Alkebn Restaurant in Pearl River City. Hell wants to know his exact location. But do not rm him. May we know when we can expect a response?¡±

    But it was alsoced with indifference and distance, so much so that it was impossible to tell that the two had once used to work closely together.

    ¡°That¡¯s too long.¡±

    After several seconds, Qin Ye finally responded, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll have to trouble you with our request. Hell will most certainly remember the assistance that you¡¯d rendered. Please text me as soon as you have news.¡±

    As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Ye¡¯s form and figure vanished without a trace.

    Emissaries of Hell weren¡¯t visible to human beings. Thus, he¡¯d chosen to take a little stroll around the once-familiar campus, taking in the unfamiliar sights and faces around him. He also saw Zhou Xianlong run up to the window, open it and look around.

    Is this¡­ a messenger bird?

    Is this¡­ an evil ghost?

    In other words¡­ a Prefect-ss Yin spirit?

 Chapter 641: Defection? Negotiations?

    <h4>Chapter 641: Defection? Negotiations?</h4>

    Even though there wasn¡¯t an Abyssal Prefect here in the First Academy of Cultivators, it still wasn¡¯t a ce where any other evil ghost coulde and go as it so desired. So what was the messenger bird of an evil ghost doing around these parts? And why?

    Are you¡­ searching for me?

    He nced over. At once, a gale swept by, causing the crown of the trees on the campus grounds to rustle and sway about. Approximately 100 meters away, a pair of scarlet eyes hidden in the canopy of the trees shrieked as it turned abruptly to stare at Qin Ye.

    ¡°You daren¡¯t reveal yourself here at the First Academy of Cultivators?¡± Qin Ye raised a brow quizzically, before promptly transforming into ahergale that followed the messenger bird.

    The farnds were quiet and quaint under the soft glow of the moonlight. Even then, the messenger bird only flew faster and faster, right out of the City of Salvation, and straight towards the deep mountains across the horizon.

    It was a temple.

    The temple appeared to have been abandoned years ago. The wooden structure and frames were already rotting in several ces, while the cobwebs were so profuse that they almost formed a white gauze that covered the que on the gate. One side of the temple gate had already copsed, and tattered streamers were scattered everywhere on the temple grounds, rustling ever so softly against the wind.

    Crackle¡­ As soon as he arrived, the two stonemps standing at the entrance to the abandoned temple suddenly red up with eerie, cracklinghermes. A dark silhouette wearing a white pce maiden dress immediately drifted out of the temple, beforeying prostrate on the ground with fear and trepidation, ¡°Greetings, esteemed Emissary of Hell.¡±

    No response.

    How terrifying¡­

    It was a primal fear.

    To think that even I would feel such intense fear¡­ Is this the entity that I¡¯ve been hearing so much about? Is this none other than the legendary Emissary of Hell?

    ¡°The Daolord of the Hungry Ghost h-h-has instructed me to ry an i-i-important message to the Emissary of Hell.¡±

    The letter was written with great humility and respect.

    However, Qin Ye could tell that this was all wordsmithing. Her true intention was to negotiate.

    ¡°Furthermore, I would be willing to join hands with the Daolord of the Asura to seize the soul of the Daolord of the Beast. This is something that I shall be willing to swear on oath against the Heavenly Dao, and so long as I shall vite this oath, I shall be subject to a thousand years of skyntern punishment, and thereafter be banished to the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment for all eternity!¡±

    ¡°If Hell is prepared to grant me this little bit of mercy, I shall take it upon myself to personally hand over the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal to Hell as soon as we take down the Daolord of the Asura. I only ask that Hell acts mercifully to me.¡±

    Yet, Qin Ye remained taciturn, not because he was considering the request, but because he was enraged!

    Qin Hui¡­ He¡¯d actually acted and even reached out to the other two daolords without notifying anyone of his intentions?!

    Intentions aside, the fact that he had even thought to act without an imperial edict was already tantamount to an act of rebellion!

    ¡°If I give her my word, she would be willing to join forces with the Daolord of the Asura. But¡­ what if I don¡¯t?¡± Qin Ye snorted coldly and flicked his robes, ¡°Does that mean she would instead be joining forces with the Daolord of the Beast?¡±

    Qin Ye boomed at the top of his voice, causing Chen Yin to shiver and shudder at the wrath of his anger. In fact, even with her head to the ground, she could tell that the dense Yin energy pouring out from Qin Ye¡¯s body was almost like a giant beast that was staring straight at her, raring to tear her soul to bits at a moment¡¯s notice!

    ¡°Hell will only extend it¡¯s grace to her once. She can choose not toply, but she must be prepared to face the consequences of death. Additionally, tell her that I will be arriving in Pearl River in a few days. Tell her to be prepared to receive me. Otherwise¡­ she¡¯d better be prepared for the worst!¡±

    This is bad¡­ Really bad!

    In fact, Qin Ye had made it clear through his murderous intent that they had every means topletely wipe out the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost and all of her forces from Cathay!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Three dayster.

    This was once known as one of the three tier one cities in Cathay. Unfortunately, the southern part of the city had beenpletely abandoned and locked down. Beyond that, a perimeter had been set up by the nation¡¯s authorities. Countless military forces and armed policemen, as well as the investigators of the Special Investigations Department, researchers of the SRC, and other members of the top brass, were all gathered in the headquarters of the perimeter.

    Incidentally, this was also one of thergest regions of supernatural activity in Cathay. Mount Jasper in the southwest, Pearl River District, as well as White Mountain of the northeast. That said, the supernatural activity in the northeast had been on a constant decline in recent times. Naturally, this meant that more and more attention and military strength was being channeled and diverted to the other two locations.

    That said, the national highway was already aplete trainwreck. Master Chan Ming sat suspended in mid-air like a stone statue. With each breath that he took, dense white wisps of true energy would diffuse from his seven apertures into the darkness of the night sky.

    Therefore, the atmosphere around these parts was incredibly tense and somber. Spiritual and physical, Yin and Yang - everything was separated by this single perimeter that they had set up. The rest of the city rested north of the perimeter.

    There was no room for retreat at all.

    ¡°Amitabha¡­¡± Master Chan Ming opened his eyes, only to reveal a look ofpassion, ¡°These Yin energy readings have begun to surge only two days ago. And to think they¡¯ve already breached 20 million Yin¡­¡±

    With Pearl River City as theunching pad, it could easily engulf the entire Pearl River Delta in moments, just like how the evil ghost did in the three eastern provinces. Otherwise, it was impossible to exin why the evil ghost station in Pearl River City had suddenly decided to consolidate its forces.

    ¡°Evacuate?¡± Master Chan Ming sighed, ¡°Then¡­ what about the 10 million or so citizens in the city? What about them?¡±

    Master Chan Ming grew silent.

    Some of these soldiers were in theirte teens, while others were just in their early twenties. Did they all have to be buried in this hopeless ce?

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    There, he could see a cloud of dense Yin energy, far thicker and more terrifying than when Qin Hui had arrived. In fact, it was so thick that itpletely engulfed the abandoned buildings across the horizon. It was so dark that it consumed practically everything.

 Chapter 642: Yellow Springs Road Before the Palace of King Yanluo

    <h4>Chapter 642: Yellow Springs Road Before the Pce of King Yanluo</h4>

    ¡°Don¡¯t you find it strange?¡±

    The old researcher looked up, and then furrowed his brows.

    Qin Hui hade by before, which means that the three daolords must be connected to each other in some way or another. If one of them is in trouble, others would most certainlye to their aid. Even if they aren¡¯t willing to send troops, they would at the very least be willing to stir up some trouble so as to draw Cathay¡¯s attention right back to southwest Cathay. After all, we¡¯re talking about a major transportation hub and arger poption in the provinces in that region.

    The old researcher finally responded, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°And if that¡¯s the case, chances are that this terrifying entity that she¡¯s waiting for is likely to be arriving soon¡­¡±

    An existence that causes even an incarnate revenant to feel fear?

    The old researcher couldn¡¯t think of any existence in the mortal realm that was worthy of such a reaction from an incarnate revenant. Not even the joint forces of the three strongest experts in Cathay would be able to draw such a reaction from the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost.

    Master Chan Ming nced backnguidly. There were certain things that only he was privy to.

    In his report, Zhou Xianlong had reported that Hell has finally emerged from reclusion, and is slowly but surely returning to its former glory. If they were sending a powerful Emissary of Hell in pursuit of the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost, then that would exin everything about the present reaction that they were seeing.

    ¡°Let¡¯s watch and see.¡± With that, he shut his eyes once more and began to meditate.

    Everyday, when the sun vanishes across the horizon, they could all hear wails and moans echoing throughout the abandoned regions in the south of Pearl River City. These were the mournful cries of all who had died in vain. These were the anguished whimpers of the prisoners forcibly taken by the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost. Every night, thement of these aggrieved spirits would torment the living that were standing guard outside at the perimeter, tugging endlessly at their heartstrings and vexing them to no end.

    It was quiet.

    In fact, it had been like this since two days ago. If not for thehermes that still came on and flickered eerily as soon as the sun went down, they might even have assumed that the evil ghosts had mysteriously vanished overnight.

    Almost simultaneously, two scarlethermes appeared in the dense clouds of Yin energy over the southern part of the city. Like dazzling searchlights, the scarlet eyes immediately began to scan the national highway. Prefect-ss Yin energy immediately rushed into the surroundings like the raging waters of the seas, buffeting against the stic cordons and causing the talismans and chains to flutter and ng loudly.

    However, the scarlethermes in the clouds above didn¡¯t even care to look at the mortals below. Instead, it continued to scan the national highways. Furthermore, if one looked close enough, they would be able to tell that thehermes were even flickering wildly, almost as though it were¡­ trembling.

    ¡°What terrifying Yin energy¡­¡± Master Chan Ming took a deep breath as he slowly drifted into the air.

    The wind was chilling and harsh, almost as though they had poured forth from the frigid abysses of Hell. Momentster, the street lights along the national highway slowly fizzled out one by one in an orderly fashion. Meanwhile, the otherworldly gale continued to pick up and toss their clothes around violently!

    ck, ck, ck!

    It was a dull, soft sound, but it carried with it an unspeakable air of sobriety. Within moments, rows of vague silhouettes started to appear at the end of the national highway.

    He could already smell the stench of iron and blood emanating from these soldiers.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone else, be it soldier or armed police, investigator or researcher, everyone watched the march of the Yin soldiers of Hell with bated breaths. The notion of a march of Yin soldiers surfaced in everyone¡¯s mind, but nobody expressed their thoughts.

    Just then, a sh of golden light cut through the somber darkness around them, followed closely by an identity token that whizzed through the air. It shot straight into the clouds of Yin energy in the sky. And as soon as it did, the two scarlet eyes in the sky trembled violently.

    There was already a sea of evil ghosts gathered behind her. She appeared in her human form, donning the garments of a Shang Dynasty queen. 12 Infernal Judges of different shapes and sizes stood right behind her, each of whom wore the armor resembling Shang Dynasty generals. Beyond that, an endless sea of hungry ghosts stood behind them all.

    Su Daji didn¡¯t even nce back at her subjects. She hadn¡¯t expected Hell to arrive so quickly - Why would a high-ranking Emissary of Hell arrive so quickly? It¡¯s only been three days! And I could¡¯ve sworn that I¡¯d taken care to omit anything of disrespect in my letter to him!

    This familiar pattern¡­ and this familiar texture¡­ Her heart wrenched with a chilling sensation, while electrifying sensations rushed straight from the base of her spine through to the top of her mind. As she loosened her grip around the identity token, the first thing she saw were the words ¡°Prefect Qin¡± staring her right in the eye. At once, she tossed away the identity token with great revulsion and shrieked at the top of her voice.

    BOOM!!! A terrifying shockwave of Yin energy swept out at once, knocking every Yin spirit behind her below the rank of Infernal Judge off their feet. Even then, she waspletely oblivious to the chaos that she single handedly created. Instead, she simply hugged herself tightly and trembled in fear as she continued to stare transfixed at the identity token, ¡°They¡¯re here¡­ they¡¯re here! They¡¯reing to get me¡­ they¡¯reing to get me!!¡±

    It hadn¡¯t done anything to dampen these fears at all.

    ¡°My Lady, why are you so terrified?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, he¡¯s just an Abyssal Prefect! You¡¯re an Abyssal Prefect too! Besides, we¡¯ve got hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits on our side. Why should we be afraid of him?¡± ¡°Kill him! Let¡¯s seize his soul and refine his body! Let Hell know never to set foot in our territory again!¡±

    ¡°You should be d that you weren¡¯t even born in the same era that I was¡­ You don¡¯t know what Hell means!¡±

    ¡°Open the gates¡­ Open the gates right now!!¡±

    Nobody outside the southern part of the city knew exactly what transpired within the dense clouds of Yin energy. However, as soon as the gates opened, they all saw a sight that shook them to the core!

    Meanwhile, everyone else, be it cultivators, researchers, soldiers, armed policemen, or government officials, everyone stared at the sight withplete disbelief.

    The barrels of the guns were still trained on the billowing clouds of Yin energy in the south. However, not a single person pulled the trigger.

    Su Dajiy prostrate in the middle of the national highway, with her forehead resting on her folded hands in front of her. Countless candles as tall as a regr human being illuminated the vicinity with soft, flickering mes. Her 12 generals and countless Yin spirits under hermand were all kneeling on the ground behind her with their heads bowed low!

    Thud, thud, thud! She kowtowed three more times in a row. Meanwhile, the Yin soldiers of Hell finally crossed the line demarcating Hell and the mortal realm, and the cultivators finally realized what they were looking at.

    Meanwhile, ck and white coloured Yin soldiers dressed in high hats and toting spirit streamers and mourning staves were dancing wildly on both sides of the carriage. These Emissaries of Hell had their hands tucked into their sleeves. A softhergale swept by, causing their clothes to flutter wildly.

    The procession wasn¡¯trge, but it was sufficient to strike terror and fear into Su Daji¡¯s heart. It wasn¡¯t until the Yin soldiers of Hell arrived a hundred meters from Su Daji that they finally came to a halt. Then, as though they had practiced the motion countless times, the Yin soldiers mmed the base of their spears on the ground and bellowed at the top of their voices, ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± Su Daji felt her ears ringing and buzzing endlessly. She wanted to say something in return, but words eluded her mind.

    ¡°The virtuous would never shun us.¡±

    ¡°Daolord of the Hungry Ghost, Su Daji, do you know your crimes?¡±

 Chapter 643: Screw This! Thereâ€™s Something Wrong With This Script!

    <h4>Chapter 643: Screw This! There''s Something Wrong With This Script!</h4>

    This isn¡¯t right!

    Does Hell really not care about King Yanluo¡¯s Seal any longer?

    Wouldn¡¯t that give rise to dreadful casualties on both sides? Why can¡¯t they just live and let live?! Why are they hell bent on capturing me?

    Unfortunately, the only words that she found were, ¡°I am guilty as charged.¡±

    The thousands of cultivators watching this sight were absolutely floored by what they had just seen. Everyone had the exact same expression - lips slightly ajar, with widened eyes and a slight quiver in their pupils.

    ¡°Is that Hell?¡± A young cultivator spoke with great trembling in his voice, ¡°We¡¯ve been struggling and tussling with this incarnate revenant for such a long time, and yet she actually lies meek as a sheep before Hell, without the slightest intention in putting up any form of resistance?¡±

    It was because these seemingly cid words contained a far deeper meaning.

    Hell had taken things into its own hands, and Su Daji had finally admitted to her crimes. And all it took was one Abyssal Prefect of Hell, as well as a thousand Yin soldiers.

    My friends who have perished in this long struggle of ours, are you seeing this?

    Qin Ye gently rolled up the curtain and drifted out of the carriage with a dog in his hands.

    That said, his Yin energy flourished like the majestic oceans, filling the entire vicinity with a stifling presence.

    ¡°Here!¡± Su Daji trembled as she shrieked back nervously.

    ¡°Do you think that just because Dong Zhuo holds eight shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, he has the right to summon Hell to do his bidding?¡±

    Su Daji¡¯s forehead was percting with cold sweat.

    She should never have tested Hell. She had never anticipated Hell to possess such immense determination to unify the entire nation!

    ¡°Silence.¡± Qin Ye straightened his body, and then gently stroked Harken¡¯s fur, ¡°I didn¡¯t even ask you a question. What gives you the right to answer me?¡±

    If any of them were to speak to a Prefect-ss Yin spirit like that¡­ the consequences would be unthinkable!

    With her head to the ground, she trembled as she maintained her posture of humility.

    ¡°Do you have military formations?¡±

    ¡°Do you have the support of the twelve envoys?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯re only able to enter Limbo at best.¡±

    He was confronting her with the truth - the irrefutable truth.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze grew cold and frigid.

    At once, Su Daji trembled violently and motioned to look up in astonishment.

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± Soft gasps echoed from all around them. These were the reactions of the cultivators who couldn¡¯t hide their astonishment.

    Meanwhile, Su Daji nearly passed out - That voice earlier¡­ was the Harken¡¯s voice?!

    The Harken has actually made a move, and is standing before me right now?!

    ¡°Think it over.¡± Qin Ye transformed into a stream ofhergale and rushed right back to his carriage. The curtains fell, ¡°The Qingming Festival next year is your final deadline.¡±

    As the carriage departed, one of the generals promptly looked up and protested, ¡°My Lady! Why do you have to bow down to that man? You need only ask--...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not in your ce to tell me what to do!¡±

    The wind whistled past her ears. She felt no different from a sojourner wandering the dank streets in the rain. The intense fear in her heart filled her soul with a frigid chill, and she couldn¡¯t help but hug herself with chattering teeth.

    The leverage and bargaining chips that she thought she possessed were nothing of significance in the eyes of Hell.

    Leverage on that for an opportunity to leave Cathay?

    Hell holds the only key to unlocking the Array of the Nine Gods. If they don¡¯t agree, what other options do we have? We¡¯d have no choice but to perish here in the four corners of Cathay! Hell would never be provoked by these trivialities of ours!

    With fear and despair raging in her heart, she flew straight back to her ownir, located in the best five-star hotel in Pearl River Delta, the Twilight Cloud Hotel. She immediately copsed into her sofa, and her chest heaved and fell with every breath that she took. Her hands tugged at her hair in a maddened frenzy, and she made a series of peculiar, guttural sounds in her throat.

    What should I do next?

    ¡°We haven¡¯t seen a single Emissary of Hell in a hundred years¡­ This means that Hell had most certainly perished in the great copse back then. The new Hell was only formed slightly over a year ago, and yet¡­ there are already Abyssal Prefects among their Emissaries of Hell?¡±

    Are they crazy?!

    Can you really afford to wage war against us now? Aren¡¯t you afraid that we might ughter the humans in our territory in a fit of rage? Wouldn¡¯t that tarnish your name and taint your reputation for the years toe?

    This screen of light revealed the image of dense clouds of Yin energy. Two jade-green clumps ofhermes flickered softly, while a colossal body appeared to stir within.

    ¡°Oh?¡± The entity on the other side of the screen appeared somewhat startled, ¡°Well?¡±

    The Yin energy in the screen stirred softly, ¡°They¡¯re not willing to trade the shards of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal in exchange for our permission to leave the country?¡±

    ¡°And if they refuse, we¡¯d be no different from turtles in a jar! Do you understand? So long as they send an Abyssal Prefect after us, both you and I will most certainly perish! Even if we abandon our nests and refrain from consuming blood and flesh, we can at best be on the run for the rest of our lives!¡±

    No matter the cost, those who refuse to submit will be returned from ashes to ashes and dust to dust!

    Secondster, the entity on the other end of the screen roared in fury, ¡°Why do these King Yanluo¡¯s seem to be getting less and less virtuous as time goes by?! Doesn¡¯t he think about the number of Yin soldiers he has at his disposal now? Why do they have to force us into a corner? Is he really hell bent on duking it out against the millions of Yin spirits on our end? Doesn¡¯t he care about the potential costs involved?!¡±

    ¡°¡±But that¡¯s not important¡­ What¡¯s important is what we¡¯re going to do now?¡± Her eyes gleamed as she stared deep into the screen, ¡°Surrender? I¡¯ve confirmed the presence of both an Abyssal Prefect and even the Harken. There¡¯s no way we can win against them.¡±

    Su Daji gazed back and responded with a voice just as chilling as ever, ¡°It¡¯s either that¡­ or we be vegetarians for the rest of our lives.¡±

    The new Hell had managed to nurture an Abyssal Prefect in just a year and a half from its incipience. Even if it was a hasty and shoddy job, it was still an Abyssal Prefect no matter how one looked at it.

    But, at the same time, she didn¡¯t want to be banished to the depths of the six paths of reincarnation. This was her bottom line.

    ¡°The Qingming Festival!¡± Su Daji screamed, causing all of the luxurious decors in her room to explode into smithereens.

    After a long time, the voice on the other end of the screen chuckled coldly, ¡°Su Daji¡­ Let me ask you something - we¡¯ve enjoyed the luxuries and splendor of life for a hundred years. Don¡¯t you wish to revel in such a beautiful dream any longer?¡±

    The voice from the other end of the screen responded with some measure of lingering allure, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want that either.¡±

    ¡°If we want to continue indulging in luxury and splendor even after submitting to Hell, we¡¯d definitely have to give them a good show of our might!¡±

 Chapter 644: Chef Abraâ€™s Restaurant

    <h4>Chapter 644: Chef Abra''s Restaurant</h4>

    Yet Qin Ye¡¯s carriage remained parked in the middle of the national highway without a single Emissary of Hell or Yin soldier standing around him. That said, he continued to lean back rxedly in the luxurious carriage, gently stroking the Harken¡¯s fur.

    ¡°Are you going to depart for Alkebn immediately after locating Abra?¡± The Harken opened its mouthnguidly, and Qin Ye tossed a snack into the dog¡¯s mouth like a well-oiled machine.

    Why does it feel like I¡¯ve been conditioned to do this action on instinct¡­

    Had he been born in Nippon or Daehan, would he find himself speaking with the same amount of clout right now? The response would¡¯ve been more akin to this¡­ ¡°Ah, got it. You may be dismissed.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that under the purview of Hell? What are you doing looking to us for help?¡± ¡°Kiddo, I¡¯m not saying that circumventing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts is absolutely out of the question, but, as for the fees¡­¡±

    Only one of the P4 underworlds would possess thetitude and clout to seek an audience with the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds and get their attention of something of such importance.

    However, all of that only extended as far as gaining an audience with the Mythic Spirits.

    ¡°No. The movements of an Abyssal Prefect would most certainly catch the eye of countless other underworlds. But, chances are, they would be far less guarded against one who straddles both the mortal realm and theherworld.¡±

    Knock, knock, knock. Just then, there were three soft and respectful knocks on the door to the carriage, followed by an old voice who immediately called out to them, ¡°Did benefactor leave his carriage here because he intends to give this old monk a few minutes of his time?¡±

    Master Chan Ming gazed Qin Ye deep in the eye for some time, before finally asking, ¡°Master Qin? Yanluo Qin? Or would you prefer it if I addressed you as¡­ Instructor Qin?¡±

    ¡°I was just thinking the same thing.¡± Master Chan Ming smiled and nodded. However, he consciously maintained half a pace behind Qin Ye.

    At the beginning of this journey of his, he only joined the Special Investigations Department because of the threat of the daolord¡¯s pursuit. Two years swept by in the blink of an eye, and yet how times have changed. For one, he¡¯d gone from a nobody to one who had gained an audience with two of the strongest battle powers in the mortal realm, and¡­ they didn¡¯t even dare to walk side-by-side with him.

    Rather, it was an attitude of respect that the mortal realm maintained towards him as an agent and representative of Hell!

    They remained silent for the most part of their stroll of solitude. Then, after a few minutes, Master Chan Ming began to chant a Buddhist mantra, before finally addressing Qin Ye with a deep voice, ¡°Master Qin, did you know that ever since the Hungry Ghost Festival, Cathay has unearthed a total of 12 archaeological finds containing reliefs and articles of poetry about you? And each and every one of these archaeological finds contains your name on it.¡±

    ¡°In fact, the museums, and even the Taoist and Buddhist temples containing artifacts or statues rting to the King Yanluo of Hell have all somehow been found to be... ¡®updated¡¯ with your name.¡±

    Qin Ye listened silently, and a certain phrase appeared in his mind - Cui Jue¡¯s Law of Yin-Yang Coaction. Anything seen in Hell will be seen in the mortal realm, and anything found in the mortal realm will likewise appear in some form in Hell.

    ¡°Whether history books, records, images or artifacts¡­ It¡¯s almost as though, overnight, the notion of mythology has been modified and updated such that everything points to you.¡±

    ¡°There are ces unseen to you and I, where soldiers and cultivators with feeble and frail lives have been desperately tussling with hunting zones and predatory zones. There are ces unseen to you and I that a mother and daughter, or a husband and wife, or a father and son, have no other option but to hold tightly to each other in the dark of the night¡­ praying hard that they would be granted at least the mercy to die together. There are ces not even marked on the map where countless vigers and even viges disappear without a trace.¡±

    He sped his palms together and bowed deeply.

    Should he tell Master Chan Ming that Hell was only established two years ago?

    He wanted to take the throne properly.

    Certainly, he might once have been a selfish, ordinary person that only cares about his own survival, but¡­ even an ordinary person could dream big and achieve something great one day.

    ¡°The three eastern provinces, Eastmount Province, and Insignia Province are already under our control. Next, we¡¯ll be moving into the Pearl River District. From there, we n to head up the river and reim the rest of our lost homnd!¡±

    This was an indication that Hell would henceforth be actively participating in the rebncing efforts to regain equilibrium between the Yin and the Yang. Hell would be striving towards regaining order and control. What Qin Ye feared wasn¡¯t his own ability to see things through to the very end. Rather, he feared that the mortal realm would fall before the break of dawn on the brokennds.

    N-no¡­ What are you talking about?! How can you call the affairs of an Emissary of Hell taking advantage of the mortal realm?

    He hade forward seeking an answer from Hell. And this answer¡­ waspletely different from the ones ryed by others in the past!

    What the mortal realm required was a reliable, affirmative response that it could cling tightly to in hopes of a better time toe.

    ¡°Speaking of which¡­ will I¡­ also end up in Hell when I pass on?¡±

    Chan Ming: ¡­¡­

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    From potjieko to five-coloured pu, ingira to muamba, they served everything that one could possibly ask for. Moreover, the prices were very fair.

    And as with any other creature, Abra was also a creature of habit. For instance, he would have to turn in at 10.00 p.m. every night, especially in these times of spiritual unrest.

    ¡°Still no response¡­ It¡¯s almost as though something has isted Cathay from the rest of the outside world¡­¡± He sighed, and then tossed the lipstick to the window in despair as he buried his face into his hands and plonked down onto a chair.

    Rather¡­ it was the bone of a human finger!

    The cloakroom wasn¡¯trge, and the isometric mirror in front of him appeared incredibly old. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t even be an overstatement to say that it was probably easily over a century old. Abra sighed softly and let his arms hang loosely by his side for some time, before finally getting up to his feet again.

    This was how he would console himself each time he gained no response. But this time, he froze as soon as he lifted his head.

    A thick fog of Yin energy appeared out of nowhere, and the room temperature dipped abruptly. A split secondter, he saw a pair of ck shoes on the ground. He slowly looked up, only to see vermillion robes above those shoes¡­

    Suddenly, a wave of terror surged into his mind, and he got down on his knees and kowtowed to the ground at once, ¡°Greetings to the Emissary of Hell!!!¡±

    ¡°Tell me, which Mythic Spirit is your totemic master? What tribe do you belong to?¡±

    ¡°Did your ancestors tell you to befriend and get on the good side of the Zhu n of Cathay?¡±

    ¡°Speak!!!¡±

    I¡¯ve been discovered¡­

    Is this the might apanying the entity that sits at the top of the world?

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry!!!¡± He gnashed his teeth, not daring to disclose anything more.

    Maddening silence.

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Hell doesn¡¯t have the intention to press any charges. But¡­¡±

    ¡°Right now.¡±

 Chapter 645: The Red Sea

    <h4>Chapter 645: The Red Sea</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯d better not try anything funny.¡± Qin Ye wore a sleeping mask and reclined his seat. He was seated in the VIP area, and Abra was seated right beside him.

    Like hell I believe you!

    But if this were an official private visit, you would¡¯ve gone through the proper channels, and not through me! You¡¯re obviously some Emissary of Hell that is up to no good!

    They were on a specially chartered ne. Why did Qin Ye have ess to something like that? Simple. All it needed was a single word of instruction from a particr old monk.

    Qin Ye ignored him. It had already been half an hour since the ne first took off. He waved his hand casually. At once, a man dressed in camouge uniform marched over, saluted respectfully, and then handed him a paper bag.

    Abra bit his lips and nced over. He wanted to say - My Lord¡­ I¡¯ve seen the DreamWorks Mgasy animation¡­ But before he could do so, he discovered that Qin Ye was already looking at a map of Alkebn. Thus, he didn¡¯t say another word.

    Aegyptus¡­

    He had always thought that Aegyptus was located in the Middle East!

    If Aegyptus is in Alkebn, and not--... cough¡­ then, why did the master of Aegyptus choose to head east into the Middle East in the first ce?

    Is it because the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds is too strong? Or is it because the situation there is far too chaotic?

    He turned to the soldier dressed in camouge uniform, ¡°Are we heading through Aegyptus?¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief.

    However, before his heart could even feel settled, the soldier went on.

    ¡°But ever since a few years ago, Cathayan nes passing through Al-Qahirah have all been¡­ affected in some way or another. Finally, just eight year ago, Cathay made the call topletely cut off all flights to Al-Qahirah.¡±

    The soldier shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s hard to describe¡­ For instance, what was mostmonly reported was simple malfunctioning of equipment and instruments, almost as though they had just seized up for a moment. Then, there were reports of temperature dips in the aircraft, and even¡­ some high-altitude supernatural incidents. That said, all of them would eventuallynd safely in the end.¡±

    The soldier nced at his watch, ¡°We¡¯re stopping by New Dilli for a transfer to Eritrea¡¯s Asmara International Airport, before finally flying straight to Mgasy. The total journey will take about seven hours. Sir, would you like me to notify you in advance?¡±

    With that, the conversation ended, and the surroundings were shrouded in silence once more. The darkness from the sleeping mask allowed him to devote all of his attention to his thoughts.

    These were probably caused by the Aegyptian Underworld¡¯s search for Emissaries of Hell!

    I¡¯m afraid that¡­ all eyes must be on Hell right now. They¡¯re all waiting and watching for even the slightest traces of movements from within.

    But just as he was about to drift off into sleep, he felt someone touching his arm, and he immediately opened his eyes.

    ¡°Sir, we¡¯re entering Eritrean airspace right now.¡±

    At once, his pupils shrank.

    His eyes gazed upon the horizon across the skies, staring intently at the tall and magnificent buildings that sat in the clouds! Moreover, some of the structures were built in a highly idiosyncratic fashion.

    There¡¯s actually a magnificent pyramid resting on top of the clouds!

    No. To be more precise, he could sense the presence of a foreign emissary.

    Qin Ye¡¯s breaths grew shallow and ragged. The clouds both above and below him were even slowly but surely beginning to swirl about as a result of his emotional fluctuations. Even the sea below was sloshing about more powerfully than usual.

    Fortunately, they weren¡¯t able to see him.

    It was akin to the promation of the existence of¡­ a king.

    This was the deration of one of the P4 underworlds, the Aegyptian Underworld!

    Qin Ye wasn¡¯t quite in the mood to see anything else right now. He found it difficult to grapple with the fact that he was located in such close proximity to an underworld of such might and influence. Thus, he remained absolutely silent throughout the next 15 minutes of descent, before finally opening the window once more.

    Eritrea was located just south of Nubia, and southwest of Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, the sea separating Eritrea from Saudi Arabia was none other than the famous Red Sea.

    Had he once paused to consider how important the Red Sea was to Aegyptus? They were one of the P4 underworlds of theherworld, so how could they possibly give up a location of such geographical importance?

    The sparkling waters of the Red Sea were practically covered with countless ghost ships right now. Everywhere he looked, he could see tattered sails of the ships fluttering with the wind. By his estimate, there were at least a thousand ships on the Red Sea right now!

    ¡°Emissaries of foreign underworlds¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed and shut his eyes once more.

    Furthermore, this was nothing more than a glimpse of the capital of the Aegyptian Underworld.

    To describe them as powerful would be far too much of an understatement.

    This was a civilization in its full glory!

    He shook his head, and then continued to scrutinize the ships on the Red Sea.

    Legend has it that Anubis uses a scale like this to assess whether his citizens were guilty or innocent. So long as the heart was heavier than the feather, it would be devoured by the monster Ammit, that was known for having the head of a crocodile, the upper body of a lion, and the lower body of a hippopotamus.

    As the ne descended, things slowly came into view, and Qin Ye finally saw it. Far in the distance, there was a colossal blue hole on the surface of the Red Sea. Several ghost ships that were sailing towards it vanished as soon as they arrived at the hole.

    Qin Ye pulled up the window once more. As the ne drew closer and closer to the ground, he could sense wisps of stirring Yin energy emanating from beneath his feet. These wisps of Yin energy appeared to be filled with a sense of disgruntledness as it appeared to dere ownership of the Eritreannds.

    Thus, he remained on the ne, resting in his seat.

    And it would be a huge problem if they discovered the existence of an Emissary of Hell around these parts¡­

    And we¡¯re finally off¡­ Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief. But just as the ne was ascending into the skies once more, he suddenly noticed something¡­

    This man was dressed in a ramrod straight suit, and he sported dark skin. The soldier made a few rounds around the ne, but he didn¡¯t appear to notice anything amiss.

    ¡°Hello.¡± He smiled faintly and spoke in fluent Cathayan, ¡°Emissary of Hell¡­ What a rare sight¡­¡±

    He¡¯s actually also an Abyssal Prefect!

    ¡°Minister of the Eritrean Tribe, Mayasu.¡± The man ced his left fist over his chest and bowed slightly in respect, ¡°By order of my lord, I¡¯m presenting the esteemed Emissary of Hell a small gift for passing through my country.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Madagascar will remain as Mgasy, but given that the author has been using normal references for most countries outside of China, I¡¯ll do the same as well.

    2. Cairo.

    3. Sudan.

 Chapter 646: Sunbird

    <h4>Chapter 646: Sunbird</h4>

    Emissary.

    The two men shook hands. Cold and warm. Mayasu¡¯s gaze instantly flickered wildly, and he gasped in unconcealed shock, ¡°A living emissary?¡±

    With that, he pulled out a small box and presented it with both hands, ¡°Eritrean Underworld¡¯s Sunbird Tribe humbly presents Hell with a humble token gift of a sundial. We wish you happiness always.¡±

    His actions had already drawn the attention of the other crew on board the ne. However, Qin Ye had earlier already given them a soft wink, and they naturally acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

    ¡°Yes.¡± They continued with their seemingly trivial conversation. Mayasu had an impable smile on his face, ¡°We weren¡¯t expecting the sudden arrival of an Emissary of Hell either. Usually, there would be an exchange of diplomatic papers. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t have the time to prepare these either.¡±

    And then, they grew silent. Qin Ye tapped his fingers on the armrest softly. They had only exchanged a few words of titudes, and yet each statement had been undergirded with deeper intentions and hidden meaning.

    I¡¯m afraid that the Sunbird Tribe¡¯s Mythic Spirit had probably already noticed me as soon as I¡¯dnded earlier, and he had thus arranged for Mayasu to quietly get on the ne¡­ It was a reminder to Qin Ye of sorts - You might havee and left without a word, but don¡¯t you think for a moment that this little act of yours has gone unnoticed by us. But since you clearly don¡¯t want the rest of theherworld to know this, we won¡¯t make it public either.

    Qin Ye nced at Mayasu as his mind continued to spin at full speed. He couldn¡¯t care less about what the Mythic Spirit of the Sunbird Tribe did, but¡­ this still represented a fantastic opportunity for Hell!

    Granted, he could have a good, long conversation with Mayasu right here and now. However, he still had his reservations. He didn¡¯t want them to be his first port of call. After all, they were located too close to the Aegyptian Underworld forfort.

    ¡°Ahem¡­¡± Qin Ye coughed softly into his fist to conceal the smile that had somehow crept up the corner of his lips, ¡°I¡¯d made this sudden trip to Alkebn because of the urgency of the situation.¡±

    ¡°Of course you can.¡± Qin Ye turned and gazed deeply out of the window and the deep blue skies, ¡°After all, it¡¯s something that pertains to Forbidden Arts¡­ Speaking of which, Mr Mayasu, would it be appropriate for you to remain here? We¡¯re about to leave the Eritrean airspace soon.¡±

    Mayasu¡¯s pupils narrowed as soon as these words were spoken, but he very quickly regained hisposure once more.

    He gazed intently at Qin Ye, and then promptly vanished from his seat, ¡°If Hell requires any help, the Sunbird Tribe is always at your disposal.¡±

    I¡¯m getting closer¡­

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    This was an ind that had been colonized multiple times. The architecture in this region was clearly influenced by the Europeans, and it looked no different from a simple European town. That said, one would from time to time spot authentic Alkebn thatched huts interspersed among the European buildings. That said, the construction of these buildings were hardly crude or shoddy in the least. Additionally, there were also signs and traces of the presence of diverse faiths in the region.

    And due to the importance of faith in their lives, most Alkebns viewed with great importance the treatment of a corpse or a body. This was rather simr to the practices in Cathay, save that the Alkebns treated corpses with even more reverence than Cathayans. This was primarily due to the notion promulgated by animism that one¡¯s ancestors could no longer protect its descendants if their corpses were destroyed. Naturally, few families were epting of practices such as cremation, and the corory was that funerary stores were seen everywhere.

    The taxi had already gone around the capital of Mgasy, Antananarivo, three times now. Whilst a famous tourist destination, Mgasy was still considered a developing nation, and its infrastructure and amenities wereparable to that of a regr town in Cathay. Moreover, the dry weather in Alkebn made it feel no different from an oasis in the middle of a desert.

    Qin Ye nced at his watch, ¡°I¡¯ll give you 10 more minutes to consider.¡±

    Abra bit down on his lips and remained silent. Meanwhile, Qin Ye simply leaned backnguidly. Time passed quickly. Ten minutester, the hotel where they were putting up at once again appeared in view.

    Just then, Qin Ye finally shut his eyes and spoke up, ¡°Stop the car.¡± He nced at Abra, sighed softly, and then opened the car door.

    He¡­ was looking at me as though I was dead to him. Does this mean that¡­ I¡¯m about to die soon?

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything I know! Please, all I ask is that you let me live!¡±

    There wasn¡¯t any measure of hesitation in his voice.

    Their surroundings of buildings of bustling activity were soon reced with increasing destion. Everything soon changed to farnds and remote pathways, until eventually¡­ even the farnds vanished from sight. All that remained were the destitute mountains that surrounded them.

    Rows of Alkebns were dressed in white robes, carrying human-shaped objects wrapped up in white cloth, leading cattle and sheep as they continued to march into the distance. As they chugged along the road, they passed by at least a dozen such processions.

    He nced out of the window, ¡°Do you know why the driver refused toe here?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ this is the Sanctuary of Ancestral Spirits.¡± Abra shut his eyes and continued with great trembling in his voice, ¡°The dead are all sent to this ce for burial. Every single procession of people dressed in white that we¡¯ve passed by earlier¡­ are all funerary processions.¡±

    Interesting¡­ Qin Ye listened with keen attention. These customs and traditions gave him a new perspective of things around the world.

    ¡°No¡­¡± As though a dreadful thought urred to him, Abra shivered all over and gulped nervously as he continued, ¡°There are three things here that are inexplicably bizarre. Incidentally¡­ this is also the gateway to the underworld!¡±

    His voice trembled, ¡°Regardless of location or angle! It appears just like an eye in the sky, staring down at us from above as though it were seated on the throne of darkness!¡±

    It was important to let Abra to lead the way. This intention of his had never changed from the onset.

    This ce wasn¡¯t too far away from Aegyptus.

    Besides, this was the only way to keep things as discreet as possible.

    Qin Ye listened intently.

    He turned and looked Qin Ye in the eye, ¡°I know that these two peculiarities might not be sufficient to get your attention, but you absolutely have to bear the third point in mind.¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ it pertains to the legend about the Sanctuary of Ancestral Spirits, the River Styx¡­ and¡­ seaming.¡±

    <hr>

    1. France would be referred to as Frankish Empire; while Spain would be referred to as Spania.

 Chapter 647: River Styx and Seaming (1)

    <h4>Chapter 647: River Styx and Seaming (1)</h4>

    That¡¯s somewhat familiar¡­ Qin Ye raised a brow quizzically, but promptly invited Abra to continue speaking.

    Qin Ye nodded slightly. Having lived for so long, he would¡¯ve heard a thing or two about such umon urrences. Even though the name Lake Natron didn¡¯t quite ring a bell, he had most certainly heard about the phenomenon spoken of.

    The flesh within would already be rotting and dposing, and some were even no more than empty shells devoid of flesh. But the feathers on the body would still remain intact, save that they would lose their lustre because of the death of the body. Then, just like undead canoes, these birds would drift about endlessly on theke.

    ¡°A little.¡± Abra took a deep breath, ¡°Everyday at 5.00 a.m, these corpses wrapped in cowhide would be set free onto the streams of the Sanctuary of Ancestral Spirits. Legend has it that these corpses would then be like those birds of Lake Natron, decaying rapidly until they bepletely mummified, before finally drifting into the underworld!¡±

    He shuddered, ¡°These bodies¡­ were all found to have been seamed uppletely!¡±

    ¡°Can you believe it? This means that as the corpses are flowing down the streams, somewhere along the way, something unknown must have seamed up all of these cowhides!¡±

    ¡°Therefore¡­¡± He breathed heavily, ¡°There is only one way into the Mgasy Underworld.¡±

    Isn¡¯t that being a little too unkind to an international tourist of thend?

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Abra nodded heavily, ¡°The exact directions given by my ancestors are to enter the Sanctuary, wrap yourself with corpse¡¯s clothes, enter theke ind of the undead, and say his name. There are no further instructions.¡±

    Sorry, I¡¯ve got no small change. This is just how wealthy I am!

    It was night. The winds around the mountainous regions were bitterly cold.

    Qin Ye looked up at the moon in the sky. Indeed, the moon was full, and tonight was by no means supposed to be a full moon. The dim moonlight was pale and eerie, and it cast an otherworldly silvery sheen across the trees, mountains, streams and rock formations in the Sanctuary.

    Yet more peculiar was the fact that he couldn¡¯t hear a single other sound around these parts!

    He felt no different from a lonely ghost wandering the graveyard at night. And for some strange reason, he couldn¡¯t help but feel as though something hidden in the shadows were watching him intently at all times.

    There was a stream located right in front of him. Over thest few hours, they¡¯d already walked past several families who were preparing to release the corpses of their family members further upstream.

    Furthermore, the riverbanks were somewhat oddly shaped. They were located approximately 3 meters below ground level, and the two riverbanks were approximately 50 meters apart. That said, the small river that flowed through the center was only 3 meters wide. The peculiar shape of the riverbanks suggested that the river was one that often burst its bank and washed out the surrounding parts of the river. However, this was a stream flowing down from a mountain, and it wasn¡¯t likely to be subject to flooding like that. Unfortunately, the mud on both sides of the riverbanks suggested otherwise - that the ¡°stream¡± should have been tens of meters wide.

    Smells fresh¡­

    A ferryman¡¯s river? Is this the stench of River Styx itself?

    Abra held two sets of cowhides and followed closely behind Qin Ye. His face appeared paler than ever, and he nced around nervously. His thoughts were clearly all over the ce.

    He couldn¡¯t help but feel as though life had taken a turn for the worse after meeting up with the Emissary of Hell.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he simply continued to stare ahead of him.

    It appeared hazy. The moonlight was bright and lustrous, and yet he couldn¡¯t really see anything beyond the pile of bones, almost as though it were a line demarcating the end of the mortal realm and the beginning of the underworld.

    ¡°A waterfall.¡± Qin Ye nodded affirmatively.

    Everything was shrouded in silence here, and not even the waterfall in the distance generated the slightest bit of sound. The air was filled with an austere sense of ritual, almost as though a massive hand were gripping tightly the hearts of all mortal men.

    ¡°My Lord¡­¡± Even a mere mortal like Abra could sense that death was looming right around the corner. His breaths grew ragged, and he couldn¡¯t help but grab the hem of Qin Ye¡¯s suit.

    He didn¡¯t continue to follow the river downstream. After all, he knew that these rituals were a system that had been put in ce to act like a passport of sorts. That said, the key to entryy not in the ce of entry, but thepliance with the process set in ce.

    ¡°You can choose not to go too.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, ¡°Or perhaps¡­ head in through a different means.¡±

    Ting-a-ling¡­ Ting-a-ling¡­ Just then, Qin Ye¡¯s rm suddenly rang.

    The witching hour.

    It¡¯s begun¡­ This is the start of the entry procedure of the Mgasy Underworld¡­ Qin Ye watched intently. He didn¡¯t want to miss this moment of excitement one bit.

    Closer, and closer; faster, and faster! After approximately three seconds, Qin Ye turned his gaze upstream, and Abra did likewise.

    Everything was cast in a soft silvery-white sheen under the soft glow of the moonlight. It was still located quite far away from them, but the forcefulness of the sound made it patently clear what it was. Abra¡¯s jaws dropped, and his legs gave way, ¡°How¡­ how is this possible?¡±

    The three-meter wide stream had suddenly transformed into a river that was tens of meters wide, and it was rushing straight through the mountains like a tsunami and towards the location of the waterfall!

    However, that wasn¡¯t the most shocking. The most astonishing part about this entire process was how the river was actually¡­ covered with corpses!

    Furthermore, every single corpse in the waters had their eyes wide open.

    Thud¡­ Abra copsed to the ground. His legs were soft as jelly. He desperately sought to mber up to his feet, but strength seemed to elude him.

    ¡°Where did all of this watere from? No! And these corpses! What the hell is going on with these corpses?!¡±

    Qin Ye stared at the massive river. The corpses looked numerous, but the truth of the matter was that there were only a few hundred of them. That said, the force of the river was so great that he could already see the tail end of the surge in the tide.

    Abra scrambled to open up the two cowhides, but Qin Ye knew that he couldn¡¯t dally any longer. Thus, just as thest row of corpses rushed past, Qin Ye picked up the two cowhides and flung them onto the river, before soon tossing Abra onto one, and jumping onto another without hesitation.

    It was almost as though he was suddenly on a quietke, gently paddling a canoe as he drifted endlessly along towards the horizon. In fact, he couldn¡¯t even feel the movements of the cowhide!

    ¡°Has the door to the underworld been opened?¡± Qin Ye shut his eyes cidly and indulged himself in this final journey of the living dead.

 Chapter 648: River Styx and Seaming (2)

    <h4>Chapter 648: River Styx and Seaming (2)</h4>

    This was a house constructed out of stone. It wasn¡¯t small by any means, and it sat on a plot ofnd of approximately 400 to 500 square meters in size. Furthermore, the roof of the house was surprisingly ten meters tall. There were numerous cowhides hung inside, all of which appeared rough, but practically translucent. It looked no different from a tailoring workshop.

    He had pinched the knife a little bit too hard between his fingers, and the excessive force caused his finger to twist at an inhumane angle.

    Just then, he heard a tinkling sounde from the roof of the house. There were numerous bones strung together with a red string hanging at the top of the roof, jangling like wind chimes as the gentle breeze swept by.

    As he drew closer and closer to the door, the Yin energy emanating from his body gradually grew denser and denser, from that of a Netherworld Operative, to that of a Soul Hunter, and then to that of an Anitya Hellguard! Thehermes in his eyes also began to pulsate wildly.

    Unlike the refined ir of regr jewelry, his essories emanated a rougher and wilder ir about it. That said, it wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit less opulent or magnificent in any way.

    Creeeaaak¡­ He was momentarily blinded by the light. However, it wasn¡¯t light from the sun. Rather, it was light from the torches around. As though long ustomed to this, the man drifted out of his abode an inch above the ground.

    He was situated on an ind.

    That said, this was a massive ind measuring several hectares in size. At the heart of the indy a beautiful grotto temple with strong Aegyptian ir and colours. A vivid, carved statue of a cobra was erected at the top of the temple. Both sides of the grotto temple were nds covered with hundreds of stone tforms, each of which were carved with the designs of various animals.

    And if one looked close enough, they would see that each of the stone tforms¡­ were covered with countless corpses!

    Meanwhile, each and every one of thesedies had their own long hair running through the eye of the bone needles, and they were furiously seaming up the cowhides with their own hair! This bizarre sight, coupled with the brightly lit human-height candle stands all around the stone tforms made the surroundings eerie and chilling to the extreme!

    They had their arms crossed in front of their chests as theyy in the middle of their own cowhide. Everyone had their eyes closed and an expression of peace and sce written all over their faces.

    This was the mouth of River Styx!

    ¡°347 corpses, Lord Mopti.¡± A man d in multicoloured feathers who had clearly been waiting for some time responded respectfully.

    ¡°Impossible.¡± Mopti turned back, ¡°We didn¡¯t receive any reports of a powerful ancestral spirit crossing over to the underworld today. At present, the strongest Ancestral Guardian here in Mgasy is no more than at the level of a Defender.¡±

    ¡°No. It has to be an error. Don¡¯t bother the Mythic Spirit and the top Ancestral Guardians with such matters.¡±

    ¡°This damned job¡­¡± Mopti sighed softly as he massaged his temples.

    The work here was easy. All he needed to do was to count the number of deaths in the mortal realm, and then extradite the souls of the dead into the kingdom of the Mythic Spirit. Nothing could possibly go wrong here. Day after day, he faced the exact same repetitive work, and there seemed no end to this humdrum of life.

    He shook his head and sighed softly. He felt no different from the bird in the cuckoo clock. When it was time, he would pop out and ask for a report, before shrinking back into his abode to mind his own business. The only thing that made him feel remotely useful was the respect given to him by the soldiers guarding the gateway.

    There was no one.

    It was almost as though he¡¯d just entered the tiger¡¯s den, and something was staring at him through theyers of cowhides.

    No response.

    Still no response. Thehermes around him crackled softly.

    Emptiness. As the corpse¡¯s clothes swayed about slightly, an intense sensation of fear gripped his heart, and his entire body began to tremble wildly.

    And it¡¯s watching me!

    But unfortunately, it didn¡¯t move in the slightest bit.

    No, in fact, they shifted in an orderly fashion, almost as though something were moving through the middle of the cowhide that was being tanned!

    ¡°Men¡­ MEN!!!¡± Mopti desperately turned back and hammered on the wooden door, ¡°Enemy attack! This is an invasion of the ck Mamba Underworld! Inform the Chieftain at once!!¡±

    Haa¡­ An electrifying sensation surged from the base of Mopti¡¯s spine and straight through his mind.

    How long has it been since I¡¯ve experienced a feeling like this?

    The Yin energy warning earlier wasn¡¯t an error! It had actually urately detected the presence of a powerful intruder! I¡¯ve been too careless!

    His voice trailed off.

    His dressing¡­

    It was at that moment that Mopti suddenly recalled a rumour that he¡¯d heard some time ago.

    Before Mopti passed on, there used to be four top underworlds in theherworld, otherwise known as the Four Permanents or the P4 underworlds, and each of them was a regional leader. But several decades ago, the Cathayan Underworld had for some strange reason abruptly locked itself off from the rest of the world. Everyone was therefore watching them intently.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand casually, ¡°I¡¯m here for a private visit. It¡¯s only natural that you¡¯re unaware of something like this. Stay here and don¡¯t make any sudden movements. Abra.¡±

    A figure slowly crept out from behind Qin Ye. Abra had somehow lost his ability to walk ever since entering the underworld.

    ¡°Babulu¡­¡± Mopti froze, and then his body shuddered violently.

    Meanwhile, streams of Yin energy slowly began to converge from every direction, before transforming into a ten-meterrge vortex of Yin energy that continued to swirl madly atop the grotto temple. Furthermore, a terrifying source of Yin energy erupted from the heart of the vortex!

    He¡­ finally remembered.

    After decades of being a bottom scraper, Mopti had finally found the change he¡¯d always wanted. Unfortunately¡­ the change that he got was far more than he¡¯d asked for.

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

 Chapter 649: Cold Shoulder (1)

    <h4>Chapter 649: Cold Shoulder (1)</h4>

    The surrounding waters trembled, almost as though something had disturbed the still surface of a mirror. Momentster, waves that were tens of meters tall began to slosh about wildly, causing the little ind to look no different from a small boat in a storm.

    And then, the voice suddenly stopped.

    Emissary¡­ Emissary of Hell!

    At once, a multitude of thoughts surged straight into Babulu¡¯s mind, and everything fell silent.

    The eye in the vortex quivered softly. Momentster, the Yin energy coalesced together, and a tall dark-skinned man stepped out of the vortex in the sky and quickly walked up to Qin Ye with a bright smile on his face. He extended his hand, ¡°Angels of the East. It¡¯s been a long time. This isn¡¯t a disturbance at all. How could the angels of the East be a disturbance? It is our honour to have you here.¡±

    Babulu was very tall. He stood at approximately two meters tall. His hair was naturally curly, but the ends of his hair appeared to transition seamlessly into wisps of Yin energy. Two clumps of jade greenherme zed where his eyes were. He wore garments made of animal skin, and carried a multitude of exquisite essories and adornments.

    Incredibly strong.

    This was qualitative strength at its best, and not quantitative strength. Babulu must have consolidated his own cultivation several times in order to reach the level that he was at today. And Qin Ye was able to confirm all of these suspicions of his as soon as they shook hands.

    He¡¯s clearlyying the foundations for his breakthrough to the realms of a Yama-King. I¡¯m afraid that he¡¯s quite possibly the next master of the ck Mamba Underworld.

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°It¡¯s all a matter of destiny.¡±

    This was a masterful manner of beating about the bush, raising incidental references about the elephant in the room, but never actually talking about it.

    It wasn¡¯t always a good thing to make the first move. After all, it might be interpreted as over-eagerness, and that could potentially cause the other party to reassess the leverage they had in the discussions and potential negotiations ahead.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Embassy remains in the ck Mamba Underworld to this day. But admittedly, it hasn¡¯t been cleaned out for a while. If you wish to stay here, I¡¯m afraid you might have to be patient as we get that sorted out. Alternatively¡­¡±

    It¡¯s begun¡­

    Is it public business, or private business?

    One of the P4 underworlds¡­ This may be an olive branch¡­ or it may be a result of the unforeseen changes in circumstances¡­ Babulu had clearly detected the precursors of change.

    Babulu opened the wooden door in front of them as he spoke.

    What should have been a small ind surrounded by corpses had now transformed into a sanctuary filled with ancient trees. The flowerbeds of spider lilies outside were only separated by a yellow stone paved road that led straight out into the distance. Several animalistic totems bearing candles lit both sides of the path. A stone building stood right at the end of the road, among the flowers and the trees. A dozen dark-skinned butlers dressed in western suits bowed deeply at once as they greeted him, ¡°Wee.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Babulu smiled back radiantly and bowed deeply with his hand in front of his belly, ¡°Alkebn would never leave its allies in the lurch.¡±

    Something¡¯s not right¡­

    However, the Mythic Spirit had yet to make his appearance!

    The reason why he had waited so long for Abra in the mortal realm was precisely because he wanted tomunicate directly with the Mgasy Underworld through their dedicated channels so as not to draw too much attention to themselves. Furthermore, he was hoping that by doing so, he could bridge the gap between the fact that he was an Abyssal Prefect, and the Yama-ss Mythic Spirit of Mgasy.

    And that¡¯s not all, he didn¡¯t even get to interact with the foreign minister of the ck Mamba Underworld!

    Furthermore, as a deputy chieftain, Babulu didn¡¯t even bother to show me around the ck Mamba Underworld. Given Hell¡¯s reputation, they would know full well what a Prefect-ss Emissary of Hell means. He stared nkly at the vi as he walked closer and closer. Various thoughts continued to pour into his mind, So, why are they giving me the cold shoulder?

    It was luxurious. Not as refined as it could be, but it was gorgeous and charming in a wild and bold way. Everything came together nicely in the vi.

    Skulls of Yin beasts hung all around them, and one of the multicoloured Yin beasts even appeared to have been made into a vase with a blooming lotus flower emerging from its mouth. A candle rested at the heart of the flower, lit with a gentle me. In other rooms, there were gilt candlesticks of various shapes holding up softly flickering mes. Everything looked mysterious yet elegant at the same time.

    Upon closer inspection, Qin Ye discovered that these utensils appeared milky-white like jade, and almost transparent. His best guess was that these were utensils crafted out of a specific type of gemstones. The patterns etched on them were surprisingly exquisite, just like a traditional Cathayanndscape painting.

    Qin Ye sat on the chair adorned with plush cushions. They didn¡¯t appear too thick, but their material made Qin Ye feel as though he were sitting on clouds. It was incrediblyfortable.

    The Mgasy Underworld is clearly faring better than its mortal realm counterparts¡­ He slowly scanned the paintings and decor around him - The entire underworld is undergoing an orderly development. Even their manufacturing industries aren¡¯t too bad. In fact¡­

    Qin Ye set down the cup and casually picked up the magazine and flipped through its contents. It wasn¡¯t thick by any means. Furthermore, he couldn¡¯t read thenguage on the cover page. However, every article was tranted into fournguages.

    He looked through its contents. He had neither ess to information, nor any leads to go on right now. Although he¡¯d done a fair amount of preparation beforeing, one could never be prepared enough. The magazine might be thin, but it was at least a decent source of information.

    ¡°So that¡¯s it¡­¡± He took a deep breath and tossed the magazine back on the table. Then, massaging his table, he eximed under his breath, ¡°Well, thatplicates things...¡±

    A stone temple. It was one that was designed with traditional Alkebn ir, as well as Aegyptian elements.

    The stone steps leading up to the temple were thousands of meters wide. Emissaries were stationed all around the steps like orderly rows of ants. Each row of emissaries were located exactly 200 meters apart from the other, while ten-meter tall torches were located at regr intervals all around them. The entire area was filled with a sense of sacredness and splendour, and it made any Yin spirit around feel indescribably small.

    Babulu was kneeling quietly on the ground in the temple, before an altar almost a thousand-meters wide. Copious amounts of Yin energy raged from the heart of the altar, interspersed only by wails of aggrieved spirits. It was as though the altar were the very embodiment of the underworld itself.

    Silence.

    ¡°Are you certain that leaving him at the vi wouldn¡¯t give rise to any diplomatic disputes? After all, no underworld has ever treated Hell like this before!¡±

 Chapter 650: Cold Shoulder (2)

    <h4>Chapter 650: Cold Shoulder (2)</h4>

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the cold shoulder, Deputy Chief Babulu. We¡¯ve put him up in the best vi, and given him all the food he can ask for. His needs have all been met. How can you call this the cold shoulder?¡±

    ¡°Have you forgotten about that time in the Middle East, when a coalition of powerful underworlds, including the Argosian Underworld that hadid waste to ournds, joined hands against Hell? Don¡¯t you remember the result back then? Don¡¯t you remember the 100-meter tall pyres of the dead that Hell left in the wake of its march?¡±

    The entity hidden in the ck fog sighed softly, ¡°Babulu, you¡¯ve got one perspective, but you haven¡¯t considered the rest. The Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds is no different from a smattering of multifarious underworlds that seek their own interests. The only reason we¡¯ve managed to survive to this date is because of the protection proffered by each Mythic Spirit to their own nation. That said, not even the lesser underworlds would look to us when ites to matters of international affairs. So, if that¡¯s the case, why¡­¡±

    ¡°Why would they agree to our request?¡±

    His voice trembled with excitement.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ck Mamba Mythic Spirit sighed softly, ¡°78 years ago, Volgograd discovered one of thergest veins of Parasitic Inkstones, and they hope to be able to mine a total of 100 million tonnes of it per year. The total content of the mine is estimated to be as high as 6.7 billion tonnes. It was an earth-shattering discovery that shocked the entireherworld.¡±

    ¡°But, just a few days ago, the Russian Underworld sent out a series of letters inviting various underworlds across theherworld to tender for a right to jointly tap into this Parasitic Inkstone Mine that is codenamed ¡°Mole¡±. The list of underworlds eventually epted is particrly of interest¡­¡±

    Babulu immediately took a closer look at the scarlet list of epted underworlds appended to the back of the agreement. Secondster, he gasped, ¡°This list of epted underworlds¡­¡±

    This can¡¯t be right¡­

    This was far more than the Mole Mine could support!

    This was something that the Alkebn Underworlds had already gotten used to.

    Furthermore, there was something particrly strange about the list of epted underworlds. Some were recognized for their advances in Yin Talismanology or their clout in international affairs. However, of the South Usonian Underworlds that were chosen, the Brasilian Underworld was known to be one of the lowest on the list. And yet, it was still chosen. The only possible justification was that the Brasilian Underworld still held some measure of clout among the South Usonian Underworlds, but even that, that was hardly sufficient justification for its selection for the Mole operations.

    ¡°Good. You¡¯ve detected the peculiarities with it. Although some of the underworlds on this list are only to be expected, the Alkebn Underworlds and the South Usonian Underworlds are definitely not one of the ones to be expected.¡± ck Mamba¡¯s voice contained a trace of bemusement in it, ¡°So, what do you make of it?¡±

    Without hesitation, Babulu dered affirmatively, ¡°This is an opportunity!¡±

    ck Mamba chuckled, ¡°Then, let me teach you something else about international affairs. In the international arena, good things nevere free. The Russian Underworld has made such an attractive offer to the world, not because it desires riches, but because¡­ they¡¯re trying to please the internationalmunity!¡±

    ¡°The fact that he¡¯s offering something of such great importance to the world means that they naturally expect something ofmensurate importance back. And coincidentally, we find ourselves catching a little Emissary of Hell traveling in secret. Clever Babulu, do you know why I¡¯m giving the Emissary of Hell the cold shoulder now?¡±

    Babulu got up to his feet. Thehermes in his eyes flickered wildly as he slowly paced about intively. Ten minutester, he finally turned back and looked ck Mamba right in the eye, ¡°Lord Mythic Spirit, are you saying that this has got something to do with Hell? But, perhaps it¡¯s not convenient for them to step in or apply direct pressure right now, and that¡¯s why Hell has sent an Emissary all the way here to Alkebn?¡±

    The huge eyes in the cloud of Yin energy narrowed slightly, revealing traces of a smile, ¡°As expected¡­ You¡¯re well suited to be a chieftain. Don¡¯t be anxious, Babulu. You¡¯re still a little bit rough around the edges. That said, this position of mine will eventually be yours.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be shy. This is how an Alkebn Underworld passes on its legacy. It¡¯s all in the natural order of things¡­¡± ck Mamba continued, ¡°Now, go. Serve the Emissary well, but no matter what, stymie him at every step of the way and don¡¯t give him any chances of meeting up with me. In fact, it would be ideal if you don¡¯t even show up.¡±

    Back in the vi. Qin Ye stared at the ceiling with his thoughts spinning wildly.

    Such news was like a hand, reaching deep into the tranquilke of Qin Ye¡¯s heart and endlessly stirring up waves on the surface of theke.

    At once, he understood why the Tsar was doing something like this.

    ¡°Furthermore, given the conjectures made by the Harken and Shang Yang and his team, the Russian Underworld would need some aid to kickstart their research and development if they are indeed thinking of making its foray into the field of Forbidden Arts. These developments in Yin Talismanology are top secret information, just like the mortal realm¡¯s test reports leading up to the development of nuclear weapons. It would be unrealistic to expect none of the P4 underworlds to be involved in these developments.¡±

    Qin Ye massaged his temples as he poured himself a cup of coffee. It had to be said that Alkebn was an interesting ce. To think that he would find himself drinking coffee out of a traditional porcin ss, rather than tea.

    Troublesome.

    He shook off these stifling thoughts and once again addressed his mind to the issue at hand.

    What am I supposed to do to break this impasse?

    Furthermore¡­ they¡¯re not even willing to grant me an audience right now. How am I supposed topel them to meet up with me?

    Unfortunately, time wasn¡¯t on his side. He didn¡¯t know how long it was going to take him to be able to drive his point across, and yet he had alreadymitted to giving his response to the Russian Underworld by the uing new year.

    That was just under 50 days away.

 Chapter 651: Treasure Ship

    <h4>Chapter 651: Treasure Ship</h4>

    What would the Second King Yanluo have done>

    Unfortunately, it was important to keep things as private as possible. A situation was brewing that would potentially affect the entire East Continent. How he handled the uing negotiation might well even determine whether Hell would soon have a Forbidden Arts wielding neighbour in future. Sure, nobody might be able to stand in his way if he armed himself with Fate, but¡­ could Qin Ye really be certain that there weren¡¯t darkfeathers from the Aegyptian Underworld hidden within the ck Mamba Underworld?

    ¡°Hang on¡­¡± Just then, he suddenly set down his teacup.

    ¡°Given how things are right now, there¡¯s no choice but to wait¡­¡±

    With that, things remained just as uneventful for the rest of the day.

    ¡°Distinguished Emissary of Hell, it¡¯s truly an honour to meet you.¡± An old man with a hunch and dressed in a suit stood at the door with a smile, ¡°My name is Mbunba Nzinga, and I am the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs tasked to look after your needs. If you have any specific instructions, please feel free to call me.¡±

    To be more precise, he was a nascent Abyssal Prefect, just like Qin Ye.

    ¡°Lord Mythic Spirit is about to begin his semicentennial molting process, and I¡¯m afraid that both Deputy Chieftain Babulu and the Ancestral Shaman cannot be here with Prefect Qin because they are with him right now. Apart from that, we regret to inform you that the ck Mamba Underworld is effectively ced under a lockdown for as long as the molting process will take, so please ept our sincerest apologies for being unable to show you around. But rest assured, we¡¯ll do everything we can to satisfy your needs. Additionally, you can be assured that no Yin spirit around this part will disclose your whereabouts.¡±

    ¡°About a month.¡± Mbunba Nzinga bowed deeply, ¡°If Prefect Qin would like to travel to a different Alkebn Underworld in the meantime, we can prepare the official paperwork for such an internal transfer within ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°As you please.¡± Mbunba bowed respectfully once more.

    Click¡­ The door shut behind him. As soon as it did, Qin Ye nced back with a grim expression on his face.

    Cold shoulder?

    However, their intention was clear - you may or may not be able to meet with our Mythic Spirit. This was made patently clear by the fact that Deputy Chieftain Babulu didn¡¯t even show up this time.

    They were bent on wearing out Qin Ye¡¯s patience until a crack surfaces in his story. They were bent on uncovering Qin Ye¡¯s true intentions.

    Sure, Qin Ye could be forting and state off the cuff that it concerned the Forbidden Arts. But¡­ given Hell¡¯s proximity to the Russian Underworld, wouldn¡¯t it be something better left for Hell to resolve?

    One¡¯s stature in the international arena was a double edged sword. Generally speaking, it came with a whole host of privileges, such as the kind that Qin Ye enjoyed during his trip to Daehan, including the leverage he had over Marquis Rumyantsev despite being nothing more than an Infernal Judge back then. This was the pedestal of leverage that they had as one of the P4 underworlds.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± He walked to the bathroom and washed up his face to freshen himself. Then, he stared at his own reflection in the mirror and remainedpletely silent for some time.

    Soon, the second day passed, and then the third¡­ the fourth¡­ and then the fifth.

    The food was decent, the drinks were great, and the environment was pleasant and elegant. But, even then, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel increasingly anxious.

    Just like that, a week passed, and there were still no signs of a meeting in sight. They had clearly stated their reasons for their absence, and it was a fully defensible justification.

    The cigar tasted great. It even bore a trace of sweetness of cherries, and it didn¡¯t feel in the slightest bit greasy at all. What¡¯s more, it wasn¡¯t too strong or pungent, and it even filled his lungs with a lingering mellow andplex fragrance.

    Chuckling, he snuffed out the cigar and exhaled the smoke softly as he fell deep into thought. After some time, he sighed - I can¡¯t stay here any longer¡­

    I have to remember that Hell has never required an audience with any other underworld. None of the P4 underworlds require something like that. Given our status in theherworld, there¡¯s only room for your requests of us, and not the other way around. Therefore, I cannot afford to stay in one ce for too long in the hopes of reaching out to another underworld. Dallying too long can invite suspicions just as much as rushing anxiously into a meeting or a particr agenda.

    He sighed repeatedly as he continued to y with the lighter in his hands. These were the thoughts running through his mind right now, but¡­ he was still reticent.

    The seemingly leisurely process of negotiation was in fact a race against time. And to this end, he¡¯d already wasted 10 days in the very first underworld he¡¯d been to.

    What¡¯s the perfect agenda to bring up in order to pique their interest?

    Why would you be talking to me if you¡¯ve got nothing to ce on the table?

    It was simple, dark coffee. There were a few packets of creamer and sugar cubes ced beside the coffee pot, but Qin Ye didn¡¯t add any of that.

    Then, just as he was about to ce the cup back beside the coffee pot, he suddenly noticed something.

    Is this really a porcin cup of Cathayan origins?

    It was a square-shaped seal with four words - Second Year of Chongzhen.

    It was as though a bolt of lightning had just crashed out of the blue and straight through his mind, scattering the clouds of darkness and dispelling all thoughts in his mind. His eyes glistened brightly.

    At once, the smoky cherry taste filled his mouth, followed by the bitter aftertaste of chocte that surged straight into his heart. It immediately brought rity to his mind.

    ¡°Yes¡­ They would never pass up on any potential profits promised to them by the Russian Underworld just to meet with me. After all, it¡¯s better not knowing something than to learn about something and not do anything about it! They¡¯re clearly concerned about Hell, and dragging things out is the only solution that gives them the best of both worlds. For one, they would be able to assess more from how I act. Furthermore¡­ given the close proximity between the Russian Underworld¡¯s announcement and Hell¡¯s arrival, they¡¯re probably wondering whether there¡¯s any connection in the two events!¡±

    ¡°How could I have failed to consider something as simple as this? I¡¯d only learnt of the ck Mamba Underworld because of the Zhu n¡¯s records!¡±

    And why was the ck Mamba Underworld the first one on the list?

    The Mgasy Underworld was not only a natural port and a natural archipgo, it was also Alkebn¡¯s gateway into the Hindustani Ocean! It¡¯s location was prime! There was no reason not to maintain a good rtionship with the ck Mamba Underworld!

    Someone came almost right away, ¡°Sir, what do you need?¡¯

    ¡°Certainly. I shall notify Mr Mbunba right away.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. What¡¯s more unfortunate is the fact that I¡¯de bearing a potentially mutually beneficial rtionship. But since the Lord Mythic Spirit is unavable, then there¡¯s no reason to force the issue.¡± Qin Ye feigned a sigh of regret.

    Qin Ye lit himself a cigar, ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Dead silence.

    There was only one kind of Cathayan ship that could properly be described as a treasure ship, and that was none other than therge wooden ships in the fleet of admiral Zheng He!

    Mbunba would definitely know what Qin Ye was talking about. In fact, he was probably privy to the knowledge that the Zhu n was smuggling shipments to them a hundred years ago. After all¡­ how could he not, when he called himself a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs?

    <hr>

    1. This refers to the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, also known as Zhu Youjian. He was also part of the Zhu n.

    2.

 Chapter 652: Princess Jia Ning and the Emperorâ€™s Son-in-Law

    <h4>Chapter 652: Princess Jia Ning and the Emperor''s Son-in-Law</h4>

    ¡°What else would it be?¡± Qin Ye set down a cup of coffee before Mbunba and furrowed his brows, ¡°I haven¡¯t given a proper introduction of myself just yet. I was nning to do so before the Lord Mythic Spirit.¡±

    What the hell is this?!

    Mbunba stared at Qin Ye with great disbelief. He couldn¡¯t quite ept what Qin Ye was saying.

    ¡°It¡¯s only normal that you¡¯re unaware of these things.¡± Qin Ye smiled casually as he continued sipping his coffee, ¡°After all, Hell is currently locked down due to some circumstances that I¡¯m not at liberty to disclose. It wasn¡¯t easy for us to reach out to you like this.¡±

    Mbunba had at some point in time already pulled out a clean handkerchief to wipe off the imaginary sweat on his forehead. It was a habitual response.

    The news might have been delivered casually, but he certainly appreciated the weight of the implications behind Qin Ye¡¯s words. In fact, this was something that was potentially more earth-shattering than even the news pertaining to the Russian Underworld¡¯s Parasitic Inkstone Mine!

    However, sea trade was something of quite a different character!

    In fact, ever since the closure of Cathayan borders, there has been a dearth of Cathayan artwork in the rest of theherworld. If they were able to secure themselves a bountiful harvest through a backdoor sea trade with Hell, their national finances would easily be all sorted out for the near future. After all, he knew full well the kind of prices Cathayan artwork could fetch.

    By now, Mbunba already had a sincere smile stered all over his face, ¡°I truly didn¡¯t expect you to be a member of the Zhu n. Pardon the ignorance on my part.¡±

    Appearance-wise, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t half bad. At the very least, he exuded an air of youthful heroism about him. Needless to say, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t half bad as far as his cultivation was concerned either. Everything appeared to check out on the surface, and Mbunba couldn¡¯t quite find any loopholes in Qin Ye¡¯s ims.

    ¡°Does it really matter who¡¯s smuggling goods? We¡¯re traversing the entire span of the Hindustani Ocean to get to the Mgasy Underworld. Does the person sending these treasure ships truly matter?¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­

    Besides, Hell was the one who would be sending goods over first, so what does it matter who they are?

    Since the identity didn¡¯t matter, there was clearly no reason to bring up the Zhu n¡¯s name in the first ce. That said, the prospects of them being old business partners also helped to ease up the wariness in Mbunba¡¯s heart.

    Mgasy was an ind that was a strategic gateway into the entire Alkebn Continent.

    Qin Ye sighed and shook his head, ¡°I came here with my eyes on the prize, but the prize was clearly out of my reach.¡±

    ¡°Mr Qin¡­¡± Mbunba¡¯s breath grew hot and ragged, ¡°Why don¡¯t you¡­ Wait just a little bit longer?¡±

    Whoosh!

    This kiddo¡­ understands things.

    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely let you have an answer within the day!¡± Mbunba bowed deeply and immediately left.

    It grew wider and wider, until Qin Ye finally burst outughing.

    He¡¯d finally found his point of entry!

    And as for his identity?

    Hell was currently sealed off by the Array of the Nine Gods that was set in ce by the Second King Yanluo of Hell, and nobody could possibly know any better what was happening within Hell right now. If Qin Ye said he was the husband to Princess Jia Ning, then he was the husband to Princess Jia Ning. And if he was a son inw to the emperor, then so be it!

    This was a smuggling operation. Hell was sending goods to be disposed of in the Alkebn Underworlds. All the ck Mamba Underworld needed to do was to await the shipment and receive the goods at their port. There¡¯s no risk of loss at all!

    And to that end, the reason why Qin Ye had decided to pass himself off as a member of the Zhu n was simply to smoothen the path for his dealings with the ck Mamba Underworld.

    Simple.

    In fact, he could easily produce a whole host of other artifacts to prove his identity, including coveted treasures such as the Hotan Blood Jade, the imperial green jade, the South Red Agate, and so on and so forth.

    Speaking of which, I¡¯ve heard that the Cathayan artwork is rather popr in the international arena.

    Time flew by, and four hours passed in the blink of an eye. And then, there was another knock on the door.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Qin Ye patted his back gently, and they released each other from embrace. Then, Qin Ye continued, ¡°So, Mr Babulu, I take it that you¡¯re no longer as busy now?¡±

    ¡°No problem. Truth be told, we¡¯de here first because we would prefer to work with someone that we¡¯ve had a history with before.¡±

    Just look at how your posture and tone has changed over thest few days¡­ Qin Ye shuddered softly as he nodded his head.

    ¡°Please.¡±

    Qin Ye stepped through the door without hesitation. His vision blurred out at once, and his mind spun. A split secondter, he found himself appearing right in the middle of a grand hall.

    A series of stone pirs carved with all sorts of living beings supported the entire grand hall. Thempstand was carved with intricate totemic designs of the birds of Alkebn, and it zed withhermes that rose several meters into the sky. The corners of the walls and the roof of the grand hall were also etched with remarkable reliefs. Anyone who stood in the heart of these halls would find themselves unimaginably small and filled with a desire to worship the object of their religion.

    A circr altar was located right in the depths of the grand hall, and a 100-meter long skeletal serpenty right atop the altar!

    Yama-King¡­

    Terrifying Yin energy cascaded down to the ground like a grand waterfall. Even though the ck Mamba was clearly already restraining its abilities, Qin Ye still couldn¡¯t help but feel as though he were a mere mortal standing in the face of a colossal dragon.

    This was the might of a divine being.

 Chapter 653: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (1)

    <h4>Chapter 653: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (1)</h4>

    This was a disy of might used as the tyrannical precursor to negotiations. The Yin energy around the ck Mamba swirled subserviently, almost as though they were all paying tribute to their master. Unfortunately, just like the sun, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t see the ck Mamba¡¯s appearances clearly no matter how hard he tried.

    What a terrifying monster¡­

    He wasn¡¯t bowing in subservience to another underworld, but bowing in respect for a Yama-King¡¯s might and authority.

    With that, the stifling pressure in the surroundings suddenly eased up, and Qin Ye finally managed to get a better look at the sights around him.

    Five of these seats were already upied by underworldly emissaries. In fact, Qin Ye could¡¯ve sworn that the exact same person was seated on three of these seats.

    Babulu was naturally seated on one of the chairs, and he smiled, ¡°Prefect Qin, let me make the introductions. These three are the council elders of the ck Mamba Underworld. While they do not have names, they were conferred the titles of zing Sun, Bright Moon, and Yonder Star over the course of their service in the council.¡±

    Babulu made an inviting gesture and smiled, ¡°All prominent decisions here in the Alkebn Underworlds are made by none other than the respective Lord Mythic Spirit of thends. That said, the daily affairs are all handled by the ancestral shaman of each tribe. This esteemed individual here is none other than the ancestral shaman of the ck Mamba Tribe. You may address him as Ancestral Shaman Cain, or Shaman Cain for short.¡±

    The entire grand hall was silent.

    Qin Ye slowly took his seat. Ever since he entered the grand hall, his nerves had been tensed up to the extreme, so much so that he was now like a tightened bowstring, ready to fire its loaded arrows at the moment¡¯s notice.

    The Russian Underworld had already made its move. What he needed to do next was not only to convince them to give up the potential benefits to be had from a partnership with the Russian Underworld, he even had to do so without disclosing too much about the current situation of Hell. This was something that was bound toe up in the negotiations sooner orter. It was the elephant in the room.

    Why does Hell need the Alkebn Underworlds to make a move instead?

    Clink¡­ Qin Ye picked up the wine cup in front of him and gently swirled it about before taking a sip from it.

    As the warm liquid trickled down his throat, he slowly regained hisposure. Then, when he finally set the ss back down on the table, he slowly looked back up, only to realize that the other end of the table was currently upied by a¡­ creature.

    He had the head of a cobra, and there were clearly ck and vermillion tattoos etched all over his body. He stood at approximately 1.6 meters tall, and he was covered with golden ornaments replete with a simple white robe. The wide seat at the end of the table appeared almost toorge for this creature, but nobody thought it fit tough at the creature. Instead, everyone reverently ced their hands on their chests and bowed respectfully to the creature.

    The suffocating aura of Yin energy dispersing from the creature¡¯s body was more than a sufficient reminder as to whose territory he was currently in right now!

    ck Mamba¡¯s gazended directly on Qin Ye, and they locked eyes. Qin Ye¡¯s hands were already damp with cold sweat, yet he managed to maintain the same, cid smile on his face as he nodded back in response. Several secondster, the head smiled faintly, and the scales on his cheeks rattled slightly as he raised his hands and made a gesture for all to take their seats, ¡°Please take a seat. Emissary of Hell, you appear somewhat nervous.¡±

    ck Mamba smiled back, ¡°Then this must probably be the first time you¡¯re visiting the various underworlds here in Alkebn. It¡¯smendable that you¡¯re able to maintain the requisite standards of etiquette despite being so nervous.¡±

    It was a little joke, and the underworldly emissaries chuckled along. At once, the atmosphere softened somewhat.

    He¡¯d seen several Yama-ss powerhouses to date, but never quite someone with such unrestrained and wild Yin energy.

    ¡°There¡¯s no one else here.¡± ck Mamba spoke with indifference, ¡°Feel free to speak in your ownnguage of preference. Rest assured that I can understand everything that you¡¯re saying. And, more importantly, nobody else apart from us is privy to the conversations that are taking ce. Babulu.¡±

    The food was rich and delightful. However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t even bother to pick up the utensils set on the table. This banquet was more of a table for discussion than anything else. The more he ate, the slower his thought processes, and the more likely he was to disgrace himself.

    Thus, Qin Ye slowly sipped at his wine in an elegant and reserved posture, waiting patiently for the ck Mamba Underworld to ask their question.

    ¡°Please ask.¡± Qin Ye maintained an impable smile on his face.

    Babulu nodded, and then his smile faded away, ¡°First question, do you have a detailed charter of the uing shipment for our inspection? How many ships are we looking at? What¡¯s the cargo weight of each ship? What¡¯s the expected departure time, the time of the port of call, and the sailing route?¡±

    This was merely a segue that Qin Ye had thought up at the eleventh hour in order to gain an audience with the Mythic Spirit. He didn¡¯t even know what these were, much less prepare something like that to be used to convince the ck Mamba Underworld.

    All eyes were on him. Although there weren¡¯t many people in the grand hall right now, every single underworldly emissary was at least at the level of an Abyssal Prefect. Copious amounts of Yin energy flowed constantly in every direction like the vast oceans out there.

    ¡°Prefect Qin.¡± Elder zing Sun interjected, ¡°Importance is one thing, but professionalism is quite something else. With all due respect, I didn¡¯t find any traces of professionalism in your earlier conversation with Deputy Chieftain Babulu. Or are you saying that¡­¡±

    Qin Ye smiled.

    ¡°First of all, this is merely an indication of our intention. We don¡¯t know whether the ck Mamba Underworld is still open to the idea of maintaining a sea trade route with us after thepse of a hundred years. After all, it¡¯s been some time since Hell has gone into reclusion. What is needed to determine the intention of parties isn¡¯t so much professionalism, as it is trust.¡±

    Elder zing Sun nodded his head, acknowledging the veracity of Qin Ye¡¯s exnation.

    He smiled, ¡°As you¡¯ve mentioned, it matters not who you represent. The Mgasy Underworld holds an edge over all other underworlds in terms of its geography, and will always wee Hell¡¯s fleet with open arms.¡±

    Qin Ye was cautious about his answers. Thus, he mulled over the question for several seconds before finally responding, ¡°Artwork.¡±

    ¡°Clothes woven from fine fabrics, jewelry etched with precious gemstones, ornaments made by famous craftsmen, and the like.¡±

    ¡°What about the Rain Swallows?¡± Just then, a hoarse voice interjected from the other end of the table. Qin Ye looked up, only to see a terrifying pair of eyes gazing intently at him, ¡°The Zhu n had earlier promised that they would be sending us ten Rain Swallows in the next voyage to the Alkebn Underworlds. Is the Zhu n¡­¡±

    His eyes narrowed, ¡°Is the Zhu n nning to resile from its earlier promise?!¡±

 Chapter 654: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (2)

    <h4>Chapter 654: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (2)</h4>

    In negotiations, one would sometimes encounter an unforeseen problem that threw a spanner in the works, just like how things were right now.

    He¡¯d never even heard of something like that before. But the fact that the Mythic Spirit had only asked for ten Rain Swallows suggested that this was something extremely precious and valuable.

    Something used for special hobbies?

    At once, the mention of these foreign words acted like a sudden surge in the tide that threatened to breach the floodgates of his tightly guarded heart.

    Three seconds.

    ¡°The esteemed Mythic Spirit must be pulling my leg.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s heart thumped as hard as war drums on the cusp of a great battle. His blood vessels throbbed as though they were bursting at the seams, but he did his level best to maintain a cid and calm smile on his face, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of something like that.¡±

    ¡°Hell holds a lofty status as one of the P4 underworlds. But, even then, the ck Mamba Underworld is still an underworld with the presence of a Mythic Spirit as well. In fact, there are at least 30 Alkebn Underworlds, of which at least 20 possess the might of a Mythic Spirit. And this is the current count that we have.¡±

    He lowered his head, and a deafening ng suddenly echoed throughout the entire grand hall, almost as though ten thousand swords shed mightily against each other at the exact same time. It was absolutely chilling.

    Qin Ye shut his eyes, and the corners of his eyes twitched slightly, ¡°Unfortunately, you¡¯re speaking of knowledge thates with a continuing rtionship. This isn¡¯t something that can simply bemunicated through verbal means.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ I¡¯m practically cing my life on the line!

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Babulu ced his hands on his abdomen and leaned back coldly, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were a trusted member of the Zhu n?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun right into overdrive. If he were a machine, then there would most certainly be steaming out of his head right now.

    He had no other choice.

    And he had no choice but to abandon his purported identity as a member of the Zhu n in order to survive. His best course of action now was simply to remain as vague and ambiguous as the ck Mamba Underworld would condone.

    ck Mamba stared intently at him as he said these things. Five secondster, he suddenly chuckled and finished the contents of his wine ss in one go.

    ¡°It just slipped my mind. The Rain Swallow isn¡¯t something that the Zhu n had promised. I¡¯d gotten it all mixed up¡­ I guess I am getting old after all¡­¡±

    As expected of an old Yama-King¡­ To think that he¡¯de up with something to catch me off guardpletely out of the blue.

    Think of it this way. Both sides were posturing aggressively and yet maintaining a rock solid defense all the while. But ck Mamba¡¯s masterstroke of a negotiation tactic had suddenly taken Qin Ye by surprise, forcing Qin Ye to dig himself a hole and tear a gap in his own defense by admitting that he didn¡¯t in fact bear the Zhu n¡¯s surname. All they needed to do right now was to seize the tempo of the negotiations before Qin Ye could get back into the rhythm of things.

    ¡°Can I ask one more question?¡± As expected, ck Mamba didn¡¯t give him any breathing room at all, ¡°Since the Zhu n is so bold as to take to the seas, does that also mean that our fleet of ships can start docking in Hell once more? Is the Pearl River port of Hell open for business again?¡±

    ¡°The ck Mamba Underworld should be aware of the lockdown that Hell is experiencing right now. Hunter-ss darkfeathers and Hellguard-ss darkfeathers may enter Hell under the right conditions, but none have ever stepped out of Hell to date.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed softly.

    Not only was he going to respond to this - he was going to respond well!

    Silence.

    If Qin Ye wasn¡¯t nning to respond to questions about Hell¡¯s current situation, then the easiest way out would have been to rebuff the question with a simple ¡°noment¡±. However¡­ he was actually silent.

    Were they finally going to understand the mystery surrounding the hundred-year reclusion of Hell?

    ck Mamba stared at Qin Ye in consternation, but chose not to rush him in his response. Half a minuteter, Qin Ye sighed softly, ¡°Are there other Emissaries around?¡±

    Finally, he closed his eyes and appeared to sense his surroundings for a moment, before turning to Qin Ye once more, ¡°I swear in my capacity as a Mythic Spirit that there¡¯s nobody else here apart from the ones you see around you.¡±

    Tell us!

    This is the secret to unlocking a century-old mystery! We¡¯re so near, and yet so far! Hurry up and tell us!

    The scales of ck Mamba¡¯s face rattled softly.

    Just a hundred years ago, he was known to have struck out at all of the major underworlds in theherworld, and yet not a single one of them dared to speak out against him. What¡¯s more, he had practically showed up at each of their doors, challenging their authority of his own ord, beating up all opposition forces until he arrived right before their respective gods of death, and then finally defeating all of them in one fell swoop.

    And to make matters worse, he managed to achieve all of this in three days¡¯ time.

    !!!

    The secret was finally about to be unveiled!

    Gulp¡­ Someone gulped anxiously in the midst of the otherwise silent grand hall.

    So that¡¯s how it is¡­

    ¡°Hardly so.¡± Qin Ye chuckled bitterly, ¡°Only half of it has been solved.¡±

    Why did he have to step on someone who¡¯s passed on into another world?

    Babulu couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°That is to say, if all goes well, Hell will finally end its period of reclusion in another hundred or so years?¡±

    He was practically reciting verbatim his prepared response to the question that he knew woulde up at some point in time.

    Firstly, there were times when it was better to let them know why Hell was in reclusion and fill the gaps in their minds, rather than allow their imaginations to run wild. Even though the fact was that Hell was no more, it was far better to fill their minds with a cover story that they were presently merely undergoing a change in regime.

    Obviously, the ten questions or the century puzzle sounded far better. Moreover, the fact that this was something that emanated from the Second King Yanluo of Hell only went to show just how difficult it was going to be.

    It was only then that he would finally be able to exin why Hell couldn¡¯t possibly make a move even though the Russian Underworld was acting up right at its doorstep!

    After all, no matter how much Hell looked down on the Russian Underworld, they would never under normal circumstances condone the presence of a neighbouring underworld¡¯s possession of Forbidden Arts!

 Chapter 655: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (3)

    <h4>Chapter 655: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (3)</h4>

    He sipped his wine silently as he swept a nce around the table.

    Every single Yin spirit, including ck Mamba himself, were all deep in thought.

    In other words, you¡¯ll never be able to verify anything I¡¯m saying right now! Besides, from your perspective, my honor as an Abyssal Prefect, a trade negotiator and a representative of one of the Eight Great ns is clearly riding on the line. That being the case, do you think I¡¯d really be lying to you right now?

    Speaking of which, Brother Xu, rest in peace. Let us never see each other again¡­

    Qin Ye smiled back, ¡°After a hundred long years of reclusion, we¡¯d been given the opportunity to make a trip out after clearing the fifth question. I¡¯m not sure about the other Great ns out there, but as for the Zhu n, shipping routes are our main source of wealth. We simply cannot afford to be cut offpletely from it. Naturally, it was our top priority to ride on this opportunity to bag ourselves some profit. I¡¯m afraid that an opportunity like this would be hard toe by once the new King Yanluo ascends the throne.¡±

    Hell had to get bigger and stronger than ever before. After all, it was only during this trip out when he saw the sheer number of ghost ships sailing on the Red Sea and the pyramids floating in the sky that he finally understood how terrifying the P4 underworlds truly were.

    And if they were that strong, how could they possibly still be dabbling in smuggling operations with the lesser underworlds?

    He smiled and nced at everyone, ¡°This is, in a sense, a cautionary word that time is truly of the essence.¡±

    Just then, ck Mamba suddenly jerked his head back and stared at him.

    Qin Ye raised his brows quizzically. However, he knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to be considering these things. Thus, without missing a beat, he continued, ¡°At the very least, things will have to stop for a time when the new king ascends the throne. After all, we wouldn¡¯t want to get on his bad side at the incipience of his new reign. Everyone¡­ do you still have any questions?¡±

    This was far more than they had expected, and they were all busy digesting the information. Several secondster, Babulu finally smiled, ¡°No more. Lord Mythic Spirit, what do you think?¡±

    This was going to be a protracted process detailing the particrs of the goods to be sold and purchased, as well as the terms of trade. Generally speaking, it would take at least a month to draft up the inventory of goods, and then another three or four months to negotiate the payment terms. If everything went without a hitch, and luck was on his side, he might just be able tounch these shipments right after the New Year Festivities in Cathay.

    First, they would get to see their family, and then, they would understand that Hell is thriving and prospering more by the minute! Who wouldn¡¯t take pride in something like that?

    ¡°No hurry.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s heart thumped wildly. He could even feel his breath grow warmer by the minute as he continued to build his case.

    The main dish is going to be served shortly¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s something else that I wish to talk to you about.¡±

    Qin Ye stood up and bowed slightly, ¡°You can say that, but that would be a little bit of an overstatement. After all, it¡¯s not a big deal for Hell to begin with. In fact¡­ it¡¯s just a slight inconvenience to us.¡±

    ¡°But what if it¡¯s closely rted to your underworld?¡±

    He ran his finger across the mouth of the wine ss, ¡°300 years ago, when the ancient city of Antis dered its own kingdom, this was alsobelled a small inconvenience by Hell. However, the war that ensued saw the death of several dozens of Abyssal Prefects.¡±

    ¡°Look, the ck Mamba Underworld is unfortunately not of the same caliber as one of the P4 underworlds. Something that is trifling to you¡­ might well be something that is well beyond our means to deal with.¡±

    Bloody hell¡­ Things were all going so smoothly with the business proposition, so why are you suddenly going back on your word at the earliest sign of trouble?! Do you know how shameless you look right now?

    At once, thehermes in the eyes of all emissaries flickered wildly.

    The Yin energy in the surroundings stirred intently, causing the temperatures to suddenly dip sharply. Meanwhile, Qin Ye could feel a sharp murderous intent looming over his head.

    What intense hatred¡­

    But, from their reaction, he could now tell that the damage to the Alkebn Underworlds was probably far greater than he had originally fathomed!

    ¡°But there are certain things that we cannot simply gloss over.¡± Qin Ye stood up and spoke with an even louder voice. This was clearly the climax of the negotiations. He steeled his mind and continued to speak with an outpouring of emotions.

    Heughed viciously and wickedly, unleashing in full force the unbridled murderous intent of his heart, ¡°Very well.¡±

    Qin Ye bowed deeply. Then, without padding the topic any further, he cut straight to the chase, ¡°The Russian Underworld is currently researching and developing Forbidden Arts.¡±

    ¡°And what does this have to do with us?¡± They clearly weren¡¯t used to hearing the topic of taboo being discussed so openly. Thus, Shaman Cain instantly sneered back, ¡°The Russian Underworld is located right next to Hell. This is clearly the duty of one of Hell as one of the P4 underworlds. ording to the usual practice, you should immediately convene an executive meeting under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts and submit it as an agenda to be decided by the Federation of Underworlds!¡±

    ¡°But to this end, Hell has already decided that it will remain passive to it.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ Hell is currently undergoing a change of regime. How could we expect them to even make a move?

    It had to be said that had Qin Ye not done everything he did earlier to pad the blow, he would probably already be greeted by a storm of reproach by now. ¡°This is your duty as a member of the P4 underworlds! What are you saying now? What do you mean?¡±

    Hell was undergoing a change of regime, and every single Emissary of Hell was fighting for the title of sessor to the throne. Naturally, nobody could possibly be bothered about Forbidden Arts right now. Besides, Forbidden Arts wasn¡¯t a big deal to one of the P4 underworlds to begin with. And for that matter, Hell has always maintained a rtively cordial rtionship with the Russian Underworld, particrly since they share one of the world¡¯s longest border lines.

    ¡°It is regrettable.¡± Qin Ye bowed deeply, ¡°You¡¯re all keenly aware of the might of the Second King Yanluo. His power has already long exceeded thews of the Heavenly Dao, and now¡­ I¡¯m afraid none of us know which parallel universe he¡¯s gone to. Unless and until the century puzzle has been cracked and solved, he won¡¯t being back.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± He was dancing on a knife¡¯s edge right now, and his mind spun intensely - If this were a true Emissary of Hell living under the regime of the old Hell, what would he say and do?

    ¡°You!!!¡± Shaman Cain abruptly shot to his feet, together with Babulu and the other three elders who stared intently at Qin Ye.

    He paused for a moment, ¡°What they¡¯re dabbling with is likely the second generation Forbidden Arts.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, we see the shadows of the Argosian Underworld aiding them from behind.¡±

 Chapter 656: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (4)

    <h4>Chapter 656: Negotiations with the Mythic Spirit (4)</h4>

    Fwoosh!

    If one were to say that the tension earlier amounted to boiling and toiling, then the current situation could only be described as a massive explosion!

    The one-twobination punch of the Forbidden Arts and the Argosian Underworld had practicallynded right on the nerves of the Alkebn Underworld.

    However, the ck Mamba didn¡¯t appear too upset by this. Instead, he simply waved his hands and told everyone to take their seats. Having lived for such a long time, his experiences told him that it was far better to act with prudence and caution than to react hastily.

    ¡°Second generation Forbidden Arts?¡± He tilted his head and looked up at the immeasurably tall ceiling of the grand hall, ¡°And how do you know that the Argosian Underworld is involved?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°The second generation Forbidden Arts contains explosive might that is at least ten times more powerful than the first generation Forbidden Arts. As to how exactly thises about, it¡¯s difficult to exin it to an underworld that doesn¡¯t possess its own Forbidden Arts. Besides, I wouldn¡¯t purport to be an expert in this field, and my knowledge in this regard barely scratches the surface.¡±

    ¡°As to how we know that the Argosian Underworld is involved, this is the result of investigations carried out by our darkfeathers. First of all, we are aware that every underworld bears a slightly different notion of the Forbidden Arts. After all, every nation would have to rely on its own environment and resources in selecting the right Yin Talismans to employ. Otherwise, the four existing Forbidden Arts would all bear the same effect and have the same name. That said, the existing Forbidden Arts still bear a certain measure of ovep in some of its Yin Talisman algorithms. This is what we call the Forbidden Arts Module.¡±

    ¡°In turn, this algorithm is among the most closely guarded secrets of the P4 underworld. It¡¯s nigh impossible that such knowledge would fall into the hands of other underworlds. But the Russian Underworld still caught wind of it. How did they manage that? This piqued our interest, and we decided to investigate if one of the other P4 underworlds had a hand in something like this. Suffice it to say that afteryers of screening and investigative work, we¡¯d finally managed to pinpoint the Argosian Underworld as the culprits involved.¡±

    ¡°How exactly these investigations were carried out, and how the conclusion was drawn, are unfortunately matters of top secrets, so pardon me if I¡¯m unable toment further in this regard. However, you can take it from me that this informationes from the highest echelons of Hell¡¯s government, and I can assure you that there can be no errors in this regard.¡±

    There was silence as he spoke. However, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of uneasiness in his heart.

    There were times when a particr approach seemed seamless in theory, but things were different when put into practice.

    Just like now.

    It was only after saying all these things that he discovered a crucial shoring in these allegations of his, and that was the fact that his words didn¡¯t bear sufficient weight.

    After all, given the gravity of such usations, it was only reasonable to expect amensurate level of evidence, including documents or detailed inferences.

    What is a second generation Forbidden Art? How can you expect us to believe these ims of yours?

    What they needed was proof of the Forbidden Arts Module that represented the second generation Forbidden Arts. At the very least, they would need to be able to show how explosive the second generation Forbidden Arts could potentially be, and how quickly things could spiral out of control if the Russian Underworld¡¯s operations were left unhindered. In fact, this was only the first step.

    The second step was to show proof of his allegation that the Argosian Underworld was involved.

    How did they discover something like that? From where? Who¡¯s involved? Why are they doing something like this? What¡¯s the logical deduction process like?

    He needed a perfectly defensible conclusion. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t prepared for something like that.

    Time was too tight, and he simply didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to have all of these things prepared!

    He only had 50 days to convince the Alkebn Underworlds - something that might easily take him five months or more if he weren¡¯t under such immense time pressure!

    Furthermore, he couldn¡¯t help but feel as though¡­ there seemed to be some level of loopholes in his story thus far.

    He wasn¡¯t daft. At the very least, few Emissaries of Hell could¡¯vee up with the idea of pitting the tiger that was the Alkebn Underworlds against the wolf that was the Russian Underworld. Fewer would possess the courage to sit here like Qin Ye and negotiate with an Alkebn Mythic Spirit and his Prefect-ss aides. And most of all, fewer yet were there Emissaries of Hell who could possibly fool the Mythic Spirit to such an extent as Qin Ye did.

    Not only did he need to be thick skinned and bolt, he would also have to possess a heart of steel.

    I¡¯m afraid that this is as far as I can go¡­ Qin Ye suddenly felt powerless about the entire situation. Just then, he nced up, only to see ck Mamba smiling right back at him.

    Qin Ye did his best to maintain a cid expression on his face, save for trace levels of haughtiness and pride that apanied his stature as an Emissary of one of the P4 underworlds. Despite the baptism of suspicious gazesnding on him right now, as well as the fact that his heart was beating right out of his chest, he knew that he absolutely had to keep the farce up!

    Hang in there, and there was still a remote possibility that he might seed.

    But back off now, and he would be the greatestughingstock across the history of theherworld.

    ck Mamba asked, ¡°So¡­ tell me, how did Hell first grow suspicious about the Russian Underworld¡¯s intentions?¡±

    ¡°Thergest Resentment Crystals Mine in the history of theherworld has just appeared in the Mongol Empire. Due to certain reasons, we recently crossed paths with the Russian Underworld. Suffice it to say that they¡¯d gone to great lengths topel a reaction from us, and certain overtures during our dealings alerted us to the possibility of the Russian Underworld¡¯s desire to enter the foray of researching and developing Forbidden Arts.¡± Qin Ye responded with a smile.

    Since my words were vague and ambiguous earlier, then I may as well continue with that. At the very least, I might just be able to pull a veil over their eyes and make it more difficult for them to distinguish the truth from the lies¡­

    It was just like how a self-professing prophet or irvoyant often spoke vaguely and enigmatically, yet did so with such a palpable sense of justice that everyone chose to believe in him¡­

    Why did Qin Ye choose to do this?

    It was because he would much rather appear as a fool before the ck Mamba Underworld than risk allowing all of his efforts to go to waste right now!

    After all, this was a matter that concerned the entire situation in the East Continent! In fact, the consequences of leaving this matter unresolved was potentially dire! If the problem wasn¡¯t nipped at the bud right now, then it was only going to be a matter of time before the Russian Underworld¡¯s foray into Forbidden Arts triggers an earth-shattering phenomenon that would be picked up by the Hindustani Underworld. If they were to get involved, then they might even seek to use the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts as an excuse to establish a forward military base in the Mongol Empire on the pretext of monitoring the situation! That would be the very worst case scenario!

    The entire room fell silent.

    However, none of them appeared to be incensed or enraged due to the mention of Forbidden Arts. Rather, they were all looking down, as though deep in thought.

    I¡¯ve screwed up¡­ Qin Ye sighed softly. Time wasn¡¯t on his side, and he wasn¡¯t able to give them a satisfactory response.

    That said, he knew that he had already done his best in the circumstances. Whatever happened now¡­ would be left entirely up to fate.

    His heart was swamped with frustration and regret, but he had no choice but to maintain that same look of cidity on the surface.

    International affairs¡­ are truly difficult to manage¡­ Qin Ye sighed softly. Just like an used person who was waiting for the verdict, he waited patiently and with bated breaths as he slowly sipped at his wine.

    I¡¯ve got to maintain this persona of Hell no matter what happens!

    I¡¯m one of the P4 underworld, and rightly so! Who cares if you know that I¡¯m lying to you?

    ¡°I understand.¡± Unexpectedly, ck Mamba suddenly spoke up just a few secondster, ¡°Babulu, please send the Angel of the East back to his abode.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Babulu nodded, and then raised his hand with a gesture of invitation to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye braced himself and cupped his fists respectfully to ck Mamba with an impable smile on his face, ¡°Then, I eagerly await your favourable response.¡±

    He spoke quickly, but his lips were clearly filled with bitterness.

    tter¡­ The door opened up, and Qin Ye¡¯s silhouette vanished into the distance. It was only then that Ancestral Shaman Cain sneered, ¡°My Lord, this is clearly something that is falsified. What do you think Hell is trying to do?¡±

    ck Mamba didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he simply stared nkly at the ceiling.

    ¡°As Hell would say, their words are as light as a feather. None of those ims are backed by any evidence.¡± Elder Yonder Star spoke up for the very first time, only to reveal that she was actually ady, ¡°He¡¯d practically glossed over all of the details. What in the world is Hell trying to do here?¡±

    Just then, ck Mamba raised his hand and revealed a mysterious smile on his face, ¡°But¡­ have you considered what if everything he says¡­ is true?¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± Elder Bright Moon responded hoarsely, ¡°There are neither documents nor other forms of solid evidence. Besides, matters pertaining to the Forbidden Arts are of international importance, so how could he speak of it so lightly? Does he think we¡¯re fools?¡±

    ck Mamba shook his head and then stood up with a grave expression, ¡°Then, let me say this once and for all¡­ In all likelihood, there¡¯s not one bit of falsehood in what he had said earlier!¡±

    At once, the emissaries seated at the table couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror as they stared back at their master.

    ¡°Are you saying that¡­ thest dozen or so statements he¡¯s made are true? My Lord, I was of the view that he was merely trying to pull a stunt over here. This Emissary of Hell looks fresh out of the oven, and perhaps he might simply be here to gain exposure in preparation for his future.¡± Shaman Cain shook his head.

    However, ck Mamba began to pace around the room with some measure of annoyance, ¡°I don¡¯t know why he hasn¡¯t pulled out any documentary evidence, or perhaps it might just be the case that they¡¯re not willing to produce these things now. But¡­ have you ever considered what his identity truly is?¡±

    ¡°Zhu n of the Ming Dynasty? Li n of the Tang Dynasty? The Zhao n? Or the Aisin-Gioro n? Or perhaps¡­ one of the representatives from the Ten Abyssal Courts?¡± Elder zing Sun looked up with flickeringhermes in his eyes, ¡°Regardless of who he might be, an Abyssal Prefect like him would probably be affiliated with one of the more powerful ns.¡±

    ¡°None of the above!¡± ck Mamba licked his lips as he walked right back to the table and mmed his hands onto the tabletop. And then, he swept a devilish nce around as he dered categorically, ¡°His ims might have seemed doubtful and suspicious, but I wonder if it might have been intentionally so. Regardless, what I¡¯m certain about is that¡­ he¡¯s definitely someone that represents the internal workings of Hell. In other words, he represents Hell as a whole!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s definitely not part of any of the Great ns of Hell. He¡¯s here to negotiate with us directly on behalf of Hell!¡±

    These words were like a bolt out of the blue, and everyone couldn¡¯t help but stare at each other,pletely confused. Momentster, Shaman Cain was the first to snap out of his stupor, and he immediately mmed his fist on the table in deep realization, ¡°Are you talking about¡­ his attitude?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ck Mamba¡¯s eyes narrowed as he turned to the now-shut door, ¡°He¡¯se for two things. The first item on the agenda was to talk about business prospects. His performance in that regard was practically wless. But as soon as we got to the second order of business¡­¡±

    He smiled, ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice?¡±

    ¡°His stance changed.¡±

    ¡°Although he tried his level best to maintain some measure of neutrality, he still appeared somewhat agitated, and clearly on behalf of Hell at that. What kind of person would speak like that apart from an official that represented Hell?¡±

    ¡°Had he merely been from one of the Eight Great ns, he would do nothing more than to incidentally refer to the Forbidden Arts without saying anything more. Instead, Prefect Qin¡­ appeared to be filled with the desire to exin everything to us with great rity, yet at the same time appeared to have his hands tied in some way or other. Most importantly, he wasn¡¯t able to pull out any evidence to show for it. How difficult would it be to convince us with just words and rhetoric?¡±

    Elder Yonder Star¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, ¡°Then why¡­ did he even bother bringing up the idea of trade? And evenbel it as smuggling?¡±

    ck Mamba hissed inughter, ¡°Do you remember what he told us before? About Hell¡¯s current situation?¡±

    ¡°The Second King Yanluo has posed ten difficult questions to them all in an attempt to seek out a sessor. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s lying. I¡¯ve crossed paths with the Second King Yanluo before, and I can assure you that he¡¯s a person who does whateveres to his mind, because the power he wields allows him to change the Three Realms as we know it. Truth be told, the entireherworld was practically living on the edge during the few centuries he remained in power. Everyone was concerned that he would start a great war for conquest. Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t do so.¡±

    ¡°I reckon that the situation in Hell must be far worse than Prefect Qin had described. There have been records of nine sessors coveting the throne in ancient Cathayan history. If you ask me, there are probably dozens of potential sessors coveting a spot on the throne in Hell right now. The situation is probably so messed up that they can¡¯t even bother to concern themselves with the Russian Underworld. And in order to mask the situation in Hell, they chose to lead us in with the pretext of smuggling andmerce, greasing our palms, before seeking ourmitment to deploy our forces. What a splendid n¡­ Hahaha¡­¡±

    Elder zing Sun responded, ¡°Then¡­ What do we do?¡±

    ¡°Since Hell might very well be weaker than before, this means that the bnce of powers in theherworld is on the cusp of change! Should we¡­ test it out?¡±

    ¡°No! That would be foolish!¡± ck Mamba hissed back, ¡°We¡¯re talking about a monstrosity of an underworld that has stood at the pole position in theherworld for thousands of years. This is only an abdication of the throne, and it¡¯s far from having copsed. Test the waters? Are you not afraid of the potential consequences if the Second King Yanluo were to return to these Three Realms? Do you think I would be able to resist his advances in any way?¡±

    His eyes gleamed with ferocious murderous intent, ¡°Watch this Emissary of Hell closely. There¡¯s a good chance that whatever he says is true. That said¡­ we¡¯ve still got to test his ims a little bit further.¡±

    ¡°For now, everything remains but a possibility. If he wants to convince us, then he would have to show us something much morepelling!¡±

 Chapter 657: Remedial Measures

    <h4>Chapter 657: Remedial Measures</h4>

    But, unfortunately, there weren¡¯t more than 20 such talents in the new Hell who were capable of maintaining such a discussion with him, and each of these talents currently held an appointment where they would be of the greatest influence. The only ones with spiritual intelligence around him right now were Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin, but they¡­ were clearly not intelligence based champions¡­

    Sometimes, it was better to write everything down once than to repeat himself a million times.

    ¡°Evidence. Elocution.¡± These were the two words that he first penned down. And then, he murmured to himself as he went on writing, ¡°International diplomacy ispletely different from my encounter with the three daolords. Perhaps it was partially attributable to the fact that the daolords are only Abyssal Prefects, but the implications of international diplomacy are clearly far greater in terms of both importance and the quantity of resources involved.¡±

    He rubbed his wrist, and then continued penning down his thoughts with a pensive voice, ¡°What I need most right now is how Hell arrived at the conclusion that there is the shadow of the Argosian Underworld behind the Russian Underworld¡¯s movements right now.¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then continued, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll also need records of the investigations of Hell¡¯s darkfeathers in the Russian Underworld. It¡¯s only with these that I¡¯ll finally be able to showpelling evidence of the Russian Underworld¡¯s ambitions.¡±

    ¡°And thirdly, I¡¯ll need aplete write up setting out our deductions as to why we think there¡¯s the hand of the Argosian Underworld secretly spurring on the Russian Underworld from behind the shadows. And these can¡¯t be just bald assertions. They would have to contain proper logical discourse.¡±

    He punctuated his final statement with several exmation marks before finally setting his pen down.

    At the very least, he would need to get the ck Mamba Mythic Spirit to give him his word that he would contact the other chieftains on Hell¡¯s behalf. Otherwise¡­ Qin Ye would have no choice but to return to Hell to consider alternatives as to how he might possibly deal with the two Dukes of the Russian Underworld.

    ¡°I¡¯ve underestimated these negotiations.¡± He massaged his temples with a deep sigh, ¡°Previously, I¡¯d always been able toe out on top of my negotiations with the daolords because of the pitfalls that they dug for themselves, and I¡¯d actually allowed these minor sesses of mine to cloud my judgment on the weight of international negotiations. In fact, even if they believe in what I say right now, they would probably still be reluctant to spring into action unless they have something in ck-and-white to show for it. This would be the weight behind my words. Absent these things, everything I¡¯ve said thus far amounts to nothing more than empty words.¡±

    He sat on the sofa, drinking cup after cup of tea. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn¡¯t find a usible solution at all.

    ¡°My Lord.¡± The two ghosts bowed to him.

    ¡°Remember, the first thing I¡¯ll need is the full particrs of how it was first discovered, and the second thing I¡¯ll need is the supernatural phenomenon apanying its appearance. Thirdly, once you obtain these things, I want you to locate Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban and have them draft up a detailed analysis and inference of the information we have at hand. This would have to include the age of the Resentment Crystals, and the possible amount of it the mine contains. Naturally, it would also have to include an analysis as to what the Resentment Crystals can be used for. Oh, that¡¯s right. Do remember to include as many photographs as possible.¡±

    ¡°And if Arakshasa still isn¡¯t back yet, then you¡¯ll have to head out at once and locate her as quickly as you can. Remember that time is of the essence. Everything needs to bepleted within the next three days. And by that, I mean that you¡¯ll have to be back in three days¡¯ time. Now, I want you to locate Abra immediately and have him book you a return flight. Meanwhile, I¡¯ll immediately get in touch with the Special Investigations Department of the mortal realm to allow your connecting flight to transit immediately.¡±

    He was grasping at straws. Qin Ye was aware that after taking into ount the travelling time involved, this would leave the schrs at most a day, or even just over a dozen hours to organize their thoughts, go through the information and produce a detailed analysis. However¡­ having some hastily put-together proof on hand was far better than none at all.

    This was something that he¡¯d picked up back during the Hungry Ghost Festival. At the very least, he was keenly aware that he couldn¡¯t just sit around, hoping that the situation would resolve itself. As far as international negotiations were concerned, preparation was the key to sess.

    ¡°Secondly, as you¡¯ve heard, Ryu Changmin will be searching out the ones who¡¯d been involved in the development of the Forbidden Arts. There are a few of the returning schrs who would naturally fall outside of this category of schrs. I want you to gather them up and have them prepare a report on the situation in the East Continent and the potential changes to the internationalndscape if the Russian Underworld manages to actually develop Forbidden Arts. Again, this is a report that will have to be done up formally, and packaged just like a formal diplomatic document. Thereafter, I¡¯ll need you to hand their report over to the Harken to run through and endorse its contents. As with Ryu Changmin, I¡¯ll need you right back here in three days¡¯ time.¡±

    With that, the two ghosts finally departed, and it was only then that Qin Ye took his seat again. He drew a deep breath and waved his hand. At once, Fate appeared in the air.

    If he managed to seed, then the critical situation in the East Continent would finally be resolved. Otherwise¡­ he might well have to watch passively on the sidelines as the Russian Underworld plods along the avenue of Forbidden Arts.

    Didn¡¯t youe to the Alkebn Underworlds with such a mindset to begin with?

    He didn¡¯t know whether these ns of his were going to work. However, this was still the only possible course of action forward that had urred to him over thest two hours.

    ¡°If I¡¯m going to convince them, then the evidence I produce must bepelling enough - sopelling that it leaves them no room for doubt.¡± The gaze in his eyes was filled with determination, ¡°Everything started in Daehan, so there¡¯s no reason to be concealing the truth about Daehan. And to that end, the only eyewitness to the crucial events at Daehan is none other than me.¡±

    Everything that happened in Daehan began to y through his mind like a movie, and he slowly ruminated on these experiences of his for over an hour before finally lifting Fate.

    ¡°Things have taken a turn for the interesting, and it¡¯s time again for Fate to rear its ugly head.¡±

    ¡°Although Yanluo Qin had paid some heed to the gravity of the new Hell¡¯s first diplomatic mission, it was unfortunately still insufficient.¡±

    ¡°He encountered some measure of difficulty in his first voyage to the Alkebn Underworlds. These are typically matters that he would originally have thought of had he addressed his mind to it. However, a multitude of things have happened since his trip to Daehan. One thing led to another, and his investigations eventually uncovered the Russian Underworld¡¯s ns that had been brewing for decades on end. By the time he realized it, it was already a race against time. All he could do was to think up the best remedial measures to salvage the situation. Credit where it was due, the Third King Yanluo has done remarkably thus far. Unfortunately, he¡¯s already gone as far as he can go, and everything is left entirely up to fate.¡±

    For some strange reason, Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but sense that ever since Fate officially changed hands, it had slowly but surely begun to change its tone of voice when it spoke to Qin Ye¡­

    That said, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to settle the old scores with this brush. Qin Ye closed his eyes and focused his mind on the most pressing issues at hand. At once, Fate began to move in ordance with his thoughts.

    ¡°Year 20XX AD, Third King Yanluo of Hell, Qin Ye, went on a voyage to the ck Mamba Underworld, the gateway to the Alkebn Underworlds, and--¡­¡±

    What he had intended to write was: ¡°--and seeded in convincing all of the Alkebn Mythic Spirits to travel to Khuree to quash the burgeoning ambitions of the Russian Underworld.¡±

    He was unable to go on!

    Then¡­ why don¡¯t I write about myself?! I¡¯ll write a magnificent chapter of how I¡¯ve managed to conquer Alkebn!

    Just as he fell silent, Fate automatically moved on its own ord and exined the rules to him, ¡°That is beyond my jurisdiction. The Mythic Spirit of a foreignnd possesses far more Yin energy than I can influence. Furthermore, there aren¡¯t sufficient particrs and details to go on with.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed. He should have known it wasn¡¯t going to be so easy. Otherwise, wouldn¡¯t Fate be ssified as a divine artifact even greater than the three divine artifacts of Hell? He could simply write ¡°Third King Yanluo of Hell conquers the four top underworlds¡±, and that would be the end of the story.

    After a moment of silence, he once again shut his eyes and another idea surfaced on his mind. This time, Fate immediately flew into action without the slightest signs of hindrance.

    ¡°Year 20XX AD, one of the twelve envoys, Lord Liu Yu of the Hanyang Underworld, conspired with Tsar Arturo of the Russian Underworld, and set into motion the Russian Underworld¡¯s script of death that had been in the works for decades on end¡­¡±

 Chapter 658: The Tsarâ€™s Gravitas

    <h4>Chapter 658: The Tsar''s Gravitas</h4>

    The bone serpent drifted up into the sky, and goldenhermes lit up in the orifices where its eyes were, ¡°Oh? Where were they headed?¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Do you still think he represents one of the Eight Great ns?¡±

    ¡°This time, I¡¯m certain that he¡¯s back for evidential proof of the Forbidden Arts as earlier alleged. You¡¯re right. He would never do something like that if he¡¯s from one of the Eight Great ns. After all, the Eight Great ns¡¯ dealings with us would only extend to matters ofmerce and profit, and it matters not to them whether we believe his ims about the Russian Underworld¡¯s foray into Forbidden Arts or not. There¡¯s simply no impetus for them to head back into Hell to obtain any proof of such allegations. Instead, the only one who has a vested interest in doing so is someone from within Hell¡¯s governmental system - especially one entrusted with a tall responsibility.¡±

    ck Mamba responded cidly, ¡°Because this wasn¡¯t a big deal for Hell to begin with.¡±

    ¡°What they desire is international influence. For instance¡­ over Usonia.¡±

    ck Mamba smiled, and his eyes flickered softly, ¡°And that was precisely why I didn¡¯t outrightly reject him back then.¡±

    ¡°Babulu, do you now know why I didn¡¯t give Prefect Qin an affirmative response even though I didn¡¯t think he was lying back then?

    ¡°If we¡¯re going to act on these ims of his, then we¡¯ll need to be able to trigger the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds to act together. Given the gravity and potential implications of the situation, we cannot afford to make any move withoutpelling evidence and further information on hand. After all¡­ this matter is likely going to escte into something to be discussed at the Federation of Underworlds. It would be imprudent to act on an impulse, to say the least.¡±

    Babulu bowed, ¡°Secondly, leverage.¡±

    He paused and smiled wryly, ¡°We can¡¯t be acting in your interests for free either. Themercial opportunities you¡¯ve presented to us¡­ isn¡¯t sufficient.¡±

    His voice deepened, ¡°We¡¯re going to ask for the sky.¡±

    Babulu¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ck Mamba responded softly, ¡°Do you know what to do?¡±

    Momentster, Babulu vanished from the grand hall. If Qin Ye were here, he would most certainly have apuded the Mythic Spirit for his astuteness.

    A little deviation was only to be expected of any person that couldn¡¯t quite be described as omniscient. Unfortunately, this deviation would prove to be fatal.

    Just like the Russian Underworld, nobody had anticipated that Hell was currently in hot soup! Hell¡¯s current attitude towards the situation wasn¡¯t one of indifference and apathy. In fact, it was quite the converse - Hell viewed the situation as one of grave importance to them, so much so that it justified the personal attention of the King Yanluo of Hell himself!

    Qin Ye remained in the room, carefully drafting up the documents that he required. Time passed quickly, and a day passed in the blink of an eye.

    It¡¯s done!

    He had managed to document everything during this short period of time, from why he first visited Daehan, to the entire incident that transpired, to his considerations of the masterminds pulling the strings from the shadows, until the final conversation with Marquis Rumyantsev. From there, he even documented the proposedpensation and the terms of cooperation. Everything was written in formal prose and in third-personnguage. Furthermore, all traces of emotions had been masterfully omitted from the records.

    Hardly. At the very least, Qin Ye knew that he couldn¡¯t possibly have done this without the aid of Fate.

    That said, Qin Ye was nowpletely worn out. With a soft sigh, he slumped back onto the sofa weakly. Using Fate like that resulted in a huge drain on his Yin energy reserves. Over thest day or so, all he¡¯d done was to draft up a series of documents, and yet he couldn''t help but feel weak in both legs.

    It was a scroll with a golden background embroidered with patterns of rolling clouds, and tied together with a double-stranded rope - just like the official diplomatic scrolls recorded in Hell¡¯s legacy. The only difference was that it wasn¡¯t stamped with a seal.

    There were a total of three puzzle pieces that he needed, and he¡¯d finally secured himself one piece. Now, all he had to do was to wait for Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s return and pray that they might have the other two puzzle pieces for him.

    Sess might mean the best possible eventuality in certain circumstances, but the knowledge that one had put his best foot forward would allow him to move forward with a clear conscience.

    ¡°Sir.¡± He held a copy of the newspaper in his hands, ¡°These are thetest newspapers.¡±

    And if that was the case, then someone must have wanted him to see the contents of the papers.

    That said, there was clearly no need to look too far, because everything was clearly written all over the headlines - ¡°Duchess of Rus, Catherine the Great, has just announced the grand opening of five international-ss energy deposits in Eastern Rus.¡±

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Qin Ye sighed softly. He¡¯d already guessed that the Russian Underworld¡¯s Parasitic Inkstone Mine tender was nothing more than an appetizer for the main dish that followed. But, even then, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh in exmation at the extent to which they were willing to go in order to secure what they needed.

    Is he not afraid of the possibility that they wouldn¡¯t have the resources to actually develop the Forbidden Arts?

    This was the ssic case of cing all of their eggs in one basket and going all out in pursuit of a certain goal of theirs. Regardless of the result, it was far more important that they¡¯d tried their best than to regret not having done soter on.

    ¡°But¡­ if you¡¯re doing so much to put your best foot forward, how can I not do the same?¡± Qin Ye turned his attention to the papers and began to read carefully, ¡°At the very least, none of you pampered Tsars and Dukes have to personally lobby for change like I do.¡±

    That said, Hell would never make light of the situation!

    The details were all summarized in the first few paragraphs of the news article, followed by an in depth, blow-by-blow description of exactly what transpired. Qin Ye was content with skimming through the summary of the press conference, before promptly turning to thementaries section below the article.

    Nobody questioned their motives.

    Qin Ye counted about a dozen underworlds who had already registered their interest for the tendering process, including severalrge Alkebn tribes.

    His eyes narrowed, ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to give up on these benefits, then you¡¯ll have topromise in some way or other. To think that they¡¯re already padding the pot and softening theirnding before their negotiations with Hell. Does this mean that they¡¯re absolutely certain that they would be able to get their hands on the rights to the Resentment Crystals Mine? So much so that they¡¯re even willing to burn bridges with Hell?¡±

    Unfortunately, this was also bad news for Hell.

    ¡°I wonder what the ck Mamba Underworld thinks of all these developments?¡± He ran his finger gently across the papers, ¡°Is this a show of might? Or is this all part of their negotiation tactics?¡±

    With that, Qin Ye shelved his thoughts and nced nkly at the ceiling. No matter what, he would have to wait until Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho returned before he could reassess Hell¡¯s position on this matter!

    Would they outweigh the profits to be had?

    At the very least, he would have to test their mettle if he were to learn of their bottom line for real!

 Chapter 659: Truth Behind the Secret Memorial

    <h4>Chapter 659: Truth Behind the Secret Memorial</h4>

    ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± The two ghosts pulled out three thick paper bags and ced them on the table gingerly, before exining their loot from the trip, ¡°This here is the dossier documenting the supernatural phenomenon observed in Khuree when the Resentment Crystal Mine first appeared. They are the fruits of Lady Arakshasa¡¯s investigative efforts.¡±

    ¡°Thest dossier here contains aprehensive deduction as to the rtionship between the Russian Underworld and the Argosian Underworld, as well as an in depth analysis as to the changes that the Russian Underworld may bring to the international arena when it bes the fifth underworld that possesses Forbidden Arts capabilities. This dossier is written by Lord Harken, in consultation with the group of schrs in Hell, as well as the various governmental agencies.¡±

    What¡¯s this¡­ All it took was a simple nce at it, and Qin Ye immediately recalled this to be the very same secret memorial to the throne that was left behind by Kong Mo after his conquest of Ashmound City!

    No¡­ The Second King Yanluo had mentioned that if Iter encounter any problems that I¡¯m not able to resolve, then that would be the moment at which I should open this secret memorial to take a look¡­ Could he have predicted that the Daehan incident would have led to these developments?

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Sess or failure - everything rested on these dossiers!

    Even if he wished to pit the tiger against the wolf, he would first have to convince the tiger that the wolf was up to no good.

    Incredibly detailed.

    Furthermore, it was written with formal prose.

    Neat.

    He carefully pored through all the contents of the dossiers, ruminating over the information from time to time so as to ensurepleteprehension. This entire process took him well over ten hours. After that, he finally heaved a long sigh of relief as he shut the dossiers once more.

    Credit where it was due, Hell¡¯s new government was shaping up nicely. Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin would have taken one full day to travel, which meant that the team involved in drafting up these dossiers of information had less than two days to sort through the information and present it in formal prose. Furthermore, they would have to analyze why Qin Ye wanted these things, peer into the intentions of the Russian underworld, decipher the clues disclosing the true perpetrator acting from the shadows behind the Russian Underworld, and then think about how tomunicate these things to the Alkebn Underworlds to achieve the best possible oue. And despite the fact that they didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to draft up these documents, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t able to pick out any problems with the reports in his detailed run-through of the dossiers.

    ¡°Everything depends on me now.¡± He took a deep breath and set aside the dossiers. Tomorrow was a day reserved for adjusting his condition and further familiarization of the materials. And then, it would be showtime!

    Had he been elsewhere but here, he would¡¯ve been incredibly excited about the contents of the secret memorial. After all, it most certainly contained the crux of the Confucian n¡¯s ploys. Unfortunately, his current circumstances meant that he wasn¡¯t able to feelpletely invested in Hell¡¯s internal affairs right now.

    Who knows, perhaps it might even be useful right now¡­

    It was a sword.

    A heavy sword was neither known for its sharp edges nor workmanship. As he unraveled the scroll, he saw the figure of a man drawn next to it, presumably for sizeparison. The heavy sword was almost as tall as an average man¡¯s height, and the width of the sword was almost as wide as the broadness of the man¡¯s shoulder. Furthermore, the surface of the sword was carved with intricate patterns. Qin Ye knew that he¡¯d never seen the sword nor the patterns before, but he couldn¡¯t help but develop some sense of familiarity with it.

    ¡°This is a strand of consciousness that I¡¯ve left behind in the scroll.¡± Without missing a beat, the Harken¡¯s voice continued to boom in his mind, ¡°Truth be told, the Second King Yanluo had already unlocked the seal of the secret memorial when you first returned from Daehan. What you see is none other than a drawing of the mold for our Forbidden Art.¡±

    This secret memorial was something that had been hidden in the depths of Kong Mo¡¯s treasury, and it was only natural to expect it to contain a shocking secret. However, no amount of groundwork could ever prepare Qin Ye for the astonishing news that was still toe!

    ¡°To this end, the molds used for Forbidden Arts would have to be tried and tested time and time again, until the most effective and suitable one can finally be selected. Therefore, there can only be one optimum mold for any Forbidden Art. And because of that, there can only be one exnation for the emergence of a different-looking mold.¡±

    ¡°And that is the trial for the development of a new Forbidden Art.¡±

    ¡°ording to Hell¡¯s research thus far into the second generation of Forbidden Arts, there are three materials that are most suitable for the initiation module, and that is none other than Resentment Crystals, Dark Riftstones, and cksoul Rebirth Crystals. THere is no possible fourth option.¡±

    Thump, thump¡­ His heart thumped wildly. It suddenly urred to him that he¡­ was actually holding onto the final piece of the puzzle he never even knew he needed! And it was a crucial piece of the puzzle for the purposes of the uing negotiations!

    ¡°Back then, Hell had alreadymenced work on the initiation module for the second generation Forbidden Arts. The arrangement of Yin Talismans engraved on the hilt of the sword should be of some help to you during this trip. Rest assured, nobody can possibly even begin to understand the intricacies of the arrangement of Yin Talismans without properly studying it - not even the brightest of Yama-Kings. Naturally, nobody would be able to remember the manner of arrangements of these Yin Talismans either. That¡¯s all for now. This strand of consciousness that I¡¯ve left with you shall soon dissipate on its own.¡±

    With that, the Harken¡¯s consciousness vanishedpletely.

    And the thing that urred to him was why the Second King Yanluo had to act as he did.

    This was why the Second King Yanluo was prepared to act with passivity even as the ascension of Lord Ksitigarbha brought the old Hell to an end!

    But that wasn¡¯t important. At least, it wasn¡¯t important as far as the current situation was concerned. After all, what was more important was what this piece of information signified.

    And it would also exin why the Russian Underworld needed so much Resentment Crystals to begin with.

    After all, seeing was believing.

    By his estimates, he now had more than a 50% chance of sess.

    He continued unravelling it, only to realize that what came next didn¡¯t seem to have anything to do with Forbidden Arts. Instead, it was an odd symbol.

    A top-down view of a blossoming lotus flower at that.

    There was a line of text hidden right underneath this drawing.

    ¡°However, it is also known to exhibit a high degree of hermeticity. Anything ced in these crystals will retain its form and properties for thousands of years without problems. Not even Yin energy can seep out from within. The formation of Resentment Crystals are contingent on the presence of countless souls who were willingly sent to their death.¡±

    What does he mean by these statements?

    ¡°It seems as though I¡¯ll have to adjust how I approach these negotiations¡­¡± He licked his lips greedily. It was peculiar. This was going to be his debut performance on the international arena, and yet the winds were already blowing in his favour. His heart was filled with inexplicable excitement!

    Bit by bit, the splendidherworld was unveiling right before his eyes. This was the mythical world of dark lustre, and the glorious Third King Yanluo of Hell was soon going to make his first brilliant mark in international history of theherworld!

    <hr>

    1. If you¡¯ve forgotten what a secret memorial is, it was first mentioned in Chapter 452, when Qin Ye was looking through his spoils of war.

 Chapter 660: Black Mamba Conference (1)

    <h4>Chapter 660: ck Mamba Conference (1)</h4>

    Ten skeletal horns were ced right outside the ancestral shrine, each of which bore a slightly different shape and characteristic from the other. They were all approximately two meters long, and set on several skeletal bisons that were chained together and standingpletely still. The only telltale sign that these bison were creatures of theherworld were the zinghermes in their eyes.

    ¡°Fret not. This is the Lord Mythic Spirit¡¯s imperial guard. Lord Mythic Spirit hasplete control over the lives of each and every Yin spirit you see here. There¡¯s no possibility of a rebellion at all.¡± Babulu stood beside Qin Ye with a smile on his face.

    It was currently 10 minutes before the stipted time. He swept another nce around the somber military formation, and then turned his attention to the closed doors to the shrine in the distance. The stone doors were etched with a vivid relief of ck Mamba Mythic Spirit. The air was filled with such sobriety that he wouldn¡¯t be in the slightest bit surprised if the stone doors were to open up right now, revealing the three elders and the ancestral shaman sitting with impable etiquette as they awaited Qin Ye¡¯s arrival.

    I know you¡¯re here.

    And since you¡¯ve chosen to approach me once more rather than retreat to where you¡¯vee from, then you¡¯re clearly here with the intention of persuading me, a Mythic Spirit of the Alkebn Underworlds.

    Therefore, please, I invite you toe forward.

    That is where you and I shall have our formal bteral meeting, as representatives of our underworlds.

    Havinge so far, Qin Ye knew that the only way out of all this was the way forward. Fear was useless in such circumstances, andck of preparation was nothing more than an excuse.

    This was a historical moment for the new Hell. Just as much as the conquest of Ashmound City paved the way for Hell¡¯s amazing growth, this was likewise a moment that would determine Hell''snding in the international arena.

    The horn marked themencement of the dialogue between underworld and underworld.

    These were the negotiations between an old kind and a new nobility of Hell.

    It was that of a serpent.

    It was the activation of a military formation!

    Whoosh! Just then, a roll of bright red carpet promptly unraveled itself from the entrance of the shrine until it stopped right in front of Qin Ye. Babulu straightened up his body, and then revealed a sincere smile on his face as he made a gesture of invitation to Qin Ye.

    He was the King Yanluo of Hell, and it was his duty to act in his people¡¯s best interest, especially when Hell was at its weakest and poorest state.

    Even then, Qin Ye didn¡¯t turn back one bit. Instead, he steeled his nerves and plodded on step by step, striding forward bravely until he finally entered the mouth of the shrine. And as soon as he stepped in, the door shut behind him with a bang.

    And it was only then that he saw the arrangement within the grand hall.

    Furthermore, there were no longer any traces of the throne, nor any traces of other ornaments and decorations that he saw thest time he was here. Instead, the only source of brightness in the room were the ten candles zing atop ten tall candlesticks, each of which was etched with designs of intertwining serpents. The ten candles acted like brilliant lighthouses illuminating their surroundings in the middle of the dark ocean.

    Lustrous ck scales that appeared like ck gemstones gleamed brilliantly like twinkling stars in the darkness, as though it were hinting the presence of a mythical creature from just beyond the round table.

    This was the dignity of a god of death.

    Was he dressed funny?

    It was clearly something of his culture. Undergirded with Yama-ss Yin energy, his entire get-up exuded sheer majesty.

    These were the discussions that would determine whether the ck Mamba Underworld would be Hell¡¯s mouthpiece to the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds. Naturally, there was no ce for ridicule.

    Qin Ye cupped his fists respectfully and bowed deeply. And then, he took his seat.

    And it wasn¡¯t until he finally took his seat that he even felt a soft tingling sensation on his fingertips. As it turned out, he didn¡¯t even realize that his fingers were trembling slightly.

    After all, he represented a powerful underworld as well.

    Calm down¡­ Qin Ye, you can do it! Still your mind! None are born with diplomatic skills. Even the founding fathers of Cathay in the mortal realm were at some point toddlers in the realms of international diplomacy. What¡¯s more important is to conceal the truth about Hell from these underworlds as best I can!

    And that was naturally the sheath of their sabers.

    It¡¯s begun¡­

    The ck Mamba Underworld was clearly inquiring about his identity again!

    At the very least, a representative of the Eight Great ns would never be so vested in the affairs of Hell as to send subordinates back to Hell in order to retrieve documents and evidence for the purposes of proving these ims of theirs. The only party interested in proving the veracity of these ims is someone from within Hell¡¯s government itself!

    And, as expected, none of the emissaries of the ck Mamba Underworld appeared in the slightest bit surprised when he finally disclosed his identity. ck Mamba deliberated for a moment, and then spoke with some measure of presumption, ¡°So, we understand that certain unforeseen circumstances have arisen, and Hell has approached us with an intention of asking us to stand on its side. Why? Just because the Russian Underworld has evinced an intention to get involved with Forbidden Arts? Or is it because you are concerned about the Argosian Underworld that is acting behind the scenes? Prefect Qin, I suggest you refrain from employing such tasteless provocation techniques and get to the point.¡±

    ¡°Kindly allow me to state three things in response.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s mind spun at top speed as he crafted his responses, ¡°Firstly, it¡¯s not quite urate to say that unforeseen circumstances have arisen. Or are you suggesting that an issue has arisen that the Second King Yanluo cannot handle?¡±

    ¡°Then, are you suggesting that Hell has lost control of its subjects?¡±

    ¡°Lord Mythic Spirit.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s smile was nowced with palpable coldness, ¡°Let us not act upon such baseless spection, shall we? Do you think it¡¯s that simple to throw an underworld with over 3,000 years of history into turmoil? That is aughable suggestion.¡±

    ¡°As you¡¯d mentioned earlier, why don¡¯t we bothe to the table with clean hands and speak openly with good faith? I believe that I speak for Hell when I say this - we do not wish to waste time beating about the bush with such meaningless discussions!¡±

 Chapter 661: Black Mamba Conference (2)

    <h4>Chapter 661: ck Mamba Conference (2)</h4>

    Persona.

    And this was precisely why they hade to Alkebn in the first ce. This was the very reason why they were having this conversation!

    After a few seconds of tense silence, ck Mamba withdrew his gaze and smiled genially, ¡°It is indeed aughable suggestion. Given the current political climate within and without underworlds, the odds ofrge-scale wars breaking out or even civil unrest is little to none.¡±

    There was a sound of soft scribblinging from the darkness beyond. Qin Ye didn¡¯t rx in the slightest, much lessmit a foolish act such as heave a sigh of relief. Instead, he simply leaned back slightly and raised two fingers, ¡°Secondly, Fengdu isn¡¯t inviting the Alkebn Underworlds to stand on its side. Hell doesn¡¯t need any underworlds to take its side. We simply dislike the idea of our neighbours owning Forbidden Art capabilities.¡±

    He spoke unhurriedly and without the slightest bit of haughtiness to his voice, and yet Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but feel stirred by his words.

    A battlefield where they waged war with words.

    ¡°All I¡¯m asking is the reason why you¡¯re doing this. We need to understand the reasons for your intention before we can consider whether there¡¯s a need to even delve further into the details of our cooperation.¡± Elder Yonder Star exined, ¡°After all, Hell¡¯s perspective on this issue would directly implicate the amount of help that we¡¯re getting. In turn, this would directly influence how we should handle this matter - presumably that whatever you¡¯re iming right now is true. For instance, if Hell is unable to move on its end for whatever reason, how many soldiers do we need to send? Which Mythic Spirits should we mobilize?¡±

    ck Mamba nodded slightly towards Elder Yonder Star and continued where she left off, ¡°Prefect Qin, you couldn¡¯t possibly be suggesting that the ck Mamba Underworld attempts to quell the uprising of the Russian Underworld on its own, would you?¡±

    He didn¡¯t go on any further. Instead, Babulu sensibly continued where he left off, ¡°If the Russian Underworld is indeed bent on developing Forbidden Arts, then we can almost certainly expect to face up against hundreds of thousands of imperial troops backed by the Cossacks Military Formation. How much help would Hell offer to us? Will you be sending Abyssal Prefects? Yama-Kings? Or perhaps mobilize arge army?¡±

    All eyes fell to Qin Ye at this moment. He grew taciturn, and the entire hall was filled with a tense pin drop silence. Nobody said a single word, and nobody prompted his response.

    This was a question that Qin Ye had mulled long and hard over. If the Russian Underworld were indeed bent on swallowing the Resentment Crystal Mine whole, they would most definitely mobilize a throng of Yin soldiers. Therefore, even if Qin Ye did in fact manage to convince the tiger that was the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds to make its move, he would still have to contend with the question of how they were going to make the great trek to the northern part of theherworld.

    Then, they would have to cross the East Hindustani Ocean until they arrived at the Spice Inds, before finally entering the East Cathayan Seas. Thereafter, they would travel northwards through the seas until they finally arrived at Daehan.

    How is Hell going to receive the army of Mythic Spirits when it finally enters Hell¡¯s territorial waters? Given the current situation in Hell, can hell truly protect the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds from the scrutiny of the Federation of Underworlds?

    This was a potential dead end to the discussions.

    ¡°Prefect Qin?¡± Babulu¡¯s eyes narrowed as he gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Does silence mean that Hell hasn¡¯t made the necessary preparations in this regard? Or are you telling me that¡­ this is something that you hadn¡¯t considered at all?¡±

    After all, it was a solution that he¡¯d onlye up with after a day of thought!

    ¡°First of all, Lord Harken will rendezvous with you in the South Cathayan Seas. As for why specifically Lord Harken, this is a reason that I can only disclose to youter on. Additionally¡­¡±

    This was all a gamble.

    If this failed, then the negotiations would end right here and now. Even if the ck Mamba Underworld didn¡¯t air this issue right now, the other Alkebn Underworld would have done so at some pointter on. There was therefore no point avoiding it.

    Without missing a beat, Qin Ye pulled out Fate from the sleeve of his robes and respectfully set it onto the table.

    There wasn¡¯t much Yin energy seeping out of the brush, yet nobody dared to take it lightly.

    A glimmer of golden light swept across the entire hall, and all who were dazzled by its radiance couldn¡¯t help but shudder softly. Fate was practically synonymous with the fabled legend that was none other than the Second King Yanluo! This was the man who had beat the master of the other three P4 underworlds into a pulp and single handedly rebuffed the advances of the coalition of seven great underworlds against Hell. He was an unparalleled existence.

    Qin Ye took in every bit of their reaction, and then held up Fate in his hands reverently. His palms were filled with cold sweat as he continued speaking, ¡°The Second King Yanluo has mentioned that so long as anyone dares to pursue the issue and attempt to look into the movements of the Alkebn Underworlds, then all I have to do is to show them this brush.¡±

    Qin Ye was betting that the Second King Yanluo had left such an indelible impression in the hearts of all other underworlds that none other would dare to press the issue after witnessing the disy of his authority!

    But, at the very least, he would now be able to go on with the next part of the negotiations.

    At the very least, he would be able to state his piece, and have their full attention until he was done with the full delivery.

    It was anybody¡¯s guess. That¡¯s the nature of negotiations after all. Until everything had been said and discussed, who could truly be certain of what the oue would be?

    The grand hall was filled with silence. Qin Ye had a grave expression on his face as he nced around the table, only to be greeted by incredulous expressions. He had pulled out his bluff at the most opportune time, and the results were outstanding. Now, all that was left was to see if the ck Mamba Underworld would call this bluff of his, or believe wholeheartedly in his assertions.

    ¡°Prefect Qin, please continue.¡±

    I¡¯ve done it¡­

    And so long as the channel for negotiations isn¡¯t abruptly cut off, then Hell will still have a chance to convince them!

    He spoke with a subconsciously hoarse voice, ¡°However, since this is a coboration, then it¡¯s only natural that wee to the table with a token of our sincerity as well. So, let me give you the lowdown - the Array of the Nine Gods restricts all movement of Yin spirit, including that of Emissaries of Hell. Sure, we might have some leeway in this regard, but Hell is unable to send more than five people beyond the Array of the Nine Gods. Therefore, it¡¯s not that Hell is unwilling to send arge army to assist in these operations. It¡¯s just that it is simply impossible to do so right now.¡±

    But after mulling over it for a moment, they shook their heads.

    Hell was one of the P4 underworlds. Did a change of regime mean that they would be as weak as a chicken?

    The fear of the unknown was the most terrifying thing of all.

    Naturally, nobody also considered the fact that the man negotiating with them was none other than the prevailing King Yanluo of Hell, and the only one qualified to conduct such negotiations right now.

    And he was standing here, right in front of them all.

 Chapter 662: Black Mamba Conference (3)

    <h4>Chapter 662: ck Mamba Conference (3)</h4>

    Silence.

    He nced around the table and continued with a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯m quite certain that everyone was already mentally prepared for something like this the moment I decided to step back into this room. Let me reiterate that this is anything but a joke. Let me put it out there that the Russian Underworld is definitely looking to develop Forbidden Art capabilities. And to this end, they already possess the basic conceptual know-how, and some raw data on how to go about with these developments. Furthermore, I can assure you that there are traces of the Argosian Underworld egging them on from behind the shadows!¡±

    Perhaps it was Qin Ye¡¯s attitude in the earlier round of negotiations that had attracted the responses of - ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± ¡°This joke isn¡¯t even funny.¡± ¡°Is this Hell¡¯s attitude towards international affairs these days?¡±

    That said, everything was cast in a different light now.

    Is there really an underworld out there that is prepared to go directly against the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts?

    The words ¡°Forbidden Arts¡± were almost like something of taboo, ripping out the scab that had formed over their wounds after centuries on end. Momentster, ck Mamba finally responded in a deep voice, ¡°Specifics.¡±

    The gravitas he spoke with caused Babulu, Shaman Cain, and the three elders to all sit up straight and listen intently. Qin Ye sighed softly, and then exined with an equally authoritative voice, ¡°Resentment Crystals.¡±

    These words didn¡¯t trigger much of a reaction in the other emissaries at the table. However, ck Mamba¡¯s pupils immediately shrank.

    Ever since they were first baptised with the full force of a Forbidden Art centuries ago, the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds had done everything within their abilities to understand theposition of Forbidden Arts as best as they could. Naturally, ck Mamba knew a thing or two about Resentment Crystals.

    ck Mamba¡¯s eyes twitched softly, and then he sighed, ¡°How did Hell firste to learn about this?¡±

    ¡°Everyone here is probably aware that there exists a buffer zone between Hell and the Russian Underworld, and the standing rules of engagement is that marching into this buffer zone with one¡¯s army is tantamount to a deration of war. Incidentally, the Resentment Crystals Mine is¡­ located in Khuree, the capital of the Mongol Empire.¡±

    ck Mamba tapped his fingers on the table softly. He had already managed to put two and two together to deduce the rest of the story.

    And the Russian Underworld could never afford that.

    Without an assurance in this regard, they naturally had no choice but to first seek Hell¡¯s blessings. This was the only way they could then afford to make their move.

    ¡°It would be Marquis Rumyantsev, who was acting under the direct instructions of Catherine the Great. I was the one who met directly with them.¡±

    ¡°Because the causes and consequences are all fraught withyers ofplexity. It¡¯s an issue that goes well beyond bteral rtionships. I¡¯lle to this in a little while. For now, suffice it to say that I was the one who spoke face to face with Marquis Rumyantsev. However, given the gravity of the situation, I wasn¡¯t able to act beyond my authority and supnt the role of the King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    The waves were stirring.

    They would pick on every word, and the presumptions undergirding every statement. They would question everything in the hope that they could uncover the deeper truth hidden within. After all, it would be naive to expect any bteral meetings to be conducted with their cards fully open on the table, devoid of any measure of concealment whatsoever.

    He was showing strength to conceal the truth of the weaknesses within.

    In fact, the situation was currently so tense that Qin Ye could even feel the coldness of six figurative des on his neck, almost as though one wrong word, and his neck would be cut right off his neck. This was no longer an issue of boldness and courage. He was facing the scrutiny of six people on his own. The pressure on his shoulders was so immense that it was only natural to feel sheepish the moment he spoke of untruths. And all he could do right now was to pray hard that they would not be able to see beyond these loopholes of his.

    Babulu looked up at his Mythic Spirit in consternation, but ck Mamba promptly shook his head and continued indifferently, ¡°The Russian Underworld simply wanted to ¡®meet¡¯ with Hell. Given the importance of this matter, they had no choice but to drag things out for an inordinate amount of time, just for the opportunity to meet with the Emissaries of Hell once.¡±

    Then, ck Mamba rested his jaws on his hand and surveyed the room cidly, ¡°But things are quite different if they chose to act only after meeting with Hell.¡±

    ¡°These are probably the thoughts of the Russian Underworld at this point in time. And so long as the Russian Underworld isn¡¯t exterminated, then a hundred yearster, when the might of Forbidden Arts blossoms in the Russian Underworld, any losses that they might potentially incur at this point wouldpletely be eptable.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head. Once again, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh in his heart.

    ck Mamba continued, ¡°The Russian Underworld spans a vast territory and even shares some of its borders with territories of the Aegyptian Underworld and the Argosian Underworld. If Hell were to spark off a war against the Russian Underworld, it would easily implicate two other P4 underworlds, and thereby easily devolve into a greatherworld war. Nobody is willing to see something like this happen. Therefore, the Russian Underworld is effectively using its geographical location as leverage in its present course of conduct. So long as they do not offend Hell¡¯s bottom line, they know full well that Hell would not go to such extremes to take them down.¡±

    The implications were obvious. If everything said thus far was spot on, then coupled with the fact that the Russian Underworld was desperately trying to curry favour with the rest of theherworld, it was quite likely that they would be marching into Khuree in the near future!

    Secondster, ck Mamba turned back to Qin Ye, licked its lips, and then suddenly smiled.

    Qin Ye lowered his eyes and smiled softly back, ¡°I was under the impression that we were already talking business all this while.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s the evidence.¡±

    ¡°For instance, why are you so certain that it is the Argosian Underworld that has rendered aid to the Russian Underworld? Or for further instance, how did the Russian Underworld manage to cross paths with you when Hell is currently inessible to foreign emissaries?¡±

    The waves were finally showing on the surface of the river, sloshing about wildly as it ushered the arrival of a megawave.

    It¡¯s good that they¡¯re asking for evidence¡­ And that they¡¯re taking the initiative to do so at that.

    Besides, the fact that they¡¯re asking for evidence means that they¡¯re already starting toe on board with Hell¡¯s suggestion. They¡¯re starting to loosen up to the possibility that we might be right!

    Fortunately, the ck Mamba Underworld still treats Forbidden Arts as a matter of grave importance to be nipped in the bud. Qin Ye¡¯s only hope right now was that this reflected the interests of the rest of the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds as well.

    ¡°This one sets out in detail the circumstances under which we first came into contact with the Russian Underworld.¡±

    ¡°This one sets out the reasons why we think someone has been rendering aid to the Russian Underworld from the shadows, and our deductions on who might have given them aid in respect of the conceptual know-how as well as some of the basic modules.¡±

    ¡°Believe me, this is not a situation you want to seeing to pass, nor one you¡¯ll ever be able to ept!¡±

 Chapter 663: Black Mamba Conference (4)

    <h4>Chapter 663: ck Mamba Conference (4)</h4>

    He didn¡¯t immediatelymence with his exnations. Instead, he allowed the emissaries of the ck Mamba Underworld to skim through the dossiers that he had just handed out while he continued to organize his thoughts for what he was about to say.

    ck Mamba Mythic Spirit carefully scanned through the information in his hands, and his eyes twitched uncontrobly as soon as he noticed a paw print stamped on the bottom right corner of the pages.

    No. It couldn¡¯t even find it within himself tough at the situation, because he knew all too well who the owner of this paw print was.

    It was the God of Nine Vitalities!

    After ten minutes, Qin Ye finally began, ¡°Everyone, please take a look at the kind of cmity that would befall the underworld should the Russian Underworld gain Forbidden Arts capabilities. Firstly, there will be no doubt that they will finally be able to push back against Hell. However, this isn¡¯t important.¡±

    He pointed at the screen and continued, ¡°To the west, Rus shares its borders with one of the P4 underworlds, the Argosian Underworld. Southwest, it is located right next to the borders of the Aegyptian Underworld separated by only a buffer zone known as Astana . Finally, there is Hell located just south of Rus. So, how do you think they will choose to expand their territory?¡±

    Everyone knew this for a fact. But it was still a question that was niggling at the back of their minds. Why would the Russian Underworld want to risk angering Hell by developing Forbidden Arts?

    ¡°Everything is done for a purpose. If they can¡¯t expand geographically, then it leaves us with the only other possibility, and that is an expansion in function. And to this end, we have no choice but to look to the Federation of Underworlds.¡±

    Nobody said a word.

    Qin Ye responded decisively, ¡°Alkebn.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°No. Alkebn is by no means the weakest continent. Truth be told, Australis, North Usonia and South Usonia all possess underworlds weaker than the Alkebn Underworlds. That said, the fact remains that Alkebn is currently the continent that sees the most chaos.¡±

    ¡°Prefect Qin, you sure love pulling our leg.¡± Elder Bright Moon responded cidly, ¡°Sure, the Alkebn Underworlds may be chaotic, but as soon as we face an enemy invasion, we immediatelye together as a unified entity. This was true hundreds of years ago, and it still remains true to date¡­¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not going to wage war against you. They¡¯re simply going to intimidate you! The aggregate might of the Russian Underworld is at best equivalent to half of that of Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds. But have you thought about it? They need only befriend some of the enemies of the ck Mamba Underworld and ride on the presence of their forward bases to set up an expedition station in Mgasy. Then, once that is done, they will move on to the next step of their n to begin sending troops over to fortify their garrison. Would you be able to resist their advances that way?¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s voice echoed throughout the grand hall, and he nced around with an electrifying gaze, ¡°No, perhaps not. But¡­ haven¡¯t you realized how interdependent the Alkebn Underworlds are? Once the Russian Underworld gains a foothold in Alkebn, you would be no better than a puppet state! Ask yourself this - would there be peace when that dayes?!¡±

    For the umpteenth time.

    Could the Alkebn Underworlds ever forget the humiliation that they were put through when the might of a Forbidden Art was first revealed to theherworld?

    Never!

    It was a deep-set hatred that coursed through their veins. The repugnance of Forbidden Arts were etched deep into the marrows of their memories! They had always remained outwardly passive to the issue of Forbidden Arts simply because they didn¡¯t possess the power to speak out for themselves. However, that doesn¡¯t mean that they were willing to remain indifferent for the rest of time!

    The Russian Underworld was only willing to go through such great lengths to develop Forbidden Arts capabilities because they saw the potential benefits to their national interests. And to that end, it was an open secret that the Alkebn Underworlds were notoriously rich in resources, and yet unfortunately in chaos and disarray.

    Sure, everyone might have known of the interdependence of the Alkebn Underworlds, but after a thousand years of conflict, how many of them are there that would still be cognizant of such a fact? And would they truly be able to let go of their hatred towards each other and work for the greater good? And even if they could, who knows whether they would some day recant on their position and stab each other in the back?

    Crack¡­ There was a sound of a knuckle cracking. That said, ck Mamba¡¯s expression remained just as cid as ever, ¡°Then, what makes you so certain that it is the Argosian Underworld that is rendering assistance to the Russian Underworld? How do you know that they were the ones who had furnished the Russian Underworld with the conceptual know-how and the basic modules to kick off their research?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to hear you speak of it.¡± ck Mamba looked Qin Ye in the eye without batting an eyelid, ¡°Speak carefully and clearly.¡±

    The Alkebn Underworlds¡­ still harbour that grudge from centuries ago. Otherwise, they would never probe so deep into these issues.

    That said, he also knew that the deeper they probed, the more careful he had to be. Qin Ye pointed to the document in hand, ¡°Geography.¡±

    Credit where it was due, ck Mamba had done an impable job at maintaining the same poker face throughout the entire negotiations - even now.

    ¡°Not quite.¡± Qin Ye bowed slightly, ¡°Lord Mythic Spirit, I share the same conclusion as Lord Harken after all. You wouldn¡¯t doubt it, would you?¡±

    ¡°The geographical border is only one of the factors that led us to this conclusion. The second factor¡­ is faith.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, once the Russian Underworld receives the gift of Forbidden Arts from the Argosian Underworld, they would basically be indebted to them for the longest time. In fact, this will remain true for as long as they continue to hold Forbidden Arts capabilities! This isn¡¯t a gift to begin with! It¡¯s poison!¡±

    Elder zing Sun responded, ¡°Why can¡¯t it be the Hindustani Underworld? There¡¯s every possibility that the Hindustani Underworld would collude with the Russian Underworld in order to stifle Hell¡¯s position in the Federation of Underworld. That way, the bnce of power within the East Continent would immediately tip in their favour.¡±

    Dead silence again.

    ¡°Understood.¡± ck Mamba finally responded, ¡°May I invite you to head back to your abode for a rest first.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s heart twinged with a pang of loss. There were still a multitude of things he had prepared to talk about, such as the terms of their cooperation, and even means ofpensation to the Alkebn Underworlds for their efforts.

    ¡°As far as Hell is concerned¡­¡± ck Mamba paused for a moment, and then chuckled coldly, ¡°Once bitten, twice shy.¡±

    ¡°Hehe¡­¡± ck Mamba snickered as he nced at the documents in his hands, ¡°Given the gravity of the situation, I naturally wouldn¡¯t be able to give you a proper response until I¡¯ve read everything through and through. Prefect Qin, I hope you understand. Please get some rest in the vi in the meantime.¡±

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. He couldn¡¯t afford to reveal even the slightest bit of urgency. At least, not in front of the other underworlds.

    Boom¡­ The huge stone door closed behind him. It was only then that he realized that his undershirt was alreadypletely soaked through with sweat, and his temples were throbbing with pain.

    He cursed in his heart. International negotiations were far moreplex and frustrating than he had ever imagined. That said, the silver lining to all this was the fact that he could tell how ck Mamba was clearly swayed.

    How long would it take before his heart would be swayedpletely to action? Weeks? Months?

    All he could do now was to wait patiently. To make matters worse, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to go calling upon other Alkebn Underworlds either.

    An ancestral priest wearing white robes was clearly already waiting for his arrival. At once, he bowed deeply, ¡°Prefect Qin, this is something that¡­ Lord Mythic Spirit had asked me to pass to you. It¡¯s for your eyes only.¡±

    It was a slip of paper.

    <hr>

    1. Kazakhstan.

 Chapter 664: Decision (1)

    <h4>Chapter 664: Decision (1)</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯ve got it.¡± He took a deep breath, and then turned back to the ancestral priest with a smile, ¡°Please inform Lord Mythic Spirit that I¡¯ll definitely be there when the timees.¡±

    I was right! He¡¯s definitely moved by my words! His response earlier was definitely borne out of caution more than anything. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have invited me back for a feast in four days¡¯ time.

    What was the catalyst that brought them over to my side? What made them change their mind?

    Hell¡¯s might and reputation?

    Moreover, ck Mamba wasn¡¯t quite acting in ordance with the conventions expected of a Mythic Spirit of an Alkebn Underworld.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Ancestral Shaman Cain nodded after him, ¡°That¡¯s right. This is no trivial matter. Fate¡¯s appearance tells us that Prefect Qin cannot possibly be messing around anymore. Coupled with the Russian Underworld¡¯s recent spate of unusually kind gestures¡­ I¡¯m afraid we might have no choice but to believe in the veracity of what Prefect Qin has said.¡±

    ¡°After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the destiny of the world. How could we possibly afford to take things lightly?¡±

    ¡°My Lord?¡± ¡°But--...¡±

    Ten secondster, ck Mamba added coldly, ¡°You¡¯re far too young and inexperienced, and these are matters that are way out of your league. Don¡¯t get involved any further, understand?¡±

    With that, ck Mamba snorted coldly and waved his hand softly, and everyone in the grand hall were forcibly expelled from his grand hall at once, leaving him all alone to his thoughts. ck Mamba sat alone at the stone table, tapping his fingers gently against the surface of the table. After a long time, he smiled curiously.

    ¡°Did none of you hear the prelude to change in the globalndscape?¡±

    Four days passed in the blink of an eye.

    ck Mamba¡¯s enigmatic response felt no different from the existence of a Sword of Damocles hanging right over his head. Furthermore, he couldn¡¯t help but feel juvenilepared to the Mythic Spirit that had dealt with such a level of politics for over a thousand years. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if ck Mamba had already managed to get a firm grasp over his identity.

    The ck Mamba Underworld effectively had the power to call the shots, while Hell, the party making the request, had no choice but to wait patiently in deference to its only source of help.

    This was the best that he could do.

    Was entirely up to destiny.

    Knock, knock. Just then, there were knocks on his door. He nced at his phone.

    He took several deep breaths to regte his mind, and then finally pushed open the door.

    It was a rtively small house of approximately 50 square meters.

    Fresh spider lilies were ced in a pristine vase on the table. Apart from that, the rest of the house sported nothing more than ordinary furnishings. The only other extraordinary thing about this ce was the person seated on one of the seats across the table - ck Mamba himself.

    ¡°Not at all.¡± Qin Ye sat down across the table with a simr smile. There was already a ss of wine set right in front of him, from which he could detect wafts of intoxicating fragrance.

    His mind was spinning as rapidly as his blood was toiling. Thest few weeks of preparatory work, and a month or so of lobbying had finally culminated in this very moment.

    Clink¡­ They clinked sses, and Qin Ye finished the contents of his ss in a gulp. However, ck Mamba didn¡¯t take even a sip from his ss. Instead, he simply looked at Qin Ye, licking his lips with a wry smile. And then, he suddenly smiled, ¡°It is sometimes prudent to have fewer people know the truth of the matter.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re from the Zhu n or not. But¡­ are you certain that you¡¯ll be able to guarantee safe passage across the seas?¡±

    ¡°Is that so¡­¡± ck Mamba leaned back onto his seat, and then nced down at the table. Three secondster, he continued, ¡°The situation in Hell appears to be far worse than I¡¯d imagined¡­ Kekeke¡­ No wonder you guys had no choice but to turn to this ce¡­¡±

    ck Mambaughed heartily. The more heughed, the heartier hisughter grew, until he exploded into an uproariousughter.

    ¡°The Maldives Inds are territories that are under the jurisdiction of the Aegyptian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld? How can you possibly send your ships across those territorial waters? Not only that, the seas there are infested with foreign ghost ships. How can you possibly sail there and grant us safe passage with the current restrictions in Hell?¡±

    BOOM!

    How were they supposed to send ships to escort the Alkebn Underworlds while the restrictions of the Array of the Nine Gods remained in ce?

    And if Hell was in fact able to send out more Yin spirit to guarantee safe passage, then why couldn¡¯t they simply send troops to deal with the Russian Underworld on its own?!

    The ck Mamba was finally baring his fangs - his cold, vicious and incisive fangs.

    Qin Ye sipped the wine in front of him. His thoughts had been thrown into chaos, but he managed to rpose himself quickly.

    ¡°An astute observation.¡± Secondster, Qin Ye set down his wine ss slowly and smiled.

    I can¡¯t give up so easily after having invested so much!

    ¡°But regardless of the situation in Hell might be, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that we¡¯re still one of the P4 underworlds.¡± He gently tapped his ss on the table, only to have it emit a crisp, clear sound. He did everything he could to dy for time so that he could contemte the best course of action moving forward, ¡°I¡¯m afraid you might have addressed your mind to the wrong point of focus here.¡±

    ¡°Quite the contrary. In fact, I think I¡¯ve hit the nail right on the head.¡± ck Mamba chuckled softly as he added, ¡°So¡­ I agree.¡±

    He¡¯s actually agreed?

    ¡°Let¡¯s not beat about the bush any longer. What do you want in return?¡± Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but wonder if ck Mamba had already managed to guess the truth about Hell. Unfortunately, in his astonishment, he failed to respond appropriately to ck Mamba¡¯s surprising decision, and the moment to respond had already passedpletely. Therefore, he had no choice but to lean back in his chair and move on to the next topic for discussion, ¡°It might not be convenient for Hell to address this matter on its own right now, but rest assured, we would never forget our Alkebn allies who have acted kindly to us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good attitude.¡± ck Mamba chuckled, and then immediately gathered his smile and spoke hoarsely, ¡°Armaments.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s the first condition. The second condition is that Hell must enter into a strategic partnership with the ck Mamba Underworld. Promise me these things, and I¡¯ll convene a meeting with all of the Mythic Spirits of Alkebn as you so desire!¡±

    ¡°Prefect Qin, time isn¡¯t on your side. Give me the nod, and I¡¯ll immediately send word to the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds. Otherwise¡­¡± He gazed deeply into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Like I said before, once bitten, twice shy. The ck Mamba Underworld is reluctant to overstep its boundaries and unduly interfere with the matters of the P4 underworlds!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s mind churned wildly - Why is he doing this? What exactly is their purpose and interest?

    But how should I reject these offers of theirs?

    Just¡­ what is it that they need?!

 Chapter 665: Decision (2)

    <h4>Chapter 665: Decision (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye subconsciously yed with the wine ss in his hand even as his mind continued to churn with a multitude of thoughts.

    What is their true purpose?

    And why did he decide to meet with me in private today?

    Just then, something suddenly urred to him.

    Wouldn¡¯t they simply be¡­ attempting to please Hell?

    That¡¯s right. That must be it! They must be looking to curry favour with Hell!

    They¡¯re not in the least bit trying to trip Hell up! And that¡¯s because Hell would still be one of the P4 underworlds even after it emerges from its current state of lockdown! Therefore, it¡¯s choosing a far more prudent approach to send aid in Hell¡¯s greatest time of need - even if it means giving up on some of the immediate benefits to be had with the Russian Underworld!

    And since he¡¯s going to willingly sacrifice the interests of the ck Mamba Underworld, he doesn¡¯t want others to witness these actions on his part! He doesn¡¯t want others to witness how he¡¯s going to be clinging tightly to Hell¡¯s thighs!

    He was faced with practical difficulties.

    But how was he to rebuff their advances in this regard?

    And how can he do all that, and yet still convince them to willingly work for Hell¡¯s benefits?

    ¡°Prefect Qin.¡± After a long time, ck Mamba slowly curled up its tail and rested leisurely on the table, ¡°Are you suggesting that¡­ these terms aren¡¯t good enough for Hell?¡±

    But where in the world am I supposed to get a million sets of blight vermin armor?!

    No, in fact, I don¡¯t even have an army with which to harvest these blight vermin carapace!

    But what else do I have with me right now? Do I really have to hand Fate over to them? No¡­ that¡¯s it! There¡¯s actually something else that I still have to offer!

    He nearly crushed the wine ss in his hand as soon as such a thought urred to him - But¡­ is it really appropriate for me to be handing over something of such immense value?

    I can¡­ This is something I can actually do!

    Besides, he was further aware that the Harken had already made a copy of these drawings, and there was no fear of losing such know-how to the Alkebn Underworlds!

    And more importantly, Qin Ye simply refused to believe that a mere ck Mamba Underworld had the potential to develop Forbidden Arts to begin with - Be it financial resources or ghostpower and talents, they simply don¡¯t have what it took. And if that¡¯s the case, they would have no choice but to rely on Hell in future¡­ Hang on a minute! Doesn¡¯t this seem somewhat simr to the situation with the Russian Underworld?

    That said, all things considered, he was willing to bet that he had a reasonable chance of sess with this!

    He didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to deliberate any further. The tension in the air was thick and tense, while ck Mamba¡¯s gaze was practically burning a gaze through his soul. Thus, Qin Ye finally looked up, ¡°Unfortunately, I cannot agree to that.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t Prefect Qin need to ry matters of such importance to the Second King Yanluo before calling the shots?¡± He lifted his wine ss and pretended to size up Qin Ye, ¡°After all, Prefects in the P4 underworlds would never be clothed with the authority to make such decisions on their own, would they?¡±

    ck Mamba¡¯s scales immediately red up once more as he stared at Qin Ye with great disbelief.

    And that was if King Yanluo had personally bestowed that Emissary with the right to do so. Someone personally clothed with the authority to use Fate must be one of the core members of Hell!

    ck Mamba couldn¡¯t help but revise his earlier assessment of Qin Ye - A change of regime, huh? Is this one of the new noblemen that have appeared in Hell? And he¡¯s managed to stand on the right side of the tension?

    ¡°A lot.¡± Qin Ye chuckled, ¡°Hell¡¯s government wouldn¡¯t bother itself with international affairs until its change of regime has finally been concluded. Therefore, it is impossible to enter into a strategic partnership with the ck Mamba Underworld. And as for the blight vermin carapace armor, it is with much regret that I inform you that it is unfortunately not for sale outside of Hell. That said, I¡¯ve got a counter proposal here that I think Lord Mythic Spirit might take interest in.¡±

    As soon as he did, Qin Ye waved casually in the air, and a scroll appeared right before ck Mamba¡¯s eyes.

    Time trickled by slowly. 10 minutester, he finally rolled up the scroll, got to his feet, and then began to pace about the room quickly.

    Second generation Forbidden Arts! And the initiation module at that!

    It waspletely beyond his expectations!

    But¡­ can they really resist it having tasted its sweetness?

    The wounds that they had sustained centuries ago were one of the deepest wounds that still echoed with pangs of excruciating pain in the hearts of every Alkebn Underworld. There were no underworlds out there that didn¡¯t wish to possess Forbidden Arts capabilities, especially the Alkebn Underworlds. This was the perfect opportunity to repay blood for blood! This was their opportunity to unify the Alkebn Underworlds! And this opportunity¡­ had abruptly appeared right beneath ck Mamba¡¯s nose!

    Qin Ye smiled as he swirled the contents of his wine ss, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Lord Mythic Spirit, is it not to your liking?¡±

    ck Mamba abruptly turned back and stared intently at Qin Ye, and Qin Ye immediately understood the contemtions of his heart.

    ¡°You¡¯d better think fast and think well.¡± Qin Ye sipped his wine and repressed the furious thumps of his heart, ¡°We¡¯ve got to give the Russian Underworld our response after the Spring Festivals. This gift is the final token of Hell¡¯s sincerity to the ck Mamba Underworld. If you still can¡¯t agree with this, then¡­ I¡¯m afraid we can only say that we¡¯re not destined to be together.¡±

    ¡°Sincerity?¡±

    ¡°Whose idea was this? Ksitigarbha? The Second King Yanluo? Or one of the potential sessors to the throne? What a cruel tactic. What viciousness¡­¡±

    Even then, Qin Ye gnashed his teeth and stared right into his own reflection in the wine ss as he responded, ¡°You can always refuse it.¡±

    ¡°Refuse?¡± ck Mamba vanished at once, and then reappeared in his seat once more, staring intently at Qin Ye with his beady little eyes. Five minutester, he ced his hand on the scroll and tightened his grip around it, ¡°Why would I?¡±

    Hook, line and sinker.

    Perhaps these negotiations could have gone better had he had more time for preparation.

    Yet, despite all that, he had still managed to ovee all of the odds to secure the goal that he¡¯d set out for!

    His fingers trembled slightly. Not even Qin Ye could have anticipated that thisst-ditch attempt to salvage the situation on his part would determine the sess or failure of his negotiations. That said, he knew that he couldn¡¯t im all of the credit for his sess in this regard. After all, the true reason for sess was the confluence of a multitude of factors. All he had done was to employ the right key to open the door that was already in sight.

 Chapter 666: Divine Inquisition

    <h4>Chapter 666: Divine Inquisition</h4>

    Now that their interests were aligned, Qin Ye immediately understood ck Mamba¡¯s question to mean how Hell would react once the ck Mamba Underworld was exposed for developing Forbidden Arts.

    You don¡¯t know that the ck Mamba Underworld is developing Forbidden Arts?

    And since that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s naturally none of Hell¡¯s business. Who do we look like? Some kind of charitable organization that would resolve such issues for the greater good of theherworld?

    ¡°Very well¡­¡± He straightened up and smiled, ¡°We¡¯ll ink the deal in three days'' time. Once that¡¯s done, I¡¯ll immediately convene a meeting with the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds.¡±

    ¡°To sess.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t stay for much longer. Instead, he tore off thetter half of the secret memorial and kept it for his own reference. After all, he didn¡¯t quite understand what secrets that part of the secret memorial contained, and he naturally wouldn¡¯t give to the ck Mamba Underworld anything more than he needed to.

    20 minutester. As soon as Qin Ye returned to his vi and shut the door behind him, he immediately slumped to the ground with his back against the door.

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± He massaged his throbbing temples as he nced out of the room into the distant skies, ¡°The stratum of international politics is truly interesting¡­¡±

    Just then, he sat up abruptly. His mind was incredibly worn out, but even then, he felt strangely invigorated. Thus, he sat up straight on his sofa, pulled out a piece of paper and immediately began to write on it.

    ¡°My experiences in the field of international affairs are clearlycking. I¡¯d thought that I¡¯d done enough, but everything thus far was clearly still within their expectations and spections. Everything that I¡¯d nned failed to reap the results that I¡¯d anticipated. International politics is incredibly unpredictable. Nobody would stick to the script if they could help it.¡±

    With inspiration abounding, Qin Ye penned down thousands of words in one fell swoop, until his weariness finally got the better of him.

    I¡¯ll get some rest in preparation for the final closure.

    ¡°The winds are changing.¡± He smiled and nced out the window once more. He¡¯d now gained himself a reliable partner, and he sincerely believed that having devoured the temptation of the Forbidden Arts whole, the ck Mamba Underworld would do whatever it took to bring things to fruition as quickly as they could!

    Qin Ye got up early in the morning of the fourth day. But as soon as he did, he noticed that there was already a carriage waiting in front of his vi to take him straight to the Temple of the ck Mamba.

    There weren¡¯t other emissaries around, but Qin Ye wasn¡¯t perplexed in the slightest. After all, they had essentially sold out their own interests in order to curry favour with Hell. Naturally, the ck Mamba Underworld wanted to keep their tacit partnership as discreet as possible.

    Is this what an international treaty looks like?

    Each party¡¯s obligations were set out with patent rity. 20 minutester, Qin Ye finished examining the articles on the treaty, and pulled out Fate once more.

    Just then, a hoarse voice echoed from the end of the round table, ¡°This is a treaty that has been written with my blood. Once signed, it will bind both parties until both parties havepletely discharged their obligations.¡± At once, two spots ofhermes emerged from the darkness, and a ten-meter serpent head appeared in the darkness filled with roiling clouds of Yin energy.

    They locked eyes. After several seconds, ck Mamba finally spoke, ¡°Have you ever heard of the divine inquisition?¡±

    The huge serpent head shrunk back slightly, and the soft rattle of his scales echoed in the darkness. He continued, ¡°This is a technique that is unique to the Alkebn Underworlds. Ites from Aegyptus. Although they¡¯ve already proceeded to shift their capital away from Al-Qahirah, certain things of legacy would still be passed down onto us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already sent a ck Missive out to the rest of the Mythic Spirits.¡± ck Mamba paused for a moment, and then continued, ¡°Furthermore, I¡¯ve taken the liberty to apply for a divine inquisition on your behalf.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± ck Mamba¡¯s forked tongue emerged from his lips as he hissed back with his exnation, ¡°Five questions.¡±

    So, that¡¯s it.

    This was the payout.

    It was already difficult enough to negotiate with one Mythic Spirit, much less an entire troupe of Mythic Spirits representing the interests of the Coalition of Alkebn Underworld all at once. But with the divine inquisition, things might appear to be harsh and strict, but the fact of the matter was that it would also alleviate the pressure of negotiations off his back.

    It would be ideal if he could be given a rough idea of the kinds of questions that would be asked.

    Just then, ck Mamba¡¯s colossal figure slowly began to vanish into a vortex of Yin energy, ¡°But, like I said, there¡¯s no need to be too concerned. So long as you¡¯re telling the truth, the divine inquisition isn¡¯t as scary as you think¡­¡±

    There were still 28 days until the New Year.

    After all, he was already on the final stretch of this journey! He couldn¡¯t afford to let up in the slightest and ruin all of his efforts!

    East Alkebn¡¯s Great Rift Valley.

    These faults were practically a paradise for all who loved nature. A myriad of rare animals, nts and insects can be found thriving within the various climates and environments existing along these fault lines. These ranged from lush grasnds and ins to barren mountains and canyons. It was a perfect weaving of nature¡¯s tapestry filled with the marvels of the world.

    With their long, elegant legs, they would flip over the shells of ms hidden close to the edge of the waters. As the ms yfully spun deeper and deeper into the waters, a piece of seemingly harmless ¡°driftwood¡± next to the mingo would suddenly spring into action and snap the unsuspecting mingo into two.

    But little did they know that all of them were but supporting characters in a film that was being produced.

    ¡°Excellent! That¡¯s perfect!¡± ¡°With this, we can finally wrap up our ¡°Mother Nature¡± series!¡± ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to UNEP¡¯s sponsorship! This is going to be the best nature documentary that we¡¯ve seen in thest five years! I¡¯m willing to bet good money on that!¡±

    The cheering came to an abrupt halt, and the old man rushed over promptly, ¡°What¡¯s going on--...¡±

    ¡°My god¡­¡± The old man nced out of the tent and looked to the distant skies. And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone around him did the exact same thing, staring nkly at the skies even as their expensive equipment threatened to copse all around them.

    Countless birds.

    The old man¡¯s eyes lingered for a second, and then he immediately turned towards where the birds were all flying from.

    For instance, an earthquake¡­ or a volcanic eruption.

    As he nced into the distance, he saw right across the horizon, countless dark and dense clouds gathering quickly as they blotted out the sunpletely. It was almost as though the gates of the underworld had just descended upon the world.

    Something¡­ was approaching...

 Chapter 667: Murchison Falls, Mythic Spirit Conference

    <h4>Chapter 667: Murchison Falls, Mythic Spirit Conference</h4>

    Dead silence. Everyone slowly inched closer to each other, huddling together as though the only sce they could find was the warmth on each other¡¯s bodies. The wind tossed their clothes wildly about, and the temperature in the surroundings dipped rapidly.

    The trees were swaying wildly, while the dark clouds only continued to grow denser and denser. Thesends had just been filled with the vibrancy of life just a little while ago. But now, even the zebras were galloping madly into the tall grass, shivering as their knees buckled under the weight of their fear. The packs of hyenas hunting the zebra trembled right beside their prey with their limbs tucked right underneath their bodies. With death looming right over their heads, the living creatures couldn¡¯t help but cower in great fear.

    Nobody said a word, but they could all sense that something wasing. Although they couldn¡¯t quite see where this impending danger was located, they could sense that it was already right before them!

    Five minutester, the clouds finally cleared up, and the sun once again reappeared in the sky. The violent gale eased up once more as well. It was only then that the staff members working on the nature documentary looked up and heaved a long sigh of relief.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t even breathe!¡± ¡°Is that the devil? Is that what they call a spirit of the dead?¡± ¡°Who believes in such unscientific things?!¡±

    However, he immediately froze when he booted up theputer screen.

    No response.

    ¡°Evacuate! We¡¯ve gotta get out of this ce right now!!¡± He snapped his head back and barked orders at them, ¡°Ike, pack up the tent at once! Andre, make emergency transport arrangements with the transportpany! We need to leave right now! Tell them to get here as quickly as they can! We¡¯ll pay them for the urgent call as usual!¡±

    His voice trailed off.

    Theputer screen was still transmitting the image of the very same Nile River that was still packed with flocks of mingos earlier. But now¡­ all it showed was flowing waters covered with mingo carcasses!

    ¡°My god¡­¡± Another man turned his head stiffly and his jaws agape as he stared deep into the forest, ¡°What the hell just happened over here¡­¡±

    Qin Ye stood at the bow of the boat with a ck cloak draped around his cor. ck Mamba stood right beside him in his half-serpent, half-human form, while dozens of Yin soldiers were arrayed behind them.

    This was the procession of a Yama-King. All living beware.

    He turned and looked Qin Ye in the eyes, ¡°And that is - rules.¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then supplemented, ¡°That is, us.¡±

    They turned a corner, and a massive waterfall suddenly appeared right in front of his eyes. This was the famous fifth falls of the Nile, otherwise known as the Murchison Falls. And at that moment, rather than slowing down, the boat rushed straight into the falls.

    Like a bolt of lightning, the boat hurtled forward, flying straight through the air as it went crashing straight into the plunge pool below. Meanwhile, an otherworldly spectacle appeared right on the surface of the plunge pool.

    Countless serpents.

    BOOM!

    Absolute darkness.

    Furthermore, the boat that he had just been on moments ago hadpletely vanished!

    He didn¡¯t say a word. Instead, he simply nced around, surveying his surroundings. Just then, 17 pairs ofhermes suddenly lit up and gazed deeply at him from every direction!

    No response.

    Had a mere Infernal Judge entered this ce, he would almost certainly have been crushed by the overwhelming might of the pure unadulterated Yin energy. In fact, despite the fact that Qin Ye was already an Abyssal Prefect, he could even sense his bones creaking and clicking under the weight of the overbearing forces around.

    Qin Ye nodded deeply.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded his head again.

    It looked like sunlight, and yet it wasn¡¯t quite the same. It didn¡¯t have the characteristic warmth of sunlight. Instead, Qin Ye could even sense traces of coldness emanating from the light before his eyes, almost as though they were the light of death.

    However, it wasn¡¯t the sphinx.

    ¡°Anubis¡¯ Scale of Justice?¡± Qin Ye asked stiffly.

    ¡°It looks simr, and its name is likewise called the Scales of Justice, but what it weighs isn¡¯t the heart, but one¡¯s words. Rest assured.¡±

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths and did his level best to calm his mind down. His eyes gleamed brightly as he gazed intently at the scales before him.

    17 Yama-ss sources of Yin energy were scrutinizing his movements from the shadows, while a mythical relic of the ancient past was ced right before his eyes. The sheer amount of pressure weighing on his shoulders was absolutely indescribable. His adrenal nds were firing away, and his sweat was pouring out profusely.

    What reason was there to hesitate any longer?

    ¡°Please.¡± He retracted his gaze and cupped his fists respectfully.

    It was stifling. Qin Ye¡¯s mind was sharpened to the extreme, and his cerebral cortex was burning with passion.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond right away.

    The questions are simple, and they demand a simple response of either yes or no. However, if the other questions are anything like this one, they would clearly beden with meaning and implications. In other words, the questions might entail a great breadth of responses, and yet all I can do is to give a simple yes or no answer?

    After all, there were many questions that couldn¡¯t simply be answered with ¡®yes¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯!

    Most of the information contained within the documents were true, but parts of these documents are inferences drawn by the government of Hell. Would these be included in his response as well?

    As he spoke, a cloud of Yin energy emerged from his lips, congealing together to form the word ¡°yes¡± as itnded on the scales.

    I¡¯ve cleared this question¡­

    ¡°Does Hell possess the ability to resolve this issue?¡±

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth. This was a question that still demanded a binary response from him, but it was incredibly incisive and tricky. The conundrum he was faced with was the fact that Hell was indeed unable to resolve this issue, and yet he couldn¡¯t afford to admit it at all!

    Tick, tock, tick, tock¡­ The seconds were ticking once more, and all eyes were on Qin Ye once again.

 Chapter 668: Equitable

    <h4>Chapter 668: Equitable</h4>

    The only thing that was shifting and stirring in the distance were the 17 Mythic Spirits hidden in the darkness as they scrutinized the responses given during the divine inquisition.

    He nced around at the immeasurable darkness around him, and thought through his response until 59 seconds on the clock, before finally responding, ¡°No.¡±

    Kkkkrrrr¡­ This time, the scales began to shake violently. Unfortunately, the scales were tilted against Qin Ye¡¯s word this time, and several secondster, the word ¡°no¡± crashed down onto the ground with a loud bang, kicking up a cloud of sand and dust.

    Qin Ye stared at the scales in astonishment - How is Hell supposed to resolve this matter on its own? Where have I gone wrong with my response?

    Following that, a number of soft voices echoed from the darkness, ¡°The divine inquisition is over.¡±

    He wanted nothing more than to speak up to justify his response, but he knew that it was hardly his ce to be making statements right now. Fortunately, someone else spoke up, ¡°Everyone, please wait a moment.¡±

    Qin Ye felt as though a huge rock was lifted off his chest. Cold sweat was already beading up on his forehead, and his heart was already thumping right out of his chest.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Another voice spoke up in consternation, ¡°How is that possible¡­?¡±

    Then, in front of everyone¡¯s eyes, the Scales of Justice continued to rise and fall as it desperately sought to establish equilibrium. But even after ten minutes, it still showed no signs of stopping.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word. ck Mamba was clever. He didn¡¯t want anyone to know of the ck Mamba Underworld¡¯s rtionship with Hell, so he naturally refrained from making an overt proposition to continue so that he wouldn¡¯t arouse any suspicions. Instead, he simply left the ball in the courts of others¡­

    Nobody said a word.

    Pin drop silence.

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips curled up slightly under the hood of his robes, and he couldn¡¯t help but lick his parched lips.

    ¡°ording to the information provided by Prefect Qin, Hell is currently undergoing a change of regime. Moreover, the Second King Yanluo is clearly preventing its emissaries from leaving the borders of its underworld. However, it¡¯s not entirely right to say that Hell is unable to resolve this situation if it truly wished to. Therefore, the answer is probably somewhere between the two binary options to be furnished by Prefect Qin. That¡¯s probably why we¡¯re seeing this unique response to the Scales of Justice.¡±

    ck Mamba grew taciturn. Several secondster, another voice spoke up, ¡°Then, we¡¯ll carry on.¡±

    Silence. The surroundings were so silent that even the slightest sounds around him sounded deafening to him.

    The punctuation between statements felt like an eternity to Qin Ye, ¡°If the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds ede to Hell¡¯s request and travel eastwards, can Hell truly guarantee our safety?¡±

    What kind of a question is this?!

    The ticking sound of the second hand rang out through the darkness once more. Meanwhile, Qin Ye¡¯s mind immediately flew into a frenzy as he mulled over the question.

    Unfortunately, the third question appeared to have gonepletely off tangent.

    Did something go wrong?

    What have I overlooked?

    1 second remaining!

    Kkkrrrr¡­ The massive scales began to find its equilibrium once more. This time, the side with the feathernded on the ground with a bang.

    It wasn¡¯t until the final 10 seconds that he managed to figure it out.

    His response had been ¡°yes¡±.

    Naturally, the third question to be asked was in fact¡­ whether Hell would make a move against the Alkebn Underworlds.

    And as far as international affairs were concerned, it wasmon knowledge that there was no such thing as unwavering loyalty and trust between allies.

    ¡°If the Russian Underworld and the Argosian Underworld eventually form an alliance, will Hell also form an alliance with the Alkebn Underworlds? If the underworld acting from the shadows behind the Russian Underworld imposes sanctions on the Alkebn Underworlds, will Hell take action?¡±

    Qin Ye pondered deeply. After a minute, he nodded softly, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°One final question.¡± Without giving him any breather, a noble voice proceeded to ask the final question, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Things had taken an unexpected twist. He had never anticipated them to pose him a question like this!

    His heart skipped a beat, and then he suddenly loosened up once more.

    But just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, a golden light suddenly erupted from the Scales of Justice, and a vast cloud of Yin energy erupted from the scales. Simultaneously, the thunderous voice of a transcendent god appeared to rumble from every direction.

    As soon as the voice appeared, the Mythic Spirits immediately gasped in horror, and then turned to stare intently at the Scales of Justice. At once, thedy Mythic Spirit cried out in consternation, ¡°Lord Quetzalcoatl?¡±

    They were all worshipping the golden shimmering Scales of Justice. Meanwhile, the Yin energy around them slowly began to converge upon the Scales of Justice. Even then, the domineering voice in the sky didn¡¯t pay the slightest heed to the 17 Mythic Spirits behind him. Instead, it simply continued, ¡°However, the examinee must respond as urately as possible.¡±

    He was supposed to be asked simple, yes-or-no questions! Why didn¡¯t the Plumed Serpent God appear in the earlier four questions which all carried implications that would affect the bnce of powers in theherworld? Why did he choose only to appear on thisst, fifth question of the divine inquisition?

    His mind was spinning rapidly right now - Should I disclose my own identity? What should I say?

    His eyes suddenly gleamed brightly - That¡¯s right¡­ I did inform them that Hell was undergoing a change of regime¡­

    Moreover, the fact that a sessor to the throne has personallye forward to negotiate on Hell¡¯s behalf might even reveal Hell¡¯s sincerity in these operations. Perhaps it¡¯s not a bad thing to disclose this piece of information right now!

    Time seemed to slow down to a crawl at this very moment. As he spoke, the 17 pairs ofhermes immediately turned and stared intently at him.

    A sessor to the throne of Hell¡­ is actually standing before us?

    Dead silence.

    Qin Ye hardened his heart and bowed courteously, ¡°Yes.¡±

    That¡¯s right, I¡¯m a sessor to the throne.

    You can¡¯t say that I¡¯m lying.

    ¡°The divine inquisition is over.¡±

    ¡°You have passed.¡±

 Chapter 669: A Familiar Face

    <h4>Chapter 669: A Familiar Face</h4>

    ck Mamba was also standing by his side. Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief, ¡°What¡¯s next?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then quipped curiously, ¡°Why did the rules of the game change towards the end?¡±

    Qin Ye frowned. The results were indeed baffling.

    It was impossible. So on what basis could it judge the veracity of Qin Ye¡¯s words?

    And if the Plumed Serpent God could achieve something like that, then he would probably be an entity in the same league as the Second King Yanluo himself. Naturally, such a powerful entity would never have been wounded so seriously by Forbidden Arts.

    ¡°He has never told us what happened before. However, records of the title ¡®Plumed Serpent God¡¯ was in fact first discovered in the Central Usonian region, otherwise known as the New World of the Earth. That¡¯s and that is rich in resources, and for all intents and purposes unified as far as its underworlds are concerned. They¡¯re ruled by three systems of beliefs, under the Aztec, Incan and Mayan Mythologies. These three powers are now living in harmony. We had once spected that the Plumed Serpent God was the loser of the tussle among the various mythologies of the Usonian region, and it was for that reason that he decided toe here to the Alkebn Continent.¡±

    ck Mamba¡¯s attitude was changing.

    This must be in some way rted to the disclosure of my identity as a sessor to the throne.

    ¡°Afterwards, legend had it that the Plumed Serpent God had in fact departed from Ancient Ghana, manifesting in other forms as he appeared in other tribes, instigating the birth of Mythic Spirit after Mythic Spirit. However, nobody has seen his true appearances.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to speak with such formalities around me.¡± ck Mamba smiled genially, ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that you were a sessor to the throne before. But now that your identity has finallye into light, there¡¯s no reason why we shouldn¡¯t treat each other as equals.¡±

    Yama-Kings were living legends of theherworld. How many civilizations, legends and myths had there been since the start of time? There were no more than a hundred subsisting belief systems remaining, just over 20 underworlds, and a hundred or so Yama-Kings. They were entities that stood at the top of the food chain. And yet, a creature at the top of the food chain was willing to bow down and stand beside an Abyssal Prefect merely because of his identity as the sessor to the throne of another underworld.

    ck Mamba continued, ¡°Unfortunately not, because every time it instigates the birth of another Mythic Spirit, it does so through the use of oracles that echo directly in one¡¯s mind. Speaking of which, was the change of regime also triggered by an oracle delivered by the Second King Yanluo?¡±

    The boat sailed quickly through the river, shuttling between the realms of the Yin and the realms of the Yang. Meanwhile, the fish in the waters, regardless of predator or prey, would all retreat madly to the side.

    Qin Ye turned to ck Mamba and nodded softly with a smile, ¡°And they¡¯re probably dealing with the sixth trial as we speak.¡±

    ck Mamba didn¡¯t say another word. Over thest 20 days of their interactions, he had already changed his assessment of Prefect Qin from childishness, to maturity, and then to that ofplete astonishment. It was a magnificent transformation that could even be described as a metamorphosis.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that this lonesome traveler from Hell is actually one of the stronger contenders for session to Hell¡¯s throne?

    And as for his identity, there was naturally nothing suspicious about it. Otherwise, the Plumed Serpent God would never have made its appearance in the divine inquisition and forced him to disclose his own identity. Furthermore, there was no reason to doubt the Plumed Serpent God¡¯s assessment of the veracity of his words.

    And to that end, how could Qin Ye pass up the opportunity toy the groundwork for their future interactions?

    ¡°Are you in a hurry to return?¡± ck Mamba turned and asked casually.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity.¡± ck Mamba sighed, ¡°And here I was, thinking of personally showing you some of the sights and sounds around the ck Mamba Underworld.¡±

    To have a Yama-King take him around the Alkebn Underworlds to eat, drink and be merry, with all expenses to be covered by public funds - what more could he ask for?

    You don¡¯t know how close you are to the truth¡­ and that is 250 years in all¡­

    Time passed quickly, and six more days passed in the blink of an eye. Then, at noon of the sixth day, he suddenly heard a knock at the door.

    The main body of the carriage was also carved with intricate patterns, most of which were rted to the sun, the birds and other animals of the Alkebn Continent. As soon as Qin Ye stepped out of his door, the carriage doors opened, and several Yin spirits stepped out at once.

    ¡°Mr Qin.¡± Babulu took the lead and smiled at him. However, his smile appeared somewhat stiff, ¡°The divine oracle is about to be given. Lord Mythic Spirit has tasked me to invite you to the Grand Hall of the Ancestors to receive the divine oracle.¡±

    But before Qin Ye could even say a word, ady sporting braided hair and wearing golden neck rings and bracelets, and dressed in bright, vibrant clothes, smiled and offered an animal skin bag to Qin Ye, ¡°Prefect Qin. I am Antika, a Minister of the Lioness Tribe. This is a token of our goodwill to pave the way for our first meeting. I hope we get along well in future.¡±

    Then, before Qin Ye could even say another word, the attendants of the ck Mamba Underworld immediately walked right up to receive the bags of gifts contained in animal skin on his behalf.

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one who was tasked to do so by his Mythic Spirit. In fact, almost every other tribe had seen it fit to send their ministers to greet Prefect Qin with a ¡°token gift¡±.

    Since when did Yama-Kings have to stoop so low to give a lowly Abyssal Prefect token gifts like that?!

    There was a pack of ministers crowding around the main door right now. Meanwhile, Babulu couldn¡¯t help but develop the urge to kick every other minister outside Qin Ye¡¯s vi to death!

    As the next chieftain of the ck Mamba Underworld, ck Mamba had told him everything that was permissible. And as soon as he learnt that Prefect Qin was in the running as the sessor to the throne of Hell, he immediately thought to invite Qin Ye to the heart of the ck Mamba Underworld for a wonderful banquet and feast. Unfortunately, ck Mamba promptly dissuaded him from doing so. After all, everything had to be done in moderation. They didn¡¯t need to pull out all the stops. Instead, all they needed to do was to do better than the other underworlds around.

    ¡°Prefect Qin, I¡¯m an Elder of the Seena Tribe. Please ept this humble token gift of ours.¡± ¡°Prefect Qin, I¡¯m a Minister of the Wasp Tribe. Please ept this special produce of our tribe. This is unique to the world, and a cherished product of ours. We invite you to humble ept it.¡± ¡°Minister of the Zawa Tribe. Please ept these token gifts.¡±

    Come again?

    You gave me the cold shoulder yesterday, and then suddenly shower me with gifts today?

 Chapter 670: Oracle

    <h4>Chapter 670: Oracle</h4>

    Perhaps he wasn¡¯t quite there yet, but he could sense the differences in the manner in which people around him treated him. Wang Chenghao no longer dared to joke with him. Arthis no longer dared to cuss and swear at him. Even the elderly men in Hell were slowly but surely beginning to treat him with more and more respect. He was once a reckless youth that was just feeling his way about, but he was slowly and surely shaping up to be a man befitting of the title King Yanluo of Hell.

    But what was most surprising about this was the fact that he hardly felt any sense of rejection for the responsibilities on his shoulder.

    Has the Second King Yanluo sessfully brainwashed me?

    He smiled back in response to the gestures of goodwill brought by the various Alkebn Underworlds. He was no longer as childish as before, and he naturally wouldn¡¯t drag things out just to relish in the feeling of being fawned over. Instead, he even looked each minister in the eye and addressed them with the utmost respect.

    He continued to make small talk with everyone, making eye contact and nodding slightly at each minister from time to time. In fact, he could even sense that he was subconsciously keeping the conversation going. This must be what all politicians were adept at doing¡­

    He made a gesture of invitation, and Qin Ye promptly took the cue from him and cupped his hands respectfully at everyone else, ¡°Apologies, everyone. When the old has gone and the new hase in Hell, I¡¯ll personally see to it that everyone is invited to Hell for a grand reception and banquet.¡±

    ¡°I eagerly await that invitation.¡± The old man from the Golden Rhino Tribe also responded with a smile, ¡°I wish Prefect Qin sess in your ascension. Remember, the Golden Rhino Tribe will always be your most loyal friend.¡±

    None of them were qualified to head into the Grand Hall of the Ancestors. The only reason why they rushed here with their eyes wide open was naturally to make an impression on behalf of their tribe. It was a form of political investment, if you will.

    Truth be told, everyone knew full well that Qin Ye would never be able to remember the names of every tribe that hade forward today. Despite that, they couldn¡¯t pass up on such an opportunity either.

    Meanwhile, on the carriage. Babulu shut the window and finally sighed softly. And then, he finally turned back to Qin Ye.

    ¡°Prefect Qin, I¡¯ve been rude to you before.¡± He bowed sincerely and continued, ¡°Our tribe was unaware that you were one of the sessors to the Second King Yanluo of Hell. That alone, would have qualified you to stay in a ce elsewhere, and not that little vi unbefitting of a sessor to the throne. There is a strict difference between regr emissaries and noblemen after all. On behalf of the ck Mamba Underworld, please ept our sincerest apologies.¡±

    I haven¡¯t even said a word to you yet, and you¡¯ve already seized the initiative to ce the me entirely on the ck Mamba Underworld, as though you were simply carrying out your duties, huh?

    ¡°Mr Qin, I imagine that you¡¯ll have to return to Hell immediately after receiving the divine oracle. The journey to the Grand Hall of Ancestors is only ten minutes. During this time, I¡¯d like to take the opportunity to tell you one final thing.¡±

    Babulu looked Qin Ye straight in the eye and continued, ¡°Regardless of what happens, the ck Mamba Underworld would always remain your most loyal counterpart and friend.¡±

    How bold¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes trembled, and he rubbed his chin with a wry smile on his face.

    But¡­ was there a reason to reject their advances?

    ¡°Perhaps we¡¯ll have such opportunities in future.¡±

    Soon, the carriage ground down to a halt. Qin Ye got off and immediately surveyed his surroundings.

    There were tombstones everywhere.

    The tombstones were approximately two-meters tall, and their cement artificially formed aisles between them. Babulu led Qin Ye through one of these paths until he finally stopped before the great hall.

    It was square in shape, and was surrounded by 17 gates, all of which were etched with the totem of a colossal beast, including a sunbird, a rhinoceros, a lioness, a hyena, and so on and so forth. That said, not a single Yin spirit could be seen in sight. Furthermore, Qin Ye could already sense the overbearing Yin energy of the ck Mamba Mythic Spirit pouring out from within.

    Qin Ye nodded, took a few breaths, adjusted his robes, and then walked in with a grave expression on his face.

    Each step he took was devoid of any sound. In fact, not even the shadows in this ce appeared to be his. Every time he lifted his feet, the shadows beneath his feet would flutter up like a swarm of bats, shrieking as they scattered into the other shadows around him. The fact that these were the only sounds echoing around these parts made the entire graveyard all the more creepy.

    Whoosh¡­

    Qin Ye could see a vividly carved statue ced right at the end of this avenue.

    There were obviously no Yin Talismans etched on the statue, but Qin Ye felt almost as though he could see a river of stars drifting about in a zephyr ocean. The shape of the statue, its curves and its form, all seemed toe together to constitute an indescribable sensation.

    A long, red carpet stretched from the doorway all the way to the statue. Towards the end, there were three steps that led up to the tform on which the statue was located. And at that moment, there was a figure seated right in front of the statue.

    His entire body was shrouded in shadow. As soon as Qin Ye entered, he raised his eyes slightly, ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± ck Mamba smiled enigmatically, ¡°Don¡¯t you recognize me?¡±

    This wasn¡¯t ck Mamba!

    Just then, it stood up.

    However, this moment of shock didn¡¯tst for more than a split second. A momentter, Fate blossomed with a brilliant eruption of light, only to illuminate¡­ a tall figure that had suddenly appeared right in front of Qin Ye.

    He had traversed the span of approximately one hundred meters in the matter of just a split second!

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth as he responded, ¡°Should I¡­ feel lucky that I¡¯ve gained the favour of the great Plumed Serpent God?¡±

    Qin Ye licked his lips, ¡°The Plumed Serpent God maintains a lofty status in the Alkebn Underworlds. If this was truly ck Mamba himself, he would never act with such disrespect to the statue of the Plumed Serpent God. And that¡¯s not to mention the fact that the divine oracle is about to be delivered. ck Mamba would never dare sit so boldly right in front of the most divine being in Alkebn. In fact, there¡¯s only one entity in all of Alkebn that would dare to do what you¡¯ve done!¡±

    ck Mamba nodded, ¡°The Harken?¡±

    Silence.

    As he did, his scales red up in unison, and countless white feathers emerged from within, turning the otherwise ink-ck god of death as white as the wings of an angel!

    ¡°Sessor to the throne of Hell¡­ The Plumed Serpent God has already passed away. You may think of me instead as¡­ a part of the Heavenly Dao¡­¡±

 Chapter 671: An Ancient Tale

    <h4>Chapter 671: An Ancient Tale</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly as he stared right up to the roof of the Grand Hall of Ancestors. The legendary ruler of the Alkebn Underworlds had finally revealed his true form.

    His terrifying Yin energy instantly erupted from his body and came bearing down heavily onto Qin Ye¡¯s body at once. But, even then, he wasn¡¯t able to hide the fact that it wasn¡¯t in a good state.

    There must be a reason for this¡­ Qin Ye didn¡¯t let his guard down in the slightest bit. Instead, he only grew more stern and somber, ¡°What is this¡­?¡±

    ¡°Drop your guard, please. I¡¯ve got a request to make of you¡­ No, rather, I¡¯ve got a request to make of Hell. This is why I¡¯ve been waiting patiently for your arrival all this while.¡±

    ¡°This is Soul-Grafting Seed. Every Mythic Spirit I have awakened has a seed nted in their bodies. Where necessary, I can move between their bodies instantly, all ording to my will, and regardless of how far away they might be. But this doesn¡¯t cause them to die. As soon as I leave, they will regain consciousness once more.¡±

    He didn¡¯t let his guard down in the slightest. The Plumed Serpent God didn¡¯t continue to make demands of him either. Instead, he sighed and continued, ¡°Time is of the essence. I can¡¯t maintain this state for long, so, let me start from the beginning¡­¡±

    ¡°Mythologies and underworlds¡­ There¡¯s an interesting point of corrtion as far as the development of an underworld is concerned.¡± Quetzalcoatl turned back to look at his own sculpture as he murmured, ¡°The longer a civilization remains primitive and undeveloped, the more robust their mythological system would be. And this was exactly the case for the New World. It wasn¡¯t until the great age of discovery from about the 15th century, when the aborigines of the New World were faced with the firearms and cannons of foreign invaders, that they were forced to shed their primitive civilizations in order to keep with the times. Naturally, they were only second to the Alkebn Underworlds when it came to the depths of their mythological systems.¡±

    ¡°The Mayans had a god of death known as Ah Puch, and the Incans had a god of death called Mtecutli. I belonged to the Aztec civilization. Unfortunately¡­ there wasn¡¯t a god of death back then.¡±

    Despite the passage of time since then, Qin Ye could sense the endless hatred lingering in his voice. He could even hear Quetzalcoatl gnashing his teeth.

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°And so you decided to awaken the Mythic Spirits and use them as your pawns tounch a mighty counterattack against the New World?¡±

    The white mist appeared almost sentient, slowly rising from the ground, before receding once more like an ebbing tide.

    That¡¯s right, power.

    It was somewhat akin to the feeling he got when interacting with the Second King Yanluo of Hell.

    He turned back and looked Qin Ye in the eye, ¡°I hunkered down and slowly amassed my forces here in the Alkebn Underworlds. From time to time, I would peek out just to keep abreast of the developments in the New World. Unfortunately, given the distance separating us, and the fact that my identity was far too prominent, I can¡¯t say that I was very well-apprised of international affairs. Then, when we finally awakened the 17th Mythic Spirit here in the Alkebn Underworlds¡­ something big happened¡­¡±

    Quetzalcoatl nodded softly.

    The Plumed Serpent God smiled, ¡°Each of the four major underworlds houses more than 13 Yama-Kings each, but the underworlds of the New World weren¡¯t too weak either. Each of them had five Yama-ss powerhouses on their side. I wanted to conquer the New World by swallowing up all three underworlds in one fell swoop, and not help the Itzamna God¡¯s family conquer the world.¡±

    Just then, he turned back to Qin Ye, ¡°Have you ever wondered why the Alkebn Underworlds have never been unified?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Plumed Serpent God smiled grimly, ¡°In order to awaken these Mythic Spirits, they needed to pay a corresponding price. Therefore, what I¡¯d taken from each of them was a portion of their ambition.¡±

    So, that¡¯s how it is.

    That said, Qin Ye could somewhat empathize with Quetzalcoatl. At the very least, he would have done the same had he been in Quetzalcoatl¡¯s shoes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much time.¡± Plumed Serpent God went on with a deep voice, ¡°Your guess is right. It was all because of the great war triggered by the Argosian Underworld that my ns were all shattered.¡±

    A deadly gaze appeared on Quetzalcoatl¡¯s face, ¡°With their Forbidden Art, they struck out at the Alkebn Underworld, widening the East Alkebn Rift even further! At that time, I had only two choices.¡±

    ¡°Two, block their Forbidden Art.¡±

    Nobody said a word. It was obvious that Quetzalcoatl chose thetter.

    ¡°Unfortunately¡­ the Forbidden Arts were far too devastating¡­¡± He sighed, ¡°Truth be told, it¡¯s not entirely true that my Mythic Spirits would be unable to block their deployment of Forbidden Arts. But if they were to be able to do that, their power would need to be supplemented with the right Yin artifacts and formation arrays. But I was exiled from the New World! Where was I supposed to get something like that?¡±

    ¡°And that was to¡­ to put it in a way that Hell would understand, merge with the Dao. Neither the New World nor the Alkebn Underworlds have a good exnation for this phenomenon.¡±

    As he spoke, the white mist all around the room immediately stirred up and began swirling like a vortex aimed straight at the Plumed Serpent God. The surroundings immediately turned pale white in colour.

    His voice carried a thick sense of resignation, ¡°In recent years, we¡¯ve seen the closure of a chapter, and the turn of a page to something brand new. I would never have thought that the three major civilizations that have stood so long in the New World would copse from the mortal realm!¡±

    ¡°History has proven that theherworld is closely interlinked to the urrences of the mortal realm. When a particr civilization ceases to exist, their corresponding underworld would also be hit equally hard! As things stand, the death gods of the New World are still around, and they¡¯re still Yama-ss Yin spirits in that regard, but they¡¯ve all been weakened to an incredible extent!¡±

    Qin Ye gasped in horror.

    Furthermore, he finally understood why the Plumed Serpent God was in such a weakened state.

    It was because the disappearance of the three great ancient civilizations had likewise dealt him a deadly blow! And to make matters worse, he was slowly being swallowed up by the Heavenly Dao!

    <hr>

    1. Do take these with a pinch of salt, because having read wiki, I think the author is changing some of these references in order to suit his storyline.

 Chapter 672: Help Required

    <h4>Chapter 672: Help Required</h4>

    No wonder¡­ No wonder he possesses the ability to manipte the Scales of Justice to such an extent. If there¡¯s anything in this world thates even close to omniscience and omnipotence, it would be none other than the Heavenly Dao.

    Unfortunately, he¡¯s still not quite an entity synonymous with the Heavenly Dao, and there are still things that he doesn¡¯t know¡­ All of Qin Ye¡¯s doubts and queries had finally been answered.

    In that moment of silence, the white mist slowly began to surround them and envelop them altogether. And amidst the white nothingness, the sound of a bell tinkled, almost as though it was calling a wanderer to return home.

    With the tinkle of the bell, the white mist began to stir wildly, and swirl rapidly. Within moments, everything began to swirl like a mighty vortex spinning around them both. The Grand Hall appeared no different from a cloud-topped heavenly pce, presenting itself with dreamlike beauty. But just as the white mist came close to Qin Ye, Fate suddenly blossomed with a radiant light, forcing the white mist to retreat at once.

    It hesitated, and then swirled about as though at a loss. However, the mist dared not take a single step forward any further.

    ¡°The Heavenly Dao is afraid of Fate?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened in consternation.

    ¡°To be more precise, it''s afraid of the person Fate represents.¡± The Plumed Serpent God chuckled softly, ¡°Do you think his title as the strongest existence in the history of the Three Realms is simple for show? But even this deterrence isn¡¯t going tost long against the will of the Heavenly Dao. Ever since merging with it, I¡¯vee to learn of many secrets of the world. For instance, I know that the Three Realms simply wouldn¡¯t allow humans of the level of the Second King Yanluo of Hell to exist.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d personally sensed his departure from the Three Realms, and the Heavenly Dao must naturally know that for a fact as well. Therefore, I know full well that time isn¡¯t on our side. Alright, back to the point. This is the state that I¡¯m in right now - I¡¯m in the process of being devoured by the Heavenly Dao. However, that¡¯s a process that will take time, and before it isplete, I¡¯ll still remain a sentient being with a will of my own. That said¡­ I canst no more than three to four hundred years like this.¡±

    He was clearly getting to the heart of his request. Thus, Qin Ye egged him on, ¡°What do you want of us?¡±

    ¡°Help me!¡± The Plumed Serpent God¡¯s voice trembled, ¡°Help me get out from the Heavenly Dao! I can wait! The Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces, Sixfold Ghost Kings, Lord Ksitigarbha, the Harken, and the Third King Yanluo of Hell! That¡¯s 19 Yama-ss entities! Even the Heavenly Dao would have no choice but to give up on devouring me! And so long as you be the next King Yanluo of Hell, you¡¯ll naturally know of the way tomunicate with the Heavenly Dao!¡±

    How unfortunate¡­ I¡¯m afraid you might have some misconceptions about the new Hell¡­

    Qin Ye stared at Quetzalcoatl intently, ¡°So what¡¯s in it for us?¡±

    Quetzalcoatl didn¡¯t reply verbally. Instead, he simply took a deep breath and lifted his neck. At once, a faint golden light shot out with psychedelic light and flew straight into Qin Ye¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want this?¡± He licked his lips with a profound gaze in his eyes, ¡°Take it with you. With this, you¡¯ll be able to give any orders to the Mythic Spirits you so desire. After all, the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds would never be able to deny my orders.¡±

    The divine oracle!

    Qin Ye immediately sped his fingers around the object radiating golden light in his hand. It was a golden scale. This was the true form of the divine oracle!

    The Plumed Serpent God knew everything that was happening in the Alkebn Underworlds. So long as he refused, nobody could ever obtain the divine oracle. However, it was also clear that the Plumed Serpent God was desperate.

    Had this been any other time, Qin Ye could almost guarantee that the Plumed Serpent God would never have handed it over that readily. But now, he was even offering up the divine oracle without asking Qin Ye to make amitment to him.

    It was clearly an act of desperation.

    And don¡¯t be fooled by his calm expressions. This all stemmed from the fact that a Mythic Spirit was doing its best to maintain its honor.

    Qin Ye nced at the golden scale in his hand, ¡°Unlimited usage?¡±

    He could see for himself that the Plumed Serpent God still had several other pieces of golden scales hidden right under his neck.

    ¡°One-time use.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God gazed deeply at Qin Ye, before finally responding hoarsely, ¡°This would have a direct impact on your potential session. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a little bit too greedy?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°And if I don¡¯t be the next King Yanluo of Hell, how am I supposed to convince the Yama-Kings of the Ten Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings on your behalf?¡±

    He bowed slightly, almost with a respectful posture, but he promptly narrowed his eyes, ¡°Or are you suggesting that¡­ you¡¯d sooner be prepared to tell another person about the tragic situation that you¡¯re in right now?¡±

    Then, without missing a beat, he continued, ¡°Speaking of which, you haven¡¯t even told the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds about this. Who are you going to ry such a message to? The Incan Underworld¡¯s god of death who¡¯s on the verge of death? Or the Aztec gods who had once abandoned you?¡±

    ¡°Or do you really think you¡¯ve got the luxury of time to sit around, waiting for the next time a representative of the P4 underworlds appears in the ck Mamba Underworld in person? And would you even dare say these things to them? I daresay that you wouldn¡¯t¡­ In fact, your best bet is to tell someone like me, a potential sessor to the throne of one of the P4 underworlds. This is the only way you can potentially gain some goodwill for yourself in the hope that you can be rescued from the hellfire of the Heavenly Dao. And that¡¯s not to mention the fact that I currently represent one of the more powerful underworlds, even among the P4 underworlds¡­¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God didn¡¯t say a word as he listened to Qin Ye state his piece.

    Qin Ye straightened up and then gazed Quetzalcoatl straight in the eye, ¡°You¡¯re making a gamble here, and so am I. You¡¯re betting on your goodwill, and that his slight measure of goodwill you¡¯ve extended to me will make a sufficient impression on me such that I take action to repay your kindness when I finally ascend the throne. On the other hand, I¡¯m gambling on whether I can even make it all the way to the top. That said, the only difference here is that I¡¯ve got options, and you don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°And since you don¡¯t have any way out of this tight spot, why don¡¯t you be a little bit more forting? With all due respect¡­ you¡¯re not in a very good spot right now.¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God grew taciturn.

    As Qin Ye spoke, the white mist swirled madly around them. Almost as though it was stirring with newfound determination, the mist quickly congealed into six Cathayan fans that were approximately five meters each. Complex runes of Yin Talismans were scattered all over their surface, and it appeared no different to the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art that Qin Ye had seen.

    ¡°I guess the Heavenly Dao is trying to tell us that it is the most powerful among all of the underworlds, huh¡­¡± Qin Ye chuckled.

    However, the Plumed Serpent God couldn¡¯t find it within himself to chuckle along with Qin Ye. He remainedpletely silent even as the six fans flew up behind him, transforming into a massive umbre that sought to envelop him from behind!

    The underside of the umbre was adorned with countless embroidered eyes, each of which appeared to reflect the silhouette of the Plumed Serpent God. Just then, the white mist flowing all around them suddenly began to rush towards the umbre, almost as though it was a mighty ck hole that was sucking up every bit of the Heavenly Dao¡¯s power in this world.

    ¡°It takes the shape of the most powerful underworld.¡± The Plumed Serpent God finally spoke up. Even then, he didn¡¯t even seem in the slightest bit flustered. His tail had already been reduced to mist and haze that quickly vanished into the heart of the umbre. However, his eyes continued to gleam brightly as he smiled at Qin Ye, ¡°If an Abyssal Prefect had even dared to speak to me like this a few hundred years ago, I¡¯m afraid he would already have ended up in my belly by now.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled back faintly and nodded gently, ¡°That¡¯s right. Unfortunately, it¡¯s precisely because you¡¯d first set your sights on me that I¡¯d been filled with the courage to tread on such thin ice.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ A third of the Plumed Serpent God¡¯s figure had vanished by now. He sighed softly, ¡°I know where the treasure trove of the Aztec mythology is located. They¡¯ve only vanished over thest few centuries. If I tell you its location, you can head over right away and seize control of the entire collection of treasures that have been rued over several thousands of years!¡±

    However, Qin Ye shook his head with a bright glint in his eyes, devoid of even the slightest measure of humility that he had previously put up, ¡°Lord Plumed Serpent God¡­ You should be fully aware of what I¡¯m asking for. 400 years is far too long. I don¡¯t have that kind of patience. Moreover, what do the treasures of a fallen mythological underworld even mean to a future King Yanluo of Hell?¡±

    A whole lot, if you ask me¡­

    ¡°Besides, don¡¯t you think that such an offer of yourscks far too much sincerity?¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God finally sighed wistfully, ¡°Actually¡­ if you have a good rtionship with the Harken, you can just ask him just what these treasures represent. But, forget it. I really don¡¯t have any more time.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure was suddenly sucked right into the heart of the umbre, and it trembled slightly, before vanishing with a dazzling disy of Yin Talismans.

    The surrounding white mist slowly receded at once. It was only then that Qin Ye looked down once more, only to notice three other golden scales sitting right at his feet. He shook his head, ¡°Tsk. How stingy¡­¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God had at some point also left him a message on the ground - If you need to speak with me again, pleasee to this ce with one of my scales and call out my true name, <i>Quetzalcoatl</i>.

    ¡°What?! There¡¯s still a catch?!¡± Qin Ye waspletely incensed - Bloody hell¡­ How can you only give me four pieces of your golden scales for a task as tall as this? And to think that I even have to keep one reserved to call upon your name in future?! You must be kidding me!

    He cussed and swore in his heart, but he still proceeded to pick up the scales on the ground with undeniable speed. It was only when he finally had the scales in his hands that he promptly threw his head into the sky and began tough boisterously.

    It¡¯s finally over¡­

    I¡¯ve encountered many hups along the way, but the end result is even better than I could ever have hoped for!

    After all, Qin Ye had gained far more in the matters of his perspective of world affairs!

    He had gained four pieces of the golden scales that represented divine oracles. These were artifacts that he could expend in order tomand the entire Alkebn Underworld to do his bidding! Naturally, there were limits to themands he could issue. For instance, he would never be able tomand them to attack the Aegyptian Underworld. However¡­ he could still gain much bymanding them to open their doors to partnership with Hell!

    As to the exact terms of their partnership, he would naturally have to return to discuss the specifics with the elite think-tanks operating out of Hell right now.

    ¡°Besides¡­ there¡¯s the parting message that he¡¯s left me with. What exactly does the Harken know?¡± He rubbed the scales in his hand carefully. However, he wasn¡¯t given the luxury of time to consider these matters, because another source of Yama-ss Yin energy soon stirred in the Grand Hall of Ancestors.

    The molted scales of ck Mamba that were all scattered around had once again transformed into countless ck serpents that were converging in the center of the room, melding together into a dark blob of energy. Momentster, ck Mamba stepped out from the heart of the blob, surveyed his surroundings for a moment, before finally turning his gaze right onto Qin Ye.

    ¡°You--¡­¡± He was just about to speak when he promptly did a double take at the objects that Qin Ye was holding right in his hands.

    Four¡­

    He actually obtained four divine oracles?! How gracious is the Plumed Serpent God to an outsider like him?! I¡¯ve never seen the appearance of so many divine oracles in my entire life!

    What in the world happened?!

    He wanted to ask about what transpired, but found himselfpletely unable to do so. The oracles in Qin Ye¡¯s hand caused his heart to stir with a primal sense of reverence and respect. His knees immediately went weak, and he half-knelt to the ground and cried out in a deep voice, ¡°Your humble servant, ck Mamba Mythic Spirit, is at your service!¡±

    Silence. ck Mamba remained in his reverential posture, while Qin Ye remained silent. Instead, he simply ran his finger across the cold scales in his hands and sighed with great emotion.

    Over thest month, he¡¯d gone from having only a sliver of hope, to makingst-ditch efforts at mending the potentially devastating loopholes in his case, to securing himself an unexpected partnership with the ck Mamba. Thereafter, he stood up against the Scales of Justice in the divine inquisition, and he finally held¡­ the key to put a final punctuation to this chapter of his story.

    Whoosh¡­ One of the scales flew right up to ck Mamba, and Qin Ye¡¯s voice boomed in his ear, ¡°ck Mamba Mythic Spirit, receive this oracle.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± ck Mamba was still in a half-kneeling position, but his head was bowed so low that it almost touched the ground. Qin Ye¡¯s voice rumbled so loudly that the entire Grand Hall felt as though it was shaking.

    ¡°Effective immediately, you shall bear the authority of the Plumed Serpent God and travel across Alkebn to contact the Mythic Spirits situated in the Golden Rhino Tribe, the Sunbird Tribe, the Lioness Tribe, the Emerald Wolf Tribe, the Seema Tribe, the Hos Tribe, the Zawa Tribe, the Ntuga Tribe, the zing Ice Tribe, the Giant Molten Tribe, the Hyena Tribe, the Zanga Tribe, and the Vid Tribe, as well as the Abyssal prefects of other tribes. All are to be on standby for mobilization upon Hell¡¯s orders from the turn of the new year.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    ck Mamba responded affirmatively, and then proceeded to ask with some measure of apprehension, ¡°Sir¡­ wouldn¡¯t sending 13 Mythic Spirits and over twenty Abyssal Prefects¡­ make the Alkebn Underworlds a little bit empty?¡±

    ¡°This is the divine oracle.¡± Qin Ye looked ck Mamba straight in the eyes, ¡°Or are you trying to disobey Lord Quetzalcoatl¡¯s orders?!¡±

    ¡°I dare not!¡±

    ¡°Remember.¡± Qin Ye continued in a deep voice, ¡°Upon Hell¡¯smand, all forces are to march for Khuree at once, regardless of the costs involved!¡±

    He smiled faintly, ¡°Don¡¯t ever forget the rancor from the incident several hundred years ago. This is¡­ your one and only chance at revenge!¡±

    ¡°As the divine oracle so decrees!!¡±

 Chapter 673: Return

    <h4>Chapter 673: Return</h4>

    Perhaps it was due to the overuse of his brain cells, but Qin Ye felt inexplicably drawn towards Ashmound when he first saw it. He couldn¡¯t wait to return to his abode to get a good rest.

    The next day, Qin Ye pranced into Hell in a sprightly fashion and ced a bag of souvenirs right in front of the Harken, who was seated at his desk, ¡°Wanna take a guess and see what this is?¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s only to be expected, given the person who made the trip.¡± Qin Ye sat down onto his seatzily and looked at his empty teacup in dismay. At once, he cleared his throat, ¡°Assistant Wang!¡±

    Then don¡¯t you know how to be a little bit more conscious?

    Thud. The Harken set down the document in hand and gave Qin Ye a deadly re. Qin Ye immediately cleared his throat again, ¡°Ahem¡­ Old¡­ Harken?¡±

    The Harken ignored him and immediately shut its ears away.

    It sneered, ¡°If Hell helps to extricate it from the grasp of the Heavenly Dao, do you really think it makes sense for us to release him right back to where he came from? Besides, release him back? Back to where?¡±

    Qin Ye frowned and grabbed the Harken¡¯s ears, only to find the Harken biting back and sinking its sharp teeth right into his hands. Qin Ye gasped, ¡°But even if it remains here in Hell¡­ he would still be subject to the same fate as soon as his divine lineage bes a thing of the past, right?¡±

    WHAT?!

    ¡°Didn¡¯t expect a response like that?: The Harken leapt onto the table and snickered softly, ¡°There are those who were born to pave the way for others. The three gods of death from the New World are all doomed to perish. If Hell was still around, the Second King Yanluo wouldn¡¯t have hesitated in the slightest bit to send them a letter demanding that they submit. Conquering them is just an extension of what the Second King Yanluo would¡¯ve done.¡±

    ¡°Of course, there¡¯s always the possibility that they would be ambitious and proud, and unwilling to submit, but I¡¯d say that the possibility of this happening is even lower than that of submission.¡±

    Just like the mortal realm, theherworld, too, was rife with conflict and strife between underworlds. Thergest international rift in the mortal realm right nowy between the two seemingly irreconcble positions taken by Cathay and Usonia, while theherworld¡­ had four superpowers vying for control of theherworld. Many second-rate underworlds were all caught between their deadly tussle, trying desperately to survive. In this world where strength was paramount, conflict was oftentimes synonymous with bloodshed.

    After all, anyone who controls the New World would undoubtedly be propelled straight into the realms of the hegemon among the P4 underworlds. And if Hell could rescue the Plumed Serpent God and have him on their side, Hell would gain for itself one of the most useful allies that it could possibly have in such a tussle!

    Qin Ye grabbed the document with dismay and began to skim through its contents. Within moments, the smile on his face faded away, only to be reced by an icy smirk.

    ¡°31 December. Arxan/Suember Crossing. Midnight.¡± Qin Ye crushed up the diplomatic document and tossed it right into the bin, ¡°Where is this?¡±

    Qin Ye began to ry everything that happened during his trip to the Harken. It was only then that the Harken sighed softly, ¡°And then what? What are you going to do when the timees?¡±

    ¡°Besides, it¡¯s not us who should be thinking about what to do. It¡¯s them.¡±

    ¡°The best part of the story is never the climax. That¡¯s where one would merely vent their emotions. The real excitement lies in the games both sides are ying leading right up to the climax of the fight. And now that their fate has already been sealed in stone, all that¡¯s left is¡­ to wait and watch the fireworks.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to say--...¡± Just as the Harken was about to go on, Qin Ye promptly rested his head on his hand and sat back haughtily with a wide grin, ¡°How can I not mature after all that¡¯s happened? There¡¯s no need to say more. I understand.¡±

    ¡°Anyhow, I was going to say that I¡¯ve drunk from that cup of tea.¡±

    Bloody hell!!!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    He was in his early forties, and it was a great privilege that he was able to take such a prestigious office at such a tender age. In fact, it was almost as though the stars were aligned in his favour - the previous director had suddenly died due to a heart attack, while the transfer director perished in a car ident just one month after assuming office at the Suember Customs. It was only then that the government finally turned their attention to the group of local officials, and he was therefore fortunate enough to be nominated as the next director.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going back yet?¡± Bayin¡¯s secretary appeared almost used to the regrity of Bayin¡¯s overtime work. It was now 6.30 p.m, and most of the workers in the office had already left for the day. Instead, he continued to work overtime everyday, going through everyone¡¯s projects with close scrutiny. Sometimes, Bayin¡¯s secretary couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Bayin deserved every bit of favour from the heavens.

    His room was silent. It was winter. The further north one was, the earlier the days got dark. Although it was only 6.30 p.m. in the evening, it was already dark as midnight on a regr day.

    His plump face was devoid of any expression of joy at this moment. In fact, the corners of his eyes were twitching gently, and he looked absolutely dejected as he stared gloomily out the window.

    He was the only one left.

    It¡¯s here¡­ It¡¯s here!!!

    ¡°Something terrifying will ur in this ce on the 31st. Over the next half a month, you will witness a surge in the supernatural activities here. Stay away if you want to live.¡±

    ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± A soft cackle echoed coldly through the room. It was ady¡¯s voice. Within moments, ghastly wisps of Yin energy seeped out through the cracks on the floorboards, filling the room with darkness andughter.

    It was because he could see the silhouette of ady dressed like a European servant. Endless Yin energy poured out from the seven apertures of her face as she slowly emerged from the darkness and cackled manically, ¡°It¡¯s not up to you to decide whether you¡¯ve paid off your debt or not. Besides, we¡¯re not asking for much. It doesn¡¯t even threaten you one bit.¡±

    ¡°Make no mistake about it.¡± Thedy¡¯s voice responded with great indifference, ¡°This is just a suggestion of mine. Whether you actually take heed or not doesn¡¯t concern us. The only difference it would make would be the resultant number of corpses around these parts. After all¡­ you don¡¯t want to know what happens to a human being that gets exposed to too much Yin energy.¡±

    In a sh, a pair of cold hands appeared right at Bayin¡¯s neck, causing his entire body to shudder violently. Cold sweat beaded up on his forehead. A split secondter, a raspy voice grated right next to his ear, ¡°If something happens, I hope you¡¯ll be sensible enough not to press the button for special emergencies. What¡¯s the name of the special organization here in the Mongol Empire again? Oh, that¡¯s right, the Eternal Guardians.¡±

    A lump swelled up in Bayin¡¯s throat, ¡°N-not even the Eternal Guardians can do a thing about the uing incident?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re nothing.¡± The woman cackled softly as her voice gradually faded away, ¡°They¡¯re not even worthy of waiting on the ones who will be arriving shortly¡­ Kekeke¡­¡±

 Chapter 674: Boundary Lines

    <h4>Chapter 674: Boundary Lines</h4>

    The warmth of the sunbeams drove away some harshness of the cold winter. Its remote location meant that Yiershi Town wasn¡¯t a fast-developing ce. However, the fact that they were located near the customs also meant that they weren¡¯t too bad either. At the very least, one could see the emergence of some European-style buildings, including clock towers, interspersed between the more typical Cathayan buildings.

    The car drove all the way out of the state highway, and for another ten minutes, before another tall building appeared right in the middle of the snow-covered tundras.

    In fact, this entire location was an attraction in and of itself. Each ticket to enter the Arxan Port costs 40 RMB. From there, if one entered the building and walked across the bridge, they would end up straight in the Mongol Empire. Unfortunately, the 40 RMB only allowed a person to enter the building and gaze across the river, and not cross the border bridge.

    The silver BMW stopped in the parking lot. 300 meters was the closest they could get from the Arxan Port Bridge, and anyone attempting to get within 100 meters from the Arxan Port Bridge would have to undergo a physical examination. As soon as the car stopped, the car door opened, and a foot wearing army boots stepped out onto the ground, before promptly shrinking back and mming the door shut.

    Qin Ye leaned back on the back seat, ostensibly rattled, ¡°... Don¡¯t rush me¡­ Let me get limatized¡­¡±

    The driver was on the brink of tears, ¡°Sir¡­ Are you still limatizing?¡±

    The door quickly mmed shut, and the BMW hurtled away at top speed.

    ¡°Useless!¡± The Harken red at Qin Ye as it gave him a good dressing down, ¡°You¡¯re already a powerful Emissary of Hell, and yet you¡¯re actually still afraid of the cold?! Yin energy is the coldest thing you can find in the world! Take a look at yourself! Can you please act with more decorum?!¡±

    The Harken was tucked into a little pocket of space at his chest with only its head sticking out from the zipper.

    The Harken responded by slinking right back into Qin Ye¡¯s fur coat and pulling up the zipper, causing Qin Ye¡¯s chest to bulge almost as though he was a man with a D-cup bosom, ¡°Go. It¡¯s time to head in. The Russian Underworld must already be anxiously waiting for us.¡±

    Thus, he turned towards the woods around him and slowly vanished into the shadows.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Xiao Guolong held the hot tea in his hands and gazed out into the whitendscape outside the windows.

    As a Soul Hunter, he would easily have been made the vice-captain of a department of any branch offices of the Special Investigations Department.

    Shaking his head, he turned around and motioned to return to his work. And it was right then that he suddenly shuddered violently, spilling his hot tea all over his hands, yet it almost appeared as though he didn¡¯t feel a thing at all. He stared intently in front of him.

    This was the Arxan City branch office of the Special Investigations Department, and there was only one kind of person who was authorized to enter this ce - a cultivator.

    Why don¡¯t I¡­ feel afraid?

    Xiao Guolong promptly rposed himself and stared intently at the shadows at Qin Ye¡¯s feet, ¡°Are you a human or a ghost? Do you know what kind of a ce this is?¡±

    ¡­ No¡­

    ¡°Come here.¡± Qin Ye beckoned to him, ¡°I¡¯ll show you something good.¡±

    Boom!

    There was no need to consider other things in front of absolute power.

    Thus, he watched vigntly with bated breaths as the man reached into his coat¡­ and then pulled out a dog¡­

    An angry dog¡­

    The fear and terror in his heart was instantly washed away at once. But, just then, Qin Ye pulled the dog into his bosom and smiled faintly, ¡°If I were you, I¡¯d look at the Yin energy reader that you carry around with you all the time. If I¡¯m not mistaken, that¡¯s a standard issue for all investigators these days.¡±

    An electrifying sensation surged from his tailbone and spread throughout his entire body, causing him to shiver uncontrobly.

    Thepass-like Yin energy reader was pointed right at the end of the charts it was capable of reading, which was that of four million Yin - the level of an Infernal Judge. That said, he could see that the needle was still desperately attempting to go above and beyond the limits of the reader.

    Or something even stronger!

    He froze, and then turned back, pulling out dozens of talismans and stering them all around him with abject fear. His eyes even grew slightly bloodshot as he cried out at the top of his voice, ¡°Who are you? Breaking into the office of the Special Investigations Department is a crime punishable by death! You¡¯ll be made a wanted criminal nationwide and barred from leaving the nation! Do you think you¡¯re the first Yin spirit that has tried to infiltrate the Special Investigations Department? Some may have seeded, but none have been spared!!¡±

    Qin Ye waved his hand, ¡°Yeah, yeah, there¡¯s that old monk and that old Taoist priest, and there¡¯s one more that I haven¡¯t seen before. Ah, that¡¯s right, you probably haven¡¯t crossed paths with any of these before. They¡¯re all acquaintances of mine. Alright, there¡¯s no need to be afraid. This is the possession of an Emissary of Hell. I¡¯m here to tell you something.¡±

    ¡°For the next dozen days or so, this ce will see immense Yin energy fluctuations. You need only turn a blind eye to it. Don¡¯t get involved. Otherwise¡­¡±

    With that, Qin Ye¡¯s figure vanishedpmletely. And it was only then that Xiao Guolong realized that his back was already soaked through with cold sweat. Realization dawned on him that he had just been on the edge of the precipice between life and death earlier. He thought about it for a moment, and then picked up the phone and dialed for the operator, ¡°Hey¡­ it¡¯s me, serial number AL544. Please transfer me to the Arxan City Special Investigations Department right now¡­¡±

    What Xiao Guolong didn¡¯t realize was that Qin Ye had merely transformed into his Hell¡¯s Emissary state, silently watching the surroundings from the shadows and biding his time until midnight.

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

    He turned to the Harken, ¡°Will you really be able to pull through with that intelligence of yours? Holy crap¡­ let go! Let go!!¡±

    ¡°What are you looking at? We can¡¯t see the Array of the Nine Gods from here.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a putrid smelling from the distance in that direction¡­ That¡¯s the stench of corpses that have been festering in their own blood for countless years on end.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qin Ye licked his lips and stared coldly into the distance. The Array of the Nine Gods also acted as a filter such that they could only see the regr sights of the mortal realm.

    Over a dozen Yama-ss Yin spirits were all eyeing this ostensibly barren piece of wastnd right now!

 Chapter 675: Arxan Protocol (1)

    <h4>Chapter 675: Arxan Protocol (1)</h4>

    Bayin shuddered as he hid behind the windows. He didn¡¯t leave his station. The Arxan Port Bridge was located approximately 50 meters in front of the customspound. That said, everything was dark, and he could barely see anything. Meanwhile, Xiao Guolong did the same form the other end of the bridge, leaning close to the window with gritted teeth as he gazed intently at the end of the bridge.

    Both sides of the border crossing were already closed by now, and the lights on the bridge were allpletely shut off. Only the guards and soldiers who were on duty were still standing sentry in the vicinity or patrolling about. Only the lights on each end of the riverbanks were still lit up like beacons in the snowy winter nights. The muffled footsteps of the soldiers trudging through the thick snow waspletely drowned out by the howling winds around them.

    Everything was silent, so silent that even the second hands of the clock sounded almost deafening to him. Dong, dong, dong¡­ Just then, the clock chimed 12 times, causing him to jump slightly and jerk his head back. However, he promptly wiped the cold sweat off from his forehead, took a deep breath to suppress his wildly thumping heart, before staring intently at the bridge once more.

    A split secondter, his entire body suddenly trembled, and he nearly cried out in rm!

    It was very faint in the dim moonlit night, but he could¡¯ve sworn that it was the silhouette of a man! He appeared to be dressed in Cathayan clothes, and more importantly¡­ holding a little dog in his hands.

    ¡°Have the surveince instruments been set up?¡± Despite his distance to the silhouette in the distance, he couldn¡¯t help but reduce his voice to a hush, almost as though he was afraid that Qin Ye would hear him, ¡°Remember¡­ don¡¯t ever head out, under any circumstances. Stay close to our national emblem, and have your Yin energy readers, and all surveince devices--...¡±

    No response.

    tter!!! Just then, the windows around them suddenly opened wide, allowing a chilling gale to sweep right into the room. The woods outside stirred and rustled wildly.

    It was as if they were warning him to stay right where he was, or perish outside.

    This wasn¡¯t the ce for weak cultivators like him.

    That the skies looked different.

    This image was dressed in ck and red garments, with sleeves that almost appeared to be formed from Yin energy. His eyes gleamed brightly withhermes zing half a meter high into the sky, and he stood right on the boundary bridge holding a dog in his hands.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± Xiao Guolong folded his hands and peeked out from beneath the windowsill.

    It was a good thing he hadn¡¯t sought assistance from the rest of the province. Otherwise¡­ the investigators of the Inner Mongol Province would all be doomed to perish tonight in this ce.

    On the other side of the bridge, Bayin reacted in almost a simr fashion. He saw Yin energy converging on the bridge from every direction, and he had already scrambled to take shelter under his desk, not daring to even take a peek outside any longer.

    The entire body of the carriage was gilded with gold and constructed out of bones. It was iid with the emblem of a grizzly bear with ribbons beneath. Exquisitenterns lit withhermes hung from the four corners of the carriage, and the coachman¡­ turned out to be none other than Marquis Rumyantsev himself!

    The only ones qualified to have a Marquis-ss coachman¡­ is none other than a Duke!

    One of the three Russian gods of death¡­ Qin Ye watched silently for dozens of seconds, before he slowly stepped forward and stepped out of the Array of the Nine Gods.

    Surprisingly, Qin Ye didn¡¯t feel in the slightest bit nervous. In fact, the anxiety in his heart wasn¡¯t even a fraction of that which he experienced when he was negotiating with the Alkebn Underworlds.

    As soon as he crossed the bridge, the carriage doors opened up, and a skeleton dressed in ancient European aristocratic garments stepped out slowly, before courteously cing his left fist to his right breast and bowing slightly, ¡°Pyotr Alekseyevich.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled back. Even though he¡¯d already prepared himself for this moment, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel amazed by his presence.

    The skeleton didn¡¯t present himself with any unique features apart from a ring of white hair on his head. From time to time, Peter the Great¡¯s image would surface on his skeleton, before promptly fading away. Secondster, his elegant figure stood right in front of Qin Ye, and they shook hands. Peter the Great smiled and bowed gently once more, ¡°Mr Harken, it¡¯s been a while.¡±

    Qin Ye naturallyplied. As soon as they boarded the carriage, he heard the crack of a whip, and the scenery beside them immediately became a blur. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly - This direction¡­ Are we headed straight for Khuree?

    Hell, the Russian Underworld, and one of the P4 underworlds that was acting from the shadows were all on board the boat that was drifting along the stirring waves.

    A peculiar smile crept up the corners of the Harken¡¯s lips.

    Hehe¡­ Laugh while you can, because you might not beughing in a little while¡­

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Peter the Great chuckled hoarsely, ¡°On the contrary, I believe that there will only be more opportunities for coboration in future, such as in the fields of Yin Talismanology, or even in the research and development of second generation Forbidden Arts. Believe me, I speak for my underworld when I say that the Russian Underworld will always be the best ally Hell can find.¡±

    Do you think we¡¯re idiots?

    Because you¡¯ll soon learn the hard way who the masters of the East Continent truly are.

    ¡°Prefect Qin.¡± Peter the Great turned to him with a jovial tone of voice, ¡°Once again, the Tsar sends his sincerest apologies for what happened back there in Daehan. Rest assured, we have no intentions of supnting your authority and dragging Liu Yu to our side. It¡¯s just that the urgency of the times called for desperate measures. If one doesn¡¯t excavate the Resentment Crystals soon after its discovery, they would once again sink back into the ground and vanish from sight. Once this all blows over, we¡¯ll give Hell a proper ount that will be satisfactory to you. Furthermore, we¡¯ll give Hell our assurance never to interfere with the affairs of your vassal states again.¡±

    Peter the Great leaned back into his seat. He was satisfied with the responses he¡¯d got so far.

    Naturally, this was quite different from a nod of approval, but¡­ havinge so far, they had no choice but to see their actions through.

    There were currently already 50,000 Yin soldiers from the Queen¡¯s imperial army and 300,000 Cossacks cavalrymen arrayed and waiting patiently. 1,000 KGB agents had already taken over all major hubs and nodes in the vicinity as well. As soon as he gave themand, the Mongol Underworld would vanish from theherworld map in a matter of hours!

    The number of Yin soldiers mattered not as well. After all, how many soldiers could they possibly havepared with the Russian Underworld?

    They had remained allies with Hell all this while not because they were loyal, but because nothing of sufficient interest hade up just yet.

    At least¡­ not until now.

 Chapter 676: Arxan Protocol (2)

    <h4>Chapter 676: Arxan Protocol (2)</h4>

    They had arrived at Khuree. The carriage continued to plow through the empty streets until it finally came to a halt right in front of a church.

    Their bodies were all d in silver-white armor, gorgeous and elegant, and obviously forged with excellent workmanship. There were even beautiful reliefs etched on the surface of the armor and gilded etchings on the edges of the armor. These ensembles made the soldiers look little like war machines, and far more as though they were beautiful pieces of art.

    Qin Ye walked up to the church together with Peter the Great. Then, with a casual word of apology, Peter the Great walked ahead into the church, leaving him behind to marvel at the church¡¯s grandeur. But before he could take a closer look at his surroundings, a Yin spirit dressed in priest¡¯s clothing knelt in front of Qin Ye respectfully, ¡°Wee, Emissary of Hell. Please follow me to the conference hall.¡±

    As he followed the spiral stone staircase down into the depths of the church, the area below opened up in front of his eyes.

    There were several parchment scrolls ced right on top of the stone table. Several Yin spirits stood at either side of the table. As soon as Qin Ye arrived, they immediately knelt down onto the ground, ¡°Mongol Empire¡­ Bogd Khan, greets the esteemed Emissary.¡±

    But before Qin Ye could say another word, the Harken promptly sneered at him, ¡°This is the meeting between Hell and the Russian Underworld. What are you doing here?¡±

    Qin Ye carried the Harken and took his seat at the table. Then, he chuckled coldly, ¡°No wonder your name sounded so familiar. Bogd Khan¡­ You must be the Jebtsundamba. Rest assured, even if the Mongol Underworld is destroyed, I won¡¯t do anything to you.¡±

    On 28 December 1911, the Mongol Empire dered its independence, and Rus dered the Mongol Empire to be its protectorate. The leader in charge at that time was none other than Bogd Khan, or the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, otherwise known as the reincarnation of the schr Taranatha of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism.

    Later, on 3 February 1921, the White Guards of the Russian Baron Roman Fyodorovich von Ungern-Sternberg defeated the Cathayan Beiyang army and once again installed the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu to the throne and established the so-called autonomous government. On 10 July that same year, the Mongol Empire formally dered independence. Three yearster, the Cathayan government and the Soviet government signed the Sino-Soviet Outline Agreement on Unsettled Issues that stipted that Outer Mongol was still a part of Cathayan territory, over which Cathay enjoyed sovereignty.

    These were the rough details of what transpired during those tumultuous years, and the exact details aren¡¯t known. That said, there was an alternative theory that posited that the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu was murdered by Rus to propel the Mongol Empire to independence.

    Just then, before Bogd Khan could even say a word, Peter the Great walked right back into the room in a different, more formal set of aristocratic garments, ¡°The Mongol regime needs to undergo some reorganization.¡±

    All in all, he exuded an aura of nobility that seemed almost innate. Even if he was nothing more than a skeleton, his outfit didn¡¯t do anything to take away from his brilliance and radiance.

    Then, he began to spread out all of the scrolls on the table one by one, ¡°These are all of the original treaties rting to the Mongol Empire and its independence.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered softly - What determination.

    The first reason for this was naturally to curry favour with Hell. The second reason was such that if the Federation of Underworlds takes issue with this, Hell would clearly be able to show that this was a decision undertaken pursuant to consultation with both underworlds. Finally, the third reason for this was to give Hell a taste of the sweetness of this deal so that Hell wouldn¡¯t hesitate to snap up the offer! This was a bold offer that instantly sweetened the deal on three fronts! Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but revisit his assessment of international affairs once more. In fact, it even dawned on him that he still had much to learn.

    ¡°So¡­ the Russian Underworld will send troops for the Mongol Underworld.¡± Peter the Greatpletely ignored the still-kneeling 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu as he stared straight into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Tomorrow morning, 5.00 a.m., at the witching hour, the 300,000 Cossacks cavalrymen and the Queen¡¯s 50,000 imperial soldiers will march for the Mongol Underworld.¡±

    He paused, and the entire room was filled with an eerie silence. A Duke and an Abyssal Prefect locked eyes for several moments. About ten secondster, Peter the Great asked, ¡°Does Hell¡­ have anything to add?¡±

    Qin Ye continued to stroke the Harken¡¯s fur for several moments, before finally responding, ¡°Will the Mongol Empire be a part of Hell once the Russian Underworld cedes all of the treaties to us?¡±

    ¡°The Russian Underworld will immediately withdraw our ambassador to the Mongol Empire and enter trade and border negotiations with Cathay in respect of the Mongol Empire.¡±

    What humiliation. Two powers were discussing how to destroy the Mongol Empire right in front of one of the former kings of the nation, and there was nothing he could do about it at all.

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°And can you confirm that the Russian Underworld only intends to take the Resentment Crystals from the Mongol Empire?¡±

    As a Duke, he was willing to cast his pride aside and act respectfully to an Abyssal Prefect, so long as it meant he could gain Hell¡¯s nod of approval in return.

    He took a deep breath and then pulled out another scroll from his pocket.

    ¡°And to this end, we give you our word that apart from the usual applicable taxes, no fees shall be charged for your mining and excavating operations, and you¡¯ll have exclusive ess to this mine. This is the Red Queen Entry Permit, and the license, and the draft agreement setting out everything I¡¯ve just mentioned.¡±

    Their eyes met, and Qin Ye responded with a somber expression, ¡°Of course.¡±

    Thehermes in Peter the Great¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, and his heart instantly leapt for joy, ¡°Are you certain? Can the Harken also confirm this?¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± As he spoke, Peter the Great sat down at once. Yin energy poured out of his seven apertures as he continued with great excitement, ¡°Deal! Then¡­ I¡¯ll have to trouble both of you to wait here patiently till tomorrow. Rest assured, I¡¯ll be staying right here with you so that you won¡¯t feel in the slightest bit bored.¡±

    That was the sound of the stone door shutting behind them!

    But before Qin Ye could even say a word, the Harken immediately rose to its feet with its hair standing on end and copious amounts of Yin energy pouring right out of its body, ¡°How dare you imprison the Emissaries of Hell?! Peter, you¡¯re ying with fire!¡±

    <hr>

    1.

 Chapter 677: Siege (1)

    <h4>Chapter 677: Siege (1)</h4>

    BOOM!

    ¡°Don¡¯t put it so bluntly.¡± Peter the great continued to downy his actions. He finally got up to his feet, and the billowing Yin energy caused his exquisite clothes to flutter as wildly as a dragon. He, too, ced his hands on the table and locked eyes with the Harken, ¡°This is only done to guarantee the safety of our two esteemed guests. After all, with only four hours left until the troops arrive, nobody can say for certain whether there would be any dangers or not.¡±

    Peter the Great smiled grimly, ¡°I believe your underworld has already seen the extent of our nation¡¯s determination, and naturally¡­ there¡¯s a price to pay for that as well.¡±

    There was an earth-shattering crack. However, the relief images and statues in the room suddenly blossomed with a faint white light, revealing a web of channels that appeared to converge onto the stone door. At once, the stone door emitted a correspondingly brilliant sh of radiance, and it actually stood up under the mighty power of the Harken¡¯s attack!

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!!¡± The Harken¡¯s hair red up, and its figure abruptly began to expand and swell. Just then, it felt a hand suddenly touch its back, and it knowingly ceased its transformation.

    Peter the Great eased up slightly and nodded, ¡°I swear it upon my name.¡±

    ¡°You can be most certain of that.¡±

    Peter the Great sighed, ¡°As you wish.¡±

    No¡­ This isn¡¯t the time to be asking such questions. He could be the next sessor in line for the change of regime, or he could also be one of Ksitigarbha¡¯s closest aides. In any event, there¡¯s no time to hazard any guesses about his identity right now. What¡¯s more important is to ensure that nobody stands in the way of the Russian Underworld¡¯s march!

    Boom¡­ The stone door shut behind him. At once, he released the hand that was covering the Harken¡¯s mouth, and the Harken leapt right out of his bosom at once. Yin energy erupted from all over its body. Its fur red up, and its eyes turned scarlet, ¡°Reason.¡±

    ¡°And don¡¯t say it¡¯s because of my grievous wounds right now. He still can¡¯t kill me, and he would likewise never dare to touch a hair on your body, so tell me why you¡¯re lowering your voice in front of this top-notch hellion?!!¡±

    ¡°Had you insisted on leaving just now, a Yama-ss battle would¡¯ve broken out immediately! You¡¯re grievously wounded, so are you sure you can face up to his attacks? Is there any meaning in suffering any more than you have to? Do you really want him to guess what we¡¯re really up to?¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m afraid of that!¡± Qin Ye sighed as he slumped back onto the sofa in the room and grunted, ¡°But we¡¯ve already given them our word that they can have the Resentment Crystals. That alone is in itself an act that doesn¡¯t cohere with Hell¡¯s usual domineering attitude! And that¡¯s what the Russian Underworld thinks right now! They think that ourpromise is all a farce! Why do you have to go about reversing that impression now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never said that.¡± The Harken stared back with icy contemptuousness, ¡°What I¡¯ve taught you is that Hell never waits to repay any transgressions against us. Everything is done right there and then.¡±

    Then, he lowered his eyes softly, revealing an impassioned glint in his eyes, ¡°Four hours.¡±

    ¡°This minor transgression wouldn¡¯t count for a thing at that time! We¡¯lle out of this entire episode the champions!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that these things hadn¡¯t urred to it. Rather, his reactions had all been borne out of its instincts.

    But today, not only did someone actually do so, it was even a lesser underworld, and at the hands of a mere Duke. Naturally, its first instinct was to bark and bite back!

    ¡°No. Didn¡¯t you notice that the Duke had our Yin energy underplete lockdown? He¡¯ll notice it as soon as we make the slightest of movements. But¡­ there¡¯s no rush.¡± He crossed his hands across his chest and rubbed his thumbs together cidly, ¡°After all, it wouldn¡¯t take more than a few hours for the Mythic Spirits to arrive in this location.¡±

    Time passed by quickly. 4.30 a.m. The stone door opened silently, and a skeleton wearing a butler¡¯s garments walked in with his hand on his abdomen and bowed deeply at the Emissaries of Hell, ¡°My Lord, the emperor has called for you.¡±

    It was silent, so silent that it was practically stifling. Peter the Great turned back and nced at Qin Ye, ¡°Have you ever been to the Blue Sky Tower?¡±

    ¡°Pity.¡± Peter the Great sighed softly, ¡°That¡¯s one of the most icondmarks in Khuree. It¡¯s the tallest building there. Of course, this is nothingpared to some of the infrastructure that you can see in Cathay, but the top of the building offers you a panoramic view of the whole of Khuree.¡±

    As he spoke, his figure transformed into a boundlesshergale of Yin energy. Illusory human faces emerged endlessly from the Yin energy before fading away into nothingness. Within moments, the terrifyinghergale swept into a vortex that spun around the room, tainting everything ck with its intense darkness. It was almost as though the darkness of the night had pervaded every corner of this room.

    The Harken didn¡¯t specify what needed to be prepared, but Qin Ye sensibly waved his fingers, and a golden scale appeared on his fingertips. At the same time, the Harken¡¯s Yin energy erupted at once.

    At the same time, the countless illusory faces emerging from the Yin energy around them suddenly grew that much closer to them, wailing and moaning at the top of their voices. A split secondter, the Yin energy around them suddenly scattered, and Qin Ye discovered that they were already standing at the top of a tall building!

    Qin Ye turned to gaze deeply at Peter the Great.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Peter the Great stood at the roof of the building overlooking the city. He took a deep breath, and the white bones of his ribs expanded slightly. Then, he pulled out a pocket watch and took a nce at it, ¡°It¡¯s now 5.00 a.m. sharp.¡±

    He turned to Qin Ye, ¡°So¡­ might I be so bold as to ask what Mr Qin had pulled out earlier? To think that it was actually able to break through a Duke¡¯s spatial movement, and even fly so fast that I wasn¡¯t able to see it clearly?¡±

    The Harken and Qin Ye both turned back and gazed coldly into Peter the Great¡¯s eyes, ¡°Peter the Great¡­ is this a deration of war against Hell?¡±

    And it was right at that moment that the sky¡­ transformed.

    Countless figures appeared across the horizon, visible only to the eyes of underworldly emissaried. These figures were riding skeletal war horses, d in iron armor and holding joustingnces. Their entire bodies were practically crouched on the backs of their horses as they charged straight for Khuree!

    Pop, pop, pop! Within five seconds, the entire city turnedpletely dark!

    The Harken froze in horror for three seconds, and then turned and gave an incisive re at Peter the Great, ¡°You¡¯re courting death! The army you im to have stopped at the border has appeared in Khuree in less than three minutes? Do you even ord any respect to Hell?!¡±

    He turned back and looked the Harken in the eyes, ¡°Like I¡¯ve said before, the ones standing behind me are friends, not foe.¡±

    There were a dozen or so Yin soldiers standing around them at the edge of the rooftop. At once, they pulled out and brandished their des.

    Silence. These des were all aimed straight towards Qin Ye and the Harken, while the dozen or so Yin soldiers were clearly standing in a twisted spell formation. Like a hungry pack of wolves that had just smelled blood, they slowly began to approach Qin Ye and the Harken.

    ¡°Are you in fact a foe sporting the appearances of a friend?¡±

 Chapter 678: Siege (2)

    <h4>Chapter 678: Siege (2)</h4>

    It was a rhetorical question. Of course he understood what it meant.

    ¡°The ball is in your court.¡± Peter the Great gazed intently at them, ¡°I respect the Emissaries of Hell, just as much as I respect Hell itself. Therefore, I would sincerely urge you to choose carefully.¡±

    Qin Ye fervently held the Harken down. He could sense that the hair on its body was already ring up once more, and if not for the fact that he was still holding it down, its Yin energy would quite possibly have already erupted and filled the entire Khuree, and then some. Qin Ye looked up at Peter the Great silently, ¡°And how should we do that?¡±

    Avender-coloured runic symbol appeared on the surface of the des. It was the colour of death - dreamy, and yet dangerous at the same time. There were a total of 17 des pointed straight at them, and the runic symbols clearly came together to form the figure of an illusory purple idol.

    ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t I dare?!!¡± Peter the Great barked back, exploding with boundless Yin energy. At once, the Yin energy from his body swirled together to form a dark vortex, assimting his bonespletely as though they were constetions in a dark night sky. It was the eruption of Duke-ss Yin energy!

    Then, with a shrill whistle on his part, the entire city appeared to respond with the cries of countless ghosts. It was no different from hell on earth. As the illusory image of the god of death slowly became clearer and more vivid, Qin Ye¡¯s entire body trembled softly.

    Rather, it was more of an innate physiological response to the presence of a god of death at the door.

    ¡°But we¡¯ve invested far too much in these operations to even tolerate the possibility of failure. Since you¡¯ve already given your nod of approval, then you shouldn¡¯t be ying any more games with us!¡±

    Yama-King versus Yama-King! God of death versus god of death!

    Two colossal monsters dozens of meters tall stood on the ground facing off against each other, leaving cracks on the ground in the wake of their approach. The space between these creatures tore apartpletely, revealing a scarlet rift that¡­ slowly expanded.

    ¡°Are you really going to make a move against me?¡± Peter the Great¡¯s voice boomed like thunder,pletely inaudible to mere mortals, ¡°If two true Yama-Kings like us break out into battle right here and now, the Mongol Empire would bepletely wiped off the surface of the map. You should know that I harbour no malice and ill-will towards Hell. All I ask for is some assurance on your part! An assurance that you won¡¯t do anything that will threaten our end of the deal!¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯d given the nod, there¡¯s no backing out of this agreement! By Tsar¡¯s name, I shall defend the rights and dignity of the Russian Underworld, even unto death!!¡±

    As he spoke, res of karmic mes burst out from the darkness, before dissipating into the night sky like the falling leaves of autumn. The Yin energy around gradually came together to form the Harken¡¯s illusory appearances, and it licked its lips coldly, ¡°Dignity? There¡¯s not an underworld in thisherworld that dares act with such disrespect to Hell!¡±

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse! An instance of infraction, a lifetime of requital!!¡±

    Qin Ye wiped the blood off from the corner of his lips indifferently and patted the Harken¡¯s hind legs. The Harken turned back and stared intently at Qin Ye, and Qin Ye likewise gave the Harken an unrelenting look. Secondster, the Harken grunted and transformed back into a little dog that fell straight into Qin Ye¡¯s arms.

    Peter the Great sighed softly, ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you send it in front of me? Why did you have to send it so furtively in that moment when I tore a rift through space?¡±

    Peter the Great grew silent.

    Secondster, the mighty vortex of Yin energy promptly dissipated, and Peter the Great once again reappeared in his gorgeously dressed form, bowing courteously to Qin Ye and the Harken, ¡°I¡¯ve been presumptuous.¡±

    He snapped his fingers, and the 17 des pointed straight at Qin Ye and the Harken immediately retracted back into their sheaths. The illusory god of death also vanished at once.

    ¡°Please remain here and enjoy this glorious closing ceremony.¡± Peter the Great¡¯s figure gradually faded away. Meanwhile, countless Yin soldiers appeared around them, ¡°Thesends¡­ will soon devolve into chaos. If you remain here, I¡¯ll at least be able to guarantee your safety. But if you even take a single step out of this ce¡­ then, I cannot say for certain anymore. After all, swords have no eyes¡­¡±

    They were all knights.

    They all wore silver armor, all of which were covered in cracks and blood in every possible spot. But instead of making them look unsightly, these ws only appeared to entuate the terrifying aura emanating from their bodies. Furthermore, Qin Ye could sense that there were dozens of Hellguards among them, and the rest were at least Soul Hunters to boot!

    ¡°Hey¡­¡± As soon as he left the formation array, Peter the Great abruptly turned back and gazed deep into the depths of the array, ¡°Watch them closely.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Back in the heart of the formation array. Qin Ye remainedpletely still, staring icily at Peter the Great¡¯s back as he departed from sight.

    ¡°No.¡± The Harken licked its lips, and then gnashed its teeth, ¡°This is where their bottom line ends. The Russian Underworld would never instigate an all-out war with Hell. That said¡­ why did you hold me back earlier? I may be grievously wounded, but I still have sufficient strength to pull a fast one against him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll learn what despair truly means when he sees the appearance of a dozen Mythic Spirits across the horizon.¡±

    He turned and gazed deep into the distance, ¡°Then perhaps it might be better to watch the grand finale y out silently.¡±

    Dong¡­

    A scarlet rift had opened up in the sky, and it was still growingrger andrger, almost as though it was hell bent on tearing apart the entire canopy of the skies. The rift revealed a scarlet sea of blood beyond. And right from the heart of this rift poured out countless shadowy figures that surrounded the entire city!

    ¡°This is the end of an underworld¡­¡±

    ¡°Why not? It is regrettable that the Mongol Underworld is far too weak. The Laws of Yin-Yang Coaction would directly affect the existence of their underworld, and they don¡¯t have a heritage as deep as ours that would allow them to tide through this period of darkness. The march of the Yin soldiers of the Russian Underworld¡­ would undoubtedly spell their end.¡±

    As the Harken spoke, copious amounts of Yin energy coalesced in the air within the city, transforming into six colossal creatures that shrieked and howled as theymanded the Yin soldiers numbering well over 100,000 that stood at their feet. The soldiers charged straight for the scarlet rift outside.

    It was bleak and tragic. It was almost a heart-rending call to arms, summoning the Mongol Yin spirits for one final hurrah in a desperate attempt to protect their own sovereignty.

    This was hardly an evenly matched battle.

    Rather, it was a one-sided ughter.

 Chapter 679: Slaughter

    <h4>Chapter 679: ughter</h4>

    The six leaders of the Mongol Underworld roared valiantly as they mustered one final hurrah. Meanwhile, the Russian Underworld stood their ground at the peripheries of the city like a torrent of steel. Apart from these valiant cries, the air was buzzing with electrifying tension and impending death.

    The winds howled wildly, and his heart nearly came to aplete halt. Time came to aplete standstill, and the air was filled with a tense silence. Even the six Yin spirits leading the Mongol Underworld ceased roaring and stared around them with bitter hatred.

    Like the first shot of a ceremonial gunfire salute, the hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers arrayed right outside Khuree immediately charged forward like a tidal wave, into the heart of Khuree, threatening the foundation of the Mongol Underworld itself!

    These were the revered Mongol cavalrymen that once dominated the world!

    The two warring factions drew closer to each other.

    And in that moment, time appeared toe to aplete standstill.

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly, and he gazed vacantly at the incredible sight around him.

    Thousands ofhermes rose up into the sky, filling the skies with all forms of vibrant colours ranging from white to green to scarlet, while the air was instantly filled with the dank stench of blood. It was peculiar. Even though these were the death of a multitude of Yin spirits, they seemed to perish with the most brilliant disy of colours, almost as though it was a final celebration of life.

    SSSS!!! The 30-meter tall swan Yin spirit in the sky unfolded its winds and unleashed a mighty roar. At once, a volley of arrows rose straight up into the air! The Mongol grasnds were where the best hunters were born. Most of them had hunting in their blood and instincts. Naturally, the arrows flew up high into the sky like a cloud of death that promptly rained hell down onto the approaching Russian Yin soldiers!

    Countless runic symbols of Yin Talismans appeared faintly on the surface of these rings of light, and a reverse cross emblem immediately appeared in the heart of the emblem. Momentster, the volley of arrows finally struck the Cossacks cavalrymen. Unfortunately, all that could be heard was the soft tinkling sound of the tips of the arrows striking something far more rigid and impervious to their attacks.

    ¡°The King¡¯s Cross Military Formation - one of the most powerful military formations of the Russian Underworld.¡± The Harken exined.

    Whoosh! The number ofhermes erupting like fireworks in the sky increased by more than onefold in an instant. If one were to say that both parties appeared at least to be of equal military might, then the emergence of a powerful military formation on the side of one faction would havepletely turned the tides in their favour.

    There were no tragic, miserable screams at all.

    One Yin spirit was cut down viciously, and he valiantly swung his scimitar into his opponent¡¯s armor in his final moments. Unfortunately, it did nothing more than leave a white mark on his opponent¡¯s armor. He wasn¡¯t the only one. In that instant, every single Mongol Yin spirit, including every knight who had participated in this battle to protect the sovereignty of their underworld, charged almost heroically into the vast array of spears that seemed to be closing in on them, before finally giving up their souls for what appeared to be a hopeless endeavour.

    It didn¡¯t matter how tragically and hopelessly the ones before them in the formation had perished, because the next wave of Yin soldiers would still likewise continue to rush out with an almost wanton disregard for their own lives. It didn¡¯t matter that eternal death was before them, and it didn¡¯t matter that their souls would forever be lost. Not a single one of them hesitated for the slightest moment. Not a single one of them gave themand to even slow down in the slightest. Supported purely by the foundation of their faith, the Mongol Yin soldiers rushed valiantly forward in defiance of the reality of crushing strength.

    Qin Ye felt a lump swell up in his throat.

    He knew that if Hell faced such a situation in future, everyone would surely react in the exact same fashion - even him.

    The oppressiveness of the battlefield brought about a heavy atmosphere. The moment of courage of these valiant and faithful warriors was absolutely moving, and it stirred his heart withplex emotions that were hard to describe. Not that he¡¯d ever wanted to experience war firsthand, but even if he were to experience war, he never quite imagined that it would be something as majestic and silent as this.

    ¡°Centuries ago, when the seven underworlds jointly besieged Hell, that battle was even more tragic and unbelievable than this one.¡± The Harken¡¯s pensive voice jolted Qin Ye right back from his thoughts, ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be violence in the world. But¡­ unfortunately, violence is the only one that can quell violence.¡±

    ¡°You might feel as though we¡¯re pushing you too hard, but the fact of the matter is that if we don¡¯t do so, Hell might see a reenactment of the one-sided massacre today a hundred yearster.¡±

    The Second King Yanluo had once told him this - ¡°Perhaps you might me me now, but you¡¯ll understand everything one day.¡±

    He finally had a better understanding of the weight that was ced on his shoulders.

    His thoughts were clearly drifting away from the sight to behold. There were clearly more than 100,000 Mongol Yin soldiers, yet a fraction of these had already been whittled away by the continuous onught of the Russian Underworld¡¯s forces. Just then, the Mongol cavalrymen suddenly parted, and a group of dark riders charged out from behind.

    There weren''t many Judge-ss Yin spirits in the Mongol Underworld to begin with, and yet the hundreds of dark riders were surprisingly all Hellguard-ss Yin spirits!

    These were the most well-known cavalrymen of the Mongol Underworld! As soon as they appeared, they immediately hurtled at full speed straight for their enemies. Their iron armor ttered wildly, and they wielded their weapons with a mighty flourish of scarlet Yin energy. They leaned their bodies forward slightly as they charged straight out from the safety of their own armies...

    Qin Ye shook his head and turned around. He didn¡¯t want to watch the fight any longer.

    ¡°How could I not sense such a terrifying source of Yin energy?¡± Qin Ye turned towards a particr location on the battlefield where the Yin energy was so thick that it was practically impossible to decipher anything within. It was clear that she was simply refraining from taking action.

    ¡°The Mongol Underworld has no power to resist her at all. But¡­ why isn¡¯t she doing anything?¡±

    The Harken responded, ¡°Why do you think this is the case?¡±

    ¡°We can clearly tell from the top of the Blue Sky Tower that downtown Khuree hasn¡¯t revealed any supernatural phenomenon to be expected of the site of a Resentment Crystals Mine. From our records, the mine isn¡¯t at downtown Khuree in the first ce. Rather, it¡¯s located in Terelj National Park.¡± (TL: This is located somewhere approximately 37km from anbaatar)

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± The Harken licked its lips and sneered, ¡°But right now, the only thing they¡¯re concerned about is their own safety and security. They don¡¯t care about international conventions any longer. Speaking of which, what of our reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve just entered the East Continent.¡± Qin Ye set his hand down and gazed deep in the direction of Terelj National Park, ¡°They¡¯ll be arriving in another 30 minutes or so!¡±

    East Continent, Felipinas.

    Mayn, capital of the Felipinas Underworld. The city should be silent right now, yet the central pavilion of the city was well-lit and bustling with activity.

    Yin energy appeared to swirl under the surface of the mirror, revealing the image of a world map. And on that map, they could see that countless sources of Yin energy were currently rushing up from below and approaching the coasts of the Felipinas!

    ¡°2.3 billion¡­¡± Yang Jiye stared at the surface of the mirror as he gasped coldly. Thehermes in his eyes flickered wildly, ¡°Is this¡­ a dozen Yama-Kings travelling together? Or are we talking about the invasion of another underworld?¡±

    Unbeknownst to him, the Felipinas mortal realm was flying into a frenzy at that very moment. Countless citizens woke up from their sleep, while members of the special agencies were staring intently at the skies with their jaws hanging loose. The boundless clouds of Yin energy approaching them across the horizons were so dense that it seemed topletely blot out every bit of the skies beyond.

    It was the descent of the Mythic Spirits!

 Chapter 680: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (1)

    <h4>Chapter 680: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (1)</h4>

    Mayn, capital of the Filipinas.

    Just then, one of the stall owners shuddered wildly, and then turned to the stall owner next to him, ¡°Did you feel that? Why does it feel like there¡¯s suddenly a cold front sweeping in?¡±

    Whoosh!!!

    ng! An iron pot filled with water was sent hurtling into the air like a kite with a broken string, before finallynding several hundreds of meters away. Likewise, stools, chairs and other cooking equipment were also sent flying everywhere, and the usual orderly bustle of the morning instantly devolved into chaos. The terrifying gust of windsted for about a dozen more seconds before it finally subsided.

    Three secondster, someone rose to his feet with great trembling and stared in horror at the skies beyond, ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­¡±

    ¡°Typhoon? Is this a super typhoon alert?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the government? What in the world is our government doing? Why weren¡¯t there any warnings before this?¡± ¡°Such an intense gale¡­ I¡¯m afraid that this must be one of the strongest typhoons we¡¯ve experienced in recent years!¡± ¡°Evacuate! Hurry up and evacuate to the nearest shelters!¡±

    One of the farmers who habitually woke up early was just brushing his teeth when the toothbrush abruptly fell to the ground. His mouth was still filled with white foam, but he couldn¡¯t care less, because he was staring at therge mountain towering before him.

    Whoosh! Then, before he could even snap back to his senses, the roiling dark clouds immediately swept down from the mountains like waters bursting out of a dam, instantly engulfing the vige!

    The Felipinas were known for their tropical climate, and they hardly saw winter. But the sight that he was greeted by was that ofplete destion. The ground took on an unnatural ck hue, and every single flora and fauna in sight had alreadypletely withered up. It had only been 30 seconds, and yet the ground was already littered with dead and dried leaves. The lush foliage that covered the sides of the mountains had turned from a deep verdant green to the ck and yellow, the colours of death and decay. Yet, what was even more terrifying was the fact that the poultry he reared were all lying horizontally on the ground,pletely limp and lifeless.

    ¡°Is¡­ the god of death finally bringing punishment onto mankind¡­?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation now?¡± A man in uniform rushed right into the surveince room of the Felipinas special agency, only to be greeted by a room full of salutes. But he didn¡¯t even bother looking at the rest. Instead, he simply stared at the man standing in front of the surveince monitors, ¡°Speak!! What¡¯s the situation now?!¡±

    Just 30 minutes ago, a special alert had gone off, dragging everyone right out of their sleep. Even the president of the nation was on his way here.

    He could see the map of the Felipinas depicted on the screen in front of him. That said, there was a massive red dot oveid right across the entire nation of Felipinas, travelling north at speedsparable to that of nes. Furthermore, he could see a heart-stopping number at the top right corner of the screen - 2.4 billion!

    ¡°No. They appear to be passing through and heading north.¡± The staff member trembled, ¡°After screening our records, we have ascertained that the source of Yin energy has emerged from the west, quite likely from the Alkebn Continent. Furthermore, we have detected a total of more than ten energy signatures, and their target doesn¡¯t appear to be the Felipinas¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    It was pitch-ck outside.

    No chirping of birds, no usual hustle and bustle of the mornings, and only ominous ck clouds that filled every part of the sky as far as the eyes could see. It was darker than darkness, and deeper than night.

    ¡°Dear god¡­¡± As he walked away from his bodyguard, the leader trembled profusely as he made the sign of a cross across his chest, ¡°Please look upon us¡­¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Thends were thriving and flourishing with prosperity. Yin spirits could be seen everywhere, and Yin beasts were flying everywhere in the skies. Countless skeletal elephants were carrying goods across the roads that connected various parts of the underworld, and merchant caravans were dime a dozen. Countless Yin soldiers stood guard valiantly across the city walls, while others stood at their respective stations, manning the mechanical beasts used to fortify the city walls¡¯ defenses. Scarlet-golden formations flickered glowed lustrously from beneath the buildings in the city, while several sources of Yama-ss energy signatures could even be detected throughout the entire city.

    It was also a ce of legends. Many gods of the Hindustani Underworld were garrisoned within the city walls, among which there were none more well-reputed than Yamaraja, their god of death.

    It was now 10.00 a.m.

    Whoosh! Countless Yin soldiers nced over, but what astounded them most was the fact that copious amounts of Yin energy was pouring right out of the ground and rising into the air and coalescing into a mighty vortex of Yin energy that rose straight from the ground and high into the sky!

    ¡°One.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions to the God of Death on his awakening!¡±

    ¡°Three.¡±

    ¡°A total of fifteen Mythic Spirits¡­ What a terrifying battle. The gathering of powers is already no different from the Federation of Underworld conferences when a vote is about to be taken on a major decision pertaining to theherworlds. Lord Garuda.¡±

    ¡°Fifteen Mythic Spirits have just left Alkebn. Something huge must have urred. They crossed the East Hindustani Ocean, paying neither heed nor regard to the countries along the way as they rushed northwards. Nothing is amiss here in the Hindustani Underworld, so¡­ their destination has to be either Hell or the Russian Underworld.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Lord Garuda paused, and then continued, ¡°Do we¡­ need to stop them?¡±

    ¡°Not even I would dare stand in their way right now. Do you think you¡¯re the Second King Yanluo of Hell? Do you think the Aegyptian Underworld isn¡¯t aware of the movement of such a terrifying force? Do you think all of the underworlds that have detected their approach arepletely blind? But who dares stop them?¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    This was a city that was no less magnificent than Fengdu or Bodh Gaya. Aegyptian buildings and frescoes were everywhere, and glorious temples abounded. Camel-driven caravans could be seen trudging through the deserts at every turn of the corner. At that moment, a dark silhouette could be seen rushing straight into the main entrance of one of the pyramids around.

    ¡°Got it.¡± The eyes of the bird-man¡¯s mural shifted slightly, and the voice chuckled coldly, ¡°Something is stirring in the distance. Somethingrge and important enough to trigger the movement of a dozen Mythic Spirits at the same time. Inform Onyxia that the troops stationed in Astana should move eastwards! All darkfeathers are to be deployed. I want a full report of the entire incident from start to finish.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take long before the entireherworld came to learn of the movement of such jaw-dropping sources of Yin energy.

    ¡°The winds are changing¡­¡± Lan Xang University. One of the twelve envoys, Zhou Yu, fanned himself cidly as he gazed intently at the overcast skies.

    Back in Ashmound City. Arthis and the other schrs couldn¡¯t help but pause what they were doing as they watched the march of the Mythic Spirit intently. Even though they knew what exactly was going on, it didn¡¯t change the fact that their hearts were stirring with indescribable tension andplex emotions right now.

    Everyone knew that it was finally time for Hell to make its voice heard throughout theherworld once again.

    It was a long timeing. And their actions were soon going to speak far louder than their words!

    <hr>

    1. Bodh Gaya is a religious site and ce of pilgrimage where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

    2. Kazakhstan.

 Chapter 681: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (2)

    <h4>Chapter 681: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (2)</h4>

    The battle for sovereignty had been raging for over three hours, and it was finallying close to an end.

    On the ground, the six majestic creatures symbolizing the leaders of the Mongol Underworld had already been hunted down like hapless prey, only to be trampled underfoot by the tide of Russian cavalry and reduced to wisps of Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the skies. The final remnants of the once glorious Yuan Dynasty was soon about to be swept away from the surface of the Three Realms.

    Qin Ye watched on silently. It was the fall of the curtains soon. Those who were on the verge of annihtion were almost warning him that if he didn¡¯t remain vignt and work diligently at Hell¡¯s revival, he would one day only follow in their footsteps.

    Time seemed toe to aplete halt at this moment. He could see each and every Mongol cavalryman that was still alive. They still put on a brave and courageous front, but the Iron Stupa were all dead, and so were the rest of the leaders of the Mongol Underworld. They were still filled with passion and a burning desire to fight back, but they were no more than helpless groups of Soul Hunters.

    ¡°Gods be with us!¡±

    At least, they would die in valor and glory.

    And then, they charged recklessly towards the boundless oceans of Russian cavalrymen arrayed against them.

    This was their final test of faith.

    Charge!

    There were only a few thousand remnant Mongol Yin soldiers remaining, but they still charged with such vigor as though they numbered tens of thousands in all. But, just then, the Russian military formation suddenly shifted to the side, revealing a crack running through the entire formation. And then, a figure slowly walked out.

    As she forged forward, the pack of remnant Mongol forces that were charging straight towards the Russian army quickly slowed down. The Yin energy at their feet flourished wildly in response to the queen that was standing right in front of them. Within moments, their Yin energy slowly began to converge together into a mighty vortex of Yin energy. Yet, even then, she showed no signs of backing down or retreating. In fact, she even stepped forward, as though dering that she alone would confront the thousands of Mongol cavalrymen arrayed in front of her.

    One of the three gods of death of the Russian underworld!

    ¡°What a terrifying oppressive might¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped coldly, and the Harken promptly responded, ¡°She¡¯s stronger than Peter the Great. Take a good look. This marks the erasure of an underworld from the surface of theherworld. Although the Mongol Empire has left a heavy mark in history, their inability to secure for themselves the soul of Genghis Khan meant that their underworld was devoid of any Yama-ss existence. Their death and destruction has been a long timeing.¡±

    ¡°Gods protect us!!¡±

    Whoosh!! The bodies of the Russian cavalrymen promptly became elongated as they were forcibly sucked into the ck hole against their own will. Within moments, all of them were reduced to their constituent wisps of Yin energy andhermes and were drawn into the heart of the ck hole without any form of resistance whatsoever.

    Rumble¡­ There was a final tremor. Then, a split secondter, what seemed to be a scarlet thread suddenly appeared in the void, before promptly splitting into a crack that remained invisible to the naked eye of mere mortals. Copious amounts of Yin energy poured out from within.

    An entire underworld ofhermes and buildings were all reduced to wreckage in an instant. There were even traces of what once used to be statues of their lord Genghis Khan, as well as the carvings that depicted the legends of their faith. Like a reverse ck hole, the crack began to spew out everything within, almost as though forcibly expelling everything that belonged to the Mongol Underworld.

    This was the end of a civilization, and the copse of an underworld. Qin Ye silently took in every bit of this sight, and he couldn¡¯t help but tighten his fists.

    And it was also at that moment that he swore in his heart that he never wanted Hell to experience something like that.

    Tragic, yet beautiful. This was the swan song of the Mongol Underworld. The legends of the Mongol Underworld had all gone up in mes.

    Every step the figure took made the clouds of Yin energy tremble beneath her feet. She was obviously only apanied by her two skeletal maids, but her imposing figure felt like the presence of an army of thousands of soldiers and war horses. Her presence was stifling.

    Her voice sounded as though it had been stitched together from the voices of a multitude of women of all ages, including old and young, and even infant girls. But, even then, her words rang clearly in each of their ears.

    He made it patently clear that he knew all about the Russian Underworld¡¯s feeble attempt to keep him here. There was no meaning to beat about the bush after all.

    Qin Ye was about to respond when his pupils suddenly shrank, and his hand suddenly paused on the Harken¡¯s back.

    They¡¯reing¡­

    It wouldn¡¯t take them more than 20 minutes¡­ No, in fact, it would probably take slightly over ten minutes before they arrived!

    ¡°Oh, that reminds me.¡± Just then, Catherine the Great suddenly paused in her steps and turned back to gaze intently at the Harken, ¡°There was an incident while excavating the tomb of Genghis Khan, and we¡¯ve sealed it offpletely¡­¡±

    ¡°How dare you?!!¡±

    ¡°How dare you encroach upon Genghis Khan¡¯s tomb without Hell¡¯s approval! This is treachery! And to think that you even dared seal the tomb of your own volition! Are you courting death?!!¡±

    ¡°Does Hell actually still have it in them?¡±

    Why?

    Even though they haven¡¯t made any categorical derations of war, her words are still more than sufficient to trigger a serious diplomatic fallout! Are they not afraid of Hell¡¯s terrifying might?

    The Harken chuckled.

    Divine Dust!

    A terrifying pale light began to shine through the darkness, and it was aimed directly at Catherine the Great. At that instant, she lifted her puffy skirt slightly, and she vanished from sight with a quick flicker. Then, just as the pir of light was about to burst out with intense might, a withered hand suddenly emerged from the darkness, forcibly wresting energy away from the ball of light at the Harken¡¯s lips and onto the palm of his hand. The hand was clearly unharmed by the light as it continued to drag more and more light away from the Harken.

    A third Yama-King. Has the Russian Underworld actually sent out a third Yama-King?!

    Crack¡­ The withered hand tightened its grip, and the ball of light in his hand shattered into countless spots of Yin energy that quickly vanished into the surroundings.

    It was an old man.

    Qin Ye gasped in horror. His mind went numb in an instant.

    Ever since the onset, they had always been acting on their posttions and deductions of what the truth actually was. However, even though their deductions were theoretically sound, they had no hard evidence to prove their deductions in the slightest.

    Would the Russian Underworld have dared to act so boldly to seize the Resentment Crystals if not for the support of one of the P4 underworlds?

    They were probing.

    Meanwhile, as soon as the Harken saw the old man, it took a deep breath, ¡°This is¡­ the Argosian Underworld. Vice-chairperson of the Assembly, Aristotle.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve actually travelled all the way here to the East Continent?!¡±

 Chapter 682: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (3)

    <h4>Chapter 682: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (3)</h4>

    Endless Yin energy poured out of the seven apertures on his face, transforming into the likeness of faces filled with various agonized expressions, before returning back to his body once more. He raised his withered head and looked straight at the Harken and Qin Ye, ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy getting an audience with the Emissaries of Hell¡­¡±

    There was no need to beat about the bush.

    At least, until today.

    He gently flicked the sleeves of his robes, ¡°Emissary of Hell, sessor to the throne, Prefect Qin.¡±

    Thehermes in both the eyes of Catherine the Great and Aristotle flickered wildly for a moment, and then they gazed deeply upon Qin Ye once more. After a long time, Catherine the Great lifted her puffy skirt slightly and curtseyed elegantly, ¡°I sincerely look forward to our encounters in future.¡±

    Ignoring her, Qin Ye turned to Aristotle, ¡°Ever since our previous encounter with the Russian Underworld, we¡¯ve been wondering - the research and development of Forbidden Arts requires not only that moment of inspiration, but also pure raw data gathered over experimentation and tests. And to that end, the Russian Underworld would never be able to gather the materials required for such experiments and tests without alerting the international arena to their intentions.¡±

    ¡°And that was when we first began to specte whether someone had in fact deliberately leaked data to the Russian Underworld. The more we thought about it, the more we found such a possibility highly probable. And to that end, your underworld was at the top of the list of suspects. After all¡­ you do share a substantial border with the Russian Underworld.¡±

    He walked forward unhurriedly and gazed deep into the eyes of Aristotle, the renowned thinker, statesman and educator, ¡°You want to know the truth about Hell.¡±

    He paused here. Truth be told, Qin Ye had some further thoughts that he chose not to reveal.

    And the answer to this was likely because the gods of death in the New World didn¡¯t have much time left in theherworld! Their underworlds were about to copse at any time, and Hell¡¯s likelihood of participation would immediately be relevant to the potential division of thends in the New World. Who wouldn¡¯t be anxious about something like that?

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what thoughts and considerations you have on your mind either. What I want to know right now is¡­¡± He turned to Catherine the Great with a grave expression, ¡°Are you nning to wage war against Hell?¡±

    There was only so much one could n for, and the current situation wasrgely caused by the variables in actual implementation. For one, they hadn¡¯t thought aboutying their im on Genghis Khan¡¯s tomb until they learnt that Hell was only sending two Emissaries to the final showdown.

    Thus, Aristotle had moved to take matters into his own hands. And when he made this suggestion, the Russian Underworld naturally didn¡¯t say a word about it. The Argosian Emissaries had opened the door to the dusty tomb of Genghis Khan, and Aristotle had also personallye to the Mongol Empire to oversee the operations. Unfortunately, this also meant that the dispute had escted to beyond its original form, and now took the form of a dispute between the P4 underworlds. The Russian Underworld had to tread carefully.

    Catherine the Great didn¡¯t say a word. Instead, she simply took a step back and stood slightly behind where Aristotle was standing.

    ¡°Pursuant to Article 178 of the International Convention¡­¡± Aristotle¡¯s lips curled up with a contemptuous smirk, ¡°Only Yin spirits of eminent importance to an underworld are required to be returned to their respective underworlds. But, has Hell forgotten?¡±

    ¡°So, are you telling me that you refuse?¡± Qin Ye smiled and nodded gently, before backing away.

    Whether you dare to send troops, and whether you even have the capacity to send troops - both of these questions are the key to the next international tussle that is on the cusp of breaking out!

    These werends that would soon bepletely masterless. These werends that were rich in both resources and Yin spirits. It was also and where Catholicism had a presence. Hell¡¯s decision now would determine whether the door to the New World would also be open to them or not. It would determine whether the tussle for territory would be among the P4 underworlds, or¡­ the P3 underworlds.

    Aristotle¡¯s gaze flickered wildly.

    Not only is an underworld bold enough to make a foray into the development of Forbidden Arts at Hell¡¯s doorstep, it¡¯s even going to be expressly tolerated by them?

    And even if the matters pertaining to international conventions are ambiguous and arguable, since when do the P4 underworlds adhere to the rules to begin with?

    ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re giving up?¡± Aristotle¡¯s heart thumped wildly - Not enough¡­ This isn¡¯t enough. I¡¯ve merely touched the tip of the iceberg. I¡¯ve got to keep testing their bottom line to get to the bottom of it all!

    Or perhaps I might even call for a global condemnation of the Russian Underworld¡¯s refusal toply with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts. That way, as the master of the East Continent, Hell will have no choice but to lift the seal and preside over this matter. Otherwise¡­ they would have no choice but to relinquish their position as one of the P4 underworlds!

    ¡°Is it that you¡¯re unwilling to send troops, unable to send troops, or¡­¡± He mmed his cane on the ground, and a terrifying st of Yin energy erupted at once, ¡°Do you no longer have the strength to do so?¡±

    As he spoke, Qin Ye sensibly retreated, leaving arge berth of several meters between them, before he finally responded, ¡°Hell naturally wouldn¡¯t interfere with such matters. After all, international disputes should be resolved using global means.¡±

    But before they could say anything more, they heard a sound of something shattering echoing from the distant skies across the horizon.

    Unlike the usual sound of ss shattering, the crashing sound they heard had a far more cosmic timbre to it. In fact, the sound even caused the entire East Continent to tremble softly.

    Aristotle also froze and turned back at exactly the same time. And a split secondter, thehermes in his eyes instantly contracted.

    It was an unforgettable sight.

    And to that end, the vortex was easily tens of thousands of meters wide from end to end! It was quite literally a giant tornado that was sweeping straight through the skies and descending towards the ground! Momentster, dozens of pairs ofhermes lit up from the boundless darkness in the skies and stared intently over. Then, with a soft chuckle, they immediately swooped over like a majestic eagle!

    BOOM!!! The sheer impact of their arrival crushed the densely packed Russian cavalry on the ground at once, blowing them up to smithereens and tainting the skies with darkness!

    ¡°Mythic Spirits?!¡± Aristotle was the first one to exim in horror. As one of the highest emissaries in the Argosian Underworld, he knew full well the deep revulsion the Mythic Spirits had for the Argosian Underworld. That said, there was only one thought in his mind right now.

    On what grounds?!

    ¡°It¡¯s you!!! It¡¯s you, isn¡¯t it?!!¡±

    ¡°Esteemed Thinker, and renowned Empress Catherine, shouldn¡¯t you be thinking of how you¡¯re going to extricate yourself from the interrogations of these Mythic Spirits?¡±

 Chapter 683: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (4)

    <h4>Chapter 683: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (4)</h4>

    Meanwhile, the Mythic Spiritsughed boisterously, with great arrogance and haughtiness in their voices. They had all traversed across half of the entire world, making their arrival with a grand entrance that instantlyid waste to the Russian cavalry in the area. The terrifying Yin energy that poured out endlessly from them sent Aristotle¡¯s white robes fluttering madly, while Catherine¡¯s golden hair and puffy skirt ensemble were practically sent flying horizontally into the sky!

    Khuree, a capital that hadn¡¯t even begun to make a ssh in the mortal realm, was currently the focal point of the entireherworld.

    Not a single underworld was oblivious to the winds of change in the vicinity.

    This was an exchange between the lords of various underworlds.

    Nippon, Amano Iwato. The throne was tethered to the ground by innumerable iron chains. A colossal Eight-Foot Mirror was filled with dense Yin energy even as it reflected the pale appearance of a person with disheveled hair.

    ¡°Over ten Yama-Kings¡­ gathered in the direction of¡­ the Mongol Empire? What in the world is happening over there?¡±

    ¡°A gathering of Yama-Kings¡­ Is Hell finally nning to emerge from reclusion and make a ssh on the international arena again? This might well be the catalyst to the next great war of theherworld¡­¡±

    That said, none of them were aware that Aristotle was currently bearing the brunt of Mythic Spirits¡¯ aggression. The Yin energy pouring out of his body was almostpletely washed away by the intense torrent of Yin energy from the Mythic Spirits. ¡°Damn¡­¡± The wooden staff in his hand blossomed with a pale light, forming an invisible shield that appeared right in front of him. It promptly glowed with divine radiance, but even then, it wasn¡¯t able to stop the turbulent flow of Yin energy pouring out from the Mythic Spirits¡¯ arrival.

    ¡°Shit!¡± With a hoarse muffled grunt, he was sent hurtling back hundreds of meters away. He dug his feet deep in a feeble attempt to stabilize himself, only to end up dragging deep grooves in the ground. Next to him, Catherine the Great shrieked wildly as she transformed into a sky full of crows that got sted back hundreds of meters, before they all slowly came together and coalesced into a human being once more.

    ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Catherine the Great continued to hold up her fan, concealing the lower half of her face, ¡°Are you trying to kill us? You should know full well that the unnatural death of any god of death would immediately trigger a regional war!¡±

    Her voice grew more impassioned as she went on, until she finally shrieked at the top of her voice. At once, a mighty shockwave rippled out from her lips, only to be dampened and suppressed by the dense clouds of Yin energy that roiled around them. Surprisingly, not even someone at her strength was able to breach the encirclement of Mythic Spirits around her.

    Damn it¡­ how could this have happened?!

    They were obviously mistaken about one thing.

    In the past, such acts of disrespect would immediately attract a swift bacsh from Hell and Hell alone - Forbidden Arts? Who says you can do something like that before consulting with us?!

    Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t given the time to consider these things. Just as she was lost in her own thoughts, there was suddenly a violent howl of a wolf, followed by dozens of scarlethermes lighting up at once like a night sky full of demons. A split secondter, a 20-meter long green wolf with illusory limbs and rows of eyes running down its face suddenly burst through the darkness and lunged straight at them!

    ROAR!!!

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to gnaw off all the flesh from your bones!!!¡±

    ¡°How dare you act insolently against one of the patriarchs of the Argosian Underworld?!!¡± Aristotle fought back desperately. The muscles on his arms swelled up at once, revealing rings of golden light that rippled throughout his body. Even then, his entire body shook from the intense shock and anger in his heart, and he panted with ragged breaths, ¡°How dare you conspire to assassinate one of the patriarchs of the Argosian Underworld?!!¡±

    This was none other than ck Mamba Mythic Spirit!

    Then, before ck Mamba could even finish, countless spots of purplehermes suddenly emerged from the darkness around, roaring like the engines of a mighty bomber.

    Rather, it was an endless swarm of hos that were all immting withhermes. Each ho was as thick as an arm, and they swept through the sky like a mighty wave.

    Following that, a scarlet me erupted from the depths of the darkness around, and a 50-meter giant bird soared into the skies like the birth of a radiant sun.

    It represented light.

    And as soon as it appeared thehermes in its eyes burst forth, causing a pir of mes almost ten meters thick to erupt from the beak of the glorious bird,pletely engulfing the feathered ball in mes.

    It was almost as though they were introducing themselves one by one. A three-headed hyena followed closely behind, emerging in a violent disy of pitch-ck karmic mes that tore at the feathered orb that continued to protect Aristotle.

    Today, the sky was the limit!

    The opening salvo of the Mythic Spirits was arguably no less powerful than some of the first generation Forbidden Arts. A variety of colours weaved together, transforming into a terrifying ball of white light that glistened like the rising sun. Catherine the Great stood just beside the ball of light, trembling profusely. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined things to devolve so quickly and so abruptly.

    Why is this happening?

    Or are you telling me that they¡¯re only finally starting to think for themselves?

    There was a terrifying explosion.

    Qin Ye and the Harken couldn¡¯t help but shut their eyes while things slowly subsided. A few minutester, they slowly opened their eyes to an incredible sight.

    He trembled slightly. His skin and flesh had almostpletely been stripped right off his body, revealing the dark bones underneath. His clothes were now tattered, and the fine helmet and armbands had all been crushed and shattered into pieces. His entire being swayed softly like a candle in the wind that was teetering on the verge of beingpletely blown out.

    His heart was filled with regret. His heart was truly filled with regret.

    It was all supposed to be a harmless trip to the Mongol Empire.

    So why did things turn out this way?

    ¡°Do you¡­ truly wish to see the march of Argosian Yin soldiers once again?¡±

    Every single Mythic Spirit stared intently at him.

    ¡°As a member of one of the P4 underworlds, you should know full well what the consequences would be if I were to be killed right here in this ce!¡±

    He gnashed his teeth and spoke like a lone wolf that was struggling to stay alive, ¡°Lord Thanatos is watching me all this while! There¡¯s no chance that he would let a patriarch of the Argosian Underworld die here in thesends! If you dare make another move against me¡­ I assure you--...¡±

    Then, he looked up with a slightly astonished expression, ¡°You¡¯ve asked Hell to preside over its regional affairs, and we¡¯ve done so. You¡¯ve then asked Hell not to do anything, and we¡¯ve also eded to that request of yours.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Catherine the Great¡¯s eyes grew bloodshot. She was practically on the verge of using Qin Ye - Weren¡¯t you the ones who attracted this group of murderous barbarians to thesends?!

    Ignoring Her, Qin Ye turned to the Mythic Spirits, ¡°Everyone, the Resentment Crystals Mine is located in Terelj National Park. I¡¯m afraid that they might be finishing up their extraction operations right now. Would you be minded to cast an eye on them?¡±

    ¡°The Argosian Underworld. Not only have you breached the articles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts, you¡¯ve even knowingly supported the Russian Underworld in this endeavour of theirs. Patriarch Aristotle, do you know of the heinous crimes you¡¯vemitted?!¡±

 Chapter 684: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (5)

    <h4>Chapter 684: Dialogue Between the Gods of Death (5)</h4>

    What were international conventions to the P4 underworlds?

    The Argosian Underworld, being one of the P4 underworlds, was naturally one of the rule makers. Not even a patriarch of the Argosian Underworld was able to find the right words to say in the face of the group of Mythic Spirits.

    Damn it!!!

    Aren¡¯t they supposed to be terrified by the prospects of Forbidden Arts by now?

    However, he knew better than to talk about these things right now. It had been a long time since he¡¯d felt such despair, and he knew that the top priority at this moment was to ensure his own survival, ¡°Listen¡­¡±

    But as soon as he said that, a voice immediately hissed from behind, ¡°Meaningless tricks.¡±

    ¡°Trying to buy time?¡± ck Mamba¡¯s colossal body retreated back into the shadows of the roiling darkness around. Likewise, the figures of a dozen other Mythic Spirits promptly vanished into the shadows, and their cackling voices echoed through the night sky.

    However, Aristotle wasn¡¯t in the least bit rxed. This moment of silence was a foreboding harbinger of an approaching storm. An intense feeling of fear that had eluded him for centuries on end suddenly surged to the forefront of his mind. It was the fear of being ced on the chopping block. It was a primal and instinctual sense of fear.

    ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± He tried his best to respond with calmness and cidity in his voice. However, his voice still wavered slightly, ¡°This is one of the earliest codices of ancient Argos, one of the original codices of the Law of Twelve Tables. You¡¯re¡­ ying with mes over here. You¡¯re going to provoke the majesty of Lord Thanatos if you keep this up¡­¡±

    There was only the sound of fine scales rustling around him, almost as though giant beasts were prowling around in the darkness.

    His voice finally cracked. Just then, a multitude of different-colouredhermes burst out at the same time, striking the Codex of the Law in front of Aristotle!

    A brilliant burst of light dazzled the surroundings, apanied only by the sounds of Aristotle¡¯s miserable wails. The ground crackedyer byyer, before crumbling at the heart of the explosion like a massive sinkhole. Yin energy swept in every direction, while the cracks on the ground continued to run outwards like an expandingwork of spiderwebs.

    In that instant, Khuree shone brighter than any othernd in the world.

    It wasn¡¯t until five full minutester that Qin Ye finally dropped his guard and gazed deep into the distance. There, in the pitch-ck void of the night sky, he saw Aristotle swaying softly in the air. Yin energy was pouring out profusely from his body. Three secondster, with one final sway, he fell back andnded onto the ground with a resounding thud.

    That won¡¯t do!

    ¡°He¡¯s not dead.¡± The Harken spoke softly, ¡°I¡¯ve always known that there was something missing in these Alkebn Mythic Spirits. A Yama-King can only be killed by one who is equal in power. Unfortunately, they don¡¯t possess the ability to do that just yet. That said¡­¡±

    ¡°That said, this Yin artifact that has existed for well over a thousand years has been almostpletely ruined.¡±

    And today, it had beenpletely and utterly destroyed.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± She took a deep breath and curtseyed respectfully, ¡°We¡¯ve been rude not to receive you properly as guests after your long journey into thesends. That said, could you please set him down for now? As you all know, his identity is a rather sensitive issue - so sensitive that it might just cause the Argosian Underworld to go mad--¡­¡±

    It was a tail.

    ¡°Catherine¡­¡± A pair of crimson eyes lit up in the darkness, ¡°You actually have the gall to demand that we release him?¡±

    Bang! Another tail struck the orb of bones with an earth-shattering crack, and another voice filled with rage echoed from the darkness, ¡°Technical director? Energy advisor?!¡±

    The Mythic Spirits were clearly turning their anger and rage towards her, pelting her with devastating attacks that caused countless cracks to appear on the orb of bones.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t even born when some of us Mythic Spirits were called into being!¡±

    The malevolent storm had finally turned its attention to her, crushing her as she fervently maintained the integrity of the orb of bones to the best of her abilities. She finally understood Aristotle¡¯s earlier despair. The blows that were raining down on her body werepletely unadulterated blows that were backed only by the Yama-ss Yin energy of the Mythic Spirits. However, it was continuous and relentless. It bore the anger of over a dozen Mythic Spirits that had been suppressed and remained festering for hundreds of years. It was just like when the Danube finally broke its banks! It was an unstoppable tsunami hell bent on bringing devastation to the world!

    ¡°These barbarians¡­¡± She spoke with great trembling, and even a trace of regret - I shouldn¡¯t have said a word at all! Who cares if he perishes?! Can our rtionship with the Argosian Underworld be more important than my own life?!

    Just then, the pelting of blows suddenly stopped.

    A split secondter, there was a shockingly loud sound. Someone had suddenly struck the orb of bones, sending it flying high into the sky once more. This was the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. The next moment, the skeletons shatteredpletely and disintegrated in the air, leaving Catherine the Great in a condition no better than Aristotle¡¯s tragic state. In fact, thehermes in her eyes even appeared to be on the verge of being snuffed outpletely.

    These monsters¡­ I could probably take on one or two of them on my own, but a dozen at once¡­

    What should I do¡­ What should I do?!

    ¡°Are you out of your mind? On what basis are you making such a request of us?¡± Qin Ye stared at her in horror, almost as though he¡¯d just seen a ghost, ¡°Did we not follow through with our promise?¡±

    Qin Ye smiled gently and flicked his sleeves coldly before quipping with indifference, ¡°Oh? I don¡¯t recall that being part of the agreement.¡±

    However, Qin Ye simply stroked the dog in his hands and responded cidly, ¡°Who gave you the idea that we were even concerned about our reputation?¡±

    ¡°Fine... Fine!¡± Catherine the Great drifted further and further away, ¡°We¡¯ll remember this¡­¡±

    ¡°On ount for all the nonsense you¡¯re spouting, let me give you another warning.¡± Qin Ye waspletely unaffected by her meagre provocations. After all, he had all the trump cards he needed in his hand right now, and there was no way he woulde out short in these exchanges.

    Without missing a beat, Qin Ye continued, ¡°Peter the Great is currently located in Terelj National Park, isn¡¯t he? If the Mythic Spirits proposed to trade the Resentment Crystals the Russian Underworld has harvested for Aristotle¡¯s freedom, do you think Peter the Great would agree to that trade? Do you think that the Tsar would agree to something like that?¡±

    This was a devastating blow that wouldpletely dissolve the shallow foundation of cooperation between the Russian Underworld and the Argosian Underworld!

    Qin Ye red coldly at her, ¡°But I can.¡±

    This act was finally drawing to its climax, and the setting could only be at the location of the Resentment Crystals Mine!

    So long as we can get the Resentment Crystals across the Russian borders, then at least¡­ our sacrifices and losses wouldn¡¯t have been in vain!

 Chapter 685: Game of Thrones (1)

    <h4>Chapter 685: Game of Thrones (1)</h4>

    Arge hydra was pulling the carriage behind it. The hydra itself was approximately 10 meters tall and 15 meters long. Each of its nine heads burned with intensehermes. The beast was massive, but it was also surprisingly quick on its feet. In fact, it was so fast that it almost appeared to shuttle between the mortal realm and theherworld as it ran. Copious amounts of Yin energy billowed behind it in the wake of its charge.

    A cloaked knight was galloping away on his own skeletal war horse in front of the carriage. It was evident to all that this was none other than Peter the Great, one of the three Russian gods of death!

    Apart from them, there were approximately 10,000 gold-armored cavalry armed with short swords and massive shields riding closely behind. Anyone familiar with the Russian Underworld would be able to tell that these are none other than Duchess Catherine¡¯s imperial guards! And even then, they were located at the very tail end of the formation!

    Resentment Crystals¡­ 1,900 pounds of Resentment Crystals!

    ¡°Speed up.¡± He turned back to the carriage driver, who promptly gnashed his teeth, ¡°It¡¯s already going at full speed¡­ ¡®Death¡¯s Skull¡¯ is already pulling the carriage at the fastest speed it can possibly muster. After all¡­ these Resentment Crystals are constantly ebbing away at every bit of Yin energy that draws near to the carriage. We¡­ we can¡¯t push it any harder¡­¡±

    At that time¡­ we¡¯ll finally be able to return victoriously and officially begin to develop Forbidden Arts!

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Rumyantsev gripped tightly to his own reins, directing it forward as he caught up to Peter the Great, ¡°Duke Pyotr, the extreme eruption of Yin energy from the direction of Khuree earlier¡­¡±

    Something has happened back in Khuree¡­

    Even if they counted the Harken and Aristotle, how could they possibly make up five Duke-ss Yin spirits?

    So long as we manage to return to the Russian Underworld, everything can be resolved without a hitch!

    It was the Orkhon River.

    But just then, they both turned back abruptly.

    They were familiar with this source of energy.

    Nethergale swept around them endlessly, carrying the cries of endless moaning ghosts. That said, they didn¡¯t stop for a single moment. After all, time was precious. Besides, Catherine the Great wasn¡¯t shouting at them. She was simply charging straight towards them.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible¡­¡± Catherine the Great gnashed her teeth, ¡°Mythic Spirits¡­¡±

    ¡°Over ten Alkebn Mythic Spirits have descended upon us! How am I supposed to keep them busy?!¡± Catherine the Great barked back with a quiver in her voice, ¡°Aristotle has been captured. Hell hasplied with the terms of the agreement. They haven¡¯t lifted a finger once, but they must have somehow triggered the march of a dozen or so Mythic Spirits!¡±

    Secondster, Rumyantsev gasped in horror, ¡°Haa¡­¡±

    Is this¡­ a glimpse of the direction that Hell is developing in future? Is this a sign of Hell¡¯s foreign policy and the times toe?

    How could this have happened?!

    ¡°Hurry¡­¡± Peter the Great seethed with rage, and immediately bellowed at the top of his voice, ¡°At all costs¡­ FULL SPEED AHE--...¡±

    The world went silent.

    Almost simultaneously, countless sources of Yin energy suddenly appeared out of nowhere, filling their surroundings with Yin energy that seemed to conceal the terrors within. It didn¡¯t take longer than moments before the entirends were shrouded in dark clouds of Yin energy. Then, finally¡­

    Over ten colossal figures crashed down onto the ground like ferocious meteors, sending the billowing Yin energy scattering everywhere! Within moments, the surroundings spanning hundreds of miles in radius were cast into darkness.

    It was an emergency. It was an emergency that no mortal still alive had ever witnessed in their lifetime! It was an emergency that threatened to tear apart the fabrics of the mortal realm!

    His surroundings had been strewn intoplete darkness, and he could only see the pale Orkhon Bridge stretching out underfoot. Apart from that, he could also see two glisteninghermes staring down at him like the zing sun amidst the endless darkness.

    We cannot afford to let anyone stop us now!

    He personally led the charge. The bones in his body levitated slightly, and copious amounts of Yin energy poured out of his body like a raging tsunami sweeping straight across the bridge. Meanwhile, countless skeletons surfaced from the depths of his sea of Yin energy, hissing and snarling viciously at their enemies.

    ¡°How dare you stand in the way of a Duke?!!¡±

    However, a split secondter, he forcefully retracted all of his Yin energy right back into his body. The resultant bacsh caused him to let out a muffled grunt as he staggered back several meters, but he forcibly held out the sword in front of his body.

    They¡¯re here¡­ They¡¯re all here! How could this happen!

    Why?!

    ¡°Peter the Great¡­ It¡¯s been so long.¡± The series of zing eyes lit up like the streetlights lining a boulevard of death. The Mythic Spirit located closest to Peter the Great spoke, ¡°I¡¯m curious. What might this carriage be loaded with?¡±

    We¡¯ve paid such a huge price, and opened our borders to the harvest of so many mineral deposits¡­ but for what? A riot led by 13 Mythic Spirits?

    ¡°It¡¯s you¡­¡± Peter the Great stared intently towards the end of the bridge. A familiar figure holding a dog in his arms walked out cidly and stood three meters in front of him.

    ¡°Prefect Qin¡­¡± These words were like a tight p to his face. However, Peter the Great repressed the rage in his heart and clenched his fists tightly, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Oh, but I¡¯ve already fulfilled all of my obligations under the agreement. Hell hasn¡¯t once interfered in today¡¯s matters. What else do we have to talk about?¡±

    As he spoke, a figure suddenly flew right out of the darkness around andnded right before Peter the Great¡¯s feet.

    ¡°The Mythic Spirits havee to a consensus earlier.¡± Qin Ye stared intently at Peter the Great, ¡°What do you say to trading the Resentment Crystals for this one particr special advisor of yours?¡±

    <hr>

    1. Selenge Province is located north of anbaatar (Khuree), while the Republic of Buryatia is part of Russia, located just northwards of Selenge Province.

 Chapter 686: Game of Thrones (2)

    <h4>Chapter 686: Game of Thrones (2)</h4>

    Their greatest fear hade true. They were now faced with the question that they hoped would never be asked of them.

    The initiation module that was in the Russian Underworld¡¯s possession was given to them by the Argosian Underworld. If they didn¡¯t agree to the exchange now, would the Argosian Underworld continue to render them aid in the fields of Forbidden Arts in future? Moreover, the Russian Underworld had clearly already stepped on the toes of Hell, while the Hindustani Underworld and Aegyptian Underworld were located too far away to be of concern right now. Naturally, that leaves only the Argosian Underworld that can assist the Russian Underworld. They couldn¡¯t simply leave Aristotle out in the lurch.

    It was a decision so agonizing it felt no different from plunging a knife straight through the heart.

    What they wanted was assistance, and not to be subjugated as a vassal state!

    And thest thing that they wanted was to allow Hell to have any more hostages than they deserved to have.

    ¡°Dream on!¡± A colossal figure shifted slightly and roared back at Peter the Great, ¡°Forbidden Arts¡­ is something that should never have surfaced in this world to begin with!¡±

    A dozen other silhouettes stepped forward with flickering mes in their eyes. ck Mamba promptly spoke up on behalf of them all, ¡°If you want us to turn a blind eye to all this, fine - Three S-rank mines in the realms of mega-reserves. Furthermore, yourpensation to us has nothing to do with any of your transgressions against Hell! Oh, and one other thing - you must give us your word that you shall never develop Forbidden Arts ever again!¡±

    Every word was like an awl driven right through his heart.

    They wanted so much to refuse, but they clearly didn¡¯t have any grounds to do so anymore.

    Like a star of enlightenment in the sky, the light slowly but surely grew more and more dazzling, until three secondster, it erupted once more, forming an entire avenue of light! Before they could even realize it, the avenue of light instantly shoved the Mythic Spirits to the side, before promptly transforming into a remarkable carpet of light.

    BOOM!!

    Endless Yin soldiers stood valiantly in formation under the pce. Despite the fact that this was nothing more than an illusory image, the palpable courage and valor they exuded was nothing tough about. Despite all of what, the one image that immediately caught everyone¡¯s eyes was the illusory projection of an ancient European emperor.

    The true ruler of the Russain Underworld, and their oldest god of death!

    It was the beginning of the end.

    This was a demonstration of might.

    It was the demonstration of the might of a Tsar, and it was a threat to those holding his people hostage to release them.

    ¡°This is the Russian Underworld¡¯s Protector Yin Artifact, the Reverse Cross¡­¡± The Harken gasped in horror, ¡°It can extend safe passage to certain areas located close to the borders of a nation. It possesses no offensive abilities whatsoever, yet it can repel all enemy forces. Does this mean that¡­ the Tsar is personally receiving them?¡±

    But before they could even begin to revel in their joy, another light suddenly rose high into the sky, transforming into a golden light thatpletely negated the effects of the Reverse Cross.

    A golden curtain of light had appearedterally across the avenue of light, and endless golden lotuses were blooming and fading away at the bottom of this golden curtain. A contrasting dark blue staircase of the underworld appeared on the other side of the curtain, billowing with endless Yin energy, almost as though it was a counterforce.

    It was unable to extend directly to the feet of Peter the Great and the others.

    That said, it was merely an illusion.

    A snap decision.

    ¡°CHARGE!!!¡± Catherine the Great yelled out at the top of her voice. At once, a bone at her torso exploded, transforming into a terrifying vortex of bones and darkness. And right in the center of the swirling darkness, the pale face of a young girl slowly emerged. Then, her eyes opened abruptly with a menacing scarlet glow, and her hair thrusted forward like a powerful tide that crashed straight into the barrier ahead!

    Attack!

    Phweeee!!! At the same time, Peter the Great whistled loudly, and the bones of his entire body scrunched up together, causing him to transform into a glistening white bone sword. Catherine the Great immediately held him up like a mighty treasure sword. Then, like an angel of the night, the boundless Yin energy around her promptly coalesced into two beautiful wings, and she immediately took to the skies.

    Pale sword marks suddenly appeared in the void, almost like a sword of light was painting brilliant strokes across the canvas of the night. Those who didn¡¯t belong to the realms of the living had just engulfed thesends with eternal darkness. It was almost as though this majestic sight had been rehearsed countless times on end. All of them moved in tandem to the others. Even the cavalry behind leaned closer to their war horses and raised their weapons in tacit understanding. Then, a secondter¡­

    Rumble! The earth trembled, and Yin energy roared into the skies. 100 crusaders and 10,000 imperial guards charged straight towards the coalition of Mythic Spirits separating them from salvation. They were the elite warriors of the Russian Underworld, synonymous with killing machines, and they had only one thought right now.

    Fast.

    Countless golden lotus flowers appeared on the curtain of light upon impact. However, they soon realized to their dismay that the Yin energy from their attacks simply sank into the curtains like they were throwing mud into the sea. It was a terrifying sensation of seeing a ray of hope appear before their eyes, only to have itpletely dashed once more.

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± A voice remarked from behind Qin Ye. At some point, Phoenix of the Sunbird Tribe had already arrived right behind Qin Ye, and it extended a w straight through the curtain of light, ¡°This is the Life¡¯s Gate, one of the Second King Yanluo¡¯s forbidden techniques, often times also known to be the unparalleled defensive technique in the entireherworld. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would one day see this again¡­¡±

    ¡°So we can go over, but they can¡¯te over?¡± A humanoid creature entwined with the roots of nts and hovering in the sky immediately drifted over and put his hand through the curtain. Then, with an odd smile on his face, he nced at the Tsar at the top of the stairs of light, ¡°So¡­ shouldn¡¯t you be preparing to pay this ransom of ours soon?¡±

    Even the Tsar was fraught with bewilderment right now - How did things turn out this way?

    She sighed softly. Then, just as she was about to raise her hands once more, she discovered that¡­ huge, ghastlyhermes had suddenly appeared all around her again!

    As soon as they realized that the curtain of light was a one-way street that allowed passage to them, they immediately charged forward, surrounding the Russian Underworld¡¯s remnant forces at once. Then, the Mythic Spirits opened their mouths, summoning a terrifying congration in their lips that swirled about madly like a dozen zing suns.

    ¡°We¡­ admit defeat. We ept your punishment.¡±

    Or rather, the Mythic Spirits simply weren¡¯t prepared to hold back right now.

    All that remained was light. Boundless light.

    It was a spectacle to behold. With Qin Ye as the dividing line, the forces before Qin Ye appeared to have fallen straight through a hellrift. Tens of thousands of Yin spirits werepletely wiped off the surface of this world at once. Catherine the Great looked up into the sky withplete despondence. Her heart felt as though it was dripping with blood.

    It''s over¡­ It¡¯s all over¡­

 Chapter 687: Game of Thrones (3)

    <h4>Chapter 687: Game of Thrones (3)</h4>

    res of congration pelted down from the sky in a great baptism of fire that turned what was once a multitude of Yin soldiers on the ground into nothing more than wisps of Yin energy that quickly dissipated into the surroundings. Catherine the Great stared dumbly at the hopeless sight before her eyes, before sighing softly.

    The climax was filled with ups and downs, and twists and turns. They were filled with tion and hope when the Reverse Cross first appeared. Unfortunately, none of them had expected Fate topletely obstruct the Reverse Cross¡¯ approach at the eleventh hour with a brilliant disy of the top defensive ability across theherworld. To that end, it was clear that a quasi-divine artifact of one of the P4 underworlds was easily an equal to one of the protector Yin artifacts of lesser underworlds.

    It was a toss up between 10% chance of survival and a 100% chance of death. Naturally, they chose the former. Unfortunately, miracles were called miracles precisely because of their rarity.

    She stared nkly at the sky with an ashen expression and a despondent heart.

    Why?

    Why are we always so near, yet so far?

    Whoosh¡­ The gloomy clouds of Yin energy around her suddenly stirred into action once more, and 13 pairs ofhermes appeared around Catherine the Great at once.

    Just then, Qin Ye turned back haughtily, only to notice the figure standing at the top of the stairs of light suddenly vanish from his ce.

    Even though Qin Ye couldn¡¯t see this man¡¯s appearances, he could sense that the man had cast a deep gaze upon him just as he passed by.

    After all, her personal humiliation was nothingpared to the rise of the Russian Underworld.

    This was Tsar Arturo dimir, the true master of the Russian Underworld!

    Copious amounts of Yin energy billowed from his body, making him look absolutely surreal. The ck cloak of Yin energy on his back fluttered wildly, while the ends of it constantly tore apart from the main body, transforming into dark crows of Yin energy that flew away into the night sky. His facial features werepletely shrouded in darkness, and one could only make out two spots of goldenhermes peeking out of the darkness.

    ¡°The recovery n¡­ has failed¡­¡±

    For the longest time, he simply stared at distant skies as he sighed softly. The astringent sense of failure stirred in his heart.

    Yet, even the Tsar knew full well that it wasn¡¯t the time to benguishing in the miserable state of his ns.

    He looked around, and the roiling clouds of Yin energy immediately receded into the surroundings, revealing the 13 Mythic Spirits hidden within. Each of them appeared valorous and majestic, befitting of a god of death. Chieftain Woolf nced at the Tsar and sneered, ¡°Tsar¡­ Nameless god of death, it¡¯s been a while.¡±

    And it also marked the time¡­ to divide the spoils of war.

    Thehermes in the Tsar¡¯s eyes immediately flickered wildly. After some time, he responded, ¡°First of all, I believe there¡¯s been some misunderstanding between us.¡±

    No matter how bad the situation might seem to be, he would still need to create a pretext for their presence in these regions. Otherwise, the Russian Underworld would simply be made theughingstock of the entireherworld.

    Thehermes in the Tsar¡¯s eyes flickered wildly - These Alkebn Underworlds have never been able to reconcile their differences for the longest time, and yet they can actuallye together to put forth such threats before me?

    Such aint by them isn¡¯t that threatening. What¡¯s more threatening is¡­ He nced at Qin Ye.

    The P4 underworlds held veto rights. Even if the Russian Underworld was clinging tightly to the thighs of the Argosian Underworld, Hell could likewise stand in the way of their veto rights and bnce things out!

    There was no use bbering about rights without talking aboutpensation. After all, would the Alkebn Underworlds be here for fun?

    Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t any response.

    He gritted his teeth, ¡°Might I be so bold as to ask what would sufficiently rpense you for such a misunderstanding?¡±

    The Tsar took a deep breath, and then spoke hoarsely, ¡°Certainly.¡±

    The Tsar was practically speaking through gritted teeth right now, and his voice was filled with iparable resignation.

    ¡°Secondly, at the junction where the western Rus tectonic tes meet the east European tectonic tes, where fiverge S-ss veins are located¡­ Ah, that¡¯s right, it¡¯s the connected veins of mineral deposits codenamed ¡®Chekov¡¯ that the Russian Underworld had announced at the Netherworld Tectonic Conference 200 years ago.¡±

    ¡°Other underworlds may not intervene in any way, nor can our rights be revoked. Furthermore, our mining rights¡­ must be absolutely tax-free.¡±

    Catherine the Great shut her eyes in despair. The Russian Underworld, Hell and the New World were the three regions known to the rest of theherworld as the king of minerals. Despite that, S-ss mines were still considered a great rarity among these three regions. To date, the Russian Underworld¡¯s surveince efforts have revealed that there are only 53 such mines in thends of Rus, and of these, the Chekov connected veins are among the richest of mines, containing up to 100 million tonnes of mineral ores and deposits!

    Indeed, it was. These are S-ss mines after all. The value of 100 million tonnes of such resources were sufficient to make any other underworld green with envy. That said...

    Even if each tribe was able to harvest 50,000 tonnes per year, a hundred years would mean the extraction of only 5 million tonnes. And this was on the condition that they had the requisite tools and special implements required to harvest these minerals and ores effectively. After all, such S-ss minerals often needed to be harvested under special conditions. Taking into ount a small discount for the fact that these were tribes, the dozen or so tribes would in a hundred years¡­ quite probably be able to harvest 50 million tonnes of these resources!

    They would at least have about half of the mineral veins to themselves!

    ¡°I¡­ give you my word.¡± The Tsar gazed deeply into the skies and nodded softly.

    Pfft¡­ Qin Ye could almost hear the Tsar crying within, and he couldn¡¯t help but delight in the Tsar¡¯s misery.

    Patents pertaining to Yin Talismans and armaments were the foundation of any nation. The only thing that was probably more precious than this was the territory of a nation. The Alkebn Underworlds were like a pack of hungry wolves, biting down hard on the flesh of a lion, refusing to let go.

    The Tsar fervently suppressed the fury in his heart, ¡°And what will you do if I refuse to give you my word?¡±

    He stroked the Harken¡¯s fur cidly, ¡°And mark my words, they¡¯ll be kept inside so long as you refuse to give us your word.¡±

    Secondster, the Tsar¡¯s voice trembled, ¡°Very well¡­ I give you my word.¡±

    His only wish was that these negotiations would soon end. After all, it was so humiliating that he could no longer keep the expression on his face straight anymore!

 Chapter 688: Game of Thrones (4)

    <h4>Chapter 688: Game of Thrones (4)</h4>

    That said, all the Tsar had done so far was nothing more than a mere statement of his intentions, and they would never allow the three gods of death in their hands to return to the hands of the Russian Underworld right now. After all, what would they do if he suddenly reneged on his promises?

    A rift tore open in the void, and Aristotle, Catherine the Great, and Peter the Great promptly vanished into the crack. The Tsar¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, but he said nothing.

    The internationalmunity had to treat each other with some measure of regard and respect, and the Tsar knew full well that there was no way they could make the problem go away so summarily. Nobody would condone such rule-breakers.

    Qin Ye walked forward slowly with the Harken in his hands and raised an eyebrow quizzically, ¡°Your Excellency the Tsar, are you looking down on me, looking down on Hell, or looking down on the Second King Yanluo here?¡±

    These were tall allegations that he couldn¡¯t afford to ignore.

    The Tsar gazed deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°We¡¯ve already got an in-principle agreement in ce, and all Hell has to do is to give us the nod. What more do you want?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve time and time again acted with such audacity as though to test Hell¡¯s bottom line. Nameless god of death¡­ what exactly are you trying to do here? Or do you think that just because you¡¯ve somehow linked up with the Argosian Underworld that you no longer fall within the purview of Hell¡¯s influence anymore?!¡±

    It was almost as though Hell had suddenly taken hold of the awls already driven through his heart and twisted them around.

    Not only had he lost his spoils of war, he even had to pay war reparations to the underworlds involved.

    ¡°You must be kidding.¡± Qin Ye barked back without hesitation, ¡°Hell has been the victim in this entire situation. Since when is it the abuser¡¯s turn to dictate the terms ofpensation?¡±

    The Tsar was incensed by Qin Ye¡¯s choice of words, and the veins on his forehead throbbed and bulged.

    How many times have you resorted to violence to gain a bigger slice of the cake for yourselves? And now, you¡¯re actually trying to y the victim?!

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t respond immediately. Instead, he took the next few moments to pick and choose his words.

    Their trouncing of the Russian Underworld¡¯s expedition force had surprisingly forced the Tsar himself to enter the fray to defuse the situation and speak directly of theirpensation to the victims.

    If I¡¯m going to maintain Hell¡¯s image, then I can¡¯t ask for the disclosure of any of the Russian Underworld¡¯s patents to us. After all, Fengdu would¡¯ve had practically everything they¡¯ve had. Mines aren¡¯t a good source ofpensation either for the very same reason. As for Yin spirit stones, there¡¯s not much use for those things right now, especially given the state of development of Everburn and Ashmount City.

    ¡°Not a problem.¡± The Tsar agreed to these conditions readily. Truth be told, the Russiannds were so vast yet sparsely popted that even after all these years, they were still discovering new minerals and ore deposits.

    Sure, the Mongol Empire wasn¡¯t arge territory by any means, but its return to Hell was more of the resolution of a longstanding dispute on sovereignty!

    Furthermore, it was a deration of sovereign might! This was the first international development that most of the other underworlds were going to witness!

    The reinstatement of sovereignty to thesends, as well as the cessation of proliferation of Forbidden Arts was already well worth their efforts thus far.

    ¡°Secondly.¡± Qin Ye deliberated for a moment before going on, ¡°Hell had originally no intentions of interacting with foreign underworlds while it¡¯s under lockdown. But now that things havee to this, there¡¯s no reason not to go with the flow.¡±

    ¡°In the next few years, Hell will set up a trading hub here in the Mongol Empire for the purposes of bteral trade between the Russian Underworld and Hell. This will be a ground trade center. At the same time, the Russian Underworld must open up all of its ports to Hell¡¯s vessels and allow docking. Likewise, Hell will also be opening up its Ashmound Port for sea trade after the new year.¡±

    Doesn¡¯t that all sound favourable to the Russian Underworld?

    Especially not after experiencing the vastly different means that Hell has employed this time. Their true purpose would never be expressed in such a forting manner!

    They were clearly going deeper and deeper into the rules, and the Tsar¡¯s heart slowly grew more and more uneasy. Something told him that the bombshell would soon be dropped, and it was likely going to be something that ate away at them from the inside.

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then licked his lips, ¡°Finally, the products exported by the Russian Underworld shall have a 150% tariff imposed on them, while the products exported by Hell, regardless of the type of good it shall be, can only be imposed with a 5% tariff.¡±

    How ruthless¡­

    They had chosen trade over mineral deposits. Prior to this, the bteral trade agreements between the Russian Underworld and Hell,prised tariffs in the region of 8-60% for various goods, ranging from basic raw products to highly specialized products like drawings and artwork. And now, Hell¡¯s current demand threatened topletely shatter their understanding of the tax system involved!

    And on the other hand, all Hell had to do was to pay a little bit back for their exports ofmensurate value!

    Dead silence.

    The Tsar ced his hands behind his back and clenched his fists tightly. His chest heaved and fell with every agonizing breath he took. His heart was searing with excruciating pain. After a long time, he gnashed his teeth, ¡°Isn¡¯t this proposal¡­ a little too unfair to us?¡±

    No¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ please calm down¡­

    ¡°Artwork.¡± Qin Ye smiled.

    It was but a single word, and yet it also caused the Tsar to shudder violently.

    Cathayan artwork was worth a lot of money, but unfortunately¡­ they were only going to be allowed to charge a 5% tariff on that!

    The Russian Underworld could only charge a 5% tax on the same!

    Just 5%?!

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Qin Ye continued, ¡°You can rest assured. What we need are nothing more than basic household items. I can even guarantee this with the reputation of the Second King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    The name of the Second King Yanluo was a terrifying conversation-stopper. The Harken couldn¡¯t help but re at Qin Ye - What kind of monster are you? He¡¯s already left the world, and yet you continue to bring up his name again and again, almost as though you¡¯re reminiscing about the good old times. Is there really a meaning to all this?

    ¡°I think¡­¡± The Tsar repressed every measure of anger in his heart, and he nearly sobbed in response, ¡°It¡¯s feasible.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s more?!¡± The Tsar exploded. His anger was already bursting at the seams, and he red daggers at Qin Ye, ¡°Emissary of Hell, enough is enough. It¡¯s a virtue to leave others with a dignified way out.¡±

    ¡°What I was going to say is that, finally, since the Mongol Empire will be returned to Cathay, it will form Cathay¡¯s Outer Mongolia Province. Since that¡¯s the case, any information and records that you¡¯ve gleaned of the Tomb of Genghis Khan should also rightfully be returned to us.¡±

    He no longer wished to remain in this ce. Over thest century, the Russian Underworld had proven itself to be a glorious empire. How much did they gain for their role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty? How much reparations had they demanded? They had even yed a crucial role in ending the Second World War. Unfortunately, who would¡¯ve thought that just after a mere century, they would be forced to give up so much of what they had obtained?

    They weren¡¯t even able to protect two of their own gods of death!

    It¡¯s over¡­

    It¡¯s finally over. The plot that had been brewing for decades, from the appearance of the Resentment Crystals, to the execution of the script of death, until the shocking finale taking ce at Khuree. This entire episode had finallye full circle and drawn to its close.

    Hell had secured for itself substantial benefits that would propel its rate of development to new heights. But Qin Ye knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to be considering such matters. After all, as one of the sessors to the throne, there were still some loose ends he had to personally tie up.

 Chapter 689: Heaven Rewards the Diligent (1)

    <h4>Chapter 689: Heaven Rewards the Diligent (1)</h4>

    The clouds of Yin energy were still roiling in the sky, swirling into vortices from time to time. Yet, for the most part, it could simply be described as boundless darkness. Anyone living creatures that entered thesend of the dead would almost immediately sense somethingnd on their backs, before being afflicted with a sensation of pain and agony that would be worse than torture.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Chieftain Woolf cracked open his lips and attempted to smile anthropomorphically, ¡°Prefect Qin, the Alkebn Underworlds will always be a friend to Hell.¡±

    Thus, he watched as the Mythic Spirits departed. It was only then that Qin Ye finally heaved a sigh of relief. He felt over the moon.

    Unification efforts!

    The foundations for the negotiations with the mortal realm had already beenid. Furthermore, this incident with the Russian Underworld had secured them substantial reparations that would easily be sufficient to support the development of an entire district in Hell!

    ¡°Dong Zhuo¡­ your days are numbered¡­¡± He gently stroked the Harken¡¯s back, and the Harken turned back, ¡°What¡¯s up? Are you finally ready to send troops for the unification of Hell?¡¯

    ¡°Cathay¡¯s Underworld can still be said to be in its warring states era, torn asunder by the vassals known as Dong Zhuo and Su Daji. Moreover, we¡¯re not aware of the situation in other districts just yet. For instance, the central ins and the northwest are stillpletely unknown to us. But the silver lining to that is that once negotiations with the mortal realm go through, and the trade routes have been established, we¡¯ll at least be able to properly develop the district that is under our charge right now.¡±

    There¡¯s still the issue of developing Forbidden Arts.

    It¡¯s fine¡­ Everything is slowly going in the right direction. Only two years have passed now, and we¡¯ve still got¡­ a long time ahead of us.

    And as for Hell?

    The Harken opened his mouth and took a deep breath. At once, a ck hole opened up and devoured the carriage in its entirety. Qin Ye raised his brows and asked, ¡°Is everything alright?¡±

    ck Mamba?

    ¡°Is there something else you wish to discuss?¡±

    But before he couldplete his sentence, both Qin Ye and the Harken immediately raised their heads at the same time.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Records?¡± ck Mamba gasped in horror. At that moment, he was fully convinced that Qin Ye was definitely one of the strongest contenders for the throne as the next King Yanluo of Hell!

    His mind spun quickly with some thoughts that he¡¯d already been mulling over for a little while. It wasn¡¯t difficult to see why Hell¡¯s Records had suddenly appeared. Qin Ye had earlier exined that the test set by the Second King Yanluo was hardly an easy one. Managing people and international rtions was naturally one of the key indicators of a good leader. Naturally, there was no doubt that this entire episode had to be one of the test questions to his potential sessors.

    Thus, it stood a little bit more respectfully before Qin Ye. That said, Qin Ye wasn¡¯t looking at him. He was more interested in the words written on Hell¡¯s Records.

    And then, he turned back and pped himself.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give yourself false hopes. What you see is exactly what it is.¡± The Harken quipped coldly.

    Merit Points: 6,320,000 / 150,000,000.

    Thud! Qin Ye threw Hell¡¯s Records straight to the ground and couldn¡¯t help but break out in curses, ¡°150 million?! Who are you kidding?!¡±

    Just then, the ground trembled slightly.

    As he spoke, the sky was suddenly filled with a great eruption of light!

    It was a golden glow that engulfed the entire Mongol Empire, almost like a veil that gently draped around thends, prating the dark clouds of lingering Yin energy with unbelievable speeds before turning into a brocade of colourful haze. The beams of light flowed elegantly and gracefully, rippling with waves that extended millions of miles on end. Then, the curtain of arcane light slowly came together and began to swirl majestically like a glorious dance.

    The figure appeared to be that of a bodhisattva clothed with white robes. However, he wore a string of human bones across his neck. His hands were adorned with bracelets woven with gold and feathers, while his entire body was covered with intricate tattoos. His facial features appeared ordinary, and somehow benevolent and kind. Despite that, he seemed also to exude a sense of divine fury and wrath.

    ¡°Holy crap¡­¡± Qin Ye gasped in horror. But before he could say anything further, the Harken did a double take, and then murmured, ¡°Is this the embodiment of Tengrism?¡±

    ¡°Blessed Tengri¡­¡± Numerous believers immediately dropped what they were doing and sped their hands together in devout worship. Even the non-believers couldn¡¯t help but stare at the skies with their mouths agape.

    ¡°What the hell is this?¡± A store clerk whipped out his cellphone and immediately snapped photos of the skies, ¡°This is definitely not the light of the sun. Am I mistaken here? There seems to be someone hidden in this light! A figure¡­ A human figure?!¡±

    Elsewhere, on the streets, a car rear ended the vehicle in front violently. Even then, the driver simply rolled down his window and pulled down his sunsses before looking upon the brilliant lights in the sky with his lips agape. Several more vehicles ahead on this street were all involved in simr rear-end collisions, yet no driver thought to even step out of their vehicles. Everyone simply froze in horror as they stared at the skies.

    Back in the Mongol Empire¡¯s special agency. The Headquarters of the Tengri Guards. An old man dressed in the Mongol Empire¡¯s military uniform stared at the screen before him in great disbelief, ¡°What the hell is going on?! What¡¯s the cause of this mirage? This is definitely no mean natural phenomenon!¡±

    But the old man ignored these signs. His facial muscles were all throbbing gently, and the corners of his eyes were even twitching slightly. The Mongol Empire had never witnessed such horrific supernatural incidents before. But, ever sincest night, everything seemed to have devolved intoplete chaos.

    The old man was vexed. He wondered if he should pry open his staff member¡¯s head to see if it was filled with rice, or whether he should simply resign so that he wouldn¡¯t get pissed by this bunch of idiots any longer!

    ¡°100 kilometers outside Sukhbaatar! That¡¯s where the light is congregating!¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t leave.

    He simply nced up at the majestic sight. But, just then, he suddenly noticed¡­

    His eyes were scarlet in colour, and he was staring directly at Qin Ye. Then, a split secondter, a crack appeared on the top of his head, almost like a crumbling statue!

    ¡°The copse of faith¡­¡± ck Mamba stared at the vault of the heavens with great emotion, ¡°The Mongol Empire¡¯s faith in Tengri will gradually disappear, because their underworld is no longer in existence, and is now part of the system of Hell. This is also the first time I¡¯ve personally witnessed the extinction of an entire system of faith.¡±

    Is it the eradication of faith? Of an entire system of divinity?

    Like a violent tornado, it all rushed straight into Hell¡¯s Records!

 Chapter 690: Heaven Rewards the Diligent (2)

    <h4>Chapter 690: Heaven Rewards the Diligent (2)</h4>

    The merit numbers on Hell¡¯s Records were also soaring!

    ¡°First instance of thwarting an incident that could potentially unsettle the bnce of international powers since the founding of the new Hell. Merit points: +500,000.¡±

    ¡°Confronting a Yama-King as an Abyssal Prefect and making him dance in the palm of your hands. Merit points: +200,000.¡±

    The list went on. Dozens of secondster, he turned his attention back to Hell¡¯s Record, only to discover the merit points now reflected: ¡°15,220,000 / 150,000,000.¡±

    Very good¡­ I¡¯m now approximately a tenth of the way there¡­

    Doesn¡¯t that mean that¡­ participating in international affairs gets me even more merit points than if I continued to only deal with domestic affairs?

    However, he knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to be considering such matters. The golden light had vanishedpletely, and Hell¡¯s Records had finally snapped shut and entered his chest once more.

    BOOM!!! As soon as it did, there was a great eruption in the sky, and shockwaves visible to the naked eye immediately rippled across thends. At once, the entire skies cleared up of all clouds and mist, and the only thing that remained standing was the majestic, colossal statue that stood in the vault of the skies. It was a spectacr sight!

    ¡°You¡¯ve taken back the Mongol Empire and extinguished the system of divinity and faith here. Moving forward, few would believe in Tengrism, and all that remains of their faith would soon copsepletely, thereby bing a thing of the past. It is regrettable that Tengrism just wasn¡¯t strong enough. If it had been one of the three systems of mythology of the New World that had been extinguished like this, it would immediately make waves throughout the entireherworld.¡±

    ¡°From now on, only Hell is qualified to reap the souls generated in thesends, and only Hell is qualified to set up a forward base to receive the souls of the dead here in the Mongol Underworld. The stories of Hell, and the mentions of your name, will soon emerge across the historical artifacts here, as well as in their records, and in other means through which their citizens can understand.¡±

    ¡°Everything that happened in theherworld would affect the mortal realm. You should be proud of yourself, truly.¡±

    It looks like the Second King Yanluo¡¯s efforts haven¡¯t been in vain¡­ The Harken gazed deep into the skies - Second King Yanluo, I¡¯m not sure where you might be gambling away your wealth right now, but do you see this? Your gamble has paid off.

    At least, he¡¯s doing far better than expected. I¡¯m slowly gaining confidence in Hell¡¯s future¡­

    He was simply staring at the vault of the skies in great consternation. Furthermore, the Harken had spoken with an incredibly soft voice that couldn¡¯t be heard by ck Mamba at all. That said, ck Mamba had his own thoughts of what was happening right now.

    Doesn¡¯t that mean that he¡¯s essentially gained the approval of the Heavenly Dao?

    This must be a confirmation that he¡¯s getting infinitely close to the position as the sessor to the throne!

    100 more years¡­ Perhaps we might reallye face to face with him on the international arena in apletely different capacity in 100 years¡¯ time!

    Why did he agree to help Prefect Qin in the first ce?

    It seems like I¡¯ll need to put in extra effort at this rate¡­

    Then, he turned to ck Mamba and nodded briefly, ¡°I will remember how you¡¯ve treated us with kindness this time.¡±

    With that, he turned to leave. But, just then, he heard ck Mamba cough lightly from behind, ¡°Prefect Qin¡­¡±

    ¡°It seems that I might have made a mistake here.¡± ck Mamba smiled warmly, ¡°The list that I¡¯d handed to you earlier is only the first edition. This is something that I¡¯ve just noticed. Let¡¯s do it this way. As soon as I return to my underworld, I¡¯ll have someone send up the second edition to Hell.¡±

    ¡°See you then.¡± ck Mamba heaved a sigh of relief as he received the ¡®first-edition¡¯ list and bowed respectfully. But this time, it was clear that he wasn¡¯t only bowing to the Harken, but also Qin Ye.

    With that, he transformed into the cloud of Yin energy and vanished without a trace.

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples and heaved a sigh of relief. Likewise, he, too, vanished without a trace.

    I¡¯ll resolve this, return to Hell, rally the forces, and then begin our march for unification of Hell!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    There were a dozen or so photographs appended to the article.

    Naturally, there were also a number ofments that sought to ride the viral post to promote their own agendas.

    Qin Ye nodded as he surveyed his surroundings.

    There was an ancient city wall located right before him that appeared to have been standing for centuries on end. Unfortunately, the walls also appeared to have been weathered greatly by the elements, and only approximately 200 meters of it remained. From the remnants, one could vaguely make out that the walls once used to be square in shape. Furthermore, Qin Ye could vaguely make out where the city gates would once have been located.

    Qin Ye tipped the guide with 200 RMB and sent him off, before squatting down and feeling the ground inch by inch.

    ¡°I know.¡± Qin Ye touched the surface of the ground with his slender fingers, before frowning slightly, ¡°Historically, the tomb of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty has never been discovered. But this has all got to do with their customs. ording to Mongol customs, they would hollow out incense wood in the shape of a human being, and then close it up, wrap everything with gold iid with gemstones and jade three times around. Then, they would bury it in the ground and trample the ground t with horses and camels, before sprinkling horse¡¯s blood all over it. One yearter, the grass would sprout up and grow all around it, and nobody would be able to tell where exactly the tomb is located.¡±

    Zhenhai City.

    The Harken leapt down and began to sniff as it walked along the ground, ¡°But what you¡¯re describing is only true of Mongol nobility. Nobody even knows what the tomb of a Mongol emperor looks like. And to that end, the Russian Underworld is even less likely to know about these things than we are. After all, the records of the Yuan Dynasty are rathercking, and even the schrs aren¡¯t able to agree on certain things such as the official burial requirements of the time. My guess is that¡­ they might well have found something, but it¡¯s nothing more than a high spec tomb that is different from others.¡±

    The Harken fell deep into thought.

    Do I need to tie you up to your desk before you¡¯ll finally embrace the mountain of work that¡¯s waiting for you back in Hell? Yes¡­ that seems like a feasible idea!

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s wait.¡± Qin Ye entered the car that they had hired nearby, ¡°Didn¡¯t we learn that midnight is when the barrier between the mortal realm and theherworld is the weakest? That¡¯s no more than a few hours away.¡±

    It¡¯s been no more than a few hours!

    If you¡¯re going to be such a downer, how am I supposed to find the motivation and energy toplete the rest of my tasks!

    The moonlight shone down like a veil of light, washing over the Gobi and bringing an eerie sense of stillness and sobriety to these ruins of over 700 years.

    ¡°Yin energy?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes glistened, and he immediately got out of his car once more, ¡°But, how is that possible? I¡¯ve tried touching it during the day. Even if the sun is at its peak, it¡¯s still impossible not to have sensed anything¡­¡±

    Qin Ye sensibly kept his distance from the danger.

    ¡°I¡¯d never expected to see something like this here¡­¡± The Harken remarked as it circled around the stone tform several times. Then, it sighed softly, ¡°Hey, kiddo, do you know what this is?¡±

    Then, without waiting for Qin Ye¡¯s response, it continued, ¡°Emblem of the Sixfold Ghost Kings¡­ This bears the mark of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, etched with Yin Talismans drawn up by a Yama-ss existence.¡±

 Chapter 691: Xixiaâ€™s Seven True Taoists

    <h4>Chapter 691: Xixia''s Seven True Taoists</h4>

    There are actually traces of a Yama-ss Yin spirit here in this ce? And an Emissary of Hell at that? Otherwise, how could we possibly see the mark of the Sixfold Ghost Kings in this ce?

    Qin Ye walked up behind the Harken, ¡°Don¡¯t you find it strange?¡±

    The Harken shook its head, ¡°Have you forgotten? You can¡¯t sense the Yin energy of this ce at all. Besides¡­¡±

    ¡°This is a game originally invented by the Second King Yanluo when he was bored out of his mind. Arrange the six stone bs ording to the surnames of various ns, and the seal will automatically open. This is a game that had only been circted among the Yama-ss Yin spirits of Hell, and not even the Abyssal Prefects were aware of such indulgences¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not as though we didn¡¯t have other forms of entertainment¡­¡± The Harken coughed lightly, ¡°For instance, there was Blood Mahjong, Big 2, and a couple of other games. But my personal favourite is still 3 Cards Poker.¡±

    Was this really what the ruling ss in Hell was like in the past?

    ¡°Was Lord Ksitigarbha also a part of this? Doesn¡¯t this contravene his own set of principles and rules?¡±

    ¡°It trains one to keep a straight mind and thoughts in the midst of great ups and downs. Lord Ksitigarbha is using superficial gambling to cultivate a perfect Buddhist heart! What do you know¡­ Whatever. Hurry up and get in!¡±

    ¡°Jump down.¡± The Harken responded affirmatively.

    There were 10 seconds of silence, followed by a soft thud.

    The Harken frowned and nudged him aside, before peeking down into the darkness below, ¡°That¡¯s not right¡­¡±

    Was that all a lie?

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Given the urgency of the situation back then, Aristotle simply didn¡¯t have the time nor opportunity to tell them to leave. If they¡¯re not down there, they would probably be hanging around the vicinity, waiting for Aristotle¡¯s return. But we¡¯ve been acting without concealing our movements or actions at all, yet not a single soldier of the Argosian Underworld has shown up.¡±

    ¡°The Ghost King¡¯s Seal is a technique that manifests in various different iterations, and any Yama-King employing this seal would therefore take particr care tomit the exact iteration of the seal to memory. Then, it leaves the creator of these seals to revisit them every hundred years to maintain the strength of the seal. The Argosian Underworld might only have been able to gain entry because these seals haven¡¯t been maintained for thest hundred years. So¡­ could they perhaps still be trapped or lost inside?¡± The Harken mused aloud.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go down first to take a look around. Wait here.¡± With that, the Harken transformed into a cloud of Yin energy and dove straight into the pit.

    Without hesitation, Qin Ye leapt in after the Harken. And as soon as he did, the entrance to the pit immediately closed up.

    There was arge gathering of Yin spirits below!

    It was a passage.

    The passage was at least five meters wide and three meters high. Furthermore, it appeared to keep running deeper and deeper into the substratum of the earth.

    It was odd. It was incredibly odd. There were even countless streamers of scriptures written in the Mongolnguage also hung from the ceiling of the passage. Everything here was supposed to be several hundred years old. The stallion sculptures, the reliefs on the ground and the walls and the grooves that brought light to the passage could all be exined, but nothing could exin how the streamers of scriptures appeared almost brand new!

    Nobody said a word. The Harken promptly leapt up onto Qin Ye¡¯s shoulders, and he proceeded to walk ahead slowly as he surveyed his surroundings.

    As he walked along the passageway, the reliefs on both sides of the passageway slowly changed to depict the image of a glorious city of the Song Dynasty. That said, the etchings on the ground continued to depict elements of Tengrism. He paused for a moment. But the Harken beat him to it before he could even speak his mind, ¡°What¡¯s written on these streamers of scriptures is the Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. I¡¯m all too familiar with these scriptures. They¡¯re used to transcend spirits of the dead.¡±

    He stroked the wall, ¡°These are all made of obsidian.¡±

    ¡°Obsidian is naturally urring volcanic ss formed when volcanicva cools rapidly. There¡¯s only one ce in Cathay that produces obsidian, and that¡¯s the Province of Bod. However¡­¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s more.¡± He knocked gently on the walls, ¡°Have you noticed the temperature around these parts? It¡¯s already close to zero degrees.¡±

    ¡°The mortal realm and theherworld should never intersect with each other.¡± Qin Ye straightened his body and continued coldly, ¡°I can tell that the temperature around these parts is incredibly cold. That means that arge number of Yin artifacts must have been used to construct this tomb so as to counteract the heat of the earth¡¯s core. And if that is indeed the case, then this tomb mustn¡¯t have been built by the living.¡±

    ¡°Bury arge number of people, and then refine them into the living dead using a special technique. This way, it wouldn¡¯t contravene the rule of non-intersection between the mortal realm and theherworld. That said, this tomb is clearly constructed in the mortal realm. Therefore, when the timees, the living would effectively be buried in a coffin used in the underworld. This is the only way to exin everything that we see. And if this is indeed the case, then the owner of this tomb would have to be of incredibly high status while he was still alive.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t this much obsidian avable for construction back in the mortal realm.

    ¡°There¡¯s more.¡± Qin Ye looked up, and then pointed to the ground, ¡°Look here. We see the Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva dangling on streamers of scriptures overhead, and that belongs to Buddhism. But on the ground, we see reliefs of Tengrism. These are two different religions. How can they possibly be reconciled?¡±

    The tomb was filled with oddities everywhere. Qin Ye and the Harken ran along the long passageway, taking in the sights around them while they kept their thoughts to themselves.

    And the passage had yet toe to an end!

    It was another sculpture.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Qin Ye ran up to the sculpture and took a good look around it as he tutted to himself, ¡°Buddhism, Taoism, and Tengrism, all at the same time. Who is this who bears such mixed beliefs?¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then turned back to the Harken, ¡°Are you messing with me?¡±

    Xixia¡¯s Seven True Taoists.

    ¡°Stop confusing yourself with these cultivation novels and their references!¡± The Harken barked back in rage, ¡°Qiu Chuji is known to be an ascetic living in Xixia. The words Xixia¡¯s Seven True Taoists is a reference to both the Xixia region and the Seven True Taoists of the North. It can only mean him.¡±

    Who made this tomb?

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ the person buried here simply doesn¡¯t care too much about these things?¡± The Harken licked its lips, ¡°I¡¯m getting more and more interested in the identity of the owner of this tomb. Speaking of which, this should be a milestone.¡±

    ¡°A monument to mark the first 100 kilometers, huh¡­ Well, if my guess is right, the next such monument we might see could very well be a monk.¡±

    However, the Harken simply transformed into ahergale that rushed forward along the passage again, ¡°Let¡¯s keep going.¡±

    And as expected, the statue was exactly that of a monk!

    Qin Ye¡¯s lips parted slightly as he turned to the Harken. Without missing a beat, the Harken eximed, ¡°s¡­¡±

    ¡°This is a depiction of the Great Debate between Buddhism and Taoism!¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s the fact that there must be someone buried here, someone known as Drogon Chogyal.¡±

    The Harken gave Qin Ye an oblique nce, ¡°That might not be a familiar name to you, but he often goes by another name that might possibly ring a bell in your mind.¡±

    ¡°The Imperial Preceptor, Phagpa.¡±

    <hr>

    1. Tibet.

 Chapter 692: The Great Debate

    <h4>Chapter 692: The Great Debate</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯ve actually heard of him?¡± The Harken quipped back, obviously casting aspersions as to Qin Ye¡¯s intelligence.

    After a dozen seconds or so, the Harken turned back with a soft sigh andmented to himself, ¡°I was a fool to have been so hopeful like that. That said, it¡¯s quite something else to have recited the synopsis of master Huang Yi¡¯s debut work with such absolute rity and sinctness¡­¡±

    Fortunately, Qin Ye mmed up sensibly as soon as the Harken gave him yet another one of its trademark shut-the-hell-up res. Then, the Harken drew a deep breath, repressed the deep murderous intent in its heart and exined, ¡°Phagpa¡¯s name is originally Drogon Chogyal, the first Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan Dynasty. He died in the 17th year of the Yuan Dynasty, at the Lhakhang pce in Sakya at the tender age of 45. During the time that he was alive, he was often known to be the authority in the nation. It was for this reason that he was given the posthumous nickname, ¡®Authority of All, Subject to One¡¯. During his reign, there was in fact one recorded incident of a major religious conflict.¡±

    The two slowed down and walked slowly as the Harken continued with his exnations, ¡°The Great Debate of the Yuan Dynasty was one of the most well-known sessions in the history of Cathay, and the reason for this is that this was when Quanzhen Taoism reached the heights of its influence across the entire nation. That was incidentally also when Qiu Chuji, the Seven True Taoists of Xixia, was first received by Genghis Khan. That said, it wasn¡¯t until 30 yearster that the Mongol Empire first came to be.¡±

    The Harken nced back, ¡°And the trigger for thisy in the fact that the great monk behind took Qiu Chuji to the imperial court. Both factions were represented by their own elites, and Buddhism came out on top. At that time, the head of the Taoist faction, and also the one who secretly strung things along until the Great Debate urred, was none other than the Imperial Preceptor, Phagpa. Incidentally, it also happened that he was the holy son of Tantric Buddhism.¡±

    Qin Ye mulled over the Harken¡¯s exnations, ¡°So, that would exin why there are reliefs of Tengrism on the floor and Buddhist scriptures hanging over us. But, even then, how can you be sure that it¡¯s none other than Phagpa buried here in this ce?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and grew taciturn.

    He got the niggling feeling that something was still amiss, but he simply couldn¡¯t put a finger on it.

    ¡°If you ask me, there¡¯s only two possibilities right now. The first possibility is that Phagpa isn¡¯t the only one buried in this ce; and the second possibility is that this isn¡¯t his tomb to begin with!¡±

    Qin Ye walked slowly to the side of the passageway and stroked the relief murals that still depicted an image of the Mongol Empire¡¯s Iron Stupa overrunning their enemies, ¡°If this was indeed Phagpa¡¯s tomb, we wouldn¡¯t be seeing these reliefs at all.¡±

    Then, he pointed to the etchings on the ground, ¡°Furthermore, we wouldn¡¯t even see any allusions to Tengrism, which is the faith of the Mongol Empire, and not something that Phagpa, a resident of Bod, would have ess to!¡±

    ¡°And for one of the holy sons of Tantric Buddhism to have traces of other faiths in his tombs is aplete aberration to everything he¡¯s lived for! The only possibility that this could be possible is that the person constructing this tomb is aplete idiot.¡±

    ¡°There has to be another high-ranking individual of the Yuan Dynasty buried in this ce. Furthermore, the entire tomb is designed to celebrate his life.¡± Qin Ye ced his hand behind his back and slowly began to pace around the passageway, ¡°Firstly, the only thing that connects this tomb to Tantric Buddhism lies in the scriptures that appear overhead. Apart from that, there¡¯s nothing else! Sure, you can say that the Great Debate is also linked to that, but it¡¯s not expressed in any of the elements contained here in this tomb. Rather, what we see instead is a depiction of the great monk of Buddhism and Qiu Chuji here.¡±

    Qin Ye took a deep breath, and then gazed deep into the passageway, ¡°The person buried here¡­ must be an existence that is even more important than that of Phagpa! Phagpa¡¯s presence here is more akin to that of a gatekeeper or a caretaker.¡±

    Nobody said a word for a long time. Then, finally, the Harken sighed softly and eximed with some measure of disbelief, ¡°Then¡­ that truly leaves us with only Genghis Khan¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± The Harken shook its head, ¡°We¡¯ve got Yin spirits of the Yuan Dynasty back in the old Hell. They were the ones who helped us understand that the Yuan Dynasty had treated the office of Imperial Preceptor as one of great importance. Do you recall Phagpa¡¯s posthumous name? ¡®Authority of All, Subject to One¡¯. Who do you think this ¡®One¡¯ refers to? It¡¯s none other than Mongke Khan, grandson of the Great Khan. He wouldn¡¯t have an Imperial Preceptor ¡±

    ¡°Impossible, because Mongke was Kui¡¯s brother. Back then, the Yuan Dynasty hadn¡¯t even been founded just yet. They were both warriors of the Mongol Empire, but Mongke was preferred as the fourth khagan emperor of the Mongol Empire. Besides, Phagpa was Mongke¡¯s teacher. If it were Mongke or Kui who was buried here in this ce, Phagpa would definitely be honored as their teacher. Therefore, the person buried here would quite likely be one who was even higher than Mongke in stature. In all likelihood, it would be Temujin himself.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep going¡­¡± Qin Ye tutted once, and then flew forward once more with a gust of wind, ¡°I mean, we must already be close to the borders of Cathay by now, aren¡¯t we? Who would¡¯ve thought that this passageway is so immensely long?¡±

    The speed of an Abyssal Prefect was incredibly quick. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t long before they saw a golden curtain of light appear right before their eyes.

    So long as they crossed the curtain of light, they would be right back where they started, back in thends of Cathay! The tunnel might have been t, but there were twists, turns and kinks that meddled with their bearings. Thus, neither Qin Ye nor the Harken knew exactly which part of the border they were located at right now. That said, they were both astounded to find that the tomb actually ran straight from Zhenhai City through to Cathay itself!

    That said, the first thing he was greeted by was yet another stretch of a seemingly endless passageway.

    Time passed by quickly. After approximately another hour of flying at top speed, the passageway finally opened up into a massive cavern.

    It was 10 meters high and 15 meters wide, and it was carved with various exquisite reliefs of Tengrism.

    He immediately picked up the Harken and ced it right in front of the keyhole, ¡°Come, help me see how I should get this thing open.¡±

    ¡°Is this¡­¡± It sniffed in the air with some measure of surprise, ¡°Is this¡­ the Yin energy signature of a Sixfold Ghost King?¡±

    The Harken sniffed for some time, and then shook its head, ¡°I can¡¯t tell. There¡¯s too many other scents inside. Besides, the door is enchanted by one of the forbidden techniques of the Sixfold Ghost Kings. If you enter by force, or using any other unauthorized means, the contents within the room would immediately be destroyed. No, in fact, the entire chamber here would copse, and we¡¯d all be buried right here in this ce.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll need an origin Yin artifact of one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings¡­¡± The Harken frowned, and then immediately looked up. At the same time, Qin Ye turned to the Harken, and both eximed at the same time, ¡°The Courage of Dragons Silver Spear!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing I carry it around with me¡­¡± The Harken sighed with relief and spat out a silver speartip. Meanwhile, Qin Ye stared at the Harken in horror, ¡°Hang on¡­¡±

    ¡°Is it not all because of you?!¡± The Harken barked back with great indignation, ¡°Do you even have a modicum of self-awareness, you weakass Abyssal Prefect? Do you like parading around Yama-Kings all day long while riding on the coattails of the old Hell? Is that your idea of fun? Don¡¯t you know that I¡¯m still suffering from grievous wounds and still sorelycking in battle power?! How could I dare to even go out on a traipse with you if I didn¡¯t have some means of self-preservation up my sleeves?!¡±

    You¡¯re just a coward¡­

    It was peculiar. The speartip was clearly rusty and old, yet it triggered the mechanism within with a clear, crisp click. Then, the lock blossomed with rays of golden light that slowly coursed through the door and spread along the reliefs of Tengrism on the door. Then, the mechanism slowly began to tter into motion, and finally¡­ the gate slowly started to open up!

    This time, the keyhole of this door was etched with a diagram.

    It was a lotus flower.

    It exuded the ir of Buddhism, with its six petals all evenly distributed in the etching. Furthermore, the heart of the lotus glowed with countless runic symbols of Yin Talismans.

 Chapter 693: Coffin of the Ghost King

    <h4>Chapter 693: Coffin of the Ghost King</h4>

    Qin Ye and the Harken stared at each other for a few seconds before Qin Ye finally spoke up, ¡°Did the Second King Yanluo leave us the key to this ce?¡±

    There were too many questions and not enough answers. Everything was nothing more than a spection right now. The Harken also pondered for a long time, before responding in a deep voice, ¡°Then how do you exin that this ¡®key¡¯ is drawn right underneath that of all things?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, and then made a grasping motion in the air. At once, what remained of the secret memorial appeared in his hand, and he aligned the mark of the lotus flower carefully against the mark on the door. As soon as he had it perfectly aligned, the scroll spontaneouslybusted, and transformed into ck ash that vanished in the sky.

    Qin Ye smiled and chuckled softly.

    If not, why would the outer door be sealed by the Sixfold Ghost King¡¯s mark, and the inner door be sealed by the Second King Yanluo¡¯s mark?

    Sure, he could be one of the greatest emperors that have ever existed, and he might also have held thergest territory at any one time, but I¡¯m afraid not even Emperor Taizong of Tang or Emperor Qin Shi Huang had such favour with Hell, did they?

    Well, I guess if there¡¯s no answer to these questions, then there¡¯s no point thinking about these things any further.

    Click¡­ There was a sound of a catch falling into ce, followed quickly by the tter of the inner mechanism. Then, the heavy door slowly opened with a bang.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath and walked right in.

    A statue of Tengri stood right at the center of the chamber. That said, it appeared somewhat different from before. This incarnation of the Tengri had three heads and six arms, adorned with a Dharma wheel, human bones, a flute, streamers of scriptures, a lotus flower and a book. Its three faces all appeared to be benevolent and lifelike.

    ¡°Jade...¡± Qin Ye stroked the statue cautiously as he murmured aloud, ¡°Though not of the best variety, the entire statue is carved out of the same piece, and its value isparable to that of any top grade varieties of jade out there. Furthermore, I can tell that there are few impurities found in the entire statue here. This is a masterpiece created to honor the emperor.¡±

    ¡°Hang on a minute¡­¡± The Harken nced at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression, ¡°How in the world do you know so much?¡±

    The Harken mmed up at once.

    There was a protracted period of awkward silence before the Harken finally found the right words to respond, ¡°It looks like the office of King Yanluo has saved you from an eternity of anguish in the rat race to the bottom.¡±

    ¡°Now, that¡¯s hardly appropriate. Can you really say that the citizens in the past haven¡¯t been living well?¡±

    He took a deep breath and collected himself. Then, shelving the topic that triggers the painful memories hidden deep in his heart, he nced around the room, only to realize that it was still constructed entirely out of obsidian. That said, the only difference was that there weren¡¯t any grooves forhermes in the ground. Yet, even then, the entire chamber was bright as daylight.

    The coffin wasn¡¯t the usual rectangr shape. Rather, it was shaped just like a human, and etched with fine carvings on all sides, most of which depicted the glorious conquests of the Mongol Empire¡¯s Iron Stupa. The rest of the coffin was sealed with a band of gold around the seams, and the band was further iid with red and blue gemstones in turn.

    The answer to all of our questions lies here¡­ Both man and dog subconsciously leaned in closer. The Harken blew off the dust umted on the surface of the coffin. At once, the golden band clicked softly, and then slid off like soft silk.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qin Ye stared at the contents in great disbelief,pletely lost for words. The Harken was likewisepletely bbergasted by the sight, and its jaws even parted slightly in astonishment.

    There was no one in the coffin.

    It was a heavy sword.

    ¡°Second generation Forbidden Art?¡± Qin Ye stared at the Harken nkly. His mind had gonepletely numb.

    It immediately dashed forward for a closer look. And then, after a long time, and almost as though it was reeling from a confluence of both relief and disappointment at the same time, the Harken shook its heads, ¡°No.¡±

    He had taken a look at the Yin Talismans earlier. For a split second there, he¡¯d entered the universe of Yin Talismans to get a closer look at what he was dealing with, and the violent impact of being overloaded with information at once surged straight through his mind. To someone like him who hadn¡¯t been exposed to Yin Talismanology, even a single arrangement of Yin Talismans would already seem as daunting as a 10,000-foot mountain towering before his eyes.

    Silence. Momentster, the Harken took several steps back and nced around nervously, ¡°This can¡¯t be¡­ This is impossible! Isn¡¯t the second generation of Forbidden Arts only supposed to be at the stage of proof of concept? Who¡¯s the one who created this thing? Why would it be here?¡±

    ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t exin anything!¡± The Harken¡¯s fur red up, ¡°The initiation module of a second generation Forbidden Art only exists in theory! And even if this was in fact created, how could there be no guardian to safekeep something as important as this?!¡±

    Qin Ye frowned and began to look around for more clues. Momentster, he beckoned to the Harken and pointed at the head of the coffin, ¡°The answer is right here.¡±

    First Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Temujin.

    ¡°And where¡¯s his soul?¡±

    Neither of them cared about the treasures of the mortal realm. All they wanted was the soul of the Great Khan. Unfortunately, neither his soul nor his body were in sight!

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye stood right next to the coffin and stroked the surface of the coffin, ¡°This is the Tomb of Temujin we¡¯ve both been looking for.¡±

    There was smoke and mirrors everywhere. Sure, there were clues, but the chaotic manner in how these clues presented themselves caused them to be more perplexed than anything.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head back first.¡± The Harken finally calmed itself down and suggested with a soft sigh, ¡°Regardless of what it is, it¡¯s always good to have the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art with us. After all, researching and developing something from scratch is always the most difficult endeavour. With this, we¡¯ve effectively skipped over the most difficult parts, and you can easilymence the project to develop second generation Forbidden Arts at your discretion.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, and then proceeded to pick up the heavy sword. Strangely enough, it was light as a feather despite its looks.

    ¡°Could you put it away for me?¡±

    ¡°... What a pity¡­¡± Qin Ye ced the heavy sword on his back. Then, just as he was about to turn to leave, his eyes suddenly lit up with a bright gleam. He gasped in shock and nced at the coffin, and the feeling of being struck by an epiphany surged straight from his foot to his head.

    There was a line of words that had been hidden right beneath the heavy sword all this while.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to travel the world, and I will return in a hundred years. The seal cannot be broken. Take care of yourself. -- 7 September 1962, Zhao Zilong.¡±

    SAY WHAT?!

 Chapter 694: Tianmo Desert

    <h4>Chapter 694: Tianmo Desert</h4>

    Qin Ye also froze in horror. He waspletely taken aback by the name he saw.

    Neither one of the duo had expected toe across a message left by Zhao Yun in such a ce.

    This message might not seem like much, but it represented one crucial fact.

    Who was Zhao Yun? He was practically an unparalleled existence across Hell in its former glory!

    ¡°I¡¯d posit that his problem rtes to Temujin¡¯s soul.¡± The Harken thought aloud with a twinkle in its eyes, ¡°Temujin¡¯s soul has vanished together with Zhao Yun, while these two doors leading to the inner chambers were clearly sealed by both the Second King Yanluo and the Ghost King at the same time. There¡¯s no way Temujin, a mere wandering soul that hasn¡¯t been conferred any official status in Hell, would be able to escape from this ce.¡±

    ¡°His soul¡­ is not quite the same as the rest.¡± The Harken calmed his heart down and began to address its mind to the details it knew of. After all, they would be doing themselves an injustice if they passed up on the Ghost King before exhausting all of their options and leads.

    ¡°Firstly, although the Yuan Dynasty was simr to the Qing Dynasty in that the incumbents were both not of the Han ethnicity, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty eventually became sinicized, while the Mongols did not. However, that¡¯s not the main point. Any dynasty founded on maind Cathay would naturally still form a part of Cathay¡¯s history. There¡¯s simply no denying that. The point here is that when Kui Khan first ascended the throne as the khagan emperor, his army wasn¡¯t the only army that was marching on conquests for the expansion of their territory. Sure, his was the main force driving the formation of the Yuan Dynasty, but the other forces were in no way weaker than his either.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The Yuan Dynasty was also known as a territory formed by the four main states of the Great Khanate, the Chagatai Khanate, the Il-Khanate, and the Golden Horde. To that end, these states are not considered unified states, but are rather independent of each other. Their leaders aren¡¯t so important, but the fact remained that these independent states also meant that the dynasty was fractured. Coupled with the differences in their systems of belief, this might well have been the primary cause preventing Temujin¡¯s soul from entering Hell. Or, to be more precise, allowed it to disobey the rules of Hell.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°But, why?¡±

    ¡°Political scandal.¡± The Harken responded with a sigh, ¡°It¡¯s all because of Hell¡¯s standing in the international arena. Do you know what kind of ridicule Hell would be subject to if others discovered that one of the souls of our founding ancestors actually refuses to submit to Hell? This would be theughingstock of the millennium! I mean¡­ we might be Hell, but we¡¯re also concerned about our face, you know?!¡±

    The Harken red fiercely at Qin Ye as it continued, ¡°Like I said, this is likely to be the case. Thus, Zhao Zilong was sent to guard this--... But that¡¯s not right either! Even though Genghis Khan undoubtedly has the potential to be a Yama-ss Yin spirit, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that he hasn¡¯t been officially conferred a title in Hell just yet. And that means that there¡¯s no justification for sending a Ghost King to guard a single soul!¡±

    What have we missed out?

    Nobody said a word. Qin Ye sat at the foot of the statue of Tengri and delved deep into his own thoughts. After what seemed like an eternity, his eyes suddenly gleamed brightly, and he pulled out the heavy sword from behind his back and smashed it on the ground with a bang. His eyes zed brightly as he turned towards the Harken, ¡°This is it.¡±

    The Harken didn¡¯t rebuff Qin Ye¡¯s suggestion immediately. However, it still had some questions, ¡°What does Genghis Khan have to do with a second generation Forbidden Art? You¡¯re not suggesting that a second generation Forbidden Art is something that isposed of ideas from Tengrism, are you? That¡¯s far toockingpared with the depths of the system of Taoism. I¡¯m more inclined to think that the initiation module ced here had merely been entrusted to Zhao Yun¡¯s care at the time of the great copse.¡±

    ¡°The initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art originally contained Resentment Crystals!¡±

    Then, Qin Ye nced around warily, before dropping the bombshell, ¡°This tomb is likely constructed on a bed of Resentment Crystals!¡±

    The Harken gasped, ¡°But why would he do that? Besides, wouldn¡¯t cing Resentment Crystals in the Mongol Empire be far too dangerous, especially since that¡¯s also the location to the only entrance of the tomb?¡±

    He nced at the obsidian beneath his feet, ¡°The fact that there¡¯s likely a vein of Resentment Crystals down here that is farrger than what we¡¯ve seen earlier in Khuree! In fact, the mine in Khuree is probably just the bait used to lead us to the prize! We¡¯ve¡­ truly struck gold this time!¡±

    ¡°Are you able to locate Zhao Yun?¡±

    The Harken closed its eyes and began to sense its surroundings. Qin Ye took a step back and refrained from disturbing the Harken as well. After approximately half an hour, the Harken snapped open his eyes once more, ¡°Northriver!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s in Zhending?¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± Qin Ye had never heard of this ce.

    ¡­ Are you mocking me?

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°Are you not afraid of radiation?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded slightly.

    Just then, there was the sound of a soft rumble. It started out slight, and then slowly grew louder and louder. Within 10 minutes, the sounds burgeoned from that of the trickle of a stream to the deafening roar of a rushing river that had burst its banks!

    Both sides of the passageway had already split open by now, and copious amounts of sand poured in from outside!

    That said, it was now patently clear given the manner in which the sand was falling through the passageway. Everything was rushing over like a stampede of horses!

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to die from something like this. What are you so afraid of? Hurry up and let me climb into your shirt.¡±

    ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you doing anything to protect me? Do you think I¡¯m not afraid of getting dirty?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of posturing against me? Just wait for the sand to pile up and fill this chamber, stand on it and break the obsidian on top of the roof. You¡¯re now back in Cathay, so what do you have to be afraid of? Tsk, young people these days¡­ You need to learn how to get your hands dirty as well¡­¡±

    In the desert.

    There was a reasonablyrge crew located right in front of him, and an actor and an actress were clearly both trying to act out a scene of destion with the desert in the backdrop. Unfortunately, the actress was unable to evoke the right emotions for her role.

    They were in the Tianmo Desert.

    Nobody knows how or why it was formed. There were mountains to the south, and ake to the north. There were even beacon towers located along the ridge and the ruins of ancient counties and ancient castles located nearby. Naturally, it was a unique sight to have a desert located in the midst of all these things. In fact, the legends even had it that the desert was formed overnight, and it was something also called the overnight desert.

    Unfortunately, everyone was deep in their own thoughts, and nobody saw the sandy ground beneath their feet slowly rising.

    <hr>

    1. For those interested to read more, please look up wiki!

 Chapter 695: Emperorâ€™s Tomb

    <h4>Chapter 695: Emperor''s Tomb</h4>

    One of the managers who was still hydrating himself nced over,pletely dumbfounded, and the cup in his hand fell straight to the ground with a soft thud. The bearded director likewise nced over with widened eyes and his jaws agape. The mound of sand was approximately ten meters wide, and approximately one meter tall. It was unmistakably conspicuous.

    The Harkennded on all fours on the ground and barked furiously, ¡°I--....¡±

    ¡°Cough, cough, cough¡­¡± Meanwhile, Qin Yey on the desert ground, turning his head to the side as he coughed up a mouthful of sand. But before he could even exin himself, he found a bearded man peering down at him from above, ¡°Actor?¡±

    ¡°Ancient military officer?¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s this prop from?¡± ¡°He wouldn¡¯t actually be an ancient military officer, would he?¡± ¡°Look at the fine details on that¡­¡±

    At once, everyone around him froze, and Qin Ye and the Harken took this opportunity to vanish into the shadows. Meanwhile, everyone on scene froze for exactly five seconds before they snapped back to their senses. Then, the bearded director straightened up as though he had just snapped back from his dreams, and he waved his hands impatiently, ¡°What are you doing standing around for? Get to work! There¡¯s still a month to go before the end of our production, and we¡¯re only halfway through. Do you all intend to breach the filming contract?¡±

    Did something happen earlier? Did I forget something?

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The desert was unexpectedly smallpared with other deserts. It was only approximately 1,000 acres in size - a drop in the ocean next to the other major deserts in the region. It wouldn¡¯t take either of Qin Ye or the Harken more than a casual stroll to get from one end to the other. Furthermore, there were lush green trees and spinning windmills located right across the rushing rivers.

    This was the rest stop of a well-known tourist attraction, and it was incredibly well-designed. There were restaurants, cafes and even hotels around. Tour buses and cars were all parked neatly at the rest stop, and it looked no different to the rest stops along the highways connecting two first-tier cities. The traffic flow in this region was massive, and there were easily ten different groups of film crews in the region.

    ¡°What production crew is he from?¡± ¡°Did the scriptwriter get something wrong? How could he fuse a modern persona with ancient martial arts? Isn¡¯t this a fusion that was only popr several years ago?¡± ¡°Now, don¡¯t say that! Something like this is in trend on the inte right now. Have you been reading webnovels these days? A crossover of an ancient martial artist in modern times, or an ancient medical practitioner in modern times, setting out on a journey to find immortality. It¡¯s actually quite exciting¡­¡±

    Gossip was clearly the talk of the town. Even then, Qin Ye ignored everything that was being spoken of him, ordered a drink and found his way to a seat located by the side of the window. There, he pulled out his phone and began tapping duriously on it, ¡°Tianmo Desert. Located approximately 100 kilometers from Yan Capital. Famous tourist attraction and popr filming site. Most desert scenes of local drama serials and movies have been filmed here in this ce. This would make sense, particrly since it costs a bomb to travel into the major deserts around.¡±

    Qin Ye could¡¯ve sworn that the Harken was slowly changing for the worse.

    Why can¡¯t those around me act a little bit more positively?

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to inform the leaders of the mortal realm about Genghis Khan¡¯s Tomb.¡± He searched through his phone book as he continued to speak softly, ¡°This is a huge find, and the Resentment Crystals are likely hidden right underneath this tomb itself. Unfortunately, Hell hasn¡¯t developed its archaeological industry just yet, and we can only rely on the professionals of the mortal realm in this regard. Truth be told, I¡¯m still reeling from the shock of learning that Temujin¡¯s Tomb is located right here in Northriver.¡±

    ¡°After all, Genghis Khan¡¯s Tomb has long been spected to be located here in Northriver.¡± It leaned over the table andpped at Qin Ye¡¯s coffee, only to draw an expression of ire at once. Thus, the Harken coughed softly and continued, ¡°30 years ago, the archaeological expert uncovered a tomb near Mount Colt, Kalgan. That was the incident that first sparked the interest of experts in Mount Colt.¡±

    After all, theherworld was far more in tune with the affairs of the dead than the mortal realm could ever be.

    It lowered its head and beganpping up the coffee in the cup again - Eh? Why does this cup of coffee taste especially fragrant today?

    ¡°The experts discovered a cave located deep in the hearts of Mount Colt, where diagrams of the twelve zodiacs were located in a non-sequential fashion. That said, it was discovered that the order of their arrangement¡­ turned out to be exactly representative of the zodiac signs of each of the Yuan Dynasty emperors! Ovee with joy at their discovery, some of the experts even posited that this could only mean that the tombplex of the Yuan Dynasty emperors was located close by!¡±

    Was this a coincidence?

    Furthermore, there were still mysteries surrounding the origins of the desert. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but consider the legends of how the desert simply came to be overnight. But if the Tianmo Desert was somehow linked to the discoveries in Mount Colt, then everything would make sense.

    He continued listening intently, and the Harken exined with great patience, ¡°There¡¯s one other seemingly unrted event that might deserve your attention, and that pertains to an incident that happened towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty. There¡¯s a vige known as Dale Vige currently located approximately ten kilometers away from Mount Colt. This vige was formerly known as the Chang Yuchun Vige, named after the Ming Dynasty general Chang Yuchun himself. Back then, Chang Yuchun had personally driven the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty out of the frontier fortress, Juyongguan, after their great victory over the emperor¡¯s forces. The death toll back then was in the hundreds of thousands, and Hell had no choice but to send out Judges to clean up the battlefield and help souls pass into theherworld.¡±

    ¡°Sealed?¡± Qin Ye raised his brows, and then proceeded to add a spoonful of milk to the coffee, to which the Harken promptly nodded with great thanks. Then, the Harken went on, ¡°That¡¯s right, it was sealed, and nobody was allowed to inspect its contents. That said, I was naturally excluded from such restrictions. From what I can recall, the results of the investigations back then were¡­ unknown.¡±

    The Harken set down his cup and mused, ¡°There¡¯s a possibility that this war had all been for the purposes of defending the emperor¡¯s tomb. After all, the Tianmo Desert isn¡¯t too far away from where Mount Colt is located.¡±

    The world would never know that somewhere out there, in a worldpletely invisible to them, that there are pairs of eyes always watching the actions of each person, recording everything that was done and not done in keen detail.

    ¡°And therein lies the crux of why Zhao Yun was tasked to guard Temujin¡¯s soul.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The Harken gave Qin Ye a nod of approbation, ¡°All Yin spirits can tap on their fullest potential so long as they return to their birthce. Thus, this had to be done, so that even if Temujin somehow managed to escape the two seals, he still wouldn¡¯t be able to leave Northriver Province, because Zhao Yun would immediately sense his movement. This¡­ was not a coincidence at all. Everything had been calcted to the tee. In fact, I wouldn¡¯t even put it past the Second King Yanluo to have erased Zhao Yun¡¯s name from Hell¡¯s Records when the old Hell copsed, so that he can continue to do his duty so long as Temujin¡¯s soul remained.¡±

    This had to be the case. Otherwise, how could Zhao Yun still be rxing in the mountains right now?

    In that instant, it suddenly struck him that everything happening around him appeared to be individual pearls strung together by the thread of cause and effect to form a perfect pearl ne. And in that regard, everything was slowlying together now.

    With that, he retracted his gaze and switched on his phone once more. The Harken leaned in curiously, ¡°What are you looking for? Short videos on Tiktok to while your time away?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for someone!¡± He barked back with an ashen expression, ¡°Don¡¯t you know how big the Yin Mountains are? How can you be certain where Brother Zhao is located?¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m just using a term of endearment. But that¡¯s not the point! The point here is that Brother Zhao might be in a pinch right now, and we¡¯re likely to see records of supernatural incidents where he¡¯s located! So long as we can locate the epicenter of all supernatural events in the Northriver Province, we¡¯ll likely be able to find clues of his whereabouts!¡±

    The Harken raised its brows quizzically, ¡°Are you looking to connect with the three strongest experts in the mortal realm again?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for someone I know and trust.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve spent thest hundred years or so tilling thend and cultivating the soil. How else do you think I wormed my way into the First Academy of Cultivators in the first ce?¡±

    <hr>

    1. Otherwise known as Zhangjiakou, it is a city located in west Hebei (Northriver Province).

 Chapter 696: Yan Capital

    <h4>Chapter 696: Yan Capital</h4>

    Yan Capital, Red Star Neighbourhood.

    It was a gatedmunity that was home to the family members of many important leaders of the nation. Furthermore, those who qualified for homes in this gatedmunity had to at least be the third-inmand of an entire province. This was vastly different from the leaders of any city, town or vige, who, whilst important, didn¡¯t hold true power and clout in their hands.

    The gatedmunity was a development that sported many blocks of low-rise developments that sat onrge pieces ofnd. Thendscaping was incredibly well done, and the entiremunity looked almost like a garden in the middle of the city. One would even be greeted by the melodious chirp of birds each morning.

    It was currently 7.00 p.m. He had no other meetings to attend to in the evening, and he was thus home early from his workmitments. His wife, Zhu Lanyu had already prepared stewed chicken for the family¡¯s dinner, and she promptly called everyone to the dining table for their dinner.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Mi Changqiu enjoyed the asional nagging borne out of concern. At 67 years of age, he felt incredibly blessed to be surrounded by his family, and he smiled radiantly and kindly. That said, anyone who knew how this old man was at work would know that he wasn¡¯t someone to be messed with. At the very least, they would appreciate that Mi Changqiu was a man of incisive perception and decisiveness.

    Mi Changqiu frowned deeply. He had just picked up his chopsticks. As a high ranking government official, he had made it a point to set an unwritten rule that nobody was to call anyone else during mealtimes. After all, everyone was already busy enough during the day, and nobody wanted to be thinking about national affairs even during their mealtimes with their loved ones.

    And as soon as he did, a young voice spoke from the other end of the call, ¡°Mr Mi, it¡¯s been 30 years, hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    The entire table turned and stared at Mi Changqiu in surprise. The old man who was usually bubbly and jovial was actually quivering at the lips and holding his phone incredibly tightly.

    Mi Gaozhu shook his head. It was just then that Mi Changqiu finally sighed softly, ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were still alive¡­ After losing contact with you all this while, I¡¯d thought that--...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯reing to Yan Capital? Good. I¡¯ll have someone pick you up right away. It¡¯s not too convenient for me to leave my post right now.¡±

    Then, there was a protracted period of silence during which it was obvious the voice on the other end of the line was speaking. Mi Changqiu¡¯s face flushed with joy, ¡°Good. I¡¯ll immediately send someone down¡­ Tomorrow? That¡¯s fine. It¡¯s a littlete to be making arrangements tonight anyway. Alright, I¡¯ll take leave of absence from work tomorrow morning and await your arrival at home. Rest assured, nobody else will be here apart from my family. My son and daughter are around as well. You¡¯ve seen them before¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Mi Changqiu gazed nkly at the ceiling, obviously overwhelmed by emotions, ¡°It¡¯s him¡­ Thanks to him back then--...¡±

    Mi Gaozhu desperately searched through his memories of the past, and then finally gasped in shock, ¡°Uncle Qin?¡±

    Mi Gaozhu: ???

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ He¡¯s looking for our help?¡± Mi Lan raised a brow in doubt. She knew how important her father was. Back then, when he first took on his ministerial role, numerous people who purported to be their rtives, including long-lost ones, suddenly started getting in touch with him, looking for help. This was also something that families of influence like theirs were the most afraid of.

    Mi Lan shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve got a vague impression of him. He doesn¡¯t seem like a bad person, and we do owe him a favor. If this is really something that we can help with, I¡¯d be happy to look further into it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± Mi Changqiu smiled, ¡°He¡¯s not the same kind of person as us¡­¡±

    Finally, he turned to address everyone once more, ¡°I¡¯d like everyone to take leave of absence from your work tomorrow. Stay home, and don¡¯t go anywhere else. Also, you¡¯re strictly forbidden from disclosing any of your interactions with Mr Qin, including the fact that you¡¯d even met him!¡±

    The next day, 9.30 a.m. A ck Audi was parked right outside the hotel where Qin Ye was staying. The police officer in charge of fetching Qin Ye gave him a curious look.

    What is this? Battle Through the Heavens?

    ¡°Mr Qin, Mr Mi is upstairs. I trust there¡¯s no need for me to apany you to the door.¡± As the police officer took his leave and drove the car away, Qin Ye turned his attention to the luxurious apartment in front of him and sighed softly, ¡°You reap what you sow. Had I not been so diligent in sowing these seeds back then, would I be reaping the benefits of my hard work now?¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡°... What I¡¯m trying to say here is that had I not crossed paths with these people in the past, my life would have been even worse than it is right now. Do you know what kind of terrible invention the identification card is?! It¡¯s a good thing I¡¯d sowed all those seeds back then¡­¡±

    Qin Ye: ¦²(¡Ñ¨Œ¡Ñ!!! (TL: This was literally what the author wrote)

    Even the Harken couldn¡¯t help but feel the corners of his lips twitching, ¡°Last night, our neighbours were ying this all night at themunity square for their line-dancing¡­ They really didn¡¯t hold back. This song is toxic!¡±

    The door opened at once. Mi Changqiu and every bit of his bodyline of prosperity stood at the door, staring at Qin Ye withplex emotions undergirding the gaze in his eyes. Several momentster, he pulled Qin Ye into a fierce embrace.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee. It was all in a day¡¯s work. Besides, it¡¯s been so long.¡± Qin Ye smiled faintly, and then looked around the apartment, ¡°Looks like you guys have been doing well for yourselves.¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and waved his hands.

    WTF?!

    The hazy recollection of Qin Ye in their minds had suddenly cleared up, and it matched exactly the appearances of the teenager in front of their eyes right now. But¡­

    What the hell is going on here?!

    Qin Ye nodded slightly, ¡°You might not believe it, but I--...¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    What a waste of my expression!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you guys back then because I was afraid that you would shun him.¡± Mi Changqiu sighed, ¡°The truth is that your Uncle Qin has already lived for over a hundred years. He doesn¡¯t grow old, nor would he die.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t know whether to believe you or not¡­¡± Mi Lan sighed softly and slumped back into the sofa, ¡°It¡¯s almost as though my worldview built upon decades of exposure to science has beenpletely shattered in this instant. No wonder¡­ No wonder¡­¡±

    ¡°You can just call me by my name.¡± Qin Ye sat down together with the rest of the Mi family and smiled genially, ¡°Names are but names. I don¡¯t really mind it too much. By the way, let me make a slight correction of the introduction that has been made. I¡¯m not from the mortal realm.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°That¡¯s just a city god. I¡¯m an official Emissary of Hell. It¡¯s been more than a hundred years since I¡¯ve taken office, and the senior management of the Special Investigations Department should have some of my particrs in their records. Furthermore, I can personally confirm that the three strongest experts here in Cathay all know of my existence.¡±

    Just then, the dog in Qin Ye¡¯s hands sneezed softly, and it rolled its eyes.

    You sure know how to exaggerate!

    1. This is a reference to a song called Little Apple, a single by Chopstick Brothers.

 Chapter 697: Future Expectations

    <h4>Chapter 697: Future Expectations</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯vee this time bearing a potentially massive political achievement for you. But naturally, I¡¯ll need some help in exchange.¡± Qin Ye hated beating about the bush, and he got straight to the point, ¡°Everything that I¡¯ve told you over the phone yesterday is absolutely true. Genghis Khan¡¯s Tomb is located here in Northriver. I¡¯ve just been there because of some private business. I¡¯ll let you in on the detailster on. Apart from that¡­¡±

    Mi Changqiu frowned slightly, ¡°But this pertains to the jurisdiction of the Special Investigations Department. Why didn¡¯t you approach them directly? Aren¡¯t you on rather good terms with them?¡±

    He turned to Mi Gaozhu and Mi Lan, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult for the both of you.¡±

    It was clear that she was rather interested in the abilities of Emissaries of Hell.

    Mi Lan and Mi Gaozhu nodded softly. Although they weren¡¯t experts in the field, they would still have dealt with the Special Investigations Department on several asions. After all, as part of the armed forces, they had coborated with the Special Investigations Department on several asions, especially whenrge paranormal activities were involved. Both agenciesplemented the other''s existence. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t difficult for each to gain ess to the other¡¯s archives and databases.

    Mi Gaozhu shook his head, ¡°Not one bit. Leave it to me. I¡¯m part of the armed police force, and we maintain an archive of the supernatural incidents in my office as well. Naturally, these are duplicates, but it should suffice for your purposes.¡±

    ¡°Great, then we¡¯re all set.¡± Mi Changqiu stood up, ¡°Mr Qin, I¡¯ve taken the liberty to book us a table at He Chang Gardens. There¡¯s much to talk about!¡±

    5 star hotel¡­ Seems like Mi Changqiu is really doing well now. Qin Ye was almost unable to rte to Mi Changqiu¡¯s down-and-out appearance back then.

    Be kind to all, and perhaps¡­ we¡¯ll have our just rewards one day¡­

    The Harkeny by the window and quipped, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Thinking about life?¡±

    This height¡­ and our rtive location¡­ almost makes me feel likemitting a crime¡­

    Then, he coughed lightly and exined his thoughts, ¡°I was just thinking where we should go next.¡±

    The Harken listened for a moment, and then chimed back, ¡°You¡¯ll have everything as soon as you unify the underworld.¡±

    ¡°In reality, the unification of the underworld is only second on the list of agendas.¡±

    ¡°Once that is done, they will start developing the cities. Naturally, we¡¯ll need resources. To this end, we¡¯ve secured two sources of that, one of which wille from the Russian Underworld, and the other woulde from the mortal realm. If we¡¯re to convince the mortal realm to send resources, the precondition is that we¡¯ll have to be able to show that Hell has sufficient strength to pacify the Yin spirits that have been running rampant throughout their cities.¡±

    ¡°Right now, Cathay has a poption size of 1.5 billion, and a corresponding military size of over 2.3 million. Securing a million troops of a poption size of 20 million citizens of Hell is definitely going to be a tall task. After all, everyone knows that death is part and parcel of war, and the risks are especially high given that we don¡¯t even know what other dangers might lurk in the fog of war. This is why military remuneration has traditionally been high. Besides, the army that we¡¯ll have to raise are all seeds that have only experienced the great battle of Qufu, or those who have experienced the great conflict of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Who¡¯s to say what will be of them in a hundred years¡¯ time?¡±

    The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. Finally, he sighed, ¡°But first things first, let¡¯s inaugurate our sea trade route before looking to anything else. Our internal market isn¡¯t able to sustain itself, and we¡¯ve got no choice but to rely on external sources. Then, with each city that we reim, we¡¯ll immediately see an influx of Yin spirits to the corresponding city, just like how we did for the earlier cities that have been taken. Naturally, we¡¯ll need to also garrison troops there in order to keep the peace and quell any potential riots. Thus, we¡¯ll need far more troops than we have right now¡­¡±

    ¡°Besides, the more cities you take down, the more Yin spirits there will be, and we¡¯ll naturally also start to see more and more talents pouring into Hell. With their addition to the team, our government will be stronger and more efficient than ever. After all, the government here in the new Hell is admittedly still weaker than any other major ministries back in the mortal realm.¡±

    The founding of underworlds used to be far moreid back and rxed in the past.

    Time was of the essence.

    ¡°What are we supposed to do?¡±

    ¡°But have you thought about it before?¡± Qin Ye ran his finger gently across the windowsill, ¡°The longer we remain silent, the more they will keep eating away at our flesh like voracious maggots. Protracted silence will be seen as a tacit agreement - a tacit agreement to our neighbours building forts at our borders; a tacit agreement to other underworlds iming our vassal states as their own. Then, when Hell finally opens its borders, the first sight that would greet us would be the horrific sight of foreign gs flying all over territories which we used to call ours in the past. And trust me when I say that none of them would be willing to enter discussions with Hell when Hell finally seeks to reach out to them in future.¡±

    The Harken paced about on the narrow windowsill, ¡°So, what are you thinking of?¡±

    The Harken quipped back, ¡°And what might be considered important?¡±

    The Harken pondered, ¡°But wouldn¡¯t it be practically impossible to sustain something like this for the next hundred years or so? No military exercises or parades? No joint peacekeeping missions or deployment of troops? You¡¯ve got to realize that as soon as the gods of death of the New World understand that their underworlds are bound to copse, they¡¯d resort to anything to keep their legacy alive.¡±

    The Harken gasped, ¡°I¡¯m afraid we might be biting off more than we can chew! First of all, you¡¯ll have to develop the pedagogy for educating the younger generation of Yin spirits on the concept of Yin Talismanology. Then, you¡¯ll have to unify the nation, because that¡¯s the only way to discover what mineral deposits are avable to you, and possibly enter into discussions to acquire the resources you might need¡­¡±

    He straightened up, closed the window and turned back towards the bed, ¡°But it¡¯s still too early for all these things right now. For now, let¡¯s focus our attention on rendering assistance to Brother Zhao. With his help, not even the Daolord of the Beast, Dong Zhuo, will be able to stand in the way of our unification efforts.¡±

    But just as he was on the verge of falling asleep, he suddenly opened his eyes abruptly and furrowed his brows.

    s, he didn¡¯t notice a particr dog that had inadvertently been shut out on the other side of the narrow windowsill, staring daggers at him - HELP! I¡¯M GOING TO DIE!!!

 Chapter 698: Yin Mountains Archives

    <h4>Chapter 698: Yin Mountains Archives</h4>

    His unit was more formally known as the People¡¯s Armed Police Force, Internal Security Division. This unit had a wide ambit of authority, and it was responsible for a variety of tasks, including apprehending suspects and targets, undertaking urban armed patrol tasks, safeguarding key instations, dealing with emergencies, maintaining national security and social stability, supporting national economic development, executing search and rescue tasks, and even engaging in disaster missions.

    Mi Gaozhu was already 40 years old. As the Deputy Chief of the Internal Security Division, he bore the rank of a colonel. Dressed in his formal military uniform, he personally escorted Qin Ye to the car.

    The front of the barracks bore the national insignia of Cathay. Its interior was spacious, with the g flying high in the center of the courtyard, and with trees lining both sides of it. From time to time, one could hear vibrant chants of soldiers, followed by the rhythmic sounds of orderly marching and running. asionally, one could see a car bearing a military licence te driving along the roads.

    ¡°My office is located on the 4th floor, at Room 412. There¡¯s a sign there indicating that it¡¯s the office of the Deputy Chief. It¡¯s quite easily recognizable.¡± After walking for about ten minutes, Mi Gaozhu pointed towards a modern-looking building and smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve taken the day off to take you about your business. The archives of the Special Investigations Department are connected directly to ours, and we can ess everything save for the files requiring the highest level of clearance. After all, we¡¯re oftentimes the first ones on site in the event of any supernatural incident.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That usually pertains torge-scale supernatural events such as incidents that were witnessed by an entire city or county. These would include the ones for which the government had no choice but toe up with special reasons such as special weapons testing or factory explosions to exin the anomaly. There are also events considered to be so horrific or bizarre that the Special Investigations Department has basically determined that it¡¯s not in our interest to know any more about these things. Either way, we¡¯re not able to ess the files requiring the highest level of clearance.¡±

    Even though Qin Ye was a benefactor to his own family, it still remained a part of his duty to the nation to at least be around while Qin Ye was searching through the records.

    It was a green-coloured site.

    It wasn¡¯t fanciful by any means. It bore the background of the national insignia, and a thumbnail of the soldiers of the navy, army and air force saluting the national gy on both the left and the right sides of the screen. The contents of the screen were set out against a white backdrop, and the functions of each link were easy enough to understand.

    ¡°Insufficient browsing privilege.¡±

    That doesn¡¯t make any sense! I didn¡¯t even attempt to ess the archives requiring the highest security clearance¡­

    Whoosh¡­ At once, a map of Cathay appeared right on the screen.

    ¡°Since when did our army be so tech-integrated?¡± Qin Ye sighed in exmation. Then, he brought the cursor directly over Northriver Province.

    Then, he clicked on it.

    ¡°Ten years ago, our nation was afflicted with a tide of supernatural incidents. Within the first month of this incident, the nation managed to establish a well-reputed line of defense at the northern part of Northriver Province, between Shimen and Skyford City. This great line of defense was the culmination of the joint efforts between Yan Capital and Skyford City.¡±

    ¡°Ourrades are all doing their best to resist the ever-growing tide ofherworldly forces. If you¡¯re willing to join this cause, please scan the QR code and download the app, and we will verify your particrs and get in touch with you. Be prepared to open your eyes to a whole new world out there.¡±

    A minuteter, the clip vanished, revealing a map of Northriver Province. Qin Ye immediately clicked on the map of Kalgan City.

    Whoosh¡­ The screen instantly zoomed in onto Kalgan City, and the background immediately transformed into a thumbnail of Kalgan City, together with dozens of small video thumbnails below with lines of words above them.

    There were very few videos.

    He continued scrolling through the various thumbnails, reading the description of each incident. There were practically no casualties, and the incidents were generally so mild that any incident resulting in injuries would already be considered serious news. Next to the rest of the nation, the people of Northriver Province could practically be described to have led an insr life, just like the flowers living in the greenhouse. There were no more than 200 reported supernatural incidents!

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be the case¡­¡± He frowned and clicked on Chonggu County where the Yin Mountains were located. But no matter how much he searched, there were only eight reported incidents in that county, and they were all hardly wide-reaching in nature.

    He wasn¡¯t able to bring the Harken along into this building today. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to ask the Harken for further rification right now.

    Or could it be that¡­ the files pertaining to this ce require clearance of the highest level? I can¡¯t ess those files even with the ess privileges granted to Colonel Mi? His eyes flickered wildly, but he immediately rejected that possibility - No. That¡¯s impossible. Looking at the records here, I can see that there are still more than 100,000 citizens living here in the county. Ifrge-scale supernatural incidents had been detected here in this ce, then they would already have evacuated the citizens a long time ago. Besides,rge-scale supernatural incidents are generally defined as incidents that can even affect arge district. How can things be contained in a mere county like this?

    But unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art had been left right there in the chamber, and Temujin¡¯s soul was also missing at the same time. Likewise, Ghost King Zhao had vanished for some time and failed to return to his post. It was for this reason that both the Harken and Qin Ye hade to the unanimous conclusion that something must have happened to him.

    He tapped the mouse softly, and then looked back up at Mi Gaozhu, ¡°Are you able to connect to the inte from here? And by that, I mean the forums essible by the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    At once, he was directed to the home page of the Special Investigations Department, the Auspicious Omens website.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye was hardly in the mood for reminiscing in the past. He immediately looked into the search results, only to realize that¡­ there was not a single piece of relevant news!

    ¡°The archives reveal that there are supernatural incidents sighted in the Yin Mountains. There should be at least some news of these sightings here on the Auspicious Omens website. Given what I understand of the practice of the mortal realm, as soon as they receive reports of a supernatural incident, they would usually monitor them closely, and only close the file after a few years, particrly since most supernatural incidents have potentially far-reaching consequences. At the same time, the lesser supernatural incidents would be ideal for training the young sprouts in the Special Investigations Department.¡±

    ¡°So long as people head down to investigate these ces, I¡¯m sure it would be reported on the Auspicious Omens website. Unfortunately, the records arepletely clean, almost as though they had been artificially erased. It¡¯s unbelievable!¡±

    ¡°Do I¡­ really have to meet with the leaders of the Special Investigations Department again?¡±

 Chapter 699: Hidden Truths

    <h4>Chapter 699: Hidden Truths</h4>

    There was no need for him to meet with the Special Investigations Department right now. Would it be good for him to be seen repeatedly asking the mortal realm for assistance?

    Would they not wonder why they should be sponsoring and supporting Hell¡¯s endeavours?

    No. There was no possible justification there.

    At once he got a new set of search results, albeit far fewer than pages created by the general public. But this stood to reason. After all, there were far fewer cultivators than there were regr human beings. All in all, there were only approximately a dozen pages of results.

    ¡°Excellent. There¡¯s no need to register before looking into these forums¡­¡± He immediately entered the website and began trawling through its contents, ¡°After all, they need money for maintaining forums like these, and in order to do that, they¡¯ll have no choice but to let other cultivation-rtedpanies see and understand what exactly they do. Furthermore, it would make sense to omit the registration requirements, since it¡¯s rather foreseeable that the ones using these forums might also be operating from within the military or police force, or even the Special Investigations Department. This makes it more convenient for me as well¡­¡±

    He immediately typed in the keywords ¡°Yin Mountains¡± and clicked on the search button with bated breaths.

    Found it!

    And the title of the post was none other than Yin Mountains.

    He immediately looked into the thread.

    Just as I¡¯d thought¡­ Qin Ye chuckled victoriously as he read the post - Forums are truly the best ce to look into¡­

    In other words, even if someone was out to censor all records pertaining to the Yin Mountains, they wouldn¡¯t have trawled through all of the forums as well. And sure enough, Qin Ye¡¯s guess had been right on the mark.

    ¡°The Yin Mountains are very scenic. Soon, we found a ce to set up camp and retire for the night. Well, the truth of the matter is that we didn¡¯t actually set up a physical camp, since our cultivation levels already enable us to go a whole night without sleep. What I meant was that we¡¯d found a cave to meditate for the night.¡±

    The sheer number of exmation marks already revealed how shocking it was for the rookie cultivator. Qin Ye read on.

    ¡°It was the clear sound of knocking! And I could¡¯ve sworn that it wasing straight from the mountainside! But¡­ ording to the maps and our records, nobody stays in those ces! There¡¯s no sign of human beings living in those parts at all!¡±

    ¡°The sound was very strange. I could¡¯ve sworn that it sounded exactly like someone knocking on a stone sculpture or something. It was obviously taking ce a great distance of at least a kilometer away, and yet¡­ I could hear it as though it was happening right next to me! In fact¡­ it sounded as though it was taking ce right behind me!!¡±

    Qin Ye stopped scrolling for a moment.

    A hunch that told him that these knocking sounds¡­ might not in fact be knocking sounds or the beats of drums.

    It was the Yin energy attempting to consume itself through wear and tear, so as to fit the rest of the Yin energy in that limited space. This wasn¡¯t the absence of Yin energy. Rather, it was that the entire area had been so filled with Yin energy that it had practically engulfed everything, causing everyone to feel as though the presence of Yin energy was the natural appearance of things!

    It was a different line of text, evidently written on the next day. He could already imagine the martial brothers huddling up close to each other, listening to the eerie knocking sounds drumming fear deep into their hearts, and they couldn¡¯t help but redirect their focus to their phones to distract themselves from the tense situation around them.

    ¡°It was a long, dreary night. Thus, by the time the sun rose on the second day, we both felt a little bit worse for wear. But just as we were leaving the cave, we noticed that¡­ our surroundings werepletely consumed by a dense fog.¡±

    ¡°So, I didn¡¯t turn around, but¡­ I heard it! I really did! There was someone right behind us, and to our side! Someone was talking!¡±

    ¡°And that was when we knew that we¡¯d entered the location of a supernatural incident. We were dead sure of that! I¡¯m typing these things as we¡¯re both walking ahead. I don¡¯t even know if we¡¯lle out of this alive. A supernatural incident taking ce over such arge area can only be caused by Hunter-ss Yin spirits!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an ancient vige, and the ground is covered with wild grass, but¡­ there are people around! There are actually people around!¡±

    ¡°No¡­ there¡¯s more¡­ there¡¯s¡­¡±

    Instead, it was reced with a single line of words - ¡°These contents have been deleted because they vite the terms of use of this website.¡±

    It was a formal and official message. However, it was clearly targeted at the writer of the post. Furthermore, Heaven has Eyes¡¯s handle has two eyes located behind it - an indicator that he was a moderator of these forums.

    Qin Ye raised his brows quizzically. The thirdment was still left by the same person - ¡°Fellow cultivator?¡±

    And there was no sixthment.

    Firstment: 4 May 2016.

    Thirdment: 23 May 2016.

    Lastment: 2 July 2016.

    ¡°So, what happened here? Is the author of this post¡­ dead?¡± He nced at the author¡¯s handle.

    There were a few lines of small text in ck-and-gold lettering under the author¡¯s handle.

    Good stuff¡­ He sighed soft and returned to the website of the Special Investigations Department.

    ¡°C-532896¡­¡± He typed in the characters of the cultivator¡¯s ID, and then¡­

    Sigh¡­ His grip around the mouse tightened for a moment. This could only mean one thing.

    Or, at the very least, his whereabouts are unknown. This would be the only exnation for the revocation of his identification number for the use of the next cultivator in his ce.

    He scrolled down to it.

    Furthermore, there were other words set out right next to the suspension date: ¡°Suspected dead.¡±

    No¡­ That¡¯s probably not the case. If Brother Zhao was there, they would¡¯ve dispatched the entire Special Investigations Department, and even the army and armed police! I¡¯m more inclined to think that nobody returned from the earlier investigations. Thus, the Special Investigations Department must have sent more investigators, and possibly stronger investigators as well. After all, a supernatural incident that results in five missing people is already considered big news to the Northriver Province.

    Qin Ye stood up and gently ran his finger across the desk - Unlikely. Thus, this site would turn out to be no different from a bottomless pit, swallowing up every investigator that was dispatched for investigations. To make matters worse, not even the Special Investigations Department knows whether these people are still alive or not. All they know is that this ce is dangerous and bizarre, but they¡¯re unable to ascribe it a danger rating altogether because of the sheer amount of uncertainty involved. Is that why¡­ it wasn¡¯t marked on the map at all? Or perhaps it is, save that it¡¯s now ssified on the most extreme end of the scale?¡±

    If my guess is right, this ce must bepletely overrun by investigators of the Special Investigations Department right now, and protected by the armed forces of the nation! Brother Zhao, you¡¯ve truly raised the stakes this time, haven¡¯t you?

 Chapter 700: Onward

    <h4>Chapter 700: Onward</h4>

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m done with the search through the archives. Thanks.¡± Then, without bothering to conceal his identity before Mi Gaozhu, Qin Ye transformed into a stream ofhergale and promptly vanished from Mi Gaozhu¡¯s office.

    ¡°As we suspected, there¡¯s truly something strange about the Yin Mountains. Unfortunately, not even the Special Investigations Department was able to assess what¡¯s wrong with it. My guess is that they¡¯ve rated it to be of maximum danger for this very reason.¡± Qin Ye poured himself a cup of coffee and sank into the sofa, ¡°They must suspect the presence of a powerful ghost, but they can¡¯t wrap their minds around why the ghost has remained there in the Yin Mountains all this while, devouring all trespassers without any signs of expanding its reach. In other words, they perceive the Yin spirit to be acting passively in defence, rather than actively seeking out flesh and blood. This ispletely uncharacteristic of a Yin spirit.¡±

    It jerked its head up, ¡°Promotion!¡±

    ¡°... Can you not address him so intimately? You make it seem almost as though you¡¯ve known him all along¡­¡± The Harken sighed softly, wondering what to make of the next King Yanluo of Hell.

    It sighed, ¡°Therefore, there are those who posit that there¡¯s still room for improvement beyond the realms of Yama-King, and it simply remains unknown to us right now. What you see right now is no different from the symptoms of one searching for a promotion, or a breakthrough. As for what exactly it entails¡­ We¡¯ll have to personally look into it.¡±

    Their trip to the Yin Mountains would easily take them another half a month or more, and there were still things to be done to close up this episode with the Russian Underworld. Naturally, he had to ry his instructions to Hell and issue his orders in the meantime.

    ¡°Bring this to Hell.¡± Qin Ye handed him a letter, ¡°In addition, tell them that I¡¯ll only return after another month and a half.¡±

    Yet he maintained a posture of respect because Qin Ye had not issued him the orders to take his leave just yet. He knew the rules very well, and he also knew the punishment for breaking these rules. Furthermore, he knew more than anything that he had to tread carefully since this was the new Hell that he was now dealing with.

    Du Wang paused for a moment, and then he gasped deeply and raised his head, ¡°There is!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already reported the details to Ashmound City, but I haven¡¯t heard anything to date. My Lord¡­¡± His body trembled as though in fear, ¡°That ce¡­ devours everything! Let¡¯s not even talk about ordinary human beings or experts for that matter. To date, five Walkers have beenpletely consumed by the Yin Mountains! We¡¯ve only got approximately 15 Walkers here in the Northriver Province! I¡­ don¡¯t even dare to draw close to those regions myself!¡±

    His wrinkles quivered slightly, and he revealed a look of intense fear in his eyes, ¡°That¡¯s no Hellguard. It¡¯s not even an Infernal Judge. Whatys within¡­ is probably the most terrifying monster that the mortal realm has seen to date¡­¡±

    Lord of the Land: ¡­¡­

    That¡¯s more like it¡­ Qin Ye sat back down onto the sofa, and then turned to the Harken with a whisper, ¡°Walker?¡±

    ¡°Regardless of county or city, there would be Walkers in every part of the mortal realm once Hell regains its former glory. In exchange, they¡¯ll live their lives free of any illness or idents. Separately¡­ how dare you call Zhao Zilong your brother again?!¡±

    What? Did you also fall in love with Zhao Zilong just like a certain other silicon doll?

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    He was an optimistic young man that ran a joss stick store. He also got along well with the other merchants in the neighbourhood. He barely got by with his business, but he didn¡¯t mind it too much. At the very least, he would never take it upon himself to actively solicit for business.

    His shop was well-lit and filled with paper effigies, wreaths and other adornments used for coffins. The contents of his shop made the modest room feel somewhat stifling and depressing. Although he wasn¡¯t afraid of these things, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he wouldn¡¯t remain here more than he had to. Thus, he opened the back door and headed back to his own room.

    The design of his room waspletely different from the shop space outside. It took on a minimalist style, and things were in and simple with few pieces of furniture and decors. That said, there was a candle-lit shrine located right at the center of his room, dedicated entirely to the Lord of the Land. More bizarrely, the candle me on this shrine waspletely still and stable, and they didn¡¯t even flicker in the slightest when he opened the door earlier.

    ¡°Esteemed Lord of the Land, thank you for the blessings of your kindness and mercy to me.¡± He knelt on the mat reverently, lit up a stick of incense, and began to chant some mantras inaudibly.

    ¡°Walker A7.¡± The Lord of the Land spoke with a grave voice, ¡°I have a task to entrust to your hands.¡±

    It had been three years since he was first appointed a Walker on earth, and yet he¡¯d never received a single task because the Yin spirits in Northriver Province were simply far toocking. Naturally, this was the first time he¡¯d heard the Lord of the Land address him so sternly.

    The Lord of the Land paused for a moment, and then continued, ¡°An Emissary of Hell has arrived at Yan Capital, and will be travelling into the Yin Mountains tomorrow. Are you aware that the Yin Mountains are considered a forbidden zone of Kalgan City? I¡¯ve personally instructed all Walkers not to even nce at it on the night of the full moon, for fear that your souls will depart from your bodies.¡±

    ¡°But now, I hope that you can act as this lordship¡¯s guide. If you can gain his favour, then you can be sure that once you die¡­ even if you¡¯re not blessed with wealth and riches, you¡¯ll at least be guaranteed a smooth-sailing afterlife.¡±

    It was human to have ambition. Having once crept ever so close to the precipice of life and death, the draw of mortal careers naturally faded from the forefront of his mind. However, he still knew an opportunity when he saw one.

    Silence. Three secondster, the Lord of the Land responded, ¡°I can¡¯t say.¡±

    With that, the lights in the room came on again, and the candles¡¯ mes grew still once more. Cheng Jianfeng immediately noticed the words written on the ground with incense ash.

    Cheng Jianfeng recorded the information and immediately booked a cab. Early the next morning, he arrived right at the doorstep of the Summer Tide Hotel on the second day.

    A great Emissary of Hell?

    A multitude of thoughts ran through his mind with every moment that passed. He would even look up from time to time, anxiously, wondering if the lordship of Hell had arrived before him. Then, after an inordinate amount of time, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

    It was Yin energy that only Walkers like himself was able to detect. Furthermore, he could tell that the source of Yin energy was only growing stronger and more terrifying by the minute! At once, he felt as though he was thrown down into the depths of a bottomless abyss filled with evil ghosts. Not even the countless pedestrians walking about him could dispel the intense chill in his heart. He felt as helpless as a little boat swaying about in the roaring waves of the boundless oceans, ready to capsize at the moment¡¯s notice.

    Thud¡­ He scrambled to get up, but his legs immediately gave way and he fell straight to the ground. He gasped in fear, wiping off the cold sweat beading up on his forehead.

    Tap, tap¡­ Just then, a pair of sneakers appeared in his field of vision, followed by a sprightly young voice, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Have you Walkers not seen an Emissary of Hell before?¡±

    In that instant, he felt as though he¡¯d discovered the meaning of his existence.

    It wasn¡¯t the Lord of the Land.

    At once, his heart was filled with worship.

 Chapter 701: Mountain of Ghosts (1)

    <h4>Chapter 701: Mountain of Ghosts (1)</h4>

    All of his previous thoughts of what to expect had gonepletely out the window as soon as he saw Qin Ye. The terrifying Yin energy almost akin to the ominous clouds in the sky caused his heart to palpitate wildly. In that moment, he immediately realized that Walkers and Emissaries of Hell were existences that were practically worlds apart.

    Qin Ye continued, ¡°I¡¯m also just a civil servant of Hell. You can think of Hell as a form of government, and not a gathering of evil ghosts and spirits. Your consternation arises from the simple fact that you haven¡¯t been exposed to many Emissaries of Hell. Once you get used to us, you¡¯lle to realize that we¡¯re just as normal as it gets.¡±

    Tsk¡­ The entire journey from Yan Capital to Chonggu County of Kalgan City spans 240 kilometers from end to end. That¡¯s several hours of driving. We can¡¯t be having such a tense atmosphere between us all this while. My interaction with the living shouldn¡¯t be as serious and tense as the parademander¡¯s inspection of a parade¡­

    ¡°No¡­¡± Cheng Jianfeng gulped nervously and exined, ¡°I¡¯m from a neighbourhood located right next to that¡­¡±

    Chen Jianfeng slowly eased up as he began to look back into his memories of the past, ¡°My parents died early, and I was subsequently diagnosed with leukemia. There was no way to be cured, and I was just wandering around aimlessly, waiting for death toe knocking on my door. During a spontaneous journey to the Yan Capital, I paid my respects to an idol of the Lord of a Land. Then, when I finally returned home, the Lord of the Land actually came knocking on my door, offering me the opportunity to be a Walker!¡±

    ¡°There is.¡± Cheng Jianfeng responded, ¡°Over thest few years, they¡¯ve begun to erect high-voltage fences around certain parts of the Yin Mountains. Furthermore, we¡¯ve been seeing a rise in the number of residents in the neighbourhood nearby. I can sense that those who havee in recent times are mostly people who possess some level of cultivation.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded softly. They had sessfully broken the ice, and the conversations flowed far more smoothly than before. After three hours, they finally arrived at the toll gate leading into Chonggu County.

    Yet there was a roadblock formed by an entire row of armed forces located right in front of the toll gates!

    Qin Ye paused at once. He¡¯d seen something like this before.

    The situation within the City of Salvation back then could hardly be considered badpared to some of the other parts of Cathay, and yet Qin Ye had eventually discovered the existence of one of the divine beasts of Hell within. To think that he would see the very same sight located right around Chonggu County¡­

    ¡°Something must have happened¡­¡± Qin Ye leaned back into his seat and stared straight ahead, ¡°It¡¯s not a trivial matter, and they¡¯ve not been able to find a solution for it. Drive on ahead, and head straight in. Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t be able to see me.¡±

    Qin Ye had just entered his Hell¡¯s Emissary state, and he shut his eyes softly. When he opened his eyes once more, his pupils had already inverted in colour. The first thing that he did was to turn his gaze right onto Chonggu County thaty behind the toll gates.

    Countless dark clouds were swirling madly about in the sky, forming a massive cave of jet-ck clouds. These were obviously ghastly clouds, but for some strange reason, they could also make out beams of golden light peeking through the clouds in a lofty and magnificent fashion.

    ¡°Ghost King Zhao is nearby.¡± The Harken licked his lips and swept its gaze across the surroundings, ¡°His Yin energy is vaciting between sanity and insanity. Yin energy is flowing out of his body in an almost-uninhibited fashion, but he¡¯s barely holding on. If we don¡¯t find him quickly and jolt him back to his senses, then I¡¯m afraid that¡­ we might see the emergence of the most terrifying Yin Spirit in the mortal realm yet!¡±

    Qin Ye stared at clouds churning along the canopy of the skies. Despite being so far away right now, he could still sense the intense struggle flowing through the Yin energy in the sky. It was clear that Zhao Yun was barely holding on. And as soon as he fails, then¡­ there is no doubt that the world would devolve into chaos.

    What could possibly make a Ghost King¡¯s soul go out of control?

    He didn¡¯t want to ask the mortal realm for any more favours than he had to. Furthermore, he would sooner ingratiate the mortal realm to Hell so as to gain himself more bargaining chips for the negotiations ahead of them. Naturally, he was most willing to resolve the more pressing issues faced by the mortal realm for them.

    No Yin energy might have been detected by the mortal realm, but it was clear that the Special Investigations Department had acted on sheer instincts right now, because they had pulled out all the stops for Chonggu County¡¯s defenses.

    The supernatural perimeter was operating in full force!

    They could tell at a nce that the iron cauldron dated back to the Spring and Autumn Period , and the carvings etched on the cauldron were ancient and majestic. Meanwhile, the swirling clouds would pulse with waves of soft golden glows from time to time, almost as though something was desperately trying to break through the dense clouds of the skies and emerge from the seemingly boundless purgatory of death. Unfortunately, it was feeble at best.

    In fact, the dark clouds in the sky appeared almost like an inverted bowl, covering the ground like the lord of a domain, and causing the Yin spirits of thend to wail and moan as they endlessly rose into the skies like wisps of Yin energy, before transforming into runic symbols that dazzled like the stars in the dark night skies.

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°Is Brother Zhao looking to die?¡±

    Qin Ye bit down onto his lips and gazed into the distance, ¡°You mentioned earlier that destruction will ur when this formation array ispleted? How long will it take to reachpletion?¡±

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief. And then, he turned to instruct Cheng Jianfeng to charge full speed ahead towards the Yin Mountains, regardless of the speed limit.

    ¡°He¡¯s speeding.¡± ¡°This is a local car. But doesn¡¯t this road¡­ lead directly to the restricted zone?¡± ¡°Should we intercept it? Is there a cultivator located nearby?¡± ¡°Should we inform the branch chief?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The Yin Mountainsy right beyond the iron gate.

    Yet, the car didn¡¯t show any signs of stopping.

    ¡°Warning, warning. This is a military restricted zone. Trespassers enter at their own risk.¡± ¡°Warning, warning¡­¡± As soon as the car entered the arbitrary line of 1,000 meters from the iron gate, the speakers red with rms at the same time, and the soldiers raised their rifles. Cheng Jianfeng felt his scalp go numb at the sight. He¡¯d never expected Hell to instruct him to do something as defiant as this!

    Vroom! Cheng Jianfeng floored the gas pedal, and the car hurtled straight through the 500 meter mark. Right then, the rms suddenly stopped.

    It was a stern warning. At once, the soldiers standing right in front of the iron gates cocked their rifles.

    1. That¡¯s 770-476 BC.

 Chapter 702: Mountain of Ghosts (2)

    <h4>Chapter 702: Mountain of Ghosts (2)</h4>

    He heard a soft rustle, just like the falling leaves in autumn.

    Then, a split secondter, they all spontaneouslybusted and vanished without the trace of even a me!

    But before he could go on, the car that was hurtling right towards them suddenly screeched to a halt. Then, the rear door opened with a bang.

    All eyes were staring transfixed on the door. However, not a single person appeared. Everyone, be it an ordinary soldier or an expert of the Special Investigations Department, felt their hair stand on end and their hearts thumping right out of their chests at that moment.

    To be more precise, he was staring at an identity token that had suddenly appeared in his hand.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse.¡± The man was jolted right back to his senses by an unknown voice, and he looked up immediately, only to realize that a young man was already seated on the hood of the car. The young man asked, ¡°Where is the branch chief of the Special Investigations Department of Northriver Province? I¡¯d like to meet with him.¡±

    A living Emissary of Hell?

    Besides¡­

    Gritting his teeth to suppress the fear in his heart, the major marched over and gave Qin Ye a deep salute, ¡°How do you prove your identity?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it is so.¡± At once, the crowd parted ways, allowing passage to a man dressed in a trench coat.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± The major sighed in relief, ¡°You¡¯re finally here¡­¡±

    Naturally, nobody could tell that this man was already clenching his fists tightly inside his trenchcoat. After all, he knew at a nce that the young man standing before him was¡­ an Abyssal Prefect.

    It was still Yin energy that flowed from his body, but it waspletely different from that which they saw around evil ghosts. Rather, this young man¡¯s Yin energy exuded a deep air of righteousness and virtue.

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°Since you¡¯re already aware of who I am, then I¡¯ll get straight to the point. Listen up, the mortal realm must be prepared to evacuate the entire county¡­ and quite possibly even the entire city at the moment¡¯s notice.¡±

    Yama-King?!

    He didn¡¯t suspect a single word that Qin Ye was saying right now. After all, as a senior member of the Special Investigations Department, he was kept well in the loop of some of the most well-kept secrets in the entire organization. Naturally, he would have seen the satellite imaging of Qin Ye, as well as read everything there was to know about Qin Ye in the docket. For this reason, he knew full well that Qin Ye had never done anything to harm the mortal realm, and he had no reason to doubt what Qin Ye was saying right now.

    ¡°This is a matter of great importance, and I¡¯ll immediately report it back to the upper echelons of the organization. But¡­ what about you?¡±

    The Harken?

    At once, he saw the illusory image of a divine beast leaping out towards him! This was an illusion that only appeared for a split second, yet the image of the divine beast immediately became firmly engraved into his mind.

    I can¡¯t even detect its Yin energy¡­ This must mean that its strength lies even beyond that of Mr Qin over here¡­

    Still reeling from shock, Li Changkong subconsciously gave way to him. Then, under the watchful gazes of everyone around, Qin Ye drifted forward like a divine being, vanishing straight though the solid iron gate that they were so fervently trying to protect.

    ¡°All experts stronger than a Netherworld Operative are to follow me right away.¡±

    Li Changkong paused, and then drew a deep breath, ¡°Yan Capital. Headquarters.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s feetnded on the ground as soon as he was on the other side of the door. Things werepletely different on the other side of the iron gate, almost as though it marked the boundary line between Heaven and Hell. The Yin Mountains he saw werepletely different from what he saw in the photographs.

    The ground was strewn all over with fallen leaves, and the trees around him were all withered and dead. Even the once-beautiful flowers and ever-resilient weed were all dried up and lifeless. An avenue of the dead opened up right ahead of him.

    It was on apletely different scale from what he was used to!

    He could¡¯ve sworn that he¡¯d just noticed a stallion lying on the ground. No. Rather, it was a man sleeping on his side with his head propped up on his hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± A paw struck Qin Ye squarely across the cheeks, jolting him right back to his senses. Qin Ye babbled back, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if my eyes are ying tricks on me¡­¡±

    ¡°Even though Ghost King Zhao has already tried desperately to keep things under control, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that he¡¯s one of the strongest Yama-Kings around, even among the Sixfold Ghost Kings! This means that this entire zone will turn into a nest of captive ghosts more and more quickly. And whilst this transformation is taking ce, thend is otherwise known as a pit of ghosts, because all ghosts will find themselves drawn to this ce and unable to extricate themselves of the allure of their master - just like a prison.¡±

    With that, the duo sprinted away from the entrance and towards the Yin Mountains. Neither of them took to the skies because it would be far too risky to do so.

    This was supposed to be one of the top-rated tourist attractions of Kalgan City, with roads stretching out in all directions. But as soon as they crossed the next hillock and entered the path leading to the Yin Mountains, Qin Ye immediately stopped dead in his tracks.

    Countless Yin spirits!

    Qin Ye looked up towards the peak of the Yin Mountains, where the Yin spirits appeared to be bowing down towards. The other paths that appeared to be converging on this location were likewise filled with Yin spirits that wereying prostrate on the ground as well! By his estimation, there were easily over 10,000 Yin spirits worshipping Ghost King Zhao right now!

    The Harken gnashed its teeth, ¡°The nest of captive ghosts will form in just three months'' time. These are naturally the Yin spirits that have gathered to pay their respects to Ghost King Zhao as the one true god. I¡¯m afraid that every Yin spirit of Kalgan City must be in this ce right now. That¡¯s right! Didn¡¯t you find it peculiar that we hardly noticed any Yin spirits around Kalgan City while we were there earlier? Back then, we¡¯d simply dismissed it, thinking that it was a result of theck of supernatural incidents in the region. Who would¡¯ve thought that the true reason is because they¡¯ve all gathered in this ce?¡±

    ¡°Kill!¡± The Harken licked its lips, and a bright gleam shed across the depths of its eyes, ¡°They¡¯re currently suppressed by the overbearing aura of Ghost King Zhao, and they won¡¯t be able to move. The direction of their worship is exactly where we¡¯ll find Ghost King Zhao!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be making a move.¡± It took a step back and gazed intently at Qin Ye, ¡°I¡¯ll only be able to unleash my true strength for 10 minutes at best, and every bit of energy I save will mean a little bit more energy that can be expended with Ghost King Zhao. I¡¯m seriously wounded, while he has lost his mind. I suppose we¡¯ll be able to fight it to a draw. But this means that I¡¯ll have to leave everyone else along the way to you.¡±

    He knew how to unleash its true powers.

    Furthermore, the physical form of his weapon no longer mattered. The true form of the weapon will always be dependent on its user¡¯s characteristics. And therein also lies the greatest difference between Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings, and other Yin spirits on the other hand. Simply put, the lesser Yin spirits would still have to rely on the physical form of the weapon, such as the location and direction of the cutting edge, whereas Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings are already so powerful that they could even hurt others with leaves.

    Thus, staring at the endless sea of Yin spirits before him, Qin Ye began to make a rapid series of hand seals. As time went on, the hand seals grew more and moreplex, and the Yin energy slowly began to surge and slosh about like a rushing river on the verge of breaking its banks. The clothes on his body fluttered about wildly. The Abyssal Prefect token in his hand slowly began to emit a low drone. And then, secondster¡­ a scarlet eye opened right in the heart of the token, almost as though Hell was now staring straight at the River Styx.

    ¡°Release!!¡± At once, he sped his palms together, and the Abyssal Prefect token exploded with a brilliant eruption of dark light that quickly devoured the surroundings like an expanding curtain of darkness. A split secondter, countless scarlet cracks appeared in darkness around.

 Chapter 703: Drum of a Mountain God (1)

    <h4>Chapter 703: Drum of a Mountain God (1)</h4>

    ¡°I¡¯ve not used my weapon ever since bing an Abyssal Prefect¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s silhouette slowly appeared from the shadows, revealing the fact that he was holding¡­ an umbre.

    Rustle¡­ The umbre opened silently, revealing the painting of a face that was half crying and halfughing. The spokes of the umbre were all made with human bones, and from them also hung several fist-sized human bones that acted as wind chimes, followed by trailing ck talismans that were drawn on with striking vermillion ink. It was a rather artistic sight. Qin Ye released his hand, and the umbre drifted soundlessly to the road covered with Yin spirits.

    Whoosh! Then, like a torrential downpour, countless sharp des poured out from beneath the umbre, pelting down mercilessly to the congregation of Yin spirits below. A cacophony of miserable screams ensued at once, followed by the eruption of dazzling lights formed by thehermes hurtling into the skies. Qin Ye and the Harken rushed forward through the now-cleared roads, crossing over a thousand meters at once!

    ¡°Do you feel that?¡± 10 minutester, after crossing yet another valley, Qin Ye¡¯s eyes shed wildly as he beckoned to the bone umbre, causing it to fly right back to his hands. He licked his lips, ¡°The Yin spirits are slowly getting stronger and stronger.¡±

    ¡°Operative-ss Yin spirit¡­¡± The Harken¡¯s pupils narrowed as it nced towards the depths of the mountain range ahead, ¡°Does this mean that the further we go, the stronger the Yin spirits making this pilgrimage? We¡¯d seen nothing more than mere wandering ghosts earlier, and yet¡­ we¡¯re already seeing evil ghosts?¡±

    He wore a foreign looking cap, replete with two rows of braided hair running down the back of his head and onto his chest. They wore simple clothes that were monotonous in colour, and a scimitar hung by his waist. A folkloric ne made from horse¡¯s bones and a turquoise pendant also hung right in front of his chest.

    Had it not been for Temujin¡¯s Tomb, the appearances of such an evil ghost would¡¯ve hardly meant a thing to them. But now¡­

    In fact, it would seem that every Yin spirit from this point forward were all evil ghosts of the Mongol Empire!

    Without further ado, Qin Ye rushed forward, ploughing straight through the Yin spirits along the road. His Yin energy roared in fury as they slowly but surely made their way to the very peak of the mountain range. As they went on, they encountered fewer Yin spirits along the way. However, they could all sense that their cultivation levels were slowly getting higher and higher.

    Qin Ye rushed forward and motioned to strike them with his bone umbre once more. But, just then, he paused, only to realize that the Harken had simultaneously also grabbed hold of his hand. Both man and dog took a tacit look at each other, and then proceeded to nce around at the surroundings.

    They were only halfway along towards the very peak. The Yin mountains looked just like arge horse from afar, with its peak located at the horse¡¯s head. They would only be at the horse¡¯s back, and they could see that the horse¡¯s head was just ahead of them. However¡­

    In other words, there didn¡¯t seem to be any other ways to get up to the peak!

    ¡°Are they worshipping their own king?¡± The bone umbre flew right back into his own hand. Qin Ye grabbed hold of it, and then slowly made his way towards the end of the road. The stone path had been around for countless times, and some of the pieces had already copsed into the ground.

    ¡°But why aren¡¯t they bowing down to the horse¡¯s head?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s pupils contracted as he walked up towards the three kneeling Judges, gently running the tip of his bone umbre along each of their spines. The three Judges trembled, and they begged with quivering voices, ¡°Cultivation isn¡¯t easy¡­ P-please¡­ spare us¡­¡±

    They were speaking in thenguage of the Mongols!

    Incidentally, Qin Ye had also seen this sculpture before.

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± He sighed in disbelief and turned to the Harken, ¡°They¡¯re bowing down to Tengri? Does this mean that Brother Zhao isn¡¯t here? Or is it that¡­¡±

    Silence.

    Qin Ye quickly marched up to the sculpture, confirming that it bore the exact same appearances as the Tengri he saw when the Mongol Empire¡¯s faith had copsed. That said, the only difference was that the sculpture appeared to be holding a lotus flower in his hand.

    But although it was withered, its petals were still neatly arranged around the heart of the lotus flower. Qin Ye reached out and touched them gently. At once, the petals immediately disintegrated, before transforming into wisps of ethereal green Yin energy that promptly dissipated into the surroundings.

    ¡°Ascension.¡± The Harken paced around the statue, ncing around with great seriousness at the surroundings, ¡°The lotus flower represents the cultivation of virtue, while a withered lotus flower represents divine impurity, or taintedness. This is a distress signal.¡±

    Qin Ye gulped nervously, ¡°You mean¡­¡±

    It gnashed its teeth and gazed into the depths of the mountain range, ¡°Then three monthster, karmic fire will ravage the city and destroy both him and his opponent.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped slightly as he gazed nkly at the horse¡¯s head peak.

    Genghis Khan¡¯s soul?

    After all, Genghis Khan hasn¡¯t even been to Hell, and he¡¯s not been conferred any title as an Emissary of Hell either. Naturally, Ghost King Zhao will be able to instakill any Yin spirit of the same level as him.

    Qin Ye skimmed through everything he knew of Cathayan history, but apart from those who had already gained ascension, nobody seemed usible!

    ¡°Hang on.¡± The Harken leapt up onto a boulder nearby and gazed into the distance once more, ¡°He¡¯s torn apart the fabric of space that connects the horse head¡¯s peak from the rest of the world. I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to locate him even if we head there right now. This is a formation array, one that only high-ranking Emissaries of Hell know how to enter. Let me take a closer look at how we can enter this domain he¡¯s created.¡±

    The Harken nced coldly at Qin Ye, ¡°Because something that can force a Ghost King into a corner like that can only mean that it¡¯s not an easy situation to break out of. He doesn¡¯t want any other hot-headed Emissary of Hell to rush headlong into the fray and end up adding to the chaos instead.¡±

    As the number of runic symbols increased, they also began to dazzle with ever greater brilliance, bing more and more life-like, until even golden butterflies were beginning to scatter from its paws. Then, finally, everything transformed into a pir of light formed from dazzling Yin talismans that revolved around them.

    At least, it looked like a map. The truth of the matter was that every bit of it had beenpletely formed from the runes of Yin Talismans. The Harken gently set its ws onto this map, causing it to ripple wildly like the twinkling stars in the dark night sky.

    ¡°Is it going to be troublesome?¡±

    As it spoke, the map on the ground suddenly sparkled with a dozen or so spots of light that appeared to be entering from several different locations.

    Qin Ye¡¯s gaze flickered wildly, and then suddenly recalled something.

    That¡¯s right! Could he have inadvertently breached the defenses of the formation array and stumbled in by mistake?

    These are all special features of the formation arrays!

    The Harken abruptly looked up and gazed deep into Qin Ye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Are you certain?¡±

    The Harken sighed softly, and then swiped its paw down ferociously towards the boulder beneath its feet. Then, with a sharp, incisive gaze, it nced up at the horse¡¯s head peak once more and murmured to itself, ¡°Superior A-grade formation array, Ninefold Destion Soul-Cleaving Array. Old Zhao, aren¡¯t you being too hard on yourself?¡±

 Chapter 704: Drum of a Mountain God (2)

    <h4>Chapter 704: Drum of a Mountain God (2)</h4>

    Meanwhile, the Harken¡¯s voice only grew louder and louder like crackling thunder, ¡°... Objects of origin, before Heaven and the Earth came into being. Silent and lonesome, independent and immutable, around and uninhibited¡­¡±

    ¡°The door to the sundered world has now opened.¡± The Harken walked ahead, ¡°Follow closely, because Ghost King Zhao lies right within this ce.¡±

    It was an ordinary countryside.

    Because the vige was located at a mountaintop.

    And there appeared to be no way down into the depths.

    It was supposed to be devoid of any living persons. But, right now, there appeared to be seven people gathered in the center of the vige. They appeared jaundiced and thin, with ragged clothes and shoulder-length hair. Every single one of them looked like an exile or a vagabond that had been wandering the wilderness for countless years on end.

    It was 4.55 p.m. Nobody said a word as they all nced nervously around their surroundings, trembling slightly as their teeth chattered.

    He didn¡¯t say much more than he needed to, almost as though he felt the need to conserve as much of his energy as he could. Beside him, a teenager who appeared to be in his early twenties gritted his teeth and responded, ¡°He¡­ looks less human with every day that passes¡­ I-I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡±

    After all, how could anyone respond when they could barely even take care of themselves?

    Right then, the entire mountain peak shook, and an earth-shattering war drum sounded in session, almost as though a divine army had gathered under the dense fog of the mountain peak!

    Rumble! It was deafening, and it sounded almost as though it was all stirring from beneath the mountain peak and rushing straight up the path leading to the vige. The grass and trees around them rustled and swayed wildly. Meanwhile, ady among the seven gasped in horror, ¡°They¡¯reing¡­ They¡¯ve advanced by another half a meter!!¡±

    ¡°Then so be it¡­¡± An old man responded cidly, staring at the distant skies with a numb expression on his face, ¡°We should¡¯ve been dead a long time ago anyway. Besides, can you really say that we¡¯re still living right now? Hahaha¡­ It¡¯s been so long, so what difference does it make if this misery finallyes to an end? Had we had the courage tomit suicide, would we still be standing here in this ce right now?¡±

    The old man nced around with an ashen heart. He was astonished when he first discovered this ce. But now, the only thing that lingered on in his heart was endless terror.

    Perhaps¡­ it might not be a bad thing to let those monsters outside rush into this ce after all¡­

    He rubbed his eyes violently, and then stared with great disbelief at a particr location. His jaws dropped, and his lips trembled. He raised a hand and pointed to that location, almost as though he wanted to say something, but he simply couldn¡¯t find any words, ¡°Ah¡­ ah, ah!!!¡±

    Two secondster, he screamed at the top of his voice, ¡°Look! Over there! Over there!!!¡±

    Someone?

    Everyone nced at each other. Even Old Li, whose heart had grownpletely numb after all this time, revealed a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Everyone watched with bated breaths as the silhouette approached them. Secondster, a teenager emerged from the fog, holding a dog in his hands.

    Silence. The air was filled with despair.

    ¡°You know us?¡± A young man in his twenties let out a muffledugh, before sighing once more and gazing deep into the skies, ¡°Then you must be a new investigator of the Special Investigations Department. Count yourself unlucky¡­ To think that you¡¯d be buried here in this ce only several months after taking on this assignment.¡±

    Naturally, Qin Ye couldn''t be bothered with making small talk with the rest of them. His shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal had concealed the Yin energy flowing out of his body, and the group of survivors in the vige clearly didn¡¯t think that a young man of his age could possibly do anything to extricate them from this bind. He nced around, and then raised a brow quizzically.

    There¡¯s a lot of them. Their numbers are terrifying. We¡¯re easily talking about a hundred thousand or more, but none of these forces are individually strong. So how did they get so powerful as a whole unit? Furthermore, they appear to be crashing repeatedly into the barriers around this ce!

    ¡°Brother Zhao, I¡¯ve finally found you¡­¡± Qin Ye licked his lips and slowly approached the heart of the vige.

    Qin Ye ignored them. From here, he could see the crumbling ruins of the buildings at the end of the road. The original shape of the building hadpletely faded away, and the only way he could tell what used to be in this pce was the words ¡°Martyr¡¯s Shrine¡± dangling from a crooked signboard hanging above what remained of the doorway. The surroundings were all covered with grass and cobwebs, and an immensely suffocating source of Yin energy flowed from within.

    It wasn¡¯t as though none of them had tried approaching the Martyr¡¯s Shrine before.

    That¡¯s right, changes.

    ¡°Martial brother¡­¡± A middle-aged man stood up abruptly and spoke with a quiver on his lips, ¡°What are you--...¡±

    But before he could even finish speaking, the Yin energy around Qin Ye and the Harken exploded at once, just like an avnche falling from the mountaintops, or a rushing river breaking its banks! The surrounding houses were unable to withstand the sheer force of the violent rush of Yin energy, and everything was smashed to smithereens in an instant!

    Buzz¡­ The seven jaded cultivators immediately shot right up to their feet, and stared at Qin Ye¡¯s back with great trembling. The eruption of Prefect-ss Yin energy and Yama-ss Yin energy at the exact same time caused the Yin energy around them to swirl madly, so much so that even the ground was starting to grow blurry. Qin Ye stared intently into the shrine. And as soon as the Yin energy erupted from their bodies, two spots of goldenherme also ignited from the heart of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine!

    Rumble¡­ Majestic Yin energy swept around them, causing their hair to flutter wildly in the winds. The tall weed growing out of the ground were practically lying horizontal due to the strength of the gale. Meanwhile, the expressions of the seven cultivators went from that of hopelessness to shock, to joy, and then to great disbelief.

    To think that I would one day witness such an incredible spectacle!

    No, no, no! What¡¯s most important right now is the fact that¡­ This is alling to an end!

    After Qin Ye called out to the Martyr¡¯s Shrine, he waited for a response. But three minutes passed, and yet there was still no response.

    ¡°Do you still remember it?¡± Qin Ye called out into the Martyr¡¯s Shrine, ¡°This is your weapon, the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear. How can one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings benguishing in a ce like this?¡±

    Just then, the entire mountaintop trembled slightly. With a ferocious roar, a figure immediately bolted out of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine and appeared in front of Qin Ye, where he promptly bent over and picked up the speartip on the ground, ¡°Courage of Dragons Silver Spear¡­¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ can¡¯t I remember it? Where have I seen this before?¡±

    It was a man.

    How striking¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s jaws dropped, and he gasped in horror, ¡°Look at his waist, and those thighs of his¡­ Holy shit¡­ I can¡¯t even keep my legs closed right now¡­¡±

    ¡°Someone is trying to seize his body right now! What nerve!¡±

 Chapter 705: Drum of a Mountain God (3)

    <h4>Chapter 705: Drum of a Mountain God (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Isn¡¯t Brother Zhao already a Yin spirit? How can someone else possibly seize his body?¡±

    Qin Ye gasped, ¡°Who could be so bold?¡±

    Zhao Zilong was just scrutinizing the silver speartip in his hands when he suddenly paused, and then raised his head cidly, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The Harken turned and stared at Qin Ye as though it had seen a ghost.

    It was quick! Quick as lightning!

    That said, Qin Ye also immediately understood that the evil ghost that was making an attempt at dominating Zhao Yun¡¯s body was an existence no less than the famous heroes that had etched their names through the annals of history! They would be existences equal to only the greatest kings, such as Emperor Qin Shihuang himself!

    Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

    tter! His legs dug deep trenches into the soil as he ground to a halt. Meanwhile, the seven located in the heart of the vige were in an even worse state. Without even realizing it, they were sent flying hundreds of meters back by the resultant shockwave, and theynded hard on the ground with dull thuds.

    It was almost as though a bombshell had exploded, and wisps of Yin energy were still scattering from the surface of the umbre. That said, what was most shocking was the fact that the person behind the umbre¡­ waspletely fine!

    Old Li turned back, but he found himselfpletely bbergasted. And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Each of the other survivors were likewise staring dumbfounded at the illogical sight, almost as though they were watching a sci-fi film!

    That¡¯s undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares, even for the top cultivators in the world¡­

    But things didn¡¯t end there. A split secondter, something happened that caused everyone¡¯s eyes to widen even more - so much so that their eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

    Another source of Yin energy no less than Zhao Yun¡¯s Yin energy erupted. This time, it came from the tiny dog in the hands of the teenager. Its body swelled up rapidly, while the hair on its head promptly turned white before falling off, revealing the dazzling golden scales beneath. Momentster, the Harken roared at the top of its voice, dering its descent into the fray!

    It was only then that they realized how small they were.

    ¡°Ghost King Zhao.¡± The Harken¡¯s body was almost 20 meters tall, and it stared intently at Zhao Yun with an intense gaze in its eyes, ¡°Do you still remember me?¡±

    ¡°Zhao Yun¡± looked straight at the Harken with a cold expression, ¡°And what are you supposed to be?¡±

    There was a bright sh, and the entire space around trembled wildly. Boom!!! When the dust finally settled on their next exchange of blows, everyone could see that Zhao Yun had held his own against the Harken¡¯s ferocious ws. In fact, he even raised his brows with the most dashing expression on his face, ¡°So, the legend actually exists.¡±

    The Harken chuckled.

    Within moments, countless cracks began to appear on the ground, spreading and growing just like a spiderweb. And then, as soon as the pieces became small enough, plots ofnd began to drift up from the ground, almost as though they were being suspended in the air, before finally imploding on themselves!

    Qin Ye sighed.

    He knew exactly why their exchange appeared so peculiar to his eyes. They were already moving well past the speed of sound, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even begin to capture their movement. And that was not to mention the distortion of the air and space around them that made it seem as though the two Yama-Kings hadpletely vanished.

    This was an invisible battle, in all senses of the word.

    Then, with yet another loud bang, both sides finally appeared once more. The Harken had all four paws on the ground, and majestic Yin energy was pouring out of its body like a terrifying dragon. Even its ws were glowing red with karmic mes. On the other hand, Zhao Yun appeared to nce down at his own body in shock. His camouge uniform had been torn apart by the Harken¡¯s strike, leaving in its wake a bone-deep wound that appeared right across his chest. Endless Yin energy poured right out of it.

    ¡°If you agree to leave Ghost King Zhao¡¯s body right now, I¡¯ll promise to spare you from eternal death!¡±

    ¡°So why have I been able to hold out for such a long time? You¡¯re not undefeatable. At least, not under my hands.¡±

    The Harken wasn¡¯t an official Emissary of Hell right now.

    ¡°What gall¡­¡± The Harken smiled menacingly. Then, before anyone realized it, the Yin energy billowing around the Harken suddenly swirled into action, coalescing at once into a terrifying balck hole that bore the illusory appearances of the Harken.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± Qin Ye immediately nced around. It was still daytime just a little while ago, and yet everything had suddenly turned dark. That said, he could see neither the moon or the stars in the sky. Instead, everything around them appeared to be consumed with boundless darkness. At once, he sprung into action and boomed at the survivors in the vige with a thunderous voice, ¡°Take cover if you don¡¯t want to die!!¡±

    Darkness filled the skies, and countless Anitya Hellguards of the ck and White emerged from the darkness, brandishing their spirit streamers and aiming it straight at Zhao Yun. At once, they ignited a great formation array of Emissaries spanning a ten-thousand mile radius around them.

    At once, the Emissaries of Hell hurtled straight towards their target. Lightning andhermes filled the air with an intense chill as they sprung forth in a concerted fashion to seize a single soul!

    Silence.

    Then, what came next was an otherworldly brilliance.

    He dared not look.

    Nor did he dare to listen any further.

    Qin Ye hugged his head tightly as he waited with bated breaths for the aftermath. After what felt like an eternity, he finally stood up.

    Then, he looked up at the heart of the battlefield, and then immediately gasped in horror.

    Everyone who saw the incredible sight was stunned beyond words.

    The ground was covered with countless grains of yellow sand. There were no longer houses or trees, or abandoned carts and farming equipment.

    This was the might of a Yama-King!

    Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ Look at that figure¡­ Those pectoral muscles and those abs¡­ Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but nce down at his own body in dismay.

    ¡°Are you still not going toe out?¡± The Harken¡¯s pupils narrowed, ¡°This is yourst and final chance. Leave Ghost King Zhao¡¯s body and submit to the new Hell, and you may be spared for the attempted assassination of a Yama-King!¡±

    As soon as he vanished, the Harken¡¯s body immediately reduced in size, and Qin Ye dashed over to catch the falling Harken in time, ¡°How did it go?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. He picked up the Harken, and then curled his fingers. At once, he could hear several cries of surprise. The vigers nced down, only to realize that an iron chain had at some point appeared right around their waists, and they were being dragged somewhere.

    tter, tter¡­ Everyone stood in front of Qin Ye with pale faces and great trembling.

    After all, they would most certainly have heard the Harken¡¯s conversation with Zhao Yun.

    ¡°Emissary of Hell, Prefect Qin.¡± Qin Ye pulled out his Abyssal Prefect token and waved it around, ¡°No need to be afraid. I¡¯m not going to kill you. In fact, you might even have the opportunity to rue for yourselves some Yin virtue for your afterlife.¡±

    ¡°Where do youe from, and what happened over thest few years? Also, what¡¯s with the ims of the drumbeats of the mountain gods? And what¡¯s with the war cries that we heard earlier, together with the sound of ughter in the darkness around us? Finally, I want to know if there¡¯s anything particrly noteworthy after having observed these things over all these years.¡±

    ¡°Tell me everything, and leave nothing out. Oh, and by the way, you should know that I¡¯m a person who bears grudges¡­¡±

 Chapter 706: 7-Year Shackles

    <h4>Chapter 706: 7-Year Shackles</h4>

    All were silent.

    Thus, after a protracted pause, a middle-aged cultivator spoke with some tremor in his voice, ¡°You¡­ how do you prove this?¡±

    They had dreamt of leaving this ce for far too long.

    ¡°On what basis are you asking me to prove my own identity?¡± Qin Ye responded cidly, ¡°But I suppose there¡¯s no harm in proving my identity just to give you some measure of assurance, lest you forget something.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the best proof of my identity right now.¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ We¡¯re still alive.

    ¡°Will we¡­ really be able to leave this ce?¡± A younger cultivator began to choke up.

    Everyone turned to the most reliable man in their midst, who bit down long and hard on his lower lips, before finally nodding deeply, ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll¡­ tell you everything¡­¡±

    ¡°No need for introductions. You¡¯ll all have no choice but to report to me in another 100 years or so anyway. Get straight to the point.¡± Qin Ye waved his hands dismissively. After witnessing the passing of so many people in his lifetime, Qin Ye could hardly be bothered to make acquaintances with these sojourners in his life.

    He pointed towards a young cultivator, and Qin Ye immediately nodded, ¡°Do you have a screen name called One Sword One Mind?¡±

    His gaze grew deep and abstruse, ¡°Back then, that brother was very good to me, unlike what we see right now.¡±

    Qin Ye hung his head low, and a bright gleam flickered across his mind, ¡°Then when did he start showing signs of change?¡±

    With that, One Sword One Mind fell silent, almost as if he was trawling through his memory for the exact details. Qin Ye waited patiently, and the surroundings werepletely silent. One minuteter, One Sword One Mind looked up with a frown, ¡°If memory serves me well, it would be 25 August.¡±

    He shuddered, ¡°The one who came out appeared to be him, but wasn¡¯t him altogether! I got the feeling that he was apletely different person! And he actually looked at me and smiled!¡±

    He clutched tightly to his chest as he continued, ¡°He was murmuring to himself about being too soft-hearted to keep the Han Cathayan alive¡­ That¡¯s right! Those were his exact words! I can still remember his demeanor back then - the kind that was high and lofty, and filled with noble contempt. It was an indescribable sensation of dignity, and a far cry from how the man usually behaved.¡±

    Everyone shook their heads.

    ¡°Let me take over.¡± Old Li coughed twice and stood up. They were given the opportunity to rue virtue for themselves! Who wouldn¡¯t want to take up such a prime opportunity like this?

    ¡°For instance, we know a thing or two about the drum beats of the mountain gods, as well as the charging armies below.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t afford to pass up even the slightest of details, especially when anything could potentially hold the key to unlocking the mystery enshrouding Ghost King Zhao.

    He then pointed to the edge of the cliff, ¡°Do you see the precipice over there? At the start, they weren¡¯t even able to make their way to the edge of the precipice. But they¡¯ve been gaining ground with each day that passes. We don¡¯t know what exactly lies within the rolling fog around us, but it¡¯s definitely something with a spiritual body and might just like the Yin spirits that we know of. And to that end, the drum beats of the mountain gods that we¡¯ve been speaking of are incidentally also the drumming of war drums.¡±

    ¡°And the identity of the ones who are charging up¡­¡± He paused for a moment, ¡°Are none other than Mongols!¡±

    Zhao Yun suppresses the soul of Genghis Khan¡­ the charge of the Mongol cavalry¡­ and the copse of the Mongol Empire¡¯s Tengrism¡­

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Qin Ye asked, seemingly cidly.

    ¡°There¡¯s more!¡± A cloakeddy built upon the words that had been said thus far, ¡°The 25th of every month is when his body is at its weakest. At the very least, he¡¯s able to stay awake all day until midnight at night. Incidentally, that¡¯s also the day when the Mongol cavalry in the fog is advancing with the most fervor. It almost feels like¡­ they¡¯re trying to share the pressure on the alter-ego attempting to take over the man¡¯s body¡­ At least, t-that¡¯s my guess.¡±

    Credit where it was due, having experienced life in this space for such a long time, the survivors had actually managed to grasp some of thews of this domain by now. After two full hours, he finally nodded, ¡°Thanks for the information. Now, go get some rest. This matter is well beyond your means. Your intelligence has been very helpful to us.¡±

    After all, their experience of the earlier exchange had changed their perspectivepletely, and they knew full well that they would only be reduced to ashes if they even got anywhere remotely close to Ghost King Zhao.

    The Harken nodded in concurrence, and both spoke at the same time, ¡°Temujin¡¯s soul.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, ¡°So, Temujin¡¯s soul is attempting to take control of Brother Zhao¡¯s body? But that¡¯s not too realistic either, is it? He¡¯s only a quasi Yama-King. Even if Brother Zhao is no longer benefiting from his official title from the old Hell, he still isn¡¯t an existence that Temujin¡¯s soul can defeat.¡±

    ¡°But since it¡¯s merely a wild spection, it makes no sense to talk about it.¡±

    The Harken red at him fiercely, before finally relenting, ¡°Where do you think those Mongol cavalry havee from?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ they¡¯re none other than the Mongol Empire¡¯s renowned Iron Stupa! They are the invincible army that had ravaged all enemy territories wherever they rode, expanding the state of the Mongol Empire to unprecedented reaches!¡± The Harken continued, ¡°They belong to Hell, and not the Mongol Underworld, because they had perished in Cathayan territory! This is the cavalry of the Golden Horde that took down the Song Dynasty! It¡¯s the elite of the elites, even among the Mongol Empire¡¯s Iron Stupa!¡±

    Qin Ye frowned, searching through the words of the survivors for a clue as to what the answer might be. Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he nced back at the Harken with a look of great disbelief, ¡°They¡­ are trying to defend Tengrism?!¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, Genghis Khan¡¯s soul has never been through the gates of Hell, and it¡¯s never been branded by the mark of any underworld either! His soul is as suitable as it gets. That said, Temujin¡¯s soul has been sealed for a long time, and its current strength makes it unable to sustain the might of a god¡¯s existence. Thus, Temujin needs to breakthrough his current bottleneck and be a true Yama-King! This is why he has no choice but to confront a Yama-King! Of course, these are all but spections on my part, but¡­ I¡¯m convinced that I¡¯ve just about grasped the heart of the situation here!¡±

    The Harken shook its head, ¡°It¡¯s not the same.¡±

    ¡°Apart from that, there¡¯s also a qualitative difference between the existence of a true god of a system of faith and that of a regr Yin spirit. Not even a regr Abyssal Prefect is able to sustain the manifestation of a true god in their bodies. Foreign underworlds call this phenomenon a divine descent. Here, in Hell, we call it arrogation.¡±

    The Harken¡¯s voice drifted off, and it took the Harken some time before he reluctantly nodded its head.

    ¡°The dreg among the gods of death.¡±

 Chapter 707: Danger and Opportunity

    <h4>Chapter 707: Danger and Opportunity</h4>

    Holy shit!

    He was a true blue god of death!

    Holy crap! I¡¯ve always known that I was awesome, but who would¡¯ve thought that I was actually this awesome?

    No! I¡¯m not listening to you! I refuse to listen to you!

    ¡°Besides, are you really in the mood to concern yourself with these things? Don¡¯t you understand the gravity of the situation over here?¡± The Harken bit down hard on Qin Ye¡¯s arm, forcing him to snap right back to his senses, ¡°You¡­ please, carry on¡­¡±

    Qin Ye nodded and retracted his smile, ¡°Brother Zhao had already shown signs of mutations since several years back. I¡¯m afraid Tengri must already have been nning for his session back then. The pressure heaped by the Russian Underworld onto the backs of the Mongol Underworld must have been far too much for them to handle. And that¡¯s not even to mention the existence of the Argosian Underworld¡¯s maniption in the shadows. Naturally, Tengri must have realized that his only way out of this was to n for session and a futureeback.¡±

    The Harken sneered, ¡°Bloody hell, it¡¯s because you were the one who had integrated theirnd into ours! It¡¯s now called Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia! The notice of the annexation will be issued throughout Everburn and Ashmound shortly! In other words, they¡¯re already existing in ournds right now! What change am I supposed to detect?!¡±

    After some time, the Harken finally loosened its bite around Qin Ye¡¯s arm and hmphed with annoyance, ¡°But, even then, they¡¯re still not likely to be able to defeat Ghost King Zhao.¡±

    It stamped its paws on the ground once more, and the ground trembled slightly, ¡°Don¡¯t you recall how the mortal realm had never discovered the tomb of all Yuan Dynasty emperors?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the only possibility!¡± The Harken continued, ¡°The Golden Horde cavalry is a force that can historically only be mobilized by members of royalty! How many people did the Mongol Empire start with in the past? They practically conquered half of the East Continent with just 100,000 cavalrymen! The Golden Horde is known to number no more than 3,000, and yet the sounds of shing iron earlier was definitely of an army that is farrger in size!¡±

    He paced around with his hands on his head, ¡°Then the only possibility is that every single Mongol emperor has issued orders to mobilize their troops at the exact same time!¡±

    Qin Ye sighed softly.

    Unfortunately, these only remained mysteries if one looked at the facts from the lens of the mortal realm.

    ¡°... Why does it seem like everyone is your big brother? You know, you need to learn to have some dignity and respect for yourself now that you¡¯re a god of death. But¡­ I digress.¡± The Harken red contemptuously at Qin Ye, before getting back to the point, ¡°Do you remember how there was a statue of a great monk, Qiu Chuji, located in Temujin¡¯s Tomb?¡±

    It was because this raised a new perspective to the mystery they were faced with.

    Unfortunately, none of them had an answer to that question. Perhaps the only way they would learn of the truth was by rescuing Zhao Zilong.

    ¡°That¡¯s likely the case.¡± The Harken sighed softly, ¡°They would be equal in strength. No¡­ perhaps they might even have an edge over Ghost King Zhao.¡±

    ¡°Besides, you¡¯ve missed out something. Don¡¯t forget that Phagpa was also buried in Temujin¡¯s Tomb. And since that¡¯s the case, Ghost King Zhao is likely also facing the Imperial Preceptor of several emperors of the Yuan Dynasty. These are existences that would have been expert cultivators of their time. Just like how the director of the Special Investigations Department is one of the three strongest experts in the mortal realm right now, the Imperial Preceptor¡­ would also likely have been one of the strongest existences of each of their times.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes twitched slightly as he nced at the Martyr¡¯s Shrine.

    After all, there were easily a dozen emperors, as well as several Prefect-ss Imperial Preceptors to deal with. Anyone else would have crumbled to the might of such sustained assaults by now.

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye¡¯s forte didn¡¯t lie in such supernatural incidents. His expertisey more in international politics and domestic affairs. Thus, Qin Ye was somewhat surprised by the Harken¡¯s question to him.

    But he immediately frowned after that, ¡°Speaking of which, why 25 August? What¡¯s so special about that date?¡±

    The Harken chuckled coldly, ¡°Because 25 August is the date of Temujin¡¯s death.¡±

    ¡°And they¡¯ve already managed to gain the upper hand in this exchange. It¡¯s no wonder that old Zhao had decided toy down the ultimate technique of the Red Lotus of the Purgatory¡­¡±

    Everything was slowlying together like the pieces of the puzzle.

    As an emperor that was easily ranked among the top in Cathay¡¯s hall of fame, what was he doing refusing to submit to Hell, and instead submitting to Tengrism?

    Qin Ye stared at the Harken almost as though he had just seen a ghost, ¡°Where have your moral values gone? To where Brother Xu is currently located?¡±

    ¡°And he¡¯s actually applied this mantra onto the Cathayans in his conquest.¡±

    ¡°Then what do I need him for?!¡±

    Qin Ye paused, and then gasped coldly.

    Isn¡¯t that what Temujin and Zhao Zilong are doing right now?

    Then, would it be just as the Harken had mentioned? Would we finally see the emergence of an existence beyond the strength of a regr Yama-King?!

    This was a gamble.

    But should they seed, then Zhao Yun would very likely attain a breakthrough and be an existence beyond the realms of a Yama-King!

 Chapter 708: Anniversary of the Great Khan

    <h4>Chapter 708: Anniversary of the Great Khan</h4>

    As time wore on, the Mongol forces in the fog attacked with ever increasing fervor, sending tremors rippling through the void as the cacophonous sound of shing iron echoed bleakly in the surroundings. Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but turn to the Harken and asked, ¡°Why can¡¯t I see them?¡±

    That¡¯s a thorny situation¡­ Qin Ye thought to himself. Then, for the next few days, Qin Ye and the Harken began to deliberate over the potential variables that they could encounter, as well as the possible countermeasures they could implement against these. Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and the 25th soon arrived.

    There was an eerie, gloomy air about it.

    BOOM!!!

    ¡°Has Brother Zhao finally been released from the shackles tying him down?¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened, and he shook his head with a sigh, ¡°What terrifying Yin energy. Not even the Tsar can hold a candle to his immense might. Is this what a Ghost King of Hell is actually like?¡±

    He closed his eyes and attempted to probe the Ghost King¡¯s existence with his own Yin energy. At once, he sensed a stern and austere air about the Ghost King¡¯s Yin energy, almost as though it was dering that this Yama-King had already reached its bottleneck.

    But in that very moment, Zhao Zilong¡¯s Yin energy suddenly sank and dropped so much that it wouldn¡¯t even be a surprise if he became that of a Netherworld Operative.

    As soon as the Harken said these words, the Martyr¡¯s Shrine suddenly grewrger, almost as though it was rapidly drawing closer to the duo. Qin Ye froze for a moment, before realizing that it wasn¡¯t the case that the Martyr¡¯s Shrine was drawing closer. Rather, it was simply the fact that the space between them was bending and shrinking, thereby bringing them infinitely closer to each other!

    ¡°Bending space¡­ and to think he¡¯d even used it on us¡­¡± The Harken sighed with great emotion. But before it could emote any further, a figure covered inhermes appeared at the gate of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine, cupping his hands respectfully and bowing deeply, ¡°General Zhao Zilong, humbly greets the new King Yanluo of Hell.¡±

    Damn, he¡¯s striking¡­ And this is my Brother Zhao! Qin Ye¡¯s heart thumped with excitement, and he coughed lightly as he nodded back, ¡°Let¡¯s get straight to the point, General Zhao. How should we help you?¡±

    Is this¡­ my first time holding hands? Are we going to march down the avenue of peach blossoms after this?

    Zhao Yun: ???

    Meanwhile, the Harken immediately leapt up and scratched Qin Ye all over the face, ravaging it without mercy, ¡°Please be gentle? Please be gentle?! What the hell are you talking about?! Why are you even blushing?!¡±

    It swiped its ws furiously at Qin Ye, while Qin Ye scurried away like a mouse scuttling back to its borrow, ¡°I can¡¯t help it! I can¡¯t help it! Hey, not the face! That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got right now¡­¡±

    Zhao Yun gazed deeply at Qin Ye, as though deep in thought. Meanwhile, Qin Ye clutched at his wounds in pain and looked up at Zhao Yun, ¡°General Zhao, it¡¯s not what you think. This is just a conditioned reaction--¡­¡±

    Qin Ye: ¡­¡­

    Yet, Zhao Yun revealed apletely peculiar expression - Please know that I¡¯m doing this for your own good. Our King Yanluo cannot be involved in scandals like this, understand?!

    With that, he began to write on Qin Ye¡¯s hand.

    Zhao yun nodded. Qin Ye stared nkly at his hand. It was strange, because Zhao Yun was writing in neither modern nor ancient Cathayan writing. Thus, he couldn¡¯t understand a single word that was written. However, the Harken¡¯s eyes immediately lit up.

    After all, the alter ego within Zhao Yun¡¯s body was none other than the renowned Temujin, a terrifying warlord that had reigned supreme throughout history. It wouldn¡¯t be wise if he managed to glean anything from their interactions right now.

    ¡°I am.¡± Zhao Yun responded with an equally grave expression, ¡°This is a task given to me by the Second King Yanluo, and since he¡¯s not here in person, it tells me that he¡¯s probably already departed from this world. Now that his orders have fallen directly on my shoulders, I¡¯d humbly ask these two lordships for your assistance.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll have to trouble you.¡± Zhao Yun cupped his hands respectfully once more, before promptly vanishing with a majestic flourish ofhermes.

    There were priorities after all. Thus, the duo sensibly took their leave as well, vanishing promptly into streams ofhergale that swept away from the Martyr¡¯s Shrine. When they next appeared, they had already reached the edge of the mountaintop once more.

    Qin Ye raised his brows with some measure of surprise, wondering why the Harken would suddenly broach this subject. However, he knew that the Harken must have its reasons, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°The first is the de, and the second is the scabbard.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°It exists.¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, the scabbard¡­ is forged entirely out of Resentment Crystals! This is why we couldn¡¯t sense even a trace of Zhao Zilong¡¯s Yin energy outside!¡± The Harken turned back and continued, ¡°Once the Resentment Crystals have been forged into shape, it serves the purpose of isting Yin energy, both from within and from without. In other words, Yin energy cannot prate the shell of the scabbard, and likewise, Yin energy cannot escape from within either!¡±

    The Harken nodded deeply.

    After all, if Zhao Yun won, then Hell would secure for itself one of the strongest and most reliable fighting forces around. But if Temujin won, then¡­ the Red Lotus of the Purgatory would be activated, and everything would go to waste! And it would all be on Hell¡¯s shoulder!

    Nothing exists in istion, and everything that happened would have implications. He paced about a little while longer, before turning back to the Harken, ¡°How long will it take?¡±

    Three days, huh¡­ Qin Ye nced around at the mountaintop. They were going to be up against over a dozen Yuan Emperors, several Imperial Preceptors, and tens of thousands of Golden Horde cavalry! On the other hand, they had only one Abyssal Prefect, one wounded Yama-King that could only fight for seven minutes, as well as a handful of weak-ass cultivators around them!

    The Harken lifted its paw, revealing a small golden rune.

    ¡°Earlier, we weremunicating through Yin Talismans. Temujin hasn¡¯t been to Hell, and he wouldn¡¯t know a thing about suchmunications. During this period of time, General Zhao gave me the activation spell for the Red Lotus of the Purgatory that he had already set up. Are you concerned that he will fail?¡± The Harken paused and gazed deeply at Qin Ye, ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s that possibility.¡±

    ¡°The best thing we can do right now is to trust in him and allow him to duel Temujin without any distractions.¡±

    ¡°That way, no matter what the oue is, he¡¯ll have no regrets. Then¡­ let¡¯s lend him our strength and send him our blessings through our actions here!¡±

    With that, the Harken opened its lips, and a golden scroll flew out. Qin Ye blinked his eyes nkly, ¡°Hang on¡­ That scroll, and the patterns on it¡­ Why does it all look so familiar?¡±

    ¡°Of course it would.¡± The Harken held the scroll in its lips and exined, ¡°Given my current strength, it¡¯s going to be difficult to resist the assault of over a dozen Yuan Emperors, Imperial Preceptors, as well as the Golden Horde cavalry. But fortunately, we¡¯ve got ess to the Ming Dynasty¡¯s Zhu n¡¯s treasures from the Longxing Temple. And this would prove immensely useful to us right now - the Great Mist of the Three Divinities Array. Drawn up jointly by Liu Bowen and King Song, the Yama-King of the Third Pce, it took them 47 long years before they finally brought this masterpiece topletion. This is going to be the battle of a millennium that literally transcends time, pitting the Great Ming Dynasty against the Mongol¡¯s Yuan Dynasty. Isn¡¯t that something to look forward to?¡±

 Chapter 709: The Heroic Battle (1)

    <h4>Chapter 709: The Heroic Battle (1)</h4>

    Zhao Yun sat on top of a stone tform within the ruins of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine, while his hands rested on an empty scabbard located right in front of him. The parts of the scabbard that touched the ground left traces ofplex arrangements of Yin Talismans on the ground, almost as though the scabbard was an otherworldly existence.

    Darkness shrouded the entire mountaintop, and everything was as still as the silence before the storm. Countless pairs of eyesy hidden in the shadows below, staring intently at the Martyr¡¯s Shrine with a ferocious gleam in their eyes.

    ¡°The sons and daughters of the great Tengri are brave warriors, and they respect brave warriors like them. If you¡¯re willing to defect and submit to me, I¡¯m willing to swear on the name of the great Tengri that I¡¯ll never purge your soul! In fact, I¡¯ll see to it that your name spreads far and wide beyond the limits of this country!¡±

    Zhao Yun smiled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re no longer an emperor. And now that you¡¯re dead and belong to theherworld, you need to fall in line in ordance with the order that is already in ce! Everything that slips through the cracks of Hell¡¯s grasp will fall under my jurisdiction and purview! By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse! Do you think I¡¯m ying games here?¡±

    His voice was like thunder, and yet not a single word was transmitted beyond the four walls of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine, almost as though these words were intended only for the ears of Temujin¡¯s soul.

    After a long time, the voice of the alter ego sounded once more, ¡°Is there anyone who doesn¡¯t wish to leave his mark in history? I can do it, and so can you. But look at that wide-eyed, guileless kid out there. Do you really think he will be able to make your name known throughout all generations?¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± The voice of the alter ego remained just as calm and cid as ever, ¡°I, Temujin, have spent my life in conquest, and the whole of Eurasia had at one point trembled wherever I pointed my de, but the ones who remember these conquests of mine are now few and far between. My cavalry, God¡¯s Whip, approaches. I sincerely hope that when their hooves trample all over what remains of your formation array that you¡¯ll still be able to smile just like you are now.¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡±

    The air burned with intense frigidity, and the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Their exchange was short and uninspired, but both egos knew that it was going to be the final words that they were going to exchange with each other.

    And that was thest probe of intentions.

    The soul of Tengri could wait no longer for another wandering Yama-King to fall into their grasp like this.

    The Yuan Emperors and Imperial Preceptors were likewise just as eager as ever before to recover thends that were long lost to them!

    The sea of darkness was now stirring and bubbling, almost as though signifying that things had finally reached its boiling point.

    A handful of pale-faced cultivators stood around Qin Ye, shrinking back slightly as they asked with a tremor in their voices, ¡°D-do we really have to participate in this?¡± Each of them held a red talisman scribbled with ck words andplicated patterns in their hands.

    But unfortunately, a battle of this scale was something well outside of their expectations. At the very least, none of them would have expected to participate in such a horrific battle, not even in their wildest dreams!

    ¡°But--...¡±

    He wasn¡¯t in the mood to encourage the survivors right now. Thus, he said nothing more, and simply turned to gaze into the fog.

    There was a period of silence, followed by the cries of countless crows that rushed right up into the skies. The rolling fog below stirred like the sloshing waves of the ocean, almost as though schools of piranha were stirring anxiously, waiting to tear at the survivors on the mountaintop!

    The drum beats of the mountain gods!

    It sounded far away.

    That said, it was endless.

    At first, it started out slow and rhythmic. But just five secondster, the soft pattering of hooves burgeoned into the terrifying rumble caused by a stampede of war horses!

    Nor was there any shouting or sounds of shing iron.

    RUMBLE!!! If one were to say that the earlier pattering of hooves was no more than the sloshing of the waves, then the deafening rumble right now would be no different from a terrifying tsunami that was crashing straight onto a small ind in the middle of an ocean! The rumble was apanied by an intense eruption of murderous intent that filled the air with dank bloodthirstiness. Meanwhile, the Yin energy in the surroundings stirred wildly, swirling into a massive whirlpool spanning 10,000 meters from end to end that surrounded the mountaintops!

    Qin Ye slowly raised his hands. His existence right now was like the glimmer of light amidst the all-consuming darkness.

    Shit!!! The survivors immediately bit down onto their lips and ran desperately to the positions they had all been assigned. At once, they bit through the skin of their fingertips and smeared the talismans with their blood.

    Boom!!! The eruption of light was apanied with a deafening st that instantly consumed the drone of the hooves around them. Meanwhile, the roiling sea of Yin energy around them stirred with countless ripples - a clear sign that the Golden Horde cavalry was charging bravely approaching the mountaintop without any fear of death.

    Here theye¡­ here theye!

    200 meters!

    At once, the survivors bit down on their fingers and smeared another dash of blood onto the talismans in their hand, causing a brilliant white light to erupt from the talisman once more. Immediately, a series of dazzling runic symbols emerged from the talismans like glimmering vines, intertwining together until they all formed the illusory image of Laozi riding a bull.

    Whoosh!!! The illusory image of Laozi immediately rode his bull westwards. As he did, he abruptly opened his eyes, took a deep breath and blew gently. At once, the rolling fog that surrounded the entire mountain peak vanished at once, revealing everything originally hidden in the void.

    Countless cavalrymen!

    Furthermore, with the fog now out of the way, they could now easily see that there wereplicated symbols of Tengrism gleaming under the feet of each of the cavalrymen. Furthermore, there were a total of 15 banners embroidered with the emblems of dragons, each of which represented an emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. Qin Ye promptly surveyed his surroundings, only to realize that each of the Yuan Emperors were Infernal Judges, and that there were even two other Abyssal Prefects hidden in their midst.

    At this very moment, the armies of the Yuan Dynasty were charging straight into a thin curtain of light that appeared to be wearing out. The runic symbols of Yin Talismans on the curtain of light were all flickering weakly, almost as though they were on their dying breaths. What¡¯s more...

    Broadly speaking, the horse¡¯s head peak contained threeyers of defenses.

    Them!

    BOOM!!! It didn¡¯t take more than five minutes before what remained of the curtain of light shatteredpletely, disintegrating into countless golden butterflies that promptly scattered into the surroundings. At once, the invaders charged forward like a rising tide, bringing with them an intense wave of murderous intent that battered the mountaintop.

    Time seemed toe to aplete standstill.

    Yin energy flourished all around them. And then, for the very first time, the Mongol soldiers cried out with great fervor, breaking the silence.

    Charge!

    Strike like thunder, and move silently like a stream. The Golden Horde rushed up from below, only to find themselves standing face to face with only one man.

    This was a Prefect¡¯s Prestige of the Luminary.

    Whoosh¡­ At once, a series of silhouettes appeared right behind him, including a peculiar Yin spirit with his mouth asrge as a gaping ck hole, a series of zombies, a young teenager with blood pouring out of his seven apertures, as well as¡­ an ink-ck toddler.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    Brother Zhao, did you hear that?

    Back in the Martyr¡¯s Shrine. A pair of tightly shut eyes suddenly opened wide.

    ¡°Changshan Zhao Zilong.¡± Zhao Yun slowly picked up the scabbard on the ground, ¡°Great Khan, care for a duel?!¡±

    <hr>

    1. Laozi is traditionally known as the founder of philosophical Taoism.

 Chapter 710: The Heroic Battle (2)

    <h4>Chapter 710: The Heroic Battle (2)</h4>

    There were two shadows beneath Zhao Yun¡¯s feet. Whoosh! Just then, the shadow on the right opened its scarlet eyes and stared intently at Zhao Yun, ¡°Zhao Zilong¡­ It¡¯s you?!¡±

    But Zhao Yun didn¡¯t say a word. Instead, he simply lifted the scabbard and thrusted it heavily into the ground, causing a web of cracks to appear on the ground with a mighty bang. At once, the scabbard shattered into smithereens, causing countless illusory faces of wailing ghosts to appear in the surroundings. And then¡­ the entire Martyr¡¯s Shrine began to glow with a dazzling light of Yin Talismans all around.

    No response.

    A split secondter, the speartip of the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear that was once ced in the corner of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine suddenly flew over with a dazzling glimmer of light, sending dust and debris scattering everywhere in the wake of its approach.

    Silence.

    Unfortunately¡­ he knew he couldn¡¯t back down now!

    ¡°I can easily tell that the Yama-King out there is grievously wounded. How do you expect a mere Abyssal Prefect to resist the charge of God¡¯s Whip?¡±

    The wide-eyed boy was no ordinary Abyssal Prefect.

    The fact that the speartip was in his hands was the best proof of that.

    BOOM!! As he spoke, another source of Yin energy infinitely close to that of a Yama-King erupted from the shadow, sending a ck shockwave of Yin energy rippling out into the surroundings, transforming into lotus flowers that quickly dissipated and faded into the surroundings. Even Zhao Yun couldn¡¯t help but be sent stumbling back a dozen meters.

    ¡°As expected, you¡¯re no longer Temujin.¡± Zhao Yun chuckled, ¡°Tengri¡¯s soul¡­ You¡¯re merely retaining a fragment of Temujin¡¯s consciousness. It¡¯s no wonder you acted so passively¡­ Had it truly been Genghis Khan, he would definitely have seized the initiative against me at the earliest possible opportunity!¡±

    ¡°You know all too well what happens to you if you even dare strike out at a Yama-King of Hell. I¡¯m surprised at the dissipation of your system of faith, but¡­¡±

    There was no need for further nonsense.

    It was all-consuming.

    Whoosh! The knee-high grass bent so low that they may well be lying prostrate on the ground. Dust and debris scattered everywhere, while the armor on Zhao Yun¡¯s body ttered wildly as he stood valiantly against Tengri¡¯s overbearing approach

    Rise of the Phoenix Spear!

    SSS!!! Yaaaahhhh!!! Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin roared and hissed at the top of their voices as they charged into the group of Yin spirits around. They could sense that the soldiers around them were all of incredible quality. And if they managed to devour them, who knows, they might even be able to attain a breakthrough to the next realm!

    They turned their gaze to the 15 banners located right in the middle of the formation. If they managed to devour all 15 of those g bearers, then they were bound to go even further. After all¡­ devouring was the best means of advancement!

    Pshkk!! Numerous scimitars plunged straight into Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s body at once. The army wasn¡¯t hailed as God¡¯s Whip for no reason. As soon as they cut down Kwon Kyung-ho, they immediately charged forward towards Qin Ye without even pausing for a closer look at the one they had just cut down.

    Because they knew that they would witness the sight of a different realm as soon as they did.

    Rumble¡­ The grounds trembled and creaked under the charge of the mighty army of Yin soldiers. Qin Ye nced at Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin, before promptly turning back to the task at hand. At once, his Abyssal Prefect token gleamed with a brilliant dark lustre, and then, the surface of the bone umbre split right open, transforming into six fans that flew towards six different directions.

    The Golden Horde cavalry pulled out the scimitars from the body of Kwon Kyung-ho, bracing themselves to continue with their onward march. But it was right then that a peculiar smile crept up the corners of Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s lips. A secondter¡­ Whoosh¡­ His entire being disintegrated into a pool of seawater that enveloped an entire domain spanning a thousand meter from end to end.

    Slosh¡­ Within moments, the puddle of water began to swirl around rapidly, transforming into a thousand-meter vortex. And then, the soulless eyes of the deceased gleamed viciously as they all turned to stare at the approaching Golden Horde at the same time. At once, the terrifying vortex of waters closed up at once, and the contraction of waters instantly engulfed all the cavalry within the thousand-meter domain it covered!

    Military formation.

    Their armor was covered with teeth marks, but the thousands of skeletal horses that had initially been consumed by Kwon Kyung-ho¡¯s attack immediately rushed back to the surface, regrouping in their formations at once, before rushing straight towards Kwon Kyung-ho with great valor!

    Meanwhile, an wrinkled, old Yin spirit standing right underneath one of the Yuan Emperor¡¯s banners dressed in an earthy-coloured robe suddenly raised his head violently. With his palms still sped tightly together, countless paper immortal cranes suddenly flew out from within his sleeves, rushing forward and adhering themselves to the backs of the Yin soldiers that were confronting Kwon Kyung-ho. At once, the emblem of Tengri beneath their feet glowed with an intense golden lustre, as though these emblems were soon about to ignite in mes.

    Unstoppable¡­

    Was a thousand meters a long distance when cavalry was involved? The imprint of hooves ravaged the ground as the ming warriors hurtled forward like the rise of demons. In a sh, they arrived no more than 100 meters away from him, where Kwon Kyung-ho noticed for the very first time that each of the Yin soldiers were staring intently at him withhermes zing as high as a meter into the sky!

    ¡°Why are you seizing up?!!¡± Just then, Kwon Kyung-ho was suddenly knocked right off his feet. In his ce now stood a pregnantdy holding the hand of a little girl. Everything appeared normal, save for the fact that the pregnantdy¡¯s abdomen was torn wide open by a dark baby within. At once, the baby swung both of its hands down in an instant.

    Domain of the Avernus Spirit!

    What the hell is that thing?!

    This was precisely why the Golden Horde was terrifying. It was because as soon as they began their charge, they were endless and relentless! As soon as the first wave was sent flying back, the second wave immediately charged forward to take the ce of the first. Meanwhile, the rear guard of the cavalry had already begun to fire volleys of arrows into the sky, like a rising swarm of locusts that blotted out the moon and devoured the stars.

    The horse¡¯s head peak was now surrounded on all sides. There were at least 5,000 cavalry in front of them, and that was not to mention the thousands on the back, as well as their nks. Had this been an ancient battlefield, they would¡¯ve been crushed to a pulp in the blink of an eye.

    A rain of arrows pelted down from above, while thousands of cavalry continued to charge at them from below. Golden and ck Yin energy blended together, forming a terrifying vortex of Yin energy that threatened to consume everything at the mountaintop. Even Ryu Changmin couldn¡¯t help but gasp in horror and cry out without hesitation, ¡°HELP!!!¡±

    It was the ghost of an old monk who had countless pale arms growing right out of his back. Each of these arms had an eye on them, and they were covered with vermillion talismans all over. It was an iparably hideous sight. And right now, this old monk was no less than 50 meters away from Ryu Changmin!

    Everyone knew that it was a race against time.

    All who stood in their way would have no choice but to face the wrath of the God¡¯s Whip, regardless of the cost!

 Chapter 711: The Heroic Battle (3)

    <h4>Chapter 711: The Heroic Battle (3)</h4>

    It didn¡¯t move because it had to guard against more important things, such as the souls of Tengri and Temujin. After all, it needed to be able to react ordingly in the event of any contingencies, and it couldn¡¯t afford to waste any of its energy on the God¡¯s Whip.

    If Zhao Yun fails, it would have to take Qin Ye and rush right out of Chonggu County, as well as contain the might of the Red Lotus of the Purgatory. Naturally, it simply didn¡¯t have thetitude to keep these Yin soldiers at bay. Besides, the seven minute window was a one-off trigger, and it couldn¡¯t be retracted as soon as it was activated.

    Fast¡­ The old monk moved beyond the speed of sound, causing a look of despair to surface in the depths of Ryu Changmin¡¯s eyes. But, just then, a fan suddenly rapped the old man hard on the hand. It sounded no different from a gentle tap, but it instantly sent the old monk flying back hundreds of meters, spewing out copious amounts of Yin energy at once.

    Emissary of Hell¡­

    Unfortunately, things moved so quickly on the battlefield that he didn¡¯t even have time to reel in shock and horror. A split secondter, countless chains of interwoven Yin energy immediately surged out, stretching and extending endlessly as they plunged straight through the sea of fog like venomous vipers.

    Qin Ye¡¯s Yin energy erupted with great majesty, causing the sea of Yin energy all around him to boil and slosh about with increasing vigor. Then, he pulled hard, causing the Heavenly Dra to tighten around the cavalry that were caught within its domain. At once, the Yin soldiers lurched forward. The emblem beneath their feet flickered desperately with dazzling light, but it was unable to resist the might of an Abyssal Prefect.

    And these other cards would by no means be limited to the military formation that they were already employing right now.

    ¡°Rise!!¡± Qin Ye¡¯s temples throbbed wildly as he roared at the top of his voice. At once, the chains formed from Yin energy changed directions and hurtled straight towards the Yin soldiers. But, just then, a dazzling red light suddenly filled the skies, causing the chains rushing out from his sleeves to suddenly crack and shatter into countless pieces!

    ¡°Imperial Seal of the Yuan Dynasty!¡± The Harken leapt onto Qin Ye¡¯s shoulder and gasped in horror, ¡°Legend had it that the Imperial Seal of the Yuan Dynasty was lost to the Ming Dynasty. Furthermore, it is said that the seal is carved out of Bodian blood jade - a kind of jade that ispletely crimson in colour, almost like a red haze. Who would¡¯ve thought we would see the emergence of a long lost treasure like this? Which tomb was it buried under?¡±

    Right before their very eyes.

    Under the protection of the light of the Imperial Seal, the Yin soldiers were once again spared from certain death. Even then, they stood up, but with much difficulty this time. Meanwhile, the rest of the Golden Horde began to charge over towards Qin Ye like a rushing tide. Qin Ye¡¯s eyes flickered, and he promptly transformed into a gust of Yin energy and vanished from where he was standing.

    Here was a wall that separated two forces that were diametrically opposed to each other¡¯s existence. Outside was a raging sea of Golden Horde cavalry, while inside was where a grand duel took ce. As soon as Qin Ye vanished, the Golden Horde immediately charged towards the barriers and pounded against them with all their might.

    At the same time, volley after volley of arrows lit with scarlethermes would pelt down onto the barriers endlessly. The archers drew their bows with relentless fervor. They knew full well that unless they did everything to ensure Tengri gained the upper hand, not a single one of them would be able to make it out of this ce alive!

    Phagpa stood right beside him, taciturn.

    Phagpa responded with a sullen expression, ¡°Nobody had anticipated the sudden emergence of Yama-ss reinforcements¡­ And nobody had expected the sudden copse of Tengrism either. Everything has happened far too suddenly.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no meaning in keeping any more aces up our sleeves.¡± He gritted his teeth and turned to the mountaintop once more, ¡°Tardiness¡­ begets death. We¡¯re fighting for time right now. Most of our artifacts wouldn¡¯t work against a Yama-ss Emissary of Hell. And since that¡¯s the case, it leaves us with only one option.¡±

    ¡°Two hours.¡±

    Phagpa¡¯s hands trembled softly as he spoke these words. Then, he lifted his eyes and turned to another segment of their forces, where he locked eyes with another pair of goldenhermes.

    Both men nodded imperceptibly at the other, following which both men immediately turned back and began to make a series of hand seals as they chanted aplex mantra.

    Each of these coffins were constructed out of goldenrod cedar, tied up with chains, and stered all over with countless talismans, so much so that the original appearances of the coffin were practically concealed. Furthermore, these coffins were the traditional box coffins of the Cathayans.

    This was a relic of the previous dynasty! And the fact that it was valued so highly by the Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty meant that it was without a doubt one of the most important treasures of the Song Dynasty!

    Whoosh¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s figure appeared once again at the desert of the mountaintop. From here, the fan-shaped barriers appeared transparent to him, and he could see everything that was happening on the outside. That said, his sudden appearance startled the survivors so much so that they nearly jumped right out of their designated positions. One Sword One Mind¡¯s lips quivered softly. Had they not been entrusted with an important mission, he would have run to the corner of the desert to take cover by now.

    Therefore, what came next would most certainly be a sea of rage!

    ¡°Do your job if you don¡¯t want to die!¡± He stared intently at each survivor, before taking his ce at the center of the formation, where he proceeded to meditate.

    Meanwhile, the survivors trembled as they stared at Qin Ye with great incredulity. In particr, the older survivors couldn¡¯t help but stare at him with awe and respect.

    He¡¯s by no means as young as he looks¡­ One of the men sized up Qin Ye, before cautiously closing his eyes once more - A thousand year spirit? Or several thousand years? These powerful Emissaries of Hell are truly terrifying¡­

    They¡¯re God¡¯s Whip! The stuff of legends!

    But just as their hearts were fraught with a multitude of different thoughts, Qin Ye suddenly opened his eyes once more and shot to his feet. He stared into the distant skies, and there was clearly an expression of shock written all over his face. The survivors¡¯ hearts immediately grew antsy.

    Why does he suddenly have a grave expression on his face? Could it be that¡­ that¡­

    Right there, in the dense sea of fog around them, they could see nine pirs of golden light bursting straight from the abyss and rising high into the skies. These pirs were glowing with dazzling symbols of Yin Talismans, and they caused the rolling fog around them to stir endlessly. And as soon as they appeared, countless cracks began to surface on the fan-shaped barriers!

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡± Qin Ye was astounded. He had never felt such a terrifying pressure before. It wasn¡¯t the might of Yin energy. Rather, it was the might of a heavenly presence!

 Chapter 712: The Heroic Battle (4)

    <h4>Chapter 712: The Heroic Battle (4)</h4>

    ¡°The Yuan Dynasty was short-lived, and the Heavenly Dao that represents them is far too weak. Sure, they might well be able to summon it to bolster their defences against your attacks, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to attack you with it at all. It would be no different from the Imperial Seal of the Yuan Dynasty. But this instance of Heavenly Dao¡­ is far stronger than that! They¡­ are they actually seizing the Heavenly Dao of other dynasties for themselves? Or perhaps they might have dug up some of the supreme treasures of other dynasties that gave them ess to the Heavenly Dao of those dynasties!¡±

    As the Harken spoke, nine golden pirs of light shot right out of the sea of Yin energy, followed by the emergence of nine majestic figures that seemed to surround the horse¡¯s head peak. Countless golden lotuses blossomed in the void around them, turning the mountaintop tainted with dark Yin energy into a holy ce dazzling with golden light, just like the purend of the kingdom of Buddha.

    It was carved with birds, beasts, fish and insects, and it exuded an air of ancient antiquity about it. Censers came in all shapes and sizes, including three-pronged censers, four-legged censers, round censers, square censers, and even beast-headed censers. But regardless of what they looked like, censers have always been known to exude a terrifying presence about them.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± One Sword One Mind¡¯s jaws dropped as he stared at the dazzling light, ¡°Is this¡­ a censer? A Censer of the Xia Dynasty?¡±

    This was a Censer of the Song Dynasty.

    And its appearance makes it clear that the invaders were clearly already done with their probative attacks. Right now, they were striking with the intention to cause the greatest possible damage!

    Li Changkong had already boarded the ne by now. Even then, he peered out of the window, looking down at the top of the clouds, where ck, gold and white swirled together in organized chaos, and even he couldn¡¯t help but lean back into his seat and shut his eyes with a soft sigh, ¡°Unbelievable¡­ Is this what a battle between peak powers looks like?¡±

    Qin Ye naturally knew nothing of these things. Because as soon as the censer appeared at the mountain top, it immediately began to shower upon the Golden Horde cavalry with mysterious golden beams of light. At once, the riders disintegrated into wisps of ck smoke that scattered with the wind.

    What emerged from the darkness were instead countless skeletons of what appeared to be half-man and half horse, and they were all frozen in ce like statues!

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, causing what remained of the huge fan around him to shrink in size and fly back to him, where they immediately transformed back into their original shape of the bone umbre. The entire mountaintop was silent. ck clouds continued to roll through the air, while illusory souls appeared to dart through the forest of centaur skeletons, screaming soundlessly with an anguished expression. Qin Ye could only hear his own heart¡¯s deafening thumps at this point in time.

    This was the stuff of nightmares that were beyond his wildest imaginations.

    ¡°No, you shouldn¡¯t.¡± Qin Ye dragged his bone umbre behind him as he slowly marched to the middle of the clearing, ¡°You¡¯ve got something more important to do, so¡­ leave this ce to me.¡±

    The Harken grew taciturn. It was only when Qin Ye was some distance away that the Harken finally nodded with approbation.

    tter!!! Just then, the bones of the centaurs cked wildly, and they opened their eyes, only to reveal terrifying scarlethermes zing from within. At once, their surroundings were tainted with a crimson hue, almost as though they were marching out of a sea of blood. The air was instantly filled with aggressive bloodthirstiness. Then, a split secondter¡­ they charged!

    The survivors nodded with chattering teeth. Who would dare to step away anyway? They could all see an ocean of devils located all around them right now, and the talismans in their hands were the only things separating them from the abysses of death.

    It was a single word, and yet it triggered the most uproarious response yet! The centaurs surrounding the mountaintop roared in unison, before hurtling forward like a terrifying tsunami!

    Rumble¡­ The skies rumbled in fury. This represented the might of an entire dynasty. The centaurs moved so quickly that they appeared like dark shadows, leaving trails of scarlet light wherever they went. Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he tightened his grip around his bone umbre. His ears twitched gently, while his heart thumped with anxiety as the battle drew close to its most critical moments.

    Then, as soon as the centaurs crossed the 300 meter mark, Qin Ye suddenly snapped his eyes wide open.

    The sword in his hand was clearly no more than two meters long.

    Unfortunately, hundreds of centaurs were but a drop in the ocean, especially under the augmentation of the Censer of the Song Dynasty. Naturally, he felt a different kind of weight bearing down upon him!

    Military formation¡­ No wonder I¡¯ve been told this is a necessity in any war between underworlds! Qin Ye gritted his teeth. With a loud cry, he leapt right up into the sky and let himself loose. The surroundings turned pitch ck from the endless Yin energy pouring right out of his body. But, even then, from the ck sphere at the heart of the mountaintop would emerge an outpouring of vicious thrusts like a pouring rain that scattered indiscriminately ahead of him.

    He had managed to create a clearing through the encirclement of forces. But, unfortunately, the rest of the encirclement still remained.

    And what was even more terrifying was the fact that Qin Ye could only defend against the onught of troops from this very position! The rest of the centaurs were still charging up the hill with the sole aim of breaching the defences surrounding the Martyr¡¯s Shrine!

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me¡­ don¡¯t look at me!¡± One Sword One Mind murmured to himself like an ostrich with its head in the ground. Snot and tears were already pouring down his face by now. The centaurs whistling past his side, rushing forward under the glow of the head-turning celestial phenomenon. This was well beyond the realms of his ability, and he was scared out of his wits!

    ¡°Want to die?¡± Qin Ye lifted his chin with the de. In that instant, it suddenly dawned on Qin Ye how Arthis, the Harken and the Second King Yanluo must have felt when they were looking at him.

    ¡°Look at yourselves! Have you forgotten your identities after being locked up for just a few years in this ce?!¡±

    Pshk! The tip of his sword cut through the flesh of One Sword One Mind¡¯s throat. At once, One Sword One Mind screamed at the top of his voice, and he immediately poured every bit of true energy in his body into the talisman without reservation.

    Meanwhile, the centaurs were now no more than 10 meters from the entrance to the Martyr¡¯s Shrine!

    CHARGE!!!

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡± ¡°Phew¡­¡± The burst of power was followed by the ragged breaths of the survivors who were all gasping for breath. However, Qin Ye didn¡¯t rx in the slightest. He nced around at his surroundings, only to realize that the remnants of the bones that were flying around in the air were slowly regrouping and reassembling themselves. So long as thehermes remained unextinguished, they would soone back to life once more.

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth, ¡°How long more?¡±

    ¡°Besides, the endowment of the Heavenly Dao has its limits as well. The Yuan Dynasty was short lived, and the endowment of the Heavenly Dao cannot possibly be enduring as well! What they¡¯re after right now is an instant burst that will allow them to breach the defences of the Martyr¡¯s Shrine!¡±

    ¡°After all, you¡­ are more important than Ghost King Zhao.¡±

 Chapter 713: The Heroic Battle (5)

    <h4>Chapter 713: The Heroic Battle (5)</h4>

    If one were to describe their earlier assault as the raging seas, then their current assault would be more akin to a meteor shower. If the earlier assault was one that was orderly and backed by a strict adherence to their formations, then the present charge was one that waspletely mindless and chaotic, with the only goal in mind being the entrance to the Martyr¡¯s Shrine.

    T-t-t-t¡­ The survivors¡¯ teeth chattered as they gripped tightly the talismans in their hands. They couldn¡¯t help but close their eyes, because they didn¡¯t want to see the hellish sight before their very eyes. Yet, even then, they continued to pour everything they had into the talismans.

    Release the talisman now, and they would most certainly be trampled into the ground!

    One sword.

    How dare you demons act with such insolence before me?!

    One minuteter, thousands of centaurs were once again crushed to smithereens and sent scattering into aary belt of bones, drifting endlessly about as they sought each other out in a desperate attempt to reassemble once more.

    Faced with the choice between copse and death, they¡¯d chosen the former. The survivors looked far more haggard than before, and their hair had even begun to turn white. In fact, they had already overdrawn on their true energy, and had already begun to tap into their life force. Even though they were all on the verge of copse, they chose to continue to pour everyst bit of their strength into the talismans in their hands.

    Even a cornered rat would choose to fight on the verge of death - even at the cost of their own life force!

    Qin Ye swung his de for the umpteenth time, causing yet another wave of centaurs to copse with a bang. And then, the world suddenly fell silent.

    The horse¡¯s head peak was still surrounded by dense swirling Yin energy, upon which drifted the countless bones of the crumbling centaurs. Countless spots ofhermes were still darting about within the depths of the skies, like the twinkling stars in the night sky. But this time¡­ they no longer gathered together. At least, the rate of coalescence had dwindled substantially. Meanwhile, the clumps ofhermes pulsated wildly, almost as though they were all staring at Qin Ye in fear and trepidation.

    Click¡­ Kui Khan sat on a skeletal carriage beneath the group of Yuan Emperors¡¯ banners. His jaws dropped, and the corners of his eyes were twitching wildly as he slowly rose to his feet.

    Impossible¡­

    Strictly speaking, the Yuan Dynasty wasn¡¯t one that followed the beliefs of Tantra. Furthermore, given the brief existence of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as the dissatisfaction of their citizens during this time, it would be nigh impossible to draw upon the might of the Array of the Kundali Wisdom King, much less receive an added endowment of might from the Heavenly Dao. But the fact of the matter was that they still managed to activate it, and even draw upon the power of the Heavenly Dao. Perhaps it was the Censer of the Song Dynasty, or the Imperial Seal of the Yuan Dynasty, or the gathering of a dozen or so Yuan Emperors, or a confluence of all these factors. Whatever the case was, the fact remained that their forces were able to benefit from the divine powers of the Array of the Kundali Wisdom King. And the forces that were endowed with such powers were none other than the renowned God¡¯s Whip! Who could stand in their way?!

    Nobody across all of the East Continent and Europa.

    But, today, a single Emissary of Hell, and a true Abyssal prefect at that, stood tall as a rock at the top of the mountain, relentlessly repelling the march of the Golden Horde, so much so that¡­ they didn¡¯t even dare to return to life anymore?!

    They were afraid because the fact that they were immortal didn¡¯t change the fact that they would still experience pain. The man of valor standing at the peak of the mountain was a terrifying Emissary of Hell, one who possessed the ability to crush them to pieces time and again. He was akin to an insurmountable presence standing at the top of a mountain. To think that the valiant God¡¯s Whip, the elite of the Yuan Dynasty¡¯s cavalry, would one day recoil in fear and trepidation!

    Kui Khan shut his eyes. He wasn¡¯t too tall, but he was likewise dressed in a majestic robe etched with the stitchings of golden wings. His braided hair hung loosely over his shoulders, and a gold band iid with emeralds rested at the top of his head to keep his hair in ce. Most of the other Yuan Emperors looked almost as impressive.

    We once used to be an extension of the Heavenly Dao after all. The Yuan Dynasty was the strongest empire in the 13th century, and yet¡­ to think that there would be a day when we employ every means in our arsenal, yet to no avail.

    Could one man and a few Yin spirits truly keep God¡¯s Whip at bay?

    Kui Khan raised his hand.

    He refused to believe in destiny!

    The attendant next to him gritted his teeth and respectfully handed him a golden sword. As he moved, the other Yuan Emperors also began to shift their hands without a word, unsheathing the swords that hung right beside their waists. At once, over a dozen swords were unsheathed. This was thest hurrah of the entire Yuan Dynasty.

    Give it your all.

    This was the dignity of an empire that was once hailed as the greatest! There was no turning back now. And such an opportunity would onlye once in a lifetime.

    Whoosh!!! At once, the Yuan Emperors dove headlong into the fray without any hesitation. Likewise, Prefect-ss Yin energy erupted from Phagpa and the other Imperial Preceptor, before promptly coalescing into two gigantic faces formed out of Yin energy that roared wrathfully as it hurtled straight for the mountaintop!

    ¡°My god¡­¡± One of the survivors stared agape at thest hurrah of the Yuan Dynasty, but he could tell that the swords of the Yuan Emperors were all pointed straight towards Qin Ye. After all, the Yuan Emperors knew full well that so long as the Emissary of Hell perished, the rest of the survivors on the mountain would immediately lose all of their will to fight. Their instincts told them that the survivors were nothing to worry about.

    ¡°CHARGE!!!¡± With the Yuan Emperors joining the fray, the disheartened souls of the centaurs once again gained renewed fervor. At once, the vortex of Yin energy spun more powerfully than before, and the bones of the centaurs began to coalesce into the centaur skeletons once more. And as soon as they did, they immediately charged forward, following in the footsteps of their valiant masters that marched before them like indomitable warlords.

    ¡°Kiddo¡­ Can you hold on?!¡± The Harken¡¯s hair was fluttering wildly with the wind. The Yuan Dynasty forces were finally attacking without reservation, so much so that they could even feel an overbearing sensation of bloodthirstiness in the air.

    Instead, he took a deep breath and ced both hands to the ground. At once, the Porter Spirit behind him immediately opened his mouth and roared violently.

    The desert stopped moving for a moment, and then¡­ it exploded! Ryu Changmin¡¯s domain spread rapidly at once, while everything else transformed into a majestic stream of Yin energy that bore right into Qin Ye¡¯s sword.

    After all, he had a job to do.

    Strike first, and strike hard at the root of the problem. He hade a long way since then, so much so that he no longer entertained any thoughts of retreat right now.

    The glint of his sword brought a terrifying chill upon thends.

    There was no fancy flourish. It was a simple strike, albeit one filled with supreme majesty. Qin Ye had poured every bit of his heart and mind into this one simple attack, and it was one backed by the weight of his own philosophy for both himself and Hell. This was the strongest attack that Hell¡¯s god of death could muster right now.

    Everything went silent upon impact. One side represented the Heavenly Dao of a dynasty of ages past, while the other side represented the kingdom of a god of death. Neither appeared weaker than the other. Neither appeared to gain any ground. That said, the illusory face of Tengri appeared to crack slowly, peeling off bit by bit as it transformed into countless ck butterflies that were consumed by the onught of light. However¡­ it continued to hold strong!

    Rumble! The sand around Qin Ye¡¯s feet began to quiver and tremble. Meanwhile, his bamboo sword continued to ng as he swung it about furiously, repelling the attacks of the dozens of Yuan Emperors that were closing in on him. He could even see their hideous appearances by now.

    Qin Ye sighed in his heart. Had he been a Yama-King, then the battlefield would already be filled with the corpses of his opponent!

    I might¡­ not be able to hang in there after all¡­

    It¡¯s been almost four hours¡­

    Why the hell are you here in the first ce?!

    And it was right then when it happened.

    The light went out. Yin energy receded. Anxiety faded, and the tension of the climax vanished into thin air.

    ¡°Is this--...¡± The Harken froze, and then immediately turned back to the Martyr¡¯s Shrine with a shiver down its spine, ¡°This power¡­ is this¡­ is this¡­¡±

    The emptiness was filled with tense silence, until an authoritative voice spoke.

    Ancient and primordial, almost as though it was the voice of a god who spoke beings into existence.

    ¡°By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡±

 Chapter 714: Beyond Yama-King

    <h4>Chapter 714: Beyond Yama-King</h4>

    A beam of light drove the clouds of darkness away.

    The glorious beam of light drove away all darkness shrouding the horse¡¯s head peak, and the dwindling ck butterflies left dappled shadows on the desert of the mountaintop.

    It¡¯s over¡­

    The winners¡­ are neither Temujin nor Tengri¡­ but an ancient Yin spirit. To think that someone would one day defeat the alliance of a god and the emperors of an entire dynasty. How unbelievable¡­

    The Yuan Emperors stood right before him. Every single one of them was staring at the Martyr¡¯s Shrine with an abyss of emptiness in their hearts. Everyone knew that the dream of the evesting Yuan Dynasty had finallye to an end today.

    There was neither sadness nor resignation in their hearts. None of them felt like screaming in anger and rage.

    The Yuan Dynasty was ambitious, and rightly so. They once rode peerless throughout the Central ins, conqueringnds wherever they turned their sights to, until they became the hegemon of the world. But s, everything was as fleeting as a dream of a warm midsummer¡¯s night.

    In life, you might well have been an emperor, but in death, you¡¯re no more than a soul that is bound to submit to Hell¡¯s immutable authority.

    In the past, when facing Honda Tadakatsu in the Strait of Tsushima, Susa Boy during the Hungry Ghost Festival, or even the Confucian Family back in the Battle for Qufu, Qin Ye was never afraid of failure because he knew there was someone who always had his back. In fact, there were even times when he knew the Second King Yanluo was always watching him from the shadows, such as when he was acting in the dispute with the Russian Underworld. But this time was the first time when he had actually fully shouldered the burden as the King Yanluo of Hell and faced the incursion of rebel forces on his own.

    Nobody made any other moves as they turned their attention towards the Martyr¡¯s Shrine.

    Back in the Martyr¡¯s Shrine. Zhao Yun¡¯s body was covered with wounds. His armor was broken in even more ces than before, and these wounds on his body appeared so dark and grisly that they looked no different from a hell¡¯s rift, from which copious amounts of Yin energy poured out ceaselessly. His long, dark hair flowed gracefully in front of his eyes.

    It wasn¡¯t the body of a god.

    A divine lineage.

    A god of death.

    Just then, the Yin energy that was flowing gently from its crumbling body suddenly exploded violently, engulfing the entire horse¡¯s head peak in a mighty vortex!

    BOOM!!!

    It was so majestic and boundless that even the hair on the Harken¡¯s body began to stand on end. It woofed, and then immediately leapt onto Qin Ye¡¯s shoulders for a better perspective, ¡°This is¡­ virtue¡­ The endowment of virtue¡­ H-he¡¯s actually done it?!¡±

    Meanwhile, the dozen or so Yuan Emperors and the centaurs all stared nkly at the shrine. They wanted some closure. They wanted to see for themselves what kind of hero it was that had crushed their champion.

    A four-meter tall moundy in the middle of the field of corpses, and a single man sat at the top of this mound.

    He sat silently on top of the mound of corpses, propping his head up across his interlocking fingers as he gazed vigntly across the battlefield with eagle¡¯s eyes. Then, before anyone could say anything, the thousands of corpses around him spontaneously ignited withhermes, and then converged upon the man in a wild frenzy!

    Beep, beep, beep!!! The supernatural rms of the Northriver Province Special Investigations Department went off at once. The lights started out yellow, and then red, and then began to emit wisps of green smoke before it exploded into pieces.

    Special Investigations Department, Yan Capital. Beep, beep, beep!!! A man located deep underground opened his eyes and gazed upwards, ¡°What¡¯s this¡­¡±

    Boom!!! True energy erupted from his body, flinging the door to his room wide open, and revealing a long passageway leading up to his room. The two sides of the passageway were lined with soldiers standing at ten meter intervals. As soon as the door opened up, they immediately stood at attention and saluted in unison.

    ¡°I¡¯m aware.¡± Director Lei stood at approximately two meters tall, and yet he appeared to only be in histe thirties. His appearances were gruff, replete with a full beard and a crew cut hairstyle. Dressed in military uniform, he marched forward with a grim expression on his face, ¡°First of all, immediately notify the Special Investigations Department branch offices, and tell them that the instruments have malfunctioned.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Director Lei gnashed his teeth and gazed deeply at the skies, ¡°This level of Yin energy¡­ has never been detected before - not even in our records! Our instruments can only pick up Yama-ss levels of Yin energy, and this is the first time we¡¯ve detected Yin energy beyond that. This is Yin energy that has easily engulfed Cathay as a whole! And it¡¯s far stronger than any simtions of Yama-ss Yin energy that I¡¯ve experienced before!¡±

    ¡°Secondly, notify the old monk and the sword master immediately! And apply for ess to all satellite monitoring sources! I want to know the exact location of the Yin energy outburst!¡±

    ¡°Thirdly, I want you to pacify all investigators! And immediately activate the highest levels of alerts in the regions closest to the source of Yin energy, and evacuate all citizens. No need to furnish any reasons! Mobilize the military and the armed police to curb any resistance at once! And forget about their belongings! Lives are at stake!!¡±

    ¡°Yin Mountains, Chonggu County, Kalgan City! The chief of Northriver Province is there right now! But¡­ the situation seems ratherplex, and h-he has requested to speak directly with you!¡±

    ¡°Arrange for a helicopter to the Yin Mountains. You have five minutes.¡±

    The sight that they witnessed waspletely different from the usual sr eclipse. Rather, it was a spectacle of a lifetime.

    ¡°Oh, Tengri¡­¡± The shepherd knelt down onto the ground and sped his palms together in reverent worship.

    It was the descent of the Ghost King. All ghosts must bow in reverent worship.

    Elsewhere, the statue of Celestial Master Zhang suddenly opened his eyes. The candles beside him that had been lit for the longest time flickered softly as the master stared at the vault of the skies.

    Shaolin Temple. Several abbots stared up at the starry skies. The moon and the stars were dim and sparse, but what they saw was the movement of a shadowy, colossal hand that threatened to obscure all of the stars and swallow up the moon.

    It was still early in the morning, and the inte wasn¡¯t stirring with activity just yet. But within half an hour, the radios and public broadcasting stations throughout all urban areas, counties and townships broadcasted the same message at the same time, ¡°All citizens, please be at ease. A rareet is just passing by, and has just rushed past in close proximity to the moon. Scientists have named thiset the Jade Rabbit. Please enjoy this rare celestial spectacle¡­¡±

    The ancient battlefield, banners and corpses vanished at the same time.

    ¡°Brother Zhao!¡± Qin Ye skipped over, ¡°Did you seed?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d I haven¡¯t made a fool of myself.¡± Zhao Yun cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°The realm beyond Yama-King is truly difficult to describe. If not for the guidance of the Second King Yanluo of Hell, I would never have been able to make it to this ce. And even then, I¡¯m still miles away from where the Second King Yanluo was.¡±

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say a word.

    He couldn¡¯t even sense Zhao Yun¡¯s Yin energy right now! And when he first noticed Zhao Yun, he even mistook him for a living person! In fact¡­ Zhao Yun had a shadow!

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the time to be talking about these things.¡± Zhao Yun smiled and raised his hand, ¡°First, let us bring things to a closure here.¡±

    ¡°He deserves a grand funeral.¡±

 Chapter 715: Closure of an Era

    <h4>Chapter 715: Closure of an Era</h4>

    Whether centaur or Yuan Emperor or Imperial Preceptor, everyone felt the Yin energy in their bodiespletely seize up, almost as though they had beenpletely locked up by an external force. And then, the surrounding Yin energy slowly began to recede.

    And all of their weapons were aimed directly at horse¡¯s head peak. Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye, ¡°Do you want me to clear the zone?¡±

    There was no need.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t hide his form from the mortals at all. After all, now that he had already resolved to enter into negotiations with the mortal realm, it was better to allow the mortal realm a better understanding of how theherworld functioned.

    Zhao Yun nodded. At once, he turned back to the Mongol Yin spirits that were still standing around. A split secondter, the entire skies darkened.

    Qin Ye and the Harken nced over. A split secondter, the Harken eximed, ¡°Spatial transformation¡­ To think that I didn¡¯t sense the slightest bit of its activation at all!¡±

    ¡°Sir?¡± The attendant beside him reacted instinctively. But before he could say anything further, Lei Jun waved his hands dismissively at him. And all this while, Lei Jun continued to stare intently at the three Emissaries of Hell.

    And with such ease? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s almost as though he¡¯s ignoring the Heavenly Dao! No¡­ perhaps it might be more urate to say that the Heavenly Dao has simply given its nod of approval!

    But he wasn¡¯t given the time and space to marvel at the sight, because what soon followed was the emergence of a colossal hand formed fromhermes from the darkness around!

    Phagpa finally managed to bring his palms together once more, and he, too, shut his eyes in submission. Not a single other person in the entire army said a single word.

    They were now resigned to fate.

    Rumble¡­ The colossal hand rose slowly from the darkness. Meanwhile, Director Lei rested his head on his interlocking fingers, staring intently at the grand spectacle without even batting an eyelid. This was the realm of the dead, and the truth of the afterlife. Naturally, nobody noticed that the hero of the mortal realm was actually shivering at his calves.

    ¡°How frightening¡­ How absolutely terrifying¡­ Is this the true strength of Hell? Have they finally begun to recover the mortal realm proper? This is a good thing¡­ but¡­¡± Director Lei gnashed his teeth as he jolted right back to his senses, ¡°This power is well beyond the means of our government¡­¡±

    Director Lei wiped off the cold sweat on his palms, drew a deep breath, and then turned to his assistant, ¡°Have you taken photographs of this?¡±

    Director Lei¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°Don¡¯t miss a single detail!¡±

    Their exchange was naturally not known to Zhao Yun, Qin Ye and the Harken down below. Zhao Yun was as calm as ever. Everything he was doing lookedpletely natural to him right now. Just then, the five fingers that had emerged from the ground like five towering mountains finally came together, mping down hard on the Mongol forces around. Zhao Yun sighed softly, ¡°Vanish¡­¡±

    An earth-shattering sound erupted from the horse¡¯s head peak. At once, a second sun seemed to appear atop the mountaintop, zing with intense radiance, bringing with it the power to destroy both the heavens and the earth. Then, a split secondter, the sun exploded abruptly, sending shockwaves of interweaving light and shadow rippling out into the surroundings. It was almost as though the void in the sky was the surface of a tranquilke, and the sun had crashed violently onto its surface, sending terrifying waves rippling out into the distance. The darkness of the night faded away, reced instead by an ocean of light, just like the descent of a divine kingdom of light.

    When the dust finally settled after an inordinate amount of time, Lei Jun finally opened his eyes, only to be greeted by an astounding sight.

    No¡­ To be more precise, a substantial part of the Yin Mountains had vanishedpletely. Furthermore, what remained of it wasn¡¯t filled with crumbling rocks of the mountains or shattered splinters of trees, but everything had instead transformed into a desert that spanned tens of thousands of meters from end to end. And whaty right in the heart of this desert were traces of burial ground of the Yuan Dynasty of the past.

    Apart from the Yin spirit dressed in dazzling white armor, Instructor Qin, as well as the dog in his hand, the surroundings had beenpletely washed clean of all traces of the Mongols.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡± The assistant responded in a daze, and he stared aghast at the newly-formed desert in front of him as he continued, ¡°That¡­ doesn¡¯t seem too appropriate¡­¡±

    Such unrestrained might is dangerous! I need to understand their interests right now! Although the Sword Master and Master Chan Ming had both inquired about this before, he hadn¡¯t!

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye held the Harken and stroked its fur as he watched the helicopternd some distance away from where they were. Then, Director Lei marched over with a grave expression on his face and extended his hand, ¡°Director of the Special Investigations Department, and Contemporary Chief of the Divine Protectors, Lei Jun.¡±

    The corners of Lei Jun¡¯s eyes twitched.

    Did he regret it?

    But if he were given a chance at a do-over, he would still have chosen to do the same.

    Thus, there was nothing wrong with what he did from the perspective of the mortal realm. If anything, it would be the Emissaries of Hell who were at fault.

    Lei Jun drew a deep breath, and then bowed respectfully. These were mythical existences that were well beyond him. He didn¡¯t even bother to introduce himself to the Harken.

    Then, he turned his gaze to thest Yin spirit before him. Although he didn¡¯t understand the difference between a Yama-King and one who was beyond that, he could sense that this Emissary of Hell¡­ carried an aura that was simr to that of a god! He was clearly the most terrifying existence of the trio!

    The previous generations of Divine Protectors have never recorded an existence of such strength!

    Lei Jun bowed deeply - Ah, so it¡¯s Zhao--... Hang on a minute?!?!

    ¡°If you¡¯re thinking of the hero of the Battle of Changban, Zhao Zilong, then you¡¯re probably talking about the same person.¡± Qin Ye smiled.

    Is this the true strength of Hell?

    If Zhao Yun is here, who else are we going to see next? Liu Bei? Cao Cao? Or perhaps even the emperors of the great dynasties of the past? No¡­

    Qin Ye nodded slightly, ncing back at the burial grounds of the Yuan Emperors that had finally emerged after hundreds of years, ¡°The 16 Yuan Emperors, including Temujin himself, are all buried here. Their souls had been trapped here all this while, and they had transformed into terrifying Yin spirits. But¡­ everything is over now.¡±

    He might not be an Emissary of Hell, but even he was keenly aware that the higher one¡¯s status in life, the stronger one would tend to be in death. Earlier, given Zhao Yun¡¯s disy of terrifying might, he¡¯d overlooked the existence of the other Yin spirits around. Bute to think of it¡­

    And every single one of them perished under a single palm strike!

    No¡­ I¡¯ve got to expedite the negotiations between Hell and the mortal realm as quickly as I can! It¡¯s only at these high-level negotiations that I can suss out Hell¡¯s true interests. Otherwise, I can¡¯t even begin to consider what might happen if Hell decides to turn on us. This is a power that the government would never be able to keep under reins. If anything happens, nothing in this nation will be able to stop Hell¡¯s forces!

 Chapter 716: Cause and Effect (1)

    <h4>Chapter 716: Cause and Effect (1)</h4>

    This was an ancient-looking hall.

    The row of houses were guarded closely with a series of armed soldiers, all of whom carried live rounds with them. From time to time, there would even be women dressed in suits or Cathayan tunics patrolling the area silently. The grave expressions on their faces only deepened the air of sobriety around them.

    He coughed as he spoke. At once, an attendant behind immediately popped open a pill bottle with no markings on it and poured out a yellow pill for the man. The old man waved his hand and stared intently at Lei Jun.

    After all, anyone who worked for the nation¡¯s well-being and development deserved his utmost respect.

    The old man raised the cup of tea on the table and took a sip from it, ¡°Specifics.¡±

    The old man set down his teacup and tapped his fingers on the table, ¡°And what are your thoughts on this?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already seen the footage. That man¡­ is Zhao Yun, one of the legendary Ghost Kings of Hell. There¡¯s no way I would¡¯ve survived an attack as powerful as that. Chonggu County is located in Kalgan City, and given his speed, Yan Capital is no more than 10 minutes away. But¡­ Yan Capital remainedpletely unaffected by this entire episode. I think¡­¡±

    The old man nodded, ¡°Indeed. I concur. If Hell truly wanted to do something against the mortal realm, then I¡¯m afraid the entire government would already have been wipedpletely off the surface of the earth. But they said nothing of the sort. And that is in and of itself proof of their intentions - that Yin and Yang are but two sides of the same coin.¡±

    He took a deep breath and gazed out of the window, ¡°After all, anything we do right now might well affect the future negotiations¡­¡±

    In other words, this was the best state the nation had been in thest ten years. The old man shut his eyes, and his heartbeats quickened.

    ¡°Finally¡­ We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel¡­¡± The man opened his eyes after a long time, and then gazed deep into the open skies.

    Or perhaps their exchange might simply be recorded with a few short sentences.

    Everything was done to bring revival to the nation.

    Elsewhere, in an exquisitely-designed booth. Qin Ye fidgeted with his chopsticks anxiously, while the Harken tapped on Qin Ye¡¯s cellphone. Naturally, the Harken was on the pet channel.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t Brother Zhao here yet?¡± Qin Ye set down his chopsticks and sighed softly, ¡°Does he prefer Nipponese cuisine? Hey¡­¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m happy with this ce.¡± Just then, the door to the private booth opened up, and Zhao Yun marched in dressed in his camouge uniform.

    Some people looked like drill sergeants wearing camouge uniforms, while others¡­ with their bulging muscles, would cause hormones to abound with their camouge uniforms¡­

    Damn, that torso, those legs, and those muscles¡­ Why don¡¯t I exude the same air when I¡¯m dressed in uniform? Do clothes these days give people preferential treatment as well?!

    And then, he found Zhao Yun awkwardly wrestling his hand free of Qin Ye¡¯s grasp. At once he took three steps to the left, and then took his seat to the left of where Qin Ye was seated, ¡°King Yanluo, you¡­ You¡¯re too kind¡­¡±

    ¡°Naw, don¡¯t say that. I just feel a special affinity with you, just like how I¡¯ve seen my brother who passed on many years ago, and I can¡¯t help but get drawn closer to you¡­¡±

    Zhao Yun subconsciously shifted to a seat that was directly opposite Qin Ye.

    Then, just as the awkwardness in the room escted, there was a soft knock on the door, and a male waiter walked in, ¡°Sir, can we serve the dishes now?¡±

    ¡°King Yanluo.¡± Zhao Yun poured Qin Ye a cup of wine and raised it with both hands, ¡°Forgive me for not having called upon Hell earlier. I could sense it when the new Hell was first formed, but back then, I was already embroiled in a bitter tangle with the soul of Genghis Khan, so--¡­¡±

    ¡°This is all due to the ipetence of your humble servant here.¡±

    Zhao Yun lowered his head and gulped down the entire cup of wine. Then, he poured himself yet another cup of wine and held it over his head, ¡°King Yanluo, this is all on me. From now on--...¡±

    Zhao Yun nodded deeply, and once again gulped down his cup of wine, ¡°Then, if there¡¯s anything you need of me in the future, please do not hesitate to ask!¡±

    How dare you bully an honest man like this?!

    ¡°I¡¯m relieved with General Zhao¡¯s assurances.¡± Qin Ye sighed and took a sip from his cup of wine, before smiling radiantly, ¡°Come, let¡¯s eat, let¡¯s eat. Like I said, what does it matter? Besides, if there¡¯s anything that I¡¯m unable to do right now, then it would only be testament to my failure as King Yanluo. Don¡¯t worry about me. Even if I die, I¡¯ll make sure to set things up well for the next sessor in line! The gods of death of the other P4 underworlds don¡¯t scare me! Who cares if I¡¯m but an Abyssal Prefect right now. I¡¯m not afraid of death--...¡±

    The Harken nced up at the ceiling haplessly, subconsciously mming its tail down onto the surface of the table - Bloody hell, you may as well be telling him to sleep by your side every night!

    What a shameless King Yanluo! I can barely resist the urge to send him flying into oblivion¡­

    This was the Harken. Guardian of all things good in Hell.

    ¡°Is that¡­ a soul sphere?!¡± Qin Ye stared intently at it. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that there was the Censer of the Song Dynasty, as well as a dozen or so dormant Yin spirits resting within the soul sphere!

    Zhao Yun toyed with the soul sphere in his hand, ¡°The Censer of the Song Dynasty is engraved with the Array of the Kundali Wisdom King. So long as the array continues to be powered by an external source, anyone in this military formation would remain immortal and never perish. This is one of the top military formations that exists through all time. As for the Yuan Emperors¡­ there are far too many ways in which their souls can be used.¡±

    And as for energy sources?

    After all, there was still a massive vein of Yin spirit stones located right beneath Ashmound City!

    Qin Ye licked his lips and leaned back into his chair.

    Sea trade, and the negotiations with the mortal realm!

    ¡°General Zhao.¡± He took a sip of his wine cup, ¡°So, what in the world happened to you at the start?¡±

    ¡°How did Temujin¡¯s soul get to you back then? That doesn¡¯t seem too likely! And how did they manage to lure you into the heart of the Yin Mountains?¡±

 Chapter 717: Cause and Effect (2)

    <h4>Chapter 717: Cause and Effect (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye listened intently. He would soon have to step into the international arena after unifying Hell, and the more he knew, the better.

    ¡°This was a matter of top secret, and not a single other person was involved. Come to think of it, I would think it was also because the Second King Yanluo had already begun to feel rejection from the Heavenly Dao that he began to undertake such a course of action,ying the groundwork for the future¡­¡±

    Zhao Yun thought about it for a moment, ¡°Firstly, to advance to such a realm requires a certain measure of luck and fortune. After all, one of the prerequisites is to devour an evil ghost that carries with him a fragment of Heavenly Dao. To that end, the founding father of any dynasty can be said to be the executor of the Heavenly Dao of their dynasty, and that would mean he is in part the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao as well. But that also means that there are only a handful of Yin spirits who would allow one to fulfill these conditions. This is an opportunity that is hard toe by.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, I can sense that the Heavenly Dao has already detected my presence and begun to target me. However, since it hasn¡¯t outrightly rejected my will, I probably wouldn¡¯t be forced to ascend in the near future.¡±

    Zhao Yun gazed into the distance with some measure of reminiscence, ¡°Come to think of it, I think the Second King Yanluo must have detected that the Heavenly Dao was beginning to outrightly reject his existence back then, and that was what inspired him tomence works on the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Arts. After all, that would no doubt be the key topleting the Forbidden Arts. Thus, he summoned me to Zhenhai City in the Mongol Empire, saying that there¡¯s a location that is nketed with the aura of the Heavenly Dao, and filled with roiling, dense YIn energy, and asked me to investigate it further.¡±

    He took a deep breath, and his voice grew stern and somber, ¡°But what was most surprising about it all was the fact that Temujin¡¯s Tomb was constructed atop a bed of Resentment Crystals!¡±

    Qin Ye leaned back into his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ¡°Did your secret memorial bear the emblem of a six-petaled lotus flower by any chance?¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head lightly, and then sighed with exasperation.

    Everything wasing full circle.

    Instead, it was intercepted by the Confucian Family, one of the Eight Great ns of Hell!

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhao Yun nodded, ¡°The six-petaled lotus flower is the key to the seal on the door to Temujin¡¯s Tomb, and this emblem was formed by the condensation of the arrangement of Yin Talismans drawn from Temujin¡¯s Tomb into a simpler image. But if one reversed the technique used to condense it and blew it up once more, it would reveal the image of Tengri holding onto a lotus flower that I had found in the tomb. In other words, I was conveying two messages in this secret memorial of mine. On the one hand, it was to tell the Second King Yanluo of my discovery, and on the other hand, it¡¯s also a request for the Second King Yanluo to personally take action to decipher this set of Yin Talismans.¡±

    And the second thing they would¡¯ve realized was the existence of Resentment Crystals - and a lot of it at that! In fact, this is easily thergest Resentment Crystals mine in the world!

    And thus, they acted on their desires.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qin Ye tapped gently on the table - Zhao Yun must have returned and personally reported back to the Second King Yanluo. That¡¯s the only way the Second King Yanluo would¡¯ve learnt that the secret memorial was actually intercepted and wrongfully retained by one of the Eight Great ns. This was thest straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, and in his fit of anger, he made up his mind to raze everything to the ground so that things could start afresh.

    So, when the Second King Yanluo finally responded to Zhao Yun, he set out clearly the means used to activate the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art. Naturally, he thought to give the Eight Great ns one final chance, so he¡¯d sent it back by way of another secret memorial. Unfortunately, it was still stopped by the Confucian Family, and eventually passed on to Kong Mo.

    Having finally pieced the fragmented puzzles together, another query came to his mind, and he looked up at Zhao Yun once more, ¡°Brother Zhao, didn¡¯t you earlier mention that Genghis Khan¡¯s Tomb was originally located under Zhenhai City? Doesn¡¯t that mean that the person who shifted his tomb through a series of subterranean passageways and into thend of Cathay¡­ was actually you?¡±

    ¡°That said, Temujin¡¯s Tomb wasn¡¯t located in Zhenhai City. Rather, it was in Khuree. His tomb was incrediblyrge, with eight entrances in total, which represented the eight tribal patriarchs. In Tengrism, this would be represented by eight totems. Back then, when I discovered the main chamber where his tomb was located, I summoned everyone who was buried together with Genghis Khan and forced them to create an underground massage hundreds of kilometers long.¡±

    As expected¡­

    After all, Tantric Buddhism had only surfaced publicly in thetter parts of the Yuan Dynasty, when it became more proliferated among the nobles of the Yuan Dynasty. Furthermore, Temujin had never managed to im thends of Cathay in his time. Rather, it was his descendant, Kui Khan, who officially founded the Yuan Dynasty. Tantric Buddhism should never have been even part of the consideration for Temujin when he first passed on!

    Truth be told, Qin Ye had initially thought that these had been contributed in part by Phagpa, who arranged for various additions to be made in order to boast of his own merits, particrly when they arranged for Phagpa to be buried with Genghis Khan in death. This would exin the elements of Tantric Buddhism and Tengrism.

    Would Phagpa truly dare to alter Temujin¡¯s Tomb? Was he not afraid that Kui Khan would act ruthlessly against everything he had tirelessly worked to build up? Or was he so bold as to think that he could conceal these things from Kui Khan¡¯s watchful gaze?

    Because this tomb wasn¡¯t built by the Mongols at all. No. In fact, Qin Ye had never set foot in Temujin¡¯s Tomb! What they entered was the tomb of the descendants built by Zhao Zilong with the aid of the souls contained in Temujin¡¯s original tomb!

    However, there was one question that remained.

    ¡°It was determined by the Second King Yanluo.¡± Zhao Yun responded truthfully, ¡°Back then, his secret memorial in response was apanied by an oracle as well.¡±

    Silly child¡­ Do you know how badly you¡¯ve been tripped up? I can¡¯t even say that the Dark Lord has favoured you¡­

    Why Northriver Province of all ces?

    In other words, it was to unite Temujin¡¯s soul with the rest of his sessors!

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhao Yun cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°The Resentment Crystals are an importantmodity of the nation. Naturally, I couldn¡¯t afford to leave them in the Mongol Empire. But, in my haste, and in my desire not to alert other underworlds to what I was trying to do, I might have missed out on some of the Resentment Crystals. Coincidentally, Temujin¡¯s Tomb is the first great tomb to have been constructed directly above a bed of Resentment Crystals. There¡¯s never been something like that before, and we naturally don¡¯t know what kind of changes have already urred to his body. In order to preserve the status quo, I¡¯ve had no choice but to preserve the manner in which he was originally buried as well.¡±

    Cause and effect. Everything madeplete sense.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes softly and hesitated for a moment, ¡°Let me hazard a guess¡­ Could it be that, approximately 100 yearster, you received the Second King Yanluo¡¯s instructions to guard the ancient tomb until the Third King Yanluo appeared?¡±

    ¡°And then, after travelling the world for a bit, you returned to the Yin Mountains, only to be ambushed by a dozen Yuan Emperors, the two Imperial Preceptors, and Temujin¡¯s soul. Thus, you used the Red Lotus of the Purgatory to seal off the entire Chonggu County?¡±

    How ruthless¡­ Qin Ye chuckled bitterly to himself - The Second King Yanluo is truly ruthless.

    That way, it would be a toss up as to who woulde out on top. Either Zhao Yun advanced, or the Mongol Empire regained its footing in the world. However¡­ the Second King Yanluo knew all too well what kind of person Zhao Yun was.

    The Second King Yanluo had even calcted that the main battlefield would take ce atop the Yin Mountains, and not Temujin¡¯s Tomb. Thus, he had chosen to hide the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art in the tomb itself.

    Would I¡­ one day be like the Second King Yanluo as well?

    After all, while I can sympathize with Brother Zhao¡¯s innocence¡­ I¡¯d also say that the Second King Yanluo wasn¡¯t wrong in what he did.

 Chapter 718: Kong Moâ€™s Execution

    <h4>Chapter 718: Kong Mo''s Execution</h4>

    ¡°Well then, I guess that brings things to some form of closure. Ghost King Zhao, what do you n to do next?¡± Qin Ye smiled and picked up his cup of wine, ¡°On second thoughts, allow me to pose the question slightly differently. Ghost King Zhao¡­ how familiar are you with Forbidden Arts?¡±

    ¡°Not too shabby.¡± At once, Zhao Yun¡¯s expressions turned grave once more, ¡°Yin Talismans can be considered the building blocks of theherworld. You can think of it as akin to the protons, neutrons and electrons in the mortal realm. The more you know about these things, the quicker you can advance. But I have to add a caveat that understanding doesn¡¯t immediately trante to advancement in cultivation. Corrtion doesn¡¯t necessarily mean causation. That said, it still remains true that the deeper one¡¯s cultivation, the better their understanding of Yin Talismans.¡±

    ¡°And why is that so?¡± Qin Ye probed deeper. He was deeply interested in Yin Talismanology.

    ¡°Thus, most of the research was instead delegated to Hell¡¯s academicians, fellows, and other talents that we¡¯d earmarked from talent scouting programs. Even our Abyssal Prefects don¡¯t have the time to delve into these studies. After all, people are dying at every moment of the day, and there are a multitude of tasks to handle to keep Hell going as an underworld. Besides, it was already stated at the International Underworld Development Conference that the greatest issue to be addressed in the next 300 years or so would be energy-rted issues.¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯m just exining it in terms you would better understand. These are only things that I¡¯ve only recently been exposed to after all. In the past we used to call our equivalent of university schrs the Hanlin Academy. But don¡¯t you think it¡¯s better to keep with the times?¡± The Harken rolled its eyes, before turning to Zhao Yun, ¡°Back to the topic at hand, what I¡¯m trying to say is that even though General Zhao might not be a specialist in the field of Yin Talismanology, his understanding of Yin Talismans should still be the highest among all Yin spirits in Hell at present. Moreover, having been in close contact with the initiation module for such a long time, I think it¡¯s safe to say that he should have some insights on its constitution and functionality by now.¡±

    Qin Ye raised his ss and paused for a moment, and then sighed softly without saying anything.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The human bonemp hanging from the eaves of the carriage tinkled violently as the carriage sped along. Meanwhile, the carriage was tailed by hundreds of humanoid paper effigies riding on paper horses. That said, most of these paper effigies appeared to be somewhat iplete. Some appeared to be charred and burnt, while others appeared to have mutted limbs. All in all, the entire procession of troops appeared no different from an army that had been routed.

    ¡°Keep going!!¡± A shrill voice echoed from the chamber of the carriage. Then, a withered hand drew up the curtain slightly, and a skeleton that appeared to be wearing the loose skin of a man peeked out and gnashed his teeth.

    It had been ages since hisst change of skin. The current one no longer fitted him well, and it was clearlying loose at every part of the body. In fact, if one looked close enough, he would even be able to see ripples flowing along the surface of the loose skin as a result of the fierce wind battering against his body. However, he couldn¡¯t care less about these inconsequential details at this point. He stared intently behind him with scarlet dots in his eyes.

    These were the night hounds of the Daolord of the Asura, Qin Hui!

    Qufu had been lost, and his own army had been crushed in the confrontation with the Daolord of the Asura. Without reinforcements of the Mythic Pce of Reflections, he waspletely helpless against such a terrifying force!

    Is he looking to devour me?

    No¡­ He must¡¯ve gone mad! He¡¯s hell bent on killing me! He¡¯s even gone out of his way to chase me to the edge of this grand formation of the Second King Yanluo!

    Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t the time to be mulling over these things. After all, escape was of the utmost priority!

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Just you wait¡­ If I can¡¯t be a feudal lord of this glorious warring states era, then nobody can! The chaos in Hell¡­ is only just beginning!¡±

    Time passed by quickly. Thirty minutes¡­ One hour¡­ Then, finally, after an hour and a half, the evil ghosts travelling across the waters finally saw a glorious golden curtain of light appear across the seas. Countless intricate symbols of Yin Talismans glowed on its surface, just like the dazzling stars in the night sky.

    So long as the forces of Yomi-no-Kuni are around, then my problems will be resolved. And then, I¡¯ll at least be conferred an honorary title of a daimyo or higher!

    It was a woman.

    Her hair was scattered everywhere, and her head was massive. Her body was somewhat slender, save that her belly was disproportionatelyrge. Furthermore, her scarlet tongue hung loosely from her lips, all the way down to the surface of the seas. Her pupils were zing with scarlethermes, almost like two demon stars that shone down with foreboding omen.

    ¡°Hungry¡­ SO HUNGRY!!!¡±

    The behemoth stood right before the golden curtain of light, stirring up roaring waves that swept everywhere with terrifying destructive force. It was like a roaring rainstorm. Following that, a series of scarlethermes began to light up all over her arms, belly and head. And then, an unprecedented shriek of anguish filled the air.

    ¡°Daolord of the Hungry Ghost¡­ Su Daji¡­¡± Kong Mo¡¯s lips trembled, and his heart sank to rock bottom.

    How did I end up getting targeted by two Daolords?!

    ¡°Stop the carriage¡­¡± He clutched tightly at the wooden armrest, and then¡­ proceeded to kowtow to the ground.

    It was frustrating. He was already at the edge of the great formation, and Izanami was likely already waiting on the other side with Yue Wumu¡¯s soul. But unfortunately¡­ he couldn¡¯t take a further step from here.

    ¡°Your servant, Kong Mo, humbly greets the two esteemed daolords.¡± His heart thumped wildly as he bowed deeply to the ground, ¡°Your servant doesn¡¯t know how it might have transgressed or offended the two esteemed daolords, but I would be grateful if the daolords could be merciful and leave me a way out! I will find some way to repay this favour in the future!¡±

    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any reason to kill you.¡± Su Daji muttered softly, ¡°And there shouldn¡¯t have been any need for us to expend our resources hunting you down. After all, you¡¯re nothing more than a dog to the Confucian Family.¡±

    As if he could sense the confusion in his heart, Qin Hui sneered, ¡°Because someone else wants you dead.¡±

    In that instant, Kong Mo understood everything.

    ¡°The new Hell doesn¡¯t have anything right now! How many Abyssal Prefects do they have right now?! One? Possibly even none! Do you really have to defect to them?!¡±

    But before he could even go on, Su Daji immediately kicked him, sending his head flying off his body and hanging loosely from what remained of his skin. And then, Qin Hui opened his mouth and sucked hard. At once, a soul screamed and flew right out of Kong Mo¡¯s body and into his lips.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that he¡¯s already consolidating his army of 150,000 troops. He¡¯s getting ready to duke it with the new Hell.¡±

    Then, just as the two daolords were about to vanish into a wisp of Yin energy, Su Daji abruptly held up her hand, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    A cold sea breeze swept by, causing waves to crash on the surface of the ocean.

    They could vaguely make out a hazy sight just beyond the curtain of light!

    No! It¡¯s more than one! A fleet of ships! And a fleet of ghost ships at that?!

    What¡¯s a fleet of ghost ships doing at the edge of Cathayan waters?!

 Chapter 719: The Black Pearl

    <h4>Chapter 719: The ck Pearl</h4>

    These were Cathayan seas. Ships of theherworld would never be so bold as to enter this ce without Hell¡¯s permission. After all, they know full well that Hell would never allow ships to call in the Cathayan ports without first seeking an entry permit.

    Su Daji was just about to transform into a gust ofhergale to fly over when Qin Hui suddenly pulled her back, ¡°Hang on.¡±

    ¡°This is credit that has just fallen from the skies and right into ourps.¡±

    The golden curtain before their eyes was hardly opaque. Those on the inside could see everything outside clearly, while those on the outside could only see the mortal realm within. Everything of theherworld remainedpletely obscured by the golden light. As soon as they arrived, Qin Hui immediately turned to Su Daji with a gesture of silence, and then pointed to the sea.

    No. To be more precise, it wasn¡¯t so much a log than a piece of carved wood. Upon closer inspection, it almost looked to be a carved whale.

    The figure stood with a hunched back, and was wearing tattered clothes so torn that it could barely cover his entire body. He stood barefooted on the log. Clearly, this was no Cathayan Yin spirit, nor any Emissary of Hell.

    ¡°Beacon.¡± Su Daji¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°Themp in his hand is a beaconmp. But what exactly is he directing? A fleet of ships?¡±

    Whoosh! Seawater flowed off the surface of the galleon like massive waterfalls. From where they were, Qin Hui and Su Daji could see a multitude of skeletal sailors emerging from the whirlpool behind the galleon. The galleon¡¯s sails were covered in seaweed and shells, but they were promptly raised at once, revealing the emblems of skulls and bones.

    And the bow was etched with the carvings of a white whale.

    Su Daji recoiled with disbelief, ¡°This is the legend of the age of discovery and exploration. Legend had it was swallowed up by a great beast, and that the hundreds of sailors on board had all be ves to the great beast. Their whereabouts have bepletely lost to time. How could they have ended up here?¡±

    Then, just as the ck Pearl finally settled down on the surface of the seas, the loud re of a horn sounded, reverberating endlessly into the waters around. Following that, a massive tail emerged from the darkness in the distance and then mmed its huge tail down onto the surface of the waters!

    Apletely transparent fish.

    ¡°Alkebn Undead Fish.¡± Su Daji¡¯s lips parted, and she frowned in confusion, ¡°In the Alkebn lore, their gods were the ones who first made creatures in the seas. Who would¡¯ve thought that these things would still be around? It must have been more than 10,000 years since the time of its creation until now! Do they seriously exist?¡±

    ¡°ying games.¡± Qin Hui snickered softly, and his body vanished from the spot. When he next appeared, he was already located on the other side of the golden curtain where the Alkebn fleet was. His movements were so quick that not even Su Daji could react in time. Instead, she simply clenched her fists tightly and pursed her lips.

    We still bear the status of evil ghosts, not Emissary of Hells!

    ¡°Identify yourself and your purpose here. Are you aware that it is a crime to enter our territorial waters uninvited?¡± Qin Hui¡¯s voice was stern and somber. 13 Alkebn ships lit up at once in response. Clearly, none of them had expected someone to have already been waiting for them here. After a minute of tense silence, a voice finally responded, ¡°Emissary of Hell?¡±

    Abyssal Prefect!

    The man dressed in animal skin stepped out with a golden scroll tied up using a scarlet string. As soon as the scarlet string was undone, the scroll immediately shed with dazzling golden light, and then went straight through the Array of the Nine Gods and into Qin Hui¡¯s hands.

    Trade route¡­

    And the first shipment already contains over 20 ships? Are there more hidden in the shadows? No¡­ when did he manage to do this? How did he manage to do this?!

    As an Abyssal Prefect that had been trapped beneath the six paths of reincarnation, he knew all too well what sea trade meant to the development of an underworld. In fact, one might describe this as the turbocharger that would give Hell the boost it needed on the highway of development!

    The two exchanged an awkward nce for the third time. And this time, not only was there shock and horror in their hearts, there was even a trace of relief.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Once Hell is back on track, there¡¯s simply no stopping them.¡±

    The new Hell¡¯s rate of development is simply unbelievable. Granted, they might have been springboarded by the presence of ready-made cities, but the fact that they¡¯re able to re-establish sea trade means that the reversion to Hell¡¯s heyday is practically on the horizon. It¡¯s truly a good thing we submitted when we did¡­ Dong Zhuo, you old fool¡­

    With that, they promptly took their leave and made a beeline straight back to the coast.

    After an inordinate amount of time, Su Daji suddenly quipped, ¡°I just recalled that you still have an army of 100,000 Yin spirits, don¡¯t you? That¡¯s just as well, because I¡¯ve got the same number under my charge as well.¡±

    Su Daji took a deep breath, ¡°Given Hell¡¯s rate of growth, it¡¯s not going to take the new Hell more than five years to muster an army of that size! Qin Hui, don¡¯t you think that¡­ our token of peace-offering to Hell¡­ is somewhatcking?¡±

    ¡°Would that suffice?¡±

    ¡°Opportunities must be seized by the horns.¡±

    Defect now, and the new Hell might still have some use for them. But if they dallied for even a few more years, then perhaps the only use Hell might have of them is to banish them straight to the depths of the six paths of reincarnation once more!

    ¡°Is this Ashmound City?¡± Zhao Yun surveyed the sprawling city before him with great interest, ¡°But it¡¯s not real enough. As expected, this truly is the Mythic Pce of Reflections. What a pity. There used to be Eight Great ns of Hell, each of which even had three core artifacts on which their entire n was built. Too bad it¡¯s all no more than a fragment of history now.¡±

    Not even the least of the Eight Great ns should be made light of. For instance, the city located at the edge of the Province of Bod used to be under the charge of the Zhao n.

    Back then, when the coalition of seven underworlds joined forces and besieged Hell, the Zhao n was the ones who first held back the hordes of armies pouring out of the Aegyptian Underworld. Everything was clearly recorded in the annals of Hell¡¯s history.

    Nobody said a word as they flew through the city. Zhao Yun was taking in the extent of Ashmound City¡¯s development, while Qin Ye was observing the changes that had taken ce since he¡¯dst been there.

    But as they drew closer to the city tower in the middle of the city, Qin Ye slowly began to furrow his brows.

    Qin Ye shook his head.

    He could see that the stores by the roads were open, and yet there weren¡¯t many people entering or leaving the stores. Upon closer inspection, Qin Ye could even see that most of the shelves were nearly empty. Meanwhile, there were a couple of merchants who would use loudspeakers to advertise the newest products that were soon about to hit the shelves, and countless Yin spirits would be gathered there at once.

    After all, Ashmound City couldn¡¯t truly be said to be self-sufficient, especially when it came to the production of many goods. After all, many of the new industries that had just been founded were still in their nascent stages, and it would take them at least a decade before things finally took off¡­ at least, in the absence of arge injection of supplies.

    Or through their negotiations with the mortal realm.

    ¡°You daree back now?!¡± Arthis mmed down hard on her table and shot to her feet at once, ¡°You--...¡±

    Her gaze drifted past Qin Ye¡¯s inconsequential figure andnded directly on Zhao Yun¡¯s body.

    Zhao Yun: ??????

 Chapter 720: Ashmound Port

    <h4>Chapter 720: Ashmound Port</h4>

    Forget it¡­ I guess this is what happens when older women meet the idol of their dreams. This is a price I¡¯ve got to pay for having Zhao Yun around¡­ But before Qin Ye could even go on in that train of thought, Arthis began to march down the aisle towards Zhao Yun, just like she was waltzing down the catwalk, twisting her waist and striking elegant poses.

    He searched through his mind - Who¡¯s this supposed to be? My record is rather clean. After all, I¡¯d only been intimately engaged with the same few women in the past, so¡­ who exactly is this?!

    Qin Ye watched coldly as a certain silicone doll began to make her y.

    At once, Arthis fell right straight into his embrace, and she clutched tightly at his bulging biceps and nestled her head into his muscr bosom, revealing a look of great contentment, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t remember me¡­ but there weren¡¯t many survivors back then, and to the best of my memory, I was the only female Emissary of Hell around¡­¡±

    Sister, you¡¯re ying a dangerous game over here¡­

    But before he could even go on, he was promptly interrupted with Arthis¡¯ soft voice, ¡°Please, have some tea.¡± At some point, she had already made a cup of tea, and was now personally offering it up to Zhao Yun with great elegance, ¡°This is a specialty tea from Ashmound City. You must be tired after walking for such a long time.¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened. He could¡¯ve sworn that he saw her mouth the words ¡°do not disturb¡± to him earlier.

    ¡°Do you know¡­¡± Arthis continued to stare intently at Zhao Yun, bringing her gaze from ZHao Yun¡¯s eyes, to his shoulders, then down to his chest, his naval, and then¡­ as soon as she heard Qin Ye¡¯s question, she chuckled bitterly, ¡°Do you know how hard things have been over thesest few months?¡±

    Qin Ye paused for a moment, and then stared at Arthis.

    How did this silicone woman actually know about economic indicators such as the Purchasing Managers¡¯ Indices? I can¡¯t ept this. Oh, and hang on, she doesn¡¯t even have the looks of her silicone doll right now¡­

    Ignoring Qin Ye¡¯s look of disdain, she put on a pair of ck-framed sses,pleting the look of apetent intellectual as she exined, ¡°The manufacturing industry continues to underperform. The schrs believe that we¡¯ll soon be entering a harsh period of winter for the manufacturing industry, but this is only expected to rebound and take a turn for the better in due course. If we stay the course now, we can expect the manufacturing industry and the light industry to both show a significant upturn in the trends, either at the second half of next year, or the start of the year after. But for now, we¡¯re still stuck in the investment period, where firms arergely focused on construction, infrastructure, talent-scouting, market research and other ground work. In other words, it¡¯s not quite time for the harvest just yet.¡±

    ¡°The Construction Corps have already ventured out into the Eastmount Province, but their search for raw materials isn¡¯t something that can bepleted in just a few months. The list of raw materials that have already been found have been ced on your desk. You¡¯ll have to go through these lists and allocate the resources ordingly, as well as make arrangements of the exact volume to be excavated over a period of time, as well as build the necessary processing nts. These are all things that will need your approval.¡±

    Qin Ye could sense his hair standing on end as he heard Arthis exin everything in an uncharacteristic fashion.

    But Arthis couldn¡¯t be bothered with the matter that her King Yanluo was currently preupied with. Instead, she simply pointed to another document on the desk, ¡°The rate of loan takeups is alsonguishing. Our central bank has already issued the first batch of its low-interest loans, but the number of Yin spirits who have taken up our offer amounts to less than a thousand. To that end, we¡¯ve done a brief check on our census, and we¡¯ve discovered that there are a grand total of 30,000 people who used to be part of the management ofrge or medium sized enterprises back while they were still alive. The fact that we have such low loan takeup rates indicates that they simplyck confidence in the prospects of Ashmound City¡¯s manufacturing and other light industries.¡±

    With that, she stood to the side and gave Qin Ye space to mull over his own thoughts. Like a typical secretary, she bowed deeply and then muttered softly, ¡°Please give us your guidance, esteemed King Yanluo.¡±

    Qin Ye picked up the dockets of information and began to read through their contents. That said, he couldn¡¯t help but quip to the Harken on the side, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with her? Did Zhao Yun¡¯s presence trigger her too much? This isn¡¯t like her at all! I¡¯m not used to how she is right now¡­¡±

    The Harken leapt right up to his shoulder and then lifted his chin towards Zhao Yun, who was reading other documents on the sofa some distance away, ¡°Perhaps the arrival of her idol might have unlocked hertent intelligence. After all, is there anyone who doesn¡¯t like apetent and attractive woman? Tsk¡­ Why didn¡¯t I notice this side of her before?¡±

    He was just about to address Qin Ye as Brother Qin when he noticed Zhao Yun seated on the sofa. At once, he changed tacts, ¡°Yanluo Qin, the Daolord of the Asura and the Daolord of the Hungry Ghost humbly requests an audience with you.¡±

    ¡°Kong Mo has been taken down.¡± Wang Chenghao bowed, ¡°Additionally, they have urgent business for which they¡¯re seeking an audience with Your Excellency. They are currently located in Ashmound Port right now.¡±

    At once, the frustrations in his heart vanished in a sh, and he asked with a somber tone of voice, ¡°How¡¯s the construction of the porting along?¡±

    For instance, he had asked for a variety of ores, stics, as well as other forms of production-line rted resources. Perhaps the first shipment might not be able to satiate the demand in Eastmount Province, but so long as he could satisfy the pent-up demand in Ashmound City, that would be sufficient!

    And as for the rest of the underworld, that would all depend on the rate at which Hell could reim all of its lost territory, as well as how smooth his negotiations with the mortal realm would go.

    Qin Ye frowned slightly, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that the bigger the port, the better? This is going to be the new Hell¡¯s first port, and the face that other underworlds are going to recognize us by. We simply can¡¯t afford to give people the wrong impression!¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that the construction of a port is just like the construction of any other building in Hell? Wrong! Those were modelled directly after the buildings in the old Fengdu Necropolis, and we just happened to have the blueprints on hand. Let me put it in simpler terms. Let¡¯s say you can use magic to suspend a huge stone in the air and cut it up into bricks of equal sizes. Do you think you¡¯ll be able to construct an arena right away?¡±

    Tap, tap¡­ Qin Ye gently tapped his fingers on the table. Secondster, he stood up, ¡°Brother Zhao, Mr Harken,e. Let¡¯s go take a look.¡±

    Not a single one of them objected.

    Originally, this should have been a boundless beach - almost a travel destination of sorts. But now, everything was built over with rows of piers lined up and waiting for the arrival of merchant ships. To that end, there were easily at least 50 piers!

    Had it been someone else, the design of the docks would have been far inferior to this. After all, there were too many things to be considered, including the location of aisles, the cargo channels, the size of the ships, the width of the roads, the load-bearing factor of the paths, the overall aesthetics, the warehouse areas, the floor of traffic, amodation, and so on and so forth. Without the experience of someone adept at designing a small city, it would be impossible to design a harbour worthy of Hell¡¯s name like this.

    He would¡¯ve forgotten about their existence by now, if not for the fact that he saw them today.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Merit¡­ We¡¯re on the cusp of a great merit! How could we not personallye to im this credit for ourselves?

    What a familiar voice¡­

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Su Daji¡¯s eyes twitched at the corners. Then, two secondster, she shuddered all over, and immediatelyy prostrate on the ground, screaming at the top of her voice, ¡°Great sinner, Su Daji, humbly greets the esteemed Ghost King Zhao!!!¡±

    That¡¯s right¡­ I remember him¡­

    Qin Hui¡¯s hands trembled violently, and the scroll in his hand fell to the ground as well. Sixfold Ghost King¡­ They were the ones who had captured us and dragged us back to Hell in the first ce! The terror was engraved so deeply in his soul that his mind instantly went nk, and he instinctively flopped to the ground just like Su Daji, ¡°G-g-g-great sinner, Qin Hui, humbly greets the esteemed Ghost King Zhao!!¡±

 Chapter 721: Allegiance of the Daolords

    <h4>Chapter 721: Allegiance of the Daolords</h4>

    Rumble¡­ Yin energy filled the air, dyeing the skies ck like an ever-spreading gue.

    Gu Qing, Zu Chongzhi and the others stood at the front of the port. Even though the waves of Yin energy were boundless and majestic, it didn¡¯t feel terrifying to them in the slightest. In fact, it even felt as though a warm spring breeze was embracing their entire being. Zhang Heng did a double take in the skies, and then cupped his fists and bowed respectfully, ¡°Yama-King¡­ This is a new Yama-King, but his aura feels somewhat¡­ familiar. He¡¯s probably someone that we¡¯re already acquainted with.¡±

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Li Chun¡¯s brows twitched slightly - Such unbridled, majestic Yin energy¡­ This¡­ is probably one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings!

    Are there even still Ghost Kings left behind in this world?!

    ¡°Greetings, King Yanluo! Congrattions for the return of the Ghost King!!¡± The schrs on the ground greeted with great vigor and anticipation. Zhao Yun waved his hand, and the schrs immediately felt an invisible hand lift them slightly from the ground. Zhao Yun smiled, ¡°Everyone, thank you for your hard work thus far.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Zhang Heng stroked his beard gently as he beamed like the morning sun, ¡°Hell deserves to stand at the top of the world. So what if the old Hell has copsed? We were able to shed the deadweight as a result of that! The new Hell will rise up even stronger than before!¡±

    As far as the talents were concerned, there was the mythical Harken, Arthis, the legendary Zhao Yun, and the other schrs including Zhang Heng and Zu Chongchi, all of whom are famous in their own rights. The new Hell might be somewhat small for the quality of these talents right now, but it wouldn¡¯t be long before they could be dispatched to various parts of Hell as provincial leaders and the like!

    Things are only going to get better from here¡­ Qin Ye shut his eyes and relished in these thoughts. His heart thumped wildly, and he took several deep breaths to calm his heart and mind down.

    Revival was imminent!

    Laugh¡­ugh all you want¡­ After all, you¡¯re not going to beughing for too much longer now¡­

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t get too carried away, and he soon regained hisposure. It was fine to have thoughts and ambitions, but what was more important was how to put his ns into motion.

    Almost as though they¡¯d sensed Qin Ye¡¯s gaze shifting towards them, Su Daji promptly broke the silence, ¡°G-g-g-greetings Yanluo Qin! G-g-g-great sinner Su Daji humbly seeks your f-f-forgiveness!!!¡±

    Just then, Zhao Zilong interrupted him, ¡°Qin Hui, Su Daji, do you still remember me?¡±

    Qin Ye marched straight past them with his entourage in tow. Meanwhile, the two ghostsy prostrate on the ground, pleading desperately for their lives.

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    They had dallied a little too much in their defection.

    It hadn¡¯t been too long ago that the King Yanluo of Hell had to speak cautiously to them, and yet, he already had them dancing in the palm of his hand right now!

    The pavilion covered an enormous area spanning an area of almost 1,000 meters in diameter. There were three floors, and the que that hung right in the middle was etched with the words ¡°Yellow Springs Pavilion¡±. A couplet ran down the pirs of both sides, stating on the left ¡°Gather all treasures of theherworld¡±, and on the right ¡°rue merits for all eternity¡±.

    ¡°The interior is designed in ordance with the style of the Ming Dynasty, albeit adapted slightly to integrate the ir of modern style that is popr in the Insignia Province right now.¡± Gu Qing exined, ¡°They were quite well-informed of the matters of soft furnishings, and most of these that you see now are artifacts that we have hand-picked from the Zhu n¡¯s treasure trove. I¡¯d taken liberties with that to show you what this ce could look like. But if you dislike it, we can put them right back where they were.¡±

    He turned around and gestured for everyone to take a seat, ¡°Ashmound Port is soon going to be open to the world. The more extravagant it looks, the better. There¡¯s no need to hold back in this regard. Go ahead and use as much of our resources as you want! You have my permission to take anything you need from the treasure trove¡­ Is the inventory list out?¡±

    Qin Ye looked up at Wang One Tail in surprise.

    ¡°Well done.¡± He picked up a cup of tea and took a sip from it.

    It was warm to the touch, and left a lingering fragrance in his lips. The most valuable things in theherworld were invariably things that gave Yin spirits the feeling of warmth, be it food, drinks or types of entertainment.

    No wonder they¡¯re called one of the Eight Great ns¡­ He sighed softly, and then nodded at Wang Chenghao, ¡°Continue.¡±

    Zu Chongzhi nodded slightly, ¡°These are the conclusions of Brother Wu Daozi. He believes that an uplift of around 30% is required to urately reflect their true market value at this point in time. In other words, we¡¯re talking about goods that are somewhere in the region of 100 trillion. This is no different from Cathay¡¯s GDPst year. Lord Qin, the Longxing Temple is truly a godsend!¡±

    ¡°Then, that leaves the final variable of howrge the iing fleets are going to be.¡± Qin Ye rubbed his chin, ¡°Ashmound Port isn¡¯t small, but we¡¯re talking about reparations of the Russian Underworld, as well as trade with the various tribes of the Alkebn Underworlds. The iing fleet of merchant ships cannot possibly be small in number. This is going to be the first port of the new Hell. We absolutely cannot afford to open up in acklustre fashion and be theughingstock of theherworld.¡±

    A thought suddenly urred to Qin Ye - Since when did this government of mine start speaking with such formality and titudes?

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qin Hui kowtowed deeply, and proceeded to keep his head bowed low even though there were a number of Judges, Hellguards and even Soul Hunters around, ¡°Two days ago, Su Daji and I joined hands and hunted down the great sinner Kong Mo, executing him right at the edge of the Array of the Nine Gods. But it just so happened--...¡±

    Bloody hell?!

    You¡­ Su Daji, how dare you betray me!

    I was just catching my breath to sort through my thoughts! Are you women just as garrulous as the other?

 Chapter 722: Meeting at the Ashmound Port (1)

    <h4>Chapter 722: Meeting at the Ashmound Port (1)</h4>

    You want to talk to me about being shameless? Oh, where do we even begin¡­

    Qin Ye naturally wasn¡¯t aware of the tension between the two daolords. At least, he could hardly be bothered about existences below the standing of Yama-Kings. He lifted his teacup to his lip and took a sip from it, before nodding at the two, ¡°And, then?¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, once the docks have properly beenunched, the fleets that arrive in future can be managed properly, and we probably wouldn¡¯t see as many ships at one go. In short, Ashmound Port as it stands is more than sufficient for the near future. Congrattions, King Yanluo, on the sessfulunch of Hell¡¯s port!¡±

    Qin Hui stared at her,pletely bbergasted.

    I¡¯ve actually lost to her in this grandpetition of shamelessness?!

    Qin Ye received it, but didn¡¯t open it immediately. Instead, he simply held it in his hands, before beckoning to a young man standing right beside Gu Qing, ¡°You¡¯re Scribe Xu Changan, aren¡¯t you? Here¡¯s a task for you. Within the day, I¡¯d like the full particrs of the Alkebn fleet that is waiting out there, including the type of the ship, the draft depth of the hull, the size of the ship, and the manifesto of the personnel on board.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Su Daji and Qin Hui breathed a sigh of relief, before bowing deeply as they took their leave. Then, as soon as they turned the corner, they red deeply at each other, and then went their own ways with a soft humph.

    We¡¯re friends no longer!

    Everyone took their leave, and Wang Chenghao heaved a sigh of relief. But just as he was about to stand up and stretch his arms, Qin Ye immediately opened up the scroll, ¡°Bring me the cup of tea.¡±

    Do you not love me anymore?!

    Qin Ye looked up and blinked vacantly for several seconds, before realization dawned on him, ¡°Bring me that pleasing cup of tea.¡±

    I¡¯ve got no words.

    ¡°And exactly are they supposed to report to Hell from the mortal realm?¡± Wang Chenghao responded.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say all of these things earlier?¡±

    ¡°But¡­ Ashmound City has only 10,000 troops right now. What are we going to do about the army that assembles outside of its borders?¡±

    It was a test.

    200,000 Yin soldiers without the backing of a military formation¡­ The Harken can easily put them in their ce alone. And that¡¯s not even considering the presence of the war machine, Zhao Zilong!

    Wang One Tail gasped, ¡°Are you going to--...¡±

    Wang Chenghao sulked as he slunk away.

    ¡°Shall we take a walk?¡± Qin Ye revealed a lofty smile on his face, ¡°Speaking of which, I¡¯ve not taken a good look at the piers in these docks.¡±

    She was acting like a lovebird in front of Ghost King Zhao!

    This¡­ this is enough!!!

    ¡°Furthermore, there are also different ways in which the wharves can be connected to the shores. Inmon pance, we call this the fullform type and the drawbridge type. The fullform type simply refers to aplete connection between the wharf and the shore, maximizing connectivity between the wharves and the warehouses and thereby facilitating loading and unloading speeds. Meanwhile, the drawbridge type wharf uses bridges and tforms to connect the wharves to the shore where the warehouses are located. Breakout jetties are mainly used in seaports, and there are also various different ssifications to them--¡­¡±

    Gu Qing promptly responded, ¡°Over the course of thest few months, we¡¯ve trained approximately 500 ghosts to take on various roles around these parts¡­¡±

    That¡¯s insufficient.

    Gu Qing naturally knew the concerns weighing on Qin Ye¡¯s mind, and he immediately continued, ¡°There are currently also two transportpanies registered with our register ofpanies, and each of them employs approximately 200 ghosts.¡±

    Zhang Heng sighed, ¡°They¡¯re worried.¡±

    Qin Ye shook his head, ¡°Then, what about the news about the negotiations with the mortal realm? Haven¡¯t they heard any news about that? So long as the negotiations go well, we¡¯re easily talking about decades of work, if not more. Furthermore¡­¡±

    ¡°So-so.¡± Li Chun shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s the only paper around, so it won¡¯t really ever die down. But you can¡¯t say it¡¯s doing particrly well either. After all, Ashmound City is a small city, and there simply isn¡¯t enough news to sustain the appetite of its citizens here. That said, the leaders of Hell¡¯s Media Group are clever, and they know full well that this is only a short period of lull before the state of development kicks into high gear. Things will only get better as Hell expands. And then, armed with their first mover¡¯s advantage, nobody would be able to cut them out of the lion¡¯s share of the media pie. Therefore, even though the benefits aren¡¯t spectacr, they haven¡¯t cut any numbers from theirpanies just yet.¡±

    Nobody said a word.

    ¡°General Zhao.¡± Qin Ye abruptly changed the topic once more, ¡°Do you have any spells or techniques that allow us to record something that happens, and then y it back on some form of projection?¡±

    ¡°And if you were the one using it, how long can you sustain it for?¡±

    ¡°Excellent¡­¡± Qin Ye licked his lips, and then turned back to everyone, ¡°As far as Ashmound City is concerned, I believe that we¡¯ve not had a general assembly ever since the Hungry Ghost Festivals, have we?¡±

    They were all intellectuals, and they were naturally able to put two and two together to deduce what Qin Ye was getting at. Zu Chongzhi immediately stepped forward and spoke with a bright gleam in his eyes, ¡°Are you nning to¡­ celebrate in Ashmound City theunch of Ashmound Port?¡±

    Excellent idea!

    What is this?

    How much were such sales worth in the mortal realm?

    Sure, theherworld might not beparable in size just yet, but everyone had to start somewhere!

    ¡°This is the full inventory of the goods brought by the Alkebn fleet.¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, and the scroll unfurled in the air, ¡°Crafts, jewellery, essories of all kinds, leather, and clothes. Crafts, household goods and jewellery can be sold directly, while the raw materials, leather, minerals and seeds will be bargaining ships in our possession. Then, while the citizens go mad spending all of their hard earned money, we¡¯ll convene talks with banks and manufacturers and sell these materials to them at wholesale prices, 30% off the retail prices!¡±

    Qin Ye smiled and retracted his gaze, ¡°No¡­ we¡¯re not quite there yet.¡±

    Zhao Yun¡¯s eyes flickered wildly, ¡°Are you saying that¡­ this isn¡¯t just for Hell¡¯s internal prosperity, but also¡­ for the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to leave an impression on the mortal realm, so that they can witness the prosperity of the new Hell?! You¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re essentiallyying the foundation for the negotiation between Hell and the mortal realm!¡±

 Chapter 723: Meeting at the Ashmound Port (2)

    <h4>Chapter 723: Meeting at the Ashmound Port (2)</h4>

    Their task was to record everything their master did, including every word that was spoken, and every deed that was done, lest anything be forgotten.

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t say much more. Instead, they simply walked along the docks, taking in the sights and the sounds around, allowing it to wash away any anxieties in their hearts.

    ¡°That would be sufficient.¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°We wouldn¡¯t want to be giving off the wrong impression that Hell is ready to return to the international arena anyway. Meanwhile, like you¡¯ve mentioned, there¡¯s clearly someone more anxious than us about the conclusion of thest supernatural incident at the Yin mountains.¡±

    ¡°What we need most right now is to show them Hell¡¯s might and influence, and the works that we¡¯ve been doing to date. Every bargaining chip is just as important as any other. And to that end, the peace and stability of seven provinces is the greatest bargaining chip we have on hand. These are our trump cards to dispel all thoughts in their minds and prove to them that Hell is going to make good on its word!¡±

    Qin Ye went on, ¡°Moreover, there will be several other asions when we will have to cooperate with the mortal realm. Therefore, it¡¯s extremely important to start off on the right foot. For instance¡­ when we actuallymence research and development of Forbidden Arts.¡±

    Qin Ye nodded with approval.

    Qin Ye red at him.

    What¡¯s up with the talk about sustainability these days?

    Zu Chongzhi frowned slightly, ¡°Forbidden Arts¡­ My Lord, if you¡¯re considering Forbidden Arts, might I suggest a trip to the old Fengdu Necropolis? Though it might be swamped with blight vermin right now, perhaps--...¡±

    He nced at Zhao Yun, ¡°No. It¡¯s still too early to say these things right now. I¡¯ll let you in on more of these ns of mine in due course. You¡¯d best be prepared not to stare aghast at me at that time. But for now, what¡¯s more important is to focus on our sea trade and external diplomacy. After all, this will constitute the first impression we¡¯re leaving on others ever since the founding of the nation. Anyone who makes a mistake will have to answer directly to me!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The clear liquid flowed smoothly out of the bottle and right into his lips. He nced around at the fleet of ships around, at the skeletons scuttling on board each of the ships, and then to the Yin beasts with pulsating mes in their eyes. Then, he sighed.

    He didn¡¯t know the specifics. All he knew was the fact that the Russian Underworld had lost badly, and the cargo contained in this fleet of ships was merely a tribute to Hell. Of course, they would be receiving some items of trade in return, such as Cathayan artwork that hasn¡¯t been seen on the international market for over a century.

    Just then, there was a mor on the deck, and Ivantov paused, before rushing out of his room. At once, he saw the rest of the crew pointing towards the sky in surprise.

    He followed their fingers and looked in the direction that they were all pointing towards. At once, his eyes twitched.

    But right before that, they could already see a fleet of approximately 20 ships anchored to the spot, and the gship was none other than the legendary ck Pearl!

    This is a fleet from the Alkebn Underworlds¡­

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    This was probably the only ce in the mortal realm where there was no need to station troops and investigators in the residence of the leaders. After all, not a single Yin spirit would dare to encroach upon these parts if they valued their lives¡­

    The courtyard was very well designed, and filled with green elements, almost as though it was arge park. Given its location in Yan Capital, the value of such a courtyard would be through the roof. And that wasn¡¯t even to mention the luxurious nature of the development, replete with high-rise vis served by private lifts. That said, the conversations between the residents of the development were often a little bit peculiar¡­

    ¡°That¡¯s a good thing!¡± The olddy with the vegetable basket smiled, and then sighed, ¡°What kind of a world are we living in anyway¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just going to whip up something simple.¡± Aunt Ma was somewhat plump, and she smiled back radiantly, ¡°Speaking of which, aren¡¯t you back rather early today?¡±

    The disy on the lift revealed that they were on the ground floor. Aunt Ma was just about to enter the lift when the young man looked up, somewhat astonished, ¡°Aunt Ma, where¡¯s your grandson?¡±

    ¡°How can this be! T-t-this¡­ What¡¯s going on?!¡± Two secondster, Aunt Ma¡¯s vegetable basket fell to the ground with a dull thud, and she covered her mouth and screamed at the top of her voice. But it was also just then that the lights around snapped and fizzled, and the doors of the lift immediately shut with a loud tter. Then, amidst the darkness, the elevator slowly descended!

    Is someone hiding in the darkness?

    Aunt Ma covered her mouth. She, too, came from a family of investigators, so she was able to keep her senses about her after her initial scream. That said, it didn¡¯t change the fact that she was still trembling with fear and trepidation.

    Nobody.

    Aunt Ma finally let her arms down, ¡°N-nobody?¡±

    Still no response.

    ¡°Hang on a minute¡­¡± Just then, a voice interrupted him from out of nowhere, ¡°Gated development? Have I got the wrong address?¡±

    What the--... He blinked vacantly at the man, before plucking up his courage, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°... Why do you need me to lead the way?¡±

    Something seems to be strange about this man¡­ The young man in the lift stared aghast at Wang Chenghao for a long time, before finally asking, ¡°What¡¯s your business there?¡±

    ¡°Plenty.¡± Wang Chenghao gazed deep into the eyes of the young man, ¡°After March, the three eastern provinces and the Pearlriver Province will be officially liberated by Hell. Meanwhile, Hell will continue to send troops across the entire nation, reiming all lostnd and doing its part to bring the supernatural outbreak to an end. As a personal assistant to the King Yanluo of Hell, I¡¯ve been tasked toe here to broach the topic of negotiations with the mortal realm.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The pools of water remained as cid as ever, almost impervious to the number of stones that were cast into them in a futile attempt to stir up some waves. What ought to be done had already been done. Stimtion by entertainment and amenities, triggering consumption, integrating a system of currency, development of Hell¡¯s Media Group,unch of real estate, and so on and so forth. But even the daftest of citizens could tell right now that the crux of the matter lies not with the abilities of the government right now, but with Hell¡¯s ability to keep up with these forward-thinking policies that were beingunched by Hell.

    Meng Zhiming was a Yin spirit who had experienced Yanluo Qin¡¯s reign since the beginning, and he had seen everything, from the quelling of the first uprising, to the distribution of entertainment equipment and amenities, to the march of Yin soldiers, and to the current period of silence. Everyone on the ground could tell that the current government was trying its level best to change the living environment in Hell for the better, but they also knew that certain changes took time.

    ¡°Old Meng!!¡± His neighbour, Zhao Xinggang, burst through his door, gasping for air with great excitement, ¡°Have you read today¡¯s newspaper?¡±

    ¡°How can you still be in the mood to y chess?!¡± Zhao Xinggang sat across from him withhermes zing from his eyes, ¡°Today¡¯s 4 February, is it not? Do you recall back then when we discussed taking up a loan tounch the Xingming Transport Company? Have you submitted the documents?!¡±

 Chapter 724: The Flotilla Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 724: The Floti Arrives</h4>

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?!¡± Zhao Xinggang set the newspapers on the chessboard and huffed angrily, ¡°Hell has just released news about their ns to support the light industry and the manufacturing industry!¡±

    ¡°No raw materials. Furthermore, the source and lifeblood of the manufacturing industry and the light industry are both truncated from upstream. No matter how many times Hell attempts to stimte our economy with these stopgap measures, it¡¯s all going to be useless unless the root of the problem is addressed. Entering the market now is no different from starting a dying business.¡±

    Meng Zhiming¡¯s gaze shone brightly.

    What was more important was the fact that the seaport was finally opening up. As businessmen, they knew full well the importance ofworks. The greater thework and connectivity of the port, the higher the returns. This was the true nature of running a business predicated on demand and supply. Besides, who is to say where the equilibrium of demand and supply for such raw materials would lie in just a few months¡¯ time?

    Furthermore, he knew full well that the state was directly involved in some of the sectors out there. How deep were state resources? Take a look at the state-funded enterprises out there in the mortal realm. Could private enterprises trulypete with those giants and behemoths out there? No! They could easily price them out on the pretext of governmental policies! In other words, the pie to be divided was only going to shrink as time went by, because the government would no longer need any boost offered up by the private sector!

    In other words, now was the best time to enter the industry and secure themselves the first movers¡¯ advantage! Meng Zhiming¡¯s pace quickened, and his breaths grew ragged. Ten minutester, he finally stopped and picked up the papers once more.

    Divine Crane Plume: Tropical specialty trees, can be used to rece rubber. Cargo: 500,000 tons. Carrier: Headless Hyena I.

    Morningstar Beans: Recreational use, coffee substitute. More aromatic than the ones in the mortal realm, and brings about warmth to its users. Cargo: 700,000 tons. Carrier: Moses IV.

    So many¡­ Meng Zhiming skimmed through the inventory list of the ships and identified over 20 key materials that included gum, steel, recreational use goods, cloth, seedlings, and so on and so forth. It wasn¡¯t hard to see that Hell¡¯s efforts were finally paying off. The influx of these goods was most certainly going to stir the lukewarm hearts of the Yin spirits once more.

    ¡°Given our mortal realm resume, we¡¯ll probably be given top priority when ites to our business. This is a huge opportunity, Old Zhao!¡±

    ¡°Entertainment supplies, raw materials, factory equipment, shipping routes¡­ Hell has done far too much to kickstart the whole manufacturing industry! And this is the final cog in the machinery! They¡¯ll never let these gears stop turning!¡±

    The total loan came up to 50 million HL!

    Meng Zhiming arrived at the docks in no time. As soon as he did, he immediately saw the Yin spirits that the government had summoned to the docks. What¡¯s more, he could see the monarch beasts bowing deeply on the ground with great respect. Meanwhile, the rest of the Yin spirits around were all doing the final cleanup work and clearing up any construction garbage in sight for the grand opening.

    That said, he was relieved.

    Hell had truly outdone themselves this time. Unfortunately, this was also the ssic case of the boy crying wolf, and there were too many past instances when Hell promised much, but delivered acklustre performance, including the Qin Gardens, the distribution of entertainment amenities, the Hungry Ghost Festival, and so on and so forth. Each of these instances had stirred up great hype among the citizens, only to be a huge letdown when the dust settled.

    Those who were here were probably the wheat among the chaff who were able to discern an opportunity when they saw one. In all likelihood, they might even end up bing rivalpanies in future as well. Thus, after a brief moment of eye contact, nobody said a word.

    But before he could even finish speaking, a group of people suddenly rushed into the pavilion. Everyone froze at once, and then scattered to the sides.

    Hell¡¯s military force. The ancient-style armor on their bodies made them easily identifiable. In less than five minutes, the Yellow Springs Pavilion waspletely cleared of all people, and the ones who had earlier been processing their documents were all taken to the second floor for the time being. Following that, a second group of people entered the Yellow Springs Pavilion.

    There were still 10 days until the grand opening of the port, when international sea trade would officially beunched. The Ministry of Communications was already in full swing, preparing for the grand festivities to take ce at theunch event. Right now, Ashmound Port was of the top priority, not only because it would trigger a revival in thenguishing industries of Hell, but also because it would form the foundation upon which Hell¡¯s negotiations with the mortal realm would take ce.

    They sat on both sides of the room, while their scribes sat behind them. Following that, Xu Changan sighed softly, before walking down the long aisle with a hexagonal crystal in his hands and offering it gingerly to Qin Ye with both hands.

    At once, the shattered bits coalesced into a circr frame, upon which the Yin energy in the room converged. Three secondster, a screen appeared suspended in mid-air, on which a projection was disyed.

    It was the image of the seas, filled with raging waves. But right there, in the middle of the waves, was the silhouette of a behemoth with eyes zing with goldenhermes. Most of the behemoth was hidden underwater, but the surface of the seas continued to be illuminated with splendidhermes, making it difficult to see beyond the reflections on the surface of the water. Apart from that, one could vaguely see a group of buildings hovering above the waters, spanning a thousand meters from end to end, and lit brightly withhermes as well.

    This was the arrival of the Russian floti!

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qin Ye frowned. Mothership? An aircraft carrier? No¡­ It looks more simr to an amalgam of Yin energy, a biological lifeform, and artificial construction. It almost appears to be something right out of one of the animes I¡¯ve seen. Besides, if the Harken knows of it, then it must mean that this thing has existed since a hundred years ago! I guess my understanding of the might of these first-rate underworlds is still far toocking¡­

    Zhao Yun adde, ¡°As far as I can recall, the Pyotr is 50 kilometers long and 18 kilometers wide,rger than most of the main Cathayan cities back in the mortal realm! It was one of the main reasons the Russian Underworld was even propelled into the ranks of first-rate underworlds to begin with. In fact, I recall that in thest international weapons development conference I¡¯d attended, the Pyotr was ranked joint first together with the Argosian Underworld¡¯s mothership. This¡­ can practically be considered a deployment of their strongest military force.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Qin Ye crossed his legs and sipped his tea cidly, ¡°The copse of their ns to develop Forbidden Arts must have caused the nameless god of death to face terrifying pressures back in the Russian Underworld. The overflowing wrath and rage in his heart must already be sufficient to fill the ocean several times over. Add war reparations to the equation, and it¡¯s not difficult to understand why he would be doing what he¡¯s doing.¡±

    He raised his hand, and the image in the air vanished at once, causing the shattered crystal to once again reunite together to form a hexagonal crystal. He held up the crystal in his hand as he continued to exin, ¡°Their war reparations are probably also loaded on this floti. They¡¯re daring us to take it from them. After all, Hell has only sent a single Yin spirit to deal with them over the course of the entire Forbidden Arts incident, so they¡¯re still suspicious of our reserve might. So¡­ they¡¯re trying their luck.¡±

    Just then, Qin Ye suddenly looked up at the Harken, ¡°Are you able to sink the Pyotr?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded, ¡°I thought so. If this had happened just a little while ago, then we might really have no choice but to abandon our war reparations. After all, this thing can probablye and go in our territorial waters, and there wouldn¡¯t be anything we could do against it. But now¡­¡±

    He nced at Zhao Yun and smiled faintly, ¡°They¡¯re simply courting death.¡±

 Chapter 725: Winds and Waves (1)

    <h4>Chapter 725: Winds and Waves (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye wanted nothing more than for these mes to spread across the entire Hell. After all, when the government had its mind set on one goal, there was no reason that it wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve it.

    7 February. 10 days before the New Year. It was also on this day that Hell¡¯s Media Groupunched a special edition of Hell¡¯s Weekly with emboldened captions: Sea Trade in Full Swing! The Russian Floti Arrives! Hell Sets Foot Onto the International Arena!

    ¡°... Minister Zhao of the Ministry of Labour has issued a statement confirming that 22panies have already expressed their intention to submit tenders for the use of the goods imported through sea trade. The Ministry of Labour expects the opening of the Ashmound Port to create approximately 50,000 jobs for all of Ashmound City. Moreover, Ashmound City will see a surge in materials of all sorts, ushering in a new state of abundance. All parties interested in submitting tenders shouldply with the following¡­¡±

    And that was just the headlines.

    Everburn City, Qin Gardens. A group of middle-aged Yin spirits gathered around in a small room norger than 90 square meters, standing around as they huddled close to a set of papers that were spread open on the table, ¡°An auction? But one that auctions agreements and rights, rather than goods?¡±

    ¡°And the fulfilment of these agreements are to be assessed at a fixed timeter on. Those who fail to meet the standards that they havemitted to will be cklisted by the government, and thereafter¡­ banned from allmercial activity for a period of 20 years?¡± The Yin spirit located at the center of the group looked up abruptly with eyes that were gleaming brightly, ¡°It¡¯s a wager. The government is wagering with private enterprises and individuals. How fresh¡­ Those who can earn the trust of the government right now wille out heads and shoulders above the rest of thepetition and be industry leaders, while the losers would end up working for Hell¡¯s government for free.¡±

    ¡°Howmitted is Hell in improving the consumer market? Are they going to plug the gaps between demand and supply more conscientiously moving forward?¡±

    ¡°Over thest two years, three policies were made to stoke the consumer market, but none were effective enough. This is the fourth policy, and the most promising one yet¡­¡± A plump-looking Yin spirit pursed his lips and quipped, ¡°But why does Ashmound City get first dibs on everything? Isn¡¯t Everburn City supposed to be the capital city?¡±

    ¡°Dare you make a wager with the government of Hell?¡±

    There were entrepreneurs reacting from as far as Everburn City!

    The night came and went, and it was soon the next day. Almost as though confirming their suspicions, another special edition of Hell¡¯s Weekly was released again. Nobody expected consecutive releases of Hell¡¯s Weekly. Sure, the first special release might have alerted the most perceptive of entrepreneurs, but the second special release, and on the very next day no less, was more than sufficient to stir the rest of the Yin spirits in Ashmound City to great interest. Everyone began to meet together to discuss the pros and cons of sea trade.

    Meanwhile, another exciting piece of news was also announced on the 8 February special issue of Hell¡¯s Weekly - the fact that 17th was going to mark the day of a shopping festival that would take ce concurrently with the submission of tenders! It was a sale that woulde straight from the docks to both cities of Hell!

    Nobody had expected such taglines to appear on national papers, but the fact of the matter was that it did.

    Material scarcity was a disease.

    Was there anyone who didn¡¯t want their rooms to look beautiful and vibrant?

    Was there anyone who didn¡¯t like travelling and sketching their surroundings in their free time? Was there anyone who didn¡¯t want moments of peace and rxation in the midst of their busy schedules?

    Entrepreneurs only ounted for a small segment of the poption. Therefore, Qin Ye knew that if the small me was to spread into an undying inferno, then he would most certainly need something else that would cause the me to spread to the hearts of all ordinary citizens. And the Great Sale naturally fit the bill perfectly.

    On that day, 17 otherpanies were added to the register.

    Although the registrations were supposed to close on 14 February, there were still a number of people who preferred to adopt the wait-and-see approach. Most of the Yin spirits were considering things such as: What do I do when these raw materials are used up? Can the Frontier Brigades or the Construction Corps discover new materials? How long will sea trade be open for? How many underworlds are we trading with? What¡¯s the scale of our trade routes?

    There were always those who rode the wind, and did their level best to catch the first glimpse of dawn. But most of the rest were content with riding the wave when it finally arrived.

    Ashmound City and Everburn City were both connected, and Hell¡¯s Media Group functioned as one unit across both cities. Even the monarch beasts were deployed to ensure that the papers hit both cities at the same time.

    ¡°Are we really going to have a celebration?!¡± Everyone could smell the eager anticipation in the air, and even the bluntest of entrepreneurs couldn¡¯t help but grow anxious at the prospects of making a quick buck.

    After all, how often was it that a weekly publicationunched several special issues releasing news of the very same policy for several days in a row?

    ¡°It¡¯s just sea trade! I¡¯ve read the papers, and I don¡¯t see Hell promising continuing sea trade in future! How many underworlds will trade with us? What are the specifications? How many tons of cargo are we talking about?!¡± A middle-aged man clutched his hair with both hands, ¡°The first shipment might seem like a lot, but how sparse would they be when spread between tworge cities? By my estimate, they¡¯llst a year at most! And then, what happens next?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the right thing to say.¡± A young Yin spirit in his thirties propped up his sses, ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s time for us to head over to Ashmound City. No. Rather, we absolutely have to go right now! Thepanies that dare tounch right now would im the lion¡¯s share of the profits for themselves! These are thepanies that will end up monopolizing the raw materials market!¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s precisely because there are whales who are willing to make such wagers with Hell that we can stand up under their shelter and hope to get a bite of the crumbs that fall off the table!¡± The young Yin spirit responded, ¡°Besides, we can always fight for the subcontracts. After all, even with theirmitment, they wouldn¡¯t dare hire arge number of people all at once. This means that they will definitely be outsourcing some work to the smallerpanies around! We¡¯re talking about hundreds of thousands of tons of materials! This is a business opportunity that simply cannot be missed!¡±

    10 February. 31panies had registered for the bidding of contracts by now. Leaders from all walks of life had slowly begun to appear, and the number of people gathered in Ashmound City increased day by day.

    Dingxin Technology was a business that started out with high-precision equipment, before making its foray into the real estate industry, the heavy industry, and then several other aspects of the light industry. And this time, the resources he was targeting was none other than the steel substitutes, as well as the establishment and maintenance of operational assembly lines.

    The Makino Group was known for their livestock. Their farms included seven fishing grounds along the coastal regions, and twelve livestock farms, amongst other agriculturalnd that they owned. It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that they had a mark in most of the fresh produce in Cathay, including juice, yoghurt, dairy products, meats and so on and so forth.

    The winds were churning.

    And the clouds were slowlying together, as though they were on the cusp of a massive superstorm!

 Chapter 726: Winds and Waves (2)

    <h4>Chapter 726: Winds and Waves (2)</h4>

    3.00 p.m. Guan Fengyue, the former director general of Fengyun Group, ranked 53rd among the wealthiest people in Cathay with a worth of 43 billion RMB, registered his interest in the auction.

    11 February. Hell¡¯s Weekly released yet another special issue, but this time disclosing the loans taken out by thepanies participating in the auction, as well as the personal wealth of their leaders during their lifetime. At once, the citizens flew into a frenzy!

    ¡°Brother Qin.¡± Wang Chenghao walked up to Qin Ye with a stack of documents back in the city tower, ¡°We¡¯ve consolidated the data that you¡¯ve asked for.¡±

    But the first thing that he saw was instead the caption: Inventory list of the Russian war reparations.

    Second item: A variety of specialties from the Russian Underworld, including nts, young Yin beasts, grain, wine, tobo, cloth, paintings, carvings, anthologies, and so on and so forth. They were all ssified into 36 broad categories, to be stored in 644 warehouses, with a total weight of¡­

    Wonderful¡­ Qin Ye eximed with a soft sigh as he nced out of the window.

    Let all worries, doubts, questions and apprehension of the mortal realm be dispelled after this event. Let all who have eyes see for themselves. I, Third King Yanluo of Hell, will use everything within my means to dere to the mortal realm that this long decade full of blood, sweat and tears, will finally draw to a close in the near future!

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    This was the final salvounched by Hell. If the second salvounched by Hell was intended to awaken theggard businessmen, then the final salvo would jolt the rest of the citizens to their senses at once. Everyone, even the most reticent and reluctant of citizens, couldn¡¯t help but stir with excitement after being bombarded relentlessly with the news of the Great Sale¡­

    ¡°Have you seen the news? The Great Sale on the 17th! Alkebn cosmetics with never-seen-before lipstick colours! Top brand gold supplier from theherworld. And then, there¡¯s also ck Mamba eyeshadows!!! Ahhhh!!!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    New year wasing, and most of the offices were already winding down in preparation for the holidays. However, back in an old room, three old men could be found staring intently at a scroll with their eyes wide open.

    ¡°The first official letter from Hell ever since the founding of modern day Cathay. And to think that they¡¯re simply inviting us to enjoy the new year of the underworld together with them? What the hell is all this about?¡±

    ¡°Over thest ten days, we¡¯ve seen a sharp decline in supernatural activity over the three eastern provinces and Pearlriver Province, so much so that their alert status is now downgraded from red to orange. What have we done? Nothing. These are all things that Hell has managed to achieve. And that¡¯s not even to mention the fact that Insignia Province and Eastmount Province have both been downgraded to green by now. Hell has been putting in work, and a lot of work at that. So, the question right now is, what are they hoping to get in return by sending us this scroll right now?¡±

    Nobody said a word.

    ¡°Over thest decade, our economic growth has practicallye to a standstill because of these supernatural incidents. If there¡¯s something that can enable us to resolve these supernatural outbreaks - even through the most unreliable of means - then there¡¯s no reason for us not to grab hold of it tightly!¡±

    ¡°Sir.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    13 February. The totalpanies that had registered their interest in the auction increased to 58.

    The tide of chatter swept about ceaselessly throughout Hell without any signs of dying down. The undercurrents were stirring, and the surface of the waters in Hell were even bubbling with excitement.

    16 February, night.

    Ashmound City appeared no different from an active volcano right now, ready to erupt with overflowing magma at the moment¡¯s notice. As each minute passed, so did the enthusiasm of the citizens escte to new heights.

    Rumble¡­ There was a soft tremor, and the citizens immediately stopped everything they were doing and gazed at the distant skies with an excited smile on their faces.

    It had begun.

    Everything was extinguished, almost as though paving the way for an oing tide.

    Whoosh¡­ When thest light of Ashmound City was finally extinguished, a massive clock formed out of Yin energy appeared in the sky, easily spanning 10,000 meters from end to end. The second hand of the clock was formed from zing bluehermes, while the face of the clock was formed out of the dense clouds of Yin energy in the skies.

    ¡°It¡¯sing¡­ It¡¯sing!!¡± The younger Yin spirits were thrilled beyond measure, while the older Yin spirits couldn¡¯t help but take deeper breaths as time went by.

    And then, the clock revealed that there were but 10 seconds that remained until the fateful day.

    ¡°Nine¡­¡± ¡°Eight!¡±

    Their passion overflowed, and ebullience filled the city! Everyone roared at the top of their voices as though participating in the grandest of countdowns in a new year party!

    ¡°Six! FIVE! FOUR!¡±

    ¡°THREE!!!¡±

    ¡°ONE!!!¡±

    Rows after rows ofhermes soared into the skies everywhere around them, before exploding into the form of various divine beasts of Hell, including the taotie beast, the Torch Dragon, the Harken, and others. Since they were in Hell, the fireworks blossomed with even greater vibrance and radiance than the ones back in the mortal realm!

    ¡°YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!¡± Countless Yin spirits cheered and hissed with great joy that spread like a contagion throughout the rest of the city. Tonight, work was a foreign concept to them. Tonight was a night of revelry and indulgence. It was the first spring festival that they were celebrating since death, and they couldn¡¯t help but roar at the top of their voices with shouts of passion.

    Many Yin spirits thought about their loved ones during this time as well. After all, the spring festival was when families gathered. Did the fact that they were reminded of their loved ones also mean that their loved ones were likewise thinking of them? Many Yin spirits shed tears silently.

    At some point, dancers had made their way onto the city walls and begun an amazing disy of artistic ir. They were tall - each one appeared to be well over 10 meters tall, and they were dressed in red ptial dresses that could be easily seen from anywhere in the city. But before the citizens could even react with surprise, a familiar tune resounded throughout the city.

    ¡°Wherever we go, I bear an anthem in my heart¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll sing of the mountains, and I¡¯ll sing of the rivers. Wisps of smoke from the little viges carry me through the roads.¡±

    ¡°My dearest mothend, I will cling to your heart. Speak to me with your words offort through the beats of your heart!!¡±

    Millions of Yin spirits took to the chorus at the same time. It was a majestic sight that was unparalleled in any city. And then, at the end of the chorus, the clock suspended high in the sky erupted into a sky full of sparks that slowly drifted down. And then, three figures emerged from the shadows.

    Qin Ye was already in his Hell¡¯s Emissary State. He nced around, relishing in the familiar tune as he took in the sight of his loyal subjects below. At once, he spoke, ¡°This is Hell¡¯s first new year celebration.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it before.¡±

    ¡°And it was for that reason that I chose this song.¡±

    It was the g of Cathay!

    Yet, even then, they suppressed the anxious cries in their hearts and listened to what their leader had to say.

    ¡°Therefore, from this day forward, this shall be the g that represents Hell as well.¡±

    In life, they were protected by their mothend, and in death, they continue to serve their country. Not a single Yin spirit had any doubts in their hearts right now.

    That¡¯s right. They loved their mothend.

    The g represented the subtle difference between the mortal realm and Hell. Sure, the road ahead might be bumpy, but it wasn¡¯t as though they hadn¡¯t ovee their hardships before.

    ¡°I hereby dere.¡± Qin Ye stood right atop the city tower in the middle of Ashmound City, ¡°The Great Sale of the 17th henceforth begins!¡±

    Release.

    Rather than feeling low, the release caused them to feel more impassioned than ever. But, just then, a thunderous voice instantly silenced all the screams of the Yin spirits.

    Zhou Yun slowly raised his hand, and the Yin spirits below seized up.

    What the hell?!

    Why didn¡¯t you tell us anything about this?! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

    <hr>

    1. This is a song known as My Mothend and I, written in 1985.

 Chapter 727: The Great Sale (1)

    <h4>Chapter 727: The Great Sale (1)</h4>

    A one-meterrge screen formed from Yin energy swirled about at the end of the conference room, ying a familiar song from it.

    It was a live projection that was transmitted through Hell¡¯s own means, and they could see everything with pristine rity, including how the gathering of Yin spirits were all singing at the top of their voices!

    Hell wasn¡¯t bleak and hopeless in the slightest. In fact, they weren¡¯t even shocked by what they were seeing of Hell right now.

    Everything was clearly different from the mortal realm. The Yin spirits didn¡¯t have shadows and drifted along the ground withhermes flourishing from the depths of their eyes. So why did they get the sensing that it was¡­ hardly any different from the mortal realm?

    ¡°Are they¡­ trying to show goodwill to the mortal realm?¡± One of the old men suddenly eximed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that Yin soldiers are existences that can remain hidden to us mortals. Should he wish toy waste to the mortal realm, then¡­ I¡¯m afraid that there will be hardly anything we can do about it. Organized groups of Yin spirits are far more terrifying than rogue evil ghosts after all. You know full well what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    After a long time, the old man sitting in the center of the room finally spoke up, ¡°This is all genuine.¡±

    His gaze softened up slightly, and he turned to the red g flying high in the sky. In that instant, he felt somewhat¡­ close to them, almost as though they were kindred spirits.

    It looks like¡­ Hell isn¡¯t a bad ce. Perhaps I might even be able to live well after I pass on¡­

    Just then, Zhao Yun thundered, ¡°Wee to Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion.¡±

    ¡°Sixfold Ghost King, Zhao Zilong.¡±

    The eyes of the old men flickered wildly. They¡¯d heard of his existence before, but seeing it with their own eyes is quite something else.

    This was what they truly desired to see.

    Lei Jun nodded, and dismissed him summarily. Nobody was in the mood for banal chatter at this point in time. And then, the numbers began to show up.

    ¡°10 million¡­ 15 million¡­ 20 million¡­ 30 million¡­ 40 million?!¡± The old men around Lei Jun cried out in unison. They hadn¡¯t expected numbers as high as this!

    Is he a Yama-King?

    Zhao Yun naturally wasn¡¯t aware of the thoughts in their minds right now. Instead, under the watchful gazes of all Yin spirits around, items and objects continued to pour out of his hand, assembling themselves in the air. The pieces of stones were the ones that first assembled themselves, forming a majestic staircase a thousand meters wide that led hundreds of meters up into the sky. Both sides of the staircase were adorned with carved fences that were exquisite, to say the least.

    Lei Jun shook his head with a bitter smile, ¡°I¡¯m not at that level yet¡­ Sure, the cultivation of Yin energy and true energy may be simr, but I can at best assemble a pavilion from the ground. Assembling something like that in the air, and even on such a scale, requires an almost perversely meticulous control of Yin energy¡­¡±

    Beep, beep, beep!!! Suddenly the Yin energy measuring instrument began to beep loudly with shing red lights, and then it shut itself down.

    ¡°Unbelievable.¡± Lei Jun looked up with an iparably profound expression in his eyes. Shock, disbelief, relief, and also¡­ longing.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± He stood up, suppressing the intense excitement in his heart, ¡°I can say with the utmost certainty that there¡¯s no Yin spirit in ournds that can possibly be a match for this man right here!¡±

    Pin drop silence. The entire conference room was filled with the sounds of ragged breaths.

    Lei Jun¡¯s chest heaved and fell with every breath that he took, ¡°He¡¯s preparing¡­ to march for the rest of Cathay!¡±

    His voice trembled slightly, ¡°Over thest ten years of supernatural outbreak, how many people have we seen pass on in the shadows with each night that passed? But now¡­ the end is nigh!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The Yin spirits watched with their lips agape as the godly existence began to assemble everything in the air like building blocks. Under the watchful gaze of millions of eyes, a hue pavilion towering high into the sky, replete with 30 storeys that were at least 10 meters tall each, slowly took ce.

    Terrifyingly so. In fact, it wasn¡¯t even an exaggeration to say that it wasparable with the size of Ashmound City itself! The thousand-meter wide steps were nothing more than a drop in the ocean next to the size of the towering Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion.

    Meanwhile, the female ghosts in Hell stared with bright gleams in their eyes.

    This¡­ this has to be an ultra-sized mall isn¡¯t it? Isn¡¯t it?!

    Back in the mortal realm, it wasn¡¯t umon to see women patronizing these ultra-sized malls that were often hailed as a shopping paradise. But who would¡¯ve thought that even after death, they would be granted that very same opportunity?

    Look at the beautifully carved fretwork windows.

    Look at the vintage tables and chairs that are so beautiful that they make you cry! Look at the ancient, lofty building that appears no different from a towering mountain!

    ¡°AHHHHH!!!!¡± The female ghosts of Ashmound City shrieked at the top of their voices. Everyone fully understood in that very moment that the Great Sale was now truly open!

    How could you tempt us with the allure of a shopping paradise like that?!

    Thehermes in the eyes of these female ghosts immediately flourished with great vigor, and they promptly jostled their way through the crowds, leaving their male counterparts far behind. In a sh, a throng of ghosts surrounded the steps that led up to the entrance of Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion. That said, the door didn¡¯t open immediately.

    Thehermes in their eyes were zing at least a meter high by now. But even then, Zhao Yun simply boomed back with a cid voice, ¡°These doors will open in an hour¡¯s time. Please line up properly and wait for your turn.¡±

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that you would be able to unite the hearts of all Yin spirit with one simple event, tying everyone together using the g of Cathay. That¡¯s truly a masterstroke!¡±

    ¡°Brother Zhao, I didn¡¯t employ any trickery this time.¡±

    One hour.

    It was the same moment when Hell would finally allow the Alkebn fleet and the Russian floti into Ashmound Port. This was truly a historical moment worth celebrating!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Ivantov was also there. However, he wasn¡¯t drinking his vodka any longer. Instead, he had now donned his aristocratic robes, and he couldn¡¯t help but pull out his golden pocket watch from time to time for a nce.

    ording to the missives that we¡¯ve received, Hell has confirmed that they will be opening their borders to us tonight. But¡­ where are they?

    He snorted coldly and shook his head with a mind to return to his cabin. But, just then, a brilliant light suddenly blossomed in the distance, followed by a loud rumble and surging waves.

    ¡°My god¡­¡± He gazed nkly into the distance, ¡°What¡­ what in the world is that monster¡­¡±

 Chapter 728: The Great Sale (2)

    <h4>Chapter 728: The Great Sale (2)</h4>

    The golden curtain of light before them rippled wildly. This was none other than the Array of the Nine Gods that sequestered Cathay from the rest of the world. This was a barrier that was often said to be rigid as an unbreakable wall, and yet it flowed as soft as a curtain. Just then, a giant hand appeared to push gently on the other side of the curtain.

    It was almost as though a rift had opened in the sky. The curtain tore open, sending a flurry of Yin Talismans shimmering into the night sky around. Meanwhile, dense Yin energy poured out from the crack, followed closely by the emergence of a massive hand zing with blisteringhermes.

    ¡°What the hell is going on? What terrifying monster is this?!¡± Ivantov¡¯s lips quivered wildly as hey prostrate on the ground, ¡°I-I¡¯ve seen the Tsar in person, but¡­ the breath of this monster is even more t-t-terrifying than the Tsar himself!¡±

    Dead silence.

    ¡°You may enter, but anyone who leaves the designated areas will be killed without trial.¡±

    ¡°Anyone who attempts to spy on the internal affairs of Hell, or does anything beyond your designated tasks, shall be killed without trial.¡±

    The hair on the nape of their necks stood on end, yet nobody said a word. Three secondster, the voice boomed once more, ¡°Understand?¡±

    ¡°Get up.¡± At once, the oppressive weight on their shoulders lifted at once, and the lingering traces of the voice chuckled softly like a departing god, ¡°The fact that you¡¯re here means that you¡¯re our friends and partners, so long as you y by the rules. Now, follow me through the Array of the Nine Gods. You have 10 minutes.¡±

    How terrifying¡­ He hadn¡¯t dared to look up for a single moment. Terror crept through his heart like a brood of maggots, and it was more gut-wrenching than death itself. Thehermes in his eyes had even been stifled so greatly that they were on the cusp of beingpletely extinguished.

    When the Tsar first informed everyone of the war reparations, the entire Council erupted into an uproar, incensed by what the Tsar was forced to agree to. This was why it was the Pyotr that came, rather than any other merchant fleet.

    But he didn¡¯t dare do so now.¡±

    Ivantov¡¯s mind went numb at once. Everything was going wrong. He gritted his teeth and rushed out of his cabin once more, where he immediately barked through gritted teeth, ¡°To hell with that sted--...¡±

    Retreating. They were retreating rapidly! So fast that it was even kicking up waves that were over 10 meters high! Anglo roared from underwater as it retreated desperately for its life!

    Ivantov could swear that he was seeing stars right now, and he barked orders without hesitation, ¡°Stop it at once! Hold it steady! Where¡¯s our beastmaster? What the hell are they doing?! Where the hell are they?!!!¡±

    After all, he was controlling a mothership bearing war reparations, and they were departing almost as soon as they were granted entry. What would Hell think?

    Damn it¡­ damn it!!! How did thingse to this!

    He started out incredibly loud, but then soon trailed off to a soft murmur, ¡°P-p-p-please f-f-forgive us¡­¡±

    The Alkebn fleet passed through the Array of the Nine Gods like insects under their human master, and not a single sailor on board those ships dared to even look up. Everyone kept their heads bowed low with iparable reverence and awe, as they took a brave step into the mysticalnds that had remained closed to the world for thest hundred years.

    Overbearing might, and overflowing grace.

    ¡°My god!!!¡± It was as quick as lightning. A split secondter, the colossal hand was already directly over the Russian floti. Ivantov screamed at the top of his voice, and immediately clutched his head and crouched down onto the ground. Many of the other Yin spirits likewise braced themselves andy prone on the ground.

    Then, in the next moment, he felt himself¡­ flying.

    They were flying.

    The Pyotr - a beast that was tens of kilometersrge, had been lifted right off the surface of the seas, leaving the Anglo¡¯s colossal body struggling in mid-air as water poured off its body.

    I mean¡­ what the hell is going on here?!

    ¡°Blessings of the ancestors¡­¡± One of the Alkebn Yin spirits lowered his head and began to chant a prayer in his heart.

    It was merely a flick.

    ¡°Is this what the might of a top underworld is like¡­¡± The Alkebn Yin spirits gazed nkly at the skies as the Anglo soared through the air. A dark shadow swept right over the Alkebn fleet, rushed straight through the Array of the Nine Gods, and then finallynded on the sea on the other side with a terrifying crash.

    Completely silent.

    Back in the mortal realm. Yan Capital, inside the conference room. Lei Jun immediately shot to his feet and stared intently at the screen.

    ¡°Director Lei?¡± The other leaders gathered in the room looked up at Lei Jun at the same time. They weren¡¯t daft. After all, daft people couldn¡¯t possibly rise through the ranks like the leaders did. One of the old men eximed, ¡°How powerful does that Emissary of Hell have to be to be able to do something like that?¡±

    That was almost akin to arge ind.

    Yet who would¡¯ve thought that it would be flicked right out of the sea with such great ease and precision?

    Lei Jun didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Very strong.¡±

    The eyes of the leaders flickered wildly, as they turned back and stared aghast at the screen of Yin energy.

    That said, there wasn¡¯t a modicum of fear in their hearts. All they felt was immense anticipation.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    He shivered wildly as he chuckled.

    He finally understood it all.

    This is¡­ beyond the gods of death¡­

    He finally understood why the Anglo had desperately sought to retreat earlier. It was because the Anglo had instinctively detected an existence that could instantly crush it. The disparity in their strength was far too apparent. Right now, Ivantov had only one thought in his mind - It¡¯s a good thing I didn¡¯tply with the orders of the Russian Underworld back then. Otherwise, had I sailed the Pyotr at top speed into the Ashmound Port, my soul might not even be intact right now!

 Chapter 729: The Great Sale (3)

    <h4>Chapter 729: The Great Sale (3)</h4>

    Ivantov stood aboard the Pyotr, drifting into it together with the Alkebn fleet. His mind was already dull and buzzing numbly, and he could no longer see or hear anything clearly.

    In the past, they would have been ted to seendfall after sailing for such a long period of time. But now¡­

    It was just any human being¡¯s reaction when they saw Heaven for the very first time. Who would dare look up and gaze at the gods straight in the eye, or openly marvel at the glorious golden gates?

    ¡°My Lord¡­¡± Just then, the lips of one of his adjutants quivered as he recalled the orders of the Council, ¡°We¡­ we¡¯re here¡­¡±

    With that, he immediately turned back slightly and hissed as his adjutant, ¡°Have all of the Yin soldiers begin unloading! And forget the damned Council¡¯s orders if you still want to live!¡±

    After approximately 10 minutes ofying prostrate on the ground, a pair of ck brocade boots embroidered with patterns of clouds finally appeared in front of him, and a young voice spoke tly, ¡°Why did you send the Pyotr?¡±

    The voice above responded at once, ¡°Hmm? That¡¯s all?¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Get up. You can do as you please, so long as you keep in mind the rules of this ce. Otherwise¡­ the Russian Underworld might well have to call another fleet to pick up the Anglo¡¯s corpse.¡±

    WHOOSH!!! The surface of the waters bubbled violently, transforming into a massive whirlpool that twisted and swirled wildly.

    The fleet of ships from the other underworlds had finally arrived, and this was the first time that any of them had seen traces of foreign underworlds. Then, right in the middle of their torturous apprehension, a massive silhouette rushed right out of the whirlpool, followed closely by 20rge ships!

    ¡°Ohhhhhhhh!!!¡± ¡°That¡¯s the Alkebn fleet and the Russian floti?!¡± ¡°Holy crap! What the hell is that thing? A sea beast? A monster?¡± ¡°What an eye opener¡­¡±

    Unlike the festivities in Ashmound City, nobody cheered wildly or screamed at the top of their voices. Instead, there were only brief gasps of shock and surprise. Fortunately, there wasn¡¯t any panic and mad scramble either, because they trusted in the Yin soldiers to keep the peace and maintain the order at the docks. Naturally, there was a solemn atmosphere at the docks, at least until the Yin spirit known as Baron Ivantov kowtowed to the ground and requested an audience with the Emissaries of Hell.

    It meant that Hell¡¯s authority extended well beyond the borders, and even to foreign underworlds!

    ¡°The Golden Rhino Tribe¡¯s fleet has arrived. We humbly ask the Emissaries of Hell to verify the cargo on board.¡± A Yin spirit dressed in vibrant colours drifted out of the ship and bowed deeply with his hands cupped respectfully. Everything was done in ordance with the customs of the Cathayans.

    Golden Rhino, Sunbird, Lioness, Emerald Wolf, Seema, Hos, Zawa, Vid¡­ And the list went on. One by one, a series of names was announced by their corresponding captains in the same respectful fashion. Not a single one dared to speak with even the slightest measure of arrogance.

    ¡°Hehe¡­ Cathay is still reeling from the attack of the Eight-Nation Alliance. Who would¡¯ve thought that we¡¯d see apletely different sight here in theherworld?¡± An old man stroked his beard with great emotion, ¡°How many years has it been since Cathay has dreamt of bing a frontrunner of the world once more? And yet, who would¡¯ve thought that theherworld would actually beat them to it?¡±

    But¡­ was that it?

    Just then, the cargo on the ships suddenly lifted themselves into the air, transforming into an entire river of cargo that flew straight towards Ashmound City!

    Three secondster, everyone began to cheer and shout with great joy!

    This wasn¡¯t an insignificant action.

    Meanwhile, were the foreign Yin spirits afraid?

    Unlike the excited workers of Hell, the captains of the foreign vessels reacted with far more restraint. And this was particrly the case for Ivantov, whose tall frame curled up helplessly like a shrimp. He didn¡¯t even want to entertain the thought of fighting with Hell.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ spectacr¡­¡± The second floor of the Yellow Springs Pavilion was already packed full of Yin spirits, all of whom were staring intently at the river of cargo in the skies with gleaming eyes.

    And the room was constructed in a tiered fashion, with a main stage located right in the center of the room, and approximately 200 booths cascading outwards in a radial fashion. Every single booth in the room was packed with Yin spirits.

    After all, this ce was soon going to turn into a battleground!

    Meng Zhiming sat on one of the seats, staring at the sight of goods being unloaded from the docks. It was a sight that he had seen countless times back in the mortal realm, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel his heart stirring wildly.

    Whichpany is going to be the next unicorn? Whichpany is going to disrupt the entire industry and shock the world? This room was the ce where everything would go down.

    Ashmound City, Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion.

    More and more, and denser and denser! The speed of approach of this river of light was frighteningly fast! And then, in less than 10 seconds, every Yin spirit saw clearly what exactly it was. And it was precisely because they did that their hair stood on end.

    An endless river of cargo!

    BOOM! The ground trembled slightly as the goods rushed straight into Heaven¡¯s End pavilion.

    It was almost as though they were afraid that the slightest peep of sound they made would instantly jolt them back from this delightful reverie.

    After all, Ashmound City¡¯s output was hardly sufficient to sustain the entire city of Yin spirits. And this meant that only the most privileged in Hell had ess to goods not deemed to be essentials to them. But¡­ was there any Yin spirit out there who didn¡¯t want to decorate their own home and make it truly their own?

    Sure, they might have been dressed up in their favourite clothes when they passed on, but they would¡¯ve grown sick of them by now, having worn them for well over a year.

    For the next ten minutes or so, the river of cargo continued to sort themselves out before flying straight through the windows of Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion. And then¡­ tter¡­ Bang! The windows finally shut, and the Yin spirits slowly turned their eyes back towards the main door.

    Unfortunately, it was only when they entered that they discovered¡­ they were blocked at the door!

    But nobody paid any attention to them.

    This is the Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion?!

    No. In fact, they had simply extrapted from their preconceived notions of what an ultra-scale mall was like. But the reality of what they saw was on apletely different level!

 Chapter 730: The Great Sale (4)

    <h4>Chapter 730: The Great Sale (4)</h4>

    But the Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion wasn¡¯t like this at all.

    The pavilion was circr, just like any other pavilion of ancient Cathay. That said, the only difference was that arge idyllicke sat right in the middle of the entire pavilion, spanning tens of thousands of meters from end to end. The surface of theke was covered with crimson lotus flowers with stamens lit with gentlehermes. Numerous islets sat atop theke, surrounded by boats that appeared to be ancient, yet perfectly preserved. Muslin sails draped elegantly over their masts, while a closer inspection would reveal fine patterns carved onto the wooden surfaces of the ships.

    Elsewhere, a bamboo forest nestled quietly in the corner of the pavilion, exuding the charm of tranquility as other miniature structures seemed to offer a peaceful getaway from the hubbub of city life. The buildings around had signboards that read ¡°Tea House¡±, ¡°Cloud Pavilion¡±, ¡°Sea Pavilion¡±, and so on and so forth.

    ¡°I¡­ absolutely¡­ LOVE IT!!!¡± A female Yin spirit covered her lips and squealed as her eyes gleamed with brilliance. Meanwhile, the Yin spirits who had entered Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion ahead of her likewise screamed at the top of their voices as they rushed in like andslide!

    A shopping paradise like this must be unique to Hell! I¡¯ve got to enjoy this as best as I can before the otherse in!

    That said, the ones who managed to get onto the islets in the middle found themselves marvelling at the sights and sounds as they trekked on, until they suddenly seized up once more.

    It was a waterfall falling from hundreds and hundreds of meters high!

    It was truly a marvelous sight from afar, almost as though it was drawing from the cosmic waters in the milky way.

    ¡°And this is incidentally thergest goldmine we had in Fengdu back then, a masterpiece to be passed down to the next generation of Hell. A shopping mall of the grandest scale jointly funded by the Eight Great ns, otherwise known as the Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion.¡±

    Only to notice that the waters were falling through dense clouds of Yin energy.

    But if we get to the top, wouldn¡¯t we be at the top of the entire pavilion, and be given a bird¡¯s eye view of the entire ce?

    The receptionists were humanoid paper effigies, but they were hardly like the terrifying effigies that Qin Ye often encountered in the mortal realm. Instead, they were beautifully drawn, and were even decked out in soft clothes of a shopkeeper, sping their palms together as they smiled faintly, ¡°Wee, wee. This is the 2nd floor, Colours of Elegance, and we specialize in the sale of all kinds of paints, easels, canvasses - you name it! So long as it¡¯s got to do with oil paintings, we¡¯ve got them here!¡±

    She wasn¡¯t an artist.

    ¡°Don¡¯t grab me! Don¡¯t pinch me! Do you think ghosts don¡¯t know pain?!!¡± Her friends pinched her hand excitedly. If oil paintings were around, wouldn¡¯t that mean that other fine goods, such as eye shadows, lipsticks, BB cream, and others would naturally be here as well?!

    It didn¡¯t take long for them to get their answer.

    17th floor, ¡°Raiments of Rainbows¡± - Clothes.

    And the 9th floor, ¡°Taotie¡± - Alkebn and Russian Food.

    AHHH!!! Why can¡¯t I split myself into multiple beings?!!

    12th floor. Yin spirits wouldn¡¯t feel tired and weary, and this was why the Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion could draw such a multitude of Yin spirits despite being built in a high-rise fashion. But just as they entered, they already noticed several others who had arrived moments before them.

    No matter. We¡¯ll take everything!!!

    ¡°Wee, guest number 2~~¡± At once, a humanoid paper effigy ran out of the back room and greeted her guest. She had a small frame, but a deceptively loud voice, ¡°Ooohhh~~ What beauty! All youdies need is just a little bit of touch-up to add the icing to the cake! Us women can never do without makeup! You¡¯vee to the right ce! Our Xishi Pavilion specializes in all kinds of lipsticks. Would youdies care to take a look at the selection of products we have?¡±

    We¡¯vee to the right ce! Lipsticks store!

    Don¡¯t you ever question why there isn¡¯t a single store selling makeup of all kinds. Anyone who knows cosmetics would understand that there are easily at least five or six brands selling blushers, and that¡¯s just products in respect of a particr skin type or tone. What do us gruff guys know? This is the reason why I¡¯m still single¡­ (TL: Oof¡­ Poor author)

    Holy crap! This must be a match made in heaven!

    ¡°How much is this?!¡± ¡°200 HL, thanks.¡±

    ARRGGHHH¡­ And this is just the first store! Who¡¯s going to get me out of this ce! I need to get going, but¡­ but why aren¡¯t my legs moving?!

    ¡°You¡¯re still here?!¡± Just then, one of her friends rushed in and forcibly dragged her away from the disy counters, ¡°Go! We have to go!¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you doing looking at those lousy products?! You¡¯re just wasting your youth here!!¡± Her friend tugged at her forcefully, ¡°Come with me. Once you see this, you¡¯ll never look back!¡±

    Lin Qingchen followed her along with a slight jog in their step. The more they ran, the more Yin spirits appeared right in front of her eyes, and the louder the mor. Then, as soon as they dove right into the heart of the crowd, she saw it - a sprawling sign hung right in front of a massive storefront. At once, she screamed at the top of her voice, ¡°AHHHHHH--!!!¡±

    Arge stele was ced right beside the entrance, on which was etched the floor n of this store. From left to right, the first section of the store was named¡­ Empress Xiao Cigao!

    But that wasn¡¯t all! In fact, that was only the beginning!

    Third from the left: Imperial Consort Zhao!

    Fifth: Empress Ren Xiaowen!

    Seventh: Imperial Consort Zhang!

    Was there any woman who didn¡¯t dream of being an imperial consort?

    This was the power of marketing.

    Even then, the Yin spirits understood what this meant at once.

    Lin Qingchen couldn¡¯t control her feet and drifted into the store. Likewise, several other female Yin spirits also mustered their courage and pushed open the door under the watchful eyes of the paper effigies within.

    ¡°This is the cosmetics case of Imperial Consort Wan.¡± A paper effigy courteously introduced a delicate box in his hand. It was carved with the etching of two phoenixes dancing around a precious gemstone iid right in the middle of the palm-sized box, ¡°To be more precise, this is the foundation that Imperial Consort Wan used to apply. You might wonder if the Ming Dynasty had such foundations to begin with? Let me assure you - there is.¡±

    ¡°Next to these, you see the other eye makeup products and lip makeup used by Imperial Consort Wan. The entire series is known as ¡®Cherry and Passion¡¯. Please take your time¡­¡±

    ¡°The ¡®Passion¡¯ponent costs 100,000 HL, while the ¡®Cherry¡¯ponent costs 78,000 JL.¡± the humanoid paper effigy respectfully responded.

    Hang on a minute¡­ Can you please say that again?!

    Consider my ass?!!

    Can¡¯t you give me something more reasonable here?!

 Chapter 731: The Great Sale (5)

    <h4>Chapter 731: The Great Sale (5)</h4>

    That¡¯s unreasonable¡­

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Not a single Yin spirit had the desire to chat with each other right now. After all, the Yin spirits located within the Yellow Springs Pavilion, especially the entrepreneurs located on the second floor, were all going through their materials.

    ¡°32,187,652¡­ 32,284,435¡­ 32,489,587¡­¡±

    This was a live update of the total expenditure and the number of Yin spirits at the Heaven¡¯s End Pavilion thus far. The figures were nowhere near the sales figures back in the mortal realm, but¡­ there were currently no more than 20 million Yin spirits located in Ashmound City!

    Yet the fact that it didn¡¯t take them more than 10 minutes since theunch of the physical mall to rack up sales of 30 million, together with approximately 550,000 entrants, was an absolutely remarkable feat!

    What did this mean?

    Consumers were the lifeblood ofmerce. Meng Zhiming¡¯s heart thumped wildly as he stared at the rising numbers. He couldn¡¯t help but lick his lips avariciously as he leaned in to Zhao Xinggang, who sat right beside him, ¡°I don¡¯t think it would be too much to say that Hell will see an age of material scarcity in the next ten or so years. After all, the survey reports of the construction corps sent out by Hell will take several more months, and the unification of Cathay will take Hell several more years. During this time¡­¡±

    Just then, the Yin energy suddenly converged upon the main stage to create a portal, from which Qin Ye, Wang Chenghao, and several other Emissaries of Hell marched out.

    Of course we do¡­ The entrepreneurs nced at the numbers on the screen that were still rising ceaselessly. The call of Midas made them remain right in their seats.

    ¡°Firstly, any agreement signed today will only need to be apanied by a token deposit. The term of the agreement will be five years.¡±

    ¡°Thirdly, please bear in mind that we¡¯ve got a professional evaluation team that will also be assessing your bids in the background. As mentioned, your bids will have to be submitted with a detailed report from yourpany on how you derived these figures, and how you intend to achieve them. We n to hold these auctions with every five sets of resources we receive. I hope everyone has made the necessary preparations.¡±

    ¡°Meanwhile, do note that the Ministry of Finance will conduct a detailed inspection of each enterprise after the five year term of the agreement. Any enterprise orpany that is found to have failed to fulfill its obligations under the agreement will be deemed to have gone back on their words, and Hell will lose trust in you. But if you exceed yourmitted goals by at least 10%, you can count on it that you will receive unimaginable rewards -mensurate with the amount exceeded.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ At once, everyone¡¯s eyes lit up brighter than ever before. They had already familiarized themselves with the rules¡­ save for the mention of ¡°unimaginable rewards¡±. What exactly did that mean?

    ¡°Domestic protectionism.¡± A middle-aged woman dressed in a ck suit stood up and adjusted her sses, ¡°We shall be embarking on Hell¡¯s reunification efforts shortly, and our army is expected to march from east to west. This is going to cause a huge difference in the rate of development between the east and the west, and newer industries sprouting out in the west will naturally have to be granted domestic protection for some time.¡±

    She adjusted her sses and went on, ¡°And to that end, we expect our unification n to take 10 years.¡±

    Silence.

    Domestic protectionism. Such a concept, interpreted against Qin Ye¡¯s suggestion of ¡°unimaginable rewards¡±...

    Whoosh! All eyes were on Qin Ye. He continued to run his finger gently across the lid of the cup as he responded, ¡°No.¡±

    The hearts of the entrepreneurs fell at once. But before they could even consider any other possibility, Qin Ye went on, ¡°To be more precise, it¡¯s the lifting of the policy of domestic protectionism of a provincial-capital level city.¡±

    At once, the shuffling of restless feet could be heard. If not for the fact that Yin spirits didn¡¯t possess blood in their bodies, their faces would bepletely flushed red by now!

    Dead silence. All that remained in the room were ragged breaths that signalled that the bubbling and gurgling magma in the volcano of entrepreneurs was ready to erupt!

    Then, he spoke with a sonorous voice that filled the entire hall, ¡°With that, let us officiallymence with the first sea trade and enterprise negotiations.¡±

    The first of the resources shown was a bean that emitted Yin energy. It was nearly indistinguishable from the coffee beans in the mortal realm, save that the beans were marked with a characteristic silver line in the middle. The second was a fruit that looked like a cantaloupe, and was about a footrge. It was shown with the cross section of the fruit, revealing white flesh within. A third resource revealed a tree that looked like a spindle.

    ¡°It thrives in an environment filled with intensehermes, and the cultivation of these beans also requires high humidity and a rainy environment - preferably one that is close to the sea. Its vour is rich and fragrant, with a pronounced heat factor. This is the most popr drink in Alkebn, as well as in the Middle East and European underworlds. Famous brands include the Star Coffee chain in Argos, and the Return Coffee chain in Europa.¡±

    ¡°Last but not least, this fruit originates from the baobab tree. Unlike the ones in the mortal realm, the flesh of its fruit is simr to flour, and can be used without processing to make all kinds of pastries.¡±

    Whoosh! At once, two Yin spirits shot to their feet and raised their hands at exactly the same time.

    ¡°And that¡¯s just the stores. We anticipate at least 500 jobs created for the headquarters,prising our research and development group and other major departments. Furthermore, we will have another 300 positions created for the shipping department over and above that. Give and take, we will be able tomit to the creation of 4,500 jobs!¡±

    This was just one industry, and a standalone one at that, without any by-products! Apany in a single sector that could provide thousands of jobs would easily be considered a godsend in the mortal realm! Besides,panies could grow over time.

    Furthermore, nobody would ever underestimate these products, because it was on the back of these products that the Wawo Group had managed to break into the top 100panies of Cathay!

    Nobody recognized him.

    ¡°I¡¯m the CEO of the Have A Cup Group.¡± The young man bowed courteously, ¡°It¡¯s regrettable. I do recall sharing the same car as Mr Qi in the past.¡±

    The Yin spirits nced at each other with great consternation - This brand name¡­ is incredibly popr in the south right now!

    ¡°My Lord.¡± The young man held up a stack of documents with both hands, ¡°These are the ns of the Have A Cup Group. By our estimates, we¡­ expect to provide more than 50,000 jobs for Ashmound City and Everburn Citybined! In fact, it could well be more!¡±

    1. For those less than initiated in the fields of economics (just like myself), the concept of protectionism is to shield domestic producers by restricting imports or imposing taxes on foreign imports. This allows domestic products to beparatively more attractivepared with foreign imports.

 Chapter 732: The Great Sale (6)

    <h4>Chapter 732: The Great Sale (6)</h4>

    ¡°Sss¡­¡± ¡°Ahh¡­¡± ¡°How bold!¡±

    Jobs were a tricky situation. Truth be told, the 4,500 jobs that Qi Jun had envisioned could easily be considered the upper limits of such an industry. After all, they had considered the corresponding coffee chains back in the mortal realm, such as the Star Coffee chain, and yet they had no more than 150 stores in thergest cities. With 10 staff members helming each store, each city would probably only be able to ount for at most 2,000 jobs, give and take.

    This was coffee after all.

    What were they going to do with that many coffee specialty stores?

    ¡°50,000¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly as he nced at the young man. Then, with the quick wave of his hands, the documents held up by both Qi Jun and the young man rose into the air and flew straight to the front of the stage. It was only then that Qin Ye nodded at the young man.

    ¡°Haaa--...¡± The rest of the entrepreneurs gasped deeply. They finally understood the depths of this young man¡¯s ambitions!

    Qi Jun immediately understood the young man¡¯s intentions, and he shook his head with a bitter smile, ¡°You want to monopolize everything and cover the supply and distribution routes? That means we wouldn¡¯t actually bepetitors.¡±

    Just then, Fei Liming interjected with his rification, ¡°Five years.¡±

    The young man nodded, ¡°That is to say, within the first five years, the orchards would definitely be at a loss. Therefore, we¡¯ll need the profits from the Have A Cup retail stores to keep us afloat. Admittedly, I believe that with King Yanluo Qin¡¯s foresight, Hell has probably already set aside a portion of the fruits for the government to do their own internal tests and experimentation with the seeds. And it¡¯s only once they have seen results that they would n to push for the cultivation of these crops. But if we want to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality drinks, it¡¯s only natural to control your own orchards.¡±

    He bowed apologetically towards Qi Jun, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we are indeedpetitors.¡±

    Qi Jun had stuck to his guns of what he knew of the mortal realm. But unfortunately, the rigidity in his thinking meant that he failed to consider what he could do with the coffee shrub seeds and the fruits of the milk bottle trees.

    That¡¯s right. The entrepreneurs knew that this round of auction was over. It was a fight between 5,000 jobs and 50,000 jobs. Hell wasn¡¯t blind to its own interests.

    In Hell¡¯s prudence, they naturally chose not to put all of their eggs into one basket. Qin Ye reckoned that someone would be willing to do something with these raw materials, such as nting and cultivating them, rather than processing them to be sold in retail stores. That said, not even Qin Ye expected someone to step up so quickly!

    Their eyes gleamed wildly, and each of them began to consider how their own businesses could be vertically integrated as well.

    ¡°This could greatly strengthen the depth of our business to be proposed! We don¡¯t have to limit ourselves to a single product! After all, we live in an era when industry disruption is key! The ones who can think out of the box will take the cake! Think about those days in the 80¡¯s and 90¡¯s when new products were released to the contempt of all naysayers! Look at howrge Ashmound City is! Our bicycle idea will definitely take off! And we can naturally use the profits gained to our advantage!¡±

    Unfortunately, the Yin spirit on the right sighed softly, ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡±

    He nced around the hall. It felt almost as though he was in a tank full of sharks. And yet, the orcas hiding amidst the sharks were already emerging, waiting to devour any shark they would encounter. The orcas had keenly captured the essence of all materials offered to them, and made full use of everything from the onset. Naturally, anyone who had failed to recognize the opportunities presented to them would never be granted a second chance by the government right now.

    And so, the auction continued.

    And with that, five sets of auctions quickly passed.

    Fengyun Group and Jiangnan Group were bothpeting for various types of jewellery and artwork of all kinds.

    After five rounds of auctions, Fei Liming bowed slightly, ¡°And now, we¡¯ll take an intermission of 10 minutes. Please return right where you are.¡±

    Every single entrepreneur who had participated in the auctions thus far remained right where they were, eagerly awaiting the results. Even Qi Jun, who had clearly been crushed by hispetitor, couldn¡¯t help but cross his hands at the table with a grave expression on his face.

    The next auction was clearly going to be more difficult. No, in fact, there was a possibility that Hell might not even need to organize an auction like this ever again.

    Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ Fei Liming felt like a celebrity right now. Even then, he forcefully repressed the feeling of intense excitement in his heart as he unfolded the docket, ¡°Technology category. Winner of the bid goes to¡­ Dingxin Technology.¡±

    Meanwhile, his opponent, the representative of Dasan Chemical, also shut his eyes quietly and sighed softly. However, everything was done in despondency.

    ¡°Art category. Winner of the bid goes to¡­ Feng Yun Group.¡±

    Qi Jun chortled slightly, and then threw his head back and gazed nkly at the ceiling. Meanwhile, the young man who hadpeted with him threw his fist into the air. Had it not been for Qin Ye¡¯s presence right now, he might well have smashed fist into the table in joy and celebration.

    Thehermes in his eyes danced wildly. It wasn¡¯t as though he hadn¡¯t experienced auctions like this before. That said, this was the first time he had ever felt this nervous about the results.

    Tap, tap¡­ He tapped his fingers anxiously on the table, almost as though he could already see the bright gleaming road open up ahead of hispany.

    Qin Ye took in everyone¡¯s expressions and nodded his head gently.

    And then, five yearster¡­ Hell is going to usher in a new age of prosperity! The citizens will lead richer lives! And once that happens, we¡¯ll finally be able tounch other industries, such as medical care, education, insurance and others!

    ¡°We¡¯re getting there.¡± Qin Ye stood up. With him around, the entrepreneurs would never dare to act too boldly, but that would defeat the purposes of such auctions to begin with! His job here was done, and there was no longer any need for him to stay around and be an eyesore around these parts.

    As soon as they did, the rest of the entrepreneurs nced at each other sheepishly.

    King Yanluo has left, and that means that there¡¯s no longer any cause for concern! We¡¯ll use any means possible! Let¡¯s disrupt the industries as we know it back in the mortal realm!

    There¡¯s nothing to lose! Conversely, we¡¯ll only regret it if we don¡¯t give it our best now!

    ¡°Greend Group. We will create in excess of 30,000 jobs for the entire nation! We¡¯ve taken a good look at the resources to be had. There are 6 kinds of meats and poultry and 20 types of vegetables listed on the resources traded, all of which are preserved with special technology from theherworld. We don¡¯t just want to do catering. We want to be the biggest catering group of Hell, and we n to be vertically integrated, serving our customers straight from the breeders and farm to the table!¡±

    Qin Ye could no longer hear the mor in the auction hall.

    That said, there were two other matters to attend to.

    It was now time to harvest the fruits of the rtionship between nations.

    ¡°Prefect Qin, shall we begin?¡± A dark-skinned Yin spirit stepped forward and bowed respectfully. The scarlethermes in her eyes flickered with great excitement, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see what exquisite artwork you have in store for us. You might not know this, but Hell¡¯s silence in thest century has caused demand for Cathayan artwork to surge to new heights, while the supply has naturally fallen substantially! Ah, where are my manners! I¡¯ve forgotten to introduce myself! I am the Chief Advisor of Art for the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds, Nadia.¡±

 Chapter 733: Emissary

    <h4>Chapter 733: Emissary</h4>

    Meanwhile, a row of representatives from Hell stood on the right side of the warehouse. There were 35 Yin spirits in total, including Wu Daozi, an expert in art, together with various provincial and other ministerial officials. Wu Daozi was herergely for his expertise in assessing the value of art pieces, while the rest of the officials were here in the event any important political or geopolitical issues needed to be discussed. There were also experts from Hell here to take charge of the negotiation process, up to the stage when the prices were finalized.

    Sure, he might not need to be involved in every nitty gritty process in Hell, but it was still part and parcel of his duty to have a general understanding of the processes involved in arriving at a particr end.

    ¡°There are in all seven mainstream sources of artwork in theherworld.¡± Wu Daozi took his seat beside Qin Ye and exined calmly, ¡°Cathay, Argos, Alkebn, Aegyptus, Hindustan, Nippon, and Inca. It is well epted that great collectibles are produced by these regions, and the resultant art pieces are generally seen as a good store of value. In fact, there are even times when such art pieces can be used as a medium of exchange, much like fiat currency. These can even be liquidated for dark gold or spirit silver easily. The prices of these materials fluctuate from time to time, and the Federation of Underworld keeps thetest updates on the value of these materials.¡±

    Wu Daozi continued, ¡°At present, there are four main mediums of exchange in theherworld. The first is naturally the system of currencies of each underworld, primarily dominated by the P4 underworlds. That said, our absence over thest century would likely have cost us our international standing in this regard. The second medium is Yin spirit stones and Yin jade. The third would be precious metals, including dark gold and spirit silver. Lastly, the other medium of exchange that is most widely epted would be artwork from the seven mainstream sources in the world. When Hell returns to the international arena in future, there¡¯s a high likelihood that bnce would be restored to this order once more.¡±

    Qin Ye sighed. Hell was miles away from being a threat to the rest of the P4 underworlds right now.

    He didn¡¯t want to wait 150 years before opening Hell¡¯s borders if he could help it. That was far too long. Hell had already been missing from the international arena for far too long, so much so that even the Nipponese Underworld and the Russian Underworld hade knocking on their doors. And if such lesser underworlds were already itching to probe at Hell, how much more would other stronger underworlds be making ns against Hell?

    Let¡¯s just take things one step at a time¡­ He perked up his spirits and turned back to the warehouse. As they spoke, Yin energy gathered from all directions and coalesced into a porcin vessel.

    ¡°Blue and white porcin of the Yuan Dynasty?¡± Nadia immediately shot to her feet, ¡°Is it really the blue and white porcin of the Yuan Dynasty? And one used by the imperial army, the God¡¯s Whip, to boot?¡±

    ¡°Unbelievable¡­¡± An old man stared intently at it as he adjusted his sses, ¡°These are all characteristic of the porcin at that time. Peony, lotuses¡­ It¡¯s beautiful! And those firing patterns, and even the faint traces of Yin energy exuding from this artifact¡­ It¡¯s the real deal!¡±

    The eyes of all representatives of the Alkebn Underworlds lit up at once. Blue and white porcin of the Yuan Dynasty were considered precious amongst art experts because of the history it represented. Nobody had ever expected Hell to trade away such incredible treasures right off the cuff.

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup and took a sip, ¡°How many do you want?¡±

    So valuable?

    ¡°Deal.¡± Qin Ye nodded at once, ¡°We¡¯ll be selling 500 articles of various shapes and sizes this time. As for the specifics, I¡¯ll leave you to discuss it in greater detail with the relevant departments of Hell.¡±

    Did you dig up the tomb of some Yuan Dynasty emperor or something?!

    ¡°Our ancestors thank you for your kindness and generosity.¡± She smiled at Qin Ye, and then nced back. At once, a dozen or so appraisers and negotiators from the Alkebn Tribes stood up and walked over to Hell¡¯s tables across the warehouse.

    ¡°What makes you think that there are very few blue and white porcin of the Yuan Dynasty in stock?¡± Qin Ye smiled as he continued, ¡°That¡¯s a misconception arising out of the fact that you haven¡¯t seen the treasure trove left behind by the Zhu n. The fact of the matter is that most of these porcin pieces had been stuffed deep into the Zhu n¡¯s troves when they overthrew the Yuan Dynasty warlords.¡±

    ¡°Nothing too significant.¡± Qin Ye smiled as he nced back at Nadia, who was now conversing excitedly with the representatives of the Alkebn Underworlds, ¡°200,000 pieces. And that¡¯s just the stuff that is not so good. We would never sell the good stuff, such as the royal pieces. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s plenty more artwork where that all came from.¡±

    Wu Daozi immediately mmed up. Hell could practically devour the entire shipment from the Alkebn Underworld for free, without having to fork out even a single cent. That said, it was prudent not to do so.

    ¡°Now, please take a look at the second category of goods we have for sale.¡± An Emissary of Hell announced, and a series of paintings appeared in the grand space between the two sets of tables. At once, Nadia paused and snapped her head back in surprise.

    Hundreds of paintings all at once.

    Dong Qichang, Xu Wei, Wen Zhengming, Shen Zhou, Tang Yin, Ni Yunlin, ZHao Mengfu, Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, and so on and so forth. There were paintings from practically every single famous painter of both the Yuan and the Ming Dynasties represented in the series of paintings!

    ¡°My Lord¡­ Please allow the ck Mamba Underworld to be the sole agent for this batch of painting! We guarantee at least five times the profit from these sales! There¡¯s a huge demand for such paintings, even within our domestic market!¡±

    As though he could read Qin Ye¡¯s mind, Wu Daozi immediately leaned over and whispered into his ear, ¡°Hell is known in the international arena for a few things, namely silk, paintings, porcin, and tea. Over time, these have be known as the four treasures of Hell, and of these, paintings are the rarest of them all. After all, painting requires inspiration, while the others can be reproduced with sufficient practice and time.¡±

    Several emissaries of the Alkebn Underworld immediately ran over and began dragging Nadia back. Even then, she yelled with great reluctance, ¡°My Lord! Please give us a chance! The ck Mamba Underworld has a lot of experience in hosting auctions for artwork! It¡¯s the best choice you can make!¡±

    Nadia was dragged back forcefully against her will. She even tugged hard at the tablecloth on Qin Ye¡¯s table. Meanwhile, Qin Ye chuckled listlessly, ¡°Artists can be crazy at times--...¡±

    Nadia grabbed hold of the tablecloth, struggling against the rest of the emissaries who were forcing her back. Then, just as she lost her grip of the tablecloth, Qin Ye noticed it - there was an incredibly subtle trace of Yin energy emanating from the table, where her left hand had been just moments ago.

    How did she manage to do this?

    Very obscure. And I can even tell that it was instantly generated, almost as though this rune had already been branded into her bones and her blood. She didn¡¯t even need to address her mind to its creation¡­ His palm emitted a brief moment of ck lustre, and then he felt something appear in the palm of his hand. Then, he discreetly brought his hand back to his side and nced down at his palm. At once, his pupils narrowed.

    There was a white feather in the heart of his palm.

    It was withered, yet exuded pristine purity. This was the feather of the Plumed Serpent God!

 Chapter 734: What is the Heavenly Dao?

    <h4>Chapter 734: What is the Heavenly Dao?</h4>

    Then, he continued to preside over the negotiations as though nothing had happened.

    At once, the Yin soldiers standing guard around Qin Ye immediately got down on one knee and shouted in unison, ¡°Farewell, Your Excellency!¡±

    As soon as they appeared, Qin Ye tossed out a feather and sent it straight into Zhao Yun¡¯s hand, ¡°Do you recognize this thing?¡± Zhao Yun nced at it once, and then immediately furrowed his brows.

    Qin Ye red daggers at him - What the hell are you talking about? Haven¡¯t you seen my dear Brother Zhao? How could a Pikachu possibly be so good-looking?

    Zhao Yun ignored Wang Chenghao¡¯sment and continued to inspect the feather for the next minute or so, before finally tossing it into the air, ¡°A god of death that is in the process of melding with the Heavenly Dao¡­ Judging by the Yin energy, I¡¯d say that this is¡­ the Plumed Serpent God? It looks like the Second King Yanluo was right¡­¡±

    Almost as though he could sense the questions in Qin Ye¡¯s mind, Zhao Yun pondered for a moment, and then began to exin the situation, ¡°Several centuries ago, the Argosian Underworld marched through Europa, conquering its underworld, before unleashing the first instance of Forbidden Art in theherworld against the Alkebn Underworlds. Nobody knows what happened to the Plumed Serpent God after that incident. The Second King Yanluo spected that the Plumed Serpent God had no choice but to take the Forbidden Art head on, and it must have sustained serious injuries. By his calctions, the Plumed Serpent God wouldn¡¯t emerge from his state of recuperation for the next 500 years.¡±

    He paused for a moment, almost as though he was choosing his words carefully. Five secondster, Zhao Yun continued, ¡°To properly breakdown this problem, we¡¯ll first have to address the elephant in the room, and that is¡­ what is the Heavenly Dao?¡±

    After all, not even the Second King Yanluo was able to resist the force of its repulsion, and it was for that reason that he had no choice but to depart from the Three Realms. Furthermore, Qin Ye was often told that the Heavenly Dao undergirded everything, and no god of death was above the Heavenly Dao. Was this a philosophy? A way of life? Or was it a science or an order of the world?

    Qin Ye nodded. In other words, the sword doesn¡¯t wish to be mastered by any particr entity. Once mastered, it would naturally reject the one who has attained such mastery. And the mode of repulsion can only mean one of two things -plete destruction of the sword, or a release by the one who has attained mastery.

    Rather than call it a repulsion or rejection, it might well be more urate to call it apromise of sorts. The Heavenly Dao was prepared to be broken rather than submit, but the Second King Yanluo didn¡¯t want to destroy the Three Realms as he knew it, so he chose to leave instead.

    Zhao Yun continued, ¡°All Yama-Kings will gain the ability to sense the Heavenly Dao and evenmunicate with it to a certain extent. However, the Heavenly Dao is both cold and heartless, yet loving and wise. It would never engage in directmunication with you, but it would make its will known through actions. And that¡¯s the first trait of the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    But, on the other hand, the Heavenly Dao can also be said to be loving and wise because it was the very basis upon which the Three Realms was created. In a way, it could be said to be the source of all life, as well as the environment as the world knew it.

    ¡°In other words, there¡¯s always hope.¡± Zhao Yun looked Qin Ye right in the eyes, ¡°Even if the Plumed Serpent God was seriously injured, and even near death, he¡¯s not entirely without a way out. And as we both know, the choice that he eventually went with was to merge with the Heavenly Dao.¡±

    Zhao Yun waved his hand gently, and aplex rune of Yin Talismans drifted up into the air, emanating wisps of golden threads in an illusory and almost surreal fashion.

    He pointed to the golden rune in the air, ¡°But unlike the base material of the world, the smaller the Yin Talismans, the moreplex it is, and the more difficult it would be to splice it into its sub-constituents. And to that end, the smallest radical rune of Yin Talisman was discovered in Hell just a hundred years ago, and the Second King Yanluo personally named it--...¡±

    Something had just urred to him.

    The essence of Forbidden Arts was essentially to splice Yin Talismans as much as possible, before reorganizing them in the most efficient manner. Naturally, the smaller the runes, the morebinations were possible. And now that Zhao Yun had broken through the realms of a Yama-King, wouldn¡¯t he be able to ess far more runes that weren¡¯t within reach before?

    Zhao Yun nodded, ¡°Now, since we now understand the traits and qualities of the Heavenly Dao, we can go on to discuss the Plumed Serpent God¡¯s current state. And to that end, my guess is that he must have split himself into the most fundamental Yin Talismans, and blended right into the Heavenly Dao to recover his energy. This is probably the glimmer of hope that he recognized in those dire straits of his. But that¡¯s not the point. The point to note is its current state of existence.¡±

    Qin Ye rubbed his temples and looked up at the ceiling. There were a multitude of thoughts in his mind right now.

    Know what?

    Minutester, Qin Ye finally retracted his gaze and turned back to Zhao Yun, ¡°General Zhao, you probably haven¡¯t heard anything about my trip to the Alkebn Underworlds, right?¡± Qin Ye went on to recount everything that had happened in his encounter with the Plumed Serpent God without missing out any details.

    Of course not.

    ¡°Course not.¡± Qin Ye looked up, just in time to lock eyes with Zhao Yun. A brief momentter, both men spoke in unison, ¡°He¡¯s getting anxious.¡±

    Hang on a minute¡­ How did you even find such an incisive angle to shower me withpliments?

    In truth, we were just too weak to make contact back then, so I¡¯ve had no choice but to wait for the right opportunity to arise¡­

    ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± Zhao Yun¡¯s eyes narrowed as he gazed out of the windows, ¡°Or perhaps¡­ he might just be doing all these things in order to curry favour with you. My Lord, you might not be familiar with these old gods of death, but I¡¯ve tangled with them for thousands of years on end now, and I know their methods all too well.¡±

    The stakes had been set. Given the Plumed Serpent God¡¯s current state right now, he no longer had any capital to hedge his bets elsewhere. Thus, he had no choice but to ce all of his eggs in one basket and do everything he can in the hope that Qin Ye can ascend the throne of Hell. And given that he hadn¡¯t heard a thing from Qin Ye over thest two months, he couldn¡¯t help but send him a further indication of his sincerity, as well as¡­ probe at Qin Ye¡¯s thoughts.

    Qin Ye smiled and tapped on the table, ¡°You¡¯d somehow managed to get yourself tangled up with the big boss of Hell in the end¡­¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡±

    Party?

    Forming a private party in Hell was considered a treasonous act!

    ¡°Private parties are strictly forbidden in Hell.¡± Zhao Yun red coldly at Wang Chenghao, ¡°Offenders shall be purged summarily without trial.¡±

    Unfortunately, Qin Ye only continued to heap burning coal on top of his head, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why don¡¯t you have your own party after such a long time? You should take a leaf out of Qin Hui¡¯s book. Otherwise, there might juste a time when you wouldn¡¯t even be free to respond to my summons.¡±

    ¡°Then you should go personally.¡± Qin Ye picked up his teacup, ¡°Tell Nadia to be ready tomorrow night at 10.00 p.m. I¡¯ll send someone to pick her up.¡±

    ¡°Remember, discretion is key.¡± He waved his hand, and the feather flew back into his coat, ¡°Merging with the Heavenly Dao is akin to courting death, yet this old snake has been able to remain alive and kicking all this while. Who knows if it¡¯s been able to glean a thing or two about matters that should remain secret to theherworld all this while?¡±

 Chapter 735: Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn

    <h4>Chapter 735: Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn</h4>

    Why hasn¡¯t there been any response yet?

    Why can¡¯t I even see them yet?

    The oracle.

    Sigh¡­ She sighed softly and took a sip of tea to quell the anxiety in her heart, and yet to no avail. But just then, the door suddenly swung open, and several representatives of the Alkebn Underworlds entered with downcast expressions, ¡°That¡¯s unfortunate. Here I was, thinking that Hell had opened uppletely, but Hell has only allowed us ess to the region around the docks¡­ Nadia? What¡¯s wrong with you? Thehermes in your eyes are pulsing wildly. Are you¡­ upset about something?¡±

    The other representatives shrugged their shoulders and left her to her own devices. Nadia sighed quietly when the door shut once more. But it was just then that her legs suddenly went limp, and she gasped as she hurriedly knelt down to the ground, ¡°G-g-greetings, esteemed Emissary of Hell!¡±

    In fact, it was almost as though the face had somehow grown on the door of the room, and upon closer inspection, the fine lines of the face would reveal that this was none other than Wang Chenghao¡¯s face.

    Nadiay prostrate on the ground and responded with great humility, ¡°This is all thanks to the blessings of my ancestors.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best¡±

    ¡°Child of God.¡± Nadia didn¡¯t hide anything, ¡°There are a total of five Children of God across the Alkebn Underworlds. There are a few requirements in order to be made a Child of God. Firstly, you need to have no roots. Secondly, you need to possess the ability to see the other realms, an ability that Cathayans call the Yin-Yang eyes. Thirdly¡­ one must have no faith. In other words, throughout the course of our lives, we must not have ced any faith or trust in any of the totems that exist in Alkebn.¡±

    The human face remained indifferent, ¡°And where is this oracle?¡±

    ¡°When the timees, the Plumed Serpent God will descend into this world and manifest in my body as a vessel. I sincerely hope that Lord Qin would grant me the opportunity for an audience like that¡­¡±

    This was the Plumed Serpent God she was talking about - the one true ancestor of all Alkebn Underworlds. How powerful was he? But even then, she had no choice but to humbly request an audience before one of the strongest underworlds in theherworld.

    ¡°Divine descent, huh?¡± The face on the wooden door slowly vanished, ¡°You¡¯ll meet Lord Qin tomorrow night at ten. You should know what to do.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Nadia waited somewhat nervously in her bedroom. She had already cancelled all of her meetings tonight, and made the necessary arrangements. Then, she sat apprehensively in her seat, clutching the hem of her skirt and ncing at the clock every now and then.

    The Yin energy gently wrapped around her entire body. Tens of secondster, she vanished from her room. When she opened her eyes again, she immediately gasped and fell on her knees, ¡°Na-na-na¡­¡±

    Yes¡­ Nadia¡¯s lips parted and closed several times, and yet she wasn¡¯t able to eke out a single world. She didn¡¯t have a heart, but she could practically feel the wild thumping of her heaving chest. Herhermes were flickering wildly from fear, and she struggled to keep herself together.

    It was in that instant that she realized she was nothing more than a speck of dust in the grandherworld out there.

    She couldn¡¯t even tell where the other source of Yin energy wasing from, but her instincts told her not to even bother tracing the source of it, because it would be an impossible task! She could tell in an instant that this was an entity that could easily cause her to go up in smoke with a single nce!

    Lord Qin¡¯s bodyguard? That¡¯s¡­ terrifying! I¡¯ve not felt such terror from any Yin spirits in the Alkebn Underworlds before! No¡­ in fact, it might not even be an exaggeration to say that this Yin spirit is far stronger than even the Plumed Serpent God himself!

    Gulp¡­ She gulped nervously, and then proceeded to infuse Yin energy into her right hand. At once, thehermes in her eyes went out, and she fell to the ground with a thud.

    Zhao Yun flicked his finger, and an invisible cage appeared to contain the terrifying shockwave at once, forcibly suppressing the eruption of energy that appeared to be pulsing in every direction. Meanwhile, the lustre on Nadia¡¯s body slowly intensified, until she was no different from a radiant sun trapped in Zhao Yun¡¯s invisible cage!

    Whoosh!!! A minuteter, the void in the cage appeared to shatter into countless fragments shaped like ss, revealing a portal to what appeared to be a cosmic world glowing with blue light. And then, a figure finally stepped out from within.

    Nadia stood right in front of a raised tform upon which Qin Ye¡¯s throne sat. Meanwhile, there was another chair ced right beside Qin Ye, and another Yin spirit sat right on that chair. However, no matter how much he tried staring at that Yin spirit, he wasn¡¯t able to discern the appearance of that Yin spirit.

    A power beyond that of a god of death¡­

    ¡°One of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, General Zhao Zilong.¡± Qin Ye stood up and walked down the steps of his throne, ¡°Plumed Serpent God, it¡¯s been a while.¡±

    There were a multitude of thoughts in the Plumed Serpent God¡¯s heart right now, including both excitement, shock, awe and disbelief. Finally, after processing everything, Nadia finally turned around and nodded deeply, ¡°Hello again.¡±

    ¡°I suppose you can put it that way.¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve been fortunate enough to be favoured by General Zhao.¡±

    ¡°It was a fluke.¡± Zhao Yun responded cidly.

    Do you know how much I would''ve liked to have a fluke like that?!

    No¡­ But I shouldn''t be thinking about these things now¡­ The Plumed Serpent God breathed heavily as he hung his head low. He waspletely ecstatic right now!

    ¡°What a surprise¡­¡± With that, he finally turned back to Qin Ye, ¡°Mr Qin, I believe you might have already guessed my intentions here.¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God hated such high and mighty responses. Unfortunately, he knew he had no choice here.

    What the hell is that?!

    Qin Ye lowered his eyes. He knew that this was Zhao Yun¡¯s exnation to him. The fact that it was held in such high regard by an existence above the realms of a Yama-King meant that this artifact must by no means be ordinary.

    There was even a slight quiver in his voice. Qin Ye¡¯s heart leapt slightly, and he continued to listen intently to Zhao Yun, ¡°The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn¡­ There are too many legends about it spread throughout history, but suffice it to say that its status is akin to the artifacts linked to the creation of our system of gods, including the Jade Tables or the Chaos Lotus. Who would¡¯ve thought that the Plumed Serpent God actually holds leads to artifacts like that? And the fact that he¡¯s offering something like that to you is only testament to how desperate he is in his current situation right now.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s the Holy Grail.¡±

    Zhao Yun promptly continued, ¡°It is indeed the Holy Grail that you¡¯re thinking of. Don¡¯t say a word. We don¡¯t want to jeopardize our chances here. Any sudden movements here might scare the Plumed Serpent God away, or draw the attention of the Heavenly Dao. And if that happens, or if the Plumed Serpent God dies, then I¡¯m afraid that this secret might remain buried forever in the recesses of the Heavenly Dao¡­¡±

 Chapter 736: Legends of the Holy Grail (1)

    <h4>Chapter 736: Legends of the Holy Grail (1)</h4>

    Holy Grail?

    The Cathayan system of divinities has its origins in Pan Gu, a primordial god who is said to have formed the heavens. But legend has it that Pan Gu was born from the Chaos Lotus. In other words, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the Chaos Lotus was in fact the genesis of the Cathayan system of divinities.

    After all, it is the only artifact that Jesus had left behind on earth. Throughout the Bible, Jesus¡¯ miracles have been revealed in various means and ways, but the only artifact that was in fact associated with his miracles¡­ is none other than the Holy Grail.

    The Plumed Serpent God chuckled, ¡°My body has been broken up into thousands and thousands of elementary Yin Talismans, and they¡¯ve all melded into the Heavenly Dao for the purposes of reconstitution. The price thates with it is that the Heavenly Dao has slowly been devouring me. I¡¯ve lost a lot in this process, but in exchange, I¡¯ve alsoe to learn of many secrets, including that of the Holy Grail.¡±

    ¡°First of all, the Holy Grail that I¡¯m talking about is not the Christian Holy Grail, but the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. This is actually the predecessor of the Holy Grail. The whereabouts of the real Holy Grail remains unknown to date.¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God continued, ¡°The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. This is also known as the trophy of the Annwn, part of the underworld. And to that end, this underworld naturally refers to part of the Middle Eastern Underworld, which, of course, has now been unified under the rule of the Aegyptian Underworld. That said, we must be clear that this is still a divine artifact for the gods of the Jews.¡±

    The pieces seem to being together¡­ Qin Ye pursed his lips and nced at Zhao Yun with a gleam in his eye - So, shall we go to war together? Will you join me in this war for the Holy Grail?

    Are we really going to war for the Holy Grail?

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Zhao Yun responded, ¡°The Britannian legends would have it that the Holy Grail first appeared in Lancelot¡¯s travels to a kingdom for a feast, where a beautiful maiden held up a golden chalice to the king, and everyone knelt down to pray. It was then that the queen walked over and prophesied that if the Holy Grail ever appeared, the Round Table would be destined to be destroyed.¡±

    ¡°The legends had it that the emperor at that time was none other than Lucius Tiberius. Back then, he ordered King Arthur to pay tribute to him, but King Arthur refused, and even dered war on Lucius, defeating him, and thereby expanding his kingdom to the mediterranean reaches. And it was also then that he first learnt of the Holy Grail.¡±

    ¡°You know of the geography of those locations.¡± The Plumed Serpent Godmented, ¡°But you probably don¡¯t know the exact time periods and locations that I¡¯m referring to.¡±

    ¡°Thus, the knights vowed to travel through thends in search of the Holy Grail, whether of their own free will, or by the order of the King. With that, 150 Knights of the Round Table left, and¡­ never returned. However, King Arthur continued to order such searches, until finally, only three knights remained. And that was how the famous Knights of the Round Table came to be no more. That was how the prophecy was fulfilled.¡±

    The Plumed Serpent God spoke with great fervor, ¡°But do you know something? There aren¡¯t any records of where the Round Table is located, nor when these events urred. And it was for this reason that everyone thought of these things to be a myth. Everyone thought that King Arthur was nothing more than a construct of the human imagination, told in myths and legends passed down over time.¡±

    ¡°He existed!¡± The Plumed Serpent God took a deep breath, ¡°And this is all gleaned from Anubis¡¯ personal records: In around 350 AD, three young knights found their way to the City of Salem in search of the Holy Grail, and they found it. One of the knights managed to hold up the Holy Grail, and the rift between the Three Realms immediately tore asunder, whereupon he was received into the Heavenly Realm.¡±

    Everyone had grave expressions on their faces. Qin Ye had a multitude of questions in his heart. He could tell that this was just a brief summary, and there was much to unpack. But unfortunately, he simply couldn¡¯t afford to ask too much. After all, he couldn¡¯t allow the Plumed Serpent God to notice that he was in truth unfamiliar with world history and the situation around the world. He couldn¡¯t risk letting the cat out of the bag.

    Zhao Yun frowned deeply, ¡°Received into the Heavenly Realm¡­ That means that this is a divine artifact. After all, only divine artifacts possess the ability to forcibly open a rift between realms. Besides¡­¡±

    ¡°Sure, Ghad might have been received into the Heavenly Realm, but are you telling me that¡­ the Holy Grail is now in the Heavenly Realm? Haven¡¯t you forgotten the irond rule that none of the realms are to overtly interfere with the affairs of the other? Who are you kidding?¡±

    ¡°How can a mere mortal wield a divine artifact?¡±

    At once, Qin Ye was reminded of something he had learnt about world history from the Second King Yanluo.

    No¡­ Something¡¯s still not right¡­ Qin Ye suddenly recalled something, and his eyes gleamed brightly as he desperately made eye contact with Zhao Yun.

    Soon, a voice rang out in his ear once more, ¡°King Yanluo, is something the matter? Feel free to speak up. Rest assured that I¡¯ll keep all sounds from the ears of the Plumed Serpent God.¡±

    He could clearly recall the bnce of powers right now. Europa, including Britannia, wasrgely under the control of Thanatos; Alkebn belonged to the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds; Middle East belonged to Aegyptus; the northern parts of the East Continent was controlled by Hell; the Spice Inds remained under the charge of Hindustan; while the New World was in the hands of the Death God Mtecutli and Death Goddess Mictecacihuatl. Australis was the onlynd without a ruler.

    Zhao Yun responded with great joy, ¡°It¡¯s great that Your Excellency had thought about these things. It shows that your understanding of theherworld is deepening. Well, the truth is¡­ the concept that the size of an underworld ismensurate with the size of its corresponding territory in the mortal realm, is a false proposition.¡±

    ¡°Stabilize the ecosystem of Hell, together with the ecosystem of Yin spirits, and¡­ any other territories or kingdoms that have been added to Hell.¡±

    ¡°For instance, the three divine artifacts of the Nipponese Artifactsbined would form a creation artifact known as the Minakanushi. Another example would be the Russian Underworld¡¯s Slumber of Moonlight Shadow, or the Aegyptian Underworld¡¯s Scales of Eternal Justice. Naturally, that¡¯s only one of the prerequisites to expanding one¡¯s territory in theherworld. Amongst other things, it also depends on the might of the death god, as well as the military strength of the underworld. Last but not least, when the mortal realm expands its territory, so also will an underworld¡¯s territory expand by amensurate amount. So, with that said, do you finally understand how important the Plumed Serpent God¡¯s message is this time?¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought that a tyrant like you is actually such a pacifist¡­

    It¡¯s amazing that Prefect Qin could get such support from the Ghost King. With this, his odds of ascending the throne should be reasonably high! And once that happens, he¡¯ll finally be able to do something to rescue me from the Heavenly Dao!

 Chapter 737: Legends of the Holy Grail (2)

    <h4>Chapter 737: Legends of the Holy Grail (2)</h4>

    The Plumed Serpent God nodded softly, ¡°320 AD. The Aegyptian Underworld sent troops marching out in a bloody battle for the expansion of their territory, even mobilizing their Scales of Eternal Justice to imbue their half-dog, half-men Yin soldiers with ever greater might as they marched across the Red Sea. This warsted for 55 years. The Jewish and Christian Underworld fought hard, even calling upon their forces littered across Europa to aid them with a counteroffensive. But unfortunately, the holy city of Salem eventually fell to the relentless assault of the Aegyptian forces, led personally by Anubis and his pharaohs. And thus, the war was concluded.¡±

    The threads of information in Qin Ye¡¯s mind were slowlying together. 315 AD was when Ghad lifted the Holy Grail in the city of Salem. 5 yearster, the Aegyptian forces marched out of their underworld. Ideally, they would have chosen to march for the weakest underworld around, that was the Alkebn Underworlds, but instead, they chose to go straight towards their of the Christians in the Middle East. Was this just a coincidence?

    Cause and effect¡­ Qin Ye sighed softly. Death gods had to be cunning and scheming if they were to survive the ferocious tussle between theherworlds.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly right.¡± The Plumed Serpent God licked his lips, ¡°And it is here that we continue the story of the Holy Grail¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Zhao Yun¡¯s eyes gleamed as he asked with a gruff voice.

    Qin Ye picked up where he left off, ¡°It can only be in the mortal realm.¡±

    Zhao Yun raised his brows, and Qin Ye immediately turned back with a cold voice, ¡°It just so happens that something earth-shattering happened in 378 AD, just three yearster.¡±

    ¡°The Roman Empire can be said to have been just as strong as Cathay at its peak. At that time, a group of Goths living in Dacia, known as the Visigoths, received permission from the Roman emperor to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. They were an oppressed group to begin with, and when famine broke out, and they received no aid from the Roman Empire, they started a great riot. This was 376 AD.¡±

    He paused for a breath, and then went on, ¡°In 395 AD, Theodosius I was seeded by his two sons, Arcadius in the east, and Honorius in the west. The western capital was located in Mn. From that time forward, the eastern empire generally came to be known as the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire.¡±

    ¡°Yin and Yang cannot intersect.¡± Qin Ye responded without any hesitation, ¡°After confirming that the Holy Grail wasn¡¯t in theherworld, Anubis knew he could only turn back to the mortal realm. However, he couldn¡¯t reach directly into the mortal realm to conduct his investigations, so he had no choice but to indirectly orchestrate a series of coincidences so that the eastern and western courts of the Roman Empire would remain divided. Honorius would likely belong to the faction that answered directly to Anubis. From then on, Honorius would have focused his efforts on the Middle East and begun his search for the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.¡±

    An incredible thought welled up in Qin Ye¡¯s heart, and he immediately looked up at the Plumed Serpent God with great consternation. However, he didn¡¯t pursue this line of thought. Instead, he immediately sought rification, ¡°Were there still interactions between the east and the west during the chaotic period of transition between dynasties?¡±

    ¡°There was, and it wasn¡¯t unsubstantial at that.¡± Zhao Yun answered, ¡°These events have all been recorded in our historical records. The various dynasties in Cathay at that time all had extensive interactions with the west, especially the Former Qin and the Northern Wei. In fact, these trade routes were one of the main sources of their ie.¡±

    Qin Ye frowned slightly. Meanwhile, Zhao Yun responded with a deep voice, ¡°Thest emperor of the Former Liang?¡±

    Zhao Yun immediately continued, ¡°In 327 AD, during the second year of Xianhe of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he captured Dunhuang County. Then in the fourth year of Xianhe of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he officially established Gaochang County where Dunhuang County used to be located. Thereafter, in 345 AD, he conquered Yanqi¡­ and¡­ these ces all happen to be entrances to the Silk Road?¡±

    Zhao Yun¡¯s drew a deep breath, ¡°Are you suggesting--...¡±

    The Holy Grail!

    The Holy Grail¡­ the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn¡­ is actually in Cathay!

    300 AD. The Knights of the Round Table travelled to the Middle East in search of the Holy Grail.

    320 AD. Anubis sent his forces marching out of the Aegyptian Underworld, taking the holy cities of the Middle Eastern Underworld and razing them to the ground in search of the Holy Grail, and yet to no avail. Thus, he deduced that the Holy Grail was still in the mortal realm, and he began to indirectly orchestrate a series of events that caused the division of the Roman Empire into the eastern and western courts. Honorius, a faithful of Anubis, received guidance from his god of death to search through the Middle East.

    That said, Cathay was rife with turmoil at that time, and it so happened that the first country that came into contact with the Chalice was the Former Liang of the Sixteen Kingdoms. Perhaps those who were transporting the cup didn¡¯t know the value of the Chalice, or perhaps they knew but were desperately seeking shelter from the faithfuls of Anubis. Whatever the case was, it still somehow found its way into Zhang Jun¡¯s possession!

    Qin Ye couldn¡¯t help but exim in shock and awe - No wonder the western forces weren¡¯t able to locate the Holy Grail no matter how much they tried searching for it. It was actually in Cathay all along! But¡­ Cathay was just as chaotic back then. This was a period of time when war was rife, and territories and possessions changed hands frequently. If nobody knew of its value back then, would it even be possible to trace its location right now?

    And the rest was history.

    ¡°Where is it now?¡± Qin Ye asked cidly.

    Not at all¡­

    One. Fu Jian¡¯s tomb. If Zhang Tianxi had offered up this chalice as a curio when he surrendered to Fu Jian, then it is entirely possible that it would be located in West Shan Province¡¯s Salt City. After all, an emperor would generally be buried with his treasured possessions.

    Three. If he didn¡¯t pass it on to anyone, then it would likely have been buried together with Zhang Tianxi in his own tomb.

    ¡°My Lord, there¡¯s no need to feel too concerned about that.¡± Zhao Yun¡¯s voice sounded somewhat muffled from excitement, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that there¡¯s always the Laws of Yin Yang Coaction. There¡¯s bound to be anomalies near the vicinity of the tomb of a great person, and these anomalies might even affect the mortal realm. In fact, these changes may even be beyond our imaginations! What we need to do right now is to unify the Cathayan Underworld as soon as possible! And only then will we be able to turn our eye to the invaluable Holy Grail!¡±

    ¡°Therefore, Yanluo Qin, please unify the nation as soon as possible! There¡¯s no time to lose! Don¡¯t forget, Dusk City and Salt City are both not far away from the Daolord of the Beast¡­¡±

    1.

 Chapter 738: Preparing for Unification

    <h4>Chapter 738: Preparing for Unification</h4>

    But even then, he remainedpletely silent, staring intently at Qin Ye. He was gambling. He was gambling on Qin Ye. Naturally, he didn¡¯t rush them as they deliberated over their decision.

    The tension in the air was so high that he could even feel Qin Ye¡¯s every action strumming intently on his heartstrings. Finally, Qin Ye spoke, ¡°What are you after?¡±

    At once, Zhao Yun¡¯s voice resounded in Qin Ye¡¯s ears once more,, ¡°You¡¯re also a divinity, and the main god of a realm at that. However, the strongest among all divinities are naturally the creator gods. They are above everything, and they¡¯re the ones who have opened this world to the Three Realms. Our divinity is inferior to theirs. Naturally, the blood that he¡¯s referring to is the blood of Jesus, one of the creator gods¡­¡±

    Zhao Yun didn¡¯t seem too surprised by Qin Ye¡¯s response. That said, it only stood to reason, because doing so would essentially be cing Hell¡¯s interest at the forefront. He shook his head, ¡°No.¡±

    What a pity¡­ But it¡¯s no wonder the Plumed Serpent God isn¡¯t afraid to disclose such key intelligence to us.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I harbour no desire for the Holy Grail at all.¡± The Plumed Serpent God chuckled bitterly, ¡°Right now, the only thing that I¡¯m thinking about is my own survival. How can I allow myself to pass on without having taken revenge on the Aztec Gods yet?¡±

    Qin Ye snapped his finger, and the swirling Yin energy around promptly transformed into ck butterflies and brought Nadia right back to her room. Meanwhile, he folded his hands and sat silently in his seat, deep in thought.

    ¡°Unlikely.¡± Zhao Yun shook his head, ¡°Have you forgotten? I¡¯m now in the realm beyond that of a Yama-King. I¡¯m technically not even an official of Hell right now.¡±

    ¡°The Heavenly Dao isn¡¯t rejecting my existence, but the precondition to that is that I don¡¯t cause any earth-shattering changes to the world. In other words, I can¡¯t be immoderate with these powers of mine.¡±

    Zhao Yun coughed dryly, ¡°The Second King Yanluo is different in that his existence itself already draws the scorn of the Heavenly Dao. Cough¡­ Besides, nearly a thousand years ago, when he attended his first Federation of Underworlds conference, the gods of death of the other underworlds sought to make things difficult for the new kid on the block. At that time, he mmed his fist down on the table and forced everyone else to sign on a series of unequal treaties. Then, just 500 yearster, during the Conference for the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts, Anubis and Thanatos weren¡¯t agreeable to the terms proposed, but the Second King Yanluo beat the living daylights out of them¡­¡±

    Holy crap¡­ Qin Ye¡¯s eyes widened as he heard the summary of all the great things the Second King Yanluo had done - Brother Xu, what in the world have you done? It¡¯s no wonder the entireherworld seems to hate you so much!

    Qin Ye sighed, ¡°In other words, so long as you abuse your powers to give Hell a seriously unfair advantage, then the Heavenly Dao wille to reject your existence?¡±

    But where was Hell supposed to get so many Yin soldiers?

    Qin Ye smiled, ¡°Now is a better time than any other. Besides, it¡¯s the next order of business for Hell right now.¡±

    Unification of the Cathayan Underworld. This was the dream of any warlord of the underworld! Over the course of Cathayan history, there were, strictly speaking, approximately 15 people who had founded their own dynasties. And to that end, Qin Ye had marched out of an insignificant Clear Creek County on his own, forged his own path and imed tworge cities for himself, and was now looking ahead to the unification of the scatterednds, as well as the remation of the Holy Grail for Hell!

    With that, he knelt down on a knee and cupped his hands respectfully, ¡°I eagerly await yourmand!¡±

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes shed with a trace of enlightenment, and he abruptly turned back, ¡°Dong Zhuo isn¡¯t surrendering?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Qin Ye waved his hand, ¡°Why isn¡¯t he surrendering?!¡±

    Secondster, Zhao Yun drew a deep breath, ¡°Su Daji and Qin Hui have both reached out to him before, so he should know full well that two of the three daolords have defected and are now standing on Hell¡¯s side. And to that end, he should know full well that once the war begins, the forces mustered by the two defected daolords would likely march as pawns against the Daolord of the Beast. It¡¯s not going to be easy for him to withstand the might of the two mighty armies, even with most of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal under his control. Add Hell¡¯s forces to the mix, and he should know full well that it¡¯s not an army that he can stand up against!¡±

    Both men locked eyes at once.

    Dong Zhuo probably already has control of the Holy Grail right now!

    Qin Ye frowned, ¡°But this is a holy artifact, and a creation artifact at that. Surely there would be some unusual celestial phenomena reported as soon as he gets hold of it, wouldn¡¯t there?¡±

    Qin Ye nodded. Then, after pondering for another moment or two, he sent two messenger birds flying out of his hands. Within moments, two figures materialized before Qin Ye¡¯s very eyes andy prostrate on the ground, ¡°Su Daji, Qin Hui, pays their humblest respects to King Yanluo.¡±

    ¡°It would be my honour.¡± Qin Hui responded without hesitation, ¡°It¡¯s the blessings of the gods that I¡¯m able to share any measure of burdens with the King Yanluo of Hell!¡±

    Archnemesis!

    Qin Ye waved his hands impatiently, ¡°Spare the ttery. I¡¯ll give you three months topletely purge the Pearl River Delta regions and the three eastern provinces of all Yin spirits. Can you do this?¡±

    Qin Hui stared at Su Daji in horror.

    ¡°My Lord¡­ My army of asuras can do the same as well¡­¡±

    This was all to secure himself the best possible bargaining chips for the uing negotiations with the mortal realm.

    ¡°Daolord Qin.¡± Qin Ye turned to Qin Hui, ¡°Do you know where their of the Daolord of the Beast is located?¡±

    Qin Ye straightened up, ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no need to alert him to our movements right now. I¡¯d like you to take care of a few things. Firstly, suss out all locations of Hell¡¯s rift in West Shan Province, Kansu Province, and Kokonur Province, and then¡­¡±

    Locking him in, huh? Hell is going to unify the nation soon, and I¡¯ll be the one who will be in charge of keeping an eye on Dong Zhuo¡¯s movements¡­ Qin Hui took a deep breath and responded valiantly, ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still onest thing to do before unifying the Cathayan Underworld.¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, ¡°And that¡¯s the uing negotiations with the mortal realm. Our industries are still in their nascent stages, and we cannot rely on Hell¡¯s own production capacity right now. Not even a hundred years would suffice if we let things progress at its current speeds.¡±

    ¡°The three eastern provinces, Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Eastmount Province, Insignia Province¡­ With a total of nine provinces liberated from the bindings of the supernatural forces, I refuse to believe that they wouldn¡¯t ede to our requests!¡±

    The curtains were closing on this chapter, and a new one was soon about to open. So long as they could secure the help of the mortal realm, Hell could focus its attention on conscripting troops, before finally turning the tip of its sword to the rest of the nation!

    Nobody could live in istion - not even one of the top underworlds of theherworld. The international arena was rife with changes. The passing of the New World, the desperation of the Alkebn Underworld, and the P4 underworlds who were allpeting for glory¡­ Qin Ye couldn¡¯t wait to see how this gorgeous picture would unfold as soon as Hell re-emerges to the forefront of the world.

 Chapter 739: Conscription Order and the Constitution (1)

    <h4>Chapter 739: Conscription Order and the Constitution (1)</h4>

    ¡°The total turnover of the first Great Sale has reached 100 million HL! That works out to an average spending of approximately 5,000 HL per capita! This is the miracle of Ashmound City!¡±

    ¡°Changes to Ashmound City: farms, pastures, orchards and industrial zones have been earmarked to be established in due course. How close will things get to the state of affairs in the mortal realm?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± This was a study group organized by the neighbourhoodmittee. A gray-haired Yin spirit chuckled with great joy, ¡°We used to see Yin spirits idling about at every corner of the streets. But now?¡±

    A middle-aged woman smiled and sighed, ¡°To think that we¡¯d see these names, even in Hell. You know, Hell is truly shaping up to be no different from the mortal realm. What a masterstroke by the government. We¡¯re seeing the establishment of industries right now, and it¡¯s probably going to be followed by the development of arts and culture. We¡¯re practically on the cusp of the establishment of an entire nation!¡±

    Was there anyone who didn¡¯t feel proud that their nation was bing strong?

    Ashmound City might have appeared like a bustling hub in the past, but the truth of the matter was that people didn¡¯t feel assured of their livelihood. The government¡¯s various acts of handing out entertainment amenities and facilities, theunch of currency, the establishment of banks, and even the registration ofpanies, was all a desperate bid to increase Ashmound City¡¯s productiveness and spur the development of various industries. But unfortunately, after those moments of passion passed, everything went cold again.

    Naturally, this meant that there were a lot of citizens idling at every corner of the city with no direction in their lives. Nobody minded spending less, even on food and drinks, since it wasn¡¯t a necessity to Yin spirits to begin with, and there wasn¡¯t much on offer anyway. But now, things werepletely different.

    They made huge gains from the sea trade, as well as the war reparations of the Russian Underworld, and these benefits naturally cascaded down into the budding industries in Hell, spurring their growth, whilst trickling down to the end users that were none other than the citizens of Hell. They now had goods of all kinds, ranging from clothes and food, to even needles and threads. This plugged the huge gap in the market and once again lit the fire in the hearts of all citizens. The construction ofrge factories had been announced, and that also marked the growth of production and generation of jobs. It was the dawn of a new age where the citizens of Hell would no longer be in want.

    Every generation would invariably see their own fair share of self-made people. For instance, the ones who had the foresight to set up shop in themercial streets back then would have made at least 300,000 to 400,000 HL from the Great Sale. There were even talks of some Yin spirits having be millionaires overnight, although such numbers were still few and far between.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± An old man with white hair stood up and waved the papers in his hand, ¡°Hell has never eased up on improving our quality of life. Over thest six months, we¡¯ve heard too manyints that the government wasn¡¯t doing enough, and there were even suggestions that the Yin spirits should defect to some other underworlds. Fortunately, we didn¡¯t. Hell tried time and again, from theunch of currency, to the distribution of products, until now, when sea trade was finally established.¡±

    ¡°Sure, we might not have the capital topete with the industry leaders, but these industry leaders would also have to rely on us to reach out to the less essiblemunities! And that¡¯s the reason for which we¡¯re here today - to explore the possibilities of cooperation and seize the market before everything goes down! So, here¡¯s the deal.¡± He paused for a moment, and then smiled, ¡°Have you heard of the name Huang Liangchuan, a man more affectionately known as Old Huang?¡±

    Sss¡­ A cacophony of gasps echoed in the room. The old man went on, ¡°I happen to have a fairly good rtionship with Old Huang, and I¡¯ve heard over the grapevine that the amount of deposits in the Central Bank is contracting rapidly. This is a good thing, because it proves that the market is slowlying to life. A rolling stone grows no moss. In the past, Ashmound City had to search hard for means in order to plug the growing gaps in the market, and the search was bound toe up short eventually. But now, the market hase to life, andmerce has finally taken flight.¡±

    After all, what would the merchants do if the stream of supplies one day ran out?

    ¡°I also have some news.¡± Another young man in his twenties spoke up. He ran an entertainment goods store, and business was now better than ever, ¡°First of all, I¡¯ve got to say that the recent turn of events have spelt the best news for us. Period. And that said, it just so happens that I live just a stone¡¯s throw away from none other than Yanluo Qin¡¯s personal assistant.¡±

    The young man shook his head, ¡°I can¡¯t possibly be mistaken. He¡¯s never introduced himself in that manner before, but I¡¯ve seen him on several asions, including back then when Yanluo Qin travelled around Hell, inspecting the major factories around these parts. That man was walking right alongside him, and he even seemed to know Yanluo Qin on a personal basis. It¡¯s taken me quite some time, but I¡¯m pleased to say that I¡¯ve managed to get on his good side. This is also why I say we live in great times, because when else would you be able to even interact with someone as important and influential as that?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s very tight-lipped.¡± The young man sighed, ¡°But he did reveal that Hell¡¯s immediate concern is to stimte the market. And then¡­ there will be further movements in Hell in the near future. Don¡¯t look at me like that. I don¡¯t know what these changes might be. That said, he did mention that if Hell seeds, then Hell¡¯s industries will receive a huge boost.¡±

    The Yin spirits grew silent and mulled over the implicationsden words. Just then, the door suddenly flung open, and a Yin spirit rushed into the hall with another set of papers in his hand, ¡°Are you guys still having that meeting of yours? Quit it already! Come here and have a look at this breaking news!¡±

    Without saying anything further, the Yin spirit that had just barged into the room immediatelyid the papers in his hand onto the table, and everyone huddled around to catch a glimpse of the headline.

    These were the two words sshed in scarlet font on the headlines. At once, the old man frowned in consternation, ¡°What about that?¡±

    ¡°Keep reading on!!¡± The Yin spirit who had just barged into the room appeared to be in his forties. He immediately sat down and poured himself a cup of tea. Meanwhile, one of the other Yin spirits in his thirties abruptly shot to his feet and pointed at the papers, ¡°Everyone¡­ take a look here¡­ This is breaking news indeed¡­¡±

    The first line read: ¡°Hell looks to the rest of the Cathayan Underworld! The Third Era of Hell is openly conscripting!¡±

    ¡°Thest Hell had copsed due to unforeseen circumstances, and Hell has been directionless for thest hundred years. The third era of Hell has arisen out of the ashes of the old Hell, inheriting the virtues of the old Hell and continuing its work. Since then, Everburn City has be the capital of the new Hell, the Book of Life and Death has returned to our possession, the economic center known as Ashmound City is thriving, while both Ghost King Zhao Zilong and Hell¡¯s divine beast the Harken have returned to serve Hell. Let all who have ambition join us and fly the banner of Hell high above the farthest reaches in Cathay!¡±

    ¡°Requirements for recruitment: All under the age of 35, without any disabilities. As we all know, one¡¯s strength and capacity to wield weapons are directly rted to their life. Those with disabilities will unfortunately be disqualified from our selections.¡±

    ¡°During service, conscripted soldiers shall be entitled to insurance and housing allowance, which shall both be converted into domestic insurance and pension funds after their discharge¡­¡±

    Purging an ordinary Yin spirit known as a wandering spirit - 1 merit point.

    Purging a Soul Hunter - immediate promotion to officer.

    Purging a Judge - immediate promotion to officer, with a view to be assigned as amander of a division after the war for unification¡­¡±

    Generous¡­

    Allowances aside, the nonmissioned officers were easily already on par with the mortal realm. In fact, they could easily even gain monthly wages of up to 8,000 HL! This was beyond the imaginations of all Yin spirits in Ashmound City right now. After all, such monthly wages were easily equivalent to that of a high-ranking officer.

    But these marypensation was nothingpared with the intangible benefits listed below.

    That¡¯s by no means a low-ranking official!

    But now?

    So long as one was lucky enough tond the killing blow on a Judge, he would almost certainly be set for life!

 Chapter 740: Conscription Order and the Constitution (2)

    <h4>Chapter 740: Conscription Order and the Constitution (2)</h4>

    In fact, it was so tempting that even the middle-aged and elderly people in the room nearly couldn¡¯t resist the urge to sign up. They could all tell that the conscription order was also to suss out potential leaders. And this naturally meant that the first bigwigs of the military world in Hell would make their grand entrance in the uing battle.

    But unlike him, the news instantly caused a stir in the younger generation in Hell.

    The draft wouldmence in a week¡¯s time.

    Qin Ye was naturally unaware of the stir he had caused.

    Back on the 5th floor of the city tower. Qin Ye sat in the main seat of the conference room, nked by the Harken and Zhao Yun. The seats below were upied by Shang Yang at the head of the table, followed by Yin spirits who used to be provincial level leaders of the mortal realm. All eyes fell on a stack of documents before them.

    ¡°Well, then, let¡¯s put it to a vote.¡± Qin Ye sighed softly and rubbed his slightly puffy eyes, ¡°We¡¯ve already thought about everything we could possibly think of. Just like the mortal realm, we¡¯ve got our own team of legal advisers. However, the circumstances here are clearly different from the mortal realm, so General Zhao and the Harken have also made some alterations. It may not be perfect, but I believe this is the best we can achieve right now. We¡¯ll check back in on the gaps and plug them if any problems surfaceter.¡±

    Whoosh. At once, all hands were raised high into the sky.

    ¡°28 votes. Unanimously approved.¡±

    ¡°It covers 42 aspects, ranging from the humanities, to people¡¯s livelihood, the arts, the military, and so on and so forth. Everyone¡­ Thanks for all your hard work.¡± He bowed deeply, and then straightened up once more, ¡°That said, allow me to say one final thing.¡±

    ¡°Unlike the mortal realm, we live under the rule ofw! We¡¯ll leave the implications of that to be discussed at another time, but in essence, if anyone is caught viting thew, or actingplicit with an offender, I will take it upon myself to send him down to where Crow Tengu resides right now!¡±

    Shang Yang was so excited that thehermes in his eyes instantly surged and soared three meters high!

    As a legal practitioner, his greatest wish was to use his knowledge for his nation. And now¡­ he¡¯d finally done it!

    Wait till Wu Daozi, Li Chun and Zu Chongzhi learn of this¡­ They¡¯d go mad! No¡­ I¡¯ve got to personally break the news to themter¡­

    Qin Ye nodded. He had his own reasons for appointing Shang Yang over any of the other schrs. After all, Shang Yang was the most stringent and unwavering of the schrs. His appointment here would be tantamount to a signal to the rest of Hell that thew would be strictly enforced, and anyone who breaks thew shall face the fullest extent of thew.

    Hell was thest bastion of hope for fairness and justice.

    Qin Ye thought for a moment, and then waved his hand. At once, a couplet appeared in the air.

    The guilty heart fears no man but Hell.

    ¡°Granted.¡± Qin Ye smiled. Just then, Zhao Yun suddenly interjected, ¡°Truth be told, Mr Shang doesn¡¯t have to feel too rushed in this regard. We will be implementing the ns in due course, but the court still cannot be formed right now.¡±

    Zhao Yun responded cidly, ¡°The Judgment Pen.¡±

    Shang Yang paused, and then sighed, ¡°It was I who had gotten ahead of myself. But if memory serves me well, doesn¡¯t the recovery of two divine artifacts naturally point us to the third one?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not long now¡­¡± Qin Ye smiled, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t take more than a year. And at that time, everyone will hear the cry of Hell. Everyone will be acquainted with the words - By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    This was an ordinary building constructed in the archetypical nies fashion. The tiles were yellowish, while the roof was red. The building was situated in a secluded location, and there were only eight floors to the building, but it was part of a series of over a dozen buildings that formed an entirepound. That said, what was most peculiar about this development were the abundance of parking lots around it.

    Moreover, the license tes of the vehicles parked here indicated that people came and went from every part of Cathay. Furthermore, the ruralpound was still bustling with activity, even at 9.00 p.m. The entirepound was also brightly lit. In fact, there were even people of all nationalitiesing and going from thispound.

    Special Investigations Department Headquarters.

    ¡°Apologies.¡± An investigator dressed in an ancient Cathayan tunic nced at the records before him, ¡°There are still three envoys before you in the queue. We prioritize meetings based on the grade of your agenda. Unfortunately, your agenda is designated a C grade agenda, while the ones ahead of you are all C+ grade agendas.¡±

    At least, nobody, apart from Director Lei.

    And there, he saw copious amounts of Yin energy pouring into the building, forming a vortex of Yin energy from which a human figure stepped out. Momentster, he stepped straight through one of the investigators in the building and made a beeline for the top of the building.

    After putting down the phone, he stood up, pulled out a container of tea leaves, brewed some tea, and then poured out two cups of tea. Then, he waited.

    ¡°Actually, this isn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve met. We¡¯ve met earlier in the Yin Mountains, but you didn¡¯t recognize me back then.¡± Lei Jun stood up and reached out his hand, ¡°Director of the Special Investigations Department, Lei Jun, peak Abyssal Prefect.¡±

    Qin Ye took his seat and took a sip of the tea that had already been poured out, ¡°Good tea.¡±

    Qin Ye set down his teacup and leaned back into his seat, ¡°The supernatural disaster will be over in five years.¡±

    His heart thumped wildly. He didn¡¯t know if it was just a coincidence that Qin Ye was always fronting themunications between Hell and the mortal realm, but it almost felt as though Qin Ye was a spokesperson for Hell. Meanwhile, the mortal realm had always been hoping for an indication from Hell, but Hell had always remained silent in that regard.

    Five years. The next five years were going to be thest five years of their prolonged supernatural disaster. Countless lives were lost to these unspeakable terrors with each night that passed, but this protracted nightmare of theirs was finallying to an end.

    ¡°The time hase for that.¡± Qin Ye responded directly to the question, ¡°Today, Hell has finally issued a conscription order, and it will be training its Yin soldiers for the next year in preparation to march for the unification of the Cathayan Underworld. By our calctions, Hell will be able to reim all of its lostnds within the next five years!¡±

    ¡°Support us.¡± Qin Ye responded in a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯ve informed one of the top brass in Cathay¡¯s government once that Hell needs to enter into talks with the mortal realm. Hell already has the might to control the nation. However, it still wouldn¡¯t be able to prevent every single Yin spirit from fleeing to the mortal realm as things stand right now. Frontiers need cities as nodes of control, and that means satellite cities need to be built. Unfortunately, Hell only has two cities under its control right now, which means we have no capacity to build our own cities just yet.¡±

    ¡°Is this a threat?¡±

    Lei Jun drew a deep breath.

    He understood that the end of the supernatural disaster would also spell the end of the Special Investigations Department propulsion into the spotlight. With that, they would once again fade into the background. Investigators and cultivators would fade away into obscurity, protecting the various provinces and cities of the mortal realm just like how they¡¯ve always done throughout the course of history.

    How could one call this ce home when everything was in turmoil?

    ¡°When do you expect to enter into these talks?¡±

 Chapter 741: Establishing An Army, Reporting Back

    <h4>Chapter 741: Establishing An Army, Reporting Back</h4>

    With that, Qin Ye departed.

    Sigh¡­ How long have I been alive? To think that even my beard is already turning white¡­

    To think it¡¯s already been more than ten years since I¡¯ve assumed this position¡­

    Yan Capital had a sense of oppressive darkness about it at night, especially around the outskirts where he was at. Carved beams and painted murals could be seen all around him. The architecture was dated and ancient, but everything appeared spacious and elegant. The road was lined with ginkgo trees, and soldiers could even be spotted standing guard in strict formation. Even someone like Lei Jun had no choice but to go through several rounds of security checks before he was finally granted entry.

    But a kind face didn¡¯t necessarily mean that the man was happy and smiling. In fact, his face was full of gloom as he waited for Lei Jun to take his seat. And as soon as he did, the old man asked, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Lei Jun¡¯s voice choked up slightly, and he nced up at the roof, ¡°Furthermore, too many lives have been lost, be it ordinary citizens or investigators. I can no longer remember their names, but what I do know is that the reports of their demise have all been approved by me personally¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, and then added, ¡°Besides, there¡¯s no reason for Hell to lie to us. After all, Hell cannot grow without mortals.¡±

    The old man¡¯s eyes gleamed softly, almost as though he was reminiscing about the past. After a long time, he finally sighed, ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ It¡¯s been over ten years since we¡¯ve been given this tall task, so what difference does it make to wait for another five years? That¡¯s a time we can afford to wait out.¡±

    ¡°He said that¡­ it¡¯s up to us. And that it should preferably be in two months¡¯ time.¡±

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Things were still fine when the markets in Hell were all stagnant and lukewarm. But now that the opening of sea trade had injected new life into the markets, it was only natural that problems would only start to surface, and countermeasures would have to be put into ce. Incidentally, Ashmound City was now also an ideal proving ground to sieve out the wheat from the chaff. It was through these trials that he could truly find out which Yin spirits he could entrust with greater duties in future.

    Qin Ye entrusted all of these things to the officials of Hell. Meanwhile, he turned his attention to the reports of the Frontier Brigades and construction corps which needed his personal oversight.

    Qin Ye sat in the conference room together with Zhao Yun and the Harken nking his sides. They were there to help him break down the information in the reports. The information that was sent back was approximately one foot thick, and it was divided into three broad categories, of things of use to Hell, things that could be glossed over, and things that had to be investigated further. Of these, the things of use to Hell were further subdivided into things that could be appreciated, and things that could be put to practical use. From there, the report went into great detail on the particrs of what they had found, ranging from mineral deposits to food, and from raw materials to precious metals.

    ¡°In the mortal realm, an average province such as Westriver Province would have documented something like 12,000 species of nts, animals and insects¡­¡± Qin Ye set down the table of particrs and rubbed his throbbing temples, ¡°But the first report from Eastmount Province itself already contains over 4,000 species of nts and animals, and that¡¯s not even counting the 6,300 species of insects that they have documented¡­¡±

    The sheer thought of having to sub-ssify these species be it for livestock or leather, or whether lethal or non-lethal, caused Qin Ye¡¯s eyes to ze over. Fortunately, these reports were more for his own information and understanding, and he didn¡¯t have to personally attend to the ssification work, which was under the charge of both Zu Chongzhi and Li Chun. Both schrs had experience with ssification, and they each led their own team of talented individuals who would delve deeper into such work.

    It was absolutely shameless!

    ¡°My Lord, there¡¯s no need to rush things.¡± Zhao Yun remarked, ¡°We¡¯ll be receiving a second batch of reports soon, and then followed by another report on geography and vegetation. You can¡¯t possibly finish going through these things right now. Besides, reading is one thing, but seeing it for yourself is quite something else. It might actually be better to take a little trip around Hell to experience things for yourself. That would also allow you to see things from the perspectives of the citizens of Hell.¡±

    ¡°Either General Zhao or I can step in.¡± The Harkenzily peeked out from the report before its eyes, ¡°General Zhao is right. The government is currently developing well, and everyone has their tasks nicelyid out before them. So, unless something extremely important turns up that requires your urgent attention, there¡¯s really nothing that we wouldn¡¯t be able to do on your behalf.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget, the officials of the old Hell used to only be able to ascend the ranks after some work on the ground. Sure, the Second King Yanluo might have been parachuted into his position, but that¡¯s just an exception. He¡¯s an old monster who¡¯s lived for hundreds of years, and his cultivation is in apletely different realm. Could someone like him really be inexperienced in the ways of the world? But you¡¯re different.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never experienced life in Hell, nor do you have any detailed understanding of how theherworld works. For instance, let me ask you this - how should our education system be developed?¡±

    Yin Talismans.

    For further instance, he didn¡¯t understand a single thing about the special architecture of Hell, the qualities of the ground, or any of the specialty products and resources that were currently in his possession. Without the understanding of such information, how was he supposed to know what a particr province or city needs more of, and what they could spare? And if a road needs to be repaired across several provinces, how much would that cost, in both money, manpower and resources?

    ¡°I¡¯ll consider it--...¡±

    ¡°Argh¡­ Got it, got it¡­¡± Qin Ye stretched his back, and then turned slightly to the side and asked softly, ¡°Coffee.¡±

    Then he turned properly with a dark face, only to realize that Arthis was now dressed in the garments of a Han Dynasty noblewoman, and she had a demure smile on her face as she leaned in close to Zhao Yun, ¡°Brother Zhao, this is a drink that I¡¯ve juste up with. Is it¡­ to your liking?¡±

    Forget it, forget it¡­ everyone has their own weaknesses¡­ Eh?! Why isn¡¯t Brother Zhao avoiding her like he usually does?! He¡¯s actually drinking it?!

    The atmosphere in the conference room became rather awkward at once. Qin Ye shivered slightly, and then motioned to leave the room for a breath of fresh air. Just then, the door swung wide open.

    Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, and he transformed into a gust of Yin energy right away, whisking along Wang One Tail as he rushed out of the room. When he next appeared, he was already right back in his own office. The Lord of the Land stood outside the office and bowed deeply to the ground.

    ¡°Your Excellency is astute and wise.¡± The Lord of the Land bowed to the ground, ¡°The mortal realm has already agreed to your request, and hasmunicated with me through burnt offerings. They intend to meet with you on¡­ Labour Day?¡±

    The Lord of the Land departed after rying this piece of news. Meanwhile, Qin Ye thought for a moment, and then began to muster the Yin energy in his body. Soon, two screens of Yin energy appeared right before him.

    The first one revealed the current state of affairs in the three eastern provinces. Thends were covered with a lingering mist of Yin energy, while countless Yin spirits with slender limbs andrge bellies were patrolling the streets.

    Yet they continued to bow deeply in submission, not even daring to lift their heads in the slightest. A silhouette sat at the top of the TV tower, fanning herself elegantly as she lorded over the rest. Then, she quipped softly, ¡°Have you¡­ killed anyone?¡±

 Chapter 742: Negotiations with the Mortal Realm (1)

    <h4>Chapter 742: Negotiations with the Mortal Realm (1)</h4>

    ¡°Just¡­ just one¡­ I--...¡±

    She waved her hand gently. No Yin spirit could stand up against the might of an Abyssal Prefect. But just then, she looked up abruptly at the sky, and then knelt down respectfully, ¡°Your servant Su Daji humbly greets your lordship!¡±

    ¡°Your Excellency, I¡¯m currently located in Fengtian West Railway District, where a nest of a thousand ghosts has been formed. I¡¯m slowly unravelling the effects of the same. My lord, Fengtian will be restored within a month¡¯s time. Meanwhile, Yichun and Bingcheng are also being taken care of by my subordinates. And as soon as I receive reports of any Judge-ss Yin spirits, I¡¯ll immediately head over to deal with the situation.¡±

    Su Daji pondered for a moment, ¡°Your humble servant will try her--...¡±

    ¡°The three eastern provinces must be liberated before 1 May. You¡¯re not the only one racing against time here. General Zhao will soon be travelling to the Yangtze Delta and Fulling Province. We¡¯re talking about half of Cathay being liberated at the same time. Su Daji¡­¡±

    ¡°You know the position that you¡¯re in right now. Prove to me that my decision to keep you around isn¡¯t a bad decision¡­ that is, if you don¡¯t wish to join Crow Tengu and the others at the six paths of reincarnation.¡±

    The screen of light went out. On the other side, Su Daji stood up at once, drew and deep breath, and then Yin energy erupted from her body like thousands of poisonous vipers slithering out of their nest, burrowing into every corner of Fengtian.

    But if anyone darese between me and my survival, I¡¯m going to take it personally!

    Time passed quickly. Both Hell and the mortal realm were eagerly anticipating the uing meeting, and both sides were making their final preparations as they dashed to the finish line. And before they knew it, 1 May arrived.

    It was an annex hall. But since the seating capacity wasn¡¯t too high, everyone here would at least be 50 years of age and above. They all wore a serious expression on their faces, and they nced at the door expectantly from time to time.

    Then, as soon as the clock struck midnight, the lights in the entire hall suddenly flickered, and that was soon followed by the convergence of a terrifyinghergale. Lei Jun and about a dozen other Infernal Judges standing guard at the sides of the hall immediately nced around vigntly, ready to strike at the moment¡¯s notice. Then, secondster, the Yin energy swirled together like a powerful vortex, from which Qin Ye¡¯s figure slowly stepped out.

    One man?

    Qin Ye didn¡¯t speak immediately. Instead, he surveyed his surroundings and took in the grand sight. The national insignia hung gloriously at the back of the hall, and just its presence alone weakened Qin Ye¡¯s energy by almost half. Meanwhile, both sides of the hall were lined with the national g.

    He was slightly moved. After all, the Assembly Hall was a ce used only when either Yan Capital or Cathay received international envoys or guests. Who would¡¯ve thought that Hell would be granted such honour as well?

    These are all people that I¡¯ve once seen on television and sincerely looked up to¡­

    ¡°It is an honour to finally meet you.¡± He clenched his fist and ced it across his chest as he bowed deeply to the room, ¡°You may all be wondering why Hell has only sent me, and only an Abyssal Prefect at that, and not a Yama-King.¡±

    A thin old man smiled faintly, ¡°I¡¯ve read the records of the Divine Protectors, and there have been records of their interaction with Hell as well.¡±

    The top brass exchanged nces, and then the president nodded slightly and made a gesture of invitation, ¡°Well, then¡­ please.¡±

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye¡¯s heart was also filled withplex emotions. The journey thus far hadn¡¯t been easy.

    And then, there were a couple of other times when he had crossed their paths, but those weren¡¯t too important. All he knew was that they had on several asions attempted to probe deeper at Hell¡¯s might and strength, and yet Qin Ye had done everything he could to conceal as much as he could. Then, the turning point came during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

    From there, he stepped into the realms of an Abyssal Prefect, personally travelled across thends, recovering Pearl River Delta, shocking the Daolord of the Asura, before slowly but surely reiming thend that had been lost to Hell. As time wore on, the alert status of the coastal regions slowly turned from red to orange, and then to yellow. But even then, Hell chose not to call for negotiations, but instead went on to reim Valley County, Pearlriver, and even resolve the supernatural incidents at the Yin Mountains. Finally, as all of these threads came together, it finally culminated in the negotiations today!

    He closed his eyes and adjusted the thoughts in his heart. Then, he finally looked up, ¡°I believe you already have an idea about the situation in Hell after ourst meeting. But just so we¡¯re all on the same page, I¡¯ll say it again. A hundred years ago, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva fulfilled the Great Vow and gained ascension, causing Hell to be emptied out. Granny Meng found me and entrusted me with a shard of King Yanluo¡¯s Seal, and I suddenly found myself shouldering the weight of Hell¡¯s revivification. From there, I¡¯vee to build something out of nothing, and it¡¯s finally time to enter into talks with the mortal realm about the tall task of restoration of Hell.¡±

    Lei Jun¡¯s fingers quivered for a moment, and then he calmed down once more.

    Neither side was wrong. It was all just a misalignment in their positions.

    The president nodded slightly, ¡°Our interests weren¡¯t aligned, and we had no choice either. It is great that Prefect Qin understands the situation, and has helped us to set things into better perspectives.¡±

    Everyone straightened up slightly. Qin Ye drew a deep breath, and then began to exin, ¡°Hell currently has two cities under its charge, Ashmound City and Everburn City, which sits on Martial City and the City of Salvation respectively. Of these, Ashmound City has a poption size of 20 million, while Everburn City has a poption size of 3 million. Two months ago, we issued a conscription order, and 180,000 troops have been recruited thus far.¡±

    He paused for a moment, and yet not a single person made a single peep of sound.

    But even then, Qin Ye knew that they had to be astounded in their hearts. They were just repressing their emotions for the purposes of the negotiations. Needless to say, their cidity created a peculiar sensation of depth and profundity in the air.

    After all, the world stage was next on the cards after the unification of the underworld, and it would serve him well to learn from the leaders of the mortal realm, especially since¡­ he didn¡¯t have the same kind of ¡°persuasiveness¡± of the Second King Yanluo.

    His eyes gleamed brightly, ¡°Nobody can stand in the way of our unification of the Cathayan Underworld!¡±

    ¡°Because of the Heavenly Dao.¡± Qin Ye pointed up, ¡°Perhaps you might find this statement rather nebulous, but I can swear it upon the name of Hell that everything I¡¯ve said thus far is absolutely true, regardless of how incredulous it might seem.¡±

    He paused for a moment, ¡°We have no choice but to plug the gap with Yin soldiers.¡±

    They still had a Yama-King, and a Yama-King could still act without being rejected by the Heavenly Dao. Unfortunately for the mortal realm, they didn¡¯t have Yama-Kings, and they weren¡¯t able to verify whether Qin Ye was telling the truth or not.

    It was a cold position to take, but it was all a matter of national interests at the end of it all.

    ¡°Five years.¡± Qin Ye responded decisively, ¡°And possibly even sooner! Currently, the only remaining stronghold that stands in our way belongs to the Daolord of the Beast, located in the southwest. But he¡¯s just an Abyssal Prefect. This means that liberation of those provinces isn¡¯t going to be so much of an issue, as it is going to be just a matter of time!¡±

    ¡°Impossible. It takes more than a hundred years or two for the development of a Yama-ss entity. Besides, Cathay isn¡¯t going through any period of war right now, and there¡¯s barely enough blood food to go around among the evil ghosts right now. Sure, we might encounter other organized forces along the way, but they would never be able to stand against the army of Hell!¡±

    ¡°Surrender and submit, or fight and die!¡±

 Chapter 743: Negotiations with the Mortal Realm (2)

    <h4>Chapter 743: Negotiations with the Mortal Realm (2)</h4>

    The president¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly.

    They appeared to be asking a simple question, but the fact that they were all seated here, eagerly awaiting Qin Ye¡¯s response meant that they didn¡¯t have much choice.

    No. It was more than that. It signified trust reposed in Hell.

    What they wanted most was a promise, and Qin Ye had at least shown through his actions and words Hell¡¯s intention to reim all thend that was lost to them. Apart from that, there was nothing more that they could prove right now.

    ¡°Perhaps, but not by much. After all¡­ this isn¡¯t the mortal realm¡¯s fight.¡±

    ¡°In the uing war for unification, we will be reiming cities and provinces in a systematic fashion. And whenever we do so, we will establish a corresponding city god in the mortal realm to link up with the lord of thend. Once that is done, the wandering spirits will immediately feel Hell¡¯s summons and instinctively drift towards Hell¡¯s Gate. As for the evil ghosts in the vicinity¡­¡± Qin Ye¡¯s eyes gleamed coldly, ¡°Rest assured, we have our teams of specialists who will be taking care of them all. After all, most of them wouldn¡¯t even be Hellguards to begin with. And from my short stint with the Special Investigations Department, I understand that even in the more urbanized areas, it¡¯s only when a confluence of factors are present that we would see the emergence of Hellguard-ss Yin spirits.¡±

    Sigh¡­ There was a series of sighs of relief. Qin Ye¡¯s attitude was firm and resolute, and nobody could detect any falsity in his voice. It was an uplifting message that filled their hearts with hope and relief.

    Qin Ye had already thought about what to ask for. Thus, he nodded and responded without any hesitation, ¡°Before the unification isplete, I hope that¡­ any deceased academicians, schrs and talents of the mortal realm, or even any calligraphers and artists and the like, can all have their remains transported to Martial City for a period of time before their burial or cremation.¡±

    He didn¡¯t exin why Hell needed these people, but it wasn¡¯t difficult to guess why either.

    This is where they state their main requests¡­

    Silence.

    The first line read: 100 million tons of steel!

    It might not seem like a significant number, but in the grand scheme of things, the sudden fall in the amount of steel to go around could easily give rise to a shortage of building materials, leading to a surge in prices and thereby unduly influence the entire construction industry!

    The second line: 2.5 billion tons of sand!

    The third line: 7 million units of construction machinery and equipment, including excavators, booms, levellers, and so on.

    Even the president couldn¡¯t help but grow taciturn.

    Qin Ye bowed deeply, ¡°Hell isn¡¯t asking for a price for its services, nor is this in any way a threat. Rather, Hell has just been formed, and we¡¯re still developing the most basic of our industries. Given our production capabilities, it¡¯s simply impossible to manufacture such sophisticated machines like the mortal realm. The construction of houses and buildings in Hellrgely requires wood and stone, and it is for this reason that we¡¯re asking for the raw materials. And then, there¡¯s gravel and cement for infrastructural works, as well as other chemicals and materials that require precision technology to produce. These are all things we have no means of achieving right now.¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Qin Ye coughed gently, ¡°Hell hopes that¡­ you can provide these materials to us every year.¡±

    Whoosh¡­ Everyone¡¯s eyes widened at the same time - Young fe, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re biting off more than you can chew?

    Indeed. I may be asking for a lot, but I¡¯m not asking for a price for my services¡­ Qin Ye smiled faintly and waved his finger. At once, a map of Cathay appeared suspended in mid-air.

    ¡°And this is all the results of Hell¡¯s hard effort over thest few months!¡±

    The reverberations from his voice lingered in the grand hall.

    This was a matter of great importance that not a single one of them apart from the president had the authority to say anything about.

    The citizens of these cities knew full well that there were two sets of leaders that their livelihoods rested upon right now, the first being the city government, and the second being the Special Investigations Department. As a result of the supernatural outbreak, most citizens had decided to live as close to the governmental headquarters for safety and security. This was not a good thing.

    Some of the images revealed the situation at Fengtian. Su Daji sat atop the city tower, purging the nest of ten thousand captive ghosts as she tore through the multitude of evil ghosts in the city.

    There were even images showing the efforts of the Frontier Brigades exploring the Eastmount Province under the escort of elite Yin soldiers who had experienced the Battle of Qufu, ying even monarch beasts as they ploughed through thends. They appeared mighty and invincible.

    This was the sight of the invisible war taking ce in the background. This was the tussle between theherworld and the rogue Yin spirits that had run rampant for far too long. But, little by little, their traces were slowly being erased from the world!

    Nobody said a word.

    These were experts in the political arena. Their silence, the gaze in their eyes, and even the posture with which they were seated put immense pressure on Qin Ye¡¯s shoulders.

    Just then, a voice suddenly echoed out in the hall, ¡°This venerable one iste. Amitabha¡­¡±

    This was a gathering of the three top experts of the mortal realm!

    ¡°Peace has returned to these provinces. I promise that I¡¯ll set up a shrine for you so that incense may be offered up to you.¡±

    ¡°The supernatural disaster must absolutely be quelled. But in order to do that, we need to tackle the root of the problem. Our interests in the long run should never y second fiddle to our short-term interests. Therefore, please consider lending Hell a helping hand before they be self-sustaining. Otherwise, should the Yin spirits rebel from Hell due to their dissatisfaction with Hell¡¯s conditions, they would most certainly turn back to the mortal realm. And that would naturally mean¡­ the appearance of evil ghosts once again.¡±

    Silence.

    Agree to Hell¡¯s requests, and the mortal realm would have to tighten their belts for another five years, and the nation would go through yet another period of hardship. It hadn¡¯t been easy for them to rise up through poverty, so who would want to return to the 70¡¯s and 80¡¯s when they were constantly in want?

    ¡°Such as?¡± One of the vice presidents responded.

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary.¡± The president looked up abruptly and locked eyes with Qin Ye, ¡°I agree.¡±

    His response hade suddenly and out of the blue, but not a single soul objected to it, almost as though a perfectly logical and reasonable assent had been given. Qin Ye raised his brows slightly, but it was right then that he understood what an air of dignity meant.

    He was determined to end this 10-year long nightmare once and for all.

    He didn¡¯t want to wait any longer. Cathay couldn¡¯t afford to wait any longer!

    ¡°But, I have conditions.¡±

 Chapter 744: All Forces Attack! Crush Them!

    <h4>Chapter 744: All Forces Attack! Crush Them!</h4>

    The president raised two fingers and dered, "The first condition rtes to progress; we must see progress before we decide to transport the same quota as we have in the past. Also, we won''t be doing everything in one go. Instead, we''ll allocate different quotas ording to the extent to which Yin energy has diminished in each major city or province. Everything will still be transported to Martial City, and I''ll issue an order for Martial City to construct thergest warehouse they''re currently capable of."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This was the correct way to do things.

    However... you''ve far underestimated the power of Hell!

    "My second condition is for Hell to immediately set up a Yin Yang Communication Center in each city that is conquered. This would make it very convenient for our two realms tomunicate with one another in case there are some from the mortal realm who slip through the cracks and don''t make it to Hell, or some other special circumstances arise."

    "Those are very reasonable conditions." Qin Ye was doing his best to maintain hisposure, but in reality, his heart was beating like a frenzied drum, so much so that he wondered whether his heart would fly straight up into the sky if it weren''t bound by his chest!

    He agreed! I can''t believe he actually agreed!

    The arrival of Master Chan Ming and Sword Master Xuanyuan was only a slight driving; what truly influenced the president''s decision was all of the preparations that Qin Ye had made in advance, as well as all of his probing and disys of power, and the peace that he had brought to the nine provinces.

    He was already asking for more than he expected, and in reality, he only dared to dream of 10%.

    However, life was full of surprises, and one could never know for sure whether there was tragedy or fortune waiting up ahead.

    Countless fireworks were going off in Qin Ye''s mind as he clenched his fists tightly.

    The mortal realm was most likely unaware of just how significant their assistance was going to be to Hell!

    This would propel Hell all the way to the top and grant it a dominant position!

    The president stood up from his seat and smiled as he said in a joking manner, "There have been three presidents since the emergence of the supernatural disaster. If the supernatural disaster could end during my term, my name would surely go down in the history books."

    He made his way toward Qin Ye as he continued, "Having said that, I know that in order to gain something, sacrifices must be made; that''s something that I''ve always been well aware of."

    The president was very tall, standing at roughly 182cm. He stood in front of Qin Ye, and this scenario, where the leaders of the two realms were standing before one another, had never taken ce in thousands of years.

    This was the first time, and it would perhaps also be the veryst time.

    "Alright..." the president extended a hand forward and said, "I wish the Yin Soldiers of Hell the best of luck, and I genuinely look forward to an era of true peace."

    A younger hand gripped onto his hand and shook it firmly.

    There were no cameras around.

    This scene was not something that could be recorded or disyed in any way, shape, or form, and it was imperative that the existence of Hell remained a secret.

    However, this was the first handshake between the two realms!

    Countless high-ranking officials gulped as they stared intently at the historic handshake withplex emotions in their eyes.

    Qin Ye looked into the president''s dignified and determined eyes, and replied with a serious expression, "You can count on me."

    This was Hell''s promise to the mortal realm.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "A nationwide conscription order has been issued! The war to unify Hell is imminent; what are you waiting for?"

    "This will be a historic war of unification! Hell is going to be united! Troops will be deployed to all 34 provinces!"

    "The time is now! Awaken the scorching blood in your veins! Now conscripting Yin Soldiers from all over the nation; this time next year, Hell will make its move!"

    All of the newspapers began to propagate the war of unification.

    Whenever the government wanted to promote something, that thing would be sure to gain widespread renown, and this time was no exception.

    Currently, everyone was discussing the imminent war of unification.

    Perhaps they weren''t very familiar with Hell and weren''t aware of just how extensive Hell''s history was, but everyone wished for a powerful and united nation.

    30th May. 200,000 troops had been conscripted!

    12th June. 220,000 troops had been conscripted!

    21st July. 250,000 troops had been conscripted!

    18th August, at the conclusion of the half-year conscription season, 320,000 troops have been conscripted, equating to a percentage far higher than that of the mortal realm!

    Cathay had a poption of 1.5 billion with two million soldiers, amounting to a proportion of 1/750. In contrast, Hell had a poption of twenty million, which meant that the army of 320,000 amounted to a proportion of 1/63. If it weren''t for the fact that this could be the only war of unification and the alluring benefits being offered, Hell would''ve been lucky to even gather an army of 30,000.

    Thus, the army entered a period of rigorous training, and yells andmands could be constantly heard every day all over the city walls. Furthermore, red-star gs could be seen fluttering atop every single tower lining the city walls.

    1st September, Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada arrived at Ashmound to train the new soldiers with Zhao Yun, bringing with them hundreds of thousands of armaments forged from the carapace of blight vermin from Everburn.

    The tension in the air was so potent that one could virtually taste it, and aside from what was disyed to theherworldly citizens, there were additional conferences held at Reflection Pce, as well as new departments being set up virtually every month in order to recruit Yin soldiers on a widespread basis.

    A statistics department was officially founded, and it wasprised of 10,000 Yin soldiers who were responsible for apanying the army, gathering data on all Yin beasts, nts, minerals, and geology along the way.

    An army headquarters was also officially founded with Yanluo Qin Ye as its eternal director. Zhao Yun was appointed as minister, while Oda Nobunaga and several other old generals were assigned leadership roles, making them responsible for nning the line of march and devising strategies to deal with unforeseen circumstances. Most importantly, they had to ount for the forces that the army could encounter along the way.

    1st October, the fourth official document of Hell was released, announcing the establishment of the West Vanquishing Army and the East Conquering Army. Each army wasprised of several hundred thousand troops, including logistical personnel, split up into 10 divisions, 200 corps, 1,000 battalions, and innumerable toons and squads.

    All avable power had been drawn upon, and messengers and scouts had been deployed along with the monarch beasts that had been temporarily recruited. A sense of tension and excitement had filled the entire city, and in the blink of an eye, an entire year had passed by.

    1st May the following year, Ashmound City.

    Atop the city walls, gs were pping violently as Yin winds howled with fury. Following a year of harsh training, all the Yin Soldiers were standing on the city walls as straight as por trees. There were 50,000 Yin Soldiers on the city walls alone, while outside the city, 270,000 Yin Soldiers were standing in a menacing ck formation.

    The light ofherfire was reflecting off their carapace of blight vermin armor, producing an inky-ck glow. At the very center of the army stood hundreds of mechanical weapons of all descriptions, including Soul-Launching Coffins, Sun Vanquishing Crossbow, Dark Doves, Lone Cranes... all of the mechanical weapons from the treasure trove of the Zhu n had been brought out, andstly, there were three 30-meter-tall mechanical beasts.

    At the forefront of the army stood Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Zhao Zilong, and Arthis, all of whom were wearing suits of inky-ck armor and scarlet capes. The Yin winds continued to howl and screech, yet the entire scene waspletely silent.

    Countlessherworldly citizens were gathered outside the city, looking on with excitement in their eyes.

    Right as the 10 tolls of the bell rang out in the city, a tower that was manifested from Yin energy appeared, and Qin Ye emerged atop the tower.

    Just like all of the Yin Soldiers, he was also wearing a suit of ck armor and a bright red cape. Even though he had quite a youthful appearance, there was an air of regal majesty about him, and his determination was in for all to see.

    He was going to be leading this army in person.

    This was a historic war, and he had to travel to the front lines in person; he wanted to witness the unification of thend no matter what.

    "Greetings, Yanluo!" Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Arthis, and Zhao Yun knelt down on one knee in unison as they yelled, "Long live Hell!"

    "Long live Hell!" The army behind them roared, and thebined voices of the hundreds of thousands of troops were enough to shake heaven and earth.

    Unbridled passion and excitement gushed forth like a volcanic eruption, surging through the chests of all of the Yin Soldiers present, causinghermes to dance wildly around them. Their faces had turned bright red, and some of them were clenching their fists tightly, while others were pursing their lips in anticipation as everyone waited with bated breath.

    Their lofty aspirations and the prospect of going to war sent excitement surging like adrenalin into the heads of all of the Yin Soldiers.

    For them, there was no greater honor than to be a part of this historic crusade.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything as he swept his gaze over the entire army. He could even clearly see the expressions on the faces of each and every Yin Soldier. Casting his gaze into the distance, where the earth met the sky, and he couldn''t help but think back to three years ago, when he had nothing and had been all on his own. Never did he think that he would be able to stand at the pinnacle of the world like this someday.

    "Everyone," he cupped his fist as he dered, "Prior to standing here, I thought that there would be no need for me to say anything. Our plight is one that abides by the natural order and one that can''t be stopped. In Everburn, we obtained the Book of Life and Death. In Ashmound, we weed the return of one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, Zhao Yun, and the divine beast of Hell, the Harken. There is no better time to strike than now, but as I stand here and look at all of you, I still can''t help but want to say this... Hell had stood for 3,000 years prior to its copse, which hade as aplete surprise. However, throughout the history of Cathay, countless dynasties have risen in the mes of war just like Hell has."

    His voice grew louder as he continued, and heaven and earth tremored as he spoke. "We are creating history! We are establishing the third order of Hell''s reincarnation, and all of you..."

    He raised a hand before mming it against his own chest, "and I will receive eternal glory for our participation in this war!"

    There was no impassioned brainwashing, nor any cliched attempt to evoke an emotional response.

    He merely said what he wanted to say here and now, and just as he had dered, their crusade followed the natural order.

    "Now..." he took a deep breath and didn''t dy any further as a burst of golden light surfaced over his hand.

    He swept his glowing hand decisively through the air, and dered, "We march!!"

    As that order was issued, a scroll unfurled in the sky.

    It was the military formation, Wumu; the highest caliber superior military formation kept in Longxing Temple of the Zhu n''s treasure trove!

    Countless ck characters appeared in the sky, then fell like a meteor shower,nding at the feet of every single Yin Soldier. All of a sudden, theherfire of all of the Yin Soldiers took on a golden hue, and their Yin energy began to elevate in a frenzy.

    This was aprehensive process of enhancement that did more than just elevate one or two Yin soldiers to Infernal Judges; it elevated all of the Yin Soldiers by a single rank, raising them to the rank of Netherworld Operative!

    If an army with a military formation were to go up against an army without one, the oue could only be a crushing defeat for thetter.

    Oooooooo! A long horn sounded alongside the banging of a series of war drums on the city walls, and the army slowly adjusted its direction before advancing toward the unknownnds outside Ashmound.

    The sound was very monotonous, but it was truly a stunning sight to behold.

    The hundreds of thousands of troops moving in unison and the sacred sense of ceremony finally roused theherworldly citizens present, and someone suddenly yelled, "Long live Hell!!"

    Immediately thereafter came a tsunami wave of thunderous cheers!

    "Long live Hell!!!"

    "You must unite thend!!"

    "We''re all counting on you! You are the heroes of Hell!!"

    "Hell is invincible!"

    Arthis departed, and Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada led the way with their Umamawari. However, Zhao Yun didn''t leave. Instead, he stood up straight and looked intently at Qin Ye before cupping his fist and extending a deep bow. After that, he turned around while his cape billowed majestically behind him, then whistled to conjure up a heavily-armored skeletal war horse constructed from Yin energy. He leaped onto the horse, and like a sh of lightning, he rushed straight to the front of the army.

    He took a deep breath as he appraised the enormous army before him, then thrust his spears up toward the heavens as he dered in a thunderous voice, "You may have never heard of, nor ever thought about, just how distinguished the past Emissaries of Hell were. I''m going to tell you about it now, so listen up! By Hell''s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!"

    Third Era of Hell, Year 4, 320,000 Yin Soldiers marched west out of Ashmound, led by Zhao Zilong, Arakshasa, Oda Nobunaga, and Oda Nobutada. Arakshasa headed toward the northwest, while Zhao Zilong advanced along the river, and Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada directed their swords toward the southwest. Thusmenced Hell''s first war of unification, spanning over a period of three years.

    [1] [Around 5''11.5" for American readers]

 Chapter 745: Deadsend City (1)

    <h4>Chapter 745: Deadsend City (1)</h4>

    If one were to say that the Cathayan Underworld was ck, thenmencing from May of this year, red began to sweep over the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld in a frenzy, starting from Eastmount Province and Insignia Province!

    Arthis led an army of 80,000, entering the Northriver Province through the Eastmount Province before crossing the great defense line formed by Yan Capital and Skyford City and advancing deep into the Mongolian grasnds. Their nned route was to travel from Mongolia to the upper half of the Longxi Province, then to the western border and through the city of Haining before finally reaching the northwestern region of the Westriver Province.

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yun led an army of 80,000, entering the Southriver Province through the Insignia Province, then crossing through the Shaanxi Province and the lower half of the Longxi Province, aiming for the northeastern region of the Westriver Province as their destination.

    As for Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada, they led an army of 160,000, entering Nanling County through the city of Jingzhou, then passing through the city of Qianzhou en route to the eastern region of the Westriver Province.

    These were the routes nned out by the military headquarters, and they passed through virtually all of the important provinces in the city, traveling up along the Yellow River before surrounding the Westriver Province together. After all, the most important part of connecting all of the regions of the Cathayan Underworld was to eradicate all of the monarch beasts that resided in those regions. They had to examine all of the major mountains to see if there was space to facilitate the reincarnation of Yin beasts, and it was quite a tall task.

    The three armies were unmatched as they stained the entire map red bit by bit from east to west. Countless messenger birds were flying back and forth between the armies every single day, and both Hell and the mortal realm were paying close attention to this monumental war.

    7th August. the Southriver Province was liberated, and in the same week, Jingzhou City was liberated. Thus, two of the army branches officially entered the central region of the Cathayan Underworld, and they were traveling directly toward the Central ins.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Shaanxi Province, Anyan City, Hukouxiang.

    This was where the renowned Yellow River Hukou Waterfall was situated. There was also such a river in the Cathayan Underworld, but it was even more spectacr than the one in the mortal realm.

    The waterfall had seven levels, each of which was around seven to eight meters tall, and the entire waterfall was close to 60 meters tall! The turbulent water of the Yellow River was crashing down with unstoppable might with rumbling Yin energy interspersed throughout. This river was surrounded by the embrace of a cluster of mountains, and this mountain range was also not an ordinary mountain range.

    The entire mountain range was littered with over 1,000,000 caves of different sizes, with thergest ones close to 10 meters in size, while even the smallest were around two to three meters. Furthermore, the caves were extremely deep and dark, almost resembling entrances leading into the depths of hell. Bursts of inky-ck Yin energy were billowing out of the caves, giving them the appearance of a skull that was riddled with countless holes, presenting an unsettling sight to behold.

    There were also all types of gs standing all over this giant mountain range.

    The gs were very crude, and most of them were constructed from leaves. There wasn''t even a single cloth g among them, let alone gs with metal poles. Each cave was also covered by a series of vines woven from branches, as if to act as doors. In addition to that, there were over 1,000 young and fit Yin spirits present that were split up into orderly squads, patrolling the area while wielding sharpened wooden sticks. asionally, a Yin spirit could be seen entering or exiting the caves in the mountain range.

    This was a city. To put it more urately, it was a settlement. However, it was a settlement outside of Everburn and Ashmound, one that had never been discovered and belonged to another province!

    Among a patrol squad on the outskirts of the mountain range, a Yin spirit who was dressed quite fashionably sighed, "Now that I think about it, we''ve been here for over 10 years."

    While it was true that they were patrolling the area, they didn''t look the part at all. It was clear that there were no industries here, and everyone was wearing the same clothes they had been wearing at their time of death. Anyone who was holding a wooden spear qualified as a patrol. The only signs of civilization here were some wooden boards ced in front of the doors, and they werepletely natural and unrefined.

    "Indeed, it''s been 12 years," a Yin spirit in his early thirties sighed as he looked around in a sorrowful manner. "12 whole years, and we haven''t even set foot once outside of this mountain range."

    This squad wasprised of around 10 Yin spirits, and they were seated casually on some rocks, clearly already ustomed to their monotonous patrol duty. A middle-aged Yin spirit in his forties plunged his wooden spear onto the ground in front of him, then looked up at the seven-tiered waterfall as he murmured to himself, "How are we supposed to step out of this ce? During these past 12 years, we''ve been attacked by monsters on four asions. The higher-ups can''t do anything, so all we can do is hide in these caves and pray that the monsters don''t hunt us down. Every attack we suffer, over 1,000 of us will vanish; we''re already very lucky to even be standing here today."

    He kicked his wooden spear with a wry smile, but the spear remainedpletely unmoved. "How do you propose we venture out of here? By arming ourselves with these wooden spears?"

    "It''s important to be satisfied with what you have," a Yin spirit who was around 60 years of age said as he stared absentmindedly up at the chaotichermes in the pitch-ck sky.

    "We''re already very fortunate to still be alive. It''s not like the higher-ups haven''t sent out scouts to explore the outside world, but what good hase of that? This is the only settlement in a radius of several hundred kilometers. asionally, you can see people like us in a barren region even further away. They''ll enter through that strange crack, but they''re all quickly eaten by the descendants of those monsters, so like I said, we''re already very lucky to still be alive."

    He heaved a long sigh before musing, "Who would''ve thought that the afterworld would look like this?"

    "Indeed! Where are the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces? Where is Fengdu and theherworldly city?"

    "Seeing as there''s a world after death, where are the legendary Yin Soldiers?"

    "Hehe... Yin Soldiers? Yama-Kings? Fengdu? They''re just myths. I''m so disappointed in them that I''m already well past the point of despair."

    "Just keep living; there''s always a chance that our luck will turn as long as we remain alive."

    The elderly man smiled as he stood up and said, "Let''s go. Aren''t things already much better now? At the very least, everyone has something to do and a ce to live..."

    All of a sudden, his voice drew to an abrupt halt, and his eyes widened with incredulity as he stared directly forward.

    Everyone else was huddled around in front of him, so they didn''t notice anything amiss, and a young Yin spirit asked in a perplexed manner, "Why did you suddenly stop talking, Uncle Liu?"

    Uncle Liu''s mouth was gaped open slightly, and his hand was trembling uncontrobly as he pointed in the direction behind the other Yin spirits. A bone-chilling sensation immediately surged up into the heads of the Yin spirits, and the fine hairs on the back of their necks stood up on end as they turned their heads around in a stiff and robotic manner.

    Whoosh!!

    There was a lush forest in the distance, and all of a sudden, an inky-ck Yin cloud suddenly exploded! It was as if countless birds had fled their nests in unison, quickly epassing the entire sky and sweeping up fierce Yin winds that made their Yin energy dance in a wild frenzy!

    That wasn''t a dark cloud; it was a type of monster that fed exclusively on Yin spirits.

    They were rather simr to bats, but they had human faces and fleshy wings that resembled human ears. At this moment,herfire was dancing wildly in their eyes, and they opened their mouths to reveal rows of sharp fangs, screeching as they flew over the squad of Yin spirits.

    They were far too fast, so fast that the Yin spirits didn''t even have a chance to react. Only after two seconds had passed did all of the Yin spirits shudder in unison, and only then did they suddenly realize that they were still alive!

    "Was that... a beast tide?!" A patrol also began to scream in panic. "We.. we have to hurry and report this to the higher-ups right away! The beast tide is here again! They''re here to eat us again... Waaah..."

    Before he had a chance to finish speaking, Uncle Liu had already mped a hand tightly over his mouth, and he whispered urgently, "Get down and don''t move!"

    Rumble... The dark clouds swept over the sky as fast as lightning as the Yin spirits cowered on the ground, feeling as if even their souls were trembling. However, three secondster, all of the Yin spirits raised their heads again, and they were greeted by the sight of... light?

    Boundless light filtered down through the gaps of the dark clouds formed by the beast tide, illuminating the earth and transforming into a vast expanse of scarlet. It was like the rising sun tearing through the night, and before the Yin spirits had a chance to react...

    Boom!!!

    Boundless heavenly mes exploded like a scorching sun, releasing countless waves of fire. Immediately thereafter, a burst of earth-shattering sizzling rang out above them.

    They didn''t dare to move; only theirherfire was dancing wildly while they each curled up into a ball with their arms hugging their heads. Only after a full five minutes had passed did Uncle Liu raise his head in a fearful manner.

    "My god..." Uncle Liu immediately drew a sharp breath at the sight that he beheld, and he felt as if he were on the verge of asphyxiation. He stared nkly up at the sky, feeling as if he were witnessing Armageddon.

    The sky resembled a sea of blood, while all of the clouds had been set alight.

    A sea of fire was burning violently above them, and countless Yin beasts were being incinerated into ashes within the mes. ck Yin energy and scarlethermesbined to form a vivid spectacle of death and destruction. Beneath these lethal heavens, the Yin spirits seemed so tiny and insignificant, to the point that they could only worship and revere the marvelous scene unfolding above them.

    "Wh... what is that..." Uncle Liu''s was so faint that it was barely audible.

    Meanwhile, the Yin spirits around him were already screaming. "Arrows!! Look!! Those are Arrows!!"

    "Holy shit!! Those really are arrows!"

    "What the hell is going on?! Where did these arrowse from?!"

    "This is incredible... Wh, who''s doing this? What''s doing this?"

    "Ar, are my eyes ying tricks on me?! Those are arrows!"

    Above the waves of fire, arrows were falling like a meteor shower. These arrows were burning with scarlet mes as theyunched an indiscriminate assault on the entire sky, exploding upon contact with those bat-like monsters, but there were also some arrows that slipped through andnded on the ground without striking any targets.

    Thk! An arrow plunged straight into the ground several meters in front of the squad of Yin spirits, and the tail of the arrow was still trembling slightly. All of the Yin spirits looked on with their mouths gaped wide open, and their minds had gonepletely nk as they exchanged a few bewildered nces.

    Those were arrows! Those really were arrows, the very same one that they had seen in historical dramas during the time they had been alive!

    <i>But... How is this possible?!</i>

    In order to construct arrows, many prerequisites had to be satisfied, including metallurgy and suitable adhesive materials! They had searched for over 10 years for a way to smelt iron ore, all to no avail, yet arrows had appeared right in front of them!

    Hold on...

    "These arrows must indicate that an army is nearby..." Uncle Liu said in a trembling voice, and thehermes in his eyes flickered as he appraised the forest from which the monsters had emerged.

    "An army has arrived, and it''s definitely one that we can''t oppose... For them to have arrows... This must be some type of regr army!!"

    Before he had a chance to finish, the earth began to tremor violently.

    Dong dong dong... It was as if some type of gigantic creature were ramming itself repeatedly into the ground, causing the earth to tremor to such an extent that it was discernible to the naked eye. In the forest, countless trees were being felled, and the canopies of the remaining trees were all swaying violently. 10 secondster, a massive tortoise monster rushed out of the forest amid a horrified roar, then rose up into the air before falling heavily back onto the ground.

    Boom! A vast expanse of dust was flung up into the air by the impact of the giant monster''s fall, and all of the Yin spirits that bore witness to this werepletely rooted to the spot.

    They were far too familiar with this monster; this was the leader of all of the monsters, and it had devoured thousands of Yin spirits during the past dozen or so years.

    However, why were there so many arrows on its back? In addition to that, there were also spears and... were those pieces of broken armor?

    It was armor! It really was armor!

    In that instant, their worldview waspletely tipped on its head, and they felt like humansing into contact with a type III civilization for the very first time.

    This army was from another city, one that was far more advanced than theirs, perhaps even one that was from a higher dimension altogether.

    This army was currently traveling toward them, and they were hunting down these monsters, which had ughtered thousands of Yin spirits from Deadsend City, but werepletely powerless against their enforcers!

    "Wh... who are they?!"

 Chapter 746: Deadsend City (2)

    <h4>Chapter 746: Deadsend City (2)</h4>

    <i>Roar!!</i> The giant tortoise let loose a thunderous roar as an enormous amount of Yin energy gushed out of its wounds, but it couldn''t pay any heed to those injuries and frantically attempted to flee.

    The monster was at least 20 meters tall and over 60 meters in length, and everything in its way was sent flying. A massive trench was being dug into the ground in its wake as it fled for its life, and it was screeching as if it had gone mad. To the astonishment of the spectating Yin spirits, a horrified look had appeared on its hideous face.

    No one said anything.

    This scene was simply far too astonishing to them, so much so that they werepletely speechless. They could only passively observe, and it was as if they were watching a dream unfold.

    Behind the giant tortoise, countless ck-armored soldiers flooded out of the forest, and the ever-so-familiar red-star g was billowing in the wind. At the very forefront of the soldiers was a gant figure riding a heavily armored skeletal war horse. His red cape had been flung up to the point that it was virtually vertical, and his spear was dragging up a stream ofherfire like a waterfall along the ground as he charged directly toward the monster!

    He''s gone insane... The same thought emerged in the minds of all of the Yin spirits. However, in the next instant, the rider abruptly vanished, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake, and when he reappeared, he was already situated in front of the monster.

    Dead silence.

    The giant tortoise''s eyes widened before quickly bing bloodshot as it stared intently at the person standing in its way. It then opened its mouth as if it were about to roar or attack, but in the next instant, it suddenly disintegrated into Yin energy.

    It''s dead?

    All of the patrolling Yin spirits looked on in a ck-jawed manner. The giant tortoise monster that had ughtered thousands of their brethren had died just like that?

    All it had taken was a single attack!

    Due to the enormous size of the giant tortoise, its carcass disintegrated into a vast expanse of Yin energy which was swept up by the wind, forming a turbulent sea of clouds that also resembled an inky-ck veil that concealed the unknown. In the next instant, the Yin spirits discovered that a figure was making its way out of the sea of clouds and striding directly toward them.

    The figure was walking in a very slow and leisurely fashion, but somehow, each stride that it took seemed to span a vast distance.

    The skeletal war horse had only taken a few steps before reaching the Yin spirits, all of whom involuntarily knelt down as their legs gave out from under them.

    They simply weren''t even on the same level...

    They didn''t know who these people were or where they hade from, but they had armor, cape, and gs, and they were definitely trained warriors!

    The weapons that they were wielding included the likes of sabers, spears, swords, and halberds, all of which the Yin spirits could only dream of. Their formation was more organized and well-kept than the Yin spirits could ever match, and their armor was a life-saving treasure that the Yin spirits could only look up to. There was an overwhelming disparity in their level of development, and they felt much like humans looking on in awe and admiration of alien technology. A super civilization had arrived, one that they couldn''t even begin to muster up the urge to oppose.

    <i>Whoosh... </i>The Courage of Dragons Silver Spear was directed toward the cowering and trembling Yin spirits, and Zhao Yun asked, "What is this ce?"

    Countless Yin Soldiers advanced behind him, and their boots were nging onto the ground in perfect synchronicity. On the way, they had already fought several monarch beasts. Trials of blood and fire had allowed this army toplete its evolution, and their synchronized footsteps carried an air of purpose and iron-d determination; each and every step seemed to be resounding deep in the hearts of these Yin spirits.

    And that wasn''t even to mention the sea of Yin energy from the in monarch beast that was surging through the air behind Zhao Yun. Tens of thousands of specks of goldenhermes were glowing faintly within the vast expanse of Yin energy, and none of the Yin spirits dared to speak to such a superior being.

    "If I don''t receive an answer in five seconds, the West Vanquishing Army of Hell will regard you as rebels and eradicate your settlement."

    Hell?!

    West Vanquishing Army?!

    The Yin spirits who had just lowered their heads instantly raised them again as they looked on with incredulous expressions.

    However, they then lowered their heads in fear and inferiority once again upon witnessing the morning sun and the stunning spectacle of the mighty army before them.

    "Th, this is Deadsend City!" Uncle Liu mustered up all of his courage as he said, "We... we are only residents of this settlement! We have no intention of rebelling! Everyone,y down your weapons! Hurry!"

    Everyone faltered slightly before immediately dropping their wooden spears. Normally, they would cling doggedly to their spears whenever they emerged from their caves as those spears were the only weapons that they had.

    However, those same spears were currently being dropped like hot potatoes, and if anything, everyone was wishing that they had never brought the spears in the first ce.

    After dropping their spears, everyone immediately knelt down again before pressing their heads against the ground.

    <i>ck, ck...</i> The surrounding Yin Soldiers of Hell were marching along in an extremely rhythmic fashion, and with each row that passed by the Yin spirits, they would all shudder ever-so-slightly. The palpable killing intent radiating from these Yin Soldiers struck instinctive fear into their hearts. In the face of this formidable army, their patrol squads were nothing more than circus acts.

    <i>The difference really is night and day...</i> This very same thought urred to all of the Yin spirits as they cowered and trembled on the ground.

    After a long while, just as they were bing numb to everything, the voice of the general rang out again. "You can stand up now."

    They didn''t stand; they didn''t dare.

    All they dared to do was tentatively raise their heads.

    They were surrounded by menacing Yin Soldiers in all directions, and the light of theherfire that reflected off their inky-ck armor seemed capable of sucking away one''s soul. The spears that they were holding were giving off a cold and forbidding aura, and directly in front of the Yin spirits stood an ornately constructed chariot, within which a ck-armored young man with a head of short hair was appraising them in an intrigued manner.

    "Lord Qin." Zhao Yun bowed as he cupped his fist, and there was a hint of excitement even in his voice. "There''s most likely a city here. They''re clearly patrolling the area with several Yin spirits in each group. Only an organized settlement will have patrol squads like this, and the poption of this settlement is likely to be quite high."

    Qin Ye appraised the Yin spirits before him with a meaningful look in his eyes, and he was also just as excited. In his eyes, following the copse of Hell, the entire nation would be a series of warring states. However, as a particrly powerful fief lord, he was able tosh out at the entire nation before the warring states truly took shape.

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t considered the existence of other settlements, and he was genuinely excited and intrigued to be encountering one now.

    "Tell me the name of your city, your poption, who your leader is, and why you''re here," Qin Ye instructed as he rested his right cheek on his fist while epting a cup of tea.

    All of the Yin spirits'' eyelids twitched slightly, not because of the manner in which they were being spoken to, but because they were seeing a teacup!

    What an incredibly ornate piece of chinaware! The patterns on it were so perfect; this was something that they hadn''t seen in over a decade! Furthermore, there was actually tea in the cup!

    These were all things that the Yin spirits could only dream of, and they couldn''t even begin to imagine just how well developed this nation was!

    "Don''t worry." Seeing as no one was replying, Qin Ye gracefully adjusted his seating posture, and consoled, "This is Hell''s crusade to unify thend. Due to some reasons, the old Hell administration is no longer in power, and now that the new Hell administration is in power, the war of unification has officially begun. All Yin spirits of the Cathayan Underworld are citizens of Hell, and I have no interest in ughtering the innocent. Come, stand up and take a seat."

    Stools were immediately brought out by the Yin Soldiers, but none of the Yin spirits dared to sit; only after receiving a threatening re from Zhao Yun did they finally sit down in an uneasy manner.

    Perhaps Qin Ye''s reassuring words had instilled him with immense confidence, or the sight of that cup of tea had ignited Uncle Liu''s yearning for a better life. In any case, he mustered up his courage and took a deep breath as he gritted his teeth before replying in a respectful manner, "This ce is known as Deadsend City. This is the Hukou Waterfall, and along the two banks of the yellow river, you''ll asionally be able to see some caves that are around one to two meters in size. Those caves are known as Deadsend Caves. In the past, the elderly would be ced into those caves and given three days'' worth of food, then left to fend for themselves, and that''s where the name of this city came from."

    So this really is a city... Qin Ye did his best to repress his excitement. They had encountered their first unforeseen settlement at Hukou Waterfall; had Arthis also encountered simr settlements? What about Oda Nobunaga?

    How many cities like Deadsend City existed throughout the entirety of Cathay?

    Would they be willing to surrender themselves under the banner of unification or resist with all their might?

    Having lived in the human world for so long, he was well aware that improvements in quality of life didn''t necessarily ensure peace and unity. Power was like a drug, and some were determined to pursue it at all costs.

    <i>However, I''m going to be the one to rise to the top! </i>

    Qin Ye nodded as a gesture for Uncle Liu to continue, and encouraged by this gesture, Uncle Liu gulped nervously before continuing, "There is a massive crack at the foot of the Hukou Waterfall, and at the time, we were all unwittingly drawn here by the pure aura within the crack. There were too many of us to count; I''m sure there were at least 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 of us. On top of that, we all came from different time periods, and by the time we got there, there were already some people present."

    Qin Ye didn''t refute Uncle Liu''s use of the word "people". Currently, they were a settlement of uneducated individuals, and they would just have to be slowly educated in the future. What was most important now was to learn the stance that Deadsend City held.

    A city of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Yin spirits was definitely a major city, and it already had the scale and foundation of a city, so he didn''t want to destroy this ce.

    "There were some wearing clothes from the period of the republic of Cathay, there were some wearing clothes from the period of the war of resistance against Japan, there were some wearing clothes from the ¡®50s and ¡®60s; there were people from all time periods. Our president is a 72-year-old woman by the name of Li Lanzhi, and during her lifetime, she had once been the vice-governor of the West Shan Province, so she was elected to be our president."

    <i>He''s too nervous... </i>Qin Ye took a nce at him. Just a single nce would be enough for him to make a general assessment of the situation, so there was no need to ask too many questions. In any case, these low-level Yin spirits wouldn''t know much anyway.

    "It looks like you''re not exactly thriving here. Haven''t you tried to travel toward the east?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Esteemed leader!" Right at this moment, a young Yin spirit abruptly raised his head with an earnest expression, and said, "We did do that! We sent out over 1,000 scouts, but... but only 12 of them returned two yearster, and they brought back the news that we are the only settlement in a radius of several hundred kilometers! We had no idea that Hell actually existed, and we''re constantly talking about how we were all fooled by unfounded myths! We had no idea that Hell ispletely different from our settlement!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response before looking around at the Yin Soldiers present. "Who''s willing to go?"

    "I am!" As soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, around a dozen Yin Soldiers stepped forward and cupped their fists as they heeded his call.

    Uncle Liu gulped nervously as he asked in a trembling voice, "Esteemed leader, may... may I ask what it is you n to do?"

    "The war of unification is an unstoppable and inevitable force." Qin Ye''s smile faded as he rose to his feet, gently sweeping his cape aside like a pair of scarlet wings before entering the chariot. "Regardless of whether Li Lanzhi is willing to yield, Deadsend City will be a part of the unified Hell. If she''s willing toply, then this will be a wonderful and gentle process. If she resists, then the process will be a lot more violent."

    "Esteemed leader!" Uncle Liu''s voice was trembling as he cautioned, "Due to its close proximity with that giant tortoise monster, Deadsend City has a standing army of over 300,000!"

    Qin Yepletely ignored him as he gently closed the chariot''s door, while one of the Yin Soldiers that had just stepped forward chuckled, "You may not like to hear this, but if you want to hear the truth, no power is a match for Hell''s military force. Any powers that dare to resist will only be stomped into the dust by our irond steeds!"

 Chapter 747: Deadsend City (3)

    <h4>Chapter 747: Deadsend City (3)</h4>

    On a certain grasnd in hell.

    In the distance, a series of small hills could be seen. In contrast with the grasnds of the mortal realm, the grass in Hell was a lush blue color and glowed with a faint luster. Looking at it from a distance, the grasnd was like a sea of stars, and it was extremely beautiful to behold.

    On this vast grasnd, countless tents were gathered together. The tents were very crude, eachprised of a few pieces of cloth that were stitched up together, but there was a massive number of these tents, and they stretched as far as the eyes could see.

    Around 10 kilometers in front of the tents stood over 30,000 cavaliers wearing all types of different attires, holding wooden spears and wooden shields as they stared intently up at the sky.

    An exquisitely beautiful woman''s head was hovering in mid-air above them, and the head had countless strands of hair that were dancing like venomous snakes. Below her was an army of tens of thousands of troops, all of whom were glowing with goldenher fire while standing in a military formation etched out in Cathayan characters.

    "I didn''t think there would be someone who would dare to oppose Hell. Do you have a death wish?" A strand of Arthis''s hair drifted past her lips as she chuckled, "On top of that, you''re still determined to resist even after I''ve disyed the power of Hell to you. In that case, there''s no need for your Shadowend City to exist any longer."

    No response.

    It was very apparent that the two armies were onpletely different levels, and that the army of cavaliers was no match for the army of Hell. In fact, many of the Yin spirits'' chests were heaving violently, creating a stark contrast with the calm and menacing disy being put on by the soldiers of Hell.

    "However, our King Yanluo is quite averse to ughter, so I''ll give you onest chance. Truth be told, there aren''t many cities as idiotic as yours. Founding a city is no easy task, but..."

    She paused here momentarily as her Infernal Judge Yin energy erupted forth violently, forcing all of the grass on the grasnd to bow down to the ground. "Don''t think that you''re on equal terms with me just because you''re also Infernal Judges!"

    "Cut the chit-chat!" As soon as her voice trailed off, two Infernal Judge level auras erupted forth in unison among the cavaliers. "You say you''re from Hell and we''re just expected to believe you? Hell is already gone; everyone has a right to imnd for themselves! What gives you the power to deprive others of that right?"

    "I see..." Arthis took a deep breath before her Yin energy swept violently across the entire grasnd, and she dered, "Kill them all! All those who dare to stand against us will be crushed!"

    "Chaaaaarge!!" The sound of synchronized rumbling footsteps rang out as the army of Hell advanced, and they were met by an all-epassing wave of grasnd cavaliers.

    The two armies advanced toward one another in a determined manner with their weapons held aloft, and in the blink of an eye, the two sides shed. Yin energy wreaked havoc over the entire grasnd as a fierce battle ensued amid thunderous war cries. Boundlesshermes were constantly erupting into the heavens, and after what seemed like an eternity, the violent waves of Yin energy finally subsided.

    At this point, only the army of Hell remained standing. Furthermore, they hadn''t even suffered many losses.

    Arthis chuckled coldly as her hair danced gently in the breeze, and all of a sudden, all of theherfire converged in front of her, forming a massive stone que. Her hair danced wildly through the air, and after no more than 20 seconds, a line of menacing text had been inscribed onto the stone que.

    "It was here that Infernal Judge Arakshasa eradicated the rebels of Shadowend City."

    "Continue." She seemed to bepletely devoid of emotion as she said in a cold voice, "Detain all those who refuse to surrender or are rted to those rebels. Interrogate them thoroughly, and if any are found to be in approval of the rebellion, then they are to be killed with no exceptions."

    All of the Yin spirits were rather taken aback by this order.

    If they were to carry out this order, it would most likely result in the deaths of thousands, perhaps even more!

    "My Lady..." A Hellguard approached her in a hesitant manner, and asked, "Hell has only just taken over this ce; shouldn''t we be a little... gentler with the natives?"

    A little gentler?

    "Hmm?" Arthis took a calm nce at him, and asked, "Do you know more about Hell or am I more familiar with Hell?"

    Her voice suddenly spiked up a few octaves as she continued, "Do you know why even the Eight Great ns didn''t dare to rebel during the past several thousand years? It''s because ording to thews of Hell, anyone who rebels will have their entire families executed, including all extended family and anyone rted to them, regardless of their age or status! Even the noblest of figures will be punished just the same as an ordinary citizen for this cardinal crime! Thisw was created by the first King Yanluo, and the second King Yanluo made no attempt to alter it, while the third King Yanluo didn''t object to it, so why can''t I do this? Throughout the history of Hell, there have been tens of billions ofherworldly citizens! If we only kill those directly involved in rebellions, more and more rebels will simply emerge in their ce! We musty down thew now! Otherwise, what do you suggest? That we wait until a full-fledged rebellion has taken shape before we deploy troops to quell it?"

    The Hellguard didn''t dare to say anything further and bowed before backing away.

    Arthis made no attempt to lower her voice, and her words were audible across the entire grasnd like rumbling thunder. She could clearly see that some of the Yin spirits in the tents were panicking in the wake of her deration, as indicated by the erratic shes ofherfire. She raised her chin slightly, and instructed, "Go. All those who dare to resist will be seen as aplices to the rebels. Remember this, and remember it well: we''ve only just begun our crusade; if we encounter any other cities that insist on resisting, all of the rebels and their rtives must be executed! Tell me, what did General Zhao Zilong teach you before we set off?"

    There was no response.

    Three secondster, the sound of war drums shook the heavens while long horns sounded across the entire grasnd. With one unified cry, the army of tens of thousands of Yin Soldiers stormed toward Shadowend City.

    "By Hell''s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ck, ck.

    The sound of the synchronized footsteps carried with it a sense of chilling bloodlust as the army of Hell strode toward the mountain range that contained the seven-tiered waterfall, while countless Yin spirits of Deadsend City looked on with dumbstruck expressions.

    Those vivid red-star gs, those suits of inky-ck armor, and those razor-sharp weapons... The entire poption of over 2,000,000 Yin spirits rushed out of their caves in Deadsend City before casting their eyes toward the horizon in a dumbfounded manner.

    On the very top level stood an elderly woman apanied by several other men and women, and they were also looking on with astonishment in their eyes.

    The approaching army was like a slow and methodical ck flood, but it was entirely inevitable and unavoidable. At its current speed, the army would reach Deadsend City in about half an hour.

    The Yin spirits of Deadsend City were stunned by the sight of this army, but more so by what this army represented.

    "Wh, where did this armye from?!"

    "My god, they look so much more formidable than our city''s army!"

    "Good heavens... they have armor! And weapons! And bows and arrows!"

    "Wait, take a close look at that; what''s that massive tall thing behind them?"

    "That''s a five-star g... C, could it be that this is the regr army of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Everyone was in shock, and why wouldn''t they be? To them, it really did feel as if they were meeting aliens for the first time!

    On the top level, the elderly woman''s mouth was slightly agape as she withdrew her stunned gaze, then turned toward the other Yin spirits around her as she asked in a hesitant manner, "Is this the regr army of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "I don''t know..." The Yin spirits beside her felt as if their mouths had be parched deserts. They had lived like this for 12 whole years, and they had thought that things would continue like this for the foreseeable future. They would replicate the stages of development in the mortal realm, slowly developing all types of technology such as running water, electricity, heating, agriculture... Never did they think that they would encounter a civilization several orders more advanced than them!

    Furthermore, they seemed to be thriving in contrast with Deadsend City.

    They had managed to produce metal, textiles, and weaponry... The Yin spirits of Deadsend City were so envious that they felt like they could scream!

    However, not a single Yin spirit was willing to go outside to see what was happening. In the face of the unknown, humanity''s first reaction was to raise their weapons, even though their wooden spears looked downrightughable in the face of this vastly superior army.

    ck ck... Each footstep seemed to be resounding in the hearts of all of Deadsend City''sherworldly citizens. Half an hourter, the vast army arrived in front of Deadsend City before arranging itself into four separate formations. An omnipresent voice then rang out across the entire sky. "This is the decree of Hell: the war of unification hasmenced, and unification of the Cathayan Underworld is inevitable. It''s up to you whether you want to resist or join our cause."

    Immediately thereafter, around a dozen Hellguards emerged from the ranks and made their way to the very forefront.

    Dead silence.

    But the silence onlysted a second before it was violently shattered.

    "What was that?"

    "How did they do that?!"

    "Is this the legendary... voice transmission?!"

    "Is it some type of divine ability?"

    "Is it cultivation? Holy shit, tell me this isn''t real!"

    "Did he say Hell? Hell actually exists?! The legends are all true?!"

    The entire city had erupted into a frenzy!

    No one had seen such an astonishing spectacle before, and their worldview had beenpletely turned on its head. For a city like this, which had no idea what Yin Talismans were and were only just beginning toe into contact with Yin energy, the army of Hell was like an army of divine generals.

    "What do we do?!" Everyone on the seventh level of Deadsend City turned toward the elderly woman in unison. "What is this about Hell and the Underworld? We''ve never heard of such a thing and we''ve nevere into contact with them in the past, either! What the hell is going on? How did they manage to do that just now?"

    How am I supposed to know?!

    A grim look appeared on the elderly woman''s face, and only after a long pause did she speak again. "Invite their representative up to see me. Regardless of what happens, this is a tribtion that we can''t avoid."

    Indeed, Deadsend City had no choice but to face the situation head-on.

    Soon, a so-called public servant of Deadsend City led the dozen or so Hellguards into the city. Countless paths had been chiseled into the mountain range, and the Hellguards of Hell strode into the city in a refined and unhurried manner, while millions of Yin spirits looked on with curiosity and uneasiness in their hearts.

    Deadsend City was a veryrge city, and only after walking for half an hour straight did they finally arrive at thergest of the stone caves.

    This cave was around 20 to 30 meters in size, and situated within it was a stone table and around a dozen stone chairs. In contrast with Everburn and Ashmound, the conditions here were downright squalid. At this moment, six of the chairs had already been upied, and the people seated on them immediately turned their attention toward the Hellguards upon their arrival.

    Such intricately crafted armor...

    Such soft capes...

    Where did these peoplee from? Did Hell really exist? If so, what was it like?

    "Greetings, representatives of Deadsend City." A Yin spirit who appeared to be around 30 years of age wore a faint smile as he cupped his fist and said, "I am L¨¹ Fang, and I''m here on behalf of Hell to discuss with you the fate of Deadsend City."

    "Please take a seat." The woman at the center took a deep breath before rising to her feet, and she made an inviting hand gesture with a slightly forced smile on her face. "I am the Grand Master of the Deadsend City Freemasonry, Li Lanzhi."

    Thus, everyone took a seat, and L¨¹ Fang gave a slight nod to acknowledge the Yin spirits of Deadsend City present. Even though the living conditions in Deadsend City wereparable to those of primitive cavemen in his eyes, he still put on an amicable disy that wasn''t high and mighty in the slightest. He said, "I know that all of you must have many questions. Prior toing here, Yanluo Qin gave us some things in the hope that we can have a candid and productive negotiation."

    No response.

    Several secondster, Li Lanzhi asked with aplex expression, "Why? Wouldn''t it be far easier for you to get what you want by force?"

    A thin Hellguard smiled, and replied, "We''re doing this to minimize unnecessary casualties, of course."

    The Yin spirits of Deadsend City immediately turned toward him upon hearing this, and there was clear shock and unease in their eyes.

    Only after witnessing the army of Hell in person did theye to understand that the two sides weren''t even on the same level; there was simply a fundamental disparity in development that couldn''t be ovee.

    Casualties? Anyone would be fearful to hear this term being thrown around.

    "Yanluo Qin said..." The thin Hellguard slowly swept his gaze over everyone present, and said, "That the Cathayan Underworld must be united. In the Eastmount Province and the Insignia Province, the Book of Life and Death was returned to its rightful ce, and we weed the return of the Sixfold Ghost King Lord Zhao Zilong, as well as the divine beast Harken. The war of unification is inevitable, and all 9,600,000 square kilometers of Hell must fall under the control of Hell. Otherwise, chaos will arise between the two realms, and it could even bring disaster to the mortal realm. All those who oppose our crusade of unification will be executed with no exceptions. Now is the time for you to make a choice."

    He looked deep into everyone''s eyes, and continued, "You are bearing witness to the rise of a mighty dynasty; no one will be a match for the regr army of Hell. We don''t want to see bloodshed, but we don''t mind it, either. If you insist on posing a hindrance, Lord Qin hopes that you won''t drag all of theherworldly citizens of Deadsend City into the grave with you."

    Li Lanzhi and the other Yin spirits shuddered in unison upon hearing this.

    What an aggressive and unyielding attitude!

    They didn''t know about anything else, but one thing that they could confirm was that this so-called Yanluo Qin was most likely an aggressive conqueror who wouldn''t be denied!

 Chapter 748: Enormous Disparity

    <h4>Chapter 748: Enormous Disparity</h4>

    No one said anything.

    The situation had be a little awkward. While it was true that their city''s level of development left much to be desired, they were still rulers of this city, and they were naturally rather displeased to be threatened so aggressively like this.

    However, they didn''t dare to raise any objections!

    Prior to the arrival of these Hellguards, they had already heard that the giant tortoise monster that they saw as an insurmountable predator had been in in an instant by this army, not to mention that swarm of countless human-faced bats. They couldn''t even begin to imagine how this had been aplished.

    With each beast tide, countless Yin spirits would be taken away, and they prayed day and night that this nightmare would pass, but there never seemed to be any light at the end of the tunnel. They were far too familiar with just how fearsome these monsters were, and simrly, they understood just how formidable this army had to be to have killed all of those monsters in such a short time.

    "Alright," Li Lanzhi finally agreed through gritted teeth after a few seconds of silence. Theherworldly fire of the Yin spirits around her jolted slightly upon hearing this, but none of them said anything.

    They were being offered amnesty and enlistment.

    If this army really dide from the official Hell administration, and they could provide sufficiently alluring benefits that would allow them to develop quickly while no longer having to worry about their safety, then why wouldn''t they ept the offer?

    If this really were Hell that they were dealing with, then there was no way that they would be able to oppose the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings. Even if they wanted to resist, theherworldly citizens of the city would refuse to support them.

    However, if Hell purely wanted to enve them, then they would show the army of Hell that the citizens of Deadsend City were not to be demeaned and would fight till their veryst breaths.

    "Thank you for your understanding, you won''t regret your decision." L¨¹ Fang smiled as a hexagonal crystal flew out of his grasp before quietly shattering. Countless screens constructed from Yin energy instantly appeared in every single cave of Deadsend City, and this negotiation, upon which hinged the fate of Deadsend City, was clearly broadcast on those screens.

    "Everyone." He looked calmly into the light screen, and said, "I am L¨¹ Fang, a military officer of Hell''s West Vanquishing Army."

    It was a very simple gesture that he had performed, but it was astonishing to all of the Yin spirits of Deadsend City.

    Countlessherworldly citizens had their mouths gaped wide open in shock as they stood in their caves, staring at the screens before them with incredulity in their eyes.

    "My god..." Inside one of the caves, a Yin spirit in his forties was staring nkly at the Yin energy screen that had appeared in his cave without any warning. "How did they do this? This so-called army of Hell, are they able tomunicate through televisions like in the mortal realm?"

    In another cave, several young Yin spirits were staring at the Yin energy screen above them in a ck-jawed manner, and they wanted to say something, but none of them could find their voice.

    The disparity was simply far too enormous, to the extent that it was iprehensible to them. This wasplete domination on a technological front.

    "How did they do this?"

    "Could it be that Hell has already evolved into a modern society like the ones in the mortal realm? Are theypletely different from primitive cities like ours?"

    "Are we... Are we just an undeveloped settlement in the middle of nowhere?"

    The reason that everyone had gathered together here was to ensure their survival, but now, that concept was beginning to copse.

    L¨¹ Fang paid no heed to what everyone was thinking, and said in a slow voice, "100 years ago, Hell copsed due to various reasons. The Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings ascended to Heaven, while all officials and tens of billions ofherworldly citizens were entirely wiped out. Thankfully, the heritage of Hell remained, and through the diligent efforts of the third King Yanluo, Hell finally rose up once again. Now, the divine beast Harken has returned, as has one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, Zhao Zilong. An army of hundreds of thousands has been deployed on crusades all over the nation, and the unification of the Cathayan Underworld is inevitable."

    The entirety of Deadsend City had be incredibly silent.

    This was like a divine miracle in their eyes, and they were astonished to the point of numbness. They could only reflexively continue to listen and hear about this brand new world that they knew nothing about.

    However, what they were shown next instantly jerked them out of their numb state.

    As soon as L¨¹ Fang''s voice trailed off, the image of a massive city appeared on all of the screens at the same time.

    "What?!"

    "Th... That''s Hell?!"

    "Hell has already developed to this extent? Didn''t he just say that it only copsed 100 years ago?"

    "My god... Have I returned to the prosperous Tang Dynasty?"

    Ashmound City!

    This was currently the most impressive and imposing city under the Hell administration. Its walls were dozens of meters tall, and they stood like monsters upon the earth. Due to the various arts that had been cast upon the walls, they were glowing with a faint light. The city walls stretched as far as the eyes could see, as if there were no end to them, and anyone who stood at the foot of these walls would only be able to revere and marvel.

    Furthermore, the countless Yin Soldiers standing atop the city walls, those gs that were waving in the wind, and those tall towers; all of this was a disy of the power of Hell and its level of technological development! It was apletely iparable civilization to Deadsend City!

    How lucky would one be to be able to live in such a safe and mighty city?

    That very same thought instantly surfaced in the hearts of all of Deadsend City''s Yin spirits at the same time.

    Before they had a chance to fully process their shock, the entire perspective of the scene on the screens rose up, flying over the city walls to reveal a glorious paradiseplete with thriving markets, resplendent and ornate buildings, lush and lively greenery, beautifulndmarks, and countless people roaming the streets.

    If they had been shocked before, then they were well and truly beyond shocked now. All of theherworldly citizens, including Li Lanzhi, were staring intently at the screens with their mouths gaped wide open.

    Had they transmigrated to Chang''an? Had they somehow traveled to Jinling? Had their souls returned to Kaifeng? Were they witnessing the Yanjing of the past?

    It was way toovish... This was something that they had only ever seen on television during their living days. In fact, no, they couldn''t even see this on television! Even the most intricately crafted of movie sets couldn''tpare with this monolithic city that they were witnessing!

    Expressions of yearning appeared on the faces of all of theherworldly citizens, yearning toward a better tomorrow, that thriving city, and the wonderful scenes that they could see but could barelyprehend...

    There was noparison... Li Lanzhi gently bit down on her lower lip. Deadsend City couldn''t even begin topare with that city. In fact, it would be an insult to that city topare it with Deadsend City.

    Such a wonderful life was the ultimate goal for herself and all of theherworldly citizens of Deadsend City, and it was something that they were constantly dreaming of.

    "Where is this?" she finally asked in a trembling voice.

    "This is Ashmound, the first coastal port city of the new Hell," L¨¹ Fang replied in a calm manner, "And it only took Lord Qin two years to rebuild Ashmound to what it is now."

    Two years... These words seeped into the minds of all of theherworldly citizens, and their first thought was: if we surrender, will we also be able to live in Ashmound? Alternatively, is it possible for our Deadsend City to be as glorious and wonderful as that city in two years?

    He looked deep into Li Lanzhi''s eyes, and continued, "On top of that, Lord Qin has already signed a contract with the government of the mortal realm. With each province purged, a huge batch of resources would immediately be sent to all provinces. Deadsend City is the only settlement in the West Shan Province, everywhere else has already fallen under the control of Hell."

    Li Lanzhi didn''t say anything.

    She was most definitely tempted. In fact, all of the Yin spirits present were tempted.

    They had already livedborious lives, and never did they think that their afterlife would be even more arduous. They were already prepared to slowly develop this settlement into a modern society, but how long was that going to take? 500 years? 1,000 years?

    Now, aplete administration, avish city, an official power was opening its doors to them.

    All they had to do was surrender and they would be a part of this glorious civilization; how could they not be tempted?

    As long as one wasn''t mentally handicapped, it would be clearly apparent that such a lifestyle would be far better than the lives that they were currently living, where they were constantly in fear for their safety.

    However, the surprises were being presented to them like a tsunami, crashing down upon them wave after wave, and every time they thought that they had seen the best that Hell had to offer, they would be shown something even more astonishing...

    Right at this moment, the image suddenly transitioned to another city.

    In contrast with Ashmound, this city incorporated both modern and antiquated construction elements. At the very center of this city was a gate, above which was the Book of Life and Death, which was giving off a faint luster. Below it was a mirror that hung high up in the sky like a radiant sun, illuminating the entire earth with its unmatched luster. This wasn''t a grand dream; it was a disy of peerless authoritative might! The sight of Hell''s divine artifacts made all of the Yin spirits draw a sharp breath, and they could feel their own souls trembling.

    "What was that feeling just now?"

    "I don''t know, but in that instant, I felt like I was being appraised by a divine being..."

    "What exactly is that thing?"

    Frenzied conversation had erupted in countless caves, even drowning out the sound of the massive waterfall. Li Lanzhi took several deep breaths before biting down on her lower lip as she asked, "Is that the Book of Life and Death?"

    "Indeed, it is. That is the Book of Life and Death, as well as the Mirror of Eminence, the treasure that belonged to one of the former Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces, Bao Tianzi," L¨¹ Fang replied with a smile, "This is the second city currently under Hell''s control, Everburn City."

    A sense of scorching pride was ignited in L¨¹ Fang''s heart.

    The power being disyed by Hell made it impossible for these Yin spirits to muster up any desire to resist. In contrast with them, he was a true Hellguard of Hell, and the feeling of unting this advanced technology in the faces of this indigenous settlement filled him with immense satisfaction.

    So what if I tell you that Hell only has two cities? It would only take us a few days to wipe out Deadsend City.

    "Everyone," L¨¹ Fang continued, "The Cathayan Underworld was once a unifiednd; there''s no reason why it should be fragmented when the mortal realm is united as one. Hell has made its move, and it''s determined to seed. By my estimates, there will only be a maximum of 20, perhaps even fewer settlements like yours, whichprise of people that came down through Yin Yang Mezzanines. If you join us, you''ll receive special attention from Hell. On top of that, Hell is constantly looking to expand, and there''s no better foundation than a settlement like yours. During your time in the mortal realm, I''m sure you''ve all heard of historic masters of architecture, such as Li Chun and Lu Ban, all of them will help you redesign and reconstruct your city. In addition, you''ll receive further support in the form ofrge batches of resources. Of course..."

    He paused momentarily here before continuing in a more forbidding voice, "Yanluo Qin isn''t one to take up arms against his own people, but if anyone dares to stand in the way of Hell''s army, then the only possible oue that awaits them is certain destruction. Not only will this city bepletely razed to the ground, the existence of the Book of Life and Death will even bring disaster to your descendants. Even though the six paths of reincarnation and 18 abysses of punishment still aren''tplete yet, I''m sure you wouldn''t want to see those things in action. One final thing..."

    He stood up before extending a slight bow, then continued, "The hierarchy of Yin spirits from low to high is Netherworld Operative, Soul Hunter, Anitya Hellguard, Infernal Judge, Abyssal Prefect, and Yama-King. Lord Qin has already taken a look and found that there''s not a single person in Deadsend City that has reached even the Netherworld Operative level. Meanwhile, there''s a Yama-King and an Abyssal Prefect in the West Vanquishing Army that you''re facing, so make your choice."

    Theherworldly fire in his eyes was flickering erratically as he appraised everyone intently, and through his gaze, it was as if he were saying to them and all of theherworldly citizens of Deadsend City: "to join Hell or to resist, to live or to die; it''s your choice!"

 Chapter 749: Sweeping Through the Land!

    <h4>Chapter 749: Sweeping Through the Land!</h4>

    Silence.

    Li Lanzhi looked at the people beside her. They were all Freemasons that had been elected by the people, and there were countless Yin spirits watching this scene from their caves.

    Truth be told, everyone had some level of ambition. Hell was making no effort to keep the current state of affairs a secret, and from their words, Li Lanzhi and the others could tell that the Underworld was currently in a state of warring turmoil. This army was proiming itself to be the regr army of Hell, but who could verify the authenticity of that im? The old Hell was already gone; the one who seized the throne in the end would automatically be the one in charge, regardless of whether they had divine artifacts or the Harken on their side.

    However, ambition was one thing, but pragmatic considerations also had to be made. In the face of such a formidable army, Deadsend City waspletely powerless to resist.

    Thus, Li Lianzhi and the others suddenly fell silent, and the Hellguards were bing more and more displeased by the second. L¨¹ Fang appraised the Yin spirits and asked, "Could it be that you really think you can oppose us?"

    His hand was already creeping subtly toward the hilt of the longsword on his waist, and the eerie ck light reflecting off his carapace of blight vermin armor struck chilling fear deep into the hearts of the Yin spirits present.

    "What are they thinking about?! Hurry up and join them!" Inside one of the caves, a Yin spirit sprang up in an animated manner and yelled, "I don''t want to live this kind of life anymore! The mortal realm has already been united, so why are we still fighting? Do we have nothing better to do?"

    "Indeed, how are we supposed to resist?" A middle-aged Yin spirit beside him shook his head and sighed, "Our equipment and weapons are onpletely different levels. Also, didn''t they say that they had a Yama-King and an Abyssal Prefect on their side? Besides..."

    He stood up and cast his gaze outside the cave. On the earth far away, he was greeted by the sight of a vast expanse of extremely organized and well-trained ck-armored soldiers, as well as those familiar bright red gs.

    "We were all from the same nation during our lifetimes. We all stemmed from the roots, so why are we in such a hurry to strike one another down?"

    The Yin spirits in this cave weren''t the only ones watching the unfolding scene; countless Yin spirits in all of the other caves were also looking on in anxiety and anticipation.

    Why aren¡¯t they saying anything? Could it be that they really intend to resist?

    "Look at their city; that''s a city! What are they thinking about? Don''t tell me they actually enjoy living like this!"

    "How could anyone enjoy this lifestyle? We''re constantly living in fear of our lives. It''s either a monster attack today or a beast tide tomorrow; I''ve had enough of living like this!"

    Countless pairs of eyes were glued to the screens, and Li Lanzhi seemed to have sensed the collective wishes of the people as she took a deep breath, then asked, "A.. After we surrender, what will be of us?"

    "You won''t have to do anything aside from remain in your respective provinces. All types of resources will be delivered to you very soon, and there will be designated construction teams and Hellguards arriving to take over the management of the city."

    Theherworldly citizens could be left untouched, but the leaders surely had to be taken back to Hell.

    After a brief silence, one of the leaders of Deadsend City asked, "What will happen to us?"

    L¨¹ Fang replied in an unhurried manner, "You''ll travel to Ashmound to be educated. You''re not the only ones; all leaders of any settlements that we encounter along our crusade will be sent to Ashmound for further studies. Once you graduate, you''ll be sent to other ces and continue to undertake leadership roles. Rest assured, Hell definitely won''t mistreat you."

    Of course, there was no way they would be sent back to Deadsend City. After all, Qin Ye wasn''t an idiot.

    Li Lanzhi hesitated momentarily, then licked her lips nervously before asking in a low voice, "So... what happens to the settlements that refuse to surrender? What will be the consequences of resistance?"

    She was extremely anxious as she asked this question. Even though she was asking in a very careful and subdued manner, such a question could easily lead to her execution.

    "There''s no need for you to ask these probing questions," one of the Hellguards chuckled, "To be frank, the power of your Deadsend City is nothing more than a joke to our West Vanquishing Army, but I can tell you the intentions of the leaders of Hell."

    He looked deep into the eyes of the Yin spirits, and continued, "Anyone who dares to resist will be killed with no exceptions. All those who participate in rebellions will be executed without mercy, and their souls will be subjected to a century of skyntern punishment. Once the six paths of reincarnation areplete, they''ll be relegated to the path of the beast for 10 lifetimes, and if their descendants were to enter Hell, they would be deprived of the possibility of pursuing a career in politics and business for three lifetimes."

    Essentially, there was only one option!

    All of the leaders present drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and they fell silent again as they exchanged a few hesitant nces.

    The Hellguards appraised the leaders of Deadsend City with an intense gaze, while theherworldly citizens of Deadsend City were watching anxiously with bated breath.

    Only after a full five minutes had passed did Li Lanzhi grit her teeth before making her decision. "I ept. From this day forth, Deadsend City will be a subsidiary to Hell! I''ll issue an order for our citizens toy down their arms right away!"

    L¨¹ Fang heaved an inaudible sigh of relief upon hearing this. "You''ve made a wise choice."

    Third Era of Hell, Year 4, Deadsend City of the West Shan Province submitted to the authority of Hell. The former Grand Master of the Freemasonry, Li Lanzhi, as well as the Freemasons, Zhao Sonn, Ming Tao, Gao Xiangqian, and Liu Fan were immediately sent to Ashmound City for further study. A total of 2.45 millionherworldly citizens of Deadsend City also submitted to the authority of Hell in a peaceful surrender.

    After leaving a protective formation in Deadsend City, the army continued to march, and not long thereafter, war resources began to arrive from all directions like a flurry of snow.

    2nd October. Arthis eradicated Shadowend City of the Mongolia Province.

    16th October. Arthis subjugated Gulong Vige.

    28th December. Oda Nobunaga conquered Yellow Crane Tower, ying 3,000 rebellious Yin spirits.

    In March of the next year, Su Daji fulfilled her orders, officially eradicating the nest of 10,000 captive ghosts located in the three eastern provinces, following which she continued to lead her Hungry Ghost Legion on a march toward the Yuzhou Province and the Ganzhou Province.

    In April of that year, the provinces of Jingzhou, Mongolia, and West Shan were dered to have beenpletely liberated. All monarch beasts had been wiped out, and all areas where monarch beasts could be bred and nurtured had beenpletely sealed away, while all of the main roads in the provinces had also been opened up.

    The army of Hell only traveled along the main roads of those two provinces, eradicating monarch beasts and opening up all main roads, leaving the rest for the Hungry Ghost Legion to mop up.

    In June of that year, the Hungry Ghost Legion subjugated Fleetnce City of the Yuzhou Province.

    In July of that year, Arthis officially entered the Longxi Province, where she encountered fierce resistance posed by over 700,000 Yin spirits led by four Infernal Judges. The two sides faced off at Dunhuang City. In the same month, the army led by Qin Ye and Zhao Yun also entered the Longxi County, where they joined up with Arthis andmenced the final showdown at the location corresponding to that of the Longxi County''s Faquan Temple in the mortal realm. This showdownsted a full four months and was recorded in history books as the Battle of Faquan Temple.

    In August of that year, General Jin Rui of the Hungry Ghost Legion conquered White Deer Dam of the Ganzhou Province. During that battle, 15,000 rebellious Yin spirits were in, forming a skyntern that stretched to over 100 meters in size in which their souls burned day and night. A month after the conclusion of that battle, all of the remaining Yin spirits of the Longxi Province gathered and surrendered to the army of Hell.

    During the fifth month of the second year since themencement of the war of unification, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun''s army arrived and set up camp in the northeastern region of the Westriver Province. In December of that year, Arthis''s army also arrived in the northwestern region of the Westriver Province. During the first month of the third year, Oda Nobunaga''s army arrived in the southeastern region of the Westriver Province, and thus the three armies had the Westriver Province surrounded from three different directions.

    The Underworld had already been ravaged by the mes of war for just over three years, and progress was a little slower than Qin Ye had anticipated. After all, the roads of each province had to be opened up, while the monarch beasts also had to be eradicated, and unfortunately, not everyone could fly like him.

    However, he wasn''t in a rush. As the war progressed, he continued to train his army. His troops had been whittled down from 80,000 to around 58,000, but those that remained were all elite soldiers!

    At this point, only the Westriver Province, the Cloudriver Province, and the Rich Province were left to be conquered. As for everywhere else, including even the cities that had surrendered the earliest such as Deadsend City, the first round of major development had already concluded, and preparations to expand the cities were underway. The entirety of Hell was bing connected at a slow and steady rate.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Westriver Province, northwestern region.

    At some point, an encampment had been set up here. The entire surrounding area was littered with tents, and at the center stood an extremely ostentatious pce that was over 20 meters tall. Order was enforced very strictly in the entire encampment, and countless ck-armored soldiers were patrolling the area in an organized and methodical manner. Meanwhile, one red g after another pped in the wind.

    "Your Excellency, I bring a message from the mortal realm." On the top level of the central pce, Qin Ye was reclining on his bed, carefully reading through the huge pile of letters on the table.

    He slowly opened the envelope, revealing a hexagonal crystal inside. This crystal had been created by Zhao Yun, and it allowed formunication between the two realms, but only the King Yanluo was able to see the enclosed message.

    Countless runes lit up on the surface of the hexagonal crystal following an injection of Yin energy, and it quietly exploded to form a Yin energy screen that appeared in mid-air, depicting the image of Director Lei Jun.

    "We meet again, Prefect Qin. During these past three years, we''ve met on many asions. Even though we''ve been unable tomunicate in real-time, I still must express my gratitude to you."

    Lei Jun was wearing a Mao suit, and even though he knew this wasn''t real-timemunication, he was still presenting himself in a very official fashion. He cupped his fist as he extended a deep bow and said, "Thank you for everything you''ve done for Hell."

    After standing straight again, his gaze pierced directly through the screen, as if he could see the person on the other side. "It''s been three years. Add the year of preparation to that, and it''s already been over four years. Currently, over half of Cathay has already awakened, and only the final few provinces are left. Thanks to the city god and lord of thend policies you''ve implemented, the supernatural events urring in all of the provinces and cities have almost been entirely wiped out. Over 95% of the cities have returned to normal."

    He smiled, then continued, "During these past few years, we''veid off many members of the Special Investigations Department, and most of the department''s members have now entered grass-roots establishments. Once you unify the underworld, it''ll be time for the Special Investigations Department to fall into obscurity again. This world belongs to normal people; we shouldn''t interrupt their lives. The resources that are to be sent to all of the provinces have already been prepared. I look forward to the day that you seed in your crusade of unification. When that dayes, we''ll be able to officially dere in the mortal realm that the supernatural disasters are over. Everyone, including myself, is very much looking forward to this day."

    Qin Ye snuffed out the message there.

    During the past three years, Hell had been developing rapidly. Arge number of schrs and academicians had already gathered in Ashmound and Everburn, and they had all undertaken different duties and upations. Unfortunately, Qin Ye still hadn''t gotten the chance to see these cities in their current form.

    Hell must''ve undergone a lot of changes... He rose to his feet. The ck silk robe that he was wearing was embroidered with golden dragon designs. This wasn''t from the treasure trove of the Zhu n. Instead, it had been sent to him a month ago from Everburn.

    Has the textile industry already taken off? That makes sense. They have enough experience; all they werecking was machinery and materials, so it''s only to be expected that they would''ve made some progress in the span of three years...

    He sat down beside his mirror, the reflection in it was still that of a young man. Having consumed the Taisui Fungus, he would never age or die, but his disposition had be a lot more mature and condensed. He had seen too much war and the eradication of too many Yin spirits. In the past, he had only harbored the mentality of a superior, but right now, both his mentality and disposition matched his status, and just a single nce from him was enough to strike fear and veneration into the hearts of others.

    The process of maturing was inevitable, especially in such a monumental era.

    His hair was already long enough to drape down onto his shoulders, and it was arranged into an antiquated bun. He wore an ornate tuinga in the design of a dragon extending its ws, and his hair was bound by what appeared to be a jade hairpin. This was also something that had been produced by Everburn. Two years ago, a precious Blood Spirit Jade mine had been discovered in Everburn, and the first hairpin crafted from jade from the mine had been sent to him.

    The golden tuinga also had a simr story.

    To his surprise, he preferred a more antiquated style for Hell''s architecture. The architecture had been designed by Lu Ban and the other schrs, and not only was Qin Ye not averse to this style, he found it to be extremely fitting and harmonious.

    He had only just taken a seat when a Yin spirit made his way over to him silently to help him adjust his clothes. Qin Ye waved him off and said, "Inform General Zhao, Arakshasa, Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Su Daji, and Qin Hui to begin preparations for a pep rally. It''s been three years; it''s about time we unified thisnd again."

 Chapter 750: The State of the Three Provinces

    <h4>Chapter 750: The State of the Three Provinces</h4>

    "Yes!" The servants immediately followed along behind Qin Ye, and shortly thereafter, they arrived at the conference hall.

    The conference hall wasn''t veryrge, and it had a refined and antiquated design. This was a battlefield, so there was no need forfort or luxuries. By the time Qin Ye arrived, Arthis, Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Zhao Yun, and 10 othermanders who had been promoted to their current roles during the course of the war were already present.

    Most of the promotedmanders were Yin spirits from the modern era, but they were also wearing antiquated suits of armor and kept heads of long hair. Following Qin Ye''s arrival, all of themanders immediately began to stand up, but Qin Ye casually indicated for them to remain seated. "There''s no need for formalities; take a seat, everyone."

    Qin Ye sat down on the main seat in an elegant manner, and Arthis couldn''t help but take a few nces at him. It had to be said that he was really beginning to look the part as the King Yanluo, and she couldn''t help but feel a sense of mncholy whenever she saw him.

    Who could''ve anticipated that the man who had been trading insults with her at one point would be able to reach such dizzying heights?

    The concept of one''s aura was an extremely abstract one. If it had to be articted, then it could be exined by one''s ability to influence others with their immense confidence. There were many possible sources for confidence, but the most fundamental source of all was power. Qin Ye had seized control over the entirend aside from the Westriver Province, the Cloudriver Province, and the Rich Province, and both his power and confidence had reached a new peak.

    "It''s already been half a month since our three armies have gathered in the Westriver Province." Qin Ye wasted no time with small talk; his style was to be pragmatic and sinct. He absentmindedly yed with the string of beads in his hand as he said in an unhurried manner, "All of the preparations areplete, and all that''s left is the final battle. Qi Hao!"

    "Yes!" A young Yin spirit rose to his feet. Qi Hao was the wartime secretary, and he was very good at his job. He was very organized in the way that he worked, and he excelled in prioritization. Qin Ye already had ns to send him to a city to take on a leadership role and further hone his skills once the war ended.

    Following the conclusion of the war, it was naturally imperative to govern the Underworld, and a vast number of skilled personnel would be required for that.

    Qi Hao extended a respectful bow and reported, "ording to the information that we currently have on hand, the total quantity of Yin energy in the three provinces is as high as forty million, and we estimate that they have over a million Yin Soldiers, as well as no fewer than five Infernal Judges. Last week, Master Qin Hui attempted to offer amnesty and enlistment to the Daolord of the Beast again, but he was turned down once again. We''re currently almost certain that all of the Yin spirits of the three provinces have already gathered at Sword Gate Pass in preparation for a final showdown with our army."

    He paused here momentarily as he swept a hand through the air, conjuring up a screen that depicted a map of the Westriver Province.

    On the northwestern corner of the map was a huge red dot, beside which were clearly inscribed the words "Sword Gate Pass"!

    The string of beads in Qin Ye''s hand suddenly fell still as he raised an eyebrow and asked, "So they haven''t even deployed all of their main forces to Sword Gate Pass for the final battle against us?"

    That was a very idiotic move.

    Dong Zhuo had a lot of troops under hismand, but they were of an extremely low standard. They had no military formations, and they had to face the army of Hell, which still had over 200,000 remaining troops. For them, their only option was to put all of their eggs in one basket as splitting up to defend multiple sites was akin to suicide, but that was exactly what they had done.

    "There''s one more thing I have to report," Qi Hao continued in a respectful voice, "Several days ago, General Zhao determined using his infernal eyes that there is a high-grade divine artifact currently situated in the Westriver Province. We know this for a fact as the three provinces are enshrouded under boundless Yin energy that even General Zhao''s infernal eyes aren''t able topletely see through, but there''s only one such divine artifact in the Westriver Province."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in a slightly surprised manner, and Zhao Yun confirmed, "I''m certain that there''s only one. I can only sense the power of a creation-grade divine artifact, and it''s an iplete artifact. Its aura is very familiar, telling me it''s a fragment of King Yanluo''s Seal, but I didn''t sense the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. There aren''t that many divine artifacts of this caliber even in the context of the entire world. Even throughout its heritage spanning thousands of years, Hell has only obtained a single one, and there''s no way I wouldn''t sense it if it was here."

    Qin Ye leaned back in his chair as he cast his gaze toward the Yin energy map with furrowed brows. All of a sudden, he mused, "He''s deployed an army with ten million Yin energy to Sword Gate Pass while he defends Lotus City in person. If webine all of our forces to attack Sword Gate Pass, we''ll be able to crush their army in one fell swoop! Has Dong Zhuo gone insane?"

    Before anyone else had a chance to speak, he stood up and gently tapped the map before continuing, "Do you get the feeling that he wants to defend Lotus City instead of Sword Gate Pass?"

    "I do," Zhao Yun replied with a contemtive expression, "Sword Gate Pass is quite far away from Lotus City, and I highly doubt that Lotus City''s underworld is better developed than Ashmound. It would take many days even for our army to travel over such a long distance. Even if Sword Gate Pass were to send out a plea for reinforcements, there''s no way Dong Zhuo would be able to reinforce it in time. In my opinion, they''re most likely only going to put up token resistance at Sword Gate Pass. As soon as they discover that they''re about to be surrounded by our three armies or that we''re about to unleash an all-out assault on them, they''ll immediately retreat to Lotus City to engage us in a final showdown. However, that''s even more peculiar."

    Zhao Yun gently tapped the table with his finger as he continued, "Dong Zhuo isn''t a fool. I''m sure he knows that he has to go for broke here for a chance to save himself. I''m certain that he''s aware that he''s definitely no match for our army, so the best course of action avable to him would be to engage us in a final battle at Sword Gate Pass, where the terrain will give his army an advantage. However, the tactics that he''s currently employed suggest that he''s going to abandon this terrain advantage and retreat to the ins. No armymander with even a shred of nous would choose to do this."

    "Unless there are some factors that force him to do this," Qin Ye mused.

    "What could that possibly be?" The two of them were going back and forth as if this were a rehearsed exchange, and they were drawing closer and closer to an answer.

    "The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn," Qin Ye replied with a smile, then sat back down before epting an ornate teacup that was offered to him by a servant in the room. After taking a sip of tea, he continued, "You may not have been able to sense it, but I still think that the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn is right here in one of the three provinces. It''s a divine artifact of the same caliber as King Yanluo''s Seal, but it''s stillplete while King Yanluo''s Seal is broken. Aplete creation-level divine artifact, huh? Tsk tsk tsk, I think this is where they''ve drawn the confidence from to employ such a bold tactic."

    There was no evidence to support this theory, but it was the most reasonable exnation for the current situation.

    "So why don''t they bring the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn to Sword Gate Pass for the final showdown?"

    "Who knows?" Qin Ye mused, "Perhaps they can''t pick it up? Don''t forget that in the legends, the chalice could only be picked up by the one who was the purest and most virtuous. Of course, that''s just a blind guess from me. In any case, regardless of what the truth is, there must be a reason why the holy grail can''t be moved, and we''ll find out the reason once we capture it."

    He turned to Zhao Yun with a smile, and asked, "General Zhao, are you confident that you can win this battle if the enemy has a creation-grade divine artifact on their side?"

    "Leave it to me." Zhao Yun stood up as he cupped his fist before extending a bow. "That Dong Zhuo is nothing more than an evil ghost. Even if he has a divine artifact in his grasp, there''s no way he''ll be able to bring out its full power. On top of that, he''s only an Abyssal Prefect, so he''ll be lucky to be able to even unleash a tenth of the divine artifact''s power. In that case, I''m confident that I''ll be able to stand against him."

    Qin Ye nodded in response as he also rose to his feet, then swept an intense gaze around the room. "Very good. Notify Su Daji''s Hungry Ghost Legion and Qin Hui''s Asura Legion to join up with us in the Westriver Province in four days."

    "Everyone..." He took a deep breath before continuing, "We''vee so far and endured so many battles of different scales. However, this is the final battle! This will be the decisive sh that draws our crusade to a conclusion, so don''t any of you dare to getcent! In one week, our three armies will attack the Westriver Province, and our goal is to unite the entire nation within the next season!"

    "Yes!"

    Third Era of Hell, Year 7, thebined three armies of Hell, totaling 240,000 troops, embarked on the final battle in the war of unification, recorded in the annals of history as the Battle of Lotus City.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Howling winds swept over the earth, and it seemed as if even the wind could sense the passion of the Yin spirits and the harshness of the battle that was toe. Countless inky-ck gs were pping audibly in the chilling wind as menacing killing intent welled up in the hearts of each and every Yin spirit.

    This was the Westriver Province, the final piece of the map of Cathay''s Underworld that was yet to be conquered. Standing before all enemies was a massive city wall that was as formidable as it was imposing. It was far inferior to the city walls of Ashmound, standing at only less than 30 meters tall, but the walls were lined with countless crossbows that were giving off a cold and metallic gleam.

    The towers standing atop the city walls were very much reminiscent of the construction style typically associated with the concluding phase of the Han Dynasty, and all of the soldiers were also wearing armor that was in the style of the Han Dynasty. No one could''ve imagined that such a city stood on the western border of the Cathayan Underworld.

    ck, ck... The sound of extremely rhythmic footsteps rang out on the city wall, heralding another change in shifts. A group of ck-armored soldiers arrived to rece the soldiers that were currently standing guard, and among them, a middle-aged soldier cast a sorrowful nce outside before shaking his head as he heaved a long sigh.

    Beside him, a young Yin spirit who was around 16 to 17 years of age asked in a puzzled manner, "What''s on your mind, Uncle Wu? Why do you sound so troubled?"

    A wry smile appeared on Uncle Wu''s face as he replied, "A battle ising, and battles lead to death and bloodshed. I don''t want to die, and I don''t want you to die, either. We were already quite unlucky in the mortal realm; you were with me in my car, and we both died in that ident..."

    The young man shrugged in response. "What''s there to be afraid of? Aren''t we just facing some rebels? It''s not like we haven''t seen ourmanders attacking other settlements; our manufacturing ability and technology are vastly superior to everyone else..."

    The young man was talking non-stop, while Uncle Wu merely stroked the city wall absentmindedly as he listened in silence with a wry smile on his face.

    <i>You''re still too young, kiddo. Do you think Lord Dong is some type of noble and virtuous character? In the history books, he''s denounced as a foul chatan. However, he insists that the jade seal in his possession makes him the true ruler of Hell. He doesn''t have the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces, the Harken, or the Book of Life and Death in his grasp; how is a so-called King Yanluo''s Seal supposed to prove anything? I haven''t even heard of such a thing! </i>

    Following his arrival in the Westriver Province, Dong Zhuo had been the epitome of a despotic tyrant, treatingherworldly citizens as if they were swine and dogs. However, several decades ago, a massive city suddenly descended upon this ce, much to everyone''s surprise, and that allowed his power to inte exponentially.

    Shu Han Imperial Pce.

    That was the name of this city. It wasn''t veryrge; only several square kilometers in area. ording to the local Yin spirits of Lotus City, this was the very same Shu Han Imperial Pce that belonged to Liu Bei during the era of the three kingdoms. What they had heard was that the pce had been destroyed during the cultural revolution. One could onlyment the ill fortune that had befallen this cultural relic. Fate was truly a cruel and unpredictable mistress.

    Armor, crossbows, textiles; they had it all! Furthermore, they had over 2,000 skeletal war horses, and it was thanks to them that Lord Dong had managed to conquer two of the nearby provinces. Under normal circumstances, he was always the one seizing the initiative andshing out, yet on this asion, he had recalled all of his forces!

    It was clear that they were going to be facing a formidable foe...

    The middle-aged man looked up at the pitch-ck sky with a concerned expression. Their opponents for this battle were definitely not going to be easy to ovee. For the past several days straight, theherme in his right eye had been pulsing erratically . Now, as he stood there, he felt as if even the Yin winds were howling with sorrow.

    SSS!!! Right at this moment, a Yin cloud on the distant horizon outside the city suddenly exploded amid a string of bloodcurdling howls! Several Yin spirits rushed directly toward the pce with Yin winds howling violently around them.

    "They... They''re here!!"

    "Open the Gate! Hurry! Lord Dong, we wish to submit to you!"

    The frantic and fearful cries made theherfire in Uncle Wu''s eyes pulse even more erratically.

    Who was here?

    ording to Lord Dong, the enemies were known as Hellguards, and each and every one of them was far more powerful than the average soldier. Furthermore, the number of Soul Hunters and Anitya Hellguards that had converged from all directions had been increasing further and further as ofte. Every single one of them reeked of blood and gore, as if they had fled some type of horrific disaster, and Lord Dong had epted them all with no exceptions!

    Who exactly was it that was pursuing them? What could be so fearsome that these battle-hardened rogues were willing to abandon their territory to flee to the pce for refuge?

    Was it a pride of lions?

    Was it a giant dragon?

    [1] [Shu Han was one of the states during the era of the three kingdoms in Chinese history, spanning roughly from 220 to 280AD.]

    [2] [In China, a pulsing right eyelid is supposed to herald disaster and misfortune, while the opposite is true for a pulsing left eyelid.]

 Chapter 751: Arrival of the Enemy Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 751: Arrival of the Enemy Soldiers</h4>

    If it were a pride of lions, perhaps they could put up a fight, but if it were a giant dragon... Uncle Wu didn''t even dare to consider such a possibility. This city had been named West Capital by Lord Dong; what kind of horrific battlefield was this city going to be transformed into?

    Among the Yin spirits of the fourth and fifth paths, the weakest were Netherworld Operative, while the most powerful ones were Anitya Hellguards. All of them were lingering at the gate of West Capital City, but none of them dared to enter. Dong Zhuo''s Yin energy had engulfed the entirety of heaven and earth, and no beings below the Abyssal Prefect level dared to oppose him. He was the true ruler of the west.

    Right at this moment, the gate slowly opened amid a loud grinding noise, and the Yin spirits outside rushed in amid a sharp screech. Standing atop the city wall, Uncle Wu''s patrol squad was situated closest to these Yin spirits, and their brows furrowed tightly in unison upon seeing this.

    What a putrid and gory smell...

    These Yin spirits had killed countless people in the mortal realm; why were they being allowed into West Capital City? Was this ce supposed to be a rubbish dump that epted anything and everything?

    "Come to think of it, hundreds of evil ghosts have already entered our city in this month alone," the young Yin spirit suddenly sighed, "I don''t know what''s happening, but all of the evil ghosts in the surrounding area that have taken human lives during their living days have fled to our city as if they''re being pursued by someone..."

    "Who knows what''s going on?" Uncle Wu sighed as he stood up straighter. "We just have to mind our own business and focus on our duties..."

    Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, his voice abruptly cut off as hisherfire jolted sporadically.

    All of the Yin spirits, including him, cast their eyes toward the horizon in the distance, and they reflexively tightened their grip around their spears as they adopted hunched-over defensive postures.

    This was the instinctive defensive posture that humans would adopt when faced with the horrors of the unknown.

    "U-U-U-Uncle Wu..." The young Yin spirit''s voice was trembling, just like the spear in his grasp. "Wh, wh, what''s going on?"

    No one replied.

    The only response came from the sound of the trembling earth and the ck line that was rising up from the horizons.

    That was the sound of tens of thousands of charging cavaliers.

    The ck line was very thin, but all of the Yin spirits knew that this was a Yin energy line that had to be formed by over 100,000 Yin soldiers. It was like the veil of a death god, and soon, it was going to be lifted to reveal the true appearance of the death god.

    "What''s going on?" Right at this moment, the gate of the tower was abruptly flung open, and a square-faced Yin spirit emerged before yelling, "What are you all doing? You''ve been training for so many years! Where is yourposure?"

    Before he had a chance to finish, he was alsopletely rooted to the spot, casting his gaze toward the horizon with a dumbstruck expression.

    What they were witnessing was an army that resembled an inky-ck tsunami wave! At the very forefront of the army rode over 10,000 cavaliers. Thehermes of the skeletal war horses glowed with an eerie blue light under the dark sky, and were galloping along in a synchronized and orderly fashion, causing the earth to rumble under their thundering hooves.

    Behind them were countless footsoldiers, while ahead of them were frantically fleeing Yin spirits. However, one arrow after another quickly shot forth, ying the fleeing Yin spirits in mid-air.

    "Spare me! Please spare me!!"

    "I won''t ever do it again! I''ll never eat blood food again!"

    "Please spare me! I beg of you!"

    Anguished wails rang out incessantly while the trembling Yin spirits looked on from the city walls. However, the approaching army disyed no reaction, merely continuing to force ahead like an unstoppable machine constructed from iron and steel.

    ck ck... Each and every footstep seemed to be resonating in the hearts of the Yin spirits standing atop the walls of West Capital City, and these footsteps were only growing louder and louder. There were even massive Mechanical Beasts that were several dozens of meters tall bringing up the rear, and these weapons were clearly designed for the purpose of attacking cities and fortresses. Boundless Yin energy swirled up in the heavens, forming a fearsome ring of Yin energy.

    Uncle Wu gulped nervously. Every single nerve in his body was screaming at him, telling him that this was an extremely formidable army, one that had definitely endured true battles and waspletely different from them!

    While it was true that they had also participated in some battles and even attacked a few settlements, they didn''t actually do anything in those battles. With King Yanluo''s Seal and the Shu Han Imperial Pce under his control, Dong Zhuo''s army was unmatched in power, sweeping through the southwest without encountering any stern resistance.

    In contrast, the aura, disposition, killing intent, and discipline of the approaching army was on apletely different levelpared to them!

    He abruptly turned toward his nephew, and his mouth had suddenly bepletely parched as he said in a low, trembling voice, "Make sure you don''t charge forward no matter what! This is a true army, one that''s made for killing; anyone who opposes them will die!"

    "What''s that?! Are my eyes ying tricks on me?!"

    "Are those... red-star gs?! No way!"

    The army on the city walls suddenly erupted into a frenzy, and even themanders werepletely dumbfounded. Everyone knew that this was the g of this nation; it represented an era! A dynasty! In contrast, therge gs emzoned with the "Dong'''' character paled into insignificance!

    The raised spears were lowered, and the drawn bowstrings were also loosened. After a stunned stupor of several seconds, the square-facedmander hurriedly rushed back into the tower in a frantic manner, and three secondster, the sound of thunderous war drums rang out.

    ck ck! In the face of the ever-increasing number of Yin Soldiers on the opposing city wall and the sharp, gleaming arrows being aimed at them, the army outside the city disyed no intention of stopping, only drawing to a halt roughly a kilometer away from the city. A figure then emerged from among their ranks, and the Yin energy around her was like a boundless abyss. She sped her hands behind her back as she appraised the city with a cold smile and mused to herself, "West Capital City? Is that supposed to be a counterpart to the eastern capital, Dusk City? I must say, it''s quite a fine name..."

    She then took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, her voice rang out like rumbling thunder. "Daolord of the Beast Dong Zhuo, you''ve resided in the southwest and defied the authority of Hell for far too long! Now, the West Vanquishing Army of Hell is here to strike you down. We''ll only point our swords at those who are in charge and the evil ghosts who have devoured blood food in the past. As for all other Yin spirits, surrender and you shall be spared."

    Dead silence.

    There was too much information to process. Daolord of the Beast? West Vanquishing Army of Hell? These words crashed down into the minds of all of the Yin spirits like asteroids, leaving them momentarily speechless as they struggled to process what they had just heard.

    "What a joke!!" All of a sudden, a burst of Abyssal Prefect level Yin energy erupted from the center of the city. Furthermore, this Yin energy was even more powerful than that of Su Daji and Qin Hui. In fact, it was only one step away from reaching the Yama-King level!

    Whoosh... Boundless Yin energy converged, rapidly forming what resembled a giant funnel in the sky. Soon, an imposing figure emerged up above.

    This figure was at least three meters tall, and he was wearing a Taishi robe of the Han Dynasty, an inky-ck robe that was embroidered with ck patterns. The craftsmanship was extremely intricate, and apanying the robe was a tall Han Dynasty hat, attached to which were two yellow ribbons that trailed down to his shoulders. The man had a thick, coarse beard and a burly physique, and violent Yin energy was surging out of every single one of his pores, giving him an indistinct appearance, much like an evil ghost standing in a cloud of mist.

    In contrast with Su Daji and Qin Hui, there was a …d symbol etched on his be, and once the Yin energy that was expelled out of his body traveled to over a meter away, it would transform into countless wailing Yin spirits. The Yin spirits enveloped him as they howled and roared, only dissipating after several seconds. Within one of his wide and baggy sleeves was a deathly pale hand with ck fingernails. The hand was currently gently ying with a bracelet, oneprised of a string of irregrly shaped crystals.

    The bracelet was very ordinary in appearance, but those who were at or above the Infernal Judge level could sense that the Yin energy emanating from Dong Zhuo''s body flowed and ebbed like the tide in a pattern that corresponded with the rotation of the bracelet in his hand. With each breath that he took, his aura would be ever-so-slightly more powerful. The enhancement was barely noticeable, but given sufficient time, he would be sure to be a Yama-King.

    Right in the instant that the bracelet appeared, all of the rotating crystals suddenly ceased in their movement, following which the bracelet rose straight up into the sky, where it directly faced the army of Hell!

    <i>Those are fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal! </i>

    At the center of the army of Hell, Qin Ye''s heart was thumping violently. The fragment of King Yanluo''s Seal in his possession had also stood up straight, struggling and yearning with all its might to be whole and perfect again.

    He gently stroked his own chest as he deliberately slowed down his breathing to calm himself. It had been six years since he had left Clear Creek County. At the time, he had been forced to flee to the City of Salvation due to the arrival of the Assassins of the Underworld, and now that he had returned, he was facing off directly against the one who was pulling the strings behind the Assassins of the Underworld.

    It looks like everything hase full circle... A faint smile appeared on his face, and he was struggling to muster up the urge to even regard his opponent seriously.

    "May I, Lord Qin?" Zhao Yun asked in an indifferent voice, as if he were merely talking about crushing a bug. His Yin energy was extremely well concealed, and there was no way that Dong Zhuo would be able to discover him.

    "There''s no need for you to get your hands dirty," Qin Ye replied in an unhurried manner as cold killing intent welled up in his heart, "We''ll have to train our soldiers to attack cities sooner orter, so this is the perfect training opportunity. Just keep an eye on Dong Zhuo. As for everything else..."

    He looked around at the army around him, which was already raring to go, and a confident smile appeared on his face. "Just leave it to them."

    This was the final battle in the war of unification, and everyone wanted to be the one tond the final blow, even the ordinary Yin Soldiers!

    At the same time, Dong Zhuo had already risen up into the sky, and his voice was audible to everyone present. "The old Hell has already copsed. I once resided in Fengdu, but I don''t belong to your new Hell!"

    "Besides, what right do you have to say that you represent Hell? You..." All of a sudden, his voice drew to an abrupt halt, and he sniffed a few times in a dumbstruck manner before immediately bursting into raucousughter. "Hahahaha! It''s you! You''re that little rat from Clear Creek County! You were already extremely fortunate to have gotten your hands on the fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal that I released, yet now, you dare to lead a crusade against me?! Who gave you the courage to stand before me?!"

    His furious voice rang out across the entire pce like rumbling thunder, and all of the Yin spirits were trembling in their boots. Dong Zhuo swept a sleeve through the air as he continued, "You dare to proim yourself as the ruler of Hell just because you have a few fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal? In that case, I possess far more fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal than you, so it''s clear who should be in power!"

    This wasn''t just a useless deration, it was a tactic employed by Dong Zhuo to win the hearts of his soldiers.

    He knew that when facing an official regr army, the first thing that he had to do was steady the hearts of his soldiers. Arthis''s earlier deration and those ursed red-star gs had already sowed the seed of doubt into his soldier''s hearts, so he had to convince his soldiers that they stood on the side of justice and righteousness.

    Thus, he had no choice but to appear in person.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of even more terrifying Yin energy surged through the entire sky,pletely dominating Dong Zhuo''s aura. The Yin energy formed substantial shockwaves that erupted forth in all directions, whipping up ferocious Yin winds right above Dong Zhuo''s army. Qin Ye stepped out of the Yin winds and scoffed, "What a cocky bastard you are! If I''m just a little rat, then would you dare to fight me to the death? No one else is to get involved; it''ll just be you and me. If I lose, I''ll hand over control of the entire nation and the fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal in my possession. So? Will you take me up on my challenge?"

    Even in the face of an evil ghost of the same caliber as himself, Qin Ye was still as confident and unyielding as ever!

    Dead silence ensued once again.

    Countless eyes were turned toward Dong Zhuo, some full of anticipation, some full of suspicion, and some waiting for him to provide proof. In the face of this widespread scrutiny, theherfire in Dong Zhuo''s eyes was flickering erratically, but he didn''t utter a single word.

    What was he supposed to say?

    How did that brat be an Abyssal Prefect? It''s only been a few years since we first met!

    How was an evil ghost like him, who had no proper conferment of title, supposed to challenge an Emissary of Hell at the same level? That would be no different from suicide!

    Never did he think that he would be so brutally silenced immediately following his deration, and he was so enraged that he felt like throwing up blood, but there was simply nothing that he could say.

    "Are you too scared?" Qin Ye scoffed as he swept a sleeve through the air. "Su Daji and Qin Hui were also ruling over their own territories, but they were far smarter than you are. Attack!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the sound of long horns rang out, and the entirendscape was transformed as inky-ck Cathayan characters instantly emerged beneath the feet of Hell''s Yin Soldiers.

    Thehermes in Dong Zhuo''s skipped violently as a sense of fear finally began to set in. "Is... Is that one of the 10 superior military formations, Wumu?"

    The only answer that greeted him was a tsunami of ck-armored soldiers storming his city!

 Chapter 752: Battle of West Capital City (1)

    <h4>Chapter 752: Battle of West Capital City (1)</h4>

    Rumble!! The sound of thundering hooves shook the heavens as the cavaliers parted, allowing the footsoldiers behind them to rush forward like an unstoppable wave. Atop the city wall, all of the Yin spirits of Dong Zhuo''s army were stunned to discover that not only had the opposing army sprung into action, those Mechanical Beasts that they werepletely unfamiliar with had also begun to move.

    "Wh, what are those things?" Uncle Wu was staring at those massive instruments of war with a fearful expression, and from them, he could sense a hint of extreme peril.

    He gulped nervously as he turned toward his nephew and said, "Once the sh begins, make sure to hide as much as you can; you have to at least live until your parentse down to join you..."

    Many of the other Yin Soldiers of Dong Zhuo''s army were also struck by a sense of foreboding. This was the instinctive fear that humans harbored toward death and the unknown. Everyone was deathly silent, and even the militarymanders that were subordinates to Dong Zhuo didn''t say anything. They could only look on as the enormous Mechanical Beasts reached within 100 meters away of their city gates, then continued to watch helplessly as the weapons were set up. There was nothing that they could do as West Capital had no weapons that could retaliate against such things.

    Dong Zhuo was a man who had always been too quick to abandon his morality for profit, and that facet of his personality was very difficult to change. Ever since the day that the Shu Han Imperial Pce descended, he had never thought that anyone would be able to breach its walls. The prospect that Hell could pose a threat to him had been a downrightughable one in his mind. Hell couldn''t even take care of itself, and the entire old Hell had been eradicated. The arrival of the blight vermin had wiped out everything, so Hell could only start again from scratch.

    By the time they develop construction, a military, and all of the other important industries, he would''ve already left Hell far behind. Never did he think that Hell''s retaliation would arrive so soon and that it would be so violent!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the imperial pce of West Capital, Dong Zhuo and five Infernal Judge level evil ghosts, as well as over 20 Anitya Hellguards, were all staring intently at the scene unfolding before them. In contrast with the deathly silent city walls, the pce was in a raucous frenzy.

    "Sir Dong, didn''t you say that we had nothing to fear? Didn''t you say that Hell had nothing that could pose a threat to us?"

    "What are those things? Mechanical Beasts? Didn''t you say there was no way Hell would be so advanced in their development at this point? What''s going on?"

    "Master Dong, are we going to be able to defend West Capital City? Please give us your verdict!"

    Dong Zhuo was seated on a five-meter-tall chair at the center of the pce. The entire chair was constructed from bones, and amid the raucous rabble around him, he was gripping the armrests of his chair so tightly that veins were bulging on the backs of his hands.

    He was gritting his teeth so hard that they were making an audible sound as he stared at the Yin energy screen before him, which depicted a Ksitigarbha that was over 10 meters in length and was slowly opening up. On the other side, a dog-like Mechanical Beast split in half down the center. Everyone else was unfamiliar with what that Mechanical Beast was, but he knew that this was the renowned "Moon-Devouring Heavenly Dog", one of Hell''s immensely notorious five divine artifacts of war!

    "My Lord..."

    "Sir..."

    "Your Excellency..."

    One panicked cry after another was ringing out around him, and he finally snapped as he violently swept a sleeve through the air, releasing countless gusts of Yin wind that sliced a ck rift over 10 meters in length in mid-air. Within the Yin wind were countless deathly pale hands, and they tore several Anitya Hellguards into pieces amid a string of rmed cries.

    The pce instantly fell silent.

    All of the Anitya Hellguards and Infernal Judges rapidly retreated to several meters away, and their bodies were trembling with fear. Dong Zhuo gnashed his teeth together as he swept a furious gaze across them. "Are you questioning me?"

    "No... We, we wouldn''t dare!"

    "We''re just afraid and worried!"

    "All of us have taken human lives and devoured blood food in the past; we''re scared, Lord Dong!"

    "Our fate is in your hands; we wouldn''t dare to disrespect you!"

    Dong Zhuo''s spiritual body was far more massive than theirs, and as he rose to his feet, countless wailing Yin souls spread through the pce from beneath his feet. He swept his gaze over every single one of the evil ghosts present, and after a few seconds, he finally said in a hoarse voice, "You all need to shut up! I still have a trump card up my sleeve, one that only a Yama-King would be able to withstand. There are no Yama-Kings among them, so West Capital City is an absolute safe haven! If anyone dares to surrender and betray me, I''ll be the first one to put an end to their existence! Now get out of here!"

    No one dared to argue.

    Soon, the entire pce waspletely empty aside from Dong Zhuo. After a long while, he murmured to himself in a hateful voice, "That ursed Hell! They had nothing; how were they able to manufacture Moon-Devouring Heavenly Dogs so quickly? Shouldn''t they only be armed with wooden spears and wooden shields? How did they manage to craft so much armor and weaponry?! And those mechanical weapons as well... Could it be that the old Hell left them a treasure trove?!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Atop the city walls, everyone looked on as the Ksitigarbhas and Moon-Devouring Heavenly Dogspletely opened up. An oppressive silence that was heavy with killing intent had settled over the entire area. A secondter, countless ck shadows erupted out of the Ksitigarbhas like flocks of birds rising up into the sky, then rained down from above in a torrential downpour.

    Those were arrows!

    Now, they weren''t normal arrows; these were incredibly sharp spears that were each as thick as a human arm! They emitted a deathly screech as they hurtled through the air, instantly epassing an enormous area.

    The Shu Han Imperial Pce wasn''t veryrge, and this attack had epassed close to half of the entire pce! Thousands of spears shot out of the Ksitigarbhas, and it was far more than what these machines should''ve been able to contain; it was as if they were all connected to arsenals of spears!

    Whoosh... A terrifying shadow appeared overhead, and Uncle Wu didn''t even have the time to yell the words "get down" as he frantically grabbed onto his nephew and threw himself behind the city wall for protection. However, the nightmare had only just begun.

    In the instant that the spears rose up into the sky, the Moon-Devouring Heavenly Dogs suddenly opened their mouths to expel a surging sea of fire. As a result, the spears were ignited into hellfire spears, and the entire sky was illuminated a fiery color. The eternally dark sky was glowing with scintiting light, and the fiery spears descended in a frenzy like waves of venomous vipers.

    Crack crack crack! The sound of shattering stone and rock instantly rang out alongside cries of rm from theherworldly citizens inside the city. Immediately thereafter, a wave of fire began to surge through the city. The hellfire ignited everything it came into contact with, and it refused to be snuffed out until its host was incinerated into ashes. This was the Karmic Fire that Zhou Yu had left behind, and it was capable of scorching the entirety of Red Cliff.

    Close to half of the city had been transformed into a fiery hellhole, and only after a full three minutes had passed did the Yin Soldiers atop the city walls dare to stand up fearfully. They were greeted by the sight of boundless Karmic mes and the entire city wall had been transformed into a giant fiery beacon. Countless Yin spirits had perished during that attack, and they didn''t even get a chance to cry out before they were annihted.

    Alternatively, perhaps they did cry out, but everyone else had been far too terrified to hear them.

    Only the vast expanse of spears around them served as a reminder of what had just happened.

    "Fuck this!" A Yin Soldier was trembling uncontrobly as he turned and fled down the city walls, and simr cries of panic and horror rang out in all directions.

    "Is that the regr army of Hell?"

    "They''re way too powerful for us! There''s no way we can stop them!"

    "Run! Run to the Pce! Lord Dong may have a way to save us!"

    "Waaah... I don''t want to die!"

    Right at this moment, a skeletal war horse emerged from the military formation, and Zhao Yun was riding atop the horse as he yelled from the foot of the city wall, "Do you surrender?"

    His words were echoed by the hundreds of thousands of troops behind him, and even the heavens were shaking in the face of theirbined voices. However, they received no response. Having just endured such a terrifying indiscriminate attack, the Yin Soldiers on the city wall were too shaken to even stand, let alone speak.

    Zhao Yun slowly raised a hand. "Three! Two! One!"

    The Ksitigarbhas opened up once again, and the grinding sound that its parts made was like a countdown to death, striking horror into the hearts of all of the Yin Soldiers once again. Just as Zhao Yun was about to lower his hand again, a head finally poked up from behind the city wall before yelling in a sobbing voice, "We surrender!! We surrender!!"

    "Open the city gate!" Arthis demanded in a cold voice, "If it''s not open in 10 minutes, then you''ll have lost your chance to surrender!"

    Zhao Yun took a surprised nce at her, and he was greeted by the sight of an extremely seductive smile, the type that was far more fitting on the bed of a pair of newlyweds than on a battlefield.

    Zhao Yun turned away with a wooden expression.

    Qin Ye also wore a numb expression.

    Ever since Zhao Yun''s return, Arthis had taken every possible opportunity to seduce him; she was either in the process of making love or on the way to make love...

    "We, we''ll do our best..." The head above the city wall ducked back down, and Uncle Wu grabbed onto his nephew before sprinting down the city wall like a madman.

    "Uncle!" Theherfire in the young Yin spirit''s eyes was dancing wildly as he asked in a trembling voice, "Ar, are we really going to open the city gate for them?"

    "Run!!" Uncle Wu''s eyes had turnedpletely red as he yelled, "Their army is on apletely different levelpared to ours! Run away and find a ce to hide..."

    All of a sudden, his voice drew to an abrupt halt.

    They had already sprinted to the corner of the city wall, where they were able to clearly see the scenes down below. They were greeted by the sight of a sea of fire that was expanding extremely slowly, but burned eternally. The sea of fire had spread to either side of the city gate, where dozens of Yin spirits were already gathered, frantically trying to lift the bolts that held the gate shut.

    No one wanted to die.

    Uncle Wu had managed to retain a shred of his rity of mind, but they were already in a state of blind panic. Upon hearing the demand for them to open the city gate, they reflexively did as they were told. No one could guarantee that they would be able to withstand the next round of attacks, so they had no choice but toply.

    "There''s nowhere to hide..." Uncle Wu looked on in despair at the city, close to half of which had already been set alight. He then cast his gaze toward the pce at the very center of the city. He had a feeling that the city, which had once conquered three provinces, most likely wouldn''t even be able tost another hour...

    The other army was so overpowered that it was akin to using a cannon to kill a swarm of mosquitoes. In this dire situation, a sense of relief welled up in his heart.

    Is it all finally about to be over?

    Kkkrrrr¡­ The gate was slowly opened, and in the instant that it was opened up to its widest point, a ck wave flooded into the city in a frenzy, led by the cavaliers that were carrying those vivid red gs.

    Howling Yin winds surged in from all directions, and they were so fierce that the Yin spirits could barely keep their eyes open. Furthermore, the same scene was unfolding at all four gates in the east, west, north, and south!

    How many of the Yin spirits were truly loyal to Dong Zhuo?

    At the eastern gate, Qin Hui had his hands sped together within his sleeves as he advanced through the air with a cold smile on his face. Below him were hundreds of thousands of skeletal hounds that were burning with scarlethermes as they flooded into the city through the gates and over the walls.

    At the southern gate, Su Daji was gently fanning herself as she sat atop a carriage. Her chin was resting on her hand, and she was beautiful beyond description. She was also surrounded by hundreds of thousands of hungry ghosts, and she was like a flower of paradise floating amid a rotting sea, allowing herself to be carried into the city by the current.

    At the western gate, Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada were leading their Umamawari, which also numbered in the hundreds of thousands, through the city gate. Unfortunately, many of them were unable to make it through, and as a result, the western gate had be extremely congested.

    There was nowhere to run.

    Countless Yin spirits were hiding in their houses, trembling with fear. Even the Yin spirits of the lowest grade could sense that two unspeakable beings had entered through the eastern and southern gates, beings that could definitely stand toe to toe with their ruler!

    "Grandpa, is West Capital City really about to be conquered?" Inside a dpidated house, a young boy was carefully peering through a slightly ajar door, looking on with an incredulous expression as he mused, "This is a city that''s swept through three provinces, yet the enemy has breached its walls in less than an hour!"

    "Get back here!" His grandfather hurriedly tugged the young back as he gritted his teeth and said, "Those beings are countless times more fearsome than Master Dong! This is the regr army of Hell! Don''t spy on them, and whatever you do, don''t go out there! At a time like this, death is the only fate that can befall anyone who goes outside!"

    In the eyes of theherworldly citizens, this was a scene ofplete chaos, but to Qin Ye, everything was going exactly ording to n.

    Two hourster, all of the resistance was quelled, and he arrived before the imperial pce.

    "Sir Dong," he greeted with a smile, "Have you been well since ourst meeting?"

 Chapter 753: Battle of West Capital City (2)

    <h4>Chapter 753: Battle of West Capital City (2)</h4>

    No response.

    Qin Ye appraised the imperial pce in a casual manner, and even though he couldn''t see Dong Zhuo, he could sense a menacing gaze being directed toward him from within the pce. Their eyes met, and even the air temperature seemed to have suddenly spiked.

    Countless Yin Soldiers were gathered in front of the imperial pce; this was Dong Zhuo''s personal army, and they upied an area with a radius in excess of 10 kilometers. However, West Capital City imed that it had an army of over a million troops, but there most likely weren''t even 300,000 soldiers present right now.

    The army hadn''t experienced any true battles, they had no official administration behind them, no righteous purpose, and no discipline. Thus, in a sh between a regr army, most of the soldiers had chosen to flee and hide.

    Inside the imperial pce, around a dozen evil ghosts were gathered around Dong Zhuo, looking out at the scenes unfolding outside with panic in their eyes. They wanted to scream and yell, but they could only repress that urge as they thought back to how Dong Zhuo hadshed out at those Anitya Hellguards.

    They didn''t dare to run, and there was nowhere for them to run away to; this ce was their final safe haven. ording to the policy that the army of Hell had adopted on the way here, there was no way that they would be spared, considering that they had all devoured blood food in the past. Otherwise, who would be willing to serve under such a despotic ruler?

    One tentative nce after another was aimed at Dong Zhuo, and only after a full five minutes did Dong Zhuo gnash his teeth together as he said with a cold smile, "I didn''t think that a little rat that was forced to scurry away from the Assassins of the Underworld several years ago would be standing before me today and putting on such a high and mighty disy. It seems that without any powerful figures in power, even little rats are able to rise to power."

    "How dare you!" Even before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, Qin Hui and Su Daji had already red up with rage. In particr, Su Daji was extremely enraged by Dong Zhuo''s words, and she gently pped her fan as she said in a cold voice, "Kneel down before you speak! How dare you speak to Lord Qin with such brazen insolence? Lord Qin is a King Yanluo that has passed the trial of the past two generations; who do you think you are to be speaking like that to him?"

    "What an insolent dog you are!" Qin Hui chimed in in a cold voice, "The war of unification is a crusade that abides by the natural order; how dare you stand in its way? Master Qin has worked arduously and nned painstakingly, preparing for three years before finally harvesting the fruits of his efforts! To be in his presence alone is a much greater honor than what you deserve!"

    Su Daji turned to Qin Hui with a dumbstruck expression. Such impressive boot-licking! I still have a lot to learn!

    How dare they! These two shameless bastards are stillpeting to suck up to that little rat even at a time like this... They were clearly looking down on him! Dong Zhuo was so enraged that the mes of wrath were about to erupt out of the top of his head! He forcibly repressed the intense killing intent he felt toward these two former allies, choosing to ignore them as he turned his attention to Qin Ye. "How about we make a deal, Mr. Qin?"

    "Oh? Does this deal involve your surrender?" Qin Ye asked in a bone-chilling voice, "Aside from that, I''m not willing to consider any other deal! Daolord Dong, surely you''re not naive enough to believe that I would let you go or grant you your own territory to govern?"

    Dong Zhuo glowered viciously at Qin Ye as he asked, "Then... what if I hand over the fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal in my possession?"

    Rather than give a reply, Qin Ye merely waved a hand and loudly dered, "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!"

    Immediately thereafter, a flood of blood converged toward the imperial pce from all directions, making it resemble a lone ind in a turbulent sea!

    "Attack!" Dong Zhuo''s furious voice rang out from within the pce. In the face of Hell''s scorching aggression, a battle was unavoidable. The army of West Capital City immediately picked up their spears and gritted their teeth as they charged toward the opposing army.

    The two massive armies shed, and in the instant they did so, time seemed to have fallenpletely still for an instant. However, what came next was obviously apletely one-sided drubbing.

    At the forefront, the cavaliers of Hell were like unstoppable ck spears, dispersing the enemy foot soldiers up ahead like a wave that had just struck an immovable rock. Countless Yin spirits were violently flung up into the air by the force of the impact before crashing heavily back down onto the ground. The cavaliers were like the sharp fangs of a wolf, viciously tearing open a wound, allowing the footsoldiers behind them to charge into the enemy''s ranks.

    From the west, countless hellhounds, and all Yin Soldiers that dared to oppose them were met by an abyss of death as the hellhounds charged forward ferociously without any regard for their own safety.

    If one hellhound wasn''t enough, then it would be joined by one more, two more, even three or four more! Boundlesshermes were left behind in the wake of this terrifying beast tide.

    From the south, innumerable hungry ghosts rushed into the ranks of the Yin Soldiers beforemencing a violent killing spree. They were like rats that had fallen into a barrel of oil, devouring Yin Soldiers to their hearts'' content. Theirs was the most gorey and horrific corner. Countless hungry ghosts were gnawing at the spiritual bodies of the Yin Soldiers in a nightmarish scene that struck terror into the hearts of all the other Yin Soldiers.

    The sh had barely started, and Dong Zhuo''s army was already on the verge of copse.

    The soldiers had no battle intent, and themanders had no courage. The disparity between a ragtag unofficial army and a battle-hardened regr army was put on full disy here. In addition to that, the army of Hell was fighting for a noble purpose and a huge number of their enemies had already been wiped out by the previous rounds of attacks. As a result, the one-sided thrashing that ensued couldn''t even be referred to as a battle.

    One soldier began to run, then two began to flee, and in the span of less than 20 minutes, Dong Zhuo''s army was retreating collectively like a massive wave.

    "Execute all those who dare to retreat!!"

    "Hold them back! I''m telling you to hold them back!!"

    "Don''t believe their lies! They don''t represent Hell! Lord Dong says that no Hell currently exists!"

    "Do you really think you can get away? Do you really think they''ll let you go? Your only option is to fight!!"

    The evil ghosts apanying Dong Zhuo in the pce were frantically yelling with all their might, but all to no avail. The number of fleeing soldiers climbed further and further, and they were like an avnche that was snowballing down a slope, expanding exponentially by the second!

    Whoosh! A sword pierced through the chest of a fleeing Yin spirit, and the Yin Soldier disintegrated intohermes amid an anguished howl. The sword was being wielded by a militarymander, and the veins on his forehead were bulging as he roared with all his might, "Fight back! You''ve all benefited from Lord Dong''s good grace, yet now, you want to run?! Anyone who dares to retreat..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a spear plunged through his chest, and the army of Hell swept past like a howling ck tornado, advancing directly toward the imperial pce. Along the way, countless Yin Soldiers of West Capital Cityid down the weapons and knelt down onto the ground, raising their hands high above their heads as they frantically yelled their intention to surrender. In the span of less than an hour, Dong Zhuo''s army had been forced back to within a kilometer away from his pce.

    "What do we do, Lord Dong?!"

    "You have to do something, Lord Dong!"

    "Didn''t you say that you had a final trump card? We... We don''t want to die!"

    Inside the imperial pce, Dong Zhuo was staring at the screen before him with seething eyes, and the evil ghosts around him finally couldn''t repress their fear any longer as they wailed in anguish and horror.

    However, he didn''t do anything.

    No words could describe the magnitude of the loss that his army had suffered, and his mind was currentlypletely nk.

    Why is this happening? Who am I? Where am I? Who am I being attacked by? It... It shouldn''t be like this! There''s no way that Hell should''ve been able to bridge the gap between us in these short few years! How has Hell already developed to the point that it''s able to crush my army? Where did I go wrong?

    "Your Excellency!" A beautiful woman in modern attire suddenly rushed into the room before throwing her arms around his legs. "Run! If you don''t run now, it''ll be toote!"

    Dong Zhuo finally snapped out of his enraged stupor, and he cast his gaze toward the beauty at his feet as he gently sped her cheeks between his fingers. "Are you scared?"

    "We... We''re no match for them, My Lord!" Theherfire in the woman''s eyes was shing erratically as she sobbed, "If we don''t run now, we won''t be able to get away!"

    Crack! Before she had a chance to finish,the woman''s head had already beenpletely twisted around, and she copsed limply onto the ground. Dong Zhuo didn''t even take a nce at her as he abruptly rose to his feet. He looked at the devastating scene unfolding outside and listened to the war cries and anguished wails, and a sense of grief at the passing of his empire welled up in his heart.

    This was most likely what the fall of an empire looked like.

    It''s time to put an end to all of this...

    "My Lord, the western inner city gate has been breached!!"

    "My Lord, the southern inner city gate has been breached!!"

    "My Lord, the rebels have already reached Xuanwu Gate, and General Cheng is requesting reinforcements!"

    One messenger bird after another flew into the pce, heralding the final act of this battle. Dong Zhuo remainedpletely still, and only after a full five minutes had passed did he look up at the ceiling as the b on his face began to tremble.

    "Hell... Curse you, Hell!!!"

    With that thunderous roar, the bracelet in his hand suddenly shattered, thenbined together before flying directly upward, crashing through the ceiling amid an earth-shattering boom as it rose up into the sky.

    Whoosh... Golden light illuminated heaven and earth, basking the entire province in its scintiting radiance. It was as if a scorching sun were rising in the perpetually dark sky. Purplish-golden light rose upyer uponyer like fine pieces of veil, and imbued within these veils of light was an indescribable sense of boundless heavenly might.

    <i>Those are fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal! </i>

    Thump thump! In that instant, all of the remaining Yin Soldiers on the battlefield fell involuntarily to their knees. Even the front legs of the cavaliers'' steeds buckled as they copsed onto the ground. Qin Hui and Su Daji screamed as they fled into the shadows, trembling uncontrobly. Regardless of how hungry and ferocious their hungry ghosts and hellhounds were, they had also been forced t against the ground and were trembling uncontrobly just the same.

    The paramount divine artifact of Hell transcended above all else.

    At the same time, a series of dull thumps rang out from Qin Ye''s chest, and he couldn''t hold back his King Yanluo''s Seal any longer as it instantly flew up into the sky, only to immediately fall into someone else''s grasp.

    It was Zhao Yun.

    "What is he doing?" Qin Ye looked up at the King Yanluo''s Seal in the sky with tightly furrowed brows, and even he felt as if his cirction had ceased. He felt like a mortal witnessing a god of creation, and an indescribable sense of reverence and wholehearted veneration began to well up in his heart.

    Zhao Yun''s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "Creation-grade divine artifacts are born from nature, and they possess an ability far above the level of forbidden arts known as ''Divine Creation''. In the history of Hell, these divine artifacts are known as heaven-splitting artifacts, and once their full power is unleashed, they''ll be capable of destroying heaven and earth. I''m assuming that power is the very thing he''s trying to harness."

    Qin Ye involuntarily stepped back behind Zhao Yun''s tall and broad figure before clearing his throat in a slightly awkward manner. "You can withstand this, right?"

    Zhao Yun smiled, and replied, "All arts are formed by Yin Talismans, and only aplete set of Yin Talismans can allow one to unleash an art''s full power. Right now, Dong Zhuo''s attack is like a machine that''s missing two parts; it''s no longer fully functional. The power of an iplete King Yanluo''s Seal and that of aplete seal arepletely iparable, so you can rest assured."

    "Abyssal Prefect Qin!" Right at this moment, Dong Zhuo''s furious voice rang out across the entire sky. "Take your people and piss off! From now on, our territories will be divided by the Yellow River; you''ll rule over the north while I''ll govern the south. I''ll give you the three provinces near the Pearl River Delta, leaving me with only the southwestern region! I promise that I''ll never encroach upon your territory, and if I break my vow, may I be blighted by lightning tribtions of the Heavenly Dao and erased from the face of thisnd!! In addition to that, I swear upon my soul that I''ll never oppose Hell again!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the heavens trembled for a moment, as if some unfathomable entity had sensed his vow.

    The Heavenly Dao had responded.

    A vow sworn upon one''s soul had to be approved by the Heavenly Dao, just like the vow sworn when Qin Ye had first met Arthis.

    The raucous battlefield instantly fell deathly silent, and momentster, Qin Ye chuckled, "You''re swearing a vow to me? Do you think I give a damn?"

    Inside the imperial pce, theherfire in Dong Zhuo''s eyes abruptly contracted. What insolence! Thinking back, everyone had to refer to me as Taishi! I was standing at the very pinnacle of this world, yet now, I''m at the mercy of a little rat, someone who was only a mere ant a few years ago...

    "Fine! Then let''s all die together!" At the height of his fury, he licked his lips in a bloodthirsty manner before making a grabbing motion with his right hand.

    In response, boundless purple light immediately erupted in the sky like a scintiting sun, illuminating the entire earth.

 Chapter 754: Battle of West Capital City (3)

    <h4>Chapter 754: Battle of West Capital City (3)</h4>

    Rumble... One burst of Yin energy after another surged forth from all directions, converging toward the iplete King Yanluo''s Seal. Soon, a giant cloud funnel with a radius in excess of 10 kilometers took shape around it. Yin spirits howled and wailed as they danced around the seal amid fierce Yin winds, as if in reverence toward the almighty divine artifact.

    Amid the twisted and all-epassing darkness, a burst of purple radiance began to blossom like a lotus flower across the boundless starry sky, stirring up countless specks of golden starlight. The starlight unfoldedyer uponyer, shimmering as it spread across the heavens, presenting a captivatingly beautiful scene to behold. However, aside from Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, not a single other Yin spirit was able to remain standing, not even Arthis.

    "H, how terrifying... What is that thing?!" Amander of Dong Zhuo''s city wasying sprawled out on the ground with his teeth chattering violently, and he was speaking to himself like a madman. As for the normal Yin Soldiers, they were also lying t against the ground, but they didn''t dare to raise their heads, and their limbs were trembling incessantly.

    Within all of the houses and on all of the congested streets, all of the Yin spirits were revering this paramount divine artifact of Hell, and not even a single one of them dared to raise their heads. The purple light continued to shine down from above, casting countless shadows across the ground. Dong Zhuo''s thunderous voice rang out once again. "Will you retreat or not?"

    No response.

    He immediately caught sight of Qin Ye, who was standing proudly among the masses. Of course, he couldn''t actually directly see him as Qin Ye was standing behind Zhao Yun, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t see through the protective Yin energy around Zhao Yun''s body.

    However, he could sense the expression on Qin Ye''s face.

    It was one of derision and ridicule. The corners of his lips were turned upward in a derisive sneer, as if he were confident that Dong Zhuo wouldn''t dare to go ahead with his final attack.

    This was humiliation of the highest order!

    "Do you really think I wouldn''t dare to strike you down?" Inside the pce, countless Yin spirits were kneeling on the ground as they trembled incessantly. All of a sudden, Dong Zhuo sprang up from his chair, causing the ground to tremor beneath his feet. "I won''t die from unleashing the power of King Yanluo''s Seal, but all of you will be annihted! Aren''t these Hell''s most elite troops?! Are you not afraid of death?!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, sweeping up ferocious gusts of Yin winds that surged out of the pce, but Qin Ye merely gave an indifferent smile and replied, "No."

    Fine! You asked for it...

    Dong Zhuo gnashed his teeth together audibly, and in the next instant, he let loose a deranged roar of fury as he injected all of his Yin energy into King Yanluo''s Seal before crushing it all with all his might!

    Time drew to a standstill.

    Soundpletely disappeared.

    All of the trembling Yin spirits of West Capital, the ones who were lying t against the ground and didn''t even dare to raise their heads; all they heard was a dull buzzing sound, immediately following which what felt like a super typhoon blew past above their heads. After that, the entire world was basked in scintiting radiance.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the surface, there were also countless people paying close attention to the final oue of the battle. They couldn''t see anything, but they kept their Yin energy detection devices constantly activated in the hope of being able to detect something.

    Lei Jun had arrived in person at Lotus City''s Special Investigations Department, apanied by two elderly men with heads of white hair and epaulets with three golden stars on their shoulders. A circle of bodyguards were situated around them, and they were currently seated in the Special Investigations Department''s surveince room. They had already been here for a very long time, but they weren''t disying any displeasure or impatience.

    Qin Ye had already informed them of the progress of his war of unification. Tens of billions of US dors worth of resources had been burned in the mortal realm to support their cause, and in exchange, one province after another had been liberated from the supernatural disasters that they had previously been gued by. They were also eagerly watching and waiting to see the final oue of this battle. However, they had already been waiting here for four hours since this morning, but they hadn''t received any news.

    "Sir," a police officer suggested in a low voice, "Why don''t we go and wait in the guest hall? There''s most likely not going to be an oue anytime soon..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the ground suddenly began to tremor, immediately following which the Yin energy detection devices began to beep in a frenzy!

    Beep beep beep!

    "Don''t panic!" Lei Jun raised a hand as he appraised the detection device before him with a solemn expression, seeminglypletely oblivious to the tremors running through the ground. A few secondster, he dered in a trembling voice, "There''s been a massive eruption of Yin energy, causing tremors that have passed through the Underworld and registered even in our mortal realm! Gather the relevant data right away! Hurry!"

    A massiveputer up ahead immediately began to operate rapidly at his behest.

    This was a Yin energy detection device connected to a supeputer, and it was cutting-edge technology that had been developed during the past few years, able to detect Yin energy below three billion units.

    After less than a second, the Yin energy meter began to rapidly rise. "120 million... 350 million... 870 million... One billion and thirty thousand... 1.536 billion..."

    Everyone present waspletely dumbfounded by these numbers, and even the two generals had risen to their feet in astonishment.

    A new record has been set!

    In the blink of an eye, the meter had sprung up to 2.3 billion, and it was still climbing!

    "What''s going on in Hell?" One of the generals was bing quite anxious. "Could it be that there''s been some type of ident?"

    No one had an answer for him.

    Everyone, including the police officers, were looking on in a ck-jawed manner as the number continued to rise rapidly, disying no intention of stopping at all!

    2.5 billion, 2.8 billion, 3 billion!

    "Beep... Limit has been exceeded... Limit has been exceeded... Data collection is being put on pause... Repeat..."

    A mechanical voice echoed throughout the room, but it was greeted by dead silence.

    However, he wasn''t the only one in this world to have sensed this burst of terrifying Yin energy.

    In the Limbo.

    At the buffer zone between the underworld and the mortal realm, all of the Yin beasts and Yin spirits had climbed down, and they were trembling as they knelt in reverence toward a certain direction. There, an inky-ck pir of light had erupted straight out of Hell, piercing through the three realms to fuse as one with the sky of the Limbo, which was gradually being turned ck!

    This was theplete release of a creation-grade divine artifact, something that had never been witnessed before.

    Lan Xang.

    Lan Xang University was very dpidatedpared with the university in Cathay, yet right at this moment, a young man suddenly rushed out of one of the dormitory rooms before looking up at the sky with incredulity in his eyes.

    A student that was passing by while drinking a beverage was startled by his sudden exit, yet just as they were about to say something, they noticed the peculiar look on his face.

    There was shock, astonishment, incredulity... He didn''t think that humans were even capable of mustering up such a diverse expression. Just as he was about to ask if the man was alright, he heard the man murmuring to himself, "A divine artifact has been released... How is this possible?"

    Inside a Buddhist temple in Burmania, a middle-aged man who was in the process of meditating suddenly opened his eyes. He stared nkly into thin air for close to a minute, and only after that did he return to his senses beforeying a hand onto his own chest.

    Something''s happening... Something''s happening in Cathay... Something big!

    "A creation-grade divine artifact has been released! Who did this? Have they gone insane?!" He abruptly sprang to his feet, and the servants around him immediately asked, "Where are you going, Wave Quelling General? "

    "Prepare a horse! I must return to Hell right away!"

    In Luzon, Yang Jiye was looking up at the sky with a sorrowful expression. In the direction of Cathay, countless dark clouds were spreading through the sky like ck waves, and an aura that could only be referred to as divine might was surging throughout the entirety of Asia.

    They were not the only ones alerted by the stunning turn of events taking ce in the underworld, Mya, Singapura, the Lord of Sanfotsi... all of the 12 envoys had sensed this terrifying eruption of energy, and all of them immediately set off for Hell without any hesitation.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Westriver Province, Lotus City''s underworld.

    In the sky above, blinding light, ferocious winds, and violent shockwaves hade together to form a storm of destruction. Dong Zhuo''s lips were trembling, and he cast his gaze toward his own hand through narrowed eyes with extremelyplex emotions in his heart.

    King Yanluo''s Seal was like the jade seal of the first emperor of Cathay, yet an artifact of this caliber had been released by him. The seal would only have a chance of being reassembled again if the second King Yanluo was still alive, but now, the entire Cathayan Underworld had essentially been ruined by his hands...

    "You made me do this..." He gritted his teeth as he stood up straight, yet just as he was about to hide, he was suddenly rooted to the spot as if he had been struck by lightning.

    Despite the blinding light permeating through this entire space, he could see that the unfathomable figure standing in front of Qin Ye had sprung into action.

    Light, wind, fire, and clouds warped violently toward him from all directions, forming a giant ck hole around him that was several dozens of meters in size!

    This was a true ck hole. The power of the explosion from the release of King Yanluo''s Seal surged into the ck hole, but it remainedpletely unmoved. The only change that was taking ce was that as more and more of the power was absorbed, the Yin energy around the figure began to fade.

    That white robe¡­ That silver spear... That''s... That''s...

    "ARRRGH!!!" The fearless Dong Zhuo suddenly began to scream in horror as he rushed deeper into the pce like a madman. His robes were snagged on his chair, but he didn''t even notice, and his robes were torn as he frantically fled.

    That''s... That''s Zhao Zilong! One of the Sixfold Ghost Kings!

    The Sixfold Ghost Kings specialized in detaining high-grade evil ghosts, and they had the power to execute evil ghosts without even having to consult with their superiors! Their status was on even footing with the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces, but all of the evil ghosts of Hell knew that the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces were a lot less fearsome. They only possessed administrative power but weren''t necessarily all that formidable in battle. However, the Sixfold Ghost Kings were truly terrifying!

    The one that a murderer on the run feared the most definitely wasn''t the head of the police force. Instead, it was the SWAT officers that were tasked with capturing them.

    "Please... Please don''t kill me!!" He frantically rushed deeper into the pce as his fearpletely robbed him of any ability to think rationally. There weren''t any good hiding ces in the pce, but all he wanted was to find a ce to bury his head into so that he wouldn''t be able to see his pursuer.

    "Why is he here?! Isn''t he supposed to be dead? If he didn''t die, then why did he allow us to do as we pleased for the past century?! This is impossible.. There''s no way this is actually happening..."

    ng... His crown fell onto the ground, but he paid no heed to it and cast a fearful nce back toward the front of the pce. It was also at this moment that Zhao Yun sprang into action.

    He moved in apletely silent and nondescript manner.

    He was like a gentle breeze, like light rain, and every single one of his movements abided by the natural order, as if he were an envoy of the Heavenly Dao.

    He appeared to be moving very slowly, but from Dong Zhuo''s perspective, he could clearly see Zhao Yun rapidly approaching him. He saw the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear being aimed directly at himself, while Zhao Yun''s body seemed to have already fused as one with the light and the wind.

    He could see Zhao Yun, so he could naturally sense him as well, and the killing intent emanating from Zhao Yun''s body made him feel as if his heart had been plunged into a cial pit. He didn''t pause to wonder why he was able to see the movements of a Yama-King; all he did was reflexively raise his hands to protect himself.

    However, only then did he discover that he was unable to raise his hands.

    In other words, he was too slow. In contrast with Zhao Yun, he was far too slow. His mouth gaped open in shock, and he suddenly realized that all he had managed to catch sight of was Zhao Yun''s afterimage. The speed disparity between the two was like that between a tortoise and a ne.

    All of a sudden, a clear phoenix cry rang out, and all of the scattered light and shadows abruptly converged toward Zhao Yun, forming a golden phoenix within the span of half a second. The phoenix then rapidly expanded within Dong Zhuo''s horrified eyes.

    Whoosh...

    An instant passed by, but it could''ve also been an eternity.

    Zhao Yun''s cap had already risen up behind him, and Dong Zhuo''s entire body was trembling uncontrobly. Arge hole had appeared on his chest, and within the hole, a soul sphere was slowly revolving on the spot.

    "You''re not a Yama-King..." His face was already deathly pale, and his lips had turned blue as he turned back toward Zhao Yun. "There''s no way that a Yama-King would be able to withstand the power of a released creation-grade divine artifact... You''ve... You''ve already reached the level of the Second King Yanluo!"

    Theherfire in his eyes began to flicker erratically as the soul sphere in his chest began to emit a loud buzzing sound. It was revolving faster and faster, rapidly sucking in Dong Zhuo''s burly body like amp sucking in a genie.

    "Spare me... I beg of you! I don''t want to die... I don''t want to go to the six paths... Arrrgh!!"

    The fierce winds subsided, and Zhao Yun''s long hair trailed back down around him like the feathers of a ck crow, presenting an unspeakably majestic sight to behold. He raised his spear, pointing it directly at the soul sphere that had taken Dong Zhuo''s ce.

    "It''s toote. No one can escape the King Yanluo¡¯s decree of death!"

    [1] [The title of Wave Quelling General is a title of individual merit awarded to exceptional generals in ancient China.]

 Chapter 755: A United Nation!

    <h4>Chapter 755: A United Nation!</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Uncle Wu was lying sprawled out on the ground, and his only thought was: it''s over... It''s all over... We''re dead for sure this time...

    His nephew was right beside him, and the young Yin spirit had never been more acutely aware of the fact that this was Hell, a different world from the one he had known. However, his life was going toe to an end before he had a chance to even explore this new world...

    Theyid trembling on the ground for one minute... then two minutes... then three, yet the expected killing spree didn''tmence. Instead, a voice rang out in all directions.

    "Daolord of the Beast Dong Zhuo has been in! As for the rest of you, surrender and you shall be spared!"

    Uncle Wu''s eyes immediately sprang open upon hearing this, and he stared at the ground in front of him with incredulity in his eyes and a myriad of emotions in his heart.

    It''s over? The vastly renowned West Capital City has been conquered? Even Daolord Dong is dead? The very same Daolord that we revered as a god?

    His nephew immediately began to raise his head, but Uncle Wu instantly shoved his head back down again. After that, he tentatively raised his own head.

    As a result, he was greeted by the sight of countless arms raised high up to the sky in surrender, and the army of Hell was currently dispersing all of the surrendered soldiers. There was no bloodshed or ughter; only a peaceful scene that came in stark contrast to the violent battle that had just taken ce.

    Where''s the sun? Where''s the sun that just exploded in the sky?

    Most of the Yin Soldiers were looking up at the sky with entranced expressions, and he also hurriedly followed suit.

    There, a young general in a white cape and a suit of white armor was standing up in the heavens. The purple light and the golden stars were quickly converging towards his hands before forming an indistinct object; it was as if a divine miracle were taking ce right before everyone''s eyes.

    "My god... Is that... cultivation?" A young voice rang out beside Uncle Wu, who pressed his nephew''s head back down as he continued to look upward in a ck-jawed manner. He could feel his worldview rapidly copsing before reforming into somethingpletely new, and he couldn''t utter a single word.

    The sun had beenpressed into a ball!

    Right at this moment, the sound of long horns rang out, and a herd of imposing skeletal war horses quickly approached from the distance. All of the Yin Soldiers in their wake stood up straight and arranged themselves into orderly rows, but the herd of horses disyed no intention of stopping, galloping directly toward the imperial pce.

    They were led by a young Emissary of Hell dressed in an extremelyvish robe. Uncle Wu took a nce at him before instantly lowering his head, not daring to look for any longer.

    Qin Ye was straddled atop his war horse, and as Zhao Yun informed him of their victory through voice transmission, his heart immediately flew toward the imperial pce, toward the entire Underworld!

    It''s over... It''s finally all over... No, it''s not over; this is a brand new beginning, the rise of Cathay! This is the beginning of a brand new era!

    Cathay had been torn for over a century, and it was now finally united. Only Qin Ye himself knew just how arduous and bitter his reign as King Yanluo had been. However, everything was going to change from this day forth!

    The nation had been united, and there was still over a century left before the copse of the Array of the Nine Gods, so he had plenty of time to lead Hell on a path of resurgence!

    However, prior to that, he had to take a look for himself and ensure that Dong Zhuo was truly dead in order to erase any final shreds of doubt he had.

    "Only now do I dare to dere to the world that I am King Yanluo!" A sense of extreme excitement swept through his heart like a tsunami. If it weren''t for the fact that he wanted to give off a sense of calmness andposure, he would''ve already flown directly to the pce like an excited child! Even though he was straddled atop his war horse, his heart had already flown to the imperial pce. It only took him a few more seconds to get there, but it felt to him as if a few long days had passed by.

    Finally, he reached the entrance of the imperial pce. There were no longer any Yin Soldiers guarding the gate, and he took a deep breath before making his way forward.

    With each step he took, his stride became more solid and controlled. The more excited he was internally, the calmer he appeared on the outside. Zhao Yun had already arrived behind him, and a faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of Qin Ye''sposure.

    It was important not to disy too much emotion as emotions could be taken advantage of, and in this aspect, Qin Ye was doing very well.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Only after walking for a full minute did Qin Ye finally arrive before the imperial pce. Rows of Han Dynasty pcemps stood on either side of him, while the imposing pce stood up ahead. In the same instant that he stepped into the pce, Arthis, Oda Nobunaga, Qin Hui, and Su Daji made their way over to him together in a respectful manner.

    "My Lord, we''ve already searched the entire pce and ensured that there are no rebels left."

    "Your Excellency, the entire city is now under our control. With General Zhao present, no one dares to put up any resistance."

    "Lord Qin, there were some Yin spirits in the pce that had devoured blood food, and I was afraid killing them would dirty your hands, so I''ve taken care of them in your stead."

    "My Lord..." Oda Nobunaga was thest one to get an opportunity to speak. There were many things that he wanted to say, but as he opened his mouth, all of those words got stuck in his throat. In the end, they all molded together into one heartfelt word: "Congrattions!"

    All of his emotions had been injected into that one simple word, and unbeknownst to everyone else, his hands were trembling in his sleeves.

    From his return from the Strait of Tsushima to his pledge of subordination to Cathay, he had witnessed the most arduous period that Hell had endured. At the time, it had nothing, and it was being led by an unreliable King Yanluo who did nothing but scam and steal from both realms. However, before he knew it, Qin Ye had resolved the incidents concerning the 12 envoys, the Forbidden Arts of the Russian Underworld, and Daehan''s grand script of death. Finally, after toiling for three years, he was able to deploy his troops all over the nation, and after another three years, he had united the entire Underworld!

    "It''s like a fairytale..." he couldn''t help but murmur inaudibly to himself, and at this point, there was nothing left but admiration for Qin Ye in his heart.

    History was only going to remember the victors. It didn''t care what had been done to attain victory.

    Hell was on the verge of disintegrating into warring states, but Qin Ye had put an end to that, restoring peace and unity to thend.

    Qin Ye''s hands were also trembling slightly as he slowly stroked his hand over the white jade banister before him. After taking many deep breaths, hisplexion had be unnaturally red, and his voice was slightly hoarse as he asked, "Are you sure?"

    "I''m certain." Su Daji immediately knelt down on one knee. "As I was ying those evil ghosts, I read their memories and learned that all of the settlements of the Westriver Province, the Cloudriver Province, and the Rich Province had been conquered by Dong Zhuo. Thus, with the fall of West Capital City, there are no longer any rebels left in these final three provinces."

    "I can also vouch for this." Qin Hui immediately followed suit as he also knelt down onto the ground. "Dong Zhuo had been lying in wait for over a century, clearly too afraid to disy his ambitions in the face of Hell and the almighty former King Yanluo. Prior to obtaining the Shu Han Imperial Pce, he had constantly been hiding in the Westriver Province; only after obtaining the Shu Han Imperial Pce did he make his ambitions known to the world."

    "It''s quite a pity..." Su Daji lowered her head while glowering viciously at Qin Hui, but her voice remained unchanged as she continued, "I tried to convince Dong Zhuo to see the light in the past, but he refused to be convinced. Thankfully, Your Excellency was able to crush West Capital City with your unmatched power. I''m sure that this monumental feat will earn you a particrly ttering chapter in the history books! Please allow me to offer you my most heartfelt congrattions, my Lord!"

    After that, she kowtowed in earnest while internally giving herself a pat on the back.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. After another thirty minutes without any news of rebels being discovered, he finally drew upon his Yin energy and gently swept a hand through the air, conjuring up a projection of himself. Of course, the projection depicted him in his Emissary of Hell form.

    It was certainly good to have a youthful body, but this youthful appearance simply wasn''t very authoritative and wouldn''t be able to intimidate anyone.

    In the instant that his projection appeared, the entirety of West Capital City fell silent. All of the Yin spirits stared up at the massive projection with dumbfounded expressions, while Qin Ye dered in an indifferent voice, "I am Qin Ye, and I was fortunate enough to have inherited the role of the third King Yanluo. My capital lies in Everburn City of the Insignia Province."

    His words were very concise, but his voice was not to be ignored. "From this day forth, I hereby dere the cessation of Hell''s unification war!"

    All of the Yin Soldiers were extremely excited to hear this, so much so that they almost flung their hats up into the air, but they forcibly repressed that urge.

    Qin Ye was trembling ever so slightly as he continued, "It''s been three years since my army first marched from Everburn and Ashmound, and now, the final major power of the Underworld has been eradicated. I hereby announce that Hell is officially united! From now on, the entirend falls under Hell''s administration, and you will all be citizens of Hell! Regardless of whether you live in a city, county, township, or vige, your home falls under the direct jurisdiction of Hell! From now on, there will no longer be any unofficial settlements or cities, only the provinces and cities of Hell!"

    He was choking up ever so slightly as he continued, "The Underworld has been fractured and divided for over a century, but from this day forth, all 9.6 million square kilometers of itsnd... No, Outer Mongolia must be taken into ount as well. All 35 provinces and 56 ethnic groups of Yin spirits will be reunited as one! From now on, there will only be a single voice in the Cathayan Underworld, and that is the voice of Everburn City!"

    At the conclusion of his address, the projection faded, and deathly silence ensued.

    After an indeterminate period of time, a cheer that was brimming with excitement suddenly rang out. "Long live Yanluo Qin!! Eternal Glory to Hell!!"

    The cheer seemed to be contagious, and soon, the same words were being roared by over 200,000 Yin Soldiers with all their might. "Long live Yanluo Qin!! Eternal Glory to Hell!!"

    "Long live Yanluo Qin!! Eternal Glory to Hell!!"

    "Long live Yanluo Qin!! Eternal Glory to Hell!!"

    Initially, it was only a wave of cheers, but in the span of less than three seconds, it had be an unbridled roar of thunderous voices as everyone joined together in celebration!

    "Finally... We''ve finally been reunited!!" A Yin spirit from the old Hell was jumping up and down with unadulterated excitement as he tightly embraced the Yin Soldiers beside him. "How many years has it been? In the beginning, Everburn had nothing, yet now, we''ve united the entire nation! We''ve really done it!"

    "Long live unification! Long live unification!!"

    "AAARGH! I can''t believe this is actually happening!"

    "I feel like I''m in a dream! We really did participate in the war of unification, and we made it to the very end!"

    "My god! I can boast about this for the rest of my life! No, I''ll boast about this for 10 reincarnations!"

    The entire city had erupted into a frenzy.

    Qin Ye listened to the raucous cheers outside the pce, basking in this captivating atmosphere of joy and celebration.

    Never did he think that his power and duty would form a symbiotic rtionship to produce such a wonderful final oue.

    Never did he think that responsibility and acknowledgment woulde hand in hand and produce the ripe fruit that was named "satisfaction".

    This acknowledgment and satisfaction was extremely heavy, and he was so excited that every single one of his cells was numb.

    He raised his head and said, "General Zhao,e take a walk with me. We''ll use this time to discuss some things."

    Su Daji bowed, and said, "I can only marvel and admire your willingness to oversee everything in person, My Lord. It''s a very good idea to take a look at the people for yourself. That way, you''ll be able to better understand them, and that will help you govern them."

    The more boot-licking she did, the more proficient at it she became...

    "There are indeed some things that we must discuss." Zhao Yun followed behind Qin Ye, and said in a low voice, "First and foremost, you must officially found a nation. At the very least, you must officially announce a capital; Cathay has a tradition of setting a new era name with themencement of each reign. Also, you must devise a military system. Prior to founding a nation, this wouldn''t have mattered, but now that a nation has been founded, everything must undergo an official procedure."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    "After that, we need to track down the Judgment Pen. Then, there are the six paths of reincarnation, 10 Yama Pces, and 18 abysses of punishment; these will all be imperative to the operation of the Underworld."

    "Also..." Zhao Yun paused here momentarily before slightly narrowing his eyes as he asked, "What about the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn?"

    Qin Ye''s gaze stiffened slightly upon hearing this, yet before he had a chance to reply, Zhao Yun continued, "Dong Zhuo didn''t release it, and it didn''t even appear, so could it be that it really isn''t here?"

    "That shouldn''t be the case." Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he shook his head in response. "If it''s not here, then the same problem rears its ugly head again. Why did Dong Zhuo insist on facing off against us here rather than engaging in battle at Sword Gate Pass?"

    He cast his gaze around the entire imperial pce. "This pce is surrounded by nothing but ins, making it far too susceptible to being surrounded. Why did he decide to pursue such foolish tactics?"

 Chapter 756: Searching for a Divine Artifact (1)

    <h4>Chapter 756: Searching for a Divine Artifact (1)</h4>

    Chapter 756: Searching for a Divine Artifact (1)

    There had to be a reason behind Dong Zhuo''s decision to make his Shu Han Imperial Pce the site of the final battle.

    By Qin Ye''s guess, the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn was right here, but it had to be in some type of profound state, thereby preventing Dong Zhuo from leaving it.

    However, if it really were here, then why hadn''t he used it?

    "Can you search his soul?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he proposed, "But don''t kill him; I''m nning to give him a new home. I''m sure the ck Yaksha would love this new neighbor, and we should also let him have some fun on the path of the hungry ghost."

    Zhao Yun offered no objections, and he made a grabbing motion to summon the soul sphere once again. Yin energy then began to surface on his palm before converging in wisps and tendrils toward the center of the soul sphere.

    Upon careful inspection, Qin Ye discovered that this soul sphere was different from the ones he had seen in the past. It was still made from cloth strips, but at its center was a bottomless ck hole that was filled with inky-ck nothingness.

    It was clear that this soul sphere contained a serious ghost rather than trash like Arthis.

    The Yin energy slowly entered the ck hole, but several secondster, Zhao Yun made a faint sound of surprise, and he appeared to be quite taken aback.

    "What is it?" Qin Ye asked in an excited manner, "Could it be that the ghost inside has evolved? Who is it? Are they online?"

    Zhao Yun: "..."

    I have no idea what you''re talking about, but it sounds really interesting...

    After a brief pause, Zhao Yun replied in a grim voice, "His soul has been protected, so I can onlye into contact with it on a surface level, but I can''t see the things that he wants to hide."

    "What does that mean?"

    "It means that he''se into contact with a divine artifact, and during the first contact, the divine artifact had no owner, so it''s now acting to protect him," Zhao Yun exined as he appraised the soul sphere with an intense gaze. "However, King Yanluo''s Seal is iplete, so there''s no way that it would be able to protect him. On top of that, King Yanluo''s Seal is Cathay''s divine artifact, so even if it wereplete and whole, there''s no way it would acknowledge Dong Zhuo as its owner given that Hell still exists. Hence, it must be..."

    "The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn!" Qin Ye dered as a serious look appeared on his face. "As expected, it really is here. However, we''re back to the same question: why didn''t Dong Zhuo use it? That''s aplete creation-grade divine artifact! Brother Zhao, can you release your senses to see if there are any other potential hiding spots in this city?"

    Zhao Yun set the soul sphere down, and fierce winds were suddenly swept up around him and Qin Ye, only to immediately subside. Zhao Yun closed his eyes, and only after a full 10 minutes had passed did he reopen them before nodding as he said, "Pleasee with me, My Lord."

    Qin Ye immediately nodded and followed along. As a creation-grade divine artifact, the value of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn was immeasurable; just a single drop of blood of a divinity could earn him the help of the Plumed Serpent God! As such, the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn was essentially a bridge between this continent and the Alkebn Underworlds.

    Even aplete political novice like him was aware of what this entailed.

    It would be the catalyst to set the next great war of theherworld into motion!

    There was no way that the four pirs could remain uninvolved. Even if they didn''t directly participate in the war, they had to oversee the situation in order to earn greater benefits.

    Qin Ye trailed along behind Zhao Yun, and they arrived back at Dong Zhuo''s pce. After passing through several corridors, Zhao Yun suddenly drew to a halt. "This is where I captured Dong Zhuo."

    The corridor was very long, and it was lined with Han Dynasty Changxin Pce Lanterns [Thesenterns were one of the earliest forms of lightning instruments in Chinese history, and they''re crafted in the design of a beautiful woman holding antern. Search up "Changxin Pce Lantern" in Google if you would like to see what thenterns looked like.] constructed from brass.

    Thenterns were crafted in the form of nobledies seated on the ground with their legs tucked under them while holding square pcenterns in their hands. Inside eachntern was a burningherme, and behind thenterns were two long, white walls. Qin Ye didn''t know what this ce was like in the mortal realm, but currently, it was filled with all types of calligraphy and artwork. Under the illumination of thehermes, the free-flowing calligraphy characters and the vivid artwork seemed to be ready to spring to life at any moment, giving this corridor a particrly eerie and forbidding appearance.

    It made one feel as if as soon as they turned around, they would discover thentern-carrying women in the corridor staring directly at them.

    At the end of the corridor was a door.

    The door was tightly shut with talismans adhered all over its surface, and there was wind blowing from somewhere, creating a sound much like the gentle crashing of waves.

    Zhao Yun tore off one of the talismans before bursting into amusedughter upon a brief examination. "This is the Aura Concealment Art, the most basic of Yin energy concealing arts. The Westriver Province is the origin ce of Taoism, so talisman paper is quite abundantly avable here."

    Qin Ye took the talisman from Zhao Yun and flipped it over a few times as he mused with furrowed brows, "Why have so many Aura Concealment Talismans been stered onto this door? What exactly was Dong Zhuo trying to hide?"

    Zhao Yun snapped his fingers, and all of the talismans were incinerated into ashes at once. He gently pushed the door open to reveal a vast expanse of inky darkness.

    He led the way into the darkness, and a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon seeing this. In contrast with trash like Su Daji and Qin Hui, Zhao Yun disyed his loyalty through his actions rather than constantly proiming his loyalty through words.

    Qin Ye was willing to bet that if the Hell were to be destroyed one day, Brother Zhao, Uncle Yu, and Uncle Yang would definitely be the ones to remain by his side till the very end. As for Su Daji and Qin Hui, they would''ve most likely already defected and begun licking the boots of the opposing leader.

    As he walked along, Zhao Yun said, "As soon as Dong Zhuo entered Hell, he was immediately sent to the six paths of reincarnation. As a result, he didn''t get a chance toe into contact with the more advanced arts of Hell, so he only knows crude arts like this. He has no clue about other Yin energy concealment arts such as the Divine Aura Art, the Turtle Age Art, or the Dragon Slumber Art, so he was naturally under the false impression that he would be able to trap even the purest of Yin energy in this fashion. What a fool! umtion of sufficient quantity can indeed lead to a fundamental change, but he would have to at least increase the number of talismans on this door by a thousandfold..."

    All of a sudden, he drew to an abrupt halt and mused to himself, "How strange..."

    He flicked a speck ofherfire through the air, and the room was instantly brightly illuminated.

    The room was very bare without any ornaments or even any gauze veils. However, at the very center of the room sat a golden object.

    This was a slightly bent cylindrical object that was around a meter tall. There were all types of designs carved onto the surface of the object, designs so chaotic that they couldn''t even be referred to as patterns. The object was very antiquated in appearance, and even though Qin Ye didn''t know what it was, he could sense a cold and ancient aura emanating from it.

    Most importantly, there was a bird standing atop the pir, one that was forged entirely from gold.

    The bird resembled a parrot with its wings spread open, seemingly about to take flight, and it had been crafted extremely intricately. There was a raised crown on its head, and it had many tail feathers, all of which had been carved in great detail. Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. "This is something from the Three Star Mound!"

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, he continued, "During my time in the mortal realm, the ce I spent the most time in was the Westriver Province. The Three Star Mound ranks among the top 10 greatest archeological discoveries of Cathay, and it''s estimated to have been created around 5,000 years ago. It''s also one of the pieces of evidence supporting Cathay''s im of having a 5,000-year history. I was adopted by a librarian couple, and during my time with them, I read extensively about the Three Star Mound... Ahem, sorry for going off on a tangent there."

    He made a fewps around the pir, and the more he looked at it, the more confused his expression became. After inspecting the pir for a full minute, his brows furrowed tightly as he said, "There was an exceptionally renowned bronze artifact that was unearthed from the Three Star Mound known as the Divine Bronze Tree. It''s proimed to be a unique artifact, and it''sprised of three levels. On its branches stand nine divine birds, and there should also be a Coiling Bronze Dragon artifact that was unearthed. However, that artifact was supposedly damaged before its excavation..."

    He gently stroked the golden bird with an awestruck expression as he mused, "ording to spection from experts, there should also be a divine bird that resided at the very top of the tree; could this be it?"

    Right as he stroked his hand across the golden bird, the entire ground abruptly opened up, and both he and Zhao Yun fell into the pit below!

    Before they had a chance to react, they had alreadynded on another surface.

    This was an underground cave with a dirt path that waspletely unrefined. The path was around five meters wide, and the walls were lined withherfire torches. As soon as theynded, Zhao Yun immediately grabbed onto Qin Ye before positioning himself in front of Qin Ye as he inspected their surroundings with a wary expression. Before Qin Ye had a chance to speak, he said in a grim voice, "The Yin energy here is extremely dense. No... This is the aura of a death god... I''ve never sensed such an intense death god aura before..."

    All of a sudden, his brows furrowed slightly as he mused, "Wait a minute... This aura... It''s so strange..."

    "What''s going on, Brother Zhao?" Qin Ye asked in a perplexed manner.

    Zhao Yun remained silent and pondered the situation for close to 20 seconds before replying, "It''s a deceased death god, but he''s somehow still alive. How do I put this? Our existence is split up into a soul and a spiritual body, much like a soul and a physical body. The soul of this death god is still alive, but their spiritual body has already been destroyed. However, they seem to be undergoing a process of resurrection, and on top of that, they don''t seem topletely be a death god, do you understand what I mean?"

    Qin Ye nodded in a hesitant manner. It was clear that the situation here was unfathomable even to Zhao Yun.

    "However, I''m certain that the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn is here." Zhao Yun narrowed his eyes as he forged ahead. "Such an intense deathly aura tells me that this death god had also transcended beyond the level of Yama-Kings, but rest assured, in their current state, there''s no way they''ll be a match for me."

    Qin Ye followed along.

    The path was very long and uneven, and there were abandoned shovels and hoes strewn all over the ce. It was clear that Dong Zhuo had ordered people to dig up this underground path, but it seemed to have been abandoned long ago. It was clear that the terrifying aura here had made the ones digging the path too scared to continue.

    After walking for a full hour, arge space emerged up ahead, and a giant cave appeared before Qin Ye and Zhao Yun''s eyes.

    Inside the caveid an enormous creature!

    It was a snake, one that was pure white and almost transparent.

    In its coiled form, the snake stood around five to six meters tall, and its body was close to a meter in thickness. By Qin Ye''s estimate, once fully outstretched, the snake would exceed 30 meters in length. From his perspective, he could clearly see the snake''s body, but not its head. They immediately made their way toward the massive creature, and as they drew closer, they discovered that this was a snake slough, one that was over 30 meters in length!

    Orderly ck rhomboid patterns could be seen on the surface of the snake slough''s back, with each rhomboid section spanning a length of roughly a meter. Qin Ye didn''t know how long it had been since this snake slough had been cast off, but it was still giving off considerably intense Yin energy. As they made their way to the front of the snake slough, they discovered that the upper body of this snake was humanoid!

    This was the slough of a man-snake hybrid creature!

    "Incredible..." Qin Ye gently stroked the snake slough as he asked, "Brother Zhao, have you seen this type of living being in the Underworld before?"

    "I haven''t..." Zhao Yun was alsopletely awestruck. "However, I''m sure you''ve noticed that none of the Yin beasts in the Underworld possess humanoid forms. Even if they possessed humanoid traits, it would only be a single body part at most, such as their hands, feet, or face. In contrast, this creature here has aplete human upper body and brain; it can no longer be ssified as a Yin beast. Also..."

    He withdrew his hand as he continued with a serious expression, "The Emissaries of Hell possess true bodies, otherwise known as their Hell''s Emissary state. A Hell''s Emissary state ispletely different from a humanoid form, but it possesses humanoid traits."

    He turned to Qin Ye as he continued, "This is a trait unique to Emissaries of Hell, and I''m sure the second King Yanluo would''ve told you about this in the past."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. That was indeed the case.

    He still recalled that the second King Yanluo had told him that this trait was only present among Emissaries of Hell. In contrast, foreign Underworld Emissaries possessed true bodies of all shapes and forms. At the time, he had even recounted to Qin Ye a funny story about the time he had seen a foreign Underworld Emissary whose true body was a coffin with eight arms sprouting out of its sides.

    "Hence..." Zhao Yun took a deep breath before concluding, "This is not a Yin spirit of Hell."

    Qin Ye offered no response to this. Instead, he appraised the snake slough through narrowed eyes for a moment before musing, "It can''t be said that it''s not a Yin spirit of Hell; it''s just not fully a Yin spirit of Hell. Look here..."

 Chapter 757: Searching for a Divine Artifact (2)

    <h4>Chapter 757: Searching for a Divine Artifact (2)</h4>

    He made his way over to the front of the snake slough, then pressed the massive shedding together. "This trait doesn''t belong to a foreigner. I read in a book once that Asians are also referred to as the Mongolian geographic race, characterized by the traits of light yellow skin, straight ck hair, sparse facial and body hair, t facial features, rtively tall cheekbones, and eyelids with wavy epicanthic folds. Aside from his skin color, which we can''t determine from this snake slough, all of his other features are aplete match."

    "What about the races on the western continents?" Zhao Yun asked.

    "Europeans and Usonians, otherwise known as Caucasians, are characterized by fair skin, tall and narrow nose bridges, straight or wavy hair of golden or brown coloring, and thin lips. He doesn''t fit any of those traits, and there''s certainly no way he''s of Alkebn descent. Also, I''m not convinced that any foreign Yin spirits could survive under such overpowering Yin energy. The fact that he''s managed to survive and even shed his skin indicates that he''s gained the acknowledgment of the owner of the Yin energy here. In fact, there''s even a chance that he could be the owner of the Yin energy."

    He took another nce at the snake slough before concluding, "Judging from the intensity of the Yin energy emanating from this snake slough, I''m leaning more toward thetter possibility."

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "Alright, shall we continue then? The answer should lie just up ahead."

    "Sure."

    Thus, the two of them continued onward.

    The cave was very long, and along the way, Qin Ye spotted many pieces of bronze ware littered all over the ground. All of a sudden, he drew to an abrupt halt. "Hold on... Hell and the mortal realm can''t intersect; that''s an irond rule, so why are there so many bronze artifacts from the Three Star Mound here?"

    Zhao Yun replied in a solemn voice, "Your Excellency, anything is possible with the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. It is indeed true that Hell and the mortal realm cannot intersect; that''s an irond rule that even you can''t break, but creation-grade divine artifacts are among the very few things that can break this rule. Otherwise, how could that pure and virtuous individual have been able to pick up the Holy Grail? In the name of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn, the ''Anwnn'' refers to the Otherworld, which possesses the ability to break the rules between our two realms, and this property is present among all creation-grade divine artifacts."

    Qin Ye nodded in response as an enlightened look appeared on his face.

    This was something that he had already learned, but a very long time had passed since then, and he had never had to apply this knowledge, so he had gradually forgotten about it. Now that the lesson was being relearned and applied in a practical setting, it was bing a lot more vivid.

    Historical mysteries had always been profound and unfathomable. Qin Ye cast his gaze deep into the cave, then withdrew his gaze and turned to Zhao Yun with a slightly pitiful expression. "Ahem... Should we continue, Brother Zhao?"

    He was asking in a very tentative manner...

    "Sure." Zhao Yun nodded in response. "Rest assured, My Lord, I''ll protect you."

    Thus, they ventured deeper and deeper underground. At this point, Qin Ye felt as if they were already over 100 meters below the surface. More and more paths began to emerge, and they were also bing smoother and smoother. In the beginning, they were walking, but since then, they had chosen to take flight.

    Theirs was a duo consisting of an Abyssal Prefect and a being above the Yama-King level, and even though they weren''t flying at full speed, they were still able to travel over 10 kilometers in just a few minutes. However, there was still no end in sight. Qin Ye stopped once again, but on this asion, he didn''t say anything. All he did was lean down and begin to gently stroke the wall beside him.

    "What is it, My Lord?" Zhao Yun asked in a befuddled manner before inspecting the wall carefully, upon which his eyes abruptly lit up, and he also began to examine the wall closely.

    The wall was very smooth. In fact, it was a little too smooth.

    "Doesn''t it seem like something slithered over this section of the path?" Qin Ye mused.

    "Like a snake?"

    "Then how do you exin this?" Qin Ye squatted down as he pointed at some rows of holes on the ground.

    At the foot of the wall were countless irregr fist-sized holes, and they didn''t appear to serve any discernible purpose.

    Qin Ye released a wisp of Yin energy before quickly concluding, "The insides of these holes are solid."

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed tightly with befuddlement. The further they advanced, the more mysteries arose. It was as if an ancient civilization that was thousands of years old had somehow linked up with the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn and was calling out to them.

    "Qin Ye stroked his chin as he paced from side to side. "Let''s think about it this way: does a snake slough necessarily have to be left behind by a snake?"

    Zhao Yun''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "You don''t mean..."

    "I think it was an insect." Qin Ye appraised the surrounding walls through narrowed eyes as he said, "Have you seen the holes that insects bore into the earth? These holes are very much reminiscent of that. Insects with long and thin segmented limbs that pierce into these stone walls..."

    He patted the wall and concluded, "That''s exactly what that would look like. Also, have you noticed?"

    He turned around to face the inky darkness behind them, and continued, "This cave is a lotrger than the one before. The snake slough that we saw earlier belonged to a creature with a body that was only around a meter in thickness, yet this cave is at least two meters tall and four to five meters wide. A snake, even one with a human body, must move by slithering as it doesn''t have legs; how could a slithering snake possibly bore such a massive hole? Biologically speaking, there are virtually no creatures who emerge from their sloughsrger than before their metamorphosis; that applies even to mosquitoes and butterflies. They eithere out the same size or even smaller than before, and even if they ultimately end up bigger, the growth happens over time. That snake would''ve upied the entirety of the cave we just passed through. There''s no way that it would''ve slithered into these passageways after bing bigger as there''s not enough space."

    Zhao Yun''s eyelids were twitching slightly as he said, "So you''re saying that a human-snake hybrid creature metamorphosed into an insect, then immediately began boring holes... Why would it do that?"

    "It must be looking for something!" Qin Ye''s eyes were glowing brighter and brighter as the puzzle pieces fell into ce. "On the way here, we saw countless holes, and that indicates that the creature is unsure of the exact location of the thing that he''s looking for. All it knows for sure is that it''s under the Lotus City''s underworld, so it''s haphazardly boring holes while traveling in this general direction."

    Zhao Yun suddenly drew a sharp breath, and before Qin Ye had a chance to continue, he began to massage his own temples as he eximed, "Some things are suddenlying back to me..."

    He took a moment to arrange his thoughts and his words before continuing, "Prior to Lord Bo Yikao''s founding of Hell, there was still an Underworld, but it wasn''t united, and it was just a barren and primordialnd. During that time, there were many incredible beings, including many monsters even more powerful than Yama-Kings."

    He cast a wary nce into the dark passageway, as if he were concerned that a formidable evil ghost could rush out at any time. After ensuring that nothing wasing out to attack them, he heaved a slight sigh of relief and said, "This reminds me of a legend that even the second King Yanluo most likely didn''t know; I only heard it mentioned to me in passing by the first King Yanluo..."

    "What is it?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "Let''s continue. Things could get dangerous from here onward, so make sure to protect yourself no matter what! We can¡¯t afford any harm to befall you!"

    The two didn''t waste any more time as they continued onward, and after flying for about five more minutes, another cave finally appeared up ahead. Inside the cave was another giant slough that was around 40 meters in length and eight meters tall!

    It was significantlyrger than the snake slough, and it was also of a translucent white color, but this slough belonged to an insect!

    "That''s a cicada," Qin Ye mused, "From human-snake hybrid to cicada; thispletely goes againstmon biological wisdom. It''s like a Pokemon!"

    They examined the slough while makingps around it and discovered that aside from the head, which remained unevolved, all of the other parts of the creature''s body had evolved into that of an insect. The head was still identical to the head of the human-snake hybrid, except a crack had appeared on its be, and two holes around as thick as a human''s arm had emerged on its earlobes.

    Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were itching to get to the bottom of the mystery, so they only briefly inspected the slough before flying onward, and this time, they reached a straight passageway.

    The ground was extremely uneven, and Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly as he flew along. "What did it transform into this time? Such an uneven passageway definitely couldn''t have been created by an insect with a smooth body. Also..."

    There were huge footprints on the ground that were also very deep.

    This passageway was several dozen meters tall and close to 100 meters wide. It was very normal for a creature of such a massive stature to leave footprints on the ground, but these footprints...

    "Do those belong to a frog?" Even Zhao Yun waspletely dumbstruck now. "The fact that the cave is this tall indicates that the creature is unable to hunch down. We''re close, Lord Qin! I can sense that the creature we''ve been tracking this entire time is just up ahead!"

    Whoosh! Qin Ye immediately elerated, and Zhao Yun followed along in hot pursuit.

    Qin Ye''s gaze was directed straight ahead, and a hint of anticipation and killing intent had surfaced in his eyes. He couldn''t allow anything that he couldn''t control to exist on thend that he ruled over.

    Around 10 minutester, they finally drew to a halt.

    Directly up ahead was a massive cave, and there were no other caves aside from this one.

    This was the end, or perhaps the beginning to a new horrific chapter in their exploration.

    The cave was extremely massive, stretching for over a kilometer wide and over 200 meters tall. There was nothing inside the cave aside from a pond at the very center.

    The water in the pond was as red as blood, and above it, thin lines of scarlet blood were dripping down incessantly. At the same time, there was an enormous carcass situated beside the pond; it was the carcass of a dragon!

    Zhao Yun immediately drew a sharp breath upon seeing this. "That''s the blood of a divinity... It''s the blood of a death god!"

    "Where?" Qin Ye looked around in a dumbstruck manner before his gaze finally fell upon those lines of blood and the small pond beneath it. His mouth instantly gaped open as he eximed, "You''re saying... that entire pond is filled with the blood of a divinity? The whole thing?"

    Zhao Yun was also utterly astonished, and he gently shook his head before nodding vigorously. "That''s right; that entire pond is full of the blood of a divinity."

    This was the blood of a divinity that had been dripping down for over 1,000 years, and there was still more that was continuing to drip down!

    This was an utterly incredible scene, and Qin Ye quickly made his way over to the carcass with his mouth slightly agape in shock. He shook his head in disbelief as he gently stroked the carcass and asked in a trembling voice, "Is this a dragon?"

    "It is." Zhao Yun was also appraising the carcass intently with utter disbelief in his eyes. "I''ve seen the deceased descendants of Master Aurogon, and their skeletons are identical. The deer horns, the serpentine body, the Qilin ws... This is the skeleton of a true dragon! Lord Qin..."

    He turned to Qin Ye, and a thought suddenly urred to him as he asked, "Didn''t you say that when the Divine Bronze Tree was unearthed, there were nine divine birds and a bronze dragon?"

    Qin Ye immediately turned toward Zhao Yun, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored on one another''s faces.

    This was simply beyond belief. The Divine Bronze Tree, the nine divine birds, the bronze dragon... Could it be that the archeologists were correct in their theories and that this dragon was none other than that very same bronze dragon?

    This was the dragon that had resided on the Divine Bronze Tree! It was a true dragon, not a bronze dragon!

    Also, where was the Holy Grail?

    The blood of a divinity was here, so where was the Holy Grail?

    And where was the monster that had shed those sloughs?

    How was the Three Star Mount connected to the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn?

    "This isn''t it!" Qin Ye suddenly concluded, "This isn''t the creature that emerged from that slough!"

    "Is it not?" Zhao Yun asked with furrowed brows, "There isn''t too much difference between the prints of a dragon''s ws and a frog''s feet..."

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to finish, Qin Ye cut him off in a confident and imcable voice. "This definitely isn''t it! I can tell because of this cave! Just like the beehive-like passageways we just passed through, the cave we just entered was extremely tall, yet this dragon was also a serpentine creature!"

    Qin Ye paused as he inspected his surroundings with a wary gaze, then continued, "The monster that shed its slough twice in these caves is right here. Can you feel it? Even the Yin energy here is trembling. It''s watching us from somewhere, and it''s already transformed into apletely different type of living being!"

 Chapter 758: Yu Kiang

    <h4>Chapter 758: Yu Kiang</h4>

    The two of them began to carefully inspect this cave.

    The entirety of the massive cave waspletely enshrouded in darkness, and the Yin energy was so dense that it was virtually tangible, forming a series of ck misty veils within the cave. However, aside from the pond of blood at the very center of the cave, there was nothing else to be seen.

    Qin Ye and Zhao Yun exchanged a nce before approaching the pond, and the more they approached the pond, the more they were struck by an indescribable sense of pressure. By the time they arrived at the pond, Qin Ye was close to the point of asphyxiation, while even the Yin energy around Zhao Yun was rippling unsteadily, as if it could disperse at any moment.

    Right at this moment, a burst of bright light suddenly erupted from Zhao Yun''s chest. King Yanluo''s Seal emerged from within the purplish-golden light, and the surrounding Yin energy was instantly wiped out, while that suffocating sense of pressure also abruptly vanished.

    This wasn''t theplete King Yanluo''s Seal.

    Qin Ye reached out to gather all of the seal''s fragments together, forming a fist-sized jade seal that hovered above his palm. The seal was of a translucent yellow color, and the sound of the turbulent rivers andkes could be heard emanating from within it. It was an extremely ornate and beautiful seal, but its surface was riddled with cracks.

    "The seal has been heavily damaged, and it''ll take at least several months for it to make a full recovery," Zhao Yun exined. "Otherwise, a creation-grade divine artifact with an owner would absolutely dominate one without an owner such as the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. However, in its current state, all we can use it for is dispersing the aura of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before squatting down beside the pond of blood. After appraising it in silence for over 10 minutes, he suddenly asked, "Brother Zhao, would it be possible to take this blood back with us?"

    "Of course." Zhao Yun nodded as he prepared to spring into action, only to suddenly pause as he asked, "Why would you want to do that?"

    Qin Ye appraised the pond with an intense gaze, and asked, "Don''t you think this pond is a little too round?"

    Indeed, the pond was in the shape of a perfect circle without any imperfect sections.

    "Are you saying..."

    "I''m saying that this is the Holy Grail!" Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he licked his lips and said, "ording to legends, the Holy Grail was used to hold the blood of Jesus, which is also the origin of modern red wine. I can''t think of any other ce for the blood of a divinity to be held other than in the Holy Grail."

    Zhao Yun''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t immediately say anything. Only after a long silence did he speak again. "I see..."

    All of a sudden, the Yin energy around him exploded violently, and the blood in the pond seemed to have been drawn toward something as a wave that was several meters tall erupted out of it. Immediately thereafter, the blood rapidly converged toward the center of Zhao Yun''s palm.

    What was quite peculiar was that in the instant the blood came into contact with Zhao Yun''s palm, most of it exploded into blood mist that dispersed through the air, while only a small portion formed tiny specks of light that gathered on his palm. It was as if the entire pond were rapidly evaporating, leaving behind only the most essential parts.

    Whoosh... The blood mist became denser and denser, and a drop of blood the size of a fingernail finally appeared on his palm. However, it waspletely different from the blood that was previously in the pond. At that time, it had been apletely opaque red color that was impossible to see through, whereas this drop of blood waspletely translucent and was giving off a sense of indescribable power.

    It was exceedingly pure, and it seemed to be epassing this entire world!

    Through it, one could seemingly glean the meaning of everything in this world, from life to death, from heaven to earth, from light to dark... It was like a wondrous kaleidoscope that was attracting the souls of all living beings. Qin Ye waspletely entranced as he stared at this drop of blood, but all of a sudden, he bit down onto the tip of his own tongue, using the pain to snap himself out of his stupor.

    Only then did he discover that his back was drenched in cold sweat, and a hint of lingering fear could still be seen in his eyes.

    Is this the blood of one of the gods of creation?

    Just the mere sight of it alone struck him with the urge to fuse as one with it, to be a part of it. If it weren''t for the fact that the Plumed Serpent God had no other alternatives, there was no way it would''ve tried to target something like this.

    Lurking behind its extremely beautiful exterior was danger of equal measure. No one knew what would be of them if they were to devour the blood of a divinity.

    Whoosh... Finally, the pond waspletely emptied, and at this point, even Zhao Yun''s Yin energy was fluctuating violently. Qin Ye was just about to say something when Zhao Yun shook his head, and cautioned, "Stand back, My Lord; we''re not the only ones here..."

    In the instant that Qin Ye positioned himself behind Zhao Yun, thetter summoned his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear and plunged it into the ground with all his might with an almighty roar. Immediately thereafter, a thunderous boom rang out!

    A series of cracks that resembled a cobweb rapidly spread along the entire earth before quickly transforming into a giant trench. Icy blue light erupted forth from within the trench, as if a sea of ice were hidden beneath the ground. The ground then copsed in its entirety, and Qin Ye instantly cast his gaze downward, upon which he immediately drew a sharp breath.

    The area beneath their feet was empty!

    No, it wasn''tpletely empty. As they hovered in mid-air, they could clearly see that a stone statue in the form of a cup had appeared where the pond had been.

    The statue was massive, standing at around 120 to 130 meters tall with a diameter of roughly 100 meters, and it was giving off a primordial aura.

    That''s the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn!

    However, neither of them had the time to examine the gigantic Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn as at the foot of it stood an enormous frog! The icy blue light wasn''t radiating from the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn; it was entirely emanating from this frog!

    "What is that?" Qin Ye looked down at the massive space beneath his feet with a stunned expression. This was a glittering and translucentke riddled with countless scarlet lotus flowers growing all over its surface. The giant frog, which was around 300 meters in size, was situated at the center of theke, and the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn was sitting squarely on its back!

    No, it wasn''t correct to refer to this creature as a frog. The creature''s entire body was near-transparent, as if it were carved out of crystal, and the patterns on its body were Yin runes that Qin Ye waspletely unable to decipher. Even a single nce at those runes made him feel as if he had fallen into a boundless starry sky and that his soul was about to leave his body. Right on top of its head, in between its two eyes, was the head of a human male.

    This head waspletely identical to the head on the snake slough from earlier!

    Also, there was something else! Qin Ye cast his incredulous gaze past the frog and peered into thekebed, where he discovered a pile of bronze ware, all of which looked very familiar... They were all artifacts unearthed from the Three Star Mound!

    Qin Ye waspletely rooted to the spot at the sight of this revtion.

    So the snake-human hybrid had metamorphosed into a cicada, then into a frog, and this frog was being worshipped like a god with a pile of Three Star Mound offerings ced at its feet. However, this very same frog was being crushed under the creation-grade divine artifact that was the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn.

    Setting aside the fact that thispletely went against thews of evolution, the timelines didn''t even match!

    What era was Jesus from? What era was the Three Star Mound from? And what era was it when the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn came to Cathay?

    There was a gap of 2,500 years between these events! Why was this frog being crushed under the chalice? Actually, the more pressing question was what exactly was this frog!

    Qin Ye was appraising the frog in an extremely cautious manner. He couldn¡¯t sense any Yin energy from it, but he could feel a sharp pain, as if his skin was being pricked by sharp needles. He had experienced this phenomenon before; it was a sign that the concentration of Yin energy had already exceeded that of air in the area, thereby destroying the bnce between Yin and Yang!

    This was Yin energy that had gone beyond all conceivable limits, indicating that this creature was more powerful than they could imagine!

    "Divine artifact dilemma... Mutual devouring... Ancient god..." Right at this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly began to murmur to himself, "All of that really did happen! I didn''t think that I would have the honor of witnessing such a legendary scene during my lifetime..."

    "What''s going on?" Qin Ye asked with furrowed brows. His curiosity was like a wild stallion that had escaped from its stable. This already went beyond everything that the second King Yanluo had taught him!

    "Please wait a moment, My Lord." Zhao Yun pointed his spear directly at the chalice as he spoke, and in the instant that the tip of his spear came into contact with the chalice, scintiting light erupted from the point of contact. Countless patterns of light permeated through the air like cobwebs, and in the next instant, ayer of rock fell away from the surface of the chalice, revealing a golden exterior!

    Whoosh... Golden light filled heaven and earth as the cobweb-like patterns spread over the entire chalice. Five minutester, theyer of rock adhered to the surface of the chalicepletely fell away, crashing into theke below, causing the water in theke to ripple and surge. As a result, an antiquated cup-like artifact that was over 100 meters tall was revealed, giving off an unmatched radiance.

    This was the true form of the Holy Grail!

    It was breathtakingly beautiful and entirely constructed from gold with countless patterns etched all over its surface. Three massive gems were embedded into the chalice, acting as the centerpiece of thisplete creation-grade divine artifact. The terrifying power that it was giving off would be enough to force Qin Ye to his knees if it weren''t for King Yanluo''s Seal. The water in theke around the frog began to churn violently, formingyer uponyer of giant waves that crashed heavily into the surrounding walls.

    Zhao Yun grabbed onto Qin Ye, and the two of them descended onto the rim of the Holy Grail. He slowly walked along the grail''s rim as he said, "I''m assuming the second King Yanluo hasn''t taught you about all of this, Lord Qin. After all, he''s not a Yin spirit; he''s a living human instead. Thus, his understanding of Hell''s history isn''t as thorough as that of Lord Bo Yi Kao."

    He cast his gaze downward with a solemn look in his eyes, and his entire body was trembling slightly as if he were struggling with something. "The historical records of the era that this creature lived in have almost entirely disappeared. I only know about this as I heard the first King Yanluo mention it by chance."

    Qin Ye''s curiosity was at a boiling point, but he didn''t interrupt as he eagerly listened to Zhao Yun''s story.

    "In order to exin this properly, I have to talk about this from several different angles to give you aprehensive understanding." Zhao Yun continued in an unhurried manner, "Firstly, I must tell you about this frog''s identity."

    His voice was very serious, and he was speaking in a very deliberate manner. "If I''m not mistaken, there''s a very good chance that this is the ancient god, Yu Kiang."

    Yu Kiang?

    Qin Ye faltered slightly before a lightbulb abruptly lit up in his head. "Yu Kiang? You mean the god of wind and water? Isn''t that a legendary god?"

    "Technically, we''re also legendary figures," Zhao Yun replied in a serious voice, "Particrly you, My Lord. As King Yanluo, the ruler of Hell, you are the most legendary figure of us all! You are a god of an even higher rank than Yu Kiang!"

    He took a deep breath before continuing, "Yu Kiang is a god that existed during the primordial era, which is the period in history prior to the official founding of Cathay''s first dynasty. In other words, it was before the Xia Dynasty, so before 2,800 BC."

    A contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this. "The Three Star Mound also existed before the Xia Dynasty, and it has prominent n traits, but we don''t know exactly howrge of an area it epassed. Judging from the abundance of bronze artifacts that have been unearthed thus far, we can estimate that it was an extraordinarilyrge civilization; it could even be proof that there was a dynasty before the Xia Dynasty. It existed around 3,000 BC, and it''s the main piece of evidence affirming Cathay''s 5,000-year history."

    "That''s right," Zhao Yun replied. "My Lord, have you noticed that these timelines are astonishingly identical? The period prior to the founding of the Xia Dynasty is referred to by Hell as the primordial era."

 Chapter 759: The History of Hellâ€™s Primordial Era

    <h4>Chapter 759: The History of Hell''s Primordial Era</h4>

    The cave was very quiet as Zhao Yun continued his story. "That era was truly the era of the gods. It was also during that time that the Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation; this is a piece of history that can be found in Hell. Yu Kiang was from the same era as the Goddess Earth Mother. As for how the gods vanished, there is no definite answer. However, ording to my knowledge, the gods in Heaven are only a small portion of gods that remained from that era. Far too many gods disappeared at the conclusion of the primordial era, and the first King Yanluo had tried to search for them in the past, but to no avail. After all, there was no cultural inheritance at the time. His theory is that just as many prehistoric living beings disappeared throughout the passage of time as a result of natural selection, the gods were too powerful and were no longer suitable for this world. Thus, just like the dinosaurs, they were perhaps erased by the Heavenly Dao. Alternatively, perhaps they naturally vanished into the flow of history due to some major event, but in any case, there had to have been survivors among their ranks."

    He cast his gaze toward the massive frog down below and continued, "Yu Kiang, the god of wind, rain, and famine, was one of them. However, never did I think that he would''ve resided in hiding here for 5,000 years. Was his life preserved by the blood of a divinity?"

    Qin Ye''s mind was feeling a little muddled. "I had heard that the Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation during the primordial era, but I didn''t think it actually happened!"

    "It did," Zhao Yun confirmed with a firm nod, "There have been many instances of passages in historical poems alluding to the transformation of the Goddess Earth Mother into the six paths of reincarnation. The relevant passages and pieces of evidence could all be found in the library of Hell, but unfortunately, they''ve most likely been destroyed by the gue of the blight vermin."

    He paused here momentarily before continuing, "The second thing I have to exin is the rtionship between the Three Star Mound and Yu Kiang."

    "I do have some recollection of this." At this point, Qin Ye had alreadyposed himself somewhat, and he said, "There are modern schrs who theorize that the Three Star Mound civilization worshipped water. The first piece of evidence to support this is that the ruins of the Three Star Mound civilization were discovered near Duck River. Given the thought process of people from the ancient past and man''s instinctive fear of the unknown, there is a strong motive for them to revere water. The second piece of evidence concerns the totem of the Three Star Mound civilization. Speaking of which..."

    He turned to look at Zhao Yun as he continued, "Their totem is none other than a golden frog, and countless schrs have spected that this golden frog is Yu Kiang! That would correspond perfectly with their reasons for worshipping water."

    He took a deep breath as he looked down at the giant frog, and all of the puzzle pieces finally fell into ce as he said in a trembling voice, "In reality, they were indeed worshipping Yu Kiang, but the Yu Kiang they were worshipping wasn''t an imaginary deity; it was a true god! Yu Kiang once lived in the civilization of the Three Star Mound, and he exists to this very day!"

    Everything makes sense now... Answers to many of the unsolved mysteries of the mortal realm had been found in the Underworld. Was this a result of thew of interaction between the two realms?

    Countless thoughts shed through his mind like lightning, scattering the fog of uncertainty and allowing him to think of even more things.

    For example, why was it that all of the bronze artifacts unearthed from the Three Star Mound were so strange?

    There were humanoid bronze sculptures with bird heads and frog heads, as well as many other pieces of bronze ware constructed in an extremely abstract style,pletely different from the bronze ware of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties! There was no way that the styles could''ve changed so drastically in such a short time, and this was one of the main unsolved mysteries of the Three Star Mound.

    However, with the new information that had juste to light, there was now a very simple exnation.

    The fact of the matter was that they most likely weren''t even crafting their sculptures based on humans! Instead, they could''ve been based on the gods that ruled over the world at that time!

    Yu Kiang was residing here, so there must''ve been many weaker gods or half-god, half-human living beings that had gathered here. During the primordial era, humans were on the lowest tier of the pecking order, so they would naturally choose to make sculptures of the things that they worshipped.

    A fervent look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes as he appraised Zhao Yun. The reason for Yu Kiang''s presence here had been determined, so now, all that was left was the question of why the Holy Grail was here, and why it was crushing Yu Kiang.

    "The third thing that I have to exin is the divine artifact dilemma. This is something that the second King Yanluo wouldn''t have known about as he never experienced that era. The basis of the so-called divine artifact dilemma stems from the fact that all divine artifacts had to be held by living beings with sentient will. Otherwise, they would be like trees without roots and water without origins. Over time, their divinity could even regress. All of the creation-grade divine artifacts were even more aware of this than normal divine artifacts, so they would automatically choose owners for themselves."

    A thought suddenly urred to Qin Ye upon hearing this.

    Back then, the fragments of King Yama''s Seal had voluntarily flown toward him. At the time, he had been quite perplexed by this, but thinking about it now, he realized that it had to have been because the judgment of the fragments of King Yama''s Seal had been affected by Granny Meng''s visit. Furthermore, it was iplete, so only the fragments without an owner would turn to him.

    "However, creation-grade divine artifacts are far too powerful for ordinary people to suppress. Hence..." Zhao Yun paused here momentarily before continuing, "It could perhaps choose you, but if it discovers that you''re not a suitable owner, it would attempt to suppress its owner, and that leads me to the final topic that I have to exin: mutual devouring."

    Even without requiring an exnation from Zhao Yun, Qin Ye already understood everything, and he cast a meaningful gaze toward the giant frog on thekebed.

    Following the arrival of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn in Cathay, itsst owner, that pure and virtuous individual, had already disappeared. Thus, in order to prevent the regression of its own divinity, it had to choose a new owner for itself. It naturally didn''t dare to choose anyone from Hell, but to its surprise, it found a better target beneath the Underworld: a hibernating ancient god.

    "Perhaps he wasn''t necessarily hibernating. Instead, it''s possible that Yu Kiang managed to survive the primordial era, but had sustained severe injuries and was forced to rest and recuperate. After the passage of several thousand years, he made a full recovery..." Qin Ye slowly paced along the rim of the chalice with his hands sped behind his back as he mused, "But he didn''t dare toe out. At that point, this ce was already under Hell''s rule, and he could sense just how powerful Hell was. If he had emerged at that time, then the oue would''ve been quite difficult to foresee. Surviving the tribtion of the primordial era had already been an arduous feat, so he naturally didn''t want to ce his safety at risk. Thus, he chose to bide his time and continue to cultivate..."

    He continued along this train of thought. "However, no one could''ve predicted the arrival of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn in Cathay through the Silk Road. On top of that, it chose Yu Kiang as its owner, so it entered this space."

    Zhao Yun took over from here. "But in the end, it discovered that Yu Kiang wasn''t a suitable owner, so it decided to turn the tables and suppress Yu Kiang..."

    "However, Yu Kiang is an ancient god from the primordial era, and he certainly wasn''t going to allow himself to be dominated..." Qin Ye sighed as the two of them continued to piece together the truth. "This battle for supremacy raged for thousands of years, and it''s still ongoing even to this very day. So what was that burst of Yin energy that transcended beyond the Yama-King level? Did thate from Yu Kiang?"

    "No, it came from both of them," Zhao Yun replied, "Having endured a long journey to arrive at a top-tier underworld, the chalice''s powers had been severely debilitated. In contrast, Yu Kiang was fighting on thend that he was familiar with and held the home advantage. As a result of these factors, a peculiar process of fusionmenced between the chalice and Yu Kiang. Regardless of which one of them secured the final victory, a divine artifact that transcended beyond the creation-grade would perhaps ultimately emerge. Alternatively, perhaps their fusion would result in a being that transcended beyond the Yama-Kings, reaching the same level as the freak that was the second King Yanluo."

    He pointed a finger upward before continuing, "The crack through which the blood of a divinity was dripping down was most likely the crack that the chalice had created upon itsnding."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    At some point - perhaps it was ever since the Hungry Ghost Festival - he began to detest this feeling of not being in control of his own fate.

    As the King Yanluo, he would struggle to sleep at night if a potential time bomb like this were lurking in his empire.

    "How do we get rid of this thing?"

    "Why would we want to get rid of it?" Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye with a stunned expression. "My Lord, this is a massive opportunity!"

    Qin Ye was quite befuddled to hear this, yet before he had a chance to ask any questions, Zhao Yun exined, "My Lord, if we were to take the chalice now, Yu Kiang would immediately awaken. His powers already transcend beyond the Yama-King level, so I''m sure you''re just as aware as I am of how much trouble he could cause."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response.

    "I wouldn''t be able to y Yu Kiang. He has resided here for thousands of years and absorbed some of the chalice''s divinity, pushing him beyond the threshold of a Yama-King, and it would be far too dangerous to release such a formidable ancient god."

    "So you''re saying... we shouldn''t release him?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Of course." Zhao Yun cast a fervent gaze toward the Holy Grail and the giant frog down below as he said in a voice that was brimming with excitement, "My Lord, now that the Underworld has been united, there are three things that you must do as soon as possible. Firstly, you must officially found a nation, decide on an era name, a dynasty title, a g, a style, a national emblem, a national flower... All of these things are very important. They will be the voice of the Third Era of Hell, things that will allow you to spread your name far and wide on an international basis in the future. For example: style. Do we go with a modern or an antiquated style? What color is going to represent our nation? What is going to be our national flower? These things are all very important. Secondly, you need to track down the Judgment Pen. Without the Judgment Pen, you won''t be able to judge good from evil, nor decide on where Yin spirits are to go. All Yin spirits must receive a ruling from the Judgment Pen before they can enter reincarnation. Thirdly, you must reconstruct the six paths of reincarnation and the 18 abysses of punishment, and the former must bepleted before thetter. There is a process of reciprocation between Yin and Yang. Even though the second King Yanluo was able to defy the will of the Heavenly Dao, preventing it from governing the reincarnation process of Hell for 100 years, there''s a limit to how long this canst. Only with the six paths of reincarnation ready and the Judgment Pen recovered can Hell truly be considered to beplete, and only then will you be able to set your sights on the rest of the world..."

    Zhao Yun pointed down at the giant frog before continuing, "And this will be the foundation for the six paths of reincarnation!"

    What? How does that work?!

    Qin Ye blinked in a puzzled manner. "What do you mean?"

    Zhao Yun exined in a methodical voice, "The six paths of reincarnation were formed by the Goddess Earth Mother..."

    This simple reminder was like a key that opened up a brand new world to Qin Ye, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Are you saying that the six paths of reincarnation must be formed by the physical body of a god?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "Not just their physical body, it can also be their bloodline or skeleton. As long as it''splete, it''ll be a sufficient foundation. I was really concerned about where we were going to find such a thing, but now, it''s being presented right before our eyes! This is a living ancient god! I had considered that there might still be undiscovered bodies of ancient gods buried in the Cathayan mortal realm. Some have formed mountains and valleys, some of their bloodlines have formedkes and rivers. I was prepared to dig them up bit by bit; all that would''ve taken was an extended period of time. However, none of that would''ve been able topare with a living ancient god!"

    Qin Ye finally understood why Zhao Yun was so ecstatic.

    The Goddess Earth Mother had transformed into the six paths of reincarnation, thereby setting a precedent which mandated that the six paths of reincarnation had to be formed by a vessel of divinity. In other words, an ancient god. But where were they supposed to find an ancient god? They could only search for the remains of such gods, which was bound to be a very lengthy process. However, who could''ve predicted that the divine artifact''s dilemma of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn would lead them to the final living ancient god in the Cathayan Underworld?

    The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn would also have to act as part of the foundation for the new six paths of reincarnation. Otherwise, if a being above the Yama-King level were to be awakened, the consequences would be utterly catastrophic. It was quite a pity that they couldn''t take this creation-grade divine artifact with them, but this was undeniably the best use for it.

    Thus, the final mystery was solved just like that.

    Why hadn''t Dong Zhuo used the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn? He didn''t dare!

    Under these circumstances, he could only pray that the attack from Hell''s army would awaken this monster, and that was his true final trump card. Thus, he had to make Lotus City the site of the final battle. He had already guessed from Qin Hui and Su Daji''s betrayal that Hell was far more fearsome than he had imagined, but at the same time, he waspletely unaware of what state Yu Kiang and the Holy Grail were in.

    Thus, even until the moment of his death, the trump card that he had been banking on still failed to activate.

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the eyes of Yu Kiang, and he was full of sympathy toward the ancient god. He had been hibernating for so many years, and now, his slumber was about to be eternal.

    How about Hell lends you a hand and puts an end to the mutual devouring between you and the chalice?

 Chapter 760: Foundation of the Six Paths of Reincarnation

    <h4>Chapter 760: Foundation of the Six Paths of Reincarnation</h4>

    Right as this thought sprang into his mind, bright golden light erupted from his chest, and Hell''s Record flew out before quickly spreading itself open, following which a line of free-flowing text instantly appeared on its pages.

    For unifying the nation, you have received seventy million merit points.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    Current merit points...

    Dead silence.

    Qin Ye blinked in disbelief before grabbing Hell''s Record and staring at it in a dumbfounded manner. His breathing was bing heavier and heavier as he counted, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... nine!"

    It really was a nine-figure number!

    Thirty million! All I need are the final thirty million merit points! In contrast with the seemingly impossible task of earning 150 million merit points in exchange for the Yama-King rank, thirty million was practically nothing!

    However, how was he supposed to earn those final thirty million points?

    Just as his excitement was beginning to die down, the pages of Hell''s Record began to move once again!

    This was something that had never happened before!

    Whoosh... Hell''s Record opened up to anotherpletely nk page before beginning to tremble violently.

    The entire book was trembling as if it were calling out to something. Both Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were rather startled to see this, and thetter immediately dragged Qin Ye several meters away with a wary look on his face.

    In the next instant, Fate flew out of Qin Ye''s sleeve before inscribing a string of elegant characters onto the pages of Hell''s Record.

    "What''s going on?" Qin Ye asked in a dumbstruck manner.

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "Everything rted to the Yanluo is strictly confidential and can only be passed down verbally from one King Yanluo to another. Did the second King Yanluo not tell you about this?"

    He didn''t!

    Qin Ye waspletely befuddled. Brother Xu had never mentioned the possibility of Fate writing on the pages of Hell''s Record. He made his way over to Hell''s Record to take a look, and he was quite dismayed by what he saw.

    "It was by an enormous stroke of luck that Hell was united. The map of the Cathayan Underworld isplete once again, but it hasn''t fulfilled the duties of Hell. Instead, it has only fulfilled half of Hell''s duties. Hell is a transfer hub, one where someone can remain forever. Countless Yin spirits enter the Underworld from the mortal realm. After that, they''ll pass through the 18 abysses of punishment to atone for the sins theymitted during their lifetimes. Thenes the six paths of reincarnation, where the good deeds they''vemitted will be weighed up against their sins, following which they''ll return to the mortal realm. This is the true purpose of Hell.¡±

    This was indeed Hell''s duty and the purpose of its existence. It was a very urate description, and Qin Ye nodded in agreement.

    "This was originally going to be a very lengthy process. The Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation, forming its foundation. In order to reconstruct the six paths, theplete remains or bloodline of an ancient god were necessary. However, it''s far too difficult to gather theplete remains of an ancient god in the present day, but who could''ve anticipated the god worshipped by the Three Star Mound, Yu Kiang, would be hiding in the ruins of their civilization? And who could''ve predicted that a series of strange transformations would''ve taken ce between Yu Kiang and the Holy Grail? What''s even more unexpected is that a yearter, Yanluo Qin embarked alone on a journey to the forsakennd to seek out a divine artifact..."

    p! Qin Ye violently pped the book shut, and he felt as if his eyes were ying tricks on him.

    Several secondster, he carefully opened the book again.

    "Yanluo Qin embarked alone on a journey to the forsakennd to seek out a divine artifact..."

    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Qin Ye almost hurled the book away in bewilderment. Why? Why did he have to embark on some ursed journey alone? Wasn''t it much better to live like a coward in Everburn? Why did he have to make things so difficult for himself?

    Aren''t you overestimating my capabilities?

    However, Fatepletely ignored him as it continued to write its story, which was quickly bing a very long tale. Zhao Yun looked on with a contemtive expression and murmured to himself, "The forsakennd, eh?"

    Qin Ye forcibly repressed the urge to roll his eyes as he asked through gritted teeth, "Do you know of this ce?"

    Zhao Yun was silent for a long while before finally replying, "My Lord, it''s been far too long since Hell has made its voice heard on the international stage, and I''m not sure how many Underworlds even recall our existence. In order to step onto that highest stage, an Underworld must have at least a Yama-King among its ranks. Otherwise, it wouldn''t have any speaking rights on the international political stage. The most important thing now is to found a nation and spread the news of unification. In doing so, we''ll be giving all of theherworldly citizens a greater sense of belonging. The second order of business would be for you to ascend to the Yama-King level, and this..."

    Zhao Yun pointed at Hell''s Record as he concluded, "Is most likely the only way for you to be a Yama-King."

    Zhao Yun''s words provided somefort to Qin Ye, and he was finally able to repress the urge to tear the book to shreds as he asked, "Why do you say that?"

    "The forsakennd is a ce that has never been blessed by the presence of an ancient god. Generally speaking, ces like this will be extremely perilous. In those ces, Yin spirits are trapped, so there will definitely be evil ghosts among them with rankings in the single digits!"

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as Zhao Yun continued, "I''m not very familiar with the forsakennd as Emissaries of Hell aren''t permitted to enter that ce. However, I''ve heard that it''s a paradise for evil ghosts and the Yin spirit empire of the mortal realm. Evil ghosts naturally arise in the area, and they''re extremely malicious. However..."

    Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back and looked up at the roof of the cave as he murmured to himself, "However, those evil ghosts are the most suitable candidates to be the guardian Yin spirits of the six paths of reincarnation, right? Just like Dong Zhuo, Su Daji, and Qin Hui, right?"

    "Your wisdom is unmatched, My Lord," Zhao Yun replied as he cupped his fist in a respectful gesture. "The body of an ancient god can only act as a vessel for the six paths of reincarnation, while those six heinous souls will act as their engines. Once the six paths of reincarnation are reconstructed, thews of Hell will be reinstated, as will the cycle of reincarnation, and the Heavenly Dao will be whole again. Once that happens, it''ll be time for your grand inauguration!"

    And this is most likely where the final thirty million merit points are going toe from!

    Silence.

    Only after a long while did Qin Ye give a reluctant nod as he sighed, "Let''s go back for now."

    They had already been down here for several hours, so everyone else was most likely growing anxious. On top of that, there were still too many things that he had to do.

    He had to prepare to found a nation, to move the capital city, to set a national g, an era name, a national flower, and many other things. It would take several months toplete all of these necessary tasks. Furthermore, Yu Kiang was here in the Westriver Province, and seeing as the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn couldn''t be moved, the six paths of reincarnation would have to be reconstructed in the Westriver Province. Thus, the Westriver Province could no longer be considered as a normal province.

    It was going to be the harshest of jails, the abyss of sin, and the final site of reincarnation.

    All of this required the issuance of relevant orders.

    They returned the same way they hade, and Arthis and the others were already waiting outside. As soon as Qin Ye emerged, Su Daji immediately approached him and said in a seductive voice, "There''s no need to exhaust yourself like this, My Lord; I''d be more than happy to share some of the burden on your shoulders. It is the greatest honor for me to be able to serve you, Your Excellency."

    Qin Yepletely ignored this shameless boot-licker and turned to Arthis with a smile. "Are you interested in bing the warden of the six paths of reincarnation?"

    Su Daji''s voice abruptly cut off, and she turned to Arthis with a stunned expression, while Qin Hui''s eyes also widened with shock.

    The warden of the six paths of reincarnation... The fact that Arthis was being offered this title made them so envious that they were about to go insane!

    Being subjected to four of the six paths of reincarnation, namely the path of the beast, the path of the asura, the path of the hungry ghost, and the path of the abyss, was a fate far worse than death, and the warden was essentially a god to all those who entered the six paths. It was no exaggeration to say that the line of family members visiting those in the six paths day and night could fuel the economy of an entire city! The warden would be drowned under HLs offered by visitors every single day!

    Those who wanted to enter the path of man and path of gods and be born to good parents would dly offer up centuries worth of savings. Even then, they would still have to line up for centuries more.

    This was the most lucrative job imaginable, and it was also one that granted a lofty status and an immense amount of administrative power!

    The six paths of reincarnation were directly connected to the past Hell''s Imperial Court of Judicial Review and the Department of Prudence, but at the same time, it was independent of those two departments.

    We''re both women; why is she getting so much more than me? Su Daji was so envious that she could burst into tears, and Qin Hui''s face had also bepletely scrunched up. Who wouldn''t want a job like this?

    However, they didn''t dare to say anything!

    They had only been following the King Yanluo for a short time, and they knew that they were in no position to demand such an important role...

    Arthis faltered slightly before turning to Zhao Yun with a gentle expression. "I''ll go wherever Brother Yun goes; my position isn''t important to me."

    "Hah? What did you just call him? Call him that again, I dare you!" Qin Ye had been thoroughly disgusted by this two-faced woman.

    "What''s wrong with me calling him Brother Yun? No one else is saying anything, so how about you shut your damn mouth?!" When facing Dogballs, her attitude underwent aplete shift, and she wasn''t holding back at all.

    Yes yes yes... There''s no issue at all... Whatever makes you happy...

    Su Daji had her head lowered to her chest, but she was rolling her eyes so hard that they were about to fly up into the sky! Love ispletely worthless, you idiot! You''re being offered the position of warden of thergest jail in the entire nation, thergest central soul hub... If you don''t want the job, I''d dly take it from you! No, I have to maintain myposure...

    What little remained of her rational thinking ability allowed her to repress her urge to scream. Sure enough, Qin Ye didn''t even bother to ask her or Qin Hui. "See? I think you''re very suitable for the job. The cold and forbidding disy that you put on is very much reminiscent of my past self. You cane and tell me whenever you decide to ept the position, but it has to be before the official founding of the nation."

    Everyone suddenly fell silent upon hearing this.

    Founding of the nation... Those words were enough to make all of the Yin spirits present tremble with excitement, and theherfire in their eyes began to dance sporadically.

    They were serving under the ruler of this united nation!

    Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada were the most excited ones among them. Qin Ye had promised them that once he became powerful enough, he would grant them Nippon!

    With the current power held by Hell, conquering Amano-Iwato would only be a matter of time!

    He really hadn''t been joking when he dered that his army would march toward Amano-Iwato within 20 years!

    What Su Daji and Qin Hui were excited about was that seeing as they had be subordinates to the ruler of the nation, surely their past history would be well and truly behind them.

    They had atoned for their sins for thousands of years; was it finally time for them to be able to live like normalherworldly citizens?

    "Congrattions, My Lord! No, Your Majesty! Congrattions, Your Majesty! This is wonderful news for all of theherworldly citizens across this entire world!" Excessive excitement and yearning brought both Qin Hui and Su Daji to their knees, and they were on the verge of tears.

    They had been waiting for this day for far, far too long.

    "There are still many things to be taken care of, so I''ll be counting on all of you," Qin Ye said with a smile, "I''ll leave behind an army of 5,000 to strengthen our hold on the three provinces, while the rest of the army will return to the capital."

    Third Era of Hell, Year 7 Month 4, the third King Yanluo, Qin Ye, united the nation before leading his army to the capital. It was decided that Everburn City would be the new capital, and during the next month, preparations for a movemenced.

    It was also during the return of the army of Hell that a report bearing news of Hell''s unification was sent to the mortal realm.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, there was currently a series of convoys rapidly approaching the borders of the Cathayan Underworld from all directions.

    At the Rich Province on the Cathayan border, a badge withplex Yin runes inscribed on its surface was pressed against an array, and momentster, a gap opened up on the array, immediately following which a convoy rushed in with frenzy.

    No conversation took ce throughout the entire process, and only after a full three hours had passed did a trembling hand slowly raise the curtain on one of the carriages. A cloaked head then cast its gaze out into the wilderness.

    "There''s not a single shred of Yin energy here... The Yin energy of the Daolord of the Beast has disappeared, and most of the Yin spirits have also disappeared... Hell has finally made its move! Could it be that the tremors I felt at Lan Xang University really did stem from the sh between Hell and the Daolord of the Beast? Judging from these scenes, it appears that Hell has secured the final victory! How is that possible? No more than a few years ago, the King Yanluo himself had to attend to us in person! How has Hell managed to conquer the distantnd of the Westriver Province in such a short time?!"

 Chapter 761: Preparations to Found a Nation

    <h4>Chapter 761: Preparations to Found a Nation</h4>

    There wasn''t even a single Yin spirit to be seen along the way; it was as if the entirety of Hell had been purged. In fact, they hadn''t even encountered any monarch beasts.

    Whoosh... The curtain was gently lowered. Aside from the cloaked figure, there was another young Yin spirit in the carriage who was dressed in white.

    The carriage was very spacious andvishly designed with soft padded seats thatpletely negated the hardness of the carriage''s boards. At the center of the carriage stood an ornate table, on either side of which was a luxurious fur bed. The cloaked man was lying on one of the beds, and he asked, "Hell has struck. What do you think of this, Ziming?"

    The man in white was the one being referred to as Ziming, and thehermes in his eyes flickered slightly. Only after a long while did he reply, "I think things aren''t looking very good for us."

    "Oh?" The man''s voice held a questioning tone, but he didn''t seem to be surprised to hear this.

    Ziming continued, "Only a few years ago, Hell had nothing, but now, it''s already made a move against the Daolord of the Beast. ording to our sources, the Daolord of the Beast is the most powerful one among the three daolords. Regardless of the oue of the battle, it''s clear that Hell already has the power to directly face the Daolord of the Beast, which means that its power is at leastparable with the second-rate Underworlds in this world. If they were evenly matched, then there wouldn''t be a problem, but if Hell had won the battle..."

    Ziming paused here momentarily before heaving a forlorn sigh. "Then we''re definitely going to be targeted next. With the Hell bearing down on us from above, and Yu Qian and Yang Jiye pressuring us from below, we have no choice but to betray the nation. Commander, from now on, every step we take must be taken with the utmost caution; there''s no longer any time left for us to hesitate."

    Zhou Yu slowly picked up his teacup, and he remainedpletely expressionless. Only after a brief pause did he remove the teacup''s lid and take a sip of tea, then heaved a faint sigh. "Betraying the nation is not something that we can consider; that is the bottom line of the twelve envoys. I''m willing to bet that even if Liu Yu is on the verge of turning on the Cathayan Underworld, there''s no way he would truly betray the nation, and he''s not the only one; the same applies to the Prince of Lanling, Ma Fubo, and Han Qinhu. The only one that I''m unsure about is the official of Sindhu, Gao Jianli; he seems to have virtually cut all ties with Cathay."

    He gently ced down his teacup before continuing, "Let''s wait and see. Soon, we''ll be able to learn the oue of this battle, and that will allow us to make a decision..."

    The carriage was traveling very quickly, and after just a few hours, it had already arrived at the Westriver Province from the border. However, the closer they drew to the entry checkpoint, the grimmer their expressions became.

    There were troops stationed at the entry checkpoint, and they were brandishing gs that clearly didn''t belong to the Daolord of the Beast; these were the red gs of the mortal realm!

    Zhou Yu and L¨¹ Ziming exchanged a wary nce upon seeing this. The answer was now very obvious: it was clear that Hell had won this battle.

    "You go to the border of Hell first," Zhou Yu instructed with a solemn expression, "Order the gift-bearing convoy parked there to enter the territory of the Cathayan Underworld right away."

    "My Lord..." L¨¹ Ziming paused momentarily before asking, "Should we wait for the other envoys?"

    "No!" Zhou Yu''s voice suddenly spiked up a few octaves as theherfire in his eyes shimmered and danced. "The race is on to get to the City of Salvation, and the one who gets there first will have an advantage. Han Qinhu and Ma Fubo have also set off, so perhaps they''ll get there before us!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    "The nation has been united! The new capital will be Everburn City, and the Third Era of Hell is about to officially found a nation!"

    "Under the shrewd leadership of Yanluo Qin, the mighty army of Hell was able to unite the nation that has been fractured for over a century in the span of just three years! All 9.6 million square kilometers of Hell have been united as one!"

    One attention-grabbing title after another was released in a frenzy by Hell''s media outlets, spreading the news across the entire nation!

    From the Westriver Province, the Cloudriver Province, and the Rich Province in the west, to Mongolia in the north, to Ashmound in the east, to the Pearl Delta in the south... Every single township and city received a flood of media reports, and all of the Yin spirits across thend, even those who hadn''t experienced everything from start to finish like the citizens of Everburn, were struck by a sense of patriotic pride.

    There was finally an administration! Finally, they wouldn''t have to wander aimlessly across thend anymore! Finally, they could hold their heads up high and dere that they''re from the Cathayan Underworld!

    To call it a nationwide celebration would be an exaggeration. After all, the nation had only just been united, and no official nation had even been founded yet. Furthermore, it wasn''t like some despotic and tyrannical dynasty had been overthrown to give rise to this new administration, so most of theherworldly citizens didn''t feel much of a sense of belonging yet. Even so, the news of the nation''s unification filled everyone''s hearts with excitement and joy.

    Currently, Ashmound City is a thriving hub of activity. All of the provincial governors and city mayors had arrived a week ago, and they immediately held a series of conferences. There were a minimum of two conferences a day, during which the current state of the provinces and cities were discussed, alongside the central policies of Hell and education on the spirit of Hell... The conferences came thick and fast, but no one wasining.

    Everyone knew that these weren''t just pointless educational conferences. These conferences were being held with the very real intention of deciding on a direction for this new dynasty. The path of development that was decided upon here would affect the future of every city and province for a very long time. If these leaders weren''t interested in actively involving themselves in this process, there were more than enough Yin spirits to rece them.

    The resources for each province and city, the tallies of specialty local products, the ns for the future direction of development... Everything was being rapidly sent out, and Qin Ye was so busy that he barely had any time for himself. Even the Harken and Zhao Yun had gotten involved, but they were stillcking in manpower. Around a dozen developmental discussion groups were temporarily set up, and it was only with their help that Qin Ye and the others were able to get any respite.

    Qin Ye didn''t even have time to ask questions about the forsakennd as every second of his days were spent meeting the governors of the provinces to discuss developmental ns. There was also the matter of moving capitals, which was being overseen by Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada, who were periodically reporting their progress to Qin Ye. In addition to that, schrs such as Zu Chongzhi, Wu Daozi, and Lu Ban were grabbing any opportunity they could to be granted an audience with Qin Ye in order to discuss with him all of the finer details surrounding the Third Era of Hell.

    "Yanluo Qin." Wang Chenghao made his way over to Qin Ye quietly in the spacious conference hall before whispering into his ear, "Sir Zhou Yu of the twelve envoys has arrived."

    Qin Ye was lying in his chair like apletely wrung-out rag, looking up at the ceiling with a dazed expression. His arms hung limply down the sides of the chairs as he immediately replied in an imcable voice, "Tell him I''m not seeing him!"

    I''ve got no time to chat with the likes of him!

    "What if they leave, Brother Qin?"

    "Then let them leave!" Qin Ye was taking full advantage of this brief period of respite to respawn the brain cells he had lost. "Just record their names, and I''ll get to them when I''m ready. There''s no need to inform me of insignificant matters like this in the future. Just you watch: not a single one of them will dare to leave!"

    Do they still think that this is the same Hell from six years ago, where I had to suck up to them like an obedient dog? If you want to stay, then stay; if you don''t, then piss off!

    Wang Chenghao nodded in response before quietly exiting the room, and only then did Qin Ye take a deep breath before getting into a more appropriate sitting posture. His eyes werepletely bloodshot as he took a sip of tea, then asked, "Where were we?"

    "We were discussing the era name." The only ones currently present were Zhao Yun, the Harken, Lu Ban, Arthis, and Wu Daozi. The development of the provinces, cities, and counties could be dyed, but national matters such as what political system was to be employed, what aesthetic was to be adopted, and what era name was to be decided upon were far more urgent. Furthermore, these matters could only be decided upon by this core circle of individuals present.

    Arthis handed him a list and said, "This is what the panel of advisors decided on; take a look."

    Qin Ye epted the list, and the first thing that he saw was the character "hua".

    "This was decided in ordance with our corresponding nation in the mortal realm, and most era names of the Underworlds are decided like this. In addition to that, the ''hua'' character alludes to luxury and beauty , so it''s very fitting both in terms of geographic relevance and meaning."

    Qin Ye offered no response to this as he moved onto the next character: "han".

    "Firstly, Han refers to the dominant ethnic group of Cathay. Secondly, Cathayans are referred to as the Han people by the rest of the world, and thirdly, the history of the character can be traced back thousands of years, as evidenced by the fact that the second dynasty in Cathayan History was the Han Dynasty."

    Qin Ye continued to remain silent. These two era names didn''t match what he wanted.

    The Underworld was the Underworld, while the mortal realm was the mortal realm; there was no need for Hell to incorporate cultural elements of the mortal realm into its era name. He wanted to set an era name that was either unique or described him.

    For example, the "Shuai" Nation...

    That''s even a homonym of the term "shuai guo"! Qin Ye found that to be very fitting.

    In all honesty, he couldn''t think of any era name more fitting for Hell, but unfortunately, he didn''t dare to propose such an era name as he still valued his life.

    Zhao Yun would be reluctant to raise any objections, but he could sense that the Harken was constantly ready to pounce the moment he proposed any preposterous era names.

    It seems that not all dogs are man''s best friends...

    After turning down a series of era names such as Tang, Xi, Tai, Rong, and Sheng, there were still several dozens of characters left, and he couldn''t help butin, "I know that naming our nation something like the Shuai Nation would be preposterous, but who suggested characters like Tai, Tian, Mei, and Yan" The Tai Nation ? The Tian Nation ? The Mei Nation ? The Yan Nation ? Can we actually think about this? If you ask me, we should just keep it simple and call it the Kingdom of Lordaeron ! And how about we change the name of Everburn City to Stormwind City ?"

    Wu Daozi faltered slightly upon hearing this.

    <i>Stormwind City is a very nice name; why does it feel like it would be very appropriate to have an apanying city by the name of Ironforge ?</i>

    "Right, and while we''re at it, why don''t we name the city''s guardian Medivh and force all of our allies to call themselves the Night Elves ?" Arthis scoffed in a cold voice.

    Qin Ye was astonished to hear this. Have you already evolved to this extent? Has your knowledge already gone beyond the continent of Valoran and reached the continent of Azeroth ?

    One name after another was rejected, and most of them were turned down by Qin Ye. The entire list of suggested era names was considered, but no consensus could be reached.

    The room had fallenpletely silent.

    The era name was the face of a nation, and no one wanted an imperfect era name.

    Amid the silence, Qin Ye suddenly suggested, "How about Qin? The Qin Dynasty ?"

    Wu Daozi sat bolt upright in his chair before rxing again. "Are you not opposed to era names that have already appeared in history?"

    Qin Ye really wanted to p the list in his hand across this clueless schr''s face.

    You''ve already suggested Siam and Usonia, both of which are nations that currently exist, yet you dare to criticize me for suggesting the name of a past dynasty?!

    "The character ''qin'' alludes to abundance and prosperity," Zhao Yun mused. "Cathay is the first nation in history toplete the monumental feat of unification , and Qin is also our Yanluo''s surname, so I think it''s very appropriate."

    This was noughing matter, and everyone immediately fell into silent contemtion as they mulled over this suggestion.

    They had thought that this was nothing more than an errant character thrown out by Qin Ye, but the more they thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed!

    Several minutester, the Harken said in a contemtive manner, "The ''qin'' character holds significant cultural importance in the history of Cathay. On top of that, the founding of the new Hell can be seen as the beginning of a new cycle of reincarnation, heralding another era of 3,000 years. I also think it''s very appropriate."

    After carefully mulling over the matter for five minutes, Wu Daozi rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a serious manner as he said, "The nation has only just been united, and the abundance and prosperity that the character ''qin'' alludes to is very good symbolism for this budding nation. In addition to that, there''s the cultural relevance... I also support this proposal!"

    "I also concur!" Arthis dered as she stood up with a serious expression.

    At times, inspiration really did strike out of nowhere. Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief, and said, "In that case, then let''s take this to a vote. Those who are in support of Qin as the era name of Hell, raise your hand."

    Everyone present immediately raised their hands in unison.

    "Good!" Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the scene of peace and prosperity outside his window as he dered, "Inform all departments that from this day forth, the Cathayan Underworld shall officially change its name to the Qin Dynasty!"

    [1] [The raw term for Cathay is »ª¹ú, and the »ª character is pronounced as "hua", while ¹ú just means nation/country.]

    [2] [The literal definition of »ª is magnificent/prosperous]

    [3] [The character used here is Ë§ (shuai), which literally trantes to handsome.]

    [4] [This will be a slightly long-winded exnation, so please bear with me. The term "shuai guo" (Ë§¹ø) refers to how the term "shuai ge" (Ë§¸ç, which trantes to handsomed) is pronounced in ces in China such as Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan, where the characters ¸ç (ge) and ¹ø(guo) are pronounced the same due to their dialects. The terms Ë§¹ú (shuai nation) and Ë§¹ø (alternative pronunciation of handsomed) are homonyms, so essentially, if he were to name his nation the Shuai Nation, the era name would be alluding to his handsomeness.]

    [5] [Written as Ì©¹ú, which literally trantes to Thand.]

    [6] [Written as Ìì¹ú, which literally trantes to Heaven.]

    [7] [Written as ÃÀ¹ú, which literally trantes to America.]

    [8] [Written as æÌ¹ú, which is a homonym to ÑË¹ú, which, in turn, literally trantes into "castrated nation".]

    [9] [For those of you uninitiated in the sphere of esports, such as myself, the Kingdom of Lordaeron is a setting in the popr game "World of Warcraft''''.]

    [10] [Yet again, another city from World of Warcraft.]

    [11] [Once again, another city from World of Warcraft.]

    [12] [These are also all WoW references.]

    [13] [Valoran is a continent in the game League of Legends.]

    [14] [The Qin Dynasty was the first empire in the history of China,sting only 15 years from 221 to 206 BC, but its cultural importance is felt even to this day.]

    [15] [This is significant because the Qin Dynasty was also the first dynasty to have unified the entire nation of China.]

 Chapter 762: The Second Coming of the Qin Dynasty

    <h4>Chapter 762: The Second Coming of the Qin Dynasty </h4>

    Zhou Yu was staying in a peaceful courtyard.

    The scenery here was quite elegant, and it wasplete with a pavilion. There was a small mountain and a flowing stream with lotus flowers growing on its surface. He also had all the servants that he needed, but there was a restriction ced upon him: he wasn''t allowed to roam the city as he pleased.

    He hadn''t left the courtyard since his arrival, and currently, he was standing in silence on the top floor of the pavilion, appraising the scenery outside with a grim expression.

    The pavilion wasn''t extremely tall, but it allowed him to clearly see the streets outside, and he was greeted by the sight of a prosperous city. The streets were packed withherworldly citizens, but order was maintained extremely well, and even in the rare case that the asional conflict broke out, enforcement squads would quickly arrive on the scene to settle the unrest.

    "Gongjin." Right at this moment, a voice rang out from the staircase.

    Zhou Yu didn''t even turn around as he asked, "Has Brother Jinu arrived?"

    "No." The Prince of Lanling, Gao Changgong, was wearing a white jade crown and a dark silk robe with a jade belt around his waist as he made his way into the room in a graceful manner. "He wouldn''t dare toe. Aside from him and Gao Jianli, everyone else has arrived, and they''re all here in this Xiaoxiang Courtyard."

    He slowly made his way over and arrived beside Zhou Yu. "What are you looking at?"

    Zhou Yu didn''t reply. He was holding a white wine cup, and only after a long while did he down the contents of the cup in one go before replying with a wry smile, "I''m looking at the end of an era."

    Gao Changgong''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, and he said in a slightly strained voice, "Surely you''re being too pessimistic."

    A Yin breeze blew forth, causing the white veils throughout the pavilion to sway gently. At the center of the pavilion was a guqin, a table, and several chairs. Zhou Yu made his way over to the guqin, and despite the fact that he was vastly renowned for his proficiency in ying the instrument, he merely strummed the strings of the guqin once in a frustrated manner, but didn''t continue to y it.

    "I''m referring to the end of a dynasty." His hands were resting on the strings of the guqin, and he wore an extremelyplex expression. "The second Hell has finally vanished and been reced by the thirding of Hell; is that not the end of an era?"

    Gao Changgong looked down at his wine cup as he replied, "But it''s also a new beginning."

    Zhou Yu gently strummed one of the guqin''s strings as he sighed, "That may be true, but it''s also the end for us."

    "Oh?"

    "Brother Changgong, is there really any need for us to exercise such caution against one another?" Zhou Yu turned to him with a cold expression as he said, "Aside from Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, none of the twelve envoys havee here! Do you think that the King Yanluo will just let this slide? No, he''ll only reward those who have been loyal to him, while we''re all in the same boat! My situation is not so bad as I at least have some ties with Hell. However, that''s nowhere near enough to atone for the crimes we''vemitted, where we refused to bow to the King Yanluo and refused to return to Hell!"

    His voice suddenly grew louder, piercing through the air like a sharp sword. "At this point, General Ma Fubo is already struggling to sleep at night, and Han Fuhu has visited Lord Qin''s assistant bearing news of a precious mine above A-grade quality, but was refused an audience on four different asions. Currently, he''s on the way to request an audience with Lord Qin for the fifth time! Guo Ziyi, Ban Dingyuan, Wang Meng, Cha Han... All of them are like hot cats on a tin roof, and they can''t even find someone to ept their gifts!"

    He turned to Gao Changgong with a meaningful look as he asked, "If you''re not just as anxious, then why did youe to see me with that glum look on your face?"

    He strummed the strings of the guqin once again before continuing, "When I said that this is the end, I meant that it''s going to be the end of the good days for us. In the end, all of us are going to have to pay for our actions..."

    An extremely wry smile appeared on his face as he sighed, "The best-case scenario for us would be the confiscation of our military power, following which we''ll be summoned back to the nation to undertake positions in the army headquarters or the ministry of revenue. However, in the worst-case scenario..."

    Gao Changgong gulped nervously as aplex expression shed over his breathtakingly handsome face. "We may be subjected to skyntern punishment or forced to enter the six paths of reincarnation, right?"

    "Can you feel it?" Zhou Yu didn''t offer a direct reply to Gao Changgong''s questions as he rested his hands on the strings of the guqin while looking up into the heavens, and he murmured, "Can you feel the Yin energy of Ashmound?"

    Gao Changgong nodded with a bitter expression. "Lord Harken and Lord Zhao Zilong are both there. At this point, General Zhao has most likely already made a breakthrough to that legendary level."

    Zhou Yu''s voice sounded as if he had something stuck in his throat as he sighed, "Who could''ve anticipated that Hell would be able to tame the three daolords and unite the entire nation within the span of just a few years? Six years ago, it was generous to even call Hell a city. Do you know what I feel now when I look at Ashmound?"

    He didn''t wait for a reply before continuing, "I feel nothing but astonishment. How was he able to develop a city to this extent in such a short span of time? Gatheringherworldly citizens, constructing infrastructure, transferring resources... We''ve all governed territories of our own, so I''m sure we''re all aware of just how difficult it is to develop an area, yet this young King Yanluo managed to do all this in just a few short years! And he hasn''t just earned a passing mark, he''s passed with flying colors! The current Hell is already an unstoppable force."

    He closed his eyes momentarily before continuing in a trembling voice, "Brother Changgong, this is the best advice that I can offer you: if you want to live, then you must know your ce. Don''t regard yourself as some untouchable character anymore. With the arrival of each dynastyes apletely different administration. Don''t think that we''re beyond reproach just because we were awarded the title of the twelve envoys by the previous dynasty. Our positions were given to us by Hell, so Hell can take them back at any time, and right now, it has the power to do so."

    "My Lord!" Right at this moment, L¨¹ Meng rushed up the staircase, and he was very out of breath as he frantically waved a newspaper that he was holding. "I have important news!"

    Before he had a chance to say anything else, the entire city erupted into a raucous frenzy as countless cries of surprise rang out from the streets.

    Countless Yin spirits were reading newspapers all across the city, and their mouths were gaped wide open in shock as theherfire in their eyes flickered erratically.

    "They''re going to found a nation?! I can''t believe this is really happening!"

    "That''s not all, they''ve even listed the departments that the new nation is going to have!"

    "There are new nationalws as well. Ar... Are we going to return to the aesthetic of the past?"

    The voices of theherworldly citizens were so loud that they were audible even in the Xiaoxiang Courtyard, and Zhou Yu hurriedly opened the newspapers before reading its contents with Gao Changgong.

    There were three copies of the newspaper, and their pages were packed with text. There was an extremely eye-catching headline that read: "The official founding ceremony of the Qin Dynasty is going to be held on 1st November, and Everburn has been set as the new capital city!"

    Both Zhou Yu and Gao Changgong''s hearts jolted in unison upon seeing this, and a myriad ofplex emotions, including remorse and shock, shed through their minds. However, this wasn''t the time to wallow in their emotions, and they immediately continued to read the rest of the article.

    Meanwhile, all of the other vassal state officials were also reading this utterly astonishing newspaper.

    "One week ago, Yanluo Qin dered the era name of the new Hell as the Qin Dynasty, and this year will be the first year of the new dynasty. The national g will depict a scarlet dragon holding a red g, and the designs will be red, while the background will be ck. The national flower will be Everburn City''s crimson azalea, and ck will be the nation''s primary color. The aesthetic that has been chosen is one that replicates the style of Cathay''s Ming Dynasty..."

    After that came the structure of the government and a list of all of the departments.

    Zhou Yu refused to ignore even the slightest detail as he carefully read through everything.

    "The Qin Dynasty will incorporate modern elements into the original system of three departments and six ministries, rolling out brand new departments. There will be fewer departments than the 26 departments of the mortal realm''s government, while departments unique to the Underworld will be added, resulting in an initial n of 12 departments."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s foreign exchange department will be overseeing all of Hell''s foreign exchange obligations, and its primary duties are as follows... The minister will be Arakshasa, and the vice-minister will be..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s army headquarters will be responsible for national security, implementing appropriate measures ording to the state of the international Underworlds. Its main duties will include dealing with terrorist attacks, foreign invasions, civil conflicts, and assessing the international state of affairs. The minister will be Oda Nobunaga, and the vice-ministers will be Oda Nobutada, as well as..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s development and reformmittee will be responsible for overseeing the development of the nation and implementing corresponding policies. Its primary duties include... The minister will be..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s ministry of education will oversee education across the nation. Due to the fact that the educational content in the Underworld ispletely different from that of the mortal realm, Zu Chongzhi will temporarily undertake the role of minister, and his specific duties will include..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s Department Six will be the equivalent of the mortal realm''s ministry of public safety. The minister will be Yang Jiye, and his specific duties are as follows..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s ministry of civil affairs will oversee matters concerning civil and political conflicts, as well as the issuance of benefits and pensions."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s ministry of rites will be responsible for implementing policies surrounding foreign exchange and national etiquette, as well as overseeing national media. The minister will be Yu Qian, and his duties include..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s treasury will oversee all banks and national finance..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s ministry of works will oversee all major construction projects..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s department ofbor..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s ministry ofmerce..."

    "The Qin Dynasty''s ministry of special affairs..."

    The more they read, the more deted Zhou Yu and Gao Changgong became.

    The rise of the new administration was already inevitable, and they didn''t have any hope...

    In fact, all hope had been lost for them from the moment Dong Zhuo had been defeated. Now, all they could do was pledge their loyalty to the new administration in exchange for a slim chance at survival.

    Thus, even though Qin Ye was refusing to grant them an audience, they didn''t dare to leave.

    Only after several minutes had passed did they close the newspapers, and right at this moment, amotion rang out from the stairwell. All of the twelve envoys with the exception of Gao Jianli, Yang Jiye, and Yu Qian then quickly made their way into the room.

    Zhou Yu was the earliest to emerge among the twelve envoys, and he was also the undisputed brains of the group.

    Theherfire in Guo Ziyi''s eyes was flickering unsteadily, and he made no attempt to hide his distress. He didn''t even bother to take a seat as he directly made his way over to Zhou Yu and asked, "What do we do?"

    "This is a tant threat from Hell!" Wang Meng''s hands were clenched into tight fists in his sleeves, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "None of us have been summoned even once during the past half a month. All of our requests to be granted an audience have been rejected, and the only instructions we''ve received are to remain calm and wait until the King Yanluo has time to see us!"

    "How are we supposed to remain calm? Are we supposed to just sit around and wait for our executions?!" Ma Fubo mmed a palm down onto the table, almost knocking over the nearby teacups.

    Zhou Yu stroked a hand through his own hair in a calm manner and asked, "General Han, have you been granted an audience with any of the new administration''s officials?"

    "No," Han Qinhu replied with a grim expression. "All of my requests to be granted an audience were rejected, and no one is epting my gifts, no matter how valuable they are. On top of that, this Yanluo Qin is very unforgiving to people who ept gifts and bribes. Any who are found to have epted gifts in secret are immediately subjected to skyntern punishment, so no one dares to ept anything!"

    Deathly silence ensued.

    Even Zhou Yu''s expression had be quite strained. He hadn''t tried to offer any gifts, but he had supported Hell''s crusade with a batch of Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows. However, despite this, not a single official hade to see him thus far.

    Qin Ye had made his attitude very clear.

    Look at Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, they hadn''t even moved from their territories, and they werepletely loyal to the administration, so they had nothing to worry about. In contrast, they hade all the way here in person, but they not only had all of their gifts rejected, they were beingpletely ignored. They were provided with free food and amodation, but they weren''t able to secure audiences with anyone important in the city.

    This was the King Yanluo''s stance.

    How had they treated him back when Hell was in dire need of their help? Qin Ye had to attend to them in person, and even though Hell had managed to secure some minor benefits from their meeting, it was still an insult to Hell and the King Yanluo!

    This was the price that they were going to have to pay for disrespecting the King Yanluo!

    "Let''s go," Zhou Yu sighed as he rose to his feet. "Help me change."

    "Where are you going?" Han Qinhu asked through gritted teeth, "How are you still in the mood to explore the city at a time like this? Can''t you sense the swords hanging above all of our heads?"

    "I don''t want to be subjected to skyntern punishment! I don''t want to suffer the same fate as Liu Yu! I don''t want to be forced to enter the six paths of reincarnation! I want to live!"

    "Who doesn''t want to live?!" Zhou Yu abruptly turned around as he red up with rage for the very first time. "We have toe together and beg to be granted an audience from Yanluo Qin! Do you still think you''re the untouchable Lord of Sanfotsi?! If you don''t want to be fuel for the skynterns, thene with me to kneel outside Reflection Pce now!"

 Chapter 763: Meeting the Envoys Again

    <h4>Chapter 763: Meeting the Envoys Again</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    "In order to usher in a renaissance, we have to make sweeping changes across the board. Firstly, the quality and production capabilities of the clothing industry must be able to keep up..."

    Inside the conference hall, Wu Daozi was wearing a pair of reading sses as he read his report aloud. "Aesthetic standards must be implemented first by the upper sses and nobility, and the masses will gradually follow. If we want to restore the aesthetic standards of Cathay rather than follow the aesthetic standards of the rest of the world, then we''ll have to get rid of things like jeans, t-shirts, and makeup from Nippon and Daehan, and these changes must be adopted by the leaders first and foremost..."

    Qin Ye took a sip of tea from his cup before smiling as he praised, "Looks like you''ve done your homework, Elder Wu, you even know about jeans and t-shirts. I must say that I''m impressed."

    It was currently 5th September.

    Three months had passed since the conquest of Lotus City and the unification of the nation.

    In contrast with the mountainous pile of duties that had to be taken care of initially, things were now a lot less hectic. The foundation had been set, and all that was left were the finer details. All of the important matters that had to be discussed during official conferences had been addressed, and there was now even enough time in the day for Qin Ye to take one-hour lunch breaks.

    It had to be said that after holding so many conferences, Qin Ye had grown very much ustomed to it all. Currently, there were over thirty thousand public servants in the city of Ashmound, and through their tireless efforts, preparations for the founding ceremony wereing along nicely.

    Wu Daozi smiled and said, "I''ve always been in support of your practical and hands-on approach, Lord Qin. To talk about something while not fully understanding it is extremely irresponsible and pointless. As ancient schrs of Cathay, Li Chun, Lu Ban, and I should all be entitled to speak on these matters."

    Of course! If the saint of art and saint of architecture don''t have speaking rights on these matters, then who does?

    Following the conclusion of Wu Daozi''s report, another minister stood up. "Yanluo Qin, currently, all of the Yin spirits across thend are experiencing a period of rapid development. The total poption of the Qin Dynasty has already reached a billion, and all of the major roads across the nation have been connected. The quality of life for all Yin spirits is rising day by day, and the number of registeredpanies has reached in excess of 10,000, but this is still far from enough to support nationwide demand. On top of that, if we want to usher in a renaissance, then we''ll need a massive amount of wood to support our construction projects. Even if we want to replicate the construction style of old,rge amounts of wooden construction material will still be required to support our buildings. At the moment, we''re still unsure of which forests we can fell and which type of wood is best for construction. All of the natural resources are currently unfamiliar to us, and step-by-step experimentation will be required to find the best materials..."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "We''re currently suffering from an industrial vacuum, and the only city that has aplete industrial production line is Ashmound. However, this is only the beginning of our new dynasty. Even if everything looks fine and prosperous now, we still have to proceed with caution and budget meticulously. The Cathay of the mortal realm is also in the same position, is it not? All we have to do is endure this period, which willst a maximum of five years. If anyone dares to rise up in rebellion, kill them without any exceptions, and there''s no need to report such matters to me."

    "Understood." The minister who had just spoken heaved an internal sigh of relief. Theck of manufacturing capability wasn''t something to fear as long he had a psychological pir to lean on. However, Yanluo Qin wasn''t a leader who was interested in depicting himself as an omnipotent god. Furthermore, the mortal realm had already developed to a certain extent, and following their deaths, the Yin spirits that arrived in Hell would definitely be extremely displeased by the vast disparity in living conditions. With no promise of a better future, their dissatisfaction would inevitably lead to rebellion, and this had been seen on many asions in the past few years.

    In the past, this issue could be ignored as the unification of the nation was far more important and had to be prioritized. However, now that the nation was united, relevant rules had to be set, and the authority that Qin Ye had given the minister instilled him with a great deal of confidence.

    Right at this moment, Wang Chenghao made his way over to Qin Ye before whispering into his ear, "Brother Qin, the twelve envoys are here."

    "Which one?" Qin Ye asked as he took a casual sip of his tea.

    "All of them," Wang Chenghao replied with a smile, "They''re currently waiting in the office next door. Would you like to meet them?"

    "Looks like they''re notpletely irredeemable after all," Qin Ye said as a faint smile appeared on his face.

    The fact that they hade to him one by one and tried to smooth things over by offering gifts was a sign that they were still unwilling toy down their pride.

    They had disrespected the King Yanluo, and it was not a transgression to be taken lightly!

    The only hope for them was toe together and atone for their misdeeds in earnest, and even then, whether Qin Ye decided to see them would depend on whether he was in a good mood on that day. If they had refrained from acting before the official founding of the nation, then Qin Ye would be forced to consider more cruel and forceful courses of action.

    Anyone who dared to defy the administration of the new Hell would be new neighbors for the ck Yaksha.

    "I have something important that needs to be taken care of, so please excuse me for a moment and oversee this meeting in my stead." After issuing that request to the Harken, he made his way out of the conference hall with Wang Chenghao and arrived at the office next door.

    The office in question was another smaller conference hall with an elegant embroidered screen in the back, and over 20 taishi chairs in the style of the Ming Dynasty spread around the room. An ornate pcentern hung down from the ceiling, and beautiful golden vases carrying crimson azaleas were situated in the corners of the room. There was also another screen embroidered with peonies at the entrance, presenting avish and refined atmosphere.

    As soon as Qin Ye made his way around the screen and strode into the room, all of the envoys werepletely dumbstruck.

    Ma Fubo unconsciously tightened his grip, causing the wooden armrests to creak and groan. Thehermes in Zhou Yu''s eyes flickered wildly while Ban Chao''s mouth gaped open slightly as he shook his head in disbelief, and Guo Ziyi''s lips were tightly pursed as his mouth suddenly became as parched as a desert.

    All of a sudden, deathly silence had descended upon the conference hall.

    He''s be an Abyssal Prefect!! How has he reached this level in such a short time?!

    It wasn''t that they hadn''t sensed the aura of an Abyssal Prefect in the city, but never did they think that the aura would belong to Qin Ye. With the likes of the Harken and Zhao Yun present in the city, no one dared to recklessly examine exactly whom this Abyssal Prefect level aura belonged to, and now that they were seeing this Abyssal Prefect in person, they were allpletely rooted to their seats.

    "To think that he''s be an Abyssal Prefect in such a short time..." Han Qinhu was vigorously stroking his own beard as he murmured to himself in a trembling voice, "How is this even possible?! He was only an Anitya Hellguard a few years ago!"

    Qin Ye paid no heed to the astonished envoys as he strode over to the taishi chair at the very center before taking a seat. Only after taking a sip of tea did he finally smile and acknowledge everyone in the room. "Apologies for dying this meeting for so long, I was very busy with the matters concerning the founding of a new nation."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Zhou Yu rose to his feet and fell to his knees in an extremely decisive manner.

    He hadn''t just knelt down on one knee, he was kneeling on both knees as he kowtowed with the utmost respect and reverence. "Zhou Gongjin pays his respect to His Majesty!"

    All of the other envoys immediately returned to their senses upon hearing this, and they immediately followed suit. All of a sudden, a whole collection of vastly renowned historical figures had knelt down in a row before Qin Ye, and their voices rang out in unison. "We pay our respects to His Majesty!!"

    Qin Ye didn''t seem to have witnessed their gesture at all, and he merely took another sip of tea before casually remarking, "The tea is not bad."

    Despite his casual disy, he swept a piercing gaze across the envoys gathered before him as he spoke and none of them disyed any abnormal reactions.

    This was undeniably an insult to all of them. Every single one of these envoys were vastly renowned figures in the history books of Cathay, and even when meeting the emperors of their respective eras, they would be treated with a great deal of respect. There was no way that anyone would leave them hanging like this.

    However, on this day, thousands of years after their passing from the mortal realm, they were once again feeling the weight of an emperor''s might.

    None of them dared to make a false move.

    Qin Ye casually set down his teacup as he appraised the envoys with a smile and said, "What a surprise it is to be seeing all of you again. Did you bring your respective armies this time?"

    On theirst meeting, the envoys had been apanied by their armies.

    "We wouldn''t dare to bring our armies, Your Majesty." Han Qinhu felt as if his heart had been plunged into a cial pit. Qin Ye''s aura waspletely dominating his, and it was clear that Qin Ye''s confidence stemmed from power. Predicting what Qin Ye was about to ask next, he hurriedly added, "We only brought our armiesst time for... for protection..."

    "Protection?" Qin Ye rested his chin on his hand as he appraised Han Qinhu with an amused expression. "For whose protection? For mine or... for yours?"

    Qin Ye''s voice took a cold and menacing turn as he enunciated thosest two words.

    Han Qinhu felt as if his heart had frozen solid, and his entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.

    He gulped nervously as he replied in the most respectful voice he could muster up, "Of course it''s for your protection, Your Majesty. Everything I have was granted by your kindness. There''s no way I would dare to consider betraying you even for a split second!"

    "You say you wouldn''t dare to betray me?!" Qin Ye suddenly snapped in a thunderous voice as his Abyssal Prefect level Yin energy swept through the entire rooms, and all of the envoys immediately pressed themselves even more tightly against the ground.

    "Back when Hell was first founded, I was in desperate need of support. Initially, I was unaware of your existence, but when I learned about all of you, I was ecstatic. After that, I learned about the imperial court meeting, and all of you sure put me in my ce there!"

    A cold smile appeared on his face as he appraised the envoys, none of whom dared to utter even a single word. "Yu Qian and Yang Jiye remained loyal to me despite my situation at the time, but what about all of you? You tried to stage a coup!!"

    "We wouldn''t dare!!" 10 voices instantly rang out in unison, and even Zhou Yu''s forehead had almoste into contact with the ground.

    It didn''t matter that he was a vastly renowned figure in history, there were countless figures of immense historical renown serving under Hell''s administration.

    "After the founding of the nation, I was nning to take care of disloyal subordinates like you, but you''ve made my job much easier ande to see me." Qin Ye smiled as he continued, "I don''t want to waste any more time here, so I''ll make things clear for you. Currently, you have two options, the first of which is to leave the Cathayan Underworld. The Qin Dynasty doesn''t need disloyal emissaries, and if you think you have what it takes to fend for yourselves, then you''re free to leave, but you''ll be forbidden to remain in Hell''s territory. Your second option is to relinquish your military power and send all of your troops to Everburn City within three months. After that, you can choose which department you would like to serve at, and you can atone for your crimes through your service. Rest assured, I''m not a petty ruler. History has already proven your capabilities, and as long as you wholeheartedly submit to me, you''ll be entrusted with many important duties in the future."

    After that, Qin Ye sat back down and picked up his teacup again, awaiting the response of the envoys in silence.

    All of the envoys were inplete despair.

    Who didn''t lust for power and status?

    They had been given an option to leave the Cathayan Underworld, but all of them knew that there was no way they would actually be allowed to leave alive. Essentially, their options were to either oppose the Qin Dynasty or to serve under Hell''s administration; there was no middle ground.

    Several secondster, Han Qinhu was the first one to raise his head as he dered in a decisive voice, "Your Majesty, I was disrespectful to you during the imperial court meeting, but never have I considered betraying the Cathayan Underworld. I''m willing toy down my military power with immediate effect and work toward establishing a trade route between Sanfotsi and Cathay!"

    With him setting the example, everyone else naturally quickly followed suit.

    "Lord Tangming, Zhou Gongjin, is willing to disband all of Tangming''s armed forces and establish a trade route."

    "Lord of the Khmer Empire, Guo Zi Yi, is willing to disband all of Khmer''s armed forces and establish a trade route."

    "Lord of Bagan, Ma Fubo, is willing to disband all of Bagan''s armed forces and establish a trade route."

    "Lord of Mya, Ban Chao, is willing to serve as your loyal subordinate!"

    "As the Lord of Singapura, I, Wang Meng, hereby dere that from this day forth, Singapura will be the Qin Dynasty''s back garden!"

    The envoys had all pledged their subordination!

    Qin Ye was momentarily ovee by a myriad of emotions. Sure enough, power was the foundation for speaking rights. During the imperial court meeting, he had been far more amicable toward the envoys, but did it win him any favors?

    What he wanted was not just to take the envoys'' military power; he was even more interested in the local products that the 10 nations had to offer. Currently, the Cathayan Underworld was suffering from a desperate shortage of resources, and progress would be significantly elerated once all of the trade routes were established!

    He didn''t benefit at all from killing these envoys. They were all extremely capable individuals, and it would be far better to make use of them than to take their lives.

    "I''m d to see that all of you are intelligent individuals." He smiled as he rose to his feet, then promptly departed, leaving behind one final piece of parting dialog. "Tomorrow, each of you can choose a department to join, and Assistant Wang will inform you of your specific positions and duties. I hope you can all create glorious legacies for yourselves here in the Qin Dynasty."

 Chapter 764: Video Teleconference

    <h4>Chapter 764: Video Teleconference</h4>

    Chapter 764: Video Teleconference

    After five consecutive months of hectic work, including all types of conferences and matters that had to be taken care of, Hell finally weed some respitemencing from 5th October.

    Of course, this only applied to the normal public servants. They looked on through bloodshot eyes as the red circle of approval was finally inscribed onto their nned schedule, and collective earth-shattering cheers instantly rang out across the entirety of Reflection Pce, as well as several of the nearby office pavilions that had been temporarily rented.

    The past five months of intensive work had been extremely arduous. They worked day and night, and Yin spirits didn''t need to rest, so they would only meditate with their eyes closed for an hour whenever their souls were truly unable to handle any further punishment. After that hour, they would dive back into the endless piles of documents that awaited them.

    They had to make detailed ssifications of all living beings, including Yin beasts and even insects, across the entire nation, as well as tally their numbers...

    They also had to make thorough reports of all of the resources in the nation...

    There was also the development of the remaining major roads that had to be addressed, and every single day, there were countless charts and maps being sent to Ashmound City from all around the country...

    In addition to that, there was the registration and distribution of identification documents to allherworldly citizens across the nation...

    Then came the assessment, ssification, and tallying of specific registrations in the manufacturing and business industries...

    After that was registration, assessment, and development of all of the nation''s tourist attractions...

    And that was only barely scratching the surface.

    The entire Qin Empire had be a well-oiled machine, and all of these public servants were like cogs that ensured the machine''s smooth operation. Only on this day was the first phase of work prior to the official founding of the nationpleted.

    This work hadn''t just begun five months ago. In reality, it hadmenced as far as close to four years ago, when Hell had first deployed its troops all over the nation. With each province that was conquered, an enormous amount of work was created, and when it was confirmed that a nation was to be founded, a gargantuan war of statistics inevitably followed.

    Of course, there were countless changes in personnel during this period of time. Some were not suited to this type of work and were transferred to other workces, while others excelled and persevered to the very end.

    Unfortunately for Qin Ye, Arthis, Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, the Harken, Zhao Yun, and all of the other high-ranking officials, there was still no time for them to rest.

    "There are roughly 800,000 species of Yin beasts, including birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Among them are around 1,800 species of freshwater-dwelling Yin beasts, fish... and roughly 600 species of insects, as well as other categories such as invertebrates. " Qin Ye gently set down the report in his hand as he cast his gaze toward everyone present. "127 monarch beasts were discovered, and 27 have been in, while the remaining 100 have expressed a clear intention to submit to our administration."

    This was a spacious conference hall, and there were currently at least 100 Emissaries of Hell present, all of whom were rapidly taking records.

    On this day, a work summary meeting was being held, heralding the conclusion of this phase of work. The next phase that was to follow was the founding of the nation!

    Everyone was under immense pressure and stress every single day during this time, but no one wasining. A brand new empire was slowly being forged by their efforts, and the sense of achievement they derived from this was enough to motivate them through any degree of suffering!

    They were ying a role in the establishment of a dynasty and witnessing the birth of a new era! They were so close to the finish line; no one would dare to getcent at this critical juncture.

    "And that''s only the animal species; there''s an even greater number of nt species, but I won''t go into detail there. What I want to say is..." Qin Ye''s voice was trembling slightly with excitement as he spoke. "That ournd is very wealthy, but this wealth is hidden in nature, and our job is to uncover it and make it our wealth. This responsibility will rest on all of your shoulders."

    He took a sip of tea before continuing, "Before we tap into the vast treasures of thend, we''re still an impoverished nation. The Yin spirits thate down from the mortal realm won''t care about how massive a change this government has just undergone, nor whether Hell has copsed before in the past. All they''ll care about is their quality of life. Of course, there''s a vast disparity between the quality of life here and that of the mortal realm, and what we have to do is convince theseherworldly citizens to ignore this disparity. Five years... Maybe even three years is all it''ll take for us to recover by a considerable extent. I''m confident that we''re capable of doing this, but during this time, I''ll be counting on all of you."

    He rose to his feet and extended a deep bow toward everyone present. All of the Yin spirits present were stunned for a moment before erupting into thunderous apuse.

    The meeting concluded, and the top-tier administrators of the Qin Dynasty departed amid a sea of vehement discussion. There was no silence or detachment, everyone was full of motivation and yearning toward the rise of this new empire. They had endured and witnessed too much adversity and hardship in the past, and that was what drove them to strive to make the Qin Dynasty a better ce.

    Arthis, Oda Nobunaga, Zhao Yun, the Harken, and the panel of schrs remained behind. Following a dismissive gesture from Qin Ye, the secretary also exited the room, immediately following which Wang Chenghao instructed the newly assembled group of assistants to close the doors and windows.

    Only then did Qin Yepletely rx as he burst intoughter and raised his teacup as he urged, "There''s no need to look so serious. These past few months have been utterly exhausting for all of us. Let''s all take this time to rx a little."

    "That sounds delightful." Lu Ban was so tired that even thehermes in his eyes had dimmed significantly. During the past few years, he had overseen the creation of the ns and schedules for the cities'' development. The blueprints for virtually all of the major cities in the entire nation had been drawn up by him, but despite his exhaustion, his smile was full of satisfaction and fulfillment. "The establishment of a new dynasty was never going to be easy, there''s so much work to be done!"

    He turned to Qin Ye with a smile and said, "I think that the next task should be the final task and also the most important one leading up to the official founding of the nation."

    No one offered a response to this.

    Everyone knew what task he was referring to: it was the task of informing all of the international Underworlds of the Qin Dynasty''s rise!

    If the Qin Dynasty still wanted to y a role on the international stage in the future, then it would have to inform the entire world of its arrival. This was the duty and responsibility of the four pirs.

    However, at the same time, they were facing a problem, which was that there was no way they could invite emissaries from other Underworlds to attend the founding ceremony!

    After all, no education system had been established yet, and theherworldly citizens of the Qin Dynasty didn''t even know what cultivation was. The power of Hell had to be gradually built up over time, and only with sufficient time would the Qin Dynasty be able to give rise to more Yama-Kings and death gods.

    The Qin Dynasty was undoubtedly going to receive criticism if it were to refuse to allow other Underworlds to attend its founding ceremony, and this was the first international problem that the Cathayan Underworld would have to face.

    "We have to allow other Underworlds to attend," the Harken said in an imcable voice, finally breaking the silence. "We have to think of a way to meet up with emissaries from other Underworlds no matter what. Otherwise, the weight of public opinion will be too heavy for our nation to bear, and the other three pirs will undoubtedly act against us. On top of that..."

    The Harken sighed before continuing, "The power of our nation is still far inferior to that of the top-tier Underworlds. We''ve remained silent for over a century. I''m sure countless first-rate Underworlds are itching tosh out at us. The Russian Underworld has already dared to tantly probe out the state of our nation; the other first-rate Underworlds are most likely also willing to do the same. In addition to that, we have to watch out for the Nordic Underworlds as well. Death Goddess Hel definitely isn''t a kind-hearted woman, and there''s also the likes of Death God Mot from Phoenicia and Death God Azrael of the Judaism religion. They''ve been pining for a spot on the four pirs for far too long. On top of that, the Cathayan Underworld has voted against their application to secure a spot among the four pirs on almost every asion, and they''re even more powerful than the Russian Underworld, so we must be very wary of them..."

    Qin Ye massaged his own be as he asked, "Why? Why is it always Cathay voting against them as opposed to other nations?"

    "Because we''re stubborn and do whatever we want," the Harken replied in a resigned manner.

    That answer is so befitting of the second King Yanluo''s personality that I can''t refute it at all...

    So this is your excuse for leaving me with such a troublesome problem? You''re a terrible ally!

    Everyone fell silent once again.

    They had to invite emissaries from other Underworlds, but they couldn''t allow them into Cathay. This was a self-contradicting problem with no solution!

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye noticed that Wang Chenghao seemed to want to say something, but was looking very hesitant, and he was almost infuriated to the point of bursting intoughter. "If you have something to say, then spit it out! You''ve been my assistant for so many years, why are you regressing in your abilities? Where''s the ir you had as a school bully back in Clear Creek County? Hurry up and tell me what you have to say!"

    "Ahem... That''s all in the past; we all have to grow up at some point, don''t we?" Wang Chenghao cleared his throat in an awkward manner before putting on a serious expression. "We want to inform them, but we can''t let them see, so how about we contact them via a video teleconference?"

    Everyone immediately turned to look at Wang Chenghao, and he couldn''t help but shudder in the face of their collective gaze.

    Is that... Holy shit, it''s approval! They''re all looking at me with approval! I can''t believe I''m seeing approval in Qin Dogballs'' eyes! I can die with no regrets now...

    Indeed, it didn''t take much to make a simple man like him happy.

    "Continue," Qin Ye hurriedly urged as he appraised Wang Chenghao with an intrigued expression. Wang Chenghao immediately exined, "Video teleconference technology is a brand new method ofmunication that allows for the transmission of video and audio data, but doesn''t require a physical meeting. I''m sure all of you are aware of what a video teleconference is. The death gods of each nation are very busy individuals, who would want to fly to another country for no reason? We can use this to our advantage to prevent them from physically visiting our nation..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the Harken red at him and asked, "Video teleconference? How about you tell us the first prerequisite to this piece of technology?"

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn sigh. The first prerequisite was electricity. Without electricity how were they supposed to be able to pull this off?

    "Well..." Wang Chenghao scratched his own head in a hesitant manner as he asked, "We only need to connect with the death gods of all of the world''s Underworlds, right? Isn''t that only a total of 30 to 40 people at most?"

    "So? That still doesn''t answer the question of where we''re going to get electricity from," Qin Ye countered.

    If this dumb sack of shit dared to reply with "you are electricty, you are light, you are the only legend...", then he was going to execute him on the spot!

    Instead of giving an immediate reply, Wang Chenghao nced at Zhao Yun, and said, "Well, I figured that General Zhao has used Yin energy as electricity in the past. This method can''t be replicated on a widespread basis, but it should at least be able to facilitate contact with 30 to 40 death gods on a single asion, right? All we need to do is set up a local areawork, which can be aplished by thirteen imperial court guardian squads..."

    Qin Ye: "..."

    The first part was quite legitimate, but what the hell were these thirteen imperial court guardian squads supposed to be?!

    "That''s brilliant!" The Harken mmed the table, and due to excessive excitement, it released a powerful burst of Yin energy, causing the entire table to tremor violently. It was so fascinated by the idea that it was even wagging its tongue as it continued, "That''s a fantastic idea! Also, if General Zhao were to drag them into this Yin energywork, then we''ll be able to infiltrate their nations'' protective arrays..."

    Before the Harken had a chance to finish, Qin Ye had already turned to Zhao Yun. "General Zhao, would that be possible?"

    Zhao Yun immediately rose to his feet before cupping his fist in response. "It is. I am now above the Yama-King level, and a national protective array wouldn''t be enough to keep me out!"

    His voice was filled with unshakeable confidence.

    Qin Ye''s breathing was bing a little heavy as he asked, "Then what if they don''t take the bait?"

    "They wouldn''t dare!" Zhao Yun replied in an imcable voice as his Yin energy erupted forth, and it was as if the entire room had suddenly descended into a boundless abyss, even the Harken''s pupils contracted violently upon seeing this.

    What incredible power!

    Indeed, they were dealing with someone who could infiltrate a nation''s protective array at any time and even approach a death god without their detection; who would dare to turn down an invitation from him?

    "We''re bluffing all of the international Underworlds while secretly infiltrating their protective arrays, killing two birds with one stone... What an incredibly brilliant move!" Zu Chongzhi eximed after half a minute of stunned silence. "There''s currently widespread doubt being directed toward the Cathayan Underworld, this move will teach them a lesson that they won''t forget for at least the next few decades! I can''t wait to see the expressions on those death gods'' faces when they see General Zhao!"

    Indeed, this was a stroke of genius. It was a disy of power to the entire world while also dispelling any potential dissatisfaction that the international Underworlds could develop from being denied a visit to Hell.

    Qin Ye rose to his feet as he ordered, "Assistant Wang, prepare to contact all of the international Underworlds!"

    He licked his lips before continuing, "Tell them that the third Hell is going to be holding its founding ceremony on 1st November! All death gods of all levels are invited to join this video teleconference!"

    Wang Chenghao: "..."

    Hold on, how were you able to think of all of this?! All I offered was the video teleconference idea! I thought you were all harmless littlembs, but you''re all devious wolves!

    [1] [My god, this is a real nostalgia trip LOL. These are the lyrics to a song that was super popr in China close to two decades ago (released in 2003). If you''d like to have a listen to this verse, which is the song''s chorus, here is a link that starts at the corresponding timestamp: https://youtu.be/gr5fNKK2FaA?t=35]

 Chapter 765: Informing the Entire World

    <h4>Chapter 765: Informing the Entire World</h4>

    At the Felipinas Underworld.

    Yang Jiye was seated at the center of a massive city, while below him sat several strange-looking Yin spirits.

    They wore huge masks that concealed the top halves of their faces, giving them an Aztec-like appearance. Some of them were Caucasian missionaries, some were witches wearing pointy hats, and currently, they were all gathered in the same room.

    The Yang n forces were standing guard outside the hall, and Yang Jiye was apanied by Yang Yanzhao. In front of each person in the room was a table that wasden with delectable dishes and exquisite wine.

    A Yin breeze blew past, and the mes of the candles flickered slightly while the gauze veils were also slowly raised up. A brte female Yin spirit wearing a pointy hat and a long ck robe finally came to the end of her patience and rose to her feet before extending a respectful bow. "General Yang."

    She spoke in perfect and fluent Cathayan. "I''vee here at the behest of the Celtic Death God. Seven months ago, extremely powerful Yin energy fluctuations erupted from Hell, and the entire world is wondering what exactly the cause of that was."

    Yang Jiye''s head was resting on his palm, and he seemed to be taking a nap as he sat in his chair. Upon hearing what the woman had to say, he opened his eyes ever so slightly, revealing a sliver ofher fire as he asked in an unhurried manner, "So? Have you forgotten that your Celtic religion only exists right now because you were spared by the army of Thanatos during their conquest of Argos? What makes you think you have the right to question the internal affairs of Cathay?"

    Yang Jiye''s words were extremely scathing, and this was a side to him that Qin Ye had never seen before.

    Thehermes in the female Yin spirit''s eyes red up with rage but then immediately subsided. She gritted her teeth tightly as she imitated the women of Cathay, extending a slight bow as a gesture of respect as she replied, "We wouldn''t dare to be so insolent..."

    "In that case, why are you still sitting here?" Yang Yanzhao asked, "Do you not know your ce, or do the people behind you not know their ce?"

    The woman was gritting her teeth so hard that she felt as if they were about to shatter. "All we want to know is whether Cathay has broken the international anti-forbidden-arts treaty."

    Yang Yanzhao was about to speak again when Yang Jiye gave a shake of his head before asking, "Do you really want to know the truth?"

    All of the foreign emissaries immediately focused their attention on him.

    The Cathayan Underworld was one of the four great historic civilizations, yet its voice hadn''t been heard in over a century, and as a result, it had bepletely shrouded in mystery.

    Yang Jiye chuckled, "This is why I made you all wait."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, another voice suddenly rang out from outside. "The angel is here!"

    Immediately thereafter came the metallic nging sounds of shuffling te armor.

    Yang Jiye instantly rose to his feet before making his way to the very front of the hall, then knelt down onto one knee. "Lord of Luzon, Yang Jiye, respectfully awaits the King Yanluo''s imperial edict!"

    The other emissaries present were very reluctant to kneel, but seeing as Yang Jiye had already knelt down, they had no choice but to follow suit.

    A Soul Hunter level Yin spirit drifted into the room and delivered the imperial edict without any unnecessary time wastage. Yang Jiye read the imperial edict for about two minutes before standing back up, then turned to the foreign emissaries behind him with a smile as he dered, "Two months ago, I submitted a memorial to the King Yanluo, informing of the situation here in Luzon. Now, you can return to your masters with some news. On 1st October, the third King Yanluo of Cathay will be inaugurated, and the Qin Dynasty will be officially founded. All of the death gods across the entire world will be invited to attend. Now then, I''ll be taking my leave."

    This piece of news was like a bolt of lightning, instantly frying the brains of all of the foreign emissaries.

    What?! A third King Yanluo is being crowned? A third dynasty is being founded? All of the death gods across the entire world are invited to attend?

    Everyone waspletely and utterly stunned by this massive bombshell.

    "Y... Your Excellency!!" A heavily-bearded Yin spirit dressed in the attire of a preacher hurriedly stood up as he frantically yelled, "Please borate further... Your Excellency!"

    However, he was stopped in his tracks by a pair of Yin Soldiers.

    All of the foreign emissaries exchanged a nce with one another before immediately departing; no one wanted to dy the deliverance of this piece of news for even a second.

    "A storm ising..." The female brte Yin spirit that had spoken before picked up her skirt in her hands as she rushed toward the pavilion where she was staying, and her voice was trembling from adrenaline. "Cathay is about to awaken... The dragon is finally about to rise from its slumber! I have to inform the death god of this right away! Cathay''s awakening will alter the entire international politicalndscape!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Erebus.

    The meaning of the word was darkness, and this truly was a ce that was filled with boundless darkness.

    There was no light here, not even a single speck ofherfire. There was only absolute darkness, but this was the only path that led into the Argosian Underworld.

    There were countless Yin spirits drifting through the area, all of whom were citizens of Argos and Europa that had passed away during the past centuries and millennia. There was a lost and confused army of crusaders, a witch who was searching for her own head while holding it in her hand, as well as ordinary soldiers roaming through the darkness. However, the majority of the beings here were those ancient Yin spirits.

    They stumbled around searching for food, and they were surrounded by boundless Yin energy, which was the best source of sustenance for them, but the majority of them were doomed to wander through this area forever until the end of time.

    However, regardless of how peculiar their movement patterns were, all of them avoided a series of threads as if they shared some type of tacit understanding.

    These were golden threads that were formed entirely from Yin talismans, and they were changing and shifting with every passing moment. If someone were to venture deep into the darkness, then they would eventually reach a massive statue.

    It was impossible for anyone aside from Yama-Kings to glean the true appearance of the statue, and all of the death gods knew that this was the core of Erebus, the coffin of Hades!

    Erebus was the Argosian Underworld''s national protective array and throughout the past centuries and millennia, countless heroes and Yin spirits had attempted to infiltrate the Argosian Underworld through this array, but the majority of them failed. Only the very few vastly fortunate individuals were able to reach the end of the darkness.

    However, on this day, a burst of dazzling light suddenly appeared in the darkness.

    This was a burst of silver light, and it was moving as fast as the wind!

    In the instant that it appeared, the statue of Hades at the center of the darkness suddenly opened its eyes, casting its gaze into the endless darkness amid a series of mechanical clicks and ngs.

    Immediately thereafter, it lifted the sword in its grasp, and it was moving with such dexterity that it didn''t seem like a statue at all. With the brandishing of its sword, the entire darkness began to surge and churn violently.

    The golden threads danced wildly like aggravated vipers, and darkness surged like turbulent waves of the sea, converging toward the light in a frenzy.

    However, in the next instant...

    Whoosh!

    Something flew past the statue at what seemed like the speed of light, and immediately thereafter, a crack appeared right at the center of the statue''s forehead!

    It was also in the same instant that a pair of bright blue eyes abruptly opened without any warning. The owner of the pair of eyes was situated in an extremely grand andvish pce constructed in the Argosian style.

    The eyes were clearly attached to a humanoid figure, but the Yin energy around the figure was so dense and formidable that it was impossible to make out any of his features aside from his exposed eyes. Just a moment ago, his Yin energy had seemed to be eternally unmoving andpletely unaffected by the passage of time, but right now, it was rippling in a frenzy!

    Someone''s breaking through the Erebus Array!

    "Impossible!" The figure''s hand flew to his forehead as his breathing became more ragged and harsh. "This is impossible! Who could it possibly be? Which death god would stoop to something like this? Could it be that I''m mistaken?"

    "What''s going on, Brother?" Right at this moment, a gentle voice rang out from behind the figure, and another figure that was just as imposing emerged. "Did you also feel it?"

    The figure with the bright blue eyes immediately rose to his feet, and his tightly clenched fists were trembling. "I thought I was mistaken, but if you''ve sensed it as well, then that means someone''s breaking through the Erebus Array! Crusaders, heed my call!!"

    A flurry of flower petals was flung up into the air outside the pce in response to his frantic cry before drifting back down onto the ground, where they transformed into a series of half-kneeling figures amid a sh of radiant white light.

    "Go... Go to the Gates of the Underworld! Help Cerberus stop the invaders!!"

    "Yes!!"

    The crusaders immediately dissipated into specks ofhermes, while the figure with the bright blue eyes sat down onto a chair at the center of the pce, panting heavily as he did so.

    The entire pce was filled with fresh flowers, presenting an extremely beautiful sight to behold, yet there were only two chairs!

    They belonged to the twin gods of Argos, the God of Death, Thanatos, and the God of Sleep, Hypnos!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The silver light continued to pierce through the air like an unstoppable spear,pletely unaffected by the boundless darkness around it. After what seemed like an eternity and countlessyers of darkness, light finally appeared up ahead.

    The sunlight in the sky shone down from above, illuminating the vibrant flowers strewn all over the ground, as well as the ck por trees and coconut trees that would never bear fruit. Amid this beautiful scene stood a gargantuan gate.

    It was impossible to tell just how massive the gate was, one could only say that it was as tall as the heavens and as vast as the earth. Acridva was flowing out from behind the gate and into the fields of flowers, but that only made the flowers bloom with increased vigor.

    These were the Gates of Hell.

    All those who passed through Erebus would arrive here, and after stepping through these gates, one would reach the Argosian Underworld. However, there was currently a giant three-headed dog that was over 50 meters tall standing in front of the Gates of Hell. Scorching mes were erupting out of its mouths, and it had only just awakened as it opened its menacing red eyes.

    At its feet stood tens of thousands of cavaliers in ornate suits of armor.

    This was the three-headed hellhound, Cerberus, the final guardian of the Argosian Underworld.

    All of a sudden, Cerberus sniffed the air before throwing its heads back and howling to the heavens!

    Woof woof woof!!

    A dark veil seemed to have been draped over the entire earth as countless dark clouds converged from all directions, quickly devouring the sun. The darkness continued to spread rapidly, painting thendscape a pitch-ck color. All of a sudden, Yin winds were swept up right in front of the Gates of Hell, forcing back the tens of thousands of cavaliers and the massive Cerberus by close to 20 meters!

    "Get into formation!!" The cavalier at the very forefront yelled as he raised his g, and countless giant shields were instantly raised up. He looked on at the violent Yin winds up ahead and cursed to himself, "What the hell is this thing?"

    It waspletely intangible and it had passed through Erebus without any trouble; he had never witnessed anything like this before!

    Furthermore, this gust of Yin wind was striking him with a sense of extreme peril. He initially thought that this could just be his mind ying tricks on him, but he quickly noticed that thehermes in the eyes of all of the other cavaliers were also flickering erratically.

    They had all sensed the same peril that he did.

    Woof!! Cerberus roared with all its might as its golden pupils turned vertical, but its ferocious roar quickly faded into a long howl of anguish, following which it copsed down onto the ground.

    "Good boy." An amused voice rang out in mid-air, and it was speaking in Cathayan. All of the cavaliers turned toward the tamed Cerberus with stunned expressions, but the more astonishing scene was still toe.

    The Gates of Hell... opened up on their own!

    No one had moved, and the leader of the cavaliers could swear that he hadn''t activated his key, but the gates had been opened all the same.

    It waspletely inexplicable and terrifying, but it was only open for an instant before silently swinging shut again.

    At the same time, both Thanatos and Hypnos rose to their feet in unison inside the divine pce as they eximed, "How is that possible?!"

    "How were the Gates of Hell opened without a key?" Thanatos waspletely rooted to the spot. "Cerberus and the crusaders couldn''t even hold back the invader for half a second! They''re using the top-tier divine military formation of Olympus!"

    A thought suddenly urred to Hypnos, and he began to tremble as he said, "Brother... There''s someone who''s perhaps capable of this..."

    "You mean the second King Yanluo of Hell?!" The pitch of Thanatos''s voice had virtually risen to a screech. "Could it be that he''se out of seclusion?!"

    However, he then immediately calmed down as he shook his head while taking a deep breath topose himself. "No... No, it''s not him. The invader is far inferior in power. The second King Yanluo would be capable of instantly arriving here without any warning, yet this invader had to bypass all of the obstacles in their way one after another. Even so..."

    Both of the Argosian gods gulped nervously as the same thought urred to them.

    Even so, the invader is still a being above the death god level! Since when did beings of this caliber be somon?! The second King Yanluo is already enough; there''s no need for another one!

 Chapter 766: Twin Gods

    <h4>Chapter 766: Twin Gods</h4>

    The light had already passed through the Gates of Hell, where it encountered a massive ck river up ahead.

    This was the Acheron River, the river of pain.

    The ferryman, Charon, was responsible for transporting deceased spirits across the river, but a fee of one silver coin had to be issued. Otherwise, the deceased spirits would be forced to wander on the banks of the river of pain for all of eternity, unable to find a home.

    Charon was already very old, but he didn''t want to give up this lucrative job. Right as the silver light began to appear in the darkness, he habitually dered, "One obol... "

    Boom!!

    Before he even had a chance to finish, he reflexively ducked down as a terrifying aura swept across the heavens,pletely ignoring him.

    One minute passed, then two, then three... Charon finally stood up again. He was wearing a tattered grey cloak that concealed his facial features, but two violently trembling scarlethermes could be seen beneath his hood. In his panic, he had even dropped the oars of his boat into the river.

    "What was that?" His voice was trembling as he sat down heavily onto his boat before frantically scrambling towards the boat''s stern, trying to get as far away from that fearsome Yin energy as possible. "Th, this isn''t Yin energy from the Argosian Underworld! On top of that, they didn''t take the path for esteemed guests! Th, th, this is an invader!!!"

    His terrified voice echoed across the surface of the Acheron River, and he suddenly noticed that a Hell''s Note had appeared on his boat.

    He didn''t know which country the note was from, but the text on the note provided a clear answer to that question.

    There was no Yin spirit who didn''t recognize thenguage of Cathay.

    "That was a Cathayan Yin spirit! Raise the rm!! A high-grade Cathayan emissary has invaded our Argosian Underworld! Someone, anyone! Raise the rm!"

    The streak of silver light paid no heed to him whatsoever as it continued onward.

    Beyond the Acheron River was a vast grey in; these were the vastly renowned Elysian Fields. There were two paths connected to the fields, leading to the paradise of happiness, Elysium, and the purgatory of misery, Tartarus.

    Right beneath a row of tall trees stood three massive tables, each of which was over 10 meters tall, and three giants that were in excess of 20 meters in height were seated behind the tables.

    They wore pristine white robes with olive branches on their heads, and they were all extremely handsome. In addition to that, all three of them had extremely intricately crafted essories adorned around their necks and wrists, as well as on their chests.

    These were the Three Judges of the Argosian Underworld, Aeacus the Just, Minos the Strong, and Rhadamanthus the Enigmatic.

    All of the Yin spirits that passed through here would be subjected to their judgment, and those who were pure and virtuous would be able to live happy lives in the beautiful and peaceful paradise of Elysium, where they would never have to worry about food or lodging. However, those who were sinful and impure would be banished to the boundless purgatory, Tartarus.

    Behind them stood a grand pce, upon which were carved the gods of Olympus, and beneath those gods were statues of countless Yin spirits that were howling in despair and anguish. That pce was the home of the twin gods.

    The three judges raised their heads in unison, and death god level Yin energy erupted from their bodies at the same time.

    "I''m not sure if I shouldmend you for your bravery or scoff at your foolishness!" Aeacus strode forward as a cold smile appeared on his face. "To think that you would dare to trespass upon the Elysian Fields; even Tartarus is too good a ce for you!"

    "Which nation are you from?" Rhadamanthus asked as he extended a hand forward, and countless Yin runes were flowing over his fingertips. His expression remained indifferent as he said, "You must be quite powerful to have been able to pass through Erebus, but you are now facing the almighty Three Judges of the Underworld!"

    Minos didn''t say anything, but the smile on his face was unspeakably cold, and Yin runes were also forming at his fingertips before flowing onto the ground like a river. "You dare to provoke the Argosian Underworld? I hope your master can handle the ming wrath of the twin gods!"

    Immediately thereafter, the three gods let loose a collective screech, and their chins instantly elongated as they crouched down onto the ground.

    A streak of light shed through the air; it was light that was shimmering from a sword.

    However, the three death gods could only see the streak of light, but the sword itself was too fast for their eyes to track.

    In that instant, time seemed to havepletely stood still.

    For the very first time, the death gods themselves experienced the fear of death that they had inflicted upon so many others, and they weren''t even able to catch a clear glimpse of their assant before a gust of Yin wind swept through the entirety of the Elysian Fields, sending chills running down their spines.

    Only after a full two minutes had passed did the three death gods stand up again before looking down at their trembling hands. Thehermes in their eyes had shrunk down to the point that they were barely even visible anymore, and at this point, all of the trees in the Elysian Fields had been sliced cleanly in half.

    Minos gulped nervously as he turned toward the other two judges, looking as if he had seen a ghost. His voice was trembling slightly as he asked in an unsteady manner, "Was that... a being above the death god level!"

    "It has to be!!" Rhadamanthus eximed as he frantically rushed toward the pce behind them, and theherfire in his eyes had turnedpletely red. "Only a being above the death god level can be capable of unleashing such formidable power! What are you all standing around for?! We have to protect the twin gods!! Hurry!"

    Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Three gusts of Yin wind swept toward the divine pce in a panicked frenzy, and behind them, countless spear-wielding armored Yin beasts rose to their feet amid a sea of flowers.

    This was the Macedonian military formation that had once been unmatched across the entire continent of Europa!

    One, two, three, four... In the blink of an eye, several dozen formations had been set up, carrying golden-armored cavaliers that rushed toward the divine pce like an unstoppable wave. In the sky above, countless Two-faced Fallen Angels with inky-ck feathered wings emerged while wielding different weapons in their six hands, screeching sharply as they descended from the heavens. At the same time, dazzling golden light glowed from beneath their feet, forming an extremelyplex Yin rune.

    This was the imperial army of 100,000 troopsbined with the death god military formation!

    Even before the army had arrived at the divine pce, the gates were flung open, revealing the twin gods seated on their thrones with extremely grim looks on their faces.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Whoosh... Yin winds howled violently, forming a vortex in front of the divine pce, and streaks of Yin energy were surging out of the wind vortex without reckless abandon.

    The approaching army was immediately struck by an unprecedented sense of pressure. This was Yin energy that could strike fear even into the hearts of death gods!

    Thanatos and Hypnos were seated upon their thrones, and having gotten over their initial shock, their Yin energy had settled once again. However, their hearts hadpletely sunk.

    The invader really is above the death god level... Another Yin spirit has reached this legendary level!

    Thanatos was cursing his own luck as he held an hourss in his hands and asked, "Who are you?"

    "That''s the creation-grade divine artifact, the Hourss of Endless Death... I didn''t think you would bring out something like this so soon." A cid voice rang out in mid-air. "I am one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, Zhao Zilong."

    Zhao Zilong?

    The two death gods were so envious that they felt like they could die!

    Cathay now had two beings above the death god level! They already had the second King Yanluo, and now, they have this Sixfold Ghost King!

    How was any other Underworld supposed topete with them?

    "I see. Greetings, General Zhao." Hypnos forcibly repressed the urge to swear out loud as he put on a smile and began speaking in fluent Cathayan. "You are an esteemed guest, why don''t you show yourself?"

    "Sure."

    Whoosh... The Yin winds abruptly dissipated, revealing a handsome figure with a head of ck hair resembling the feathers of a raven, wearing a suit of silver armor and a scarlet cape. He slowly slid his Radiant Azure Sword back into its scabbard, and the dazzling light glowing from its de instantly faded.

    The eyelids of Europa''s two paramount death gods twitched slightly upon seeing this, and only then did Zhao Yun cup his fist in an unhurried manner as he greeted, "Long time no see, esteemed death gods. Have you been well?"

    Have we been well? We were thriving before you showed up! The fact that you''ve broken through to beyond the death god level makes us want to die, do you understand?!

    Of course, no matter what they were thinking, the two death gods had to maintain a polite and respectful smile. "We''ve been doing just fine, thank you for asking. You''re still looking as handsome and dashing as ever, General Zhao."

    A white stone chair rose up behind Zhao Yun, yet Thanatos was still keeping a firm grip on the Hourss of Endless Death.

    It would be downright idiotic of him to set this divine artifact aside at a time like this!

    "Is there something you need from us, General Zhao?"

    If not, then hurry up and piss off!

    "There''s something I would like to inform you of." The smile on Zhao Yun''s face faded as he rose to his feet before cupping his fist. "On 1st October, we''ll be holding the inauguration ceremony of the third King Yanluo of Hell, Lord Qin Ye, as well as the founding ceremony of Cathay''s new dynasty, the Qin Dynasty. I''m here to extend an invitation in the hope that you''ll attend this grand event."

    Dead silence.

    News of Hell''s new administration had already been released. Qin Ye hadn''t kept that a secret as he wanted to pave the way for his inauguration in the future. As the two paramount death gods of the Argosian Underworld, Thanatos and Hypnos had naturally heard about this, but never did they think that Hell would be ready to found a new dynasty only several years after the release of that news!

    "Yanluo Qin, eh?" Thanatos''s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "The founding of a new dynasty in Hell is an important event, and we''ll be sure to be in attendance. However..."

    A meaningful look appeared in his eyes as he asked, "Will Cathay''s array be opening up when the timees?"

    "No," Zhao Yun replied with a serious expression. "The new administration has already been instated, but there''s still some work left to be done. However, Yanluo Qin says that it would be unbefitting of Hell not to invite the rest of the world to attend the founding ceremony of the Qin Dynasty, so we''ve set up a special avenue through which everyone can attend."

    "Oh?" Thanatos leaned back on his throne as he asked, "And what is this special avenue that you speak..."

    However, before he had a chance to finish, both he and Hypnos stood up in unison and erupted into a thunderous rage. "You''re locating our souls?! How dare you!!"

    Thanatos let loose an enraged roar as fearsome Yin energy erupted from his body, and all of the grass and flowers within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers within the entirety of the Elysian Fields bowed down in unison.

    The singing and dancing Yin spirits immediately stopped what they were doing, and all of the Yin spirits immediately knelt down before pressing their heads against the ground while their bodies trembled incessantly.

    "Do you really think we''re scared of you?" His voice was full of killing intently as he strode directly toward Zhao Yun. "Indeed, you are a being above the death god level, and we respect you for your power, but this is Argos! This is the Elysian Fields! This is our territory!!"

    Boom!!

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Thanatos''s Yin energy also erupted forth, and it was even more powerful than that of Hypnos. The release of Hypnos''s Yin energy had only made all of the Yin spirits of the Elysian Fields fall to their knees, yet now, all of them had begun howling with anguish, and countless Yin spirits that had just entered the Argosian Underworld instantly disintegrated into nothingness.

    "Don''t provoke us unless you want to start a war!" Thanatos made his way down the staircase, but he didn''t dare to approach Zhao Yun any further as he glowered at Zhao Yun from afar.

    "We are among a handful of the oldest death gods of this world. You may be above the death god level, but you''re still far too young."

    "I had no intention of provoking you." Zhao Yun made a simple gesture, and the Yin energy being released by the twin gods was instantly snuffed out. The two of them gave a muffled groan as they stumbled back several steps in unison, while Zhao Yun''s ck hair and cape rose directly upward behind him.

    "I''ll be the one hosting the video teleconference, which will be attended by all of the world''s death gods. In order to invite everyone to attend the conference, I have to temporarily locate your souls, so please pardon my intrusion."

    He made a grabbing motion with both hands as he spoke, and a streak of Yin energy emerged from each of Thanatos and Hypnos''s bodies before drifting into his grasp.

    After that, Zhao Yun cupped his fist in a parting salute before abruptly vanishing on the spot, leaving only a parting message echoing throughout the pce. "We wee your attendance on 1st October."

    Dead silence.

    Both of the Argosian Underworld''s paramount death gods had been rooted to the spot.

    Boom! The gates were finally blown open as the Three Judges of the Underworld rushed in and Minos asked in a trembling voice, "My Lord, are you alright?"

    Thanatos shook his head in response with a slightly dazed expression. "Don''t worry, he was capable of defeating us, but it would''ve taken him quite some effort to kill us."

    Rhadamanthus and Aeacus''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.

    It would''ve taken him quite some effort to kill us... That means he could''ve killed them if he wanted to!

    "Upgrade all of our defenses to the highest level right away!" Hypnos suddenly ordered, "Raise them to... to the level that we prepared for the second King Yanluo of Hell!"

    "But My Lord, we''ve tried that before, and it''s still not enough to keep out the second King Yanluo..."

    "Yes, but it''ll be enough to keep him out!" Thanatos spat through gritted teeth, "Do you know how much of a threat a being above the death god level can pose? Don''t worry about conserving Yin jade; upgrade all of the defenses to the highest possible level!"

    "Yes!"

    The army gathered outside the pce left, and only then did the twin gods slump back onto their thrones in a dejected manner.

    ''We can only hope now that all of the death gods are being forced to join the video teleconference in the same fashion. Otherwise, it would be far too humiliating if we were the only death gods to receive this treatment..."

 Chapter 767: Founding Ceremony (1)

    <h4>Chapter 767: Founding Ceremony (1)</h4>

    "Take a look. What do you think of this get-up?" In Ashmound, a middle-aged man was showing off his new clothes to his neighbors. It was a navy blue Tang suit, upon which were embroidered gorgeous golden chrysanthemums. The craftsmanship was excellent and the Tang suit was split up into twoyers: the outeryer was a thin and tight-fitting navy blue veil, while the inneryer formed the actual substance of the piece of clothing.

    "It''s not bad at all," an elderly woman praised with a smile as she inspected the item of clothing. "Did you buy it from the Tang suit store on the corner of the street? I also bought one from there and if it isn''t for the special asion today, it would be far too precious to wear."

    The man heaved a faint sigh as he inspected his surroundings, and only after a long pause did he continue, "Our lives are getting better and better..."

    The streets were packed withherworldly citizens, all of whom were wearing Tang suits and traditional Han robes. Ever since it was announced that the Qin Dynasty was going for an antiquated aesthetic, modern clothing such as suits, t-shirts, and jeans quickly disappeared from all of the major clothing stores. They were reced by elegant traditional clothing that was stylish and also rtively inexpensive.

    Looking at this prosperous scene, who could guess that there was virtually no clothing at all to be seen in the Cathayan Underworld several years ago.

    It still wasn''t much, but at the very least, everyone now had a few new sets of clothes to wear. In addition to that, all types of essories such as hairpins, jade belts, and traditional sachets were gradually bing more and moremonce.

    In particr, everyone had dressed up in their best clothes for this day.

    It was the 25th of September.

    The founding ceremony was taking ce in a few days, and the newspapers had already been hyping up the event for a long time. Allherworldly citizens capable of making the trip had already set off for Everburn, and as the first city to have benefitted from the nation''s policies, Ashmound''s citizens were currently the wealthiest in the entire country, so they were naturally participating in the festivities as well.

    Many of the city''sherworldly citizens had already set off for Everburn starting from 20th September. At the beginning of the month, the Reflection Pce building officially became the city hall of Ashmound, while all national-level departments and officials had begun to move to Everburn. Apparently, extensive construction had taken ce in the city. One traditional pavilion after another had been constructed, and it was said that they now had even more lodging and office buildings than Ashmound.

    "Let''s go, Old Man Wu. The Yin beast is about to set off. If we don''t go now, then we''ll have to wait for the next one in an hour." An elderly man emerged from the room and together with the duo from before, the three made their way toward the intersection.

    In contrast with several years ago, most of the major intersections in Ashmound now had their own street signs. The station was constructed in an elegant and antiquated style, resembling an elongated perg. By the time they arrived, a horse-drawn carriage with multiple doors that was over six meters in length was already waiting for them.

    Each carriage was being drawn by two elephant-like skeletal Yin beasts with hooked spikes all over its body and saddles strapped to their backs, while a row of small food troughs was positioned up ahead. Everburn and Ashmound were currently the only cities withplete transit systems, and it was said that other cities, particrly those that had been liberatedter on, only had crude transport systems between districts, cities, and counties.

    Old Man Wu sat down onto the soft padded seat in the carriage, and he couldn''t help but heave a satisfied sigh. A few years ago, no one could''ve imagined that life would be so good for theherworldly citizens.

    It was still a far cry from the living conditions of the mortal realm, but they had been shown the light of hope.

    He cast an expectant gaze out of the window as he murmured to himself, "I look forward to seeing Everburn City. I''ve never been there before. I wonder what it''s like and how manyherworldly citizens it has..."

    The Yin beasts were very fast, but this was a journey across several provinces, so it was still bound to take a long time. In the beginning, everyone on the carriage could chat with one another, but soon, they were all growing quite drowsy.

    After sleeping for an indeterminate length of time, Old Man Wu was suddenly roused from his nap by a cry of surprise?

    "What happened? Have we arrived?" He rubbed his bleary eyes as he prepared to look out the window, but he immediately sensed that something wasn''t right.

    The earth was trembling as if countless horses were galloping along nearby. He hurriedly looked out the window, and he was shocked to discover that there really were countless horses galloping across the nearbyndscape!

    On the major road around them were countless Yin beasts of all different descriptions, drawing carriages just like their own. The carriages were racing along, and all of them were traveling in the same direction.

    Far away on the horizon, the outlines of a massive city had already be visible. Under the illumination ofhermes, the tall city walls were giving off a cold gleam, as if they were constructed from iron and steel, and they were being patrolled by countless Yin Soldiers.

    We''ve arrived... Excitement and anticipation surfaced in the eyes of everyone in the carriage.

    They had arrived at Everburn, the legendary capital of the Qin Dynasty. It was said that this was the first city under Hell''s administration, and that it was the foundation upon which the shrewd and mighty King Yanluo Qin had built his empire.

    All of theherworldly citizens on this carriage were from Ashmound and they were firmly of the opinion that Ashmound was currently the most advanced city in the Qin Dynasty. As such, they weren''t actually very interested in the construction of Everburn. However, this was an importantndmark that had a mystical and awe-inspiring quality to it, just like the Chang''an of the mortal realm. It was the capital of their dynasty, and it was like the roots of a tree, symbolizing a type of heritage.

    However, not all of the carriages hade from Ashmound.

    Many of theherworldly citizens on the other carriages had never seen an advanced city before, and at this moment, there were countless curious faces pressed against the window panes of the carriages, and everyone was discussing what they were seeing in a spirited manner.

    "So this is Everburn..."

    "It''s so majestic! Is this our capital?"

    "I heard that this is the city where Yanluo Qin''s army set off from on their conquest of Ashmound. We''vee a long way since then, but this is still the mothend of the Qin Dynasty..."

    "I really want to see the city gates! Those are the gates of the Qin Dynasty''s first-ever city! They must be a spectacr sight to behold! This is the root of this dynasty''s political power..."

    Thus, one carriage after another passed through the fabled gates of Everburn amid bursts of excited discussion. At this point, Everburn City was a far cry from the dpidated city six years ago. The city had walls that were over 30 meters tall, and on each wall were five bright red gates, through which countless carriages and throngs of people were entering and exiting the city incessantly. Despite the enormous volume of traffic, everything was proceeding in a very orderly fashion. Peering in through the gates, one would be able to just barely make out countless ornate and elegant pavilions and buildings in the distance.

    The city currently spans an area of around three hundred square kilometers, and it was the product of three years of blood, sweat, and tears from all of Hell''s construction teams. In total, that amounted to around 100,000 construction workers, and only two months ago was the expansion officially announced to have beenpleted.

    The carriages from all of the provinces traveled into the city, and they were greeted by countless Yin energy screens hanging up in the sky. There were countless screens above all of the major roads and streets, and the same number was being depicted on each screen.

    132:54.16.

    Furthermore, this number was constantly decreasing in perfect synchronicity across all of the screens.

    This was the final countdown until the founding ceremony.

    Countless curious and excited eyes were examining the capital city of the Qin Dynasty. The city had been nned very well with organized streets and buildings, as well as long stretches of lush greenery. A string of rednterns was hanging from each corner of the pavilions in the city, but none of them had been lit.

    Traversing through the elegant and antiquated clusters of buildings, one could easily be forgiven for thinking that they had transmigrated back to the Han or Tang Dynasty. The construction style of Everburn was different from that of Ashmound in that it was more grand and majestic. However, despite the antiquated construction style, it was easy to see the modern elements that had been incorporated into the city''s design. There were carriage stations, public transport, pubs, recreation centers... It was all of the luxuries of modern society present in a setting that was reminiscent of a long-gone era. Banners that read "Let Us Wee the Founding Ceremony Together" were visible all throughout the city, and in conjunction with the Yin energy screens in the sky, they were creating an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation.

    Countless Yin spirits had arrived at this city in the past few years, and each Yin spirit was like a drop of blood, finally transforming Everburn into the heart of this entire nation.

    This heart was still quite tender and frail. It couldn''t even begin topare with the old Fengdu in terms of area, poption, poprity, and technological advancement. However, it had witnessed the rise of the new Hell from nothing, and it was of vast symbolic importance.

    Only five days left.

    The entire Qin Dynasty was going to remember this glorious event.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The days passed by very quickly, and five days flew by in the blink of an eye.

    Countlessherworldly citizens had gathered in Everburn, and even with the city''s recent expansion, it was beginning to struggle in terms of amodation. The government had underestimated the influence of the founding ceremony. On 30th September, theherworldly citizens gathered in the city had already reached as high as fifty million!

    Around 5% of all of the nation''sherworldly citizens had gathered here!

    The government had thought that a short span of three years wouldn''t be enough for theherworldly citizens to develop a sufficient sense of belonging to the Qin Dynasty. As such, they had only prepared for an influx of fifteen millionherworldly citizens at the very most. The poption of Everburn City was 25 million, so the government had only anticipated a maximum of forty millionherworldly citizens gathering in the city for the founding ceremony; never did they think that the actual number would exceed their maximal projections by a further ten million!

    What they had failed to consider was that even with an insufficient sense of belonging, this was still a once-in-a-lifetime event. They had failed to consider the hardships that theherworldly citizens had faced prior to being liberated by Hell, and how many Yin spirits had been forced to hide every day in the hollows of trees and in dank caves just to avoid those ever-present Yin beasts. They had also failed to consider just how heavy an impact the improved quality of life would have on all of theherworldly citizens. The citizens had seen the rise of one government project after another, and their lives were changing every single day. Just the fact that they no longer had to fear attacks from Yin Beasts was already something that made them extremely thankful.

    Aplete and utter transformation had taken ce in three years, advancing the nation from a primitive society to a feudal society. Perhaps there still wasn''t a particrly strong sense of belonging, but at the very least, the majority of theherworldly citizens had epted this new administration, which was why they were happy to witness its official founding.

    30th September, 12:30 AM.

    There was still half an hour until themencement of the founding ceremony. Qin Ye, the Harken, Arakshasa, Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Gu Qing, and several other militarymanders that had made significant contributions were all gathered in the rear pce.

    No one was saying anything, but they could all sense the tension in the air. An indescribable sense of anxiety had found its way into the hearts of everyone present, and even the Harken was no exception to this.

    Outside, the secretaries and assistants were busy at work, but they were operating in a very orderly fashion. The asional hushed voice could be heard, immediately followed by the sound of shuffling feet as someone departed to take care of the task they had just been assigned. The constant sounds of activity outside created a stark contrast with the deathly silence inside the room, further exacerbating the tense atmosphere.

    "Don''t be so nervous," the Harken finally said after taking a deep breath. "Your speech isn''t very long; it''s just going to be a few sentences."

    Qin Ye didn''t reply.

    He was also aware that it was just a few sentences. He also knew that it wasn''t a long speech, but this was the founding of a nation!

    Qin Ye had already primed himself into the best possible condition. In half an hour, the scenes unfolding in Everburn City would be witnessed by the entire Cathayan Underworld of over a billion Yin spirits! How was he supposed to not be nervous?

    Currently, there was cold sweat pouring out of his palms, and this was something that he was very ustomed to doing, but at this moment, he felt as if his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

    "My Lord!" Right at this moment, the doors suddenly opened, and Wang Chenghao rushed into the room. "Please make your way to the second floor. General Zhao has informed me that his preparations areplete, so it''s time for us to adopt our positions in the final 20 minutes."

    Is it finally about to happen?

    Qin Ye pressed a hand over his own chest as he took several deep breaths in session. He then quickly rose to his feet, but his legs felt like jelly.

    Not only was he struggling to stand up, even the Harken had to take two attempts before sessfully standing up from its chair.

    Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada were also in the same boat. Their faces were bright red, and as Oda Nobunaga stood up, his hands were holding onto the armrests of his chair in a white-knuckled grip.

    It''s finally about to happen... This is the return of Hell from the ashes and ruins of its predecessor...

    They were going to apany one another and bear witness to this historic moment.

    They were going to go down in the history books as the most important figures featured in this grand event!

 Chapter 768: Founding Ceremony (2)

    <h4>Chapter 768: Founding Ceremony (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye slowly made his way up the staircase that led to the second floor.

    He had scaled this staircase on countless asions in the past, but never had he felt so tense yet so eager for what was about toe next.

    The second floor was already filled with guards. The door was still closed, yet through the intricately constructed windows, one could see an ocean ofhermes outside!

    There were far too many Yin spirits to count!

    At this moment, not a singleherworldly citizen was staying in their home. Everyone had gathered at the za, which had a radius of two kilometers, but it was entirely packed withherworldly citizens stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions. Theherfire in their eyes had formed a dazzling sea of stars.

    Even though Qin Ye was already mentally prepared for this, his heart still shuddered at the sight of this astonishing scene.

    This wasn''t something that could be experienced at any concert. Even a concert with 100,000 attendees was nothingpared with this marvelous spectacle.

    Themotion was so loud that it was surely audible even in the heavens.

    Under this extremely solemn and ceremonial atmosphere, none of theherworldly citizens were speaking in disrespectfully loud voices, but with so many people present, even faint whispers and hushed conversations were enough to form a sea of voices that stunned the beholder.

    "We''re entering the final five minutes, My Lord! Please get ready!" Secretary Jiang dered in a low voice as he hurriedly made his way over to Qin Ye.

    Everyone present, including the Harken, was taking deep breaths while stroking their own chests in an attempt to calm themselves down, even though they knew that they wouldn''t actually have to say anything.

    Right at this moment, a giant Yin energy screen appeared in each city, each district, each county, and each town, township, and vige across the entire Cathayan Underworld. All of the screens were disying the same scene, which was that of the za in front of the pce of Everburn City.

    In the northernmost region of the country, aherworldly citizen that was walking along immediately drew to a halt as he looked up into the sky with an ecstatic expression. Many moreherworldly citizens were also stopping all around him, and they all looked up to bear witness to this historic scene, looking at the boundless sea ofherfire and the pce that was the centerpiece of their nation.

    In the south, thousands of Yin spirits instantly gathered beneath the Yin energy screens. In the regions even further away, all of the citizens of cities, regardless of age or gender, had gathered to watch the unfolding scenes.

    In the west,plete silence had descended upon countless cities, towns, and townships. A sense of unbridled excitement and anticipation surged through the bodies of all of theherworldly citizens like an electrical current, and thehermes in their eyes began to dance wildly as they fixed an unblinking gaze upon the screens in the sky.

    Five minutes, four minutes, three minutes... One minute... Zero!

    In the instant that the countdown timer ticked down to zero, all of theherworldly citizens across the entire nation could feel the fine hairs on the backs of their necks standing up on end.

    The countdown timer symbolized the passing of the previous era.

    Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Right at this moment, thehermes across the entirety of Everburn City suddenly vanished on the screens, leaving only the sea ofherfire near the city''s za.

    There was no panic or rm, only an extraordinarily tense and apprehensive atmosphere, much like the calm before a storm.

    The entire nation was waiting in silence for the deration of a new era.

    In the next instant, a familiar song began to ring out across the entirend, spanning an area of over 11 million square kilometers. The song was grand and majestic, carrying a strong sense of purpose and responsibility as it resounded from the south to the north, from the west to the east.

    This was the national anthem.

    Qin Ye hadn''t changed the national anthem. This anthem was far too symbolic, carrying far too much meaning and far too many dreams for it to be abandoned.

    This was the March of the Volunteers.

    In the abyss that humans couldn''t set foot in, the national anthem slowly rang out within the boundless darkness.

    Powerful emotions swept through the hearts of countlessherworldly citizens as they listened to this inspiring song.

    This was the symbol of an era, the soul of an empire.

    "Rise up... Those who no longer wish to be ves... Dedicate our blood and flesh..." On the Everburn City za, a young Yin spirit couldn''t help but sing along to the music in a hoarse and emotional voice.

    He wasn''t the only one; many people had begun to sing along in the instant that the music had sounded. The gentle singing of tens of millions of people formed an uneven yet peerlessly grand choir.

    This was the first time that the national anthem had been heard across the entire Cathayan Underworld rather than only in Everburn.

    Across one city after another, countless Yin spirits, regardless of gender or age, regardless of how long they had been in the Underworld or whether they had witnessed the rise of the Qin Dynasty from the very beginning; all of them began to gently sing along.

    The national anthem rang out across the entirend, and in that instant, an overwhelming sense of patriotic pride, belonging, and confidence welled up in the hearts of all the Yin spirits.

    Three minutester, the national anthem concluded, and immediately thereafter, countless lights suddenly appeared to light up the night in Everburn.

    These weren''t fireworks.

    Instead, these were thenterns hanging from the corners of all of the buildings. Thenterns had all been lit, and the entirety of Everburn City was basked in a warm golden glow. Right at this moment, thehermes in the eyes of all of the Yin spirits gathered before the screens flickered slightly.

    The gate was being opened.

    The gate on the second floor of the pce was finally being opened.

    The light of thenterns illuminated the entire city, and as this scene was broadcast to everyone through the screens, countless awestruck gasps immediately rang out. In contrast, the entire za waspletely silent with the exception of everyone''s breathing, which had be rather heavy and ragged.

    Qin Ye was situated at the center with Arthis and the Harken on his left and his right, respectively. After that came Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada, followed by the rest of the entourage.

    Everyone looked on as Qin Ye slowly took a few steps forward, and as he did so, the entire city fellpletely silent. Even the sound of breathing had faded, leaving a silence that was as absolute as it was deafening.

    They were full of anticipation for the arrival of a new era, while also retaining the utmost respect for the era that wasing to an end.

    They were so excited that they wanted to scream, but they could only clench their fists and repress that urge with all their might as they looked on with wide and excited eyes.

    "We''ve gathered here today to bear witness to a historic event." Qin Ye''s voice rang out across the entire city, and to his surprise, as he cast his gaze toward theherworldly citizens gathered down below, his wildly pounding heart suddenlypletely calmed down for some reason.

    Those expectant eyes and excited faces were all proof of his sess.

    He had started his journey in Everburn, and the new era that he had created was also being ushered in at the very same ce. As he stood here now, he deserved everything that he had achieved.

    He had done so much for Everburn City and he had the support of all of theherworldly citizens, so what was there for him to be nervous about?

    With that in mind, his thoughts suddenly began to wonder. He looked down at the script that he was holding, and he suddenly didn''t want to follow it.

    He had already read this script, and it was very well-written, but it was missing something: genuine emotion.

    His emotions couldn''t be expressed through someone else''s words. Due to how tense he had felt leading up to this moment, he had chosen to follow this script just so he wouldn''tpletely freeze up and be unable to say anything. However, right here, right now, there were some other things that he wanted to say.

    "On one fateful day six years ago, Hell was founded here," he slowly began, and the team of secretaries behind him drew a collective sharp breath. Secretary Jiang turned to a Yin spirit beside him with a bewildered expression and asked, "Is that part of the script?"

    "No!" The secretary was so anxious that he was sweating bullets. "Yanluo Qin is going off-script! Is he going to be able to control the situation with an impromptu speech?"

    "It''s already toote. He''s made his decision, and he can only stick by it now!"

    Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to the panic attack he had inflicted upon the team of secretaries. He waspletely absorbed in his own world as he continued in a confident manner, "Perhaps it''s impossible for all of you to imagine just how insignificant Hell had been at the time. It was only around the size of a vige, and the only piece of construction was the gate that you''re all standing in front of right now. It was surrounded by a forest; a real forest, not a manmade one. We started from nothing, from the most pitiful of foundations. Back then, I didn''t think in my wildest dreams that I would be standing here in six years, delivering an address at a founding ceremony in front of over a billion citizens. At the time, the concept of founding a nation was so distant that it never even crossed my mind."

    His words were forting andpletely devoid of any embellishment. In fact, it could even be said that such an unrefined speech was unbefitting of such an important asion, but it was full of genuine emotion.

    Nothing could rece one''s heart and soul; a genuine emotional response could only be evoked through authenticity and sincerity. Among the countless Yin spirits gathered in the za, the ones from Everburn were immediately ovee by a myriad of emotions upon hearing this.

    "You''re not the only one who never anticipated this; none of us did..." Huang Liangchuan was in the crowd as well, and he couldn''t help but heave a long sigh as he closed his eyes and allowed the emotions to wash over him. He then reopened his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the countless litnterns in Everburn City. "Who could''ve predicted that Hell would be able to reach this point in just six years?"

    "Back then, no one knew what the road ahead was going to be like. We faced one ordeal and setback after another, and even I considered giving up twice." Qin Ye''s mind had drifted back to six years ago. At the time, this very city had beenpletely surrounded by a forest, and one Yin spirit after another had been seated at the bases ofrge trees, resting with dejected looks on their faces. Six yearster, the city was a picture of prosperity with buildings stretching as far as the eyes could see.

    I''ve lived up to my duty...

    A spark seemed to have ignited in his heart as he continued, "Obtaining the Obsidian Heaven''s Eye Bowl from the Strait of Tsushima, meeting the twelve envoys at the imperial court meeting, marching for Ashmound, conquering Ashmound, then using Ashmound as a foundation to conquer the entire nation within the span of six years... Even looking back now, it still all seems like a dream to me."

    He lowered his head to look down at the sea ofhermes around him, and his voice was choking up slightly as he dered, "But today, we can finally raise our heads high and proudly dere to the entire world that the Cathayan Underworld, which has been fractured for over a century, is whole once again! All ethnicities across our nation havee together again as one big family! Equilibrium has been restored to the cycle of reincarnation, and never again will there be settlements ofherworldly citizens living in constant fear for their lives, unsure of what the future holds! United under the g of the Qin Dynasty, we will continue to go further and make our nation more prosperous than ever."

    A serious look appeared in his eyes, and his chest began to rise and fall with powerful emotion. A me seemed to have been ignited in his mouth, and dered in a slightly hoarse voice, "As the leader of the thirding of Hell, I hereby announce the founding of the third Cathayan Underworld, the Qin Dynasty!"

    An excessively lengthy and rambling speech would lose its impact.

    He didn''t want to get too caught up in his own emotions, nor did he want to waste too much time with words. Instead, he wanted to use this concise yet stirring speech to inject the power of unity into the hearts of every Yin spirit.

    He wanted them to feel proud that they were a part of the Qin Dynasty.

    He wanted all of Hell''sherworldly citizens to hold their heads high whenever they thought of their nation.

    Silence.

    However, the silence didn''tst long. In the next instant, thunderous apuse and earth-shattering cheers rang out as everyone yelled in celebration with all their might.

    Qin Ye felt as if he were standing in a basin with raucous cheers ringing out all around him. The collective voices of tens of millions ofherworldly citizens made the entirety of Everburn tremor incessantly, and this scene was being broadcast to countless moreherworldly citizens through the Yin energy screens.

    "I''ll leave the rest to you," Qin Ye said to the Harken in a low voice before his body dissipated into a gust of Yin wind. In the next instant, he had already arrived in his office, where Wang Chenghao and Zhao Yun were already waiting for him.

    Qin Ye sat down on his chair before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down as quickly as possible.

    The address that he had just delivered to the nation was the easy part. As long as he held the nation''s military power, no one would dare to rebel.

    The hard part was what was about toe next: the video teleconference with all of the death gods of the world!

    This was going to be the first time that the thirding of Hell disyed itself to the entire world. It was undoubtedly going to create a massive stir, and he had to treat this conference with the utmost care and caution.

 Chapter 769: First Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 769: First Meeting</h4>

    The gap betweenplete silence and deafening cheers was less than a second.

    Even though Qin Ye had already returned to his office, he could still hear the thunderous cheers sounding outside.

    These cheers were audible throughout the entirety of Everburn and beyond, traveling into the ears of over a billion Yin spirits. It told them that from now on, they were a part of a greater whole.

    "Your Excellency," Wang Chenghao was holding aptop as he carefully made his way over to Qin Ye. "There are still 20 minutes left until the start of the video teleconference, are you..."

    Qin Ye shook his head, indicating for Wang Chenghao to wait.

    His emotions were still far too turbulent for him to face the death gods of the world.

    As soon as he finished his speech, his heart rate climbed through the roof once again. Even he hadn''t anticipated that such a short speech would evoke such strong emotions within himself.

    Back in Clear Creek County, he had been desperate to alter the course of his own fate, yet now, he was standing at the top of a nation.

    Time and time again, the Harken and Arthis had pushed him onto the frontlines, and his mindset had changed from that of a helpless coward barely keeping his head above the water to that of a conqueror willing to carry the weight of a nation on his shoulders.

    He lit a cigarette, and his fingers were trembling slightly as he cast his gaze out the window.

    Deafening cheers such as "Long live the Qin Dynasty!", "Long live Yanluo Qin!", and "We''re finally a united nation!" were ringing out incessantly, causing the windowpane of his office to rattle slightly.

    He took a deep breath, allowing the smoke from the cigarette to scatter the myriad thoughts in his heart. He then smiled as he murmured to himself, "I''ve lived up to my duty."

    "Indeed, you have," Zhao Yun chimed in with a smile. "Even with the resources left behind by the old Hell, it''s truly incredible that you''ve been able to achieve so much in just six years. Granny Meng hasn''t chosen the wrong person for the job."

    Qin Ye snuffed out the cigarette, then wiped his own face with a wet towel before looking directly forward. "Let''s begin."

    He was about to face all of the world''s death gods and make the voice of the Qin Dynasty heard on the international stage for the very first time. He had to present himself in the best possible light for the asion.

    "Yes!" Zhao Yun cupped his fist in response, and everyone in the room aside from him promptly departed. The door was gently shut, and at the same time, an extremelyplex Yin talisman appeared in Zhao Yun''s grasp before quietly exploding.

    Whoosh! Golden Yin talisman patterns spread along the ground like gushing mercury, instantly rushing out of Everburn virtually at the speed of light before quickly exiting the nation''s borders as well. Meanwhile, all of the death gods of the international underworlds, as well as their advisors and high-ranking officials, had taken a seat in their respective conference halls.

    In Argos, Thanatos and Hypnos were seated in front of a long stone table. The table was extremely intricately crafted, and beneath them sat the Three Judges of the Underworld, as well as Aristotle, Euclid, and a few other select individuals.

    Thanatos was gently drumming his fingers onto the surface of the table, and aside from that, the room waspletely silent. It was like the calm before the storm, and everyone was waiting for the figurative storm to arrive.

    Inside a magnificent Buddhist temple in India, there was a three-meter-tall golden lotus throne situated at the foot of a statue with three heads and six arms, which stood at around 50 meters tall. At the center of the throne sat a silent figure wearing a tattered ck cloak, but adorned with extremely ornate essories, presenting a peculiar contrast.

    This was Yamaraja, the Hindustani lord of death.

    His hair was as dark as night and was currently raised up like the tail feathers of a raven. Crimson karmic mes were erupting out of all five of his orifices, and the image of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was etched onto the ground around him. Furthermore, there were 10 other death gods present, including the likes of King Peacock and Sky Serpent King!

    In the Aegyptian Underworld, Anubis was standing at the feet of the Scales of Eternal Justice, wearing an intricately woven pharaoh robe while holding a golden scepter in his right hand. Standing on either side of him were the past pharaohs and great priests of Aegypt, as well as the god of the dead, Osiris. The Yin energy of 14 death gods swept over heaven and earth, engulfing even the entirety of the Red Sea.

    There were also other death gods of different statuses, including Death God Ah Puch of the Maya Legends, Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto of Nippon, all of the major chieftains of the Alkebn Underworlds, Mtecutli of the Aztecs, Supay of the Inca Empire, Donn of Irnd, Sedna of the Inuits, Anko, Giltine, Hopi, and Aita of the Celts, and many more...

    All of the death gods had their attention focused on the same thing.

    This was the first time that Hell had initiated contact with the rest of the world in over a century.

    However, all of the death gods wore rather disgruntled expressions, presumably because the way in which they had been invited to join this video teleconference was far from gentle...

    Whoosh... Golden threads of light made their way into each of the Underworlds, and 10 minutester, several dozen Yin energy screens abruptly appeared in front of Qin Ye. A series of strange-looking faces then emerged on the screens, and each and every one of them was surrounded by extremely dense Yin energy, but none of them had concealed their true appearance.

    In a conversation between death gods, the most important thing was to be open and forthright.

    Qin Ye gently sped his hands together before rxing them, putting on a casual disy as he rested his hands across his stomach. He then put on a calm facade as he said, "Greetings, everyone. I believe this is the first time we''ve met, so allow me to introduce myself. I am the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld, Qin Ye."

    Dead silence.

    In the instant that his voice trailed off, all of the death gods immediately focused their gaze on him through the Yin energy screen, and in that instant, his image was branded firmly into everyone''s minds.

    However, all of the death gods disyed different reactions.

    Izanami of Nippon seemed to be smiling, but in reality, she was clenching her teeth so hard that they were on the verge of shattering. Outside of the screen, her armrests were creaking and groaning from her white-knuckled grip.

    It''s him! He''s the emissary who abducted Susa Boy! I can''t believe he''s now the King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld!

    The nameless god of death remainedpletely expressionless, yet the armrests of his chair were also on the verge of being torn off.

    However, the most astonished death gods of all were the ones from the Alkebn Underworlds.

    The Alkebn death gods almost burst out screaming in the instant that they saw Qin Ye, and ck Mamba had to viciously pinch his own leg to calm himself down.

    They had made the right gamble! Their beloved Qin Ye really had ascended to that paramount throne!

    From now on, the Alkebn Underworlds will have a powerful ally! No, I still can''t be sure that they won''t turn on us... The second round of trading must bemenced as soon as possible! On top of that, they need to give us a definitive answer!

    Only after a full 10 seconds of stunned silence did the death gods begin to speak, and all of them were using fluent Cathayan.

    "Greetings, Yanluo Qin."

    "Congrattions on leading Cathay out of its recent period of political turmoil. We look forward to seeing the Cathayan Underworld make its voice heard during the next meeting of the four pirs."

    "Congrattions on further extending the millennia of glory that the Cathayan Underworld has already enjoyed, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod to acknowledge their greetings. There definitely wasn''t going to be anything important being discussed during this video teleconference, but it had to be held nheless.

    This was the best way for all of the death gods to assess Cathay''s current situation, so there was no way they would be satisfied without at least seeing and speaking to the new King Yanluo.

    "Due to some of the second King Yanluo''s policies, this political transition was a little tumultuous, and everything has only recently settled down again. I''m immensely fortunate to have found myself in this position, and I''ll do everything in my power to reintegrate Cathay back onto the international stage. However..."

    He swept his gaze across the faces of all of the death gods as he paused momentarily here. It would obviously be a lie to say that he wasn''t nervous. After all, he was currently facing the gods of death of all of the world''s branches of mythology, including ones from civilizations that were no less powerful than Cathay.

    He forcibly repressed his own nerves as continued, "It''ll still take around another century before we return to the four pirs."

    After making that deration, he calmly swept his gaze across the faces of all of the death gods again to gauge their reactions. This was something that he had to dere, and he had to do it now.

    Cathay had already been absent from the international stage for over a century, so it had to exercise discretion in the matter of returning to the four pirs. In its current state, it would be extremely unwise for the Cathayan Underworld to return to the four pirs right away.

    "Why is that?" Yamaraja asked in a slow voice, and tiny sparks flew out of his mouth as he spoke, apanied by dense smoke, and the sparks quickly transformed into wisps of scorching mes.

    "There are some things that must be taken care of first. On top of that, I still haven''t received the inheritance of the second King Yanluo, so Cathay currently has no intention of getting swept up in troublesome international affairs," Qin Ye replied in a calm manner.

    "Well... There are some documents that require Cathay''s signature, such as the recently re-signed international anti-forbidden-arts treaty. What do you n to do about that?" the nameless death god asked.

    Of course, the nameless death god wasn''t actually worried about the treaty; he was merely using it as an instrument to coax more information about Cathay''s current state out of Qin Ye.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "What is the past precedent set for simr situations?"

    "A first-rate underworld can be chosen to take Cathay''s ce in the signing of important documents," Anubis answered in a slow and methodical voice, "However, I don''t mean to force the issue, but the four pirs were founded with the goal of maintaining order across all underworlds and putting an end to war and conflict, thereby creating a safer and better world for allherworldly citizens. The collective efforts of all underworlds are required to achieve this goal, particrly the four pirs. If Cathay continues to shirk its duty as it has done so for the past century, then I suggest that Cathay may simply be unfit to continue as one of the four pirs."

    Anubis was looking straight into Qin Ye''s eyes as he spoke.

    I was waiting for this...

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup and gently skimmed its lid over the surface of the tea in silence.

    He knew from the very beginning that such an announcement would be met with opposition. Cathay had already been absent from the four pirs for over a century, and a seat on the four pirs was extremely alluring to all underworlds. If Hell were to abstain from returning to the four pirs for another century, that would equate to an absence of over two centuries in length, which was indeed too long for the rest of the world to wait. However, Qin Ye was surprised to see that the first party to be issuing an objection would be the Aegyptian Underworld, another one of the four pirs.

    "What the four pirs need is stability, and stabilityes from power. Cathay isn''t lending its power to the four pirs, yet it''s enjoying the corresponding benefits, and I just don''t think that''s appropriate." Anubis''s voice was very calm, and none of the other death gods opened their mouths to interject; they didn''t have the right to speak on such matters.

    This was an arm-wrestle between two of the four pirs, and this was bound to happen sooner orter, but no one had expected it toe so soon.

    Qin Ye took a sip of tea before asking with a smile, "What does everyone else think?"

    Hypnos replied in a calm voice, "There is a backup use in the treaty of the four pirs: use number 12. The use states that if an underworld is unable to fulfill its duties and responsibilities as one of the four pirs on more than 20 asions, then it will be reced by another underworld."

    Hypnos was one of the most human-looking death gods in this conference, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he continued, "Of course, this number applies only to important conferences that affects all of the world''s underworlds. Revoking Cathay''s status as one of the four pirs is naturally out of the question, so another proposal was raised during the conference held 12 years ago, in which we discussed measures tobat supernatural disasters. Due to the repeated absence of Cathay, we had no choice but to pass a new act which increases the number of members in the four pirs."

    This is where the real kicker is!

    A chill immediately ran down Qin Ye''s spine. This was what everyone else wanted!

    What purpose would revoking Cathay''s status as one of the four pirs serve?

    Its influence still remained, it still had a mighty military, as well as the most death gods in any underworld, and now, it even had another being above the death god level. There was simply no point in removing one of the four pirs, so what could everyone else do to negate its power and influence? The only effective course of action was to increase the number of seats!

    If the four pirs were to be 10 pirs, everything would be different. With Cathay''sck of presence on the international stage during the past century, there was no way that it would be able to secure one of the seats. After that, it would be slowly ostracized, and it would have nothing to do with the benefits and favorable policies that the members of the four, or 10, or however many pirs received.

    "I see." Qin Ye was doing his best to keep up his calm facade. He was dealing with a bunch of sly old foxes. The conversation was still very civil and cid, but Qin Ye felt as if a sharp de had been pressed against his neck, and the immense pressure being exerted upon him made the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end.

    "May I ask how many meetings the four pirs have held in the past century that can affect all of the world''s underworlds?"

    "19," Thanatos replied with a smile, "In a year from now, the Nipponese Underworld''s treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts is going to be re-signed, and that will be the 20th conference of international significance since Cathay''s exit from the world stage."

    A grim look surfaced in his eyes, and he remained silent.

    Everyone was waiting for his response, and he was in a very difficult position.

    All of the world''s death gods were participating in this conference, so any decisions that he made here would be absolutely binding. His hand was being forced here, and he didn''t know what to do. After all, an expansion of the four pirs would be far too detrimental for the current Hell!

    "ept the proposal." Right at this moment, Zhao Yun''s voice rang out beside his ears. "We have no choice. In doing this, we''ll be earning a century of peace for Hell. Truth be told, at the current rate of Cathay''s development, I think that three decades is all we''ll need to be a significant force on the world stage again! Don''t forget that our underworld has a higher poption than any other underworld out there; this is a natural advantage that we can make full use of!"

 Chapter 770: Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Forbidden Arts

    <h4>Chapter 770: Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Forbidden Arts</h4>

    Indeed, sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

    In order to buy Hell another century of time for it to develop in peace, then he would have to make some concessions. International conferences were processes of constant probing and negotiation. During conferences of that scale, no one''s word was absolute, and no one would perpetually benefit.

    If he wanted to buy time for Cathay, then he would have to attend this 20th conference. However, he was only an Abyssal Prefect at the moment, so how was he supposed to attend?

    Of course, if Hell were to agree to an expansion of the four pirs, then no one would say anything further, but they couldn''t afford to ept this proposal right now.

    Perhaps they could''ve just not held this video teleconference in the first ce, but that would''ve led to a slow and torturous death anyway. Of course, even if Hell were to continue to remain silent, no one would dare to provoke it anyway. However, over time, Hell''s regional and international influence would continue to diminish. Cathay had already been silent for a century. How many more centuries of silence could pass by before the world turned on Cathay?

    After taking a moment to arrange his thoughts, Qin Ye asked in a calm manner, "What time next year is the conference going to be held?"

    "It''ll be held on the 7th of June at T¨­dai-ji of Nara, Nippon," Thanatos replied with a smile, "Have you made your decision, Yanluo Qin?"

    "Rest assured, I''ll be there to represent the Cathayan Underworld." There was no alternative. Qin Ye took a sip of tea before continuing, "Is that all for today?"

    "I very much look forward to seeing you there." Anubis took one final meaningful look at him before his screen turned dark.

    Thanatos smiled, and said, "I hope that the four pirs can continue to work to make further contributions to advancing all of the international underworlds, and I also look forward to seeing you in Nippon, Yanluo Qin."

    "There are two members of the four pirs in Asia; I hope that we can continue our cooperative rtionship to achieve mutually beneficial oues. See you in Nippon, Yanluo Qin." Yamaraja''s smile was nothing short of terrifying, and with these derations made by three of the four pirs, one screen after another turned dark, and soon, the room turned silent again.

    However, the silence wasn''t just limited to Qin Ye''s office. All of the death gods who had just participated in that conference had fallen into deep thought.

    In the Argosian Underworld, Thanatos and Hypnos were taking a stroll together in the Elysian Fields. Hypnos reached out to catch a falling flower petal, which quickly withered away on his palm. He gently rubbed the flower petal between his fingers in an absentminded manner as he asked, "What do you think of this new leader of the Cathayan Underworld."

    "He seems to be a reasonable man," Thanatos replied with a smile. "At the very least, he didn''t flip the tables on everyone. If the second King Yanluo was still in charge, there''s no way this conference would''ve been so peaceful."

    Hypnos''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, and the unspeakably painful memory from several centuries ago quickly flooded into his mind.

    Thanatos heaved a faint sigh as he continued, "At the very least, he acts in a reasonable and measured fashion,pletely different from how the second King Yanluo did things. However, I''m sure that the sessor chosen by the second King Yanluo isn''t an idiot. The only thing I''m wondering about is why he needs another century."

    "Perhaps it''s... war?" Hypnos suggested.

    "Oh?"

    "I think there was a civil war, one that was extremely brutal, and the Cathayan Underworld needs time to recover. Otherwise, I can''t think of any other reasons," Hypnos said with a cold smile, "Hell has clearly realized the decline in their international influence, so they want to make their voice heard. As long as they harbor this type of attitude, there will be many opportunities for us to uncover the truth in the future. Have you forgotten what the conference after the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts is?"

    In the Aegyptian Underworld, Anubis set down his golden scepter, and his fingers, which were as ck as dark obsidian, were gently stroking the armrest of his throne. After a long while, he finally looked up and cast his gaze towards the great priests before him.

    "He doesn''t seem to be as aggressive as the second King Yanluo," a great priest wearing a golden mask replied. "He has his own style that''s calmer and less vtile; that''s certainly good news."

    Another great priest who was also wearing a golden mask chimed in with a hoarse voice, "We can tell that they want to make their voices heard on the international stage, but at the same time, they''ve told us outright that their array won''t be opened for the next century. This means that they want to integrate themselves back onto the world stage, but aren''t prepared to get involved in matters that will require them to disy their power, matters such as..."

    He paused momentarily before finding a suitable example. "The Yin spirit war of the Australis Underworld."

    "So they''re trying to get the best of both worlds! How naive!"

    "Well, they do have the power to make demands like this."

    "That''s enough." Anubis slowly raised a hand as he cast his gaze out of the pce. "What do you think?"

    A figure resembling a giant dragon was roaming outside the pce, and in response to Anubis''s question, a rumbling voice rang out. "As long as they have something they need, they''ll have weaknesses that can be targeted. If we can reduce the four pirs to three, then that would naturally be the best-case scenario. The treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts is nothing more than the first step to probing out the true state of the Cathayan Underworld; the international underworlds'' trade convention will be the true test, and I''m sure that the Argosian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld are also aware of this."

    Anubis looked down at his own fingers in a casual manner. "Are you also of the opinion that it''s rather strange for the Cathayan Underworld to dy the opening of its array by another century?"

    "That is indeed very strange." The giant dragon was casting a dark shadow over the entire divine pce. "They want to make their voices heard, but they''re only doing things halfway, and that''spletely contradictory with the style of the past Hell. In fact, I can''t think of any possible reason for this other than civil war. The information that Hell has released states that their underworld has recently undergone a change of political regime, and judging from the news of Yanluo Qin''s inauguration, it seems that this is true. However, changes in political regime are often directly rted to civil conflicts. In any case, we''ll be able to get a better look at them during the next conference, and I''m sure we''re not the only ones with these intentions, hehehe..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the King Yanluo''s office of Everburn City.

    Everyone waspletely silent.

    Qin Ye was gently stroking his armrests with his fingers. He didn''t feel as if he had been insulted. After all, this was the international stage, and even during the reign of the second King Yanluo, he wasn''t able topletely dominate the world stage. At the very most, he was only able to secure the biggest piece of the pie for Cathay. If he were to attempt to take the whole pie and leave nothing for everyone else, then that would undoubtedly lead to an international uprising against Cathay.

    Currently, everyone was hoping that Cathay would relinquish its share of the pie so that others could capitalize.

    Qin Ye was aware that this was going to be a perilous conference for Cathay. In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that it was a Hongmen banquet . If Hell were to disy even the slightest sign of weakness during the conference in Nara the following year, then its share of the pie would be forcibly taken.

    "My Lord, this isn''t something for you to worry about at the moment," Zhao Yun suddenly said, "Even though the Sixfold Ghost Kings and the Harken aren''t involved in international affairs, and international conferences are mostly attended by the King Yanluo and the 10 Yama-Kings, we do know some things, the most important of which is that..."

    He paused here momentarily as he looked straight in Qin Ye''s eyes. "You absolutely cannot attend the conference in Nara as an Abyssal Prefect!"

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, and his brows immediately furrowed. This was something that he hadn''t considered yet.

    Indeed, if it were to be revealed to the world that the third King Yanluo of Hell was only an Abyssal Prefect, then Cathay would be theughingstock of the entire world!

    All of the first-rate underworlds each had several death gods among their ranks, yet the King Yanluo of one of the four pirs was only an Abyssal Prefect?

    "So I have to construct the six paths of reincarnation within a year," he murmured to himself as he cast a forlorn gaze out the window.

    Even though Hell had already been reunited, he still hadn''t fulfilled his duty yet. The Yin spirits were unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and this was the final obstacle standing between him and a breakthrough to the Yama-King level.

    The day that the six paths of reincarnation returned to the Cathayan Underworld would be the day he became a King Yanluo!

    Furthermore, he had to act right away. The most powerful underworlds on the world stage had already aimed their swords at him, and there was no time to waste!

    The treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts was only the beginning.

    That conference would only be the entr¨¨e before the main course, and there were many more challenges that he would have to face in the future. This was only the beginning of Cathay''s return to the world stage, and he had to do everything in his power to ensure that it was a smooth and triumphant return!

    He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths in session before asking in a grim voice, "General Zhao, what exactly is the forsakennd?"

    Zhao Yun replied with a serious expression, "To put it in the simplest terms, the forsakennd is a ce that the Heavenly Dao cannot extend its blessings to. It''s exactly the same as the rest of the world, except there won''t be any Yin talismans there; only the most fundamental energies of Yin and Yang. Any type of Yin spirit could appear in the area, even special Yin spirits that are ranked first on the list."

    He stuck out four fingers before continuing, "There are four irond rules in the forsakennds. Firstly, unless a Yin spirit is taken out of there by an outsider, then they''ll never be able to leave the forsakennds. Secondly, the forsakennd can''t be detected using Yin energy, Yin spirits inside the forsakennds are unable to sense Yin energy or the Heavenly Dao, and everything taking ce within the forsakennds will also remain a mystery to the outside world, including the Heavenly Dao. Thirdly, the Yin spirits in the forsakennd arepletely outside of the jurisdiction of all three realms. Emissaries of Hell hold no power over them, and even a god would be no different from an ordinary person there."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Essentially, these ces were like the blind spots of the world.

    However, if it couldn''t be detected using Yin energy, then how was he supposed to track it down?

    Zhao Yun seemed to have gleaned the question in Qin Ye''s heart, and he replied, "Rest assured, the location of the forsakennds remains eternally unchanged; the only things that change are the people and things inside them. There are a total of eight forsakennds in Cathay, all of which have already been tracked down by Hell. However..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing in a grim voice, "None of the emissaries of Hell sent into those forsakennds have evere out again. Among them were eight Infernal Judges, and not even a single messenger bird managed to emerge. On top of that, none of them made it past the first night before their soulfire was snuffed out."

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. These were official emissaries of Hell, with eight Infernal Judges among them, yet they had been wiped out on the first night, which meant that there had to at least be Abyssal Prefect level evil ghosts in the forsakennds!

    These evil ghosts were impervious to the might of the three realms, and there were no Yin talismans, so no arts could be used. How was he supposed to defend himself in such a harsh environment?

    "Have you been to any of the forsakennds?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "The fourth rule is that only one emissary of Hell can enter at a time. On top of that, there is nond nor any cities inside the forsakennds."

    Qin Ye massaged his own temples as a headache began to set in.

    It was no wonder that no one dared to venture into these areas; only one emissary of Hell could enter at a time, and arts couldn''t be used due to the absence of Yin talismans. In addition to that, their auras as official emissaries of Hell werepletely ineffective, and who was to say that there weren''t Yama-King level evil ghosts in there?

    The quickest way for Yin spirits to evolve was to devour other Yin spirits. If a Yama-King were to venture into a forsakennd, only to encounter another Yama-King and be devoured, then an evil ghost above the Yama-King level would be born!

    "What about the second King Yanluo? Did he ever go?"

    An awkward look appeared on Zhao Yun''s face as he replied, "He... He couldn''t be bothered."

    Perfect! What a fantastic answer!

    Qin Ye was still holding onto a shred of hope as he asked, "Then what about Yin artifacts like King Yama''s Seal or the Book of Life and Death?"

    "I''m afraid they won''t help you, either," Zhao Yun replied with a shake of his head, "There''s no Yin energy in the forsakennds, so Yin artifacts will be useless even if you take them with you. On top of that, if they fall into the hands of evil ghosts, then we''ll be in immense trouble! Go back and rest for now, My Lord. The Harken and I will cote all of the information we have, then give you a detailed ount tomorrow."

    "Can I not go? I mean, I only just became King Yanluo; at least wait until I set up my harem..."

    [1] [The Hongmen banquet is a historical event detailed in the iconic Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It refers to a banquet set up with the sole intention of ambushing and murdering its guest.]

 Chapter 771: The Eight Forsaken Lands

    <h4>Chapter 771: The Eight Forsaken Lands</h4>

    The next day in Everburn City.

    After three years of painstaking work performed by the 100,000-strong construction team of Everburn, the city had been transformed into the most well-constructed city in the entire nation. Among all of the buildings in the city, the state affairs building was the most intricately constructed one with ornately carved pirs and walls, perfectly capturing the antiquated aesthetic that the nation was pursuing.

    The building was extremely magnificent to behold, standing at a height of around 30 meters and taking up an area of over ten thousand square meters. The tiered conference halls and departments took up half of the entire building, and it was truly avish masterpiece of construction.

    In the premium conference hall.

    This conference hall wasn''t veryrge, but it was definitely the most luxurious of all of the conference halls in the building. The Harken and Zhao Yun had been seated in the hall since this morning, and they asionally looked up to nce at a shady figure roaming near the entrance.

    The figure set one foot into the room, then withdrew it, then stepped forward again... It was like he was repeatedly stepping back and forth over an imaginary line that symbolized the limit of the Harken''s patience, and finally, the Harken snapped as it mmed a paw violently down onto the desk. "Are youing in or not?! Do I have to invite you in myself?!"

    "I''m not going in yet. I''m just stalling for time..." Qin Ye replied as he stuck his head out from behind the door. "Just be patient, I''m still thinking of an excuse not to go in. Let me think for a bit longer, I''m about to think of something soon..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, he was dragged into the room against his own will. The Harken''s canine face appeared right before him, and it bared its sharp fangs as it pressed a paw straight onto his nose. "Have you thought of something now?"

    "... I have..."

    The Harken rolled its eyes at him before returning to its seat, then said in a cold voice, "As King Yanluo, you have indeed made significant contributions to Hell, but you''ve only been the Yanluo for a very short time. You still don''t know anywhere near enough about the world of underworlds, and you still haven''t adopted the right mindset, either. General Zhao is right: you need more training! You should travel across thend and see everything for yourself. You should understand the differences between Yin spirits of each region and learn their habits and traditions; only then will you be fit to serve as the King Yanluo of Hell. In the past, all emissaries of Hell had to follow a certain progression, even Infernal Judges and Anitya Hellguards. They had to go from a county or a vige to a city, then to a province, and during that time, they would slowly gain experience in their roles. In contrast, you''ve reached your position in just six short years. You may have risen to dizzying heights, but that doesn''t mean that you can see very far."

    The Harkenpped at the tea in its cup as it dered, "This is a very good opportunity, and I''m d we''ve alle to this amicable agreement."

    Amicable agreement my arse!

    Qin Ye repressed the urge to swear out loud as he countered, "But I''m the King Yanluo! Do I have to do everything myself? Why do I have you two if I have to attend to every insignificant matter in person?"

    Zhao Yun finally spoke for the first time. "Six heinous souls are required for the six paths of reincarnation. You currently have the souls of Susa Boy and Dong Zhuo, which means you''re still missing four. It would clearly be unrealistic to expect you to track them down one by one on your own, so the Harken and I will also set off to other forsakennds on our own search."

    I see, that makes me feel a little better. Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh of relief as he raised his chin slightly in a haughty manner. "You may continue, Dear Subordinate Harken."

    The Harken forcibly repressed the urge to murder him as it looked up toward the ceiling. Only after taking several deep breaths in session was it able to just barely muster up a smile. "I''m sure General Zhao has already given you an introduction of how the forsakennds work. What I''m about to tell you now is just how dangerous these forsakennds are. Cathay has a total of eight forsakennds, including Wazhai of the Miao Autonomous Prefecture, the earthen buildings of the Fujian province''s Jianhui City, the inner pce of the Forbidden City, and the peaks of the Twin Tower Mountains of the Chengde Mountain Resort in the Hubei province... You don''t need to know about any of the other ones as these four are the least perilous of the eight forsakennds."

    That''s kind of a thoughtful gesture, I guess...

    "How did you assess the levels of danger across the eight forsakennds?" Qin Ye asked.

    "We looked at the Yin spirits living around the area," Zhao Yun replied, "The Yin spirits within the forsakennds can''te out on their own, but outsiders can go in. Supernatural events won''t happen around forsakennds that aren''t very perilous. The more dangerous a forsakennd is, the greater the effect it''ll have on the people living around it. Over time, those areas will gain reputations as impure ces..."

    He paused here momentarily before continuing in a serious voice, "This type of impurity isn''t just an old wives'' tale, it''s something serious that really will result in deaths. We made our assessments after the forsakennds were discovered. From the supernatural files of the mortal realm, we discovered that these four areas are the least dangerous, as evidenced by the fact that the people living around them are virtuallypletely unaffected."

    The Harken took over from here. "Yesterday, General Zhao told you about the irond rules of the forbiddennds. However, technically, there''s another unofficial rule, which is that it''s not so easy for outsiders who enter the forbiddennds to attract the attention of the local Yin spirits unless the outsiders go out of their way to draw attention to themselves. However, if and once you do get noticed, you''ll be as eye-catching as a star in the night."

    Qin Ye nodded with a contemtive expression upon hearing this, and several secondster, he asked, "Alright, so which one is the least perilous out of those four?"

    The Harken harrumphed in response, "That''ll be the earthen buildings of the Fujian province''s Jianhui City."

    Zhao Yun hesitated momentarily before asking, "My Lord, are you sure you''re not interested in challenging yourself? This is a rare opportunity that might note around again..."

    Qin Ye turned to Zhao Yun with an appalled expression. Hell no! If I decide to challenge myself, Cathay will be without a King Yanluo soon!

    "Alright, then let''s just leave it at that." The Harken could tell exactly what Qin Ye was thinking, and it said, "Go and make some preparations, then set off for Fujian. After you leave, we''ll also set off right away."

    Thus, Qin Ye departed.

    Zhao Yun and the Harken remained in the conference hall, and only after a long while did Zhao Yun break the silence. "Why did you give him a list of the four most perilous forsakennds?"

    "I know him far too well!" the Harken replied with a smug expression. "I''m telling you, we can''t give him any opportunity to ck off or growcent! You and I have to constantly force him into more and more challenging situations, only then will he continue to improve, do you understand?"

    Zhao Yun was silent for about 10 seconds before heaving a long sigh. "You''ve changed..."

    The Harken: "????!!!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    At 6 PM the following night, Qin Ye was wearing a t-shirt as he stood at the airport with the night breeze blowing through his hair. He turned back to look at the Fuzhou Changle International Airport behind him, and he couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh.

    In the end, he had still been forced toe here by his two handlers despite his objections...

    Furthermore, there was no one to greet him at the airport, nor any luxury cars to take him to his destination. He was like a clueless kid as he stood at the exit of the airport, and he had no idea where he was even supposed to go.

    He cast a sorrowful gaze toward a caravan that was parked nearby. He didn''t know what brand it was, but just from looking at it, he knew it would be extremely well furnished inside. The person who could enjoy the pleasure of riding in such a luxurious vehicle had to either be a celebrity or a rich and beautiful woman, there was no way that it would be a rich and handsome man. After all, he was the epitome of the rich, handsome, and male demographic, but even he didn''t... Hold on!

    It really was a rich and beautiful woman...

    This rich and beautiful woman was being apanied by several bodyguards. She was wearing an extremely fashionable white veil dress and a pair of bright red high heel shoes. At a rough visual estimate, she appeared to be around 170 centimeters tall. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and she was speaking with someone beside her as she walked. Even before she had made it to the caravan, the door had already been opened for her.

    Are my eyes ying tricks on me?

    Qin Ye rubbed his own eyes vigorously before staring at the woman for another two seconds, and upon confirming he had the right person, he whistled at her in a promiscuous manner before casually making his way over to her. As soon as he began to approach her, the bodyguards apanying her immediately noticed him, and several of them had already stuck their hands into their pockets, presumably to reach for weapons. The woman slid her sunsses down the bridge of her nose slightly as she stared at him in an astonished manner, looking as if she had seen a ghost. Only after a few seconds of stunned silence did she blurt out the question: "You''re still alive?"

    Is that any way to start a conversation? The tion in Qin Ye''s heart immediately got stuck in his throat as he stared at Lee Jung-sook with a speechless expression.

    Lee Jung-sook waved off the bodyguards around her before making her way over to Qin Ye in an elegant manner, then gently pinched his chin between her fingers.

    What the fuck?! How bold of her! Is, is she going to confess to me in public? Should I ept or y hard to get? If she really is going to confess to me like this, I suppose I can consider epting her feelings. If I do ept her confession, what should we name our future child? What primary should they go to? What about high school? I wonder if they''ll get good enough marks to be epted by the likes of Beijing or Tsinghua University...

    Lee Jung-sook was naturally unaware of the fantasies being conjured up by his love-addled brain, and her thumb skimmed over his lips as he turned his head from side to side in a careful examination. She then nodded and instructed, "Shoot him down."

    Qin Ye: "!!!"

    This isn''t how things are supposed to go! Isn''t this a romance story? Why has it suddenly be a horror-thriller?!

    In the next instant, all of the bodyguards sprang into action, but they then immediately faltered, and one of them wore a troubled expression as he said in Daeian, "Young Mistress, we''re currently in Cathay..."

    Lee Jung-sook raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face as she said, "That''s true... However, it''s very difficult to tell whether he''s the real deal if we don''t kill him. After all, he hadn''t contacted me even once in the past three years. I''ve almost forgotten what he looks like."

    Qin Ye: "..."

    He silently pulled out his phone and checked the message logs to find that thest contact between them had taken ce three years ago, consisting of 12 messages...

    No wonder I feel like I''ve been forgetting something during the past few years...

    "Come on in." Lee Jung-sook turned away from Qin Ye and entered the caravan, and Qin Ye immediately followed along. The interior furnishing of the caravan was extremelyvish, and Qin Ye was slightly awestruck as he clicked his tongue in wonder. "How much did this thing cost?"

    "Only a few dozen million." The bodyguard closed the door on the caravan, and Lee Jung-sook kicked off her high heels before pouring two sses of fruit juice and handing one of them to Qin Ye.

    "Only a few dozen million...?" Qin Ye''s heart was dripping blood, and he took a sip of fruit juice to soothe the pain. "Long time no see. How have you been?"

    The interior of the caravan was no different from a luxury suite. In fact, Qin Ye couldn''t even tell if the vehicle was moving or not. Furthermore, it wasplete with a couch, a bed, a dressing table, a closet, and even a bathroom. Lee Jung-sook was holding her ss of fruit juice as she reclined on the couch like azy cat. She folded her long and seductive legs over one another as she ced them onto the footrest before her, then asked with an elegant smile, "So, why did you finally think of me? Do you need me to repay you forst time?"

    Qin Ye suddenly felt as if his throat hadpletely gone dry, and he coughed a few times before replying, "I''ve been busy recently..."

    "I''ve heard that excuse over 100 times. How about you make up another one?" Lee Jung-sook pressed her ss against her own cheek to cool herself off as she appraised Qin Ye with a hint of a smile on her face.

    "... I don''t really have anything else. Our meeting was too abrupt, and even now, I''m still reeling a little bit..."

    Lee Jung-sook raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of fruit juice, then mused, "I thought we were the same type of person and we''ve been through life and death together. However, it seems that we''re different after all."

    Well, this is getting awkward...

    "So why are you here?" Qin Ye asked. The awkwardness was too much to bear and he had to change the subject.

    "Considering your status, shouldn''t there be a special pathway open to you? Howe you''re being driven here instead?"

    Lee Jung-sook gently shook her ss, listening to the clinking of the ice cubes inside as she smiled and replied, "I just hired a Daeian chauffeur. He''s my ex-boyfriend''s little brother..."

    A stunned look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    Her ex-boyfriend''s little brother? That''s a really terrifying yet intriguing prospect...

    "... You directed an entire porn film in your head just now, didn¡¯t you? What is inside that numb skull of yours?! Is your brain just a pile of shit?!" Lee Jung-sook almost hurled her ss at him, and her chest was heaving violently as she gritted her teeth with rage and chagrin. Only after a long while did she set her ss down again, and she continued in a cold voice, "He wasn''t able to organize a special pathway, so I had to employ his services to drive me here."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Where are you going?"

    "Jianhui City," Lee Jung-sook replied in a casual manner, only to be immediately met by Qin Ye''s astonished gaze. Her pupils contracted slightly at the sight of his expression, but she put on a calm facade as she asked, "What? Do you know something?"

 Chapter 772: The Huang Clanâ€™s Earthen Building

    <h4>Chapter 772: The Huang n''s Earthen Building</h4>

    Lee Jung-sook then snapped her fingers and instructed, "Bring me the files."

    Qin Ye looked around at the empty interior of the vehicle with a surprised expression.

    Was there someone else in there? But that was impossible! There was no way another person could be hiding in the vehicle... Unless they were above the Abyssal Prefect level! What exactly had Lee Jung-sook been up to these past three years?

    "Of course. Xiao Ai is happy to be of service to you." In the next instant, a mechanical female voicepletely shattered his train of thought, following which a cupboard door sprang open to reveal a document bag in apartment.

    Qin Ye: "..."

    This is who she was speaking to?!

    Lee Jung-sook wasn''t looking at Qin Ye, so she couldn''t see the expression on his face. She picked up the document bag between her slim fingers before offering it to Qin Ye.

    She didn''t say anything and Qin Ye didn''t ask any questions as he opened the document bag, following which he raised an eyebrow in a surprised manner.

    "You''re constructing a factory in the Fujian province?" he asked in a casual manner as he read through the documents, "Why aren''t you staying in Daehan anymore?"

    "Even in the past, I would stay for at least a season per year in Cathay." Lee Jung-sook crossed her legs as she sipped her juice then said, "On top of that, this is a particrly sensitive time period, so why would I go back?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response as he continued to carefully examine the documents. Several secondster, he raised an eyebrow and said, "There are four coastal cities in the Fujian province, among which Jianhui City has the best port. Is that why you''ve chosen Jianhui City as the site for your factory?"

    Before Lee Jung-sook had a chance to reply, he picked up a photograph that was enclosed with the documents. "Don''t tell me that the municipal government is allowing you to demolish the earthen buildings? Those are world cultural heritage sites!"

    This was a photo of none other than a cylindrical earthen building.

    There were many tourists doing sightseeing in the photo, and some of them had even made their way onto the second and third floors of the building.

    Lee Jung-sook shrugged as she replied, "Well, the municipal government actually did permit it. Up to this point, the earthen building you''re looking at has already stood for over a thousand years, and it''s one of the earliest earthen buildings. Despite the government''s best efforts to preserve it, it''s already on the verge of copse..."

    She picked out another photograph before handing it to Qin Ye, and this photograph disyed the same earthen building from another direction. From that perspective, it could be seen that arge section of the building had already copsed.

    "The Huang n''s earthen building is situated in Anjing Vige. There are a total of 18 coastal viges in Fujian, among which Anjing City has the best terrain. The vige has remained undeveloped thus far, and that''s precisely because of the earthen building''s existence. My research tells me that this earthen building was constructed at the tail-end of the Song Dynasty, and it was constructed by the Huang n, which was an affluent family in the area at the time. It''s sitting in a prime location, and if it were to be demolished and reced by a Samsung factory, it would be a huge source of tax revenue for the city of Jianhui."

    She leaned back onto the couch as a faint smile appeared on her face. "If it isn''t for the fact that this earthen building isn''t going tost more than 10 years, I wouldn''t dare to demolish it, either. The municipal government has organized experts to examine it on multiple asions, and they''ve confirmed that it''s beyond repair. In fact, tourism services have already ceased there, and only then was it made public for bidding."

    Qin Ye asked, "Tourism services have already ceased there? Does that mean this photo is from a few years ago? Do you have more recent photos?"

    A peculiar look appeared on Lee Jung-sook''s face as she replied, "This is a recent photo."

    Qin Ye put on an unconvinced look as he countered, "If tourism services have already ceased, then why are there tourists in this photo? Even at thetest, this photo had to have been taken prior to the cessation of tourism services..."

    He didn''t continue as Lee Jung-sook was staring directly at him, disying no sign that she was not being serious. Three secondster, she dered, "This photo is fromst week, and there''s no one on it above the first floor."

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately lowered his head to look at the photo again.

    Sure enough, there was no one on the second or third floors!

    He had clearly seen all three floors upied just a moment ago, but now, only the first floor on the photo had any upants.

    Furthermore, perhaps it was just a figment of his imagination, but as he looked at this photo again, he couldn''t help but sense something indescribably eerie about it.

    He couldn''t articte this feeling, but it was nagging at him like an insistent itch. He felt as if there were someone or something leaning right beside his neck, looking at the photo with him, and that a cold Yin breeze was gently blowing against his ear.

    He ced the photo face-down onto the table. He knew that his eyes definitely hadn''t been ying tricks on him, so there was only one exnation: the supernatural phenomena in that area was already so strong that it was warping the outside world. Even looking at it through a photo alone would be enough to strike the beholder with a sense of extreme difort.

    What exactly could be lurking there?

    Only after around 10 seconds had passed did he raise his head to look at Lee Jung-sook again. "Why are there people on the first floor? Are they tourists?"

    "No, they live there. The main condition that the government raised was that the residents have to be vacated safely, and that no forceful eviction will be allowed. The problem is that everyone in this earthen building has the Huang surname. All of the direct and branch lineal descendants of the Huang n are living there, and due to the fact that they''re unwilling to move out, the building was renovated in the year 2,000. Apparently, renovations were done on the building once every two decades prior to that. Otherwise, there''s no way that the building would''ve been able tost until now."

    Lee Jung-sook paused here momentarily as a grim look appeared in her eyes. "What did you see just now?"

    Instead of giving her a reply, he asked, "Have you been there yourself? What did you feel when you saw it?"

    Lee Jung-sook took a deep breath before replying, "That''s the reason I showed you that picture. For some reason, my heart starts beating really fast when I see that building. You and I both know that people like us are very sensitive when ites to matters regarding life and death. When I saw the building, I felt like there were countless eyes staring at me at once from within."

    She tucked a few strands of stray hair behind her ear as she sighed, "The project was actually finalized half a year ago, but construction still hasn''t begun, and it''s precisely because of this unease that I''m feeling. The government has already urged us many times to begin construction, but it just doesn''t feel right to start until I get to the bottom of this, so I began to do some deep research."

    She snapped her fingers again as she instructed, "Give me file number A-3."

    I''m not falling for that again!

    Qin Ye looked on calmly, waiting for Xiao Ai''s mechanical voice to ring out again, but on this asion... the door was opened.

    The caravan was already parked at a resting area, and a bodyguard handed another document back over to Lee Jung-sook before departing. Lee Jung-sook opened the document bag and said, "There were people living here over 20 years ago, but now... Why do you have that expression on your face?"

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly as he shook his head in response. "It''s nothing. Please continue..."

    Lee Jung-sook gave him a curious look before pulling out a document. "20 years ago, there was a small vige around the Huang n''s earthen building. The vige waspletely ordinary and nondescript, except for the fact..."

    Her eyes suddenly narrowed slightly as she dered, "That it suddenly vanished someday."

    "It vanished?" Qin Ye asked in a surprised manner.

    He suddenly recalled what the Harken had said about assessing how dangerous a forsakennd was. The more perilous a forsakennd was, the more heavily affected the surrounding residents would be.

    And now, he was being told that an entire vige had disappeared!

    Hold on a minute... This doesn''t seem like the least dangerous forsakennd... I strongly suspect that I''ve been tricked, backstabbed, and quite possibly bamboozled..

    "The original residents are nowhere to be found. I did some research into the local crime records and files of the deceased, and I found something as interesting as it is disturbing..." She held up the document bag with a hint of a smile on her face as she said, "All 272 residents of that vige had disappeared."

    The air temperature in the caravan seemed to have suddenly plummeted.

    A hint of coldness had also crept into Lee Jung-sook voice as she continued, "No one died or moved away; all of them had disappeared. On top of that, what''s particrly intriguing was that the disappearances took ce in seven-day cycles with up to 10 people vanishing every seven days. What''s even stranger is that none of the local residents moved or reported this to the authorities! It was as if... they were waiting to disappear. Of course, this wasn''t a particrly noteworthy incident during the massive wave of supernatural disasters, and it urred in a very rural area, so not much investigation was conducted into the matter. However..."

    She paused momentarily as a beautiful yet dangerous smile appeared on her face. "If I want to investigate something, I''ll get to the bottom of it no matter what. The disappearance of that vige took ce less than 20 years ago, and the only ones who disappeared were the local residents of the vige..."

    She looked down at the documents, and her soft and luscious locks spilled down around her.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Are you saying there were survivors from foreign areas?"

    "Of course. No one wants to remain poor, so there''s naturally going to be workers traveling to other areas to earn an ie." Lee Jung-sook turned to Qin Ye and said, "Right now, I''m going to meet one of those workers. Are you interested ining along?"

    This was clearly an opportunity that he couldn''t miss.

    He was beginning to feel quite fortunate that he knew Lee Jung-sook. With her special status, she was able to dig up a lot of information that even many governments wouldn''t be able to uncover, and she would be a great help for him during his trip to the earthen buildings.

    10 minutester, the two of them emerged from the caravan, and a Rolls Royce was already waiting for them on the side of the road. The door was already open, and Lee Jung-sook was just about to get into the car when she faltered slightly before turning to the driver with raised eyebrows. "I don''t recall ever meeting you before."

    For someone of Lee Jung-sook''s status, her driver was naturally extremely important.

    "I was only recently recruited by Mr. Li." The driver lowered his head in a respectful manner and put on a fawning smile. "I served in the Daehan military, and after my discharge, I worked as a mercenary for a few years. Rest assured, Madam Li, I was able to secure this job, so I''m definitely capable of keeping you safe."

    Lee Jung-sook epted the answer with an ambiguous expression before getting into the back of the car, while Qin Ye sat down on the passenger seat.

    The car slowly began to move. Currently, it was already 7 PM. It was autumn, so night arrived quite early. The dying rays of the setting sun illuminated the dark clouds in the sky, presenting an eerie sense of beauty.

    The Changle International Airport was situated in the capital of the Fujian province, Fuzhou, and from there, it would take two hours to drive to Anjing Vige. The journey was very long, and Lee Jung-sook was looking at the scenery as it shed past her window. All of a sudden, she asked, "Were you the one who arranged the meeting?"

    The question was directed toward the driver.

    Seeing as he had dared to apply for this job, he was definitely aware of what the role entailed.

    "Yes," the driver replied in a respectful voice.

    "Why didn''t you bring him to Fuzhou?" Lee Jung-sook closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. "I don''t think his time is more important than mine."

    The driver heaved a forlorn sigh. "It''s not that I didn''t want to do that, I simply couldn''t. Madam Li, this survivor... is in a rather strange condition. There''s no way for him to leave the vige, so it''s best for you to visit him."

    Before Lee Jung-sook had a chance to reply, she suddenly heard a tapping sound from the window of the car.

    It was as if someone were tapping the window, but they were currently on the freeway, driving at the maximum speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour.

    Who could it be? There was someone gently and rhythmically tapping the window, as if someone were lying on top of the car!

    Lee Jung-sook''s eyes immediately sprang open, yet before she had a chance to speak, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Do you smoke?"

    For some reason, the sound of his voice was rather soothing to her, and she calmed down slightly as she replied, "No."

    "Not you, I was asking the driver." Qin Ye turned to the driver and asked again, "Do you smoke?"

    "No, but thank you for offering. Smoking is prohibited on Madam Li''s cars," the driver replied in a polite manner.

    "That makes sense." Qin Ye ignored the driver and lit a cigarette anyway, then gently pressed its smoldering tip against the car''s door, and the smell of burning paper immediately wafted through the air. A hole had been burned into the car door as if it were made from paper!

    "I also wouldn''t want to light any fires if I were driving a paper car."

    Lee Jung-sook''s pupils contracted drastically upon hearing this. This is... a paper car?

    The driver remained silent, but his head turned 90 degrees amid a string of gruesome cracks as he turned to Qin Ye with a smile that was extremely fake,looking as if it had been drawn onto his face. "May I ask who you are?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    In the next instant, a rapid string of banging rang out from all around the car at the same time!

 Chapter 773: Ghost Cave

    <h4>Chapter 773: Ghost Cave</h4>

    Thud thud thud! Thud thud thud!

    The sound wasing rapidly from all directions like a torrential downpour, and it was relentless, creating spine-tingling tremors that made Lee Jung-sook feel as if her head were about to explode!

    She forcibly repressed her difort as she cast her gaze out the window, only to discover that the passing scenery had already bepletely blurred and indistinguishable. It was as if they were traveling along the passageway between Hell and the mortal realm, and everything was warped and abstract.

    She was scared, but she wasn''t terrified. She had already endured the Hungry Ghost Festival, and in contrast with that horrific experience, this was nothing.

    The driver''s head was twisted around at an impossible angle, and the muscles on his face seemed to havepletely stiffened. Only after maintaining that hideous smile for several seconds did he speak again. "I don''t know what you''re talking about."

    An amused smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Have you heard of Su Daji? She was the true ruler of the Pearl Delta, and all of you used to serve under her."

    "I haven''t," the driver replied with his stiff smile.

    As they were speaking, the hole that Qin Ye had just burned into the car had already caught fire, and the fire was burning more and more fiercely, but it wasn''t producing any smoke.

    Qin Ye casually snuffed out the cigarette as he said, "I''ll give you a chance. Tell me why you''re here, and I can grant you a quick death."

    The driver''s smile became even more pronounced.

    His facial muscles remained stiff and unmoving, but the corners of his lips were curving upward, presenting an extremely unsettling sight to behold. In the next instant, a pair of deathly pale hands that were stained with blood shot out of his chest, reaching directly for Qin Ye''s throat!

    Qin Ye remainedpletely still, but just as those hands were about toe into contact with him, they suddenly burst into whitehermes. The driver screamed as he mmed into the car door, then transformed into what appeared to be a flower formed entirely by countless hands. The hands then dispersed and shot forth toward Qin Ye as countless ghostly ws.

    However, the oue was the same. Before they even had a chance to reach Qin Ye, all of the ghostly ws erupted into white mes, and the mes were quite small, but they were enough to make the driver howl with agony. He didn''t hesitate any longer as he smashed the car door off its hinges before shooting back in retreat.

    During his retreat, his body had already transformed into a ghost with a head of extremely long hair. Furthermore, he had put on a long ck robe, and when viewed from the front, he was nothing more than a mass of hands. His body was hovering in mid-air as if it were capable of defying gravity, and it flew back in retreat as it screeched with horror and rm. At the same time, Qin Ye rushed out of the car as well, and an oil paper umbre had already appeared in his grasp as he chuckled, "To think that a mere Anitya Hellguard would dare to attack an Abyssal Prefect."

    Immediately thereafter, Kwon Kyung-ho shot forth amid a sharp screech at his behest, and the sound of an undting tide rang out in the surrounding area as a sea of blood poured out of the ground alongside countless waving ghostly hands, which grabbed onto the evil ghost.

    In the blink of an eye, the oil paper umbre had already pierced through the evil ghost''s shoulder.

    ARRRGH!!! A blood-curdling howl rang out as all of the hands abruptly pulled back, transforming into a thin man with a head of long and unkempt hair.

    He desperately grabbed onto his injured shoulder, and his mouth had already gaped open to over a foot wide, revealing rows of sharp white teeth. There was a look of extreme agony on his face, and Qin Ye exerted a bit more force, thrusting the tip of the umbre forward slightly further as he said in an indifferent voice, "Do you know what Hell''s dictum is now?"

    The only response that he received was another gut-wrenching howl.

    "Tell me!" Qin Ye slowly twisted the oil paper umbre around as he interrogated, "Who instructed you toe here?"

    The evil ghost was in too much pain to speak, and only after panting for three seconds did he cast his bloodshot eyes toward Qin Ye. At this point, his facial features had already be quite twisted, and he panted, "Someone... doesn''t want you to continue this investigation... If you do... then you''ll all die!"

    Before he had a chance to finish, he transformed into a paper figure that drifted down onto the ground, then spontaneouslybusted intohermes and was incinerated into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

    Qin Ye withdrew his umbre as he leaned down with furrowed brows before picking up some of the ashes between his fingers.

    "Is he dead?" Lee Jung-sook emerged from the car, and only then did she discover that they had diverged off the main road. Currently, they were on a small path that was lined with dense pine and por trees. The cold wind of the night was howling through the area, sending chills running down one''s spine. The lights of the city seemed to be impossibly far away from them, and it was as if they had entered a ghost cave.

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Where do we go from here?"

    "I''ll drive." Lee Jung-sook took out her phone before taking a nce at it. "We''re currently still 80 kilometers away from Anjing Vige, and I don''t think you have a driver''s license."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before getting into the back of the car, and soon, they were off and running again.

    The scenery on either side of the car quickly shed past the window, and Qin Ye looked out in an absentminded manner as he fell into deep thought.

    What had just transpired hade far too abruptly, and there was a lot of information to process. Firstly, that evil ghost didn''t know about Hell''s dictum or Su Daji, so there was only one possibility.

    "He must''vee from ''inside''," Qin Ye murmured to himself as he watched the trees sh past through narrowed eyes. "Hees from the evil ghost paradise that''spletely devoid of Yin energy and separate from this world. But how did he get out? Both the Harken and Brother Zhao said that those on the inside can''te out, so what''s going on here?"

    Qin Ye pondered the matter for a long while, but was unable to arrive at any definitive conclusions. There were too many possibilities, the likeliest of which was that the supernatural disaster 10 years ago may have affected the forsakennd. However, the world of the Yin spirits was always unpredictable and vtile, so he couldn''t be sure of whether this was actually the case.

    The Huang n''s earthen building was like a yarn ball of mysteries, and the first loose thread had been found, but he was unable to achieve anything by pulling on it.

    The journey was a silent one, and the car soon arrived at Anjing Vige.

    The vige wasn''t very big, nor was it very sophisticated. It was just like countless other viges in Cathay, with the rich fragrance of farnd in the air and the asional dog bark ringing out nearby.

    As soon as the two of them emerged from the car, several men in ck suits quickly approached them before bowing in unison. "Madam Lee."

    Lee Jung-sook didn''t say anything as she cast her gaze toward the man at the very forefront of the group. Without a response from her, none of the men dared to stand up straight again. The man at the front of the group was a refined figure who appeared to be around 30 years of age. He was wearing a set of golden-rimmed sses, and a drop of cold sweat was slowly flowing down his forehead. Right at this moment, Lee Jung-sook leaned down slightly and asked, "Were you the one who arranged the driver?"

    "Yes..." A sense of foreboding welled up in the man''s heart as he gulped nervously before asking, "May I ask what happened?"

    Lee Jung-sook smiled, and dered, "You''re fired."

    The man immediately raised his head to stare at Lee Jung-sook with an incredulous expression, only to be met by a cold response. "You can''t even verify the identities of the people you hire, so you''re not fit to continue in this role."

    She didn''t even wait for a reply from him as she strode forward and asked, "Where is he?"

    "Ah... Yes, Madam Lee, pleasee with me." Having made an example out of the man who had just been fired, all of the people present became even more respectful. A man in his early forties emerged, and he was practically doubled over the entire time as he led the way, and soon, they arrived at a warehouse.

    This was a warehouse for storing seafood, and even through the door, they could smell the rank odor of the seafood inside. Lee Jung-sook''s brows furrowed slightly, yet before she had a chance to say anything, the middle-aged man informed in a low voice, "He''s... in a rather bad condition. He''s a resident of the Huang n''s earthen building, and his name is Huang Yunqing. He''s currently 26 years of age and unmarried. He left to ply his trade elsewhere in the country, but he''ll return at aroundte October every year to pay his respects to his ancestors. The local investigative service is currently still unaware of this, but ever since his return, some things have happened..."

    "Spit it out!" Lee Jung-sook urged in an impatient manner.

    Everyone immediately fell silent, and the atmosphere became a little strange as the middle-aged man gulped nervously, yet just as he was about to speak, Qin Ye suddenly mused, "Judging from this smell, I can already tell what''s happened to him. Open the door. It''s quite remarkable that he was even able to live this long."

    The middle-aged man was rather taken aback as he turned toward Qin Ye, yet before he had a chance to ask any questions, Lee Jung-sook instructed, "Open the door."

    "Madam Lee..." The man was rather hesitant to follow the instruction. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to open the door, but all of them were normal people, and the sight thaty beyond the doors of this warehouse was already beyond the imagination of normal people like them.

    "I said open the door," Lee Jung-sook repeated. "Don''t worry, I won''t be in any danger with him apanying me. Keep a lookout and don''t let anyone elsee in."

    "Yes..." The middle-aged man took a deep breath. "We''ve already tied him up. Do be careful, Madam Lee..."

    The man then gritted his teeth before opening the door, and Qin Ye stepped in first, followed by Lee Jung-sook before the door swung shut.

    The pungent odor of seafood immediately wafted toward them, and Lee Jung-sook furrowed her brows slightly as she pulled out a handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose with. The entire warehouse was lit by old round light bulbs connected by extremely long wires. Under the dim yellow light, a series of seafood boxes and water tanks could be seen. At the very center of the warehouse stood a chair, and a series of ropes could be seen tied around the chair, but there was no one sitting on it!

    "Where is he?" Lee Jung-sook looked around with a surprised expression as she loosened her grip on her handkerchief slightly. "Isn''t he supposed to be tied up here?"

    Qin Ye offered no response. Ever since they had entered Anjing Vige, he had discovered that he was virtually unable to sense any Yin energy. However, he could hear something.

    He could hear the sound of flowing waves and the tortured sound of panting.

    The panting was very short and ragged, like the dying breaths of a man about to be inundated by the waves, and the sound wasing directly from...

    Whoosh... He pulled out his King Yama''s Seal and opened his oil paper umbre without any warning. At the same time, a sharp howl rang out overhead, and something seemed to have grabbed onto the surface of the umbre. Immediately thereafter, the sharp howl transformed into a blood-curdling cry which quickly traveled away from Qin Ye.

    "If you''re dead, then be a good ghost. Don''te out and try to frighten people." Qin Ye closed the umbre, and Lee Jung-sook immediately cast her gaze toward the source of the sound, upon which she instantly shuddered by the sight that greeted her.

    She didn''t even know if what she was looking at could be referred to as a human anymore.

    The man''s entire body was rotten, and a series of fist-sized deathly pale human faces were protruding out of the rotten gashes, presenting an extremely disturbing sight to behold. It was as if the man''s body were entirely made up of human faces, and the rank odor wasn''t justing from seafood, but also the smell of rotting human flesh!

    The man was writhing as his entire body wrapped itself around the wires connecting the lights, seemingly as if he had no bones. Wisps of Yin energy were slowly flowing out of his wounds, and under the dim yellow light, countless ck eyes all over its body were staring directly at Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook, presenting a nightmarish sight that was enough to raise goosebumps on anyone''s skin.

    It was as if they were staring directly into the abyss.

    Despite everything that she had already been through, Lee Jung-sook couldn''t help but dry retch a few times at the sight of this disgusting creature, and she involuntarily sidled up closer to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye: "..."

    "Why are you getting so close to me?"

    Lee Jung-sook: "..."

    "What the hell is your problem?" she spat through gritted teeth.

    "If you''re too close to me, it could greatly hinder my performance," Qin Ye replied in a justified manner.

    Lee Jung-sook wrung her handkerchief viciously with both hands in a death grip, imagining it to be Qin Ye''s neck. You only have yourself to thank for your single status, you clueless bastard!

    She didn''t want to discuss this type of topic with a clueless guy like Qin Ye, so she changed the subject. "What is that thing?"

    There was a veryplex look in Qin Ye''s eyes as he replied, "There are three ghost festivals in Cathay, but all of them are different from one another. There is the Qingming Festival, the Shangyuan Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival. However, in the northern parts of Cathay, they are referred to as the Qingming Festival, the Hungry Ghost Festival, and the Cold Suit Festival."

    He seemed to be entirely unconcerned by the snake-like monstrosity wrapped around the wires as he continued in a slow voice, "The Cold Suit Festival falls on the 1st of October on the lunar calendar every year, which corresponds to aroundte October on the western calendar. On this day, pre-cut paper burial suits will be burned for one''s deceased ancestors, and that''s what gives the festival its name. In ancient times, there was some poetry denoting the events that transpired during the Cold Suit Festival. On this day, countless ghostse out to roam the night. The gates of Hell are opened around mid-October before closing after the Cold Suit Festival. However..."

    He turned to the horrific creature with a cold smile, and dered, "I never ordered for the opening of the gates of Hell today!"

    So where exactly had this monstere from? It was clearly an evil ghost, so why was it able to live among humans?

    One twisted human face after another appraised Qin Ye''s duo, and right at this moment, the creature suddenly spoke in a voice that bore only the barest of resemnces to Huang Yunqing''s voice. "Die... All of you... will die!! All those who dare to enter the Huang n''s vige... will die... Hehehehe!"

 Chapter 774: Blind Man

    <h4>Chapter 774: Blind Man</h4>

    The sound of shrill cackling echoed throughout the warehouse and to Qin Ye''s surprise, he noticed that the creature had a shadow!

    Is this thing a human or a ghost?

    "Interesting... It looks like the forsakennds are even more intriguing than I thought." Qin Ye made an inviting hand gesture, and the mouths of all of the faces on the evil ghost''s body opened up as if it felt like it had been provoked. The mouths resembled countless miniature ck holes, and he let loose a deranged roar.

    However, his voice abruptly cut off as pairs of deathly pale hands had appeared and grabbed him from behind.

    The ceiling had already transformed into a sea of blood, Kwon Kyung-ho''s upper body emerged from the sea of blood before forcibly dragging Huan Yunqing upward with the help of countless fellow students of his. Their ghostly ws, which were tipped with inky-ck nails, had already dug into the evil ghost''s flesh, and the faces all over his body screeched with rm and horror, but he was unable to escape from Kwon Kyung-ho''s sea of blood.

    This was a tussle between evil ghosts, presenting a hellish scene on the ceiling. Even though Lee Jung-sook had already seen many evil ghosts, her heart was still thumping in her chest as she looked on from down below.

    Blood-curdling howls rang out one after another in the warehouse, and the sea of blood on the ceiling slowly descended as a series of crimson threads. Ripples then began to surge over the center of the sea of blood, and with one final dull thump, Huang Yunqing was forced to bid farewell to this world.

    Whoosh... The sea of blood shrank as it converged toward the center, then slowly disappeared bit by bit. Qin Ye said, "Don''t be in such a hurry to eat him; figure out what he''s supposed to be first."

    "Rest assured, My Lord... I have a phone on me..." Kwon Kyung-ho replied in a muffled voice, following which a burst of gruesome chewing sounds rang out.

    Only after a full three minutes had passed did Kwon Kyung-ho appear behind Qin Ye with his mouth full of Yin energy, and he extended a respectful bow as he said, "I''ve conducted a full examination. Unfortunately, he doesn''t remember anything. He has no recollection of his past. All he remembers is one thing."

    Kwon Kyung-ho paused here momentarily before continuing, "That they muste back here once a year. Otherwise, they''ll die."

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this. "When they say die, do they mean bing that type of monster?"

    "Yes. If they don''t return in a year, even if they go only an hour over, then that''s the fate that''ll await them. From his memories, I could see that hest returned to the Huang ns earthen building on the 17th of Octoberst year, and today is the 18th of October, so it''s already been over a year."

    Qin Ye nodded with a contemtive expression, while Lee Jung-sook massaged her own be and heaved a faint sigh. "Did you see why this is the case?"

    "I couldn''t find any information on that," Kwon Kyung-ho replied in a respectful voice. "It seems that this has always been the case for him, and on top of that..."

    He took a deep breath before continuing, "The same applies to all of the residents in the Huang n''s earthen building."

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and he cast his gaze toward the Huang n''s earthen building. The building was only two to three kilometers away at most, and he appraised it with an intense gaze, as if he were trying to see through its walls.

    What exactly were the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building going through?

    Could it be an inherited condition? No, there was no way that such a notion could exin the state that Huang Yunqing had been in. Thinking back to everything that the second King Yanluo had taught him, he concluded that there weren''t any special Yin spirits ranked near the top that disyed such characteristics.

    Could it be a curse? Could that be why they had isted themselves?

    Hold on... He suddenly raised his head just in time to see Lee Jung-sook raise her eyebrows slightly, and before he had a chance to say anything, Lee Jung-sook spoke first. "Have we arrived at the same conclusion?"

    "Let''s get out of here first; this ce reeks." Qin Ye waved a hand in an attempt to dispel some of the foul odor in the air before exiting the warehouse, and Lee Jung-sook and the bodyguards immediately followed along. The two of them led the front and made their way directly toward the earthen building.

    The winter night was very cold.

    This was virtually the southernmost region of Cathay, but even here, the winds were freezing and seemed to be capable of blowing right into one''s joints.

    Everyone was silent as they slowly walked along. The town was brightly lit, and upon arriving at the entrance to the town, they discovered that it had been surrounded by a wire fence. Several hundred meters beyond the wire fenceid the Huang n''s earthen building in the pitch-ck night.

    There were no lights. The building was like a coffin that was standing in the darkness. One yellow talisman after another was stered onto the wire fence in front of them, and they were positioned in pairs.

    Qin Ye picked up a pair of talismans for examination to find that the one on the left depicted a stern and gant general in a vibrant suit of armor, holding a golden halberd. As for the one on the right, it depicted a man in a long ck robe, gently stroking a golden-eyed white tiger lying at the foot of his chair. Furthermore, these talismans were already in very bad condition.

    Qin Ye gently set down the talismans before casting a grim gaze toward the earthen building in the distance. "I don''t think these talismans are here to keep people out."

    Lee Jung-sook peered into the boundless expanse of darkness beyond the wire fence as she drew a sharp breath. "Are you saying... that these talismans are here to prevent the things on the other side froming over?"

    She slowly reached out toward the wire fence as she mused, "The fact that even you''vee to this ce indicates that the situation here is already dire. Can these ragged old talismans really keep out what''s on the other side?"

    "Don''t talk about things that you know nothing about, little girl." Right at this moment, a hoarse voice rang out, and Lee Jung-sook was given a massive fright. Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the direction the voice hade from, and only then did he discover that there was a small pavilion in the corner.

    It was a very ordinary pavilion, the type that neighborhood police officers would assemble using in boards. Beneath the pavilion sat a thin elderly man in a dark azure coat, smoking out of a shisha.

    Due to theck of lighting and the fact that the pavilion was concealed in the shadows, it was very difficult to notice it.

    Before Lee Jung-sook had a chance to say anything, all of her bodyguards had already pulled out their guns. She shook her head and indicated for them to stand down before making her way toward the pavilion, followed closely by Qin Ye.

    The pavilion wasn''t very far away, but they weren''t walking very quickly, so it took them close to 20 seconds to arrive before the pavilion. As soon as Qin Ye caught a clear glimpse of the elderly man, his pupils immediately contracted slightly.

    The elderly man''s eyes were covered.

    The dark night, the guardian talismans, the sealed fence, the blindfolded old man hiding in the darkness... All of this painted an extremely eerie picture, and coupled with the fierce winds howling through the nearby trees, it was as if they had already left the mortal realm and descended into the abyss.

    "What happened to your eyes?" Qin Ye asked as he feigned calmness.

    The elderly man was sitting in the dark, so it was impossible to see his expression. The only thing that could be distinguished was the smoke rising out of his shisha, and he seemed to smile as he replied in an incredibly hoarse voice, "Back then, I was also skeptical of everything like this little girl, and as a result, I paid the price and became like this. I may be a blind old man, but due to my blindness, my other senses, such as my hearing, have be sharper. I can tell that you''re no ordinary people..."

    Right as the elderly man was speaking, Qin Ye thrust a hand forward like lightning, only stopping less than a foot away from the elderly man''s face. He then slowly withdrew his hand, having verified through the elderly man''sck of reaction that he really was blind.

    If the elderly man had been lying about his blindness, then he would''ve instinctively defended himself from Qin Ye''s sudden strike. However, he hadn''t disyed any reaction, which meant that he was either an Oscar-level actor or he really was blind, and thetter possibility was naturally far more likely.

    After that, it became a little disconcertingly quiet, and only after a long while did the elderly man take a deep puff from his shisha before breaking the silence. "Take it from me: you don''t want to go into that ce. It''s... impure..."

    His entire body shuddered as he uttered that final word, and he took a moment topose himself before continuing, "Don''t go there no matter what. Perhaps you''vee into contact with... those things in the past, but I can assure you that what lies in there is far worse than even your worst nightmares! The more you know, the sooner you die. None of the people who have gone in with an objective have evere out alive again!"

    Qin Ye leaned down as if he were trying to peer through the blindfold into the elderly man''s eyes, and he asked, "I''m curious, why is a blind man like you on lookout duty?"

    The elderly man smiled as he extended a hand forward.

    "In the past, this was the ticket station for the earthen building. I can tell by touch alone the value of the notes handed to me and whether they''re genuine or forged. Aftering into contact with the hands of so many people, I''ve naturallye to develop some insights."

    He ced his hand onto Qin Ye''s hand, which was resting on the table, with unerring uracy and he murmured, "Humans aren''t the only ones who enter through here. Human hands are all warm, just like yo..."

    His voice abruptly cut off here.

    Immediately thereafter, his hand began to tremble, and soon, his entire body was trembling so violently that it was as if he were suffering from whole-body spasms. Three secondster, he let loose a sharp scream before falling heavily onto the ground along with the chair beneath him. However, he paid no heed to that and frantically scrambled into a kneeling position before kowtowing over and over again as quickly as he could. "Please spare me! I haven''t seen anything! I don''t know anything!"

    As King Yanluo, Qin Ye''s hand was freezing cold to the touch!

    "Don''t worry, I''m a human." Qin Ye slowly withdrew his hand as he asked, "What have you seen?"

    Dead silence.

    The elderly man bit down onto his lower lip, then kowtowed heavily onto the ground once again before replying in a trembling voice. "I... I can''t tell you... If I do, I''ll die right away! Just remember this..."

    He raised his head as his entire body continued to tremble, then said in a grim voice, "No matter what you do, don''t go in there! That ce is the stuff of nightmares!"

    Qin Ye didn''t ask any further questions. Instead, he returned to Lee Jung-sook''s side, and the two of them paid no further heed to the elderly man as they turned their attention toward the earthen building in the distance. Lee Jung-sook was the first one to break the silence. "I was thinking about this before, but why earthen buildings? Earthen buildings are split up into eight categories, namely the square building, the courtyard building, the five phoenix building, the galloping horse building, the gauze cap building, the pce building, the manor building, and the round building. Among them, the most exquisitely crafted ones are the five phoenix buildings, pce buildings, manor buildings, and gauze cap buildings. These buildings were constructed in ancient times primarily for high-ranking officials, while the square buildings, courtyard buildings, and round buildings were more catered toward the wealthy or were constructed by the general public. The round building is also known as the round fortress, and it possesses the best defensive properties among all of the earthen buildings. Why were they built in such a way? What were they anticipating to defend against?"

    Her eyes narrowed slightly, while the wind scattered her long hair, and she adjusted it in an absentminded manner as she mused, "Huang Yunqing''s memories matched what all of the locals have said. Unless the residents constantly live in this building, they have to return for the Cold Suit Festival every year. I have a feeling that the Huang n''s earthen building wasn''t constructed like this to defend against anything. It was constructed like a pen to keep people in instead! At the same time, they''re preventing outsiders from going in. Even if all of the people in this round fortress perish, as long as they don''t open the door, no one can go in. Could it be... that they''re keeping others safe from themselves? Did you also have the same thought just now?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Indeed, Huang Yunqing''s transformation had been far too unsettling, to the point that he couldn''t think of any other precedent among everything that the second King Yanluo had taught him. Furthermore, just as Lee Jung-sook had said, it seemed like this round fortress had been built to iste its residents more than anything else.

    It had been isted to be a paradise for evil ghosts, but it was also hell on earth for humans and ghosts.

    What exactly had taken ce in this glorified pen?

 Chapter 775: Entering the Forsaken Land

    <h4>Chapter 775: Entering the Forsaken Land</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    "Wasn''t there supposed to be a recording?" Lee Jung-sook turned around as she instructed, "Get yourckey toe out. Hearing a message directly ispletely different from hearing a ryed message. Perhaps we''ll be able to notice some details that he neglected."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before curling a finger, and a bloodstained phone immediately appeared in his grasp. Strangely enough, the phone was still functional...

    He checked through the files on the phone in sequential order, and he quickly discovered a newly recorded audio file that was only around 30 seconds in length.

    He immediately pressed the y button without any hesitation.

    It was very silent, eerily so, making the listener feel as if they had entered a morgue.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he exchanged a nce with Lee Jung-sook. What was going on here?

    The recording was very quiet, but it wasn''t absolutely silent. It was as if this phone was connected to an unknown abyss and through it, one could hear what appeared to be the sound of breathing. The breathing was faint at times, heavy at others, and clear at times, but muffled at others.

    The suspense was so overwhelming that it made the listener feel as if their heart had been caught in a vice. Finally, after a full minute had passed, some sound finally rang out.

    "Waaah..."

    A burst of eerie sobbing rang out from the phone, but it was impossible to tell the gender of the voice''s owner. In this pitch-ck night, the sound made the listener feel as if a cat were raking its ws back and forth over their heart. The sound was very quiet, but it was extremely prative, and Qin Ye could feel the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end.

    At the same time, he was struck by a potent sense of foreboding!

    This sensation was more unsettling than what he had felt from any other Yin spirit in the past, including even Dong Zhuo!

    Before he had a chance to ponder the matter any further, the sobbinging from the phone suddenly grew louder and louder! The sound was extremely guttural and desperate, and it was fading intermittently, as if these were the panicked cries of someone being choked to death.

    Just the mere sound of it was enough to raise goosebumps all over Qin Ye''s entire body.

    He immediately pressed the pause button, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then raised his hand and curled a finger again.

    Kwon Kyung-ho instantly appeared behind him at his behest. "My Lord."

    "Is this what you heard just now?" Qin Ye pressed the y button again,

    After listening for only three seconds, Kwon Kyung-ho shook his head with a surprised expression. "That''s not what I heard! I swear she said a lot more in the recording that I heard. I have no idea how this happened."

    Is the boundary between the two realms beginning to blur? Qin Ye cast a meaningful gaze toward the earthen building, then turned to Lee Jung-sook, whose face was slightly pale. "I''ll be going into the Huang n''s earthen building tomorrow morning."

    Instead of trying to dissuade him, Lee Jung-sook merely pursed her lips and asked, "Are you sure? ces like this that can evoke such a strong sense of peril among people like us are definitely not ces you want to go. After all, there aren''t many things in this world that can scare us."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "That''s why I need you to do me a favor."

    "I''ll have to think about it first," Lee Jung-sook replied with a faint smile, "Right now, I''m starting to feel like it would be best to just abandon this project. My time is very precious, and I don''t want to waste it here."

    Qin Ye ignored what she was saying and continued, "I need your help gathering information on the history of this earthen building. I need a detailed timeline of events since its construction, as well as all of the records you can find on Anjing Vige!"

    Lee Jung-sook rolled her eyes in response. "And what do I get for my troubles?"

    Qin Ye cleared his throat in a slightly awkward manner. "Do you think I would suffice aspensation?"

    Lee Jung-sook: "???"

    "What do you mean?"

    "I''m saying I''ll be yourpensation!"

    "... I think your definitions ofpensation and liability are a little mixed up there..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    7 AM the next day.

    Night arrived very early in winter, while daylight arrived quitete. Qin Ye didn''t alert anyone as he slung a backpack onto his shoulders before making his way toward the Huang n''s earthen building.

    He passed over the wire fence that was littered with talismans, and right as he stepped into the area beyond the fence, a gust of bone-chilling wind suddenly blew forth out of nowhere, pressing all of the grass in the area tightly against the ground. At the same time, countless anguished howls and enraged voices rang out beside his ears at the same time.

    There was the sobbing of women, the roars of men, the cries of children... All of these sounds were ringing out incessantly in this forsakennd, and it was as if there were thousands of years of hatred and resentment umted here, all waiting to be let out.

    "My Lord!" By the time he returned to his senses, he discovered that Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin had already appeared beside him.

    He then made a few hand seals, only to discover that they yielded no effect whatsoever!

    However, the members of the Dusk Legionnaire didn''t seem to have been impacted at all. Even though Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho had appeared, they were able to step into this area and use their innate abilities.

    So this is a forsakennd... Qin Ye inspected his surroundings through narrowed eyes. There were no Yin talismans here, nor could he sense any Yin energy. Furthermore, this area was rejecting all beings that possessed Yin energy and Yin talismans. In addition to that, there was no barrier to entry, and if it weren''t for the fact that he was on high alert, there was no way he would''ve been able to sense that instant of Yin energy fluctuations.

    He couldn''t sense any Yin energy right now, which meant that if an evil ghost were to possess a living human and approach him, there would be no way for him to tell.

    "The voices that I heard just now were speaking Cantonese..." he mused as he made his way toward the Huang n''s earthen building, "On top of that, it''s modern Cantonese. The pronunciation of modern Cantonese is different from that of ancient Cantonese. In the past, Cantonese was spoken by the Baiyue ethnic group residing outside of the sphere of civilization at the time. Later on, South Yue King Zhao Tuo of the Qin Nation conquered Baiyue and made it a part of Cathay. After that, the Cantonese dialect gradually changed and developed until the tail-end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the republic era. The pronunciation I heard just now came from at least the republic era, and it''s virtually identical to current modern Cantonese. That means if something has truly happened here, then it wouldn''t have happened too long ago. On top of that, this period of history has been preserved quite well, so I''m sure that Lee Jung-sook would have no trouble digging up the relevant information."

    Thankfully, he had learned some Cantonese during his days in the Pearl Delta. It had to be said that knowledge was a fantastic thing, and it could often help you at unexpected times...

    Soon, they covered the distance of several hundred meters from the fence to the earthen building. The round earthen building only had three entrances, forming a triangr formation. The exits weren''t veryrge, standing at only around three meters wide and five meters tall each. Rtive to the massive earthen building, these entrances were downright diminutive.

    Seated in front of one of the entrances was an elderly woman with a head of white hair, wearing a heavy ck smock. There was a table beside her, on top of which sat a book. The woman was holding a cane upright in front of her with both hands, and her wizened and wrinkly head was resting on the backs of her hands as she stared into the distance in a wooden manner.

    It was as if she were a statue, and even when Qin Ye, Ryu Changmin, and Kwon Kyung-ho arrived right in front of her, she still didn''t seem to be able to see them.

    Qin Ye stared at her for 30 seconds before finally gently knocking on the table as he asked in a polite manner, "Auntie, is this the entrance to the Huang n''s earthen building?"

    The woman''s cloudy eyes finally moved as she cast her gaze toward Qin Ye before putting on an extremely unsettling smile, revealing many gaps in her teeth as she did so.

    "So we''ve got more peopleing here to throw their lives away..." the elderly woman mused in a raspy voice. She wasn¡¯t disying any fear toward Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin, and it seemed that she had nothing to live for. She pointed her chin toward the table and said, "Register your names; only then will you be able to enter."

    At this point, Qin Ye was all but certain that he had been screwed over by the Harken. With that in mind, he carefully picked up the pen and was just about to write his name onto the book when he suddenly raised his head. "These names..."

    The book was filled with names, the earliest of which dated all the way back to the early days of the republic era! However, all of the names had been crossed out.

    "Those names belonged to tourists, of course." The elderly woman''s smile was bing increasingly more unsettling, and as she tilted her head to the side, her smile grew so wide that she was almost literally grinning from ear to ear. "However, they all died; not a single one of them made it back out. Are you sure you still want to continue? Maybe you''ll be next tonight. After all, it''s been a long time since anyone new hase to the Huang n''s vige."

    Qin Ye merely shrugged in response before writing down his name.

    A hint of mncholy shed through the elderly woman''s eyes, and she heaved a long sigh, but didn''t try to dissuade Qin Ye any further. Instead, she changed the subject. "You can go in now, but remember this..."

    She looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes and said in a serious manner, "You''ll only be able to leave this ce at the stroke of midnight each day, and you''re forbidden to leave at any other time. When I say leave, I mean to return to Anjing Vige. The electricity is cut off at 11:30 PM every night, and due to an extended period of non-renovation, the second and third floors are off-limits."

    Qin Ye smiled and nodded before picking up his backpack and pushing open the old wooden doors.

    The door opened with a cringe-inducing creak, and in the instant that it swung open, countless enraged roars and shrill screeches surged out alongside gusts of freezing Yin winds. The fierce winds swept up the fallen leaves, quickly blowing them out of the building, and the wind seemed to be able to blow directly into one''s blood and flesh, chilling one to the bone.

    This was the evil ghosts'' wee extended toward their new guest!

    The elderly woman heaved a faint sight behind him before murmuring to herself in a voice audible only to her. "What a strapping youngd... Why is he in such a hurry to die?"

    Qin Ye naturally couldn''t hear her, and he began to carefully examine this forsakennd.

    The first thing that he caught sight of was a tall locust tree.

    The earthen building had a total of four levels, and the locust tree stretched all the way to the third level. It wasn''t very tall, but it was extremely thick, and its canopy stretched for hundreds of meters in all directions, blocking out virtually all of the natural light.

    Thus, there were many litnterns positioned below the locust tree.

    Thenterns were of a pristine white color, and they were all situated on the first floor, which was still inhabited by residents. The chilling Yin winds blew past, causing thenterns to sway from side to side, and even though both Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho were also evil ghosts, they couldn''t help but furrow their brows in difort.

    They couldn''t pinpoint exactly where they were experiencing difort. Their entire being simply felt ufortable here. There was an indescribably oppressive air in the building, as if they had just entered a viscous swamp.

    Right at this moment, the sound of a piece of mncholic Cantonese opera music rang out from within the building.

    "... Only the moon knows my sorrow, separations are always so long while reunions are so short..."

    The singer had an exquisite voice and was also extremely skilled in their craft. In the instant that Qin Ye heard this piece of Cantonese opera music, he abruptly shuddered before looking around in a bewildered manner.

    Three secondster, he drew a sharp breath as he cast his gaze toward the fourth floor.

    Just like in the photograph provided by Lee Jung-sook, the fourth, third, and second levels of the building each had a massive crack. At this moment, a figure of indistinguishable gender was standing in front of the crack under the moonlight. The figure was wearing a dark azure robe, and they had a head of long hair that covered their entire face and trailed all the way down to their waist.

    "My Lord?" Ryu Changmin turned to Qin Ye with a surprised expression. He could see that Qin Ye''s hands were trembling, and that was a shocking sight to him.

    "My Lord, are you alright? Have you met this person before?" Kwon Kyung-ho was also quite rmed. As the King Yanluo of Cathay, Qin Ye had met a whole host of Yama-Kings and Abyssal Prefects in the past; who could possibly root him to the spot like this?

    Three secondster, Qin Ye lowered his gaze, and his voice was slightly raspy as he asked, "Have you seen any Cathayan movies?"

    The two ghosts shook their heads in unison.

    A wry smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he sighed, "I''ve seen her before. This song is far too familiar to me. The song is called ''Selling One''s Body to Feed an Orphan'', and what gave the song so much renown was its singer."

    He raised his head and cast his gaze toward the crack again, but there was already no one to be seen there. A grim look appeared on his face as he continued, "She is the nightmare of countless people, the wicked ghost, Chu Renmei... I didn''t think that she truly existed! Her story is the most terrifying supernatural legend of the south coast in the modern era. I can''t believe she''s right here!"

    [This is a reference to the horror film, A Wicked Ghost, which basically traumatized an entire generation. I had the misfortune of being shown the film by my older cousin as a child, and I''m not at all ashamed to admit that I was so scared after watching the film that I barely got any sleep for a few nights thereafter LOL. Of course, my 10-year-old brain was then quickly distracted by something else, and I forgot all about it, but the deep-rooted trauma still remains. I''m assuming Qin Ye also saw this movie as a child, and that''s why he''s so shaken here. He may have witnessed countless terrifying ghosts in the past, but I¡¯m sure nothing canpare with seeing the embodiment of your childhood trauma LOL.]

 Chapter 776: A Tip from Fate

    <h4>Chapter 776: A Tip from Fate</h4>

    Chapter 776: A Tip from Fate

    He was absolutely certain that that was Chu Renmei. He wasn''t able to catch a clear glimpse of her face just now, but those ghastly white eyes beneath that head of inky-ck hair struck fear into the deepest part of his heart.

    This was truly the personification of his childhood trauma...

    "My Lord, that was only an evil ghost just now. Why are your legs trembling so much?"

    Qin Ye turned to Ryu Changmin with a vicious re for speaking out of turn at a time like this. Foreigners like you don''t know shit! Show me one person born in the ''80s who hasn''t trembled in the face of the almighty Chu Renmei? All of you only know Sadako Yamamura and Kayako Saeki, but none of you have heard of the horrors of Chu Renmei! You should be ashamed of yourselves!

    "It''s alright, there''s nothing to be afraid of... Daddy''s already an Abyssal Prefect now, not the little kid that was so traumatized that he didn''t even dare to go to the toilet and had to sleep with his nket over his head..." Qin Yu murmured to himself in an inaudible voice as he patted his own chest in a soothing manner, and only then did he raise his head and begin to examine the Huang n''s earthen building.

    The first thing that he saw was a massive locust tree.

    The earthen building was very big, roughlyparable in size to a football field. However, this locust tree was four stories tall, and its canopy epassed the entire earthen building. It had already been growing here for countless years, and it was riddled with burls and blemishes. Its branches and leaves were extremely lush and hung down from above. The veins in its oval leaves were very clear and pronounced, indicating that it had already been growing here for far, far too long.

    However, the locust flowers hanging from its branches were of a scarlet color, resembling strings of rednterns.

    There was an enclosure around it that was filled with soil, and this enclosure was surrounded by a circle of orderly and well-arranged bluestone. Outside of this enclosure was the enormous Huang n''s earthen building.

    It was impossible to tell just how many people this first level could house; it seemed to be capable of holding thousands of households. All of the houses had whitenterns hanging outside, but at the moment, only around 30 to 40 of them were currently upied. There were clothes and nkets being hung up outside to be dried, and Qin Ye even noticed a few beautiful figures washing their hair under the taps.

    It was a wonderful scene to behold.

    Not a single person paid any attention to him. Well, that wasn''t entirely true. In reality, as soon as he walked in, everyone immediately turned their gaze toward him, but they then immediately lowered their heads again, as if nothing could evoke an emotional response within them.

    "How strange..." Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he made his way to the center of the za. The sunlight was filtering down through the gaps in the locust tree''s lush canopy, but due to the excessive density of the canopy, there was barely any light shining through. As a result, the first floor was virtuallypletely deprived of sunlight all year round, giving it a very cold and eerie atmosphere. Even during the daytime, it wasn''t much different from the nighttime.

    "ording to ancient traditions, nting a tree inside a building forms the ''À§'' character, which is supposed to be extremely unlucky . At their age, they should believe in superstitions like this..." He swept his gaze over all of the surrounding residents, making no attempt to conceal himself, but he was stillpletely ignored. The more he examined this ce, the deeper his brows furrowed.

    Firstly, he noticed that the feng shui of the earthen building was so bad that it almost seemed to have been intentionally arranged in such a fashion, and it was very suspicious that no one had tried to change this during all these past years.

    Secondly, the living conditions on the first floor were terrible. The residents on the first floor received virtually zero sun exposure all year round, yet they still chose to live on the first floor. Only the third and fourth floors of the building had decent sun exposure, but they werepletely devoid of residents.

    Thirdly, there were more than just elderly people living here.

    In fact, there were far more young people than elderly individuals here, including several women, and thus far, he had only seen three or four elderly people.

    Fourthly, the households were all situated extremely far away from one another. This was particrly suspicious as they were constantly living under the shadow of the massive locust tree and were residing in such an ancient building. At night, any normal person would be extremely fearful of this environment, so intuitively speaking, they should be gathering together as close as they could, yet these residents were doing the exact opposite.

    It seemed that not only did they reject the outside world, they were guarding against one another as well.

    Fifthly... He swept his gaze across the clothes that had been hung up to dry and murmured to himself, "These clothes are from the 90s."

    "How do you know that?"

    Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho were right behind him, and it was clear from their appearance that they weren''t humans, but all of the surrounding residents seemed to be ustomed to this, and none of them even bothered to scream out of respect.

    Qin Ye pointed his chin toward a certain direction, and Ryu Changmin cast his gaze toward the same direction to find several pieces of clothing drying on a rack. There was a pair of bootcut trousers, a pair of tight-fitting skinny jeans, a ruffled dress, and several shirts bearing certain phrases such as "Don''t bother me, I''m upset right now", "I am your father", and "I''m very ugly, but I''m also very gentle".

    Qin Ye exined, "The 90s was a decade during which the aesthetic standards of the Cathayan people underwent a massive change. People began to focus more on style and unique individuality. During the first-ever International Clothing & essories Fair held in the city of Yenching in 1993, more international clothing brands began to enter the Cathayan market. As a result, there was more diversity in the choice of clothing avable to everyone, and these simple shirts with impactful phrases on them became popr during that time. For example, during the period of extreme flooding suffered by the southern region in 1991, shirts that bore the phrase ''We stand as one, reach out a helping hand'' quickly appeared on the market. This is the symbol of an era. As for the other clothes, such as the ruffled dress and the bootcut pants, these were also styles symbolic of the 90s. Oh, and look over there; that particr style of leather jacket was greatly poprized in Cathay with the arrival of Hong Kong films."

    Ryu Changmin nodded in an enlightened manner, while Kwon Kyung-ho asked, "So what?"

    "Well, that indicates a huge problem." Qin Ye slowly cast his gaze around the earthen building before asking, "Do you see clothes from any other eras? The 80s? The 2,000s? In fact, if you look in through their windows, you can see that all of the ornaments and appliances they''re using are all in that very same quintessential 90s style."

    Ryu Changmin''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "So you''re saying..."

    Qin Ye nodded in confirmation as a grim look appeared in his eyes. "This ce is frozen in the ''90s. To them, there was no ''80s, and there will be no 2000s or 2010s. They''ve lost their past, and they''re unable to find their future, relegating them to eternal limbo in the ''90s. Why is that? What exactly has happened in the 90s to have led to this?"

    No response.

    The only reply that he received was the eerie rustling of bone-chilling winds blowing through the canopy of the locust tree.

    "Let''s keep going." He made his way over to a bedroom before pushing on the door. The door wasn''t locked, and it swung open with a gentle creak.

    There were several posters on the wall depicting celebrities such as the four heavenly kings of the Hong Kong music industry, and the likes of Lin Qingxia. The bed was of that familiar 90s army green color, and the paint on the outside of the bed frame was already peeling off, revealing the dark brown copper pipes inside. There was a mirror on the desk, and all of the furniture in the room, regardless of whether it was the tables and chairs, or the bookshelf on the side, all belonged to an era that had passed several decades ago.

    What was even stranger was that the room was very tidy, as if it were frequently cleaned. Qin Ye was not convinced that those zombie-like residents of the first floor would be kind enough to clean these rooms for their neighbors.

    He didn''t sit down. Instead, he began to carefully observe the room.

    "My Lord, have you noticed anything?" Kwon Kyung-ho asked.

    "The walls have been painted recently," Qin Ye mused as he appraised the wall ahead of him through narrowed eyes. "The painting technology of the 90s was nowhere near as advanced as what we currently have. This is the most basic whitewash paint job, and there''s no way it wouldn''t have cracked after so many years unless it''s been repainted."

    He gently ced a hand onto the wall before digging his fingers into the whitewash, which quickly fell away to reveal a dark yellow wall that was riddled with words inscribed in blood!

    "Help me! I don''t want to die!!"

    "I can hear it... I can hear it again! It''s that same Cantonese opera song! She''sing for me tonight for sure!"

    "Hahaha! All dead... Everyone''s dead! It''s my turn to die today!"

    After the passage of so many years, the words had be quite blurred, but it was still just barely distinguishable.

    Qin Ye turned and swept his gaze across the whitewashed walls that resembled the walls of a mourning hall, and even he was starting to grow a little uneasy.

    Everything in the Huang n''s earthen building was far too eerie.

    Who could say just how many living people there were here?

    Who could say how many evil ghosts were lurking among the residents?

    Who could say whether all of these walls were riddled with simr messages written in blood behind the whitewash? Perhaps the foundation of these very walls themselves were the bodies of their past residents.

    He didn''t continue to dig through the whitewashed walls. Instead, he adopted his Emissary of Hell form. As soon as hepleted his transformation, Fate immediately flew out. He spread his robe onto the bed in an orderly fashion and Fate instantly began to write.

    "Want to know the meaning of life?"

    Qin Ye''s expression immediately darkened at the sight of this line of text.

    "Want to live... a real life?"

    "YES/NO"

    Qin Ye turned to stare at fate as if he had seen a ghost. This thing''s pulling out ssic phrases from Terror Infinity! Looks like I need to teach this thing a well overdue lesson!

    "Talk properly!"

    Despite Qin Ye''s instruction, Fate continued to quickly inscribe more words onto the robe. "Wee, Host S-001, to the first reincarnation world: A Wicked Ghost."

    Holy fuck...

    The tension in the air was instantly shattered by Fate, and Qin Ye could feel a million swear words building up at the base of his throat... How could this ursed pen write out something so shameless in such a serious manner?

    It had even switched to referring to him as "host"!

    "Esteemed Yanluo Qin." Fate finally adopted a more serious tone, perhaps because it had sensed the killing intent in Qin Ye''s eyes. "This is not a joke. Even a pitiful pen like myself can sense that your honorable self has entered an extremely dangerous ce. This is a forsakennd, right? Forsakennds are the most perilous ces in our two realms, and based on the leads that I''ve collected thus far, I assign this ce a danger level rating of ''A''."

    Is there something wrong here? Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly, and he couldn''t help but feel that there was something strange about what Fate had just written.

    "Please allow this lowly tool of yours to exin. You can view this trip through this forsakennd as a journey in Terror Infinity. This ce shares many simrities with Terror Infinity. For example, you''ll only be able to continue after finding the right answer. You can also treat this as an escape-room-like experience. Only by solving the mysteries presented to you will you be able to progress in your investigation. In the end, you''ll find that heinous Yin spirit you came here to seek out, and during this process, my insignificant self will serve you to the best of my abilities."

    Qin Ye finally figured out what was wrong.

    This thing was being way too respectful and humble! This was definitely not Fate!

    On thest asion, the pen was throwing around terms like "brat" and "dumb fuck", yet now, it was referring to him as esteemed and noble, while denouncing itself as insignificant and lowly. Its ability to switch facades depending on the situation was truly exceptional!

    "Just now, you''ve already noticed many suspicious points on the za. However, you intentionally missed the most important detail. I know that this is a test that you''ve set for my insignificant self, and as nothing more than a lowly tool, I must provide the best answer."

    Holy shit, what kind of pen has Brother Xu passed onto me?! It''s even more shameless than me!

    After a brief pause, Fate quickly wrote down another line of text. "The problem you intentionally left to me rtes directly to Chu Renmei! With your limitless genius, you''ve already considered investigating her to get to the bottom of the mystery. Indeed, she is closely rted to the Huang n''s earthen building; there is no need for you to test me with the plot of ''A Wicked Ghost''. In order to conserve your precious vocal chords, please allow my pitiful self to do the honors in your stead."

    [1] [The character for wood, which represents trees, is Ä¾, and nting a tree in a building is essentially trapping it in a square, hence the character "À§", which means to trap or ensnare. This further supports the suspicion that this is indeed a glorified pen meant to trap the people inside.]

    [2] [Terror Infinity is an action-thriller novel written in 2007. The trantion of the book is actually up on Wuxiaworld, so feel free to take a look if you want some context on these references.]

 Chapter 777: A Wicked Ghost (1)

    <h4>Chapter 777: A Wicked Ghost (1)</h4>

    "Firstly, you have to be made aware of how the forsakennds were born. They are separate from the three realms and the five elements, and they contain their own sets ofws. Thesews are all interconnected with one another, and you must solve a series of problems one by one to get to the final answer. You can treat this as a learning experience. Secondly, I must discuss the existence of Chu Renmei. Of course, it could just be an evil ghost that looks like her, but isn''t necessarily her. If that really were her, then after hearing her Cantonese opera, she''ll be sure toe and find you tonight. That sounds like it would ce you in a dangerous situation, but she is the only unpredictable element in the Huang n''s earthen building. Perhaps you''ve already noticed that no one in the Huang n''s earthen building has initiatedmunication or contact with you. If that really were the true Chu Renmei, then she would be the only one here who has initiated contact with you. Perhaps this method ofmunication is a little vicious, but..."

    Fate was rapidly scribbling down words onto the robe, but right at this moment, Qin Ye noticed that it was unable to write any further.

    There was some type of invisible power preventing it from being able to write beyond this point.

    A grim look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon seeing this, and he swept a hand through the air, withdrawing Fate into the center of his palm as a streak of golden light. At the same time, he became even more wary of this forsakennd.

    Fate was something that even the death gods of other nations had to treat with respect, and it was definitely worthy of representing the King Yanluo of Hell. Having been yed around with by a man who had already transcended the Heavenly Dao for a few centuries, that man''s aura had rubbed off onto it. Even so, it was still unable to ovee thews of the forsakennd.

    "A so-calledw is like a big circle drawn onto the ground, and we can only move around in this circle like sheep in a pen. Without finding the key, there''s no way for us to uncover the truth..." He rose to his feet, and his Yin energy subsided as he reverted back to his human form before making his way out of the room.

    This was his first day here, so the most important thing for him was to familiarize himself with the situation.

    After exiting the room, he began to casually stroll through the Huang n''s earthen building. The building was massive, and the houses were spaced very far apart, so it would take over 10 minutes to walk from one household to the next.

    There was a woman in a in Cheongsam, and she was sporting a short haircut typical of the republic era. Cantonese opera music was ying in the room from a radio, and there was a nt on the windowsill, but it was already long dead and withered. The woman was carefully cutting something, and her fair legs were crossed together. asionally, a stray ray of sunlight would filter down from the gaps in the leaves and branches of the locust tree to illuminate her, and it was a very peaceful scene to behold.

    Indeed, the scene was beautiful, but the person was dead.

    Qin Ye made no attempt to keep quiet as he made his way toward her, but she disyed no reaction. A gust of Yin wind swept past, and a burst of fluttering rang out from the ceiling in response. A snowy white garment that was over 10 meters in length wafted in the wind above her head, making it appear as if several dozen people had hung themselves above her.

    Instead of getting too close, Qin Ye stood around two meters away and smiled as he asked, "Is that a cold suit?"

    No response.

    He cast his gaze toward the ceiling, where he discovered that there were over 10 meters of human-sized paper suits hanging all over the entire ceiling. The suits were pping and dancing wildly in the wind, presenting an incredibly harrowing sight to behold!

    "Why have you cut out so many of these suits?"

    The woman didn''t even take a nce at him, but she finally spoke as she replied in a wooden voice, "Why are you worried about things like this when you''re about to die soon?"

    "How do you know I''m about to die soon?"

    The woman fell silent again.

    She''s not a ghost... Qin Ye nced at the blurry shadow at the foot of her chair, then continued onward with slightly furrowed brows. However, right as he was passing by a certain window, he drew to an abrupt halt again.

    There was someone watching him through the window!

    He didn''t know who it was. The person''s window was tightly shut, and the curtains inside were drawn, making it impossible for him to discern the appearance of his observer. The curtain had twoyers: a thin veilyer and a fancy floral cover. He slowly turned toward the side, and he could see an indistinct figure beyond the thin veil, staring directly at him through the gap in the curtains!

    The two of them were separated by a distance of no more than 30 centimeters, and right as their eyes met and he leaned in for a closer look, his eyelids suddenly began to twitch.

    This was a ss window, and through it, he could clearly see into the room beyond.

    Right as he was staring intently into the room, the head of the woman behind him twisted around a full 180 degrees, forming a gruesome angle as she stared directly at his back with blood flowing out of all of her orifices.

    Even Qin Ye was struck by a sense of horror upon seeing this, and all of the fine hairs all over his body immediately stood on end as if he had been electrocuted. He hurriedly turned around to find that the woman was still the same woman from before, and she was still cutting her paper suits with her back facing her as if she had never turned around.

    In reality, even Qin Ye wasn''t sure what he had just seen.

    This entire cepletely went beyond his understanding of Yin spirits.

    He didn''t allow his curiosity to get the better of him, choosing to quickly depart instead. Curiosity killed the cat, and Qin Ye wasn''t about to follow in the cat''s footsteps.

    In his hurry to depart, he failed to notice an outstretched hand reaching out after him from behind the curtain following his departure. The hand had a deathly paleplexion and was riddled with patches of discoloration from livor mortis as it gently pressed itself against the window. At the same time, the curtains began to rustle gently as if an evil ghost was lurking behind it and was about to jump out.

    "So good... He smells so good..." A raspy voice rang out from the gap between the curtains.

    The woman had maintained the same posture the entire time, but she raised her head here and heaved a faint sigh. "Be a good girl now. No matter how good he smells, he''s going to be dead soon, while we''re still alive..."

    Qin Ye naturally had no idea about this exchange, and he continued onward. That woman just now clearly wasn''t a ghost, but she had evoked within him a sense of extreme foreboding. After walking for around 100 meters, he finally stopped again.

    An opening had appeared up ahead; this was a stairwell.

    At this moment, a human head was protruding out of the stairwell, and it was staring at him with a pair of inky-ck eyes.

    Those eyes were like a pair of ck holes threatening to suck out the soul of whatever living being they set their sights on! Those terrifying eyes belonged to a child who was 120 centimeters tall at most, and his hands, which were gripping onto the wall, were of a deathly pale color, while only a small section of his hair could be seen.

    Aside from the child, the stairwell waspletely empty, and it had been constructed in an ancient Cathayan style. The oppressive locust tree in the courtyard, the pitch-ck environment that resembled the darkest of nights, thepletely lifeless atmosphere... If a normal person were in Qin Ye''s ce, they would''ve most likely already burst out screaming at the sight of this ghostly child. However, Qin Ye remained calm and immediately rushed forward, reaching the stairwell in the blink of an eye.

    There was no one there.

    However, the imprints of 10 fingers could be seen where the child had been standing just a moment ago!

    The child had been gripping onto the wood so hard that his fingers had left indentations on its surface. Directly ahead of Qin Ye was a staircase that was around two meters wide and led upward.

    It was very silent, so much so that one felt as if they could even hear indistinct howling and sobbing ringing out from upstairs. Qin Ye could sense that he wasn''t the only person standing in the stairwell; he felt like there was a malicious spirit standing right next to him!

    Whoosh... The Yin winds blew into the stairwell, producing a sound much like an anguished wail. Qin Ye raised his foot to step forward, but in that instant, a sense of extreme peril suddenly welled up in his heart, causing him to falter in his footsteps.

    "Is this thews of this ce at work?" he murmured to himself as he massaged his own be. Just now, he had been struck by an indescribable feeling, telling him that going up now wouldnd him in huge trouble, the type that he still wasn''t equipped to deal with at the moment.

    Are thews prohibiting me from going to the second floor or have I still not fulfilled the conditions to go up a floor?

    He didn''t know what was preventing him from going to the second floor, all he knew was that he couldn''t go up there yet. However, just as he was preparing to leave, something suddenly rolled down the staircase before drawing to a halt after bumping into his foot.

    It was a round object that was covered in hair, and it had left a trail of blood in its wake.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath upon seeing the object. The scenes unfolding here were extremely disturbing and terrifying, more so than anything he had ever encountered. He bent down and gently picked up the ball to find that it was a human head!

    It was the head of a little girl.

    Her eyes, nose, lips, and ears had all been sown up as if she were a doll, and in particr, her lips had been intentionally sown in a way that they formed a horrific smile.

    Even Qin Ye could feel goosebumps rising up all over his entire body, and he immediately reared back.

    However, right as he did so, his neck, his ears... all of his exposed skin seemed to have been caught up in some type of thread, and before he even had a chance to think, he found himself staring at a twisted human face!

    It was an upside-down human face!

    A woman was hanging upside-down from the second floor. She was wearing a cheongsam, and her entire body was covered in blood. The blood had stainedrge sections of her hair, which was spilling down like a waterfall, and her entire face was deathly pale. Just like the little girl''s head, her orifices had also all been sown up, but there was still blood flowing incessantly through the gaps between the stitches.

    "Fuck!!" A chill instantly ran down Qin Ye''s spine, and he immediately thrust his Abyssal Prefect''s token forward. The token transformed into an umbre mid-flight, separating him from that terrifying woman''s face.

    The woman remainedpletely still, and Qin Ye held the umbre in front of himself for a full 10 seconds before finally withdrawing it.

    At this point, he was already panting slightly, and the woman was nowhere to be seen.

    However, severalrge twisted words had been inscribed onto his umbre in blood.

    "You will die tonight!"

    "Fuck..." Qin Ye ran his hand through his own hair before quickly making his way toward his dormitory room.

    This is definitely not a good ce... In fact, it''s even more terrifying than I imagined!

    There were all types of supernatural activity taking ce here, and on top of that, the human residents were still staying here despite the fact that they were clearly aware that they were living among evil ghosts. In contrast with those evil ghosts, he found those humans to be even more terrifying!

    This was a ce that would scare even an Emissary of Hell shitless!

    "What''s wrong, My Lord?"

    "You don''t look very good, My Lord."

    m! Qin Ye mmed the door shut as soon as he returned to his dormitory room before sitting down onto his bed with a grim expression.

    He had been informed both directly and indirectly that someone was going to being for him tonight, and there was a very good chance that this person was Chu Renmei!

    "Brace yourselves, there''s most likely going to be a storming tonight. I''m going to take a rest. Wake me up at 12 AM." After that, heid down on his bed to rest.

    He had to conserve as much energy as possible in anticipation for the first night of horror.

    Time slowly ticked second by second, and Qin Ye woke up even before he had been roused by Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin.

    He cast his gaze out the window to find that even the final rays of moonlight in the sky had disappeared. It was now well and truly deep into the night. Not only had the locust tree kept out the sunlight, it was now doing the same to the moonlight, and this ce was as dark as the deepest pits of Hell. However, all of thenterns in the corridor had already been lit.

    The scarletnterns illuminated the entire building a blood-red color, as if they were heralding the arrival of the abyss.

    Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin were standing on lookout on either side of the door, and right at this moment, the sound of a gong being struck rang out from the center of the first floor.

    "The weather has been very drytely, so look out for fires."

    ng ng ng... The gong was struck a total of 12 times in session, and on the final strike, all of thenterns on the entire first floor seemed to flicker ever so slightly.

    In that instant, it was as if this ce had truly been plunged into the abyss.

    I was waiting for this...

    Qin Ye, Ryu Changmin, and Kwon Kyung-ho''s expressions all stiffened slightly.

    The evil ghost that was out for blood wasing. In fact, she had already arrived at this room!

    "... Only the moon knows my sorrow, separations are always so long while reunions are so short..." All of a sudden, the mncholic tune of "Selling One''s Body to Feed an Orphan'''' rang out outside the window, and at the same time, someone began to gently knock on the windowpane.

    It was as if Death itself hade to knock on Qin Ye''s window.

    "I didn''t think they would really dare toe..." Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho cast their eyes toward the window in unison.

    However, Qin Ye remainedpletely still.

    This was because in the instant that the banging on the window began, a pair of deathly white hands tipped with inky-ck nails appeared behind him, and they were already pressed against either side of his head!

    An exhale that was filled with incredible malicious intent and hatred then sounded behind him!

 Chapter 778: A Wicked Ghost (2)

    <h4>Chapter 778: A Wicked Ghost (2)</h4>

    Yin spirits had no detectable shape or form, so if one couldn''t detect a Yin spirit''s Yin energy, then there was no way they would be able to know where the Yin spirit would appear.

    It could be from a mirror, from the tiniest of cracks, or from a shadow, and a shadow was exactly what this one had emerged from.

    Is she already here? After a split-second of panic, Qin Ye immediately calmed down.

    He couldn''t sense the evil ghost''s Yin energy, so he didn''t know how powerful they were, but now that they were in such close proximity with one another, he was able to immediately determine that this was an advanced Prefect-ss evil ghost.

    His status as an Emissary of Hell didn''t bring him any advantages here, so he couldn''t immediately kill his adversary. As such, he had to remain calm and take things slowly. In the instant that the evil ghost''s fingers came into contact with his head, he abruptly sprang forward before they could exert any pressure with their hands. At the same time, he swept his Abyssal Prefect''s token backward, and he didn''t even take a single nce behind himself as he rushed over to the side of the closet.

    The sound of sharp nails tearing through the air rang out behind him, and he turned around beforeying his back t against the wall. He then curled his finger and the Abyssal Prefect''s token transformed into an umbre again before flying back to him, but the evil ghost was already nowhere to be seen.

    She''s still here... Qin Ye inspected his surroundings with a grim expression, and Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin had already gathered around him even without requiring direct instruction.

    The evil ghost was still present, as evidenced by the asphyxiating aura of freezing darkness in the air.

    The electricity had been cut off quite a while ago, and the entire surrounding area waspletely dark. Only a faint ray of red light from thenterns outside was spilling in through the window, illuminating a patch of ground a crimson color. ck and red: those were the colors of death. It was like an omnipresent bloodstained hand that was holding this entire room in its grasp, and the suffocating pressure in the air struck fear into the hearts of even Yin spirits.

    "My Lord, this is no ordinary Yin spirit. This is most definitely a special Yin spirit, and a very highly ranked one, at that!" Ryu Changmin said in a grim voice, and as soon as his voice trailed off, the entire room began to tremor and sway violently.

    The tables and chairs were all swaying from side to side, and it was as if countless poltergeists had entered the room to wreak havoc with reckless abandon, or as if the entire room was tilting from one side to another. Pieces of furniture were sliding along the ground toward the door before mming heavily into the door and the windows.

    She wants to trap me in here! Qin Ye immediately understood his assant''s intentions.

    Strangely enough, he had been scared witless by all of the supernatural phenomena he had encountered earlier, but right now, as he was truly facing an evil ghost, he had be very calm.

    The desk was the first to slide toward the door, followed by the bed, then finally the closet. As the closet slid past Qin Ye, his pupils abruptly contracted, and time seemed to havepletely frozen in that moment.

    There was a dressing mirror on the front of the closet, and Qin Ye''s trio was standing face to face with their own reflections.

    However, there was also someone else standing behind them.

    It was a woman.

    Her body was a little twisted, and her hair waspletely unkempt and disheveled. She was wearing the dark blue robe of an opera actress, and her face waspletely concealed by her hair with the exception of a ghastly white eye. At this point, her head was already nearing Qin Ye''s left shoulder.

    This figure was far too familiar, it was none other than Chu Renmei! Qin Ye didn''t hesitate in the slightest as he immediately squatted down, right before a gust of Yin wind swept through the air above his head. At the same time, all of the furniture had sealed the door and the windows tightly shut.

    Silence returned to the room once again.

    "What was that?" Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin turned toward the dressing mirror with lingering fear in their eyes. Right there, that terrifying figure was standing between the darkness and the eerie red light with her pitch-ck teeth tightly gritted together, appraising Qin Ye''s trio with a vicious expression.

    Crack crack crack... Her head was slowly raised, and her hair parted down the middle from her nose, revealing a deathly pale face. Her face was already beginning to show signs of bloating and rot, as if it had been soaked in water for an extended period of time, and her mouth was full of sharp ck teeth that were stained with blood, while blood was also trickling down from the corners of her mouth.

    m! She mmed her hands viciously onto the ground, smashing countless cracks onto its surface. At the same time, she dered in a raspy voice, "Die... All of you must die! All those who have wronged me... who have hurt me... who have deceived me... All of you must die!!" [In the movie, "A Wicked Ghost", the antagonist, AKA the ghost, was an opera actress who had been framed as a lecherous whore and wrongfully executed by her vige. In vengeance, her ghost ughtered the entire vige, and that''s where her obsessive urge to exact revenge against all those who have wronged, hurt, or deceived heres from.]

    Her voice grew louder and louder as she spoke, and at the end, it had be so high-pitched that the cracked mirror exploded into smithereens, raining down ss shards all around the room. In the dim shadows, countless sharp ck ws emerged, as if several dozens of Chu Renmeis were grabbing toward him at once!

    "This isn''t an illusion! What powerful Yin energy!" Kwon Kyung-ho eximed as he hurriedly mmed his palms onto the ground. The sea of blood of MV Sewol appeared once again in the Huang n''s earthen building, and the deathly pale ghost hands of dozens of deceased students reached out to grab at the oing ck shadows from all directions.

    However, those pale ghostly hands instantly fell away upon contact!

    The powers of an Abyssal Prefect and an Anitya Hellguard were simply iparable. Countless ghostly ws continued to approach Qin Ye amid ghastly shrieks, yet all of the ghostly ws soon stopped in their tracks, even though Qin Ye hadn''t done anything.

    This was Ryu Changmin''s special ability: Untouchable Love.

    However, even this special ability of his was only able to stop the oing ghostly ws for an instant.

    In Daehan, Infernal Judges were already the most powerful beings of the underworld, but in Cathay, Infernal Judges were a dime a dozen.

    Whoosh! Around a dozen of the ck ghostly hands dissipated into Yin energy, but the rest were still traveling directly toward the vital regions all over Qin Ye''s entire body. He took a deep breath, and the Abyssal Prefect Umbre abruptly sprang open. However, at the same time, a burst of sharp pain speared into his be immediately following which, an overwhelming sense of peril welled up in his heart and he reflexively turned toward his left.

    There, he discovered that Chu Renmei''s "breathtaking" face was already resting on his shoulder.

    Inky-ck blood was trickling out of her mouth and down her rotten skin and flesh. The nauseating smell directly assaulted Qin Ye''s nostrils, and in that instant, their eyes met.

    She put on an expression that seemed to be a smile, although it was far more hideous than even the ugliest of grimaces, and in the next instant, she bit down onto Qin Ye''s shoulder with all her might.

    "How dare you!!" Qin Ye let loose an enraged roar as he gathered all of the Yin energy in his body onto his shoulder. A loud crack rang out, following which Chu Renmei shot back in retreat while howling in agony and holding her hands over her mouth. However, Qin Ye''s clothes had also been torn open, and a circle of deep tooth marks had been imprinted around his shoulder.

    Chu Renmei''s howl was extremely piercing, and her head had already tilted to an impossible angle as she cast a stunned gaze toward Qin Ye. "You... You don''t have it!"

    "Fuck off!" Qin Ye thrust his umbre directly toward her be, and in the instant that the tip of his umbre came into contact with her, Chu Renmei vanished into a cloud of Yin energy.

    She left?

    Qin Ye inspected his surroundings with an incredulous expression while the sense of peril in his heart slowly faded away.

    It seemed that she really was gone.

    "My Lord..." Kwon Kyung-ho turned toward Qin Ye and asked, "Did you sustain some type of injury to your legs? Why are they trembling so much?"

    "Shut up! You don''t know anything!" Qin Ye turned around with an embarrassed and enraged look on his face. "That was the embodiment of my childhood trauma, do you understand? I''m still a human! A human! Just because I''ve already died once doesn''t mean I''m not scared of death anymore! Just because I''ve received injections in the past doesn''t mean I''m no longer scared of needles!"

    Were these evil ghosts always this terrifying? It seemed that Chu Renmei waspletely outdoing her evil ghost brethren in the looks department!

    Qin Ye took a moment topose himself before taking out his phone.

    There was no signal and the time disyed was 2 AM.

    He couldn''t even be bothered to drag his bed back to its original spot as heid down onto it. However, he didn''t sleep. Instead, he fell into deep thought.

    "I don''t have it? What does she mean by that? What could she be looking for on my shoulder?" Qin ye murmured to himself as he stared up at the dark ceiling, "Could it be that she was looking for a birthmark? Could it be that she''s actually my sister?"

    Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin''s mouths immediately gaped open in rm upon hearing this.

    What kind of demented thought process was this?!

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything further as he carefully pondered each and every one of Chu Renmei''s words and actions. It was clear that she had already noticed him as soon as he entered the earthen building. The first attack she had unleashed onto him was directly toward his head from behind, while the second attack had been aimed at his shoulder.

    Head... Shoulder... Something I don''t have... 20 minutester, Qin Ye abruptly sat bolt upright on his bed, looking as if he had just been struck by an epiphany, and he indicated for Kwon Kyung-ho toe to him.

    "What is it, My Lord?"

    Qin Ye looked directly into his eyes with a serious expression and instructed, "Blow me."

    Kwon Kyung-ho: "!!!"

    "M-M-M-M-My Lord, s-surely that''s not appropriate... At the time of my death, I-I-I was only a 13-year-old child! You can''t ask me to do something like that..." Kwon Kyung-ho cast a horrified nce between Qin Ye''s legs, then turned to Ryu Changmin with an expression conveying a desperate plea for help.

    Surprised Pikachu.JPG

    "What are you looking at me for? You were at least a teenager, I was only an infant! I''m the true child here!" Ryu Changmin was also absolutely terrified.

    Setting aside the fact that I don''t want to do this, even if I wanted to, there''s no way your burly spear will fit in my pretty little mouth! I... I just can''t do it!

    "Get your heads out of the gutter!" Qin Ye snapped, "I''m telling you to blow on my shoulder!"

    "My Lord, don''t you think we''re too close to one another right now? Separation and distance make the heart grow fonder..." Kwon Kyung-ho was frantically trying to talk his way out of this.

    Who do you think you''re trying to fool? Blow on your shoulder?! Nice try, My Lord, but I''m not falling for that!

    "I get what you''re asking, My Lord!" Right at this moment, an enlightened look suddenly appeared in Ryu Changmin''s eyes. "You''re talking about the three fires of life, right?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response before curling his finger, and Kwon Kyung-ho, having realized his mistake, hurriedly rushed over to Qin Ye in an attempt to redeem himself before blowing vigorously on his shoulder.

    The gust of Yin wind expelled by Kwon Kyung-ho ignited a small me on Qin Ye''s left shoulder, but the me remainedpletely stationary!

    It was like a fake me, having beenpletely unaffected by the gust of Yin wind.

    "I see." Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh. "Back when I received the previous King Yanluo''s inheritance, I heard that I''m not the only living Emissary of Hell in history. In contrast with normal Emissaries of Hell, the three fires of life that we living beings possess can never be touched. In fact, we can''t even sense it ourselves. What Chu Renmei was saying is that I don''t have the normal three fires of life! The first time, she went after the me on the top of my head, but I was quick to dodge, so she immediately switched her target to my shoulder instead. I see now..."

    He stood up and began to pace side to side in the room. Several minutester, he stopped before turning toward the pair of evil ghosts. "But the question is why is she doing this?"

    Ryu Changmin was rather perplexed by this question. "What do you mean by that, My Lord? Isn''t it very normal for evil ghosts to try and snuff out their target''s three fires of life?"

    "It''s not normal in this case!" Qin Ye countered with a cold smile. "Think about it, what kind of evil ghost is Chu Renmei? She was wrongfully killed and her body was thrown into ake. After that, she returned with a vengeance and killed all 66 of the residents in her vige. Would an evil ghost like her go to the trouble of trying to snuff out my three fires of life? Wouldn''t she devour me as blood food instead?"

    Indeed, this was very much against her style...

    "Then what do you think she was trying to do, My Lord?"

    Qin Ye pondered the question for a full 15 minutes before concluding with absolute confidence. "She wanted to possess me rather than to kill me. However, the question that arises from that is why does she want to possess someone?"

 Chapter 779: A Wicked Ghost (3)

    <h4>Chapter 779: A Wicked Ghost (3)</h4>

    Why would she want to possess someone?

    With the pitiful IQs of these two evil ghosts, there was no way they could think of an answer to this question, and they could only look at Qin Ye with admiration in their eyes, awaiting his verdict.

    Why am I always apanied by either idiots or maniacs? There''s not a single person that can give me any useful ideas when I need them! Qin Ye pursed his lips as he continued his analysis. "Her goal for possessing someone must be ease of movement. That has always been the objective for evil ghosts looking to possess others. However, why does she need better ease of movement? Does this suggest that there''s something here I can do but she is unable to? For some reason, she needs the body of a perfect, handsome, and strong outsider."

    Both Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho were struck by the urge to scoff at Qin Ye''s tant self-praise, but they didn''t dare to say anything.

    In reality, Qin Ye wasn''t talking to himself to look cool. Instead, he was doing so to arrange his thoughts in the absence of pen and paper. Through articting his thought process, he would be able to organize his ideas and perhapse up with new ones.

    "Also, if she wants to possess someone, then why didn''t she just possess a resident of this building? On top of that, even though she''s present in this building, the residents are still all alive. Could it be that she''s unable to possess the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building? If so, then why?"

    He thought back to the scene he had witnessed earlier in the afternoon through the window as he continued to ponder the situation. "What could make it so that she''s unable to possess the residents of this earthen building? Could it be because they''re all dead, or they aren''t even humans to begin with?"

    After contemting the matter for several minutes, he stroked his own chin as he mused, "Fate can be a little sporadic at times, but there''s one thing it got correct. Everyone here is clearly avoiding me with the exception of Chu Renmei. Even though she''s a ghost, she''s my only hope in cracking this mystery."

    As for any deeper deductions, they simply couldn''t be made due to theck of leads and information.

    That was as far as Qin Ye''s analysis could take him, and just as he was preparing to lie down for some rest, Fate suddenly emerged before slowly writing on the wall: "Esteemed Lord Qin, there are still four days left until the Cold Suit Festival. As your lowly tool, I must remind you that the four annual ghost festivals are the easiest times for you to find the heinous souls in the forsakennds. Considering how strange this ce is, if you don''t find the heinous spirit here on this asion, then you''ll most likely have to wait until the Shangyuan Festival for your next opportunity to solve this mystery."

    Qin Ye was quite stunned to hear this. "Is it that hard to do things in the forsakennds?"

    Fate paused momentarily before continuing to write on the wall. "My Lord, you are greatly underestimating these forsakennds. Why has the Heavenly Dao abandoned these ces? Why are Yin talismans unable to be used here? These aren''t coincidences. Behind the formation of each forsakennd is a set of extremelyplex circumstances. There has been at least one ancient divine ghost that has perished here."

    I see... Qin Ye didn''t say anything further as he slowly closed his eyes.

    In any case, the first day was already behind him.

    He slept until the next morning, and as he woke up, he could already see faint rays of golden light spilling in through the windows, which hadn''t beenpletely blocked by the furniture in the room. He yawned before doing some washing up, and only then did he drag the dressing table back to its original spot in the room, thereby allowing full ess to the windows.

    After that, he opened the window before jumping outside.

    Perhaps it was just his imagination, but as he emerged from his sealed room out into the open, he detected a faint fragrance in the air. The fragrance was barely noticeable; perhaps it didn''t even exist at all. He paid no heed to it as he began to inspect the Huang n''s earthen building again.

    This was his second day in the earthen building, but the scenery remainedpletely unchanged from the day before. It was as if this ce was trapped in a permanent time loop, doomed to repeat the same day over and over again.

    He began to walk around the building. He didn''t get a chance to familiarise himself with all of the households in the building yesterday, and today, he was nning to begin collecting information from the left side first.

    The residents of the Huang n''s earthen building weren''t veryplex or diverse. There were elderly men seated on rocking chairs, resembling corpses as they constantly stared at the locust tree. There were also elderly with disheveled hair, slowly fanning themselves as they carved out a series of abstract humanoid wooden dolls... Every single one of them resembled mental asylum escapees.

    The entire earthen building was enshrouded under a suffocating cloud of deathly silence, loneliness, oppression, and insanity. All of the residents were like zombies who had lost the ability to think, and not a single one of them paid any heed to Qin Ye, even though he had tried all types of methods to get their attention and initiate conversation.

    Over two hourster, he returned to the same spot he had visited the day before.

    The woman in the in cheongsam was still there, and there seemed to be no end to the cold suits that she had to cut out. The same music was being yed in the room, and the windows and door were still tightly shut.

    However, in the instant that Qin Ye approached her, she raised her head in a stunned manner and stared directly at him.

    Only then did Qin Ye discover that the woman''s eyes were of a bright red color. It was impossible to describe this color. It was like the insanity concealed behind a veil of rationality.

    Her body remainedpletely still while her head tilted to the left, then to the right at extremely gruesome angles. After a long while, she finally spoke. "I can''t believe you''re still alive."

    This was the first person to have initiated a conversation with him!

    Qin Ye was bing more and more convinced that this was a problem-solving task, and upon fulfilling certain conditions, he would unlock certain NPCs. It seemed that the condition to unlock the conversation feature with this woman was surviving the first day.

    "You seem very surprised," he said with a smile.

    "I am." The woman leaned on the railing beside her before pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Want one?"

    "No, thanks."

    The woman then pulled out a box of matches and gently lit one to ignite her cigarette. She took a puff from the cigarette before blowing out a cloud of turquoise smoke, then cast a slightly spaced-out gaze toward the top of the locust tree. "Not smoking is a good habit..."

    She wasn''t particrly beautiful, with a long face and small eyes. However, her figure was exceptional and even though she was leaning against the railing, her alluring curves were clearly visible. Unfortunately, Qin Ye had no interest in someone like her as he had no idea whether she was even a ghost or a human.

    "Did you meet her?" The woman tapped her cigarette against the railing as she said in a raspy voice, "You''re the first person in all these years to have not died on the night after you heard that song."

    "Who are you?" Qin Ye asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    "I am Huang Xiaoqing," the woman murmured as she looked up at the dark sky with a forlorn expression. "I am Bu Wantian''s little sister."

    Bu Wantian? Who''s that?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but in the next instant, he abruptly raised his head to stare at the woman with a stunned expression.

    Bu Wantian...

    The husband of Chu Renmei in the movie, "A Wicked Ghost", was named none other than Bu Wantian!

    I didn''t know that he had a sister! Hold on... Bu Wantian, Huang Xiaoqing...

    "His surname isn''t Huang?" Qin Ye asked as he appraised Huang Xiaoqing with an intense gaze. "Everyone in the Huang n''s vige bears the Huang surname, so why is his surname Bu?"

    Huang Xiaoqing''s answer was very simple. "He inherited our mother''s surname. My mother''s family was quite affluent back in the day, and she married someone from the Huang n under the condition that their son had to take on her surname. My father agreed, and that''s why my brother has the Bu surname."

    I see... Hold on, that''s still not right!

    A window seemed to have been opened up in Qin Ye''s mind, allowing him to think of many more things.

    Previously, his focus had always been on Chu Renmei as she had left an extremely deep impression on him. However, as a result, he failed to consider the movie she hade from, "A Wicked Ghost"!

    From the very beginning, he had been of the opinion that reality was separate from the plot of the movie. After all, that was just a movie, but thinking about it now, why couldn''t the two ovep?

    Was a fusion between a movie and reality really all that preposterous?

    Even Chu Renmei had appeared, so why couldn''t this be the setting where the events in the movie had unfolded?

    Furthermore, what was even more of a coincidence was that the movie had begun with a game of evocation, and as a result, they had invoked the vengeful spirit of Chu Renmei, which had already killed 66 people. This game was set... in none other than a ce called the Huang n''s vige!

    It was the same setting, it was the same plot, and it was the same Chu Renmei. Who was to say that "A Wicked Ghost" wasn''t actually an embellished documentary?

    Who could provide proof that Chu Renmei was actually just a fictional character?

    If that''s true, then I have a lot more leads to investigate... His heart rate was beginning to spike, but he immediately repressed his excitement and continued to listen.

    "It was around thete 90s..." Huang Xiaoqing took a puff of her cigarette as she said in a slow voice, "Some people came to investigate the incident surrounding Chu Renmei. They proimed themselves to be journalists from Hong Kong, as well as a few construction workers who imed that they had seen a ghost and wanted to investigate this ce. To be honest, I found it quite amusing as they didn''t have the slightest idea what kind of ce they had just arrived at. 100 years ago, this ce was called the Huang n''s vige. Everyone in the entire vige had the Huang surname, and it was at that time that this earthen building was constructed. At the time, my brother, Bu Wantian, was a school teacher."

    Huang Xiaoqing tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear as a faint smile appeared on her face, and she cast her gaze toward the fourth floor. "He was the one who nted this tree, and his wife was Chu Renmei."

    Everything is a perfect match with the plot of the movie! Qin Ye took a meaningful nce at Huag Xiaoqing, but didn''t interrupt her.

    She continued, "However, he quickly attracted the attention of a wealthy family''s young mistress with his handsome looks, and he had an affair with her. However, due to the fact that he was married to Chu Renmei, their rtionship could never progress. Thus... they hatched an idea. I no longer recall exactly what had happened..."

    She heaved a faint sigh here before continuing, "All I remember is that my sister-inw was stoned to death, and I''ll never forget the look in her eyes as she died... Those were no longer the eyes of a human. She didn''t cry, nor did she scream. All she did was stare nkly at everyone, just like an evil ghost in the night. Throughout the entire stoning, she didn''t blink once, and the mere sight of her sent chills running down everyone''s spines. In the end, her body was tossed away on a barren mountain."

    After finishing her story, she heaved a faint sigh before throwing away her cigarette butt.

    Qin Ye waited for a minute before raising an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

    "That''s it" Huang Xiaoqing waved a hand in a dismissive manner. "I only told you all of this because I''ve been lonely for far too long; who knows if you''re going to even survive past tonight?"

    "Can I ask you a question?"

    Huang Xiaoqing picked up her scissors again. She didn''t say anything, but she didn''t refuse, either.

    Qin Ye approached her before asking in a quiet voice, "Have all of the other residents of the Huang n''s vige lived here as long as you have?"

    Huang Xiaoqing had begun to cut out more cold suits, and only after half a minute had passed did she reply, "Everyone here has lived here their entire lives, and most of them have watched me grow up."

    "Alright, that''s all I needed to know." Qin Ye stood up with a smile and continued to stroll around the building.

    However, by the time he made it back to the entrance of his own room, his expression had already be extremely grim.

    "My Lord." Kwon Kyung-ho emerged from the windowpane and asked, "Has something happened?"

    Qin Ye took a nce at him before rying everything that Huang Xiaoqing had said to him in her exact words. He then asked, "Do you hear something wrong with her story?"

    "I don''t..." Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho exchanged a clueless nce. There didn''t seem to be anything amiss.

    Even though it was still daytime, the sky was just as dark as it was in the night, and a cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he cast his gaze upward. "All of this happened over 100 years ago. Huang Xiaoqing is Bu Wantian''s sister. Setting aside whether Chu Renmei would spare her, even if she did spare her, how old would she be right now? 120? 150? What about those elderly people who watched her grow up? How old would they be? Over 200? What kind of a vige is this?"

    Kwon Kyung-ho drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "H... How is that possible?! Thispletely goes against thews of the world!"

    Qin Ye smiled and said, "That''s why this ce is called a forsakennd."

    "The more I think about it, the more terrifying it gets..."

    The isted earthen building, the vanished vige, the locust tree that turned day into night, the evil ghost from over a century ago, and... a bunch of immortal monsters?

 Chapter 780: The Person in the Building

    <h4>Chapter 780: The Person in the Building</h4>

    Everyone in the room fellpletely silent. The more they learned about this ce, the stranger it was revealed to be. They were already aware that there was something wrong with these people, but never did they think that the residents here would''ve been able to live this long.

    Yes, there was a possibility that Huang Xiaoqing was lying to them, but Qin Ye was leaning more toward the opinion that she hadn''t lied to them as there was simply no motive for her to do so. Furthermore, if he really had fulfilled the condition to unlock this so-called NPC conversation, yet Huang Xiaoqing had still lied to him, then the "Heavenly Dao" of this ce never intended to let anyone leave alive in the first ce.

    "Let''s get out of here and take a look elsewhere." After taking a moment to arrange his thoughts, he made his way toward the exit of the earthen building. He couldn''t go up to the second floor yet, but if this really were the site at which the events in "A Wicked Ghost" had transpired, then there were most likely going to be more leads to be discovered in the nearby area.

    No one attempted to stop them from leaving the earthen building. The elderly woman at the entrance was still sitting in her chair like a lifeless mannequin, and the entire building was enshrouded under an aura of death and despair. Even the sight of the greenery and flowers outside the earthen building didn''t do anything to help one rx.

    Right as he made his way around to the back of the earthen building, all of the fine hairs all over his body suddenly stood up on end. This was a premonition of the presence of a powerful evil ghost nearby. Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin yelled in unison as wisps of Yin energy began to seep out of all of their pores, and they were trembling incessantly as they followed along behind Qin Ye.

    Behind the earthen building was the foundation for a construction project.

    A hole that was over a kilometer in size had been dug, and a foundation had been constructed from steel beams. Even though the sunlight was shining down directly upon this ce, there was still an extremely dark and eerie atmosphere lingering in the air. The giant hole resembled an abyss that led straight into the depths of Hell, and just the mere sight of it was enough to send chills running down one''s spine.

    Qin Ye made his way over to the site and began to slowly walk along the steel beam foundation. It was like the bridge between Hell and the mortal realm, and the giant pit beneath the bridge was filled with ghastly white bones!

    These skeletons were wearing clothing from all types of different time periods, including the republic era, the 50s and 60s, the 70s and 80s, and even modern attire from the present day. It was impossible to determine how long they had been dead for, but their flesh had alreadypletely rotted away, leaving behind only sets of bare skeletons.

    Ryu Changmin drew a sharp breath upon seeing this. In Daehan, he was already among the most powerful evil ghosts, yet only aftering to Cathay did hee to understand that the evil ghosts here were far more terrifying and brutal than the ones in Daehan!

    Qin Ye''s gaze remained calm as he said in an indifferent voice, "The story in ''A Wicked Ghost'' took ce over 100 years ago. These are all of the people who have perished in the Huang n''s earthen building during the past century, and the foundational pit for this construction project has be a natural burial site for them. On top of that, ording to Huang Xiaoqing, none of them had been able to live past the first night."

    He raised his head and a gust of wind blew down toward him, carrying a dank and rotten odor. He looked up into the sky and murmured to himself, "Everything here matches with the plot development in the movie. Chu Renmei had originally already been sealed away, but due to the demolition and relocation of the Huang n''s vige, her remains were dug up by the construction team, then thrown into the nearby waterhole..."

    He made his way across the construction site, and right behind the site was a waterhole that was around 100 meters in size, situated on a plot ofnd that had a rtively high altitudepared to the area around it.

    There were no streams flowing into the waterhole, and it had already been stagnant for countless years. The water had turned a dark green color, and its surface was filled with all types of trash, as well as branches and leaves. The entire waterhole was giving off a nauseating odor.

    Kwon Kyung-ho was hugging his own arms as his spiritual body began to tremble.

    This ce was giving him an extremely strong sense of foreboding!

    The waterhole was giving off a twisted and deadly aura. Without a source of water flowing into it, the waterhole should''ve already dried out long ago during the past century, but it hadn''t. Furthermore, a waterhole like this would be a paradise for the likes of mosquitoes, frogs, and toads under normal circumstances, but the entire area in a radius of over five kilometers around the waterhole waspletely devoid of life and activity.

    There were no living beings here, and Chu Renmei''s remains were situated right in the waterhole. This was their of an advanced Prefect-ss evil ghost, and looking into the waterhole was like staring directly into the deranged brutality and extreme hatred in Chu Renmei''s heart.

    Wilted leaves covered the entire surface of the waterhole like a corpse gown, and Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back as he suddenly said, "Ie in peace. I''m sure you''ve already sensed that I''m not an ordinary person. You should be d that you''re residing in a ce like this. Otherwise, the crime youmitted in attacking an Emissary of Hellst night would''ve been punishable by death hundreds of thousands of times over! I''m only here to investigate some matters, so why don''t we leave each other alone? You don''t have the power to kill me, and I don''t have the time to waste dealing with you. After I''m done here, we''ll go our separate ways. What do you think?"

    There was no response.

    Three secondster, the surface of the waterhole began to ripple, and the wilted leaves and branches slowly parted as if a giant snake were about to emerge. Immediately thereafter, a huge ssh rang out, and a giant deathly pale female face slowly rose up from the waterhole, emitting an overwhelmingly nauseating stench of rot and decay.

    The first thing to appear was her nose, followed by her inky-ck hair, which was soaked by the water in the waterhole. Her hair then slowly parted to reveal a pair of bloodshot eyes that werepletely devoid of pupils. The final thing to emerge was her gaping mouth, which was full of sharp ck teeth, and the green water of the waterhole was gushing out of it like blood.

    Crack crack crack... She turned to look at Qin Ye with her head tilted to the side at an impossible angle before abruptly letting loose an earth-shattering roar.

    Boom!! Qin Ye remainedpletely unmoved, but Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho were instantly blown back by close to 20 meters. Their spiritual bodies flickered erratically, and all of the leaves and nts nearby were instantly swept away by the gust of fierce wind. A gruesome smile appeared on Chu Renmei''s face, and her chipped ck teeth ground together to emit a grinding sound that made one''s flesh crawl before she sank back into the waterhole.

    "M... My Lord!" Only after several seconds had passed did Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho return to their senses before rushing back to Qin Ye''s side, panting heavily as they did so.

    Ryu Changmin stared at the waterhole with a stunned expression and mused, "Such powerful resentment... Her resentment is far more terrifying than even my own! What could she have experienced to have given rise to such intense resentment?"

    "The resentment of evil ghosts stems from their experiences during their living days. However, a sufficiently developed mental framework is required to understand one''s experiences. At the time of your death, you were still far too young,cking in the emotional capacity and experience to fully understand the injustice of your situation, so you naturally can''tpare with a mature evil ghost," Qin Ye said in a contemtive manner as he appraised the waterhole.

    "Looks like my attempt at negotiation failed."

    "Why did youe here to see her, My Lord?"

    Qin Ye turned and departed from the waterhole, making his way back toward the earthen building as he said in a cold voice, "I came here to find a heinous soul. Where do you think it''s most likely to be?"

    Neither of the evil ghosts said anything. They had only been in the earthen building for a day, and many leads had popped up, but they were all extremely chaotic, making it impossible for solid conclusions to be drawn.

    Qin Ye continued as he walked, "Firstly, there''s no way it''s Chu Renmei. She is indeed vile, but certainly not irredeemably so. Su Daji and Qin Hui killed so many people in the three eastern provinces and the Pearl Delta, but even they couldn''t be considered to be irredeemably heinous. It''s a basic instinct for evil ghosts to pursue blood food, so their actions were excusable. Thus, that only leaves the people in the building, but you saw what they were like. They''re practically zombies who only live for the sake of it, and I don''t think the soul I''m looking for is among them. In fact, they may not even have souls. Also..."

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the Huang n''s earthen building. "Why does Chu Renmei want to possess me? Does she want to leave this ce? Alternatively, perhaps she wants to exact revenge on someone?"

    Qin Ye fell into deep thought as he analyzed his own thought process. "I''m leaning more toward thetter option."

    Kwon Kyung-ho immediately chimed in in a timely fashion. "Why is that?"

    "Because if she only wanted to leave this ce, then she would''ve been willing to negotiate with me. I''m sure she can tell that I''m different, but she didn''t even bother to speak to me. This seems more like a vendetta that she''s determined to settle with her own hands, and she has to be the one in full control during this entire process in which she exacts her revenge. Her resentment has lingered for over a century without fading, and it''s all for this moment. Hence, she doesn''t want to negotiate with me. This is her bottom line, and she won''tpromise on it no matter what. But who exactly is it that she wants to exact revenge against? The person that she hated the most should be Bu Wantian, but he already died over a century ago. There''s no way it can be one of the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building, either. Otherwise, she would''ve exacted her revenge on them long ago. If you ask me, that person is very likely to be the irredeemably heinous soul in this ce, which means that there''s someone else in that building that we still haven''t seen!"

    That person was most likely on the higher floors, which could only be essed by Chu Renmei, so this was a dead end.

    There were too few leads for him to continue his analysis, and he heaved a faint sigh. "Make some preparations, we''re leaving at midnight tonight."

    There was no phone signal here, and he needed Lee Jung-sook''s help to crack this case.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Midnight that night.

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths before quietly opening the window and jumping out of his room.

    At night, the Huang n''s earthen building was even more eerie and terrifying than it was during the day. The massive locust tree that epassed the entire earthen building was like a demonic giant swaying in the wind, and the rustling of its trees and branches was like a song of impending doom. There were also the human-sized cold suits hanging from the ceilings of all of the households, making it look as if countless people hadmitted suicide by hanging themselves.

    The scarletnterns were the most vibrant source of color in this oppressive night, and what was even more peculiar was that there was a mirror that was around one and a half meters in length hanging in front of the door of every household. As soon as Qin Ye emerged from his room, an overwhelming sense of peril swept over him like a steel knife scraping across his back.

    Chu Renmei is here... She''se here again...

    Qin Ye inspected his surroundings with a grim expression while crouching on the ground like a cheetah ready to pounce at any moment. Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho were standing on either side of him while biting down nervously on their lower lips.

    The elderly woman at the entrance had told him that he could only leave the earthen building and return to Anjing Vige during the half-hour window directly after midnight, and he had no time to waste dealing with Chu Renmei.

    After passing through the passageway, he continued onward, and perhaps it was just his imagination, but it seemed to be growing darker and darker as he walked along. Even the light of the crimsonnterns seemed to be gradually growing farther and farther away. After walking for close to a minute, he suddenly drew to an abrupt halt.

    Thud thud... The sound of footsteps suddenly rang out above his head, and it was particrly terrifying in this pitch-ck night.

    Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho gulped nervously in unison. They knew that she had arrived.

    The first thing that evil ghosts had to do when facing humans was to evoke panic within them. Panic led to mistakes, and only then would the evil ghosts have something to capitalize on.

    "Don''t look!" Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze around the earthen building, and after taking a deep breath, he suddenly broke out into an all-outsprint.

    Thud thud thud! As he elerated, the footsteps ringing out overhead also increased in frequency and became louder and louder. These footsteps were also apanied by the sound of urgent panting, as if there were evil ghosts running along directly beside them.

    Whoosh! Right as Qin Ye arrived at the first door, the door slowly swung open by itself, emitting a horrifying creak in the night as it did so. Immediately thereafter, a second door opened up, then a third... One door after another on the entire first floor swung open in session, and a resentful Cantonese opera song began to ring out in the night.

    "You''re reveling in joy, while my gut is wrenching from pain... Separations are always so long while reunions are so short..."

    As the singing sounded in the night, all of thenterns that they had passed in the corridor turned toward them in unison.

    Only then did they discover that these weren''tnterns at all. Instead... they were a series of human heads!

 Chapter 781: Huang Baokun

    <h4>Chapter 781: Huang Baokun</h4>

    The heads were all in extremely gruesome condition. Some had all of their orifices sewn up, some had their eyeballs gouged out, some had red tongues of around a foot in length protruding out of their mouths... All of these heads were embedded into thenterns, and they turned to face Qin Ye in unison asherfire erupted from the tops of the heads.

    In the night, the corridor of the earthen building was as silent and lonesome as a graveyard.

    There was one man, and he was surrounded by human-headnterns that were staring directly at him.

    A normal person would''ve most likely already been driven to the point of insanity by such a terrifying sight. The eerie singing in the night was like a soul-harvesting melody, and each and every note was resonating deep within Qin Ye''s heart. However, he paid no heed to all of this and continued to sprint full-steam ahead. Right as he reached the exit, he stopped once again.

    ng!

    A bloodstained meat cleaver had flown out of nowhere, just like that scene in "A Wicked Ghost", and itnded less than a foot away from him.

    This was a warning, a warning that said: "All those who attempt to leave this building will die!"

    "You''ve got courage, I''ll give you that," Qin Ye said with a cold smile as he examined his surroundings through narrowed eyes. Right at this moment, the singing faded, and all that was left was the biting chill.

    It was as if Qin Ye were being apanied by a throng of evil ghosts.

    Drip... Right at this moment, a drop of inky-ck liquid fell onto Qin Ye''s hand. Immediately thereafter, more of the same type of liquid began to drip down from above, quickly forming a continuous and unbroken line. In the next instant, a pair of deathly pale hands gently rested themselves against Qin Ye''s cheeks.

    "So you''re still not willing to let a handsome youngd like me leave after all," Qin Ye sighed in a forlorn manner, "I guess that makes sense for a thirsty old woman like you. However, let me make this clear: if you want extra services, then you''ll have to pay extra..."

    He abruptly rushed forward as he spoke while turning around at the same time, then hurled a hand fan in his grasp through the air. The fan''s edges were burning withhermes, and it spun end over end upon leaving Qin Ye''s grasp.

    As Qin Ye was turning around, he finally managed to catch a glimpse of the hellish scene behind him.

    Chu Renmei was situated right above his head like a giant spider, and the face that had given countless people nightmares was staring directly at Qin Ye from an upside-down position. Her inky-ck lips and deathly pale face were clear for all to see, and the hand fan failed to strike her.

    ck blood was flowing down her deathly pale face and her hanging strands of long hair before dripping down onto the ground. She opened her cavernous mouth as far as it would go, then let loose one heart-wrenching roar after another.

    The mes in the surroundingnterns flickered violently, and a shockwave that was visible even to the naked eye had been swept up over the ground. At the same time, Yin wind began to surge around Qin Ye''s entire body amid countless ghostly cries, and he adorned his Abyssal Prefect''s robe. His facial hair had be as hard as iron and steel, and thehermes in his eyes surged forth in a frenzy as he rose to over eight feet tall. Additionally, an inky-ck hand fan had appeared in his grasp, while the Abyssal Prefect''s token had split up into six hand fans that were revolving around his body.

    "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!" His aura erupted forth like a boundless ocean, and he swept his sleeves through the air to force back the oing shockwaves, drawing a sharp scream from Chu Renmei in the process.

    The entire scene suddenly fell deathly silent.

    Qin Ye''s boundless aura as an Emissary of Hell was shing with the ferocious aura of this advanced Prefect-level evil ghost in this forsakennd, and neither side was willing to back down. Both of them were searching for holes to exploit in one another''s defenses.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still for a moment before the flow of time was instantly restored again.

    Boom!! A series of cracks appeared on the wooden floor before quickly expanding to form massive trenches!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the entrance, the statuesque elderly woman finally stood up.

    She was like a perfectly urate clock, and she had stood up right on the stroke of 12:25 AM. She then pulled out a rusty bronze lock that was asrge as a te, seemingly out of thin air, before coughing as she trudged toward the entrance.

    Right at this moment, the gate exploded violently, and a figure flew out on a giant umbre. He was being pursued by countless strands of inky-ck hair that resembled ghostly ws, apanied by the sound of an earth-shattering screech. However, in the instant that the strands of hair were about to extend out of the earthen building, the screech turned into an indignant cry, and the strands of hair were forced to withdraw back into the building.

    "The entrance will be shut at 12:30 AM sharp, make sure toe back earlier next time."

    The elderly woman said in a habitual manner, and a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he flew away as a gust of Yin wind.

    She can see me...

    This was the first time that someone aside from Chu Renmei in the Huang n''s earthen building had noticed him without any active effort from him to directlymunicate with them.

    However, this wasn''t the time to be pondering this matter. Thus, hemitted this detail firmly to memory for future reference, then rushed directly toward Anjing Vige.

    During the short span of just two days, many people had already arrived in Anjing Vige. To put it more urately, these were all staff working under Lee Jung-sook. She was certainly not going to pass up an opportunity for an extraordinary figure like Qin Ye to owe her a favor.

    As soon as Qin Ye returned to Anjing Vige, Lee Jung-sook was immediately informed by one of her staff, and thus, Qin Ye was quickly taken to the building where she was staying.

    "Your life force is astonishingly abundant!" Lee Jung-sook was seated on a couch at the center of the room. This was a luxurious European-style couch that had been specially transported here for her, and it was aplete mismatch with the aesthetic of Anjing Vige. Her long and straight legs were crossed at the ankles and ced on the footrest in front of her, and she was holding a cup of coffee as she said, "I have someone I think you would be interested in meeting."

    Only then did Qin Ye notice that there was a fatso sitting on the other side of the room, appraising Lee Jung-sook with a fawning smile on his face.

    This man appeared to be in his forties, and he had a round face and dense hair. Judging from his appearance, it was clear that he would''ve been quite handsome in his youth, but the passage of time had not been lenient to him.

    The man was around 175 centimeters tall, and upon hearing what Lee Jung-sook had just said, he had already risen to his feet before extending a hand toward Qin Ye. "Greetings, Mr. Qin. I am the director of the Daoyuan County''s ministry ofnd and resources. My name is Huang Baokun, and it''s an honor for me to meet you."

    Huang Baokun?

    Qin Ye shook his hand with a smile. "Likewise, Mr. Huang. May I ask in what way you''re rted to the Huang n''s earthen building?"

    "There''s no rtion there." Huang Baokun released Qin Ye''s hand with a wry smile and said, "Everyone knows that there''s something strange going on in the Huang n''s earthen building. I''ve already been subjected to several investigations, but I really don''t have any direct ties with that ce. On top of that, my surname wasn''t even Huang originally."

    "No direct ties?" Qin Ye sat down on another single-person couch in the room, then epted a cup of coffee being handed to him by a bodyguard with a hint of a smile on his face as he asked, "Are you implying that there are some indirect ties then?"

    Huang Baokun''s smile became a little strained, and he pulled out a square handkerchief to dab at the sweat on his forehead. "Strictly speaking, I am rted to that ce in a way."

    He heaved a faint sigh before also taking a seat. He was drinking some tea instead of coffee, and he brought his teacup to his lips before gently blowing into it, seemingly taking some time to organize his words. Only after a long while did he continue, "During my younger days, I was rtively handsome, but my family was quite impoverished. At the time, the Huang n''s earthen building still wasn''t as strange a ce as it is now. One of the families living in the earthen building took a liking to me and wanted me to marry their daughter. However, the women of the Huang n''s earthen building had to stay with their families even after marriage, so I had to go and live with them as well and also take on the Huang surname. I agreed, but around a month before our marriage, some... very unsettling things happened, and I was scared, so I revoked the marriage. That''s the only tie that I have to the Huang n''s earthen building."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Anjing City was very close to the Huang n''s earthen building, so it was quite normal for marriages to take ce between their residents.

    "Is that all?" He turned to Lee Jung-sook as he raised an eyebrow.

    "Of course not." Lee Jung-sook was styling her nails in a nonchnt manner, and she gently blew on them as she said, "I''m guessing that you must be very interested in the history of the Huang n''s earthen building. After all, you''re a meticulous man, and you wouldn''t ignore any leads that could help you solve the mystery here. Hence, I asked Director Huang to bring me the county''s local records, dating back all the way to the earliest days of the Huang n''s earthen building. You won''t be able to read through all of the records. After all, this is an earthen building that has stood since the Song Dynasty. With that in mind, I only printed out the local recordsmencing from the founding of the Republic of Cathay to the time when the Huang n''s earthen building became inessible to the general public."

    She gently set down her scissors with a smile as she continued, "I''ve taken a quick nce at the local records and discovered some very interesting details. How about you take a look at the current records while I tell you about my observations? Mike!"

    A Caucasian bodyguard strode over to Qin Ye before handing him a stack of documents before making an inviting hand gesture.

    "The Huang n''s earthen building was constructed by Huang Taiyuan, known as Gentleman Huang in the Song Dynasty. He served as a provincial magistrate of the Fujian province, and hemissioned the construction of this earthen building following his retirement. During the first roughly 1,000 years of its existence, not a single supernatural event took ce in the building. On top of that, it was extremely renowned locally as the province''s long-life vige, where the average life expectancy was very high."

    Qin Ye raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing this.

    This ce may have been known as the long-life vige, but surely the residents weren''t supposed to live for over 200 years.

    Lee Jung-sook continued, "The average life expectancy in the vige was 90, and it had over 10 people over the age of 100 at one point. The most interesting thing is that all of the emperors of the Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties had sent envoys to the vige. Have you heard of the praetorian guard divisions?"

    Qin Ye replied in a contemtive manner, "Are you referring to the collection of special divisions in Cathayan history, namely the Qing Dynasty''s Sticky Rod Division, the Ming Dynasty''s Silk Robe Division, the Song Dynasty''s Imperial City Division, the Tang Dynasty''s Plum Blossom Internal Division, and the Han Dynasty''s Embroidered Robe Direct Division?"

    Lee Jung-sook gently blew on her coffee before replying, "That''s exactly right. They are responsible for performing secret duties for the emperor, and they serve a purpose much like that of the current CIA and FBI. The Huang n''s vige is also known as Fortune Temple, and that name was awarded to it by none other than the Imperial City Division. What''s even more interesting is that the Imperial City Division, the Sticky Rod Division, and the Silk Robe Division have all set up special subdivisions here that were directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor. What do you think they were doing here?"

    "Perhaps they were looking for something? The secret to a long life, for example?" Qin Ye mused.

    "Maybe." Lee Jung-sook shrugged in response. "This ce has attracted special interest from the emperors of three dynasties; even I''m bing very interested in it. What did you encounter during your two days in there?"

    Qin Ye offered no response as he began to examine the document page after page. All of a sudden, he stopped at a certain page before cing the document beside Huang Baokun, who didn''t even dare to utter a single word. "Director Huang, do you still remember this contract?"

    This was a demolition and relocation contract.

    The government had approved the demolition and relocation of the Huang n''s earthen building. During the 90s, the reform had only just begun, and the real estate industry was also beginning to heat up. At the time, avable demolition and relocation projects were pounced on as long as there was profit to be made; things like respect for cultural heritage sites had beenpletely thrown out the window. The poprity of the earthen buildings had only experienced a sharp rise in the past decade, but no one would have cared about that back in the 90s.

    On the demolition and relocation contract, the administrator signature belonged to none other than Huang Baokun. However, he wasn''t the one who had signed off on the project. Presumably, he had still been rtively far away from reaching the position of director at the time.

    The 90s... That was the exact era that the Huang n''s earthen building was currently stuck in!

    "And that''s not all, take a look at this as well." Qin Ye moved the top sheet of paper aside before pointing down at the document below it. "This is a pledge, and you''re acting as the promisee and middle man, assuring the 121 households of the Huang n''s vige of their position in the construction team, as well as guaranteeing timely relocation. I recall you just said that your only tie with the Huang n''s family was a marriage that didn''t even go ahead. You''re not supposed to be from the Huang n''s vige, but looking at these documents..."

    Qin Ye leaned back on his couch as a faint smile appeared on his face. "It seems your ties with the Huang n''s vige are closer than you let on."

    "I''m afraid you''re mistaken, Mr. Qin." Huang Baokun looked as if he had just swallowed something bitter. "It''s exactly because of my failed marriage that I was the only one who could do this. The Huang n''s vige has been inessible to the general public for over 100 years, so in order to arrange the demolition of the earthen building, the government could only send someone most familiar with the Huang n''s vige to facilitatemunication. At the time, I was the only one in the municipal government with some ties with the Huang n''s vige, so I was the only viable candidate. During the negotiations, the vige''s residents refused toe out, so we had to go in to see them every time. Who would sign the contract if I didn''t? Who else could act as the promisee? The Huang n''s vige is also looking forward to a relocation, and they entrusted me as their representative. It''s exactly because of my involvement in this project that I was able to climb to my current rank."

    This was a watertight alibi.

    With that, Qin Ye could conclude with almost absolute confidence that the problem didn''t lie with Huang Baokun.

    "One final question." Qin Ye looked deep into Huang Baokun''s eyes as he asked, "Who was the one who signed the contract with you? In other words, who was the one calling the shots and overseeing everything in the Huang n''s earthen building?"

 Chapter 782: The Old Locust Tree

    <h4>Chapter 782: The Old Locust Tree</h4>

    Huang Baokun was rather taken aback by Qin Ye''s question, but he still replied, "That would be Huang Jiansen, the current vige head."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before rising to his feet. "I''m going to take a walk, but I might need your help for other matterster on down the track."

    Lee Jung-sook raised her cup of coffee with a smile. "I''m happy to be of service. Don''t you want to take a rest here instead? Surely sleeping in that ce at night is a nerve-wracking experience."

    Qin Ye shrugged in response, and as soon as he stepped out of the room, he vanished as a gust of Yin wind. Close to 20 minutester, he had already reappeared inside the Huang n''s earthen building.

    The giant locust tree was still as oppressive as ever, the corridor was still deathly silent, and the countless cold suits were still pping about in the wind. At night, there was a particrly oppressive aura in the earthen building, making Qin Ye feel as if even making the slightest sound would lead to him being hunted down by Anitya Hellguards, waiting to pounce out of the darkness.

    Kwon Kyung-ho was inspecting his surroundings in an extremely cautious manner, fearing the return of Chu Renmei, and Ryu Changmin was also doing the same. Qin Ye gently stroked a finger over the wall beside him as he said, "There''s no need to be so anxious. She''ll only appear once per night. On the first night, she had six hours to attack us again, but she didn''t reappear... Do you guys smell that?"

    Kwon Kyung-ho rxed slightly upon hearing this, and he sniffed at the air in a hesitant manner. "There''s... a fragrant smell in the air."

    It was indeed a fragrant smell, one that was very strong.

    It was a natural floral aroma without any additives, and everyone immediately turned their attention toward the locust tree at the center of the courtyard.

    This was the first time they had taken a good look at the Huang n''s earthen building in the night, and under the illumination of the moonlight, the scarlet locust blossoms on the tree were all in full bloom. Originally, the fragrance of these flowers was very light and gentle, and also a little bit sweet. However, the aroma currently being produced by the giant locust tree was almost sickeningly sweet, and the locust blooms were like red roses in full bloom at night.

    This definitely wasn''t the aroma of the locust blossoms.

    Qin Ye made his way into the courtyard and opened his phone to use it as a light source. He carefully examined the ground below before shaking his head and gently stroking the trunk of the locust tree. "There are no flower petals, but a lot of fallen leaves. That doesn''t make sense. ording to thews of nature, there should be no way for there to be no fallen flower petals given the number of fallen leaves... Get back!"

    His voice abruptly spiked up a few octaves as he uttered those final two words, and the trio retreated in unison. In the instant that they did so, the surface of the old locust tree''s trunk began to ripple like water!

    Immediately thereafter, a heart-wrenching howl of anguish rang out, and a bulge in the shape of a human face emerged on the trunk!

    This was a thin male face with his mouth wide open, wearing an expression of excruciating agony. On top of that, this wasn''t the only face to appear!

    The entire tree was like an inting balloon, and one agonized human face after another appeared under the illumination of the surroundingnterns'' scarlet light. After no more than 20 seconds, the entire courtyard was filled with the sound of gut-wrenching howls and wails. The faces on the tree trunk were struggling and twisting about with all their might, as if they were trying to escape, but they werepletely tethered to the tree trunk.

    Under the moonlit night, the howls and sobs of countless ghosts rang out in the darkness. The entire scene was made even more harrowing by the scarlet light of thenterns, and it was enough to strike fear into anyone''s heart.

    However, Qin Ye had been through a lot during his stint as King Yanluo, and Chu Renmei had managed to scare him as she was the embodiment of his childhood trauma, but these other ghosts didn''t evoke anywhere near the same level of fear within him. Thus, he inspected the faces one by one with a grim expression, and all of a sudden, he stopped. "These faces... Do they seem familiar to you?"

    The face that he was standing in front of belonged to none other than Huang Xiaoqing!

    The bark of the tree was writhing and squirming like human skin, while her face was like the flesh and blood beneath the skin. She was howling in agony and struggling with all her might, resembling a living burl and presenting an extremely harrowing sight to behold.

    "That''s the woman you spoke to earlier in the day," Kwon Kyung-ho concluded following a thorough examination. "My Lord, what is happening here?"

    Looking up along the trunk of the tree, Qin Ye discovered that all of the faces of the entire vige''s residents were currently on the tree! Some of them were currently living in the Huang n''s earthen building, while the rest were ones that Qin Ye had never met before.

    Qin Ye remained silent, but more and more questions were popping up in his mind. Who was it that had trapped these souls here? Was that person the irredeemably heinous soul that he was looking for? Why would they do something like this? Was Chu Renmei trying to possess him in order to kill this person?

    He felt like the answer was very close, but also very far away, and the road ahead was quite indistinct. After a long while, he finally decided, "We have to track down Huang Jiansen first."

    He then looked up at the pitch-ck sky before continuing, "He signed the contract for construction work to go ahead on the Huang n''s earthen building in the 90s, and this ce is now frozen in the 90s... The contract was signed in 1995, which meant that during the year of 1995, people could still freely ess the Huang n''s vige. In that case, something massive must''ve happened between 1995 and 2000 to have transformed the Huang n''s vige into this living hell."

    "Why does it have to be within that span of time?" Kwon Kyung-ho asked. "What if the event took ce in some other year like 2003, 20004, or 2005? How can you be so sure that it was between 1995 and 2000?"

    Qin Ye flicked his wrist and gently rubbed the string of beads in his grasp as he made his way toward the corridor with his hands sped behind his back. "There''s no way that a residence like this would be devoid of young people. Those shirts that we saw on the first day bearing those quirky slogans, those were fashion statement pieces worn by the younger generation during thetter stages of the 90s. Through our observations made in the past couple of days, we''ve concluded that there''s nock of young people living here."

    He took a nce at Kwon Kyung-ho before continuing, "These young people will actively chase trends. However, 1999 marked the beginning of the Daeian craze. Popr Daeian bands like H.O.T. swept Cathay by storm, and their posters were put up all over the streets and alleyways. As a result, further diversification appeared in the clothing industry, and even the rural areas of Cathay were affected by this trend. If the aforementioned event had taken ce after 2000, then there''s no way that there wouldn''t be any Daeian inspired clothing here. However, such items of clothing are indeed absent."

    The Daeian fashion trend was an important icon in the history of Cathayan pop culture. In fact, the trend could even be said to have defined an era.

    This was the good thing about having all of this general knowledge, you never know when a random tidbit of information you had stored in your mind would prove useful.

    He gently stroked his hand over the corridor''s railing and continued, "In fact, I think we can go even further and narrow down the potential timeline to between 1995 and 1998."

    Right at this moment, he suddenly drew to a halt.

    They had arrived at the stairwell on the first floor again, and that terrifying staircase was situated on their right-hand side. Currently, a faint sound could be hearding from the top of the staircase.

    Thud thud... Thud thud...

    It was the sound of a ball being bounced repeatedly on the ground.

    Qin Ye''s expression stiffened slightly as he pulled out his phone and took a look.

    It was currently 4 AM.

    There was still an hour until 5 AM, which was the final period of darkness before dawn and it was known as the demonic hour.

    The monotonous sound of the bouncing balling from the pitch-ck stairwell became the only sound in the night, and Qin Ye¡¯s brows furrowed slightly as he made his way toward the staircase.

    "My Lord!" Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin hurriedly led the way. "Ar, Are you really going up there?"

    "I''m just taking a look." Qin Ye was gently rubbing the string of beads in his hand while the Yin energy in his body had swelled to its peak. Thest time he hade here, a string of supernatural phenomena had taken ce, warning him that it still wasn''t the right time for him to go upstairs.

    However, that didn''t happen on this asion.

    Right as he set foot on the first step, a bone-chilling sensation suddenly rose up all around him, and a surge of azure Yin energy swept down from the second floor like the falling tide. At the same time, indistinct ghostly howls rang out, and he felt as if he had stepped onto the path that connected the two realms.

    He remainedpletely still, waiting for five seconds, but nothing happened.

    Does that mean I can go up now?

    He looked around at his surroundings, and a series of questions surfaced in his mind.

    Why? Is it because I lived past the second night? Or is it because I saw Chu Renmei''s remains in that waterhole? Perhaps it''s because I learned about the existence of Huang Jiansen? Or is it because I just saw the true appearance of that giant locust tree?

    There was no way to tell what event had triggered this change. In any case, he took a deep breath and began to scale the staircase in a cautious manner.

    The higher up he went, the lower the temperature became. After scaling up only less than 20 steps, the temperature was already close to freezing. He rounded the corner and was just about to continue upward when he suddenly faltered in his footsteps.

    Past this corner, he could already see part of the second floor. It was very tall with a ceiling roughly five meters in height, but what had caught Qin Ye''s attention was the sounding from above.

    It was the clear, oppressive, and monotonous sound of a bouncing ball, and the sound was getting closer and closer to them. The fear of the unknown was like a vice that was gripping Qin Ye''s heart, causing his breathing to elerate a little. The light of the scarletnterns on the first floor was flickering incessantly as the ancient locust tree swayed in the wind, causing light and darkness to alternate sporadically.

    Drip... Right at this moment, Qin Ye felt a cool sensation on his hand. Something had dripped down onto the back of his hand.

    He lifted his hand to inspect it, and goosebumps were immediately raised all over his body.

    It was blood so red that it was on the verge of ck.

    Something was standing right above them, watching with an unblinking gaze as they scaled the staircase from the first floor to the second floor.

    Qin Ye''s Adam''s apple was trembling slightly, and his Abyssal Prefect''s token had already appeared in his right hand as he abruptly looked up.

    There on the stairwell leading from the second floor to the third floor, a row ofpletely nude and deathly pale children who appeared to be five to six years of age were poking their heads through the gaps in the railing, smiling as they stared intently at him!

    The children werepletely identical in appearance, and it was as if their bodies had been entirely doused in chalk powder. In stark contrast with their skin were their eyes, which werepletely ck in color. Their heads were tilted uniformly to sixty degrees, and they wore the exact same smile on their faces. Reddish-ck blood was seeping out of the gaps between their teeth, slowly dripping down from above. Meanwhile, their deathly pale left hands were gripping onto the railing, while their right hands were almost in contact with the top of his head!

    "Let''s... y... together..."

    A raspy childlike voice rang out, and Qin Ye''s throat immediately constricted as he was struck by the overwhelming urge to leave. However, right at this moment, the sound of the bouncing ball suddenly appeared right around the corner.

    A hand gently grabbed onto the corner, and immediately thereafter, a tall and imposing figure finally appeared before their eyes in this suffocatingly oppressive night.

    He was very tall, standing at a height of over two meters. He was wearing a hood that was entirely covered in yellow talismans, and there was a tattered oil paper umbre being held open above his head. He was wearing extremely vibrant and colorful clothing consisting of different pieces of fabric stitched together haphazardly to form a messy garment.

    As for the "ball" that he was bouncing... It was a human head!

    It was the head of a boy that wasn''t stained by any traces of blood. The boy''s hair was of a yellow color, the kind that resulted from malnutrition, and even though this was a giant over two meters tall, its voice belonged to a child. "The first rabbit fell ill, the second rabbit took a look, the third rabbit bought medicine, the fourth rabbit prepared it... The fifth rabbit died, the sixth rabbit carried it, the seventh rabbit dug a hole, and the eighth rabbit buried it..."

    Rustle rustle rustle... The countless branches and leaves of the old locust tree were like countless evil ghosts lurking in the night, waiting to pounce. In conjunction with this monstrous creature bouncing a human head as a ball, they formed abined scene that was so terrifying that even Ryu Changmin was trembling slightly.

    This ce was far more terrifying than the third tunnel of Pusan that he had once stayed in.

    This wasn''t just a sense of pure horror, there was also an element of oppression and mystery, making them feel as if they were constantly being watched from behind as well... It was truly terrifying.

    The monstrous creature''s feet remainedpletely still, but its body was driving directly forward, and it suddenly stopped right as it was passing the stairwell.

    The ball was still being bounced in a monotonous manner, and the monstrous creature''s head turned around in a mechanical manner as it stared directly at Qin Ye. "A living human... Big brother... Can you... y with me?"

    Qin Ye smiled in response. "Sure. Are youing down or do you want me to go up?"

 Chapter 783: Human Centipede?

    <h4>Chapter 783: Human Centipede?</h4>

    Chapter 783: Human Centipede?

    No one could''ve imagined that this would be the scene that greeted them at 4 AM on the second floor.

    How could one even begin to consider the possibility of a monster that was over two meters tall, bouncing a human head around like a ball?

    "I can''t go down." The monster''s child-like voice was very unbefitting of its intimidating frame. "Can youe up, Big Brother?"

    "Sure." Qin Ye was smiling on the surface, but he was gripping tightly onto his Abyssal Prefect''s token. Thus, he continued to make his way up the staircase, and upon arriving at the top, he immediately began to inspect the second floor.

    The structure of the second floor was no different from that of the first floor. However, in contrast, the second floor was a lot more dpidated.

    It seemed to have been countless years since someone hadste up here. All of the windows and doors were boarded shut, and the boards were inscribed with blood text, presenting a terrifying sight to behold. The dust on the floor was so thick that visible clouds of dust could be swept up by the Yin winds blowing through the area.

    There were no other evil ghosts around. It seemed that this monster was the only creature on this entire floor. "What do you want to y? Before you reply, let me make this clear: if you want extra services, then you''ll have to pay extra."

    The monster: "???"

    What the hell is this guy talking about?

    The monster was rooted to the spot for a full five seconds before finally speaking again. "How about we kick this ball around? There''s no one here to y with me..."

    Qin Ye cast a disdainful nce at the human head and immediately replied, "I don''t like that. Let''s y something else."

    The monster: "..."

    Hold on, aren''t you supposed to be in aplete panic right now? How are you still so calm and collected?!

    "How about you take me on a tour?" The monster''s IQ was clearly rathercking, and Qin Ye smiled as he said, "It''s almost 5 AM. I''m sure you won''t be able toe out after the demonic hour, right? Help me get to know this ce better so I cane and find you next time."

    The monster was silent for a full 10 seconds on this asion before finally replying, "Alright. You''re the first person to have made it to the second floor, so make sure toe back and y with Tongtong lots and lots."

    The monster glided away, and Qin Ye followed along in an unhurried manner. He appraised the twisted blood messages on the boarded doors and windows while keeping up a nonchnt facade as he asked, "So your name is Tongtong? Are you the only one living up here?"

    This name is far too much of a mismatch with his appearance, it makes me think of Bodybuilder Barbie...

    "That''s right," Tongtong replied with a smile. "asionally, a big sister who wears a long blue robe woulde and visit me, but she hasn''t been here for a very long time."

    Is Chu Renmei the big sister being referred to here?

    Qin Ye gently stroked a hand over the railing as he asked, "Why don''t you go down to the first floor?"

    "I can''t..." Tongtong replied with a pout, "There are rules here that forbid me from going to other areas. Otherwise, there will be thunder and lightning, and I''m really scared of thunder..."

    "Those are just stories made up by adults to scare you."

    "They''re not!!" Tongtong''s voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves as his head swung around 180 degrees to face Qin Ye. His breathing had also elerated slightly, seemingly from fear, and he insisted, "There really will be lightning and thunder! I''ve already seen it many times. Anyone who tries to leave will get struck by lightning! Ah... we''ve arrived at my home."

    Up ahead was a series of rooms that were connected together.

    The windows were all boarded shut, but the door was open and the room waspletely pitch-ck inside. Such arge room was clearly not a room for lodging purposes. Instead, it seemed more like a conference hall.

    Qin Ye followed the monster into the room. The darkness did nothing to affect his vision and as he looked around, he saw tipped-over tables and chairs all over the ce, many of which were damaged. The windows were very small rtive to the size of the walls, and there were many messages inscribed onto the walls, as well as... were those drawings?

    He casually made his way over the wall and gently stroked a hand over the inscribed words, upon which his brows immediately furrowed slightly.

    These words hadn''t been written onto the wall. They had been carved onto the wall instead!

    Furthermore, every single stroke was extremely neat and even. Right as he was about to take a closer look, Tongtong''s voice rang out from behind him. "I''m going to change now, Big Brother. Make sure you don''t peek..."

    Qin Ye gave a casual nod in response. Right at this moment, the door was gently shut in apletely silent manner as if it had been closed by a gentle breeze. If it weren''t for his perfect night vision, there was no way he would''ve been able to notice this.

    The room fellpletely silently with the exception of the rustling of clothes. One hour before the demonic hour, a human and an evil ghost were staying in the same room... The horrifying nature of the situation alone was enough to send chills running down Qin Ye''s spine.

    He gripped tightly onto his Abyssal Prefect''s token with one hand as he slowly read the text on the wall.

    "Reign of Shunzhi, Year 15, Governor Li Xifeng inspected the Fortune Temple... [Quick reminder that Fortune Temple is an alternate name for the Huang n''s vige]" After taking only a few nces, Qin Ye had already figured out what this was.

    This was a conference hall, and also the county records, the records from before the founding of the republic.

    Among the records that Huang Baokun had brought with him, there were none from before the founding of the republic. For some reason, the local records of this county prior to the founding of the republic seemed to have disappeared at some point in history, and Qin Ye was quite surprised to see it here.

    However, these were only the records from the Qing Dynasty. The content wasn''t very extensive, and he quickly finished reading it. However, just because it was short didn''t mean it was simple.

    Li Xifeng... Qin Ye lowered his head as he fell into deep thought. He had some recollection of this person. Li Xifeng was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, the first-ever person to fill this dual role in the history of Cathay!

    However, that wasn''t all.

    "He came here to find the legendary medicine of immortality..." Qin Ye murmured to himself as he gently stroked the words carved onto the wall, "The fact that the governor-general of two provinces came here in person indicates that the source of this rumor is reliable and not just some unfounded legend. In fact, it''s most likely been circting for a very long time. This is most likely the harrowing truth hidden in the Huang n''s earthen building."

    Even though this lead had nothing to do with the irredeemably heinous soul that he was looking for, the more he searched, the more he developed the feeling that the Huang n''s earthen building was aplete entity. The forsakennds hadn''t been formed as a result of coincidences. If he wanted to find this soul, then he would most likely have to crack all of the mysteries here first!

    He had to gather all of these sporadic leads and string them together into a cohesive andplete story.

    Not far away from the wall was a pir, and a mirror was nailed to the pir.

    Obviously, there weren''t any words carved onto the mirror, yet just as he was about to pass the mirror and continue inspecting the text on the wall, he suddenly drew to an abrupt halt.

    The mirror was very clean, and his night vision was exceptional, so he was able to clearly see Tongtong, who was "changing" behind him.

    Tongtong currently had his back facing Qin Ye, and at this moment,yer uponyer of human skin was slowly falling off his body, much like a snake shedding its skin. Furthermore, his body wasposed of three interconnected bodies!

    The three bodies all belonged to children, each of which was less than a meter tall, and they had been sewn together using stitches! Below the caudal vertebrae of one child was a clump of messy and chaotic threads, and connected to the bottom of that clump of threads was the scap of the child below the first child!

    It was like a standing human centipede! Tongtong''s six arms were gently tearing off his human skin, and at the very bottom was a pair of children''s legs.

    This was truly a horrifying sight, and even Qin Ye was struck by a sense of difort at the sight of this horrific creation. Right at this moment, Tongtong''s head abruptly turned around 180 degrees to stare directly at Qin Ye.

    His head was none other than the ball he had been bouncing before!

    "You saw me..." His voice was no longer tender and childlike. Instead, it had be a ghastly gender-neutral voice. His eyes werepletely ck with no white parts at all, and he was staring intently at Qin Ye. "You saw me... You lied to me... I told you not to look..."

    "So?" Qin Ye asked in a calm voice, and he had already injected his Yin energy into his Abyssal Prefect''s token.

    m! As soon as his voice trailed off, a loud bang suddenly rang out from the window, which had been almost entirely boarded shut. Immediately thereafter, a bloodshot eye that was alsopletely ck peered into the room through the tiny gaps between the boards nailed to the window.

    That was only the beginning. What came next was a string of bangs, and it seemed that countless ghastly creatures had all gathered outside the windows and were banging on the wooden boards with all their might!

    m m m, m m m! Themotion was so loud and disruptive that it was enough to drive one insane! Tongtong slowly raised his head, and his long body distorted into unnatural angles as he said, "Big Brother... I want to y a game with you... A game of survival..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he pounced directly toward Qin Ye with a sharp screech. His Yin energy erupted forth, and only then did Qin Ye discover that Tongtong was already an advanced Infernal Judge, which meant that he was only a sliver away from reaching the Abyssal Prefect level.

    Unfortunately for him, that sliver of difference wasparable to the disparity between heaven and earth! Qin Ye set down his Abyssal Prefect''s token before sweeping a sleeve through the air with a cold smile on his face. "Looks like they''re unable to sense my Yin energy, either..."

    Boom!!

    A resounding boom akin to the sound of a thunderp abruptly rang out in mid-air, and Tongtong''s twisted body crashed heavily into the corner amid an agonized howl. However, he then rapidly crawled onto the ceiling like a true centipede.

    "Ow... It hurts... It hurts so much!!" ck blood was gushing out of all seven of his orifices, and the wounds all over his body had all split open as he screeched with agony, "Why is this happening? Why is this happening again? Waaah! I don''t want to die... I don''t want to die!"

    A giant rift suddenly opened up on his body, and countless strands of hair surged forth like a crashing wave, but before they even had a chance to reach Qin Ye, they had all been incinerated into nothingness by a boundless sea of fire.

    Tongtong screeched as he rapidly crawled around the ceiling, attempting to find an angle to attack Qin Ye from, but Qin Ye waspletely surrounded by whitehermes that were bloomingyer uponyer like six-petaled lotus flowers, forming an airtight defensive barrier around him.

    So powerful... So terrifying... He''s just as powerful as Big Sister Chu... No human this powerful has evere here before!

    Even evil ghosts had instincts, and after crawling around the ceiling for three or fourps, Tongtong suddenly rushed toward the entrance, but his efforts to escape were met with nothing but a disdainful sneer from Qin Ye.

    There was no way that an Infernal Judge would be able to escape from an Abyssal Prefect!

    Whoosh! Countless metal chains shot out of the darkness like striking vipers, instantly binding themselves around Tongtong like a giant cobweb.

    Tongtong screamed and thrashed with all his might, but he was still quickly dragged over to Qin Ye. The Abyssal Prefect''s token had transformed into an oil paper umbre above his head, and Qin Ye interrogated in a cold voice, "I have a question for you: where is Huang Jiansen? He''s the one who signed this edition of the county records. Does that mean he lived from the 15th year of Emperor Shunzhi''s reign all the way until 1995? That''s a span of 340 years! How did he live for so long? Why did he suddenly disappear after 1995? Is he the person Chu Renmei is searching for?"

    Tongtong''s face waspletely twisted at this point, and he cackled in a raspy voice, "I''m not telling you anything!"

    Qin Ye grabbed onto his cheeks as he said in a cold voice, "You can resist all you want, but I think I''ve already figured out some things for myself."

    He leaned over to Tongtong''s ear before whispering something to him, and Tongtong''s entire body immediately began to tremble violently as he stared at Qin Ye in an incredulous manner. "No... How... How did you know that?!"

    Qin Ye offered no response. However, the Yin energy around him was bing denser and denser, to the point that it had virtuallypletely engulfed him. "So that''s why these top-secret divisions like the Stick Rod Division and the Imperial City Division came to search this ce over and over again. This is why all of the residents here are so strange, isn''t that right? This is the true secret to long life in the Huang n''s vige, isn''t it?"

    Tongtong was still trembling violently, and all of a sudden, he opened his mouth as wide as it would go, seemingly in an attempt to let loose an almighty scream, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the tip of Qin Ye''s umbre had already pierced through his throat.

    Tongtong''s pupils abruptly contracted, and immediately thereafter, he disintegrated into a Yin energy vortex that revolved rapidly in the room. Qin Ye reached out with one hand, and a bright blue soul fell into his grasp.

    His expression was a little twisted as he spat through gritted teeth, "I know even better than all of you do just how terrifying that thing is... If it isn''t for the fact that I''ve seen it before, I wouldn''t have figured out all of this. It doesn''t matter whether you confess or not, you don''t have Chu Renmei''s power, and your soul can''t lie."

    [1] [Generally speaking, when a name is two of the same character in Chinese, it''s a pet name. The most prominent one I can think of off the top of my head is the Chinese female table tennis yer, Sun Yingsha, who is affectionately referred to as Shasha by her fans. It''s a pet name that''s basically just thest "sha" character of her name repeated twice. Naturally, it''s very unbefitting for a hulking ghost monster thing to have a pet name, hence the mismatch.]

 Chapter 784: Forced Relocation

    <h4>Chapter 784: Forced Relocation</h4>

    Chapter 784: Forced Relocation

    After grasping Tongtong''s soul, he made a hand seal before crushing the soul.

    Soul searching was a basic technique for Emissaries of Hell, but it was also an extremely effective and practical one.

    If his theory really did prove to be correct, then all of the residents of the entire Huang n''s vige were beyond saving! All of these people deserved to die! A ce like this, one that was so evil and putrid, shouldn''t exist on the map of Cathay!

    A dead person could never live the life of a living person. The best ce for them to go to was his Yanluo Pce.

    Whoosh... A wave of information washed into his mind, and a series of images appeared around him. It was as if he were strolling through a corridor of memories detailing the life of Tongtong.

    This was what he had seen... A group of rowdy individuals barged their way into the earthen building, holding weapons such as wooden rods and knives. They were all dressed like gangsters, and Tongtong''s parents screamed upon seeing them before hurriedly hiding Tongtong under the bed.

    They weren''t the only ones who had noticed the arrival of these unwee intruders. There was a confrontation taking ce in the entire earthen building. The intruders had great strength in numbers, and all of them seemed to be cast from the stereotypical gangster mold with bald heads and lit cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. There were at least several hundred of them, and they filled the entire Huang n''s earthen building.

    The entire building was quickly plunged into chaos, and amid the countless shing voices, it was impossible to make out exactly what was being said. However, the fear and fury hanging in the air were tangible even through this memory. Soon, a loud bang rang out, followed by the sound of children bursting into tears and adult screams, and this conflict was finally escted into a physical altercation.

    Boom! A closet was thrown down from upstairs and was smashed into smithereens on the ground below. Immediately thereafter, dressing tables, washing machines, cups, clothes... All types of household appliances and items began to fall like rain from all of the households.

    "Are you going to move or not?!" The memories were very fragmented, and the perspective suddenly shifted, presenting an image of a bald young man smashing the wooden rod in his hand viciously down onto the woman before him. His eyes were red with fury, and he took a puff of the cigarette in his mouth before aiming a kick at the woman''s stomach, then spat on her as he yelled, "You took the money, yet you don''t want to move?! Let me ask you this again: are you going to move or not?!"

    "If there''s any god out there, please! Open your eyes!!" Blood was gushing out of a cut on the woman''s head, and she was sobbing violently as she desperately grabbed towards the young man. "You only gave me three thousand in relocationpensation! Do you have no soul?!"

    "So you''re not moving, is that it?" The bald young man smashed his wooden rod down onto the woman''s arm. "Don''t say I didn''t give you a chance!"

    "Gods, what did we do to deserve this?!" An elderly woman with a head of white hair rushed out with tears streaming down her face as she shielded the woman with her own body. "Why don''t you kill me, you imbecile!"

    The rod fell viciously onto the elderly woman''s shoulder, and she didn''t even utter a single sound as she fell unconscious.

    "Mother!! I, I''ll fucking kill you!!"

    There were far too many simr scenes unfolding all around Qin Ye, and it was truly like hell on earth.

    "You like watching TV, do ya?! Smash it! Smash everything in here!!"

    "You don''t want to move, is that right?! You want to continue living in this rubbish dump?! Fine, I''ll grant you your wish!"

    p! A vicious p was imprinted onto the cheek of a round-faced woman, and her hair waspletely disheveled as she attempted to rush out like a madwoman, only to be held back by her family members. Several gangsters were currently carrying her television out of the room. Back in the 90s, a television was considered to be one of the three major pieces of furniture , and the television had only been purchased after her recent wedding.

    "Stop... Please... I''m begging you... Waaah..." The woman was sobbing uncontrobly, and she was wing at her own face so hard that her fingernails were drawing blood. However, the only response that she received was the excited yells of the gangsters, and the television was soon shattered against the ground below.

    "Keep going! Smash everything they have! Let''s see just how stubborn all of you are!!" The urge to destroy was like a wild beast that was constantly lurking in everyone''s hearts, and in this hellish scene, that wild beast had beenpletely unleashed. The gangsters who had just smashed the television were yelling with all their might with veins bulging on their necks, as if they had just done something that they were immensely proud of.

    Qin Ye saw an elderly woman desperately shielding the child beneath her with her own body while vicious attacks rained down upon her from all sides. She didn''t even dare to raise her head as she shielded the child like a helpless mother hen. Finally, a rod struck the back of her head, and she slumped down onto the ground.

    Qin Ye saw a young man having his head repeatedly smashed into the wall by several gangsters, and there was already so much blood on his face that it was impossible to discern his appearance. The room behind him was clearly a room for newlyweds withrge red "‡Ö" characters stered all over the walls, but the room had already been smashed to pieces...

    Veins were beginning to bulge on Qin Ye''s forehead. He had always known that humanity was capable of the greatest kindness, but also capable of the utmost cruelty. Swept up by peer pressure, these gangsters had renounced their humanity and transformed into animals, into demons.

    He had a bad feeling that something extremely tragic was going to happen if things were to continue like this.

    These gangsters were already walking a tightrope above the abyss of insanity, and just the tiniest spark would escte this further into something thatpletely spiraled out of everyone''s control.

    Soon, this spark arrived.

    "Are you moving or not?!" Inside a household, a gangster threw a vicious punch into a thin and frail woman''s stomach, and she immediately crumpled to the ground as her legs gave out from under her. In the next instant, the door was thrown open, and a man rushed in while waving a wooden rod around in a deranged manner.

    "Fuck you!! I''m going to kill all of you!!" His eyes werepletely bloodshot, and his sses were sitting lopsidedly on his face as he swung his wooden rod around like a madman. He had clearly never fought before, evidenced by thepleteck of technique, and he also didn''t have the courage to truly kill these gangsters. All he was doing was swinging the rod wildly in an attempt to protect his family, but unfortunately for him, his wild strikes struck the leader of the gangsters squarely on the nose.

    His strength had been amplified countless times by fury and adrenaline, and the lead gangster''s nose was instantly broken as blood gushed forth in a frenzy.

    He threw his hand over his own nose as he fell back, and all of the gangsters in the surrounding area immediately rushed toward him.

    "Brother Ma!"

    "Brother Ma, are you alright?"

    All of a sudden, Brother Ma jumped up again and brushed off all of hisckeys.

    He was very tall and imposing with a muscr physique, but at this moment, half of his face had been reduced to a mass of gorey blood and flesh. He gnashed his teeth together as he rushed over and grabbed the man by the head before mming his head viciously into the wall over and over again.

    "You dare to hit me, you little shit?!"

    Thump!!

    "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

    Thump!!

    The woman off to the side was alreadypletely rooted to the spot, seemingly in a catatonic state. However, she then immediately snapped out of it and desperately rushed over to Brother Ma as she screamed, "Stop! Please!! You''re going to kill him!!"

    Brother Mapletely ignored her. Thump thump thump! After having his head smashed into the wall close to 20 times, the young man''s breathing had be extremely faint. Only then did Brother Ma stop as he closed his hand around the man''s throat and spat on hispletely disfigured face. "Are you moving or not?!"

    The only response that he received was the man''s breathing, which had be almost nonexistent at this point.

    "Are you moving or not?!"

    Ptui... The man spat onto Brother Ma''s face. Brother Ma touched the ball of spit that had justnded on his face, and his lips began to tremble. This was a sign that his rage had reached a boiling point.

    "Stop!! He''s going to die!!" Brother Ma dragged the young man over to the railing of the earthen building amid the woman''s heart-wrenching screams.

    "You think you''re top shit, huh?!" He glowered at the man with a deranged look in his eyes as he forced the young man''s body against the wooden railing with all his might. "Not so tough now, are you?! Hmm?! Are you moving or not?! ARE. YOU. MOVING. OR..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the railing snapped.

    Everyone looked on with dazed expressions as the young man fell toward the ground. There was an incredulous look even on his face as he fell through the air, falling into the chaos down below...

    Thump... A dull thump rang out alongside an eruption of blood.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes as he recoiled slightly.

    "Human nature can truly be disgusting..." He heaved a faint sigh and was just about to continue watching, but this was where Tongtong''s memory snuffed out like a dying candle me.

    Thus, Qin Ye reopened his eyes, and upon seeing this, Kwon Kyung-ho immediately asked, "Did you find what you wanted to see, My Lord?"

    "No," Qin Ye replied in a forlorn manner. "His memories aren''tplete, and I only saw some things that I didn''t want to see..."

    "What was it?"

    Qin Ye didn''t respond. He merely cast his gaze toward the boarded windows, and only after a long while did he shake his head in response.

    Forced relocation.

    There was most likely barely anyone left who recalled how much blood the real estate developers had on their hands from themencement of the real estate boom, particrly the real estate developers in the more rural areas.

    This was a cake that was dripping with blood. Forced relocation could lower the relocationpensation from tens of thousands to less than a tenth of that, and of course, they weren''t going to provide housing, either. It was clear that the Huang n''s earthen building had undergone a forced relocation, and he now understood why there was such a massive crack from the second floor to the fourth floor.

    No one cared how the original residents of the relocated sites were treated.

    No one was interested to hear whether they wanted to continue living or not.

    In the face of cold hard cash, their lives were as worthless as excrement.

    However, this wasn''t what he wanted to see; he wanted to know how Tongtong had be like this.

    Currently, he already had some theories. He suspected that the person who had turned Tongtong into this gruesome monster was none other than that irredeemably heinous soul. He was also almost certain that this was the person Chu Renmei wanted to find, but this still wasn''t enough.

    Firstly, why did Chu Renmei want to possess him?

    This indicated that the person she was going after was someone that she couldn''t touch. They could be one of the residents in this building, in which case there would be no need for Chu Renmei to kill them as all of the residents were living like zombies anyway. Alternatively... This person wasn''t in the earthen building! He was situated somewhere that the residents of the Huang n''s vige couldn''t go, and Chu Renmei had to possess someone in order to leave and get to them!

    Secondly, even if the person who had turned Tongtong into this monster and the person who had reduced this vige into this living hell weren''t the same person, they had to be closely connected with one another. However, was this really enough for someone to be branded with the title of irredeemably heinous?

    Going off the first theory, there was only one possible candidate who could be the subject for Chu Renmei''s vengeance: it was the person who had dug out her remains and thrown them into the waterhole.

    This was a theory that made sense, but this was simply a result of capitalist system shorings, so it still wasn''t enough to have one branded as irredeemably heinous.

    Forparison, take a look at Dong Zhuo. He burned down the ancient Dusk City that had stood for over 1,000 years, killing tens of thousands of people. Then take a look at Qin Hui, his name was virtually synonymous with treachery in the historical records, and he had indirectly brought about the downfall of a dynasty. What about Su Daji? She was a demonic empress who had also brought about the end of a dynasty.

    How could someone who had merely ruined a vige possibly rank alongside the likes of the aforementioned names and be given the title of irredeemably heinous?

    That would make the title far too cheap.

    "In any case, I have to find Huang Jiansen. He knows why the Huang n''s earthen building became like this, and he knows everything about Chu Renmei, including her motive and why she hasn''t touched the residents of the Huang n''s vige. Perhaps he isn''t the final puzzle piece to solve this mystery, but he''s definitely at least the key for me to ess the next part of the puzzle!"

    Information was what he needed the most right now. It felt as if he werepleting a jigsaw puzzle. It was impossible to tell anything from individual pieces, but once the puzzle wasplete, everything would be made clear.

    Thus, he couldn''t afford to give up even a single puzzle piece, even ones that appeared to bepletely inconsequential.

    He buried the memory of the forced relocation deep into his heart, then exited the room.

    The wind blew the refreshing fragrance of the morning toward him, and he heaved a forlorn sigh as he appraised the Huang n''s earthen building, which seemed to havee back to life.

    There are still two days left including today. In two days, the Cold Suit Festival will arrive. I don''t have much time left...

    [1] [The other two are the refrigerator and the washing machine]

    [2] [The ‡Ö character is two Ï² characters ced side by side. Ï² means joy/happiness, so ‡Ö essentially means double joy/happiness, celebrating theing together of two people, and it''s customary to see red ‡Ö characters all over the ce in Chinese weddings.]

 Chapter 785: Evocation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 785: Evocation (1)</h4>

    It was a very overcast day, and under the canopy of the giant locust tree, it was no different from nighttime in the Huang n''s earthen building.

    Qin Ye slowly made his way down to the first floor, and as soon as he appeared, everyone was rooted to the spot as they turned to stare directly at him.

    "You''re... still alive?" An elderly man who was situated closest to him made his way over to Qin Ye unsteadily while leaning on a cane. His voice was trembling, and his eyes were filled with astonishment. "It... It''s been two days since you came here, yet... yet you''re still alive!"

    "This is impossible..." Huang Xiaoqing had also emerged, and she was holding the railing in a white-knuckled grip. "You''ve survived for two days? And you''ve even gone to the second floor?"

    "How is this possible?"

    "No one has ever survived for two days here..."

    "How could this be..."

    One viger after another made their way over to Qin Ye, who casually took a nce at his phone.

    It was 8 AM.

    "Nothing is impossible." He put his phone away before turning to everyone with a calm expression and said, "I want to know where Huang Jiansen is."

    Themotion immediately died down as soon as his voice trailed off. After a long while, Huang Xiaoqing casually lit a cigarette, then puffed out a smoke ring before replying, "He''s dead."

    He''s dead?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly once again upon hearing this. His thought process was that Huang Jiansen was the vige head and the one most familiar with everything in the vige, so he was the likeliest candidate to be the irredeemably heinous soul.

    If that were the case, then how could he be dead?

    "How did he die?" Qin Ye asked as he cast an incredulous gaze toward Huang Xiaoqing. "ording to the county records, he''s lived for over 340 years. How could he be dead?"

    "I''m afraid you''re mistaken." An elderly man who had been lying on a rocking chair like a zombie this entire time finally broke his silence. "Huang Jiansen is a name that has appeared in the history of the Huang n''s vige a total of four times. You must''ve read about another Huang Jiansen. The first Huang Jiansen was the second vige head, and the final Huang Jiansen was the current vige head. Do you think it''s possible that he''s lived for over a thousand years?"

    Qin Ye fell silent upon hearing this.

    He raised his head to appraise everyone present before asking, "I want to know everything he did during his lifetime. Is there any way for me to find that out?"

    The elderly man smiled in response. His gaze was very calm, too calm, as if he no longer cared about anything. Even though it was a cold winter day, he was still habitually fanning himself like a zombie and he replied, "If you hade at some other time, then there would be no way for you to find out anything, but it''s currently very close to the Cold Suit Festival. A week before the Cold Suit Festival in 1999, Huang Jiansen hung himself in that room."

    He pointed up to the second floor as he spoke. "It''s room 204. If you''re not afraid to die, then you can go and give it a shot..."

    204, eh? Qin Ye nodded in response before making his way toward the second floor again.

    This so-called game was presenting more and more mysteries, but also more and more leads. Having survived past the second day, he now had more initiative to work with.

    204... Walking along the second floor, he finally caught sight of room 204. Not only had the windows of this room been boarded shut, the same applied to the door as well. Qin Ye punched through the wooden boards blocking the entrance, and the musty stench of rot and neglect immediately wafted toward him.

    Up to this point, he hadn''t seen any other living creatures aside from humans in the Huang n''s earthen building.

    The locust tree was massive, but there was not a single bird on it. It was like a giant tombstone that stood at the center of the earthen building. There also weren''t any bugs or insects, and certainly no dogs or cats. In fact, he hadn''t even seen any rats in these rooms.

    The room was eerily dark even though it was still morning, and the dim rays of sunlight filtering in through the boarded windows illuminated the dust flying through the air. There was just enough light for Qin Ye to make out the interior of the room. There were fallen-over cupboards, chairs, desks, and all types of items used in everyday life strewn all over the floor, lying under a thickyer of dust. Everything in the room was in the ss 80s to 90s style, and there was a washbasin in the corner that was full of junk. The room resembled a haunted house.

    However, none of that was enough to catch Qin Ye''s attention. What really sparked his interest was that yellow talismans were stered over the entire room, including the door and the windows.

    These talismans had already been here for countless years, and they were also covered in thickyers of dust. Qin Ye made his way over to the talismans on the walls, and his eyelids twitched slightly as he began to inspect them.

    Faint wisps of true energy were emanating from these talismans!

    It was impossible to tell when these talismans had been ced here, but it had to have been at least several decades ago. Furthermore, judging from this true energy, the one who had ced these talismans here had to have been a cultivator of his caliber!

    That meant that an Abyssal Prefect had visited this ce before!

    He didn''t tear off any of the talismans to take a better look. In a ce like this, everything had to be done with the utmost caution. Thus, he carefully picked up a talisman and began to carefully inspect it.

    The talisman was inscribed with elegant and flowing text. True energy and Yin energy werepletely different systems of energy, so he had no idea what had been written on the talisman, but there was a mark of a seal on the bottom. He gently blew away the dust that had gathered on the talisman, thereby revealing the text on the seal, and he was stunned by what he was seeing.

    "This is..." Qin Ye looked around with an incredulous expression before turning his gaze back to the talisman. "This is the seal of an imperial teacher?"

    "An imperial teacher?" Kwon Kyung-ho''s mouth gaped open in astonishment. "If an imperial teacher has been here before, then why didn''t he capture that female ghost?"

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but burst intoughter upon hearing this. Chu Renmei was also an Abyssal Prefect, one that even an Emissary of Hell like him found to be very difficult to deal with. Humans were at a natural disadvantage against evil ghosts; how was the imperial teacher supposed to have captured her?

    "The imperial teacher who came here was from the Qing Dynasty, and the first-ever imperial teacher of the Qing Dynasty, at that." Qin Ye set down the talisman as he frantically searched through his mind for information on the owner of the seal. Only after a long while did he continue, "I remember now, this is Imperial Teacher Guangci, who was given the title by Emperor Kangxi during the 45th year of his reign. Imperial Teacher Guangci served three emperors during his time as imperial teacher, and he was a remarkable figure."

    "How do you know all of this, My Lord?"

    Qin Ye replied in a calm manner, "All of the past imperial teachers were part of the National Divine Guardian Division with no exceptions. As a result, there are extensive files on them in the Special Investigations Department."

    He swept his gaze across the entire room. The objective the imperial teacher had foring here was very straightforward; it could''ve only been for the medicine of immortality. However, what had these talismans been ced here for?

    Were they intended to seal something?

    That couldn''t be the case. Chu Renmei hadn''t even been born yet in the Qing Dynasty and this was a forsakennd, so none of its residents could leave, which meant that there was nothing to be sealed in here.

    Furthermore, he had be quite knowledgeable and experienced at this point, and he had seen many types of talismans designed to seal away evil ghosts. He couldn''t shake the feeling that these talismans were all vastly different from the sealing talismans he had seen in the past.

    The difference wasn''t in the style of the talisman. Instead, it was the type of talisman. If talismans designed to seal evil ghosts were referred to as Cathayan characters, then all other talismans would also be a type of Cathayan characters; the only difference would be the different characters used. For example, one sealing talisman could bear the phrase "Seal All Evil Ghosts", while another could bear the phrase "Transcending All Malicious Spirits". Even if the characters used were different, one would be able to tell that the two talismans were from the same system.

    However, the talismans here were written in the equivalent of an entirely differentnguage, such as using morse code instead of Cathayan characters.

    This was a new piece of the puzzle. He took out his phone and took a photograph of the talismans before tossing it to Kwon Kyung-ho. "Take this out of the earthen building. As an evil ghost, you shouldn''t be noticed by the olddy by the entrance. Go to Anjing Vige and release a messenger bird instructing them to send the most adept talisman master among the panel of schrs toe and see me right away. Tell them that I have an urgent matter to discuss with them."

    "Yes!"

    The door was gently shut, and Kwon Kyung-ho departed. Qin Ye walked a few steps through the room before making a grabbing motion, and an incense burner appeared in his grasp.

    He then turned to Ryu Changmin with a serious expression. "No matter what happens next, make sure to hold on at all costs."

    Ryu Changmin gave a firm nod in response.

    Qin Ye set the incense burner down at the center of the room, but he didn''t immediately begin. Instead, he closed his eyes to rest, priming his energy, essence, and spirit to their peak condition.

    ording to the elderly man on the first floor, Huang Jiansen hung himself in this room a week before the Cold Suit Festival of 1999.

    These were his exact words: "A week before the Cold Suit Festival in 1999, Huang Jiansen hung himself in that room... If you''re not afraid to die, then you can go and give it a shot..."

    The elderly man seemed to have grown tired of living long ago, and his words were very concise, but Qin Ye understood what he meant.

    Give it a shot... What did he mean by that?

    Huang Jiansen hung himself a week prior to the Cold Suit Festival, which meant that this day was within seven days of his death anniversary.

    There was only one thing that the elderly man could''ve been referring to: evocation!

    10 minutester, Qin Ye opened his eyes, and his aura had bepletely cid and restrained. He swept a hand over the incense burner, and the stick of incense protruding out of the burner was immediately ignited by a speck ofherfire.

    The room was so silent that even the extremely faint sound produced by the burning incense stick seemed to be audible. 10 seconds passed, then 30, then 50... Right on the one-minute mark, a string of loud bangs rang out as all of the windows were suddenly shut, plunging the room intoplete darkness!

    Even though the windows had been boarded shut, they were still opened outward to allow some light into the room. However, now that they had mmed shut, all remaining traces of light were instantly deprived, and it was as if the room had been plunged into an abyss. In the next instant, a burst of loud rustling rang out from all directions, and the sound was only bing louder and louder!

    This was the sound being produced by all of the talismans pping violently in unison!

    The door and windows werepletely shut, so there was no wind in the room at all.

    "My Lord..." Ryu Changmin appraised his surroundings with a wary expression as he asked, "Did it work?"

    "No, it''s not him!!" Qin Ye was also inspecting the surrounding area with a cautious gaze. "It''s her... Chu Renmei. So this is what the old man meant when he said ''if you''re not afraid to die''... Hold on..."

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he recalled that the starting scene of "A Wicked Ghost" had also consisted of a game of evocation!

    Reality and the movie''s plot were perfectly ovepping in this instant!

    Whoosh! The me of the incense burner suddenly erupted up to over a meter tall, and behind the raging me, Chu Renmei appeared in the darkness in her dark blue robes with a twisted expression.

    "Die!!!" As soon as she appeared, her facial features instantly warped, and she opened her gaping mouth as her hair surged forth like an inky-ck flood. However, her target wasn''t Qin Ye. Instead, it was the incense burner.

    Rumble... Right at this moment, dark clouds appeared over the entire sky above the Huang n''s earthen building.

    The dark clouds were converging from all directions, forming a dense cloud vortex over 100 meters in size above the earthen building. Lightning was shing incessantly anding together as if it were being collected by some type of mystical force. After a span of no more than 10 seconds, a raging ball of lightning had formed, and it was shing erratically.

    "Don''t you dare!" Qin Ye harrumphed coldly as a chain flew out of his sleeve before winding itself around the incense burner, dragging it toward him. At the same time, he quickly made a hand seal, and gusts of Yin winds swept through the room, upon which an indistinct humanoid figure began to take shape.

    This was Huang Jiansen''s soul!

    In the instant that the soul appeared, Chu Renmei let loose a sharp screech, and her tidal wave of hair transformed into a giant hand that grabbed straight toward the top of Qin Ye''s head. However, right at this moment, a dull thunderp rang out in the sky, causing the entire earthen building to tremble violently.

    Qin Ye looked up with a surprised expression, and he immediately recalled something that Tongtong had said.

    There were rules here, and anyone who broke those rules would be punished by being struck by lightning.

    This was thew of the forsakennd.

    Thus, it could only be concluded that Chu Renmei had broken a rule here. He nced at the incense burner hovering in mid-air in front of him, then cast his gaze toward Chu Renmei, who had drawn to an abrupt halt. Her face was twisted with fury, but she didn''t dare to advance any further...

    "You seem to have done something you shouldn''t be doing." Qin Ye brought his palms together as he stared intently at the evil ghost before him. "You broke the rules here and invoked punishment by divine lightning. What did you do? It''s not because you''re attacking me. After all, this isn''t the first time you''ve attacked me..."

    He took a deep breath, and at this point, he had alreadypleted the required sequence of hand seals. An indistinct spiritual body had already emerged out of thin air.

    "It''s because of Huang Jiansen, isn''t it? The Heavenly Dao forbids you from meeting him, right?"

 Chapter 786: Evocation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 786: Evocation (2)</h4>

    "Die!!" Her response to Qin Ye was to send her countless strands of hair surging violently toward him like a flood of resentment and hatred.

    Her expression had already bepletely twisted, and her deathly pale and bloated face seemed to be on the verge of bursting. In fact, countless inky-ck cracks had already appeared all over her face. She opened her ck mouth as far as it would go and let loose a furious and deranged roar, releasing powerful soundwaves that shattered the floorboards and warped the very space itself, sending a flurry of wooden splinters exploding up into the air.

    "Let... go..." Her voice was raspy and trembling with fury. "Let go!!"

    With this ear-splitting screech, a deathly white arm that was riddled with patches of discoloration from livor mortis abruptly shot out of her chest, grabbing toward Qin Ye like lightning. Ryu Changmin took a deep breath as he condensed all of the Yin energy in his entire body with all his might, and right in the nick of time, an inky-ck ripple of Yin energy proliferated through the air!

    This was his special ability: Untouchable Love!

    Boom! A sharp scream escaped from Ryu Changmin''s mouth amid a resounding boom, and he was instantly sent flying several meters through the air before crashing heavily into the wall, where his tiny body slowly slid down onto the ground. Meanwhile, Chu Renmei''s hand had been repelled back to its original position, but it then immediately shot forth again like a pouncing white viper, flying through the air with a loud bang.

    The giant hand scraped along the ground, tearing a deep trench into the floorboards, but Qin Ye didn''t even look at it as he made a hand seal with both hands. Hovering right in front of him was the soul that he had summoned, and it had its hands gripping its own head as if it were recollecting something. A painted moan escaped its lips, and it gently shook its head from side to side before abruptly raising its head and letting loose a blood-curdling howl!

    "ARRRGH!!!"

    Whoosh! Boundless Yin energy erupted out of his body, forming what was virtually a pir of fire. Meanwhile, the giant hand was already no more than a meter away from Qin Ye, and the smell of rot and decay was wafting directly toward him.

    At the same time, a rumbling thunderp rang out in the sky, followed by the sound of countless things shattering. Immediately thereafter, the entire world turned a blinding white color, and even Qin Ye was forced to close his eyes, while Ryu Changmin didn''t even dare to raise his head as he cowered in the corner.

    There was no time for Qin Ye to think of anything; all he could do was feel... The burst of white light was filled with devastating power, and even the slightest contact with it would most likely instantly reduce him to dust.

    The entire earthen building was trembling, and five secondster, a shrill shriek rang out, and Qin Ye finally raised his head again. However, the sight that he was greeted by almost froze his soul solid.

    A rift that was over a meter in length had already appeared above his head, as if a giant dragon had just descended from the heavens. Furthermore, there was a ck hole that was over two meters in diameter in front of Qin Ye, and arcs of white lightning were shing all around it. Across from him, Chu Renmei had already shot back in retreat with an rmed screech, and she was staring intently at Qin Ye with herpletely white eyes. Her body was trembling slightly, and her fury and wariness were being clearly disyed through her bodynguage.

    Divine punishment.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in this instant, and Qin Ye brought his palms together, upon which all of theherfire around the soul vanished to reveal an indistinct figure.

    This was a thin middle-aged man with a dazed expression, wearing a long robe from the tail-end of the Qing Dynasty. He stared at his own hands with an astonished expression, and his lips moved a few times before he finally managed to squeeze out some words with difficulty. "I... Where am I..."

    His voice seemed to have triggered something within Chu Renmei''s heart, and the fury etched on her face became even more pronounced as she glowered at Qin Ye.

    In that instant, the air temperature seemed to have plummeted below freezing point, and overwhelming killing intent surged out from all directions. Her killing intent had be so ferocious that it was as if it had taken on a substantial form, and immediately thereafter, her entire body turned ck, transforming her into a pure ck shadow.

    Ryu Changmin faltered slightly upon seeing this before hurriedly yelling, "My Lord, this is her special ability! I''m sure her special ability must be extremely fearsome! She hasn''t used it on any of the past asions, and it''s most likely because the ability is too powerful, so she''s unable to just casually unleash it at will..."

    "Don''t worry." Qin Ye gave him a reassuring look before wagging a finger at Chu Renmei. "Don''t me me for not warning you. I don''t know why you''re so worked up right now, but I''m sure being struck by lightning is not a good feeling..."

    The only response that he received was a burst of silent tremors.

    The entire surrounding area had turned pitch-ck, and the darkness seemed to have a life of its own, converging slowly toward Chu Renmei like a vast expanse of slithering snakes. Soon, a wave of absolute darkness had taken shape behind her, following which one deathly pale ghostly hand after another erupted out of the darkness like a series of columns, sending powerful Yin energy surging in all directions.

    The lower halves of the arms were ck, while the upper halves were white, and the ck sections quickly transformed into a series of strange patterns that etched themselves onto the fingers and backs of the ghostly hands. Simultaneously, Chu Renmei''s eyes turned a scarlet color for the very first time as she continued to glower at Qin Ye.

    "You must die!"

    All of a sudden, her mouth gaped open to over half a meter in size, allowing Qin Ye to clearly see the pitch-ck teeth inside. With that thunderous roar, the ghostly hands on either side of her fell upon Qin Ye like countless guillotines.

    However, no matter how fast her attacks were, there was no way they could outpace the speed of light.

    Whoosh... Scintiting light shed through the sky as arcs of white lightning began to wreak havoc among the dark clouds. All of the residents on the first floor of the earthen building rushed out of their houses to look up at the sky with stunned expressions. Right at this moment, the lightning that had been kept somewhat restrained within the clouds finally transformed into a pir of silver light that crashed down directly toward the earthen building!

    Its light illuminated what seemed like the entire world, basking thend in its silver radiance. All of the residents on the first floor let loose inhuman screeches as they frantically rushed back into their houses. However, the bolt of lightningpletely ignored them and was aimed only at Chu Renmei on the second floor.

    One bolt, two bolts... Lightning crashed down in a torrential downpour from the heavens like a series of white dragons soaring through the night.

    Even though Qin Ye had already anticipated that this would happen, he was still forced into the corner by the violent lightning strikes. Only after a full five minutes had passed and he could sense that the divine might in the sky had faded did he cautiously reopen his eyes.

    The room had been plunged intoplete darkness once again.

    Everything inside the room had already been reduced to dust, and there was ayer of ck dust on the ground piling up to around two to three centimeters thick. The door and windows had been erased out of existence, but the talismans on the walls remainedpletely unscathed!

    Chu Renmei was gone, but she most likely wasn''t dead. Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he thought back to what had just happened. Just now, Chu Renmei had let loose her most blood-curdling shriek to date, and after that, she had disappeared.

    "Even if she''s not dead, there''s no way she''ll be able to obstruct me any further tonight."

    Having been targeted by the wrath of divine lightning, she would''ve been severely injured at the very least.

    However, before he even had a chance to heave a sigh of relief, his expression stiffened as he noticed that the soul he had summoned had turned almostpletely transparent and was on the verge of dissipating!

    Lightning was the paramount energy of righteousness between heaven and earth, and it was what Yin spirits feared the most. Even though the divine lightning hadn''t directly targeted the soul, it had been situated in very close proximity to Chu Renmei, and as a result, it had not escaped unscathed.

    This came as aplete surprise to Qin Ye, and he was rooted to the spot for half a second before hurriedly breaking the silence. "Are you Huang Jiansen? You still have 10 seconds left in this world at most. I''ll ask you some questions, all you need to do is nod or shake your head, understood?"

    There was no time left. If Huang Jiansen couldn''t provide any useful leads to him in these final few seconds, then all of the leads that he had gathered thus far would snap off here.

    The dazed soul blinked as a hint of reminiscence appeared in its eyes. "That''s right... I am... Huang Jiansen..."

    Qin Ye was just about to continue speaking when Huang Jiansen suddenly grabbed onto his own head and abruptly fell to his knees. The Yin energy within his body was surging uncontrobly as he said in a trembling voice, "Huang Jiansen... No... I am Bu Jiansen... I, I... I lived for over 1,200 years as a monster! ARRRGH!!"

    His agonized howls echoed throughout the entire room, and all of the talismans on the walls were raised up at once. Qin Ye didn''t have time to ponder what Huang Jiansen had just said as he grabbed him by the neck. "Are there any records of the events that took ce during your lifetime? Does anyone know about these events? Also, how do I get to the third floor?"

    Huang Jiansen''s spiritual body was rapidly unraveling now, and he stared nkly at Qin Ye as a dazed smile suddenly appeared on his face. "You''re an Emissary of Hell... Hehe... It sure is good... to be... alive..."

    With those cryptic final words, his spiritual bodypletely dissipated.

    Qin Ye remainedpletely still, maintaining the same pose he adopted while grabbing onto Huang Jiansen''s neck, and only after a long while did he finally break the silence. "Fuck!!"

    He swiped a hand through the air in an agitated manner. The lead pertaining to Huang Jiansen had beenpletely cut off, and he was the most important figure in the Huang n''s earthen building. Also, what was that about his self-proimed name of Bu Jiansen? And why did he say that he had lived for over 1,200 years?

    If Qin Ye''s theory were correct, then there was no way that Huang Jiansen would''ve been able to die at all, so this was preposterous!

    "If he''s really eaten that thing, then there''s no way the Huang n''s earthen building would''ve been able to restrict him, and he wouldn''t have been able to die, either... How could it be that he''s not immortal but lived for over 1,200 years? It doesn''t make sense!" He ran his hand through his own hair several times in a frustrated manner, then sat down onto the ground as he inspected his surroundings with an angry look in his eyes.

    What could he do?

    The only lead he had gathered was now lost. Would he have to begin searching again from the first floor? Was there really enough time for him to solve this mystery in the final day and a half left before the Cold Suit Festival?

    Through the massive hole in the ceiling, he was able to see the sun in the sky, and the spot where he was sitting was like the only bright spot in the abyss as the sunlight illuminated him from above. He sat in silence as he stared up at the sky, and he was truly at a loss for what to do. 10 minutes passed... 15 minutes passed... 20 minutester, he suddenly sprang to his feet!

    "Go get me some rope and any metal tools you can find!"

    Ryu Changmin cast his gaze toward the same direction that Qin Ye was looking in, focusing his attention on the giant hole in the ceiling as well. At this point, the dark clouds had alreadypletely disappeared, revealing a bright blue sky. An enlightened look appeared on his face as he asked, "My Lord, are you going to climb up through that hole?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    There were most likely no longer any leads on the first floor. If there were some leads still left to be discovered, then the residents on the first floor would''ve already informed him.

    As such, he had to focus his attention on this building itself now.

    This building harbored countless leads that were waiting to be uncovered. Through the memories of Tongtong on the second floor, he was able to see that a forced relocation had taken ce here, and that was another piece of the puzzle. In that case, what else could be found on the third floor, or even the fourth floor?

    The staircase was blocked by thews of this ce, but this hole had been smashed open by thews themselves!

    Qin Ye didn''t know whether this hole would actually lead to the third floor, but it was his only path, and at the very least, as he stood below this giant hole, he wasn''t struck by the same sense of peril as he did while attempting to scale the staircase. In any case, he had to give it a try.

    Ryu Changmin quickly returned, carrying with him two metal rods and arge clump of metal wire. Qin Ye took the items from him, then smelted them under hisherfire, quickly creating a makeshift grappling hook.

    It was a very basic three-w grappling hook, but it was sure to be effective.

    He swung the grappling hook around in a few circles before tossing it upward, upon which it managed to gain purchase around a section of wooden beam near the opening. Immediately thereafter, he injected his Yin energy into his Abyssal Prefect''s token, and he squatted down like a hunting cheetah ready to pounce.

    He didn''t spring into action right away.

    Five minutes, 10 minutes... Only after a full 13 minutes had passed did he abruptly exert force through the grappling hook while springing upward.

    Crack! The wooden beam had been struck by lightning, and it just barely managed to hold on as it gave off a loud crack. Thankfully, the distance between the two floors wasn''t very far, and within the span of a second, Qin Ye had already grabbed onto that wooden beam. He then used his core strength to sling himself up through the hole, and he encountered no obstruction during the process!

    He heaved a long sigh of relief as he repressed the excitement that had welled up in his heart, then began to inspect the surrounding area.

    Looking up from down below, the sunlight on the third floor was clear to see, but only after reaching the third floor did Qin Ye discover that the entire level was enshrouded inplete darkness with the exception of that beam of sunlight.

    All of a sudden, Qin Ye''s head abruptly swung around as he looked down at his own right hand with a startled expression.

    A deathly pale hand had grabbed onto his right hand. The head waspletely devoid of color, and its owner was a boy who appeared to be around 10 years of age with his head twisted 90 degrees to the side, running virtually directly perpendicr to the rest of his body.

    He had no facial features, only ck holes in the ce of his eyes, nose, and ears, and he gripped onto Qin Ye''s hand in silence as he continued to appraise Qin Ye with his head twisted to the side.

    Behind him were at least several dozen children who also had their heads twisted to the side. They were allpletely naked with deathly pale bodies that were riddled with livor mortis discoloration, and they were staring directly at the unwee intruder that was Qin Ye.

 Chapter 787: The School

    <h4>Chapter 787: The School</h4>

    The scene was very quiet, so quiet that chills were running down Qin Ye''s spine.

    There were dozens of children standing in front of him with their heads twisted to a virtually horizontal position. All of them were in a fetal position with their arms hugging their legs to their chests, and powerful Yin energy was emanating out of the holes that had reced their facial features. Their mouths were opened wide as if in silent screams, and they were staring directly at Qin Ye in an eerie and wordless manner.

    "Ahem..." Qin Ye cleared his throat before giving the children a wave. "How are you?"

    Before he even had a chance to finish his greeting, all of the children before him vanished amid a gust of Yin wind, and the area around him cleared up again, returning to the usual oppressive emptiness.

    That was not a good omen...

    Qin Ye didn''t rx in the slightest. Instead, the fine hairs on the back of his neck had stood up on end. This ce was giving him the same feeling that he had gotten when facing Chu Renmei.

    There was another Prefect-level evil ghost on this floor!

    He hadn''t even made it to the top floor of the Huang n''s earthen building, yet there were already two Prefect-level evil ghosts!

    "I can see why none of the visitors left alive..." He pursed his lips as he inspected his surroundings.

    He discovered that he was currently situated in what appeared to be the ssroom of a school.

    The ssroom was quiterge, and it seemed that it consisted of many connected rooms with the walls between them knocked down to form a single room. The tables and chairs in the ssroom were very neat and orderly, but they were covered in thickyers of dust. Furthermore, the walls of this ssroom were also riddled with talismans!

    In fact, there were far more talismans in this ssroom than there were on the second floor, and walls were entirely covered in these talismans.

    "The talismans here are identical to the ones on the second floor, but there are more of them. On top of that, their true energy haspletely faded, which means that they''ve been stered here for a longer time." He gentlyid a hand onto one of the talismans, and in the instant that he did so, the frail talisman disintegrated into dust that dispersed through the air.

    The disintegration of that one talisman seemed to have triggered a domino effect, and the remaining talismans fell away into dust as well. In the blink of an eye, all of the talismans had disappeared, revealing countless lines of text inscribed upon the walls!

    The earthen building was constructed from earthen and wooden materials, and most of the walls were made from wood. At the foot of these wooden walls sat one tablet after another, upon which were inscribed dense passages of text.

    "Reign of Zhiyuan, Year 19, Month 4, 3,000 troops were transferred from Yangzhou to defend Quanzhou."

    "That same year, the imperial court recruited professors, schrs, and academicians from all provinces, cities, and counties. From Fujian, the imperial court recruited 55 professors, 26 schrs, 47 academicians, 7 instructors, and 27 scribes."

    "... The Fulin province was renamed the Fulin Pass, and eight roads were constructed between Fuzhou, Jianning, Quanzhou, Xinghua, Shaowu, Yanping, Tingzhou, and Zhangzhou... "

    These are more local records... Qin Ye made his way over to a certain tablet and began to carefully inspect it. Perhaps these things werepletely useless, but no one knew what piece of information could allow him to string all of the puzzle pieces together into a cohesive story, so he couldn''t afford to neglect any potential leads.

    Thankfully, the contents of the tablets weren''t very extensive, so just a quick nce was enough for him to tell whether it contained information that he wanted to see. After making his way past several tablets, he suddenly drew to a halt.

    "Reign of Zhiyuan, Year 12, a major famine struck the Fujian Province. Cannibalism became amon practice, and lost souls became amon sight. Zombies were discovered in the earthen building. If these zombies could be eradicated, then peace and prosperity will return to thend."

    Qin Ye gently stroked his hand across the lines of text, and a grim look appeared on his face.

    There didn''t appear to be anything amiss about this, but during that era of famine, who was going to eradicate those zombies for them? Who would have the money to hire a legitimate cultivator?

    Also, how did they know that eradicating the zombies would restore peace and prosperity to thend? Was this simply wishful thinking or was there a basis to this statement?

    There was too much information crammed into these passages. However, this wasn''t the time for him to be thinking about such matters in depth, so he continued reading.

    "Reign of Zhongtong, Year 2, Winter. Imperial Teacher Drog?n Ch?gyal Phagpa arrived at the Huang n''s vige, apanied by seven Tantric Buddhist Monks, and they awarded the vige an inscription of ''Weng Ge Ge Le Ah Ye Jia Na Se De Niu''."

    That was it... The information that Qin Ye wanted to see wasn''t inscribed on the tablet. In reality, even he didn''t know exactly what information he wanted. He felt as if he were holding a bunch of pearls in his hands, but he was missing the string that would connect all of the pearls into a ne, and to furtherpound his woes, he didn''t even know what the string looked like.

    He heaved a faint sigh and was just about to continue onward when a thought suddenly urred to him, and he immediately returned to that tablet before staring intently at it.

    "Reign of Zhongtong, Year Two..." His thoughts were racing as he murmured to himself, "That''s the first era title of the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire. ording to this tablet, Phagpa arrived at the Huang n''s vige during the second year of the Reign of Zhongtong, which means that the fifth khagan-emperor had only recently been crowned at the time. It would''ve taken him presumably at least a year to firmly establish himself as the ruler of the Mongol Empire. Why was he in such a hurry to send Phagpa to this insignificant earthen building right after he stabilized his own political standing as emperor."

    There was only one answer that Qin Ye could think of: it was for the medicine of immortality!

    ording to the documents that Lee Jung-sook had given him, many top-secret organizations in history such as the Imperial City Division and Department Six had all visited this vige. Standing behind all of these organizations was the National Divine Guardian Division, which was the current Special Investigations Department!

    Lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub... His heart rate was beginning to climb, and hisplexion had also be a little flushed from excitement. An abstract line was slowly beginning to take shape within his mind, and he immediately pounced on this glimmer of inspiration as his thoughts began to flow. He directed his gaze back to the inscription of "Weng Ge Ge Le Ah Ye Jia Na Se De Niu".

    "This is the long-life mantra of Tantric Buddhism..." His mind began to race faster and faster as he quickly paced back and forth with his hands sped behind his back while murmuring to himself, "In other words, this vige was also recognized as a long-life vige in the Yuan Dynasty. However, ording to my knowledge, there''s only one type of medicine of immortality that can attract attention from so many emperors and drive so many top-secret departments wild!"

    His Adam''s apple shuddered, and even his hands were trembling slightly as he murmured to himself in a raspy voice, "The Taisui fungus, the number one medicine of immortality in history!"

    In the instant that the words "Taisui fungus" were uttered by Qin Ye, countless howls and hateful cries of grief rang out from the crack between the third and fourth floors. At the same time, the air temperature in the surrounding area plummeted rapidly, and ck Yin energy that was visible to the naked eye converged toward the gap between the two floors, forming a giant ck hole.

    It was as if this entire building was sensitive to the words "Taisui fungus".

    Qin Ye took a nce at the ck hole, and he could sense that it was where the Prefect-level evil ghost was situated. Furthermore, that evil ghost was at least on par with Chu Renmei in power.

    However, the evil ghost hadn''t attacked Qin Ye, and it was clear that they were wary of him as well. After all, all living beings had at least instincts, even if they didn''t possess sentience and intelligence. Having said that, Qin Ye was willing to bet that if he were to recklessly go up to the fourth floor, the evil ghost would definitely attack him at all costs.

    At the moment, there was no need for him to incur the wrath of another Prefect-level evil ghost. With that in mind, Qin Ye turned and departed in silence.

    The Taisui fungus was something that had changed his entire life, and he was well aware of just how terrifying it was. However, if the Taisui fungus really were present in this ce, then there would be even more mysteries that couldn''t be exined.

    "The Imperial City Division, Department Six, the Sticky Rod Division, and now, there''s Phagpa as well. All of the emperors of each dynasty have sent people here. I can''t think of anything else other than the Taisui fungus that can attract such interest. However, after all these years, has the Taisui fungus still not beenpletely harvested? If an emperor had discovered the fungus, what reason would they have not to take it away? Are they leaving it for someone else? Emperors across three dynasties have all awarded this ce with the title of the long-life vige, and top-secret organizations have constantly beening here, which means that if there really is Taisui fungus here, then it hasn''t beenpletely harvested yet! That''s the first problem."

    He quickly paced back and forth as he murmured to himself, "Secondly, Huang Jiansen said that he lived for over 1,200 years, which means that he would''ve been alive when the earthen building was first constructed. If he really has eaten the Taisui fungus, then how did he die? Those who have eaten the Taisui fungus are immortal and will never age, so how did he even manage to die?"

    The mystery was getting more and more convoluted.

    A thread seemed to have emerged for Qin Ye totch onto, but in reality, this thread just led to another chaotic ball of yarn. He needed an answer, one that would allow him to see through the shroud of mystery and make sense of everything.

    He needed a pair of all-seeing eyes that could grant him omniscience.

    The truth behind the Huang n''s earthen building seemed to have nothing to do with the irredeemably heinous soul, but judging from the puzzle pieces that Qin Ye had already collected, he could see that the irredeemably heinous soul was the crucial piece. Once he found out the identity of that soul, the entire mystery would instantly unravel!

    Only then would he be able to learn the true nature of the Huang n''s earthen building, as well as what role the residents yed and what their objective was.

    There was only one person who could shed light on the truth.

    "Ryu Changmin." He leaped down onto the second floor. Throughout this entire time, the Prefect-level evil ghost on the third floor had refrained from attacking him.

    "I''m here, My Lord."

    "Get out of here right away," Qin Ye instructed. "Send a messenger bird to contact Ghost King Zhao, and get him to ask Phagpa''s soul why he visited the Huang n''s vige all those years ago. Tell him to give me a response before midnight tonight."

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Everything was unexpectedly peaceful.

    By the time Qin Ye returned to the first floor, it was already 4 PM. The eight hours between 4 PM and midnight were so peaceful that it was slightly unsettling, like the calm before the storm, and Chu Renmei didn''t appear.

    Right on the stroke of midnight, Qin Ye opened his eyes as heid on his bed.

    It was the final 24 hours left until the Cold Suit Festival, when all the ghosts woulde out to roam, and even he didn''t dare to stay in the Huang n''s earthen building during that festival. Furthermore, following the passing of the festival, it would be virtually impossible to capture that irredeemably heinous soul.

    As such, he couldn''t afford to waste even a single minute today!

    With that in mind, he immediately got out of bed. He encountered no obstruction as he left the Huang n''s earthen building, and as soon as he arrived at Anjing Vige, he was immediately invited into a rented room by Lee Jung-sook''s bodyguards.

    With enough money at her disposal, there wasn''t any ce that she couldn''t rent. The room that she had rented was rather crude and shabby, but it was very tidy and clean. There were a few couches and tables in the room, and as soon as Qin Ye arrived, Wu Daozi, who had already been waiting for quite some time, immediately rose to his feet. "My Lord, I have the information you requested."

    "Take a seat." Time was of the essence, and Qin Ye had no intention of making small talk. All he wanted was to hear the answer right now. As soon as he sat back down, Wu Daozi pulled out a sheet of paper. The sheet of paper waspletely identical to the talisman that Qin Ye had previously taken a photograph of.

    He exined, "This talisman is called the Azure Emperor Coiled Dragon Talisman. It''s one of the core talismans of Tantric Buddhism, and it''s exceedingly rare to see it circting in the outside world. The talisman can only be found in Tantric Buddhist Temples of the branches of Lamaism and Hinayana. It can only be created by a cultivator of at least the Infernal Judge level, and it''s one of the highest caliber talismans in existence."

    "Please take a look here," Wu Daozi continued as he pressed two fingers against the paper. "The font is long and slender, seemingly influenced by the Manchunguage of the Qing Dynasty. The function of this talisman isn''t to seal something away. Instead, it''s to ensure equilibrium."

    "Equilibrium?" Qin Ye stroked his own chin with a contemtive expression. "Equilibrium in what regard?"

    "Equilibrium on a mental front," Wu Daozi replied. "Any living being will slowly lose their sanity under the effect of exposure to Yin energy that''s outside of their tolerance range. This is a result of excessive Yin energy ruining their Yin-Yang equilibrium."

    He gently tapped the talisman as he continued, "This talisman is able to enhance the Yang energy of a certain ce, allowing its inhabitants to retain their sanity and maintain a shred of mental rity at the very least."

    Qin Ye was immediately enlightened upon hearing this. These talismans were there to maintain mental equilibrium!

    This revtion was like a beam of light that pierced straight through the shroud of mystery surrounding the entirety of the Huang n''s earthen building!

    However, beyond this shroud of mystery wasn''t paradise or nirvana. Instead, it was an extremely terrifying answer. Qin Ye''s thoughts were like budding seedlings about to break out of the soil, and there was only one thinyer of figurative soil standing between him and the truth.

    "What about General Zhao''s response?" He was holding onto the armrests of his chair with a white-knuckled grip. This response could be the final burst of driving force that he needed to break through the soil!

 Chapter 788: Shroud of Mystery

    <h4>Chapter 788: Shroud of Mystery</h4>

    "It''s right here." Wu Daozi swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a soul orb, which was emitting streaks of Yin energy.

    Lee Jung-sook was a smart woman, she didn''t ask any questions or say anything. All she did was stand off to the side like a non-existent bystander, sipping on her coffee in silence.

    There were only 24 hours left, and there was no time to waste. Qin Ye gave Lee Jung-sook a quick recount of everything that had happened during the past few days, then swept a hand over the soul orb, upon which wisps of Yin energy flew into his palm. The soul orb opened up like a blooming flower, and countless specks of inky-ckhermes were released, quickly transforming into a turbulent vortex. Immediately thereafter, a burst of violent panting rang out, followed by a dull thump, and a bald elderly man wearing a set of earthy yellow and reddish-brown monk robes appeared within the vortex.

    This was Phagpa, the imperial teacher of the Mongolian Empire who was a vastly renowned figure in history. Currently, his thin and frail spiritual body seemed to be on the verge of blinking out of his existence, and his entire body was trembling slightly. After a long while, he finally raised his murky eyes, and his lips moved, but he didn''t say anything.

    "I''m sure you know who I am, right?" Qin Ye asked, "I''ll ask questions, you give me answers; any problems?"

    Phagpa pursed his lips tightly and shook his head in a defeated manner.

    "Do you recall the Huang n''s earthen building?" Phagpa immediately shuddered upon hearing this, as if he had just heard some type of nightmarish phrase, and he gulped violently before falling still again.

    "During the second year of the Reign of Zhongtong, you and seven other Tantric Buddhist monks traveled to the Huang n''s earthen building. What did you see there? What happened there? Tell me!"

    Silence.

    Three secondster, Phagpa brought his palms together and heaved a long sigh. "You are the King Yanluo, and I am naturally obligated to answer your questions... During the second year of the Reign of Zhongtong, I received a secret edict from Kui Khan, the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, ordering me to travel to the Fulin Pass to search for the legendary medicine of immortality."

    Lee Jung-sook''s expression immediately stiffened upon hearing this.

    Having consumed the Taisui fungus, she was extremely sensitive to the words "medicine of immortality".

    No one interrupted him. Qin Ye was gently massaging the string of beads in his hand, and everyone in the room had their attention focused on Phagpa. Even though the room waspletely silent, the oppressive atmosphere in the air heralded theing of a storm. Fortunately, Phagpa wasn''t idiotic enough to try and build suspense, and after taking a deep breath, he dered, "It was the Taisui fungus."

    The string of beads in Qin Ye''s hand instantly fell still, and the excitement that he had been repressing all this time welled up in his heart once again.

    It really was the Taisui fungus!

    "ording to the county records in the Huang n''s earthen building, some of the residents lived from the 15th year of the Reign of Shunzhi all the way to 1995. Only the Taisui fungus can extend one''s lifespan so significantly," Qin Ye mused. "However, I managed to summon Huang Jiansen''s soul, and he''s already been dead for over two decades. Also, did you discover the Taisui fungus? If so, why didn''t you take it away?"

    "Lord Qin." All of a sudden, Phagpa extended a deep bow to 90 degrees and said, "I have an insignificant request that I hope you may consider. Please give me a chance to redeem myself and make up for the crimes I''vemitted in the past!"

    His body had begun trembling again, and his chest was rising and falling like bellows. It seemed to be taking all of his courage for him to be saying this, and he continued in a loud voice, "I am an expert in crafting all of the talismans of Mahayana, Theravada, Lamaist, and Tantric Buddhism. In addition to that, I am also skilled in politics and troop training. I would be honored to serve you, My Lord!"

    So he''s volunteering for subordination. I must admit that he''s chosen a very good time...

    A hint of a smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "You attacked one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, I can''t let you off the hook just like that."

    Qin Ye''s response wasn''t an outright refusal, and theherfire in Phagpa''s eyes flickered violently upon hearing this. He forcibly repressed the excitement that was welling up in his heart as he took a few steps forward and said, "The Taisui fungus is a miraculous existence. Its emergence doesn''t trigger any natural phenomena, and its only effect is the legendary ability to grant immortality. On top of that, this Taisui fungus is situated in a secluded region, so it wouldn''t be a surprise even if the Song Dynasty didn''t discover it after several centuries. However, that wasn''t the case, and it was discovered in the end. Aren''t you surprised by that? I was once part of the Divine Protectors of the country, and all of the confidential secrets about the Taisui fungus are only passed on verbally between members of the division. There are no written records, and no one else outside the division has ess to these secrets, which means that I''m most likely currently the only one in the world with this knowledge!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

    "I wouldn''t dare, My Lord!" Phagpa immediately fell to his knees and pressed his forehead against the ground as he said in a trembling voice, "I am well aware of the serious nature of my crimes, and all I wish for is to be able to help you reach greater heights by offering you my knowledge! Please give me a chance, Yanluo Qin!"

    Silence.

    Only after a full 10 seconds had passed did Qin Ye begin to massage his string of beads again, and he replied in an indifferent voice, "I can give you this opportunity, but I hope your answer will be satisfactory to me."

    "You won''t regret this decision, My Lord!" Phagpa''s Cathayan was very fluent, and he kowtowed heavily against the ground before standing up again and joining his palms together. "The history of the initial period following the construction of the Huang n''s earthen building is untraceable. At the time, the Taisui fungus hadn''t yet been discovered there, and there was no reason for the Imperial City Division to pay any attention to such a rural and insignificant area. However, during the years 1189, 1190, and 1191, which were years 16 and 17 of the Reign of Chunxi, and year 2 of the Reign of Shaoxi, the Fulin Pass suffered the three most severe floods in its history during the Song Dynasty. There are many historical records containing information on these floods."

    "Dealing with natural disasters isn''t one of the duties that the Divine Protectors of the country have to undertake," Qin Ye mused.

    "That''s true... Following the floods was a massive gue. Countless people had died from starvation, and barely any usable farnd remained. It was also at this time that themander of the Imperial City Division stationed in the Fulin Pass, Guo Jue, sent a secret message to the capital..."

    Phagpa pursed his lips before continuing, "It turned out that zombies had appeared in the Fulin Pass, and vicemander Yao Tiangang had perished on the line of duty. ording to the Divine Protectors of the country, themanders had visited the Huang n''s earthen building in person along with several governor envoys, and they discovered that the earthen building was full of zombies that were cannibalizing each other!"

    A sh of enlightenment appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this. "Is that why he left those talismans on the second floor?"

    Before Phagpa had a chance to reply, Qin Ye immediately followed up with more questions. "Why did he use equilibrium talismans? The local records on the third floor were from the Yuan Dynasty, so the talismans there had to have been left by you. What exactly were you trying to restore equilibrium to?"

    A theory had already taken shape in his mind, and if the theory proved to be correct, then the shroud of mystery hanging over the Huang n''s earthen building would be removed at once!

    Phagpa replied in a grim voice, "We left those talismans as those zombies were unkible! ording to the Imperial City Division of the Song Dynasty, those zombies will simply be resurrected regardless of how they''re killed. However, they are unable to leave the earthen building, so in order to prevent further deterioration of this supernatural situation, we had no choice but to adopt apromised strategy. The equilibrium talismans ensured that they were able to maintain a shred of mental rity, just enough for them to realize that they were still humans. As a result, they would no longer be mindless zombies, but at the same time, they can only remain in the earthen building for the rest of eternity."

    So I was right!

    His theory had been confirmed, and he couldn''t help but heave a long sigh. He had finally found the string that he had been searching for, allowing him to connect everything to form the bigger picture.

    How had the Huang n''s earthen building been reduced to its current state? What had happened to the residents of the Huang n''s vige? Why was it that talismans were present on both the second and third floors, but they were equilibrium talismans rather than ones meant for sealing?

    One question after another was answered, and a clear path to the truth had taken shape in his mind!

    No, it''s still not enough... He took a deep breath topose himself. Most of the mysteries had been cracked, but there were still two extremely important questions left to be answered, and he would have to pay another visit to the Huang n''s earthen building to get those answers.

    "Where is the Taisui fungus?"

    Phagpa immediately replied, "It''s buried 20 meters below the locust tree!"

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and replied, "Alright, you can go for now."

    Phagpa did as he was told and returned to the soul orb. Thus, silence descended upon the room, and only after a long while did Qin Ye ask, "Madam Lee, what do you think?"

    Lee Jung-sook wore a cold expression as she concluded, "There''s something wrong with that Taisui fungus."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything in response. He had told Lee Jung-sook everything with the intention of making use of her wisdom and experience, which had been rued over the past several centuries in which she had been alive. Lee Jung-sook was well aware of this, and she quickly continued, "Firstly, the zombies that emerged during the Song Dynasty could very well be residents of the Huang n''s earthen building. Following the floods and gues, countless people were starving to death, and they would''ve had no choice but to eat the Taisui fungus. However, both you and I are aware that the Taisui fungus has a 50% chance of turning one into an immortal being, but also a 50% chance of reducing one to a deranged monster. You can perhapsment the ill fortune of the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building, seeing as all of them became monsters, but if you ask me..."

    A cold smile appeared on her face as she continued, "I suspect that someone tampered with the Taisui fungus and used it to transform the entire vige''s residents into monsters!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This was also the first conclusion he had arrived at after hearing what Phagpa had to say.

    There was a 50% chance of immortality, yet not a single one of the residents of the Huang n''s vige had hit the jackpot! How could it be that all of them had be monsters? It simply didn''t make sense from a statistical perspective!

    As he thought deeper into the matter, he developed another theory. In the wake of the floods and famines, there would''ve been a severe food shortage. People naturally have to eat, but there was only a small amount of Taisui fungus, so what were they going to eat once the fungus ran out?

    There was only one answer: they would have to eat the other zombified residents!

    If someone had eaten the Taisui fungus first and attained immortality, but they didn''t want to have to endure the agony of starvation, then the best solution would be to eat the zombies, and this would perhaps be where the sinister side of human nature reared its ugly head. Perhaps they were afraid that if they were to eat other zombies, then the other residents of the vige would view him as a demonic scourge. In fact, perhaps their actions would even lead to them being eaten by the other vigers.

    In that case, why not turn the entire vige into a vige of zombies? Once that happened, there would be no one around to judge or plot against them.

    What else could they do? They were doing this for survival.

    Even though Qin Ye had seen all facets of human nature during his time as the King Yanluo, he still couldn''t help but be disgusted by his own theory.

    He wasn''t disgusted by this event itself. Instead, he was repulsed by human nature.

    This was a very likely scenario to have happened. Otherwise, the Imperial City Division at the time wouldn''t have encountered an entire vige of zombies, and Phagpa would''ve made it clear to him that not all of the residents had been zombified, but that wasn''t the case.

    Lee Jung-sook took a sip of her coffee before continuing, "At this point, I''m certain that the Taisui fungus has been tampered with. I''m not sure how that would''ve been done, but at the very least, I can say for sure that someone consumed that Taisui fungus without turning into a monster, and that person is still currently alive! Only they would have tampered with the Taisui fungus to result in this situation."

    That was the irredeemably heinous soul that Qin Ye was searching for!

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly as the mystery slowly unraveled before him. He had started by collecting leads, building a bigger picture out of multiple puzzle pieces, and now, he was reversing the process, taking the bigger picture and delving into the finer details. Finally, he was close to finding the person behind this mystery that had endured for over 1,000 years.

    Indeed, that person was still alive!

    They''ve lived for over 1,000 years, and in order to ensure their own survival, they zombified an entire vige. However, that still wasn''t enough.

    "It''s still not enough to warrant the title of ''irredeemably heinous''..." Qin Ye murmured to himself, "Then again, I wouldn''t be surprised by anything that someone like this would''ve done after that. From the moment they decided to tamper with the Taisui fungus, they would''ve no longer been fit to be called a human..."

    What he had to do now was to arrange his thoughts and search for the final point of breakthrough!

 Chapter 789: Ideas

    <h4>Chapter 789: Ideas</h4>

    Yin energy surged out of his fingertip as he began to quickly draw up an image in mid-air.

    The image depicted the Huang n''s earthen building, and it was a very detailed depiction. Afterpleting his drawing, Qin Ye turned around to face Kwon Kyung-ho, Ryu Changmin, Lee Jung-sook, and Wu Daozi before dering, "Prior to this, I had far too many questions that I had to find answers for. Now, let''s dissect them one by one. The first set of questions pertain to Chu Renmei. I''ve always wondered why Chu Renmei hasn''t killed the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building. Even if she doesn''t want to kill them, they''re literally blood food that''s constantly posing a temptation to her! Perhaps she could resist for a day or even a year, but how did she resist for over a century? I finally understand now..."

    He took a deep breath before continuing, "It''s because these people are unable to die! The Taisui fungus that they consumed has been tampered with, so at their very core, they''ve be inhuman creatures, just like Huang Yunqing, whom we saw in the seafood warehouse. Hence, there was no need for Chu Renmei to kill them, and as time passed, they grew ustomed to her presence and no longer feared her. My second question rtes to Chu Renmei''s attempt to possess me. I had always been of the opinion that she had tried to possess me as she wanted to do something that only I could do, but it''s evident to me now that this is not the case."

    He swept his gaze across the faces of the people before him and concluded, "It''s not that she didn''t want to possess other people, she simply had no choice! There was no one else she could''ve possessed aside from me!"

    A peculiar smile appeared on Lee Jung-sook''s face as she held her cup of coffee in her hands. "No, that''s not all. With all the information that we currently have, the fact that she wanted to possess you allows us to draw a very important conclusion."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to speak, she immediately continued, "Have you considered why she was so insistent on possessing someone? She''s an evil ghost, and a very highly ranked special Yin spirit, at that. All of her resentment falls upon two people: first and foremost is Bu Wantian, who betrayed and killed her over a century ago. Secondly, it would be the construction team that dug out her remains and tossed them into the waterhole in 1995. However, all of the construction workers and Bu Wantian have already died."

    She looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes and asked, "So why is she still so determined to possess someone?"

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    He had never considered this question before, and it had to be said that Lee Jung-sook''s few centuries on this earth had truly served her well. Indeed, thinking along her line of logic, the conclusion was downright horrifying!

    She wanted revenge.

    The most important obsession that evil ghosts clung onto was vengeance, and without vengeance as a motivating factor, there was no need for her to possess anyone. As for why she had to possess someone...

    "She wants to get out of the earthen building..." Wu Daozi had arrived at the same conclusion, and he said in a trembling voice, "Lord Qin has consumed the Taisui fungus, meaning that he''s transcended beyond the three realms and the five elements, allowing him immunity from their restrictions. She wants to borrow your body to leave the Huang n''s earthen building, which means that the person she wants to seek vengeance against is outside the building!"

    "Indeed, Sir Wu, but there''s something else..." Now that the ideas were flowing, everything had been strung together into a cohesive picture. Qin Ye forcibly repressed the excitement welling up in his heart as he said, "This person is clearly also from the Huang n''s earthen building, so why were they able to leave?"

    Wu Daozi faltered slightly before theherfire in his eyes began to jump sporadically. "Only those who have consumed the Taisui fungus are able to do that! That person must''ve also consumed the Taisui fungus, thereby allowing them to leave the Huang n''s earthen building!"

    He sprang to his feet as he spoke, and his voice was trembling slightly as he spoke. "Wait, that doesn''t make sense! ording to what you said earlier, Chu Renmei is an evil ghost that only emerged less than 100 years ago, but the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building consumed the Taisui fungus over 1,000 years ago! All of them were transformed into zombies, and zombies don''t have the ability to reproduce! If we think deeper about this, the secret that the Huang n''s earthen building is full of zombies had to have been closely guarded by the Divine Protectors of the country for generation upon generation. After all, this is a matter concerning the Taisui fungus!"

    "Indeed," Lee Jung-sook said with a smile before taking a sip of her coffee. "In other words, following the discovery of the Taisui fungus, anyone who attempted to leave the Huang n''s earthen building would''ve been immediately captured. However, Chu Renmei''s actions tell us that someone managed to slip through the cracks, and that they''re still outside the Huang n''s earthen building to this very day. How did that happen?"

    Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he said in a grim voice, "There''s only one possibility: that person is the first one who consumed the Taisui fungus and attained immortality. They were the one who turned the entire vige into zombies, and it was also them who survived off the flesh of zombies until the famine passed, then left the Huang n''s earthen building by relying on the special nature of the Taisui fungus. This is why Chu Renmei must possess me to exact her revenge."

    That''s it...

    The information in Qin Ye''s mind had been strung together like a bracelet, and the bigger picture surrounding the Huang n''s earthen building was finally established.

    The killing intent that he had felt from Chu Renmei since the very first day, the strange state of the residents, the giant locust tree that contained the souls of all of the residents, the talismans on the second and third floors... These seemingly unrted tidbits of information had finally been coted together to arrive at a conclusion!

    Over 1,000 years ago, someone had turned all of the residents of the vige into zombies in order to survive the floods and famines. They fed on the zombies one after another, and in the end, they managed to survive. They then sensed the threat posed by the Imperial City Division and escaped the earthen building in secret by relying on the special properties of the Taisui fungus. This person was almost certain to be the irredeemably heinous soul that Qin Ye was searching for!

    Of course, there was no concrete evidence to support this, but in this case, the process of elimination was the best evidence!

    The soul that he was searching for had to be outside of the earthen buildings.

    All of the residents living inside the earthen building were zombies, and they were only able to retain some semnce of sanity under the protection of the equilibrium talismans. Chu Renmei was an evil ghost, but there was no way she deserved the title of irredeemably heinous.

    None of the residents could be the person he was searching for, so that left only one possible candidate!

    "The final problem that we''re facing is ack of evidence..." Qin Ye murmured to himself, "Who is this person? What did they do? Where can we find information about them? Do you know anything, Phagpa?"

    The soul orb trembled slightly, and Phagpa''s respectful voice rang out in response. "My Lord, the answer you''re looking for lies in the ancestral hall on the fourth floor. The seal on the Huang n''s earthen building was first ced during the Song Dynasty, and it was maintained all the way to the Qing Dynasty. However, it was most likely maintained past the founding of the Republic of Cathay. These seals can allow them to just barely hold onto their sanity, and only during the Cold Suit Festivals of each year would they turn into zombies. The rest of the time, they would be no different from normal humans. However, this equilibrium isn''t perfect. The residents will believe that they''re normal people and forget everything in the past. However, their instincts still remain. Their hatred, which has been brewing for over 1,000 years, must be stored in a certain ce, and in ordance with ancient traditions, there''s a very good chance that that ce is the ancestral hall on the fourth floor. The hatred I''m referring to isn''t just an abstract thing. Instead, there''s a very good chance that they''ve instinctively ced items that are rted to themselves and that person in the ancestral hall, and they won''t even recall performing these actions themselves. They were transformed into zombies and even eaten at some point. On top of that, they''ve been trapped in this earthen building for over 1,000 years. Their hatred has surely already reached a point where it''s able to take over their instincts."

    The fourth floor, eh?

    Qin Ye pursed his lips as he recalled the aura of that other Prefect-level evil ghost between the third and fourth floors. The evil ghost didn''t know what he wanted to do, so perhaps it was instinctively protecting theirst secret from him.

    All of the answers were there, including what that irredeemably heinous person had done, and their identity.

    "Kwon Kyung-ho, Ryu Changmin!" Qin Ye rose to his feet, and he suddenly felt reinvigorated. The mysteries that had gued him for the past several days had been solved, and there was only one thing left to do.

    "At your service, my Lord!" The two ghosts immediately walked into the room before extending respectful bows in unison.

    "Come with me, we''re going to the fourth floor of the earthen building."

    "Yes!"

    "My Lord." Phagpa''s voice suddenly rang out from within the soul orb. "If it''s alright with you, I would like to volunteer my services."

    Qin Ye considered this for a moment before raising a hand to summon Phagpa''s soul again. Phagpa immediately joined his palms together before backing off to the side in a respectful manner. Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything else, Lee Jung-sook smiled and said, "If you don''t mind, I''d also like toe and have a look."

    "There''s no need to worry about my safety," she continued before Qin Ye could object. She then pressed a button on her table, and a line of soldiers that were armed to the teeth immediately strode into the room. There were two preachers in ck cloaks among them, and both of them were at the Infernal Judge level!

    "These are all elite Catholic exorcists, carrying bullets filled with holy water and holy ashes. All of them are retired personnel from the special departments of special units, so they have extensive experience when ites to the arcane and supernatural. I''ll be sure to protect myself, so you can rest assured."

    She smiled and continued, "I just want to go and see the Taisui fungus. I''m very curious about what''s happened to it."

    "No," Qin Ye refused firmly with a shake of his head. "There are two Abyssal Prefects in the Huang n''s earthen building, it''s far too dangerous for you."

    "I''ll give you a hundred million."

    Qin Ye: "!!!"

    Y, You can''t bribe me like this! I am the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld! You can''t make me swallow my words with money!

    He didn''t say anything, and after a moment, Lee Jung-sook spoke again. "Two hundred million."

    Qin Ye: ¦²(¡Ñ¨Œ¡Ñ!

    You... You can''t do this! I am a man of unshakeable resolve and impable morals! You think you can defeat me with money? In the face of your disgusting actions, All I want to say is...

    Please, Madam, may I have some more?

    "Three hundred million." Lee Jung-sook blew on her coffee before continuing, "If there''s really something wrong with the Taisui fungus, then I''ll purchase it at a price that''ll definitely satisfy you. Alternatively, we can split it as well, and I''m open to negotiation on the price."

    "If you really want to take a look at it, then I, I guess I can take you with me..." Qin Ye cleared his throat with an awkward expression before putting on a serious look. "However, let me make this clear: I''m not responsible for ensuring the safety of your staff. I''m only letting theme so that there will be more people to help me. After all, the earthen building is a massive ce, and taking you with me..."

    Lee Jung-sook took a casual sip of her coffee. "I understand. You''re obviously only taking me with you because of my insights on the Taisui fungus. Those who understand the Taisui fungus the most are the ones who have eaten it before, and I clearly know more about it than you do."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the Huang n''s earthen building.

    This was the final day before the Cold Suit Festival, and even non-cultivators could sense the rampant Yin energy in this ce.

    During the Cold Suit Festival, the zombies would return to their most primitive form, and all of the ghosts and spirits woulde out to roam. Currently, there¡¯s still 18 hours left.

    The gate was opened, and a group of soldiers in camouge clothing strode in in a cautious manner. Standing in the middle among the soldiers were Lee Jung-sook, Qin Ye, Kwon Kyung-ho, and Ryu Changmin. The surrounding residents only took an errant nce at the new arrivals before turning away again, disying no reaction whatsoever.

    "Such overwhelming deathly energy..." One of the ck-cloaked preachers said in an uneasy voice, "The potency of the deathly energy here ranks among the top three of all of the ces I''ve ever been, but nothing seems to be amiss here..."

    The group made their way directly over to the foot of the giant locust tree, and the strings of locust blossoms on the branches were swaying in the air like rednterns.

    "This is a Soul-locking Pir..." The other preacher brought out a cross that he ced in front of his own chest, then said in a grim voice, "Please stand back, Madam Lee, this locust tree isn''t a naturally-forming entity. In Southeast Asia, tree seeds can be made from evil things in order to nurture simr monsters. The area around this locust tree is where all of the Yin energy in this ce is gathered, and once we dig into it, we''ll be sure to trigger some type of extremely terrifying supernatural activity."

    Qin Ye took a surprised nce at the preacher. These two preachers really did know their stuff!

    "What do we need to do?" Qin Ye asked in a casual manner.

    Everyone in this unit had to familiarize themselves with one another, and they only had a very limited amount of time avable to them, so the sooner they couldplete this familiarization process, the better.

    "Rest assured, we dared to take on this job, so we''re naturally confident in our ability toplete it," one of the preachers said with a smile, then raised his hands, and countless runes emerged from within his baggy sleeves. The runes were almost like sentient beings as they circled around the entire tree like a coiling dragon.

    Their actions finally attracted the attention of the residents. Their bodies remainedpletely still, but their heads twisted around at different angles as they turned to stare intently at the massive locust tree in unison.

    [1] [This is actually what the author wrote here LOL.]

 Chapter 790: Taisui Fungus?

    <h4>Chapter 790: Taisui Fungus?</h4>

    "If they try to do anything, then just kill them," the other preacher said in a cold voice. "These inhuman creatures are rtives of demons and deceased spirits. They shouldn''t exist in this world."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the soldiers formed a protective circle around the locust tree with their backs facing the tree and their guns directed outward. Amid the deathly silence, the elderly man who had spoken with Qin Ye on one previous asion slowly made his way over to them while holding his cane. "What are you going to do?"

    No response.

    He was studiously ignored as the runes released by the preacher adhered themselves all over the trunk of the locust tree like a coiling dragon. In the next instant, boundless golden light erupted forth, illuminating the entire locust tree into a golden tree of radiance!

    One profound English letter after another appeared in mid-air, and the sound of preaching rang out across this entire space. The residents of the earthen building exchanged a few uneasy nces. The equilibrium talismans had significantly restricted their memories, but their instincts were telling them that the preachers were acting upon something that was extremely important to them.

    "Life is here, and life is the light of humanity. The light shines down upon the darkness, yet the darkness rejects the light..." As a convoluted passage was being chanted from a scripture, countless wisps of Yin energy were emerging from the bottom of the page, and some of them even transformed into a series of warped human faces that were screaming and screeching. The entire tree was surrounded by the scripture, and a series of burls in the shape of human faces appeared on the tree trunk. The ck burls and the golden letters intertwined with one another, presenting a very unsettling sight to behold.

    Whoosh! A gust of Yin wind was suddenly swept up without any warning, and it was as if the Huang n''s earthen building had been plunged back into the abyss. The branches and leaves of the old locust tree swayed and rustled violently as Yin energy erupted forth from all directions. At the same time, countless ghastly howls rang out, striking fear directly into the listener''s heart.

    "It hurts so much..."

    "I don''t want to die..."

    "Help me... Please help me!"

    The fierce winds blew back the hood of one of the preachers, revealing the head of a bald middle-aged man. The man waspletely devoid of facial hair, including even eyebrows, and there were English letters inscribed all over his face. In the instant that his hood was removed, he abruptly yelled, "Now, Othilie!"

    Right as he issued this instruction, the other preacher also sprang into action. He immediately raised both arms, and a cold gleam shed beneath his robes as countless streaks of silver light shot forth before vanishing into the tree trunk, firmly nailing the hovering golden letters into ce.

    The streaks of silver light were nails that were around 10 centimeters in length each, and there was nothing noticeably special about their design.

    "Those are Stigmata Thorns," Lee Jung-sook exined in a low voice, "They''re silver nails infused with the ashes of saints, and they''re only avable to major churches. Those things are not cheap."

    "Is that all?" A derisive look appeared on Ryu Changmin''s face as he scoffed, "All they''re doing is making a hugemotion without actually aplishing much. Lord Qin, why did you let these peoplee in with us? In a ce like this, the only fate that could possibly await them is death."

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes at him in response. "Who''s going to do the digging if they''re not here?"

    Ryu Changmin instantly fell silent.

    "I didn''t have to spend the money to hire them anyway, so I don''t care if they live or die," Qin Ye said in an indifferent voice, "Don''t forget that Chu Renmei isn''t the only Prefect-level evil ghost in here. There''s another one that''s been lurking in the shadows this entire time. They''re clearly wary of me and haven''t attacked thus far, but they''re closely guarding the gap between the third and fourth floors. If we want to make it to the fourth floor, then we''ll have to barge our way through by force, and if we''re unlucky, Chu Renmei might appear as well. In the worst-case scenario, I''ll take on Chu Renmei, while Phagpa takes on that other evil ghost. My status as an Emissary of Hell doesn''t grant me any advantages against the evil ghosts here, so it''s most likely the case that neither side will be able to defeat the other. In the case of an impasse, who''s going to the ancestral hall on the fourth floor?"

    Ryu Changmin nodded in response. "Apologies for myck of foresight, my Lord. However, the fourth floor is the core of this entire ce; will they really be fit for the task?"

    Qin Ye replied in a calm manner, "Well, that would depend on whether they''ve been sufficiently paid, isn''t that right, Madam Lee?"

    Lee Jung-sook smiled and said, "Rest assured, I paid them more than enough for them to put their lives on the line."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Oh? I thought you would be reluctant to risk their lives."

    "Don''t make meugh," Lee Jung-sook replied with an extremely calm expression, "They''re each being paid 500,000 USD a month, what right do they have to back down now? Setting that aside for now, are we really the same type of people as them?"

    Her army naturally couldn''t hear what she was saying, but at this point, the elderly man from the Huang n''s earthen building was already slowly approaching them, and he was followed by several dozen other residents of the vige.

    "Stop!" The elderly man thumped his cane onto the ground a few times as he yelled, "Who are you? What gives you the right to trespass on our private property? You''re a bunch ofwless vandals!"

    "Kill anyone who dares toe within a 30-meter radius. Don''t regard them as living humans," Othilie instructed in an expressionless manner.

    The surrounding soldiers immediately sprang into action, and the sound of bullets being loaded into chambers rang out in quick session.

    A normal person would definitely fall back upon hearing this sound, but the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building seemed to bepletely oblivious to the danger, and the elderly man led the way as he continued to approach with a furious expression. "What on earth are you doing?! Who gave you the right to do this?!"

    The soldiers all wore camouge face paint, and they were appraising the approaching residents with cold expressions. As the furious eldelry man drew closer and closer, their leader suddenly dered, "That''s 30 meters."

    In the next instant, the sound of machine-gun fire rang out across the entire earthen building!

    Even though the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building had already lost their humanity long ago, they still had human appearances, yet the scorching bullets pierced through their bodies without any mercy or hesitation.

    "ARRRGH!!" The elderly man at the forefront of the vigers was instantly reduced to a piece of human Swiss cheese, and the enormous impact of the bullets even sent him flying back several meters. In the blink of an eye, his body was already riddled with bullet holes, yet not a single drop of blood was flowing out. Instead, wisps of inky-ck Yin energy were seeping out of his wounds, and they were being dragged through the air as the elderly man flew back from the machine gun fire.

    All of the other residents of the earthen building around him were also sent flying by the bullets, and cries of shock and agony rang out in all directions. However, even after they fell to the ground, their voices still didn''t cease.

    In the face of such ferocious firepower, not even a single one of them had perished!

    "They''re still alive?" The leader of the soldiers faltered momentarily before a cold smile appeared on his face, and his rate of fire was instantly doubled as heid another machine gun onto his own arm. Scorching mes were erupting from the muzzles of the machine guns from the bouts of rapid-fire, and chunks of grass and rocky shrapnel were sent flying in all directions, while countless holes and rifts were blown into the wooden walls and floorboards.

    "Are you done yet?" a soldier asked without even turning his head.

    Othilie was panting slightly as he replied, "We''re done."

    The baptism of machine gun firested a full three minutes, and all of the vigers had been felled. Their bodies had fallenpletely still as theyid on the ground, and just as the mercenaries were turning around, they drew a collective sharp breath.

    They were greeted by the sight of a torrential downpour of flower petals as scarlet petals drifted down from the heavens, only to be swept up by the cold Yin winds blowing around the locust tree. The ghastly howls and screeches hadpletely fallen silent at this point, yet there was now a nauseating odor wafting through the air to assault everyone''s nostrils.

    It was a smell akin to the odor of a decaying animal.

    Qin Ye squatted down beside the tree as he gently pressed his fingers against the ground, and he asked in a grim voice, "Do you still recall what it was like back when you ate the Taisui fungus?"

    Lee Jung-sook''s expression mirrored his, and she replied, "I do. It carried an extremely exquisite fragrance. During the past several centuries, I''ve spent countless hours researching the Taisui fungus, and all records that exist of it involve auspicious phenomena of fortune with no exceptions. At the time, I fell into a valley that felt like a sea of cloud and mist, and the Taisui fungus was like a vibrant fruit of pure bliss. It had an indescribably gentle texture upon entry, and it was like devouring a gentle breeze or a drop of delectable dew. What was the experience like for you?"

    "It was about the same," Qin Ye said as he cautiously took a few steps backward. "I also thought that I was eating a cloud, or the essence of heaven and earth. The Taisui fungus can take on all types of different forms, but I''ve never seen a Taisui fungus like this. Is this... really a Taisui fungus?"

    Following his brief inspection, he had discovered that the ground beneath their feet had a texture simr to human skin, but it was dead, rough, and coarse skin, much like the skin on a human corpse. At the same time, it was a little supple, like the body of a living being.

    Each time Qin Ye pressed his fingers against the ground, faint traces of blood would begin to seep to the surface. Initially, it was only trace amounts of blood, but soon, it became a gushing flow of reddish-ck blood that was pouring up from down below!

    "Have you ever had a hamburger before?" Qin Ye asked, "The earth forms the buns, and the Taisui is the patty, gushing oil whenever you press it."

    Even though Lee Jung-sook had already lived the equivalent of seven lives, the fine hairs on the back of her neck were still standing up on end. "What kind of hamburger is this? A human hamburger?"

    "Who knows?" Qin Ye appraised the bloodstained ground ahead of him with a grim expression. The ghastly howls and wails had subsided, but the twisted aura of foreboding hadn''t faded in the slightest. Instead, it had only be more chilling.

    He took a deep breath and turned to the side. Without even requiring an instruction from him, several soldiers had already arrived at the foot of the tree, carrying shovels in their hands. It had to be said that this army of mercenaries provided a service that lived up to the lofty fees they charged. Even in the face of such an unsettling situation, they didn''t ask any questions, nor refuse any orders.

    Right as the first shovel was plunged into the ground, a sharp scream suddenly erupted throughout the entire earthen building, as if the building were a living being, and someone had just plunged a sharp de into its heart.

    The scream hade from underground.

    "Phagpa!" Qin Ye called out in a grim voice, and the soul orb immediately emerged. "What the hell is down there? I''ve never heard of a living Taisui fungus before!"

    After a brief silence, Phagpa gritted his teeth and said, "Rest assured, just keep digging. The thing below the ground here really is a Taisui fungus, but you have to mentally prepare yourself. This Taisui fungus is different from anything that you''ve ever seen before, and it''s something that only appears in nightmares..."

    "Keep digging!" Lee Jung-sook bit down gently on her lower lip as she looked on with a mixture of apprehension and anticipation in her eyes, "Let me see what exactly is down there!"

    Thus, the soldiers continued digging, and each dig of their shovels would elicit a blood-curdling howl. The Huang n''s earthen building seemed to have been plunged into a hellish abyss, and dense dark clouds had already gathered over the entire sky. Despite the vast experience that these mercenaries had with supernatural events, even they couldn''t help but be stunned by what they saw as they continued to dig deeper and deeper.

    The root system of this locust tree was even more well developed than that of a banyan tree! It was like a chaotic head of hair that was extending in all directions, and interspersed within the roots were countless pieces of human bones, of which there were around 40 to 50 skulls alone!

    "The Taisui fungus is an entity of immense fortune! How could it have emerged in a ce like this?" Lee Jung-sook''s brows were tightly furrowed. This situation hadpletely gone beyond the scope of all of her research.

    Qin Ye remainedpletely silent. He didn''t intend to tell anyone about the nature of forsakennds.

    One hour passed, two hours passed... After two and a half hours, a metallic ng suddenly rang out, immediately followed by a sharp cry of surprise. Qin Ye immediately rushed through the crowd and cast his gaze toward the bottom of the pit that had been dug out.

    The pit was already around 20 meters deep and roughly five to six meters in radius. Things like climbing rope and carabiners had been employed for stabilization purposes, and at the bottom of the pit was something that was extremely familiar to everyone, but definitely didn''t belong in a ce where the Taisui fungus was supposed to be.

    It was a coffin, an inky-ck coffin constructed in the Cathayan style, and was already beginning to show signs of decay.

    The coffin was bound by some messy red threads that hadn''t rotten away even after so long, and the entire coffin was riddled with talismans.

    "What is this thing?" Qin Ye took a deep breath as he backtracked a few steps. "Is this a Taisui fungus? Is it a coffin? Or is it... a corpse?"

 Chapter 791: The Contents of the Coffin

    <h4>Chapter 791: The Contents of the Coffin</h4>

    "These are heaven and earth bindings." Phagpa''s soul orb was lying respectfully atop Qin Ye''s palm. Even though Qin Ye had allowed Phagpa to participate in this matter, he didn''t dare toe out unless Qin Ye summoned him.

    "Several hundred years ago, seven master Tantric Buddhist monks and I visited the ce, and we all arrived at the conclusion that whatever is in here is extremely sinister."

    The two preachers made their way over without even requiring an instruction from Lee Jung-sook. Even they wore extremely grim expressions, and only after taking many deep breaths in session did they ce their hands onto the coffin''s lid before pushing with all their might.

    A cloud of ck dust rose up from within the coffin alongside the nauseating odor of rot and decay. Inside the coffin were... two people!

    It was a man and a woman, and they were locked in intercourse!

    The bodies had been lying in this coffin for countless years, and the man had a head of short hair, while the woman''s hair pooled all the way down to her waist. Their skin was deathly pale, so much so that even the purple blood vessels beneath their skin were visible. Their bodies were riddled with bright red text that looked as if it had been carved onto their skin with blood, and what was most disturbing of all was that each of their joints was nailed together with one another''s using a single bone. It was truly a horrific sight.

    "My god..." One of the preachers couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath. "I have no idea what this is, but it''s definitely something extremely sinister..."

    "This deathly aura is unlike anything I''ve ever felt..." Othilie quickly inspected the surrounding area through narrowed eyes before instructing, "Form a defensive barrier around this area and make sure no one approaches this ce! Hurry!"

    The soldiers immediately did as they were told. They were not equipped to participate in what was about to happen next. Othilie lit a candle, and the me had only just appeared when it flickered violently, even though there was no wind. Immediately thereafter, the me turned an eerie green color.

    "This is a holy candle that has been blessed by the pope, and it''ll only react when in the presence of something extremely sinister..." He took a grim look at the pair of interconnected bodies in the coffin, and he couldn''t help but take a few steps backward. "Be careful, everyone, this thing is far more sinister than we can imagine."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. He could sense that these two bodies were indeed extremely sinister, but they didn''t seem to possess any harmful properties.

    In a way, they were analogous to nuclear energy, which was extremely dangerous, but also exceptionally useful when properly harnessed. At its worst, it could pollute thend and the very fiber of living beings with radiation, but at its best, it could act as a brilliant energy source.

    With a flick of his wrist, a burst of dense Yin energy emerged from within the soul orb, and Phagpa''s spiritual body appeared before extending a respectful bow. "My Lord."

    "That''s a Marquess-level vengeful spirit!" The two preachers were so rmed by Phagpa''s emergence that they almost screamed, and they reflexively reached for the weapons concealed under their cloaks. In their eyes, Lee Jung-sook was an important client who didn''t possess any Yin energy, nor did the young man apanying her, so both of them were people that they had to protect. However, the young man had summoned a Marquess-level vengeful spirit with just a simple gesture, and the vengeful spirit was regarding him in an extremely respectful manner.

    If it weren''t for the extremely sinister coffin ced in front of them, they would''ve already screamed out loud.

    This was a Marquess-level vengeful spirit, a supreme being in any nation! Even their teacher may never have seen such a vengeful spirit of such a high caliber, yet this one had just been summoned at will like a genie from amp!

    Qin Ye paid no heed to the two preachers, whose jaws had dropped to the ground, and he pointed at the coffin before asking, "What''s this?"

    Phagpa cast his gaze toward the coffin, and theherfire in his eyes flickered erratically as he replied in a strained voice, "That''s it... That''s the Taisui fungus, the legendary medicine of immortality."

    At this point, the two preachers had already backed into a wall, and all they wanted to do was to fuse as one with the wall and erase their own existencespletely. Standing in the presence of a Marquess-level vengeful spirit was far too much pressure!

    Who exactly was this young man? Could he be the grandson of some high-ranking Cathayan official?

    Qin Ye gently stroked a finger along the edge of the coffin, and in the next instant, a chain shot out of his palm, piercing through the head of the male corpse before slowly lifting it out of the coffin.

    As the body was lifted up, it arched like a bow and was as flexible as an octopus. At the same time, a blood-curdling howl rang out from all directions, and the me of the candle that Othilie was holding was flickering so violently that it was on the verge of being snuffed out.

    "Sir!" He finally couldn''t help but break his silence. "Please be careful! This is not a situation that we''re sufficiently equipped to handle. If worsees to worst, then we''ll have to rely on that... that spirit of yours..."

    He couldn''t understand how this young man could be so brave!

    Qin Yepletely ignored him as he stared intently at the male corpse. He gently poked the body''s back with his other hand, and his expression changed slightly as he remarked, "There are no bones in his body."

    It was no wonder that the body was so flexible.

    "That''s right, all of his bones were pulled out." Phagpa pointed at the mouth of the male corpse and said, "Please take a close look here, my Lord. Focus on the text on his body."

    The bright red text that riddled the entire corpse was very small, with each one appearing to be no more than a millimeter in size. Furthermore, the text was densely packed together and formed continuous lines that ran all over the corpse. After carefully inspecting these lines of text for five seconds, Qin Ye''s pupils abruptly contracted drastically.

    This isn''t text, it''s red thread!

    Indeed, the entire corpse looked as if it had been sewn together!

    He raised his head as his eyes narrowed slightly, and he spected, "Are these the sewn-up incisions from which the bones were removed?"

    "That''s right," Phagpa replied in an extremely grim voice. "This procedure is known as the process of creating a Three Seal Corpse. ording to Taoist beliefs, it''s said that there are three demonic worms that reside inside the human body. The upper corpse worm is named Penghou, and it resides in the brain, making one foolish and depriving one of their wisdom. The middle corpse worm is named Pengzhi, and it resides in one''s chest, making one agitated and erratic, thereby depriving one of their peace. The lower corpse worm is known as Pengjiao, and it resides in the stomach, making one revel excessively in gluttony and lust. By eradicating the three corpse worms, one can find the Great Dao and attain true enlightenment."

    He paused here momentarily before continuing, "This is also known as a Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡ in Tantric Buddhism. It''s a forbidden art that has already disappeared for over 1,000 years, and I was only able to find very sparse records of it after reading through the secret historical records of the Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties."

    Qin Ye set the male corpse aside, and the female corpse was revealed for all to see. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she was quite a beauty, but her skin was deathly pale, and her body was riddled with the same red threads. Her long hair spilled down to the bottom of the coffin, and it was as if she was only sleeping.

    She was wearing a red wedding gown that was unbuttoned down the middle, and it wasn''t particrlyvish in design. The gown was draped over her body, and it was as if she had only fallen asleep on the night of her wedding, and that she could easily be awakened.

    However, what was most eye-catching of all was her bulging, deathly pale stomach.

    Her stomach was disproportionatelyrgepared to the rest of her body, and it was virtually transparent. Beneath the blue and purple blood vessels, a cloud of ck Yin energy could be clearly seen.

    The Yin energy was in a constant cycle of separation and convergence, taking on countless peculiar forms in the process. At times, it would resemble a ck dragon soaring above the clouds, then a galloping ck horse, then a spirit snake flicking out its forked tongue... It had no substantial form, but everytime it separated, it would reveal an object in the center, one that resembled a zoysia-like living being!

    It was like a heart that was beating incessantly.

    This was the flesh zoysia, otherwise known as the Taisui fungus!

    "My god... My god!" The two preachers were already at aplete loss for words at the sight of this incredible scene. This had already gone far beyond their understanding of all things evil and sinister, and even Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook''s breathing had be a little ragged.

    This is a Taisui fungus... From the instant that the two of them caught sight of the sinister object, they were certain that it was a Taisui fungus. There was a special feeling deep in their soul that told them that this was most definitely a Taisui fungus, but at the same time, it was not a Taisui fungus of any type they had ever seen in the past!

    It epitomized darkness, despair, and all things evil. It was an indescribably sinister object.

    Lee Jung-sook pursed her lips tightly, and only after several seconds did she turn toward Phagpa. "I''ve heard of the Karmamudr¨¡. They were offered up as items of worship to the high-ranking monks of the Tantric Buddhist temples. They''re also known as... sex ves. You mentioned crossbreeding just now, are you saying that this is a cross between a Taisui fungus and something else?"

    "Your wisdom is unmatched, Benefactress," Phagpa replied as he joined his palms and extended a respectful bow. "Indeed, this is a cross between a Taisui fungus and humans, but not just any humans, these are two Three Seal Corpses that are the pinnacle of evil."

    Qin Ye shook his head in disbelief with his mouth slightly agape, and only after several seconds did a wry smile appear on his face. "So you''re saying someone used this Karmamudr¨¡ to contaminate the Taisui fungus? How is that possible? The Taisui fungus is a miraculous entity born from heaven and earth. How could a pair of humans possibly be enough to contaminate it?"

    Phagpa shook his head as he replied in a respectful voice, "My Lord, human beings are the spirit of all things and were birthed by the fortune of heaven and earth. Each human body is its very own universe. Here we have a donor and a Karmamudr¨¡ engaged in the act of intercourse, thereby forming a loop of reincarnation that connotes the Great Dao of heaven and earth. After a span of over 1,000 years, even a rock would be reduced to water, let alone a Taisui fungus. However, the Taisui fungus is also a miraculous creation of heaven and earth, so it can only be contaminated but not destroyed. Its effect still remains in that consuming it will still grant one immortality, but..."

    "But they''ll be a mindless zombie, right?" Qin Ye concluded with a grim expression.

    "That''s right."

    "Did you and the other monks do this during your visit?"

    "No, it was already like this by the time I came here," Phagpa sighed. "Otherwise, why would I have left this here rather than take it back to the khagan-emperor? Once a Taisui fungus is contaminated, it bes a curse rather than a blessing, and recklessly taking it away could result in a mutation in the zombified residents of the earthen building. Thus, we had no choice but to leave it here, and as a safety precaution, we also nted those equilibrium talismans on the third floor."

    It''s all clear now... Qin Ye paced back and forth with a contemtive look in his eyes and his hands sped behind his back. The first person to have ever eaten this Taisui fungus didn''t die, nor did he be a monster. However, everyone else who ate this Taisui fungus after him had eaten the contaminated version!

    However, how could a viger have possibly thought of such a heinous procedure?

    This was someone who had unintentionally stumbled upon and eaten the Taisui fungus during times of flood and famine; how could they have possibly known about this ungodly procedure? Even Phagpa had to read through the secret records left behind by the Divine Protectors of the country across four dynasties to find out about this procedure. There was no way that a normal viger of that era could have possibly known about this!

    It seemed that solving one mystery had only led to the emergence of another, but no one was disheartened by this.

    "There''s only one thing left to do..." Qin Ye raised his head to look up at the gloomy sky above the Huang n''s earthen building. It was still daytime, but the sky had be extremely dim, and dark clouds were surging incessantly up above. Arcs of white lightning were shing violently behind the dark clouds, and their radiance asionally filtered through the dense canopy of the locust tree, causing the entire earthen building to haphazardly alternate between light and darkness.

    It was as if the building was situated in the rift between Yin and Yang.

    Regardless of how many more questions they had, everything would be answered once they found that person, and the key to finding that person lied on the fourth floor.

    Qin Ye turned toward the pair of preachers with a smile and asked, "Would you mind carrying this coffin up to the fourth floor for me?"

    Othilie faltered slightly upon hearing this before casting a horrified gaze toward the pair of corpses inside the coffin, then frantically shook his head in refusal.

    "I think there''s been a misunderstanding." Qin Ye snapped his fingers, and Phagpa''s Yin energy surged forth like a tsunami, filling the entire bottom of the pit.

    "This is an order, not a request. There are currently already two known Abyssal Prefects, or Marquess-level vengeful spirits to you two, here in this building. One has already appeared, while the other is blocking the way to the fourth floor. If we want to get up there, then there''s only one way."

    Rumble!! A bolt of lightning illuminated the entire sky, casting its radiance upon the deathly pale faces of the two preachers. Qin Ye''s hands had already grabbed onto the cors of their cloaks, and he continued, "We have to force our way through. However, we''re all Abyssal Prefects, so killing them would be exceedingly difficult. Hence, we have to lure them here and make this our battleground, understood? What do you think would be the best bait to use?"

    In the minds of the two preachers, Qin Ye was nothing more than an innocuous young man, but for some reason, cold sweat was pouring down their backs in his presence, and Othilie reflexively replied, "These two corpses?"

    "You''re a smart man." Qin Ye released his cor before patting him on the shoulder with a smile. "This is the only reason you''re here. Otherwise, do you think you would''ve been entitled to see a secret like this? Brace yourselves and do your best to survive; those two evil ghosts are not going to be easy to deal with..."

    [1] [In traditional Chinese weddings, red is the overwhelmingly dominant color scheme for everything, including the wedding attire worn by the bride and groom.]

 Chapter 792: Godspite Corpse (1)

    <h4>Chapter 792: Godspite Corpse (1)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Yin energy surged out of his fingertip, and he quickly drew up a map of the Huang n''s earthen building. The mercenaries and preachers were all astonished to see this, and they turned toward Lee Jung-sook for an exnation.

    "He''s an Emissary of Hell," Lee Jung-sook exined as she casually lit a cigarette. "Don''t be so surprised, you may think you''ve seen everything, but that''s far from the truth. In the Vatican, Infernal Judges are considered to be prominent and powerful characters, but here in Cathay, you''re nowhere near as you would be elsewhere."

    Othilie gulped nervously before turning his gaze back to Qin Ye, who was still casually drawing in mid-air with Yin energy. After a long while, he finally heaved an emotional sigh. "In Cathay, there is an idiom describing a frog at the bottom of a well, and I must say, that idiom is extremely fitting to describe us. I''ve been serving for over a decade at Daehan''s Asian episcopate, but I''ve never heard of any human capable of using Yin energy..."

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye''s fingertip drew to a halt, and he snapped his fingers, upon which the Yin energy map he had just drawn upon instantlyid itself t. He then gestured for everyone toe closer before pointing at a certain spot on the map. "This is where I sensed that Abyssal Prefect. At the time, it chose not to attack me, and if it had, the oue of a battle between us would''ve been roughly 50:50."

    He then pointed at the waterhole behind the earthen building and continued, "This is Chu Renmei''sir. One of the gates of the Huang n''s earthen building, namely its western gate, just so happens to be directly facing the waterhole, and those two points form a straight line with the gap between the third and fourth floors."

    He pulled out his phone and took a quick nce. "Currently, it''s 4 PM, so there''s still an hour left until the demonic hour. As such, we''ll begin at 5 PM sharp!"

    Everyone had gathered around him to listen to his n. "I''ve already annotated the area on the map that depicts the third floor. What we have to do now is lure out that hidden evil ghost, and during that process, I don''t want to be disrupted by anything. I need an hour to get to the bottom of things, and in addition to that hidden evil ghost, you''ll have to deal with Chu Renmei as well. With these two Three Seal Corpses here, there''s no way that she won''te."

    Chu Renmei had perished in the Huang n''s earthen building, and she was from this vige. Furthermore, the residents here had all consumed this Taisui fungus. Perhaps Chu Renmei wouldn''t have been able to sense anything back when she was a human, but in her current state, she was more aware of the Taisui fungus than anyone else.

    No one knew exactly what would happen if the Taisui fungus were to be destroyed, but it was clear to everyone that no harm could be allowed to befall the Taisui fungus.

    As such, she had no choice but toe, even if she knew that she was being intentionally lured here.

    "This is the spot." A thread formed by whiteherfire emerged from Qin Ye''s fingertip, and he pointed at the center of the map. "Do your best to keep them here under the locust tree, and don''t allow them to return to the third floor. Phagpa, you take care of that hidden ghost once ites out. As for Chu Renmei, I''ll leave her to Ryu Changmin, Kwon Kyung-ho, and the two of you..."

    He raised his head to look at the two preachers, who were currently looking as pale as ghosts themselves, and he smiled as he asked, "Are you confident in your ability to fulfill your role?"

    "No!!" Othilie immediately screamed, "We''re talking about an Abyssal Prefect! A Marquess-level vengeful spirit! There''s no way we can contend with such a fearsome entity! You..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a badge that was overflowing with Yin energy had already been presented to him. On the inky-ck underside of the identity token was inscribed a "Qin" character in an antiquated font, and it was as if there were a boundless sea of Yin energy imbued within the badge.

    "With this identity token and two special Yin spirits ranking in the single digits to help you, it''ll amount to four Infernal Judges and an Abyssal Prefect''s origin Yin artifact up against a single Prefect-level evil ghost. If you still can''tst an hour under these circumstances, then you can''t me anything else other than your terrible luck."

    But I don''t want to do this at all!

    Othilie was just about to raise an objection when the preacher beside him gently tugged on his sleeve before lowering his head as he replied, "We''ll be sure to do our best."

    "Good." Qin Ye gently sped his hands together, and the Yin energy map immediately disintegrated. "Let me issue this reminder onest time: you''re going to be facing two Prefect-level evil ghosts. If you don''t want to die, then you''d better fight for your lives. Otherwise, I can''t guarantee that you''ll be able to leave this earthen building."

    "As for you..." He turned to Lee Jung-sook, who immediately smiled in response. "I''m naturally going to get as far away as possible from here. Don''t worry, I''m curious, but not suicidal."

    "Good." Thus, Qin Ye''s body dissipated into a gust of Yin wind, leaving behind only one parting message: "Good luck, everyone."

    As soon as he vanished, Lee Jung-sook immediately made her way toward the exit of the earthen building. Only after she hadpletely disappeared from view did Othilie turn toward hispanion with gritted teeth. "What the hell is your problem, Emoven?! Did you not hear what he said just now?! Do you not know how terrifying Marquess-level vengeful spirits are?! Those beings are capable of ughtering entire cities! There''s no way we can oppose such an entity!"

    "I know," Emoven replied in a slightly strained voice. "You''re the clueless one here, idiot. Do you know what rank that young man is?"

    "He''s a Count!" Othilie immediately replied in a certain voice, "I don''t want to believe it, but when I stand before him, the sense of extreme peril that I feel tells me that he''s at least a Count!"

    Emoven heaved a forlorn sigh. "That man left his identity token with us, and that token is a Marquess-level deathly hallow. Do you still not understand?"

    Dead silence.

    Othilie''s mouth gaped wide open as he stared at Emoven, and the words of Qin Ye echoed within his mind as clearly as a loud gong. Several secondster, he silently made his way over to the foot of the locust tree.

    He finally understood why this mission was so perilous now. They were figuratively dancing on a knife''s edge, but despite this, none of the Soul Hunter level mercenaries had fled the scene.

    It wasn''t that they didn''t want to flee, they simply didn''t dare!

    This was a group of battle-hardened soldiers who were constantly putting their lives on the line, and they were far more sensitive to danger than these two exorcists who had been mollycoddled by the Vatican.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The Huang n''s earthen building had fallenpletely silent.

    The first floor was littered with countless corpses that were riddled with bullet holes. They were leads that were worth exploring, but unfortunately, Qin Ye didn''t have the time to examine them one by one.

    The second and third floors were concealed under the shade of the locust tree, and the faint glimmers of light that asionally filtered through the canopy cast fleeting shadows that resembled roaming ghosts.

    It was now 4:50 PM.

    There were still eight hours and ten minutes until the Cold Suit Festival.

    The dark clouds in the sky were bing denser and denser, as if they were anticipating the arrival of the Cold Suit Festival, and rain had already begun to fall while arcs of lightning shed incessantly within the clouds.

    Everyone was already gathered around the base of the locust tree, and there was an incredibly tense atmosphere in the air. One circle of holy candles after another had been ced all over the ground as if they didn''t cost any money, and there was also a silver chain, upon which countless sheets of paper had been attached using pure silver nails. That was a holy bible that had been blessed by an archbishop. In addition to that, there were vials of holy water, holy silver crossbows, and various other types of weapons ced around the area. Up ahead stood the dozen or so mercenaries, and behind them stood the two preachers with Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho standing on either side of them.

    The rain was falling onto them, but no one paid any heed to that. The current atmosphere was so oppressive and tense that their mouths had run dry.

    This was a Marquess-level vengeful spirit! ording to historical records, even the almighty army of holy crusaders had to make enormous sacrifices just to be able to hold their own against such fearsome entities. In contrast with the mighty army of crusaders, they were only an army of less than 20...

    Emoven and Othilie both wore extremely grim expressions, and it looked as if they were mentally bracing themselves for their own executions. Right at this moment, a dull thunderp rang out up above, and Othilie reflexively took out his pocket watch to check the time.

    It was 5 PM sharp, the beginning of the demonic hour!

    "Open the coffin!!" Emovenmanded through gritted teeth.

    One of the mercenaries made his way over to the front of the coffin. There was an evil-subduing pestle plunged into the side of the coffin near the top end. At the same time, another mercenary strode over to the bottom end of the coffin, where there was the design of a lotus flower engraved onto its surface.

    This was a seal that Phagpa had ced on the coffin all those years ago. With this seal present, the Yin energy of the Taisui fungus would be contained within the coffin. Under the instruction of Emoven, the two mercenaries tore away the evil-subduing pestle and the lotus flower seal in unison!

    Whoosh!!

    Boundless Yin energy immediately erupted forth like a tsunami. This was Yin energy that had been repressed for over 1,000 years and was imbued with boundless suffering. It was like a piece of pure ck fabric, but the fabric was riddled with countless indistinct and twisted faces. The Yin energy surged up toward the heavens amid countless ghastly wails.

    "ARGH..."

    "Kill me... Please kill me!!"

    The terrifying Yin energy formed an enormous wave that sent fierce Yin winds sweeping through the air in all directions, blowing everyone''s clothes directly upward. In that instant, it was as if a thin veil by the name of terror had been draped over the entire earthen building. Boundless inky-ck Yin energy erupted from every single corner of the building, and a bolt of stark white lightning crashed down from the heavens amid a rumbling thunderp!

    The bolt of lightning was heading directly toward the coffin!

    The revtion of an object of such pure and unadulterated evil was inevitably going to invoke the wrath of the heavens. Countless shrill shrieks rang out incessantly from the canopy of the locust tree, which had been entirely illuminated by the bolt of lightning. It was as if every single leaf on the tree was a living person, and in the next instant, this locust tree that had stood for countless years erupted into mes under the relentless lightning strikes!

    Everyone looked up into the sky with stunned expressions to find that the entire earthen building had been draped under a veil of crimson light from the scorching mes. All of a sudden, Emoven''s pupils contracted drastically as he cast his gaze toward the third floor.

    There, a sea of shadows was crashing down from above like a waterfall!

    However, those weren''t actually shadows. Instead, they were countless Yin souls that were twisted and bound together. The inky-ck souls were still locked in the same state as their hosts had been in during their time of death, and these Yin souls were flowing down from all directions. It was as if everyone were standing in a basin, watching a mudslide take ce, and it was truly an indescribably astonishing sight.

    It''sing... The Abyssal Prefect from the third floor ising!

    An enormous wave formed by one twisted Yin spirit after another came cascading down from a height of close to 20 meters, devouring the staircase and engulfing the railings.

    Othilie gritted his teeth with a grim expression. "Shit..."

    "Die!!"

    With a thunderous roar from Emoven, the silver chain rattled and nked wildly before abruptly exploding, transforming into countless small silver knives. The tips of the knives were pierced through the pages of the holy bible, and they erupted in all directions.

    The flying knives plunged into the massive wave of Yin spirits, but they didn''t even kick up the slightest ripple. Only the faint light of the holy bible could be seen shing beneath the inky-ck Yin energy, but the wave was virtuallypletely unharmed. In fact, the cascading waterfall of Yin spirits was only elerating further and further in its descent. In the blink of an eye, a massive Yin energy vortex had taken shape around the ancient locust tree.

    Sharp howls of agony rang out from the sets of remains formed by Yin energy, meanwhile, Qin Ye was concealing himself in a stealthy fashion in Tongtong''s room, intently appraising the scene unfolding outside.

    This wasn''t the time to strike yet.

    It was still too early, and the evil ghost was only unleashing a probing attack. This was only the entr¨¦e before the main course, and on top of that, Chu Renmei has still yet to show up.

    He picked up his handheld transceiver and issued an order. "Burn it down!"

    Standing at the foot of the locust tree, Othilie gulped nervously as he appraised the countless Yin spirits in the surrounding area with an extremely uneasy expression. "Now?"

    "Now!"

    Fuck... He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and as his eyes sprang open again, a vial of holy water was tipped straight into the coffin. As a result, golden mes immediately erupted out of the coffin, lighting up the darkness like a beacon in the night.

    What followed was an instance ofplete silence.

    The sea of Yin spirits around them seemed to have been stunned into inactivity, but immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering roar abruptly rang out from the third floor.

    At the same time, a bright red arrow shot forth like lightning toward the coffin, and it was flying too fast for it to be clearly distinguishable to the naked eye. Othilie and Emoven yelled in unison as they brought their palms together, and a silver nail had already pierced through each of their hands. A string of English letters surged out of theceration wounds in a frenzy to form a golden wave, and their eyes had also taken on a silver hue.

    "... For I have hoped in thine ordinances. So shall I observe thyw continually for ever and ever...."

    Whoosh... A golden ripple erupted out of their bodies, proliferating rapidly in all directions to instantly form a golden shockwave that waspletelyposed of ancient characters.

    It was as if a divine miracle had appeared in this dark abyss. Both Othilie and Emoven knew that having already taken on this mission, retreat was no longer an option for them.

    The first thing that they had to do was to attract the full attention of the Prefect-level evil ghost on the first floor to themselves!

 Chapter 793: Godspite Corpse (2)

    <h4>Chapter 793: Godspite Corpse (2)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Rumble!!

    A so-called stigmata was aplete set of remains left behind by a saint, and a saint was a being who had performed at least one divine miracle in their lifetime, such as Jesus''s resurrection, and Moses''s parting of the sea. ess to stigmatas was granted only to the bishops of each major area.

    In the face of an Abyssal Prefect, a stigmata possessed far more explosive power than an Infernal Judge. The golden shockwaves swept through the entire earthen building, and they managed to force back the all-engulfing ck wave!

    Countless ghastly howls rang out in the surrounding area as the ck wave quickly converged towards the locust tree again. Aside from the za at the very center of the Huang n''s earthen building, the entirety of the earthen building had already been transformed into a ck hole. The za was like the eye of the ck hole, the only sanctuary within the pitch-ck abyss. The ck sea formed by countless Yin spirits was revolving violently around the za, but on this asion, they refrained from attacking.

    The fierce Yin winds sweeping through the area were causing the mes of the holy candles to flicker erratically, and Emoven''s cloak was pping loudly around him as his hood was blown back for the first time.

    As it turned out, Emoven was a thin middle-aged man with shoulder-length blonde hair. It was impossible to tell his exact age from his appearance, and there was an eyepatch sitting over his left eye. At this moment, he was holding tightly onto a stigmata with both hands, and both he and Othilie were gently chanting passages from the holy bible as they stood with their backs touching one another.

    At the same time, radiant golden light was erupting out of the barrels of all the guns being held by the mercenaries. The silver chain rose up into the air in preparation tosh out at the surrounding darkness again, and right before their eyes, the Yin energy within the Huang n''s earthen building began to disperse and tremble slightly, as if an earthquake were taking ce.

    It''sing! This terrifying earthen building is finally about to reveal its true appearance...

    Both sides were pulling out all the stops, and there was certainly not going to be any holding back...

    All of the mercenaries and two preachers knew what wasing. They could sense the Yin energy within the earthen building growing more and more powerful, and the aura of that Prefect-level evil ghost was also bing clearer and clearer. Several secondster, a resounding boom rang out, and the earthen building finally shed its facade to reveal its horrifying true form.

    Yin energy exploded, sending enormous ck waves surging in all directions, and everyone''s clothes were blown vertically upwards by the ferocious Yin winds. The ck light was so blinding that everyone was forced to close their eyes, and only after a full 20 seconds had passed did Emoven reopen his eyes. He was using his arms to shield his own face, and as his arms returned to his sides, he was greeted by the sight of a boundless abyss.

    There was nothing butplete and utter darkness all around them, and the only source of light came from the holy candles.

    This was an inky-ck sea of Yin energy that was slowly revolving on the spot. It was fueled by over 1,000 years of pent-up hatred and agony, and within the Yin energy, one pair of scarlet eyes after another sprang open. The eyes stared at the mercenaries and preachers from all directions, and it was as if they were being scrutinized by unspeakable hellish beasts.

    At the same time, rows of cold suits that resembled strung-upnterns began to drift in the wind at the positions where the first, second, and third floors had previously been situated. Each cold suit had been ignited by deathly whiteherfire, and the sinister sense of eeriness in the air was enough to send chills running down one''s spine.

    Othilie gulped nervously as the cracks began to appear on the cross sitting in front of his chest, and he said in a trembling voice, "Out of all of the ces we''ve been to, this is the one ce that we should''ve never visited!"

    "What''s the point in saying something like that now?" The veins on the backs of Emoven''s hands were bulging as he held his stigmata in a white-knuckled grip. "We''re up against two Marquess-level vengeful spirits! Hehe, we can only pray that we''ll be able to leave this ce alive. If we do, I swear I''ll never take on any mercenary jobs again, especially not in Cathay! There are some supernatural things in this nation that I can''t even begin to fathom!"

    Right as his voice trailed off, an anguished howl resounded, followed by the earth-shattering voice of a distraught man. "I hate... I hate this world!!"

    Apanying this gut-wrenching cry was the emergence of hundreds of ghostly hands formed by Yin energy, hands that were riddled with scarlet eyes.

    Inky-ck Yin energy that was emanating from the ghostly hands converged toward the mercenaries and preachers from all directions in a torrential downpour.

    On the third floor, Qin Ye was waiting with bated breath as heid in a messy room. He moved ever so slightly upon witnessing the scene unfolding outside, but he then immediately stopped.

    It still wasn''t the time to strike yet...

    The two Abyssal Prefects had to be lured away if he wanted to ess the ancestral hall on the fourth floor, and that¡¯s why he had allowed Lee Jung-sook to take her people into this ce. He only had one opportunity to strike, and he had to make it count.

    Currently, that hidden Abyssal Prefect''s attention still hadn''t been entirely attracted to the events unfolding outside. He was confident that Lee Jung-sook''s people would be able to weather the storm and wear down the patience of the hidden Abyssal Prefect until it had no choice but to strike.

    "Those two are Catholic bishops of a major area..." he murmured to himself as he wrung his hands together tightly. "The history of the Catholic religion is no shorter than that of Cathay, and no one knows just how much wealth it''s umted over the course of its extensive history. I''m certain they have some trump cards that they''ve yet to reveal. If not, then I guess they''ll have to act as the bait. Rest assured, I''ll treat you well after your deaths. I''ll ensure that you get to enjoy avish life of luxury on the other side..."

    In the instant that the ghostly hands emerged, Emoven and Othilie unleashed the power of their stigmatas again, resulting in another sh between radiant golden light and Yin energy. However, on this asion, the fortress formed by the golden light failed to epass the entire earthen building. Instead, it was restricted to a radius of only around 10 meters by the oppressive Yin energy!

    "We can''t hold on much longer!!" Emoven yelled. "There''s far too much of a disparity between Barons and Marquesses! We can''t oppose even with our stigmatas!"

    "Fuck..." The veins on Othilie''s forehead were bulging as his cloak pped violently around him. In the next instant, their fortress of holy light was abruptly shattered, disintegrating into countless specks of golden light that faded into the darkness.

    A string of ted screeches rang out as the sea of ghostly hands converged from all directions, and in response, the two preachers grabbed the crosses sitting in front of their chests before hurling them through the air without any hesitation.

    ng!

    The crosses transformed into a vast expanse of silver light, and countless cross-shaped silver swords of light rained down from the heavens, forming another protective barrier around them. However, before they even had a chance to catch their breaths, all of the silver swords shuddered in unison.

    It still wasn''t enough!

    "What kind of vengeful spirit is this?! How can it possibly harbor so much hatred?!" Goosebumps were being raised all over Othilie''s skin.

    Right at this moment, the ground transformed into a sea of blood, and vengeful spirits of the MV Sewol emerged on thend of Cathay. These vengeful spirits were also harboring enormous hatred and resentment.

    "ARRRRGH!!" This was a battle between evil ghosts, and even though there was a vast disparity in rank, the vengeful spirits of the Daiean students werepletely fearless. Reddish-ck blood was pouring out of all of their orifices as they screeched and pounced toward the countless oing ghostly hands.

    However, Kwon Kyung-ho was ultimately only an Anitya Hellguard and he was no match for an Abyssal Prefect.

    In the blink of an eye, the dozen or so vengeful spirits charging at the forefront were reduced to nothingness, while the ghostly hands didn''t disy any sign of stopping. However, right as the ghostly hands reached the next row of vengeful spirits, they suddenly faltered before somehow being forced back by around 10 meters.

    This was Ryu Changmin''s Untouchable Love!

    Simrly, even though Ryu Changmin was an extremely powerful Infernal Judge, his power was still far toockluster when pitted against a Prefect-level Yin spirit that had existed for over 1,000 years. After being forced back by about 10 meters, all of the ghostly hands immediately pounced forward again.

    "Die... All of you... All of you must die!" The shrill male voice was shrieking in a deranged manner. "I hate this world... Why... Why...."

    "What are you waiting for?!" Ryu Changmin yelled as his infantile body swiveled around to face the pair of preachers with an enraged expression. At this point, the two preachers had already fallen into a stunned stupor.

    "If you have any trump cards and you don''t want to die, then now would be the time to use them!! This is an Abyssal Prefect, a being that can ughter an entire city on its own! What are you doing spacing out at a time like this?! What a pair of idiots!"

    The stunned mercenaries finally returned to their senses upon hearing this, and they began to open fire once again.

    Bursts of scorching mes erupted out of the barrels of their guns, intertwining with the holy light to resist the overwhelming darkness together. However, their efforts only managed to dy the oing ghostly hands by a fraction of a second. After all, even a pair of bishops were unable to stop the sea of ghostly hands, so some bullets filled with holy water and holy ashes were naturally nothing more than fodder.

    Emoven gritted his teeth as he turned toward Othilie. Thetter''s facial muscles were spasming as if he were being forced to make an extremely difficult decision, but after half a second, he gave a firm nod of his head.

    Whatever happened next, they had to survive this ordeal first.

    He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a box that was crafted from gold. In the instant that the box appeared, the ghostly hands that werepletely overwhelming Ryu Changmin, Kwon Kyung-ho, the holy bullets, and the stigmatas suddenly retreated a little. At the same time, a shriek of terror rang out within the darkness.

    "... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff theyfort me..."

    The two preachers began to chant in unison, and their voices grew louder and louder. The red threads binding the box silently fell away, following which one sheet of ancient parchment after another fluttered through the air, forming a series of barriers around them. The brightness of the golden holy light reached an unprecedented peak, and the surrounding Yin energy subsided like the falling tide.

    "This is the second-ever copy of the holy bible..." Emoven finally heaved a sigh of relief as he stared intently at the center of the Yin energy. "Even a Marquess like you cannot infiltrate beyond these holy walls!"

    The holy light was like the radiance of the sun shining down upon all things. It seemed to be capable of eradicating all disease, suffering, and all things evil, forcing the Yin energy into retreat amid a loud sizzling sound. The light was even able to illuminate the deepest part of the darkness, where a thunderous roar of fury abruptly rang out!

    With that resounding roar, the ck tide that had just fallen began to surge once again. A deathly pale figure emerged from the darkness, and the Yin energy in the surrounding area immediately converged toward them in a frenzy.

    Now!

    Qin Ye had already gotten up into a squatting position. He could sense that the evil ghost had been injured. The second-ever copy of the holy bible had to have at least been created by a certain generation cardinal of the Catholic church, and it was definitely an extraordinary artifact.

    Using this prized artifact, they had managed to hurt the evil ghost.

    It was only the slightest of injuries, much like a big ant taking a vicious bite of a human. For a human, it would only be a short burst of sharp pain, but for evil ghosts that were sorelycking in intelligence, this was the ideal provocation!

    "Get ready..." The soul orb was hovering beside his left shoulder as he said, "We strike in a minute..."

    All of a sudden, the sound of sorrowful singing rang out, cutting him off before he could finish.

    "You''re reveling in joy, while my gut is wrenching from pain... Separations are always so long while reunions are so short..."

    It was Chu Renmei!

    She finally came... The ck wave that had already subsided in the face of the holy light immediately enjoyed a resurgence, and from within the Yin energy, a blue-robed figure emerged. The figure had a head of disheveled long hair and was holding a tattered oil paper umbre as it drifted forward through the air.

    The Yin energy around her was just as vicious and powerful, and the two seas of Yin energybined to sweep up an all-epassing tsunami! The surrounding Yin energy exploded up to over 30 meters tall, and all of the cold suits burst into mes in unison, while the countless crimson eyes in the darkness had alreadypletely sprung open to appraise this world with inhuman ferocity.

    Qin Ye had almost stood up straight at this point, but he immediately squatted back down again.

    Chu Renmei''s head turned 180 degrees amid a string of gruesome cracks, and she cast her gaze toward a certain direction as she urged in a raspy voice, "You... Go... Go back... to... where you should be!"

    Qin Ye''s expression had turned extremely grim, and he was wringing his own hands tightly together.

    His heart was thumping so violently that it was the only thing he could hear, and 10 secondster, all of the Yin energy subsided, returning to the gap between the third and fourth floors.

    "Shit!!!" Qin Ye abruptly stood up as he swore out loud.

 Chapter 794: Godspite Corpse (3)

    <h4>Chapter 794: Godspite Corpse (3)</h4>

    No one could''ve anticipated that Chu Renmei would appear at such a crucial juncture, and it was certainly also a surprise that she was able to convince the other evil ghost to return to where it hade from.

    Her actions hadpletely ruined Qin Ye''s n!

    "Motherfucker..." He took several deep breaths in session before suddenly picking up his handheld transceiver. "It''s time to go all-out!"

    Under the locust tree, Emoven and Othilie were severely doubting their own ears.

    We should''ve never given him that handheld transceiver!

    "If you don''t do as I say, I''ll lure that evil ghost from just now straight to you. I can leave at any time, but I''m not sure you''ll be so lucky."

    You£¨£¤£©&#@*£¨#*!!!

    Emoven and Othilies were furious beyond words! The profanities of the Englishnguage were too nd to express their current emotions of grief and fury!

    "Fine..." Othilie spat through gritted teeth after three seconds of enraged silence. "But I swear that I''ll report you when I return to the Vatican! You won''t be getting away with this without any consequences!"

    Qin Ye switched off his handheld transceiver.

    Go and report me all you want! I''ll apud you if you can find me. I don''t even know what my current status is myself...

    After letting loose a loud yell to vent their frustration and indignation, the two preachers sprang into action. In the next instant, scintiting golden light erupted from the bottom of the locust tree, and the sound of a holy choir and chanting rang out across the entire earthen building. Boundless golden light pierced into the darkness, instantly reducing countless Yin spirits into nothingness amid a flurry of blood-curdling howls.

    Even Chu Renmei didn''t want to directly face this golden light. Her hair writhed as if it had a life of its own, forming an inky-ck protective cocoon around her. At the same time, Qin Ye sprang up and charged toward the gap between the third and fourth floors as quickly as he could.

    The time is now!

    Chu Renmei''s arrival would''ve most likely caused the other Abyssal Prefect to develop a sense ofcency. Perhaps it was currently watching from somewhere with glee, waiting for Chu Renmei to ughter these humans. Any being would habitually rx after a period of tension, this was an instinct that could only be circumvented by people who had undergone special training, and an experienced hunter would definitely choose this window of opportunity to strike.

    Lightning was shing from above, while holy light illuminated the ground, causing the entire earthen building to oscite back and forth between light and darkness. In the wake of such an eye-catching spectacle, Qin Ye didn''t attract any attention. However, as he charged toward the gap between the third and fourth floors, more and more of the Yin energy within his body was released to fuel his eleration, and within the span of less than three seconds, two pairs of eyes had locked directly onto him.

    One of the pairs of eyes belonged to Chu Renmei. The ck cocoon of hair around her abruptly exploded, revealing her deathly pale blue-robed figure as she charged directly toward him amid a sharp screech. The other pair of eyes belonged to that peculiar being between the third and fourth floors. That evil ghost remainedpletely still, but its Yin energy was already converging toward Qin Ye from all directions in a frenzy.

    "Die!!!" Chu Renmei''s disheveled ck hair was dancing wildly around her, and her terrifying facial features had bepletely twisted. The sharp ck teeth in her mouth were clearly visible, and her ck nails had elongated to over a foot in length each. However, right as she was about to pounce toward Qin Ye, an oil paper umbre with two faces drawn on its surface, one Yin and one Yang, opened up in front of her

    At the same time, the sound of drumming rang out from somewhere, and the umbre quickly split up into six fans and a spear. The tip of the spear was aimed directly at the top of Chu Renmei''s head, and in the next instant, a burst of fierce wind was swept up as the fans were syed out in unison, attacking different vital regions all over her body!

    Simultaneously, Emoven and Othilie let loose a loud yell in unison as they joined their palms, and they began to chant rapidly as the copy of the holy bible flew toward Chu Renmei like lightning in an attempt topletely envelop her. All of a sudden, all avenues for retreat and evasion had been sealed off for Chu Renmie, and she was forced to stop cold in her tracks.

    Emoven''s lips were slightly blue, and his body was trembling as he stared at the evil ghost before him. The Yin energy that this vengeful spirit possessed was more powerful than anything he had ever seen before.

    Thest thing he wanted to do was to attack such a fearsome entity, but he knew that they could only survive if Qin Ye wished for it to be so. As for how they could convince him to let them live, there was naturally only one way...

    They had to kneel down and lick his boots...

    Acting ording to Qin Ye''s wishes, sucking up to him in new ways that no one had ever thought of before; that was the essence of boot-licking!

    Qin Ye didn''t look down to check how the preachers were faring. He knew that the two of them knew what they had to do in order to survive. Thus, his attention had been focused solely on a single target this entire time.

    Whoosh... He ran as fast as the wind along the semi-circr passageway that led to the school, shattering all of the doors and windows in his path. He had adopted his Emissary of Hell form and reached maximum speed, and he was so fast that two lines of smolderinghermes had been left in his wake!

    His body had virtuallypletely transformed into a gust of Yin wind, and thehermes in his eyes were burning with intense focus. Ahead of him, the entire school was already in ruins. The doors, the windows, the floorboards, the walls... All of it was beginning to warp and reform, revealing the evil ghost that was lurking within the shadows.

    Boundless Yin energy surged out of the ruined school, forming a revolving ck hole in mid-air. The same deathly pale children with ck holes in the ce of facial features that Qin Ye had seen once before emerged yet again all around him. Their faces appeared in the surrounding air, and immediately thereafter, they shrieked with anguish as they rushed into the ck hole.

    "Go... away... Get out!!"

    The ck hole was warping violently, and a voice that was hoarse and raspy to the extreme sounded from within it. Qin Ye merely smiled in response. His red Abyssal Prefect''s suit fluttered in the wind like a red cloud, and he swept a long sleeve through the air to release the soul orb in his grasp.

    Instead of retreating, he continued to advance!

    "You asked for it!!"

    In the next instant, a giant monster emerged from the ck hole amid a thunderous roar of fury.

    The monster had the face of a man, but his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears had all been sewn shut using red thread. It was like the sun, and the "light" of this "sun" was the hundreds of sets of children''s arms!

    This was a terrifying scene that was enough to drive anyone suffering from trypophobia mad! The deathly pale hands extended outward, with some of them grabbing onto the ceiling, while others wed against the ground. The human head was over three meters tall, and it abruptly opened its mouth before biting viciously toward Qin Ye.

    Its oral cavity was riddled with countless holes, and reddish-ck blood was pouring out of these holes. There were also countless deathly pale children''s faces extending out of the skull before letting loose sharp shrieks in Qin Ye''s direction.

    There were only 50 meters left between them.

    Both sides had reached their maximum speeds, and Qin Ye had no reason to back down, while the evil ghost didn''t even know the definition of retreat. Fierce Yin winds were blowing directly into both of them as the distance between them dwindled even further. 50 meters, 30 meters... Even the railings beside the two of them were beginning to crack in the face of their final charge.

    The evil ghost was staring intently at Qin Ye. It could sense that Qin Ye was very powerful, but this was its territory! It would rather not have to face a being of Qin Ye''s caliber, but that didn''t mean that it was afraid!

    As the two continued to charge toward one another, its instincts told it that it could win!

    Qin Ye disyed no intention of backing down. 20 meters... 10 meters... 5 meters... He was already so close that he could clearly see the ck nails on the fingertips of the children''s hands. Right at this moment, he suddenly smiled and said, "You must know your opponent to ensure victory. It maye as a surprise to you, but I''ve never been a physical-ss fighter. Instead, I rely on technique!"

    The smile suddenly vanished from his face as he yelled, "Phagpa!"

    "I''m here, My Lord." Phagpa''s voice rang out in response several dozen meters away. He hovered quietly on the spot while his monk robes pped around him, and lines of scarlet text lit up all over his body as his Yin energy erupted directly into the heavens. All of a sudden, his body abruptly ovepped with Qin Ye''s shadow, and this shadow was elongated to over 50 meters in length!

    Immediately thereafter, Phagpa mmed his hands heavily down onto the ground!

    His hands and the shadow seemed to have fused as one, and the shadow instantly shortened until it was directly behind Qin Ye. A hand then abruptly shot out of the shadow beneath Qin Ye''s feet before grabbing directly onto the evil ghost''s nose.

    In the blink of an eye, light and shadow switched, and it was as if a glitch had taken ce in real life. The evil ghost was stunned for an instant, and by the time it returned to its senses, it found itself standing 50 meters away from the school at the same spot where Phagpa had previously been standing!

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye and Phapga were standing at the school''s entrance.

    Qin Ye took a meaningful nce at the evil ghost. Just now, he had confirmed one thing: the face of that ghost belonged to Huang Jiansen.

    So he''s been the one guarding the opening between the third and fourth floors all along?

    It wasn''t the time to be thinking about such matters now, and Qin Ye quickly rushed into the school. Up above, a vortex of Yin energy had already appeared, and it resembled an entrance to the abyss.

    I''ve finally made it here... Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief as he rushed into the vortex without any hesitation.

    All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and only now did the evil ghost realize what had happened. Its twisted body began to tremble slightly, and the red threads binding its orifices shut snapped as it opened its eyes, but as opposed to eyes, there were pairs of mouths beneath its eyelids.

    Its fury seemed to have allowed it to recover a shred of its intelligence, and it was even speaking in a more fluent manner as it stared intently at Phapga. "You deserve to die! Piss off right now and I''ll spare your worthless life!"

    As soon as its voice trailed off, it charged directly toward Phagpa like a deranged wrecking ball.

    At the same time, Yin energy erupted from Phagpa''s entire body as he quickly began to swell up like a balloon. Right as the evil ghost reached him, a giant hand emerged from within the Yin energy to grab onto the evil ghost''s nose.

    The hand was attached to a true giant.

    Only the giant''s upper body still remained on the third floor, while its lower body was situated on the second floor. The giant was extraordinarily thin, seemingly nothing more than a skeleton wrapped in skin. There were three skulls embedded into the giant¡¯s shoulders and chest, and its stomach was split open from the front revealing apleteck of internal organs. There was also a ne of skulls around the giant''s neck.

    "You say you want to kill me? Did I hear that right?" A twisted smile appeared on Phagpa''s distorted face as he threw a vicious punch. "You dare to attack me just because I was smaller than you? Who''s the big guy now, huh? A Godspite Corpse like you is truly a rare sight. Which one of your closest loved ones was cruel enough to reduce you to such a sorry state?"

    Boom!!

    The evil ghost was sent flying close to 20 meters by Phagpa''s almighty punch, destroying the rooms behind it as it shot back like a cannonball, only to immediately charge toward Phagpa again with a furious roar.

    "You''re just a brainless idiot! You have so much power, but you have no idea how to use it..." Phagpa spread his hand open, and a lotus flower insignia quickly appeared on his palm. "I finally managed to convince King Yanluo to give me a chance at redemption, you better not ruin this for me! I have to serve the Cathayan Underworld and take Tantric Buddhism to new heights!"

    Countless rays of crimson light erupted forth, illuminating the entire third floor.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Qin Ye had no idea what was happening on the floor below him. In the instant he stepped onto the fourth floor, it was as if he had entered a dream.

    He was situated in a long corridor that was initially pitch-ck, but it gradually took on a grey hue that became lighter and lighter. At the end of the corridor, pure white Yin energy dissipated like scattered clouds, revealing a certain scene before his eyes...

    The scene depicted the Huang n''s earthen building.

    "Are you well in the foreignnd? Do you shed tears when you think of your home? Are you well in the foreignnd? Do you miss my warm embrace?" The powerful voice of Bald Man Li Jin rang out from the radio. This was one of the most popr songs back in 1994 to 1995, and Huang Xiaoqing was listening to the song as she smoked a cigarette. She was still wearing that familiar cheongsam, and she was the most active resident of this building.

    The elderly man who had spoken to Qin Ye on one previous asion was reading a newspaper, while several young men were staring up at the giant locust tree with bored expressions, allowing the sporadic rays of light that filtered through the tree''s canopy to cast shadows onto their faces... This scene was exactly like the one he had been greeted by when he had first entered the Huang n''s earthen building. It was very quiet, the type of peace and quiet that one would expect in a morgue.

 Chapter 795: The Past (1)

    <h4>Chapter 795: The Past (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye didn''t know anything about these people. Even though he was aware that they couldn''t truly be considered to be living humans, seeing them seemingly alive and well still filled him withplex emotions.

    He simply couldn''t bring himself to detest them.

    They had remained in this earthen building for year upon year, decade upon decade, century upon century... There was a time when their lives had also burned as brightly as the sun, but now, their lives had been reduced to faint rays of a dying sun that should''ve set a long time ago.

    He heaved a faint sigh and slowly made his way into the earthen building. Everything here was frozen in the 90s, and it was a very peaceful and serene scene. Not a single person spoke to him or tried to stop him, it was as if he were just a time-traveling tourist.

    There''s no time to waste... Qin Ye took a deep breath before quickly rushing toward the second floor.

    He encountered no obstruction!

    Furthermore, there were still many people living on the second floor at this point in time. There were middle-aged women holding and crooning to infants, there were middle-aged men ying mahjong with cigarettes dangling out of their mouths, there were opera hobbyists giving their vocal cords a workout, but most of the residents were staring nkly up at the sky with numb expressions.

    He didn''t pay much heed to the residents of the earthen building as he quickly made his way to the third floor, and once again, he didn''t encounter any impediment. On this floor, there was a clear increase in the number of children, and the sound of children''s voices could even be hearding from the school.

    The school was fully intact, and there were certainly no Yin spirits here.

    After passing the school, Qin Ye reached a staircase that led upward.

    This is the staircase to the fourth floor... Qin Ye licked his lips with a nervous yet expectant look in his eyes. This was the unchartered territory where the final secrets of the Huang n''s earthen building resided. He didn''t know how much longer Chu Renmei and the other evil ghosts could be held back in the outside world, so he didn''t waste any time as he rushed up the staircase at full speed.

    The fourth floor was very quiet.

    The majority of the people here were of the older demographic. There were less than 10 people on this floor in total, and some were ying chess, while others were ying mahjong. In contrast with the other floors, this floor was extremely empty.

    This is it... Qin Ye took several deep breaths to prime himself into the best mental condition, then grabbed onto the doorknob.

    This was a ssic 90s yellow wooden door with a window attached to the top. In the instant that he grabbed onto the doorknob, the sorrowful wails of countless Yin spirits suddenly rang out. He tried several times to open the door, but it seemed to be locked from the inside, and it would only rattle erratically, but refused to be opened.

    "What''s going on here?" His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and right at this moment, he noticed a certain sound.

    Screech... Screech...

    It was the sound of someone scratching their nails against a ss windowpane, and the sound sent shivers running down his spine. He immediately raised his head to find a head staring intently at him through the window. The head was covered in disheveled ck hair, and two sets of inky-ck fingernails were currently scratching gently against the window, having already left several white marks on the ss.

    It was Chu Renmei!

    Her hair waspletely wild and unkempt, and her head was twisted at an impossible angle. Her inky-ck mouth was wide open, and reddish-ck blood was smeared all over the window. Her entire face was pressed against the ss, and she was staring intently at Qin Ye with an unblinking gaze.

    "The events that took ce in ''A Wicked Ghost'' were from over a century ago, which means that Chu Renmei would''ve already been here back in 1995. Was she sealed in this room? Come to think of it, the first time she appeared was on the fourth floor. Is this a direct replica of the situation from back then?" Qin Ye pursed his lips before taking two steps backward, then aimed a vicious kick forward.

    Boom! The locks of the 90s weren''t all that sturdy, and he was able to kick the door in with just a single attempt. At the same time, his Yin energy was elevated to its peak. His Abyssal Prefect''s token was able to pose some resistance against Chu Renmei in the outside world, but he wasn''t sure whether the Chu Renmei in this "illusion" would be able to actually harm him.

    The door fell to the ground with a resounding thud, but Chu Renmei wasn''t inside the room, and the face pressed against the window had also disappeared. In the instant that the door was kicked open, the clouds in the sky quickly faded as if they were in a timepse, and night descended upon the earthen building in the blink of an eye.

    The elderly individuals on the fourth floor were still ying chess and mahjong, seeminglypletely oblivious to the transition from day to night.

    All of a sudden, a faint cry of anguish rang out from inside the room. Qin Ye waited five seconds before making his way into the room with a wary expression.

    It was dark. It was very dark.

    The sky was concealed behind a denseyer of dark clouds, and there was no light whatsoever. The room was so dark that one wouldn''t be able to see their own hand even if they were to hold it directly up to their face. From within the darkness, a burst of sorrowful singing rang out. "You''re reveling in joy, while my gut is wrenching from pain... Separations are always so long while reunions are so short..."

    All of his senses had been heightened to an unprecedented level, and he crouched down slightly like a lithe panther ready to pounce. His hand slowly skimmed along the doorframe as he searched for a light switch.

    A light switch had to be positioned in a convenient location that was easy to reach, so it couldn''t be too far away from the doorframe.

    In the instant that his hand came into contact with the light switch, a bone-chilling sensation suddenly welled up in his heart, and he immediately released a series of chains out of his sleeves without any hesitation to form a protective around him.

    However, there was nothing there.

    His chains failed to strike anything, but he could swear that in the instant his hand came into contact with the light switch, he felt another hand!

    There was someone else standing beside him in the darkness, and they had also reached for the light switch!

    "Fuck..." In a horror movie, it was often the case that the jump scares weren''t the truly horrifying scenes. Instead, it was those seemingly insignificant scenes that built up suspense to an unbearable level, and what had just happened was exactly like one of thosetter scenes.

    The hand immediately pulled away upon making contact with him, and he gently pressed the light switch. A light appeared in the darkness, and everything in the room was presented clearly before him. At the same time, he discovered that there was an elongated shadow behind him!

    Rumble! A loud thunderp rang out in the sky, and the shadow faded in and out of existence with the shes of lightning. This was a woman with a head of long and disheveled hair, and her hands were raised as if she were trying to caress Qin Ye''s cheeks.

    ng! A Soul Shackle immediately shot out of his palm and extended behind him, but there was nothing there.

    He took a deep breath before abruptly turning around, and sure enough, there really was nothing behind him. He cast his gaze out of the room through the opened door, and he discovered that there was no one in the corridor, either.

    <i>Boom! </i>Right as he was carefully peering into the corridor, the door that he had just kicked down suddenly sprang up from the floor before fitting itself back into the doorframe, following which the sound of a lock being clicked into ce rang out.

    Deathly silence ensued.

    "Surely it''s inappropriate for a man and a woman to be in a room like this," Qin Ye mused with a faint smile before beginning to examine the room with a grim expression.

    Virtually this entire floor had beenpletely connected to form a circr room. At the very least, that was what appeared to be the case from his perspective. There were antiquated screens separating the room into sections, and inside the section that he was situated in, there were countless photographs and pieces of artwork on the walls.

    Most of the photographs were quite blurry, and 99% of them were ck and white, while only a tiny minority were in color, and the resolution was not very high, but it was enough for him to clearly see what was on the photos.

    These were all photographs of people.

    They were photographs of all of the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building, except they were wearing different clothing in each photograph.

    On the first color photograph, there were a total of over 100 people wearing clothing from the 80s and the 90s, including military uniforms, work uniforms, and the shirts bearing witty catchphrases that were only just beginning to be popr at the time. All of them werepletely expressionless like zombies. No, they were zombies.

    At the very center of the photo sat a middle-aged man, and a sh of recognition appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon seeing him. This man was very familiar to him. It was Huang Jiansen.

    He took a rough nce at the photograph before moving onto the next one.

    These photographs were all stered to the wall, and there were several hundred of them, all of which were packed quite densely together. This next photograph was from an older generation, seemingly around the 60s to the 70s. Almost all of the residents in the photo were wearing the green military uniforms and sailor''s striped shirts that were popr at the time, and this was a ck and white photo.

    Back in the 60s and the 70s, color photography technology hadn''t been made publicly avable on a widespread basis yet, and the color photography boom in Cathay took ce approximately between the years 1980 and 1985. Roughly around 1980 and 1981, photos taken using color reversal film began to take off in the major cities, and at the time, color photograph ergers were still quite rare, so the majority of color photographs were washed by hand. By the time 1984 and 1985 rolled around, color photograph ergers had be verymonce.

    He took a quick nce and was just about to move on when his footsteps suddenly faltered, and he abruptly returned to that photo.

    Something''s not right... It''s the number of people in the photograph!

    It wasn''t that his memory was exceptional, the difference was simply far too noticeable!

    Seated to the left of all of the residents was a woman with a head of disheveled long hair, wearing a long blue robe with her hands ced on her knees.

    "That''s Chu Renmei! This is a supernatural photograph!" Qin Ye gently stroked the image of Chu Renmei on the photograph as he murmured to himself, "But why?"

    Chu Renmei was the one who killed 66 people in a single night, among which were vigers and construction workers. However, it was clear from the photograph that the vige had epted her as she was seated on a stool, which had clearly been ced there for her.

    Why had they epted her? Could it be because... she was also a victim?

    The answer is very likely to be hidden on this fourth floor... He set aside the countless questions that had surfaced in his mind for now and continued onward. Up ahead were more ck and white photos, and it was clear that these had been taken in the republic era. It was still the same people, including Chu Renmei, and they were all in the same poses. This wall of photographs was like a visual story of the journey they had taken through the river of history and time.

    In this photo, all of them were wearing long robes, and some were wearing traditional Cathayan melon caps. Their hairstyles had also changed into the long braids of the Qing Dynasty, but aside from that, nothing had changed, even the positions that they were seated in from photograph to photograph.

    In the final one of these ck and white photos, he saw a living Chu Renmei.

    "This should be around 1880, which is the seventh year of the Reign of Guangxu," Qin Ye sighed. He was able to confirm that this was Chu Renmei as she was seated in the same position as she was in the other photographs. She was still wearing the same long blue robe, and she was seated on the very same stool.

    He didn''t dare to dy as he continued onward, but there were no longer any photographs left. Instead, it was all portraits from here onward.

    This was a sketch of the entire vige''s residents, and the artist was clearly very skillful, creating an extremely lifelike piece of artwork to depict the vige.

    During the Qing Dynasty, even ck and white photos weren''t poprized yet. No, they didn''t even exist at the time. However, the western art of sketching arrived in Cathay during that time, and all of the nobility had their own sketch artists, but such artists were very rare outside of these noble circles. Having said that, the Fulin Pass had a major port, so it wouldn''t have been too difficult to track down artists here at the time. However...

    Qin Ye''s brows were tightly furrowed as he took a few steps backward to appraise the wall full of photographs, and the confusion in his heart grew more and more pronounced.

    "What is the problem?" There was an extremely nagging feeling in his heart, telling him that something was amiss, but he couldn''t identify exactly what the issue was. He continued to step back as he murmured to himself, "These are just normal photographs, but I can''t help but feel like something''s wrong. What exactly is it?"

    Right at this moment, he abruptly stiffened as his back had bumped into someone.

    It was an icy cold human body that was giving off a nauseating odor of decay. The body had already undergone rigor mortis, and its muscles were as hard and unyielding as stone. On top of that, a string of sharp and ragged breaths wereing out of their throat.

    Whoosh! The same web of Soul Shackles was unleashed, yet there was nothing behind him, as if what he had just felt had been nothing more than a mere illusion.

    However, right as he turned around, he noticed out of the very edge of his peripheral vision that Chu Renmei''s pose had changed on the portrait!

    She was now pointing directly at the vige head in the center, where Huang Jiansen was sitting!

    "Huang Jiansen..." Qin Ye immediately figured out what she was trying to tell him, and his eyes lit up as an enlightened look appeared on his face. "That''s it! For the residents of this vige, these aren''t just photographs; these are pieces of evidence that illustrate just how long they''ve been alive! It''s just like how Lee Jung-sook engraved words onto her own body, this is just a different method of recording. Even though they''re under the influence of the equilibrium talismans, thereby severely restricting their memories, they''ll definitely be able to tell just how long they''ve been living for from these photographs! Through these photographs, they''re trying to make themselves remember their hatred and remember who reduced them to their current state! They did this because..."

    He began to quickly rush along the wall.

    They did this because the true culprit was very likely to be hidden in one of these portraits, namely the very first portrait!

    They were unwilling to resign themselves to their fate! Even if they had to live in limbo for all of eternity, they still want to exact revenge on the one who had done this to them!

 Chapter 796: The Past (2)

    <h4>Chapter 796: The Past (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye sprinted along the wall at full speed, and what he failed to notice was that all of the people in all of the photographs on the wall had turned to look at him in unison with wooden expressions.

    It was impossible to say exactly what type of ce the fourth floor was. Perhaps it was a parallel space, perhaps it was a long corridor of memories manifested from the hatred of the vige''s residents that had been brewing for over 1,000 years. In any case, this ce was a miracle created by the unique properties of the forsakennd, and only in this ce would he have an opportunity to find out the truth behind the earthen building.

    He rushed all the way to the end of the long corridor of photographs, and there, he discovered pieces of artwork hanging on the wall.

    These pieces of artwork were all from the Song Dynasty, and they were yellow with age, but they had somehow been preserved and prevented from disintegrating here. There were close to 20 pieces of artwork in total, and they were still portraits depicting the entire vige.

    It was a portrait of zombies.

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the final portrait. Prior to this, he had carefully counted the number of people on the portraits and determined it to be 127. However, in this portrait...

    There were 128 people!

    There was a very good chance that the culprit was that extra person! That 128th person was the one who had doomed all of the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building to an eternity of limbo!

    He was the one who transformed this vige into a purgatory for zombies.

    He was the one who created the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡.

    He was the only one who had consumed the Taisui fungus and survived!

    This was the starting point of everything.

    He was certain that the extra person would be the culprit as the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building were unable to leave the earthen building. They were restricted by thews of the forsakennd and were trapped here for all of eternity.

    Hence, there was no way that this extra person had perished over time. Instead, they had to have left the earthen building, and the only way they could''ve done that was by consuming the original uncontaminated Taisui fungus, taking advantage of its special properties to ignore the restrictions of the forsakennd.

    These portraits of the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building weren''t just a record of how long they had lived. More importantly, it was a record of that person, the vile being who had doomed the entire vige!

    "No, this still isn''t enough. Contaminating a Taisui fungus and transforming an entire vige into zombies isn''t enough to warrant the title of irredeemably heinous..." Qin Ye shook his head with furrowed brows as he continued to examine the portrait.

    There was a slightly chubby individual wearing an innocuous smile on the portrait, situated on the very left of the final row.

    However, it was impossible to tell who he was.

    During the Song Dynasty, all artwork was created on a freehand basis with an emphasis on capturing the subject''s spirit rather than aiming for uracy in form. Thus, the only way to tell this person''s identity would be through some special features.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye began to carefully search for such features, and several secondster, his eyes suddenly lit up.

    There was a mole around halfway up the man''s neck.

    This definitely wasn''t an unintentional ink blotch. It was far too small for that, and it had clearly been intentionally added to the portrait using the tip of a tiny brush. While it was true that uracy in form wasn''t a major area of emphasis in the artistic style of the Song Dynasty, special features like these definitely wouldn''t be ignored.

    Right at this moment, the lightbulb overhead suddenly began to flicker violently.

    All of a sudden, there was a soft bang, followed byplete darkness, indicating that the fuse of the lightbulb had been blown. Shortly thereafter, the sound of something gently falling to the ground rang out, and right after that, light returned to the room.

    The portrait had already fallen onto the ground.

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately bend down to pick up the portrait. Instead, he cast his gaze around the empty room, and only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh.

    This hatred and resentment had crossed a span of over 1,000 years.

    What exactly had the culprit done to them?

    It was clear that the Yin spirits in the earthen building were now helping him in any way that they could. Not only had they posed no obstruction to him after he had stepped onto the fourth floor, they were doing everything in their power to guide him to the truth.

    He cupped his fist in a respectful gesture to express his gratitude toward the Yin spirits, but that was it. Any further gesture of respect from the King Yanluo would be too much to bear for these Yin spirits.

    He picked up the portrait, but after examining it a few more times, he didn''t make any new discoveries.

    "What are they trying to show me?" He raised the portrait above his own head with a befuddled expression to examine it under the light, and as a result, he discovered that there was something adhered to the back of the portrait using clear tape!

    It was a roll of film tape.

    The roll of tape was cold to the touch, but it felt scorching hot to Qin Ye. He knew that this roll of tape most likely contained the truth that he had been searching so arduously for.

    It was going to tell him what that man had done to earn him the title of irredeemably heinous!

    "If there''s a roll of tape, then there must be a VCR somewhere... It must be in the broadcast room!" Qin Ye''s mind was currently racing at an unprecedented speed. He was already infinitely approaching the final answer, and every single one of his brain cells was striving toward cracking the final answer. After arriving at this conclusion, he immediately rushed out of the room and began to search for the broadcast room.

    He passed by the vige records gallery, the county records gallery, the ancestral hall, the resident name gallery of the Huang n''s vige... Finally, he spotted the VCR that he was searching for!

    It was situated at the very back of the room, and as he passed through the screen and entered the broadcast room, he was greeted by the sound of countless heart-wrenching sobs and howls of fury and indignation. These voices had crossed over a span of over 1,000 years to reach him, and they were resonating deep in his heart.

    This broadcast room was different from all other broadcast rooms.

    It was veryrge, but it wasn''t very spacious as all of the walls were filled with hanging pieces of artwork!

    All of these pieces of artwork depicted the exact same image of a man, the one with the mole on his neck. The man was wearing attire from different time periods in each piece of artwork, but he was always depicted holding a boning knife, in the process of dissecting a human body!

    These weren''t sketches. Instead, these pieces of artwork were all drawn in the antiquated style of simple lines and bare attention to uracy in form.

    There were three people in each piece of artwork.

    As aforementioned, the man with the mole on his neck wore different attire from artwork to artwork, including long robes from ancient times, clothing from the Qing Dynasty, and attire from the republic era. However, in all of the pieces, he was in the same pose with one hand locked around a young man''s neck, while the tip of his knife was pressed against the young man''s chest. The young man wore an expression of horror, rage, and disbelief at the fate that he was about to suffer, and even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be amazed at how brilliantly the spirit of the scene had been captured through such simple lines and strokes.

    It was often said that the best artwork were pieces that were imbued with emotion, and he couldn''t help but wonder what kind of emotions could''ve led the artist to create such a terrifying image with such simple techniques.

    Every single piece of artwork was identical with the exception of the attire worn by the trio being depicted. Different knives and tools were ced beside the man with the mole on his neck, and there were even human bones that had been extracted lying alongside the tools. There were also needles and thread, as well as all types of dissection instruments... Qin Ye knew that this was the scene of the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡''s creation.

    Those knives were used to slice open the human body.

    Those pliers were used to pluck out the bones.

    Those scissors were used to cut through the flesh and skin.

    And finally, the thread was used to sew the subjects back together.

    The truly horrifying thing was that the two subjects were still alive!

    They were being dissected alive!

    No, the woman was already dead. In the artwork, her abdominal cavity had beenpletely opened up, and not a single bone was visible inside, while the man was also close to death.

    The entire broadcast room was surrounded by these different yet identical pieces of artwork, presenting a very gruesome sight to behold. In addition to that, the gut-wrenching howls of fury and anguish ringing out incessantly in the surrounding area furtherpounded the horrific atmosphere in the room. Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be struck by the urge to shiver.

    The artwork perfectly captured the anguish and horror that the young man was experiencing. He was being cut open stroke by stroke while still alive, and one bone after another was plucked out of his body before he was sewn together bit by bit... Qin Ye shook his head vigorously to rid himself of the horror and disgust that he was feeling, and he took a deep breath before making his way over to the broadcast station.

    There was a television here.

    It was an old ck and white television that was connected to a VCR. Back in the 80s and 90s, DVDs were still yet toe into existence, so VCRs were the main form of visual entertainment at the time. All of the devices were already switched on, as if they were awaiting his arrival.

    The tape was slowly inserted, and the television shed momentarily before ck and white static filled the entire screen. Six to seven secondster, the static suddenly subsided, and an image appeared on the screen.

    It was a very dimly lit image, but the outlines of a room were still just barely visible.

    Despite how dark the room was, it wasn''tpletely silent. The cringe-inducing sound of a de being sharpened on a whetstone was ringing out incessantly alongside the sound of someone blowing on something.

    Soon, a candle was held up by someone in the room, but it was held too far away from the person''s face to illuminate their appearance. However, the candlelight did reveal that the person was carrying a very long case.

    The case was entirely ck in color, and it seemed to be very heavy, as evidenced by the apparent strain disyed by the person carrying it. The case was dropped onto the ground with a loud thud, and horrified muffled voices immediately rang out within the darkness.

    It was the sound of someone who had been gagged.

    The person carrying the candle ced the candle onto the ground in an unhurried and well-rehearsed manner, as if they had performed the action on countless asions. They then calmly opened the case, and the sight of its contents instantly made Qin Ye''s pupils contract drastically.

    The case was filled with different varieties of knives and all types of tools!

    There was a boning knife, thread, thick needles around 10 centimeters in length, hammers, pliers... It was all of the tools depicted on the pieces of artwork!

    Qin Ye suddenly realized just how gruesome the scene that he was about to witness was going to be.

    The person carrying the candle pulled out a pair of scissors and gently blew on it a few times. Throughout this entire process, the candle remained far away from their face. After that, they carried the candle in one hand and the pair of scissors in the other as they made their way into the darkness.

    There was a bench roughly one to two meters away, and the candle was ced onto the bench. As a result, its light was able to illuminate two people tied to a wooden bed!

    The duo was a man and a woman, both of whom were still alive. Their eyes were wide with horror as they stared at the figure in the darkness, and they were shaking their heads frantically as they yelled into their gags with all their might.

    "Don''t be afraid." The person finally spoke, and the voice indicated that it was a man. He wiped the pair of scissors in a slow and methodical manner as he said, "It''s not like this is the first time. I couldn''t find any anesthetics, so you''ll just have to endure the pain."

    On the wooden bed, the young man''s eyes werepletely bloodshot, and he continued to desperately scream into his gag. The man who was sharpening the scissors heaved a faint sigh before removing the gag from his mouth. "What do you want to say? Go ahead, no one is going to be able to hear you anyway."

    "Why?!" The young man stared intently at the figure in the darkness, and even the image seemed to be trembling with the weight of his emotions. "Why are you doing this?!"

    The man in the darkness seemed to be smiling as he replied, "I''ve lived for far too long, and I need a goal to pursue. Otherwise, what would be the point in living? Be a good boy now..."

    "You''re a monster!!" the young man roared in a hoarse voice, "Ah Lian is pregnant with your grandson! How could you do this, Father?!"

    Qin Ye''s expression instantly stiffened upon hearing this.

    His mouth gaped open slightly, and he gently shook his head as his calm expression gave way to one of sheer incredulity and disgust.

    It was very clear that the duo tied to the wooden bed provided the bodies that formed the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡, while the one who created the Karmamudr¨¡ was the irredeemably heinous soul. However, never did he think that the two bodies would belong to the creator''s son and daughter-inw!

    "Holy fuck..." Aside from that, Qin Ye didn''t know what to say.

    Having consumed the Taisui fungus himself, he was well aware that people like him who had also consumed the fungus appeared to be living the dream life of an immortal, but in reality, very few of them even made it past the 100-year mark without going insane. The crippling sense of loneliness, the inability to fit in with the world around them, theplete and utter numbness that slowly killed one on the inside... Thebination of all of this was enough to drive one insane.

    As a result, one either becamepletely selfish and wilful, or they attained true enlightenment as in the example of Lee Jung-sook.

    However, this man had a family!

    He had a son and a daughter-inw, and there was even a grandson soon toe. However, he had dissected his son, his daughter-inw, and his unborn grandson with his very own hands!

    "Don''t be afraid." On the television screen, the man gently stroked the young man''s cheek, and his yellow robes were like the attire of a death god. "It''ll be over before you know it. Can''t you consider things from my perspective? I gave you life and I raised you, despite how much of a shameless wench your mother was. Isn''t it very normal now that I''m taking back your life?"

    The young man''s entire body was trembling as he implored, "Father, I don''t care if you take back my life, but at least think about your grandson! Ah Lian is about to give birth soon! Please, I''m begging you, at least let her live!"

    The man heaved a faint sigh, then suddenly stabbed the pair of scissors right into Ah Lian''s belly button, and a geyser of blood immediately shot out of the wound.

    Ah Lian''s agonized groans instantly rang out across the entire room, and her limbs spasmed as sweat poured down her face like rain.

    "You!!!!"

    "In that case, I''ll send her on her way first." The man stood up before slowly making his way over to Ah Lian and gently caressing her cheek. Due to the excruciating pain of being stabbed, her eyes had already rolled into the back of her head. The man smiled and said, "Don''t be afraid, it''ll be over before you know it, I promise. It''ll only hurt for a little bit, and then it''ll be done. How about we start with your right pinkie finger?"

 Chapter 797: The Past (3)

    <h4>Chapter 797: The Past (3)</h4>

    Crack... As soon as his voice trailed off, he snipped off the tip of Ah Lian''s pinkie finger, then carefully plucked out the bones inside.

    With one final gut-wrenching howl, Ah Lian''s entire body spasmed violently before fallingpletely still.

    "You''re a fucking piece of scum!! You don''t deserve to live!!" the young man roared with a look of deranged fury in his eyes.

    The man seemed to turn around in the darkness, and he grabbed onto the young man''s face, digging his fingers into the young man''s cheeks. "How many times have I told you not to swear? I didn''t raise you to be so rude."

    The pair of bloodstained scissors was pulled out of Ah Lian''s belly button, then slowly extended into the young man''s oral cavity. "I''ll have to get you to be quiet now. I didn''t manage to get any anesthetics, so just bear with the pain for now."

    Snip...

    An inhuman howl of excruciating agony rang out in the room, followed by the sound of something wet falling onto the ground. The man didn''t even bother to take a look at it as he pulled out what appeared to be a saw with his bloodstained hand. He then gently drummed his fists against his own lower back while performing some stretches like an old man. "You also ate the Taisui fungus, but you turned into a monster. We arepletely different beings, so what gives you the right to call yourself my son?"

    Qin Ye knew what had just fallen onto the ground.

    It was the young man''s tongue.

    Blood was gushing out of the young man''s mouth as he threw himself at his father like a madman, seemingly intending to bite him to death. However, his limbs were tightly bound to the bed, and he couldn''t move at all. As such, he could only settle for glowering at his father with extreme fury and hatred in his eyes.

    "ARRRRRGH!!!" The wooden bed creaked and groaned as the young man struggled and thrashed with all his might. The man heaved a faint sigh before tightening the young man''s bindings, then made his way over to Ah Lian while carrying a boning knife. "This will be thest time. I promise that after this time, you won''t be resurrected again. You''ve always wanted to die, right? So consider this a kind gesture from your father to grant your wish."

    Thud!

    The knife was plunged into Ah Lian''s belly all the way up to the hilt, and even in unconsciousness, Ah Lian''s entire body spasmed once, but then fell still again.

    "ARRRRGH!!" The young man''s guttural howls reverberated incessantly throughout the entire room, but there was no reply.

    The only sound that rang out in response was the sound of sharp des tearing through skin and flesh.

    Right at this moment, the candle''s me flickered slightly, and the young man''s entire face was illuminated by its light.

    Qin Ye immediately rose to his feet as he stared intently at the screen.

    The young man was none other than Huang Jiansen!

    "Wait... Hold on a minute..." He stroked his own chin to calm himself down. He suddenly recalled that the male half of the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡ in the coffin buried under the giant locust tree was also Huang Jiansen''s body.

    At the time, he wasn''t able to identify the corpse as Huang Jiansen as it had been modified to apletely unrecognizable state. Only when Huang Jiansen appeared as the evil ghost at the gap between the third and fourth floors, when his face was erged to several hundred times its original size, was Qin Ye just barely able to identify him.

    The footage currently being yed depicted the entire process during which his father transformed him into the male Taisui corpse while he was still alive!

    Qin Ye didn''t want to watch this any longer. It was an extremely graphic and gruesome scene, but he was worried that he would miss some details if he turned away, so he forced himself to keep watching.

    What followed was a course on human dissection. The man had clearly performed this procedure countless times, as evidenced by his impable expertise and precision. Blood quickly stained the entire wooden bed red, and the only sound in the room was the gruesome clicking of dissection instruments and the grotesque tearing of skin and flesh.

    It took Qin Ye virtually all of his willpower to not shift his gaze away, fearing that he would miss the quintessential frames where the man''s face would be illuminated by the candlelight. However, right at this moment, the footage was suddenly sped up.

    The images on the screen shed past faster and faster, so much so that the images were blurring into one another. At the same time, all of the grotesque pieces of artwork began to fly through the air as if they had been swept up by a whirlwind, and they pped incessantly against the wall before bursting into mes without any warning!

    The light bulbs in the room also began to flicker unsteadily, and three secondster, they were finally snuffed out. Meanwhile, a figure shed through the television screen, only appearing briefly before immediately disappearing and fading into static once again.

    Qin Ye was watching the television with an intense gaze. That figure had only featured on the screen for the most fleeting of moments, but it seemed to have been Chu Renmei.

    The static and figures on the television screen interchanged between one another faster and faster until finally, the image stabilized amid the sound of crackling electricity.

    It was still a deathly silent ck and white scene, and on this asion, there wasn''t even any source of light aside from the faint glow of the moon.

    This was a setting full of lush greenery, and it seemed to be situated beside the waterhole. Two figures, one male and one female, were intertwined together with the man strangling the woman with a death grip around her neck. He was taller than the woman, and no matter how much the woman struggled and resisted, her iling nails were unable to reach his face.

    "Bu Wantian... How could you be so cruel..." A raspy woman''s voice rang out before immediately giving way to a string of gagging sounds.

    Bu Wantian?

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. This was the scene of Chu Renmei''s death! Why was it included in this tape?

    There seemed to be something yelling with all its might in his mind, doing everything in its power to make itself heard, but its voice was just barely unable to register in Qin Ye''s mind. He continued watching carefully.

    Chu Renmei''s struggles soon subsided, and she fellpletely still.

    Bu Wantian was panting slightly, and he didn''t say anything as he got up from Chu Renmei''s lifeless body. He then looked around as if he were searching for something, and soon, he picked up a rock asrge as a human''s head!

    Immediately thereafter, he mmed the rock viciously onto Chu Renmei''s head!

    St! Even through the screen, Qin Ye could see blood and intracranial fluids sttering through the air. He didn''t even dare to imagine what Chu Renmei''s head would look like after that horrific blow. However, Bu Wantian didn''t stop. He raised the rock before mming it down onto Chu Renmei''s head over and over again in a slow yet determined manner.

    The sound of shattering bones, the blood and intracranial fluids gushing along the ground... The gruesome scene continued for over 10 minutes before Bu Wantian finally rose to his feet again.

    At this point, he was panting quite heavily, but his hands weren''t shaking in the slightest as he pulled out a box of matches, followed by a packet of cigarettes.

    The match was lit, creating a spark in the night, and Qin Ye stared intently at the man on the screen. All of a sudden, he noticed a mole on the man''s neck!

    Come on... Keep bringing that match toward your face... Qin Ye was waiting with bated breath as the match slowly crept upward, but his hopes were dashed when a thought suddenly seemed to have urred to the man, and he waved the match to snuff it out before squatting down again.

    By the time he stood up again, he was carrying a ck case that was over a meter in size, and he quickly departed from the scene, following which the image faded to static once again.

    Throughout this entire process, he didn''t utter a single word, as if he had merely butchered a pig as opposed to his own wife.

    An electric current flowed down the entire length of Qin Ye''s spine, and his lips began to tremble slightly. This physical reaction wasn''t caused by fear. Instead, it was disbelief. He was utterly appalled by just how low human nature could sink!

    These two pieces of footage had answered many of the questions in his mind.

    The case that Bu Wantian had departed with at the end of the second piece of footage was the very same case that contained the dissection instruments in the first piece of footage.

    The idea that had only just nted its seed into his mind finally came into fruition, growing into a massive tree by the name of "truth".

    He was so close to the truth, and his voice was trembling a little from excitement as he paced back and forth while murmuring to himself, "He''s the one who transformed the Huang n''s earthen building into a den of zombies... He''s the first person in the entire vige to have eaten the Taisui fungus and attained immortality! On top of that, he''s the same person who dissected Huang Jiansen and killed Chu Renmei!"

    It was Bu Wantian all along!

    "In the movie, ''A Wicked Ghost'', there was this very same scene in which Chu Renmei was stoned to death, but in the movie, she was killed by a random viger. In reality, why can''t this so-called "random viger" be Bu Wantian? He''s also a resident of this vige!"

    He closed his eyes as all of the leads began toe together in his mind, finally assembling themselves into an almostplete chain. Back when he had summoned Huang Jiansen''s soul through evocation, Huang Jiansen had said that his surname was Bu, not Huang, and it was now clear why he had said that.

    He was Bu Wantian''s son, but he had been dissected alive by his own father, then buried under the locust tree as the male half of the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡.

    Many of the questions in Qin Ye''s mind had been answered, such as why he was able to summon Huang Jiansen''s soul. It was because the Taisui fungus that he had consumed was something fundamentally different from a normal Taisui fungus! It was a flesh zoysia that had been nurtured by Bu Wantian; who knew what kind of effect a Taisui fungus like this would have?

    Now, all that was left to do topletely crack this mystery was to find Bu Wantian.

    How did Bu Wantian obtain the forbidden art required to create the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡? Why did he have to use the bodies of his own son and daughter-inw?

    Qin Ye could only assume that this was all required in the procedure to create the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡, but he still had to track down Bu Wantian in order to confirm these theories.

    All of the loose ends were currently pointing in Bu Wantian''s direction. Qin Ye didn''t know where Bu Wantian was at this point in time, but this roll of tape had yed an extremely important role in his investigation.

    It had pointed out the final path for him.

    At the very least, he knew who the culprit was.

    At the very least, he knew the culprit''s objective.

    At the very least, he knew what the culprit had done.

    Now, all that was left was to find out his motive.

    "You killed your own wife and son, and you didn''t even spare your own grandson... You are truly irredeemable..." Qin Ye took a deep breath and was just about to leave when something urred to him. Bu Wantian was someone who had truly existed outside of the movie, so there had to be some traces of him left here. There had to be mention of him in the vige and county records!

    This was a man who had lurked in the shadows for over 1,000 years, getting away with the most heinous acts imaginable, yet the reality of his blood-curdling actions had been recorded here.

    "There must be more leads..." His eyes narrowed slightly as he carefullybed through his own thoughts. "The fact that a tape recording of you exists means that you must''ve returned to the vige at some point in the past century!"

    Video tape was first invented around 1885 , over 100 years before the present day. Hence, the video footage of him had to have been captured within the past century!

    "As for why you did this, the reason is very simple: nothing can be preserved permanently without a caretaker. Without sufficient care and maintenance, even the most brilliant of creations are bound to be buried under the sands of time. Clearly, you still weren''t satisfied with the condition of the Taisui fungus. Thus, you returned to the Huang n''s vige over and over again. During the past 1,000 years, you had to use the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡ to constantly repress the Taisui fungus, so you return once every century to ensure that everything is still in order."

    Qin Ye did his best to ce himself into the culprit''s shoes as he continued, "You didn''te back because you missed your home. Instead, you were using your own son, daughter-inw, and grandson to create vessels for the Taisui fungus! Given how smoothly you carried out that procedure, it''s clear that you''ve performed it on many asions. Assuming you came back to do this once every century, you would''ve killed your own son and grandson more than 10 times during the past 1,000 years!"

    Qin Ye closed his eyes, and his eyelids were trembling slightly as a hint of rage crept into his voice. "Were you scared? In the beginning, you were. However, you quickly discovered that envoys from the Song Dynasty''s Imperial City Division had visited the earthen building and ced equilibrium talismans here. As a result, the zombified residents of the vige had their memories restricted to thest 100 years, which is why you dared toe back here over and over again!"

    After the passage of 100 years, everything that Bu Wantian had done would be erased from the memories of the residents. How were they supposed to remember something that didn''t even happen in their minds? During the 100 years in which they were able to retain the memories of Bu Wantian''s heinous deeds, they were unable to leave the vige anyway, so they could only wait for the cycle to repeat itself.

    No one would remember what Bu Wantian had done.

    No one would remember the horrific scenes that had unfolded beside that waterhole and on that wooden bed.

    He had always been among them, yet no one could remember him. However, he had to have failed to anticipate that even zombies were capable of feeling hatred and resentment! Their hatred for him had crossed a span of over 1,000 years. Some of the residents, perhaps Huang Jiansen himself or other vigers, would''ve had a vague feeling that something was amiss, and that led them to search through the historical records of the vige. As a result, Bu Wantian''s heinous deeds were finally exposed.

    "With the invention of video technology, video recorders appeared, and finally, someone was able to capture footage of your disgusting actions. Perhaps it was Chu Renmei''s vengeful spirit, perhaps it was some other vengeful spirit, but that''s not important. What''s important is that they''re all pining for your blood! The debt of blood that you owe them must be returned with your own blood! You can enter and exit the earthen building at will, so you''re not necessarily going to be... No, you''re definitely not staying in the vige. However, you can''t go too far away from the Taisui fungus. Hence..." Qin Ye opened his eyes, and his gaze seemed to be able to pierce through the walls and reach the outside world. "You must be lurking nearby, silently watching the changes taking ce in the Huang n''s earthen building."

    A smile finally appeared on Qin Ye''s face as the shroud of mystery waspletely lifted. "In that case, there''s one thing that definitely contains records of your visits!"

    It was the registration book at the entrance of the earthen building!

    All those who had entered the earthen building had to register their names, and once a book was filled with names, it had to be stored there, the ce where all of the historical records of the vige were stored!

    Regardless of what name you''re using now, I just have to find the name of the most frequent visitor on the registration logs, and that will be Bu Wantian!

    "I''ve caught you now..." He took a deep breath and was just about to leave when an image appeared on the television screen once again, following which a third piece of footage began to y!

    [1] [I did a Google search out of curiosity, and it turns out video tape was actually invented in 1951, but just go along with it I guess LOL]

 Chapter 798: The Past (4)

    <h4>Chapter 798: The Past (4)</h4>

    Crackle... Crackle... The static on the television screen finally faded.

    "Stop! Please stop! I''m begging you... Waaah!"

    "Don''t hurt him! Stop! You''re going to kill him! I''m begging you!"

    "I''ll kill you!!"

    The image depicted the Huang n''s earthen building inplete ruins as over 100 bald gangsters wreaked havoc to their heart''s content, forcing the residents to relocate through physical violence. Countless women were dragged out of their rooms by the hair, then mmed against the wall as they howled and sobbed. Immediately thereafter, more gangsters would rush into their houses, picking up closets, mirrors, dressing tables, and other pieces of furniture before throwing them downstairs.

    The footage was shaking quite severely, indicating that it was captured by a handheld video camera rather than one with a set base. As a result, the viewing quality was naturallypromised, but it gave the footage an indescribable sense of realism.

    Qin Ye looked on in silence. He saw an elderly man forcibly held down by several gangsters as his treasured photos and old military uniforms were tossed down onto the first floor one by one. The elderly man was at least in his seventies, and he was roaring like a trapped beast. His hair hadpletely stood up on end, and he watched with bloodshot eyes as the treasured memories in his room were crushed bit by bit into powder before being incinerated into ashes.

    "All of you deserve to die! You''re all pieces of scum!!" He was hurling abuse like a madman before biting down onto the arm of one of the gangsters holding him down. The image swayed violently, and amid a blurred frenzy of action, the elderly man was kicked onto the ground while a series of enraged voices rang out.

    "You wanna die, you old fuck?!"

    "Oi! Don''t hit him on the head! What if he dies?"

    "You took the money, yet you refuse to move! Do you have a death wish?!"

    One punch after another was thrown at the elderly man, forcing him to curl up into a ball on the ground with his arms over his own head. He was sobbing uncontrobly with tears streaming down his face as he implored in a hoarse voice, "Stop... Please..."

    Qin Ye even caught a glimpse of Huang Xiaoqing. Her face waspletely stained with blood, and she was begging desperately as she kowtowed onto the ground over and over again. However, her pleas were ignored as gangsters rushed into her house, carrying out a vintage record yer from inside. Huang Xiaoqing immediately began to scream like a madwoman as she rushed toward the gangsters, but she was quickly felled by a vicious p. Blood trickled down the corner of her mouth as she leaned against the wall, watching in heartbreak and despair as her beloved record yer was thrown down onto the ground below.

    In the next instant, a boy with puffy scars all over his face rushed out and beganshing out wildly with a wooden stick. He had no technique to speak of, but his adrenalin and hysteria granted him the strength to temporarily force back the gangsters.

    "What the fuck is that thing?!"

    "Holy shit! What the hell''s wrong with his face? Is that even a human?!"

    "Is that her kid? That''s fucking disgusting!"

    "There''s something wrong with both of them!"

    The boy seemed to have some type of speech impediment, and he was only able to make a string of random sounds as he iled his wooden stick about wildly. However, he was then sent flying by a kick to the chest. Huang Xiaoqing screamed before throwing her arms around the boy, and tears flowed down her face as she frantically asked, "Are you alright?"

    However, there was no response.

    The boy had fallen unconscious, and only the slight rising and falling of his chest indicated that he was still alive. Huang Xiaoqing was rooted to the spot for two seconds before jumping up like a lioness,shing out at the gangsters before her without any regard for her own safety. "I''m going to kill you!!"

    Qin Ye also saw a middle-aged man near the entrance. There was blood all over his face, and his head was pressed against the ground, while a sheet of paper was spread out before him.

    "Are you signing or not?!" The same question was asked over and over again, and each time, it was apanied by a vicious punch. Even through the screen, Qin Ye couldn''t help but wince at the dull thuds ringing out from fist on flesh.

    "We gave you a chance, but you didn''t take it!"

    "Sign the damn thing now!!"

    Thud... Thud!

    One punch came after another, and right at this moment, the gangsters suddenly parted to reveal a figure that was apanied by several of the relocation team''s leaders.

    Qin Ye immediately focused his gaze on the figure to find that it was a man wearing a dark grey business suit in the style of the 90s. He had his hands sped behind his back, and his back was facing Qin Ye, so it was impossible for him to identify the figure. The shaky footage didn''t capture his face, but it did capture his neck, and on his neck was a mole!

    Furthermore, this figure was very familiar to Qin Ye.

    He was convinced that he had seen this person before, but this was not the time to be digging through his own memories.

    The man casually strode along as he asked, "What''s going on? Why isn''t the relocationplete yet? I''m the one overseeing this project, is 500,000 not enough for you to kick out these beggars?"

    "Mr. Huang..." One of the leaders of the relocation team put on a fawning smile as he said, "The resistance is more fierce than we anticipated, and there are quite a few residents living here, so... can you please give us two more days?"

    The man didn''t say anything. He made his way over to the middle-aged man on the ground, and he chuckled, "If the resistance is fierce, then quell it with violence! Otherwise, why would I have hired all of you? Isn''t that right, Uncle?"

    Huang Desheng faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he lifted his bloodstained head to stare up nkly at the man. Three secondster, his entire body began to tremble, and his eyes turnedpletely bloodshot as he thrashed and struggled with all his might. Sounds that could only be described as guttural snarls wereing out of his throat, and he was like an enraged lion who wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into the man before him!

    In the next instant, the man stomped a foot down onto Huang Desheng''s head, grinding it firmly into the ground. He then gestured for a megaphone, and one of the relocation team''s leaders immediately handed him one. He brought the megaphone to his lips and dered, "Listen up, residents of the Huang n''s vige! Demolishing and relocating the Huang n''s earthen building is a government order! This is national policy we''re talking about here, so you have no choice in the matter! Your relocation fees have already been handed out, yet you''re refusing to sign the contract. Do you realize that you''ll be held culpable if you dy the implementation of national policies? All of you must vacate this building by today! This is the government''s final ultimatum!"

    "Fuck off!!!" As soon as his voice trailed off, a man on the third floor forced his head in between the railings as he roared with fury, "2,000... We only received 2,000 in relocation fees!! What kind of heartless scum do you have to be to do something like this?!"

    His voice was like the spark that lit a fuse, and a woman with her head being pulled back by the hair turned to the man with an expression of unadulterated hatred as she spat through gritted teeth, "Where the hell are we supposed to live with just 2,000?! You deserve to die!! I can''t believe a piece of scum like youes from our Huang n''s vige!"

    "You don''t deserve to live!"

    "You''re a heartless piece of scum!! If we hadn''t taken you like one of our own, you would already be dead on the side of some street!"

    Enraged voices immediately rang out from all directions.

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn sigh. He never knew that these zombie-like residents were capable of such powerful emotions, that they were capable of being so much like... normal people.

    However, he could understand their angst and fury...

    The main thing that all evil ghosts clung onto were their obsessions from their living days. For the residents of the Huang n''s vige, there was no ce for them in this vast world. They didn''t want to and weren''t willing to resign themselves to the fate of living as zombies for the rest of eternity. In fact, they didn''t even know how they had be like this due to the restrictions on their memories. However, they still had their instincts, and their instincts told them that they couldn''t leave this ce.

    This earthen building was their prison, but it was also their final sanctuary.

    They were monsters that were renounced by the world, and they could only hide within this fragile sanctuary, looking out longingly at the world beyond the walls of the earthen building, waiting for one cycle of eternal suffering after another.

    Not only had Bu Wantian turned them into the monsters they were today, he was even going to destroy their sanctuary, essentially driving them into the most desperate of corners.

    As a result, the human emotions of the earthen building''s residents were finally ignited. Qin Ye looked on as the horrific scenes of the forced relocation unfolded, and he was suddenly struggling to tell which ones were ghosts and which ones were human.

    Ghosts would always be ghosts, but humans weren''t necessarily humans.

    A burst of static shed across the screen, but the image didn''t disappear. In the face of an entire vige''s fury and hatred, the man didn''t even sway in the slightest.

    Qin Ye shook his head with a wry smile.

    This was a man who had dissected his own son, daughter-inw, and grandson. He transformed an entire vige into zombies for his own selfish ends; of course the weight of these words meant nothing to him.

    The power of these residents'' emotions wasn''t enough to kill someone, but for those who still had a conscience, it would eat them up from the inside, making them unable to sleep at night and unable to live with themselves. However, to him, it was no different from a gentle breeze blowing past his ear...

    "Continue..." His voice waspletely devoid of emotion. "If the residents are opposed to relocation, then increase the severity of your measures. We must abide by the nation''s policies and ensure that the reform of rural areas goes smoothly."

    "Mr. Huang..." Even the leaders of the relocation team were growing rather hesitant. "Isn''t this... going too far?"

    The man smiled and made his way over to Huang Desheng. Their eyes met, and Huang Desheng''s entire body was trembling as he roared with all his might, "Bu Wantian! You''re a monster!! You don''t deserve to live!!"

    "What ackluster vocabry you have," Bu Wantian scoffed before gesturing to the gangsters around him. "Do all of you still have some energy left?"

    "Of course..." The gangsters exchanged a few perplexed nces, unsure of where this was going.

    "Alright,e and lift him up," Bu Wantian instructed, and several gangsters gathered to lift up Huang Desheng at his behest. Bu Wantian then made his way over to the railing. "Well? Get over here! What are you waiting for? Come on, yes, that''s right, carry him over here... That''s it."

    The leaders of the relocation team were stunned by what they were seeing, and even they felt like things were escting out of hand.

    This was the fourth floor, and Huang Desheng was being held aloft by several gangsters outside the railings.

    The leaders of these gangsters had always thought that they were sufficiently cruel, willing to harm children and the elderly without discrimination, but at this moment, they were suddenly struck by the feeling that they were still far too tame.

    "Mr. Huang..." The leaders of the relocation team were growing quite anxious now. "Is, is this really a good idea?"

    "Shut up," Bu Wantian replied without even turning his head. "Nothing''s going to happen. If something goes wrong, I''ll take full responsibility. You just do as I say, understandd?"

    "Yes..."

    Of course nothing was going to happen, the residents here were incapable of dying!

    "Bu Wantian..." Huang Desheng''s bloodstained body was being held aloft in mid-air as he turned to the man with pure hatred in his eyes. "You deserve the most painful of deaths!! When you go down to the 18th level of the abyss, I''ll be there waiting for you!!"

    Bu Wantian seemed to smile as he replied, "Don''t be silly, none of us are capable of going there."

    "Let me ask you this one final time: are you signing the contract or not?"

    "Piss off!!!"

    As soon as Huang Desheng''s voice trailed off, the gangsters'' hands slipped, and Huang Desheng plummeted down from the fourth floor with an incredulous expression.

    One of the leaders of the relocation team drew a sharp breath before frantically rushing forward. "Have you gone insane?! We can''t go around killing people like this!"

    "It wasn''t me!!" The gangsters were alsopletely terrified, and they shook their heads vigorously as they turned toward Bu Wantian with an aghast expression, as if they were appraising a monster. "It was him... He pried our hands away... He, he''s so strong..."

    The image on the television screen began to flicker, and finally, the audio and the image faded into static.

    The room was very quiet.

    Qin Ye calmly appraised the television screen, and he was finally beginning to understand why this man deserved the title of "irredeemably heinous".

    He hadn''t brought about the downfall of nations, nor was he responsible for the deaths of countless people like Dong Zhuo when he set fire to the entirety of Luoyang.

    However, in terms of the distortion of one''s humanity, in terms of the pure "evil", Bu Wantian was on a more extreme level than even the two daolords!

    At the very least, the two daolords had weighed up their options before making the choice that benefitted them the most, but that wasn''t the case for Bu Wantian.

    All of his actions stemmed from the purest and most fundamental form of evil, it was the darkest side of human nature.

    "You really do deserve to die..."

 Chapter 799: Itâ€™s Him!

    <h4>Chapter 799: It''s Him!</h4>

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately depart. Instead, he began to review that third piece of footage in his mind.

    Among the three pieces of footage, the first two had told him the identity of the culprit, while the third was telling him exactly who the culprit was!

    The culprit was living nearby. Furthermore, he had been involved in the demolition and relocation process. Qin Ye didn''t know why the relocation wasn''tpleted in the end, but he was already able to pinpoint the set of conditions that the culprit had to fulfill.

    Firstly, the culprit had to have very deep ties with the local government. In fact, there was a very good chance that they were from this area. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been granted such a big project. Furthermore, this project corresponded with his objective of constantly keeping an eye on the Huang n''s earthen building.

    Secondly, the culprit spoke in the utmost bureaucratic manner [This is the closest trantion I was able to find for this term, but it''s still a littleckluster, so I''ll exin what''s meant here. This is referring to a manner of speech typical of politicians, ie. always bringing up the government and the greater good, keeping up a refined facade regardless of the nature of the situation, etc.].

    The final point was that when Qin Ye had examined the county records on the first night, he hadn''t discovered any records of forced relocation!

    In other words, someone had swept this event under the rug.

    Someone capable of sweeping such a horrific event under the rug had to be a very important and high-ranking figure in the county government!

    Of course, he could learn the culprit''s name from the registration logs, but previously, he didn''t know where the culprit was. However, the third piece of footage was the final puzzle piece clicking into ce, allowing him to track down the culprit.

    All of the leads have been connected... Qin Ye closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Several secondster, he reopened his eyes and immediately strode out of the room without any hesitation.

    The truth had been hidden for over 1,000 years, but on this day, it was time to uncover it!

    In the instant that Qin Ye turned around, he discovered that at some point, countless people had gathered behind him.

    No, those weren''t people... Those were souls! They were the souls of all of the residents of the Huang n''s vige!

    They were seated on the ground in a tightly packed formation, and they didn''t allow Qin Ye through, but they didn''t attack him, either. All they did was stare intently at Qin Ye withherfire shing in their eyes.

    Qin Ye was silent for a moment before cupping his fist in a solemn manner. "I understand everything now."

    The souls didn''t respond.

    "Rest assured, this is the day of retribution for him!" he dered in a serious voice. "I will put an end to all of your hatred and resentment. The Great Dao is looking down at all of us from the heavens above, and I will give you the justice all of you deserve!"

    The souls finally moved.

    All of them got up from their seated positions before kneeling down on the ground. There were over 100 souls present, and they upied the entire circr corridor. After that, they kowtowed toward Qin Ye in an extremely earnest manner.

    Their heads made no sound against the ground, but their actions wereden with the weight of their emotions.

    As soon as their heads came into contact with the ground, the entire fourth floor began to sway slightly, and the swaying quickly became more and more pronounced until the entire world around Qin Ye transformed into a blur. He involuntarily closed his eyes, and three secondster, the swaying and warping ceased.

    He opened his eyes, and he discovered that he was standing back at the gap between the third and fourth floors.

    Huang Jiansen''s evil ghost was situated no more than a meter in front of him, and the deathly pale hands attached to its body were close enough to reach out and touch him.

    However, the evil ghost remainedpletely still.

    A speck of soulfire was ignited on his be, and it began to burn more and more fiercely. In the end, all of the muscles on his face began to spasm, and the red threads snapped one by one as he appraised Qin Ye with quivering lips.

    He was extremely hideous to behold, but Qin Ye harbored no disgust or killing intent toward him.

    Here was a man very much worthy of his sympathy...

    Not only was his story one of tragedy, the same applied to his wife, his son, Chu Renmei, and everyone in this entire vige. This ce had been a den of nightmares for the past 1,000 years!

    "You tried to stop me because you want to avenge yourselves with your own hands, right?" Qin Ye slowly reached out and gentlyid a hand onto the evil ghost''s nose. Huang Jiansen''s massive body immediately copsed to the ground, and all of the hideous deathly hands attached to his body draped down as he lowered his head to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye''s voice was full ofplex emotions as he continued, "I suddenly understand everything now. I understand why you tried to stop me over and over again even though we share the same goal. In my haste to find out the truth, I forgot one thing..."

    He cast his gaze toward the surrounding world of inky-ck Yin energy as he sighed, "I forgot that this was a forsakennd... General Zhao told me that every forsakennd has its ownws. Thesews are determined by the Heavenly Dao of the forsakennd, and perhaps from the very beginning, thesews dictated that you can''t tell me the truth, right?"

    Huang Jiansen was sobbing and howling incessantly as he kowtowed onto the ground over and over again with all his might.

    It was an extremely vulnerable disy, and he was pleading to Qin Ye with every fiber of his being.

    Breaking thews stipted by the Heavenly Dao would incur punishment by divine lightning. They wanted to avenge themselves, to kill the heinous monster that had done this to them, but they werepletely powerless.

    He was praying that Qin Ye would be able to help them put an end to this nightmare!

    Despite his Prefect-level power, he waspletely powerless in the face of his demonic father.

    "The Heavenly Dao here has infinitely strengthened the boundaries between the underworld and the mortal realm." Qin Ye cast his gaze up toward the heavens as he sighed, "Only the residents of this vige can provide leads, but they can only do so after certain conditions have been fulfilled, and the leads they provide can only be extremely vague ones. This must be the root cause behind the enduring mystery of the Huang n''s earthen building, which has remained unsolved for over 1,000 years. If I hadn''t consumed the Taisui fungus myself, there''s no way I would''ve been able to crack this mystery. The most important piece of information to glean from the Huang n''s earthen building is that all of its residents are zombies. However, Granny Meng said that there are only six people in the entire world who have eaten the Taisui fungus, and now there are three of them gathered here in this county: Lee Jung-sook, Bu Wantian, and myself. Fate really does have a cruel sense of humor. This mystery arises from the Taisui fungus, and it''s also due to the Taisui fungus that it''ll be resolved..."

    He gently patted Huang Jiansen''s face as he dered, "I will uphold justice for you."

    A dull wail that was filled with relief and countless other emotions rang out from Huang Jiansen''s lowered head, and reddish-ck blood began to flow out of all of his orifices.

    He knew that there were still some things that Qin Ye didn''t know, such as thews of the Heavenly Dao, and that he would only be able to understand the entire truth surrounding the Huang n''s earthen building if he had seen everything that the residents of the vige had tried to show him through those three pieces of footage.

    Otherwise, there was no way that those Yin spirits would''ve allowed him toe back down!

    However, he returned, and in the instant that he did so, Huang Jiansen could sense that the Heavenly Dao shackles binding them this entire time had been broken! He was the person that the Huang n''s earthen building had been waiting for for over a millennium!

    He was the one who was going to end this nightmare...

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything further as he turned to depart, and Huang Jiansen hovered silently behind him. He made his way over to the railing and cast his gaze out onto the courtyard. At some point, Chu Renmei had already ceased attacking the pair of preachers, and her hands were sped over her own face as she knelt in the center of the courtyard.

    Her hair pooled down onto the ground around her, giving her the appearance of a blue lotus flower under a ck waterfall. Ghosts were incapable of crying, but in that instant, she was ovee by sobs that had been repressed for over 1,000 years.

    Her shoulders began to tremble more and more violently as she wept into her hands, and all of a sudden, she tore her hands away from her own face and let loose a heart-wrenching screech directly up toward the heavens!

    Her hideous face waspletely twisted, but over 1,000 years of brewing hatred and resentment allowed her to utter one fluent sentence.

    "Retribution wille to all those who deserve it! The heavens do have eyes! The heavens do have eyes after all!!! ARRRRGH!!!"

    Her voice was like a spark that ignited all of the emotions in the hearts of the earthen building''s residents, and in the next instant, countless voicesden with fury, grief, and hatred rang out to echo hers.

    "Bu Wantian! You don''t deserve to live!!"

    "You''re a heartless piece of scum!! If we hadn''t taken pity on you and epted you into our vige, you would''ve starved to death long ago!"

    "See you in the 18th level of the abyss, you heartless monster!!"

    Within the darkness, one pair of bright red eyes closed after another.

    They were finally able to rest in contentment.

    "I''ll give you a choice," Qin Ye dered. "Join my Dusk Legionnaire and serve me. In return, I promise to capture him and take him to this locust tree, where you''ll be able to exact your own revenge."

    Before he even had a chance to finish, Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen had already knelt down in unison.

    As long as he dies! As long as he dies, we''re willing to do anything! Only after he dies will we be able to step out of this shadow and serve you with all our hearts.

    "Alright, it''s time to end this." Qin Ye made his way toward the gate, and the elderly woman stationed beside the entrance had already risen to her feet. "Let me see exactly what his name is."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    There was a heavy storm outside. Everything was drenched by the torrential downpour, and lightning shed in the sky as if the heavens were trying to eradicate all evil in this world.

    No one would go out on a night like this, and the same applied to Huang Baokun. There was a bowl of porridge sitting on the table in front of him along with several intricate side dishes, but there were three sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table in total.

    There was also a photograph of a family of three ced on the table. Looking at his gentle wife and adorable daughter in the photograph, he heaved a long sigh before joining his palms together and saying a prayer before picking up his spoon.

    In the instant that he did so, the sound of door-knocking suddenly rang out. His brows furrowed slightly as he opened the door, but his slightly vexed expression then immediately gave way to a wide smile. "Madam Lee! To what do I owe this honor? If you have something to tell me, you can just do so via telephone; there''s no need for you to visit me in person. Our county government ismitted to cooperating fully with your work."

    Lee Jung-sook gave a faint smile in response, and there was a bodyguard trailing behind her. She asked, "Can wee in?"

    "O... Of course!" Huang Baokun immediately opened the door wide to grant the duo entry. "Pleasee in. Have you had dinner yet?"

    "I have," Lee Jung-sook replied with a smile as she sat down onto the couch. "This is a veryte time to be having dinner, you must be working hard, Director Huang."

    "Well, there''s a lot of work to do in a county with such arge poption, and I only just got home from work." Huang Baokun immediately poured a cup of tea and offered it to Lee Jung-sook while taking a longing nce at the bowl of porridge on the table. "May I ask the reason for your visit, Madam Lee?"

    "Yes, we have something to discuss with you," the bodyguard behind Lee Jung-sook replied. Huang Baokun took a nce at the bodyguard and discovered that he had seen this man once before. On the previous asion, he had seemed to be someone on equal footing with Lee Jung-sook, but it turned out... that he was only a bodyguard?

    Qin Ye was wearing a crisp suit as he sat down onto the couch with a smile. "Director Huang, I''ve heard that you''ve served many terms in your position. Have you been working here for quite a long time?"

    "That''s right... It''s been over 10 years, now that I think about it..." Huang Baokun replied with a wry smile, "I''m counting on Madam Lee to help propel me further up the ranks."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "During our investigation of the Huang n''s earthen building in the past few days, we made some discoveries."

    "Oh? What did you find? If it''s something our county government can help you with, we''ll be sure to lend you our unreserved assistance," Huang Baokun replied while respectfully pouring a refill of tea for Lee Jung-sook. A massive cash cow like her was someone that any government had to treat with respect, let alone the director of a county''s ministry ofnd and resources.

    Qin Ye looked deep into his eyes and continued, "Firstly, we heard that there was an extremely violent forced relocation that took ce in the Huang n''s vige around 1995. Is that true?"

    Huang Baokun faltered slightly while pouring the refill for Lee Jung-sook, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged as he replied, "I''m afraid I haven''t heard of such a thing. Could it be that you''re mistaken, Mr. Qin?"

    "Mr. Huang... No..." Qin Ye looked straight into his eyes as he said in a slow and deliberate manner, "Bu Wantian. You''re not the only one to have eaten the Taisui fungus and survived. Truth be told, you''re looking at two other survivors right now. In fact, she..."

    He pointed at Lee Jung-sook before continuing, "Is from the same dynasty as you, and she''s lived all the way until today."

    A slightly awkward smile appeared on Huang Baokun''s face. "I''m afraid I don''t quite understand what you''re saying. I''m just an ordinary person, could it be that there''s been some kind of misunderstanding?"

    Qin Ye gave a slow nod before approaching Huang Baokun until their faces were no more than 10 centimeters apart, and he said, "Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen asked me to pass on a message to you. Have you been well these past 1,000 years? Are you ever tormented by guilt and unable to sleep when you think of your heinous deeds? Do you feel any fear or unease when you look at your own bloodstained hands?"

    [1] [Not sure if this is the case in western culture, but in Chinese culture, it''s quite significant whether someone has died with their eyes open or closed. It''s said that those who refused to close their eyes even in their dying moments didn''t die in peace and have unfinished business in the world, whereas someone dying with their eyes closed is at peace and content to pass.]

 Chapter 800: The Pinnacle of Evil (1)

    <h4>Chapter 800: The Pinnacle of Evil (1)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Rumble!!

    Stark white lightning shed past the window, illuminating the three immortals in the room, as well as that mole on Huang Baokun''s neck.

    Huang Baokun''s smile faded. He looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes, and a hint of emotion that Qin Ye couldn''t quite identify surfaced in his eyes. Meanwhile, Lee Jung-sook merely sipped on her tea in silence.

    Right at this moment, the sound of a melodious piano tune rang out from behind the door.

    Huang Jiansen''s house was no different from that of a normal person''s house. The only difference was that on the way from the master bedroom to the guest bedroom, there was a ck curtain that concealed everything.

    The piano tune was very pleasant to listen to, and it was the vastly renowned "Mariage d''amour"posed by Paul de Senneville. As the music began, the ck curtain was slowly drawn apart.

    The wall between the master and guest bedrooms had already been knocked down to create a singlerge room. The room was only dimly lit, just barely illuminating the figure of a woman wearing a ballet dress.

    "This is my daughter," Huang Baokun introduced with a doting expression. "She''s always loved dancing from a young age, but unfortunately, she didn''t have much aptitude for it, so she only dances at home for recreational purposes now."

    Neither Qin Ye nor Lee Jung-sook said anything.

    They couldn''t sense any life force from this so-called "daughter" of Huang Baokun''s.

    As the music continued, the lights in the room grew brighter and brighter, and both Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook were horrified by what the lights revealed.

    This was a beautiful girl who appeared to be around 17 to 18 years of age.

    She was wearing a ballet dress, and she began to twirl and dance with the music, but the problem was... she wasn''t a human at all!

    Her face, her lips, her wrist joints... Her entire body was riddled with countless stitches! Furthermore, as she turned around in a pirouette, it could be seen that there was a spring protruding out of her back!

    This was a puppet, one that had been created from a living human, one that had been created from the body of his own daughter!

    The atmosphere in the room had be extremely strange. The "daughter"pleted her performance before extending a bow toward everyone, then danced back into the room, upon which the ck curtains were drawn again.

    "She''s adorable, isn''t she?" Huang Baokun smiled as he took a sip of tea. "I really like watching ballet, but she didn''t have any talent in dancing. In order to see her and listen to this ssic song every day, I get her to perform for me every night."

    He picked up the photograph on the table and gently caressed it with a doting expression. "Sometimes, I really miss the days when she could still speak to me..."

    Qin Ye''s expressionpletely darkened. This man''s humanity had alreadypletely warped into a ball of darkness, and there wasn''t even a sliver of a chance of salvation for him.

    Never did he think that a fellow consumer of the Taisui fungus would be so horrifically twisted and irredeemable.

    Huang Baokun was the first to break the silence. "How did you find me?"

    "There were traces of your actions littered throughout the earthen building," Qin Ye replied in a cold voice. "After our first meeting, the Huang n''s earthen building threw me its first curveball in the form of one of itsws, which mandates that no resident is able to leave. As a result, I didn''t even consider anyone outside the vige... That was until I saw the Taisui fungus. At the time, the possibility that you could be the culprit only surfaced in the farthest reaches of my subconsciousness, and only around one or two hours ago was everything truly confirmed. Even if I hade to find you right away, I would only have arrived an hour or two earlier than I did now."

    To his surprise, Huang Baokun extended an earnest bow toward him. "Thank you for answering my questions. In return, I would be happy to answer any questions you have for me as well. What would you like to know?"

    Qin Ye smiled and replied, "There''s no hurry, let''s take this slowly. After all, a debt that''s been outstanding for 1,000 years is not going to be easy to sort through. Huang... Let''s just call you Bu Wantian, I think this name would sound more intimate to you. If you hear something wrong or notice something that I''ve missed, I hope you can correct me and fill in the holes."

    Bu Wantian nodded with a smile in response. "Of course."

    The room fell silent, and several secondster, Qin Ye said, "Over 1,000 years ago, you married into the Huang n and changed your name to Huang Baokun, but you didn''t actually run away after noticing the Huang n''s issues as you proimed, right?"

    "That''s correct," Bu Wantian replied in an indifferent voice. "That was quite a nice period in my life. I had a wife, a son, and everything I could''ve wanted. It was azy life, but a happy one. However, the beauty of life is that you never know what could happen next."

    Surprisingly enough, the conversation between the three immortals was very civil and calm, and Huang Baokun was even refilling their tea during the process.

    However, Qin Ye''s killing intent was more intense than ever. It was intense, but it was not fierce.

    It wasn''t fierce as he had already made up his mind 1,000 times over. Bu Wantian had to die!

    It was a disgrace for them to both be in the same category of immortals who had consumed the Taisui fungus.

    Someone like him didn''t deserve to be a human!

    If he didn''t die, none of the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building would be able to die in peace, not Huang Jiansen, not Chu Renmei, and not Huang Xiaoqing!

    So long as this man remained alive, Qin Ye wouldn''t be able to sleep at night.

    Bu Wantian brushed some imaginary lint off his clothes, and before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, he continued, "This may be a little rude of me, but this is only my second time meeting other immortals like me, so I''m very happy to tell you about my experiences. I hope you won''t mind if I ramble a little."

    Lee Jung-sook couldn''t help but burst intoughter upon hearing this. "You''re a brave man, I''ll give you that. Do you know who he is?"

    "Who he is isn''t important, is it?" Huang Baokun sat back on the couch as he said in a slow voice, "We are the same type of people. We were chosen by the heavens to consume the Taisui fungus, and we share the same goal, so I think you can understand me. Perhaps you developed a false image of me through your investigation, but please listen to me, and by the end, I''m sure you''ll agree that I''ll have set the record straight."

    Qin Ye was also rather amused.

    It truly was an honor for this monster to have King Yanluo harvest his life in person...

    "Go ahead," Qin Ye prompted with a smile.

    Bu Wantian brought his teacup to his lips and blew on it briefly as a reminiscent look appeared in his eyes. "Once upon a time, the Huang n''s earthen building wasn''t just home to the members of the Huang n. At some point, the residents of the earthen building stopped being able to leave. It was most likely around the time those low-grade human beings ate the Taisui fungus and transformed into Monsters."

    All of a sudden, hepletely changed to a different topic without any warning. "Have you heard of Tao Yuanming and his renowned work, ount of the Peach Blossom Spring?"

    "I have," Qin Ye replied in an indifferent voice...

    "You should give it a good read. Anyway, there used to be outsiders in the Huang n''s earthen building, many of whom were fangshis ," Hao Baokun said in a reminiscent voice. "At the time, it was already the Southern Song Dynasty, and the troops of the Yuan Dynasty had taken over half the nation, while the Song Dynasty was relegated to the southern corner of thend. These fangshis were true fanatics, and they were convinced that they would be able to find the promisednd. Thus, they gathered here and set forth on a voyage out to sea. This was the ideal port for them to set off from. It was secluded and there were many like-minded individuals here. "

    He took a sip of tea before continuing, "The ce they were searching for was a legendary ce because it belonged only in legends, and it was impossible for anyone to actually find. Thus, after the failure of countless people, everyone decided that the Peach Blossom Spring was just a baseless myth, a fool''s dream. However..."

    He got into an upright sitting posture as a fervent look appeared in his eyes. "It''s real! Someone went to the Peach Blossom Spring and even came back!"

    His voice became very impassioned, and he was almost tripping over his own words as he continued, "I was the one who sent him off on his voyage. Prior to his departure, he was just an ordinary Taoist priest, but upon his return, he had transformed into apletely different person! There was nothing that he didn''t know, and he showed me incredible sights that I had never even imagined before! He told me so many secrets, including the fact that the Huang n''s earthen building was most definitely a very special ce as it harbored a supreme treasure. We agreed to set off on another voyage to find that mysterious ce once he recovered physically from his previous voyage, but fate decided to y a cruel joke on me..."

    A cold look appeared in his eyes, and his voice also took on a grim tone. "No one could''ve anticipated the arrival of the natural disasters. You wouldn''t even be able to begin to imagine what it was like. At the time, he was still resting and recuperating, but I was starving and didn''t even have the strength to set off on a voyage. I had to survive! I didn''t want to die before I found that legendary ce!"

    His voice grew louder and louder while his chest began to rise and fall in an impassioned fervor, and all of a sudden, a smile appeared on his face. "Perhaps at the time, he knew that without me to look after him, he would starve to death. Thus, he finally told me about the existence of the Taisui fungus. On top of that, he told me a forbidden art that can allow me topletely change the effect of the Taisui fungus on its consumer."

    This is it...

    Qin Ye raised his head and observed Bu Wantian with a calm expression as he asked, "So what did you transform the Taisui fungus into?"

    "A light tower!" Bu Wantian replied with a hint of fanaticism in his voice. "Using the Taisui fungus, I created a light tower in this mortal coil, and once I ignited the beacon, an envoy would be sent from the promisednd, crossing over the abyss of misery to find me and take me to the other side ! Having been modified by the forbidden art, the Taisui fungus will alter the course of the Heavenly Dao. The process of igniting this beacon is a lengthy one, and it''s a trial designed to test me, but that''s alright because I have all the time in the world toplete this monumental task..."

    "Pardon me for interjecting," Qin Ye said as he leaned back into the couch. "I''m guessing that the prerequisites to create this light tower include the blood and flesh of those closest to you and aplete Taisui fungus, right?"

    Bu Wantian replied in an indifferent voice, "Sacrifices must be made in order to achieve grand goals. The so-called beacon here are the three mes within the human body. As I''m sure you''re both aware, those of us who have been chosen by the heavens do not have those three mes. We are the cream of the crop who transcend beyond all of the people of this world. In order to ignite the light tower in this mortal coil, the blood and flesh of those closest to me have to be used. In addition to that, there must be 108 lives that are tethered to the light tower."

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

    The Huang n''s earthen building had a total poption of 110.

    Subtract the two outsiders in the form of Bu Wantian and Chu Renmei from that, and you would be left with exactly 108.

    "You can understand me, right?" Bu Wantian appraised Qin Ye with a meaningful expression. "Surely you know better than anyone how much of a curse this lonesome eternal life is. Initially, everything is so brilliant and vibrant, but you quickly be numb to everything. Thrills and new stimuli are needed in order to make life fulfilling. The Peach Blossom Spring, the eternal promisednd, the final sanctuary; is there any greater pursuit than this? In contrast with this grand goal, human lives mean nothing! They''re nothing more than maggots in contrast with those of us who have been chosen by the heavens. It''s not like I didn''t give them an opportunity, I allowed them to eat the Taisui fungus as well!"

    His voice was growing louder and louder, and he had even risen to his feet as his chest rose and fell with intense passion. "I helped them survive the famine that would''ve undoubtedly wiped them all out otherwise. I gave them the gift of life, so isn''t it only fair that they use the rest of their lives to repay me?"

    Qin Ye looked up at the ceiling and asked in a calm voice, "By giving them the gift of life, you mean granting them a cursed existence that''s forever in limbo?"

    "No! It''s immortality!" Bu Wantian looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes with a fervent gaze. "Immortality is something that countless people yearn for, and I gave them this ultimate gift! They should be on their knees worshipping me in gratitude every second of every day, not constantly trying to plot against me! The hideous nature of humanity truly makes me sick to the stomach!"

    [1] [Fangshis were people in ancient China who pursued many mystical goals, among which are ascension and immortality, through the practices of alchemy and necromancy. Of course, they couldn''t actually turn lead into gold and raise people from the dead.],

    [2] [In Buddhism, there is a concept of an abyss of misery that we''re all wallowing in, and those who attain enlightenment will leave the abyss. The wording here is rather vague, but I''m assuming what Bu Wantian means here is that the light tower he''s created using the Taisui fungus will draw some mystical being to him, and that being will guide him across the abyss of misery to presumably a paradise of some sort. Of course, the abyss of misery isn''t an actualndmark, it''s only an abstract construct, so it''s also possible that he''s not trying to get to a certain ce, but instead figuratively cross the abyss of misery to transcend and attain enlightenment. This part really is quite abstract and up to interpretation.]

 Chapter 801: The Pinnacle of Evil (2)

    <h4>Chapter 801: The Pinnacle of Evil (2)</h4>

    The room suddenly fell silent.

    Qin Ye withdrew his gaze and cast aplex gaze around the room. "Is immortality really the ultimate gift? Zombies are immortal, but so are some species of jellyfish in theory . However, they have no sentience or intelligence and are doomed to forever wallow in pain and despair for one lifetime after another... Meanwhile, you''re furtherpounding their pain while denouncing them as lowly and ungrateful."

    A cold look appeared in Bu Wantian''s eyes. "It looks like we''re not the same type of people after all."

    Qin Ye ignored him and continued, "So this is why you turned your own son, daughter-inw, and grandson into the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡?"

    "They should be honored," Bu Wantian eximed. "It''s thanks to me that he was even able to survive at all, let alone live for all of eternity! The purpose of his life should be to serve me! I love him very much."

    He sighed before sitting back down onto the couch and assessing Qin Ye''s duo with a cold expression. It was such a surprise to hear the word "love"ing out of Bu Wantian''s mouth that Qin Ye couldn''t help but burst into incredulousughter. "You love him, so you dissected his beloved and his unborn son right in front of him as he begged you to spare his family. You sheared through his skin and flesh with your scissors and plucked out his bones one by one; is that how you express your ''love''?"

    "You know nothing!" Bu Wantian scoffed. "I kept him alive until the very end so he could live a little longer. Before I dissected him, I went all over the county asking if anyone could sell me some anesthetics. I couldn''t find any private sources, and the hospitals in the county wouldn''t sell any anesthetics to me. Do you think I enjoyed seeing my own son''s suffering?"

    <i>Oh, you most definitely enjoyed it. In fact, you relished it... </i>

    Thinking back to the footage of the dissection he had watched, a cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he continued, "So after you became aware of the existence of the Peach Blossom Spring, you made it your lifelong goal to reach it. For that purpose, you even went as far as to employ a forbidden art to transform the entire vige''s residents into mindless zombies."

    "Why do you insist on making things difficult for me when we''re the same type of people?" Bu Wantian suddenly leaned in close to Qin Ye''s face as he spoke. It was quite apparent that he would''ve been at least in his thirties when he consumed the Taisui fungus, as evidenced by the clear wrinkles on his face.

    He gnashed his teeth together as he looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes. "Let me say this again: I saved them. Without the Taisui fungus, they wouldn''t even have survived until the authorities released emergency rations for areas affected by the famine! What crime did Imit? I saved over 100 lives, yet I don''t even ask to be recorded as a saint in the annals of history, all I ask for is peace of mind. Your insults and usations are downright preposterous!"

    "If you truly wanted to save them, then you could''ve fed them the true Taisui fungus!" Qin Ye interrupted in a cold voice.

    A derisive smile appeared on Bu Wantian''s face as if he had just heard a hrious joke, and he sat back onto the couch before leaning back into its soft cushions. "So I don''t even have the right to take interest from them?"

    Lee Jung-sook set down her teacup and spoke for the second time thus far. "The interest you''re referring to is locking them up in a den for zombies for over 1,000 years? They didn''t even have the right to end their own lives during this time!"

    The room fell silent again.

    After a long while, Bu Wantian sighed in a forlorn voice, "I thought that you would be able to understand me. I thought that if anyone could understand me, it would be fellow immortals like you, but it seems I was wrong. I''ve lived for several centuries and watched the rise and fall of several dynasties. I''ve seen everything there is to be seen in life and nothing matters to me anymore. I am the only thing that will exist for all of eternity. My wives and children will eventually pass away, but simrly, I''ll always be able to get new wives and children. Everyone is bound to pass away someday, while I''ll continue to live forever and beyond. What point is there to anything in the face of my eternal life? The things that other people cherish and view as valuable beyond all else are nothing more than worthless trash in my eyes, yet here you are, trying to level usations against me over the lives of 100 maggots? We are the ones chosen by the heavens, yet you''re turning on me just to stand up for these mere insects?"

    An incredulous look appeared on his face as he spoke.

    Qin Ye was truly bbergasted as he appraised Bu Wantian, and Lee Jung-sook also remained silent. Countless thoughts and emotions shed through both of their minds at the same time.

    Indeed, life was like a tavern, and customers would eventually check out, only to be reced by new ones. However, they were permanent residents in this tavern.

    In order to cope with the cursed side of an immortal existence, the strategy that Qin Ye employed was to maintain the heart of a child. It made him appear a little immature at times, but it really was effective, and even to this day, he was still true to himself and full of vitality. It was like the more he lived, the more he came to love and cherish life.

    He didn''t know whether what he was doing was right or not, but at the very least, he led a happy life.

    In contrast, Lee Jung-sook employed the strategy of pursuing goals in her career and ruing wealth. As a result, the several centuries of her existence had been very fulfilling. Initially, she was only an ordinary woman in a small vige, yet several centuriester, she became the owner of one of the top 100 businesses in the world, and she was still constantly searching for opportunities to further her career and wealth.

    She had chosen to live her entire life engaging inpetition with other people in the business sphere, andpetition with other humans was a source of endless fun and joy for those who relished the fight. If she were to continue like this, she would most likely also be able to preserve her vitality and purity for a very long time.

    However, what Bu Wantian had chosen was belief.

    That was an understandable choice. During his era, the Southern Song Dynasty was on a steep decline, and its people were barely able to feed themselves. He was just an uneducated fisherman without a base of sophisticated knowledge or a sound moral framework, so it was natural that he turned to believing in the abstract and arcane. However, as a result of his belief, he viewed himself as a supreme being, while everyone else were mere maggots. He killed his own wives and children and imprisoned the people who had taken him in, biting the very hand that had fed him.

    He continued to live, but he led a deranged existence, and he was the epitome of evil.

    Qin Ye rose to his feet as he sized Bu Wantian with a calm expression. "I''m not the one levying usations against you. Instead, it''s my conscience, the Heavenly Dao, and karma!"

    His voice grew louder and louder as he spoke, and he spread his hands open before Bu Wantian as he asked, "So what about Chu Renmei? Why did you kill her? She was your wife, so why couldn''t you spare her and live out the rest of her life in peace?"

    Bu Wantian appraised Qin Ye with a cold expression as he replied, "Do I need to have an excuse to kill a dog? Do I need to have an excuse to kill a pig? What a joke of a question! I didn''t like her anymore, she pissed me off, I got sick of her, so I killed her! It''s as simple as that!"

    "I understand now," Qin Ye sighed as he stood in front of Bu Wantian, and wisps of Yin energy began to emanate from his entire body. "I still have two more questions that I would like you to answer. How are you able to kill the zombies who consumed the contaminated Taisui fungus?"

    Bu Wantian replied in a cold voice, "That''s a simple task. They didn''t consume the true Taisui fungus, so there''s a limited number of times that they can be resurrected."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Last question: why did you try to forcibly relocate the Huang n''s earthen building?"

    A derisive sneer appeared on Bu Wantian''s face. "The light tower in the mortal coil was alreadyplete. The evil Taisui fungus had already matured, so why would I leave those maggots behind? So that they can continue to plot against me?"

    A cold chuckle escaped Lee Jung-sook''s lips as she said in a cold voice, "So you were going to deprive them of their final sanctuary? You were the one who made them like this!"

    This was why they had resisted with all their might during the forced relocation.

    The Huang n''s earthen building was their only home in this world. If the building were to be demolished, then there would be nowhere else in this entire world that could house them. This was the only ce where they could continue to survive.

    The special investigation divisions of each dynasty had given them an opportunity to continue living, but the one who had forced them into limbo in the first ce didn''t want them to survive.

    Perhaps it was because this was the only ce that contained records and memories of the heinous existence that was Bu Wantian.

    Perhaps it was because even he didn''t want to think of that ce, the cursed earthen building that was constructed on a foundation of evil and sin.

    "For the sake of an unsubstantiated dream, a legend that even you had never seen before, a rumor that you heard from aplete stranger, you horrifically abused over 100 people for over 1,000 years! You regarded your closest loved ones as mere tools, as means to an end. You watched with glee and contempt as the very people who had taken you in and fed you slowly went insane in a prison of your creation. Have you ever felt remorse? Have you ever woken up from a nightmare in the middle of the night and wept under the weight of the demons in your heart?"

    "Never!" A cold smile suddenly appeared on Bu Wantian''s face as he appraised Qin Ye. "So what? Are you passing judgment on me? What right do you have to do that? I''m immortal, so what can you do to me anyway?"

    In response, countless chains shot out of Qin Ye''s palm and instantly pierced through his entire body!

    "It''s time for you toe with me. There are many people who are eagerly awaiting a reunion with you..."

    Bu Wantian''s expression stiffened before an incredulous look appeared on his face. He could sense that the chains hadn''t inflicted any harm upon his physical body, but they had bound his soul!

    "H... How is this possible?!" He looked up with a stunned expression at Qin Ye. "Who are you?!"

    Lee Jung-sook smiled and replied in Qin Ye''s stead, "I forgot to tell you. This is the current King Yanluo. No matter who you are, as soon as you die, your soul has to undergo his judgment."

    She stood up and made her way over to Bu Wantian before looking directly into his astonished eyes. "Bu Wantian, your time is up. The Cold Suit Festival is upon us, and countless lost souls are eagerly awaiting you in the Huang n''s earthen building. Why don''t you pay them a visit?"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, Qin Ye swept a sleeve through the air, and the three of them instantly vanished.

    It was currently 12 AM.

    The Cold Suit Festival had already arrived, and countless wandering Yin spirits could be seen roaming the streets. They did sopletely aimlessly, having no home to return to.

    However, Bu Wantian barely noticed them at all. What truly horrified him was that they were currently speeding directly toward the Huang n''s earthen building!

    The entire earthen building was brightly lit, and countless wails of anguish, heartbroken sobs, and howls of despair could be heard echoing within its walls, as if all of its residents were venting the pain of the past 1,000 years. Countlessnterns constructed from cold suits were already hanging down from the top of the earthen building, and they were burning with crimsonhermes.

    "Stop... Stop!!!" Bu Wantian suddenly screamed. He was currently trapped in a formed by Soul Shackles, and Qin Ye was dragging the along with one hand as he rapidly approached the Huang n''s earthen building. From this distance, he could already clearly see a long-haired woman in a blue robe and a man in a fisherman''s get-up waiting respectfully for him beside the entrance.

    They were Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen.

    Even if one''s actions are hidden from the world, heaven and earth will bear witness to everything. If evil-doers are not punished by others, then the heavens will deliver their retribution.

    Over 1,000 years had passed, and the Heavenly Dao hadn''t seen the atrocitiesmitted here, but King Yanluo had uncovered the truth!

    Those who humans couldn''t punish would be punished by him, those who couldn''t be judged by the Heavenly Dao would be judged by him; this was the purpose of his existence!

    Retribution would always arrive, it was just a matter of sooner orter!

    The closer they drew to the earthen building, the clearer everything became. All of the fine hairs on Bu Wantian''s entire body were standing up on end, and a sense of extreme fear welled up in his heart. He knew that during the Cold Suit Festival, everyone would recover their memories. On this day, the bnce of Yin and Yang would be tipped far in the former''s favor, and the equilibrium talismans wouldn''t be able to do anything.

    They were going to remember him, and they were currently waiting for him, staring intently as he approached them, wanting nothing more than to dine on his blood, flesh, and bones!

    "We''re the same type of people!!" His voice was already cracking as he screamed, "There are so few of us in this world, we are the ones chosen by the heavens! How can you do this to me?! Let me go and I''ll tell you the truth behind the Peach Blossom Spring! No... Don''t take me there!!!"

    Qin Ye didn''t even turn around as he asked in an indifferent voice, "Did you respond when your son and daughter-inw pleaded with you in the same fashion?"

    "Who gives a damn about them?!" Bu Wantian''s eyes werepletely bloodshot as he frantically wed at the chains that bound him. "With our eternal lives, we can have all the women and children we want!! Why make such a big deal out of something so insignificant? How could you turn on one of your own for these mere maggots?! You... you''re not fit to be human! You don''t deserve to be alive!!"

    [1] [Immortal jellyfish is actually a thing, although probably not in the way you imagine it. If you''re interested, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii]

 Chapter 802: Retribution is the Ultimate Equalizer

    <h4>Chapter 802: Retribution is the Ultimate Equalizer</h4>

    Qin Yepletely ignored Bu Wantian''s desperate cries as he dragged him to the front of the Huang n''s earthen building.

    <i>tter... </i> Bu Wantian was tossed in front of the entrance alongside the of chains around him. Qin Ye then cast his gaze toward Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen and said in a calm voice, "I''ve brought him here. You can do whatever you want to him, but I''ll be taking his soul. Rest assured, his soul will suffer infinitely more in my hands than they will in yours."

    "You idiot!!" Bu Wantian was panting heavily as he struggled up into a sitting position before turning to glower at Qin Ye with gritted teeth. "You are a true idiot! Hehehe... Hahaha! To think that I, Bu Wantian, would be captured by an imbecile like you! How ironic!"

    His voice abruptly trailed off here.

    Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen had already arrived before him, and Huang Jiansen was using his horrifically mutted body from the Taisui coffin. Chu Renmei had returned to her human form, but there was turbulent Yin energy raging all around her.

    "BU! WAN! TIAN!" She grabbed onto the chains with her deathly pale fingers, and a twisted smile appeared on her face. The smile was filled with boundless hatred and the joy of finally being able to exact her revenge after a grueling wait of over 100 years.

    "Do you still remember me? Your wife?"

    Bu Wantian''s lips were trembling slightly, and he cast his gaze toward the sky in silence.

    Huang Jiansen also strode over before grabbing onto the chains with one trembling hand while closing his other hand around Bu Wantian''s throat. "Do you still remember your son? Your daughter-inw? Your grandson? What about your uncles and aunties? You encountered a storm during one of your sea voyages all those years ago, and it was your granduncle who dragged his sickly body onto the beach and carried you back to our vige. We were so impoverished at the time that we couldn''t even afford food, and it was only with kind offerings from everyone in the vige that we were able to survive."

    A tragic smile appeared on his face, revealing rows of stark white teeth. "You are a disgrace to the human race, truly... Everyone''s waiting for you inside, Bu Wantian. You are by far the worst thing that has ever happened to our vige..."

    They didn''t even speak to Qin Ye before turning and dragging Bu Wantian into the earthen building, but Qin Ye didn''t me them at all.

    With 1,000 years of pent-up hatred and resentment acting as a backdrop, someone else with less self-restraint would''ve already pounced on Bu Wantian right away. It was already quite remarkable that they had the willpower and restraint to drag him into the courtyard first.

    "It''s probably going to be a little gruesome and violent in there. Will you be alright toe in?" Qin Ye asked.

    "You''re underestimating me way too much," Lee Jung-sook replied with a smile. "During these past centuries, I''ve seen even more bloodshed than you have. Besides..."

    She heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "I probably won''t be able to sleep tonight if I don''t see him get torn to shreds."

    Thus, they made their way into the earthen building, and the gate promptly swung shut after them.

    Tonight, this ce was a prison, a court, and an execution ground all rolled up into one.

    Tonight, this ce belonged to the dead, not the living.

    Qin Ye had only just made his way into the courtyard when he was greeted by Huang Xiaoqing and a pair of elderly men.

    Behind them were all of the residents of the vige with the exception of the people that were currently dragging Bu Wantian away.

    The elderly man standing at the forefront didn''t say anything, but his entire body was trembling, and tears were shimmering in his eyes. All of a sudden, he mmed the bottom of his cane onto the ground and yelled, "Kneel!"

    All of the vige''s residents knelt down toward Qin Ye in unison before kowtowing once, twice, thrice in session.

    Such was the force with which they were mming their foreheads into the ground that even the ground trembled slightly with each kowtow. As they rose to their feet, the elderly man was already sobbing uncontrobly as he said in a trembling voice, "It''s been 1,000 years... I didn''t think that this day would evere! Words cannot express our gratitude toward you. You will be blessed for all of eternity for what you''ve done! We will never die, and we will all pray for you every single day! You showed us that there is justice in this world after all!"

    His voice was on the verge of breaking, and he wiped away the tears flowing down his face with the back of his hand as he spoke.

    "We are no longer even fit to be called humans, yet you still upheld justice for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you so, very much! I will never forget this! I will remember you for all of eternity !"

    "It''s alright," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "Just do what you need to do, I''m content with just watching."

    "Thank you for being so amodating!" The elderly man wiped his tears dry before turning to Huang Xiaoqing. "Prepare our esteemed guest a seat from the best viewing location! If he''s unhappy with our hospitality, you''ll be held ountable!"

    Qin Ye made his way up the staircase to the second floor, where he would get the best view of the courtyard. The view on the higher floors was obstructed by the canopy of the giant locust tree. All of the vigers gathered on the first floor, and Bu Wantian was dragged like livestock over to the locust tree.

    The shackles were finally released, and Bu Wantian was quite out of breath as he stood up. His chubby body was trembling slightly, and having been dragged along the ground for so long, his clothes were in tatters.

    He bit down tightly onto his lower lip and appraised his surroundings with an indignant expression.

    There were cold suits that were burning with bright redhermes hanging all over the ce, and at this point, the giant locust tree had already been incinerated into an inky-ck dry husk. In front of the locust tree sat a coffin.

    The coffin was bound by red thread that resembled blood vessels, and on top of the coffin was ced a book containing the genealogy records of the Huang n''s vige.

    "Bu Wantian..." The elderly man strode over to Bu Wantian while holding his cane before looking straight into Bu Wantian''s eyes. "Is there a heart in your chest? For the past 1,000 years, we''ve lived like puppets in this tiny earthen building, unable to do anything and not daring to wish for anything... I am your uncle!! I dragged you out of the sea that day, saving your life at the risk of my own! Do you have any conscience left?"

    "Hmph..." Bu Wantian gave a derisive harrumph as he slowly smoothed down his hair with his hands. His lips were trembling, perhaps from fear or from fury, and he replied in a raspy voice, "So what? You saved me, and I thank you for that, but if it weren''t for me, this entire vige would''ve perished during the floods and famines, so all of you should be thanking me!"

    "Have you no shame, Father?" Huang Jiansen''s chest was heaving drastically, and his voice was full of unadulterated hatred and bitterness. "I begged you... Once every 100 years, I would beg you not to kill me! I was only in my twenties, I didn''t want to die! I also begged you to spare Ah Lian. If you had to kill me, then at least spare Ah Lian and my child! That child is your grandson!!"

    Tears were streaming down his face as he grabbed onto Bu Wantian''s neck and shook him violently. "You! You killed Ah Lian and my son over and over again right before my very eyes!! How could you?! HOW COULD YOU?!"

    Bu Wantian looked calmly up at the pitch-ck sky, and as his gaze fell upon Qin Ye on the second floor, he shook his head and chuckled, "To think that there would be a day when I would be at the mercy of mere maggots. Are you going to question me as well?"

    He lowered his head and cast his gaze toward Chu Renmei, who was standing right in front of him.

    Chu Renmei tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, and her expression was extremely calm and cid as she replied, "No."

    However, as soon as her voice trailed off, she pounced toward Bu Wantian like a madwoman, and beneath her head of long ck hair, her face had reverted to her evil ghost form.

    Her features werepletely twisted, and veins were bulging on her forehead. Her mouth was smeared with reddish-ck blood, and her deathly pale eyes stared into the very depths of Bu Wantian''s soul as she bit down onto his shoulder while letting loose a guttural roar.

    Finally, she pulled back, while Bu Wantian let loose a blood-curdling howl. A massive chunk of his flesh with blood still dripping from it was sitting in Chu Renmei''s mouth.

    "ARRRRRGH!!" She chewed the chunk of flesh like a vicious lioness, and after swallowing, she let loose a sharp howl of grief.

    There was no need for her to question him; she already knew all of his crimes!

    "I''m going to kill you!!!" She pounced toward Bu Wantian like a madwoman, and Bu Wantian''s eyes werepletely bloodshot, but he somehow managed to refrain from crying out in agony. Just as he was about to raise his hand to grab at the wound, a burst of sharp pain suddenly speared through his right hand, and he turned with an astonished expression to find that Huang Jiansen had already bitten off his finger. His face was sttered with blood, but he wore a content smile.

    "This is the finger that you would always cut off first every single time... I''ve remembered this for over 1,000 years!"

    "You..." Bu Wantian''s face became contorted with agony and rage as he spat through gritted teeth, "You''re an imbecile!!!"

    Huang Jiansen and Chu Renmei''s actions were like the spark that ignited the fuse, and all of a sudden, all of the residents of the earthen building pounced on Bu Wantian with scorching fury and hatred in their eyes.

    "Die, you heartless scum!"

    "It''s time for you to return the debt you owe us!"

    "Die! Die! Die!"

    "Bu Wantian, give me my life back!!!"

    Qin Ye''s eyelids were twitching slightly as he watched the residents of the earthen building swarming Bu Wantian before tearing into him like a school of piranhas that had been starving for far too long. Blood began to stter all over the ce as Bu Wantian let loose one indignant howl after another.

    "No... Piss off!! You useless maggots! ARRGH!!"

    "I am the one who saved all of you! How dare you turn on your savior like this?!"

    "I was the one who... who..."

    Surprisingly enough, this wasn''t a nauseating scene to behold.

    On the contrary, it evoked within the beholder a sense of joy, as if they were watching justice being served.

    What would be truly tragic and disturbing would be if Bu Wantian didn''t suffer such a gruesome fate.

    The sound of chewing and shrieking echoed throughout the first floor, and Bu Wantian was quite literally being eaten alive. Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the charred locust tree, and he felt as if a massive load had been lifted from his shoulders.

    It''s finally over...

    This was a starting point to the rebuilding of the six paths of reincarnation, and only now did he get a chance to think through everything that had happened during the past few days.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    At the tail-end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Bu Wantian was living in the most mundane of fishing viges when he heard about the legend of the Peach Blossom Spring. At the time, everyone wished to be freed from their unstable and impoverished lives. Having lived in poverty and misery all his life, the legend of the Peach Blossom Spring became Bu Wantian''s only psychological pir. In particr, after witnessing theplete transformation undergone by that Taoist priest, that psychological pir before turned into a religion to which he was a devout follower.

    He acted ording to the Taoist priest''s instructions, creating the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡, and his son, daughter-inw, and grandson died over and over again by his hands, only to be resurrected each time in a nightmarish cycle.

    It was clear that he was initially rather unfamiliar with the process, but he had plenty of time to perfect his pursuit. In fact, the technique that the Taoist priest had first taught him was iplete, yet through trial and error, he was able to perfect it over time. During this process, Bu Wantian discovered a problem, which was that consuming a Taisui fungus of this nature only granted one a finite number of resurrections.

    Time could perfect everything, and it could also put an end to all of this.

    The strange events taking ce in the Huang n''s earthen building attracted the attention of the Imperial City Division, and they sent people to investigate, upon which they discovered that the entire earthen building was full of zombies. Thus, they set up the equilibrium array as these zombies were unlike any that they had seen before in that they were truly unkible. Thus, as opposed to leaving them be and relegating them to a life worse than death, they used the equilibrium talismans to restore a shred of rity within the zombies, thereby allowing them to live like normal people and preventing any potential mutations.

    It was from that point onward that the earthen building was sealed.

    [1] [Old man now: "I will remember you for all of eternity!" Old man 100 yearster, when their memories get wiped by the equilibrium talismans: "Who was that guy again?"]

 Chapter 803: Encountering an Old Friend in a Foreign Land

    <h4>Chapter 803: Encountering an Old Friend in a Foreign Land</h4>

    It was clear that Bu Wantian had already left by the time that the personnel from the Imperial City Division arrived. Even he didn''t dare to live among a vige of zombies. However, the arrival of the Imperial City Division opened up some new possibilities to him. The equilibrium talismans set up here forced the zombified vigers into century-long cycles where they would lose their memories once every 100 years, and he was alert enough to catch onto this fact.

    Day after day, year after year, he killed his own loved ones countless times over. Amid the mountain of heinous crimes that he hadmitted, Chu Renmei''s murder really was quite insignificant. Perhaps he really did just get sick of her someday and decided to kill her for the sake of it. Just as he said, what excuse did he need to have for killing a dog?

    Everything appeared to be simple and straightforward, but only after trulying into contact with this would one realize just how difficult it was to crack.

    The first obstacle was the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao here in this forsakennd waspletely different from the Heavenly Dao elsewhere. It was like a game in which all of the vigers were NPCs, and NPC interactions through which leads could be secured could only be unlocked once certain "game events" werepleted.

    The second obstacle was the Taisui fungus. Only those who had consumed the Taisui fungus would notice the peculiarities present within the vigers, thereby identifying them as zombies. Only then would they be able to realize that there was someone who was once among them currently hiding outside the earthen building.

    The third obstacle came in the form of Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen.

    Only a cultivator of a very high caliber would notice that Chu Renmei didn''t want to actually kill people, and was more intent on possessing someone. However, all of the people who had previously discovered this had been silenced forever as Abyssal Prefects were currently the most powerful beings in the mortal realm.

    Simrly, the presence of Huang Jiansen made it impossible to ess the fourth floor, and without getting to the fourth floor, it would be impossible to find leads on Bu Wantian.

    Who would''ve imagined that a name that had only featured in a movie would actually belong to an actual person who had lived for over 1,000 years?

    On top of this, the deeds that he hadmitted were far more horrifying and reprehensible than the events that took ce in the movie.

    "It''s a pity that you encountered me." Qin Ye''s train of thought concluded here as he turned his attention back to the courtyard, only to find that there was already no trace of Bu Wantian left. All that remained of him was a puddle of blood on the ground, around which all of the vigers were kneeling and bawling like children.

    "Retribution will alwayse. It may bete but it''ll never be absent, and you''re only just beginning to taste the bitter fruit that you''ve sown..."

    He rose to his feet, and at the same time, the elderly man from before stepped forward and fell to his knees before kowtowing in Qin Ye''s direction. "From this day forth, the Huang n will be content to reside here. If you ever need us for anything, we''d dlyy down our lives at a moment''s notice!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "You''ve suffered for over 1,000 years, it''s time for you to take a good rest now... Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, take Bu Wantian with you, and let''s leave this ce."

    The events unfolding here still weren''t serious enough to warrant his personal intervention. On top of that, which realm was this? Was it the mortal realm or was it the underworld?

    It seemed that this ce was under the jurisdiction of either realm, so why not just let them fall under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Dao here?

    "Yes," Chu Renmei answered in a respectful manner. All of her hatred and hostility had alreadypletely vanished, and she picked up the coffin with her hair before opening her mouth up to over a meter, then swallowed the coffin like a python swallowing its prey whole.

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but think of Principal Wang Eating Hot Dog Whole.JPG, and he quickly shook his head to rid himself of that mental image. "Where''s his soul?"

    "It''s in the coffin," Chu Renmei replied with a smile as she stroked her own stomach. Strangely enough, even after devouring such a massive coffin, her figure hadn''t changed in the slightest. "Rest assured, Your Excellency, I wouldn''t be able to bear the thought of letting him die so easily. He owes us a debt of bloodpounding over 1,000 years, and it would be much too lenient to kill him like this."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before curling a finger, upon which Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen flew up his sleeve as two streaks of light.

    Currently, the roster of Yin spirits under hismand included the Porter Spirit, Ryu Changmin, Kwon Kyung-ho, Chu Renmei, and Huang Jiansen, which was a lineup of two Abyssal Prefects and an Infernal Judge, while the rest were all Anitya Hellguards. This was already an extremely formidable army at his disposal...

    Upon emerging from the earthen building, it was already very deep into the night.

    The sound of chirping cicadas rang out incessantly in the night, and the air was very fresh. After several consecutive days of highly intensive and stressful investigation, Qin Ye couldn''t help but stretchzily as a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He turned to take one final nce at the Huang n''s earthen building as he heaved a faint sigh.

    It''s finally over...

    This trip had been full of twists and turns, and it had finally drawn to a close. From here onward, it was time to work on rebuilding the six paths of reincarnation. As for this ce, he was most likely never going to return here again.

    The elderly woman at the entrance was just about to shut the gate when a thought suddenly urred to Qin Ye, and right as the gate was about to swingpletely shut, she suddenly said, "Hold on."

    The elderly woman''s wizened face extended out from behind the gate as she asked with a smile, "Is there something else you need, Your Excellency?"

    A contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he asked, "The Taisui Crossbred Karmamudr¨¡ has already been removed, but the Taisui fungus is still buried under that locust tree. Will that lead to mutations among the residents of the earthen building?"

    "It shouldn''t," the elderly woman replied in a respectful voice. "In any case, you''ve already left us with a way to contact the local city god, so if anything happens, we''ll be sure to contact them right away."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "In that case, why is it that the residents of this vige who go out to seek employment don''t undergo mutations?"

    "Residents who go out to seek employment?" The elderly woman was very taken aback by this, and she replied in a confident manner, "Your Excellency, I can assure you that none of the residents of our Huang n''s earthen building have ever gone out to seek employment. Ever since the talisman array was set up in the Song Dynasty, our Huang n''s earthen building had bepletely isted. Only tourists can visit and leave, but none of our residents have ever left!"

    Qin Ye always had this nagging feeling this entire time that he was forgetting something, and he finally knew what it was now. He looked straight into the elderly woman''s eyes and asked in a serious voice, "Are you sure?"

    "I''m absolutely certain," the elderly woman replied just as seriously. "I''ve been here for close to 1,000 years, and I remember every single person who''s entered and left our earthen building during this time. I can assure you that none of our residents have ever left this ce!"

    "What about your descendants? Do you recall a man by the name of Huang Yunqing?

    The elderly woman was even more perplexed upon hearing this. "Zombies like us are incapable of producing offspring, and I''ve certainly never heard of this Huang Yuanqing. Could it be that you''re misremembering something, Your Excellency?"

    Qin Ye''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and only after a long while did he nod in response. "Perhaps so. I''ll be leaving now, if anything abnormal happens, notify the city god right away."

    "Yes."

    After that, he quickly departed. Lee Jung-sook had left before him, and she was waiting for him with her bodyguards on the outskirts of Anjing Vige. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of his troubled expression and asked, "What''s up?"

    "Do you remember Huang Yunqing?" Qin Ye asked as he made his way toward her.

    Lee Jung-sook nodded in response. "I do. He was the viger who left to seek... Hold on!"

    She had also realized that something was amiss here. "No one from the Huang n''s earthen building has left in the past 1,000 years, where did hee from?"

    "Not only that..." Qin Ye peered into the darkness of the night as he said, "But the woman at the entrance says that she''s certain there''s never been a Huang Yunqing in the vige!"

    Lee Jung-sook''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and she immediately said, "His body was sent to the county police station, and it should currently be under examination by the county''s Special Investigations Department. After all, this is a supernatural corpse. Did you think of something just now?"

    The bodyguards had already opened the doors of the car, and Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook got into the backseats. Only then did he massage his be with a troubled expression as he asked, "Do you recall the Peach Blossom Spring?"

    "You mean the ce fabricated by Bu Wantian''s imagination?"

    "What if it isn''t just a figment of his imagination?" The car began to speed through the night, and Qin Ye watched the rapidly receding scenery sh past his window as he said in a grim voice, "I just did some reflection on our conversation with Bu Wantian, and I recalled that he said it was his second time meeting immortals who had devoured the Taisui fungus. At the time, my mind was entirely fixated on the Huang n''s earthen building, and Ipletely forgot about that detail."

    Lee Jung-sook''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "So that means he met other immortals at some point before us!"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, she leaned back into the soft cushioned seat and continued, "I think that''s very likely to be true. Bu Wantian isn''t an idiot, so there''s no way that an empty promise from a Taoist priest would have him so thoroughly convinced of the Peach Blossom Spring''s existence. Perhaps he could be fooled for a time, but he definitely wouldn''t have been fooled for over 1,000 years. Unless this so-called Peach Blossom Spring disyed some kind of divine miracle to him to prove its existence, there''s no way he would''ve believed in it so devoutly for such a long time. Thinking back to his emotional state when telling us about the Peach Blossom Spring, he was very much a fanatic, which means that this Peach Blossom Spring had to have shown him something to have kept him hooked this entire time. In that case, that Huang Yunqing was most likely someone from the Peach Blossom Spring."

    Qin Ye was feeling a little agitated.

    As the leader of a dynasty, what did he detest the most?

    Cults definitely ranked very high up on that list.

    Cults could easily gather devout followers to create armies of absolutely loyal fanatics, and this was definitely not good news for the stability of a recently established dynasty like his own, particrly when this cult was influential enough to have even strung along an immortal for such a long time.

    "The more I think about it, the stranger everything seems," Qin Ye mused. "What exactly was Huang Yunqing supposed to be? Was he a zombie? But no one in the Huang n''s vige was anything like him, and the final form he adopted before his death definitely can''t be ssified as a normal zombie. In addition to that, he wasn''t a Yin spirit, yet he somehow possessed Yin energy."

    He flicked a finger, and Kwon Kyung-ho''s voice immediately rang out beside his ears. "What do you need, my Lord?"

    "Go to Everburn right away and get the Harken or General Zhao toe here. Tell them that once everything is resolved here, we''ll travel to Sichuan together to rebuild the six paths of reincarnation."

    "Yes."

    Thus, Kwon Kyung-ho departed. Qin Ye gently skimmed his fingers absentmindedly over the window beside him. His wariness of this so-called Peach Blossom Spring stemmed from his instinctive urge to protect his position as a ruler. However, the more he thought about the matter, the more questions arose.

    For example, Bu Wantian had proimed that the Peach Blossom Spring would send someone for him once they saw the light tower that he created in the mortal coil. Why would they do that? What was the purpose of their existence? Assuming this organization really did exist, what was it supposed to be? A league of zombies?

    This was a mysterious organization that had at least one immortal among its ranks, and the only records of it that existed were in a poem[The poem being referred to here is the aforementioned "ount of the Peach Blossom Spring" by Tao Yuanming.]. If it really did exist, then it would''ve been around far longer than even the Huang n''s earthen building. Perhaps it could even date back to the Tang or even the Han Dynasty.

    It had left virtually no trace in history, so what was its purpose? What was its objective? What was it setting out to achieve?

    Even Jesus had founded a religion to spread love for god among the people, so what was this Peach Blossom Spring doing? Was it not interested at all in spreading its influence?

    Qin Ye couldn''t think of any good answers to all of these questions, and this wasn''t a good time to interrogate Bu Wantian''s soul. At the very least, he would have to wait until Bu Wantian''s soul was instated as a part of the six paths of reincarnation before conducting an interrogation. With that in mind, Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh and cast aside this train of thought for now. At this point, the car had already driven into the central business area of the county.

    The car was parked near the county government building, and ck and white revolved in Qin Ye''s eyes, upon which he was immediately able to glean all of the true energy and Yin energy within the entire central business area.

    Oh? They switched locations? It''s not underground, beneath the county government building anymore?

    He cast a surprised gaze toward a small building beside the county''s police stations. That was where true energy was most concentrated in the area. As expected, following the conclusion of the supernatural disasters, the status of the Special Investigations Department had suffered a corresponding decline.

    Hold on... Holy fuck! This true energy... Could it be that it belongs to Lin Han? Oh boy, he''s really grown since thest time I saw him. Looks like it''s time for me to make an appearance and show him that there''s always going to be a taller peak out there. That way, he''ll learn the valuable lesson of humility and he won''t get too full of himself. It is through adversity that one grows the quickest, after all.

 Chapter 804: Peach Blossom

    <h4>Chapter 804: Peach Blossom</h4>

    In the Special Investigations Department, there was a tall and broad man wearing camouge clothing. He was arranging his disheveled hair with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and he turned toward some people in whiteb coats who had just emerged from the secret chamber across from him as he asked, "How''s it going?"

    He appeared to be around 185 to 186 centimeters in height, and as for special characteristics, he didn''t really have any of note. If one had to pinpoint something special about him, then it would have to be how handsome he was. He was extremely handsome, so much so that he was practically oozing pheromones...

    All of the people wearing whiteb coats in front of him were doctors, and their gloves were stained with blood, while all of them wore exhausted expressions. Upon hearing the questions raised by the man, the doctor at the forefront shook his head, and his face was slightly pale as he sighed in response. "We couldn''t find out anything. Pleasee with me, Captain Lin."

    The gate off to the side was opened, and despite how old and outdated the building appeared, the equipment it housed was so cutting-edge that few people would be able to understand it, and virtually all of the pieces of equipment had never appeared on the market before. The wall between this room and the next one was a massive pane of floor-to-ceiling armored ss.

    Through the ss, a silver surgery tform could be clearly seen in the other room, and there were currently many doctors gathered around the tform, taking notes and making records. It seemed that aside from the science-fiction-like equipment, this entire scene was no different from the surgery room in a normal hospital. However, the subject lying on the tform was the stuff of nightmares.

    It was a ball of flesh, one that was alreadypletely twisted and warped.

    It was slightlyrger than a grown human, and it had a fist-sized human face with countless closed eyes all over its body. There were so many of these eyes that it would be enough to drive a trypophobia sufferer insane. Furthermore, through the eyes of cultivators, it could be clearly seen that there was dense Yin energy emanating from its body.

    "It''s still disying signs of life." That sentence alone from the doctor was enough to make the cigarette almost slip out of the mouth of the man in the camouge clothing.

    He turned to the doctor with a stunned expression and asked, "Are you sure you haven''t made a mistake? How could a living being possess Yin energy?"

    The doctor''s brows were also tightly furrowed. "I don''t know, but ording to the tests that we ran on it, it seems to be in a pseudo-death state. We''ve employed many tactics to try and stimte it back to life, but it''s disyed no reaction at all. The only thing that can stimte it at all is Yin energy. I must say, this is extremely perplexing. I''ve never seen such a strange being before. Captain Lin, you came straight from Yanjing, did you bring some records from the headquarters?"

    Captain Lin had almostpletely ttened the butt of his cigarette between his front teeth, and a female doctor blushed slightly as she said, "Mr. Lin, smoking is prohibited here..."

    "Oh." The man nodded in response before pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.

    The room fell silent thereafter, and only after a long while did Captain Lin heave a faint sigh. "Put it in an SSS grade safe, and I''ll take it with me."

    "Yes."

    Right at this moment, his phone suddenly began to ring.

    "Fuck... Who the hell''s messaging me at this time of night? Do they not sleep?" Captain Lin pulled out his phone amid a short, profanityden rant, and as he opened the phone and saw the messenger ID, he was rooted to the spot for a full five seconds. Immediately thereafter, he drew a sharp breath before hurriedly opening his Momo app.

    Muscr Pretty Boy: ¡°Look up.¡±

    Captain Lin immediately did as he was told, and right at this moment, a burst of Yin energy suddenly erupted within the room, but the warning devices disyed no reaction whatsoever. The Yin energy plunged the entire room intoplete darkness like a veil of mist in the night.

    The Yin energy was very dense, denser than any he had ever felt before. However, Captain Lin wasn''t fearful at all. Instead, tears had welled up in his eyes as he stared intently up ahead.

    Is it him?

    As soon as this thought surfaced in his mind, a flood of thoughts and emotions immediately followed.

    So many years have passed since then... His picture was still hanging in the first edition of the corridor of teachers in the Academy of Cultivators. During the first mentor conference the year before, there had even been people asking about him, wondering why they hadn''t heard his name in the Special Investigations Department.

    Among the entire Special Investigations Department, only very few people were aware of what they had seen that night.

    "Qin Ye?" Captain Lin tried to repress his excitement to the best of his abilities, but his voice was still trembling with a hint of scorching anticipation.

    Right at this moment, the mist of Yin energy rippled slightly, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a hand abruptly shot out of the Yin energy before grabbing onto his cheeks and giving them a gentle squeeze. As a result, his face was immediately pressed into an amusing state, and a familiar voice rang out.

    "You must be doing quite well for yourself! To think that you even dare to refer to me directly by my name now. I''ll give you 30 seconds to reflect on your mistake, what should you be calling me?"

    The insanely handsome show-off that was Captain Lin blinked a few times upon hearing this before putting on a fawning smile, and he had no qualms whatsoever as he called out: "Daddy?"

    "Good boy." Qin Ye gently stroked Captain Lin''s head like a dog, and the Yin energy subsided to reveal him. "I just so happened to be passing through nearby, so I thought I''de and pay you a visit."

    Neither of them had anticipated that this would be the site of their reunion. The two of them looked into each other''s eyes, and both were momentarily at a loss for words. Several secondster, Qin Ye patted him on the shoulder and said, "Long time no see, Lin Han."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Lin Han immediately pounced on him and gave him a massive bear hug. "Holy shit! You had me worried sick! Were you injured that day? Are you a human or are you a ghost right now?"

    Qin Ye patted Lin Han on the back as he replied, "Don''t worry, I''m perfectly fine. If you miss me so much, then how about you die? I guarantee you that you''ll be able to see me all the time after you die!"

    "... That''s not a good joke..."

    "... It wasn''t a joke at all..."

    Why are you under the impression that I''m joking? I''m making a very serious suggestion here! You should consider dying every once in a while!

    After separating for so many years, Lin Han clearly had countless things that he wanted to say to Qin Ye, and first and foremost, he vehemently asked why Qin Ye hadn''t called him during these past years, and he was so worked up that there was spittle flying out of his mouth.

    "What could I have done? I also really wanted to call you! My number is strictly confidential in the mortal realm. If I had sent you a message, my number would be tracked instantly by a bunch of people. They''ll then find the contents of the message to be: ''Why are you still not dead yet, son? Daddy misses you'' ... Wouldn''t you die of shame? Oh wait, I forgot that you have no shame anyway. It''s a pity that you''re so shameless when you''re so handsome, but I would be ashamed for the both of us!"

    Strangely enough, the poise and disposition of the King Yanluo that Qin Ye had painstakingly developed these past few years instantly disappeared. Upon meeting with this close friend, his IQ was immediately dragged down to the same level...

    He was like a husky dog, and now that he was with Qin Ye, the image suddenly turned into one depicting a pair of husky dogs...

    Thus, Lin Han let him off the hook for not messaging him, but he then immediately countered by asking why Qin Ye hadn''te to see him. He had sorely missed his good friend during the past six years.

    "I was busy," Qin Ye replied with a roll of his eyes. "Unifying a nation isn''t child''s y, it takes time to take over the reins in Hell! I''ve been so busy these past few years that I''ve barely had any time to myself, and everything has only just settled down. Seriously though, consider dying once in a while. Wang Chenghao is getting more and more serious every day, so it''s really not fun being around him anymore. I feel like I desperately need a husky dog... No, specifically, I need you to liven up the atmosphere in Hell! What did you want to say just now? You wanted to say that I''m also a husky dog, right? In that case, you''ve missed a dog for six years! That''s what I like most about you, Lin Han, you always have such unique perspectives on things..."

    After fooling around for over 10 minutes, the joy of their reunion finally subsided a little.

    The conversation that had taken ce during the past span of over 10 minutes had beenpletely useless, and Qin Ye finally asked a serious question. "Why are you here?"

    Lin Han''s smile faded, and he gestured toward the surgery tform on the other side of the table.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow and asked, "So you''re researching that thing? Are there records of it in the Special Investigations Department?"

    "... Can we not talk about this right now? Why ruin our joyful reunion by talking about that thing? Don''t you think the atmosphere here is unworthy of people as handsome as us? Come on, let''s go get some kebabs, it¡¯ll be my treat."

    Qin Ye shook his head as he made his way toward the window. "That can wait, I also came here specifically for that thing."

    A grim look appeared on Lin Han''s face upon hearing this. He was aware of Qin Ye''s identity, so he knew that this had to be an extremely serious matter for Qin Ye to be here in person. "Is that thing really dangerous?"

    "I''m not sure... Someone above the Yama-King level is currently on the way here, and I was hoping to get some information from him, so don''t transport this thing away for now. What about the Special Investigations Department? Did it have any information on this thing?"

    Lin Han didn''t seem to have any qualms divulging highly confidential information to Qin Ye, and he replied without any hesitation, "Of course."

    He was rying the information so naturally that it was as if Qin Ye was his direct superior. It had to be said that the bond between father and son was a very special one...

    He didn''t pause in the slightest before divulging the information that Qin Ye wanted to hear. "Something simr to this has appeared in each of the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, and they only appeared once per dynasty. Information surrounding this thing is ced in the highest level of confidentiality, and whenever it appears, major disasters are sure to follow. When I say disasters, I''m referring to disasters of the supernatural nature. There have been records of some viges, counties, and even cities beingpletely transformed into dead hellscapes in a matter of months. Put it this way, this thing is like nuclear radiation, and if you ignore it, you''re going to suffer the consequences. In the Special Investigations Department, its serial number is SSS07. You''ve worked at the Special Investigations Department before, so I''m sure you''re aware of the importance of this serial number. The vast majority of people are under the opinion that S tier is the highest level of confidentiality, but there are actually the SS and SSS tiers above it..."

    Qin Ye cleared his throat before asking, "What about the SSR and SP tiers?"

    "We didn''t apply for those tiers. Money has to be spent to enter the draw to secure those tiers, and if you''re unlucky, your money will have been spent for nothing. Unfortunately, money can''t buy luck..."

    The two of them exchanged a derisive nce, expressing mutual disdain through their bodynguage.

    <i>Why is it that nothing serious everes out of your mouth? This is a very important and serious matter, why are you going around making Onmyoji references? </i>

    You''re one to talk! Look at how naturally you replied to my Onmyoji reference! You clearly aren''t taking this seriously, either!

    You''re trash...

    In the end, both of them arrived at the same assessment of one another. Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly as he said in a stern voice, "Stop getting off-topic! This is serious stuff, do you understand?"

    "Yes, my apolog... Hold on a minute, you''re the one who went off topic! Shut your mouth and listen to your daddy speak!" Lin Han snapped. "SSS is the highest tier of danger in the Special Investigation Department, and there are only 15 subjects in this tier. On top of that, they''re ranked ording to the level of supernatural threat they entail, and this one is ranked seventh, which ces it among the subjects that we currently have no countermeasures against. However, thankfully, it has an extremely low probability of spawning. Currently, the Special Investigations Department has already collected six simr subjects in different colors, and with this one thrown into the mix, we should be able to summon Shenron right away!"

    Qin Ye felt like he was on the verge of throwing up blood.

    He was truly amazed that Lei Jun hadn''t passed away from a heart attack when he had trash subordinates like this...

    "What''s its codename?" Qin Ye asked as he gently skimmed his fingers along the ss and cast his gaze toward the twisted ball of flesh.

    "Peach Blossom."

    Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly lit up upon hearing this.

    Peach Blossom... Peach Blossom Spring... Is there some kind of corrtion here?

    Where did this thinge from? Had it really just washed on some beach someday like an alien?

    "Why does it have this codename?"

    Lin Han scratched his head in response. "It''s probably because when you''re in close proximity to it, there will be female ghostsing out every night to seduce you..."

    My god, how do you even think of these stupid things?! Qin Ye''s lips were quivering with rage, and he was on the verge of ending this friendship with this idiot right then and there!

    Right at this moment, a calm and mature voice rang out across the entire room. "That''s not the case."

    Qin Ye faltered slightly before looking with a surprised expression. "General Zhao?"

    Zhao Yun slowly emerged out of thin air with a grim expression, and he appraised the twisted creature on the other side of the ss for quite a while before continuing, "Its codename is indeed Peach Blossom, and that applies even in Hell. That''s because at the very core of the bodies of these creatures, there is always a six-petaled peach blossom symbol."

    [1] [Onmyoji is a popr Chinese mobile game which I''mpletely unacquainted with, but ording to my brief research, there are characters, or Shikigami, that can be summoned in the game, and the highest levels of rarity for these summoned characters are SSR and SP.]

    [2] [This is a reference to popr manga and anime series, Dragon Ball, in which seven dragon balls bearing different numbers of stars can be gathered to summon Shenron, a divine dragon capable of granting a wish.]

    [3] [In Chinese culture, the peach blossom is closely tied with romantic affairs. In fact, there is a term "ÌÒ»¨ÔË", which trantes directly to peach blossom luck, that rtes to your luck with the opposite sex. The more peach blossom luck you have, the more attractive and popr you''ll be with the opposite sex, and this link between the peach blossom and romance is what''s being alluded to here.]

 Chapter 805: Reliving the Campus Life

    <h4>Chapter 805: Reliving the Campus Life</h4>

    "Old Hell''s legacy has existed over a span of several thousand years starting from the Han Dynasty, yet even Hell was never able to discover where this thinges from. It''s definitely not a naturally forming creature, and it bears a symbol, so it must belong to a certain power. However, the second King Yanluo investigated this matter in person, and even he couldn''t find anything. All we can be sure of...

    He cast a grim gaze toward Qin Ye as he continued, "Is that outside of the surveince scope of Hell, perhaps in some secluded mountain, perhaps in some area of the sea, there is a power that has existed for close to 2,000 years. They haven''t actively attempted to alter the course of history, and they haven''t be involved in any political matters. It''s as if they''re merely observers of history, watching in silence as the world changes around them. This may not be the most apt analogy, but if I had to make an analogy on them, then I can think of one: they''re like abstract gods with no substance that have transcended beyond everything."

    <i>Whoosh...</i> His Yin energy spread out like a wave around him, and it was so fierce that Lin Han was forced to take a few steps backward. As soon as he caught sight of Zhao Yun, the first thought that arose to him was...

    Finally, a worthy opponent for me in the looks department! Our battle will be legendary!

    "Greetings, Lord Qin." Zhao Yun cupped a fist in a respectful salute, and Qin Ye nodded casually in response, but his gaze remained fixed on Peach Blossom this entire time. "Are there any theories on how this thing came to be?"

    "The panel of advisors of our Hell has conducted research into this matter before, and they discovered that it''s not a Yin spirit, nor is it any type of living being. It can live forever, but it doesn''t have the habits of any other living beings, and it runs on Yin energy as its source of energy."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly once again.

    By his theory, there had to be some type of connection between the Peach Blossom Spring and Bu Wantian, and the trait that connected them together from the very beginning was immortality.

    Simrly, this Peach Blossom was also immortal...

    It seemed that everything was pointing toward the Peach Blossom Spring, but there was a thin veil that kept out all prying eyes trying to see the truth.

    "Secondly, it only appears in coastal areas. Thirdly, it''s able to possess humans."

    Zhao Yun sighed before continuing, "The samples of this thing are far too limited, and it only appears at least once every few centuries, so there''s no way to gather any useful information about it."

    Qin Ye was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "How many darkfeathers do we currently have?"

    "There are 1,200 in total, my Lord."

    "Deploy all of them to all parts of the nation with the objective of finding out the origins of Peach Blossom," Qin Ye instructed with a grim expression.

    "Yes." Zhao Yun epted the order with a sped fist salute, then vanished on the spot.

    He didn''t need to ask why Qin Ye was so intent on finding out the origins of Peach Blossom. It was clear to anyone that the existence of such a mysterious and ancient organization was most definitely a bad thing. At the very least, Hell had to know the organization''s location and be able to control it.

    The room fell silent, and after a short while, Lin Han grabbed onto Qin Ye''s arm before dragging him outside. "Let''s go and have some fun first. It''s been ages since west met, we can''t just get down to work right away!"

    Qin Ye didn''t refuse, and soon, the two of them arrived at a rotisserie.

    Kebabs + beer = the ultimate bromance!

    "I propose a toast!" Lin Han raised his ss of beer before downing it in one go, and conversation between the two began to flow freely once again.

    Lin Han heaved a reminiscent sigh and said, "Truth be told, back on campus, I really felt like you were an insurmountable peak. All of the students of the Academy of Cultivators are elite individuals from all parts of the nation, so why is it that you were progressing so much faster than everyone else? On top of that, you still had time to write your thesis! In private, everyone was calling you a freak, and only afterward did we figure out what was going on with you."

    Hmm? How could I have forgotten? I forgot to show off in front of this noob!

    Qin Ye cleared his throat before asking, "Don''t you feel like I''ve progressed even further in my cultivation."

    "I do, what about it?"

    "... Don''t you feel even the slightest bit envious or frustrated?"

    "Not at all. Isn''t this normal for you? What''s there to be envious or frustrated over?"

    <i>I must look like an idiot expecting you to praise and worship me... </i>Qin Ye quickly changed the subject. There was no point in mentioning things like cultivation to a husky dog. The only things that huskies were interested in were bones and more bones.

    "By the way, how''s your little squad been goingtely?" Qin Ye asked after taking a sip of beer.

    "We split up a long time ago." Lin Han lit a cigarette before taking a puff and blowing out a smoke ring. "In the past, supernatural events were quitemon, and we were able to earn a lot of money, but ever since the sensors detecting paranormal activity were deactivated, we couldn''t get any more jobs. All of those roaming ghosts suddenly seemed to disappear one day, I wonder which idiot got rid of all of them."

    ... My sincerest apologies for ruining your business, hehehe...

    "By the way." Lin Han suddenly raised his head with a mysterious expression before pulling out his phone and waving it in front of Qin Ye''s face. Qin Ye was in the process of chewing on a mouthful of kebabs, and he almost spat out the contents in his mouth!

    "What is that?" His lips were trembling as he grabbed the phone before staring at it with a mixture of shock and envy.

    The wallpaper on the phone screen depicted a sweet and gentle woman holding a small child.

    "What the hell is this?!" Qin Ye''s voice immediately spiked up a few octaves. "Don''t tell me this is your kid! There''s no way! He doesn''t look anything like you!"

    Dammit! How could this have happened?!

    The most painful feeling in life was losing a race before even reaching the starting line, and this was the exact feeling Qin Ye was experiencing right now!

    This fucking idiot... Qin Ye''s hands were trembling with rage, and he turned to Lin Han with an extremely malicious expression. It''s only been six years, and you already have a kid? And you dare to unt your family in front of my face?!

    Lin Han downed his ss of beer in one go with a content expression. "Look at your jealous face! If I didn''t know any better, I''d think you were in love with me, but I''m sorry, I''m not interested in you."

    "She must be blind to have fallen in love with you..." There was nothing that Qin Ye could do, so he set down the phone with tightly gritted teeth. "You have zero redeeming traits aside from your looks!"

    The burning envy in his heart spurred him on to make a decision right then and there: it was time to begin setting up a harem!

    "You don''t know shit! Marrying me is the best decision she''s ever made!" Lin Han took back his phone with a satisfied expression. "Let''s see what you owe me. We have a wedding gift, a month-old celebration gift[In China, a child turning a month old is traditionally celebrated.], a gift from godfather to godson..."

    "Hold on, when did I be your son''s godfather?"

    "Just now," Lin Han replied in apletely justified manner. "With the bond that we share, what excuse do I need to hang onto your coattails?"

    How shameless! And yet... I can''t refute him...

    "Why didn''t you think about hanging onto my coattails when you guys were chasing me down back then?"

    As soon as these words left Qin Ye''s mouth, both of them immediately fell silent.

    Only after a long while did Lin Han heave a forlorn sigh before filling a ss with beer, then offered it up to Qin Ye with both hands. A rare serious look appeared in his eyes as he said, "This is something that I''ve always regretted. Even though such a long time has passed, I still have to apologize. None of the people from that Hungry Ghost Festival are here, so I''ll apologize on their behalf as well."

    Qin Ye shook his head as an amused smile appeared on his face. "What kind of person do you take me for? We all had our own reasons at the time, so everyone''s actions were understandable. I can''t say that I wasn''t disappointed and angry, but that''s far from enough to drive a permanent wedge between all of us. Truth be told..."

    Qin Ye tapped his beer ss against Lin Han''s, then downed his beer in one go before looking up at the ceiling with a reminiscent expression. "The longer I''ve been in this position, the more I can understand Faculty Head Zhou''s decision. It''s been six whole years since then..."

    He smiled as he refilled his own ss, and he wanted to say something more on the matter, but after opening his mouth a few times, he still wasn''t able to find the words.

    What he wanted to say was: "Six years is nothing more than the blink of an eye for me. I can understand the reasons behind everyone''s actions, so I had forgotten about it long ago. You''re still the same Local Bully, and I''m still that Pretty Boy. Otherwise, no one is worthy of a personal visit from King Yanluo. From now on, your family will live long and peaceful lives free from tragedy and disease, that is my promise to you. First and foremost, you are my friend, and secondly, you created memories for me that I think back on and savor for the rest of eternity in my immortal life. Those campus days were truly very precious and pure..."

    Of course, there was no need to verbalize these things.

    "Indeed, it''s been six years..." Lin Han also looked up at the ceiling, and only after a long while did he take a sip of beer with a faint smile. In that instant, Qin Ye was suddenly struck by the feeling that Lin Han had also matured a lot.

    Perhaps this would be the only time that they presented themselves to one another in their original forms.

    Next time, they would all see what he had truly be after this span of six years.

    "Are you really immortal now?" Lin Han asked in a forlorn voice as he filled both of their sses.

    "That''s right, so I''ll be waiting for you down there."

    "I''m truly envious..." Lin Han said with a smile. "Currently, I''m the captain of an investigation team at the Insignia Province''s Special Investigations Department. If I get another promotion, I''ll be vice-director of the Special Investigations Department branch. Never did I think that I would be able to reach this level. How about you? Where are you right now?"

    "The Insignia Province, eh?" Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly. "In that case, we should have plenty of time to catch up in the future. The Insignia Province is my territory. If you ever get some spare time, go to the city god to burn some incense, and I can open up a special passageway for you. By the way, what''s be of the Academy of Cultivators? The supernatural disasters have subsided, does the academy still exist?"

    "Of course, it''s currently the go-to academy for cultivation education, during the past few years, it''s merged with quite a few sects and religious groups. By the way, are you married yet?"

    "... Do you have to ruin the atmosphere like that?"

    "... Well, I''ve actually always been very curious about what happened between you and Ye Xingchen. You didn''t dump him, did you? To be fair, he couldn''t match me in the looks department, but he was still one of the three most handsome male students of our academy. Not long ago, he was asking about you on Momo, so he''s clearly still thinking of you. How could you be so cruel to dump him like that? Tsk tsk tsk... "

    "You know, if you really have a death wish, I can take you to my territory right now!"

    "Calm down, there''s no need to get so worked up! I know you''re obsessed with me, but I just don''t swing that way. Didn''t you see my phone just now? Take a look over here, that''s my son!"

    The two of them drank until 4 AM.

    Qin Ye''s alcohol tolerance wasn''t that great to begin with, and he finally bade farewell to Lin Han. Seeing as both of them were in the Insignia Province, there would be plenty of time for them to catch up in the future. Upon his departure, Qin Ye shook his own head vigorously, and he felt like he had forgotten something.

    What exactly was it?

    Qin Ye made his way back to the Special Investigation Department building, and upon seeing the luxury car and the well-dressed bodyguard standing next to it, he was immediately jolted out of his drunken state.

    Holy shit! I forgot about Her Excellency, Lee Jung-sook!

    She had been a great friend,ing with him to the central business area, yet he had ditched her here to drink beer with an idiot for several hours!

    Holy shit... It looks like stupidity really is contagious!

    Under normal circumstances, shouldn''t he have been sipping on cocktails with the exquisite beauty who had apanied him here? Why was it that he had spent an entire night drinking beer and eating kebabs with a married man?!

    "Mr. Qin." Just as he was still reeling from panic, the bodyguard made his way over to him in a respectful manner, then said with a smile, "Madam Lee had some other matters to attend to, so she left early."

    "On top of that, she asked me to pass on a message to you..." A slightly awkward look appeared on his face as he spoke.

    Qin Ye worked up his courage and prompted, "It''s alright, go ahead, I can handle it..."

    "In that case, please pardon my rudeness..." The bodyguard cleared his throat before putting on a stern expression. "You can fuck right off!! Don''t contact me within the next three years! If you even so much as set foot in Samsung, I''ll have you shot on the spot!!!"

 Chapter 806: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (1)

    <h4>Chapter 806: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (1)</h4>

    Everburn.

    Following the past six years of rapid development, Everburn had be the most materialistically advanced city in the nation. The city was full of buildings constructed in an antiquated style, andrge batches of materials had been imported to produce clothing, essories, shoes, socks, etc. Almost all of theherworldly citizens in the city were wearing the most stylistically symbolic long robes of Cathay, and the city had be a perfect melting pot of modern elementsbined with the aesthetic of the Song and Ming Dynasties.

    The North Yin Pavilion was the building situated at the very center of Everburn. It sat at the direct center of an area that was several kilometers in radius and surrounded by city walls. In front of the pavilion was a za, upon which stood a 20-meter-tall statue of the Goddess Earth Mother transforming into the six paths of reincarnation. Behind this statue were the statues of the three King Yanluos in ascending order, namely the first King Yanluo, Bo Yikao, the second King Yan Luo, Xu Yangyi, and the third King Yanluo, Qin Ye. Each statue had a dark obsidian que behind it, bearing a record of the notable deeds and feats.

    The first King Yanluo: Tore through all opposition and founded Hell during the tail-end of an era where gods and devils freely roamed thend. The prestige of his achievements is immeasurable.

    The second King Yanluo: The very definition of invincibility, rising up at a time during which all of the major underworlds were at war with one another. Through his power, he was able to cement the Cathayan Underworld as the undisputed number one underworld in all of thends, and for that, his name shall forever be remembered.

    The third King Yanluo: ...

    Perhaps it was just a figment of everyone''s imagination, but even though the third King Yanluo had no achievements to date, all of the public servants that passed through this za couldn''t help but feel as if his statue was slightly taller than those of his two predecessors...

    After passing through the Earth Mother za, one would reach the North Yin Pavilion, which bore a strong resemnce to the Yellow Crane Tower. The name of the building was derived from Fengdu''s North Yin Emperor, who was said to be the paramount death god of Taoism. Of course, the reason why Taoism was unable topete with Buddhism was due to the upational issues among its gods. It was often the case that one god would take on multiple roles, receivingpensation for no work, eptingmissions, and doing things anonymously...

    If the North Yin Emperor of Fengdu already existed, then what was the point in establishing a King Yanluo as well?

    Thus, the wise and gant third King Yanluo decisively abolished this terrible practice. The King Yanluo was the King Yanluo, there was no need to throw in other random titles to muddy the water.

    On the top floor, Secretary Jiang approached Wang Chenghao before asking in a quiet voice, "How is he? Is he looking any better?"

    Wang Chenghao pushed his sses further up the bridge of his nose and shook his head in response. "I''m afraid not."

    "I''m starting to grow a little concerned..." Secretary Jiang said with furrowed brows as he cast his gaze toward the door off to the side. "What could make King Yanluo look so glum? He''s already been back for quite a while now."

    Qin Ye was indeed looking quite glum. In fact, he appeared to be downright distraught.

    Even now, when he closed his eyes, he could still imagine Lee Jung-sook roaring at him like an enraged lioness.

    Truth be told, he really did deserve a severe dressing down. The queen of Samsung had apanied him to the county''s central business area in person in the middle of the night, and in return, hepletely left her hanging. Only after drinking like an idiot until 4 AM did he recall her existence. Even if this was a normal woman, they would''ve most definitely broken up with him, and he could already count himself extremely fortunate that Lee Jung-sook was letting him off the hook so easily.

    After the event, Qin Ye had painstakingly written a 500-word text of apology, and his hands had been trembling slightly as he sent the text message. Unsurprisingly, he received no response, and he didn''t dare to bother her any further. If he were to call her now, his eardrums would most definitely be blown out of his head! A furious woman was no different from a ferocious lioness.

    "That Local Bully is a terrible influence on me..." he sighed before knocking on the table, and Wang Chenghao was immediately pushed into the room by Secretary Jiang.

    Hold on, is there some sort of workce romance going on between the two of them?

    Wang Chenghao gave Secretary Jiang a vicious nce, but as he turned back to Qin Ye, he had already adopted a serious expression. "Wee Back, King Yanluo. During the time you were away, I''ve arranged all of the documents that need to be signed by you into categories and ced them on the table. Please feel free to take a look at them when you''re ready..."

    Qin Ye was holding a cup of Yin tea, and after taking a small sip, he suddenly interjected. "Are you interested in taking on a stint as a city god?"

    This abrupt change in subject naturally came as quite a surprise to Wang Chenghao, and he was stunned into silence for a full three seconds before responding. "What?"

    Qin Ye set down his teacup before curling a finger, and the documents on the table immediately rose up to hover in mid-air. He examined the documents as he continued, "During my trip, I encountered Local Bu... Instructor Lin."

    "Instructor Lin Han?" Wang Chenghao pushed his fake sses further up the bridge of his nose as he asked, "He''s still alive?"

    Of course he''s still alive! Not only is he alive, he even got married and has a kid! What an absolute scumbag!

    Qin Ye cleared his throat and said, "I''m offering you this opportunity to hone your skills. As I said in the past, as the King Yanluo, I need a circle of close and capable subordinates. The Harken, Arakshasa, and General Zhao are all in that circle, but that''s not enough. As more and more people are incorporated into this circle, I''ll set up amittee, and most matters in the future will be decided by vote. I need people with different skill sets and ideas that I can trust, but the King Yanluo''s assistant is not someone who can be entrusted with important duties on an official basis."

    "Why..."

    Before Wang Chenghao had a chance to finish, Qin Ye continued, "It sounds a bit contradictory, right? I want to set up amittee in order to ensure fairness and democracy, yet I''m also establishing my own core circle, which makes it look like I''m trying to run a dictatorship. However, it''s actually not contradictory at all."

    With each passing day Qin Ye spent as the King Yanluo, he was constantly learning and developing new insights. "Currently, as the ruler of Hell, even I''m only making things up as I go. I don''t have the foresight to say with absolute confidence that all of the decisions I''ve made are correct, so I need more people to help me in my decision-making. However, there are some matters where I have to stamp my foot down and allow for nopromise, such as in the development of forbidden techniques, particrly at a time like this, where most of ourherworldly citizens don''t know much about all of the international underworlds."

    What I''m saying is, I''m going to remain firm in the matters that I understand, but in the matters that I don''t understand, I can allow other people to participate in running the nation with me.

    That is... truly a unique brand of democracy...

    "... I understand, I''ll be sure to take on my new role as soon as possible."

    "Alright. Inform General Zhao, the Harken, and all of the other departments to prepare for a meeting."

    "Yes."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Still in Everburn.

    One monarch beast after another was racing along. Close to half a monthter, high-ranking officials that could normally only be seen on newspapers, such as the governors, magistrates, and procurators of each province, had all gathered at Everburn. All of a sudden, Everburn had be a central hub for all of the most important figures in the nation.

    Everburn''s best restaurant was the Returning Swallow, and the most luxurious level of the restaurant was the Four Seasons Hall. Ever since five days ago, all of the booths in the hall had been fully booked by the secretaries and assistants of all of the high-ranking officials. Furthermore, the entire level would continue to be fully booked for the next half a month.

    No one was willing to forego such a brilliantworking opportunity.

    "Here''s your candied Cathayan perch, please enjoy." The Four Seasons Hall had four booths, each of which was named after one of the four seasons, and each booth could hold 10 people. The server ced the dish down onto the table, then promptly departed, gently closing the door behind them.

    With the massive influx of resources, all industries were developing rapidly. The city was still primarily dependent on imports, but at the very least, it was entering an era of prosperity. Even though this was only a restaurant, its construction and decor were truly resplendent. In each booth was an exquisite piece of embroidered underworld artwork that was several meters in length and around two meters tall. Intricately craftedmps of all types of different descriptions were hanging from the walls, and hanging overhead from the ceiling was a ptial light that perfectly captured the Cathayan aesthetic. In each of the four corners of the booth was a gold-ted statue of a red spider lily that was extremely life-like.

    With sufficient resources at its disposal, the development of a society''s culture could be extremely rapid.

    Li Lanzhi was wearing avish ck robe, and there was a green jade hairpin sticking out of her white hair, which had been arranged into a bun. She picked up her cup of wine, and a faint smile appeared on her face. Casting her gaze around the table, she saw Vige Head Gu Changyou of the Gulong Vige, Mayor Liao Handong of Fleetnce City, former Deputy Mayor Bai Zizhong of Shadowend City... All of the leaders of the cities that had been conquered during the six-year-long war of unification were currently gathered here.

    Every time she thought back to the decision she had made, she would feel extremely blessed and fortunate. If it weren''t for the unification of the Cathayan Underworld, she would still be stuck in Deadsend City, which may have already been wiped out by this point. Currently, she was a provincial governor, and above her were the ranks of provincial magistrate and procurator. This was a position that she would''ve never even dared to yearn for in the past.

    She cast her gaze toward the candied mandarin Cathayan perch on the table.

    Back in Deadsend City, she would''ve been able to have a dish every once in a blue moon if she were lucky. However, from what she had heard, the food in Deadsend City wasn''t far off from the food in Everburn.

    On a material level, everyone''s quality of life was rapidly improving, and all of theherworldly citizens had something to do. Currently, Hell''s construction team was hiring from all over the nation. In order to build a strong nation, a period of one to two decades was a bare minimum. Nowadays, everyone had stable lives and materialistic prosperity, these conditions were the precursor for a flourishing era!

    The only thing that she was worried about was the meeting that she had been summoned to attend, and with that in mind, she cast her gaze toward everyone else present.

    Having already served under Yanluo Qin for several years, they were all aware of his attitude.

    He only wanted capable and hard-working ghosts as his subordinates. Otherwise, it didn''t matter what your identity was back in the mortal realm, it was off to the cycle of reincarnation for you.

    Thus, she definitely wasn''t going to take this meeting lightly. In particr, all of the high-ranking officials from all of the provinces across the nation had gathered here in Everburn, so this clearly wasn''t just going to be some insignificant conference. Simrly, she had always treated all of the meetings held by Yanluo Qin with the utmost seriousness. Yanluo Qin wasn''t the type of ruler to hold conferences for no good reason. He either had extremely important matters to discuss with everyone, or he would simply not hold any meetings at all, and there was no reason to think that this meeting would be any different.

    "Everyone." She set down her cup with a smile as she said, "It''s not every day that we get to sit at the same table like this. I must say, all of us were extremely fortunate and made the right decision to submit to Hell''s administration."

    "Indeed..." The former deputy mayor of Shadowend City sighed. "During the war of unification, our mayor was executed by beheading in front of the entire city. I told him to surrender, but he refused to listen. I don''t know how he worked up the courage to resist even after seeing such a powerful army."

    "It was the same for our city as well. Our mayor didn''t even get to live a single day of the good life before he passed on..."

    "They can only me themselves for their stubbornness and foolishness. Did they not see how powerful the regr army of Hell was?"

    Amid the flurry of chatter that broke out, Li Lanzhi heaved a faint sigh and said, "Let''s all leave that in the past, everyone. Currently, all of us are officials serving under Yanluo Qin. What I really want to know is if any of you have heard about the subject of this conference."

    Her words were instantly met withplete silence.

    Their statuses were a little awkward in that they weren''t local residents of Everburn, so they were inevitably slightly out of the loop at times. Several secondster, a middle-aged male Yin spirit said, "I did actually hear some things. Apparently, prior to all of the officials across the nation being summoned here, Lord Qin, the Harken, and General Zhao had a small private meeting together."

    Everyone was very intrigued to hear this.

    The meeting involved only three people, but these three people were currently the most powerful beings in the entire Cathayan Underworld!

    "Do you know what their meeting was about?"

    "I''m afraid not," the middle-aged man replied with a wry smile. "There''s no way people like us would be privy to information from such important meetings. I went through my entire list of contacts to see if they had any information, but no one knew anything."

    Furthermore, there were no signs of a celebratory ceremony in the entire city.

    This indicated that this meeting was either not very important, or it was so important that even theherworldly citizens couldn''t be notified about it in advance!

 Chapter 807: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (2)

    <h4>Chapter 807: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (2)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    "No one asked us to prepare anything, and we didn''t receive any data that we had to study in advance..." Gu Changyou said as he skimmed his finger absentmindedly along the rim of his cup. He then shook his head with a resigned sigh. "There are no clues for us whatsoever."

    "Well, that''s not entirely true," Liao Handong said with a serious expression. "Do you all still remember the orders that Yanluo Qin has issued since unification, particrly the most recent ones?"

    Li Lanzhi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and several secondster, her eyes lit up as she replied, "I recall very correctly that the first order that was issued was to construct canals and waterways along the major cities to connect with neighboring provinces. To be precise, this order was actually issued as far back as themencement of the war of unification, not after unification. With each city that was conquered, construction of the city and construction of the waterways progressed simultaneously alongside one another. Construction on all of the waterways across the nation was onlypleted justst month, and the waterway system is virtually an identical replica of the Yellow River system in the mortal realm."

    "I also remember that order," Gu Changyou chimed in. "That was the order that was most perplexing to the entire nation. Are you suggesting that this meeting has something to do with that?"

    Liao Handong picked up a peanut and ced it into his mouth as he murmured, "Who knows? Construction of the waterway system was onlypleted recently, and now, we''re being summoned to attend this meeting, so it''s hard not to see a connection there. With the sudden demise of thest Hell, too much was wiped out, and many things had to be built up again from scratch. As a result, there are some orders that only Yanluo Qin and his core circle will know the purpose of."

    "Indeed. In the past, we had thousands of years of umted knowledge, and new ghosts whoe down can easily learn everything they need to know from others, yet now, everyone has to attend weekly lessons at their neighborhoodmittees."

    "After we graduate from the national general knowledge course, we have to go on to learn about the state of the world. The education sector hasn''t been officially established yet. If you ask me, I think Yanluo Qin is trying to drill all of this general knowledge into everyone first before working on establishing a sound system of education."

    "This is going to be a monumental task that could easily take another decade toplete."

    "It has to be done no matter how difficult it is. We''re already dead, so we can''t look at this world through the same lens as we did in the mortal realm."

    "Indeed. Haven''t you noticed that there are no instances of Yin spirit progression aside from among King Yanluo and his core circle? Apparently, this used to be amonce urrence among all Yin spirits..."

    "Let''s have some food first," Li Lanzhi suggested with a wry smile after the discussion went on for a while longer. "It''s rare for us to get together like this. We don''t know anything, so the same can probably be expected of everyone else as well."

    She picked up her chopsticks and plucked up a piece of Cathayan perch. The golden flesh of the perch was dripping with caramelized sugar, stuck to which were pieces of spring onion. "Let''s wait and see, we''ll know everything in three days anyway."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Three days passed by in the blink of an eye, and on this morning, the area within a kilometer radius of the North Yin Pavilion was packed with Yin soldiers standing on guard. High-ranking officials from all over the nation were arriving at the North Yin Pavilion in carriages drawn by Yin beasts, and countlessherworldly citizens were gathered around the za to spectate.

    "What''s going on now? I didn''t hear about any major events taking ce today."

    "I''m just as confused as you are. Normally, they''ll always notify us in advance whenever there''s some important ceremony."

    "Hehe, what makes you think the government would notify you whenever something importantes up? Who do you think you are?"

    "Hey, no need to get all snarky, I''m just trying to keep up with current affairs."

    Li Lanzhi listened to the chatter ringing out all around her, and she repressed the curiosity in her own heart as she made her way into the North Yin Pavilion in an elegant and dignified manner.

    The conference was being held in a side hall on the third floor. It was a tiered hall that wasn''t particrlyrge, and the ck g of the Qin Dynasty was hanging up on the wall in the back. The decor was very simple and minimalistic, but there was a bright blue "Qin" character formed by Yin energy inscribed overhead, and it was warping incessantly, lending the hall a sense of authority.

    Li Lanzhi sat down quietly before opening her notepad. There were still 10 minutes left until 9 AM, which was when the meeting was scheduled tomence.

    10 minutes passed by in a sh, and at 9 AM on the dot, the doors of the conference hall swung shut, while a series of talismans lit up. All of a sudden, none of the sounding from outside could be heard anymore, and the entire hall was so silent that even a pin drop would be clearly audible.

    Theherfire in Li Lanzhi''s eyes flickered slightly, and all of the other high-ranking officials in the hall also adopted serious expressions.

    A procurator took a deep breath and analyzed, "We currently don''t have any external enemies, and during our weekly lessons, we were told that the second King Yanluo sealed the Cathayan Underworld, so there''s no way anyone can eavesdrop on us. This is a meeting between high-ranking provincial officials, so this is an extremely high-level conference. Without the possibility of anyone eavesdropping on these meetings, there have been no precedents of the doors being shut and sound-isting Yin talismans being activated. It looks like today''s meeting is truly going to be an extremely important one..."

    All of these high-ranking officials were sly old foxes in their own right, so everyone else had figured this out for themselves as well. Currently, everyone''s attention was focused on the empty stage at the center of the hall. In the next instant, streaks of Yin winds converged, and a series of figures appeared on the stage. At the very center was Qin Ye in his Emissary of Hell form, and he was apanied by the Harken, Zhao Yun, Arthis, and Oda Nobunaga.

    These were the people who stood at the very pinnacle of the Qin Dynasty''s political hierarchy!

    Qin Ye took a sip of tea before clearing his throat. "Wee, everyone. I''m sure you''re all very confused about why you were invited to Everburn without any prior notice. The reason for that is that this is an extremely important meeting, so we had to take all of the precautions that we could to make it strictly confidential. If the contents of this conference are somehow leaked, then all of you will be subjected to skyntern punishment."

    A string of faint gasps rang out within the hall in response to this stern deration. Qin Ye waited for a few seconds before continuing, "As I''m sure all of you are already aware by now, the so-called three realms truly exist, and they are the realms of heaven, earth, and mortal. The underworld is the earthly realm, but our territory has never beenplete. The true purpose of the underworld is to connect Yin and Yang toplete the cycle of reincarnation, but our underworld currently doesn''t have this function. Due to Ksitigarbha''s ascension, all of the personnel from the old Hell unexpectedly ascended to Heaven. As a result, reincarnation came to a grinding halt, and there was no one to judge the virtuosity of Yin spirits. The six paths of reincarnation is the most basic and most important function of Hell. Half a month ago, General Zhao, the Harken, and I traveled to six forsakennds, gathering six irredeemably heinous souls, and now, we finally have the resources required to create another six paths of reincarnation!"

    The entire conference hall fell deathly silent, and all of the officials attending the meeting reflexively sat up straighter as they stared intently at the stage in the center of the hall.

    They had all guessed that the content being discussed during this meeting was going to be extremely important, but none of them could''ve anticipated it to be this important!

    This was a deration of no lesser magnitude than the founding of the nation!

    Only with the six paths of reincarnation rebuilt could Hell be said to be trulyplete. With each passing day that the six paths of reincarnation remained absent, Hell would only exist in name, but not in substance. Now, they were finally about to witness a pivotal moment in history, the moment that Hell became whole again!

    Everyone''s breathing began to speed up, and Qin Ye continued, "The six paths of reincarnation require six irredeemably heinous souls, all of which have been gathered. However, the other prerequisites to its establishment are that King Yanluo''s Seal must be whole, and that the Yellow Springs must flow freely. Only then will Hell be able to operate as normal."

    Everyone had grown ustomed to Yanluo Qin''s straightforward and to-the-point way of speaking. It had to be said that he delivered his points far more clearly than the officials who held meetings in the mortal realm. In those meetings, it was often the case that half an hour of sleep-inducing drivel would pass by before the speaker finally cut to the chase. Through his actions, Yanluo Qin was telling everyone that he had no time for time-wasters, and that he was only interested in getting things done.

    In the wake of this deration, everyone immediately thought of the recentlypleted project to construct the waterway system.

    Could it be that we''re about to guide the Yellow Springs into the waterway system? Li Lanzhi thought to herself as a hint of astonishment appeared in her eyes.

    Qin Ye swept his gaze across the officials present and continued, "Currently, the recuperation of King Yanluo''s Seal isplete, and it only needs to be activated. Simrly, all that''s needed for the Yellow Springs to flow into our waterways is an order from me. However, this will set off a series of chain reactions, and that''s what we''re going to be discussing today."

    He turned to the Harken with a slight nod, and the Harken immediately rose to its feet with an authoritative expression. "Everyone, in order to understand why the six paths of reincarnation are the foundation of Hell, you first have to understand its purpose. To exin this on a theoretical basis, we have to talk about the Laws of Yin-Yang Coaction. Yin and Yang have always formed a cycle. Upon reaching the end of the Yin realm, otherwise known as Hell, one would return to the Yang realm, otherwise known as the mortal realm, through the six paths of reincarnation. After that, they''ll return to Hell upon reaching the end of their lifespan in the mortal realm, and thus, the cycle repeats itself. The six paths of reincarnation are vital to ensure the smooth operation of this cycle. It''s responsible for erasing everyone''s memories of their past lives, and it connects all living beings in the world. It guides different souls into the bodies of different living beings ording to the verdict that Hell has delivered upon them. The stagnation of the six paths of reincarnation will result in only people dying in the mortal realm, but no one being reincarnated. As a result, the cycle of Yin and Yang is destroyed. If it weren''t for the second King Yanluo using his incredible power to reverse the Heavenly Dao, Cathay would''ve most likely already ceased to exist by now. So long as the six paths of reincarnation exist and nothing major goes wrong in the mortal realm, Cathay will continue to thrive, and that''s why the six paths of reincarnation are the foundation of everything. However, two prerequisites must be fulfilled before it can be activated."

    A serious look appeared on the Harken''s face as it continued, "Firstly, the Yellow Springs¡¯ Yin energy must be converted into kic energy. The six paths of reincarnation isn''t a technique, nor is it a Yin artifact, so it''s not listed as one of Hell''s three divine artifacts. At its very core, the six paths of reincarnation are the body of a god!"

    The officials seated in the hall were listening carefully, taking full advantage of this opportunity to get a better understanding of Hell. After all, a thorough understanding of Hell would form the basis for their work.

    "I''m sure all of you have heard the story of the Goddess Earth Mother''s body transforming into the six paths of reincarnation. This is a true story. Thus, the six paths of reincarnation is a godly existence to begin with; it''sprised of an ancient god''s whole body, including their blood, flesh, bones, and skin. Rebuilding the six paths of reincarnation was originally going to be an extremely difficult feat, but there was a pleasant surprise waiting for us at the conclusion of the war of unification."

    The pleasant surprise being referred to here was naturally none other than the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn and the ancient god, Yu Kiang, that was engaged in battle against it.

    Of course, this was information of the absolute highest level of confidentiality, and no more than 10 people were aware of which god''s body formed the foundation of the new six paths of reincarnation.

    "Our second objective is to find one of Hell''s three divine artifacts, the Judgment Pen. During the copse of thest Hell, the Judgment Pen went missing. The Book of Life and Death records life and death, while the Judgment Pen passes judgment on good and evil, and King Yanluo''s Seal guides Yin spirits into the six paths of reincarnation. This is theplete system of reincarnation, and any missingponent will prevent the cycle from beingplete. Admittedly, we currently still don''t know where the Judgment Pen is, but the nation has already been united, and the Judgment Pen emerged within the past two to three years, so there must be leads! In order to wee its return, some things must be prepared in advance."

    Its voice took on a grim tone as it continued, "Once the six paths of reincarnation are rebuilt, the array set up by the second King Yanluo will lose a part of its functions, and from that moment forth, we''ll be responsible for overseeing the cycle of reincarnation. Perhaps those of you present still haven''t familiarized yourselves with the mortal realm. This is not a good thing as Hell needs to constantly know what''s going on in the mortal realm. All of the information that you need to know will be given to you by the city god. If you already have some understanding of the mortal realm, then you''ll know that the mortal ream is entering the initial stage of an aging poption, and that it''s experienced 10 consecutive years of decline in its birth rate! The decline in the birth rate is caused by a variety of factors, such as the policies of the mortal realm. Due to increased living expenses, many people don''t want to and can''t afford to get married, but that''s only one factor. Another major factor is the iplete six paths of reincarnation. The second King Yanluo may have reversed the Heavenly Dao, but that''s only a band-aid fix. In order to truly resolve this issue at its roots, the six paths of reincarnation must be rebuilt, and once that happens, we must immediately organize for Yin spirits to enter the cycle of reincarnation!"

    All of the officials present fell silent upon hearing this.

    Everyone finally understood what the crux of this meeting was.

    The construction of the waterway system fulfilled the requirements for the Yellow Spring to flow throughout the entirend. This was fantastic news. From now on, there would be a new mode of transportation between provinces, thereby making the entire nation more connected.

    However, this brought about a major dilemma.

    During the past six years, theherworldly citizen poption of the Cathayan Underworld had reached over a hundred million, and all of them were ustomed to living in the underworld. Once the six paths of reincarnation wereplete, who were they going to get to enter the cycle of reincarnation?

    If they weren''t careful in this process, it could easily lead to a revolt from the Yin spirits!

    Everyone was living good lives down here, and many citizens were already starting families. Who would want to enter the cycle of reincarnation at a time like this?

    Furthermore, the nation had only just been united, and it didn''t take a genius to know that this was the perfect opportunity to be building a career. The rapid development of this new nation presented countless opportunities in all fields and sectors, and everyone wanted to take advantage of this to earn a foundation of wealth for their descendants.

    Perhaps there would be many Yin spirits willing to enter the cycle of reincarnation in the future, but there definitely wouldn''t be many now.

    As such, it was extremely important to consider two things: who should be selected to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and what measures should be taken to convince them toply with the decision.

 Chapter 808: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (3)

    <h4>Chapter 808: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (3)</h4>

    No one said anything.

    Everyone could feel the weight of this mission, and it was no wonder that no information had been leaked in advance. This was a major task concerning poption control across the entire nation. It was going to take several years of observation and nning to decide on who was going to be put into the cycle of reincarnation. The ideological and clean-up work required was going to be monumental, and it was the first major hurdle that the new administration had to face, so it was no surprise that no one had heard anything in advance about this.

    "Lord Qin." A governor finally broke the silence. "Do we have any leads on the whereabouts of the Judgment Pen? It''s the final prerequisite required toplete the cycle of reincarnation, after all."

    "I''m afraid not." The one to reply on this asion was Zhao Yun, and his brows were slightly furrowed as he said, "It''s quite strange. King Yanluo''s Seal has already recovered, and theoretically speaking, now that we have two of the three divine artifacts, they should automatically reveal the location of the final divine artifact. However, that has not been the case. There are two possible reasons for this, the first of which is that the Judgment Pen is broken, and the second of which is that it''s currently situated somewhere hidden from the Heavenly Dao."

    All of the officials quickly took notes,tching onto Zhao Yun''s every word. Right at this moment, the Harken''s voice rang out again. "Following this meeting, Hell is going to found the department of reincarnation, and all provinces, cities, counties, and viges must do everything in their power to carry out work rted to the reincarnation initiative, activelymunicating with theherworldly citizens under their jurisdiction to work out practicable ns of action. I hope to see these ns of actions submitted by all provinces by the Qingming Festival of this year at thetest."

    The Harken''s announcement was greeted by the sound of rustling pen on paper. After about two minutes, the Harken continued, "That was the first order of business. The second point of discussion is still rted to the six paths of reincarnation and King Yanluo''s Seal, and that is the core construction of Hell. Perhaps everyone is very confused about what we''re supposed to be constructing, and the answer to that is infrastructure, which will form the foundation of Hell. Examples of infrastructure that we can take from other underworlds include the Argosian Underworld''s Gates of the Underworld, Lake Acheron, the Elysian Fields, etc. Oncepleted, these construction projects will form the true core of Hell! In the old Fengdu, there was the Infernal Judge Manor, the 10 Yama-King Pces, the Yellow Springs, the Yin Yang Path, etc. All of thesendmarks have been destroyed over time, and even after our new Hell rebuilds the six paths of reincarnation, it still won''t beplete. In order toplete the construction of Hell..."

    The Harken''s voice trailed off here as it turned to Qin Ye, who pressed a finger gently against his own be, and the map of Hell that Granny Meng had instilled into his mind immediately appeared in the hall like a 3D hologram.

    Li Lanzhi set down her pen as she stared at the 3D with a dumbstruck expression. The more she looked at it, the more surprised she became as there were many ces on the map that she had never even heard of!

    At the mention of Hell, what would immediately spring into one''s mind?

    There was the Naraka Bridge, Granny Meng''s soup, the Yama-King Pces, and those who were particrly knowledgeable may bring up the Yellow Springs. However, what else was there?

    That question was answered by the map in superb detail. Qin Ye reached out with a hand, and the entire image, which was several dozen meters in size and constructed from golden lines, quickly began to expand or shrink ording to the gestures he made using his fingers.

    "Firstly, everyone has to understand the entire process that Yin spirits go through upon arriving in Hell. The first stop for the deceased is the City God Temple. Their information will be confirmed there, including whether they''re a local resident, whether they died of natural causes, whether their souls were wrongly seized, and various other things. Once all of that has been verified, they''ll be sent to the Book of Life and Death. Only when a full hundred Yin spirits are gathered will they move onto the second stop en masse."

    He gently tapped the table in front of him before continuing, "Netherworld Operatives are required to carry out the duty of soul seizing, and we have nowhere near enough public servants to fill these roles. At the very least, a county should have five Netherworld Operatives, and a city should have over 20 Netherworld Operatives in addition to a Soul Hunter. At the same time, the City God Temple also needs aplete verification team. These two parties should belong to different organizations to prevent collusion. As for the exact details, Warden Arakshasa is alreadying up with a n. The second stop will be the Yellow Springs Path, also known as the Yin Yang Path. Once one steps onto the Yellow Springs Path, they''ll be in a world of nothingness. There will be no light up ahead, no friends or loved ones behind them, no celestial bodies in the sky, and no earth beneath their feet. The only thing they''ll be able to see will be the red spider lilies growing on either side of them. When the flowers are in full bloom, there will be no leaves, and when the leaves are growing, there will be no flowers. This will symbolize the divide between life and death."

    More rustling rang out as all of the officials furiously took notes. The qualities of the leader decided the qualities of their subordinates. Qin Ye wasn''t fond of wasting time, and he had never been involved in politics in the mortal realm, so he was always striving to do things quickly and efficiently, unlike what one would expect from the leader of a bureaucracy. As a result, all of the governors, magistrates, and procurators of the provinces were also capable and efficient individuals with no tolerance for time-wasting.

    Everyone was listening extremely attentively to his exnation. No one had ever dissected the sections of Hell and introduced them to all of the officials present in such detail before, so even without a reminder from Qin Ye, they were well aware that this was information that they had tomit to memory.

    "The Yellow Springs Path is a very special space. ording to the Old Hell''s Legacy, The Yellow Springs Path is a manifestation of the Book of Life and Death, and its purpose is to make those who set foot upon it undergo another round of verification, assessing whether they are indeed Yin spirits of Cathay and whether there are some... dirty things among them."

    "Dirty things?" a procurator murmured to himself with a puzzled expression.

    Despite how quiet his voice had been, it didn''t manage to escape Qin Ye''s ears, and he exined, "Currently, our nation still hasn''t opened up to the rest of the world, and the international state of affairs of all of the underworlds is quite tense overall. Under this environment, some nations will stoop to extremely unscrupulous methods to target other nations. You''ll learn about all of this in the future. Moving on, the stop after the Yellow Springs Path is the Home-Viewing Pavilion. This is where Yin spirits can settle their final wish and take onest look at their loved ones. It''s important to keep in mind here that it''s virtually impossible to return to the mortal realm once one reaches this point. If you read through the records of the past, you''ll see that most people who return mortal realm instead of going through the full cycle of reincarnation do so at the Yellow Springs Path, whereas it''s extremely rare for sessful resuscitation once one''s soul has reached the Home-Viewing Pavilion."

    He swiped a finger through the air, and the 3D map rotated at his behest. "Does everyone still remember the concept of burial rites? These traditions will change from region to region, but onemon rite that is shared among all regions is the burning of paper money, and cing grains into the deceased individual''s coffin. This is because these things are going to be necessary at the next ces they move onto, which are the Feral Dog Ridges, the Mount of the Golden Rooster, and the Wild Ghost Vige. The Feral Dog Ridges and the Mount of the Golden Rooster are actually the same ce. The feral dogs and golden roosters there will devour the limbs of the deceased souls passing by, but only ''evil'' limbs will be devoured. This is essentially the first trial for deceased souls before they arrive at the Infernal Judge Manor, and those who are extremely sinful will be taken by the feral dogs and golden roosters straight to the Infernal Judge Manor. Even those who haven''tmitted any heinous crimes during their lifetimes will still have to endure the pain of being ravaged by these feral dogs and golden roosters in order to atone for the various minor sins they''vemitted in their living days. This is where the various grains are needed, and it''s actually quite a craft measure devised by those in the mortal realm. This is a ce where the boundary between the underworld and the mortal realm is significantly weaker than everywhere else, so if a deceased soul is unable to endure the torment, they can contact their children through dreams, asking them to burn paper money and send various grains to them. Nextes the Wild Ghost Vige, which is very close to the actual Hell. It''s a prosperous and thriving paradise, yet all of this is just an illusion. Everyone who travels through the Wild Ghost Vige must pay a toll, and generally speaking, this tolles from the paper money burned by the deceased souls'' loved ones. This money can be directly converted into HLs that go straight into the treasury at a conversion rate of roughly 10,000:1."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "After passing through those three hurdles, the Infernal Judge Manor is up next. Contrary to what everyone thinks, the Yama-Kings do not have the spare time to judge the virtuosity of Yin spirits in person. Instead, this work is carried out by the panel of Infernal Judges. Once someone is deemed to be guilty, they''ll directly enter the abyss that corresponds with their crimes. In contrast, those who havemitted no sins or only minor sins will enter the underworld to officially begin their lives asherworldly citizens to await their deathday. A so-called deathday is recorded by the Old Hell''s Legacy, and each cyclests a century. On the exact day 100 years after they''ve entered the underworld, a Yin spirit will arrive at their deathday, on which they''ll be able to enter the six paths of reincarnation. Netherworldly citizens of Hell who are eligible for deathday cycles will have to follow relevant regtions regarding when they can return to the mortal realm, when they can reveal themselves, and even under what circumstances can they possess others. All of these regtions are currently listed in the department ofbor, and you can enquire Director Shang Yang about the specificws."

    Having delivered so much information at once, Qin Ye was finally able to take a rest, and the Harken immediately took over where he left off. "There are a total of four major areas. The construction of these special areas requires not just work from the construction team, but also Yama-King level beings to inscribe Yin runes. At the same time, the energy supplied to these ces will be derived from the kic energy of the Yellow Springs. Once the Yellow Springs flows into the waterway system, General Zhao and I will be directly involved in the construction of these four special areas, and the projected time frame required for theirpletion will be somewhere within 20 years."

    Gu Chang faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he couldn''t help but ask, "Pardon my interruption, but in that case, what if Yanluo Qin were required to leave for some reason? Who would be responsible for overseeing the daily operation of Hell?"

    Qin Ye shook his head and replied in a calm voice, "Judging from that question, it''s clear that you haven''t died for long enough and haven''t grown ustomed to life in the underworld yet. The Yellow Springs is the foundational source of energy, and the energy that it provides is Yin energy. Once this system is up and running, it can easily be overseen by several Abyssal Prefects, so even when all of the Yama-Kings and I are absent, there won''t be any issues. In the mortal realm, everything has to be operated by manpower, but that''s not the case in the underworld. Many buildings will be able to operate on their own given sufficient Yin energy. Perhaps the number of grassroots public servants in the underworld, such as Soul Hunters and Netherworld Operatives, will far exceed that of the mortal realm, but the number of high-ranking Emissaries of Hell will only continue to dwindle over time. In addition to that, there''s no way I can be permanently based in Everburn, and when ites time for me to leave, I''ll promote several Abyssal Prefects to run the city in my stead."

    Qin Ye was far from the perfect ruler, and what he needed the most right now was more experience. He had topletely absorb the inheritance that the second King Yanluo had left to him, and he would only be able to do that through umting more experience. Zhao Yun and the others were right, he had essentially fallen into the role of King Yanluo out of nowhere, and he was far too inexperiencedpared with a local King Yanluo.

    Once the whole system was up and running and he didn''t need to sign so many documents every day, he would be able to promote a new batch of Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges, and these were going to be the people to truly run the show.

    "Perhaps you''re still currently unable to fullyprehend what I''m saying, but I''m sure you''lle to understand very soon. Do you still recall that in every province, there arerge numbers of buildings that are currently unable to be activated?"

    All of the officials present nodded in response. There were indeed quite arge number of these buildings. They hadn''t been built by Yin Construction, and no one knew what purpose they served.

    "You''ll know the reason for their existence tomorrow." Qin Ye rose to his feet and said, "Come to Hell''s Gate at 10 AM tomorrow to attend the unveiling of King Yanluo''s Seal. That''s it, meeting over.

    On the main stage, Qin Ye and the others silently vanished, while the officials gathered in the hall were still furiously scribbling down notes. A long whileter, someone finally raised their head.

    "As expected, this was an extremely important meeting," a procurator said with a wry smile. "Lord Qin really is keeping us on our toes. I can''t even begin to imagine what the underworld is going to transform into once the Yellow Springs is released into the waterways..."

    Li Lanzhi also set down her pen before looking up at the ceiling with a dazed expression.

    All of this hade far too abruptly. The utmost diligence was needed to work in Hell. Otherwise, one could easily find themselves falling behind and unable to catch up...

    At the same time, she was quite perplexed. Where was the Yellow Springsing from? As far as she knew, there wasn''t any major body of water in the entire nation. Also, could a single body of water really transform the current underworld into somethingpletely different?

    Furthermore, each city had many majestic buildings that werepletely inessible, and all of the officials knew that these were like cultural relics left behind by thest Hell. Would all of those buildings spring to life with the arrival of the Yellow Springs?

    After a long while, she finally heaved a faint sigh. "I still don''t know anywhere near enough about the underworld..."

 Chapter 809: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (4)

    <h4>Chapter 809: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (4)</h4>

    Whoosh... Yin energy converged, and Qin Ye reappeared, but this time, he was already in another conference hall.

    This conference hall was very small with a max capacity of 20 people, but the decor was more luxurious than that of the previous conference hall. All of the Ming-Dynasty-style taishi chairs in the hall were currently already upied.

    Lu Ban, Zu Chongzhi, Shang Yang, Li Chun... The entire panel of advisors were present, and as soon as Qin Ye and the others appeared, he nodded as he said, "Sorry to keep you waiting everyone. There''s no need for formalities, please take a seat."

    The hall was very quiet, and as soon as Qin Ye sat down, he asked, "General Zhao, will it really take even you and the Harken 20 years toplete construction in those four special areas?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "My Lord, it''s not actually four special areas, but five instead. During the meeting, you only described the procedure through which Yin spirits enter the underworld, but another process is required for souls to leave the underworld as well."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "A process to leave the underworld? Are you referring to the Naraka Bridge?"

    The Harken nodded in response. "The assistance of Schr Lu Ban and Schr Li Chun will be required toplete these areas. Firstly, they''ll have to sketch out a basic blueprint, and just like with normal construction projects, wooden and stone construction materials will be used to create the structure. However, the structure will only act as a vessel for the Yin runes that will be inscribed upon them, and these Yin runes will be the truly vital parts of these projects. Take the Naraka Bridge as an example. Each and every stone block used to construct the bridge will have a total of 81 Yin runes inscribed upon them. These Yin runes are independent, but once connected together, they would form an extremelyplex array. On top of that, each stone block will be in contact with other stone blocks all around it, which means that each stone block will form an array with the stone blocks above it, below it, to the right, and to the left. The blueprint for these arrays have already been lost during the fall of the old Hell, so even we can only make it up as we go, assessing the effects of the Yin runes to see if we''re progressing in the right direction."

    Zhao Yun heaved a faint sigh. "This is going to be a massive project. There are tens of thousands of Yin runes out there and countlessbinations in which these Yin runes can interact with one another. ording to the Old Hell''s Legacy, at the time, it had taken over 20 Yin rune masters and their 3,000 disciples 120 years toplete construction on the five special areas. We already know the functions of these special areas and we possess Yama-King level power, but it''ll still be a tall order for us to reconstruct everything within 20 years."

    Qin Ye also heaved a faint sigh as he nodded in response.

    In the wake of the founding of a new dynasty, there were countless things that had to be done.

    He also wanted to return Hell to the international stage right away, but there was no way he could do that with Hell in its current state.

    The Cathayan Underworld needed time to return to its former glory. Once all of the major construction projects werepleted, the Cathayan Underworld''s poption advantage would begin to shine through, and given sufficient time, the Cathayan Underworld would be sure to return to being a dominant force on the world stage.

    Unfortunately, this wasn''t a process that could be rushed.

    A smile appeared on his face as he said, "Focus on what you need to do, I can handle things for 20 years."

    His smile then faded as he continued, "I''ve invited everyone here today for two reasons. Firstly, the Yellow Springs is about to be released into our waterways at 10 AM tomorrow. Has everyone made the required preparations?"

    There were some tasks that still couldn''t be assigned to the provincial officials. After all, they hadn''t been dead for long enough to know how toplete those tasks, so delegation was not an option.

    Li Chun rose to his feet as he extended a respectful salute. "The preparations on my end are alreadyplete. However, I must remind you that the Yellow Springs carries with it the power of heaven and earth. This power is so immense that even the second King Yanluo¡¯s array won''t be able to withstand it. The residual shockwaves released by this power will surge along the Yellow Springs and reach the entire East Continent, triggering massive infernal tsunamis at the outlets of Wuyang and Zhuzhou."

    "How massive will the tsunamis be?"

    Li Chun paused momentarily before replying, "The waves will reach at least 100 meters tall. On top of that, that''s not all I''m worried about. We''ve studied the second King Yanluo''s seal in the past, and it truly is a miraculous creation, the likes of which has never been seen before. However, its purpose is to keep out spirits."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he pondered what Li Chun was trying to say, following which a hint of enlightenment appeared in his eyes. "So you''re saying it''ll be unable to keep out phenomena such as tsunamis?"

    "That''s right," Li Chun replied as he extended a respectful bow. "If it were possible, the Array of the Nine Gods would''ve separated the seas of the Cathayan Underworld into two areas, namely Hell''s territorial waters and external waters. However, that isn''t the case, so this tsunami will most likely attract attention from the entire world."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response. He understood what Li Chun was saying now. The Array of the Nine Gods was like a dome that sat over the entire Cathayan Underworld. However, this dome was insubstantial, and it could only prevent the entry and exit of spirits, but not keep out things like the sea.

    "What do you think the other underworlds will make of the situation?" he asked as he turned to Zhao Yun and the Harken.

    The Harken shook its head in response. "There''s no way we can keep the activation of a divine artifact a secret. Once the kic energy of King Yanluo''s Seal fills the entire Cathayan Underworld, even the Array of the Nine Gods will be affected to a certain extent. On top of that, Yu Kiang is still alive. When King Yanluo''s Seal is activated, the six paths of reincarnation will be established at the same time, and there''s no way that Yu Kiang will just resign itself to its fate. In any case, there are already countless suspicions directed toward the Cathayan Underworld, so it doesn''t matter if we attract more attention."

    A wry smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Indeed, what difference would one more instance of suspicious activity make at this point? However, the other underworlds will keep track of all of these signals, and over time, their waves of doubt and suspicion would eventually form a massive vortex."

    This would lead the members of the four pirs and the underworlds wishing to secure a spot on the four pirs to investigate the true state of the Cathayan Underworld at all costs. Perhaps they would force Qin Ye''s hand during the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts the following year, and once that happened, how many underworlds were going to side with the Cathayan Underworld?

    Probably none.

    This was a problem that had no solution, so Qin Ye had no intention of thinking about it any further. Instead, he changed the subject. "The second thing I wanted to discuss is... Does any one of you remember this symbol?"

    A burst of Yin energy flew out of his fingertip, forming a peach blossom symbol in mid-air.

    He knew that Zhao Yun had seen this symbol before, but what about everyone else?

    Everyone looked at one another with clueless expressions, and in the end, even the Harken shook his head in response.

    "I''ve seen it before," Zhao Yun replied in a grim voice.

    "You''ve seen this thing? Where?" The Harken turned to Zhao Yun with a surprised expression.

    Zhao Yun replied, "All of the Sixfold Ghost Kings were assigned a secret mission to kill all bearers of this peach blossom symbol on sight with no exceptions. It''s never appeared ind and hasn''t triggered any events. However, this was an order assigned directly by the second King Yanluo, and only the Sixfold Ghost Kings are aware of this."

    Everyone else nodded in response with contemtive expressions.

    Qin Ye said, "Seeing as this is an order from the second King Yanluo, then continue to carry it out. ording to my knowledge, these things will only appear in coastal areas. Notify all of the coastal provinces to immediately report any sightings of this peach blossom insignia, and at the same time, they have the right to kill the subjects on sight without requesting permission."

    He couldpletely understand the second King Yanluo''s thought process.

    This was a mysterious force that was hidden from the world, and even the second King Yanluo had been unable to track it down.

    A united underworld doesn''t need a potential thorn in its side lurking in the shadows. Seeing as they were intent on hiding, then Qin Ye was determined to hunt them down and kill them with the objective of wiping them all out or forcing them out of the Cathayan Underworld!

    "Yes!"

    "Alright, that''s all for today. Don''t pay any heed to how the other underworlds are going to look at us. Some things must be set into motion, and King Yanluo''s Seal will be unveiled at 10 AM sharp tomorrow morning." After that, Qin Ye vanished into a gust of Yin wind.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    "This certainly isn''t how I anticipated things to pan out..." A young Yin spirit was looking up at the night sky with a bored expression as he sat beside a row of barracks in the Province of Bod. "Our construction projects were the first to bepleted, so why have we still not received permission to return to Everburn? I''ve already earned enough military des to buy a house in the Qin Gardens..."

    "Who knows?" Another young Yin spirit was lying on the ground beside him, and he sighed, "In any case, they keep telling us to await further instructions. This ce is even more tightly guarded than when we were in battle, but no one has told us what we''re supposed to be doing here."

    The young Yin spirit cast his gaze toward the side with mixed emotion in his eyes. "On top of that, no major battles have taken ce here, and this is certainly not a renowned ce. I really don''t understand why we''re constructing these things here. Is it just for looks?"

    In the distance in the direction that he had cast his gaze toward, there stood a statue that extended all the way up into the clouds.

    It was a statue of the second King Yanluo.

    The statue depicted the second King Yanluo with a head of short hair, wearing a long robe and an expression that was both gant and authoritative. His hands were sped behind his back, and it was as if he were looking down on the entire world.

    The statue was extremely lifelike and intricately crafted, and beside the statue''s right foot was a deep trench.

    The trench was extremely deep, extending around 300 to 400 meters deep into the earth, and it was over 10 kilometers wide! Standing on one side of the trench, the other side was too far to see, disappearing on the horizon.

    Behind the trench was a giant hole that was close to 100 kilometers in size, and on the other side of the trench across from the statue of the second King Yanluo stood a statue of the first King Yanluo.

    Both of the statues were around 500 to 600 meters tall with parts of their bodies fused into the mountains. They were standing on either side of the enormous trench, and looking at them from afar, it was as if they were a pair of guardians protecting the gigantic trench.

    Ever since the Province of Bod was conquered, Yin Construction had immediately begun this construction project without even securing approval from the relevant government departments. Everyone could see the two giant statues of the former King Yanluos carved out of the sides of the two mountains, but no one had any idea what purpose these two statues were supposed to serve.

    Along either side of the trench were military barracks stretching for hundreds of meters, and one inky-ck Qin g after another was pping in the wind. Every night, brighthermes would be ignited at the feet of the two statues, illuminating them and giving them the appearance of a pair of almighty fiend celestials, and they had already be the most prominent spectacle on these grasnds.

    Right at this moment, they suddenly heard... something different.

    The young man lying on the ground immediately sat bolt upright as his eyes abruptly sprang open, and he turned to inspect his surroundings with a stunned expression. Initially, it was only a faint sound, but the sound was growing louder and louder at an rming rate. Before they knew it, it had already crescendoed into thunderous rumbling!

    It was... the sound of flowing water!

    However, it was different from the normal sound of flowing water. Instead, it was like the sound of a tsunami, as if a fearsome natural disaster were rapidly approaching them!

    "What''s going on?" The two of them looked around with dazed expressions. Where was the watering from?

    Such a loudmotion had naturally already alerted the soldiers on either side of the trench, and countless soldiers immediately rushed out of their barracks to appraise the trench with perplexed and nervous expressions.

    Heaven and earth were quaking violently, and in the next instant, boundless Yin energy converged toward the area between the pair of giant statues in a frenzy, forming a gargantuan ck hole that was over 10 kilometers in size within the span of mere minutes!

    "My god..." Themander of the soldiers looked on with an astonished expression. The thunderous rumbling echoing throughout the entire area and the colossal ck hole taking shape between the pair of massive statues presented a doomsday-like scene, and everyone was struck by a sense of asphyxiation in the face of their fear of the unknown.

    Whoosh... A burst of golden light appeared at the center of the ck hole like the morning sun, releasing its golden radiance throughout heaven and earth.

    The resplendent golden light then formed shockwaves that proliferated outward in ripples, instantly spreading through an area with a radius of several kilometers. The golden radiance then transformed into countless specks of golden light that rained down from the heavens like a divine miracle, and all of the Yin soldiers werepletely rooted to the spot.

    Unbeknownst to them, the exact same scene was unfolding at 17 different sites that were identical to theirs across the Cathayan Underworld!

    Within this sea of golden light, a projection of a giant golden seal appeared at the center of the ck hole. The projection had countless Yin runes shing around it, and it resembled a rising sun, or a bright moon in the night.

    This was Hell''s paramount divine artifact, the creation-grade divine artifact, King Yanluo''s Seal, and after an absence of over a century, it had finally returned to the Cathayan Underworld!

 Chapter 810: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (5)

    <h4>Chapter 810: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (5)</h4>

    "What on earth are you all doing?!" In the Yunzhao Province situated in the southernmost region of the Cathayan Underworld, an enragedmander was standing beside a giant hole that was over 10 kilometers wide. In front of him were a group of Yin soldiers lying inside the hole and chatting with one another.

    "Commander..." The Yin soldiers were all given a massive fright, and they hurriedly rose to their feet with guilty expressions. "We''re sorry... We know that entering the hole is against orders, and we, we only do it very asionally..."

    "Cut the chit-chat!!" themander yelled in an urgent voice as Yin energy erupted from his body. "Get up here! Hurry!! Otherwise, you''ll be dead before you know it!!"

    The Yin soldiers were rather perplexed by his strong reaction, and they were rooted to the spot as they exchanged a few dumbstruck nces.

    These idiots!

    Themander spread open the notice that he was holding in his hands and read the contents out loud. "By the decree of King Yanluo, the Yellow Springs will be released at 10 AM this morning into the 17 dragon gates situated in Yunzhao, Bod, Yuzhou, Wuwei, Shaanxi, Yizhou...! All armies stationed at the dragon gates must retreat to at least 50 meters away from the bank! You hear that? Now hurry up and get up here!"

    The Yin soldiers faltered slightly upon hearing this.

    Dragon gate? Yellow Springs? Wait... Hold on... This is the riverbank, which means that they''re currently on the riverbed, and it''s currently... 9:30 AM...

    rm bells were immediately set off in their minds as they connected the dots, and all of the Yin soldiers rushed toward the riverbank like madmen. Right at this moment, Yin energy began to converge from all directions in a frenzy toward the area between the pair of giant King Yanluo statues, which were identical to the ones in the Province of Bod. Shortly thereafter, an enormous Yin energy ck hole that was over 10 kilometers in size was formed!

    Whoosh... Countless red spider lily petals were swept up from the ground, interspersed with innumerable specks ofherfire. It was as if countless stars had suddenly appeared in the night sky, like an infernal constetion.

    Rumble!! The ck hole was like a raging force of nature, and all of the Yin soldiers, including themander, looked up at the sky with stunned expressions.

    Themander''s lips had turned slightly blue as he said in a raspy voice. "Holy shit... Is this what the Yellow Springs is supposed to be?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Everburn, third basement floor of the North Yin Pavilion.

    All of the Cathayan Underworld''s provincial officials, amounting to a total of close to 200 people, were currently all gathered here. The provincial governors, magistrates, and procurators that could normally only be seen on newspapers were all present, as well as the directors of government departments, and they all had their attention focused directly up ahead with grim looks on their faces.

    This underground chamber was constructed entirely from Yin spirit stones, but it most definitely wasn''t a naturally forming chamber, as evidenced by the fact that every single piece of Yin spirit stone had clearly been carved into desirable shapes. The ground was paved evenly with asr, and in each of the room''s four corners was a 10-meter-tall statue of one of Hell''s four divine beasts, namely the Harken, the Xiezhi Unicorn, the Pixiu Chimera, and the Aurogon. The walls and the floor were of a translucent ck color, and countless shimmering blue Yin runes were inscribed upon them, each and every one of which was extremely profound.

    Four continuous streaks of yellow light were pouring out of the mouths of the four divine beast statues, and the light was shining upon a fist-sized seal at the center of the room.

    It was theplete King Yanluo''s Seal!

    All of the cracks on the seal''s surface had already disappeared, and after around half a month of nurturing, it had absorbed arge quantity of Yin energy and returned to normal. Qin Ye was standing right in front of the seal, and he extended a finger forward. A drop of blood flowed out of his fingertip, falling silently down onto the seal.

    Ayer of red instantly began to slowly spread from the spot where Qin Ye''s blood hadnded on the seal, giving it the appearance of a piece of legendary blood jade. At the same time, the seal began to radiate a burst of dreamy red light.

    The light wasn''t a bright red color like blood. Instead, it was like rouge, presenting a type of delicate and translucent beauty. As the red light continued to spread, Yin energy began to arise from an unknown source like a sea of smoke. The Yin energy that rose up was so enormous that the space around it was slowly beginning to tremble.

    "Is this how things are supposed to go?" Qin Ye asked in a faint voice as he took a few steps backward. This was a very strong reaction, and having never witnessed the unsealing of a divine artifact before, he couldn''t help but feel a little concerned.

    "This is perfectly normal." Zhao Yun was standing right beside him, and the surrounding Yin energy in the underground chamber had already converged to form a rapidly revolving Yin energy cloud. Zhao Yun exined, "King Yanluo''s Seal is an artifact that possesses intelligence, and not just anyone can use their blood to make it ept them as its owner. For the seal, this actually isn''t even a process of epting an owner anymore. Instead, it''s a recording process. It has allowed you to use it, and it''s recording the information present in your blood. King Yanluo''s Seal will only record one owner at a time, and unless you die or pass the seal onto someone else, no one aside from you will be able to use it."

    Boom!! As soon as Zhao Yun''s voice trailed, a resounding boom rang out, and a pir of golden light erupted directly upward from the center of the underground chamber. Violent tremors spread from the underground chamber throughout the entirety of Everburn, then the Insignia Province. It was like the heart of this entire province, and the province was trembling in the wake of return.

    In this instant, countlessherworldly citizens in Everburn were casting astonished eyes toward the top of the North Yin Pavilion, where a pir of resplendent golden light was extending directly upward, piercing through the heavens to infinity and beyond!

    "What is that?"

    "My god... What was that just now?"

    "Was that the sun? Was it a god? Did someone achieve ascension?"

    "Did the government release any information about this? Who has a copy of today''s newspaper?"

    Right in front of everyone''s astonished eyes, the Yin energy in the heavens began to revolve, forming an enormous vortex that was at least several hundred kilometers in size. Behind the vortex were rays of radiant golden light, and it was truly a marvelous spectacle to behold.

    "This is a divine miracle..." Aherworldly citizen was staring up at the sky with a ck-jawed expression. Whatever it was, it had pierced through the Yin cloudyer!

    Where was it going to fly to?

    The entire sky seemed to be rapidly revolving, and one minute passed by, then two, then five... All of a sudden, sunlight shone down upon all 35 provinces in the nation, illuminating eleven million six hundred thousand square kilometers ofnd.

    Rays of gentle sunlight filtered through the clouds, illuminating all things like a blessing from the heavens.

    Dead silence.

    The entire nation fellpletely silent.

    All of the Yin spirit looked down at their hands with dumbstruck expressions, then up at the sky, then all around them. Several secondster, the deathly silence gave way to a thunderousmotion that rang out across the whole nation!

    "Is this sunlight?! Do my eyes deceive me?!" In the Hell of Yanjing, an elderly man rushed out of his room with his ubed hair flying all around him. "Is this really sunlight?! I can''t believe I''m seeing sunlight in the underworld!"

    In Lotus City, countless bbergasted Yin spirits stuck their heads out of their windows, and what was quite surprising was that the streets werepletely silent. Every single Yin spirit outside was silently staring up at the spectacle unfolding in the sky with no exceptions.

    This was truly light in the depths of hell.

    Three secondster, a raucousmotion erupted throughout the entire street!

    "I can''t fucking believe this!!! It''s sunlight! It really is sunlight!"

    "How is this possible?! How could there be sunlight in the underworld?!"

    "I don''t know how this happened, and I don''t care! This is amazing!"

    "Indeed, the days with no divide between day and night are finally over... Was the sun just released from our capital city? This is incredible!"

    "How did they do it? How did they get the sun to rise in the underworld? I''ve never been so happy before! It''s... It''s so warm that I could cry!"

    No sun could be seen in the sky, but countless rays of warm sunlight were raining down from the heavens.

    In Shaanxi, the Pearl Delta, the three eastern provinces... All of theherworldly citizens across all of the continents were looking up with reverence at the divine miracle taking ce right above them.

    This was a miracle that wasparable with the discovery of fire and Cangjie''s creation of the Cathayannguage.

    This was a legend that ranked alongside the likes of N¨¹wa mending the heavens and Pangu creating the world.

    This was a day that would forever be remembered in the Cathayan Underworld!

    Qin Ye and the others had also made their way onto the top floor of the North Yin Pavilion, and Qin Ye looked up at the sky with an awestruck expression. "I didn''t think that King Yanluo''s Seal would transform sunlight and clouds... This is incredible! No, what I should be marveling at is the process of creation itself."

    Zhao Yun was also looking up with a reverent expression as he murmured, "The underworld once had light. The Aurogon once held amp, and when it opened its eyes, day would arrive, and when it closed its eyes, night would fall. I had thought that it would take a very, very long time to recover thatmp. It''s said that themp resides in a spatial rift at the end of the world... Never did I think that this day woulde so soon..."

    Celebrations were taking ce across the entire nation!

    However, this wasn''t the only thing for them to celebrate. 10 minutester, the Book of Life and Death suddenly let loose a ringing sound as it rushed into the heavens from the Hell''s Gates of Ashmound! It shot up into the sky as a streak of dazzling silver light, stirring up the cloudyer that had just been illuminated by the golden sunlight. The pir of light expanded further and further, reaching 10 meters in size, then 50 meters, then 100 meters, then 1,000, then 10,000!

    Soon, the pir of light had epassed the entirety of Everburn, but there wasn''t anything eerie about it.

    The Yin energy was already so concentrated that it was impossible to breathe, but the pir of light was imbued with a holy aura, a sense of authoritative righteousness.

    Heaven and earth resonated with one another as the silver radiance abruptly faded, and at the same time, the celebrations that had only just subsided in Everburn immediately erupted in full force once again.

    Nighttime.

    Night had cast a veil of darkness over the sky.

    Of course, the sky of the underworld in the past had also beenpletely dark, but this darkness was different.

    In the past, the sky of the underworld had been as ck as ink andpletely opaque. However, the night sky on this asion was clear and translucent, like a thin veil rather than a suffocating curtain. It was an extremely beautiful and poetic sight to behold, particrly for the Yin spirits who hadn''t seen a proper night sky ever since they had arrived in the underworld.

    The sight of water rippling under the light of stars, the sound of the gentle breeze and chirping cicadas... This was a true night!

    Everyone across the eleven million six hundred thousand kilometers of the Cathayan Underworld was reveling in this spectacle! Regardless of which city, county, province, township, or vige it was, all of itsherworldly citizens were screaming and cheering as they celebrated on the streets. Even the most reclusiveherworldly citizens couldn''t help but rush onto the street to enjoy their first moonlight shower after death.

    "Would you like to take a look, my Lord?" Zhao Yun asked as he turned to Qin Ye with a smile.

    "How do we do that?"

    When Zhao Yun wasn''t busy killing people, he was very much a handsome and refined gentleman. A warm smile appeared on his face as he said, "After breaking through past the Yama-King level, I was able to see the Heavenly Dao more clearly, and at the same time, many restrictions that were previously inhibiting me were lifted, while many other restrictions were ced on me... It''s very difficult to describe exactly what my breakthrough has entailed, but in my current form, I''m capable of taking you on a spiritual trip."

    "Alright, let''s do it!"

    Thus, Zhao Yun grabbed onto Qin Ye''s hand before giving it a gentle tug. All of a sudden, Qin Ye found himself rising up into the sky at an astounding rate, and the entirety of Everburn quickly became visible to him beneath his feet.

    Fierce Yin winds were blowing all around him, but they were unable to make contact with his body at all, and Zhao Yun said, "Recently, I''ve been doing a lot of reflection and self-assessment, and I would say I''m currently at the Yin Soul stage. A person''s three finer spirits and six baser instincts can be categorized under Yin and Yang, and at the same time, there are two gates in the human body, namely the crown and the dantian. Upon passing away, one''s soul typically leaves their body through the dantian, which is also known as the earthly gate. In contrast, when the spirit emerges from the crown, it bes known as the Yin Soul, and the process is called opening the heavenly gate."

    He paused momentarily here before continuing, "That''s all I''ve been able to figure out thus far, and there are most definitely still other levels above the Yin Soul Stage. I can sense that I''m still very far away from the heights reached by the second King Yanluo, and I need more time to reach that level."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. In contrast with Zhao Yun, he didn''t have as strong a yearning for power. After all, he was the King Yanluo, and he wouldn''t have to go into battle in person on a battlefield anyway.

    Right at this moment, they rushed through ayer of cloud and mist, and upon emerging on the other side, they were greeted by a burst of dazzling light.

    Even though Qin Ye was already mentally prepared for this, he was still utterly astonished by the scene that was presented before his eyes.

    Above them was a vast expanse of ckish-azure chaos. Zhao Yun pointed upward and said, "If we go up further, we''ll reach the boundaries of the underworld."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before casting his gaze toward another direction, where a seal hung in the sky like a sun, radiating light that illuminated all things.

    It was an incredibly massive seal, one that was most likely close to half of the size of the Cathayan Underworld, and words couldn''t describe the aura that it was giving off. Standing in front of it, Qin Ye paledpletely into insignificance, and it was truly a stunning sight to behold.

    On one side of King Yanluo''s Seal was the Book of Life and Death, which was around a fifth of the seal''s size, and it was currently orbiting around the seal.

    The divine artifacts had returned to their rightful ces, simting the sun and the moon!

 Chapter 811: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (6)

    <h4>Chapter 811: The Water of the Yellow River Flows Down From the Heavens (6)</h4>

    It was very difficult to describe that type of feeling.

    It was like sheer awe and inspiration felt by the very first time astronauts to have reached outer space as they looked back at Earth. The peaceful night acted as the perfect backdrop, and in the face of such an almighty spectacle, one could only be struck by the urge to revere and worship.

    Above him were thebined radiance of the sun and the moon, making him appear like a small raft drifting over a boundless sea.

    Below him was the entire nation beneath his feet, making him feel like a god of creation looking down at his masterpiece.

    It was a veryplex feeling that was enough to broaden anyone''s horizons and make them more open-minded and tolerant.

    Only after a long while did Qin Ye lower his head. "This is truly an unimaginable sight."

    "Don''t you feel like there''s something missing, my Lord?" Zhao Yun suddenly asked.

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, and several secondster, a smile appeared on his face as he asked, "You mean the stars?"

    "That''s right," Zhao Yun replied with a respectful salute. "The sun and the moon have both been restored to their rightful ces, all that''s missing now are the stars. The stars represent the Judgment Pen, and only upon its return can the Cathayan Underworld be considered to be whole again. On top of that, without the Judgment Pen, even if we rebuild the six paths of reincarnation, it won''t be able to operate as there won''t be anything capable of judging the virtuosity of Yin souls. Unfortunately, it seems like something has most likely happened to the Judgment Pen, but as long as it''s still within the Cathayan Underworld, news of it will be sure to arise within these next couple of years."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before asking, "Then... should we begin now?"

    He was referring to activating the Yellow Springs.

    From this vantage point, it was the perfect ce to witness the return of the Yellow Springs to the Cathayan Underworld''s waterways. It would be just like the Yangtze River and Yellow River of the mortal realm, both of which were clearly visible even from outer space.

    "Please go ahead, my Lord."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath as he braced himself for what was toe next. The method to unleash the power of King Yanluo''s Seal was a vital part of the King Yanluo''s inheritance, and he hadmitted it to memory long ago. Thus, he immediately began to make a string of hand seals, and the giant seal that was hovering in the sky began to tremble in response.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    In the city of Wuwei, there was also a pair of giant King Yanluo statues identical to the ones located at 17 other sites. Aside from the Yin soldiers guarding the area, the 10 city gods and lords of thend of Wuwei City were also all present.

    The ck hole had already taken shape, and ck Yin winds visible to the naked eye were sweeping through the sky, causing their robes to p vigorously. Everyone remainedpletely silent as they witnessed this once-in-1,000-years spectacle.

    Following the first true night that had descended upon the new Cathayan Underworld, the light of the sun had returned again. However, it could be said that in the entire Cathayan Underworld, they were the least astonished by the transition between day and night. After all, the scene that they were witnessing now was no less breathtaking than the cycle of day and night!

    "It''s about to begin..." The city god was unconsciously holding his own beard in a vice-like grip as he looked on with a tense expression. The Yin energy around the area became denser and denser, and it was like a giant hand gripping tightly onto everyone''s hearts.

    Everyone was waiting with bated breath as countless specks ofherfire appeared on both riverbanks. The deathly silence was apanied by scorching anticipation. It was like fire and ice intertwining with one another, producing an indescribable sense of tension.

    Five minutes passed by, then seven minutes... 10 minutester, an earth-shattering boom rang out as if some type of barrier had just been broken, and enormous waves began to gush out of the ck hole!

    The yellow waves covered a distance of kilometers in the blink of an eye before gushing into the waterway, surging toward the entire Cathayan Underworld like an unstoppable army.

    It was impossible to describe this astonishing spectacle. The breathtaking waves had inundated everything, and the riverbed was quickly filled. Immediately thereafter, the water level began to climb rapidly, and the surface of the river was also bing wider and wider. Four kilometers... five kilometers... seven kilometers... eight kilometers!

    Countless cries of shock and awe rang out from the riverbanks, but their voices werepletely drowned out by the crashing waves. With each surge of the Yellow Springs¡¯ water, specks of inky-ck Yin energy would vanish into the nearby space, and one could clearly sense that the Yin energy within the Cathayan Underworld was bing more and more concentrated! If an analogy had to be made, then it could be said that the current Cathayan Underworld was like a major ne in a fantasy story. The more concentrated and abundant the Yin energy became, the faster Yin spirits would be able to progress up the ranks, and this was something that was impossible for those minor nes to replicate.

    Standing in the heavens above, Qin Ye was also watching with an excited expression.

    The water of the Yellow Springs was gushing out of the 17 dragon gates, and from up close, one could only marvel at the iparable beauty and unforgiving power of nature, while high up in the heavens, Qin Ye had apletely different perspective, one of an omniscient god.

    The 17 rivers were like the blood vessels of the Cathayan Underworld, and they were quickly being filled. The rivers were also like branches of a tree, and the water flowing through these 17 branches converged in a frenzy toward a massive trunk, then continued on toward the inlets that led to the sea.

    "How about we take a closer look, my Lord?"

    "Sure." Qin Ye certainly wasn''t going to pass up the opportunity to witness such a rare spectacle up close, and thus, Zhao Yun grabbed ahold of his arm before speeding through the air like a shooting star. The image down below rapidly expanded, and he discovered that they had already caught up to the forefront of the crashing waves!

    "OHHHH!!" Countless Yin spirits were jumping up and down and screaming with excitement on either side of the crashing waves as they rushed along the riverbank, trying to pursue the waves. The water flowing out of the 17 dragon gates had all converged here, stacking on top of one another, and at this point, it had already formed a giant wave over 20 meters tall!

    Furthermore, this was only Yuzhou.

    More giant waves could be seen gushing forth from the distance like one massive hand after another, pushing the flow of water forward. The huge wave at the forefront came crashing down, sending water sshing in all directions. Before that wave had even subsided, another giant wave had alreadye up from behind to take its ce, and by the time it passed by Yuzhou, the wave had already reached 25 meters in height!

    Regardless of where one went, as long as it was a city inhabited by Yin spirits, they would definitely be able to see countless, extremely excitedherworldly citizens rushing along the riverbanks. The sun, the moon, and now, the Yellow Springs! The entire world had been transformed in the span of just a single day. All of the things that they didn''t even dare to yearn for had appeared one after the other.

    How could they not be proud of a nation like this?

    How could they not express their joy and tion with all their might?

    Of course, one could grow ustomed to a life without these things, but it simply wasn''t the same.

    Even though they were already dead, they still wanted to live like humans in the afterlife.

    Rumble! One wave crashed after another as if they were racing to get to the inlets. The flow of water was astonishingly fast, and after just a few hours, the gushing water had already reached Ashmound and the City of Salvation.

    Someone had already spread news of the Yellow Springs¡¯ arrival, and currently, countlessherworldly citizens were gathered on the shore of Ashmound. As the enormous wave appeared on the horizon, thunderous cheers had already begun to ring out!

    "Ohhh! It''sing! It''sing!!"

    "They weren''t lying after all! The water really dide! We have flowing water now!"

    "This is incredible... If Hell can even create a Yellow River, then I don''t see anything they wouldn''t be capable of doing!"

    "To be honest, I''ve never been so confident in our administration as I am right now!"

    "Everything is going to get better... When I first arrived in the underworld, I never thought that I would see this day."

    Hundreds of thousands ofherworldly citizens had gathered together to wee the Yellow Springs.

    Everyone was waiting for the waves, but the waves certainly weren''t going to wait for anyone. Each sessive wave was taller than the previous one, and at this point, the wave had already reached in excess of 50 meters in height, closing in on 60 meters!

    Boom!! It surged past the crowd, drowning out everyone''s cries of tion and excitement.

    Up ahead of the wave was a stone wall that kept out the seawater. On one side of the wall was a scene of peace and serenity, while on the other side, an all-epassing wave was crashing through thend like a giant dragon, and in the next instant, the two sides shed.

    Boom!!

    An earth-shattering boom rang out, and all sound seemed to have disappeared from the world. All of theherworldly citizens wore extremely excited expressions, and their mouths were wide open as they let loose yells of exaltation, but their voices werepletely inaudible. The dam that kept the sea at bay was instantly shattered by the violent waves, and the seawater and freshwater were finally able to intertwine with one another.

    Theoretically speaking, the waves should''ve been getting smaller, but that wasn''t the case. Massive volumes of water were still gushing out of the 17 dragon gates, and the waves passed through one waterway after another beforebining to form terrifying waves!

    "Is it always going to be like this?" Qin Ye murmured as he watched the water of the Yellow Springs flow incessantly into the inlets.

    "It''ll be like this for at least three months," Zhao Yun replied. "Tsunamis in the underworld are different from those in the mortal realm as Yin energy is omnipresent, and as a result, the tsunamis willst longer. In particr, this is the Yellow Springs, which possesses enormous kic energy, so it may even take as long as half a year before everything subsides."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a massive wave suddenly crashed into the sea! Murky yellow water intertwined with clear blue water, forming a clear divide as the two bodies of water pushed against one another. As a result of the shing forces, a giant tsunami that was over 70 meters tall was swept up before crashing further into the sea!

    It was clear that this tsunami was going to have a massive impact when it crashed down onto the sea, and that it was undoubtedly going to trigger even more massive waves.

    "Those tsunamis are bound to crash into the Array of the Nine Gods..." Qin Ye mused before turning to Zhao Yun. "General Zhao, take me to the edge of the array. We can''t stop the waves from crashing into the array, but we must assess how much of an impact the waves are going to have."

    "Yes. Rest assured, the panel of schrs is already being led toward the edge of the array by the Harken."

    Thus, Zhao Yun swept a hand through the air, and the distance between their current location and the edge of the Array of the Nine Gods seemed to have shrunk significantly, allowing them to reach their destination in a very short time.

    There, they were greeted by the sight of the bright blue sea.

    High up in the sky, the Harken was hovering in mid-air with several schrs situated on either side of it.

    The Harken didn''t even take a nce at Qin Ye and Zhao Yun. Its gaze was intently focused on the scenes transpiring down below, and it said, "Take a good look... The power of these tsunamis isparable with that of a forbidden art. This truly is an extremely rare sight..."

    "Is the array going to be damaged by the tsunamis?" Qin Ye was rather concerned.

    The Harken rolled its eyes at him in response. "Do you think the second King Yanluo is as useless as you? If there''s any underworld leader in this world that can withstand a forbidden art head-on and remainpletely unscathed, then it has to be the second King Yanluo."

    As soon as its voice trailed off, the thunderous rumbling of a tsunami rang out from the horizon, and an unimaginably gargantuan volume of water came tumbling through the air.

    At this point, it was impossible to tell whether the wave was yellow or blue. It was a tsunami that was several kilometers wide and over 100 meters tall, and just the mere sight of it was enough to raise goosebumps on one''s skin. In the face of the almighty power of nature, anyone would be struck by a sense of awe and veneration.

    Everyone remained silent as the tsunami rose up higher and higher, and by the time it reached the array, it was already over 150 meters tall!

    Immediately thereafter, it crashed heavily into the array!

    Rumble!!

    There were no adjectives that could describe this incredible scene. This was a sight that the human mind could barelyprehend.

    The entire Array of the Nine Gods swayed slightly, and in the next instant, all of the runes inscribed upon its surface lit up in unison.

    The tsunamis faltered slightly at the edge of the array, then rushed out further into the sea, rapidly advancing into the distance.

    At the same time, in the Mahabodhi Temple of the Hindustani Underworld, a pair of bright red eyes that were burning with infernal Karmic mes abruptly sprang open.

    "What is it, Your Excellency?" a monk standing off to the side immediately asked.

    His question received no reply. The tall and broad figure with the fiery eyes rose to his feet and cast an astonished gaze toward the northeastern direction.

    "Is that... the unsealing of a creation-grade divine artifact?"

    He wasn''t the only one to have sensed this. Soon, the Aegyptian Underworld, the Argosian Underworld, and all of the other underworlds also sensed these violent tremors. It could be said that ever since the establishment of the Cathayan Underworld all those years ago, it had been thousands of years since the international underworlds had felt tremors of this magnitude.

    "What just happened?"

    "Did the Cathayan Underworld just reactivate King Yanluo''s Seal? Then that must mean... it was previously in a deactivated state! How is that possible?!"

 Chapter 812: Worldwide Attention

    <h4>Chapter 812: Worldwide Attention</h4>

    At the Aegyptian Underworld.

    Anubis was holding a golden wine chalice, and there was a pharaoh headdress with a pattern of interchanging golden and green stripes adorned on his head. He was wearing a pristine white robe, and on his chest was a semi-circr piece of armor constructed from gold and sapphire. Currently, he was staring intently toward the east with an unblinking gaze.

    There''s no mistaking it... I''m sure of it... This is the sound of the reactivation of the Cathayan Underworld''s creation-grade divine artifact, King Yanluo''s Seal!

    The Cathayan Underworld had just ushered in a new era, which naturally involved a change in leadership, so it only made sense that King Yanluo''s Seal was epting a new owner, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that there was something amiss.

    Something''s not quite right... He stroked his own chin gently with his mummified hand, and after a long while, he asked, "Where is our closest surveince site to the array of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "That would be the Strait of Tsushima, my Lord," the owl perched on his shoulder immediately replied.

    "Get them to ry to me the scenes they''re seeing right away."

    "Your wish is mymand."

    On the Strait of Tsushima, an elderly fisherman abruptly raised his head as he stood on his boat, and the sight that he was greeted by immediately had his jaw dropping straight to the ground. A series of peculiar Yin runes appeared before him, and several secondster, he found himself adhered t against his boat like a spider while looking ahead with an astonished expression.

    Even the most massive tsunamis should''ve already run out of power on a journey as long as the one from Ashmound to the Strait of Tsushima. Theoretically speaking, there was no way that he should''ve been able to see what was happening near the port of Ashmound, but the image reflected in his pupils was rapidly changing and expanding!

    Five minutester, the image of the gargantuan waves raging near the edge of the Array of the Nine Gods appeared in his pupils.

    "Found you... Hehehe..."

    Right at this moment, countless sshes of water suddenly erupted into the air from the sea, and each and every ssh of water contained a snowy white seagull.

    However, all of these seagulls were dead.

    They were only sets of skeletons covered in disheveled white feathers, but their eyes were of a bright red color, and they gently pped their wings, flying up into the sky.

    From a distance, this appeared to be a normal flock of seagulls, but currently, their bright red eyes were focused intently on the direction of the Cathayan Underworld''s Array of the Nine Gods.

    Further away in the distance, many other objects, both animate and inanimate, such as turtles or boats, were also springing into action. Anything that happened in the Cathayan Underworld was inevitably going to attract attention from all of the other underworlds, and through these objects, the rulers of the international underworlds were able to conduct surveince on the Array of the Nine Gods.

    In this instant, death gods from countless underworlds were watching intently, and Anubis was no exception to this. He was looking on with a grim expression, and as a capable ruler of the Aegyptian Underworld, which was one of the four pirs, his instincts rarely ever proved to be false. Anything that was enough to arouse suspicion from him was almost definitely a major issue.

    His movements were calm and elegant as he stroked his finger along the golden staff ced across his knees. He cast his eyes directly up ahead with an unblinking gaze, and there, a Yin energy screen was currently broadcasting everything taking ce at the Array of the Nine Gods to him.

    What could the problem be... What problems could exist in the Cathayan Underworld...

    Time slowly passed by, and all of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he abruptly stood up from his seat. All of the servants in the pce immediately fell to their knees in response.

    "Time... The problem is time!" Theherfire in his eyes sprang up to over three meters tall and was warping and flickering violently as he swept his gaze around the pce. "The creation-grade divine artifacts of the Cathayan Underworld are different from ours!"

    The abilities of the four pir''s creation-grade divine artifacts weren''t a secret. In fact, even the abilities of the divine artifacts in the possession of all of the first-rate underworlds weren''t a secret, either. This was because all creation-grade divine artifacts possessed a universal trait, which was that as long as their owners didn''t voluntarily give them up and the underworlds that they belonged to continued to stand, there was no way to change their owners. Thus, on the international stage, all nations were actually very eager to boast about their creation-grade divine artifacts as there were no potential repercussions, and it was a disy of power.

    However, time was the true acid test. No matter how much a nation boasted about their divine artifact, it had to be subjected to the test of time unless that nation refused to take part in international affairs. As long as they did feature on the international stage, cracks would inevitably begin to show. During the past several thousand years, all nations were as familiar with the abilities of other nations'' creation-grade divine artifacts as they were with the backs of their hands.

    "The primary ability of all creation-grade divine artifacts is the ability to stabilize a nation. However, all creation-grade divine artifacts possess two abilities. The first ability is universal among all creation-grade divine artifacts, but the second is all different. For example, our Scales of Eternal Justice can transform all attacks, no matter how powerful, into equilibrium. This is why the Argosian Underworld didn''t dare to advance its army into the Aegyptian Underworld. Another example is the Argosian Underworld''s Hourss of Time, which can reverse time in the underworld by 50 years... Even among all of the creation-grade divine artifacts, King Yanluo''s Seal ranks within the top three."

    Anubis was rapidly organizing his own thoughts as he continued, "Its ability... is to enhance the Yin energy of the entire Cathayan Underworld, and it''s one of the main reasons that Hell was able to stake a im in the four pirs! With the enhancement in Yin energy, it would be easier to produce high-grade cultivators. The King Yanluo can only assign a limited number of high-grade Yin spirits in person... That,bined with the enormous poption of the Cathayan Underworld, is why it has always had the most Infernal Judges, Abyssal Prefects, and Yama-Kings during the past several thousand years. On top of that, the genesis of more Yin energy will result in an increase in the number of Yin runes! This is a natural advantage when ites to creating forbidden techniques and developing technology. However, King Yanluo''s Seal may be an extremely powerful artifact, but it has a downside, which is that it possesses a ''manifestation'' that other creation-grade divine artifacts don''t possess."

    He took a deep breath, and the more he thought about this, the clearer his thoughts became. It was as if a series of foundational beams were rising up in his mind, allowing for the construction of a bridge that paved the way to the final answer.

    He gently stroked his golden staff as he murmured to himself, "Until the very instant we unleash our creation-grade divine artifacts, no one will be able to know whether we''ve already activated it or not. However, King Yanluo''s Seal is different. As an assistance-type creation-grade divine artifact, it has a ''manifestation'' that''s extremely distinctive, which is the Yellow Springs. The Yellow Springs acts as the main source of kic energy in the Cathayan Underworld, and if it ceases to flow, the Cathayan Underworld would be sure to be plunged into a state of chaos! The six paths of reincarnation, the 18 abysses of punishment, the Naraka Bridge, none of those things would be able to function! Yet now..."

    He raised his head, and theherfire in his eyes was burning with unprecedented intensity as he stared intently at the screen. In his eyes, there was a clear message being carried by the enormous waves, it was like a deration telling the entire world that the Cathayan Underworld had reawakened.

    "If King Yanluo''s Seal had been operating this entire time, the tsunamis it would trigger definitely wouldn''t be this color. This is a sign that an enormous volume of water from the Yellow Springs has suddenly gushed into the sea through the inlets, resulting in this gradual color gradient. In other words..."

    He smiled as he ced his hands onto the top of his staff while appraising the Yin energy screen with a cold expression. "The Cathayan Underworld deactivated King Yanluo''s Seal, and it was definitely for quite a long time, 20 years at the very least!"

    The color of this tsunami was enough to tell him everything. It was like yellow coloring had suddenly been poured into blue coloring, and the two were constantly mixing together. However, due to the excessively abrupt introduction of the yellow coloring, a process was required for the two to form a cohesive mixture.

    If the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t deactivated King Yanluo''s Seal and the Yellow Springs had been flowing this entire time, then there was no way that there could be such a clear divide between the seawater and the water of the Yellow Springs. In that case, the question was why had the Cathayan Underworld deactivated King Yanluo''s Seal?

    Anubis narrowed his eyes as he mused, "It''s definitely not as simple as a mere change in administration. There''s most definitely more to this than meets the eye... What could''ve caused the second King Yanluo to deactivate King Yanluo''s Seal? Could it be that the third King Yanluo had staged a coup? No, that''s impossible, the second King Yanluo is far too powerful to be threatened by a coup... The Cathayan Underworld is clearly intent on keeping some secrets, but the reactivation of King Yanluo''s Seal has told us many things. For a very long time, your societal and technological development has remained stagnant! In fact, it''s very likely that no new high-grade Yin spirits have emerged in the Cathayan Underworld during this time, and the power of your existing high-grade Yin spirits must''ve suffered a decline as well! This means that after this political transition, the Cathayan Underworld is nothing more than a shadow of its former self!"

    He licked his own lips greedily with his bright red tongue.

    He had been plotting for a very long time to find a weak point in the Cathayan Underworld, and this was the perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of to seize the slice of the pie that the Cathayan Underworld had always received. The Array of the Nine Godspletely isted the Cathayan Underworld from the rest of the world, and thus, everyone else could only specte about the current condition of the Cathayan Underworld. However, never did he think that the evidence that he had been searching so painstakingly for would appear right before him without any warning!

    The Cathayan Underworld had fallen. In contrast with the insurmountable peak it had been in the past, it was definitely currently in a far weaker state. Anubis was even of the opinion that King Yanluo''s Seal had been deactivated to facilitate the political transition. Thus, the question now was how long had the seal been inactive for?

    20 years? 50 years? Maybe even... 100 years?

    If King Yanluo''s Seal really had been inactive for 100 years, then there really could be a change in the makeup of the four pirs! That would be a massive shift in the entire international political bnce!

    These thoughts were evoking such a degree of excitement in his heart that even his fingers were trembling. Only after a long while did he manage to calm himself down before taking a deep breath.

    There''s no rush...

    The Cathayan Underworld had upied a spot in the four pirs for the past several thousand years, and patience was required to undermine such a powerhouse.

    He would continue to probe and prod during the uing international conferences, and upon confirming without a doubt that the Cathayan Underworld was indeed no longer fit to continue as one of the four pirs, that was when he would strike with full force!

    Everyone would want to share the massive slice of the pie that the Cathayan Underworld received, so once he led the way, he would undoubtedly have the support of virtually all of the underworlds! Just the mere thought of this filled him with excitement again.

    "Yanluo Qin, eh? Hehe, there are still a few months left, I look forward to meeting you in Nara..."

    He didn''t contact the other underworlds and inform them of his analysis. He was confident that none of the leaders of the four pirs would be so stupid that they hadn''t thought of all of this themselves.

    He could sense that there was something amiss, and the other death gods would definitely be able to as well. The treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts held in T¨­dai-ji of Nara would be themencement of the main course. If there were still any idiots who hadn''t figured out what was going on by that time, then he could issue them a reminder in exchange for some benefits.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Qin Ye was feeling rather uneasy.

    The tsunamis were far too massive, and they were imbued with incredibly fearsome Yin energy. On top of that, this was supposed tost for half a year?

    He didn''t know where this unease wasing from, and it wasn''t the time to be thinking about this. The fact that he didn''t know the answer meant that the answer was beyond his current base of knowledge, and he had better things to do now than ponder on this matter.

    With the reintroduction of the Yellow Springs into the Cathayan Underworld''s waterways, he would now be able to make use of those buildings that had remained stagnant for all this time!

    For example, there was the Hall of Tremors where Yin armaments could be crafted, the Aurogon''s Eye where Yin runes could be developed, the Myriad Treasure Pond where artifacts could be created... These buildings had appeared in the Cathayan Underworld long ago, and now, it was finally time to begin making use of them.

    "My Lord, would you like to go to Lotus City or Ashmound now?" Zhao Yun asked.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath to repress the excitement in his own heart, and after some careful consideration, he asked, "Can we rebuild the six paths of reincarnation right away?"

    "We can." Zhao Yun nodded in response. "The Yellow Springs is vital for the operation of the six paths of reincarnation. The old six paths have been destroyed, but with the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn and the body of Yu Kiang, the new six paths of reincarnation will only be more powerful than the previous set. On top of that, the sooner this is done, the better. Yu Kiang hasn''t died, and I''m sure it was able to sense the return of the Yellow Springs. If I''m not mistaken, it''ll do everything in its power to awaken itself and assess the situation."

 Chapter 813: Residual Fragments of A Civilization

    <h4>Chapter 813: Residual Fragments of A Civilization</h4>

    "Can you create the six paths of reincarnation on your own?"

    "I can," Zhao Yun replied in a confident manner. "The most difficult part of rebuilding the six paths of reincarnation is securing the required materials. Theplete remains of an ancient god are extremely difficult to track down. Their bodies contain enormous power, and all I need to do is draw upon this power and connect it to the karma of the Heavenly Dao. However..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "The six paths of reincarnation is the foundation of Hell. Without it, Hell is iplete, and once it''s rebuilt, Hell will beplete again. As a result of this, more natural phenomena will arise, and I don''t have enough power to conceal them."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. The fact that even Zhao Yun would be unable to conceal the aforementioned phenomena meant that they would definitely be no less eye-catching than those tsunamis, and he couldn''t decide whether it was a good thing for two sets of phenomena to take ce in such a short time.

    He was still far toocking in experience...

    "In that case, let''s leave it for now. Yu Kiang has already been restricted for thousands of years, I''m sure it wouldn''t hurt to leave it for a few more days. Let''s go to Ashmound first, and in three days, we''ll travel to Lotus City to construct the six paths of reincarnation." Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the sea and said, "As for this ce, station some Emissaries of Hell here to oversee proceedings, and get them to immediately report back to me if they notice any abnormal developments."

    "Yes."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Light rippled and warped in front of Qin Ye, and by the time he reopened his eyes, he was already back in Everburn.

    "Long live Hell! With the sun and moon restored, the ecosystem of the Cathayan Underworld is nowplete! I offer you my most genuine congrattions, Yanluo Qin!"

    All of the provincial governors, magistrates, and procurators around him immediately extended congrattory salutes with tion etched on their faces.

    Who didn''t want their country to be powerful and prosperous?

    Who didn''t want to live in a powerful nation, particrly the most powerful nation in the world?

    The Cathayan people had always been very tolerant of power. During the course of history, Cathay had fluctuated in power, but its people had never disappeared. In fact, 90% of the time, the Cathayan people had stood near the top of the world. During the Song and Tang Dynasties, Cathay''s GDP had been as high as 60% of global GDP, and it was exactly because of its past glory and the recent downturn that everyone was yearning for more power.

    They wanted to be just as powerful as before, standing at the top of the world as the paramount powerhouse.

    "Long live Hell! Our nation is bing more and more powerful! It''ll only be a matter of time before it returns to its former status!"

    "Throughout the past several thousand years, Cathay has always been a major yer on the international stage, regardless of whether it''s in the mortal realm or the underworld. The only thing that''s changed is that we''re now facing a new set of opponents."

    "Our return to the top of the world is imminent!"

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile in response to everyone''s rousing words. Right at this moment, a carriage drew to a halt on the side of the street that they were situated on, and Wang Chenghao emerged from it in a respectful manner. "Yanluo Qin, all of the schrs are waiting for you on Azure Dragon Street."

    Everburn was split up into four major areas, named after the four holy beasts [The four holy beasts of Chinese mythology are the White Tiger, the Xuanwu Turtle, the Azure Dragon, and the Vermillion Bird.]. The Azure Dragon Area was situated in the west, and at the center of the area was the Azure Dragon Street, which was the designated heart of the city. Back when Everburn still wasn''t called Everburn, the special buildings that had appeared with the expansion of the Cathayan Underworld were all gathered here. Currently, Oda Nobutada was tasked with overseeing the area, and all trespassers were to be executed with no exceptions.

    The first ce to benefit from the return of the Yellow Springs was none other than Azure Dragon Street!

    Even the six paths of reincarnation needed the Judgment Pen to judge good and evil. Currently, the Judgment Pen was still nowhere to be found, and that was the final missing piece of the Cathayan Underworld. However, Azure Dragon Street was the ce where one could most directly experience the residual fragments of thest civilization.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    <i>Clip clop, clip clop... </i> The sound of thundering hooves rang across along the entirety of Azure Dragon Street. The Yin beasts were drawing a carriage along very quickly, and currently, seven species of tameable Yin beasts had been discovered across the nation. Four of those species had already been tamed, and they were as fast as the express trains of the mortal realm. At this point, these tamed Yin beasts were already in the process of being sent to all of the provinces and cities in the country.

    No more than several minutester, the King Yanluo''s carriage had already arrived at Azure Dragon Street. The street was paved with even azure asr, and on either side of the street were grey city walls extending up to at least 15 meters tall. The street was around 10 meters wide, and as the carriage traveled down the center of the street, it was as if it had returned to ancient times with insurmountable ptial walls on either side of it. As the carriage continued along the street, passing by one antiquated ptialntern after another, one would begin to detect a sense of cold killing intent.

    There was no sound to be heard, but Qin Ye knew that atop the two 150-meter stretches of ptial walls lining the street, there were at least 300 Yin soldiers lurking in secret. All of these soldiers were wearing armor crafted from the carapaces of blight vermin, and they were wielding crossbows crafted from Yin beast tendons and the exoskeletons of blight vermin. If anyone dared to storm the city, they would be met by a ferocious barrage of attacks.

    From the front, the ptial wall diverted away in two directions, and at the center was a screen wall, upon which was inscribed an image of Abyssal Prefect Cui, Cui Jue, judging a case. In front of the screen wall sat an elderly Yin spirit. During his days in the mortal realm, this Yin spirit had been the warden of thergest jail in the entirety of Cathay, Dongyang Prison. He was giving off a menacing aura and was immactely dressed and groomed from head to toe.

    If he were to be attacked, the three hanging dragon gates behind him, each of which weighed over a ton, would immediately fall down and swing shut. Immediately thereafter, the 100 imperial soldiers stationed outside would rush in to seal off all avenues for escape or retreat. The entirety of Azure Dragon Street was like a watertight fortress, and this entire setup had been nned out by Qin Ye and the Harken.

    Only those who had experienced that era were aware of what the residual fragments of the past civilization present on Azure Dragon Street entailed.

    The carriage sped along the street and quickly arrived in front of the screen wall. As soon as it did so, the image of Cui Jue on the screen wall suddenly seemed to spring to life, brandishing the brush in his hands as he quickly wrote out the words: <i>Wee, ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, third King Yanluo Qin, and assistant Wang.</i>

    The carriage didn''t stop, and as it passed by the screen wall, the elderly man stood up and extended a slight bow. Not a single sound was made during the entire process, and in the instant that the carriage turned past the screen wall, a scene that could only be witnessed in cultivation novels was presented before Qin Ye''s eyes.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath as he peered out through the gap in the curtains. This area was over 100 kilometers in size, and it contained six giant antiquated buildings situated right next to one another, namely the Hall of Tremors, the Aurogon''s Eye, the Myriad Treasure Pond, the Nine Yin Pavilion, the Faint EarthBuilding, and the Pixiu Chimera Building. In the past, they had been no different from normal buildings, in fact, many parts and floors of the buildings had been inessible. However, now, every single building was glowing with the radiance of countless Yin runes.

    Innumerable glowing Yin runes had been carved onto every single piece of stone and wooden construction material, and the bottom sections of all of the buildings were inundated by countless Yin clouds that were gently revolving around the buildings, giving them the appearance of heavenly pces that sat above the clouds. Each building was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, and looking at this from a distance, there was no sense of menace or threat. Instead, it was truly an awe-inspiring sight.

    It was like an immortal realm right in the middle of the underworld!

    "My Lord." Zu Chongzhi, Lu Ban, Zhang Heng, and the others were already waiting here, and everyone''s faces were flushed with excitement. As soon as Qin Ye stepped out of the carriage, they immediately approached him with respectful salutes and said, "We bear fantastic news! All of the buildings have been perfectly preserved! This... This is the foundation for the resurgence of Hell!"

    As the main overseer of this ce, Oda Nobutada was also present. Qin Ye emerged from the carriage and asked, "How are things going here?"

    "All of the seals ced on the buildings have already been opened. Now, all we need to do is install Yin spirit stones, and the buildings will be ready for use."

    "Very good..." Qin Ye took a deep breath before continuing, "Schrs, it''s your time to shine. What exactly is it that makes these buildings so special? Please tell me every single detail about them."

    "Yes!!" All of the schrs extended bows in unison, and after some discussion, construction master Li Chun emerged with a smile. "Pleasee with me, Your Excellency."

    Thus, the group slowly walked along the central path. There were only around a dozen people on the massive street, while the rest were Yin soldiers who were standing ramrod straight in their positions, giving off an air of solemnity. Li Chun said in a low voice, "My Lord, these are no ordinary buildings. These six buildings are the crown jewels of the previous Hell, which stood for over 3,000 years, and each and every one of them possesses extremely powerful special abilities."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response, and Li Chun continued, "Yin runes are the foundation of any underworld. Through the use of Yin runes, all types of effects could be achieved. The Cathayan Underworld''s Yin runes are the most powerful ones among those of the four pirs, and the reason for that is King Yanluo''s Seal, which is also renowned as the world''s premier divine artifact. Looking at all of the other underworlds, most of their creation-grade divine artifacts possess offensive abilities, while assistance-type creation-grade divine artifacts are very rare inparison, and there are certainly no other assistance-type divine artifacts on the same level as King Yanluo''s Seal. King Yanluo''s Seal is able to enhance the Yin energy in the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld. The degree of enhancement isn''t all thatrge, but it applies to the entire nation, and it gives rise to even greater diversity in our Yin runes. As a result, there are countless more Yin runebinations at our disposal, and it''s precisely because of this that we were able to create these six peerless buildings."

    Right at this moment, they just so happened to have made it to a cluster of tall buildings, and Li Chun extended a slight bow before heaving an emotive sigh. "This is the Myriad Treasure Pond. It took 500 years to construct it, and during the process, the services of 30 schrs, 200,000 craftsmen, and countless Yin rune masters were recruited. Its construction was approved by the first King Yanluo in person, and it houses all of the Cathayan Underworld''s Yin artifacts and Yin talismans, including the divine artifact, the Nine Pces Eight Trigrams Diagram, and the semi-divine artifact, the original copy of the I Ching. It''s constantly calcting Yin runebination permutations day and night, and currently, there are currently already over four million Yin runebinations on record. The method of usage and practical application of eachbination has also been recorded. Throughout the history of the Cathayan Underworld, all Yin artifacts at or above the Abyssal Prefect level have been produced by the Myriad Treasure Pond, including even the Mirror of Eminence!"

    Even though Qin Ye was already mentally prepared for this, he still couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath upon hearing this. "The Nine Pces Eight Trigrams Diagram? The original copy of I Ching? These things actually exist?"

    "Indeed, they do," Li Chun replied as he extended a respectful salute with an excited expression. "For the construction of each of these buildings, it''s no exaggeration to say that the power of the entire nation was drawn upon. All of the building materials were of the very best quality with zeropromise, and they''re all super Yin artifacts in their own right. These buildings have stood for over 3,000 years without falling, and they exist between the nes of reality and illusion. At theirrgest, they can hold entire seas, while at their smallest, they can conceal themselves within the tiniest of particles. They can tear through space itself and hide within pockets of space, or they can conceal themselves within a line of text in a book. If Hell were to copse, the only things that would be able to survive would be semi-divine artifacts, divine artifacts, and these buildings. They are thest piece of tangible inheritance from the previous Hell."

    A contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as thoughts began to race through his mind.

    During the reconstruction of Hell, the first special structure to be built was Hell''s Gate. It was nothing more than a shoddy little temple, yet even it was capable of seizing souls and traversing through the two realms. In contrast, these were buildings that had truly been constructed with the power of the entire nation, and their abilities were undoubtedly beyond the scope of his imagination.

    He was beginning to understand the core construct of these buildings. To use an analogy, the Myriad Treasure Pond, the Nine Pces Eight Trigrams Diagram, and the original copy of I Ching acted as the CPU that provided instructions for the buildings to operate on. At the same time, this CPU also connects the entire buildings together in the programmingnguage known as Yin runes, thereby achieving the objective of getting the buildings to immediately reciprocate to whatever Qin Ye and the others want the buildings to do.

    What was this concept? It was the concept of a supeputer!

    There was a saying that stated "the ultimate peak of science was mythology", and this saying was being perfectly embodied here!

 Chapter 814: Hua Xia Six Origins Diagram

    <h4>Chapter 814: Hua Xia Six Origins Diagram</h4>

    Qin Ye had to admire the foresight of the first King Yanluo. Not only had he seen extremely far into the future, his foresight had been extremely clear. Refining these things into Yin artifacts essentially produced peerless treasures that could be passed down from one administration to the next. Even if Hell were to be destroyed one day, there would be hope for a resurgence as long as these things continued to exist.

    "Here, Yin artifacts can be mass-produced as long as sufficient amounts of materials are supplied." Li Chun couldn''t help but heave a sigh of admiration here. "The wisdom and courage of the first King Yanluo were truly unmatched. Even now, I struggle to fathom how he had managed to create these things during such a chaotic era where gods and devils freely roamed thend. Out of these six buildings, the Myriad Treasure Pond is undisputedly the most valuable one."

    He paused momentarily here before adding, "My Lord, these six buildings are collectively known as the Hua Xia Six Origins Diagram, and also as the Six Origin Buildings. The most important one of these buildings is undoubtedly the Aurogon''s Eye, which is capable of seeing through all things. However, the Myriad Treasure Pond was the first one to have been constructed. During the past several thousand years, countless underworlds have requested to purchase the blueprints for the Six Origin Buildings, and I recall that the final one of those asions was right before the copse of Hell, during the International Underworlds'' Trade Convention. At the time, the Hindustani Underworld had offered five trillion Yin spirit stones to purchase the blueprints for the Myriad Treasure Pond, the Pixiu Chimera Building, and the Faint Earth Building, but their offer was refused by Hell. There was also a time when three nations had pooled together their resources to offer eight trillion Yin spirit stones in exchange for the blueprint of the Aurogon''s Eye."

    "I''m assuming they were also turned down," Qin Ye said with a smile.

    "Of course," Lu Ban replied as a smile also appeared on his face. "Those blueprints are cherished treasures of our Cathayan Underworld, and there''s no way they''ll ever be sold. On top of that, the abilities of these buildings can only be maximized when coupled with King Yanluo''s Seal. Regardless of which underworld manages to get their hands on the blueprints, without King Yanluo''s Seals, their Yin energy won''t reach a sufficient level to support the buildings, and they won''t be able to manifest the required Yin runes anyway."

    Without being able to manifest the Yin runes, the programmingnguage would be incorrect, so it wouldn''t matter no matter how good of a CPU they had.

    "What a truly breathtaking spectacle..." Qin Ye sighed. Judging from the blueprints left to him by Granny Meng, some of the things she had said in the past, and the signs of Hell''s expansion, it was clear that these buildings were definitely extraordinary artifacts, but never did he think that they would be this incredible!

    "Then, can this building act as the artifact vault for the entire Cathayan Underworld?" Qin Ye asked with an intense look in his eyes.

    "In theory, yes."

    "Why only in theory?" Qin Ye asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

    Li Chun extended a slight bow as he replied, "Ultimately, the size of the Myriad Treasure Pond is limited, and manualbor is required for deduction. In order to create an Infernal Judge level Yin artifact, it would take at least a year. For Abyssal Prefect level Yin artifacts, that time would stretch to at least 10 years, and for Yama-King level Yin artifacts, the time taken would be over a century, and that''s only provided there are no calction errors during the process."

    Qin Ye understood the obstacle now. The issue lied in production capacity.

    "How was this issue resolved by the past Hell?" He stroked his own chin as he began to slowly pace back and forth while appraising the two golden toad statues situated in front of the Myriad Treasure Pond. "If I recall correctly, every single Emissary of Hell possessed a Yin Artifact, and the soldiers of Hell''s army were also all equipped with Yin artifacts. The old Hell had tens of millions of emissaries, and there would''ve surely been Yin artifacts that were damaged or lost, there would''ve had to have been more than Yin artifacts produced for each Emissary of Hell. That seems like far more than what the Myriad Treasure Pond can produce within 3,000 years."

    Indeed, even 100 Myriad Treasure Ponds wouldn''t be able to keep up with such a high level of demand!

    On this asion, it was Lu Ban who answered his question. "What the old Hell did was employ a hierarchy system. Aside from the Aurogon''s Eye, of which there is only one in the entire nation, all five of the other buildings have replicas in all of the provinces, cities, and counties. The regional buildings are ssified as A grade, the provincial buildings are ssified as B grade, the city-level buildings are ssified as C grade, the county-level buildings are ssified as D grade, and no replicas were built in areas below the D grade. At the time, there were a total of 34 provinces, 320 cities, and 1,330 counties across the entire nation. In total, there were five sets of A grade Five Origin Buildings distributed across the major regions, and 34 sets of B grade Five Origin Buildings constructed in the capital cities of the provinces. As for C grade sets of Five Origin Buildings, there were 320 in total, as well as 1,330 sets of D grade Five Origin Buildings. Each set of buildings was also constructed based on the original Six Origins Blueprint, and the only difference is the materials used. When inferior materials are used, some more rigorous Yin runes would be unable to be transmitted through Yin energy, and thus, themands that they carried would be unable to be executed. For A grade sets of Five Origin Buildings, they were only capable of producing Yin artifacts at or below the intermediate Abyssal Prefect level."

    An enlightened look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this. "I see, so the materials used for each level differ in quality, and even the scale of the buildings begins to decrease at the lower levels. After all, only an Infernal Judge is required to defend a province, so C grade buildings will only need to be able to produce Yin artifacts at or below the Infernal Judge level, is that right?"

    "Your wisdom is truly unmatched, my Lord."

    Qin Ye continued, "Seeing as the lowest grade is the D grade, which applies to counties, emissaries from townships and viges who wish to obtain Yin artifacts must go to the county. This also prevents rural viges and townships from hoarding Yin artifacts in secret."

    "Indeed, my Lord," Lu Ban replied with a smile.

    Qin Ye nodded in response. It had to be said that this was a great way to do things. Otherwise, where was Hell supposed to get Yin artifacts for all tens of millions of its emissaries?

    Some ignorantherworldly citizens could be of the opinion that Emissaries of Hell would be able to easily kill evil ghosts at the same cultivation level, so there was no need for Yin artifacts.

    However, what they had forgotten was that back when the Cathayan Underworld was open to the rest of the world, there were countless foreign darkfeathers lurking in the shadows, as well as the possibility of all types of Yin spirits undergoing mutations at any time. In addition to that, there were also Yin beasts that had concealed themselves. With so many potential enemies, one had to be equipped with a Yin artifact to stand a chance.

    Having a Yin artifact could quite possibly save one''s life. If Hell refused to grant these benefits to its public servants, then no one would be willing toplete the duties that were delegated to them by Hell.

    Another major consumer base for these Yin artifacts was the army.

    The armor and weapons carried by Yin soldiers had to all be Yin artifacts. At the time, the Cathayan Underworld had gathered trillions of Yin spirits, and its armyprised of tens of millions of troops. Without creating these replicas of the Five Origin Buildings, there would be no way to arm all of the nation''s troops.

    "What a stroke of genius this was..." he couldn''t help but praise. "Such glorious buildings could''ve only been constructed by Hell, there''s no way that the other underworlds would''ve even been able to conceive the idea..."

    All of a sudden, everyone fell silent, and it was an extremely awkward silence...

    Several secondster, Li Chun cleared his throat and said, "Well... That''s not exactly true, My Lord. Some foreign underworlds have simr constructions as well. For example, the Elysian Fields of the Argosian Underworld are a parallel defensive circle linked to the Hourss of Time. Those below the Abyssal Prefect level who enter the Elysian Fields would be unable to even leave, let alone reach the Three Judges of the Argosian Underworld. Another example is the Twin S Gardens of the Hindustani Underworld. Each and every nt in the gardens is a surveying eye, and the gardens are connected to the Hindustani Underworld''s Heavenly Eye Buddhist Temple. However, most of them copied our Cathayan Underworld in their constructions. The concept is the same, but the progress they''ve made can''tpare with our system, which has been in ce for thousands of years."

    Are you saying... they giarised us?! Did they purchase the relevant intellectual rights before they did this?!

    How could they just giarise something that had taken the Cathayan Underworld thousands of years to establish? Had they no shame?

    Qin Ye repressed the indignation in his heart as he roughly familiarized himself with the operation method of the entire Six Origins Diagram. He then turned to another building. "The Hall of Tremors..."

    He still recalled that the Hall of Tremors was where research on Yin runes was conducted and where military supplies were produced.

    At this moment, the Hall of Tremors was alreadypletely open. Its gates were wide open, and its name was inscribed in free-flowing text upon a que that hung above its gates. Yin energy was revolving around the building, and rays of light radiating from Yin runes could be seening from inside, giving the entire building a mystical quality.

    Li Chun immediately said, "The Hall of Tremors was constructed during the tail-end of the first King Yanluo''s reign, and it took 472 years toplete. Those who participated in the project included 35 schrs specializing in construction, several hundred academicians, and countless Yin rune masters from the military. It was the fourth of the Six Origin Buildings to have been constructed."

    Qin Ye made his way over to the building''s entrance with a contemtive expression, and the schrs and Oda Nobutada immediately followed along. All of a sudden, Qin Ye asked, "Won''t this building be in conflict with other buildings? One of its abilities is to develop Yin runes... Isn''t that what the Aurogon''s Eye is best at? Its other ability is to produce military supplies, doesn''t that ovep with the role of the Myriad Treasure Pond?"

    Li Chun replied, "There''s actually no conflict there, my Lord. Firstly, the Aurogon''s Eye only covers research in the overall makeup, production, method of inscription, and final effect of Yin runes. In contrast, the Hall of Tremors is responsible for assessing what practical applications the Yin runes developed by the Aurogon''s Eye have in a military context."

    Qin Ye was enlightened upon hearing this. Essentially, the Yin rule section of the Hall of Tremors was a subsidiary unit to the Aurogon''s Eye, and the Aurogon''s Eye was still in charge in this field.

    "On top of that, it''s important to remember that military supplies aren''t just restricted to the weapons and armor carried by the Yin soldiers. Put it this way, weaponry and armor form the foundation of army supplies, but there''s no way they can y a decisive role in battle. In reality, the weaponry and armor of all nations is currently on roughly the same level with our Cathayan Underworld only slightly ahead of the pack. What truly sets us apart are our tools, namely our siege weaponry! The underworld and the mortal realm are connected, so concepts and ideas from the mortal realm will extend into the underworld. This is why many people adopt simr roles after they pass away from their roles during their living days. It''s also because of this that our Cathayan Underworld possesses the most diverse range of siege weaponry out of any nation! This is all thanks to our long history of battle that has spanned over the course of several thousand years!"

    Li Chun was starting to grow quite excited here, and his voice became louder and louder as he spoke. "During the course of history, our fortes in battle have been in the areas of siege and counter-siege, and this has determined that siege weaponry will be the most important feature in our warring history! For example, we have the Soul-Launching Coffin, the 12 Zodiacs Karmic Fire Tower, the Arrow Tower... There''s not a single nation with as diverse a range of siege weaponry as us. In some ces where war has been ongoing for long periods of time, such as the Australis Underworld, they issue import orders of close to a trillion Yin spirit stones to us every year, and all of this is solely spent on siege weaponry."

    I see, so the Cathayan Underworld is also the number one arms dealer in the world?

    An intrigued look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "Hold on... If all of these things have to do with Yin runes, then why is it that I''ve heard that the Argosian Underworld''s Yin runes are the most powerful ones in the world."

    "It depends on the perspective that you look at it from," Li Chun replied as his excitement died down a little. "Their power stems from their round table meetings. All those who attended those meetings were incredible individuals during their living days. In fact, some of them yed pivotal roles in the development of science in the mortal realm before they passed away, and their forte lies in innovation, such as in the area of forbidden arts. Forbidden art Yin runes are the most fearsome and most grand products of innovation. We didn''t think that the Argosian Underworld would be capable of developing such terrifying things. However, we also have our own advantage in that we produce thergest number of new Yin runes out of any nation, and sufficient quantity can result in fundamental qualitative changes."

    At this point, the group had already made their way to the building situated at the very center.

    The words "Aurogon''s Eye" were inscribed inrge scarlet characters on the que, and the entire building also had a scarlet color scheme. The carving of a giant dragon was concealed within the building, and at its highest point, the dragon''s head emerged with scintiting light radiating from its eyes.

    Qin Ye didn''t continue to pursue this subject as he already understood the situation. With the Cathayan Underworld''s nationwide enhanced Yin energy, it was able to produce more Yin runes than any other nation, but the Argosian Underworld was the world leader when it came to forbidden art Yin runes. On paper, it seemed that the two were roughly evenly matched when it came to their capacity for Yin rune development, but in reality, the Cathayan Underworld was slightly inferior in this regard.

    There was no helping this. Mathematics in the mortal realm had begun its evolution in ancient Argosia, and mathematics was the father of science. In the mortal realm, Cathay didn''t have an advantage in the field of mathematics, so it was inevitably going to fall behind.

    "What is the function of this building?"

    Li Chun and Lu Ban replied in unison with extremely excited voices, "It possesses the ability to see the future and see the truth! It''s able to conductprehensive analysis on Yin runes, and this is already an amazing function, but the most incredible thing about it is that it''s the only key to linking the past and opening up the future!"

 Chapter 815: Peach Blossom Shadow Falling Flying Excalibur (1)

    <h4>Chapter 815: Peach Blossom Shadow Falling Flying Excalibur (1)</h4>

    Lu Ban''s voice was a little raspy as he said, "The Aurogon''s Eye embodies rity and transparency. In the face of the Aurogon''s Eye, there are no secrets in this world. We want to see through all the secrets surrounding Yin runes through it, but unfortunately, we''re still very far away from achieving that goal. It took 547 years to construct this building, and during the process, 53 schrs and countless other personnel were involved. It is the most grandest building in the history of the Cathayan Underworld! In terms of its function, it ranks number one among the Six Origin Buildings, and it was the second of the six buildings to have been built. Perhaps you''re curious about its function, my Lord. However, it''s not really applicable to those who aren''t familiar with Yin runes. An analogy here is science, which is the primary driving force to advance society, but science ispletely detached from the average person."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before suddenly raising his head. What''s that supposed to mean? Are you insulting me by calling me an idiot who knows nothing? You''re speaking to the King Yanluo here! Put some respect on my name!

    Lu Ban was clearly unaware of what Qin Ye was currently thinking, and he continued, "All you need to know is that it''s able to conductprehensive analysis on Yin runes, and that it''s one-of-a-kind in the entire nation. It is the cradle in which Hell''s scientific advancement, or rather progression in the field of Yin runes, is facilitated. Countless arts and Yin runebinations have been born here. You can understand it as... Hmm, now that I think about it, it''s easier to exin this topic by using the magic system of the west. For example, the chants used for magic spells consist of strings of sybles. Yin runes are the equivalent of those sybles, and when arranged in a specific order, they''ll amount to a spell. Another example is the inscription technology of the west. In the beginning, the strategy they adopted wasn''t the refinement strategy used by our nation. Instead, they engraved inscriptions onto high-quality pieces of equipment to achieve an enchantment effect. Yin runes work in the same way. Take a look at these buildings, my Lord. These are the best masterpieces of inscription. Truth be told, during the design process, we referenced inscription technology."

    Qin Ye cast a meaningful gaze toward the Six Origin Buildings. Indeed, Yin runes were inscribed upon every single brick that the buildings were constructed from, and whenbined together, these Yin runes were no different from inscriptions or enchantments. It just depended on whether you wanted a 55 HP healing effect or a 20 magic damage attack...

    This ce wasn''t his domain. Instead, it was the ce where these schrs could thrive. All he needed to do was to understand how important they were and have a rough grasp on their productive capacity and quality.

    As the ruler of a nation, he had to know what to learn and what to set aside for others to learn. If he were to take care of everything in person without any delegation, he would only work himself to death.

    Thus, the group inspected one building after another, and before they knew it, over two hours had already passed, but this was still only a rough tour.

    The Nine Yin Pavilion took 360 years to build, and was a facility where arts were developed.

    All of Hell''s arts originated from this ce, and all of those arts had been recorded in archives, including some arts recorded by the first King Yanluo, and even several semi-forbidden arts recorded by the second King Yanluo. Apparently, it''sprised of 103,000 Yin runes, and upon hearing this number, Qin Ye immediately made the wise decision to discard all thoughts of learning more about it.

    The Nine Yin Pavilion was closely connected with the Myriad Treasure Pond. The artifacts produced by the Myriad Treasure Pond were like nk tes, and it was up to the Nine Yin Pavilion to transform them into their final forms.

    For example, if a weapon needed to be enchanted with something like "Three Thousand Lightning Strikes" or "Buddha''s Fury Fire Lotus", that could only be facilitated by the Nine Yin Pavilion. Not only did thepatibility of the arts have to be considered, whether the materials could handle the arts was also another factor to be assessed. Furthermore, many Emissaries of Hell requested self-made arts, so it was definitely no less useful than the Myriad Treasure Pond.

    Obtaining a cultivation art was the first step to anyone''s cultivation journey.

    The Pixiu Chimera Building was the exclusive forbidden art research center, and it was constructed during the reign of the second King Yanluo over a span of 380 years. The surface of the building was riddled with Yin runes inscribed by the second King Yanluo himself, and it was capable of withstanding an all-out attack from him. It was the building that possessed the greatest defensive prowess among all buildings in the Cathayan Underworld, and its defensive capabilities exceeded even that of the Array of Nine Gods.

    Qin Ye had to repress the excitement that welled up in his heart at the sight of this building. It still wasn''t the time to be thinking about forbidden arts.

    Forbidden arts had to be created, and they would have to progress straight to the second generation of forbidden arts, but this wasn''t the right time.

    Qin Ye continued onward, and the final building appeared in his field of view.

    "This is the Faint Earth Building, which is the Yin spirit research facility. To put it in simpler terms, it''s the Yin spirit biology research center. Yin spirits areprised of Yin runes, but the configuration of these Yin runes, which Yin runes are involved, how did Yin spiritse into existence, do theye from one''s soul or one''s physical body, is it still the same Yin spirit even after undergoing multiple cycles of reincarnation... These are all prevailing mysteries that have stood the test of time. Of course, with the development of Yin rune science, all of these questions will be answered eventually," Li Chun exined.

    Qin Ye drew to a halt here.

    "Is there something wrong, my Lord?" Li Chun asked with a perplexed expression.

    "Can I use this ce to see the memories of Yin spirits without having to use a soul search technique?" Qin Ye asked. "I have a rather special Yin spirit that I''m nning to use as part of the six paths of reincarnation, and using a soul search technique on it will damage his spiritual body."

    "Of course." Li Chun made an inviting hand gesture. "Go ahead. As long as it''s something that he''s seen or encountered before, even if he doesn''t remember it himself, the Faint Earth Building will be able to dig it up for sure!"

    "Good." Qin Ye curled a finger, and Bu Wantian''s soul emerged, apprehended by Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen, before falling to its knees on the ground.

    "Check through all of his memories! Find out when he saw the peach blossom."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen moved on ahead with Bu Wantian between them, and Qin Ye trailed along behind them. This was the first time he had entered a truly unsealed Six Origin Building, and he couldn''t help but carefully examine it.

    In contrast with the other antiquated pavilions of the Cathayan Underworld, many signs of machinery could be seen inside thepletely unsealed Six Origin Building. Even though there were extremely intricate silencing measures set up, the sounds being made by the machinery were still extremely loud, and it was as if he had walked straight into a magical factory in a science fiction novel.

    He was just about to ask whether they had tried to replicate this across the entire nation, thereby making energy resources such as electricity redundant, but he immediately realized why that would be a stupid question.

    Even at its very peak, it took several centuries for Hell to construct a fully automatic building like this, and countless personnel from different fields were involved in the construction of each of these buildings, so it was certainly not a project to be taken lightly. If it were to be replicated across the entire nation, it wouldpletely crush the national economy no matter how much the projects were simplified. Currently, the Cathayan Underworld was nowhere near its peak, so this would be an impossible feat.

    Thus, they still had to find new energy resources, and this was something that could even alter the state of the entire world. Having said that, all of the international underworlds had also been searching, and the search had been ongoing for several thousand years, so everything that could be tried had most likely already been tried. Thus, this was not something to be rushed.

    After walking for over 10 minutes through this fantastical building, they arrived in a room on the second floor. The interior of the room was inscribed with all types of Yin runes, and Bu Wantian''s soul was panting heavily as it knelt in the center of the room.

    "Do you know how to operate this thing?"

    "Rest assured, my Lord." Li Chun strode forward as he said, "Searching one''s memories is a simple task, and it''s only a slight improvement on a soul search technique. Please take a seat and wait a moment."

    Bu Wantian''s soul was already very faint. His entire body was riddled with wounds and sttered with blood, still maintaining the horrendous condition he had been in from being torn to pieces by the zombies of the Huang n''s vige. He looked on with a cold expression as Li Chun approached him, and he said in a hoarse voice, "You know nothing about immortality, you little brat..."

    There was a row of seats at the back of the hall, and Qin Ye was seated in the taishi chair at the very center as he instructed, "Tell him to shut up."

    How could he keep a straight face while delivering such a corny line? Had he no shame?

    "Yes." Li Chun snapped his fingers, and the ground in all directions immediately rose up before 49 chains emerged at once amid a string of metallic ngs. The chains pierced through Bu Wantian''s soul, suspending it in mid-air, and his agonized howls became the only sound left in the room.

    "You don''t deserve to live! You''re an absolute imbecile!! We''re the same type of people... the same type of people! We are the same!"

    Crack... A massive ss dome descended right in front of him from above, and Lu Ban exined with a smile, "Nightjade ss is extremely precious, and it can''t be broken unless it''s attacked by a Yama-King level being. This is a measure set up to protect schrs in case Yin spirits suddenly undergo mutations during experimentation, transforming them into powerful yet mindless killing machines."

    The ss dome fell into ce, separating Qin Ye''s group from Bu Wantian. Li Chun circted his own Yin energy before injecting it into several floorboards without any warning, and Bu Wantian''s eyes abruptly widened. His entire body began to tremble, and boundless Yin energy flowed out of all of his pores.

    Whoosh... The Yin energy revolved rapidly around him, quickly forming a Yin energy screen that was around five meters tall. At the same time, countless Yin runes were surging all over his body, traveling along the chains onto the floorboards before fusing with the Yin energy. Several minutester, a series of images appeared on the screen.

    Qin Ye was truly amazed by this spectacle. Manifesting memories as images was already something that science couldn''t exin.

    The images quickly transitioned between one another, and soon, Qin Ye caught sight of Huang Yunqing''s face, upon which he immediately instructed, "Stop."

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, transmitted clearly to the other side of the protective dome, and he continued, "Search for all memories of this man. In particr, search for when this person first appeared in his memories!"

    "Yes."

    Yin runes instantly began to surge throughout the room, and the image on the screen had transformed into that of Huang Yunqing.

    These were Bu Wantian''s memories of Huang Yunqing. The image began to change rapidly from one scene to the next, and it was going back in time at a breakneck pace!

    The 80s, the 60s, the 50s... Prior to the founding of the republic!

    Qin Ye could identify the buildings and attire symbolic of those eras, and the more he saw, the more solemn his expression became. This Huang Yunqing existed even before the founding of the republic!

    He would meet with Bu Wantian roughly once every decade. Could it be that when Bu Wantian had said that this was the second time he was meeting the same type of person as him, the first time was referring to his meeting with Huang Yunqing?

    No, that shouldn''t be the case. Someone who has consumed the true Taisui fungus wouldn''t have transformed into a monster like that. That wasn''t a zombie created by the Taisui fungus, it was a creature from an entirely different dimension!

    The images were still progressing back in time!

    Initially, it was only Qin Ye looking on with a grim expression, but soon, his expression had be mirrored on everyone else''s faces as well.

    The images had progressed all the way back to the Qing Dynasty!

    At the time, their meetings still weren''t very frequent, taking ce roughly once every 30 to 50 years. However, time was still going back in reverse, and it was showing no signs of stopping!

    Soon, it had reached the Ming Dynasty!

    "Could it be that this man has consumed the Taisui fungus?" Zhang Heng mused as he stroked his own beard, and he couldn''t help but cast a nce toward Qin Ye. "Could this be another person who has eaten the Taisui fungus? How are there so many of them?"

    "It''s not the Taisui fungus," Qin Ye said with a grim expression. "It''s some type of... poison of immortality..."

    The images were still traveling back in time, and the intervals between their meetings had be even longer with each meeting taking ce roughly every 100 years. All of their meetings took ce outside the Huang n''s earthen building, and it was already the early phase of the Ming Dynasty!

    The Ming Dynasty was founded in 1368, which meant that this man had lived for roughly 700 years!

    Furthermore, there were still more images toe!

    This was a 1,000-year agreement between a pair of immortals!

    At this point, everyone aside from Qin Ye had risen to their feet in astonishment. This was because they had seen the g of the Yuan Dynasty!

    However, that still wasn''t the end. When the next set of images appeared, everyone drew a sharp breath.

    It was the Song Dynasty...

    The attire of the Yuan Dynasty, which reflected elements of strong foreign influences, transitioned back to the antiquated attire of the Cathayan style, heralding the return to the Song Dynasty.

    The image depicted a huge boat that was brightly lit bynterns, notherfire. There was a group of guards standing on the boat dressed entirely in ck, and at the center of the boat stood a man.

    "Is it you?" The man''s voice was very elegant, and Bu Wantian was also in the image, but he was on his knees and didn''t even dare to raise his head.

    "Are you the one who ignited the light tower in this mortal coil?"

 Chapter 816: Peach Blossom Shadow Falling Flying Excalibur (2)

    <h4>Chapter 816: Peach Blossom Shadow Falling Flying Excalibur (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing mention of this light tower.

    This was a light tower that had been constructed using an evil Taisui fungus and over 100 human lives, and it really had attracted someone or something!

    Was this man a human or a ghost?

    Did hee from the legendary Peach Blossom Spring? Where exactly was this Peach Blossom Spring?

    Was there really a hidden power in the territory of the Cathayan Underworld that even the second King Yanluo couldn''t track down?

    "Yes, yes!" Bu Wantian kowtowed vigorously several times in session.

    The man on the boat smiled and said, "Don''t be so nervous, we are the same type of people."

    The same type of people...

    No one else said anything, and Qin Ye finally rose to his feet.

    Almost all six of the people who had consumed the Taisui fungus were in Cathay. The Taisui fungus couldn''t be found overseas, and this was already the fourth person.

    There was Qin Ye, Lee Jung-sook, Bu Wantian, and this man, who had been alive since at least the Song Dynasty and was most definitely still alive today.

    Initially, he didn''t feel too strongly about the Taisui fungus. The first person aside from himself that he knew of who had also consumed the Taisui fungus was Lee Jung-sook. They were a dynamic duo, and she was certainly no heinous character, so their rtionship had been quite harmonious...

    Of course, aside from the instance where he ditched her for a few hours to drink with a married man until the early hours of the morning... It was¡­ pretty harmonious...

    Qin Ye was trying to deceive himself with all his might...

    However, after meeting Bu Wantian, his mindset changed.

    The Taisui fungus was a dual-edged sword. If an evil individual were to obtain it, then they would be able tomit unimaginably heinous deeds. They had far too much time and far too many opportunities to aplish what they wanted to do.

    If the Taisui fungus were consumed by one with an evil heart, then it would be a ticking time bomb.

    The fact that the man knew about the existence of the light tower in the mortal coil meant that he was definitely not a righteous figure!

    It was clear that this man''s ideologies wouldn''t be aligned with Qin Ye''s.

    "Come, raise your head ande to me." The voice of the man was very gentle as he said, "Those who have eaten the Taisui fungus and survived are all vastly fortunate. Legend has it that half of the people who consumed the Taisui fungus would be able to survive, while the other would be transformed into monsters, but throughout my research on the Taisui fungus spanning over 1,000 years, I''ve found that the survival rate is only 1% at best..."

    "Who on earth is this man?" Qin Ye was astonished to hear this. "He''s conducted over 1,000 years of research on the Taisui fungus? This memory is from the Song Dynasty... That means he''s been alive throughout the entire history of Cathayan civilization! He''s even lived through the Qin and Han Dynasties!"

    Qin Ye repressed the shock in his own heart as he continued watching.

    What he wanted the most was to see the man''s face! Perhaps his prayers were heard, and Bu Wantian finally raised his head in an uneasy manner to appraise the man with awe and veneration in his eyes.

    The man was very handsome in appearance with long and slender eyebrows, red phoenix eyes , and a long flowing beard. His ck hair was arranged in a simple manner with a jade hairpin extending through it.

    He was wearing a ck long robe, and it was impossible to identify the quality of the robe, but there were some faint patterns that mostly blended into the material. In addition to that, there was a five-wed dragon embroidered in golden thread onto both the front and the back of the robe. During that era, wearing a robe bearing such a design would''ve definitely been a crime punishable by a death verdict extending to his entire family[The golden dragon is the symbol of the emperor, so anyone who wears clothing bearing such a design would be used of treason. In fact, anyone who even wore a golden robe would be used of the same crime.], but he appeared to bepletely unfazed by this prospect.

    There was a very special disposition about him that was very difficult to describe. Only after pondering the matter for a long while did the word "carefree" spring into his mind.

    It was as if nothing would be able to evoke an emotional response within him.

    This was a man whom one would never forget after seeing him in a crowd. His disposition was like a stream of serenity and purity in a chaotic and noisy crowd, and Qin Ye was struggling to link someone like him with something as heinous as the light tower in the mortal coil.

    Only after Bu Wantian made his way toward the man did Qin Ye discover that they were situated on the shore of a sea.

    It was nighttime, but this area of the sea was very unique. Even in the darkness of the night, it could be clearly seen that the surface of the sea was divided into different colors.

    One side was yellow while the other side was blue, and the divide was very clear. This was a miraculous scene that one would never forget.

    It was the Yellow River''s inlet!

    Bu Wantian had traveled all the way from the Fujian Province to the Yellow River''s inlet, which was located in the present-day city of Wuyang!

    Why had he traveled such a long way?

    Qin Ye repressed his befuddlement as he continued watching. Bu Wantian only dared to sneak a single nce at the man before withdrawing his gaze, following which he was led by the man into the boat''s cabin.

    The cabin was very luxurious. The events in this memory most likely took ce not long after Bu Wantian created the light tower in the mortal coil, and it was clear that he was still quite uneasy and jittery. This was his memory, so the image was being presented from his point of view, and he was constantly averting his gaze, not daring to look directly at the man.

    This was a sign that he was feeling inferior andcking in confidence.

    "There''s no need to be so nervous, Brother," the man said with a smile as he led Bu Wantian to the seats at the center of the cabin. These were chairs constructed in the ssic Song Dynasty style, and the craftsmanship was extremely intricate. There was a table between the two of them, upon which sat a green jade flute.

    The entire cabin was extremely luxurious, and all of the servants were children who appeared to be around 10 years of age. However, their faces were deathly pale, and they seemed to have no sentient will, moving like mindless wooden puppets.

    The man gently picked up the flute before brandishing it like a hand fan. "We are the only two people who have ever upied these two seats in this boat. I am extremely fortunate to have found someone else like myself in this long life of mine."

    He set down the jade flute with a reminiscent look before picking up his teacup. "I wanted to prepare the most ceremonious wee for you, but the true body of this boat sank around 1,000 years ago in the sea roughly 150 nautical miles east of here. At this point, it''s most likely already be a paradise for fish, so I must beg your forgiveness for this subpar wee."

    "I, it''s fine..." Bu Wantian finally spoke, but his voice was clearly a little panicked. "Ar... Are you a deity?"

    The man seemed to be rather taken aback by this question, and he chuckled, "I''m only someone who''s lived a little longer than you have."

    He then set down his teacup as he asked in a casual voice, "Do you know why I call it the light tower in the mortal coil?"

    Bu Wantian shook his head in response.

    "It''s because the ce we''re going to is far away from this mortal coil, it is a true paradise that''s outside of this world." The man leaned forward slightly as he said, "It''s a ce that only people who were chosen by the heavens, like you and I, can go. We are the owners of that ce, and everything else there is merely our ves."

    Bu Wantian drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and his voice began to tremble with excitement as he asked, "Where is it? C, can I go there now?"

    "Unfortunately not. On top of that, I''m unable toe out at the moment," the man said as he gently stroked the ring on one of his fingers. "If you go to where I am in your current state, the only fate that awaits you is death. In addition to that, the light tower in the mortal coil still isn''tplete. Once it''splete, you''ll be able to travel with me to the promisednd."

    Bu Wantian gulped nervously before asking in a raspy voice, "Why is it that you can live there, but I would die?"

    The man smiled and flicked a finger through the air. The entire boat instantly trembled, and in the next instant, an earth-shattering boom sounded outside.

    Bu Wantian shuddered before hurriedly rushing over to the window to take a look. Just a moment ago, the sea had been extremely calm and cid, but right now, a massive vortex that was over 100 meters in size had appeared on its surface, and it was only around a kilometer away from them.

    Thud... Bu Wantian''s legs gave out from under him as he sat down onto the ground, and everyone was stunned to see this.

    "Abyssal Prefect... I can''t tell exactly what his cultivation rank is, but he''s definitely at least at the Abyssal Prefect level!" Zhang Heng said as he held onto his own beard in a death grip. "It''s downright incredible to think that he was able to cultivate to the Abyssal Prefect level within 1,000 years!"

    How could someone like him have been concealed in the mortal realm for so long?

    Despite how unbelievable it was, the fact of the matter was that he really had managed to hide himself this entire time. Furthermore, he was lyingpletely still like a viper waiting to strike.

    The most terrifying thing was always the unknown.

    No one said anything else as they continued to watch intently.

    "Once the light tower in the mortal coil isplete, you''ll also attain this level of power. Once that timees, I''ll give you the address, and my door will be wide open to you," the man said with a smile before casually taking a sip of tea.

    It was clear that Bu Wantian had beenpletely won over by everything that he had witnessed, and his voice was shaking as he said, "Y... Yes! I''ll do as you say! Esteemed deity, where do I need to go?"

    The man smiled and said, "There''s no hurry. You probably still don''t know how to establish the light tower in the mortal coil, so I''ll send someone to keep in contact with you. It''ll take a long time toplete this feat, so it''s best for us to maintainmunication during the process."

    "I''ll do as you say!"

    The man turned to the side and called out, "Chang You."

    The cabin''s door was opened, and an armored man strode in. "My Lord."

    It was Huang Yunqing!

    Qin Ye immediately recognized him. As expected, Huang Yunqing really dide from that mysterious ce!

    "From now on, stay near Mr. Bu at all times, and provide instructions to him where necessary. Take care not to meet up too frequently, and be wary of the current imperial teacher, understood?"

    "Yes!"

    Thus, Huang Yunqing, or in other words, Chang You, departed. Following his departure, the man smiled and said, "As for the location..."

    Everyone was listening intently, but right at this moment, the man suddenly paused.

    He closed his eyes as if he were sensing something, and all of a sudden, he said, "An unwee guest is no different from a thief. Who is it that''s eavesdropping on our conversation?"

    There''s someone else?

    Lu Ban''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. No one found this to be strange, but Qin Ye''s pupils abruptly contracted as right when the man''s trailed off, he turned to look directly at Qin Ye!

    This wasn''t a coincidence where he just so happened to be looking in Qin Ye''s general direction, his eyes were as sharp as razors, and Qin Ye was certain that the man had spotted him!

    He didn''t know what kind of strange ability it was that allowed a projection of the man in a memory from thousands of years ago to have sensed him, but the fact of the matter was that he was looking directly at him!

    This was downright incredible!

    "Leave this ce right now..." Qin Ye said in a grim voice. All of the schrs faltered slightly before turning to him with puzzled expressions.

    "Leave! Now!" Qin Ye yelled, and almost at the exact same moment, the man in the memory abruptly grabbed onto his jade flute before giving it a gentle shake. The jade flute immediately parted to reveal a short sword with a de that shimmered like rippling water. Immediately thereafter, the sword was shed directly toward Qin Ye.

    It was impossible to describe.

    The sword strike was as fast as fast could be, but there was no sonic boom. There was a dazzling sword projection that sliced through the memory, traveling through space before instantly reaching the real world!

    This was the most fearsome sword strike that Qin Ye had ever seen, regardless of whether it was in terms of speed, power, or aura. Even Rumyantsev''s sword hadn''t struck him with this type of feeling. As the sword projection pierced through the illusory and arrived in reality, all of the fine hairs all over his body stood on end, and a sense of extreme peril welled up in his heart!

    "Pr... Protect the King Yanluo!!" Zu Chongzhi was the first one to react as his voice instantly sprang up a few octaves. Several schrs immediately pounced toward Qin Ye, and the sound of thundering footsteps could already be heading from outside. All of a sudden, Qin Ye found himselfpletely surrounded.

    Right at this moment, countless cracks that resembled a cobweb suddenly appeared in mid-air.

    "It''s the Nightjade ss barrier... Thank goodness..." Shang Yang heaved a faint sigh of relief, yet right as his voice trailed off, the situation escted even further.

    Crack... Crack... The barrier that was supposed to only be vulnerable to attacks from Yama-King level beings didn''t evenst 10 seconds in the face of the sword projection before shattering explosively, sending ss shards raining in all directions.

    "That... That man is at the Yama-King level!! He''s a Yama-King level cultivator!!" Lu Ban immediately dove onto Qin Ye, and Qin Ye didn''t refuse. This sword strike was impossible to evade, and he had already drawn upon all of the Yin energy within his body in preparation to protect himself.

    However... it wasn''t enough.

    He knew that the gap between an Abyssal Prefect and a Yama-King was far toorge.

    In the blink of an eye, the sword projection had already traveled no more than 10 meters away from them. Right at this moment, the surrounding ground and walls abruptly shattered, disintegrating into dust.

    [1] [This is a term used to describe an eye shape that is slender with outer corners that are slightly upturned while the inner corners are turned downward.]

 Chapter 817: Hidden From the World

    <h4>Chapter 817: Hidden From the World</h4>

    The sword projection was like a wave, causing the ground to quake violently. Cracks were rapidly spreading across the entire hall, and after the span of less than a second, the hall exploded.

    It was like the copse of the entire world, and the only thing that could be seen was the pristine sword projection at the center. Qin Ye had met many death gods, but this was only the second time he had faced the power of a death god all on his own. The first time was when he had faced Tsar Peter the Great, and at the time, Peter had harbored some reservations that prevented him from unleashing his full power. In the face of a death god that was attacking him without any inhibitions, he finally came to realize just how insurmountable the gulf between an Abyssal Prefect and a Yama-King was.

    The sword projection rapidly expanded in his field of vision, resembling a scorching sun or a pristine moon. He desperately wanted to reach for his Abyssal Prefect''s token or to move his finger to summon Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin to shield him, however...

    He was unable to do it!

    He waspletely immobilized. The sword projection had sliced through illusion and reality, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation andpletely paralyzing him. He was biting down on his lower lip so hard that his teeth were drawing blood, but he could only look on helplessly as the sword projection continued to approach him. At this point, it was less than five meters away!

    Is this the end...

    A sense of powerlessness and indignation welled up in his heart, and even at this moment, he didn''t relinquish his resistance. Right at this moment, two voices rang out like rumbling thunder in the hall in unison.

    "Stop!"

    "Don''t you dare!"

    A silver figure emerged in a sh, yet before he had even arrived on the scene, he had already hurled something through the air.

    It was the Harken.

    As it was flying through the air, the Harken''s head rapidly expanded, and a sinister smile appeared on its face, extending literally from ear to ear. The fur all over its body were like writhing vipers, and Yin energy erupted out of its body like a boundless sea as it instantly shielded Qin Ye with its own body.

    In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out across the entire room.

    BOOM!!

    The entire Faint Earth Building trembled slightly. The shockwaves resulting from a sh between two Yama-Kings erupted forth in all directions, quickly reaching the surrounding buildings. Countless Yin runes instantly lit up, and the shockwaves gradually faded into nothingness.

    The defensive prowess of these artifact-level buildings that had stood for thousands of years was truly remarkable. In the face of two indirect attacks from Yama-Kings level beings, the buildings remainedpletely unscathed!

    The sword projection vanished, and the Harken''s body was also trembling slightly. Right at this moment, a silver figure shot forth like a shadow, speeding directly into the shattered ss barrier.

    It was Zhao Yun!

    His snowy white cape raised up behind him like a cloud, and his body was ramrod straight. His ck hair rose directly upward like a pair of raven wings being spread open, and his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear was like a wyrm emerging from the sea, piercing directly toward the Yin energy vortex up ahead.

    It was truly an attack that was as fast as lightning.

    All of a sudden, a buzzing sound rang out in the air, followed by a faint muffled groan, and immediately thereafter, the Yin energy vortex abruptly exploded.

    Dead silence.

    Complete silence descended upon the entire room. After what seemed like an eternity, Qin Ye finally rose to his feet, surrounded by a throng of wary schrs. His face was slightly pale, but his expression was as calm as ever as he waved a hand and said, "I''m fine, everyone."

    Lu Ban heaved a long sigh of relief before stepping away from Qin Ye with a look of residual fear in his eyes. All of the schrs quickly followed suit, and unbeknownst to everyone, Qin Ye was wringing his hands together in a white-knuckled grip as he sped them behind his own back.

    Just now, he was only an instant away from death!

    After taking many deep breaths and ensuring that his voice wasn''t going to tremble, he said, "How did it go, General Zhao?"

    "He managed to get away." Zhao Yun wore an extremely grim expression with tightly gritted teeth. "That man was extremely powerful. The power he disyed was on the advanced Yama-King level. I can confirm for sure that he''s a human, not an evil ghost. He''s most likely the most powerful human cultivator in history."

    Qin Ye nodded in response and dragged over his chair before taking a seat, then making a reassuring hand gesture. "Take a seat, everyone. There''s no need to be so tense now."

    Everyone did as they were told, and it had to be said that Qin Ye''s attitude and expression instilled a lot of calmness into everyone''s hearts. The power of a leader had always yed an extremely important role throughout the course of history. Even the King Yanluo wasn''t scared, so what did they have to be scared of?

    It was just an assassination, wasn''t it? The Cathayan Underworld had stood for over 3,000 years, which King Yanluo hadn''t suffered at least one assassination attempt?

    "The first King Yanluo once visited the battlefield over in the Australis Underworld, and during that time, he endured 13 assassination attempts, two of which were from Yama-King level beings..." Wu Daozi slumped back in his chair in an exhausted manner, but his cheeks were flushed with excitement as he said in a hoarse voice, "During the reign of the second King Yanluo, whichsted close to 1,000 years, he endured more than 15 assassination attempts from Yama-King level beings alone. This is only the first time for our current King Yanluo, it looks like everyone is taking our new King Yanluo quite lightly..."

    This was a rather awkward joke, but everyone yed along andughed in response. Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but burst intoughter, and the tension from having just survived the nearest of near-death experiencespletely washed away. He then turned to Zhao Yun and said, "Continue."

    "Yes," Zhao Yun replied in a grim voice. "Throughout history, the most powerful human cultivator was the founding father of Taoism, Zhang Daoling. Ultimately, he ascended, and at the time of his ascension, he was only one step away from reaching my current level. Those below him included Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng of the Tang Dynasty, capable of reaching the intermediate Yama-King level when their powers werebined. Thenes Imperial Teacher Yu Wen of the Sui Dynasty, who reached the nascent Yama-King level, and Wang Chongyang, who also reached the same level. In any case, aside from Zhang Daoling, no human has ever reached the advanced Yama-King level, but this person has achieved such a feat."

    "On top of that..." He took a deep breath, and his expression took an even grimmer turn as he continued, "Through the power he disyed, I can sense that his true power should be on an even higher level. I think that it would be best to regard him as a cultivator of the same caliber as Zhang Daoling. Even if he hasn''t reached my level yet, he definitely isn''t far away."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. What Zhao Yun had just said was definitely going to keep him up at night.

    In a ce that no one could find, in an abstract construct known as the Peach Blossom Spring, there exists a cultivator on the same level as Zhang Daoling!

    Zhao Yun was a being beyond the Yama-King level, able to enter and exit the underworlds of the three pirs as he pleased. Even after bringing out their creation-grade divine artifact, the twin death gods of the Argosian Underworld, Thanatos and Hypnos, only dared to speak to him on even terms.

    Zhang Daoling was the founding father of Taoisim in Cathay. In the religion of Taoism, he was an insurmountable peak, he was a divine deity that no one could surpass.

    And now, there was another human on the same level...

    The Harken said in a cold voice, "There is no record of him in the Book of Life and Death. Just like you, he has consumed the Taisui fungus, and he hasn''t died even once. Otherwise, his name would be recorded in the Book of Life and Death as is the case for Lee Jung-sook."

    Qin Ye remained expressionless as he asked, "How was he able to attack through a memory into the real world?"

    Zhao Yun considered this question momentarily before replying, "My theory is that he most likely set up some type of defensive mechanism in that man''s memories. Whenever some sensitive information is about to be leaked, the mechanism would be triggered, allowing him to teleport his power to the real world through some type of arts. It has to be said that this man is a genius the likes of which the world has never seen. If his name had been recorded in history, he would definitely be a vastly renowned figure."

    Qin Ye was enlightened upon hearing this exnation.

    He didn''t say anything as he slowly rose to his feet before making his way over to the shattered protective barrier, remaining silent the entire time.

    He was feeling an extremely urgent sense of threat. He suddenly realized that he had been lulled into a false sense of security.

    He had grown toox andcent. Currently, the Cathayan Underworld iss isted from the rest of the world. The high-grade darkfeathers of each nation, those Infernal Judges and even Abyssal Prefects, hadn''t had a chance to enter the Cathayan Underworld yet, and the same applied to those powerful assassins. Thus, he was able to go wherever he wanted within the Cathayan Underworld''s borders without any fear for his own safety. From now on, he would have to bring a squad of bodyguards wherever he went.

    Assassination was a very unscrupulous act, but it was just as effective as it was unscrupulous.

    He finally understood why Zhao Yun was so intent on encouraging him to travel thend, even at the expense of some of his obligations and duties as the King Yanluo.

    He had been thrust into this role in apletely surprising turn of events, and he was sorelycking in experience. Another reason for this was that a Yin energy system existed in the Cathayan Underworld, so once the main framework was set up, there was no need for constant manual supervision as was the case in the mortal realm. The third and most important reason was that if he didn''t umte experience now, he most likely wouldn''t get the opportunity to do so in the future.

    This was the final period of time in which he could do whatever he wanted.

    He turned to Zhao Yun with a cold expression andmanded, "Investigate the matter in person! Take all of the darkfeathers and investigate until the answeres to light! Even if we have to search through the entire Cathayan Underworld top to bottom, we have to find out where this Peach Blossom Spring is!"

    Just the assassination attempt on the King Yanluo along was an unforgivable crime!

    "Yes!" Zhao Yun epted the order with a respectful salute, and after a brief pause, he asked, "My Lord, what if we find it?"

    "In that case, I''ll go and meet him myself." Qin Ye gently stroked a finger along the remnants of the ss barrier as he said, "But before that, we must construct the six paths of reincarnation. I''m going to earn the final merit points required to break through to the Yama-King level!"

    "Yes!"

    Right as Zhao Yun was about to leave, Qin Ye suddenly said, "Hold on a moment!"

    Everyone immediately directed their attention toward him, and Qin Ye looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression as he said, "Everyone leave for now, I need some more time to think."

    No one disobeyed his orders, and soon, he was the only one left in the room, and he began to pace back and forth with his hands sped behind his back.

    At this point, he had alreadypletely calmed down. He was definitely going tounch an investigation, but he had to narrow down the search scope first. Otherwise, given how massive the Cathayan Underworld was, it would take decades to scour the entirend.

    He was already determined to stamp out this Peach Blossom Spring no matter what.

    "The fact that they support the creation of the light tower in the mortal coil means that they''re definitely not some phnthropic organization. I could try to track them down through the light tower in the mortal coil but at this point, will they respond even if I ignite the light tower?" His eyes narrowed slightly as he quietly organized his own thoughts. "Do they not know that Bu Wantian is dead?"

    He didn''t dare to take the risk.

    In that case, where would he be able to find traces of them?

    He stroked his own chin as he paced back and forth in the room for close to 20 minutes. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he raised his head. "I can find leads in the sea!"

    "I wanted to prepare the most ceremonious wee for you, but the true body of this boat sank around 1,000 years ago in the sea roughly 150 nautical miles east of here. At this point, it''s most likely already be a paradise for fish, so I must beg your forgiveness for this subpar wee."

    These were the exact words that the man had spoken, and thinking back now, it was the only thing that he had said that contained any potential leads.

    The boat that the man was on had sunk into the sea roughly 150 nautical miles to the east of the Yellow River''s inlet. Thus, if they could find the sunken shipwreck, they would be able to find out who this man was!

    Hell''s forces weren''t in the sea, but there were more suitable candidates to search through the sea in their stead, such as the Special Investigations Department.

    Having arranged his thoughts, he quickly made his way out of the Faint Earth Building. The schrs, the Harken, and Zhao Yun were all still waiting for him outside, and for some reason, Secretary Jiang had brought over a very benevolent-looking man who appeared to be in his fifties.

    "Yanluo Qin." As soon as Qin Ye made his way over to them, the man immediately extended a respectful bow with a smile on his face.

    "Director Qian! Is there something you need from me?" A smile also appeared on Qin Ye''s face. During the six-year-long war of unification, the mortal realm had lent Hell its unreserved support, supplying countless resources to pave the way for the construction of the entire nation. As a result, Cathay''s GDP in the mortal realm had suffered steep declines, but they didn''t express any displeasure in spite of this, and this left Qin Ye with a very good impression of the mortal realm.

    Furthermore, the mortal realm had supplied them with not just resources, but also talented personnel.

    Due to the fact that Hell''s forces hadn''t yet extended to Yanjing, the Yin spirits of all of the talented personnel who passed away in Yanjing would be evil ghosts upon arriving in the underworld. In order to prevent this, a regtion was established to take the bodies of all of these high-end talents to Ashmound so that their souls would descend into the underworld at Ashmound, and this Director Qian was among the cream of the crop of this bunch.

    His name was Qian Dui . It was a very lucky name, and he was the director of the secret service''s intelligence departments.

    The secret service had six divisional level departments, as well as a secret seventh department.

    That secret seventh department was home to Cathay''s most exceptional secret agents!

    Qian Dui was the former director of the secret service''s intelligence department, as well as the director of the secret seventh department!

    He had passed away from a sudden heart attack, and no news of his death was released by the media. His body was taken in secret to the public cemetery for heroes for a burial, but prior to that, it had taken a trip to Ashmound.

    [1] [His name literally trantes to Ç® (money) ¶à (many/plentiful) À´ e), so it''s a name that certainly bodes very well financially.]

 Chapter 818: Mirage

    <h4>Chapter 818: Mirage</h4>

    Qian Dui was a Yin spirit who had onlye down during the past six years, and Qin Ye''s n was to wait for another five to six years until he becamepletely ustomed to the Yin energy system of the underworld before assigning him the same role he had performed during his time in the mortal realm. Thus, he was granted entry into Azure Dragon Street. After all, he was going to be involved in all of Hell''s secret affairs in the future, and Azure Dragon Street was definitely a top-secret part of Hell, even though this secret was known to the entire world...

    Qian Dui''s smile faded as a serious look appeared on his face. "Some strange things have appeared on Ashmound''s port. It''s already beenpletely sealed off, would you like to go and take a look?"

    "What strange things are we talking about here?"

    Qian Dui heaved a faint sigh in response. "It''s very hard to describe... This is the report that came back to me."

    Qin Ye epted the report, and after only reading through a few lines, his eyelids immediately began to twitch.

    A mirage...

    A mirage had appeared out at sea!

    The mirage depicted a giant city that was in the same antiquated style as Cathay. Hell had performed searches on that area of the sea in the past, and nothing was found there. However, following the return of the Yellow Springs, a mirage city had appeared on the horizon there! Furthermore, it was outside of the Array of the Nine Gods, situated close to the Strait of Tsushima!

    "Take a look." He handed the report over to Zhao Yun, and after only a quick nce, Zhao Yun''s brows also furrowed tightly.

    "A mirage city... This is something that has never appeared in history... The natural conditions of the underworld aren''t suitable for something like this to appear," Zhao Yun mused. "Then again, perhaps it isn''t even a mirage city. It could be the case that the emissaries on the front lines arecking in experience and have falsely identified it."

    He turned to Qin Ye and extended a respectful salute. "What do you n to do, my Lord?"

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Are you hoping that I would go and take a look at it in person?"

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, he smiled and continued, "That''s exactly what I intend to do."

    This was the final period of time in which he could do whatever he wanted, so he had better make full use of it.

    If there were anything that he didn''t understand, that was rare, or that was symbolic, then it would be in his best interest to explore it. After all, practical experience was far more valuable than theoretical knowledge.

    During this next century, he had to umte as much experience as possible. Only then would he be able to firmly upy his position as the King Yanluo.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Ashmound Port.

    There were over 1,000 Yin soldiers present, all d in suits of inky-ck armor and wielding crossbows that were aimed directly toward the horizon.

    In the extremely far distance, the sea and the sky merged as one, and the Array of the Nine Gods was glowing faintly. The water of the Yellow Springs was flowing rapidly into the sea, triggeringyer uponyer of violent tsunamis that crashed into the array. The array acted as a temporary dam, stopping the tsunamis for a split second before allowing them through, to sweep up evenrger tsunamis that sped into the distance.

    On the top floor of the customs building, a man who was in his forties was looking into a telescope that was over a meter in length with a grim expression. After a long while, he withdrew his gaze with tightly furrowed brows and asked, "What is the response from our higher-ups?"

    "They say they''re already aware of the situation..." the soldier beside him replied in a low voice. "But they didn''t issue any specific instructions. Could it be that they''re asking us to take the initiative and address the situation as we see fit?"

    Take initiative my arse!

    Themander couldn''t help but swear out loud. How were they supposed to take the initiative? The array prevented them from approaching the mirage to investigate! Were they supposed to take the initiative and sit around like idiots?

    "My Lord..." the soldier suddenly eximed before extending a respectful salute.

    "What are you saluting for? You think an order like that deserves a salute?" He was doing some top-tier boot-licking, but unfortunately for him, the King Yanluo wasn''t around to see it.

    All of a sudden, all of the soldiers behind him extended the same respectful salute in unison. The Qin Dynasty was adopting an antiquated aesthetic, but the etiquette of kneeling had been abolished, so only salutes were required. Themander faltered slightly upon seeing this before immediately turning around.

    As a result, he was greeted by the sight of Qin Ye making his way onto the top floor, apanied by several people whom themander didn''t recognize.

    Themander''s mind immediately went nk, and he hurriedly stood up straight before extending a salute of his own.

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response before walking past him and arriving in front of the telescope. "Are my orders too difficult to execute?"

    A wry smile appeared on themander''s face as he finally understood what the order entailed. The higher-ups were already aware of the situation, and in order to prevent this matter from gaining any more traction, the King Yanluo had arrived in person. It seemed that this was a far more serious issue than he had anticipated.

    Qin Ye didn''t pay any heed to him. As a ruler of a nation, he couldn''t be too intimate with his people. He had to maintain a sense of mystery and authority at all times, and all of his actions had to be calcted. He looked into the telescope, and just a single nce was enough to make his brows furrow tightly.

    Through the telescope, a giant city on the horizon was presented before his eyes, and the city seemed to be formed by clouds and mist.

    It most likely wasn''t an actual city. The entire thing was emanating wisps of white mist, and there were some ces where thendmarks were presented in a way that defied thews of physics. For example, there were people walking in the sky, waterfalls flowing in reverse, etc.

    This was an antiquated city that was very distinctive, the type of city that would firmly engrain itself into one''s memory after only seeing it once. It wasn''t as resplendent as the imperial pce of the Ming Dynasty, nor as intricately crafted as the imperial pce of the Song Dynasty. Instead, it was more primitive and simplistic. There weren''t any exquisitely crafted pirs or pavilions. In their ce were a series of pces that seemed to be situated on tall tforms. Furthermore, the roofs of the pces weren''t paved with yellow tiles. Instead, it was ck tiles.

    There were ptial servants dressed invish robes entering and exiting the pces, all of them were children. There were even many paper people among them, and it was an extremely peculiar sight to behold.

    After a long while, Qin Ye pulled back from the telescope and mused, "Those are high-tform buildings..."

    Qian Dui was right beside him, and he asked, "Should we investigate, Yanluo Qin?"

    "There''s no need for that," Qin Ye replied as he massaged his own be. "Those pces are constructed in a style unique to the Qin and West Han Dynasties , which was when the first pces of Cathay came into existence. I''m certain that it was the West Han Dynasty as by the time the East Han Dynasty came around, high-tform pces went out of fashion, and the construction style took on a clear change."

    The question was why had a mirage city from the Qin and Han Dynasties appeared out at sea?

    "I''ll go take a look." The reason why he hade here wasn''t because he was concerned about some mirage. Instead, he was worried that this could be the actual Peach Blossom Spring!

    Zhao Yun didn''t follow along. He understood Qin Ye''s intentions, and he knew that some things had to be explored alone for the best lessons to be learned.

    Only after experiencing something in person would one develop the deepest impression of the experience.

    Furthermore, this was also an indirect indication that there wasn''t much danger here.

    "Please reconsider, Yanluo Qin!" Qian Dui was a man of few words, but he immediately interjected here. "It''s far too dangerous for you to go alone."

    None of the other Emissaries of Hell could leave the array with him.

    "It''s alright." As soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, he rushed out of the pavilion as a gust of Yin wind, sweeping upyers of waves on the surface of the sea as he sped toward the array.

    As he approached the array, the tsunamis up ahead grew taller and taller. He had already risen to an altitude of several hundred meters, where the tsunamis wouldn''t be able to reach him. Looking out from this point, the mirage was also bing clearer and clearer.

    Whoosh! After passing through the array, not only did Qin Ye not stop, he elerated further and further, and his Abyssal Prefect''s token had already slipped into his grasp. Even though Zhao Yun''s actions implied that there was no danger here, he had just barely survived an assassination attempt, so he was still on high alert.

    As he drew closer and closer, he seemed to be going back in time to the ancient past, arriving at a giant city from a distant time. Right as he reached roughly 100 meters away from the mirage, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the Abyssal Prefect''s token screeched as it transformed into an oil paper umbre. The frame of the umbre transformed into a spear, while the oil paper transformed into a shield, and the surface of the sea instantly exploded amid a sh of cold light.

    His Abyssal Prefect level Yin energy surged over the sea, sweeping up waves that were close to 20 meters tall. The entire mirage city trembled slightly, then... abruptly vanished amid a loud whoosh.

    It''s gone?

    Qin Ye stood on the spot with a dazed expression as he held his spear and shield. The only thing ahead of him was the dark blue water of the sea, while the white cloud and smoke that the mirage city had disintegrated into was swept away by the wind,pletely dispersing within the span of a few minutes.

    That''s it?

    Ssh... Qin Ye gently swept the tip of his spear across the surface of the ocean, and his brows furrowed tightly. He couldn''t sense any Yin energy, nor any true energy, which meant that this really had been just an ordinary mirage. However, Zhao Yun had said that it was impossible for mirages to appear in the underworld.

    So why had it appeared?

    And why had it emerged right after he had interrogated Bu Wantian''s soul?

    Was that a reflection of the untraceable Peach Blossom Spring?

    Perhaps this was... a warning? A warning issued to him to discourage him from pursuing this matter further?

    "No... My thought process is incorrect here," he suddenly said in a cold voice. "Seeing as it''s impossible for mirages to appear in the underworld, and that man is in the mortal realm, then that means this mirage was triggered by a change in the mortal realm."

    After all, the underworld and the mortal realm were interconnected!

    Some major event had to have taken ce in the city of Wuyang in the mortal realm, where the Yellow River entered the sea! It was an event prominent enough to cross through realms, resulting in a manifestation even in the underworld!

    "How interesting... It''s never good news for those who attract my interest. Are you really not afraid of having your name added to the Book of Life and Death?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Wuyang City.

    This was the city in the mortal realm that corresponded with Ashmound of the underworld.

    This city was also home to a port, the renowned Wuyang Port, which was one of 10 ports of the Eastmount Province, and it ranked quite highly on that list.

    The port''s carrierpany was the Eastmount Freight Corporation, and it was one of the nation''s gateways to the vast global market. In addition to that, Cathay was a major export nation, and the vast quantity of exports going through this port meant that all of the people working here always had wide smiles on their faces.

    However, not a single person was smiling at this particr moment.

    Among the masses of shipping containers, three cars quickly drove to the front of a massive warehouse. A man in a suit emerged from one of the cars first, and it looked as if he hadn''t slept in several days. His eyes were encircled by dark rings, his hair was rather disheveled, and his clothes reeked of tobo. However, he had no time to worry about his appearance as he quickly rushed to the back of the car and opened the doors. "We''ve arrived, everyone."

    For those familiar with the higher-ups of the Eastmount Freight Corporation, they would definitely be able to identify him right away as the CEO of the Eastmount Freight Corporation, Ren Dashi.

    The doors of the three cars were quickly opened, and the individuals being greeted by Ren Dashi weren''t some important directors or board members of thepany. Instead, it was a group of seven young men in their twenties. However, all of them wore the badge of the Special Investigations Department on their chests.

    "What happened here?" Their leader was a handsome young man who appeared to be only in his early twenties, but it was clear that he was the one calling the shots.

    "The Special Investigations Department doesn''t oversee normal criminal cases anymore, we''re only responsible for supernatural cases. You''re the one who reported the case, and if this isn''t a supernatural case, I''m sure you''re aware of the consequences."

    "Of course..." Ren Dashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before making an inviting hand gesture. "Pleasee with me, everyone."

    He carefully made his way into the warehouse, then switched on the light before giving the investigators a nod.

    All of the investigators also walked in, and in the instant that they did so, they drew a sharp breath in unison as astonished looks appeared on their faces.

    This was a room that led directly to the port. Inside was a long shipping passageway with merchandise piled up on either side of it.

    However, what was parked in this sea passage wasn''t a freight ship. Instead, it was...

    A mountainous pile of blood and flesh!

    The mangled flesh was covered in massive scales, each of which wasrge as a grown man! On top of that, each scale was riddled with cracks of different sizes. These cracks didn''t appear to have been carved onto the scales. Instead, they seemed to have grown naturally.

    What kind of creature could have such a gigantic body?

    [1] [The Qin Dynasty being referred to here is the actual Qin Dynasty in Chinese history, not the Qin Dynasty in this story.]

 Chapter 819: Undying Giant Beast

    <h4>Chapter 819: Undying Giant Beast</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Dead silence descended upon everyone.

    The warehouse was very long, and a wall was set up at the conclusion of the sea passage so that the blood and flesh wasn''t able to drift out into the sea. The body had clearly already been soaked here for quite some time, as evidenced by the fact that all of the blood had washed away, making it appear as if there were a series of rags floating in the sea passage.

    The leader of the investigators squatted down beside the sea passage and prodded the massive body in the water with a stick that he picked up from the side. As he did so, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Most sea freightpanies have close ties with marine biology research centers, right? Have you reported this matter to a research center?"

    Ren Dashi wore a bitter expression as he replied, "I have marine scientists among my staff, and they''ve already examined this creature. Their verdict was that this body doesn''t belong to any known marine animal, and secondly..."

    He took a deep breath before picking up a metal rod, which he poked into one of the smaller chunks of flesh before vigorously flipping it over.

    In the instant that the chunk of flesh was flipped over, a series of human faces formed by pieces of flesh were revealed underneath! The faces resembled tumors, and they began to let loose ear-splitting screeches in unison!

    "That''s what happens..." Ren Dashi''splexion had paled significantly as he tossed the metal rod aside. "ording to ourpany''s marine scientists, this... thing has already been in existence for at least 2,000 years, yet there are still living organisms beneath its skin!"

    The leader of the investigators gently prodded the mass of flesh in silence.

    Currently, carbon-14 dating is the dating method employed all over the world. Carbon-14 elements were constantly forming in the upper atmosphere, and carbon-14 was very abundant in carbon dioxide molecules. All living creatures would ingest carbon-14 elements during their lifetimes, and once they died, the carbon exchange process that took ce between them and the rest of the biosphere would immediately cease. As a result, the carbon-14 content in their bodies would begin to decline, and the rate of decline was dependent on radioactive decay.

    The factor that made carbon-14 dating such a reliable method was that carbon-14 elements could exist for thousands of years!

    2,000 years was still within the scope of testing, so the verdict was definitely correct. This was something that every scientist who studied ancient living organisms had to know, and he was certain that no biological scientist would make a mistake on something so basic and prevalent.

    "In that case, could this really be a chunk of flesh from 2,000 years ago? The tissues under the skin form tumor-shaped human faces... This doesn''t make any sense..." The leader of the investigators shook his head as he rose to his feet. "I want to see the footage from when this thing was first discovered."

    "Pleasee with me."

    The group quickly made their way to a conference hall, and Ren Dashi pressed a button, upon which all of the doors and windows in the room immediately swung shut. The window shades descended, and an image appeared on the LED screen on the wall.

    The image depicted arge area of the sea.

    However, this entire patch of the sea was bright red, and filled with chunks of flesh!

    Around a dozen patrol boats were traversing through the area, and the boats'' sides were packed with people, all of whom were staring at the scene around them with astonished expressions. Many of the boats had already begun to gather the surrounding chunks of flesh.

    All of the investigators watched the gathering process intently, but no mishaps urred throughout the entire process. All the tumor-like growths did was scream, as if they had separated from the main body of the organism and could only maintain their most basic instincts.

    Half an hourter, the leader of the investigators nodded and said, "Alright, we''ll take on this case. I''ll have to ask you to keep this matter strictly confidential, and on top of that, we''ll have to temporarily take over this sea passage to aid our investigation."

    "Of course! That''s not an issue at all!" Ren Dashi was very relieved to hear this. He snapped his fingers, and his secretary immediately made their way into the room before setting down a stack of resources in front of everyone.

    "These are all of the photos, records, and footage rted to this incident. I leave the rest to you."

    After that, Ren Dashi wisely chose to vacate the room, while the investigators in the room began to carefully read through the records provided to them. Roughly an hourter, the leader of the investigators said in a grim voice, "Tell me what you think."

    "ording to the records and photos provided, this thing... was detached in a very strange way," a female investigator said with a serious expression as she adjusted her sses. "Firstly, it wasn''t detached naturally. Secondly, there are no signs of biting or tearing on its edges. Thirdly, ording to results derived by the researchers of the Eastmount Freight Corporation, it was... detached due to a physical shock."

    "A physical shock?" The leader of the investigators was quite perplexed to hear this.

    "That''s right, the physical shock here refers to a violent shockwaveparable to that produced by a nuclear explosion." A thin young man sighed as he set down the documents in his hands. "ording to these records, if we calcte based on this thing''s scales and muscle mass, its total length would reach in excess of 200 kilometers, which is absolutely mind-boggling, and its width would be around a third of that. A creature like this... There''s no way it should exist!"

    The female investigator shook her head and countered, "It''s not impossible for such a thing to exist in the deepest parts of the sea. Due to the immense water pressure at those depths, the animals living down there will be more and more massive in order to cope. However, it''s definitely not natural for this thing to have appeared on the surface of the sea."

    The leader of the investigators lit a cigarette, and two female investigators immediately cast dirty nces in his direction. However, hepletely ignored them and he held the cigarette between his teeth as he said, "There''s something else that we have to consider. This flesh has just detached itself from something, so where is the creature it was detached from?"

    "What do you mean?" Everyone was rather puzzled by this question.

    The leader of the investigators blew out a smoke ring and said, "The records clearly state that when this thing was first discovered, it covered an area of close to 20 square kilometers, filling the entire Wuyang Port and forcing the port to close for two days. This means that the creature has a wound with a cross-section of over 10 square kilometers in area. While it''s true that it has a massive body, this is still a very significant wound, is it not?"

    Everyone''s eyes lit up with enlightenment upon hearing this, and a young man in his early thirties said, "That is indeed a major injury, and upon sustaining major wounds, a wild animal would instinctively stop nearby to rest and recuperate. In fact, it would''ve been very normal for it to stir up the entire area of the sea by writhing and thrashing in agony. However, there are no signs of that at all."

    Everyone fell silent again. The leader of the investigators snuffed out his cigarette before turning to a young man who appeared to be 17 to 18 years of age. "Get me a chart of the Yin energy levels within Wuyang City during the past week, as well as news reports on all of the major events that have taken ce in the mortal realm, also within the past week."

    The young man nodded in response before opening hisputer, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. Soon, a series of windows appeared on hisputer''s LED screen.

    The first thing to appear on the screen was the Yin energy chart. It could be seen that three days ago, the entire outer edge of Wuyang City had suddenly turned a bright red color.

    Before the leader of the investigators had a chance to say anything, someone else said, "No paranormal activity has taken ce, and Director Mo didn''t raise any rms, either. My theory is that these Yin energy fluctuations in the mortal realm were caused by some event in the underworld. The degree of fluctuation is extremelyrge. Should we send this to the Lord of the Land to enquire about the matter?"

    "Do it!"

    The person who had spoken nodded in response before opening the "Cathayan Municipal Lords of the Land Group." Everyone''s ID in the group chat included the province and city that they belonged to, and he immediately typed: "Is Wuyang''s Lord of the Land here? I have something I need your help with, honey~~ £¨¤Å£þ3£þ£©¤Å."

    The leader of the investigators could feel goosebumps rising up all over his skin. "Can you not be so disgusting? You''re a grown man, why are you using emojis like a teenage girl?"

    "Shut up! You don''t know the shit!" the man replied with a cold smile as his fingers continued to fly across his keyboard. "This is called establishing good rtions between the two realms. Don''t forget that they''re not from the same department as us. So what if I''m using emojis? Emojis help to better convey my friendly intentions!"

    The leader of the investigators rolled his eyes before turning to everyone else. "Three days ago, the Yin energy level in Wuyang reached a new record high, but no supernatural events urred on that day. Did anything else happen?"

    A square-faced man replied, "There are records here of a sudden tsunami, but it was extremely far away from the port. The Watanabe Tsunami ssification System is split up into six levels, namely -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. These levels correspond with tsunami amplitudes of ¡Ü0.5 meters, 1 meter, 2 meters, 4-6 meters, 10 meters, and ¡Ý30 meters, respectively. At the time, the tsunami that took ce was a level four 4-6 meter tsunami, and the reasons for its formation are unknown."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the investigator who was typing in the group chat suddenly turned hisputer around and interjected, "The reasons for its formation are actually very clear. Three days ago, the Yellow Spring returned to the underworld, forming tsunamis at the same corresponding location in the underworld. The tsunamis were all above level six, reaching heights of hundreds of meters. As a result of the fact that our two realms are interconnected, tsunamis have also taken shape in our mortal realm, but due to the fact that we''re separated by the entire underworld, the effect was greatly minimized, resulting in only level 4 tsunamis."

    The leader of the investigators lit another cigarette and was just about to ce it into his own mouth when a pennded on the desk in front of him with a dull thud, piercing deep into the wooden material. He looked up to find that two of the female investigators were staring intently at him.

    It''s a good thing that wasn''t aimed at my head...

    He gave them an awkward smile before putting the cigarette away. "Perhaps it was the shock from the tsunamis in the mortal realm that caused the detachment of that thing?"

    One of the investigators shook his head in response. "That can''t be the case. Tsunamis have extremely little impact on animals living beneath the surface of the sea, and a level 4 tsunami is nowhere near enough to tear through the defenses of a giant beast spanning over 200 kilometers in length. However..."

    He paused momentarily, and the leader of the investigators already knew what he was about to say next. Even though he was very young, a cold smile that was unbefitting of his age shed across his face. "If a level 4 tsunami can''t do it, then what about tsunamis reaching several hundred meters in height?"

    Dead silence.

    Three secondster, one of the female investigators drew a sharp breath. "You''re saying... this thing drifted up from the underworld? But how was it able to pass through the underworld? How is that possible? In order for it to pass through the underworld, there would have to be a Yin Yang Mezzanine. How could Hell have failed to fill such a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine?"

    The leader of the investigators tapped the desk as a sly smile appeared on his face. "What if the Yin Yang Mezzanine is in the sea?"

    "So you''re saying that there''s a giant beast lurking in the sea, and there just so happened to also be a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine there. It was then struck by the tsunamis resulting from the return of the Yellow Spring and fled into the Yin Yang Mezzanine for its life. After arriving in the mortal realm, it couldn''t hold itself together any longer, and a part of its body floated to the surface of the sea in the mortal realm?"

    The leader of the investigators looked up at the ceiling and said, "Aside from that, I can''t think of any other potential exnations. You''ve all seen the records, right? This thing is disying no signs of life, yet the tumors beneath its skin are still alive, so what the hell is it? A zombie? A zombified beast? Whatever it is, it isn''t from the mortal realm."

    He sat up straight as he instructed, "Contact the Eastmount Province City God right away. Tell them that a gargantuan Yin beast has passed through the Yin Yang Mezzanine from the underworld and appeared in the mortal realm. As a result, we are requesting assistance from high-grade Emissaries of Hell!"

    "Ahem... This is only a theory, wouldn''t it be premature to contact the city god based on just a theory?"

    "You don''t know shit! What we need to do is exaggerate things. After all, it certainly can''t hurt for Hell to send high-grade emissaries to assist us! Do you understand now?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a round of apuse suddenly sounded outside. All of the investigators immediately sprang to their feet, revealing miniature crossbows and talismans strapped to their arms beneath their suits, all of which aimed toward the door.

    None of them could sense the aura of a living being outside.

    "Who''s there?" The leader of the investigators appraised the door with a wary expression. "The sensors detecting paranormal activity haven''t been triggered, are you an evil ghost? The conflict between our two realms has already subsided. If you dare to do anything, Emissaries of Hell will immediately be deployed to apprehend you, and they''re far more professional than we are!"

    The person outside the door seemed to chuckle in response, and in the next instant, boundless Yin energy surged into the room through the gaps around the door. The entire room was quickly inundated by a Yin cloud, and the air temperature plummeted rapidly.

    "I met Local Bully just a few days ago, I didn''t expect to be seeing you here so soon. How''ve you been, Ye Xingchen?"

    The leader of the investigators was so shocked to hear this that his jaw dropped straight to the ground. "In, Instructor Qin?"

 Chapter 820: Person on the Sea

    <h4>Chapter 820: Person on the Sea</h4>

    The door was silently opened, and a face that Ye Xingchen hadn''t seen in six years was revealed. The owner of the face smiled and waved at everyone in the room.

    The leader of the investigators stared nkly at the person standing outside the room, and several secondster, he suddenly threw himself forward before giving them a massive hug. His voice was beginning to choke up as he said, "Instructor Qin, it really is you... I''m so d to see you again!"

    "Calm down, it''s alright." Qin Ye smiled as he patted the investigator''s back in a soothing gesture.

    He was only a kid six years ago, but he''s already grown so tall. It really is great to be seeing these people again...

    After finally extricating himself from Ye Xingchen''s embrace, he swept a hand through the air, and a beam of golden light shone onto the surface of the desk. "Hell is taking over this case, so you don''t need to involve yourselves any further."

    Right as Ye Xingchen pounced toward the man, the other investigators almost let slip the arrows nocked in their crossbows. At this moment, everyone exchanged a few nces, and one of the female investigators flicked a finger through the air to release a red thread from her fingertip. The thread wrapped itself around the badge before pulling it toward her, and after just a single nce, a string of audible gasps rang out within the room.

    Abyssal Prefect Qin!

    This... This was a Prefect-level Emissary of Hell! Everyone''s mouths were gaped wide open as they stared at the badge with stunned expressions. They then turned to Qin Ye, and all of them bowed and cupped their fists in unison as they greeted with excited voices, "We pay our respects to the esteemed Abyssal Prefect!"

    Abyssal... Prefect? Ye Xinn had his arm slung across Qin Ye''s shoulders, and he immediately shuddered upon hearing this. As he turned back to Qin Ye, his mouth was gaped open so wide that an egg could easily fit through. "Ab-Ab-Ab-Abyssal Prefect? Y-Y-You''re from Hell?!"

    You only just realized?!

    The other investigators didn''t know what to say, so they could only remain silent with their heads lowered.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. These people were different from Local Bully, so he had to show them a benevolent side to himself.

    "Take a seat," he said with a reassuring hand gesture. "We''ll catch upter. For now, we have to transfer this case from you to me."

    In the face of an Abyssal Prefect, even Ye Xingchen didn''t dare to y around, and he gulped nervously before sitting down with all of the other investigators. Qin Ye''s smile faded as he said in a serious voice, "I''m sure you''re all aware of what it entails for an Abyssal Prefect to be taking over this case. Contact the director of the Special Investigations Department''s Eastmount Province branch and the Wuyang Municipal Government right away, tell them to send their representatives here within an hour."

    "Yes!" No one had any objections, and they immediately whipped out their phones to send the required messages.

    Several minutester, Ye Xingchen asked in a low voice, "Instructor Qin, is this... a major event?"

    What he wanted to ask was whether the supernatural disasters had returned.

    The supernatural disaster had ravaged the mortal realm for a decade, and things were only just getting better, no one wanted to return to those horrific times.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "The underworld may have been reunited, but many sinister forces have arisen during the past century. This is a case that''s well above your pay-grade."

    Ye Xingchen was reluctant to give up. "I can..."

    "No!" Qin Ye interjected sternly. "You''re only an Anitya Hellguard, and this case may have something to do with a living Yama-King. If you get involved, all you''ll be doing is throwing your life away."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Eastmount Province, Jizhou City, Special Investigations Department, Eastmount Province Branch.

    Mo Changhao was seated in his chair, casually reading a newspaper. The supernatural disasters were over, and after the radical reduction in the staff of the Special Investigations Department, all that was left were the elites, but there was nothing for those elites to do.

    I kind of miss those days when I was constantly on edge... He took a sip of tea before heaving a faint sigh. Nowadays, all he did was sit at his desk, and no emergency messages would pop on hisputer or his phone. The group chats that had once been buzzing with activity were now all stagnant. In light of the enormous contributions the Special Investigations Department had made to the nation in the past decade, the benefits that they received hadn''t been cut back in the slightest. In fact, there were even some increases. However, he still couldn''t help but reminisce about the busy life he had once led.

    Right at this moment, a notification suddenly popped on the Momo app on his desktop.

    "Leader of the Eastmount Province''s Seventh Team Ye: Mr. Mo, Abyssal Prefect Qin has appeared at Wuyang Port, stating that we are facing an emergency situation, and he''s inviting you and representatives from the Wuyang Municipal government to travel to Wuyang Port right away."

    Mo Changhao immediately rose to his feet as he stared intently at the screen.

    Abyssal Prefect Qin... Is that supposed to be Instructor Qin?

    A series of mixed emotions welled up in his heart, but they quickly faded, and he gave the screen onest meaningful look before springing into action. "Prepare a helicopter, we''re setting off for Wuyang Port right away."

    "Yes!"

    The helicopter took off very quickly, and the scenery outside shed past rapidly. Mo Changhao was seated in the helicopter in silence. He wasn''t worried about meeting Qin Ye. He wasn''t harboring any guilt over his past actions, it had merely been a case of conflicting standpoints. Instead, what he was wondering was... why had Qin Ye appeared in Wuyang?

    Qin Ye''s data was no longer a secret among the higher-ups of the Special Investigations Department. As the coordinator between the two realms, information on all of his feats had already been confidentially filed away in all of the major branches, and there was one particr piece of information that had caught Mo Changhao''s attention.

    It was the notion that Qin Ye would never appear unless a major event had taken ce!

    The first time he had appeared was at the Hungry Ghost Festival, the second time was during the negotiation between the two realms, and the third time was after the unification of the underworld.

    Thus, he had appeared on three asions, and each sessive asion marked a more important event than the previous one. On this asion, could it be that some type of major supernatural event had taken ce in Wuyang?

    "I hope I''m just overthinking things..." He massaged his own temples, and before he knew it, 20 minutes had already passed by. At this point, he could already see the city of Wuyang.

    The helicopter began to slowly descend. It was currently 5 PM, which was the demonic hour, and he reflexively began to inspect his surroundings. Only after a few seconds did he realize that he was being excessively cautious.

    "Right... The supernatural disasters have ceased for almost a year..." He smiled as he withdrew his gaze, yet just as he was about to lean back in his seat, his eyes abruptly widened.

    "We''re preparing fornding, please fasten your seatbelt," the pilot said.

    "Hold on!" Mo Changhao cast his gaze toward the horizon. The light of the setting sun cast a golden veil over the surface of the sea, and light and shadow were dancing together, creating a beautiful sight to behold. He appraised the horizon, where the sea met the sky, with an unblinking gaze, and said in a grim voice, "Keep going forward, and reach as high an altitude as possible."

    As a cultivator, his eyesight was far superior to that of the average person, and he could see over a span of kilometers without any issues.

    The pilot was a little perplexed, but he did as he was told and continued onward. The average helicopter could reach speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour, but this was a military helicopter with a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour. After flying for 15 minutes, the helicopter covered a distance of roughly 100 kilometers or 55 nautical miles.

    "Is, is that a person?!" The pilot was a normal person, and at this point, even he could clearly see what had initially caught Mo Changhao''s attention. It was exactly because of this that there were now chills running down his spine!

    There was a person...

    There was a person standing on the surface of the sea!

    He was like the ruler of the sea as he stood atop the waves. Mo Changhao appraised the scene through narrowed eyes, and he could see extremely powerful Yin energy emanating from the man''s body!

    Is that an Anitya Hellguard? No, it''s an Infernal Judge, and he should be only one step away from bing an Abyssal Prefect!

    It definitely wasn''t a human being.

    Right at this moment, the figure seemed to have sensed him as well, and his head swiveled around 180 degrees, allowing him to face the helicopter head-on.

    Mo Changhao''s pupils abruptly contracted at the sight of the man''s face.

    It was indeed not a human... The man''s face was deathly pale with inky-ck patterns inscribed upon it, and the patterns were very simplistic, but they struck one with an indescribable sense of fear.

    He was wearing a white Nipponese kariginu, and his arms and legs were d in inky-ck armor. There were red patterns embroidered on his kariginu, but it was impossible to clearly identify them. He had a head of ck hair, and there was a longsword strapped to his back.

    Is this an evil ghost from Nippon? Why has it appeared here?

    All of the true energy within Mo Changhao''s entire body had been drawn upon, and at the same time, countless deathly white hands extended out of the figure''s back before gradually changing color, transforming into a pair of inky-ck wings!

    The ck wings began to p gently as the figure suddenly smiled at him.

    In the next instant, he abruptly drew his longsword from his scabbard before shing it through the air!

    <i>Ssh!!</i> The surface of the sea was sliced in half, creating waves up to 10 meters tall. At the same time, countless ghastly screeches rang out, and the sword''s aura swept directly toward the helicopter like a substantial force!

    "How dare you! This is Cathay''s territorial sea!!" Mo Changhao roared with fury, and in the blink of an eye, he had already appeared in the air in front of the helicopter. At the same time, a dagger had appeared in his grasp, and scarlet runes emerged all over the de''s surface. In the face of this devastating sword strike, Mo Changhao didn''t disy any intent to evade or retreat as heshed out in retaliation.

    A clear dragon''s roar rang out as if a dragon were rising up out of the sea, and true energy encircled his entire body like a halo. In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out in the sky, and the true energy and Yin energy both dissipated at once. Mo Changhao gave a muffled groan before taking several backward steps.

    This was a truly formidable foe.

    At the very least, it was an evil ghost that stood at the pinnacle of the Infernal Judge level. Right as the dust settled, Mo Changhao cast his gaze forward, and he was greeted by a sight that he would never forget.

    "Wahahahaha!" The evil ghost was cackling with reckless abandon, but itsughter sounded more like ghostly howls, and it was audible even from kilometers away. He spread his wings before gently descending, and in the instant he stepped onto the surface of the sea, the entire sea began to move.

    Ssh, ssh! Waves rose up like mountains, growing taller and taller, and each sessive wave was more violent than the previous one. It was as if some type of gigantic creature was about to emerge!

    In the next instant, a cluster of majestic buildings erupted out of the ocean!

    The evil ghost was standing on the tallest of those buildings. These buildings were constructed in Cathayan style, and boundless sea water was gushing down from them, creating a marvelous sight under the light of the dying sun. As the evil ghost continued to cackle, the enormous pce rose up from underwater, then slowly began to descend again several minutester.

    "M, Mr. Mo..." the pilot said in a trembling voice. "L, look down, b, beneath the surface of the sea..."

    Mo Changhao cast his gaze downward, and at such close range, he could see that there were countless pces beneath the surface! Furthermore, all of these pces were situated on the back of a gargantuan creature that stretched as far as the eyes could see!

    Mo Changhao had no idea what it was.

    There was no way that it was a whale, it was impossible for a whale to grow to such an astounding size. Once the massive beast sank into the water, all of the pces disappeared. The ck shadow grew more and more indistinct, and finally, it waspletely gone.

    The sea was still the same sea.

    The sky was still the same sky.

    It was as if nothing had ever happened.

    Cold sweat was pouring down Mo Changhao''s face, and his dagger-wielding hand was trembling.

    He could sense that the gigantic creature was something that was far too powerful for him to oppose, and it had taken a look at him before descending into the depths.

    For some reason, the giant beast hadn''t attacked him and merely departed instead, leaving him feeling like he had just dodged a bullet...

    "Abyssal Prefect... That thing had to have at least been a Prefect-level beast, and an advanced one at that! It was only one step away from the Yama-King level. In fact, perhaps it''s already there! I haven''t felt such terrifying Yin energy even from the top three cultivators of Cathay!" After a long while, he pulled out his handkerchief to wipe away his cold sweat before turning back in the direction of Wuyang.

    Is this why Abyssal Prefect Qin decided to address this case in person? Those pces in the sea... Do those have anything to do with this case?

    With that in mind, he immediately returned to the helicopter. "Travel to Wuyang right away! At the same time, notify the higher-ups, I want the satellite surveince footage of what just happened here!"

 Chapter 821: Inextricable Links

    <h4>Chapter 821: Inextricable Links</h4>

    Soon, the helicopternded at the port. By the time Mo Changhao emerged with a grim expression, the director of Wuyang''s special operations division and Mayor Wan Niansong were already present.

    The special operations division was the collective name for the Special Investigations Department and the military police working with the investigations department. It was a new division that was set up with the Special Investigations Department as its backbone following the cessation of the supernatural disasters, and it was responsible for overseeing all cases of paranormal activity during non-extreme times.

    Everyone was quite familiar with one another, so there was no need for unnecessary small talk, particrly when there was a provincial-level director among them who was clearly in a very foul mood.

    "Mr. Qin." As soon as he entered the conference room, Mo Changhao made his way directly over to Qin Ye and looked directly into his eyes as he asked, "Did you sense anything just now?"

    Qin Ye cast a puzzled nce toward him. "No. Did something happen?"

    Mo Changhao continued to look straight into his eyes, and only after a long while did he nod in response before giving Qin Ye a recount of what had just happened.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly after hearing his recount. "Are you doubting me?"

    "I''m not doubting you," Mo Changhao replied without backing down in the slightest. "However, I am very befuddled by the fact that an Abyssal Prefect like you didn''t sense anything when there was an outbreak of Infernal Judge level Yin energy fluctuations no more than several dozen nautical miles away from you."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before gesturing for Mo Changhao to take a seat, and his brows also furrowed tightly.

    He really had failed to sense anything...

    Why was that the case? No Yin spirit should''ve been able to avoid the detection of an Abyssal Prefect at such a close range, even if he weren''t going out of his way to sense them. To him, Infernal Judge level Yin energy fluctuations should''ve been as noticeable as a bright moon on a dark night, but he was certain that he had only sensed Mo Changhao''s true energy fluctuations earlier.

    Furthermore, how could a foreign Infernal Judge possibly have been able to enter Cathay? Only low-grade darkfeathers could enter Cathay, and they couldn''t even enter the underworld. Their Yin energy would''ve been so strikingly conspicuous that it would''ve been extremely difficult for him not to have sensed it, so why hadn''t he sensed it?

    Finally, ording to what Mo Changhao had just said, he theorized that there was something that was at least at the Abyssal Prefect level carrying the pces on its back, and that was even more ridiculous, but there was no way that Mo Changhao would lie about something like this.

    "The satellite images will be here very soon." Mo Changhao took a seat and adjusted his tie, then picked up his teacup and downed its contents in one go. "If I hadn''t seen it myself, even I wouldn''t think that it was real... Mr. Qin, does this have anything to do with the reason you asked all of us toe here?"

    Qin Ye flicked a finger through the air to release a messenger bird, then pushed all of the resources Ren Dashi had provided in Mo Changhao''s direction. Mo Changhao didn''t refuse, and he began to carefully inspect the data. After half an hour, he finally looked up and asked, "So what are your intentions here?"

    Qin Ye stood up and gently stroked the surface of the desk with his finger as he asked, "Have you heard of the Laws of Yin-Yang Coaction?"

    "Yes, the concept was mentioned in the resources you provided a few years ago."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod and said, "If some major event happens in the mortal realm, it''ll be sure to be reflected in the underworld. Recently, the Yellow Springs returned to the underworld, and a mirage city also appeared not too long after that. Almost on the exact same day, this giant chunk of undying flesh appeared in the mortal realm, and after that, you witnessed that unfathomable scene..."

    <i>Beep... </i>Right at this moment, a notification tone rang out from one of the investigators''puters, and Ye Xingchen stuck his head over to take a look. "The satellite footage is ready, everyone."

    Following an instruction from Mo Changhao, a clear image appeared on the LED screen.

    Everyone remained silent and stared intently at the screen. As the Infernal Judge level evil ghost appeared, everyone''s expressions only took a slightly grim turn. This still wasn''t beyond the limit of what the mortal realm could handle. However, close to 20 secondster, everyone aside from Mo Changhao had sprung to their feet to stare at the screen with incredulous expressions, and even Qin Ye''s mouth had gaped open slightly.

    It was as if the sea had sprung to life.

    It would most likely take typhoons in excess of level 10 to stir up the surface of the sea to the same extent.

    How massive did the beast below the waves have to be to churn up the sea to such an incredible degree?

    There was no way to tell exactly how gigantic it was. In contrast with the gargantuan creature, the helicopter was like a small raft on a boundless sea. Even through the screen, everyone was struck by a sense of apprehension at the sight of that indistinct ck shadow.

    What kind of creature could churn up the sea so violently with just its movement alone?

    What kind of power could construct a cluster of pces on such a creature''s back?

    "We have surveince instruments such as infrared scanners, right? Were we able to use those devices to map out the entire creature''s body?" Qin Ye asked as he stared intently at the screen.

    "I''m afraid not," Mo Changhao replied with a wry smile. "Everything happened far too quickly for us to get those devices ready."

    The room fell silent again, and after a long while, Qin Ye finally said, "A major event just so happens to have taken ce in the underworld a few days ago."

    He skipped past his ventures in the Huang n''s earthen building and gave everyone an ount of the light tower in the mortal coil and Bu Wantian''s memories, as well as the changes brought on by the return of the Yellow Springs. "I tried to continue to search through his memories, but some kind of seal has been ced on his memories. Whenever a sensitive secret is about to be revealed, the seal would be immediately triggered without fail, so we don''t know exactly where he is."

    Mo Changhao had also risen to his feet, and he pulled out a pack of cigarettes before offering one to Qin Ye. Qin Ye shook his head in refusal, and Mo Changhao lit a cigarette for himself before taking a long draw. "If we look at the timeline, right after the return of the Yellow Springs, that massive chunk of flesh appeared at Wuyang Port, and the Yellow Springs'' inlet into the sea is situated right at Wuyang Port."

    Qin Ye said in a grim voice, "In order to crack this mystery, we have to first figure out exactly what happened during these past few days. Only then will we be able to peel back theyers and get to the truth. The supernatural events to have taken ce thus far following the return of the Yellow Springs are the emergence of that mirage city, the massive chunk of flesh that washed up on shore in the mortal realm, and the underwater pces and giant sea beast that you saw today."

    Mo Changhao nodded reflexively in response. There had to be traceable signs linking up everything that had happened, and the perpetrator''s motives and potentially even their identity often lurked in the initial event in the sequence. This was something that Mo Changhao had seen time and time again during his 10 years as director of the Special Investigations Department.

    Thinking carefully before acting would allow them to target the matter at its roots.

    "Currently, there''s one incident stacking on top of the other, but there''s always an origin point. I presume you''re trying to determine the origin point through the Laws of Yin Yang Coaction, then work in reverse to find the progression sequence of all of these incidents."

    Had this all begun in the mortal realm or in the underworld?

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "We can make a sequential timeline for these incidents. ording to the information that we currently have, the initial event was the return of the Yellow Springs. As the Yellow Springs flowed out of Ashmound Port, which corresponds to Wuyang Port, then continued and crashed into the array in the underworld, changes began to take ce in the mortal realm as well."

    "How can you be sure that this is the initial event?" Ye Xingchen couldn''t help but interject, only to be met by a stern re from Mo Changhao for speaking out of turn.

    Qin Ye didn''t mind, and a wisp of Yin energy permeated out of his fingertip as he began to write in mid-air while exining, "It''s actually a very simple process to pinpoint the initial event. The first supernatural event to have urred was the emergence of the mirage city, which appeared between the sixth and ninth tsunamis caused by the return of the Yellow Springs, and the exact time was 2 PM three days ago. The first tsunami struck the array in the underworld at 1:20 PM three days ago, and after the emergence of the mirage city, we conducted observations for three days after that. As a result, we determined that this wasn''t just a singr incident. Instead, it was a phenomenon caused by the Laws of Yin Yang Coaction, and that''s why I decided to pay Wuyang a visit. It also just so happens to be the case that the massive chunk of flesh washed up on Wuyang Port three days ago..."

    He picked up the records provided by Ren Dashi as he concluded, "At 1:40 PM."

    This was where his analysis concluded, and he swept his gaze across everyone present. Having upied such a lofty position for as long as he had, he was exuding a natural aura of leadership that evoked an involuntary sense of respect within everyone else.

    Furthermore, he had already made his point very clear.

    The room fell silent as everyone fell into deep thought. Close to a minuteter, both Ye Xingchen and Mo Changhao raised their heads in unison as they dered, "The fourth and fifth underworld tsunamis took ce between 1:20 PM and 1:40 PM, could it be that those tsunamis injured that monster?"

    "That''s right!" Qin Ye replied. When thinking about problems, he much preferred discussing with others over pondering issues on his own.

    "ording to the records of Wuyang City, a small tsunami took ce on that same afternoon around 50 nautical miles away from Wuyang Port, right about here..." He made a grabbing motion, and a map of Wuyang appeared in mid-air. "Shrink the satellite image so that it''s on the same scale as the map."

    One of the female investigators immediately executed the instruction, and several secondster, audible gasps rang out across the entire room.

    It was the same location as the one where Mo Changhao had seen those underwater pces!

    "The conversion rate from kilometers to nautical miles is 1:1.89, and at the same time, this is the edge of the underworld''s array!"

    The three locations were at the same point!

    "While it''s true that this giant beast appeared in the mortal realm, there''s no way the minor tsunami in the mortal realm would''ve been enough to wound it like this. In that case..." He paused momentarily as he swept a meaningful gaze across the room. "What about the tsunamis in the underworld that reached several hundred meters in height?"

    It was enough... It was definitely enough...

    As soon as this thought arose, Mo Changhao immediately drew a sharp breath. "So that means... there is a Yin Yang Mezzanine, thergest one in history, situated 100 nautical miles east of Wuyang Port?! Otherwise, if this giant beast was only injured by the tsunamis in the underworld, how could it have ended up in the mortal realm?"

    However, he then immediately shook his head as he continued, "No, we''re being too quick to jump to conclusions here. Tsunamis reaching heights of hundreds of meters would definitely be enough to wound that giant beast, but other things can as well. For example, it could''ve cracked into a sharp and jagged underwater mountain, or it could''ve been attacked by other predators..."

    "Neither of those are possible options," Qin Ye interjected. "Let me remind you that on the records provided by CEO Ren, it was stated that the injuries resulted from some type of shockwave. There are no signs of predator attacks or other types of physical trauma. Also... How well-versed are you in biology, Mr. Mo?"

    Mo Changhao shook his head in response, and Qin Ye continued, "I just so happen to like reading books on this topic in my spare time, so I know a thing or two about this. The deeper the water, the greater the water pressure, and in order to contend with the water pressure, deep sea organisms will grow torger andrger sizes. Under this type of environment, there''s no way a sharp and jagged underwater mountain could exist. Any mountains would bepletely smooth and rounded out as the jagged parts would''ve already crumbled under the immense water pressure. Perhaps you''ll then theorize that an underwater mountain could''ve copsed, thereby injuring the beast through blunt trauma. However, that''s also impossible. Due to the extreme density of the water, even the heaviest mountains would fall at a snail''s pace, so there''s no way it would be able to harm such a gigantic creature. Hence, there could only have been one cause for the detachment of the chunk of flesh that washed up on Wuyang Port, and that''s the underworld tsunamis! Otherwise, even underwater volcanic eruptions wouldn''t be able to harm it in the slightest!"

    There was something else that he intentionally left out as it had nothing to do with the mortal realm.

    If the tsunamis had harmed this giant creature, then it would''ve had to have been situated on the surface of the sea. What was it doing there?

    Why had it risen up to the surface just as the Yellow Springs was returning?

    It was right on the edge of the Array of the Nine Gods. Perhaps it was... watching something?

    For the past several millennia, a pair of untraceable eyes had been constantly lurking in the sea, silently watching the underworld. Why was it doing that? Was it waiting? Was it observing? What was it waiting for? Who was it observing?

 Chapter 822: Otakemaru

    <h4>Chapter 822: Otakemaru</h4>

    As he fell silent, the entire room also descended into silence.

    Mo Changhao was the first one to speak again. "So you''re saying that the giant beast was surveying the underworld outside of a certain array, and it was wounded by the tsunamis. It was unable to escape, and as a result, it was forced to flee into the Yin Yang Mezzanine. After arriving in the mortal realm, it sumbed to its wounds, and a chunk of its body was detached, is that correct?"

    Everyone nodded in response. There was no concrete evidence at all to support this theory, but it was impossible to refute based on the circumstantial evidence.

    "In order to determine whether this was actually the case, all we need to do is check whether there''s been any underwater activity in the mortal realm that was even more fearsome than a nuclear explosion," Qin Ye replied. "If not, then there''s no way that anything can harm it under such immense water density and pressure. The underworld tsunamis were able to aplish this firstly due to their sheer size, and secondly, due to the enormous power of the Yellow Springs."

    Mo Changhao''s brows were tightly furrowed as he said, "Is it possible that there could be foreign evil ghosts and Yin beasts engaged in an underwater battle just outside of the underworld''s array?"

    Qin Ye shook his head firmly in response. "That''s impossible. Our sensory scope can only reach the borders of the Cathayan Underworld, but if there was something like that happening, then we would''ve eradicated them long ago. The Cathayan Underworld has only been absent from the international stage for just over a century, there''s no way that such a terrifying beast could''ve arisen during that time."

    Everyone fell silent once again.

    Mo Changhao had already lost count of how many cigarettes he had smoked, and after snuffing out histest one, he turned to one of the investigators and said, "Examine the records of the Oceanic Administration using the special rights of the Special Investigations Department. Check for any deep-sea geographic changes that have taken ce within the past week 100 nautical miles east of Wuyang Port."

    "Yes!"

    If there really were no such records, then it could virtually be confirmed that there really was thergest Yin Yang Mezzanine in history hidden on the seabed!

    Just the thought of such a thing had chills running down Mo Changhao''s spine.

    During these past few years, the underworld and the mortal realm had kept in close contact with one another, and they were aware that between the underworld and the mortal realm was a ce known as Limbo.

    This Limbo wasn''t under Hell''s control. In fact, none of the underworlds had any control over this ce.

    Its geography waspletely different from that of the underworld, as was its biosphere. It was a vastnd that was rife with monarch beasts, and danger lurked around every corner. With such a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine present, it would only be a matter of time before supernatural disasters swept across the entire nation again. No, on this asion, it could even affect the entire continent!

    Nippon, Daehan, Singapura, Mya, Siam, the Felipinas... None of them would be exempt!

    "What do you think?" Mo Changhao turned toward Qin Ye as he pulled out another cigarette, but he didn''t light it, and his fingers were trembling slightly as he held the cigarette.

    Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back with a grim expression, and only after a long while did he reply, "If there really is such a Yin Yang Mezzanine, then I''m more concerned about how it came into existence."

    Before anyone had a chance to say anything, he continued, "The detection methods for Yin Yang Mezzanines in the underworld are far more urate than those of the mortal realm, and with the Harken, General Zhao, and myself, the underworld currently has an Abyssal Prefect, a Yama-King, and a being above the Yama-King level. If this Yin Yang Mezzanine truly exists, how have we failed to detect it even though all of us have stayed in Wuyang for rtively long periods of time? Yes, it''s outside of the array, and we''re unable to detect things outside of our national borders aside fromrge-scale Yin energy fluctuations, but why is it that such a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine has appeared right outside the array? That sounds too suspicious to be a mere coincidence to me."

    There was another extremely important point that Qin Ye had refrained from mentioning, which was that the buildings on the giant beast''s back were constructed in the same Qin and Han Dynasty style as the buildings in Bu Wantian''s memories!

    The main color scheme of the buildings was ck, and they weren''t as luxurious and beautiful as the buildings of the Ming Dynasty, but they gave off an almighty aura. In particr, when the entire cluster of buildings began to move on the back of that giant creature, the aura they gave off was truly asphyxiating.

    "Is it you?" He gently stroked his fingers along the desk as he murmured to himself in a voice that was inaudible to everyone else. "You saw the return of the Yellow Springs and began to panic, so you revealed your eyes in secret."

    His voice was very quiet, but Mo Changhao was seated not far away, and he managed to overhear him. After several seconds of silence, he asked, "Did youe to the mortal realm in person because even Hell was unable to uncover the truth behind that giant beast? Are you concerned that someone is spying on the Cathayan Underworld from just outside your national borders?"

    This would be the equivalent of a foreign underworld parking their warships right next to the Cathayan Underworld. While it was true that they hadn''t and weren''t able to enter the Cathayan Underworld''s territorial sea, this was a gesture of direct provocation, it was like a p in the face for Hell, which had stood for thousands of years.

    Neither the underworld nor the mortal realm could simply let this level of provocation slide!

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and Mo Changhao continued, "Could it be... the Nipponese government?"

    Due to themunication that had taken ce between the two realms during the three-year-long war of unification, the mortal realm had developed a certain level of understanding of the situation in the underworld.

    "They wouldn''t dare," Qin Ye replied with a cold smile. "Izanami is only a peak Abyssal Prefect. Even though the Nipponese Underworld is sure to have umted a significant amount of power during its thousands of years of existence, there''s no way she would be foolish enough to think that this would be enough to allow her to overstep her boundaries like this."

    However, that man in the kariginu was clearly an emissary of the Nipponense Underworld, so how could that be exined?

    Right at this moment, Ye Xingchen suddenly raised his head and dered, ¡°Director Mo, we''ve received a response from the Oceanic Administration. They say that no significant deep-sea geographic activity has taken ce during the past half a month in the specified area.¡±

    Mo Changhao closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.

    This was the absolute worst situation...

    This was a giant beast the likes of which neither realm had ever seen. There was no significant deep-sea geographic activity, and none of the known living beings in the sea would be capable of harming it, so where had its injuriese from?

    There was only one answer.

    It had to be those super tsunamis from the Cathayan Underworld. At the same time, this was proof that there really was thergest Yin Yang Mezzanine to date situated 100 nautical miles east of Wuyang Port!

    Several secondster, he reopened his eyes and said in a grim voice, "I''ll notify the chief right away. At the same time, every single member of the Special Investigations Department is prepared to fight until their final breaths for the safety of the people!"

    "Let''s not rush things now." Qin Ye''s expression was also extremely grim. The existence of a Yin Yang Mezzanine that was several hundred kilometers in size had virtually been fully confirmed. Thus came the question of whether it had arisen naturally or been artificially created.

    If it were thetter, then what were the intentions of those who had created the Yin Yang Mezzanine, and how powerful were they?

    Qin Ye didn''t even dare to imagine such a possibility.

    "The messenger bird I''ve released has already notified an emissary who was once a resident of Nippon, and he should be here soon." Despite the tension in the air, Qin Ye sat back down and took a sip of his tea, which had already turned cold. "Director Mo, the decisions you''ve made are correct. What we''re going to be facing this time is very likely going to be a war. Hell will be participating in this war, and all of you have to as well because it''s extremely likely that this war is going to be fought in the mortal realm. The first order of business in any war is to gather intelligence. All information that we can gather right now would be of the utmost importance. For example, we need to find out the identity of that Nipponese emissary."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he turned toward the entrance of the room, which seemed to bepletely deserted, and said, "Come on in."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a cloud of Yin energy converged before rapidly revolving. Specks ofherfire lit up within the Yin energy, and all of the electronic devices in the room began to sh and zap incessantly. Several secondster, a humanoid figure emerged before cupping his fist in a salute. "Apologies for my tardiness, Lord Qin."

    It was Oda Nobutada.

    All of the investigators'' hands had already reflexively crept toward the weapons strapped to their waists, and they rxed again upon seeing this. Qin Ye nodded in response. "You''re just in time. Come and take a look at who this is."

    The LED screen flickered slightly, and soon, the image of the winged evil ghost that stood on the surface of the sea appeared. Upon first nce, theherfire in Oda Nobutada''s eyes immediately flickered violently.

    "My Lord..." He gulped nervously as he requested, "Please zoom in a little."

    The image rapidly zoomed in at his behest, and Oda Nobutada stared at the figure on the screen for a full two minutes before turning around with a grim expression. "Pardon me for asking, but where did you see this evil ghost?"

    "Outside of the array. Who is he?"

    "Otakemaru," Oda Nobutada replied in a grim voice.

    "Otakemaru?" Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    Right at this moment, another incredulous voice rang out. "You mean one of Nippon''s three ghostly deities?"

    Everyone immediately turned to discover that it was a thin young man who had spoken, and he faltered slightly in response to the widespread scrutiny he was suddenly receiving, then immediately exined, "ording to Cathayan records, Nippon''s three ghostly deities are Tamamo-no-Mae, Yamata no Orochi, and Daitengu, but Daitengu is actually supposed to be Otakemaru. In 2005, a false entry of Daitengu was made in Wikipedia, but following a subsequent verification process, the page was deleted. However, the records in Cathay''s Wikipedia never changed. In reality, the two arepletely different things. The gods that Nippon believes in arepletely different from those of Cathay, and Daitengu belongs in the Amatsu kami system, while Otakemaru belongs in the Kunitsu kami system."

    "That''s right," Oda Nobutada confirmed in a grim voice. "However, those are all myths and legends. ording to the ssification system of the Nipponese Underworld, above all ghosts are the Dusk Legionnaire, which are the most fearsome ghosts in Nippon, and above them are the three ghostly deities. If we keep going up from there, we reach Izanami and Susanoo. Between the three ghostly deities and the death gods are the two enforcers, the Crow Tengu and the ck Yaksha. This is the reason why Izanami visited Cathay in personst time despite the massive risk involved."

    That made sense. After all, he had captured her second-inmand, so it was no wonder that she was extremely flustered.

    "Otakemaru is an evil ghost from the Suzuka Yama, and it was said that he once fought with Daitengu over the position of deity. However, Daitengu is a manifestation of Emperor Sutoku. Thus, Otakemaru was defeated and reduced to a ghostly monarch, and from there onward, he resided in Suzuka Yama. At the time, Shogun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was ordered to conquer Suzuka Yama, but was kept at bay by the ghostly deities led by Otakemaru. After that, the shogun received the assistance of Suzuka Gozen, who was the daughter of the Daiyonten Maou, after which he was able to obtain the two treasured swords, Daitsuren and Shotsuren, allowing him to sessfully y Otakemaru."

    Qin Ye turned to Oda Nobutada and asked, "Is that a rtive of yours?"

    Oda Nobutada: "???"

    My Lord, what nonsense are you spouting now?

    "She''s the daughter of Daiyonten Maou... Isn''t your father the Dairokuten Maou?"

    Oda Nobutada: "..."

    He had no way to refute this...

    "That''s not the case, my Lord. My father was referred to as an enemy of the Buddha and the Dairokuten Maou because he burned down Mount Hiei. The six demon kings are connected to the six heavens of the world of desire, namely Catumaharajika, Tr¨¡yastri??a, Y¨¡ma, Tushita, Nirm¨¡?arati, and Para-nirmita-va?a-vartin. In Para-nirmita-va?a-vartin resides the paramount demon king Mara, which reflects my father''s attitude in renouncing Buddhism. As for the fourth heaven of the world of desire, which is Tushita, its leader is Maitreya-n¨¡tha."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and Oda Nobutada didn''t dare to continue in his exnation.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. He wasn''t interested in hearing the life stories of Otakemaru and the Daiyonten Maou. He made his way over to the window and cast his gaze toward the sea, then suddenly asked, "Do you want to go and take a look at the seabed?"

    "Of course!" Mo Changhao replied with a serious expression. "If there really is a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine there, then as the director of the Special Investigations Department''s Eastmount Province branch, I would bemitting malfeasance if I didn''t go to investigate in person!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "We''ll set off from here in three days. General Zhao and I will both being, let''s go and see exactly what''s on the seabed 100 nautical miles away."

    "I can be prepared in just half a day!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "There''s no hurry. I''m currently very curious about whether there''s something at the same location in the underworld as well. This is a mystery left behind by the second King Yanluo. He was unable to solve it, so it''s time for me, the third King Yanluo, to continue his work!"

    [1] [Daiyonten Maou trantes to fourth demon king, while Daorokuten Maou trantes to sixth demon king, hence the corrtion.]

 Chapter 823: Deep Sea Mezzanine (1)

    <h4>Chapter 823: Deep Sea Mezzanine (1)</h4>

    The meeting was temporarily adjourned. In order to make sense of everything, deep-sea exploration was required, and in order to carry out such a massive scouting operation, both sides had to make thorough preparations.

    The mortal realm had to prepare marine scientists and submarines capable of descending to extreme depths, while Qin Ye needed more power.

    This was a hidden force that even the second King Yanluo hadn''t managed to track down, and he certainly didn''t dare to look down on it. Under extreme depths, even an Abyssal Prefect most likely wouldn''t be able to withstand the crushing water pressure. In addition to that, there was a giant sea beast constantly lurking. If something were to happen to the submarines, he had to ensure that he had the ability to protect himself deep under the sea and survive any attacks that came his way.

    In order to do that, he required Yama-King level power.

    After parting with Mo Changhao, he immediately returned to the underworld using King Yanluo''s Seal, then sent out a messenger bird to summon Zhao Yun for an emergency meeting.

    For someone above the Yama-King level like Zhao Yun, traversing through the Cathayan Underworld was a simple task, and he quickly arrived.

    "My Lord." Zhao Yun stepped onto the top floor of Ashmound''s customs building before extending a respectful salute.

    Qin Ye was standing in front of the window, looking out into the boundless sea. The sea in the underworld carried a slightly ck tinge, and under the illumination of sunlight, scattered rays of golden light that were a little different from what you would see in the mortal realm were reflected. The sea was like a vast piece of ck jade, as imposing as it was awe-inspiring, and it was as if the light was being reflected off of shards of broken ss.

    Qin Ye was the only person on the top floor, and his hands were sped behind his back as he cast his gaze out the window. The sea breeze blew in through the window, carrying with it the scent of the sea as well as the refreshing aroma of rain and dew. He didn''t say anything, and it was as if he were mesmerized by this stunning scene. Only after a full five seconds had passed did he begin to speak. "How many mysteries do you think there are lurking beneath the surface of the sea?"

    Zhao Yun pondered this question momentarily before replying, "I do not know. The sea is the most mysterious part of the underworld. Due to theck of electricity, there is no foundation for technological development. There are also no substitute sources of energy, so we''re unable to develop submarines like in the mortal realm. At the very most, an Abyssal Prefect can venture into depths of around 7,000 meters. Yama-Kings can go beyond that into the tens of kilometers, but there were only 120 Abyssal Prefects and less than 20 Yama-Kings in the entire Cathayan Underworld, and all of them were extremely busy, so we haven''t had a chance to explore the sea."

    <i>Whoosh... </i>The icy cold underworld sea breeze abruptly blew in through the window, causing the curtains and Qin Ye''s robes to p and drift before settling down again.

    "Not even once?"

    "There have been past instances. Both the first and second King Yanluos have sent Yama-Kings to survey the seabed in the past. King Dushi, King Pingdeng, and some others have all gone to depths in excess of 10,000 meters, but I never got the opportunity. Apparently, it''s very different from the sea in the mortal realm. I''ve heard that there are norge marine animals in the seas of the underworld, and that the terrain is very t. Instead, there are many underwater spirits. This directly corrtes with the mortal realm. Throughout the course of history, countless ships and boats have set off on voyages across the seas, and the bodies and souls of fallen sailors aren''t onnd, so they''re unable to ess the underworld through the city gods and the Lords of the Land. The best that Hell can do is set up some Gates of Hell on certain inds. As a result, most of the lost souls have no ce to go, and countless lost souls have umted in the sea over time. Hell has conducted three culls in total in history, and on each asion, aggregate Yin spirits very close to the Yama-King level were discovered. However, the most recent of those culls took ce several centuries ago."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and he rested his hands on the windowsill as he asked, "Can you apany me on a trip to the seabed?"

    The answer should''ve been straightforward, but Zhao Yun sighed and cupped his fist in a salute as he refused, "I''m afraid I won''t be able to apany you this time, my Lord. Alternatively, I can only apany you to the border of the underworld at most."

    "Why is that?"

    "Do you still recall thest mission you assigned to me where I extended invitations to all of the death gods to attend your inauguration ceremony?"

    Qin Ye immediately realized what the problem was.

    Just like the second King Yanluo, beings above the Yama-King level were prohibited from interfering with the underworlds at will. Their powers already transcended beyond this realm, and even the almighty second King Yanluo had been left with only two choices, the first of which was to destroy this world, and the second of which was to leave.

    The Heavenly Dao was like an intricate machine. Any changes that arose, regardless of whether it was good or bad, as long as they weren''t within its calctions, then they had to be erased. If it couldn''t do that, then it would force the issue and potentially cause catastrophic consequences than ept and tolerate.

    On the previous asion, Zhao Yun had already interfered too much with the underworld''s affairs. If it weren''t for him, the inauguration ceremony would''ve most likely already aroused suspicion from the death gods. All of the nations could''ve even sent envoys to force the Cathayan Underworld to open itself up to the rest of the world. However, due to Zhao Yun''s intervention, everything had passed by peacefully, and his actions had altered the course that the underworlds were supposed to take.

    "My Lord, once you be a Yama-King, you''ll be able to sense it. The Heavenly Dao is like a pair of eternally present eyes. It''s constantly surveying every single Emissary of Hell and Yin spirit. My actions fromst time didn''t escape its detection, and I can sense something constantly watching me. If I continue to recklessly act as I please, I''ll most likely be following in the second King Yanluo''s footsteps soon."

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this.

    The Harken also wouldn''t be suitable to bring along. It hadn''t yet fully recovered from its injuries, and on the past few asions where it had engaged in battle, it had only been for short and explosive bursts. Currently, it was in no condition to fight for extended periods of time, and the maximal time limit during which it could battle in its Yama-King state was only 10 minutes. If they were to encounter any danger deep under the sea, 10 minutes definitely wouldn''t be enough for them to reach the surface!

    He had never actively pursued progression in cultivation, but in this instant, he was suddenly strongly yearning for a breakthrough to the Yama-King rank.

    "Apany me to the border of the underworld." He took a deep breath before turning around. "After that, we''ll travel to the six paths of reincarnation."

    "Yes!" A hint of excitement appeared in Zhao Yun''s eyes as he asked, "My Lord, are you finally prepared to progress to the Yama-King level?"

    "That''s right," Qin Ye sighed. "Only my own power is true power."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    It was very difficult for sunlight to pass through the seawater of the underworld.

    Entering the sea from Ashmound Port, one only had to descend for around five to six meters before visibility fell to zero. A giant ship was resting up above on the surface of the sea, and the Harken was situated at the front of the ship. The sides of the ship were lined with over 1,000 Yin soldiers, and the n was that Qin Ye would release a messenger bird once every 20 minutes. If no messenger bird arrived after over 25 minutes since thest one, then the Harken would activate King Yanluo''s Seal at all cost to suck away all of the seawater and ensure Qin Ye''s safety.

    Below the surface of the sea, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were enveloped in Yin energy as they rapidly descended, instantly speeding past the 500-meter mark. However, the deeper they went, the slower they became. Their surroundings were already pitch-ck, as if they were submerged in ck ink, and even if they were to hold their hands up to their faces, they wouldn''t be able to see them.

    "There really does seem to be something amiss here." Qin Ye''s emissary aura kept the seawater at bay as he inspected his surroundings through narrowed eyes. "It''s too quiet... and too deserted."

    Zhao Yun''s earlier description had only provided him with a rough idea of what the sea in the underworld was like, but seeing it in person was a different experience entirely. In the sea of the underworld, there were no mountains and no fish. It was inky-ck, but there were some eerie reflections of light from time to time, and it was far more forbidding an environment than the seabed in the mortal realm.

    This wasn''t a paradise, it was a dark prison.

    Advancing through this area, one was struck by the feeling that something extremely terrifying could abruptly emerge beside them at any moment. Perhaps it would be a twisted human face, or perhaps it would be a gigantic Yin beast that had never been seen before. They were all lurking in the darkness, scrutinizing these two fresh new souls, and the bone-chilling sense of oppression was like a huge hand that was locked in a vice-like grip around Qin Ye''s heart.

    However, nothing ever happened, and the suspense simply continued to build.

    After descending to a depth of around 1,000 meters, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun both cast their eyes toward the same direction in unison. There, several hundred meters away, the darkness seemed to have sprung to life.

    Ripples began to surge through the water, and an indistinct deathly pale figure appeared, presenting a terrifying sight to behold in the darkness.

    "That''s an intermediate Infernal Judge level evil ghost." For an Abyssal Prefect like Qin Ye, he was able to see the evil ghost from several hundred meters away even in the suffocating darkness. He could clearly see that this was a female Yin spirit with snowy white hair wearing a garment that was also white. She seemed to exist between the nes of illusion and reality, and her body appeared to bepletely formed by white mist, wisps of which were drifting through the seawater. Countless hands and heads were growing all over her body at twisted angles, and she was like a conglomeration of several dozen people.

    "That''s an aggregate Yin spirit," Zhao Yun said. "In the deep sea, countless Yin spirits have umted throughout the course of history. Make sure to be on your guard, my Lord, these things are no less powerful than special Yin spirits. As we go down further, there''s a very good chance we could encounter Abyssal Prefects or even beings close to the Yama-King level."

    Qin Ye was naturally on high alert after hearing this, but even as they continued to descend, they only discovered two or three aggregate Yin spirits, none of which were above the advanced Infernal Judge level!

    "This isn''t right..." Zhao Yun appraised their surroundings with tightly furrowed brows. "Thest cull took ce 400 years ago. During the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, countless sailors would''ve lost their lives at sea, so there should''ve been countless more Yin spirits umted here. How could there only be a few aggregate Yin spirits?"

    No one could answer that question.

    The most terrifying thing was always the unknown, and Zhao Yun was already flying ahead of Qin Ye as a safety precaution. The two descended deeper and deeper. 3,000 meters... 5,000 meters... 7,000 meters!

    At this point, Qin Ye felt as if the seawater around him had already turned into iron and steel, and he was imprisoned right in the center of it. Even the rising of his chest from inhtion was a monumental task, and he couldn''t even lift his neck anymore.

    All of his joints were creaking and groaning, but right at this moment, a burst of Yin energy extended toward him, enveloping his body and providing him with instant relief.

    It was Zhao Yun''s Yin energy.

    Neither of them said anything as they continued to descend in silence. 8,000 meters... 9,000 meters... 10,000 meters!

    Right as they hit the 10,000-meter mark, they seemed to have triggered some type of boundary, and slight tremors ran through the entire seabed. Zhao Yun''s pupils abruptly contracted as he grabbed onto Qin Ye''s hand.

    There was something different here.

    It was an extremely abstract and indescribable feeling. It was clearly still the same sea, but they couldn''t help but feel as if there were something extra here.

    The fear of the unknown converged toward them from all directions in the darkness, and Qin Ye appraised their surroundings with a grim expression. All of a sudden, he spotted something, and he gently tapped Zhao Yun''s shoulder before pointing toward the east.

    Zhao Yun cast his gaze toward that direction, and his brows immediately furrowed slightly.

    It was a speck ofherfire that was of a stark white color.

    It was very small, but it was extremely eye-catching in the vast and deserted sea. If it were anywhere else, then it would''ve been very difficult to notice.

    However, it was by far the most attention-grabbing thing here.

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye patted his shoulder with a grim expression, then pointed downward.

    Through the faint radiance being released by the speck ofherfire, it could be seen that countless Yin spirits were converging toward it from down below!

    The Yin spirits were twisting and revolving like a deathly vortex. On the very top of the vortex were around a dozen Prefect-level Yin spirits, and beneath them were what appeared to be close to 100 Infernal Judge level Yin spirits, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the countless Netherworld Operatives, Soul Hunters, Anitya Hellguards... Yin spirits of all levels were gathering like stars in a gxy. It was as if this speck ofherfire was the sun, while all these evil ghosts were orbiting around it.

    It was a gxy of countless ghosts deep in the sea!

    Qin Ye was momentarily dazed upon seeing this, and only after a few seconds had passed did he shake his head with an awe-struck expression. "What on earth is this thing..."

 Chapter 824: Deep Sea Mezzanine (2)

    <h4>Chapter 824: Deep Sea Mezzanine (2)</h4>

    Zhao Yun swept his gaze around the boundless surrounding darkness. The speck ofherfire was the only source of light in this entire area, but what it was illuminating was a sea of evil ghosts.

    They didn''t immediately decide to do anything. Instead, they cast their eyes further into the distance, and they saw another speck of stark whiteherfire. They were likenterns separated by set intervals, guiding one deeper and deeper into the darkness.

    "My Lord, you stay here, I''ll go test out the waters." Zhao Yun''s eyes narrowed slightly as he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a gust of fierce wind suddenly swept through the area, even though they were deep under the sea. His suit of silver armor ttered and nged in the wind, while his ck hair and white cape danced erratically as they were blown toward the left. He was like a statue of a war god standing in the dark sea.

    To his right, a massive hole formed by Yin energy had taken shape on the pitch-ck seabed. Countless specks ofherfire converged toward it, forming a revolving wheel of wind and fire. Wisps of white Yin energy began to revolve around Zhao Yun''s right hand before transforming into a long spear.

    "So cool..." Qin Ye was looking on like a starstruck fangirl. No matter how many times he saw it, he was always amazed by the epic disys that Zhao Yun could put on at will.

    When will I be able to pull off an entrance like that...

    Such a massivemotion naturally attracted the attention of all of the Yin spirits, but even after catching sight of Zhao Yun, they didn''t escape!

    The evil ghosts looked at theherfire, then at Zhao Yun, and thehermes in their eyes flickered with internal conflict. They were hesitating in the face of a being above the Yama-King level!

    "Piss off!" Zhao Yun ordered in an indifferent voice as he brandished his spear. As he stepped forward, the darkness within a radius of hundreds of meters faded like the night giving way to the day.

    Dead silence.

    Three secondster, the evil ghost vortex began to revolve rapidly. Led by the dozen or so Abyssal Prefects and close to 100 Infernal Judges, the countless Netherworld Operatives, Soul Hunters, and Anitya Hellguards roared in Zhao Yun''s direction in unison.

    With so many evil ghosts gathered, the sea instantly became extremely turbulent. However, Zhao Yun merely smiled as he strode toward them in a calm manner.

    The more he approached the evil ghosts, the more ferociously they roared, and upon reaching within a kilometer of them, Zhao Yun finally made his move.

    Qin Ye shivered as a chill ran down his spine. All he saw was a streak of light.

    It was a streak of dazzling white light that illuminated the entire seabed, and by the time he returned to his senses, Zhao Yun had already arrived behind the army of evil ghosts, while all of the evil ghosts werepletely still as if they had been immobilized.

    In the next instant, all of the evil ghosts burst intoherfire in unison, and it was as if red spider lilies were blooming over this dark seabed. The most hideous and vile things had been transformed into the utmost beauty.

    The Courage of Dragons Silver Spear dissipated intohermes, and Zhao Yun turned around as he said, "Everything''s cleared up now, my Lord."

    Qin Ye flew over to him in silence. He didn''t want to speak to a man who was so much cooler than himself. After taking a nce at the speck ofherfire, he gently ced a hand onto it. Immediately thereafter, his soul abruptly shuddered.

    It was as if something important in his life had been filled.

    He immediately raised his head to stare at the speck ofherfire with a stunned expression, and upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was a speck of golden light skipping at the center of theherfire. No... in fact, it was billions, trillions of golden specks!

    Those golden specks were like the radiance from the initial creation of the world, or the stars in a dark night sky. They were revolving and forming one golden gxy after another before silently dissipating.

    "Divinity...." A hint of excitement crept into Zhao Yun''s voice. "This is divinity!"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, he continued, "Only divine artifacts possess divinity!"

    "Only divine artifacts possess divinity..." Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this before immediately eximing, "Are you saying this is from the Judgment Pen?"

    The three divine artifacts of Hell were King Yanluo''s Seal, which was capable of drawing upon the Yellow Springs to activate the kic energy of the Cathayan Underworld, the Book of Life and Death, which allowed one to examine the lifespans of all living beings, and the Judgment Pen, which judged right from wrong and decided the paths of reincarnation for Yin spirits to take. Only with all three divine artifactsplete and in their rightful ces could the Cathayan Underworld function to its maximum capacity.

    Thus far, the Judgment Pen had proved to be very elusive. Qin Ye hadn''t dered this in a public setting as that could encourage rabble-rousers aiming to take his ce, but in secret, the darkfeathers had been constantly searching for the divine artifact. Never did he think that he would find leads on the divine artifact that had eluded him for several years here on the seabed!

    "Back when Hell ascended, King Yanluo''s Seal was the closest, and it waspletely destroyed. In contrast, the Book of Life and Death and the Judgment Pen were further away, and the former was blown all the way to the Strait of Tsushima, so it''s certainly not impossible for the Judgment Pen to have flown all the way here..." Qin Ye mused as his eyes narrowed slightly. "Which part of the Judgment Pen is this?"

    "It''s the ink," Zhao Yun replied as he stared intently at the speck ofherfire. He then cast his gaze toward the distance, where there were even more specks ofherfire, seemingly acting as signposts.

    "There is ink on the pen, and after it was sent flying, it traveled all the way here... My Lord, the current situation is very bad."

    He turned to Qin Ye and cupped his fist in a grim salute as he said, "Divine artifacts arise from the founding of Hell. That was an era during which gods like N¨¹wa and Exalted Father were still around. Ever since then, no more divine artifacts were able to be created. Every single divine artifact is imbued with a hint of thews of heaven and earth, allowing them to disregard all restrictions..."

    A thought seemed to have urred to Qin Ye upon hearing this, and he raised a hand to cut off Zhao Yun as he cast his gaze toward the specks ofherfire in the distance.

    It was clear that the Judgment Pen had been sent flying in that direction, and the problem was...

    "The Array of the Nine Gods is in that direction..." His voice began to tremble as he spoke. "It disregards all restrictions... Doesn''t that mean it would''ve smashed a hole directly into the array?"

    All of a sudden, he felt as if an important puzzle piece had clicked into ce, and many things that had confused him in the past all became connected.

    Arthis had once told him that unless express permission was given, only low-grade darkfeathers at or below the Soul Hunter level could enter another country''s underworld, yet three Anitya Hellguard level emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld had oncee to the Cathayan Underworld.

    He hadn''t paid much heed to it at the time, but thinking back now and connecting this matter with the appearance of Otakemaru... Could it be that the emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld were already aware of this crack in the array?

    No, that shouldn''t have been the case. If ck Yaksha and Crow Tengu had known about this, then they wouldn''t have gone after Lee Jung-sook during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Alternatively, perhaps the crack wasn''t able to support their enormous Yin energy?

    Could it be that the emergence of that giant sea monster also had something to do with the Judgment Pen?

    He shook his head to set aside that train of thought for now. The answer would be revealed sooner orter as he continued exploring, and it was clear that these specks ofherfire led to the final divine artifact.

    Thus, without further ado, he and Zhao Yun quickly flew along the path traced out by the specks ofherfire.

    Neither of them said anything, and even at depths in excess of 10,000 meters, they were still moving extremely quickly with Qin Ye enveloped in Zhao Yun''s Yin energy. Very soon, light began to appear up ahead.

    Qin Ye swore internally as he gritted his teeth and urged, "Go faster, General Zhao!"

    Zhao Yun elerated even further at his behest, and he also knew that this was a very bad sign.

    The faint blue light shimmering up ahead was the light of the Array of the Nine Gods, yet even at this point, theherfire still hadn''t been snuffed out!

    At this point, it was virtually certain that a devastating sh had taken ce between the Judgment Pen and the array, and the oue would''ve most definitely been catastrophic.

    As they continued to advance, the Array of the Nine Gods gradually became clearer and clearer in their field of view. As they drew closer and closer, their expressions also darkened further and further. This was because there was a hole that was over 100 meters in size on the array above them!

    The runes around the hole were desperately writhing and self-repairing, but even after over a century, only a thinyer had been restored, and it would easily break under the slightest touch.

    Soon, both of them arrived in front of the array. The radiance of the Array of the Nine Gods couldn''t be seen on the surface, but within the boundless darkness of the deep sea, it was clearly visible. It was like a series of bright blue metal bars, forming a fence that separated the Cathayan Underworld from the outside world.

    Up to this point, Qin Ye had been reveling in a sense of extreme security, and this was all based upon the assumption that the Array of the Nine Gods was perfect and whole. Standing in front of the giant hole right now, Qin Ye''s lips were tightly pursed. His fingers were trembling as he gently stroked the array in silence.

    Does anyone know about this? Does the Nipponese Underworld know? If they do, have they told the other underworlds, particrly the three pirs? Have other emissaries from foreign underworlds entered through here? No, this most likely hasn''t been discovered yet. At the very least, the three pirs don''t know about this. Otherwise, my inauguration ceremony definitely wouldn''t have progressed so smoothly. However... does the Peach Blossom Spring know about this?

    This was the thought that worried Qin Ye the most. If that massive monster could freely traverse through the three realms, then the connotations were downright terrifying. He gritted his teeth, and in the blink of an eye, he was already outside the array.

    "My Lord!" Zhao Yun eximed in an urgent voice from inside the array.

    "You don''t need toe out." Qin Ye''s body disintegrated into Yin energy as he rapidly drifted upward. "There are some things that I have to see for myself."

    The specks ofherfire were still extending into the distance, and he had to see where they concluded!

    However, he had only just emerged from the array, and the enormous water pressure was already crushing the air out of his lungs. Before he had a chance to say anything, the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear had already appeared in Zhao Yun''s hand in a sh.

    "I''ll wait for two hours at most!" Zhao Yun dered in a serious voice. "If you don''t rise up to an altitude of 7,000 meters or above, two hours is the maximum period of time you''ll be able tost."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and the Yin energy that his body had disintegrated into scattered before rising up like a murder of ck crows.

    He didn''t want to think about anything right now, all he wanted was to find out the truth. The Array of the Nine Gods was the foundation for his rule, he didn''t want to have all of his efforts in creating this dynasty benefitting someone else in the end.

    He traveled upward at full speed, and after 10 minutes, he finally drew to a halt.

    "Shit..." he swore through gritted teeth as he looked up with an extremely grim expression.

    It was a Yin Yang Mezzanine...

    It was a gigantic Yin Yang Mezzanine with a radius of around 150 to 160 kilometers!

    Within the Yin Yang Mezzanine, the azure Yin energy of Limbo was surging incessantly, and theherfire formed by the ink of the Judgment Pen extended all the way into it before vanishing from sight. It was like a series of signposts guiding Yin spirits to another world.

    "How could there be such a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine?" Veins were bulging on the back of his hand as he held onto the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear. The Judgment Pen wasn''t in the underworld. Instead, it had borrowed the power of Hell''s destruction to smash its way straight into Limbo, creating a massive hole that even that massive sea beast was able to pass through!

    This made him think of even more things. The mirage city had appeared outside the array, and this was also outside the array. This was most likely the case that the rift that connected all three realms, and it was even more massive than he had imagined.

    At the same time, he was feeling very fortunate. Thankfully, even though the Cathayan Underworld had remained silent for over a century, its influence still remained, and no one dared to probe its condition. Otherwise, the neighboring underworlds would''ve detected this rift long ago, and if they were to go slightly further ahead, they would be able to see the gaping hole in the Array of the Nine Gods.

    Indeed, he had been truly fortunate... but not fortunate enough!

    He stared intently at the rift with a grim expression because a chilling thought had urred to him.

    That giant beast had to have passed through this ce, and it was carrying Otakemaru on its back, which meant that Otakemaru had been extremely close to the Array of the Nine Gods!

    Was it possible that he had inspected the Array of the Nine Gods in secret? Would he have dared to do that?

    Just the mere thought of this sent cold sweat flowing down his back, and he wanted nothing more than to go to the mortal realm and inspect the seabed there right away.

    He wanted to see what form the rift had taken in the mortal realm, and he wanted to see where that gigantic beast was hiding.

    It wasn''t in the underworld. Otherwise, he would''ve already sensed its enormous Yin energy, and it wouldn''t dare to be so close to the Cathayan Underworld.

    For such a massive beast to have entered the mortal realm through the rift, there had to have been some traces left behind.

    If there weren''t any traces in the mortal realm...

    "Then I''ll see you in Limbo." He pursed his lips, and he rapidly retreated as a flood of Yin energy. The mirage city, the massive tsunamis, the underwater giant beast, Otakemaru, the deep sea Yin Yang Mezzanine, the Judgment Pen... All of these chaotic leads were muddying the water further and further. If he wanted to repair this rift just as N¨¹wa had mended the heavens, then he would have to attain the same level of power as N¨¹wa first.

    Thus, the first thing he had to do wasn''t to connect these leads. Instead, it was to rebuild the six paths of reincarnation and progress to the Yama-King level!

    After that, he would slowly examine everything to see exactly how these seemingly unrted events were tied together.

 Chapter 825: Rebuilding the Six Paths of Reincarnation

    <h4>Chapter 825: Rebuilding the Six Paths of Reincarnation</h4>

    There had to be a point at which all of this was connected.

    Thus far, there were many things that he was currently unable to understand andprehend, but once he found thismon point that connected everything, then it would all make sense to him.

    However, he wasn''t in a hurry to get to the bottom of things. These incidents undoubtedly concerned some major parties, and he had a feeling that the investigation would be virtually impossible to carry out unless he reached the Yama-King level.

    In reality, he had already developed a theory, but he was currently unable to verify it. His theory was that the person standing on the giant beast''s back had been spying on the Cathayan Underworld in secret this entire time. However, the sudden return of the Yellow Springs had wounded the giant beast, and in order to avoid the tsunamis, it had no choice but to float to the surface of the sea in the mortal realm. As a result, this led to the discovery of a massive Yin Yang Mezzanine at the bottom of the sea.

    Furthermore, this sea beast was very likely to be rted to the Peach Blossom Spring.

    He hadn''t said anything at the time, but he had made some mental notes on the pces on the sea beast''s back. They had been constructed in the style of the Qin and Han Dynasties, and among all of the people he had seen, only the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring had this style. Furthermore, he possessed the power to create this living city.

    This was perhaps the rough sequence of events, but there were far too many details that still had to be filled in. They were like scattered pearls of truth, but there weren''t enough of them to be strung up into aplete ne. His mind was racing rapidly as he returned to the crack in the Array of the Nine Gods.

    "General Zhao." He returned the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear to Zhao Yun as he said in a grim voice, "You''ll have to rebuild the Feral Dog Ridges, the Mount of the Golden Rooster, and the other constructions of the underworld on your own."

    Zhao Yun took a deep breath before asking, "Did the Judgment Pen create a Yin Yang Mezzanine? Is it not in the underworld? Do you need the Harken to keep an eye on this ce."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before turning to the rift behind him with narrowed eyes. "The Yin Yang Mezzanines is thergest one I''ve ever seen with a radius in excess of 100 kilometers."

    Zhao Yun drew a sharp breath upon hearing this and immediately replied, "My Lord, this is an extremely serious matter! This rift has most likely existed for over a century, and during that time, a vast amount of the pure Yin energy of the underworld would''ve flowed into Limbo, altering the conditions in there! I''m absolutely certain that on the other side of the Yin Yang Mezzanine, all of the most powerful Yin beasts of Limbo must be gathered to benefit from the influx of Yin energy!"

    Pure Yin energy presented a lethal temptation to evil ghosts.

    A grim look appeared on Zhao Yun''s face as he continued, "If we don''t take care of this matter quickly, those Yin beasts will be more and more powerful. No one knows what those things will be after devouring the Yin energy of the underworld, and perhaps even the bodies of deceased Yin beasts will be reanimated!"

    "Hasn''t that already happened?" Qin Ye cast a cold gaze into the dark depths of the sea. "That giant sea beast that appeared in the mortal realm was most likely a product of mutation from absorbing the underworld''s Yin energy, and it must also be the king of Limbo. Also, there''s something else I''m even more worried about..."

    He pursed his lips as he lowered his head and continued, "That giant beast has an owner, and its owner most likely has ties with the Peach Blossom Spring. Has its owner obtained the Judgment Pen? Have they seen this crack in the array?"

    Zhao Yun didn''t reply.

    He didn''t even dare to consider such a possibility!

    If this really were true, then it would mean that they were facing abination of a divine artifact and a Yama-King level cultivator leading a power that even the second King Yanluo had been unable to track down... This was most definitely enough to keep Qin Ye up at night.

    At this point, it wasn''t actually important whether people had seen the crack in the Array of the Nine Gods or who had seen it.

    What was important was that all those who knew about this had to die with no exceptions!

    "Please make haste, my Lord," Zhao Yun immediately said as he cupped his fist in a salute. "If worsees to worst, I''ll recover the Judgment Pen even if I have to leave this world!"

    "That''s thest resort," Qin Ye replied. "Let''s go for now. An incident of this magnitude is something that those below the Yama-King level can''t even hope to touch."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Cathayan Underworld, Lotus City.

    Arthis was stripped of her role as minister of foreign affairs and became the warden of the six paths of reincarnation instead. As a result, she was stationed in Lotus City most of the time, and due to the presence of the Hungry Ghost Legion and Asura Legion, Su Daji and Qin Hui also hadn''t left the city.

    Qin Hui was seated on a taishi chair as he gently blew into his teacup, and all of the wrinkles on his wizened face were bunched together. "Say... Do you think Lord Qin has forgotten about us?"

    Su Daji was rapidly maneuvering a pair of knitting needles, and she faltered slightly upon hearing this. "Surely not... His Excellency left us here so that we can help with the reconstruction of the six paths of reincarnation. Even if he''s forgotten about us, he''ll eventually recall us when he decides to rebuild the six paths of reincarnation."

    The sound of clicking knitting needles rang out again as Su Daji refocused on her knitting. "To be honest, it wouldn''t be a bad thing if he''s forgotten about us. Have you still not had enough of constantly being on the King Yanluo''s mind?"

    "That''s true," Qin Hui sighed before taking a sip of tea. "Currently, there''s no need for him to progress to the Yama-King level as the Harken and Ghost Monarch Zhao can take care of everything for him. Unless the need arises, there really is no incentive for him to progress... Lord Qin!"

    All of a sudden, he sprang up like a jack in the box, then slid over to the entrance on his knees before kowtowing heavily onto the ground. "It is the utmost honor for me to be seeing your glorious self! Lord Qin, during your absence, I was like a fish out of water, a seedling desperately waiting for rain to grace the parched earth..."

    ck... The sweater in Su Daji''s hands fell onto herp.

    I can''t rx even for a single instant! When did this old bastard learn the advanced sliding kneel ability?!

    "No need for formalities." Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand, and Arthis and Zhao Yun made their way into the room behind him. He then sat down on the main seat and asked, "How have things been going in Lotus City recently?"

    "Everything''s been going well," Arthis replied in a resentful voice. "Aside from the fact that you''ve cruelly kept a pair of lovebirds apart for so long... It''s been a long time since I''ve seen my dear hubby..."

    Zhao Yun almost spilled some tea onto his own leg upon hearing this.

    What the hell is dear hubby supposed to be?! Can you give me a detailed exnation?!

    Lovebirds are truly sickening... Qin Ye was shuddering internally, but he asked in a calm voice, "General Zhao, what other preparations need to be made for the rebuilding of the six paths of reincarnation?"

    Qin Hui and Su Daji exchanged a nce, but neither of them said anything.

    "No more preparations need to be made. The only thing we have to worry about is a final struggle from Yu Kiang. As an ancient god, there''s no way it would be willing to be sealed away forever. However..." A cold look appeared on Zhao Yun''s face as he dered, "This is no longer its era."

    Having hibernated and been crushed under the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn for so long, what right did it have to reject Hell?

    Qin Ye was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Su Daji, Qin Hui.''

    Qin Hui smoothed out his clothes before bowing to 90 degrees. "I''m here, my Lord."

    Meanwhile, Su Daji fell to her knees and pressed her forehead t against the ground. "I''m ready to hear your holy decree, Your Excellency!"

    Qin Hui turned to Su Daji with a stunned expression.

    You''re even able to gain an advantage in something like this?! I can''t rx even for a single moment! You really are my lifelong rival...

    If it weren''t for the urgency of the current situation, Qin Ye would be greatly amused by this pair of bootlickers. As things currently were, he only allowed himself a small smile before immediately reverting back to a serious expression. "We''llmence rebuilding the six paths of reincarnation in 12 hours. The Hungry Ghost Legion will stand on guard in the outer city, while the Asura Legion stays in the inner city, and the Hell Guardian Legion will protect the imperial pce. Everyone must do their jobs and ensure that nothing goes wrong..."

    Everyone''s hearts jolted upon hearing this, and they cupped their fists in respectful salutes as they replied in unison, "Yes!"

    After a brief hesitation, Qin Hui asked in a tentative voice, "My Lord, isn''t it a little early to be rebuilding the six paths of reincarnation?"

    The Judgment Pen was still nowhere to be found, what was the point in building a six paths of reincarnation that was essentially an empty shell?

    Qin Ye smiled and rose to his feet before departing. "I want everyone to be at their posts in 20 minutes. Make sure toplete the tasks assigned to you."

    "Yes!"

    The hall fell silent again, and Qin Hui took a deep breath before raising his sleeves, upon which countless origami paper cranes immediately flew out. Several secondster, he turned to Su Daji and said, "Something big must''ve happened."

    Su Daji nodded in agreement with a grim expression. "There has to be something that he can only take care of after reaching the Yama-King level. Otherwise, there''s no way he would think to rebuild the six paths of reincarnation now. Also, Daolord Qin, have you noticed that we''re still not among the King Yanluo''s core circle?"

    Qin Hui heaved a long sigh. "Indeed. The Hungry Ghost Legion will be guarding the outer city, while the Asura Legion will be stationed in the inner city. That means that the true core still consists of only the warden and the Hell Guardian Army, while we''re still not fully trusted. However, this is a rare opportunity for us, Daolord Su!"

    Theherfire in his eyes skipped erratically as he continued, "The fact that Lord Qin is so desperate to reach the Yama-King level means that he''s definitely dealing with something extremely tricky. If we can give him a helping hand in this matter, his impression of us will be sure to improve significantly!"

    "Indeed... This is a fantastic opportunity for us to erase some of the biases and doubts Lord Qin harbors against us!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The entirety of Lotus City had be a hub of activity.

    Hideous evil ghosts, menacing Asura skeletal dogs, and ck-armored soldiers of the Hell Guardian Legion were flooding out of Lotus City. Even though Qin Ye had made the Hungry Ghost Legion responsible for guarding the outer city, the soldiers on the vantage points atop the city walls were allmanders of the Hell Guardian Legion.

    Lotus City was the only city where construction of infrastructure hadn''t taken ce following the war of unification. At this moment, it was truly buzzing with activity. Time quickly passed by, and before everyone knew it, 12 hours had already flown by.

    Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were standing inside the imperial pce. The old imperial pce had already been demolished, and all remnants of it had been removed. A Yin breeze blew past, and Zhao Yun''s ck hair danced wildly around him. He was seated with his legs crossed and his hands resting on his knees, and the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear was standing right in front of him.

    As he meditated, one Yin rune after another slowly emerged around him. Each and every Yin rune was extremelyplex, and it was as if they were being inscribed by an invisible handle directly onto space. During the past 12 hours, 999 Yin runes had already appeared here.

    It was as if an array had been formed, epassing an area with a radius in excess of a kilometer around him, and roughly 10 meters in front of him was the Divine Bronze Tree.

    The sound of a tolling bell rang out, and at the same time, Zhao Yun opened his eyes.

    In the distance, Qin Ye and Arthis couldn''t help but take several steps backward. The scene was very calm and cid, but it was like the calm before the storm, and the suffocating atmosphere was striking them with a sense of asphyxiation.

    "All things arise from heaven and earth and are manifestations of Yin and Yang. Only through cultivation and transcending countless tribtions can one attain ultimate power," Zhao Yun chanted, and as he did so, the golden Yin runes around him suddenly converged toward him, leaving strands of golden light in their wake. Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye gulped nervously, but discovered that he couldn''t hear the sound of himself gulping. He opened his mouth, but it was as if he had been muted, and he found himself unable to utter even a single word.

    The wind disappeared, the clouds stopped, and even the sunlight began to ripple. All of the Yin energy in the surrounding area converged toward the top of the imperial pce in a frenzy with the utterance of those words.

    The eight birds on the Divine Bronze Tree began to tremble violently as if they could sense something, producing a string of nging sounds. Meanwhile, light tremors began to run through the entirety of Lotus City.

    "Throughout the three realms, the Great Dao reigns supreme."

    As Zhao Yun continued to chant, some type of restriction seemed to have been broken in the world, and the sound of shattering ss rang out. All of a sudden, Qin Ye found himself able to speak again, and he immediately asked, "What is this?"

    "It''s the Imperial Earth Mantra..." Arthis wore an extremely serious expression as she exined, "The mantra is chanted to request the Goddess Earth Mother''s soul to return and give us permission toplete the cycle of reincarnation again, thereby restoring bnce to Yin and Yang. Listen carefully, this is a once-in-3,000-years event!"

    Boom!! As soon as her voice trailed off, countless pirs of light suddenly erupted from the ground below. It was still the dark and gloomy underworld, but a resplendent golden sheen had been cast over it by the pirs of golden light.

    Amid the boundless golden radiance, an indistinct figure slowly appeared within the clouds overhead.

    "Who has summoned me?"

    [1] [Quick reminder that this is the Divine Bronze Tree from the cave where the Yu Kiang and the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn were found. If you''d like to refresh your memory of that part of the story, please refer back to chapter 757.]

 Chapter 826: The Struggle of An Ancient God

    <h4>Chapter 826: The Struggle of An Ancient God</h4>

    In the sky above, an indistinct female figure appeared within the radiant golden light.

    At the same time, countless golden lotus flowers also emerged in the air across the entire za before slowly blooming. Strangely enough, regardless of which angle one appraised the female figure from, it always felt as if she were looking directly at them.

    In response to the ethereal voice, Zhao Yun cupped his fist in a salute and replied, "It is I, Sixfold Ghost King Zhao Yun, serving under the third King Yanluo, and I hereby request you to approve the reconstruction of the six paths of reincarnation."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    To his surprise, Zhao Yun wasn''t acting very respectfully toward the Goddess Earth Mother. Instead, he was treating her like an equal, as if they were discussing official matters on a level ying field. Technically, wasn''t this the manifestation of a deity? It was quite surprising to him that this was the attitude Zhao Yun was disying to an ancient goddess like the Goddess Earth Mother.

    Su Daji seemed to have noticed his befuddlement, and she put on a warm smile as she exined in a gentle voice, "My Lord, Hell and Heaven each have their own duties. Hell has things that it must report to Heaven, and Heaven also has many things that require the approval of Hell. Back when I was serving under Her Highness N¨¹wa, I learned that Hell and Heaven are a pair of nes, and the Jade Emperor is equivalent in rank to the King Yanluo. Strictly speaking, General Zhao''s rank is slightly above that of the Goddess Earth Mother, so there''s naturally no need for him to regard her with overt respect. However, the previous rendition of the six paths of reincarnation was formed by the Goddess Earth Mother''s body after she ascended to Heaven, so she retains the right to approve or deny the reconstruction of the six paths. Currently, we are asking for her approval. My Lord, I have some understanding of the affairs in Heaven, and I would be honored to serve you with this knowledge in the future."

    Qin Hui maintained an amicable smile as he stood off to the side, but he was throwing a full-on profanityden tantrum internally.

    Dammit, she beat me again! I really can''t rx even for a single instant!

    He stroked his own beard to disguise his own ignorance toward Heaven, and he was already racking his brains for something that he could use topete with Su Daji.

    In the sky above, the Goddess Earth Mother gave a slight nod, and her voice was like the strike of a gong, ringing out in everyone''s minds. "Over a century ago, Hell copsed, and currently, the cycle of Yin and Yang is inplete turmoil. The third King Yanluo is doing a great deed by restoring bnce to Yin and Yang and supporting the nation with his efforts. Equilibrium in all three realms is the ultimate goal we should be constantly striving toward. If the third King Yanluo wishes to restore the cycle of reincarnation, then he has my blessings to go ahead without any qualms."

    After that, the golden figure disintegrated into countless specks of golden light that dissipated through the air.

    Was the Goddess Earth Mother...plimenting me just now?

    Qin Ye was like a rat that had found a piece of cheese, and the corners of his lips involuntarily turned upward as he put on a pleased yet reserved smile.

    What a capable and pleasant subordinate the Goddess Earth Mother would make!

    Right now, I''m sorelycking in talented individuals like this, who can extendpliments subtly while speaking only the truth. In contrast, Su Daji and Qin Hui''s boot-licking tactics are far too clumsy and primitive. Their tactics may have worked thousands of years ago, but it''s clear as day that they''re putting on a show to gain my favor.

    However, he didn''t have any time to revel in self-satisfaction as he discovered that something was amiss.

    He wasn''t the only one, everyone else had also noticed that something was happening.

    The specks of golden light that the projection of the Goddess Earth Mother wasn''t naturally dispersing through the air. Instead, they were expanding in all directions like a golden cloud. Initially, Qin Ye didn''t notice anything, but soon, he discovered that these specks of golden light were arranging themselves into the same formation as the constetion of the 108 Stars of Destiny.

    In the blink of an eye, the golden light had already drifted across the entire city, epassing the whole area of Lotus City, which was close to 900 square kilometers. Beneath the dark clouds, it was as if countless golden stars were descending from above.

    It''s begun...

    Everyone had fallen silent. All of the chatter and conversation that had been going on before had given way to silent anticipation.

    Finally, the six paths of reincarnation were going to be reinstated, and one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings was overseeing the process in person. There were most likely even countless gods in Heaven looking on with bated breath, let alone those in Hell.

    Boom!! The specks of golden lightnded on the ground, and even though they were only tiny specks of light, they smashed straight through the ground!

    At the same time, Zhao Yun picked up his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear before abruptly plunging it toward the Divine Bronze Tree!

    ROAR!!! In the next instant, the entirety of Lotus City trembled in the face of an earth-shattering roar that erupted straight from the depths of the abyss.

    However, before the roar had even concluded, 108 specks of golden light suddenly erupted from the ground, then flew straight up into the heavens amid a string of resounding booms. Throughout the entirety of Lotus City, everyone''s field of view had beenpletely transformed into a world of golden radiance.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked up into the sky. It was as if the sun were crashing down to earth, making it impossible to see anything clearly. Only after close to 20 minutes had passed did he slowly reopen his eyes, and by the time the dust settled, he couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath.

    The entire imperial pce had vanished!

    They were currently standing on a golden pir that was countless kilometers tall. The pir seemed to have been forged from pure gold, and abstract characters and all primitive artworks of all types of living beings were inscribed all over its surface. Furthermore, the pir wasn''t a perfect cylinder. Instead, it consisted of countless sets of remains piled up on one another!

    The golden carcasses were hanging off the pir with their arms spread diagonally upward like Jesus on the cross, and their bodies were fused as one with the pir. Each carcass was hundreds of meters in size, some of which had three eyes, some had bone spikes all over their bodies, some had three heads and six arms... However, regardless of what form the carcasses took on, each of them had a fiery red metal chain extending through their skeletal mouths.

    It was clear that they had all passed away countless years ago, but even now, just the mere sight of them could evoke within one an overwhelming sense of asphyxiation.

    "Are these ancient fiendcelestials?" Qin Ye stared at the golden pirs with a stunned expression. He could only see the top halves of the pirs as the bottom halves were inundated by boundless mes.

    These were pure Karmic mes, and the 108 pirs seemed to have formed a prison around the fire. Outside of the pirs wereyers uponyers of dark clouds. There were twisted faces constantly taking shape within the surging Yin energy before vanishing amid anguished howls, presenting a chilling sight to behold.

    At the center of the 108 golden pirs was a lotus flower formed by Karmic fire. The lotus flower bloomedyer afteryer before igniting and wilting. The fiery lotus flower was extremely dazzling to behold, and there was someone standing at its center.

    It was Ghost Monarch Zhao Yun.

    At this moment, he waspletely different from his normal self. The only colors left on his entire body were ck and white, and he didn''t even seem like an actual person. His hair had grown to over 10 meters in length and was pping wildly in the wind,pletely concealing his face. His upper body was pitch-ck, and that gradually transitioned into pure white on his lower body, as if he were an envoy of both Yin and Yang. The Courage of Dragons Silver Spear in his grasp had also transformed into a skeletal spear that was over three meters long.

    Standing within the scorching mes, he was like the reincarnation of a war god.

    "Yu Kiang." He pointed the tip of his spear toward the center of the fiery vortex. "Why are you still struggling? Bing the foundation for Hell''s six paths of reincarnation is the only way for you to survive. The Heavenly Dao has already changed, and it''s no longer the same era where devils and gods freely roamed thend. In this current era, your revival will only spell disaster for the world. There is no ce for you in Heaven, Hell, or the mortal realm. Only here will you be provided a ce to survive, so don''t push your luck any further."

    There was no response.

    Qin Ye was staring intently into the Karmic fire vortex. Within the boundless vortex, a burst of terrifying power was bing more and more fearsome and pronounced. Right at this moment, Zhao Yun''s voice suddenly rang out beside his ears. "Prepare your souls and wait for my instruction."

    Qin Ye nodded with a grim expression. In the next instant, a streak of scarlet light abruptly erupted out of the center of the vortex before hurtling directly toward Zhao Yun amid a thunderous roar of fury, only to be met by a dazzling spear projection that resembled a shooting star.

    BOOM!!

    It was as if the entirety of heaven and earth were trembling and quaking.

    It was impossible to see both sides'' attacks, nor what exactly it was that was attacking Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun looked on with a calm expression and said, "In that case, you leave me with no choice."

    In the instant that his voice trailed off, his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear transformed into a stark white dragon that plunged itself directly into the center of the Karmic fire vortex, and a blood-curdling howl immediately rang out.

    Boom! With this thunderous howl, the fiery vortex erupted over 1,000 meters upward. Qin Ye felt as if he could see a spear plunged squarely into the top of Yu Kiang''s head at the bottom of the vortex.

    "Release them!" Almost at the exact same moment, Zhao Yun''s voice rang out beside Qin Ye''s ears, and he immediately made a grabbing motion without any hesitation, upon which the souls of ck Yaksha, Dong Zhuo, and Bu Wantian appeared in his grasp.

    The three ghosts faltered slightly as if they were surprised to have been released, and ck Yaksha was first to react as he howled in a hoarse voice. "Y... Your Excellency!! Please spare me! I''m willing to serve as your most loyal subordinate..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Dong Zhuo''s screams shook the heavens as his soul writhed and struggled desperately. "This is the foundation of the six paths of reincarnation! What are you going to do to me?! Stop! Stop!! I don''t want to go down there! Arrrrgh!"

    Qin Yepletely ignored them as he flicked a finger through the air, and the three souls were sent flying toward the Karmic mes with horrified expressions.

    "Do you not know the meaning of retribution?" Qin Ye''s face was illuminated by the light of the mes, and he looked on at the three horrified souls with a calm expression. "Do you think you deserve to live after what you''ve done?"

    Bu Wantian was thest to realize what was going on, and he began to howl like a madman. "No! No!! You can''t do this to me! I don''t want to die!! I''m going to live for all of eternity! I am the most regal being in this world!! Spare me! Please spare me! We are the same type of people! How can you treat me in the same way as you''re treating these maggots?!"

    The screams gradually faded, and as soon as Qin Ye released the souls in his grasp, Zhao Yun also did the same thing, releasing three other souls toward the foundation of the six paths of reincarnation.

    During Qin Ye''s visit to the Huang n''s earthen building, Zhao Yun and the Harken had also traveled to other forsakennds, and in addition to the souls of Dong Zhuo and ck Yaksha, they had already assembled all six irredeemably heinous souls.

    The souls entered the mes, but there was no reaction whatsoever.

    However, in the next instant, six different shades of red suddenly emerged from within the dazzling sea of fire!

    From scarlet on the very bottom to reddish-golden on the very top, there were six clearyers. The mes erupted to over 1,000 meters upward, and Yin energy converged from all directions, forming a fiery mountain that was a blend of red and ck!

    The mountain of mes was several kilometers tall and took up an area of close to 1,000 square kilometers. It couldn''t even be described as a marvelous spectacle anymore. Instead, it was like a divine miracle.

    Right as the six-tiered mountain of mes took shape, another thunderous roar of fury rang out from the center of the fiery vortex, following which a burning hand emerged. The hand extended to several kilometers in length, pointing directly up at Zhao Yun in the sky.

    "I am Yu Kiang, an ancient god! You think you have what it takes to seal me away?!"

    The giant hand was extremely formidable, like a wyrm charging out of the sea, but it drew to a halt around 10 meters away from Zhao Yun, where it began to tremble lightly.

    "You''re wrong." Zhao Yun raised a hand as he dered, "I''m not the one sealing you away. Instead, it''s the Heavenly Dao, the order of the three realms, the imcable will of Yin and Yang. Regardless of who you are, so long as you continue to live under the Heavenly Dao, you can only resign yourself to your fate."

    He gently pressed his palm downward as he spoke, and 108 resounding booms rang out as 108 fiery chains shot out of the golden pirs, plunging directly into the sea of fire down below.

 Chapter 827: Progression to Yama-King (1)

    <h4>Chapter 827: Progression to Yama-King (1)</h4>

    The entire sea of fire churned incessantly amid a resounding howl, and the gigantic hand remained in front of Zhao Yun. The shadows cast by its five fingers had already epassed Zhao Yun''s entire body, but it was unable to close its grip around him.

    Zhao Yun''s inky ck face remainedpletely expressionless, and in the instant he reached out to touch the giant hand, it instantly disintegrated into dust that scattered through the air.

    It was as if his touch had physically wounded Yu Kiang, and an explosive roar erupted from within the Karmic mes. "I''ll remember you! You had better pray that I nevere out. Otherwise, I''ll be sure to raze this ce to the ground!!"

    The vortex rapidly revolved, drowning out Yu Kiang''s furious voice in the end.

    At the same time, something shuddered violently in Qin Ye''s chest, as if his soul had just stirred.

    This was a feeling that he had never experienced before.

    Right as he was struck by this feeling, Su Daji, Qin Hui, and Arthis turned in unison with stunned expressions to stare intently at Qin Ye.

    Complete silence descended upon the scene.

    In the next instant, everyone gasped in unison as they quickly departed from the golden pir. As soon as Su Daji and Qin Huinded, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed to the ground, and their voices were trembling as they said, "C, c, c, congrattions, my Lord! "

    Arthis opened her mouth as if to say something, but she couldn''t muster up the words in the end. She felt as if she were currently in a dream.

    From meeting amid the rubble of the previous Hell, to revealing his true form in Clear Creek County, to escaping to the City of Salvation, to the founding of the new Hell... All the way until today.

    These events had taken ce over a span of seven years, and now, after all this time, he was about to climb to the Yama-King rank right before her very eyes!

    He was about to ascend to the pinnacle of the three realms!

    "Guards..." She raised her hand in a slightly dazed manner. She already knew that Qin Ye would progress to the Yama-King level once the six paths of reincarnation were rebuilt, but that didn''t make her any less stunned.

    "Guards! I want everyone on high alert! Do you hear me?!" Arthis screeched as she adopted her true form and her Infernal Judge level Yin energy erupted from her body. At a time like this, she didn''t care about maintaining her image in Zhao Yun''s heart.

    Boom! Her Infernal Judge level Yin energy erupted in all directions as her hairpletely enveloped the golden pir that Qin Ye was situated on. Her head was hanging in mid-air as she roared in a furious voice, "Where are the soldiers of the Hell Guardian Legion? Are you deaf or are you blind? Surround this ce at once, and if anyone dares to so much as set foot in this ce, they are to be killed with no exceptions!"

    Not only had they sensed something, all of the Yin soldiers present could detect a burst of extremely powerful and profound Yin energy exploding at the center of Lotus City.

    Outside the city, the entire Hungry Ghost Legion fell to their knees, and their bodies were trembling uncontrobly.

    Inside the city, the Asura skeletal dogs slouched down onto the ground with theherfire in their eyes flickering violently, not even daring to make a single sound.

    At the foot of the golden pir, outside of the turbulent dark clouds, all 50,000 soldiers of the Hell Guardian Legion turned around in a robotic manner to look behind them with stunned expression at the six-tier mountain of fire. The terrifying aura from the top-tier Yin energy was giving off such immense pressure that their legs were on the verge of giving out from under them.

    However, they didn''t sumb to the urge to kneel as they had to follow their orders.

    Right as they were about to fall to their knees, countless messenger birds rushed out of the dark clouds, carrying an authoritative voice transmission from Arthis. "By the decree of the King Yanluo, surround this area and bar anyone from entry! Those whoe within 100 meters of this area are to be killed without exceptions! There''s no need to report in advance or worry about the status and identity of the intruders! If anything happens, I''ll take full responsibility!"

    "Yes!!"

    With that thunderous collective reply, the Hell Guardian Legion immediately sprang into action, splitting up into several groups that rushed away in different directions before surrounding the area in a watertight barrier. The shiny tips of their spears were uniformly aimed outward, while below the spears were tightly packed shields, behind which were countless crossbows that were ready to fire at a moment''s notice.

    Even if a rat dared to approach the area, it would be met by a torrential storm of attacks.

    The true ruler of Hell was about toplete his final breakthrough, and no one dared to disrupt him.

    The only one who wasn''t moved by this scene was Qin Ye himself.

    Hell''s Record quickly flew out of his chest, and he flipped rapidly through the pages until finally, lines of free-flowing golden text appeared before his eyes.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    Current merit points: 150,000,000/150,000,000.

    Rank: Ruler of Hell: King Yanluo (the third).

    Capital city: Everburn.

    Area of territory: 11,600,000 square kilometers.

    Civilian poption: 185 million.

    Allegiance: Cathayan Underworld, Qin Dynasty.

    <i>Whoosh! </i>A streak of golden light pierced through the dark clouds before shining down upon him, and his body slowly began to rise up into the air. However, this was an involuntary process, as if he were passively heeding the call of the Heavenly Dao.

    Qin Ye looked up at the sky with a slightly dazed expression, and he felt as if he were in a dream.

    I really have reached the Yama-King level...

    Back then, even Granny Meng had been on the verge of giving up on him, yet now, he was the ruler of an entire realm...

    Alright, I''ll admit that I''ve changed a lot over the course of this journey. In the beginning, all I cared about was doing the bare minimum to keep my head above the water. Now, I''m taking on as much responsibility as possible. In the beginning, I ran away at the first sight of any ghost, yet now, I can face them with courage and kill them with ease...

    From a dazed and confused noob to a ruler of a nation with a poption in excess of 100 million...

    From a fearful coward to a confident and courageous leader...

    Many changes had taken ce, including in his personality and the way in which he did things. In the past, he had just about vowed to never ept this ursed position that had been thrust upon him. However, after experiencing so much during the course of his time in the underworld, he felt like the position that he was in wasn''t so bad after all.

    He wasn''t reveling in the sense of power and achievement of ruling over such a massive nation. Instead, what appealed to him was the sense of responsibility and belonging that came with his role.

    This responsibility seemed to be more intriguing than he had first imagined it to be...

    He closed his eyes.

    He could sense that all of the Yin energy in the entire underworld was currently churning because of him. Come to think of it, he was the first person to have made a breakthrough to the Yama-King level in the thirding of Hell, and the entire underworld was cheering for him.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Everburn.

    Theherworldly citizens on the streets were casually chatting with one another when all of a sudden, everyone stopped what they were doing.

    An elderlyherworldly citizen narrowed his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the ground, and theherworldly citizens around him also did the same. Wisps of Yin energy were emerging from the ground beneath their feet like countless Yin snakes before rising up into the sky.

    As theherworldly citizens raised their heads again, they discovered that Yin energy was rising up from the ground all around them throughout the countless streets in the entirety of Everburn! The Yin energy took on the form of ck shadows, each of which was only around a foot in length, before surging toward the west in a frenzy!

    The sheer quantity of Yin energy was utterly astounding! Yin energy was rising up from under literally every single tile that paved the streets of the enormous Everburn City before rising up into the sky like a reverse waterfall, then traveling toward the west.

    "What on earth is going on?" Atop the city walls, a Yin soldier cast his gaze in the direction that all of the streaks of Yin energy were traveling toward. "Why is this happening? Is this being caused by a Yin beast? Wait... Holy shit!"

    All of a sudden, the spear in his hand ttered onto the ground. He wasn''t the only one, all of the Yin soldiers around him were alsopletely stunned as they looked up at the sky.

    The crossbow-wielding Yin soldiers lowered their weapons and looked up into the heavens with a ck-jawed expression. All of themanders of the Yin soldiers were also looking up with their eyes and mouths gaped wide open. Meanwhile, their superiors and the superiors of their superiors were rushing out of the buildings in the city to stare up at the sky with incredulity in their eyes as well.

    Day had transitioned into night.

    However, this wasn''t a true night. Instead, it was a veil of darkness formed by the countless ck shadows that were the streaks of Yin energy. It was a sea of darkness that concealed the clouds, devoured the light, and was flying toward the west like an unstoppable force of nature.

    They had thought that the amount of Yin energy that had emerged from Everburn was already extremely staggering, but only when they looked up did they realize that what they had thought was a river was nothing more than a small stream, making up only a small part of the sea of Yin energy in the sky.

    "What on earth is that..."

    The gargantuan ck veil had been drawn over the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld.

    From east to west, from south to north, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, countless wisps of Yin energy had converged to form a turbulent sea!

    It passed over the Yellow River, where the Yin spirits of Deadsend City looked on with awe and astonishment.

    It passed over Longxi County, where theherworldly citizens of Fleetnce City stared in bbergasted shock.

    With each ce that the ck veil passed over, the same sense of awe and shock was evoked within everyone.

    This was by far the most significant natural phenomenon that had appeared in the underworld since the founding of the nation!

    "What''s going on?!"

    "Does anyone know what''s happening?"

    "What is this thing? Is it some kind of monster?"

    "The darkness has devoured the light... Are we about to return to eternal night again?"

    "Why is this happening? Is there an issue with the divine artifacts?"

    In Everburn, Oda Nobunaga looked up at the unfathomable mass of Yin energy in the sky with an awestruck expression. Only Emissaries of Hell at or above the Infernal Judge level could sense just how much power the ck veil contained.

    His voice was brimming with excitement as he murmured to himself, "Lord Qin is currently in the west, and that''s where the Yin energy is going... Could it be that he''s about to make a breakthrough to the Yama-King level? It looks like revenge against Nippon is imminent! Just you wait, Izanami, I''m eagerly awaiting the day where your head is going to be hanging from the walls of Amano-Iwato!"

    Right at this moment, an authoritative voice rang out across the entire nation. "Don''t be rmed, citizens of the Cathayan Underworld. What you''re currently witnessing is a phenomenon triggered by Yanluo Qin''s breakthrough to the Yama-King level. This will be our first Yama-King level breakthrough since the founding of the nation, and from now on, Yanluo Qin''s power will match his status. The phenomenon will continue for around a week, and during that time, all departments must be on high alert. If I discoverherworldly citizens or Emissaries of Hell attempting to sow dissension or rouse rabbles during this time, they will be executed with no mercy!"

    North Yin Pavilion.

    After making this deration, the Harken sat down onto its chair as it panted heavily.

    "These ursed injuries really are a pain..." It was panting more heavily than it ever had before, but several secondster, it forced itself into a standing position as it cast an intense gaze toward the west. "After this, I''ll finally be able to take a rest. With that, the King Yanluo has be the first new Yama-King of the Qin Dynasty. This is truly an asion worthy of celebration..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Mortal realm, Yanjing, Special Investigations Department headquarters.

    Inside a spacious room, an elderly man was currently reading a document that he was holding aloud. "ording to thetest news, the six paths of reincarnation are about to be rebuilt. From this point onward, Cathay''s new poption will gradually begin to increase over time... During the past six months, everything has been quite peaceful in the underworld, and all of the Yin spirits across the nation have already been gathered. The next priority will berge-scale projects facilitating returns to the mortal realm and rying dreams. Of course, the mortal realm''s attitude must be taken into ount. If the mortal realm would like to see widespread instances of ryed dreams, then the underworld will..."

    All of a sudden, his voice drew to an abrupt halt.

    The room was veryrge, with an area in excess of 100 square meters. The construction style was clean and professional with strong Cathayan influences present, as evidenced by the intricately embroidered screens, the elegant ptialnterns, and the oval redwood table situated at the center of the room. Currently, the seats on either side of the table were fully upied.

    "Land Sun?" An investigator wearing a Mao suit tapped the table with his pen in a perplexed manner. "Why have you stopped? Could it be that there''s a mistake in the biannual Yin Yang exchange report?"

    The elderly man returned to his senses upon hearing this, and he abruptly gave a shocked yelp as he began to tremble violently.

    All of the investigators seated around the table immediately rose to their feet as they appraised the elderly man with rmed expressions.

    The elderly man was trembling so violently that it seemed he was on the verge of spasms, but his eyes were growing brighter and brighter. Several secondster, he left his seat and fell to his knees before kowtowing toward the west.

    "What are you doing?"

    "A new Yama-King has emerged!" Land Sun''s voice was shaking as he spoke. "An Emissary of Hell is currently making a breakthrough to the Yama-King level!"

    What?!

    This deration instantly sent everyone in the room into a frenzy!

 Chapter 828: Breakthrough to Yama-King (2)

    <h4>Chapter 828: Breakthrough to Yama-King (2)</h4>

    The sound of urgent footsteps rang out, and a door was abruptly pushed open, following which a group of men in Mao suits quickly entered the room. They were led by none other than Lei Jun, the current director of the Special Investigations Department.

    The sound of rapid typing was ringing out incessantly in the room, and as soon as Lei Jun arrived, he immediately asked, "What''s the situation like? What values of Yin energy seepage are being registered at the major Yin Yang Mezzanines?"

    This was a veryrge room that was full of many pieces of equipment that looked as if they had been pulled straight out of a science fiction film.

    Paper-thin screens that were unavable to the general public were amon sight in here, and theputers were alsopletely different from modernputers. In this futuristic room, several scientists in whiteb coats and several dozen researchers were staring intently at the screens.

    There were a total of seven screens in the room depicting all of the Yin Yang Mezzanines that had been discovered across the nation. The lords of thend and the city gods were situated beside the mezzanines, alongside investigators that had just arrived on the scene, and all of them wore extremely grim expressions.

    The images were very clear, and countless tiny numbers were constantly ticking over in the upper right corners. In response to Lei Jun''s question, an elderly scientist turned and replied, "The values are constantly rising. Currently, the amount of Yin energy that we can detect through the mezzanines has already climbed to a value of over a hundred million, and all of it seems to be moving toward the same ce!"

    "Do we know exactly where the Yin energy is going?"

    "I''m afraid we can''t detect that," the elderly man replied with a wry smile. "Ever since the supernatural disasters concluded, the funding and personnel we''ve received from the government have been cut significantly, so we no longer have ess to many things that we did in the past..."

    Before the elderly man had a chance to finish, Lei Jun had already made his way over to the control bench before pressing on the inte button.

    "Greetings everyone, I am Director Lei Jun of the Special Investigations Department."

    All of the investigators on the screens immediately extended military salutes upon hearing his voice.

    Lei Jun''s voice was urgent but calm as he continued, "I''ve just received news from the underworld that there is an Emissary of Hell making a breakthrough to the Yama-King level. From now until the conclusion of the breakthrough, no one is to leave their post without express permission, understood?"

    "Yes!" Everyone immediately responded.

    "Director, it''s begun!" Right at this moment, the numbers on all of the screens began to rapidly tick over.

    "Cote the data and immediately transmit it to theputer screen! At the same time, conduct a national survey. If any investigator or official dares to leave their post without express permission prior to the conclusion of the breakthrough, then they no longer have a job! In addition to that, keep constant tabs on whether any parts of the nation are disying abnormal reactions. The Yin energy fluctuations we''re currently experiencing can most likely rank among the top 10 in the history of the new Hell, so we need to pay close attention to see whether it''s affecting the mortal realm!" Lei Jun ordered.

    All of a sudden, a string of numbers began to appear on the main screen directly in front of him.

    30,000,000, 37,000,000, 38,000,000... 40,000,000... 45,000,000... 50,000,000!

    The number was rising rapidly!

    Everyone''s attention was focused on this first new Yama-King to emerge in the new Hell, and no one in the underworld or the mortal realm wanted to miss out on this historic asion.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Cathayan Underworld, Lotus City.

    The imperial pce had already disappeared, and in its ce was a massive mountain of fire. The six-tier mountain of mes was trapped within the 108 golden pirs around it, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.

    Outside of the golden pirs was a circle of ck-armored soldiers of the Hell Guardian Legion. Outside of them were the deathly white Asura skeletal dogs, while the outermost circle consisted of the scarlet soldiers of the Hungry Ghost Legion. The three circles of different colors formed a watertight barrier around the golden pirs, and countless Emissaries of Hell and Yin soldiers were on high alert. Even if a fly were to approach the area, it would immediately be bombarded by a shower of countless arrows.

    No one said anything.

    The earth was trembling violently in the wake of the fiery mountain''s scorching might. No one had any idea what was happening inside, but they all knew that it was definitely something big.

    The wind had vanished.

    The clouds had stagnated.

    The entire world had turned deathly silent, but it was clear that this was only the calm before the storm.

    Theherfire in the eyes of every single Yin soldier was flickering erratically, and right at this moment, all of theirmanders suddenly raised their heads in unison.

    It''sing!

    The storm had finally arrived. The oppressive silence was shattered, reced by a stunning phenomenon that shook the entire underworld.

    "What on earth is that..." Amander was staring intently up at the sky as waves of Yin energy converged from all directions. The sky was already filled with dark clouds, but at the very least, rays of sunlight were previously able to filter through. However, the entire sky had been enshrouded inplete darkness stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and the mountain of mes stood at the very center of this all-epassing shadow.

    Boom!! Heaven and earth turned pitch-ck, seemingly in the blink of an eye.

    The mountain of fire was the only source of light, illuminating the darkness like a torch in the night.

    "Is this... Yin energy?" A Yin spirit stared up at the sky with a bbergasted expression. "How much Yin energy would it take to create something like this? Is all of the Yin energy in the entire underworld here?"

    The Yin energy was far too dense, to the point that everyone was struck by a sense of asphyxiation.

    The Yin energy had concealed everything, devouring the light, scattering the wind, and it revolved above the fiery mountain, warping and twisting until it formed a vortex that was around a kilometer in size.

    "My god..." Amander gulped nervously, and his hand had already unconsciously grabbed onto the hilt of his weapon. Reflexively searching for something that could instill within one a sense of security was a manifestation of one''s self-preservation instincts kicking in in the face of the unknown, and even he wasn''t aware of the gesture himself.

    Before they had a chance to ponder the matter any further, all of the Yin energy in the sky suddenly descended toward the mountain of mes, giving rise to an unimaginable spectacle that rooted all of the Yin soldiers on the spot as they looked on with their mouths gaped open in shock.

    It was like a waterfall of darkness crashing straight down from the heavens!

    At the center of the vortex was a scene of turbulent chaos. The enormous mass of Yin energy had formed a giant funnel that was pointing directly at the center of the mountain of fire, and with the arrival of the fearsome Yin energy, the six tiers of the entire fiery mountain bloomedyer uponyer like a red spider lily, presenting a breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold.

    Boom! Countless waves of fire formed the unfolding petals as it spread open in an elegant manner, revealing the nextyer, then theyer below it. Every singleyer was clearly discernible, and right at the center of the waves of the fire, the Yin energy that had descended from the heavens had already formed a vast vortex.

    Thehermes were fanned by the fierce Yin winds, and at the center of the vortex was an indistinct humanoid figure. All of the Yin wind was blowing and dancing around him, injecting itself into every single pore of his body in a frenzy. As a result, the Yin energy of the humanoid figure was constantly rising, and it was showing no signs of stopping anytime soon!

    As more and more Yin energy descended from above, waves of circr inky-ck cloud shockwaves surged through the gaps between the 108 golden pirs, proliferating outward to an area close to a kilometer in radius. Throughout the entirety of Lotus City, everyone began to tremble involuntarily in the face of a burst of fearsome invisible pressure.

    This was pressure exerted by the paramount bloodline of this ne, it was like the chilling gaze of an apex predator, a manifestation of the power and authority of the ruler of a realm.

    Thud... A certain Yin soldier became the first one to fold as he fell to his knees before kowtowing toward the fiery mountain, and thehermes in his eyes were flickering wildly. He was no longer able to withstand the overwhelming pressure, which was mounting with each passing moment. It was as if heaven and earth were telling him that their master was attaining power worthy of his status.

    As a subordinate, how could he dare to not kneel?

    Even looking straight at the King Yanluo would be the utmost honor for him, and continuing to stand would be a sign of unforgivable disrespect.

    This was fear that welled up directly from his soul and his bloodline, a fear of the ruler of the underworld. This fear was deeply ingrained into the souls of all Yin spirits by thews of the realm, and it was fear that could not be ovee or conquered.

    Soon after the first Yin soldier fell to his knees, a second Yin soldier followed suit, then a third, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, there was no Yin soldier left standing.

    The Hell Guardian Legion, Asura Legion, and Hungry Ghost Legion outside the 108 golden pirs, which had been tasked with guarding the area, had all involuntarily flunked their duties as they fell to their knees and kowtowed toward the mountain of mes.

    All of this was unbeknownst to Qin Ye, who couldn''t see or hear anything. His eyes were closed, and he felt like a speck of dust in the universe, drifting through a sea of vast and ethereal power.

    He was exhausted, but extremely conscious and alert at the same time.

    The twopletely different feelings were coexisting in his mind. He was so sleepy that he couldn''t keep his eyes open, yet he was so conscious that he could clearly feel what kind of baptism his body was currently undergoing, as well as how powerful he was going to be at the conclusion of this transformation.

    It was going to be a fundamental evolution. He was a human who had consumed the Taisui fungus, yet at the conclusion of this process, he was going to transform into something that he couldn''t currently describe or fathom.

    He was going to be more perfect than any human and stand higher than any human ever had. The internal structure of his body was going to be moreplex and refined than any human, and this feeling was so blissful that he wanted to moan out loud.

    He drifted through this sea of power in leisure andfort, and he didn''t know how long had already passed. Perhaps it was an hour, perhaps it was 10 hours, perhaps it had already been a day, or even three days... Right as he felt as if the transformation of his physical constitution were about to reach a conclusion, he was suddenly struck by an indescribable feeling, and he struggled to open his eyes. Finally, he was able to open his eyes by the tiniest of slivers.

    Is this the end of the universe?

    He didn''t know.

    What he did know was that in this vast sea formed by inky-ck Yin energy, a white line had suddenly appeared at the end of the world. Heaven and earth seemed to have been parted by this line, and immediately thereafter, an indescribable feeling of profound power and authority abruptly welled up in his heart.

    He felt as if he could see an indistinct figure on the horizon that was torn apart by the white line. He couldn''t clearly see the figure, yet he could clearly sense that they were looking at him.

    It was the Heavenly Dao...

    His mind was incredibly sharp despite the physical exhaustion he was experiencing, and he immediately caught onto the fact that this was the paramount being of the three realms, the god of creation.

    Zhao Yun had said that upon reaching the Yama-King level, one would be able to develop an indistinct sense of the Heavenly Dao. Was this what he had been referring to? His eyelids felt impossibly heavy, and he allowed them to close again. He could sense that the figure harbored no ill will toward him, and under their gaze, he felt extremely warm and safe, as if he had returned to his mother''s womb.

    All of a sudden, the entire surrounding area transformed into chaos once again. That ethereal figure only appeared once before disappearing from sight. Immediately thereafter, the entire space began to warp, ultimately transforming into an untraceable point of mystery in the darkness.

    At the same time, Qin Ye slowly opened his eyes.

    "Congrattions on your breakthrough, your Excellency!!" In the instant that he opened his eyes, Su Daji and Qin Hui immediately fell to their knees as they yelled at the top of their lungs.

    They were immediately followed by Zhao Yun and Arthis, who half-knelt onto the ground and cupped their fists as they also yelled, "Congrattions on your breakthrough, my Lord!"

    Their voices were like rumbling thunder, audible throughout the entirety of Lotus City, and all of the soldiers of the Hell Guardian Legion, the Hungry Ghost Legion, and the Asura Legion immediately echoed their sentiments. "Congrattions on your breakthrough, Lord Qin!!! This is truly an event worthy of celebration for both yourself and the entire underworld!!"

    Have I be a Yama-King? Qin Ye appraised his surroundings withplex emotions in his eyes. As he did so, countless images instantly shed across his pupils.

    The images depicted one city, county, vige, and township of the Cathayan Underworld after another. As long as his senses could reach the location and there were Emissaries of Hell present there, he was able to see it as clearly as if he were there in person!

    It was as if his mind''s eye had be his actual eyes!

    Is this the power of a Yama-King?

    He extended a hand and was just about to dismiss all the formalities when he suddenly stopped.

    This isn''t my hand...

    No, to put it more urately, this was not a hand that belonged to an 18-year-old!

    Prominent veins were bulging on the back of his hand, the joints had be thicker, and the segmentation of the fingers had be clearer... These were all signs that would only be present in an adult male who had reached full maturity!

    He faltered slightly before stroking his own cheek with a trembling hand.

    Several secondster, he withdrew his hand with a stunned expression. "I... I''ve grown? I''ve grown up! I thought I would never age again after eating the Taisui fungus, but I''ve grown up!"

 Chapter 829: Awarding Titles

    <h4>Chapter 829: Awarding Titles</h4>

    There was no response to his rmed cries, and he swept a hand through the air to conjure up a Yin energy screen, which acted as a mirror through which he could check his own reflection.

    Indeed, he had grown up. He had grown from a youth with slight traces of childlike features into a young man. He was handsome and gant, and upon fully developing, there was an extra sense of authority and regal prestige to his facial features. d in his golden nine-dragon robe with a golden dragon crown on his head, a white jade belt with golden strands around his waist, and a small seal hanging from the belt, he truly fit the description of Jia Baoyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber": His face bore theplexion of the full moon with cheeks the color of delicate spring flowers. His chin looked as if it had been chiseled out of stone, and his brows were like artistic masterpieces, while his eyes rippled like a clear spring.

    Oh my lord, look at this handsome devil! Come at me, Local Bully, let''s see who''s most handsome now! In the looks department, I ain''t scared of anyone!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be admiring himself, and he swept a hand through the air to erase the Yin energy screen. He then swept his gaze across everyone present before suddenly raising an arm and pointing his index finger in Qin Hui and Su Daji''s direction.

    The two daolords were rather perplexed by this gesture, and they exchanged a befuddled nce.

    In the next instant, Qin Ye flicked his index finger through the air, and an earth-shattering boom instantly rang out.

    An explosive boom erupted in the air to the left of the two daolords, and a hole that was several dozen meters in size immediately took shape.

    The fierce winds swept up by the power of the finger flick were making Qin Hui and Su Daji''s robes p violently around them, and Qin Hui''s mouth was gaped open as he lowered his head with a stunned expression to appraise the hole in the ground. The attack had arrived far too quickly for him to even follow with his eyes, and it was only the flick of a finger, yet it was already capable of such destructive power.

    If the two daolords were capable of sweating, then they would already be drenched in cold sweat. Even so, their souls were trembling. They didn''t know whether this was an intimidation or warning tactic from Qin Ye, or if it was just a simple test of power, but that wasn''t important.

    In the instant that the space beside them was shattered, the two of them had already reflexively bowed down and kowtowed to the ground. "Yanluo Qin''s might is truly unmatched! Congrattions, my Lord!"

    So this is the power of a Yama-King... Qin Ye slowly withdrew his finger before turning to Zhao Yun. "How long has it been?"

    "It''s been three days, my Lord."

    "Three days..." Qin Ye nodded in response before closing his eyes. In an instant, he felt as if his soul had risen up into the sky, reaching a lofty vantage point that allowed him to see the entire nation, while he was the ruler of thend, looking down at his own territory.

    So this is what it feels like... He was slightly ovee by emotion as he looked down with a smile. In this instant, not only had he progressed to the Yama-King level, he had finally attained power befitting his status as King Yanluo. He had always wanted to see what it felt like to see the entire nation at will like Zhao Yun could, and after scaling to the summit of this mountain, he discovered that it was an extremely wonderful feeling.

    He took a deep breath before dering in an authoritative voice, "I am the third King Yanluo of Hell, Qin Ye."

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, audible throughout the entirend spanning an area in excess of ten million square kilometers.

    All of the Yin spirits looked up at the sky with astonished expressions, and they discovered that the night that had prevailed for three whole days was slowly receding!

    The voice in the heavens was as imcable as it was authoritative, and it resounded in every corner of the Cathayan Underworld. Regardless of whether it was theherworldly citizens living in the cities, the evil ghosts roaming the wilderness, or the Yin beasts hiding from the Emissaries of Hell, all of them raised their heads to listen to Qin Ye''s holy decree in this instant.

    "I am the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld. I arrived here during a time of turmoil in a fractured nation. I was once just an ordinary citizen, but thanks to the blessings of the Heavenly Dao, I was able to rise up through the ranks, unite the nation, and deliver peace to thend. On this day, in the seventh month of the sixth year of my rule, I have ascended to be a Yama-King, the first new Yama-King of the Qin Dynasty. I am currently situated in Lotus City, while my capital is established in Everburn. Let this be known to the entire nation."

    This was an announcement that had already been prepared well in advance, and it referenced the inauguration edict of the Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang. However, this was an extremely abbreviated version of that edict. After all, his inauguration had already passed, and this was only an announcement dering his breakthrough.

    In Everburn, Oda Nobunaga closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, then extended a deep bow to 90 degrees. Even though no one could see him, he was still bowing in earnest. "It is truly wonderful news to hear of your breakthrough, my Lord. I offer you and the Cathayan Underworld my most heartfelt congrattions!"

    He was alone in his office, so no one could see what he was doing, but in this instant, over 100,000 Emissaries of Hell across the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld were emting his gesture as they yelled in unison, "Congrattions on your breakthrough, Yanluo Qin! The entire nation will rise in celebration for the arrival of the Cathayan Underworld''s first new Yama-King!"

    The first Yama-King of the thirding of Hell was no different from the first nuclear bomb of Cathay in the mortal realm! It was truly an asion worthy of celebration across the entire nation!

    However, he still wasn''t finished yet.

    Amid the raucousmotion that had rung out across the entire nation, Qin Ye''s voice rang out again. "Ever since my inauguration, I feel as if I''ve performed my duties to an adequate standard, but it was only with everyone''s help that I was able to make this breakthrough today. As a Yama-King, I''m able to grant promotions to all ranks below the Yama-King level. Arakshasa, heed my call."

    All of the Emissaries of Hell immediately began to listen intently upon hearing this.

    The education system hadn''t been established yet, so the power system of the underworld and the concept of cultivation still wasn''tmon knowledge amongherworldly citizens. However, all of the Emissaries of Hell knew about this, and in addition to that, they knew that in order to secure leadership roles, power was the paramount factor taken into consideration. The Emissaries of Hell had to lead from the front, so if they were to encounter powerful evil ghosts, the leaders would have to step up, and cowering was not an option.

    However, most Emissaries of Hell were only Netherworld Operatives. No, in actuality, most of them weren''t even at that level yet. In contrast, Arakshasa was already an Infernal Judge, so what promotion was she going to receive? What promotion could she receive?

    In this instant, all of the Emissaries of Hell had fallenpletely silent and were listening intently.

    In the next instant, countless Yin energy screens appeared all over the Cathayan Underworld, and the majestic six paths of reincarnation were presented before theherworldly citizens for the very first time.

    "My god..."

    "What is that? A mountain of fire?"

    "That''s so badass!"

    Amid the raucousmotion, Qin Ye was hovering in mid-air, and the pages of Hell''s Record were flipping rapidly in front of his chest as he continued, "Arakshasa will be temporarily stripped of her role as minister of foreign affairs and instated as the warden of the six paths of reincarnation, taking over the 100,000-strong Hell Guardian Army. At the same time, she will be awarded the title of Soul Vanquishing Abyssal Prefect."

    "Yes!"

    Immediately following Arthis''s response, boundless Yin energy surged into her body, forming a gigantic Yin energy cocoon. Even through the screens, all of the Yin spirits could sense that her Yin energy was spiking in a frenzy.

    All Yin spirits had an instinctive desire for cultivation progression, and all of the Emissaries of Hell were extremely envious to see this.

    So this is her promotion? She gets to go up an entire major rank?!

    "I suppose this is the benefit of being one of Lord Qin''s earliest subordinates." In a certain city, a municipal magistrate looked on with envy, and he was clenching his fists so tightly within the sleeves of his blue robes that veins were bulging on the backs of his hands. "From Infernal Judge to Abyssal Prefect is an extremely lengthy journey, yet she''s received a free one-way ticket to the final destination!"

    The warden of the six paths of reincarnation was an extremely important role, one that countless Emissaries of Hell would die for! Yes, it didn''t sound as important as the minister of foreign affairs, but currently, the Cathayan Underworld was shut off from the rest of the world, so the department of foreign exchange only existed in name, while the warden of the six paths of reincarnation held immense practical power! In fact, when it came to power and influence, this role outstripped even the minister of foreign affairs!

    The six paths of reincarnation were destined to be independent from all of the underworld''s departments, and regardless of whether you were an Emissary of Hell or one of the countlessherworldly citizens of the underworld, everyone had to be on good terms with the warden of the six paths of reincarnation!

    Envy was something that could often reveal one''s true character, and there were manyments bearing different attitudes being thrown around among all the Emissaries of Hell.

    "How is she special in any way aside from the fact that she was one of Lord Qin''s first subordinates?"

    "If we had met Lord Qin earlier, she would be aplete nobody!"

    "I''m going to be brutally honest here, I can do everything that she''s capable of, and everything that she can''t do or wouldn''t dare to do, I''m also capable of doing!"

    "... Is that really supposed to be apliment to yourself?"

    However, Arthis wasn''t the only one to receive this honor.

    "Oda Nobunaga, heed my call."

    "I''m here, my Lord!"

    The image of Oda Nobunaga far away in the North Yin Pavillion appeared on the Yin energy screens.

    Qin Ye smiled and said, "Abyssal Prefects are high-grade Emissaries of Hell. Even with Hell''s Record at my disposal, I can only instate two Abyssal Prefects per 200 years."

    "I understand." Oda Nobunaga''s heart was filled with scorching yearning and anticipation, but his expression remained as calm as ever.

    Back in Honnoji in the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, the two of them had sat and spoken as equals, yet now, he was serving as Qin Ye''s subordinate and was about to receive a breakthrough at his behest.

    All of a sudden, he was ovee by a series of emotions.

    "I promised you that I would conquer Amano-Iwato one day, and I never go back on my word."

    In this instant, even the ruthless Oda Nobunaga felt a surge of warmth flow through his heart, and he was prepared toy down his life for Qin Ye.

    He knew that the Nipponese Underworld was far too insignificantpared with the Cathayan Underworld, and the two simply weren''t on the same level when it came to power. Thus, in order to secure vengeance, his only hope was to pledge his loyalty to the Cathayan Underworld. However, never did he think that the Cathayan Underworld would be in such terrible condition.

    In the short span of just six years, it had progressed to this stage. In its current form, the Cathayan Underworld would have a decent chance at conquering the Nipponese Underworld. In fact, if Zhao Yun were to feature in the battle, then it would be a definite victory for the Cathayan Underworld. However, what the Cathayan Underworld wanted was a crushing and overwhelming victory, not a grueling victory during which countless sacrifices had to be made.

    Thus, the Cathayan Underworld had never mentioned this matter.

    He had once thought that Qin Ye had already forgotten about this, and as his subordinate, Oda Nobunaga didn''t dare to ask. However, Qin Ye was now telling him that the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t forgotten, and that it fully intended to conquer Amano-Iwato someday!

    Just this alone was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

    "I wouldn''t dare to make such a selfish demand! The development of the Cathayan Underworld should be prioritized above all else. My Lord..." Oda Nobunaga extended a respectful bow as he said, "The dairokuten maou of Nippon is already dead. Right now, there is only Oda Nobunaga, Emissary of Hell. I... have a request that I would like to make."

    "Go ahead."

    Oda Nobunaga took a deep breath before requesting, "Please grant me your surname, my Lord! From now on, there will be no Oda Family in this world. From this day forth, I will be an Emissary of Hell and an Emissary of Hell only!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "I would be honored. After all, we''ve been through so much together these past few years."

    He paused momentarily before dering, "Oda Nobunaga will be granted the title of Sun Conquering Abyssal Prefect and the surname of Qin. From now on, Oda Nobunaga will be Qin Changxin, and Oda Nobutada will be Qin Xinzhong. At the same time, Qin Xinzhong will be granted the title of Sunset Infernal Judge."

    "Subordinate Qin Changxin thanks Lord Qin for his blessings!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of Yin energy surged through the air as countless Emissaries of Hell looked on with envious expressions from all over the nation. The streak of Yin energy instantly sped over a vast distance, traveling from Lotus City to the top of the North Yin Pavilion.

    It resembled a ck dragon as it hurtled through the air before crashing down from above, sending violent shockwaves erupting in all directions. At the same time, Qin Changxin''s Yin energy erupted up into the clouds in all directions as everyone bore witness to his ascent to the rank of Abyssal Prefects!

    New Hell''s Legacy: On the 18th day of the fifth month of the sixth year since the new Hell''s establishment, the third King Yanluo, Qin Ye, officially became a Yama-King, bing the first new Yama-King of the Qin Dynasty. This was an extremely impactful event in the history of the new Cathayan Underworld.

    New Hell''s Legacy: On the 18th day of the fifth month of the sixth year since the new Hell''s establishment, one of the founding heroes of the new Hell, Arakshasa, was awarded the title of Soul Vanquishing Abyssal Prefect and the role of warden of the six paths of reincarnation. She would go on to be the Yama-King of the ninth pce, known as the Monarch of Reincarnation. Another one of the nation''s founding heroes, Qin Changxin (originally Oda Nobunaga, but was granted the Qin surname on this day), was awarded the title of Sun Conquering Abyssal Prefect. He would go on to be the Yama-King of the 10th pce, known as the Monarch of Conquest. He would oversee the areas of national defense and international warfare, and this would be the beginning of his journey to conquering the Nipponese Underworld, Amano-Iwato.

    [1] [Dream of the Red Chamber is an extremely renowned Chinese novel, and is one of China''s Four Great ssical Novels. Jia Baoyu is the main character of the novel and is said to be extremely handsome.]

    [2] [As some of you may know, there is a type of Japanese characters known as kanji, which is essentially adapted from the Chinesenguage. Hence, Chinese and kanji share many characters that are pronounced differently. In the cases of Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada, the kanji characters for Nobunaga and Nobutada are pronounced as Changxin and Xinzhong, respectively. Given that they have pledged themselves to the Cathayan Underworld here and taken on a Cathayan (Chinese) surname, I feel like it''s appropriate to convert their names into Chinese as well. Also, Qin Nobunaga and Qin Nobutada sound extremely weird LOL.]

 Chapter 830: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

    <h4>Chapter 830: Guilty Until Proven Innocent</h4>

    Beep beep beep! In the mortal realm, the numbers on all of the Yin energy detection devices in the Special Investigations Department settled in unison, and everyone was staring intently at the screens.

    150,000,000... This is Yama-King level Yin energy!

    "150,000,000..." A white-haired researcher finally broke the silence in a trembling voice. "This is the first time Yama-King level Yin energy has been recorded in history, this is truly a moment to be remembered..."

    "Who is it?" Lei Jun asked in an urgent voice, "Contact Hell right away to check who it was that made the breakthrough..."

    "Director!" Right at this moment, the door was violently flung open, and a young investigator rushed into the room while panting heavily. "We''ve just received news from Hell in one of our Yin Yang Communication Centers. Five minutes ago, Yanluo Qin made a breakthrough to the Yama-King level, and the six paths of reincarnation were rebuilt! In a week from now, Hell will be sending emissaries to touch base with the mortal realm!"

    So it really was him... Lei Jun faltered slightly before a relieved smile appeared on his face.

    No, what I should be saying is, as expected, it really was him...

    A wave of relief immediately washed over him. The King Yanluo had attained power befitting of his status, and the cycle of reincarnation had been restored. From now on, supernatural disasters would no longer be a cause for concern. Only now could they confidently say that supernatural disasters were a thing of the past.

    It''s finally all over... The immense relief and joy he was experiencing was making him a little giddy, and an involuntary smile appeared on his face. "Send someone to contact the city gods and present a congrattory present on behalf of our mortal realm."

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    In the underworld, the night that had prevailed for three days finally faded, and the entire underworld was in a state of ecstatic celebration.

    "Lord Qin has progressed to the Yama-King level!" This monumental event was being discussed in all corners of the nation. All of the Cathayan Underworld''sherworldly citizens had experienced the process in person, having witnessed for themselves the astonishing phenomenon brought on by a breakthrough to the Yama-King level. The older Yin spirits were amazed to have witnessed something they had only heard of in legends, while the younger Yin spirits felt as if they had entered a fantasy film, and they were so excited that theirhermes were on the verge of jumping out of their bodies!

    "So it was a Yama-King level breakthrough, I was wondering why the esteemed Harken issued that order a few days ago."

    "Now that the Qin Dynasty has its first new Yama-King, will the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces appear one after another?"

    "Let''s wait and see. Hell''s Weekly Paper is definitely going to be issuing a detailed report on this. I''m really curious to see how we managed to get to this point."

    This is the underworld, apletely different world for the dead, a world that belongs to us!

    Everyone on the streets and alleys was spiritedly discussing the phenomenon that they had just witnessed. Only the asional old Yin spirits that had been in the underworld ever since Hell had been in the City of Salvation were unimpressed and scoffed at the newer Yin spirits.

    This is nothing! You haven''t even witnessed the conquest of Ashmound. That was truly an event that altered the course of history in the entire Cathayan Underworld and was an epic spectacle to behold! These Yin spirits from the past century or so really are far too easily excited...

    As the subject of everyone''s discussions, Qin Ye paid no heed to all of this. He had more important things that he had to do.

    "ording to General Zhao, only the framework of the six paths of reincarnation has been set up, and it''s only able to just barely function. In order for it to be trulyplete, it''ll have to absorb Yin energy for at least a decade. Once that process is over, it''ll most likely be evenrger than it is now, and the entire Lotus City will have to undergo another round of nning to allow for the expansion of the six paths of reincarnation, as well as the outer defensive circle and to facilitate the headquarters of the soul prison."

    On a plot of emptynd, Qin Ye was surrounded by Qin Hui, Qin Changxin, Su Daji, Arthis, and Zhao Yun, and outside of this core circle were several hundred troops from the Hell Guardian Legion. Yin energy was seeping out of Qin Ye''s fingertip as he slowly wrote a message in the air: "Messenger birds have already been sent to the first, third, and sixth divisions of Yin Construction, instructing them to gather urgently at Lotus City. Arakshasa will be fully responsible for overseeing the work of Yin Construction, as well as all other duties involved in this process."

    "Yes."

    Qin Ye exhaled as he swept a hand through the air, and the message that he had inscribed in mid-air was wiped away. He then turned to everyone else with a serious expression and said, "I can delegate these matters to others and not oversee them in person, but right now, my priority is to find the Judgment Pen. Three days ago, General Zhao and I took a trip to the seabed, where we discovered a giant Yin Yang Mezzanine, which we deduced had to have been smashed open by the Judgment Pen. That Yin Yang Mezzanine isrge enough to allow that giant beast to pass through, and an emissary of the Nipponese Underworld has already been sighted on the back of that sea beast."

    The leads seemed to be very scattered and messy, but all of the Emissaries of the Hell present were extremely sharp, and Arthis''s eyes immediately narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "So you''re saying someone is coborating with another realm and has seen something that they shouldn''t?"

    "That''s right," Qin Ye replied in a cold voice.

    "What do you n to do?"

    Qin Ye was silent for a few seconds before replying, "I n to kill everyone involved. The Harken will stand on guard at the rift in the array, and General Zhao is currently unable to leave the Cathayan Underworld, so I am the only one who can address this matter, and I would only dare to do so after reaching the Yama-King level. I have to ensure that I''m able to protect myself under all circumstances. The rift in the array is strictly confidential information that must absolutely not be leaked! If one person knows about it, then I''ll silence them. If an entire nation knows about it, then I''ll eradicate that nation! We can''t afford to leave anyone who knows about this alive!"

    The bone-chilling killing intent emanating from Qin Ye felt like daggers on the skin of all of the Emissaries of Hell present. Su Daji extended a slight bow as she said, "My Lord, I am willing to follow you wherever you go! The 30,000 troops of my Hungry Ghost Legion will always be at your service!"

    Qin Hui knew that this was a fantastic opportunity for them to improve the impression that Qin Ye had of them, and he immediately chimed in, "Your Excellency, I would also be honored to go with you! I would like nothing more than to be the de that you wield so that you don''t have to dirty your precious hands!"

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately give a reply.

    The rift in the array, the Judgment Pen... These were all extremely sensitive subjects, and anyone who knew about them had to die! However, firstly, he had to figure out who exactly it was that was standing on the back of the giant beast.

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t considered the possibility that the giant beast was carrying the Peach Blossom Spring on its back. It simply made too much sense to be ignored as a possibility. Hiding in Limbo, there was no way that it could be discovered, and the buildings on the giant beast''s back were also constructed in the same Qin and Han Dynasty style. However, this was also the possibility that he dreaded the most.

    That giant beast would''ve been free to roam through the realms for potentially the past century, and there was a very good chance that the Judgment Pen had already fallen into the hands of the Peach Blossom Spring. It was already established that there was a Yama-King level cultivator in the Peach Blossom Spring, and since then, an emissary of the Nipponese Underworld has also emerged. The connotations behind this were enough to send chills running down Qin Ye''s spine!

    However, there still wasn''t sufficient evidence. It made sense as a theory, but it couldn''t be verified yet, and in reality, Qin Ye was hoping above all else that this theory was somehow false.

    Furthermore, the other area of concern was whether the Nipponese Underworld was aware of all of this.

    One of the Nipponese Underworld''s three ghostly deities had appeared on that sea beast''s back, which meant that they had emerged from the Yin Yang Mezzanine. Having been so close to the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods, did that Otakemaru manage to see it? If he had, then had he reported it to the Nipponese Underworld? Was Izanami aware of this? Perhaps this was why they had been constantly probing the Cathayan Underworld?

    Thinking back through these past six years, the Nipponese Underworld was the nation that had raised the most challenges against the Cathayan Underworld. First, there was the incident concerning the foreign underworld emissary at the Academy of Cultivators. After that came the events in the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl, followed by the chaotic scenes of the Hungry Ghost Festival, and finally concluding with the emergence of that mirage city. Weren''t these incidents taking ce a little too frequently for it to be a coincidence?

    Qin Ye''s hands balled up into tight fists within his sleeves. For the very first time, a sense of intense killing intent welled up in his heart toward the Nipponese Underworld and the death goddess, Izanami of Amano-Iwato.

    These matters were significant enough to decide the fate of the entire Cathayan Underworld, so he was inclined to adopt a guilty until proven innocent attitude.

    "Mr. Qin, Ms. Su." After several minutes of deep thought, he turned to the pair of daolords with a smile and asked, "Are you prepared to do your part for the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "My Lord!" Qin Hui and Su Daji hurriedly fell to their knees before kowtowing over and over again. "Heaven and earth can bear witness to our loyalty toward the Cathayan Underworld! We''ve always been waiting for an opportunity to make a contribution to Hell! Please give us an opportunity to redeem ourselves, my Lord! We''ve abandoned our heinous pasts and are now fully dedicated to the Cathayan Underworld!"

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply, and the two daolords were clenching their fists so tightly that their nails were leaving deep imprints on their palms. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally heard a reply that was like heavenly music to their ears.

    "I will be descending to the seabed in the mortal realm in a submarine tomorrow. Qin Hui, you will be tasked with protecting the left side of the submarine with 5,000 troops from the Asura Legion, while Su Daji will be responsible for protecting the submarine''s right side with 5,000 troops from the Hungry Ghost Legion."

    "Yes!!" The pair of daolords were immensely relieved to hear this.

    The feeling hadn''t been all that pronounced back when Qin Ye had only been an Abyssal Prefect, but right now, they truly felt as if they were kneeling in front of an insurmountable mountain. Qin Ye hadn''t made any direct threats to them through his words, but their souls were still trembling in fear.

    "Also..." Qin Ye paused momentarily before turning to Zhao Yun. "General Zhao, do you have any disguise technique that can make thempletely unrecognizable and even mask their auras as Emissaries of Hell? In addition to that, your services will most likely be required to assist them in reaching the seabed."

    Zhao Yun appraised Qin Ye with a meaningful expression, and after a long while, he gave a pleased nod. "Leave it to me, my Lord."

    "Then that will be all for now. I''ll travel to the mortal realm, and at noon tomorrow, the Hungry Ghost Legion and the Asura Legion will also enter the mortal realm through the Yin Yang Mezzanine.."

    With that, Qin Ye departed as his body dissipated into a gust of Yin wind, leaving everyone else behind. Qin Hui and Su Daji were well aware of their position, and they remained on their knees until everyone left before finally rising to their feet and heaving long sighs of relief.

    After a long silence, Qin Hui''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "Lord Qin wants to disguise us, and General Zhao''s attitude is a little strange. What do you think all of this means?"

    "It''s very simple." Su Daji narrowed her eyes as she cast her gaze toward the golden pirs. She licked her lips with a hint of bloodlust in her eyes as she said, "Regardless of what or who we discover tomorrow, they must die. Otherwise, why do you think Lord Qin ordered us to bring along troops from our respective legions? As a ruler, he can''t allow anyone to be aware of the fact that the Array of the Nine Gods is damaged. Otherwise, endless trouble will follow. On this asion, it was that emissary of the Nipponese Underworld. Next time, it could very well be the death gods of foreign underworlds. Anyone who''s possibly aware of this secret must be killed, but currently, the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t want to start any conflicts with other underworlds, so we have to disguise ourselves to create the false impression that they were attacked by a horde of evil ghosts. There are many simr incidents in history, are there not?"

    Qin Hui gulped slightly upon hearing this. "What if we discover that giant sea beast?"

    Su Daji replied in a cold voice, "Then it, and all of the people living in the city on its back must die. Regardless of who they are, they will carry this secret to the grave with them."

    Qin Hui took a deep breath, and theherfire in his eyes flickered unsteadily. After a few minutes, he asked, "Do you think other underworlds have already seen the rift in the array?"

    "Who knows?" Su Daji replied with a smile. "In any case, if they have seen it, then that would be great news for us. The battlefield is where we truly shine, and we''ll get a great opportunity to show off our skills if we have to eradicate other underworlds. Look at all these pathetic nearby underworlds, the two of us alone will be enough to wipe them all out! Only by making sufficient contributions to the Qin Dynasty will Lord Qin''s impression of us improve. In all honesty, I''m praying that other underworlds know about this. If you discover anything, make sure you show no mercy. How about this? Let''s have apetition to see which one of us can rack up more kills?"

    She licked her lips in a bloodthirsty manner as she spoke.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Hui''s face as he replied, "Do you think I''ll be too scared to take you up on that challenge? I haven''t killed any fewer people than you during my lifetime!"

 Chapter 831: Seabed Ghost City (1)

    <h4>Chapter 831: Seabed Ghost City (1)</h4>

    Mortal realm, Wuyang City, equivalent to Ashmound in the underworld.

    Outside of Wuyang Port, around a dozen investigators were gathered, at the very center of which was Mo Changhao. A circle of cigarette butts had already been littered around him, and he was smoking yet another cigarette as he looked around with an impatient expression.

    Standing beside him was a white-haired elderly man, and he also wore an urgent expression as he asked, "Why is he still not here yet?"

    "My apologies. I was busy with some important matters, so there was a slight dy." All of a sudden, Qin Ye''s voice rang out seemingly out of nowhere, and he emerged amid a gust of Yin wind.

    Mo Changhao heaved a sigh of relief as he smiled and said, "No problem, you''re right on ti..."

    As soon as he turned around, he was immediately rooted to the spot.

    Who is this young man?

    It was a human male with facial features that were as angr and defined as those of a chiseled statue. He was wearing a ck leather jacket with the cors turned up, and the jacket was pping violently from the fierce sea breeze blowing toward the coastline. It was an extremely handsome and dashing man.

    "Mr. Qin?" he asked in an uncertain voice. If it weren''t for the fact that this man had the same voice as Qin Ye, he wouldn''t even be asking this question at all.

    How had he undergone such a massive transformation in just three days?

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response.

    You shocked? You envious? You should be! Even I didn''t think that I would be such a supermodel after growing up!

    "I must say, I''m truly surprised," Mo Changhao said with a shake of his head before extending a military salute. "Congrattions on your breakthrough to the Yama-King level, Mr. Qin."

    "There''s no need to be so formal." Qin Ye shook his hand as his smile faded. "Are we setting off right away?"

    Mo Changhao nodded in response before making a hand signal to the investigator on his right, and the gate of a nearby warehouse slowly swung open.

    This was the outermost area of Wuyang Port, and it was riddled with warehouses. In case of tsunamis, the warehouses had been constructed very close to one another in a tightly packed formation. Aside from these warehouses, there were only a series of asphalt roads and streetmps here with no other buildings present.

    As the gate of the warehouse was opened, everything inside was revealed. The entire warehouse was packed full of all types of debugging devices. Several SRC researchers in whiteb coats were currently in the warehouse making surveince records, and at the very center of the warehouse was a pool that was over 30 meters in size, at the very center of which was a small navy blue submarine.

    "Director!" Following the entry of Mo Changhao and the others, the SRC researchers immediately stood up before extending military salutes. Qin Ye made his way over to the pool with a befuddled expression and asked, "This is the submarine we''re using?"

    It was no wonder that he was so perplexed, the submarine was tiny!

    The entire submarine was less than five meters in length, and aside from the helmsman''s seat, there were only three seats in total. Furthermore, this wasn''t apletely sealed-off submarine like a military submarine. Instead, it was an ordinary submarine with a ss dome.

    It didn''t look safe at all!

    "This is the Diving Dragon." Right at this moment, a rather raspy voice rang out, and a thin elderly man appeared beside Qin Ye. He had a short beard and was wearing a pair of ck-rim sses. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his whiteb coat, and he introduced, "This is currently the world''s deepest diving submarine. Please do not doubt its safety and functionality. We are going to the seabed, and ording to the information we have on hand, the deepest parts of the seabed between the eastern territorial sea of Cathay to the western territorial sea of Nippon is no more than 9,000 meters deep. However, even a military submarine is unable to descend to depths in excess of 5,000 meters. The only submarines in the world capable of reaching depths of over 5,000 meters are ones that are meant for research and development. The enormous size of a military submarine makes it impossible for it to withstand the tremendous water pressure at extremely low depths. Prior to 2010, the holder of the record for the deepest diving submarine in the world was Nippon''s Kaiko remotely operated underwater vehicle. It set the record by diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is currently the limit for human sea exploration."

    He paused here momentarily as he turned to the submarine with a proud expression. "In 2018, the Diving Dragon also reached the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, and it stopped there for longer than the Kaiko ROV did. After the Kaiko ROV was lost, the Diving Dragon became the only submarine that holds this record."

    He made his way over to the pool and continued, "In reality, a submarine that can reach depths of 9,000 meters is enough to explore over 90% of the entire world''s seabed. Its pressure reduction and shock resistance is unmatched among all of the submarines in the world. However, a normal person cannot reach such depths and hope to survive. Only a cultivator would be capable of that, and it would have to be a cultivator at or above the Infernal Judge level."

    "I see..." Qin Ye appraised the miniature submarine with an intrigued expression. Could it be that he had underestimated it? It had to be said that technology truly is the supreme force of production. Even an Abyssal Prefect would only be able to reach depths of around 7,000 meters, any deeper than that and their body would begin to give out. However, with the enhancement of technology, Infernal Judges could reach depths of 9,000 meters. He was even more looking forward to seeing new sources of energy appear in the underworld now.

    "And you are?"

    "I am one of the three schrs of the SRC, Liao Changhui." The elderly man extended a hand toward Qin Ye with a smile on his face. "This is our first meeting, but I''ve heard much about you. A human Emissary of Hell, eh? If you ever get some spare time, why don''t you pay our dissection department a visit?"

    ... Hey, that''s not very friendly... Qin Ye''s eyelids were twitching as he shook the man''s hand, and he didn''t dare to converse with the researcher any further.

    "We''re nning to begin our descent in half an hour, any issues?" Mo Changhao asked.

    "Not at all."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Countless bubbles rose up through the water, and after a further half-hour of examination, the Diving Dragon began to descend.

    Everything in the surrounding area was changing. The light was bing dimmer, and nothing but pure blue water stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions with not a single fish to be seen. Qin Ye sat in his seat in a leisurely manner as he appraised the blue world outside with a thoughtful expression.

    After his breakthrough to be Yama-King, he would already be able to descend to the seabed with just his physical body alone, he was only getting the Special Investigations Department involved in case something went wrong.

    If all of this really did have something to do with the Peach Blossom Spring, then the mortal realm would have to get involved. He had to borrow the power of the mortal realm to locate the giant beast, as well as for the personnel of the Special Investigations Department to lock down this area of the sea and perhaps even attack the Peach Blossom Spring if it were to be discovered.

    After all, this was the mortal realm''s territory.

    He was the initiator here, so he had to bring along some troops with him. Of course, the mortal realm would still assist him even if he didn''t bring any of his own troops, but that was simply not the right way to do things and would inevitably draw some dismay from the mortal realm. However, their assistance could effectively reduce the number of troops that Hell would have to supply.

    As they dove deeper and deeper, the wonders of the sea began to disy themselves. There were schools of all types of fish, as well as giant sharks and various types of apex predators roaming the sea. They would asionally swim right past the submarine, making one feel as if they were in a dream.

    However, this was not going to be a good dream. As the visibility dropped lower and lower, the sea creatures that they encountered became stranger and more harrowing to behold. asionally, a massive creature would appear not far away from the reinforced ss dome, shing past like an eerie spirit in a nightmare.

    The journey was very quiet, and everyone had already fallen silent by the time they reached depths of over 100 meters. At these depths, a type of specially designed messaging device was required formunication. Of course, that was not the case for a Yama-King like Qin Ye, who was still perfectly capable of speaking. This was his first trip deep into the sea, and he engaged in sightseeing for close to 20 minutes before he finally had enough. He sat back in his seat in a casual manner and asked, "What depth are we at now?"

    No one replied.

    The helmsman pointed at a meter in front of him, and Qin Ye nced at it to discover that they had already descended to depths in excess of 1,000 meters.

    All of a sudden, he realized why neither Mo Changhao nor Liao Changhui were speaking. Liao Changhui was only an ordinary person, while Mo Changhao had to look after him. With that in mind, he released his Yama-King level Yin energy, and the seawater around the submarine instantly rippled, following which everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief.

    "I almost forgot that you were still normal humans," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Rest assured, my presence will ensure that the water pressure will be manageable for all of you even on the seabed. My Yin energy has already enveloped the submarine, so no marine creatures will attack us. In their eyes, the submarine is nothing more than a drifting carcass."

    "As expected of a Yama-King," Mo Changhao sighed in an envious manner.

    Thus, everyone in the submarine was able to speak again, and Liao Changhui began to provide introductions to the various types of sea creatures that they encountered during their descent. The more Qin Ye listened, the more he became aware of just how knowledgeable Liao Changhui was. There was virtually no sea creature that he didn''t recognize, and in response to this, Qin Ye really wanted to ask a question...

    When are you going to shut up?

    However, he would probably cop a beating for asking that, so he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

    As the submarine descended further and further, the rate of its descent began to decline noticeably. Initially, everyone was still in the mood to chat, but after around an hour, the cabin fell silent again.

    Several thousand meters deep in the sea, there was a special type of magical power present, one that was known as silence.

    It made one feel as if making even the slightest sound would shatter this silence, and that monsters they had never seen before could emerge from the dark waters around them at any time.

    Qin Hui wasn''t in the mood to chat, either. He could sense that Qin Hui''s Asura Legion and Su Daji''s Hungry Ghost Legion were already following along behind the submarine, but they were undetectable to Mo Changhao.

    Upon reaching a depth of 7,990 meters, the helmsman finally broke the silence. "We will be reaching the seabed after descending for another 1,500 meters."

    "How far away are we from Wuyang?" Qin Ye asked.

    "52 nautical miles, or roughly 98.28 kilometers. We are still within the territorial sea of Cathay," Mo Changhao replied with a serious expression, "This is also where I saw that giant beastst time."

    Liao Changhui was silent for a moment beforemanding in a serious voice, "Continue in a vertical descent."

    "Yes."

    The submarine descended silently toward the seabed. 1,500 meters... 1,300 meters... 1,200 meters...

    Qin Ye was resting in his seat with his eyes closed, yet right as the submarine was about to reach 1,000 meters of the seabed, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and he cast an incredulous gaze downward.

    Mo Changhao was right beside him, and he was slightly rmed by Qin Ye''s sudden reaction. "Mr. Qin..."

    Qin Ye raised a hand to indicate for him to remain silent. He then cast an intense gaze toward the bottom of the submarine, and only after a long while did he speak with a shocked expression. "There''s something on the seabed."

    "What are you referring to?"

    "I''m talking about Yin spirits," Qin Ye replied as his brows furrowed slightly. "Seawater has an extremely potent Yin energy masking effect, especially the seawater of the mortal realm, so I was only able to sense them upon reaching within 1,000 meters of them. There are Yin spirits down below, and there are quite a few of them, roughly 50 or so. They''re lined up in a very orderly fashion, and they''re currently on the move."

    "What about the sizes of the Yin spirits?"

    "They''re not veryrge, each of them is only around the size of two peoplebined. I still can''t clearly identify them yet. Get your Yin energy detection devices ready and follow me, I''ll go down to take a look first." As soon as his voice trailed off, he vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The water density this deep in the sea was extremely high, but as a Yama-King, this was only enough to cause him slight difort. He sped through the water extremely quickly, and soon, the submarine had already been left far behind, while the dark seabed appeared in his field of view.

    There really was something here, and it was something that he would''ve never imagined to see here!

    These were skeletal camels. There were several dozen skeletal camels traveling along the seabed in a line.

    Furthermore, each skeletal camel was apanied by a Yin spirit wearing a dark cloak.

    "How is this possible?" He looked on with a bbergasted expression. The skeletal camels were leaving trails of hoofprints that were burning with eerie azure ghostly mes on the seabed. This seemed to be a procession of merchants, and it was utterly astounding to him that something like this could appear here!

    This was the territorial sea of Cathay! It was protected by the Cathayan Underworld!

    Without his orders, where had these merchantse from? What were they transporting? To whom were they transporting their merchandise?

    A sense of killing intent immediately welled up in his heart. Even he hadn''t noticed this about himself, but ever since he had be the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, he had be extremely intolerant toward anything outside of his control in his territory. In the instant that he saw these merchants, his first thought was to kill them on the spot.

    However, he had to be patient.

    "Let me see who you''re serving. Are you from the Peach Blossom Spring?" A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face before he vanished on the spot, speeding directly toward the rear of the line of camels.

 Chapter 832: Seabed Ghost City (2)

    <h4>Chapter 832: Seabed Ghost City (2)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    If a Yama-King level being wanted to approach an inferior Emissary of Hell without being caught, then there was no way they would be detected. Less than 20 secondster, Qin Ye was already situated at the back of the line with a cold expression, yet the Yin spirits at the back werepletely unable to see him.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as a hint of bloodlust appeared on his face. At such close range, he could clearly see that these Yin spirits were wearing suits of ck armor beneath their cloaks.

    Those were suits of armor crafted from the carapaces of blight vermin!

    This type of armor was unique to the Cathayan Underworld, only the fall of Hell could bring about a gue of blight vermin! In other words, these Yin spirits were all Emissaries of Hell!

    As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, he waspletely unaware of the fact that such a group of merchants existed!

    A subordinate who had done something wrong would still be capable of redemption in the eyes of a ruler, but treason waspletely intolerable!

    A howling me of fury had been ignited in Qin Ye''s heart. All it would take would be a snap of his fingers topletely wipe these traitorous Emissaries of Hell out of existence, but it still wasn''t time to do that.

    He swept his gaze over the crates on the skeletal camels'' backs. Each camel was carrying two crates, and sealing talismans were stered all over the surface of the crates. However, those talismans werepletely ineffective against a Yama-King, and Qin Ye was able to clearly inspect the contents of the crates with just a single nce.

    It was Yin jade...

    These crates were filled to the brim with neatly packed Yin jade!

    Each piece was around the size of a human fist, rectangr in shape with a thickness of half an inch. A "Qin" character was carved onto the front of each piece of Yin jade, while the words "Made in Ashmound during the third year of the new Hell" were inscribed on their backs.

    This was the first batch of Yin jade forged in the Cathayan Underworld, and it was superior to HLs when it came to its ability to draw upon Yin energy. It was equivalent to gold in the mortal realm, a universal currency used across the entire Cathayan Underworld. A vicious smile immediately appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon determining the contents of the crates.

    The Yin jade was being smuggled out of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Never did he think that he would stumble upon a group of smugglers during this trip to the seabed.

    How long had Hell been established for? Less than three years, and there were already Yin spirits smuggling precious resources out of the border! These dozens of skeletal camels were carrying at least hundreds of kilograms of Yin jade on their backs! Even more importantly, who was this Yin jade being smuggled to? Who was on the other side?

    Due to the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods, he hade all the way here to investigate the truth, only to discover that there were Emissaries of Hell smuggling resources out of his nation right under his nose!

    "I guess the negative traits in human nature will forever remain." He slowly raised a hand, and thest Yin spirit in the line seemed to have sensed something as he looked around with a dumbstruck expression. However, in the next instant, before he even had a chance to cry out, Yin energy rippled gently around him. It was like a very slight ripple in the surrounding seawater, and no one else up ahead noticed anything, but that Emissary of Hell had already disappeared.

    In this long procession of Yin spirits and skeletal camels, the disappearance of a single Yin spirit wasn''t enough to attract any attention.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Wang Zhao felt a tremor run through his mind, and his surroundings began to quickly revolve. Specks ofherfire emerged from the ground around him, and an indescribable sense of horror descended upon him. In this instant, he was more terrified than he had ever been before, and he began to tremble uncontrobly.

    He felt as if he were being scrutinized by a transcendent being, and he immediately began to panic. He wanted to call out to hispanions for help, but he discovered that he was unable to make a single sound and could only look on helplessly as the procession of camels traveled further and further away.

    There was something here, something extremely terrifying. He gripped the hilt of the de hanging from his waist tightly with a trembling hand, and right as he turned around, he suddenly discovered that there was someone beside him.

    It was a very familiar figure. He had never witnessed this figure in person, but everyone in the entire Cathayan Underworld was aware of what he looked like.

    "Y, Y, Y, Yanluo Qin..." His voice was trembling in shock and horror. Qin Ye nced at the de he was holding, and his hand immediately shuddered as the de ttered to the ground.

    He didn''t dare to use the de given to him by Hell against the ruler of Hell.

    How is this possible? How could he be here? He''s a godlike being in the Cathayan Underworld, how could he be here?!

    Wang Zhao''s mind had gonepletely nk, and he fell heavily to his knees.

    "P, p, p, please spare me, my Lord! Spare me!!" he howled with all his might. "I didn''t want to do it... I really didn''t want to! I was forced..."

    Before he had a chance to finish,herfire erupted out of his entire body, igniting him into a fiery pir. Blood-curdling howls instantly rang out, and Qin Ye looked on calmly as the Yin spirit was incinerated into nothingness right before his eyes, leaving behind only a pale soul.

    "You thought there was a chance I could let you live? Youmitted treason, a crime punishable by a thousand deaths!"

    He swept a sleeve through the air, and the soul phased into his be, following which countless images instantly surfaced in his mind.

    He inspected the memories calmly, and only after a full two minutes had passed did he reopen his eyes.

    The nation had only just been founded, and he and all of the Emissaries of Hell were working diligently to better the underworld, yet there wasrge-scale smuggling taking ce on the border right in Ashmound!

    Qin Ye didn''t know where this Yin jade was going. At the very least, this Emissary of Hell didn''t know. He was ranked too low on the pecking order, and he hadn''t even seen the masterminds behind this operation. There was only a superior telling him what to do, and he didn''t know anything else.

    However, there was one valuable piece of information that Qin Ye had gleaned from his memories, which was that this type of smuggling took ce once per month, and it had been going on for over a year!

    Furthermore, the resources were being transported out of the array toward the pces on that giant beast''s back!

    In Wang Zhao''s memories, his team had never been followed before. They were keeping their origins a secret, and that was the only remaining trace of loyalty they had toward the Cathayan Underworld. However, Qin Ye knew that this waspletely useless! These idiots weren''t even Netherworld Operatives, how were they supposed to notice if anyone were following them?

    "So you''re betraying your nation for personal gain." Qin Ye forcibly repressed his fury as he calmly adjusted his hair, but even his fingers were trembling with rage.

    These Emissaries of Hell were already aware of the existence of that giant beast, yet instead of informing him about this, they had chosen to smuggle resources to the power on the giant beast''s back in secret!

    Of course, these smugglers were most likely receiving exceptionalpensation, but they had no idea what they were selling! They were selling the lifeblood of the Cathayan Underworld!

    Whoosh! Qin Ye vanished as a gust of Yin wind once again, and by the time he reappeared, he had already adopted Wang Zhao''s appearance and was walking along at the back of the procession as if nothing had ever happened.

    They were all going to the same ce anyway, so why not have these traitors lead him to his destination? He wanted to see exactly what the power on the giant beast''s back could offer that was so irresistibly alluring to the Emissaries of Hell.

    "Not a single one of you is going to live past today..."

    He was like a death god prowling the seabed, slowly vanishing into the distance with this procession of camels.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The seabed route was very long, and even though the camels were traveling quite quickly, it still took them four to five hours to reach the bright blue Array of the Nine Gods.

    The Array of the Nine Gods was present in all three realms, epassing the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory. Otherwise, powerful emissaries from foreign underworlds would enter Limbo through a Yin Yang Mezzanine, then find a way into the Cathayan Underworld from there. Only by casting the array over all three realms could absolute safety be ensured. However, the concerning thing now was that the same giant rift in the array was also present in all three realms!

    The rift in the mortal realm was around the same size as the one in the underworld. Qin Ye tugged his cloak tighter around him as he continued onward. All of the smugglers in this group were wearing masks, and they had remained silent throughout the whole trip. It seemed that no one was aware of anyone else''s identity, and that made it easier for Qin Ye to conceal himself.

    The group made their way through the rift, and an altar appeared up ahead!

    The deep sea altar wasn''t veryrge, only around 10 meters in size. The railings and stairs around it were virtuallypletely unadorned and teeming with seaweed. However, the center of the altar was extremely intricately crafted withplex patterns all over its surface. A statue of a dragon''s head was situated at the very center, and the leader of the smugglers ced a piece of Yin jade into the dragon''s mouth. Immediately thereafter, streaks of bright blue Yin energy began to surge through the patterns inscribed on the altar, and soon, the entire altar was enshrouded in a bright blue glow.

    That''s a teleportation formation! Qin Ye''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this.

    Hell hadn''t managed to develop such a thing yet. In order to create a teleportation formation, Yin rune arrays of extremely high calibers were required. The first ones to have developed such a thing was the Argosian Underworld. It was capable of teleporting things and beings from one point to another, using Yin runes to construct the required coordinates.

    The fact that there was a teleportation formation here meant that emissaries from foreign underworlds had definitely been here before!

    The altar was situated right in front of the giant rift, and in order to make the smuggling more convenient, even something as advanced as a teleportation formation had been set up here!

    Furthermore, it was his own Emissaries of Hell who had drawn them here!

    Who was on the other side?!

    Qin Ye was so furious that he was beginning to see red. Was it the Nipponese Underworld or perhaps another underworld? Could it be one of the three pirs?

    He didn''t know.

    All he knew was that he had to make haste. He had to develop and expand the nation rapidly at all costs. Everything that he had thought had been hidden securely all this time had most likely already been revealed, and time was truly running out for him.

    "We''re going up in reverse order." This was the first piece of verbalmunication throughout this entire trip. Qin Ye was at the back of the line, so he stepped onto the teleportation formation first. Bright blue light immediately illuminated the seabed like eerie blue mes, and Qin Ye was struck by a slight rush of dizziness. By the time he reappeared, he found himself in apletely different setting.

    This was a massive seabed graveyard.

    The carcasses and bones of massive sea creatures were strewn all around the area.

    There were some creatures among them that Qin Ye had never seen before, and they had clearly all perished long ago, as evidenced by the fact that their skeletons were teeming with seaweed and all types of marine animals. In fact, some of them had been here for so long that they had formed artificial coral reefs, which were both home and paradise to countless species of marine life forms.

    There were sea stars, seaweed, and fish of all types of colors and descriptions. However, what truly drew Qin Ye''s attention were the lights that stretched as far as the eyes could see among the rocks.

    The lights stretched on for at least several dozen kilometers, and there was no end to them in sight!

    This was a seabed city!

    The city was concealed between the rocks on the seabed, and countless carcasses were littered all over the seabed around the city like Yin soldiers acting as the city''s guardians.

    "Is it your first time here?" Right at this moment, a voice rang out beside him, and a female skeleton wearing an antiquated Europa ptial dress emerged from behind a rock while fanning herself with a hand fan.

    She extended an elegant curtsey, and fish were swimming in and out of her empty eye sockets as she said, "I know what you''re feeling, anyone would be shocked to see this city for the very first time. This is the first seabed city in the entire world, regardless of whether it''s in the mortal realm or the underworld. I am the recording official, Teana, and I wee you to thergest city of the Peach Blossom Spring, Mirage City!"

 Chapter 833: City of Sin (1)

    <h4>Chapter 833: City of Sin (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye surveyed the skeleton in silence with a calm expression.

    So this ce really is the Peach Blossom Spring! But why is it that there''s an emissary who''s clearly from one of the western underworlds here?

    Never did he think that the teleportation formation would be connected to the extremely elusive Peach Blossom Spring!

    He quickly examined Wang Zhao''s memories again, and around 10 secondster, his eyes abruptly lit up.

    None of the smugglers who arrived here would say anything to anyone, and they would immediately leave after dropping off their merchandise.

    There was a gap of 15 minutes between each teleportation, and ording to Wang Zhao''s memories, he had been here twice with the first and second asions separated by a season. On each asion, he had been greeted by a different underworld emissary.

    On the first asion, he had encountered an emissary from the Aegyptian Underworld, and it was Teana on this asion.

    Qin Ye took a surreptitious nce at her to find that she was an intermediate Infernal Judge, and her Yin energy was very dense. Furthermore, it carried an extremely bloody aura, indicating that she had consumed a vast amount of blood food in the past. It was most likely the case that she was an extremely notorious figure in the western world. Why was a being as powerful as her initiating conversation with a Yin soldier who wasn''t even a Netherworld Operative?

    At this point, he had alreadypletely calmed down, and he suddenly said in a hushed voice, "I want to speak to you in private."

    Thehermes in Teana''s eyes flickered slightly, and she replied in a barely audible voice, "As you wish."

    Water was unable to prevent the dissemination of energy, and in particr, the seawater of the mortal realm certainly didn''t possess properties that would allow it to prevent the dissemination of Yin energy. There were two Emissaries of Hell who had arrived here alongside Wang Zhao through the teleportation formation, and they were all keeping an eye on one another, but in the face of an intermediate Infernal Judge, they may as well have been blind.

    As soon as her voice trailed off, countless ck shadows emerged from beneath Teana''s dress to envelop Wang Zhao''s body. The shadows were inky-ck in color, but as soon as they climbed onto Wang Zhao''s body, they immediately turned the same color as the sections of Wang Zhao''s body that they were adhered to, making them impossible to discern. No more than several secondster, a shell had appeared outside of Wang Zhao''s body.

    Teana and Wang Zhao were standing side by side, and they seemed to be engaging in an amicable conversation. However, Teana had already reached a hand around Wang Zhao''s back before performing an abrupt tugging motion. As a result of this, Wang Zhao was dragged out into the open, leaving only the shell behind. In the instant that the true Wang Zhao was dragged out of the identical shell, a Yin energy vortex appeared to devour him.

    Qin Ye didn''t resist, and his vision blurred slightly before bing clear again, upon which he found himself situated in a brightly lit church.

    The church''s decor was extremelyvish, and countless marine fish were swimming through it. Netherme candles were lit on the walls, sitting on candlesticks that were forged from pure gold. However, the entire church and all of the furniture inside it were constructed from bones!

    Furthermore, all of the nuns and priests here were also just clothed skeletons, presenting a harrowing sight to behold under the illumination of the greenhermes.

    <i>Is this the interior of Mirage City? </i>Qin Ye swept an intrigued gaze across his surroundings. After making up his mind on what he was going to do, he wasn''t nervous or tense in the slightest.

    Right at this moment, Teana''s voice rang out beside him. "You are the first emissary of the Cathayan Underworld to have responded to me. You are very smart, far more so than yourpanions."

    Yin wind andhermes converged, and Teana reappeared, gently pping her hand fan to cover her skeletal face, as if she were smiling behind her fan like a primdy. She waved a hand and said, "In order to celebrate the first contact between the Cathayan Underworld and Mirage City, I''ve prepared avish afternoon tea. You know, we''ve been waiting for this day for a very long time. Rest assured about yourpanions outside, my puppetry skills will be more than enough to fool them, so they won''t notice that you''re gone. Pleasee with me."

    A door at the back of the church swung open at her behest, and Qin Ye followed behind her as they made their way toward the back. After entering through the doorway, they arrived in a small praying chamber. There were gold-ted candlesticks lining the walls, and the candles that they were carrying were burning with fainthermes. It was an extremely ironic sight considering there was a mural of the Holy Father on the wall.

    There was no furniture in the praying chamber aside from a round table, around which were ced a pair of chairs.

    Teana sat down on one of the chairs, and Qin Ye could sense that her Yin energy was fluctuating very violently for some reason, as if she were extremely excited. She leaned back against the soft and plush cushion as she asked in a joyful voice, "May I ask your name?"

    "You can call me the King of Emissaries of Hell," Qin Ye replied. "Madam Teana, we don''t have much time, so pardon me for cutting straight to the chase. I really want to know why you''ve approached us over and over again."

    The fluctuation in Teana''s Yin energy subsided, and she seemed to have calmed down. She was under the impression that she had disguised her emotions very well, but to Qin Ye, her emotional fluctuations were as clear as a neon sign in the night.

    "Indeed, we have no time to waste, and I don''t want to engage in idle chatter, either. The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring has a suggestion, which involves you telling us the true situation in the Cathayan Underworld, and in exchange, we''ll give youpensation beyond your wildest dreams."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, Teana opened her hand fan as she continued, "Let me emphasize here that we only want to know the truth, so you must provide evidence for your ims in order to convince us that you''re not just making things up on the spot. For example, you have to provide newspapers of the Cathayan Underworld, documents issued by Hell... No matter what it is, it has to be sound evidence. If you can bring those things to us, the reward you''ll receive will be beyond the scope of your imagination."

    Under the table, Qin Ye wrung his hands together in a white-knuckled grip, yet his expression remained unchanged. He had to act in ordance with the image of someone betraying their nation.

    He hadn''t immediately pulled Teana''s soul out of her body to search her memories because of the first thing that she had said, which was that this was thergest city of the Peach Blossom Spring, Mirage City.

    Back when he had searched through Bu Wantian''s memories, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring had detected what he was doing, and he wasn''t sure if the same restrictions had also been ced upon the memories of everyone else in this city.

    "What kind of reward are we talking about here?"

    "How about... cultivation progression by the magnitude of an entire major rank?" Two balls of scarlethermes appeared in Teana''s eyes as she said in an extremely alluring voice, "Think carefully about this, Mr. Wang. Why did your superiors send you to transport these things instead of doing the job themselves? Are you not aware that you''remitting treason? Do you not know what consequences await a traitor of the Cathayan Underworld if you''re caught? Did your superiors not tell you about this?"

    She leaned back slightly as she continued, "I can tell you that you''ll be executed for sure. You were chosen because you''re far too weak and can be abandoned at any time. You''re not even a Netherworld Operative, so it would be extremely easy to kill you. Thus, you have no choice but to cooperate with us if you want to attain the power to be able to resist your superiors. For a Yin spirit like you, your cultivation rank is everything. If you don''t want to die, then you can only strive to progress up the ranks."

    Her voice was like that of a viper, holding allure and venom in equal measure. "If you be a Soul Hunter or even an Anitya Hellguard and receive the support of our Peach Blossom Spring, you''ll have the power to speak on equal terms with your superiors. They fear you. Trust me, they live in constant fear of us revealing the truth. We can leave whenever we want. After all, we''ve been here for thousands of years without being discovered by Hell, but in contrast, your superiors can only stay within the Cathayan Underworld. They can''t leave, so if you want to be able to speak to them as equals and be the master of your own fate, then why wouldn''t you ally yourself with us? You''ve alreadymitted treason, all you can do now is fight for your survival. Alternatively, do you think you''ll be able to contend with your superiors and even the Cathayan Underworld on your own?"

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. After a long while, he finally broke the silence. "Tell me the truth behind the Peach Blossom Spring and Mirage City."

    Teana didn''t immediately reply. Instead, she merely observed him in silence.

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh and said, "I have to know what makes it possible for you to protect me. Is the Peach Blossom Spring alone enough to contend with Hell? Would you dare to face the emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Wang Zhao wasn''t even a Netherworld Operative, yet he was speaking to an Infernal Judge in an extremely disrespectful manner. Under normal circumstances, he would be wiped out of existence in the blink of an eye, but instead of bing enraged, Teana began to chuckle instead.

    He''s on the hook...

    She knew that only those willing to negotiate terms were actually interested in what she was proposing. She wasn''t worried about being spoken to in a disrespectful manner, what she was worried about was that all of the Emissaries of Hell would continue to remain silent like nks of wood.

    As long as there was a willingness to negotiate, there would be a chance for her.

    "It seems you have some type of misunderstanding toward the Peach Blossom Spring." Teana wasn''t unting her superiority as an Infernal Judge in the slightest as she said in a patient voice, "This isn''t actually the main city of the Peach Blossom Spring. In reality, no one knows where the main city of the Peach Blossom Spring is. This is Mirage City, and the power that this city possesses..."

    She leaned in a little closer as she spoke, and a hint of fanaticism crept into her voice as she continued, "Ispletely beyond your imagination! Guess how many powers are gathered here? Let me count them off for you. There are Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer of the Usonian Underworld, each of which has a bounty of five million Yin jade on their heads, there is the Latin Usonian S-rank fugitive, Rasayana, with a bounty of eight million Yin jade, there''s also Carlo Lute with a bounty of 7.6 million, as well as the likes of Tomie, Sadako Yamamura, and Otakemaru, all of whom have bounties in excess of ten million..."

    Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly lit up upon hearing this, and he lowered his head slightly to hide his expression.

    All of the leads in his mind were finally strung together into a clear and cohesive line.

    From the very beginning, the city on the sea beast''s back and the Peach Blossom Spring were two leads that didn''tpletely intersect one another.

    Yes, there were many simrities between them. For example, the city on the sea beast''s back was constructed in the style of the Qin and Han Dynasty, which was also the construction style clearly preferred by the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring.

    The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring was a Yama-King who had devoured the Taisui fungus, and the experience he had rued over the 2,000 years that he had been alive would be enough for him to create a moving city.

    In order to remain hidden, he only dared to reside in Limbo, not daring to venture into the territorial sea of the Cathayan Underworld. Furthermore, only a moving city like this would allow him to constantly evade Hell by ensuring mobility at all times.

    Judging from the timeline and general logic, there was a very good chance that these two were the same person, as evidenced by all of the aforementioned simrities.

    However, he didn''t have concrete evidence, but just now, Teana had provided him with the evidence that he needed.

    Otakemaru was here, and this ce was called the Peach Blossom Spring! This created an undeniable link between the two!

    "So this ce is called the Peach Blossom Spring because it''s a paradise for evil ghosts?" Qin Ye''s head remained lowered as he spoke as he worried that he wouldn''t be able to keep his killing intent from showing in his eyes. The existence of the Peach Blossom Spring and everything that it had done was a direct provocation to him as a ruler!

    This was a nation outside of a nation, and it was something that no ruler could tolerate.

    The top priority of virtually any ruler in history had been to maintain a unified nation. This was absolutely non-negotiable, and anyone who dared to go against this objective had to die!

    Furthermore, that wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that this ce was a sanctuary for heinous evil ghosts like Teana. All of the evil ghosts who had engaged in too much ughter and were no longer tolerated in their respective underworlds had gathered here!

    This was a ce beyond thew.

    This was no paradise, it was clearly a city of sin!

 Chapter 834: City of Sin (2)

    <h4>Chapter 834: City of Sin (2)</h4>

    The killing intent in his heart grew even more pronounced as this thought urred to him.

    Initially, he had only been concerned that the Nipponese Underworld had been made aware of the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods. However, with so many evil ghosts gathered here, how many of them were also aware of this?

    "You''ve already been banished by your native underworld, so why do you want information on the Cathayan Underworld?" Qin Ye asked with a smile. Before she had a chance to reply, he continued, "I''m guessing most of the evil ghosts here chose to seek refuge in other underworlds, and the condition they raised in return for safe refuge was for you to find out the true condition of the Cathayan Underworld, is that correct?"

    A smile seemed to have crept into Teana''s voice. "You really are very smart."

    She looked up at the ceiling of the church in a forlorn manner and continued, "Who wants to be a homeless evil ghost, destined to roam aimlessly for all of eternity? Unfortunately, none of us have dared to travel to the array of the Cathayan Underworld even once. There is a rule here strictly prohibiting that, so if we want information, we can only obtain it from you and the others."

    I see...

    Under the table, Qin Ye was wringing his hands together so vigorously that his joints were cracking. This was the first time since his inauguration that he had been ovee by such fierce rage and killing intent.

    He was enraged by the betrayal of the Emissaries of Hell, willing to coborate with external powers for personal gain. They received the same benefits as every other Emissary of Hell, but they were selling the Cathayan Underworld''s lifeblood at the same time!

    He was enraged by the Peach Blossom Spring establishing a nation outside his own, thereby undermining the stability of his reign.

    He was even more enraged by the fact that his authority as a ruler was being provoked. After over a century as a fractured nation, the Cathayan Underworld had finally been reunited following a six-year-long war of unification, yet in return for his efforts, he received deceit and betrayal. He was working day and night, painstakingly building up the nation step by step, yet his own subordinates were working to undo his efforts! Did they even see him as their ruler? Did they even consider themselves to be Emissaries of Hell?!

    Never did he think that he would want to kill a power or an individual so badly.

    Right at this moment, Teana closed her hand fan and asked, "So what''s your choice? Are you going to wait until you perish by the wrath of the Cathayan Underworld or side with us and ultimately begin a new life in a foreign underworld?"

    Qin Ye was silent for a few seconds before replying, "I have one final question. You still haven''t told me when you came here?"

    Teana countered, "I think I''ve already provided enough information for you to make a choice."

    "It''s not enough," Qin Ye insisted in a grim voice. "This is the Cathayan Underworld we''re talking about here, I''m more aware than you are of just how terrifying the Cathayan Underworld is. If you want me to tell you everything, then I have to know what my chances of survival are if I side with you! Your power is only one factor of consideration, what''s more important is whether you''ve been noticed by the Cathayan Underworld and whether you''re able to organize for me to defect from the Cathayan Underworld at a moment''s notice!"

    Teana heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this. "This is why I hate working with people who are too shrewd for their own good."

    She was silent for close to a minute before finally revealing, "I came here 40 years ago. That was when I first heard about the legend of the Peach Blossom Spring. The legend is well known among all evil ghosts who have devoured blood food in the past, and it was seen by us as our final resort. At the time, I was being hunted by the Britannian Witch Hunters Association. Several of their elders were sent out to pursue me, and I had no choice but to flee all the way here to the Peach Blossom Spring. Upon my arrival, someone immediately contacted me, and only then did I learn that the Peach Blossom Spring was established 30 years before I arrived! Most of the evil ghosts here are from the Nipponese Underworld, and other evil ghosts from other foreign underworlds like myself only made up the minority."

    She took a deep breath, and thehermes in her eyes flickered wildly as she continued, "Of course, we were able to survive, but surviving and living a good life are twopletely different concepts. In order to live a better life, we chose to initiate contact with our native underworlds. In response to our pleas, the response from underworlds was that if we could act as scouts and find out the true state of the Cathayan Underworld for them, then we would receive amnesty for all of our crimes! Can you imagine? Amnesty! For an evil ghost like me with so much blood on my hands!"

    Her voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves before she calmed down again. "While I''m at it, I''ll tell you something else."

    In Teana''s mind, she was the first evil ghost who had been able to convince an Emissary of Hell to leak the information that she wanted to her, so she was willing to take a gamble. "Almost all of the underworlds hold the same attitude. After we ascertained the attitudes of our native underworlds, we immediately arranged a procession, hoping to be able to take a trip to the renowned Array of the Nine Gods to see it for ourselves. Due to the fuss that we kicked up, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring arrived, and that was the first and only time I ever saw him. He''s a living human, a cultivator, yet he''s somehow reached the Yama-King level! He quelled all of the unrest and set an irond rule stating that Mirage City could act as the central hub for all underground trade in the entire continent of Asia, but no one is permitted to travel to the Cathayan Underworld, and anyone caught doing so will be killed."

    She gritted her teeth with frustration as she continued, "That''s why we could only stay here for the past few decades. It has to be said that the Peach Blossom Spring is truly a formidable power. This ce is only around 200 nautical miles away from Cathay''s Wuyang Port, which is not very far away at all, but no Emissaries of Hell have found this ce! It''s very likely that he holds a divine artifact, one that''s of a very high caliber. So what do you think now? Do you believe that we have the power to help you defect when required?"

    Qin Ye understood everything now. He leaned back in his chair, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face.

    Thank heavens this rule existed. With this rule in ce, it was presumably the case that only the Peach Blossom Spring was aware of the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods.

    Why was he prohibiting evil ghosts from traveling to the array?

    In Qin Ye''s mind, there could only be two possible reasons, the first of which was that this information was the Peach Blossom Spring''s trump card. They were able to enter the Cathayan Underworld and had most likely gained a rough understanding of its current situation. A trump card could only be referred to as a trump card when it was only held by one person, why should he let emissaries of foreign underworlds in on the secret? He was constantly worrying about being discovered by the Cathayan Underworld, so it was much better for him to hold this trump card alone rather than share it with everyone else.

    If everyone had ess to this information, then it wouldn''t be valuable anymore.

    The second reason was for personal profit.

    The Peach Blossom Spring had established a massive ck market here, as well as a paradise for evil ghosts all over the world. They didn''t allow these evil ghosts to glean the true situation of the Cathayan Underworld, but they didn''t prevent them from contacting their native underworlds to act as spies for them. If any danger were to arise, he would immediately contact those underworlds through these evil ghosts, securing his safety in exchange for information on the state of the Array of the Nine Gods.

    This was a city of sin that was constantly preparing to betray the Cathayan Underworld.

    As for why it hadn''t been discovered, that could be attributed to the Judgment Pen.

    Teana had arrived here four decades ago, yet Mirage City had already been established here over three decades before her arrival. This meant that this city of sin had stood for over 70 years.

    100 years ago, Hell copsed, and the three divine artifacts were lost. The Judgment Pen had flown into the sea through the Array of Nine Gods, and the only one who could¡¯ve obtained it from there was the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring.

    The rulers of the Nipponese and Daeian Underworlds weren''t even Yama-Kings, so what right did they have to im the divine artifact over the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring?

    "So what is your choice?"

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "My choice is... Actually, before that, I want to show you my soul."

    Teana was rather taken aback to hear this. "Your soul? Is there anything special about it? Hold on..."

    She suddenly rose to her feet as she stared at Qin Ye in an incredulous manner. "When did you seal off this room?"

    She suddenly discovered that her soul and Yin energy werepletely unable to exit this room!

    This could only have been set up by a Yin spirit of an even higher cultivation rank than her!

    <i>The Cathayan Underworld has caught on to the existence of this ce... After 70 long years, Mirage City has finally been discovered... </i>This terrifying thought instantly surfaced in her mind, and she screamed with all her might, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"

    However, there was no reaction at all outside.

    "Save your energy," Qin Ye said with a cold smile, and in the next instant, his Yin energy erupted forth violently, only to be contained by the restrictions he had set up earlier, thereby preventing it from leaking out of the room.

    Boom! Stark whitehermes were ignited in the entire room, and Teana screamed as she frantically retreated until her back hit the wall. There was no escape for her, and she could only look on with shock and horror at the person standing before her.

    This is a Yama-King... His Yin energy is on the Yama-King level! A Yama-King hase here in person! Not only has Mirage City attracted Hell''s attention, it''s been discovered by one of Hell''s top brass!

    "No!!" Her voice had be extremely strained and sharp as she stared at the indistinct figure within thehermes. "Spare me... Spare me!! I told you everything!"

    "Of course I''ll spare you, I couldn''t bear to let a valuable tool like you die." Qin Ye raised a hand to inscribe a rune into mid-air. "Come and join my Dusk Legionnaire. You''ll be a zombie, but at the very least, you''ll be alive."

    Teana was gritting her teeth so tightly that they were creaking and groaning. How could this have happened? Even now, she still couldn''t believe the situation that she was in. All of a sudden, her body disintegrated into countless tendrils of Yin energy that fled toward the door.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he made a grabbing motion, and the tendrils of Yin energy fell away like ink, following which a stark white soul was grabbed out of the mass of Yin energy.

    "ARRRRGH!!!" Teana let loose a blood-curdling howl before begging for her life. "Spare me, Your Excellency! Please spare me! I''ve never eaten blood food in Cathay! I..."

    Her howls were drowned out as her soul was drawn into theher fire before vanishing after just a faint ripple. Immediately thereafter, the Yin energy in the entire prayer chamber silently vanished, and "Teana" emerged from the room.

    "What a hideous body this is." It was Qin Ye''s voice that came out of Teana''s mouth as he examined his new form. "Having said that, this is quite a nice ce."

    This was a paradise for evil ghosts, all of whom had no less blood on their hands than Chu Renmei. Perhaps this ce alone would be enough to supply all of the troops required for his Dusk Legionnaire.

    "All of the other ghosts can die as well..."

    He flicked a finger through the air, and two messenger birds flew out, one of which was headed for Qin Hui, and the other for Su Daji.

    The message that they were bearing was that every single person in this city was to be killed!

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and his brows furrowed slightly as he curled a finger, upon which the Yin energy that sealed the door shut instantly vanished. The door was opened, and a skeletal nun immediately bowed as she stood in the doorway. "Madam Teana, you have an appointment with Mr. Jason in an hour. Would you like to set off now?"

    Teana had been forced into the Dusk Legionnaire, and currently, her sentience was still intact, so there was no way that he could release her. Qin Ye did his best to replicate her regal and prim mannerisms as he replied, "Scratch the appointment for me."

    "But Madam Teana..." The skeletal nun said in a hesitant voice, "This is a meeting on The Mirage, and strictly speaking, it can''t be missed..."

    "Scratch it," Qin Ye repeated in an indifferent voice as he opened Teana''s hand fan.

    "Alright..." The skeletal nun turned to depart in a reluctant manner, yet just as she was about to close the door, Qin Ye suddenly stopped her.

    "Wait!"

    "Madam Teana?"

    Qin Ye stared directly at the wall, and just now, a thought had urred to him. It was something extremely important, and it allowed him to tie all of the avable leads together, but it passed through his mind so fast, like lightning, that he was only able totch onto some indistinct morsels of information.

    The Mirage... Mirage City... The seabed... A terrifying thought began to take shape in his mind, and he abruptly raised his head as he eximed, "It''s him!"

    "Madam Teana?"

    Qin Ye immediately rose to his feet as he inspected his surroundings in a worked-up manner. "Could it really be him? Could he be the true owner of the Peach Blossom Spring?"

 Chapter 835: Meeting Between Evil Ghosts (1)

    <h4>Chapter 835: Meeting Between Evil Ghosts (1)</h4>

    "Madam Teana?" the skeletal nun called out in a puzzled voice.

    Qin Ye turned to her with an intense gaze and asked, "The Mirage... It''s a ship, right?"

    "Yes..."

    "How far away from Cathay''s Wuyang Port is Mirage City?"

    "Roughly 150 nautical miles, Madam Teana."

    Crack... The hand fan in Qin Ye''s grasp was abruptly reduced to dust as he rose to his feet. "Lead the way there!"

    The Mirage... Could it really be him?

    The carriage sped along the street, while Qin Ye inspected his surroundings with a meaningful gaze.

    By the time he emerged from the church, a carriage drawn by a pair of skeletal horses was already waiting for him at the entrance. This was a ssic carriage constructed in an antiquated Europa style, and he had no idea where they had obtained it from. Its surface was gold-ted and etched withplex patterns, and there were four skulls hanging around it, within which greenhermes were burning.

    After Qin Ye stepped into the carriage, it quickly set off. He swept the curtain aside, and the city that had been hidden from Hell for thousands of years finally appeared before his eyes.

    Nethermes and Yin energy were extremely abundant here, interspersed between the buildings constructed in the style of the Qin and Han Dynasties. They were all high-tform buildings, and there were two intersecting pebble streets that split up the city into sections. There were also countless smaller streets that divided the city up in an even more detailed manner.

    All types of buildings lined the streets, most of which weren''t very tall. Strangely enough, despite the fact that these buildings were all situated on the seabed, thereby making them perfect habitats for coral, seaweed, and other marine creatures, there was not a single marine life form to be seen.

    Thus far, Qin Ye had seen at least 1,000 soldiers on the streets. They were d in crude suits of armor, and these people weren''t living beings, nor were they even Yin spirits. Instead, they were zombies!

    Their bodies had already be extremely bloated from being soaked in the seawater, but they were still slowly patrolling the city with weapons in their hands. It was clear that there was only one person who could''ve been capable of creating this army of zombies, it had to have been the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring, the true mastermind behind the tragedy of the Huang n''s earthen building. He was currently the world leader when it came to research in the Taisui fungus, and he was even able to transform the Taisui fungus into bioweapons.

    This was someone who had to die!

    Qin Ye repressed the killing intent in his heart as he quickly cast his gaze toward the center of the city. ording to the construction style of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the most important building had to be at the center of the city, and it was most likely to be the private chamber of the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring.

    As he cast his gaze toward the distance, where the seabed was dimly lit byherfire, a ship appeared in his field of view.

    The ship was several dozen meters tall and several hundred meters in length. ck gs hanging from the ship were swaying in the current of the sea, and the ship was split up into four levels. From bow to stern, the entire ship was designed to be a massive storied house. Many windows and doors could be seen, and in front of each door hung a bright redntern. There were thousands of carcasses floating around the ship, lingering around it like lost spirits.

    This was a louchuan.

    These things existed as far back as 500 BC, but in the subsequent dynasties, they mysteriously vanished, and only in image albums could these extraordinary masterpieces of carpentry be seen.

    The bow of the ship was square and angr, and on the metal casing covering the bow was inscribed the word "Mirage"!

    Qin Ye stared intently at the word, and the theory in his mind became more and more substantiated. Many of the leads were finally connected, guiding his thought process to the truth.

    The Mirage was a ship that actually existed in history, and it was an extremely renowned ship.

    The owner of the ship was Xu Fu!

    This was the ship that Xu Fu had sailed in on hisst voyage!

    Many of the puzzle pieces began to click into ce in Qin Ye''s mind...

    He recalled that snippet in Bu Wantian''s memory, where the man had said, "I wanted to prepare the most ceremonious wee for you, but the true body of this boat sank around 1,000 years ago in the sea roughly 150 nautical miles east of here. At this point, it''s most likely already be a paradise for fish, so I must beg your forgiveness for this subpar wee."

    150 nautical miles... The distance from Eastmount Province to Nagasaki was 800 kilometers, which was roughly 400 nautical miles. 150 nautical miles was close to 300 kilometers, so it was still some way away from Nagasaki. However, not far away from here was an ind by the name of Jeju-do.

    In Cathayan history, many ces recorded Jeju-do as Mount Peni, which was considered to be one of the four immortal mountains, and was the final destination for Xu Fu''sst voyage in search of the elixir of immortality.

    In response to his question, the skeletal nun''s reply was that this ce was roughly 150 nautical miles away from Cathay, which was exactly where the man''s ship had sunk ording to what he had told Bu Wantian!

    Qin Ye''s hands balled up into tight fists as he stared intently at The Mirage. What if The Mirage had sunk here all those years ago? What if that man was none other than Xu Fu himself?

    He had told Bu Wantian the approximate location where his ship had sunk, yet at this site was the shipwreck of a vastly renowned ship in Cathayan history, The Mirage!

    "So The Mirage sank after all," Qin Ye mused as he looked on with aplex expression. As soon as this name appeared, everything became clear to him.

    Xu Fu had an extremely exhaustive understanding of the Taisui fungus, which was a medicine of immortality, the very thing he had been pursuing at the emperor''s behest.

    In Bu Wantian''s memories, all of Xu Fu''s servants had been children. During hisst voyage, Xu Fu had taken with him 3,000 children. Just like the residents of the Huang n''s earthen building, all of those children had been turned into zombies to serve him for the rest of eternity!

    The other factor that really sealed the deal for Qin Ye was his cultivation rank. If there were anyone in the mortal realm who could reach the Yama-King level, then it had to be him!

    Having lived for over 2,000 years and outlived close to 20 dynasties, even a pig would be able to reach this level.

    Finally, there was the style and aesthetic preference.

    The style of the Qin and Han Dynasties permeated through everything! Thus, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring and the city on the giant beast''s back, two seeminglypletely unrted things were connected together in this instant, forming a perfect loop.

    Qin Ye pursed his lips as countless thoughts raced through his mind, examining his own thought process for any potential errors. Was there still a chance that this could all still just be a coincidence? As he thought deeper and deeper, he suddenly realized something else.

    To the east of Jeju-do were the Nagasaki Inds of Nippon. In the ancient past, these inds were known as the Nine State Inds.

    In the Nine State Inds was a ce that the Nipponese considered to be a forbidden area, which was Kumano County.

    Kumano County was renowned as the burial site of the three warring generals that the Nipponese people were most proud of, namely Dairokuten Maou Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Uesugi Kenshin. At the same time, these three were virtually single-handedly keeping half of the ACG industry alive in Nippon by providing an endless well of source material.

    However, there was also another mysterious ce in Kumano County known as the Xu Fu Landing Point!

    There were many legends surrounding Xu Fu circting in the area. He was renowned as the god of medicine and agriculture in Nippon, and there were even many shrines dedicated to worshipping him in the inds of Nagasaki. This was also one of the pieces of evidence that Xu Fu hadnded in Nippon during his final voyage.

    In Nippon, there was an ancient book called by the name of Miyashita Monjo, within which was recorded a story of Xu Fu''s voyage to the east. ording to this book, Xu Fu had seven sons who were all given the surname of Fu . Xu Fu sent his seven sons to all parts of Nippon, and they produced their own descendants, all with the same surname, such as Ai Fukuhara.

    Qin Ye gently tapped the window with his fingers, and his expression hadpletely darkened. The Mirage was a ship that had been granted to Xu Fu by the first emperor of Cathay, and so long as the ship continued to exist, Xu Fu would have to present its g wherever he went.

    However, that wouldn''t be the case if the ship ceased to exist.

    So where was the ship? It was right beneath their feet! It was the current Mirage City!

    The legends from thousands of years ago were matching up perfectly with the events unfolding in the present day! From the very beginning, Xu Fu had revealed his own name and the truth behind The Mirage through Bu Wantian''s memories!

    "It looks like there are still many things hidden under the mysterious veil of history..." Qin Ye leaned back against his seat in the carriage as he began to quickly analyze everything. "Xu Fu really did find the medicine of immortality, and perhaps it wasn''t far away from Jeju-do! That was the Taisui fungus! He survived and reached Nippon once again, but The Mirage had already been destroyed, so there were no records in Nippon of a second visit from The Mirage, but there was a second visit from Xu Fu without The Mirage! No matter how I think about it, he''s the only possible culprit!"

    It can only be him... Only he could''ve developed such a thorough understanding of the Taisui fungus as he had over 2,000 years to study it! Only he could''ve reached the Yama-King level under seemingly impossible circumstances through sheer umtion over time!

    It could only be him as he had been to Nippon in the past. There was a good chance that even Izanami was familiar with him, and it was exactly due to his familiarity with the powers in the eastern territorial sea of Cathay that he was able to found Mirage City, this prison for evil ghosts.

    With that in mind, a cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. Due to the obstruction posed by the Array of the Nine Gods, the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t managed to discover this ce. However, this location was not far away from Jeju-do, so it was far away from Cathay''s territorial sea, so was he expected to believe that the Nipponese Underworld had also failed to discover it? What excuse did they have? They didn''t have an array to obstruct them!

    In that case, why hadn''t the Nipponese Underworld eradicated this ce? Not only that, but it had even sent one of its three ghostly deities, Otakemaru, to this seabed city.

    Qin Ye really wanted to deny all of this somehow. This was an immortal who had lived in the cracks of history for over 2,000 years. How much knowledge and power had he umted during this time? Qin Ye didn''t want to think about that. However, the more he wanted to deny all of this, the more it screamed out at him and made itself undeniable.

    Right at this moment, another memory urred to him.

    Oda Nobutada had once said that Tamamo-no-Mae, Shuten-d¨­ji, and Otakemaru were evil ghosts that ranked below only ck Yaksha and Crow Tengu in power. How was it possible for evil ghosts that were so immensely powerful to be treated like any other evil ghosts and branded as fugitives?

    The presence of Otakemaru in this ce was a clear sign that there was somemunication taking ce between Mirage City and the Nipponese Underworld!

    In the absence of Emissaries of Hell, who could''ve possibly established this link between the two powers?

    No matter how inept Izanami was, she was still a death goddess who had lived for over 1,000 years, and the only thing preventing her from reaching the Yama-King level was the limitednd area and poption of her nation. Even an Abyssal Prefect from the mortal realm most likely wouldn''t even be a match for her, let alonemunicate with her as equals.

    The only person who could''ve facilitated this link between Mirage City and the Nipponese Underworld had to have been Xu Fu himself.

    "We''ve arrived, Madam Teana." Right at this moment, a voice rang out from outside the carriage, and Qin Ye set aside this train of thought for now as he cast aplex gaze outside.

    Xu Fu was far from a heinous character in Cathayan history, but he was an extremelyplex one. Never did Qin Ye think that he would have to go up against the first renowned cultivator and first voyager in Cathayan history.

    "You may have gotten away with your crimes for over 2,000 years, but it''s time for you to pay the price now..." Qin Ye murmured to himself as he slowly emerged from the carriage. "No one can escape King Yanluo''s decree of death!"

    "Madam Teana." As soon as Qin Ye emerged, an eerie voice rang out beside him. "Please follow me, we''ve been waiting for you for quite some time now."

    Qin Ye turned toward the evil ghost who had spoken in an elegant manner, and just a single nce was enough to make theherfire in his eyes flicker slightly.

    This was someone he was familiar with, not in person, but it was someone he had seen in far too many films. His name was renowned across the entire world and was the fuel of nightmares for countless people.

    It was a man in a small leather cap, wearing a leather jacket. His head was slightly raised to reveal his face, which was riddled with scars from untreated burns. What was most eye-catching about him was his hands. On each of his fingertips was fitted a sharp metal w.

    He was the serial killer who was renowned across Europa and Usonia, ranking alongside the likes of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees as one of the four most feared evil ghosts in the western world. He was an even more horrifying character than the Grady Twins in "The Shining".

    The man was Freddy Krueger!

    [1] [A louchuan is a type of traditional Chinese ship that resembles a floating fortress. If you would like to see what one looks like, search louchuan in Google images.]

    [2] [Xu Fu was an ancient Chinese alchemist and explorer, serving as court sorcerer during the Qin Dynasty. He was sent off on multiple voyages at the behest of the emperor at the time to find the elixir of life, and on the final one of those voyages, he never returned.]

    [3] [Keeping in mind that the format of Chinese names is surname followed by first name, rather than first name followed by surname as is the case in English. Hence, Xu Fu''s surname is actually Xu, but he made his first name the surname of all of his sons, and that''s obviously notmon practice.]

    [4] [This is a joke by the author. Ai Fukuhara is a Japanese table tennis yer who is very popr in China as she often trains with the Chinese national team, has a likeable personality, and speaks fluent Chinese. Her first name in Kanji (quick reminder that Kanji is essentially derived from Chinese) is ¸£Ô­°®, and the ¸£ in her name is pronounced fuku in Japanese, but is the same fu character in the name of Xu Fu. The reason that this is obviously a joke is that her surname is Fukuhara (¸£Ô­), not Fuku or Fu (¸£).]

 Chapter 836: Meeting Between Evil Ghosts (2)

    <h4>Chapter 836: Meeting Between Evil Ghosts (2)</h4>

    Beside Freddy stood around a dozen other individuals who were also wearing leather jackets and metal-tipped ws. However, all of them were wearing white masks, and they were extending bows in unison in an inviting gesture toward Qin Ye. Behind them was a tall staircase that was lined with around a dozen more evil ghosts in leather jackets, as well as rows of antiquated Cathayan ptialnterns that were burning withherfire, presenting quite an intimidating sight to behold.

    He''s a nascent Abyssal Prefect... Qin Ye was able to determine this with just a single nce. It seemed that the Usonian Witch Hunter Association was quite powerful to have been able to drive such a fearsome evil ghost to the Peach Blossom Spring. After all, an Abyssal Prefect could already be considered to be a high-grade underworld emissary. The death gods of the Usonian Underworld were on the verge of death, so they certainly didn''t have the spare time and energy to focus on disciplining their subordinate evil ghosts.

    He gave a slight nod and was just about to make his way toward the staircase when Freddy suddenly reached out with a hand.

    The meaning behind this gesture was very clear. He was a gentleman, and he was extending a hand toward the madam in ordance with gentlemanly etiquette.

    Thus, Qin Ye had to put his delicate and frail hand onto his metal ws. Freddy held his hand out before him for several seconds, and after receiving no response, he looked up with a slightly taken aback expression. "Madam Teana?"

    A trembling skeletal hand was ced onto his sharp ws, and Freddy extended a gentlemanly bow before giving the back of the skeletal hand a gentle kiss. "Your skin seems to be finer and smoother every time I see you, Madam Teana."

    Qin Ye''s entire body immediately stiffened upon hearing this.

    He stared intently at Freddy as thehermes in his eyes flickered erratically, and only after several seconds did he reply, "I don''t have skin! You should beplimenting me by saying my bones are whiter every time you see me! Thank you!"

    He then abruptly withdrew his hand and made her way toward the staircase alone without even turning his head once. Of course, as he did so, he didn''t forget to pick up his skirt while sticking up his pinkie fingers. He was a professional actor, and he wasn''t about to let himself down here!

    "Madam Teana." Freddy followed along behind her like a wraith as he said with a smile, "Just a friendly reminder that there is an extremely important figure present today, and he''s most likely already grown rather impatient from waiting, so I would advise you not to go against him."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything in response. He was afraid that he wouldn''t be able to repress the urge to erase this heinous evil ghost out of existence. He gritted his teeth as he was led to the entrance of the building by Freddy, and as soon as she arrived, the door immediately swung open.

    This was a small side hall, and there were currently eight evil ghosts seated in it.

    The seat directly to the left of the main seat was upied by an advanced Infernal Judge wearing a white metal mask with a head of disheveled blond hair. His figure was very burly and imposing, and he was dressed in an impable suit.

    This was Michael Myers, one of Usonia''s four most feared evil ghosts.

    Seated further down the table from him was a Yin spirit wearing a metal mask and a set of bloodstained overalls. His eyes were visible through his mask, but there were no eyeballs to be seen, only a pair of ck holes. Just like Freddy Krueger, he was also a nascent Abyssal Prefect.

    This Yin spirit was Jason Voorhes, also known as ck Friday, ranking among the top two of the four most feared evil ghosts in Usonia.

    After him was a tall and broad man wearing a mask made from human skin. His hair was just as disheveled as that of Michael Myers, and his facial features were extremely twisted, making it look as if some type of monster were constantly on the verge of bursting out from behind his human skin mask.

    This Yin spirit was Leatherface, an advanced Infernal Judge.

    With Freddy Krueger also present beside Qin Ye, all four of the most feared evil ghosts in Usonia were gathered here! Who would''ve ever thought that these four heinous individuals would be present just outside of the Cathayan Underworld''s territorial sea?

    The killing intent that Qin Ye had only just managed to repress immediately welled up in his heart again. He cast his gaze toward the right to discover that the main seat was upied by a handsome blond man. He was wearing noble attire from the Middle Ages, and if it weren''t for the sharp fangs that were revealed when he smiled, Qin Ye would''ve struggled to identify him for what he was.

    This was a vampire, and he was at least a Count.

    Seated right next to him was a human wearing a long ck robe.

    It was a woman with reddish-brown hair and a set of beautiful features, but what caught Qin Ye''s attention was the fact that she was giving off advanced Infernal Judge level true energy fluctuations!

    This woman was a ck witch.

    After her came a burly dark-skinned man, and he also wasn''t a Yin spirit. He was giving off an extremely strong odor of blood and gore, yet he was wearing a pristine and immacte suit, presenting a rather paradoxical sight. Just a single nce was enough to tell Qin Ye that this man was certainly no saint.

    Not only were there Yin spirits here, there were also vampires and ck witches from the Middle Ages. All of the most putrid existences in the world were gathered here! He took a deep breath before casting his gaze toward the evil ghost upying the main seat.

    It was a Nipponese evil ghost.

    His face was quite thin and gaunt, and there was a pair of horns growing on his forehead. He was wearing a suit of antiquated Nipponese ¨­-yoroi, and his eyes werepletely pitch-ck with no white sections whatsoever. His skin was deathly pale, and there were some scarlet marks etched over its surface.

    He was only an advanced Infernal Judge, yet he was upying the main seat in this meeting when there were several evil ghosts present that were more powerful than him. This was virtually undeniable proof that the Peach Blossom Spring was coborating with the Nipponese Underworld.

    In that case, was it possible that the Nipponese Underworld already knew the truth about the Array of the Nine Gods?

    Had they managed to sneak a peek at the rift in the array with permission from the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring? Just this thought alone further exacerbated the killing intent in Qin Ye''s heart.

    He sat down in silence next to the burly dark-skinned man.

    "Greetings, everyone." After Qin Ye and Freddy took their seats, the evil ghost upying the main seat stood up and said, "Now that everyone''s here, allow me to make a self-introduction, although some of you may have heard about me before. I am one of the three ghostly deities of the Nipponese Underworld, Otakemaru. In contrast with other underworlds, there is no distinction between ghosts and demons. Currently, I have the honor of serving as one of the two stand-in mayors of Mirage City."

    No one said anything, and Otakemaru continued, "Currently, there are a total of 78 wanted evil ghosts in Mirage City, yet only those of us present here in this room can be truly referred to as evil ghosts..."

    "I think you have some type of misinterpretation toward the concept of evil ghosts," the brte woman countered in a cold voice, "You should know that I serve only his Excellency, Lord Satan, I have no interest in the worlds of souls and spirits."

    "But you''re still sitting here today, aren''t you?" the vampire said with a smile. "The wording is only semantics, there''s no need for you to be worked up, Madam Talina."

    He then turned to everyone else with a smile and continued, "The fact that everyone is gathered here means that we''ve already agreed with Mr. Otakemaru''s proposal. At a time like this, shouldn''t we be working together for the greater good? Why start needless quarrels in rtion to pedantic details that don''t really matter?"

    "My thoughts exactly." Otakemaru released his Yin energy without any reservation as he licked his lips with his bright red forked tongue. He then said in a raspy voice, "My master is very interested in my n, so I was granted some assistance. Through the assistance granted to me by my master, we''ll be able to travel along the trade route leading to the Cathayan Underworld to reach the Array of the Nine Gods!"

    Theherfire in Qin Ye''s eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this, and all of the evil ghosts present fell silent.

    All of them had massive bounties on their heads, and all of them wanted to return to their native soil.

    Right at this moment, Qin Hui''s voice suddenly rang out beside Qin Ye''s ears. "My Lord, we''ve already tracked your Yin energy and arrived near the city that you''re currently situated in. All we need is 10 minutes to prepare before weunch an all-out assault."

    "Hold on!" Qin Ye opened his hand fan and covered his own mouth with it as he replied in the quietest of voices, "Wait for my orders, no one is allowed to do anything until I say so!"

    There was one thing that had been bothering him this entire time.

    Throughout his time here, he hadn''t detected any Yama-King level auras.

    The one who posed the biggest threat to him in this Mirage City was none other than Xu Fu, who was in possession of the Judgment Pen. There was no way that he wasn''t residing somewhere in Mirage City. The city was extremely close to the Cathayan Underworld, and all of these powerful evil ghosts were constantly plotting trips to the Array of the Nine Gods, so there was no way he would leave thempletely unsupervised.

    As such, Qin Ye couldn''t strike right away. What he wanted was to wipe out everyone, including Xu Fu, and if he were to strike too early, he would only startle Xu Fu into fleeing. All those who could''ve possibly seen the Array of the Nine Gods had to die, and he would rather kill innocents than allow those who had seen the Array of the Nine Gods to slip through the cracks!

    However, the troops that he had brought with him wouldn''t be enough to aplish this. Never did he think that there would be three or four Abyssal Prefects in this city alone, as well as an unknown number of Infernal Judges. He had only brought 10,000 troops with him, and that wasn''t enough to ensure that no one escaped.

    If he was going to strike, then he was going to make it count and not let anyone escape.

    At the same time, there was another question that had to be answered.

    The master that Otakemaru had been referring to... Was it Izanami? Or perhaps Susanoo-no-Mikoto?

    What were they intending to do?

    This was an opportunity for him to ascertain whether the Nipponese Underworld had learned about the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods, and for him to assess just how deep the ties between the Nipponese Underworld and the Peach Blossom Spring ran. Of course, he could capture Otakemaru and search his soul, but that wasn''t possible under the current circumstances. On top of that, Izanami had already been stung before, so surely she had learned her lesson, and there was a chance that she would''ve ced some restrictions on Otakemaru''s soul.

    The opportunity was sitting right in front of him, and he didn''t want to let it slip. He set down his hand fan, only to discover that everyone was looking at him.

    "Do you have a question, Madam Teana?" Otakemaru asked.

    Qin Ye''s mind was racing as he scrambled for a question to ask. "I''m just wondering how you''re going to keep the mayor from finding out about this."

    Otakemaru chuckled, "If you were doing this alone, he would definitely ''find out'', but with me involved, he won''t ''find out''."

    The implication behind his words was very clear.

    Perhaps others may not have caught onto these implications, but they were clear as day to Qin Ye. There was no way that the Nipponese Underworld hadn''t contributed to the construction of Mirage City here. This was the high sea, and under these circumstances, where the Cathayan Underworld was shut off from the rest of the world, there was no way that Xu Fu would''ve been able to construct such a massive city by himself.

    Where was theboring from?

    Where were the resourcesing from?

    In exchange for this assistance, Xu Fu had to let some things slide and grant the representatives of the Nipponese Underworld differential treatment, and this was one of those instances.

    "Then I''m even more curious," Qin Ye mused as he gently pped his hand fan. "The mayor is a Duke, yet he isn''t going to help us. How are we supposed to get to the Array of the Nine Gods by ourselves? This is the seabed, in order to get to the Array of the Nine Gods, we must possess Duke level power. The only other alternative would be for the mayor to lend us his origin Yin artifact. If we don''t have either of those things, how will we be able to track down the route taken by the merchants of the Cathayan Underworld and reach the Array of the Nine Gods?"

    It had to be said that Qin Ye really did have exceptional talent when it came to acting.

    He had no idea why Otakemaru had summoned all of these formidable evil ghosts for this meeting, yet he was able to think on the fly and find a point of breakthrough. Furthermore, he was raising a hidden question that had to be answered, which was "why isn''t the mayor participating in this? Is he not here in the city or is it because of some other reason?"

    If he''s not here, then the Asura Legion and the Hungry Ghost Legion will reduce this ce to a true seabed graveyard! Qin Ye thought to himself as thehermes in his eyes flickered slightly.

    Otakemaru took a meaningful look at Qin Ye and replied, "Your impression of the mayor is still from that time he came to Mirage City and quelled the unrest here, right? However, that was not the mayor."

    He swept his gaze across everyone present and dered, "That was the owner of the entire Peach Blossom Spring, and he doesn''t reside in this city. What''s going on with you today, Teana? Don''t you know that this Mirage City is only one of the Peach Blossom Spring''s twin cities? The true location of the Peach Blossom Spring is on the untraceable Fantasy City, and even I don''t know where that city is. Hence, on this asion, we won''t have a Duke to assist us."

    Inky-ckhermes were finally ignited in his eyes as he continued with a hint of excitement and reverence in his voice, "Instead, we''ll be using the power of a true divine artifact! Everyone, prepare to worship the first divine artifact you''ve ever seen! It''s one of the three divine artifacts of the Nipponese Underworld, which has stood for over 1,000 years, and it will show us the way!"

    <i>Whoosh! </i> Yin energy abruptly descended upon the entire city like a massive wave.

    The seawater began to churn violently, and all of the Yin energy around Mirage City began to revolve rapidly, forming a terrifying vortex! The city was at the center of the vortex, and at the center of the center was an antiquated artifact formed by inky-ck Yin energy hovering in front of Otakemaru.

    "Illuminate all of the world''s secrets, Yata no Kagami!"

 Chapter 837: Divine Artifact, Yata no Kagami!

    <h4>Chapter 837: Divine Artifact, Yata no Kagami!</h4>

    The seawater churned and revolved violently, and boundless Yin energy began to converge as if it had been summoned to the artifact. In the blink of an eye, a pitch-ck vortex had taken shape behind Otakemaru, and it was releasing such violent power that it was causing his entire suit of armor to rise up around him.

    He stood with his arms crossed at the center as countless streaks of Yin energy twisted and warped together amid the anguished wails and ghastly howls of countless evil ghosts. Cracks were appearing on the ground around him, and the entire building began to creak and groan as if it were on the verge of copse. All of the evil ghosts present immediately rose to their feet as they observed Otakemaru with grim expressions.

    All of a sudden, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and the terrifying aura of asphyxiation in the air abruptly vanished. The Yin energy also faded, and an antiquated bronze mirror was revealed, cradled in Otakemaru''s arms.

    This was an artifact that had seen the passage of countless years, and it could be seen that it was constructed from bronze. It was giving off an indescribable aura that made all of the evil ghosts present extremely ufortable, and Qin Ye knew that this was the aura of a divine artifact. In this instant, he immediately came to realize that this was the real thing, not some replica or forgery!

    It was the real Yata no Kagami!

    The fact that the Nipponese Underworld was willing to unveil this divine artifact instantly set his mind racing again, and countless thoughts urred to him at once. Why? Why were they doing this?

    The only possible answer was that the Cathayan Underworld was changing too quickly, so quickly that the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring was feeling a sense of unease, and thus, he began to seek coboration. Without his express permission, how could the Yata no Kagami possibly have made its way into this ce?

    On the frame of the mirror were carved the two Nipponese gods, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, while the center of the mirror bore an image of Takamagahara. The entire mirror was clearly constructed from bronze, yet the reflections inside it were extremely clear.

    It wasn''t reflecting the things that one could physically see. Instead, it was reflecting the things inside one''s heart.

    "Is that the divine artifact, the Yata no Kagami?" Michael finally spoke, and his voice was extremely grim. His hand had already surreptitiously crept onto the hilt of the knife strapped to his waist.

    His voice was extremely unpleasant, reminiscent of a rusty knife grating against metal. Otakemaru nodded in response with a proud expression. "That''s right. This is a matter that concerns what was arguably the most powerful member of the four pirs, so I certainly don''t think it''s overkill to be bringing out the Yata no Kagami."

    Silence.

    After a long while, Talina finally broke the silence as she fixed an awe-struck gaze on the Yata no Kagami. "Never did I think that I would see an artifact of this caliber here. Of course, you''re very much correct to be taking these precautionary measures. Go ahead and tell us your n."

    Otakemaru turned the Yata no Kagami around so that it was facing himself, then ced the mirror down onto the table. He then returned to his seat, and the slightly deranged smile on his face faded as he said, "Let me ask you all a question: why have we traded with the smugglers from the Cathayan Underworld for so long? Is it for the Yin jade? We''re notcking in Yin jade. As I''m sure you''re all aware, the Emissaries of Hell are cautious to the extreme, and they refuse to trade anything with us aside from Yin jade, while we provide the route for them to reach us. All of them are putting their lives on the line, and if anything happens, they''ll all be killed without fail. When you look at it objectively, not only are we not benefitting much from this trade route, it makes it more likely for the location of our Mirage City to be exposed, so why has the Peach Blossom Spring continued to engage in this trade?"

    No one said anything.

    All of the evil ghosts present were Infernal Judges and Abyssal Prefects, and they were all wily old foxes.

    All of them knew the answer to this question. In order to facilitate this trade, a prerequisite had to be satisfied: one would have to be able to transport Yin jade from the Cathayan Underworld to Mirage City.

    In other words, they were able toe out, which meant that the Array of the Nine Gods wasn''t perfect!

    There was an opening in the array that everyone had thought was an impregnable fortress, and they were able toe out, so they were definitely able to go back in as well!

    As soon as they found out where this entry point was, all of them would be granted amnesty and permitted to return to their home soil.

    All of the evil ghosts in the room stared intently at Otakemaru, seemingly waiting for something. They knew that the fact that Otakemaru had brought out the Yata no Kagami was a clear indication that he was prepared toy all his cards on the table.

    Otakemaru smiled as he waved a hand through the air, and the Yata no Kagami flew over to Michael, who was seated directly to his left. He then said in a serious voice, "As I''m sure all of you have already figured out by now, the fact that I am one of the stand-in mayors of Mirage City as only an Infernal Judge clearly reflects the role that the Nipponese Underworld yed in the establishment of Mirage City. I am representing my master here in raising this proposal. If you want to join in on my n, then please inject your Yin energy into the Yata no Kagami. If you don''t want to participate, then I won''t force you."

    Michael''s hand was hovering above the surface of the Yata no Kagami, but he seemed to be quite hesitant. He took a wary nce at Otakemaru before asking, "Are you sure that if we track the smugglers back to the entry point in the array, there won''t be Emissaries of Hell waiting for us there in ambush? No Yin spirit in this world wants to make an enemy out of one of the four pirs."

    "I swear on the name of her Excellency, Lady Izanami, that you will encounter no such thing!" Otakemaru replied in a serious voice. "If you wish to join me, then show me through your actions now. I can tell you more about my n while you inject your Yin energy into the Yata no Kagami. However, let me make this clear..."

    Otakemaru made no attempt to hide his killing intent as he continued, "If anyone agrees to my n here but changes their mindter on, I''ll make sure they don''t leave this room alive!"

    Freddy dug his sharp ws into the table, leaving several deep scratches as a cold smile appeared on his face. "Are you threatening us? A mere Count like you?"

    In response, Otakemaru''s Yin energy erupted forth in full force, and at the same time, the Yata no Kagami revolved in mid-air, releasing a burst of Yin energy like a volcanic eruption to quell Freddy''s Yin energy. Otakemaru''s eyes were like a pair of cial pits as he glowered intently at Freddy. "That was not a threat, but you can interpret it as such if you like."

    His killing intent was like a tangible force that was permeating through the air, and no one said anything.

    After a full five minutes of tense silence, the vampire smiled and said, "Taking action against the Cathayan Underworld teeters more toward the realm of insanity and foolishness than bravery. However... I like it!"

    He pointed his chin in Michael''s direction and continued, "I''ve heard of you, big guy. If you don''t dare to inject your Yin energy into the mirror, then how about you hand it over to me?"

    "I''m willing to participate in this."

    "As am I. I''ve grown sick of living in this seabed prison long ago! I thirst for the blood of virgin women, I yearn for the feeling of slicing my de through a human''s neck... I''ll take part in your n!"

    "Heh, it''s been so long since Usonia has heard the name of Freddy Krueger that they may have already forgotten about me. I was once the stuff of nightmares, and I certainly don''t mind giving them a friendly reminder of those happy times!"

    Soon, everyone had expressed their willingness to take part in Otakemaru''s n, and Qin Ye was the only one who hadn''t spoken.

    Everyone turned to him with rapt attention, and Qin Ye shrugged as he said, "Why not?"

    "Fantastic!" Otakemaru made no effort to hide his joy. "Seeing as everyone''s agreed, we''re allies from now on. Come, inject your Yin energy into the Yata no Kagami! With this divine artifact bearing witness to our alliance, no one will be able to betray me. I can barely wait to inform my master of this!"

    Michael began to slowly inject his Yin energy into the mirror, and it took Otakemaru several seconds to calm himself down. "As I''m sure you''ve all figured out by now, the fact that we''re able to trade with the merchants of the Cathayan Underworld means that there has to be a way into their territory! If we can enter the Cathayan Underworld, we''ll be able to ascertain the exact current state of the Cathayan Underworld! Everyone, join me and you shall be liberated. Perhaps even the entire world will be transformed by our actions today! Everything that I''m about to say next is strictly confidential. Anyone who dares to leak this information will be hunted to all corners of the world by Amano-Iwato!"

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything, but his hands were already clenched into tight fists within his sleeves.

    He had thought that he was very smart, managing to fool the vast majority of underworlds in this world. He had thought that he was doing an excellent job of keeping the current state of the Cathayan Underworld a secret, but there were no idiots among the leaders of the underworlds.

    From the very beginning, all of the underworlds had been constantly trying to uncover the true state of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Otakemaru continued, "This route was discovered by chance by the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring. My apologies, but I cannot tell you his name. My master has theorized that this route was formed due to the impact from a divine artifact. The impact shattered a part of thews of heaven and earth, creating a trade route that even those below the Yama-King level could pass through. This means that something big must''ve happened in the Cathayan Underworld during the past century!"

    A thought suddenly urred to Qin Ye upon hearing this. What had created this route was the ink of the Judgment Pen!

    This was a result of the Laws of Yin-Yang Coaction. Specks of ink pursued by countless Yin spirits had appeared in the underworld, and this was reflected in the mortal realm as a seabed trade route that any Yin spirit could pass through. The rest of the puzzle was quite easy to piece together. The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring used this to his advantage, luring an Emissary of Hell into trading with the Peach Blossom Spring. It was an extremely venomous tactic. Perhaps others were oblivious to this, but as the ruler of a nation, he knew that the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring had to have discovered the Judgment Pen. After that, he had traveled in the opposite direction from the one that the Judgment Pen had flown from, and he had to have seen the condition of the Array of the Nine Gods. This was no idental discovery!

    Just as Otakemaru had said, he didn''t really benefit much from trading with the Emissaries of Hell. However, what he was searching for was not material gain, but information instead!

    The fact that merchants were able to constantly pass through meant that the rift had never closed! The real issue would be if they suddenly stopped being able to leave the Cathayan Underworld someday.

    This trade route was his trump card that he had been holding close to his own chest this entire time, searching for the right opportunity to y it, and that opportunity was now!

    "I heard that there was a change of administration in the Cathayan Underworld, and that a third King Yanluo has already been instated," Qin Ye said.

    Otakemaru cast a surprised nce toward "Teana" and replied, "That''s correct. From the Yin jade delivered to us by the Emissaries of Hell, we discovered that the third King Yanluo, Yanluo Qin, has already ascended to the throne. However, he''s hiding something from us!"

    His voice began to tremble slightly from excitement as he spoke. "The change in administration that took ce in the Cathayan Underworld definitely wasn''t a smooth one! In fact, it''s very likely that it was an extremely chaotic transition! Otherwise, why would a divine artifact have been flung so far out of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory?"

    He mmed a palm down onto the table as he continued, "Even the Array of the Nine Gods set up by the second King Yanluo was damaged, so the divine artifact had to have been sent flying with considerable force! I''m sure all of you are aware of what type of person the second King Yanluo is. Aside from the death gods of Usonia, who are on the brink of death, every death god from every underworld has suffered by his hands at one point or another! If we send low-grade emissaries into the Cathayan Underworld, there''s no way they''ll return. Only if we go in would it be possible to find out any meaningful information and return, and this is the only path for us to ess the Cathayan Underworld! In the past, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring forbade us from doing this, but now, with the inauguration of the third King Yanluo, he''s most likely changed his mind on this matter. This is a Yama-King level being we''re talking about here. Without his permission, do you think we''d be sitting here?"

    Michael had already finished injecting his Yin energy into the Yata no Kagami, and the mirror automatically flew over to Leatherface.

    "So what do we do?" ck Witch Talina finally spoke. "Do we trace the route back to the Cathayan Underworld? It sounds very simple, but there''s no way that the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring would take us there. I''m certain that he wants to use us to test the waters while he observes from the shadows. I don''t think there''s any chance that he''ll get involved. None of us know the identity of that Emissary of Hell. Apparently, he''s only agreed to trade Yin jade and nothing else, so he''s clearly cautious to the extreme. If we follow his subordinates and are discovered, he''ll most likely immediately cut off this trade route. In that case, we''ll have to try and trace the route ourselves through trial and error. How many Yin spirits will we have to sacrifice to aplish that? This deep in the sea, even the slightest misstep will result in a Yin spirit being pulverized by the immense water pressure. Don''t forget that I still possess a human body, so there''s no way I''m taking the risk."

    A cold smile appeared on Otakemaru''s face. "This is why I brought the Yata no Kagami!"

    He cast a scorching gaze toward the antiquated mirror and continued, "This mirror is able to see through all illusions, even a Yama-King wouldn''t be able to conceal themselves in its presence. Under its illumination, we''ll be able to know in advance if there are any Yin soldiers lying in wait to ambush us. Regardless of how well hidden the trade route is, we''ll be able to find it for sure. Does anyone else have any other questions?"

    No one said anything. Everyone was silently calcting this n''s chances of sess.

    Yes, it sounded very simple. The Yata no Kagami would show them the way, and all they had to do was follow it, and they would definitely find the site of the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods. If they were feeling brave, they could even venture into the Cathayan Underworld to gather information and see exactly what the current Cathayan Underworld was like. If they didn''t want to take the risk, then they could simply return.

    This information was already enough for them to be granted amnesty. It was information pertaining to a rift in the array that could allow entire teams of merchants to pass through, their native underworlds would definitely know what to do with this information.

    However, the problem was that they were facing the most powerful underworld, the Cathayan Underworld!

    This was a ce that was home to over 10 Yama-Kings, over 100 Abyssal Prefects, thousands of Infernal Judges, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the likes of the Harken, the Sixfold Ghost Kings, the 10 pces, the Aurogon... All of these names were vastly renowned across the entire world, and just the mere mention of them was enough to strike fear into one''s heart.

    Right at this moment, the Yata no Kagami arrived at the right half of the table.

    All of the evil ghosts on the left had already finished injecting their Yin energy into it.

 Chapter 838: Destroying the City (1)

    <h4>Chapter 838: Destroying the City (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye swept his gaze toward the side before quickly withdrawing it.

    This city was full of blood, sin, and desire. Every single evil ghost that resided here deserved to die 1,000 times over, and he didn''t want to let even a single one of them escape. This had nothing to do with a naive sense of justice. Instead, it was rted to the powers behind these evil ghosts.

    The underworlds were treating this ce as an outpost, and behind every single one of these evil ghosts stood an underworld. For thepletely unsubstantiated promise of amnesty, they were buzzing around like mosquitoes, constantly trying to burrow their way into the Cathayan Underworld.

    Under these circumstances, he would either have to constantly worry about these evil ghosts or eradicate all of them once and for all.

    He withdrew his gaze and narrowed his eyes slightly.

    If I''m going to strike, then I have to make it count. I can''t allow even a single one of them to escape. In that case, let me develop an understanding of the situation first. Perhaps some of the memories of these evil ghosts won''t have restrictions ced on them by death gods. In order to avoid prematurely rming them, I have to be careful...

    This one good quality that he had always possessed was his ability to learn from his mistakes. Perhaps he could make a mistake once, an example being the Hungry Ghost Festival incident, but he would never make the same mistake a second time.

    He heaved a faint sigh, and he made no effort to keep his voice down, so he immediately attracted the attention of all of the evil ghosts present. Otakemaru raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is going on with you today, Teana? I''ve approached you on many asions in the past, and you''ve always given me ambiguous responses, but today..."

    He made his way over to Qin Ye and stared directly into his eyes. Yin energy was revolving within his inky-ck eye sockets as he licked his own bright red lips before continuing in a raspy voice, "You seem to be very expressive."

    His voice wasn''t very loud, it was like a sinister whisper from a roaming malicious spirit at midnight, carrying a sinister tone that sent chills running down one''s spine.

    "Are you displeased with my arrangements?" His neck elongated like a snake, extending out of his suit of armor. The skin concealed beneath the armor had already beenpletely torn apart, revealing countless meridians and deathly pale skinless flesh. His head circled around Qin Ye''s head like a python that was about to strangle its prey as he whispered into Qin Ye''s left ear, "Or are you unhappy with this operation altogether? I already told you that once you decide to take part in this n, there''s no turning back. If you dare to change your mind, you will be incurring the wrath of everyone present, so I''d advise you to think carefully about this, Madam Teana."

    He withdrew his neck, and Qin Ye raised his skeletal head asherfire shed within his eyes. "You''re wrong. It''s exactly because I approve of this n that I''m being so picky."

    "Oh?" Otakemaru raised an eyebrow in an expressionless manner.

    Qin Ye continued, "Today, I got an Emissary of Hell to speak to me."

    The vampire''s hand suddenly stiffened as it hovered over the surface of the Yata no Kagami, and he immediately turned to look at Qin Ye, as did all of the other evil ghosts.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to them as he continued in a grim voice, "The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring hasn''t entered the Cathayan Underworld before."

    "How do you know that?" Talina asked.

    "Because there are no records," Qin Ye replied, making things up on the fly. "Perhaps you''re skeptical and think that there''s no way that an Emissary of Hell who isn''t even a Netherworld Operative would know anything. However, these seemingly insignificant Emissaries of Hell are actually brilliant sources of information. The Emissary of Hell that I spoke to was a clerk. He didn''t tell me exactly what type of clerk he was, but his job was to archive and record documents, and all documents had to pass through him. He made it very clear that there were no signs of high-grade underworld emissaries entering the Cathayan Underworld''s territorial sea near Eastmount Province. The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring is a Duke. That clerk may not be able to detect him, but surely the Cathayan Underworld would react to a Yama-King entering their territorial sea. At the very least, a Yama-King would be deployed to the scene. However..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "There have been no signs of any disturbances near Eastmount Province for the past few years."

    Otakemaru remained silent with an indifferent expression, while the vampire slowly withdrew his hand from the Yata no Kagami as he asked with a smile, "What does that have to do with our n?"

    Indeed, all they had to do was use the Yata no Kagami to illuminate the route that the merchants of the Cathayan Underworld had taken. As for whether they would actually enter the Cathayan Underworld through the Array of the Nine Gods, it was most likely the case that they wouldn''t. After all, news of the location of the rift in the array would already be enough to grant them amnesty.

    Of course this had nothing to do with the n, Qin Ye was just stalling for time! However, he obviously couldn''t admit that...

    "It has everything to do with this n!" Qin Ye rose to his feet with a cold smile and intentionally paused for a few seconds, as if to build suspense, but in reality, he was rapidly scrambling for what to say next.

    How could he connect this false story of his to the n?

    After around 10 seconds of silence, Otakemaru''s voice rang out as if from the very depths of the abyss. "I don''t like people who make unsubstantiated ims."

    He slowly drew his two legendary des, Daitsuren and Shotsuren, and they shed through the seawater in a beautiful arc. "You really are acting extremely strange today, Madam Teana. The Yata no Kagami has trembled quite a few times already during this meeting. This is a sign that it''s sensing danger, and on every single one of those asions, the danger it sensed hase from you! This hasn''t happened even once in the past few centuries, so I hope you can give me an exnation."

    "Danger? From me?" Qin Ye asked in a calm manner, and he finally found a way to connect his story with this n.

    "In that case, I''m even more confident in my own judgment now," he said as he slowly raised his head. "In the past, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring strictly prohibited us from going to the Cathayan Underworld, isn''t that right?"

    This wasmon knowledge among all of the evil ghosts in the city.

    "So why is it that he''s changed his mind now? He discovered this seabed trade route and established contact with the Emissaries of Hell, which means that he wants something from the Cathayan Underworld. However, all he''s done is maintain this trade route without taking any further steps and that''s self-contradictory."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a hint of red appeared in Otakemaru''s inky-ck eye sockets, and he interjected, "That''s not difficult to understand. The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring has lived for over 2,000 years, and he''s established his own nation here on the seabed. Even though he''s never directly provoked the Cathayan Underworld, establishing his own territory would still be seen as treason by the Cathayan Underworld''s ruler, and that is entirely uneptable. Thus, he wouldn''t dare and can''t return to the Cathayan Underworld. He doesn''t want to gain anything from the Cathayan Underworld, but with such a threatening powerhouse so close to him, he has to gather some trump cards. Hence, he grabbed ahold of this opportunity, which has been presented by the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods! Even though the merchants from the Cathayan Underworld never say anything, their presence tells him everything. As long as they can continue to arrive here, it shows that the rift continues to exist! This is the ultimate self-preservation trump card for the Peach Blossom Spring. After all, the other three pirs would most definitely be very interested in this rift! With this information, he could seek out political refuge at any time. Perhaps you would ask why he didn''t establish a city elsewhere. That''s a very simple question to answer: establishing the city near one of the four pirs is an extremely potent form of protection. It''s a double-edged sword. If the city were to be discovered by the Cathayan Underworld, then he would be executed for treason, but at the same time, no one would dare to attack a city so close to one of the four pirs. All he had to do was spread a false rumor that the Cathayan Underworld gave permission for him to establish the Peach Blossom Spring here, and it''s be a safe haven for all of us. Now then, do you have anything else to say, Teana? Spencer! Give her the Yata no Kagami!"

    The vampire smiled as he passed the Yata no Kagami over to "Teana" in silence. Everyone''s attention was focused on Qin Ye. Michael''s hand was already resting on the hilt of his knife, while Jason had ced his hands under the table. A bloodthirsty smile appeared on Freddy''s face, and he licked his own metal ws, while the vampire also bared his fangs in a menacing disy.

    Qin Ye remained calm and said, "So why is it that he never traced this route in the past, but is getting us to do it now? Do you still not understand? There''s a very good chance that the Cathayan Underworld has already discovered this ce! Perhaps its army is marching toward this city right now, and if we travel to the Array of the Nine Gods, there''s a very good chance we''ll run headfirst into the regr army of the Cathayan Underworld!! Do you want to contend with the regr army of one of the four pirs?! Have you all gone insane?!"

    Deathly silence instantly settled over the room.

    Somehow, Qin Ye had managed to make his statements make logical sense, and Otakemaru lowered his head slightly as he heaved a silent sigh.

    Qin Ye''s words had been delivered with a tone of near-desperate urgency, and they were resonating in everyone''s hearts. He had a theory that this sudden decision to allow everyone to travel to the Array of the Nine Gods wasn''t due to any chance that had taken ce in the Cathayan Underworld. Instead, it was due to a change in the light tower in the mortal coil of Cathay in the mortal realm.

    The light tower in the mortal coil had been destroyed, and a wily old fox would definitely be fearful of whether it was the Cathayan Underworld that had discovered it. He knew that with the power of the Cathayan Underworld, it would definitely have a deep understanding of the light tower in the mortal coil, and he didn''t want to risk being found.

    Hold on... If that''s the case, then doesn''t that mean that the true Peach Blossom Spring can be found through the light tower in the mortal coil?

    The true Peach Blossom Spring wasn''t Mirage City. Instead, it was the paradise for evil ghosts that had hidden itself in the cracks of history for over 2,000 years!

    He made a mental note of this observation. Going along this train of thought, the abnormal actions being taken by the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring could be exined. He was afraid of the light tower in the mortal coil being discovered, so he wanted to abandon the passive stance he had adopted this entire time to seize the initiative and actively make use of this trump card.

    It¡¯s impossible not to leave traces in the path one has taken, and all of those traces have led to here, culminating in a breakthrough.

    After a full 10 minutes had passed, Otakemaru finally looked up and asked, "What do you think we should do then?"

    The tense atmosphere and killing intent in the room had already faded, and all of the evil ghosts were acting as if nothing had ever happened. Qin Ye adjusted his skirt in an elegant manner, looking as if he had performed the same gesture a million times in the past.

    The sword that he had been hiding this entire time could finally be drawn now.

    "I agree to take part in this operation. After all, I also want to be granted amnesty. However, what I don''t want is to be used as cannon fodder. Hence..."

    He looked straight into Otakemaru''s eyes and continued, "What rank is the other stand-in mayor at? I want him toe with us! The other stand-in mayor must be an extremely important subordinate to the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring. If anything happens to us, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring would be sure toe and save him, and perhaps we''ll also be saved as a result. After all, it would be very bad for him as well if we were to fall into the hands of Emissaries of Hell, isn''t that right?"

    Otakemaru stared at Qin Ye for a long time before replying with a smile, "That is indeed true. Once everyone has injected their Yin energy into the Yata no Kagami, I''ll take you all to see the other stand-in mayor. He''s an advanced Abyssal Prefect, and he almost never appears, but he''s always been in this city."

    "Is that right?" Talina mused as she injected her true energy into the Yata no Kagami. The surface of the mirror immediately rippled like the surface of ake before falling still again.

    "I''ve only ever received orders from him, yet I''ve never had a chance to see him. Is he a turtle? Why is he hiding in his shell all the time?"

    Qin Ye was very pleased to hear this.

    The fact that the other stand-in mayor was only an advanced Abyssal Prefect meant that there were no Yama-Kings in this city!

    "If we could get the city''s army toe with us, then that would be even better," he mused.

    Spencer was very amused to hear this. "There''s no way that would happen. There are at least close to 10 Marquess-level vengeful spirits in this city, what gives him the right to lead the army? In this city, power is everything. In any case, a so-called army of 30,000 zombies isn''t even enough to split between us. He has the support of the Peach Blossom Spring''s owner, so he has no need to rely on things like that."

    Qin Ye was even more pleased to hear this.

 Chapter 839: Destroying the City (2)

    <h4>Chapter 839: Destroying the City (2)</h4>

    Strangely enough, the killing intent that was on the verge of boiling over in his heartpletely subsided upon receiving this news.

    Before an oue was decided, one would be prone to emotional fluctuations due to the element of uncertainty that was still present. However, once everything was already decided, and the oue could no longer be changed, all that would be left would be a sense of triumph and calm confidence.

    He already knew what the oue was going to be, so why would he be nervous at all? All he had to do was enjoy the process of devouring this city.

    There were no Yama-Kings present, and only around 10 Abyssal Prefects and 30,000 troops in the city. In the face of Hell''s regr army, Su Daji, Qin Hui, and himself, there was no chance that anyone could escape from this city. This was also a perfect opportunity for him to test out his newfound powers as a Yama-King.

    Amid the spirited discussion, the Yata no Kagami flew over to him, and he took a close look at it. Those at or below the Abyssal Prefect level may not have been able to sense this, but as a Yama-King, he was able to detect an indescribable sense of pressure emanating from the mirror.

    This was something that even he found to be quite troublesome.

    <i>It seems like countless restrictions have been ced on the mirror. It''s going to be very difficult to take this with me... </i> He heaved an internal sigh, yet just as he was about to inject his Yin energy into the mirror, its surface suddenly rippled slightly. Immediately thereafter,yers of Yin energy surged over it in waves, and finally... his face was revealed.

    It wasn''t Teana''s skeletal face, it was Qin Ye''s actual face!

    Even a Yama-King level Emissary of Hell couldn''t disguise themselves in front of the Yata no Kagami!

    The entire room instantly fell deathly silent.

    Qin Ye looked up from the mirror before heaving a resigned sigh. The Yata no Kagami wasn''t reflecting anything before this. He had thought that it wouldn''t be able to see through the disguise of a Yama-King, or that Otakemaru didn''t possess sufficient power to use it, but in the end, he had been exposed anyway.

    The silence was absolutely deafening.

    Sitting beside him, Talina''s jaw had dropped straight to the ground as she stared at him with an astonished expression. Not far away, Spencer got up from his chair as if in slow motion, and his hands were noticeably trembling. Meanwhile, Otakemaru cast an incredulous gaze toward his own chest.

    Beneath his robe in front of his chest, there was something vibrating violently, as if it were trying to fly out of his chest.

    Whoosh! The vibrating object finally emerged, revealing itself to be a small copper bell. As soon as it appeared, the horrified scream of an elderly man immediately rang out. "Run!! Run!! Run for your lives!!"

    Have I been exposed?

    Qin Ye turned to the mirror with a surprised expression, and an inky-ck dagger had already appeared in Talina''s grasp before she thrust it toward him with all her might. Across the table, Freddy transformed into a ck shadow that pounced toward Qin Ye, emitting a sharp screech as he flew through the air. At the same time, Michael let loose an enraged roar as four arms tore through his suit in unison. Each hand was holding a knife that was giving off a cold gleam as they were thrust toward different vital regions all over Qin Ye''s body.

    All of the evil ghosts in the room had sprung into action. Spencer exploded into a colony of bats, blood began to gush out of Jason''s skin all over his body as he screeched and pounced toward Qin Ye, and Otakemaru wasshing out with Daitsuren and Shotsuren at blinding speeds. A thunderous boom rang out in the hall as a result of their disys of power, and countless cracks appeared all over the walls, floor, and ceiling, making it look as if the hall were about to copse at any moment.

    There were eight Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges present, and they were going all-out from the get-go. Talina was situated the closest to Qin Ye, yet right as she lunged toward him, a finger suddenly appeared on her forehead.

    She was already as fast as lightning, but the finger was even faster.

    She didn''t even see the finger move before it appeared in front of her forehead, as if it had been there all along. In the next instant, a sense of debilitating fear that welled up from the very core of her soul spread through her entire body, and she felt as if a vice had closed itself around her heart.

    ng... Everyone looked on as her dagger ttered onto the ground, and within the span of less than a second, she had aged significantly. The finger on her forehead was like an insurmountable mountain, and she was forced to her knees in its presence as she implored in a trembling voice, "Spare me... Please spare me..."

    Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing. All of them had been struck by a sense of extreme peril that forced them to a grinding halt.

    "Teana" smiled before making a grabbing motion, and Talina''s wizened body, which already resembled that of a 100-year-old woman, erupted intohermes and was burned to ashes in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, her soul fell into Qin Ye''s grasp, but it was only able to screech and howl for an instant before it vanished up Qin Ye''s sleeve.

    Dead silence.

    "This man... is a Duke!" Otakemaru''s mouth was gaped open as wide as it would go, and his eyes held nothing but shock and horror as his trembling legs gave out from under him, sending him toppling to the ground. "Y... You''re a Duke!!"

    BOOM!!

    In the next instant, a vast sea of Yin energy surged in all directions, and at the center of the Yin energy, Qin Ye''s figure was a little warped and indistinct, like a god that had descended from the heavens.

    "Please allow me to introduce myself, everyone. I am the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld, Yanluo Qin."

    At the same time, a messenger bird was sent out, carrying with it the order to eradicate this entire city!

    Terrifying waves of Yin energy instantly erupted out of the entire hall, destroying thevish room in the process. The Yin energy was likeyer uponyer of inky waves, stirring up the seabed and spreading in all directions to form a gigantic Yin energy ck hole that epassed the entire sky above Mirage City!

    All of a sudden, a woman wearing a waistcoat, a pair of bloomers, and a pair of high leather boots rushed out of a certain pce before looking up at the sky above Mirage City with an incredulous expression. Half of her body was perfect andplete, while the other half waspletely devoid of skin, revealing her flesh for all to see. The eyeball on the skinless half of her body was darting around erratically as she eximed, "This is the Yin energy of a Duke! There''s a Duke here?!"

    In a cemetery situated in the western part of Mirage City, countless roaming zombies suddenly stiffened before casting their eyes toward a certain direction in unison, then knelt down one after another in reverence.

    Even though they were already dead, their bodies were spasming as if they were having a stroke. At the very center of the cemetery, the lid of a massive western-style stone coffin that was over three meters in length was abruptly blown open, and a two-meter-tall crimson skeleton wearing the armor of a general hurriedly jumped out.

    As soon as the skeleton emerged, its legs gave out from under it, and it also copsed to its knees. The stark whitehermes in its pitch-ck eye sockets sprang up to over a meter tall as it eximed, "A Duke hase here?! What on earth is going on?! Aside from that time when the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring visited the city, no Duke hase here in the past few decades! How could there be one here right now?!"

    One evil ghost after another fled the countless pces and pavilions in the city, gushing out onto the streets in a panic before looking up at the sky. All of a sudden, the entire city had been plunged into a state ofplete chaos as evil ghosts, malicious spirits, and zombies all revealed their true forms.

    This was a city of demons.

    The seawater was churning violently, and the power of a Yama-King had plunged this entire city intoplete darkness. The Yin energy was like a vast sea with no end in sight, and all of the zombies were trembling uncontrobly as they knelt down with their foreheads pressed against the ground.

    "What''s going on?"

    "There really is a Duke here! Where did theye from?!"

    "Forget where the Duke came from, who''s going to save us?!"

    "Everyone, we have to go to the Bright Moon Pce in the southeast!"

    All of a sudden, the seawater began to twist and warp violently. Immediately thereafter, a gigantic ck shadow emerged from within the Yin energy before rising up directly into the heavens,pletely disregarding the immense water pressure present on the seabed.

    It was a massive chain, and it cast a ck shadow over the horrified faces of all of the evil ghosts in Mirage City down below. Due to extreme horror, theherfire in many evil ghosts'' eyes had sprung up to in excess of three meters in height. However, this was far from the end.

    Countless chains erupted out of the dark clouds that had already filled the entire sky above the city. The chains were like dragons rising up out of the sea, passing overhead through the seawater. From down below, one could see an abyss taking shape, formed by rays of murky light, and countless chains were rushing into the abyss.

    At this point, even the dumbest evil ghosts in the city had realized that this was an ability exclusive to Emissaries of Hell, Heavenly Dra!

    Furthermore, this was a Heavenly Dra of the Yama-King level!

    This city had be an inescapable prison!

    "My god..." An evil ghost was looking up at the sky with a ck-jawed expression before suddenly letting loose a panicked scream and rushing away with all his might.

    Qin Ye hadn''t even done anything yet, but the countless massive chains that hung above the city like giant dragons had already crushed everyone''s morale.

    A Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld was no different from a god in the eyes of these foreign fugitives residing in Mirage City.

    "Run!! Run for your lives!!"

    "We have to get out of here!! A Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld has arrived!!"

    "My god, how did this happen?! Nothing like this has ever happened in Mirage City before!"

    "How was the city discovered by a Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld?!"

    Screams were ringing out everywhere, and right at this moment, bright blue Yin runes began to appear on the giant chains that had surrounded the entire city. Immediately thereafter, a voice rang out to answer everyone''s questions.

    "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    Following this deration, an instant of deathly silence ensued. All of the screaming evil ghosts pped their hands over their own mouths before fleeing as quickly as they could.

    Hearing these words was far more terrifying than being pursued by whatever organization was hunting them down!

    That deration was enough to strike sheer horror into their hearts!

    Within the destroyed hall, Otakemaru had a hand over his own chest, and he was huddled together with the other evil ghosts, all of whom were trembling uncontrobly. They stared at the indistinct figure within the Yin energy in a ck-jawed manner, and one after another, they knelt down before kowtowing to the ground, trembling violently the entire time.

    None of them dared to attack Qin Ye again.

    They didn''t have the courage, and they knew that it would be futile anyway.

    "Your Excellency..." Freddy''s voice was trembling, and he was like a mouse that had bumped into a cat. He wanted to beg for mercy, to exin his situation, yet in the face of Qin Ye''s boundless authoritative might, all he could muster up were the words, "Spare me... please spare me..."

    Boundless Yin energy surged forth in waves, and they weren''t even able to protect their own souls against it. Only now did theye to understand just how terrifying a Yama-King was.

    However, before they had a chance to say anything further, eight chains had already shot through their foreheads. Their bodies were reduced to nothingness in the blink of an eye, and eight screaming souls vanished up Qin Ye''s sleeve.

    Holy crap... Qin Ye inspected his own hands with a stunned expression. As a Yama-King, he was now exponentially more powerful than he had been as an Abyssal Prefect or Infernal Judge!

    He felt as if he could move heaven and earth with just a single thought, and an Abyssal Prefect had next to zero chance against him.

    At the same time, several strings of information appeared in his mind.

    "Jason Vorhees, special Yin spirit, ranked 23rd on the list of special Yin spirits, living dead."

    "Leatherface, special Yin spirit, ranked 26th on the list of special Yin spirits, Yin demon."

    "Freddy Krueger, special Yin spirit, ranked 24th on the list of special Yin spirits, malicious nightmare spirit."

    "Bach, werewolf. Spencer, vampire. Talina, ck witch."

    "Otakemaru, special Yin spirit, ranked 17th on the list of special Yin spirits, mountain and sea vengeful spirit."

 Chapter 840: Destroying the City (3)

    <h4>Chapter 840: Destroying the City (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye didn''t pay much heed to this information. He could review that at any time, and his current priority was to ensure that no one escaped.

    All of these Yin spirits could be aware of the existence of the Cathayan Underworld''s trade route. In the eyes of those ambitious and ruthless death gods, this would be a massive opportunity. Hence, he had to kill everyone! He would rather kill innocents than to risk allowing those who could pose a threat to the Cathayan Underworld to slip through the cracks!

    The entire room was instantly cleared out. In the face of a Yama-King, these immensely notorious fugitives and ghostly deities in their own respective nations were nothing more thanmbs to the ughter. Countless screams of horror could be hearding from outside as Qin Ye slowly rose up into mid-air.

    To Qin Ye, he was rising up slowly, but in the eyes of all of the terrified evil ghosts in the city, there was a reverse waterfall of Yin energy rising up into the air amid the howls and wails of countless Yin spirits! It was as if a true god had descended upon them. As the boundless wall of Yin energy ascended into the heavens, all of the evil ghosts shrieked in horror as they scattered and fled in all directions.

    Their only thought was to flee and survive!

    If they stayed here, then they would be dead in a matter of seconds, so they had to get as far away as possible! Perhaps if they could reach the borders of the city, the Yama-King would lose interest in them and let them live!

    Qin Ye paid no heed to those evil ghosts. He swept a hand through the air, and the six Yin spirits, Kwon Kyung-ho, Ryu Changmin, Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, the Spatial Spirit, and the Porter Spirit instantly appeared behind him, following which he dered, "You can devour to your hearts'' content here. Leave the special Yin spirits at or above the Infernal Judge level, but make sure to leave no one else alive. There are at least several hundred thousand evil ghosts in the city. Aside from Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen, don''t bothering back to me if you don''t make a breakthrough after devouring so many Yin spirits."

    Thehermes in the eyes of all of the Yin spirits shed upon hearing this. There were two ways through which one could join the Dusk Legionnaire, one of which allowed the Yin spirits in question to retain their sentient will, such as in the cases of Kwon Kyung-ho and Chu Renmei, while the other methodpletely erased one''s soul and transformed them into mindless puppets, such as in the cases of the Porter Spirit and Otakemaru. However, regardless of which category the Yin spirits fell into, they all retained their instincts.

    Devouring other Yin spirits was the quickest way for an evil ghost to progress up the ranks, so their instinct was to devour! As soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, the six evil ghosts immediately swept forth as six gusts of Yin wind.

    The group consisted of two Abyssal Prefects, one Infernal Judge, and three Anitya Hellguards, and theirbined Yin energy formed a massive wave that swept through a huge section of the city. Yin clouds were suffocating the city from above, while Yin energy was flooding through the city like ink.

    In the southern part of the city.

    Most of the buildings here were tile-roofed bungalows that were rather dpidated, and there were also countless caves dug out of the side of a mountain on the seabed. At this moment, countless evil ghosts were rushing out of the caves before fleeing for their lives like insects.

    There were foreign zombies, vengeful spirits, and headless corpses, but they were outnumbered by the Yin spirits who had perished in the seas of eastern Asia. Yin spirits wearing all types of attire from countries such as Cathay, Nippon, and Daehan were screaming as they ran through the streets. However, amid the chaos, there was a group at the very forefront that was traveling at an rming speed, rushing directly toward the borders of the city that were epassed within the Heavenly Dra.

    This group was led by a female evil ghost with a head of ck hair wearing a white dress. Wisps of Yin energy were drifting out of her dress, making it appear as if the dress had been woven from Yin energy.

    Her mouth was extremelyrge. In fact, her entire body below her mouth waspletely split open, and within the exposed cavity sat an inky-ck ghostly infant, which was wing at its own face as it screeched, "Run! Get as far away from here as possible! We''ll all die if we stay here!"

    If there were any people from Mya present, they would definitely be able to identify this female Yin spirit as a nationally renowned evil ghost by the name of Sundel Bolong. She hadmitted suicide while pregnant, and a cemetery had taken shape following her death. Within the cemetery, it was said that vengeful spirits roamed for all of eternity. As the leader of the group, she was an Abyssal Prefect!

    Around a dozen evil ghosts were frantically rushing along beside her as quickly as they could. They didn''t know whether they would be able to escape by following her, but they were instinctively following the most powerful being they could find.

    Right as Sundel Bolong''s voice trailed off, violent tremors suddenly ran through the ground behind her as Yin energy erupted up into the heavens. She immediately took a nce backward, and the sight that she beheld sent chills running down her spine!

    "That''s... an Abyssal Prefect level servant spirit!!!"

    Who exactly was the Emissary of Hell that had arrived at the city?

    However, this wasn''t the time to think about such things. She gritted her teeth tightly as she did everything in her power to repress her own Yin energy while frantically rushing toward the borders of the city. She didn''t dare to fly, as anyone who dared to take flight right now would be an instant target.

    If I can escape from Mirage City, there''s a chance that I could survive, but if I stay here, I''ll be dead for sure!

    She was getting closer and closer to the border of the city, and beyond the gates was the vast sea. If she had a heart, it would most definitely have already jumped to her throat. 1,000 meters... 500 meters... 300 meters... The closer she got to the gate, the more she repressed her own Yin energy, not daring to release it for even a single instant. In the face of a Yama-King, disying her Yin energy would be no different from suicide.

    100 meters... 50 meters!

    Every second that passed by felt like an eternity, and finally, she heaved a long sigh of relief as she reached the city gates. Only then did she notice how tense she had be from fear, and she made an active effort to rx her own body.

    She cast her gaze toward the dark seabed outside, and she gritted her teeth before rushing out without any hesitation.

    She didn''t know how many people were going to die in this city today, but she wasn''t about to be one of them. However, before she even had a chance to celebrate, she was repelled back into the city amid a resounding boom!

    A stunned look appeared on her face as she cast her gaze forward, only to discover that a blue light barrier had appeared up ahead, and there was a massive chain on either side of the barrier!

    It was the Heavenly Dra!

    Damn it!!

    Sundel Bolong grabbed fistfuls of her own hair in desperation. Shepletely forgot about this thing! It was clear that the Yama-King nned to kill every single person in this city!

    "Wh, what do we do now?" The blue light barrier was like the final straw that broke the camel''s back, and all of the Yin spirits apanying her began to scream in horror.

    "He''s sealed off the entire city!"

    "Is he going to kill us all?!"

    "Since when did Emissaries of Hell be so ruthless?"

    "Are you an idiot?! When weren''t the Emissaries of Hell this ruthless?!"

    All of a sudden, the spiritual bodies of several Yin spirits were destroyed amid anguished howls. Sundel Bolong gritted her teeth tightly, and bloodthirstyhermes were flickering in her eyes while Yin energy surged between her hands as she said in a menacing voice, "Shut up or piss off! How can you be yelling like idiots in front of a Yama-King? Do you have a death wish?!"

    "M, Madam Sundel..." a Yin spirit called out in a trembling voice before falling to his knees.

    Sundel Bolong took a deep breath to repress her anger. This wasn''t the time to be eradicating these maggots. If worse came to worst, they would be ideal as meat shields for her. With that in mind, her tone softened a little as she said, "Get up and find a ce to hide. All we can do now is hope that the Yama-King doesn''t see us."

    However, the Yin spirit didn''t get up.

    Instead, he began to kowtow over and over again with all his might. His soul was trembling violently, and even theherfire in his eyes had turned a stark white color from excessive fear.

    <i>Thump, thump... </i>In the next instant, all of the Yin spirits around Sundel Bolong fell to their knees and also began to kowtow frantically as if they were begging for mercy from a god of retribution.

    Sundel Bolong fellpletely still.

    Her back was facing the light barrier, while ahead of her were the trembling Yin spirits. Her head turned around in a stiff and mechanical fashion, and her lips were trembling so violently that it looked as if she were suffering from spasms. She felt as if a vice, by the name of fear, had mped her heart tightly, and she was even struggling to breathe.

    She then caught sight of the man standing behind her.

    This was a middle-aged man wearing an official''s robe from the Song Dynasty. In contrast with theherfire in everyone else''s eyes, his were tiny red specks that were only the size of needle tips.

    She had no idea when he had appeared here. They were both Abyssal Prefects, but he was far more powerful than she was.

    Her teeth began to chatter from fear as she took several involuntary steps backwards. "Wh, who are you?"

    "I am Qin Hui," Qin Hui replied with an extremely amicable smile. "Are you a citizen of Mirage City?"

    Sundel Bolong nodded in a mechanical manner in response.

    Qin Hui''s smile widened even further, as if he had just been presented with a precious gift. "That''s great to hear!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, red light shed within his mouth, and a bright red tongue had already pierced through Sundel Bolong''s be.

    "I''ve only juste in, and I''ve already bumped into an Abyssal Prefect. Madam Su has to stay outside to ensure that no one escapes, so it looks like I''ll be epting this offering all to myself..."

    Right at this moment, the light barrier behind him rippled slightly, and one Yin soldier after another passed through it in a formidable wave.

    They were all d in ck armor and wielding ck spears, giving off chilling killing intent. In the blink of an eye, several thousand Yin soldiers had appeared behind Qin Hui in a scene reminiscent of the dawn of Yin spirits during the Hungry Ghost Festival! The ck armor that was giving off a menacing sheen, those specks of stark whitehermes, the orderly rows of Yin soldiers... Just the mere sight of all of this was enough topletely root all of the evil ghosts to the spot.

    Qin Hui cleared his throat before dering loudly, "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    Ferocious Yin wind was swept up on the seabed, causing the surrounding seawater to churn violently. At the same time, all of the Yin soldiers pointed their spears forward with unbridled killing intent.

    All of the evil ghosts shuddered, and they finally returned to their senses upon hearing Qin Hui''s deration. They frantically began to kowtow again as they begged for their lives.

    "Please spare me, your Excellency! We''re willing to serve the Cathayan Underworld until our dying breaths!"

    "We... We''ve never done anything to provoke the Cathayan Underworld!"

    Thebination of 5,000 troops from the Asura Legion and countless skeletal Asura dogs created an intertwining sea of death that was red and white in color, and Qin Hui was the one who would decide the fate of all of the evil ghosts. He made his way over to the trembling evil ghosts before shaking his head as he heaved a forlorn sigh, "It''s a pity, but you can only me your own ill fortune."

    He then rose to his feet, and the sea of Yin soldiers and skeletal dogs immediately surged forth!

    They were like wolves that had entered a pen of helpless sheep,ying waste to all of the evil ghosts in their wake. The Yin soldiers transformed into gusts of Yin wind, interspersed within which were the skeletal Asura dogs and hungry ghosts, forming what appeared to be a doomsday sea of zombies as they crashed toward the city gate.

    BOOM!!!

    A thunderous boom rang out, and the ancient city gate was nowhere near strong enough to withstand such a ferocious impact. The Yin spirits that were fleeing in this direction immediately stopped cold in their tracks, and they instinctively wanted to retreat from the formidable wave crashing toward them, but they then looked back to discover the terrifying sea of Yin energy released by Qin Ye.

    There was simply nowhere for them to go.

    Moralepletely copsed in that instant, and one Yin spirit after another fell to their knees as they implored in trembling voices, "Please spare me..."

    However, they received no sympathy from the ruthless Asura Legion and Hungry Ghost Legion.

    Right at this moment, a thunderous roar of fury suddenly rang out within Mirage City.

    "Who dares to wreak havoc in Mirage City?!"

    Has he finallye out? Qin Ye cast his gaze directly toward the ship where the voice hade from, and in the blink of an eye, he was already standing in front of the bow of the ship. "It is I."

    "You''re... a Yama-King?!" A horrified scream rang out within the ship, and only after close to 20 seconds of silence did the owner of the voice continued in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency, Mirage City has already existed here for a very long time, and we have no conflict of interest with the Cathayan Underworld. The owner of this city is also a Yama-King, so..."

    "Shut up!" Qin Ye cut him off in a cold manner. "You dare to say that you have no conflict of interest with the Cathayan Underworld? The owner of this ce once served the emperor of Cathay, yet he''s established a nation so close to Cathay''s territorial sea! This is an act of treason! There have been three generations of Hell, and never has there been a treasonous Emissary of Hell! You lot are hiding here in this putrid city, hosting heinous foreign underworld emissaries, and holding secrets of the Cathayan Underworld as trump cards and bargaining chips! What right do you have to ask for mercy from the Cathayan Underworld? What use do I have for insubordinate traitors like you?!"

 Chapter 841: Destroying the City (4)

    <h4>Chapter 841: Destroying the City (4)</h4>

    This was something that a ruler absolutely could not tolerate!

    Treason and establishing a nation within a nation were the reverse scales of a ruler. [It''s said that dragons have something known as a reverse scale, and that they''ll fly into an uncontroble rage if anyone dares to touch it. As such, reverse scale has be an analogy essentially for a line that cannot be crossed.] Qin Ye didn''t think that he would be infuriated by this, but to his surprise, in the face of this situation, his fury was unbelievably fierce!

    His voice rumbled over Mirage City like a furious thunderp, and the voice within The Mirage fellpletely silent. Never did the owner of the voice think that he would be met by such scorching fury.

    It didn''t make sense! Mirage City had an extremely good foundation. If the Cathayan Underworld had discovered it, shouldn''t it be considering attempting to absorb and assimte Mirage City rather than to destroy it?

    Mirage City housed so many troops and powerful beings, and it was supported by a Yama-King. Was Hell really just going to destroy it without considering the potential consequences?

    Even setting all that aside, they were all brethren from the same nation!

    "Your Excellency, we''re all citizens of Cathay!"

    "How dare you?!" Qin Ye interjected in a thunderous voice that was brimming with killing intent. "If you really considered yourself to be a citizen of Cathay, then you should be serving Hell as a loyal subordinate! Instead, you''re presiding over this treasonous city, and the only thing you haven''t done is leak the current state of the Cathayan Underworld to the rest of the world! Even after all of this, you dare to refer to me as brethren of yours?! Is this what you do to your fellow brethren?!"

    "Your Excellency, this area of the sea isn''t within the territory of any nation!!"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "You think Hell would be stumped because of that? No one can escape King Yanluo''s decree of death!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a brush suddenly shot out of his sleeve before inscribing the character for "kill" in mid-air in a free-flowing font.

    This was his origin Yin artifact.

    Progressing up the ranks, there was the demonhead sabre he had used as a Netherworld Operative, the soul shackles he had used as a Soul Hunter, the spirit streamer he had used as an Anitya Hellguard, the Judgment Pen he had used as an Infernal Judge, and the Abyssal Prefect''s token he had used as an Abyssal Prefect. Now, as a Yama-King, it was a brush, one that was capable of deciding one''s life or death.

    Its name was Fate.

    Never did Qin Ye think that Fate would automatically ept him as its owner and be his origin Yin artifact once he reached the Yama-King level.

    In the instant that the character waspleted, it immediately began to expand, turning a bright red color before instantly devouring half of the entire sky. Every single stroke was like a giant rift that had appeared in the heavens, and immediately thereafter, countless Yin ghosts flooded out of the strokes amid bursts of sharp screeching.

    None of the Yin ghosts possessed substantial bodies. Instead, they were skeletons formed by Yin energy, wearing tattered suits of armor with scarletherfire shimmering in their eyes. The Yin ghosts were wielding all types of different weapons, including sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, staves, hooks, tridents... As they descended from the heavens, boundless Yin energy came crashing down with them.

    The entire sky took on a blood-red hue, and all of the stars faded out of existence.

    "My god..." An evil ghost looked up in a ck-jawed manner at this doomsday-like scene with his mouth wide agape, looking as if he had been turned into a stone statue.

    The dim yet boundless light devoured everything in all directions while stars fell like rain, presenting a stunning spectacle that firmly ingrained itself into the minds of all of the evil ghosts that beheld it. These "stars'''' were imbued with immense killing intent, and they were crashing down directly toward The Mirage. Right at this moment, a loud yell rang out from within The Mirage, and a figure rose straight up into the sky.

    The figure was wielding a longsword that he shed through the air in a circle around himself, releasing a virtually substantial shockwave that swept forth in all directions. As a result, several hundred Yin ghosts were instantly eradicated, and immediately thereafter, he brought his palms together before pulling them apart again, releasing several dozen talismans that flew up into the sky, where they formed a spherical protective barrier with him inside it, along with the indistinct projection of a buddha.

    This was a tall and thin middle-aged Taoist priest with a longsword strapped to his back, and a horsetail whisk held in his hand. He was an advanced Abyssal Prefect, only one step away from reaching the Yama-King level.

    After eradicating several hundred of the evil ghosts closest to him, he immediately said, "I am Gongsun Yang, the vice-captain of The Mirage! Your Excellency, do you really insist on killing your own brethren in cold blood?!"

    Gongsun Yang? Qin Ye had never heard this name before. However, just the fact that he was the vice-captain of The Mirage alone was enough to warrant a death sentence.

    "What right does an insubordinate traitor like you have to refer to yourself as my brethren?" A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he made a grabbing motion, and the "kill" character in the sky abruptly exploded, erupting into boundless sword energy that came crashing down in a frenzy!

    "ARRRGH!!!" Gongsun Yang was truly desperate now, and he frantically shed his sword through the air. In the sky above, countless sword projections were releasing bursts of scintiting light to illuminate the dark sea of Yin energy.

    Pristine white sword projections asionally peeked through the vast expanses of dark clouds before immediately fading again. Within the span of less than five minutes, the sword projections had be noticeably sparser.

    Qin Ye swept a hand through the air, and Fate immediately flew into his grasp before transforming into a golden spear. He then took a deep breath and moved backward, lowering his center of gravity like a predator about to pounce beforeunching himself through the air like a speeding arrow.

    <i>Boom!! </i> Even the space behind him shuddered violently, and he shot forth through the air as a blinding streak of light. Before any of the evil ghosts even had a chance to react, he was already standing on the other side of the Yin energy vortex.

    He was still the same person, and nothing had changed about him, but the tip of his spear was stained with blood.

    At the same time, the Yin energy vortex that had been rapidly revolving just a moment ago abruptly stopped. Immediately thereafter, the dark clouds that enveloped Gongsun Yang from all sides slowly dissipated, revealing a stunned Gongsun Yang standing at the very center.

    The horsetail whisk in his hand had transformed into a pristine white lotus flower with its petals facing downward to keep all of the Yin ghosts at bay. However, arge hole had been punched through the flower petals directly in front of him.

    His entire body shuddered slightly, and his horsetail whisk disintegrated into countless specks of white light. As a result, it was revealed that a fist-sized hole had been punched through his chest. His face was extremely pale, and blood was gushing out of his mouth.

    "My god..." a Yin spirit eximed in a trembling voice. This was a battle between high-grade cultivators.

    No one had been able to clearly see what had happened, so no one knew exactly what had taken ce.

    They could only see the oue, and it was one that filled them with despair.

    "He lost... It''s over for us..." A female Yin spirit looked up at the sky in a ck-jawed manner, seemingly trying with all her might to convince herself that what she was seeing was nothing more than a hallucination. Crippling fear began to well up in everyone''s hearts. With the stand-in mayor dead, who was going to be able to protect them?

    "No... I don''t want to die..."

    "I want to be granted amnesty, but I haven''t been to the Cathayan Underworld even once..."

    "I''ve finally be a Count after so long, how could I die here?!"

    Everyone seemed to be frozen in time as they faced their inevitable fate. As Gongsun Yang swayed slightly up in the sky, time seemed to resume, and all of the evil ghosts yelled in unison, "Spare us, your Excellency!"

    "Spare me! I don''t want to die!!"

    "I haven''t done anything detrimental to the Cathayan Underworld!"

    "We''ve only ever thought about it, but we''ve never actually done anything! Your Excellency, please!"

    "Spare me! I''m willing to serve the Cathayan Underworld as its most loyal servant!"

    At this point, all of the Yin soldiers had already surrounded what remained of the evil ghosts in the city, and Qin Ye looked on in an expressionless manner before issuing a calm order. "Kill them all."

    "Yes," Qin Hui replied in a respectful voice, and immediately thereafter, all of the Yin soldiers, hungry ghosts, and skeletal dogs pounced toward the evil ghosts in a frenzy.

    Qin Ye didn''t even bother to oversee the rest of the proceedings.

    There was no Yama-King here aside from himself, so a crushing victory was ensured, and the rest of the clean-up job was nothing more than a formality. In the underworld, it was often the case that the top-end powerful beings could sway the entire battlefield, and that was the main difference between battles in the underworld and those in the mortal realm.

    With Gongsun Yang gravely wounded, everyone else waspletely at the mercy of Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, and Qin Hui. From the very beginning, Qin Ye had never intended to spare even a single evil ghost in this city.

    He turned toward the deathly pale Gongsun Yang and said in a calm voice, "You still have 20 seconds left to live. Tell me where Xu Fu and the Peach Blossom Spring are, and I can promise you that your soul will be spared the torture that would otherwise await it. Otherwise, I''m sure you''re aware of what the Cathayan Underworld is capable of, we can put you through the most excruciating torture for thousands of years. Don''t expect to be able to escape from the six paths of reincarnation and the 18 abysses of punishment, you''ll be put through them countless times over."

    Gongsun Yang observed Qin Ye with a calm expression, and he suddenly smiled before replying in an extremely strained voice, "If I tell you... will you... spare... my soul?"

    "I never go back on my word."

    "Alright..." Decisions made on the brink of death were always snap decisions as there was no time to hesitate. Gongsun Yang continued in a trembling voice, "The Peach Blossom Spring... can only be summoned... by a..."

    He coughed up a mouthful of blood before continuing in an urgent manner, "By a beacon... Once the beacon is discovered.. the ind will travel to it on its own... The ind... is alive... and the beacon is..."

    Right at this moment, his facial features suddenly became extremely twisted.

    He opened his mouth wide as he frantically wed at his own throat, and something seemed to be bulging out of the top of his head, as if there were some type of living being residing within his skull. In the next instant, the object tore through the top of his head before spreading its wings and flying away, revealing itself to be a cicada.

    This was a pristine white cicada that was covered in blood, and it was flying extremely quickly.

    "Xu Fu!!!" Gongsun Yang roared with what little remained of his strength, and his eyes had already rolled into the back of his head. With that final hateful cry, his body abruptly exploded into a storm of blood.

    Damn it!

    Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief, but he then immediately became extremely cautious again. He was already prepared for the possibility that a restriction had been ced on Gongsun Yang''s soul, so this was only to be expected, but what he didn''t expect was that Gongsun Yang''s soul hadpletely disappeared.

    It was as if that cicada had devoured Gongsun Yang''s soul, and he waspletely unable to sense it anymore.

    "Beacon?" He gritted his teeth as he lowered his head and quickly processed Gongsun Yang''s final words in his mind.

    Where was this beacon?

    He was on the verge of learning the beacon''s location!

    <i>So it really is you, Xu Fu! How could you be so cruel? This is your right-hand man that''s followed you for so long, how could you kill him in cold blood like this? Hold on... </i>

    His eyes suddenly lit up as a thought urred to him.

    It wasn''t necessarily the case that Gongsun Yang''s soul had been destroyed.

    Perhaps he had no soul in the first ce!

    The reason this possibility seemed likely to Qin Ye was because there was a very good chance that he was a living dead.

    If Gongsun Yang really had been Xu Fu''s right-hand man from the very beginning, then he would''ve also lived for over 2,000 years. In other words, he had to have also eaten the Taisui fungus!

    However, when Xu Fu first met Bu Wantian, the former had told thetter that Bu Wantian was the first person he had met to have eaten the Taisui fungus and survived.

    This meant that prior to Bu Wantian, he hadn''t ever seen anyone who had consumed the Taisui fungus and survived!

    That cicada was the link that connected Gongsun Yang and Xu Fu, and it had to contain Xu Fu''s true energy!

    With that in mind, Qin Ye felt as if ayer of mist had been lifted from his mind, and he hurriedly set off in pursuit of the white cicada.

    "My Lord!" Qin Hui immediately extended a respectful bow at the sight of Qin Ye rushing directly toward him. "We''ve gathered all of the Yin spirits of Mirage City that are at or above the Infernal Judge level. In total, there are 15 Infernal Judges and two Abyssal Prefects. What would you like to..."

    No response.

    Qin Ye was entirely fixated on chasing down that cicada.

    It was the key to uncovering the truth about the Peach Blossom Spring, which had been hidden in the cracks of history for 2,000 years!

    He had to catch it! If he missed this opportunity, then it would be extremely difficult for him to track down the true Peach Blossom Spring!

    Thus, a high-speed chase ensued. The cicada was extraordinarily fast, and even after chasing it at full speed for a minute, Qin Ye was still three meters away from it. Furthermore, no matter what arts he cast upon the cicada, it remainedpletely unaffected.

    This was clearly the creation of another Yama-King.

    Right at this moment, the cicada abruptly changed directions, plunging directly down into the darkness.

    Qin Ye immediately drew to a halt. At this point, he had already flown out of the city, and a giant ck hole was situated right ahead of him.

    It was roughly 100 meters in size and extended straight down with no bottom in sight. Right as he reached the air above the ck hole, it abruptly shuddered.

    Immediately thereafter, a powerful pir of water erupted out from within. At the same time, a thunderous roar rang out within the deep sea.

    It was as if a giant beast had been awakened.

    In the next instant, two massive sources of light slowly appeared on the inky-ck seabed several dozen kilometers away.

 Chapter 842: Divine Beast Gui Xu (1)

    <h4>Chapter 842: Divine Beast Gui Xu (1)</h4>

    A bird was chirping joyfully, trying to spread its wings and take flight, but was unable to fly out of a certain range of the hand that it was flying around.

    The owner of the hand was a man wearing avish ck silken robe with intricate patterns embroidered onto its surface. Its design and details were all extremely exquisite. There was a long beard trailing down from the man''s handsome face, and on his head sat a crown of gold and jade. He held a horsetail whisk with a golden handle in one hand, and he didn''t seem to have a single care in the world.

    He was the very same man that Qin Ye had seen in Bu Wantian''s memories.

    This was the owner of The Mirage, a cultivator who had lived for over 2,000 years, and was the first person to have eaten the Taisui fungus and survived.

    His name was Xu Fu.

    Currently, he was seated on a taishi chair in an elegant andvish hall with extravagant decor, and standing beside him was a chubby middle-aged man.

    The middle-aged man appeared to be around 70 years of age, and he was a foreigner, as evidenced by his blonde hair and green eyes.

    He was wearing a suit that was entirely tailor-made by top craftsmen, and it was clear that he took a lot of pride in the way that he dressed. However, standing in front of Xu Fu, he wore a fawning smile as he folded his hands in front of himself in a respectful manner.

    "Your Excellency, the thirty million US dors for this year have already been transferred to your ount," the elderly man said.

    Xu Fu didn''t even raise his head as he continued to y with his bird, and he replied in a casual manner, "Is that right?"

    "Your Excellency..." The elderly man gulped nervously as he continued in a respectful voice, "My illness... It''s time that I took another dose of medicine..."

    Xu Fu finally looked up as he leaned backzily against the back of his taishi chair. He gently drummed the armrest of his chair with his fingers, and only after a long while did he reply, "There''s no hurry."

    "Your Excellency!" An urgent look appeared on the elderly man''s face, and he wanted to say something further, but Xu Fu waved a hand to cut him off as a meaningful look appeared in his eyes.

    "I''ve recently encountered some trouble, so perhaps we''ll be reuniting on the Antic Ocean soon."

    The elderly man drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "Are you nning to leave the sea near Cathay?"

    "Some very troublesome events have recently unfolded." Xu Fu casually picked up his teacup before blowing into it. The vapor that rose up from the teacup rose up as wisps of white mist, giving him the appearance of an ethereal immortal. "Some things that have to remain secret were unfortunately revealed. I''ve painstakingly built up everything here over the course of more than 1,000 years, and I can leave right away. However..."

    He smiled as he continued, "I have to leave something behind to make them wary of me. Hence, I n to reveal one of my cards."

    He took a sip of tea, then said in a calm manner, "You can notify Death God Mtecutli or his wife, Death Goddess Mictetikasiwa, tell them that the person whom they met over 1,000 years ago may be able to lend them a hand."

    The elderly man didn''t reply, and Xu Fu suddenly burst intoughter before giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You''ve eaten that thing, so of course you''re able to see underworld emissaries. On top of that, it''s no secret that the two death gods of Usonia are about to pass away due to the crisis in the mortal realm, so why are you pretending to not know anything about this? Rest assured, I''m not saying this to test you."

    An awkward smile appeared on the elderly man''s face as he asked, "In that case, how do you serve them?"

    Xu Fu shook his head with a smile and replied, "There''s no one in this world who would dare to make me ''serve'' them. Find a way to get into contact with their messengers, tell them that if none of the medicines they''ve tried in the underworld are helping them, then why don''t they try some things from the mortal realm? For example, they could try what you ate."

    Right at this moment, his sleeve suddenly stirred slightly, following which a round jade bead flew out. Within the jade bead was an insect that was frantically pping its wings, and the entire bead was vibrating, such was the vigor with which the insect was pping its wings.

    Xu Fu had beenpletely calm and carefree just a moment ago, yet all of a sudden, he stood up before hurriedly grabbing the bead. However, less than three secondster, the jade bead shot out of the back of his hand, punching a hole cleanly through his hand, but no blood flowed out of the wound.

    He looked up with a bewildered expression, staring nkly at the jade bead that was flying erratically within the hall. The elderly man beside him also looked up with furrowed brows. "Your Excellency, didn''t you say that this was the key to Mirage City?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Xu Fu reached out with a hand, and the jade bead was forced back into his grasp as he gnashed his teeth together and said, "Indeed, it is. I left a special restriction in Mirage City, and it wouldn''t activate itself unless it encountered grave danger..."

    Silence.

    The elderly man knew that this wasn''t something he should be prying into.

    Several secondster, Xu Fu instructed, "Return to Kanata right away to contact your death god. Go right now."

    "Yes." The elderly man extended a respectful parting bow before departing. "I look forward to reuniting with you on Usonian soil."

    The elderly man departed, but Xu Fu remained in his seat and was silent for a long time.

    Something must''ve happened... Something catastrophic!

    Never did he think that The Mirage, which had been hidden on the seabed for so long, would be discovered. Who could''ve wandered so far and stumbled upon The Mirage?

    No, they hadn''t stumbled upon it by chance. He was nning to leave the sea near Cathay precisely because Bu Wantian had disappeared and someone had examined his memories.

    Was there someone trying to track him down? Had someone discovered the leads he had left behind over the course of the past 2,000 years?

    He really couldn''t stay in the Asia-Pacific for any longer. He didn''t know who it was that was trying to track him down, but they were aware of the fact that he was a Yama-King, yet they haven''t disyed any hesitation at all, tracking down and destroying The Mirage so quickly. It was clear that he was being pursued by someone extremely powerful.

    "Even if I''m going to leave, I have to leave something behind for you to remember me by," he mused to himself with a cold smile before crushing the jade bead between his fingers.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    The seabed was extremely peaceful, almost eerily so.

    Hidden currents were rapidly surging past Qin Ye, but he remained as still and unmoving as a mountain, intently observing the two indistinct nterns" several dozen kilometers away.

    Those weren''tnterns.

    In the instant that they lit up, he immediately figured out what they were.

    They were the eyes of that giant sea beast!

    He had forgotten, as had everyone else, that Mirage City was constructed on the back of that giant beast!

    On the surface of the sea, the giant beast was extremely eye-catching, but when burrowed into the dark seabed, no one would be able to notice its existence. Furthermore, Qin Ye and the others had created a massivemotion in the city, yet the giant beast had disyed no reaction at all, and that further contributed to everyone forgetting all about it. Furthermore, there was no information prior to this that indicated that those two cities were the very same city.

    However, it was now clear that this was the case.

    That white cicada was like a switch, and as soon as it flew into this area, it was able to immediately awaken this almighty sea beast.

    Qin Ye was unable to determine its cultivation rank. Strictly speaking, this giant beast had already been dead for over 2,000 years, which meant that it possessed no cultivation rank. However, Xu Fu had been able to transform it into a zombified state through the use of something, perhaps the Taisui fungus.

    Judging from its extraordinary size alone, it was clear that this thing had to be at least extremely close to the Yama-King level, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that it held a massive terrain advantage in the sea.

    This was the true guardian of Mirage City!

    Qin Ye remainedpletely still, and the two giantntern-like eyes continued to observe him intently. However, the pair of eyes quickly vanished as the giant beast lowered its center of gravity slightly.

    For some reason, Qin Ye''s heartbeat began to elerate as he was struck by an overwhelming sense of foreboding. The currents surging past him began to speed up, and they were carrying with them murky streams of sand.

    Qin Ye knew that the giant beast was only beginning to awaken. With such a massive body, it would take several minutes just for the electrical signals in its body to reach all of its synapses. Even for a human, the bigger they were, the slower their reaction speed would be, let alone this giant beast, which definitely didn''t possess as advanced a brain as that of a human.

    Within the inky darkness, the surrounding seawater slowly began to be murkier and murkier. Qin Ye felt as if a giant hand had gripped onto his heart, and fear of the unknown was epassing him from all directions. Even as a Yama-King, the sense of extremely oppressive pressure struck him with a hint of difort.

    During the few minutes of waiting, bubbles began to rise up from the seabed, and they were rapidly increasing in number, while the seawater also continued to grow murkier and murkier. All of a sudden, a dull rumble rang out across the entire seabed.

    The ground began to move as if an earthquake was taking ce. Initially, it was only slight tremors, but the tremors became more and more pronounced, and several minutester, the seabed quaked violently as an entirendmass rose up from the depths!

    The giant beast was over 200 kilometers in size, and even the slightest movement from it was enough to send tremors running through the entire seabed.

    Rumble!!

    Inside Mirage City, the Yin soldiers had already seized control over all of the major streets, trapping countless evil ghosts in the city. Right as Qin Hui strode triumphantly into The Mirage, the entire world around him suddenly began to tremble and quake!

    "What''s happening?"

    "What''s going on?!"

    "Is this... an underwater volcanic eruption? Or an underwater earthquake?!"

    Qin Hui was struck by a sense of vertigo as heaven and earth spun around him, but as an Abyssal Prefect, he was able to immediately steady himself. However, as he swept his gaze through the surrounding area, he couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath.

    "What on earth has happened..." He looked up in a ck-jawed manner to find Mirage City standing overhead! The entire city had been flipped over so that it was above him, and he was falling away from the city as if he were flying in reverse.

    Within the seawater, countless evil ghosts, buildings, and objects began to drift down in the wake of this abrupt change, and all of the Yin soldiers fell onto the seabed. Qin Hui looked around with a bewildered expression, and he finally caught sight of something...

    It was a massive ck shadow, the outline of which seemed to resemble a giant turtle!

    He hadn''t noticed it initially as it was far too massive, spanning over 200 kilometers in length like an underwater continent.

    Everything that had happened just now was only because... the turtle had flipped over!

    The entire Mirage City was rapidly rising up along with the giant turtle as the city was constructed on its back.

    "My god..." He looked on with an astonished expression as the dim light in the sea illuminated the profound patterns on the surface of its body. If he hadn''t seen this creature in person, he would''ve never believed that such a thing existed in this world.

    In the face of this giant turtle, he could sense that he was no match for it at all.

    No one said anything.

    All of the Yin soldiers and evil ghosts were looking up with bbergasted expressions as the giant turtle rose rapidly up toward the surface of the sea. Only now did Qin Hui return to his senses, and he hurriedly yelled, "Lord Qin!! Where is Lord Qin?! Find him!! Hurry!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Of course, Qin Ye was unable to hear Qin Hui''s panicked yells.

    In the instant that the giant turtle flipped itself over, he pulled out Fate and plunged it into the turtle''s shell. After that, he held onto the shaft of Fate for dear life, following which he was taken on a fantastical journey that was impossible to describe.

    The entire world was spinning around him, and countless air bubbles were rising upward. He felt as if he were holding onto a corner of the sea, and he was being jostled around so violently that he didn''t even get a chance to clearly see what the giant beast looked like.

    On many asions, his hands felt so numb that he wanted to release Fate, but he knew that he couldn''t do that.

    If he were to let go, then his connection with Xu Fu would bepletely severed! After such a major crisis, there was no way that Xu Fu would continue to remain in the Asia-Pacific.

    Finally, the giant beast steadied itself a little, and at this point, Qin Ye had also grown somewhat ustomed to the violent shaking. Only then did he get a chance to inspect his surroundings.

    The giant turtle had already swam up a vast distance, most likely at least 2,000 meters. The darkness in the surrounding seawater wasn''t as absolute as it was on the seabed. In any case, darkness had never posed an obstacle to Emissaries of Hell, and Qin Ye was able to glean the giant beast''s true appearance.

    It was a gargantuan turtle.

    However, it was a freshwater turtle, as evidenced by the fact that it had paws instead of flippers. He was currently standing on the turtle''s back.

    It was an indescribable feeling. He felt as if he were standing on a continent, not a turtle, and in the face of such a gargantuan creature, he was made to feel impossibly tiny and insignificant.

    He swept his gaze across every single inch of the turtle''s body, and he discovered that its shell was like an impregnable fortress that stretched as far as the eyes could see. It was like a gigantic movingndmass with countless sea stars, marine nt life, and rocks littered all over its surface, as well as countless types of marine animals swimming between thendmarks. There was an entire biosphere living on this turtle''s body.

    It was a giant moving habitat!

    Qin Ye was astonished that such a creature could exist in this world.

 Chapter 843: Divine Beast Gui Xu (2)

    <h4>Chapter 843: Divine Beast Gui Xu (2)</h4>

    The surrounding seawater was surging past at rapid speeds, and the size of the giant turtle was unlike anything marine biologists had ever seen.

    As it flipped over, it swept up the entire sea into a giant whirlpool.

    As it swam through the water, it was like a living force of nature.

    There was no need for it to attack, all it had to do was move, and countless rapid currents would be swept up around it. Its body was a boundless and indestructible fortress that would stand up to even the most devastating of attacks.

    Qin Ye gripped tightly onto Fate as he tilted his head to the side to avoid an oing current. He gritted his teeth as he thought to himself, It''s a good thing that I made a breakthrough to be a Yama-King. Otherwise, I wouldn''t even have been able to keep up with it. This power of this thing''s physical body has most likely already reached the nascent Yama-King level, which is even higher than the advanced Abyssal Prefect level I initially predicted...

    As the giant beast was flipping itself over, he had to hold onto Fate for dear life while being thrown around like a ragdoll. Now that the giant turtle hadpleted its maneuver, he was in a far more stable position, and he flipped himself over before crouching on the giant turtle''s back like a panther ready to pounce while continuing to hold onto Fate with a white-knuckled grip.

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked up, and the light overhead was bing brighter and brighter, indicating that they were not far away from the surface of the sea, perhaps still around 1,000 meters to go. Once they reached the surface, that would be his time to strike.

    He wasn''t going to engage the giant beast inbat in the terrain that was most suited to it. If he were to strike now, the power of his arts would most likely be significantly reduced by the violent currents.

    Thus, he had to wait.

    As the giant turtle rose rapidly upward, the indistinct light filtering through the seawater slowly turned into rays of golden sunlight, illuminating the entire sea a golden color. On top of that, there were clearly more fish in the surrounding area as well.

    Countless bubbles were rising up as if the entire sea had been brought to a boil, and Qin Ye slowly got up into a half squat position as he stared intently upward. 500 meters... 300 meters... 200 meters... 100 meters!

    Ssh!!

    With an enormous ssh and a deafening roar, the giant turtle rushed out of the surface of the sea before springing upward like a dragon taking flight to soar up into the heavens.

    Right as the giant turtle reached the apex of its ascent, it was as if time hadpletely fallen still.

    Everything seemed to have gone into slow motion as he swept his gaze across the horizon. It was currently nighttime, and it was a beautiful night. The pristine white moonlight was shining down onto the surface of the sea like ayer of frost, creating what appeared to be a glittering gxy of stars on the sea''s surface. Despite the situation that he was in, Qin Ye couldn''t help but appreciate the beauty of nature around him.

    However, this wasn''t the time to be getting caught up in his own thoughts. In the instant that the giant turtle erupted out of the sea, scintiting light immediately began to radiate from Fate, as if a bright star had appeared on the massive turtle''s back.

    Golden light erupted into the heavens as Fate expanded further and further in his grasp, transforming into a golden spear with two prayer gs, one ck and one white, encircled around it. The entire spear was burning with goldenhermes, and shot up into the sky like a shooting star right behind its wielder.

    Qin Ye and the golden spear rose up higher and higher, piercing through the night as fierce winds swept his hair and clothes. In the blink of an eye, they had reached an altitude in excess of 1,000 meters, and clouds were beginning to appear beneath their feet. However, even from dizzying heights, the sight of the massive creature down below was still an awe-inspiring one.

    Furthermore, there was also a luxury cruise ship down below, and it was packed to the rafters with Asian and caucasian passengers, all of whom were very well-dressed. Qin Ye could hear the melodious musicing from the deck of the ship.

    In the instant that the giant turtle broke through the surface of the sea, massive waves were swept up in all directions, and the ship instantly fellpletely silent as all of the passengers looked on with their eyes wide open and their jaws resting on the ground. They looked on in shock and horror as the gargantuan turtle flew over their heads, concealing the stars and the moon with its enormous body and stirring up the entire sea.

    In that instant, countless wine sses fell onto the ground before shattering into pieces,

    Everyone shook their heads and threw their hands over their mouths as they looked on with incredulity in their eyes. This scene was so astonishing that they had even forgotten to pull out their phones to capture it.

    Qin Ye was also rather amused.

    He waved at everyone on the ship and called out, "Hello, everyone!"

    Of course, no one could hear him.

    In the next instant, Yama-King level Yin energy erupted in full force, and the air temperature in a radius of several kilometers began to plummet rapidly. As Qin Ye descended from the sky, chunks of ice began to take shape on the surface of the sea, and he was traveling so quickly that a stream of crimson mes appeared behind him.

    He was truly like a shooting star crashing towardnd.

    In that instant, he could clearly sense that two Yama-Kings and an Abyssal Prefect from the underworlds of Russia, Nippon, and Hindustan had focused their attention on him simultaneously.

    The death gods of all three nations had sensed the eruption of Yama-King level Yin energy!

    He had to end this quickly!

    Fierce winds were sweeping through the air, creating such immense pressure that a vortex had appeared on the surface of the sea. This was the first time that Qin Ye had released his Yin energy in full force after his breakthrough to the Yama-King level. The sound of countless howls, cries, and wails suddenly rang out across the area, and ck mist converged from all directions. As his spear descended from above, the ck mist formed a Yin energy vortex with a radius in excess of 10 kilometers, contained within which were countless specks ofherfire.

    "My god..." Everyone on the luxury cruise ship waspletely bbergasted. A young woman had a hand over her own mouth as she stood on the deck and murmured to herself in a trembling voice, "What am I witnessing right now..."

    First, there was the giant turtle that had flown up into the heavens. Then came the freezing of arge section of the sea, followed by the descent of a shooting star and a gxy of evil ghosts...

    Any single one of these would already be extremely astonishing, but when all three appeared at once, this scene could only be referred to as a divine miracle.

    "Incredible..." Everyone else on the ship was also looking on with utter awe and astonishment at this scene that they would never forget. Some were shaking their heads with their mouths slightly agape, while others had already whipped out their phones, but most of the passengers on the cruise ship were silently praying to their gods.

    What exactly were they praying for?

    They didn''t even know that answer themselves, it was just a reflexive response.

    Of course, Qin Ye waspletely oblivious to what the passengers on the cruise whip were doing. This spear strike was already imbued with all of his Yin energy.

    Boom!! In the blink of an eye, his spear had alreadye crashing down onto the turtle''s shell like a bolt of lightning.

    An earth-shattering roar instantly rang out in response.

    Cracks quickly began to spread like a cobweb over the turtle''s shell right before Qin Ye''s eyes, and immediately thereafter, the shell was shattered amid a resounding boom.

    The cracks spread rapidly, extending to over 100 meters in length in the blink of an eye. However, Qin Ye refused to take his foot off the pedal as he gritted his teeth and continued to plunge forward. This thing was far too massive, and these cracks still weren''t enough to truly harm it.

    He didn''t know how long it would take for him to pierce through this shell, but there was only one way topletely prate this city.

    The giant turtle was far too massive for him to attack and break through from multiple spots, so he had chosen to concentrate all of his power into this one point instead.

    A flurry of golden mes erupted from the spear, extending to over 10 meters in length. Scraps of turtle shell erupted in all directions as shrapnel, pulverizing anything that drew close to the turtle. Thanks to Qin Ye''s encyclopedic wealth of general knowledge, he knew that a so-called turtle shell was actually the chest and stomach of a turtle. The curved spine was the back of the shell, and the front part of the shell was the turtle''s ribs. Upon piercing through the shell, he would be able to reach the turtle''s internal organs.

    He was confident that there was no way this turtle would be able to withstand a Yama-King level attack once its shell was bypassed!

    Crack... Boom!!

    The giant turtle''s roar was audible for miles in all directions, and it was filled with unspeakable agony. Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out, and a massive hole that was over 100 meters in size was punched into the shell on its back! Goldenherfire erupted into the heavens from the hole, and its gigantic body was thrashing violently from the excruciating pain.

    Right at this moment, the giant turtle finallynded in the sea, where it began to thrash and struggle with all its might, sending violent currents surging through the sea in all directions, yet this wasn''t enough to stop Qin Ye in the slightest.

    At this point, he had already made over 10 meters deep into the turtle''s shell, but the deeper he went, the more perplexed he became.

    There was something clearly amiss with the internal construct of this turtle''s shell!

    A turtle''s shell was solid, so for this gigantic turtle that was over 200 kilometers in size, its shell had to be at least several hundred meters thick, and the deeper he went, the more difficult his task should''ve be. However, what was currently the case was that the deeper he went, the easier his burrowing became!

    What did this mean?

    It meant that this turtle''s shell was very likely to be hollow!

    Qin Ye was very confused by this, but this wasn''t the time to be delving into befuddlement. At this point, there was nothing he could do aside from continue onward. Thus, he set aside his confusion and gritted his teeth tightly as he continued to plunge forward with his spear, piercing it into the giant turtle''s shell like a drill.

    Crack crack crack crack! Shards of the turtle''s shell flew in all directions, and the giant turtle''s roars had already scattered all of the living beings in this area. One minute passed by, then two, and Qin Ye persevered with dogged determination. Right around the 10-minute mark, the pressure on his spear was suddenlypletely eased, and as a result, he was sent hurtling forward by his own momentum.

    By plowing through the turtle''s shell, his goal had been to reach the giant turtle''s internal organs, but...

    "What the hell is going on in here?" After descending for several seconds, he steadied himself before sweeping an incredulous gaze over his surroundings.

    The body of this giant turtle was hollow! There was no flesh and blood at all!

    Above his head was the interior of the turtle''s shell, which was like a dome-shaped sky.

    As for below him, there was a sea!

    The sea contained the giant turtle, and the giant turtle housed another sea!

    Furthermore, there was a small ind floating in the center of the sea.

    The ind was roughly 100 kilometers in size with white clouds drifting over it, and countless mountains all over its surface. The ind was riddled with wild flowers and tall trees with white cranes flying between them, presenting a scene akin to an immortal paradise.

    Qin Ye looked up at the turtle''s shell that he had just plowed through, then down at the small ind within the turtle''s body, and even he couldn''t help but heave an awestruck sigh.

    The world was truly an incredible ce.

    The seawater outside was unable to flow in through the opening in the turtle''s shell, and in here, Qin Ye couldn''t detect any killing intent at all. What was even more peculiar was that regardless of how the giant turtle thrashed and struggled, this ce remainedpletely calm and cid.

    Qin Ye tightened his grip around his spear.

    He could sense a more sinister force hiding beneath this calm facade.

    There was something in there that was observing him intently.

    He remained still on the spot. This was very likely to be the key to destroying this giant immortal beast, and he had to proceed with the utmost caution. He slowly swept his gaze over the small ind, and soon, he discovered that there was a que on the beach of the ind.

    The que seemed to have been standing since the beginning of time, and the word "Yingzhou" was inscribed upon it in elegant and free-flowing text.

    "Yingzhou?" Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly as he inspected the que, but in the next instant, his eyes abruptly widened, and he felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning as he stared at this small ind in an astonished manner.

    "Yingzhou is one of the three fabled inds in the Eastern Sea, said to be home to immortals and the elixir of immortality! This ce actually exists?"

    He then suddenly looked up at the sky and mused, "I finally know what you are now. You are the divine beast, Gui Xu, said to be the vessel of Yingzhou!"

 Chapter 844: Divine Beast Gui Xu (3)

    <h4>Chapter 844: Divine Beast Gui Xu (3)</h4>

    ording to ancient legends, there were three divine mountains situated in the sea to the east of Cathay, namely Yingzhou, Fangzhang, and Peni, which were also referred to as the three immortal mountains.

    None of those mountains were in set locations. Qin Ye didn''t know much about the other two mountains, but he had seen a passage written about Yingzhou in a book from the library for history professors. It was said that the vessel that carried Yingzhou on its back was none other than the divine beast, Gui Xu!

    Qin Ye mused to himself, "Gui Xu is one of the four divine turtles, ranking alongside the likes of Xuan Wu, Shen Bie, and... what was the final one again? Forget it, that''s not important."

    He looked on at the ind with an awestruck expression. This was the physical embodiment of an ancient legend!

    "It was said that Xu Fu''s intended destination for his final voyage was none other than one of the three divine mountains, Peni, which is home to the elixir of immortality. However, it''s Gui Xu and Yingzhou that have appeared here instead... Does that mean that what he discovered during his final voyage was actually Yingzhou rather than Peni?"

    Qin Ye was very perplexed, but this wasn''t the time to be pondering something like this.

    It was extremely quiet here, eerily so, and it was exactly because of this that Qin Ye was more focused and on-edge. As a result, he noticed that there was a building on the mountain summit. Unfortunately, it was surrounded by mountains and greenery, so he was unable to catch a clear glimpse of it.

    He silently descended onto the mountain, and throughout this entire process, the feeling that he was being watched by something never abated. In fact, that feeling only became more pronounced as he set foot onto the ind.

    "It doesn''t feel like there''s something watching me..." he murmured to himself as he inspected his surroundings. "Instead, it feels like a group of some things watching me... Also, this ind is too quiet, like the calm before the storm. It''s so silent here that it''s unnatural."

    Indeed, there wasn''t any sound to be heard, no birds chirping, no cries from insects, and not even the sound of rustling leaves could be heard.

    The only sound was the crunch of dry leaves underfoot, and this unnaturally quiet setting only contributed to Qin Ye''s unease.

    He continued onward in a slow and careful manner. There had most likely been some people here a very long time ago, as evidenced by the fact that there was a stone staircase here. This was a winding staircase that led upward, and on either side of it were rows of stonenterns. Thenterns had clearly not been cleaned or maintained in a very long time, and there was moss growing all over their surfaces.

    10 minutes passed, then 20. Qin Ye tried speeding up, but that didn''t lead to anything, and the feeling of being watched still remained.

    It was as if something were waiting for him and patiently observing him in the meantime.

    Qin Ye was maintaining a state of absolute calm and wariness. The absolute silence and gorgeous environment of the ind presented a peculiar juxtaposition, and Qin Ye was traveling very quickly, having almost reached the summit after just half an hour.

    At this point, he had arrived in front of a cliff.

    White clouds were drifting through the air down below, while strange stone formations were standing all around him. A series of strange-looking trees were growing out of the gaps between the rocks, and up ahead, the stone staircase had already disappeared. In its ce was a wooden bridge.

    The wooden bridge led to another cliff, and the construction on the mountain summit was situated right there. From this position, Qin Ye could already see the building''s true appearance.

    It was a shrine, a Nipponese shinto shrine.

    There were several hundred white-robed figures knelt in front of the shrine''s entrance with their heads pressed against the ground. It was impossible to see their appearance or even their attire from behind, and Qin Ye only took a quick nce at them before withdrawing his gaze.

    He then turned his attention toward the bridge.

    His instincts told him that as soon as he set foot on the bridge, the things that had been watching him this entire time would immediately unleash a ferocious assault upon him.

    Firstly, if he were in their shoes, he would also choose a precarious location like this bridge to initiate their attack.

    Secondly, the shrine that was standing on the other side of the bridge was clearly the final secret to be uncovered here. It had already been over 2,000 years since Gui Xu perished, so the only person who could''ve ced a secret here would be none other than Xu Fu!

    As such, this had to be a secret pertaining to Xu Fu. In fact, there was a very good chance that it had something to do with the true location of the Peach Blossom Spring!

    At this point, it was already toote to turn back, so the only way was forward.

    He took a deep breath, then carefully strode forward and stepped onto the bridge.

    In the instant that he did so, the sound of a bell chime suddenly rang out from the shrine on the other side, immediately following which a streak of light flew out before instantly reaching him.

    It was that white cicada!

    The two of them were no more than 20 meters away, and all of a sudden, the white cicada swelled drastically until it wasparable in size to a human head, then began to screech at Qin Ye with all its might.

    The wooden bridge was swaying and trembling violently, as if to warn him against proceeding any further, but Qin Ye was merely amused by this.

    It was all an empty bluff. He couldn''t sense even a single ounce of power within the white cicada''s body. However, it was most likely some type of mystical creature, and it was extremely fast, while also possessing immunity to all arts, thereby allowing it to evade Qin Ye up to this point.

    Thus, he paid no heed to the cicada and continued onward. Initially, he was walking quite slowly, but he sped up further and further, and after a minute, he had already broken into a full sprint.

    The suspended wooden bridge was very long, spanning a length of roughly 500 meters, and he covered 200 meters of it in the blink of an eye. The white cicada''s screeching became more and more frantic, and its entire body had even turned a bright red color. It was pping its wings so rapidly that they sounded like the propellers of a bomber aircraft. Right as Qin Ye reached the halfway mark of the bridge, it suddenly let loose its loudest shriek to date.

    This resounding screech echoed throughout the entire ind, and in the next instant, the cloud and mist beneath the wooden bridge began to stir.

    Is it finallying? Qin Ye took a deep breath as he gripped his spear tightly in his right hand while charging toward the other side at full speed. However, whatever was below him was even faster! A string of dull thumps rang out as a series of objects shot up out of the clouds like sharp arrows before forming a barrier in front of him on the bridge.

    There were too many of those things to count, and it was as if a massive white gxy had appeared in front of Qin Ye.

    These were all white cicadas as well, but in contrast with the giant cicada that had already swelled to the size of a human head and had also turned scarlet in color, these cicadas were far smaller, and each of them was only around the size of a human fist. There were far too many of them to count, and they epassed the entire mountain as they pped their wings and buzzed in unison, creating a sound akin to listening to an airne take off from close range.

    As soon as this sea of cicadas appeared, they immediately pounced toward Qin Ye in a torrential storm without any hesitation. Qin Ye reflexively made a grab for the golden spear that Fate had transformed into, but his hand gripped onto nothing but empty air.

    Fate had transformed into a pen at some point without his realization, and it was rapidly writing something behind him. The problem was that without Fate, he had no weapon to defend himself with.

    It was like a storm of shooting stars, presenting a marvelous spectacle that couldn''t be described with words. The wave of white cicadas was extraordinarily fast, far faster than Abyssal Prefects, and in the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of them had already reached Qin Ye!

    I can''t allow them tond on me!

    Qin Ye didn''t know what these white cicadas were trying to do, but it was naturally wise to try and stop them. However, he didn''t have a weapon right now. In this perilous situation, Qin Ye''s mind was racing, and all of a sudden, an idea urred to him. He joined his palms before taking a deep breath, then suddenly brought his palms apart again.

    Whoosh! Countless chains erupted out of his sleeves, forming a spherical defensive barrier all around him. The gaps in the barrier between the chains were extremely small, only around the size of human thumbs, so there was no way that those white cicadas would be able to sneak in through. Looking out from within the barrier, white cicadas were crawling all over the chains, and it was quite a harrowing sight to behold.

    Before he even had a chance to heave a sigh of relief, his pupils abruptly contracted as those white cicadas had passed through his Heavenly Dra as if they were insubstantial wraiths and spirits!

    Qin Ye immediately understood what had happened. The Heavenly Dra was also one of his arts, which meant that they were chains formed by Yin energy rather than actual chains. During his pursuit of the white cicada, none of his arts had taken effect on it, and this was the exact same situation, except he was the one being hunted now.

    It was already toote for him to bring out any of his Yin artifacts.

    The giant white cicada had dared to attack him even though it was aware of the fact that he was a Yama-King, so there had to be something that it was counting on. Currently, Qin Ye was like a traveler standing at the edge of a cliff. Taking one step forward could take him to his destination, but it could also spell the end of his life.

    What should he do?

    His mind was already racing at top speed, and in the split second, an inky-ck protective barrier formed entirely by Yin energy appeared around his body.

    This was his emissary aura!

    Emissary aura was an innate ability that all underworld emissaries possessed, so it wasn''t an art. Sure enough, as soon as the emissary aura barrier appeared, the white cicadas were no longer able to infiltrate any further. Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye deactivated his flight ability without any hesitation, and as a result, he rapidly plunged toward the valley down below in free fall.

    This clearly came as quite a surprise to all of the white cicadas. Under the protection of his emissary aura, Qin Ye dropped rapidly toward the valley like a dead weight. However, the white cicadas were able to react extremely quickly, and after just half a second, they immediately set off in pursuit of Qin Ye in a frenzy.

    However, half a second was still half a second, and this dy meant that only the initialyer of white cicadas was adhered to Qin Ye''s emissary aura barrier, while the rest of the cicadas had been left behind. The white cicadas up above revolved in the sky, forming a giant white vortex that came plunging down at full speed.

    Qin Ye looked on at the massive white cicada vortex overhead, and his brows furrowed tightly. All living beings had their own instincts, so the fact that they dared to attack an apex predator like him meant that these cicadas were definitely not to be messed with.

    Thus, the tactic he should be employing against them was to avoid fighting fire with fire.

    The valley was very deep, and the velocity at which he was plummeting was increasing rapidly. The white cicadas were hot in pursuit, but were unable to even chase him down, let alone surround him. All of a sudden, a line of mes appeared on each of the white cicadas'' abdomens as they continued to pursue Qin Ye.

    They had already been plummeting for what seemed like an eternity, and the surrounding area was lined with jagged rocks. There was no light at all aside from the faint radiance filtering through the opening of the valley up above, but in this instant, all of the white cicadas became new sources of light. Furthermore, the light was growing brighter and brighter while their bodies began to swell in size, making them resemble miniature suns.

    Right as all of the white cicadas were swelled to the extreme, Qin Ye suddenly shuddered as an overwhelming sense of peril welled up in his heart.

    He felt as if an electric current had run through his entire body from head to toe. This was a situation that was perilous enough to spell death even for a Yama-King!

    Countless dazzling white cicadas were flying above his head, and he was almostpelled to doubt his own instincts.

    Where was the dangering from? Only in the final instant did he detect any killing intent, and at this point, it was already far toote. Even though he hadn''t been surrounded by the cicadas, there was nothing but sharp and jagged rocks all around him, so the terrain certainly wasn''t beneficial to him.

    BOOM!!!

    Before he even had a chance to finish that thought, an earth-shattering boom rang out across the entire valley, and even the surrounding mountains trembled in its wake.

    Ferocious winds swept up enormous volumes of dust and shrapnel, flinging them up by over a kilometer from the bottom of the valley!

    Boundless scintiting light radiated in all directions as terrifying power tore through space. All of the white cicadas had self-detonated and been reduced to dust in this violent explosion. Fierce winds were sweeping across the mountains in all directions, causing countless rocks to tter incessantly. A gigantic mushroom cloud that was rising upyer uponyer soon erupted from the bottom of the valley, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to behold.

    It was truly a doomsday-like scene!

 Chapter 845: Mount Hyjal and Archimonde

    <h4>Chapter 845: Mount Hyjal and Archimonde</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Inside the valley, one white shockwave spread through the air after another, and each one was more powerful than the previous one.

    The clouds in the sky were scattered, and violent tremors ran through the earth. The echo from the walls of the valley made it sound as if a mountain god were banging on their drum with reckless abandon, and the clouds and mist at the bottom of the valley werepletely eradicated. The light of day had been absent from this ce for a very long time, yet it was now weing a dazzling explosion of light. Earth-shattering booms rang out in all directions as the surrounding mountains copsed, unable to withstand the force of such a terrifying explosion.

    Countless loose rocks came rolling down while dust and shrapnel erupted up into the sky. The devastating explosion continued for what seemed like an eternity, and when the mountains finally stopped swaying, the entire terrain had already beenpletely transformed.

    The ground was riddled with pits and trenches, and several mountains had beenpletely toppled. Countless trees had been felled, and their branches could be seen poking out stoically from the cracks between the fallen rocks. The entire area had turned deathly silent.

    Within the deathly silence, a white shadow that was around the size of a human head flew out before suddenly plunging toward the valley down below.

    The valley was extremely deep, and its bottom was a vast expanse of boundless darkness. It was impossible to see the original appearance of the valley as it had beenpletely transformed by the explosion. The white shadow flew over the fallen rocks, which stretched for several hundred meters, and after a careful examinationsting a span of around 20 minutes, it finally let loose an ted cry.

    He''s dead! That abhorrent human is finally dead! How could he not be dead after that explosion?

    The redplexion of its body faded as it returned to its pristine white form, yet it didn''t fly back up. Instead, it continued to fly along the bottom of the valley, and after flying over the fallen rocks for a long while, it finally found a small gap up ahead.

    The gap was only small in the context of the entire valley. In reality, it was around half a meter wide and three meters tall, so the white cicada was able to fly through it with ease.

    On the other side stood a stone cabin!

    Inside the stone cabin was a stone table, stone chairs, and a stone dressing table. It seemed that this was a ce where a woman would''ve once lived, but a thickyer of dust had settled over everything.

    The stone cabin was around five to six meters in radius, and at its center was a box.

    The box very much resembled a coffin that was standing upright, except it was far wider than a normal coffin. It was around five meters wide and three meters tall, and extremely intricate designs clearly in the style of the Qin and Han Dynasties were engraved onto its surface. At the center of this box was a round hole.

    The white cicada flew directly toward the hole, and its body clicked into ce in the hole. It was a perfect fit! Immediately thereafter, the door of the box slowly swung open, and a woman in a ptial dress emerged from within.

    No, this wasn''t a woman, it was a wooden puppet! One that had been crafted from a human body!

    The flesh, bones, and skin of the body still hadn''t decayed after all this time, and her neck, wrists, and other joints disyed clear signs of mechanical assembly. There were also no eyeballs in her eye sockets, and after walking about two meters out of the box, the woman extended a slight bow toward the air in front of her before fallingpletely still like a true puppet.

    Three secondster, melodious music yed by a zither rang out from within the box, and as it did so, the woman suddenly sprang into action again, whipping out her long sleeves with a flourish as she began to twirl on the spot.

    Her dress pped elegantly around her, making her resemble a peony in full bloom.

    This was a music box constructed with the body of a human!

    Inside the belly of the giant turtle was a mythical immortal mountain, and on the mountain was a music box that could be opened by a cicada to reveal a wooden puppet crafted from a human body... The music was very pleasant and melodious, but the scene itself was extremely unsettling.

    "This is ''The Courting Phoenix''." Right at this moment, a raspy voice rang out. "It''s been a long time since I heard this song..."

    The wooden puppet drew to an abrupt halt, and the white cicada on the box instantly turned a bright red color. Its rapidly pping wings gave off a faint buzzing sound, which was apanied by the low screeches that it was emitting. However, it seemed to be unable to extricate itself from the box, and it could only screech and p its wings to express its fury.

    Someone else had made their way into the stone cabin!

    The screeching from the white cicada grew louder and louder, but as long as "The Courting Phoenix" didn''t draw to a close, it would be unable to free itself from the music box. However, it didn''t need to struggle any longer as someone else was about to release it from the box. A hand gentlyid itself onto the cicada''s back.

    A hint of horror surfaced in the white cicada''s tiny eyes, and right behind it,yers of darkness dissipated to reveal a charred ck hand with scraps of burnt fabric still clinging to it. Immediately thereafter, all of the darkness faded, and Qin Ye was revealed in an extremely sorry state.

    He didn''t die, but he certainly wasn''t in prime condition, either. Most of his clothes had been charred ck, and the openings of all his orifices were caked in dried blood. His intricately woven Yama-King robes had been torn to shreds by the violent explosion, and even his golden crown had gone missing, leaving his hairpletely disheveled and frazzled.

    He smiled at the white cicada.

    "Malfurion Stormrage." As soon as he opened his mouth, blood immediately came gushing out, and he was ovee by a violent fit of coughing thatsted close to 20 seconds before he finally took a deep breath and continued in a hoarse voice, "It looks like I am the winner of this battle of Mount Hyjal. Archimonde wasn''t as smart as I am. In the face of so many oing faeries, he refused to retreat and paid the price for it. In contrast, my wise and brilliant self was able to survive. Do you y World of Warcraft as well? I must say, this scene that you orchestrated is very simr to a certain part of the game. Oh, I forgot that you''re unable to reply..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly tightened his grip, and veins began to bulge on his arms as he dug his fingers viciously into the white cicada''s body.

    "Now then, it''s time for me to destroy Azeroth!"

    He pulled back his arm forcefully, and the white cicada was wrenched out of the music box. It could be seen even with the naked eye that there were traces of blood on its bright red body, and in the instant that it was pulled out of the music box, the wooden puppet let loose an anguished shriek before copsing to the ground.

    The bones of the puppet pierced through its skin and tore it to shreds as the pungent odor of decay wafted through the air. The mechanical pieces inside the puppets, such as screws and blocks of wood, ttered all over the floor. At the same time, the white cicada began to screech desperately as it tried to turn around with all its might.

    Instead of crushing the white cicada between his fingers, Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh and slowly injected his Yin energy into the cicada''s body. "Qi N¨¹, one of the 10 divine insects in Cathayan legends, possessing human emotions and able to understand the humannguage, but is unable to speak it... It is truly regrettable that I was unable to immediately identify you the first time we met. Then again, who could''ve possibly anticipated that there would be another divine creature outside of Gui Xu here?"

    The same applied to the sun and the earth. Who could''ve imagined that they would both be celestial bodies that had featured in legends?

    He sat down heavily onto one of the stone chairs, and his legs felt impossibly heavy. He was supporting himself with one hand pressed against the stone table, and he was panting heavily.

    There was a burning pain inside his chest and stomach cavities, and even taking a single breath felt like a monumental task. It was very clear to him that his organs had most definitely been severely wounded, and he was extremely fortunate not to have perished or been disabled by the explosion.

    That was truly a close call. Only in the final second before those white cicadas self-detonated was he struck by a sense of extreme peril, peril that could spell doom even for a Yama-King! Initially, he had no idea what type of insect those cicadas were, but after facing such a major crisis, he finally figured out the answer.

    "It''s said that Qi N¨¹ was once a human noblewoman, but she suffered an unjust death and lost a part of her three souls and seven spirits. As a result, her body mutated into a cicada." He was still panting heavily, but he didn''t pause even for a second as he continued, "That body is your body, right? You''ve been using that body for over 2,000 years, haven''t you? As for the reason you became Qi N¨¹, it''s because your husband crafted you into this wooden puppet, isn''t that right, wife of Xu Fu?"

    The white cicada shuddered slightly upon hearing this before suddenly falling silent.

    Unbeknownst to the white cicada, Qin Ye was very relieved to see its reaction, and his spare hand balled up into a tight fist, but he maintained a calm and carefree facade as he continued, "As the most powerful cultivator in Cathayan history, he deprived you of several of your souls and spirits, reducing you to this iplete existence. What does he gain from doing this?"

    He seemed to be speaking to himself at this point as he leaned back against the chair. "He did this because you can awaken Gui Xu... The destination that Xu Fu stumbled upon on his final voyage was Yingzhou. I don''t know whether Gui Xu was already dead at the time, but my guess is that it was. Xu Fu transformed Gui Xu into an immortal ship, but he had to leave behind someone whom he could ce his absolute trust in to man this ship in his absence."

    He gently closed his eyes as he continued, "And the most trustworthy people are always the dead. Qi N¨¹... Your name doesn''t feature in Cathay''s historical records, but the fact that you''re here means that Xu Fu brought you with him during his voyage."

    Qin Ye''s voice was as alluring as that of a demon as he mused, "He also knew that the voyage to search for the immortal mountains was nothing more than a wild goose chase, and that the emperor wouldn''t have spared you if he hadn''t taken you with him. It''s only a pity that he had a change of heart...

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn sigh as he spoke, and the white cicada stiffened slightly upon hearing this.

    Complex human emotions appeared in its eyes. Indeed, Xu Fu''s initial intentions had been pure, but he had a change of heart at some point...

    Qin Ye''s words were causing something to stir deep inside her scattered memories.

    "By a stroke ofplete blind fortune, you failed to find Peni, which was said to be home to the elixir of immortality, but you stumbled upon Yingzhou instead. It was from that point that your loving marriage slowly disintegrated, and the two of you gradually turned on each other. Having consumed the Taisui fungus, Xu Fu would''ve been more aware than anyone of just how fickle human nature is," Qin Ye sighed in a forlorn voice. "He consumed the elixir of immortality that was meant for the emperor, if word of this were to spread, he would be hunted to all corners of the world! Thus, he became extremely paranoid, and over time, his paranoia became so great that even you weren''t sufficiently trustworthy in his eyes, which is why he transformed you into Qi N¨¹. He took away a part of your three souls and seven spirits, leaving behind only the memories that he wanted you to retain. Thus, you became the key to activating Gui Xu. I can see that you''re beginning to tremble, have you thought of something?"

    Qin Ye gently stroked the white cicada''s back, and the cicada was indeed trembling violently, but it didn''t unleash any attacks. "You must be wondering how I figured out all of this, right?"

    He had guessed right!

    When used effectively, words were far more piercing than even the sharpest of des.

    His words had pierced directly into Qi N¨¹''s soul, and he seemed to have been very rxed and carefree throughout this process, but in reality, he had been constantly gauging Qi N¨¹''s reaction.

    In the instant that he realized what Mirage City truly was, a seemingly ridiculous thought had taken shape in his mind.

    It was a very long shot, but if he were to seed, then the demise of the Peach Blossom Spring wouldn''t be far away!

    The divine beast, Gui Xu, the immortal mountain within Gui Xu''s belly, and now Qi N¨¹... All of these leads were interconnected to form apelling case, and all that was missing was evidence.

    He repressed the excitement in his own heart as he continued to peel back theyers. "It''s actually very simple. From the instant you descended into the cave and brought about the awakening of Gui Xu, I theorized that you were the key to awakening Gui Xu, or at least you have the power to awaken Gui Xu. Upon making the realization that you are Qi N¨¹, I was able to extrapte how you had be like this based on my understanding of Xu Fu''s personality. When you think about it like that, it isn''t very difficult at all to connect the dots. Mirage City is currently one of his most important cities, but controlling Mirage City isn''t important, the key is controlling Gui Xu. Thus, he thought of you. Who can he trust more than the person who was once most intimate with him? In particr, now that you''ve been reduced to this state and have retained only the memories that he wants you to retain, you would be the perfect tool to use for this purpose."

    Qi N¨¹ had fallenpletely still at this point.

    However, not only was Qin Ye not disappointed to see this, his heartbeat was beginning to elerate. Putting himself in Qi N¨¹''s shoes, he could sense that Qi N¨¹ hadn''t fallen still as he had said something wrong. Instead, he had hit the nail right on the head, and as a result, she was ovee by despair and resignation.

    She was resigned to the fact that the one closest to her had betrayed her, and she was in despair over the hollow existence she had led over the past 2,000 years.

    "However, Xu Fu failed to ount for one thing," Qin Ye continued in a voice that was full of allure. "You didn''t eat the Taisui fungus, so your soul has been recorded in Hell. If you give me what I want, I can find the parts of your three souls and seven spirits that Xu Fu deprived from you and restore your soul to its original perfect form. That is not a difficult task for me at all, so how about we strike a deal?"

    Qi N¨¹ began to tremble violently once again amid a burst of loud buzzing, seemingly conflicted over her missing memories and this duty that had been ced upon her.

    Qi N¨¹ seemed to be an insect, but she wasn''t an insect.

    She possessed the intelligence and thought process of a human, and the only thing that she couldn''t do was speak. After such a long time, she had to have already sensed that there was something wrong with her memories.

    Perhaps she should''ve already suspected Xu Fu a long time ago, but she didn''t dare to think about that.

    In her memories, they were so loving and intimate with one another, how could he possibly have betrayed her?

    After a long while, Qi N¨¹ reluctantly crawled over the table, using her insect legs to clear away the dust on the table, writing out a line of text in the process.

    "I''m no match for him?" Qin Ye nodded in response after seeing the message. "Indeed, he is an advanced Yama-King, the most powerful human cultivator that has ever existed. Evenpared with Brother Zhao''s unfathomable cultivation rank, he is only one step away. However..."

    A cold smile appeared on his face as he continued, "He''s still no match for the entire Cathayan Underworld! In the past, we failed to discover this Peach Blossom Spring, but now that I''ve found it, the Cathayan Underworld will stomp it into the dirt!"

    I did it! His expression remained calm, but his heart rate had spiked through the roof.

    After identifying this white cicada as the divine insect, Qi N¨¹, many of the leads in his mind had been connected. Yes, there was no evidence to support all of this, but it was most definitely worth a try to bait out the evidence he needed!

    What would he receive in return if he were to seed? He would receive the betrayal of the one closest to Xu Fu!

    Having also lived for over 2,000 years, she had witnessed the emergence of the elixir of immortality, and she had witnessed Xu Fu transforming all of his subordinates into mindless zombies for his own benefit. She knew all of Xu Fu''s most closely guarded secrets, including his weaknesses, his desires, what he was afraid of... This was a massive advantage to have!

    Furthermore, he had also obtained Gui Xu!

    Of course, Gui Xu was already long dead at this point, but it was the only divine beast ship in the three realms that had been crafted by Xu Fu over the course of 2,000 years!

    If he could truly obtain it and use it to guard the sea near the rift in the Array of the Nine Gods, no one would dare to venture to the array to investigate!

    It was extremely fortunate that he had seeded, but it still wasn''t time to count his eggs quite yet.

    He repressed the tion in his heart and refocused on the task at hand. Right now, his top priority was to take Qi N¨¹ back to Hell.

    After that, he would be able to slowly peel back theyers and reveal the truth behind the Peach Blossom Spring.

    "I''ll take you back to Hell and help you recover your lost souls and spirits. However, in return, you have to take us to the Peach Blossom Spring and tell me all the secrets surrounding The Mirage. At the same time, you''ll be assigned the role of helmsman of The Mirage and work for Hell for all of eternity, what do you think?"

    Dead silence.

    Five minutester, Qi N¨¹ kowtowed onto the table before writing out another message as quickly as she could.

    "Xu Fu''s final trump card is hidden on the roof of the shrine. It contains the location of all of the light towers in the mortal coil that he''s hidden all over the world, and details on all of his ties with different countries. I gathered these things bit by bit over time, and if you can help me recover my soul, I''ll tell you the true purpose of the light towers in the mortal coil, as well as the only way to find the Peach Blossom Spring! Trust me, the Peach Blossom Spring truly exists! However, you can''t find it through conventional means. Aside from Xu Fu, I''m the only one in this world who knows how!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    As expected, Qi N¨¹ was far from an idiot. If she hadn''t begun suspecting Xu Fu long ago, she wouldn''t have collected all of this information.

    After taking a part of one''s three souls and seven spirits, they would no longer be whole. Even if their memories were stitched together as seamlessly as possible, there would still inevitably be traces of tampering left behind.

    Even the most beautiful of false memories were ultimately still just lies.

    [1] [These are all World of Warcraft References. I''m not sure how they rte to one another as I''m not familiar with WoW lore, perhaps someone who''s yed the game could enlighten everyone in thements.]

    [2] [This is another WoW reference.]

 Chapter 846: Details

    <h4>Chapter 846: Details</h4>

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    <i>Whoosh...</i> He released his Dusk Legionnaire, and it was rumbling behind him like a ck hole. Within the inky-ck vortex, there were already around a dozen specks ofherfire.

    There were several spots that were left vacant, and those belonged to the likes of Chu Renmei and Ryu Changmin. There were also several spots where theherfire was flickering incessantly, and the faces of evil ghosts such as Otakemaru and Leatherface were constantly surfacing there. It would most likely take another season for these evil ghosts to bepletely devoured.

    <i>As expected of an art passed down between King Yanluos. Regardless of how powerful an evil ghost is, as soon as they enter my legion, there''s no way for them to escape! </i>

    Qi N¨¹ was silent for a few seconds before flying into the Dusk Legionnaire as a streak of light.

    Thus, the room fell silent, and only then did Qin Ye rise to his feet as a contemtive look appeared on his face.

    Inside the belly of Gui Xu, Yingzhou waspletely still and unmoving. Qin Ye had no idea where Gui Xu had drifted to during the course of that battle, but it was finally over now.

    At times, the conclusion of a battle didn''t have to be violent and breathtaking. Instead, it was more important to figure everything out and achieve the desired oue, and this oue couldn''t be more satisfactory for either party.

    Qin Ye had obtained the moving fortress that was Gui Xu, the method to control Gui Xu, the allegiance of Qi N¨¹, and perhaps even the usage method of the Taisui fungus was soon about to be his as well. On top of that, there were the dozens of evil ghosts that he had captured in Mirage City set to upy more spots in his Dusk Legionnaire.

    This was truly a massive halt.

    "But it''s not over yet," Qin Ye mused to himself as he swept his gaze around the stone chamber. "Xu Fu, I really can''t rest until I pluck you out from behind the veil of history... I''m different from the second King Yanluo, he has sufficient power to look down on you like an ant, and perhaps he wouldn''t even be bothered by your actions. He stands far too high above everyone else and isn''t threatened by anyone. However, I''m not the same."

    A cold smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "I''m petty and weak, I''m most likely the weakest King Yanluo in history. Hence, as soon as I detect any danger, I have to actively stamp it out to protect myself. Xu Fu, you have well and truly angered me."

    After that, he took off his tattered robes, and a gust of Yin wind swept over his body, following which a brand new King Yanluo robe appeared to rece the old one.

    There was something else that he had to take care of.

    At the time, hundreds of thousands of Qi N¨¹s had self-detonated at once, and he had thought that he would be at least severely disabled in the aftermath, if not killed. However, following the explosion, he was indeed severely wounded, but he was still alive and ended up with no disabilities, and there was only one thing that could''ve possibly saved him.

    At the time, Fate had disappeared and written something on his back. That had to have been the key to his survival.

    He spread the robe that he had just taken off onto the stone table, upon which he discovered a line of shimmering golden text inscribed on the back.

    "Third Hokage!" he eximed, then cleared his throat out of embarrassment and scratched his own head with an awkward expression. "My sincerest apologies to the third Hokage, that was nothing more than a joke. There''s too much pressure on me nowadays, and even Wang Chenghao is getting more and more serious, I have to entertain myself and rx somehow. Now then, let''s see what it actually says..."

    He was suddenly beginning to miss those days when he had no shame. Now that he was trying to keep up an austere and honorable image, it felt as if there was a heavy weight on his shoulders.

    Of course, what was inscribed onto the back of his robe wasn''t anything that was anywhere near as embarrassing as "Third Hokage". Instead, it was...

    "Yellow Emperor Protector Seal! Brother Xu once told me that he had the title of Yellow Emperor outside of the underworld... That''s even more shameless than calling yourself hokage! Does this mean that this Yellow Emperor Protector Seal is something that he left behind? Theoretically speaking, with each major breakthrough, an underworld emissary should attain a new origin Yin artifact, yet I''m currently using a Yin artifact of his after reaching the Yama-King level. Does this mean that Fate took the spot of the origin Yin artifact that I should''ve attained after my breakthrough? If that''s the case, then the main reason for this has to be this Yellow Emperor Protector Seal!"

    He gently stroked the tattered golden characters. Due to the explosion earlier, his robe had beenpletely shredded, but thankfully, the golden characters had been leftrgely unharmed. As soon as his fingers came into contact with the text, he immediately discovered that these characters wereposed of a series of Yin runes! Furthermore, these Yin runes were transforming into a streak of golden light upon contact before vanishing into his be.

    "There are some things that I initially didn''t n to tell you." Brother Xu''s voice rang out in Qin Ye''s mind, and Qin Ye listened with rapt focus. "To be honest, you''re not very suited for the position of King Yanluo."

    This was Mr. Xu''s ssic "I''m the best, everyone else is trash" opening dialogue...

    "You''ve lived in the mortal realm for too long, and you haven''t experienced what it''s like to rule over an entire realm. I helped you make a lot of changes, but some things are deeply ingrained and cannot be wiped away in a short time. For example, the high-end powerful beings of Hell y a major role in dictating the oues of its battles, yet you just so happen to be someone who doesn''t like to cultivate. As King Yanluo, you''ll be facing countless battles in the future. Currently, battles between underworlds are fought on an extremely primitive basis with the exception of forbidden techniques, and there will be many, many asions where you will need to fight in battle in person. By my estimates, as you currently are, there is a 70% chance that you''ll die on the battlefield, so this is the final thing that I can give you.

    "The Yellow Emperor Protector Seal is one of my most powerful seals. Having said that, it''s not all that impressive. I have a total of over 40 types of seals, finger techniques, palm techniques, and leg techniques, each of which has several dozen abilities. In any case, it has a pretty badass name. However, this is something that I decided to leave to you after careful consideration, and you shouldn''t look down on it, either. The seal will ensure your survival against any attack that''s powerful enough to render you unfit for battle, and after withstanding the attack, the seal will help your recover rapidly over a span of five minutes. After five minutes, your recovery will teau at a slower but constant rate that will allow you to continue in battle, and the seal has a one-week cooldown period. If you''ve activated it, then that means that you are forging ahead with courage and challenging yourself. If you hide in your imperial pce for the rest of your life, then the seal will most likely never appear. In order to activate the seal, you must first reach the Yama-King cultivation rank, which you clearly already have. If you''ve made it to the point where you''re hearing this message, then congrattions, you''vee a long way. I don''t know how long it''s been since we parted ways, but you''ve be a lot more powerful than you were during the Hungry Ghost Festival, both in terms of cultivation rank, as well as in your mental fortitude, thetter of which is far more important. Remember that power isn''t everything, and true power neveres from the physical body alone.¡±

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly as the message drew to a conclusion.

    He couldn''t decide whether to thank Brother Xu or give him a vicious p the next time they met.

    Then again, if he dared to p Brother Xu, even the Yellow Emperor Protector Seal wouldn''t be able to save him...

    Even though the Yellow Emperor Protector Seal was a passive ability, it was still extremely valuable.

    He waved a hand through the air, and the tattered robe dissipated into Yin energy. He wasn''t just taking a look at the seal for the sake of it, he was doing so because he didn''t have full trust in Qi N¨¹.

    If there were some other traps lying in wait at the shrine, then he had to at least be able to ensure that he would be fit for battle, and after resting for this period of time, he was ready.

    Wait a minute, battle? Why am I thinking about battle? Why am I thinking about going into battle in person? Th, this isn''t like me! Have I finally been brainwashed by the second King Yanluo and the Harken?

    This wasn''t the time for such petty gripes, so he could only set those thoughts aside for now. At this point, he had recovered to a decent extent, and it was time to go and see exactly what was hiding in the shrine.

    With the key to activating Gui Xu under his control, the feeling of constantly being watched had disappeared, and he made it all the way to the mountain summit with no mishaps.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he stepped onto the mountain summit. Along the way here, there were two things that had stuck out to him as rather strange. Firstly, Yingzhou was known as an immortal mountain, yet he hadn''t discovered anything "immortal" about this ce.

    It was just an ordinary mountain, and the only thing prominent aside from its beautiful scenery was theck of living beings here.

    There were cranes flying in the sky, but they weren''t alive. Instead, they were mere skeletons. Flying skeletal creatures wasn''t a rare sight in the underworld, and it was the only thing remarkable about this ce, so why was it referred to as an immortal mountain?

    Secondly, why was there a Nipponese shinto shrine here?

    He didn''t ask those questions as they were most likely rted to Qi N¨¹''s trump card. Unless she developed absolute trust in him or recovered her lost souls and spirits, there was no way she would answer those questions, so there was no point in asking.

    Thus, he stood in front of the shrine and began to carefully inspect it.

    This was a very typical Nipponese shinto shrine with a torii gate constructed from redwood at the entrance along with a wooden door-shaped que. ording to the beliefs of the shinto religion, upon crossing through this gate, one would reach the realm of the gods, so this gate acted as the divide between gods and mortals.

    Beyond the torii gate was a wooden shrine that wasn''t veryrge, standing at only around four to five meters in radius. The entrance was wide open, and the white curtains at the entrance were folded aside. It was a very old shrine, but it was quite clean and tidy.

    There wasn''t much to be seen on the outside, and upon entering the shrine, Qin Ye discovered that there were only three types of items in it, namely prayer gs that were hung up all around the shrine, a round futon, and a statue that was around the same height as a grown man.

    Qin Ye''s pupils abruptly contracted at the sight of the statue as it held an identical appearance to the man that he had seen in Bu Wantian''s memories!

    The long and thin beard, the ethereal and carefree disposition... It was none other than Xu Fu himself!

    The statue was carved out of stone, but it was impossible to see the stone material¡¯s original color. Some parts were white while other parts were yellow, and this was an indication that this statue had been standing for a very long time, perhaps even more than 1,000 years!

    The statue bore the appearance of Xu Fu, but he was in a set ofpletely different attire.

    He was in a pure white round-cored traditional Han robe with wide sleeves. There was a tight-fitting jade belt around his waist, and a ck cap with intricate golden ornaments all over its surface.

    Qin Ye carefully inspected the face of the statue, then examined the attire that Xu Fu was depicted to be wearing here, and his brows furrowed tightly as he murmured to himself, "This is the attire worn by high-ranking Nipponese officials in ancient times..."

    Right at this moment, Qi N¨¹ emitted a faint screech to catch his attention, and only then did he notice that there was a wooden badge that was yellow with age sitting beside the foot of the statue.

    There was a name engraved upon the badge: Jimmu!

    This discovery was like a bolt of lightning that struck Qin Ye squarely on the head, answering many of the questions that were still lingering in his heart. His mouth was slightly agape, and he slowly took a step backward as he stared at the statue with incredulity in his eyes.

    It was no wonder that the Xu Fu depicted in this statue was wearing such prestigious Nipponese Attire... He wasn''t a high-ranking official or general, he was Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Nippon!

    Emperor Jimmu was a godlike existence in Nipponese legend, but no official historical records of him had ever been discovered. It was said that he was the first ruler to have established an empire in Nippon, founding the nation and the imperial family, yet this legendary figure... was Xu Fu!

    Everything that Qi N¨¹ had told him rang out in his mind once again.

    "Xu Fu''s final trump card is hidden on the roof of the shrine."

    "Xu Fu''s final trump card is hidden on the roof of the shrine. It contains the location of all of the light towers in the mortal coil that he''s hidden all over the world, and details on all of his ties with different countries. I gathered these things bit by bit over time, and if you can help me recover my soul, I''ll tell you the true purpose of the light towers in the mortal coil, as well as the only way to find the Peach Blossom Spring! Trust me, the Peach Blossom Spring truly exists! However, you can''t find it through conventional means. Aside from Xu Fu, I''m the only one in this world who knows how!"

    Qin Ye was inplete disbelief as he murmured to himself, "So this is his tie with Nippon? The first emperor of Nippon who founded the nation is actually the number one human cultivator in history and the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring? Is this only one of his identities or is that all? If there are others, then what alternative identities has he adopted? What has this man done in the past 2,000 years?"

 Chapter 847: A Figure Featuring Throughout History

    <h4>Chapter 847: A Figure Featuring Throughout History</h4>

    He repressed this terrifying thought, and he realized that he had still underestimated Xu Fu, even though he was already cing Xu Fu on a very high pedestal. This was an immortal who had lived for over 2,000 years, and there was no reason why he had to stay in Cathay throughout his entire life, perhaps his impact could be felt all over the world.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before turning to Qi N¨¹. "Let''s begin."

    Let me know exactly what kind of monster has been hiding in the cracks of history for over 2,000 years!

    Qi N¨¹ nodded in response before crawling to the back of the statue. She then seemed to have pressed something, and a brick in front of the round futon fell away, following which a small box with side lengths of around a foot slowly emerged.

    The box was entirely ck andpletely unremarkable. Qin Ye immediately opened the box, discovering its contents to be a stack of handwritten notes around half a foot thick.

    The paper was already extremely old, and he blew away some of the dust on its surface before eagerly reading the notes.

    "September 7th, 1503." The notes were written in clear Cathayan text. It was in ancient Cathayan text, but that wasn''t an issue for Qin Ye.

    "I''ve finally found a suitable experimental subject. For over 1,000 years prior to this, Cathay has always stood at the pinnacle of the entire world. In Cathay, there was no end to the knowledge that I could learn, and that knowledge will be enough for me to perfect my modification of Gui Xu. When that timees, no one in this world will be able to stop me. However, I feel as if my research has reached a bottleneck, and I''m in desperate need of a breakthrough. I''ve already learned everything there is to be learned in Cathay. Those pitiful mortals are always of the opinion that they know everything, but they''re all ignorant fools."

    Xu Fu''s handwriting was very elegant, and his writing had clear logic and sequence. It was no exaggeration to say that it was a joy to read his notes.

    "There may be more advanced knowledge in the underworld, but that''s not a ce that I should be going to. None of the scouts that I''ve sent to the underworld disguised as Emissaries of Hell have returned, and I''ve heard that the second King Yanluo has already ascended to the throne. During these past few years, I can''t shake the feeling that someone''s gaze has been sweeping over the rough location of the Peach Blossom Spring from time to time. That gaze is absolutely terrifying, I''ve never felt such terrifying and unadulterated power. I can''t stay here any longer, and it just so happens to be the case that I''ve reached a bottleneck in my learning, so I''ve taken this opportunity to make a journey to the west. Through my interactions with western merchants, I can clearly sense that the west is currently on a rapid resurgence, so perhaps I''ll be able to encounter some different stimulus here. Thus, I sailed all the way here to Tuscany, Italia. This is a very peaceful town, and it''s a very suitable ce for me to experiment with my reincarnation secret technique. Borrowing the physical body of an infant, I was able to reincarnate myself into this world again, and even I''ve lost count of how many times I''ve reincarnated myself. As expected, this is a ce that very much fits my tastes. Of course, in terms of the level of knowledge and expertise in different fields, this ce is a far cry from Cathay. However, they havepletely different standards here when ites to things like aesthetics and architecture, and that has been very inspiring for me. I have a feeling that perhaps the final spark of inspiration required for me to perfect the modification of Gui Xu will be found here in the west."

    There was a lot of text on this page, but nothing of use was recorded. Below this passage, the writing became very smudged, and there were also some signs of tearing, perhaps due to how old these records were.

    Qin Ye flipped over this page to discover a drawing of Leonardo da Vinci''s vastly renowned anatomical man, beside which was a list of various figures and statistics.

    This image was far too familiar to Qin Ye, and it was featured in all major biology textbooks. Theoretically speaking, this should''ve been something created by Leonardo da Vinci during his time in Edinburgh, and its name was the "Vitruvian Man".

    "The fact that he was able to make such an excellent imitation of the piece is an indication that his artistic ability was top-notch," Qin Ye praised after inspecting the image for a full minute. Just as he was about to set the piece of paper down, his gaze suddenly wandered to the corner of the page, where there was a line of small text.

    The entire diary was recorded in Cathayan characters, so a line of English words was naturally very eye-catching, despite the diminutive font. Qin Ye''s English was not bad at all, and he took a quick nce at the line of small text.

    "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, 1503.9.7 record."

    "So this piece was recorded September 7th, 1503, and the apanying name must be the name of the artist. In that case, it looks like Xu Fu has once used an English name. As expected, he really has been to all parts of the world."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly, and he was just about to move on to the next piece of paper when his entire body suddenly stiffened.

    Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci...

    This name... His hands began to tremble as he held onto the piece of paper, and he cast his gaze toward the line of small text on the bottom corner once again with an incredulous expression.

    Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci...

    This was the name that Xu Fu had used during his time in Italia!

    If there were any time travelers in history, then Leonardo da Vinci would be the likeliest candidate. He was an artist, yet he had dabbled in countless fields outside of the arts, and his story was a prevailing enigma in history!

    "Wait a minute, Leonardo da Vinci''s birthce is none other than the town of Tuscany, is it not?" He stared at the piece of paper with an astonished expression and mused to himself, "So that means... Leonardo da Vinci is Xu Fu? But that''s absurd!"

    That was his initial reaction, but upon calming down and considering the notion again, he discovered that it made a lot of sense.

    This page of his diary denoted why Xu Fu had gone to the west. The possibility that Xu Fu had written this diary entry just to fool someone who would eventually stumble upon it in the future was so slim that it waspletely negligible, so Qin Ye was sure that it was authentic, and as for Leonardo da Vinci himself...

    Prior to Leonardo da Vinci, Archimedes was referred to as a sample of a walking transmigrated encyclopedia, and in contrast, Leonardo da Vinci was the full version of said encyclopedia.

    What were the fields that he had dabbled in?

    Astrology, physics, optical science, meteorology, medicine, mathematics, architecture, hydraulic engineering, military engineering, geography and geology, biology and paleontology, philosophy, music, art, sculpting, and literature were all fields in which he had made outstanding achievements, with his most significant contributionsing in the field of anatomy.

    He discovered the flow of blood and the function of the metabolism. He created a model of the heart''s four chambers and managed to create diagrams of the human skeletal structure. It was unfathomable to think that he had achieved all of this as far back as 500 years ago!

    In addition to that, he invented the wheellock, cluster munition, three-barrel cannons, tanks, flotation snowshoes, wetsuits and submarines, dual-level warships, gliders, ornithopters, helicopters, pontoon bridges, and the list goes on! All of this was also invented 500 years ago!

    And you thought that was all?

    No! In the handwritten notes that he left behind, there was even a model for a robot, the internal core of which was a set of gear-operated parts. He even constructed a basic model of a car and designed a braking device for it. Many of his inventions were full of modern elements, and they were simply impossible to conceptualize in the 15th century!

    Qin Ye had seen the movie, "The da Vinci Code" before, and many people were of the opinion that the movie waspletely fictional. Indeed, the plot of the movie may have been fictional, but the da Vinci code truly existed because he was an excellent code expert!

    This was a man who had transcended well beyond the 15th century in which he had lived, and he was so far ahead of his time that it was almost impossible to exin his achievements other than to suggest that he was a transmigrater. However, if Xu Fu were Leonardo da Vinci''s true identity, then everything would make sense.

    During the process in which he had modified Gui Xu, he had already umted sufficient knowledge. With the stimulus that he had received froming into contact with western culture, it was no surprise at all that he was able to invent all of these things.

    Qin Ye was staring at the statue of Emperor Jimmu in an almost entranced manner, and he suddenly said, "Qi N¨¹, I want to ask you a question. You should be very familiar with Gui Xu at this point, what exactly is Gui Xu?"

    Qi N¨¹ wiggled her cicada body from side to side, seemingly unable toprehend Qin Ye''s question.

    "What I''m saying is, Gui Xu perished over 2,000 years ago, yet it''s still able to move now. What is it being powered by? Mechanical parts? Is it a mechanical beast that was said to have faded into the annals of time long ago?"

    Qi N¨¹''s body bobbed up and down in a nod.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon confirming this.

    Gui Xu was a mechanical beast, a supermassive mechanical beast that was over 200 kilometers in size and was capable of destroying modern warships in mere seconds!

    Its modification required knowledge in the fields of biology, architecture, mechanical engineering, physics... there had to be at least several dozen different fields involved, and one would have to be the undisputed number one master in those fields at the time in order to pull off such an incredible project!

    Indeed, a span of over 2,000 years was sufficient for Xu Fu to learn all of these things and truly grasp and integrate all of the knowledge in several dozen different fields. In doing so, he was able to do what others perceived to be miracles. It could be said that he was the world''s greatest biologist, architect, and physicist!

    So Leonardo da Vinci and Xu Fu were one and the same...

    "I still can''t believe this is true..." Qin Ye stared at the piece of paper he was holding with an astonished expression. This was a massive bombshell! On top of that, this diary entry had exposed Xu Fu''s first hiding ce, which was the freemasonry!

    Leonardo da Vinci was part of the freemasonry, which was the most mysterious organization in the mortal realm. It wasn''t a mystery to all underworlds, but it certainly was to the Cathayan Underworld!

    The underworlds of Usonia and Europa would definitely be aware of who the members of the freemasonry were. If possible, Qin Ye wanted to secure a list. As a living person, Xu Fu needed a prestigious identity that he could use in public. Once he secured this list and found out which soul had ties with Cathay, he would be able to determine that person as Xu Fu!

    However, the freemasonry was truly a powerhouse organization. It was said that virtually all of the richest, most powerful, and most influential figures in the world were a part of this organization. Even in the underworld, these people''s identities were most likely a secret.

    If Xu Fu were smart, then he wouldn''t ce all of his eggs in one basket and store everything he had umted over the past 2,000 years in the Peach Blossom Spring. Instead, he would distribute everything to various parts of the world, and it was clear that the freemasonry was one of those ces.

    However, that was not something for Qin Ye to consider now.

    He repressed the astonishment in his heart as he continued to examine the notes.

    The rest of the notes were all handwritten, and there were even many blueprints among them, but they were arranged in no particr order. It seemed that Qi N¨¹ had discovered that something was amiss with her memories as far back as several centuries ago. She didn''t dare to collectrge amounts of information to be used against Xu Fu, so she could only search carefully for the diary entries that he had discarded, and she had only managed to collect this box full of notes after several centuries of painstaking effort.

    This was a massive help for Qin Ye!

    After leafing through five or six pages, he finally discovered something different, something that didn''t belong to Leonardo da Vinci.

    "The Three Caves of the Cunning Rabbit? Is that another alias of his?" Qin Ye moved on to the contents of the page with rapt focus.

    "I really didn''t think that I would return to this ce someday. After leaving the western world in 1700, I didn''t think I would evere back, but here I am, and it''s only been just over 100 years. Cathay is beginning to shut itself off from the rest of the world. At this point, Cathay can no longer even be considered to be a developed nation in the world, but ignorant mortal citizens of Cathay still believe that their country is the premier powerhouse on the international stage. That ce is going to be very chaotic very soon. Istion andck of interaction with the rest of the world has made Cathaypletelycent to the dangers lurking beneath the surface. This is no longer the Cathay that I once knew. In times of unrest and chaos, evil ghosts and underworld emissaries will always be amon sight. If I had stayed there any longer, I would''ve been courting death. It just so happens to be the case that the sh of western and eastern cultures has given me a lot of new inspiration. During myst trip to the west, there were some ideas and concepts that I didn''t get to bring into reality. For example, why don''t I find a new type of energy resource to power Gui Xu? In doing so, I would be able to reduce many of the mechanical parts currently required, and therefore open up a lot of space. Currently, it''s clear that the western world views industrial engineering in far higher regard than the eastern world."

    All of a sudden, an absurd thought urred to Qin Ye.

    <i>Surely not... Could it be that he''s about to reincarnate himself into another brilliant mindparable with Leonardo da Vinci?</i>

 Chapter 848: A Figure Featuring Throughout History

    <h4>Chapter 848: A Figure Featuring Throughout History</h4>

    "I require a type of driving force. It has to be said that some remarkable figures have appeared in the west during this past century. For example, right after I left, a man by the name of Isaac Newton appeared. I was almost convinced that he was the reincarnation of a certain death god, but unfortunately, that was not the case. He invented a concept known as force, which I think is very interesting, so I took the concept and invented a branch of force known as driving force, which is something that I need right now. Gui Xu is far too massive, and even though I''m doing everything in my power to support it, I''m struggling to keep up with the costs of keeping it running. However, I''m unable to let it go. Gui Xu is my dream, the guide that brought me into contact with this mysterious world. It is the only pursuit that I''ve had in this long life of mine. In order to get what I want, I had to disy some of my expertise in different fields, and sure enough, I won many udits and received a lot of attention very quickly. As a result, I was able to enter the best workshop at the time, Edison''s workshop. My teacher is Thomas Edison."

    At this point, Qin Ye''s grip had tightened so much that he was on the verge of scrunching the entire piece of paper. This was because a certain person had sprung up in his mind, one that was renowned across the entire world.

    He was one of the five likeliest candidates in history to have been a transmigrator. Of course, Leonardo da Vinci was also on that list. If those two were the same person, then that would make a lot of sense.

    He continued to read the notes.

    "During the 100 years that I''ve been absent, a new type of energy resource known as electricity has appeared. At this point, the foolish mortals clearly haven''t realized just how widely applicable a new energy resource was. Perhaps those high and mighty Emissaries of Hell would be able to understand, but they are unable to interfere with scientific developments in the mortal realm. They don''t understand, but I do! As far back as 500 years ago, I had already begun searching for a new energy resource that can rece manualbor. Steam power has been invented since then, but that''s still not enough! Now, there is electricity, an energy resource that is far more convenient and efficient than steam power! This discovery alone justifies my decision toe here!"

    Qin Ye''s heart began to thump violently. The name of the figure that had sprung up in his mind was bing clearer and clearer, yet he still didn''t want to believe it.

    "I began to research electricity obsessively. Direct electric current has already been conquered, so I chose to participate in a project involving alternating current. It has to be said that this was a stroke of genius! Even I have to praise myself for my foresight. As it turns out, alternating current is an applicable concept, and it''s especially useful in electric conduction. In order to power Gui Xu, electric conduction over a massive area has to be achieved, so this is perfect! At this point, my work for this lifetime is basically done, and I''ve begun to fade from the public eye. Gui Xu has taken me to the Pacific Ocean, and I''ve begun research into incorporating alternating current electricity into Gui Xu''s body. However, I''ve discovered a problem. Gui Xu''s body is not suitable for electrical conduction. In other words, electric currents can''t travel through its body. It''s a dead creature, and dead things are unable to conduct electricity!"

    At the end, the handwriting had be very messy and erratic, clearly indicating that Xu Fu had been furious at the time.

    Of course, anyone would be angry if something that they had studied for decades couldn''t be used on their most prized masterpiece. The note concluded here, and the rest of the sheet of paper had been incinerated.

    Qin Ye immediately flipped the piece of paper over, but there was nothing on the back, either. He immediately picked up the next page. Thankfully, this page was the direct sequel to thest page.

    "In order to store electricity in Gui Xu''s body, I have to consider not just the mortal realm, but also the underworld. This is an idea that has urred to me after I calmed down. Thus, I began to trace the development of electricity in the mortal realm, identifying potential misconceptions and unexplored paths to pursue. I''ve begun searching for items with extremely high Yin energy content in secret, and at the same time, I''ve enlisted the assistance of my fellow freemasons. After 200 years, I''ve finally discovered that it''s feasible after all!"

    The handwriting at the end had be a little erratic yet again, but this time, it was reflecting a sense of excitement rather than anger.

    "It''s not impossible to set up an electricitywork within Gui Xu''s body. However, a conversion process is required, and the energy resource used won''t be electricity. To put it more urately, it won''t be pure electricity."

    Qin Ye''s mouth gaped open slightly, and he was already unable to describe what he was currently feeling.

    What Xu Fu was trying to do was something that Hell had been trying to aplish all along!

    In the field of instantmunication, the underworld had already beenpletely left behind by the mortal realm. The Usonian Underworld had Thomas Edison, yet it was unable to find a solution. The Argosian Underworld had Archimedes, yet it was also unable to find a solution. Who would''ve thought that an immortal who had umted over 2,000 years of knowledge would also be researching this field?

    Xu Fu was only doing this in order to achieve a goal he had set for himself and to give his immortal life some purpose. However, for an underworld, a new energy resource would be revolutionary, and any underworld that obtained such a thing would be sure to reign supreme on the international stage!

    Has he seeded? If so, are there any records?

    If the Cathayan Underworld could obtain the method to create this new energy resource, then it wouldn''t be an issue at all to catch up to or even exceed the three pirs!

    However, this was where the notes on this page concluded. Qin Ye cursed internally, and he was praying in his heart that there would be a follow-up to this diary entry. In contrast with this information, even Xu Fu''s identity in this lifetimepletely paled into insignificance.

    The next page of notes was mostly damaged, but thankfully, the bits and pieces that remained were still cohesive.

    "Heart of a death god... Conversion... After removing all of the... Filled with even more power! That''s right, this driving force... Omnipresent in both the mortal realm and the underworld... I''m making a record here, the first person to have... Is me! My name is Leonardo da Vinci, I am Emperor Jimmu... Nik Te..."

    Many parts were missing from the notes, but it was still able to beprehended.

    Just these short few segments were enough to stun Qin Ye to the core, and he waspletely rooted to the spot.

    He seeded? The problem that had stumped all of the underworlds and even his teacher, Thomas Edison himself, was solved by him?

    A wry smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "I suppose it''s no surprise. He''s umted knowledge from both the underworld and the mortal realm, allowing him to connect the two with ease. In contrast, Archimedes hasn''t had anywhere enough time as him to umte knowledge in the mortal realm, and Thomas Edison''s experiences in both the mortal realm and the underworldbined can''t even hold a candle to his experiences. If there''s anyone in this world that can actuallyplete this grand project, then it can most likely only be him."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath to calm himself down before quickly getting back to the notes.

    He was extremely eager to see Xu Fu''s solution.

    There was no guarantee that Xu Fu''s solution could work. In fact, there was a very good chance that it wouldn''t be feasible for the underworld. However, it could advance research into a new energy resource in the underworld significantly, and if he could get his hands on that information, the next era of the underworlds would belong to Hell!

    However, the solution wasn''t in this diary entry.

    Qin Ye put down the sheet of paper before quickly going through the rest of the notes, searching for the name "Nik Te". However, his search was proving to bepletely fruitless.

    Even after flicking through all of the diary entries, he discovered no detailed records, only sporadic mentions of the subject.

    Qin Ye was quite disappointed by this, but he wasn''t all that surprised. After all, who would write something so important in their diary? The fact that Qi N¨¹ was able to collect these diary entries in secret was a clear indication that they were no longer important to Xu Fu.

    "Who could''ve possibly imagined that Nik Te, Leonardo da Vinci, and Emperor Jimmu were the same person? All of them were reincarnations of Xu Fu!"

    Qin Ye had already anticipated that Xu Fu could''ve left his mark in other parts of the world during his 2,000 years on this earth, but never did he think that every mark that he left behind would be so significant and astonishing.

    Nik Te was a brilliant scientist, and the contributions that he made toward the new energy resource that was electricity exceeded even those made by his teacher, Thomas Edison.

    He invented wireless power transfer, allowing electricity to be transferred tens of thousands of kilometers away. Through this method, not only could electricity be transferred in massive quantities, it could be released at any designated point in the world. At a time when no one had thought it to be possible, he was able to switch on a lightbulb from a short distance away.

    That didn''t sound all that impressive until you took into ount the fact that only in 2007, after 100 years had passed, did the research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology use maic resonance to achieve wireless power transfer, thereby sessfully switching on a 60 watt light bulb two meters away. The furthest distance that electricity had been transferred over using this method was no more than 2.7 meters, and one of the big selling points of the Iphone X was Qi-enabled wireless charging, but this was something that Te had already conceptualized over 100 years ago.

    Furthermore, he had also created ultra-high voltage electricity. Using the vastly renowned Te Coil, he was able to generate ultra-high voltage electricity of at least twenty thousand volts and as high as a hundred million volts. To this day, over 100 yearster, ultra-high voltage power transmission was still a cutting-edge technology that was yet to reach maturity. Currently, thergest indoor electricity generator in the world was situated in the Paris branch of the ¨¦lectricit¨¦ de France, but it was only able to generate stable electricity of up to six million volts. To this very day, humans are still struggling to generate electricity in the millions of volts.

    In addition to that, there were man-made earthquakes, ball lightning, the dynamic theory of gravity... Nik Te had no less than 100 spectacr inventions credited to his name, pointing out the future path for the human race to take. What was most perplexing about his legacy was that he had relinquished the patent rights to alternating current electricity, thereby allowing it to be a free resource to the human race for the rest of eternity. In doing so, he gave up the opportunity to be the richest man in the world.

    Why had he done that? Qin Ye understood why now.

    Those achievements were already enough for Xu Fu in that lifetime. He had no interest in umting the wealth that mortals were so obsessed over. Having done all he had set out to do in that lifetime, it was time for him to fade into obscurity. In order tomemorate him, a car brand had been named after him, and it was the renowned Te brand.

    His name had well and truly been immortalized in history.

    Some things that seemed to be impossible, such as man-made earthquakes and ball lightning, became almost mundane to Qin Ye after discovering the true identity of Nik Te. Other strange details, such as his refusal to find a spouse and the relinquishing of the patent rights over alternating current electricity, also made sense now.

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but heave a long sigh. "Who would''ve thought that my trip to Mirage City would bring me so many stunning revtions."

    An energy resource that could exist in both the underworld and the mortal realm... Just the mere thought of this made him want to capture Xu Fu right away! He definitely couldn''t allow something like this to be leaked to anyone else!

    He had to return to the mortal realm right away and do everything in his power to uncover the truth behind the Peach Blossom Spring!

    Initially, he had only been feeling the fury of a ruler whose reign was being threatened, but now, he was full of excitement. This was an opportunity for a meteoric resurgence for the Cathayan Underworld, and it was not an opportunity to be missed!

    "Qi N¨¹, as the core of Gui Xu, you should be able to control it, right?" Qin Ye asked.

    Qi N¨¹ hesitated momentarily before nodding in response.

    "I''m leaving this ce right now, and I''m taking you with me. However, before that, there''s something that I have to do." Qin Ye swept a fervent gaze across his surroundings as he spoke. "Activate Gui Xu! I want to see its internal workings, and I want to see this so-called new energy resource in action!"

    Qi N¨¹ hesitated for a moment longer before kowtowing and flying away as a streak of light, rushing directly into the ground.

    Qin Ye was about to bear witness to a historic moment, and he could barely repress his own excitement. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then began to carefully inspect his surroundings.

    Looking out from here, he could see the simted sea and sky within Gui Xu''s body. He waited patiently for about 10 minutes when all of a sudden, a crack rang out overhead.

    Countless specks of starlight rose up over the immortal mountain, and a pristine moon also appeared in the sky, giving off a gentle radiance in the sky above. As for Gui Xu, it began to open up in all directions as if it were a gargantuan mechanical contraption, revealing a side to it that no one had ever seen before.

    The sky had opened up.

 Chapter 849: The Final Act of Leniency

    <h4>Chapter 849: The Final Act of Leniency</h4>

    Su Daji was wringing her handkerchief between her fingers in a white-knuckled grip as she cast an uneasy gaze out across the surface of the sea with her lips tightly pursed.

    It had been far too long since Qin Ye had disappeared, and she was feeling extremely anxious. What would be of them if something were to happen to Qin Ye? While it was true that the perilous situation that he had ced himself in had nothing to do with them, they had apanied him on this trip!

    They would for sure be executed!

    This thought was constantly racing back and forth in her mind, and even her lips had turned quite pale. She took a deep breath before asking, "What''s going on right now, Mr. Qin?"

    "How would I know?" Qin Hui''s expression was also extremely grim, and he was clenching his fists so tightly that his fingernails were digging into his palms. "How about you go down and take a look?"

    "Why me?"

    "Because your true body isrger than mine!"

    "Where is your chivalrous spirit as a man?"

    Qin Hui couldn''t help but burst intoughter upon hearing this. In the face of life and death, chivalry waspletely worthless.

    The two of them were constantly using and ming one another, hurling spiteful insults back and forth, but neither of them attacked the other. They both knew that if something were to happen to Qin Ye, their executions would surely follow, yet their extreme selfishness and self-serving mindsets prevented them from taking any action.

    After growing tired of the battle of verbal insults, Su Daji took a deep breath, and she was slightly out of breath as she said, "If Lord Qin really has... you know, and his bodyes floating up to the surface, do we recover it or not? I can''t help but feel extremely uneasy, Mr. Qin. You have to be the one to make the decision here."

    I would be an idiot if I epted responsibility at a time like this!

    Qin Hui cast a cold nce at her before replying, "If Lord Qin''s body really doese floating up to the surface, then we turn around and run. Don''t forget that we''re currently outside of Cathay''s territorial sea."

    Su Daji''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    Indeed, they were currently outside of Cathay''s territorial sea!

    There were no other Emissaries of Hell here, so if they were to flee, then they really would be free to go wherever they wanted! Both Qin Hui and Su Daji''s hearts began to thump rapidly in their chests as this thought urred to them. Su Daji pretended to cough, taking the opportunity to bring her fan up to her face, and her gaze was already beginning to wander around the area. As for Qin Hui, his gaze had never been settled in the first ce.

    All of a sudden, a sense of extreme peril welled up in both of their hearts, and the two shuddered in unison as any ns to flee the scene instantly vanished.

    I forgot about the seal of the Sixfold Ghost Kings! Su Daji''s hand began to tremble as she held onto her fan. Just now, she was almost unable to repress the urge to scream and fall to her knees while reverting to her true form. Thankfully, that feeling of extreme peril faded after only an instant, but she was still left with chills running down her spine.

    That was a tant warning, reminding them to serve King Yanluo with the utmost loyalty. If they dared to try and betray King Yanluo, they would be killed on the spot!

    Su Daji gulped nervously as she struggled to calm her racing heart, and she quickly withdrew her wandering gaze as she yelled in a trembling voice, "Where are the four generals of the Hungry Ghost Legion? What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and start looking for Yanluo Qin!"

    She was so terrified that it looked as if she were fanning herself, but in reality, it was just her hand trembling uncontrobly!

    "Where are the troops of the Asura Legion? Lord Qin has disappeared, yet none of you look worried at all! How could you be so disgraceful?! Where is your loyalty to your master?!"

    Right at this moment, the surface of the sea suddenly began to churn violently, and everyone could sense that the sea level in this area was rising rapidly. Before any of them had a chance to react, a massive ssh rang out as a gargantuan object slowly floated to the surface.

    The process wasn''t very violent or rapid, but it was irreversible. The thing that was rising up was simply far too massive. It was like a new continent that was rising up in the aftermath of a devastating tsunami, like an unstoppable force of nature.

    In the extremely far distance, the submarine had already floated to the surface, and Mo Changhao and Liao Changhui stood up within it, looking at this scene with astonished expressions through the satellite images being presented to them.

    There, on the surface of the sea, a gargantuan turtle was floating lifelessly on the surface of the ocean like a continent.

    It was impossible to describe this scene. The surface of the sea was basked in the light of the moon and the radiance of the stars. The sea was as cid and calm as ck jade, and a new continent was slowly rising up from the depths.

    Countless pavilions, buildings, streets, alleys, and exotic mountains and rocks formed what appeared to be a crystalline pce on the surface of the sea. This was supposed to be a magnificent and spectacr scene, but most of the grand buildings were damaged, and there were countless craters and trenches on the ground. The toppled buildings told a story of violence and chaos, and it was clear that a battle had just taken ce here.

    Bursts of Yin energy rose up straight into the heavens like plumes of ck smoke. Illuminated by the pristine moonlight, the wreckage was made all the more apparent, and seawater was flowing off all of the buildings like crashing waterfalls, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to behold.

    "It''s so beautiful..." Liao Changhui stared at the scene before him for a full five minutes before sitting down in an entranced manner. "Those areplete buildings from the Qin and Han Dynasties... This is a miracle in Cathay''s architectural history! If the historians from theb were to see this, they would go insane!"

    Mo Changhao remainedpletely silent as he observed the gigantic beast floating on the surface.

    Is this the giant sea beast? Now that it''s floated to the surface, does that mean it''s been defeated? In that case, where is Mr. Qin? Why can''t I sense his Yin energy?

    Not only was Mo Changhao''s attention focused on the ghostly city, Qin Hui and Su Daji were also observing it intently. All of a sudden, a clear crack rang out from the entire Mirage City.

    It was as if heaven and earth were crumbling away, giving way to chaos as a streak of white light erupted out of a crack that had opened up on the surface of the giant beast. The streak of light outshone the moon and the stars, bing the only beacon in the dark night. Immediately thereafter, the giant beast began to rise up rapidly as more cracks rang out incessantly.

    It was as if a moon were rising up from the sea!

    "My god!" Mo Changhao and Liao Changhui stood up in unison as they stared at this immortal pce with astonished expressions, while Su Daji and Qin Hui, as well as the entire Hungry Ghost Legion and Asura Legion, let loose cries of surprise as they reflexively retreated to close to 20 meters away.

    At this point, everyone had identified the giant beast to be a turtle.

    Such an enormous turtle was a miracle in itself, yet right now, there was another miracle taking ce right before their very eyes.

    The shell on the back of the giant turtle spread open like a blooming flower, thergest and most spectacr blooming flower in existence. The vast turtle''s shell split up into threeyers in total, and a series of mechanical arms could be clearly seen inside it. In addition to that, there were also countless specks of light that resembled stars.

    On a small ind not far away, there was a Nipponese underworld emissary wearing a kimono and a tengu mask. The underworld emissary drew a sharp breath as he stared at the giant turtle with an astonished expression. "What is that?!"

    "Impossible... How is this possible?!" Elsewhere, there was a mummy wearing a Hindustani monk robe, and he was apanied by around a dozen Hindustani monks, all of whom were looking on in shock and awe.

    Elsewhere yet again, a string of astonished gasps rang out from avish Europa style carriage, following which four heads flew out of the carriage withhermes burning fiercely in their eyes as they stared intently at the giant turtle''s back.

    This was... an energy resource!

    Yin energy filled the entire heavens, while countless specks of dazzling light spread through the air. It was as if a resplendent gxy of stars had appeared above the sea. The countless specks of light were outshining thehermes of all of the underworld emissaries, and even the evil ghosts that had already been captured by the Hungry Ghost Legion couldn''t help but turn to stare at the giant turtle''s back with incredulity in their eyes.

    What was this light being produced by?

    It certainly wasn''t the electricity of the mortal realm! Everyone could sense the powerful Yin energy flowing within the giant turtle''s body.

    Did that mean that all of the residents of Mirage City had been living on top of a giant factory this entire time? Furthermore, this was an underworld electricity factory, which was something that had never been seen before!

    Qin Hui and Su Daji exchanged a nce, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.

    They were currently still exempt from participating in the most important meetings in Hell, but they were still well aware of just how massive a breakthrough it would be for all of the underworlds if a new energy resource were to emerge!

    The vastly renowned industrial revolutions in history had all been set into motion by the discovery of a new energy resource!

    Massive changes were about to take ce in the underworld. Whoever could master this new energy resource would be the ruler of the next era!

    Qin Hui and Su Daji took a deep breath in unison before immediately rushing toward the giant turtle''s back.

    On such a joyous asion, they naturally had to be the first ones to offer up their congrattions. They could already sense Qin Ye''s Yin energy, so they knew that he was inside the back of the giant turtle.

    The two Abyssal Prefects were flying extremely quickly, and they flew into the air above the giant turtle in the blink of an eye. However, all of the congrattory words that they had prepared werepletely stuck in their throats.

    They were too overwhelmed to speak.

    Down below, countless specks of light were outshining the radiance of the celestial bodies. It was far more spectacr than even the grandest of light shows in the world. The specks of light were arrangedyer uponyer in an extremely orderly fashion, guided by a series of mechanical arms as they changed directions and transitioned between different formations. For those situated inside the giant turtle, it was as if they were wading through a sea of light.

    The spectacr lights were awe-inspiring enough in themselves, but in addition to that, who could''ve imagined that the giant turtle''s body would be housing such a gargantuan yet intricate machine? It would be no exaggeration to refer to it as a mechanical city!

    Countless gears and channelsbined with streaks of Yin energy presented a sight of technological beauty that belonged only to the underworld. This was not something that could be built in even 100 years! Even for an entire nation, it would take centuries toplete this monumental project! It was grand, vast, magnificent... It was worthy of all of the praise in the world!

    Qin Hui and Su Daji werepletely rooted to the spot. Only those who had seen this miraculous spectacle could understand what they were feeling right now. It was as if they had suddenly traveled to the distant future and witnessed the perfect integration between technology and cultivation. This was the future of Hell!

    Indeed, they were seeing the future.

    At the center of the sea of mechanical parts was a small ind, and Qin Ye was standing on the ind with his hands sped behind his back. He was also reveling in the astonishment brought on by this incredible sight.

    Xu Fu really had seeded in achieving his goal!

    While it was true that Qin Ye had already seen mention of this in Xu Fu''s diary entries, seeing it for himself in person was an entirely different experience.

    Machinery, civilization, evolution, energy resource! These words were reverberating through Qin Ye''s mind over and over again. He was more aware than anyone of just how important Gui Xu was to the Cathayan Underworld. It was the key to a new era!

    However, this key wasn''tplete yet. Qin Ye forced himself to calm down as he inspected his surroundings. This was an energy resource that could be used in both the underworld and the mortal realm, but what Hell needed was a pure Yin energy resource!

    It could be said that Xu Fu hadpleted a third of this monumental task, but the remaining two-thirds had to bepleted by Hell.

    "I''m not a petty ruler..." Qin Ye suddenly smiled as he murmured to himself, "Xu Fu, if you''re willing to return to Hell and design aplete energy resource system that can be used in the underworld, I would be willing to spare your life and even grant you a lofty position in Hell."

    As a ruler, his love for exceptional talents was outweighing his killing intent.

    How many underworld emissaries had there been in history? How many underworlds had there been? How many death gods? How many scientists?

    Looking at all of the underworlds, there was Archimedes, Newton, Einstein, Edison... All of their souls still existed, and none of the underworlds were willing to admit this, but all of them were participating in a secret war, a war to see who could create the next new energy resource.

    However, no one had managed to achieve this.

    Over the span of the past several thousand years, Xu Fu was the only one who had managed to do this!

    "I really can''t wait to track you down..."

    For the crimes you''vemitted, there''s no way you should be allowed to live, but I can extend to you one final act of leniency.

 Chapter 850: Soul Restoration (1)

    <h4>Chapter 850: Soul Restoration (1)</h4>

    "Congrattions, my Lord!" Before Qin Ye had a chance to finish his train of thought, a pair of magpies began to chirp by his ears.

    Su Daji was ecstatic to have averted the crisis of certain execution, and she extended a deep bow as she said, "My heart was in knots during your absence, my Lord, and I was beginning to fear the worst. Thank heavens..."

    She pulled out her handkerchief to dab at the non-existent tears at the corners of her eyes, and her voice began to choke up as she continued, "You are blessed by heaven and earth and destined to live a long and magnificent life. Even in the sea, you are blessed by the gods of the depths, and I now know that I was wrong to have ever doubted your safety."

    Right at this moment, a forlorn sigh rang out beside her. Su Daji faltered slightly as she concealed her eyes behind her handkerchief, then cast a vicious gaze toward Qin Hui.

    What are you nning, you old piece of scum?!

    "Please forgive me for noting to your aid sooner, your Excellency." Qin Hui extended a deep bow in a graceful manner as he said, "Su Daji wanted to adopt her true form and dive into the sea to search for you, but I dissuaded her from doing so. Please forgive me, your Excellency."

    Hmm?!

    Su Daji continued to pretend to wipe away her tears as she stared at Qin Hui with a bewildered expression. It would already be a miracle if this old bastard didn''t try to backstab her, yet not only was he not doing that, he was speaking in her favor!

    Qin Hui heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "As we all know, you are the one chosen by the heavens and are blessed by all the realms, so there was no way any harm would befall you. In contrast, Su Daji was a panicked mess, and it was quite unbefitting of a figure of her status."

    So this is where you stab me in the back!

    Su Daji was so enraged that she almost swallowed her handkerchief.

    Qin Hui didn''t even look at Su Daji, and he put on an awestruck expression as his voice spiked up a few octaves. "However, even I failed to foresee that you would be so fortunate as to have obtained such an astounding treasure!"

    He heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "I am truly unable to fathom your greatness, your Excellency..."

    Silence.

    Several secondster, Qin Ye approached him with a smile and asked, "If you''re unable to fathom it, then why force yourself?"

    ... That doesn''t seem like the right response...

    Qin Hui cleared his throat before replying in an earnest voice, "Regardless, I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to fulfill my duty as an Emissary of Hell."

    A slightly mocking smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and as he looked up, he could already see five or six groups ofhermes converging toward this ce from different directions.

    "Is this the high sea?" Qin Ye asked.

    Qin Hui was feeling very dismayed, having realized that his boot-licking had failed spectacrly, but he still maintained a respectful smile as he replied, "It is."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "I don''t want any other underworlds to know about what happened today, do you understand?"

    Qin Hui faltered slightly upon hearing this before replying in a low voice, "But my Lord, these are emissaries from the underworlds of Russia, Nippon, and even Hindustan. Otherwise, there''s no way they would''ve been able to arrive here so quickly. If all of them disappear at once... it''ll be very difficult to exin."

    Qin Ye appraised him with a half-smile, and several secondster, said, "You know, you only disy your most genuine self when you''re plotting against someone."

    Qin Hui could only smile and bow in response.

    Is he saying that my boot-licking is too contrived?

    "The Cathayan Underworld doesn''t need to exin anything to anyone," Qin Ye said in a calm voice as his Yin energy enshrouded the entirety of Gui Xu. "It''s exactly because they''re underworld emissaries in the mortal realm that they''re easy to get rid of. The underworlds will have only sensed the Yin energy fluctuations in the high sea, but they still don''t know what''s going on yet, so this is the best time to strike."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a hand through the air, and he and Gui Xu both vanished from the surface of the sea.

    "If you can''t keep this a secret, then don''t even bothering back."

    "Yes, my Lord! Your wisdom and foresight are truly unmatched!" Qin Ye''s bodypletely dissipated into Yin wind as Qin Hui extended a final piece of ttery.

    Following Qin Ye''s departure, Qin Hui stood up straight again, and his brows furrowed slightly.

    He had thought that his boot-licking just now had been brilliant and innovative, yet it hadpletely missed the mark, and this brought up a very important question in his mind...

    Is my boot-licking outdated?

    There was no creativity, and he was being left behind by the passage of time. He was like an old man stubbornly singing songs from the 80s to present-day teenagers. Could it be that Qin Ye had grown sick of his ttery?

    It''s time I worked on improving my skills!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    BOOM!! A resounding boom rang out, and countless Yin soldiers looked on as a massive ck shadow crashed violently into the sea in the underworld outside Ashmound Port, filling the entire port.

    Ssh... Sea water came falling down like heavy rain, and as the giant beast in the sea was revealed, cries of surprise rang out from all directions. Meanwhile, Zhao Yun had already risen to his feet on the top floor of the customs building.

    After close to 20 seconds had passed, the pces and spires on the back of the giant beast were finally revealed, and only then did he heave a sigh of relief before turning to the man beside him. "Did Yanluo Qin go to the outer sea?"

    "That''s right," the man replied with a respectful nod.

    Zhao Yun''s eyes were as sharp as those of a hawk as he said, "I''m sure other underworlds would''ve gotten wind of this. Mr. Qian, you were an elite member of the Special Investigations Department in the mortal realm, what do you think of this?"

    Qian Dui waspletely expressionless as he replied, "We need to seize the initiative when ites to the subsequent developments. After all, the emergence of such a massive creature from the sea is enough to make international headlines, and we''ll have to silence some foreign underworld emissaries in order to keep this secret."

    Qian Dui slowly swept his gaze over Gui Xu. It was like the most intricately crafted instrument, and his gaze paused at the opening on the back of Gui Xu''s shell before he continued, "What is this thing useful for? Where was it before this? Who built it? What kind of technology was involved in its construction? What purpose does it serve? Those will all be questions that other underworlds will be trying to answer. In their eyes, this thing will undoubtedly be a threat to all nations in the Hindustani Ocean and the Pacific Ocean."

    Zhao Yun replied in an indifferent voice, "During these past few years, the darkfeathers of the Cathayan Underworld were transferred from Li Jixi''smand to yours, and they''ve experienced remarkable growth. Send them out to all of the major Asian underworlds and gather all of the information you can until the next meeting for the conference on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. That conference will be the true acid test for the Cathayan Underworld, and we have to start preparing for it right now."

    "Yes," Qian Dui replied with a nod after giving Zhao Yun a meaningful look.

    A faint smile appeared on Zhao Yun''s face. "Are you surprised by my change in demeanor when I''m not facing Yanluo Qin?"

    "I wouldn''t dare to judge matters like that."

    "Well, you already have, haven''t you? In any case, it''s not a big deal," Zhao Yun chuckled in response.

    In the face of Qin Ye, Zhao Yun was always respectful, humble, polite, and gentle, only when he was away from Qin Ye would he disy the sharp and ruthless side to himself.

    After a brief pause, Zhao Yun continued, "Yanluo Qin has only recently been inaugurated, and as his subordinate, it''s important to ensure that I don''t outshine him."

    Qian Dui''s expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, and he instantly understood Zhao Yun''s intentions.

    How were the officials of the Cathayan Underworld supposed to take the new King Yanluos seriously if Zhao Yun was constantly outdoing him?

    In the long term, the consequences of this would be catastrophic. Right as Qian Dui was about to nod in response, a voice suddenly rang out in the pavilion. "Truth be told, I didn''t kill all of the underworld emissaries who had witnessed this event just to hide the emergence of Gui Xu."

    The smile on Zhao Yun''s face instantly became slightly more bashful. If an analogy had to be made, then it was as if he had transformed from a sly old fox into a loyal puppy. He sped his fist in a respectful salute and said, "Congrattions on your victory, my Lord."

    Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand before making his way over to the window in an excited manner. With a flick of his finger, the entire room was sealed off, and his voice was slightly hoarse from excessive excitement. He epted the tea being offered to him by Qian Dui, and after taking a quick sip, he said in an urgent voice, "General Zhao, guess what''s in there?"

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly, and after hesitating for a few seconds, he guessed, "A treasure trove?"

    "That''s right! It''s a treasure trove that contains the future!"

    Qin Ye mmed his teacup so hard down onto the table that tea spilled everywhere, but he paid no heed to that as he grabbed onto Zhao Yun''s hand in a tight grip. "There''s a mechanical city inside that thing!"

    A mechanical city?

    Zhao Yun was a little perplexed to hear this, but his eyes then abruptly lit up, and even he couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath.

    He was an extremely powerful individual, the number one Emissary of Hell beneath the second King Yanluo, but even he couldn''t usher in a new era.

    New eras were always born off the back of extremely significant historical events, examples of this in the mortal realm include the second world war and the industrial revolution. These were events significant enough to affect the entire world and alter thendscape of the next generation.

    This was not something that a Yama-King could bring about, it was something that had to be created by countless Yin spirits with the right catalyst, and all Yin spirits, even the most ordinary ones, knew that whoever could control a new energy resource would be the owner of the next era!

    Thus, he was instantly able to read between the lines and see what Qin Ye was saying. How was it possible that a gargantuan creature such as Gui Xu was able to be powered by mechanical parts?

    It required some type of driving force, some type of energy resource, one that was brand new andpletely unheard of!

    All of the underworlds were pursuing such a thing, and now, it was present in the Cathayan Underworld!

    Zhao Yun felt as if he could already see the ck gs of the Qin Dyasty spread across the entire world, and his ears were beginning to ring. He felt as if he could see the previous era, where the Cathayan Underworld had been the undisputed premier force in the underworld. He reflexively tightened his grip, and as his mind raced, he quickly realized what could''ve brought about something like this. "Xu Fu?"

    "That''s right!" Qin Ye gulped as he raised his head to look at Gui Xu, which had filled the entirety of Ashmound Port. In his eyes, Gui Xu was like a mountain of gold. He said in a trembling voice, "He managed to do it, but the project is iplete. By my estimate, it''s only a third of the wayplete. At the very least, that''s how it is to the underworld. As for the rest..."

    "We''ll do the rest!" Zhao Yun was so excited that theherfire in his eyes flickered violently. "I''ll gather all of our experts tomorrow to work on this project with full dedication!"

    This was something that could decide the fate of the Cathayan Underworld, it was far more significant than even the conquering of Outer Mongolia!

    "There''s no hurry." Qin Ye took a deep breath to calm himself down before continuing, "First, we need to capture Xu Fu. After that, we need to set up the relevant departments and establish designated researchboratories. We also have to find out what materials are needed and whether we have to import some of the materials, as well as special mechanical parts."

    A hint of realization surfaced in Zhao Yun''s eyes upon hearing this. "Do we do this during the next conference for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "When the timees, there will definitely be many nations looking to attack us. We need to nullify all the pressure and establish trade connections with these nations again, thereby importing all of these things without them noticing that something is amiss. Regardless of whether imports are actually required or not, we have to pave the way first."

    He then turned and licked his lips as he continued, "Of course, before that, I''m taking Xu Fu''s life!"

    It was already April, so there was only just over a month left until the conference for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, which was being held in June in Nippon.

    This was not just a conference for the signing of a treaty, it was also a tform. All underworlds were desperately trying to expand theirworks, particrly the Cathayan Underworld, whosework hadpletely dried out during its century of istion.

    The Cathayan Underworld was re-emerging on the world stage, and it had to re-establish some ties. Xu Fu hadpleted the project in aboratory in the west, so were there special materials that the Cathayan Underworld would have to import from the western underworlds? These were all things that had to be considered, and this conference was the perfect opportunity!

    Of course, prior to that, all of the relevant preparations had to be made, such as the eradication of the Peach Blossom Spring.

    Xu Fu had to be dug out from the cracks of history no matter what. His importance wasn''t just limited to the Peach Blossom Spring anymore, he was also holding the key to the future, and this key had to be held by the Cathayan Underworld!

    It was one of the most important assets to the Cathayan Underworld''s resurgence. Even if Xu Fu were to perish, his soul had to fall into Hell''s grasp!

    "Summon Arakshasa! I''ll be traveling to the six paths of reincarnation in an hour, get her to prepare the databank for my visit."

 Chapter 851: Soul Restoration (2)

    <h4>Chapter 851: Soul Restoration (2)</h4>

    At the six paths of reincarnation in Lotus City.

    Layers uponyers of mes were surging like a vibrant blooming red spider lily or like a pool of bubbling blood at the foot of the 108 golden pirs. The pirs were as tall as the heavens, and their diameters were in excess of 100 meters. Countless ghostly faces were etched on the surfaces of the pirs alongside bound skeletons, and it was as if the pirs were formed by congregations of countless vengeful spirits.

    There was a metal chain that was radiating eerie azure light extending out of the pirs every 50 meters, creating a circle that bound all of the 108 golden chains together. From top to bottom, there were dozens of circles created by these azure chains, and following close to a week of burning, the mes at the center of the pirs had already begun to settle down. However, what was strange was that they weren''t forming the shape of a lotus flower. Instead, the mes had taken on the shape of a holy grail, which would asionally transition into the projection of a giant ancient god. Countless vengeful spirits shrieked and surged around the mes before rising up and exploding in mid-air, putting on a sinful fireworks disy.

    Anyone looking on from down below would bepletely awestruck by the astonishing sight of this gigantic construction, which had taken up the entire area of Lotus City. It was indescribably grand and majestic, and only when one stood here could they truly understand what it was like to be witnessing a divine miracle.

    Outside of the six paths of reincarnation were countless red spider lilies that thrived and bloomed with each wave of fire. The flowers were so beautiful that they barely seemed real, and they stretched for as far as 10 kilometers in all directions. Outside of the red spider lilies, countless Emissaries of Hell were already conducting examinations on the site, and Gu Qing was among their ranks. During the next two years, a wall that was 50 meters tall would be erected around the six paths of reincarnation, and the entirety of Lotus City was going to be the biggest jail of the Cathayan Underworld.

    The area within a radius of 10 kilometers of the wall would be strictly off-limits.

    Even now, there were ck-armored soldiers of the Hell Guardian Legion constantly patrolling the area in a radius of five kilometers around the six paths of reincarnation under the orders of six prison officers. In total, there were 36 prison deputies, 150 prison supervisors, 500 prison officers, and 34,900 prison guards, all of whom served under the warden, Arakshasa.

    Together, they had constructed the most terrifying, the most spectacr, and the most forbidding spectacle in the entire Cathayan Underworld.

    Whoosh... A gust of Yin wind swept past, passing over tens of thousands ofherworldly citizens down below before materializing into a pair of humanoid figures in front of the massive six paths of reincarnation.

    They were Qin Ye and Zhao Yun.

    "We''ve finally arrived..." More than an hour had passed since Gui Xu had arrived in Ashmound Port, and they had traveled here as quickly as they could.

    There wasn''t much to be said from here. They hade to the six paths of reincarnation to find the missing souls and spirits of Qi N¨¹, and once her soul was restored, there would finally be a glimmer of hope in uncovering the mystery of the Peach Blossom Spring.

    The man who had hidden in the cracks of history for over 2,000 years, the number one cultivator in history, Emperor Jimmu, Leonardo da Vinci, Nik Te... He was finally about to be brought down!

    "This also means that we''ve grasped onto the key to the next era!" He clenched his fists tightly as he made his way over to the six paths of reincarnation.

    Observing the six paths of reincarnation from close quarters, he could see that its mes had taken on the form of a staircase that was revolving upward,yer uponyer. It hadn''t even been half a month since thepletion of the six paths of reincarnation''s construction, so it still hadn''t settled into its final form yet. Violent karmic mes were erupting in all directions, and anyone below the Abyssal Prefect level would be instantly reduced to ashes if they were toe within 100 meters of the six paths of reincarnation. Thus, there were no Emissaries of Hell standing on guard duty here.

    After taking a moment to calm himself, Qin Ye released a streak of Yin energy straight into the mountain of fire. Zhao Yun also emerged from within a shadow, and several secondster, a figure appeared roughly 50 meters above him.

    It was Arthis, and just a single nce at her was almost enough to make his eyeballs pop out of their sockets!

    Arthis''s hair had been arranged into a series of braids, and through some method, she had transformed her head into something that was formed solely by ck Yin energy. The Yin energy was iling violently like vicious vipers, but at the very center, one could just barely make out a ck lump. Her clothes were pure ck in color with greenherfire and human bones revolving around it. Her limbs were nowhere to be seen, and they had also been reced by Yin energy. Her dress was raised up by the wind, revealing more ck Yin energy underneath.

    Qin Ye''s eyelids were twitchingpulsively, and only after a long while did he break his silence. "Is that you, Warden Arthis? You look very nice."

    If it weren''t for the fact that he was in a hurry, he would order her to recite theplete set of rules enforced upon Emissaries of Hell three times in session!

    "Don''t you think this appearance really matches my disposition?" Arakshasa performed an elegant twirl before asking, "Do you need something?"

    Qin Ye raised his head to the heavens and heaved a long sigh. "Let''s go in first."

    Antern was tossed down from above.

    It was an angr bonentern that was burning with greenherfire, and the light of the mes clearly illuminated Qin Ye''s expression, which looked as if he had just eaten a dog turd.

    In the face of Qin Ye''s resentful gaze, Arthis faltered momentarily before clearing her throat in an awkward manner. "Ahem... Sorry, that waspletely out of habit..."

    She then snapped her fingers, and the mes immediately transformed into a gate that was slowly opened. Only then did Zhao Yun emerge from the shadows before taking a nce at Arthis.

    Arthis was instantly rooted to the spot before vanishing like an apparition.

    The fiery gates that had just opened up instantly swung shut mere inches away from the tip of Qin Ye''s nose. He stared at the closed gate in a bewildered manner, and less than three secondster, the gate swung open again.

    The ghastly wraith formed entirely by ck Yin energy was gone.

    In its ce was an intellectual beauty wearing ck-rim sses and a regal yet seductive expression on a set of gorgeous features. It had to be said that this appearance catered extremely well to popr tastes.

    Her height was around 170 centimeters, and her long and straight legs were sheathed in a pair of ck pantyhose, enshrouding them in a sense of seductive mystery. Her locks were arranged in a split hairstyle favoring one side over the other to the tune of a 30:70 distribution, and her hair on the right was draped casually over her right shoulder. During the brief three-second span in which the gate had been shut, the ends of her hair had already taken on wavy curls. In addition to that, she was wearing a tight-fitting ck suit outside ace trim white blouse with a low v cor that extended all the way down to her chest, revealing just the right amount of seductive cleavage.

    Her rose-red high heels clicked in a rhythmic fashion as she strode along, and even though it was only a short distance of 10 meters before she reached Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, she somehow made it look as if she were a model on a catwalk. Her waist was as supple as a willow branch, and her footsteps resembled a dragonfly lightly tapping the water. It was as if nothing had ever happened before this, and she made her way over to Qin Ye before smiling in a sequence that waspletely impable, looking as if it had been rehearsed tens of thousands of times. She then extended a slight bow and said, "Warden Arakshasa wees Lord Qin and Brother Zhao."

    You fucking gave yourself aplete makeover in three seconds?!

    Qin Ye felt as if a mouthful of blood were stuck in his chest alongside a torrent of verbal insults! Meanwhile, Arthis had already stood up straight again before extending an inviting hand gesture. "Pleasee in, my Lord."

    She was referring to "my Lord", but she was staring directly at Zhao Yun the entire time.

    However, Zhao Yunpletely ignored her and extended a nod toward Qin Ye, who red at Arthis before making his way through the gate.

    The three of them strode through the fiery gates, and even though Qin Ye and Zhao Yun hade here with an urgent matter to attend to, the three of them remainedpletely silent for some reason. As Arakshasa pulled out her lipstick to freshen up for the third time, Qin Ye finally couldn''t help but chuckle, but he disguised it as a cough and mused, "It looks like I made the right choice."

    Arthis rolled his eyes at him and couldn''t even be bothered to respond. Qin Ye continued in a low voice, "You are the Emissary of Hell that has been with me the longest. You watched me rise up the ranks from the early days in Clear Creek County, but have you noticed that our hearts have grown further and further apart over time?"

    Arthis closed her cosmetic case before rolling her eyes again. "Look at the situation we''re in! You are now King Yanluo, while I was once your most powerful subordinate, can I embarrass you and fool around like I did in the past? I have to consider your current status! As an emperor, it''s inevitable for you to suffer from loneliness. You want to bring up the good days now? It''s toote, idiot!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. He was suddenly a little envious of Arthis.

    This was a type ofpromise.

    In a society, one had to know their ce. A cheeky and easy-going King Yanluo would never be taken seriously. As he rose up the ranks and attained more and more power, he had to stamp his authority over the Emissaries of Hell below him. Thus, he had to face reality andpromise, bing the King Yanluo that the people wanted to see rather than the King Yanluo that he wanted to be.

    He had to be professional and cunning, not the easy-going and willful boy he had been back in Clear Creek County.

    Arthis, Wang Chenghao, and he had all hidden their true selves and epted the price of growth. However, Arthis was lucky because she was still able to remain true to herself.

    In the six paths of reincarnation, which spanned the area of an entire city, she was free to do as she pleased without having to worry about what anyone else thought of her. In contrast with him, she could be a killer or amander, and she was sufficiently ruthless, but she couldn''t manage a nation. In fact, even putting a province under hermand would most likely spell catastrophe, so it was better to put her in the position that suited her the most.

    Indeed, even though some distance had opened up between them since both of them had risen up the ranks, there wasn''t any barrier between them even now. With that in mind, Qin Ye couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh.

    "What''s wrong with you now?" Arthis asked with a disdainful expression.

    "I''m fine," Qin Ye replied, "It''s just that whenever I think of the fact that I have such a loving subordinate that''s constantly thinking for my sake, I feel truly blessed... I''m so touched that I could cry..."

    As expected of Dogballs Qin, even though I was expecting this, I still can''t help but feel disgusted...

    Arthis shuddered as she hugged her own arms to try and settle down her goosebumps as she dered, "We''ve arrived."

    Directly ahead of them was a raging sea of fire.

    There were mes in all directions. Those were karmic mes that were like the mes of creation, and they formed the shape of a lotus flower that was constantly revolving, stirring up this gxy. Countless specks ofherfire were being stirred up by the revolving waves of fire like shooting stars, presenting a magnificent sight to behold.

    Standing before it, one couldn''t help but be struck by the sense that they were nothing more than a speck of dust in the universe.

    "How truly magnificent..." Qin Ye set aside his train of thought as he observed his surroundings with an awe-struck expression. "But what exactly is going on here?"

    It was indeed a marvelous sight to behold, but was also extremely chaotic and erratic, like the universe in its most primitive form. In contrast, the six paths of reincarnation should''ve been looking a lot more orderly and stable.

    "The six paths of reincarnation are evolving," Zhao Yun exined, "This process requires some time, even though the Goddess Earth Mother has approved its creation and we possess the model of the first six paths of reincarnation. Don''t forget that the foundation of our six paths of reincarnation includes a creation-grade divine artifact, so it''s impossible to predict what its final form will be and what abilities it''ll have."

    "Abilities?" Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "A creation-grade divine artifact isparable to a living ancient god. The fact that one is being fused into the six paths of reincarnation means that its abilities will also be fused into the six paths, so different abilities will definitely manifest themselves. All of that will begin to disy itself over time. Madam Warden, can we use this ce now?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Qin Ye''s Dusk Legionnaire opened up silently behind him, and a streak of light rushed out beforending on Qin Ye''s shoulder.

    Its entire body was trembling as if it were sensing something, and after a long while, it finally said, "I can sense that my soul is in there, mixed up with many other souls!"

    You can speak now?

    A hint of surprise shed through Qin Ye''s eyes, but before he had a chance to say anything, Qi N¨¹ continued in an excited voice, "It seems that the closer I get to my soul, the more I''m able to recover my basic functions as a human... Your Excellency, I''ll be sure to follow through on my end of the deal once you restore my soul! I''ll show you in person how to summon the Peach Blossom Spring! As I said before, there''s no way to track it down using conventional means. It exists in the cracks of history, it is a legend, a myth, and it can only be found by a myth!"

 Chapter 852: Soul Restoration (3)

    <h4>Chapter 852: Soul Restoration (3)</h4>

    As soon as her voice trailed off, Qin Ye immediately rushed into the center of the fiery lotus flower as a gust of Yin wind.

    <i>Whoosh...</i> Waves of fire quickly receded around him as if he had just passed through a thin red veil, and after a short span of only around five seconds, he was already staring at his surroundings with an astonished expression. Only after the mes around him had begun revolving once again did Zhao Yun''s voice ring out beside his ears. "My Lord?"

    Qin Ye looked up as if he had just awoken from a dream, and he observed the fantastical universe around him with an entranced expression. "Is this what the evolutionary process of the six paths of reincarnation looks like, General Zhao?"

    Zhao Yun was alsopletely captivated, and only after a long while did he shake his head in response. "I''ve never seen it before, either. However, I would think that the inclusion of a creation-grade divine artifact has only made for an even more spectacr sight."

    Right in front of them, there were countless opened gates amid the mes like stars in the sky.

    These gates had all been born from the insubstantial mes, and each gate was around 10 meters tall. It was very chaotic and disorderly, but there was a sense of grand and magnificent beauty about it. It was like looking up into the sky on a starry night, and one couldn''t help but be struck by a sense of insignificance.

    It was impossible to count just how many gates there were. They reached straight up into the heavens, and all of them were in an ancient Cathayan style.

    "Astonishing, isn''t it?" Right at this moment, Arthis''s voice rang out, and she slowly strode forward as she said, "I was even more stunned than the two of you when I first saw this. I''ve already sent scouts through every gate, and they''ve reported back to me, informing me that each gate was connected to a space, all of which were of different sizes and werepletely independent of one another. This is somethingpletely different from the previous six paths of reincarnation."

    She gently swept a hand through the air, and the gate that was closest to her slowly swung open. Immediately thereafter, a burst of scorching greenhermes erupted out.

    It was like opening a steamer and getting sted by a face full of steam. Only after a full 10 seconds had passed did the eruption ofherfire finally subside, and whatid beyond the gate was revealed to be nothing butplete darkness. A gust of Yin wind swept forth, and the trio had already stepped through the gate in an eager fashion.

    They found themselves in a very spacious area.

    It was roughly 50 meters in size, and there seemed to be a light source overhead, illuminating the center of the space an eerie green color. The surrounding area seemed to be situated within space itself, and ck and white were circting and alternating incessantly, intermingling with one another, forming a vast cloud dome that resembled a giant upside-down bowl.

    "The evolution doesn''t seem to beplete yet," Arthis said as she pointed at the 10 giant pirs around them, which werepletely enveloped in mes, making it impossible to glean their true appearance. The pirs spanned the entire height of this space, and directly in front of them was a karmic fireball that was around five to six meters in size, revolving incessantly like a miniature version of Pangu creating the heavens.

    "Space, eh?" Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly as he mused, "Every creation-grade divine artifact has its own unique properties, this is something that I''ve told you about before, my Lord."

    He inspected his surroundings with an awestruck expression and continued, "Every single one of these rooms is unique, and this rtes to thews of space. Is this the unique property of this divine artifact?"

    "Can you sense your soul here?" Qin Ye asked as he turned his head toward Qi N¨¹, who was perched on his shoulder.

    Qi N¨¹ nodded vigorously in response. "I can, and after entering this ce, the sense of connection I feel has be even more potent!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response and paid no further heed to the marvelous spectacle around him. Regardless of how the six paths of reincarnation turned out, he had to wait until the evolutionary process wasplete first. Right now, the most important thing was to find out Xu Fu''s hiding ce!

    Zhao Yun and Arthis retreated a few steps to give Qin Ye some space, and Qin Ye took a deep breath before making a grabbing motion.

    BOOM!!

    Almost at the exact same moment, a violent boom akin to a rumbling thunderp rang out in the sky above the entire Cathayan Underworld. Immediately thereafter, day transitioned into night, but after only three seconds, everything returned to normal, and theherworldly citizens didn''t even get a chance to panic.

    The Book of Life and Death was simting the sun and the moon, and now that King Yanluo was using the Book of Life and Death, it was only natural that heaven and earth would disy a response. At the same time, a massive golden book had already appeared in front of Qin Ye within the six paths of reincarnation in Lotus City.

    In the instant that it appeared, Qi N¨¹''s entire body began to tremble slightly.

    She could sense that what she was missing was right inside the book. However, even though this book was just a projection, she still didn''t dare to look directly at it. If it weren''t for the fact that she was perched on King Yanluo''s shoulder, her soul would''ve most likely already been eradicated by now.

    "Name, date of birth, birthce," Qin Ye said in a calm voice.

    Due to her excessive excitement and the immense pressure she was feeling, Qi N¨¹''s voice was trembling as she replied, "My name is Ji Chun, and I was born in Hantan City during the 13th year of the reign of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty."

    "The 13th year of the reign of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, so that''s 204 BC..." The pages of the Book of Life and Death began to rapidly turn on their own at Qin Ye''s behest. What was quite strange was that instead of words being revealed on the pages of the Book of Life and Death, one image after another began to appear, as if history were rapidly reversing.

    "During the 28th year of the reign of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, you apanied Xu Fu on his final voyage... That means you were 15 years old at the very most when you married Xu Fu, right?"

    Qi N¨¹ nodded in response.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. 15-year-old brides weren''t rare in history. In fact, they were extremelymon, and at the time, Xu Fu had to have at least been over 40. The fact that he was willing to subject his young bride to such a cruel fate for over 2,000 years was further testament to his cruelty and ruthlessness.

    All of a sudden, the Book of Life and Death trembled slightly, and a line of ck text emerged from the book as Yin energy before forming a pair of balls of light several secondster.

    Qi N¨¹''s entire body was trembling. These were the things that she was missing, and they were right in front of her!

    She could even sense the unrest and yearning within those two parts of her soul!

    "Your Excellency..." Qi N¨¹ waspletely tensed up as she implored in a voice that was on the verge of sobs, "Please grant them to me! From this day forth, my life will be yours!"

    However, Qin Ye merely swept a hand through the air to send the two balls of light drifting further away, and only then did he muse, "I can see that you have been deprived of the parts of your soul that govern your intelligence, memories, and sentience."

    "Yes..." Qi N¨¹ was struggling to repress the tumultuous emotions in her heart as she implored once again, "Please, your Excellency..."

    "You''re severely underestimating Xu Fu," Qin Ye continued in an unhurried manner. "Even the likes of Bu Wantian, whom he only met once, had restrictions ced upon him, let alone someone like you, who knows more of his secrets than anyone else. To be honest, I''m quite surprised that he didn''t kill you, it looks like there''s some shred of humanity left in him after all..."

    Qin Ye chuckled as he suddenly made a grabbing motion.

    Controlling a soul was an easy task for the King Yanluo, and it looked as if this grab would be enough to crush the souls, but in reality, if there were no issues, these souls would return to Qi N¨¹''s body. Even if an issue were to arise, this was Hell.

    With the Book of Life and Death, Ghost Monarch Zhao Yun, and the warden of the six paths of reincarnation, Arakshasa, present, even a Yama-King wouldn''t be able to stop them from restoring one''s soul!

    The air abruptly fell still, and a giant hand formed by Yin energy enveloped the pair of balls of light. In the next instant, a string of cracks suddenly rang out from within Qi N¨¹''s soul!

    In the corner, Zhao Yun''s hands were sped behind his back, and his eyes abruptly sprang open as his hands balled up into fists and slowly fell to either side of him. At the same time, countless specks ofherfire had already lit up in Arakshasa''s ck hair, which was rising like the tide.

    There was some other type of power present...

    Souls were supposed to bepletely pure and uncorrupted by karma, yet there was some other type of power intermingled here!

    "It''s true energy," Qin Ye remarked as a cold smile appeared on his face, and he abruptly tightened his grip. His robes immediately rose up around him, and a resounding boom rang out as a talisman exploded within the grasp of the giant Yin energy hand like a scintiting sun.

    Bursts of white light pierced through the Yin energy hand, illuminating the entire surrounding area.

    It was self-detonation!

    The restrictions nted in Bu Wantian''s soul allowed Xu Fu to be immediately alerted if someone were trying to examine Bu Wantian''s memories, but that was because Bu Wantian didn''t know where he was. However, Qi N¨¹ was aware of his location, and as a result, he had ced a self-detonation restriction in her soul!

    Right as the white light erupted into the heavens, bursts of ck light began to erupt out of the Book of Life and Death. The white light immediately began to melt like ice and snow, but it didn''t dissipate. Instead, itbined together with Qin Ye''s Yin energy to form a strange ck and white vortex.

    The area had fallenpletely silent, and two Yama-Kings and an Abyssal Prefect were staring intently at the vortex. It didn''t fade, nor did it expand, and after close to 20 seconds, the vortex finally settled. Its surface slowly rippled like the surface of ake, and the face of a man was revealed.

    It was none other than Xu Fu''s face, which Qin Ye had seen in Bu Wantian''s memories!

    "We finally meet, Mr. Xu," Qin Ye said with a faint smile as he sped his hands behind his back. "As expected, there was no way that someone like you would leave a potential threat like Qi N¨¹ alive. Don''t try to y dumb, I know you can hear me."

    Several secondster, Xu Fu also smiled within the image and replied, "May I ask if you''re a Yama-King or the King Yanluo?"

    "How are you so sure that I''m one of those?"

    Within the Yin energy screen, Xu Fu was currently situated in a pavilion surrounded by beautiful scenery, and he picked up a fine china teacup in a carefree manner before taking a sip. "Qi N¨¹ was captured, and I can sense that something has also happened to Gui Xu. I can''t think of any possibility other than one that involves intervention from a Yama-King. Seeing as Hell was responsible for this, there''s no way you wouldn''t have detected my true energy. Are you telling me that you would get an Abyssal Prefect to face the most powerful cultivator in the mortal realm?"

    He wore a warm smile as if he were greeting an old friend, and he set down his teacup in a casual manner as he continued, "Are you not afraid that I would kill any Emissary of Hell below the Yama-King level?"

    "You wouldn''t dare," Qin Ye countered with a smile.

    "Indeed, I wouldn''t dare," Xu Fu replied in a calm voice as he stroked his own beard. "How about we strike a deal with each other? I can give you Gui Xu, and from this day forth, I''ll leave the territorial sea of Asia and never return."

    Qin Ye chuckled in response. "Unfortunately for you, you have no right to be negotiating terms with Hell."

    Xu Fu also chuckled upon hearing this. "If this were the Hell of the past, then I would indeed be unworthy. The Peach Blossom Spring was nowhere near enough of a threat for the second King Yanluo to take seriously. However..."

    He rustled a sleeve, and a golden hand fan appeared in his grasp. The guards of the fan were gold-ted, while the leaves were made from silk, and the ribs were crafted from white jade. "I don''t have the courage to test Hell, but some things cannot be hidden."

    He''s about toy down his cards.

    Qin Ye knew that this was Xu Fu''s biggest trump card.

    Why had he established that trade route? He had done so to ensure that this route remained open.

    As long as it did, that would mean that the rift in the array hadn''t been discovered. Even Qin Ye had only just been made aware of this, and it was something that Xu Fu was banking on to grant himself safety.

    Qin Ye observed Xu Fu with a meaningful expression and remained silent for a long while.

    "I have no intention of staging a rebellion." Xu Fu stood up in an elegant manner and gently fanned himself. However, right as he was about to continue, his expression abruptly changed drastically, and he cast an incredulous gaze toward Zhao Yun.

    Zhao Yun also finally cast his gaze toward Xu Fu, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

    It was a very calm smile, yet even through the screen, Xu Fu could feel all of the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end. He felt as if he were being sized up by an apex predator, and before he even had a chance to react, Zhao Yun had already crossed through realms to reach him!

    "You..." Before he had a chance to say anything, a thin line had already appeared on his neck, and immediately thereafter, his head was sent flying up into mid-air as blood sttered in all directions.

    His ck hair became messy and disheveled during the fall of his head, and there was still an astonished look on his face. Only now did he understand why Qin Ye seemed so calm and assured.

    This was a game of chess between Yama-Kings, a sh between the dead and the living dead, and he was a step behind!

    Who could''ve thought that there would be someone in the Cathayan Underworld capable of tearing through space and crossing through realms?

    Hell was truly a lion''s den, and it was serious in hunting him down!

    In that instant, he felt as if his heart had been plunged into a cial pit, and his vision had turnedpletely dark.

 Chapter 853: Final Present (1)

    <h4>Chapter 853: Final Present (1)</h4>

    Perched atop Qin Ye''s shoulder, Qi N¨¹ was standing straight up as she looked on in disbelief.

    He''s dead? Xu Fu is dead?

    This was a man who featured frequently in her nightmares and was like an omnipotent immortal, yet he was dead just like that?

    Initially, she had only been grateful toward Hell, but now, she was filled with a sense of profound horror.

    Hell was truly unfathomable.

    It was also right at this moment, that Arthis let loose a shrill shriek, and her hair erupted like the tide, filling the entire room like a ck curtain. In the span of less than three seconds, this entire space had already beenpletely epassed by her writhing ck hair. Immediately thereafter, a series of rifts emerged within the hair, following which pairs of bright red eyes sprang open.

    Countless bursts of scarlet karmic mes erupted out of the eyes, sweeping directly toward the Yin energy screen.

    As the warden of the biggest jail in the three realms, she had immediately drawn upon the power of the six paths of reincarnation without any hesitation.

    At the same time, Zhao Yun transformed into a gust of Yin wind and shot forth toward the Yin energy screen like lightning. A clear cry akin to the chirp of a phoenix rang out as he sped through the air, leaving a streak of white light in his wake.

    His sword emerged from its scabbard, and simultaneously, Qin Ye brought his palms together, upon which the Book of Life and Death transformed into a gargantuan pir of light that bolted the Yin energy screen firmly to the spot. Yin energy rose up from his body like steam, causing his robes to p and dance wildly, giving him the appearance of an immortal that had descended from the heavens.

    All three of them had sprung into action almost in perfect synchronicity, and the surface of the Yin energy screen immediately began to ripple violently. Furthermore, it was bing more and more substantial, as if the power of the trio were about to connect the two spaces together. However, right at this moment, Xu Fu''s headless body also suddenly sprang into action.

    He immediately raised a hand to grab onto his own head, and in the next instant, a rift that was over 10 meters in length was opened up in the space in front of him. Boundless Yin energy surged out of the rift amid the screams and howls of countless evil ghosts, forming an enormous ck torrent, and the entire space was trembling violently in the face of its immense power.

    His pupils abruptly widened, and he could already see a dazzling sword projection sweeping out of the rift. The sword projection seemed to have risen up from the darkest depths of the abyss, crossing through the underworld and the mortal realm to take his life.

    It was impossible to describe how spectacr yet terrifying this sword strike was. Its speed, power, and sheer might reached a pinnacle within a span of just half a second, and it seemed to be an attack capable of ying even an immortal!

    None of Qin Ye''s trio or Xu Fu uttered a single word in this instant. In the face of this sudden turn of events, everyone was extremely focused and tense, so there was no spare capacity for conversation. This was a sh between the most powerful beings of the three realms, and nopse in concentration could be tolerated. Right as the sword projection was about to reach Xu Fu, he suddenly raised his right hand, and a streak of golden light shot forth to shield him.

    ng!!

    The entire image trembled violently, and Qin Ye and Arthis both drew a sharp breath as they could sense that their power had been repelled by this golden light!

    It was as if a level 10 earthquake were taking ce, and only after three full seconds had passed did the Yin energy screen stabilize itself again.

    Within the screen, Xu Fu had already gently ced his head back onto his own neck, and he was holding a golden pen in his mouth.

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn internal sigh upon seeing this. As expected, it wasn''t that easy to kill a Yama-King. Furthermore, even if he were to perish, he was still an immortal who had consumed the Taisui fungus. Who knew how extensive his research and modification into the Taisui fungus had gone? Perhaps even after death, he would have some type of trump card prepared.

    The only way to be sure of his demise was to capture his soul.

    The restoration of Qi N¨¹''s soul was bait to lure Xu Fu out. As long as Xu Fu had restrictions ced upon her and dared to try andsh out as he did when Qin Ye was inspecting Bu Wantian''s memories, then he would be greeted by a bombardment from the most powerful beings of Hell!

    Back then, even Xu Fu had been able to cross through realms, so there was no way that Zhao Yun wouldn''t be able to. Even though Arthis wasn''t a Yama-King, she was the warden of the six paths of reincarnation, the only one aside from Qin Ye who was able to draw upon the power of the mutated Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. Qin Ye''s cultivation rank was also inferior to Xu Fu''s, but this was Hell, and he held the home-court advantage, allowing him to draw upon the power of divine artifacts to assist himself.

    Thus, the trio had set out with the sole intention of capturing Xu Fu, yet they had failed by inches.

    He observed the Yin energy screen with a grim expression. The reason for their failure was none other than that pen, and even through the screen, Qin Ye could sense that this pen had an extremely close tie with Hell.

    It was the Judgment Pen!

    "As expected, you really do have it."

    Inside the screen, Xu Fu twisted his own neck experimentally from side to side as he smiled and said, "Well done. I only disyed my ability to cross through realms once through Bu Wantian''s memories, and you''ve already learned to use this against me. You were the one inspecting Bu Wantian''s memoriesst time, right? It''s very impressive that you were able to use my own tricks against me and take me by surprise, but it''s quite a pity that you didn''t have enough power to see things through to the end. When crossing through realms, the one who initiates the tearing of space must expend immense power, yet the achieved effect will be very minute. After all, tearing through space rtes to the paramountws of the Heavenly Dao, and even I can only intimidate someone through this method. If that sword strike had been dealt upon a Yama-King, it would''ve only caused minor injuries at the very most, yet that was the most powerful strike I was capable of unleashing."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "I see, thank you for enlightening me. It seems that I was ill-prepared and made a fool out of myself, I''ll be sure to be better prepared and not disappoint you next time, Mr. Xu."

    Xu Fu had already reverted back to his calm and carefree demeanor, but he still cast an extremely wary nce toward Zhao Yun. He then twirled the Judgment Pen as he said, "Over a century ago, a major crisis took ce, and its effects were felt throughout Limbo, the underworld and the mortal realm. A beam of golden light shot out from the seabed, flying up to an altitude of several dozen kilometers before plunging back down into the seabed. Thankfully, I was able to find this pen. If I''m not mistaken, this is one of Hell''s three legendary divine artifacts, the Judgment Pen, right?"

    He then cast his gaze toward Qin Ye and continued in a tranquil voice, "With this divine artifact lost to Hell, do you really have the power tosh out at the Peach Blossom Spring? We both originate from the same roots, so why be so intent on bringing about my downfall?"

    Qin Ye chuckled and chose not to reply to this ridiculous question. However, Xu Fu had no intention of stopping here, and he continued, "Consider Gui Xu a gift from me to you, and I can also return the Judgment Pen. I''ll be departing right away, and I''ll never return to Asia again. In the instant that I reach the Pacific Ocean, the Judgment Pen will be returned. On top of that, I''ll hand over a list of all of the Emissaries of Hell who have made contact with me. What do you think?"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "Won''t I get all of those things anyway once I find the Peach Blossom Spring?"

    His smile then faded as he said in a cold voice, "Xu Fu, you once served Cathay, yet you''ve established a nation right outside Cathay''s doorstep,mitting the intolerable crime of treason. In addition to that, you dared to coborate with emissaries of foreign underworlds and constructed Mirage City right under the Cathayan Underworld''s nose. Do you really think you can be spared of all of those crimes?"

    "What a pity." Xu Fu heaved a long sigh. "I''m genuine in my intention to make amends, yet it seems that my proposal has fallen upon deaf ears."

    A serious look also appeared on his face as he continued in a cold voice, "In that case, allow me to present you with one final present."

    Zhao Yun, Arthis, and Qin''s brows all raised slightly upon hearing this.

    They thought that there would be no follow-up to this, yet Xu Fu didn''t stop there.

    A cruel smile appeared on his face as he licked his lips and said, "Gui Xu is in your possession now, right? If I had to guess, I would say that it''s currently situated in a certain port in the Cathayan Underworld. Let me think... Could it be the underworld equivalent of Wuyang Port?"

    A sense of extreme foreboding suddenly welled up in Qin Ye''s heart. There seemed to be a thought in his mind that was struggling to make itself heard, but no matter how hard he tried totch onto it, he found himself unable to do so. Thankfully, Xu Fu didn''t try to build any suspense and immediately exined, "I constructed Gui Xu, and no one understands it better than Ido. During the process of its creation, I left a restriction on its core."

    He cast his gaze toward Qi N¨¹, and a cold tone crept into his voice as he spoke. "Qi N¨¹ is the key to activating Gui Xu, and five hours after she leaves Gui Xu, it will immediately initiate a self-destruct sequence. Thinking about it now, four hours have already passed. In an hour, Gui Xu will detonate to create an earth-shattering explosion. As for its power, it''ll be roughly equivalent to the power of a nuclear bomb from the mortal realm. I hope you can still face your King Yanluo and theherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld after the explosion, hahahaha..."

    With that final bout of triumphantughter, the light screen abruptly vanished.

    Dead silence.

    The hairs on the back of Qin Ye''s neck were standing up on end, and his scalp was tingling.

    He had neglected to consider this. At the time, he was so entranced by Gui Xu''splete energy structure and waspletely absorbed by the idea that Hell was about to grab ahold of the key to the next era. As a result, he failed to consider the creator of Gui Xu!

    This was a man who had nted a restriction in Bu Wantian''s memories, even though they had only met once.

    This was a man who had ced a self-detonation restriction in the soul of his own wife, a man who had lived extremely cautiously in the cracks of history for over 2,000 years!

    He had one trump card after another, and even Zhao Yun had failed to consider that one of those trump cards could''ve been hiding in Gui Xu!

    Arthis bit down tightly onto her own lower lip, and only after a long while did she break the silence. "So he''s saying we have to go and defend Ashmound Port?"

    There was no way that an explosion on par in power with that of a nuclear bomb could be withstood by an injured Harken alone! In addition to that, the Harken wasn''t at Ashmound!

    Qin Ye was gnashing his teeth together with an extremely conflicted look in his eyes. "That''s right, and in the meantime, he''s going to flee to a foreign sea. He''s even more cautious than I thought!"

    He didn''t know what to do.

    Qi N¨¹''s soul still hadn''t been restored yet, and even after its restoration, they had to n out how to track down the Peach Blossom Spring in order to capture Xu Fu. No matter how quickly they did that, there was no way they couldplete all of the required preparations in an hour while also defending Ashmound Port.

    Is there no way out?

    Qin Ye''s mind was racing rapidly.

    No, where there''s a will, there has to be a way!

    He felt as if he could hear the countdown timer on the forbidden art physically ticking down beside his ears. All of a sudden, he raised his head and asked, "Is his best escape route currently to flee to the Pacific Ocean?"

    If he were to go south, he would have to pass by the almighty Hindustani Underworld.

    If he were to go north, then he would have to pass by the Argosian Underworld and the Russian Underworld.

    Thus, the Pacific Ocean was by far the best option.

    "That''s right," Zhao Yun replied with a nod. "On top of that, after passing through the Japanese Ocean, he would encounter the forces of the Usonian Underworld not far up ahead in the form of the Xolotl Defensive Line!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    As expected, there really was a way out!

 Chapter 854: Final Present (2)

    <h4>Chapter 854: Final Present (2)</h4>

    This was an entirely grey space.

    There was no sun and no moon, and boundless grey mist was drifting through the air, making this ce seem like an illusion.

    However, right within this vast expanse of grey mist was a small ind that was over 100 square kilometers in area, rapidly moving through the sea in a peculiar fashion.

    The small ind wasplete with pavilions and buildings, as well as countless pedestrians wearing wooden expressions and stuck in different poses, as if they had been frozen in time. At the very center of the ind was the tallest pavilion of all, and within it sat a handsome man with an extraordinary disposition. At this moment, he was seated in his chair with a slightly fearful expression, inspecting his surroundings with aplex look in his eyes.

    It was Xu Fu.

    He reflexivelyid a hand onto his own neck. Just now, he was almost unable to save his own soul, but thankfully, he was just barely able to save himself.

    He cast a grim nce at the golden pen in his grasp, and with a wave of his hand, the golden pen vanished into nothingness. He wanted to pick up the teacup on the table beside him to take a sip, but his hand was trembling extremely violently, and he had only just picked up the teacup when tea was spilled all over his hand.

    In the face of an all-out assault from two Yama-Kings and an Abyssal Prefect, how could he actually have been as carefree and rxed as he had looked?

    <i>My heart is no longer still...</i> He heaved a long sigh and gently set down his teacup, then closed his eyes before reopening them five minutester, by which time he had already returned to his normal calm and cid state.

    ¡°Ozato Koroku,¡± he called out, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a male voice rang out in response.

    "What are your instructions, your Excellency?"

    "Where are we right now?" Xu Fu rose to his feet and ced his hands onto the railing before casting his gaze toward the distance, but unfortunately, even for him, all that could be seen was boundless greyness.

    "We are currently in the Nipponese Sea," Ozato Koroku replied, "Mistress Izanami has already moved the army of atakebune ships out of our way. As you''re aware, the Nipponese Underworld is situated extremely close to the Cathayan Underworld, and she doesn''t dare to go directly against the Cathayan Underworld, so there''s no way that she can assist us directly."

    Xu Fu remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "Do you think the army of the Cathayan Underworld will catch up to us?"

    Ozato Koroku replied, "This is the Nipponese Sea, your Excellency. Most of the information we have on the Cathayan Underworld hase from our collection and the Nipponese Underworld. ording to past conventions, no matter how ruthless the Cathayan Underworld has been, they still respect the international boundaries of the underworlds. On top of that, Asia is the continent with the mostplex circumstances in the entire underworld. There is the Russian Underworld, which has thergestndmass, and also the Hindustani Underworld, which is one of the four pirs. No matter how powerful the Cathayan Underworld is, it''s unable to dominate the continent like the Argosian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld have dominated their respective continents. With that in mind, I think we should be safe once we pass the Nipponense Sea."

    Xu Fu nodded in response.

    Ever since the strange activity taking ce in Gui Xu and Qi N¨¹''s disappearance four hours ago, his first reaction had been to flee right away! He had to get out of the Cathayan Underworld''s sphere of influence!

    Even an advanced Yama-King like him had no intention ofbating an entire underworld on his own, particrly when he didn''t have sufficient information on the current state of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Thus, he had carefully traveled out of Cathay''s territorial sea, then gone around the Strait of Tsushima. That alone had expended several hours, but the rest of the journey would be a lot faster.

    As soon as they passed by Nippon, the Pacific Ocean would be right up ahead, and once they passed through Xolotl''s Screen...

    The continent of Usonia was a massive ce, and the state of the continent was even more chaotic than that of Asia, so there were many opportunities for him to take advantage of, and he was sure that he would be able to forge a new legacy there!

    "Due to the crisis in the mortal realm, the death gods of the Usonian Underworld are suffering from a severeck of worshippers, and their deaths are imminent," he murmured to himself as a contemtive look appeared in his eyes. "All of the death gods below them are waiting to seize the throne, while those two are just barely holding on. I''m also a Yama-King, and an advanced one at that! Once I reach the new continent, there will be many death gods willing to extend an olive branch to me! No matter how influential the Cathayan Underworld is, there''s no way that it can reach across the Pacific Ocean to apprehend me! Full speed ahead! We must reach Xolotl''s Screen within an hour!"

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    At the six paths of reincarnation, Qin Ye, Zhao Yun, and Arthis were still deliberating on what to do next.

    In front of them was a world map formed by Yin energy, and there was a faint red line inscribed onto it. All three of them wore extremely grim expressions, and the silence in the air was deafening.

    It was so quiet that it was as if one could hear the countdown timer to the self-detonation of Gui Xu slowly ticking down.

    An hourter, an explosion as powerful as a forbidden art was going to take ce in Ashmound, and currently, all of the Emissaries of Hell andherworldly citizens werepletely oblivious to this. If any other Emissary of Hell had received word of this, such as the governor or procurator of a province, they would''ve most likely already issued an urgent report, but they couldn''t do that.

    Their actions would decide the direction that this crisis was going to take. Qin Ye wanted nothing more than to capture Xu Fu and execute him using the most torturous method possible, but he had to repress his fury and face the situation objectively.

    Qin Ye''s eyes were slightly bloodshot as he stabbed a finger down right between the Marshall Inds and Hawaii before asking a question of the utmost importance, "General Zhao, Xolotl is something that actually exists, right?"

    Xolotl was the name of a death god.

    There were more than just two death gods on the continent of Usonia. To be more specific, during their heyday, the continents of North and South Usonia had over 10 death gods! However, in the wake of the crisis in the mortal realm, times had changed significantly, and only five or six were left, the most renowned of which were obviously Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, both of whom were on the verge of death. As for the rest, Xolotl was supposed to be one of the other surviving death gods.

    Even more importantly, if he recalled correctly, this death god also had a brother.

    They were rted by blood, and the name of the brother was Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent God!

    The fact that the Plumed Serpent God existed meant that there was a very good chance that Xolotl also existed. As long as thisndmark actually belonged to Xolotl and wasn''t just named after him, then there was still a chance that the tables could be turned!

    They failed to anticipate that Xu Fu had hidden such a trump card within Gui Xu, but there was no way that Xu Fu would be aware that Qin Ye was familiar with the Plumed Serpent God!

    Each side had their own hidden trump cards, and as this treacherous game of chess was about to reach its conclusion, it was time to unveil all of these trump cards.

    "That''s right!" Zhao Yun immediately understood what Qin Ye was implying by asking this question. Qin Ye hadn''t withheld information from him. In particr, a being like the Plumed Serpent God had a strong bearing on the Cathayan Underworld''s connection with the Usonian Underworld, so this wasn''t something that he could hide. As a result, Zhao Yun was also aware that Qin Ye had ties with the Plumed Serpent God, and upon hearing this question, he immediately realized what Qin Ye was thinking.

    "You want to ask for the Plumed Serpent God''s help to convince his brother to prohibit Xu Fu from entering the Pacific Ocean, right?" Time was of the essence, and even Zhao Yun''s voice had be extremely urgent. He knew that in the Harken''s current state, there was no way that it would be able to withstand the explosion from a forbidden art, even though he had already sent out a messenger bird to contact the Harken, urging him to travel to Ashmound right away.

    "Exactly!" Qin Ye replied as he mmed palm heavily down onto the map with intense killing intent in his eyes. "Usonia is the only ce that Xu Fu can flee to, and if he wants to get there, he has to pass through Xolotl''s Screen. As long as we can stop him there, we''ll still have a chance to apprehend him!"

    This was a matter where he didn''t want to make anypromise.

    Xu Fu had dared to threaten him with the destruction of one of the Cathayan Underworld''s two major cities, how could he ensure that his reputation would stay intact if he were to let Xu Fu get away even after such tant provocation?

    "But where are our naval forces going toe from?" Arthis asked with tightly furrowed brows. "Brother Yun is currently unable to leave the nation, and you and the Harken most likely aren''t a match for that old monster. On top of that, there''s no way that he''s the only one in the Peach Blossom Spring. In order to apprehend him, we need to mobilize a naval army of Yin soldiers..."

    All of a sudden, her voice abruptly cut off, and she turned to stare in the direction that Qin Ye was pointing in with a stunned look on her face.

    He was pointing at the Felipinas on the map.

    "Past the Caroline Inds are the Marshall Inds. The terrain of the Felipinas is like a wall. Even if the Hindustani Underworld detects what''s happening, troops from the Felipinas can hold back the Yin soldiers of the Hindustani Underworld in the Strait of a. At the same time, it acts as a barrier to the Marshall Inds and Hawaii, and it''s not far away from Xolotl''s Screen."

    Qin Ye licked his own lips in a bloodthirsty manner as he gently stroked the Felipinas ind chain with a cold smile. "Even if the Peach Blossom Spring is denied passage by Xolotl''s Screen, we still won''t be able to catch up to them. However..."

    Arthis drew a sharp breath, and theherfire in her eyes flickered erratically as she continued where Qin Ye left off. "If we can get the Lord of Luzon, General Yang, to deploy his troops and dy them for a while, we''ll definitely be able to catch up to them!"

    "That''s right!" Qin Ye extended a hand forward, and his gaze swept over Arthis and Zhao Yun as he ordered, "Arthis, you restore Qi N¨¹''s soul right away."

    Arthis immediately nodded in response. At a time like this, there was no time for hesitation or dy, and after briefly considering the situation, she immediately understood why Qin Ye was issuing this order.

    Why was it that Xu Fu had told them that Gui Xu was going to explode in an hour? It was because he had no choice but to reveal this!

    In other words, there was a very good chance that there was a method in Qi N¨¹''s memories that could allow them to forcibly summon the Peach Blossom Spring within an hour. Thus, he had to dy Hell by an hour to ensure his own escape.

    "With that in mind, Arthis wasted no time and made a grabbing motion toward Qin Ye''s shoulder, following which both she and Qi N¨¹ disappeared in unison."

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh before turning to Zhao Yun, and thetter immediately cupped his fist in a salute. "Rest assured, my Lord, even if I have to sacrifice everything, I''ll ensure that no harm befalls Ashmound!"

    "No." Qin Ye grabbed onto Zhao Yun''s hand and looked straight into his eyes. His lips began to tremble a little as he said, "All I ask is that you try to withstand this explosion."

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which his eyes narrowed slightly. "Try?"

    "That''s right." Qin Ye closed his eyes and gnashed his own teeth together tightly.

    Even with the Plumed Serpent God''s immense power, he still almost suffered bacsh from the Heavenly Dao after withstanding a forbidden art, and he didn''t want the same fate to befall Zhao Yun.

    When Qin Ye said "try", what he meant was for Zhao Yun to attempt to withstand the explosion, and if he couldn''t... then just give up.

    He was asking Zhao Yun to give up the millions ofherworldly citizens in Ashmound. As for Ashmound itself, aside from the new constructions, all of the others are reflections created by the Reflection Pce. Even though the new buildings took up a quarter of the area of Ashmound, if the explosion couldn''t be contained, then it would be much better to take the Reflection Pce away rather than suffer aplete wipeout.

    "Why?"

    "Because you''re more important than Ashmound!" Qin Ye cut him off in a forceful voice. "If the education system had already been set up, and there were cultivators of all types of different levels among the millions ofherworldly citizens of Ashmound, perhaps I would be making a different decision, but right now, you''re more important!"

    Silence.

    Zhao Yun didn''t say anything. Ashmound was a city that they had dedicated far too much blood, sweat, and tears to. They had watched the city grow step by step. How could they give up so manyherworldly citizens just like that? How could it not pain Qin Ye to make such a decision?

    However, there was no other choice.

    Even though the Cathayan Underworld could do everything in its power to keep this incident strictly confidential, the consequences of giving up an entire city would still be unimaginably catastrophic. However, despite this, Qin Ye''s decision was still to prioritize Zhao Yun over Ashmound.

    "My Lord..." Zhao Yun''s lips quivered slightly, and a hint of emotion crept into his voice as he said, "I''m still somewhat confident in my ability to withstand the explosion."

    Qin Ye released his hand, and it was as if all of the strength had been sapped from his body, but he still shook his head in a resolute manner. "Prioritize your own safety above all else."

    Even though his heart was bleeding, he had to put on a calm facade.

    Zhao Yun nodded in response and didn''t say anything further. Qin Ye cast his gaze upward, hoping to use gravity to fight the tears that were threatening to overflow.

    After taking many deep breaths, he finally turned with a murderous expression, and his chest began to rise and fall rapidly as Yin energy revolved around his entire body, giving him the appearance of an Asura who had just emerged from the depths of the abyss as he slowly made his way outside.

    As he strode along, he massaged his own be with his trembling fingers, and he was seeing red as he spat through gritted teeth, "Xu Fu, I''ll kill you if it''s thest thing I do!"

 Chapter 855: Every Second Counts (1)

    <h4>Chapter 855: Every Second Counts (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye''s chest was rising and falling heavily. He had thought that his killing intent toward Xu Fu had already reached a pinnacle once he learned about Xu Fu''s treachery and treasonous acts. After learning the fact that Xu Fu had managed to invent an energy resource that could be used across the two realms, his intent to kill Xu Fu had even subsided a little.

    This system wasn''t perfect, but it was the first of its kind, and even though there was still a lot left to be done, this was already enough for a conscious ruler like Qin Ye to begin weighing up his options.

    However, his killing intent toward Xu Fu was now fiercer than ever before, and it was like a volcanic eruption that couldn''t be repressed no matter what.

    Only now could he truly experience the fury of a ruler when someone tried to threaten his cities and his people.

    Only now did he realize that some things couldn''t be forgiven orpromised no matter what.

    He swept a hand through the air, and the gate immediately swung shut. He then closed his eyes and worked to control his own breathing for several seconds. Only then did he reopen his eyes, and immediately thereafter, a golden scale flew up into the air, sending golden ripples surging in all directions, as if he were summoning something out of space.

    Countless golden runes appeared all over the scale. This was none other than the scale that had been left to them by the Plumed Serpent God in the Alkebn Underworld!

    The scale began to revolve in mid-air as if it were searching for the right direction. One minute passed, then two, and Qin Ye was desperately trying to remain calm in this race against time. Right upon reaching the five-minute mark, tremors suddenly ran through the surrounding area in all directions.

    BOOM!!

    Light illuminated the entire room as if a fountain of radiance had appeared, or as if the gates of heaven had been opened. Boundless Yin energy converged in a frenzy in front of Qin Ye, and an indistinct shadow began to appear within it. A burst of Yama-King level Yin energy came crashing down from the heavens, forming an illusory figure within the warped light.

    This was divine descent!

    The Yin energy surged and churned before finally forming the sinister serpentine face of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent God, and Qin Ye immediately heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.

    There were still around 37 minutes left, and he repressed the urgency in his heart as he put on a calm and cid facade, observing the Plumed Serpent God as if he had only contacted him for a casual conversation.

    As soon as it appeared, the head of the Plumed Serpent God immediately turned its vertical golden pupils toward Qin Ye with an expectant look on its face, "Abyssal Prefect Qin, do you have the blood of a divinity..."

    Before it evenpleted its sentence, it suddenly let loose a loud shriek, and its sharp voice caused even the surrounding space to tremble. Its vertical pupils abruptly contracted drastically, and it stared at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression as he stuttered, "Y... You''ve be a Yama-King?!"

    Qin Ye had no time to waste with idle chatter, and he gave a clipped response. "That''s right, you''re looking at the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld."

    Dead silence.

    In that instant, the entire space descended intoplete silence, and the Plumed Serpent God was struggling to process what he had just heard. Qin Ye''s words reverberated through his mind over and over again.

    Cathayan Underworld... Third King Yanluo...

    He did it! He actually did it! I made the right gamble after all!

    His long journey for revenge, the divine battle from over 1,000 years ago... There was still a chance for him to survive and perhaps even exact his vengeance!

    "I am truly amazed..." Even the Plumed Serpent God couldn''t help but bepletely stunned by this revtion, and after staring at Qin Ye for a full 10 seconds, he finally continued, "Please allow me to offer you my sincerest congrattions on behalf of the Alkebn and Usonian Underworlds. From this day forth, all of the death gods of the Alkebn Underworld will fight for you. You can trust them wholeheartedly, and you can also trust me when I say that the Alkebn Underworld will be the Cathayan Underworld''s most resolute ally!"

    A slight disdainful sneer appeared on Qin Ye''s face. If this were the Cathayan Underworld of the past, there was no way that it would''ve had to recruit the Alkebn Underworld as an ally. Someone like the Plumed Serpent God could make offerings year after year in an attempt to establish ties with the Cathayan Underworld and be denied every time, but now...

    "I''ve already obtained the blood of a divinity"

    The Plumed Serpent God''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "So you agree?"

    He was already reflexively being more confrontational. This confrontational attitude wasn''t directed toward Qin Ye, but instead, toward the member of the four pirs that Qin Ye represented.

    "I''m open to considering the proposal, but why should the Cathayan Underworld establish ties with the Alkebn Underworld? We''re situated a world apart, and I don''t think the Alkebn Underworld can bring us any benefits. What do you have to offer? A few extra votes during international underworld conferences?" Qin Ye was doing his best to speak in a slow and unhurried manner, but his nails were already digging so hard into his palms that they were close to drawing blood.

    The countdown timer of mass destruction was constantly ticking down in his mind, but regardless of how urgent the situation was, he had to keep the initiative.

    The Plumed Serpent God was no simpleton.

    It was extremely frail right now, but it had survived a forbidden art, and after that, it hadbated the Heavenly Dao for several centuries without being devoured, and that was already extremely remarkable.

    Furthermore, he was the mastermind behind the entirety of the Alkebluan Underworld, as well as the key for the Cathayan Underworld to establish ties with another continent. Unless he absolutely had to, Qin Ye definitely didn''t want to burn this bridge. However, not burning a bridge was one thing, but during the lengthy period in which the Cathayan Underworld was going to continue to develop, they would undoubtedly have frequent contact with one another, so who was going to hold the initiative during these instances?

    The Plumed Serpent God had no choice.

    However, if he could tell that the Cathayan Underworld also had no choice and that they both needed something from one another, then they would be standing on equal terms, and that was something that Qin Ye definitely didn''t want to see.

    "So what do you want us to do?" the Plumed Serpent God asked, "My divine descent can''tst for much longer, so please keep things short and concise."

    "I heard that you have a brother called Xolotl," Qin Ye said, and he was still speaking in a deliberately unhurried manner. "How is the bond between the two of you?"

    The Plumed Serpent God chuckled upon hearing this. "There are no brothers among death gods, we only share close bonds with those who best serve our interests. Having said that, I''m sure he''d be very shocked if he knew that I was still alive..."

    Qin Ye continued, "In that case, can you reveal to him that you''re not dead and promise him a favor, would he be willing to deploy his forces for you?"

    The Plumed Serpent God''s eyes had already narrowed into thin slits, and a faint light was glowing within them. There was no need for exnations in a conversation between intelligent individuals, and around 10 secondster, he asked, "What would you possibly need him to deploy his troops for?"

    "A Yama-King has stolen a divine artifact of Hell and fled. He''s probably already made it to the Nipponese Sea and is about to enter the Pacific Ocean, so we must stop him," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "In the wake of a political transition, there will always be some brazen individuals whoe out of the woodwork."

    I see...

    The Plumed Serpent God flicked out his forked tongue and licked his own scaly mouth incessantly. As expected, the political transition of the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t a peaceful one, and it was no wonder that he was agreeing to a coboration. However, no matter how tumultuous the political transition had been, this was still a member of the four pirs that he was dealing with here.

    Perhaps he could try and probe out more details and be a bit firmer in his own attitude, but this wasn''t the right time to do that. After all, the blood of a divinity was still being held by Hell.

    Having lived for so many years, the Plumed Serpent God had seen everything there was to be seen in this world, and in that instant, countless thoughts shed through his mind. Shortly thereafter, a humanized smile appeared on his serpentine face, and he said, "Yanluo Qin, the circumstances on the new continent are far moreplex than you can imagine. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are ruling over the new continent, and there aren''t many death gods left. After all, with the advent of colonization in the mortal realm, the local faith has been dealt a heavy blow. Countless followers have been killed or injured, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are in no better condition than I am. However, have you thought about the mindsets of the death gods below them?"

    Shit! It''s already been 20 minutes!

    Qin Ye was on the verge of erupting into a thunderous fury, but he had to hold all that back for just a while longer.

    If he was going to strike, then he was going to make it count and not let anyone escape.

    A hint of realization shed through his eyes upon hearing this, and he asked, "Are you referring to a potential coup?"

    "That''s right." The Plumed Serpent God smile widened even further. "Just wait and see. I''m willing to bet that if another world war were to take ce between the underworlds, it would definitely take ce following the deaths of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa! The new continent is like a piece of delectable meat that''s just waiting to be imed, who wouldn''t want to grab it? In addition to that, the local faith has almostpletely vanished! The circumstances have made the continent a defenseless fruit that¡¯s ripe for the picking! The only problem is that no one dares to make a move for now. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are on the brink of death, and they''re dancing on the edge of insanity, making them willing to do anything and cast aside all inhibitions. Thus, it''s only natural that no one dares to provoke them now. If you want Xolotl to deploy his troops to directly face a Yama-King holding a divine artifact, I won''t be enough to convince him on my own. I..."

    "You also want a promise from the Cathayan Underworld, right?" Qin Ye interjected. "Right now, the new continent is in an extremely tumultuous state, and all of the death gods are waiting to take the ces of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, so of course Xolotl wouldn''t be willing to help you at a sensitive time like this. However, what if you promise to help him and promise that he''ll receive the assistance of the Cathayan Underworld as well?"

    A cold smile appeared on the Plumed Serpent God''s face. "I''m sure he''ll be tempted by a promise from one of the four pirs."

    Good...

    Perhaps it was due to the urgency of the situation, but Qin Ye''s mind was racing at an unprecedented speed, and he had already thought even further ahead. It would still take several centuries before Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa truly perished, and during this time, no one would dare to make a move on the new continent and risk invoking the wrath of those two nutcases. Once the two of them passed away, the new continent would have no ruler, and the entire world would definitely be swept up into a frenzy.

    The Cathayan Underworld would definitely be involved, its status simply didn''t allow it to remain on the sidelines.

    It seemed that the Cathayan Underworld waspromising here by agreeing to help Xolotl in the future, but in reality, it paved the way for the Cathayan Underworld toy a im on the new continent in the future.

    "Alright, you have my word," Qin Ye said as he looked straight into the Plumed Serpent God''s eyes. "Once Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa pass away, the Cathayan Underworld will lend its unreserved assistance to Xolotl to help him be the new ruler. You can pass that onto him word for word."

    "Fantastic!" The Plumed Serpent God burst intoughter upon hearing this, and Qin Ye swept a hand through the air, sending a ball of bright red light flying toward him.

    The Plumed Serpent God immediately opened his mouth and devoured the ball of light.

    The blood of a divinity... This day has finallye...

    The Plumed Serpent God closed his eyes, and his massive serpentine head was trembling as he carefully savored the immense power imbued within the drop of blood. Only after a long while did he reopen his eyes, and he said, "I like dealing with people who keep their promises. Rest assured, I''ll be sure to do the same."

    "Just remember this," Qin Ye said as he stared intently into his eyes. "Stop that Yama-King at all costs! You only have half an hour. Seeing as you''ve bound yourself to the Heavenly Dao, I''m sure you have a way to aplish this."

    The Plumed Serpent God made an ambiguous expression before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind.

    Only after the Plumed Serpent God had already departed for 30 seconds did Qin Ye finally move again, and he almost copsed back onto the pir behind him. At this point, his back was already drenched in cold sweat.

    He wasn''t physically tired, but ying these mind games under such a high-pressure situation made him feel as if his brain were about to explode. Furthermore, the countdown timer to mass destruction hadn''t stopped. He felt as if he could hear an actual countdown timer ticking down click by click, and every single click was like a dagger that was driven into his heart.

    There were only less than 30 minutes left, and he wanted nothing more than to rush to Ashmound to assess the situation there, but he still couldn''t do that yet.

    He had to wait.

    Xu Fu had revealed that Gui Xu was going to explode in Ashmound in an hour, thereby indirectly implying that there was something in Qi N¨¹''s memories that could allow him to prevent the departure of the Peach Blossom Spring within an hour. Thus, no matter how concerned he was for Ashmound, he had to stay here to oversee proceedings.

    Nothing was perfect in this world. So long as it existed, traces of it had to have been left behind.

    Right at this moment, the gate abruptly swung open, and Arthis rushed toward him at full speed as a gust of Yin wind.

    "How did it go?"

    "Qi N¨¹ has awakened," Arthis replied in a grim voice. "The key lies in the Huang n''s earthen building in Fujian Province! Ignite the light tower in the mortal coil, and the Peach Blossom Spring will reveal itself from the cracks of history! I''ll tell you the exact details on the way there. A total of 7,000 Yin soldiers from the Hell Guardian Legion are already on their way to the Huang n''s earthen building. Meanwhile, Su Daji will lead the Hungry Ghost Legion and Qin Hui will lead the Asura Legion to Xolotl''s Screen! Please make haste, Yanluo Qin!"

    Qin Ye took a deep breath to brace himself for the chaotic whirlwind of activity that was sure to follow.

    The oue was going to be decided soon!

    There were still 27 minutes left.

 Chapter 856: Every Second Counts (2)

    <h4>Chapter 856: Every Second Counts (2)</h4>

    In the Felipinas.

    The rousing sound of blowing horns rang out, and one underworld emissary after another turned to look at the tall pce in the distance. Immediately thereafter, they were stunned to discover that the army of the Lord of Luzon, which had barely ever been mobilized before, was on the move!

    "What''s going on?" Aherworldly citizen looked up at the tall city walls with a stunned expression. Atop the city wall, Yin soldiers were converging from all directions like waves ofherfire.

    Is there going to be a war? But that''s never happened before!

    The Lord of Luzon, Yang Jiye, had never made it a secret that he was here to keep out all the fugitives, evil ghosts, and underworld emissaries that tried to pass through this ce from the Pacific Ocean, and the army had never been mobilized before.

    "What''s going on? Is there an underworld that''s attacking the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "Who could be so insane?! This is one of the four pirs we''re talking about here! I can''t think of anyone who would be crazy enough to attack the Cathayan Underworld!"

    "Then how do you exin this?"

    There was no need for an exnation.

    In the next instant, the city gates were flung open, and rows of cavaliers riding on skeletal horse steeds emerged amid the sound of thundering hooves, and countless gusts of Yin wind that swept across the earth like an inky-ck flood!

    The sound of the blowing horns was absolutely deafening, and a series of bright red gs bearing the "Yang" character were pping in the wind. No attempt had been made to hide this operation from the public eye. The army was led from the forefront by Yang Jiye, and behind him were Yang Yanzhao, Yang Zongbao, Yang Yanyu... All of the direct lineal descendants of the Yang n were present, and their suits of ck armor were giving off a chilling gleam under the light of the sun.

    All of them were wielding long spears with quivers strapped to their backs, and no matter how one looked at it, it was clear that a battle was on the horizon.

    As soon as the army of tens of thousands of troops rushed out of the city, they immediately split up into two groups. Most of them rushed straight towards the harbor, while the rest rushed toward the other side of the Felipinas. They had to prevent the troops of the Hindustani Underworld from leaving the Strait of a. At the very least, they had to report such a situation to Hell should it arise.

    Killing intent was rising up straight into the heavens, and Yang Jiye led the way with an authoritative expression. On the harbor not far away, a series of giant treasure ships had already unfurled their sails and were ready to set off at any time.

    In the instant that he reached the harbor, Yang Jiye brought his own steed to a halt, and the imposing skeletal steed that he was straddling immediately rose up to its hind legs. Only after the rest of the army had stopped behind him did Yang Jiye turn his steed around to face them.

    He was greeted by the sight of tens of thousands of bright red gs and a sense of bristling killing intent in the air. It was as if time had fallenpletely still, and a gust of Yin wind swept over the army, emitting a fierce howl as it did so.

    Several secondster, Yang Jiye dered, "Everyone, I have an order from Yanluo Qin."

    Yang Zongbao and Yang Yanyu exchanged a nce before immediately extending bows on horseback, and the rest of the troops quickly followed suit.

    Everyone had been called together for an emergency gathering within 10 minutes, and no one had any idea what was going on, but the answer was about to be revealed to them now.

    "Yama-King Xu Fu has stolen the Judgment Pen and is fleeing to the Pacific Ocean. Lord of Luzon Yang Jiye is ordered to stop him from reaching Xolotl''s Screen at all costs. Abyssal Prefects Qin Hui and Su Daji have been sent as reinforcements."

    All of the soldiers raised their heads to stare at Yang Jiye with incredulous expressions.

    A Yama-King had taken one of Hell''s three divine artifacts and fled? And that Yama-King''s name was Xu Fu?

    Was it that Xu Fu? That man was still alive? Why was he betraying the nation?

    Countless questions sprang up in their minds at once, but as soldiers, their duty was to follow orders, so as soon as Yang Jiye''s voice trailed off, all of the soldiers immediately cupped their fists in salutes and epted the orders.

    "Remember that this is a Yama-King," Yang Jiye said as he fixed an intense gaze on everyone.

    "This is no Infernal Judge, nor is this an Abyssal Prefect. If we rush in and face him directly, the only possible fate that awaits us will be death. Thankfully, our orders are only to stall him, and we shall do so at all costs! No one is too valuable to sacrifice! I will report the names of all those who perish during this battle to Yanluo Qin, and you''ll be sure to be granted avish burial and have the needs of your family members looked after for the rest of their days!"

    "Yes!"

    Yang Jiye turned his steed back around and led the charge toward the dozens of treasure boats docked at the harbor. "I wish you all the very best of luck."

    In the face of a Yama-King, they would certainly need luck in spades to survive.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Peach Blossom Spring, Fantasy City.

    No one knew where this city was located. It was as if it were constantly traversing through a nonexistent space. Currently, the city was surrounded by boundless greyness in all directions, and Xu Fu was standing on the top floor of the tallest pavilion. His usual calm and carefree demeanor was missing, and his hands were gripping the railings tightly as he carefully inspected the unchanging scenery around him.

    He was racing against time.

    He knew that there was no way that Hell would allow him to flee to the Pacific Ocean, and that they had to have already set things into motion to capture him. Even though he had already left Gui Xu behind as a decoy, he certainly couldn''t be sure what a powerhouse like the Cathayan Underworld was capable of.

    "I can''t help but feel uneasy..." He gently pursed his lips, and right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out beside him. "Your Excellency, we are nearing the territorial sea of the Federated States of Micronesia."

    All of a sudden, Xu Fu''s heart began to thump violently. This was a very bad sign. He merely nodded in response, and before he had a chance to examine where this terrible premonition wasing from, the owner of the voice continued, "Your Excellency, I must say that I''m very perplexed by your decision not to travel through the Nipponese Sea. That route is clearly shorter, and that messenger sent by Mistress Izanami told us that she would be willing to grant us free passage..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish, Xu Fu waved a dismissive hand, and he inspected his surroundings through narrowed eyes as he interjected, "I don''t trust her. If the Nipponese Underworld really had the guts to oppose the Cathayan Underworld, then it would''ve already made a move. Instead, it''s forced to sit in silence as several of its most powerful emissaries have been picked off. They''re granting us free passage now, but if they decide to shut the gate on us in Tokyo, we''ll be trapped, and the Cathayan Underworld will catch up to us for sure! On top of that..."

    A cold tone crept into Xu Fu''s voice as he continued, "I''m sure Izanami also wants to know where the Peach Blossom Spring is herself. Taking the Micronesia route is a little longer than the shortest route, but it''s much safer."

    The owner of the voice paused momentarily before asking, "Your Excellency, will the Cathayan Underworld really try to catch us?"

    Xu Fu merely smiled and offered no response to this.

    Over 2,000 years ago, he had intentionally not returned from his final voyage precisely to avoid the wrath of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty. He knew extremely well what an emperor or ruler hated the most. If everything he had done had remained a secret, then nothing would''ve happened, but upon its discovery, the only fate awaiting him would be execution if he were to remain in Cathay. Thus, he didn''t even hesitate before deciding to flee.

    Right at this moment, the horns of Fantasy City rang out, and countless messenger birds rose up from the surrounding forest before flying toward the pavilion where Xu Fu was standing.

    The chirping of the messenger birds rang out incessantly, and Xu Fu''s pupils contracted slightly as he mused, "Finally, after all these years, I''ll be using the measures I set up so long ago."

    There were so many messenger birds that they were sweeping up gusts of Yin wind that were causing his robes to p audibly. He closed his eyes and listened carefully, and several minutester, he reopened his eyes as he spat through gritted teeth, "They''reing."

    The Cathayan Underworld was beginning to close its around him, and he was facing the immense pressure of opposing a powerhouse nation. Now, it was truly a race against time.

    True energy revolved around his fingertip, and the messenger birds flew back into the forest. "Lord of Luzon Yang Jiye has just set off with an army of tens of thousands of troops, and elsewhere, two Abyssal Prefects are also on their way, leading roughly 80,000 troops. They really are sparing no effort to hunt me down! But why is there no Yama-King among them? Perhaps they really have been dyed by Gui Xu?"

    No one dared to say anything in response.

    Several secondster, Xu Fu suddenly raised his head and asked, "How far away are we from Xolotl''s Screen?"

    "1,000 nautical miles, Your Excellency!"

    Xu Fu nodded in response, and he could feel that his mouth had be bone dry. How long had it been since he had experienced such an overwhelming degree of fear?

    "What about the time? How long has it been since my encounter with that Yama-King of Hell?"

    "It''s already been 47 minutes since then, Your Excellency! From here, it''ll still take us around half an hour more to reach Xolotl''s Screen!"

    So this is the final 30 minutes...

    If he hadn''t taken a longer route, there would perhaps only be 400 to 500 nautical miles left at this point.

    Surely the final present I''ve left Hell is about to take effect now.

    Unbeknownst to even Xu Fu himself, his eyes had turned slightly bloodshot, and he was unconsciously drumming the railing with his fingers as he murmured to himself, "Let''s see who''s going to win this race. Activate the Profound Heavenly Windglide formation!"

    "Your Excellency, it''s already been activated, and it''s already been operating at over its maximal capacity for close to an hour!"

    "Keep adding Yin spirit stones!!" Xu Fumanded in a cold voice, "As long as it doesn''t explode, keep feeding it Yin spirit stones! Even if it explodes, it has tost until we reach Xolotl''s Screen!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Beep beep beep!! In this instant, almost all of the Yin energy detection devices in the mortal realm were beeping vigorously.

    At the headquarters of the Special Investigations Department, all of the investigators and SRC researchers were staring at the screens around them with incredulous expressions.

    There were countless red dots on the map! It was like looking at a nest of wasps that were mobilizing from all areas!

    The Yin energy detection devices around the screens were beeping like there was no tomorrow, and strings of numbers were constantly shing and changing.

    Three hundred million, five hundred million, a billion, two billion, three billion... The numbers were jumping up by millions every second!

    "My god..." A middle-aged man copsed back onto his chair. "What on earth is happening?"

    The countless red dots weren''t worthy of rm, but there were several particrly thick red lines that were rushing rapidly toward the harbor, while one of them was traveling toward Fujian Province.

    Right at this moment, the door swung open, and Lei Jun strode in alongside a man in Taoist priest robes. Everyone immediately rose to their feet.

    "Director!"

    "Director, take a look at this! We have no clue what''s going on!"

    "Is there any news from Hell?"

    A flurry of voices was ringing out at once, and Lei Jun raised a hand to silence everyone before rushing over to a monitor and staring at its screen with an extremely grim expression.

    With just a single nce, he was able to ascertain that there were a total of three Yama-Kings involved, as evidenced by the three red lines with Yin energy readings in excess of a hundred million. Two of them were rushing toward Wuyang, while the other was traveling toward Fujian at breakneck speed. They were making no attempt to disguise what they were doing. Perhaps it was because it was already toote and they couldn''t even be bothered to hide their actions.

    Something big must''ve happened in the underworld!

    After exchanging a nce with the old Taoist priest, he asked, "What do you think, Sword Master?"

    All of the investigators were shocked to hear this title.

    There was only one person who could be referred to as Sword Master in the entirety of Cathay, and that was Sword Master Xuanyuan.

    "I received emergency contact from Hell not long ago, informing the mortal realm that a major crisis is taking ce. Looking at things now, the fact that they''ve deployed three Yama-Kings means that this crisis is most likely even direr than they had described," Sword Master Xuanayuan replied in a grim voice. "As for what exactly happened, I didn''t ask, and the person who contacted me was in too much of a rush to tell me. All he said was that the Yama-Kings have already been deployed, and he advised us to seize control of the region of the high sea near Hawaii as quickly as possible. I''ve already informed the higher-ups of this, and we''re just waiting for a response now."

    Lei Jun paused momentarily, then took a deep breath before casting his gaze toward everyone else. "Instruct all of the branches of the Special Investigations Department to go on the highest level of alert. On top of that, instruct all branch directors at the Infernal Judge level to travel to Eastsea City right away!"

    "Yes!!"

    After issuing all of those instructions, Lei Jun made his way over to a technician andmanded, "I want a report of all of the ships from our nation near Hawaii as soon as possible!"

    "Yes!" The technician''s fingers flew over the keyboard like the wind as he asked, "What do you n to do, Director?"

    Lei Jun shook his head as he cast a grim gaze forward.

    Hell had advised them to seize control over this region of the sea.

    In order to do this, something had to happen so that Cathay would have an excuse to intervene.

    To all of the ships docked near Hawaii, my apologies, your holiday is most likely going to turn into an extremely terrifying experience.

    This was something that he had to do.

 Chapter 857: Every Second Counts (3)

    <h4>Chapter 857: Every Second Counts (3)</h4>

    Ashmound.

    As one of the most advanced cities in the Cathayan Underworld and the origin point of the new Qin Dynasty, the city was always teeming with bustling activity. Simrly, as one of the first cities to have been developed, it benefitted even more from economic policies than Everburn. As a result, it was the core of the entire nation''s economy. In contrast, in the areas that were liberatedter, such as the Westriver Province, the Cloudriver Province, and the Rich Province, economic systems were only just beginning to take shape.

    After being conquered, Ashmound hadn''t witnessed any battles, making it renowned as the safest city in the entire Cathayan Underworld, and this reputation also contributed to its prosperity.

    Inside a teahouse, Huang Liangchuan was sitting in a booth, savoring a cup of Yin tea and indulging in its warm fragrance. The booth was constructed in a ssic Ming Dynasty style with gold-ted cranenterns, a screen with an intricately embroidered hibiscus flower on its surface, and beautifully crafted furniture. There was also a half-drawn bamboo curtain that further contributed to the air of natural elegance in the room, and drinking a pot of top-quality tea here was the best form of enjoyment that he could think of.

    Seated beside him was an elderly man who appeared to be in his seventies, and after taking a draft out of his shisha, he blew out a plume of smoke and murmured, "Who could''ve foreseen the life we''re living now? Just a few years ago, Everburn was so poor that there were only trees to rest on, yet now... Tsk tsk tsk, Old Man Huang, you''re currently serving as the vice-manager of the Heaven and Earth Bank, can this life get any better?"

    Huang Liangchuan gently ced the lid onto his teacup with a smile and said, "I used to be the manager, but I stepped down. My foresight and expertise are sorelyckingpared with the newer Yin spirits that specialized in the financial sector during their time in the mortal realm. However, I''m credited with the contribution of developing the first batch of Hell''s Notes, so they can''t just rece me outright. If they decide to release new versions of the currency at some point, I can still put in some work."

    There was no indignation or regret in his voice at all.

    He had worked hard and he had fought for everything that he had. Having served Hell for so many years, it was time for him to rx and enjoy the fruits of hisbors.

    Right at this moment, the elderly man''s eyes narrowed slightly, and he pulled back the bamboo curtain with furrowed brows. "What''s going on? Who''s that flying over the city? Are they looking to get arrested? Governor Gou Yongjun of Ashmound was the top dog in the disciplinarymittee back in the mortal realm, and he hates rule-breakers like this..."

    "Who knows? Maybe they have a death wish?" Huang Liangchuan could also see a dense wall of Yin clouds rushing over from the west, and he shook his head as he continued, "The fact that they''re able to fly indicates that they should be an Infernal Judge. Do they think that they can do whatever they want just because they''ve served Lord Qin for some years? I''ve never seen Lord Qinpromise when ites tows."

    Not only could they see the approaching mass of Yin clouds, all of theherworldly citizens in the entire city could see it as well.

    However, they merely took a quick nce at it before shrugging and returning to whatever they were doing. Only theherworldly citizens that were bored and had nothing to do decided to use this as a topic for conversation.

    "Who''s that?"

    "Beats me! No one has ever dared to fly over Ashmound before. Yanluo Qin says that flying over cities is prohibited."

    "Surely they''re going to get arrested for this, right?"

    "Who knows? They''re able to fly, so they must be a high-ranking official. The avenues haven''t been opened up yet, but apparently, in the future, we''ll also be able to cultivate."

    "Cultivate? Are you kidding me?"

    "Hehe, you''re far toocking in experience, so you''re amazed by everything. I bet you haven''t even been dead for three years yet, right? You still have a long way to go..."

    No one took much notice of this situation aside from Governor Gou Yongjun, who was looking on at the cloud of Yin energy from Reflection Pce with a cold expression. He turned to the side and instructed, "Instruct the guards on the city walls to fire at will if that person doesn''t descend even after reaching the city gates!"

    Everything was very calm and cid. It was just like the Nipponese attack on Pearl Harbor. Even as the fighter aircrafts reached the airspace directly above the city, everyone still thought that it was merely a drill.

    The smokers continued smoking, those drinking tea continued drinking, and public servants continued to busy themselves with their respective duties. Yin soldiers were patrolling the city walls as they did every single day, and no one could anticipate what was going to befall this vibrant city on this day.

    The mass of Yin energy wasing closer and closer, and it was flying along at top speed. In the instant that it passed over the city gate, Qin Changxin''s thunderous voice rang out across the entire city. "I bring an order from Yanluo Qin!"

    The voice was full of urgency, so much so that it was on the verge of cracking, and the emotions that it held struck a sense of unease into the hearts of all of the city''sherworldly citizens, thereby grabbing their attention. Standing on the highest floor of the Reflection Pce, Gou Yongjun''s brows furrowed slightly, and he also cast his gaze toward the mass of Yin energy, as did the Emissaries of Hell who were currently issuing a report to him.

    Countless gusts of Yin wind swept over the city, carrying Qin Changxin''s voice with them, and due to the fact that he had been flying as if his life depended on it for an extended period of time, he was panting so heavily that even his voice was shaking.

    He was just about to continue, but the words suddenly got stuck in his throat.

    Countlessherworldly citizens, Emissaries of Hell, and Yin soldiers were standing before him, waiting for what he was about to say next. From his vantage point high up in the sky, the buildings and people were like countless matchboxes surrounded by innumerable ants.

    Ashmound was a city with a legendary status, and on every street and in every alley, one could hear legendary stories about the current King Yanluo and his associates. Only theherworldly citizens of this city had witnessed the might of the King Yanluo, the Yama-Kings and the Abyssal Prefects in person. As the first capital of Hell, this was definitely a city that its citizens could be proud of. As the first city in the Cathayan Underworld to have opened up to international trade, it was unique in its economic status and had attracted countlessherworldly citizens.

    Theherworldly citizens of Hell had been fractured and separated once, but since the unification and founding of the nation, the poption of Ashmound had already exceeded twenty million. Under normal circumstances, this would be something to be immensely proud of, yet Qin Changxin was currently feeling nothing but horror.

    He truly didn''t dare to imagine what would happen if a forbidden art were to explode here!

    "Sir!" On the city wall, amander was holding a megaphone, and he yelled, "The governor has ordered you to descend. Otherwise, you will be forcibly detained as you''ll have broken Hell''s anti-flight regtions."

    Qin Changxinpletely ignored him and took a deep breath before yelling, "By the order of the King Yanluo, allherworldly citizens are to evacuate this city right away!! In 35 minutes, a forbidden art is going to explode in Ashmound Port, and its power is equivalent to a nuclear bomb in the mortal realm!! Again, you only have 35 minutes left! Open the city gates, open all of them! The Harken and General Zhao will be arriving imminently! Seal off Ashmound Port and evacuate the city! I''ll be taking over the Reflection Pce in the meantime! Hurry! Now!!"

    Dead silence.

    On the top floor of the Reflection Pce, theherfire in Gou Yongjun''s eyes flickered violently, and he immediately rose to his feet.

    All of the Emissaries of Hell around him also stood up to stare at the figure in the sky with incredulous expressions.

    This is a coup!

    A chill ran down Gou Yongjun''s spine as this thought urred to him, but he then immediately realized that this wasn''t the case.

    There were Yama-Kings in Hell, so there was no ce for an Abyssal Prefect to stage a coup. On top of that, he wasn''t leading an army, either. What was an Abyssal Prefect doing attacking Abyssal Prefects on his own? Did he have a death wish?

    If this weren''t a coup, then... could it be that what he had said was true?

    An even more intense chill ran down his spine as this thought urred to him, and he immediately pushed open the window before roaring like a madman toward the deathly silent city outside, "Evacuate!! Everyone, evacuate! Did you not hear him?! Guards, open the city gates!! All members of the army and government officials must evacuatest after all of the citizens have evacuated!"

    His voice alone was simply too insignificant, and none of theherworldly citizens followed his instructions as they stood rooted to the spot, exchanging bewildered nces with one another.

    This news was far too shocking and it hade far too abruptly, so everyone was struggling to believe it to be true. A nuclear bomb was about to explode in Ashmound? What a joke!

    Right at this moment, countless Yin energy screens suddenly appeared all over Ashmound. Zhao Yun and the Harken were flying through the clouds, paying no heed to containing their own Yin energy at all. The two Yama-Kings were traveling directly toward Ashmound, leaving a gargantuan Yin cloud in their wake. Zhao Yun dered, "All citizens of Ashmound, evacuate right away! Seal off Ashmound Port! Mr. Qin is not joking, a forbidden art will explode in 35 minutes! When the timees, it''ll be up to fate to decide how many of you survive. What you have to do now is evacuate, and I mean all Yin spirits!!"

    The screens then immediately disappeared.

    Two secondster, the entire city erupted into a raucous frenzy!

    <i>tter... </i>Inside the teahouse, Huang Liangchuan''s hand fan fell onto the ground. He stared up at the sky with dumbstruck expressions, and his hands began to tremble.

    The elderly man beside him was also looking up at the sky with astonishment in his eyes, and both of them were struggling to process what they had just heard.

    However, there was no time for them to think.

    Right as Zhao Yun''s deration drew to a conclusion, the entire city erupted intoplete pandemonium. Countlessherworldy citizens immediately rushed toward the nearest city gate as quickly as they could, while the yin soldiers frantically opened the gates. The city had been orderly and thriving just a moment ago, yet now, it had be a hub of frenzied and panicked activity.

    "How is this possible?!" a Yin spirit yelled as he rushed away frantically with a horrified expression. "A nuclear bomb is going to explode in Ashmound? How is that possible?! Hey, don''t push!! Stop!!"

    The only response he received was a barrage of shoves.

    The Entirety of Ashmound had descended intoplete chaos, and Yin spirits were flooding in all directions. Thankfully, Yin spirits didn''t possess actual substantial forms, so the congestion didn''t mean that no one was able to get through or was being trampled to death. However, looking down onto Ashmound from above, the sight of tens of millions of Yin spirits fleeing the city was a truly astonishing one.

    "Step aside! Let me through!"

    "Hurry up!! The explosion is about to happen!"

    "My god! How is this happening?"

    "Don''t push Don''t shove! We''ll all make it out of here~"

    "Open the gate! Open the damn gate!!"

    Screams and loud yells could be heard ringing out incessantly, and right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out within Ashmound.

    Zhao Yun and the Harken had appeared in front of the Reflection Pce, and the former was wielding his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear, which he gently swept through the air to release a streak of dazzling white light that parted heaven and earth, creating a deep trench in Ashmound. Immediately thereafter, he vanished into thin air in a sh, and when he reappeared, he was already standing above the Reflection Pce.

    "Mr. Zhao." Gou Yongjun was already waiting there, and as soon as Zhao Yun appeared, he immediately rushed over with widely flickeringhermes in his eyes. "Is it really true? A nuclear explosion is going to take ce in Ashmound in 35 minutes?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "I''m afraid so."

    He immediately cast his gaze toward Ashmound, which had alreadypletely descended into chaos, and he said, "All Yin spirits are to leave the city, and they''re prohibited from crossing the mark I left on the ground. After leaving the city, run, get as far away from here as possible! Mr. Qin Changxin will be responsible for recovering the Reflection Pce, while you..."

    "Of course we live and die with Ashmound!" Gou Yongjun dered before Zhao Yun even had a chance to finish. "As the governor of Ashmound, I have no excuse to flee while the city is in grave peril! We''ll go and console theherworldly citizens, and we won''t set foot outside Ashmound until everyone has been evacuated!"

    Zhao Yun didn''t have time to dy any longer. After taking one final meaningful look at Gou Yongjun, he departed, sweeping away as a gust of Yin wind.

    Qin Changxin was already making his way toward Gou Yongjun, and he said, "Governor Gou, make a tally of all of the Emissaries of Hell present in the city. All those who flee the city are to be fired and never considered for any future jobs ever again!"

    "Yes!"

    "Administrative Commissioner Fang, assign the relevant tasks to the Emissaries of Hell right away. Get them to organize theherworldly citizens so they can evacuate efficiently. I can help transmit your voices into the ears of every Emissary of Hell in the city! Supervisor Cao,e with me to the rooftop of the Reflection Pce so we can activate it!"

    "Yes!"

    Zhao Yun paid no heed to all of these proceedings. Instead, by the time he reappeared, he was already at Ashmound Port. Qin Xinzhong was overlooking the proceedings here, so even though there was a loudmotion, everything was still quite orderly, and that came as a surprise to Zhao Yun.

    However, it was impossible to ignore the astonishing phenomenon taking ce in the port.

    Gui Xu had alreadypletely opened upyer byyer like a lotus flower!

    Dazzling light was shining within its body, and a series of profound runes rose up into the air. Massive waves were already being swept up in the port amid a string of resounding booms.

    A massive ball of silver light that was over 100 meters in size had enveloped the Yingzhou immortal ind at the very center of Gui Xu, and the ball of light was rapidly expanding, quickly reaching 500 meters... 1,000 meters... 2,000 meters... 3,000 meters!

    It was bing an all-devouring silver sun, and terrifying energy fluctuations were surging through heaven earth. Even the slightest contact with these energy fluctuations would bring about certain destruction. This was the radiance that was heralding widespread death and destruction, and it was illuminating the fear and tension, but also unyielding determination etched on the faces of all of the Yin soldiers.

    Xu Fu hadn''t lied.

    "It''s finally about to begin..." Zhao Yun murmured to himself as he repressed the fear that was welling up in his own heart. In the face of a forbidden art, even he couldn''t help but be struck by a sense of extreme peril.

    "All Yin soldiers of Ashmound heed my call!!" He raised a hand as he spoke, and his cape rose straight up like a scarlet crow.

    [1] [Quick reminder that Qin Changxin is Oda Nobunaga''s new Cathayan name.]

    [2] [Quick reminder that Qin Xinzhong is Oda Nobutada''s new Cathayan name.]

 Chapter 858: Life and Death (1)

    <h4>Chapter 858: Life and Death (1)</h4>

    "Have you heard of the Dream Flower?"

    "No, I haven''t."

    "It''s said that it''s a type of flower that exists only in dreams. It doesn''t exist in the real world, and it''s born purely from illusion, just like an illusory boat that is forever docked in illusion. This story encouraged a certain terrifying individual to hatch a miraculous idea, and with a vast amount of time at his disposal, he seeded in making his idea a reality in the end. From that day forth, he was able to hide things within the cracks between reality and illusion. If we were to put this in simpler terms, it would be tearing through space and creating cracks in history."

    "Then how are we supposed to find this person?"

    "By using the anchor."

    "The anchor?"

    "That''s right."

    "The Dream Flower is an art that is truly astounding and challenges the limits of human imagination, but nothing is perfect in this world. In order for an illusionary object to be reality, it must find an anchor in the real world. The biggest and only w of the Dream Flower is that it''s unable to reveal itself of its own volition. It can only be summoned, and once it''s summoned, the process is irreversible."

    "So that means it exists in a crack in space, and it can''t let itself out, essentially imprisoning itself, which is why it''s escaped detection for all this time. However, if someone manages to obtain a key on the outside, then they''ll be able to ess it, is that correct?"

    "That''s right. The Peach Blossom Spring is hidden in the Dream Flower, and the key to opening it..."

    Whoosh... Two gusts of Yin wind drew to a halt in the mortal realm, transforming into two figures, namely Qin Ye and a woman. The woman was wearing a in dress, and she was observing the earthen building ahead of them with aplex expression as she continued, "It''s the light tower in the mortal coil. That is the anchor of the Dream Flower in the real world, and only by using the light of the light tower in the mortal coil can one pull the Peach Blossom Spring out of the world of illusion. Once the light tower is illuminated, the Peach Blossom Spring will inevitably be drawn to Cathay."

    That night, it was pouring with rain.

    It was 9 PM, and the Fujian Province in the mortal realm waspletely basked in darkness. ps of thunder were ringing out incessantly in the sky, and shes of lightning were illuminating the dark night in sporadic bursts.

    This was the Fujian Province, and up ahead was the Huang n''s earthen building, which was also the site of the light tower in the mortal coil.

    Ahead of Qin Ye stood a group of people led by Mo Changhao, and beside him were several Anitya Hellguard level investigators.

    <i>Rumble! </i> A sh of lightning illuminated the entire sky, and the heavy rain was pouring down onto their umbres. Behind them was a row of cars and what appeared to be an army.

    "Mr. Qin." Mo Changhao paid no heed to the pouring rain as he made his way over to Qin Ye before cupping his fist in a salute. "May I ask what exactly is happening? Hell''s three Yama-Kings have all been deployed alongside arge number of Emissaries of Hell, and we''ve even been required to control an area of the high sea. I need an exnation for all of this."

    After a brief pause, he continued, "Rest assured, despite theck of a proper exnation, we''ve already sent several branches of the navy to the high sea near Hawaii."

    The shes of lightning illuminated the grim look on Qin Ye''s face, and he replied in an urgent voice, "I don''t have time to go into specifics. However, I can tell you that a Yama-King level cultivator has stolen one of Hell''s divine artifacts and fled to foreign seas. If we let him pass Hawaii, the consequences will be catastrophic, so Hell needs the full support of the mortal realm here."

    Mo Changhao''s heart rate immediately began to spike upon hearing this. Judging from the fact that three Yama-Kings and countless emissaries had been deployed by Hell, he already knew that a major crisis had taken ce. Even the lineup featuring in the war of unification several years ago hadn''t been as formidable as this one.

    He made a hand signal, and everyone behind him immediately parted. It was also in this instant that Qin Ye shot through the crowd of people as a gust of Yin wind, shooting directly toward the Huang n''s earthen building with Qi N¨¹ like a speeding arrow.

    "How long will it take to open the Dream Flower here?"

    "30 minutes, your Excellency."

    "So you''re saying that after 30 minutes, the light tower in the mortal coil will be illuminated, and wherever the Peach Blossom Spring is, it''ll return to Hell, is that right?"

    "That''s correct. However, if it crosses into the territorial sea of an underworldparable in power to the Cathayan Underworld andes under the protection of other death gods, then it won''t be able to return."

    I see...

    Qin Ye was speeding through the night like a gust of fierce wind, and he was so fast that even the rain falling on the ground below had been parted around him. The wind was sweeping up his hair, and the only thing in his eyes was the antiquated earthen building up ahead.

    As expected, Xu Fu had left behind the self-detonating Gui Xu precisely because there was a method hidden in Qi N¨¹''s memories that could allow them to track down the Peach Blossom Spring.

    If they could illuminate the light tower in the mortal coil before Xu Fu entered Xolotl''s Screen, then Qin Ye would be the winner of this race against time!

    It was still the same earthen building, and there were still the same inhabitants inside.

    He could even see the elderly woman seated in the pelting rain in front of the entrance, looking up at the sky with a wooden expression. He could also see the lit rednterns from the first to the fourth floors of the earthen building behind her.

    "Your Excellency!" In the instant that she detected the gust of Yin wind, the elderly woman immediately rose to her feet in an excited manner to kneel down, yet before she could do so, an authoritative voice rang out from within the stormy night. "Open the gate!"

    Immediately thereafter, the gate swung open violently, attracting the attention of all of the living dead in the building.

    The gust of Yin wind reverted back to the form of Qin Ye and Qi N¨¹, and Qin Ye didn''t say anything as he thrust a palm downward. The earth beneath his feet instantly parted, revealing that heinous coffin buried under the foot of the old locust tree.

    The Heavenly Dao seemed to have sensed the re-emergence of that heinous object, and a string of rumbling thunderps immediately rang out. Countless bolts of lighting gathered in the sky above the coffin, but they remained suspended in mid-air. At the same time, a shrill howl rang out throughout the entire Huang n''s earthen building.

    Whoosh... A gust of Yin wind swept past, causing the countless rednterns in the earthen building to flicker unsteadily and sway from side to side in the heavy storm like a series of dangling human skulls. All of the living dead in the earthen building immediately fell to their knees at the sight of Qin Ye. "Wee, Your Excellency..."

    Qin Ye didn''t even hear them.

    The pelting rain had reduced the entire courtyard into a muddy pond, and he turned to Qi N¨¹ with single-minded focus in his eyes as he asked, "What do I need to do?"

    He didn''t want to listen to the living dead or respond to them right now. The only thing that he was focused on at this moment in time was to capture Xu Fu.

    "You are a member of the living dead, so you must be the one to do this," Qi N¨¹ replied as she extended a slight bow. "Inject your power into the light tower in the mortal coil and call out Xu Fu''s name, the Peach Blossom Spring will naturally answer, and it''ll only answer to the call of a member of the living dead."

    Qin Ye immediately urged, "Tell me his name!"

    "It''s Xu Junfang."

    In the instant Qi N¨¹''s voice trailed off, Qin Ye had already mmed a palm down onto the coffin.

    There were still 15 minutes left until the explosion in Ashmound, but there were still 30 minutes left until theplete illumination of the light tower in the mortal coil.

    Xu Fu was speeding toward Xolotl''s Screen with all his might.

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yun, the Harken, and Qin Changxin were doing everything in their power to save as many of Ashmound''s twenty millionherworldly citizens as possible.

    As the ruler of Hell, how could he not do his part?

    <i>Xu Junfang... </i>He silently recited the name in his heart, then released the Dusk Legionnaire, and thus, Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, Jason Vorhees, Otakemaru, and all of the other evil ghosts instantly appeared in the stormy night. The lightning in the sky immediately grew even more ferocious, and it was as if it were threatening to crash down at any moment, but it didn''t dare to do so in the face of King Yanluo.

    Without King Yanluo''s permission, no one was allowed to die!

    Yama-King level Yin energy swept across the entirety of the Huang n''s earthen building, and Qin Ye made no attempt to hide his own power. In that instant, the Yin energy released within the Huang n''s earthen building created violent shockwaves that swept through the entire province of Fujian!

    The walls of the earthen building bulged outward in the face of the impact, and all of the living dead let loose cries of surprise as they were sent flying through the air. Even further away, Mo Changhao''s pupils abruptly contracted drastically, and he was involuntarily sent flying for several dozen meters. All of the people and cars beside him had also been sent flying by the invisible shockwave, and a peculiar arc had even appeared in the rain.

    He didn''t check to see how far the shockwaves had spread; as he rose to his feet again, heid a hand over his chest and was panting heavily. He was then immediately rooted to the spot by the astonishing scene that he was greeted by.

    It was a burst of scintiting light in the night, a light tower in the lightning.

    An enormous pir of silver light erupted into the heavens from the very center of the Huang n''s earthen building, stretching up toward the cosmos!

    Up above, countless Yin clouds warped to form a massive vortex with lightning shing along its edges. It was truly a divine miracle, and all those who beheld it were robbed of the ability to speak.

    "My... god..." After a long while, Mo Changhao sat down on the rain-soaked ground, paying no heed to the fact that he was ruining his expensive jacket. The pir of light was bing more and more massive, and within the rain, an indistinct sound could be heard reverberating deep within his soul.

    <i>Xu Junfang... Xu Junfang... </i>

    The voice seemed to be able to travel to all corners of the world.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Sunshine, beach, waves, cacti...

    There was fine white sand, tall coconut trees, and throngs of Caucasians resting under sunshades. There were also many individuals of Asian descent among them, and they were chatting with one another in a rxed manner while drinking chilled beverages, basking in the gorgeous weather.

    This was Hawaii, renowned as heaven on earth for its scenic beaches.

    Unbeknownst to everyone present, a fortress that was invisible to all of them was standing 50 kilometers away.

    The fortress was very tall, roughly 100 meters in height, and it was a mystery how it had been constructed on the sea. It was only a gate with city walls on either side of it, stretching into the distance for as far as the eyes could see.

    There was a turret every 10 meters along the city walls, and the turrets were packed with dark-skinned Native Usonians. Their helmets and armor were decorated with plumes of colorful feathers, and if there were any Usonian citizens present, they would immediately be able to recognize them as the vastly renowned Eagle Warriors of the Aztecs, which had been a force to be reckoned with across the entire Usonian continent hundreds of years ago.

    Atop the gate was a small pce with not a single person around it. The entrance was adorned with a thin blue veil, and inside it were the skeletons of many giant beasts. At the center of the room was a rug with the design of a sun embroidered upon it. and on thergest chair in the room sat a figure that consistedpletely of Yin wind. All of a sudden, the figure opened his eyes.

    "Quetzalcoatl?" He looked around in a bewildered manner as he sprang to his feet. "My brother, you''re still alive? I am truly shocked..."

    Right as his voice trailed off, all of the Eagle Warriors in the entire stronghold instantly copsed, and a tsunami that was several dozen meters tall was swept up on the surface of the sea. As the wave fell, another voice rang out within the pce. "My brother, Xolotl, thank you for still remembering me."

    Xolotl chuckled in response. "So now that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are mere centuries from passing away, you''ve finally decided to appear. Have you returned for vengeance? Perhaps you''vee back to help me?"

    "Of course," the Plumed Serpent God replied with a smile. "Of course I''m going to help you, you are my brother. However, I won''t be helping you directly. Instead, I''ve brought you the assistance of an even more valuable ally."

    Xolotl was rather amused to hear this. "Is that so? Are you referring to those Mythic Spirits that you''ve created that can never improve? Forgive me for being blunt, but after Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa pass away, those Mythic Spirits will be next to useless in a battle between true death gods."

    The Plumed Serpent God asked, "Then how about a promise from King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    The entire pce instantly fell deathly silent.

    Several secondster, Xolotl''s voice rang out again. "What do I need to do? I need to see whether it''ll be worth it."

    "It''s very simple..." The Plumed Serpent God''s voice was filled with unspeakable temptation as he said, "All you need to do is stop a Yama-King from entering your territory. He should be here very soon, I can already smell the scent of a top-tier human cultivator..."

 Chapter 859: Life and Death (2)

    <h4>Chapter 859: Life and Death (2)</h4>

    Whoosh... Within the grey sea of mist, Xu Fu abruptly raised his head and cast his gaze toward a certain direction.

    <i>The light tower in the mortal coil has been lit up... </i>His hand froze in mid-air along with the teacup that he was bringing to his own lips. Even though he had already predicted that this would happen, it was still extremely terrifying now that it had actually taken ce. The feeling of pumping adrenaline that he hadn''t felt in countless years began to spread through his body like wildfire, filling every single pore and inch of his skin.

    There was only half an hour left!

    I should''ve never let Qi N¨¹ live! I shouldn''t have let my sentimentality get the better of me back then!

    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His beard swayed gently in the breeze, and several secondster, he opened his eyes again before casting his gaze toward the sundial down below on the pavilion

    Strangely enough, there was no sun here, but there was still a shadow registering on the sundial, and it was indicating that it was 9:15 PM.

    "Gui Xu''s self-destruct sequence will take effect at around 9:35 PM... How long left until we reach Xolotl''s Screen?"

    "20 more minutes, your Excellency!"

    "Keep elerating!" he ordered in an imcable voice. Theoretically speaking, he wasn''t going to encounter any obstruction, but with each passing second that the screen remained out of sight, he found himself unable to calm down.

    Time was fair for both sides, and the countdown timer of destruction applied to both Ashmound and the Peach Blossom Spring. In this race against time, the loser would lose it all.

    "Your Excellency, we''re already traveling at top speed..."

    "Throw in all of the Yin spirit stones!" Xu Fu rose to his feet, and his robes pped around him in the cold wind as he said, "Money is not important. Once we reach Usonia, we''ll have countless more opportunities to make money. Where are Hell''s troops right now?"

    "Your Excellency, they''ve disappeared! We can''t track them down!"

    Damn it... His breathing began to elerate, and he closed his eyes once again.

    For some reason, the sense of foreboding in his heart didn''t fade as they continued to approach Xolotl''s Screen. Instead, it was bing more and more pronounced.

    20 minutes, eh? He reopened his eyes, and his eyelids were twitching slightly as he adjusted his own robes.

    "Send out The Fantasy! I''m going on ahead to meet this Xolotl in person."

    Never in the past 2,000 years of his life had he felt time to be so precious and urgent.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Hawaii.

    Unbeknownst to everyone on this heavenly ind, only several dozen nautical miles away from them, a giant louchuan had just emerged from the water amid a resounding boom. Boundless sea water came crashing down from the louchuan like a 360-degree waterfall, and the angr tip of the louchuan rose up, immediately followed by the rest of the ship itself, which had been crafted in a ssic ancient Cathayan site. It was like a giant beast leaping out of the sea, sending countless sshes of water spraying in all directions.

    Ssh! It was as if a curtain of beads were falling around the louchuan, revealing the man standing at the bow. The man had an ethereal air about him, and he was gently massaging a string of jade beads as he looked forward with an intense gaze.

    At his level, using infernal eyes was virtually second nature to him, so he could immediately see that around five kilometers away, there was a gate that was 100 meters tall, and on either side of it were city walls that stretched as far as the eyes could see.

    It was impossible to describe just how grand and majestic it was. It was a true city in the sea, and it was also a massive defensive line, thergest and most magnificent one in existence. Aside from the antiquated stone gate at the center, the city walls on either side werepletely paved within bones, and boundlessherfire was burning in the eyes of each set of remains, making one feel as if they had reached the nation of death.

    He took a deep breath before slowly raising a hand.

    During this grueling journey, every second had felt like a year, and all of his anxiety instantly fell away as soon as he caught sight of that defensive line.

    All he had to do was pass through here, and he would reach a brand new world!

    He abruptly pressed his palm downward, and in the next instant, the louchuan elerated at an extraordinary rate, leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake as it shot forth like a speeding arrow toward the defensive line, sweeping up waves that were close to 20 meters tall on either side of it.

    The closer he drew to the defensive line, the clearer it became in his field of view, and the fierce sea wind was making his robes p audibly. Salvation was imminent, and it was so close that he could almost taste it. He stared intently at the defensive line, and it was the only thing in his eyes. Right as he reached within two kilometers of the majestic construction, a graceful smile appeared on his face as he greeted, "How have you been, Death God Xolotl?"

    At the same time, his aura as a Yama-King erupted forth in a frenzy, sweeping upyer uponyer of tsunamis over the surface of the sea. By the time his voice trailed off, the louchuan had already drawn to a halt at the foot of the defensive line.

    This was the conclusion of the race.

    <i>I won... </i> Xu Fu heaved an internal sigh of relief, and the immense pressure that he had been under this entire time finally abated. Right in front of him was a giant archway that was around 100 meters tall with extremely life-like statues of figures from Incan, Aztec, and Indigenous Usonian legends on either side of it. The louchuan was situated in a man-made harbor, and on either side of it was a dam, which resembled a pair of arms extending up from the seabed. The dam was over 20 meters tall, and it was like a circle with a chunk missing, epassing the entire louchuan within it.

    "Oh?" An authoritative voice rang out from above the giant gate. "You''re still alive? That is truly a surprise to me."

    After a brief moment of relief, Xu Fu had be tightly wound once again.

    There was still one final step left to take before he could reach the new world.

    The more he approached the finishing line, the more cautious that he had to be. This was a lesson that he had learned over the course of his long life. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he asked, "Why is the gate not open? Am I not worthy to enter through it?"

    The only response he was greeted by wasplete silence, a silence that was tinged with a hint of killing intent.

    Xu Fu''s smile immediately stiffened, and he reflexively swept his gaze over the surrounding area. The senses of a Yama-King were extremely potent, and if he wanted to, he could conduct surveince over an entire nation. Following his inspection, his heart immediately skipped a beat.

    There were Yin soldiers everywhere...

    The area around this harbor was already packed with Yin soldiers, all of whom were vastly renowned Eagle Warriors from Aztec legends. They wielded spears in their left hands and shields in their right as they surrounded the harbor, observing the louchuan with cold expressions. At the same time, countless crossbows that were giving off cold gleams had appeared on the city walls on either side of the harbor, and all of them were also aimed at the louchuan!

    While it was indeed true that precautionary measures had to be taken in the face of a Yama-King, everything had been set up here far too quickly.

    No one knew that he wasing, and the Peach Blossom Spring was in the Dream Flower, so there was no way that Xolotl could have sensed it. In that case, why did it look as if he had already made preparations well in advance?

    How had he known to get ready?

    Who had tipped him off?

    All of a sudden, a bone-chilling sensation welled up in his heart, and the sense of foreboding that had already disappeared from his heart reared its ugly head again. On top of that, it had be more intense than ever before! A voice was frantically roaring in his head, telling him to get away immediately.

    However, it was already toote.

    After just three brief seconds of silence, a storm of arrows came flying toward the louchuan like a swarm of locusts.

    There seemed to be no end to the arrows, and they formed a bright blue light barrier in the sky above the harbor. It was impossible to see what was happening beneath the light barrier, and it stood in ce for a full three minutes before finally fading. At this point, the louchuan was resembling a pincushion, yet Xu Fu was still standing at the bow,pletely unscathed. He swept a cold gaze over the surrounding Yin soldiers, then looked up at the structure above the city gate. "What is the meaning of this?"

    Xolotl replied in a resigned voice, "Someone is asking for my help, and they''ve made me an offer that I can''t refuse. He says that no matter how well concealed you''ve kept yourself up to this point, you''ll have no choice but to reveal yourself here. It''s been several centuries since I''ve seen the detainment of a Yama-King..."

    A calm smile appeared on Xu Fu''s face, and before long, he was bursting into raucousughter.

    After he hadughed enough, he returned his gaze to the giant gate and asked, "Who was it? How did they know that I wasing?"

    Xolotl chuckled in response. "It was a death god that you''ll never think of. As for how he knew you wereing, I''m not sure of the answer to that question myself. How about you ask them?"

    BOOM!!

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a metal fence abruptly rose up from the entrance of the harbor behind the louchuan, and countless Yin runes were revolving around the fence. At the same time, around a dozen massive ships rose up from all directions within the harbor, sending sea water rising up into the heavens like reverse waterfalls.

    The sea water then came crashing back down in a torrential downpour, thereby revealing the true appearance of this fleet of ships.

    These were ships with square bows, at the front of which were carved giant images of the Harken''s head. They wereparable to the louchuan in size, and they were packed with Yin soldiers. Countless inky-ck gs bearing the "Qin" character in a blood-red color were waving in the wind, and Yang Jiye was standing on the ship at the very forefront. Even though he had an elderly appearance, he was as resolute as a fortress, and he yelled, "You''re not getting away, you traitorous dog!"

    His cry was immediately followed by the tens of thousands of Yin soldiers on the dozen or so treasure ships, all of whom dered in unison, "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!!"

    Their voices shook the entire Pacific Ocean!

    It was as if their voices had produced substantial soundwaves, which reverberated incessantly within the sealed-off harbor. At the center of this giant were the dozen or so treasure ships, while outside of them were thousands of elite Eagle Warriors waiting to strike at the drop of a hat. At the very top, Death God Xolotl''s gaze was like a dagger digging right into Xu Fu''s heart, and in this instant, Xu Fu waspletely surrounded and all on his own.

    He took a deep breath. How long had it been since he had felt these emotions? Never did he think that he would encounter such a perilous situation again...

    The entire harbor was extremely quiet, basked in an oppressive silence that was teeming with killing intent. It was truly the calm before the storm. Xu Fu repressed the agitation and killing intent in his own heart and pulled out a pocket watch before taking a nce at it.

    It was 9:40 PM, and there were still three minutes left until the explosion of Gui Xu.

    Much to his surprise, this race against time still wasn''t over.

    He had thought that this was the finish line, but it was only the beginning.

    How had things be like this?

    He had set up so many trump cards, and at this point, both sides were revealing their trump cards without holding back any longer, so what exactly had he missed? And why was Xolotl so firm in his stance?

    He was already unconsciously rubbing his palms together as the true energy in his entire body began to awaken. He cast a meaningful gaze toward the top of the gate, and with one final shred of hope in his heart, he asked, "Don''t you want to know what I have to offer?"

    Before Xolotl even had a chance to reply, he immediately continued, "If you open this gate and let me through, the entire Peach Blossom Spring and I will be your ally. On top of that, I''ll hand over one of the Cathayan Underworld''s three divine artifacts, the Judgment Pen, to you."

    In the instant that the words "Judgment Pen" left his mouth, theherfire in Xolotl''s eyes flickered violently, and he fell into deep thought.

    "I see..." Several secondster, he murmured in a voice that was audible only to himself, "Quetzalcoatl has hidden this bit of information from me. Then again, without the assistance of a divine artifact, how could a Yama-King have possibly been able to escape from the jaws of the Cathayan Underworld? Simrly, without this stolen divine artifact, how would the Cathayan Underworld possibly have made such a significant promise to someone like me? It all makes sense now... This is a massively pleasant surprise. It seems that the bnce is beginning to tip! I''m very pleased to see this!"

 Chapter 860: Life and Death (3)

    <h4>Chapter 860: Life and Death (3)</h4>

    Xolotl didn''t say anything, but his mind was racing.

    If he were to keep the gate shut, then he would be able to receive the unreserved assistance from one of the four pirs. Even though this promise applied to several centuriester, it was still an extremely tempting proposition, was it not?

    However, if a divine artifact were being thrown into the mix...

    The seconds ticked down in a torturous fashion, and Xu Fu had withdrawn his gaze, but he was on high alert. Meanwhile, Yang Jiye''s army had their undivided attention focused on the giant gate.

    Xolotl''s final decision would decide everything.

    No one could''ve anticipated that Xu Fu would be so decisive, willing to give up the Judgment Pen and the Peach Blossom Spring just like that. Even though he was a traitor to the Cathayan Underworld, he had to be praised for his decisiveness and mental fortitude.

    Inside the pce, Xolotl''s fingers were gently drumming against his armrest, and close to a minuteter, a smile seemed to have appeared on his face.

    The decision was still quite easy to make.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were in a bubble of their own, desperately trying to find a way to extend their own lives. At this sensitive time, any underworld that dared to encroach upon the Usonian continent would be seen as an act of provocation. However, context was extremely important as well.

    They weren''t insane enough to provide a safe harbor to a Yama-King who had stolen one of the Cathayan Underworld''s divine artifacts. That would invoke the wrath of the Cathayan Underworld, and that wouldn''t be extending their lives, that would be bringing them to an even earlier grave.

    If a divine artifact like this were to make its way into Usonia, a regional war would inevitably erupt. Once the powder keg that was Usonia was set alight, everything would descend into turmoil. At that time, all of the international underworlds would intervene, and it was clear that the death gods below Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa still weren''t sufficiently prepared for that.

    "So that''s why Quetzalcoatl refrained from divulging this information to me, it''s because he''s already predicted my decision. As expected of my brother..." He licked his own lips, and his voice rang out out on the other side of the gate like rumbling thunder. "Fallen Eagle and Venomous Viper Lock, activate, level 10. My apologies, but you have to die here. That is my answer to you."

    He seemed to be speaking to himself, but in reality, his voice was clearly audible across the entirety of Xolotl''s Screen. The soundwaves of his voice were like giant palms, sweeping up massive waves close to 20 meters tall across the surface of the sea.

    The Eagle Warriors who were crouched down in hiding immediately raised their heads upon hearing this, and their crossbows seemed to have only shifted minutely in position, but they were suddenly all aimed directly at the vital points all over Xu Fu''s entire body.

    Immediately thereafter, they let loose a collective roar, and boundless scarlet radiance erupted from their bodies, forming a tattoo of a sun on each of their faces.

    Powerful Yin energy swept forth in all directions, and even Xu Fu''s robes were sent pping backward behind him. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he slowly exhaled through his mouth, which was slightly open.

    "This is the Golden Sun Military Array of Tezcatlipoca." He gritted his teeth tightly. In the face of the Golden Sun Military Array formed by countless Eagle Warriors, even he couldn''t help but be ovee by a hint of apprehension. However, instead of turning to observe the Eagle Warriors around him, he cast his gaze toward the gate up ahead instead.

    The stark white stone gate seemed to have suddenly sprung to life, instantly splitting up into several dozen fragments that hovered in front of the opening of the gate in an erratic yet rhythmic manner. What lied beyond the gate wasn''t just empty space. Instead, it was a vast expanse of eerie greenhermes.

    In the next instant, boundless greenherfire erupted out of the opening in a frenzy, spreading along the sides of the dam. In the blink of an eye, the entire area had been transformed into a massive beacon tower. Countless ghostly wails and shrill cries could be heard ringing out within the area, and it was as if the world of the dead had descended upon this ce.

    Meanwhile, the fragments of the stone gate warped and revolved as countless scarlet vines surged forth from all directions, assembling them into a peculiar rune.

    A faint crack rang out, following which a symbol depicting a golden vertical pupil appeared in mid-air.

    Xu Fu closed his eyes and shook his head as a wry smile appeared on his face.

    The Fallen Eagle and Venomous Viper Lock was the most potent form of defense in Xolotl''s Screen, and even if five Yama-Kings were to join forces and attack it for an entire month, it would still remain intact. It was renowned as the most powerful defensive barrier in the entire Pacific Ocean, and it consisted of 10yers. It was said that only a single person in history had passed through all 10yers and reached the other side.

    That person was the second King Yanluo.

    Aside from him, none of the other death gods, including Thanatos, Anubis, and Yamaraja, all had to wait for this barrier to open for them uponing here. This was a masterpiece created by the five death gods of the sun during the heyday of Usonia, and it was essentially the face of Usonia. Attacking Xolotl''s Screen would be seen as a gesture of provocation toward the Usonian Underworld, and right now, this screen was what Xu Fu was facing.

    Xu Fu took a nce at the intricately crafted pocket watch.

    There were only 10 seconds left.

    Gui Xu should''ve already initiated its self-destruct sequence, and he only had half an hour more at most to leave this ce.

    "Seeing as there''s no path for retreat, then there''s no need to retreat." In that instant, the wind around him seemed to have fallenpletely still, and his voice seemed to have congealed. The aura of an advanced Yama-King swept through the entire area like a violent storm, sweeping up waves on the surface of the sea that reached several dozen meters in height!

    He made a grabbing motion, and an azure longsword was pulled out of space inch by inch. With each inch that the sword was pulled out by, the space around him wailed with all its might. He cast his gaze toward the Yang n''s warriors and the dozen or so treasure ships, and they were as good as dead in his eyes as he smiled and mused, "We all originated from the same roots, why be in such a hurry to strike down one another?"

    The only response he received were the furious war cries of Yang Jiye and the other Yang n''s warriors, and all of the underworld emissaries around him were basked in white light.

    The Yin energy emanating from each underworld emissary''s body spiked drastically, and streaks of ck and white energy proliferated outward from beneath their feet, connecting all of the underworld emissaries as one. It wasn''t all that remarkable a change, but there was a profound air about it.

    Inside the pce above the giant gate, theherfire in Xolotl''s eyes flickered slightly. "That''s the top-tier military array of the Cathayan Underworld, Wumu! Wasn''t it lost in history a long time ago?"

    Indeed, it had been lost, but the third King Yanluo had rediscovered it within the treasure trove left behind by the Zhu n.

    "Wumu, eh?" Xu Fu licked his own lips as fearsome true energy revolved all around him, and his robes and ck hair danced around him like the wings of a ck crow. He took a step forward and dered, "Have a taste of my sword!"

    In that instant, it was as if all sound had vanished from this world.

    A full-force attack from an advanced Yama-King far exceeded the speed of sound, and it was unleashed in the blink of an eye, disying itself as a resplendent sword projection.

    The power of an advanced Yama-King was truly formidable!

    Thehermes in Xolotl''s eyes flickered erratically as he looked on from within the pce. It was impossible to describe this sword strike. It was like a beautiful flower that was blooming in a moonlit night, only to disappear just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving behind a faint fragrance as the only reminder of its existence. In the wake of the sword strike, a massive trench appeared over the surface of the entire ocean!

    The sea had been parted by a single sword strike!

    Across from Xu Fu stood thousands of figures that were basked in ck and white radiance, and with a collective deafening war cry, they rushed forward like dragons out of the sea, charging toward the formidable sword strike without any hesitation.

    ck and white true energy and inky-ck Yin energy instantly shed, transforming this area of the sea into a lethal death zone.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Screaming, fleeing, chaos.

    It was as if doomsday had descended upon Ashmound, and countlessherworldly citizens were fleeing the bustling city as if their lives depended on it. Yin spirits were flooding through the 72 gates of the city, and a chaotic and desperatemotion could be heard ringing out incessantly.

    "Move! Move out of the way!!"

    "Run! Everyone, run!! Look at what''s happening at Ashmound Port!"

    "We can all see what''s happening there! Hurry up and run! I don''t want to die again!"

    "How did this happen? What could''ve led up to this?"

    On the city walls, all of the Yin soldiers looked on with gritted teeth as the citizens of the city fled first. They had already escorted Gou Yongjun out of the city first, and he was currently three kilometers away from Ashmound, frantically leading the other officials of the city to rally the fleeingherworldly citizens.

    In the sky above, Qin Changxin was also looking on with gritted teeth, and he felt as if his heart were bleeding.

    Ashmound was a city that he was also extremely emotionally invested in. This was the foundation from which the current Hell had developed, and it was an extremely beautiful city.

    However, how much of it would be left in the aftermath of this explosion?

    "All of the preparations areplete, Father." Qin Xinzhong approached Qin Changxin before cupping his fist in a salute. "Please withdraw the Reflection Pce now."

    Qin Changxin remained silent as he continued to observe the proceedings unfolding down below. There, only around a tenth of theherworldly citizens had escaped, and at the center of the city was a massive trench. On the other side of the trench, only around 30% to 40% of theherworldly citizens had managed to exit the city.

    He then cast his gaze toward Ashmound Port, where there were still countlessherworldly citizens screaming and sobbing as they desperately tried to flee. Only roughly a kilometer away from there, a massive ball of light had risen up above the entirety of Ashmound like a rising sun.

    Boundless Yin energy and true energy were revolving around it, and even the surrounding space was warping and twisting. The ball of light was around two to three kilometers in size, and the extreme power and pressure that it was giving off was striking Qin Changxin with a sense of asphyxiation even though he was standing so far away.

    "Father, we have to act now!"

    Qin Changxin shook his head and heaved a faint sigh before making a rapid string of hand seals while chanting an incantation. As his voice rang out, the entirety of Ashmound shuddered violently, then surged rapidly toward the Reflection Pce like an ink painting.

    Buildings were falling away and receding like the tide. The Reflection Pce had only replicated the past Shanhai Pass of Fengdu, but during the past six years, extensive construction had taken ce. Thus, as the buildings projected by the Reflection Pce receded, countless buildings were left behind, looking as if they formed the abandoned wreckage of a past civilization.

    "It truly pains me to see all of this go down in mes..." Qin Changxin heaved a long sigh before suddenly bringing his palms together, and a beam of incandescent light appeared, illuminating heaven and earth. Crimson shockwaves abruptly proliferated outward in all directions, then drifted down as a rain of light. In the blink of an eye, the main section of Ashmound, which spanned an area in excess of 100 square kilometers, abruptly vanished.

    The only thing left behind was an antiquated copper mirror in his hand.

    "Let''s go!" he said as he immediately departed with Qin Xinzhong. There was no time to look at theherworldly citizens down below any longer as there was only a minute left until the explosion of Gui Xu!

    On the ground below, countlessherworldly citizens were still desperately fleeing for their lives, and their deafening collective voices were ringing out incessantly. Meanwhile, theherworldly citizens that had managed to flee further away were panting heavily as they cast their eyes back to Ashmound with lingering fear in their hearts.

    They saw countless moreherworldly citizens fleeing for their lives behind them, and they also saw a single lonesome figure standing on the other side of the trench right outside of Ashmound Port.

    He stood there without even a single Yin soldier around him, and directly ahead of him was the ball of light that Gui Xu had transformed into, which had already swelled to its maximum size.

    He was like a single man facing the might of the sun on his own.

    From a distance, he was nothing more than a ck dot in the sky, yet this ck dot instilled all of theherworldly citizens with immense confidence. He was so tiny yet so massive at the same time. The fierce wind raised his blood-red cape directly upward, and he remained standing on the spot in a resolute manner.

    Everyone knew that this was the most powerful being of Hell, Ghost King Zhao Yun!

    He didn''t retreat, nor did Gou Yongjun, who was busy rallying up all of theherworldly citizens, and they gathered together as they stared intently at the heroic figure in the sky.

    They were praying and hoping with all their hearts that Zhao Yun would be able to bring them salvation.

    We don''t want to die again! This is our home, and we built it up painstakingly with our very own hands. We''re leaving all of it in your care now!

    The Harken was perched on Zhao Yun''s shoulder, and it suddenly said, "There are only 30 seconds left."

    The light from the "sun" had reached an unprecedented level of brightness, and the devastating power that it was radiating was enough to strike fear into the hearts of any Emissary of Hell.

    This was what a forbidden art felt like.

    "Shouldn''t you be leaving?" Zhao Yun asked. "Your powers are only at 30% to 40% at the very most, you won''t be able to do much here."

    "Leave?" The Harken burst into raucousughter upon hearing this. "Ghost King Zhao, don''t forget that I''m a divine beast, a national guardian! Since when did you have the right tomand me to leave?"

    A smile appeared on Zhao Yun''s face, and right at this moment, the enormous sun up ahead finally began to release its golden radiance of annihtion!

    In the blink of an eye, everything was devoured!

    At the same time, Zhao Yun and the Harken released their Yin energy without any reservation, creating a shadow within the resplendent sun!

    [1] [Tezcatlipoca is the first major god of the sun in the Aztec religion.]

 Chapter 861: Life and Death (4)

    <h4>Chapter 861: Life and Death (4)</h4>

    The time left until the explosion was... zero seconds.

    Boundless destructive light radiated in all directions.

    It was like witnessing the birth of the universe, the Big Bang itself! The ball of light had be twisted to the extreme, and it abruptly exploded, illuminating the entirety of Ashmound with its boundless devastating light. The light tore through the wind and devoured heaven and earth, leaving behind only a deafening boom.

    BOOM!!!

    All of theherworldly citizens closed their eyes in that instant. Even though Yin spirits were no longer sensitive to light and darkness, this all-epassing light of destruction still went beyond their maximum tolerance capacity.

    "NO!!" Aherworldly citizen who hadn''t managed to escape yet felt a buzzing in his mind, and just as he was about to turn around, he was already inundated by a sea of light.

    "No... Save me..." He cast a final despairing gaze toward the figure at the forefront that was being illuminated by the light, but the figure didn''t turn around.

    Zhao Yun was observing the explosion before him with a calm yet grim expression. It was indeed as powerful as a forbidden art, and in that instant, time seemed to have slowed down in his eyes. His Yin energy had already been condensed to the very max, and everything seemed to have transformed into a slideshow that was moving along frame by frame. He looked on as the ball of light exploded in Ashmound Port, instantly reducing the entire port to ashes.

    He saw even more than that. He saw that virtually none of the Yin spirits living at the center of the city had managed to escape.

    Half an hour simply hadn''t been enough for them to escape in time.

    Those were millions of Yin spirits, and they were crying and begging with all their might, but they were unable to escape from the shockwaves of the explosion. Countless elderly Yin spirits reflexively reached out toward him with beseeching despair in their eyes.

    Save me... I don''t want to die...

    However, he still didn''t turn around.

    One hand after another reached out to him. 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000... All of them were reduced toherfire, which was then devoured by the all-epassing light, then swept up by the shockwaves to form a ck barrier that rose up into the sky before rapidly expanding outward.

    In the wake of the devastating light, all of the Ashmound''s remaining buildings, the ones that didn''t belong to the Reflection Pce, the ones that had been painstakingly constructed during the course of the past six years, were reduced to dust. This light waspletely unstoppable, and it seemed that the only way that it woulde to a rest would be for its power to run out naturally.

    "Xu Fu... You are truly a despicable man." Zhao Yun finally grabbed onto his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear. "Millions of Yin spirits from Ashmound are waiting for you to join them in death."

    Why was it that there was such a massive disparity between those who had consumed the Taisui fungus?

    Lee Jung-sook had chosen to dedicate herself fully to the business sphere, bing a leading figure in Daehan''s business world.

    Qin Ye had chosen to retain his humanity and was now serving Hell for the greater good.

    So why was it that Xu Fu and Bu Wantian had diverged onto apletely different path, branding themselves as gods, only tomit heinous, devilish deeds?

    In the blink of an eye, the light had already reached him, and he let loose a loud roar before abruptly plunging his spear down toward the ground. In the next instant, boundless Yin energy rose up into the heavens before spreading outward in a frenzy on either side of him, forming a boundless ck barrier.

    If someone could look down onto this scene from high up in the sky, they would see a ball of scintiting light in Ashmound of the Cathayan Underworld surrounded by boundless Yin energy, forming a prison that trapped the radiance firmly within. After a span of no more than half a second, countless shimmering Yin runes that were shing incessantly had appeared on the Yin energy barrier.

    It was as if the dark night had trapped the sun before the radiance of golden stars had appeared. This was a sh between day and night, a duel between destruction and salvation. The light and the Yin energy barrier shed amid an earth-shattering boom.

    They struggled and warred with one another, and the devastating radiance was giving off immense destructive power within the ck circle, threatening to destroy everything, only to be kept at bay by the dark night around it.

    For a short time, the light really had been stopped!

    In the distance, Gou Yongjun heaved a faint sigh of relief, but his hands were still trembling slightly. In the instant that the sh took ce, his heart had leaped into his throat, and there were most likely countless others experiencing the same emotions. Even now, his soul was still trembling violently within his spiritual body.

    "He did it... He did it!!" Gou Yongjun eximed in a trembling voice as he pped a hand over his own heart. However, as soon as the words left his mouth, he discovered that his voice was being echoed.

    Countless Yin spirits, millions ofherworldly citizens were looking on at this astonishing scene. Their bodies were trembling incessantly as they looked on with pitiful, beseeching eyes, staring intently at Ashmound Port.

    "He did it! He really did it!"

    "My god... He managed to contain the explosion!"

    "I can''t believe it!!"

    In that instant, the sobbing voices of countlessherworldly citizens rang out. They had only been a second away from certain death.

    The ck barrier was like the line between life and death, and it was the only thing keeping them safe.

    However, before they even had a chance to celebrate, a crisp crack suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.

    A pristine white rift then opened up in front of Zhao Yun, and boundless light instantly surged forth, sweeping across the entire earth.

    It was also in this instant that a loud dragon''s roar erupted, and Zhao Yun''s ck hair was raised up by in excess of three meters. At the same time, half of his ck hair had already been transformed into inky-ck mes.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, Zhao Yun was gritting his teeth tightly as he stood before the all-devouring light with bloodshot eyes. His Yin energy was surging forward in a ferocious flood, yet he was still forced back several dozen steps amid a furious roar.

    "Are you going to take on your true form as a ghost king?" the Harken asked as it gnashed its fangs together. "If you do that, you''ll be noticed by the Heavenly Dao! The Heavenly Dao can ept your existence, but not if you withstand the power of a forbidden art on your own! That''s going too far!"

    It cast an intense gaze toward Zhao Yun as it continued, "Didn''t Dogballs tell you to prioritize yourself above all else?"

    Zhao Yun didn''t reply.

    In reality, he waspletely unable to reply. No one couldprehend the pressure that he was currently under. He felt as if he were carrying the weight of an entire mountain, and all of the bones in his arms were creaking loudly while wisps of Yin energy were flowing through the gaps between his teeth.

    I know what Lord Qin told me, but there are millions of Yin spirits standing behind me! They are counting on me for their survival! Just a little more.. Maybe if I withstand the explosion for a second longer, it''ll run out of power.

    Even Zhao Yun was aware that he was only lying to himself, but he couldn''t stop now!

    He was situated the closest to the explosion, and he could clearly see that the explosion wasn''t even halfway done, let alone close to its end!

    With each passing second, new explosions would erupt before him one after another, releasing more devastating light. If he were to let go now, the explosion wouldn''t just erase Ashmound from the map of the Cathayan Underworld, around a fifth of the entire Eastmount Province would disappear along with it!

    There was no way that he could back down now.

    All of a sudden, the ck barrier that had enveloped the sun finally began to shatter amid a string of clear cracks.

    This was truly an awe-inspiring sight, and all of theherworldly citizens who had survived were looking on with astonishment in their eyes. They were staring at the barrier that was keeping them alive, yet countless cracks were currently appearing all over the surface of the barrier. The white radiance of death instantly broke through with an earth-shattering explosion, and ferocious winds swept through the air as the entire barrier copsed.

    Only now did everyoneprehend just how close life and death could be.

    "How is this... possible..."

    Time seemed to havepletely stopped, and Gou Yongjun''s mouth gaped wide open as he stared at this doomsday-like scene. Yin energy and true energy interspersed with one another while blinding white light had risen up to several hundred meters, forming a sinister and twisted mushroom cloud that was erupting upyer uponyer like a staircase before crashing down with devastating force. Tsunamis hundreds of meters tall erupted out of the sea in all directions, and the nearby mountains were instantly ttened upon contact.

    Dead silence.

    Theherfire in the eyes of all of the Yin spirit''s were flickering erratically, and their mouths were wide agape, but they couldn''t muster up a single word. They watched as the ck barrier disintegrated rapidly, and someone''s legs suddenly gave out from under them as they fell to their knees.

    "Hold on..."

    "You have to hold on, Lord Zhao! Please!"

    "I don''t want to die... Waaah!"

    After that one Yin spirit fell to their knees, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands quickly followed suit! In the span of several seconds following the copse of the ck barrier, millions of Yin spirits had already fallen to their knees behind Zhao Yun.

    They were instinctively, devoutly, and pitifully praying for what could well be the final time in their lives.

    I can''t do it...

    Zhao Yun''s teeth were gritted together tightly, and he felt as if he were wrestling with a mountain. Devastating destructive power was all around him, and it was so fearsome that even his heart was trembling uncontrobly. He had already been forced back several hundred meters, yet right in the instant that the ck barrierpletely copsed, he suddenly let loose a loud roar, and his entire body became enveloped in Yin energy.

    Yin energy erupted into the heavens, forming an inky-ck phoenix that revolved around him, making him appear like a deity that was rising up from the ashes.

    His tattered suit of silver armor was riddled with countless marks inflicted by swords, sabers, spears, and halberds, and it was giving off a primitive aura. Through the suit of armor,plex red tattoos could be seen all over his face, and his cape had already transformed into a pair of inky-ck wings that were riddled with golden eyes, giving him an impossibly sinister yet also incredibly awe-inspiring appearance.

    "Sixfold Ghost Kings..." He was holding back the devastating white light with all his might, and veins were bulging on his forehead as he chanted through gritted teeth, "Immortals of Hell, almighty cycle of reincarnation, please lend me your power..."

    The Harken was looking on with trembling lips, yet it didn''t utter so much as a single word.

    Crack crack crack... Boundless Yin energy was already spilling out from his arms, which were riddled with wounds, and they seemed to be on the verge of shattering. Right after his voice trailed off, he joined his palms together with all his might.

    Boom!

    His body had taken on a half substantial, half illusionary form, and as his palms were joined together, countless Yin runes surged forth in all directions amid an earth-shattering boom, carrying with them golden radiance and wisps of Yin energy. The Yin runes were also imbued with Zhao Yun''s fierce, single-minded determination as they proliferated outward.

    Countless Yin runes had appeared in the sky above the entire Eastmount Province, and the total number of these Yin runes was in the tens of millions! Some wereplex, some were simplistic, and all of them were flying toward Ashmound like stars racing toward the moon!

    "My god..." Gou Yongjun drew a sharp breath as he involuntarily backtracked many steps. His legs were trembling, and he almost crashed into the secretary behind him. Under normal circumstances, the secretary would''ve reflexively steadied him, but currently, the secretary was far too astounded by what he was seeing to react.

    He was looking forward with a bbergasted expression, and aside from some of the Yin spirits who were still in a frenzied panic, all of them were also staring at the scenes unfolding at Ashmound Port in a ck-jawed manner. Their world views and frames of mind were brutally torn apart before being reformed, making space for this unforgettable sight.

    Countless Yin runes filled the entire sky,pletely enveloping the devastating ball of light alongside gusts of inky-ck Yin wind. At this point, the ball of light had swelled to several kilometers in size, and the Yin runes were revolving around it, forming a gigantic Yin rune vortex that was several hundred kilometers in size and sealing the ball of light from all sides.

 Chapter 862: Life and Death (5)

    <h4>Chapter 862: Life and Death (5)</h4>

    The violent energy finally subsided a little, and the Yin runes and explosion were waging war against one another. Veins were bulging on Zhao Yun''s forehead as he stared intently at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

    As the one resisting the explosion, he was more aware than anyone else that this still wasn''t enough.

    It would only be a matter of time before his resistance failed, so should he just give up?

    If he stayed for even just a moment too long, he really would be swept up by the explosion, and he would be facing an explosion even more powerful than an ordinary forbidden art!

    This was a sh between power, a showdown between life and death. His mind was almost entirely nk, and any thoughts that appeared in his mind lingered for no more than a second. All he could do was release his Yin energy with all his might. After 10 seconds of absolute silence, a thunderous boom suddenly rang out from above the vortex.

    Rumble!!

    It was as if a lightning god had descended upon this world, and radiant white light had illuminated the entire sky above the vortex. This was an indication that the seal at the very top had already copsed, and the deathly radiance shone upon the horrified faces of millions ofherworldly citizens down below.

    "My god..." Huang Liangchuan joined his palms together as he fell to his knees. If ghosts could cry, he would be a sobbing mess already.

    "Is it still not enough?"

    "Are we going to die?"

    "I don''t want to die! I finally made it to Ashmound, I still have so many things I have to do? How can I die now?"

    "I''ve done nothing wrong! Why is this happening to me?! I was a good person during my life as well!"

    BOOM!!!

    A resounding boom shattered the prayers of millions of Yin spirits, and scorching white light scattered through the sky,pletely outshining the moon and the stars. In the sky above the vortex, all of the countless Yin runes dimmedyer uponyer, then dissipated into Yin energy. Immediately thereafter, the lethal white radiancepletely erupted.

    It had been trapped in this space for far too long, and it was exploding even more violently than before! It was as if it were enraged that it had been confined for so long, and it was returning with a vengeance.

    Boundless Yin energy instantly erupted out of Zhao Yun''s arms, and the crisp crack of broken bones rang out. At the exact same moment, the Harken transformed into a gust of Yin wind thatpletely enveloped Zhao Yun, then frantically carried him away.

    "We have to go!!"

    However, the Harken had only sped away for a split second before turning around to look at Zhao Yun with a stunned expression.

    It hadn''t managed to move him.

    Zhao Yun remainedpletely still, standing like an immovable pir amid the eruption of devastating white light. The Harken''s mouth gaped open slightly, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you going to reveal your true form?"

    A smile appeared on Zhao Yun''s face.

    Despite the fact that he was enveloped in lethal white radiance, his smile was very rxed and carefree,pletely unbefitting of the situation that he was in, and that only made the smile more impactful.

    "Do you hear it?" Zhao Yun asked in a calm voice as streaks of inky-ck Yin energy rapidly spread across his entire body. The Harken faltered slightly upon hearing this, and it was just about to ask what Zhao Yun was referring to when it suddenly heard the waves of prayers ringing out behind them.

    "Hold on! You have to hold on!"

    "Waaah... I don''t want to die, please... save us!"

    "You can do it, General Zhao! We''re all counting on you!"

    It was exactly because of this that Zhao Yun didn''t dare to turn around.

    He was afraid that turning around would ce him face-to-face with their beseeching eyes, so he didn''t dare to reply.

    He was afraid that his reply would destroy the final ray of hope that these people were holding in their hearts.

    Before the Harken had a chance to continue, a burst of unprecedentedly devastating Yin energy rose up into the heavens. Its power was so enormous that even the surrounding shockwaves faltered slightly, and even the Harken was sted several hundred meters away.

    "Have you gone insane?!" The Harken wed desperately at the ground, leaving several deep rivets in the ground as it did so, and it raised its head as it roared with all its might, "You''ve already done enough! Enough, do you hear me?! If you reveal your true form, the Heavenly Dao will definitely detect you!"

    However, it didn''t get a chance to finish. The surrounding earth suddenly trembled violently, and all of the loose rocks and stone shards on the ground began to rise slowly up into the air as if they had lost all their weight. Immediately thereafter, a clear phoenix cry rang out, and boundless Yin energy surged forth from all directions. The sheer amount of the Yin energy was so vast that day had transitioned into night.

    This wasn''t just the Yin energy from the Eastmount Province anymore, all of the Yin energy from the nearby provinces were also swirling violently, forming a gargantuan vortex around Zhao Yun that was several kilometers in size. The enormous power was able to stop the devastating white radiance cold in its tracks, preventing it from being able to advance even an inch further!

    The terrifying shockwaves shed with the Yin energy, producing such fierce winds that even theherworldly citizens situated several kilometers away were unable to remain on their feet. ck and white light seeped out from around the vortex in a frenzy, and right at this moment, a dull thump suddenly rang out from the center of the vortex as a figure shot forth like lightning toward the all-epassing light, like an arrow shooting toward the sun.

    "You motherfucker!!" The Harken''s voice had spiked up into a piercing shriek, and it was the only one who could clearly see Zhao Yun in his true form as a ghost king.

    He was still in a humanoid form, yet boundless karmic mes were swirling around his lower body. A trail of footprints formed by karmic mes was left in his wake, and one red spider lily after another bloomed from those footprints.

    He only had a single wing, making him appear as if he were an angel that was missing a wing. His hair had grown to several meters in length, and their tips had also transformed into karmic fire. Crimson patterns had spread over his entire body, and he had a pair of Asura-like long azure horns on his head. On his back was a huge red eye that took up the entire area of his back.

    It was only one man and one spear, yet he was charging ahead with no fear or hesitation.

    One attack...

    Zhao Yun knew that he was only capable of unleashing a single attack in this form.

    If that still didn''t work, then he had to leave right away!

    Hence, he had to give this attack everything that he had!

    For himself, for everyone else, for the sake of his conscience, he had to give it his all!

    He was being watched literally by millions of people. The Harken had already adopted his own true form, and at the first sign of anything going amiss, it would immediately take Zhao Yun and leave. Meanwhile, the millions ofherworldly citizens behind them were looking on with awe and veneration, watching as a lone man challenged the sun for their sake.

    He was drawing closer and closer, and the two were seemingly a hair''s breadth away. Right at this moment, the muscles on Zhao Yun''s hands bulged as he gripped onto his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear, then plunged it forward with all his might, leaving no power left untapped.

    It was a very ordinary posture.

    It was a very ordinary movement.

    It seemed to be a very ordinary spear strike.

    However, the Harken''s pupils abruptly contracted, and its entire body shuddered as it eximed, "He''s reached the Godless realm!"

    BOOM!!! An earth-shattering boom rang out across the entirety of Ashmound and boundless light erupted forth, more so than any previous asion. All of the Yin spirits, including the Harken, closed their eyes in unison.

    After what seemed like an eternity, Gou Yongjun slowly opened his eyes. During that brief moment of darkness, everyone was waiting uneasily for death while pitifully praying for a miracle. However, they had to face the reality eventually.

    The scene up ahead gradually cleared up, and in the instant that they were able to see everything, everyone drew a sharp breath, and Gou Yongjun was trembling as he murmured in a hoarse voice, "My god..."

    His Adam''s apple trembled a little, and he wanted to say something else, but he was unable to find the words. All of the Yin spirits around him were also looking on in apletely speechless manner.

    This entire day felt like a dream to them, and it was a day that they were never going to forget.

    However, everything had finallye to an end.

    The light had fallenpletely still.

    It was still the violent, devastating sun as before, but a massive hole had appeared at the center of the sun, and a figure with a single wing was standing inside the hole with his spear grasped in one hand, looking as if he were an immortal who had just descended upon this world.

    All of the shockwaves around the hole seemed to have been devoured by the hole, and the entire sun was rapidly copsing toward it, shrinking at an rming speed. No matter how much the light warped and twisted, it was unable to spread any further.

    With a single spear strike, he had sliced through space and time, spearing through the heart of the sun.

    After what seemed like an eternity, someone murmured in a trembling voice, "Long live, Hell..."

    "Long live, Hell!"

    "Long live, Hell!"

    One Yin spirit after another immediately echoed his voice as a subconscious reaction.

    Their voices slowly grew louder and louder, and within the span of less than a minute, their voices had formed a raucous wave that was sweeping across the ravagednd of Ashmound.

    "Long live, Hell!!!"

    "Long live, General Zhao!!"

    "Long live, Hell! Long live, Hell!!"

    "We''re alive! We''re still alive! Hahaha! We didn''t die!"

    "I can''t believe it... We''re all still alive!"

    The Harken''s lips were trembling as it cast its gaze toward the ground down below. Within that terrifying explosion, Ashmound Port had exploded and transformed into a part of the sea. A massive section of the city had been razed to the ground, and boundless true energy was rising up from the ground like smoke in the aftermath of a war.

    It immediately flew up into the sky and arrived beside Zhao Yun before asking in a trembling voice, "Are you... alright?"

    Zhao Yun was panting heavily, and cracks had opened up all over his entire body, making him appear like a piece of broken chinaware. Wisps of Yin energy were slowly seeping out of the cracks, but he was also rapidly healing.

    He didn''t even have the energy to give the Harken a response, and he merely raised a hand to gently push the Harken away before pointing up at the sky above him.

    The Harken faltered slightly before immediately looking up.

    There, a vortex that was around 100 meters in size had already taken shape, and at the very center of the vortex was an eye that was staring at Zhao Yun with an unblinking gaze.

    "It''s... here..." Zhao Yun raised his head and heaved a long sigh as a wry smile appeared on his face. "But I don''t regret anything..."

    "You''re a fucking idiot!!!" All of the scales on the Harken''s entire body raised up, and it rushed up toward the sky without any hesitation, but it had only risen up to an altitude of around 100 meters before the entire sky shuddered slightly.

    It was a very light shudder, but to the Harken, it was as if the weight of countless mountains had descended upon him, preventing him from rising up even a single meter further.

    Just like when the Plumed Serpent God had descended, the white mist that emerged from the vortex seemed to have a mind of its own, draping down as wisps of cloud and smoke.

    It was like a warm and gentle hand weing its own creation back to Heaven.

    "Run!!" The Harken''s eyes had turnedpletely bloodshot. "What are you just standing there for? Are you actually an idiot?!"

    Zhao Yun smiled in response. "I... can''t move."

    Having just given everything that he had in thatst attack, he waspletely unable to resist the shackles of the Heavenly Dao. As a Yama-King who had withstood a forbidden art head-on and survived, this was already a feat that was enough to put him down in the history books. However, some things were like fireworks, and they simply couldn''t linger for long.

    "It''s a pity that I won''t get to see Lord Qin lead Hell to the pinnacle of the world again..." He shook his head with a faint smile, and as his ck hair drifted behind him, it was as if he were an impossibly handsome ethereal god. He turned toward the Harken and said, "Take care, this is farewell."

    The Harken was struggling and thrashing with all its might, snarling incessantly as its scales stood up on end, and it spat through gritted teeth, "You''re an idiot... You''re a fucking idiot! Dogballs told you not to do this! Did you not fucking understand what he said?!"

    Despite its struggles, it could only look on helplessly as a beam of golden light shone down upon Zhao Yun, and countless tendrils of clouds enveloped him before slowly dragging him upward.

    However, right at this moment, all of the cloud tendrils suddenly vanished, and the giant eye in the vortex cast a horrified gaze toward a certain direction before rapidly dissipating!

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye was far away in the Fujian Province. Fate had suddenly flown out of his sleeve before pointing in a certain direction with golden light radiating from its entire shaft and tip.

    However, Qin Ye didn''t have the spare capacity to pay attention to Fate. This was because right in front of him, a pir of silver light that was over 100 meters thick had risen up in front of him,pletely illuminating the night!

 Chapter 863: Outcome of the Race

    <h4>Chapter 863: Oue of the Race</h4>

    All of the living dead in the Huang n''s earthen building were forced to shield their eyes as boundless silver light rose up into the sky from the foot of the old locust tree, plowing a hole directly through the clouds up above. Layer uponyer of dazzling light erupted forth, lighting up the darkness of the night.

    The light tower in the mortal coil had beenpletely ignited!

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and heaved a faint sigh of relief.

    He had won in the end...

    In this race against time, he was the winner...

    In the instant that the light tower in the mortal coil was lit up, he could clearly sense that something in the extremely far distance had heeded his call. All of its power had begun to withdraw frantically, and it was being forced directly toward him.

    It was the Peach Blossom Spring!

    This meant that Xu Fu hadn''t entered the territory of a new continent yet, which indicated that he wasn''t under the protection of any other death god!

    I''ve finally caught him...

    This ce that had been hidden in the cracks of history for over 2,000 years had finally been captured. Fortunately, Qi N¨¹ hadn''t lied to him. Now, the Peach Blossom Spring''s return to Cathay''s seas was inevitable.

    "There are no eternal secrets in this world..." Qi N¨¹ stared at the pir of light with aplex expression before heaving a faint sigh. "In order to avoid the eyes of the world, Xu Fu erased himself from the face of the earth, but in doing so, he made himself a part of the Peach Blossom Spring. It can be said that the two are a singr entity, and the Peach Blossom Spring''s return will ensure his return as well. It''s all over now..."

    Tears began to slide down her cheeks, but there was no sorrow in her voice whatsoever as she sighed, "It''s time my 2,000-year-long nightmare drew to a close..."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before casting his gaze deep into the night.

    It still wasn''t quite over yet.

    The Peach Blossom Spring was Xu Fu''s headquarters, and it had umted over 2,000 years of history. There was undoubtedly going to be a lot to process once it arrived.

    Ensuring its return was one thing,pletely taking over it was something entirely different.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    At Xolotl''s Screen.

    BOOM!! A resounding boom rang out, and sea water rose up to several dozen meters in height before mming down onto the shore. The sword projection that resembled a crescent moon was slowly fading, and it was as if the entire world had been sliced into two.

    Meanwhile, Xu Fu was rushing back in retreat as quickly as he could.

    He had to get away as quickly as possible! Under normal circumstances, he wouldn''t be bothered by this lineup, but Xolotl''s Screen had over 100,000 Yin soldiers, and they were enhanced by the top-tier military array that was Wumu!

    If Xolotl were firm in his stance to help the Cathayan Underworld, then there was definitely no chance for him here. What was even more terrifying was that the countdown timer was ticking down ever closer to zero, which meant that the light tower in the mortal coil was about to be lit up at any time.

    In the instant that he turned around to flee, a burst of derisiveughter rang out from above the gate. "Sir, this is Xolotl''s Screen, the gate to the new continent! Even though Usonia is far from its heyday, it''s not somewhere you can just visit and leave as you please."

    At full speed, Xu Fu was extraordinarily fast. In just the blink of an eye, he was already close to the entrance of the port, but right at this moment, thousands of scarlet chains suddenly speared down from the top of the giant gate.

    The chains were as fast as lightning, and it was impossible to react to them.

    The tip of every single chain was a sharp triangle, and they shot forth like lethal harpoons, shing with extremelyplex Yin runes. One of the chains plunged into the sea, sweeping up an enormous wave. However, that was only the beginning. Immediately thereafter, countless chains came plunging down like a torrential storm, sending tsunamis sweeping through the entire port.

    "Damn it!" Xu Fu gnashed his teeth together tightly with a furious expression. "To think that a mere nascent Yama-King would dare to attack me! If I weren''t in a hurry..."

    With a steely look in his eyes, he traversed through the storm of chains like an agile bird, and none of the chains were even able to graze him.

    This wasn''t the time to be wasting time by taking out his rage and frustration here.

    As long as he could rush through this gate, he still had a chance!

    The steel fence gate that barred him from the new continent was drawing closer and closer, and the gate was bing clearer and clearer in his eyes. However, right at this moment, he suddenly ducked down andnded on the surface of the sea, gently treading over the water. Immediately thereafter, hundreds of chains sped over his head, crashing into the gate up ahead with devastating might.

    Time seemed to havepletely fallen still, and fierce waves surged forth alongside ferocious winds, sweeping up Xu Fu''s long hair. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips tightly as he turned around with a sinister smile. "Xolotl, I''m going to..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, his pupils contracted drastically.

    He discovered that the Yin soldiers of Luzon were fine even after withstanding that sword strike!

    Countless scarlet lines of Yin energy had connected the Yin soldiers, and those lines came from the tens of thousands of Eagle Warriors situated above the gate of Xolotl''s Screen. ording to Xu Fu''s knowledge, there were over 100,000 Yin soldiers stationed at this screen, and right now, there were at least 50,000 spear and crossbow-wielding soldiers standing on the walls on either side of the port.

    Red Yin energy threads were protruding out of their chests and extending into the backs of the Yin soldiers of Luzon, connecting them together.

    This was the most fearsome aspect of a military array, it was able to condense everyone''s Yin energy together. Individually, there was no way that these Yin soldiers could''ve been able to survive thatst attack, and no matter how many of them there were, it would''ve been easy pickings for Xu Fu. However, now that they were joined together, they were a force to be reckoned with, one that could contend with an advanced Yama-King for some time.

    Xu Fu''s lips were trembling slightly. He knew that Xolotl was serious about keeping him here today.

    At this point, Xolotl had no choice. Xu Fu was an advanced Yama-King, and if he were allowed to escape, it would be far too easy for him to establish himself on a new continent. Once he joined the faction of another death god, Xolotl would''ve made himself an extremely formidable enemy.

    Thus, Xu Fu had to die.

    With that in mind, Xu Fu lowered his head with a grim expression, and in the next instant, he rose up into the sky. As he did so, the calm look in his eyes returned, and a burst of dazzling light erupted from the sword he was wielding. Immediately thereafter, the entire surrounding area began to warp and twist, and he released his advanced Yama-King level energy without any reservation.

    He couldn''t afford to be dyed here any longer!

    All three sides were determined to seed. Xu Fu wanted to leave, Xolotl wanted to stop him, and the army of Luzon wanted to capture him. If he were to continue to dy here, death would be the only fate that awaited him. He would either have to force back the enemy, or...

    He didn''t dare to continue along that train of thought.

    "This is your final warning..." His voice rang out like rumbling thunder, and all of the surrounding dark clouds began to revolve around him. "Get out of my way!!"

    "Xu Fu!" Yang Jiye watched him with a cold expression as he dered, "If you want to leave, then you''ll have to do so over our dead bodies!"

    Fine, then die!

    The deration from Yang Jiye was met by an eruption of absolute darkness.

    There was no moon, no stars, nor any light. The entirety of Xolotl''s Screen, all of the Yin soldiers, and even the sea and the sky had been plunged intoplete darkness.

    Within this vast expanse of extreme darkness, a sword projection pierced through the world, radiating dazzling light that illuminated the darkness.

    Furthermore, there wasn''t just one sword projection, it was quickly followed by a second one, a third one... a 10th one, a 20th one!

    Within a span of no more than three seconds, it was as if countless stars were flying through the dark night!

    No one could see the angle at which the sword strike had been unleashed, and even Xu Fu himself was concealed within the sword projections. This was the purest of sword strikes, and it was also one that was imbued with extreme power. It had no name, and there was no technique to speak of, it was merely a sword strike unleashed with all of Xu Fu''s true energy invested.

    In the instant that the attack was unleashed, Xu Fu began to rapidly age and was quickly reduced to a white-haired elderly man, while the surrounding sea was instantly sliced apart.

    Countless incredibly deep and irregr trenches were sliced into the seabed, and tsunamis hundreds of meters tall were swept up through the surrounding sea water. This entire area of the sea had been irreparably ravaged by just this single sword strike.

    I can''t do it...

    Yang Jiye''s field of view was entirely filled by dazzling white light, and its devastating power struck horror directly into the depths of his soul.

    <i>What a powerful attack... This man is even more powerful than the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces! No, there are few who can match him even among the Sixfold Ghost Kings! I definitely won''t be able to withstand this attack. </i>

    However, he couldn''t afford to retreat now.

    In this race against time, every second mattered, and retreating now would put the entire n into jeopardy.

    As amander, he had to lead by example!

    With that in mind, he thrust his spear forward, and it sped through the air like a dragon, leaving trails of Yin energy in its wake. Right behind him, all of the Yin soldiers of Luzon immediately rushed forward without hesitation!

    This was their resolve!

    However, right at this moment, a burst of goldenherfire suddenly erupted into the heavens from the top of the giant gate, and immediately thereafter, a massive figure emerged from behind the gate.

    This was a skeletal giant with a head of inky-ck hair that was arranged into a series of small braids, and it wore a crown made from all types of different feathers on its head.

    At the center of its deathly pale skull was a deep crater, within which sat an intricately crafted metal eyeball.

    The pupil of the eye was golden in color, and there were all types ofplex runes engraved around it. Outside of that were all types of animals and nts, and it was as if this giant were a relic that recorded the passage of history.

    In the instant that the giant appeared, a burst of inky-ck light suddenly erupted out of its lone eyeball, piercing through the extreme darkness and the clouds before parting the heavens, allowing the radiance of the moon and stars to be seen again. Immediately thereafter, it whipped its head to the side rapidly, sending the pir of ck light sweeping through the air to force back the darkness.

    This was an all-out sh between Yama-Kings, and in the wake of its power, the surrounding sea that had just subsided was churned up again, raising waves that were several hundred meters tall before crashing down with vicious force. Massive tsunamis took shape before rushing away in all directions, but in the next instant, the skeletal giant suddenlypletely stiffened.

    An incredulous look appeared in its eye as it looked up at the sky.

    Much to its astonishment, Xu Fu was advancing instead of retreating, and his entire body was enveloped in true energy as he crashed down like a shooting star toward Xolotl''s Screen.

    He knew that there was no time for retreat anymore, but all he had to do was cross over this gate, and he would fall under the protection of the new continent. Once he made it there, even if the light tower in the mortal coil were lit up, he wouldn''t be summoned back to Cathay.

    In total, he had unleashed two sword strikes, the first of which acted as bait to lure Xolotl into attacking in person. He would then feign vulnerability and pretend as if he were going to flee from the port.

    The second sword strike was the true kill-shot.

    "You..." The skeletal giant''s voice was hoarse and filled with intense disbelief. It had thought that it had sealed off all avenues for advance for Xu Fu, but it had failed to stop him after all!

    "I won!" A faint smile appeared on Xu Fu''s wizened face. "As for you, you can go and face the wrath of the Cathayan Underworld, hahahaha!"

    Xolotl''s Screen was hundreds of meters tall and extremely wide, yet Xu Fu had already made it to the top of the city wall. For a Yama-King like him, scaling a height of hundreds of meters was nothing.

    "I''ve never lost even once in the past 2,000 years." He stopped and cast a nce back at the sea behind him.

    Farewell, my home. I wasmitted to making amends, yet... Hmm?

    There were still 10 meters before he could cross over to the other side of the city wall, yet he was unable to advance even a single step further!

    He had beenpletely immobilized in mid-air, and a line had connected itself to his back from some point in the extremely far distance.

    "This is... the light tower in the mortal coil..." he murmured in a trembling voice as he stared at the line behind him with a shocked expression.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the thin line dragged him back at an extreme speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had already disappeared from view!

 Chapter 864: Finally Seeing the Peach Blossom Spring

    <h4>Chapter 864: Finally Seeing the Peach Blossom Spring</h4>

    "What just happened?" On The Morning Star cruise ship, a woman was looking at a worker on the cruise ship with a displeased expression. "Wasn''t it dered that we were going to arrive in Hawaii in two hours? Why have we stopped here? You better not tell me that we''ve run into pirates."

    "It''s definitely not that..." The worker was wearing a crisp ck vest outside a white dress shirt, and he was also at aplete loss. What exactly had just happened? Why had the Cathayan Navy directly contacted the helmsman andmanded him to stop the ship?

    "We''re not sure what''s going on, either, but this is a decision passed down by the central government, so..."

    The woman waved a dismissive hand in an impatient manner, and the worker immediately scurried away as if he had just been pardoned on the brink of execution. Only then did she cast an irritated gaze out the window, and as soon as she did so, she immediately rose to her feet, and her hand flew over her own mouth in disbelief.

    What the hell is that?!

    And she wasn''t the only one. Countless passengers on the cruise ship had stood up in unison in this instant to stare out their windows with incredulous expressions. Even the helmsman and the ship''s staff, who spent most of their lives out at sea and had seen everything the sea had to offer, werepletely stunned.

    "My god..." A sailor dropped the broom in his hand as he looked out to sea with a ck-jawed expression. He then rubbed his own eyes vigorously before rushing over to the window, pressing his hands against it as he stared intently at the sea.

    On the top-floor deck of the cruise ship, a young woman wearing a bikini pulled down her sunsses in disbelief as her jaw dropped straight to the floor, and she quickly stood up to look out at the sea. Everyone around her had alsopletely stopped what they were doing, and despite the fact that there were over 1,000 people on this entire ship, it was instantly plunged intoplete silence in the face of the incredible scenes unfolding in the distance.

    It was light...

    White light was seeping out of the horizon before rising up like the sun, igniting the entire surface of the sea. Countless passengers pulled out their phones to check the time, upon which they discovered that it was 11 PM at night.

    "How.. is this possible?" A young man was holding a ss of fruit juice, and the ss in his hand slipped out of his grasp before falling onto the table, staining the entire table with orange juice, yet hepletely failed to notice.

    A massive sun had risen up from the sea in the middle of the night! After the extreme shock came the horror.

    "ARGH!!" Someone suddenly screamed before picking up a towel to wrap around their own body, then fled toward the cabin as quickly as they could. Immediately thereafter, the entire deck was plunged intoplete chaos as everyone frantically fled toward the cabin as well.

    However, the show had only just begun.

    The waves of the sea swayed like liquid ck jade, and the gentle white light tore a rift right between the sea and the sky. The light was of a pure white color and it wasn''t very bright, but it had illuminated the entire surface of the sea. Right in the midst of it, an indistinct figure could be seen.

    "Captain..." Inside the bridge, the first mate called out to the helmsman in a trembling voice. He didn''t know what to say, all he wanted was to seek some sce from the helmsman.

    The helmsman was already in his fifties, and having lived on the sea for so long, his skin had be very wrinkly and wizened, but he was still in very good health. At this moment, he was biting down on his own lower lip, and only after a long while did he manage to utter the words: "Bring... Bring me my binocrs."

    Unbeknownst to everyone, even the helmsman who had been living on the sea for over 20 years was trembling uncontrobly.

    The binocrs were quickly brought to him, and as soon as he looked through them, his entire body shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, and the binocrs fell onto the operating desk with a dull thud. All of the wrinkles on his face were squeezed together as he stared at the white light in the distance in a ck-jawed manner, unable to utter even a single word.

    Antis? Is that Antis I just saw?!

    He felt as if his heart hade to a stop, and he waspletely unable to believe his own eyes.

    Just a brief nce was enough for him to see that the indistinct figure within the light was a small ind!

    It wasn''t just a small ind, there were countless buildings constructed upon it in an ancient Cathayan style, and pink clouds formed by peach blossom petals were drifting over the entire ind, giving it the appearance of an immortal paradise.

    "What on earth is that thing?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Xu Fu was looking up at the sky with a calm expression.

    He was standing on the tallest pavilion in the Peach Blossom Spring. This pavilion had been named by him as the Star Plucking Pavilion. It was situated on the Peach Blossom Spring''s tallest mountain, and from this vantage point, one could see countless peach blossoms, buildings, lush mountains, clear creeks, and scenic valleys with clouds drifting through them in a carefree manner. The colorful wildflowers were like pieces of vibrant silk, even further contributing to the ethereal beauty of the ind.

    This was the manifestation of over 2,000 years of blood, sweat, and tears.

    Furthermore, he could see the sea and the sky. The sky was very clear on this night. A bright moon was hanging up above, bordered by countless dazzling stars. The sea was like a gargantuan piece of shattered ck jade that was glowing with specks of starlight. He looked on in silence, and after a long while, he suddenly grabbed onto his own head with both hands, digging his fingers into his own hair, and he was biting down onto his own lower lip so hard that he was drawing blood.

    The Peach Blossom Spring was no longer surrounded by murky grey mist. Instead, it had been dragged out into the open. Right in front of the Peach Blossom Spring was a silver line that was rapidly pulling it toward the east. Never had he felt the beautiful scenery of the world to be so harrowing and full of despair.

    How could this have happened?

    His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he was frantically thinking of any way for him to turn the tables.

    "Your Excellency..." Right at this moment, a thin man in a set of robes from the Qin Dynasty made his way over to Xu Fu before informing in a trembling voice, ""The messenger birds sent to the Russian and Nipponese Underworlds have returned...

    Xu Fu''s fingers were trembling slightly as hebed them through his own hair, rearranging the strands meticulously as he asked in a strained voice, "What was their response?"

    The man paused slightly before replying, "They both refused to ept us. Your Excellency, why haven''t you sent a messenger bird to the Hindustani Underworld?"

    A wry smile appeared on Xu Fu''s face upon hearing this. If the situation could allow that, of course he would''ve done so already!

    However, the light tower in the mortal coil had already been lit up, and he was on a straight course headed directly for the Fujian Province of Cathay. On the way there, the only other underworlds that he would pass by were the Nipponese and Russian ones. In fact, even the Russian Underworld was a bit of a stretch, let alone the Hindustani Underworld!

    Is there no way out? Is this really the end for me?

    He didn''t want to give up. He had lived a glorious life for the past 2,000 years, yet he was about to fall into the hands of Hell. He still had so many things that he wanted to aplish, and the freedom that he cherished above all else. Was all of that about to be stripped away from him?

    He had considered the consequences, and there was simply no way out for him. He hadmitted far too many crimes, and every single one of them warranted the death sentence. There was simply no way that Hell would forgive him!

    He even recalled attacking King Yanluo in his memories, on more than one asion, as a matter of fact. Furthermore, he had set off the nuclear explosion in Ashmound. With all these crimes that he had racked up, even death would be too kind a fate for him.

    In fact, there was no way that he would be killed.

    With that in mind, he couldn''t help but shudder. For the past 2,000 years, he had felt extremely fortunate to have been an immortal, yet now, it seemed more like a curse than a blessing.

    "No, I can''t just sit around and give up!" He cast his gaze out toward the sea with bloodshot eyes. "Seeing as I can''t escape the pull of the light tower in the mortal coil, then I have to devise a strategy tobat Hell!"

    The night sky was growing darker and darker, and Xu Fu continued to stand at the top of this pavilion in silence, weing the dawn of one new day after another.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Cathay, Fujian Province.

    All of the residents living near the Huang n''s earthen building had been temporarily evicted, and the entire ce had beenpletely surrounded.

    The Special Investigations Department, the police force, Hell... Everyone had sent personnel to surround this inlet, and around a dozen destroyer ships were already waiting within a kilometer of the port, ready tosh out at any moment.

    At the forefront were the military police, and in just a short time, all types of defensive measures had already been set up here. One machine gun after another was situated in the rear with their inky-ck barrels pointed forward, and near each fortress was an investigator. The area ahead of all of these fortifications had been sealed off by metal chains, upon which were attached countless Yin talismans. Right behind the three defensive lines, Lei Jun and an elderly Taoist priest were seated on an SUV, and the elderly Taoist priest was holding a sleek longsword.

    The sword was supposed to be quite long, but it had been snapped. It was sealed in its scabbard, and a strip of bright yellow cloth was tied around the scabbard, upon which were inscribed a series of Sanskrit runes inscribed in blood. There was also a silver chain wound around the hilt and scabbard of the sword, and it was asionally shing with faint blue light as if it had a life of its own.

    This was the damaged Xuanyuan Sword!

    Behind them, tens of thousands of Emissaries of Hell were spread out in a horizontal line. A day had already passed since the explosion of Ashmound Port, and countless Yin soldiers had traveled to this ce. Counting all of the humans and ghosts, there was an army of at least 100,000 gathered here!

    In addition to that, there was Qin Ye who had been in the earthen building this entire time.

    Just as Xu Fu had his attention focused on the east, he had also been watching the west from afar this entire time. It was as if their eyes could meet even though there were countless kilometers between them, and intense sparks were flying between them.

    With such a formidable army gathered here, Qin Ye was determined to bring down Xu Fu once and for all!

    "The report from Ashmound states that Brother Zhao and the Harken are safe and well..." His eyes narrowed slightly as he gripped tightly onto the windowsill. "We have two Yama-Kings, one being above the Yama-King level, and tens of thousands of Yin soldiers bolstered by the Wumu military array. You are a cultivator, and this is the mortal realm. No matter how astute the defenses of your Peach Blossom Spring are, there''s no way it''ll be able to survive a bombardment from the missiles of the mortal realm!"

    The two realms hade together, and there was no escape for Xu Fu!

    It''s a pity that Brother Zhao has fallen unconscious and is still yet to wake up, but that''s not an issue. Now that the Peach Blossom Spring is returning to Cathay, as soon as Brother Zhao wakes up, Xu Fu will be nothing more than a cornered rat!

    "In Brother Zhao''s absence, I''ll have to step up..."

    "Looks like you know your ce after all." Right at this moment, a calm voice rang out behind him, and Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this. He had barred everyone else from entering this room, and Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, and Otakemaru were standing guard outside, so how had this person made it into the room?

    Also, why was this voice so familiar?

    After three seconds of silence, Qin Ye drew a sharp breath.

    It''s him! Why is that scumbag back?! Oh right, he said that he would return once more before I became a Yama-King, but it''s already toote! Why is he here now? Having said that, he''se at just the right time...

    After taking a moment to arrange his own expression, he turned around with a fawning smile and was greeted by the sight of the second King Yanluo''s cocky face. He was seated on a chair in a casual manner, watching Qin Ye with a half-smile on his face.

    "Brother Xu, to what do I owe this honor? Come, have some tea." Thest thing that Qin Ye wanted to do right now was smile, but he had to force himself.

    The second King Yanluo nced at him and gave a slight nod of approval. "So you''ve finally be a Yama-King. Looks like I wasn''t wrong about you."

 Chapter 865: The End of the Road

    <h4>Chapter 865: The End of the Road</h4>

    "Of course, Brother Xu, your discerning eye is unmatched!" Qin Ye was rubbing his hands together with the most benevolent smile he could muster up etched on his face, and he was doing everything in his power to exude an aura of purity and friendliness. "May I ask why you''vee back this time, Brother Xu?"

    The second King Yanluo observed him for a while with a smile on his face, and several secondster, he said, "You know, I really like seeing your shameless face."

    Qin Ye: "..."

    How could you say that? If you have nothing good to say, then keep your mouth shut!

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to erupt into fury, the second King Yanluo continued, "The first King Yanluo and I put too much weight on keeping up appearances, and that was to the detriment of the Cathayan Underworld on the international stage, but that''s enough of that. We haven''t met each other in many years, and I don''t like to waste time with idle chatter."

    His smile faded as he put on a serious expression and asked, "I returned this time originally only for one purpose, which was to teach you your final lesson as King Yanluo. The three realms are all interconnected, and as the ruler of one of those realms, you have to manage not just the living beings of the entire underworld, you also have to work closely with Heaven. Do you recall how I told you that the Gate of Heaven would open on Kunlun Mountain in five years? Right now, there are only a year and two months left."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This wasn''t something that he was overly concerned about. After learning that his status was on par with that of the Jade Emperor, he had lost all respect for this so-called Heaven.

    For him, anything that didn''t pose a threat to his life was not worthy of respect.

    "How did you know that I reached the Yama-King level, Brother Xu?"

    The second King Yanluo pointed at his robes and replied, "Because of the Yellow Emperor Protector Seal."

    Qin Ye nodded in response as an enlightened look appeared on his face.

    That seal was what had saved his life during the massive explosion set off by Qi N¨¹ in Yingzhou.

    "Did you know as soon as the seal was activated?"

    "I did, which is why I came here." The second King Yanluo took a sip of tea before continuing in an indifferent voice. "This lesson has to be taught, but now isn''t the right time. Having said that, I came back at just the right time to see General Zhao withstand the Ashmound explosion all on his own. His actions attracted the attention of the Heavenly Dao, and I was the one who saved him."

    That wasn''t included in the message carried by the messenger bird...

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. The Harken was together with Zhao Yun at the time, so did that mean that the Harken also knew about this? It most likely did, but it probably didn''t know that it was the second King Yanluo who had saved Zhao Yun. The second King Yanluo clearly wasn''t interested in a reunion with past acquaintances and hade here directly. At the same time, Qin Ye was taking care of very important business, and the Harken didn''t want him to be distracted at this important juncture, so it hadn''t informed him of this.

    The second King Yanluo gently set down his teacup, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he continued, "I also just so happened to see something very interesting."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Are you referring to the Peach Blossom Spring?"

    "That''s right... I must admit that the owner of the ind is an exceptional talent to havee up with such an ingenious method," the second King Yanluo replied in a calm voice. "Back then, I always felt like there was a rift leading to another realm on the seabed, but I didn''t search for it very carefully. Who would''ve thought that the rift really was hiding something extraordinary?"

    He cast his gaze toward Qin Ye and asked, "What do you n to do with him?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "I''ll search his soul, then toss him into the hungry ghost path of the six paths of reincarnation. There, his physical body will constantly be devoured by hungry ghosts, and he won''t be able tost until he''s resurrected. All he''ll be able to do is suffer eternally in a limitless cycle of life and death."

    "Very good." The second King Yanluo gave a pleased nod upon hearing this, and he looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes with a serious expression as he said, "Remember this: he''s only an exceptional talent if we decide to use him. If we choose to discard him, then he''s nothing more than a piece of trash. He established a nation right on the borders of our territorial sea and colluded with external powers to create a territory of his own. In addition to that, he was the mastermind behind the Ashmound explosion. All of his crimes are direct provocations against the authority of King Yanluo, and no punishment is too harsh for him! Remember this well: the ruler of a realm cannot tolerate provocation under any circumstances! Sun Wukong was sealed away for 500 years just for a minor offence of provocation against Heaven, and in contrast, Xu Fu''s crimes are infinite times more severe."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. He knew that the second King Yanluo was looking out for him. The Cathayan Underworld was in the initial stages of its resurgence, and it had a bright future ahead, but the second King Yanluo was concerned that he would be tempted to keep Xu Fu for his talents, therebypromising his authority, and the second King Yanluo was warning him against this.

    However, he already knew what he had to prioritize.

    "I''ll take care of this," the second King Yanluo said as he rose to his feet. "You''re facing an advanced Yama-King, and General Zhao can''t get involved, while the Harken is still recovering from its injuries. As for you... It''s a real pity that we have to kill someone so outstandingly talented. He could''ve been destined for great things, but he chose the wrong path to pursue."

    Hmm? Hold on, what was that about me? Why did you suddenly stop before you finished what you had to say about me? I feel oddly insulted somehow...

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Xu Fu was staring intently at the surface of the sea. They had already passed Nippon, and it would only take them one more hour at most to reach Formosa, at which point they would''ve officially entered Cathay''s territorial sea.

    He was standing at the forefront at the port, and behind him were countless people, stretching all the way from the port into the city.

    These people were led by soldiers that stretched as far as the eyes could see. These soldiers were all wearing ancient Cathayan armor and wielding spears, standing ramrod straight behind Xu Fu. To say that there were tens of thousands of these soldiers would be an understatement, there were at least 100,000 of them! Behind them were the countless residents of the Peach Blossom Spring, stretching along the city walls and filling all of the streets.

    There were most likely several million of them in total!

    However, all of the residents wore wooden expressions with deathly pale faces, looking as if they were inanimate statues. If one could approach them and observe them closely, then they would discover that these residents had no heartbeat, pulse, or breathing whatsoever!

    These were millions of zombies!

    During the past 2,000 years, all of the ships and boats that had passed through the high sea of the Pacific Ocean and passed by the Peach Blossom Spring had been intercepted by this city of sin. In addition to that were the countless bodies that had been delivered to the Peach Blossom Spring, amounting to an incredibly powerful undead army, and this was also Xu Fu''s final trump card.

    "It looks like there''s no escape..." Xu Fu''s hair was blowing wildly in the sea breeze, and he opened the hand fan that he was holding before gently fanning himself.

    A thin man approached him from behind and extended a respectful bow before asking, "Your Excellency, are we really going to face off against Hell?"

    Xu Fu didn''t reply.

    He had an army of 170,000 undead soldiers that were indefatigable killing machines, and they could be unleashed with just a singlemand from him!

    If Hell were to fight fire with fire, they would definitely suffer significant casualties during the course of the battle. Furthermore, he didn''t know what Hell''s current condition was like, but judging from the intelligence that he had gathered, he knew that Hell was not in good shape. If Hell didn''t want to suffer those losses, then there was still a chance that they wouldpromise and spare him.

    This was his final fortress. There was no need for excessive emotion of hesitation. The story had already been written, all that was left was to reveal the conclusion.

    Thus, the small ind sped along rapidly amid this oppressive silence, and soon, the enormous Array of the Nine Gods was already within sight. Xu Fu closed his eyes as he heaved a long sigh.

    I''ve finally returned to the ce that I never wanted to return to again...

    Ever since the era of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, he had fled to the sea, and since then, he had never set foot on Cathayan soil again, but in the end, he was still unable to escape his own fate.

    Whoosh... Everything up ahead suddenly blurred before turning transparent, while the sound of crashing waves continued to rumble incessantly. However, in the instant that they passed through the Array of the Nine Gods, Xu Fu abruptly raised his head and stared intently up ahead with an unblinking gaze.

    Thump! Directly beside him, the thin man abruptly fell to his knees. Sweat was pouring down his face, and he opened his mouth to say something, but was unable to muster up even a single word. All he could do was slump to the ground and tremble uncontrobly like a cicada in the wind.

    Xu Fu swept a bewildered gaze through his surroundings. They were still situated within the array, and Yin runes were all around them, glowing like shimmering stars. However, two people had appeared in front of the small ind!

    What terrifying power!

    What felt like a jolt of electricity surged up from Xu Fu''s tailbone all the way to the top of his head, and his legs gave out from under him as he also fell to his knees with a dull thump!

    How could this be? He desperately tried to raise his own head, yet it was as if his entire body were being crushed under a mountain. He was only able to raise his neck by the most minute of degrees before it was forced back down again, and immediately thereafter, he gave a muffled groan as he was entirely ttened to the ground, forced into a posture of reverence and resignation.

    "What... What on earth is this?" Sweat began to pour down his forehead. Even as he passed through the array, he hadn''t lost hisposure in the slightest, but in this instant, his calm and carefree disposition hadpletely vanished, and he was lying face down on the ground like a defeated dog as a horrified look appeared on his face for the first time.

    "What is this power? Is it Yin energy? No... True energy? That''s not it, either! This is just... pure power! Who could possess such fearsome power? Is it someone from Hell? But that''s impossible!"

    He didn''t want to believe this.

    He had thought that both sides had already revealed their trump cards, yet it turned out that Hell had one final trump card up its sleeve all along, and in contrast with this trump card, his supposed final trump card was nothing more than a joke.

    This type of power had already gone beyond the limits of what he could withstand! It had already transcended beyond this entire world!

    In this instant, all of the undead soldiers and residents of the entire Peach Blossom Spring also fell to their knees beforeying their foreheads t against the ground. Even without an order from Xu Fu, this unmatched power had triggered what remained of their instincts and forced them to their knees.

    All of them were trembling incessantly as if they were revering and worshipping a deity.

    Right at this moment, an antiquated golden boot appeared in front of Xu Fu, and a voice that he had heard before rang out. "We finally meet, Mr. Xu."

    This voice belongs to that Yama-King of Hell, but this power doesn''te from him! He''s very powerful, but not as powerful as myself. This power...

    He turned to the side with all his might, yet he was only able to catch a glimpse of the hem of a robe with ck dragon patterns embroidered onto it.

    Just a single nce was enough to make Xu Fu''s entire soul shriek with horror, as if he were an evil ghost that had encountered an Emissary of Hell of the same cultivation rank.

    Don''t look! Stop!

    The voice was screaming in his mind, and he shuddered as he withdrew his gaze. For the very first time, he pressed his head forcefully against the ground to kowtow in a gesture of utmost respect.

    "Xu Fu pays his respects to the Yama-Kings of Cathay."

    "We''re not just Yama-Kings, we are the King Yanluos of Cathay." The calm voice of another young man rang out in response. "I heard that you two have met once in the past."

    In that instant, Xu Fu figured out everything.

    The current state of the Cathayan Underworld was definitely even worse than he had imagined. Otherwise, there was no way they would''ve assigned the role of King Yanluo to a member of the living dead! At such close quarters, he could already detect that Qin Ye was also a member of the living dead like himself.

    There was no precedent for this in the history of Hell!

    Furthermore, there were no other Yama-Kings here to apprehend him, but what good did this knowledge do him now?

    "Yes..."

    Qin Ye nced at Xu Fu, then raised his head to look at the countless undead soldiers and residents behind him. "These are all of the people in the entire Peach Blossom Spring, right? What were you nning to do by getting all of them toe out, Mr. Xu? Were you nning to oppose Hell to test Hell''s determination to conquer the Peach Blossom Spring? Alternatively, perhaps you were hoping that Hell wouldn''t be willing to engage in a battle and suffer casualties, so there might be a chance that you would be spared?"

    Xu Fu''s heart was full of despair. All of his arrangements were nothing more than a joke in the face of absolute power, and at this point, any shred of resistance in his heart had alreadypletely vanished, leaving himpletely broken and resigned to his fate.

    "No..." he replied through gritted teeth. "I know that my crimes are unforgivable, and I''ve prepared myself for execution. These are all of the forces that the Peach Blossom Spring has gathered during the past 2,000 years, and I''m offering them all up to Hell now. I know this is nowhere near enough to make amends, but all I ask is that my actions can grant me a swift and painless death!"

    On this day, the Yama-King that had lived for over 2,000 years finally reached the end of the road.

    [1] [Sun Wukong is the Monkey King in the renowned Chinese novel "Journey to the West". This refers to a part of the story where Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in heaven, and as punishment, he was trapped under a mountain by Buddha for 500 years.]

 Chapter 866: Tallying Spoils

    <h4>Chapter 866: Tallying Spoils</h4>

    What was wrong? What was right?

    There had never been a clear and definitive divide between the two.

    None of Xu Fu''s actions had actually caused any substantial harm to the Cathayan Underworld. He had gathered some intelligence, but he had kept it all to himself solely for self-preservation purposes. At its core, everything that he had done was for the sake of survival and to live a better life.

    However, he had been indirectly responsible for the heinous crimes that had taken ce in the Huang n''s earthen building, and who knew how many more light towers in the mortal coil existed? Every single one of them was a relic of a heinous chapter in history. In addition to that, there were the countless innocent mortals that had fallen prey to the Peach Blossom Spring during the past 2,000 years. All of them were praying and hoping for Xu Fu''s apprehension!

    Furthermore, he had been taking the wrong stance from the very beginning. During the past 2,000 years, he had constantly been provoking Hell''s authority, it was just that he didn''t have the courage tomit treason.

    "Fine," the second King Yanluo said in an indifferent voice, "I''ll grant you a swift and painless death in this life."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Xu Fu''s head flew up into the air, and no one had even seen the second King Yanluo move. Even as it was sent flying, Xu Fu''s head was still etched with an incredulous expression, and blood spurted up into the air, forming a gorey flower.

    Before Xu Fu''s headless body had even slumped to the ground, the second King Yanluo reached out and made a grabbing motion. Wisps of white Yin energy evolved as they rose upward, forming a glowing white ball in his hand.

    He was using a soul search technique.

    Qin Ye was looking on with an intense gaze. He had been intent on hunting down Xu Fu partly due to all of the crimes that he hadmitted, but what was more important was the new energy system that Xu Fu had developed!

    Anyone who seized control over the next new energy resource would essentially have grabbed the next era by the scruff of the neck, and this was what Hell was relying on for a rapid resurgence!

    A new energy resource could benefit the entire nation, and it would allow the second King Yanluo''s development of forbidden techniques to elerate significantly. With a new energy resource, there was a chance that the underworld could catch up to the mortal realm within the next century!

    It would have inte, Alipay, WeChat, televisions, an entertainment industry, a manufacturing industry, a real estate industry... A wide variety of industries could be built upon the back of this new energy resource!

    The fact that Gui Xu had exploded didn''t matter as long as they could obtain the core concepts of its construction from Xu Fu''s mind.

    "Thank you." He reached out to take the white ball of Yin energy from the second King Yanluo, but the second King Yanluo shook his head and closed his eyes before gently stroking his thumb over the surface of the ball of light, following which he chuckled, "What a sly old bastard."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask any questions, the second King Yanluo continued, "He''s set up restrictions all over his most important memories, and if anyone dared to try and open those restrictions, his soul would immediately be destroyed. He''s a member of the living dead, and an abrupt and unexpected death would allow him to be resurrected as quickly as possible. These restrictions are tied directly to his soul, and once set, they can''t be removed. Even if he''s resurrected countless times, these memories will still remain sealed. Even if he were to be reincarnated into a normal person and someone wanted to try and glean his memories through hypnotism, his soul would immediately be destroyed, thereby leading to this death. All of these restrictions had been set up during the past few days."

    Qin Ye cast a grim nce at the ball of light. This was Xu Fu''s most deeply buried trump card.

    He had already prepared himself to be captured, and he had also guessed that if he were to be captured, his soul would definitely be searched. Upon discovering that all of his important memories had been sealed by restrictions, they would definitely attempt to undo those restrictions.

    In doing so, his soul would be destroyed, and Xu Fu would be truly dead. However, as a member of the living dead, he would be reincarnated very soon, and it would be far too difficult to capture him again.

    After all, who could''ve anticipated that he would be so decisive and relegate his most important memories over the past 2,000 years into limbo? These restrictions were directly connected to his soul, and simr to the restrictions he had nted in Bu Wantian''s memories, only when an examination had been carried out to a certain depth would the restrictions be activated.

    If anyone tried to glean his most important memories, his soul would immediately be destroyed!

    He certainly possessed cunningness and decisiveness in equal measure, but his actions were ultimately going to be futile.

    "Can you undo the restrictions?"

    "It''ll take me three days. After all, this is the soul of an advanced Yama-King," the second King Yanluo replied as he stowed Xu Fu''s soul away.

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and he couldn''t help but caution, "Brother Xu, please do be careful. His soul is extremely important, and his memories could even hold the key to the resurgence of Hell!"

    "Do you think I''m an idiot like you?" The second King Yanluo aimed a derisive re at him before vanishing on the spot as a gust of Yin wind.

    At this point, the Peach Blossom Spring had just emerged from the Array of the Nine Gods. Without the countless profound Yin runes surrounding it, it was once again basked in the light of the dazzling sun.

    "It''s finally over..." Qin Ye was standing at the front of the port, and from there, he could even see thend of Formosa not far away as he raised a hand to shield his own eyes from the sun.

    All of this had finally drawn to a close!

    Of course, there were still many things left to dig up, such as who had been in contact with Xu Fu? What had they told him in the past 2,000 years? Which underworlds had he been colluding with? Who had been engaging in trade with Mirage City? What had Xu Fu done in the past using his previous identities?

    However, none of that was important anymore.

    Once the restrictions on Xu Fu''s memories were lifted, all would be revealed!

    With that in mind, he stepped over Xu Fu''s headless body with a steely expression before making his way toward the Peach Blossom Spring with anticipation in his heart.

    "Now then, let''s see what you''ve left behind. Hopefully it''s worth the swift and painless death that Brother Xu granted you."

    This was a treasure trove of an advanced Yama-King who had lived for over 2,000 years, and even more importantly, there was a very good chance that important files and documents such as the blueprints of Gui Xu and records pertaining to the usage of the Taisui fungus could be found in the Peach Blossom Spring, so how could he not be excited?

    As he stepped forward, the sea breeze lifted his golden dragon robes, and countless messenger birds were released into the air, flying to all parts of the underworld.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "What are you looking at?" A curious voice rang out as the second King Yanluo appeared in a pavilion.

    Qin Ye withdrew his gaze upon hearing this voice. This was a Buddhist monastery from the Southern Song Dynasty, and it had a radius of 50 meters and was seven stories tall. It was situated on the peak of the tallest mountain in the Peach Blossom Spring, and it was known as the Star Plucking Pavilion. From here, one could see the scenery of the entire Peach Blossom Spring ind, and it had to be said that this was an extremely beautiful ce.

    If it weren''t for the fact that millions of undead individuals had once lived here, this would be a brilliant tourist attraction. The ind was littered with peach blossoms and exotic trees and nts of all descriptions. It was as if every single nt was a meticulously crafted masterpiece. With its clear creeks, aesthetic mountains, and lush greenery, it was truly an immortal paradise on earth.

    A sea breeze blew past, and the sea of peach blossoms waved and danced in the wind, producing an intoxicating sight and aroma.

    A day had already passed since Xu Fu''s execution. On that same day, Yin soldiers had entered the Peach Blossom Spring to tally the spoils. In the process, Qin Ye learned the terrain of the Peach Blossom Spring. The ind had seven mountains, and on each mountain were 72 areas consisting of different types of buildings. The areas were concealed within the countless peach blossoms and standing above the white clouds and mist, making them appear as if they were immortal abodes.

    All of the inscriptions here had been written by Xu Fu in person, and what was even more remarkable was that the styles of every single dynasty, from the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, could be found here. Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but wonder just how bored Xu Fu had to have been.

    He had lived for over 2,000 years, and there had been far too much free time for him to meticulously look after this ind. Unfortunately for him, his painstakingly created masterpiece had fallen into the hands of Hell.

    "I''m looking at a map of the Peach Blossom Spring," Qin Ye replied as he turned around with a smile. "I just found it from Xu Fu''s secret chamber. Would you like to take a look?"

    The second King Yanluo only took a nce at the map before taking a seat beside the window. He then picked up a teacup and raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What do you n to do with this thing?"

    Qin Ye made his way over to the table, and he gently stroked his fingers over a scroll that was over a meter and a half in size. Instead of giving an immediate reply, he asked, "Why do you think Xolotl''s Screen exists on the sea?"

    The second King Yanluo casually took a sip of tea before replying, "Not only is there Xolotl''s Screen, there are other examples such as the Hindustani Underworld''s Six Petal Lotus Screen at the Strait of a and the Aegyptian Underworld''s Osiris Screen at the inlet to the Red Sea. What are you trying to say?"

    "I''m saying that these screens exist as devices for underworlds to stake ims on areas of the sea," Qin Ye replied. "In order to ensure the safety of ournd, we have to first ascertain who is entering our territory and for what reasons. The seal on the Cathayan Underworld will have to be removed at some point, and when that happens, the battle for naval supremacy will be the first major problem that we''ll have to face. In the past, I didn''t even bother to consider this as without a suitable energy source, there''s no way we can achieve real-timemunication as seen in the mortal realm. Our territory spans over ten million square kilometers, and it''s simply unfeasible for me to scour our territory every single day with my infernal eyes. However, the emergence of the Peach Blossom Spring has opened up new possibilities to potentially remedy this issue in the future. However, that''s not the most important thing."

    He pointed at a spot on the map and said, "Take a look."

    The second King Yanluo took a nce to discover that Qin Ye was pointing at a cross-sectional diagram of the section of the Peach Blossom Spring that was below sea level. ording to the diagram, there was a huge hidden room concealed beneath the sea.

    It was situatedpletely underground, and there was an instructional diagram on the side. The instructional diagram depicted a detailed dissection of a circr object, at the center of which was what appeared to be a pointer needle.

    "What is that?" the second King Yanluo asked as his brows furrowed slightly. He had never been a fan of engaging in activities that required the expenditure of brainpower.

    Qin Ye licked his own lips before replying in an excited voice, "It''s a radar! This radar is used by the Peach Blossom Spring to detect the things in the sea around it during its journeys!"

    The second King Yanluo blinked with a nk expression in response, and through his eyes, Qin Ye could see a simple question: "So?"

    So even you have some things that you''re not an expert in!

    Qin Ye''s voice unconsciously took on a slightly smug tone as he exined, "A radar''s transmitter shoots electromaic wave energy toward the space in a certain direction through antennae, and that energy will rebound off objects in that direction. The radar will then receive this information through its antennae and the information will be processed in its reception device, where data on the aforementioned object will be extracted. In doing so, the radar will be able to calcte things like how far away objects are and how long it''ll take the ship and the object to reach one another. "

    "Why does it feel like you''re acting a little smug all of a sudden?" The second King Yanluo was rather perplexed.

    You idiot!

    Qin Ye disguised the joy in his own heart as he replied, "This means that our territory will be safe!"

    "Oh." The second King Yanluo nodded in response before returning to his seat with a disinterested expression. "So it''s useless. I can just inspect our entire territory with a single nce."

    An awkward yet still polite smile stiffened on Qin Ye''s face.

    "Ahem, that''s not the main point!" He immediately unleashed his "that''s not the main point" interjection skill, and his smile faded as he continued, "Did you know that Xu Fu has managed to develop a type of energy that''s able to be used across the mortal realm and the underworld! He even managed to use it on Gui Xu, transforming its body into an undead warship!"

    The second King Yanluo was finally intrigued upon hearing this, and his eyes narrowed slightly in contemtion.

    Qin Ye looked directly into his eyes and continued, "Xu Fu only managed toplete the development of this new energy resource in the past century, and the fact that this radar has emerged indicates that he''s experimenting with this energy resource for military purposes and perhaps even everyday use! It''s a good thing we managed to catch him when we did. Otherwise, there''s a very good chance he could arm the entirety of the Peach Blossom Spring in the future, and the consequences of that would be utterly catastrophic! If this radar can be used, then are there other things that we can use?"

    He quickly made his way over to the scroll and gently stroked a hand over it, struggling to repress the excitement in his own heart. "For example, what about bazookas? There are blueprints for that in the mortal realm, all we need to do is rece the energy resource used to fire the projectiles with this new energy resource, and once that happens, Hell would be able to enter a brand new military era!"

    His heart was already thumping violently. If this could be achieved, it would be a monumental moment in the underworld. As such, he was extremely eager for the second King Yanluo to unlock Xu Fu''s memories as quickly as possible. In contrast with those memories, all of the treasures that he had cleared out from the Peach Blossom Spring during the past few days werepletely insignificant, to the point that he couldn''t even work up the interest to see the tallied list of spoils

    Silence.

    Regardless of howckadaisical the second King Yanluo, what Qin Ye had said was enough for him to realize just how important this opportunity was. Several secondster, he smiled and said, "Why don''t you ask him whether the radar can be used or not?"

    He then raised a hand, and a stark white soul appeared in the pavilion.

    The soul was none other than that of Xu Fu''s!

 Chapter 867: Xu Fuâ€™s Memories

    <h4>Chapter 867: Xu Fu''s Memories</h4>

    His entire body waspletely insubstantial and formed by white light. He still had that ethereal and carefree disposition about him, but his eyes werepletely nk and devoid of sparkle as he looked ahead in a wooden manner.

    The second King Yanluo pointed at him and said, "I''ve already sealed his three souls and seven spirits, but you still have to be careful. There are several memories of his that even I can''t touch, those are memories that he''s sealed away with his entire life force. I hope for your sake that what you''re looking for isn''t in those memories."

    Qin Ye didn''t hesitate and immediately injected his consciousness into the top of Xu Fu''s head.

    Countless images instantly shed through his eyes. This was Xu Fu''s life, but it was being presented in an extremely chaotic and disjointed manner.

    One''s so-called consciousness was the deepest part of one''s soul, and simr images could be seen both in possession and in soul searching. The deeper one delved, the more distant the memories, while the most recent memories were always near the surface of one''s consciousness. What Qin Ye wanted to see weren''t particrly distant memories, what he was looking for was within the past 200 years of Xu Fu''s memories. Thankfully, Xu Fu''s daily life wasn''t very diverse or exciting, so it wasn''t difficult to sift through his memories.

    He had concealed himself andpletely isted himself from the outside world. In order to ensure his own safety, he spent the vast majority of his time in the Peach Blossom Spring.

    Soon, Qin Ye stumbled upon a certain memory. Inside this memory, Xu Fu had a short goatee and his hair was split down the center and immactelybed. He was wearing a grey vest and there was a monocle sitting on his face.

    These were his memories from his lifetime as Nik Te.

    Upon entering this memory, all of the surrounding sound was immediately silenced, and Qin Ye felt as if his consciousness had descended into a calm and peaceful abyss. In the meantime, every part of Xu Fu that belonged to Nik Te was bing clearer and clearer.

    This was a spacious room.

    It was constructed in a ssic 18th to 19th century Usonian style with antiquatedmps and an old firece. Through the floor-to-ceiling window, one could even see horse-drawn carriages traveling outside.

    He had adopted Nik Te''s perspective. After all, he was currently viewing one of Nik Te''s memories.

    "Long time no see, Mr. Richardman." Nik Te took off his hat, and someone immediately took it from him before hanging it up on a nearby hat rack. However, Xu Fu''s gaze didn''t turn toward the person who had taken his hat, so Qin Ye couldn''t see who it was.

    Richardman was a bald elderly man with a short yet thick beard and a pair of sses on his face. He was wearing a crisp suit, and he shook his head in a stunned manner as he said, "ording to the telegrams, you''re already dead! I''m truly shocked to see you here..."

    "I had reached the age where it would''ve be suspicious had I continued living, I''m sure you understand what I mean." The person beside Nik Te handed him a cup of coffee, and Nik epted it before taking a sip, then smiled and continued, "After all, I''m not the only monster in the Freemasonry."

    The Freemasonry!

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn''t be very interested in an organization from the mortal realm, but the Freemasonry was different.

    Leonardo da Vinci, Xu Fu''s first foreign identity, had been a member of the Freemasonry!

    "During the past few days, I searched through virtually the entire ind top to bottom, but I didn''t find any blueprints or notes about the new energy resource. This is definitely a well-guarded secret, and I''ve done an exhaustive search of the Peach Blossom Spring in person but failed to find anything, so I''m almost certain that these things aren''t hidden in the Peach Blossom Spring."

    He watched the unfolding scene calmly as his mind raced rapidly. "Seeing as it''s not in the Peach Blossom Spring, it had to have been stored somewhere else. I can''t think with the logic of someone from the underworld. Xu Fu is a living person, so he would clearly prefer to put these things somewhere in the mortal realm. In that case, wouldn''t the Freemasonry be a perfect ce?"

    It had to be said that it made a lot of sense.

    He continued watching.

    "Let''s not waste any time with idle chatter." Richardman waved a hand and asked, "Do you want to store something here? That can be arranged, but member status is required."

    Nik Te smiled as he pulled out a letter. "I have a letter of rmendation from Mr. da Vinci."

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this.

    This man had written a letter of rmendation for himself!

    Richardman immediately focused his gaze upon Nik Te upon hearing this, and after a long while, he eximed, "So it really is true."

    Even though Leonardo da Vinci had been dead for close to 200 years at that point, he didn''t seem surprised at all. He picked up the letter and began to carefully read it, while Qin Ye was also looking at him.

    This man had to be an extremely high-ranking member of the Freemasonry.

    Even in the Freemasonry, there was a hierarchy of members. The one at the top was the Master Mason, while those at the bottom were the Entered Apprentices. This man had to be very high up on the hierarchy to know about Leonardo da Vinci''s identity and secret.

    In that case, he had to be renowned in society, so who was he?

    Several of the most powerful figures of Usonia at the time sprang into Qin Ye''s mind, but all of the candidates were eliminated one after another. Inside the memory, Richardman put the letter away before giving a nod. "I wee you to the big family that is the Freemasonry. Now then, what do you want to store here?"

    Nik Te picked up a box. It was a very small box that was no more than a foot in size, and it was about as thick as the leatherbound suitcases that were popr at the time. He gently ced the box onto the table before pushing it toward Richardman. "I require presidential level confidentiality measures."

    "You don''t have the right to ess that," Richardman countered as his eyes narrowed slightly.

    "But Mr. da Vinci did, didn''t he?" Nik chuckled. "You are the manager of the First Usonian Bank, and storing important items from important people is part of your responsibilities. That''s how you climbed all the way to the top, wasn''t it, Mr. Treasurer? All I need is for this box to be stored for 100 years. If I don''te back to retrieve it within 100 years, it will automatically self-destruct."

    So he''s a treasurer... This was one of the three highest ranks in the Freemasonry. However, what was rather confusing to Qin Ye was that he had never heard of this First Usonian Bank.

    Richardman stared deeply at Nik for a long while before silently epting the box, then put on his hat and departed, leaving behind only a parting message. "Don''t forget to pay the annual maintenance fees. If you fail to pay for one year, the service will immediately be terminated, and if you fail to pay for 10 years in a row, I have the right to hand this item over to my superiors. Once I pass away, I''ll give this item to my sessor. He''s a trustworthy man, and he''ll be sure to look after the item in my stead."

    After that, Richardman departed.

    However, Nik didn''t leave. Instead, he remained in his seat, and after a long while, he suddenly chuckled to himself, "Rest assured, I hate having to deal with unexpected problems and unnecessary people. You will continue to live a long life, barring any unforeseen circumstances..."

    The memory concluded here, and the darkness slowly faded. Qin Ye was standing above the sea of Xu Fu''s consciousness with a contemtive expression, and all of a sudden, hepletely spread out his consciousness, doing everything in his power to search for memories rted to Nik Te.

    It turned out that those memories were very easy to find.

    Most of this lifetime was spent as a normal person, and he didn''t go through those memories. Instead, he was paying close attention to the memories from after Nik Te turned 86 years old, which was when he supposedly died.

    Sure enough, there was still a long passage of memories after his death, but that passage had beenpletely sealed away by an inky-ck veil. He had a feeling that even the slightest attempt to ess those memories would instantly result in the destruction of Xu Fu''s soul.

    "Shit!" Qin Ye cursed in a frustrated voice. He was certain that this passage of memories was integral to Xu Fu''s invention of that new energy resource, but these memories couldn''t be touched at all!

    What was even more troublesome was that the restrictions that Xu Fu had ced upon himself were so absolute that even he couldn''t recall these memories if he tried. All he could do was hope that the box that Nik Te had given to Richardman contained all of the notes rted to the new energy resource.

    "That should be what''s in the box," Qin Ye mused as he sped his hands behind his back. "For Xu Fu, there was nothing else worthy of being recorded in Nik Te''s life. He hadn''t invented electricity, all he had done was poprize it. The only thing that could make even someone like Xu Fu proceed with such extreme caution had to be the new energy resource that could be used in both realms!"

    With that in mind, Qin Yemitted the names of Richardman and the First Usonian Bank firmly to memory.

    After that, he slowly vanished.

    He was well aware of just how cautious Xu Fu was, and he was rather disappointed that he hadn''t managed to obtain the records pertaining to the new energy resource on this asion, but he wasn''t disheartened. The secrets of such a cunning man definitely couldn''t be exposed easily, and from the very beginning, Qin Ye was prepared to encounter some hardships.

    "It looks like I''ll have to pay a visit to the new continent after all..."

    There were only three or four years left until the 100th death anniversary of Nik Te!

    Right as this body was about to disintegrate into nothingness, he suddenly faltered, and his body reformed again as he cast a perplexed gaze toward another direction in Xu Fu''s sea of consciousness.

    There was still nothing but inky darkness in that direction, but the memories there hadn''t been sealed.

    It was Yin energy.

    The Yin energy was extremely pure, and it could only belong to a high-grade underworld emissary. Furthermore, Qin Ye could tell that this Yin energy didn''t belong to an Emissary of Hell.

    Thus, he made his way over to the section of Xu Fu''s sea of consciousness where that memory was lingering, and he dispersed his own consciousness again to force his way into that memory.

    The same peaceful darkness appeared again, and Qin Ye delved deeper and deeper. Several secondster, light suddenly appeared up ahead, and he found himself situated inside a pce.

    Xu Fu was lying diagonally across an arhat bed, and he was holding a letter that he was carefully reading.

    Qin Ye was looking at the memory from the perspective of an omniscient god, and after just a brief nce at the letter''s contents, his gaze abruptly stiffened, and his heartbeat began to elerate drastically.

    "To the esteemed Emperor Jimmu." Qin Ye took a nce at the opening line before immediately casting his gaze to the very end of the letter.

    There was only one person who was aware that Xu Fu was Emperor Jimmu, and that was Izanami!

    She hadn''t received Emperor Jimmu''s soul, and that was how she figured out Emperor Jimmu''s connection with Xu Fu.

    However, there was nothing at the end of the letter, thereby thwarting Qin Ye''s efforts to find out the letter''s sender.

    He shook his head and continued to read the letter from the top.

    "I hope to establish the trade routes between the four nations and Mirage City as soon as possible. I know that you''ve always stayed far away from the Cathayan Underworld, but there will always be some people willing to probe the Cathayan Underworld in your stead. The state of the world is changing, and the Cathayan Underworld has already been isted from the rest of the world for 50 years. Hell has refused to participate in all international affairs, and they''ve even prohibited foreign underworld emissaries from entering their territory. Are you not interested in returning to your homnd to take a look? You expressed your concerns to me in yourst letter, but I think those concerns are unnecessary. All of us are death gods, so you do not need to worry about our power. On top of that, we aren''t the ones most interested in the sudden changes in the Cathayan Underworld. Instead, the most interested parties are the other top-tier underworlds. If you''re willing to open up a trade route between the four nations and Mirage City, there are some things that we can do in your stead. In any underworld, a Yama-King would stand at the peak in terms ofbat prowess. In order to disy our sincerity, we''ll be showing you our stance and resolve during the conference to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts being held in the Nipponese Underworld in five years'' time. I look forward to seeing your response."

    The memory began to ripple, and for an instant, Qin Ye almost found himself slipping out of it.

    Back when he had seen Otakemaru in Mirage City and particrly after Otakemaru had brought out the Yata no Kagami, Qin Ye had known that the Nipponese Underworld had to be extremely deeply involved in all of this.

    He was no longer a rookie King Yanluo. Having already been in this position for so many years, he had already deduced that there was no way that the Nipponese Underworld would be so bold as to constantly probe the Cathayan Underworld.

    At the end of the day, the Nipponese Underworld was only a pawn, but he didn''t know who the masterminds, such as the "four nations" in the letter were.

    "What an unexpected turn of events. Having said that, I suppose I shouldn''t be surprised." This memory concluded here, but instead of departing, Qin Ye delved even deeper.

    There was still a month left until the conference, and he wanted to see if he could find out any more information.

    He wanted to see which underworlds were going to turn on the Cathayan Underworld during this conference, and which underworlds were going to side with the Cathayan Underworld.

 Chapter 868: Century-long Unsolvable Mystery (1)

    <h4>Chapter 868: Century-long Unsolvable Mystery (1)</h4>

    Xu Fu was like a lever that had stirred up the state of the world.

    This was very normal. After all, fugitives from all over the world were gathered in Mirage City, and in order to earn themselves amnesty, they had been doing everything in their power to try and secure intelligence from the Cathayan Underworld. Xu Fu had always had ties and dealings with other underworlds, so all of these things were in his memories.

    What Qin Ye wanted to see was exactly which underworld he had the closest ties with. Geographically speaking, it should be Izanami, and there was a very good chance that Izanami was the sender of the letter in that memory. However, Izanami herself was only a pawn, and there were even more powerful underworlds behind her using her to do their bidding.

    Originally, Qin Ye wouldn''t have been able toe into contact with these things. The main objective of Hell was to bring peace and prosperity to the Cathayan Underworld first, and it wasn''t in contact with the rest of the world. However, through the lever that was Xu Fu, he was able to trigger the second lever that was Izanami, so perhaps he could further this chain reaction and uncover even more things!

    That would be greatly beneficial to his uing trip to the Nipponese Underworld.

    One who knew both the enemy and themselves would never lose a battle!

    With that in mind, Qin Ye delved even deeper into Xu Fu''s sea of consciousness. Xu Fu was a very cautious man, so he didn''t have much contact with those that he was working with. Thus, the deeper Qin Ye went, the more that all types of memories became clumped together. After a long while, Qin Ye''s eyes suddenly lit up as he caught sight of another memory that he wanted to see.

    It was as ck as ink, and Xu Fu''s face would asionally surface within it.

    He immediately injected his consciousness into the memory without any hesitation.

    After a brief moment of darkness and silence, a brand new memory was presented before him.

    The setting was Mirage City.

    Xu Fu seemed to be seated on a very tall chair, and standing beneath him was a figure dressed in ck cloaks.

    The figure was very tall, two and a half meters in height at a minimum, and his cloak was ragged and tattered. Furthermore, there seemed to be nothing beneath the cloak aside from a pair of hands protruding out of the sleeves.

    The hands were very dry and withered, looking as if they belonged to a mummy, and just a single nce was enough to tell Qin Ye that this was an underworld emissary. There was no physical body beneath the cloak, but pure inky-ck Yin energy was seeping out of it.

    "Interesting." Xu Fu was the first one to speak. "Which underworld death god has dared to seek out my Peach Blossom Spring?"

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing the words "death god", yet before he had a chance to ponder this any further, the cloaked figure replied, "I didn''t think that living human death gods really existed."

    He was speaking in fluent Cathayan, and it was impossible to tell from his ent where he was from. Of course, the term "death god" was western terminology, but that wasn''t enough to serve as evidence as the cloaked figure could be intentionally using this terminology to muddy the waters.

    "Go on then," Xu Fu prompted in an indifferent voice. "What proposal does your master have for me?"

    The cloaked figure hesitated momentarily before replying, "It''s very simple, my master wants you to open up Mirage City and tell us where that seabed trade route that leads to the Cathayan Underworld is situated. In exchange, we can give you anything you want."

    Xu Fu gently drummed his fingers against his armrest, and he suddenly smiled as he asked, "I want to find a person in the Usonian Underworld, can you do that for me?"

    The cloaked figure seemed to have been rather aback by this request, and only after several seconds of silence did he reply, "As you''re aware, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa have already entered an insane state, and they view all foreign underworld emissaries as sworn enemies. Even their own subordinates and people are being ughtered with no restraint by them, so this is a very dangerous task."

    "I would also be incurring a lot of risk by epting your proposal," Xu Fu countered in an unhurried manner, "What do you think is more dangerous, the Cathayan Underworld or the Usonian Underworld?"

    The cloaked figure fell silent once again.

    After close to 20 seconds had passed, the cloaked figure asked, "Who do you want to find?"

    Xu Fu smiled and replied, "I''m a person who hates unnecessary hassle and doesn''t want to have to deal with any more people than absolutely necessary. I once asked a Usonian to look after something for me. I didn''t ask him to look after it for very long, and that thing was very important to me, so I gave him a little reward. Barring any mishaps, he will continue to live until I''m ready to reim that item."

    A bright red eye finally lit up at the center of the cloaked figure''s hood, and he hesitated momentarily before asking, "Are you referring to the legendary Cathayan elixir of immortality?"

    Xu Fu smiled and replied, "I didn''t give him theplete version, I only needed him to live an extra 100 years. After all, why get more people involved than necessary?"

    His smile then faded as he continued, "However, much to my surprise, he died in a car crash, and he''s a pureblood descendant to native Usonians!"

    The cloaked figure chuckled upon hearing this. "That''s quite troublesome."

    Xu Fu heaved a forlorn sigh. "I don''t know his whereabouts, and there are underworld emissaries nted in the mortal realm in the organization that he belongs to. Someone must''ve taken over his duties, and I don''t know where they''ve stored my item. I''ve contacted it several times through the mark I left upon it, but it seems to have vanished into thin air."

    The cloaked figure paused momentarily before asking, "What''s his name?"

    "Richardman," XuFu replied. "If you can track him down and open up a waterway for me to ess Usonia, I''ll agree to your proposal."

    The cloaked figure immediately dissipated into a gust of Yin wind upon hearing this. He seemed to also be fearful of being discovered if he were to linger near the Cathayan Underworld for too long, and he left only a parting sentence. "I''ll get back to you as soon as possible."

    After that, the imagepletely disappeared.

    At this point, an extremely grim look had already appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    Even though Xu Fu had already been executed, the extreme caution that he exercised during his life made it extremely difficult to dig up any information from his memories.

    Richardman was dead, and the item that Xu Fu had asked Richardman to store in the First Usonian Bank for him had disappeared!

    When he first heard about the 100-year time limit, Qin Ye hadn''t thought much of it. After all, he would just have to pay a visit to Usonia in person. However, the problem now was that he didn''t even know where the damn thing was! Furthermore, after three or four more years, the item would automatically self-destruct.

    There was a very good chance that it was the only set of notes pertaining to this new energy resource.

    "Fuck!" Qin Ye felt as if he had found himself in a dead-end, and he quickly vanished from within Xu Fu''s sea of consciousness.

    The best way to track down this item was to find Richardman, and the best way to find Richardman was to ask a death god.

    However, the deranged Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had already transformed the Usonian Underworld into a cesspool of madness and suffering. Just as the cloaked figure in Xu Fu''s memories had said, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa "view all foreign underworld emissaries as sworn enemies¡±. This was the origin site of the three civilizations, the Aztecs, the Incans, and the Mayans, and even a Yama-King would be courting death by venturing into such a perilousnd.

    However, perhaps there was a ce where he would be able to make contact with them, namely the re-signing conference for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts to be held in the Nipponese Underworld in the following month!

    Barring any mishaps, there should be Usonian representatives in attendance.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the Star Plucking Pavilion.

    The second King Yanluo was casually sipping on his tea when a gust of Yin wind suddenly materialized into Qin Ye in front of his table. However, instead of saying anything, Qin Ye merely cast his gaze out the window with a contemtive expression.

    "Quit trying to act profound and tell me what you saw!" the second King Yanluo urged with furrowed brows as he set down his teacup.

    Qin Ye''s expression immediately gave way to a fawning smile, and he rubbed his hands together like a cunning servant. "I did find out some things."

    For Qin Ye, there were only two types of people in his life.

    The first type were the people who posed a threat to his life. Exhibit A was Arthis when they had first met, and exhibit B was the second King Yanluo.

    The second type were the people who posed no threat to his life, such as Qin Xinzhong, Wang Chenghao, and the current Arthis.

    "Oh? Let me hear it," the second King Yanluo prompted.

    A serious look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "In a month from now, the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts will be held. I have a few questions that I want to ask, the first of which is, is this conference important?"

    "My Lord!" Right at this moment, a Yin soldier made his way up the staircase before cupping a fist in a respectful salute. "All of the spoils from the Peach Blossom Spring have been tallied, and records have been made. Would you like to..."

    "It''s alright, I''ll leave it for now." Qin Ye waved a hand to dismiss the Yin soldier as he spoke. Back when he was an Anitya Hellguard, he would''ve been so ecstatic at securing all of these spoils that he wouldn''t have been able to sleep at night, but now, unless those spoils included things that could change an entire era like the new energy resource, he simply wasn''t interested.

    As King Yanluo, that wasn''t what he was supposed to be pursuing. He was the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, what materialistic things couldn''t he have if he wanted them?

    Thus, the room fell silent again, and the second King Yanluo flicked a finger through the air, upon which the surrounding space trembled slightly, and the entire top floor waspletely cut off. Only then did he reply with a serious expression, "It''s extremely important, particrly in the past two centuries."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, he swept a hand through the air again, and a world map formed by golden light appeared before them. He gently pinched his fingers together, and he was able to zoom in and out of the map at will. "Come to think of it, I''ve never told you about the state of the world. I suppose it''s fine, this lesson wouldn''t have been of much use to you in the past anyway."

    ... Are you sure you didn''t just forget?!

    Qin Ye repressed the urge to raise an objection as he continued listening. He was asking for guidance from the second King Yanluo, so he had to put on a good attitude.

    "Let''s get back to the main subject. The treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts was submitted to the union of underworlds by all of the Alkebn Underworlds, and it was signed by over 30 death gods. It''s no exaggeration to say that it''s currently the most important treaty in all of the underworlds, and I said that it''s been particrly important during the past 200 years because of the state of the new continent."

    He pointed at the continent of Usonia on the map as he spoke.

    "As you''re aware, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are on the verge of death, and they''ve already gonepletely insane. However, you most likely don''t know the exact circumstances involved. I can tell you that currently, the new continent has the least supernatural activity out of any ce in the world. This is because Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa have been devouring theirherworldly citizens in a frenzy, and they''ve already sealed off the underworld so no Yin spirits can return to the mortal realm."

    "Why?" As soon as the question slipped out of Qin Ye''s mouth, he realized how stupid it was.

    The answer was very clear: the fastest way for Yin spirits to rapidly progress would be to devour other Yin spirits. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were desperately trying to extend their lifespans by attempting to break through to the cultivation rank above the Yama-King level, and they had no choice but to devour their own followers.

    "What did you just say?" the Second King Yanluo asked with furrowed brows.

    "Ah, nothing! I was asking... why... are you so... knowledgeable in world affairs? I wish I was half as knowledgeable as you are!"

    The second King Yanluo made noment on Qin Ye''s terrible attempt to cover up his own idiotic question, and he continued, "Unfortunately for them, there aren''t enough Yin spirits for them to devour on the new continent."

    On this asion, before Qin Ye had a chance to ask any questions, he continued, "That''s because during the war of colonization, almost all of the indigenous Usonians were wiped out. Usonia was already a sparsely popted continent, and with the drastic reduction in the indigenous Usonian poption, fewer offspring are also being produced. Even if the two death gods devour the entire underworld, it won''t be enough for them to make breakthroughs."

    A strained look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    This meant that there was no way Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would pass up the souls of any pureblood indigenous Usonians, and that meant that Richardman had most definitely already been devoured.

    He finally understood why that cloaked figure in Xu Fu''s memories had referred to this as a troublesome task.

    The second King Yanluo continued, "Hence, everyone is in fear of the Usonian Underworld. Everyone is scared that these two deranged death gods will get their hands on forbidden arts somehow. Their lives will being to an end in the next 200 years, but that''s already enough time to develop a forbidden art. If they manage to seed in that endeavor, the first thing that they''ll do with their newly developed forbidden art would be to threaten the entire world, using it as leverage to force all of the nations to offer up theirherworldly citizens to be followers of their religion. They would even go as far as to set mass migration of their underworld into motion. They already have nothing to lose. In contrast with their lives, the rules of the world arepletely insignificant. Hence, the importance of this conference is definitely beyond what you''ve anticipated."

    Qin Ye massaged his own be as he heaved a faint sigh. "Will there be Usonian representatives in attendance?"

    "Yes," the second King Yanluo replied with a smile. "Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are the only ones who''ve gone insane, the other death gods are still very much sane, and they know that they have to remain on rtively good terms with the rest of the world. Perhaps it''ll be Xolotl, perhaps it''ll be Supay, perhaps it''ll be some other death god. In any case, there will definitely be representatives from Usonia attending the conference. Why do you ask?"

 Chapter 869: Century-long Unsolvable Mystery (2)

    <h4>Chapter 869: Century-long Unsolvable Mystery (2)</h4>

    A wry smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Remember the new energy resource I told you about?"

    The second King Yanluo nodded in response.

    Thus, Qin Ye gave him a recount of what he had seen in Xu Fu''s memories.

    The second King Yanluo mmed the table and rose to his feet.

    "You can do that?" Even the second King Yanluo was stunned by what he had heard. "So what Xu Fu was saying was that he fed Richardman some Taisui fungus? I wouldn''t doubt the validity of this im, he''s definitely far more well versed with the Taisui fungus than a noob like you. So that''s why he was able to live to 100... Wait, no, it was close to 200. Don''t forget that ording to what you just said, Richardman was already 67 years old when he met Nik Te."

    The fact that he had stood up meant that even he had realized just how important this was. It was no exaggeration to say that whether the Cathayan Underworld would be able to quickly make it back to the pinnacle of the world hinged virtually, solely on whether it could obtain this new energy resource.

    However, Xu Fu had sealed away all of his important memories in order to give himself a chance at survival. Perhaps he was of the opinion that Hell wanted him dead due to his acts of indirect provocation against the Cathayan Underworld, but he most likely wouldn''t have anticipated that what Qin Ye wanted the most was his memories.

    Unfortunately, Richardman had also passed away, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa just so happened to be in a deranged state, meaning that Richardman''s soul had almost certainly been devoured. As a result of this set of circumstances, this had be an unsolvable mystery.

    No one could''ve imagined that a small box stored in the First Usonian Bank would contain the blueprint to changing the entire world.

    A grim look appeared in the second King Yanluo as he slowly paced back and forth in the room, and only after a long while did he continue, "I agree with your stance on this matter. There''s a very good chance that this scroll has something to do with the new energy resource. Xu Fu knew just how important this new energy resource is, so it''s extremely likely that he would find a ce to store it for safekeeping. Unfortunately for us, he was a living human, so most of his belongings are stored in the mortal realm. I''ll carefully search through his memories to see if I can find any instances of him hiding certain things. If I do find such instances and those events took ce during that sensitive period shortly after Nik Te''s death, then there''s a very good chance that what he was hiding at the time would be the handwritten notes pertaining to the new energy resource!"

    Qin Ye cast a bitter gaze toward the second King Yanluo. "Why couldn''t you have invented electricity or maic energy or something like that in the underworld? If you had done that, we wouldn''t have to go through so much trouble..."

    A cold smile appeared on the second King Yanluo''s face. "Do I look like I''m capable of inventing something like that?"

    ... I have no response to that.

    Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye put on a fawning smile again and asked, "So, hypothetically speaking, if I can find out who Richardman''s sessor is during this conference, will you be able to..."

    "No," the second King Yanluo cut him off in a cold voice, but he then couldn''t help but chuckle at the sight of Qin Ye''s dismayed expression upon hearing this response. "I''m very impressed by your ability to change expressions at will, but do you think it was simple for me toe back this time? In order to cross through a realm, I have to endure thews of a world."

    He slowly rolled up his sleeve as he spoke, revealing countless golden runes on his tanned arm. These runes were far moreplex than any Yin runes that Qin Ye had ever seen before, and looking at them made him feel as if he were plunging into a vast andplex gxy.

    "What are those?"

    "You can interpret this as the rejection of this world. In other words, it''s a power seal," the second King Yanluo exined as he rolled his sleeve back down. "Even though I was able to enter this world, the essence of this world is rejecting me, so at the very most, I can only use my power on myself. If I try to use it on others or use it outside of the territory of the Cathayan Underworld... Do you want to witness the end of the world?"

    Qin Ye repressed the urge to say that he did. He had a feeling that such a response would lead to a lot of suffering for him...

    "Also, I''m surprised you have the heart to be thinking about something like this," the second King Yanluo said with an amused smile. "Most of the world''s death gods will be attending the conference next month; have you thought about how many underworlds would''ve defected to the other three pirs during the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long absence? Have you thought about how many underworlds would attack the Cathayan Underworld for being silent for over 100 years? Have you considered how many death gods are looking forward to seeing the Cathayan Underworld being removed from the four pirs? On top of that, once the Cathayan Underworld reappears in the public eye, your hands will essentially be tied, and you''ll have to attend all of the subsequent international conferences as well. Have you thought about how much pressure you''ll be under during those conferences? The fact of the matter is that the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t fulfilled its duty as one of the four pirs during the past century. This is undeniable, and it''s a permanent blotch on our resume."

    The second King Yanluo continued in a grim voice, "A century ago, we funded other underworlds and we set up all types of research and development projects. How many of those projects have been forced to shut down due to our sudden withdrawal and the resultingck of funds? How many underworlds will harbor resentment toward us as a result? Your top priority is to clean up the mess left behind by the first King Yanluo, and only after that will you have a chance toe into contact with the Usonian Underworld, understood?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, but there was a skeptical look in his eyes.

    What do you mean by "the mess left behind by the first King Yanluo"? Aren''t you forgetting something?!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be bickering about such trivial details. Qin Ye cleared his throat before putting on the most sycophantic smile that he could muster up. "Then... would you like to attend the conference with me?"

    The second King Yanluo aimed a derisive re at him before sipping his tea without a response. However, through the look in his eyes, Qin Ye could see the words "piss off"!

    ... This is so typical of the way that the second King Yanluo does things that I can''t even find anything toin about...

    There were simply too many things toin about that he couldn''t settle on a single piece of criticism, and on top of that, he didn''t dare toin anyway. Thus, he took a deep breath and said, "Then I''ll be entrusting the duty of searching through Xu Fu''s memories to you."

    The second King Yanluo merely nodded impatiently in response.

    "Also, the Cathayan Underworld is returning from a century-long absence, shouldn''t you be training your subordinates in preparation for such an important conference?"

    The second King Yanluo set down his teacup, and a half-smile appeared on his face as he continued, "For a conference like this, there''s one thing that you must do."

    "What is it?"

    "You have to arrive three to five days early."

    Qin Ye: !?

    What kind of advice is this?! Get there early? Then do what? Shoot myself in the foot?!

    "Why?" Qin Ye waspletely perplexed. There was only a month left to begin with, and that was being further whittled down to only 25 days, there wasn''t enough time to evenplete basic etiquette training!

    The second King Yanluo gently stroked his teacup as he exined, "You must remember at all times that you''re representing one of the four pirs. It''s an unspoken rule that the representatives of the four pirs must arrive at all conferences several days early. You are in a paramount position and all of the underworlds fear and respect you. If all of the underworlds that wanted to see you were to line up, the line would stretch all the way from the Eastmount Province to the Cloudriver Province! You''re not the representative of an insignificant underworld who only turns up to these conferences to sign the treaty and give their vote. If you want to settle into this position, then you have to embrace the pressure thates with it. There are far too many people who want to see you. The return of the Cathayan Underworld entails the establishment of new alliances and international rtions. You have to know which underworlds have remained old friends of the Cathayan Underworld during this past century, which ones are new friends, which ones have switched from friends to enemies, which ones have switched from enemies to allies, and everything else in between. If you arrive right on time, you''re essentially telling everyone that you intend to y no further role in this conference other than to sign the treaty. Like I said, all of those small and insignificant underworlds can do that, but you can''t! Even if you really intend to do nothing other than signing the treaty, you have to take on your duty as one of the four pirs again and allow others time to approach you."

    The second King Yanluo gradually began to fade into nothingness as he spoke, and just before hepletely disappeared, he left one final parting message. "You have to make sense of all of this first before you find the time to meet with the representatives of the Usonian Underworld. Make sure to get your priorities straight, kid."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time flew by very quickly.

    That same day, Qin Ye returned to Ashmound to visit Zhao Yun. Thankfully, his injuries weren''t very severe. This was the difference between a Yama-King and someone above the Yama-King level. Withstanding a forbidden art was almost enough to kill the Plumed Serpent God, yet it was no big deal for Zhao Yun.

    After that, Qin Ye pored himself over his duties.

    At this point, he had already grown ustomed to his duties as King Yanluo. In contrast with the mortal realm, the leaders of the underworld didn''t have to do as much, and most of the work was left to the suitable Emissaries of Hell toplete.

    The first reason for this was that the Cathayan Underworld was a fair feudal society, and it wasn''t the only one, all of the underworlds were also like this.

    There would always automatically be a higher degree of fairness in a society with a system of power.

    Essentially, King Yanluo was responsible for earning money and looking after the administration, while the Emissaries of Hell were responsible for everything else. The only prerequisite that King Yanluo had to fulfill was that they had to be powerful. In an era without firearms, individual power reigned supreme. Rulers of the underworlds were responsible for deciding on the main direction for their respective underworlds'' development, and they didn''t need toplete all of the menial tasks involved, but virtually every single underworld ruler had progressed up the ranks from the very bottom, so they weren''tpletely clueless when it came to the finer details.

    The second reason for this was that there wasn''t actually much work that had to be done in the underworld. The top priority wasn''t development; instead, it was to maintain the bnce between the nation''s Yin and Yang.

    "Brother Qin, everything is ready." The following night, Wang Chenghao approached Qin Ye with a respectful expression as he informed, "All of the officials are waiting at the North Yin Pavilion, and notification has been sent out."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before rising to his feet, then carefully pulled out a box and gently opened it.

    This was a wooden box with intricate flowers engraved upon its surface. Every single flower petal was painted with bronzecquer, and the stamens were small pearls embedded into the surface of the box. Inside the box was aplete piece of rouge blood jade that was of the highest standard of quality. However, a rivet had been carved straight down the center of this exceptional piece of jade, and within the rivet sat apletely unremarkable-looking pen.

    The pen was very ordinary.

    It had a white shaft with faint scenic designs on its surface, and a ck tip. The only thing special about it was that wisps of ck and white energy were constantly permeating out of the tip of the pen.

    It was the Judgment Pen!

    Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be ovee by a myriad of emotions as he stroked the pen.

    It had been six and a half years since he had caught Granny Meng''s eye in Clear Creek County...

    On this day, he was able to assemble all three of Hell''s divine artifacts. Back then, he had fled Clear Creek County for just a fragment of one of these divine artifacts, and never did he think that he would reach this step someday.

    As he climbed further and further up the ranks, his past self seemed to have be more and more distant. He arrived on the top floor with Wang Chenghao, and as he looked up at the dark night sky, a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

    No one could be exempt from paying the price of growth.

    No one could live a carefree life forever.

    With the recovery of the Judgment Pen, it was time for him to bid farewell to his past self. He joined his palms together and chanted something, then opened the box and injected his Yin energy into the Judgment Pen with all his might. In the next instant, dazzling golden light erupted from the ordinary-looking Judgment Pen, and immediately thereafter, it flew up into the heavens.

    Everyone could see a streak of light rising up into the sky from the North Yin Pavilion, and all of theherworldly citizens who had already received word of this were looking from all parts of the city with expectant expressions.

    The entirety of Everburn waspletely silent.

    One minute passed, then two, and three minutester, a series of stars suddenly lit up silently in the dark night sky.

    Prior to this, the night sky of the Cathayan Underworld had only held the moon. During the day, there were no clouds, and only the sun hung in the sky, but in this instant, the sky was finallyplete.

    The stars had been reunited with the moon.

    After a few minutes of silence, the entirety of Everburn erupted into thunderous cheers, as everyone celebrated the resplendent gxy of stars that had appeared overhead.

 Chapter 870: Evolution of the Mirror of Eminence

    <h4>Chapter 870: Evolution of the Mirror of Eminence</h4>

    The sun, the moon, the stars, the order of Hell had finally been restored. Far away in Lotus City, Arthis looked up at the starry sky before extending a heartfelt bow.

    She was situated on the top of a golden pir. All of the pirs were hollow, and this was the office of the six paths of reincarnation. The interrogation rooms, the archives, and the entrance to the six paths of reincarnation were all gathered here. At this moment, she wasn''t the only one standing on the top of the pir, tens of thousands of Emissaries of Hell serving under her were situated at the top of the pirs, and they all fell to their knees.

    As the bright stars returned to the sky, a type of power that was unique to Hell was silently permeating through the air. It was impossible to describe exactly what it was, yet whatever it was, it was extremely profound and vast, rendering everyonepletely speechless. This feeling was growing more and more pronounced, and finally, it formed a ck and white vortex of revolving light that surged into the six paths of reincarnation.

    An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the sixyered lotus flower of karmic fire opened up. A series of paths appeared right in the midst of the mes, stretching all the way to the center of the fiery lotus. At the center of the six paths of reincarnation, a massive and majestic pce that was over 200 meters tall was also slowly rising up from within the mes.

    With every single inch that it rose up by, all of the mes in the six paths of reincarnation surged and churned violently. Furthermore, the sixyered lotus flower of karmic fire was gradually changing color!

    ck, white, red, yellow, purple, green... It was as if one world after another were taking shape within it, causing it to sh incessantly. After close to an hour, the pce finallypletely rose up above the sea of fire. At the very front of the pce were inscribed the words "Yama-King Pce" in powerful and flowing text, and just the mere sight of those words was enough to send shivers running down the spines of all Yin spirits.

    Boundlesshermes drifted out from the pce amid the anguished wails and beseeching howls of countless Yin spirits, and it was as if the mes were substantial objects. In the instant that the sea of fire rose up, the entire Cathayan Underworld suddenly trembled violently. Immediately thereafter, boundlessherfire began to converge rapidly like shooting stars from all eleven million six hundred thousand square kilometers of the Cathayan Underworld and all nine million six hundred thousand square kilometers of the mortal realm.

    They were like mighty rivers flowing into the sea, and there were far too many of them to count. They obscured the clouds and all of the celestial bodies, and even the light of the stars and the moon werepletely kept out. All of the Emissaries of Hell present were stunned by this marvelous spectacle.

    Those were the souls that Hell had been unable to receive, they were the natural spirits that hadn''t perished during the span of the past century.

    With thepletion of the six paths of reincarnation, they finally had a home to return to, and they were converging toward it in a frenzy.

    Not only could this spectacle be seen in Lotus City, everyone across the entire nation could also witness this resplendent meteor shower. It heralded the restoration of order in Hell. From this point onward, the cycle of reincarnation wasplete, and the Heavenly Dao was whole once again. Countless Yin spirits joined their palms together in prayer, even though they didn''t even know what they were praying for themselves.

    Perhaps they were praying for Hell to be a better ce.

    Perhaps they were praying that they would be reincarnated into a good life.

    Perhaps they were praying for forgiveness for the sins they hadmitted during their lives.

    Qin Ye was also looking on with countless emotions in his heart. He felt as if these shooting stars were a metaphor for his life. Once upon a time, he had also been drifting aimlessly through the sky like these shooting stars, and only now has he truly found stability and a sense of belonging.

    "It''s very beautiful, isn''t it?" A voice suddenly rang out beside Qin Ye, and he didn''t even have to look to know that it was the second King Yanluo.

    "It really is," he replied in a soft voice as he looked up at the sky.

    Everyone had these moments where they would be ovee with emotions, and no one knew when those moments would arrive.

    The second King Yanluo also seemed to be slightly entranced as he said, "Whenever I see things like this, it makes me feel like I''ve led a meaningful life and that I''m worthy of the status that was bequeathed upon me."

    Qin Ye nodded in earnest agreement.

    "Having said that, when you see a lot of stuff like this, it''s not really interesting anymore. The fact that you''re so awestruck by this means that you''re still far too inexperienced."

    Qin Ye: "..."

    Why did he have to always ruin the moment?

    Qin Ye turned around to look at the second King Yanluo with an expression that suggested that he had just eaten a turd, yet the second King Yanluo merely ignored him and turned toward a certain direction. "As King Yanluo, you don''t have the time to be awestruck by spectacles like this. Do you know what this entails?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, he answered his own question. "It entails the creation of a world. It''s not the creation of aplete world, but it''s the process of shattering and reforming an existing world. Countlessws and daos of heaven and earth are imbued within this meteor shower. All those at or above the Yama-King level will be able to sense this and benefit immensely from the process."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Why don''t I feel anything?"

    Because you''re fucking useless!

    The second King Yanluo really wanted to tell Qin Ye, but he refrained from doing so in the end. All he did was glower at Qin "the weakest King Yanluo in history" Ye with a derisive expression until Qin Ye pretended to hang his head in shame.

    He didn''t know why he was being red at, but he couldn''t go wrong by conceding his faults, even though he didn''t know what they were...

    Clearly, his willingness to ept his own ineptitude was greatly pleasing for the second King Yanluo to see, and several secondster, he turned and cast his gaze toward another direction. "This power will be actively captured by Yama-Kings, and some of it will also seep into some other ces. After all, some things are even more sensitive than us, and there''s a very good chance that they''ll be able to undergo evolution amid this miraculous spectacle."

    "What are you referring to?"

    "I''m referring to artifact spirits." In the sky above the North Yin Pavilion, boundless light had already appeared as if a star were plummeting toward the earth. "Thesews and daos are alreadyrgely useless to divine artifacts, but for artifacts below that caliber, they''re very beneficial. Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce this to you..."

    The light in the sky was bing brighter and brighter, and Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze in that direction. What artifact spirit was being referred to here? When had he ced an artifact up there?

    Wasn''t the artifact up there the Peach Blossom Lantern?

    What else was there?

    All of a sudden, his pupils contracted drastically, and a sense of realization dawned on him.

    Wait a minute... There really is something else up there!

    It was the disobedient artifact that refused to follow Qin Ye''s orders and was intent on experiencing the Great Dao of heaven and earth on its own!

    Boom! A burst of shockwaves swept through the heavens, transforming into a flurry of light that rapidly converged to form an antiquated mirror the size of a human head.

    It was the Mirror of Eminence!

    In contrast with its past self, its aura had be deeper and more profound. Dancing dragons were entwined on either side of the mirror, and its surface resembled that of a calmke. It seemed to exist somewhere between illusion and reality, making it impossible for one to see it clearly. Furthermore, the entire mirror was giving off a sense of unprecedented authority and might.

    "Has it be a divine artifact?" Qin Ye asked.

    "No, it''s only a quasi-divine artifact." The second King Yanluo waved a hand through the air, and the mirror instantly flew toward him. "After all, this isn''t truly the creation of a world, it''s only the restoration of the world, and the Mirror of Eminence was a rank below divine artifacts to begin with. Now that it''s passed over the most difficult obstacle to ovee, it''ll definitely be a divine artifact within the next 500 years."

    Qin Ye glowered at the mirror with tightly gritted teeth, and memories of their past conflicts immediately came flooding into his mind. However, before he had a chance to erupt, the second King Yanluo clicked his fingers and said, "Allow me to introduce to you your representative team''s etiquette teacher and negotiation teacher, Mirror of Eminence..."

    "Greetings, almighty, unmatched, iparable King Yanluo!" A heavenly voice immediately rang out from the mirror as soon as itnded in the second King Yanluo''s grasp, and Qin Ye''s jaw dropped straight to the ground upon hearing this. It seemed that following its evolution to be a quasi-divine artifact, it had learned to speak politely for once!

    Could it be that its moralpass had also evolved? It was incredible to see this bastard of a mirror handing outpliments!

    However, before he even had a chance to finish that thought, the Mirror of Eminence quickly continued, "During your absence, even that useless noob dared to touch me! I''ve never been so humiliated before! He''s just a little shit who hasn''t even hit 20 yet, but he dug me out and took me to Nippon without saying anything! Doesn''t he have any self-awareness at all?! Aside from the mighty and glorious second King Yanluo, anyone else who touches me will tarnish my 800-year-old regal soul!"

    The second King Yanluo thrust the mirror toward Qin Ye in an expressionless manner.

    "From this day forth, you''ll be responsible for teaching them diplomatic etiquette and negotiation strategies."

    The atmosphere instantly became extremely awkward.

    Silence.

    Five secondster, a clear "ptui!" rang out from within the Mirror of Eminence, and it scoffed, "Don''t think that daddy wouldn''t recognize you just because you grew up a little! There''s no way daddy''s going to teach you!"

    "I refuse!" Qin Ye was also firmly against this arrangement. He didn''t even dare to imagine what it would be like to be taught by this damn thing!

    "Don''t be rash," the second King Yanluo said in an unhurried voice. "The Mirror of Eminence can record all past events, and it has records of all of the past international and domestic conferences. It''s Hell''s only DVD yer, and it provides high definition footage with no watermarks, so it''s more than enough to teach you."

    The Mirror of Eminence was feeling extremely indignant.

    So its evolution had essentially transformed it from a camcorder into a DVD yer? What was it going to be after evolving to be a divine artifact? A blue ray yer?

    The second King Yanluo turned toward the Mirror of Eminence and continued, "In addition to that, he''s right, and I''m not here to reim my spot from him. He''s been doing very well, so there''s no reason for me to return. He is officially the third King Yanluo of Hell, one that has been acknowledged by the Heavenly Dao and all three realms, understood? In other words, if you want to evolve to be a blue ray ... I mean, a divine artifact in the future, then you''ll have to rely on him."

    If it had eyes, the Mirror of Eminence''s eyes would be bulging right now!

    You were about to say blue ray yer just now, weren''t you? So I''m not the only one who was thinking that, you never saw me as an official divine artifact! You only saw me as a video recorder!

    The Mirror of Eminence turned to face Qin Ye, and the two stared at each other in silence. Both of them seemed to be settling their own emotions.

    Qin Ye looked on with a cold expression, and he was prepared to attack the Mirror of Eminence as soon as it dared to say anything rude to him!

    A minuteter, the Mirror of Eminence broke the silence first, and its voice was as warm and bright as the sun at noon. "Ah, it''s the esteemed third King Yanluo! Please forgive me for not recognizing you sooner, I would be more than happy to serve you to the best of my abilities!"

    Countless alpacas stampeded through Qin Ye''s heart upon hearing this. This world was far too cruel, to the extent that circumstances could force anyone to say anything! He repressed the urge to gag as he forced a smile onto his face. "So... we''ll be working together from now on?"

    "That''s right! What a fantastic honor this is for me, hahaha! As soon as I woke up and saw this thriving city around me, I knew that the current King Yanluo had to be a wise and capable ruler!"

    Qin Ye could tell that the Mirror of Eminence was doing everything in its power to repress its own fury, and he couldn''t help but wonder if forcing the Mirror of Eminence to teach them would leave evesting trauma in its heart...

 Chapter 871: Representative Team

    <h4>Chapter 871: Representative Team</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the fourth morning, Wang Chenghao approached Qin Ye with a list. "Lord Qin, this is the list I''vepiled."

    Qin Ye didn''t even bother to look at the list as he turned to Wang Chenghao and said, "Why did it take you four whole days just toe up with a list of representatives? This is your area of expertise, go ahead and tell me about everyone, I want to know their skills, their specialties, and their past experience."

    Wang Chenghao was maintaining a mature and level-headed facade every single second of every day, and he adjusted hispletely prescriptionless sses as he put on a deep voice and said, "This is the first time that the Cathayan Underworld will be returning to the international stage in a century, and this is only the preliminary list. The final list will be decided in 15 days, which will be seven days before the date of departure that you stipted. Selecting these people is a very time-consuming process and..."

    Qin Ye had decided to take the second King Yanluo''s advice and go to the conference a week early.

    After all, the Cathayan Underworld really had been absent from the international stage. Even though that absence had nothing to do with him, he was the current ruler of Hell, so he had to take responsibility.

    Before Wang Chenghao had a chance finish, he suddenly saw Qin Ye gesturing to him out of the corner of his eyes, and he turned toward Qin Ye with a puzzled expression, only for Qin Ye to suddenly grab onto his chin before rubbing his hand into Wang Chenghao''s face several times with a pleased expression.

    Wang Chenghao: !!!

    Has he finally sumbed to my beauty and is about to make a move on me? Should I agree or should I agree?

    With these thoughts running rampant with his mind, his expression began to twist. Qin Ye was very pleased with the feeling of Wang Chenghao''s face in his hand, and he said, "You''re bing more and more boring by the day. How about this? I''ll give you special permission to act crazy when there''s no one else around, what do you think?"

    I think that''s a terrible idea! You''re just saying this because you''re too lonely as King Yanluo and want someone to fool around with!

    Unfortunately for Wang Chenghao, he was unable to speak as his face was still trapped between Qin Ye''s hand.

    "Why aren''t you saying anything?" Qin Ye rubbed his face with a displeased expression. "Shouldn''t you be giving a response right now?"

    Wang Chenghao thought about it for a moment before uttering a single syble. "Hm?"

    Qin Ye was momentarily ovee by the urge to punch Wang Chengao into oblivion, but in the end, he merely released him and sighed, "Forget it, I understand that you''re forced to repress your true nature when you''re with me. Seeing as I''m also having to constantly keep up a facade, you can do the same as well. You may begin."

    Wang Chenghao rubbed his own chin with an indignant expression before clearing his throat as he said in a serious voice, "Qian Dui, leader of the squad of bodyguards, director of the seventh intelligence division, extremely adept in reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance. His weakness is that he doesn''t have a very thorough understanding of the way international conferences in the underworld are run. However, he was nominated by Mr. Qin Changxin. He thinks that everyone needs time to develop this understanding. After all, only a handful of people in the entire Cathayan Underworld currently have a decent grasp of the state of the international underworlds."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. In reality, the best candidate was Arthis, but she had to stay behind to oversee matters at the six paths of reincarnation.

    It was definitely not good news that Qian Dui hadn''t taken part in any international underworld conferences. The difference between the underworld and the mortal realm lied in Yin energy. In the mortal realm, protective measures could be adopted such as arming bodyguards with firearms and transporting important individuals in armored vehicles. However, Yin energy was much more secretive and difficult to deal with, especially due to theck of education in this area in the Cathayan Underworld.

    However, he was willing to give Qian Dui this opportunity as Zhao Yun was going to being as well.

    Wang Chenghao raised his head and continued, "This squad of bodyguards is split up into two parts. You will be under the personal protection of Mr. Qin Xinzhong, while Mr. Qian will travel to the Nipponese Underworld a week before you."

    "Why is that?"

    Wang Chenghao exined, "This is something that Mr. Qian proposed based on his experience in attending major conferences in the mortal realm. Generally speaking, another country will request a visit from us, and once all the required procedures arepleted, we''ll give them a response. Once an agreement is reached, it can''t be altered. After that, the squad of bodyguards will arrive ahead of the actual panel of envoys. They''ll assess whether there are hazards present in the location dictated by the other party. On top of that, they have to thoroughly check the room that you''ll be living in, checking for surveince devices, visual blind spots, and other potential hazards. The job of a bodyguard isn''t just to act as a meat shield. After all of these checks arepleted and nothing is determined to be amiss, the location will be settled. If the squad of bodyguards feels that there''s an issue, then the location will have to be reconsidered."

    "I see..." Qin Ye nodded with a contemtive expression. This was his first time participating in a major international conference, and none of these things had urred to him. "Is this what Mr. Qian told you?"

    "Yes."

    Qin Ye nodded again before gesturing for Wang Chenghao to continue.

    Wang Chenghao took a nce at the document in his hands before continuing, "The squad of bodyguards will consist of 15 people. There was supposed to be a medical team as well, but Yin spirits don''t get sick, so there''s no need for that addition. The negotiation team will consist of yourself, Mr. Qin Changxin, and Ghost King Zhao. Mr. Qin Changxin will be the first speaker, and he''ll be finalizing some contracts and treaties on your behalf or negotiating with some unimportant underworlds, such as the Nipponese Underworld, the Incan Underworld, and the Australis Underworld."

    Qin Ye raised a hand to stop Wang Chenghao here. He only had 23 days to learn, so he had to ask all of the questions that sprang into his mind. "What are the rules?"

    "What do you mean?"

    Qin Ye exined, "Currently, the Cathayan Underworld is still one of the four pirs, and not every underworld has the right to request an audience with me. Of course, Qin Changxin will deal with the representative from the insignificant underworlds, but there should be some rules to dictate who I have to see and who I can delegate to Qin Changxin."

    An enlightened look appeared on Wang Chenghao''s face, and he replied, "There are indeed rules involved in this. I was going to tell you about themter, but if you''d like to hear them now, that''s not an issue, either. A ruler of one of the four pirs, or at least their deputy, will generally have to meet with the secretaries of the state of the other four pirs. ording to the information we''ve gathered in the past, all other underworlds aside from the Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld have deputy death gods, an example of which is Hypnos of the Argosian Underworld. He is the God of Sleep, and he is the twin of the God of Death, Thanatos, thereby granting him a part of the death god''s power. After all, there''s a fine line between death and slumber. There''s also deputy death god Osiris of the Aegyptian Underworld. It''s said that Osiris is a giant dragon that brings death wherever it goes. Put it this way: there''s no convention for setting deputy death gods in the east, but this is amon arrangement in the west, including even in the smaller western underworlds. Deputy death gods are below the rank of secretaries of state, so you don''t have to meet them in person. That''s basically all there is to it. Those who wish to request an audience with you will definitely notify you of which underworld they belong to and what status they hold, as well as who they''re representing. Of course, these are all unofficial and unspoken rules. As for exactly who you choose to meet or ignore, that will ultimately be up to your discretion."

    Qin Ye smiled as he watched Wang Chenghao in silence, and Wang Chenghao was getting goosebumps from the scrutiny.

    Has my dazzling looks caught the eye of Yanluo Qin? Should I go and get some cosmetic surgery done? I don''t feel safe like this...

    Qin Ye leaned back against his chair in a rxed manner as he smiled and said, "You know, you don''t have to pretend to be so serious and uptight all the time, I really like it when you adopt a more casual and easy-going demeanor. I think we got along really well back in Clear Creek County, and..."

    "Hold on!" Wang Chenghao stroked his own arms to try and settle the goosebumps that had been raised all over his skin.

    This is clearly the precursor to a confession! What should I do?

    He inspected Qin Ye with a skeptical expression and cleared his throat before asking, "What''s been going on with you recently? Are you going through menopause?"

    Qin Ye red at him before replying, "I saw Arthis not long ago, and during that meeting, I was suddenly struck by the feeling that all of you are living in a very tiresome fashion, having to hide your true selves all the time, so I want you all to rx a little."

    "There''s no need for that," Wang Chenghao replied with a roll of his eyes. "I''m only doing what''s expected of me after you saved my life. Also..."

    He paused momentarily as a serious look appeared in his eyes. "Only after dying once did Ie to understand how I should live my life. I''ve thought about this carefully, and I realized that I was far too arrogant in the past. Sure, my family was quite well-off, but they certainly didn''t have enough money to change the world, and I was taking myself far too seriously."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Indeed you were. You even donated everything to the Red Cross Foundation. Then you went and died in my arms..."

    You still remember that?!

    Wang Chenghao was caught off guard by this sudden trip down memoryne, and he couldn''t help but crack a smile, but he then immediately reverted back to a serious expression as he said, "To be honest, you''ve previously given me the option of abandoning my current role to be an Emissary of Hell in the mortal realm or to be a city lord or something like that. However..."

    He looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes as he continued, "If I really wanted that kind of life for myself, would I not have already spoken to you about it? Am I the type of person who would be too shy to approach you about something like that?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Indeed, in terms of shamelessness, you''re only slightlyckingpared to me."

    ... Should I be praising you for your self-awareness or your ability to insult others without uttering a single swear word? Why does it feel like you''re insulting me even though you''re actually insulting yourself?

    Wang Chenghao took a deep breath before continuing, "Honestly, I think my current life is very interesting. During my time in the mortal realm, I would always see this leader or that minister of defense traveling all over the world on television, and I felt like that was super cool. Now that I''m in the same position, I really would be squandering this opportunity if I don''t make the most of it. Seeing as I''ve made this decision, then I have to act ording to my position. As King Yanluo''s secretary, I have to act the part. I even got this pair of sses so that I could appear more mature. What do you think?"

    Qin Ye was rather taken aback to hear this. He didn''t think that this would be Wang Chenghao''s mindset.

    However, he wasn''t going to try and persuade him or to alter his wishes, even though he didn''t want Wang Chenghao to be so serious and uptight all the time. Everyone had their own life philosophies, this was his choice, and it was his right. Even as King Yanluo, it wasn''t in Qin Ye''s ce to criticize him or to deprive the basic human right of choice from him under the guise of thinking for his sake.

    "You''ve done very well." Qin Ye nodded with a smile. "You''ve also performed brilliantly in your role as secretary. Continue. This is the first international affair that you''ve had to take care of, and let me get this straight, you''re fired if you stuff this up."

    The two of them exchanged a smile, and in that instant, it seemed that they had be slightly closer. Wang Chenghao continued, "Following the three speakers will be the panel of advisors, which is the most important part of the team of representatives. I''ve consulted with General Zhao, and he told me that the first King Yanluo would always bring with him a panel of roughly 10 advisors. Of course, that number was set to fluctuate depending on the nation that he was visiting and the level of the importance of the conference that he was attending. As for the second King Yanluo, he didn''t bring anyone with him. If someone wanted to go with him, then they had to nominate themselves. I''m thinking that in your case... the more advisors, the better."

    Qin Ye''s heart was immediately filled with indignation upon hearing this.

    What''s that supposed to mean? Am I that ipetent in your eyes? Do you really want to keep this job?!

    However, he couldn''t bring himself to voice his indignation as unfortunately, he agreed with Wang Chenghao''s assessment.

    Of course I have to bring more people with me, what if I don''t bring enough and identally end up dead?

    "In order to assemble this panel of advisors, I had no choice but to request the schrs to temporarily halt their research and development into the Hua Xia Six Origins Diagram."

    He closed the document in his hands and continued, "Last but not least, there will be a total of nine clerks, recorders, and auditors. Due to the fact that we have three speakers, there might be three meetings running concurrently alongside one another. There must be three clerks and recorders in attendance at each meeting. If there are only two and the records do not match, then there will be no way to determine which records are correct, and that''s where the auditorse in. As for the clerks, they will be responsible for writing and submitting reports. Sometimes, there will be spontaneous meetings held in order to discuss a certain topic, and clerks must be present at all meetings of this category. This concludes the list of representatives for this conference. The squad of bodyguards is led by Qian Dui and consists of 15 people. In addition to that, there will be three each of speakers, clerks, recorders, auditors, secretaries, and assistants. In addition, there will be a panel of five advisors and five backup speakers, as well as 43 Emissaries of Hell. Please take a look."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before epting the documents and carefully reading through them. 10 minutester, he raised his head and said in a serious voice, "You''ve done very well. Looks like you really are very suited to this position, I can tell that you''ve really done your homework in preparing these documents. Inform all of the people on this list to attend etiquette training starting from tomorrow morning. We are the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld, and we have to live up to our prestige!"

 Chapter 872: The First Invitation Letter

    <h4>Chapter 872: The First Invitation Letter</h4>

    "Are you fucking mentally impaired?!" Qin Ye was standing outside the door, while the Mirror of Eminence''s furious roars shook the entire room. Even though exceptional soundproofing measures had been implemented in the hall, the window panes were still trembling violently in the wake of the Mirror of Eminence''s fiery wrath.

    "Why can''t you speak clearly? Do you have dog shit in your mouth?! If all diplomats are like you, nothing would get done because no one would understand what anyone is saying! Go and squat in that corner over there!"

    "As for you, I would call you a pig, but that would be an insult to pigs! Do you think you''re intimidating anyone by putting on that stern face? You''re a DIPLOMAT, understood? Even if you just had your leg cut off, you have to smile! You are the face of the nation, do you understand?! Your face is so long one could easily mistake it to be a shoe! I wouldn''t be surprised if someone nted their foot into your face if you keep this up!"

    "Madam, can you stand up straight for once in your life? Puff out your chest, and squeeze in that stomach! Posture is everything, do you understand?"

    "My god, if I had legs, I would kick the living shit out of you!"

    "What? You wanna fight me? Come on then, hit me! Do you know how much you''ll have to pay if you even so much as chip my frame?"

    Holy shit...

    Qin Ye gulped as he turned to Zhao Yun, who was standing beside him. "Has it always been like this?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "The ce in Hell that everyone dreads the most is the Great Cry of Hell, which is overseen by Justice Bao of the fifth pce. Justice Bao was once the Yama-King of the first pce, but he was too sympathetic toward sinners, so he was transferred to the fifth pce, where he and the Mirror of Eminence would neutralize one another''s personality traits. I''ve always felt like the Mirror of Eminence is what the Great Cry of Hell was named after..."

    Qin Ye turned toward Zhao Yun with an expression that looked as if he had seen a ghost.

    Did you make a joke just now? That had to have been a joke, right? Should Iugh as a gesture of respect?

    "It''s been silent for several centuries, and it''s finally releasing all of that pent-up rage now." Zhao Yun waspletely oblivious to the fact that what he had just said could be interpreted as a joke, and he rubbed his own chin as he looked into the room. "Will everyone be able tost through this training? It''s only the third day..."

    The people who could truly represent Hell were currently being taught in person by the second King Yanluo. They were being instructed in areas such as the state of international affairs, the customs and traditions of other nations, the habits and demeanors of important emissaries of other underworlds.

    These people didn''t need to learn basic etiquette. Most of them were already high-ranking officials during their lives in the mortal realm, so they were already experts in that area. All they needed was to learn the differences between negotiation in the underworld and negotiation in the mortal realm.

    Qin Ye was also learning under the second King Yanluo''s tutge, and he had some spare time, so he decided to take a look at the foundation ss that was being run by the Mirror of Eminence. This was a ss for the secretaries, assistants, clerks, recorders, auditors, and other foundational personnel. Clearly, this was a ce that no one wanted to be...

    "Should we go in?" Zhao Yun asked.

    "Ahaha... Let''s not do that. I feel like anyone who walks into that room right now will have their lives endangered. Let''s wait until it releases all of that pent-up frustration first."

    Thus, Qin Ye carefully departed, and after about half an hour of rest, the second King Yanluo''s call for assembly rang out in his mind.

    Their ssroom was situated in the northernmost section of the North Yin Pavilion, and upon his arrival, Qin ye discovered that the second King Yanluo wasn''t present. Instead, there were many Emissaries of Hell, all of whom were discussing how to deal with unforeseen circumstances or hypothesizing questions that other nations would raise before working out potential solutions.

    Everyone knew that this wasn''t going to be the final roster. Aside from a few Emissaries of Hell who were already guaranteed spots, all of the other representatives would be chosen during the course of this training camp, and none of the Emissaries of Hell present wanted to give up on an opportunity like this.

    Once everyone had taken a seat, a gust of Yin wind blew into the room, and the second King Yanluo reappeared. He snapped his fingers, and the Yin energy behind him instantly formed a world map that was slowly rotating on the spot.

    "It''s already been three days," the second King Yanluo said as he swept his gaze across the room. "On each day, we''ve learned about one of the other three pirs. We learned about their history, the potential dangers lurking within them, and their aspirations. Today, we''re going to learn about the true objectives of each of those underworlds. For example, the Argosian Underworld''s greatest aspiration is for other underworlds to support them in uniting Europa, and to upy Northern Europa with its troops. Advisor Fang, what do you think their objective is?"

    Advisor Fang was a middle-aged man in his forties, and he paused to think about this for a few seconds before replying, "Is it because they want to attack Northern Europa?"

    "That''s right." the Second King Yanluo turned his gaze toward Qin Ye and said, "Many years ago, Thanatos started a war in Athens to unite Europa. Perhaps you would think that the Argosian Underworld''s objective is to unite the entirety of Europa, but you''d be wrong. In reality, this was the territory they were aiming to conquer."

    He turned around before drawing a circle on the map, and Qin Ye discovered that the circle epassed the entirety of Europa aside from the northern part.

    A burst of hushed chatter immediately rang out within the ssroom, and the second King Yanluo continued, "This isn''t because the Argosian Underworld is too weak. Even if the Cathayan Underworld were to attack Northern Europa, we would still fail to conquer it. Perhaps you don''t know much about the current religions, but I can tell you that there are many death gods that you haven''t even heard of. The five nations of the Northern Europa have managed to withstand the pressure exerted upon them from the rest of Europa, and they were able to do this as they have many death gods and religions. Firstly, there''s Find, which has the local death god Tuoni, death goddess Tuonita, and death god, Surma. To the left, there are the death gods Gwyn ap Nudd and Arawn of the Celtics. These religions stretch all the way to d and Brittania to the west, but generally speaking, these religions have only taken over the bottom half of those nations."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "As for the top half of the five nations of Northern Europa, you''ll find many renowned death gods there such as Death God H, Midgard Serpent J?rmungandr, and Fenrir."

    A loudmotion immediately rang out across the room in the wake of this revtion.

    "Are they supposed to be very powerful?" Qin Ye asked.

    "They are," the Second King Yanluo replied. "It''s said that H is the only god that wasn''t mentioned to be dead or alive in Ragnar?k. However, she most definitely is alive, and she''s an intermediate Yama-King, which ces her on the same level as Fenrir. With so many death gods in the five nations of Northern Europa, there was naturally no way that the Argosian Underworld would be able to conquer those nations, particrly after having just expended considerable effort to conquer the rest of Europa. Fortunately, aside from the five nations of Northern Europa, there are virtually no established religions in Europa. There''s only a den of vampires in Romania, but they have greater ties with the mortal realm than they do with the underworld. The Argosian Underworld isn''t able to sustain their war efforts for extended periods of time, so they''re unable to conquer the entirety of Europa. Even to this day, the five nations of Northern Europa are still in an alliance to oppose the Argosian Underworld."

    A smile appeared on his face as he continued, "An alliance forged between eight death gods is certainly nothing to be scoffed at, and if there''s any hidden ally that we could perhaps make sure of, it would have to be this alliance of five nations. It''s also exactly because of this that I''ve never disyed any animosity toward these five nations."

    A surprised look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this. He had thought that the second King Yanluo would simply pick on whichever nation he pleased, but it turned out that even he had to exercise discretion in this regard.

    "We''ve gone a little off-topic." The second King Yanluo took a sip of tea before continuing, "What I''m trying to say is, in order to determine an underworld''s aspirations, you have to look back at their history, and the Argosian Underworld is an example of this. No one wants to be ruled over by someone else, and the nations that it''s conquered in the past have virtually all recovered their independence one after another. The past several centuries was enough time for the religions of the Europa Underworlds to fade into history, and the only established religions that remain on the continent of Europa are in the north. It''s a simr case with the Aegyptian Underworld. Never did they think that the Alkebn Underworlds, which were incapable of producing even a single Yama-King, would be harboring the Plumed Serpent God in secret. Even though they managed to conquer the middle east, they''ve lost their support base in the process. They desperately want to conquer all of the Alkebn Underworlds, so it could be said that all of the Alkebn Underworlds aside from the Aegyptian Underworld are also hidden allies for us, and that''s not even taking into ount the fact that the third King Yanluo has close ties with them to begin with."

    He took a deep breath as a serious look appeared on his face. "Identify your allies and determine who your enemies are. Don''t hurt your allies, and be constantly on your guard against your enemies, this is something that you should ensure at all times.

    Everyone was scrambling to take notes while digesting everything that the second King Yanluo had just said. Right at this moment, a burst of door-knocking rang out, and upon receiving permission to enter, Secretary Jiang strode into the room before extending a respectful bow, then cast his gaze toward Qin Ye.

    "I''ll be right back." Qin Ye immediately stood up and followed Secretary Jiang out of the ssroom.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "What is it? Didn''t I tell you not to disturb me unless it''s for something important?"

    There were no particrly major moves that Hell was currently looking to make. What the Cathayan Underworld needed was rest and recuperation, so Qin Ye had dumped virtually all of his duties onto the Harken and several Yin spirits who were high-ranking officials during their time in the mortal realm.

    "My Lord, the invitation letter has arrived," Secretary Jiang informed.

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Come with me."

    The two made their way to Qin Ye''s office, and as soon as Qin Ye took a seat, Secretary Jiang closed the door in a cautious manner before pulling out an elegant invitation letter.

    It''s finally here¡­ Qin Ye took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then began to carefully read through the letter.

    The envelope was ck while the bottom half was white, and at its center was a red spider lily. After opening the envelope, Qin Ye discovered that the invitation letter was very long. It was impossible to tell that such a small envelope was holding such a thick letter.

    The first line was: "The International Underworld Committee for the Conference of the Re-signing of the Treaty On the Non-proliferation of Forbidden Arts would like to invite the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld to the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts to be held in Amano-Iwato on the 7th of June. We look forward to your attendance."

    It was a very simple message, and what was much more noteworthy to Qin Ye was the names below this message.

    The first name was Death God Yamaraja of the Hindustani Underworld.

    The Hindustani Underworld''s representative team consisted of the first speaker, Death Goddess Durga, the second speaker, Death God Sunpo, and several Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges. In total, it was a representative team of almost 100 people.

    The second name on the list was Death God Hypnos of the Argosian Underworld.

    The Argosian Underworld''s representative team consisted of the first speaker, Death God Chronos, the second speaker, Death God Sorenges, and the third speaker, Archimedes, followed by a whole host of Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges, amounting to a representative team that definitely numbered over 100!

    The third name was naturally Death God Anubis of the Aegyptian Underworld.

    The Aegyptian Underworld''s representative team consisted of the first speaker, Death God Osiris, the second speaker, Death God Apophis, the third speaker, Death God Sabra, and the fourth speaker, Khufu, as well as another massive entourage.

    Just the representative teams for these three underworlds alone took up quite a few pages, and immediately following those were the representative teams of the other underworlds.

    From the new continent, there were Death Gods Ah Puch and Xolotl of the Mayans, and Death God Supay of the Incans.

    From Europa, there was Death God Donn of Irnd, and from the five-nation alliance of Northern Europa, there was Death Goddess Sedna of the Inuits, Death God Anko of the Celts...

    The names of these death gods made this invitation letter a truly harrowing sight to behold.

    This was an international conference of the highest caliber where only death gods had the right to speak. All of the death gods in attendance were extremely notorious figures that struck fear into the hearts of all of the mortal realm''s humans.

    "It seems like this is going to be quite a tumultuous event..." Qin Ye gently closed the invitation letter as he cast his gaze out the window, and all of a sudden, a gust of wind blew forth out of nowhere, sweeping through the streets and alleyways of the city.

    It was like a precursor to the storm that had been brewing for over a century...

 Chapter 873: Heavenmend Rocks

    <h4>Chapter 873: Heavenmend Rocks</h4>

    It was only a letter, but Qin Ye felt as if it were burning a hole through his hand.

    All of the names on the letter were like eyes that had witnessed the evolution of human civilization. Every single death god on this list had lived for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. There were several dozen underworlds of different scales listed here, and all of those names that were known far and wide, and were as old as time itself were listed on this sheet of paper.

    If the Cathayan Underworld were analogous to a region of the sea, then this would be the entire ocean in its full glory.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before folding up the letter in his hands. He knew that this was no invitation letter, it was a deration of war! Qin Ye could virtually sense the killing intent lurking within every single word of every single line.

    He carefully folded the letter back up before slipping it back into the envelope, then pressed the envelope shut using the red spider lily as he said in a calm voice, "The four pirs hold so much power. They can decide the fate of so many nations'' economies and hold significant speaking rights on the world stage. Who wouldn''t be tempted by such a prestigious title?"

    He set the envelope down onto the table and sighed, "I can already imagine just how perilous and tumultuous this conference is going to be. All of the underworlds that have been constantly vying to rece us will most likely pounce on us like starving wolves. They''ll do everything in their power to tear chunks out of us under the leadership of the other three pirs, and that''s not even taking into ount the countless other things that are most likely brewing under the surface."

    A grim look appeared on Secretary Jiang''s face. Even he was aware of just how perilous this conference was going to be.

    Perhaps Qin Ye''s safety wouldn''t be under any threat, but the fate of the Cathayan Underworld was very much on the line.

    The four pirs wasn''t just a title, it entailed immense power and granted an underworld the ability to secure more benefits from the world than anyone else. In addition to that, all of the four pirs are extremely influential, and most importantly, all of them hold veto rights on the world stage.

    They could use those veto rights to refute any proposals that were detrimental to them, and this advantage essentially made them invincible on the world stage. It wasn''t difficult to imagine how many underworlds were desperately yearning for this right, and it was even easier to imagine just how many starving wolves would emerge from the shadows if one of the four pirs were to fall from grace.

    "When did this letter arrive?" Qin Ye asked in a calm voice.

    Secretary Jiang also calmed down as he replied, "It probably arrived quite a while ago."

    "Probably?"

    A resigned look appeared on Secretary Jiang''s face as he exined, "My Lord, we do not have other avenues through which the outside world canmunicate with us. We don''t know how long ago this messenger bird was sent out, and it most likely tracked your Yin energy from when you made that trip out to sea. It was only discovered this week by the Yin soldiers patrolling the sea, so it''s impossible to ascertain exactly when it was supposed to have arrived."

    Qin Ye rubbed his own be in a resigned manner upon hearing this.

    It wasn''t that the Cathayan Underworld didn''t want to open up avenues ofmunication, it simply didn''t dare to do so.

    Without the support of an energy resource,munication could only be facilitated through the use of messenger birds, and in the hands of a Yama-King, a great deal of information could be extracted out of a messenger bird. Even Qin Ye could cast several anti-reconnaissance arts that could thwart an Abyssal Prefect on a messenger bird. However, the coastline of the nation was far too long, and if they were to open up the Array of the Nine Gods, it would simply be unfeasible to assign an Abyssal Prefect with the duty of constantly monitoring iing messenger birds.

    Thankfully, the existence of the Array of the Nine Gods erased those concerns. Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh as he mused, "Currently, every word and action from the Cathayan Underworld is like dancing on the tip of a knife, and everyone else has their eyes firmly fixed on us. The fact that we''ve been absent from the international stage for so long would undoubtedly arouse suspicions from many underworlds. So be it, I''ll just have to handle things as theye."

    Seeing as the situation was already set in stone, the only thing he could do now was figure out how to make the best of everything.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Time passed by one day after another, and everyone was making final preparations. Soon, the 20th of May arrived, and finally, all of the rosters were finalized.

    The roster of 43 Emissaries of Hell was expanded by two, reaching 45 representatives in total. The twote additions were young Emissaries of Hell who had exceptional memory and fast reactions.

    One of them was called Zhao Zhenghu, while the other was named Xu Yilong, and they were responsible for reminding Qin Ye about all of the affairs concerning the major underworlds.

    For example, in order to break the ice, small talk was a must during meetings with other underworld leaders. Leader A would say something like: "The XX project that your nation recently proposed is very beneficial to the entire world." to which Leader B would respond with something like: "The XX measures taken by your nation are considerably ahead of its time." Thus, conversation would begin flowing, and the two leaders would be able to move on to different topics of conversation. It could be said that this exchange of small talk was imperative to assessing one''s political inclinations and objectives.

    It seemed like a trivial task, but if it weren''t for the exceptional memories and adaptive abilities of these two Emissaries of Hell, they wouldn''t even have been considered for this task. After all, it would be thoroughly humiliating if Qin Ye were to mention one nation''s exploits to its leader, only for those exploits to actually apply to another nation. Simrly, if another underworld leader were to express friendly intentions toward Qin Ye, but Qin Ye couldn''t reciprocate in kind, then he would be looked down on from the get-go as that would be a sign that Qin Ye wasn''t keeping up to date with international affairs and was a clueless fool.

    That would be unbefitting of his status as the leader of the Cathayan Underworld, and it would also strike the other party with the feeling that Qin Ye wasn''t taking them seriously.

    These were things that underworld politicians would inevitably have to face, and it wasn''t much different in the mortal realm. Every single step taken had its own purpose, so nothing could be allowed to go wrong.

    On the 28th of May, the second King Yanluo''s lessons drew to a conclusion, and everyone was given a break. The Cathayan Underworld''s reply letter had already been sent to the Nipponese Underworld, and the team of representatives was going to set off on the 1st of June. During the three days in between, Qin Ye and the second King Yanluo decided to give everyone a rest so they could recuperate and organize their thoughts.

    After all, this was highly intensive training, and it had been conducted in a very short time.

    "In order to have a thorough understanding of the world and all of the major underworlds, a process of umtion is required." In the King Yanluo''s office, the second King Yanluo was seated on the couch, gently blowing into a teacup. "Dedicated training for less than a month is still far too short."

    Everyone had been forced to cram a massive amount of information into their heads, and whether they could remember all of it was one thing, whether they could actually make use of all of this information appropriately was an entirely different matter.

    However, there was no time for them to consolidate.

    The second King Yanluo set down his teacup and said, "In three days, you''ll be entering Amano-Iwato. Don''t worry about keeping up appearances, I have a pretty impressive-looking treasure boat that will be more than enough to stun those hillbillies."

    "Is there really no way for you toe with us?" Qin Ye asked with a hopeful expression.

    A faint smile appeared on the second King Yanluo''s face. "What are you so afraid of? Are you a little virgin girl? Are you afraid that your first time will hurt?"

    Fuck off!

    Qin Ye was on the verge of hurling his spear at thisckadaisical bastard! He was ashamed of having such a predecessor!

    The second King Yanluo continued, "You have to experience all of these things yourself. You are the ruler of Hell, and there''s no one who can help you during the negotiations. You have to think carefully about everything and constantly be flexible and adaptable. Also..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "Have you thought about what your objective is for this conference?"

    Qin Ye thought about this for a few seconds, then replied, "I want to leave my mark on this world and endure this conference without any significant setbacks, then begin to establish rtions with the major underworlds."

    "What are you going to use to establish those rtions?" the second King Yanluo asked. "Ore? Resources? Forgive me for being frank, but only third-rate countries export those things. As for first-rate underworlds, what they export is technology. Advanced underworlds specialize in purchasing resources from their original production sites, then use those resources to create technology that can be sold for several times or even tenfold the price that they paid."

    The second King Yanluo was clearly implying something here.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the second King Yanluo for a few seconds before asking, "Are you saying we should offer an energy resource?"

    "Perhaps," the second King Yanluo replied with a frustrating smirk. "However, shouldn''t you be considering the more important question, which is how you can get your hands on this energy resource?"

    "Of course it''s through corresponding with the representatives of the Usonian Underworld, then..." Qin Ye abruptly ttered before he could finish.

    Indeed, how was he supposed to obtain this energy resource? Bymunicating with the representatives of the Usonian Underworld?

    There were three major factions in the Usonian Underworld, the Incas, the Mayans, and the Aztecs. Each of them had their own representatives, and in order to secure the energy resource, he had to make contact with the representatives of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    Were they even going to attend the conference?

    The second King Yanluo didn''t interrupt him, and several secondster, Qin Ye nodded to himself as he said, "They''ll definitelye. Even if they don''t care about what the death gods under theirmand are doing, they still have to know, but how can I attract the attention of those representatives?"

    The representatives would definitely initiate conversation with him, but that would be it. It would only be a meaningless greeting unless he could make more out of the conversation.

    The state of the new continent was simply far too special. It was extremely rare to see the demise of a death god, and that was most likely going to take ce within the next two or three centuries. Due to their circumstances, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa didn''t want anything from other underworlds, so how was Qin Ye supposed to strike a deal with them?

    They were already close to insane, so at the very most, all they would do would be to greet the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld. If Qin Ye were to forcibly approach them and try to strike up a deal, then he would only arouse suspicions from other underworld leaders, thinking that he was trying to exert his influence upon the new continent. As a result, he would be doing nothing but making enemies for himself.

    The second King Yanluo seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and he smiled as he said, "If you want something from someone, you have to give them something first. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s thought process actually isn''t incorrect. Aside from assimting with the Heavenly Dao, there is no other path for them to take. However, if they could progress beyond the Yama-King level, then the Heavenly Dao wouldn''t dare to devour them, and they would be able to extend their lives. However, there simply aren''t enough Yin spirits on the Usonian continent for them to devour to reach that level. In 1492, Christopher Columbus first reached the new continent. At the time, the indigenous Usonian poption was around eighty million, and they were followers of three major religions. However, after 1640, the indigenous poption declined dramatically to only six million. By the time the 19th century rolled around, that number had dropped even further to 250,000. In 1703, the Madison administration implemented the ''scalp policy''. Anyone who could submit the scalp of an indigenous Usonian, regardless of what age or gender they were, could receive 50 to 100 US dors as a reward. As a result of these sessive destructive blows, this ethnicity currently only exists in name. Even though there are supposedly thirty million indigenous Usonians right now, 99% of them are mixed-race Usonians. On top of that, they are no longer followers of the three major religions as the death gods hadn''t assisted them in any way during the devastating disasters they had faced."

    Qin Ye sighed, "Intervention in the affairs of other realms cannot take ce unless absolutely necessary. All the death gods could''ve done would''ve been to ry dreams, and that would only be of negligible help. At the time, the colonialists on the new continent were truly a bunch of demons."

    "Indeed..." the second King Yanluo sighed. "If you prove to be too incapable a leader, Cathay will also suffer the same fate one day."

    Qin Ye nodded with a grim expression upon hearing this.

    "If you can execute this well, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa will be our greatest allies," the second King Yanluo continued. "They''vepletely gone insane, so they''re not afraid to even wreak havoc at the conference, and not many people would dare to oppose any proposals that they make. If you can get them to stand on our side, then this conference will truly be very interesting."

    The second King Yanluo''s eyes were glowing like those of a fox, and Qin Ye said, "First, we have to make them develop an interest in the Cathayan Underworld. Do you have a way to do that?"

    The cunning look in the second King Yanluo''s eyes grew even more pronounced. "Take a guess."

    Qin Ye really wanted to stand up and p him across the face, but that would be akin tomitting suicide.

    "I''ll leave you to think about the answer to that question." The second King Yanluo rose to his feet as he said, "If you find the right answer and execute well, there''s a very good chance you could receive an unexpected powerful ally during this conference. If you can''t find the right answer, then you''ll just have to force your way onward. Here, this is for you."

    He waved a hand through the air, and a rock the size of a small finger appeared in Qin Ye''s grasp.

    "This is a Heavenmend Rock, which can allow one to experience the Great Dao of heaven and earth. Only by meditating on this thing can one prevent themselves from being assimted by the Heavenly Dao. This is a priceless treasure, and only I have a supply. Give that to the representatives of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. I''ve opened the door for you, as for what you need to do after that, that''s for you to think about."

 Chapter 874: Zhao Dehan

    <h4>Chapter 874: Zhao Dehan</h4>

    Qin Ye nodded in response before turning to the second King Yanluo with a skeptical expression. "You just said that if you want something from someone, you have to give them something first, could it be that you want something from me..."

    Pretend I never said anything!

    The death re from the second King Yanluo encouraged Qin Ye to make the wise decision to stop what he was saying. Before he had a chance to continue, the second King Yanluo said, "One final thing: I checked through all of Xu Fu''s memories during the past few days, and now I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"

    Before Qin Ye even had a chance to reply, the second King Yanluo continued with a smile, "The bad news it is then."

    Can I refuse?

    The second King Yanluo was clearly very pleased by Qin Ye''s speechless expression, and he casually crossed his legs as he said, "Through my assessment of Xu Fu''s memories, I discovered that unfortunately, there is only one part of his memories that I''m unable to ess."

    "Is it his memories following Nik Te''s death?" Qin Ye asked.

    The second King Yanluo nodded in response. "Those memories spanned a very long time, from handing over that box to Richardman to his return to Cathay, then to his next trip to Usonia. This is a period of more than a century, and I think he was modifying Gui Xu during that time. So the question is, why has he hidden the memories of Gui Xu''s modification process?"

    Qin Ye sighed, "It must be because he didn''t want anyone else to see the process of creation and method of usage of the new energy resource."

    The second King Yanluo nodded in agreement. "Out of his 2,000 years of memories, these are the only memories that he concealed. Regardless of whether we consider his motive, his mindset, or the timing, we can basically confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that the box he handed over to Richardman contains all of the notes pertaining to the new energy resource."

    Qin Ye was both relieved and a little dismayed to hear this. "Then what''s the good news?"

    A cold look appeared in the second King Yanluo''s eyes as he replied, "The good news is obviously that I was able to track down the Emissary of Hell who''s been colluding with him through his memories."

    A cold look also appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this, and his heart was filled with killing intent.

    No nation could tolerate traitors like this.

    "Who is it?''

    "Yin soldiers have already been sent out to apprehend him," the second King Yanluo replied calmly as he picked up his teacup again. "I''m certain you won''t be able to guess who it is."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Mortal realm, Temple of the Lands.

    Following the conclusion of the supernatural disasters, there had been a sudden increase in the number of Temples of the Lands and City God Temples in the mortal realm. Furthermore, all of them had been funded by the state, and no one knew why this was the case. This chapter of history had already been hidden by the government.

    Every Temple of the Lands and City Lord Temple had its own set of caretakers, and this one was on exception.

    Several men in camouge clothing were standing outside a certain City God Temple, and they were currently staring at it with surprised expressions. "Are you sure this is the ce?"

    It was a lively and bustling temple with lots of visitors. Even though the state hadn''t issued any detailed statements on what had happened during the past decade, everyone had a rough idea of what had taken ce, and during the three ghost festivals, every single Temple of the Lands and City Lord Temple would always be teeming with visitors. Some were praying to have illnesses alleviated, some were praying for good marks at school... In any case, regardless of what the subject matter was, it couldn''t hurt to pray every once in a while.

    What was surprising to the group of men was how crude and simplistic the construction of this temple was. Aside from a que hanging above its door, there were no other adornments. The incense at the entrance was being sold at 10 dors per three sticks, and there wasn''t even an offering box.

    This was the temple that belonged to the city god whom the second King Yanluo had ordered them to capture!

    One of the men was a little unsure of how to proceed, and after standing still on the spot with furrowed brows for a short while, he said, "Let''s go in and take a look, I''m sure the second King Yanluo wouldn''t have made a mistake."

    As soon as they made their way to the entrance, a chubby Taoist priest emerged from within the temple before raising a palm in front of his own chest. "Boundless Sovereign. May I ask the reason for your visit, Emissaries of Hell?"

    All city gods were corpses possessed by Emissaries of Hell, and the same applied to the men in camouge clothing, so the Taoist priest was immediately able to identify them.

    The group of men was led by a man who was around 180 centimeters in height. He appeared to be in his early thirties with thick and coarse facial hair, and he inspected his surroundings briefly before pulling out a token. "We''re here to apprehend someone."

    The Taoist priest drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and he immediately began to fall to his knees. "City God Zhao Dehan pays his respects to the esteemed Emissaries of Hell."

    The man caught him before he could kneel down, and he inched his face slightly closer to Zhao Dehan''s as a hint of a smile appeared on his face. "So you''re Zhao Dehan."

    "That''s right," Zhao Dehan replied with a puzzled expression. "May I ask your name?"

    The man made a subtle hand gesture, and the men in camouge clothing immediately surrounded Zhao Dehan, following which the man replied in a calm voice, "I am an Emissary of Hell from Ashmound, my name is Zhao Dian. Come to think of it, we both share the same surname. Pleasee with us, Mr. Zhao."

    "Wh, what are you doing?" Zhao Dehan was quite perplexed by the situation, and right at this moment, a monk hurriedly rushed out of the temple before joining his palms together.

    "Amitabha. I was unaware of your arrival, please forgive me for not greeting you sooner."

    "There''s no need for formalities," Zhao Dian replied with a smile. "City God Zhao, lead the way."

    "Where do you want me to take you?"

    "Into the temple, of course," Zhao Dian replied as he feigned a surprised expression. "Is there an issue?"

    "Of course not." Zhao Dehan swung his horsetail whisk around before leading the way, walking around the city god''s statue. Beyond the statue was a spacious courtyard, and walking along the semi-enclosed corridor, Zhao Dian was able to see the peach blossoms and abundance of lush bamboo growing in the courtyard, as well as some stone tables and stone chairs.

    A surprised look appeared on his face as he said, "Looks like you''re living the good life here, City God Zhao. It seems that the job of city godes with great benefits."

    Zhao Dehan smiled and replied, "All we do is serve Hell and Ashmound to the best of our abilities, and we are certainly very thankful for the opportunity."

    "Indeed," the monk also chimed in with a smile. "City God Zhao and I have been working diligently and saving every penny that we can. In our spare time, all we do is clean and organize this courtyard. May I ask the reason for your visit?"

    "It''s nothing much," Zhao Dian replied in a seemingly nonchnt manner as he nced at the rows ofnterns hanging on either side of the corridor. "City God Zhao has colluded with external forces andmitted treason. During the past three years, he''s smuggled 130,000 tons of Hell''s Yin Jade out of the Cathayan Underworld, alongside leaking all types of sensitive information. In total, he''s earned over 88 million HLs for these dealings, and he is to be apprehended and taken to Ashmound right away."

    Zhao Dehan''s jaw immediately dropped straight to the ground upon hearing this, and he stared at the group of men with an incredulous expression. Meanwhile, the monk''s legs gave out from under him, and he had to lean against a pir for support as he turned to Zhao Dehan as if he had seen a ghost, then turned his gaze toward Zhao Dian. Several secondster, he asked, "Could there have been a mistake? The City God Temples and Temples of the Lands in Ashmound have always been a unified entity, how could he have possibly gained ess to an avenue like this? On top of that, this City God Temple is extremely crude and basic, where has all of the money that he''s smuggled gone to?"

    "I must''ve been framed!" Zhao Dehan suddenly returned to his senses and fell heavily to his knees. His entire body was trembling as he dered, "I swear on the honor of all of my ancestors that I''ve never done such a thing! Think about it, what would I even want all that money for?"

    He raised his head, and he was so worked up that his expression had be slightly twisted. "If it''s for myself, then why haven''t I used the money to renovate this courtyard? Am I keeping the money just to look at it? Aside from the wage handed down to me, I haven''t dared to spend even an extra cent of the City God Temple''s money. This temple is an old Taoist temple that hasn''t been renovated for several decades! If all corrupt officials lived in ces like this, theherworldly citizens would be jumping for joy!"

    The monk also joined his palms together as he asked again, "Could there have been a mistake?"

    Zhao Dian bent down and helped Zhao Dehan to his feet as he said with a smile, "We''ll know whether there''s been a mistake or not once we go in. The second King Yanluo has inspected this ce in person, and he''s determined that there are no signs suggesting that you''ve left this ce. If you really have dabbled in embezzlement, then everything must be hidden in here. Let''s keep going, Mr. Zhao."

    A look of indignant rage appeared on Zhao Dehan''s face. "The third King Yanluo worked so hard to create this dynasty! He''s dedicated himself fully to improving the lives of the people, and I''m honored to have been assigned this important responsibility, how could I betray his trust like that? If you don''t believe me, thene and search through the temple as you please! If you find what you''re looking for, then you can do whatever you want with me!"

    "Benefactor Zhao..." The monk was rather concerned, but Zhao Dehan waved away his concerns with a shake of his head.

    "There''s no need to talk about this any further, let the proof be in the pudding! Come with me everyone, I''ll show you the truth."

    All of a sudden, one of the men in camouge clothing made his way over to Zhao Dian before whispering something into his ear.

    A smile appeared on Zhao Dian''s face, and hetched onto Zhao Dehan''s arm before asking, "Where are you going, City God Zhao?"

    "You want to search this ce, don''t you?" Zhao Dehan yelled with a furious expression. "Then do as you please! This is a tiny temple, where could I possibly be hiding such a massive volume of embezzled funds? This is tant nder, and I''m going to clear my name! I have nothing to hide, and I''m going to prove it!"

    "Hold on, Mr. Zhao," Zhao Dian said in an unhurried voice. "Why are we going into the temple? Why don''t we conduct the search here?"

    Before Zhao Dehan had a chance to say anything, he continued, "Every day, your temple receives offerings and HLs that are then sent to the Ashmound Underworld. Following the conclusion of the war of unification, Yanluo Qin himself issued an order, stating that thergest HL note in the mortal realm could only be 100,000 in value, and that the conversion rate to underworld HLs would be 100:1. During the past three years, 280 million HLs have been burned during the three ghost festivals and death anniversaries of rtives and friends. This county has the lowest number in the entire Eastmount Province in this regard, and even the counties with the smallest poptions have reached numbers of over 300 million. As for the county with the highest poption, Dongyang County, the number they reached was as high as 500 million. City Lord Zhao, may I ask where all the other money went?"

    Zhao Dehan pressed a hand against the pir beside him, and he was just about to speak when Zhao Dian cut him off once again, and his voice was bing louder and louder, as if he were passing judgment down upon Zhao Dehan.

    "You obtained HLs from the mortal realm, then exchanged it for Yin jade in the underworld, which you transported back to the mortal realm. From Wuyang, you ventured out to Mirage City, and for your efforts, you received gold of an equivalent value in the mortal realm. These were all your wily little tactics, and the entire process was overseen exclusively by low-level Emissaries of Hell. Due to the fact that what was being transported back was gold rather than Yin energy, there was no Yin energy to be detected. I''m impressed, City Lord Zhao. Through these tricks, you were able to gather 88 million HLs worth of gold. The entire City God Temple must''ve already been forged into a city of gold by you, right? ording to the records, the City God Temple has undergone 33 major renovations during the past three years, but after each renovation, the temple looked exactly the same as before. The heavens are constantly watching, do you really think you can pull the wool over Hell''s eyes?"

    With that final sentence, he suddenly smashed one of the pirs beside him, but it didn''t snap because the center of the pir was a pir constructed entirely from gold.

    The monk''s mouth gaped widely open as he stared at the dazzling golden pir with a stunned expression. After a full five seconds of stunned stupor, he turned toward Zhao Dehan with an incredulous expression, only to discover that Zhao Dehan had already copsed to the ground. He then cast his gaze toward this entire temple.

    "What else do you have to say for yourself?" Zhao Dian asked as he stared intently at Zhao Dehan.

    Dead silence.

    The golden pir was so dazzling that no one was able to say anything.

    Several secondster, Zhao Dehan let loose a ghastly wail as he frantically crawled over to Zhao Dian before grabbing onto his trousers. "Your Excellency, everything that I''ve embezzled is all here! These past few years have been a nightmare for me! I couldn''t resist the temptation, but I didn''t dare to spend even a single cent of this money!"

 Chapter 875: Setting Off for Amano-Iwato (1)

    <h4>Chapter 875: Setting Off for Amano-Iwato (1)</h4>

    "Zhao Dehan?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow with a surprised expression. "Did you get Hou Liangping to go and detain him?"

    "Who?" The second King Yanluo had no idea who this Hou Liangping was.

    "Nothing... " Qin Ye cleared his throat as he drummed his fingers rhythmically against the armrest of his chair.

    Another Zhao Dehan? Isn''t that a bit too much of a coincidence? Is this name poisoned?

    However, this incident had also issued him a reminder that it was time for Hell to address some matters.

    These matters didn''t concern national affairs, it concerned the nation''s public servants instead.

    There were no parties here, but a new administration had just emerged. The desire to climb up the political hierarchy was virtually hard-coded into the genes of the Cathayan people, and it would take at least two or three generations to undo this mindset. The mortal realm was prioritizing economic development first and foremost, so no attention had been paid to this area. However, as the ruler of Hell, he had to banish this type of mindset from the very beginning.

    Lofty positions in political hierarchies were essentially Petri dishes for corruption to grow and fester. If the second King Yanluo hadn''t investigated the matter himself, who could''ve imagined that the one smuggling Yin jade to Mirage City would be an insignificant city god?

    However, this wasn''t the time to be considering things like this. The conference in Amano-Iwato was rapidly approaching, and following that conference, the priority would be to develop the new energy resource. As a result, this matter would have to wait until he had the spare time to work out a n to address it.

    Perhaps I should get Emissaries of Hell to oversee this matter... No, that wouldn''t work. Emissaries of Hell hold power themselves, so they''re certainly not impervious to the temptations of corruption. In that case, should I set up a new department specifically for this?

    "What are you thinking about?"

    "Nothing..." Qin Ye replied in an offhand manner before a cunning n suddenly urred to him. "Brother Xu, I''ve always greatly admired your ability to be able to cross through realms."

    A smile appeared on the second King Yanluo''s face, and he watched Qin Ye in silence with an expression that said "let''s see what you''re up to now".

    "However, when traveling through realms and even to others, do you not eat during your journeys? Everyone needs food! How long has it been since you tasted genuine Nipponese cooking? How about I invite you to have some authentic Nipponese food at around the 7th of June?"

    Just the presence of the second King Yanluo would alleviate an immense amount of pressure from his shoulders!

    The second King Yanluo took a sip of tea before replying, "That was a very forced sequence, but you managed to make it work. You are far more shameless than the first King Yanluo ever was, I like that about you."

    He then sighed before continuing, "To be honest, if it were feasible, I would also be willing toe with you."

    "But?" Qin Ye asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    "But all of the rulers of the other underworlds have already learned to fear me," he replied. "My power isn''t true energy, nor is it Yin energy, but at the same time, it''s abination between the two. If I were to appear among a group of Yama-Kings, I would be extremely eye-catching, and anyone would be able to discover that my power is being rejected by this world, thereby rendering me unable to use it. If that happens, they will no longer fear me. Hence, I can only continue to intimidate them if I don''t go."

    His smile faded as he looked into Qin Ye''s eyes and continued, "Go and give it a try. Regardless of what the oue turns out to be, every King Yanluo had to experience this at one point or another. The first King Yanluo was also extremely fearful and nervous before his first meeting with the rulers of the world. All of these events are designed to test you and spur on your growth, and there''s no way you can do that if you''re constantly under the shadow of someone else."

    He poured a cup of tea for Qin Ye, then raised his own cup as he said, "Here''s to wish you a safe and productive trip."

    Qin Ye looked deep into his eyes, and after a long while, a faint smile appeared on his face as he raised his teacup before gently touching it to the second King Yanluo''s cup.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A letter was pulled out of the envelope by a skeletal hand. The owner of the hand was an underworld emissary wearing a tattered robe whose entire body was enshrouded within scarlet karmic mes.

    The Yin energy emanating from his body seemed to be churning constantly, and there were countless blood-red eyes opening and closing every single second beneath his ck robes. The only region where this phenomenon didn''t apply was the underworld emissary''s head, which resembled the skull of an elephant with two tiny specks ofherfire burning within the eye sockets.

    In the underworld, there were emissaries of all different forms and descriptions. However, anyone who saw this particr underworld emissary, even Abyssal Prefects and normal Yama-Kings, had to refer to them respectfully as the esteemed Yamaraja.

    Indeed, this man was Death God Yamaraja, the ruler of the Hindustani Underworld.

    "This is one of the four pirs, and they could only muster up a representative team of 45?" Yamaraja scoffed from under his hood. "I bet they simply couldn''t increase this number no matter how much they tried."

    He then handed the letter over to the side. "Take a look."

    A human hand epted the letter, and the owner of this hand was an incredibly handsome man wearing a crown of pure gold on his head, embedded into which were a series of ck gems.

    If it weren''t for the Yin energy constantly flowing out of his orifices, one wouldn''t even be able to tell that he was an underworld emissary.

    This man was sitting beside Yamaraja, and he was the God of Sleep, Hypnos, the twin brother of the Argosian Underworld''s death god, Thanatos.

    Hypnos inspected the letter for a few seconds before a faint smile appeared on his face. "Their third speaker, this Qin Changxin, is only an Abyssal Prefect? From which corner did a piece of trash like him even crawl out from? Forgive me for being frank, but I''ve never heard of an underworld emissary by this name. To think that the Cathayan Underworld is allowing itself to be represented by maggots like this, do they think they still haven''t lost enough of their credibility and influence on the international stage? If the second King Yanluo wereing, then I would have nothing to say about this representative team, but he isn''t present on the list, either."

    Hypnos picked up a cup in the Europa style before taking a casual sip. Right at this moment, a figure beside him that was standing at over five meters tall said, "The light of the dying sun is always so dim and pathetic, almostughably so. No matter how much they try to keep up appearances, some cracks are simply too big to hide. Judging from the intelligence that we''ve gathered and the Cathayan Underworld''s reaction in response to the Russian forbidden art incident, we can virtually be certain that the Cathayan Underworld has fallen from grace."

    This figure didn''t seem to be a human. Strictly speaking, they were humanoid in form, but they had the head of a dog, and on top of that head was adorned the blue and golden striped headwear of a pharaoh. The figure''s entire body was inundated by Yin energy, and he gently stroked the cobra scepter in his hand as he continued, "This is why we''ve alle together. It''s been several centuries since the rulers of three of the four pirs have met up in secret."

    He swept his gaze over the other two death gods as he said in a cold voice, "This is an unmissable opportunity. Who''s going to be taking the first shot?"

    Silence.

    Only after a full 10 minutes had passed did Yamaraja finally break the silence with a cold harrumph. "I''ll do it."

    "Oh?" Theherfire in Anubis''s eyes shed slightly upon hearing this.

    A cold smile appeared on Yamaraja''s face as he said, "Neither of you were saying anything, so it was clear that you were waiting for me to step up."

    He rose to his feet, and countless venomous vipers slithered out from beneath his cloak, then dissipated into Yin energy amid a string of menacing hissing. What appeared to be a smile had appeared on his skeletal face, and he continued, "I''m in the best ce to levy criticism against them for theck of responsibility they''ve disyed."

    His Yin energy swept through the surrounding area like a wind storm, and the entire surrounding space began to howl violently as if countless evil ghosts were wailing in unison. The tiny specks of scarletherfire in his eye sockets instantly erupted into pirs of fire, and his raspy voice was carrying a sense of irrepressible excitement. "I have more right than anyone to criticize them because it is my empire that has been supporting the Asian Underworld for the past century! I have more right than anyone to tell them that they should''ve vacated their position long ago, that they have no right to continue to cling onto their title as one of the four pirs! In addition to that, only I have the influence to sway the votes of the other nations in the Asian Underworld!"

    His voice rumbled like thunder throughout the entire hall, and he turned toward another direction with a cold expression and asked, "Wouldn''t you agree?"

    This was a tall and spacious wooden room with all types of vastly renowned Nipponese paintings hanging up inside it. The floor consisted entirely of soft tatami mats, and there were Nipponese style gold-ted vases ced all around the room, protruding out of which were bright red spider lilies. The doors of the room were wide open, and outside was a Yin blossom tree that was burning withherfire.

    Right under the tree was a stone table, around which were seated several underworld emissaries, all of whom were either Abyssal Prefects or Yama-Kings!

    "Yes," a woman replied with a smile as she extended a respectful bow. The woman was wearing a Nipponese kimono, and there were no features on her entire face aside from a mouth. "No one can just shirk their duties for over 100 years and still expect to retain their position and all of the benefits thate with it. Why should we continue to toil away for subpar reward while they continue to be rewarded for their prolonged dereliction of duty?"

    "The times have changed," said an underworld emissary who resembled a ck hole with only a golden eye at the center. "This is no longer the era during which the Cathayan Underworld held absolute dominance over the rest of the world. The other three pirs have be more influential, and it''s about time for some changes to ur."

    Another death god whose entire body was nothing more than a shadow said from behind his skull mask, "In order to retain their position, they have to fulfill their duties and bring prosperity to the rest of the world. They haven''t done that for the past century, so what right do they have to continue to upy this position?"

    Of course, none of what was being said here truly mattered. What was most important was that the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t an ally of theirs.

    "I''m d we''re all on the same page here," Yamaraja said with a nod, then vanished as a gust of Yin wind. "Seeing as they don''t want to relinquish their position, then we''ll strip them bare in front of the entire world."

    Thus, only Hypnos and Anubis were left among the representatives of the four pirs present.

    The two death gods exchanged a nce, and Abubis gently swept a hand through the air, upon which the wooden doors swung shut without a sound.

    "I can already smell a battle on the horizon," he said as he licked his own lips, "But that''s still not enough. The Cathayan Underworld has too strong of a foundation, and this still isn''t enough to make them fold."

    He turned to Hypnos as he continued, "Hence, I hope you''ve already prepared our true trump card."

    "Of course," Hypnos replied as he looked down at the ruby ring that he was wearing. "We''ve all been waiting for this day for far too long. There are countless underworlds pining for this position, and many of them have the power to im it. In addition to that, all of them are quite smart and easy to work with."

    A smile appeared on Anubis''s face, and he disintegrated into a cloud of yellow sand. "In that case, I also have a present that I''m preparing to give to this new King Yanluo. After all, negotiation is only one thing, whereas power is an indication of many things, isn''t that right?"

    There was no warmth to be found on the international stage. If a pir were on the verge of falling, everyone would be more than happy to give it one final push.

    In your time of need, everyone would much rather stomp you into the dirt rather than help you out of the swamp.

    If all of the underworlds were a vast vortex, then the Cathayan Underworld would currently be at the heart of the vortex, and it would only have to be pushed slightly out of alignment to be swept up and utterly destroyed by the vortex around it!

    Qin Ye was naturally aware of this, but he was even more aware of the fact that he couldn''t not attend the conference. No underworld could detach itself entirely from the rest of the world, and he had to ensure that the Cathayan Underworld retained its position as one of the four pirs.

    Thus, he arrived at Ashmound Port with his team of 44 representatives.

    Only the second King Yanluo was present to bid them farewell, and Qin Ye hadn''t permitted anyone else to see them off. "Good luck."

    The second King Yanluo cupped his fist in a farewell salute as he said, "I''m sure you''ll learn a lot from this experience."

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn sigh. There was immense pressure on his shoulders. "Didn''t you say you were going to give me something before I left? Surely you''re not going to just let me go without any support."

    "Of course." The second King Yanluo smiled as he swept a hand through the air, and the entire port was immediately filled by a vast expanse of golden light.

    All of the Emissaries of Hell present drew a sharp breath at the sight that they were greeted by.

    The second King Yanluo wore a calm expression as he said, "Its name is Voyaging Immortal, and I obtained it from a certain ne. This thing will be more than enough to intimidate all of those hillbillies! Seeing as you''ve already set off, then show everyone the ir and might of the Cathayan Underworld! Don''t let those fools look down on us!"

    [1] [Hou Liangping ys an investigator and the protagonist of the hit Chinese Drama series, In the Name of the People. In the wake of the drama series'' immensely sessful release, the character of Hou Liangping became synonymous with the face of justice. As for Zhao Dehan, he was a minor antagonistic character who appeared at the very beginning of the drama series. Just like the Zhao Dehan in this story, he led a very modest and miserly life, but he had massive amounts of cash hidden within the walls of a mansion he had purchased in secret.]

 Chapter 876: Setting Off for Amano-Iwato (2)

    <h4>Chapter 876: Setting Off for Amano-Iwato (2)</h4>

    Nippon, Osaka.

    Osaka was a natural port, and it was a city that one would have to pass through in order to reach Nara prior to the advent of air travel.

    This wasn''t a veryvish city, and due to the geographic constraints of Nippon, the roads weren''t very wide. There also weren''t many cars and tall buildings, and during the day, the streets were very quiet. However, after work, the city would wee a peak where countless people emerged from the office buildings, and only from that time onward would the city truly be alive.

    Osaka Port was one of Nippon''s five major ports, and tourists would arrive at the southern port of Osaka, while the rest of the port was primarily used for shipping containers. However, unbeknownst to everyone, a section of the port that had never been used had been opened in secret on this day.

    It was 12 AM, midnight.

    There was a passageway in Osaka Port, at the end of which was the sea and a coral reef. On either side of the passageway was a statue of Sea God Watatsumi, and they were attached together by a thick shimenawa rope. This type of rope would usually be found strung up in front of a shinto shrine, but for some reason, it was present here.

    It was said that crossing over a length of shimenawa rope would take one to another world, and the shimenawa rope here was red, which waspletely different from its white counterpart that was normally found in front of shinto shrines.

    White paper human cutouts were adhered all over the length of the rope, and they were rustling in the sea breeze, presenting an extremely harrowing sight to behold.

    This passageway was very long, and with the incessantly rustling of the paper cutouts and crashing of the waves, anyone walking along the passageway in the dead of night would constantly feel as if there were some type of sinister presence blowing down the back of their neck.

    There wasn''t even a single streetmp along this entire passageway.

    It was a transport passageway with a length of over 1,200 meters, yet there were no streetmps, and at night, this ce was like a ghostly abyss. Even the security guards who were on duty didn''t dare to venture deep into it.

    Just like every other night, there was no one present here.

    However, a series ofnterns suddenly lit up in a ce invisible to the human eye, and they stretched for over a kilometer on either side of the passageway!

    Thenterns were arranged in a very orderly fashion, and from within the darkness beyond the light of thenterns, a series of hands slowly emerged, followed by a woman in avish kimono. She was wearing a silver fox mask with cherry blossom designs etched on the forehead and a pair of high wooden sandals.

    Her skin was deathly pale, and her figure seemed to be more illusion than substance. Her lower body simply disappeared into the darkness of the light, and all of a sudden, an extremely tall and broad figure appeared at the center of the passageway. The figure was followed by a Nipponese-style sedan chair, which was being carried by four three-meter tall giants.

    The giants were extremely emaciated in appearance, virtually just sacks of skin and bones. Their bodies were identical in proportion to those of normal humans, but their hands and feet were over three times longer than they should''ve been, making for a very strange sight to behold. In addition to that, there were yellow talismans adhered to their foreheads, and one would be very wise to run as fast as they could in the other direction if they were to ever see these creatures in the night.

    It was still extremely quiet.

    The giant figure was wearing a suit of Nipponese style armor, and was standing in excess of 10 meters tall. On his shoulder was perched a frog that was half a meter tall, and he was wearing a ck veiled hat and a white kariginu while holding a hand fan.

    "We''re almost there," the giant figure suddenly said in a voice that resembled rumbling thunder.

    The frog on his shoulder hesitated momentarily before asking, "Aren''t you angry that they abducted your son?"

    "Of course I am! I''m so enraged that I want nothing more than to tear them to shreds with my bare hands," the giant figure spat through gritted teeth. "But I can''t do that. Even though the Cathayan Underworld may have just suffered a significant decline, it''s still far too powerful for the Nipponese Underworld to contend with. However..."

    Two balls of blueherfire were ignited in the eyes of the giant figure as he stared intently at the surface of the sea. "Someone will exact my revenge in my stead. In the meantime, I''ll wait! No one knows exactly what''s happened to the Cathayan Underworld during the past century, but all of the signs point to it having suffered a significant decline. However, there is still no definite answer. Hence, I''m going to unveil this answer. I''m going to watch them with every fiber of my being and slowly unravel the unsavory truth that they''ve been trying to hide! I''m certain that the Cathayan Underworld is weaker than it''s virtually ever been right now. The fact that they haven''t demanded offerings from the Nipponese Underworld is already a massive sign of weakness!"

    The frog opened its mouth to say something, but decided against it in the end.

    The pain of losing his son had made the giant figure lose his sense of rationality, but what could it say to snap him out of this state of mind?

    "What are you going to be able to see?" it murmured to itself.

    Its voice wasn''t very loud at all, but the giant figure managed to hear it, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he said, "The number of representatives and the disys of power and wealth are enough to reflect many things about the state of the nation. We''re dealing with the third King Yanluo of Hell, how much confidence does he have? How does he do thingspared with his previous two predecessors? These are all very telling signs. I don''t have to necessarily sit with them at the same negotiation table to uncover the things that I want to see."

    Right at this moment, a burst of light suddenly appeared on the surface of the sea.

    It''s here!

    Thehermes in the eyes of the giant figure burned even brighter than before, and he looked on as a vast expanse of blueherfire appeared on the surface of the sea. Furthermore, there seemed to be something approaching them from within theherfire.

    "Is that..." He inspected the approaching object carefully for several seconds, and as the light drew closer and closer, he suddenly eximed, "Is that a city?"

    Indeed, there was a city within thehermes.

    To be more urate, it was a fortress.

    It was like Osaka Castle, a tall fortress with countless swaying bright rednterns. The fortress was floating on the surface of the sea anding directly toward them!

    Magnificent, intimidating, resplendent, vast... In that instant, countless adjectives shed through the giant figure''s mind. The fortress was easily 10,000 square kilometers in area, and it resembled an ind more than a moving fortress!

    This was an invincible warship, a city on the sea!

    "The Cathayan Underworld still had this up its sleeve?" The frog''s eyes were bulging as it eximed, "No underworld has ever made such an extravagant entrance!"

    Even the ghostly female servants who had undergone rigorous training were staring at the approaching floating pce with incredulous expressions, let alone the frog, and they were too stunned to even speak.

    Who would bring along a floating pce just for a conference? Wasn''t this way too extravagant?

    The giant figure was also watching, and he was looking deeper than everyone else.

    The second King Yanluo had never had any need for extravagant entrances, and the entrance of the first King Yanluo had always been at a level that was appropriate and befitting the status of the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Cathayan Underworld had never made any overly extravagant entrances on the world stage, and the giant figure was praying with all his might that the representative team of the Cathayan Underworld would make ackluster entrance, thereby harming their reputation and all but confirming that the Cathayan Underworld really had fallen from grace.

    However, not only was the entrance made by the Cathayan Underworld notckluster in the slightest, it was far more resplendent than he could''ve ever imagined, and it was a resounding statement of confidence!

    Right as all of the Yin spirits were looking on in astonishment, the floating pce had already reached the end of the passageway, sending a vast amount of sea water flying up into the sky before crashing down in a torrential downpour. All of the Yin spirits finally returned to their senses, and the two rows of ghostly female servants immediately fell to their knees and kowtowed as they yelled, "We wee the esteemed representative team of the Cathayan Underworld to Osaka!"

    The giant figure was still watching the pce in silence, and from close quarters, he discovered that it was built upon a vast expanse of Yin clouds. The pce was extraordinarilyvish and magnificent, looking as if it were something that could only possibly belong in the heavens.

    The sound of a long horn rang out, and the pce gates were opened, following which a red carpet flew out, paving the way from the floating pce to the passageway. Immediately thereafter, a procession of people emerged from within.

    The giant figure was staring intently at the city gates, and he could clearly see that the group that had just emerged from the floating pce was a young man. It was none other than a grown-up version of the young man in the photograph that Izanami had given him.

    He watched Qin Ye with an intense, unblinking gaze, as if he were trying to brand the image of Qin Ye deep into his own mind.

    This was the man who had killed his son!

    However, from the instant that he saw the golden dragon robe that the young man was wearing, he knew that directly attacking him would not be a feasible option, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the vast yet restrained Yin energy within the young man''s body.

    He had to continue to bide his time.

    With that in mind, he took a deep breath as he forced a smile onto his own face, and the shadows around him dissipated as he stepped forward and cupped his fist in a respectful salute. "Susanoo-no-Mikoto pays his respects to the esteemed King Yanluo."

    Qin Ye didn''t bother to reply. Having stepped onto foreign territory, he had to put on a high and mighty disy.

    He quickly sized up Susanoo-no-Mikoto. This legendary ghost king of Nipponese legends was wearing a ck and red suit of ¨­-yoroi, and he was a true giant.

    His entire suit of armor was riddled with pristine white bone spikes, and his face looked as if it had been assembled out of stone blocks. He was an intermediate Abyssal Prefect.

    In contrast with those other strange-looking Yin spirits, he was already rtively normal.

    "Are you Susa Boy''s father?" Qin Ye asked with a smile.

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s head also sprang up upon hearing this, and theherfire in his eyes erupted for an instant before immediately settling once again. Unbeknownst to everyone, his hands were currently clutched together so tightly that they were bulging with veins.

    I''m going to kill you!! I''m going to tear you to shreds, then throw your soul into the depths of the abyss to feed maggots!

    The frog on his shoulder had also knelt down, and it hurriedly urged in a trembling voice, "My Lord, you must rein in your anger! This is a Yama-King, if you dare to do anything to him, you''ll be killed in an instant! Even Mistress Izanami won''t be able to save you!"

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto was only silent for two seconds before standing up as he asked with a smile. "Have you met that rascal son of mine, Yanluo Qin?"

    Qin Ye also smiled as he nodded in response. "I have, and he really is a rascal."

    Yin energy instantly seeped out of Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s entire body, but he still had to pretend to be oblivious.

    He had sent Susa Boy to the Cathayan Underworld in secret without securing Hell''s approval, so he had trespassed on the territory of the Cathayan Underworld! The fact that an underworld emissary of his caliber had entered the territory of another underworld without express approval could be seen as a deration of war, so he couldn''t say anything even if the Cathayan Underworld had executed Susa Boy on the spot.

    Before Susanoo-no-Mikoto had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye continued, "I seem to have seen his name on some report in the past. I can go and check for you once I get back."

    It took all of Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s mental fortitude to repress his own fury as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute. "Then I''ll be thanking you in advance, Yanluo Qin. Please enter the carriage, and we''ll go to T¨­dai-ji right away. The carriage is veryfortable, and I''m sure it''ll be to your liking."

    Qin Ye made his way over to the carriage, and the four giant stick-insect-like carriage carriers had already set down the carriage and were currently waiting beside it while maintaining a bowing gesture of the utmost respect.

    Right as Qin Ye was about to enter the carriage, he turned around and asked, "What about you?"

    "I''ll be right there with you. Please go on ahead, Your Excellency," Susanoo-no-Mikoto replied with a smile.

    Qin Ye nodded in response before stepping onto the carriage, and all of the other Emissaries of Hell were also provided with their own modes of transportation. Close to 20 minutester, their procession began to travel quickly toward the city of Nara.

    Only after the procession was over a kilometer away did Susanoo-no-Mikoto finally erupt into a thunderous rage. "Bastard!! Scum!!"

    "That''s my son! My only son!!" He cracked his knuckles loudly as he spat through gritted teeth. "Listen to his audacity! ''I seem to have seen his name on some report in the past''? He''s pretending like a foreign Abyssal Prefect is so insignificant in his eyes that he can''t even be bothered to remember them! How insolent!"

    After venting his fury with that thunderous rant, he suddenlypletely calmed down.

    "Just you wait, all of the people who want you dead are just as, if not more powerful than you!"

    Qin Ye was naturally oblivious to all of this. The carriage was veryrge and spacious, and the padding inside was very soft.

    It had a wooden floor that was covered in a thick and soft fur carpet, and snacks and beverages had been ced on the table in the carriage. It was like a mobile luxury suite, and Qin Ye didn''t know what type of Yin spirits the carriage carriers were, but they were able to travel extremely quickly while making it feel as if the carriage wasn''t moving at all.

    Right as he had stepped into the carriage, Zhao Yun''s voice had rung out beside his ears. "Something''s not right, my Lord. There have been far too many strange urrences on the way here, so please be on your guard at all times!"

 Chapter 877: Attack from A Death God

    <h4>Chapter 877: Attack from A Death God</h4>

    "What do you mean?" Qin Ye asked as he reclined on the seat of the carriage and peeled back the curtain to look outside.

    He was greeted by the sight of the night scene of Osaka. Under the bright lights were countless tourists and vendors, but no one was able to see this carriage, which was traversing directly through the living humans on its way to the national highway.

    He gently set down the curtain again, and Zhao Yun''s voice continued, "I''m certain that we are not the only ones who have arrived at this point. Those small and medium-size underworlds are all hoping to secure benefits and protection from other more powerful underworlds during this conference, so they''ll have definitely arrived even earlier than us. We are the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld, even if the rulers of those underworld don''te to greet us, they would''ve sent at least a few death gods. This is a reflection of their attitude and their stance, but not even a single one has shown up thus far."

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this. "Isn''t their absence also a reflection of their stance?"

    Zhao Yun offered no reply to this, and Qin Ye was silent for a long while before giving a slight nod. "I understand now."

    Indeed, it was very easy to understand.

    Back when the Cathayan Underworld was around, it was able to offer significant benefits and protection to other underworlds, so they would all mber to be in the Cathayan Underworld''s good graces. However, the Cathayan Underworld had already been absent for over a century, were these smaller underworlds expected to still cling onto its residual shadow?

    Alliances were like water, they were constantly flowing and changing depending on the situation. On the international stage, there were no permanent friends.

    In Qin Ye''s mind, he was constantly thinking about what he was potentially going to face during this conference, as well as the list of names of his adversaries and allies. Time quickly passed by, and all of a sudden, his carriage seemed to stutter slightly.

    He pulled back the curtain with a perplexed expression, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly at the sight that he was greeted by. He discovered that his carriage was traveling far faster than the other ones, and at this point, it was already 200 to 300 meters ahead of the carriages behind him!

    Furthermore, this was the national highway, and Osaka was one of the three major economic centers of Nippon. Even at night, the national highway should''ve been extremely busy, particrly when one considered the fact that things like construction materials could only make their way into the city at night. However, there wasn''t a single car to be seen.

    Even the carriages behind him seemed to have be blurry and indistinct, and it was as if he were the only person on this entire highway. The onlypany he had was the oppressive breeze in the dark night, and a sense of tension that made him feel as if his heart were being squeezed in a vice.

    Something''s wrong here!

    Right as this thought crossed his mind, he immediately began to move, only to instantly stop again.

    This is an assassination attempt!

    Cold sweat was beginning to pour down his back, and he could sense a pair of invisible eyes that were filled with killing intent looking at him from all directions. He couldn''t see or sense where the scrutiny wasing from, but his instincts would never lie to him, and they were currently telling him that he was in grave danger.

    The perpetrator had to be a Yama-King! Only a cultivator of that caliber would be capable of striking him with such a grave sense of peril.

    The life of the King Yanluo was truly a perilous one. In a world where cultivation existed, not only did he have to deal with other nations, he also had to deal with assassination attempts from extremely powerful individuals!

    He didn''t immediately move as he could sense that the assassin wasn''t moving, either. They had merely locked onto him with their killing intent and were waiting for the ideal opportunity to strike.

    Should I continue to wait or seize the initiative?

    The passage of time seemed to have slowed down, and for the next 20 seconds, Qin Ye didn''t say anything, nor did he call out for help, all he did was remain calmly in his seat.

    He gently pulled back the curtain to look outside as he murmured to himself, "If a Yama-King really is going to attack me, there''s no way they would be revealing so much killing intent. Even if they really are intent on assassinating me, I''m also a Yama-King, and a sh between Yama-Kings will cause a massivemotion. My trump card is sitting in another carriage not far behind me. If you dare to attack me, he''ll have you killed in an instant."

    He cast his gaze into the dark night sky as he concluded, "Hence, all you''re doing is testing me. The power of a nation can be reflected through many things. If you attack me, you''ll be able to determine the Cathayan Underworld''s reactive ability, defensive ability, and high-end power. It truly would be killing multiple birds with one stone, so there''s no reason not to do that. If I panic, then it''ll be clear that I''m not sufficiently prepared. If I''m exposed to be so incapable and foolish, then you''ll be able to go ahead with your n without any qualms, but the problem for you is, why should I panic?"

    I''m also a Yama-King! Come at me!

    In this instant, he was extremely thankful that he had progressed to the Yama-King level. If he were still an Abyssal Prefect, just the pressure being exerted upon him by the hidden assassin alone would''ve most likely been enough to crush him.

    Do you dare to strike?

    Having made up his mind, Qin Ye sat calmly in the carriage, but in reality, his Yin energy had already been raised to its maximum level, and he was constantly ready for battle.

    Time slowly passed by, and not long thereafter, the national highway disappeared, while the lights of Nara appeared up ahead.

    However, right in this instant, the surrounding air suddenly seemed to have been abruptlypressed, and an extremely faint whistling sound rang out. Immediately thereafter, killing intent surged toward Qin Ye from all directions like a turbulent sea!

    Are you finally making a move? Ironically, Qin Ye was actually quite relieved by this. It had to be said that the assassin had made their move at just the right time. Qin Ye had been very tense for the entire trip, and at the sight of the conclusion looming up ahead, one would inevitably rx, and that was the exact moment that the assassin was waiting for.

    All of a sudden, the entire carriage began to sway like a raft in the sea, yet Qin Ye still didn''t do anything aside from inspect his surroundings with a cautious expression.

    If he had to deal with an assassin in person, then his entourage would be exposed as useless, and the Cathayan Underworld''s reputation would suffer a massive hit as a result.

    Thus, he continued to wait.

    He couldn''t see what was happening outside the carriage, but the wails of countless ghosts had already rung out in all directions, and that burst of killing intent was aimed directly at his heart. However, right at this moment, a calm voice rang out. "Who dares to provoke the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Boom!! A violent boom rang out outside the carriage, and a muffled groan sounded, following which the burst of killing intent melted away like snow under the scorching sun.

    Zhao Yun had finally stepped in.

    Only then did Qin Ye heave a faint sigh of relief and pull back the curtain to take a look outside.

    As a result, he discovered that a deep trench had appeared on the ground no more than 20 meters away from the carriage. Boundless Yin energy was seeping out from the bottom of the trench, but there was nothing to be seen aside from that.

    There were no assassins, and the carriage didn''t stop even for a moment. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

    "Are you alright, my Lord?" Zhao Yun''s voice rang out outside the carriage, and Qin Ye was certain that there had to be many sets of eyes focused on this unfolding situation.

    With that in mind, he pretended to be oblivious and asked, "What happened?"

    Zhao Yun immediately caught on to what he was thinking, and he replied, "Nothing. Some insolent fools were trying to get in our way, but they''ve already been chased away. As the host, the Nipponese Underworld must be held reprehensible for this incident."

    Qin Ye gave a casual response before setting the curtain down again.

    Throughout this entire process, he didn''t take a single step out of the carriage, and he certainly didn''t panic. It was as if he had just encountered something that couldn''t be any more unremarkable. After all, which King Yanluo hadn''t suffered their fair share of assassination attempts?

    Thus, the carriages continued rapidly toward Nara, and the incident seemed to have beenpletely swept under the rug. Half an hour after the departure of the procession of carriages, a shadow suddenly swayed slightly under a certain tree in the distance, and several figures emerged.

    "I must say, his ability to remain calm andposed under pressure is quite remarkable," the leading figure said in Nipponese.

    "To think that the most powerful death god under Master Anubis didn''t even get a reaction out of him..." another figure mused. "Can we confirm that that man is above the Yama-King level?"

    "Yes," the leading figure replied. "However, he''s still far away from reaching the second King Yanluo''s level, and there''s a good chance that the leader of one the three pirs wielding a divine artifact will be able to keep him upied."

    "That should be enough," another figure said in a calm voice. "However, you''re most likely going to be ced under immense pressure in the aftermath of this incident. After all, this happened on your home territory."

    The leading figure smiled before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind. "That''s true, but only if they''re still in the mood to hold us ountable after all is said and done. No one can stop a worldwide trend, not even the Cathayan Underworld. The Nipponese Underworld isn''t the only one who wants to see them disappear."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    T¨­dai-ji, Nara.

    The temple was situated in the eastern part of Nara, and it was one of the seven major temples of Nara. At this point, it was already over 1,200 years old, and was thergest wooden building in the world. In 1998, it was listed as a world cultural heritage site.

    During the day, the temple was teeming with tourists, but in reality, there wasn''t much worth seeing. In contrast with the temples and pces of Cathay, T¨­dai-ji was far too tiny. The main building was only a single temple, which was surrounded by walls from all four sides and various types of trees.

    In the night, this ce was closed off to the public. However, there wasn''t a single security guard on duty this night. Rows of pristine whitenterns were hanging all along the eaves of the temple, and in the world that was beyond the reach of living humans, all of the Prefect-level emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld were gathered at the entrance to T¨­dai-ji.

    In reality, that amounted to only a single person.

    It was a woman dressed in avish kimono with a red spider lily that was in full bloom tucked behind one ear. She was immactely dressed and groomed, yet there was only a mouth on her deathly pale face.

    This was Izanami, the death goddess who had stood at the top of the Nipponese Underworld for over 1,000 years.

    Behind her was a line of boys and girls wearing silver masks and holding ptialnterns, standing respectfully on the spot. There were countless specks ofherfire hovering around the T¨­dai-ji of this world, and the wide-open gates of the temple resembled a rift to the abyss with boundless Yin energy surging within it.

    Right at this moment, a man with white powder all over his face made his way over to Izanami before whispering something into her ear.

    "Alright, I understand," she replied with a nod before heaving a forlorn sigh as she cast her gaze out toward the street, which was lined withnterns. "So we''re finally going to meet..."

    The long procession of carriages had already appeared in her field of view.

    Before the carriages had even drawn to a halt, Izanami had already rushed outside with a genuine smile on her face as she extended a slight bow. "Nipponese Death God Izanami wees the representative team of the Cathayan Underworld!"

    The carriage was set down gently, and Qin Ye stepped out in his golden dragon robes as he cast a meaningful gaze toward Izanami. "Greetings, Madam Izanami."

    "Wee, Yanluo Qin," Izanami replied in kind.

    Neither of them said anything after that, but both of them could see what each other was thinking.

    They had already shed indirectly many times even though they were physically separated by a vast distance. Finally, it was time for them to meet, and they were doing so in the territory of the Nipponese Underworld.

 Chapter 878: The Times Have Changed

    <h4>Chapter 878: The Times Have Changed</h4>

    Izanami raised her head slightly to look behind Qin Ye, and as her gaze swept over Qin Changxin, it settled onto him for several seconds before moving away, then finally lingered on Zhao Yun.

    Shortly thereafter, she withdrew her gaze as she smiled and bowed. "Wee, Yanluo Qin. You are the first of the four pirs'' leaders to have arrived. Pleasee in."

    A derisive smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    From this point onward, this was going to be a movie set featuring a pair of exceptional actors. There was no set script, everything would have to be done spontaneously and on an impromptu basis, thereby requiring him to think on his feet. Furthermore, Izanami had already disyed her intentions.

    The Nipponese Underworld had been trying to test the Cathayan Underworld time and time again, and none of the underworld emissaries they had sent into the territory of the Cathayan Underworld had managed to return. There was no way that the Nipponese Underworld would''ve dared to do this without anyone standing behind them.

    It wasn''t important who exactly was supporting them, what was important was that the underworld in question would definitely also be in attendance during this conference. In fact, perhaps their representatives had already arrived. There was no way that she didn''t know about this assassination attempt in advance. How could she not be aware of a Yama-King freely roaming through her territory?

    However, she hadn''t even mentioned it.

    It was clear that she wanted to gauge the Cathayan Underworld''s reaction through this incident. She was essentially saying "yes, I did attempt to assassinate you. You want to sanction me for this? Fine. In that case, you''ll have to deploy your troops, which means that you''ll have to deactivate your array!"

    For example, they could seal off all of the Nipponese Underworld''s sea trade routes to ce economic sanctions upon them. They could even deploy their army to practice drills in the territorial sea of the Nipponese Underworld. Qin Ye''s hands were tied in this matter because he represented one of the four pirs, and such tant provocation couldn''t be allowed without a response!

    If the Cathayan Underworld didn''t do anything, then it would no longer be fit to continue as one of the four pirs. There had to be countless pairs of eyes focused on this interaction, and if the Cathayan Underworld were to not take action, that would be a sign to all of the people watching from the shadows that they could do as they pleased to the Cathayan Underworld.

    However, Qin Ye couldn''t be the one to say this.

    He was King Yanluo, and if he had to sanction the Nipponese Underworld in person, then he would be punching far below his expected weight ss.

    Qin Ye didn''t know if anyone from his entourage had thought of all of this yet, but thankfully, a cold voice rang out beside him to raise the matter in his stead. "Madam Izanami, have you forgotten something?"

    Izanami turned toward the figure who had spoken with a puzzled expression. "What are you referring to?"

    Qin Changxin strode forward with a cold expression, speaking in fluent Cathayan as he said, "On the way to Nara, a Yama-King dared to stage an assassination attempt on Yanluo Qin! How do you exin that?!"

    Before Izanami had a chance to reply, a cold smile appeared on Qin Changxin''s face as he continued, "It is a great honor for your nation that the venue for such an important international conference was set in Nara, yet you don''t seem to be taking this honor seriously at all! Our King Yanluo had virtually no sooner arrived on your territory before he was attacked by a Yama-King! What are your intentions here? Are you preparing to gather all of the world''s leaders in the Nipponese Underworld, then kill them one after another? Have you forgotten the status of the Nipponese Underworld on the world stage? Do you not owe us an exnation for this?"

    Izanami looked up with a surprised expression upon hearing this. "Is that true?"

    The carriage carriers immediately fell to their knees and replied in respectful voices, "It is."

    Izanami covered her own mouth with her deathly pale hand, seeminglypletely astonished by this revtion. Only after several seconds had passed did she abruptly fall to her knees before kowtowing to the ground. "Esteemed King Yanluo, I had no idea that such a thing had happened! I''ll initiate an exhaustive investigation right away! However..."

    She paused momentarily before concluding, "There are currently no Yama-Kings on this ind aside from yourself."

    Qin Ye''s smile grew even more pronounced upon hearing this. It seemed that during the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long absence, the Nipponese Underworld had already forgotten who its master was.

    If something like this had happened 100 years ago, there was no way that Izanami would''ve dared to deny all of this. Instead, she would''ve already rushed out to meet Qin Ye and raised the matter herself even before Qin Ye had a chance to do so.

    This was a clear indication of the stance that the Nipponese Underworld had decided to adopt.

    Was she actually going to investigate?

    This was an underworld that had dared to use a Yama-King as an assassin. Even if it weren''t one of the four pirs, it had to have been an extremely powerful underworld. If she were to actually investigate the matter, it would be no different from starting a war.

    However, if she didn''t investigate, then the Cathayan Underworld certainly wasn''t going to just swallow this bitter pill without a fuss.

    Furthermore, through this incident, they would be able to assess the way that the new King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld liked to do things. It was killing multiple birds with one stone, and it was a very sound strategy.

    "General Zhao." Qin Ye finally broke his silence.

    "I''m here," Zhao Yun immediately replied as she cupped his fist in a salute.

    Qin Ye was speaking to Zhao Yun, but his gaze remained focused directly on Izanami as he said, "Investigate. I give you the right to immediately execute the perpetrator as soon as you track them down. After that, their Yin soul will be disyed outside T¨­dai-ji as an example to everyone."

    After that, he passed by Izanami and strode directly into T¨­dai-ji.

    Only after Qin Ye had passed her did Izanami stand up straight again, and a faint smile appeared on her blood-red lips, but she kept her head bowed to conceal her expression. Only after the entire representative team of the Cathayan Underworld had entered the temple did she raise her head again.

    She remained silent as she got into her own carriage.

    The carriage wasvish and gorgeous with apletely gold-ted frame and pure gold wind chimes hanging from its four corners. The body of the carriage was also constructed from precious natural wood, and beautiful designs were embroidered onto its surface.

    The wind chimes rang as the carriage sped away, traveling toward the national highway once again. As the ruler of the host nation, she had to wee all of the arriving death gods. As for the representative team from the Cathayan Underworld, they would be arranged ces to stay by her subordinates.

    Only after the carriage had traveled over a kilometer away did a raspy voice ring out within the carriage. "You did very well."

    The carriage was veryrge with a radius of five to six meters. It was like a moving room, and the entire floor was covered in soft tatami mats, while the interior was extremely intricately designed. There was an ornament katana and a scenic painting hanging from the walls, and a figure wearing a long ck cloak was upying the main seat. Meanwhile, Izanami was kneeling in front of the figure in an extremely respectful manner.

    She extended a slight bow before taking a seat beside the tea table with her legs tucked beneath her, then reached out to grab an ornate teapot with her deathly pale hand. She poured out a cup of clear tea, then offered it to the cloaked figure in an elegant manner as she said, "Ghost King Zhao has been put on the case."

    "That''s to be expected," the figure replied in a calm voice as he epted the teacup. "We didn''t list Menes as part of our representative team, and after that assassination attempt, he has already left the Nipponese Underworld. No matter how powerful Ghost King Zhao is, there''s no way he would be able to track down someone who''s no longer even in the country."

    The space beneath the dark figure''s cloak was like a ck hole, and the teacup that Izanami offered to him waspletely engulfed in darkness, seemingly having faded out of existence.

    By the time the teacup re-emerged, it was already empty. Izanami filled the cup before offering it up once again, but the figure didn''t ept it this time. Instead, he asked in a hoarse voice, "So what do you think they''re going to do next? Are they going to sanction the Nipponese Underworld?"

    "Perhaps," Izanami replied with a smile. "In that case, the Nipponese Underworld is going to suffer massive damages."

    "That''s not a concern. The rulers of the Nipponese and Aegyptian Underworlds will be signing a Yin rune sharing agreement tomorrow, and that''ll be more than enough aspensation." Wisps of Yin energy seeped out from beneath the ck cloak as the figure continued, "If they really do kick up a big fuss, then they''ll only be making a fool out of themselves, and it wouldn''t do anything. How are they going to save face after they realize that they won''t be able to track down the perpetrator? I''m very much looking forward to seeing what steps they take next."

    The cloaked figure finally epted the teacup before downing its contents in one go, and a single bright red eye lit up beneath the cloak''s hood, staring directly at Izanami. "They''re going to be taking revenge, but we don''t know how. Regardless of what they do, you have to be able to withstand the pressure. Only then will we be able to see their trump cards and gauge their current state. Remember this: you must stick to the story that there is no Yama-King in the Nipponese Underworld at all costs. If they can''t find Menes, then all they''ll be able to do is target the Nipponese Underworld. You will be the subject of their wrath, and if you can withstand all of the pressure they exert upon you, then their reputation will naturally be swept to the ground."

    The eye abruptly disappeared, and the figure began to chuckle. "Hehe, it would be quite a sight to see the Cathayan Underworld''s reputation be swept to the ground right after its re-emergence from its century-long absence. All that the underworlds look at is power, we can only get the other underworlds to vote against them if we can progressively minimize the Cathayan Underworld''s voice on the international stage and bring them down from their pedestal."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    After entering through the gates of T¨­dai-ji, one would be greeted by the sight of a scarlet forest.

    At the center of the forest was a path paved by bluestone, and on either side of the path were lit ptialnterns that were around half a meter tall. Every singlentern had a stone statue of a different evil ghost as its base. There was a sea of red leaves here, and it could be seen that at the very deepest part of this sea of red stood a majestic pavilion.

    There were emissaries from the Nipponese Underworld standing beside the path at all times, and in the instant that Qin Ye entered through the gates, all of them immediately fell to their knees as they greeted, "Wee, esteemed representative team of the Cathayan Underworld!"

    This was a signal telling all of the people who had already arrived that the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld were here, and presumably, invitation letters from all of the other underworlds would be arriving soon.

    The path wasn''t very long, and soon, they reached the pavilion, where an Infernal Judge was already waiting for them. For the Nipponese Underworld, this Infernal Judge was already a provincial-level official, and the fact that such a significant official was here weing guests was a sign of how serious the Nipponese Underworld was taking this conference.

    However, there was no one else here aside from him.

    "Pleasee with me." The Yin spirit led the representative team toward the pavilion with a respectful smile.

    Zu Chongzhi took a quick nce at his surroundings before asking in a seemingly casual manner, "How many underworlds have already arrived?"

    "10, esteemed representative," the Yin spirit replied with a smile. "The detailed list of names has already been ced in your room alongside all letters of invitation that have been submitted to the Cathayan Underworld. On top of that, we will be holding a wee banquet for the Cathayan Underworld in six hours, and we would be greatly honored if you could attend. Ah, we''ve arrived."

    The pavilion was veryrge, and it actually consisted of four interconnected pavilions. Qin Ye was standing in front of the entrance to one of those pavilions, and there was only one room on the top floor.

    The room was very spacious with an area in excess of 300 square meters, and before Qin Ye had even arrived upstairs, the servants had already fallen to their knees before kowtowing onto the ground. "¤³¤ó¤Ë¤Á¤Ï, ¤¤¤é¤Ã¤·¤ã¤¤¤Þ¤»!(Hello and wee!)"

    This was a pair of child servants, one male and one female, wearing attire customarily worn by ancient Nipponese nobility, and before Qin Ye had even set foot on the first floor, the little girl rushed over to him before bending down to untie his shoes. Meanwhile, the little boy made his way behind Qin Ye to help him take off his dragon robe.

    Everyone else had already been allocated to the lower levels on the way here.

    "Do you need to take a bath, Your Excellency?" The sliding door had cherry blossoms and a bright moon drawn on its surface, and it was gently opened to the sound of wind chimes. The smell of violet incense wafted toward Qin Ye, instantly rxing his tightly wound mind just a little.

    Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand to gesture for the two servants to give him some privacy, then began to inspect the room.

    The room was veryrge, and the decor was ordinary yetvish.

    It didn''t seem to be special in any way, but it was veryfortable and well-designed. The cabs and drawers were positioned perfectly within reach, and all of the potted nts made the massive room appear less empty. The top floor wasplete with a living room, a bathroom, a silent cultivation room, everything that one would need, and it was clear that this was treatment reserved only for Yama-Kings.

    Qin Ye opened the window to look out at the bright moon in the sky, and he casually picked up the teapot to find that the tea was at just the right temperature.

    From this vantage point, he was able to see the entire city.

    "So it''s already begun..." He poured himself a cup of tea as a cold smile appeared on his face. "Not a single underworld has arrived to wee the arrival of the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team... A storm is trulying..."

    This would''ve been impossible 100 years ago, and this was also why Zu Chongzhi had asked about how many underworlds had already arrived.

    This was one of the four pirs'' representative team, yet no one was here to greet them, and it was a tant p to the face!

    "Looks like this conference is going to be even more perilous than I thought..."

 Chapter 879: Welcome Banquet (1)

    <h4>Chapter 879: Wee Banquet (1)</h4>

    The wind in the night was very cold.

    It was raising Qin Ye''s ck hair, and the tea he was holding, which wasn''t all that hot to begin with, was quickly cooling.

    It seemed that even the wind could sense the unrest peril lurking beneath the surface, and it was howling as a warning to him.

    Qin Ye sat beside his window and looked out at the moon for a while, then swept a hand through the air, upon which a stack of documents on the table flew over to him before slowly unfurling in mid-air, revealing a series of lines of names.

    Celtic Underworld, Semitic Underworld, Hopi Underworld, Red Moon Underworld Federation... Right at this moment, a gentle voice rang out from outside. "Your Excellency, Ghost King Zhao and Abyssal Prefect Qin request an audience with you."

    "Come in," Qin Ye said as he leafed through the documents, and soon, the sliding door was silently opened, following which Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin strode into the room.

    Qin Ye raised his chin toward the teapot, but didn''t say anything as he continued to read the documents. Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin didn''t say anything, either, and after they had a few cups of tea, Qin Ye finally closed the documents before casting a contemtive gaze toward the night sky. "None of the powerful underworlds have arrived, and the most powerful foreign underworld emissaries present are only Abyssal Prefects..."

    He picked up his teacup, but only held it up to his lips and didn''t drink from it. "So what is giving them the courage not to greet one of the four pirs'' representative teams?"

    In this foreignnd, Qin Ye knew the importance of remaining calm at all times.

    Zhao Yun took a sip of tea as his eyes narrowed slightly, and he mused, "It''s because they no longer think we''re worth greeting."

    He made his way over to the window and also looked out at the moon as he continued, "It''s a very cruel reality, but it''s the reality nheless. Ever since the establishment of the Coalition of Underworlds, each nation has had to find its own way in the world. The major nations don''t have to do anything to attract attention, but that won''t work for the smaller nations. They have to constantly be up to something to attract the attention of the major nations and be granted some benefits for their efforts. An example of this is Daehan in the mortal realm. Do you really think the experts in Daehan have gone insane and are constantly provoking Cathay for no reason? No, that''s simply the best way for them to attract attention to themselves. In their constant provocation of Cathay, they''re hoping to be able totch onto the coattails of Usonia. The same applies in the underworld. If some smaller nations want to make their voices heard in the underworld alliance, then they have to kick up a fuss. As the saying goes, only the infants who cry will be given milk, and in order for there to be milk, there has to be a mother. We''ve been absent for 100 years, so it''s only natural that the infants beneath us have gone to eek milk elsewhere. They''re currently drinking someone else''s milk, so it''s only to be expected that they wouldn''t dare toe and meet us in fear of being cut off by their current ''mother''."

    Qin Ye smiled in response. "That''s a very appropriate analogy."

    Regardless of how powerful the Cathayan Underworld had been in the past, it had to face the consequences of its century-long absence, and even though they had only just arrived in Nara, they had already been taught a good lesson.

    "Even despite all of that, the Cathayan Underworld has stood for several thousand years, surely there should be a few puppet nations under our control."

    Qin Changxin chuckled, "Your Excellency, all of those puppet nations that you speak of have be the territory of the 12 envoys. The rulers of these puppet nations don''t even have the right to participate in conferences of this caliber. In order to participate in these major international conferences, the first prerequisite that must be satisfied is a government with independent decision-making power."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before putting down his teacup. "Alright, so what do we do now?"

    He sped his hands behind his own back as he slowly walked around the room, and the expression on his face was bing more and more serious. "I was thinking about this just now. If this conference could be referred to as a massive y, then we would''ve already entered the final scriptless rehearsals. The conclusion of the re-signing ceremony to be held in seven days will be the conclusion of the y, and it''ll also be the time when all facades of civility and geniality will be cast aside."

    He turned his gaze toward Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin as he continued in a grim voice, "We must secure more votes during the next six days!"

    All conferences held by the Coalition of Underworlds were decided by votes. Of course, the four pirs all had veto rights, and this was something that Qin Ye had already familiarized himself with.

    He didn''t know what the opposing parties were going to do, but it wasn''t difficult to guess that they were undoubtedly plotting to dethrone the Cathayan Underworld as one of the four pirs.

    Many underworlds had prepared extensively for this conference, contacting countless death gods to set up an borate trap. No one could teach them what to do here, so they could only think on their feet and adapt to the situation as it unfolded. Only then would they be able to secure more votes.

    He curled a finger and the documents flew over to him again. He gently stroked the documents as he said, "There are currently 34 underworlds in this world, and only 11 of them have arrived thus far. As long as we can secure 18 votes, which would be over half, then our safety would be ensured."

    Dead silence.

    No one said anything, and all three of them were rapidly pondering how to aplish this.

    Everyone knew what had to be done, but this was something that was far easier said than done.

    No one had even turned up to greet them, and this was the first major international conference the Cathayan Underworld had appeared in in over 100 years!

    This couldn''t be considered to be anything other than a tant p to the face!

    However, in this current situation, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and endure it.

    Qin Changxin pursed his lips as he heaved a faint sigh. "What we''re trying to do is reverse a chance that had taken ce over the course of a century in just seven days..."

    Even with the enormous power and influence the Cathayan Underworld had held in the past, this was far too difficult a task toplete.

    However, the hunters weren''t going to give their prey time to rest and recuperate.

    "During international conferences, every single meeting could be seen as an indication of a party''s attitude," Zhao Yun suddenly said. "For some things, all we need to do is vaguely imply something, and that''ll be enough for us to find out the true thoughts of others."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Are you referring to the wee banquet that''s going to be held in a few hours?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "If you extend an olive branch to an appropriate degree during the banquet, I''m sure some of the underworlds will be interested. Of course, you can''t make it too obvious. After all, the Cathayan Underworld of the past never stooped to something like this. There may have been a change in administration, but the overall style can''t be altered too significantly. Otherwise, that would definitely not be a good thing for us in these tumultuous times. In fact, it could arouse suspicion and even fear among other nations."

    Qin Ye immediately understood what Zhao Yun was saying, and he gave a firm nod in response.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Amano-Iwato was an underworld that had stood for over 1,000 years, and for such an important international conference, the Nipponese Underworld had made extensive preparations. For example, many jet-bridge-like structures had been erected between the pavilions, allowing everyone to traverse between the pavilions as quickly as possible.

    The wee banquet for the Cathayan Underworld was going to be held in the banquet hall, the "Small Chrysanthemum" on the second floor of the main pavilion.

    The banquet hall was veryrge, and the tables inside were round tables of the ancient Cathayan style. Each table could seat over 10 people, and there were a total of six tables. As Qin Ye arrived in the banquet hall with his entourage, Izanami, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, and around a dozen other underworld emissaries were already waiting for them.

    "We wee the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld!" Izanami stood up before extending a respectful bow, and all of the other underworld emissaries quickly followed suit. Qin Ye swept his gaze over the underworld emissaries present, and a surge of fury immediately welled up in his heart.

    The fact that not a single underworld had paid them a visit had already struck him with the premonition that this was going to happen, but he was still enraged to discover that aside from Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto, all of the other underworld emissaries present were Infernal Judges!

    All of the underworlds that had arrived thus far werepletely insignificantpared with the Cathayan Underworld, and even the Red Moon Federation was nothing more than an alliance forged by several small inds. The most powerful beings among these underworlds were only Abyssal Prefects, yet there were only Infernal Judges present.

    This meant that even these trifling underworlds weren''t respecting the Cathayan Underworld, even though this was the first time the Cathayan Underworld had returned to the international stage in a century.

    Not even a single one of these underworlds'' leaders were in attendance!

    For one of the four pirs, this was an outrageous insult, and it most likely hadn''t ever happened during the past several thousand years!

    Qin Ye was still maintaining a smile on his face, but he was wringing his hands so tightly together behind his own back that his joints were cracking. Regardless of how enraged he was, he had to endure it. This was the nature of politics, and there was no room for emotion here.

    "No need for formalities." His smile was impable, and Izanami stood up straight again to look directly at Qin Ye, then smiled as she said, "It''s a pity that you came at a time like this, Yanluo Qin. All of the governor-generals and leaders of the underworld that have arrived thus far went on a night trip to Mount Fuji, and they haven''t returned yet, so I''m afraid they won''t be able to show up for this wee banquet."

    At this point, the anger that Qin Ye had just repressed had alreadypletely faded.

    There was no way that these underworlds would be unaware of the Cathayan Underworld''s arrival, it was clear that this supposed night trip to Mount Fuji was nothing more than a lie.

    Did these people not dare to meet him or did they not want to? Were they bowing to pressure from other underworlds, or simply unwilling to risk losing the benefits they were receiving from the powerful underworlds standing against the Cathayan Underworld?

    Qin Ye''s thoughts were racing, and he immediately figured out what expression he should be disying in this situation. He should''ve been angry, but he couldn''t show it. He had to put on a disy of nonchnce. After all, there were only a few insignificant underworlds present.

    With that in mind, he merely smiled and said, "What a coincidence!"

    After that, he didn''t say anything as he followed Izanami to the main table.

    As soon as everyone took a seat, an Infernal Judge immediately said in a respectful voice, "My sincerest apologies, Yanluo Qin, but there''s going to be a ghost worship ceremony on Mount Fuji tonight. The ceremony takes ce once every 50 years, and it''s an extremely rare opportunity. Our governor-general says that he''ll be sure to visit you in person in a few days to atone for his absence here."

    "Our leader also says that it is with the utmost regret that he has to be absent from this wee banquet," a man who appeared to be from a tropical nation chimed in in a genuinely concerned voice. "Our Red Moon Federation will be offering up a present of apology to make up for our leader''s absence today."

    Qin Ye swept his gaze around the room, and including the Nipponese Underworld, there were a total of 12 underworlds present.

    If possible, he really wanted to erase all of these underworld emissaries who were lying to his face out of existence, but instead, what he had to do was to disy some benevolence.

    "The Red Moon Federation?" Information on the Red Moon Federation quickly shed through his mind as he smiled and said, "If I recall correctly, this is a federation of inds that specializes in agriculture and stock farming. 100 years ago, we signed a contract with your federation to purchase 50% of the Yin beast meat and over 40 types of fruit that your federation was producing."

    This was a very understated disy of friendliness.

    Under normal circumstances, if the leader of the Cathayan Underworld were to say something like this to the representative of a small nation, they would immediately reply with something like: "Was the quality of our meat and fruit exports to your liking? Would you like to consider renewing the contract?"

    However, the representative''s actual reply was: "I didn''t think you would remember all of that so clearly, Lord Qin."

    He seemed intent on not mentioning a contract renewal!

    Qin Ye was gripping his wine cup tightly as his mind began to race even more rapidly. He needed a point of breakthrough, one that would allow the other nations to see the Cathayan Underworld''s sincerity and agree to negotiate terms with them!

    Only then would he be able to extend the conversations, at which point he would be able to try and sway their votes!

    He could threaten them verbally, but if he couldn''t back up his threats by deploying its troops in the future, then the reputation of the Cathayan Underworld would truly be ruined. Furthermore, the entire world had their eyes on the Cathayan Underworld, and this was definitely not a good time to be making threats.

    Qin Ye lowered his head slightly as he maintained a calm smile and took a sip of his wine.

    There was a very good chance that he wouldn''t be able to sway the votes of the underworlds present.

    He couldn''t continue to insist on prolonging the conversation as that would be far too demeaning to the Cathayan Underworld, and the killing intent in his heart was constantly building.

    He was already extending an olive branch, only for it to be pped aside, yet he couldn''t afford to get angry!

    He finally understood why the second King Yanluo disliked this position.

 Chapter 880: Welcome Banquet (2)

    <h4>Chapter 880: Wee Banquet (2)</h4>

    Izanami merely watched the proceedings unfold with a faint smile on her face.

    Everything was progressing in the anticipated direction. No one dared to ept the olive branch being extended by the Cathayan Underworld, and that was only to be expected.

    It was far more difficult to return to the world stage than it was to maintain one''s position. The effort that would have to be expended would be severalfold because during the Cathayan Underworld''s absence, its influence had faded significantly, and none of its powerful adversaries wished to see it rise up once again.

    She gently pped her hands together, and a line of young female Nipponese Yin spirits in red kimonos immediately entered the room, carrying bowls that they ced down silently in front of all of the guests.

    "In order to express our reverence toward the Cathayan Underworld, we are serving kaiseki-ry¨­ri," Izanami said with a smile. "It''ll be different from the kaiseki-ry¨­ri of the mortal realm, but it''s quite delicious nheless. All of the ingredients used are special local produce from Amano-Iwato, I hope you''ll enjoy it."

    A national banquet of this caliber was naturallypletely impable. The decor in the room wasvish yet not overly extravagant, all of the guests'' needs were attended to, and all of the finer details were also wless.

    All of the tableware was made from intricatecquerware, which was a Nipponese specialty, and the flowers inscribed upon them were extremely life-like. As the host, Izanami smiled and exined, "Kaiseki-ry¨­ri is a type of traditional Nipponese cuisine, and in the mortal realm, the most renowned kaiseki-ry¨­ri restaurants include Kitcho of Korai Bridge in Osaka and Shofukuro Honten of Higashiomi in Shiga Prefecture."

    The courses were brought on one after another. Qin Ye had some understanding of kaiseki-ry¨­ri, and he knew that it stemmed from Zen Buddhism. The cuisine consisted of around a dozen traditional dishes, and the interval between the presentation of each dish was five to ten minutes. It was one of the top-tier cuisine of the world.

    In the past, he had dreamed of bing rich and traveling to Nippon to taste true kaiseki-ry¨­ri and now, the world''s most authentic kaiseki-ry¨­ri had been ced in front of him, yet he felt as if he were eating candle wax.

    The banquet had already begun, and it should''ve been a lively and bustling affair with everything weing the return of one of the four pirs to the world stage, yet everyone was extremely quiet.

    All of the underworld emissaries present were carefully tasting the dishes and asionally extending a fewpliments, which Izanami epted graciously as the host. However, not a single underworld emissary dared to mention the Cathayan Underworld.

    It was as if the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld werepletely superfluous here.

    Qin Ye took a sip of miso soup before sweeping a nonchnt ce around the room, only to discover that everyone was avoiding his gaze, and no one dared to meet eyes with him. He heaved a faint internal sigh as he set down his cup.

    It seemed that these votes were going to be very difficult to sway.

    Right at this moment, a servant made their way into the room before whispering into Izanami''s ear, to which she disyed a surprised expression before waving a hand to dismiss the servant.

    She then turned to Qin Ye and said in a voice that was filled with genuine apology, "Yanluo Qin, an oue has been reached in the investigation into the assassination attempt made on you yesterday."

    Everyone instantly fell silent upon hearing this, and all of them turned their attention toward Izanami with apprehensive looks in their eyes.

    Under normal circumstances, there should''ve been no way for a subject like this to have been raised in a banquet of this caliber. To put it frankly, this was a private subject, and this was not the ce to be discussing it!

    However, it had appeared nheless, and it served as a warning, informing all of the other underworlds that someone had already attacked the Cathayan Underworld, thereby urging everyone to reaffirm their stances lest they be left to rue their indecision.

    Furthermore, it was also a disy of public defamation against the Cathayan Underworld. She was essentially telling everyone that anyone dared to attack the Cathayan Underworld right now, and that it had fallen from grace and was no longer fit to be regarded as one of the four pirs.

    No nation had been able to build up its influence overnight, all of this had been facilitated through repeated disys of power.

    Having been absent for over a century, the Cathayan Underworld had to re-establish its influence, but Izanami was seizing the initiative and not giving the Cathayan Underworld a chance to do that.

    The same thought had appeared in the hearts of all of the underworld emissaries present, and some of them had already picked up their napkins to dab at their own mouths. It was clear that regardless of how delicious the kaiseki-ry¨­ri was, it paled into insignificance in the face of what could potentially be an event that altered the state of the entire world.

    Was the Cathayan Underworld going to stamp its authority here or disy signs of weakness?

    The room had fallen so silent that even the lightest of pin drops could be heard, and only after close to 20 seconds had passed did Izanami heave a resigned sigh. "Please forgive me for my ipetence. There are no Yama-Kings in the Nipponese Underworld, and we''re not sure whether a Yama-King has arrived or not. The oue of this exhaustive investigation..."

    She paused momentarily as she bit down onto her own lower lip in a hesitant disy before concluding, "Is inconclusive."

    A cold light shed through Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this. She was forcing him and the Cathayan Underworld to disy weakness in front of all of these underworld emissaries.

    If he didn''t want to ept this oue, then he would have to respond, and that would allow everyone to see whether he was an aggressive or passive ruler, as well as to indirectly determine the Cathayan Underworld''s current level of power.

    This was truly aplex plot. An assassination attempt on the ruler of one of the four pirs was already an astounding event, yet it was only the beginning, and the true kill-shot was still toe.

    If Qin Ye couldn''t handle this situation appropriately, then the Cathayan Underworld would be crushed under the weight of public opinion, therebypletely ruining its attempt to make a resurgence.

    He picked up his wine cup before taking a sip, then cast a calm gaze toward Izanami. "So you''re saying I lied to you?"

    "No, it''s just that we couldn''t find anything in our investigation, and that can only be attributed to my own ipetence," Izanami sighed. "We''re willing to face all of the consequences of this incident."

    Somehow, the room had be even more silent.

    Qin Ye looked straight at Izanami with a piercing gaze, and only after a long while did he reply, "Even if the perpetrator has escaped, they''ll only be able to hide from me for a time. Ghost King Zhao has already recorded their Yin energy, and when we encounter them next, we will make sure that they''re killed regardless of the asion."

    As the third King Yanluo, Qin Ye had inherited the ruthless nature of both of his predecessors.

    This was the might of the Cathayan Underworld, and anyone who dared to provoke it would be hunted to the corners of the world!

    Zhao Yun heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this. Things had already reached a small climax here, and with theplexity of the situation and so many parties present, he could only count on Qin Ye to make the right response, but he was extremely concerned that Qin Ye would make an error here.

    That was a great response¡­ Zhao Yun thought to himself. <i>I</i>f he hadn''t responded like that, others would begin to suspect whether he was actually the rightful heir to the position of King Yanluo. There''s no way that the Cathayan Underworld would select a coward as its ruler. However, there is still an important decision that has to be made, which is how to punish the Nipponese Underworld. Should we be cing economic sanctions upon them or perhaps even considering instigating a war?

    Right as Zhao Yun was contemting all of this, Qin Ye continued, "As for the Nipponese Underworld..."

    He paused momentarily before delivering his verdict. "Before the truth emerges, all contracts and agreements signed between our two underworlds will be put on hold."

    "But Your Excellency," Susanoo-no-Mikoto couldn''t help but interject. "Our nation is not to me for this!"

    "Oh?" As soon as his voice trailed off, a cold cloud of Yin energy instantly spread over the entire room, and Zhao Yun''s indifferent voice rang out in response. "Whose fault is it then?"

    Even though Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto were already prepared for this, they still couldn''t help but shudder in the face of Zhao Yun''s immensely powerful Yin energy. As for all of the other underworld emissaries present, they had turned toward Zhao Yun in unison with shock and horror in their eyes.

    Zhao Yun rose to his feet as he swept his gaze around the room and said, "The leader of one of the four pirs has suffered an assassination attempt in the Nipponese Underworld, yet you deny culpability for this incident? You''re telling me that you don''t even know if a Yama-King has arrived on your territory or not?"

    His eyes narrowed slightly as a dangerous gleam appeared within them. "In that case, how are you fit to even continue as the leaders of this nation?"

    His voice abruptly spiked up a few octaves, and the entire room trembled slightly.

    The expressions of all of the underworld emissaries present changed slightly, and it was clear that they had all been reminded of some bad memories, such as the international conferences that had taken ce back when the second King Yanluo had been in power.

    The aura emanating from Zhao Yun''s body was bing more and more fearsome, and his enormous Yin energy carried such crushing weight that the joints of all of the underworld emissaries present were creaking and groaning from the strain. Izanami had to resist this Yin energy with all her might, and she said through tightly gritted teeth, "Ghost King Zhao, this is the Nipponese Underworld!"

    "So what?" Qin Ye rose to his feet as he held a wine cup in his hand with an indifferent look in his eyes.

    He slowly took a sip of wine, then mmed the cup down onto the table. The entire cup was embedded into the table, and the table trembled violently.

    Traces of light began to appear around his golden dragon robe as he began to fade out of existence. "This may be the Nipponese Underworld, but I am the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld! From this day forth, I won''t be seeing any emissaries from the Nipponese Underworld, and all interactions between our two nations will cease. Regarding all matters concerning the Nipponese Underworld, I maintain my veto rights."

    Seeing as Qin Ye had departed from the banquet, all of the Emissaries of Hell also rose to their feet before silently departing and soon, all of the Cathayan Underworld''s representatives had left the banquet hall.

    The newly-promoted Emissaries of Hell weren''t saying anything, but theherfire in their eyes was flickering erratically, and their faces were flushed with excitement as they franticallymunicated with each other through their eyes. They felt no shame whatsoever; instead, they were extremely proud of the Cathayan Underworld''s ir and authority.

    As a nation that had stood at the pinnacle of the world a century ago, there was no way that the Cathayan Underworld would be willing toy down its pride now.

    The doors were closed with a dull thud, and all of the foreign underworld emissaries continued to remain seated in a stunned silence. Several secondster, an underworld emissary gulped nervously before rising to his feet and extending a parting bow. "Death Goddess Izanami, I have to go and wee the return of our nation''s death god now. Please pardon me."

    Izanami remained silent as she nodded to express her permission, and the underworld emissary immediately departed. Only after he had rushed out of the room did he turn to look behind himself with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.

    That man just now had to have been above the Yama-King level! The pressure that he was giving off exceeds that of any death god I''ve ever met!

    His underworld had only dared to not greet the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team due to the absence of the second King Yanluo, but who could''ve anticipated that the Cathayan Underworld would have another being above the Yama-King level?

    Could it be that the rumors weren''t true and that the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t actually be any weaker than it was in the past?

    Could it be that their nation''s death god hadn''t dared toe here because they had already anticipated that this would be far from a peaceful banquet?

    One underworld emissary took their leave after another, and soon, only Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto were left in the banquet hall.

    "Looks like we''ve shot ourselves in the foot," Susanoo-no-Mikoto heaved a faint sigh. He had shrunk down to a form that was only around two meters tall, and he gently drummed the surface of the table with his thick fingers as he mused, "We were trying to knock the Cathayan Underworld down a peg, but they''ve taken advantage of the situation to establish their dominance instead."

    Izanami raised a hand, and an opium pipe was handed to her. She took a gentle draft from the pipe, then blew out a cloud of bluish-white smoke before rising to her feet, allowing the hem of her long red dress to drag along on the ground behind her.

    "It isn''t all bad," she said in an unhurried voice. "This was always going to be a difficult situation for us. Those sly old foxes all think that this is an opportunity just because the second King Yanluo isn''t here, but Ghost King Zhao isn''t going to be easy to deal with, either. The Nipponese Underworld doesn''t even have a Yama-King, let alone a being above the Yama-King level, so there''s no way we can oppose them if they decide to flip the tables on us like this. Having said that..."

    A smile appeared on her face as she continued, "Don''t you feel like they''re working really hard to keep up a facade?"

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "You mean..."

    "The overall trend is still on our side," Izanami said as several Yin spirits drifted over to lift up the hem of her dress, which was several meters tall, and she exited the banquet hall in an elegant manner. "If the ruler of Asia is dethroned, no one else will be able to take over the East Cathayan Sea aside from us. That is all we can wish for for now, excessive ambition will only lead to a quick downfall."

 Chapter 881: Emergency Plan

    <h4>Chapter 881: Emergency n</h4>

    Qin Ye rushed back to his room, not uttering even a single word along the way, and Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin seemed to have a tacit understanding with him as they also followed him into his room as opposed to returning to their own living quarters.

    The sliding doors were shut, and Qin Ye poured two cups of tea that he pushed toward Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin, then heaved a long sigh of relief as he said with a serious expression, "We worked together very well back there."

    "I''m d we were all on the same page." Zhao Yun also heaved a faint sigh of relief as he raised his cup before downing its contents in one go. "Having said that, the fact that you were able to understand my intentions right away is a clear indication of your unmatched wisdom, my Lord."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response. That situation just now was like dancing on a tightrope with heaven on one side and hell on the other.

    Even the slightest misstep would''ve resulted in apletely different oue.

    At this point, it was already clear to Qin Ye that the opposition wanted toprehensively oppress the Cathayan Underworld. They were no longer just aiming to dethrone the Cathayan Underworld from its position as one of the four pirs. In addition to that, they wanted topletely crush the Cathayan Underworld so that it would fall into obscurity for a century or two, during which time the world wouldpletely forget about it.

    They wanted to stamp the dignity of the Cathayan Underworld deep into the dirt.

    Qin Ye gentlybed through his own hair with his fingers, and at the same time, he was thinking back on what had just happened. He didn''t know how many simr situations were going to unfold during the next few days.

    As his thoughts gradually became clearer and clearer, he finally broke his silence. "The Nipponese Underworld is begging us to punish it."

    "In order to sanction an underworld, there are only two feasible routes: the economic route or the military route," Qin Changxin mused as he stared absentmindedly at the teacup in hand. "We''ve been isted for over a century, therebypletely severing all of our ties with the rest of the world, rendering us unable to enforce economic sanctions upon them. As a result, we can only take the military route."

    "If we implement that, regardless of whether it''s in the form of naval drills or some other measures, the masterminds lurking in the shadows will undoubtedly be watching," Zhao Yun said in a grim voice. "They''re forcing our hand in the most vicious way possible."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "That''s why I didn''t ept that inconclusive verdict, but at the same time, I didn''t exactly know how to respond."

    He cast a calm gaze out the window at the night sky as a cold smile appeared on his face. "The fact that Izanami has mentioned this matter at the wee banquet is already a public disy of provocation, so we must take decisive action. Otherwise, their provocation will only be more and more tant."

    Qin Changxin''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "Is that why you chose to threaten economic sanctions on the Nipponese Underworld? I''m afraid that won''t be severe enough, my Lord."

    Qin Ye nodded in response and gestured for him to continue, and Qin Changxin was happy to oblige. "This is a sign that we want to avoid direct conflict, and it''ll most likely embolden the Nipponese Underworld and the other underworlds choosing to stand against us."

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup and gently stroked it as he heaved a faint sigh. "I''m well aware of that myself. It looks like I took swift and decisive action back there, but in reality, we''re avoiding the crux of the matter. However, I had no other choice in that situation."

    He raised his head with an intense gaze as he continued, "Once I realized that they were seeking to do more than just dethrone the Cathayan Underworld as one of the four pirs, I knew that we had to put on an act. We had to cut this subject of conversation short and intimidate those indecisive underworlds through a disy of power, telling them that the Cathayan Underworld is still the same Cathayan Underworld of old, thereby re-establishing our dominance to a certain extent. Admittedly, doing this will show Izanami that we''re only putting on a tough facade, but everything has its drawbacks. What we need now is votes!"

    His voice had already be extremely grim as he spoke.

    "The Nipponese Underworld is determined to stand against us, so we don''t need to care what they think, what we need to do is sway the votes of as many indecisive underworlds as possible! That''s why I chose to depart abruptly following that disy of power from General Zhao. I''m sure news of what happened during the banquet will spread quickly, and perhaps that will change the mindsets of some of the underworlds."

    It was indeed true that the Nipponese Underworld had obtained some things that they wanted from this wee banquet, thereby allowing them to answer to their masters. For example, why had the Cathayan Underworld avoided enforcing military sanctions upon the Nipponese Underworld? The Cathayan Underworld clearly knew that in its current state, the threats of economic sanctions that it had made werepletely empty, so why hadn''t he even mentioned something like a naval drill in the Strait of Tsushima?

    It was clearly because the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t powerful enough to press those sanctions.

    This type of direct provocation had allowed the Nipponese Underworld to gather some information, but at the same time, it had made the Cathayan Underworld a sworn enemy of theirs.

    As for the way that Qin Ye had addressed the situation, it was indeed the best choice at the time. If he had threatened a military drill, only to be unable to back up the threat, then the Cathayan Underworld would be instantly made an internationalughing stock.

    Thus, he had to put on an act with Zhao Yun, aggressively flipping the tables to forcibly cut this conversation short. At the same time, they were also showing the other underworlds the power of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Thankfully, the two of them had beenpletely on the same page.

    However, their actions had also revealed some weaknesses present in the Cathayan Underworld, such as a regression in its military power.

    Qin Changxin said in a low voice, "I''ve heard that aside from the other members of the four pirs, the rest of the underworlds will be arriving during the next four days, and that includes the Northern Europa Alliance, which has several death gods among its ranks, as well as the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds, which we''ve already met once in the past. Unfortunately, ording to the rules of the Coalition of Underworlds, once coalitions and alliances like this are formed, each of these entities will only have a single vote. Otherwise, we would be in a far better position. At the very least, we would''ve had several dozen votes from the Alkebn Underworlds alone!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he swept a hand through the air, and a world map formed by Yin energy materialized in mid-air. He carefully inspected the map as he said, "There are still six days and 18 hours until the officialmencement of the conference. In four days, we''ll know who''s possibly going to give us their vote. In the meantime, I want news of what had happened today to spread to as many parties as possible."

    Regardless of what the opposition was going to do, they could only unveil their n on the day of the conference.

    These were the final days that they had left, so they couldn''t waste even a single minute!

    He peered into the dark night, and he felt as if there were countless starving wolves lurking in the darkness, but despite this, a smile appeared on his face.

    Do you really think you have me cornered in this situation?

    "Inform the panel of advisors to gather in my room for a meeting."

    "Yes!"

    Soon, all of the Emissaries of Hell arrived in Qin Ye''s room, and the room had already been examined by Zhao Yun to ensure that there were no surveince measures present. It would simply be far too unscrupulous to set up surveince measures in the room of the leader of a nation. The Nipponese Underworld had stood for over 1,000 years, and they were still above those types of underhanded tactics.

    "My Lord," Zu Chongzhi and the others immediately prepared to extend a bow as they entered the room, but Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand as he said, "No need for formalities. Take a seat, everyone."

    Everyone knew that this was going to be a very important meeting. It was clear that the calm before the storm was quickly passing, and they had to find a way out before the storm struck. Thus, no one wasted any further time and cupped their fists in brief salutes before sitting down on the surrounding chairs.

    Qin Ye waved a hand through the air to shut all of the doors and windows in the room, following which a series of Yin runes appeared upon them. Immediately thereafter, the Dusk Legionnaire was released, and Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, Otakemaru, and the other evil ghosts spread across all of the entrances. Anyone who dared to enter this ce would immediately be discovered.

    Only then did Qin Ye stand in front of the giant map with his hands sped behind his back as he said, "Everyone, the situation is looking very grim."

    He gave everyone a quick recount of what had just happened, then continued, "If the Nipponese Underworld is all on its own, then there''s no way it would dare to bare its fangs at us like this. It''s situated right next to our Cathayan Underworld, and the fact that it''s done this tells me that there are at least two of the other three pirs nning to strike at us in seven days."

    He swept a grim yet authoritative gaze across everyone present as he continued, "Hence, I have a question: which n should we adopt?"

    "C3 is my suggestion, Your Excellency." Qian Dui was present in the room, and for some reason, he didn''t have any presence at all, but he was always able to appear at the most critical junctures.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he extended a deep bow with an apologetic expression. "My sincerest apologies for my ipetence, Your Excellency. I had conducted thorough reconnaissance and determined that there was no danger, yet..."

    Qin Ye waved a hand in response. This had nothing to do with him.

    The education system in the Cathayan Underworld still hadn''t been established, so there was no avenue for Yin spirits to improve themselves through cultivation. Hence, it would''ve beenpletely unreasonable to expect a Netherworld Operative like Qian Dui to look out for Yama-Kings.

    "This isn''t the time to be discussing that. Exin what you mean."

    Qian Dui took a step back in a respectful manner as he replied, "I think it would be best for the schrs of the panel of advisors to exin this in my stead. After all, they''re more familiar than I am with underworld affairs, and they also took part in devising the n."

    "Allow me," Lu Ban said as he stepped forward before cupping his fist in a respectful salute. He then made his way over to the map and stroked his own long beard as he said, "The situation is even more perilous than we anticipated. Thankfully, we''ve already nned for the worst, and this situation is perfect for the implementation of n C3."

    Qin Ye was listening intently.

    This was the strategy that they were going to adopt against the opposition!

    The panel of advisors consisted of several dozen high-ranking officials that had been active on the international stage in the mortal realm, as well as schrs from the underworld. All of them were extremely capable individuals, and they had all participated in devising the strategies that the Cathayan Underworld could choose from depending on the situation that they encountered here in Nara.

    In short, the Cathayan Underworld was far from unprepared!

    They hadn''t adopted any of the ns earlier as they didn''t know what the nature of the situation was going to be like. After all, this was the first time the Cathayan Underworld had returned to the international stage in over a century. However, there were more than enough capable individuals sharing the load with Qin Ye.

    In preparation for this trip, six ns had been devised in advance, and each one was far more effective and productive than any n that Qin Ye coulde up with on his own.

    "Please begin."

    "Yes, Your Excellency," Lu Ban replied with a respectful bow.

    As he stood up straight again, he had already adopted a grim expression as he said, "Our main disadvantage right now is that we don''t know the state of international affairs. We have no idea about the objectives of the underworlds opposing us, so we had no choice but to spend these first few precious hours for Yanluo Qin to test the waters in person. At the end of the day, there is a massive mountain standing in front of us, but the situation is notpletely hopeless! As long as we y our cards right, we''ll be able to pull through rtively unscathed."

    After that brief introduction, he pointed at a spot on the map and continued, "This is where our strategy begins!"

 Chapter 882: C3 Emergency Plan

    <h4>Chapter 882: C3 Emergency n</h4>

    His finger was pointing at the new continent.

    "Firstly, we musty out the objectives that the other underworlds have for targeting us," Lu Ban said in a serious voice. "There are only two possible objectives, the first of which is to dethrone us as one of the four pirs, and the second of which would be to expand the number of pir nations. Through our deduction, the panel of advisors has determined the second possibility to be most likely. They haven''t been able to ascertain the true state of the Cathayan Underworld, so choosing the first option would be far too risky, and even a slight misstep could trigger a world war. Thus, there is a greater chance that they would pursue the second option. However, regardless of what they choose, they must operate under the rules of the Coalition of Underworlds, which is characterized by a voting system. Each underworld or conglomerate entity of underworlds holds a single vote, and in order to earn more votes, we must show the other underworlds your attitude. On top of that, we need to recruit more powerful underworlds to our side, thereby telling everyone that we''re not alone, and the ce where we''ll have the most potential to recruit powerful allies will be none other than the new continent."

    Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he said in a contemtive voice, "The Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds were created by the Plumed Serpent God, so they didn''t attain their power themselves. Those death gods don''t know that, but they''ve also sensed that something is amiss about them, which is why they''ve always looked down on the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds. As for Northern Europa, its geographic location is too secluded. Only the new continent has three mighty religions and has a massive territory, thereby making them the best allies for us."

    Qian Dui poured a cup of tea that he handed to Qin Ye, and Qin Ye epted it, but didn''t drink it right away.

    He cast his gaze toward the tea in the cup as he murmured to himself, "No, that''s not all."

    He set down the teacup as he rose to his feet, then sped his hands behind his back as he continued, "Most importantly, the two rulers of the new continent have no qualms whatsoever. If we can get them to stand on our side, then they would essentially be a pair of walking nuclear bombs that we could use to threaten any underworld at any time. All of the major underworlds are fearful of them as they''repletely unpredictable and uncontroble, which is why they want to avoid provoking the three religions of the new continent at all costs. As for the subsidiary underworlds to those major underworlds, they can only follow the orders of those major underworlds."

    This was something that Qin Ye hadn''t thought of before this.

    Several secondster, he continued, "However, the two rulers of the new continent won''t be attending this conference. They''repletely engrossed in searching for opportunities for survival on the new continent, and they don''t care about the state of the world at all. Only the representatives of the three major religions will be in attendance, and without the leaders of the new continent to lead them, the other underworlds won''t be anywhere near as wary of them."

    Indeed, if it were only going to be the likes of Xolotl attending the conference, then the underworlds aiming to strike at the Cathayan Underworld would only be concerned, but not afraid. They didn''t dare to bepletely insane and unreasonable as the two rulers of the new continent could, so they weren''t as intimidating to the other underworlds. Following the passing of the new continent''s two rulers, they still have to continue living in this world, so they couldn''t afford to burn all of their bridges.

    The only people who would dare to oppose this entire world would be the two rulers of the new continent, whose insanity had drowned out their fear long ago. In fact, the main objective of this conference was to discuss how to prevent them from getting their hands on documents pertaining to forbidden arts.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye was struck by a sense of enlightenment. An intelligent man like him didn''t require much guidance, and this was already enough for him to understand everything. Even so, he continued to ponder even deeper.

    If the two rulers of the new continent could stand with him and support him no matter what, then the Coalition of Underworlds would have to worry that if the oue of this conference didn''t sufficiently benefit the Cathayan Underworld, then they could hand over documents pertaining to forbidden arts to the new continent as a means to spite the entire world.

    Going even further than that, perhaps they would be afraid that in a fit of rage, Qin Ye would decide to join forces with Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to instigate a world war!

    Both of those options sounded a little far-fetched, but in reality, there was a very good chance that both scenarios could eventuate if the Coalition of Underworlds weren''t careful!

    In that case, would they dare to go ahead with their original n?

    Would the other indecisive and neutral underworlds dare to take such a massive risk to vote for the other three pirs?

    The only ones who would dare to strike at one of the four pirs would be the four pirs themselves. Prior to doing that, they would definitelymunicate with all of the other underworlds that held voting rights. The opposition was already beginning to y their cards, which indicated that theirmunication efforts had already borne some fruit. If the Cathayan Underworld didn''t make a move and simply went with the flow, then it would be at the mercy of the other three pirs. However, if the two semi-deranged rulers of the new continent were to side with them, would the other underworlds still dare to vote against them?

    It wasn''t the case that all of the underworlds were subsidiaries of the other three pirs. At the very least, the Alkebn Underworlds and the Northern Europa Underworlds weren''t. Furthermore, there were all these other alliances and coalitions. Why had thesee into existence? It was precisely to gather the strength of weak minorities in order to resist powerful entities like the three pirs.

    Several minutester, Qin Ye exhaled as he said with an intense look in his eyes, "If we can aplish this, then we will indeed be able to ensure that we pull through this rtively unscathed, but how do we achieve this? The underworlds that are acting against us will definitely eliminate all of the potential allies that we can recruit to our side, and we have no ties with the new continent whatsoever. Xolotl may have helped us prevent Xu Fu from fleeing to the new continent, but there''s no way that he''ll vote for us. The likeliest scenario is that he''ll relinquish his vote, but we don''t want that. Instead, we want him to vote for us."

    A contemtive look appeared on his face as he gently swept a hand through the air, and a rock appeared. The rock was giving off a colorful radiance that was hypnotizing as it was beautiful.

    Would this Heavenmend Rock be enough?

    If a death god were to perish, they would inevitably be one with the Heavenly Dao. Heavenmend Rocks could help one grasp certainws of the Heavenly Dao, which would perhaps allow them to retain a shred of sentience within the Heavenly Dao, but this wasn''t the time to be using this trump card.

    What Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa wanted now was to survive and not be a part of the Heavenly Dao at all!

    The Heavenmend Rock could only achieve its greatest impact once the two rulers of the new world were certain that bing one with the Heavenly Dao was unavoidable. At this point, they were still 200 to 300 years away from death, so the Heavenmend Rock wouldn''t be alluring enough to make them travel all the way to Nara to attend this conference and support the Cathayan Underworld.

    The ideal situation would be for Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to arrive in person and side with the Cathayan Underworld. Even a vote from the likes of Xolotl wouldn''t achieve the same effect.

    However, how could he make this happen?

    Qin Ye was temporarily at aplete loss as he massaged the rock in an absentminded manner.

    The second King Yanluo had told him to figure this out on his own. What could he use to lure those two old monsters from the new continent to Nara?

    Even after thinking for a long while, he still couldn''t figure out anything, and he shook his head before turning to everyone else in the room. "Even with the votes from the new continent, that still wouldn''t be enough."

    "Indeed," Lu Ban replied. "However, those votes would be extremely influential, especially when it came to swaying the decisions of the neutral underworlds. It is indeed true that those votes alone won''t be enough, but if we want to be able to turn the tables, then we have to make use of everything that we can."

    He then pointed toward another spot on the map. "This is the Northern Europa Alliance, while this is the Coalition of the Alkebn Underworlds."

    He turned to Qin Ye with a solemn and urgent expression as he continued, "My Lord, what we have to do now is establish rtions with these two entities. Ideally, we want to make them our strategic partners. After that, we''ll sign a whole host of agreements with them, then spread the news far and wide! Previously, I said that these two ces weren''t held in very high regard, but that only applied to the four pirs. These two entities have a total of over 10 death godsbined, so for the other underworlds and underworld conglomerates, they are still very much a force to be reckoned with! If we can sway their vote, that would sow unrest and hesitation among the other neutral underworlds. Even more importantly, these two entities have massive territories, and no matter how powerful the other three pirs are, they can''t extend their reach into those ces. During the next few days, we have to contact the Northern Europa Underworlds and Alkebn Underworlds to put on a show and sign as many mutually favorable agreements as possible. In addition to that, we have to promote our actions to all of the underworlds, and that would definitely create a stir. Finally, once the underworlds of the new continent arrive, we have to convince them to do the same and sign high-profile agreements with us using any method possible. That is the key to our survival!"

    There were no direct military shes during the international conferences, but the tumultuous undercurrents were even more perilous than outright wars.

    The room fellpletely silent, and Qin Ye contemted the situation for a long while before finally giving a decisive nod.

    This was indeed the best way to proceed given the current situation. They were going to umte allies rapidly over the course of the next few days, then bring things to a head upon the arrival of the representatives of the new continent. In particr, everything would be blown wide open if they could convince Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa toe to their aid as well.

    "So the most important thing right now is to think about how to lure those two old monsters here," Qin Ye murmured as he cast his gaze toward Zhao Yun. "What do you think?"

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly as he shook his head in response. "I thought that the Heavenmend Rock would be enough to convince them to side with us, but it seems that I was wrong."

    Qin Ye gentlybed his fingers through his own hair to calm himself down.

    There were still six days left, and there had to be a way. The second King Yanluo was ratherckadaisical at times, but he definitely wouldn''t joke about something so serious.

    "So all we can do now is wait." Qian Dui finally broke his silence. He was a man of few words, but everything that he said was worth listening to. "The more actions we take now, the more we''ll be revealing to our enemies. As we wait, we''ll be able to see who will initiate contact with us during the next few days, and we''re also waiting for the arrival of the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds and the Northern Europa Alliance. We can actively recruit the Alkebn Underworlds, but the Northern Europa Alliance is a bit moreplicated. None of the four pirs had tried to forge a rtionship with it because it was in such close proximity to the Argosian Underworld. Thanatos has all but explicitly said that it intended to conquer those five nations at some point, and none of the other three pirs were willing to go directly against the Argosian Underworld. However, that was 100 years ago. Now that they''re trying to re-establish the world order, anything goes. The Northern Europa Alliance also needs a powerful ally right now, and no one fits the bill better than the Cathayan Underworld."

    Qin Ye cleared his throat in an awkward manner upon hearing this. He couldn''t help but feel a little sheepish to call the Cathayan Underworld a "powerful ally" in its current form.

    Having said that, as long as they couldst through this conference, then go to the new continent to recover Xu Fu''s notes, the Cathayan Underworld would indeed be a powerful ally in as little as 20, no, 15 years!

    Having decided on the n of action, everyone knew what they had to do. Qin Ye swept his gaze across everyone in the room as he dered, "So we wait until the day that we''re actually going to strike. Prior to that, no one is to act recklessly! Do not appear in any settings withrge gatherings of foreign underworld emissaries unless absolutely necessary!"

    "Yes!"

    Thus, everyone departed, and Qin Ye poured himself a cup of tea as he cast an absentminded gaze out the window.

    Seeing as you''re intent on bringing me down, thene! Let me see if your spear will pierce my shield or if my shield will snap your spear!

 Chapter 883: Heartfelt Advice from a Vampire (1)

    <h4>Chapter 883: Heartfelt Advice from a Vampire (1)</h4>

    Inside a certain room, there was a death god wearing a goat skull mask and a pristine white cloak, and he asked, "Has anything happened?"

    This death god was an advanced Abyssal Prefect, so he was only one step away from reaching the Yama-King level, and he wasn''t the only Abyssal Prefect in the room.

    To his left was a death goddess with the appearance of a human woman. Herplexion was quite dark, and her eyes were of a fiery red color, but what was most remarkable about her was that she had a head of venomous vipers rather than hair. With each and every breath that she took, Yin energy would dissipate around her as wisps of ck mist.

    To his right was a middle-aged man with deep-set features and countless holes all over his skin. The wails and sobs of Yin souls would asionally ring out from within those holes, and right down the center of his head was a massive crack that spanned the length of his entire brain, disappearing behind the cor of his white suit. Inside that crack were countless miniature human hands, presenting an extremely harrowing sight to behold.

    Further to the right was a woman wearing a golden crown. The crown was designed in a very crafty way, splitting her face up into three sections, and each section had a face of its own.

    These were four Abyssal Prefects.

    Generally speaking, regardless of what a death god''s true form was, they would take on appearances that were as close to humanoid as possible during these international conferences.

    In front of the four death gods stood an underworld emissary, who replied in a respectful manner, "There''s been no reaction at all."

    "They haven''t summoned any underworlds?"

    "No."

    "And there haven''t been any underworlds that have visited them?"

    "No."

    Silence.

    Several secondster, the middle-aged man with holes all over his body said, "Alright, you can go now."

    The underworld emissary extended a respectful bow before departing, and in the instant the door was closed, the man turned to the other death gods and asked, "What do you think of this, Kuwal?"

    He was referring to the death god in the goat skull mask, and Kuwal pondered the question for a moment before replying, "It''s hard to say, but in any case, this is a matter concerning the top-tier powerhouses in the world, so all we can do is watch from the sidelines. My Sanfotsi, your Micronesia, Tanvana''s Marshall Inds, Borne''s Mnesia, and General Gatlin''s Polynesia are all nations that are part of the Pacific ind chain. The geographic conditions in the mortal realm are reflected in the underworld, resulting in simrly tiny territories for our underworlds, and we''re in close proximity to the two superpowers that are the Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld."

    He continued in a grim voice, "In the past, the Cathayan Underworld took over the South Cathayan Sea, while the Hindustani Underworld just barely managed to take down Bagan, thereby securing the Bay of Bengal. However, we all know what the Hindustani Underworld really wants is to be able to conquer the nations in close proximity to it in the South Cathayan Sea rather than the current Maluku Inds. If they can seed in this endeavor on this asion, then the state of Asia will undergo a massive change."

    Tanvana bit down onto her own lower lip, and she unconsciously lowered her voice slightly out of fear and respect for the four pirs as she asked, "Do you think they''ll make a move?"

    "You don''t even know who it is that''s nning to make a move," Kuwal replied with a cold smile. "You''re not the only one, none of the small ind chain underworlds like us are privy to this information. However, as long as you''re not blind, you should definitely be able to identify the current atmosphere. At this point, it''s clear to everyone that one or more of the four pirs are standing behind the Nipponese Underworld, and what have they done? The Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo suffered an assassination attempt on their territory, yet they failed to find the perpetrator. On top of that, they went out of their way to mention this during the Cathayan Underworld''s wee banquet. Why do you think they did that? "

    No one said anything.

    The Nipponese Underworld wasn''t even bothering to disguise its animosity now, and only an idiot wouldn''t be able to see this.

    Kuwal continued, "Also, do you still not understand? It''s been two days since the wee banquet, and five more underworlds have arrived. All of the underworlds in question are also quite small, and under normal circumstances, they would definitely take this opportunity to interact with us. However, they refrained from doing this on this asion. Instead, they''ve all shut their doors and refused to see all guests, only engaging in internalmunication. If the other three pirs outside of the Cathayan Underworld aren''t looking to make a move, then there''s no way to exin this."

    The entire world is about to be turned on its head... Just this thought alone was enough to make their souls shudder, and they didn''t dare to ponder the matter any further.

    This was something that only Yama-Kings could y roles in, and they could only look on as bystanders.

    Borne, the death goddess with venomous snakes all over her head, took a deep breath before analyzing, "The most telling sign is that not a single underworld has dared to visit the Cathayan Underworld, even though this is the first major international conference the Cathayan Underworld has featured in for more than a century. This is already enough to tell us many things. Prior to this, we also received hints from certain important characters, urging us to get with the times."

    Everyone fell silent once again.

    After a long while, Kuwal finally broke the silence. "All we can do now is adapt and react as the situation unfolds. As far as we know, the Cathayan Underworld is still the same Cathayan Underworld as before. They have a being above the Yama-King level among their ranks, and taking the second King Yanluo into ount, that''s already two in one underworld. With him present, the ones looking to bring down the Cathayan Underworld may yet be thwarted."

    A faint smile appeared on Borne''s face as she countered, "You''re cing too much weight on beings above the Yama-King level. Whenpared with an underworld, the underworld is clearly more important than a being of that caliber. On top of that, if something''s going to happen, then it will involve the votes of several dozen underworlds, whereas even a being above the Yama-King level will only have a single vote."

    "Hence, we have to assess who the Cathayan Underworld''s allies are."

    "We hold four votes in total, so we must stick together. Our vote is going to affect the state of the entirety of Asia, and we must choose carefully!"

    "Indeed, let''s wait and see what both sides do next. What I''m quite perplexed by is that the Cathayan Underworld still hasn''t made a move. Are they not aware that the representatives of the other underworlds don''t dare to approach them? Looking at the current situation, they''ll only be able to secure three or four votes at most!"

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, followed by a voice. "Esteemed death gods."

    The sound of conversation in the room instantly ceased, and only after three seconds of silence did Kuwal reply. "What is it?"

    "Your Excellency." The person on the other side of the door was speaking in a very respectful voice, but their voice was also tinged with a hint of irrepressible excitement. "Count Drac of Romania has arrived."

    Count Drac!

    The four death gods exchanged a few nces, and each of them could see their own excitement and apprehension mirrored in one another''s eyes.

    The first important death god had arrived! It was the patriarch of Romania''s n of vampires, Count Drac himself!

    The n of vampires virtually took no part in underworld affairs, but they would always attend international conferences of this caliber. Furthermore, it wasmon knowledge to everyone that their only ally among the underworlds was the Argosian Underworld.

    There was no reason for this other than their extremely close geographic proximity.

    Had Count Drac arrived in person at the behest of Thanatos? Could it be that he was nothing more than a pawn for the Argosian Underworld? Had he brought any new information with him?

    In that instant, the four death gods all seemed to have arrived at a tacit understanding, and they nodded in unison.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At this point, all of the underworlds were frantically analyzing the current situation. Many smaller underworlds had already arrived, and they wanted to approach the Cathayan Underworld, but they could sense that something was amiss, so they didn''t dare to proceed.

    At this moment, all of them had arrived in front of the pavilions to wee the arrival of the first important death god outside of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Qin Ye was also watching. Count Drac''s status didn''t warrant a wee from the Cathayan Underworld, particrly when one considered that there was a very good chance Count Drac would be standing against the Cathayan Underworld.

    Through the window, Qin Ye could see an orderly convoy of 10 ck carriages entering through the main gate. The carriages were shiny and glossy, and each carriage was being drawn by four massive bats as opposed to skeletal horses. Lit oilnterns with golden skeleton covers were hanging from the four corners of the carriage, and a bat insignia was emzoned directly onto the front of the carriage.

    At the main entrance, around a dozen death gods led by Izanami were already waiting respectfully. This was far more ceremonious a wee than the one that the Cathayan Underworld had received!

    None of the death gods were idiots, and they all knew what exactly it entailed for Count Drac to be arriving in person and for Izanami to be greeting him, and that wasn''t even taking into ount all of the death gods behind her who had refrained from visiting the Cathayan Underworld during the past few days.

    The carriages slowly drew to a halt in front of the pavilions amid loud wee music, and a thin man emerged from the third carriage. The man was dressed in ancient Europa attire with deathly pale skin and was wearing a golden wig. He smiled as he extended a hand forward, and at the same time, Qin Ye closed his window.

    It was already their third day in Nara, yet even as one of the four pirs, they hadn''t received a visit from a single underworld!

    In contrast with the grand wee that Count Drac was receiving, this was a massive insult!

    It was like a sign telling everyone that a new world order was about to be established, and that following its century-long absence, the Cathayan Underworld was no longer the dominant powerhouse it had once been. All of the death gods present were certainly more than intelligent enough to interpret these signs, and the more underworlds came to realize this, the more insulting it was for the Cathayan Underworld.

    "Why aren''t they here yet?" Qin Ye murmured to himself as he stared intently at the calendar.

    There was nothing that he could do prior to the arrival of the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds and the Northern Europa Alliance!

    All he could do now was lie low and endure the humiliation until the day he could retaliate.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Count Drac wore a friendly smile as he shook the hands of all of the underworld emissaries who had emerged to greet him. For someone like him who barely ever participated in these conferences, he had already forgotten most of the death gods'' names.

    In contrast with the warm hands of living humans, he much preferred shaking the icy hands of Yin spirits.

    "Count Drac," Izanami greeted with a smile. "It''s been so long, yet you''re still as handsome and dashing as ever. In order to wee your arrival, we''ve prepared avish wee banquet for you tonight."

    All underworld received wee banquets, the only difference was whether the two death gods of the Nipponese Underworld were going to be in attendance. For example, entities like the Red Moon Federation weren''t worthy of being attended to by Izanami in person.

    Drac smiled and nodded in response, and a handsome young man behind him had already helped him take off his coat. He made his way over to the pavilions with the death gods around him and replied, "Thank you very much, I''ve heard great things about Nipponese cuisine."

    Izanami also smiled as she said, "The wee banquet will be held in the ''Small Chrysanthemum''."

    Everyone immediately fell silent upon hearing this.

    Thus far, only the Cathayan Underworld had been weed in the "Small Chrysanthemum".

    There was no rule stating that each underworld had to be weed in a different hall, but during this sensitive time and in this sensitive setting, wasn''t the Nipponese Underworld essentially cing the Cathayan Underworld and the Romanian n of vampires on the same level by doing this?

    All of the death gods present couldn''t help but ponder this notion even deeper.

    Was this a sign? Where was this signing from? What exactly was it trying to tell them? Was it from the Argosian Underworld? The Aegyptian Underworld? The Hindustani Underworld? Or perhaps... all of them?

    Chills were already beginning to run down the spines of all of the death gods present, and right at this moment, Izanami continued, "Also, I''ll be inviting all of the underworlds who have arrived thus far to attend your wee banquet."

    Theherfire in Kuwal''s eyes shed slightly upon hearing this.

    Are the forces looking to strike at the Cathayan Underworld finally about to bare their fangs and reveal their intentions to the entire world?

 Chapter 884: Heartfelt Advice from a Vampire (2)

    <h4>Chapter 884: Heartfelt Advice from a Vampire (2)</h4>

    The only ones who knew the truth had to be the core underworlds that were subsidiaries of the other three pirs, and they were going to be responsible for recruiting the likes of Count Drac to join their cause.

    This would be followed by the underworlds that were slightly out of the loop. They were going to receive word of what was going to happen, but they wouldn''t know exactly what to do, and their role would be simply to cooperate. Most of these underworlds were ones that were receiving benefits from the three pirs or were in close geographic proximity to those three pirs, thereby making it very difficult to change their stances.

    After that would be the other underworlds.

    They didn''t even need to know anything, all they needed was the slightest inkling of the trend that was sweeping over the international stage. The three pirs weren''t going to force them to do anything, but if they were to go against the three pirs, they would definitely suffer severe consequences. At the very least, they would not be receiving any benefits from the three pirs.

    Thest category of underworlds was one that consisted of insignificant entities such as the Red Moon Federation.

    All of the important yers have already arrived, are we about to be notified?

    Drac looked around in a seemingly nonchnt manner, and in doing so, he discovered that there were already 20 underworlds present!

    Would these votes already be enough to ensure that the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able to make a return?

    All of the surrounding death gods were smiling and greeting him, and Drac also responded in kind, but his mind was already far away.

    It was not going to be a peaceful wee banquet, that was for sure.

    The banquet would be attended by 20 underworlds and the representative of the n of vampires, and they were going to change the world!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    "Your Excellency." Qian Dui made his way into Qin Ye''s room and informed, "This is the invitation letter sent to us by the Nipponese Underworld."

    Qin Ye opened the letter to take a look, and he couldn''t help but burst intoughter at the first thing that he saw.

    The Small Chrysanthemum... Was that supposed to be a sign to the other underworlds, cing the Cathayan Underworld on the same level as a n of vampires? That was truly a p to the face.

    100 years ago, there was no way that the Nipponese Underworld would''ve dared to do this.

    The hall that had been used for the Cathayan Underworld''s wee banquet would''ve been cleaned up and sealed off. If any other underworld wanted to use it, they would immediately be met with a derisive "who do you think you are?"

    However, that same demeaning question was now being raised to the Cathayan Underworld.

    Was he angry? Sure he was! Qin Ye wanted nothing better than to storm the hall and wipe all of these bastards out of existence, but he couldn''t do that.

    He represented one of the most powerful nations in the world, and seeing as his opposition hadn''t adopted military action, then he would also have to retaliate without the use of force. Otherwise, if he were to use brute force all the time, he would only be met with resentment from the entire world.

    "My Lord, should we attend?"

    Qin Ye ced the invitation letter onto the table and asked, "Why would we attend? So we can be made fun of by all of those underworlds? Even if we go on this asion to prevent them from openly plotting against us, they can just arrange private meetings in secret anyway."

    At the end of the day, it simply wasn''t time for the Cathayan Underworld to flip the tables yet. Once they recovered Xu Fu''s notes, it would be a different story altogether.

    Anyone who dared to provoke the Cathayan Underworld during the next conference would immediately be crucified and made an example out of!

    Qian Dui was silent for a moment before asking, "Then when do we make our move?"

    Qin Ye offered no response to this, and Qian Dui insisted, "We have to act now. There are still two days until all of the underworlds arrive and only four days left until the official conference. Even if the Alkebn Underworlds don''t turn up, we have to do something! If we continue to remain dormant, even the underworlds that want to side with us will be very hesitant."

    Qin Ye poured himself a cup of tea and smiled as he said, "I want to act more than anyone. I am more humiliated than anyone to be seeing the Cathayan Underworld demeaned like this."

    He took a sip of tea before continuing, "That''s why I''ve been waiting this entire time. I''m well aware that we need to make a move, but there''s nothing we can say. With the current state of the Cathayan Underworld, there''s no way we can reveal the truth to everyone. At the very most, all we can do is sign a few agreements, and even then, technological agreements would be out of the question. Hence, instead of saying anything, we have to do something, and if we''re going to do something, then we might as well make it a spectacle. Right when they think they have us cornered, we''re going to show them that they''re not inplete control. We''re going to tell all of the underworlds that everything is still going ording to our n. It would be just like what General Zhao and I did during the wee banquet, but on this asion, it needs to be even more impactful."

    A hint of realization shed through Qian Dui''s eyes upon hearing this. "You mean... we''re going to act tonight?"

    "There''s no better time than the present," Qin Ye said as a cold smile appeared on his face. "It''s clear that Count Drac is the spokesperson for the Argosian Underworld, and he''s going to disclose the n to all of the underworlds. At a time like this, we have to tell them that we know everything that they''re doing, but we simply can''t be bothered to deal with them because we''re absolutely confident that there''s no way they can sway the Cathayan Underworld''s position as one of the four pirs. If we can do that, I''m sure all of the death gods will think twice before agreeing to any ns."

    Waiting didn''t necessarily equate to passivity.

    They were waiting not because they were powerless and passive, but because they already had a sound n, and they were only searching for the right opportunity to execute it.

    The Alkebn Underworlds, the Northern Europa Underworlds, and the underworlds of the new continent still hadn''t arrived, so they would still have to wait before they make their most game-changing move, but that didn''t mean that these people could provoke the Cathayan Underworld over and over again without any repercussions.

    "What do you n to do?" Qian Dui asked with a relieved expression. He had been feeling quite depressed these past few days. No one wanted to see their nation being ostracized and demeaned on the world stage, and frustration and indignation had been steadily building in his heart in the face of the repeated acts of provocation aimed at the Cathayan Underworld.

    Even though this still wasn''t the time to beying all the cards on the table, they had to give everyone a taste of what was toe.

    On the international stage, brute force and tant insults weren''t the way to go. Instead, it was all aboutpletely stifling the opposition while still acting within the boundaries of the rules.

    There was no room for emotion here.

    "For now, we wait," Qin Ye said as he returned the letter of invitation to Qian Dui. "Tell the Nipponese Underworld that I''m not free tonight. However, I''ll be sending a big present to them. Oh, by the way, you''ll be responsible for delivering the present, and while you''re there, you can take a good look at all of their faces. It would be a shame if there were no audience to witness such a good show."

    "Yes."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    6 PM, Small Chrysanthemum Hall.

    The hall was brightly lit, and all of the death gods were present. Count Drac and the representatives of the Nipponese Underworld still hadn''t arrived yet, but all of the death gods could already sense that something was different.

    It was the decor.

    During the few days between the Cathayan Underworld''s wee banquet and Count Drac''s arrival, the Small Chrysanthemum Hall had beenpletely renovated! The floor was paved with gold, the ceiling was paved with Yin spirit jade, and the pirs were decorated with all types of precious gems.

    Even though there was no set rule for this, the four pirs had always received the highest profiles during the past international conferences. The fact that Count Drac was receiving a more spectacr wee than the Cathayan Underworld was essentially cing the former above thetter, implying that the Cathayan Underworld was no longer fit to continue as one of the four pirs.

    Due to the fact that there were no official rules about this, the Nipponese Underworld couldn''t be faulted for this.

    None of the death gods present were saying anything unnecessary. These types of gatherings were ones where they should be listening and watching intently rather than speaking excessively.

    None of the death gods who didn''t know their ce and regrly spoke out of turn had ever fared well on the international stage.

    At the stroke of 6:10 PM, the doors were opened wide, and Count Drac strode into the hall with a smile while Izanami trailed along behind him. "Sorry to keep you all waiting."

    All of the death gods in the entire hall immediately rose to their feet and smiled as they responded along the lines of "Not at all, esteemed death gods!"

    All of a sudden, the entire hall was filled with boisterous and joyful chatter.

    "Please take a seat, everyone," Izanami said, and everyone did as they were told.

    Izanami was just about to sit down on the main seat when a thought suddenly seemed to have urred to her, and she asked in a surprised voice, "Is the Cathayan Underworld not in attendance?"

    <i>Are we doing this already? </i>None of the death gods seemed to have heard her, and they were suddenly taking a particr interest in the tableware in front of them.

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto sighed, "The Cathayan Underworld refuses to meet with our emissaries. Even though we''ve already sent several emissaries bearing letters of invitation, it seems that our efforts were all to no avail."

    "What a pity..." Izanami sighed. "My apologies, everyone, I''ll be sure to make it up to all of you at the conclusion of the conference."

    Even though the most powerful underworld currently present in Nara wasn''t in attendance, Izanami didn''t seem bothered at all as she sat down in an unflustered manner. Many of the death gods exchanged a few surreptitious nces, but no one dared to voice their thoughts on this matter.

    "The times really have changed." Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out, and everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this.

    Who was it that dared to speak in such a tant and forthright manner?

    Everyone turned to discover that it was the death god of a small underworld nestled right between the Aegyptian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld. No one said anything upon seeing this. The geographic location of this underworld meant that there was no way that they could side with the Cathayan Underworld.

    It was destined to be used as cannon fodder, and some things couldn''t be directly verbalized by Izanami and Count Drac, but these small underworlds could act as their mouthpieces.

    No one disagreed with this sentiment, and Izanami and Count Drac seemed to have suffered from temporary deafness right as that statement was made.

    Izanami pped her hands together, and a meal that wasparable in quality with the one served during the Cathayan Underworld''s wee banquet was brought into the hall, one course after another.

    "It is truly an honor for Amano-Iwato to be hosting all of you for this conference to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts." Izanami raised her wine cup in an elegant manner before downing its contents in one go. "I hope all of you have an enjoyable stay in Nara."

    Thus, the banquetmenced, and once all of the courses had been served, Count Drac suddenly heaved a faint sigh.

    Is it about to begin?

    Aside from Izanami and Drac, all of the death gods present were constantly listening and observing intently throughout the course of the banquet. Thus, Drac''s sigh instantly attracted everyone''s attention.

    No one could ignore the turning of the international tide, they could only choose to go with the flow or be drowned.

    Izanami picked up her napkin and dabbed at her own mouth in an elegant manner before asking, "Was the meal not to your liking, Count Drac?"

    "No, no, on the contrary, I enjoyed it very much," Drac replied with a smile. "It''s just that I don''t often visit the Nipponese Underworld, and I''m a little saddened by the thought that I won''t be able to enjoy this cuisine in the future."

    Izanami smiled and offered, "If you want, I can get my team of chefs to return to Romania with you."

    "No, that would be asking too much," Drac replied, and to everyone''s surprise, he began to speak in ancient Cathayan. "Come to think of it, Cathay is also vastly renowned for its cuisine. I really wanted to meet this third King Yanluo, and it''s quite a pity that he''s not in attendance."

    Izanami was still smiling as she replied, "There will always be opportunities in the future."

    Drac shrugged in response. "Perhaps not."

    At this point, even the death gods who were slowest to react had already put down their cutlery.

    Drac seemed to bepletely oblivious to the attention that he was receiving as he said, "ording to all types of reports, the state of the Cathayan Underworld isn''t as calm and cid as it appears on the surface. It''s had no imports or exports for over a century, so its GDP has to have suffered immensely."

    He swept a sharp gaze around the entire hall as he smiled and continued, "It would be a great pity if it were to be removed as one of the four pirs for a reason like this, wouldn''t you think so, everyone?"

    The hall had fallen so silent that even the lightest of pin drops could be heard.

 Chapter 885: Divine Descent in Nara

    <h4>Chapter 885: Divine Descent in Nara</h4>

    Everyone knew that someone wanted to do something to the Cathayan Underworld, but no one knew the exact details.

    Only now were they getting a slight inkling that someone was trying to kick the Cathayan Underworld off the four pirs!

    This was something extremely significant, significantly enough to start a war! Was this why they had invited everyone to this banquet? So they could gauge everyone''s reactions?

    None of the death gods were idiots, and several of them were already jumping onto this opportunity. "The four pirs were established with the requirement that they would undertake more international responsibilities in return for greater benefits. They are supposed to be the leaders of the world, and in order to fulfill that role, they would naturally have to be the most powerful underworlds."

    "Indeed, with no international trade for 100 years, their GDP has to have fallen significantly. If they''re no longer fit to upy this position, then things have to change."

    "I heard that there was a change in the administration, and following this transition, the Cathayan Underworld must be focusing on increasing their domestic productivity. Will they really be able to focus on their international duties under these circumstances?"

    "Well, when you think about it, they''ve already shirked their international duties for over a century..."

    Kural took a sip of sake as he listened in silence.

    The vor of the sake was very light and understated, but he felt as if there were red-hot daggers sliding down his throat, and all of the Yin energy in his entire body had tensed up.

    These underworlds aren''t even bothering to hide their intentions anymore... Could it be that they think that they''ve already won? Perhaps during a secret meeting that we have no right to attend, they''ve already determined that they''ve swayed enough votes to dethrone the Cathayan Underworld? No, that can''t be it. If they''ve already determined that, then the Nipponese Underworld wouldn''t even be bothering to keep up pretenses! The fact that Yanluo Qin is still staying in a pavilion reserved for one of the four pirs means that they aren''t ready yet. In that case, are they trying to gauge how many people are going to support them? No, perhaps our silence is already enough...

    Countless thoughts were racing through everyone''s heads, and no one dared to speak recklessly. They were all bound by all types of agreements and contracts with the four pirs or other first-rate underworlds, and if they were to say something wrong here, those agreements could be terminated or perhaps even severer consequences could follow.

    Drac swept his gaze across all of the death gods present, and he suddenly smiled as he said, "That was just a joke! Regardless of what state it''s currently in, the Cathayan Underworld is still one of the four pirs, how could it possibly..."

    Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, the entire building suddenly trembled slightly.

    The tremors were very faint, so it definitely wasn''t an earthquake, and after a brief moment of inactivity, all of the death gods abruptly raised their heads before turning to the pavilion that the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team was situated in with stunned expressions.

    What powerful Yin energy!

    "That''s a duke..." Drac was inplete disbelief. "Why is there a duke here?"

    Izanami was alsopletely incredulous. All of the Yama-Kings who came here had to pass through Osaka, so how had this one arrived?

    They hadn''t passed through Osaka, they had no entourage, and they hadn''t been detected by the Nipponese Underworld''s national protective array. Instead, they had appeared right above the pavilion in an instant! How had they managed to do that?

    "This Yin energy..." Susanoo-no-Mikoto cast a wary gaze out the window, and a name suddenly urred to him as eximed, "It belongs to the Plumed Serpent God!"

    The Plumed Serpent God?

    All of the death gods present faltered slightly upon hearing this before drawing a sharp breath in unison. Indeed, it was the Plumed Serpent God!

    That was the true ruler of the Alkebn Underworlds, the mighty deity who had withstood a forbidden art and survived!

    This was divine descent!

    The Plumed Serpent God had arrived in Nara through divine descent!

    Izanami was biting so hard down onto her own lower lips that she was about to draw blood! The Plumed Serpent God had the right to attend this conference, but how was this old monster still alive?!

    How had he survived after withstanding a forbidden art head-on?!

    Furthermore, why had he chosen to appear at the pavilion where the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team was staying?!

    All of a sudden, she felt as if what she had thought to be a sure thing was no longer guaranteed.

    No one was focusing on the meal anymore, and everyone rushed out to stare at the pavilion where the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team was staying.

    The Plumed Serpent God was making no attempt to hide his Yin energy, which was so vast and powerful that all of the underworld emissaries present had been forced to their knees and were trembling uncontrobly. The blood-red canopies of the trees around them were swaying incessantly, and even the rocks on the ground had risen up into mid-air as if gravity had malfunctioned.

    Boundlessherfire interspersed with gusts of Yin wind converged to form a vast vortex right above the Cathayan Underworld''s pavilion, and it was as if there were countless stars glowing within the vortex. Several minutester, it condensed to form a radiant pir of light that illuminated the entirety of Nara!

    BOOM!!!

    The earth quaked violently, and shortly thereafter, the light faded as the divine descent drew to a conclusion.

    This meant that an extra death god had appeared in the pavilion that belonged to the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team. Furthermore, this was an extremely significant death god.

    Izanami drew a sharp breath as she instantly cast her gaze toward the other death gods, and just a single nce was enough to tell her that things were about to take a turn for the worse.

    The other death gods were all avoiding her gaze, and some of them had even adopted suspicious expressions.

    Indeed, the Alkebn Underworlds only had a single vote because they formed a coalition. However, she suddenly came to realize what she and her master had overlooked.

    They had overlooked the territory that was under the control of the Alkebn Underworlds.

    This was a vast territory spanning over thirty million square kilometers, which was 20% of all of thend in the world!

    If the Plumed Serpent God had arrived conventionally without causing amotion, then this wouldn''t have been a cause for concern.

    However, he had arrived through divine descent right in front of all of these death gods, making his return after several centuries of absence in the most emphatic fashion possible!

    Furthermore, this old monster who had withstood a forbidden technique head-on and survived had gone directly to the room of the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!

    What did this entail?

    It entailed that the Cathayan Underworld had extremely close ties with the Alkebn Underworlds, and that the Alkebn Underworlds would definitely support the Cathayan Underworld! This was an alliance between one of the four pirs with a territory of over ten million square kilometers and a coalition with a territory in excess of thirty million square kilometers. Together, they ruled over roughly a third of the world''s totalndmass, and they were standing in the same camp!

    This is a massive oversight... Back when we were discussing this n, we only considered that the Alkebn Underworlds only had a single vote. As a result, we wrote them off as an insignificant factor. However, the one to arrive here is the Plumed Serpent God, and he''s done so through divine descent! Such an arrival has apletely different impact than if he had just arrived normally!

    "Everyone..." She immediately tried to do some damage control, yet as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, Kuwal stepped forward before extending a respectful bow. "Lady Izanami, I just recalled that I have some important duties to attend to, so I''ll be taking my leave now. Ah, by the way, the meal was very delicious."

    He smiled and followed perfect etiquette as he turned to leave, and at the same time, the three death gods, Tanvana, Borne, and Antee also bade farewell before departing.

    That was four votes!

    They were hesitating! They were sitting on the fence!

    Izanami was gritting her teeth so hard that they were on the verge of shattering!

    Even if there were only a single vote between them, there was no way they could kick out a collection of underworlds with close to a third of the entire world''sndmass as their territory.

    Their territories and poptions gave them importance beyond the vote that they held.

    Before she had a chance to say anything else, three more death gods also stood up, and one of them said with a smile, "Thank you for the delectable meal, Lady Izanami. We also have some matters to attend to, so we''ll be leaving now."

    After that, they didn''t even wait for a response from Izanami before departing as if they were fleeing for their lives.

    That''s seven votes gone... Izanami was weeping internally.

    Even if these people didn''t vote for the Cathayan Underworld, that would be seven fewer votes for them. Furthermore, there was nock of underworlds among them that had beenckeys to the Cathayan Underworld 100 years ago, such as the Red Moon Federation.

    "Count Drac." She turned to Drac with a grim expression as she said, "Please inform the three pirs of this turn of events as quickly as possible, and please ask them to make haste in getting here to stabilize the situation!"

    However, Drac''s reply made her want to tear her own hair out.

    "My apologies," Drac replied. "But as you''re aware, I''m just here as a mouthpiece for the Argosian Underworld. I''m only here because Thanatos granted my n of vampires ess to all of Europa. Otherwise, why would we side with you? Don''t forget that my n has always relinquished our right to vote during past conferences."

    He cast a wary gaze toward the Cathayan Underworld''s pavilion before continuing, "If you have absolute confidence in bringing them down, then I obviously don''t have any objections and can lend you more of my power. However, the Alkebn Underworlds have clearly expressed support toward the Cathayan Underworld, and it''s the Plumed Serpent God who arrived in person. Both of you are aware of what divine descent entails. Truth be told, ess rights to all of Europa aren''t worth making an enemy out of the Cathayan Underworld and all of the Alkebn Underworlds for me. I''m going to return to Romania now, please inform the three pirs that an old man like me is not fit to take part in such a perilous conference."

    After that, he really did depart toward his carriage, and right before entering the carriage, he turned around with a smile and said, "By the way, the meal really was very delicious. Thank you for your hospitality."

    After that, he left.

    The leader of Romania''s n of vampires had left after spending no more than three hours here.

    Izanami was so enraged that she was trembling incessantly, and as more and more death gods began to depart, she also left the hall before rushing toward the main section of the pavilions.

    This was something that she had to report right away.

    The Cathayan Underworld was still the Cathayan Underworld. As soon as they disyed any power, there would immediately be sycophants willing to suck up to them! In the end, they had still underestimated the influence of the Cathayan Underworld!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the way back, Tanvana asked in a hesitant voice, "Is it really a good idea for us to turn down the Nipponese Underworld and the masterminds behind them like this?"

    Kuwal took a nce at his surroundings but didn''t say anything. Only after returning to their room and closing the door did he reply in a grim voice, "We had no choice. We are in Asia, and Asia is currently in a very good state, so there''s no need for change. Only now do I understand that the Cathayan Underworld has been lying low because they have absolute confidence. I''m sure it wasn''t a coincidence that the divine descent took ce during the banquet, and it serves as a warning to us, telling us to be careful when considering who we side with. They didn''t make a move for the first few days as they were waiting for their allies to arrive, and now, one of those allies has arrived in an emphatic fashion! What we don''t know is if this is the extent of the Cathayan Underworld''s allies or if there are still more toe, so we can''t afford to make any rash decisions or prematuremitments. I''m willing to bet that there would''ve definitely been other death gods who left the banquet after we did, and at the same time, the Cathayan Underworld will almost certainly be receiving its first batch of invitation requests tonight!"

    The tables were beginning to turn, and the Cathayan Underworld was beginning to stage its retaliation.

    It had remained dormant all this time, but as soon as it made it move, the situation was blown wide open. Kuwal could already sense that a war of attrition was brewing on the horizon, and the oue of this war was going to be decided in the next few days!

    He closed his eyes before reopening them, and after a long while, he asked through gritted teeth, "Where is the visiting card that we drafted for the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "I have it," Tanvana replied.

    "Get someone to submit it to the Cathayan Underworld right away! They''re most likely also waiting for us."

    "Is that really a good idea?" Antee asked in a hesitant voice. Even though he was an outsider when it came to all of this, he felt as if he were standing on the edge of a massive international vortex. "The Nipponese Underworld must have the support of at least one or two of the other three pirs for them to dare to disrespect the Cathayan Underworld like this. Should we really defect to the Cathayan Underworld''s side so easily?"

    "We''re not defecting!" Kuwal countered as he rose to his feet. "We''re merely... extending a gesture of friendliness. Before this, I was almost certain that the Cathayan Underworld was doomed, but after what happened tonight and thinking back to the history of the Cathayan Underworld, I''m not so sure about that now. However, this doesn''t affect our vote. We need to wait and see and only make our decision at thest possible moment. The next two days will be when the two sides battle to the death!"

 Chapter 886: Arriving One After Another

    <h4>Chapter 886: Arriving One After Another</h4>

    "You finally made it."

    "I did."

    "You''re a littlete."

    "This is the earliest I could''ve arrived. I had to notify arge number of Mythic Spirits, and I''ve already done my best. The timeframe you afforded me was far too short."

    "All of the death gods are here, have you previously considered other underworlds for your resurrection n?"

    "If I did, then I wouldn''t have made their deal with you back then."

    Qin Ye and the Plumed Serpent God''s projection exchanged a smile, and Qin Ye sat down on his chair before pouring a cup of tea. "When will the Alkebn Underworlds be arriving?"

    "Tomorrow at noon," the Plumed Serpent God replied with a smile.

    Qin Ye''s tea-pouring hand faltered slightly upon hearing this.

    They''re finally about to arrive... Izanami and the forces behind you, do you think this is the extent of the Cathayan Underworld''s resistance? The divine descent was only the beginning!

    Qin Ye took a deep breath as he braced himself for what was about toe. The arrival of the Alkebn Underworlds would be the true beginning to the Cathayan Underworld''s resistance.

    "Have you already notified them?"

    "I have, but if you want to really kick up a fuss and show everyone the Cathayan Underworld''s determination to return to the top, as well as disy the Cathayan Underworld''s intentions to re-establish bonds with other underworlds, then the agreements that we''ve signed with one another still aren''t sufficiently monumental."

    The Plumed Serpent God''s projection swept a hand through the air, and a series of contracts immediately appeared in mid-air. All of them were in scroll form, and they contained proposed agreements between the Cathayan Underworld and the Alkebn Underworlds.

    "The agreement arbiters are all from the Nipponese Underworld, and they''ll see all of the contracts that we sign with each other," the Plumed Serpent God said. "The Cathayan and the Alkebn Underworlds have signed a fruit import agreement over a period of 20 years, during which the Cathayan Underworld will purchase 20% of the Alkebn Underworlds'' yearly fruit exports. Payments will be made at the site of delivery with artworks used as the medium of payment. The Alkebn Underworlds will grant ess to the Cathayan Underworld to five S rank mines, and at the same time, the Cathayan Underworld will construct 100 bridges and city walls in the local areas... All of the agreements are of this nature, and truth be told, it''s just not impactful enough. These are all normal trade agreements, and if you want to use them as leverage for the Cathayan Underworld''s return to the world stage, then that would disy ack of sincerity."

    "I understand," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "Which is why I prepared two other agreements, and those two agreements can only be signed by you and me in person."

    He made a grabbing motion, and a scroll appeared in his grasp, which he handed over to the Plumed Serpent God.

    The Plumed Serpent God only took a quick nce at the contents of the scroll before immediately drawing a sharp breath.

    He looked up at Qin Ye with a stunned expression, and Qin Ye smiled and nodded, indicating for him to keep reading, to which he eagerly obliged.

    10 minutes passed by, then 20, then 30... After 40 minutes had passed, he finally finished reading the contents of the scroll, and as he cast his gaze toward Qin Ye again, the look in his eyes had already be extremelyplex.

    After a long while, he finally heaved a faint sigh. "I had thought that following the departure of the second King Yanluo, the Cathayan Underworld would enter a period of decline, but I''m beginning to doubt my own judgment on this matter now. You are more adept than him when ites to matters like this. After all, he has never had to consider the intricacies of negotiation, all he''s ever had to do is turn up, and everything automatically goes his way as he''s far too powerful for anyone to resist. Perhaps it''s exactly because of this that you have a far better understanding of how to interact with others."

    Qin Ye pointed his chin at the scroll before asking, "Will this be enough topletely crush them?"

    "I wouldn''t go that far. They''ve clearly prepared extensively for this, and they''ll definitely be able to withstand this one storm. The fact that they dare to strike at the Cathayan Underworld indicates that they had to have supreme confidence, and under the current circumstances, even the slightest misstep could result in a fall from grace for the Cathayan Underworld."

    The Plumed Serpent God sighed as he continued, "Don''t underestimate the three pirs and regard them as trash. They may be inferior to the Cathayan Underworld when ites to their military and top-end power, but if you want to stay in this circle, then you''ll have to follow the rules. The Cathayan Underworld still isn''t powerful enough topletely ignore the rules."

    Yes, but we will be soon! After we weather this storm, the Cathayan Underworld will show everyone what a true resurgence looks like!

    Qin Ye''s heartbeat was beginning to elerate slightly from excitement.

    Before he had a chance to say anything, the Plumed Serpent God continued, "If you want to secure victory here, you''ll need more than us. You need to constantly give those fence-sitters more and more confidence. The Alkebn Underworlds have never been all that influential on the world stage, and the same applies to Northern Europa. After all, the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds are wed, and this ismon knowledge to all Yama-Kings. As for Northern Europa, the five nations are situated right next to the Argosian Underworld, thereby giving them a severe geographic disadvantage. The only ones who can contend with the entire world and would dare to burn all of their bridges for your cause would be the rulers of the new continent!"

    He stared intently at Qin Ye as he continued, "Winning their support is the key to your victory! I can only give you so much help."

    "That''s already enough," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "During these past few days, I''ve been struck by the impulse to raze Nara to the ground on more than one asion! They''ve been demeaning me and the Cathayan Underworld this entire time, but your arrival heralds the beginning of our retaliation."

    He licked his own lips as a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face. "We are entering the final countdown, and I don''t n to give them a chance to regret their decision!"

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and Qian Dui made his way into the room before cupping his fist in a respectful salute, then reported in a voice that was filled with irrepressible excitement, "Your Excellency, a total of five underworlds including the Red Moon Federation and the Semitic Underworld have extended letters of invitation, hoping to see us to discuss problems surrounding international environmental conservation."

    So they''re finally here...

    Qin Ye was wringing his hands together so tightly that his joints were cracking audibly.

    Finally, someone had dared to take the initiative to approach the Cathayan Underworld. During the past few days, Qin Ye had been living in constant frustration and indignation, and even the Emissaries of Hell didn''t want to set foot outside their rooms.

    No one had dared to ept the olive branch that he had extended, and no one had even bothered to pay a visit to what was once the most powerful underworld on the international stage. However, the tide was beginning to turn with the divine descent of the Plumed Serpent God.

    However, Qin Ye didn''t growcent in the slightest. He knew that he had only been able to achieve this as everyone was still wary of the Cathayan Underworld''s past reputation. He was only in this position as he was standing on the shoulders of giants.

    His mind was racing for a moment, but he quickly calmed down, then said in an indifferent voice, "Let them wait."

    So now you''reing to see me? Where were you before? Why were you ying all hard to get when I was extending an olive branch during the wee banquet?

    Mistakes had to be punished, and even though Qin Ye wasn''t confident in securing victory, he still had to leave these small fry hanging to disy his superiority.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A woman with pale skin was seated on a chair. She was wearing a ck western shroud, and her hair was dancing as if they had a life of their own.

    Beside her sat several other death gods, all of whom were Abyssal Prefects.

    This woman wasn''t a significant figure as far as the major uderworlds were concerned, but in the mortal realm, she was an extremely renowned figure.

    She was the Lithuanian death goddess, Giltine.

    Even more importantly, she was the death god of an underworld that had independent jurisdictive power. Back when Thanatos''s formidable underworld army swept across the entirety of Europa, Lithuania and several small countries managed to survive. Unfortunately for Lithuania, it was in an even worse position than Northern Europa''s five-nation alliance as it was surrounded by the five-nation alliance and the Argosian Underworld.

    It was too weak and its territory was too small. To its west was the five-nation alliance, to its south was the Argosian Underworld, to its north was the Inuit Underworld, and to its east was the Russian Underworld.

    None of these were entities that it could mess with.

    Did it want to hang onto the coattails of a powerhouse? Of course it did! But which powerhouse should it be aiming for?

    It didn''t dare to turn to any of the neighboring powerhouses as doing so would immediately attract displeasure from the other surrounding powers. Even she was only an evil ghost that had attained intelligence through being worshipped, thereby bing a death goddess. As a result, no nation, including even second-rate underworlds like the Nipponese Underworld, took her seriously at all.

    Everyone else were genuine death gods, what was an urban legend like her doing here?

    However, the opportunity that she had been waiting for had arrived.

    She had heard that the Cathayan Underworld was about to re-emerge onto the international stage during this conference, and she immediately rushed to Nara upon hearing this news. However, as soon as she arrived, she immediately sensed the peril of the situation, and as a result, she didn''t dare to request an audience with the Cathayan Underworld. However, the divine descent that had taken ce just now and the performance of the Cathayan Underworld during the past few days finally instilled her with sufficient courage to stand here.

    Who wasn''t taking a gamble? The ones seated around her were also doing the same thing.

    The door was finally opened right before their eager eyes, and Qian Dui emerged with a smile on his face before extending a bow with impable etiquette. "Sorry to keep you waiting, esteemed death gods. Yanluo Qin is currently discussing some important matters with a good friend of his, including some details concerning certain agreements, so he won''t have time to see you right now."

    Are we not worthy of an audience?

    No one said anything. After all, this was only to be expected. During these major international conferences, they stood to benefit more than the major underworlds, but they couldn''t necessarily provide any benefits to those major underworlds in exchange.

    "However..." Before they even had a chance to be disappointed, Qian Dui continued, "After the Alkebn Underworlds arrive, we''ll be holding a press conference that will be hosted by the third speaker, Mr. Qin Changxin. Following the press conference, perhaps we can hold our first discussion between nations. I hope all of you have already prepared topics that you would like to discuss."

    Giltine''s mood was immediately buoyed upon hearing this.

    We still have a chance!

    She had already made the decision toe here, so she was no longer a fence-sitter. This dy would give her some more time to see if the Cathayan Underworld had some other tricks up its sleeve.

    Even the small underworlds could sense that the unrest brewing beneath the surface in Nara was going to beparable in magnitude to back when the Argosian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld had instigated the world wars. Diving in headfirst recklessly was definitely not a smart thing to do, and smaller nations like them would only be able to secure the most benefits by carefully observing and striking when the time was right.

    No one could predict the oue of the battle between the four pirs.

    Overall, it looked as if the Cathayan Underworld were at a disadvantage, but who knew if it had more powerful allies that were still yet toe?

    "I look forward to meeting with Yanluo Qin," Giltine said as she rose to her feet and lifted the hem of her shroud as she extended a curtsey. However, right as she was about to take her leave, a nearby door was opened, and Qin Changxin strode in extremely quickly with a grim look on his face.

    Did something happen?

    All of the death gods present looked on with contemtive expressions until Qin Changxin entered the room where Qin Ye was staying.

    Right as he was about to walk into the room, Qin Changxin''s hand faltered slightly as he rested it on the doorknob, and instead of closing the door, hemunicated something to Qian Dui wordlessly with his eyes. Qian Dui immediately understood what he wanted, and he pretended to close the door, but in reality, he was leaving it ever so slightly ajar so the death gods outside could hear everything.

    "My Lord!" Qin Changxin fell to his knees as soon as he entered the room, and he was deliberately speaking in a loud voice to ensure that the death gods outside could hear him. "The five nations of Northern Europa will be arriving in 20 minutes!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    This was the news that he had been eagerly awaiting!

    Finally, he would be able to trulymence his retaliation!

    His heart was already beginning to thump wildly in his chest, but his expression remained calm and collected. The second King Yanluo was right, he was indeed very suited to this role. His acting skills and shamelessness were all top-notch.

    Qin Changxin took a deep breath before continuing, "They still haven''t arrived yet, but the two representatives of the five nations, Death Goddess H and World Serpent J?rmungandr, have sent out envoys, and they wish to see you!"

    The death gods outside, who were just about to depart, immediately stopped cold in their tracks upon hearing this, and their mouths gaped open slightly as they turned back in the direction of Qin Ye''s room.

    Was this the Cathayan Underworld''s second ally?

    This was Northern Europa''s five-nation alliance, the powerhouse that had several death gods among its ranks and had withstood the invasion of the Argosian Underworld! Had they chosen the Cathayan Underworld?

    Giltine almost screamed out loud in the wake of this revtion!

 Chapter 887: Ways of Interaction Between Nations

    <h4>Chapter 887: Ways of Interaction Between Nations</h4>

    Izanami abruptly raised her head, and a ck hole appeared at the center of her head. Countless fat maggots crawled out of the hole before a rotten eyeball was finally revealed.

    It was said that due to the fact that Izanami had eaten the food of the underworld, her entire body had transformed into a mass of maggots. In terms of ugliness, she was able topete with the likes of Death Goddess H, and that was why she never revealed her true appearance.

    "The five nations of Northern Europa have arrived and they''ve taken the initiative to request an audience with the Cathayan Underworld?" she asked in a grim voice, seemingly repeating a report she had just received.

    "Yes," the underworld emissary standing before her replied in an uneasy manner.

    Silence.

    After a long while, Izanami finally waved a dismissive hand. "You can go now."

    Thus, the underworld emissary departed, and she rose to her feet as she gently bit down onto her own lower lip. After another prolonged silence, she murmured to herself in a hateful voice, "So it really hase to this."

    Just as the Cathayan Underworld had a series of backup ns, they had also prepared extensively before taking action against the Cathayan Underworld. They had simted every possible situation countless times, and the five-nation alliance siding with the Cathayan Underworld was already within their predictions.

    "Even with such extensive nning, we still cover all options..." she murmured to herself as she raised her head in a forlorn manner. "Not only has the Cathayan Underworld''s reputation not been damaged by our provocation, they''ve taken advantage of our actions to re-establish themselves to a certain extent."

    The room was veryrge and constructed in an authentic Nipponese style. The tatami mats that paved the floor were also of a very high quality, providing exceptional softness and warmth. Artworks by exceptional masters were hung up all around the room, and gold-ted vases were situated in the corners. Outside the room was a vast sea of blood-red blossoms hanging from Yin flower trees, and a series of light wind chimes were hanging under the eaves.

    She gently massaged her own temples as she continued, "That wasn''t all that significant. After all, their actions hadn''t instilled their potential allies with much confidence. Confidence stems from power, and he only disyed aggression as opposed to power. That is the most fatal weakness they''ve disyed thus far. However, they''ve only remained silent for two days before shocking everyone with a divine descent during Count Drac''s wee banquet, and that''s not all! The third wave is about to arrive!"

    The Cathayan Underworld''s meeting with the five-nation alliance was going to even further bolster the confidence of those fence-sitters.

    This was not something to be ignored, and the more she thought about it, the more she was struck by a sense of foreboding.

    If these two incidents had taken ce individually, she could still resolve them. Having survived for over 1,000 years while situated so close to the Cathayan Underworld, she had experienced far too much. The likes of Mya, Daehan, and the Felipinas had all be colonies of the Cathayan Underworld, yet the Nipponese Underworld had managed to survive and retain its independence all this time, and that was due, in no small part, to her exceptional leadership.

    Unfortunately, no one could''ve predicted the abrupt divine descent and the Alkebn Underworlds'' aggressive intervention. The fact that all of this was happening in such a short time meant that the cumtive storm was bing impossible for her to weather.

    "We''ve considered the possibility that the Alkebn Underworlds will get involved. It''s not that we can''t afford to pay the price to convince the Alkebn Underworlds to retreat, and in addition to that, they only have a single vote. However, we failed to consider the Alkebn Underworlds'' overall influence and territory. Even more importantly, the Plumed Serpent God has arrived in person, and that''spletely different from that random assortment of Mythic Spirits! Damn it!"

    She heaved a long sigh as she pondered the situation. Both sides were beginning to reveal their trump cards, and she had the best seat in the house to witness just how capable the four pirs were of stirring up the pot.

    Under such unfavorable circumstances, the Cathayan Underworld had still managed to forcibly establish itself.

    I have to report this right away and request the other three pirs to arrive here as soon as possible!

    She couldn''t afford to dy any longer!

    She swept a hand through the air, and all of the doors and windows of the room instantly swung shut, following which she opened her mouth to expel a golden eyeball.

    The eyeball was of a near-transparent faint golden color, and a constetion diagram was inscribed at the very center of its pupil.

    She frantically injected her Yin energy into the eyeball, and soon, a golden door was opened. Boundless golden light seeped out from behind the door, and a voice rang out, seemingly out of nowhere. "What happened? I''m assuming it''s something quite urgent for you to be using the relic of a saint."

    Izanami immediately provided a recount of the events that had just unfolded, then pleaded, "Your Excellency, I request that you arrive here as soon as possible or that other members of the three pirs make haste in their journey to Nara. Everyone''s eyes are currently focused on the Cathayan Underworld, and that could give them an opportunity to make a resurgence!"

    The owner of the voice was silent for a moment before replying, "You seem to have forgotten that the four pirs are not bound by any rules, we turn up when we want to."

    "But Your Excellency..."

    "Having said that, I understand your concerns. We''ll be setting off from Athens tonight, and we''ll be arriving in Osaka in four hours."

    "Thank you, Your Excellency" Izanami heaved a long sigh of relief, and the golden door flew back into the eyeball as a streak of light, but Izanami didn''t immediately stow the golden eyeball away.

    Instead, she inspected it with a cold look in her eyes, and after a long while, a derisive smile appeared on her face.

    "Those idiots are still valuing appearances above all else! Of course it''s an impactful statement for the four pirs to arriveter than everyone else and to make all of the other underworlds wait for them, but for god''s sake, think about what we''re trying to do!"

    She grabbed onto the eyeball and gnashed her teeth together so vigorously that they were beginning to creak and groan. "This is the weakest the Cathayan Underworld has been in 3,000 years! If we miss this opportunity, who knows when the next one wille? You should all thank the heavens that you were born with golden spoons in your mouths! You''ve been so privileged for so long that you no longer even have any sense of urgency or awareness of danger! You can''t even begin to imagine what it''s like for small nations like us living under constant fear and crippling stress! If I were you, I would''ve arrived even earlier than the Cathayan Underworld!"

    However, it was toote to be thinking about such things. The good thing was that they were going to arrive the next day, and she could only hope that nothing happened in the meantime.

    She took a deep breath before stowing the eyeball away, then swept a hand through the air, and a door was flung open as she called out, "Tsutkiyatsu."

    "I''m here." A gust of Yin wind swept past, and a female shinobi appeared at the entrance in a half-knelt position.

    "Bring me my calming incense. For some reason, I can''t help but feel very uneasy..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The way that nations interacted with one another was different depending on the nations involved.

    For example, Giltine''s Lithuanian Underworld could only survive within the cracks, and she couldn''t even make any demands toward the major underworlds.

    However, the five nations of Northern Europa were different.

    They had a splendid past record and several death gods among their ranks. They were a tried and proven powerhouse.

    They still only had a single vote, but their vote was far more influential than the single vote held by the likes of Giltine.

    Right at this moment, the door was finally shut, and all of the death gods snapped back to reality as if they had just awoken from a trance. Qian Dui said in an apologetic voice, "My apologies. Our King Yanluo hasn''t gone anywhere these past few days, but several important agreements were already negotiated in advance, and they''re currently being signed right now..."

    So he doesn''t have time to see you.

    Qian Dui didn''t explicitly say this, but everyone understood what was being implied, and they all nodded with expressions of understanding before departing.

    Inside the room, Qin Ye had already gotten fully dressed up.

    He was wearing a spectacr golden crown and a long dragon robe with intricate dragon and phoenix designs embroidered onto its surface. Around his waist was a white jade belt, upon which were embedded 24 top-quality Aurogon''s Eyes, and hanging from the belt was a piece of exceptional blood jade. As he caught sight of himself in the mirror, Qin Ye couldn''t help but nod in approval at how handsome he was.

    "When and where are we meeting?" he asked as the servants helped him button up his robes.

    Qian Dui had been standing silently beside Qin Ye this entire time, and he replied, "The meeting will take ce at T¨­dai-ji during the day. There will only be six Yama-Kings in attendance, and Ghost King Zhao was also invited. On top of that, they hope to have the opportunity to share a table with us."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and his mind quickly began to race.

    Qian Dui''s reply had been quite concise, but there was a lot of information to be processed.

    The servants that were helping Qin Ye with his attire were Yin spirits from thete Qing Dynasty, and they were once ptial servants. Qin Ye was enjoying the corruption of the feudalism as he mused, "There are two types of meetings on the world stage, the first of which is private, such as the meeting on the golf course between Abe and Trump, even though Abe fell over and the footage was broadcast by television stations throughout the entire nation..."

    Qian Dui cracked a rare smile upon hearing this. It seemed that the improving situation was also improving his mood as well.

    Qin Ye continued, "The second type is the official meeting, where representatives from each part will meet up to finalize agreements."

    He raised his hands to allow the servants to adjust his belt and attach other essories to the belt as he continued, "The first type of meeting is more of a genuine heart-to-heart affair, while the second type is usually where the subject matter being discussed has already been finalized in advance. Generally speaking, the negotiations would''ve beenpleted as far back as half a year to a year ago, and all that was left to do was to sign the agreement."

    Afterpleting their duties, the two servants silently departed, and Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back as he asked in a serious voice, "Which type of meeting do you think this one will be?"

    Qian Dui thought about this for a moment as he followed Qin Ye out of the room, then replied, "This is neither of those. Instead, it''s both at the same time because they''re desperate."

    "Oh?" Qin Ye was rather intrigued by this response.

    Qian Dui exined in a respectful manner, "I''m just saying what I think, please take what I say with a grain of salt. They requested a meeting at T¨­dai-ji for a day trip, and that''s the first type of meeting, one that is private. However, they then want to share a table with us, and that undoubtedly entails negotiation. However, we haven''t had any contact with them in the past. The Cathayan Underworld had been isted from the rest of the world for over a century, and ording to international underworldws, diplomatic rtions will be severed between two underworlds after 30 years of no interaction. This is a bold assumption, but I think they''re in desperate need of protection, which is why they want to negotiate a few agreements during the day trip to T¨­dai-ji, then immediately sign the agreements on the same day. They''ll definitely be willing to offer some benefits in exchange for your signature, so you should be able to make some aggressive demands."

    Qin Ye made his way toward the door, which had already been opened by a servant, and he said, "How will those agreements be able to protect them?"

    Qian Dui took a nce at Qin Ye to find that thetter''s expression was very calm and confident. As a result, Qian Dui was immediately able to confirm that Qin Ye was testing him, assessing whether this past top-tier spy from the mortal realm had grown ustomed to the way things are done in the underworld.

    His heartbeat immediately began to elerate.

    Technically speaking, he was the current leader of the darkfeathers, but he didn''t have the jurisdictive power to sign off on important decisions. That was a right that belonged to Qin Changxin.

    If his response were satisfactory to Qin Ye, would he be able to make the darkfeathers truly his own?

    He replied in a cautious manner, "The contents of those agreements aren¡¯t important at all to them. All they need is to be able to tell the world that they have close ties with the Cathayan Underworld, and that would serve as a warning to the underworlds with malicious intentions toward them. All they want is an expression of benevolence from the Cathayan Underworld. Hence, their needs are congruent with our own. However, our opposition will definitely have anticipated all of this. The only thing they would havepletely failed to anticipate would be our ability to earn the full support of the new continent. As for everything else, no matter how well we execute our ns, it''ll still be extremely risky for us. We don''t know how many underworlds will relinquish their right to vote so that they wouldn''t offend either side. In fact, I think many underworlds will do this. What''s dangerous for us is that our opposition has most likely already secured many votes at this point. The support of the Alkebn Underworlds and Northern Europa Underworlds alone isn''t going to be enough, we need to get those fence-sitters to vote for us as well."

    The gate was opened, and there were already countless Yin spirits gathered outside. There were 15 carriages parked beneath the swaying Yin flower trees, and a raspy female voice rang out from within one of the carriages. "It''s an honor to finally meet you for the first time, Yanluo Qin."

    There were many death gods present, yet only she had greeted Qin Ye.

    In fact, she hadpletely ignored Izanami, who was standing right beside her carriage, and it was clear that she was acting with a high degree of urgency.

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile as he said, "Death Goddess He, World Serpent J?rmungandr, it''s an honor to make your acquaintance. The Cathayan Underworld wees your arrival."

 Chapter 888: Northern Europaâ€™s Death Gods

    <h4>Chapter 888: Northern Europa''s Death Gods</h4>

    Izanami''s smile stiffened slightly upon seeing this.

    The Nipponese Underworld was a very awkward underworld on the international stage.

    It wouldn''t be entirely urate to call it weak and incapable as it had survived for so many years in such close proximity to the Cathayan Underworld.

    However, it couldn''t be referred to as a powerful underworld, either, as it didn''t have even a single Yama-King, and it only had two Abyssal Prefects. If it weren''t for the existence of Minakanushi, even the Russian Underworld would be bullying the Nipponese Underworld as it pleased.

    In this situation, Izanami was clearly the host, yet H and J?rmungandr didn''t even bother to look at her. Only after they had greeted Qin Ye did they turn to her with indifferent expressions and express half-hearted gratitude toward the Nipponese Underworld''s wee.

    This was the reality of international affairs. Beneath all the expensive suits and facades of geniality, all of these politicians were uncouth and ruthless individuals. If the representatives of an insignificant nation were to visit the united nations, they would be guaranteed to receive the worst lodging and food, and they would also be exempt from all important activities.

    This was an unspoken chain of contempt, and it had been around ever since the beginning of human existence. Due to the existence of the cultivation system, the chain of contempt was even more pronounced in the underworld.

    There were no actual insults being thrown around, but it was enough to infuriate one to the point of tearing their hair out in frustration.

    Izanami made the wise decision to get out of the way. In the face of two Yama-Kings, she had no advantage to speak of. In fact, the two death gods were clearly aware that she had defected to the side of the three pirs, so they were already doing her a favor by not disying any more contempt and animosity.

    The doors of another carriage were slowly opened by a deathly pale hand, and two figures emerged from within.

    The one on the left resembled a queen from ancient times, but she had a head of venomous snakes rather than hair, and her eyes were burning with purpleherfire. Furthermore, she was like a walking Yin Yang as the left side of her body was white, while the right side was of a pure ck color.

    It was said that half of Death Goddess H''s body waspletely rotten.

    Thus, the two ugliest death goddesses in all myths and legends had appeared in Nara, and this was why Izanami couldn''t understand why H insisted on treating her like this.

    We''re both ugly bitches, shouldn''t we be sticking together and looking out for each other? Sure, I''m a little weak, but do you really need to look down on me so much?

    H was wearing a pure ck dress that was entirely woven from feathers. There was a warm smile on her face, and she picked up the hem of her dress as she made her way over to Qin Ye,pletely ignoring all of the Prefect-level death gods around them

    She then picked up Qin Ye''s hand and gave it a gentle kiss right in front of everyone''s astonished eyes, then said in a gentle voice, "I''m very pleased to meet you."

    "Likewise," Qin Ye replied with a smile as he gently withdrew his hand. He could sense that a clear stir had run through the crowd upon seeing this, and he repressed the urge to wipe the back of his hand on his robes as he said, "I think this is not our first time meeting each other, I recall our first meeting taking ce during my inauguration ceremony."

    H faltered slightly upon hearing this, then chuckled, "Please forgive me for my terrible memory."

    At the same time, she heaved a massive internal sigh of relief.

    The Cathayan Underworld had epted their gesture of friendliness! This was most definitely a development that was worthy of celebration!

    She picked up the hem of her dress as she extended a respectful curtsey with impable etiquette, then continued, "This is World Serpent J?rmungandr. He''s always in seclusion, so he hasn''t met many people in the past. However, he came out of the primordial void, Ginnungagap, on this asion just to congratte the Cathayan Underworld for making its return to the international stage."

    J?rmungandr was an extremely thin man who was around three meters tall, and he was wearing a long robe that was made from fine silk and feathers. He fell to one knee as he also picked up Qin Ye''s hand before giving it a kiss. "I''m very honored to meet you, esteemed ruler of the Cathayan Underworld. Please allow me to offer my most heartfelt congrattions on uniting the nation."

    The two were clearly making a great effort to express their friendly intentions toward the Cathayan Underworld.

    "Thank you," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "You must be tired after making the long journey here."

    H smiled as she replied, "The journey wasn''t too grueling. For dukes like us, it was nothing more than the blink of an eye. I heard that Nara is an extremely beautiful and scenic city. Have you had a chance to appreciate its beauty yet, Yanluo Qin?"

    It was clear that H didn''t want to wait even a single moment beforemencing negotiations.

    Indeed, there were only three and a half days left until themencement of the conference, so there really was no time to waste.

    "I have not. It would be rather nd to make the trip all on my own, would you two be interested in apanying me?"

    "We would be very interested! Please pardon our intrusion then, Yanluo Qin."

    Izanami hadn''t said anything this entire time, but her smile hadn''t wavered in the slightest. She parted the death gods present to open up a path for Qin Ye''s trio, then extended a respectful curtesy as she said, "It is an honor for our city to be hosting such esteemed death gods as yourselves. However, this is your first time here in Nara, do you require a tour guide to help you explore the city? The city of Nara was founded in 239 AD by Queen Himiko, and it has stood for close to 2,000 years. With so much history and so many sights to see, a tour guide would significantly enhance the sightseeing experience."

    J?rmungandr took a calm nce at her before replying, "There''s no need for that."

    "When the mood is right, everywhere is a sight to see. A tour guide would only prove to be a hindrance that''ll ruin the mood," Qin Ye chimed in in agreement.

    "I see." Izanami extended a slight bow before stepping aside.

    "After you." Qin Ye made an inviting hand gesture.

    "Thank you, Yanluo Qin." H and J?rmungandr smiled as they made their way through the crowd.

    Qin Ye trailed along behind them, and right as they were about to depart, he finally turned around to see the expressions of all of the death gods present.

    All of these death gods were wily old foxes that had lived for hundreds of years, and their expressions betrayed no emotions whatsoever.

    However, as a Yama-King, Qin Ye could clearly sense that they were nowhere near as calm as they looked on the inside.

    Of course, upon sensing his Yin energy dispersing through the crowd, all of the death gods faltered slightly, and immediately thereafter, Qin Ye was no longer able to sense the fluctuations in their Yin energy.

    An ambiguous smile appeared on his face, and he departed with the two death gods.

    All of the death gods looked on withplex expressions until they disappeared from everyone''s field of view, following which the gathered death gods began to depart.

    "What does this mean?" Death God Antee of the Red Moon Federation was pacing back and forth in the courtyard of his pavilion with tightly furrowed brows. "Since when did the five nations of Northern Europa develop such close ties with the Cathayan Underworld? The Cathayan Underworld has isted itself from the rest of the world for the past century, yet they seemed so familiar with one another. Could it be that the Cathayan Underworld has maintained contact with certain underworlds throughout the course of their century-long absence?"

    That was a terrifying notion to consider!

    "There''s a very good chance of that..." Kuwal mused with a grim expression. "If that really is the case, then it''s still impossible to determine who the final victor is going to be! We have to proceed with the utmost caution! This is a sh between the four pirs, no one will know the final oue until all of the votes are counted."

    He turned to stare intently at the other three death gods as he continued, "We can''t afford to make the wrong choice here."

    The death gods of the Red Moon Federation weren''t the only ones who had forged temporary alliances, the same thing applies to many of the death gods of the smaller underworlds.

    Something clearly wasn''t right.

    For the first few days, the Cathayan Underworld had offered no resistance whatsoever, yet starting from a day ago, it hadunched a counterattack. Even though it hadn''t made many moves, every move that it had made had been extremely effective!

    Beside a certain waterfall, two death gods dismissed their servants, and the one on the left said in a grim voice, "I heard that Yanluo Qin flipped the tables as early as during their wee banquet, and that was followed by the divine descent earlier today. That was the only known death god to have survived after withstanding a forbidden art head-on, and he''s clearly in full support of the Cathayan Underworld. Now, two of the Northern Europa Alliance''s death gods have arrived, and they''ve jumped on the same bandwagon."

    The death god on the right was a slightly chubby individual, and he opened his mouth to reveal a set of sharp fangs as he replied, "Don''t agree to anything for now. What we have to do is watch and wait. A sh of this level is going to decide the direction that the world takes for the next century or maybe even the next centuries, and just a single misstep could spell disaster for small underworlds like ours. I''m sure that both sides will reveal all of their trump cards before the final vote takes ce, and we just have to defect toward the side with the greater chances of securing victory. They''re not going to actively recruit us as they have to maintain their basic dignity as the four pirs, so all we can do is wait."

    He sighed before continuing, "Thesest three and a half days are undoubtedly going to be extremely spectacr, and if you ask me, I feel like the Cathayan Underworld is most likely going to strike first."

    After enduring all of the provocation in silence for the past three days, was the Cathayan Underworld finally going to set this conference alight?

    The death god on the left remained silent and merely nodded in response with a contemtive expression.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye didn''t know how many death gods were going to be swayed by or even change their stances based on what had happened today.

    All he knew was that he had set up his cannon, and once the shot was fired, there would be no looking back. Perhaps the other underworlds were under the impression that his opposition hadn''t done anything yet, but in reality, he had been ced under immense pressure from the moment he set foot in Nara.

    However, he was able to withstand the suffocating pressure and turn the tables in his favor.

    Next, it was time for him to seize control!

    The three death gods did some sightseeing and engaged in some useless small talk before J?rmungandr finally cut to the case as he sighed, "It''s a pity that all of Nara''s cultural relics are in the mortal realm."

    They were currently situated in a dense forest, and there were countless ces where darkfeathers could hide.

    "Then how about we go to the mortal realm to take a look?" Qin Ye suggested with a smile.

    "Oh? Looks like great minds think alike, Mr. Qin," H chuckled. "Should we notify the Nipponese government before we go?"

    "There''s no need for that," J?rmungandr said as he licked his own lips with his forked tongue. "I''ll get my servants to notify the government half an hour after we leave."

    The three death gods exchanged a smile.

    Even though all three of them felt like cats on a hot tin roof, they had to repress their urgency and maintain a final shred of restraint.

    In the blink of an eye, the trio''s souls had escaped from their bodies and passed through Nippon''s brittle underworld to reach the mortal realm.

    As soon as they appeared, J?rmungandr said in a grim voice, "Mr. Qin, there are people plotting against you."

    They had appeared beside a creek in a forest, and it was a very peaceful and scenic location. Qin Ye snapped off a young branch from a nearby tree as he replied, "I am aware of that."

    H was concerned that he didn''t know just how serious the situation was, and she said in an urgent voice, "There are at least two, maybe even all three pirs out for your blood this time! During this past century, they''ve already grown ustomed to ruling over the world. Yamaraja, Anubis, and Thanatos are like a trio of sly wolves that are covering for each other as they do as they please on the international stage! Having dominated the world scene for so many years, there''s no way they would want to see you return to your former position!"

    Everyone knows that already, there''s no need for you to tell me that...

    Qin Ye took a nonchnt nce at them and said, "If this is all you want to say, then we could''ve just stayed in the underworld."

    Indeed, there was no need toe to the mortal realm just to point out the obvious.

    J?rmungandr and H exchanged a nce, and they wanted to say something, but decided against it.

    Qin Ye made no effort to try and rush them.

    Zhao Yun was watching from nearby, so there was no way that any harm could befall him.

    They had already intentionally disyed their inferiority to the Cathayan Underworld in front of so many death gods and gone out of their way to invite Qin Ye here, so they had to be determined to make a move.

    After a long while, H took a deep breath, and a determined look appeared in her eyes as she said, "We''ve prepared 10 agreements."

    "Oh?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    J?rmungandr continued where she left off. "These agreements include a range of subjects such as establishingprehensive trade rtions, facilitating visits between nations without the need for visas, and many more. In exchange, we only have one request..."

    He gritted his teeth before continuing, "We implore the Cathayan Underworld to forge an official strategic partnership with the five nations of Northern Europa!"

 Chapter 889: Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

    <h4>Chapter 889: Comprehensive Strategic Partnership</h4>

    Qin Ye was thanking the heavens that the second King Yanluo had the foresight to set up the Array of the Nine Gods.

    Otherwise, if these death gods got a glimpse of the internal state of the Cathayan Underworld, they would definitely immediately turn and leave.

    A strategic partnership was a unique rtionship between countries.

    The categories of rtionships between nations consisted of partnership,prehensive partnership, coborative partnership,prehensive coborative partnership, strategic partnership, strategic coborative partnership,prehensive strategic partnership, andprehensive strategic coborative partnership.

    An example in the mortal realm was the Europa Union, the constituent nations of which hadprehensive strategic partnerships. The fact that the word "coborative" was missing from the partnerships indicated that the rtionships between these countries were not without problems. A nation would consider many factors before establishing such rtions with other nations, including factors from the political, economic, military, scientific, technologic, and geographic spheres.

    To put it in simpler terms, there was some friction between them, but they could stillmunicate with one another amicably.

    As for Cathay, it had an exhaustive strategic partnership with Germany, and the "exhaustive" part of the partnership went a step beyond even prehensive".

    An exhaustive partnership alluded to one that was omnidirectional and three-dimensional. Aside from political, economic, cultural, and societal ties, there were also ties in areas such as foreign exchange and immigration.

    In terms ofprehensive strategic partners, Cathay only had one in the mortal realm, and that was Russia.

    A strategic partnership entailed not just normal coboration between the two nations, but also coboration in the military and other important fields. Furthermore, they were going to stand as one in the same camp when it came to international affairs, and this was the highest level of partnership between nations.

    Of course, such a partnership could only exist between nations that were on the same level. For example, would it be possible for Cathay to have aprehensive strategic partnership with Daehan? Clearly not, and the same applied to the five nations of Northern Europa.

    The underworld was currently in the midst of the Yin energy era, and only Qin Ye had the key to a new energy resource. If the Cathayan Underworld were to face a war, would the five nations of Northern Europa be able to reinforce them?

    Don''t forget that the Russian Underworld stood between them, and the Cathayan Underworld and the Russian Underworld certainly weren''t on terms that were as friendly as those of Cathay and Russia in the mortal realm.

    Just the nameless god of death alone would be enough to stop them!

    If the five-nation alliance had dared to propose such a partnership to the second King Yanluo, he would most likely already be spitting into their faces! Qin Ye could even envision his response.

    "Get the fuck out of here! Piss off, do you hear me? Don''t make me force you to leave!"

    However, he clearly wasn''t the ruthless bully that the second King Yanluo was, and he merely smiled as he said, "In order to form a fair partnership, what you give and what you receive should be bnced, should it not?"

    "I know we''re asking for a little too much, but..."

    J?rmungandr had only just begun speaking when Qin Ye''s smile faded, and he cut him off with a serious expression. "You''re not just asking for ''a little'' too much."

    He was being quite cold and straightforward with his words, but both J?rmungandr and H heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this.

    He didn''t spit in our faces! He didn''t ridicule us, then force us to leave! The third King Yanluo is different from the second King Yanluo!

    H gritted her teeth with a strained expression as she said, "We''re aware of that, but during the spring three years ago, Thanatos initiated his ''Hades Lighthouse'' n..."

    "Oh?"

    "The Cathayan Underworld has been cut off from the rest of this world all this time, so it''s no surprise that you haven''t heard about this. Allow me to exin." She pursed her lips, then said in a grim voice, "They''ve begun establishing forbidden arts reactors on the coasts of the Franks, Pnd, Germany, and Belgium..."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    "On top of that, they''ve designated the Norwegian Sea as their forbidden arts testing site. I''m sure all of the Yin spirits across the entire world can see what they''re nning to do!"

    Qin Ye gently stroked a leaf that he was holding as he contemted this matter.

    Were they nning to use forbidden arts? No, that was a Pandora''s Box that no one would dare to open carelessly. In that case, it had to be intimidation.

    It was just like how Cathay would often test out missiles in the Formosa Sea. With each test that took ce, the Formosa government would be struck by a sense of fear and urgency.

    Furthermore, how could they be certain that one of those "tests" wasn''t going to be an attack in disguise?

    Continuing with the Formosa government analogies, why was it that Formosa''s economy was clearly struggling, yet they were still spending astronomical sums of money on weapons to the tune of twenty billion USD?

    This was a massive investment for any government, and there would be no reason for them to make such a huge investment unless they were concerned that Cathay could actuallysh out at them someday.

    The fact that the forbidden arts testing site had been set at the Norwegian Sea was an act of tant intimidation.

    Anyone would be afraid if there were forbidden arts being detonated so close to them. It would be like constantly walking around with a sword hanging above one''s head.

    "Has no one intervened on this matter?" Qin Ye asked in a calm voice. "Have you reported this to the Coalition of Underworlds?"

    "It''s no use," H sighed in a forlorn voice. "The four pirs haven''t done anything. Thanatos has made it clear that he''s determined to conquer our five nations at some point, and no one is willing to form an alliance with us when the downside is making an enemy out of the Argosian Underworld. After all, we only hold a single vote, and that''s nowhere near enough to tempt potential powerful allies."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Indeed, if it weren''t for the special state that the Cathayan Underworld was currently in, he wouldn''t get involved in this matter, either.

    There was nothing that he stood to gain from saving an underworld that was so far away. The Russian Underworld was constantly standing between them, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that assisting the five nations would draw the ire of the Argosian Underworld. Even an idiot would know what the right decision was here.

    He cast a meaningful gaze toward H.

    I must say, you''re extremely fortunate. If you hade even 20 yearster than you have now, I wouldn''t even grant your request for an audience with me.

    "Further consideration is required on the subject of aprehensive strategic partnership." He wasn''t agreeing to the proposal, nor was he rejecting it outright.

    "Mr. Qin!" A hint of desperation and despair crept into J?rmungandr''s voice as he said, "We can offer other conditions! Tell us what you want and we''ll do everything in our power to satisfy you! There are people plotting against you here, and they must be doing this because the third administration of Hell hasn''t had a chance to establish itself on the world stage yet following its century-long absence! At the very least, we can give you our vote and we''ll stand by your side as your most resolute allies!"

    That''s because you have no one else to count on but me.

    Qin Ye shook his head as he made a grabbing motion, and a scroll appeared in his grasp, but he didn''t immediately open it. Instead, he smiled and said, "The Alkebn Underworlds have also decided to lend me their unreserved support. I''m sure you''ve already heard about this, right?"

    H''s heart sank upon hearing this, and she gave a reluctant nod.

    The Alkebn Underworlds held a significant geographic advantage over the five-nation alliance of Northern Europa.

    At the very least, they could sail through the waterways of the Red Moon Federation, then enter the South Cathayan Sea from there. Furthermore, the Alkebn Underworlds had already lent the Cathayan Underworld their assistance during the Russian Underworld incident.

    In contrast, what could they do? Sail through the Arctic Ocean?

    "We just so happen to have arrived at an agreement, which is currently being assessed by international arbiters. Once the agreement is finalized, we''ll immediately hold a press conference to dere it to the world. This agreement is quite simr to that one."

    H epted the scroll with a skeptical expression, yet after only reading the contents of the scroll for three seconds, she abruptly closed it, and an astonished look appeared on her face for the first time.

    She stared intently at Qin Ye as she asked, "Are you sure?"

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile in response.

    H''s hands were trembling slightly as she held onto the scroll, and she said in the most cid voice that she could muster up, "Mr. Qin, this is an extremely important agreement, and I think we should begin preparing for it right away."

    "Of course," Qin Ye replied with a calm smile. "However, this agreement is already sufficiently detailed, and I think what you need the most right now is to be able to im that you have the support of the Cathayan Underworld. Hence, why don''t we make it seem like we''re already quite close with one another and lure everyone else into thinking that we''ve beenmunicating this entire time and have already settled on this agreement well in advance? We could make it seem as if this is nothing more than a formality and sign the agreement today, what do you think?"

    An intense look appeared in J?rmungandr''s eyes as he took a nce at the scroll, then extended a deep bow as he said in a respectful voice, "As you wish. In that case, should we arrange things as soon as possible?"

    H''s mind was racing as she suggested, "How about we meet in a conference hall in four hours?"

    "That sounds like a good arrangement," Qin Ye replied before his body dissipated as a gust of Yin wind.

    Following his departure, J?rmungandr and H didn''t leave right away.

    They picked up the scroll to take a look at it again, and their chests were heaving drastically from excitement.

    The first line on the scroll read: "Participating nations of the Cathayan Underworld''s Zhu Rong n."

    "With this agreement, we should be safe for the time being!" H carefully swallowed the scroll as she spected, "The Cathayan Underworld doesn''t seem to be doing too well itself."

    J?rmungandr nodded in response. "That''s only to be expected. Its enemies are very powerful, it could even be said that they''re facing all of the international underworlds with the exception of us and the Alkebn Underworlds. They''ve been plotting for so long and prepared countless ns of attack during the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long absence, all in preparation for this moment. The fact that they''ve dared to strike entails that victory is already virtually assured for them. Otherwise, why do you think he granted us this agreement? Do you really think the terms we offered were attractive enough to warrant this?"

    A wry smile appeared on his face as he sighed and continued, "No matter how well something is hidden, as long as it''s been done, there have to be leads left behind. Having said that, we''re in a far worse situation than they are. The Cathayan Underworld''s foundation is still there. If the second King Yanluo were to return, who would dare to try and dethrone the Cathayan Underworld as one of the four pirs? I''m sure the Cathayan Underworld''s opposition is also testing the waters to see whether the second King Yanluo is still around. If he is, then why was there a change in administration?"

    H''s hair was blowing in the gentle breeze, and she looked calmly up at the sky. After a long while, she finally broke her silence. "Hence, we shouldn''t be thinking about trying to secure any benefits from the Cathayan Underworld through our agreement. A sh between such almighty powerhouses is not something that we can get directly involved in. At the very most, we can only assist the Cathayan Underworld, and this agreement will be the lifeline that drags us out of the dire situation we''re in! If we''re too greedy and irk Yanluo Qin, he could sever this lifeline and we would end up in the same spot we were in before. The way that Yanluo Qin does things is different from the second King Yanluo''s style. However, he''s not as pure and innocent as he looks."

    "Of course not! There''s not a single Emissary of Hell that can be described as pure and innocent!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It was 5 PM three days prior to themencement of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts.

    The conference hall was opened for the first time.

    If one of the four pirs had arrived this early in the past, the conference halls would''ve been opened much earlier than this, and they would''ve been cleaned and maintained twice a day. However, this was the first time that these halls had been open since the Cathayan Underworld''s arrival.

    Even though Izanami was doing everything in her power to hide it, in the instant that the conference hall was opened, Yin energy from a whole host of death gods immediately converged from all directions.

    They could clearly see that Yanluo Qin and his entourage had entered the conference hall with the negotiation experts of Northern Europa''s five-nation alliance, following which the doors of the conference hall were tightly shut.

    Izanami was standing right outside the door, and she seemed to be quite calm and collected, but she felt as if her heart were being roasted over an open me.

    Why aren''t you here yet?! Do you really think an Abyssal Prefect like me can handle the situation here?! I''m too weak to do anything without support! I want nothing more than for this conference to not go ahead, but what can I do? Can I tell them that the conference halls are under renovation? Can I tell them that I ate the reporters that they invited for the press conference? Please, for the love of god! If you don''t arrive here soon, I have a feeling that things really are going to spiral out of control!

    [1] [Zhu Rong is a god of fire in ancient Chinese legends, and it was said that he was the one who brought fire to humanity and taught man how to use fire. I''m not entirely sure why his name was made the name of this n, but I''m assuming we''ll find outter on.]

 Chapter 890: The First Press Conference (1)

    <h4>Chapter 890: The First Press Conference (1)</h4>

    "Everyone!" The doors of a conference hall were abruptly flung open, and a Soul Hunter level underworld emissary rushed into the hall, panting heavily as he said, "S... Something''s just happened!"

    The hall was filled with men and women dressed in professional attire, and everyone immediately erupted into a frenzy at the sight of the man.

    "What happened? Tell us exactly what happened! Hurry!"

    "It''s something to do with the Cathayan Underworld, right? It has to be them! Hurry up and tell us what happened!"

    This was an ordinary conference hall filled with modern wooden high-back chairs, yet at this moment, none of the chairs were upied as all of the Yin spirits in the hall had risen to their feet. There were Yin spirits with all types of differentplexions, and they were wearing rocks around the size of an infant''s fist around their necks.

    The rocks were near-transparent, but there was what appeared to be smoke and mist tumbling within them. Outside the hall was inscribed the words "Witness Hall" inrge, free-flowing text.

    This was the hall of journalists.

    Journalism in the underworld was different from that of the mortal realm. Even though there were no cameras orputers, they could use Yin energy to power the image capture crystals hanging around their necks to achieve the same effect. However, this meant that journalists had to at least be Soul Hunters, and as a result, this wasn''t something that could be implemented on a prevalent basis, nor was it possible for journalists in the underworld to take a bunch of photographs to choose from like the journalists in the mortal realm could.

    They only had a set number of image capturing opportunities each, and they had to make those opportunities count.

    All of these journalists were waiting for the oue of the conference between the Cathayan Underworld and the five nations of Northern Europa.

    The Soul Hunter who had rushed into the room was still panting heavily as he held onto his image capture crystal with an excited expression, and he said in a ragged voice, "Th... The... The Cathayan Underworld... Huff..."

    The killing intent of his colleagues was mounting by the second!

    What about the Cathayan Underworld?! Hurry up, goddamnit! Tell us what''s happened to the Cathayan Underworld! We don''t care if you drop dead, just make sure to tell us what happened before you do!

    In the face of his colleagues'' murderous eyes, the male journalist finally stood up straight as he borated, "The Cathayan Underworld has signed an agreement with the five nations of Northern Europa, making them exhaustive strategic coborative partners. On top of that, I heard that there were around a dozen additional agreements signed between them as well..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish, all of the Yin spirits were already rushing out of the conference hall in a frenzy, and ck light was beginning to emanate from the image capture crystals hanging in front of their chests.

    This was the massive scoop they had been waiting for!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    No one could''ve anticipated this move from the Cathayan Underworld.

    There had been no time-wasting or hesitation whatsoever. The five nations of Northern Europa had barely set foot in the city of Nara before this meeting was held between them. Not only was this the first agreement signed by the Cathayan Underworld following its re-emergence from seclusion, this was also the first agreement to be signed during this conference!

    It was an extremely important scoop!

    However, as the journalists frantically rushed to the scene, they were only greeted by the sight of Qin Ye and H shaking hands, thereby signifying the conclusion of the meeting. All of the journalists were struck by the urge to curse out loud upon seeing this, but they didn''t have time to do that as they quickly activated their image capture crystals to record the scene unfolding before them.

    It wasn''t the time to be asking questions yet. There were still countless underworld emissaries waiting outside. These were the foreign exchange ministers, secretaries, assistants, and all types of other members from the representative teams of various underworlds. They were even more eager than the journalists to know exactly what type of agreement has been signed between the Cathayan Underworld and the five nations of Northern Europa.

    After shaking hands with H, Qin Ye immediately departed.

    On the international stage, one had to learn to afford different treatment to different nations.

    If he were meeting with the Alkebn Underworlds, then he would remain behind to ept interviews from journalists, but the five nations of Northern Europa weren''t worthy of that honor.

    Having said that, he still had to stoke the mes of controversy. He was putting on a disy that said "I''m not targeting anyone, it''s just that all of the other underworlds are trash in my eyes", and at the same time, he had to use these journalists to spread the information that he wanted everyone to hear.

    The gust of Yin wind that Qin Ye had transformed into arrived in his room, and Zhao Yun and the panel of advisors were already waiting for him.

    He wore a serious expression as he asked, "Which n do the agreements that we just signed fall under?"

    "C2, Your Excellency," Qian Dui replied. "The n we reserved for the Alkebn Underworlds is A3, and if the representatives of the new continent arrive in Nara, then we''ll have n C4 waiting for them. If everything goes ording to n, then we''ll be able to truly begin our counterattack."

    He paused momentarily before continuing in a cautious voice, "Your Excellency, it''s time to make a move."

    All of the Emissaries of Hell present raised their heads upon hearing this, and theherfire in their eyes was burning fiercely.

    Indeed, it was time to make a move.

    The five nations of Northern Europa were their first target. It had several death gods and a territory of a decent size, and recruiting them was only the first step of their retaliation. They had endured provocation and humiliation for several days already, once all of their potential allies arrived, it would be time for the Cathayan Underworld to make its voice heard!

    Once it began its retaliation, it wouldn''t be able to stop until the very end, by which time the ultimate victor would be decided.

    Izanami was definitely going to report this situation to her masters, so the true masterminds behind this plot were definitely going to arrive soon. Prior to that, the Cathayan Underworld had toplete all of the required preparations.

    They were all feeling extremely fortunate that Qin Ye had made the decision to arrive here seven days in advance.

    "Your Excellency, I must remind you once again that everything that we are doing right now has most likely already been predicted by the opposition. The only thing that will catch them by surprise and have a decisive effect on the oue will be the new continent! On top of that, a normal partnership won''t be enough. Even if we don''t establish aprehensive strategic partnership with them, we have to at least establish a basic strategic partnership. It''s all up to you now, Your Excellency."

    Qian Dui extended a deep bow as he spoke.

    Qin Ye nodded firmly in agreement, even though he still couldn''t think of exactly what the second King Yanluo had been alluding to.

    "It''s time to go out and explore the city, everyone," he said in a serious voice. "We''ll meet back here tonight, and I want to know the reactions of all of the underworlds!"

    He had fired his first shot, and it was now time to gauge everyone''s reactions. Furthermore, there were definitely going to be countless underworlds visiting the Cathayan Underworld to assess what it was trying to do. All of those underworlds would potentially be allies that could be recruited, and each of them would represent a vote!

    It was truly time to stir up this conference in Nara!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Changxin hadn''t left the conference hall. He had stayed behind as the Cathayan Underworld''s third speaker, and at this moment, he was being surrounded by several bodyguards, outside of which were dozens of image capture crystals being pointed directly at him.

    "Mr. Qin, would you be able to tell us what agreements the Cathayan Underworld signed with the five-nation alliance of Northern Europa?"

    "Mr. Qin, I am a journalist from The Union Weekly, may I ask why the Cathayan Underworld didn''t notify the journalist team about its meeting? Is there some kind of secret it''s trying to hide?"

    "Mr. Qin, this is The Eastern Daily, may I ask why this specific time was chosen for the signing of the agreements? Why didn''t the Cathayan Underworld wait for the arrival of the other three pirs? Is it afraid?"

    "Mr. Qin, can you tell us what it has been like for the Cathayan Underworld to return to the world stage after an absence of over a century? What was it that made the Cathayan Underworld choose the Northern Europa Alliance as its first ally?"

    "Mr. Qin, this is The Sunrise Weekly, what has the Cathayan Underworld''s response been to theck of respect it received on its first few days here?"

    "Mr. Qin..."

    Qin Changxin was feeling slightly paralyzed in the midst of this chaotic scene.

    Never did he think that international journalists would be so aggressive and fric. However, at the same time, he was feeling a hint of pride.

    This was a major international conference being held in the Nipponese Underworld, yet all eyes were still on the Cathayan Underworld.

    Looks like I made the right decision back in the Strait of Tsushima after all!

    "Please, one at a time!" As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, the surroundingmotion became even louder, and he was being blinded by the shes from the image capture crystals in all directions.

    He gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and his Yin energy erupted forth in a frenzy, constantly clearing the space around him.

    "As one of the four pirs, the Cathayan Underworld has a duty to exin its own actions to the world. However, please make sure to maintain order at all times," he said in a cold voice. "Now then, please take a seat. All journalists who do not want to follow the rules and uphold order, please leave now."

    All of the journalists fell silent before sitting down as they were told, and their image capture crystals were hovering in front of their foreheads, recording every single one of Qin Changxin''s words and actions.

    Is this what it feels like to represent a major nation?

    Qin Changxin took a deep breath to repress the excitement in his heart, then said in a calm voice, "Firstly, allow me to answer a few of your questions. The Cathayan Underworld has held this meeting on such short notice as the terms of the agreements with the five nations of Northern Europa had already been finalized in advance, so this was the perfect opportunity for the agreements to be signed. Otherwise, things wouldn''t have moved so quickly. The agreements don''t have a lot to do with this conference, so we didn''t think it would be necessary to alert the journalist team. Also, I recall a certain journalist asking why the Cathayan Underworld chose to sign the agreements before the arrival of the other three pirs, and they were asking whether the Cathayan Underworld was afraid."

    He swept a sharp and piercing gaze across all of the journalists present, and several secondster, a derisive look appeared on his face in front of all of the journalists'' eager eyes. "Don''t make meugh! Our Cathayan Underworld has stood for over 3,000 years, we hold our meetings whenever we want! Why do we have to wait for other nations to arrive before we sign our agreements? I want everyone to remember this: the Cathayan Underworld has never left, it merely took a short nap. If anyone else dares to ask provocative questions of this nature, everyone will be asked to leave. Now then, it''s time to enter the press conference segment of the proceedings."

    He waved a hand through the air, and a scroll slowly began to move behind him. Even though it was moving at a snail''s pace, it was impossible to see exactly what was written on it.

    Agreements signed between nations consisted of not just the main agreement, but also many additional agreements. There were also all types of annotations and uses, and a total of 10 agreements had been signed just now, each of which was recorded across three or four scrolls. Qin Changxin had only brought out one of those scrolls, and it was only just for show.

    "Firstly, the Cathayan Underworld and the five nations of Northern Europa have established an exhaustive strategic coborative partnership."

    As soon as this announcement was made, all of the journalists present immediately erupted into a raucous frenzy!

    This meant that the Cathayan Underworld was going to be interacting with the five nations of Northern Europa on an extremely intimate basis in areas such as construction, trade, immigration, and even military affairs!

    It was an unspoken agreement between all nations that the five nations of Northern Europa were going to be left to the Argosian Underworld, yet the Cathayan Underworld had just flipped that preconceived notion on its head! Was this a deration of war against the Argosian Underworld?

    Even after lying dormant for over a century, it seemed that the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t be any less aggressive and domineering!

    "My god!" A journalist from the new continent pped a hand over his own mouth as he drew a sharp breath. "As expected of the Cathayan Underworld, what an aggressive move! Even if this isn''t a deration of war, it will be the first olive branch extended to the five nations of Northern Europa by any of the major underworlds, let alone one of the four pirs!"

    A middle-aged journalist beside him was alsopletely rooted to the spot, and only after a long while was he able to work up some saliva into his parched mouth as he said, "This isn''t a deration of war, but it''s tant provocation! Why are they provoking the Argosian Underworld? Could it be that the Argosian Underworld is one of the powers targeting the Cathayan Underworld during this conference? Is this a gesture of intimidation?"

    One intense gaze after another was directed toward Qin Changxin, yet it was clear that he had no intention of offering any further exnation on the subject.

    You think this is the climax? Well, you''re dead wrong!

    He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes slightly as he prepared to deliver the true bombshell.

    Right in front of everyone''s eager eyes, he continued, "The second thing I want to say, and this is the most important thing I have to say, is that the Cathayan Underworld will be including the Northern Europa Alliance into the Cathayan Underworld''s Zhu Rong n, making it a member of the Zhu Rong n''s construction circle. At this point, it''s also the only western member of this construction circle."

 Chapter 891: The First Press Conference (2)

    <h4>Chapter 891: The First Press Conference (2)</h4>

    The entire conference hall fellpletely silent, and all of the journalists were too stunned to even speak.

    The Cathayan Underworld had made its move! This was the first n that the Cathayan Underworld had initiated since its long-awaited return to the world stage, and it was clear that this was one of its trump cards. With that in mind, all of them were extremely eager to hear what Qin Changxin had to say next.

    Qin Changxin was naturally also aware that this was one of their sharpest figurative swords.

    He took a moment to sweep his gaze across the room before continuing, "The Zhu Rong n stems from ancient Cathayan legends. During the next 20 years, the Cathayan Underworld is going to survey all of the major cities and build advanced underworld experimentation stations in the cities it deems to be suitable."

    He turned around and swept a hand through the air, conjuring up a Yin energy screen within the room.

    The screen depicted a circle that was split up into nineyers, and at its center was the universe. This was clearly a dynamic picture, and it wasn''t difficult for an Abyssal Prefect to record it, then disy it using Yin energy. Furthermore, this image was very familiar to all of the underworld emissaries present.

    It was the vastly renowned "Archimedes Yin Rune Wheel."

    All of the current known Yin runes stemmed from that wheel, and eachyer contained close to 100 Yin runes. These Yin runesbined and interacted with one another in different ways, forming the nextyer of Yin runes, which could be individual runes orbinations of multiple runes. All of these runes andbinations of runes possessed different unique properties, and the universe at the very center represented the Yin runes that were still yet to be discovered. This was a piece of Yin rune educational material that was universal across all underworlds and had to be learned by all underworld emissaries.

    During the past few thousand years, most of thebinations had already been tested. Somebinations existed, but didn''t serve any purpose, and thesebinations were known as heavenly inspiration as no one knew what kind of inspiration they were going to provide to the world in the future.

    Thus far, the only 132 Yin runebinations had been proven to be extremely useful high-end runebinations, and these Yin runebinations were known as arks. Each and every ark Yin runebination consisted of countless basic Yin runes, and they represented salvation and continuation.

    Why is he showing us this?

    All of the journalists were quite perplexed to see this, and right at this moment, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted from the ninthyer. Within aplex Yin runebination, a profound Yin rune was suddenly beginning to glow brightly.

    That''s the ninth level, the highest level!

    All of the journalists looked on with anticipation in their eyes. Even though they couldn''t identify what exactly was being shown to them, the fact that it stemmed from the ninth level indicated that this was definitely something extremely advanced!

    The tension in the air had grown so strong that they were struggling to breathe.

    After the first Yin rune lit up, it was quickly followed by a second Yin rune, then a third, then a fourth. One minuteter, countless Yin runes had lit up on the ninthyer.

    Their golden radiance was like the light of the sun, and finally, an extremely profound Yin rune appeared at the center of the universe.

    It was like a cuneiform from several thousand years ago, and it consisted of countless Yin runes. It was clearly formed by hundreds of thousands, perhaps even over a million Yin runes, but it didn''t look disjointed in the slightest. Instead, it was extremely uniform and harmonious, and it was so resplendent that one simply couldn''t look away.

    However, the journalists weren''t moved by this.

    During the past several thousand years, there had been nock of new heavenly inspiration Yin runes, but the majority of them were useless. In other words, the correct way to activate them still hadn''t been discovered by current Yin rune researchers.

    Of course, there was no way that the Cathayan Underworld would go out of its way to bring out a useless Yin rune, but as for exactly what purpose it could serve, that was still yet to be announced.

    Instead of offering a verbal exnation, Qin Changxin pointed a finger toward the Yin rune, injecting Yin energy into it. In the next instant, a loud boom rang out from the massive Yin rune, and countless bursts of dark blue light surged over its surface like arcs of lightning, forcing all of the journalists in the entire hall to shield their eyes from the radiance.

    Only after a full minute had passed did they reopen their eyes, and Qin Changxin made an inviting hand gesture before pointing a finger at the pieces of image capture crystal in front of him.

    What is he doing?

    Thomas was a journalist from the new continent, and in all honesty, no one wanted to stay in the new continent unless they absolutely had to. If it weren''t for the death gods below Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa maintaining some semnce of order, the new continent would''ve already descended into a cesspool of ughter and madness.

    One city after another was vanishing into thin air, and this was happening in the underworld! Just the mere thought was enough to send chills running down one''s spine.

    Thus, he did everything in his power to be granted this job that allowed him to leave the country, and if he got his way, he would remain out of the new continent for the next few centuries. Thus, he had toplete this job well, and he immediately cast an attentive gaze toward his image capture crystal.

    There''s no difference... What is the meaning of this? He carefully inspected the image capture crystal with tightly furrowed brows, and just as he was about to give up, his expression suddenly stiffened.

    The fist-sized ball ofherfire in his eyes slowly rose up to over a meter tall, burning like a pair of fiery pirs. His mouth gaped wide open as he pointed at the image capture crystal with a trembling finger, and only after making several failed attempts to speak did he finally manage to force out the words "it''s full..."

    His mind had gonepletely nk, and he was rooted to the spot like an inanimate statue. Three secondster, he suddenly yelled, "It''s full!! My image capture crystal has been fully recharged with Yin energy!! I swear I didn''t do this myself!!"

    His astonished voice immediately set the entire scene alight.

    All of the journalists immediately cast their eyes toward their own image capture crystals, and their expressions slowly transitioned from skepticism to surprise, then from surprise to shock. Five secondster, they raised their heads in unison to stare nkly at the smiling Qin Changxin. They were all pointing at him with trembling fingers, yet they couldn''t muster up even a single word between them.

    This is a new energy resource, one that can replenish Yin energy!

    All of the underworlds had been pursuing this for thousands of years! They had been forced to watch as the mortal realm went from an age of darkness to an era of light and technology, yet none of the underworlds had been able to invent a new energy resource. However, the thing that the entire world had been pursuing for thousands of years was now being presented right before their very eyes!

    Was this the core of this so-called Zhu Rong n?

    Was it a n that involved constructing energy systems in all of the nations that were allies to the Cathayan Underworld?!

    This wasn''t just a counterattack from the Cathayan Underworld anymore, they were presenting the key to a new era!

    This was such a significant revtion that even these vastly experienced international journalists werepletely rooted to the spot. After a full minute of stunned silence, the entire hall erupted into a raucous frenzy once again.

    "Mr. Qin, is this a new energy resource? Is this an energy resource that can be used in the underworld?"

    "Is this electricity? Has the Cathayan Underworld invented electricity during the past century?!"

    "Mr. Qin, is that Yin rune all that''s needed to distribute this energy resource?!"

    "Does the Cathayan Underworld have ns to make this energy resource avable to the entire world? What stage is the development process up to?"

    "Can foreign underworlds participate in this project through research and development agreements? Please answer me! Please, Mr. Qin!!"

    The entire scene hadpletely erupted.

    Only those who had seen the power of electricity in the mortal realm knew what a new energy resource entailed. It was like oxygen, and anyone who had control over it would be able to decide the fate of the world.

    They finally understood why the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t done anything in the past few days, it was because they had absolute confidence and were assured of their victory!

    Who wouldn''t be forced to bow down to the Cathayan Underworld in the face of such a massive revtion?

    Qin Changxin was being drowned under a sea of questions, and he was bing extremely excited by the widespread attention that he was receiving, but he still made a gesture for everyone to quiet down.

    He was like an orchestral conductor, and as soon as he made the hand gesture, the entire hall quickly fell silent again, but all of the journalists were still breathing heavily as they stared intently at him as if they were trying to bore holes into his body with their eyes.

    "There is a rule in the Coalition of Underworlds which states that all scientific research results pertaining to projects that could change the entire world, such as this one, must be disyed to the entire world and made public after a patent is applied for. During the past few centuries, the Cathayan Underworld has benefited greatly from this rule. For example, there was the Argosian Underworld''s Yin energy guide, the Aegyptian Underworld''s Yin beast taming guide, and the Hindustani Underworld''s Yogachara. These are all teaching materials used across the entire world, and they were masterpieces that advanced entire eras. The Cathayan Underworld has always been an underworld that abides by the rules, and we''ll be sure to release the results of our research. Once the research and development process isplete, we''ll definitely release it to the public after securing a patent. However, now is not the time."

    "When will that timee?" A voice suddenly rang out, and Thomas''s chest was heaving drastically.

    Only after seeing the expressions of his colleagues, which were disying sentiments such as "how bold of you", "how could you be so disrespectful to a representative of the Cathayan Underworld", and "I pray for your safety", did he realize exactly what he had just done.

    This piece of news had shocked him to the core, and he had stood up without even realizing it.

    "Wh, what I meant to say is, this is a piece of research that could impact the entire world, and I was just wondering if you would require the assistance of other top-tier research and development teams..."

    "No, thank you," Qin Changxin replied in a cold voice. "Our Cathayan Underworld has the best research and development team, we don''t need assistance from any other underworlds. Also, if you dare to interrupt me again, you will never be granted the opportunity to feature in any of the Cathayan Underworld''s future press conferences."

    Thomas gulped nervously before sitting back down with a fearful expression, and only then did Qin Changxin continue, "The time will be several hours from now."

    An authoritative tone crept into his voice as he continued, "Once the Alkebn Underworlds arrive, our Cathayan Underworld will sign a series of agreements with the Alkebn Underworlds'' Mythic Spirits, and at the same time, our Zhu Rong n will be made public to everyone. That will be the end of my address, thank you to everyone for listening. Now then, are there any questions?"

    Right as his voice trailed off, an underworld emissary beside him dered, "Each person will only have one question and only one minute to ask the question and have it answered. You may begin now."

    Before he had even concluded his statements, all of the journalists present immediately threw their hands up into the sky. Qin Changxin nodded at the first journalist in the first row and said, "We''ll begin with you, then continue in sequential order. Those who don''t have any questions will be skipped."

    How could anyone not have questions?!

    The first journalist immediately rose to his feet, and his eyes were bloodshot as he said with a rapid cadence, "Mr. Qin, will the Zhu Rong n involve distributing this new energy resource to all participating nations? May I ask what conditions and prerequisites must be met for participation?"

    "The specific conditions have been decided by Yanluo Qin and his panel of advisors, but what I can tell is that the first and foremost condition is that we will only be epting nations that have stuck by the Cathayan Underworld''s side through thick and thin and have never tried to stab the Cathayan Underworld in the back. As for whether nations participating in the n will gain ess to the new energy resource, that is for certain."

    Before the first journalist had even sat down, the second journalist was already on his feet, and he asked, "Mr. Qin, is the Cathayan Underworld releasing this news at a time like this because they''re concerned about their ce in the four pirs? After all, ording to the regtions of the Coalition of Underworlds, the four pirs are supposed to be leaders that exist to advance the entire world. However, the Cathayan Underworld has been cut off from the rest of the world for too long, and there are rumors stating that the Cathayan Underworld will be severely impeached during this conference.¡±

    "What a load of nonsense!" Qin Changxin chuckled. "The four pirs are one big family, we are all powerful nations leading all of the underworlds to greater heights. There''s no way that the other three pirs would make such an unwise decision. As for our prolonged absence, I do apologize for that on the behalf of the Cathayan Underworld, but we will make up for it by providing groundbreaking technology to the entire world."

    "Mr. Qin, what do you think of this conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts?"

    "Mr. Qin, may I ask... "

    "Mr. Qin... "

    "Mr. Qin..."

    Crack!

    The conference hall had erupted into a raucous frenzy, and right at this moment, the hand fan that Izanami was holding was snapped in half.

    "What did you just say?" For the very first time, she finally lost herposure.

    Her legs almost gave out from under her, and she immediately grabbed onto the table beside her for support. A servant tried to lend her their support, only to be waved away by a frustrated swish of her long sleeve. She made her way directly over to the underworld emissary who was kneeling in front of her, then grabbed onto his chin before pulling him to his feet.

    "Repeat what you just said."

    "Yes..." The underworld emissary was trembling from fear as he gave her another recount of what had just taken ce in the conference hall, and after hearing what he had to say, Izanami almost passed out on the spot.

    How is this possible?!

    They had nned extremely extensively and thought that their trap had no holes. They had even considered what they were going to do if the Cathayan Underworld were to bring out the blueprint for second-generation forbidden arts, but never did they think that the Cathayan Underworld would be able to bring out the blueprint for a new energy resource instead!

    A new era is about to arrive...

    "Hurry..." Sheid a hand over her own forehead as she spat through gritted teeth, "Contact the three pirs and ask them to get to Nara as quickly as possible!!"

    This ce was about to be an active volcano, and she couldn''t handle the pressure any longer.

 Chapter 892: Erinys

    <h4>Chapter 892: Erinys</h4>

    The three pirs had been preparing far too long for this n, and they were already holding many undeniable trump cards. However, Izanami didn''t have the right to activate any of those trump cards.

    She only knew about this n, and that was only because the conference was being held in Nara. She was only acting as the eyes and ears, but the brain still hadn''t arrived, so how could she not be in a panic?

    "Please don''t dy any longer... The Cathayan Underworld has already made its move, what will the other underworlds think if we continue to remain silent? Will they turn back to the Cathayan Underworld? Do you really want to see this powerhouse make a resurgence?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "That was n C1," Qian Dui said in a respectful voice as he stood in Qin Ye''s room. The entire panel of advisors were also in the room, and they were carefully listening to fill in any gaps that arose in Qian Dui''s report.

    "At this point, n C1 has already been initiated, the only difference is that we nned to enact it through the Alkebn Underworlds,unching this bombshell topletely ignite the confidence of the other underworlds. However, we failed to anticipate that the underworlds of the new continent arrived before the Alkebn Underworlds'' representatives."

    Even though he had no script, he was delivering the report fluently and confidently, and it was clear that he knew the ns as well as the back of his own hand.

    Qin Ye was currently reading the scroll that he was holding, which detailed the n in question. He hadn''t read through these things prior to setting off for Nara as everything was changing too quickly, and he didn''t have sufficient brain capacity to memorise all of the ns. Only when something actually happened would the panel of advisors immediately open the corresponding emergency n, and all mature underworlds had a simr system in ce.

    "Continue," he prompted as he continued to read the contents of the scroll.

    Qian Dui extended a respectful bow before continuing, "We wanted the Alkebn Underworlds to arrive first as we have much closer ties with them. We are able to sign more intimate agreements with the Alkebn Underworlds, but we can''t do that with the five nations of Northern Europa. As things are right now, we can only reverse the order and temporarily withhold the announcement of the specific details pertaining to the Zhu Rong n. As a result, we had to adjust the script for n C1."

    "This is not necessarily a bad thing." Qin Ye finally finished reading the contents of n C1, and he set the scroll aside before sping his hands behind his back. "While it''s true that changes always require adjustments to be made on the fly, change could be beneficial at times. The most spectacr thing about shes like this are the unpredictable elements involved. In light of the unforeseen circumstances that have arisen, we''ve had to refrain from releasing the exact details of our Zhu Rong n, but that only made it more mysterious and alluring in the eyes of the other underworlds. Once the Alkebn Underworlds arrive, we''ll unveil our trump cards before the three pirs have a chance to do so, and with our final trump card being support from the new continent, we''ll definitely be able to shake up the entire conference."

    Zu Chongzhi stroked his own beard as he said in a grim voice, "But if we do this, we''ll be facing frantic retaliation from the three pirs."

    Zhao Yun had been standing beside the sliding door this entire time with his arms crossed, looking as if he were resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, none of the Yin energy fluctuations within a radius of 100 meters could escape his detection. All of a sudden, he said in a calm voice, "Regardless of what we do, we''ll be met with retaliation from the three pirs anyway. What I think we should be doing now is allow them to retaliate!"

    Silence.

    No one said anything in response. The rtionships between nations were veryplex, and they had to ponder this statement for a while before they gave a reply. Several secondster, Qin Ye suddenly raised his head and asked, "Are you suggesting we prematurely alert the enemy?"

    Everyone''s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and they quickly pondered what was being suggested. A few secondster, Zu Chongzhi stroked his own beard as he burst into raucousughter. "That''s a brilliant idea!"

    With a flick of his wrist, the rosewood bracelet on his wrist fell into his palm, and he massaged it absentmindedly as he slowly paced back and forth in the room. "What are we most worried about right now?"

    "We''re worried about the number of votes our opposition has already secured," Qian Dui replied with a respectful salute.

    Indeed, what was most important now wasn''t what their opposition was going to do, but instead, it was how many votes they had already swayed.

    At the end of the day, everything was going to be decided through the final vote. These were the rules of the underworld, and if one wanted to stake a ce in this world and be able to trade with other countries, they had to follow these rules.

    However, this was something that the Cathayan Underworld had no idea about.

    How many votes had their opposition already imed? 15? 14? There were only 34 votes in total, and every single vote was extremely precious.

    The fact that their opposition was daring to make a move now indicated that they had to have at least already imed 10 votes, and that was already the best-case scenario for the Cathayan Underworld.

    How many underworlds had already defected to the three pirs?

    Aside from the Nipponese Underworld, which had already made its stance extremely obvious, how many other underworlds had the three pirs managed to recruit? How many underworlds were currently sitting on the fence, waiting to deliver a lethal blow upon the Cathayan Underworld during the final vote?

    There was no point in asking, no one would tell the truth. Through the series of retaliative measures that the Cathayan Underworld had taken, it seemed to have already weathered the immediate storm, but they had only won the battle. If they wanted to win the war as well, they would have to win in the final vote.

    Qin Ye turned to everyone else in the room with an intense gaze and said, "Once the Alkebn Underworlds arrive, the entire situation will bepletely blown open! After all, what we offered to them is enough to stun the entire world. Under these circumstances, our opposition has no choice but to rise to our challenge! They have tosh out with even greater force than we have in order to instill confidence into their allies, and they would have to disy their power in order to aplish this. As a result, they would have no choice but to reveal more of their trump cards!"

    Lu Ban pondered the situation for a moment before asking, "What if they contact the other underworlds in private?"

    Zhao Yun chuckled in response. "Schr Lu, you''re severely underestimating the rulers of the underworlds. Their power may be far inferior to ours, but they''re certainly no less cunning, and deals made in private cannot be relied upon. The smaller the nation, the more they care about doing things the right way. In contrast, it''s far more likely for major nations like us to establish private deals. If the opposition were to try and revoke a deal, the only thing that small nations would be able to rely upon would be official contracts and signed agreements. Rest assured, no matter what the three pirs say or do, even if they manage to secure all 34 votes, as long as those deals are made in private, all of their allies could still turn on them at the drop of a hat if we disy sufficient power to ovee them."

    A cold smile appeared on his handsome face as he continued, "Hence, no matter how reluctant they are to publicly dere some things, they have no choice."

    In the face of the constantly changing circumstances, everyone''s brains were racing rapidly to construct the best path forward. They were brainstorming one potential scenario after another, and some of those scenarios seemed to be extremely idiotic, but there was no guarantee that idiotic scenarios wouldn''t unfold in dealings between nations.

    An example of this was the financial crisis of 1998.

    How had Siam copsed under the weight of the crisis?

    Initially, it had already weathered the first storm, but as floating capital from overseas began to gather again, they ignored the fortress that the Siam government had erected by allowing direct exchange between USD and the Siam baht. Instead, they urged all of the major economists of the west to proim through the inte, the newspapers, and television broadcasts, that the Siam baht was set for a steep decline. As a result, the entire poption erupted into a panic, leading to everyone frantically offloading their Siam bahts for USD. In a sense, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy where the economists'' prediction had been vindicated by the irrational actions of the people who had believed in those predictions.

    Why hadn''t the Siam government set up policies to prohibit the exchange between Siam baht and USD at a time like that? Were they idiots?

    It was indeed an idiotic decision, but this rted to the age-old conflict between the concepts of freedom and human rights versus centralized power. The government knew what the right decision was, but they couldn''t make the decision in fear of the inevitably ensuing controversy.

    There were idiotic scenarios constantly unfolding on the world stage, but behind these scenarios were extremelyplicated historic, political, and societal factors.

    Thus, after a prolonged silence, Lu Ban asked what seemed to be a very stupid question. "Will there be any underworlds that relinquish their voting rights altogether?"

    "There''s no way that''ll be allowed," Qian Dui replied with a shake of his head. "Our opposition is trying to tell the world that everyone, aside from the Cathayan Underworld, is wee to join their alliance, and they would naturally want to recruit as many allies as possible. They''re going to disy this to the world by holding a grand press conference, or by founding a new international organization, or by establishing a co-prosperity sphere. That would be the best and only way for them to flex their political muscles. Every single underworld is an independent entity, and they''re all looking out for their own interests, so there''s no way they''ll be absent from such an important event. If the three pirs seed, then everyone will get a share in the spoils of war aside from those who didn''t join their alliance. As such, all of the underworlds are essentially forced to make a decision. If they don''t, then they won''t get to benefit from the final oue, no matter whoes out on top."

    Everyone nodded in agreement with Qian Dui''s assessment.

    "However, even if we''ve already predicted our opposition''s trump cards, we''re still in a significant amount of danger," Qian Dui sighed as he turned to Qin Ye with a serious expression. "Our opposition would''ve definitely prepared for a potential scenario where we''ve managed to develop some new thing during the past century. The fact that we''ve predicted their trump cards is a very encouraging thought, but..."

    "But that doesn''t change the reality that the opposition has to have at least already secured over 10 votes," Qin Ye said in an unhurried voice. "Perhaps this number is already as high as 15."

    "That''s right..." The corners of Qian Dui''s lips turned slightly downward, further entuating the wrinkles around his mouth. "ording to a report from my subordinates, the representatives of the new continent will be arriving a day early."

    Qin Ye''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this.

    That was going to be extremely inconvenient!

    However, he had to remain calm. Panic was only going to make the situation worse. With that in mind, a calm smile appeared on his face as he said, "In that case, let''s have some fun with them in the next few days. Our opposition may not have been fazed by the press conference we held with the five nations of Northern Europa, but they definitely won''t be able to sit still once we hold our press conference with the Alkebn Underworlds."

    "My Lord, I think we''ll be able to force them to make a move even earlier than that." Right at this moment, the sliding door was opened, and Qin Changxin strode in with an excited expression before extending a deep bow. "My Lord, eight underworlds have submitted invitations all at once, requesting an audience with the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld over dinner."

    It was only an invitation for a meal, so it didn''t entail much.

    At the end of the day, all of the underworlds that had managed to survive to this point, even if they were pitifully small and insignificant ces, definitely had extremely wily and cunning leaders.

    However, this was the first time that so many underworlds had taken the initiative to approach the Cathayan Underworld.

    Of course, this could only be attributed to the unveiling of the new energy resource.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    Just wait and see, the true bombshell is still yet toe!

    "How long until the Alkebn Underworlds arrive?"

    "One more hour, Your Excellency. They should be very close to Nippon''s territorial sea at this point."

    "Good..." Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as a cold look appeared on his face. "Turn down all of the dinner requests. Inform all of the underworlds that the Cathayan Underworld will be issuing a detailed response as soon as possible within today. In the meantime, everyone must wait."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ck... A pair of high heels stepped onto the deck of a ship. The shoes were of a near-transparent white color, and there were countless wless sapphires embedded onto their surface. There were also beautiful designs etched onto the shoes in pure gold, and these golden designs formed a series of perfect bow ties.

    Above the pair of dazzling high heels was a ck bubble skirt with an intricate floralce hem. A series of pristine white feathers were attached to the dress, and they were exquisitely arranged into one white rose after another, then connected together by strips of pure white ribbons.

    This was clearly the attire of a noble person, and it was being worn by a young Caucasian woman with golden locks and green eyes. However, wisps of inky-ck Yin energy were constantly seeping out of her pores, forming countless terrifying nightmarish scenes before slowly dissipating into nothingness.

    This woman was the daughter of Thanatos, and her name was Erinys. Beside her stood a white-robed man with a long white beard that hung all the way down to his chest. In front of his chest was emzoned a golden insignia, and the two of them were currently standing on a gship that was constructed from gold!

    The gship was massive, over 500 meters in length, and the golden cannons on either side of it served as a warning to all potential pirates and hijackers, telling them that this wasn''t just a massive moving ATM, and that anyone who dared to try and touch it would immediately be struck by fierce artillery fire.

    Behind this gship were over 50 other warships that were also constructed from gold!

    This was truly a golden fleet!

    "Mr. Archimedes." The young woman gently closed her hand fan as she asked, "That''s Nippon up ahead, right?"

    "That''s right," the elderly Caucasian man replied with a smile. "Master Thanatos is still a good way behind us, but it looks like we already have some trouble to deal with."

 Chapter 893: The Lively and Bustling Nara

    <h4>Chapter 893: The Lively and Bustling Nara</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    There was a woman whose entire body resembled an ice statue. Her pristine white skin was almost transparent, her blue hair was constantly shrouded under ayer of frost, and the striking blue blood vessels in her body extended in all directions, like theplex roots and branches of a tree, before fading into nothingness at their most minuscule points. She was a woman who gave off a sickly sense of beauty.

    This was no goddess of snow and ice. Instead, it was the Celtic death goddess, Anko.

    She was an advanced Abyssal Prefect, and just like Izanami, she was unable to progress any further beyond this level due to geographic and poption constraints. As the death goddess of the Eskimo religion, she was already extremely fortunate to have be an advanced Abyssal Prefect at all.

    At this moment, Anko was holding a newspaper with an extremely serious expression, and even her fingers were trembling ever so slightly.

    The newspaper was The Forbidden Arts Times, and it was only released in real-time during major international conferences such as this one. In other words, it had no set time of release, and starting seven days before themencement of the conference, all significant events were guaranteed to be reported within half an hour. This was the first release of The Forbidden Arts Times during this conference.

    Anko carefully read every single word of the stories, and after a long while, she finally set the newspaper down before closing her eyes. Her chest was rising and falling drastically, and only after a full minute did she reopen her eyes before casting her gaze toward the death god in front of her. "What do you want to say?"

    The death god sitting across from her was H.

    As opposed to the respectful expression she had disyed while in the presence of Qin Ye, her eyes were filled with aggression now as she smiled and asked, "Are you not tempted by the prospect of a new energy resource?"

    "I certainly am, but this is not something that a second-rate underworld like mine can hope to get involved in," Anko replied as she rose to her feet, gracefully picking up the hem of her ice-blue dress as she did so.

    "But this is an opportunity." H also rose to her feet before making her way over to stand beside Anko. "Your territory is in the Arctic Sea, while our territory consists of the five nations of Northern Europa. We should be allies at all times. I understand that you didn''t dare to do anything in the past as you were afraid of the pressure being exerted by the Argosian Underworld, but things are different now. The Cathayan Underworld is searching for an opportunity, and it''s clear that the three pirs are determined to bring them down during this conference. As a result, they''re bringing out such a significant agreement. Do you not want to be a part of this lucrative deal? In order to implement this agreement, the Cathayan Underworld must survive through this conference first."

    She stared directly at Anko''s perfect side profile as she continued, "Stand with us and give the Cathayan Underworld your vote, and just like us, you''ll be among the first people to benefit from this new energy resource."

    Anko offered no response. Instead, she cast her gaze toward the distance, and all of a sudden, her eyes narrowed slightly as she said, "Madam H, take a look at that!"

    H''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and she cast her gaze toward the direction that Anko was pointing in, following which theherfire in her eyes immediately erupted into pirs of mes!

    The ce where the conference was being held was an ind nestled in a sea of red leaves and Yin flowers.

    Right at this moment, at the edge of the sea, a burst of dazzling golden light was approaching them like a resplendent sun. Within the golden light, several dozen massive silhouettes could just barely be made out.

    Her expression stiffened momentarily, and a terrifying name instantly shed through her mind, causing her to draw a sharp breath before eximing, "That''s the Golden Fleet! And it''s being led by... The Radiant Death God! That has to mean that Erinys ising here in person!"

    The first of the Cathayan Underworld''s formidable foes had finally arrived!

    This was the mighty Golden Fleet, the overlord of the Mediterranean Sea and a fleet that had rivaled Anubis''s Despair of the Death God for over 1,000 years, and it had arrived in Nara!

    "Madam H..." Anko pursed her lips as she said, "I''ll be sure to consider your proposition and consider it carefully, but you have to empathize with the situation that I''m in as well."

    She heaved a long sigh as she closed her eyes with a conflicted expression. "The arrival of The Radiant Death God heralds the arrival of Erinys. The Cathayan Underworld''s enemies are finally issuing a response to the new energy resource they''ve unveiled, and a tumultuous storm is brewing on the horizon. If I make the wrong choice, a small underworld like mine will be instantly razed to the ground. This is a sh between the premier powerhouses of the world. I''m different from you as you have no choice, but I still have some room to choose, so please give me some time."

    H and Anko weren''t the only ones to have spotted the Golden Fleet, countless underworlds had also caught sight of it.

    "That''s the Golden Fleet!" Kuwal eximed as he sprang to his feet in his room, staring intently at the distant horizon. Antee, Borne, and several other death gods were right beside him, and they were also looking in the same direction with astonished expressions.

    What a swift reaction...

    They had sprung into action right away in the face of the bombshell that the Cathayan Underworld had just dropped in the form of the new energy resource. Furthermore, they had sent a true death goddess and her entire fleet to Nara. Setting the powerparison aside, the intimidation factor alone was making many underworlds considering defecting to the Cathayan Underworld''s side have second thoughts.

    You want to vote? You want to pick sides? Have you asked us for permission? Have you forgotten who it is that has been standing at the pinnacle of this world for the past century? If you have, then allow us to issue you a reminder...

    The arrival of the Golden Fleet was like a bucket of cold water that had been poured over everyone''s heads, instantly snapping them out of the irrational frenzy that everyone had been swept into by the prospect of a new energy resource.

    On one side was the key to the next era, while on the other side was the faction that had ruled over the world for an entire century. Which side should they choose?

    All of the death gods were ced under the same dilemma.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A circle of underworld emissaries had already gathered outside the pavilion of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Around 23 to 24 of the 34 underworlds had already arrived, and 10 of them had brought along visiting cards for the Cathayan Underworld, while the rest were still watching as the situation unfolded. In addition to them, there were also countless journalists present.

    However, right as everyone''s attention was focused on the gates of the Cathayan Underworld''s pavilion, several underworld emissaries silently made their way into the crowd, then said something to the underworld emissaries who were holding the visiting cards. Judging from their expressions, those underworld emissaries were extremely rmed by what they heard and they quickly departed. However, that didn''t affect the frenzied atmosphere in the slightest. Not everyone had the right to ess all information.

    All of the journalists were eagerly awaiting new developments. This was a new energy resource! A key to the next era! Who didn''t want to know the truth behind the bombshell that the Cathayan Underworld had just dropped? No matter how long they had to stand here in order to get their news story, it would be worth it.

    This wasn''t Qin Ye''s room as they didn''t have the right to be standing in front of the room of the Cathayan Underworld''s ruler. Instead, this was the room on the bottom floor of the pavilion where the Cathayan Underworld was staying, and it belonged to the spokesperson.

    One pair of fervent eyes after another were focused intently on the door, and several minutester, the door was finally opened. All of the underworld emissaries waiting outside immediately rushed forward, and countless image capture crystals shed incessantly.

    "Madam, can you tell us what stage the Cathayan Underworld has reached in its research and development into the new energy resource?"

    "Madam, may I ask if the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource will be made public to the entire world? If so, what prerequisites must an underworld satisfy in order to gain ess to it? Will they have to establish partnerships with the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "Madam, when will the specific details pertaining to the new energy system be made publicly avable? ording to international regtions, something like this must be publicized in the form of a patent!"

    The Cathayan Underworld was still the Cathayan Underworld!

    It had been shunned and disrespected for the past few days, yet now, the journalists and underworld emissaries outside couldn''t even be chased away!

    The spokesperson who had emerged to face everyone was Dai Chunhua. She was wearing an antiquated Cathayan official''s robe and a pair of sses. There were several spokespeople trailing along behind her, and in the face of the massive crowd and countless shing image capture crystals, Dai Chunhua, who had once been the spokesperson for Cathay''s department of foreign affairs in the mortal realm, wasn''t fazed in the slightest. She said in a calm voice, "This is not a press conference, so we have no obligation to answer these questions."

    "Then may I ask when we''ll be able to ask these questions and receive answers?"

    "Is the Cathayan Underworld not nning to publicize such a major event? Is it not going to hold a press conference?"

    A burst ofmotion immediately rang out, but Dai Chunhua remained calm and collected as she dered, "The Alkebn Underworlds are about to arrive soon."

    She was like a musical conductor, and as soon as her voice rang out, everyone else immediately fell silent, but the image capture crystals were still shing incessantly.

    "The Cathayan Underworld has allies all over the world, and the Alkebn Underworlds are currently important coborative partners of the Cathayan Underworld. Hence, once the Alkebn Underworlds arrive, the Cathayan Underworld will undergo extensivemunication and negotiation with them in order to finalize the signing ceremony for the Zhu Rong n."

    There was a lot of information being offloaded here, and none of the journalists dared to interrupt her as theytched onto her every word.

    Dai Chunhua was soposed that it looked as if she were taking a stroll in her own backyard as she continued, "When the timees, all underworlds and journalists will be invited to spectate the ceremony in person."

    Right at this moment, the entire earth trembled slightly, and immediately thereafter, the sound of a long horn rang out in the distance.

    In contrast with the sound of a normal horn, the sound of this horn was very sharp and menacing.

    All of the journalists faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately turned around, upon which they were greeted by an astonishing sight outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

    They were looking at a massive fleet that was at least 100 meters tall, and it had already surrounded the city of Nara. The sunlight was shining down upon the hull of the ships, reflecting radiant golden light that was so bright that no one could even clearly make out the outlines of the ships.

    Dead silence.

    Only after several seconds had passed did a journalist ask in a trembling voice, "Is this the Golden Fleet?"

    "It''s the Golden Fleet! The Argosian Underworld has sent the Golden Fleet to Nara!"

    "Why is the Golden Fleet here? For what purpose could it have been sent here?"

    "Isn''t the Golden Fleet permanently stationed in the Mediterranean Sea? Why is it that even its gship, The Radiant Death God, is here?"

    "Does this mean Erinys hase here in person? Is this the arrival of the second of the four pirs?"

    Before themotion had even died down, the rhythmic sound of high heels on a hard floor rang out within the corridor.

    Suspense was rapidly building as the sound of the high heels drew closer and closer, and countless shadows converged from all directions, forming a pair of shadows on the wall of the corridor.

    Dai Chunhua drew a sharp breath upon seeing this.

    She was from the modern era and wasn''t overly familiar with the ancient history of the underworlds. Even after that crash course that had spanned close to a month, they still didn''t know what the Golden Fleet entailed.

    However, the important death gods of all of the underworlds was vital information, and these two were certainly on the list of death gods they had to look out for.

    They were Archimedes and Erinys, and it was clear that they hadn''te here with peaceful or amicable intentions!

    "Greetings, emissary of the Cathayan Underworld..." Erinys said as she took an indifferent nce at Dai Chunhua. She wasn''t taking Dai Chunhua seriously at all, but she still smiled and nodded out of etiquette.

    She then turned to all of the other underworld emissaries present and dered, "Everyone, as the representative of the other three pirs, I have something important to announce here. We are going to be releasing an agreement within today, and it''ll be in regard to an Eastern Continents Co-Prosperity Sphere. For in-depth details, please stay tuned for our press conference, but I can give everyone a brief introduction here."

    She smiled as she continued, "The eastern continents refer to allnd on the eastern half of the globe aside from the new continent and Alkebn. The Argosian Underworld, the Hindustani Underworld, and the Aegyptian Underworld will be bringing together the power of all of their allies to create an alliance that advances and retreats as one, and where technological and economic breakthroughs are shared among everyone! We call this alliance the Seventh Day Alliance! ording to the Holy Bible, God created man on the seventh day, and I believe that together, we can create a miracle rivaling that divine feat. This will be a true co-prosperity circle with no barriers to entry, no rigid rules and concepts, and even visas for travel between the nations within the alliance will be done away with!"

    She took another nce at Dai Chunhua, then elegantly spread open her hand fan in one fluid motion as she concluded, "We look forward to your participation."

    No one offered a response.

    However, theherfire in the eyes of all of the underworld emissaries present were about to erupt into the heavens!

    The three pirs hadshed out without any hesitation, nor made any attempt to disguise their malice!

    This was a sh between the three pirs and what was once the most powerful underworld on the, and this was their answer to the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource!

    The war had well and truly begun!

 Chapter 894: Tense Standoff

    <h4>Chapter 894: Tense Standoff</h4>

    This was provocation in its most tant form.

    Erinys had made her intentions very clear. In fact, the only thing that she hadn''t explicitly dered was that she was going to hold her press conference whenever the Cathayan Underworld decided to hold theirs, and at that point, the level of support for each side would be made obvious depending on how many underworld representatives attended their respective press conference.

    They''re making a move... Dai Chunhua wasn''t a sufficiently important figure in Hell''s administration to know the specific details of the decision that the Cathayan Underworld had made, but having served as a spokesperson in the mortal realm for so long, she knew exactly what the opposition''s gesture entailed.

    Between unveiling their trump cards and setting a snowball effect into motion, the opposition had chosen thetter.

    They were going to use this press conference to show the entire world just how powerful the three pirs were, then use the controversy and intimidation stemming from their disy of power to snowball the influence of their alliance. If they were allowed to do as they pleased, the snowball effect would transform their alliance into an all-epassing juggernaut that would crush the Cathayan Underworld and its allies.

    The fact that they''re directly opposing our challenge is a huge disy of determination. Yanluo Qin, will your trump cards be able to allow us to have thestugh?

    She remained silent but extended a respectful bow toward Erinys. This was proper etiquette when facing other death gods.

    Erinys took an indifferent nce at her, and it was as if she had only just noticed Dai Chunhua''s presence. She raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Where is the Cathayan Underworld''s spokesperson? What was that bbermouth''s name again? Zhang Yi?"

    Dai Chunhua raised her head and replied in a voice that was neither humble nor arrogant, "Please exercise discretion in your word selection, esteemed death goddess. I''ll be rying your exact words to our King Yanluo."

    A derisive sneer appeared on Erinys''s face as she turned to leave. The hem of her long ck dress slowly swept over the ground, and clusters of red spider lilies bloomed in its wake. An indistinct voice drifted through the air as she made her departure. "The Cathayan Underworld is truly only a shadow of its former self..."

    No one dared to say anything.

    Everyone''s eyes were focused on Erinys''s departing figure, and no one noticed theplex looks in the eyes of several other underworld representatives.

    Erinys was like a regal swan, not looking at anyone as she walked past all of the underworld emissaries with her head held tall and proud. Right as she was passing by these underworld emissaries, at least three or four of them began to move.

    They waited respectfully for Erinys to pass them by, even though she didn''t take so much as a single nce at them. Then, right in front of the astonished eyes of the underworld emissaries around them, they began to follow along silently behind her. As Erinys made her way through the crowd, more and more underworld emissaries began to join her camp of followers!

    Five... Seven... Nine... Eleven!

    There were representatives from over 20 underworlds present, and soon, over half of them were trailing along behind her!

    Initially, they were quite hesitant, but as the first group of underworld emissaries made their move, they also stepped forward with decisiveness and purpose. Shortly thereafter, Erinys and her group of followers had disappeared at the end of the corridor.

    Dead silence.

    Several secondster, bursts of chatter began to ring out, and the voices were bing louder and louder. Countless eyes were roaming between Dai Chunhua and the corridor withplex expressions. This was silent intimidation, and it indicated that over 10 underworlds were standing on the side of the three pirs!

    How many more votes did they need to achieve what they wanted to achieve? Would the Cathayan Underworld be able to handle the pressure?

    In the face of the bucket of ice water that was the Golden Fleet, even the underworld emissaries that had beenpletely carried away by the prospect of a new energy resource had returned to their senses. One underworld emissary left after another, smiling as they politely bade farewell to Dai Chunhua, but they refrained from submitting their visiting cards.

    Dai Chunhua maintained a calm smile the entire time, and only after everyone had departed did she instruct in a low voice, "Report everything that just happened to our higher-ups, and make it quick! I need instructions within 10 minutes! ording to our beacon, the fleet of the Alkebn Underworlds has already reached Osaka Port, and they''ll arrive in Nara in around half an hour!"

    The Emissary of Hell immediately departed, and only then did Dai Chunua get a chance to catch her breath. She cast a cold gaze toward the corridor, then departed in a determined manner.

    The Cathayan Underworld definitely couldn''t back down at a time like this!

    The standoff had already begun, and anyone who backed down now would be met with derision from the entire world! If the Cathayan Underworld were to disy weakness now, the fence-sitters would never side with them!

    She quickly made her way toward the conference hall. Notification had been issued in advance, so the second floor of the pavilion was already teeming with activity. Several dozen underworld emissaries had begun to clean up the conference hall and were setting up everything required for the uing press conference. However, she could clearly see that another conference hall of the same caliber was also being set up less than 50 meters to the left of this conference hall!

    She drew to a halt before turning to an emissary of the Nipponese Underworld. "Who''s holding the press conference in that hall?"

    "That would be Death Goddess Erinys," the underworld emissary replied in a respectful manner. "She submitted a very urgent request to hold a press conference."

    Dai Chunhua nodded in response before asking, "What time is her press conference being held?"

    The underworld emissary shook his head and replied, "I''m not sure. Mistress Erinys didn''t tell us that, she only instructed us to prepare the conference hall."

    Generally speaking, for conferences like this, detailed information such as who was holding the conference and when the conference was being held would be released days in advance.

    However, Erinys''s intentions were very clear here. She had intentionally chosen this conference hall right beside the one that the Cathayan Underworld was going to use, and she hadn''t set a time at which to hold her conference as she was waiting to match the Cathayan Underworld''s time slot.

    Dai Chunhua nodded in response before making her way into the nearby lounge.

    She had already memorized all of the main points of her speech script and she had already considered all of the questions that could be raised. However, even though she was extremely well prepared, she still couldn''t calm down now that the press conference was about to be held, and she opened her script to read through it again.

    15 minutester, she closed the script again with a determined expression, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

    "Looks like the real sh will take ce during our press conferences." Despite being a seasoned veteran with vast experience umted during her time in the mortal realm, she was still quite tense and nervous under the enormous responsibility that had been ced on her shoulders.

    Right at this moment, the door was opened, and the underworld emissary that had rushed off to report the situation to Qin Ye quickly strode into the room.

    Dai Chunhua immediately stood up and asked, "What are my instructions?"

    The underworld emissary replied, "Lord Qin says to deliver your address as-is. He says to proceed ording to the n and make zeropromises. He also has a message for you, which I will ry now: ''No matter what the opposition does, you have to hold down the fort! If anything happens, I will take responsibility as King Yanluo! We cannot concede no matter what!''."

    Dai Chunhua closed her eyes and took a few more deep breaths.

    She suddenly recalled the first time she had faced the entire world as the government''s spokesperson in the mortal realm.

    She was experiencing that exact same feeling of pumping adrenaline and irrepressible giddiness once again.

    If you want a fight, then I''ll give you a fight!

    Goosebumps were raised all over her skin as this thought surfaced in her mind, and only after several seconds did she reopen her eyes and nod with a serious expression.

    Right at this moment, another underworld emissary rushed into the room. he was in such a hurry that he almost fell over upon rushing into the room, but before he had even steadied himself, he reported in a trembling voice, "Death Goddess Erinys is going to be holding a press conference on behalf of the three pirs in 30 minutes!"

    Theherfire in Dai Chunhua''s eyes immediately began to flicker erratically upon hearing this.

    How could this be? Weren''t they trying to match the timing of the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference?

    The sequence of the press conferences was very important. A human''s memory capacity was limited, and the same applied to underworld emissaries. In this situation, going first didn''t necessarily grant one an advantage, particrly when the two sides were still in the midst of an intense power struggle. Everyone wanted to see what trump cards the Cathayan Underworld had up its sleeve, so recency bias would actually favor the Cathayan Underworld, which was going to be holding its press conference after Erinys. In the absence of the leaders of the three pirs, what right did Erinys have to initiate the next step of the n?

    Were they not afraid of disying their cards first, only to be met with an even more powerful trump card from the Cathayan Underworld?

    "Why are they doing this?" Despite her vast experience, Dai Chunhua waspletely perplexed, and she could only stare in silence at the speech script in her hands.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the Strait of Tsushima.

    The wind was fierce and the waves were turbulent. Several dozenrge ships had drawn to a halt on the sea. These ships were all constructed from timber and decorated with artwork in the Alkebn style, and Yama-King-level auras were emanating from many of the ships.

    There were Zulu warriors wearing face paint and skeletal nes standing on the ships, wielding spears and Nguni shields. On either side of them wererge gs bearing the symbols of all of the tribes pping in the wind.

    This was a fleet with several hundred elite warriors and around a dozen death gods, and generally speaking, no one would dare to stand in its way, yet at this moment it had been stopped cold in its tracks.

    Boundless Yin energy had formed a vast vortex on the surface of the sea in front of the fleet, and three humanoid figures d in tattered ck cloaks were standing within the vortex. They were hovering above the sea like feathers, and even though there were only three of them, the formidable vortex formed by theirbined Yin energy was making the surface of the sea surge and tumble violently as if there were an underwater volcano erupting beneath their feet.

    All of the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds had emerged from the cabins of the ships, and Mythic Spirit ck Mamba was looking on with a grim expression in his narrowed eyes.

    Those three figures were a trio of advanced Dukes, and it was a far more formidable lineup than even the most powerful of armies.

    "Yamaraja?" A thunderous voice rang out across the sea as Mythic Spirit Golden Rhinoceros asked in a surprised voice, "To what do we owe this honor, esteemed ruler of the Hindustani Underworld?"

    Beneath Yamraja''s tattered cloak was an inky-ck shadow that resembled a bottomless abyss, and all of a sudden, several dozen bright red eyes lit up in unison as he replied, "It''s nothing important, I just want you all to stop here for a while."

    Then dozen or so Mythic Spirits on the ships cast their eyes toward Yamaraja in unison. "What do you mean by that?"

    "I mean exactly what I just said," Yamaraja replied. "I don''t want you to arrive in Nara until the day that the conference will be held. If you can do that, the three pirs will be sure topensate you handsomely regardless of which side you choose."

    A cold smile appeared on ck Mamba''s face as he finally realized what was happening. No wonder they had heard that none of the three pirs had arrived in Nara yet, they were all busy intercepting important allies of the Cathayan Underworld!

    So long as the Alkebn Underworlds were absent, the Cathayan Underworld would be unable to unveil its next trump card, and as time passed, the other underworlds would have no choice but to bow to pressure and side with the three pirs!

    "You''re breaking the rules," ck Mamba said in a cold voice.

    "The strong make the rules while the weak follow the rules. This is the nature of the world, I''m sure you''re not so naive as to not know this." Yamaraja''s tattered cloak was pping wildly in the wind, and there seemed to be a smile in his voice as he said, "Don''t worry, we won''t do anything drastic. Destroying civilizations is inhumane, and we''ve never considered destroying anyone, even the Cathayan Underworld."

    "It''s not a matter of whether you want to, the fact of the matter is that you don''t dare to do that!" Mythic Spirit Sunbird scoffed. "So what if we insist on advancing onward?"

    A threatening tone crept into Yamaraja''s voice as he replied, "You can give it a try."

    Mythic Spirit ck Mamba looked around briefly before asking, "Where is your Heavenly Snake Fleet? You aren''t powerful enough to stop us on your own, your fleet must be nearby, right?"

    "Perhaps," Yamaraja replied in an ambiguous manner. "I have no intention of battling them, and no one will know what''s happened here..."

    "What if I intervene?" Another voice suddenly rang out across the entire surface of the sea.

    Yamarja faltered slightly upon hearing this, and a golden vertical pupil finally appeared among his dozens of scarlet eyes as he looked around in a bewildered manner.

    Who was it that had just spoken?

    He hadn''t noticed anyone, so could it be that there was another advanced Duke present? How could there be such a powerful being among the Alkebn Mythic Spirits?

    Before he had a chance to figure out who it could be, the clouds in the sky suddenly began to surge violently, quickly forming a vast vortex, following which a burst of Yin energy that wasn''t inferior to his own in the slightest erupted forth. Boundless golden light then gushed out of the vortex, forming a radiant pir of light.

    Boom!

    The pir of light struck the surface of the sea with devastating force, sending shockwaves erupting in all directions to sweep up gigantic waves. However, Yamaraja merely stood atop the waves,pletely unaffected by them. After a long while, he finally sighed, "So you''ve returned... You withstood a forbidden art head-on, yet you''ve be even more powerful than before. Did the Cathayan Underworld bestow this upon you?"

    The response that he received was a thunderous roar that echoed incessantly throughout the entire area. Several secondster, a pure white serpentine head that was covered in feathers and was several dozen meters in size emerged from within the vortex.

    Yamaraja looked on with a grim expression as he asked, "Quetzalcoatl, are you content to act as ackey of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "Hahaha!" The Plumed Serpent God threw his head back and erupted intoughter, then stared intently at Yamaraja as he replied, "I need to survive!"

    "Do you really want to oppose me here?!"

    "Either stand and fight, or step aside! There''s no other alternative!"

 Chapter 895: Eastern Continents Co-prosperity Circle

    <h4>Chapter 895: Eastern Continents Co-prosperity Circle</h4>

    "Something''s happening at the Strait of Tsushima!" Zhao Yun suddenly eximed, then closed his eyes and rapidly expanded his consciousness.

    "What''s going on?" Qin Ye asked with a stunned expression.

    Zhao Yun didn''t immediately reply. Several secondster, he opened his eyes and exined with a serious expression, "There is a major battle taking ce at the Strait of Tsushima. The Yama-Kings involved is extremely chaotic, and there are at least 10 Yama-Kings involved, four of which are advanced Yama-Kings."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.

    "How many sides are shing?"

    Zhao Yun''s eyes narrowed slightly, and after a short while, he replied, "Two... There are creation-grade divine artifacts disrupting me, so I can''t identify exactly who thebatants are. However, the Yin energy of one of them is very familiar, and it seems to belong to the Plumed Serpent God. His Yin energy is imbued with the aura of the Heavenly Dao, so even creation-grade divine artifacts aren''t able topletely conceal it."

    Qin Ye abruptly rose to his feet upon hearing this, and he began to quickly pace around the room as an overwhelming sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

    He had thought that the leaders of the other four pirs were intentionally arrivingte solely to make a statement, but it appears that this wasn''t the case at all.

    "If the Plumed Serpent God is there, then the Alkebn Underworlds must be involved in that battle. Why are they fighting and who are they fighting against?" he murmured to himself. "Someone has to have gotten in their way. There are four advanced Yama-Kings including the Plumed Serpent God... Only the other three pirs can muster up such a formidable lineup! They''re intercepting our allies! They''re breaking the rules!"

    Breaking the rules was the most uneptable thing that one could do on the international political stage, but that depended on the situation.

    If the other three pirs secured victory, then their illegal interference definitely wouldn''t be recorded in the history books. In fact, no one would even be made aware of the fact that a battle between over 10 Yama-Kings had taken ce at the Strait of Tsushima.

    How could they reverse the situation?

    He cast his gaze toward Zhao Yun. Sending Zhao Yun to the scene was naturally the best choice, but they were outside of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory, so as soon as he disyed his power, he would immediately suffer rejection from the Heavenly Dao, and he didn''t want to lose this close friend.

    Could he reinforce the Alkebn Underworlds in person?

    No, he simply wasn''t powerful enough. In a battle between advanced Yama-Kings, particrly when the opposition had creation-grade divine artifacts, he would be nothing more than cannon fodder.

    Unfortunately, the Plumed Serpent God most likely wasn''t going to be enough, either. If the Heavenly Dao were that easy to escape from, then the Plumed Serpent God wouldn''t have made that deal with him in the first ce. A drop of blood of a divinity was nowhere near enough to truly free him from the threat of the Heavenly Dao, and even though he had arrived in this realm through divine descent, he most likely didn''t have a lot of time left, and there was a very good chance he would be no match for three other death gods who were just as powerful as he was.

    What could he do?

    If the Alkebn Underworlds didn''t arrive, then he wouldn''t be able to fire his most impactful shot. The opposition had clearly intervened as they were wary of the Alkebn Underworlds'' influence. Even though they only had a single vote, they ruled over a massive territory, so there was no way that the opposition would let them through.

    "Damn it..." He bit down onto his own lower lip in frustration. If he weren''t mistaken, the opposition would most likely only allow the Alkebn Underworlds free passage on the day of the conference, which would be far toote!

    "Your Excellency!" Right at this moment, Qin Changxin hurriedly made his way into the room with an urgent expression. "Death Goddess Erinys has dered that she will be holding a press conference in half an hour, and it will be to discuss the signing ceremony of the Eastern Continents Co-prosperity Circle."

    They''re speeding up...

    The opposition was speeding up in their retaliation while keeping the Cathayan Underworld''s allies at bay. The Alkebn Underworlds had been stopped cold in their tracks, and Erinys was taking advantage of this opportunity to hold a press conference and force everyone to take sides.

    As expected, this plot that had been brewing for over a century wouldn''t be so easy to foil, and the announcement of the new energy resource wasn''t enough to weather this storm.

    Only half of his retaliation had unfolded, but the other half had beenpletely shut down. If he couldn''t announce the agreements they had signed with the Alkebn Underworlds during the energy resource announcement press conference, then the impact would be significantly lessened!

    His fingers burrowed deep into his own hair as he fought to repress the panic and frustration in his heart. He couldn''t afford to lose his cool at a time like this. If he were to do that, then it would be all over. Anyone could panic, but he had to remain calm no matter what.

    As King Yanluo, it was his responsibility to act as the guiding force of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Several minutester, he asked, "Has the panel of advisors been notified?"

    "This is outside of our projections, and the panel of advisors is currently holding an emergency meeting. At the same time, I''ll be listening in on the press conference for the Eastern Continents Co-prosperity Circle and recording all of the information that I can," Qin Changxin replied.

    After a few seconds of silence, Zhao Yun sighed, "My Lord, how about..."

    "No!" Qin Ye immediately turned down Zhao Yun in a firm voice. "You are more important than them. Don''t forget that we still have the ultimate trump card in the form of the new energy resource. Even if we lose here, we''ll be able to make a resurgence as long as we toil through the next two to three centuries."

    The atmosphere in the room had be extremely tense and oppressive, and Qin Changxin said, "We can wait, but not for too long. At the verytest, we have to hold our press conference tomorrow. Perhaps we can attempt to use these terms to lure other underworlds to our side?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. "That won''t do. This agreement must be signed with an influential underworld, which means they either have to have a sufficientlyrge territory or hold a significant number of votes, and none of the underworlds can fulfill either requirement. Outside of the four pirs and the five nations of Northern Europa, as well as the Alkebn Underworlds, the only power that fulfills this condition is the Russian Underworld, and they clearly won''t be standing with us. In fact, they want us dead just as much as the other three pirs."

    Was this a lost cause?

    "We can only pray that the Alkebn Underworlds will be able to ovee their opposition," he sighed. "And we can also count on the arrival of the new continent! Even if the Alkebn Underworlds have been intercepted, there''s no way they would dare to intercept the representative teams of the new continent!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The massive conference hall was packed to the rafters and teeming withmotion. Archimedes and Erinys were standing on the main stage, and representatives from many underworlds had already gathered before them.

    In addition to that, there were journalists from countless media outlets, and there was not a single vacant seat in the entire hall, which was several hundred meters in size.

    "They''ve finally made a move! Have they formed this alliance to dere war on the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "How many death gods are there on the eastern continents?"

    "Why hasn''t the Cathayan Underworld also organized a press conference at the same time?"

    "Do they still think the world is the same ce it was 100 years ago? In the wake of their century-long absence, how many underworlds are going to stand on their side? How could they miss a golden opportunity like this? Are they just going to watch their opposition take votes from right under their nose?"

    Qin Changxin was seated at the back of the hall, and he was among many Abyssal Prefects present, most of whom were death gods from different underworlds. Anko, Kuwal, and Giltine were all among these death gods, and after exchanging polite greetings with one another, all of them took a seat without wasting any time with unnecessary small talk. However, the questions being raised by the journalists up ahead were resonating in their hearts as well.

    Indeed, why hadn''t the Cathayan Underworld made a move? Was it afraid? Was it simplycking in power?

    This was something that was worthy of deep analysis. If the Cathayan Underworld had few allies to begin with, then that number was going to drop even further now. Many of the underworlds that had been instilled with confidence by their new energy resource project were hesitating and wavering once again.

    Right at this moment, Erinys stepped onto the stage. "Quiet, please."

    Silence quickly descended over the entire hall.

    This was a press conference that could very well decide the state of the world, and no one dared to disrupt the speaker.

    "I am Death Goddess Erinys of the Argosian Underworld." Her expression was calm and serious, and she was automatically giving off an aura of authority.

    The man beside her extended a slight bow and said, "And I am Death God Archimedes."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, an underworld emissary dered in a loud voice, "It''s currently 6:30 PM. Death Goddess Erinys of the Argosian Underworld will be representing the Argosian Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and the Hindustani Underworld to make the following announcement. The agreement that she will be proposing has already been approved by international arbiters. Let the press conference begin."

    The gate of the hall slowly swung shut, and theherfire in the eyes of all of the journalists present were flickering erratically. Many scribes and clerks were holding pens and notepads, ready to record at any time. In the tense silence, Erinys swept a hand through the air, and the entire hall was instantly transformed into an inky-ck space.

    It was as if the conference hall had been teleported into outer space.

    A burst of golden light flourished within the darkness, and a map of the underworld appeared behind her as she said, "The underworld has existed for an extremely long time. It has already been over 3,000 years since the official founding of the Coalition of Underworlds, and during these years, we''ve experienced war, peace, and the birth and demise of countless civilizations. In the present day, the underworld has entered a period of peace where there are almost no wars."

    She raised a hand, and the Australis and the new continent on the map began to glow with blue light, while the rest of the world fell dark. "Aside from the unrest in the new continent and the persistent supernatural disasters in the Australis Underworld, all other underworlds are developing rapidly. However..."

    She swept her gaze across the entire hall as she continued, "This rate of development still isn''t enough. In the mortal realm, there are already nes, tanks, energy resources, things that the underworld can only dream of. Yes, we have Yin energy, but in order to use Yin energy to, for example, create a Yin energymunicationwork in a province to achieve real-timemunication, four Infernal Judges, several dozen Anitya Hellguards,and close to 1,000 Soul Hunters must work around the clock to constantly process messages and data. During these past several thousand years, everyone has been searching for a way to advance our civilizations, but all to no avail.

    It had to be said that as a death goddess, she gave off a striking sense of authority, and as her gaze passed over Qin Changxin, a hint of a derisive sneer appeared on her face before immediately vanishing.

    She continued, "Why is this? It''s because we are all independent and there is no centralized power. We are constantly wary of one another and have built up walls to defend ourselves, but in doing so, we have also kept everyone else out."

    Her voice echoed throughout the hall like thunder, resonating deep within the hearts of every single underworld emissary. Qin Changxin took a deep breath, and he knew that Erinys was about to deliver the killing blow.

    Having lived for so many years and experienced so much, Erinys was an extremely influential and infectious speaker.

    Many of the death gods of the smaller underworlds were looking on with tightly pursed lips.

    Erinys''s voice suddenly softened as she continued, "Hence, after careful research and consideration carried out by the three pirs, during which we visited all of the major underworlds in the past century, the conclusion we arrived at is that we have to tear down these walls! We don''t need walls, we don''t need division, we are willing to show everyone the utmost sincerity in advancing the entire world together! The key to the next era will be a new energy resource, and in order to implement an energy resource n across the entire world, we are willing to send out a round table of seven individuals as our representatives. We are going to spearhead the research and development efforts, and if our efforts yield fruits, all participating nations will be granted unconditional shared rights to the new energy resource!"

    Her words were like the unsheathing of a sharp sword.

    Erinys stared intently at Qin Changxin as she continued, "At the same time, the borders of all participating nations will be torn down! In other words, residents of all participating nations can enter the territory of any other participating nation without a passport or a visa! At the same time, we will all have a universal currency and do away with all protection policies! Come, everyone, join us and the three pirs will lead the entire world to joint prosperity and wealth! From now on, there will be no wealth gaps and no knowledge asymmetry. Everything will be transparent, fair, and open, and together, we will establish a utopia for all underworlds! This is the core concept of the Eastern Continents Co-prosperity Circle, and at the same time, it''s known as the Utopia n."

    She lifted the hem of her dress and extended a slight bow.

    Silence quickly descended over the entire hall.

    Qin Changxin''s hands were trembling as he held onto the armrests of his chair in a white-knuckled grip, and all of the death gods were staring at Erinys with incredulity in their eyes.

    Several secondster, the entire scenepletely erupted!

 Chapter 896: Utopia For the Dead

    <h4>Chapter 896: Utopia For the Dead</h4>

    Qin Changxin''s mouth was slightly agape, and he almost sprang to his feet.

    He wasn''t the only one in disbelief, all of the death gods were also staring at Erinys with incredulity in their eyes, and their minds had gonepletely nk.

    Countless gasps and cries of surprise rang out in all directions, sweeping over the entire hall like a wave, and countless journalists had already risen to their feet.

    "My god..."

    "Have they gone insane? You have to be insane to do this! But... why is it so alluring at the same time?!"

    "This is incredible! A new premier superpower is about to rise up in the world, and it''s going to overshadow everything else!"

    "So she''s proposing that the entire world enter amunist society? That''s said to be the ultimate utopia, the pinnacle of societal evolution!"

    "I can''t believe this..."

    "This is impossible, yet I heard it with my very own ears..."

    Only after a long while did the ringing in Qin Changxin''s ears subside.

    The entire scene had erupted into a frenzy, yet only he was feeling chills running down his spine. He gentlyid a hand onto his own forehead, only to end up with a handful of cold sweat. The frenzy erupting in the hall was like an all-devouring vortex, and he was at its very center.

    This was truly a disy of sincerity and determination!

    They were so determined to knock the Cathayan Underworld down from its pedestal that they were even willing to sacrifice their own interests!

    Qin Changxin sat in silence with his hands folded over his stomach. The Alkebn Underworlds had been intercepted, and everything was speeding up into overdrive here, there was no way that the opposition would pass up an opportunity like this. He had a feeling that the three pirs were going toy all of their cards down on the table on this very day!

    Erinys was very pleased with the atmosphere in the hall, and she gave a subtle visual cue to the underworld emissary beside her, upon which the underworld emissary immediately yelled, "Quiet, please! The contents of the agreement that has just been introduced have already been decided, and all that''s left is to sign it now. The specific details still can''t be released, but after the signing ceremony, Mistress Erinys is happy to answer all questions in detail."

    As soon as his voice rang out, gentle music began to ring out across the entire hall, and in the wake of the bombshell that had just been dropped on everyone''s heads, the music was like soft rain that was soothing everyone''s frazzled nerves. Amid the calming music, a death god finally rose to his feet.

    He was very tall, roughly two meters in height, and he was wearing ancient Europa kingly attire with a golden crown sitting on his head. However, his body waspletely skeletal, and his stark white hair rose up slightly around him as he made his way toward Erinys.

    This was the nameless god of death!

    There were four super underworlds in this world, yet only two first-rate underworlds, which were the Russian Underworld and the New Continent Underworld. The emergence of the nameless god of death immediately attracted everyone''s attention.

    However, he wasn''t the only one.

    Right after he rose to his feet, close to 10 more death gods stood up in unison and also made their way toward the stage.

    "My god..." One of the journalists was already unable to find the words to express his astonishment, and all he could do was throw his hands over his own mouth as he looked on in utter disbelief.

    The bnce of the world was about to undergo aplete shift. This was the rise of a super alliance, and it definitely wasn''t good news for all of the underworlds outside of the alliance.

    If there were only one voice left in the world, then an autocracy would inevitably take shape.

    Who would be able to contend with this mighty juggernaut?

    The Yin energy of around a dozen death gods swept across the entire hall, and finally, a journalist asked in a low voice, "Where is the Cathayan Underworld? Is the Cathayan Underworld just going to stand and watch?"

    "I don''t know, but are they really just going to let this slide without even issuing a statement?"

    "If this agreement is signed, then there will only be two voices left in the world: the world''s voice and the Cathayan Underworld''s voice! Are they nning to withstand this pressure?"

    "Didn''t they say they were going to hold a press conference? Are they really going to give up just because the Alkebn Underworlds haven''t arrived?"

    One Yin spirit after another turned their attention toward Qin Changxin. His expression remained calm, yet it was taking all of his willpower to hold back fromshing out.

    The eyes of everyone around him were like pairs of sharp knives, poking countless holes into his pride and dignity as a representative of the Cathayan Underworld.

    <i>What are you doing? The other three pirs have alreadyid down their challenge, and they''re even transforming the state of the entire world! What are you doing as the fourth pir? You''ve finally re-emerged after a century, yet you''ve only juste out to act as a spectator? Has the Cathayan Underworld really fallen from grace?</i>

    "Quiet, please!" Right at this moment, Erinys dered, "Journalists can begin asking questions now."

    As soon as her voice trailed off, all of the journalists in the hall immediately threw up their hands in unison. Erinys raised her chin toward a Caucasian female journalist, who immediately stood up and asked, "Esteemed death goddess, may I ask what areas are epassed within the scope of this agreement? How do you n to ''take down the walls'' and bring the world together into a cohesive and harmonious alliance?"

    Countless image capture crystals were shing incessantly, and within the sea of blinding white light, Erinys smiled and replied, "It''s very simple: we''re going to get rid of every nation''s protection policies, but not entirely. For those working overseas, they will have to pay the same tax rates as those working domestically, no more and no less. Secondly, all nations under the umbre of this alliance will enjoy the same recreation, transport, reincarnation, and social benefit systems as the three pirs. All work will be given to the construction team assembled by the utopia toplete, and no single nation will benefit from all of the work that arises from the formation of the alliance."

    Erinys waspletely unfazed by the shing white lights as she continued, "In addition, the three pirs will lead the way in revoking all technological barriers. We will be sharing 90% of civilian Yin rune patents and 30% of military Yin rune patents. On top of that, every other nation will provide the same proportion of their own patents. Of course, that''s provided they have Yin rune patents to begin with."

    Countless gasps rang out across the entire hall. This was another astonishing bombshell. This meant that any nation that joined the utopia would be given free ess to the Yin rune patents of many nations, regardless of howrge or small the nation was!

    How many patents could a small nation possibly have?

    How many patents would one of the four pirs have inparison?

    There was simply noparison to be made!

    Has it already begun? Qin Changxin didn''t leave, even though thest thing he wanted to do was stay. It was his duty to continue watching.

    The enemy''s figurative sword was slowly drawing closer and closer, and it was about to reach his throat. Even though there was a raucousmotion ringing out around him, he feltpletely alone and vulnerable.

    Erinys watched the journalists with a smile and asked, "Do you have any more questions?"

    "No, thank you very much for your answers!" The female journalist sat back down with an excited expression.

    As soon as she did so, the journalist beside her immediately stood up, and he was no less excited than she was as he said, "Mistress Erinys, I noticed that you said that the utopia will be gathering a round table of seven for the purpose of researching and developing a new energy resource patent, and that all participants will be able to share the patent once development isplete. May I ask if this is a countermeasure against the new energy resource announcement that the Cathayan Underworld recently made?"

    This time, it was Archimedes who finally broke his silence. His gaze passed over the journalist who had just spoken andnded directly on Qin Changxin, and he smiled as he replied, "In the present era, the world is mostly a peaceful ce, and our goal is to help the entire world reach prosperity, not to target anyone. As you all know, if a research project is beginning to bear fruit, it will be recorded at the Coalition of Underworlds in the form of technological yellow paper, but the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t done that. Pardon me for being blunt, but I think they''ve only discovered a possibility. The only proof we have of this so-called new energy resource is just a one-sided testimony from them, but as for whether this new energy resource exists and to what extent it''s been researched and developed, these are allpletely unknown."

    Everyone cast their eyes surreptitiously toward Qin Changxin upon hearing this, and his temples were pulsing like jackhammers, but he could only remain silent with a polite smile on his face.

    As expected, as soon as the opposition began their retaliation, they immediately attacked the new energy resource that the Cathayan Underworld had announced which was crucial to the Cathayan Underworld''s survival. Furthermore, they were expressing these doubts in front of all of the world''s underworlds,pletely disrespecting the Cathayan Underworld in the process!

    In their words, nothing that the Cathayan Underworld had said could be taken seriously without sufficient proof.

    One wave wasing after another, and Qin Changxin felt as if he were about to be drowned.

    Archimedes continued in a slow voice, "As everyone knows, the round table of the Argosian Underworld represents the pinnacle in scientific research across all of the underworlds. 80% of the Yin runes in the ninthyer were developed by us, and I''m not convinced that any nation would be able to overtake us in the research and development of a new energy resource, and it''s especially suspicious that the Cathayan Underworld is still yet to present any concrete proof of such a thing. There are countless case studies in the field of Yin rune research where sess was encountered initially, only for research to result in dead-ends."

    Archimedes made no attempt to hide his hostility anymore as he pointed directly at Qin Changxin and continued, "There are no startup ns, no evidence, and not even any examples for disy. They are presenting an unknown possibility as a fully developed product, but we wouldn''t do that. We won''t lie to the world, and we will share all of our technological prowess with the nations epassed within our co-prosperity circle. I am willing to give you all my word that we will solve the energy problem within the next 200 years and lead the world into a new era!"

    His voice echoed throughout the entire hall, and no one dared to rebuke him. Amid the deathly silence, the journalist who was still standing gulped nervously and said, "I, I don''t have any more questions."

    Having fired the first clear shot against the Cathayan Underworld, Archimedes returned to his spot beside Erinys before giving her a slight nod.

    Erinys turned her gaze toward the first journalist seated in the fourth row.

    During press conferences, all underworlds would have their own hired journalists present. These journalists would be able to help the speaker by asking some questions pertaining to subjects that would otherwise be quite difficult to approach, and this journalist was precisely one such example.

    The journalist took a deep breath at the sight of Erinys''s gaze, then slowly raised his hand. His hand waspletely innocuous among the sea of hands, but he was immediately singled out by Erinys. "I''ll go with the first journalist in the fourth row. What questions do you have?"

    The journalist stood up and extended a respectful bow, then asked, "Mistress Erinys, why is it that this co-prosperity circle is only being proposed by three of the four pirs? Why has the Cathayan Underworld been intentionally kept out?"

    Qin Changxin''s pupils immediately contacted as he cast a piercing gaze toward the journalist who had just spoken.

    Was this still not enough? Would they really only be satisfied once the Cathayan Underworld was well and truly dead?

    Through this question, he could already sense the storm that was about toe.

    "That''s a very good question." Erinys''s smile was still very warm, but her voice was as cold as the most unforgiving of winters. "Let me ask you all this: what are the four pirs? The four pirs were chosen as leaders to guide all of the underworlds toward glory and prosperity. Has the Cathayan Underworld fulfilled this duty in the past century? How many contracts with other nations had to be repealed due to their sudden decision to iste themselves from the rest of the world? How many underworlds were harmed economically by their actions? So many letters were sent to the Cathayan Underworld by so many underworlds, yet not a single one received a response."

    She cast a calm gaze toward Qin Changxin as she continued, "What right does a nation like this have to refer to itself as one of the four pirs?"

    All of the journalists present looked on with astonished expressions at the unyielding Erinys.

    This was the most important international conference, and the three pirs had allied themselves with over 10 other underworlds to unleash a direct attack against the final member of the four pirs!

    All of the journalists had a feeling that there was something amiss about this conference, but only now did they realize exactly what had been brewing under the surface!

    Erinys didn''t give anyone a chance to react as she continued to look into Qin Changxin''s eyes with a piercing gaze. "A nation that is unwilling to shoulder its responsibilities."

    H and J?rmungandr gulped nervously as they listened to Erinys''s authoritative voice with ashen faces.

    "A nation that has abandoned all of the partners that it owes obligations to."

    On the stage, faint smiles had already appeared on the face of Izanami and the nameless god of death.

    Come! It''s time to pick sides! This will decide the state of the world for the next few centuries, and it''s up to you whether you want to be part of the sea or be stranded on a sinking raft!

    "A nation who has lied to its allies and actually has no energy resource to speak of!"

    m! Erinys''s hand fell onto the table with a resounding thud, and her Yin energy erupted forth like a tsunami while the entire hall trembled in the face of her thunderous voice. "What right does such a nation have to continue acting as one of the four pirs?!"

 Chapter 897: You Know the Rules Now?

    <h4>Chapter 897: You Know the Rules Now?</h4>

    I can''t remain silent any longer...

    Never did Qin Changxin think that a day woulde where he would have to directly face a death god. However, all eyes were currently on him, and as the representative of one of the four pirs, he had to say something now.

    His hands were closed around his armrests in a white-knuckled grip, and he wasn''t sure whether there were going to be reinforcements for him. However, King Yanluo had assigned him the duty of attending this press conference, and he had to defend the honor of the Cathayan Underworld.

    "You want to revoke the Cathayan Underworld''s status as one of the four pirs?" His voice was very calm to begin with, but in the next instant, it spiked up drastically as he roared, "You think you have the right to do that?!"

    If Erinys''s voice were lightning, then his voice would be a tsunami that was inundating the entire hall. All of the surrounding journalists hurriedly stepped aside, and they looked on at the unfolding scene with astonishment in their eyes and goosebumps all over their skin.

    A sh between the four pirs was taking ce right before their eyes! Everyone was aware that something was amiss about this conference, and everyone had guessed that this moment would arrive sooner orter, but when the moment truly dawned on them, it was still such a shocking spectacle that all of the fine hairs on the backs of their necks had stood up on end.

    Even the death gods around Qin Changxin had distanced themselves from him a little. No one wanted to get involved in a sh between the four pirs. Even those standing and watching the raging tsunami from the shore could very well be swept up and drowned if they weren''t careful.

    "We don''t have the right to decide this, but the world does!" Erinys wasn''t backing down in the slightest as she countered in a cold voice, "If you want to upy a position, then you have to fulfill the corresponding duties and responsibilities! What right do you have to continue to upy this position after over a century of absence and irresponsible conduct?!"

    She wasn''t looking down on Qin Changxin in the slightest as he was representing the Cathayan Underworld rather than himself. As such, this was a conversation between nations, an arm wrestle between the four pirs.

    "The four pirs have a duty to advance all of the underworlds, may I ask how the Cathayan Underworld has fulfilled this duty in the past century? Countless underworlds were adversely affected by your prolonged absence, and not only have you not contributed to the advancement of the underworlds, you''ve significantly stunted the growth of many nations! Do you think the Cathayan Underworld represents only itself?"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Changxin''s face as he countered, "Oh? So what have you done during the past century? You''ve jumped in with delight at the absence of the Cathayan Underworld and enforced your will upon the world without any opposition! Without positivepetition, this world will turn into an autocracy! You have the gall to reprimand the Cathayan Underworld after what you''ve done for the past century? Do you think your nation runs the Coalition of Underworlds? The Cathayan Underworld will atone for its own mistakes! For all nations adversely affected by our absence, we willpensate you with twice the benefits! We will never shirk our responsibilities and duties, and it''s not up to you, nor are you in a ce to teach us what to do!"

    Archimedes interjected in a cold voice, "If your so-calledpensation involves only spouting more lies, such as discovering a new energy resource, then I suggest you keep your jokes to yourself."

    During his lifetime, Qin Changxin was a heroic warring general, and even though he was facing around a dozen death gods at once, he wasn''t backing down in the slightest as he harrumphed coldly, "What do you mean by that?"

    "It''s very simple." Archimedes was looking directly at Qin Changxin, and the Yin energy around him was undting rhythmically as he said, "On the international stage, all credible scientific breakthroughs are supported by statistics, sound theoretical frameworks, and actual examples. Only then will the invented product be fully recognized. Either you bring out those things to disy your sincerity to make up for your century-long absence, or we have a vote on whether you should remain serving as one of the four pirs! Otherwise, not only will you have harmed the entire world through your prolonged absence, you''ll be seen as a shameless fraud as well!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his Yin energy abruptly erupted forth, sweeping across the entire conference hall. Many of the journalists didn''t even get a chance to cry out before they were forcibly swept aside, and all of the death gods below the Yama-King level quickly scrambled amid cries of rm. All of a sudden, it was as if the sea had been parted, clearing out a path between the dozen or so death gods and the lone figure that was Qin Changxin.

    Is there no possibility of a peaceful resolution? Is the state of the world going to be altered by this conference?

    All of the spectating death gods and journalists gulped nervously as they continued watching with bated breath. No one was able to utter a single word, nor did they dare to do so.

    Amid the tense silence, a cold smile appeared on Izanami''s face as she said, "I think you should leave, representative of the Cathayan Underworld. You are already breaking etiquette by speaking directly with a death god. If you want to negotiate, then you should get your King Yanluo toe here in person?"

    A derisive sneer appeared on Erinys''s face as she taunted, "Or perhaps he doesn''t even have the spine to face me!"

    Qin Changxin wanted to respond, but he suddenly discovered that he was being crushed under an impossibly heavy mountain of Yin energy. On the main stage, the dozen or so death gods of the utopia had already silently released their Yin energy, and it was enveloping him like a constricting python. The terrifying pressure was so overwhelming that he was physically unable to utter even a single word.

    He was the representative of the Cathayan Underworld, yet in the face of the usations levied by the utopia''s death gods with so many Yin spirits looking on, he was unable to respond.

    He opened his mouth with great difficulty and looked around at the countless eyes focused on him, but he was still unable to utter a sound. Right at this moment, all of the death gods on the main stage abruptly cast their eyes toward the entrance of the conference hall, and in the next instant, the gates of the hall exploded violently!

    "It looks like a lesson in respect is well overdue for all of you." A calm voice rang out as a humanoid figure strode into the conference hall. The dust still hadn¡¯t settled yet in the wake of the explosion, so no one could make out exactly who the humanoid figure was, but his extraordinarily powerful Yin energy was clinging to all of the death gods like pairs of icy-cold ws, causing them to shudder involuntarily.

    Erinys disyed the most pronounced reaction of all as she abruptly screamed, and a pair of rotten wings extended out of her back before she flew up into mid-air. Countless insects seemed to be crawling beneath the skin on Archimedes''s face, and he was gnashing his teeth together tightly as his white hair and beard rose up around him.

    This man is above the death god level...

    All of the death gods exchanged a few wary nces, and as the figure stepped forward, all of the death gods around him unconsciously took a step backward. As he continued to stride into the hall, the dust finally cleared, and he was revealed for all to see.

    "Ghost King Zhao..." Erinys was biting down onto her own lower lip as she pressed her back tightly against the wall with a wary expression, as if the feeling of the wall against her back could instill her with a sense of calmness.

    Only after several seconds was she able to force out the question: "Why are you here?"

    Zhao Yun watched her with a calm expression, and in the next instant, the space ahead of him began to creak and groan audibly as it surged toward Erinysyer uponyer, as if there were an invisible giant fist hurtling directly toward her.

    Erinys''s pupils abruptly widened, and she screamed once again as she closed her wings around her, following which countless golden ghostly eyes appeared on the surface of the wings. At the same time, the space around her trembled violently, and all of the journalists were knocked off their feet like bowling pins before turning to look at Zhao Yun with astonished expressions.

    Was this the power of a man above the death god level?

    Erinys had been forced to defend herself with all her might even though he had only looked at her!

    The hint of derision toward the Cathayan Underworld that had just welled up in their hearts was instantly erased. The Cathayan Underworld was still the Cathayan Underworld, the most powerful member of the four pirs. Everyone hurriedly retreated to the walls and watched with bated breath as the standoff continued to unfold.

    "Can I note here?" Zhao Yun asked in a casual voice before making his way over to Qin Changxin and helping him to his feet.

    Before anyone had a chance to reply, he turned around and continued, "Why did the second King Yanluo note here? Why have I refrained from using force all this time? Do I need to spell it out for you? The world needs rules. Without rules, there can only be chaos. Underworlds are wary of trading with other underworlds that don''t follow the rules as they''re afraid that those unruly underworlds will go back on their promises as long as it suits them."

    He swept his gaze over every single death god in the utopia, and each death god that his gaze rested on would involuntarily lower their head. In the end, his gaze settled on Erinys, and he strode directly toward her.

    As he did so, he continued in a calm voice, "Chaos could be epted in the age of sticks and stones as wars and battles didn''t have truly devastating consequences. However, in the present day, all of the powerful nations have forbidden arts, and in this era, chaos could result in the erasure of a nation or even an entire continent! Let me tell you this: if you don''t constantly have your nations'' protective arrays activated, I could easily demolish an entire province of yours like taking a walk in the park!"

    He finally reached Erinys, and he looked into her eyes with a cold expression as he continued, "That would be how a nation that doesn''t follow the rules does things. In this era where forbidden arts have be all toomonce, unruly nations can no longer be allowed. If a situation deteriorates to the point where threats of using forbidden arts are being made, then the world will be plunged into chaos, and the oue would inevitably be a world war, which is something none of us want to see. We want to follow the rules and be reasonable."

    A smile appeared on his face, and Erinys had only just heaved an internal sigh of relief when Zhao Yun''s Yin energy came crashing down upon her again like an entire arsenal of lethal weapons.

    The feeling of having her life dangling on a thread made her utter an involuntary yelp, and she tried to envelop herself with her wings again, only to find that she waspletely paralyzed.

    Zhao Yun looked straight into her eyes as he continued, "But you don''t want to follow the rules. When we talk rules and reason, you use brute force, and when we use brute force, you use us of not following the rules!"

    All of a sudden, all of the tiles on the ground shattered before their fragments rose up as if gravity had disappeared, and Zhao Yun roared, "Do you think the Cathayan Underworld is something you can trample all over with no consequences?!"

    Boom!

    His Yin energy erupted forth once again, and on this asion, none of the death gods on the stage were able to remain standing as all of them were knocked to the ground. Actually, to put it more urately, only Qin Changxin was able to stand firm on the spot.

    Erinys coughed violently with a hand over her own chest and her teeth gritted tightly. Before she could even get up, an imposing figure had already appeared above her.

    "Let me ask you this again: are you going to follow the rules? Are you capable of being reasonable?"

    Erinys really wanted to say no, but in the midst of Zhao Yun''s boundless hostile Yin energy, she could only grit her teeth and nod in response.

    It was an extremely humiliating moment for her.

    Everything was on their side, and they were just about to secure a crushing victory, but Ghost King Zhao had stormed in to rain on their parade!

    Furthermore, they couldn''t even protest as they were the ones at fault. Otherwise, why had Zhao Yun refrained from stepping in until now?

    Using Yin energy to repress a nation''s representative was an extremely serious act of provocation.

    They had gotten too carried away and forgot all about this.

    "Good." Zhao Yun vanished as a gust of Yin wind, taking Qin Changxin along with him. "Prior to themencement of the conference, I advise you to follow the rules and ry what I just said to your master. Otherwise, don''t me us for being unreasonable."

    Following Zhao Yun''s departure, Erinys stood up with a furious expression. She swept her gaze across the ruined conference hall, and she wanted nothing better than to tear Zhao Yun to shreds with her bare hands, but in the end, she could only spit through gritted teeth, "Press conference over!"

    You want us to follow the rules? Fine! There are still three days left, and when the timees, we''re more than capable of crushing you within the constraints of the rules!

 Chapter 898: Supervising Ambassador of the New Continent (1)

    <h4>Chapter 898: Supervising Ambassador of the New Continent (1)</h4>

    "The world is bnced."

    Inside the room, Qin Ye had his hands sped behind his back as he analyzed, "International politics is a veryplex yet self-regting system. For example, why doesn''t Usonia in the mortal realm use its nuclear weapons to threaten other countries to extort benefits? Why does it lure allies to its side by offering certain benefits? Some might ask what''s the point in even having nuclear weapons if you''re not going to use them. After all, the yearly maintenance fees alone for those weapons amount to quite a lofty sum. However, firstly, no one can handle the consequences of a nuclear war, and secondly, this is a final trump card used for intimidation purposes, and it''s not one that necessarily has to be used."

    He turned to Zhao Yun and continued, "You''re just like a nuclear bomb. If they hadn''t used Yin energy to repress Minister Qin, your actions would''ve been seen as breaking the rules. It would be the equivalent of a country using its nuclear bombs first. Even if that country could win this one time, no other nation would dare to work with them in the future. Who would dare to make deals with a nation that was so trigger-happy with their nuclear bombs? That would be far too much risk for any reasonable individual to be willing to take on. If we were to do that, we would only be shunned and ostracized by the entire world, and that''s the main reason you can''t involve yourself in battles carelessly."

    Zhao Yun had his arms crossed as he stood in a corner, and he nodded in response. "I understand."

    He cast his gaze toward Qin Changxin, who was slightly out of breath, and continued, "If I hadn''t sensed the unrest in their Yin energy, I wouldn''t have taken the opportunity to ruin their press conference. We''ve been absent for over a century and it''s not right for us to be so domineering and aggressive. Instead, it would be far more beneficial for us to be more amicable toward the other underworlds."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he mused, "Even though we''ve managed to weather the storm on this asion, they will definitely beunching more obstacles at us during the next few days, and there''s no way we can do this every time. If only the second King Yanluo were also here..."

    "Your Excellency," Qin Changxin urged in a ragged voice, "We can''t count on the second King Yanluo. The second King Yanluo is even more powerful than a nuclear bomb, and if he were to get involved, the other nations would be even more fearful of us, particrly when he''s no longer even the reigning King Yanluo. Are we really going to use the second King Yanluo to force all of the nations to submit to us? That would only sow a seed of resentment and distrust among others! If we were to do that, I guarantee that we will be attacked by the entire world within 50 years, and they''ll even use forbidden arts against us!"

    Even during its heyday, the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t have been able to withstand such an assault.

    There were countless simrities between the politics of the underworld and the mortal realm, and it was why the powerful nations of the mortal realm didn''t dare to threaten others with nuclear weapons.

    Anyone who dared to do that would be breaking the rules, and one madman in the form of Hitler was already enough; no one wanted to see another deranged leader emerge in the world.

    "Of course I''m aware of that," Qin Ye sighed in a forlorn manner. "Setting aside the fact that we can''t afford to turn the entire world against us, the fact of the matter is that I am the current King Yanluo! I finally understand why the second King Yanluo decided not toe with us. If he were to feature in our representative team, who would be the true leader of the Cathayan Underworld? This is the first time I''ve emerged on the world stage as King Yanluo, and the second King Yanluo''s emergence wouldpletely sweep my authority and reputation to the ground. Hence, he was decisive in noting with us. Only by resolving this issue myself will the entire world truly realize that the Cathayan Underworld really has undergone a political transition, and that I, Qin Ye, am the third ruler of Hell."

    Zhao Yun''s brows were tightly furrowed as he asked, "What do we do now?"

    "We wait," Qin Ye replied in a calm voice. "The Alkebn Underworlds most likely won''t be able to make it to Nara in time, but no one would dare to intercept the representatives of the new continent! The conference willmence in three and a half days, and the new continent''s representatives will be here in three more days at most! When that timees, the final showdown will truly begin."

    He didn''t know whether the new continent would agree to help him. In fact, even up to this point, he still couldn''t figure out exactly what the turning point that the second King Yanluo had been referring to was. After all, there was no way that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would agree to lend him their unreserved support just for a Heavenmend Rock.

    However, this was undoubtedly going to be their final trump card.

    This would be an explosive turn of events, and even with the terrible reputation of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, their intervention would be able to swing things significantly in the Cathayan Underworld''s favor. As for exactly how many votes they would be able to sway and whether it would be enough for the Cathayan Underworld to secure over half the votes, that would be up to the heavens to decide. The politics of the world stage weren''t like domestic politics, and even he wasn''t 100% confident.

    He suddenly cast his gaze toward Zhao Yun, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he said, "Also, what you just said has inspired me to think of something."

    Zhao Yun: ???

    An excited look surfaced in Qin Ye''s eyes, and his mouth was slightly parched as he continued, "I''ve figured out what we can offer to the rulers of the new continent in exchange for their assistance! I finally know what the second King Yanluo was hinting at..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    An expensive china teacup shattered into pieces, but it was still nowhere near enough to vent Erinys''s fury. She was trembling with rage, and her beautiful facial features were twisted to an almost unrecognizable extent.

    Never had she been so badly humiliated before!

    The utopia alliance had only just emerged, yet she had immediately received a vicious p to the face in front of the entire world. Furthermore, the utopia alliance was to me for instigating the incident, so she couldn''t evenin!

    All of the Cathayan Underworld''s trump cards had already been sealed shut, and the three pirs had already gained the absolute upper hand, yet the Cathayan Underworld had chosen this inopportune time to strike back.

    She was certain that the Cathayan Underworld had nned this all in advance!

    "There''s no need to be so enraged," Archimedes said as he calmly sipped on some tea. "The true victor will be the one who gets thestugh, and only the winners are recorded in the history books. While it''s indeed true that our press conference didn''t achieve the intended effect due to Ghost King Zhao''s intervention, the name and influence of the utopia have already begun to spread. There''s no way that a single nation can stop the advancement of the utopia, and none of the death gods who have managed to survive to this point are idiots. As long as they think carefully about the situation, they''ll realize that the Cathayan Underworld is still as aggressive and domineering as ever, but they still haven''t devised effective countermeasures against our n. They may have ruined our press conference, but we are the ones who have scored the moral victory, and all of the death gods will be smart enough to realize this."

    Erinys finally exhaled as shebed her own long golden locks, which had be slightly disheveled during her fit of rage. "We''ve already controlled the situation at the Strait of Tsushima. Not only is the Heavenly Snake Fleet there, the Despair of the Death God is also present. There''s no way they could''ve anticipated that only the Golden Fleet out of the three pirs'' naval fleets has arrived at Nara, while the other two fleets are all intercepting the Cathayan Underworld''s most effective allies. Indeed, only the winners are recorded in the history books. As long as the final oue doesn''t change, a bit of humiliation is nothing."

    A warm smile appeared on Archimedes''s face. "Thank the gods that your anger hasn''t robbed you of your sense of reason."

    Erinys also smiled as she replied, "Don''t forget that I''m one of the gods that you''re thanking. I''ve already issued an order to initiate the Aries n."

    Her smile faded as she gnashed her teeth together with a furious expression. "Zhao Yun was nothing more than a mere mortal during his lifetime, how dare he embarrass me like this? He wants to go by the rules, right? In that case, let''s see how he ns to turn the tables while still acting within the constraints of the rules! Without their most effective allies, they won''t be able to execute their n, so it doesn''t matter what trump cards they''re hiding up their sleeves!"

    A serious look also appeared on Archimedes''s face as he said, "Most importantly, ording to the rules of the Coalition of Underworlds, all patents without sound theoretical frameworks and sessful examples of implementation won''t be acknowledged, and the same applies in the mortal realm as well. This is the most important thing we have on our side in terms of shutting down anyeback potential they may have. The only alternative possibility is that this new energy resource has something to do with, or is an extension of an existing piece of technology! As long as we don''t allow them to find a way around this rule, they won''t be able to do anything."

    Erinys nodded in response, and after a long silence, she finally asked, "The second King Yanluo isn''t going to make a sudden appearance, is he?"

    Archimedes was in the process of taking a sip of tea, and he immediately burst into a fit of violent coughing upon hearing this. His brows then furrowed slightly in contemtion for a moment before a smile reappeared on his face. "I''m sure he won''t. He''s already handed over the reins, and if he were to appear now, he would be pping the third King Yanluo in the face. If he were to intervene, where would that ce Yanluo Qin? How would the world be able to take the current King Yanluo seriously? This is the first time the third King Yanluo and his entourage have appeared on the world stage, and there''s no way that the second King Yanluo will step in to undermine his authority. Come to think of it, I actually want him toe. If he does, the resulting chaos will be very much detrimental to the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Good..." A menacing smile appeared on Erinys''s face as she said, "I''m going to officially initiate the Aries n in an hour. If he wants to follow the rules, then we''ll do just that!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A peaceful night passed by, but on the next morning, the entirety of Nara was swept up into a frenzy once again.

    The utopia alliance was holding a press conference in the morning, during which details pertaining to the patents of 11 nations were going to be discussed. After that, a signing ceremony was going to be held for the abolition of all patent barriers, and this ceremony was going to be avable to public spectators throughout its entire duration.

    At the same time, three of the utopia''s Duke-level death gods were going to gather together for an in-depth discussion in military technology that same afternoon, andter at night, the signing ceremony for the utopia alliance''sprehensive strategic coborative partnership agreement was going to be held. As was the case for the signing ceremony for the abolition of all patent barriers, this ceremony was also going to be avable to public spectators throughout its entire duration.

    The next morning, a conference was going to be held during which the utopia alliance discussed trade barriers and national protection policies. At noon, the agreement drafted during the aforementioned conference was going to be signed, with the signing ceremony avable to public spectators throughout its entire duration.

    That same afternoon, the utopia''s coastline pearl chain n was going to be implemented, andter at night...

    One conference and signing ceremony after another was arranged back-to-back, and all of them were being held by the utopia!

    In the blink of an eye, the utopia had already earned itself a resounding reputation. It was a brand new superpower that was going to be the premier force in the world, and it entailedprehensive coboration between many nations in all fields ranging from the financial sector to the military sphere. The scale and openness of this alliance were truly astounding to everyone.

    No one doubted its future in the slightest, and in particr, the small nations included in the alliance were eagerly waiting for everything to be finalized.

    This was a ticket to ultra-rapid development for them, and it was also the precursor for worldwide prosperity!

    However, no one had explicitly expressed any clear interest in it yet.

    All of the death gods who had managed to survive to this point were wily and cautious enough to know that they had to wait for the Cathayan Underworld to make its move and to only make their decisions at thest possible moment.

    "What the hell is the Cathayan Underworld still waiting for?!" H almost tore her newspaper to shreds. "We ced so much trust in them and bet everything on them! Why have they still not made a move? Do they not even have any backup ns? Is this all that the third KingYanluo of the Cathayan Underworld is capable of? This is preposterous! Are they even aware of how hard it''s going to be for them to return to the four pirs if they miss this opportunity to re-establish themselves?"

    However, no matter how agitated she was, she didn''t dare to confront the Cathayan Underworld.

    There was no alternative for them other than to cling onto the ship that was the Cathayan Underworld, regardless of whether it was a sinking ship or not.

    The tsunami was already raging in full force, and once it inundated the Cathayan Underworld and the Northern Europa underworlds, it was going to sweep through the entire world.

    Countless pairs of eyes were watching the pavilion where the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team was staying. Those who wished to join the utopia were waiting for the Cathayan Underworld''s final trump cards, while those who didn''t want to join were praying that the Cathayan Underworld would be able to pull off a miracle.

    One day passed by, then two, but the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team remainedpletely silent.

    After three days of inactivity from the Cathayan Underworld, Kuwal, the leader of the Red Moon Federation, heaved a long sigh. "Is this the end of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "As expected, no one can stand at the top forever."

    Antee''s lips were tightly pursed as she said, "There are only 12 hours left until themencement of the conference, are they really not going to at least put up a fight? This is the Cathayan Underworld we''re talking about, one of the four pirs!"

    Indeed, there were only 12 hours left.

    Once the conferencemenced in 12 hours, there would be no going back for either side, and it would be a fight to the death.

    "Your Excellency!" Qin Changxin quickly rushed into the room amid the oppressive silence and reported, "They''ve arrived! Death gods Ah Puch, Xolotl, Supay, and the new continent''s supervising ambassador have arrived at Osaka!"

    They''ve finally arrived... Qin Ye''s heart skipped a beat as he asked in a serious voice, "Have they been intercepted at all?"

    "Just as you predicted, no one has intercepted them! No one could''ve anticipated that we would be able to convince the new continent to stand with us!"

    "Good." Qin Ye took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then called out, "Servants, I need to change."

    Regardless of what the final oue was, this would be the final showdown.

    He had already done everything in his power, and it was up to the heavens to decide the oue now.

 Chapter 899: Supervising Ambassador of the New Continent (2)

    <h4>Chapter 899: Supervising Ambassador of the New Continent (2)</h4>

    "You don''t need to visit me again." Anko was holding an intricate teacup, but she wasn''t drinking from it as she looked directly at H, who was seated across from her. "You''re also beginning to feel the pressure, right?"

    She was standing in front of the window with her ice-blue hair spilling down her back, resembling a goddess of snow and ice. "Look..."

    The city of Nara was teeming with activity, yet all of them were standing around the death gods of the utopia alliance, and outside of that circle was a massive throng of journalists. In contrast, the pavilion where the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team was staying waspletely devoid of visitors. In fact, everyone was avoiding it like the gue.

    No underworld had explicitly expressed their stance, but it was very clear to everyone which side had more influence and support.

    "H, our two nations have always been closely connected." Anko turned to look at H, who had a grim look on her face, and sighed, "If the Cathayan Underworld even had the courage to do something, regardless of whether they seed, I would perhaps consider lending them my support. This a sentiment from the bottom of my heart, I would truly consider that option. However, it hasn''t made a move at all. The Alkebn Underworlds were scheduled to arrive three nights ago, but they suddenly went radio silent, and it''s clear that they must''ve been intercepted by the three pirs. I''m sure you can tell that this has dealt the Cathayan Underworld an extremely heavy blow. Perhaps they''ve prepared a series of trump cards, but they''ve all been foiled, and that''s very disappointing in my eyes. A mature underworld should have many backup ns, particrly one of the four pirs. How has the Cathayan Underworld be like this? Why are they unable to even put up any semnce of resistance? Even if, by some miracle, an underworld like this managed to weather this storm, how would it be able to contend with the three pirs in the future?"

    She picked up the hem of her dress in an apologetic manner as she concluded, "Hence, I must apologize, but I cannot ept your proposal. Also, seeing as our nations have always shared close ties with one another, I want to issue you a friendly warning that there are most likely more underworlds siding with the utopia alliance than you think."

    H opened her mouth to say something, but she didn''t have anything to say in the end.

    Anko had spoken nothing but the irrefutable truth.

    During the seven days since the Cathayan Underworld''s arrival, it had unleashed three bouts of retaliation, but only one of them had actually been effective, and that was the conference during which it had dered its new partnership with the five Northern Europa nations and the new energy resource. However, that tiny spark of hope had been quashed almost instantly.

    After that, the Alkebn Underworlds were intercepted, and the Cathayan Underworld had withdrawn into its shell like a cowardly turtle! H had half a mind to kick down the Cathayan Underworld''s door, then grab Qin Ye by the cor of his robes and yell: "Do you know what you''re doing? Are you just waiting to die at this point? As one of the four pirs, you''re responsible not just for your own fate, but also for the fate of your allies! Is this how you treat your allies as one of the four pirs? Look at your opposition! They''re offering such lucrative benefits that even I''m tempted to join them! Have you considered us at all in your decision-making?!"

    However, she couldn''t do that.

    She had to keep everything bottled up inside. In fact, she and J?rmungandr had to do everything in their power to try and convince other underworlds to support the Cathayan Underworld, even though it was most likely going to be a lost cause.

    In the end, she could only heave a faint sigh before rising to her feet in an elegant manner. "Pardon my intrusion, I''ll be taking my leave now."

    "Farewell."

    The door slowly swung shut, and if it weren''t for the fact that there were many emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld around, she would''ve most likely copsed straight onto the ground.

    Never had she felt such crushing despair.

    The odds were overwhelmingly against their favor, but what could she do?

    She shook her head and began to make her way toward the corridor. There were still a few underworlds that she could try to persuade. After all, not everyone wanted to see the rise of a supreme superpower in the world. However, right as she raised her head, her brows immediately furrowed slightly.

    An Emissary of Hell was waiting for her at the corner with a respectful smile on his face, and he extended a bow toward her.

    Where were you a few days ago?

    H approached the Emissary of Hell with a slightly absentminded expression. "Do you need me for something?"

    Are you here to revoke the agreement or feed me more lies?

    "Mistress H," the Emissary of Hell replied in a respectful manner. "Yanluo Qin would like you to join him in weing the arrival of the new continent''s representatives. In addition to that, he asked me to ry a message to you: even though the Alkebn Underworlds have been intercepted, this will be the truly decisive factor in the final oue."

    H''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and she didn''t even reply before picking up the hem of her dress and rushing back to her room.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    On the national highway of Nara, Izanami wore a wide smile and avish kimono as she waited by the side of the road, apanied by a group of officials from the Nipponese Underworld.

    The representatives of the new continent had arrived, and if it weren''t for the fact that the host was obligated to greet all of her guests, she didn''t want toe here at all. After all, who would want to meet with these madmen unless they absolutely had to?

    Then again, the oue was already decided, and nothing could ruin her good mood. With that in mind, she continued to look on with a warm smile, and right at this moment, several carriages appeared in the distance, leaving a trail ofherfire in their wake.

    "Everything has already been decided, and the Cathayan Underworld won''t be able to do anything in the final 12 hours. On top of that, only the new continent and the three pirs are still yet to arrive, so they no longer have any allies still toe." She turned to Susanoo-no-Mikoto as she said, "This is only the first step. I will definitely help you avenge your son, but it''ll take a long time, so you have to be mentally prepared."

    "Rest assured, I have more than enough patience..." Susanoo-no-Mikoto licked his lips with a bloodthirsty expression. <i>When the timees, I''m going to make his head into a wine cup! I''m prepared to wait even 1,000 years if that''s how long it takes!</i>

    He then hesitated momentarily before asking, "Do you think they still have a chance to make aeback?"

    At this point, the carriages were only around 300 meters away, and Izanami replied, "Their chances are downright negligible. There''s not a single underworld disying any friendly intentions toward them right now, and it''s next to impossible for them to turn the tables in the final 12 hours. It''s a good thing that the three pirs reacted so quickly. I almost passed out when I heard about the Cathayan Underworld''s partnership with Northern Europa and their new energy resource. Thank heavens that didn''t amount to anything in the end..."

    Just as they were speaking, the carriages had already drawn to a halt around 20 meters away from them. Izanami immediately approached the carriages with a warm smile before extending a deep bow. "Please allow me to give a warm wee to the death gods of the new continent, Xolotl, Ah Puch, Supay, and Supervising Ambassador Viracocha. I wee you on behalf of the Nipponese Underworld..."

    "And the Cathayan Underworld, the five nations of Northern Europa, and the Alkebn Underworlds." A calm voice immediately took over from where Izanami left off, and she was so shocked to hear this that her head swiveled around 180 degrees in a gesture thatpletely brokemon etiquette. At the same time, Susanoo-no-Mikoto and all of the journalists present also turned toward the source of the voice with stunned expressions.

    "Is, is that Yanluo Qin?" A Hindustani journalist was looking on with an astonished expression, and right at this moment, the crowd silently parted to reveal Qin Ye in his golden dragon robes. Behind him were Zhao Yun and the two death gods of the five Northern Europa nations. Even though it was only a group of four people, they were giving off the same aura as an almighty army.

    No one dared to utter a single word in their presence, and all of the journalists were looking on with their mouths slightly agape and theherfire in their eyes flickering violently. Three secondster, a flurry ofmotion instantly rang out, alongside which came the incessant shes from image capture crystals.

    "Yanluo Qin, may I ask why you''vee here? Is it because the new continent has some type of agreement with Hell?"

    "Yanluo Qin, the Cathayan Underworld has been lying low during the past few days, is it because you were waiting for the arrival of the new continent''s representatives?"

    "Yanluo Qin, is the new continent a participant in the Zhu Rong n? Has the new continent maintained close ties with the Cathayan Underworld during the past century?"

    A flood of questions was instantly hurled at Qin Ye.

    At times, increased exposure wasn''t necessarily a good thing, particrly when one had nothing to disy. If one were to attract excessive attention to oneself, only to have nothing to show the bystanders, then they would''ve been better off keeping a low profile.

    This was backup n A2: "If a situation arises where all seems lost, we lie low and wait for our opportunity to deliver a lethal blow, rather than doing everything in our power to increase exposure and create talking points. That is unbefitting of a nation of our status, and if we don''t have anything to disy, our credibility will only be further harmed."

    For some underworlds, even if they didn''t make any sound, they would still exist at the center of the world, and anytime they did make their voices heard, the rest of the world had to listen.

    The Cathayan Underworld had always upied such a position, which was why Qin Ye dared to lie low for this long.

    Looking at the raucous journalists around her, Izanami gnashed her teeth together viciously.

    The Cathayan Underworld was still the Cathayan Underworld, and the three pirs had still underestimated its influence in the end. Even if it didn''t make any sound, it was still constantly the center of the world''s attention.

    She forced a smile onto her own face as she feigned a surprised expression and asked, "To what do we owe this pleasure, Yanluo Qin? Could it be that the new continent is an important ally for the Cathayan Underworld?"

    The four death gods of the new continent were also looking at Qin Ye with surprised expressions. They were alsopletely taken aback by Qin Ye''s presence here.

    However, there was naturally no way they were going to pass up an opportunity tomunicate with one of the four pirs.

    "Yanluo Qin." A native Usonian elderly man with a darkplexion and tattoos all over his body made his way directly over to Qin Ye. He joined his palms together and smiled as he said, "It is truly a great honor for us to be greeted by you in person."

    This was the supervising ambassador, Viracocha.

    Qin Ye noticed that he was standing at the very forefront of the group.

    He also smiled as he extended a hand toward Viracocha. "It''s a pleasure to meet you."

    The two shared a brief handshake while everyone looked on with excitement and anticipation in their eyes, but Qin Ye only conversed briefly with the death gods of the new continent before they went their separate ways.

    That''s it? They didn''t do anything! What just happened?!

    Izanami was also staring at Qin Ye with disbelief in her heart. The two sides had shared a very polite yet aloof conversation, and it was clear that the new continent wasn''t an ally of the Cathayan Underworld. Despite this discovery, she was feeling even more uneasy.

    If they weren''t allies, then why had Qin Yee to greet them in person and even brought along his allies in the form of the death gods from the five Northern Europa nations with him?

    This was clearly a flex of the Cathayan Underworld''s muscles, but why were they flexing for an underworld that wasn''t even their ally? Could it be that they were confident in their ability to somehow recruit this ally within the final 12 hours? But that was preposterous!

    Qin Ye paid no heed to the sea of discussion taking ce behind him and returned to his room, followed closely by H and J?rmungandr.

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup in an unhurried manner before taking a casual sip, but J?rmungandr was so agitated that he could barely remain in his seat. "Mr. Qin, what was that all about? It''s clear that the new continent isn''t an ally of ours, and 12 hours is nowhere near enough for us to recruit them! It''s almost impossible for us to lure such an important ally to our side, one that''s holding three votes, no less, particrly considering the two rulers of the new continent aren''t going to be swayed by any benefits! They''repletely deranged and don''t care about anything! Even if you somehow manage to find something that could draw their interest, it would still take at least half a year of negotiation before an alliance can be formed!"

    Qin Ye set down his teacup and smiled as he replied, "I''ve done my homework when ites to the new continent. They''ve participated in all international conferences as a symbolic gesture, but they never vote. However, during every single one of those conferences, their team of representatives has always been apanied by a supervising ambassador. His role is to prevent the death gods from taking any sides or to betray Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa by signing agreements with other underworlds. This is a necessary precaution for an underworld that is on the brink of copse. Hence, the supervising ambassador is far more important than the three death gods when ites to speaking rights. He is the true representative of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa."

    J?rmungandr looked up at the ceiling and heaved a forlorn sigh.

    Of course he was aware of all of this, but what did this have to do with anything?

    "Rest assured," Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the door with a calm expression. "He''ll be here within the next half an hour."

    "How is that possi..."

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and a friendly voice rang out on the other side of the door. "Greetings, Mr. Qin, I am Supervising Ambassador Viracocha of the new continent."

    J?rmungandr''s voice abruptly cut off.

 Chapter 900: Supervising Ambassador of the New Continent (3)

    <h4>Chapter 900: Supervising Ambassador of the New Continent (3)</h4>

    H immediately sprang to her feet as she cast an incredulous gaze toward Qin Ye.

    He really dide! How is this possible?

    The two had only shared a brief meeting and a handshake, yet within 30 minutes, no, within just 20 minutes, Viracocha hade to visit Qin Ye in person!

    "Please,e in." Qin Ye indicated for the servants in the room to open the door, then turned toward the two Northern Europa death gods. "We have six votes now, right?"

    J?rmungandr''s lips were trembling slightly, and he felt as if there were an active volcano erupting in his heart.

    There were only 34 votes in the entire world, so six votes definitely wasn''t an insignificant number, particrly when these six votes came from the Northern Europa Underworlds, the Cathayan Underworld, the Alkebn Underworlds, and the new continent.

    That was an alliance with abined territory that epassed over 60% of the entire world''sndmass!

    This was more than enough intimidation to sway the votes of some fence-sitters. In fact, there was already hope for them to contend with the alliance formed by the three pirs!

    However...

    "Are you sure they''ll be willing to bet everything on us?" J?rmungandr asked in a cautious voice. "Forgive me for being blunt, but securing only their support in the form of their three votes is still nowhere near enough. If we can''t establish a strategic partnership with them, then we wouldn''t be making a strong enough impact for this to truly matter. If we want those fence-sitters to vote for us and strike unease into the hearts of the utopia alliance''s underworlds, we have to establish a bond so strong with the new continent that they would be willing to go to war for the Cathayan Underworld!"

    It was clear that the two sides weren''t familiar with one another during the brief meeting just now. J?rmungandr had seen far too many courtesy smiles in his time, and there was no fooling him in that regard.

    "Rest assured," Qin Ye said with a calm expression. "I have an offer for him that he can''t resist. Alright, it''s time for you to go now. Once everything is done here, I''ll immediately notify you."

    H and J?rmungandr quickly agreed before departing. They knew that Qin Ye had only invited them so that they could see the arrival of the new continent and be instilled with some confidence. However, he wasn''t going to let them see the contents of the agreement he was nning to offer to Viracocha.

    During their departure, they just so happened to run into Viracocha, who was on his way into the room, and they exchanged a nce and a smile before passing each other by.

    "Please take a seat." Qin Ye smiled as he offered Viracocha a cup of tea. Viracocha wore a respectful smile as he epted the teacup and took a sip, but neither side said anything.

    The room was very quiet, and aside from Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin, who were standing behind the screen, there was no one else.

    "Why me?" Viracocha suddenly asked as a serious look appeared on his face. "Xolotl, Supay, and Ah Puch are the death gods of the three major religions on the new continent, and they once had tens of millions of followers. In contrast, I was only a tribal witch, and I only rose to my current position after my death due to pure dumb luck."

    He spread his hand open to reveal the Heavenmend Rock sitting in his palm as he looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes. "So I have to ask: why me? This is my first time acting as supervising ambassador for the new continent and also my first time meeting you. Prior to this, no one would''ve been aware of my existence."

    In the instant that their handshake had taken ce, Qin Ye had ced the Heavenmend Rock into his hand!

    As a Yama-King level death god, Viracocha had a vague connection with heaven and earth, so he was naturally aware of what this entailed.

    If Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were to meet their demise, this thing would be able to ensure that they would live for at least 500 more years!

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup and took an indifferent nce at Viracocha. "Why ask a question you already know the answer to? It''s clearly because you''re the supervising ambassador."

    He took a sip of tea before continuing in an unhurried voice, "I''m sure Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa aren''t doing very well right now. They have no time to be supervising the death gods under them, so the supervising ambassador they send in their stead will definitely be an extremely important subordinate to them."

    Only you can contact Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, and only you can establish this connection to convince them to vote for us and perhaps do some even more terrifying things!

    "In that case, I must apologize," Viracocha said in a calm voice as he withdrew his hand. "Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s decision won''t change. They are still the rulers of Usonia, and even in their current state, they''ll still consider the future of their descendants. Even in the worst-case scenario, where they be one with the Heavenly Dao, they still won''t want to see the new continent be plunged into war and turmoil. Their descendants can''t afford to make any enemies on the international stage during this sensitive time, so we won''t be casting any votes. We offer you our most genuine gratitude for this precious gift, and after the conference, we''llpensate the Cathayan Underworld with resources or items of the same value."

    He rose to his feet and concluded, "I''ve heard that the Cathayan Underworld is also in a rather tough spot, but unfortunately, we are unable to help you. I wish you the best of luck in oveing the obstacles in your way."

    Qin Ye stared intently at Viracocha with an unblinking gaze.

    As expected, the Heavenmend Rock wasn''t enough to tempt them.

    What Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa wanted was to not die, not a way for them to just barely survive after being forced into the Heavenly Dao. An appropriate analogy would be like someone going to a doctor for surgery. What they wanted was to get the surgery done, not to hear the doctor tell them about what they should do if the surgery were to go awry.

    Everyone wanted to survive in the most sophisticated form possible, and that was a universal urge among both gods and mortals.

    Right as Viracocha was about to leave the room, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Do you know who is in my representative team on this asion?"

    Viracocha turned back to look at Qin Ye with a surprised expression. He had thought that he had already been clear enough in his rejection, and he didn''t think that Qin Ye would be so desperate.

    However, this was the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, so he couldn''t afford to show any disrespect. "I''m afraid not."

    Qin Ye smiled as he pointed toward the side of the door. Viracocha was currently standing right in front of the door, and Zhao Yun was situated right beside him. Thetter immediately gave a slight nod at the sight of Qin Ye''s hand gesture.

    Viracocha''s brows furrowed ever so slightly, but he still maintained a polite smile as he said, "Ghost King Zhao, you are an extremely renowned figure even on our new continent. We wee you to visit our new continent anytime."

    I should be able to leave now, right?

    However, Qin Ye disyed no intention of allowing him to leave. Instead, he stood up and looked at Viracocha with a hint of a smile on his face. He then sped his hands behind his back and strolled around the room in a seemingly aimless manner before chuckling, "It looks like the new continent really isn''t keeping up with current affairs in the world. Now that I think about it, I wasn''t able to invite Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to attend my inauguration ceremony. What a pity."

    Viracocha was already starting to grow a little disgruntled, but he still maintained a polite smile as he said, "I''m sure there will be chances in the future."

    "Have you really not noticed yet?" Qin Yeid a hand onto Viracocha''s shoulder and said, "Ghost King Zhao has already transcended beyond the Yama-King level. He is the second being in the world above the Yama-King level who isn''t restricted by the Heavenly Dao, and both of these beings came from the Cathayan Underworld."

    Crack!

    Viracocha''s head immediately swiveled around 180 degrees. This was seen as a very impolite gesture on the international stage, but he had no time to pay any heed to etiquette right now, and theherfire in his eyes erupted forth in a frenzy. "What are you trying to say, Yanluo Qin?"

    That''s it! This is the reaction I''m looking for!

    Qin Ye was ovee by a massive wave of relief upon seeing this. The second King Yanluo had hinted extremely vaguely that he held a trump card that could sway the new continent, but he hadn''t told him exactly what that trump card was.

    If they could establish a strategic partnership with the new continent, the three pirs would definitely be greatly shaken!

    The weak feared the strong, and the strong feared the fearless. The two death gods of the new continent weren''t scared of anyone right now! If the Cathayan Underworld could establish a strategic partnership with them, all of the wily death gods of the other underworlds would immediately understand that there would be no way for the three pirs to touch the Cathayan Underworld.

    If they were to proceed recklessly, they would truly be instigating a war, and they would be facing a pair of death gods on the brink of death, as well as all of the death gods beneath them! In order to survive, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had to devour an astronomical number of Yin spirits, so they would be more than happy to see a world war take ce!

    But how could he attract the two deranged death gods?

    The Heavenmend Rock wasn''t enough, and for a long time, he couldn''t figure out how he was supposed to get the two death gods to stand with the Cathayan Underworld and wreak havoc at this conference. Only after Zhao Yun''s intervention during Erinys''s press conference was he finally struck by a sh of enlightenment.

    This was the way to go!

    Zhao Yun and the second King Yanluo were the most alluring conditions they could offer to the two rulers of the new continent!

    All things in the world came from the Heavenly Dao, and they would all return to the Heavenly Dao following their demise. Heaven, the underworld, and the mortal realm were all epassed within the Heavenly Dao, and the death gods were no exception to this.

    Once a religion and a race were destroyed, the death god presiding over the religion would meet their demise, and once that happened, they would be forced to return to the Heavenly Dao, in which case only Heavenmend Rocks would allow them to retain a shred of rity, allowing them to retain their sentience and bide their time. However, what if they were to make breakthroughs prior to that?

    Wasn''t that exactly what the two deranged rulers of the new continent were desperately trying to achieve?

    How did they even know that a cultivation rank above the death god level existed? It was clearly through the existence of the second King Yanluo!

    In other words, their greatest wish right now would be for the second King Yanluo to tell them how to transcend beyond the Yama-King level. However, they knew that no matter how vtile and deranged they were, there was no way that the second King Yanluo would fear them.

    In the eyes of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, the second King Yanluo was a unique anomaly, but Zhao Yun had emerged as another being above the Yama-King level! Could lightning really strike twice in the same spot?

    Didn''t this entail that there was a method to transcending beyond the Yama-King level and that the Cathayan Underworld had discovered this method?

    If Qin Ye were willing to provide them with the aforementioned method, he was confident that the two rulers of the new continent would be willing to do anything in exchange, including wreaking havoc at the Nara conference!

    Qin Ye''s expression remained unchanged as he observed the astonished Viracocha, but his mind was racing.

    What I want is not just to barely survive this ordeal. Instead, I want to show everyone what consequences await them if they dare to mess with the Cathayan Underworld! This is my final trump card, and it can only be unleashed through the two rulers of the new continent! However, direct contact with them can only be facilitated through the supervising ambassador that they personally assigned, rather than through the other three new continent death gods. They don''t care about the interests of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. In fact, they''re counting down the days to their demise! Only following the passing of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would the new continent be theirs! Thus, the Heavenmend Rock is only the first piece of bait, whereas this is what I''m truly offering! In the face of this irresistible offer, those two deranged geezers will rush to Nara no matter where they are in the world!

    Dead silence.

    After a full five minutes had passed by, Viracocha took a few steps backward before extending a deep bow as he asked, "What do you want from us in return?"

    "I want your unreserved support!" Qin Ye immediately replied. "Find an opportune time to leave Nara and tell Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa that they have to stand on my side if they don''t want to die! They have to join me in the name of the entire new continent and the three religions of the Incas, the native Usonians, and the Aztecs! On top of that, they must establish a strategic partnership with the Cathayan Underworld and participate in the Zhu Rong n!"

    Viracocha took a deep breath, and he didn''t even ask what the Zhu Rong n was. Instead, he asked, "How much time do we have?"

    "12 hours. At the verytest, they must be here before the final vote takes ce. I want their support not just on a verbal basis, but more importantly, they must support me through their actions."

    "What are you going to give us?"

    "I''ll give you a part of the method to transcending beyond the Yama-King level as a deposit."

    The corners of Viracocha''s lips turned down slightly as he looked deep into Qin Ye''s eyes.

    To think that you require the support of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, it looks like the Cathayan Underworld really is in a very tough spot. Also, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa have made a whole host of enemies, and this conference is being held specifically to prevent the new continent from getting its hands on forbidden arts. Are you trying to transform the city of Nara into a warzone by inviting Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa here at a time like this?

    Qin Ye smiled as he rose to his feet and said, "Can I count on you?"

    Viracocha also smiled in response. "You have yourself a deal. As expected of the third King Yanluo, your tactics are far more sophisticated than those of the second King Yanluo..."

    The second King Yanluo was just a bully, whereas you are truly a cunning old fox!

 Chapter 901: Standpoints

    <h4>Chapter 901: Standpoints</h4>

    Viracocha returned to his room.

    He was noticeably very restless, and he picked up his cup of coffee, only to set it down again. This sequence was repeated over and over again until finally, the sound of door-knocking rang out 10 minutester, and an underworld emissary reported, "Your Excellency, the three death gods of the representative team have arrived as per your instructions."

    He took a deep breath before rising to his feet, then opened the door with a smile. "I''m very sorry to call everyone over right after the long journey to Nara, but I really do have something extremely important to discuss with you all."

    Xolotl took an indifferent nce at him before taking a seat, and Supay and Ah Puch were also clearly not very fond of him.

    This was only to be expected considering there was a fundamental conflict of interest between them.

    All those who had a thorough understanding of the three religions of the new continent were aware that these three formed the initial trio of death gods who had truly developed and grown alongside their respective religions. All of them had experienced past glory, although they were well past their heyday. Even so, it was still very demeaning that they couldn''t call the shots during international conferences.

    In addition to that, Viracocha was a descendant of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    They wanted nothing more than to see the demise of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa so they could take over the new continent, yet Viracocha''s mission was to do everything in his power to find ways to prolong the lives of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. As such, they were in direct conflict with one another in this regard, so there was no way that the three death gods would be on friendly terms with him.

    Viracocha was also very much aware of this, and he poured three cups of tea in person before offering them to the three death gods. After a brief silence, he dered, "I have to leave Nara."

    The three death gods immediately turned toward him in unison.

    Supay was a bald humanoid being with holes all over his head, from within which countless snakes and other reptiles were crawling out incessantly. His eyes were proportionally massive, resembling those of a frog, and he asked in a surprised voice, "Why the sudden need to leave? Have you found some important leads that would help Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa extend their lifespans?"

    Viracocha smiled and replied, "No, it''s just that I have something I need to report."

    "Oh?" Xolotl pulled out a pocket watch before taking a look. "You already have something to report after spending less than an hour in Nara? Why have we not heard anything?"

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "Also, I heard you paid a visit to the Cathayan Underworld''s pavilion, is that right?"

    "It has nothing to do with that," Viracocha denied with a serious expression. "Anyway, I must go and I''m not sure when I''ll be able to get back. If I don''t make it back by the time the conferencemences, don''t submit your votes no matter what!"

    He gritted his teeth for a moment before concluding, "If you must vote, then make sure you vote for the Cathayan Underworld!"

    The expressions of the three death gods changed every so slightly upon hearing this, but none of them said anything.

    The room waspletely silent for a long while before Ah Puch finally asked, "On whose behalf are you saying this? Yourself or the two rulers of our new continent? If it''s thetter, then why didn''t they inform us of this?"

    The corners of Viracocha''s lips turned down slightly upon hearing this, further entuating the wrinkles around his mouth.

    Once again, none of the death gods were idiots. Following their arrival at Nara, Viracocha had only gone to visit the Cathayan Underworld, following which he immediately expressed an urge to leave, and it was clearly extremely likely that the Cathayan Underworld had promised him something.

    He wanted to pull the wool over the three death gods'' eyes, but he discovered that this wouldn''t be possible. All of them were wily old foxes that couldn''t be tricked so easily.

    He heaved a faint sigh before replying, "This is my personal decision. However, prior to our departure, the two rulers of our new continent gave me the right to make decisions for our representative team, and I choose to exercise that right now! During my absence, I want everyone to stabilize the situation and even stand with the Cathayan Underworld, if and when required."

    "Alright, we get it," Xolotl said in an impatient manner as he rose to his feet. "You didn''t have to gather all of us just to say something so trivial, you could''ve just sent a servant to inform us of this. You kicked up such a big fuss that I thought something important had happened."

    The door slowly swung shut behind Xolotl, and he departed with a wooden expression. His servant immediately followed behind him, but he didn''t say anything. Having served Xolotl for quite a long time already, he knew Xolotl quite well, and he could clearly sense that Xolotl was in a foul mood.

    Xolotl made his way back to his room in silence, and the servant closed the door behind them. Before he even had a chance to turn around, a resounding boom rang out behind him.

    "That meddling piece of scum!" Xolotl had already reduced a table to wooden shards as he spat through gritted teeth, "He must''ve learned some secret that could allow those two old bastards to survive, and that''s why he had to go back so urgently! Why has the Cathayan Underworld done this to me?! We already worked together once to capture Xu Fu, so why have they chosen to betray me at a time like this?"

    Indeed, in his eyes, this was tant betrayal!

    The two sides had already established a type of tacit understanding with one another, so why had the Cathayan Underworld gone and stabbed him in the back? Was it because he wasn''t the ruler of the new continent? How much longer could the current rulers live?

    Why do you insist on helping them rather than investing in the future, in me?!

    The servant was trembling in fear in a corner, and after an instant of thunderous rage, Xolotl immediately calmed down once again. He picked up his cup and took a sip of coffee, then sat down on his chair and fell as still as a stone statue.

    However, he wouldn''t get a chance to sit still by himself for long.

    Shortly thereafter, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and Xolotl casually gestured toward the door, upon which it was quickly opened by his servant. Supay and Ah Puch were standing outside, yet before they had even entered the room, Xolotl said in a cold voice, "I don''t want to see you two right now."

    All of the death gods below Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were pining to take over their positions after they passed away, so strictly speaking, they were all adversaries to one another.

    Ah Puch was a thin man wearing a skeletal mask, and colorful designs were painted onto his sinister-looking mask. He waved a hand to dismiss all of the servants behind him, then ignored Xolotl''s warning and entered the room with Supay before taking a seat across from Xolotl.

    Several secondster, he said, "Coffee can''t solve any problems. As opposed to sulking here by yourself, why don''t we have a nice chat?"

    "What do you want to talk about?" Xolotl mmed down his cup as he yelled. "Do you want to talk about how we have to follow the orders of a mere tribal witch? Or do you want to talk about what that bastard is so eager to report to the two rulers of our new continent? Or perhaps you want to talk about whether us three death gods have the autonomous right to cast our votes as we please?"

    He heaved a long sigh of frustration before continuing in a cold voice, "Out of all of the death gods in the world, we lead the most pitiful existence. What is there to talk about? Should we discuss how to make ourselves even more pitiful and useless?"

    Supay ignored his furious rant and asked, "Have you thought about why the supervising ambassador suddenly decided to leave?"

    Xolotl raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything. Supay continued, "I just so happen to hear from an old friend that the current state of the Cathayan Underworld isn''t all that great. The Cathayan Underworld requires allies, so they''re frantically unveiling all of their trump cards. Once I heard that, I finally realized what it is that could''ve gotten Viracocha so excited.

    "So what is this trump card of theirs?" Xolotl asked.

    Supay lowered his voice, and Yin energy came surging out of his mouth as he said, "It''s something that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa want more than anything else."

    Xolotl immediately raised his head upon hearing this, and theherfire in his eyes flickered erratically.

    They had a method to allow one to progress beyond the Yama-King level! The more he thought about it, the likelier this possibility seemed to him.

    It simply made sense from every perspective that he could think of!

    "Countless death gods are hoping for them to die earlier, yet the Cathayan Underworld intends to help them prolong their lives?" he spat through gritted teeth, and he was very much regretting his decision to help the Cathayan Underworld stop Xu Fu.

    If he had known that this would happen, he would have opened up Xolotl''s Screen and granted Xu Fu free passage!

    "Regardless of whether this is the case or not, we can''t allow him to return to the new continent," Ah Puch said in a menacing voice.

    A derisive sneer appeared on Xolotl''s face. "Do you have a death wish?"

    "No. On the contrary, I want to live the best life possible," Ah Puch immediately replied without any hesitation. "Have you thought about our current circumstances? It would be impossible for us to do this under normal circumstances, but it''s entirely possible for us to pull this off now! From that old friend I just mentioned, I learned that the representative team of the Alkebn Underworlds has already been intercepted by the three pirs, so surely it won''t be too much trouble to intercept another death god."

    Xolotl raised an eyebrow and didn''t reply right away. After several seconds, he asked in a calm voice, "Which old friend is this?"

    Supay and Ah Puch stood up in unison with sly smiles on their faces. "We were afraid that you would never ask."

    The door silently swung open, and Xolot''s pupils abruptly contracted.

    Izanami and Archimedes were standing outside!

    "I''m impressed..." Xolotl was stunned into silence for a few seconds before turning to the two new continent death gods. "You''vetched onto their coattails even faster than I could!"

    In order to win the battle for supremacy on the new continent in the wake of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s passing, it was absolutely necessary to receive the assistance of a powerful backer, but never did he think that these two would have already established ties with the three pirs.

    "You''ve made a wise decision." Archimedes stepped forward with a smile as he said, "We can give you what you want as long as you stand with us during the final vote to be held during the conference in 11 hours from now."

    "Our supervising ambassador is still here."

    "What if he''s no longer here?" Archimedes stepped forward as the smile on his face took a sinister turn. "What if he just so happened to be dyed or even killed out at sea?"

    Xolotl''s grip around the armrests of his chair immediately tightened upon hearing this. If Viracocha were to perish, then the secret that he was trying to report back to the two rulers of the new continent would also disappear!

    "Rest assured, the two rulers of your continent may be deranged, but I''m sure they still know that there are certain people they can''t afford to mess with. Viracocha is a death god that was forcibly raised through sacrificial arts, so he''spletely expendable in their eyes, and there''s no way they would challenge the three pirs over the demise of such an insignificant pawn."

    Archimedes''s voice was full of temptation, and he was wearing down Xolotl''s willpower and inhibitions by the second.

    Ah Puch turned to Xolotl with a meaningful gaze and said, "Most importantly, the three pirs have sufficient reason to step in, so our rulers won''t have any reason to suspect us."

    Supay chimed in in a grim voice, "If he really is delivering the secret to transcend above the Yama-King level back to our rulers, the new continent would return to the same state as it had been several hundred years ago. Do you want to see that happen? The demise of a death god only takes ce once in several thousand years, are you really willing to let this opportunity slip?"

    Xolotl''s eyes narrowed slightly in contemtion.

    "What are our chances of sess?"

    "Sess is guaranteed," Izanami replied with a smile. "Death God Osiris has been waiting at the Pacific Ocean all along, and he will be the one to intercept Viracocha. Your supervising ambassador is just like the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds, all of them were forcibly raised to their current levels, and they''re no match for a true death god."

    The room fell into deathly silence.

    All eyes were on Xolotl, waiting for him to make his final decision.

 Chapter 902: Night Attack

    <h4>Chapter 902: Night Attack</h4>

    The sea breeze was blowing against Viracocha''s face. The night breeze was carrying with it a salty aroma, and his robe was pping gently behind him.

    He was standing on a small sailboat, yet it was traveling just as fast as the most modern ships of the mortal realm. The boat sliced through the water like a sharp knife, and the waves on either side of it rose up to several meters tall, creating a barrier of water on both sides. asionally, a giant Yin beast would appear within the waves, but as soon as they came into contact with this sailboat, they would all turn tail and flee.

    The divine aura of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa was not to be disrespected, even if they were on the verge of death.

    After standing in silence for close to an hour, Viracocha turned around and instructed, "Speed up a little more."

    A skeleton wearing a sailor uniform approached Viracocha before extending a respectful bow. "This is already the top speed the boat is capable of reaching, Your Excellency."

    Viracocha closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was also aware that this was the fastest the boat was capable of traveling, but he couldn''t help but want it to go a little faster.

    The news that he was carrying would for sure be enough to draw the two rulers of the new continent to Nara, and he could barely wait to deliver this news!

    "Where are we right now?"

    "In mortal realm terms, we should be close to the Hawaiian inds, and in the underworld, this ce is known as the Ind of Hope, Your Excellency."

    Viracocha finally heaved an internal sigh of relief.

    He was naturally also aware that the three death gods of the new continent weren''t especially fond of him.

    There was a fundamental conflict of interest between them, and if it weren''t for the fact that he was representing the two rulers of the new continent, the three death gods would''ve most likely made a move against him long ago. However, he knew that thest thing the three death gods would want to see would be for him to deliver this piece of news back to his masters. In fact, he wouldn''t be surprised if they were to take some drastic measures to try and stop him.

    The three death gods could tolerate following his lead and allowing him to represent the new continent in their stead, but they definitely wouldn''t allow the two rulers of the new continent to receive any glimmer of hope!

    Hence, he hadn''t even informed them of his time of departure, but even so, he still couldn''t help but feel extremely uneasy ever since he stepped onto this boat.

    He couldn''t shake the feeling that something terrifying was about to happen.

    However, he could finally rest easy now. He opened his mouth and was just about to say something when the surface of the sea suddenly rippled slightly.

    A faint chuckle resembling an indistinct sigh of the night rang out. It was barely audible, yet it sent shivers running down Viracocha''s spine, and the relief that had welled up in his heart just a moment ago instantly faded. His Yin energy erupted in full force, and he looked around with a wary expression as he yelled, "Who''s there?"

    No response.

    The surrounding air seemed to havepletely congealed, creating an extremely tense and oppressive atmosphere. It was like walking through a dark and narrow alleyway at night alone or standing in front of a mirror in the dead of the night surrounded by lit candles.

    The eerie tension in the air made him want to scream out loud, but he had to remain calm.

    There''s someone here! But who is it? Xolotl? Ah Puch? Supay? Are they finally making a move against me? But what''s given them the courage to finally act?

    The wind was bing fiercer and fiercer, and Viracocha crouched down like an apex predator about to pounce on its prey. His robe was pping vertically upward around him, and he stared intently at his surroundings as he asked, "How long have we been sailing for?"

    "Not long, only around three hours." A voice rang out in reply behind him, but in the instant that he heard this voice, Viracocha let loose a horrified scream and turned around as quickly as he could.

    The voice didn''t belong to any of his servants!

    All of his servants on the ship were devout followers of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, and they would always speak to him with a respectful honorific stered to the ends of their sentences.

    However, in the instant that he began to turn around, a hand suddenly closed itself around his neck, rendering him unable to turn around.

    He felt as if his throat were about to be crushed, and even though he was an initial Duke, he waspletely powerless to resist. Countless chaotic thoughts shed through his mind, but in the end, all of these thoughts culminated into a single question: "Who is it?"

    Who was the one that had been sent to hunt him down?

    He hadn''t earned his cultivation rank as an initial Duke through conventional means, but he was still one of the most powerful beings in the world. The fact that he was so powerless against his assant meant that they had to be at least an intermediate Duke or even an advanced Duke!

    The hand around his neck tightened even further, and his face had be as pale as a sheet. Theherfire in his eyes was flickering frantically as he desperately tried to pry the hand away from his throat, but all that his hands came into contact with were pieces of fabric that were giving off a strong medicinal aroma. In the instant that his hands came into contact with the fabric, countless inky-ck beetles crawled out from beneath the material before viciously sinking their fangs into his skin.

    His entire body shuddered, and he instantly let go. At the same time, he finally figured out who this was.

    This fabric was the material used to wrap mummies. As such, his assant had to be one of the Aegyptian Underworld¡¯s elders, Death God Osiris!

    "Don''t struggle." An extremely rxed, almost yful voice rang out behind him. "If you struggle too much, you''ll end up seeing my face, and you''ll have to die then. If you''re obedient and allow this boat to be parked here for two days before returning to the new continent, I can spare your life. After all, I don''t want to have to face those two mad dogs, either."

    With a casual flick of Osiris''s wrist, Viracocha was tossed onto the boat like a dirty rag before coughing violently as he frantically gulped down breaths of air.

    The terrifying might of his adversary had left himpletely powerless, and never had he felt such fearsome Yin energy before. In his recollection, only the Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa at the peak of their powers couldpare!

    Is this the power of a high-grade underworld emissary from one of the four pirs? I''mpletely powerless here, but if I don''t do anything, how will I be able to report this vital information to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa? What incentive would the Cathayan Underworld have to fulfill their promise if I fail?

    He wanted to turn around and he even had half a mind to retaliate, but in the end, he merely heaved a forlorn sigh and remained standing still on the deck of the boat.

    He couldn''t afford to act recklessly. Otherwise, he would only be giving his life for nothing.

    Osiris seemed to be very pleased with his actions, and he said, "Very good! You''re a smart..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, an earth-shattering boom suddenly rang out.

    Rumble!!

    Terrifying shockwaves erupted across the entire surface of the sea in the wake of the devastating impact, and tsunamis close to 10 meters tall surged outward in all directions in a frenzy.

    Viracocha faltered slightly upon seeing this, then gritted his teeth and finally turned around. The sight that greeted him immediately rooted him to the spot.

    Osiris was gone, and the back half of the boat had disappeared along with him!

    It was as if an invisible giant beast had torn through the area, leaving countless scraps of broken wood in its wake, and all of the skeletal sailors had been reduced to bones that were littered all over the surface of the sea.

    Who had stepped in?

    Osiris was an advanced Duke, yet he had vanished just like that!

    After a brief stunned stupor, Viracocha immediately rose up into the sky and flew directly toward the new continent as quickly as he could.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Perhaps most people in the mortal realm had only heard of Anubis, but in the underworld, Osiris was virtually just as renowned as Anubis.

    He was one of the nine deities of the Ennead of Heliopolis, and during his lifetime, he had been a shrewd elder. However, he was killed by his younger brother, Seth, the God of the Desert, out of spite and envy. Thankfully, he was resurrected by Anubis as a mummy, then went on to be the Aegyptian Underworld''s Judge of the Dead. In the Aegytpian Underworld, his power and authority were second only to Anubis, and he was superior in rank to all of the Aegyptian Underworld¡¯s elders.

    At this moment, Osiris opened his eyes in a disoriented manner. He felt as if heaven and earth had beenpletely flipped over, and even his mind seemed to be operating at a very sluggish pace.

    What just happened?

    He didn''t even sense anyone approaching him before he was instantly dragged thousands of kilometers away by a burst of almighty force that rendered himpletely powerless. By the time he returned to his senses, he had ended up in the ce where he was currently situated.

    "Are you finally awake?" A calm voice rang out beside him, and he faltered slightly before immediately springing up with an rmed yelp. He was like a rabbit that had encountered a lion, pressing himself tightly against the wall, and his vision finally became clear.

    As a result, he discovered that he was situated in a spacious cave. A ferocious storm was raging outside with shing lightning, rumbling thunder, and a torrential downpour crashing down from the heavens. A fire had been lit at the entrance of the cave, and a tall figure was standing beside the fire. This was a handsome man who was around 185 centimeters tall, wearing a set of camouge attire. There was a massive traveler''s backpack strapped to his back, and a rabbit was leaning on the wall of the cave beside the fire. Furthermore, there were also all types of condimentsid out such as salt, MSG, and cumin powder. It was as if the man were currently camping in the cave.

    This was a living person, and the light of the fire was casting his shadow onto the wall of the cave. Furthermore, this was the mortal realm, as evidenced by the abundant life energy here, and this observation made Osiris''s heart sink even further.

    The fact that this was the mortal realm meant that he had just been dragged by his almighty adversary straight out of the underworld! Within the span of half a second, he had passed through the underworld and Limbo straight into the mortal realm!

    What was even more terrifying to him was that he recognized this man!

    He was the unanimously recognized demon of the underworld, but wasn''t he supposed to have already handed over the reins to his sessor?

    "You want some?" the man asked as he gestured to the rabbit.

    Osiris was a mummy wearing blue and white striped ancient Aegytpian headwear and a chest ornament constructed from gold and sapphire. His entire body was covered in white strips of fabric with hieroglyphics inscribed all over its surface, and countless ck beetles were squirming incessantly beneath the strips of fabric. In contrast with the human, Osiris was a far more terrifying creature in appearance, yet the roles were reversed, and Osiris was the one wearing a horrified expression. However, he then quickly put on a fawning smile and rushed over to the fire to cook the rabbit for the second King Yanluo.

    "What an honor it is to meet you here, esteemed former King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld. May I be so rude as to ask why you''re here? Don''t worry about the rabbit, I can cook it for you. I just so happen to be a decent cook, and no thanks, I''ll pass on the rabbit, you can enjoy it all for yourself, esteemed King Yanluo."

    If Viracocha were to see this, he would definitely struggle to believe that this was the death god who had just rendered himpletely powerless.

    The second King Yanluo didn''t turn down Osiris''s kind offer, and he made short work of the rabbit in just a few mouthfuls. He then looked around for something to wipe his hands with, and his gaze settled on Osiris with clearly less than friendly intentions.

    Osiris faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately offered up his own hand with a fawning smile. The second King Yanluo wiped his greasy hands on Osiris''s shroud, and the pristine high-quality shroud was instantly stained a hideous yellow color. However, Osiris could only endure this humiliation in silence.

    "This is the Amazon Rainforest." The second King Yanluo lit a cigarette and held it casually between his lips, looking very much like an uncouth gangster. "I''m currently doing a live stream of my experiences exploring the rainforest, it''s called ''The Man at the Top of the Food Chain''."

    He turned to Osiris with a displeased expression as he continued, "You interrupted my live stream."

    <i>Oh, I''m so very sorry for interrupting your all-important live stream with my trivial international affairs! </i>

    "You''ve broken the rules." The second King Yanluo took one final puff from his cigarette, then pressed the smoldering butt firmly into Osiris''s hand, and Osiris didn''t even dare to pull his hand back.

    The second King Yanluo looked straight into Osiris''s eyes as he asked, "Do you know why you''re still alive?"

    Osiris felt as if there were a lump in his throat,pletely preventing him from speaking.

    Being in the presence of the second King Yanluo was like facing an almighty giant dragon, and even though he was no longer capable of sweating, he still felt as if he had be drenched in cold sweat.

    "The reason you''re still alive is that I''m a reasonable person. This is the that gave me life and nurtured me, and all worlds have their own rules. In order to prevent the destruction of a world, you must constantly stay within the constraints of its rules. Hence, when you targeted the Cathayan Underworld, I didn''t do anything. When you attacked the third King Yanluo, I also didn''t do anything. Those are challenges that he should stand up to on his own. The path of progression for any sessful individual has always been filled with potholes and obstacles, and you either fall at the hurdles or step over them. However, you shouldn''t have intercepted the Alkebn Underworlds and gone after Viracocha. These are unscrupulous measures that have no ce on the world stage. If I had refused to y by the rules from the very beginning, you would''ve all been crushed long ago.

    His voice was as cold and unforgiving as a sharp de as he concluded, "Let me say this once again: you''ve broken the rules. Do you hear me?"

    All of the strength seemed to have been sapped from Osiris''s body, and he shuddered before falling to his knees and pressing his forehead against the ground as he replied in a trembling voice, "I understand..."

    "Alright, piss off now," the second King Yanluo said with a disdainful wave of his hand. "Tell your masters that if they y by the rules, then I won''t intervene even if the Cathayan Underworld is razed to the ground. However, if you dare to go outside the boundaries of the rules, a slow and painful death awaits all of you."

 Chapter 903: Thumbs-up From the Second King Yanluo

    <h4>Chapter 903: Thumbs-up From the Second King Yanluo</h4>

    A servant was carefully fastening the strap of Qin Ye''s headwear under his chin, while another servant was meticulouslybing his hair and making sure there wasn''t so much as a single crease on his ck dragon robe. This was his first international conference, so he didn''t want to wear something that was too eye-catching. Zhao Yun was standing right beside him, and all of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow and said, "My Lord, as you anticipated, the second King Yanluo has intervened."

    The power of the second King Yanluo was so formidable that it could be felt even from across the entire Pacific Ocean. Qin Ye didn''t know what reactions the three pirs would have to this, and he didn''t care. He merely said in a calm voice, "That''s only to be expected. Are you feeling a little guilty?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "I am loyal only to the current King Yanluo, not any particr person. However, I''m very curious, how did you know that the second King Yanluo would definitely intervene?"

    Qin Ye''s expression darkened slightly as he raised his arms, allowing his servants to adjust his robes as he harumphed coldly, "Those so-called Heavenly Dao restrictions on his arms were fucking drawn on with paint! I can''t believe he thought I would be stupid enough to fall for that! Can''t he at least show a little sincerity when lying? From the way he executed Xu Fu, I knew that he wasn''t bound in any way by the Heavenly Dao, and the oil paint was way too obvious!"

    After that rant, his voice calmed down a little as he continued, "As for why I was certain he would intervene, it''s very simple: I''ve always been analyzing his thought process through the perspective of a ruler. What has he done since he met me? He set me up for the Hungry Ghost Festival incident, he deceived me into going to the Huang n''s earthen building... He set up one trap after another, but he would always step in right in the nick of time if things went out of hand. He has the heart of a kind mother."

    Qin Ye raised his head and sighed to the heavens, "He''s a good, good man..."

    K, K, Kind mother?!

    Zhao Yun''s eyeballs had almost popped out of their sockets, and only after a long while was he able to spit out an affirmative response.

    Whatever you say, Your Excellency.

    "He''s training me. While he''s still here, he''s training me to be a worthy sessor as quickly as possible. Of course, he''s not going to just step in anytime I''m in any danger. As I''m sure you recall, on all of the asions that he intervened, he only did so right in the nick of time."

    This was a habitual treatment that one would give their sessor. It was just like how ancient emperors tasked their crown princes with running some of the nation''s divisions. The experience would hold them in great stead once they officially took over.

    However, it was also this precise attitude that could allow a crown prince to find a pattern in the way that the emperor did things.

    It was like a protective hen watching her chicks grow, allowing them to roam and explore freely and only stepping in once they were about to enter a fatal situation.

    Qin Ye was very adept at psychological analysis, and during his interactions with the second King Yanluo, he had already gotten his measure.

    "This is what gave me the confidence not to send you to the new continent. The best arrangement would be for the two rulers of the new continent to see you, but if you go, then he wouldn''t have done anything, and there also wouldn''t have been that eruption of Yin energy just now. I really want to see the expressions on the faces of the three pirs; I can guarantee you that they¡¯re not in a very good mood."

    The servants finished dressing Qin Ye and backed away in a respectful manner. Right as they were about to exit the room, one of them said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, the conference is going tomence in an hour."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. The ck dragon robe had given him an additional sense of majesty and authority, and he gracefully picked up his teacup as he said, "You could say that I was forcing him to act, but I couldn''t do it too tantly. Otherwise, a man like the second King Yanluo really wouldpletely let go. All I can say is that his mindset is the reason he decided to intervene. However, there was still a catalyst that was missing. What do you think that catalyst is?"

    Zhao Yun considered this question for a moment before replying, "There had to be something that encroached upon his bottom line. Everyone has been constantly working to uphold the rules of the world, and seeing those rules being broken in such a brazen manner was what urged him to finally act."

    "That''s right." Qin Ye snapped his fingers in response. "Assassination is the most unscrupulous of actions, and that applies both in the mortal realm and the underworld. Ever since I came to Nara, they''ve broken the rules over and over again. There was that assassination attempt against me, the interception of the Alkebn Underworlds at the Strait of Tsushima, and thistest incident concerning Viracocha was the third instance."

    He set down his teacup as he continued, "I was confident that if I had actually been ced in life-threatening danger during the assassination attempt made against me, the second King Yanluo would''ve definitely intervened, and I''m certain that he would''ve kept the fact that he had intervened a secret because he wouldn''t have wanted to undermine my authority."

    This was the debut of the third King Yanluo on the world stage, and the second King Yanluo had to step aside.

    "I''m guessing that the second King Yanluo would''ve already been tempted to intervene when the Alkebn Underworlds were intercepted at the Strait of Tsushima, but the situation wasn''t dire enough yet for him to have to act."

    The smile of a cunning fox appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he continued, "The new continent is our final trump card, and if Viracocha were to be intercepted, then our defeat would be sealed, so the second King Yanluo had no choice but to step in. That''s why I didn''t send you to address any of the previous situations. An assassination attempt was already made against me, and as the weakest King Yanluo in history, I needed your protection here. Under these circumstances, someone had to intervene, and there''s only one candidate for the job."

    Zhao Yun was extremely impressed by Qin Ye''s analysis. Never did he think that the third King Yanluo, who had only been in power for less than seven years, would manage to have even the second King Yanluo wrapped around his finger! He was constantly forcing the second King Yanluo''s hand, luring him into a war of attrition, and without even realizing it himself, the second King Yanluo had fallen right into Qin Ye''s trap!

    It was a sh of minds between the most powerful being in all three realms by far and a nascent Yama-King, and thetter hade out on top!

    It could be said that if Qin Ye had made even the slightest miscalction, then the second King Yanluo wouldn''t have intervened. Now that he had stepped in, his intervention was going to have a massive impact on the conference.

    You can disrespect us, but you can''t not be wary of us because we also have trump cards of our own! If you force us too close to the edge, then we''ll take you down with us!

    Once the three pirs became wary of the Cathayan Underworld, they would act with a lot more restraint, and it could be said that Qin Ye had maximized all of the favorable conditions avable to him.

    However, Zhao Yun''s brows then furrowed slightly as he asked, "Will the second King Yanluo be displeased at being used like this?"

    This was a valid concern. After all, the second King Yanluo''s temper was far from mild.

    Qin Ye replied with a wide smile, "He won''t. I can guarantee you that in the instant he intervened, he would''ve already realized that I''ve been forcing his hand all along. However, not only will he not be angry, he might even give me a thumbs-up."

    Right at this moment, the door was opened.

    Qin Changxin and the panel of advisors were already standing outside. ording to the rules of the four pirs, they were permitted to bring their panels of advisors to official conferences.

    "Your Excellency." Qin Changxin took a deep breath as he cupped his fist a respectful salute. "Please make your way to the Heavenly Radiance Hall! The conference of the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts will officially begin in 40 minutes!"

    It''s finally here...

    Qin Ye closed his eyes andid a hand over his own chest, then took several deep breaths in session to calm himself down.

    No one could remain calm on the cusp of their first sh with the most powerful figures in the world, and Qin Ye was no exception.

    Just the mere thought of his name appearing alongside those of the legendary gods of so many different cultures was enough to set his heart racing like a hummingbird''s wings.

    Come! I''ve already done everything in my power, all that''s left is to calmly watch everything unfold.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    New Hell''s Legacy: On the 7th of June in the 7th year of the thirding of Hell, the Coalition of Underworld''s re-signing ceremony for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts was held in Nara, Nippon.

    The Heavenly Radiance Hall was thergest conference hall in the entire pavilion. It was a tiered hall that was around 100 meters in size, and the gs of all of the underworlds were hanging behind the main stage. At the very center of the hall was a relief depicting a skeleton wearing a regal crown in the ancient Cathayan style shaking hands with a human king who was also wearing a golden crown.

    At the very front of the hall were fourrge tables, each of which had three seats, all of which werevishly decorated bejewelled chairs.

    The central chairs among these trios of chairs were especially grand and majestic. They were two-meter-tall thrones constructed out of bones, and the throne for each nation was different.

    The Cathayan one was a dragon, the Aegyptian one was a majestic eagle, the Hindustani one was a giant elephant, and the Argosian one was a cerberus. These were the thrones reserved for the rulers of the four pirs, and the chairs on either side of the thrones were for the maximum of two representatives that each ruler of the four pirs was permitted to bring with them.

    The rows of seats behind these four tables were for the panels of advisors, and after that came the seats for the first-rate underworlds, then the second-rate underworlds, then the third-rate underworlds, and finally, the rest.

    Every single death god knew their ce, and none of them sat out of turn. This was an extremely realistic and pragmatic world, and no one protested the fact that the more powerful underworlds were granted seats nearer to the front of the hall.

    The gates were gently opened, and Qin Ye led his entourage into the hall. The chatter in the hall immediately subsided, and everyone turned their eyes toward the Cathayan Underworld''s representative team.

    The emotions of the bystanders were extremely mixed.

    Those who didn''t want to see the utopia alliance be the only voice in the world were looking at them with hope and anticipation, those who were standing on the side of the three pirs were looking on with wariness and enmity, and the fence-sitters were watching them with sympathetic expressions. However, everyone then quickly looked away one after another, and the chatter gradually resumed as if nothing had ever happened.

    Qin Ye ignored the scrutiny and made his way directly to the throne at the very front. To his side was the Aegyptian Underworld.

    The other three pirs had already arrived three hours ago, but he hadn''t gone to greet them. Furthermore, the three pirs had arrived at the same time, and as that happened, the cries of surprise that rang out from within the conference hall were clearly audible throughout the entire pavilion.

    They had made it very clear that they were standing together and ready for anything the Cathayan Underworld had to throw at them.

    Anubis, the death god that Qin Ye had met once during this inauguration ceremony, was sitting no more than 20 meters away from him.

    He was a very imposing figure, standing at over three meters tall, and even though he had the head of a dog and was seated in a very casual manner, there was a sense of peerless authority in his eyes. He wore a golden serpent crown, and two golden tassels were trailing down from his chest ornament, which consisted of a round golden te with sapphires and diamonds embedded onto its surface. His skin was of a deathly white color, and crimson Yin runes were roaming over the surface of his skin like mes, giving him a nightmarish appearance.

    From this angle, Qin Ye couldn''t see Yamaraja and Hypnos, and Qin Ye didn''t bother to turn around to look at them. Right as his gaze shed over Anubis, thetter seemed to have sensed his scrutiny, and he turned toward Qin Ye before giving him a polite smile.

    It was perhaps the friendliest smile he had ever disyed in his entire life, but Qin Ye felt as if he could almost hear the sound of sharp des being drawn.

    "Yanluo Qin." To Qin Ye''s surprise, Anubis was the first person to break the silence between them, and he maintained a polite smile as he asked in a voice audible only to those directly around them, "Have you seen Death God Osiris?"

    "I have not," Qin Ye replied with impable etiquette and an identical smile.

    Anubis looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes as he pointed at the seat beside him. "This is his seat. He just so happened to have something to do in the Pacific Ocean, yet following the emergence of the second King Yanluo''s Yin energy, I haven''t heard from him for a few hours, and his Yin energy has also disappeared. Do you know where he''s gone?"

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup in a calm manner and asked, "How am I supposed to know that?"

    "Do you not keep tabs on what your subordinates are doing?"

    Right at this moment, a figure strode onto the main stage, then extended a deep and respectful bow.

    All of the death gods present sat up straighter at the sight of the figure''s emergence. He was the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, the man with almost no presence, Borfis.

    His emergence meant that this international conference was about to officiallymence!

    Which side was going toe out on top in this epic power struggle?

    From this moment forth, both sides were going to hurl their remaining trump cards at one another until one side ran out of ammunition, and a brand new era was about to be established!

 Chapter 904: The Worldâ€™s Execution Ground (1)

    <h4>Chapter 904: The World''s Execution Ground (1)</h4>

    "Wee to Nara, everyone." Borfis was wearing a pristine white robe, and he was an Abyssal Prefect who had a very simr appearance to an elderly man. His white hair and beard were impablybed, and he was reading the script in his hand as he announced, "The state of the world is constantly changing. In the past several thousand years, countless underworlds and religions have vanished throughout the course of history. Now, there are still 34 civilizations sitting here today, and for that, I am truly extremely thankful."

    No apuse would be given during international conferences like this unless special announcements were made, and Borfis wasn''t hoping that such a general opening address would be met with any apuse. He turned to the side and gave a slight nod, following which an underworld emissary wearing a crisp suit made his way onto the stage. He was holding an intricately crafted hollow golden box, within which sat a golden scroll.

    "This is the agreement that was finalized 10 years ago, and all of the underworlds present participated in the signing of the agreement at the time. Up to this point, no underworld has expressed any objections toward this agreement, and it''s been confirmed to be in effect by international arbiters."

    No one said anything.

    Everyone knew that the re-signing of the agreement wasn''t going to be the highlight of the conference, and they were all eagerly awaiting the climax.

    Borfis adjusted his sses slightly before continuing, "I''m going to reiterate the main content of the agreement, as well as the important attached uses, and after that, we''ll begin the signing ceremony."

    "Please wait a moment." Right at this moment, a calm voice rang out from the second row of seats, and a death god slowly rose to his feet as he asked, "What about the Cathayan Underworld?"

    This question was like a massive rock dropping into a pond, sending violent waves and ripples running throughout the entire hall. All of the death gods'' hearts skipped a beat upon hearing this, and they were eagerly waiting for what was about toe.

    Kuwal was grabbing the armrests of his chair with a white-knuckled grip. Was the first battle between the four pirs in thousands of years finally about to begin?

    Was this battle going to change the state of the world? If so, what direction would the world go in from here?

    He had thought that the suspense would be the most nerve-wracking thing about all of this, and that once the battle actually ensued, the tension would be lifted.

    However, as he sat here and held the vote of the Red Moon Federation in his hand, he discovered that he wasn''t feeling any more rxed at all! Instead, the suffocating pressure in the hall was only making him even more tense and nervous. The fact that he was about to y a role in aplete change in the state of the world and the concern he held for the future of the Red Moon Federation and himself was enough to make his soul tremble and quake.

    Qin Ye took a cold nce at the death god who had just spoken, but didn''t say anything. Borfis smiled and replied, "The Cathayan Underworld didn''t read the agreement when it was signed 10 years ago, but I already requested Yanluo Qin to read it upon his arrival in Nara. The Cathayan Underworld had no objections, and they''ve added their signature to the agreement as well."

    "They''ve signed the agreement?" The death god seemed to be very confused as he asked, "Why does the agreement require a signature from the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Anko lowered her head slightly, allowing her ice-blue hair to obscure her face, and beneath the veil of her hair, her lips were tightly pursed.

    Many other death gods in the hall had also lowered their heads asplex looks appeared in their eyes, and the entire hall had fallen so silent that even a pin drop would be clearly audible.

    The tsunami was already about to begin!

    Borfis also furrowed his brows with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean by that?"

    The death god''s voice grew louder and louder as he said, "When we were signing the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t present, and now that the treaty is going to be re-signed, the Cathayan Underworld has no right to sign the treaty as one of the initiators! As we all know, the initiators of the agreement have the right to supervise the development of forbidden arts in other countries, and when necessary, they can even forcibly intervene! I don''t think the current Cathayan Underworld should still be entitled to this right!"

    His voice had already raised to the pitch of rumbling thunder at this point, and he swept his gaze across the entire hall as he continued, "The Cathayan Underworld has not fulfilled its duties in the past century! Forbidden arts are possessed only by the four pirs, and prior to the re-signing of this agreement, we should abide by the terms of the previous agreement! As a former member of the four pirs, the Cathayan Underworld had the right and duty to supervise and intervene in the development of forbidden arts in other underworlds, but they haven''t enacted that duty! During their century-long absence, many countries in Asia attempted to develop forbidden arts of their own, and the ones that stopped them were the Hindustani Underworld and the Russian Underworld! Meanwhile, the Argosian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld have contributed the most to the development of forbidden arts in the past century. The Cathayan Underworld hasmitted a severe breach of duty, and I don''t think there''s any need for them to participate in the re-signing of this agreement!"

    It''sing!

    H gulped nervously as she sat amid the tense silence. It was obvious that this was going to happen at some point, but no one had predicted that it woulde this quickly.

    The conference had only justmenced and the challenge had already beenid down. It was clear that the three pirs wanted to decide the oue of this power struggle as quickly as possible!

    Were they intimidated by the Yin energy of the second King Yanluo from earlier? Were they worried that dying this any longer could allow the Cathayan Underworld to make aeback?

    Her breathing was beginning to elerate unconsciously.

    Borfis took a nce at the silent three pirs and the calm and collected Cathayan Underworld, then asked in a hesitant voice, "So what do you propose?"

    The death god extended a bow in front of everyone''s intense scrutiny, then picked up a scroll that was resting on the table in front of him as he said, "In light of the Cathayan Underworld''s severe breach of duty during the past century, I believe it''s necessary to reassign the roles of the nations involved in this re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts! At the same time, I would like to impeach the Cathayan Underworld for only looking after its own interests and shirking its duties as one of the premier international powerhouses! For the past century, it''s enjoyed the benefits given to the four pirs but hasn''t fulfilled the corresponding duties! The Cathayan Underworld is no longer fit to continue as one of the four pirs, and I hope all of the death gods present can bear witness to my proposal!"

    This was truly a bombshell!

    All of the death gods had goosebumps all over their skin, and everyone had turned to stare at this brave warrior who had dared to challenge the giant dragon. Borfis was also at a slight loss for what to do, and he opened his mouth to say something a few times, only to be unable to determine what to say.

    Never did he think that someone would impeach a member of the four pirs that had upied its position for thousands of years during an international conference!

    "Who are you?" It was Qin Changxin who had raised the question in Qin Ye''s stead, and at the same time, he cast a cold gaze toward the death god.

    The death god didn''t back down in the slightest as he replied, "I am a subordinate to Death God Mk al-Mawt of the Brunei Underworld, my name is Essien."

    Qin Changxin nodded in response. "Brunei is a nation in which the primary religion is Im, so you serve the Imic death god, Mk al-Mawt. In the religion of Im, there is only one god. As a result of this, Mk al-Mawt can''t even be considered to be a death god, which means that even he doesn''t have the right to raise such a proposal, yet you, a mere subordinate of a fake god, dares to disrespect the Cathayan Underworld?!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, shaking the very foundation of the conference hall, yet Essien still refused to back down as he immediately replied, "In this world,rge nations have their duties, and small nations have their rights! Anyone can impeach one of the four pirs if they shirk their duties for a prolonged period of time! What we want is for the four pirs to lead us in worldwide advancement, not for the four pirs to suck blood from us like leaches without anypensation!"

    In conclusion, he bowed once again and reiterated, "I propose we strip the Cathayan Underworld of its position as one of the four pirs!"

    His words were like the unsheathing of a sharp sword.

    All of the death gods turned toward Qin Ye, waiting for his response to this incredibly tant challenge.

    Borfis suddenly felt like his throat had be extremely parched, and only after a long while did he respond in a trembling voice, "This is an extremely important matter! The four pirs are recognized by the entire world, and you are in no position to impeach..."

    "How dare you!" Before Borfis even had a chance to finish, an authoritative voice rang out from elsewhere in the hall, following which an imposing figure rose to his feet.

    It was Archimedes.

    In the underworld, he was renowned as the Father of Yin Runes, and his status wasparable with that of Einstein in Usonia following the second world war.

    He turned to Essien and said, "We are far more equipped to decide whether the Cathayan Underworld deserves to continue to serve as one of the four pirs. You have no right to spout your nonsense here. Begone!"

    Zhao Yun was just about to say something, but Qin Ye shook his head and said in a low voice, "Don''t let them get to you. Let''s just wait and watch their performance."

    The time to retaliate woulde when their true objective was revealed.

    Furthermore, his most important trump card still hadn''t arrived yet.

    In addition to that, he was very curious about what they had nned next.

    Essien was essentially volunteering himself as cannon fodder, making the proposal that would benefit the three pirs immensely, yet Archimedes had stood up to stop him, and that was very intriguing to Qin Ye.

    Removing the Cathayan Underworld as one of the initiators for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts was no small matter. There was a use on the treaty that clearly stated that the four pirs had the right to supervise the development of forbidden arts in other nations, as well as the right to forcibly intervene when necessary.

    This was a perfect excuse to start this war! It would be extremely detrimental for the Cathayan Underworld to lose these rights, not to mention that it would significantly dent the reputation of the Cathayan Underworld in the eyes of the other underworlds. If that were to happen, the Cathayan Underworld would lose even more support.

    "They clearly have some ulterior motive..." He sat on his throne with a cold smile on his face, carefully watching this act unfold. Very soon, the opposition''s true objective was about to be revealed.

    Essien sat back down, and Archimedes extended a slight bow toward Borfis as he said, "I think it''s unreasonable to strip the Cathayan Underworld of its status as one of the four pirs. All of the four pirs are superpower nations that are able to determine the direction of the entire region around them, and the Cathayan Underworld fits this description. However, I also think the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t have the right to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts! They haven''t even submitted progress reports of their own research and development into forbidden arts during the past century! Death God Essien''s proposal is a little aggressive, but there are some parts that are reasonable. I think that we should temporarily exclude the Cathayan Underworld from this re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts and create a separate agreement for them, then adjust ordingly in the future. If the Cathayan Underworld can prove that it''s fit for the role, then it can regain its status as an initiator during the next re-signing of the agreement. Otherwise, it would be unfair for the other underworlds if it simply recovered all of its rights without any consequences even after a century-long absence. I propose we put the Cathayan Underworld in a special observation period during which its ce can be taken by one of the first-rate underworlds. This is my suggestion, and it''s also supported by the Argosian Underworld."

    Dead silence.

    No one said anything.

    Chills ran down the spines of all of the death gods upon hearing this.

    This was a verymonly used strategy where the worst option was proposed first, following which a slightly more favorable option was offered, and the second option was what the three pirs truly wanted the Cathayan Underworld to take.

    Perhaps the second King Yanluo''s warning had taken effect or perhaps they were concerned that there would be too much bacsh if they were to strip the Cathayan Underworld of its role as one of the four pirs. In any case, they chose not to pursue that path, choosing instead to withdraw the Cathayan Underworld''s rights as an initiator for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. Furthermore, they were proposing for one of the first-rate underworlds to take its ce. There were only two first-rate underworlds, one of which was the new continent underworld, while the other was the Russian Underworld. The new continent was clearly not a feasible option, so there was only really one choice.

    Once the Cathayan Underworld lost this right, it would be impossible to recover it.

    After this, the three pirs would gradually strip the Cathayan Underworld of its other rights, all the way until the Cathayan Underworld existed as one of the four pirs only in name, but held no actual power, and that would be when they threw their support behind the Russian Underworld to take over.

    At that point, there would only be one voice left in the world.

    It was a vicious tactic, and just because it was amonly used one didn''t mean it was any less effective. Furthermore, this proposal was far easier to ept for everyonepared with stripping the Cathayan Underworld of its status as one of the four pirs.

    You can''t agree to this, Yanluo Qin! They''re feeding you cyanide pills with a sugar coating!

    H was holding onto the hem of her dress in a white-knuckled grip as she turned to look at Qin Ye with tightly gritted teeth.

    In the face of everyone''s intense scrutiny, Qin Ye finally broke his silence, and he did so without any hesitation.

    "Alright, the Cathayan Underworld is willing to relinquish its rights as initiator."

    H almost sprang to her feet, but thankfully, J?rmungandr was there to catch her.

    This was a direct sh between the four pirs, and no other underworld had the right to intervene.

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye continued, "At the same time, the Cathayan Underworld will officially back out of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts and never take part in it again!"

    Theposed facades of the leaders of the three pirs finally cracked a little upon hearing this, and the war had well and truly begun!

 Chapter 905: The Worldâ€™s Execution Ground (2)

    <h4>Chapter 905: The World''s Execution Ground (2)</h4>

    Dead silence.

    Immediately thereafter, raucousmotion erupted in all directions, and it was gradually growing louder and louder. In the blink of an eye, all eyes were on Qin Ye, and everyone was discussing thistest revtion among themselves.

    This was the first time that anyone hadshed out at the Cathayan Underworld during an international conference, and it was also the first time that one of the four pirs had officially announced its exit from the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts!

    Theherfire in the eyes of the nameless god of death flickered erratically as he turned to Qin Ye with an incredulous expression. The death gods of the Nipponese Underworld, the Red Moon Federation, the Hindustani Underworld... everyone felt as if electricity were surging over their skin, and several death gods had almost sprung to their feet!

    If the Cathayan Underworld were to back out of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, it would be constantly exposed to the threat of forbidden arts!

    This was also the case in the past, but at the very least, it had a contract as a form of protection, but now, the Cathayan Underworld had torn thisyer of protection to shreds!

    Shameless! Shameless! Shameless!

    "Damn it..." Izanami almost swore out loud as she murmured to herself through gritted teeth, "Everyone has always yed by the rules, yet he''s suddenly decided that he doesn''t want to anymore! No underworld has ever done this! I''ve never seen someone so shameless!"

    Indeed, in order to convince other underworlds to interact with you and secure more benefits from them, one had to y by the rules.

    Never had any underworld renounced the rules like this before, but the Cathayan Underworld had done so now.

    Archimedes was alsopletely taken aback by this, and he turned to Hypnos for help.

    Never did they even consider this to be an option.

    On the world stage, the Cathayan Underworld had always been one that cared the most about its reputation. The first and second King Yanluos had been domineering and aggressive, but most of the time, they had abided by the rules, so why was the third King Yanluo so shameless? How could he just decide to exit this treaty on a whim? Thispletely went against all of the possible oues they had theorized!

    Where was his sense of shame?

    "Yanluo Qin." Hypnos finally rose to his feet and looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes as he said, "You''re threatening the entire world."

    Yamaraja also stood up from his throne as he chimed in, "You''ve gone too far, Yanluo Qin."

    Anubis was the final one of the leaders of the three pirs to stand up, and he turned to Qin Ye as he said, "Forbidden arts are the most dangerous Pandora''s Box in the entire underworld. I''m sure you''re aware of how entire regions can be made uninhabitable for over a century following the detonation of a forbidden art. Your actions could throw the entire world into jeopardy!"

    "Don''t make meugh!" Qin Ye also rose to his feet, and he wasn''t backing down in the slightest as he looked at the three paramount death gods around him. "In this world, only the four pirs are aware of what stage forbidden arts have been developed to, and only the four pirs know how to assess whether a nation is attempting to develop forbidden arts or not, yet you''re proposing to withdraw the Cathayan Underworld''s rights as an initiator for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts? Are you stupid or deranged?"

    Several dozen bright red eyes immediately lit up beneath Yamaraja''s cloak.

    He had been the premier death god in one of the four pirs for thousands of years, and no one had ever insulted him so tantly in front of so many people!

    His Yin energy erupted forth without any warning, and it was like a sea of ck ink tinged with wisps of red. The sea of Yin energy flooded in all directions, yet before the other death gods even had a chance to be rmed, another burst of even more powerful Yin energy crashed down from the heavens, forcibly quelling Yamaraj''s Yin energy!

    Zhao Yun also rose to his feet as he looked at Yamaraja through narrowed eyes. "Death God Yamaraja, are you nning to attack our King Yanluo?"

    Faint white light began to shimmer within his right hand as he spoke, and an indistinct outline of his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear appeared.

    "How dare you?!" An enraged roar rang out as Durga, who was over five meters tall, also stood up in an instant. "Ghost King Zhao, you are only a subordinate to Yanluo Qin, yet you dare to threaten the ruler of our nation? Are you provoking our Hindustani Underworld?"

    Durga was a mountainous pile of body parts with three heads that were riddled with horns, and a giant mouth had spread open directly down the center of her body. Yin energy was also pouring out of the massive mouth to oppose Zhao Yun''s overwhelming Yin energy.

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to respond, Qin Ye chuckled coldly, "Ha! I''ve never seen a Yama-King be so rude to a being above the Yama-King level before! Do you have a death wish?"

    It was another threat, and this time, the threat was being made directly against Durga''s life!

    All of the death gods stared at Qin Ye with their mouths slightly agape. The way Qin Ye was acting now waspletely different from their image for what the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld should''ve been like. He was the leader of one of the most powerful nations of the world, yet he was acting like a shameless ruffian, making threats at will! In contrast with Qin Ye, his two predecessors were tame inparison!

    At the very least, the second King Yanluo had never publicly made a threat against anyone''s life!

    If this were the mortal realm, any nation that dared to threaten other nations with nuclear weaponry would undoubtedly be ostracized by the entire world. Even tiny nations would definitely refuse to open their doors to such a nation, and all embassies and agreements would be terminated with immediate effect because no one wanted to deal with such a vtile nation!

    However, this was exactly what Qin Ye was doing. Was this really the ruler of one of the four pirs? Everyone could scarcely believe their own eyes, and the fence-sitters were beginning to waver.

    They didn''t dare to support such an underworld that was disying such tant disregard for the unspoken rules of the world. It was like a vicious viper that waspletely self-serving and would bite anyone as long as it benefited them to do so!

    How could the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld act like this?

    "Are you threatening us?" Hypnos paid no heed to the risingmotion in the hall, and his smile faded as his pristine white robe rose up all around him, revealing the pure golden suit of armor underneath. "Your subordinate is directly threatening an advanced death god''s life! Do you think the world is your backyard?!"

    Boom!!

    Another burst of advanced Yama-King level Yin energy erupted across the entire hall, and Hypnos slowly rose up into the air as 12 inky-ck wings formed by Yin energy took shape on his back, giving him the appearance of an almighty deity.

    Before the death gods even had a chance to be rmed by this, another burst of Yin energy that was just as powerful swept through the entire scene, and all of the Yin runes on Anubis''s entire body lit up in unison. At the same time, a ferocious vortex of sand appeared behind him and he said, "As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, I thought you would know what rules can and can''t be broken. Are you really nning to shatter all of the rules that have been established over the past thousands of years?! You should be setting an example as one of the leading nations in the world!"

    "My apologies." Qin Ye didn''t even bother to release his Yin energy. In the face of three advanced death gods, for him to release his nascent Yama-King level Yin energy would be nothing more than a pitiful joke. Zhao Yun''s Yin energy would be more than enough to contend with theirs.

    He rested his hands on the table and said with a smile, "I only have one goal, which is to make Cathay great again."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    In a certain cave in the Amazon Rainforest of the mortal realm.

    The second King Yanluo was seated with his eyes closed, but a smile suddenly appeared on his face. Osiris almost soiled himself at the sight of his smile, and he silently pressed himself against the wall of the cave.

    After a long while, the second King Yanluo finally opened his eyes as he chuckled, "You shameless little bitch, you''ve well and truly disgraced the Cathayan Underworld! Having said that, this is exactly what the first King Yanluo and I couldn''t do..."

    He heaved a faint sigh as he leaned back casually against the rock wall behind him. "When you focus too much on keeping up appearances, you''ll be constantly bound by self-enforced rules, and your hands will constantly be tied. Make Usonia... I mean, make Cathay great again, that''s what he just said, right?"

    He prodded Osiris with his toe, and Osiris immediately replied with a fawning smile, "That''s right, that was the motto of the former Usonian president, Donald Trump. However, I think it''s much more appropriate when spoken by Yanluo Qin. In fact, it''s almost like he was the one who came up with this slogan!"

    I don''t care about the state of the world, I''m only open to discussion if the terms are favorable for my nation! I''m shameless? That''s right! I''m a fucking clown! What''re you gonna do about it?

    The second King Yanluo nodded as he closed his eyes once again. Even so, Osiris didn''t try to escape. Instead, he obediently tossed more wood into the fire, aiming to make the fire great again as well.

    The second King Yanluo got into a morefortable position before suddenly chuckling, "Is he stalling for time? Is he stalling until Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa arrive? Is that his true trump card? Prior to that, he''s going to act like a deranged idiot who has no shame or inhibitions. It''s a pretty good strategy, but he''s the only King Yanluo in history capable of using it. Neither Bo Yikao nor I would''ve been able to convince ourselves to be so shameless. Only in the final instant will the other underworlds see your true self. However, at the end of the day, you still have to follow the rules. No matter how you act now, you have to return to within the constraints of the rules when the final vote begins, unless you want to truly be an outcast in the world. What if you don''t manage to stall until Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa arrive? What will you do then? I''m really looking forward to this..."

    He paused momentarily before his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he gave Osiris a casual kick as he grumbled, "Make the fire stronger! It''s pouring out there!"

    Osiris immediately fed more wood into the fire like a pitiful servant...

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    No one was aware of what was happening in the cave as everyone''s eyes were currently focused on the four death gods of the four pirs.

    Many death gods had already risen to their feet, and the Yin energy of around a dozen death gods had gathered behind the rulers of the three pirs, forming a menacing cloud of darkness. At the same time, the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds and all of Northern Europa''s representatives had also stood up to join the Cathayan Underworld''s camp. In terms of numbers, the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t at a disadvantage.

    The Yin energy of the two sides were on the verge of shing, and everyone was unconsciously joining their respective camps. Hypnos stared intently at Qin Ye as he asked, "Are you sure you want to shatter the rules? Are you sure you can handle the consequences of your actions?"

    "I don''t want to break the rules," Qin Ye chuckled. "You already broke the rules, so there''s nothing left for me to break! As soon as I arrived in Nara, I was immediately met with an assassination attempt!"

    "But..." Izanami reflexively wanted to say something, but she had only just opened her mouth when Zhao Yun interjected, "Shut up! You have no right to talk here."

    Izanami gnashed her teeth together so hard that they almost shattered.

    "The Alkebn Underworlds were intercepted, and the messenger I sent was also intercepted!" Qin Ye mmed a hand onto the table and asked in a thunderous voice, "Who is it that''s breaking the rules?! You want to break the rules? Then let''s all break the rules! None of you have any shame anyway, so why should I bother to try and keep up appearances?"

    "How insolent!!" the three death gods of the three pirs roared almost in unison, and the Yin energy of the two opposing camps shed violently.

    All of the windows in the hall shattered in the wake of the sh, but only Erinys could sense that something was wrong.

    Qin Ye was being far too shameless here!

    The Cathayan Underworld could perhaps weather this storm like this, but this farce was far too damaging to the image of their nation. An image was something that took decades, even centuries to build up, yet it could be shattered in an instant.

    In particr, this was the third King Yanluo''s first appearance on the world stage. How was the Cathayan Underworld supposed to survive after this episode?

    He was like a mental asylum escapee who was impersonating the third King Yanluo!

    She was certain that the sessor chosen by the second King Yanluo wouldn''t be this foolish. Furthermore, during the past seven days, Qin Ye had disyed an exceptional ability to lie low under pressure without making any rash moves. In that case, what could his objective be for acting like this? Erinys''s eyes narrowed slightly as she pursed her lips in contemtion.

    Could it be that he was stalling for time? Could he be putting on this act on purpose? Was he waiting for something?

    Her heart abruptly skipped a beat as this thought urred to her, and she suddenly couldn''t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

 Chapter 906: The Worldâ€™s Execution Ground (3)

    <h4>Chapter 906: The World''s Execution Ground (3)</h4>

    Osaka Port, Osaka.

    It waste into the night, and the eerie path beyond the shimenawa rope that led into the underworld wasn''t the end. Instead, it was connected to the entrance of a lighthouse that was around 20 meters tall.

    The sea was calm and still, and the emissaries of the Nipponense Underworld who were on patrol duty were roaming the area in a bored andckadaisical manner. The room at the top wasn''t veryrge, only roughly 10 meters in size with traditional Nipponese decor and construction. There were countless wooden puppets hanging from strings dangling down from the roof, and as the sea breeze swept past, the wooden puppets ttered together in a bone-chilling symphony, making one feel as if the wooden puppets were turning on their own to stare directly at them.

    "I wonder when all of these world leaders are going to leave." An underworld emissary tossed a newspaper onto the table with a bored expression, then stretchedzily as he said, "We can''t rx until they leave."

    "Indeed." Another underworld emissary was standing beside the window, looking out at the starry night sky with a resigned expression as he smoked a cigarette. "There are far more important ports in our nation, we could easily go 100 years without getting any action here."

    All of a sudden, one of the wooden puppets fell onto the ground, and the two underworld emissaries faltered slightly before immediately rising to their feet to stare at the puppet with rmed expressions.

    Five seconds passed by, and one of the underworld emissaries patted his own chest as he said, "I felt like my heart was going to stop there! I thought some Yama-King must''ve arrived, but it turns out it was only the string snapping..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the wooden puppets hanging from the ceiling fell down in unison!

    Immediately thereafter, all of the puppets threw their hands over their heads, and their mouths abruptly sprang open as they screamed with all their might, "ÌÓ¤²¤í!ÌÓ¤²¤í!!!ÌÓ¤²¤í!!!(Run! Run!!! Run!!!)"

    They then scurried into the surrounding shadows as quickly as they could.

    The two underworld emissaries looked up with stunned expressions. "Does this mean... an advanced death god has arrived in Nara?"

    "How is that possible? Only the most powerful handful of underworlds in the entire world have advanced death gods, and all of them should be attending the conference in Nara! How could there still be another advanced death god here?"

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and the two underworld emissaries exchanged a horrified nce as they fought the urge to scream.

    They were the only two on guard duty on this night!

    Even underworld emissaries were capable of feeling fear, and their teeth were chattering violently as they unconsciously huddled together for safety. One of them asked in a trembling voice, "Who is it?"

    "Pardon my intrusion." A raspy voice rang out on the other side of the door, and after uttering only those three words, the owner of the voice burst into a fit of violent coughing as if he were very ill. "Could you please tell me how to get to Nara?"

    A sharp screeching sound akin to the sound of fingernails scraping across the door rang out, and the two underworld emissaries screamed before huddling together in sheer horror.

    They wanted to say something, but were unable to utter even a single word. The overwhelming Yin energy outside made them feel as if there were two giant beasts standing outside the door, and they copsed onto the ground as their lips trembled violently. At this point, the only sounds they could hear were their own ragged breathing and thumping hearts.

    "Hello? Hello?"

    Right at this moment, the voice of an elderly woman suddenly rang out from outside. "I''ll try asking them."

    In the next instant, the entire top floor of the building exploded, and shrapnel flew in all directions as massive waves over 10 meters tall were instantly swept up across the surrounding surface of the sea. Amid their horror and despair, the two underworld emissaries finally caught a glimpse of the two people standing outside.

    It was an elderly couple.

    The elderly man''s upper body waspletely bare, and he was wearing a native Usonian kilt around his lower body. There was an eagle mask sitting on the top of his head, revealing his sunken features, which were riddled with liver spots.

    As for the elderly woman, her entire body was enshrouded within a tattered ck cloak, and she was holding a cane. A design of an eagle was etched onto the surface of her cloak, and beneath the cloak was a dark Yin cloud that made it impossible to glean the woman''s true appearance.

    A venomous snake extended out of the cloak and asked, "Which way to Nara? I haven''t been here for over 1,000 years and I''m afraid my memory isn''t as sharp as it was during my youth..."

    One of the underworld emissaries finally returned to his senses, and he pointed a trembling finger in a certain direction.

    "Thank you." The elderly woman was slightly out of breath as she turned toward the direction the underworld emissary was pointing in with the elderly man, following which both of them instantly vanished into thin air.

    Dead silence.

    Only after a full 10 minutes had passed did the two underworld emissaries extricate themselves from each other''s terrified embrace, and one of them hurriedly said in a trembling voice, "Re... Report this to our higher-ups right away! I just recalled something... Those were the human forms of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, the rulers of the new continent! Haven''t they secluded themselves from the world long ago? Why have they suddenly appeared here?!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    In the conference hall, it seemed that a war was on the verge of breaking out.

    The rulers of the four pirs were facing off against one another, and all of the other death gods had unconsciously picked sides. Everyone was struggling to breath under this intensely oppressive atmosphere.

    All of the actors had adopted their positions, and it was time for the act to begin!

    Amid the tense silence, Anubis stepped forward and said, "Yanluo Qin, allow me to issue a warning to you: no country in history has ever dared to dishonor an agreement established by the Coalition of Underworlds!"

    He turned to face all of the underworlds before taking a deep breath.

    The moment that he had been waiting so long for had finally arrived, and he was so excited that even his voice was trembling slightly, something that hadn''t happened for countless years.

    "An underworld that breaks the rules will be denounced by the entire world. This is our world, and it''s up to us to uphold the rules. I don''t know if you''re too young or if the second King Yanluo has made a severepse in judgment, but you''ve already crossed a line that can''t be crossed!"

    His words were directed toward Qin Ye, but he was facing all of the death gods.

    H and J?rmungandr were extremely tensed up, and countless death gods had already almost snapped the armrests clean off their chairs.

    Is it about to begin? Is the ultimate sh finally about to arrive?

    Qin Ye wore a derisive sneer, but he was also feeling extremely tense and nervous. He nced at the gates over and over again out of his peripheral vision, wondering why his final trump card still hadn''t arrived!

    Once the final vote took ce, it would be toote!

    However, Anubis''s voice was growing louder and louder,pletely shattering his hopes. His eyes were glowing a bloodthirsty red, and with every gesture that he made, clouds of yellow sand would rise up into the air before dissipating into clouds of Yin energy. "You want to talk rules and reason? Fine, we''ll do just that! Firstly, we know nothing about the assassination and interception attempts that you mentioned. If you insist on clinging to these usations while ignoring your own failings, then all I can say is that we''llunch a thorough investigation into this and we''ll be sure to give you a satisfactory response. Secondly, if your nation is going to exit the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, then we''ll do the same! On top of that, all 27 of the Aegyptian Underworld''s forbidden arts carriers will be made active at all times!"

    "The Argosian Underworld will do the same!"

    "The Hindustani Underworld will also do the same!"

    Anubis''s announcement was immediately supported by his two most powerful allies, and all of the death gods present could feel goosebumps being raised all over their skin.

    This was the precursor to the next world war!

    If neither side was willing to back down and a world war actually took ce, then the Cathayan Underworld would be disgraced for countless years, denounced as the nation that had instigated what was surely going to be a devastating war!

    Qin Ye''s expression remained unchanged, but he was already cursing internally.

    As expected, making threats pertaining to forbidden arts was something that one should never do unless they wanted to make the entire world their enemy.

    As things currently were, the three pirs were able to make the same threats, but they held the moral high ground.

    In order to resolve this crisis, the Cathayan Underworld would ultimately still have to return to the confines of the rules.

    Qin Ye was well aware of all of this, and he didn''t want to have to make threats! Everyone knew that once the Pandora''s Box of forbidden arts was opened, what would follow would be the destruction of the entire underworld!

    All of this was just an act to stall for time, yet his final trump card still hadn''t arrived!

    However, no one could hear his thoughts, and Anubis continued, "Furthermore, the breach of duty your nation hasmitted over the past century is undeniable and inexcusable! You are no longer fit to continue as one of the four pirs!"

    He took a deep breath before raising his hand, and even his fingertips were trembling slightly.

    He then roared up at Borfis, "The Aegyptian Underworld proposes a public vote to decide whether the Cathayan Underworld should continue as an international forbidden arts supervisor, and I suggest the votemences with immediate effect!"

    This deration was like the sound of a long horn, heralding the unveiling of the three pirs'' sinister plot, and it was met with deathly silence.

    This was the start of the power struggle, and all underworlds were essentially forced to take sides now.

    "The Argosian Underworld concurs." Hypnos knew that it was now or never, and that this was the time to disy the power of the utopia alliance. Thus, he immediately said, "The Cathayan Underworld has shirked its duties for over a century, and the vote to decide whether they should retain their international forbidden arts supervision rights must be held right away!"

    "The Hindustani Underworld concurs!" Yamaraja also chimed in in support. "What we need is for the four pirs to lead the world to greater heights, and the Cathayan Underworld most definitely hasn''t done that in the past 100 years!"

    The three pirs had all made their stances known!

    The death gods of Northern Europa and the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds were all looking on with tightly gritted teeth, yet even as they were praying with all their might, the miracle that they were hoping for didn''t arrive.

    Another death god raised his hand. "I concur."

    His voice was like the opening of the floodgates, and concurring voices rang out one after another!

    Within the short span of no more than 10 seconds, over 10 underworlds had raised their hands! As for everyone else, aside from the Alkebn Underworlds and the five nations of Northern Europa, they didn''t concur, nor did they object, choosing to remain silent instead.

    At this point, Borfis was already drenched in cold sweat, and his lips were trembling as he swept his gaze across the entire hall.

    Finally, he turned to the four pirs. "Does it really have toe to this?"

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything.

    There was a time for acting deranged and shameless, and this clearly wasn''t a suitable time.

    None of the four pirs said anything, and only the raised hands expressed the stances of the underworlds.

    Borfis took a deep breath before continuing, "ording to the 12th rules of the Coalition of Underworld''s constitution, if an underworld fails to participate in international conferences for 100 years, then its right to hold onto its supervision privileges will be decided by a vote. This current situationpletely corresponds with the scenario outlined in the 12th rule of the constitution, so I suggest we vote immediately on the matter of whether the Cathayan Underworld should retain its international forbidden arts supervision rights."

    Everyone continued to remain silent, and at this point, there was no going back.

    Borfis gritted his teeth tightly as he asked, "Where is the panel of arbiters?"

    "Here." 12 figures slowly emerged from a corner of the hall.

    Borfis closed his eyes, not daring to look at the vicious eyes directed at him from the Cathayan Underworld camp as he dered in a trembling voice, "Prepare to count the votes."

    The raised hands were finally set down again, and Borfis continued, "The vote to decide whether the Cathayan Underworld should retain its international forbidden arts supervision rights begins now!"

    He gulped nervously before continuing, "Allow me to reiterate this: only underworlds who hold autonomous jurisdiction power are able to vote, regardless of the size of their territory in the mortal realm. Now then, those who concur with the decision to strip the Cathayan Underworld of its international forbidden arts supervision rights, please raise your hands."

    In the blink of an eye, close to half of the hands in the hall were raised!

 Chapter 907: The Worldâ€™s Execution Ground (4)

    <h4>Chapter 907: The World''s Execution Ground (4)</h4>

    Amid the incredibly oppressive silence, the panel of arbiters finished counting the votes, and their representative extended a respectful bow before dering, "17 votes."

    That was exactly half of the total number of votes!

    Qin Ye''s heart was already beginning to thump violently. As expected, the three pirs wouldn''t haveshed out unless they had absolute confidence, and they really did hold sufficient votes to ensure their victory.

    His gaze was already creeping over to the gates rather than continuing to watch the rest of the death gods. He already knew that there was no way all of the remaining death gods would vote for him.

    "Those in support of stripping the Cathayan Underworld of its international forbidden arts supervision rights have secured half the votes, which means that the Cathayan Underworld must receive all of the remaining 17 votes in order to force a revote," Borfis dered. "Now then, those who are against stripping the Cathayan Underworld of its international forbidden arts supervision rights, please raise your..."

    "Hold on a minute." Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out. "I think we should discuss this again."

    Right in front of everyone''s astonished eyes, three figures rose to their feet, and they were none other than Xolotl, Ah Puch, and Supay, the three representative death gods of the new continent!

    Yamaraja, Anubis, and Hypnos''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this.

    This was going to be the decisive blow!

    If the three representatives of the new continent were to vote in favor of the proposal, then the oue would be decided without the need for a revote!

    Hypnos forcibly repressed the excitement that was welling up in his heart as he said, "Do you have something to say, death gods of the new continent?"

    Xolotl exchanged a nce with hispanions, then replied in a calm voice, "We think we also have the right to vote."

    A stir immediately ran through all of the death gods present upon hearing this.

    They were going to vote? Which side were they going to vote for?

    The oue still wasn''t decided, and there was still a chance for the Cathayan Underworld to force a revote. In that case, were they going to punch the final nail into the Cathayan Underworld''s coffin? No, even if they didn''t vote, the Cathayan Underworld''s defeat was still sealed. In that case, they weren''t doing this to secure victory for the three pirs, they were sending a signal to the rest of the world through their actions!

    They were tantly expressing to everyone that they weretching onto the coattails of the three pirs, thereby paving the way forward for themselves following the demise of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa!

    All of the death gods belonging to the three pirs immediately rose to their feet to stare intently at the three death gods of the new continent, while Xolotl turned to face Borfis and said, "We want to vote on the matter of the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights!"

    Qin Ye cast a cold gaze toward him, and Xolotl wasn''t avoiding his gaze at all as he continued in a calm voice, "As one of the four pirs, the Cathayan Underworld has not just failed to perform its duties in the past century, they''ve even allowed a Yama-King to escape to the Pacific Ocean! I think they are no longer fit to continue in this role, and out of fairness and openness, I approve of rescinding the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights!"

    Dead silence.

    Three secondster, a massivemotion erupted forth!

    One of the four pirs had just been felled!

    The Cathayan Underworld had always been the most powerful of the four pirs during the past several thousand years, yet following its re-emergence after a century-long absence, it had been stripped of its international forbidden arts supervision rights!

    "That''s 20 votes!" The nameless god of death was so excited that his face had bepletely flushed. There was no other first-rate underworld fit to take the Cathayan Underworld''s ce aside from the Russian Underworld!

    This meant that the Russian Underworld was also going to be one of the four... no, the five pirs!

    All of the death gods who were still yet to cast their votes had sprung to their feet and were staring at the main stage with astonished looks in their eyes. They then cast their eyes toward the Cathayan Underworld camp, and a myriad of emotions welled up in their hearts.

    "Has the Cathayan Underworld truly fallen?"

    "To think that there would trulye a day where a glorious dynasty spanning over 3,000 years falls from grace..."

    "After this, their rights will continue to be stripped away from them one after another. It looks like the three pirs are determined to bring them down!"

    "I can''t believe this! Over half of the underworlds in the entire world have defected to the side of the three pirs, and they even managed to convince the new continent to vote for the first time in several centuries!"

    Borfis was alsopletely rooted to the spot. The state of the entire world was going to undergo a massive change brought on by the fall of the Cathayan Underworld...

    "Announce the verdict right away!" Yamaraja''s urgent voice instantly snapped him out of his stunned reverie. "What are you waiting for? As the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, you are responsible for announcing this decision and informing the entire world! Tell everyone about this important verdict and immediately hold another vote to choose a suitable underworld to take the Cathayan Underworld''s ce! Hurry!"

    His voice echoed throughout the conference hall like rumbling thunder, and Borfis hesitated momentarily before heaving a long sigh. "20 of the 34 avable votes have been cast in approval of removing the Cathayan Underworld as one of the international forbidden arts supervision nations. From this day forth, the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights will be temporarily rescinded, and its recement will be decided by a vote."

    Themotion that erupted throughout the entire hall in the wake of this decision was like a volcanic eruption!

    Everyone knew that the underworld that was going to take the ce of the Cathayan Underworld here was virtually guaranteed to be the fifth pir!

    No one cared about the Cathayan Underworld anymore, it was like a piece of trash that had been tossed in the corner.

    However, right at this moment, Qin Ye rose to his feet as he watched the three death gods of the new continent with a derisive expression. "Objection! Who gave you the right to vote?"

    "Yanluo Qin!" Yamaraja turned around with an ecstatic expression, and he couldn''t hold back his own joy as he countered, "All underworlds with autonomous jurisdictive powers have the right to vote! This is an agreement forged between your first King Yanluo and all of the other world leaders, have you forgotten about this? Do you need me to issue you a reminder?"

    Qin Ye didn''t back down in the slightest. "They have no right to vote! The supervising ambassador of the new continent has always been in charge of the new continent''s voting rights, yet the votes of these three are being epted in the absence of the supervising ambassador? Is this the fairness and openness that you''ve been advocating for? In the future, can I send a random representative to cast my votes for me at international conferences and you''ll ept that as well?"

    He turned to Yamaraja and continued, "If I blow up your Mahabodhi Temple with a forbidden art, then send a footsoldier to apologize, will that count as a personal apology from me? These three aren''t the rulers of the new continent, nor are they the supervising ambassadors, who gave them the right to vote? In light of this, their votes cannot count, and a revote must be held!"

    "What a joke!" Supay immediately countered with a cold sneer. "Whichw states that the representative of the new continent can only be the supervising ambassador? This is a domestic affair for our new continent, and it''s not an official internationalw, so why can''t we vote on behalf of the new continent?"

    He mmed the table and rose to his feet as he continued, "Yanluo Qin, everything that has befallen the Cathayan Underworld here is a direct result of your own actions! Besides, we''re not voting to have your Cathayan Underworld removed as one of the four pirs, so there''s no need for you to target us!"

    "Yanluo Qin," Anubis chimed in in a menacing voice. "Even if the supervising ambassador is the representative of the new continent, in his absence, these three are just as qualified to represent the new continent, isn''t that right, Borfis?"

    Borfis sighed before nodding in response.

    "From a legal perspective, the new continent possesses independence and autonomy, and it consists of three major religions. If Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were present, they would be the representatives. In their absence, the supervising ambassador would be the representative, and in the case where all three are absent, then the death gods can act as stand-in representatives. There''s nothing wrong with that as the three death gods are also a part of the representative team and also hold voting rights, so..."

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and all of the death gods turned toward the gates of the hall.

    Why was someone knocking on the door?

    There was no way that a conference of this caliber was to be disrupted for any reason. Qin Ye had also cast his gaze toward the gates, but as opposed to the confusion etched on everyone else''s faces, his eyes were glowing with excitement!

    "Your Excellency!" Qin Changxin could barely keep his own voice from trembling. Even he could sense just how fearsome the Yin energy of the figures standing outside the hall was!

    No, it couldn''t even be described as just fearsome anymore.

    The new arrivals made no attempt to disguise their Yin energy at all, allowing it to seep through the gaps of the entrance. Their Yin energy was dense, dark, and giving off a suffocating odor of blood and gore. Within the span of just a few seconds, all of the death gods had risen to their feet in rm

    These were advanced death gods!

    How could there still be advanced death gods who weren''t present in the hall yet?

    "No one''s opening the door for us..." A forlorn male voice rang out. "These young''uns are bing ruder by the day! Looks like we''ll have to go in ourselves."

    The voice was unfamiliar to many, but in the instant that it traveled into the ears of Xolotl, Supay, and Ah Puch, theherfire in their eyes instantly contracted drastically.

    It''s them! It''s those two deranged geezers! Why are they here? What could''ve possibly convinced them toe here? Wasn''t Viracocha intercepted?!

    The instinctive respect and fear that the three death gods held toward Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had already spurred them involuntarily to their feet. Upon seeing the reactions of the three death gods from the new continent, all of the other death gods in the hall instantly realized who had arrived.

    It was Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa!

    Anko was seated right beside the entrance, and as soon as this thought dawned on her, she immediately sprang to her feet with an rmed cry before rushing away as if her life depended on it.

    The other death gods near the entrance quickly followed suit, and soon, arge area of empty space had been opened up, immediately following which a resounding boom rang out!

    The two massive marble gates shattered violently, then disintegrated and erupted into the hall as huge chunks of marble that were burning with intenseherfire. Yin energy then gushed into the hall in a torrential wave, transforming the entire hall into a suffocating dark mire.

    Two familiar elderly figures were revealed standing at the entrance, and the elderly man smiled as he swept his gaze across all of the death gods present. "Long time no see. Looking at your familiar faces makes me sick..."

    Mictetikasiwa didn''t say anything. Instead, she hobbled with difficulty toward the three death gods of the new continent, leaning heavily on her cane every step of the way. All of the death gods before her frantically got out of her way in a scene reminiscent of Moses parting the sea, and even Izanami had picked up the hem of her kimono before hurriedly rushing over to a corner of the hall.

    "I heard that you can make decisions on our behalf, is that right?"

    Theherfire in the eyes of the three new continent death gods were flickering in a panicked manner as they frantically looked around the hall, but all of the surrounding death gods avoided their gaze like the gue.

    Xolotl reflexively cast his gaze toward Hypnos, yet even Hypnos was avoiding his gaze.

    The weak feared the strong, while the strong feared the fearless, and these two were well and truly fearless and deranged!

    You''re holding a conference? We don''t give a shit! You want to impeach someone? We don''t give a shit! All we want is to survive, and anyone who gets in the way of achieving that objective is our sworn enemy!

    Mictetikasiwa''s cloak was rippling violently, and a series of skeletal snakes emerged and spread her cloak open amid a furious eruption of Yin energy, revealing nothing but boundless darkness beneath her cloak. Her raspy voice took a menacing turn as she continued, "I heard that you dare to go against our orders?"

    She had already made her way over to the three death gods, and she raised her head to look up at Supay. "I''ve been far too kind to you three."

    She heaved a forlorn sigh, and in the next instant, a resounding boom rang out as she mmed her hand into Supay''s neck, smashing him into the ground.

    The resounding booms continued to ring out one after another, and by the time themotion subsided, Supay wasying at the bottom of an incredibly deep crater, enshrouded inplete darkness, so no one knew if he was dead or alive.

    "The new continent vehemently objects to the rescinding of the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights!" she dered in a sharp, ear-piercing voice that reverberated throughout the entire hall. "The enemies of the Cathayan Underworld are our enemies! That vote just now doesn''t count! We demand a revote! Also, ording to the rules of the underworld, in the case of revotes, there must be a day for reconsideration before the next vote is to be held!"

    After that thunderous deration, she erupted into a violent coughing fit. A blue eye then lit up beneath her cloak, and the vertical pupil at the very center of the eye watched all of the death gods intently as she asked in a menacing voice, "Any objections?"

 Chapter 908: The Worldâ€™s Execution Ground (5)

    <h4>Chapter 908: The World''s Execution Ground (5)</h4>

    None of the death gods could''ve anticipated such a twist.

    "Why are they here?" Yamaraja''s tion hadpletely died down. Never did he think that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, who had kept to themselves for hundreds of years, would arrive in Nara and stand on the side of the Cathayan Underworld in such a clear and tant manner!

    He turned toward Qin Ye, who had finally allowed himself a relieved smile, and the dozen of scarlet eyes beneath his cloak instantly lit up. In that instant, he finally realized that this was the Cathayan Underworld''s final trump card!

    Their ultimate trump card had never been the Alkebn Underworlds, it was the new continent instead! Anubis was staring intently at the two hobbling figures in silence. He was well aware of just how vtile and unreasonable these two could be.

    This also made him understand some things, such as why Osiris had suddenly vanished.

    The second King Yanluo had clearly released that burst of Yin energy while capturing Osiris to intimidate the three pirs. Was this because Osiris had tried to cut off contact between the Cathayan Underworld and the new continent?

    The entire conference hall fell intoplete silence again until Mtecutli asked, "Do you have any objections to a revote?"

    The question was directed at Borfis, who obviously didn''t dare to object, and he immediately shook his head in response.

    The rulers of the three pirs finally returned to their senses upon seeing this.

    They had finally brought the Cathayan Underworld down from its pedestal, how could they allow the oue of this vote to be invalidated?

    "Mtecutli, Mictetikasiwa," Hypnos said in a cold voice. "You have my respect, but this is a major international conference, and the oue of the vote has already been recorded, so this is not something that you can invalidate as you please."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of ck light shed past his face. His expression remained calm and he didn''t even move, but a flurry of cries of surprise immediately rang out from the hall behind him.

    A thick skeletal snake had elegantly elongated out of Mictetikasiwa''s cloak and snapped one of the stone pirs behind Hypnos with its powerful jaw.

    "What is the meaning of this?" Hypnos smiled, but the smile was even more sinister than the coldest of sneers. "Do you want to start a fight with me right here, right now?!"

    "Piss off!" Mictetikasiwa turned toward Hypnos, and just the effort from such a minor action was enough to make her slightly out of breath. "So what if I want to fight you here? These three were not qualified to vote in our stead, so should this vote not be invalidated? If this vote is invalidated, then should there not be a revote? Don''t tell me you''re too stupid to understand that!"

    Her cloak was hovering up and down rapidly around her, making it seem as if a demon were about to rush out from underneath. "Don''t try to stop me! Otherwise, only one of us will leave this ce alive!!"

    Her shrill and deranged voice echoed throughout the entire hall as she shrieked, "I''m about to die! Die, do you understand?! How about you?! If you don''t want to die, then follow the proper rules, do you understand?!"

    Boom!! Hypnos''s Yin energy also erupted forth before instantly transforming into an extremely menacing inky-ck face, and 12 pitch-ck wings spread open on his back. "If it''s a fight you want, then I''m happy to oblige, you old prune!!"

    Never had anyone dared to provoke him like this before!

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Mictetikasiwa''s body abruptly exploded, and a giant golden skull wearing the golden crown of a queen stood up from the Yin cloud that had inundated the entire ground. Within the inky-ck eye sockets of the skull were two pure golden eyeballs, and it screeched as it hurtled directly toward Hypnos.

    This was a sh between advanced death gods!

    No one would have anticipated that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would be so deranged as to attack the ruler of one of the four pirs without any hesitation! This was no probing jab, Mictetikasiwa had revealed her true form and was going all-out from the get-go!

    Izanami was absolutely horrified, and she immediately picked up the hem of her kimono before fleeing the hall as quickly as she could.

    The entire hall was already beginning to copse, and those below the Yama-King level were certain to be killed if they were to stay here!

    "Run!"

    "The residual shockwaves from a sh like this are far too powerful for us to withstand!"

    "What are you all doing?! Do you really want toy waste to the rules of the world?!"

    "Please stop!"

    BOOM!!!

    An earth-shattering boom rang out, and all of the emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld in the city of Nara looked up with stunned expressions, only to discover a shockwave erupting from the center of the massive pavilion that was the centerpiece of the city. Immediately thereafter, dust and shrapnel filled the entire sky as the giant pavilion was split into two, and the top was crashing down toward the ground!

    What is going on?!

    Before they had a chance to make sense of the situation, an earth-shattering roar of fury rang out, and a giant golden skeletal hand swept through the air. At the same time, a butterfly-like figure quickly rushed out, then dissipated into Yin energy right as the giant skeletal hand was about to close around it.

    "What is happening?" a journalist eximed in a stunned voice. "Is that the Heavenly Radiance Hall? What''s going on in there?!"

    Is this a sh between advanced death gods? Is this the precursor for a world war?

    "My god..." A Caucasian journalist was staring up at the sky in a ck-jawed manner as the massive pavilion came crashing down from the heavens before mming into the ground with an almighty impact, sending dust flying close to 20 meters up into the sky.

    "What on earth just happened?!"

    "Why has there suddenly been a sh between advanced death gods?"

    "Is it a sh between the Cathayan Underworld and the other three pirs?"

    "No, judging from this Yin energy, it seems more like the two rulers of the new continent are involved!"

    "That''s impossible! How could they possibly be here?!"

    All of the journalists knew that this was a massive scoop, but none of them dared to rush to the scene.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "You really do have a death wish!" Hypnos roared with fury in the hall, and he brought his 12 wings together, stopping Mictetikasiwa''s giant palm cold in its tracks.

    The wings then slowly spread open to reveal Hypnos''s enraged expression. "In that case, I''ll..."

    However, before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, all of the opposing Yin energy abruptly subsided, and Mictetikasiwa returned to her original form, making it appear as if nothing had ever happened.

    Hypnos felt as if he had pulled back to deliver an almighty punch, only for his fist tond on a pile of feathers! After a brief stupor, he suddenly realized something, and he looked around to find that aside from the four pirs, the nameless god of death, Zhao Yun, and several other death gods who were still present, all of the other death gods had already fled the hall.

    Furthermore, they were currently situated in a hall without a roof, and a third of the entire giant pavilion had been destroyed, leaving only carnage and wreckage in its wake.

    As the situation slowly dawned on him, Hypnos turned to Mictetikasiwa with burning fury in his eyes. "So this is what you were aiming for from the very beginning. As expected of an old fox like you. Let''s go!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he turned around and withdrew his wings, departing from the hall, or at least what was left of it, with Anubis and Yamaraja.

    "You better pray that you don''t live for much longer," Yamaraja said in an indifferent voice as he passed by Mictetikasiwa.

    His tone was quite calm and cid, but the searing hatred hidden within it was clearly discernible to everyone.

    The entire conference hall had been destroyed, so there was no longer even a venue for the conference to continue!

    ording to international rules, there had to be a gap of at least a day before a revote could take ce, and they really did need this time to find another conference hall. Even if they wanted to force this conference to continue anyway, the other death gods wouldn''t attend!

    They weren''t afraid of the two rulers of the new continent, but all of the other death gods certainly were!

    As such, they had to give everyone else time to calm down. Furthermore, with the conference hall inplete ruins, there was no way that the conference could continue here as that would be a sign of disrespect to the entire world, and this was what Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had been counting on all along.

    "Aren''t there still 12 international arbiters who can announce the oue?" Qin Ye asked as he made his way over to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa with a smile.

    Mtecutli was slightly out of breath as he smiled in response. "After seeing how thoroughly this ce has been destroyed, Hypnos would''ve already known that there wouldn''t be any arbiters left alive, which means that all of the votes cast just now will be invalidated. I thought that he would at least ask out of hope and desperation if nothing else, but it looks like he was smart enough to know that it would''ve been futile anyway."

    He then extended a hand toward Qin Ye as he said, "It''s an honor to finally meet you, third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Likewise, rulers of the new continent."

    You could''ve gotten here a little earlier, but at least you arrived right in the nick of time. Now then, it''s time to unveil the final trump card that I wasn''t able tost time!

    The handshake was extremely brief, nothing more than a touch of hands, and Mtecutli flicked out his tongue like a snake to lick his own lips as he said, "I''m acting respectfully toward you now, but if it turns out that you''re lying to me, I''m not going to hold back! I don''t want to make the Cathayan Underworld my enemy, but that doesn''t mean I''m scared. I only agreed to help you in return for thepensation that you offered, and I hope we can both be open and honest with one another."

    "Of course." Qin Ye nodded in response.

    I can give you the method that Brother Xu used, but it''s up to you to see whether you can replicate it. If you don''t die, the new continent won''t fall into turmoil, and our Cathayan Underworld won''t have a chance to strike.

    There were never any friends in world politics. All of the underworlds who believed in the existence of friendship on the world stage had most likely already been erased from existence. Qin Ye was in need of their help, but their interaction would be limited to this one trade alone, and after this transaction, the two sides would return to beingplete strangers.

    The branch of the pavilion where the Cathayan Underworld camp was staying had been leftpletely unharmed, and Qin Ye returned to his room with the two rulers of the new continent. A servant immediately filled their cups with tea, then promptly departed from the room.

    "At the very most, we can only buy you a day of time," Mictetikasiwa said in a grim voice as soon as they sat down. "Next time, they''re most likely going to bring out creation-grade divine artifacts. Even if they have topletely iste the next venue, they''re going to ensure the conference runs till its conclusion, no matter what. After all, they currently hold the absolute upper hand over you. I''m very curious."

    An intrigued look appeared on her face, which was concealed beneath the hood of her cloak, as she cast her gaze toward Qin Ye. "With our foul reputations, you won''t derive any benefits from allying yourself with us. How are you going to be able to turn the tables in just a single day?"

    Qin Ye smiled in response. "Why don''t you wait and see?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Those old meddling bastards!!" Inside his room, Hypnos had just crushed the teacup in his hand, and he was looking out through his window with a murderous re as he gnashed his teeth together with fury.

    They had only been an inch away from victory! They were so close that he could already taste the sweetness of victory on his tongue, yet it had slipped through his grasp just like that!

    If they hade 10 minutester... no, even five minutester, the state of international politics would''ve already undergone a massive change!

    As soon as the vote was recorded, there would''ve been no way for the Cathayan Underworld to turn the tables!

    "Your Excellency!" Right at this moment, an underworld emissary quickly rushed into the room before informing, "In three hours, the Cathayan Underworld, the new continent, the Alkebn Underworlds, and Northern Europa''s five-nation alliance will be holding a disclosure conference for the Zhu Rong n together, and all death gods and journalists are invited to attend!"

    Hypnos''s pupils constantly contracted upon hearing this.

    He had a feeling that this was the Cathayan Underworld''s final trump card, and it was also the one that they had managed to intercept, but they couldn''t stop it any longer.

    In the end, the Cathayan Underworld had managed to withstand the joint pressure exerted upon them by the three pirs and survive to this point.

    Now, it was time for the Cathayan Underworld toy down this final trump card of theirs!

    He rose to his feet with a fierce expression. "So you want to decide the oue once and for all? Fine! Let me see exactly what it is that''s given you such immense confidence!"

 Chapter 909: The Zhu Rong Plan Stuns the World (1)

    <h4>Chapter 909: The Zhu Rong n Stuns the World (1)</h4>

    Countless journalists had already formed a watertight barricade around what remained of the Heavenly Radiance Hall, and their image capture crystals were shing incessantly.

    A pristine and soft red carpet had been temporarilyid down here, and a makeshift stage had been set up at the center of the area, at the foot of which were ced dozens of tables and chairs, arranged in a neat and orderly fashion.

    It was looking a little crude and primitive, but the gs of the Cathayan Underworld, the Northern Europa Alliance, the Alkebn Underworlds, and the new continent were pping in the wind in the background, and with those gs present, it was clear that something very important was about to take ce here.

    There were no seats for the journalists, but that did nothing to stifle the scorching mes burning in their hearts.

    The events that had just unfolded here werepletely unprecedented! For the very first time, advanced death gods had shed during an international conference, rendering an already submitted vote invalid, following which the Cathayan Underworld had immediately dered that they were holding an international press conference!

    Any single one of these events was already unprecedented during past international underworld conferences, and the fact that all of them had taken ce at the same conference was a clear indication of things toe.

    There were no armies and fortresses here, but it was clear to everyone that this was a battlefield.

    Every word that was spoken and every gesture that was made, these were the weapons that the two sides were using against one another. At this point, most of the trump cards had already been revealed, and it was now well and truly into the endgame.

    Both sides were vying to make the killing blow. During the meeting that had just been ruined, the utopia alliance had already imed half the votes. If the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference couldn''t convince most of the underworlds to vote for them, then the Cathayan Underworld would remain the loser of this sh.

    A new era was about to dawn upon the underworld, and the thrill of being able to bear witness to such a monumental asion was making their skin crawl. However, all of the journalists remained silent as right at the foot of the stage, despite the crude setting, all of the tables and chairs were upied by the representative teams of every underworld without any vacant seats!

    The oue of this epic power struggle was finally about to be decided, and none of the death gods wanted to be absent from such a momentous asion.

    Death God Antee looked around at the serious looks on all of the faces of the death gods around him, and only after a long while did he withdraw his gaze as he heaved a faint sigh. "Even throughout the past 3,000 years, I''m not sure there would''ve been many asions as significant as this one. Even though my role in all of this is extremely minimal, I still can''t help but feel as if my soul is on fire."

    A series of figures were standing on the main stage with Qin Ye in his ck dragon robe standing at the very center. Standing to his right and to his left were Zhao Yun, H, J?rmungandr, Mythic Spirit ck Mamba, Mythic Spirit Sunbird, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Nipponese servants were quickly setting up the venue, and shortly thereafter, following the melodious sound of a horn being blown, all of the servants departed, andplete silence descended over the entire makeshift press conference venue.

    However, with the tension and anticipation hanging in the air, the silence was absolutely deafening.

    Finally, Qin Ye broke the suspense bymencing his address. "I''m very happy to see everyone gathered here today."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, image capture crystals began to sh rapidly all around him, and only after three full minutes had passed did the shes subside.

    Qin Ye wanted to put on a smile, but was unable to in the end. This was the final showdown. Both sides had already exhausted all of their ammunition, and this was going to decide the final oue of the power struggle.

    With that in mind, he was simply unable to arrange his own expression into a smile.

    I''m stillcking in experience andposure...

    He continued, "During the past several thousand years, the underworld has constantly been on a path of advancement and reform. First, there was the distant feudal era where gods freely roamed thends, and from there, all of the underworlds gradually took shape. Following a period that was ravaged by war and unrest, we have finally reached a period of peace. We''ve always been striving for improvement, advancing from ancient hunter-gatherer societies to the glorious civilizations that we have today. Throughout all of history, the rate of development of the underworld has roughly matched that of the mortal realm, but around 200 years ago, the mortal realm experienced a massive technological leap, while the underworld has struggled to keep up and was slowly left further and further behind. Mr. Archimedes once said that the next era will be one decided by a new energy resource, and I agree with this. I also think that a new energy resource is the key to the future, and we''ve never given up on our pursuit of this key. On this day, our allies and I will open the gate to this brand new era together."

    At the very front of the venue, Hypnos turned to Archimedes and asked in a low voice, "Is it possible that they''ve actually managed to develop a new energy resource?"

    Archimedes shook his head in response with an assured expression. "That''s not possible. If they have, then they wouldn''t have had to allow themselves to be ced in such a vulnerable position. It looks to me like their energy resource project will be implemented in conjunction with the Alkebn Underworlds. I think that there''s a very good chance that they''ve established a partnership of the highest level of intimacy with the Alkebn Underworlds, which is why they had to wait until the Alkebn Underworlds arrived before they could hold this press conference. However, they were on the brink of having their status as one of the four pirs revoked. If they really had developed a new energy resource, even in the absence of the Alkebn Underworlds, all they had to do was provide a feasible demonstration of their new energy resource in action, and most of the underworlds on our side would''ve defected over to them."

    Indeed, the emergence of a new energy resource would be enough topletely change the entire world and render countless patents redundant!

    Archimedes continued with a confident smile, "There''s no way that the Cathayan Underworld would''ve passed up such an opportunity, so you can rest assured. ording to international regtions, projects without supporting prototypes and research statistics will not be acknowledged and awarded patents, and that rule alone will be enough to foil any chances they have of making aeback."

    A proud look then appeared on his face as he stroked his own beard. "In addition to that, I''m confident that the research and development prowess of the Cathayan Underworld could not outstrip that of our Argosian Underworld''s round table."

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the three pirs, whose representatives were looking right back at him, and sparks seemed to be flying where their eyes met.

    A renewed sense of apprehension swept through the entire venue, and all of the Yin spirits unconsciously sat up a bit straighter as Qin Ye announced in a calm voice, "Now, we are going to disy the rough content of the Zhu Rong n. Firstly, I can tell everyone with absolute certainty that the Zhu Rong n involves a new energy resource, and it''s one that can already be used. This energy resource was developed by the Cathayan Underworld after over a century of painstaking effort, and all that''s left is to promote it to the entire world!"

    Countless shocked gasps rang out as all of the death gods and journalists frantically exchanged bewildered nces.

    The Cathayan Underworld had confirmed once again that it really had developed a new energy resource!

    Kuwal unconsciously tightened his grip around his armrests. Any underworld that controlled a new energy resource would undoubtedly be the ruler of the next era, and the Cathayan Underworld had already announced it twice! One could argue that the first instance was nothing more than a desperate lie told by them in order to stave off the three pirs, but Qin Ye had just officially announced this once again, so could this really be true?

    This was the Cathayan Underworld, an underworld that had never lied on the world stage! Having said that, this was the most vulnerable it had looked for over 3,000 years. Would that be enough to convince them to resort to deception?

    Everyone''s breathing began to elerate, and all eyes were staring intently at Qin Ye, but no one uttered a single word.

    They were all waiting for decisive evidence.

    If the Cathayan Underworld really developed a new energy resource, then the utopia alliance and the three pirs could all piss off as far as everyone was concerned! This would be a development that could stir the entire world up into a wild frenzy!

    "I know that everyone has a lot of questions, so in order to assuage everyone''s doubts, I specifically captured some footage with an image capture crystal for this asion."

    He made a grabbing motion as he spoke, and an image capture crystal appeared in his grasp. He injected his Yin energy into the crystal, and a light screen instantly appeared above him.

    The scene depicted a port, and within the port was a massive Yin beast.

    It was Gui Xu!

    At that moment in time, Gui Xu''s shell had split open, and the segments were being supported by countless mechanical arms, while the circuits inside its body were lighting up one after another.

    Qin Ye wasn''t watching the footage. Instead, he was staring intently at all of the death gods present, watching as their eyes and mouths sprang wide open in astonishment. Despite everyone''s stunned reactions, he was still feeling quite uneasy.

    While it was true that this was a new energy resource, the scene was depicting the moments right before Gui Xu''s self-detonation.

    This was a transition that a stable energy resource was making toward an unstable state, and he wasn''t sure if this would be enough to fool an underworld-leading expert like Archimedes.

    However, this was the best piece of evidence that he had, and it was pivotal to his case.

    A death god rose to his feet, and his hands were trembling as he stared at the screen while shaking his head as if he were in a trance. "This is manmade light, just like the man-made lights in the mortal realm!"

    His voice was very quiet, but he certainly wasn''t the only one present to be astonished.

    Kuwal had risen to his feet, Anko had stood up, and Mythic Spirit ck Mamba and Mythic Spirit Sunbird had both risen their heads, wearing expressions that made them look as if they had seen a ghost. Even H, J?rmungandr, Mtecutli, and Mictetikasiwa were looking on with incredulous expressions.

    Wait a minute, wasn''t this supposed to be a joke? Didn''t you say the new energy resource was only a bluff? Wasn''t this only supposed to be a condition on which we formed our alliance? You''re telling me now that all of this is real?! You really did develop a new energy resource?!

    With so many death gods present, there would be no way to fool everyone and convince them that this was man-made light if it were actually light generated by Yin energy. Even Archimedes had sprung to his feet in astonishment and was staring at the screen with disbelief etched on his face.

    After over 3,000 years, an energy resource had finally been unveiled in Nara!

    The key to a new era had finally been developed!

    In this instant, everyone was silent and basking in the gravity of the moment.

    The Cathayan Underworld had disyed its cards, and it was a royal flush!

    Having striven and hoped for this for so long, no one wanted to look away from this monumental scene, and everyone''s eyes were focused intently on the light screen.

    They watched as the giant turtle''s shell slowly opened up, supported by one mechanical arm after another. They watched as theplex circuits and indicator lights slowly lit up within the giant turtle, transforming the sea into a radiant gxy of stars. This would not have been a very astonishing sight at all in the mortal realm, but in the underworld, it was so stunning that none of the rulers of the underworlds could utter a single word.

    "How is this possible?" Hypnos was feeling his own vision fading into ck, but the image was still extremely clearly etched onto his mind. He had also risen to his feet, and he swayed unsteadily on the spot as if he were about to pass out.

    The Cathayan Underworld hadn''t been lying! It really did have a new energy resource!

    He instantly understood why the Cathayan Underworld had been so quiet and subdued, theirck of action stemmed from absolute confidence! With this new energy resource in its grasp, there was no way that its rights could be encroached upon, and it would certainly be impossible to boot them out of the four pirs!

    All of the passivity and vulnerability they had disyed had been nothing more than an act, and it was all building up to this moment! With this final reveal, the Cathayan Underworld''s KIng Yanluo would be able to easily identify who were his allies and who were his enemies. And to think that he had looked down on him all this time, regarding him as nothing more than a hotheaded idiot who would lead the Cathayan Underworld to ruin...

    He turned toward Archimedes in a wooden manner. "Didn''t you say that this was impossible?"

    Archimedes didn''t say anything, but he was trembling uncontrobly, and his mind had gonepletely nk.

    The Cathayan Underworld really did manage to develop a new energy resource, and they did it ahead of me! How is this possible?!

    Yamaraja was also stunned intoplete silence, and in this instant, he was even struck by the urge to betray the utopia alliance.

    The Cathayan Underworld had always had a border conflict with the Hindustani Underworld, so thetter was undoubtedly going to be the most heavily impacted party!

    In a few years'' time, the Hindustani Underworld would only be able to look on as the Cathayan Underworld enjoyed the new energy resource on the other side of the border while his own nation remained stuck in the dark ages. If that were to happen, he would bepletely denounced by his own people and subordinates!

    Would the Hindustani Underworld be able to invent a new energy resource in the next decade? Clearly not!

    Following a brief period ofplete silence, an explosivemotion instantly erupted, and the light shining from the countless image capture crystals could already outshine the light of the stars as all of the journalists frantically captured as many snippets of the unfolding footage as they could.

    "It really is a new energy resource!!"

    "Lord Qin, when was this new energy resource developed, and which Yin rune researcher was it developed by? What is its name?"

    "Lord Qin, may I ask how this new energy resource works and what led to its discovery?"

    "Lord Qin, when is the patent for this new energy resource going to be released? Is it alreadyplete at this stage?"

    "Get out of the way! You''re blocking my image capture crystal! Hey!!"

    It was as if everyone had suddenly gone insane!

    There was no way that journalists would be permitted to ask such questions in such a high-profile international conference, but none of the journalists were able to control themselves!

    In the face of such a momentous revtion, all of the rules could go to hell!

 Chapter 910: The Zhu Rong Plan Stuns the World (2)

    <h4>Chapter 910: The Zhu Rong n Stuns the World (2)</h4>

    Electricity, running water,puters, televisions, recreation industry, manufacturing industry, mining industry... We''re finally going to have everything that the mortal realm has!

    Amid the raucousmotion, a single voice drowned out the rest. "Is this really a new energy resource?"

    Everyone immediately turned toward the person who had just spoken.

    The entire world is celebrating! Who is this party pooper? And how dare you speak to the Cathayan Underworld in such a disrespectful tone? Who do you think you are?

    However, no one raised any objections upon seeing which Yin spirit it was who had just spoken.

    It was Archimedes.

    His face was as pale as a sheet, and he was forcefully massaging his own temples as if he had just recovered from a massive blow. His eyes werepletely bloodshot as he stared intently at the screen and asked, "Are you sure this is a new energy resource? What are its operating principles? What are some examples of its practical application? What scientific principles is it based on? What led to its discovery? We need an exnation! The whole world needs an exnation! Otherwise, this so-called new energy resource cannot be recognized ording to internationalws!"

    He was panting slightly as he shook his head and continued, "ording to international regtions, statistics, supporting evidence, and real-life examples must be provided in order for a patent toe into existence. You''ve only shown us this one piece of footage, and this is not impossible to create through the use of Yin energy!"

    The death gods of the five Northern Europa nations, the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa finally returned to their senses upon hearing this, and before Qin Ye even had a chance to speak, H immediately delivered a scathing retort. "Do you think us death gods are so blind as to be unable to tell if this light is being generated by Yin energy or not? Light generated by Yin energy is different from light generated by an energy resource, and no matter how inept we are, we''re still able to tell the difference!"

    This is a new energy resource! Get fucked, you old fart! I''m not gonna join no utopia alliance! I''m the Cathayan Underworld''s most loyalpdog! Even if the Cathayan Underworld only has one ally, it has to be us!

    At this point, Archimedes had alreadypletely snapped out of his stunned reverie, and he heaved a faint sigh. All of a sudden, he was beginning to reminisce about his time in the mortal realm, where he had dedicated his life purely to the pursuit of science.

    Here in the underworld, he was bogged down by his responsibilities as a death god. Otherwise, in the face of such a momentous asion, regardless of whether this new energy resource was real or not, the first thing he should''ve done was celebrate and congratte, rather than doubt and denounce.

    The hopes of the three pirs were resting on his shoulders, and as a citizen of the Argosian Underworld, he had to fight for the interests of his nation.

    "Of course I''m also capable of telling those apart!" Archimedes abruptly countered in a thunderous voice. "But just because a Yama-King is incapable of doing this doesn''t mean that a being above the Yama-King level is necessarily also incapable of such a feat!"

    He cast his gaze toward the death gods of the utopia, most of whom were still staring at the screen in an entranced manner. These were all rulers of their own respective underworlds, and they knew just how much wealth and employment opportunities a new energy resource could provide.

    In contrast, the utopia was nothing!

    If worse came to worst, they would just have to vote for the Cathayan Underworld during the revote! Nothing else matters in the face of this new energy resource!

    Archimedes continued in a rousing voice, "Have you all forgotten that Yanluo Qin once instructed Ghost King Zhao to contact the entire world during his inauguration ceremony? Does that mean that the Cathayan Underworld has also invented the inte?!"

    All of the death gods finally calmed down slightly upon hearing this.

    In all honesty, if they weren''t the representatives of their respective nations, they would be even rowdier than the journalists! If they didn''t have to keep up appearances, they would''ve already rushed onto the stage to pledge their loyalty to the Cathayan Underworld.

    Hypnos heaved a long sigh of relief.

    Following the initial astonishment in response to the Cathayan Underworld''s announcement, he had been ovee by a massive wave of horror, and he had almost rushed onto the stage to try and force Qin Ye to turn off the footage.

    However, he had retained just enough of his sanity to stop himself just in time.

    <i>Thank heavens Archimedes is present, as expected of the Father of Yin Runes.</i> Hypnos was praying with all his might that the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able to bring out any more supporting evidence!

    In any case, the footage that had already been presented indicated that the Cathayan Underworld may have truly discovered a new energy resource. He turned to exchange a nce with Yamaraja and Anubis, and their expressions were just as grim as his.

    "Archimedes, you are a living treasure to the entire underworld," Mtecutli said with a cold smile. "Even if we destroy the entire Argosian Underworld, you would still be spared, but this is an extremely high-profile international press conference, and the host is the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld. How dare you speak out of turn before the conclusion of the presentation? Would you dare to do this if the second King Yanluo was here?! Know your ce!"

    He was making no attempt to disguise his animosity as he cast his gaze toward all of the journalists in the venue. "Did your seniors not teach you when to ask questions and when to hold your tongue?!"

    Archimedes pursed his lips with a grim expression, and he strode forward before extending a deep bow toward Qin Ye. "I don''t mean to speak out of turn, Yanluo Qin, but this is truly an extremely important matter. The pursuit of a new energy resource is a target of even higher priority than even the development of forbidden arts. Only with a new energy resource will we truly be able to enter the modern age. As we are now, we''ll never be able to catch up to the mortal realm! As a member of the Argosian Underworld''s round table and the world energy resource association, as well as the president of the Yin runemittee, I am obligated to ask these questions, so please pardon my rudeness."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a faint smile on his face.

    It''s alright, none of you even understand the true purpose of the Zhu Rong n. I may not be a match for you when ites to knowledge in Yin runes, but in terms of politics, if I rank myself second in the Cathayan Underworld, no one would dare to im the top spot!

    Archimedes continued, "A piece of footage alone isn''t enough to prove anything. Yanluo Qin, where are the practical application examples of this new energy resource? Where are the relevant statistics and scientific principles?"

    Qin Ye smiled in response. "That is all strictly confidential information."

    "Then I have reason to believe that this is not, in fact, a new energy resource!" Archimedes objected in an unyielding voice. "Perhaps it''s very close to a new energy resource, but even so, that would only be the first step to the development of a true new energy resource. Just because you''ve made this first step doesn''t mean that you''ve already made this into a reality!"

    "So you insist on doubting us?" Mictetikasiwa chuckled.

    "I''m not jumping to any decisive conclusions!" Archimedes was unexpectedly firm in his stance as he looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes. "I''m sure you must''ve been paying very close attention to such an important project, Yanluo Qin. I have some scientific questions that I would like to ask you. These questions are very simple, and your response will be able to easily prove the authenticity of your ims."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, he immediately asked, "Which types of Yin runes havee together to generate this new energy resource? The Yin runes of the underworld are split up into 48 different categories. I have no intention of trying to steal the patent from you, all you need to do is tell me which types of Yin runes were used and I''ll be able to know whether your answer is feasible or not."

    As expected of a leading expert, there''s no way that I can answer this question. Thankfully, I never prepared to answer these questions in the first ce.

    "That is strictly confidential information," Qin Ye repeated.

    "Yanluo Qin, I''m not asking for any sensitive information, I just want to satisfy the curiosity of all of the researchers out there, including myself. All of the death gods present are aware of just how significant the emergence of a new energy resource is, and..."

    "There''s no need for you to speak any further on this matter," Qin Ye interjected with a smile. "I have no answers for any of your questions."

    All of the journalists and death gods in the venue began to exchange a few peculiar nces upon hearing this.

    This wasn''t what a press conference releasing a monumental piece of technology was supposed to be like.

    In the mortal realm, the emergence of 5G technology was instantly disclosed to the entire world, and it was only confirmed after a series of data had been released, making the invention authentic beyond a reasonable doubt.

    All new inventions in the world were only acknowledged after the disclosure of key pieces of information. If you refused to disclose anything, then how was anyone supposed to believe you?

    Qin Ye seemed to be oblivious to everyone''s gradually changing reactions, and he continued, "Furthermore, 10 more years of preparation will be required before this piece of technology is ready. Once all of the preparations areplete, the Cathayan Underworld will release a patent notification."

    No one said anything after that.

    Anubis''s wildly thumping heart finally settled down again, and he picked up his cup of coffee from the table before taking a sip, then heaved a long sigh of relief.

    Just now, he had felt as if a sword were already resting on his neck, and the sensation had made all of the fine hairs all over his body stand up on end.

    Qin Ye didn''t even continue to dwell on this subject. Instead, he announced, "The following underworlds will hereby officially be dered as partners of the Cathayan Underworld, and they will receive worldwide priority when ites to the base station construction rights of the Zhu Rong n. At the same time, the Cathayan Underworld will be sharing the patent right of the Zhu Rong n with these allied underworlds."

    He cast his gaze toward Mythic Spirit Sunbird and Mythic Spirit ck Mamba. "Following this conference, the Alkebn Underworlds will be exhaustive strategic coborative partners of the Cathayan Underworld, and they will begin construction in the Zhu Rong n at the same time as the Cathayan Underworld."

    Countless image capture crystals instantly began to sh brightly once again, and their collective light was so bright that Qin Ye was barely able to keep their eyes open. All of the journalists were injecting their Yin energy into their image capture crystals without any reservation, and the crystals were shing non-stop.

    This was the first ally to have been dered as an exhaustive strategic coborative partner of the Cathayan Underworld!

    Even though this wasn''t as much of a bombshell as the announcement pertaining to the new energy resource, it was definitely still a massive scoop.

    "The five-nation alliance of Northern Europa will be aprehensive coborative strategic partner of the Cathayan Underworld, and their construction in the Zhu Rong n will alsomence in 10 years."

    Qin Ye closed his documents with a smile, and he wanted to continue speaking, but his lips suddenly felt impossibly heavy.

    So the moment has finally arrived... The truth behind the Zhu Rong n will make you all feel as if everything that was just said has beenpletely pointless! Do you really think the Cathayan Underworld''s panel of advisors are a bunch of idiots? Do you really think we would be unaware that just a promise of a new energy resource alone wouldn''t be enough to turn the tables?

    He took a deep breath, then announced in as calm a voice as he was capable of, "In the next 10 years, the Cathayan Underworld will be establishing Zhu Rong n base stations in all of our allied nations in sequential order, and these base stations..."

    He paused momentarily, and he felt as if his throat were on fire as he continued in a trembling voice, "Will be built upon the basis of the second generation forbidden arts startup modules."

    Dead silence.

    For the nth time,plete silence descended over the entire venue.

    All of the journalists were rooted to the spot, and their image capture crystals fell dark.

    All of the death gods were alsopletely stunned as they stared nkly at Qin Ye, looking as if they couldn''t decide whether they had just heard a massive joke or the most monumental announcement they had ever heard.

    H, J?rmungandr, Mtecutli, Mictetikasiwa, and all of the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds turned toward Qin Ye with wooden expressions, looking just as incredulous as everyone else was.

    Three full seconds of silence passed by before the entire venuepletely erupted.

    All of the death gods who had just sat down instantly sprang to their feet once again, and the rulers of the three pirs were trembling as goosebumps spread over the entirety of their bodies.

    "Se... Second generation forbidden arts startup modules?!" A death god of the utopia alliance was staring at Qin Ye with a ck-jawed manner, and he eximed, "Impossible! That''s definitely not possible!!"

    This was such a massive bombshell that it took close to 20 seconds before all of the stunned journalists returned to their senses, yet on this asion, no one dared to ask any questions.

    No wonder the other underworlds had to arrive before this announcement was made, no wonder this had to wait until the very end, it was certainly well worth the wait!

    It seemed that the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t actually disappeared for a century. Instead, it was as if it had undergone a century of evolution and had emerged even stronger!

 Chapter 911: The Zhu Rong Plan Stuns the World (3)

    <h4>Chapter 911: The Zhu Rong n Stuns the World (3)</h4>

    This was a conference being held for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, and prior to this, there were underworlds vying for the Cathayan Underworld''s exclusion as a forbidden arts supervision nation, citing doubts of whether the Cathayan Underworld had the ability to fulfill this duty.

    In response, the Cathayan Underworld had brought out second-generation forbidden arts, and included in the underworlds that would benefit from the second generation forbidden arts was none other than the new continent, which the rest of the world was desperately trying to keep out of the forbidden arts conversation!

    What would the world be if those two deranged geezers were to get their hands on second-generation forbidden arts?

    Countless thoughts shed through the minds of all of the death gods present at once, and many underworld emissaries had risen to their feet, all of whom were at least at the Abyssal Prefect level, but not even a single one of them dared to utter a single word.

    What could they say? They simply didn''t have sufficient influence to say anything here.

    The only ones who could speak up here were the rulers of the three pirs, and with that in mind, all eyes immediately turned to them.

    The collective gaze of the death gods and journalists was like a weight bearing down on the three of them, and no matter how reluctant they were to ask questions, regardless of how much they wanted to discuss this with Qin Ye in private, they had no choice but to ask.

    You''re the ones trying to bring them down and using them of breach of duty, aren''t you? In that case, you should be the one to ask them questions!

    The prospect of second-generation forbidden arts was far too terrifying a topic to be ignored.

    An extremely oppressive silence settled over the entire venue, and finally, Anubis worked up the courage to break the silence.

    "Yan..."

    As soon as he opened his mouth, he immediately realized how hoarse his own voice sounded, and he immediately cleared his throat before putting on a forced smile as he began again. "Yanluo Qin, I have a question..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a burst of light shed behind Qin Ye, immediately following which arge light screen that was around a meter in size appeared.

    Everyone instantly fell silent upon seeing this.

    All of the death gods, including Archimedes, were looking on with rapt attention.

    The screen was filled with countless Yin runes, as many as there were stars in the sky, but it could be seen that this was still only a small portion of the entire thing. It was probably only around one-twentieth... no, one-thirtieth of the whole image!

    However, even such a rtively small section held countless Yin runes to the tune of hundreds of thousands in just a few inches!

    "I know that if I don''t bring out any evidence, everyone will think that I''m joking," Qin Ye said in a calm voice. "The Cathayan Underworld never jokes around, especially not about such important events during such significant asions."

    No one was listening to what he was saying.

    The death gods of the three pirs were frantically scanning their eyes across the Yin runes, as was Archimedes, and the more they saw, the paler their faces became.

    After only a few seconds of inspection, they were already stunned by the incredible ingenuity and innovation that was on disy!

    Was this the sequence of Yin runes that would give rise to second-generation forbidden arts?

    Using Darkless Number 3,214 Yin Rune in conjunction with Faint Light Number 5,748 Yin Rune could indeed produce enormous power, but no sessful experiment with thisbination had ever been made. However, the inclusion of the Light Star Number 5,430 Yin Rune had made everything mesh together perfectly!

    Archimedes''s lips were beginning to tremble, and the scientist that was residing deep in his heart had been awakened. After looking at the disyed content on the screen for only a few minutes, he knew that this startup module was definitely legitimate!

    If it were to continue to pile up, there really was a chance that it would be able to create a monstrosity that would be close to 20 times as powerful as first-generation forbidden arts!

    The gates to greater knowledge were wide open in front of him, and countless Yin runes were revolving around him. The more he saw, the more entranced and excited he became. His breathing had be extremely ragged, and his face waspletely flushed. His body was trembling violently, and he was grasping with his hands with all his might, as if he were trying totch onto something.

    All of the journalists and other death gods were staring intently at the rulers of the three pirs, only to discover that their faces were bing paler and paler. All of a sudden, Yamaraja stumbled back unsteadily, and if it weren''t for Durga catching him in time, he would''ve most likely sat directly back down onto his seat.

    "Is... Is this real?" A death god of the utopia alliance was staring at Hypnos with a horrified expression, yet Hypnos''s expression was even more aghast than his. "Has the Cathayan Underworld really managed to develop second-generation forbidden arts?"

    "It''s... It''s only a startup module..." The death god beside him gulped nervously as he countered in a feeble voice, "It''s still not aplete forbidden art..."

    The sound of the hushed conversations were growing louder and louder, and in no more than a minute, it had culminated into a raucousmotion!

    "Lord Qin! Your Excellency!!" The journalists were rushing forward and screaming as if they were deranged. "When did the Cathayan Underworld manage to develop second-generation forbidden arts startup modules?!"

    "Your Excellency, how long will it take for this startup module to transform into an actual second-generation forbidden art?"

    "Lord Qin, is that the next goal for the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "Lord Qin, what gave your nation''s Yin rune research team the inspiration to create this startup module?"

    "Your Excellency, is this real? Is this really a second-generation forbidden arts startup module?!"

    However, before the journalists had a chance to write down any notes, all of their pens flew out of their hands before flying directly toward Archimedes.

    He was still wearing a pristine white robe, giving him the appearance of a saint as depicted on ancient Argosian cave artworks. Indeed, in a sense, he really was a saint of Argosia.

    However, at this moment, this "saint" waspletely entranced, and he got down on all fours on the tiled ground. The parts of his robe that came into contact with the ground were instantly ckened, but he paid no heed to that. Instead, he grabbed a pen and began to quickly perform a series of calctions,pletely ignoring everyone and everything around him.

    "Right, so this is what they did! I can''t believe thisbination is possible! What kind of genius could''ve possibly devised such an incrediblebination? Ah! Darkness Number 549 Yin Rune can be used here?! It creates a perfect bridge! What an incredible mind! It works... It definitely does! This area is usible for sure! Let me see which part is the activation algorithm for the forbidden art... Damn it, I don''t know what material is going to act as a vessel for this startup module, how am I supposed to make any calctions?!"

    Initially, his voice was very quiet, but it gradually became louder and louder, spiking to a desperate roar at the end.

    Hypnos and Erinys looked as if they were about to throw up.

    They were doing everything in their power to stall for time and not have to confirm the authenticity of the startup module, but Archimedes hadpletely defected over to the enemy camp!

    Hypnos had half a mind to banish him from the nation!

    "My apologies." Hypnos put on an extremely forced smile, and with a wave of his hand, Archimedes instantly vanished on the spot.

    In the wake of his disappearance, the venue was silent for a few seconds, immediately following which came an even more thunderousmotion!

    "Your Excellency, was Mr. Archimedes speaking the truth there? Has the Father of Yin Runes acknowledged this starter module to be genuine?!"

    "Does the Cathayan Underworld really need second-generation forbidden arts? What impact do you think this will have on the entire world?"

    "How much of the second generation forbidden arts startup module has beenpleted? Surely this is a question that can be answered!"

    "What is the estimated number of Yin runes involved? Has it reached in excess of a hundred million? Please spare me a reply!"

    The journalists had gonepletely insane!

    The emergence of second-generation forbidden arts was undoubtedly going to drastically change the entire world again!

    This was the final kill shot that the Cathayan Underworld up its sleeve!

    The leaders of the three pirs exchanged a few nces with one another. They had prepared as well as they could for this conference, even going as far as to break the rules to intercept the Cathayan Underworld''s allies. However, the Cathayan Underworld''s final trump card had captured the attention of the entire world, and it was still unknown whether Death God Osiris of the Aegyptian Underworld was dead or alive.

    None of them had anticipated this.

    The second-generation forbidden arts startup module had been introduced to the world during a forbidden arts conference...

    Hypnos lowered his head in a dejected manner, but he then abruptly looked up again, and there was still some hope in his eyes.

    We still have a chance! Yanluo Qin, you calcted everything, but you''ve failed to take into ount one thing!

    Forbidden arts were only avable to major nations, small nations didn''t have ess to such things! Leaking forbidden arts codes was a major international crime! Perhaps they could sway a few votes by doing this, but as long as they didn''t sway more than 17 votes to their side, the three pirs would still emerge as the final winners!

    Furthermore, this project hasn''t gone through the international arbitration process! Regardless of what type of new energy resource this was, it was being released at the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. The fact that the Cathayan Underworld was nning to build forbidden arts base stations all over the world directly contradicted the purpose of this conference! As such, the Coalition of Underworlds had sufficient reason to rebuke this proposal and categorize it as an unofficial agreement! In that case, it would be a non-official agreement concerning forbidden arts, and no nation would dare to participate in it then!

    However, right at this moment, a thought urred to him, and he felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him on the head.

    He suddenly recalled something that Qin Ye had said prior to revealing the forbidden arts startup modules.

    "The base stations of the Zhu Rong n will be built upon the basis of the second generation forbidden arts startup modules."

    Despite having experienced so much during his existence that had spanned thousands of years, he couldn''t help but be ovee by a sense of dread.

    This essentially meant that the new energy resource was going to be the equivalent of nuclear energy in the mortal realm.

    While it was true that establishing forbidden arts base stations, even forbidden arts research centers, all over the world, and anything else that had even the slightest thing to do with forbidden arts was vehemently opposed by the entire world, this didn''t include the advent of a new energy resource...

    A new energy resource hadn''t existed before this point, so there were no international regtions against it, particrly not against connecting forbidden arts with nuclear energy!

    Even if such pre-emptive policies did exist, they would bepletely abolished in order to allow this new energy resource to spread through the world as quickly as possible.

    "So this was his n all along..." He stared nkly at the main stage, and everything in his mind was finally connected together, allowing him to see the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld''s n.

    They had signed the Zhu Rong n agreement with the five nations of Northern Europa, revealing their new energy resource in the process.

    Then, they had established partnerships with the Alkebn Underworlds, taking the opportunity to unveil the second generation forbidden arts startup module.

    Finally, once the death gods of the new continent were swayed to his side, he revealed that this new energy resource was nuclear energy!

    These were three bombshells being dropped one after another, and if they hadn''t intercepted the Alkebn Underworlds, those bombshells would''ve already been dropped on their head a few days ago!

    Death God Sorenges was seated beside Hypnos in a tattered suit of armor, and he said in a defeated voice, "The only thing that we know right now is that this new energy resource is concealed within the Cathayan Underworld''s second-generation forbidden arts startup module. If we want to overtake them, we''ll have to reinvent their second-generation forbidden arts startup module, and that''s most likely going to take an extremely long time."

    Hypnos leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as he heaved a long sigh.

    "Have they already gone this far ahead in the past century?" His throat had runpletely dry, and he was feeling utterly deted.

    The logic here wasn''t very difficult to follow, and soon, everyone was arriving at the same conclusions that Hypnos had just reached.

    "Did Yanluo Qin just say that the Zhu Rong n''s base stations will be built upon the basis of the second generation forbidden arts startup modules?"

    "Does that mean those startup modules are essentially nuclear energy modules? Did they derive the inspiration for the new energy resource from those startup modules?"

    "Hold on, doesn''t that meant that the Cathayan Underworld is going to construct nuclear energy nts all over the Alkebn Underworlds, the five nations of Northern Europa, and the new continent?"

    Everyone quickly erupted into a raucousmotion once again.

    "Your Excellency, are you sure this proposal will be approved through the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts?"

    "Lord Qin, do you have the confidence to hold a hearing for this revolutionary piece of technology? ording to my knowledge, there are still no regtions in the Coalition of Underworlds against the energy resources generated from forbidden arts!"

    "Lord Qin, when will this new energy resource first enter practical usage? Are we able to ensure its safety?!"

    All of the journalists hadpletely cast etiquette aside, and they were flocking toward Qin Ye in a frenzy. Soon, the entire main stage waspletely surrounded by a watertight barrier of journalists, and countless image capture crystals were shing incessantly. As for Qin Ye, hepletely ignored all of the death gods present and really did begin to answer the journalists'' questions!

    Yamaraja raised his head to the heavens and heaved a long sigh. In this instant, he knew that he had already beenpletely and utterly defeated.

    This had be the Cathayan Underworld''s victory parade, and he didn''t want to stay here any longer.

    Who could''ve imagined that the Cathayan Underworld would bring out nuclear power nts as soon as it re-emerged on the world stage? They never had a chance in this power struggle from the very beginning!

    He took one final nce at Qin Ye as if he were trying to brand Qin Ye''s image into his mind, then spread his wings and departed.

    All of the death gods of the three pirs began to depart one after another, retaining the final shreds of their dignity that were still intact.

    If they were to stay here any longer, they would be blinded by the radiance of the Cathayan Underworld!

    [1] This is not a typo. As you''ll seeter in the chapter, there is another category of Yin runes separate from this one with the name of Darkness.

 Chapter 912: Landslide Vote

    <h4>Chapter 912: Landslide Vote</h4>

    The sound of urgent footsteps rang out, and a door was abruptly pushed open, following which a group of Yin spirits wearing crisp professional suits appeared at the entrance.

    They were panting heavily, and their hair was slightly disheveled.

    This was an extremely intricately constructed circr room that was brightly lit and had smooth marble flooring. Bookshelves that were constructed to fit the curvature of the walls were present all around the room, and the shelves were filled with scrolls. On the ceiling was a mural with strong religious elements, depicting death gods and humans roaming together over a cast rice field.

    The decor and furniture in the room were all of avish ancient Europa style, and Borfis was seated behind the ornate wooden table at the very center of the room. He slid his golden wireframe sses down the bridge of his nose slightly, then set down the goose feather quill in his hand and said, "The International Underworlds Energy Resource Association and the International Underworlds Trade Association are all parts of the Coalition of Underworlds. As the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, I believe I deserve a bit more respect than to be barged in on like this."

    He leaned back in his chair and continued in a calm voice, "Even if I''m just a janitor, I''m still sitting in this chair, and I should be given the appropriate respect. Otherwise..."

    "The second-generation forbidden arts startup module has appeared!"

    Borfis''s voice immediately cut off upon hearing this, and he stared at the people who had just barged into his office with an incredulous expression.

    "This is not a joke! We hold a great deal of respect for you, and if it isn''t for the urgent nature of this situation, we definitely wouldn''t have barged in so rudely!" A female Yin spirit with pronounced curls in her hair made her way over to the table, cing her hands on its surface as she looked directly into Borfis''s eyes. "Half an hour ago, the press conference held by Yanluo Qin of the Cathayan Underworld concluded, and during the press conference, he revealed the entirety of the Zhu Rong n."

    "What does it entail?" A strong sense of foreboding had suddenly welled up in Borfis''s heart.

    "Essentially, they''ve unveiled nuclear energy," a voice replied from behind the woman, and the woman immediately stepped aside, allowing the group of men and women behind her to face Borfis directly.

    All of these Yin spirits were in different attire. Some were wearing white Arabic robes, some were wearing standard business suits, some were wearing kimonos, and their appearances were just as varied as their attire. None of them were very remarkable in appearance, but Borfis immediately drew a sharp breath and rose to his feet at the sight of them. "Why are you here?"

    A Nipponese woman who appeared to be in her thirties and was wearing a kimono that was even morevish than Izanami''s smiled and said, "Five million Yin jade."

    Borfis raised an eyebrow with a perplexed expression, clearly failing to understand what she was referring to.

    The woman exined, "It took five million Yin jade to recruit the service of a Yama-King level death god to establish a set teleportation array that led straight to Nara. It was a little expensive, but it was worth it. I just didn''t expect to see all of you here as well."

    The womanbed her fingers through her own hair elegantly as she cast her gaze toward the Yin spirits around her.

    "Even the young mistress of the Nipponese Sacred Treasure Consortium, one of the world''s 15 premier consortiums, is here, how could we be absent?" a handsome Caucasian Yin spirit said with a smile, then turned to the other Yin spirits. "I also didn''t expect to see all of you here. Aside from our Anderson Consortium, I can already see that there are representatives from 11 of the world''s 15 premier consortiums. I''m sure representatives from the remaining four are also about to arrive soon."

    All of the Yin spirits remained silent with polite smiles on their faces.

    "Is there something you need to do here?" Borfis could already feel his own temples pulsing violently. These representatives weren''t the top dogs of their respective consortiums, but they were all extremely important figures in the international financial sector!

    Their importance didn''te in the form of their status. Instead, they were all direct lineal descendants of the families running these extraordinarily important consortiums, and their presence almost always indicated that a massive financial opportunity was afoot.

    Why were they here?

    Linking their presence to the news he had just been informed of by the International Underworlds Energy Resource Association and the International Underworlds Trade Association, he felt as if his head were about to explode!

    When had his office ever hosted so many immensely influential figures at the same time?

    "Of course we have something to do here!" A man wearing a white Arab robe stood in front of the table and leaned down to look directly into Borfis''s eyes.

    He swept a hand through the air, and the door behind them was gently shut, following which he continued, "We want you to immediately invalidate the verdict to rescind the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights."

    Borfis''s eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this.

    "The oue was decided through a vote and cannot be altered." He was feeling very uneasy, and in order to establish some authority, he mmed a hand onto his desk as he spoke, yet right after he did so, he immediately looked down with a surprised expression.

    A piece of paper had appeared beneath his fingers.

    It was an extremely intricate printed piece of paper, resembling a credit card from the mortal realm with the design of a golden lion''s head inscribed on its surface. This was the symbol of the Arabic Consortium!

    The man in the white robe pushed the piece of paper toward Borfis and stared straight into his eyes as he said, "This proposal was raised by the three pirs. As long as they don''t object to the decision to invalidate the oue, then there won''t be any issues, and I''m sure they wouldn''t be shameless enough to raise any objections."

    His voice was as alluring as it was imcable, and he pressed the card firmly into Borfis''s hand as he continued, "The three pirs have lost, and they have to ept their defeat. As the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, I''m sure you''ll make the right decision."

    He leaned forward so that his mouth was right beside Borfis''s ear as he whispered, "This card is worth thirty million Yin jade, and the sum can be withdrawn from any bank under the jurisdiction of the Arabic Consortium. I hope this is enough to show you our sincerity."

    Borfis drew a sharp breath, and his mouth felt as parched as a desert.

    As expected, in the face of such an opportunity, the first to act would always be the major consortiums, followed by the research centers of the major nations and important private research centers. All of these people were most likely going to be flocking to this ce like moths to a me during the next few days!

    In other words, the representative team of the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t going to be able to leave anytime soon.

    "What do you n to do?"

    "It''s very simple." The man in the white robe stood up straight again as he smiled and said, "Very soon, you will receive applications from all of the major underworlds, requesting expansions to their representative teams, and I want you to approve all of these applications. We are going to officially be members of these nations'' representative teams, and we want to be able to attend this conference in person."

    "Is that all?"

    "That''s all."

    Silence.

    After a long while, Borfis finally nodded in response. "I agree with your proposal. The three pirs most likely won''t be raising any objections. Even if they do, it won''t be in person. Just like you said, they aren''t shameless enough to raise objections after suffering such a crushing defeat. In that case, all that''s left is to confirm that the Zhu Rong n doesn''t conflict with the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. If you want to attend the conference, then that can certainly be arranged."

    As he withdrew his hand, the card on the desk beneath his fingers had already vanished.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Tables and chairs were littered all over the bluestone floor, and behind those was a massive statue. As the gates were shut, the surrounding candles lit up in unison, giving the temple a sense of eeriness.

    Izanami was seated in her chair in silence, and in that instant, she felt as if she had aged significantly.

    The oue was already decided.

    The revote still hadn''t taken ce yet, but the result was already obvious, and they were only sitting here to listen to the announcement of the inevitable final result.

    Even in this instant, she felt as if she were living in a dream. During the past seven days, she felt as if she had already seen hope, and that victory was within their grasp. The Cathayan Underworld had virtually not resisted at all, yet from the moment the conference began, her nightmare alsomenced.

    The two rulers of the new continent stormed the conference hall, killing 12 international arbiters and destroying most of the pavilion. As a result, the meeting had to be held again, and within the short span of a single day, the Cathayan Underworld hadpletely flipped the tables,prehensively crushing the three pirs with its nuclear energy announcement.

    The losers were supposed to be staying in the corner, licking their wounds in silence, yet she had been forced toe here to watch the winner gloat, to witness the Cathayan Underworld return to its rightful throne! It was as if she had already been killed, yet her killers were still intent on desecrating her corpse!

    She looked up at the ceiling with a forlorn sigh, and she couldn''t even be bothered to listen to Borfis''s opening address.

    Of course, there were many people in the same position as her, such as the nameless god of death of the Russian Underworld.

    His position as the fifth pir had seemed all but assured, but before he even had a chance to celebrate, he had been brutally shut down.

    He was like nothing more than a pathetic clown, celebrating over nothing for less than three hours before his hopes were dashed in devastating fashion.

    Most of the underworlds werepletely silent, and amid this peculiar atmosphere, Borfis announced, "Next, it''s time to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts and the effective period of this new agreement will be 100 years. All of the terms and uses have already been seen and agreed upon by all of the death gods, and the only step left now is to sign the agreement."

    "Please wait a moment." A death god suddenly rose to his feet and said in an extremely reluctant manner, "There was a proposal from the three pirs before..."

    A wry smile appeared on the nameless god of death''s face.

    Are they still not content with epting defeat?

    The three pirs were still hanging onto the hope that they could secure the final victory, but this hope was far too slim. Thus, they had forced one of their loyalpdogs to bring up the issue in their stead, but the expression on the face of the death god who had just spoken was enough to tell the whole story.

    He had done as he had been told, but he was extremely reluctant to do so.

    How many more underworlds like this were there in the utopia alliance?

    Borfis slid his golden wireframe sses down the bridge of his nose before turning to the death god who had just spoken with a meaningful smile. "Are you referring to the proposal to rescind the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights?"

    The death god didn''t even want to speak, and he merely nodded in response with a glum expression.

    His underworld was situated right in between the Argosian Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and the Hindustani Underworld, so he had no choice but to ept this task. However, he knew that after raising this issue, he would never be able to hang onto the coattails of the world-leading powerhouse that was the Cathayan Underworld.

    Borfis nodded in response before turning to everyone in the hall with a serious expression. "We will hold a vote in one minute. Those who are in support of restoring the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights, please raise your hands when the minute is up."

    Borfis didn''t wish to dwell any further on this pointless matter.

    The three pirs were unwilling to give up until they saw the final oue, so he was giving them that opportunity.

    The minute passed by very quickly and very quietly.

    There were no discussions, and not a single death god disyed any hesitation.

    Everyone already knew what their vote was going to be, and Qin Ye was the calmest and most confident of them all.

    During this minute, he swept his gaze slowly across the faces of every single death god present, and all those who detected his gaze immediately smiled and nodded in response.

    Just a day ago, many of these death gods had been avoiding his gaze and standing firmly behind the three pirs.

    Just a day ago, many more of those death gods had refrained from voting and didn''t dare to meet his hopeful gaze.

    However, on this day, he was like the sun, while the other death gods were like sunflowers eagerly soaking up the blessing that was his gaze. How ironic a scene this was.

    "Now then, let the voting begin." Borfis''s voice snapped him out of his train of thought. "Those who support the restoration of the Cathayan Underworld''s international forbidden arts supervision rights, please raise your hands."

    In the blink of an eye, all hands in the hall were raised in almost perfect synchronicity!

    The dozen or so newly appointed arbiters were standing in the corner, counting the votes over and over again, thinking that they had counted the votes incorrectly, but after several minutes, they finally managed to verify the final oue. "34 votes, it''s a unanimous decision, Mr. Borfis. ording to international regtions, the Cathayan Underworld will retain its international forbidden arts supervision rights."

    Hypnos turned toward Anubis and Yamaraja with stunned expressions, and they were just as astonished as he was.

    Traitor! Backstabber! Scum!

    These three words were beingmunicated wordlessly between the three death gods, yet at the same time, they were all trying to raise their hands higher than one another, as if they were afraid that others wouldn''t be able to see them.

    How could you renounce your dignity and loyalty just like that? How could you betray me and the utopia alliance?! It''s a good thing I made the exact same decision...

 Chapter 913: Sacred Treasure Consortium

    <h4>Chapter 913: Sacred Treasure Consortium</h4>

    It''s finally over...

    Qin Ye closed his eyes with his arm held up high and leaned back against his throne as he heaved a long sigh of relief.

    Seated beside him was Qin Changxin, who was staring nkly at all of the raised arms around him, and a smile slowly appeared on his face, but tears were also welling up in his eyes.

    Zhao Yun was looking at Qin Ye with fierce approval in his eyes, much like the expression of a father watching his sone of age.

    Only they knew just how much pressure they had been under during their past nine days in Nara.

    "Through a unanimous vote, we wee the Cathayan Underworld back as one the international forbidden arts supervision nations," Borfis dered to the sound of light apuse.

    This was a sign to the entire world that the glory of the Cathayan Underworld had returned.

    At this point, no one was stupid enough to oppose this decision, and soon, the apuse began to spread across the room, bing louder and louder. In the blink of an eye, the apuse had crescendoed from a light smattering into a thunderous chorus.

    The apuse went on for a long time, and Qin Ye acknowledged all of the apuding death gods with a polite yet restrained smile, but unbeknownst to everyone, his hands were trembling slightly as he held onto his armrests.

    He had managed to stand his ground against the entire world.

    Never did he think that he would be ovee by such an intense sense of achievement and satisfaction after securing glory for his own nation. It was only the apuse of several dozen people, but it was like a wave washing over him, raising goosebumps over every single inch of his skin.

    The support of the entire worldpletely filled his heart, yet even he didn''t know why this sense of satisfaction was so overwhelming. Countless emotions were swirling around in his heart, brewing into the most wonderful sensation. Perhaps this was what it felt like to have one''s painstaking efforts rewarded with a favorable oue.

    In the beginning, he had tried to strike back, only for his trump cards to be intercepted, plunging him into extreme unease and concern. However, he had to force himself to maintain a level head and calmly bide his time, even as the utopia alliance began to make its mark on the world. At the end, he was finally able to deal a decisive retaliative blow, and the process seemed quite simple, but in reality, the battle of wits and attrition had only officially concluded just a few hours ago.

    First King Yanluo, Second King Yanluo, did I do you guys proud?

    He cast his gaze toward the friendly faces all around him, and a faint smile appeared on his face. It was his first time stepping onto the world stage, and the impact that he had made would be felt for years toe.

    He was confident that under his rule, the Cathayan Underworld would only continue to be more and more prosperous.

    Just you wait, ascended predecessors of Hell. This is only the beginning!

    Only after the apuse had gone on for over a minute did Borfis gesture for silence, following which he continued, "Now then, we will go onto the main subject of discussion for this conference, which is the direction that forbidden arts are developing in, and rules and regtions to regte forbidden arts. The specific details have already been distributed to everyone by the Coalition of Underworlds in advance. Due to the fact that the Cathayan Underworld has been absent from the world stage for so long, it will not be participating in this discussion. Out of fairness and openness, everyone still has one final chance to make a statement before the final discussion."

    He swept a meaningful gaze across the entire venue as he continued, "If the actions of any nation or any underworld have threatened the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, you may report them here. We will have a day of discussion, followed by some time for an overall assessment, and the final day will be when the signing ceremony is held."

    Complete silence followed.

    After waiting for a full 30 seconds, Borfis nodded and said, "I hereby officially announce themencement of the discussion. ording to the rules, the discussion will be split up into five groups, namely the Asia Group, the Alkebn Group, the Central Asia Group, the Europa Group, and the temporary addition, the new continent group. The host for the Asia Group will still be Death God Yamaraja. The conference halls have already been prepared, you may go whenever you''re ready."

    The second-generation forbidden arts startup module had only just emerged, and strictly speaking, the module could be passed in any conference aside from the conference to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts.

    At the very least, it should''ve been a topic of discussion, yet everyone had turned a blind eye to this.

    Qin Ye was very pleased to see this, and he was even more pleased by the fact that he wouldn''t have to participate in the group discussions. He didn''t even have political nous and experience, and venturing into these types of in-depth discussions without sufficient preparation would expose these weaknesses. As things were at the moment, he could simply act as a spectator, and it was the ideal opportunity for him to learn how death gods all over the world addressed international affairs, as well as how small nations managed to survive within the cracks and maximize the benefits they could secure without incurring bacsh from major nations.

    He couldn''t wait to watch these discussions unfold.

    The death gods departed one after another, yet just as Qin Ye rounded a corner, a voice suddenly called out to him. "Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye turned around, and to his surprise, it was Yamaraja who had called out to him.

    There were other death gods who clearly also wanted to approach Qin Ye, but with Yamaraja present, there was naturally no ce for them to speak with Qin Ye, so they could only sheepishly depart.

    The two death gods strode along side by side, and Yamaraja was hovering above the ground like a wraith, while Qin Ye was walking with his hands sped behind his back. After walking in silence for a few seconds, Yamaraja finally spoke.

    "You''ve done a spectacr job here. It''s no wonder the second King Yanluo chose you as his sessor, it looks like the political style of the Cathayan Underworld is undergoing a change."

    He seemed to almost be talking to himself as he continued, "The second King Yanluo is far more domineering and self-centered. If he doesn''t want to hear the contents of an agreement, he would simply get up and leave, and in the past, this has enraged many underworlds. Perhaps these holes require a more capable and shrewd King Yanluo like you to patch up."

    Qin Ye merely smiled in response, treating this as if he were listening to the ramblings of a senile old man.

    "I think there may have been some type of misunderstanding between us," Yamaraja said in a friendly tone. "I''m sure you''re aware that I have nothing against you personally. There are no individual differences on the world stage, only nations and underworlds that don''t see eye to eye. It''s true that some underworlds believe that following your nation''s century-long absence, you are no longer fit to continue supervising the development of forbidden arts across the world, but you''ve truly given all of us a massive surprise, hehehe."

    Qin Ye maintained a polite smile as he strolled slowly alongside Yamaraja, and soon, they arrived in the garden. The renowned dry gardens of Nippon were quite the sight to behold, giving off a sense of deste beauty.

    "Indeed," Qin Ye murmured as he casually plucked a leaf off a nearby tree. "There are always unforeseen circumstances taking ce."

    He then turned to Yamaraja as he asked, "Do you think this chapter is over, Mr. Yamaraja?"

    Yamaraja gave a friendly nod in response. "Of course it is."

    "Are you sure?" Qin Ye asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    "I''m certain," Yamaraja replied as he looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes.

    "That''s good to hear." Qin Ye cast his gaze toward a pond, where a group of kappa were blowing out one huge bubble after another. "I would hate for there to be any further misunderstandings between us. After all, we''re all members of the four pirs, and if there''s too much unrest between us, it''ll be an area of concern for the rest of the world."

    Yamaraja was silent for a moment before chuckling in response. "Of course."

    He had made a mistake, so he had to take Qin Ye''s subtle criticism in silence.

    "Your nation has been cut off from the rest of the world for over a century, and the world''s economy is currently not in a very good state. Now that such a massive consumer nation has reopened its doors to the world, I''m sure the world''s GDP will experience an appreciable rise, and that''s certainly something to look forward to."

    Qin Ye stopped beside the pond, and a Nipponese servant immediately rushed over in a respectful manner before offering him a bag of fish food. Qin Ye casually grabbed a handful of fish food, then nonchntly tossed it onto the surface of the pond as he said, "I don''t recall stating that the Cathayan Underworld will be opening itself back up to the rest of the world."

    "Oh, I must''ve misheard then," Yamaraja replied. "I thought that the Cathayan Underworld was going to conclude its seclusion early, and that was why the Zhu Rong n was revealed to the world. That''s quite a pity, a world without the Cathayan Underworld feels like it''s missing something."

    A deathly pale hand that looked as if it belonged to a corpse extended out from underneath his ck robe, then grabbed a handful of fish food before tossing it into the pond, and an awkward silence immediately ensued.

    However, the silence was broken shortly thereafter. Right as Yamaraja was grabbing his second handful of fish food, a gentle voice rang out. "Please pardon my intrusion, esteemed death gods."

    A woman who appeared to be no different from a living person and was wearing a luxurious kimono was standing not far away from them, wearing a smile that was gorgeous as a peony in full bloom. She wasn''t exceptionally beautiful, but she gave off quite a refreshing disposition.

    "Kana Fujii pays her respects." She made a subtle gesture as she spoke, and two servants immediately walked out from behind her, offering up a pair of hollow golden boxes with both hands. Extremely life-like designs of elegant cranes and beautiful flowers were etched on the surface of the boxes, and she extended a deep bow as she said, "This is a small gift from me, I hope you''ll do me the honor of epting it."

    She then turned to Yamaraja and extended a deep bow as she asked, "Lord Yamaraja, would you be able to give me a moment alone with Lord Qin?"

    The fact that this woman was essentially openly asking Yamaraja to leave indicated that she was clearly no ordinary figure. Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the woman. He couldn''t recall any Nipponese death goddess by the name of Kana Fujii.

    "Ah, greetings, Kana." The dozens of red eyes beneath Yamaraja''s cloak faded in unison, and he turned to Qin Ye with a parting nod. "You''re most likely going to be very busy from now on. The line of people who want to see you could easily stretch from Osaka to Tokyo, so I won''t keep you any longer. If you have some spare time, please feel free to visit the Mahabodhi Temple. The Hindustani Underworld has always shared a close friendship with the Cathayan Underworld, and I project that to remain the case for a very long time toe."

    He extended a hand toward Qin Ye, and Qin Ye calmly shook his hand as he said, "Indeed, I look forward to working with you in the future."

    "I''m sure we''ll meet again very soon, Yanluo Qin."

    With that parting sentence, Yamaraja released Qin Ye''s hand and departed.

    Only then did Qin Ye cast his gaze toward Kana Fujii again. "May I ask who you are?"

    "I am the chief executive of the Nipponese Sacred Treasure Consortium, one of the world''s 15 major consortiums. It''s an honor for me to make your acquaintance, Lord Qin."

    Kana Fujii extended another deep bow as she continued, "Thank you for taking some time out of what is undoubtedly an extremely busy schedule to see me. I just so happen to know of a great teahouse nearby, would you be so kind as to go there with me now?"

    As soon as Qin Ye heard the word "consortium", he knew that this was no ordinary woman.

    It was clear that she was interested in his new energy resource project.

    These were the people who Yamaraja was referring to, the people who wanted to see him.

    In response to Qin Ye''s nod, Kana Fujii''s smile widened even further, and she led the way past a small hill, upon which a winding path was revealed.

    "You seem to be very familiar with this ce," Qin Ye said in a casual manner.

    The scenery was exceptional here with beautiful hills and creeks alongside lush yet well-pruned greenergy. Clusters of some type of unknown flower were growing between the bushes, and they were quite elegant and refined. The melodious tolls of arge bell could be heard in the distance, and it was truly as if they had stumbled upon a peaceful paradise away from the prying eyes of the world.

    "Of course," Kana Fujii replied with an amused smile. "70% of Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo were constructed by our Sacred Treasure Consortium."

    Qin Ye instantly understood what her intentions were upon hearing this.

    As an internationally renowned consortium that had perhaps arisen from the real estate industry, what else could this consortium want from the Zhu Rong project?

    Qin Ye chuckled, "Are you not afraid that Izanami will be irked by your decision to join us?"

    A meaningful smile appeared on Kana Fujii''s face as she replied, "Even though I''m only a Soul Hunter, she wouldn''t dare to touch me unless she wants to see the copse of the Nipponese Underworld''s economy. On top of that, one of the Nipponese Underworld''s three divine artifacts, the Yasakani no Magatama, has always been in the possession of our Fujii n."

    Qin Ye was finally intrigued upon hearing this.

    This meant that Izanami didn''t have the power to use the three divine artifacts to summon Minakanushi at will!

 Chapter 914: Visit from the Sacred Treasure Consortium

    <h4>Chapter 914: Visit from the Sacred Treasure Consortium</h4>

    The teahouse was very peaceful.

    The floor was paved with soft tatami mats, and pieces of artwork and calligraphy from renowned Nipponese masters were hanging on the walls. Intricate vases were ced in the corners of the room, and out of the vases were protruding shoots of red spider lilies.

    Just outside the window next to the table they were sitting at was a channel built from sections of bamboo, carrying shimmering creek water into the pond. In fact, the entire teahouse was built on top of a small pond and concealed by the surrounding lush greenery.

    There were no servants here, and between the two of them was a tea tray that was no different from the tea trays of the Cathayan Underworld, and Kana Fujii picked up a silver tea holder from the tea tray in an elegant manner before taking out some tea leaves from the jar. She then poured out a stream of clear spring water from the water bowl.

    Strangely enough, even though the spring water was ice cold, as soon as it entered the cup, it began to bubble as if it had been brought to a boil, and the refreshing fragrance of tea began to waft through the air.

    Kana Fujii pulled back the sleeve of her kimono, revealing a section of her fair arm as she gently pushed a teacup toward Qin Ye with a hospitable smile. "This is a premium Nipponese tea, please enjoy."

    Qin Ye epted the cup of tea but didn''t drink from it. Instead, he smiled as he said, "Let''s cut straight to the chase, I have a very tight schedule."

    There had to be countless businesses, research centers, and important officials from all nations waiting outside his door for a chance to meet him, and they weren''t going to leave before they could secure an audience with him.

    Kana Fujii was slightly taken aback to hear this.

    She had taken the time to review everything that Qin Ye had done during this conference in detail, and she had to admit that he was a brilliant tactician, and that his style waspletely different from that of the second King Yanluo.

    She had thought that a King Yanluo capable of achieving such a massive feat would definitely be the type to engage in formalities and dabble in some small talk with her for a while. After all, the Sacred Treasure Consortium was unmatched on the international stage when it came to construction prowess, but to her surprise, Qin Ye was extremely direct and forthright when it came to discussing official matters.

    So he''s a pragmatist who appears gentle on the outside, but is firm and unyielding on the inside...

    Kana Fujii was quickly applying mental tags to Qin Ye, but at the same time, she didn''t dare to dy any further as she said, "In that case, let''s get down to business. If possible, Our Sacred Treasure Consortium would like to take on all of the Zhu Rong n''s construction projects."

    As soon as her voice trailed off, she brought out a card with a nine-petal lotus insignia etched on its surface, then offered it to Qin Ye with both hands. "This is a small gift from our Sacred Treasure Consortium. With this card, you''ll be able to withdraw twenty million Yin jade from all of the banks under the jurisdiction of our consortium all over Asia, and our chairman, Mr. Ichiro Fujii, asked me to give this to you in person."

    Silence.

    Kana Fujii''s expression remained calm and collected, but her heart was already pounding violently.

    This was a massive opportunity!

    Even though the Sacred Treasure Consortium was the world''s number one construction business that had arisen from the construction industry, there was nock of strong businesses nipping at its heels.

    An example of this was the Blue Forest Corporation, which had taken over 100% of the market share for high-end restaurant construction all over the world and 40% of the market share for mid-range and low-end restaurant construction. The corporation had five exceptionally skilled construction teams, and it was constantly striving to challenge the Sacred Treasure Consortium for the top spot in the construction industry.

    She had seen a representative of the Blue Forest Corporation in Chief Secretary Borfis''s office, so she knew that they also had their eyes on this opportunity.

    If they could mark their own name on a project like this, which was going to impact the entire world and usher in the next era, their influence, technology, and quality of service would immediately be recognized by the entire world, so they were also going to do everything in their power to grab this opportunity!

    Of course, everyone knew that there wasn''t going to be much point in this meeting as they would have to wait for the official tender, but in order to leave a good first impression on this young King Yanluo, they had to send someone, and the first gift that they offered up numbered in the tens of millions in Yin jade.

    Amid the oppressive silence, Qin Ye took the card from Kana Fujii, and she heaved an internal sigh of relief.

    "This really is a lot of money," Qin Ye said as he flipped the card over with a hint of a smile on his face. Several secondster, he raised an eyebrow and sat back in his chair as he asked, "What connections do you have in the government of the Nipponese Underworld?"

    "You think far too highly of us, Yanluo Qin, we''re just a consortium..."

    "Who are your backers?" Qin Ye cut her off as he gently pushed the card back toward her. "All of the underworlds are fighting over this opportunity, and the first to strike will definitely be the national ministry of construction. This matter concerns the political rtions between the Cathayan Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld, and if you were indeed just a normal consortium, the government of the Nipponese Underworld would''ve definitely prohibited you from approaching me in light of the strained rtionship between our underworlds."

    He picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea. The refreshing tea made him feel as if all of the pores all over his entire body had opened up, and he set down the teacup again as he continued in an unhurried manner, "The fact that you''re here means that you have connections in high ces. Let me reiterate: I have no time for lies and useless small talk. If you want to take on this job, then you have to show me your sincerity, understood?"

    His tone was very calm and cid, but Kana Fujii''s entire body shuddered in response. The aura of the ruler of one of the four pirs and the confidence stemming from a powerhouse nation that had stood thousands of years culminated in a sense of pressure that made her feel as if she were being scrutinized by a vicious tiger.

    After a brief pause, she replied, "Our Fujii n has people in the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. This is not a secret, Mistress Izanami is aware of this as well."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. It made sense that they had people in all of the Nipponese Underworld''s important government ministries. It was no wonder that Izanami was opposing them, but they werepletely going against her and sucking up to him.

    "Do you know what the death gods of your nation have done?" Qin Ye rose to his feet and said, "There are currently no construction projections pertaining to the Zhu Rong n, and if any projects arise, I''ll contact you. If that''s all for today, then I have some other matters to attend to, and I''ll be leaving now."

    After that, he immediately stood up to leave.

    "Your Excellency!" Kana Fujii yelled as she hurriedly stood up from her chair. "Please wait! What Izanami and the others did had nothing to do with us! We had no idea what they were nning, and we would''ve never done something so foolish! Your Excellency, please don''t reject our Sacred Treasure Consortium on the basis of actionspletely unrted to us! Please believe in our industry-leading experience and expertise! We can offer you prices at a mark-up of only 30% of the cost price! Please wait, Your Excellency! How about 29%? We can negotiate!"

    Qin Ye finally stopped, yet before Kana Fujii even had a chance to heave a sigh of relief, he said in a calm voice, "I''m not rejecting you, it''s just that construction on this project will onlymence in 10 years at the earliest, and we''ll only be inviting tenders in eight years. We still haven''t even entered the inspection phase yet, so it''s too early to be talking about all of this."

    He then turned to Kana Fujii with a meaningful expression and continued, "Also, the death gods of your nation seem to have lost their waytely, so I hope you can show them the right way to proceed. If you want to thrive in eastern Asia, then you had better figure out who is the king of this area, don''t you think?"

    Kana Fujii shuddered as she pursed her lips tightly.

    Qin Ye tucked a strand of her stray hair behind her ear in a gentle manner as he smiled and said, "If the Nipponese Underworld continues to provoke me, it''ll be very difficult for me to have a good impression of Nipponese businesses."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    Kana Fujii remained standing on the spot in silence.

    Only after a long while did she look up at the sky while biting down firmly on her own lower lip. "Izanami, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, you''re a pair of idiots!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    As Qin Ye returned to his room, themotion from the massive crowd of people gathered outside instantly died down.

    He swept his gaze through the crowd, and it was truly an extensive lineup.

    Aside from the underworlds that were absolutely against the Cathayan Underworld, such as the three pirs, the Nipponese Underworld, and the Russian Underworld, around 27 to 28 of the 34 underworlds had sent representatives to see him!

    This was apletely different scene from the one several days ago!

    All of the representatives wore sycophantic expressions, yet none of them dared to stand in Qin Ye''s way, and he was like a sharp sword that cut through the crowd with ease. The underworld representatives on either side of him all wanted to speak to him, and they were staring at him like hungry wolves watching a delectable piece of meat, but they didn''t dare to say anything.

    Of course, Qin Ye paid no heed to them, either.

    However, just as he was walking along, someone suddenly caught his eyes. "Are you from the Southern Pacific Ocean''s Star Cluster Federation?"

    The representative that he had spoken to faltered slightly upon hearing this, then looked down at the insignia on his own chest with a stunned expression to make sure that Qin Ye really had just spoken to him.

    That was a silver insignia with the design of a starry night sky etched on its surface.

    Did he just speak directly to me?

    In this instant, his head was ringing!

    The Star Cluster Federation was an impressive-sounding name, but in reality, it was only an alliance consisting of eight minor underworlds, namely Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Pu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Even the territories of all eight of these underworldsbined weren''t even asrge as the province of Hainan.

    Even the slightlyrger underworlds, such as the Marshall Inds, Republic of Micronesia, Solomon Inds, and New Zend weren''t willing to join them. Instead, they had forged their own alliances such as the Red Moon Federation, the Siren Alliance, and the Council of Three. However, this tiny underworld that could barely be any less significant had somehow been remembered by the Cathayan Underworld.

    Of course Qin Ye remembered this federation.

    At the time that the initial vote was held, he had noticed that the Star Cluster Federation had stood with the Cathayan Underworld!

    Of course, he knew that they were taking a gamble. In order to develop, a small underworld like theirs had totch onto the coattails of a powerhouse, and they were making a high-risk high-reward gamble.

    It was only a single vote cast by the raise of a single hand.

    It didn''t impact the overall oue, but the federation had stood with the Cathayan Underworld at the time, and Qin Ye was going to show everyone that all those who stood with the Cathayan Underworld would be granted his good graces for their vote of confidence!

    The representative waspletely shell-shocked, and Qin Ye smiled as he said, "Assistant Wang told me that he''s already reserved the Shanhai Hall for a banquet today. The banquet will be an asion to celebrate the Cathayan Underworld''s return to the international political stage, and after the banquet, we''ll be discussing topics surrounding the new energy resource with our allies. Will the eight death gods of your Star Cluster Federation be able to attend?"

    As soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, the representative of the Star Cluster Federation instantly became the center of attention!

    Everyone was scrutinizing him with envy, resentment, remorse, all types ofplex emotions in their eyes.

    What has a tiny underworld federation like yours done to deserve a personal invitation from the ruler of one of the four pirs?! We''ve been standing here all day like fucking idiots, and he hasn''t even taken a look at us!

    However, no matter how envious they were, they had to admit that the Star Cluster Federation had made the right gamble, and it was now being rewarded for it.

    The representative of the Star Cluster Federation was so excited that he was beginning to tremble uncontrobly.

    Representatives from tiny underworlds like theirs never did anything other than raise their hands to give their insignificant vote that no one cared about, and never did he think that there woulde a day where he would be able to share the same banquet hall as the regal Cathayan Underworld!

    "Yes! I''m sure they''ll be able to attend!" He immediately bowed so deeply that he almost doubled over, and his voice was on the verge of cracking.

    "Don''t you need to ask your death gods first?" Qin Ye asked with a smile, and the door to his room had already been opened for him by a servant.

    "There''s no need for that! They''ll definitely be free!"

    Do you think every death god is as busy as your esteemed self? We''re super free!

    The door was closed, and only then did the representative of the Star Cluster Federation stand up straight again. He adjusted his own tie, and he had never felt so excited in his entire life. He took a brief moment to inspect the envious eyes around him with triumph, then hurriedly rushed away to the room reserved for the Star Cluster Federation.

    Only after he had vanished around the corner did all of their other underworld representatives turn back to face Qin Ye''s door, and at this point, there were only two Cathayan Underworld guards standing on either side of the entrance.

    An underworld representative approached one of the guards with a fawning smile before offering up a visiting card. "This is a visiting card from the Vatican City Underworld, please ry it to Yanluo Qin. Our pope earnestly awaits an opportunity to be able to share a meal with the esteemed Yanluo Qin."

    The guard''s heart was full of derision, but he epted the visiting card with perfect etiquette as he replied, "I''ll be sure to do so, but Yanluo Qin has been feeling rather weary ofte, so you might have to wait a while."

    Weary my arse! The conference is already over, what does he have to be weary about?! What a load of bullshit!

    Despite his profanityden thoughts, what actually came out of his mouth was: "Of course. Please notify us any time Yanluo Qin has some spare time to see us, and we''ll be sure to arrive right away."

    Immediately thereafter, visiting cards came flying in from all directions, all of which were being sent to the Cathayan Underworld, but all of them received the identical "Yanluo Qin is feeling rather weary" response.

    You want to meet me? I recall you were standing firmly with the utopia alliance not long ago, yet you want to see me now? Of course I''ll see you! Maybe some time next century!!

 Chapter 915: International Research and Development Organizations

    <h4>Chapter 915: International Research and Development Organizations</h4>

    The door was closed, and Zhao Yun, Qin Changxin, J?rmungandr, H, and the representative of the Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds, Mythic Spirit ck Mamba, were all present in the room.

    Qin Changxin''s face was flushed with excitement, and as soon as Qin Ye entered the room, he said in a heartfelt manner, "Thank you for your hard work, Your Excellency."

    This was only his debut on the international stage, yet even the three pirsbined hadn''t been able to get the better of him. In fact, he had crushed them soprehensively that even they didn''t dare to vote against him. With him at the helm, the future of the Cathayan Underworld was looking absolutely splendid!

    In the instant that he walked into the room, H, J?rmungandr, and Mythic Spirit ck Mamba immediately rose to their feet with irrepressible excitement on their faces. Mythic Spirit ck Mamba could barely keep his own voice from trembling as he said, "We meet again, Yanluo Qin."

    He had so many things that he wanted to say, butmon etiquette stated that one couldn''t be too direct and forthright in the political sphere. Most politicians would usually begin with some small talk, both to establish a friendly atmosphere and to assess the attitude of the other party. It was often the case that the direction that a nation was going in could be determined through their answers to a series of seemingly unimportant questions. Furthermore, cutting straight to the chase made one seem too desperate and distant, and it could evoke thoughts within the other party along the lines of: "You came to me just to discuss official matters? Is there no personal friendship element to your visit?"

    While it was true that there was no ce for personal friendships on the international political stage, appearances still had to be kept up.

    Thus, even though the three death gods felt as if they were constipated with all the things that they wanted to say, they still remained silent with refined and restrained smiles on their faces.

    Qin Ye was rather amused to see this, but he didn''t explicitly point this out. A servant immediately rushed over with some tea, and he sat down onto the main seat before epting the teacup from the servant. "Thank you for your support, everyone."

    "You''re very much wee, Yanluo Qin," J?rmungandr replied with a wide smile. "Our Northern Europa Alliance has always held a great deal of respect for the Cathayan Underworld. We can''t allow there to be only one voice in this world, and we''ve submitted many reports denouncing the domineering fashion in which the three pirs did things. This is a mutually beneficial partnership for us all, and I can only foresee it bing more and more prosperous in the future."

    All types of ttery and congrattory words were exchanged for close to 20 minutes before the tion of securing this victory finally died down a little.

    However, Qin Ye still hadn''t made any mention of the Zhu Rong n.

    Hurry up and talk about the Zhu Rong n! You have to at least mention it so that we can discuss it with you! If I could sweat, I would already be sweating bullets here!

    H and J?rmungandr exchanged a nce, and they decided that they couldn''t wait any longer!

    In the wake of such a monumental shift in the world''s power bnce, it was already a testament to their self-control that they were able to hold back for close to 20 minutes. The Alkebn Underworlds had been ravaged by forbidden arts, while the five nations of Northern Europa were facing the threat of the Argosian Underworld''s Hades Lighthouse n, so they desperately needed the protection of the Zhu Rong n!

    Initially, they had thought that Qin Ye was only putting on a show, but much to their astonishment, everything that he had said was true!

    This was like waking up from the most glorious dream, only to realize that it was real life!

    "Yanluo Qin." J?rmungandr cleared his throat before asking, "May I ask when the inspection team for the Zhu Rong n will be visiting our nation?"

    The entire room immediately fellpletely silent, and three sets of eyes were staring so intently at Qin Ye that it was as if they were trying to bore holes into his face.

    "There''s no hurry." Qin Ye gently set down his teacup and replied with a serious expression, "Truth be told, the Zhu Rong n..."

    H and J?rmungandr immediately tensed up upon hearing this.

    Please, please, please don''t tell me the Zhu Rong n is actually all a ruse! My heart won''t be able to take it!

    After a sly pause from Qin Ye that felt like an eternity to the three death gods, Qin Ye finally concluded, "Is real. Our Cathayan Underworld really has already discovered a new energy resource."

    Even though they had experienced so much during their lifetimes, the three death gods couldn''t help but disy visible relief in response to this announcement. H released the hem of her dress, J?rmungandr resumed breathing again, and Mythic Spirit ck Mamba was so relieved that he was feeling a little giddy.

    "However, we still need at least 10 years before we can develop an energy resource that can see widespread usage, which means that only after 20 years will we begin construction on the new continent, and only 20 years from now, with the foundation established on the new continent, will we be able to fulfill our agreement."

    H heaved a long sigh of relief as a smile appeared on her face. "It''s alright, 20 years is certainly not too long to wait."

    "We''ve already waited several thousand years, 20 more is nothing!" J?rmungandr was ecstatic as he said, "If the Cathayan Underworld needs anything from us, feel free to speak up! We''ll provide you with everything in our power!"

    Right at this moment, the door was opened, and a servant rushed into the room before handing Qin Ye a stack of visiting cards. "Your Excellency, I''ve turned down all of the visiting cards that I can, but these were ones that I couldn''t turn away."

    Qin Ye nodded in response and epted the visiting cards. Only after a single nce, his expression changed ever so slightly, and he folded the visiting cards away before casting his gaze toward the three death gods.

    The trio was naturally intelligent enough to read between the lines, and they quickly took their leave. In any case, they were going to meet with Qin Yeter that night anyway, and no one was closer with the Cathayan Underworld than them.

    The door was closed again, and Qin Ye immediately pulled out the visiting cards again as he asked with an excited expression, "Where are they right now?"

    "They''ll arrive in Nara in two hours!" the servant replied in a respectful manner.

    Qin Ye exhaled as he handed the visiting cards over to Zhao Yun. "Take a look at this, Brother Yun."

    Zhao Yun did as he was told, and even he couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath upon seeing the visiting cards, then immediately turned toward Qin Ye. "We can''t afford to pass up this opportunity!"

    This was a small collection of three visiting cards.

    The first one was inscribed with the words, "Sirian International Underworlds Research Center", the second one read "Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research and Development Station", and the third one bore the name of "Thaurissan Yin Rune Research Center".

    "Those are the top research and development teams in the world," Zhao Yun said with a smile. "If you can recruit them to our Zhu Rong n, you would have the undisputed best in the world. I heard that the representatives from the international Underworlds Energy Resource Association and the International Underworlds Trade Association have also arrived. The fact that they haven''t visited us yet most likely indicates that they''re still gathering information from Borfis. The consortiums are most sensitive to opportunities and have arrived before anyone else, but the most important people to us are actually the leading Yin rune researchers in the world!"

    He licked his own lips in an excited manner before continuing, "These three research centers are the leading experts in the world, and they can even rank alongside the round table of the Argosian Underworld! The projects that they take on are all in the hundreds of billions of Yin jade, projects able to change an entire era! If our research and development team could be bolstered by them, then developing a new energy resource within the next decade would be far from a pipe dream! Each research center has at least 50 Yin rune researchers that are not inferior to the likes of Diophantus, and the best thing about them is that they don''t belong to any nation, so no nation can force them to do anything! They are true ivory towers cut off from the rest of the world, and they only have headquarters where they ept funding, mostly from consortiums. It''s clear that they''ve been tempted by our project."

    Indeed, it would be an honor of an unimaginable magnitude to have one''s name tied to the Zhu Rong n.

    They would be known throughout the rest of history as the Fathers of Energy, and no rune researcher and research center could resist this temptation.

    If the Cathayan Underworld had already opened upmunication with the rest of the world, messenger birds would be flocking to Everburn in the thousands!

    Qin Ye contemted this situation momentarily, and a sly smile appeared on his face as he said, "I understand. This is indeed a brilliant opportunity. They''ve delivered themselves straight to our door!"

    Qin Changxin cupped his fist in a genuine salute. "All of these opportunities were created by you, Yanluo Qin. I am truly in awe."

    This wasn''t just ttery, it was authentic reverence.

    He had witnessed how Qin Ye had started from nothing, then gone on to rapidly evolve into a leading figure on the international political stage.

    He had only been King Yanluo for less than seven years!

    Initially, he had held a very bad impression of Qin Ye, feeling as if he had been swindled. Never did he think that the Cathayan Underworld would be so pathetic and decrepit, yet step by step, Qin Ye had created an almighty empire, and he had nothing but reverence for the brilliant King Yanluo now.

    He didn''t even bother to mention attacking the Nipponese Underworld as there was simply no need to do so.

    His own army could already contend with Izanami''s regr army, and he was also an Abyssal Prefect! All that he was waiting for was an opportunity to strike.

    He smiled as he said, "I think it was also a brilliant strategy to inform our three allies of the truth. During the next decade, the entire world is going to be paying close attention to the Zhu Rong n, and we have to release some progress reports from time to time. The implementation of this agreement will inevitably be dyed, and there''s no way to keep that a secret from our allies. Now that we''ve told them, they''ll be able to offload some of the pressure on us as well. At the very least, in order for the Zhu Rong n to truly be implemented in their nations, they''ll vehemently oppose all of the underworlds who dare to raise doubts against this n. Having said that, can we really aplish this in 10 years?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "The difficult thing isn''tpleting the project in 10 years, it''s tracking down Xu Fu''s notes. I''ve already spoken with Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, and once everything is taken care of here, I''ll be making a trip to the new continent in person."

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye shook his head and said, "There''s no need to dwell on this matter, Brother Yun. Xu Fu''s notes are the key to the next era, and I have to go in person to track them down."

    Qin Changxin smiled and said, "If we can release our progress reports and tag the names of those research centers onto the end, I''m sure many underworlds will bepletely shocked."

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile and dered, "Notify all of the death gods! In order to facilitate a meeting with several important guests, the banquet tonight will be dyed by an hour."

    The times hadpletely changed.

    Just a few days ago, everyone had been avoiding the Cathayan Underworld like the gue, but now, everyone was desperate for an audience with the Cathayan Underworld.

    If you want to attend the banquet, then you''ll have to ept the dy. If you don''t, then piss off! No one cares!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Shanhai Hall.

    This was a hall with extravagant decor, and its doors were wide open. There was still an hour until the banquet was scheduled to begin, but all of the death gods were already here. Of course, that didn''t include Izanami, the nameless god of death, and the three pirs.

    The three pirs weren''t in a position where they needed to suck up to the Cathayan Underworld, and it would be extremely awkward for them if they were to arrive too early.

    Many of these death gods had been intent on impeaching the Cathayan Underworld just a day ago, yet at this moment, if one were to interview them about the utopia alliance, their response would most likely be something along the lines of: "Utopia alliance? What''s that? Even if I die! Even if I have to hang myself right now, I would never even consider joining such an alliance for even a millisecond! What? We already signed the agreement? Nononono, you must be mistaken. We advocate for diversity in the world, not autocracy, there''s no way we would stand with the utopia alliance! What do you take me for? An idiot?!"

 Chapter 916: Proof of Allegiance (1)

    <h4>Chapter 916: Proof of Allegiance (1)</h4>

    Izanami and the nameless god of death weren''t present. They knew that if they were to try to suck up to the Cathayan Underworld now, they would be denounced by both sides. As the two underworlds that had stood the most decisively with the three pirs, they couldn''t afford to incur the wrath of the three pirs. They still had to rely on the three pirs to protect them.

    Even so, there were already dozens of death gods gathered here. They were conversing with one another, and asionally, one of them would pick up a ss of champagne from one of the servers traversing between the tables, but for the most part, everyone had their eyes firmly trained on the entrance.

    This type of setting was supposed to be the ideal ce for death gods to exchange information and establish good rtions with allies, especially for the smaller underworlds, but no one was in the mood to talk about any official matters. One side would raise some idle small talk, while the other party would give a halfhearted response, and everyone''s hearts were pounding violently.

    A new energy resource was right in front of their eyes! They could ept being called hyenas or vultures, but there was no way they would be willing to pass up this opportunity!

    They hadn''t epted the olive branch extended by the Cathayan Underworld several days ago, so they had to take full advantage of this banquet to leave a good impression on the Cathayan Underworld! Even if they couldn''t secure any benefits, they had to ensure that it wasn''t entirely impossible for them to be allies of the Cathayan Underworld in the future!

    Right at this moment, a server walked in before extending a graceful bow. "My apologies, everyone, but the Cathayan Underworld has just notified me that the banquet will be dyed by an hour as they have to attend to several important guests. Yanluo Qin would like me to apologize to everyone on his behalf, and if anyone has any urgent matters to attend to, you can feel free to leave."

    Silence.

    An elderly death god said with a smile, "That''s quite understandable."

    "It''s alright, we don''t have anything better to do anyway. All of us are here to see Yanluo Qin."

    "Indeed, how could we not celebrate the return of the Cathayan Underworld after a century-long absence?"

    "Rest assured, we''ll be sure to wait."

    "There was no need for Yanluo Qin to even notify us. After all, anyone would be willing to wait an hour for a good friend."

    There were no objections to this announcement at all.

    An hour was not a long time, and after about 45 minutes, all of the death gods were already beginning to take frequent nces at the clock hanging on the wall. Right at this moment, all of the servers at the entrance of the hall parted before extending respectful bows, and the death gods in the hall immediately rose to their feet.

    At the entrance, Qin Ye was leading the way, and behind him were all of the death gods who had joined the Zhu Rong n. They were walking with their heads held high and chests puffed out, looking as if they had the entire world on their side.

    The death gods of the Star Cluster Federation were among them, and as they scanned their gaze across the faces of all of the death gods present, they were greeted by the sight of the fawning smiles of one death god after another from all of the third-rate and second-rate underworlds. All of them were smiling in such a benevolent and friendly manner that it was as if they were looking at their long-lost father.

    Never had the death gods of the Star Cluster Federation felt international conferences to be so wonderful and hospitable.

    The Star Cluster Federation was one of the handful of the weakest underworlds in the entire world. Even the Red Moon Federation looked down on them, yet right now, Kuwal, Antee, and all of the other death gods of the Red Moon Federation were looking at them with scorching envy in their eyes!

    They weren''t the only ones, all of the underworlds were staring at them with envy and indignation in their eyes, looking as if they wanted nothing more than to take their ce.

    A tiny underworld like yours has no right to stand there!

    The death gods of the Star Cluster Federation puffed their chests out even further upon seeing this, and they felt as if they were on cloud nine!

    That''s right, envy us! We''re going to stand here forever while all of you watch and despair! This is what you get from picking the wrong side! No matter how you try to bring us down, we''ll cling tightly to the coattails of the Cathayan Underworld and ensure that we don''t go anywhere!

    Of course, the scrutiny directed at the Star Cluster Federationsted for only an instant before everyone quickly focused their attention on Qin Ye, and soon, a burst of warm apuse had rung out within the hall. The apuse spread like wildfire, and every single death god began to p with all their might, as if the ones who pped the loudest would gain the favor of the Cathayan Underworld.

    "Greetings, Yanluo Qin!"

    "Congrattions to the Cathayan Underworld for returning to the top of the world!"

    "Even after a century-long absence, the power of the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t waned in the slightest!"

    Qin Ye smiled and nodded at everyone in acknowledgment, and only when he and everyone in his entourage had sat down did the other death gods finally begin to return to their seats.

    The table that Qin Ye was seated at was a massive round table to seat 40 people. There was no way that such a table would be present during an international conference in the mortal realm. After all, human voices weren''t loud enough to be heard from the opposite side of arge table, so everyone would constantly be wondering if the other people seated at the table were secretly plotting against them.

    However, this was the underworld, and most of the Yin spirits attending this banquet were Abyssal Prefects. If they wanted to, they could hear and see everything within an entire province, let alone across a table like this. Furthermore, every single death god had their ears peeled, and there was no way they would miss anything that Qin Ye said.

    With a brisk p of Qin Ye''s hand, the banquetmenced. Qin Ye swept his gaze around the entire table, and he smiled as he said, "Thank goodness there''s no ghost worship ceremony being held today. Otherwise, I still wouldn''t be able to see all of you today."

    A week ago, all of the underworlds'' death gods had been absent from the Cathayan Underworld''s weing banquet, citing the excuse that they were attending a ghost worship festival, and no one epted his olive branch.

    This was a thinly veiled insult, but no one dared to disy any displeasure to this.

    "Ghost worship festivals are splendid asions, but they can''t even begin topare with the wee banquet for the Cathayan Underworld," a death god said with a smile, seeminglypletely oblivious to the barbs hidden in Qin Ye''s words. "We returned immediately after receiving news of the Cathayan Underworld''s arrival, but we still couldn''t make it in time. I hope you won''t hold that against us, Yanluo Qin."

    "Indeed, I''ve already fired the underworld emissary responsible for reporting information of this nature to me. His failure to report the arrival of the Cathayan Underworld to me in a timely fashion was a grave error, and I hope you won''t take offense to this, Yanluo Qin," another death god said with an apologetic expression.

    He was immediately followed by another death god. "We will be sure to make up for our absence during the Cathayan Underworld''s wee banquet, please ept our sincerest apologies."

    "Who would pass up an opportunity to meet the representative team of the Cathayan Underworld for a mere ghost worship ceremony?"

    "Only an idiot would mix up their priorities so severely."

    "A ghost worship ceremony is held once every 50 years, but the opportunity to meet with the Cathayan Underworld may note even once in a century! We''re all well aware of how precious this opportunity is. What happenedst time really was a misunderstanding, please don''t take it to heart, Yaluo Qin."

    Many of these death gods were unable to reach the Yama-King level due to insufficient poption and area of territory, but that didn''t mean that they were any less experienced than the death gods of major underworlds.

    Having no shame was a basic skill that they had honed over the past several thousand years.

    Qin Ye merely gave a faint smile and an ambiguous nod, refusing toment on this matter any further.

    You think that''s enough? Where were all of you when I was extending an olive branch during the wee banquet? Where were all of you during the entire week prior to the conference? You were busy licking the three pirs'' boots all this time, you think I''d let you off the hook so easily? What a joke!

    He was a very petty man, and he certainly wasn''t going to forgive and forget. They were all going to reap the fruit that they had sown, and in addition to that, he was going to show them what an underworld would get in return for following the Cathayan Underworld with absolute loyalty.

    Are you envious? You should be! I love watching all of you squirm and seethe with envy, yet still have to put on respectful smiles and suck up to me!

    However, there was no hurry.

    He took a nce at the clock on the wall. The important actors of the show still hadn''t turned up yet. In contrast with a bully like the second King Yanluo, who had to immediately exact revenge on anyone who had wronged him, Qin Ye was content to dy his vengeance, but when he did exact his revenge, he was going to make sure that the entire world remembered the asion so vividly that they would think twice before they ever crossed the Cathayan Underworld again!

    Right at this moment, the servers began to bring on the dishes.

    It was still kaiseki-ry¨­ri of the highest caliber. No matter how distraught Izanami was, she still had to keep up appearances in this regard. Each sessive dish was more resplendent than the previous one, but no matter how delicious the dishes were, they still tasted like y to all of the death gods in the presence of Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to them, scooping up a spoonful of sea urchin before cing it into his own mouth. The rich sweetness of the sea urchin flesh intermingled with the joy of victory spread from the tip of his tongue all the way to the bottom of his heart, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he smiled and said, "This is truly premium seafood. It''s a pity that the Cathayan Underworld''s coastline isn''t very long. The sea produce of the southern regions of the sea just aren''t as delicious as that of the northern regions."

    Right as his voice trailed off, a female voice sounded. "If I may interject, Yanluo Qin."

    It was Anko.

    "The Celtic Underworld has always had an abundance of marine produce." Anko set down her cutlery with a smile as she said, "If you enjoy premium seafood, I can send a few boatloads of our top quality marine produce to the Cathayan Underworld right away. Under the low temperatures of the Arctic Ocean, the fish have firm and dense flesh, and they''re even more delicious than the fish from Hokkaido of the Nipponese Underworld."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    Has it already begun?

    Back when he had asked about the Red Moon Federation''s agriculture and stock farming industries, their representative had refused to go along with the topic of conversation, yet he was only making an offhandment here, but Anko was immediately mbering to try and appease him.

    As soon as Anko''s voice trailed off, Death God Kuwal of the Red Moon Federation immediately countered, "Yanluo Qin, the Arctic Ocean may not be the best choice. The main fish farms for the best Antic bluefin tuna are located at the 35th parallel north of the equator in the center of the Pacific Ocean and the Antic Ocean. The first fish farm of the Red Moon Federation is also located there."

    He took a sip of champagne as he looked at Qin Ye with a smile and continued, "I recall that the Cathayan Underworld had always beenmunicating with our underworld 200 years ago to negotiate marine produce exports. However, not long thereafter, the Cathayan Underworld entered its period of seclusion, so the negotiations fell through. I hope we can have a chance to resume the negotiations today."

    All of the death gods present turned to Kuwal with stunned expressions.

    You can do that? There''s no olive branch being extended, but you plucked one down yourself, then epted it as well? That''s... That''s... That''s brilliant! We have to keep up!

    "There are more marine produce in the sea than just sea urchins, lobsters are royalty when ites to seafood, and the red lobsters in our Gulf of Mexico are renowned all over the entire world!"

    "The Australis Underworld has been refraining from participating in international conferencestely due to supernatural disasters, but the caviar of our Maluku Inds is not inferior to that of the Australis Underworld! How about we ship some over to the Cathayan Underworld for you to have a taste, Yanluo Qin?"

    "When you''re talking about the world''s best seafood, you can''t keep the Chinook salmon of our New Zend Underworld out of the conversation. The salmon is bred in the natural fish farms of Stewart Ind, and they are truly a delight! If the Cathayan Underworld is interested, we can sign a contract right away!"

    A seafood storm had suddenly swept up over the table, all because of an errantment from Qin Ye.

 Chapter 917: Proof of Allegiance (2)

    <h4>Chapter 917: Proof of Allegiance (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye looked on with a smile at the sycophantic smiles and chattering death gods around him, and he was suddenly feeling very amused.

    However, no matter how tempting the offers were, they wouldn''t be enough to appeal to him. He had always been able to clearly differentiate between his allies and the fence-sitters, and he was only going to split the cake with his allies.

    As for everyone else, they could just sit and watch.

    After taking a sip of sake, he set down his cup before suddenly turning to a death god beside him. "Death God Ynda, if I recall correctly, your Star Cluster Federation is also situated in the center of the Pacific Ocean, right?"

    Silence.

    The political nous of all of the death gods here had been honed over the course of centuries, and right after hearing this, everyone immediately knew what Qin Ye was doing. Several dozen sets of eyes immediately turned toward Ynda, and the scrutiny was so intense that Ynda felt as if his soul were about to be set alight.

    Ynda faltered slightly upon hearing this, then almost sprang out of his seat from excitement.

    "Yes, that''s right!" he replied in as calm a voice as he could muster up. "We are an ind chain alliance that is situated right in the center of the Pacific Ocean, and every single one of our inds produces abundant marine produce! We have everything including Antic bluefin tuna, all types of shellfish, everything!"

    Under normal circumstances, there was no way that they would dare to speak up here.

    They were surrounded by the Red Moon Federation, and a bit further away was Southern Asia, where the 12 envoys were situated. These ces all produced abundant seafood, and that wasn''t even to mention the fact that the seafood markets of the only ind cities were dominated by the Red Moon Federation and the Maluku Inds.

    "At the center of the Pacific Ocean" sounded like a good location, but in reality, it was extremely far away from anywhere, and there was no need for anyone to go to them with so many other superior options around. The further the distance, the higher the transportation costs, so why would anyone buy from them?

    However, the Cathayan Underworld was different!

    Aside from the small section of the southeastern part of the nation with a coastline, the Cathayan Underworld was a massive seafood import nations, and it could easily take all of the Star Cluster Federation''s yearly seafood yield several hundred times over.

    In the past, most of the Cathayan Underworld''s seafood was offered up by the 12 envoys or imported from the Nipponese Underworld, but it was clear that the Nipponese Underworld''s actions had severely displeased the Cathayan Underworld. Thus, this lucrative deal had fallen onto thep of the Star Cluster Federation.

    For the Cathayan Underworld, this was most likely an insignificant deal. No, it couldn''t even be referred to as just insignificant. However, to the Star Cluster Federation, this was a massive opportunity!

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "That''s great to hear. I hope your nation''s fish farms are already ready for inspection."

    "We''re constantly ready!"

    If Izanami were to hear that her seafood export deal with the Cathayan Underworld had been snubbed while the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld was enjoying the Nipponese Underworld''s seafood, she would most likely flip over a table from rage!

    The entire hall waspletely silent, and all of the death gods knew that the Cathayan Underworld was giving itsckeys benefits. Furthermore, it was doing so in an extremely tant and open fashion. It was as if Qin Ye were making an example of this for everyone to see, telling everyone to think twice before ever crossing the Cathayan Underworld again.

    Whatever you were doing 100 years ago, continue doing that now. Southern Asia is my territory, and don''t you ever forget it!

    Antee took a few deep breaths to muster up his courage, then raised his cup and said, "Yanluo Qin, the Cathayan Underworld still hasn''t established ties with the Star Cluster Federation, right? ording to international regtions, nations that haven''t interacted for a century are automatically considered to have had their ties severed, which means that the Cathayan Underworld shouldn''t have official ties with any other underworld at the moment."

    "Is that right?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow, but remained unfazed.

    Are you suggesting I have to beg you in order to re-establish ties? Know your ce!

    Antee''s smile became even more sycophantic as he continued, "Now that you''re re-establishing ties with the Star Cluster Federation, our Red Moon Federation is not far away, so if it''s convenient for the envoys of your nation, would you be able to pay a visit to our Red Moon Federation as well during your trip? It would save the hassle of having to make a second trip in the future, and it would also provide a safety in case the amount of seafood produced by the Star Cluster Alliance isn''t sufficient to satisfy the demand of the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Indeed, Yanluo Qin. A world without the Cathayan Underworld simply feels iplete, and re-establishing ties with other underworlds is an essential part of the Cathayan Underworld''s return to the world stage. Come to think of it, our Vatican City Underworld is not far away from the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Yanluo Qin, the four-nation underworld of the Caribbean eagerly awaits the opportunity to re-establish ties with the Cathayan Underworld! Throughout the past 1,000 years, our intimate ties have never been severed before."

    "Yanluo Qin, the Greend Underworld is ready to wee the envoys of your nation at any time!"

    One death god after another raised their cups and were staring directly at Qin Ye with hopeful expressions.

    The Cathayan Underworld was an enormous market that had been untapped for over a century, and it was a massive business opportunity for everyone!

    Instead of raising his own cup, Qin Ye asked in an indifferent voice, "How many underworlds have iplete agreements with the Cathayan Underworld from 100 years ago?"

    All of the death gods exchanged wary nces, and no one said anything.

    They didn''t know what Qin Ye was asking this for.

    Was he saying that all ties would be severed once the iplete agreements were fulfilled? No! In that case, we would rather you leave the agreements iplete! We could just establish new agreements!

    After a long while, the death god of the Greend Underworld finally asked in a cautious manner, "What are your intentions, Yanluo Qin?"

    "It''s very simple," Qin Ye replied with a serious expression. "I''ve stated in the past that I will ensure all iplete agreements the Cathayan Underworld has with other nations arepleted."

    All of the death gods heaved a collective sigh of relief upon hearing this.

    In order toplete an agreement, ties would have to be re-established. Otherwise, the agreement would be illegal.

    "However!" Before they had a chance to rx, Qin Ye continued in an unhurried manner, "Renewed inspection will be required to assess whether new agreements will be signed when the iplete ones arepleted."

    Everyone immediately tensed up again upon hearing this, and they wanted to say something, but none of them could muster up even a single word.

    They were reaping the bitter fruit that they had sown.

    This renewed inspection could take as long as the Cathayan Underworld wanted, and if it didn''t want to establish new agreements with a nation, then it could nitpick even the most minute of details, making it impossible for their conditions to be satisfied.

    H was sipping on her sake with a cold smile in silence. The surrounding death gods all wanted to say something, and their eyes were full of anticipation, but they were unable to say anything, and that was a very pleasing sight for her.

    They had taken the wrong side, so they had to be punished.

    On the political stage, there were no weapons and soldiers, but there were still more than enough ways to sanction a nation.

    It was clear that this new ruler of the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t a tolerant individual. Instead, he was intent on exacting revenge on all those who had wronged him in the past, and what was most hrious to her was that the other underworlds knew that they were here to get pped in the face, yet they still had no choice but to offer up their faces to be pped.

    How ironic... She took another sip of wine. She didn''t like this sake much, but she was in such a good mood that at this moment in time, it was tasting even better than the best wine in the world.

    "Madam H." Qin Ye''s voice rang out before she had even set down her cup.

    <i>Is it my turn to receive my share of the spoils? </i>An elegant smile immediately appeared on her face as she asked, "What instructions do you have, Yanluo Qin?"

    "I wouldn''t go as far as to call them instructions," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "It''s just that once you go back, you should prepare a team of schrs from your nation to engage in an exchange with our nation''s schrs. That way, we''ll be able to ensure the smooth construction of the Zhu Rong n''s base stations. What do you think?"

    This is it...

    Before the death gods present even had a chance to feel dejected, the spark of hope had been reignited in their hearts.

    No agreement could even begin topare with the Zhu Rong n! Every death god from every single underworld wanted desperately to be a part of the Zhu Rong n. All of them were eagerly waiting to hear how they could benefit from this monumental n.

    "Of course." H couldn''t even hold back her own smile, but then again, she was making no effort to do so. "Once I get back, we''ll immediately organize a team of schrs to engage in in-depth exchange with the Cathayan Underworld."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Come to think of it, there''s still no safe waterway between the Cathayan Underworld and the five nations of Northern Europa."

    All of the death gods immediately lowered their heads while remaining silent.

    They didn''t dare to say anything.

    It was often the case that things said by politicians couldn''t be taken at face value.

    The Cathayan Underworld and the five nations of Northern Europa were separated by the Russian Underworld, but Qin Ye had just said that there was no safe waterway between them, which meant that he wasn''t considering establishing ties with the Russian Underworld for now.

    Anko''s entire body was trembling upon hearing this.

    This was a true olive branch!

    Aside from the Russian Underworld, the only other option was her Celtic Underworld!

    "Yanluo Qin." She could feel her own voice trembling, and she was doing everything in her power to maintain an elegant and polite facade as she smiled and said, "Would the Celtic Underworld be able to serve you in this area? The entire North Pole is a part of the Celtic civilization, and my orders can be transmitted straight into the minds of every single Eskimo. Once they pass away, they will all be devout followers of mine. We don''t have a massive poption, but we can ensure a safe waterway without any issues!"

    Qin Ye turned to her with a smile and replied, "I think there''s a lot of room for coboration between us in the future."

    He wasn''t going topletely reject everyone else.

    Different underworlds had to be treated differently, and for some underworlds, he was going to leave them hanging for at least a decade or so to teach them a lesson before establishing ties with them. In contrast, he wasn''t opposed to dishing out some benefits to the underworlds that would be of benefit to him. In doing so, he would be showing all of the underworlds the benefits they could potentially receive as long as they remained loyal to the Cathay Underworld.

    The Celtic Underworld had a sparse poption, and Death Goddess Anko posed no threat at all to the Cathayan Underworld. At the same time, he was implying that he had no ns to establish ties with the Russian Underworld for now. At a time like this, it was important not to let his emotions get the better of him. He had to remain objective and treat each underworld with discretion.

    The Celtic Underworld was the first underworld outside of the Cathayan Underworld''s alliance to receive benefits, and with this example set, all of the other underworlds were raring to go again.

    "Yanluo Qin." Kuwal raised his cup once again as he asked, "Would the Red Moon Federation also be able to have the honor of establishing a new waterway with the Cathayan Underworld? Our territory is different from the Star Cluster Federation in that we fulfill all of the conditions required for the construction of new base stations."

    Many of the death gods present immediately turned to look directly at Kuwal.

    For the sake of being able to join the Zhu Rong n, he waspletely casting aside all sense of dignity!

    Qin Ye hadn''t offered him anything, yet he was plucking down an olive branch for himself once again!

    Qin Ye turned to him with a meaningful smile. "I don''t recall ever stating that I was nning to set up Zhu Rong n base stations in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

    Kuwal replied in a respectful voice, "You may not have such ns now, but there will definitelye a time for that. Once the new energy resource ispletely developed, our federation will be sure to approach the Cathayan Underworld to purchase the patent. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new energy resource, and it would be much better to establish all of this earlier thanter, wouldn''t you agree?"

    "Indeed, the new energy resource was first discovered by the Cathayan Underworld, and even if the other three pirs try to catch up now, it''s already toote. All of us will be purchasing the patent from the Cathayan Underworld sooner orter, so why don''t we sort everything out in advance?"

    "We''ll be sure to provide satisfactory terms to the Cathayan Underworld."

    "If possible, our nation would be honored to join the Zhu Rong n right away!"

    They were making it sound as if the agreements had already been signed and all that was left was to construct the base stations now!

    There was no way they could say this outright, but essentially, what they were saying was: "As long as you let us join the Zhu Rong n, you can decide on how much of the profits you want to take!"

    They weren''t afraid of the Cathayan Underworld stating unfavorable terms, the thing they were most afraid of was that the Cathayan Underworld would refuse to negotiate with them at all!

 Chapter 918: Proof of Allegiance (3)

    <h4>Chapter 918: Proof of Allegiance (3)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    One pair of eyes after another were staring intently at Qin Ye, and he swept his gaze across all of them with an internal derisive sneer.

    At the end of the day, all of them wanted to join the Zhu Rong n.

    Was that possible? Of course not! Several days ago, they had avoided him like the gue, and he was certainly not the type to forgive and forget so quickly.

    He pretended to ponder the situation momentarily before dering, "It''s not entirely impossible for you to join the Zhu Rong n."

    All of the death gods'' eyes were glowing upon hearing this!

    No one dared to say anything, and they were all staring directly at him as if they were transfixed. H and J?rmungandr wisely decided to also remain silent. During these past few days, they had gotten an understanding of how Qin Ye liked to do things.

    He wasn''t necessarily going to repay all of his benefactors, but he most certainly wasn''t going to skip out on revenge on all those who had wronged him in the past.

    Qin Ye picked up his cup and took a sip of sake, further building the unbearable suspense, then continued in a slow voice, "During theing month, we''ll be sending people to the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds and the center of the four pirs located in the Maldives, where we''ll be signing agreements to establish ties with all underworlds and expanding the Zhu Rong n."

    Everyone heaved a collective internal sigh of relief upon hearing this. If it weren''t for their status and the current situation they were in, these death gods would''ve already sprung to their feet to scream and cheer!

    Qin Ye was slightly disappointed as he watched the reactions of all of the death gods. Unfortunately, during their long existences, they had already learned restraint and were experts at masking their own emotions, so none of them erupted into celebration as he had hoped. However, he suddenly discovered that his opposition wasn''t stunned, nor were they surprised or angry, but a faintest of cracks had appeared in the unfailing facades, and that was a piece of beautiful scenery to him.

    Amid the intense scrutiny, he continued in an extremely calm voice, "After ties are established, we will immediately send Emissaries of Hell to travel to all nations for conducting inspection. The inspection criteria will include each nation''s environmental friendliness, geographic location, corresponding projects, and whether they''ll be able to satisfy the 42 prerequisites required for base stations to be built. After a lengthy period of inspection, construction on the base stations will begin, so there''s no need to be in a rush."

    A faint smile appeared on H''s face, and she hid it by raising her cup to her mouth.

    The surface of the sake in her cup reflected a series of faces that transitioned from tion to disappointment, then finally to despair.

    "Yanluo Qin." Kuwal''s voice was a little strained as he asked, "Roughly how long will the total inspection period take?"

    They felt as if their hearts were being roasted over open mes, but Qin Ye wasn''t in a hurry at all as he swirled his sake nonchntly in his cup, looking as if he had all the time in the world. "There are so many underworlds out there, yet our Cathayan Underworld only has a single team qualified to conduct inspections on other nations. Even our most important allies, including the five nations of Northern Europa, the new continent, and the Alkebn Underworlds, have to undergo inspection periods of over 10 years. There are around 30 underworlds present, and if each one takes 10 years to inspect, then it''ll probably be about 300 years in total."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, several death gods finally couldn''t help but spring to their feet.

    "Is that supposed to be a joke, Yanluo Qin?!" The question had been raised by a death god who appeared to be the captain of a ship. He was like a skeleton wrapped in deathly pale membrane-like skin, beneath which were bright red chunks of flesh. He was wearing the attire of a pirate captain from the republic era, and his tattered robes were edged with gold and fastened together by wooden buttons.

    A skeletal owl was perched on his shoulder, and he stared directly at Qin Ye with his rotten eyes as he continued, "What kind of inspection could possibly take 300 years?!"

    There was another death god standing beside him, who also appeared to be a ship''s captain, but he was wearing a rotten robe and his inky-ck skull waspletely bare save for a white curled wig. Two specks ofherfire lit up in his eyes, and he mmed a gnarly hand onto the table as he said, "Yanluo Qin, we respect you as one of the four pirs and we chose you in the end, but is this any way to be treating your allies?"

    The final death god was also a skeleton with a head of blonde hair, wearing robes worn by royalty during the 14th and 15h centuries. A belt was tightly fastened around her waist, and she stared intently at Qin Ye as she chimed in, "There are so many underworlds waiting for you, yet not only did you dy the banquet by an hour, you''re toying around with all of the underworlds here! Don''t you think you''re going too far, Yanluo Qin?"

    The entire hall instantly fellpletely silent.

    Qin Ye turned to the side and asked, "Who are these three?"

    He didn''t have any information surrounding these three death gods on file.

    H replied in an indifferent voice, "They are the three death gods of the Caribbean, the captains of three death god fleets, and they just liberated themselves from the rule of the new continent during this past century."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with an amused expression. "I see. It''s only natural that such a new underworld would be so bold and brash, but unfortunately, that won''t get you anywhere here."

    The blond death goddess cast a surprised gaze around the table, and she discovered that not even a single death god had stood up to support them and echo their outrage.

    No... It shouldn''t be like this...

    A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in her heart. In her eyes, the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t even made any attempt to hide the fact that he was toying around with all of the underworlds present. All of the death gods in this hall were extremely renowned figures where they came from, and she had thought that no one would be able to suffer such outrage in silence. Even she felt like a volcano that was on the verge of erupting in the face of Qin Ye''s thinly veiled insults.

    No one would dare to speak to her like this on the Caribbean Sea!

    She had thought that as long as they dared to stand up and lead the way, there would definitely be other disgruntled underworld rising up to support them. These were all legendary death gods who were integral parts of the histories of their respective civilizations! Why hadn''t even a single one of them stood up? And why was it that all of the death gods were watching them with undisguised ridicule in their eyes?

    Before she even had a chance to figure out the situation that she was in, Qin Ye slowly rose to his feet.

    In the next instant, a burst of Yama-King level Yin energy abruptly erupted forth, and all of the death gods present who were below the Yama-King level shuddered involuntarily in response. An inky-ck vortex of Yin energy instantly inundated the entire hall, and Qin Ye stood up like a beacon of death within the darkness as he looked straight at the three death gods with a cold smile. "You think I''m going too far, do you? You feel slighted? Disrespected? Well, imagine how I felt when I first came here and extended an olive branch to all of you, only to be turned down! Why should I give you this opportunity? Do you think I owe you something or do you think the research and development projects of the Cathayan Underworld grow on trees?"

    The three death gods werepletely unable to speak, and they were trembling uncontrobly amid Qin Ye''s vast Yin energy as his voice grew louder and louder. "Even if our projects do grow on trees, it''s still my right to decide whether to hand them out or not! A ragtag bunch of death gods from the Caribbean like yourselves should know your ce! Are you not aware that you only gained independence due to the unrest on the new continent? As neers, you should be watching and learning, not openly disrespecting a member of the four pirs!"

    The three death gods were frantically warding off Qin Ye''s Yin energy, and they were gnashing their teeth together so tightly that it was making an audible grinding sound. The blond death god spat through gritted teeth with great difficulty, "Are you not afraid that your actions will draw the ire of the entire world? You are challenging the boundaries of the rules!"

    "I struggle to fathom how idiots like you were even given the chance to participate in such an important conference," H chuckled with amusement, making no attempt to disguise her derision toward these political neers. "There are only two types of rules in international politics, the rules of the four pirs and the rules for those outside of the four pirs. You should''ve at least done some homework and learned about the state of the world you''re living in before you came here! Do you really think you''re a legitimate underworld now just because the new continent is too busy to deal with you?"

    These idiots were not more intelligent than swine, and there was no way they would survive once the new continent was united again.

    They would only be around for a few more centuries until the unrest in the new continent subsided.

    Did you not see what happened to the three pirs? Even they were beaten ck and blue and can only lick their wounds in silence, who the hell do you think you are?

    Qin Ye leaned down slightly to look the three death gods in the eye as he said with a smile, "These are the rules of the third King Yanluo, understood?"

    Humiliation!

    This was humiliation of the highest order!

    Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye withdrew his Yin energy, and three death gods were finally able to rise unsteadily to their feet. One of them gritted their teeth tightly as he said, "You''vepletely gone against the spirit of respect cooperation that should exist between all nations, there''s no way you''ll receive support from the rest of the world, regardless of whether it''s in research and development, special minerals and ore, Yin rune theory..."

    "Shut your mouth!" Anko cut him off with a cold expression. "The Cathayan Underworld can sign its agreements with whoever it wants. Even the three pirs can''t deny them that right, what gives you the right to challenge that?"

    Kuwal also chimed in with a cold smile, "Setting aside the fact that the Cathayan Underworld has been one of the four pirs for thousands of years, who do you think you are? Pirate Death God of the Caribbean? That''s a good movie title, but it''s not good for much else. As new death gods, you need to learn that saying the wrong things could result in dire consequences."

    "The Cathayan Underworld doesn''t need the likes of you to teach it what to do!"

    "Do you think the Cathayan Underworld is incapable of developing the new energy resource on its own? What makes you think they absolutely need help from the rest of the world?"

    "If you want to be able to coborate with them, then you have to know your ce and act ordingly! You''ve got a lot to learn!"

    The three death gods were trembling from rage.

    They were the first ones to choose the utopia alliance, and at the time, all of the death gods had treated them amicably. Never did they think that this would be what all of the other death gods thought of them!

    They thought they would be epted and supported, but instead, they were being treated as stairs for everyone to step on, and it was all so that they could appease that ursed King Yanluo!

    How was this fair?

    "Let''s go," the leader of the three death gods spat through gritted teeth before turning to cast a resentful nce at Qin Ye. "No one can go against the rules of the world. Those who do so will inevitably be crushed under the weight of the very rules they''ve disregarded. I look forward to the day when your research and development encounters a bottleneck and the entire world abandons you!"

    "That''s not something you need to be worried about." As soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, the gates of the banquet hall were silently opened, and a group of Yin spirits appeared at the entrance, looking into the hall from outside.

    This was a gathering between the top death gods of the world, yet no one stepped in to stop these Yin spirits. Instead, as soon as all of the death gods caught sight of them, they immediately rose to their feet with stunned expressions.

    The one walking at the forefront of the group was a Hindustani Yin spirit wearing a whiteb coat, and behind him were three Caucasians, also wearing whiteb coats.

    These Yin spirits perhaps wouldn''t be noticed under normal circumstances, but on this asion, all of the death gods had risen to their feet to greet them, and it was clear that they were extremely important figures.

    There were three different insignias, one on each of theirb coats, namely a wolf''s head formed by stars, a piece of dark obsidian surrounded by electron shells, and a metal hammer.

    "Those are the world''s top three research centers!" Death God Antee drew a sharp breath upon seeing this, and he could feel his own skin crawling.

    In this world, the Cathayan Underworld was at the very top when it came to Yin rune quality. That was a given considering the fact that it had King Yanluo''s Seal.

    In contrast, the Argosian Underworld was number one when it came to Yin rune research ability. The researchers on the round table certainly weren''t slouches.

    If there were any organizations that could rival the round table''s research ability, then it could only be these three research centers.

    They were the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center, the Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research and Development Station, and the Thaurissan Yin Rune Research Center!

    Why had they appeared here all at the same time?! Could it be...

    Amid the stunned silence, all of the death gods slowly arrived at the same conclusion, and they looked on with ck-jawed expressions as they watched the three groups make their way toward Qin Ye.

    What stage was the research and development into the new energy resource currently at? Would it be acknowledged by the top researchers in the world?

    They were most likely going to receive answers to those questions very soon.

    The Hindustani man made his way over to Qin Ye, but instead of speaking to Qin Ye, he turned to the threepletely shell-shocked Caribbean death gods and chuckled, "You''re very fortunate to have survived after provoking the Cathayan Underworld. As for whether the Cathayan Underworld will becking in research and development ability, that''s not something for you to judge when your territory doesn''t even have any research and development capabilities at all!"

    He then paid no further heed to them and turned to look at Qin Ye, upon which a sense of scorching excitement appeared in his eyes. He extended a deep bow and said, "I am the project manager from Euler''s Gem, Hrithik Chahat, and I''m honored to make your acquaintance. The top researchers of Euler''s Gem, Sirian, and Thaurissan have all gathered here, and they''re ready to heed your call to open the door to a brand new era at any time!"

    All of the researchers extended respectful bows in unison, and Hrithik asked in an eager voice, "I presume the Cathayan Underworld is willing to ept our assistance, right?"

    All of the surrounding death gods were still looking on in disbelief at this incredible scene.

    The three sharpest swords in the research and development sector hadbined as one. This was something that had never been seen before, and they had assembled with the sole purpose ofpleting the Zhu Rong project!

    With their inclusion in this project, there was no way that the Cathayan Underworld would becking in research and development ability or resources!

    Was the Zhu Rong n about to enter an elerated phase?!

 Chapter 919: The Next Step of the Plan

    <h4>Chapter 919: The Next Step of the n</h4>

    Right in front of everyone''s eager eyes, Qin Ye smiled and reached out to help Hrithik Chahat stand up straight again. "We would love to have you on board. There are many contracts and agreements to be signed to facilitate our coboration, and there''s no time like the present. How about we go and discuss this in a conference hall?"

    "As you wish." Hrithik extended a respectful bow before stepping back.

    The entire banquet hall had fallen silent, and Qin Ye cast his gaze toward all of the death gods with a smile and said, "Alright, I''ll be going on ahead then. I wish everyone an enjoyable night."

    Thus, he silently departed, yet the banquet hall still looked as if it had been frozen in time, and only after a long while did all of the death gods return to their senses.

    "The top three research institutes in the world havee together to help the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development team develop its new energy resource..." Death God Ynds''s lips were trembling, and he felt as if there were golden stars dancing erratically in front of his eyes.

    He had never even considered such an extravagant possibility.

    This was a research and development team the likes of which had never been seen in history!

    It was clear that the Cathayan Underworld and the three major research centers were determined to finalize this new energy resource within the next 10 years!

    The energy era was finally about to arrive in the world, and even though no one was fully prepared to wee it yet, they were all eagerly awaiting the energy revolution that would allow them to catch up to the mortal realm.

    "The entire world is about to change, and this is most likely going to be the most significant period of change in the past 1,000 years," Anko murmured to herself as she slowly rose to her feet and departed.

    "The one who develops the new energy resource will be the ruler of the new era. The three pirs aren''t going to back down, and the Cathayan Underworld is currently rapidly gathering allies, so the shes between them will inevitably continue. Every international conference after this one is going to be an absolute bloodbath! For all of the underworlds outside the four pirs and the first-rate underworlds, every decision they make from here onwards would have a significant bearing on their fate."

    She wasn''t in the mood to linger here any longer. Never did she think that such a stunning revtion would take ce during this conference, and she had to return to the Celtic Underworld right away to discuss this with her panel of advisors.

    Following her departure, the rest of the death gods got up one after another in silence before also leaving the banquet hall, and the four death gods of the Red Moon Federation were among them. They hurriedly returned to their room, then shut the door as quickly as they could, following which all four death gods opened their mouths in unison, but none of them said anything.

    What followed was a peculiar silence.

    The tsunami wasing, and they could already hear the deafening waves crashing toward them. During the next few centuries, none of the underworlds were going to be able to rx for even an instant, and they had to devise a n of action right away!

    Sitting on the main seat was Death God Kuwal, and theherfire in his eyes was flickering erratically. Only after several minutes did he break his silence. "Borne, return to the Red Moon Federation right away and instruct our minister of foreign exchange to prepare some agreements ande to Nara as quickly as possible. At the same time..."

    Kuwal gritted his teeth and paused momentarily before continuing, "Tell him to bring with him all of the records of the estimated production records of all our major marine fish farms over the past 50 years."

    The other death gods'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing, yet before they could reply, Kuwal continued, "Do you guys recall that Yanluo Qin said he will be sending envoys to the Maldives next month to sign agreements and contracts to re-establish ties with the rest of the world? What does he want?"

    He answered his own question. "He wantspensation from all of the underworlds that had picked the wrong side, and at the same time, he wants to see just how determined and sincere we are to stand with the Cathayan Underworld."

    He took a deep breath before looking at everyone with a serious expression. "It''s time for us to make a decision. We don''t have the luxury of biding our time and only making the choice when the timees. Here in Nara, there must be countless other underworlds doing the exact same thing as us. This is the first time that the three major research centers have everbined as one to lend their assistance to one of the four pirs, and that is as bold a statement as theye! If we pick sides in a few years, it''ll be toote! For Yanluo Qin, an ally like us ispletely dispensable."

    He was met by more silence.

    Kuwal continued, "I propose we issue subsidies to our farmers in order to facilitate the export of all of our fruits to the Cathayan Underworld at 50% of their current price for the next three years. At the same time, I say we grant the Cathayan Underworld free ess to our fivergest fish farms in exchange for the right to join the Zhu Rong n. This is my decision and a gamble that I''m willing to take on my own. If you don''t wish to join me, then you''re free to refuse."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Crack! A cup was crushed in the hand of the nameless god of death, and the tea it contained slowly drifted up as wisps of Yin energy. His strained voice then rang out from the shadows beneath his crown. "Are you sure there''s no mistake? The top three research centers in the world have extended an olive branch towards the Cathayan Underworld? And they did so during a banquet where all of the world''s death gods were present?!"

    "There''s no mistake," Izanami sighed as she looked up at the ceiling. "They''ve made a more powerful resurgence than we could''ve ever anticipated."

    This was a very spacious room with extremelyvish traditional Nipponese decor, and there were currently only three death gods in the room.

    They were Izanami, the nameless god of death, and Anubis. Yamaraja and Thanatos were nowhere to be found.

    Anubis didn''t say anything, and he was gently spinning a golden human skull in his hand. Only after a long while did he break his silence. "I''m very pleased that you''re sitting here right now."

    "The Nipponese Underworld has always been the most resolute ally of the three pirs," Izanami said as she stood up before extending a slight bow.

    Abunis smiled and said, "I know that everyone is currently trying to get on the Cathayan Underworld''s side."

    He pointed at the floor and continued, "There must be countless underworlds racking their brains right now, discussing how to appease the Cathayan Underworld and how to make up for the mistake they made in picking the wrong side. However, they''re still too naive. I''m not looking down on them, it''s just that they''ve never been in this position before, so they don''t know what the four pirs entails and just how much power we hold. Truth be told, I am very disappointed that we couldn''t seed here, but even when the utopia alliance had already secured 17 votes, I never allowed myself to becent. If we had seeded, I would celebrate, but at the same time, we''re also prepared for failure."

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he mused. "On top of that, the main topic of discussion for this conference may already be over, but the actual conference itself still hasn''t concluded yet."

    A thought seemed to have urred to the nameless god of death upon hearing this, and he abruptly raised his head as he said, "Are you saying..."

    "The International Underworlds Energy Resource Association and the International Underworlds Trade Association still haven''t visited the Cathayan Underworld, right? Even though we''ve lost, we still have to salvage what we can."

    A sly smile appeared on his face as he continued, "Just now, I already instructed the emissaries of our underworld in the GTO to inform the Cathayan Underworld."

    Crack! A series of cracks appeared on the skull he was holding as his voice took an icy turn. "This show is still not over yet!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    "Your Excellency, this is a letter of invitation from the GTO." Qin Ye was sharing a boisterous conversation with the Yin rune researchers of the three major research centers when Qin Changxin walked into the room and handed a letter of invitation to him.

    He nced at the table beside him. There were still three hours left until the warm-up meeting to prepare for the next international conference, so there was still quite a bit of time left.

    However, the three Yin rune researchers were determined not to overstay their wee, and they all stood up to take their leave. Soon, silence turned to the room, and only then did Qin Ye pick up the letter before raising an eyebrow. "Warm-up meeting?"

    "That''s right." Zhao Yun had been standing at the entrance like a gate guardian this entire time. With him in the room, there was no way that any underworld would be able to eavesdrop on Qin Ye through any means.

    "There are different tiers of international conferences. Some conferences are known as important international conferences, an example of which is this conference to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, while others are known as unimportant international conferences. The difference between them is that important conferences are held at a set time. The Coalition of Underworlds will arrange those conferences ording to pre-set schedules decided as far back as a century ago, and all of the world''s death gods must attend."

    A contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this. "Does this mean unimportant conferences are ones where the death gods don''t have to attend?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response with a smile. "Indeed, Your Excellency. There are many unimportant conferences, such as the Yin beast protection and conservation conference, the Yin rune expansion conference, the international underworlds natural disaster prevention conference, and the list goes on. However, there are only a few important conferences, and they are the conference for the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, the international peace treaty conference, the continental development conference, and the cultural renaissance conference. Aside from those four important conferences, there are also two other important conferences, but they''re not held at set times."

    "What are they?"

    "One of them is the war mediation conference. This conference will immediately be held as soon as a war takes ce, and all death gods and major political figures from the warring nations must be in attendance. The second one is the Australis Underworld supernatural disaster conference."

    Qin Yes brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "I recall hearing the second King Yanluo mention the Australis Underworld''s supernatural disasters a few times, and some death gods also mentioned it in passing during this conference. What exactly is going on over there? We don''t seem to have much information on this subject, and the second King Yanluo didn''t teach me much about this, either."

    A serious look on Zhao Yun''s face as he replied, "In that case, the second King Yanluo most likely came back specifically to pass on some information regarding the supernatural disasters of the Australis Underworld."

    He made his way over to the center of the hall, then swept a hand through the air, and a world map formed by Yin energy immediately appeared. He pointed at the Australis Underworld and said, "Currently, there are underworlds in all of the worlds'' territories, and the territories of the underworlds are simr to those of their counterparts in the mortal realm. However, the Australis Underworld is an exception to this; it has been without a ruler for over 700 years. 700 years ago, widespread supernatural disasters swept across the entire Australis Underworld. The four pirs joined forces on that asion, using four creation-grade divine artifacts to seal the Australis Underworld away, and from there onward, the four pirs were supported by the first-rate and second-rate underworlds, sendingrge numbers of troops to keep the situation in the Australis Underworld contained, and those troops are changed once every century."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed even tighter as he scrutinized the Australis Underworld on the world map. "Don''t supernatural disasters only happen in the mortal realm?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "This is the only time where it''s happened in the underworld. I don''t know the exact details as that''s not a part of my duties, but the Cathayan Underworld sent troops there once. On that asion, 500,000 Yin soldiers were deployed, yet only half of them returned. As soon as any changes take ce in the supernatural disasters of the Australis Underworld, an important international conference will immediately be held. Your Excellency, if the Red Moon Federation tries to approach you, I would suggest that you consider epting their advances. The Red Moon Federation and the Star Cluster Federation are the first defensive line around the Australis Underworld, and they have logistics bases from all of the underworlds in their territory, so it would be beneficial for us to have some ties with them."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a contemtive expression but didn''t pay this much heed.

    There was no telling when a conference like this was going to be held, and he wouldn''t have to go into battle in person anyway. His current priority was this letter of invitation.

    "GTO? Is this Great Teacher Onizuka?" he chuckled before cing the letter back onto the table. "Servants, I need to change." [Great Teacher Onizuka is a popr manga and anime series.]

 Chapter 920: GTO

    <h4>Chapter 920: GTO</h4>

    Due to the fact that the Heavenly Radiance Pavilion had been severely damaged by Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, the meeting venue was changed to the surrounding temples.

    The subject and the procedure of the meeting werepletely different concepts that were both rted, yet also independent of one another. The subject dictated what was going to be discussed during the meeting, while the procedure described what things had to happen during the meeting. For example, the subject for the conference to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts had already concluded discussion, but there were still some procedures left to bepleted.

    Passing through a corridor that was lined with wind chimes, Qin Ye arrived in front of arge fabric sliding door with a red and white mask embroidered onto its surface, and in the instant that Qin Ye arrived, the door had already been slid open by the servants standing on either side of it.

    Beyond the door was an extremely deep corridor that was lined on either side with ukiyo-e artwork. Under the swaying light of thenterns, the artwork presented a rather unsettling sight to behold. At the end of the corridor was a Nipponese-style screen, and after passing around the screen, one would arrive in a room with an area in excess of 100 square meters. There was only a row of tall timber tables in the room, each standing at over a meter and half in height, and behind them were countless pieces of artwork depicting the renowned Goddess Kishimojin. Rows of bronze oilnterns constructed in the form of intricate sparrows were positioned around the room, giving the entire room an air of eeriness.

    There were a total of 10 tables in the room, and the rulers of the three pirs were already present. They were apanied by six Infernal Judge level death gods of all ages and different genders, but all of them were wearing professional suits.

    The ones upying the main seats weren''t the rulers of the three pirs. On the contrary, they were seated quite close to the edge of the room. Instead, an elderly underworld emissary who appeared to be around 80 to 90 years of age was upying the maint seat. He was wearing a pair of ck-framed sses, and he gave Qin Ye a friendly nod before making an inviting hand gesture. "Yanluo Qin, I am the president of the Ghostdom Trade Organization, otherwise known as the International Underworlds Trade Association, you can refer to me as Jian. The Cathayan Underworld has always been an instigator and an important member of the GTO. However, the GTO''s rules have always been fair, and fairness is the most important thing in world trade. The GTO''s agreement is signed once every 100 years, and it''s already 85 years overdue for a re-signing."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This was a responsibility that the Cathayan Underworld should rightfully undertake, so there was no need for him to try and deny it.

    Jian''s myopia seemed to be quite severe, and he adjusted his sses as he leaned closer to the script on the table before continuing, "Aside from re-signing its past agreement, the GTO would like to propose another important subject of discussion on this asion, which is the ession referendum proposed by the Caribbean''s Beluga Whale Alliance."

    He raised his head before continuing, "The Beluga Whale Alliance has already submitted an ession application several decades ago, and they''ve also submitted all of the required paperwork, but they''ve been kept out of the Ghostdom Trade Organization this entire time as not all of the four pirs were present to pass a verdict on their application."

    This was only a formality, and Qin Ye didn''t have much interest in it. With a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his hand, and he massaged it absentmindedly as he asked, "They count as a nation with autonomous jurisdiction power?"

    "They do." It was Hypnos who replied instead of Jian, and he did so with a resigned shrug. "The rulers of the new continent didn''t stop them from submitting their application, and ording to international regtions, if 30 years or more go by without a response to a party''s application to liberate themselves, then it will be viewed as an automatic forfeiture of sovereignty. At the same time, no war efforts can be raised against a new underworld during the first 50 years of its existence."

    Qin Ye wanted to ask something, but didn''t do so in the end.

    This was because he had suddenly recalled something.

    Every single death god had their own legends, and at this point in time, many death gods were evil ghosts who were worshipped after their deaths, allowing them to rule over nations, even though these nations weren''t veryrge.

    However, the caliber of their legends was insufficient, and their religions weren''tplete, so no matter what they did, there was no way they could be Yama-Kings, and they could count themselves immensely fortunate to even be Abyssal Prefects. Thus, these 50 years were most likely a grace period during which they could write their own legends.

    This was a vast project that had to be undertaken over the course of centuries, and it was what Liu Yu had nned to do in the past. Of course, the writing of legends didn''t guarantee one''s ascension to the Yama-King level, it only made the prospect a possibility. After writing the legends, they would still have tomunicate with the mortal realm, perhaps through divine miracles, perhaps through supernatural events, perhaps through hidden messages... Regardless of what method they pursued, their objective was to snowball this legend, generation after generation, ideally transforming it from a legend about a single death god into a brand new religion, and only then would they have a chance of reaching the Yama-King level.

    It was not a coincidence that the four pirs were the origin nations of the world''s four major religions. Only they had the world''s mostplete religions.

    Jian took a nce at Qin Ye and said, "The request they made was for Death God Anubis to personally sign their application, and Death God Anubis agreed."

    This was a warning to Qin Ye, informing him that those three pigs from the Caribbean were under the protection of Anubis.

    It made sense. After all, pigs and dogs were a perfect match, both in IQ and in appearance.

    "So?" he asked in a nonchnt manner, and he was starting to grow rather impatient.

    If you want me to sign something, then hurry up! I have no interest in staying in Nara any longer than I have to.

    Jian smiled and exined, "We wee all powers who wish to join our GTO. After all, this world needs diversification in cultures. No one knows who will be the final rulers of the new continent, perhaps it could be those three, and there''s no reason for us to turn them down."

    Is he essentially asking me whether I would like to exercise my veto rights? Has news of what just happened at the banquet hall already made it here?

    Qin Ye had no interest in demeaning himself by dealing with death gods of this caliber.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were still alive, so those three ants wouldn''t be able to do anything.

    "I wee them as well," he replied in a calm voice.

    Jian nodded in response, then adjusted his own sses again before looking down at his script as he continued, "In that case, we''ll be voting on the ession of the Caribbean during the next world trade conference. You''ll have to be prepared, Yanluo Qin?"

    "What do I have to prepare?" Qin Ye was perplexed.

    Anubis smiled and exined, "The Cathayan Underworld will be holding the conference. Due to your absence, the Aegyptian Underworld hosted two editions of the world trade conference in session. ording to the past sequence, after the Aegyptian Underworld, it''s the Cathayan Underworld''s turn to hold the conference, so you''ll have to prepare to host the conference in 15 years."

    Qin Ye''s smile faded upon hearing this, and he looked at the three pirs with a calm expression. They were clearly seated with amicable smiles on their faces, yet Qin Ye felt as if they had rested their swords on his neck and were getting ready to deliver a swift and vicious slice.

    I see, so this is what you had nned!

    If the Cathayan Underworld were to host this conference, then many things would have to be revealed. For example, where was Fengdu? Why were there only a couple of Yama-Kings left out of the original 20 or so? Where was the Aurogon? Where was Ksitigarbha? Where were the Sixfold Ghost Kings and the 10 Yama-King Pces? What right did they have to continue as one of the four pirs with their pitiful array of personnel?!

    It was very likely that a war would immediately follow!

    He could prohibit them from visiting other Yama-Kings to conceal the severeck of Yama-Kings in the Cathayan Underworld, but there was no way to conceal the degree of development of an entire underworld.

    He had seen the grand spectacle of countless ships gathered on the coastline of the Red Sea. He had never been to the capital of the Aegyptian Underworld, nor seen the symbolic pyramids. He also hadn''t ever been to the Elysian Fields of the Argosian Underworld, nor the Mahabodhi Temple of the Hindustani Underworld, but he knew full well that Everburn most likely couldn''t even begin topare with these other capital cities and majestdmarks that had stood for thousands of years.

    Those spectacles were born on the basis of thousands of years of cultural evolution and cutting-edge Yin rune technology, and there was no way to replicate the same level in just a few years. At the very least, it would take the new Cathayan Underworld 500 years of development to reach the same level.

    This was clearly a trap that had been set for him by the rulers of the three pirs, and he realized that he had still underestimated them in the end.

    His mind was racing, but his expression remained calm as he asked, "Is that a requirement?"

    "ording to the rules, it really is the Cathayan Underworld''s turn," Jian replied with a smile. "In addition, the Cathayan Underworld needs to re-sign trade agreements with the rest of the world. I have here thest agreement that Yanluo Xu signed, and I can give you a copy to take back."

    Qin Ye rose to his feet and said, "Alright, I understand. Is there anything else? If not, then I''ll get my representatives to take care of the rest of the proceedings."

    "That''s all for now, you''re free to leave, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye immediately vanished as a gust of Yin wind and quickly returned to his own room.

    There was no one else in the room, and he stood in the empty room with a grim expression. As expected, the international political stage was fraught with peril, and he had only just ovee the first hurdle.

    His mind was racing as he quickly made mental projections of how things could snowball from here.

    Firstly, refusing wasn''t an option. If he were to do that, the image that he had just painstakingly established would copse again. It would make other underworlds feel that the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t deserve its current status. Most importantly, the Cathayan Underworld is enjoying the power and benefits afforded to one of the four pirs, so it had to take on the corresponding responsibilities and duties.

    Could they continue to iste themselves from the world?

    No, that wasn''t an option, either.

    He heaved a faint sigh as he murmured to himself, "The history of Cathay in the mortal realm is enough to paint apelling story. After its ession was when Cathay entered a period of rapid development, bing the economic engine of the entire world, and as a result, its status and influence became more and more prominent. At the moment, the Cathayan Underworld is unable to take on too many international duties, so in order to bolster our influence, the economy is the most important thing for us to take advantage of. I''m unable to even deploy troops to the Australis Underworld right now, and it''s very fortunate that it''s not my turn yet. Otherwise, they would''ve raised that instead of the world trade conference. Above all else, they want to know the true current state of the Cathayan Underworld, and I must say that their instincts are extremely sharp."

    He rose to his feet as he began to slowly pace back and forth in the room. "Following ession, I''ll be able to import products from all over the world, and that would be extremely beneficial to the current poverty-stricken Cathayan Underworld. Hosting this uing world trade conference will be a massive risk, but it''s one that I have to take. It''s crucial for the future of the Cathayan Underworld, and we can''t afford to be ostracized by the rest of the world. But how do we do this? How can we host this conference perfectly while concealing the true state of the Cathayan Underworld from them?"

    Zhao Yun had told him that this was an important international conference, and it couldn''t be postponed or turned down.

    His mind continued to race, and after a long while, he heaved a heavy sigh. "This most likely is only the beginning as well. Even if I manage to weather this storm, what would follow would be direct shes between national economies. I haven''t seen how the GTO does things, but I''m sure all nations have their protected industries. However, the Cathayan Underworld currently has far too many industries that have to be protected, and there''s no way we''ll be able to protect all of them. All of the world''s underworlds, governments, and consortiums will undoubtedly flock to the Cathayan Underworld after receiving news of our ession, and they won''t pass up any industry they can take advantage of. If I don''t address this issue properly, there would be no way for any local businesses to survive in any of our industries!"

    At that point, the Cathayan Underworld would still be the Cathayan Underworld, but all of the businesses would be run by foreign nations, and the local Yin spirits would only be able to do basic entry-level jobs. Who would the Cathayan Underworld even belong to then?

    One wave wasing after another, and he hadn''t even gotten a chance to catch his breath after weathering this storm before a new storm arrived.

 Chapter 921: The Plan for the Future

    <h4>Chapter 921: The n for the Future</h4>

    Time always passed by very quickly when in deep thought, and after a long while, the sliding door was slowly pulled back, following which Qin Changxin and Zhao Yun entered the room.

    Both of them had smiles on their faces and were giving off a slight scent of alcohol. It was clear that they had just gone for a small celebration to savor the sess and to offload the immense pressure that had been weighing on them during the past few days.

    "Lord Qin?" Qin Changxin was rather taken aback to see Qin Ye in the room, and he asked, "What yer doin'' ''ere?"

    Qin Ye''splex trains of thought were instantly derailed by Qin Changxin''s northeastern ent, and he almost spat out the tea in his mouth. "Didn''t you already fix your ent? Why do you sound like that again?"

    "Oh? My apologies." Qin Changxin cleared his throat before asking in standard mandarin, "Is it better now?"

    Now that Qin Changxin had been switched to the right channel, Qin Ye gestured for the two of them to join him, and after they had taken a seat, he said in a grim voice, "Just now, the president of the GTO invited me to discuss some matters rting to the next world trade conference."

    Qin Changxin didn''t know anything about this. After all, it was his first time attending an international conference. However, Zhao Yun immediately realized what the problem was, and he said, "If I recall correctly, it should be our turn to host the next world trade conference."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Qin Changxin immediately also came to understand what the issue was. It was very obvious: the host nation would have to facilitate all of the participants of the conference, and with several dozen death gods gathered in the Cathayan Underworld, even if they were all blind, they would still be able to tell that something was amiss!

    What could they do?

    The rxed and joyful atmosphere in the air instantly vanished, and he massaged his own temples with tightly furrowed brows as he asked, "How long do we have left, Your Excellency?"

    "15 years," Qin Ye replied with a shake of his head. "Don''t think about fooling the other death gods. 15 years is nowhere near enough for us to develop to a point where we canpare with the world''s top civilizations. Refusing to host the conference is also not an option. The Cathayan Underworld has just returned to the top of the world''s political stage, and the most important thing we need to do is re-establish our influence and reputation. Hosting an international conference would be the perfect opportunity for this, and if we take any backward steps or show any weakness, the three pirs will immediately pounce. They''ve never set aside their doubts toward the Cathayan Underworld, and this conference is an opportunity for them as well."

    He pursed his lips before continuing in a grim voice, "If they discover the true state of our Cathayan Underworld, I''m willing to bet that a world war would be on the horizon!"

    Silence.

    Everyone fell into deep thought. No one had anticipated that the opposition''s challenges woulde so thick and fast. This victory was only the beginning of the power struggle that they found themselves at the very center of.

    Qin Changxin''s eyes were filled with deep concern. He knew that if they were to fail, not only would any future retaliation against the Nipponese Underworld be aplete pipe dream, there was a good chance that Izanami would be able to dominate him, and that was something that he definitely didn''t want to see happen! Amid the contemtive silence, he suddenly suggested, "We could hold the conference at Formosa."

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this before his eyes immediately lit up. However, instead of replying right away, he began to quickly consider this option.

    If the conference were held in a maind city, there was no way that they would be able to stop all of the death gods from going to other parts of the nation. Not only did they not have any high-grade underworld emissaries, they didn''t even have any mid-grade ones!

    An education system still hadn''t been established, so normal Yin spirits had no idea how to cultivate. Once the education system was ince, they would have to deal with a period of unrest, which would stem from the desire to progress faster in cultivation, leading to Yin spirits devouring other Yin spirits or even turning to blood food in the mortal realm. There was no way to produce a significant number of mid-grade and low-grade underworld emissaries within 15 years!

    Without that foundation, any Soul Hunter or Anitya Hellguards from any of the nations attending the conference could go anywhere they liked in the Cathayan Underworld, and the true state of the Cathayan Underworld would bepletely uncovered.

    "Formosa is a far easier location to contain," Qin Changxin said in a calm voice. "If we hold the conference at Formosa, all we''ll need to do is conduct surveince on its coastlines, and that''s very easy to aplish. As such, we''ll be able to effectively foil attempts made by foreign underworld emissaries to uncover the state of our nation. Those underworld emissaries will be referred to as envoys, but in reality, they''re not different from spies, and no one is going to pass the opportunity to see the Cathayan Underworld for themselves!"

    "Indeed," Zhao Yun chimed in with tightly furrowed brows. "In addition to that, there''s no way we''ll be able to reconstruct the maind in 15 years, but it''s not impossible to reconstruct Formosa! All we need to do is to establish two cities on the ind. In fact, we already have more than that. I recall that we already have three cities, namely Dayuan, Dongfan, and Liuqiu, which correspond with Formosa North, Formosa Central, and Formosa South, respectively, so we certainly have a good foundation to work with."

    Qin Ye remained silent, and only after a long while did he nod in response.

    At the very least, there was no better way to proceed at the moment.

    "However, if we do that, we''ll have to incline our resources toward the three cities of Formosa during the next 15 years," Qin Ye sighed. "The city construction won''t be very difficult. It''ll take five years at most to construct all of the antiquated Cathayan-style buildings required and give Formosa aplete facelift, but at the same time, we''ll have to educate the people of Formosa in proper etiquette and other important areas to ensure that the quality of the poption matches the city. On top of that, we have to deal with the dissatisfaction that''ll arise in the maind in the wake of our decision to incline resources toward Formosa. After all, most of theherworldly citizens right now are from the current century, and this is a sensitive political issue."

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "We have to gather the power of the entire nation to make Formosa a worthy location to hold the conference, and this is something that can''t be dyed. We should set off right away, then discuss this further once we return to the Cathayan Underworld."

    Qin Ye nodded as he rose to his feet, then grabbed onto both Zhao Yun and Qin Changxin''s hand as he said with a serious expression, "Let''s stick through this tough period together. As long as we can endure the next 100 years, we will enter our era! In fact, we may not even need 100 years. After 50 years, we''ll no longer need to hide and cower like this, and another 50 years will be enough to propel us to the very top!"

    "Yes!!"

    This was only an initial n, and perhaps they would be able toe up with better options once they returned to the Cathayan Underworld.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The floating fortress slowly departed from Osaka, traveling back to the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Nipponese Underworld wasn''t very far away from the Cathayan Underworld, and it didn''t take long for them to reach Formosa. Right as they passed through the Array of the Nine Gods, Qin Ye immediately ordered for the fortress to draw to a halt.

    "You go back for now, I have to travel to Usonia right away," Qin Ye said as he peered out at the sea from the top floor of the fortress. "After passing Formosa, we''ll be reaching the Felipinas, and that would be the best ce for me to set off from on my journey to Usonia."

    Qin Changxin hesitated momentarily before asking, "Would it not be wiser to go back and do some preparation first?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response, then gestured for the surrounding servants to leave. Following their departure, he swept a hand through the air in a cautious manner topletely soundproof the entire room, then said in a serious voice, "I thought about many things in the past few hours, and I''ve finally managed to arrange my thoughts. The most important thing for us right now isn''t Formosa. I''ll leave the construction of Formosa to you and the panel of advisors, and I want to see a clear n when I get back. What''s most important right now is Xu Fu''s notes! In order to obtain something, sacrifices have to be made, and there''s no way to have everything. We may have won this time, but we have to resolve the energy resource issue within 10 years. That is the key to establishing our Cathayan Underworld on the world stage! In order to recruit the three major research centers, the five nations of Northern Europa, the Alkebn Underworlds, and the new continent to our side, we''ve made far too many promises. If these people find out that our new energy resource is a pipe dream, then they''ll all turn on us, and in the current state of the Cathayn Underworld, that would be a lethal blow."

    He clenched his fists tightly as he continued, "Hence, I can''t rest until I get my hands on those notes and see for myself what''s written on them."

    Qin Changxin still wanted to say something more, but before he could do so, Qin Ye continued, "Rest assured, the new continent is rtively safe for me. At the very least, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa won''t conspire against me, and I have no fundamental conflicts of interest with the other death gods. If they dare to try and strike at me, then they''ll be courting death."

    Zhao Yun didn''t try to stop him. "Rest assured, during your absence, the Harken, Mr. Qin, Arakshasa, and I will look after the nation for you, and that''s not to mention that the second King Yanluo is also present. When do you n to set off?"

    "I''ll be leaving in two hours," Qin Ye replied as he turned to Zhao Yun. "But before that, I have something I need to do. Give me a copy of your insights from your breakthrough to transcend beyond the Yama-King level and an ount of your experiences in contending with the Heavenly Dao."

    Zhao Yun was rather hesitant upon hearing this, and after a long silence, he finally said, "Please consider this carefully, my Lord. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are not good people, and they''re only respectful to you now as they want to live. If they seed and two beings above the Yama-King level appear on the new continent, then that would definitely not be a good thing."

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he continued in a grim voice, "They have experienced desperation and insanity before, and they''re well aware of what benefits they could reap from the world with their insanity. If two beings above the Yama-King level try to recklessly impose their will on the world at once, there''s no way we''ll be able to stop them, and the order of the entire world wouldpletely copse. Of course, that''s the absolute worst oue."

    He paused momentarily, and a hint of killing intent crept into his voice as he continued, "If they pass away, then the new continent will be without rulers. By then, the Cathayan Underworld should be fully developed, and we''ll have the ability to fight for a massive slice of that cake! The one that conquers that vast territory will be one of the overlords of the next era! In conclusion, it''s far better for us and the entire world for them to die rather than to remain alive."

    "Don''t worry, they won''t survive," Qin Ye replied with a sly smile. "However, integrity is the most important thing in the world."

    He turned around to look at the sea with a cold expression as he said, "I''ll give them your breakthrough insights and the method the second King Yanluo used to make his breakthrough, but the second King Yanluo is a living human! There''s no way the method that he used will be suitable for Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, so perhaps they''ll only be able to extend their own lives for a century or two, but they won''t be able to me anyone after that."

    Zhao Yun smiled and nodded in response. "I understand."

    Seeing as the decision had already been made, there was no need to waste any further time with words. Two hourster, a streak of Yin energy flew out of the floating fortress, heading directly toward the Felipinas.

    Less than an hourter, the Felipinas Underworld had already appeared in Qin Ye''s field of view. Rows of spear-wielding Yin soldiers were standing atop the tall city walls in an orderly fashion, and within the antiquated city, one tall wooden building was standing next to another. Countless Yin spirits were traversing through the city, andherfire was shing all throughout.

    Qin Ye concealed himself from view, yet in the instant that he passed through the city wall, a piercing rm immediately rang out.

    The sound of the rm echoed throughout the entire city, and there was an instant ofplete silence, immediately following which all of the Yin spirits screamed and scattered in all directions. The Yin soldiers on the city wall also faltered slightly before yelling in unison, "Enemy attack!! Get into formation!!"

    At the same time, a burst of Infernal Judge level Yin energy erupted into the heavens from the center of the city, and Yang Jiye''s cold voice rang out like rumbling thunder. "Who dares to encroach upon the territory of one of the four pirs'' 12 envoys? Show yourself!"

    [1] [The northeastern part of China (which is where Ie from coincidentally LOL) has a very distinct ent that''s more rustic-sounding and absolutely rife with ng.]

 Chapter 922: Rebis G. Angelista (1)

    <h4>Chapter 922: Rebis G. Angelista (1)</h4>

    Impressive...

    Qin Ye was rather taken aback as he raised an eyebrow. He truly didn''t expect Yang Jiye, who was only an Infernal Judge, to have been able to detect his arrival.

    Felipinas was an extremely important nation, acting essentially as a horizontal barrier across the Pacific Ocean. Ever since the founding of the nation, Qin Ye received memorials from the 12 envoys every month, but they were all mundane reports that Zhao Yun could address in his stead. Furthermore, he had rewarded many people following the founding of the nation. Arakshasa and Qin Changxin had been directly promoted using Hell''s Record, but none of the 12 envoys were rewarded.

    They were outside of the nation, and as such, Qin Ye had to be wary of them to a certain extent.

    Abyssal Prefects were already high-grade underworld emissaries capable of sweeping up massive waves in Asia, and no matter how loyal someone like Yang Jiye was, there was no need for Qin Ye to tempt him with the possibility of rebellion by promoting him to an Abyssal Prefect.

    There was no way that anyone would know about his decision to travel here as it was a spur-of-the-moment decision even for himself, and he was interested in taking advantage of this opportunity to see exactly how Yang Jiye was serving the Cathayan Underworld as one of the 12 envoys.

    A self-deprecating smile appeared on his face as this thought urred to him. "To think that I''ve already learned to be wary of my subordinates after only such a short tenure as King Yanluo. Is this what they mean when they say power changes people?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a messenger bird was sent flying through the air, but he still didn''t reveal himself. Several minutester, the rms ringing out throughout the city drew to an abrupt halt, following which a gust of Yin wind flew directly toward Qin Ye before materializing into Yang Jiye.

    Even though he wasn''t on the battlefield, he was still wearing a suit of armor, and the steely aura unique to a soldier was emanating from his body in spades. As soon as he arrived, he immediately cupped his fist in a salute before falling to one knee. "Lord of Luzon, Yang Jiye, pays his respects to Yanluo Qin. I didn''t know you wereing, please forgive me for the insolence I disyed just now."

    A burst of Yin energy gently lifted him back up into a standing position, and Qin Ye said in a calm voice, "No need for formalities, General Yang. The etiquette of kneeling has already been abolished in the new Hell, and as long as your heart is with the Cathayan Underworld, it doesn''t matter if you kneel or not."

    Yang Jiye shuddered ever so slightly upon hearing this, and he cupped his fist in another salute as he replied, "As you wish."

    In contrast with thest time he had met Qin Ye, the past few years of toil and rued experience had left a clear mark on Qin Ye''s demeanor. The current Qin Ye was carrying a sense of innate authority, and standing before him, one felt as if nothing could escape his scrutiny.

    This was the aura of a qualified ruler of a major underworld. Yang Jiye couldn''t help but think back to the young man that Qin Ye had once been. The war of unification and these past few years ruling over the Cathayan Underworld had made him grow and develop rapidly. It seemed that Hell was in good hands.

    "General Yang?" Qin Ye called out, and only then did Yang Jiye return to reality from his train of thought.

    "My apologies, Yanluo Qin, my mind wandered elsewhere for a second."

    In the past, he had only been loyal to Hell, but in this moment, he finally developed a new sense of loyalty and eptance of this new King Yanluo.

    "There''s no need to be so stiff and formal," Qin Ye said with a smile as he cast his gaze toward the city. "I have an urgent matter that I require your assistance in, General Yang. How about we speak as we walk? Also, I don''t want anyone to know that I was here, and make sure you keep this matter a secret once I depart."

    A serious look appeared on Yang Jiye''s face, and he immediately replied, "I''ll be sure to do so, Yanluo Qin. Pleasee with me."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of Yin energy rose up around Qin Ye''s body, and several secondster, he had already transformed into an unremarkable-looking eunuch holding a horsetail whisk.

    Yang Jiye transformed into a gust of Yin wind to lead the way, and Qin Ye was just about to follow him when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

    Hold on, something doesn''t seem right here... Why have I gotten used to transforming into a eunuch?! Do I identify as a eunuch now?!

    With a forlorn internal sigh, he followed Yang Jiye into the city. Following the rm that had rung out earlier, the gates of the city were tightly shut, and all of theherworldly citizens in the city had deserted the streets. Walking along the wide and empty street, Qin Ye could sense countless pairs of curious eyes peeking out at them from within the houses on either side of the street. The two of them paid the scrutiny no heed, and as they walked along, Yang Jiye was acting as Qin Ye''s tour guide.

    "This is the business district, and we''re currently on Bhrikuti Street, which stems from the Princess Bhrikuti of Luzon legends. Almost all of Luzon''srge shopping markets, top restaurants, and other important consumer businesses are on this street. If we walk all the way to the end of the street, we reach the Man District, which derives its name from the capital of Luzon, and all of Luzon''s high-grade underworld emissaries are here, including our Yang n. At the center of the Man district is the parliament hall, and after that, we''ll emerge from the city and arrive at the Luzon military barracks. If the need arises, we can immediately summon troops directly from the barracks. There won''t be any resistance as the local death god of Luzon is only an initial Infernal Judge, and he''s already surrendered to the Cathayan Underworld long ago. Most importantly, most of the Yin soldiers of Luzon are Yang n forces, so they won''t stir up a rebellion even if they wanted to."

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the direction that Yang Jiye was pointing in, and he was greeted by the side of a city with strong foreign elements. The religions of Catholicism, Im, and Buddhism were extremely popr here, creating a city with a diverse religious profile.

    There were resplendent churches, pristine white mosques, and colorful Buddhist temples all over the city, as well as Buddha statues, prophet statues, and various other types of religious monuments. There was one statue roughly every 100 meters, and it gave the city a strong religious atmosphere. These religious buildings blended together perfectly with the surrounding ancient Cathayan-style buildings, forming a contrasting yet cohesive package that presented quite a spectacle to behold.

    This was the difference that time could make. There was clearly far more culturalplexity in this city than the new capital that was Everburn. There was a mix of foreign and Cathayan elements, as well as three different religions, and it was apparent to anyone that saw this ce that Yang Jiye was conscientiously running the nation without any ulterior motives. With that in mind, Qin Ye asked, "How long until the end of your term, General Yang?"

    Yang Jiye shook his head in response. "The 12 envoys don''t serve in terms. Out of all of the tax revenue in the entirety of Luzon, aside from the 20% that goes into the national vault and the tribute to the Cathayan Underworld that is given once every 50 years, there are no other costs. The Felipinas is situated in a rather special position in that it''s the first barrier between the Pacific Ocean and Southern Asia. As long as you trust me to fulfill my duties, I''m willing to defend thisnd for the Cathayan Underworld indefinitely.

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Ever since he entered the main part of the city, Yang Jiye hadn''t attempted to hide anything from him. As King Yanluo, Qin Ye hadn''t been here for a few years, and now that he was finally here, Yang Jiye had to give Qin Ye a basic tour, informing him that there was a point to the structure of the city. Qin Ye was confident that given sufficient time, the next step for Yang Jiye would be to invite him to spectate the training of the soldiers and even deliver a political address to the officials of the nation.

    This was a disy clearly telling Qin Ye that the Felipinas was still under the Cathayan Underworld''s control, and that it didn''t have any thoughts of rebellion. No matter how much Qin Ye trusted Yang Jiye, these necessary formalities couldn''t be skipped.

    "I have full trust in you, General Yang," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "If I didn''t, I wouldn''t havee to see you on this asion."

    He really wanted to see the entirety of Luzon, but he simply couldn''t put his own heart at ease until he obtained Xu Fu''s notes.

    He had made a massive promise to the rest of the world, and it was imperative that he obtained what was required to back up the promise.

    It was clear that Qin Ye was about to cut to the chase, and having realized this, Yang Jiye didn''t reply right away. Instead, he gestured to the surrounding area, and a dozen or so Yin soldiers immediately surrounded them from 10 meters away, ensuring that no one could approach them.

    "What have youe to see me for, Your Excellency?"

    A serious look appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and he made a grabbing motion topletely soundproof the area. Then, instead of informing Yang Jiye of what had happened during this past week, he asked, "General Yang, what is the smuggling situation like in the Felipinas?"

    Yang Jiye was rather taken aback by this question, and after a brief pause, he gritted his teeth before replying, "I''m sure there are instances of smuggling. Unfortunately, I''m not capable enough topletely abolish this foul practice..."

    "I''m not using you of anything, General Yang. I know just as well as you do that there''s no way topletely prohibit smuggling, especially in a ce like the Felipinas, which is known as the first barrier between the Pacific Ocean and Southern Asia," Qin Ye said. "What I want to know is how many fleets there are and who their leaders are. Are they a legitimate force, and who is supporting them?"

    Yang Jiye pondered this form a moment before replying, "There are threerge fleets and countless smaller ones. As you just said, the Felipinas really is the first geographic barrier to Southern Asia. To the left, we have the Hindustani Underworld and the Maluku Inds. Down below, we have the Red Moon Federation, and to the right is the Star Cluster Federation. All ships thate from the new continent must pass through the Star Cluster Federation, and 90% of them stop at the Felipinas. However, the Star Cluster Federation is far too small to stop these ships, and all of the fleets that dare to smuggle across the Pacific Ocean are supported by prominent powers, so the Star Cluster Federation wouldn''t dare to try and stop them anyway. As such, their only choice is to turn a blind eye. After passing through the Star Cluster Federation, one would enter the Southern Asian underworlds, which is widely known as an area within the Cathayan Underworld''s scope of influence. Even the most powerful death gods don''t dare to kick up a fuss in the Cathayan Underworld, so during the past 1,000 or so years, this has already be a set point where smuggled merchandise is dumped and sold. Not only do they bring merchandise from the Pacific Ocean, they also carry valuable information about the new continent. I thought this was beneficial, so I issued an order specifically not to stop these fleets."

    At this point, the two of them had already made it to the parliament hall at the center of the city.

    The Felipinas had many foreign and religious buildings, but the most important building was the parliament hall, and it had been constructed in the ssic ancient Cathayan style.

    It was a resplendent and extravagant nine-story building, and there were many Yin soldiers standing on guard duty on the white marble staircase in front of the entrance. Even though Yang Jiye had apanied an unfamiliar underworld emissary here, no one took an extra nce at them.

    Yang Jiye made an inviting hand gesture, but didn''t walk up the staircase. Instead, he made his way into a side chamber, following which the door was silently shut. The chamber''s decor was in the ancient Cathayan style with taishi chairs and an old-fashioned square table. Cups of tea had already been poured on the table, and the aroma of the tea was wafting through the air.

    Qin Ye sat down, and Yang Jiye took a seat across from him before continuing, "One of these three fleetses from Northern Usonia, anotheres from Southern Usonia, and the final one is a Caribbean fleet. You may not be very familiar with them. They began as pirates and engaged in smuggling in secret, and they refused to sell any of their merchandise in the new continent. That fleet is the smallest of the three major smuggling fleets, but it always carries the most valuable merchandise, such as a lot of precious ore and nts from the new continent."

    Not only have I seen them, I''ve even had a recent run-in with them.

    Qin Ye was rather intrigued to hear this, and having detected his intrigue, Yang Jiye immediately continued, "ording to the information gathered by my sources, they hold at least two S rank, or AA grade mines, as well as five or six A grade mines and at least two Yin jade mines. They''re not a force to be reckoned with yet, but they''re extremely wealthy, and I''ve heard that all of the fleets that go out to sea in the new continent have to pay them a 1% sea tax. Otherwise, even the other two smuggling fleets wouldn''t be able to go out to sea. In fact, any that have tried to make the voyage from the new continent across the Pacific Ocean have inexplicably disappeared before reaching the other side. Speaking of the other two smuggling fleets, they must be supported by certain death gods as the merchandise that they trade is very special. It''s..."

    Yang Jiye habitually cast a nce out the window before concluding in a low voice, "Military gear."

 Chapter 923: Rebis G. Angelista (2)

    <h4>Chapter 923: Rebis G. Angelista (2)</h4>

    "As long as it''s military gear, they''ll purchase anything! Ever since their arrival, several hundred so-called ''cksmith forges'' have opened up in the Lhavi underworld one after another, and virtually all of their revenuees from the orders of the two fleets. On top of that, they bring with them ore that''s rted to military gear every trip, and they either sell them in exchange for military gear, or get the local cksmiths to forge the ore into military gear to take away with them. It seems that they have no intention of making a profit, which makes me almost certain that a death god is behind them. Unfortunately, they are extremely tight-lipped, and I haven''t been able to find out exactly who is supporting them."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. That was a very simple extraption to make.

    The situation in the new continent was extremely vtile and unpredictable, and everyone was waiting for the two rulers of the continent to perish. Once that happened, war would undoubtedly sweep over the entire continent, and in order to fight a war, military gear was essential.

    Aside from the death gods with the intent of fighting over the continent in the wake of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s passing, who would engage in such a risky practice for no mary gain?

    The unpredictable state of the new continent also gave some other underworld emissaries an opportunity, such as the three death gods of the Caribbean, who held a natural geographic advantage. They were constantly smuggling and taking sea tax, and they had finally built up enough of an empire to escape from the control of the new continent.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa didn''t have the time to take care of them, and the other death gods had no interest in stepping in, either. The Caribbean Sea was only on the outskirts of the new continent, and this was an alliance formed by three Abyssal Prefects, so there was a chance that they could even have a military array at their disposal, which could make conquering them quite a difficult task. Even if they were to conquer, the side that defeated them wouldn''t benefit in any way so long as Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were still alive, and that was why the three death gods of the Caribbean had managed to secure independence and even feature in international conferences.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye couldn''t help but heave an internal sigh. This was a ssic example of a butterfly effect leading to significant consequences on the world stage. No one knew how the death gods of the west were going to be affected by the things that were happening in the east.

    "When do these fleetse around?"

    "The Caribbean fleetes once every five years, while the other two fleetse once every 10 years. There are currently no smuggling fleets that reach the other side, only individual smugglers. Over on the new continent, these types of smugglers are known as leather hats. Over here, we call them snakes, and not only do they smuggle some precious items, they also sell ves."

    Qin Ye rose to his feet, and with a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his palm, and he gently massaged it between his fingers. Only after a long while did he speak again. "You''ve served at the Felipinas for quite a long time already, I''m sure you have some understanding of the situation in the new continent. What exactly is it like over there?"

    It would presumably be quite a simple task for him to secure the notes, all he had to do was track down Richardman. The First Usonian Bank was a massive lead, but he definitely didn''t want to venture deep into the new continent without knowing anything about it.

    The situation there was far tooplex, and the slightest mistake could get him caught up in a battle between death gods. He was going there only for the notes, not to get swept up in its civil turmoil, so he had to exercise great caution.

    Yang Jiye didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he took close to 20 seconds to arrange his own thoughts before replying, "No one knows the exact situation there as no one wants to go to the new continent, and even I don''t have much information about the ce. However..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "I have many refugees who escaped from the new continent here, and if you need information, you can speak to them. Would you like me to summon them for you, my Lord?"

    Qin Ye thought about it for a moment before shaking his head in response.

    "No, I''ll go in person." He had no intention of keeping this a secret from Yang Jiye, and he rose to his feet as he said, "I need a ship that can ensure absolute secrecy and safety. I''m going to take a trip to the new continent in person."

    Yang Jiye didn''t ask any further questions. Judging from Qin Ye''s questions, he had already guessed that Qin Ye was most likely going to be making a trip to the new continent.

    Something that had to be attended to by the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo was definitely an extremely important matter that he wouldn''t be able to get involved in.

    "I suggest Rebis G. Angelista." He pulled out a piece of bamboo, upon which was burning a speck ofherfire, and her name, appearance, and date of birth were etched onto the piece of bamboo in Yin energy. "She is a witch that fled from the new continent and is the regional top dog of the Lhavi Underworld. 70% of the Yin spirits that came from the new continent passed through her hands, and it''s said that she''s very devout toward her tribe, making a trip back there once every 10 years."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Rebis was a witch.

    Her original upation was no longer important. At the very least, all of her neighbors were convinced that she was a witch.

    She lived on Huaien Street, which was situated in one of the lowest-end parts of the city, and there were all types of people living here as this ce was also home to thergest port in the entirety of the Felipinas. Most of the Yin spirits living nearby made a living out of the freight and transportation trade, so the area was quite rugged and housed many blue-corborers. There were bungalows built next to the sea all over the area, and their plinths were embedded straight into the seabed on the shallow parts of the shore so that the houses sat on the surface of the sea. All of the bungalows were constructed from wood, and it was quite an intriguing sight to behold.

    There were densely packed bungalows stretching as far as the eyes could see, and the houses situated on the shore weren''t very tall, either. There were convoluted streets running between all of the bungalows, and in order to facilitate fast and convenient travel to the port, most of the Yin spirits here chose to build nted wooden ramps or staircases leading directly from their front doors. This made the area even more densely packed and convoluted, and of course, the religions that were popr in the area had also made their presence felt here in the form of the churches, mosques, and Buddhist temples, which were the tallest buildings here.

    However, right at the edge of thisplex area was a three-story ancient Europa-style mansion, and it stuck out like a sore thumb.

    The mansion had an immacte garden surrounded by two-meter-tall walls constructed purely from stone blocks. A type of nt simr to ivy was crawling all over the walls., and from these ivy-like nts, bright red leaves were growings. This mansion already had a history of several centuries, and it gave off a sense of age and history. Every day, there were well-dressed male and female servants roaming the mansion, cleaning the courtyard and pruning the nts, presenting a sight that simply didn''t belong in this area.

    Night fell once again, but the mansion was brightly lit, and in avish room on the top floor, a headless woman was seated in front of the dressing table, carefullybing her own hair, which was attached to a head that was ced on the dressing table.

    This was a native Usonian with a slightly darkplexion, and her hair was arranged in a series of small braids with simple white designs painted onto them. Just judging from her outward appearance alone, no one would be able to guess that she was the regional tyrant of this entire area, the leader of one of the two main gangs here, the Eagle Gang, and the vastly notorious "Shepherd of Souls", Rebis.

    She was carefullybing her own hair while the clock nearby was slowly ticking toward 12 AM, and right on the stroke of midnight, a bell tolled to tell the time, upon which Rebis set down herb, looking as if she had justpleted a masterpiece.

    However, right at this moment, all of the candle mes in the entire room flickered slightly before being snuffed out in unison!

    Yin spirits weren''t affected by changes in brightness, but the sudden change still caused her to falter slightly. At the same time, she was sharp enough to detect that a tall figure had appeared outside her window, standing in the moonlit night.

    Enemy attack!

    Those two words instantly shed through her mind, and immediately thereafter, the back of her elegant dress was torn open to reveal a massive red gash on her back and countless deathly pale hands, which wed rapidly toward the window amid a terrible shrieking noise.

    However, they didn''t manage to grab onto anything.

    Who could this be? Is it a Soul Hunter or is it an Anitya Hellguard like me?

    Her mind was racing, and her body hovered up into mid-air along with her ghostly hands.

    Her head also rose up to levitate beside her, and she immediately rushed toward the door without any hesitation as she screeched, "We''re being attacked! Where is everyone?! Hurry up and prepare for battle!"

    The door instantly swung open, but the scene that greeted her made her feel as if she had been plunged into a cial pit.

    The moonlight filtering in through the window was shining down upon the corridor, reflecting off the armor worn by the statues on either side of the corridor. As for her bodyguards, they were lying on the ground in lopsided postures, moaning incessantly.

    At the end of the corridor, two specks ofherfire abruptly lit up and stared directly at her.

    Thump! She immediately swung the door shut, and her soul was jumping violently with fear. In the instant she caught sight of that pair ofhermes, she knew that her assant was most likely an Infernal Judge level evil ghost!

    Who could it be? Who is attacking me? The Yang n? No, I''m still useful to them. Who else could it be? Who would be bold enough to attack me in one of the colonies of the Cathayan Underworld? Do they have a death wish?

    Right as these chaotic thoughts were racing through her mind, a deathly pale hand gently closed itself around her throat. Immediately thereafter, a burst of icy Yin energy erupted from behind her, and in the instant she detected this burst of Yin energy, Rebis''s legs gave out from under her, and she fell to her knees. Her voice was trembling with fear and on the verge of sobs as she pleaded, "Please don''t hurt me..."

    This was the Yin energy of an Abyssal Prefect! She was being attacked by a high-grade underworld emissary!

    "I''ll ask some questions, you give me the answers. If you try to resist, I''m sure you know what''s going to happen to you." A raspy female voice rang out from behind Rebis, and she nodded frantically in response, unable to utter even a single word.

    "Tell me about the state of the new continent, I want to hear any details you can provide. First things first, introduce yourself, and make it quick, I don''t have much time."

    Rebis didn''t even dare to turn around, and she continued to kneel on the ground as she leaned against the door for support. After a long while, she finally managed to collect herself enough to speak, and she said in a trembling voice, "My name is Rebis G. Angelista. Several centuries ago, I was the daughter of the chieftain of a small native Usonian tribe. I''m quite adept in ck magic, specializing inmunicating with spirits..."

    Her voice was bing steadier and steadier as she spoke. She knew that the fact that her assant hadn''t killed her meant that they had to want something from her, and if she could satisfy them, then perhaps she would be spared.

    Otherwise, there were no more than 400 Abyssal Prefects even in the entire world, and the Cathayan Underworld certainly wasn''t going to hunt one down just for killing her!

    She gulped nervously before continuing, "I''ve been in the Cathayan Underworld for 400 years and slowly became a regional leader of the Lhavi Underworld. My main duties include helpingrge fleets contact clients and... selling some ves, but I can ensure that you that I''ve never, ever touched the Yin spirits of the Cathayan Underworld!"

    She received no response, and that allowed her to heave an internal sigh of relief before continuing, "The state of the new continent is extremely horrible. That ce is a terrifying purgatory even for evil ghosts! Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa have gone insane, and they''re devouringherworldly citizens! One small vige after another has inexplicably gone missing, and everyone in the entire underworld is living in constant fear. As a result of this, the mortal realm is also in a very tumultuous state. Usonia, Kanata, and the nations of Southern Usonia have some of the severest supernatural disasters in the entire world!"

    Her attacker finally spoke. "Why is it that I''ve heard that Usonia is the ce with the least supernatural activity as Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa aren''t enforcing any restrictions?"

    "It''s exactly because they''re not enforcing any restrictions that the supernatural disasters are bing worse and worse! In fact, starting fromst year, the entirety of Northern Usonia was already being affected!"

 Chapter 924: Rebis G. Angelista (3)

    <h4>Chapter 924: Rebis G. Angelista (3)</h4>

    She was panting from fear as she continued, "The underworld and the mortal realm cannot intersect, this is an internationalw of the Coalition of Underworlds that absolutely cannot be broken, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa have upheld it. They still have ambitions of living, and they hope to be able to continue to thrive on the world stage if they do manage to survive, so they naturally won''t go that far. However, just because they won''t doesn''t mean others won''t!"

    The hand locked around the back of her neck rxed before pulling away, and she took a deep breath, but still didn''t dare to turn around. Instead, she took a moment to organize her own thoughts before continuing, "The disappearance of all of those viges have made all of theherworldly citizens of the new continent too scared to go out, so the economy is inplete shambles, but that''s not all. Two years ago, something that shocked the entirety of Northern Usonia happened!"

    Her lips were trembling as if the mere mention of that even struck fear into her heart, and she said in a hoarse voice, "The city of the Goddess of Liberty vanished..."

    "Are you referring to New York?" her assant asked.

    "Yes, it''s the city that corresponds with New York of the mortal realm. The city had a poption of close to a hundred million Yin spirits, yet the entire poption disappeared, leaving only the buildings behind! During the past two years after that incident, the number of refugees that have gone through my hands has increased by well over tenfold! No one dares to stay in the new continent anymore! However, some people have ess to this avenue, while others don''t. Most Yin spirits don''t dare to take the risk, nor are they able to afford the expensive smuggling fees, so they can only stay in that hellish ce! ording to my sources, the Yin spirits of Northern Usonia have already... already..."

    She was very hesitant to continue, seemingly wary of something, yet right at this moment, a burst of bone-chilling Yin energy speared straight into her spine, and she immediately screamed in a panicked voice, "I''ll talk!! I''ll talk!!"

    She began to pant heavily, and her nails were digging into the ornately crafted wooden door as she continued in a trembling voice, "Last year, I had a client by the name of Benson. He was a big client, and he was looking for artifacts, not weapons, but artifacts. He wanted artifacts tinged with the auras of high-grade emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld, namely all types of ceremonial equipment, and I had the presence of mind to record a list of all of these pieces of ceremonial equipment. After the event, I realized that he was purchasing the ceremonial equipment in order to break through an array! There were also ceremonial materials for summoning high-grade foreign underworld emissaries! Even though he bought many other types of materials, I trust my sources, and we''re both convinced that this is his true objective! They... They..."

    Rebis took a deep breath to calm herself down as much as possible before continuing, "They most likely intend to break through the barrier between the mortal realm and the underworld in order to flee to the mortal realm, and they could do this at any time! In fact, I wouldn''t even be surprised if they did this tomorrow..."

    Chu Renmei was standing right behind Rebis, and Qin Ye was seated on Rebis''s bed behind Chu Renmei.

    He had already decided to make the trip to Northern Usonia as the fate of the Cathayan Underworld rested on this, and he wasn''t going to let anyone guess his identity.

    What Rebis had just revealed was aplete bombshell to Qin Ye.

    A revolt had finally started in Northern Usonia!

    This was a forced revolt. Everyone knew that in a world where cultivation existed, staging a revolt without the support of high-grade underworld emissaries would be no different from courting death. Unless there was absolutely no way they could continue to survive, there was no chance that theherworldly citizens of Northern Usonia would turn to such desperate measures.

    "Continue," Chu Renmei instructed in a cold voice.

    Rebis took a moment to collect her thoughts before doing as she was told. "Starting from this year, the situation in Northern Usonia began to rapidly deteriorate. All of the legendary evil ghosts began to emerge one after another. A chaotic nation is a paradise for evil ghosts, and the state of the new continent will only continue to worsen from here."

    Qin Ye nodded upon hearing this, and Chu Renmei asked, "What are the major powers currently in Northern Usonia? What positions do the death gods currently upy?"

    "I don''t know about that, I''m not qualified toe into contact with such important figures. ording to my knowledge, the esteemed death gods are responsible for overseeing the entire continent, and they haven''t assigned themselves any territories. However, there are some prominent powers among the public, the first of which is a death god religion. They worship an evil death god, and the religion only arose during the past century. They have followers across many parts of the new continent, and the government has already adjudged them to be a cult... Wait!! What are you doing?! Spare me! Please!"

    Chu Renmei''s hand was exerting more and more pressure around the back of Rebis''s neck, and her spine was already beginning to creak and groan. She immediately began to scream, and her shrill shrieks echoed throughout the entire room.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to this, stroking his own chin in contemtion as he sat on the soft bed.

    His sharp instincts had captured something based on what Rebis had just said, but he couldn''t quite put his finger on what it was.

    All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and Chu Renmei asked in his stead, "Is this a cult from the mortal realm?"

    "Yes, it is!" Rebis was screaming in a panicked voice. "However, I have sufficient evidence to prove that this is a religion that transcends beyond life and death! There are far too many underworld emissaries among them! I''m very familiar with the scent of underworld emissaries, and I just so happen toe into contact with them several years ago, so I''m certain that there are underworld emissaries among them!"

    There are underworld emissaries up to no good in the mortal realm?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.

    The state of the new continent was even more troublesome andplex than he had anticipated.

    What made him even more concerned was that the final holder of Xu Fu''s notes was Richardman, and he was a member of the Freemasonry.

    There were always some people in the world who knew the truth that most people didn''t, and interacting with them would attract a lot of unnecessary attention.

    However, this wasn''t the time to be thinking about that. Chu Renmeimanded in a cold voice, "Continue."

    "Ye... Yes!" Rebis was talking as if her life depended on it as she frantically continued, "The second one of those powers is the ck Army! They used to be the army that guarded the gates between life and death, but ever since Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa relinquished control over the continent, they became less and less willing to take orders, and at this point, they''re not taking orders at all. I heard that themander of the ck Army is a high-grade underworld emissary! The third major power is the church. As the number one parish of Catholicism, there are many churches in Northern Usonia, and they have countless witch hunters under theirmand. Last year, no, starting from January of this year, I heard that all of the witch hunters have been deployed to sweep through Northern Usonia to sh with the evil ghosts that have asionally passed through the Yin Yang Mezzanines. On top of that, thousands of pdins have already been sent to reinforce the center of Northern Usonia. If Benson and his masters can sessfully blow apart the barrier between the underworld and the mortal realm, then a full-blown war between the two realms will be inevitable!"

    Qin Yemitted all of this information to memory, and Chu Renmei said in a cold voice, "I''ll give you a chance here, is there anything you have to add?"

    "No, that''s all!!" Rebis screamed desperately, "I swear! I swear on the god of death that I''ve told you everything I know! I haven''t left out any information!!"

    The bone-chilling female voice rang out right beside her ear. "I gave you a chance, but you haven''t cherished it..."

    A burst of killing intent instantly surged into the top of Rebis''s head, and in the face of this killing intent, she felt impossibly tiny and insignificant, as if she were nothing more than an insect facing the entire heavens.

    The extreme fear she was experiencing made her mind unprecedentedly clear and sharp, and right as the hand came into contact with the back of her neck again, she screamed with all her might, "I remembered something!! I remembered something!!!"

    The hand released her once again, and having just dodged a bullet by the finest of margins, Rebis was trembling so violently that it almost looked as if she was spasming. She sobbed in a broken voice, "There''s still something else, I didn''t hide it on purpose! There are currently underworld emissaries patrolling all of the airports, as well as all vehicles and trains traveling to Northern Usonia! Some of the new continent''s underworld emissaries may have detected what Benson and his masters are trying to do, and they''re trying to prevent it! The only hole in their inspection is sea travel, and I know of a boat that can travel from the underworld straight to the new continent without being discovered!!"

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in a surprised manner upon hearing this, and Chu Renmei asked, "How did you know?"

    How did you know I want to travel to the new continent?

    "Please don''t hurt me..." Rebis panted in a terrified voice. "If you didn''t want to go to the new continent, you wouldn''t havee to me. I am in charge of the smuggling trade here, if you want to find out other information, you have better choices than to ask me. Hence, I made a bold assumption that you want to travel to the new continent, right? Please trust me! I haven''t told you a single lie! Now is definitely not a good time to be going to the new continent! If the barrier between life and death is broken, the situation willpletely spiral out of control! You..."

    "Tell me the ship''s name, time, and location," the cold female voice interjected before she had a chance to finish.

    Rebis immediately replied, "The ship is called The Liberty, and it''ll arrive at the 18th dock in three days! The captain is called Rick, he''s a native Usonian who once served in the Usonian navy, and after his retirement, he got into the smuggling business! I''m very familiar with him, and with my rmendation, he won''t pose any issues to you! No, he wouldn''t dare to pose any issues to you!"

    "I also need a suitable identity, one in the underworld and one in the mortal realm."

    "Please go and see Rick! Just tell him that you''re my friend and he''ll prepare everything for you!"

    After that final scream, she closed her eyes to await her final judgment.

    Death itself wasn''t anywhere near as terrifying as waiting for certain death, yet even after waiting for three full minutes, she still wasn''t dead.

    However, she didn''t dare to turn around, and only after waiting like a zombie for 15 more minutes did she slowly turn around to take a peek behind her.

    There was no longer even half a person behind her.

    "Thank the gods of death..." she said in a trembling voice before falling onto the ground as if all of the energy had been sapped from her body.

    Three days passed by in the blink of an eye.

    Qin Ye was wearing a silver mask, and his entire body was enveloped in Yin energy, making it impossible for others to glean his cultivation rank. He was wearing a tuxedo and an antiquated top hat, and he was already standing in front of the 18th dock.

    This was an independent market with no one around, and it was as if no one even knew what this dock was supposed to be used for.

    12 AM tonight, eh?

    Qin Ye took a nce at his watch before raising his head to look out at the vast sea. Did all dead people regard this as a lucky time?

    A smile appeared on his face as he continued to wait patiently.

 Chapter 925: The Liberty

    <h4>Chapter 925: The Liberty</h4>

    Time passed by very quickly, and if it weren''t for his pocket watch informing him that it was already 12 AM, he wouldn''t be able to tell any difference from the port during the daytime. This was one of the good things about the underworld; Yin spirits could work every single day, thereby resulting in a GDP far superior to that of the mortal realm. After all, Yin spirits didn''t get tired like living humans did.

    Right after the stroke of midnight, a massive ssh erupted on the surface of the sea, following which a giant wooden ship emerged from the depths, causing the surface of the sea to bulge upward. Following its emergence, seawater came crashing down all around it like a waterfall.

    Qin Ye sized up this ship in silence. It was a ssic Spanish galleon that was most popr during the Age of Discovery, where lengthy voyages oftensting years were made on a regr basis. The ship was constructed from ck timber, and the edges of the giant poop deck were coated in brass with the likeness of an evil ghost carved onto its surface. The galleon had three levels and was close to 15 meters tall, looking as extravagant as a castle. The ship''s deck was glistening with a cold light, and it had a total of three masts, attached to which were 13 sails, as well as a figurehead of a beluga whale at the very front.

    During the renowned Age of Discovery in the 16th and 17th centuries, the colonists of Spain employed a massive number of these types of ships to conquer the aboriginal inhabitants of Southern Usonia. This ship was different in that its surface was riddled with barnacles and seaweed, and its sails were so tattered that even the designs on them weren''t visible anymore. It was clear that this ship had been voyaging for a very long time.

    Qin Ye took a few nces at the galleon before withdrawing his gaze. He was very pleased with this ship.

    Even though Spanish galleons were ships that arose in order to address the issues that gued the carrack, namely how mdroit and cumbersome it was, it still had the w of not being very agile and responsive due to therge size of its body, and this w became especially apparent when turning or sailing against the wind. This was also why the Spanish navy had beenprehensively beaten by the Britannian Royal Navy during their war for dominance on the sea. However, its merits were also iparable.

    As a renownedrge ship model during the Age of Discovery, a single galleon could carry over 150 crew members, and its heavy body made it a floating fortress. Qin Ye could already see that there were a total of over 30 cannons protruding out of the two sides of the ship. Having said that, this was the underworld, so the power of the cannons would only be roughlyparable with those from the Ming Dynasty in the mortal realm.

    However, this was a sign of stability, which was very much a necessity during such a long voyage.

    Initially, he had been quite hesitant about whether he wanted to travel in the underworld or the mortal realm. However, after hearing what Rebis had to say, he decided on the underworld route in the end. After all, the Northern Usonian continent in the mortal realm had already sensed something and was on high alert, so there was surveince everywhere in airports and train stations. If he were to be discovered, it would be very difficult to exin his motives to humans, so he was better off traveling through the underworld.

    Even if he were to be discovered here, he would be able tosh out without any inhibitions.

    Once all of the seawater had cascaded down from the ship, the doors of the cabin finally swung open, following which a man in a long ck coat with golden edges emerged. The man had a triangr pirate hat on his head, and his right hand was a metal hook.

    He appeared to be in his forties, and his unkempt fiery red hair was dancing in the wind, revealing a set of facial features that were riddled with de scars. Behind him were several dozen sailors, and they all adopted their designated positions, preparing to disembark from the ship.

    Qin Ye was the only person standing on the entire dock, and the man in the pirate hat took a nce at him, following which his brows furrowed slightly.

    He wore a top hat and a ck coat, as well as a silver mask and a pair of white gloves. He was even holding a cane in his hand as he stood ramrod straight amid the buffeting wind of the sea, looking almost more like an inanimate statue than a human being. His entire body was covered from head to toe, making it impossible to even glean the color of his skin, and as the man in the pirate hat cast his gaze toward him, he gently squeezed the brim of his top hat with one of his gloved hands, then gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.

    No matter who he is, this man smells like trouble.

    The man in the pirate hat strode over to the bow of the ship, then rested a foot on the railing as he yelled, "Are you waiting for me?"

    Qin Ye replied, "Rebis told me to wait here for you. Your name is Rick, right? You can call me Q."

    Rick didn''t immediately reply as he turned to the side, and a small lifeboat crashed down from the galleon straight onto the surface of the sea. However, right as he turned around, he instantly drew a sharp breath, and his entire body shuddered as he took a few involuntary backward steps before watching the man in the top hat with a wary expression.

    Qin Ye had somehow appeared right in front of him, standing no more than three meters away!

    This man is an Anitya Hellguard! Perhaps even an Infernal Judge! Did he fly just now? His speed is incredible!

    "Pleasee with me." Rick took a wary nce at him before gesturing toward the ship''s cabin.

    Qin Ye strode onto the ship with him, casually inspecting the ship''s cabin as he did so, and to his surprise, the cabin waspletely different from what he would expect of a man with such a rugged appearance. There were no wine bottles strewn around all over the floor, no rubbish anywhere to be seen, nor any strange smells. Instead, a faint and elegant fragrance was wafting throughout the entire room.

    Qin Ye followed Rick all the way to the end of the cabin, and a door was opened, upon which the helmsman''s room was revealed.

    There was nothing remarkable about the room, the only thing remotely attention-grabbing was a beautiful shield that resembled a work of art behind the timber table and chairs. An intricate lion''s head was carved onto the surface of the shield, and its mane fanned out all around it, forming the patterns around the shield. Two rapiers were crossed behind the shield, and there was a line of small text engraved onto the shield''s surface that read: "Awarded to Rick Arthur of the Red Eagle Navy''s seventh fleet".

    The room was surrounded by rows of bookshelves, giving it an air of sophistication that Qin Ye didn''t expect to see here. After the two of them had taken a seat, neither one of them spoke, and only after several minutes did Rick smile as he said, "I didn''t think that anyone would dare to travel to the new continent at a time like this. I must say, I greatly admire your courage."

    He then raised three fingers and continued, "There are three rules on this ship. I know there''s a very good chance that you''re a Count, but I still have toy down these rules for you. If you can''t ept them, then I won''t take you anywhere on my ship."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod, and only then did Rick borate, "Firstly, don''t ask about the specific route we''re taking, and don''t try to intervene in any of the parts of the ship''s operation. We are professionals, so please ce your trust in us."

    "Alright."

    "Secondly, we won''t ask about your identity, your desired destination, or your intentions. Simrly, please do not disclose this information to any of the people on this ship. Once you disembark, this ship will have nothing to do with you, and you are not permitted to vent your anger on us or hunt us down for any reason. Of course, this only applies under the condition that the first condition is met. We once encountered a Viscount who failed in his operation and was under the impression that it was because we gave away his secrets. Under circumstances like those, we are not liable to offer anypensation."

    Qin Ye nodded once again.

    "Thirdly, during the next few days, unless you receive notification from us, please remain strictly in the cabin." He leaned back in his chair, then picked up a bottle of wine beside him and flicked off the lid with his thumb before pouring some of the wine out into a wine ss as he continued, "Our identities are special, and you don''t know what type of people are watching us from what type of ces..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Qin Ye asked in a raspy voice, "Have you served in the navy in the past?"

    Rick nodded in response before taking a sip of wine. "That''s why I can pass through all of the ports of the new continent without having to undergo any examinations. Do you think this shield is awarded to all retired naval soldiers? I was once a colonel in the Red Eagle Navy, so the majority of naval branches treat me with respect."

    That''s great to hear!

    Qin Ye didn''t want to ask too many questions, but this still wasn''t enough to make him feelpletely secure, so he asked, "If I can''t ask about the route we''re taking, can I at least ask what our destination is?"

    "Sure," Rick replied with a swirl of his ss. "Our destination is equivalent to the city of La Paz in the Baja California penins in the mortal realm."

    In the instant that the destination was revealed, Qin Ye''s heartbeat suddenly elerated sharply for some reason.

    This was a premonition of peril!

    This type of premonition had struck him on two asions in the past. As a cultivator of his caliber, he had a certain level of premonition toward danger, but some of the premonitions were almost unnoticeable, while other instances were very severe. The fact that he was having such a strong reaction to a location that was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean meant that it had to be an extremely perilous ce!

    "Are you alright?" Qin Ye had suddenly thrown a hand over his own chest, and a wary look immediately appeared on Rick''s face upon seeing this. His hand had already crept onto a hidden button beneath on the underside of the table.

    "That''s a dangerous ce," Qin Ye replied in an intentionally raspy voice. "It''s extremely dangerous there. Don''t ask me how I know, you can just treat it as a celestial premonition."

    Rick seemed to be very amused by this, but he didn''t say anything, and it was as if he were trying to gauge whether Qin Ye was telling the truth.

    Celestial premonition? That''s an ability that only Dukes possess! Does this mean this man is a Duke? But that''s impossible! Why would such a high-ranking underworld emissary need to travel on my ship? They have set hidden routes that they can take!

    However, the cautious nature he had developed over the years still convinced him not topletely scoff at Qin Ye''s words. Instead, he picked up the globe on his table and pointed at another location on it. "How about Eureka Port?"

    Another urgent sense of peril washed over Qin Ye at the sound of this name.

    It was as if a voice was being carried across the Pacific Ocean by the wind, telling him that it was not safe to go there.

    He suddenly realized something. There was a very good chance that it wasn''t those two particr ces that just so happened to be dangerous. Instead, the same applied to the entirety of Usonia, so it didn''t matter where their destination on the continent was!

    "Try somece else," he instructed in a calm voice.

    Rick wasn''t bothered by this at all. He had seen far too many strange things during his years out on the sea, and he lit a cigar and took a long puff from it before pointing toward an even further location this time.

    It was the state of ska, the northernmost part of Northern Usonia.

    On this asion, not only did the premonition of peril not abate, it became even more severe!

    I see... As expected, the problem doesn''t lie with the city. Instead, the issue is that a massive crisis is about to sweep over the entirety of Northern Usonia! Are the barriers between life and death about to be shattered? Are Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa going to begin devouring Yin spirits without any further inhibitions? Is a full-blown war about to erupt between the church and the evil ghosts?

    He didn''t know which of those possibilities was going to eventuate, all he knew was that he had to be quick!

    He had to get his hands on what he wanted and leave before the crisis began. Otherwise, he would most likely be swept up right in it.

    "The issue doesn''t lie in the city," he finally said. "The problem is that this entire continent is cursed. I''m fine with La Paz, everywhere else is much the same anyway."

    He rose to his feet as he spoke. He hadn''t had a chance to decide what he was going to do after arriving in Northern Usonia and whether he would travel through the underworld or the mortal realm, so these next few days were a great opportunity for him to make these decisions.

    Right as he was about to leave the room, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and said, "To get to La Paz, don''t we have to pass through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico? Are you sure you won''t be forced to undergo examination by the three death gods of the Caribbean? Aren''t they natural enemies of yours seeing as you served in the navy?"

    "Don''t worry," Rich replied with a smile. "I haven''t taken this route in two years, but the Gulf of California is where the stronghold of the Red Eagle Navy is located. I''m aware of the three death gods of the Caribbean. Their stronghold is in Panama City, and the entire Gulf of Mexico, the Great Antilles, the western part of Mexico, and Florida New Orleans on the southern part of Northern Usonia all fall under their scope of influence, as well as a part of Southern Usonia. It can be said that they''ve taken over the most important connective junction between the two continents of Usonia."

    He blew out a cloud of cigar smoke with a cold smile as he continued, "But if they want to extend their influence into the Gulf of California, they''re still 100 years too early!"

 Chapter 926: The Fractured Wall

    <h4>Chapter 926: The Fractured Wall</h4>

    It had been three days since the ship had set out from Luzon, and here, the underworld looked no different from the mortal realm. The sea and the sunlight were exactly the same, and the only clues that indicated that this was the underworld were the flocks of strange seabirds that one encountered from time to time.

    Of course, the sailors of the underworld didn''t need to eat or drink, so this saved a lot of time and energy, but at the same time, there arose a much more terrifying prospect than running out of food and water: sea monsters.

    Qin Ye was looking at a map of the underworld, and it wasn''t much different from a map of the mortal realm. There were some differences, but it was still possible to tell which nation was which. However, on the vast sea, there were only 10 routes marked in green on the map. Those were all of the routes from the new continent to Asia.

    All of the other routes were colored in red, and many ces along those routes were annotated in ck with wisps ofherfire burning over the annotations.

    One of those specks ofherfire was situated to the lower right of the Star Cluster Federation, and Qin Ye gentlyid a finger onto it, upon which an extremely formidable burst of Yin energy immediately rushed into his mind. This was initial Yama-King level Yin energy!

    He closed his eyes, and the Yin energy automatically formed an image in his mind. This was an image of a monster that strongly resembled a giant while. It was over 500 meters in size, and as it mmed its tail down onto the surface of the sea, massive waves were swept up in all directions.

    Sea monsters were the most terrifying beings in the seas of the underworld, and this nautical map that was tinged with the Yin energy of the most powerful sea monsters was a must-have for all ship captains.

    The power of a sea monster was directly proportional to their size, and generally speaking, sea monsters that reached 10,000 meters in size would be at the initial Yama-King level. These sea monsters were extremely bloodthirsty,pulsively attacking all ships carrying Yin spirits that they encountered, and countless ships had been destroyed by them throughout the course of history. Furthermore, upon reaching the Yama-King level, these sea monsters would develop their own territories.

    "Sea Monster Saunder..." He opened his eyes as he carefully felt around the speck ofherfire with his finger. As golden text began to drift out of theherfire, he read aloud to himself, "Active in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, possessing Duke level power and a body that''s 512 meters in length. Degree of aggression: medium. Saunder is one of the rarer, more docile monarch beasts of the sea."

    Qin Ye did a quick count and determined that there were roughly 40 to 50 underworld sea monsters, and every single one of them upied a massive hunting area. However, only six of them stand at the very top of the marine ecosystem.

    The second one was the North Sea Monster, Kraken!

    It was active near Greend and was extremely aggressive! Its body was roughly 30,000 meters in length, and it was extremelyzy, moving roughly only once per century. There was no way to calcte its overall area, but it was estimated to be over 100 square kilometers.

    The third one was the East Sea Monster Leviathan, Behemoth!

    Behemoth was active near the territory of the current Aegyptian Underworld and had once been chased by Death God Anubis to the Red Sea. Following its quiet return, it no longer dared to wreak havoc in the middle-eastern sea. It possessed a body that was 28,000 meters in length and an incalcble area, estimated to be over 100 square kilometers.

    The fourth one was the Mediterranean Sea Monster, Charybdis!

    It was said that this was a daughter to Poseidon and Gaia with a body that was roughly 30,000 meters in length and extremely aggressive tendencies. It had once attacked Athens, the capital of the Argosian Underworld, and after being severely wounded by Hypnos, it fled deep into the sea and had still yet to make a reappearance. Its overall area was impossible to calcte, estimated at over 100 square kilometers.

    The fifth one was the Red Sea Monster, Scy!

    This was a hydra that was once the ruler of the Mediterranean Sea. Following a battle for dominance against Charybdis, it was defeated and fled to the Red Sea. However, following Charybdis''s disappearance, it returned to the Mediterranean Sea. It was extremely aggressive and bloodthirsty, but having personally witnessed Charybdis''s defeat, it didn''t dare to provoke the Argosian Underworld. Its body was 27,000 meters in length, its area was impossible to calcte, projected to be over 100 square kilometers.

    The sixth one was the monster of the Indian Ocean, Naga!

    It was said that this was a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake with eight snake heads on her back. To this day, no one had seen her true appearance, and she had a very calm and cid personality. Over 30,000 Yin spirits in total had witnessed her throughout the course of history, and she never entered the shallow regions of the sea, maintaining a peaceful rtionship with the Hindustani Underworld. She was the only one of the six sea monsters yet to have her appearance fully uncovered, and it was estimated that her body was in excess of 30,000 meters in length with an incalcble area.

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh as he processed this information. The longer he served as King Yanluo, the more it became apparent to him just how fascinating the underworld was. All of the legendary sea monsters of the mortal realm truly existed in the underworld!

    Every single one of them was at least at the demigod level, and they were extremely legendary figures, renowned as the six kings of the sea.

    Throughout the course of history, no fleet had dared to sail through the territories of the six kings, and none of the fleets that had set out to try and uncover the secrets of these sea monsters had managed to return to tell the tale.

    He only took a brief look at this information before setting it aside, filing it away as general knowledge in his mind, then turning toward another stack of documents on the table.

    This was the identity that Rick had prepared for him.

    Even though he wasn''t traveling through the mortal realm, he needed a mortal realm identity once he arrived in Usonia. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able toe into contact with the high-ranking members of the Freemasonry.

    He opened the file of documents, and only after looking through them for several seconds, he couldn''t help but chuckle with amusement. "I didn''t think there would be someone this foolish in the world."

    Edward Ross.

    Caucasian police officer currently living on 17th Street, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. The Usonians had always had a tendency to name their streets after numbers, and there could be many 17th Streets in Beverly Hills alone.

    However, this street was situated in a prime location with Hollywood sitting right up ahead, the University of Southern California located down below, and to the left was 20th Century Fox, while to the right was the town hall. Perhaps he had been too heavily influenced by Hollywood, but this Mr. Edward Ross was an extremely avid ult practitioner.

    Indeed, what Rick had provided him wasn''t a green card, nor was it some type of fake identity. Instead, he had provided Qin Ye with a host to possess.

    ording to these documents, Edward had already been possessed by several beings in the past, and Qin Ye was the eighth one. This gave him a feeling simr to using a condom that someone else had used, and he was rather reluctant to ept this host. Who knew if there were some strange... fluids flowing inside his body?

    The method of possession was very simple. On the 13th of every month, the renowned Arcadia International Funeral Home of Los Angeles would release an ess card, and the holder of the card could enter a private area in the Rose Hills Mortuary. At the same time, Edward was going to be praying. He hadn''t been entered for the past decade, and as a devout celibate, he was most likely feeling quite lonely.

    Qin Ye''s mind was working quickly,mitting the time and location to memory, following which he set the documents aside. Beneath this file was a set of documents on the Rose Hills Mortuary.

    There were several renowned cemeteries in Los Angeles such as the Forest Lawn Memorial Park of Glendale. The former Roman Pope had once specifically paid a visit to this memorial park, and in the park stood "Moses", one of the masterpieces of the legendary sculptor, Michangelo. President Reagan and his wife, Jane Wyman, were also buried there. On the mountain behind the memorial park was a massive oil painting of Jesus''s crucifixion, acting as a symbol of resurrection.

    Then came the cemeteries designated for celebrities such as the Pierce Brothers Westwood Vige Memorial Park & Mortuary, in which renowned figures such as Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner were buried. After that came the Rose Hills Mortuary.

    After just a brief nce at the mortuary''s information, Qin Ye''s brows immediately furrowed slightly.

    The documents didn''t just include the current state of the mortuary, but also the recent news from there.

    The remaining area of the Rose Hills Mortuary had already been sold earlier this year.

    Usonian cemeteries were extremely expensive, especially some of the more renowned ones. It had to be said that they had managed to incorporate their cemeteries as a core part of their tourism industry. For example, in order to be closer to some celebrities following their deaths, many people would pay more than what it cost to purchase houses just to secure a plot ofnd in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Simrly, many cemeteries would also actively contact some famous figures and provide them with favorable terms to try and convince them to agree to be buried there after their deaths. As a result, the prices of burial plots in these cemeteries also rose dramatically.

    At this point, it would cost up to two million USD to purchase a "mansion" in the Rose Hills Mortuary!

    However, the information that Rick had provided to him clearly stated that aside from that private area in the Arcadia International Funeral Home, the entirety of the Rose Hills Mortuary had been purchased, and ording to investigations, the money to purchase all of those plots hade from the same ount!

    Was someone anticipating a mass spree of death to sweep through their entire family?

    "Interesting..." Qin Ye closed the file with a contemtive expression. He knew that this was a warning from Rick to him that if he were to initiate a possession ceremony there, then there was a very good chance that he would be noticed.

    Who was it that had purchased all of the plots ofnd in the third most renowned cemetery of Los Angeles?

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but shake the feeling that the mystery up ahead was thickening further and further. During other times, it wouldn''t be that strange to see someone do this, but this was right when a revolt was about to be staged in the Usonian Underworld, and some Yin spirits were nning to break the barriers between life and death to release countless Yin spirits to flee into the mortal realm.

    "Considering how sensitive this time period is, I can''t treat this as a mere coincidence," Qin Ye mused to himself. "After possessing Edward, I have to investigate this First Usonian Bank right away. Such a bank doesn''t even exist now, so it has to have been merged or disappeared throughout the course of history. Once I track down this bank, I have to immediately leave any area where a potential conflict could erupt."

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were on the brink of insanity, the three death gods below them were raring to take their ces, and three death gods of the Caribbean had be an independent force as well, thereby making for an extremelyplex situation that would be impossible for one to extricate themselves out of if they were to sink into it.

    He looked out the window to find that dense, dark clouds had already gathered above the surface of the sea, making it appear as if a storm were about to arrive soon.

    Even an idiot could tell that Usonia was about to descend intoplete pandemonium, and that was only Northern Usonia.

    Southern Usonia was where the native Usonian religion had been born, and there were also most likely many ancient gods lying in slumber there. If the Plumed Serpent God wanted to avenge himself, then he had to make sure that the person that he wanted to exact his revenge on was still alive.

    "A storm ising..." He heaved a faint sigh, and right at this moment, a burst of door-knocking rang out. A skeletal sailor whose entire body was enveloped in whiteherfire opened the door as he informed with a fawning smile, "Sir, we''ve already arrived near Xolotl''s Screen and are about to pass through it. This is a rare sight, and there may be some turbulence as we pass through Xolotl''s Screen. Our captain has specifically asked me to notify you not to be rmed and that you can open the window to take a look if you''re interested."

    "Alright." Qin Ye waved a hand through the air, and the door swung shut, following which he cast his gaze back out the window.

    No ships hadrge windows. Regardless of what type of ss was used, an excessivelyrge window would be extremely vulnerable to the threat posed by tsunamis and sea monsters. The Liberty was no exception to this, and as a result, his window was only around the size of a bowl.

    However, that was already enough.

    "Xolotl''s Screen, eh?" A faint smile appeared on his face. Not long ago, he had made a promise to Xolotl in exchange for the capture of Xu Fu, but not long thereafter, they were forced to face off as enemies during a world conference due to conflicting interests. Qin Ye was quite interested to see just how the vastly renowned Xolotl''s Screen had been constructed.

    On the distant horizon, a massive wall could already be seen with the naked eye alone. It was like the Great Wall of Cathay, stretching as far as the eyes could see.

    There wereplex Yin runes engraved on every single brick on the wall, and the entire screen was like an insurmountable mountain. Even from this far away, Qin Ye could see the countless gleaming weapons on the city wall.

    For a Yama-King like him, it wouldn''t be a difficult task to inspect an entire nation in an instant, and after taking an intrigued nce, Qin Ye was just about to withdraw his gaze, but his expression suddenly stiffened, following which he abruptly refocused his attention on Xolotl''s Screen.

    It had snapped...

    The enormous screen had snapped!

    It had been snapped into two parts down the middle, and it seemed to have only been snapped not long ago and there hadn''t been enough time to repair it yet. The opening was so massive and ring, as if... as if a sea monster that was several kilometers in width had just bulldozed directly through it!

    He took a deep breath as he rushed over to the window with an intense look in his eyes.

    "An opening of this length could''ve only been created by one of the six kings! Does this mean one of the six kings crashed through Xolotl''s Screen? There''s a very good chance that this is true. Otherwise, what could''ve possibly broken through the screen with Xolotl overseeing proceedings? However, why has this happened, and why now of all times?!"

 Chapter 927: The Storm Begins

    <h4>Chapter 927: The Storm Begins</h4>

    He immediately tensed up in the face of this turn of events, and at the same time, he was filled with disbelief.

    Xolotl''s Screen was a mighty fortress that even Xu Fu had been reluctant to try and force his way through, yet such a massive gap had appeared in it. It was clear that something had crashed into it with reckless abandon, and it was something so fearsome that even Xolotl didn''t want to get in its way.

    Such a devastating scene could''ve only been the result of an all-out charge from one of the six kings, and only they would be powerful enough to intimidate Xolotl, but there was that question again: why had this happened at a time like this?

    All of a sudden, he became even warier about this trip to Usonia.

    A major crisis was about to sweep through the entire continent, and no one on the continent could avoid being swept up in it, regardless of whether they were rted to the crisis or not. The timer on the time bomb that was the new continent had ticked down dangerously close to zero, and Qin Ye couldn''t help but wonder if his arrival was going to be thest straw to break the camel''s back, setting the crisis into motion.

    "Then again, it''s a good thing that I''m making this trip before rather than after the situationpletely erupts. Otherwise, it''ll truly be impossible to get anything done." He withdrew his gaze, and as they drew closer and closer to Xolotl''s Screen, it became clear that there were countless naval soldiers spread across the surface of the sea.

    Right at this moment, the door was opened, and Rick made his way into the room with a grim expression before immediately closing the door.

    "There''s been a change." His expression made him look as if he had just eaten a turd, and he said, "You''re most likely going to have to prepare to face one of the most powerful forces of the new continent, and there''s a very good chance that you''ll be repatriated."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he replied, "That''s not what you promised me when we first set off, Captain Rick."

    "I know, and I''m very sorry for that," Rick sighed as he approached Qin Ye, then lowered his voice as he continued, "Three minutes ago, we received notification in the form of a messenger bird, informing us that all ships must undergoprehensive examination when reaching Xolotl''s Screen. The person overseeing the examinations is Warlord Dalton, who is an advanced Marquess and the right-hand man of Death God Xolotl, one of the three death gods serving the rulers of the new continent. On top of that, these types of examinations will generally involve search dogs and detection artifacts, so there''s no way we''ll be able to fool them."

    Qin Ye replied in a confident voice, "Rest assured, they won''t be able to find me."

    A hint of astonishment immediately shed through Rick''s eyes upon hearing this before disappearing just as quickly as it appeared.

    It seemed that he wanted to say something, and he opened his mouth to speak, but didn''t say anything in the end. He then stood up and took off his pirate hat for the first time and extended a deep bow before leaving the room in silence. However, right as the door was about to be closed, he still couldn''t help but ask, "Are you sure?"

    "''I''m certain," Qin Ye replied with a smile.

    Rick heaved a faint sigh of relief before silently closing the door. However, instead of departing, he leaned his back against the door, and his chest was heaving violently as he pursed his lips tightly.

    If he were confident that Warlord Dalton, who was a Marquess, wouldn''t be able to find him, then what cultivation rank was he? Did this mean that he was a Duke? A death god?

    The fine hairs on the back of Rick''s neck immediately stood up on end as these terms surfaced in his mind, but he immediately dashed those thoughts.

    There was no way that an almighty Duke would travel on a small ship like his. Even if a Duke had important matters to attend to on the new continent, they would surely have their own private routes and loyal fleets. All a Duke would have to do would be to leak their intentions to the world, and countless fleets would be vying to take them to their destination, so there was no way for him to be a Duke.

    In that case, there was a very good chance that he was a Count holding a powerful artifact.

    The fact that he held an artifact that would allow him to escape detection from a Marquess indicated that he had to havee from an unfathomable power. Having managed to survive for so many years under the harsh and cutthroat environment on the sea, Rick was definitely no idiot, and he knew that if he were to make even the slightest mistake, there was a very good chance that this mysterious passenger would wipe him and his entire crew out of existence in order to ensure absolute secrecy. After all, he was only a Baron.

    The heaving of his chest gradually subsided, and he put on his hat again before making his way toward the helmsman''s room. Right as he was passing by a crew member, he suddenly stopped and asked, "Have we sent any food and beverages to cabin number 213 these past few days?"

    The crew member was a little perplexed by this question, but he still replied, "No, Captain. Didn''t he say that he didn''t want anything? Besides, there are no food preservation facilities on our ship aside from the small preservative array in your cabin, and I don''t think that guest would enjoy the stale bread and wine that we have."

    Rick stopped in his tracks before looking closely at the crew member with an intense expression. "You think? No one cares what you think! Are you the captain or am I the captain? I don''t care what you think! I think that our esteemed guest must already be feeling bored during this long journey, and I think he should receive better service!"

    Before the stunned crew member had a chance to reply, Rick ordered, "Go to my array and fetch a few bottles of gin, then get Old Man John to mix the finest cocktail he can and bring that with some fruit over to cabin number 213. Remember to do this every three hours! Go!"

    He then departed without waiting for a reply from the crew member.

    The crew member was left rooted to the spot for a long while after Rick''s departure, and he scratched his own head with a perplexed expression as he murmured to himself, "What on earth was that? Captain Rick has never allowed others to touch his fruits and gin! Could it be that the guest in cabin number 213 is a hot chick?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    As The Liberty drew closer and closer to Xolotl''s Screen, the atmosphere was also bing tenser and tenser.

    It certainly didn''t take a genius to tell that a massive incident had just taken ce here, and it was clear that the damage wasn''t caused by any attacks from underworld emissaries. The dark surface of the sea was riddled with massive gorey chunks of flesh, but there was no need to even clean up the ce as countless sharks had already gathered to devour the chunks of flesh.

    These sharks were known as the janitors of the underworld''s seas, and they could smell even the faintest traces of blood from a kilometer away. During their feeding frenzies, they attacked anyone and anything without any discrimination. At this moment, there were thousands of shark dorsal fins roaming through the water around the giant chunks of flesh, and even the naval warships weren''t able to approach the area. The underworld had no energy resources, so all of the ships were constructed from wood, and with the sharp fangs that all of these sharks possessed, they could easily tear these ships apart amid their feeding frenzy.

    The massive chunks of flesh floating on the surface of the sea had already beenpletely drained of blood, indicating that they had already been sitting on the ocean for many days, but the area was still in a state ofplete chaos and turmoil.

    There were already three ships parked at the gigantic breach in Xolotl''s Screen. Ahead of these ships were around a dozen huge Spanish galleons, and the same design of a red skeletal eagle was visible on all of the sails of these ships.

    This was the Red Eagle Navy, one of the naval forces that were directly tied to the government of the new continent.

    The red naval branch was responsible for external affairs, while the ck branch took care of internal affairs. Unfortunately, at this point, the ck branch waspletely refusing to listen to orders. Otherwise, this incident had taken ce on the edge of the new continent''s territorial sea, so the ck naval branch was the one that should''ve appeared here.

    Rick had once served in the Red Eagle Navy, so he should''ve been massively relieved at the sight of these ships as his past identity meant that he didn''t have to fear a search from the Red Eagle Navy. However, the current situation waspletely different.

    ck... Amid a massive flurry of white feathers, a tall and imposing figure had already set foot on the bow of The Liberty with his leather boots.

    This would be quite a handsome figure except his lips were gruesomely red, creating a stark contrast with his deathly pale skin. His eyes werepletely ck with no white sections at all, and his blond hair trailed casually down to his shoulders.

    He was wearing an admiral''s uniform from the 18th century, which consisted of a white dress shirt with ace bow at the cor, outside of which was a silver vest that was riddled with embroidered designs of white tulips. Outside of that was a long velvet coat marked byplex golden designs all the way to the sleeves. A patch of pristine white features extended all the way from either side of the coat to his shoulders, making for an extremely mboyant look, which was capped off by a scarlet cape.

    He was only a single person, yet all of the crew members of the ship, including Rick, were currently standing on the deck of the galleon with respectful expressions. Right as the man set foot onto the ship, Rick extended a deep bow until his upper body ran parallel with the deck of the ship and said, "It''s an honor to be able to see you, esteemed Warlord Dalton."

    Dalton made his way gracefully toward Rick, and his immactely polished leather boots were clicking on the wooden deck as he smiled and said, "Long time no see, Rick."

    "I didn''t think you would remember a minor character like me," Rick said with a fawning smile.

    Dalton chuckled in response. "You served under me during your days in the navy, so of course I remember you. Forget it, I''m just going to tell you the truth: I had actually forgotten all about you."

    The sea breeze gently lifted Dalton''s long blond hair as he continued, "But during the past few years, you transported some remarkable characters to the new continent and I was reminded of you again as a result."

    "Warlord Dalton!" Rick''s legs almost gave out from under him as he hurriedly said, "That''s not true! Please listen to me..."

    "It''s alright." Dalton picked up the hem of his cape in an elegant manner, allowing it to p casually in the wind like the wings of a gorgeous butterfly as he said in an unhurried voice, "I''m not here to hold you ountable for your transgressions. If I were interested in doing that, you would already be long dead."

    He suddenly turned his gaze toward Rick, and his eyes were like a pair of sharp swords that pierced directly into Rick''s soul.

    "Did you bring anyone you shouldn''t have this time?"

    Inside his cabin, Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    In the underworld, all high-ranking officials had endured the test of time, and perhaps their political nous wasn''t as exceptional as the officials of the mortal realm, but what underworld emissaries excelled in the most was seeing through one''s emotions.

    Every single underworld emissary who had started from the bottom had overseen countless falsely judged crimes, giving justice to the souls that had been wronged. They had listened to countless unspeakably tragic stories and seen every facet of human nature. A vivid example of this was back when he had expunged the female apparition of the Wang Family. With the skills they had honed through these experiences, they knew exactly how to break down one''s mental defenses, and Dalton was putting a textbook disy of this now.

    Firstly, Dalton was using intimidation tactics that weren''t overwhelming, but was enough to strike fear into Rick''s heart, informing Rick that he knew about everything that Rick had been doing, and that he could take Rick''s life at any time he wanted.

    If Rick were to lie and give an answer of no, only for Qin Ye to be discovered on his ship, then his life would be as good as over.

    What was he going to do?

    Qin Ye''s hands were already pressed against the wall of his cabin. This was a development that he had failed to anticipate. Never did he think that Dalton would arrive on The Liberty in person. The intimidation factor that Dalton could exert upon Rick far exceeded that of a patrol squad, and he had a feeling that Rick would crack under the pressure.

    He had never been ced in a situation where his life was truly on the line, so there was no way he could remain calm and collected.

    "Why are you not replying?" Dalton''s calm voice suddenly took on a drastic change in tone, rumbling like thunder above the surface of the sea and causing the surrounding seawater to churn violently. "Answer my question!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his body abruptly exploded into countless crows that flew toward all of the cabins on The Liberty!

 Chapter 928: Hunting Ground (1)

    <h4>Chapter 928: Hunting Ground (1)</h4>

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still.

    Fate always had a way of ruining even the most meticulous of ns, and no predetermined course of action waspletely foolproof.

    In this situation, no one could''ve anticipated that a warlord would search The Liberty in person, but if one were to think carefully about this, it made a lot of sense.

    Due to Rick''s past service in the navy, if someone else were to search his ship, they most likely wouldn''t be able to secure any information. It was clear that a major incident had just taken ce at Xolotl''s Screen, and there was no way that Dalton would allow any suspicious ships to pass through here.

    Thus, he had arrived in person.

    "Damn it!" Qin Ye cursed internally right as Dalton exploded into countless crows, and in the next instant, Yin energy rippled slightly, and his hands began to gently vibrate as he pressed them against the wall of his cabin. Immediately thereafter, the surface of the wall began to ripple like water, following which he strode into the wall as if it were a portal to another world.

    Almost at the exact same moment, the door to the cabin was blown wide open, and several dozen crows flew in. They inspected their surroundings with a fierce look in their blood-red eyes, and only after a full five minutes had passed did they vanish on the spot.

    Countless crows had formed an inky-ck whirlwind that was visible even to the naked eyes all over the entire ship, rushing in and out all of the nooks and crannies where someone could possibly be hiding. Rick''s head was lowered, and his teeth were tightly clenched while his lips were trembling uncontrobly.

    He wanted to say no, but he couldn''t bring himself to lie in the face of Dalton''s intimidation.

    He wanted to say yes, but the thought that Qin Ye could be an even more powerful being than Dalton made that just as difficult an answer for him to produce.

    With each passing second, his soul was enduring immense torment, and he didn''t even dare to look behind him. Only after 15 minutes had passed did all of the crows gather in front of him before forming Dalton''s body again.

    "Bring me a list of all of the passengers on your ship and after that, you can leave. Remember not to reveal to anyone what happened here at Xolotl''s Screen. Otherwise, you will receive the same punishment elicited bymitting treason." He didn''t even take a nce at Rick before rising up into the air like a giant eagle and flying back to his own ship.

    Rick almost copsed to the deck of his ship. If ghosts could sweat, then he would be severely dehydrated right now!

    He really wasn''t discovered! Warlord Dalton didn''t discover the man that I''m smuggling to the new continent! Who exactly is that man and what cultivation rank is he at?

    He grabbed onto the arm of his first mate, using him as support so that he could stand up straight, then instructed in a shaking voice, "Deliver the list of passengers to Warlord Dalton. After you''ve done that, we''re leaving this ce right away!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Dalton returned from The Liberty andnded on the bow of his own ship. His Spanish galleon was far more massive than Rick''s, roughly five to six times the size of The Liberty, and it was truly a floating fortress. Right as hended on the deck, the voice of a woman rang out. "You''re being overly cautious."

    There was a female underworld emissary seated on a chair right in front of him. She was wearing the same uniform as Dalton, and one of her eyes was covered. She was a stunning woman with a head of long red hair that perfectlyplemented her scarlet cape.

    "I don''t need you to tell me what to do, Commander Erza." Dalton stuck his hands into his pocket, and he didn''t even spare a nce at the woman before making his way directly into the cabin. "Also, if I recall correctly, this seems to be my ship, and I haven''t given you the right to visit my ship as you please."

    Thump! The door was mmed shut, and the two deputies standing on either side of the door immediately approached him with wry smiles on their faces. "Warlord Dalton, we couldn''t stop her..."

    "I know, don''t worry about it. That bitch is constantly waiting for me to mess up so she can screw me over! She''s dedicated her entire life to climbing up the ranks by using dirty tricks and plotting against others." A disdainful look appeared on Dalton''s face, and his leather boots clicked along the timber deck of the ship as he made his way toward the helmsman''s room at the end of the corridor.

    The corridor was around 100 meters in length, and he reached the end very quickly. As the door to the helmsman''s room swung shut, one of Dalton''s deputies, a Caucasian male, adjusted his sses as he said, "There was no need for you to search The Liberty in person, Warlord Dalton."

    Dalton sat down on a chair and leaned back against it as he closed his eyes, and his long blond hair trailed down around him like a golden waterfall as he suddenly asked an entirely unrted question, "Do you know what Xolotl''s Screen is?"

    The two deputies exchanged a nce before both of them nodded hesitantly at the same time.

    Even though Dalton''s eyes remained closed, he seemed to have been able to see what they were doing, and he chuckled as he crossed his legs, tapping his fingers rhythmically on his own knees as he said with a cold smile, "No, you don''t know."

    He suddenly opened his eyes and continued in a cold voice, "Why has Lord Xolotl named this screen after himself? Why did Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa assign him the duty of overseeing the screen rather than Lord Supay or Lord Ah Puch? It''s because this ce has the Eye of the Night Star, which can see through all things, and no Yin spirit can avoid its detection!"

    His voice abruptly spiked up a few octaves as he continued in a serious voice, "Why did I go to search The Liberty in person? Three hours ago, the Eye of the Night Star pointed itself directly at The Liberty under the suspicion that there is a Duke level underworld emissary onboard! This reading wasn''t registered just once, but three times in total! If Lord Xolotl didn''t have to travel to the hunting ground right away, he would''ve been the one to inspect The Liberty in person! At this sensitive time, the new continent is already in an extremely vulnerable position. If an unknown Duke were to appear on the new continent, how much attention would they receive? How many people would try to recruit with all their might in order to fulfill their own nefarious ns? We are the final line of defense of a first-rate underworld! How could I not go and examine the ship in person?!"

    The sudden rant made his chest heave violently, and only after several seconds did he calm down again as a wry smile appeared on his face. "Correction: we used to be a first-rate underworld... In fact, we used to be the first-rate underworld that was closest to the four pirs. If the death gods of the southern continent manage to reawaken and Lord Quetzalcoatl returns, we would be powerful enough to contend with any one of the four pirs! But what''s the point of saying that now? I''m not even sure there will be anything left of the Usonian Underworld once this crisis is over..."

    A tragic smile appeared on his face as he heaved a forlorn sigh, then pulled something out of his pocket before cing it on the table. "I didn''t find anyone suspicious just now, but I found this in a certain cabin. What do you think this is?"

    The two deputies took a look at the item, and the Caucasian man adjusted his own sses with a perplexed expression before replying, "That seems to be... bread?"

    "It is indeed bread," Dalton replied with a wry smile. "There was no one in cabin number 213, yet there was a piece of bread sitting on the table. I checked through their list of passengers, and there''s supposed to be no one in cabin 213, so why is it that someone was eating bread in there?"

    This was a tiny scrap of bread that was only around the size of a fingernail. He looked at it closely, then prodded it before putting it into his own mouth, following which his eyes narrowed slightly. "And it''s the renowned Jerry''s Bread of the Los Angeles Underworld. Who was eating this bread in that cabin? Where did they go? I was very curious, so I instructed one of my crows to take this back with them. It''s only a tiny thing, so the person in that cabin wouldn''t notice its absence."

    He paused here, and a cold look appeared in his eyes. He seemed to be contemting something, and only after a full minute had passed did he instruct in a cold voice, "Inform the escort fleet to take all three ships to the hunting ground."

    "But Warlord Dalton!" The other deputy who hadn''t spoken this entire time drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "This is the hunting ground we''re talking about! The three death gods and that thing are all there! Anyone who enters that area will be dead for sure! There are several hundredherworldly citizens and sailors on those three ships! If this gets exposed, you''ll be torn to shreds by the media! On top of that, you''re only acting off a guess. The Eye of the Night Star has already been operating for thousands of years, perhaps it simply malfunctioned! You shouldn''t have to bear this burden!"

    Dalton gave a cold chuckle in response. "Can the state of Usonia get any worse? Under these circumstances, who would even bat an eyelid if a few hundredherworldly citizens meet their demise on the way to the new continent, especially when one of the six kings just attacked Xolotl''s Screen as if it had gone insane!"

    "But Warlord Dalton..."

    "Do as I say!!" Dalton snapped in a loud voice. "Do and execute my orders right now! I will take on all ountability for this decision!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Rick was looking at Qin Ye with aplex expression.

    He couldn''t see what Qin Ye looked like as his face was concealed behind that silver mask, but he was certain that Qin Ye was smiling in amusement, amused by the pitiful disy he had just put on.

    Qin Ye picked up a ss of cocktail in a graceful manner before taking a sip through the oral slit on his mask.

    It was delicious.

    The bread from before had been rathercking in quality, but they were out at sea, so he wasn''t picky.

    Rick was the first one to break the silence. "Esteemed guest, I have a piece of good news and a piece of..."

    "Give me the bad news," Qin Ye interjected before he had a chance to finish.

    Rick paused momentarily before replying, "There are two escort fleets that will apany us to the new continent, so make sure to be careful when you disembark. The good news is that because of these escort fleets, our safety for the rest of the trip is ensured."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Rest assured, no one will be able to detect me. Also, you can tell Mr. Edward Ross to get ready. There are still seven days until the 13th, right? He can begin preparing for the possession now so he can be ready for my arrival at any time."

    "Yes..." Rick rose to his feet, and only after making his way over to the door did he continue in a hesitant voice, "Esteemed guest, I have another piece of news, which I think is good news, but I''m not sure whether I should tell you."

    "Go ahead."

    "Due to the apaniment of the escort fleet, they''ve changed our destination to Los Angeles, so we''ll bending directly at Los Angeles Port. Would that be alright?"

    <i>There''s no way to change that even if I want to... </i>In reality, Qin Ye strongly detested unforeseen circumstances like this. This was perhaps amon trait among powerful beings. All unforeseen circumstances required adjustments to be made, so there was no way for him to haveplete control.

    "That''s fine. You can go now." He waved a calm dismissive hand, and Rick departed from the cabin.

    They were already close to Hawaii, and it would take them a day and a half at most to reach Usonia. Once there, Qin Ye would only have to wait for a few days before he could possess Edward, and once he reached the mortal realm, he would be able to put the massive mess that was the Usonian Underworldpletely behind him.

    Then again, the mortal realm wasn''t exactly a safe haven, either. ording to Rick, even Usonia in the mortal realm was rife with evil ghosts and underworld emissaries, so he would have to be careful even after possessing Edward.

    Time always passed by very quickly in deep thought, and the day passed by very quickly after a nap. By the time he woke up, it was alreadyte at night, and he was woken up by a burst of slight tremors.

    As a Yama-King, even during slumber, he could maintain an instinctive state of alertness, and he immediately rose to his feet before casting an intense gaze toward the floor beneath his feet.

    The only thing that could''ve shocked his instincts enough to jerk him out of his slumber was Yin energy, and it had to be extremely powerful Yin energy!

    He cast a bewildered gaze toward the distance, and several thousand kilometers away in that direction, four bursts of extremely formidable Yin energy were locked in a tense standoff.

    The Yin energy of three of those parties was very familiar to him.

    They belonged to the three death gods of the new continent, Xolotl, Ah Puch, and Supay.

    However, the fourth being was one that he had never seen before, and as soon as he made an attempt to inspect the being that the Yin energy was stemming from, he was immediately struck by a chill that ran through his entire body.

    This was a creature that was around 30,000 meters in length, and The Liberty was sailing right along its back!

    This was one of the six kings!

    This had to be the monarch beast that had broken through Xolotl''s Screen before being surrounded by the three death gods, and the crew of The Liberty waspletely oblivious as the ship sailed toward the center of this devastating battlefield!

 Chapter 929: Hunting Ground (2)

    <h4>Chapter 929: Hunting Ground (2)</h4>

    Right at this moment, the entire ship shuddered once again, and at this point, even the other people on the ship could sense that something was amiss.

    "What was that?" On the deck, Rick was staring out at the surface of the sea with a bewildered expression. Having spent so much of his life out at sea, he was far too familiar with the fickle maiden that was the ocean, and these abnormal tremors immediately tipped him off to the fact that something was wrong.

    "Captain..." The first mate and the second mate gathered beside him. There was no point in their actions, they were merely instinctively approaching their captain in order to assuage their unease. The entire crew on the ship, consisting of several dozen sailors, were all staring intently at the surface of the sea just as they were.

    Something''s wrong...

    They had been toocent prior to this. How could they not becent when apanied by escort fleets? However, they had finally discovered that there seemed to be a problem with this route.

    It was too quiet.

    There was not a single seabird in the sky, nor any signs of Yin beasts on the surface of the sea. It was the ocean, but it more so resembled apletely still and stagnant pond at this moment.

    Furthermore, the seawater was supposed to be blue, but it waspletely inky-ck, almost as if there were a terrifying beast lurking beneath the surface, blocking out all of the reflected light.

    At this point, the other two ships had also realized that something was amiss, and more and more people began to emerge onto the decks as a loudmotion broke out.

    Rick was looking intently at the sea, and he felt as if there were countless evil ghosts looking right back at him. Several secondster, he abruptly swiveled around and yelled, "The Liberty requestsmunication! The Liberty requestsmunication!"

    "The Bald Eagle requestsmunication! Damn it, what the hell is going on?!"

    "The Moonlight Goddess requestsmunication!"

    However, there was no response.

    The two escort fleets didn''t seem to have heard them at all, and right as their voices began to ring out, the Yin soldiers standing on either side of the cabins of the escort fleets'' ships suddenly made their way into the cabin one after another. All of the Yin spirits on the three ships looked on with ck-jawed expressions as the sails of the two escort fleets quickly fell, and a series of Yin runes began to glow all over the bodies of the ships. Immediately thereafter, the ships of the escort fleets sank into the sea like dead weights!

    This turn of events was far too abrupt, and everyone could only look on in astonishment. The entire sinking processsted less than 30 seconds, but it could be seen that the two escort fleets were traveling at full speed right back to Xolotl''s Screen beneath the surface of the sea!

    Rick faltered slightly upon seeing this before frantically yelling, "Turn the ship around!! Hurry!! What are you waiting for?! Catch up to them!!"

    The sudden departure of the two escorts fleets had instilled an overwhelming sense of horror and panic into his heart. This area of the sea seemed to have transformed into the mouth of a giant death god that was about to devour everything.

    Qin Ye was pacing back and forth incessantly inside his cabin, listening to the sound of the panicked footsteps and the horrified voices ringing out up above. At this point, it was already clear to everyone that they had been led into a trap by the two escort fleets.

    "Fuck..." He viciously massaged his own temples, but he didn''t panic. It wouldn''t do any good for him to panic at this moment, No more than 10 kilometers up ahead, three death gods were facing off against one of the six kings, and if a battle were to erupt, there was no way that these three ships would be able to escape! The shockwaves from their sh alone would sweep over this entire area of the sea, and no Yin spirits would be able to survive here.

    "I can only hope now that the four beings are too busy facing off against one another to notice these three ships. All we need to do is get 15,000 meters, no, 20,000 meters away, and we''ll bepletely safe! The question is, why have the escort fleets done this?"

    His mind was racing as he analyzed the situation. Had Dalton gone insane? How would he benefit from inexplicably sending three civilian ships to their deaths?

    Amid the deathly silence, Qin Ye massaged his own be as he murmured to himself, "There''s no benefit that he could possibly derive from this, so why has he done this? Could it be that he''s discovered me or is at least suspecting my presence on this ship? This is the only possible reason he could be doing something like this! That must be it... It was already rather unexpected for a warlord like him to search The Liberty in person. If he was somehow alerted to my presence by some type of divine artifact in advance, then this would all make sense."

    Qin Ye gently rested his fingers on the window, looking out at the eerily calm sea through narrowed eyes. Before every storm was always an oppressive pause.

    He knew that there was going to be a devastating storm unfolding imminently, and the waiting process was like dying by 1,000 cuts, making for an extremely tense and torturous experience.

    "So why is he doing this? Does he want me to die during the battle between the four death gods? No, there''s no way that he can be certain a battle would actually break out between the four of them. In that case, is he trying to force me to reveal myself? That makes sense... Looking at things from his perspective, just because he failed to discover me doesn''t mean that other Yama-Kings would also fail. There are a total of four death gods up ahead, and if I''m discovered, there''s a very good chance that all four of them could instantly direct their attention toward me. After all, my emergence wouldpletely shatter the bnce. Perhaps he''s even hoping that I would be able to scare away whichever one of the six kings the three death gods are facing off against."

    Having figured out everything, Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh of relief.

    It had to be said that this was a very innovative n, but he had failed to ount for one thing, which was that Qin Ye wasn''t an ordinary Yama-King.

    He was the ruler of a nation, and one of the most powerful nations in the world, at that. If he wanted to remain unseen, it would be very difficult for the four death gods to discover him. Even if they had some type of detection divine artifact at their disposal, they would only be able to vaguely sense his presence, and he was fairly confident that an auxiliary divine artifact of that nature wouldn''t appear on a battlefield featuring three death gods and one of the six kings.

    Having made sense of the situation, he even had the spare capacity to take a look at his own outrageously handsome reflection in the ss window.

    I shouldn''t be allowing myself to get so stressed. It would be a tragedy for the entire world if I were to develop wrinkles from excessive stress!

    Just a moment ago, he had thought that he was in a very perilous situation, but looking at this current situation, it was very likely that he would be able to get away. As long as he was quick, there should be no way for the four death gods to notice him.

    What? You want me to tackle the situation head-on? My apologies, but there''s no way that the wise and mighty Yanluo Qin would pursue such an option unless absolutely necessary!

    Thinking back, the only Yin spirit on the same level as himself that he had ever engaged in a serious battle with was Honda Tadakatsu. On other asions, he was either fighting evil ghosts of the same or lower cultivation rank or backing out of battles before things turned serious, just like in the case of his battle against Apollonios during the Russian Underworld forbidden arts incident. Most of the time, he preferred to let others do his fighting for him, such as Zhao Yun, Qin Changxin, Arakshasa... In any case, there was no way he would willingly engage anyone in battle unless he was at least a major cultivation rank above them!

    What was the point of engaging in a battle that he couldn''t flex in?

    The surface of the sea was still very calm.

    The three ships were retreating as quickly as they could, while the escort fleets, which were also rapidly retreating, were already over a kilometer away. It was as if the countdown timer to death had already begun ticking down, and the five ships were frantically racing one another, getting further and further away from their original location. 3,000 meters... 5,000 meters... 10,000 meters!

    Qin Ye was calmly watching the scene unfolding around him. At this point, the ship had most likely already reached top speed, yet Rick''s desperate roars could still be heard ringing out incessantly, urging his crew to elerate the ship even further. Even from his position, he could see the massive waves rising up beside the ship. They were getting further and further away from the eerily calm area of the sea, and upon reaching over 15,000 meters away, he finally heaved a faint sigh of relief.

    Even if this were one of the six kings, this position would be very close to its tail. If, for example, this were Naga, then she would definitely be facing the three death gods with her head, and the same applied to the likes of Behemoth and Leviathan.

    This was thebined pressure of three death gods, nothing would dare to face that with its backside!

    Furthermore, there was immense drag from the seawater in the sea, and if the member of the six kings wanted to engage in a battle, it would have to consider this factor, which would most likely make it have second thoughts about fighting fire with fire.

    Thus, Qin Ye heaved a rxed sigh, then crossed his legs andid down on his bed, preparing to take a good rest. However, right at this moment, the entire surface of the sea suddenly began to quake violently.

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon sensing this, then immediately jumped to his feet before casting a bewildered gaze out the window.

    Through the window, he could see the sea churning violently in all directions, and tsunamis over 20 meters tall were raised all around the ship in a doomsday-like scene.

    One wave rose up after another, instantly forming a basin, except the basin was constructed entirely from seawater! The three ships were like three fragile leaves sitting in the middle of a giant''s palm, and Qin Ye withdrew his gaze with an incredulous expression. Only after several seconds did he murmur to himself, "Why?"

    How could it have decided tosh out under such unfavorable circumstances?

    He was certain that no one had managed to detect his presence, and ording to legends, all of the six kings were extremely massive, which would make them encounter enormous resistance when moving through the sea, so why had this sea monster suddenlyshed out?

    This waspletely outside of his projections!

    "How did this happen?" He shook his head in a frustrated manner. However, there was no benefit in dwelling on negative emotions. In the next instant, his Yin energy rapidly converged, and he released his consciousness, which quickly passed through the corridor before arriving on the deck, then focused on the distance.

    There on the distant horizon, the sea was churning like an enraged beast. The two escort fleets were in aplete panic, and Qin Ye could tell that they were desperately trying to retreat, but in the face of the ocean''s fury, they were like powerless infants. Right in front of them, a pair of giant vortexes was rapidly taking shape amid the crashing waves.

    It''s about to appear! Which monarch beast is it? Qin Ye looked on with tightly furrowed brows as he quickly considered his own options.

    Should he go on the attack?

    That wouldn''t work. Setting aside whether he could even defeat this monarch beast or not, if he were to be exposed, then it would be far too difficult to obtain Xu Fu''s notes.

    If it were to be discovered that the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo had traveled to the new continent in person just to get his hands on those notes, then everyone would try and obtain those notes, even if they didn''t know what they were.

    But if he didn''t attack, then the situation was only going to continue to deteriorate.

    Right as his mind was racing, two pirs of seawater erupted violently into the sky, following which a pair of gigantic tentacles broke through the surface of the sea, churning up the entire ocean in a frenzy!

    The two escort fleets only came into slight contact with the tentacles before beingpletely destroyed, and countless underworld emissaries screamed in horror as they fell into the sea, but not even a single ssh could be seen.

    "My god..." Rick fell to his knees on the deck as he stared nkly at the tentacles, which were several hundred meters thick. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he abruptly yelled, "Run!!!"

    This was one of the six kings! Why was it here?!

    All of the people on the three ships werepletely rooted to the spot. Never did they think that they would encounter one of the six kings here. However, before they had a chance to ponder the situation, countless more tentacles erupted from the water in all directions, instantly forming a lethal forest that would not be out of ce in a horrific nightmare!

    An earth-shattering roar rang out across the entire sea, and tsunamis were swept up to over 50 meters tall! At the same time, several hundred eyes lit up in unison beneath the waves, staring intently at these unwee guests.

    "Fuck!!" Qin Ye couldn''t help but swear out loud.

    He finally understood why this member of the six kings wasn''t wary of the resistance of seawater.

    It was because this was Kraken!

    In the instant that he saw those tentacles, he immediately identified this sea monster to be the North Sea Monster, Kraken! The damn thing didn''t even have a tail, so there was no need for it to turn around!

    Its mere existence was the embodiment of destruction and devastation in the sea!

 Chapter 930: Hunting Ground (3)

    <h4>Chapter 930: Hunting Ground (3)</h4>

    The North Sea Monster, Kraken, was a legendary giant octopus. It was different from the likes of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Naga. The other five kings were all humanoid creatures, and only Kraken was a life form that belonged to the sea to begin with.

    Unlike the other monarch beasts, it didn''t need to turn around or take the resistance of seawater into ount as it was naturally the king of the sea. Qin Ye''s understanding of marine Yin beasts was still too limited, and that led to his failure to take into ount the possibility that they could be encountering Kraken.

    Hundreds of enormous tentacles were dancing violently above the surface of the sea, and this was a scene far more terrifying than any nightmare. The entire area had been transformed into a forest of blood, flesh, and Yin energy, and Kraken''s vast Yin energy would surging incessantly out of its tentacles, forming dense ck mist that permeated in all directions. In no more than the blink of an eye, an area with a radius of several dozen kilometers had already been plunged intoplete darkness with only the several hundred glowing eyes beneath the surface shing like stars in the depths.

    He could no longer even hear the screams of the Yin spirits aboard the ships. Amid this doomsday-like scene, massive valleys and mountains of seawater were rising up incessantly. The Liberty was abruptly raised up by the seawater beneath it, and despite the fact that it was a galleon that was over 100 meters in length, it was tossed up into the sky like a ragdoll before crashing heavily back down onto the surface of the sea, sending violently foamy waves erupting in all directions.

    Yin spirits were perishing by the second, and The Liberty had only just crashed back down onto the sea before the surface of the sea in front of it began to rapidly bulge upward, forming a wall of seawater that was close to 100 meters tall. In the eyes of Rick, who was looking on with a horrified expression while grabbing onto the railing of his ship for dear life, it looked as if the palm of a giant were crashing down toward him.

    The calm facade of the sea had finally been torn away to reveal a scene of violent devastation.

    Kraken wasn''t targeting them, but just the movement of its body alone spelled disaster to all of the Yin spirits on the three ships.

    "Good god..." Rick was staring at the massive wall of seawater with a ck-jawed expression, and before he could do anything else, the devastating wall of seawater had already crashed down onto his ship violently, instantly shattering it into countless pieces.

    In the wake of one of the most powerful beings in the sea, The Liberty waspletely powerless to resist.

    In the blink of an eye, several hundred specks ofherfire flew up into the sky, and at this point, Qin Ye had already sunk into the sea in the wake of The Liberty''s destruction.

    Countless air bubbles escaped out of his mouth as he swore into the seawater, then frantically swam in the opposite direction away from the battlefield.

    Right as Kraken''s frenzy hadmenced, he had already mentally prepared himself for the possibility of the ship''s destruction, and after careful consideration, he had decided on the second option, which was to refrain fromshing out.

    If he were to go on the attack, the four death gods here would immediately detect his presence, upon which they would be alerted to the fact that another death god was getting involved in the sinking ship that was the new continent.

    Immediately following this would be an exhaustive search effort across the entire continent, and even for him, it would be quite unlikely to avoid being discovered then. Threeplete religions had been born on the new continent, and in his eyes, there was no way that the continent didn''t have any creation-grade divine artifacts. If he were to be discovered, countless problems would arise.

    Why was the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo here? What had hee here for? Why had Kraken gone on a frenzy, traveling all the way here from its territory near the five nations of Northern Europa, passing even Greend in the process? What could be so important that it had convinced the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo to pay the new continent a visit in person?

    Eventually, it would be discovered that he was searching for Xu Fu''s notes, thereby directing everyone''s attention toward those notes. If those notes were to be found by someone else, he didn''t dare to imagine the fate that would befall the Cathayan Underworld!

    Thus, his only option was to sneak away from this ce. He couldn''t even use Yin energy, and only after getting a kilometer away from Kraken would he be able to draw upon his Yin energy to head directly to Los Angeles.

    The world beneath the surface of the sea was one ofplete peace and quiet.

    Not a single sea beast dared to linger in the area while Kraken was on a rampage, and looking at the serene conditions below the surface, no one would be able to guess that there was such a hellish scene unfolding above the surface.

    Looking up at the surface of the sea, Qin Ye could see countless pieces of broken ship material above him. He had no interest in knowing the fate of The Liberty and its crew. After all, he had only made a deal with Rick, and he had no attachment to them.

    The most important thing for him at this moment was to leave this ce right away. The showdown between the three death gods and Kraken definitely wouldn''t end anytime soon, and not long after this, the entire area was most likely going to be surrounded by the ships of the Red Eagle Navy soon.

    Once this area was ced under lockdown, it would be virtually impossible for him to leave undetected.

    At this depth, he still wasn''t sufficiently concealed to make his escape. Thus, he gritted his teeth and stealthily dove down another 100 meters, ensuring that even if any ships were to pass by overhead, there was no way they would notice him.

    All of his Yin energy was sealed within his own body, and at this point, his body was like the most resolute material in the entire world, so the seawater posed almost no resistance to him. However, not long after he began his descent, his pupils abruptly contracted.

    He had caught a glimpse of a massive mountain range in the murky seawater.

    However, this was no mountain range, it was merely one of Kraken''s tentacles, and there were even more tentacles deeper in the water. In the face of these gigantic tentacles, it would be a severe understatement to describe Qin Ye as tiny. Such a terrifying sight deep in the sea would be enough to make anyone''s skin crawl.

    Qin Ye didn''t approach those tentacles. Kraken''s enormous size made it an extremely formidable moving marine fortress, but one of the downsides to being so massive was the dy in neural transmission.

    Even if its tentacles were toe into contact with him, it would most likely take over a minute for the information to be transmitted into Kraken''s brain, and that was enough time for him to escape. Simrly, Kraken was definitely aware of its own weaknesses when it came to neural transmission from touch, and it was extremely unlikely for it to swivel its entire head around just to try and examine something that it hade into contact with over a minute ago.

    "I have to get at least 10,000 more meters away before I can truly call myself safe." Qin Ye was extremely calm as he quickly swam outward. Five minutes passed by... then 10 minutes... then 15 minutes... then 20 minutes!

    He was unable to use any Yin energy, so his speed was onlyparable with the top speed of an elite short distance swimmer. At the same time, he had to stop every once in a while to observe Kraken''s movements. However, even after 20 minutes passed, he discovered that he hadn''t opened up much distance between himself and Kraken!

    "What is going on?" He turned to look behind him with a bewildered expression. Kraken''s tentacles were like a blooming flower of death in the sea, and because of how absurdly massive it was, Qin Ye couldn''t even tell if it had moved or not.

    Has it noticed me? I''m definitely swimming away in the opposite direction, so why is it pursuing me? No, it''s not pursuing me. If it''s doing that, then there''s no way it wouldn''t have caught up to me already!

    His eyes narrowed slightly as Kraken extended all of its countless tentacles in the distance, reaching as far and wide as it could with every single one of its tentacles. It didn''t look like it was pursuing anything. Instead, it seemed to be searching and probing for something.

    "It doesn''t look like it''s noticed me..." With that in mind, Qin Ye gritted his teeth and sank directly downward.

    300 meters... 500 meters... 1,000 meters!

    Very soon, he reached a depth in excess of a kilometer, but even from there, he could still see the outline of Kraken''s enormous body and clearly sense the violent currents it was producing with every single one of its movements.

    However, Kraken still hadn''t backtracked. Instead, it was continuing to stretch as far and wide as possible, as if it were searching for something, but even it didn''t know what exactly it was searching for.

    Air bubbles flowed out of Qin Ye''s mouth as he floated in the dark seawater, and only now did he think of something that hadn''t urred to him prior to this.

    Why had Kraken appeared here? It clearly hadn''t been summoned here by the new continent. In that case, was it searching for something? Alternatively, perhaps something had chased it here?

    It had to have some very strong incentive for it to crash through Xolotl''s Screen and make enemies out of the death gods of the new continent.

    His thoughts reached a dead-end here, and his brows furrowed tightly as he struggled toe up with the answers. However, the one concrete conclusion that he could arrive at was that the new continent was truly in a state ofplete pandemonium.

    There were people trying to break the barriers between life and death, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had reduced the continent to a living purgatory, all of the death gods were gearing up for battle once the rulers of the continent passed away, the Red Eagle Navy and ck Shirt Navy each had their own ulterior motives, three more death gods had arisen in the Caribbean, and now, the arrival of Kraken...

    "This is like a primetime soap opera..." He blew a bubble before swimming outward like a mermaid.

    The giant Kraken was right above him, but he was confident that it wouldn''t go very far. At the very least, the three death gods definitely wouldn''t allow such a monster to enter the inner sea of the new continent.

    "If I can just get 10 kilometers away from it, I''ll be able toplete my escape!"

    However, right as this thought took shape in his mind, he suddenly looked up with narrowed eyes.

    Countless gashes had opened up on Kraken''s tentacles above his head. To put it urately, these were tumorous growths rather than gashes, and on each and every tumor was a ghastly human face.

    This was a scene that would only appear in the most terrifying of nightmares, and deep in the pitch-ck sea, Kraken extended its tentacles in all directions while the tumorous human faces intently inspected everything around them.

    In the next instant, all of the faces opened their mouths with terrifying contorted expressions in unison to let loose silent roars in the water. It was impossible to see this from the surface, but beneath the surface, violent currents instantly erupted in all directions as if an underwater volcanic eruption had just taken ce!

    "It really is looking for something! This time, it''s using soundwave detection!" The surging currents were converging toward Qin Ye from all directions like physical walls. What was quite amusing was that even divine artifacts wouldn''t be able to see through his concealment, but in the face of a living being''s basic bodily function, he was unable to hide himself.

    "I''m too close to it. At the very most, it''ll only take five seconds to notice me..." Qin Ye turned around to stare intently at the violent currents surging toward him, and he gritted his teeth as he arrived at a decision, following he voluntarily released a burst of Yama-King level Yama-Kings directly toward Kraken.

    His heart was thumping violently, and he was taking a gamble.

    There was no way for him to escape under these circumstances. The sea was paradise for the six kings, and he was making a bet that Kraken wouldn''t dare to provoke another death god when it was already facing thebined pressure of three death gods. The three death gods definitely wouldn''t be able to detect what was happening in the depths as the sea would be able to mask everything.

    You may not be intelligent, but surely, you at least have the instincts to sense danger!

    His Yin energy shed with the sound waves released by Kraken, and its enormous body shuddered violently as if it had been struck by lightning. Immediately thereafter, a series of golden eyes appeared within the boundless darkness up above.

    Countless golden eyes had appeared like stars in the night sky, and all of the inky-ck pupils within them were staring directly at Qin Ye. Qin Ye made no effort to conceal himself, choosing to adopt his Hell''s Emissary state instead.

    Qin Ye was less than two meters tall, while Kraken was several dozen kilometers in length.

    The two of them were staring at one another deep in the sea, while above the surface were the three death gods of the new continent.

    After a full 30 seconds had passed, the eyes up above abruptly vanished, and Kraken''s tentacles dispersed one after another.

    It was stepping aside to allow Qin Ye free passage.

    A silent agreement had taken shape between them, one in which Qin Ye was given passage in exchange for not attacking Kraken.

    Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief before immediately continuing to swim onward.

    This was a massive catastrophe to begin with, and every part involved in all of this had gone insane long ago. In order to secure Xu Fu''s notes amid the chaos, he had to do everything as quickly as possible!

    He had a feeling that if he were to stall here for too long, even Zhao Yun wouldn''t be able to rescue him.

 Chapter 931: Heart of An Ancient God

    <h4>Chapter 931: Heart of An Ancient God</h4>

    The silent deal that was struck between Qin Ye and Kraken went unnoticed by the three death gods, and Qin Ye quickly continued on his way. After swimming for about five kilometers, a burst of violent tremors erupted from behind him. Even though it was impossible to hear anything within the sea, the powerful currents pushed him several hundred meters away.

    Someone''s made a move!

    He sped up even further, and even without having to look back, he knew that someone had finally made a move. Right after this, countless Red Eagle Navy ships were going to surround this ce in a watertight barrier. In fact, he could already see the hulls of the naval ships that were converging rapidly from several hundred meters away.

    However, none of that had anything to do with him.

    No one was going to be able to detect him from such depths, and even though this was going to dy his arrival at Los Angeles, it was well worth the dy to be able to avoid this devastating battlefield. Soon, the fleets passed by above his head, yet right as he was about to depart, he abruptly turned around to look at the fleets behind him.

    Something''s not right...

    There was a certain scent emanating from these fleets, a scent that only a Yama-King would be able to detect!

    "What is it?" He stared up at the ships above him, wondering if it were just a figment of his imagination. After close to 20 seconds of deliberation, he floated up 300 meters, only to discover that the smell was bing stronger and stronger, and it was lingering in the seawater without dissipating!

    All of a sudden, his heartbeat began to elerate without any warning, and an incredulous look appeared in his eyes in response to this bodily reaction. What kind of scent could possibly quicken his pulse like this?

    "It doesn''te from those ships..." He scanned his gaze across the ships one by one, then cast his gaze directly forward. "It''s in deeper waters somewhere further ahead."

    He didn''t hesitate even for a moment before immediately swimming directly forward. Something that could draw such a strong reaction out of a Yama-King like himself definitely wasn''t an ordinary object.

    However, after swimming for only several hundred more meters, he stopped once again before casting his gaze forward through narrowed eyes.

    The thing that was giving off this unique aroma was moving.

    It was very strange because Qin Ye couldn''t detect any signs of life from the object, but if it were a dead or inanimate object, then how was it capable of movement?

    "Perhaps this is exactly what Kraken is searching for!" His brows furrowed tightly as this thought urred to him, and his inky-ck robes swayed and drifted in the seawater. "This scent isn''t particrly strong, but it refuses to dissipate and is extremely alluring. This is most likely what''s drawn Kraken all the way here!"

    With that in mind, he sank down another kilometer. As a Yama-King, even in the sea, he would be able to inspect an area with a radius of several kilometers without any issues. Furthermore, the deeper he sank, the more well-concealed he would be, so descending even further was the best option.

    He was like a patient and experienced hunter, waiting silently in the darkness. One minute passed... then two... then five... All of a sudden, a speck of bright red light finally appeared in his field of view.

    This is it! He withdrew all of his Yin energy and injected all of it into his own eyes as he stared intently forward. The red light was drawing closer and closer, thereby making it appear brighter and brighter in his field of view. Two minutester, it was already only around 100 meters in front of him!

    At such close range, Qin Ye was finally able to discern what the item was, and the revtion presented by the sight of this item was so astonishing that he momentarily forgot that he was still in the sea, and his mouth sprang wide open in astonishment. As a result, salty and bitter seawater gushed into his mouth, and only then did he return to his senses.

    However, he paid no heed to the seawater and swam upward at full speed.

    Having identified the object, goosebumps had been raised all over his entire body. In the blink of an eye, he reached the seawater above the speck of red light, then squatted down to stroke the object beneath his feet with trembling, incredulous fingers.

    He came into contact with a chunk of pale flesh.

    This was a heart, a massive one that was around three to four meters in size, and it was beating in a slow and consistent rhythm.

    The heart was of a pale white color, but with every single beat, bright red meridians would emerge beneath the surface of the flesh, releasing blood and red light that spread into the surrounding seawater.

    This was the source of the scent!

    "This is... the heart of an ancient god!!" Qin Ye gulped in disbelief as he stood atop the heart with an incredulous expression. If he hadn''t encountered Yu Kiang in the past, he most likely wouldn''t even know what this thing was.

    Someone had dug out the heart of an ancient god, and the owner of the heart had only perished recently. The powerful life force of an ancient god ensured that the heart was still beating, and it was this alluring prize that had attracted Kraken all the way here to the Pacific Ocean!

    The situation was finally beginning to make sense in Qin Ye''s mind, but he didn''t continue to ponder the matter. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the thing that was attached to the heart.

    The heart wasn''t just floating in the seawater.

    Having already been detached from its host''s body, it would only sink to the seabed and remain there unless an external force was acting upon it.

    However, a spear had impaled the heart, and a thick metal chain was attached to the back-end of the spear. The chain ran all the way to the surface of the sea, where it was attached to the underside of a massive ship!

    This thing had been dragged here by someone!

    Someone had dragged the heart of an ancient god here, intentionally attracting Kraken here, drawing it into a frenzy so that it smashed straight through Xolotl''s Screen to wreak havoc in the Pacific Ocean!

    In this instant, Qin Ye''s wariness toward the state of Northern Usonia reached an all-time high!

    Everyone on this continent had gone insane! In order to fight for survival in this living purgatory, everyone had been driven to insanity! Even this devious plot to lure Kraken into the Pacific Ocean had been implemented, was there anything that these people wouldn''t do?

    He didn''t know which power could be so insane, and he didn''t want to take any guesses as there were simply far too many possible candidates. Under these circumstances, the more chaotic the state of the continent became, the more the three death gods and the three new death gods of the Caribbean would be able to benefit.

    With that in mind, a cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and he flicked a finger through the seawater, sending a burst of Yin energy heading straight toward the hull of the ship, instantly leaving his mark on it.

    Unless a death god were to specifically examine the underside of the ship, there was no way they would be able to detect this faintest of marks.

    There was no particr reason behind why he had done that, it was simply out of habit. Perhaps this could prove to be useful at some point in the future.

    After doing all that, he took one final nce at the swarm of naval ships above him, then silently swam away toward the distance.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Edward Ross was a middle-aged police officer.

    He was a Caucasian male who was around 37 to 38 years old, and he had already worked at the police station on 17th Street for 15 years. He was apetent and capable police officer.

    He was single, and that wasn''t all that remarkable in a nation like Usonia, where individualism was heavily endorsed. However, he didn''t have the undesirable traitsmonly seen in celibatarians. Instead, he was a big fan of cleanliness, and when he wasn''t working, he would always be cleaning his own house or dedicating himself to personal grooming.

    He lived in a rented house on 17th Street, and even though his sry as a police officer was enough for him to purchase an apartment in the city, he seemed to prefer renting instead, and very rarely did his colleagues go to visit him at his residence.

    On this day, it was his day off, and early in the morning, he was already shaving his own facial hair in front of the mirror. At noon, he put on a ck suit with a pristine white flower pinned to the breast pocket, then left his own house.

    All of his colleagues knew that he would go to the Rose Hills Mortuary on the 13th of every month, even though there was quite a distance between 17th Street and the Rose Hills Mortuary.

    Everyone assumed that someone very important to him was buried there, but of course, no one explicitly asked him as that would be quite rude.

    Edward took the subway, and as he stepped out of the subway station, he heaved a forlorn sigh.

    It had already been 10 years since any being had responded to his calls...

    Ever since he was possessed on two asions 10 years ago, he fell in love with that mysterious and exhrating feeling. There really were beings that existed beyond the living world! That experience hadpletely shattered his worldview as a police officer!

    After salvaging the pieces of his destroyed worldview, not only did he not go into denial, he dly epted the existence of these beings instead. He felt as if he had found his own purpose in life, and he felt like he was closer to the truth than anyone else had ever been.

    Unfortunately, it had been 10 years since thest divine descent.

    Just like every month for the past 10 years, he hadn''t received any instructions, but traveling to the Rose Hills Mortuary on the 13th of every month had already be a habit of his, and he didn''t have any high hopes.

    Paths paved out of stone were present on thewns of the Rose Hills Mortuary, and he strode along one of the paths, which quickly took him to the guard post of the mortuary

    On the 13th of every month, the young man who was normally on duty would return to his home to visit his family, so Edward was always greeted by the young man''s elderly recement.

    He made his way over to the guard post, then lowered the brim of his hat before offering a one-dor bill to the elderly man. "One ticket please."

    No one bought any tickets here aside from him.

    "You''re here again." The elderly man greeted him with a smile. There was not a single tooth left in the elderly man''s mouth, making his oral cavity resemble a ck hole, framed by the wrinkly and wizened skin of his face, and even during the day, it was quite a terrifying sight to behold.

    "I hope you find what you''re looking for." The elderly man epted the bill with a wizened hand, then smeared his index finger across its surface, and an extremely eye-catching trail of blood was left on the back of the note.

    Edward epted the note, then departed in silence.

    He made his way deeper and deeper into the mortuary along the stone staircase, and the graves slowly transitioned from simple tombstones to ones that were very tall and imposing, and there was even the asional plot that resembled castles.

    Close to 20 minutester, he arrived outside a metal fence, and the metal gate was opened, revealing an extremelyvish burial ground inside.

    The plot was asrge as a normal room, and standing at the entrance was a statue of a death god in a ck cloak. At the back of the room was a door that was wide open, and the entire building was constructed from marble. However, strangely enough, there was no text on the ground to indicate who this burial site was dedicated to.

    Edward stopped in front of the entrance.

    There was no one else here, and he quickly inspected the entire area before putting his palms together in prayer.

    He had recited this eulogy every single month for the past 10 years, and he did so in an extremely devout manner every time. Time slowly passed by, and soon, 10 minutes had ticked past. He had already recited the eulogy thrice in session, and only then did he heave a long sigh before allowing his hands to fall back to his sides again.

    There was nothing.

    Is there still no one responding to me? Edward turned around in a disappointed manner, yet right at this moment, he suddenly heard a faint rustling sound.

    Immediately thereafter, all of the trees and grass in the entire burial site rocked back in unison as if some type of unspeakable being had just descended upon this ce!

    He faltered slightly before immediately turning toward the entrance of the tomb, only to find that the door had silently swung open!

 Chapter 932: First Usonian Bank

    <h4>Chapter 932: First Usonian Bank</h4>

    In the peaceful graveyard, Edward was standing inplete silence.

    He waspletely rooted to the spot, and a single thought filled the entirety of his mind: It''s here! A being from that world has responded to me! After 10 years of waiting, it''s finally here!

    He couldn''t help but fall to his knees and bring his palms together again, praying devoutly with all his might. Amid his prayers, a young voice rang out from the other side of the door. "Open up your consciousness and don''t resist me."

    All of the nt life in the entire private area abruptly swayed again as if a deity had just walked past, but it had left no trace whatsoever in its wake.

    Around 10 minutester, the metal door was opened, and Edward re-emerged.

    However, what was different was that when he had entered the graveyard, he had been slightly hunched over, but he was now standing ramrod straight, and his slightly murky eyes were now glowing brightly.

    "What a terrible vessel," he murmured to himself. "The body is pretty strong and fit, but there are some hormonal imbnces and it''s suffering from the triple threat: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipidity... What is this piece of trash that Rick has organized for me? Forget it, I''ll forgive you seeing as you''re already dead."

    Given how outrageously handsome I am, surely he should''ve tracked down a more handsome vessel! What is this greasy middle-aged host?

    He adjusted his own tie, then stuck his hands into his pockets before casually strolling along the stone path.

    The good thing about possession was that it allowed him to obtain all of his host''s knowledge and memories, so he wasn''t unfamiliar with the Rose Hills Mortuary even though he had never been here before. However, he didn''t want to leave right away. Instead, he fell into deep thought as he walked along the path.

    What should I do now?

    Despite his verbalints, he was actually quite pleased with this arrangement.

    There had to be at least tens of thousands, if not over 100,000 police officers like Edward in Usonia, and the biggest advantage he had was that he was ordinary andpletely unremarkable.

    Another advantage was his upation.

    Police officers could ess many files that were inessible to normal people, and he wouldn''t attract any attention when entering affluent residential areas. The first thing that he had to find out was what exactly had happened to the First Usonian Bank.

    "In Usonia, it''s very difficult for banks to close down, most banks that disappear are simply merged with other banks. However, the items being stored in the banks would be left untouched, so Xu Fu''s notes definitely still haven''t been discovered. The biggest possibility is that it''s still sitting in the storage rooms of the First Usonian Bank."

    A contemtive look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "However, it''s been a very long time since the First Usonian Bank has been around, so it has to have been merged with another bank. All I have to do is find out where it is and who the manager of the vault is, and it''ll be a simple task to secure the notes."

    Right at this moment, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and cast his gaze forward.

    Perhaps it was out of habit, but he had already made his way back to the guard post. The elderly man in the guard post had his back firmly pressed against his chair, looking as if he were about to rush out of the room at any moment, and his mouth was gaped wide open in shock and horror as he stared at Edward.

    In Edward''s eyes, this wasn''t an elderly man at all. Instead, it was an undead corpse.

    He gave the elderly man a faint smile, and the elderly man immediately copsed to the ground, seemingly having fallen unconscious. Only then did Edward depart from the mortuary with a sly smile on his face.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It was now the next day since Qin Ye had possessed Edward, and his fingers were currently flying across his keyboard.

    In order to do what he wanted to do, he had to take care of some matters first. Thus, he immediately submitted an application to take a month of umted annual leave. His supervisor had not been very pleased to hear this, telling him that if he wanted to take such a long break, then he could pack his bags and go work at a rural police station, but he remainedpletely unfazed.

    Of course, after leaving Usonia, he was going to leave Edward with a sum of money that would be sufficient to cover all of his expenses until the day he died. He didn''t want to owe anyone anything, particrly when it was very likely that Edward really would find himself working in a rural police station once he regained control over his own body.

    On top of that, he also ordered pizza delivery for three meals every day.

    Usonian was a very strange nation. Depending on how one looked at it, the people there could be referred to either as hospitable or nosy. In Cathay, even if a tenant were to go several days without eating, no one would care. However, in Usonia, there really would be overly hospitable neighbors knocking on your door to check on you if they noticed you weren''t eating.

    After resolving all of those issues, he withdrew all of Edward''s savings from the ATM, then began his search.

    What was quitemendable was that Edward had been saving up for this very day, so his savings were quite appreciable. The average sry in Usonia was around 43,000 USD, yet his sry was around 55,000 USD. Of course, there were additional benefits for those working in the Usonian police force. Edward was receiving the wage of a federal police officer, and state police officers received an even higher sry to the tune of 65,000 USD, while regional police officers earned roughly 60,000 USD.

    During the past decade, he had managed to save up over 400,000 USD!

    He was earning the ie of a Usonian while exercising the saving principles of a Cathayan. It had to be said that he was truly a devout believer.

    Several hourster, he finally exhaled as he stared at the windows open on hisputer screen with a contemtive expression.

    "I have to say, this bank is far more prominent than I imagined!" He picked up a cup of Coke as he read from the screen with slightly furrowed brows, "In the seven years following the war of independence in 1790, Usonian was faced with crippling debt and severe economic difficulties. The minister of finance at the time, Alexander Hamilton, proposed the idea of a privately owned bank. Its headquarters was going to be set at Phdelphia, and it was going to gather all of the personal wealth of the nation''s affluent individuals. However, his good friend, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson objected to the idea, stating that a privately owned centralized bank releasingmon currency posed an even greater threat to the freedom of the general public than even enemy armies..."

    He raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. Wasn''t this the difference between a capitalist bank and a socialist bank?

    Capitalist banks were privately owned, and that was how consortiums came into existence. In contrast, socialist banks were owned by the state, so it was very difficult for consortiums to emerge under a socialist political system.

    Looking back at the developmental history of consortiums, banks perhaps weren''t their origin points, but in the process during which consortiums had be a force to be reckoned, banks had definitely yed a massive and undeniable role.

    "This proposal sparked a debate of unprecedented levels of intensity, and in the end, it was approved by the parliament by the slightest of margins. However, despite this, the president at the time, George Washington, was quite hesitant about how to proceed. This was because this proposal clearly conflicted with the constitution, and he was even prepared to veto against the bill. Upon hearing about this, Alexander Hamilton immediately approached the president to try and persuade him, bringing out his decisive trump card, which was the notion that if they didn''t do this to attract injections of foreign funds, the government would copse very shortly. Under this immense pressure, the Washington administration authorized the establishment of Usonia''s first centralized bank on the 25th of February, 1971. It went against the contents of the proposal to construct the bank from scratch, and the main use in the proposal was that the bank wasn''t going to be a part of the government system, so they picked one bank in particr."

    Qin Ye set down his ss of coke and began to stare intently at the screen. In particr, he was looking at the line that read: "The First Usonian Bank, a privately owned bank."

    That was the extent of hte description.

    This was the bank that would go on to be one of the most monumental banks in the history of Usonia, yet not a single word had been written about its owner, address, or the services that it provided.

    Only the underworld would be aware of these things, while those in the mortal realm would only make rough records. Qin Ye waspletely unconvinced that it was a coincidence that the bank that had been chosen at the time was the First Usonian Bank, a bank that just so happened to be owned by the Freemasonry.

    Was this an attempt made by a supernatural power to try and make contact with the mortal realm?

    Was this a plot for a supernatural force to extend its reach deep into this newly founded nation at the time?

    Qin Ye didn''t know the answer to that, but he was certain that the circumstances behind all of this had to be extremelyplex.

    He continued reading.

    "This piece of news immediately attracted the attention of all of the world''s top consortiums. This was an opportunity to seize control over the financial fate of a nation, and thus, countless sums of foreign funds invaded Usonia, helping it endure the most difficult period in its history. At the same time, it set the foundation for the emergence of all of the major consortiums in the future, and the bank was named the First Bank of Usonia. In 1811, Nathan Rothschild became a major shareholder of the bank, and during the same year, due to differences in political opinions, Thomas Jeffersonpletely cut all ties with Alexander Hamilton. He was the one who had released the operating license for the First Bank of Usonia, so in 1811, the operating license officially expired. The opposition party, led by Thomas Jefferson, engaged in a fierce political sh with those in the government who had begun to reap the rewards of capitalism. In the end, the opposition party secured an extremely narrow victory in the House of Representatives, winning by the slim margin of 65 votes to 64. The votes were tied 17 to 17 in the senate, and the one who had cast the 65th vote in the House of Representatives had been none other than Vice-president George Clinton. In 1955, The First Bank of Usonian officially merged with the Rockefeller Family''s Chase Bank, forming the Chase Manhattan Bank."

    Qin Ye was feeling the onset of a headache after reading through this passage of history.

    "These are the people most likely to have obtained the notes," he murmured to himself as he began to scribble names down onto a piece of paper. "Number one: the party in power at the time of the founding of the First Bank of Usonia. Number two: the subsequent parties that facilitated the merger between the two banks."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "Due to the fact that it''s a merger, all of the stored items must bepletely transferred, but approval from the owners of those stored items must be secured prior to that. However, they wouldn''t have been able to get into contact with Xu Fu, so the following few oues could''ve arisen. Number one: the notes were stored in an alternate special location. Number two: the notes were stored with all of the other stored items, waiting for an inquiry to be submitted from the owner. After all, the owner of the notes had to be extremely wealthy to have been able to afford the expensive storage fees, and at the time, the First Bank of Usonia would''ve been scrambling to finalize the merger, so they would''ve most likely been hoping for Xu Fu to contact them and extend the duration of his storage."

    The tip of his pen was quickly gliding over the surface of the paper, then suddenly drew to a halt. The pen was wavering in his hand, and he seemed to be hesitating about something. Only after a long while did he draw a circle around the second option.

    In a nation like Usonia, where money often came first, there was a very good chance that the second option would be chosen. Otherwise, if they were to choose the first option, they would be able to process the item, thereby putting them at risk of incurring the ire of a major client.

    If they had followed the second option, the party offering the service to Xu Fu would''ve changed, but at the very least, his needs would still have been satisfied.

    He set down his pen and heaved a long sigh. "In that case, the notes should be in Phdelphia, but the issue is that the history of this damn bank is way tooplicated! It''s been under the ownership of both the Rothschild Family and the Rockefeller Family at certain points in history, and both of those are said to be important families in the Freemasonry. If they had discovered something, then Xu Fu''s box would''ve definitely already been opened..."

    Right at this moment a thought suddenly urred to him.

    Hold on...

    He immediately sat up straight and began to read through the information on the webpage again.

    "The First Usonian Bank, a privately owned bank." This was the only sign that the First Usonian Bank had ever existed.

    Why was there such a massive coincidence? The Freemasonry had founded the First Usonian Bank, and after that, it had been under the ownership of two individuals suspected to have been Master Masons of the Freemasonry... Wasn''t that a little too convenient?

    Was there something special about the First Usonian Bank? Had it been selected to be the First Bank of Usonia through a fair process or was there artificial maniption at y?

 Chapter 933: Asian Master Masons

    <h4>Chapter 933: Asian Master Masons</h4>

    In order to investigate something, it was never enough to just look at the surface, especially when it came to matters that were likely concerning supernatural forces.

    He had to search exhaustively, carefully gathering and examining every single lead he could find in order to glean the truth, especially when he had virtually no idea where to begin.

    Qin Ye was tapping his fingers gently on theputer table while staring at theputer screen with a cold expression. The First Usonian Bank was now the Chase Manhattan Bank... Its history was far tooplex, and if he were to investigate recklessly, he could attract a lot of unnecessary attention, which definitely wasn''t a desirable thing under the chaotic circumstances present in Northern Usonia.

    For an underworld emissary like him, the most direct method was to go to the underworld and directly ask the people involved in these events at the time.

    However, he was extremely wary of the names Rothschild and Rockefeller. ording to Xu Fu''s memories, Richardman was a member of the Freemasonry, and he had clearly been aware of some secrets concerning underworld emissaries. The fact that even he was aware of these things meant that these two massive powerhouse families that had reigned supreme over the entire world for centuries definitely knew about this as well.

    After 20 minutes of contemtive silence, Qin Ye massaged his own temples as he murmured to himself, "I have to go through the mortal realm. This is where I''ll be least likely to arouse suspicion. If I attract the attention of certain parties while conducting my investigation in the underworld, the consequences would be far too unpredictable."

    However, how was he supposed tounch an investigation in the mortal realm?

    Qin Ye rose to his feet and began to pace back and forth in the room in a slightly flustered manner. Several minutester, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he picked up his phone before quickly dialing a number.

    Upon hearing the call being connected, Qin Ye immediately heaved an internal sigh of relief.

    Thank heavens I haven''t been blocked...

    However, the person on the other side of the line then immediately declined the call.

    Fuck... Qin Ye was furious as he dialed the number again, but once again, the call was declined.

    Oh, so you wanna y this game, do ya?!

    Qin Ye immediately made a third call, then a fourth call... On the 10th call, the line was finally connected after 30 seconds, and an enraged female voice rang out from the other end. "If you call me again, there will be mercenaries sent to your location within 10 minutes, and within half an hour, you''ll have military rocketunchers aimed right at you!"

    The angry look on Qin Ye''s face immediately transformed into a fawning simple as he said, "You know you can''t kill me like that."

    "Yes, but I can get you deported!" Lee Jung-sook''s voice abruptly sprang up several octaves. It was already a testament to her self-restraint that she hadn''t begun swearing out loud!

    Qin Ye cleared his throat and said, "Er... I can exin."

    "Exin what?" Lee Jung-sook asked with a cold smile.

    Qin Ye replied in a sheepish voice, "I really didn''t leave you hanging on purpose on that day. I genuinely forgot that you were still waiting for me..."

    "You can stop right there!" The tone of Lee Jung-sook''s voice made it sound as if she were strongly consideringmitting murder. "So you''re calling me now to exin what you did several months ago?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, she continued in a furious voice, "You offered no exnation at the time, and only after several months have you remembered my existence?!"

    Daehan, Hanyang.

    At the Samsung headquarters, Lee Jung-sook''s assistant offered her a cup of coffee, and she grabbed the cup before mming it onto her desk. Her assistance was greatly startled to see this. Never had she seen the young mistress lose her temper like this.

    Hiding her emotions was a skill that Lee Jung-sook had honed to such perfection that her expressionless facade had almost fused as one with her actual face, yet that facade had beenpletely torn away!

    Lee Jung-sook felt as if she were an active volcano that was on the verge of erupting! This idiot''s excuses never failed to make her mad! Several months ago, he had left her in the middle of a cold night. Not only was it a foreign country for her, it was also a location prone to supernatural activity, yet he had left her and forgotten all about her just like that!

    If they had been in a rtionship at the time, she would''ve strongly considered picking up a knife and hunting him down herself! What use would she have for such a useless boyfriend?!

    However, they weren''t in a rtionship, so he had no responsibility to look after her, and she was forced to swallow her rage. Several months had passed since then, and she had almost forgotten all about this, yet Qin Ye was calling her now, citing the terrible excuse that he was calling specifically to apologize for what had happened several months ago!

    You fucking... I ought to give you a taste of PF-89 80mm rocketunchers!

    "You were busy, right? That''s a great excuse! What do you want from me this time?"

    Before Qin Ye had a reply, she continued, "Don''t tell me you called me just to apologize. If you don''t want something from me, how could you possibly have recalled my existence? It''s clear that I hold no more weight in your heart than an ant, and it''s truly an honor for me that you''ve thought of this ant in your time of need."

    Qin Ye was already feeling battered and bruised from her verbal assault, but he still persisted as he said, "Ahem... I really am sorry, and I do need something from you this time..."

    A smile appeared on Lee Jung-sook''s face upon hearing this.

    Of course, it wasn''t a joyful smile. Instead, it was a vindictive smile of someone about to exact their revenge on a sworn enemy.

    You screwed me over once, so don''t me me for giving you a taste of your own medicine!

    She suddenly calmed down, then picked up her cup of coffee before taking a sip. "I can consider helping you. However..."

    "What is it?"

    "You have to agree to a condition from me," she replied with a faint smile as she gently skimmed her fingers over the keyboard on her desk. "As for what the condition is and when I''m going to redeem it, I haven''t decided yet, but you have to agree when the timees."

    "... Ahem... I thought that with our solid rtionship..."

    "The only rtionship that exists between us is that of an abandoner and an abandonee! Mr. Qin, have you forgotten what happenedst time? I was at the Huang n''s vige in the middle of the night, surrounded by the undead, calling my bodyguards to pick me up! I may not be able to age, but that doesn''t mean I can''t die!! If I expose what you did on the inte, you''ll be the next role model for scummy boyfriends!"

    Qin Ye instantly shut his mouth in an obedient manner.

    "Alright, I can agree to any condition as long as it doesn''t encroach upon my morals or my duties as King Yanluo..."

    "Of course," Lee Jung-sook replied with a joyful smile. She didn''t care about any conditions at all, what she wanted was this apology. If Qin Ye weren''t being sincere in his apology, then she would ensure that he was taught an unforgettable lesson.

    At the very least, she would find an opportunity to strip him nude and throw him onto the street!!

    Qin Ye seemed to be able to glean her thoughts all the way from Usonia, and he added, "Also, I''m not doing anything that''s rted to prostitution."

    "Qin Ye!" The sound of gnashing teeth was clearly audible to Qin Ye through the line. "There are countless men in Daehan who would be willing to kneel in front of me if I take so much as even a single nce at them! Do you think you''re more handsome than everyone else or are you saying I''m blind?"

    Qin Ye didn''t reply.

    In his heart, he was the most handsome man in the entire underworld.

    Countless men in Daehan would kneel for you? Pffft, countless women in the entire Cathayan Underworld would flock to my bedside and beg me to take them as my concubines if I disyed even the slightest interest in them! My underworld concubine harem will beat your Daehan boyband harem any day!

    Despite what he was thinking, he was putting on a pathetic disy on the surface.

    "Please ept my sincerest apologies and forgive me out of the kindness of your heart, my queen."

    Lee Jung-sook gave a proud harrumph in response. At this point, her fury had died down significantly. After all, they were the only people able to truly understand one another in this world.

    Their rtionship was like that between a person and a shadow, and there was no need for her to get angry at her own shadow.

    "Go on then," she said with a smile as she crossed her long and attractive legs in an elegant manner. "If it''s within my capabilities, then I wouldn''t mind giving you a hand. After all, favors from you are quite precious."

    A serious look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he asked, "Do you know of the Freemasonry?"

    Lee Jung-sook raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, then gestured to her assistant, and her assistant immediately left the room. Only then did she stand up and make her way to the window before asking, "I do. What do you want to know about them?"

    "ording to my knowledge, the highest-ranking members of the Freemasonry are referred to as Master Masons. How many Master Masons are there in total right now, and how many of them are in Northern Usonia?"

    "Hold on a second." Instead of giving an immediate reply, Lee Jung-sook ended the call, then picked up another phone before dialing Qin Ye''s number.

    The call was quickly epted, and she said in a serious voice, "Don''t discuss topics like this on satellite systems supported by Usonia. This phone uses Samsung''s satellite system and will filter our conversation. There are a total of 12 Master Masons, but none of them should be in Usonia right now."

    She paused momentarily before her brows furrowed slightly. "The number you''re using is a Usonian number... Are you in Usonia right now?"

    "Yes."

    After another brief pause, Lee Jung-sook said in a serious voice, "My advice to you is to leave Usonia right now."

    "Why?" Now that they had cut to the chase, both of them had be as calm as automatons, and they were speaking to one another in a concise and straightforward manner.

    "Two months ago, all of the Master Masons in Usonia left the continent within a short span of time. I don''t know the reasons behind that, but I''m certain that a major crisis is about to befall Usonia. The fact that you''re in Usonia right now makes me even more convinced that something is about to happen there."

    Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Lee Jung-sook gentlybed her fingers through her own hair as she continued, "If I had to guess, it''s most likely going to be something to do with a threat from the underworld. In the mortal realm, there are very few things and people that can pose a threat to them. Only an extremely massive and uncontroble change on the horizon would force them to leave the continent on such short notice. Did I guess correctly?"

    It had to be said that after umting so much knowledge and experience over her long life, Lee Jung-sook had be terrifyingly sharp and alert.

    Qin Ye didn''t deny this. Instead, he took a deep breath before asking in a serious voice, "Are you one of the Master Masons of the Freemasonry?"

    Silence.

    After a long while, Lee Jung-sook finally replied, "Yes. There are two Master Masons in Asia in total, and the other one is in Nippon."

    I knew it!

    Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief. As expected, Lee Jung-sook was his best ally if he wanted to pursue the investigation in the mortal realm.

    The mortal realm was constantly shielded from all of the turmoil of the underworld, and no one paid much attention to it. If a Master Mason could issue an order to recover something from several centuries ago, he would be able to obtain the notes in just several more hours!

    Special rights like these were extremely useful under all circumstances.

    "Do me a favor," he said in a serious voice. "I need something that Xu Fu deposited at the First Usonian Bank, which should currently be called the Chase Manhattan Bank, 300 years ago. I need to get my hands on it no matter what."

    He received no response, and only after 10 more seconds of silence did Lee Jung-sook reply in an extremely grave tone, "Qin Ye, I''m warning you right now, make sure to be extra, extra careful when dealing with this organization. There are many monsters among them, not figurative ones, but actual monsters! I can tell you that the Freemasonry currently harbors the patriarch of the werewolf n, as well as the first generation of vampires, which were the first people to have been converted by Count Drac. There are also some other non-human creatures that can only be seen in legends, and a member of the undead like me is actually among the most harmless members of the organization. As for the First Usonian Bank, that name is strictly taboo in the Freemasonry. I may be a Master Mason, but I''m not among the Freemasonry''s founders, so I''m not a core member. I only became a Master Mason when they were selecting the wealthiest and most influential people in the world. ording to the limited information I''ve managed to gather, this bank has ties with past presidents, ministers of finance, vice-presidents, secretaries of state, the list of important figures goes on... Are you sure you need to do something to do with this bank?"

    Qin Ye replied in a determined voice, "I''m absolutely certain."

    Lee Jung-sook fell silent again.

    Three secondster, she suddenly chuckled, "I must say, your determination and courage is verymendable. Alright then... You''re in Los Angeles right now, right? Go to the foot of Hollywood Hills in three hours, my people will be waiting for you there, and they''ll show you some interesting things concerning the First Usonian Bank and the Chase Manhattan Bank. Even as King Yanluo, I''m sure you''ll be shocked by what you''ll see."

 Chapter 934: The Legendary First Usonian Bank

    <h4>Chapter 934: The Legendary First Usonian Bank</h4>

    Due to the fact that Usonia had only been founded rtively recently when it came to the context of history, the nation was suffering from a certain degree of cultural inferiority, and as a result, many supposed cultures arose, such as highway culture, car culture, rock music culture, etc.

    It would be like some from ancient Cathay pointing at a horse-drawn carriage and saying: "This is our carriage culture, ites in 16-seat and eight-seat models."

    Foreign envoys: ???

    For those living in this nation, it was inevitable toe into contact with these pseudo cultures. Usonians were convinced that they were the light of the world, and all people who had lived in Usonia were most likely very familiar with this aspect of Usonian culture, and Qin Ye was experiencing this right now.

    It was a long and straight road to the Hollywood Hills, and he was listening to melodious country music, watching the surrounding mountains and greenery sh past his window.

    The driver was a ck man, and along the way, he had been constantly talking to Qin Ye. After all, Qin Ye currently had the appearance of a Caucasian Usonian. Qin Ye remained stoically uninterested in the driver''s attempts to initiate conversations, and 20 minutester, the driver fell silent and began to bob his head while humming to the music. Furthermore, it was a Taylor Swift Song...

    From a distance, the Hollywood Sign presented a spectacr sight to behold. Any movie enthusiast would definitely be struck by a sense of reverence and excitement at the sight of this monumentalndmark, but Qin Ye had no interest in it.

    Just you wait until I get my hands on electricity! We''ll be able to shoot films depicting humans and ghosts without even the need for costumes, makeup, or CGI! We''ll blow your movies right out of the water!

    In reality, Hollywood wasn''t an area. Strictly speaking, it was a city, and it even had its own honorary mayor. It belonged to the Greater Los Angeles Area, but was also independent of it.

    At this point, the hype around Hollywood had already died down long ago. It was a symbol for movies in Usonia and even movies worldwide. Out of the six major movie producers back in Hollywood''s heyday, only one, Paramount, still hadrge shooting locations in Hollywood. There were once over 600 moviepanies here, yet only a handful of those remained. Most of them had be venues for award presentations, such as the Dolby Theater, while all of the top-notch moviepanies had already set up shooting locations at sites with better environments.

    Even so, this was the spiritual holynd of the movie industry, and it was still constantly being visited by movie lovers and tourists from all over the world. The small towns constructed around the Hollywood Hills ensured that there were always ces for tourists to stay, and one could even pay to enjoy a horse ride on the hills.

    Thus, as soon as Qin Ye emerged from the taxi, he was greeted by the sight of over 100 people already gathered in the car park. There was even a Cathayan tour guide waving a small red g as he yelled, "Tourists from the Heaven Tour Group, please gather here..."

    There were people of all races gathered here, and he had to admire how thoughtful Lee Jung-sook was. After learning that he wanted to do something in the Freemasonry, she had organized for him to meet her people at the closest location to him with the most diverse and highest number of visitors. They could meet in any one of the countless cafes here, and there would be no way for anyone to track him.

    At the same time, the fact that even the queen of Samsung was being so cautious was a clear indication of just how fearsome an organization the Freemasonry was.

    Right at this moment, a voice rang out beside him. "Excuse me, are you Mr. Qin?"

    Qin Ye turned to discover an Asian man speaking in fluent Mandarin. Qin Ye nodded at the man, who extended a respectful bow toward him, then opened a video call on his phone, upon which Lee Jung-sook''s face appeared on the screen.

    Lee Jung-sook took a nce at him, then ordered, "Get rid of him."

    The smile on the Asian man''s face instantly faded, and he had already reached a hand into his own pocket. Qin Ye was stunned to see this, and only now did he realize that he had forgotten that he was using another person''s body!

    "Susa Boy!!" he hurriedly said, and at the same time, the man had already pulled a gun out of his pocket.

    "Hold on," Lee Jung-sook instructed in a cid voice.

    She was initially quite calm, but her calmness instantly turned to disdain as soon as she saw Qin Ye.

    "It''s him."

    After that, she immediately concluded the video call. A respectful smile reappeared on the man''s face, and he put his gun away as if nothing had ever happened. He then made an inviting hand gesture and said, "My car is just over there, and it''s definitely safe. Pleasee with me, Mr. Qin."

    Qin Ye followed the man to apletely unremarkable Te car parked on the side of the road. After getting into the car, the man offered Qin Ye aptop and said with a serious expression, "Mr. Qin, you will only have three hours to go through the contents of thisptop after you open it. In three hours, theptop will automatically format itself, and its hard disk will bepletely destroyed. I''ll be waiting for you outside."

    How thoughtful...Qin Ye nodded in response, then exited the car to purchase a cup of coffee from a nearby cafe. He then made his way back to the car and leaned against it, concealing Qin Ye from any prying eyes that may have been looking into the car from outside.

    Qin Ye rubbed his hands together before opening theptop, and he was quickly greeted by the Windows 10 interface. There was no cursor on the screen, and a video soon popped up.

    It was a video of Lee Jung-sook.

    "You''re very brave." She was seated in her office with the city of Hanyang as her backdrop, looking as if she were the queen of Daehan. She cocked her head slightly to the side as she looked directly at Qin Ye through the screen and said, "It''s been a very long time since I''ve seen anyone brave enough to plot against the Freemasonry. There are some things that can''t be exined through words alone, so I''ll keep this short. I''ve coted all of the information I have on the First Usonian Bank and everything I''ve heard in the Master Mason circles into thisptop."

    In the image, the light in the room that Lee Jung-sook was seated in changed slightly, and immediately thereafter, the floor-to-ceiling window behind her transformed into a giant projector screen. However, the screen was currently filled with nothing but inky darkness.

    Lee Jung-sook continued in a grim voice, "Firstly, I don''t know where you heard this name from, but it''s extremely difficult to find on any website. Even if you do manage to find instances of the name on the inte, most of those instances will only consist of a single sentence. This is because no one dares to mention its history. I know about it due to its unique nature, and I''m sure you''ve already gathered some information about it from the rough ounts provided on some Usonian websites. This is a bank that allows influxes of foreign funds and has the right to print its own Usonian currency. For all of the powerful consortiums all over the world, it provides extremely alluring opportunities. Prior to its merger with the Chase Bank, it had already lost its right to print Usonian currency, but it had retained the right to ept foreign investment. Back in 1990, I had alreadypletely taken over Samsung, and I wanted to enter the Usonian market. The first banks that I tried to contact were those that grantedrge loans and could even help me do some things. An example of this was the First Usonian Bank, which was already known as the First Bank of Usonia at the time."

    She picked up her cup, then took a sip of coffee before continuing, "However, in order to do that, I had to face a fearsome enemy: the Rothschild Family. At the time, they had already taken 70% of all of the bank''s shares, and it was virtually impossible to beat them. The first strategy I considered was to strike through the deposit service."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    "I bought all of the shares I could from the bank''s minor shareholders to give myself some speaking rights, then made a request to the board of directors to manage the item deposit service. This was a service that not a lot of people paid attention to, and it was also a grey area that was rife withwsuits. My n was to take control of that area of the bank''s services, then slowly continue to expand my influence."

    She tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear as she said in a cold voice, "However, much to my surprise, they absolutely refused to relinquish this right! Several of the Rothschild Family''s direct lineal descendants even came to Daehan in person to try and persuade me to give up on this idea."

    "Did you agree?" Qin Ye asked as he raised an eyebrow, only to shake his head in a self-derisive manner upon making the realization that she couldn''t hear him.

    "You must be wondering whether I agreed or not, right?" Lee Jung-sook seemed to be able to read his mind as she smiled and continued, "Giving up has never been my style. On the surface, I agreed. At the time, I was already a minority shareholder in the First Usonian Bank and had some speaking rights. My first suspicion was that my actions were conflicting with someone''s interests, and I wondered if there were important items belonging to figures such as powerful military officials or oil tycoons being held in the bank under the storage service. However, I found that to be quite unlikely. Firstly, the First Usonian Bank wasn''t all that renowned, and no prominent figure would choose to deposit their belongings with a bank like that when there were so many superior alternatives. How poor would one have to be to deposit their belongings with the First Usonian Bank, and what items of value could people that poor possibly be able to deposit?"

    Qin Ye fell silent upon hearing this.

    He felt personally offended, even though Lee Jung-sook hadn''t been referring directly to him when she was talking about poor people.

    The fact that she had said that in such a matter-of-fact way without any disdain or emotion made him feel even more anguished.

    "Thus, I was very confused." The smile of a sly fox appeared on her face as she continued, "Theoretically speaking, there was no way that any important items would''ve been deposited with the bank, so it shouldn''t have been an important service. In that case, why was the Rothschild Family refusing to relinquish that right? In the end, I decided to send out threemercial spies. They were professionals who were ranked extremely high in the world. Of course, it would greatly tarnish my reputation if this were to be leaked, so I nned to silence them after they gave me the information I wanted."

    Her smile faded as a grim look appeared on her face. "Through their investigation, they discovered that the First Bank of Usonia had no security vault! Their security vault, which was the same one that the First Usonian Bank had used, had never been moved, and no one knew where it was! In order to verify this, I asked the movingpany that had helped the First Bank of Usonia move at the time. There was still a survivor among them, and... Oh, I forgot to mention this."

    A cold smile appeared on her face as she said, "Coincidentally, after the movingpanypleted this job, it filed for bankruptcy within a year, and all of the workers who were involved in transporting the security vault were dead. They had either died from car idents or diseases, and there was even one who was just walking on the street when he suffered a sudden aneurysm! Another coincidence was that one of the workers just so happened to have weed a son into his family within this year, and he was very happy to have been able to take on this lucrative job, so he filmed a DVD to show his newborn sonter in his life. If it weren''t for that DVD, I most likely wouldn''t have ever discovered all of this."

    As soon as her voice trailed off, she picked up the remote control and pressed a button, upon which a video finally began to y on the ck screen behind her.

    The video depicted a white Caucasian male who appeared to be in his forties, and this was already the tail-end of the video. The man wore a wide smile as he said, "Fortune always favors those who are prepared! My dear son, your dad just took on the most lucrative jobst year, and we didn''t even have to do anything! All we did was show up, and we earned a massive sum of money! I couldn''t believe it! I had no idea that there was such a massive underground church in Phdelphia, and we didn''t even need to transport anything..."

    Right at this moment, the image began to warp, then faded into static before turningpletely dark.

    "Did you hear that?" Lee Jung-sook asked with a smile. "If you want to find some leads, then the best ce to go is below Phdelphia. All I know is that there''s an underground church there, but I don''t know exactly where it is. Not long after the aforementioned events, the Freemasonry extended an invitation to me, and their condition was that I give up on my ambitions toward the First Bank of Usonia. I agreed."

    Qin Ye''s heart was thumping violently.

    For some reason, the First Usonian Bank hadn''t transported its security vault anywhere. Instead, it had only hired some workers and put on a show, and there was a very good chance that Xu Fu''s notes would be situated right under Phdelphia.

    He didn''t immediately continue watching. Instead, he frantically slid back the progress bar on the video to see the footage again.

    Soon, the video was reversed back to the footage of that Caucasian man.

    "Fortune always favors those who are prepared..." Qin Ye leaned down slightly as he stared intently at the image.

    If his eyes weren''t ying tricks on him, then in the instant before the image had faded into static, something else had appeared in it!

    This piece of footage had captured something that it shouldn''t have recorded.

 Chapter 935: The Final Informant

    <h4>Chapter 935: The Final Informant</h4>

    The worker had no name.

    He was clearly very excited, but Qin Ye could tell that he didn''t appear to be in a very good mental state in the video. There wererge bags under his eyes, his hair was quite disheveled, and even as he stood up to celebrate, his back was arched the entire time.

    "... Your dad just took on the most lucrative jobst year, and we didn''t even have to do anything! All we did was show up, and we earned a massive sum of money!"

    The image on theputer screen began to flicker once again, but Qin Ye remained patient and slid the progress bar slightly forward.

    "All we did was show up, and we earned a massive sum of money!"

    "... A massive sum of money..."

    This part of the video was yed five to six times while Qin Ye stared intently at the screen, and on this rey, right as the word "money" was uttered, he immediately pressed the pause button.

    The screen was already filled with static, but it was still possible to see some things. It was the transition between color and ck and white, as if a ck and white window had been opened right in the middle of the colored world.

    The worker was situated right inside this ck and white window, but he wasn''t speaking. Instead, he had already hung himself from themp hanger on the ceiling with his own belt!

    His eyes were bulging, his tongue had turned a dark purple color and was protruding out of his mouth, and his eyeballs had bepletely bloodshot. He seemed to have only perished recently, as evidenced by the fact that his fingers were still trembling slightly, and a series of dark veins were bulging on the backs of his hands as he looked downward with a terrifying expression.

    Just a moment ago, he had been celebrating his fortune, yet in the next moment, he hadmitted suicide by hanging himself! This incredibly bizarre scene would most likely immediately elicit a scream out of anyone else viewing the footage.

    It was also right at this moment that all of the ss in the entire car began to emit a loud cracking sound, as if something were frantically iling against the windows from outside.

    Qin Ye raised his head and swept his gaze around the car, and as soon as he did so, themotion instantly died down. He inspected the car for a few more seconds, following which a cold smile appeared on his face. "Interesting... So there was an Infernal Judge level evil ghost involved.."

    He lowered his head to cast his gaze back toward theputer screen. "The evil ghost was captured in the footage, and their powerful sense of resentment could be spread through the video, killing all those who watched it within seven days of the viewing. It''s exactly the same way that Sadako Yamamura spread death through her video. Thankfully, the footage was obtained by Lee Jung-sook, who is immune to such things... Let see now, where are you hiding?"

    He captured a screenshot of this exact frame, then quickly zoomed in on the image. Soon, the twisted face of the worker had taken up the entire screen, but Qin Ye still continued to zoom in even further.

    In the end, the only thing that could be seen were the worker''s bloodshot eyes, which remained open even in death.

    Through the reflection in those eyes, he finally caught sight of the evil ghost who was the culprit behind all of this!

    Below the worker was a cradle, within whichid an infant who was holding a small video recorder, using it to record everything.

    The infant''s entire body had alreadypletely dposed, and nauseating red pus was flowing out of its chunks of rotten flesh. It had no eyes, and its facial features consisted of only five ck holes. As it was filming everything, it was watching the man hanging from the ceiling with a sinister smile.

    From the very beginning, the infant that his wife had given birth to had never been a human!

    It was an evil ghost that had killed their entire family, and it had even affected this footage, leaving its resentment within the video. As a result, all of the worker''s close friends who decided to investigate by watching the footage also promptly met their demise.

    Right as Qin Ye began to carefully inspect this scene, the infant in the image suddenly moved!

    Through the reflection in the man''s pupils, Qin Ye could see that the infant had set down the video recorder before casting its gaze toward him, then opened its mouth up to over a foot wide before letting loose a silent roar.

    As a result, the car''s lights and ss were instantly shattered, and the Asian man outside was given a massive fright. He immediately turned around and asked, "Are you alright?"

    Amid the flurry of shattered ss, Qin Ye was watching theputer screen with a cold expression, and a faint smile suddenly appeared on his face.

    In the next instant, the infant seemed to have detected something extremely terrifying, and a sharp wail instantly rang out within the entire car. Meanwhile, the body of the worker in the image fell to the ground with a dull thud before closing its eyes.

    Deathly silence ensued, and after several seconds, the Asian man was already drenched in cold sweat as he asked, "Ar... Are you alright, sir?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Chills were running down the Asian man''s spine, and he poked his head into the car before looking around as he asked in a trembling voice, "Sir, what was that just now?"

    "It''s nothing you should know about," Qin Ye replied as he cast his gaze toward the man. "Do you want to take a look? It''ll cost you your life, though."

    The man immediately pulled back out of the car and turned to conceal Qin Ye again.

    Qin Ye pressed the y button, and the video began to roll again. Lee Jung-sook folded her hands together and rested her chin on the back of her hands as she said, "I''m guessing the most pressing question you have now is where exactly is this underground church? This is the biggest secret of the First Usonian Bank, and it was such a significant secret that one of the most important Master Masons of the Freemasonry sent his direct lineal descendants to try and persuade me to give up on the bank. However, Phdelphia is a very big city, how are you going to find the church?"

    She smiled as she lit a cigarette, then continued, "Firstly, I have to tell you that Phdelphia is a city with aplicated history. Prior to the rise of Washington DC, Phdelphia was Usonia''s capital city, so don''t think that the First Usonian Bank was just randomly built there. The renowned Deration of Independence was also released in Phdelphia. Its total area is over 3.3 million square kilometers, and it''ll be virtually impossible for you to find an underground church in the city if you can''t narrow down your options."

    She picked up a stack of documents beside her and said, "Phdelphia is currently the city most heavily affected by supernatural disasters in Usonia. The severity of the supernatural disasters there has already exceeded the very peak of what was suffered in Cathay. Tens of thousands of witch hunters and pdins are already treating the city as the front line in the battle against supernatural disasters, and the atmosphere is incredibly tense, so there''s no way you''ll be able to enter the city."

    She took a puff from her cigarette, then continued with a smile. "Perhaps I can offer you a lead. The child from back then isn''t dead, and I''ve confirmed that he''s also in Phdelphia."

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    That evil ghost wasn''t dead?

    No... Perhaps thepensation it requested in exchange for killing those workers was to be able to remain in the mortal realm. If he could track down that evil ghost, then many of his questions would be answered, and his identity as a police officer was perfect for this task!

    The location of that evil ghost most likely had something to do with the underground church. Even if it didn''t, Qin Ye would still be able to extract some leads out of him. As such, this was an extremely valuable piece of information!

    "As for the second lead... I actually have some guesses about this underground church." Lee Jung-sook''s smile faded as she continued, "I don''t know if you know this, but the term ''freemasonry'' isn''t one that''s coined. Instead, it''s one that actually exists, contrary to what many people in the general public think. The most renowned church in Phdelphia, which is also the current stronghold for the witch hunters and pdins, is called the Masonic Temple."

    Qin Ye''s gaze immediately stiffened upon hearing this.

    "It has seven showrooms, and information on this church is very easy to find. In fact, it''s even avable on Cathayan Baidu. There, you can see the list of names of all past Freemasonry members. Of course, the list only includes the names of some unimportant members. The names of the true Master Masons wouldn''t be avable there, and the symbol of the Eye of Providence can be seen everywhere. I suspect there will be leads to the underground church there. I am extremely familiar with the way that the Freemasonry does things. What they show to the public definitely isn''t important, while the truly important things are hidden elsewhere. Perhaps you can pay a visit to the Masonic Temple and take a look there. Alright, that''s all the information I have for you. A favor from me isn''t cheap, either, and you''re probably the only person in this world that I would personally make a video for."

    She blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke, then concluded with a cold smile, "Let''s not betray one another."

    The video concluded there.

    Qin Ye sat on his seat in silence, and 10 minutes after the video''s conclusion, theptop began to format itself. Another 10 minutes passed, and a burst of cracking rang out from the hard disk.

    "I see..." He finally emerged from the car, then stretchedzily as he murmured to himself, "Then let the search begin."

    I''ve finally got some leads that I can use to track you down... Let me see what demons and monsters lie on the other side of these leads!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    "ARRRRGH!!!!" The Cathaytown in Phdelphia was one of the oldest Cathaytowns in all of Usonia, and there was a tall middle-aged Usonian man rolling around frantically on the street, cradling his own head with his arms.

    All of the diners around him immediately rose to their feet to stare at him in a stunned silence. The Cathayan boss of the restaurant rushed out and patted the middle-aged man''s shoulder in a concerned manner as he asked, "Are you alright, Matthew? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

    "No... No..." Matthew''s hands were covering his face as he replied, "It''s alright, it''s a chronic issue I''ve had for a long time. I just need some rest..."

    The boss sighed and asked, "Are you sure you don''t need to go to the hospital?"

    "No... Please give me half a day off... I''ll be fine very soon..."

    Several minutester, Matthew made his way out of the restaurant while still covering his own face. This was a Cathayan restaurant, the kind that sold dishes like "General Tso''s Chicken" and "Chop Suey", which Cathayans had never even heard of. These dishes would be treated as a joke by Cathayans, but they were extremely popr in Usonia.

    The middle-aged man rushed straight into the apartment beside the restaurant, then closed the door and the curtains before rushing into the bathroom, where he grabbed a towel to frantically wipe his own face.

    The bathroom was very dimly lit, and by the time he raised his head, his eyeballs were already gone. There were only two ck holes left in their ce, and blood was flowing down his face from the holes.

    However, he paid no heed to this. Instead, slumped back against the wall as if he had lost all of his strength, then slowly slid down onto the tiled floor with an anguished sob. He then wrapped his arms around his own knees and began to weep quietly on the floor.

    His teeth were chattering due to excessive fear, and he murmured to himself in a trembling voice, "What was that? What was that thing just now? He saw me, I swear he saw me! I''ve never felt Yin energy so powerful before! How was I seen? Hold on... It must be that video! That''s the only thing that I''ve left a trace of myself in! Has the video fallen into the hands of some terrifying being?"

    He was trembling uncontrobly as he rose unsteadily to his feet, making his way over to the mirror before drawing a scarlet Yin rune on its surface with tightly gritted teeth. The surface of the mirror quickly began to ripple like water, following which a disgruntled voice rang out. "You''re already a Count now, you need to learn to solve your own problems."

    "Esteemed ruler of the Caribbean..." the middle-aged man said in a trembling voice. "If I could solve this problem myself, I would love to do so. Just now, someone... something came into contact with the mark I left behind! It was the mark I left behind to kill all of the people that you asked me to all those years ago! It was an extremely terrifying being! What do I do now?"

    Several minutes of silence ensued, following which a line of blood text appeared on the mirror: "I don''t know what you''re talking about, but all you can do is wait. Our era is about to arrive soon. Our legend is currently sweeping through Northern Usonia, and as soon as our grand script of death is ready, our rise will beplete. I promise you that regardless of who it is that''s caught onto your existence, we''ll be sure to take care of them for you when the timees. If you''re still scared, then go to this location..."

    A location appeared on the mirror, followed by one final instruction. "Hide yourself there and don''t let anyone discover you. Our people are situated there, and they''ll protect you."

    [1] [Baidu is a popr search engine used in China.]

    [2] [Derived from the term Chinatown, if that wasn''t obvious enough.]

 Chapter 936: Traveling to Philadelphia

    <h4>Chapter 936: Traveling to Phdelphia</h4>

    "Edward?" A portly ck police officer raised an eyebrow in befuddlement as he looked at the man standing in front of his table. "Didn''t you go to take a holiday?"

    A friendly smile appeared on Edward''s face as he replied, "What can I say? I guess I''m a workaholic."

    "Don''t make meugh!" The police officer didn''t know whether to be angry or amused by Edward''s reply. He pushed a form toward Edward and said, "Anyway, you came back at just the right time. Our police station is always short-staffed, and I''m gonna be honest, if you had taken a break of more than a week, I would''ve transferred you to a rural police station right away. Now get back to work!"

    Edward epted the form, which was a report that he had toplete after returning from holiday, and he was just about to leave the office when a thought suddenly urred to him. He turned back to face the ck police officer and asked, "Chief Miles, why are we so short-staffed right now?"

    Before Miles had a chance to reply, Edward continued, "Many of the people I went to the police academy with have been transferred to the east to police stations in Washington DC and Phdelphia, and I''ve been unable to get through to them through phone calls. Is there a major case being investigated there?"

    "Even if there is, it''s not something you can get involved in!" Chief Miles harrumphed. "Edward, let me tell you this: if you had taken your job more seriously and worried about stuff like this 10 years ago, you wouldn''t still be just an ordinary police officer right now!"

    Edward shrugged nonchntly in response before leaving the office.

    As soon as he turned to depart, a grim look appeared on his face.

    It seemed that this Chief Miles was also unaware of what was happening in the east, which indicated that the city of Phdelphia wasn''t truly in lockdown yet. This was Usonia, after all, and it was far too difficult to truly ce a city in strict lockdown unless it was an authoritarian nation.

    If the current president dared to ce Phdelphia under lockdown, then there was no way they would receive support from the east. In addition to that, the opposition party would pounce on him like sharks and tear him to shreds.

    The setup in Usonian police stations was much the same as that of other nations, consisting of several desks ced together to form arge work area. On the desks were cedputers, files, and Usonian gs, and the eagle emblem that traditionally symbolized the Usonian police force was hanging on the wall. Edward made his way over to his own desk, then poured himself a cup of coffee before smiling at the ck woman seated across from him.

    "Are you flirting with me?" The woman was very well-built, and she smiled as she asked in a joking manner, "Since when did you stop being a celibatarian?"

    In Usonia, being a police officer wasn''t considered to be a very good job, so the sry was rtively high. After all, it was a lot more dangerous for police officers in a nation where guns were somonce.

    Not many Caucasians chose this upation, and it was instead a way for ck people to truly integrate themselves into Usonian society, so the majority of police officers in Usonia were ck.

    "You''re misunderstanding me," Edward replied with a smile, then leaned forward slightly as he said in a low voice, "Help me track someone down, Jenny."

    "Who?"

    "I don''t know the name, but his father was once a mover for the First Usonian Bank a very long time ago."

    An unimpressed look appeared on Jenny''s face. "Is that supposed to be a joke, Mr. Edward?"

    "No," Edward replied with a serious expression. "I suspect that he was involved in a murder."

    A serious look finally appeared on Jenny''s face upon hearing this, and she quickly type something on her keyboard. After a while, she turned to Edward with a bemused expression. "ording to what I could find, 1985 was when the First Usonian Bank officially moved to Phdelphia. You''re saying you want to investigate a suspected murder from several decades ago? Firstly, this case is already past its statute of limitations. The limitation period for murders and homicides is 20 years, and it''s well past that already. On top of that, this case isn''t even under our jurisdiction."

    Edwar''ds brows furrowed slighlty upon hearing this. "Why is that? If it''s a murder that took ce in this city, then it should be overseen by our police department, and I have the right to pursue the truth! It''s our duty as Usonian police officers!"

    "I don''t disagree with that, of course," Jenny said as she continued to type on her keyboard. "But what you have to understand is that the Usonian police force is split up into several departments. First, there''s the Department of Homnd Security, then there''s the Federal Police and the Department of Justice, which includes police departments like ours."

    A beeping sound rang out from Edward''sputer, alerting him to the fact that Jenny had just sent him a screen capture through their internalmunication software.

    Just a single nce told him all that he needed to know. This case had already been transferred to the Department of Justice, and it was taken on by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the Department of Justice,monly referred to as the FBI.

    As expected, the FBI knew some of the truth behind this case and was prohibiting normal police officers from getting involved.

    Seeing his slightly furrowed brows, Jenny raised an eyebrow and asked, "Don''t tell me you want to open a case and investigate it on your own!"

    Edward didn''t reply.

    Jenny heaved a long sigh. "Edward, you''re not a young man anymore. The people who started in the police force at the same time as you have all been promoted up the ranks! Can you stop wasting your life? Even if your request to open an independent case is approved, you won''t receive any help in the investigation, and the FBI won''t allow you to overstep your authority. Even if you seed, the limitation period has already passed, and the culprit won''t be punished. Perhaps an exception would be made if this were an extremely heinous criminal such as a serial killer or child killer, but choosing to pursue this now is nothing more than aplete waste of time!"

    "I just want to give justice to the victim''s living family members," Edward said as he rose to his feet.

    Jenny gave a resigned shrug in response and didn''t speak any further on the matter.

    There was simply no getting through to some people.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Come in," Chief Miles said in a casual manner as he set his coffee cup aside.

    The door was opened, and Edward made his way into the room before cing a stack of files onto the desk. "I want to apply tounch an independent investigation."

    Miles almost spat out his coffee upon hearing this. For the second time in a day, he felt as if Edward had be apletely different person.

    Are you fucking crazy? You''re just asking to be fired now!

    He repressed his anger and picked up the files before taking a look. After a long while, he set the files back down onto the table and said, "I don''t think you''re an idiot. This case has already passed its 20-year limitation period, and in addition to that, you need an excuse if you want to open an independent case. Tell me why you suspect there''s something in this case left to be unearthed, and don''t give me a stupid answer like ''because the FBI got involved."

    Edward replied in a serious voice, "I just so happened to see some footage of the victim at the time of his death. It was a home video, and it was filmed right before the day he disappeared. I swear that there''s something suspicious about the circumstances of his death, and I have the right to apply for an independent investigation."

    On this asion, Miles didn''t immediately turn him down.

    After a full three minutes of silence, he suddenly said, "Our police station won''t be able to provide you with much assistance."

    Edward was rather taken aback to hear this, but he nodded in response. "I''m aware of that. All I need is our police station''s GPS system and database, as well as a car and a document approving of my independent investigation."

    The room fell silent again.

    Miles picked up his cup and took a sip of coffee, then heaved a faint sigh as he looked straight into Edward''s eyes. "Edward, I''m going to be frank here. You''re a strange man and you''re not very well-liked, but I have to issue you a warning here. Have you thought about why the FBI took over this case? Have you considered the dangers involved?"

    Edward nodded firmly in response. "I have."

    "And you''re still determined to tackle this case?"

    "That''s right," Edward replied with unwavering determination. "This is my duty."

    Their eyes met, and several secondster, Miles nodded in response. "Alright, this is your choice. Go and find Ellie, she''ll give you the things you need."

    Edward extended a salute toward Miles, then departed from the room.

    The door was closed, and Miles continued to sip on his coffee. After 10 minutes, he finally heaved a long sigh, then carefully pulled a phone out of his inner breast pocket.

    This was an old Nokia phone. Back in 2014, Nokia had handed over all of its phone operations to Microsoft, which meant that Nokia phone models prior to 2014 were unsupported and wouldn''t be able to receive any signal. However, Miles still opened the phone before calling a number.

    10 secondster, he said in a reverent voice, "Greetings, Your Excellency. I''m calling to inform you that someone really is investigating that case regarding the worker from the movingpany... Yes, it''s one of my subordinates. I tried to dissuade him, but it was to no avail. I subtly warned him against taking on this case on two asions, but he ignored my warnings... Alright, should I tell him to go straight to Phdelphia?... Understood. I hope your subordinates will be able to take care of him. If hees back alive, he may shed light on this matter to the general public... Of course, I didn''t tell him anything... I''ve revered and worshipped you ever since you saved my daughter''s life. I don''t know if you''re a demon or an angel, all I know is that I''m indebted to you forever... Alright, I''ll send his information to you right away."

    After ending the phone call, Miles sat silently in front of his desk, running his hand over his bald scalp while staring intently at the door of his office, as if he could see Edward through the door.

    "I tried to tell you, but you wouldn''t listen, so don''t me me..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The car drove smoothly out of Los Angeles and continued on toward the east.

    Unlike Cathay, Usonia had quite a low poption density, and there was farnd and stretches of wilderness devoid of human presence everywhere. Countless mountains, valleys, palm trees, and all types of nts made up the scenery along the way, and it was often the case that one could drive for several hours without even encountering a petrol station.

    Edward was driving at night, and in the darkness, the highway appeared particrly eerie.

    The car was a Ford sedan given to him by the police station, and on the passenger''s seat sat a paper bag, which contained detailed information regarding the worker who had passed away.

    His name was Ricky Conn, and he had passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1986. His son''s name was Matthew Conn, and Matthew was currently residing beside the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park in room number 312 on the third floor of 137th apartment on 23rd Street. Matthew was 39 years old, and a copy of his passport identification page had been enclosed in the paper bag.

    ording to the data provided, Matthew had no addiction nor an official job, working odd jobs here and there for survival. He had never married, and his life waspletely mundane and unremarkable. However, Qin Ye knew that the most extraordinary things were often concealed behind mundane-looking facades.

    As he was driving, he would spot a truck asionally on the highway. It had already been half a day since he left Los Angeles, and his n was to travel straight to Phoenix, which was a drive of 601 kilometers. After that, he was going to take a ne in Phoenix. He had no time to make a trip across the entirety of Usonia.

    His n was to drive through the night, then take the flight that was scheduled at 12 PM the next day. Right as he took a turn, a truck came driving toward him from the oppositene.

    This wasn''t a remarkable sight by any means, and Edward cast a bored nce at the truck driver through the two windscreens. The driver had clearly already been driving for a very long time and was currently frantically drinking from a can of coffee.

    This was a verymon sight on Usonian highways.

    Right as the two cars were about to pass by one another, the truck driver shook the empty coffee can in a frustrated manner, then swore out loud to himself.

    The two vehicles passed by one another in the night, and there was nothing special at all about this interaction, which had taken ce countless times on all of the highways across Usonia.

    Right at this moment, the truck driver tossed the coffee can out of his window with furrowed brows. Edward strongly detested rude and uncouth individuals like this, and he shook his head in disapproval, but his expression then abruptly stiffened.

    The coffee can hadnded on the roof of his car, but it had done so with only a single ng.

    The issue was that there was no sound of the can rolling around.

    It was as if a ma had been tossed onto the roof of his car rather than a coffee can.

    In the next instant, a burst of urgent beeping rang out, and all of the fine hairs all over Edward''s entire body immediately stood up on end!

    This was a maic time bomb!

    There was no time to think, and Edward kicked open the car door before jumping out without any hesitation, paying no heed to the fact that he was still on the highway!

    BOOM!!!

 Chapter 937: Another Grand Script of Death?

    <h4>Chapter 937: Another Grand Script of Death?</h4>

    A massive explosion erupted behind him, and pieces of the car were sent flying in all directions amid the scorching mes. It was as if a huge red firework had been set off right in the middle of the highway. Meanwhile, Edward had already drifted over to the side, and none of the ming shrapnel flying through the air had managed to even graze him.

    Right at this moment, the truck up ahead suddenly drew to a halt, following which a faint cry of surprise rang out. Edward paid no heed to this, beginning to carefully inspect his surroundings instead.

    At some point in time, this entire highway had taken on an illusory quality.

    All of the surrounding colors had faded into ck and white, and the end of the highway was blurry and indistinct, as if it were being concealed by vapor and mist.

    His assant had just set up an array just now. The array had most likely been set up with the assistance of some type of artifact. The man in the truck was a Soul Hunter at the very most, and he certainly wasn''t powerful enough to instantly create arrays at will.

    "Come out," he said in a calm voice as he cast his gaze toward the truck. "It''s only been half a day since I left Los Angeles and something like this has already happened... Could it be that there''s a mole in the Los Angeles Police Station?"

    All of a sudden, the truck abruptly burst into mes, and amid the scorching mes, the sound of a motring engine rang out. Immediately thereafter, a figure rushed out of the fire, sending a flurry of sparks flying up close to 20 meters into the air beforending on the ground with a resounding boom.

    A fiery shockwave erupted forth in all directions, causing Edward''s clothes to p violently, and by the time the fire subsided, an evil ghost had appeared up ahead.

    He was riding a strange motorcycle constructed from bones and metal chains, and fierce mes were erupting out of his skin, epassing the entire motorcycle. Scarlet mes were bursting out of every single pore on his charred and cracked skin, and his fiery red eyes were filled with bloodlust and insanity.

    Edward was stunned by the sight of this evil ghost, and several secondster, he asked, "Are you supposed to be Brand, the Burning Vengeance? Is that your highway killer skin?"

    An awkward silence immediately ensued.

    Several secondster, the ming man said with a cold smile, "So you''re a human, huh? Let me guess who your master is."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, around a dozen fiery chains erupted out of the ming man''s back before instantly wrapping themselves around Edward''s body.

    Edward offered no response, and he wasn''t fearful in the slightest as he watched the ming man with a smile.

    "Are you from the church?" The evil ghost tugged violently on the chains, and a burst of cringe-inducing creaking and groaning rang out, as if Edward''s bones were being snapped by the constricting force of the chains.

    The evil ghost licked the chains with his tongue, and the joy and excitement of torturing his prey filled every single inch of his body. Even his voice was trembling slightly from excitement as he asked, "Or are you from the government of Usonia in the mortal realm? In any case, once you''re dead, it doesn''t matter where you''vee from."

    He gave the chains another violent tug as he spoke. "Come... Let me see what kind of soul is hiding in this vessel..."

    In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out, following which a burst of boundless Yin energy abruptly surged out of Edward''s body.

    The Yin energy was extraordinarily dark and pure, and it instantly inundated the entire highway. A massive projection immediately filled the entire array, and the ming man''s jaw quickly fell straight to the ground as he stoodpletely rooted to the spot.

    Edward''s body slowly copsed to the ground, but a young man in a golden dragon robe with a golden crown on his head had appeared in front of him.

    Dead silence.

    The ming man felt as if his mind had gonepletely nk, and overwhelming Yin energy was descending around him in all directions. He felt as if he were facing a god, and he was so terrified that he couldn''t utter even a single word. His lips were trembling incessantly, and the bright red mes burning around him turned gray, then transitioned into a reverent light blue color.

    Qin Ye casually looked around, then turned toward the stunned evil ghost with a faint smile. "This is the soul that the body was hiding. Is this enough to satisfy you?"

    No response.

    The evil ghost was too stunned to speak or move, and three secondster, a sense of overwhelming horror swept over his entire body, causing his fingers to tremble uncontrobly.

    His legs gave out from under him, and he fell off his motorcycle, but then immediately mbered up into a kneeling position as he said in a trembling voice, "M, M, My sincerest apologies... May I ask your na..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish, his body was already sliding forward along the ground uncontrobly while still in a kneeling position, and Qin Ye closed his hand around the evil ghost''s throat before lifting him off his feet.

    What terrifying power... Such overwhelming Yin energy... This is a Duke! It''s a Duke level emissary of the Cathayan Underworld! A Duke level Cathayan underworld emissary has arrived in the new continent! Why didn''t those idiots responsible for border security discover him? Why was I the one to take on this damn job?!

    The evil ghost was alreadypletely ovee by fear, and only after a few seconds of terrified silence did he implore in a barely audible voice, "Please spare me..."

    Qin Ye smiled as he unveiled his Dusk Legionnaire. "You''re a lucky guy. If you died, there would be an investigation, so it''s better if you disappeared instead. However, before that, I have a few questions I want to ask you."

    Qin Ye''s smile faded as his Yama-King level Yin energy swirled around the evil ghost, and the crushing sense of asphyxiation almost made the ming man scream out loud.

    "Who do you serve and what are you doing here?"

    After that, Qin Ye tossed the man away with a casual flick of his wrist, and the ming mannded close to 20 meters away, but he didn''t even dare to cry out in pain. Instead, he immediately mbered into a kneeling position again as he replied in a trembling voice, "M, My name is Brand, and Ie from..."

    He gritted his teeth before finishing in a strained voice, "Ie from Panama..."

    Panama?

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he asked, "How are you rted to the three death gods of the Caribbean?"

    Panama was a part of a cluster of nations that connected Northern and Southern Usonia, and it was a country at the very center of Usonia. Directly above it was the vast Caribbean Sea.

    "They''re my superiors," Brand replied in a trembling voice as the fire burning on his body flickered violently. "There are vengeful spirits stationed at all of the important cities in Usonia, and I''m one of those vengeful spirits..."

    Qin Ye was seated casually on the railing beside the road in silence. However, his silence further exacerbated the fear in Brand''s heart, and he was in such a hurry to tell Qin Ye everything he knew that he was tripping over his own words. "I''m also one of the vengeful spirits stationed in Los Angeles, and aside from ourmon duty, which is to keep an eye on the witch hunters and the church, everyone has an additional important mission, which is to protect Matthew Conn. If anyone tries to attack him or investigate that incident from several decades ago, our job is to have them killed!"

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he rose to his feet. Brand immediately shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, then forcibly repressed the overwhelming urge to run as he awaited his fate with chattering teeth.

    Qin Ye made his way over to Brand and asked, "Is that all?"

    His voice was very calm and cid, but Brand immediately kowtowed to the ground, and when he spoke again, he was virtually sobbing. "That''s all! I swear that''s everything I have to tell you!"

    "I see..." Qin Ye nodded in response, and his Yin energy formed a vortex that was three meters in size behind him. The shrieks of countless evil ghosts instantly rang out from within the vortex as the Dusk Legionnaire was fully unfurled.

    "Wait! Please, no!!" Brand''s voice immediately sprang up a few octaves as he screamed in sheer panic, "There''s something else! I, I just thought of it!"

    Brand had misunderstood Qin Ye''s intentions, but Qin Ye certainly wasn''t going to tell him that. "Go on then."

    Brand took a deep breath to repress the overwhelming fear in his heart, then continued, "We... We also have another mission, which is to create supernatural activity all over the nation once every month ording to the instructions provided to us here."

    He reached a trembling hand into his own pocket, then pulled out a scroll that he opened in a respectful manner.

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the scroll and discovered that it was made from parchment paper with a line of English text written in blood on its surface. It was clearly normal English, yet every single character had minute adjustments made to them, giving one a sense of peace and serenity.

    In the instant that he began reading the English characters, they seemed to spring to life, releasing the calls of countless deceased individuals, and even he was struck by an extremely grim feeling in that instant.

    "Slumber of the Sea and the Stars: Dax."

    This was the writing of a death god!

    Dax? I''ve never heard of this death god before. What religion do they belong to? A religion of the sea? Are they invading Southern Usonia? No, the fact that even I''m sensing such pressure just from seeing their writing indicates that they''re definitely a Yama-King, but there are only so many Yama-King level death gods in the world, and I know all of them, but I''ve never heard of any death god by the name of Dax.

    Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he read the contents of the scroll with a grim expression. He had a feeling that this mysterious death god was inferior to him. Furthermore, it was a very strange feeling, almost as if this death god in question were an imaginary being.

    Could this be a non-existent death god? But that''s preposterous! His brows furrowed tightly as these thoughts shed through his mind.

    Did this mean that a new legend was currently taking shape and that a new death god was about to emerge? Was that even possible?

    It was already well past the era during which all of the major religions had arisen and even legends of the Cthulhu were seen more as a type of culture rather than a religion, not to mention the fact that most people weren''t even aware of it. In contrast with religions renowned all over the world, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Im, and even branches of mythology such as Argosian Mythology, Roman Mythology, and Northern Europa Mythology, no one had even heard of this so-called Slumber of the Sea and the Stars, so how could it possibly have sufficient followers to give rise to a Yama-King?

    It was important to remember that Northern Usonia was dominated by catholicism!

    This was a religion that hadpletely overwhelmed the three aboriginal religions, how could it possibly allow for the rise of a previouslypletely unheard of death god?

    <i>So why exactly does this death god feel real and illusory at the same time? </i>With a casual wave of his hand, Brand was sent flying into the Dusk Legionnaire before he could even cry out, and Qin Ye returned to Edward''s body before advancing rapidly toward Phoenix with Yin wind forming a protective barrier around him.

    The ne ticket was scheduled for noon the next day, and he didn''t dare to fly too quickly. The new continent was in an extremely chaotic state, so he didn''t dare to travel much faster than the average car in fear of attracting unnecessary attention to himself.

    Along the way, he was rapidly analyzing everything that had just happened. After a long while, right as the outlines of the city of Phoenix appeared on the horizon, he abruptly stopped in his tracks before casting a surprised gaze toward Phoenix.

    A line of supernatural tape had already been set up on the outskirts of the city!

    The tape was very thin, which indicated that the supernatural disasters taking ce in the city weren''t particrly severe, but Qin Ye felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning and all of the scattered thoughts in his mind were instantly strung together!

    He took a deep breath as he cast a contemtive gaze toward the night sky while murmuring to himself, "Could it be that a grand script of death is currently being written? The three Caribbean death gods are currently taking the final step to bing true death gods, and their name is going to be Slumber of the Sea and the Stars! This is why it feels both real and illusory at the same time, and it must also be why Brand and the others were assigned the task of creating supernatural events! This must be why the supernatural disasters taking ce in Usonia are so severe! A new death god is arising amid the chaos, establishing itself amid all the supernatural disasters! This is exactly what was happening in Daehan! The problem is, grand scripts of death can only be written by existing death gods, so who is it that''s behind this?"

    It couldn''t be any of three pirs, and it couldn''t even be any of the underworlds that had participated in the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts as all of them would regard the three death gods of the Caribbean with disdain. In that case, who could it be? Who was stoking the mes of chaos in the new continent and trying to ascend to godhood on the cusp of the deaths of the new conitnent''s current rulers?

    [1] [Brand, the Burning Vengeance is a yable character in the game League of Legends.]

 Chapter 938: Philadelphia

    <h4>Chapter 938: Phdelphia</h4>

    He stopped in his tracks and began to ponder the situation at hand. He had already diverged away from the highway and was situated in a lush forest. As hended on the ground, all of the surrounding animals and insects quickly fled in rm. It was a habit of his to find as quiet an environment as possible when he needed to think deeply about something.

    The forest waspletely silent, and Qin Ye casually strolled back and forth as one question after another sprang up in his mind, allowing him to better arrange his thoughts.

    After a long while, a cold smile appeared on his face as he chuckled, "Looks like I underestimated those three. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are turning a blind eye to everything and none of the other death gods want to attack these three Abyssal Prefects, either. No matter who attacks them first, they''ll be sure to be met by all-out retaliation from the three death gods, and even if they seed at eradicating the trio, they''ll be sure to suffer heavy losses in the process. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn''t be all that significant, and perhaps one of them would be inclined to bite the bullet, but under the current circumstances, all of the death gods are looking to conserve their forces, and that''s given the three Caribbean death gods space to grow. As a trio of pirates, they must also be aware that they don''t mean anything in the context of the world. All of the current surviving underworlds have at least 1,000 years of history, and if they want to truly step onto this stage as influential figures, they''ll have to wait for 1,000 years."

    He casually walked a few steps, and the fallen leaves crunched audibly beneath the soles of his boots, further entuating just how silent the night was.

    A faint smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "Excessive ambition has been the death of many a n."

    The three death gods clearly didn''t want to wait that long. This was an extremely rare opportunity, and they wanted to take advantage of it to attain the entire world''s acknowledgment.

    How could they do that? If they didn''t want to wait 1,000 years, then the only way would be to reach the Duke level! There was no way that a Duke would be ignored on the world stage!

    If that was the extent of their ambitions, then Qin Ye couldn''t give less of a damn.

    Do you think you''ll be able to tell everyone what to do once you be a Duke? My apologies, but you''d still be nothing in front of the four pirs.

    However, Brand had said something else that had caught Qin Ye''s attention: "Aside from ourmon duty, which is to keep an eye on the witch hunters and the church, everyone has an additional important mission, which is to protect Matthew Conn. If anyone tries to attack him or investigate that incident from several decades ago, our job is to have them killed!"

    This was the root of the conflict of interest between him and the three death gods of the Caribbean.

    "In order to find out the location of the underground church, Matthew Conn is my only lead. Why are the three death gods of the Caribbean intent on protecting him? Does he have something to do with their hopes of ascending to the Yama-King level?" His brows knitted tightly together as he mused, "No matter what happens, there''s no way Matthew would be able to be a Yama-King in the next few decades. All Yama-Kings require mythology to act as foundation, so what makes him worthy of protection in the eyes of the Caribbean''s three death gods?"

    He felt as if he were looking at a ball of yarn with loose ends all over the ce, yet only one of them led to the truth.

    He needed a game-changing piece of evidence that could help him see the truth. Otherwise, he would never be able to uncover the truth. If things were to develop to a point where his only option was to track down Matthew and force him to reveal the whereabouts of the underground church, then he had to know who Matthew''s superior was, what cultivation rank they were at, where they were located, and how many evil ghosts they had under their control.

    Otherwise, if he were to dive in headfirst recklessly, there was a very good chance he would get caught up in the swamp that was the new continent.

    After a long while, he heaved a resigned sigh as he murmured to himself, "It''s not a matter of whether I want to get caught up in this anymore, it seems like I have no choice if I want to get to the bottom of things."

    His body began to dissipate into a gust of Yin wind as he continued, "Seeing as I''ve been dragged into all of this, I''m going to make them regret ever forcing me to get involved."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The ne flew across the sky as a silver line, flying directly from Phoenix to Phdelphia.

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as soon as he disembarked. The atmosphere in Phdelphia waspletely different from that of Los Angeles.

    There were police officers everywhere, but all of them were just normal humans whom Qin Ye paid no attention to. What really caught his attention were the countless strangely dressed figures in the crowd. They were wearing tight-fitting leather cloaks that were parted at the chest and formed an elegant dovetail at the back. The cloaks were held together by antiquated-looking buttons, and some of these figures didn''t wear cloaks, but were wearing ck cowboy hats much like the ones seen in western cowboy films.

    Their skin was extremely pale and the ck circles around their eyes were very severe. This was a sign of staying upte at night over extended periods of time. What was even stranger were the faces with eyes and mouths sewn shut peeking out from beneath the shadows of their tattered cloaks. Those faces belonged to the terrifying dolls that they were holding, and all of them had amon trait, which was the triangr emblem on their chests, within which was a ming fist.

    This was the Fist of Judgment, the premier anti-supernatural organization on the new continent, equivalent to Cathay''s Special Investigations Department and SCI. The only people who could join this organization were true witch hunters and "odd individuals" from all over the nation.

    Under normal circumstances, they remained aplete secret to the general public, and the fact that they were appearing en masse in such a densely popted area was a clear indication of just how terrible the situation in Phdelphia had be.

    Edward emerged from the passenger boarding bridge with his luggage, and he was greeted by the sight of Yin energy detection devices, which he hadn''t seen for a very long time. A long line had already gathered in front of him, and he took this opportunity to inspect his surroundings.

    In doing so, he discovered that the air temperature in Phdelphia was at least three to four degrees below that of other cities on the sametitude. This was a sign that Yin energy was already spreading quickly and it was no wonder that the Usonian government was so tense and uneasy.

    After a half-hour wait, he finally reached the front of the line.

    Behind the table sat a Caucasian male wearing an immacte suit, and the emblem of the Fist of Judgment was also present on his chest.

    The table was very wide, roughly around a meter in width, and on either side of it were barricades formed by metal bars. Behind the table was an orderly row of gun-wielding police officers, while witch hunters were present on either side of Edward. After a thorough investigation, Edward ced his passport into the verification device, and a beep soon rang out. Before he had a chance to recover his passport, the man behind the table had already taken the passport from the device and was looking at Edward like a hawk. "What have youe to Phdelphia for?"

    "An investigation," Edward replied as he pulled out his independent case approval form, which was apanied by the important details of the case. "I''m investigating a suspected murder."

    The man didn''t say anything. He took the form from Edward, then verified the authenticity of the stamp on the form with another device. Perhaps it was because both of them were public servants, but the man''s cold demeanor softened a little as he said, "I must warn you that Phdelphia is a very dangerous ce to be right now."

    "I''m aware of that."

    "Are you still determined to enter the city despite this?"

    "The truth cannot wait."

    The man nodded in response before lowering his voice as he said, "There are no problems with your documents, but in order to ensure your safety in Phdelphia, I hope you can do the following few things. Firstly, every night at 6 PM, the bell of the Masonic Temple at the center of the city will toll, and we''ll broadcast this to all homes in the city through the radiowork. After that, make sure to stay in your home, and if you notice anything abnormal, call the helpline right away. This is not a joke, Mr. Edward, it''s a matter of life and death."

    In the face of the man''s serious gaze, Edward nodded in response, and only then did the man continue in a grave voice, "Secondly, the Masonic Temple is off-limits for normal people, but you''re in the police force, so this restriction doesn''t apply to you. If you''re unable to return to your home before 6 PM, you can live in the church. Thirdly, do not let your curiosity get the better of you, do not go to sparsely popted areas, do not question some things that will most likely seem strange to you, and try to avoid traveling alone wherever possible. Fourthly, make sure to follow this manual at all times."

    He pushed a small green booklet over to Edward along the table as he spoke. "I hope you survive your trip. Next."

    Qin Ye recovered his passport and briefly leafed through the manual, which was essentially a "what not to do" list, including entries such as "don''t look into any mirrors after midnight", "don''t privately set up ult arrays", "don''t call out any name that you hear", "go to church as much as possible", etc...

    How is this going to help anything?

    He ced the booklet into his own pocket with an amused smile. Even if you followed this manual to a tee, it still wouldn''t save your life amid such severe supernatural disasters. Under these circumstances, it was definitely far more convenient to have a one-party system rather than a multiparty political system.

    After emerging from the airport, Edward discovered that there weren''t many taxis outside. After all, not many people would dare to ept strangers into their cars for ie at a time like this. Edward picked a random taxi and got into it. Before the driver had a chance to say anything, he said in a casual voice, "Just take me on a short drive around the city, then go to the nearest hotel to the Masonic Temple."

    The driver was a Caucasian male, and he was looking at Edward with a wary expression through his rearview mirror. Edward leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes as he said in a casual voice, "Don''t worry, I''m a police officer."

    If he wanted to strike, then he would have to organize his thoughts and familiarize himself with the city first.

    The can began to move, and several minutester, he opened his eyes to examine the city around him, the oldest city in Usonia.

    It could be said that this was the city with the bestndscaping in all of Usonia, and it also had the earliest Cathaytown in Usonia. At the same time, it was the home of the Usonian g, the Deration of Independence, the Hershey''s sandwich, scrapple, ck Cherry Wishniak, and other symbolic food items.

    Passing through the streets of Phdelphia, Qin Ye could see countless Britannia-style buildings, all of which were relics of Usonia''s history as a colony of Britannia. These buildings were extremely rare in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. There were also Usonian gs hanging all over the city, and the city of Phdelphia itself was a melting pot of different cultures with buildings of the Britannia style, Italia style, renaissance style, and even Cathayan style standing next to one another.

    From the city, one could reach the sea by boat through the Dware River. The river was very wide and it was framed on either side by lush greenery, so the scenery was fantastic. However, no matter how exceptional the scenery was, a ce would inevitably becking in vitality without the presence of people, and that was exactly the case for Phdelphia.

    The streets were almostpletely deserted, and the only people that could be seen were ones hurriedly rushing in and out of supermarkets or convenience stores. They carried box after box of groceries into their cars, then immediately drove away, clearly not wanting to stay outdoors for even a second over what was necessary.

    Those weren''t the only signs indicating that something was wrong. Edward cast his gaze toward the tops of all of the tall buildings in the city, and perhaps normal people wouldn''t be able to see them, but he could clearly see that at the top of each building stood at least three witch hunters, the most powerful of which were Soul Hunters, while the majority were Netherworld Operatives. In total, there had to be at least over 10,000 witch hunters present in the city.

    If any parts of their cloaks were raised up by the wind, the crossbows forged from holy silver strapped to their arms would instantly be revealed with runes of the church engraved onto their surface. Weapons were strapped to every single part of their bodies, and this was a style of battle they had honed throughout the extensive battles they had waged against the Yin spirits of the new continent. After all, the religions of the new continent could be said to be the most belligerent religions in human history.

    The main religion on the new continent was the Aztec religion, and one of the defining traits of the Aztec religion was its tendency to devour.

    With each tribe that it defeated, the Aztecs would absorb the opposition''s deities into their own religion. Thus, the developmental history of the Aztec religion was rife with war, and as a result, their religion became more and more massive, to the extent that three separate branches arose. Of course, every single deity that was absorbed into the religion inherited the belligerent tendencies characteristic of the Aztec religion, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were prime examples of this.

    At this point, the taxi had already driven into the main area of Phdelphia, and Edward''s eyes suddenly lit up as he pointed toward a certain direction. "What''s going on over there?"

    It was a church, but the symbol of Death God Dax was hanging all over the street across from the church!

    The symbol depicted a darky starry sky, beneath which was the inky-ck sea, and between the sky and the sea was a blood-red eye.

 Chapter 939: The Masonic Temple

    <h4>Chapter 939: The Masonic Temple</h4>

    "Hold on," Edward pointed in a certain direction before asking, "What''s that?"

    Thus far, the entire drive had been made in silence, and the driver was dying for some conversation. In addition to that, Edward''s identity as a police officer instilled him with a great sense of security, and he immediately replied, "That''s the Masonic Temple."

    So that''s the Masonic Temple? That must mean we''re already on North Broad Street... Edward cast his gaze toward the temple through narrowed eyes, and he could clearly sense that there was a burst of extremely powerful Yin energy lurking inside.

    It was close to the mid-Duke level. Could it be that this was what he was looking for?

    He closed his eyes and allowed his own consciousness to spread. Several secondster, he gently shook his head, and as he reopened his eyes, his expression had already turned extremely grim.

    The thing that was giving off the Yin energy wasn''t an object. Instead, it was a living being.

    What was even more peculiar was that its aura didn''t belong to that of a human. Instead, it belonged to a type of unknown creature that Qin Ye had never encountered before.

    Is it a guardian of something? He stroked his own chin with a contemtive expression as his heartbeat began to elerate. Did this entail that there was something extremely important in there, requiring the protection of such a powerful being?

    It didn''t matter who or what this living being was, what Qin Ye wanted to know was if the underground church was situated here and whether that "extremely important thing" that potentially existed was Xu Fu''s notes.

    Perhaps it would be best to take a look at this ce first. There were far too many leads connected to Matthew, and if he weren''t careful, he would fall headfirst into the plots being devised by the three death gods of the Caribbean and the other death gods of the new continent. As such, he definitely didn''t want to approach Matthew unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.

    However, he didn''t act right away. He could sense that there were many witch hunters near the Masonic Temple, numbering at least in the hundreds.

    "What about those things?" he asked as he pointed at the Death God Dax symbols hanging from the surrounding buildings. Some of these buildings were convenience stores, some were restaurants, some were houses, but none of them were making any attempt to disguise the Death God Dax symbols hanging outside. There weren''t many people on the streets outside, but arge proportion of them were missionaries wearing red and ck robes, knocking on the doors of the houses from time to time.

    This wasn''t a missionary robe that belonged to any religion, so it could only belong to that death god that didn''t fully exist yet.

    The driver looked at the missionaries with a smile, then said, "Those belong to Death God Dax. The religion of Death God Dax began spreading several decades ago along the east coast, but I heard that it''s been developing particrly quickly over the past five years. You know the drill, they''re the type of religion that puts promotional brochures in your letterbox and sends friendly missionaries to your door. They even have their own religious halls. You must be from the west, right?"

    Edward nodded in response, and a mysterious look appeared on the driver''s face as he said in a low voice, "I''ll let you in on a little secret: if you encounter any issues that you can''t resolve, you can go and seek help from them. They''re professionals?"

    Edward feigned a disinterested expression as he casually asked, "Is that right?"

    The skeptical tone of his voice sessfully provoked the driver, wh raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Do you not believe me?"

    Edward shrugged as he continued to feign disinterest. "There are more religions in Usonia than I can count, while I am a police officer."

    "I''d advise you not to be a skeptic in this case." A mysterious smile reappeared on the driver''s face as he opened a can of coffee before taking a sip. "You don''t know just how terrifying Phdelphia is right now. I''ll give you a few examples. There was the sound of a quarrel taking ce in the middle of a night in a mansion that no one has lived in for years. In the dead of night, the cutlery began to fly around on their own as if some poltergeists were cooking. In a cer that''s been sealed for over a decade, the sound of sobbing wasing from inside. I experienced some of these in person, while the rest are anecdotes that I''ve heard. However, if you seek out the ''White Religious Group'', all of these problems can be resolved. The priests of the church arepletely powerless. All they do is tell you to pray, but that''s absolutely useless!"

    "Is that why this White Religious Group hasn''t been eradicated?" Edward asked in an indifferent voice.

    "No, no, no," the driver replied with a smile as he put down his can of coffee. "It remains standing all this time because it''s not a cult."

    At this moment, the car rounded a corner, and up ahead was the main section of North Broad Street. Edward was immediately greeted by the sight of countless ck White Religious Group gs, which outnumbered even the Usonian gs!

    <i>The grand script of death is spreading...</i> Edward withdrew his gaze after just a quick nce. At the very least, the religion had built up a foundation in this city.

    Once faith was established, a religion would be like a tree that had grown roots. It had to be said that the writer of this grand script of death was doing a very good job.

    "Look at how many residents of the city have benefited from their kindness!" The driver was clearly bing very excited as he said, "The religion hasn''t harmed the general public or public property and it has no agenda against the human race, so there''s no way that the Usonian government would actively abolish it. In addition to that, it''s created so many genuine miracles! How could it possibly be a cult?"

    Right at this moment, the car rounded another corner, arriving at the road to the back entrance of the Masonic Temple.

    "Stop," Edward finally instructed, and after paying the fare, he made his way directly toward the Masonic Temple.

    The Freemasonry was a fearsome organization. It controlled the economic lifeblood of the entire world. In many Asian countries, it was treated as a fabricated existence, but it had many strongholds in Usonia and many Europa nations, the most renowned of which was the Masonic Temple of Phdelphia.

    This was because the identity of a Master Mason had once been revealed in this temple.

    It was George Washington.

    This made it clear beyond a doubt to everyone that the Freemasonry truly existed. Under normal circumstances, even the most democratic of nations would never allow their president to join a private organization. However, this church, as well as the description of George Washington''s upation in the Freemasonry present in the church, had already been standing in Phdelphia for close to a century.

    Despite this, none of the congress, the House of Representatives, or the senate had said anything, and the entire police force in the entire state also turned a blind eye to it. This was a massive statement in itself.

    Edward didn''t dare to im that this church was definitely hiding a secret, but what he was searching for was the vault of the First Usonian Bank. Judging from the information he had, the First Usonian Bank belonged to the Freemasonry, and among those rted to the workers who had moved the bank several decades ago, Matthew was the only survivor. He couldn''t be sure whether Matthew would be alerted to his joining of the Freemasonry or not.

    A powerhouse organization like this one definitely had its own lines of defense, and if his identity would be exposed, it would be extremely difficult for him to enter the Masonic Temple. Thus, he had to strike quickly. Even though he wasn''t fully prepared, his opponent was also in the same boat!

    The staircase leading up to the back entrance had a pronounced Europa manor style, and upon entering the church, Qin Ye was greeted by the sight of a round colorful mosaic of a domed ceiling that possessed very pronounced religious elements. Every single edge had intricate patterns carved onto its surface, and a resplendent hanging candbra trailing down from above. The light from the candles was reflecting off the colorful ss, giving it a particrly dreamy quality.

    Statues of angels and the holy child were amon sight in the church, and many of them were masterpieces created by master sculptors. This was the main hall and there were two paths one could take from here, leading to the neossical hall, the Ionia hall, the eastern hall, the Corinth hall, the Gothic hall, the Aegyptian hall, and the Roman hall.

    Each of the halls was an independent exhibition hall, containing disys of styles that corresponded with their respective names. The seven exhibition halls fit quite easily in this three-story antiquated building, and connecting the halls were long corridors that had strong religious elements. On either side of the halls were panels of colorful ss mosaics, and statues of the holy mother were ced at three-meter intervals.

    However, what drew Qin Ye''s attention the most was the strong true energy lingering in the building, as well as the fearsome Yin energy he had detected earlier while still inside the taxi.

    A man in a ck vest made his way over to Edward with a smile, then asked, "Hello sir, is this your first time visiting our Masonic Temple? Do you need a guide? I can give you a tour free of charge."

    Qin Ye took a nce at him to discover that he was a nascent Netherworld Operative. He had heard from Lee Jung-sook that the Masonic Temple was acting as the stronghold for witch hunters and pdins. Did this mean that even tourists were being put under surveince?

    "No, thanks, I''m just taking a look," he replied, then casually made his way toward the left with his hands sped behind his back.

    Only after the main hall hadpletely disappeared behind him did he gently stomp his foot onto the ground, upon which he discovered that the ground beneath his feet was hollow!

    Furthermore, the true energy he had detected was situated right down below, indicating that there were countless witch hunters present!

    Could this be the underground church? He appeared to be quite calm and nonchnt on the surface, but in reality, he was looking around for anything that could be suspicious, including things like hidden doors or staircases leading downward. At the same time, countless thoughts were rapidly shing through his mind, but he quickly shook his head and decided that this couldn''t be the case.

    The fact that the Freemasonry was so intent on protecting the First Usonian Bank indicated that something extremely important had to be hidden in the underground church, perhaps something that was no less important than Xu Fu''s notes.

    They had taken extremely cautious measures to hide the underground church, going as far as to hire movers just to put on a show, then killing the movers one by one, so there was no way that they would just carelessly allow witch hunters to enter the area.

    Qin Ye was slightly disappointed upon making this realization, but he quickly shrugged it off.

    This was only one of the possible locations, and there was no need for him to be overly disappointed. After all, this journey was only just beginning, wasn''t it?

    He had already made his way into arge exhibition hall, and looking at the style, it seemed to be the Aegyptian Hall.

    It was a glorious sight with golden pirs in each of the four corners of the hall, and snakehead essories that symbolized Aegypt were amon sight. There were statues of various important figures in Aegyptian mythology present in the room, including statues of the god of the desert, Osiris, the god of death, Anubis, the god of the sun, Ra, and there was even a very realistic Aegyptian sarcophagus positioned at the very center of the hall, as well as many oil paintings hanging on the walls.

    These paintings were all portraits of past members of the Freemasonry, and Qin Ye carefully inspected every single one of them.

    However, right as his gazended on a certain portrait, his pupils immediately contracted drastically.

    It was a portrait of Richardman!

    [1] [Says every cult member ever xD]

 Chapter 940: The Notes

    <h4>Chapter 940: The Notes</h4>

    He drew to an abrupt halt before looking around, upon which he discovered that there was no one else present.

    In the current state that Phdelphia was in, no one would be in the mood to visit a ce like this.

    He silently drew closer to the portrait before taking a close look.

    In the portrait, Richardman''s hands were ced on his desk, and he looked exactly the same as he did in Xu Fu''s memories except he had aged significantly.

    He was a very refined-looking man, wearing a pair of ck-rim sses, and his white hair was arranged into an elegant ponytail that hung down behind his head, the top of which was already bald. He was wearing an immacte suit, and the desk in front of him was littered with books, while more books could be seen on the many bookshelves behind him.

    There was nothing abnormal about this portrait, but right as he cast his gaze toward Richardman''s right hand, his soul almost flew out of Edward¡¯s body!

    Beside his right hand was a wooden box, within which was a stack of notes written in dark red ink. His fingers were syed very casually over the notes, and he would''ve most likely never anticipated that this portrait would be made avable for public viewing someday.

    As a result, he made no effort to conceal the writing on the notes, leaving some corners exposed, and Cathayan characters were written on those corners!

    A sense of scorching excitement welled up in Qin Ye''s soul, and his heartbeat began to rapidly elerate while sweat started to umte on his palms. This was a very detailed portrait, so much so that it had even urately captured the Cathayan characters on the exposed corners of the notes.

    There was a character for "cloud" and a character for "wanderer''''.

    If he weren''t mistaken, those were Xu Fu''s notes! He was making this assumption because Xu Fu''s Taoist title was "wanderer among the clouds"! The character for "among" between the characters for "cloud" and "wanderer" had been concealed under one of Richardman''s fingers.

    This discovery was far too abrupt, and Qin Ye''s mind had gonepletely nk in the face of it. His fingers were trembling slightly, and only after several seconds did he take a deep breath to force himself to calm down. Immediately thereafter, countless questions emerged in his mind.

    This portrait indicated that the ursed Richardman had brought out the notes on at least one asion!

    However, he most likely hadn''t opened the notes. After all, if he had done that, then a new energy resource in the underworld would''ve alreadye into existence long ago. There was no way that anyone knew what type of earth-shattering secret was hidden within these notes.

    In that case, why had he brought them out?

    ording to the rules of the deposit service, no one could touch the deposited items. However, this was something left behind by a Yama-King level being, and having been with Xu Fu for so long, it would''ve already absorbed an immense amount of Yin energy from him. As a result, it wouldn''t even be an exaggeration to say that these notes were an artifact. What was even more important was the person who had deposited it. Could it be that Richardman was showing the notes off? Was he showing off the influence of the First Usonian Bank by making it clear that even a Yama-King had used their deposit service?

    Qin Ye shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought. There was no point in pondering something like this, and instead, he began to stare intently at the notes in the portrait.

    He wanted to know if it was possible that the notes had been opened.

    After a full minute of careful inspection, he finally heaved a faint sigh of relief.

    There was no way that it would''ve been opened.

    This was an important item belonging to an advanced Yama-King, so it had some ult properties, and as a result, it was particrly clear even on the portrait. Taking a close look at it, Qin Ye could clearly see countlessplex hidden patterns on its surface.

    Those weren''t normal hidden patterns, even Qin Ye was struck by a rush of dizziness after looking at them for only a minute.

    This was an extremelyplex array!

    He couldn''t identify the entire array, but from the parts he could understand, he had read the Yin rune passages for "seal", "permission", "destroy", and "restriction".

    There was no way that this had been painted by the artist, no artist could paint something in such ridiculous detail. Instead, this was a projection. Due to the subtle link between the underworld and the mortal realm, the notes had unintentionally projected itself onto this portrait, and this was most likely the only portrait in existence that harbored a lead to the notes.

    He cast his gaze toward what was behind Richardman, and he was greeted by the sight of an opened door, upon which was inscribed the words "Manager of the First Usonian Bank" in English.

    His breathing began to elerate as another flurry of thoughts shed through his mind.

    The good news is that the notes are still very likely hidden in the secret storage vault of the First Usonian Bank, but the bad news is that the notes already possess some ult properties. The Freemasonry will have definitely already discovered that it''s no ordinary item. What would they have done with it then?

    Matthew''s father had participated in the moving of the First Usonian Bank''s secret vault, which was situated in the underground church and had never been moved. There had to be some massive secret hidden in there, meaning that it couldn''t be moved.

    However, were the notes still there?

    It wasn''t exactly a bulky item, someone could easily tuck it in their pocket and take it away, and this was certainly not unlikely given the special properties that the notes had already disyed.

    Only after a long while did he withdraw this gaze.

    There was only one way to find out the answers to these questions.

    If he couldn''t find any leads on the underground church''s whereabouts, then even if pursuing Matthew couldnd him in a very inconvenient situation, that would be his only option.

    Just as he was about to look away, his peripheral vision suddenly caught onto something, and he immediately turned back to look at the portrait with a stunned expression.

    His attention had been entirely drawn to Richardman''s right hand just now, and only at this moment did he discover that there was also something in Richardman''s left hand.

    It was the lid of the box.

    It was a very ordinary wooden lid without any embellishments, but a line of text had been carved onto its surface using a knife.

    Matthew Conn.

    In that instant, Qin Ye felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, and his brows immediately furrowed deeply.

    Matthew Conn?!

    There was no way that Richardman was still alive. Xu Fu had said that Richardman had perished during a car crash, but even at the time of his death, there was no way that Matthew''s father, no, there was no way that even Matthew''s grandfather would''ve been alive back then!

    How could these two people who were separated by over a century have been connected together?

    Qin Ye felt as if he had stumbled upon a giant beast, and he hade into contact with its head, wings, and ws, but was unable to touch its truck no matter how much he tried, so he had no idea what this beast was.

    He needed a backbone to which he could connect all of these scattered leads and transform them into a coherent package. He couldn''t help but gnash his teeth in frustration. The most worrying thing to him now was that Richardman had used this box to house Xu Fu''s notes and he was preparing to give them to Matthew Conn!

    In that case, had the notes already fallen into Matthew''s hands?

    "What a fucking mess!" he cursed to himself, then immediately turned to depart from the exhibition hall.

    However, as he turned toward the corridor, he discovered that it had be seemingly infinitely long!

    The main hall at its conclusion waspletely out of sight, and it was as if it had be an endless path into the abyss!

    Immediately thereafter, a voice rang out beside him. "You know, it''s physically impossible for a normal person to look at this portrait for so long. Its name is Richardman''s Portrait, and it was painted to mark the asion of Rrichardman''s promotion to the rank of treasurer. However, his portrait is renowned as one that possesses certain special properties. Anyone below the Count level would feel as if their soul had been set alight at the mere sight of it, yet you looked at it for 20 minutes and 13 seconds straight."

    The portrait was hanging at a corner, and right next to it was another hall. At this moment, a figure wearing a suit was casually walking out of the other hall.

    It was a thin Caucasian male with a mustache and a head of brown hair, both of which were immactely groomed. In the eyes of a normal person, he would be nothing more than a man that was giving a sense of regal grace, yet in the eyes of Edward, he was a twisted ball of Yin energy that had no end in sight!

    This was the Duke in the Masonic Temple that Qin Ye had detected earlier! When did hee here? How long had he had his eyes set on him?

    Behind him were two reverends, but they weren''t wearing ck reverend robes. Instead, they were wearing pristine white robes with golden borders, and even then crucifixes hanging in front of their chests were tinum with diamonds embedded into them.

    They were a pair of bishops!

    The fact that this man was being apanied by a pair of bishops meant that he was definitely no ordinary figure, particrly when he was situated in one of the Freemasonry''s strongholds. An overwhelming sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Edward''s heart. "Who''re you?"

    "My name is Brando DuPont," he replied with an elegant bow, then made a reassuring hand gesture as he continued, "There''s no need to be apprehensive, I''m merely curious about you, Edward Ross."

    Has he already figured out my identity during the 20 minutes I''ve been looking at this portrait? In that case, he must also know why I''m here. After all, there''s most likely a mole in the Los Angeles Police Station. Is he here to give me a "friendly warning" or is he here to make tant threats?

    Edward remained unfazed as he looked directly into Brando''s eyes. "I''m not apprehensive."

    "Oh? But I can sense the apprehension in your heart," Brando said with a smile. "ording to past records, you have a very ordinary past and you don''t possess any aptitude for cultivation, so can you tell me..."

    He appeared right behind Edward in the blink of an eye, resting his hands on Edward''s shoulders before whispering into Edward''s ear, "How you managed to do this?"

    The two bishops had already split up to either side of the hall, and they were surrounding Edward in a triangr formation. Infernal Judge level true energy was surging incessantly within the bodies of the two bishops, and Edward had no doubt that any false move from him would immediately lead to an attack!

    Edward''s body instantly tensed up before rxing again, and Brando clearly sensed this as he chuckled and drummed his fingers gently on Edward''s shoulders in an extremely intimate gesture.

    "You''re looking at the restricted book," he said in a confident voice. "Perhaps I know more about this book than you do. Ites from a faraway and mysterious yet powerful nation. No one is able to open it as the array used to seal it is of an extremely high level. If you tell me what you know about it, I can grant you a favor as the leader of the DuPont Consortium."

    Even though Edward had already guessed that DuPont was an extremely important figure, he still couldn''t help but be stunned upon hearing the words "leader of the DuPont Consortium".

    This man was a Master Mason, one of the Freemasonry''s 12 Master Masons!

    Furthermore, he was the leader of the DuPont Consortium and a non-human!

    Damn it, Lee Jung-sook! Didn''t you say all of the Master Masons in Usonia have already left?! Where did you get this shoddy information from?

    He had no idea what type of being DuPont was, and his mind was racing as he said, "I don''t know what you''re talking about."

    DuPont remained silent as he continued to stand behind him.

    After a long while, DuPont said in an indifferent voice, "I heard you''re investigating the case regarding Matthew Conn''s family."

    Before Edward had a chance to reply, he continued in a bone-chilling voice, "Here''s my advice to you: there are some things that you shouldn''t touch. I don''t know who''s standing behind you, but please pass on my regards to them. At a time like this, the Freemasonry has no intention of making powerful enemies, but if anyone dares to encroach on our secrets, then they''re going to face a war."

    "Is that a threat?" Edward asked in a calm voice.

    "No, it''s just a friendly warning," Brando replied as he gave him a gentle pat on the shoulders. "I wish you luck in making it out of Phdelphia alive."

 Chapter 941: Matthew Conn

    <h4>Chapter 941: Matthew Conn</h4>

    DuPont and the bishops slowly departed, and the soles of their expensive shoes clicked rhythmically on the ground as they did so.

    However, Edward wasn''t in a hurry to leave. Instead, he slowly strolled through this magnificent church as he began to reorganize his own thoughts.

    He had to constantly check for holes in his own logic and reasoning in order to be able to keep up with the ever-changing situation.

    He didn''t attack me because it would be unbefitting of a Duke and Master Mason like him to do so, and most importantly, he didn''t want to make any further enemies for himself when the situation in Phdelphia is so tense. I bet he would never have guessed that I would be the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    An amused smile appeared on his face, and he quickly departed from the church before hailing a taxi to Cathaytown, which was where Matthew was living.

    "Tonight is a good time to strike..." he murmured to himself as he looked up at the sky. It was 3 PM and the sky was already filled with dense dark clouds. It was going to be a stormy night, the type that Yin spirits loved the most.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    A burst of door-knocking rang out, and the figure immediately shuddered upon hearing this as hey curled up in his bed with his nkets acting as a cocoon around him. He pulled his nkets even tighter around himself as he asked in a trembling voice, "Who is it?"

    A voice rang out in response from outside. "We were sent by the sea and the stars."

    Matthew faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately jumped out of bed to open the door.

    The interior of this apartment was quite dimly lit, but there was just enough light to see everything inside. However, a vast expanse of inky darkness had appeared outside the door, making it appear as if it were midnight outside.

    Six figures were standing amid the dark Yin energy, all of whom were wearing ck cloaks, and two specks ofherfire lit up under the hood of the cloaked figure at the forefront as he said, "May you be blessed by the death gods."

    All of the strength seemed to have been drained from Matthew''s body as he copsed to the ground, then grabbed tightly onto the figure''s cloak as he said in a voice that was on the verge of sobs, "You finally came! I knew the three death gods wouldn''t abandon me!"

    The six figures didn''t say anything as they drifted straight into the room. Looking at the messy room and the bunched-up nkets, one of the cloaked figures couldn''t help but chuckle with amusement. "Is there really a need for you to be so terrified, Matthew?"

    Matthew had already returned to his bed and curled up into a ball with his nkets around him, exposing only his face. He looked around like a mental asylum escapee as he replied in a trembling voice, "I can sense that he''s already here! That terrifying being has already reached this city, and I''m certain that he''s looking for me!"

    "Matthew! Don''t be such a coward!" an intimidating figure scolded in a cold voice. "Don''t forget that you are also an evil ghost! Our master still hasn''tpletely ascended to godhood so you''re still not an underworld emissary, but that''s only a matter of time. You''re bringing dishonor to my master by acting like this! Pull yourself together!"

    A smile appeared on Matthew''s face, but it was a smile countless times more hideous than a grimace as he chuckled, "Hehe, you make it sound so easy. Do you know what it''s like to face a truly insurmountable being? Whatever that thing is, I can sense that it''s even more powerful than our three masters!! Do you understand what it feels like to be targeted by a monster like this? In the past, I was able to hide in the Masonic Temple, but now, I can only hide in Cathaytown! Are you now aware of how unsafe this ce is?!"

    Matthew was yelling like a deranged man at this point, and the leader of the cloaked figures made a pressing motion with one hand, upon which Matthew''s voice immediately died down. Yin energy spread from beneath the cloaked figure''s feet, and he drifted over to Matthew as he said, "Master DuPont has already arrived in the Masonic Temple in person, and even so, we still sent the six divine envoys of the Caribbean to protect you. There is one Marquess and five Counts among us, and if any danger arises, we can directly contact Master DuPont at any time. What else could you possibly want? Stay here and be quiet. If you weren''t so important to us, you would''ve already been wiped out of existence just now for screaming at a Marquess."

    He waved a hand through the air, restoring Matthew''s voice, and Matthew gritted his teeth with a frustrated expression before pulling his nkets down over his own face in silence.

    Thus, peace and quiet returned to the room, while the six figures vanished as gusts of Yin wind.

    Time slowly passed by, and at 6 PM, the toll of the bell rang out across the entire city.

    It still wasn''t dark outside yet, but everyone indoors had switched on their lights.

    At 8 PM, the storm that had been brewing the entire day finally cascaded down as a torrential downpour.

    9 PM... 10 PM... 11 PM... 12 PM... Right on the stroke of noon, the television in the room suddenly lit up.

    Matthew immediately sat up on his bed and began to tremble uncontrobly as he stared at the television.

    He''s here! He came for me after all! Is he unable to sense that there''s a Marquess and five Counts present or is he so powerful that it doesn''t even matter to him?

    "Don''t panic!" A series of figures emerged in the room, and six pairs ofherfire appeared out of thin air to stare intently at the television.

    The television screen was filled with static, but it soon cleared up, depicting an earthen building.

    At the foot of a gigantic locust tree, a woman with disheveled hair was strumming a lute while singing in an extremely resentful voice. "You''re reveling in joy, while my gut is wrenching from pain... Separations are always so long while reunions are so short..."

    As her voice rang out in the room, the air temperature inside became lower and lower. Matthew was already biting his nkets between his teeth as hard as he could while trembling incessantly.

    Right at this moment, a bright red eye suddenly lit up beneath the hair of the woman on the television screen. A deathly pale face then extended out from beneath the disheveled hair, revealing a set of ck teeth as the woman reached out toward Matthew from within the television screen. "I''m here... for you..."

    "What powerful resentment!" A stunned voice rang out from one of the cloaked figures. "And she''s a Cathayan evil ghost! Why?! Request reinforcements right away!!"

    A messenger bird immediately flew out and at the same time, all of the windows swung open in unison, allowing the fierce winds and torrential rang outside to gush into the room. However, right as the messenger bird was about to fly out of the room, it seemed to crash into something and was reduced to ashes amid a sharp screech.

    "A restriction has been set up around this ce!"

    "How is that possible?! We haven''t sensed anything! Who could''ve set up a restriction whilepletely avoiding our detection?!"

    "When was the restriction set up? Is there a high-grade emissary of the Cathayan Underworld here in Usonia? Why weren''t we notified about this?!"

    "Damn it! Protect Matthew at all costs!!"

    The six cloaked figures instantly appeared out of thin air to protect Matthew from the intruder, only to discover that as they were staring at the television screen, Matthew had already been constricted tightly by his own nkets as if they had a mind of their own! The nkets hadpletely constricted his mouth so he was only able to let loose muffled screams of panic into the nkets.

    At the same time, his bed had transformed into a bottomless abyss that was on the verge ofpletely devouring Matthew!

    There was no time to think and six whips flew through the air in unison, wrapping tightly around Matthew''s arms before the six cloaked figures attempted to hoist him upward with all their might.

    However, it was all to no avail!

    "Damn it! What kind of monster are we dealing with here?!" The leader of the cloaked figures was also beginning to panic at this point. "My Marquess level power has beenpletely devoured! This is definitely not a level of power that a Marquess should possess!!"

    Crack! Matthew''s bones were creaking and groaning from the constricting whips, and he was frantically screaming into his nkets as he continued to be pulled downward. One of the cloaked figures looked around with a grim expression before suddenly dering, "I don''t care who you are, your actions are cing you in direct conflict with the Freemasonry, do you understand?!"

    No response.

    At this point, the bed hadpletely transformed into a gateway leading to the abyss, and countless tendrils of Yin energy had wrapped around Matthew''s body, pulling him downward with immense force.

    "You are provoking the entirety of Usonia right now!"

    "Let him go and we''ll satisfy all of your conditions!"

    "If you dare to touch him, you''ll be facing the wrath of the three death gods!"

    They hadpletely failed to anticipate this.

    Brando had told them to remain vignt and had even granted them the right to directly contact him for reinforcements, but they had thought that they would be facing only a Baron at the very most. After all, Dukes were extremely rare even in the entire world.

    The leader of the cloaked figures was gnashing his teeth together with audible force and the veins on the back of his hands were bulging as his fingernails dug into the center of his palms.

    It was clear that the assant was someone far too powerful for them to oppose.

    Furthermore, it was a high-grade emissary from the Cathayan Underworld! They had only just returned to the world stage and they were already meddling with the new continent''s internal affairs?!

    "Let me reiterate this: you are directly provoking the death gods of the new continent!" he roared in a thunderous voice.

    "Is that right?"

    Right at this moment, a nonchnt voice rang out behind all of the cloaked figures, and time seemed to have suddenlye to a standstill.

    Immediately thereafter, all of the cloaked figures swiveled their heads around 180 degrees, yet before they even said anything, they were greeted by the sight of the most spectacr scene they had ever witnessed and also thest scene they were ever going to witness.

    A young man had appeared behind them.

    He was wearing a ck dragon robe, and his long hair was dancing erratically amid the fierce stormy winds. A sword had already been drawn in his grasp, and it was shimmering with rippling light that illuminated the entire room.

    Theherfire in the eyes of six cloaked figures abruptly sprang up to three meters tall upon seeing this, and they werepletely rooted to the spot at the sight of this incredible scene.

    Half a secondter, one of the cloaked figures'' legs gave out from under him, and he copsed to the ground as he murmured, "You''re... the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo! How is this possible?! This doesn''t make..."

    Whoosh!

    A cold streak of light shed through the room like lightning.

    Six heads were decapitated at once before dissipating into Yin energy amid anguished cries.

    "You should be honored to have died by my hands."

    In the next instant, Qin Ye abruptly vanished from the room, and at this point, the bed had alreadypletely devoured Matthew as well, so the room was empty again.

    After a long while, countless dull thuds suddenly rang out from outside the room.

    The sound was audible across the entire area of the roof and the walls, as if there were countless monsters stomping all over the ce. Close to 20 secondster, one of the windows was violently shattered, following which a massive figure appeared in the room.

    It was a werewolf that was over three meters tall!

    It had to remain in a hunched-over position so that its head didn''t plunge through the ceiling, and goldenher mes were burning inside its pupils. Countless wisps of Yin energy were drifting out from between its sharp fangs, and its entire body was covered in coarse ck fur, concealed beneath which were countless dark red runes.

    Meanwhile, around a dozen more werewolves had already poked their heads into the room with fearful looks on their faces.

    "M, Master Brando, this..." One of the werewolves began to speak in an incredulous voice, only to be abruptly cut off by a thunderous roar of fury from Brando.

    "Find him!!! Go and search for him right now!! Bring him back to me even if you have to flip the entire city on its head to find him!! At the same time, send people to St Paul''s Cathedral right away! Don''t worry about the ramifications in the mortal realm, I''ll take care of all of that. Surround St Paul''s Cathedral and protect the Rift of Time!! If anyone dares to approach the cathedral, kill them on sight no matter who they are!!"

    One werewolf after another disappeared into the stormy night.

    As for Brando, he reverted back to his human form before pacing back and forth in the room in an extremely agitated manner. He gritted his teeth as he cast his gaze toward the space beside him. "Well?! Have you found anything yet?!"

    Countless gusts of Yin wind converged from all directions, forming a figure wearing a ck suit.

    This was a handsome man who appeared to be around 26 or 27 years of age with a paleplexion and bright red lips. His blond curls trailed down the sides of his face as he shook his head in response. "I haven''t managed to determine who the intruder is. I can sense the aura of the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo lingering here, but that''s impossible. We haven''t received any notification that the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo has arrived on our continent, and there''s no reason for him to be interested in our continent right now, so there''s no way he could''ve arrived here in person. I suspect..."

    He paused momentarily before licking his own lips as he continued, "That the rebels or a certain opposing death god is behind this. One of those parties captured Matthew and is now trying to pin the me on the Cathayan Underworld."

    Brando gnashed his teeth together with a furious expression. "What do we do now?"

    "You made the right choice," the man replied as hebed his fingers through his long hair. "The person who''s captured Matthew will soone to know the secret that we''ve been hiding for several centuries, and once that happens, he''ll go to that ce for sure. All we need to do is to wait for him there."

    "And then?" Brando asked with a murderous expression.

    An icy tone crept into the man''s voice as he replied, "You know I don''t like violence, so it would be best if we could settle things peacefully, but if not, then we kill them! This is an all-important step and we can''t allow anyone to get in our way! For this goal, us vampires have even resorted to standing on the same side as filthy beasts like you! Anyone who dares to intervene will be killed!"

 Chapter 942: Finger of A God (1)

    <h4>Chapter 942: Finger of A God (1)</h4>

    In the rented apartment, Qin Ye had already adopted his Hell''s Emissary state. Right in front of him was Matthew, who was unconscious and tied to a chair.

    A soundproofing restriction had already been set up in the room, but he still didn''t immediately awaken Matthew. Instead, he was still considering how to proceed. Under these circumstances, he had to be extra careful in everything that he did.

    In the end, he had poked this hos'' nest after all. The queen of the hos wasn''t the scary thing, what was truly threatening was the enraged ho swarm. They were definitely going to be searching all over the city for Matthew.

    Furthermore, if Matthew really were the key to the underground church, then the opposition would definitely already have been in the process of bolstering the underground church''s defenses as much as they could. If he were to rush in without developing a clear understanding of the situation first, he would be met by the fiercest retaliation the opposition was capable of putting up, and he would most likely only have a single chance to seed.

    What questions should he ask? Should he spare Matthew''s life to notpletely make enemies out of the opposition? Countless questions were shing through his mind as he tried to consider all of the possible directions that things could take, and only after a full hour had passed did a cold light sh through his eyes.

    Seeing as he had already made a move, then there was no point in doing things halfway.

    With that in mind, he immediately sprang into action. He reached out with one hand and rested it on top of Matthew''s head. Matthew was still unconscious, but his head suddenly raised up and his entire body began to tremble incessantly. At the same time, wisps of his soul seeped out of his orifices and drifted into Qin Ye''s outstretched palm.

    No one below the Yama-King level would be able to resist having their soul apprehended by Qin Ye.

    However, right at this moment, Qin Ye''s pupils abruptly contracted, and he hurriedly shot back in retreat while withdrawing his hand as if he had been electrocuted.

    He cast a stunned gaze toward his own hand, then turned to Matthew with an incredulous expression. The ropes around him were slowly unravelling, and his unconscious body began to float in mid-air. At the same time, bursts of golden light were radiating out of his pores as if he were the embodiment of the sun!

    "Is... a divine duty?" he murmured to himself as he stared at Matthew with a bewildered expression, and only after a long while did he withdraw his gaze to look at his own hand.

    A divine duty was, as the name suggested, the duty of a god. For example, the divine duty of the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo was to oversee death. However, King Yanluo wasn''t the only one overseeing death. Perhaps this was the case in Cathay, but this was dependent on how the death god was depicted in different religions.

    In nations outside of Cathay, this was often different in that the god of death and the god of the underworld were separate beings.

    For example, Hades was the Argosian god of the underworld, but Thanatos was the god of death. Furthermore, his twin brother, Hypnos, also had the duty of overseeing a part of death because his divine duty was slumber. Eternal slumber was equivalent to death, which ws why there was some ovep in their divine uties, and that was why the Argosian Underworld was ruled over by the twin gods.

    Another example was the god of the night, who also held a part of the god of death''s divine duty.

    Never did he think that Matthew would be carrying a divine duty. This divine duty was frantically rejecting him, and it was also a divine duty that represented death!

    "How is this possible?" He stared at Matthew, who was hovering in mid-air and glowing like the sun, as he shook his head and murmured to himself, "Does this mean that he''s evolving from an evil ghost into a death god? Could it be that he''s creating a legend on his own? If so, then why is his cultivation rank so low? Even if he''s unable to reach the Yama-King level due to limited territory and followers, he would still at least be an Abyssal Prefect. How could a mere Anitya Hellguard possibly create a legend on his own? Also, is this why so many people are determined to protect him?"

    Right at this moment, everything around him began to levitate up into the air as if gravity were malfunctioning, and a series of eerie green patterns began to spread from Matthew''s be, rapidly reaching all parts of his body.

    All of the levitating objects only remained hovering in mid-air for about three seconds before dissipating into bursts of light, filling the entire room with dazzling odlen radiance.

    Amid the golden light, Matthew began to raise his head in an unsettling manner. His body then twisted around 180 degrees while his head remained still, and he pressed himself against the wall like a spider while staring intently at Qin Ye. An eye that was around half a meter in size opened on his back, and it had a golden pupil around which were countless runes. Immediately thereafter, the wall violently exploded, unable to withstand the fearsome Yin energy any longer.

    However, following the explosion, they were no longer in the apartment.

    Qin Ye looked down with a surprised expression to find a sea of light beneath his feet, and he looked up to discover more dazzling golden light.

    This was a golden space of indeterminate size, and he discovered that he had been taken by Matthew into the world of his consciousness. The fact that he was able to do this indicated that the soul hiding in his body was definitely not below the mid Yama-King level!

    Matthew was like a sung god incarnate, hovering in mid-air with boundless golden light around him and as the countless green runes appeared all over his body, his skin began to crack open, and out of those cracks emerged a series of feathers. The bottom halves of the feathers were golden in color while the upper halves were green, and every single feather was around a meter in length. It was as if he were a phoenix spreading his wings, presenting a spectacr sight that was as entrancing as it was astonishing.

    In this miraculous space, an ethereal voice slowly rang out. "Who are you?"

    As the voice spoke, golden light gushed forth in a frenzy. Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he was watching Matthew with a grim expression as his mind raced rapidly to analyze everything that was unfolding before his eyes.

    The opposition would have no chance against him in a battle as there was no way that such a fragile body could support such a powerful soul. As such, as soon as he tried to attack Qin Ye, Matthew''s physical body would instantly be destroyed. A soul without a vessel, particrly an ancient soul like this one, would be no match for Qin Ye and would be easily taken care of in a battle.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye was immediately instilled with a sense of confidence and he stood up ever so slightly straighter.

    Thank goodness I haven''t encountered something more powerful than myself. Looks like I can continue to flex my way to the top!

    "You have no right to know my name," Qin Ye replied in an indifferent voice as his robes pped amid the waves of golden light. "You''re at my mercy and I''m going to be the one to ask the questions. Who are you and what state are you currently in? Have you been sealed away? Is this divine descent? Have you possessed this body?"

    Matthew offered no response, either, and the two of them continued to watch one another with wary expressions. It was as if the air between them had congealed, and all of a sudden, countless ripples surged through space, following which a series of strange golden bone daggers emerged out of thin air alongside a burst of ferocious killing intent.

    "Die!"

    With that thunderous roar, the golden bone daggers converged toward Qin Ye like a lethal storm.

    From Qin Ye''s perspective, he felt as if he could see countless pear blossoms blooming at once. The golden light transformed into a radiant tsunami that came surging toar dhim from all sides alongside the storm of golden daggers, and in the blink of an eye, Qin Ye found himself caught amidst a fierce assault.

    A series of inky-ck halos erupted out of Qin Ye''s body, and in this dire situation, a weapon appeared in his hand before releasing a burst of golden light, forming a barrier to keep out all of the golden daggers.

    The entire space trembled violently in the face of their sh, and only after a full five minutes had passed did the storm of daggers fade into nothingness, following which Qin Ye was finally revealed.

    He had already adopted his Hell''s Emissary state and Yin energy was surging out of his body in a frenzy. There was a golden spear in his grasp and time seemed to have fallenpletely still.

    Several secondster, Matthew eximed in a stunned voice, "That''s Fate! You''re the Cathayan Underworld''s..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, all of the golden light within the space congealed for a split second before surging back toward him like the receding tide!

    A blood-curdling howl rang out from the center of the space and the golden light slowly faded, revealing a stretch of pure darkness underneath. At the same time, Matthew''s body began to twist and writhe incessantly.

    "No!!!" he roared in a voice that was filled with shock and horror as he looked at his own withering body with an incredulous expression. "It shouldn''t be like this... It shouldn''t be like this!"

    He grabbed his face with his own hands as an extremely agonized look appeared on his face, and he was screeching with all his might. However, the changes taking ce in his body were irreversible, just like the passage of time, and as more and more golden light flowed back toward him, the darkness around him became more and more overwhelming. All of the green patterns all over Matthew''s body began to converge rapidly toward his be, revealing his original physical body again.

    What on earth is going on?!

    Instead of approaching Matthew, Qin Ye retreated to several dozen meters away, where he continued to observe Matthew with a grim expression.

    The apartment in the mortal realm was already beginning to appear around them, indicating that the space formed by Matthew''s consciousness was in the process of copsing. Only under three types of circumstances would this happen.

    Number one: he had opened the space himself.

    Number two: he had gone insane.

    Number three: he was about to die and his soul was on the verge of destruction.

    Qin Ye waspletely gobsmacked by this situation. A divine duty had only just appeared on Matthew''s body, and he couldn''t understand why it was leading to his destruction.

    Never had he seen a god emerge before falling in such a rapid sequence and he simply didn''t know what to make of it.

    Right at this moment, a hand suddenly reached out from the center of the golden light.

    It was a wizened elderly hand that was twisted in agony, and it was frantically reaching out toward Qin Ye.

    "Save me... Save me!!" Matthew was trying to escape the golden light with all his might. In no more than 20 seconds, he had transformed from a middle-aged man who was over 180 centimeters tall to an elderly man who was roughly only 145 centimeters tall. His eyes werepletely bloodshot, and he howled in a desperate voice, "Save me... I''ll give you anything you want!!"

    This was far too bizarre a scene and Qin Ye didn''t dare to step in recklessly. Instead, he asked in a calm voice, "Who are you and how did you be like this?"

    "My name is..."

    Before he had a chance to reply, all of the golden light transformed into a radiance flower that enveloped his entire body while also drowning out his final desperate roar. The all-epassing golden flower began to close itself around Matthew, and Matthew looked up at the sky with a despairing expression as he roared with all his might, "I am the sun! I am a true god, not like those fake gods you''ve seen before! This shouldn''t be happening to me..."

    The flower''s petals werepletely shut, drowning out the rest of his words. Immediately thereafter, the flower shuddered before dissipating into countless specks of golden light, and at the same time, faint ripples surged through the surrounding space, following which Qin Ye found himself back in the mortal realm.

    He had only been in that golden space for a very short time, and he was still reminiscing about what he had just seen. It was such a bizarre sight that he couldn''t find the words to describe it.

    However, this wasn''t the time to be thinking about such things.

    He cast his gaze toward the spot where Matthew had been tied up before, and there, he discovered a finger hovering in mid-air.

    It wasn''t a skeletal finger. Instead, it wasplete with flesh and blood. The fingernail was ck and around an inch in length. Countless Yin runes were inscribed on its surface, and just the mere sight of it was enough to strike the beholder with a rush of dizziness.

    The aura of a death god was surging out of the finger alongside fearsome Yin energy in a frenzy, and Qin Ye was immediately able to tell that this was the finger of a death god!

 Chapter 943: Finger of A God (2)

    <h4>Chapter 943: Finger of A God (2)</h4>

    Attached to the finger was a soul that refused to dissipate. It was revolving around the finger like a wisp of white smoke, but it was quickly grabbed by Qin Ye.

    "This is a part of the remains of a god!" Qin Ye''s mouth was slightly agape as he stared at the finger in disbelief. "This thing most likely belongs to the Freemasonry... How did they manage to get their hands onto something like this?"

    All deceased death gods or ones who were on the brink of death would return to the Heavenly Dao, and the fact that this death god still had remained indicated that they weren''t dead!

    Instead, they were hibernating.

    It had to be a situation simr to the one Yu Kiang was in, where it was in a hibernating state and its body still remained in this world.

    "Does this mean that the Freemasonry found a hibernating death god and cut off one of their fingers? How did they manage to escape alive after doing something like that?"

    Just the mere thought of how much power it would require to do something like this struck Qin Ye with a sense of dread.

    The three death gods of the Caribbean were also involved, so this had to be the result of their effortsbined with that of the Freemasonry. Brand was a subordinate to the three death gods, while Master Mason Brando of the Freemasonry had warned him against approaching Matthew. This meant that there had to have been some type of coboration between the two parties, at least when the subject of Matthew was concerned.

    Many disjointed thoughts began to rapidlye together in his mind, forming a preposterous theory.

    "Why Matthew? What are they trying to do and what do they need him for?"

    With a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp, and he habitually massaged it as he fell into deep thought. After over 10 minutes of contemtive silence, he murmured to himself, "What if... What if Matthew is the Slumber of the Sea and the Stars? What if he''s the vessel the three death gods are nning to use in their ascension to the Yama-King level? In that case, this finger has to be some sort of guiding instrument or some type of catalyst."

    He lowered his head with tightly furrowed brows as he shook his head again.

    Something''s not right... There''s a hole in this theory.

    Given how frail Matthew''s body was, there was no way he would be able to withstand the massive influx of Yin energy required to create a true death god. In the instant that he became a god, Matthew would perish for sure and his physical body wouldpletely disintegrate. There was simply no way that his physical body would be a suitable vessel for such a task.

    In that case, why were they so intent on protecting Matthew?

    He looked up at the ceiling with a contemtive expression as he mused to himself, "Also, if Matthew really is that important to their ns, there''s no way I would''ve been able to capture him so easily. Perhaps you can exin this by saying that having too many powerful beings constantly with him would attract a lot of suspicions, thereby drawing attention to Matthew when there otherwise wouldn''t have been any, but if it were me, I would lock up Matthew somewhere where no one can find him until I''m ready to possess him. There''s no way I would leave him in somece like Cathaytown and render him so vulnerable."

    There were too many things that can''t be exined about this theory. He shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh, then grabbed onto the soul and squeezed it between his fingers.

    All of the answers to his questions were most likely going to be in there.

    The soul was shattered, and it let loose an anguished howl before vanishing into thin air. At the same time, countless memories surged into Qin Ye''s mind in a frenzy.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It was a pitch-ck night that was pouring with rain. The windscreen wipers on arge white truck were sweeping back and forth incessantly over the truck''s windscreen, and a Michael Jackson song was ying inside. Two manualborers wearing caps that read "Oak Movers" in English were seated in the truck, leafing through magazines in a bored manner.

    However, invisible to both of them was a disfigured infant wearing a tattered set of infant''s clothing. The infant had three hands, and his deathly pale eyes were rolling into the back of his head while blood was flowing out of all seven of his orifices as he frantically tried to force his way into the car.

    That''s Matthew! Was he abandoned because of his disfigurement? Qin Ye immediately identified the infant to be Matthew.

    He was trying to find someone to possess. Qin Ye could tell that the Matthew at the time was extremely feeble, and if he didn''t find anyone to possess soon, he would soon cease to exist.

    Unfortunately, he was far too weak and the life force of the two men in the truck was too strong for such a feeble Yin spirit like him to be able to possess.

    In addition to Matthew, Qin Ye also recognized one of the two men in the truck while the other was unfamiliar to him.

    The person that he recognized was Ricky Conn, Matthew''s father!

    Matthew was desperately ramming his disfigured face into the window of the truck from outside, but the two men in the truck werepletely unable to hear him. After about 10 minutes, Matthew was inplete despair, yet right as he was about to leave, a burst of knocking suddenly rang out.

    Ricky put down his magazine and nudged his colleague as he asked, "Do you hear that?"

    The monotonous knocking sound was particrly harrowing in the stormy night.

    His colleague nodded in response as he gulped nervously. "Just ignored it. This job was really strange to begin with. I''ve never even heard of the First Usonian Bank, and we''ve been called here to move for them, but there''s nothing for us to move and they won''t even let us get out of the truck!"

    "So what?" Ricky gave an uncaring shrug. "They''re giving us twice thepensation."

    "Are you not concerned that there''s something fishy about this?"

    "I don''t care as long as they pay up. I''ll keep this a secret from everyone and only tell it to that oak tree in my yard."

    Right at this moment, the knocking became louder and louder, and the two of them exchanged a nce before Ricky abruptly turned toward the window to take a look. However, his head shrank back just as quickly, and a horrified look had appeared on his face.

    "What did you see?" his colleague asked in a fearful voice.

    "Nothing..." Ricky replied in a trembling voice.

    "Nothing? Why do you look so scared if you saw noth..." Before he even finished his sentence, he shuddered as he realized why Ricky was so frightened.

    If there was nothing outside, then what was knocking on the car?

    Before they had a chance to think about anything else, two resounding booms suddenly rang out from the container at the rear of the truck. It was as if something were crashing violently into the container.

    "R-R-R-Ricky..." Ricky''s colleague was on the verge of soiling himself at this point. "H, Have we encountered something... not from this world?"

    Ricky was also terrified as he gritted his teeth, then grabbed a rubber baton before rushing out of the truck.

    Torrential rain was pouring down while lightning shed high up in the sky, and he rushed out with a single lunge. Not far in front of him stood an imposing church that was shimmering with faint specks of light, which looked as if they were demons in the night.

    "Who''s there, goddamn it!!" He gritted his teeth as he frantically waved his shlight around, but there was nothing outside the truck.

    Only Qin Ye could see... No, Matthew had seen it as well. Right as the truck door was opened, a severed finger crawled into the truck!

    "That''s the finger of the death god..." Qin Ye was watching everything unfold from an omniscient perspective, and right as he saw this, his eyes immediately lit up as he cast his gaze toward the church in the night.

    This was where Ricky Conn hadpleted the moving job for the First Usonian Bank, which meant that this was where the vault, the entrance to the underground church, was located!

    This wasn''t a veryrge church, and even though there were lights inside, the lights were very dim and there was no sound of prayering from within. Come to think of it, all churches should''ve been closed long before this time at night, but this one was still open!

    Directly in front of the church was the statue of a saint, and that was the most prominentndmark to look out for.

    Unfortunately, even though Qin Ye enjoyed an omniscient perspective, he couldn''t zoom in or out of the image. Otherwise, he would immediately zoom into the church to see exactly what was inside.

    This was the starting point of everything.

    Even the finger of the death god had appeared here.

    The rain continued to pour down, and after finding nothing outside the truck, Ricky wiped at his own wet hair before preparing to return to the truck. Right at this moment, several figures emerged from the darkness of the night.

    Ricky was far from a coward, but following such a bizarre episode on such a stormy night, even he couldn''t help but feel extremely on-edge.

    He gulped nervously as the figures made their way over to him, entering the scope of the headlights in the process, and Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up as he identified their leader.

    It was Brando DuPont, apanied by a group of bodyguards.

    This man was one of the 12 Master Masons, a non-human monster who was close to the mid Yama-King level.

    In contrast with when Qin Ye had met him, Brando''s eyes in this memory were bright red like those of a wild beast, and he said, "I warned you. I told you to keep quiet, take the money, and don''t get out of your truck no matter what. Why did you listen to me?"

    Rumble! Lightning shed in the sky, and in that instant, Ricky could clearly see that hundreds of "wild beasts" had surrounded the church.

    They seemed to be wolves, but most of them were walking upright on their hind legs as if they were humans!

    "I absolutely detest those who take the money but don''t do what they''re told," Brando said in a calm voice.

    Right at this moment, a wolf''s howl rang out from somewhere, and in the next instant, the bodyguards standing beside Brando raised their heads to the heavens and also howled in response.

    tter... Ricky''s shlight fell onto the ground, and his lips trembled uncontrobly as he turned around like a madman before sprinting toward the truck.

    It was also right at this moment that another bolt of lightning shed past, illuminating Brando, who had already transformed into a giant wolf!

    "Open the door! Open the door!!" He was frantically mming his hands against the truck door, and Qin Ye could see that two of his soulfires were flickering unsteadily due to excessive fear. It was also right at this moment that Matthew let loose a desperate screech before pouncing toward Ricky from beside the truck.

    The opportunity for possession had arisen far too abruptly, and he was so excited that hepletely failed to take into ount Brando''s presence. There would be no other opportunity for him to find another host, and if he didn''t possess someone in an hour, he was going to fade out of existence!

    In his haste to possess Ricky, he failed to see that a finger had plunged into his back right as he was about to pounce onto Ricky''s back!

    A ghastly howl rang out, and his spiritual body seemed to have melted. The sudden turn of events stopped Brando cold in his tracks, and his bodyguards had also ceased their howling as they looked on with stunned expressions.

    "So that''s where it was!!" In the next instant, Brando let loose a thunderous roar of fury, and his arms abruptly bulged to twice as thick as the average adult human''s arm. At the same time, ck fur and pulsing red veins emerged on the surface of his arms as he made a vicious grab toward Matthew.

    Right as he was about to grab onto Matthew, he suddenly let loose an agonized howl before instantly withdrawing his hand. He brought his palm up to his own face with an astonished expression to find that the charred ck symbol of a sun had appeared on his hand.

    Dead silence.

    The only sound that could be heard came from the howling wind and the torrential rain. Several secondster, Brando''s furious voice rang out. "Shit! I didn''t think it could still use its divine intent to escape from the Rift of Time... Looks like we still underestimated these ancient gods!"

    He had already withdrawn his hand and reverted back to his human form, and hebed his right hand through his own hair. A bodyguard standing beside him asked, "What do we do now, Your Excellency?"

    Brando gnashed his teeth together with a murderous expression as he looked at Matthew, who was trembling on the ground, and only after a long while did he give a cold harrumph. "It''s only a key anyway, the main body still hasn''t managed to escape. Keep an eye on him. His soul has be intertwined with the divine finger, and his fate has be intertwined with this man. If we forcibly extract the finger, it''ll only be destroyed. We have to get rid of some of this man''s memories. Also, check and see if he has any rtives. If so, then let them give birth to this child and protect him until we need him."

    He made his way over to Mathew, who was already unconscious at this point, and he gently scraped a sharp fingernail that was over an inch in length over Matthew''s cheek as he mused, "What a lucky Yin spirit you are..."

 Chapter 944: Saint Peterâ€™s Church (1)

    <h4>Chapter 944: Saint Peter¡¯s Church (1)</h4>

    The memory concluded here, dissipating into cloud and smoke that converged toward the center of the image from all sides, then quickly vanished altogether.

    Almost at the exact same moment, Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the door of the apartment, then vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind.

    Half a secondter, the door was violently kicked in amid a resounding boom, and several bodyguards in ck suits rushed in. Their mouths were already split open to their cheeks, revealing sets of sharp canine fangs, and their eyes were glowing with bloodlust. Furthermore, they weren''t even walking on two legs anymore. Instead, they were crouching on the ground like dogs, and some of them had even rushed onto the ceiling.

    A portly ck man entered the room behind them and at the same time, the door was closed. He raised a hand, and a ck handgun was ced into his grasp.

    In the next instant, a string of unbroken gunfire rang out as the ck man shot several rounds at the bed, then extended a hand into the bedsheet and lifted up the entire mattress in one fell swoop, but there was nothing there.

    "Damn it..." He took a deep breath before casting his gaze toward all of the bodyguards. "Release wanted notices across the entire city! Master DuPont has instructed us to kill Edward on sight regardless of the setting or his motives! Master DuPont himself will deal with all of the consequences!"

    Right at this moment, the door was pushed open again, and one of the elderly bishops whom Qin Ye had met once at the Masonic Temple, was already standing at the doorway.

    Behind him were around a dozen wraith-like witch hunters with shimmering silver crossbows strapped to their arms. It was as if their bodies hadpletely fused as one with the shadows, and their crossbows were aimed directly at all of the monsters in the room.

    "Fels..." The bishop cast a disdainful nce at the ck man, then said in a cold voice, "The lord allows you to be here, but you''re only wee to stay as long as you don''t go around destroying the city! Supernatural events are happening all over Phdelphia right now and we don''t want to engage in senseless conflict with you, but you better keep your people in check!"

    He stepped forward and looked into Fels''s eyes with a cold expression as he continued, "This is Phdelphia, one of the oldest cities in Usonia. It was once the capital of Usonia and is home to the Deration of Independence, as well as one of thergest followings of catholicism in any city in Northern Usonia! This isn''t Columbia, where you can do as you please!"

    Fels didn''t back down in the slightest as he returned the bishop''s hostile gaze, and intense figurative spars were flying between their eyes. Only after a long while did Fels give a cold harrumph as he said, "This is a special case. We''ll do our best to ensure that no harm befalls the city as a result of our actions."

    "That''s something that you must do," the bishop replied in a cold voice. "Cardinal Fernando is currently on his way here, apanied by 500 pdins. If you can''t refrain from damaging the city, then we can help you keep your men in check."

    "Are you trying to start a war?"

    "The holy battle has already been raging for several centuries, I wouldn''t mind ending it all here."

    Fels was struggling to contain the urge tosh out as he cast one final vicious nce at the elderly bishop, thenmanded in a fierce voice, "Let''s go!"

    All of the monsters in the room immediately vanished as gusts of Yin wind.

    The room fell silent again as a result, and several secondster, a witch hunter asked in a low voice, "Your Excellency, why didn''t you take advantage of this opportunity to take them down?"

    The bishop shook his head with a concerned expression as he replied, "Phdelphia is currently under extremely severe threat of supernatural disasters, and we still haven''t found the source of all of this. At a time like this, it would be downright idiotic to spark a battle against them. On top of that, they''re not alone, they have other more powerful forces standing behind them. Let''s leave this ce as well. Please repress your anger, everyone, it''s still not time for the final showdown against those monsters."

    The door was opened before being closed again shortly thereafter.

    After another hour, another gust of Yin wind appeared before quickly transforming into Qin Ye.

    He had been right outside the window this entire time, but unless Brando were toe here in person, no one would be able to detect him.

    He was confident that those people wouldn''te here again. They had already searched this ce and a conflict had just erupted here, so all of them would be quite reluctant to return to this ce.

    With a wave of his hand, the bed returned to its original state. It was riddled with bullet holes, but it could still serve adequately as a bed.

    Qin Ye lied down on the bed with his hands acting as a pillow behind the back of his head, looking up at the ceiling with a contemtive expression. He had no intention of sleeping at all, and his mind was already racing.

    He felt like he had grasped the crux of the situation, but he still needed some concrete evidence. However, he didn''t really care about what was going on here, all he cared about were Xu Fu''s notes.

    Once he obtained the notes, what happened to Usonia wouldn''t matter to him in the slightest.

    "Saint Peter''s Church, eh?" He pulled out his phone and ran the term through a search engine, following which a smile quickly appeared on his face. "The underground church is right beneath this church! Everything started from there, but that''s not important to me at all. I was worried that this incident would hinder my mission to obtain Xu Fu''s notes, but looking at things now, all I need to do is sneak into the church and take the notes in secret, then sneak out of Northern Usonia, and nothing would happen."

    Northern Usonia was already in a state ofplete chaos, and the only thing that could detect high-grade Yin spirits was the Eye of the Night Star at Xolotl''s Screen, but Xololt''s Screen had just been demolished by Kraken. In addition to that, Qin Ye had been hiding his own Yin energy very cautiously this entire time and was mostly traveling through the mortal realm. Unless he intentionally revealed himself, it would most likely only be discovered that a Yama-King had visited the new continent once he left through Xolotl''s Screen.

    He casually searched up information on Saint Peter''s Church, and he quickly discovered something very encouraging, which was that just like the First Usonian Bank, there was extremely limited information on this church.

    If it weren''t for the fact that it was a renowned tourist attraction, it most likely wouldn''t even have appeared in the search results!

    It was clear that efforts had been made to make the church as discreet and secretive as possible, and that was a very good sign. Qin Ye smiled as he murmured to himself, "Now that Matthew''s disappeared, they''ll most likely immediately realize that the secret they''re hiding under the church is at risk of being unveiled, which means that the underground church has already been surrounded by Brando''s men. In that case, how do I secure the notes without revealing my identity?"

    His mind was racing as he analyzed the situation. Firstly, the church and the Freemasonry weren''t on good terms with one another, and the same applied to the Freemasonry and the three death gods, while the church could bepletely unaware that the three death gods were even involved. Otherwise, the bishop just now would''ve referred to the three death gods directly by name. In fact, if they knew about the three death gods, then there was no way the church would''ve allowed them to establish their new religion.

    The power of the church and the Freemasonry had already been openly revealed, and only the power of the three death gods still hadn''t been disyed yet. However, Qin Ye wasn''t particrly worried about them. Perhaps they were the ones who had instigated all of this and convinced the Freemasonry to join them, but in reality, they''re the weakest of the three parties with only three Abyssal Prefects among their ranks.

    He sat up on his bed with his legs crossed, and Yin energy seeped out of his fingertip as he slowly wrote on the bed: "The Freemasonry has 12 Master Masons, of which Brando possesses power close to the mid Yama-King level and he should be the patriarch of the werewolf n that Lee Jung-sook had been referring to. Another one is Lee Jung-sook, who''s consumed the Taisui fungus and attained immortality. I wouldn''t be surprised if there were three to five more Yama-Kings among the remaining Master Masons."

    This was truly an incredibly powerful organization!

    Qin Ye didn''t know how the three death gods had managed to convince the Freemasonry to coborate with them, but were they not taking a massive risk by coborating with an organization so much more powerful than them? Did they think that they would be safe because the members of the Freemasonry couldn''t enter the underworld?

    Before reaching the Yama-King level, one could never truly know just how fearsome a Yama-King was. However, this wasn''t something that he needed to worry about, and he continued writing: "Catholicism is the most powerful of the world''s top three religions, and I''ve heard that there are seven catholic cardinals in total, all of whom should be at the Yama-King level, so it shouldn''t be any less powerful than the Freemasonry. Due to the supernatural disasters ravaging Phdelphia, a temporary truce has been agreed upon by both parties. Looking at the current situation, there can only be one of those parties with forces stationed at Saint Peter''s Church."

    The reason for this was very simple: the elderly bishop had just said that the holy war had been raging for several centuries, making the Freemasonry and the catholic church sworn enemies. In the wake of Matthew''s death, Brando would definitely be sending his men to protect Saint Peter''s Church. If the catholic church were to get involved and also send their forces there, there was a very good chance that they would end up battling one another.

    "Hence, Brando would''ve definitely convinced the church not to get involved in this. Perhaps he promised them financialpensation using his identity as a Master Mason. After all, the DuPont Consortium is one of the world''s top 10 consortiums. Alternatively, he may have promised them some other type ofpensation. In any case, it''s most likely the case that I''ll only be faced with the werewolf army at Saint Peter''s Church."

    He stopped writing there, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.

    There was still one unanswered question in his mind, which was the supernatural disasters.

    He had initially thought that they were stemming from the grand script of death written by the three death gods, but he wasn''t so sure about that now as Brando seemed to bepletely oblivious.

    If he were in the know, then his attitude toward the church wouldn''t have been so ambiguous. Instead, he would be doing everything in his power to convince the church to vacate Phdelphia. With the enormous wealth that the DuPont Consortium had at its disposal, he could easily donate 100rge churches to the catholic faith. It was extremely costly to run such a massive religion, so such a donation would certainly be extremely wee.

    However, he hadn''t done that, and this begged the question: where were these supernatural disastersing from?

    Qin Ye couldn''t think of an answer to this, and it didn''t have anything to do with him anyway. After a moment of contemtion, he focused on the question that actually mattered to him: how could he obtain Xu Fu''s notes without revealing his own identity?

    He sat still on the spot in deep thought for a full 20 minutes before heaving a long sigh. "It''s going to be very difficult... I''ll have to go all-out against a Yama-King, and in that case, there''s no way my identity won''t be exposed. In that case..."

    He began to write on the bed again. It was a habit of his to write down his thoughts in case he forgot themter.

    "How do I not reveal my identity as King Yanluo? I can reveal the fact that I''m a Yama-King. At the very most, I can only reveal to them that the Cathayan Underworld is involved, but if my identity as King Yanluo gets exposed to them, the consequences will bepletely different."

    It wouldn''t be a surprise for one of the four pirs to be involved in the affairs of the new continent. After all, the other three pirs were already doing the exact same thing.

    However, if the ruler of one of the four pirs had to get involved in person, then that would be a sign of weakness.

    The only forces he had at his disposal was the Dusk Legionnaire. Only at times like this would hement his ownziness when it came to cultivation. If he had known that this would happen, he would''ve worked harder so he could sweep aside these enemies with ease.

    In any case, there was no point in thinking about what-ifs now. The important thing for Qin Ye was to figure out how he could use the Dusk Legionnaire to stall Brando while he entered the underground church without having his identity revealed.

 Chapter 945: Saint Peterâ€™s Church (2)

    <h4>Chapter 945: Saint Peter''s Church (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye considered his options for a very long time.

    "The only advantage I have is that no one has ever seen the Dusk Legionnaire..." he murmured to himself with furrowed brows. "The first King Yanluo never cultivated it, while the second King Yanluo did cultivate it, but he barely ever had to battle anyone. Thus, no one has ever seen the Dusk Legionnaire. On top of that..."

    He swept a hand through the air, and around a dozen Yin spirits appeared in the room, including the likes of the Spatial Spirit, the Porter Spirit, Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, Otakemaru, Leatherface, Jason, and Freddy Krueger.

    Aside from those who had voluntarily joined the Dusk Legionnaire, all of the other Yin spirits, such as Otakemaru and Leatherface, were only mindless puppets. However, so long as Qin Ye remained alive, they wouldn''t die, either.

    Furthermore, he could clearly see that each of these Yin spirits had a blue thread connected to their backs.

    The thread extended into their bodies while the other end was attached to Qin Ye''s fingers. After looking at the threads for a while, Qin Ye cleared his throat and waved his hands through the air as he said in his best anime voice, "Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets." [This is a technique used by Sasori, a character in the popr Japanese anime and manga, Naruto.]

    Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho turned to him with appalled expressions. They couldn''t help but feel as if they had epted the wrong master...

    Qin Ye was also feeling extremely ashamed of himself. The scene reminded him so much of Sasori''s usage of the technique that he simply couldn''t help himself!

    He cleared his throat vigorously a few times to hide his embarrassment, then put on a serious expression as he curled a finger. Otakemaru immediately made his way toward him before kneeling down in a respectful manner. "Otakemaru pays his respects to his master."

    Qin Ye cast an indifferent gaze toward Otakemaru, and several secondster, the two of them swapped positions amid a sh of Yin energy!

    Otakemaru was still in a kneeling position, but he had appeared on the bed while Qin Ye was standing where Otakemaru had just a moment ago.

    After reaching the Yama-King level, his Dusk Legionnaire had evolved once again, but he didn''t have the time to examine the changes andter on, he forgot all about it.

    He didn''t know the effective range of this mutual teleportation ability, nor any other details about this new ability. At this point, all he had at his disposal were around a dozen Yin spirits and this mutual teleportation ability.

    There was no point inining, and he began to carefully ponder his situation. After a long while, he murmured to himself, "The effective range is around one kilometers, but there must be Yin energy thread connections to facilitate the teleportation. No one else aside from me can see these threads, but they can be severed by outsiders. However, Yama-King level power is required to do so."

    He cast his gaze toward his puppets again.

    The Spatial Spirit and the Porter Spirit had already reached the Infernal Judge level, and they were still decently useful.

    The Spatial Spirit could create spaces that resembled ck holes of around a meter in size with its mouth acting as the entrance to the ck hole. As for the Porter Spirit, it specialized in soundwave attacks, able to reach up to 200 decibels.

    130 decibels was enough to shatter ss cups and at 200 decibels, all living beings below the Infernal Judge level would have their eardrumspletely ruptured.

    Both of them were capable of unleashingrge-scale attacks, which made them useful againstrge numbers of low-level opponents. Brando definitely wouldn''t be conceited enough to defend the entirety of Saint Peter''s Church on his own, so the Porter Spirit and the Spatial Spirit would be useful when it came to dealing with his underlings.

    Kwon Kyung-ho was a survivor from the MV Sewol, capable of summoning a sea full of deceased spirits from the time of the incident. His fellow students could also fight for him, and after so many years, he had already be an advanced Infernal Judge. However, he wasn''t going to be all that useful in the uing battle. The fellow students that he could summon were a cultivation rank lower than him, so they could stall for time, but werecking when it came to destructive power.

    The true trump card that Qin Ye had up his sleeve was Ryu Changmin, whose special ability made him untouchable, even for Yama-King level assants. The higher his opponent''s cultivation rank, the shorter the effective duration of his ability, but he was only one step away from bing an Abyssal Prefect.

    As for purebat prowess, the most powerful Yin spirits in the Dusk Legionnaire were naturally the likes of Chu Renmei, Huang Jiansen, Otakemaru...

    Hold on, now that I think about it, I already have close to 10 Abyssal Prefects under mymand! Holy shit!

    Unfortunately, the likes of Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen were at a higher cultivation rank than Ryu Changmin, but the quality of their powers couldn''tpare. Ryu Changmin''s hatred was unique in that he hadn''t even been born before he died by the hands of those closest to him. He had witnessed the worst of human nature before he had even arrived in this world, which made him an evil ghost of an extremely high caliber.

    Yin spirits like Otakemaru, Jason, and Freddy were just purely evil, and they couldn''t even begin topare with Ryu Changmin.

    He continued inspecting the evil ghosts at his disposal, and his gaze fell on a man and two women.

    They were the werewolf, ck witch, and vampire that he had met during that conference in Mirage City.

    They had no names nor special abilities, and they had only been epted into the Dusk Legionnaire based on the merit of their lofty cultivation ranks. However...

    Qin Ye rubbed his own chin with a contemtive look in his eyes.

    Perhaps they could be useful in a very special way.

    After looking at the three Yin spirits for a while longer, he instructed, "Werewolf, from now on, you''ll be known as Dusk 11. Vampire, you''ll be Dusk 12, and ck witch, you''ll be Dusk 13."

    "Yes, Master," the three Yin spirits replied with wooden expressions.

    He closed his eyes and carefully directed his consciousness toward the three evil ghosts.

    As a result, he discovered that the werewolf and the vampire really did have no special abilities. Ryu Changmin''s Untouchable Love was an extremely rare and exceptional ability, it would be unfair to expect them to have abilities of a simr level, but what they did have were bloodline abilities.

    The werewolf''s bloodline ability was Moonlight, allowing its power to double at night. Furthermore, it would be capable of entering a berserk state and adopting a giant wolf form.

    The berserk state would boost its power by a further 30%, while the giant wolf form would double its power yet again, making it a formidable creature of the night. Even more importantly, it was also a werewolf, so it wouldn''t look out of ce among a group of werewolves.

    The vampire''s bloodline abilities were agility enhancement, bat transformation, and vampirization.

    The agility enhancement increased agility by 100%, granting him far superior speed, evasive ability, attack velocity, etc. Essentially, everything that fell under the agility attribute in online games applied here.

    The bat transformation granted him the ability to fly, while vampirization was a bloodline ability possessed by all vampires. Any living creature that was bitten by him and had his blood injected into their body would be transformed into vampires. However, this vampire wasn''t all that powerful, so its vampirization ability would only be able to convert victims into the most low-level blood ves.

    He cast his gaze toward the ck witch and several minutester, he nodded with a pleased expression.

    She had no special abilities or bloodline abilities, but she did possess several good spells.

    Extreme Cold Coffin: allows the user to instantly freeze oneself in a body of ice of extremely low temperatures that''s very difficult to break through in a short time.

    Qin Ye rubbed his own chin with a contemtive expression.

    If worse came to worst, this ability coulde in handy to transform her into a shield. However, in order to unleash this spell, she had to chant an incantation that was 10 seconds long.

    Phoenix Fire: an inextinguishable me that can incinerate everything in sight within 100 meters.

    This was a useful spell as vampires and werewolves were naturally fearful toward things that produced light, so it could be used for intimidation.

    That was all that Qin Ye had at his disposal. How could he ovee the enemy''s defenses with just those assets alone? There was no way for him to return to the Cathayan Underworld to request reinforcements.

    Time slowly passed by in deep thought, and Qin Ye sat on his bed with his legs crossed in silence.

    At night, Phdelphia was not a very peaceful city. Yin energy was surging everywhere, and the asional ghastly howl or goosebump-raising sob could be heard. However, Qin Ye paid no heed to this. After a long while, the dark clouds outside faded, and the sun rose up into the sky to herald the arrival of a brand new day. Only then did Qin Ye finally raise his head.

    "I''ve got it!"

    He pressed his palm down toward the writing on the bed, and all of the writing instantly dissipated into Yin energy.

    Throughout the night, his writing had already covered the entire bed.

    "There''s a chance, and it''s not a small chance! If I can pull this off, I''ll be able to enter the underground church and leave safely without revealing my identity!"

    As a Yama-King, staying up an entire night wasn''t taxing on his body whatsoever, but such a long and intense period of deep thought had left him feeling quite weary mentally, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

    However, he paid no heed to all of that. This was going to be a risky n. As was the case in all worthwhile things in life, no reward could be repeated without taking a risk. Even filling out one''s university preference form carried an element of risk, let alone something like this. After making his decision, Qin Ye immediately jumped down from the bed and vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    Half an hour, Edward reappeared somewhere roughly 80 kilometers away from Phdelphia.

    There were still taxis here, and he hailed one at random before instructing the driver to head directly toward Phdelphia.

    Wanted notices for him had already been ced all over Phdelphia, so he couldn''t appear in the city as Edward. At the very least, he couldn''t do that prior to the implementation of his n.

    However, he had to have a clear n of what he wanted to do, then constantly make adjustments on the fly as the situation unfolded.

    He couldn''t use the same n twice so he only had one opportunity, and he had to make it count!

    In contrast with Phdelphia at night, a hint of life had returned to the city during the day. Soon, the taxi had made its way close to Saint Peter''s Church, but it was unable to get through.

    A police officer rode toward the taxi on his motorcycle, and the taxi driver rolled down his window with a displeased expression. "What''s going on? Is this area blocked off?"

    The police officer took a look inside the taxi, and Edward made no attempt to avert his gaze. Instead, he looked directly into the police officer''s eyes.

    The police officer''s expression was quite natural, and he replied, "Saint Peter''s Church hasn''t been repaired in many years, and we had a big stormst night, leading to the copse of some parts of the church. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed. However, it''ll take roughly a month before everything returns to normal."

    "How could this be?" Edward asked with a stunned expression. "I came all this way just to visit Saint Peter''s Church! Can you make any exceptions?"

    "I''m afraid not, sir."

    "Damn it... Edward cursed under his breath before heaving a disappointed sigh. "Do you know exactly when the church will reopen?"

    "I''m not too sure on that," the police officer replied in a resigned manner. "We only just received notification to block off this road, and even we''re unable to ess the church. We''ve only been told that the repairs will take roughly a month, but no exact time has been decided on the reopening."

    Edward heaved a long sigh as he rolled up the car window.

    However, right as the car left this street, a cold smile reced the disappointed look on his face.

    Does that mean the grand script of death will be able to achieve a significant breakthrough within a month? It''ll either bepleted or no longer need to be in Phdelphia, which means that I have at least 25 days to prepare.

    Just as he had predicted, Brando''s influence still hadn''t extended into the police force. Some things had to remain a secret to the general public. The church could know, the witch hunters could know, but normal police officers definitely had to remain oblivious.

    They were only normal people, and if they became aware of what was happening, they would unconsciously spread panic among the masses, and that would be absolutely uneptable to the church.

    Only a stable and orderly parish was a good parish. This meant that he wouldn''t encounter any trouble in the next few days in the mortal realm, which allowed him to find a ce to rest and think without having to worry about anything, and that was extremely valuable.

    A thread of Yin energy emerged from his fingertip, then traveled out of the car and disappeared beneath a certain manhole cover.

    There''s still a month left, let''s see who''s going to get thestugh!

 Chapter 946: Overture of the Night (1)

    <h4>Chapter 946: Overture of the Night (1)</h4>

    Saint Peter''s Church.

    At the top of this Gothic-style church was a small bell tower. Ironically, the Gothic style was known for being eerie, mysterious, suspenseful, and terrifying, but it wasmonly employed in many fields including construction, sculpting, and painting. This type of style was exaggerated and bnced,pact yetplex, and the main exponent of it was theserge churches. Almost 80% of the most renowned churches in the world were constructed in the Gothic style.

    Somehow, the symbols representative of the Gothic style, such as bats, roses, crows, crosses, and blood were juxtaposed with the church, which was supposed to represent all things holy and pure. Most ironic of all was the man standing at the top of this Gothic-style church.

    Brando''s hands were in his pockets as he surveyed the area surrounding the church from his vantage point.

    Late at night, Phdelphia was so quiet that it was as if it were a city for the dead. Beneath the Death God Dax gs were lit candles, providing faint glimmers of light in the darkness.

    The werewolves under hismand were hidden in the shadows around the church, and even further away were close to 1,000 witch hunters. Most of them were only Knights and Counts, and there weren''t even many Viscounts among them, but they certainly made up for theck of quality with sheer quantity.

    Even though he had already struck a deal with the bishops, promising them that he and his werewolf subordinates wouldn''t stray more than 100 meters away from Saint Peter''s Church, the witch hunters had still been deployed here to ensure that Brando kept his promise. There wasn''t much trust between the two parties to begin with, and even now, Brando could sense two bishops watching him intently in the night.

    He paid no heed to this whatsoever.

    "It''s already been a week..." he suddenly murmured to himself.

    Indeed, it had already been a week since Matthew''s death.

    The church couldn''t sense it, but he could sense a pair of eyes constantly watching this ce from the shadows. It was an extremely tense and oppressive feeling, and the more quiet it was, the more tension there was in the air.

    As a Yama-King, he had a certain sense of premonition toward danger, and it was exactly because of this that he didn''t dare to rx in the slightest. The longer his opponent waited, the more power they would be able to unleash once they sprang into action!

    "Who is trying to benefit from the creation of this grand script of death?" He continued to murmur to himself through gritted teeth as he raised his head to look up at the dark night sky. Up above, the moon had beenpletely devoured by the dense dark clouds, and even the light of the stars had been concealed. "You better not let me catch you. Otherwise, I''m going to make you regret your decision no matter who you are!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Several streets away, a man in a suit was also staring at Saint Peter''s Church, which resembled a monster in the night.

    On the rooftop of every building beside him were at least three witch hunters, and a series of chains, stered to which were bible pages, had already sealed up the streets around the church, forming a circle with a radius of around 200 meters. Furthermore, at least 2,000 crossbows were aimed directly at the church from afar.

    All of the evil forces in the eastern region of Usonia, the werewolves and vampires, were gathered here. No one had ever paid particr attention to this change, yet in the blink of an eye, it had be an extremely important location. What exactly could be hiding in there? What could possibly warrant a Master Mason promising the church so many benefits just to convince them not to interfere?

    The man was making subtle grabbing motions at the empty air around him as he casually asked, "What kind of secret do you think is hidden in there, Angelina?"

    There was no one around him, but as soon as his voice trailed off, a pair of eyes opened up on the shadow beneath his feet, and a female voice replied in an indifferent manner, "I don''t care what it is. The bishops haven''t ordered us to intervene, so it would be wise for us to repress our curiosity. To be honest, I don''t like working with you. You''re a pdin who thinks about nothing but battle and judgment, and you''re not suitable to act as the captain for this operation."

    The man chuckled in response. "Unfortunately for you, I''m the only one left in the east, so I''m your only choice. Rest assured, no matter how curious I am, I won''t do anything as long as they don''t provoke me."

    "I certainly hope you can keep that promise." The pair of eyes feel shut in silence.

    Several secondster, the man licked his own lips in a bloodthirsty manner as he murmured in a voice audible only to himself, "But if they do dare to do anything, then the holy radiance of the lord will cleanse this entire sinful city!"

    Time slowly passed by, and soon, the toll of the bell rang out, indicating the arrival of midnight, apanied by the howling winds.

    It seemed like apletely ordinary night.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The bell of the church tolled over and over again, and atop a tall building, a small group of witch hunters heaved a collective sigh of relief.

    They were quite young, all of them were in their twenties, which was considered to be very young in the witch hunter upation. If it weren''t for the incredibly dire situation in Phdelphia, they wouldn''t even have been transferred here.

    The leader of the group was a man who appeared to be around 25 or 26 years of age, and patted the shoulder of the woman next to him before stretchingzily as he said, "It''s time to go, Elena. The next group will arrive to rece us in 20 minutes, and... What are you looking at?"

    Elena was wearing a tight-fitting ck jumpsuit that hugged her wless body, as well as a ck cape that was pping like the wings of a crow in the fierce wind. She was a brte Caucasian woman with green eyes, and her face waspletely devoid of emotion. However, she was staring directly at Saint Peter''s Church with an intense and unblinking gaze.

    No one said anything, and several secondster, the leader of the group urged, "Let''s go..."

    "I just don''t get it." Elena suddenly cut him off as she broke her silence. "Why? Why are these pieces of scum being allowed to enter the pure and holy church? Are we not the guardians of God?"

    She raised a hand to tuck a few strands of stray hair behind her ear, revealing the crossbow strapped to her arm in the process. The crossbow was forged from holy silver, and it was giving off a menacing me in the night. "You, me, everyone here... All of the witch hunters here are orphans whose parents were ughtered by these monsters! They''re right in front of our eyes, so why can''t we kill them?"

    "Calm down, Elena!" The leader of the group grabbed onto her arm and forced it back down to her side as he said with gritted teeth, "Brando is right there! I hate to admit it, but he''s a true demon and there are many demons just like him in the Freemasonry! In the face of such a powerful enemy, we can only bide our time unless we have the power to eradicate them in one fell swoop. If we fail to wipe them out in one go, then we''ll be met with fierce retaliation and vengeance from them! I''m sure you know just as well as I do how much influence the Freemasonry has in the world. The Rockefeller Family, the Rothschild Family, Ms. Lee from Daehan, Mr. Mitsui from Nippon... All of them hold unimaginable levels of influence across the entire world! In contrast, the influence of our church ispletely iparable! Do you want to see more orphans like us in the world?"

    Elena didn''t say anything.

    The leader of the group took a deep breath and said in an authoritative voice, "It''s time for us to rest. Otherwise, when we need you to contribute your efforts in the future, you''ll find that you''ve spent too much energy on pointless things."

    "My parents died by the hands of a werewolf," Elena replied in a hateful voice. "Right now, the patriarch of the werewolf n is no more than 200 meters away from me, yet you think all of this is pointless? Do you know how many of the witch hunters here want nothing more than to rush in and fight them to death? It''s taking all of my willpower not to sumb to the urge to do just that!"

    The leader of the group heaved a forlorn sigh. "At the end of the day, Brando is a Duke. We won''t even be able to get close to him."

    A wry smile appeared on Elena''s face, "I suppose you''re right."

    "We''re still too weak right now. Let''s get out here," the leader of the group said.

    Thus, the rest of the group departed, while Elena turned back to take one final look at the church with a reluctant expression.

    She was walking away very slowly. She couldn''t forget that horrific night. Her entire vige had been massacred by werewolves, and not even a single animal was left alive. She was extremely fortunate to have survived the ordeal while hiding in a closet, yet the police hadpletely swept the incident under the rug, attributing the incident to an attack from a pack of wild animals.

    She wanted to rush over to Brando right now and sent a crossbow bolt right through his heart!

    However, she couldn''t do that. She knew that she didn''t have the right to act so recklessly. All of the people present had simr experiences to her, and in order to prepare for aplete victory where they could eradicate all of these heinous creatures, she had to hold back her thirst for vengeance. Despite this, it was still very difficult for her to bide her time, given that she had been living with this burning hatred for over a decade.

    The sound of leather boots on concrete rang out throughout the corridor of the building. This building was quite old, and the sound-activated lights weren''t all that sensitive. Furthermore, it was not a very spacious building, and walking through its corridors could easily spark one''s ustrophobia. She was struggling to repress the burning killing intent in her heart as she walked along with countless chaotic thoughts running through her mind. All of a sudden, she abruptly raised her head.

    The smell of blood was wafting through the air, and it was bing more and more pronounced.

    Zap... Zap... The sound activated light bulb overhead shed a few times before beingpletely snuffed out. Furthermore, it wasn''t the only one, all of the sound-activated lights in the entire building had been snuffed out in unison!

    <i>There''s something wrong here! </i> The training that she had received from the church had already be second nature to her through countless repetitions, and she immediately crouched down like a leopard about to pounce. At the same time, her arm was outstretched, aiming directly at the opening to the staircase.

    There were supposed to be people in front of her, and the sound-activated lights should''ve turned on in response to the sound of their footsteps.

    However, that didn''t happen.

    The rest of her team was up ahead... What had happened to them?

    Amid the tense silence, she heard a sound that made her blood run cold in her veins.

    Crunch, crunch... Elena''s pupils instantly contracted upon hearing this.

    This sound was something that she had heard on repeat for an entire hour back when she was cowering in that closet!

    It was the sound of a feeding demon, the sound of human bones being snapped by sharp fangs!

    "Fuck!" She gritted her teeth tightly before turning around and rushing back without any hesitation.

    A werewolf capable of killing her entire team without making even the slightest sound had to at least be a Count, and there was no way that a mere Knight like her would stand a chance!

    "Never allow your hatred to blind you", that was the first doctrine taught to them by the catholic church. In this situation, she had to rush onto the rooftop of the building to set off a snare, and only then would she receive reinforcements.

    This building was 20 stories tall, and she was currently on the 11th floor.

    She sprinted along the corridor like a crow, rushing as quickly as she could toward the rooftop. Meanwhile, her entire team was lying unconscious on the ground on the fourth floor. A werewolf with blood all over its entire body was standing right beside them, gnawing on a bone with its sharp fangs.

    Attached to this werewolf''s back was a thread that no one could see.

    Elena was under the impression that she was moving extremely silently, but in the ears of an Infernal Judge level werewolf, her footsteps may as well be rumbling thunder. Less than a tenth of a second after she had set off, the werewolf immediately began to pursue her.

 Chapter 947: Overture of the Night (2)

    <h4>Chapter 947: Overture of the Night (2)</h4>

    Within the narrow corridor, Elena gritted her teeth tightly as she frantically rushed toward the rooftop as quickly as she could.

    Never had she felt nine stories of a building to be such a long journey. With every single step, she was going up three or four stairs at once, but there seemed to be no end to them.

    She was biting down on her own lower lip so viciously that she was drawing blood, and right at this moment, a rumbling boom rang out, followed by the sound of bricks and stones ttering to the ground. It was clear that there was a massive creature pursuing her and that it had just burst through a wall.

    She didn''t even dare to take a look behind her.

    However, there was no way that she could outrun a Count, and after she had made her way up seven floors, she could already hear her pursuer galloping along right behind her. This was the first time she had ever been ced in such a perilous situation, and she didn''t even stop to think why it had taken an Infernal Judge seven whole stories to finally catch her.

    All she knew was that the light was right up ahead! As soon as she scaled the final two floors and reached the rooftop, she would be able to release her re, upon which everyone would be alerted to the betrayal of these abhorrent werewolves!

    She was going to be the one to put an end to all of them.

    She had heard that Cardinal Fernado had almost arrived in Phdelphia, and there was no way he would simply look on idly as the werewolves ughtered the witch hunters. She had already guessed that there was no way these bloodthirsty demons would be content to stay in the church as they had promised!

    The sound of another wall being shattered rang out, and at the same time, a bloodthirsty aura came barreling directly toward her. In a split-second decision, Elena immediately pressed herself tightly against the ground. Immediately thereafter, the metal railing of the staircase in front of her was struck by her assant, and it was instantly bent to a severe degree. If that attack had struck a human''s head, it would''ve definitely been pulverized like a watermelon.

    What had struck the metal railing was an inky-ck w that was bulging with muscle andpletely covered in ck fur. It only had four fingers, and each of those fingers had a ck w that was around an inch in length.

    Elena''s eyes had already bepletely bloodshot at the sight of the w. This was far too familiar a sight for her... It was the w of a werewolf!

    Right after she fell to the ground to avoid her pursurer''s attack, she immediately swiveled around on the spot. Her cape rose up around her like a pair of wings, and countless streaks of menacing light shot out from under it in a torrential storm. After that, her cape didn''t fall back down around her. Instead, it transformed into a pair of true ck wings that allowed her to fly directly upward. At the same time, the holy silver crossbows strapped to her arms were already aimed directly at the monster in front of her.

    Her green eyes were full of vindictive fury, and her gaze shed with the bloodthirsty and deranged gaze of the werewolf.

    This was a werewolf that was around 180 centimeters tall with an extremely powerful build and ck fur all over its entire body. Streaks of putrid saliva were flowing out of its mouth from between the gaps in its fangs, and it was staring intently at Elena with greedy desire in its eyes.

    In the next instant, countless streaks of silver light flew into the werewolf''s body.

    Those were silver daggers that were around three inches in length, and they were riddled with engravings of holy verses. Inky-ck Yin energy immediately began to seep out of the wounds inflicted by the daggers, but they were unable to inflict any substantial harm upon the werewolf. Immediately thereafter, Elena''s crossbows were unleashed in full force.

    She flew back as she yelled in vindictive fury, and streaks of silver light instantly filled the entire corridor. However, as they came into contact with the werewolf''s skin, they produced a string of metallic ngs.

    "You pathetic little maggot!!" the werewolf roared as it narrowed its eyes and sprang forward like lightning.

    Boom!! Elena''s body dissipated into a burst of white light, and when she reappeared, she was already standing at the center of the corridor with the door to the rooftop right in front of her!

    A thunderous roar of fury rang out, yet just as the werewolf was about to pounce toward her, it suddenly slipped before looking down at its own foot with a bewildered expression.

    The thing it had slipped on was a ball that was formed entirely by interwoven white fabric and was riddled with holy scripture. Furthermore, there were sparks flying out of the top of the ball.

    It was a holy light bomb!

    Before it had a chance to do anything else, bursts of pure white light instantly inundated the werewolf''s entire body. Immediately thereafter, the sound of boiling water being poured over raw flesh rang out alongside the gut-wrenching howls of the werewolf.

    At the same time, Elena kicked open the door to the rooftop with her long ck hair dancing behind her, then rushed out into the open like an agile spider.

    I did it!

    The icy wind of the night blew past her cheeks, and she could see the witch hunters standing atop the neighboring buildings. In the wake of the massivemotion she had just caused, many of the witch hunters had already cast rmed eyes toward her.

    Her heart was filled with a myriad of emotions. It was so great to be alive, yet the rest of her team was presumably dead. They had suffered the same terrible fate that had befallen her parents over a decade ago...

    Eddy, Billy, Steven... One name after another surfaced in her mind, and she closed her eyes while trembling uncontrobly as she let loose a guttural howl of anguish. Immediately thereafter, she pulled something out of a pocket without any hesitation before hurling it up into the sky.

    A burst of silver mes exploded in the sky, lingering for a long time.

    It was an exorcism re!

    Only in the direst of situations could a witch hunter set off this re, and once set off, all witch hunters within a radius of 10 kilometers had to react, while all churches were required to provide unconditional reinforcements! At the same time, all cultivators serving the church had to arrive on the scene to provide their assistance as well!

    In a small church three kilometers away, a nun was praying in her chair when she abruptly turned toward the window with a bewildered expression.

    Her gaze passed right through the colorful ss mosaic, looking directly at the glowing holy symbol that had lit up the night sky.

    "Someone''s set off their exorcism re..." she murmured to herself in disbelief, following which the doors of the church were violently flung open. Her ck nun robes rose up all around her while her bible had already separated into individual pages, following along behind her as she flew out of the church.

    She was flying along the ground like a shooting star, and in the blink of an eye, she had already rushed through several streets.

    "Face the wrath of the lord, foul demons!" Her body hadpletely burst into mes during the course of her flight!

    She wasn''t the only one to have responded in this manner. At this moment, countless streaks of light were rushing out ofrge and small churches all over the city of Phdelphia.

    Further away at the Masonic Temple, the two bishops were looking up at the sky with stunned expressions, and the radiance of the exorcism re was being reflected in their pupils.

    "What is going on here, Bishop Sebastian?!" The bishop on the left turned to stare intently at the elderly man on the right. "Why has an exorcism re been set off?! The entire city is going to descend intoplete pandemonium with the emergence of this exorcism re! Patriarch Brando is here in person! If a battle ensues between us and the werewolf army, there will be no turning back!!"

    Sebastian shuddered before turning toward the bishop who had just spoken with a horrified expression. "Are... Are you not the one who set off the re? It wasn''t me, so I thought that it had to have been you!"

    Deathly silence instantly settled over the room.

    Neither of them said anything because they were both aware that as the bishops of the Usonia parish and the Kanata parish, there was no way either of them would make such a foolish error.

    In that case, there could only be one possibility.

    The werewolves had struck first... They had willingly instigated this war!

    "Have they gone insane?!" Sebastian was at aplete loss for what to do. "How could they possibly have struck first in this situation? I thought their objective was to protect Saint Peter''s Church, could it all be just a ruse? Was their intention always to start a war with the catholic church? Cardinal Fernando has already arrived in the state and will be here in just a few days, how could they..."

    There was no time to waste.

    A violent tremor ran through the entire Masonic Temple, and all of the picture frames hanging on the walls swayed unsteadily as if they were about to fall onto the ground. In the next instant, the two bishops had already arrived on the roof of the church.

    From there, they could see most of the city, including Saint Peter''s Church.

    They could see hundreds of streaks of light rapidly converging from all directions. They were the nuns, reverends, and all of the other followers of the church who were rushing to the scene as quickly as they could upon seeing the exorcism re. Even from here, the two bishops could sense just how fierce their killing intent was. They were fighting for the lord and exorcising true demons. This was a war that had been waged for centuries between the church and the forces of evil, and for the sake of this war, they were willing to give up their lives.

    In the direction of Saint Peter''s Church, bursts of holy light were rising up into the heavens while a chorus of holy music rang out.

    The two elderly bishops were so horrified to see this that their legs almost gave out from under them.

    In order to repress the unrest in Phdelphia, they had brought with them three pages from the original text of the Gospel of Matthew. This was a holy scripture that had been written thousands of years ago and it had been given to themander of the Usonian parish''s pdins, Udyr, in case of unforeseen circumstances.

    At this moment, Udyr had used the Gospel of Matthew to form a heavenly barricade!

    Within the barricade, all evil souls will be debilitated by over 10%, and its activation was a sign to all forces of evil that the church was about to unleash its final assault.

    "We need to stop them!!!" Sebastian roared before frantically rushing toward the scene. "Phdelphia can''t withstand a battle like this!! Even if we have no choice but to fight, we can''t allow the battle to take ce here!! Usonia and Kanata willpletely turn on us!!"

    For the church, the worst thing possible was to be kept out of a nation.

    However, right as they attempted to rush onto the scene, a resounding boom suddenly rang out and an invisible barrier stopped them cold in their tracks, immediately following which a figure casually emerged out of thin air.

    "Edward!" Sebastian turned toward the figure in the sky with bloodshot eyes. His aura was so powerful... It belonged to a Duke!

    "You... You''re a Duke?! You''re not Edward! Who are you?!"

    "Who I am is not important," Edward replied with a smile. "What''s important is that you don''t get to feature in this show."

    "How dare you!!" Sebastian was about to rush toward Edward, but the other bishop hurriedly held him back.

    "What are you doing? Do you have a death wish?! It''s clear that he doesn''t care about Usonian lives! He''s intentionally driving a wedge between the catholic church and the werewolf army, do you think he''s going to spare you out of the kindness of his heart?!"

    He then turned to Edward before extending a deep bow. "Regardless of who you are, I swear on behalf of the church that we won''t pursue this matter as long as you allow us to get to Saint Peter''s Church! Regardless of the final oue, we won''t ce any me on you!"

    An amused smile appeared on Edward''s face. "Even your pope wouldn''t dare to negotiate with me like this. Just sit tight and watch, the show is only just beginning."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    One reverend, priest, and nun after another were being summoned from all of the churches in the city, and true energy was shing incessantly on hte streets of Phdelphia. The general public was most likely never going to know that there was another world existing alongside theirs all along.

    "Face the judgment of the lord, foul demons!"

    "It''s time for the radiance of the lord to illuminate Phdelphia once again!"

    "This is the day all of you return to hell where you belong!"

    Elena was standing on the rooftop with a vindictive smile on her face. She was the one who had set everything into motion, and she could see the stunned looks on the faces of all of the witch hunters standing atop the surrounding buildings.

    It was as if they were asking through their eyes: "Why did you do that? Are you insane? The bishops told us not to use our exorcism res unless absolutely necessary! Why would you do something like this?"

    However, their question was soon answered as a vicious w plunged through Elena''s chest and crushed her heart.

    In that instant, it was as if time hadpletely stood still.

    Everyone''s eyes were on Elena, and their expressions transitioned from astonishment to fury, then to unbridled hatred.

    In the next instant, around a dozen exorcism res were fired up into the heavens in unison.

    The entirety of Phdelphia had entered a state of war!

 Chapter 948: Overture of the Night (3)

    <h4>Chapter 948: Overture of the Night (3)</h4>

    Perhaps it was a figment of her imagination, but right before Elena''s consciousness faded, she felt as if she heard the werewolf heave a faint sigh before saying something in Cathayan.

    She couldn''t understand what had been said, but it was the words "rest in peace".

    There was no room for benevolence on the international political stage. Had Usonia considered affording Yugovia kindness before thetter was bombed?

    Where was the dialog about human rights when Usonia toppled Iraq for its oil reserves?

    In Qin Ye''s position, he absolutely couldn''t afford to allow his sympathy to get the better of him when he needed to be ruthless. Politics wasn''t just a battle of words, it produced very real casualties as well.

    The entire city seemed to have fallenpletely silent.

    In the next instant, all of the surrounding witch hunters erupted into a thunderous rage as one exorcism re after another was set off in the heavens and countless holy silver crossbow bolts were sent flying through the air!

    "Die, demon!!"

    "Die! Die!! Die!!!"

    "The radiance of the lord will incinerate all of you into ashes!!"

    The streaks of silver light were raining down in a torrential downpour, and the man standing at the center of the street opened his eyes as a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face.

    The first thing that he saw was close to 20 exorcism res in the sky to the east!

    Furthermore, that wasn''t the end. Shortly after this flurry of exorcism res were set off, over 20 more exorcism res flew up into the sky in the west as well!

    On a certain building to the west, a vampire was standing amid a gorey scene with a wooden expression, looking on as the survivors on the rooftop set off their remaining exorcism res.

    Within the shadow of the man standing at the center of the street, a pair of eyes suddenly opened up. "Udyr, are you really going to..."

    Udyr cut her off with a bloodthirsty lick of his lips. "Demons belong in hell, don''t they? I promised not to do anything as long as they don''t provoke me, but now..."

    He made a grabbing motion, and a burst of dazzling golden radiance pierced through hte darkness as a massive sword with a de that was over two meters wide was slowly pulled out of thin air.

    "I''m going to make them regret ever appearing in this world!!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, three bursts of dazzling light erupted out of his chest!

    These were three ancient pages, and they flew up into the sky as theplex passages inscribed upon them glowed with silver radiance, lighting up the entire night sky!

    At the same time, a series of what appeared to be corpses situated in the buildings around Saint Peter''s Church raised their heads in unison.

    There were about 300 of them in total, and they seemed to have been awakened from a long slumber.

    Golden holy light radiated out of every single one of their pores, and in the next instant, they rushed out of the buildings before converging toward Saint Peter''s Church like asteroids hurtling toward the earth!

    The peace of the new continent had been hanging by a thread prior to this, and this thread had finally been severed in Phdelphia.

    In the sky above, the three pages from the Gospel of Matthew were glowing like the sun as they rapidly multiplied, soon producing countless copies of themselves asplex holy scripture filled the entire sky, epassing an area in a radius of several kilometers around Saint Peter''s Church!

    Only humans could enter and exit the heavenly barricade, while all forces of evil would be trapped inside and be forced to face the wrath of the lord!

    "Piss off back to hell, demons!!" Udyr was roaring withughter as he sprang forward with enormous true energy circling all around him.

    Fierce winds were howling past his ears, and his eyes had already turned bright red. He raised his head and let loose a thunderous roar toward the heavens, following which a suit of armor constructed entirely from light converged toward his body.

    He wasn''t the only one, suits of armor had appeared around all of the 300 or so men and women who had rushed out of the buildings around Saint Peter''s Church. The pieces of armor were quickly adhering to the corresponding parts of their bodies amid shes of golden radiance, and all of a sudden, a loud whistle rang out, following which all of them descended in unison. On the ground below, the golden light had formed a series of warhorses, straddled on top of which were knights in heavy medieval armor.

    These were the pdins among the witch hunters, the elite of the elite among the church''s forces and the most disciplined demon yers!

    Spears of light materialized out of thin air before falling into their hands, and the tips of the spears scraped along the ground, leaving a trail of sparks in their wake as the warhorses galloped onward. The entire earth was trembling in the wake of the war horses'' thundering hooves and the pdins were charging straight toward Saint Peter''s Church.

    Right behind them, several thousand witch hunters were gliding through the air like stars in the night sky, traversing between the modern tall built buildings.

    Their crossbow bolts had already been dipped in holy water, giving them an extrayer of luster to further contribute to their already menacing gleam.

    Behind them were hundreds of reverends, nuns, and priests that had gathered from all directions, and none of them were holding back in the slightest as they set their true energy alight. In the face of demonic forces, the catholic church had never cowered!

    Udyr was charging at the forefront while his giant sword trailed along behind him, creating a deep gash in the ground. His warhorse and armor were particrly extravagant in design, and he was charging directly toward the dumbfounded Duke DuPont, who was standing at the entrance to Saint Peter''s Church. The distance between them was being rapidly closed down, and upon reaching within 30 meters away from DuPont, Udyr raised his giant sword in one violent motion before leaping up with all his might, then sent the huge sword crashing down toward Brando.

    "For the lord!!"

    "For the lord!!" His roar was echoed by the countless pdins and followers of the catholic church behind him, and a flurry of holy silver crossbow bolts shot forth in a frenzy as one witch hunter after another advanced like a pride of hunting lions. As for the pdins at the forefront, they had already formed a dazzling spear formation and rushed past the first line of werewolves.

    This was the power of numbers.

    Theoretically, the werewolf army was far more powerful than the church''s forces, yet the army was instantly scattered by the rapidly advancing pdins. Brando raised a hand to block Udyr''s giant sword amid a loud ng. As a result of the recoil force, Udyr was sent stumbling back several dozen meters. Brando''s eyelids were twitching as he looked at the formidable army of the catholic church, and his lips were trembling from fury as he roared in an enraged voice, "Have you gone insane?!"

    Udyr rose to his feet and countered, "Just now, two groups of witch hunters were killed by werewolves and vampires! You dared to fire the first shot, so isn''t this exactly what you wanted?!"

    I don''t know anything about that!

    Brando was at aplete loss. How could this be possible? It didn''t make any sense! All of the werewolves were under his supervision and no one had strayed away from the church!

    Brando wasn''t an idiot. Far from it, he was one of the wiliest and most intelligent people in the world and there was no way he would provoke the church under these circumstances.

    However, what was most frustrating to him was that as one of the Freemasonry''s Master Masons and the patriarch of the werewolf n, his hands werepletely tied!

    He couldn''t call for a truce now. All of the werewolves were looking at him, and among their ranks were the five werewolf elders, 12 werewolf generals, and over 1,000 elite werewolf warriors. Several dozen werewolves had just been in by the church in the blink of an eye for no reason whatsoever, and as the patriarch of the n, he had no choice but to fight back!

    If he were to stomach this loss and ask for a truce, his reputation would be swept to the ground and no one would continue to support him as one of the Freemasonry''s Master Masons.

    How the hell did this happen?! Could there be some rogue werewolf doing all of this? But that''s not possible, either! I can sense all werewolves, and no werewolf can escape my bloodline detection unless they''re dead!

    Unfortunately, there was no time for him to think. The sea of dazzling holy light was about to reach him, and he gritted his teeth tightly as he roared, "Piss off back to your masters and tell them that there''s been a mistake!"

    "Face the wrath of the lord!!" This was the only response given to him by the hundreds of charging pdins!

    BOOM!!!

    In that instant, all light seemed to have faded from the city of Phdelphia.

    The most dazzling and radiant light imaginable was erupting at Saint Peter''s Church, yet the light only appeared for an instant before it waspletely quelled by a burst of devastating Yin energy.

    Right in front of the first line of pdins, a thunderous roar rang out, and Yin energy surged violently. In the next instant, seven blood-red eyes appeared within the Yin energy, resembling seven blood moons.

    Some Dukes were very conservative in the fights that they chose to pick, such as a certain King Yanluo.

    They would avoid direct confrontation unless it was absolutely unavoidable, and even if they had to face an opponent in direct battle, they had to ensure that their powers far exceeded those of said opponents.

    However, they were the minority. Most Dukes had been worshipped and revered for countless years, and they chose to fight for their honor and the honor of their people.

    A werewolf that was over five meters tall emerged from within the Yin energy. It had three heads and its entire body was riddled with bright red runes. There were seven eyes on its central head, and he opened his mouths to reveal sets of sharp fangs as he chuckled in a sinister voice, "Fine, if it''s a battle you want, then a battle is what you''ll have!!"

    Immediately thereafter, he raised his heads to the heavens and let loose a long howl, which was instantly echoed by thousands of howls all over the entire city.

    The howls of countless werewolves rang out incessantly as they leaped onto the rooftops or galloped along the streets, heading rapidly toward Saint Peter''s Church.

    "Kill them all!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Unbeknownst to everyone, there was an even fiercer battle taking ce at the Masonic Temple in the distance.

    The entire area around the temple had already been sealed off by restrictions, and the two bishops were frantically attacking Edward. The Gospel of Matthew had been unveiled to unleash the heavenly barricade, following which all of the pdins, witch hunters, and other followers of the catholic church in the city had been mobilized. In response, Brando had summoned all of the werewolves in the city to retaliate, and the two bishops knew that if they didn''t arrive on the scene soon, the entire city would be a warzone!

    The holy war that had been brewing for several hundred years was about tomence again, and without their prior notification, the mortal realm hadn''t set up any measures to prepare for such carnage. The catholic church couldn''t afford to handle the consequences of this war, and they were going to lose the support of the entire Usonian continent!

    Faithful followers were the basis of the catholic church, and losing an entire continent of followers would undoubtedly deal the church a massive blow!

    "Please step aside!!" The elderly bishop''s white and golden robes were pping all around him as he swept his hands through the air, sending countless golden runes surging directly toward Edward, but those runes were destroyed in an instant.

    "We do not wish to fight you!!"

    "You are a Duke, a figure who stands at the top of this world! Surely you''re aware of the influence that the catholic church has!"

    Edward remainedpletely unfazed.

    Of course, he had no intention of killing these two bishops. The deaths of a few pdins and witch hunters would bergely inconsequential, but killing bishops would incur serious repercussions.

    Furthermore, he had more important things to do.

    He was currently diverting his attention toward controlling Dusk 12, who had already undergone his Moonlight transformation.

    Vampires were inferior to werewolves when it came to absolute strength, but they were far superior when it came to speed and stealth. What he was trying to do was to hide Dusk 12 as close to Saint Peter''s Church as possible without being detected.

    However, Saint Peter''s Church was currently in a state ofplete chaos, so even though Dusk 12 had concealed himself and was being supported by Qin Ye''s Yin energy, there was no way he could reach within 100 meters of the church.

    Brando had already revealed his true form, and his power as a Duke made it a downright suicide mission for one to approach him. Even so, he still hadn''t unleashed his full power as he didn''t want to alert the general public in the city. Furthermore, with each death that Dusk 12 suffered, he would have to be resurrected in the Dusk Legionnaire, which would require Yin energy expenditure from Qin Ye, and this was probably the only w to the Dusk Legionnaire.

    Dusk 12 had already died several dozen times in quick session, and even Qin Ye''s Yin energy was struggling a little to keep up.

    "Stop making these futile efforts," he said in a cold voice. "If you give up now, I can assure you that your lives will be spared."

    "Oh? Are you sure you''re in a position to be making such threats?" Right at this moment, a voice rang out up above,pletely ignoring the restrictions he had set up.

    It was a mid Yama-King!

    Edward instantly looked up to discover that the restriction overhead was receding like melting snow under the scorching sun, and the two bishops faltered slightly before immediately heaving sighs of relief. "Cardinal Fernando!"

    Fernando didn''t respond. He still hadn''t revealed himself yet, but his gaze was already fixed intently on Edward. "Have you possessed this body? You must be an emissary of the Cathayan Underworld who''s only recently reached the Yama-King level, right?"

    Edward wasn''t fearful in the slightest as he smiled and asked, "Why are you so sure that I''ve only recently be a Yama-King?"

    "Because all of the Cathayan Underworld''s Yama-Kings are at least at the mid Yama-King level," Fernando replied. "As expected of the way the Cathayan Underworld does things, whenever you strike, it''s always with peerless decisiveness and ruthlessness. However..."

    The night sky suddenly swayed slightly as Fernando concluded, "You''ve overstepped your boundaries this time!"

    Golden light converged from all directions, transforming into a giant golden hand that was closing itself around Edward. Fernando''s voice was full of unbridled fury as he continued, "You''ve deceived both the catholic church and the werewolves to instigate this conflict! You are no different from a demon yourself! On behalf of the lord, I, Cardinal Fernando, will pass down judgment upon you! After this, I will go to the Cathayan Underworld in person to beg for Yanluo Qin''s forgiveness, but before that, your life must end here!"

 Chapter 949: Overture of the Night (4)

    <h4>Chapter 949: Overture of the Night (4)</h4>

    Edward looked on at the giant golden palm closing around him with a cold expression. This was the power of a mid Yama-King level cardinal, and the entire surrounding space was copsing around him, disying to him the unrivaled power of the lord.

    Pirs of holy light emerged to form a cage that converged from all directions, and the only way out was directly upward, but that path was being blocked by a humanoid figure who had just appeared.

    The figure seemed to have emerged out of thin air, and he was wearing a ck robe with golden edges while holding a bible in his hands. He was a very short man, only around 150 to 160 centimeters tall, and it was clear that he was at a very advanced age, even older than the two bishops.

    His beard was hovering in front of his chest like a cloud and he was wearing a piece of cardinal headwear shaped like a crown with a cross hanging in front of his chest. Despite his diminutive stature, he was like an insurmountable fortress.

    The light was bing hotter and hotter, even igniting Edward''s hair, causing it to burst into golden mes, but he didn''t panic and he remained calm as he quickly assessed the situation.

    It had been a week since Matthew''s death, and during the peaceful period since then, he had already devised a sound n. Of course, this n included what he was going to do if he were to encounter powerful beings from the church. ording to his estimations, it would take no more than seven minutes to convince Cardinal Fernando to leave!

    Right as the cage was about to close around him, Edward suddenly asked, "Do you want ess to proselytization rights in Cathay?"

    The cage of light immediately faltered before disintegrating into countless specks of light.

    The cardinal and the two bishops were stunned by what they had heard, and they were at a slight loss for how to react.

    As expected, the information that I gathered earlier is correct... Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back as he feigned a nonchnt demeanor before taking a step forward. Yin energy rippled beneath his feet as he slowly made his way to the top of the Masonic Temple.

    Specks of white light appeared beside him before forming Cardinal Fernando, and it was as if nothing had ever happened as the cardinal raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

    It was as if an imaginary countdown timer were ticking down and in the distance, holy light and Yin energy were shing and intertwining violently, illuminating the four of them as if it were daytime. However, none of them paid any heed to that.

    This is it!

    Even though Edward''s heartbeat was already beginning to elerate slightly, his thoughts were extremely clear as he replied in a calm manner, "I mean that in the most literal sense."

    "Who are you?" Cardinal Fernando asked, continuing to ignore the carnage unfolding in the city.

    This wasn''t a question about Qin Ye''s exact identity. Instead, the underlying question was: "Do you have the right to make such decisions in the Cathayan Underworld?"

    In response to his question, a streak of golden light shed through the air before instantly forming Fate!

    This was the pen that was vastly renowned across all three realms, and Fernando''s pupils instantly contracted drastically upon seeing this. He was well aware of the fact that this pen could represent the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!

    He immediately joined his palms together before extending a respectful bow, and as he stood up straight again, a serious look had appeared on his face as he said, "I believe we can continue our negotiation now."

    <i>There are still six minutes left... </i>The battle between the church and the werewolf army had already reached white-hot intensity, and every passing second could have significant ramifications. Brando was almost a mid Yama-King, and in order to withstand his assault, the church was going to have to pull out their trump cards.

    The instant that both sides unveiled their trump cards would be the opportunity that Qin Ye had been waiting for to strike.

    <i>I have to hurry... </i>Edward pursed his lips before cutting straight to the chase. "I don''t have much time, so I hope you have the determination to make a decision right here, right now."

    Fernando''s eyes narrowed slightly, and he didn''t immediately reply.

    Edward paid no heed to this as he continued, "The catholic church has never secured proselytization rights in Cathay, and no dominant religion has ever appeared in Cathay, either. Part of this is due to resistance from the government, and you''re also bound by your own limitations. However, I can guarantee you that if you agree to what I''m about to propose, you''ll be granted proselytization rights in Cathay in the mortal realm, although it may only be a part of Cathay."

    Even though Fernando hadn''t replied earlier, his thoughts were just as clear as Qin Ye''s, and he was now speaking extremely quickly as he replied, "Proselytization rights in just a part of Cathay isn''t sufficient for us to invest so many pdins and witch hunters. I presume you were the one who instigated this conflict in the first ce, is that correct?"

    Edward immediately replied, "The conflict has already begun and there''s no going back, even if the three of you intervene. In that case, why don''t you focus on what you can get out of this aspensation? On top of that, when I say only a part of Cathay, think about the poption of Cathay in the mortal realm."

    His voice was full of allure as he continued, "This is a market with a poption of over a billion, I think it''s worthy of your consideration."

    Dead silence.

    Boom... Another explosion erupted from Saint Peter''s Church and on this asion, the shockwaves had even reached the Masonic Temple, causing the clothing of Qin Ye and the others to p violently, but they still paid no heed to the battlefield at all.

    Four and a half minutes left... Edward felt as if he could physically hear the countdown timer ticking down toward zero, and he couldn''t help but clench his own fists as he repressed the waves of urgency in his heart over and over again.

    Half a minuteter, Fernando asked, "What do you want?"

    "I want Brando''s head!" Edward replied in an imcable voice with a steely look in his eyes.

    Fernando''s expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, and he wanted to say something in reply, but refrained from doing so in the end.

    Deathly silence descended upon them, and the three elderly men exchanged a series of nces. After a full minute, Fernando heaved a faint sigh. "It''s a pity that we''ll have to sacrifice so many devout followers."

    Edward''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon hearing this, and his heartbeat began to elerate rapidly. Before he had a chance to say anything, the two bishops hurriedly interjected, "But Cardinal Fernando..."

    "My decision is final!" Fernando cut them off as his body slowly faded, then vanished as a flurry of radiance golden feathers. "This is my decision and I''ll handle the consequences. Sebastian, Mitchell, you two will be responsible for the cleanup in the aftermath of the battle and for setting up a contact method with this esteemed emissary of the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Cardinal Fernando..." Sebastian''s voice was trembling as he urged, "You''re sacrificing over 1,000 lives!"

    "But in exchange, we''ll have hundreds of millions more followers!!" Fernando countered in a rumbling voice that shook the surrounding space. "We''ve given our everything to the lord! Only with more followers will we have more witch hunters! Do I really have to exin this to you? We can lose this battle, and we can even afford to lose the entire holy war, but we can''t pass up the opportunity to ess such a massive market, perhaps the biggest market in the world! Even if the pope himself were present, he would make the same decision as me!"

    After that, his voicepletely faded, and the two cardinals turned to Edward with a cold expression before asking through gritted teeth, "What do you need us to do?"

    "I don''t need you to do anything. Just don''t get in my way. Otherwise, I''ll be capturing your souls myself!" Edward replied before tossing them a piece of paper, upon which was written his phone number in the mortal realm. Immediately thereafter, he spread his fingers, and around a dozen blue Yin energy threads were already extending from his fingertips as he focused his entire attention on the movement of the Dusk Legionnaire.

    Once he found out that both the church and the werewolves were present, he had hatched this n.

    These were two powers who were sworn enemies, and even though Brando had offered the churchpensation in exchange for their non-participation, but that didn''t mean that a battle couldn''t be instigated. He would only have an opportunity to strike once a battle ensued near Saint Peter''s Church, and this was going to be his only opportunity.

    He knew that a battle culminating from so much bad blood would quickly escte into an all-out war without timely intervention and mediation.

    Amid the sea of holy light and Yin energy, who would notice Dusk 12, who had heightened his stealth to the very max through his Moonlight ability?

    Once Dusk 12 entered the restricted area of Saint Peter''s Church, Qin Ye would be able to use his new mutual teleportation ability to instantlynd himself in the underground church!

    His only concern was Brando.

    In the face of such a powerful being, his chances of seeding in this ce were extremely slim. Thus, he had to do everything in his power to smooth out all potential vtile factors. His attention was entirely focused on the battlefield, waiting for the perfect opportunity to arise.

    As he extended his consciousness through his Yin energy threads, the scene of the battle was transmitted to him through the eyes of Dusk 12.

    It was truly a ughterhouse.

    Hundreds of werewolves were pouncing toward the witch hunters and catholic church followers from all directions. Even the imprable barricade formed by the pdins couldn''t stop these agile monsters from climbing onto the walls and nearby buildings before jumping down and tearing one witch hunter after another into shreds.

    Golden light was radiating from beneath the feet of all of the pdins, and lines of ancient runes were pulsing within the light, indicating that this was clearly a military formation of an extremely high caliber, but it waspletely unable to stop Brando''s murderous rampage.

    The ground was already stained by the blood of both humans and werewolves, but the blood didn''t extend any further than Brando. He was a one-man defensive line and no one could get around him.

    "I have to wait..." Qin Ye murmured to himself in an inaudible voice. "I have to wait until he lets his guard down or the pdins reveal their ultimate trump card, forcing him to focus his entire attention on them... That will be when I strike!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Howl!!" Brando raised his head and howled to the heavens as he stood in front of the entrance of Saint Peter''s Church. All of the werewolves around him immediately also began to howl at the moon, presenting a hellish scene to behold.

    Before the howls hadpletely died down, Brando had already rushed into the crowd like a whirlwind. Blood instantly began to stter in all directions, and no one was able to survive against his sharp ws and fangs.

    His eyes were bright red, and there were already hundreds of fallen werewolves behind him. At this point, a truce was no longer possible. The mutual hatred the two sides had for one another had been brewing for several centuries, and the battle had already progressed to the point that it couldn''t be stopped no matter who intervened to mediate.

    Following along behind him was a wave of werewolves, and they were ughtering and roaring to their hearts'' content. With Brando leading the way, they were able to slice through the crowd and wreak havoc among their ranks. With each passing second, countless witch hunters were falling to the ground amid agonized cries.

    At the top of Saint Peter''s Church, there was a very faint speck of light moving through the air. That was the vampire, Dusk 12. Even though the battle had already reached white-hot intensity and both sides werepletely absorbed in bloodlust and their hatred for one another, Dusk 12 still remainedpletely unmoved.

    This was because he could sense that Brando''s enormous consciousness had never left the church for even an instant.

    If anyone were to take this as an opportunity and rush toward the church, they would immediately be met by a full-force attack from this werewolf patriarch who was close to the mid Yama-King level.

    Thus, he had to continue waiting.

    There was only one opportunity, and he had to wait for the perfect chance.

    Brando was like a demonic deity personified as he stood at the forefront of the werewolf army, right in the path of a small group of witch hunters. The captain of the group gritted his teeth as he yelled, "Retreat! Get back!!"

    However, it was toote.

    A sinister smile appeared on Brando''s face as he swiped a w through the air, creating a sharp screeching sound with his sharp ws alone. It was truly an attack that was as fast as lightning, yet in the next instant, he suddenly withdrew his hand before turning toward another direction.

    There, the leader of the pdins, Udyr, was standing with his giant sword in his hand. HIs armor had be extremely dim, and his face was stained with blood as he panted heavily from exertion.

    In the face of Brando, who was over five meters tall, Udyr was made to appear like a small child. Brando turned around in an elegant manner as a derisive sneer appeared on his face. "Well, well, well, look who it is!"

    The head on his left chuckled, "If it isn''t the leader of the pdins who was talking about making me regret my existence just a moment ago."

    Meanwhile, the head on his right put on a sorrowful expression as it said, "How did he be like this, and what should I do with him?"

    Immediately thereafter, a ruthless look appeared on all three of his heads as he roared, "I''m going to kill you and ensure that you never get a chance at reincarnation!"

    Boom! The entire surrounding sky seemed to have copsed. Udyr was the one who had instigated the battle, and Brando wanted nothing more than to tear him apart with his bare hands! However, before he had a chance to sink his fangs into Udyr, a burst of true energy that wasn''t inferior to Brando''s Yin energy emerged from Udyr''s body, and he waspletely enveloped in radiant holy light!

    At the same time, Udyr plunged his sword into the earth as he spread his arms open and roared with all his might, "Angelina, what are you waiting for?!"

 Chapter 950: Flash of Radiance (1)

    <h4>Chapter 950: sh of Radiance (1)</h4>

    With that furious roar, a burst of silver light erupted upward from his shadow, then adhered itself to his body as if it were a substantial object. In the next instant, Udyr abruptly raised his head and let loose an inhuman roar as beams of pure white light radiated out of every pore all over his entire body. They were like vines of light that erupted out his body, then formed a suit of armor thatpletely enveloped him.

    A burst of vast and deste holy light swept through the entire battlefield like a tsunami. The pure white specks of light were like living beings that were rapidly revolving around Udyr, forming a dazzling sea of light. Udyr had undergone such a significant change that everyone''s attention was drawn to him, and an instant ofplete silence settled over the entire scene.

    At the center of the battlefield, a nun turned around with a stunned expression, casting her gaze toward the vast sea of holy light. In the darkness of the night, it was like a beacon of holiness. Her hands were trembling as she brought her palms together, and a devout look of worship appeared on her face as she said in a trembling, "May you forever be blessed by the lord..."

    At this moment, countless witch hunters, pdins, and followers of the church had also turned their attention toward Udyr with astonished expressions, watching a scene that they would most likely only ever witness once in a lifetime. The shock on their faces quickly turned to worship and reverence as well, and in the end, all of them brought their palms together to pray for Udyr.

    Udyr begna to slowly hover up into mid-air amid the sea of light, and in the next instant, a majestic holy song abruptly rang out around him, having the same effect as long horns being blown on a battlefield. Streaks of white light pierced through the night, and it was as if a deity had descended into the mortal realm!

    A pair of wings formed by gentle light extended out of Udyr''s back, epassing an area with a radius of around 50 meters.

    At the same time, his broken giant sword was being rapidly repaired by the resplendent radiance, and light in the shape of a cross was glowing directly in front of his chest.

    He was like a pristine and holy deity, yet at the same time, he was looking down on all those around him.

    Brando faltered slightly upon seeing this, then let loose a panicked howl before turning around and frantically rushing away.

    "That''s a stigmata!!"

    His sharp voice rang out across the entire battlefield, yet he hadn''t even rushed 20 meters away when pirs of light abruptly erupted out of the ground, forming a cage of light with Udyr at the center that trapped Brando within and prevented him from escaping.

    Brando gnashed his fangs together as he turned around. It had to be said that all of the devout followers of the catholic church were insane!

    Stigmatas were things that could onlye from saints, and to be specific, they were the remains of those saints. There weren''t many stigmatas left across the entire world, and the catholic church only had 20 at the very most. Using a stigmata would instantly create an angel of the Yama-King level, but the beare of the stigmata would rapidly age and perish within five minutes, and even their soul would bepletely eradicated.

    The body of a mortal was simply incapable of containing godly power.

    Even at the exchange of his life and soul, he could earn himself five minutes of godly power.

    This was an isted arena for gods. Brando withdrew his gaze from the cage of light, then closed his eyes and heaved a faint sigh.

    I may not be able to get away, but do you really think you canpare with a true Duke in your current form?!

    "Who gave you the confidence to trap yourself in here with me?!" Yin energy erupted violently from his entire body, releasing a sea of darkness. Right at this moment, the silver light in the sky cascaded down like a waterfall, forming a resplendent shockwave. At the center of the shockwave was an angel with a pair of wings on his back. It was a slender angel wearing a white cloak, and his face waspletely concealed under the hood of the cloak. The angel was wielding a pair of swords, one in each hand, and he was rising up into the air amid the holy light.

    Dead silence.

    All of a sudden, a witch hunter fell to one knee and pressed his palms against his own chest. He was quickly followed by a second witch hunter, then a third, and shortly thereafter, all of the witch hunters had fallen to one knee while chanting in gentle voices.

    "... Where wast thou when Iid the foundations of the earth? dere, if thou hast understanding. Who hathid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or whoid the cornerstone thereof; when the morning stars sang together..."

    The voices of over 1,000 witch huntersbined to form a melodious choir, and amid their reverent prayers, the angel slowly raised his swords, sending ripples surging through the air as he directed his swords at Brando from afar.

    One of them was an angel while the other was a demon, and the two of them were situated no more than 200 meters apart, watching each other from afar. The holy light transformed into flower petals falling from the holy tree, drifting down onto this bloodstained earth.

    Immediately thereafter, both of them vanished in unison!

    It was impossible to track them with the naked eye!

    Everyone was watching intently to try and see what was happening, but their speed far exceeded the limits of what their eyes could follow. They could only see the air trembling incessantly while metallic ngs rang out in rapid session like a torrential downpour falling upon a tin roof. There were also countless shockwaves of light that were proliferating outward one after another, and it was both an extremely beautiful scene yet also a hellish one.

    At the top of the Masonic Temple, Qin Ye abruptly opened his eyes.

    He could sense what was happening all the way over at Saint Peter''s Church, and his instincts told him that the opportunity that he had been waiting for this entire time was about to arrive!

    Brando was going all-out to face the angel of the catholic church, and this was going to be the key battle that decided the oue of this skirmish at Saint Peter''s Church. In this situation, Brando definitely didn''t have the spare capacity to continue watching Saint Peter''s Church. Even if he did, there was no way he could escape from the cage of holy light anyway.

    I have to remain calm...

    Qin Ye was feeling so on-edge that he felt as ifyers of goosebumps were being raised on top of one another on his skin, and his heart was thumping like a jackhammer. His mind was racing rapidly as he analyzed the scene of the battle as quickly as he could.

    This still wasn''t the best time to strike yet. The battle had only just begun, and Brando''s consciousness was still enveloping Saint Peter''s Church. If he were to strike now, Brando would still be able to intervene.

    "These types of abilities that can instantly grant one significant boost in power must have extremely severe repercussions on the user. It looks like Brando is also well aware of that and is nning to stall for time until that pdin''s transformation runs out. However, that pdin isn''t going to allow that to happen, he has to ensure that he can gain sufficientpensation before the repercussions strike, which means that as his transformation gets closer and closer to running out, his attacks are going to be more and more frantic. Once that happens, even Brando will no longer have the spare capacity to pay attention to Saint Peter''s Church."

    Qin Ye took several deep breaths in session, and he was feeling slightly weary from excessive tension. Sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead, but he didn''t dare to rx in the slightest as he continued to release his consciousness while slowly pulling on his Yin energy threads to adjust the position of his Dusk Legionnaire.

    The battlefield was in a state ofplete chaos, and no one noticed a cloud of Yin energy forming on one side of the church''s rooftop. In the air above the church, a vampire in his moonlight form was inspecting the church intently.

    Storms that arrived abruptly often faded just as quickly.

    After two minutes, all of the light radiating from the angel''s entire body had turned golden in color, and his speed had already surpassed the limit of what a normal person... no, the limit of what even a Count could observe. Initially, everyone could still see the warping air, but at this point, there were only fierce gusts of wind that resembled sharp des sweeping in all directions. All of the surrounding witch hunters'' cloaks were quickly reduced to tattered rags while countless wounds and gashes were inflicted on their bodies as if an invisible death god had just passed them by.

    Amid the oppressive silence and the sh between superhuman monsters, no one dared to even breathe audibly, as if as soon as they made a sound, the des of wind sweeping through the area would notice them and send them to the afterlife.

    Every passing second felt like an eternity, yet slowly but surely, three minutes passed by.

    Normal humans were unable to see this, but as a Yama-King, Qin Ye could see wisps of white energy seeping out from under the angel''s cloak. Perhaps it was the angel''s dying breaths or something else. In any case, Qin Ye could clearly see that the pair of hands holding the swords had be extremely wrinkled and wizened, and they were even trembling slightly.

    <i>He''s not going tost much longer... </i> Qin Ye felt as if his own throat were constricting as he prepared to act.

    A countdown timer seemed to be ticking down audibly beside his ears, and in the instant it struck three minutes and 30 seconds, a silver shockwave exploded violently. Immediately thereafter, a burst of light rose straight up toward the sky, apanied by a thunderous roar, "For the lord!!"

    At the same time, Brando finally reappeared. His entire body was riddled with wounds and stained by blood, but none of the injuries were life-threatening.

    Brando''s powers are still superior to those of the angel, so instead of taking a risk tond a killing blow, he''s merely worn the angel down over time, waiting for his transformation to run out. It looks like the angel is about to unleash his final trump card now!

    Standing atop the roof of the Masonic Temple, Qin Ye''s lips were tightly pursed as his mind raced faster than ever before, and in the instant the angel rose up toward the heavens, his fingers had alreadypletely tensed up.

    There was only going to be a single opportunity!

    As this burst of light erupted into the heavens, countless beams of light surged out of the angel''s body, and hepletely dissipated into countless specks of light amid one final howl of vindictive fury. At the same time, a burst of rumbling suddenly rang out in the sky above.

    All of the ck fur on Brando''s back immediately stood up on end. Even as powerful as he was, an extremely potent sense of peril had welled up in his heart.

    However, before he could react, the sky suddenly turned dark.

    Golden lightning arced through the air while a violent vortex of clouds took shape amid rumbling thunderps. The cloud vortex was over 100 meters in radius and consisted of countlessyers of tumultuous clouds stacked on top of one another. Not only were all of the witch hunters, pdins, church followers, and werewolves staring up at the sky with stunned expressions, even Brando himself drew a sharp breath.

    "This is divine retribution..." he murmured to himself with a grim expression.

    Udyr had condensed his final two minutes of godly power together to unleash the most powerful attack he was capable of, and this attack was devastating enough to raze half of Phdelphia to the ground!

    "Damn it!" In this instant, both he and Qin Ye made the exact same move even though they were situated far away from one another.

    Both of them crouched down onto the ground like hunting leopards about to pounce.

    This was the final attack. At the very least, that was the case for Brando, whereas for Qin Ye, it was the future path to light.

    The ck fur all over Brando''s entire body undted erratically as his vast Yin energy erupted forth like a sea of darkness, surging directly toward the divine retribution overhead. Meanwhile, Qin Ye''s clothes were pping around him as veins began to bulge on his forehead, and even his eyes had turned slightly bloodshot.

    The cloud vortex was howling violently, and the golden light at its center was bing brighter and brighter while the sense of holiness in the air was bing more and more pronounced. 10 secondster, a dazzling shockwave swept through the entire city, and night had transitioned into daylight!

    BOOM!!!

    The first thing that everyone heard was an earth-shattering boom, but immediately thereafter, all sound was drowned out, presenting a muted scene depicting a sea of pure golden light, as if heaven itself had descended into this world.

    Right at this instant, Qin Ye immediately tugged on the two Yin energy threads that he was holding while rushing forward like a speeding arrow.

    It was also at the exact same moment that all three of Brando''s heads let loose thunderous roars as he stood in front of Saint Peter''s Church. His seven eyes lit up in unison, and his Yin energy surged up toward the heavens like an almighty reverse waterfall!

 Chapter 951: Flash of Radiance (2)

    <h4>Chapter 951: sh of Radiance (2)</h4>

    Right at this moment, his Yin energy suddenly faltered slightly, and he turned around toward a certain direction with an incredulous expression.

    Right behind him was a werewolf that was keeping a low center of gravity by crouching low to the ground, rushing rapidly out of the pack of trembling werewolves and directly toward him at an incredible speed!

    On a helicopter extremely far away, Cardinal Fernando unconsciously snapped the cross that he was holding in half as he rose to his feet while trembling uncontrobly. He stepped forward out of the helicopter, hovering in mid-air as he cast an intense gaze toward the other side of the city.

    "Is he going to be able to seed?"

    On the rooftop of the Masonic Temple, the two bishops also turned toward Saint Peter''s Church, and their gaze pierced through the distance of roughly 10 kilometers between them and the church.

    "He''s made his move..." one of the bishops said in a trembling voice. The other bishop didn''t say anything, but the corners of his cross were digging into his palm.

    <i>His timing couldn''t be any better! Oh, holy and gracious lord, please bless him with the light of sess! </i>

    All of the witch hunters, church followers, pdins, and werewolves at Saint Peter''s Church were resisting immense pressure as they raised their heads with all their might, staring at the werewolf that was charging directly toward Brando from behind.

    They were all so stunned that they had lost the ability to speak!

    No one could''ve anticipated that a third party would get involved in a battle between an angel and a demon!

    Brando was also stunned beyond belief, and in this moment, he was struck by a truly chilling sensation. His assant had the appearance of a werewolf, but it definitely wasn''t a werewolf because he couldn''t sense its bloodline!

    Is this necromancy? Possession? Countless possibilities shed through his mind before he suddenly thought back to the first exorcism re that was set off to instigate this battle.

    "It was you all along!!" His voice was filled with thunderous rage as he turned toward the werewolf charging toward him. "You were the one whopletely foiled my ns! You were the one who instigated this battle between my people and the catholic church!"

    "That''s right, it was me!" A sinister smile finally appeared on Dusk 11''s face. It was time for the big reveal and he was beyond excited.

    "Die!!" Brando forcibly split off a section of his Yin energy before sending it sweeping through the air, and all of the space in its wake warped and twisted violently. However, right at this moment, a burst of extremely powerful Yin energy erupted out of the other werewolf''s body in retaliation, and this Yin energy was almostparable with that of Brando!

    Brando waspletely stunned by this.

    Firstly, he was stunned by the fact that there was someone else lurking in the shadows this entire time. He had thought that he was the oriole hunting hte mantis, but it turned out that he was actually the mantis preying on the cicada all along!

    Secondly, he was astonished by the fact that this hidden assant was also a Duke! Furthermore, they were definitely no ordinary Duke. Otherwise, there was no way he would''ve failed to sense them when they were so close to him!

    Thirdly, he was shocked by the fact that he knew who this person was!

    A devastating sh of Yin energy ensued, and all of the living beings present werepletely rooted to the spot. It was only now beginning to dawn on them that they were witnessing a sh between Dukes!

    A third Duke had just appeared on this battlefield!

    At the center of the turbulent Yin energy, Duke 11 was suddenly reced by Edward without any warning. Edward wore a cold smile as he thrust his palm toward Brando''s back with all his might!

    In this instant, Cardinal Fernando and the two bishops were all looking on with bated breath from afar.

    The divine retribution descended from the heavens as a vast expanse of holy light, sending shockwaves erupting in all directions and producing a massive mushroom cloud. Brando''s anguished howl rang out from within the mushroom cloud, and his voice was also tinged with shock and disbelief.

    "You snide piece of scum!! I swear I won''t let you leave Usonia alive!! Arrrgh!"

    His voice waspletely drowned out by the divine retribution, and at the same time, Saint Peter''s Church abruptly copsed.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye was rushing forward as fast as the wind.

    His forehead was dripping with sweat, and his fingers were still cramping slightly. Behind him was an old metal gate, upon which was drawn the face of a demon.

    No one aside from him and Brando knew what had just happened.

    Right as Dusk 11 was rushing toward Brando, Dusk 12, the vampire concealed by its Moonlight ability, had alreadynded on top of Saint Peter''s Church and was waiting patiently.

    In the span of less than two seconds, Dusk 11 had undergone mutual teleportation with Qin Ye. Brando had beenpletely caught off guard by this abrupt turn of events, and he was ced into an extremely perilous situation. Originally, he would''ve been able to withstand the divine retribution 100% of the time, but in the face of Qin Ye''s intervention, that probability dropped to 50% at most.

    Two secondster, Qin Ye shed with Brando, and in order to defend himself against this surprise attack from another Duke, Brando had to divert at least a third of his power away from withstanding the divine retribution. However, in the instant that the two of them shed, Qin Ye activated his Dusk Legionnaire once again.

    As a result, he underwent mutual teleportation with Dusk 11 a second time, which meant that Dusk 11 was still the one to face Brando''s attack. This caught Brandopletely off guard again, and as a result, his chances of withstanding the divine retribution plummeted further to only 35% at most!

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye had controlled Dusk 12 to destroy the entirety of Saint Peter''s Church. In a battle between Dukes, the copse of a church was an extremely normal sight. Most importantly, no one aside from Brando was aware of how important Saint Peter''s Church was, not to mention that everyone else was left unable to even remain standing under the crushing weight of Duke level power.

    As for Brando, his hands were tied.

    Dusk 12 immediately found the hidden door beneath the church, and after rushing into it, Qin Ye unleashed his final mutual teleportation of the night, swapping ces with Dusk 12 on this asion.

    At this point, he was already situated inside the underground church.

    This was the vault of the First Usonian Bank, a bank that had always been shrouded in mystery throughout the course of Usonian history, and it was very likely to be where Xu Fu''s notes were hidden.

    As for Brando, who cared if he lived or died?

    At the very least, he had to ensure that Brando was severely wounded. Without Brando''s orders, there was no way that the werewolf army would dare to venture into the wreckage of Saint Peter''s Church. On top of that, the hidden door to the underground church was buried under a mountain of rubble, making it even more difficult for Brando to track him down.

    In the end, Qin Ye hade out on top.

    This was a seemingly impossible mission, but he had thestugh in the end, and it was impossible to describe the sense of achievement that had welled up in his heart. He licked his own lips, which were slightly dry from excitement, and he repressed his own excitement with all his might as he rushed forward like a speeding arrow.

    He was going to take Xu Fu''s notes, then get out of this cursed continent!

    The passageway was very long, and the Yin energy here was very dense. It wasn''t the azure Yin energy of the mortal realm. Instead, it was pure ck Yin energy of the underworld, and there was a vast quantity of it!

    This could only mean one thing: there was a giant Yin Yang Mezzanine under Saint Peter''s Church.

    Soon, a wooden door appeared up ahead. A design of a three-headed serpent was inscribed upon it, and it seemed to be an extremely old door, as evidenced by the cracks on its surface.

    In the next instant, the wooden door was shattered explosively. Qin Ye wasn''t in the mood to be appreciating any artwork at this point in time. He cast an urgent gaze into the room, only to immediately shoot back in retreat as if he had been stung.

    "Come... Come to me..." An indistinct voice rang out. The Yin energy within the area beyond the door was as dense as ck mist and visibility was zero.

    "I am the first sun... I am the original... My brother, it''s time for us to fuse as one..."

    However, upon exiting the room, Qin Ye was no longer able to hear the voice.

    He took a deep breath. Brando coulde chasing after him at any time, so there was no time for hesitation. With that in mind, he rushed through the dense ck Yin energy, upon which he arrived in a church that was entirely constructed from human bones!

    Every single pir, ornament, tile... Everything was made from human bones. It was an extremely harrowing sight, and Qin Ye felt as if there were sinister souls lurking throughout the church and inspecting him from the shadows.

    "This is the Sedlec Ossuary of the Czech Republic, one of the world''s seven supernatural locations. I''ve seen pictures of this ce and it looks quite simr, except this one is bigger than the one in the pictures." He began to carefully inspect his surroundings, doing his best to not look at the altar at the center. He was afraid that if he looked at it, he wouldn''t be able to move his gaze away.

    It was often the case that the most venomous of insects were hidden in the most beautiful of flowers.

    "In the underworld, human bones are an exceptional medium. Following one''s death, there would always be a small part of their soul left in their bones, making it a very good construction material in the underworld. ording to what the second King Yanluo taught me, the first underworld vige was constructed entirely from human bones."

    He had already released all of his Yin energy and was forcibly repressing the urge to rush forward. He was extremely close to reaching his target, and he had to take extra care not to fall at the final hurdle.

    He made his way over to a pir and inspected the continuous andplex Yin runes inscribed upon the human bones. The runes were shing with Yin energy, and a cold look appeared in his eyes as he murmured to himself, "Humans are the foundation of the three realms. This human bone church has been built upon aYin Yang Mezzanine, thereby sealing it, while the Yin energy seeping out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine will reciprocate this ce, acting as a source of energy for the operation of the array here."

    The surrounding Yin clouds shuddered slightly, and within the span of a few seconds, he had finished inspecting this entire area.

    Finally, he cast his gaze toward the center of the church, and his heartbeat immediately began to elerate.

    At the center of the church stood an altar.

    The entire altar was built upon the design of a sun totem. 20 rays of light were being released from the totem of the sun, and at the top of each ray of light was a statue of a half-woman, half-snake creature. Their hands were held high above their heads, and their heads were raised to the heavens. Their upper bodies werepletely nude, yet perhaps it was due to the craftsmanship, but there wasn''t anything lewd about the statues at all. Instead, they were giving off an air of holiness and purity.

    The statues seemed to have beenpletely unaffected by the passage of time, and their surface was still as smooth as marble. The serpentine women had their hands held high up to the heavens, and of them was holding an object.

    Qin Ye could sense the aura of a Yama-King here, and it was extremely strong!

    After all, just like Fate, Xu Fu''s notes had been within a Yama-King for many years, thereby giving it a hint of divinity. At this moment, Qin Ye''s attention was entirely focused on one of the snake woman statues in the northwest corner.

    She was holding a notepad in her hands.

    It was identical to the one in that oil painting of Richardman. The surface of the seal was undamaged and Yin runes were shing upon it, indicating that it had never been opened before. The words "wanderer among the clouds" inscribed on the cover of the notepad in free-flowing text, and Qin Ye felt as if his heart had fallenpletely still as his breathing began to rapidly elerate.

    He had finally found Xu Fu''s notes!

    This was the key to the Cathayan Underworld''s future resurgence and his ultimate goal for this trip to the new continent, and now, it was right before his eyes!

    [1] [This is derived from a Chinese idiom: "the mantis hunts the cicada, while the oriole lurks behind". Basically, it depicts a situation where one thinks they''re the hunter when they''re actually the prey.]

 Chapter 952: Human Bone Church, Original Sun God

    <h4>Chapter 952: Human Bone Church, Original Sun God</h4>

    However, he didn''t immediately spring into action. This was because there was a trail of silver Yin runes leading from the feet of the snake women statues all the way to the center of the church. These Yin runes were like chains that firmly locked the items that the statues were holding into ce.

    The altar at the center of the church was in the form of a three-headed serpent statue. It wasrger yet shorter than all of the snake woman statues, and its three serpentine heads were arranged in a triangr formation, upon which sat a stone tter.

    The tter was split up into five sections and each section bore artwork of the stars and the sun. It was an extremely ancient artifact, as evidenced by the cracks and moss all over its surface, but Qin Ye could still clearly sense the godly power imbued within it.

    All of a sudden, his ears twitched slightly. Outside the entrance of the church at least several hundred meters away, he could hear a resounding boom.

    They''re here... A cold look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes. He could sense a burst of a Yama-King level Yin energy outside, and it was filled with sinister killing intent. He had already set up restrictions on the two doors leading to this ce, making it impossible to get to him in a short time, but he definitely didn''t have much time on his hands, either. At the very most, he only had three minutes!

    He had to obtain Xu Fu''s notes within three minutes no matter what!

    He withdrew his gaze and repressed the urgency in his own heart as he stared intently at the stone tter.

    At its center was a hole, and an indistinct aura that was striking even Qin Ye with a bone-chilling sensation was seeping out of the hole.

    "There''s something trapped beneath here!" he murmured to himself as he rapidly arranged his own thoughts, paying no heed to themotion ringing out in the distance. "The tter itself is connected to the 20 snake woman statues. In order to ess the items that the statues are holding, I need a key!"

    He could try to directly destroy the statues, but what if there were a self-destruct mechanism within them?

    Xu Fu''s notes were far too important, and he didn''t dare to take the gamble.

    He gently stroked the hole with his finger. It was very round and its opening wasrger than its interior, indicating that it was tapering down in a conical shape.

    Right at this moment, a particrly resounding boom rang out, indicating that the first door had been shattered. Almost immediately thereafter, the sound of violent banging rang out from the final door leading into the human bone church.

    Thump!!

    The violent tremors were causing the entire underground church to tremble, yet the Yin runes on the door were shing incessantly, holding the door together for the time being.

    "My name is Arlot Rockefeller." An authoritative voice rang out from outside the door. "I propose a deal for you, my friend. I don''t care where you''vee from, the Freemasonry and the forces of the Caribbean Sea will forgive all of your transgressions and ensure that you can depart safely from Usonia. However, you must leave this ce right away!!!"

    His voice abruptly spiked up as he uttered these final few words, and cracks appeared all over the walls and ceiling of the passageway outside. However, Qin Ye remained unfazed. After staring at the hole for several seconds, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he immediately reached into his own sleeve.

    Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "You''ve finallye..."

    The voice was very feeble. "I''ve been waiting for a very long time already..."

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. He had alreadye into contact with the death god''s finger, and he inspected his surroundings through narrowed eyes as he asked in as calm a voice as he could muster up, "Who are you?"

    "Who I am is not important. What''s important is that I''m almost dead," the voice replied. "I can sense that you''re very powerful and are capable of saving me. If you save me, I can promise youpensation beyond your wildest dreams! All you need to do is put the key into the hole and the array will temporarily be deactivated. After that, you can choose to take one item from here, and the seal will be broken thereafter. Once that happens, I''ll be able toe out."

    Right at this moment, the door behind Qin Ye began to bulge violently, and it clearly wasn''t going to be able tost much longer. In the next instant, a thunderous wolf''s howl erupted throughout the entire human bone church.

    It was Brando!

    "Get out of my way!!" He was so furious that he was on the verge of insanity. "I''m going to kill that cowardly piece of scum!!"

    BOOM!!! An earth-shattering boom rang out, and it was so loud that it would be enough to permanently deafen the average person. Qin Ye quickly made a series of hand seals, forming a profound Yin runebination, then flew over to the door and applied anotheryer of restrictions to it.

    He was moving very quickly, and at the same time, he said in a calm voice, "It''s very important to me who you are."

    The voice was growing quite urgent now as it replied, "Do you not want another death god as an ally? Trust me, I''ll be your most loyal ally. Can you not sense that, my friend? There are two Duke level death gods right outside this door. You''re very powerful, but you''re still no match for them. Only by joining forces with me will we be able to escape from this ce. Trust me! The restrictions you''ve set up on the door will be broken within a minute!!"

    Right at this moment, a burst of violent shockwaves abruptly erupted from the door, as if to support the voice''s assertions. Qin Ye''s clothes were pping violently amid the shockwaves, yet he still disyed no reaction whatsoever as he calmly said, "This is your final chance. Tell me your name!"

    "Fine! My name is Tezcatlipoca!!"

    The voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves as it finally answered Qin Ye''s question, and immediately after receiving that answer, Qin Ye plunged an object into the hole.

    It was the severed finger that Matthew had left behind!

    With a gentle turn of the finger in the keyhole, a deafening boom rang out across the entire church.

    It was as if a level five earthquake were unfolding, and countless human bones were ttering down from the walls and ceiling of the church. At the same time, the sun totem at the center of the church suddenly lit up before instantly falling dark again. At the same time, all of the Yin runes in the entire church began to sh erratically before finally fading intoplete darkness.

    "NO!!!" Two furious voices rang out from the other side of the door. At the same time, their Yin energy had swelled to an unprecedented peak as they began to frantically attack the restrictions on the door.

    The earthquake was bing more and more intense, and Qin Ye immediately rushed toward the snake woman statue that was holding Xu Fu''s notes without any hesitation. Right before the statue copsed, he managed to grab the notes.

    I''ve finally got it!!

    Even though the notes were sitting in his hand at this very moment, he was still struck by a strong sense of surrealism. Amid the violent tremors, Qin Ye couldn''t help but close his eyes and let loose a long cry of exultation.

    From this point onward, the Cathayan Underworld was going to go on apletely different path from the rest of the underworld!

    Right at this moment, he suddenly shot back in retreat, even though his eyes were still shut. A burst of golden light swept through the air right in front of, severing a few strands of his ck hair. At the same time, he hugged Xu Fu''s notes toward his own chest without any hesitation. Ripples surged across his chest, and the entire notepad was plunged into his own body.

    He would sooner die before he allowed these notes to be lost!

    He reopened his eyes just in time to see the three-headed serpent statue fall away amid the violent tremors to reveal a bottomless Yin Yang Mezzanine.

    Within the Yin Yang Mezzanine was a giant wearing Aztec attire, wielding a spear that was aimed directly at Qin Ye''s throat.

    He wasn''t purely a human. Instead, he had the head of a leopard and was over three meters tall, wearing ssic Aztec gold and feather essories.

    His headwear and armor were all extremely intricately crafted, and he was holding his spear in his left hand and his shield in his right. However, his body was iplete.

    His eyes were only a pair of holes that were missing the eyeballs, and there was a wide gash on his chest, revealing apleteck of internal organs and bones. It was more correct to say that he was a dissected cat rather than a fearsome leopard.

    "This is thepensation you promised me?" Qin Ye asked in a slow voice as he sped his hands behind his back.

    The giant wore a smile on his face that was bordering on insanity as he stared intently at Qin Ye. "When did you figure out my intentions?"

    "When I stuck the key into the hole," Qin Ye replied. "What you had said to me was: ''All you need to do is put the key into the hole and the array will temporarily be deactivated. After that, you can choose to take one item from here, and the seal will be broken thereafter''."

    He seemed to bepletely unfazed by the two bursts of Yama-King level Yin energy threatening to burst through the door as he continued in an unhurried manner, "However, I did what you said, yet the entire church copsed. You refrained from disclosing this detail to me even at a time like this, so how could I not be wary of you?"

    "That''s it?" the giant asked in an amused voice.

    "Of course not," Qin Ye replied. "The most important factor that clued me in to what you were going to do is your identity. The Aztec civilization is one that is extremely aggressive and belligerent. Your religion is established on the basis of devouring other religions, so there was no way I was going to trust someone like you, the original sun god, Tezcatlipoca."

    Tezcatlipoca chuckled in response. "If you knew all of this, why did you still dare to..."

    Edward cut him by pointing a finger directly upward as he interjected, "I''d advise you take a look above your head. I''m sure you''re very familiar with this."

    Tezcatlipoca faltered slightly before looking upward, and in the next instant, he suddenly let loose a fearful roar before frantically stumbling back in retreat!

    It was Fate!

    Fate was hovering right above his head! In contrast with its normal form, on this asion, the top of Fate had split open into what appeared to be a lotus flower withyer uponyer of petals, and at the very center was a small golden needle.

    "That''s Fate!" His voice was trembling with fear and disbelief as he cast his gaze toward Qin Ye. "Who are you?"

    "In your own words, who I am is not important. Tell me how to get out of here!" Edward''s smile faded, and his voice was suddenly imbued with chilling killing intent. "Don''t tell me you don''t know. Once those two Yama-Kings burst into this ce, I may not die, but you''ll die for sure!"

    Boom!! A hole was finally opened up on the door behind Qin Ye in the face of the relentless assault. A furious red eye stared intently through the hole at the copsed human bone church, and a voice that was filled with unspeakable rage rang out. "I don''t care who you are, I''m going to make this your final resting ce!!"

    Countless Yin energy bats flew into the church through the hole, and at the same time, countless gorey tentacles also surged through the hole with violent force.

    Qin Ye took a casual nce at his own watch. "They''re going to break through my restrictions within 10 seconds."

    "You''re a very smart man," Tezcatlipoca said with a cold smile and tightly gritted teeth. "Unfortunately, smart people never tend to live very long."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he thrust his spear violently toward the ground, and the floor beneath their feet fell away violently. Countless human bones were sent ttering down into the bottomless abyss down below.

    In the next instant, both of them rushed toward the abyss without any hesitation, right as two thunderous roars of fury rang out from behind them.

 Chapter 953: Descent Into Limbo

    <h4>Chapter 953: Descent Into Limbo</h4>

    "So this is the escape route you had nned? A path to the underworld?" Gusts of Yin wind surged past Qin Ye''s ears alongside the anguished howls of lost souls as Qin Ye''s body began to slowly materialize. Prior to his departure, he had already abandoned Edward''s physical body.

    As a living human, Edward would definitely perish upon entering the underworld. Even though he had possessed Edward, Edward''s soul was still present in his body, and there was no way it would be able to withstand the immense Yin energy in the underworld.

    He could be interrogated, but there was no reason for Brando and the others to kill him.

    In fact, if Brando and the others were smart, they wouldn''t even interrogate him. Instead, they would wipe his memories and let him leave in the hopes of being able to capture Qin Ye should he ever repossess Edward.

    Unfortunately for them, that wasn''t going to happen.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Two figuresnded on the ground amid the wreckage of the church. On the left was Brando, whose entire body was charred ck and had lost an arm, while on the right was a tall and thin man wearing ancient Count attire. However, at this moment, the sleeves of his clothes had beenpletely torn apart, and in the ce of his arms were a pair of giant bat wings that were pping in the air. In addition to that, his pants had also been torn to shreds, while his legs had transformed into a pair of azure ws that was riddled with veins and had an extra jointpared to a human leg.

    "Damn it!!" the man apanying Brando cursed in a furious voice, and the sound of his voice spread through the entire space as an extremely high-pitched soundwave.

    The underground church was already on the verge of copse, and it was instantly shattered by these soundwaves. As a result, five glowing balls of golden light emerged from the human bones used to construct the church.

    The human bones fell away like water around the balls of light, and Brando was panting slightly as he reached out a hand, upon which all of the balls of light flew toward him.

    The balls of light contained a pair of eyes, a dried brain, a spinal cord, a pair of hands, a pelvic bone, a tongue, and a skull.

    These were all of the body parts that Tezcatlipoca had been missing!

    "Brando, you almost made all of our effortspletely go down the drain!" The tall and thin man''s lips were trembling with rage as he said, "I''m going to impeach you during the next conference!!"

    "You think I wanted this to happen?!" Brando roared in response. "Do you know how much money the DuPont Consortium has invested in those three death gods?! It can only be more than what your Rockefeller Family has invested!! Throughout the past few centuries, all of us have been striving to break down the barriers between the mortal realm and the underworld, but without their approval, there''s no way for us to go through! On top of that, the environment in the underworld is extremely perilous, spelling certain death for all living beings below the Duke level. There''s no point for us to go through alone, we need to be able to take teams of scientists and researchers with us! This is an extremely rare opportunity! The three death gods promised us that if and when they seed, they''ll immediately create a paradise in the underworld where living humans can reside! This is what we''ve been waiting for all along, why would I intentionally destroy this opportunity?! Do you think I''ve gone insane?!"

    The tall man''s face was slightly twisted as he said, "If you''re so eager to prove your innocence, then hurry up and oversee the next step! We are the only two Master Masons that the Freemasonry can draw upon, so we''re not going to receive assistance from any other allies!"

    Brando took a deep breath before asking, "What have the three death gods said?"

    "They told me that Kraken has already reached the coastline," the tall man replied. "When the timees, we''ll send it to the mortal realm through the Yin Yang Mezzanine because that thing can only be used in the mortal realm. Once we y Kraken, the grand script of death will beplete! This is the final opportunity for both us and them! Even without Tezcatlipoca, we''ll be able to create at least half a death god!"

    Brando heaved a faint sigh of relief upon hearing this. "I''ll see you at the port in a month."

    The tall man nodded in response before spreading his wings and flying up into the air. "Brando, don''t disappoint everyone. We''ve prepared for far too long and invested far too much for this opportunity, we can''t afford for things to go awry."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The abyss beneath the church led to the underworld, and within it, Yind wind was howling violently amid the sorrowful sobs of countless lost souls. Both Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca were very familiar with this journey. Qin Ye had already achieved his main objective for this trip, so he was feeling a lot more rxed as he suddenly said, "It''ll take us at least half a day to reach Limbo, are you just going to remain silent this entire time."

    Tezcatlipoca remained silent as he turned toward Qin Ye with a calm expression.

    Are you ring at me? Oh boy, what a braved you are! By the way, are you more powerful than I am? If so, I''ll allow this, but if not, who the hell do you think you''re ring at?!

    The once almighty sun god was currently nothing more than a skinned cat, and Qin Ye smiled as he continued, "How about I ask the questions while you give me the answers? It''s the least you can do considering I saved you."

    "You..."

    A cold look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes as he cut off Tezcatlipoca. "As the one who saved you, I get to decide whatpensation I receive, not you. Do you think you have the right to negotiate with me?"

    Fate began to revolve on the spot rapidly behind Tezcatlipoca as Qin Ye was speaking, letting loose a menacing ringing sound as it did so.

    "How about I ask the questions and all you have to do is nod or shake your head?" Qin Ye proposed with a smile. "I''d advise you to cooperate if you want to live."

    Tezcatlipoca countered in a cold voice, "ying a god is an extremely risky endeavor. We are on the new continent right now, would you dare to y the first sun god to have ever emerged on this continent?"

    Qin Ye remainedpletely unfazed as he shrugged in response. "Well... To answer your question, let me remind you that I''m a Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld. Do you think I would dare to kill you or not?"

    Silence immediately descended upon the scene.

    Amid the silence, the sound of Tezcatlipoca gnashing his teeth together could be audibly heard, but as he opened his mouth to speak again, his voice had returned to a calm and cid tone. "Alright, I''ll answer our questions."

    "See? That wasn''t so hard, was it?" Qin Ye maintained a polite smile as he feigned a contemtive expression. "Where should we start? Ah, why don''t we start in sequential order and go back to the spear strike you unleashed against me."

    Before Tezcatlipoca had a chance to say anything, he continued, "That spear strike reeks of desperation. You wanted to kill me because of the Plumed Serpent God, but at the same time, you are the first person I''ve ever seen who''s dared to attack a death god from the Cathayan Underworld in such a tant manner. Why did you do that? It''s because you were scared, isn''t that right?"

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t deny this. There was no point in denying the sentiment anyway, what he should be focusing his attention on was figuring out how to survive while at the mercy of this Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld.

    Qin Ye put on a cruel smile as he slowly chipped away at Tezcatlipoca''s mental defenses. "You may be the first sun god to have ever appeared on the new continent, but you''ve been sealed for far too long. You attacked me in an attempt to establish some form of dominance, to try and show me that you''re still dangerous. Unfortunately, your attack was as feeble as a swipe from a house cat. You wanted me to be wary of you, that''s the best way for you to ensure that I won''t kill you. How pitiful. You once stood at the very pinnacle of the new continent, a continent with three major religions that only missed out on bing one of the four pirs by the slightest of margins. You were once the ruler of this powerful first-rate underworld, a mighty sun god, yet that pathetic spear strike was all that you were capable of."

    "How dare you!!" Two specks ofherfire lit up in Tezcatlipoca''s eye sockets as he erupted into a thunderous rage.

    A derisive sneer appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Is that already too much for you to stomach? Don''t worry, there''s much more where those insults came from, you better brace yourself..."

    You fucking... I''m going to spear you to death!! Which Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld are you?! Why have I never heard of you before?! Don''t you have any diplomacy etiquette?! If you don''t have anything good to say, then keep your damn mouth shut!

    Some giant sets of remains had already begun to appear in the passageway, indicating that they were approaching Limbo. Qin Ye casually flew along the passageway as he said in a calm manner, "Now then, let''s move onto the second question: why did you lie to me? Why didn''t you tell me that the entire church would copse once the seal was broken? I thought about this earlier and I''ve arrived at the conclusion that this was also because of the Plumed Serpent God. You initially thought that I was a follower of the Plumed Serpent God, but as I drew closer, you discovered that I was also a Yama-King, and there''s no way that a Yama-King would be a follower to another Yama-King. On top of that, the scent of the Plumed Serpent God on me must be very faint, so you decided that your initial assessment was incorrect."

    He clicked his tongue as he continued, "I can''t wait to tell you my final answer. Let''s go back to when we first met, that was the basis upon which all of your subsequent actions can be exined. You called me ''my brother'' back then. As you may have already guessed, I''m on good terms with the Plumed Serpent God. He''s the pioneer of a major continent but unfortunately, he had a rush of blood to the head and decided to withstand a forbidden art head-on, reducing him to an extremely feeble state, and I was the one who saved his life. Right now, he''s a powerful ally of mine."

    Theherfire in Tezcatlipoca''s eyes were burning fiercely as he stared intently at Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye continued, "After I joined forces with the Plumed Serpent God, I made a dedicated effort to learn about Aztec mythology. After all, you never know when an ally could turn on you, and it''s best to be well-prepared. I have to say that information on your religion was very hard to find. I''m not saying your religion isn''t important or powerful enough to be renowned, but the severe loss of followers you''ve suffered in the mortal realm has led to the decline of your religion. I guess you can only me the native Usonians for not being able to stand up to the advanced weaponry of the colonists. The strong will thrive while the weak will be bullied, that''s something that has remained true since the beginning of time. The only difference is that some races disappeared after being oppressed, while others managed to rise again. Everyone knows that the Plumed Serpent God has a brother by the name of Xolotl, but very few people are aware of the fact that the Plumed Serpent God is actually only the second of four brothers, which means that he also has an older brother in addition to Xolotl. That older brother is you, the first sun god, Tezcatlipoca! You were buried by your younger brother''s very own hands, making him a sworn enemy of yours!"

    He raised his head and cast his gaze forward, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a giant Yin beast that was split up into two sections. One section was a deathly pale infant''s head, while the other section was the face of an elderly woman with disheveled white hair.

    It was a massive creature, roughly 100 meters in size, and it was gnawing viciously on a bone of a giant beast that was even more massive than itself. Limbo was a ce that no one wanted to venture into, and it was renowned for the huge number of monarch beasts that it housed. However, in the instant that the monarch beast sensed Qin Ye''s aura, it immediately turned tail and fled without any hesitation.

    Tezcatlipoca had already stepped onto the bone of the giant beast, yet as soon as he set foot onto the bone, a clear ringing sound erupted beside his ears.

    Fate was already resting silently against the back of his head.

    "Are you going to kill me now?" he asked in a calm voice as he turned around to face Qin Ye, who was making no attempt to conceal his own enormous Yin energy.

    "Perhaps," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "How about you tell me your story and disclose some information that I''m interested in? If you have some useful things to say, perhaps I can spare your life. After all, I''m sure the Plumed Serpent God would be ecstatic if I were to bring your head to him. I''m certain that you''re one of the people that he most desperately wants dead. In fact, you probably stand at the top of that list."

 Chapter 954: Legend of the Sun (1)

    <h4>Chapter 954: Legend of the Sun (1)</h4>

    Tezcatlipoca remainedpletely silent as he stood atop the giant beast bone.

    Qin Ye''s Yin energy slowly propelled him toward the beast bone, and after a long silence, Tezcatlipoca finally asked in a cold voice, "Will you really spare my life?"

    Qin Ye smiled in response. "That depends on whether your story is sufficiently spectacr or not. If so, I might turn around for you."

    Turn around for me? What the hell does that mean?

    Tezcatlipoca wasn''t in the mood to be thinking about such trivial details. He closed his eyes and after a full five minutes, he heaved a resigned sigh as if he had epted his fate. "The mightiest god of the Aztec religion is Ometeotl, also the first god to appear on the new continent. Ometeotl is also our parents. He is both male and female, heaven and earth, light and darkness, fire and water, order and chaos. In short, he is a self-contradicting yet all-epassing existence. His male form is known as Ometecuhtli and his female form is known as Omecihuatl. He had four children, namely Xipe Totec, myself, Huitzilopochtli, and the final one..."

    He paused here before a hint of burning resentment crept into his voice. "Is the Plumed Serpent God, Quetzalcoatl."

    A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as if he were thinking back to memories from thousands of years ago. "Our parent god created us, and we were responsible for creating all things..."

    Qin Ye suddenly held up a hand to cut him off there. Tezcatlipoca turned to him with a confused expression, and he exined in a cold voice, "I''m not interested in the history of your religion, I could easily search that up for myself. I''m sure you know what I want to hear."

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t reply. Of course he knew what Qin Ye wanted to hear, he wanted to hear the secrets of the new continent''s religions!

    Those secrets were the foundation of a religion, and on the international political stage, such information could y extremely significant roles. This was one of the many differences between politics in the underworld and politics in the mortal realm.

    Right as he was hesitating, Fate gently came into contact with the back of his neck, and the chilling sensation made his entire body shudder as he gritted his teeth tightly. "You''re making me betray my own race!"

    Qin Ye waspletely astonished to hear this. "Excuse me? Are you seriously talking to me about betrayal? You are Tezcatlipoca, the first sun god of the Aztec religion. Which one of the subsequent sun gods in the Aztec religion wasn''t brought down by you? You''vemitted more sins against your own people than even Mtecutli yet you''re trying to portray yourself as a righteous figure right now?!"

    Veins were bulging on Tezcatlipoca, but he had to hold back the urge to attack Qin Ye.

    I can''t allow my temper to get the better of me. He''s a Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld, even if he kills me, no one would dare to seek revenge against them, and I''m currently nowhere near powerful enough to oppose him.

    Qin Ye wasn''t paying any heed to Tezcatlipoca''s feelings at all as he continued, "Following the conclusion of the First Sun, you lost a foot while ying the sea monster, Cipactli, thereby making you an iplete sun god, and you were overthrown by the Plumed Serpent God. You transformed into a coalition of cheetahs in the darkness and devoured most of your people. During the Second Sun, you instigated a war among gods in order to exact vengeance against the Plumed Serpent God, sweeping up devastating winds that destroyed the world that had only just been re-established. During the Third Sun, you raped the wife of the sun god and the former rain god, loc. In a fit of fury, he cast a storm of fire down in an attempt to kill you, thereby severely ravaging the new continent once again. During the Fourth Sun, you viciously wounded the sun goddess at the time, Chalchiuhtlicue, thenpletely tarnished her reputation and left her to cry day and night at her own misfortune. Her tears fell onto the new continent as torrential rain, cleansing the entire world. Bruh, how''re you going to talk about betrayal after everything that you''ve done? Do you have some type of fetish for screwing over your own brothers and sisters?"

    Tezcatlipoca was gnashing his teeth together audibly, and his expression transitioned back and forth between humiliation and rage before he finally heaved a forlorn sigh. "Who doesn''t want to climb over everyone else and stand at the very top?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "You''re a piece of scum through and through. However, when ites to foreign death gods, I love dealing with scum like you. Come on then, tell me your story."

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he was thinking about what type of secrets he could reveal that were still relevant to the current world. He had to tell Qin Ye something of value so that he wouldn''t be viewed as dispensable and killed on the spot.

    Qin Ye waited patiently and made no effort to rush him. Only after a full 15 minutes had passed did Tezcatlipoca break his silence again. "I think there is room for us to coborate with one another as we have amon enemy at the moment. You are also in opposition against the Freemasonry and the three death gods of the Caribbean, right?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. As was the case with all things, the beginning was always the most difficult phase. Now that Tezcatlipoca had decided to speak, things were going to be a lot simpler from here onward.

    At this point, Tezcatlipoca had alreadypletely calmed down, and he continued, "Do you know how much power they''re truly capable of unleashing?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, Tezcatlipoca answered his own question. "Truth be told, they''re not as powerful as you think. In fact, they may be far less powerful than you imagine! We canpletely disregard the three death gods of the Caribbean in this conversation. They''re only a trio of Marquesses, and the main reason the Freemasonry chose to coborate with them is because it doesn''t have much time left. There are a total of five Dukes in the Freemasonry, yet only two of them are active. They are Brando of the DuPont Consortium and Arlot of the Rockefeller Consortium. The remaining three are so close to death that their remaining lifespans are being calcted in units of hours. They''re so frail that they don''t even dare to speak too much, and if they dare to climb out of their coffins, they''ll immediately be met by death''s embrace."

    He licked his own lips before continuing, "I''m sure you know the current situation that the new continent is in, so there''s obviously no way they would dare to die."

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face. Indeed, if they were to die, they would fall into the hands of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Both of them were desperate to make a breakthrough, and they certainly wouldn''t pass up the opportunity to devour three Duke level souls.

    Tezcatlipoca continued, "Hence, they have to make a choice. The world of the living has its own rules, and Brando and Arlot are under immense pressure from the other major consortiums. If they want to continue to live like kings and have whatever they want, then they can''t afford to lose the support of the consortiums and be knocked down from their pedestals. Thus, they have to fulfill the request made by the other consortiums, and their request is very simple: they want to have their own territory in the underworld so that their souls would be safe, a ce where their Duke level patriarchs, who were on the brink of death, would be able to protect them."

    A derisive sneer appeared on his face as he continued, "It''s ironic, isn''t it? They are humans who want to continue living in the underworld. However, it''s not an impossible request to fulfill. All they require is for a death god to grant them a city, although doing so would be breaking the rules of non-interaction between the mortal realm and the underworld, thereby cing them under enormous pressure from all of the underworlds."

    "Is that why they chose the three death gods of the Caribbean?" Qin Ye asked. "Those three want to be Dukes more than anything else. Thus, the two sides coborated and the Freemasonry became investors in these three death gods, is that correct?"

    Tezcatlipoca nodded in response.

    I see... A contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face. He was finally closing in on the truth behind this grand script of death.

    From the very beginning, during his pursuit of Matthew, Brando''s intervention was clear proof of the three death gods'' participation.

    This was because humans were unable tomand Yin spirits. In other words, Yin spirits would never willingly ept a master from the world of the living.

    The logic was "you can''t directly threaten me, so why should I ept you?"

    The Yin spirit by the name of Brand that Qin Ye had met on the highway had also said that he served the three death gods of the Caribbean. They were protecting Matthew, as was the Freemasonry, so it was very clear that they were on the same side. The only thing that had stumped Qin Ye to this point was that he couldn''t think of the reason behind the formation of their alliance. In the power struggle between the Freemasonry and the church, the power of three Abyssal Prefects was nowhere near enough to have a decisive effect.

    With the information that Tezcatlipoca had just provided to him, Qin Ye was able to easily arrange his own thoughts.

    The three death gods of the Caribbean weren''t all that powerful, but their identities were very special. For the Freemasonry, Ah Puch, Xolotl, and Supay were all beyond their reach. These were true death gods who had stood at the top of the world for several thousand years. Their names were synonymous with death on the new continent, while in contrast, the three death gods of the Caribbean were the perfect candidates for them to approach.

    He rubbed his own chin as he murmured to himself, "I don''t know where these three pirates popped up from, but they really did manage to sessfully establish their own independent nation that''s acknowledged by the Coalition of Underworlds. If I were the Freemasonry, I would make the same choice."

    He then turned to look straight into Tezcatlipoca''s eyes. "How did you find out all of this? Also, I can sense from your Yin energy that you''re very close to bing an advanced Duke. Even in your weakened state, they shouldn''t have been able to capture you."

    His gaze swept over Tezcatlipoca''s body. His chest had been sliced open, revealing apleteck of internal organs and bones. His eyeballs were missing, and even his speech was being powered by Yin energy, indicating that his tongue was most likely gone as well.

    In addition to that, even his heart had been taken to the sea to be used as bait for Kraken. It was clear that he had beenpletely and utterly defeated, then dissected, but how had that happened, and in his current state, how did he know all of this insider information?

    Was the Freemasonry into watching corny movies and replicating that stereotypical viin who disclosed their entire sinister n just for the sake of it to the captured protagonist, only for the protagonist to escape withplete knowledge of their n?

    There was no way that the Freemaosnry would be this stupid.

    However, he didn''t directly ask for this information. He waspletely in control here, and showing excessive eagerness would make him appear desperate. Tezcatlipoca waspletely at his mercy, so all he had to do was wait for Tezcatlipoca to slowly tell him everything.

    From Qin Ye''s gaze, Tezcatlipoca immediately understood his question, and he replied, "Why do you think I was captured by the Freemasonry?"

    A wry smile appeared on his face as he answered his own question. "It''s because there is a Fifth Sun after the Fourth Sun in the Aztec religion!"

    Qin Ye made a slight gesture, prompting him to continue.

    The pieces of information that Tezcatlipoca had disclosed so far didn''t seem to have any rtion to one another, but as was the case with all puzzles, they had to be pieced together bit by bit.

    What he wanted to know was the truth behind the grand script of death!

    He had already experienced just how he could gain from intercepting a grand script of death, and as long as it wasn''t too dangerous, he definitely wouldn''t mind intercepting another one!

    However, in order to aplish this, he had to first understand the truth behind the grand script of death, which was always strongly rted to the mythology and traditions of the nation in which the grand script of death was unfolding.

    <i>The Fifth Sun, eh? </i> Qin Ye had a feeling that this was where all of the secrets of this grand script of death were.

    A serious look appeared on his face as he said, "There are some records of the Fifth Sun in Aztec mythology. ording to those records, that is an ear of chaos and no one knows exactly what happened during that time. In fact, there are many conflicting records left behind by Aztec tribes stating that the Fifth Sun doesn''t even exist."

    "No, it definitely does exist!" Tezcatlipoca replied in an imcable voice. "The Fifth Sun is the root cause behind how the new continent ended up in its current state!"

    [1] [I think this is a reference to the singing talent show, "The Voice", where judges sit on spinning chairs initially with their backs to the contestants, and they choose to turn around if they think the singer is talented enough.]

 Chapter 955: Legend of the Sun (2)

    <h4>Chapter 955: Legend of the Sun (2)</h4>

    After a brief silence, Tezcatlipoca continued, "The Fifth Sun did exist, but even if you read through all of the legends on the new continent, you wouldn''t be able to find out what happened during that era. That''s because..."

    A wry smile appeared on his face as he continued, "There is no sun god in the Fifth Sun. At the top of Aconcagua is a set of ancient ruins. If you perform a certain ancient ritual at the right time, there will appear a staircase that leads up to the sky. That is the divine nation of the new continent, the divine pce of San Juan Teotihuac??n. The Fifth Sun is a new beginning and also the final conclusion. The first sun god election was held there."

    He paused momentarily as he heaved a faint sigh, then turned to Qin Ye as he continued, "This is the biggest secret on the entire new continent, and it''s directly rted to what you''re trying to do. I can help you achieve your objective in exchange for your mercy."

    Qin Ye flicked his wrist, and his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp. He gently massaged the bracelet as his ck hair rose up around him amid the gusts of Yin wind like the wings of a crow, and only after a long while did he ask, "What am I trying to do?"

    Tezcatlipoca licked his own lips before replying in a confident voice, "You''re trying to intercept the Freemasonry''s grand script of death!"

    "Oh? Is that right?" Qin Ye asked in an ambiguous manner.

    "Otherwise, there''s no way to exin why you would want to know the most confidential secrets of the new continent''s main religions!" Tezcatlipoca said in an assured voice. "All grand scripts of death are directly rted to the myths and legends of the ce where the script is unfolding. In order to create a religion from nothing, centuries are required, and it''s far more simple to iste a certain god in history before bringing their legend into the mortal realm. What they''ve done is take the ambiguous and broken records from history to fabricate a counterfeit god and forge a legend rted to this god. After that, they''re going to create divine miracles in order to win followers. At the conclusion of their preparation, they''re going to release an official announcement in the mortal realm, stating that after extensive research, so-and-so has been determined to be the true death god of a certain religion, and that death god is given proselytization rights. This is the whole process. During this process, if one is familiar with the most obscure secrets of a religion, then they''ll be able to trace all of the legends that have been created back to the grand script of death, allowing one to even predict the final oue of the script. That would give you everything you need to intercept the grand script of death, would it not?"

    Qin Ye smiled as he asked, "Why can''t it just be out of pure curiosity?"

    Tezcatlipoca chuckled in response. "No Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld would be bored enough toe all the way to the new continent just to listen to its myths and legends. On top of that, with the vast knowledge that the Cathayan Underworld has rued during its long existence, there would be no need for me to recount the history of my religion. That would be an insult to the four pirs."

    Well, please ept my sincerest apologies and feel free to insult me to your heart''s content, I really am just that ignorant!

    Qin Ye cleared his throat in response, not denying this notion nor choosing to confirm it. In reality, Tezcatlipoca was only partially right.

    He did indeed want to intercept the grand script of death. He was well aware of just how massive the gap between a nascent Yama-King and an advanced Yama-King was, and perhaps intercepting the grand script of death would allow him to take another important step in his cultivation.

    However, this was going to be very dangerous.

    The new continent wasn''t some tiny ce like Daehan, it was the joint name for the two massive continents of Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia! Many years ago, Christopher Columbus discovered a brand new continent during a voyage and named it the new continent. These two continents made up a third of the entire world''sndmass, housing many religions and Yama-Kings, all of which were extremely belligerent, and a single misstep could spell death!

    Hence, he was only nning to listen to some details. As for whether he was going to actually execute the interception, that would depend on the situation unfolded in the future. After obtaining Xu Fu''s notes, he had already alerted the opposition, so in the future, their defenses were only going to be tighter than before. As such, his chances of intercepting the grand script of death were already very slim.

    His true objective was actually to establish control over Tezcatlipoca!

    There was a coborative rtionship between him and the Plumed Serpent God, but that was a coboration between nation and nation, and he had to be wary of a potential betrayal in the future. In that case, what better trump card to have up his sleeve than Tezcatlipoca?

    Regardless of which side betrayed him, he could immediately forge an alliance with the other side. Thus, he never nned to kill Tezcatlipoca from the very beginning. In his current state, all of Tezcatlipoca''s important organs had already been removed from his body. If he didn''t turn to the Cathayan Underworld for refuge, it would be very difficult just for him to survive in the future, and Qin Ye was certainly more than happy to take such a useful pawn under his wing.

    "Continue," he instructed in an indifferent voice.

    Tezcatlipoca did as he was told. "There are records of this in human literature: during the divine conference in the divine pce of San Juan Teotihuac??n, Nanauatzin and Tecuciztecatl leaped into a fire together, following which they became the powerful sun god, Tonatyw..."

    He paused here momentarily before continuing, "This is incorrect. In reality, we didn''t allow any god to adopt the position of sun god. Thus, we created an artificial god, which was Tonatyw! He possesses divinity and divine duty, but no consciousness. This was a situation that all of us gods could ept. However, in order to make Tonatyw into the sun, he needed the hearts of all of the gods. The four sun gods were responsible for harvesting the hearts from their respective cohorts of gods. I recall that at the time, Xolotl didn''t want to die for the new sun and refused to give up his heart, so he ran away. After that, all of the gods who gave up their hearts perished, and Xolotl was so saddened by this that he bawled out one of his eyeballs. That was how the Eye of the Night Star at Xolotl''s Screen came into existence, it''s a true eyeball of his. You must be wondering how we can be resurrected after our deaths, right? In reality, we don''t actually die. Instead, we return to the embrace of our parent god instead of entering the underworld ruled over by Mtecutli. Our parent god would reform our bodies and we would return to our original state. Unfortunately for Xolotl, he was too scared to sacrifice himself, so his eyeball was unable to return to his body, and he lost his chance to be whole again."

    Qin Ye raised a hand as he interjected, "This doesn''t seem to have anything to do with the grand script of death."

    Tezcatlipoca licked his own lips as he replied, "That''s only the background information to set the scene, this is where the story truly begins! Tonatyw rose up into the sky and acted as the sun for a year. Everything was very normal, and at that point, our parent god decided that the fifth sun was already stable and began to reform our bodies inside the divine nation above Aconcagua. Our bodies and souls were transferred into a massive statue, and as the first sun, I was ced at the foot of the staircase to the divine nation above Aconcagua to guard the entrance."

    Theherfire in his eyes slowly began to take on a red hue as he continued, "However, no one could''ve anticipated that the fifth sun would suddenly explode after operating for 10 years! No one knew the reason behind this. The entire new continent was plunged into darkness for five days, and even our parent god was caught in the explosion. Tonatyw was a culmination of all of the gods'' powers and his divine power was immense beyond imagination. Thus, our esteemed parent god fell into an eternal slumber, and our bodies were being reformed at the time, so we naturally fell into a slumber as well. That was a very intriguing state to be in. My soul could hear and sense everything in the outside world, and I could even travel across the entire new continent in a day, but I couldn''t move and waspletely defenseless."

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this. He finally understood how Tezcatlipoca had been captured.

    As if to confirm Qin Ye''s suspicions, Tezcatlipoca continued, "Of course, all of them were safe in the divine nation, while I was the only one who was vulnerable as I was guarding the entrance above Aconcagua. There was also the Plumed Serpent God, who was banished from the new continent after the Second Sun. Do you know what this entails?"

    A cold look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes as he replied, "It entails that if someone finds your statue, they would have essentially captured the sun god and you would bepletely vulnerable and at their mercy. As a result, you fell into the hands of the Freemasonry, is that correct?"

    Tezcatlipoca nodded in response with a forced smile.

    Qin Ye was silent for a few seconds upon hearing this. He suddenly thought of something that sent chills running down his spine.

    The Freemasonry and the three death gods of the Caribbean were nning to use Tezcatlipoca''s body and power to create a new death god, but how had they be aware of such a closely guarded secret?

    How did they know that Aconcagua would lead to the divine nation of the Aztecs?

    How did they know that a statue covered in several hundred years of snow and ice was hiding the final god remaining in the new continent of the mortal realm?

    There was only one possible answer: someone had tipped them off.

    Xolotl could be eliminated from the list of potential candidates. He definitely didn''t want to see a new foe arise to challenge him for power over the new continent following the demise of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Even if he wanted to do this, he would''ve done so himself rather than recruiting the assistance of the Freemasonry, and he definitely wouldn''t have leaked this secret. However, he didn''t do this and that was most likely because there was an extremely powerful seal on the statue that he wasn''t confident in being able to undo. That was something that Qin Ye was going to considerter.

    The main question he was considering now was the identity of the informant.

    He stroked his own chin in a contemtive manner.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa could be eliminated from the list as well. If they had known that Tezcatlipoca was here, they would''ve definitely already devoured him. As for Supay and Ah Puch, they weren''t even death gods of the Aztec religion. Instead, they were the death gods of the Mayans and the Incas, so there was no way they would know about the secret of Aconcagua...

    A cold smile appeared on his face as the answer rose to the surface. Following the process of elimination, there was only one final candidate: the Plumed Serpent God!

    He was the only Aztec god who knew of the location of the divine nation and had an incentive to do this.

    Qin Ye clicked his own tongue as he murmured to himself, "I really didn''t think that he would be doing something like this. What a cruel, cruel man he is, he''s certainly far more cruel than he lets on. No wonder he hasn''t been in a hurry to seek me out even though he''s only just partially detached himself from the Heavenly Dao."

    He turned to Tezcatlipoca as he continued, "It turns out that he''s too busy trying to kill his own brother once and for all..."

    On the international political stage, everyone was wearing a facade, but never did Qin Ye think that the Plumed Serpent God''s facade would be hiding such a sinister and terrifying persona.

    This further strengthened Qin Ye''s resolve to spare Tezcatlipoca''s life.

    He needed someone capable of countering the Plumed Serpent God on the new continent, and what better figure to use to counter the second sun than the first sun? Seeing as the new continent was going to descend into chaos, then why not stoke the mes a little?

    After a long silence, Qin Ye''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as a thought urred to him. "Hold on, if they''re nning to use your body as part of their grand script of death, then the hype that they were building up in the early stages of the script would be focused on you. As a result, the power of worship from the followers of the Slumber of the Sea and the Stars would be instilled into you. In that case, there''s no way that you wouldn''t have recovered even a little from your injuries! Also, I was considering this before: if the Plumed Serpent God wanted to kill you, why hasn''t he already done so? Why did he disclose all of this information to the Freemasonry to kill you through them instead?"

    He slowly strode over to Tezcatlipoca as he spoke. "Is it because of an extremely powerful restriction? Are you being protected by something or are you hiding something from me?"

    Tezcatlipoca looked straight into his eyes, and after several seconds of silence, he finally replied, "That''s not important. All of the conditions I stated prior to this were building up to the final step. Only at this point in the story are we reaching the true climax. The grand script of death isn''t finished, and the insanity of the new continent religions in ancient times is definitely beyond your wildest imaginations. I guarantee you that this will be far more impactful than any secret you''ve ever heard about the religions on the new continent!"

 Chapter 956: Legend of the Sun (3)

    <h4>Chapter 956: Legend of the Sun (3)</h4>

    The beast bone that Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca were situated on was traveling a little faster, which indicated that they were getting closer to Limbo. Just like how earth had gravity, there was gravity in Limbo also.

    Qin Ye wasn''t flustered or impatient at all. He knew that the more background information that had to be provided with regard to something, the moreplex the ending would be. There were simply far too many loose ends to clean up, which represented countless paths the story could take.

    At the same time, it was also an indication that the event in question was extremely important with significant implications. After all, there was no need to provide so much background information for something simple and insignificant.

    He was still considering whether it was worth trying to intercept the grand script of death. If he did decide to intercept, then how was he supposed to do that and what was the ideal incision point?

    Tezcatlipoca took a deep breath before continuing, "Everything I just said is the prelude to the grand script of death. Only with this information will you be able to understand the entirety of the script. You might be wondering how I know all of this. The answer to that is very simple: the statue that I was sealed away in doesn''t disy any signs of life, so the people sent by the Freemasonry were freely discussing their ns right in front of me, thinking that there was no one around to overhear them, so I found out everything."

    He paused momentarily before a grim tone crept into his voice. "They didn''t reveal exactly what they were going to do, but you should be able to guess their n from what I''m about to tell you next. Firstly, Tonatiuh is a sun created by the gods. In that case, how did its bodye into existence? The story of the creation of Tonatiuh''s body is actually also the story of how my brother, the Plumed Serpent God, and I became sworn enemies."

    He heaved a long sigh as he cast his gaze toward the endless darkness as he continued, "During the First Sun, we were responsible for overseeing all living beings. At the time, there was a giant sea monster in the Usonian territorial sea known as Cipactli."

    He turned to Qin Ye with a serious expression as he said, "Cipactli was the biggest sea monster in the entire world, taking a massive area at the center of the Pacific Ocean. After some discussion with the Plumed Serpent God, we decided to kill Cipactli. However, what I didn''t know at the time was that he had always held a grudge against me as he was envious that I had be the first sun. Our n was to y Cipactli on the surface of the sea, but he pushed me straight into the depths of the sea!"

    The joints of Tezcatlipoca''s fists were cracking audibly as a hateful look appeared on his face.

    "Even for me, facing Cipactli deep in the sea was extremely dangerous. I managed to kill it in the end, but during the process, I lost a foot, which meant that I could never be a true sun! That was where everything began..."

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this.

    Just as the records had stated, it was the Plumed Serpent God who had instigated this vendetta.

    His actions caused Tezcatlipoca to fall from grace, and Tezcatlipoca''s personality waspletely warped and altered by his hatred, thereby resulting in the tragedies of the next three suns.

    Tezcatlipoca continued, "However, that''s not important. It''s all in the past, after all, and I''ll avenge myself someday. However, this story is extremely important for you to hear. After Cipactli was defeated by me, it split up into six sections, namely its tentacles, its throat, its eyes, its brain, its stomach, and its trunk. Throughout the years, those six parts of its body slowly drifted to all parts of the world."

    He suddenly stopped here and Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in befuddlement.

    What was he trying to say?

    However, a thought then suddenly urred to him like a sh of lightning, and he suddenly understood why Tezcatlipoca was telling him all of this. He cast an astonished gaze toward Tezcatlipoca as he eximed in a loud voice, "Are you telling me those are the six kings?!"

    The six kings, the most fearsome monsters of the sea, were all parts of Cipactli''s body?!

    "That''s right," Tezcatlipoca replied with a cold smile. "Each of the six kings is only a part of its body, so I''m sure you can imagine how massive it originally was, and the sun should have a massive body, right?"

    Qin Ye''s mouth gaped open slightly upon hearing this. "They can''t be that insane..."

    The fifth sun, the one that was created by the gods, was actually Cipactli, who had perished during the First Sun!

    "It was the best option. Cipactli''s body was extremely sturdy, and our parent god was nning to construct the divine nation on top of it following our resurrections. Unfortunately, that''s most likely never going to be a reality," Tezcatlipoca said in a forlorn voice.

    Qin Ye cast a meaningful gaze toward Tezcatlipoca. There was no way that Tezcatlipoca was going to resurrect these gods, and he wasn''t afraid of disclosing this information to Qin Ye as he knew that a Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld also wouldn''t want to see a united new continent.

    "At the time, our parent god was full of ambition. If they could construct the divine nation on the sun, then they would have a moving fortress capable of dominating both the sky and the sea. Cipactli was naturally the ruler of the sea and the power of the sun had been bestowed upon it. Perhaps that was the reason why it exploded in the end. After all, fire and water simply do not mix. However, such a prospect was far too alluring to pass up, and if the n hade into fruition, the new continent would have a divine nation capable of ruling over the entire world both in the mortal realm and in the underworld! That would be the greatest achievement anyone has ever made in history! No one would be able to withstand the sun fortress''s attacks. All of the world''sndmass is surrounded by the sky and the sea, so there''s no escape. We would be able to invade all of the nations one by one from the sea, then devour their religions and eventually conquer the entire world... Forgive me for going off-topic."

    Tezcatlipoca took a moment topose himself before continuing, "Getting back on track, let''s return to the topic of the three Caribbean death gods'' grand script of the death. Despite their current lofty ambitions, it''s important to remember that they were only three pirates during their lifetimes. They are just three ordinary skeletons without any miraculous blessings or any divine artifacts at their disposal, and they perished in the sea as normal people..."

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this as he took over from there. "There would be no way for their bodies to withstand the enormous influx of Yin energy required to elevate them to godhood!"

    Before Tezcatlipoca had a chance to say anything, he continued, "However, there was no way for them to take over Cipactli''s body as their parent god wasn''t dead, he was only in a slumber. They were afraid that their parent god would awaken one day and discover that they had taken over Cipactli''s body, and that would spell certain death for them. Thus, they needed to find another vessel capable of containing such enormous Yin energy, and that vessel is..."

    All of the scattered bits of information in his mind began toe together, and the entire grand script of death was revealed.

    They had chosen Kraken!

    Kraken was a part of the body of the fifth sun and the former ruler of the sea, what could be a better vessel than it?

    He couldn''t help but want to apud the creator of this grand script of death. He had thought that these were only a trio of fleas jumping around like court jesters, but in reality, if he hadn''t arrived on the new continent in person, there was a very good chance that a being even more fearsome than the likes of Xolotl and Ah Puch would''ve arisen on the continent!

    This was the lifelong goal of the three Caribbean death gods!

    Qin Ye shook his head with a stunned expression. There really was not a single death god in this world that could bepletely overlooked. In a ce like the underworld, where a power system existed, an absolute powerhouse could simply arise seemingly out of the blue.

    "You seem to have already figured it all out for yourself," Tezcatlipoca said. "If I''m not mistaken, they''ve most likely already attracted one of the six kings to the new continent. However, they wouldn''t have attracted all of the six kings at once as it would be impossible for them to control the situation. I''m guessing they used a part of my body to lure one of the six kings to the new continent. The six kings have a natural innate urge to pursue the other portions of their bodies that are missing. They''re instinctively yearning to be whole again. A part of a god''s body isn''t a part of Cipactli''s body, but it''s already the best bait, particrly because I was the one who slew Cipactli..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Qin Ye suddenly raised a hand to stop him, then turned around in silence as if he were looking aimlessly into the darkness.

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t interrupt him, nor did he dare to make his way over to Qin Ye to check his reaction. As a result, he failed to notice that Qin Ye was in a state of extreme excitement, so much so that the beaded bracelet in his hand was almost crushed by his white-knuckled grip!

    His chest was heaving violently from his tumultuous emotions, but he quickly repressed his own excitement in order to be able to think clearly.

    A thought had just urred to him.

    It was something that seemed to bepletely unrted, but was somehow able to tie everything together.

    He had thought of the GTO!

    In 10 years'' time, the next international conference was going to be held in the Cathayan Underworld. His initial n was to dedicate all resources to construction projects on Formosa. As long as they could develop the new energy resource, even if Formosa wasn''t the most spectacr site to hold the conference, the unveiling of the new energy resource would more than make up for that.

    However...

    Why couldn''t the conference be held on the Cathayan Underworld''s sun fortress?

    Kraken''s massive body was definitelyrge enough to have a fortress built upon it. If they could hold the conference on Kraken''s back, the entire world would bepletely and utterly astonished!

    Most importantly, if the meeting were to be held in Formosa, that would still be a part of the Cathayan Underworld. If other underworld emissaries wanted to go to the maind for sightseeing, there was no suitable excuse he could use to turn them down. Thus, countless underworld emissaries were going to flood into all parts of the Cathayan Underworld and everything would be exposed. That was what was most bothersome to him and Zhao Yun.

    However, if the conference could be held on the Kraken sun fortress, he could even hold the conference in the high sea outside of any nation''s territory! He would tell all of the underworlds that this was an experiment to test out a new piece of technology, and that would give them sufficient excuse to prevent all of the foreign underworld emissaries from going to the Cathayan Underworld as the conference wasn''t even being held on Cathayan territory!

    Furthermore, no one would even want to go to the Cathayan Underworld then! They would all be intent on finding out as much as they could about the Kraken sun fortress so they could better protect their own nations against it.

    He abruptly turned around to stare intently at Tezcatlipoca. "The grand script of death must bepleted in the mortal realm as the mortal realm is the foundation of the three realms. Without the power of worship from humans, even a death god will perish, so that means that they must y Kraken in the mortal realm so that all of their followers could witness this divine miracle, then take over Kraken''s body in secret!"

    "Where do you think they''ll execute their n?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

    "Phdelphie!" Qin Ye replied without hesitation. "It has to be Phdelphia! Otherwise, there''s no way to exin why the vault of the Freemasonry''s First Usonian Bank hasn''t left Phdelphia!"

    Tezcatlipoca nodded in response. "That''s right. Phdelphia isn''t a coastline city, but Kraken can still ess Phdelphia through the Dware River. My eyes, heart, and bones are the trump card to restraining Kraken!"

    He extended a slight bow as he continued, "The grand script of death is still far from its conclusion. If you want to intercept it, then you must y Kraken in Phdelphia! You are a Yama-king so you don''t need auxiliary instruments like the heart and bones of a death god. Unlike those three pesky fleas, you possess divine status and divine duty. Once you kill Kraken, all of the power of worship from the followers of the White Religion Group all over the entirety of Usonia will instantly flow into your body! Through ying a death god that''s also a part of the fifth sun''s body, there''s a very good chance that you''ll be able to make a breakthrough to be a mid Yama-King!"

    Qin Ye was pacing back and forth, and his thoughts were a little chaotic.

    To intercept or not to intercept? How could he intercept?

    The two Master Masons that the Freemasonry could still make use of would definitely be present at the scene, as would the three death gods of the Caribbean. Such a formidable lineup could quite possibly attract other death gods to the scene as well, and that wasn''t even mentioning the fact that Kraken was also going to be present.

    He was only a single death god, and his power was far too insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

    All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he turned to Tezcatlipoca with a befuddled expression. "How are the Freemasonry and the three death gods nning to kill Kraken?"

    A grim look appeared on Tezcatlipoca''s face as he replied, "Back when I was on the summit of Aconcagua, Xolotl and the Plumed Serpent God didn''te after me because our parent god had set up sufficient defensive measures to protect our statues. However, the Freemasonry was able to borrow a divine artifact from the three death gods on this asion. This divine artifact is the most special one among all of the world''s mythology, and with it, they''re confident in their ability to y Kraken. This divine artifact was also the very same one that broke the seal on my statue!"

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before asking, "What is the name of this divine artifact?"

 Chapter 957: Pyramid of the Sun (1)

    <h4>Chapter 957: Pyramid of the Sun (1)</h4>

    Tezcatlipoca replied in a solemn voice, "It''s the Spear of Longinus."

    I see!

    Countless pieces of information were beginning to rise up to the surface in his mind, arranging themselves into aplete picture, and that final piece of informationpletely sealed the deal for Qin Ye.

    The Spear of Longinus was a holy artifact of the church, and with theplex rtionship between the Freemasonry and the church, the Freemasonry would''ve had to have expended an extremely steep price in exchange for obtaining the Spear of Longinus on loan. That price would be far more than donating 100rge churches. In fact, there was a very good chance that they would''ve had to have opened up the proselytization rights of some nations to the church.

    He had heard from the second King Yanluo that there were many ordinary divine artifacts in this world, but all of those were below creation-grade divine artifacts. However, every single artifact had its own unique properties, and the most special of those divine artifacts was the Spear of Longinus.

    It existed for the sole purpose of ying gods. If it were to pierce into someone''s body, as long as that being wasn''t above the Yama-King level, their death would be sealed. None of the gods in Heaven or the underworld were exempt from this. Thankfully, this spear was currently in the mortal realm and wasn''t in the possession of any death god.

    "So this is the first time that a death god has ever held the spear." He slowly closed his eyes as he quickly arranged his thoughts, bringing everything around to a full circle.

    The three death gods of the Caribbean weren''t satisfied with their current status. They wanted to be true death gods, so they sought someone out to write this grand script of death for them.

    Qin Ye was under the impression that the Plumed Serpent God was likely to be the writer of this grand script of death.

    Aside from him, who could have such an in-depth understanding of Aztec Mythology?

    Who would have the courage to devise a n to lure Kraken to Phdelphia, then y it to save the entire city? There were very few people in the world who would dare to provoke the six kings!

    Aside from him, who would write Tezcatlipoca into the script? Surely no one else had such a vendetta against Tezcatlipoca!

    However, there was no concrete evidence to support all of this, so Qin Ye set this train of thought aside for now. From here onward, the three death gods began to search for investors, and they found the Freemasonry in the end. Both sides had something they needed from one another, and thus, a coborative rtionship was formed. After that, the Freemasonry sought out the church to borrow their Spear of Longinus in order to fulfill the script.

    With the Spear of Longinus in their possession, they traveled to Aconcagua to shatter the seal ced on Tezcatlipoca''s statue and capture him for the next part of the script. Qin Ye had heard that there were supposed to be many gods in a state of slumber in Usonia, and this was most likely where that notion came from.

    These events had most likely taken ce a century ago or even earlier than that. After capturing Tezcatlipoca, they began to strip him of his power and use human bones to construct that church, building it on top of a Yin Yang Mezzanine. In doing so, they would be able to draw upon the vast Yin energy seeping out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine to restrict Tezcatlipoca. In order topletely conceal all of this, the First Usonian Bank had to disappear, and that was how Matthe Conn came into existence.

    Of course, he was a special case. No one had anticipated that an anomaly like him would arise, and it was exactly because of him that Qin Ye was eventually able to see the true face of this grand script of death.

    Barring any mishaps, the Spear of Longinus was going to arrive in Phdelphia within a month, following which Kraken would be lured to the city through the Dware River. Then, right before everyone''s eyes, the three death gods were going to use the Spear of Longinus to y Kraken. Of course, all of this had to happen in the mortal realm, and that would spell the conclusion of the entire grand script of death.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye turned to Tezcatlipoca as he said, "I have one final question: how powerful is the church?"

    "Not very powerful at all." Tezcatlipoca''s answer came as a huge surprise to Qin Ye.

    His brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I may not be overseeing the affairs of the mortal realm, but even I''ve heard that the seven cardinals of the church are all Dukes."

    Tezcatlipoca replied in a calm voice, "What you don''t know is that the seven cardinals are merely clones of the pope. The pope has already lived for several centuries and is said to be an advanced Duke that''s only one step away from transcending beyond the Duke level. Through divine endowment, it''s not a difficult task for him to split himself up into seven clones. As for the drawbacks to this, I don''t know the details, but the drawbacks are most likely quite significant. Think about it this way: if they really were that powerful, then there''s no way they would have agreed to lend the Spear of Longinus to the Freemasonry."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. The church was definitely going to send people to oversee the conclusion of the grand script of death.

    They had to ensure that the Freemasonry wouldn''t take the Spear of Longinus outright. In fact, the one to use the Spear of Longinus to deliver the final blow would most likely be someone from the church rather than a member of the Freemasonry.

    Handing over the spear for the three death gods to use directly was apletely different matter from borrowing the spear to them but not even allowing them to touch it.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he mused to himself, "In that case, Fernando most likely didn''t juste to Phdelphia because of the chaotic situation here. Instead, the more important task for him is to oversee the usage of the Spear of Longinus. That''s certainly not a bad thing. At the very least, we''ve already met and worked with one another on one previous asion."

    Everything made sense now, but there were still those lingering questions.

    To intercept or not to intercept? How could he intercept?

    If he were to decide to do this, then he would be facing immense opposition without a single ally on his side.

    Even though only one of the church''s cardinals was present in the city, they had far too many witch hunters and church followers, so it would be extremely difficult to take the Spear of Longinus away from them.

    That wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that the three death gods and the Freemasonry were definitely going to be involved as well. How was he supposed to bypass all of them and y Kraken right before their very eyes?

    Looks like it''s time to call daddy!

    He cleared his throat before pulling out Fate, then gently stroked it as he asked, "Fate, Fate, in my hand, who''s the most powerful of them all? Would you be able to summon him to me?"

    Fate remainedpletely still and silent.

    Fuck! This thing''s absolutely useless when I need it!

    Qin Ye scratched his own head in a frustrated manner. He really didn''t want to pass up this opportunity, but if he wanted to secure an opportunity for himself to y Kraken under suchplex circumstances, he would need at least several thousand people to help him divert the attention of this opposition!

    Even with the entire Dusk Legionnaire deployed, we would still only be a group of less than 20. No, I can''t use them as distractions, I need to use them as instantaneous teleportation devices. They are going to be my final trump card here!

    Before he knew it, he had already subconsciously decided to intercept the grand script of death.

    It would be far too painful to pass up an opportunity like this!

    Just as he was scrambling for a n, he suddenly raised his head before casting his gaze forward with a stunned expression.

    There''s someone calling me!

    "How is this possible?" he murmured to himself with a stunned expression.

    Tezcatlipoca could also hear the voice calling out from the darkness, sending ripples surging through space like the water of ake.

    Initially, the voice was very indistinct, but it quickly became very clear, as if the owner of the voice were standing right next to Qin Ye.

    "Esteemed emissary of the Cathayan Underworld, please heed my call! Your loyal servants are pleading for your help..."

    Who the hell is that?

    "Someone''s calling you from within Limbo" Tezcatlipoca cast a contemtive gaze toward the boundless darkness. "It''s a directionless call, which means even the caller doesn''t know whom its call will reach. Does your Cathayan Underworld have followers on the new continent?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in a perplexed manner.

    "Are you going to respond to the call?" Tezcatlipoca immediately asked. "If so, shall we part ways here?"

    "Sure," Qin Ye replied with a hint of a smile on his face. "I look forward to meeting you again."

    Tezcatlipoca''s expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything in response and vanished into countless specks of light.

    Looks like he doesn''t really dare to ept my olive branch...

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. This was only to be expected. After all, he was currently working with the Plumed Serpent God.

    However, it didn''t matter if he epted the olive branch or not.

    In fact, it didn''t even matter if he died or not. If he did, then so be it. If he survived, then perhaps he could be useful as leverage against the Plumed Serpent God someday. In any case, it made far more sense to spare him than to kill him.

    He was a god who had lost almost all of his power, what did it matter if he lived or not?

    "Now then, let''s see who it is that''s calling me." He cast his gaze deep into the darkness, then flew straight into the vast expanse of nothingness as a streak of ck light.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The area was surrounded by rocks with patterns typical of the Aztec style engraved upon them. There were also many totem poles, and at the top of each pole was a ball of burningherfire.

    This was a square stone room with gold stered all over the ground. Atop the altar at the very front of the room were four sun symbols, and at the very center of the altar was a small paper cut-out in the shape of a human. At this moment, a group of Yin spirits was huddled around the paper cut-out, chanting incessantly, and the cut-out was dancing in mid-air above the altar.

    Five minutes passed by, then 10 minutes... In front of the altar were three Yin spirits in native Usonian clothing, and after 12 minutes had passed by, the elderly man that was seated at the center of the trio heaved a long sigh before rising to his feet, then shook his head with a forlorn expression.

    He seemed to already be very old, as evidenced by the liver spots all over his body, and he was wearing a hat woven out of colorful woolen thread. The main color scheme of his attire was green, and he was wearing a kilt woven from feathers while his upper body waspletely bare. The young man and woman on either side of him immediately helped him to his feet, and a dark-skinned Yin spirit asked in a hopeful voice, "Was there any response, Grand Elder?"

    The grand elder seemed to want to muster up a smile, but was unable to do so in the end, and he merely patted the dark-skinned Yin spirit on the head in a benevolent manner before leaving the room.

    "Grand Elder!" Standing beside the dark-skinned man was a silver-haired woman, and she bit down onto her own lower lip as she asked, "Have the gods abandoned us?"

    "Can you not tell whether the gods have abandoned us?" The grand elder finally drew to a halt in the doorway, and his hunched-over figure cast a long shadow under the golden light spilling in from outside, giving him a pure and holy appearance as he said in a resigned voice, "Our city and vige have already been razed to the ground by the Eagle Warriors, while the survivingherworldly citizens were captured and taken to the rulers of the new continent to be devoured. Is the answer to your question not obvious already? However..."

    He turned around and tapped his cane against the ground with a resolute expression. "We cannot give up on ourselves. We are trying to reach emissaries from other underworlds, and it''s the only thing we can do right now, but we''re facing Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Even if we manage to draw a Count to this ce, what good would that do us?"

    The dark-skinned man gritted his teeth as he replied, "At the very least, we can flee to the mortal realm?"

    The grand elder smiled and replied, "And what do we do after that? Without pure Yin energy to sustain us, our desire to kill will only be more and more intense, and we''ll inevitably begin hunting living humans. After that, we''ll be vengeful spirits and be hunted down by the church."

    "Is there no way for us to survive then?!" the silver-haired woman sobbed. "Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa have gone insane! I don''t want to stay here anymore! Every single second of every day, we''re constantly having to fear for our lives! I''d rather die than continue to live like this!"

    "You''ve already died," the grand elder said in an indifferent voice, then departed with a forlorn sigh.

    However, right at this moment...

    BOOM!!!

    The paper cut-out had already fallen onto the altar, but it suddenly rose up again, andhermes erupted up to several meters tall from its body!

    Immediately thereafter, an unspeakably powerful burst of Yin energy erupted within the room, forming a vortex that was around three meters in size within the span of just a few seconds. An indistinct humanoid figure could be seen within the vortex, and in the next instant, a young male voice rang out.

    "Who is calling me?"

 Chapter 958: Pyramid of the Sun (2)

    <h4>Chapter 958: Pyramid of the Sun (2)</h4>

    The grand elder at the entrance to the room faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately turned back to the altar before rushing toward it like a madman.

    The man and woman behind him were also rooted to the spot for an instant, then rushed frantically over to the altar as well before falling to their knees with a dull thump. They were so excited that their facial muscles were spasming, and theherfire in their eyes had spiked up to two meters tall as they joined their palms in an extremely reverent manner while praying frantically.

    "My lord, my sun, I''m willing to sacrifice my blood, flesh, and soul to you. Please respond to my prayers!"

    Boom! The door of the room suddenly mmed shut, and the souls of the three Yin spirits were pulsing violently as they continued to pray while also surreptitiously sensing the power of the one who had heeded their call.

    What cultivation rank is he at? Please don''t let it be a Count! At the very least, it has to be a Marquess! Only a Marquess would have any speaking rights on the world stage!

    However, as soon as the three of them released their consciousness toward Qin Ye, all of them shuddered in unison before copsing t against the ground like ants, unable to evenplete their prayers.

    Qin Ye''s Yin energy was as vast as the sea in their eyes.

    Just how powerful is this underworld emissary?! t The grand elder was so shocked that he almost screamed out loud, but at the same time, a sense of ecstasy welled up in his heart. He bit down firmly onto his own lower lip as he struggled to raise his head. Even though he felt as if a mountain were weighing down on him, he still wanted to resist it with all his might so he could catch a glimpse of the monster that he had just summoned.

    The man and the woman apanying him were also trying to do the same thing, but Qin Ye''s Yin energy was far beyond the upper limit of their tolerance, and they had only raised their heads millimeters off the ground before they were forced to kowtow onto the floor again.

    What enormous Yin energy! This man is very likely to be a Marquess! A Marquesse from the Cathayan Underworld has responded to our calls! The grand elder''s fingers had almost dug into the ground as all of his pores opened up in unison.

    Our tireless efforts have finally paid off! There''s still hope for us to survive! The new continent has forsaken us, but the rest of the world can still hear our pleas!!

    Inside the Yin energy vortex, Qin Ye was standing with his hands sped behind his back. Even though his feet weren''t moving, he was able to drift out of the vortex like a wraith, and in the instant that he emerged, the entire golden hall shuddered violently.

    He swept his gaze casually around the room and was quite surprised by what he saw.

    What is this ce?

    The decor and construction of the room were clearly in the Incan or Aztec style, but there were also some items in the room such as cups and teaware in the Cathayan style. Furthermore, the people who had summoned him weren''t even Netherworld Operatives!

    "Raise your head," he instructed.

    What he actually wanted to say was: "Thou king hast returned!"

    However, ever since he became King Yanluo, he had suddenly developed a sense of shame.

    He withdrew his Yin energy, but the trio of Yin spirits in front of him was still trembling incessantly. The grand elder gritted his teeth and raised his head to look straight into Qin Ye''s eyes.

    Qin Ye was rather taken aback by his expression.

    There was no fear or concern in his eyes. Instead, there was only single-minded determination and tion.

    These were the eyes of a man who had nothing to lose but had been given a glimmer of hope. What could''ve ced him in such a desperate situation?

    "Esteemed emissary of the Cathayan Underworld," the grand elder said in a trembling voice. "I am Elder Wanpanot of the resistance army. It''s an absolutely monumental honor for us to meet you. May I ask for your esteemed name?"

    He was speaking fluent Cathayan.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he replied, "You can call me Yama-King Qin."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the younger Yin spirit duo immediately copsed to the ground as if all strength had been sapped from their bodies, and they were frantically gasping for air like fish that had been dragged out of water. As for the grand elder, he waspletely rooted to the spot.

    Qin Ye''s reply was reverberating in their minds over and over again.

    Yama-King Qin? This man is a Yama-King?! Is that really true?!

    Several secondster, the grand elder returned to his senses before kowtowing vigorously several times in session as he said in a trembling, "Wee, esteemed Yama-King! I''ll notify our leader of your arrival right away so they can prepare a wee of the highest caliber for you!"

    "Hold on a minute," Qin Ye interjected in a thoughtful manner. "You''re from the resistance army? Are you some of theherworldly citizens who are unable to survive any longer on the new continent?"

    Theherfire in the grand elder''s eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to reply, but the silver-haired woman beat him to it as she raised her head with great difficulty before replying in a trembling voice, "That''s right, esteemed Yama-King! The underworld of the new continent is the embodiment of a nightmare! Eagle Warriors are currently capturing native Usonian souls from all over the continent, and not a single one has ever returned after being captured! We can''t keep living like this!!"

    The resistance army, eh? Qin Ye closed his eyes as a memory surfaced in his mind.

    Back when he had interrogated Rebis in the Felipinas, she had told him that theherworldly citizens who were desperately trying to survive on the new continent had formed a resistance army...

    He cast his gaze toward the Cathayan style items around the room. He recalled that Rebis had told him that they had purchased many artifacts rted to the Cathayan Underworld. Had this been done in a final desperate attempt to summon an emissary of the Cathayan Underworld?

    With that in mind, he suddenly asked, "Is there a Yin spirit among you by the name of Benson?"

    If he recalled correctly, Benson was the one who had been making deals with Rebis to smuggle Usonian Yin spirits out of the new continent.

    "Benson is our leader, esteemed Yama-King," the grand elder replied.

    I see.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything as he slowly paced from side to side in the room. Even though his footsteps werepletely silent, theherfire in the eyes of the three Yin spirits were flickering erratically with each step that he took.

    Amid the tense silence, Qin Ye finally said, "Your luck is quite exceptional. These shoddy artifacts of yours can only send out a call to an area asrge as the city of Phdelphia at the very most, and I just so happened to be in the city. What request do you have for me?"

    The man and the woman turned to the grand elder, who kowtowed a few more times before replying in a sobbing voice, "There are a total of 120,000 Yin spirits in our resistance army, and we are applying for political asylum."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, he pressed his forehead firmly against the ground, and his head was trembling as he concluded in a desperate voice, "Please..."

    Qin Ye didn''t reply.

    In reality, he already knew what the grand elder was going to ask for after learning that they were from the resistance army.

    They were calling out to high-grade foreign underworld emissaries, so there could be no other objective that they were pursuing. However, political asylum was not something to be casually granted.

    Political asylum referred to asylum provided to foreigners who were being persecuted or oppressed by the nation that they came from. Political asylum entailed allowing asylum seekers to enter the nation, then giving them protection and the right to live in that nation while also refuting all efforts made by the asylum seekers'' original nation to have them extradited.

    To put it in simpler terms, if he agreed to this request, then the Cathayan Underworld would have to take responsibility for these people. Regardless of whether Xolotl, Ah Puch, Supay, or even Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa tried to extradite them, he had to refuse. There was clearly a conflict of interest there as Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa wanted to devour these Yin spirits in an attempt to make a breakthrough.

    However, these Yin spirits could be useful to him for a certain purpose, so he didn''t hesitate at all as he nodded and replied, "Get your leaders toe and see me, I''ll wait for them in the meantime."

    "Yes!!"

    The grand elder immediately rose to his feet and departed. Less than 10 minutester, the door was gently opened, and five people strode into the room. All of them were wearing brown linen garments with red string tying up their hair, at the back of which was a feather. It was a ssic native Usonian-style get-up.

    They weren''t walking very quickly, as if they were doing everything in their power to remainposed and restrained, but as they caught sight of the figure wearing the ck dragon robe and white jade crown, standing with his back to them in the dimly lit room, their legs almost gave out from under them, and they were unable to even take a single step further.

    This was a Yama-King in the flesh!

    The grand elder had just rushed over to them like a madman and reported this piece of news to them, and they couldn''t even believe their own ears.

    Purchasing those artifacts had been nothing more than a desperate stab in the dark, but they had actually managed to summon a true Yama-King!

    Even though Qin Ye wasn''t releasing any of his Yin energy at this moment, as soon as they strode into the room, they were immediately struck by the feeling that they were being scrutinized by some type of terrifying being. Yama-Kings stood at the very top of the underworld food chain, and they demanded fear and respect regardless of whether they were releasing their Yin energy or not.

    The leader of the group of five men appeared to be in his forties, and his face was quite weathered and wizened. He appeared to be calm and determined, but in reality, he was wringing his hands together with all his might, and even his breathing had ceased. He made his way over to Qin Ye in a mechanical manner, then fell to his knees and brought his palms together in a reverent manner. "Wee, esteemed Yama-King Qin."

    As soon as he went to kneel down, his joints began to crack. This was a result of excessive tension in the body, and the sound was very much audible in this silent room.

    However, it wasn''t amusing in the slightest to the other four leaders as they were in the exact same boat. Some of them didn''t even dare to raise their heads again after kowtowing to the ground.

    "No need for formalities," Qin Ye said with his back still facing them. "Let''s all take a seat first."

    A burst of gentle Yin energy helped all of the Yin spirits to their feet, and only then did they realize that in their excitement and tion, they had forgotten to fetch tables and chairs!

    The leader of the group immediately said in a trembling voice, "E, Esteemed Yama-King, I''ll grab some chairs right away..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, a burst of Yin energy swept through the room, immediately following which all of the Yin spirits were stunned by the sight that greeted them.

    A round table and six chairs had risen up in the blink of an eye from the golden floor, and Qin Ye had already upied the main seat!

    "There''s no need to be so nervous. Take a seat," Qin Ye said with an inviting hand gesture.

    The five Yin spirits exchanged a few nces, then gritted their teeth before doing as they were told.

    After a brief silence, Qin Ye said in a slow voice, "I understand why you''ve summoned me, and epting your request is not entirely out of the equation."

    Theherfire in the eyes of the five Yin spirits immediately erupted up to several meters in height.

    Qin Ye hadn''t even asked them their name, and his high and mighty demeanor was extremely apparent, but none of that mattered to the five Yin spirits.

    In their eyes, this was how a Yama-King should be acting!

    Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that such a glorious future would be granted to them so easily!

    No one dared to even breathe. On the way here, they had thought of countless ways to try and convince Qin Ye to agree to their request, yet they didn''t even have to employ any of those ns and their request had already been approved. They were afraid that if they were to draw breath, they would be jerked out of this beautiful dream and be forced to awaken and face their bleak reality again.

    Qin Ye continued, "Not only that, but I can even grant you citizenship in the Cathayan Underworld. You''ll get to enjoy the same benefits and opportunities as theherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld. However, I have a condition."

    No one said anything. All of them were eagerly awaiting Qin Ye''s boration.

    Qin Ye paused momentarily before continuing in a calm voice, "I need you to send out your most elite forces to help me do something in the next few days. This is going to be an extremely dangerous mission, and the chances of survival for the Yin spirits involved are going to be quite slim. However, as a Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld, I can promise you that your application for asylum will be approved following the event. The surviving Yin spirits among you will even have opportunities to take on important positions in the Cathayan Underworld''s administration should it be deemed that you have a suitable skill set to seed in the role."

    Before anyone had a chance to say anything, he raised up a hand and continued, "Nothinges for free in this world. I''m risking making enemies out of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to help you escape the new continent, so you must do this for me in return. I''ll give you half a day to consider this offer, and I''ll be waiting here for your decision."

    The resistance army definitely had troops, and Rebis had said that they had purchased weapons in bulk. Without troops at their disposal, how had they managed to keep the Eagle Warriors at bay thus far?

    They were going to be the ideal allies! They were going to be the martyrs that provided the distraction he needed to intercept the grand script of death!

    Was it a cruel fate for them? Perhaps, but nothing came for free in this world, and citizenship in the Cathayan Underworld certainly wasn''t cheap.

 Chapter 959: Pyramid of the Sun (3)

    <h4>Chapter 959: Pyramid of the Sun (3)</h4>

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The entire room instantly fell silent.

    No one had anticipated that Qin Ye would demand the lives of their most elite warriors in exchange for asylum!

    No one wanted to die. Everyone was trying to escape from the new continent precisely because they wanted to live, but was this fate unavoidable after all?

    "Esteemed Yama-King..." The leader of the Yin spirits finally calmed down. They had been too excited before, corrting Qin Ye''s arrival with their survival, but unfortunately, life simply wasn''t that easy.

    "Is there any other way we canpensate you?"

    Qin Ye casually skimmed his fingers along the table, and the almost inaudible scratching sound immediately made everyone in the room tense up. Several secondster, his smile faded as he replied in a cold voice, "I''m not unaware of the situation that the new continent is in. However, you''re not citizens of the Cathayan Underworld, so our nation has no duty to save you. Even if Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa decide to devour all of you, that is simply a part of the new continent''s internal politics, and my intervention would be an act that directly interferes with the internal politics of an underworld with independent autonomy."

    He paused momentarily before continuing in a firm voice, "I''m sure all of you have heard about just how difficult it is to secure Cathayan Underworld citizenship. The government must be responsible for all of itsherworldly citizens, and seeing as you''re not citizens of the Cathayan Underworld, why would I risk making an enemy out of an entire continent just to save you?"

    No one replied, and after a brief silence, Qin Ye concluded, "You have half a day to consider my proposal. There''s no rush, think carefully about this."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the Yin spirits in the room were shocked to discover that they were hovering uncontrobly up into the air before dissipating into Yin energy!

    All of the Yin energy seeped out of the room through the gaps around the door, then drifted over to a tform in the settlement before transforming into the group of Yin spirits again.

    The leader of the Yin spirits was silent as he pondered the situation, then inspected his surroundings, and only after a long while did he heave a forlorn sigh.

    From there, they could see the entire settlement. In front of them was an altar, upon which sat a glowing silver mirror with all types of beast bones ced next to it in a very ceremonious arrangement. Two serpentine totems were also standing on either side of the mirror, while rows ofherfire were burning all around it.

    Looking on from there, one could see a vast cloud vortex up above. However, countless rifts seemed to have been torn open on the inside of the cloud vortex; all of those were Yin Yang Mezzanines. At the center of the mirror, countless souls were surging into the vortex along with Yin energy, forming what appeared to be a bridge between the underworld and the mortal realm.

    Looking even further into the distance, there was a pyramid!

    The pyramid was hundreds of meters tall, and in contrast with the pyramids of Aegypt, which were equteral pyramids, this was a Mayan pyramid where each level was its own separate area, forming a tiered pyramid rather than one with smooth sides.

    The pyramid seemed to have already been standing for countless years and its surface was riddled with vines, making it impossible to clearly make out all of the artwork engraved onto its walls. Netherworldly citizens were residing on every single level of the pyramid, forming a unique living area. There were a few more pyramids in other directions, but those ones were all iplete.

    Looking beyond the pyramids, one would be greeted by the sight of a vast forest, from within which the asional roar of a giant monarch beast would ring out. However, not a single one of those monarch beasts approached this area.

    These pyramids of the sun that were unique to the Mayan and Aztec civilizations, and the members of the resistance army had already been hiding here for a very long time.

    The leader of the Yin spirits cast his gaze toward the mirror with a slightly wooden expression. This was a faux divine artifact with designs of a pair of young women etched onto the frame. As he cast his gaze into the surface of the mirror, a two-headed snake with feathers growing all over its neck was materialized out of countless tendrils of Yin energy within the mirror.

    "Benson, what are you waiting for?" the two-headed snake hissed. "All I need is 3,000 Yin spirits and I''ll be able to make a breakthrough to be a Marquess! After that, we''ll be able to travel to the mortal realm and we won''t have to stay in this ursed ce anymore! Are you not afraid of the Eagle Warriorsunching an exhaustive search? Are you perhaps fantasizing that those two old bastards would pass up the opportunity to devour pure-blood native Usonians like yourselves and a pure-blood Usonian totem spirit like me?! They''ve already gonepletely and utterly insane! Is that still not apparent to you?!"

    Benson didn''t reply, and the two-headed snake seemed to take a deep breath before looking intently into Benson''s eyes as he continued, "Are you thinking that they won''t search Limbo? Perhaps they wouldn''t under normal circumstances, but it''s not like you haven''t left any leads behind! Some things simply can''t be swept under the rug, and they''ll begin to suspect this ce sooner orter! How much longer do you think we''ll be able to hide here?!"

    The two-headed snake then adopted a gentle and alluring tone as it continued, "We are on the same boat. I won''t do anything to your detriment, and if you sacrifice 3,000 Yin spirits to me, I promise that I''ll immediately tear open a Yin Yang Mezzanine and take all of you to the mortal realm! Are you still hesitating about sacrificing 3,000 Yin spirits? They''re not even rted to you in any way! All of the other mezzanines are already being guarded by Eagle Warriors and this is thest one left! If you continue to hesitate, it could all be toote! I don''t want to die here with all of you!"

    Benson suddenly asked, "Are you familiar with any emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    The two-headed snake was rather taken aback by this question, and only after a short pause did it reply, "No. That''s one of the almighty four pirs, even if they send out only a Count, other nations outside of the four pirs must treat them with just as much respect as they would a Marquess, and Marquesses from the Cathayan Underworld are treated like death gods. Are you still pinning your hopes on them? Do you think they''ll save us? Ah, I get it, you want to apply for political asylum, is that right? What gives you the confidence to think that they''ll ept your application?"

    A derisive sneer appeared on the two-headed snake''s faces as it continued, "The new continent has three religions, and many years ago, it had a significant chance to be the fifth pir. I''m not reminiscing about the past, only a coward would do that. I''m just trying to tell you that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are far more powerful than you can imagine! They''re able to speak as equals to even the rulers of the four pirs! Do you think the four pirs would risk making an enemy out of them just to save you? Don''t be so naive, you idiot!"

    Benson paused momentarily before replying, "What if we give them sufficientpensation?"

    "Wake up!!" the two-headed snake''s faces were twisted with fury and frustration as it lunged forward, but the mirror stopped it cold in its tracks. "At the very least, a Marquess with significant administrative power would have toe here to grant you political asylum! Don''t think that I don''t know what you''ve been up to! You''ve been trying tomunicate with foreign underworld emissaries, haven''t you? Why do you think a high and mighty Marquess from the Cathayan Underworld would heed your calls? What incentive would they have to save you at the expense of making enemies out of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa? Whatpensation could you possibly give them to make this worth their while?!"

    Its voice softened again as it continued, "Listen to me, Benson. We are on the same side. Why would you rather trust foreign underworld emissaries over me, a native totem spirit? All I''m asking for is a sacrifice of 3,000 Yin spirits..."

    Before it had a chance to finish, a giant ck cloth had already been draped over the entire mirror.

    Benson extended a deep bow as he said, "Thank you, I know what decision I need to make now."

    The ck cloth bulged and swayed as if there were some type of demon frantically struggling beneath it, but it then quickly settled down again.

    In front of the altar was a table. Benson made his way over to the table, then cast his gaze toward the group of Yin spirits gathered in front of him.

    They had followed him from the very beginning on one perilous journey after another, escaping Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s Eagle Warriors time and time again...

    They were the leaders and psychological pirs of the entire resistance army, and they had amon objective: to survive.

    It was such a simple goal, yet it was looking more and more out of reach by the day.

    Perhaps everyone had realized that Benson was about to make a decision, and all of them remained silent. Only after a full minute had passed did Benson grit his teeth as he dered, "I''m going to agree to Yama-King Qin''s request."

    Before anyone had a chance to speak, he raised a hand to stop them. Verbalizing that decision seemed to have lifted a massive load from his shoulders, and he continued, "You must all be quite confused, right? Why would I trust this Yama-King Qin over Dusakn?"

    "We''re not confused at all," a native Usonian man replied. "ording to all legends of Dusakn, it''s a heinous being with boundless greed and no moralpass to speak of. Sacrificing Yin spirits to such a being is something that we absolutely cannot allow! We have to lead everyone to survival, not lead them from one hell into another."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "As for Yama-King Qin, we may have never met him before, but he''s already far more trustworthy than Dusakn. At the very least, he didn''t ask for a sacrifice, so that means that he''s not a bloodthirsty individual, and the Cathayan Underworld has never been all that ruthless or belligerent to begin with."

    A forlorn look appeared on Benson''s face as he sighed, "Despite all of Dusakn''s ws, there''s one thing that it''s right about: we have no right to request political asylum from the Cathayan Underworld."

    He looked up at the heavens with a wry smile and continued, "And he has no need to take the risk to ept us unless we can provide him with enormouspensation..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, an elderly man with a head of white hair said, "Benson, have you considered the possibility that Yama-King Qin is deceiving us? What if we do as he says and send out our most elite troops to help him, but he still doesn''t take us with him in the end?"

    After a long pause, Benson replied, "Of course I''ve considered that..."

    He then lowered his head with a sorrowful expression as he continued, "But do we have any other choice?"

    A furious look appeared on his face as he said, "The death gods of our own nation have forsaken us! All they want to do is devour us! Who else can we trust? Dusakn?! At the very least, Yama-King Qin is a Yama-King, and there are no more than 100 Yama-Kings in the entire world! Is that not enough for us to trust him? Do we have any better options?"

    His chest was heaving violently as he mmed his fist onto the table, and veins were bulging on the back of his hand as he said with gritted teeth, "As for whether he''s trying to deceive us, we''ll be able to gather some clues once we find out what exactly he wants us to do for him. If this is a task that even a Yama-King like him finds difficult and requires assistance in, perhaps it really is something important enough for our contribution to be seen as worthypensation in exchange for political asylum! Either way, we''ll be taking a gamble."

    He picked up a knife from the table, then sliced open the palm of his own hand, and a wisps of Yin energy flowed out of the gash like blood. "Come, everyone, there''s no time to hesitate any longer. If we fail or are deceived, then at the very least, we did our best, and I would have no regrets! We did everything in our power to survive! After this, I''m going to go see Yama-King Qin right away and I''ll be leading our most elite troops in person for this mission!"

 Chapter 960: Bensonâ€™s Decision

    <h4>Chapter 960: Benson''s Decision</h4>

    The door was opened, and a beam of sunlight was allowed to shine into the room. However, regardless of how bright the sunlight was, it was impossible to see anything inside the room as it was filled with dense Yin energy.

    The door was gently closed, and Benson gulped nervously as he strode into the room. The Yin energy of a high-grade underworld emissary was exerting a subtle sense of pressure upon him, and he shuddered before clearing his throat and extending a respectful bow. "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, we''ve made our decision."

    A path opened up amid the inky-ck Yin energy, revealing the young underworld emissary who was seated in front of the golden table. He was merely seated in silence, yet it was as if he was the center of the universe, and the suffocating Yin energy permeating from his body evoked within Benson nothing but a sense of reverence.

    "Take a seat," Qin Ye said with an inviting hand gesture, and Benson''s group quickly did as he was told.

    No one said anything, and Qin Ye swept his gaze over Benson and hispanions before breaking the silence. "Tell me your decision."

    Benson stood up again before extending another respectful bow. "Esteemed Yama-King, would you be able to answer two questions for me?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response with an indifferent expression. "Go ahead."

    A serious look appeared on Benson''s face as he asked, "Firstly, what do you need us to do and how dangerous is it?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    The fact that this question was being asked told him that there was at least a 70% chance that Benson would agree to his condition.

    If he weren''t interested in the proposal at all, he wouldn''t be asking any questions. Furthermore, it was clear that he was feeling quite uneasy. The only thing that they could count on was that Qin Ye would be kind and righteous enough to fulfill his promise.

    Only if the task assigned to them were sufficiently difficult and Qin Ye had a sense of conscience would they be able to morally handcuff Qin Ye, and only then would they be able to ensure that the ones among them who survived would be able to reach the Cathayan Underworld alive.

    They werepletely powerless and could do nothing but ce their lives in Qin Ye''s hands.

    However, at the same time, their single-minded determination to pursue their goal made them very admirable.

    The room fell silent, and just as Benson and his group were starting to grow uneasy from waiting, Qin Ye finally said, "Directly above you is Phdelphia of Usonia. During the past half a month or so, many forces have arrived in Phdelphia, including two of the Master Masons of the mortal realm''s Freemasonry, the three death gods of the Caribbean, the catholic church''s guardian of the Spear of Longinus, and the Red Eagle Navy and ck Shirt Navy, each of which has their own objectives and motives. Counting myself, there are a total of four Dukes, at least three Marquesses, and countless other Yin spirits of lower cultivation ranks."

    Qin Ye paused momentarily before concluding, "The forces involved will include the Usonian Underworld''s navies, the Caribbean fleets, the werewolves, the church... It''ll definitely be a mission that''s not for the faint of heart."

    Benson''s group drew a collective sharp breath upon hearing this, and all of their faces turned deathly pale. They had to support themselves with their hands pressed against the table to stop themselves from slumping to the ground.

    Four Dukes, three Marquesses, and countless other Yin spirits!

    The monumental task they were about to undertake was like a mountain weighing on their backs, causing their souls to tremble uncontrobly. Those were powerful beings that they didn''t even dare to think about in the past! In contrast with any of those forces, they were as puny and insignificant as ants.

    Could ants like them really shift those massive mountains?

    Their expressions slowly transitioned from shock and astonishment to despair as they cast their eyes toward Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye was also watching them, and he was quite pleased to see their reaction.

    They were in despair, but they weren''t cowering from the task, and that was a very good sign.

    Benson took a deep breath before asking, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, how are you going to take the other Yin spirits away from the new continent?"

    "I''ll go and see Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa in person and convince them to spare the survivors among you, then take you back to the Cathayan Underworld through official channels," Qin Ye replied with a serious expression. "In addition to that, I can promise you here that if you survive this mission, you''ll be given roles in various important departments of the Cathayan Underworld. If you die, then your family and friends will bepensated immensely, while everyone else among you will also be treated just like normal Cathayan Underworld citizens."

    His voice was regal yet restrained as he continued, "Nothing worthwhilees without paying a price. I''m going against two of the most powerful Yama-Kings for your sake, so you have to make this worth my while. Only then will it be a fair trade."

    The room fell silent yet again.

    All of the Yin spirits bit down onto their lower lips as they considered how to proceed. The despair in their heart had been reced by a glimmer of hope in the wake of Qin Ye''s wonderful promises. Their eyes were filled with concern and hesitation, but that was greatly outweighed by a sense of fierce determination to risk it all in exchange for the potential of a better life.

    Indeed, risk and reward always came hand in hand.

    Qin Ye didn''t rush them, and only after a full 10 minutes had passed did Benson dere with a determined expression, "We ept your proposal. We swear on the name of the sun god that we will give it our all in the name of our cause, and we hope that you will treat us with the same sincerity!"

    His words seemed to have strengthened the resolve of the Yin spirits around him, and they gritted their teeth like wounded beasts with their backs to the wall as they dered in unison, "In the name of the sun god!"

    "Good." Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief before rising to his feet as he said, "Next, I need you to tell me all of the trump cards you have at your disposal. From now on, my orders must be absolute."

    Benson''s group immediately epted this arrangement, and the tumultuous emotions in their hearts slowly subsided. Benson took a deep breath before theherfire in his eyes extended outward, forming a map of fire.

    "This is the area that we''re currently situated in, it''s called the Fallen Sun," Benson said as he pointed at the center of the map.

    The area was a massive basin with four pyramids etched onto the map. He pointed at the pyramid in the center and continued, "No one knows who constructed these Mayan pyramids of the sun. Perhaps it was our ancestors who were traveling to the underworld but got lost in Limbo. In any case, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa are unaware of the existence of this ce, and it''s the final sanctuary of us native Usoinans."

    He then pointed up at the ceiling and said, "Right above us is a Yin Yang Mezzanine, which we refer to as Huitzilopochtli, which is one of the four suns and a clone of Master Tezcatlipoca. This Yin Yang Mezzanine is very unique in that it''s riddled with cracks and is constantly on the verge of copsing, but is somehow able to maintain a peculiar equilibrium. Around 300 Yin spirits can enter and exit this ce at a time."

    "How long has this mezzanine been in existence?" Qin Ye asked.

    Benson faltered slightly upon hearing this before replying in a hesitant voice, "It''s... been around for a very long time. I don''t know exactly how long, but records of its existence go back several centuries."

    Qin Ye nodded with a thoughtful expression upon hearing this, and another piece of the puzzle was slotted into his mind.

    Why had the Freemasonry used this ce to restrict the sun god? It was because there was a natural Yin Yang Mezzanine here, rather than an artificially created Yin Yang Mezzanine.

    The main difference there was the phenomenon of attention bias.

    An analogy could be drawn to Mount Fuji here. Many people knew that Mount Fuji was a volcano, but how many people were aware of the fact that it was an active volcano that was capable of erupting?

    The same applied to this situation. The Yin Yang Mezzanine here had been around for a very long time, and beneath itid the final sanctuary of the native Usonians, so no Yin spirits ever emerged from here. As a result, it definitely didn''t receive much attention, making it a perfect hiding spot!

    With that in mind, Qin Ye nodded to himself before asking, "Where are your troops?"

    "Pleasee with me," Benson replied as he made an inviting hand gesture.

    The door was opened again, and Qin Ye withdrew his Yin energy before making his way out of the room behind Benson''s group.

    Under the bright sunlight of Limbo, there was an undting rainforest, standing among which were several massive pyramids. Benson did his best to speak in as calm a voice as possible as he pointed toward a certain direction and said, "Please look over there, Esteemed Yama-King Qin."

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward that direction to discover that there was a massive formation situated beside a mountain within the forest, on top of which were standing at least 10,000 Yin spirits!

    These Yin spirits were wearing native Usonian clothing and essories crafted from bones. They were also wielding spears and rhomboid shields, and fierce killing intent was radiating from their bodies.

    This was an army that had definitely seen the heat of battle before. That wasn''t a surprise, considering they would''ve had to have endured many battles to ward off the Eagle Warriors scouring for Yin spirits for Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to devour. They were going to be another substantial force that would further muddy the waters in Phdelphia!

    "These are our most elite troops," Benson introduced with a solemn expression. "The most powerful ones among them are Viscounts, and there are a total of 10manders, beneath which are 100 Baron level Yin spirits, while the rest are all Knights. This is the army that got us here all the way from Southern Usonia. What do you think, Esteemed Yama-King Qin?"

    Benson turned to look directly into Qin Ye''s eyes as he concluded, "This is our final trump card."

    Through his expression, he seemed to be posing a question: "How are you going to achieve your objective in the face of four Dukes, three death gods, and countless Yin soldiers from multiple powers?"

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. The further the n progressed, the more careful and cautious that he had to be.

    He was only a single person, yet he was up against the Freemasonry and the three death gods of the Caribbean, both of which giving this their all, the bystanders of the church, and the Red Eagle Navy and the ck Shirt Navy, both of which held ambiguous stances in this conflict.

    If he wanted to have thestugh in such aplex situation, then countless lives would have to be sacrificed as cannon fodder in order to buy him sufficient time to execute his n!

    These troops may be cannon fodder, but he still couldn''t afford to waste them.

    "Have you heard of military formations?" he asked in a casual voice as he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. His nonchnt tone made it sound as if he were asking Benson what he had had for lunch.

    Benson nodded in response. "I have. In fact, military formations are extremely sought after for us. If we had some powerful military formations at our disposal, we would''ve been able to greatly limit our casualties. The regr army of the new continent is using the Golden Sun Military Formation, one of the top 20 military formations in the world, and a military formation of that caliber ispletely beyond our reach. We''ve managed to find some low-tier military formations, but they''repletely useless in the face of the Golden Sun Military Formation."

    "Have you heard of Wumu?" Qin Ye asked.

    Wumu?

    All of the Yin spirits faltered slightly upon hearing this before immediately turning to Qin Ye with incredulous expressions.

    "Are you referring to the Wumu Military Formation? One of the top three military formations in the world?! Hasn''t Wumu already been lost to time?!"

    Qin Ye didn''t answer his question. Instead, he turned to Benson with a cold smile and asked, "How long will you be able tost if I give you Wumu?"

    Benson gritted his teeth momentarily before asking, "what do you need us to do?"

    Qin Ye''s smile widened slightly upon hearing this, but Benson''s soul shuddered at the sight of his expression.

    "Let me tell you what you need to do..."

 Chapter 961: Eve of the Storm

    <h4>Chapter 961: Eve of the Storm</h4>

    Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church.

    This was ranked alongside the Church of the Holy Trinity as one of the oldest churches in Phdelphia, even the entirety of Usonia. In fact, it was built prior to the founding of Usonia.

    Normally, this ce was a major tourist attraction that was always packed to the rafters, but it was currentlypletely deserted.

    At the center of the resplendent church, there were several dozen lit candles in front of a huge statue of the holy father. Sunlight was spilling into the church through the colorful tinted ss, casting vibrant all over the church. Statues with strong religious elements in their designs were standing all around the walls of the church, while the reverends, priests, and nuns in the church were praying quietly with their fingers inteced between one another.

    The door of the prayer hall was tightly shut, but the sound of the quiet prayers could be heard through the gaps around the door.

    There were only two people in front of the statue of the holy father, one of which was Cardinal Fernando, while the other one was another elderly man.

    Both of them had heads of white hair with white eyebrows that trailed all the way down to their cheekbones and beards that reached their chests. Their eyes seemed to never be capable of opening, and it was impossible to tell their age.

    The other elderly man was wearing a brown robe that was already very old and tattered, and there was a braided straw rope tied around his waist, hanging from which was a golden cross. That was most likely the most valuable item he was carrying in a mary context.

    Cardinal Fernando''s devout prayers could be heard within the prayer hall. On this day, he was wearing a pristine white robe, and as he knelt on the ground, the robe pooled onto the ground around him like a blooming white rose. After a long while, he finally stood up before heaving a forlorn sigh. "I didn''t think you woulde here as well, Owen."

    Owen brought his palms together, and his eyebrows lifted ever so slightly as he replied, "As the only friar among the cardinals, I had no choice but toe."

    A wry smile appeared on Fernando''s face. "To think that there would be two cardinals present in the city... It''s my fault."

    Owen''s expression remained unchanged as he replied, "We are all clones of the esteemed pope, so we are all one and the same. God bestowed upon the pope the unique ability to create clones of himself, and in the end, your fault is also my fault, which is also his fault. We''ve allowed ourselves to be blinded by the secr world."

    Fernando heaved a faint sigh.

    To the general public, he was one of the church''s seven cardinals, while in reality, he was one of the pope''s seven clones, and this was achieved through using theplete corpse of a saint. This was already the paramount reward that God was capable of bestowing. ording to his knowledge, there was no Duke in either the mortal realm or the underworld capable of creating Duke level clones. This was an honor that one could only earn through serving the god of the creation.

    It was also why the church had been able to be the world''s most prominent religion with a total of three billion followers.

    In 2012, the religions of catholicism and christianity had a total of 2.5 billion followers. In 2018, that number passed 2.8 billion, and at this point, it had long since exceeded three billion.

    They were worshiped by over a third of the world''s poption!

    However, such a massive following had been built upon the basis of countless resplendent churches, countless masterpiece pieces of religious scriptures, music, statues, and countless artistic treasures, all of which had been built up over the course of several thousand years. It was an astronomical amount of wealth!

    In order to spread the religion, money was required!

    Thus, when the wealthiest organization in the world came to them, they found it difficult to turn down the offer proposed to them, even though they knew that the organization harbored demons and monsters.

    In addition to that, they had received proselytization rights in the final few countries of Southern Alkeb.

    "I made a mistake." A hint of remorse appeared on Fernando''s wizened face as he sighed, "I shouldn''t have given the stigmata to Udyr. I ced too much trust in him when I should''ve heeded the warning of the pope instead."

    Owen said, "The pope didn''t want to promote Udyr to be themander of the pdins. He told us that Udyr had already been blinded by his hatred and he was far too aggressive and short-tempered, making him unfit to be a leader."

    Right at this moment, a crack suddenly appeared on the statue of the holy father.

    The crack appeared on the statue''s forehead, and immediately thereafter, countless tiny cracks began to branch out from it.

    Fernando paid no heed to that at all as he suddenly said, "You''re overseeing the guardians of Phdelphia, while I''m responsible for activating the Spear of Longinus. What''s the situation like now?"

    Owen finally opened his eyes.

    They werepletely white without any pupils, yet he was able to cast his gaze urately into Fernando''s eyes as he replied, "The grand script of death will conclude in 12 days. Three hours ago, the ck Pearl sent out 23 sea monster grade warships from the Caribbean Sea, the ck Tulip sent out 20 warships, and the Red Boiler also sent out 20 warships. Those ships are all sailing toward the eastern territorial sea of Usonia, and ording to our agreement, they won''t enter the territorial sea until the day of the grand script of death''s conclusion. Brando DuPont and Arlot Rockefeller have already seized control over the entire city of Phdelphia with their armies, and they''re also waiting. As for our forces, with the two of us present along with the three stigmatas we''re carrying, we can instantly muster up a force of five angels, so there shouldn''t be anyone challenging us."

    At this point, the entire holy father statue was already riddled with cracks.

    Fernando withdrew his gaze and said with aplex expression, "We are supposed to be defending our faith, yet we''re allowing these demons to enter the most ancient city in the most important nation on the new continent. Have we really done the right thing here, Owen?"

    Owen joined his palms together as he lowered his head and replied, "This is the decree of God. Everything we''re doing is for our faith."

    Fernando didn''t say anything. In the next instant, the statue of the holy father abruptly exploded, but the shattered pieces were hovering in mid-air as if they were unaffected by gravity. All of the pieces were also connected by bands of golden light, and the light converged to the center of where the statue used to stand, then materialized into a golden spear of light!

    It was around two meters in length, and the light was too indistinct for one to make out the exact shape of the spear. However, there was a sense of holiness intermingled with bloodlust that was washing through the entire hall like a tsunami.

    The sound of indistinct holy music rang out, and the mes of the surrounding candles erupted to over a meter tall! A vibrant red hue instantly settled over the entire hall, thenpletely disappeared as if it had been cleansed away by the subsequent eruption of holy light.

    It was the godyer spear, the Spear of Longinus!

    Fernando took a deep breath before suddenly thrusting his palm toward the ground, and ripples immediately surged over the surface of the ground as if it had be a pond. A golden coffin that was constructed entirely from gold with precious gems embedded all over its surface slowly rose up, and as the lid of the coffin was opened, the Spear of Longinus immediately flew into the coffin as a streak of golden light, following which Fernando hoisted the giant coffin onto his own back.

    The coffin was two and a half meters in length, and itpletely dwarfed the hunched over elderly man that was Fernando, but he was carrying it on his back effortlessly.

    "From this point onward, I will wait here for 12 days. I don''t take a single step out of this church, nor will I meet with anyone. From this moment forth, Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church will be temporarily closed, and no one is allowed to approach the prayer hall without express permission. If anyone dares to approach this ce without permission during the next 12 days, they are to be killed on sight with no exceptions!" His voice swept through the entire church like a violent storm.

    "Yes, Cardinal Fernando!" Loud responses rang out from all directions.

    Owen said in an indifferent voice, "Three pdinmanders have already adopted their positions 500 meters away, and the friars are there as well. All of the church followers at the Baron and Count level in the cities of Phdelphia and Washington DC have already arrived to ensure that nothing happens to the Spear of Longinus."

    He turned to Fernando as he continued, "You still look very concerned. What are you worried about, my friend?"

    Fernando didn''t say anything, but the image of that emissary of the Cathayan Underworld that had toyed with both the church and the Freemasonry on that night surfaced in his mind.

    What were his intentions? What was he looking for?

    After a brief hesitation, he asked, "Do you think the Cathayan Underworld will intervene?"

    Owen''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he replied, "They wouldn''t if they were smart. Brando and Arlot have already conducted an investigation, and they discovered that that man didn''t enter Usonia through the mortal realm. You should be aware of just how powerful their forces are in the mortal realm, and in the underworld, the warlords of both the Red Eagle Navy and the ck Shirt Navy have testified that there have been no high-grade emissaries from the Cathayan Underworld entering the Usonian Underworld. Do you understand what that means? If that emissary from the Cathayan Underworld wants to strike again, there''s a very good chance he''ll be doing it alone. In 12 days'' time, there will be four Dukes, more than five Marquesses, and over 60 fleets gathered in Phdelphia, and that''s not even taking into ount the Red Eagle Navy and the ck Shirt Navy in the underworld. Even if he''s a Yama-King, there''s nothing he could possibly do. If he really does try to intervene, then he''ll be doing nothing but courting death!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In a presidential suite in the Hilton Hotel of Phdelphia.

    The Hilton Hotel was one of the three major yers in Usonia''s hotel sector with the other two being Marriott and Starwood. The renowned Sheraton Hotels and Resorts brand was a subsidiary of Starwood.

    The presidential suite in such a high-end hotel was naturally extremelyvish with antiquated Europa style decor and genuine leather sofas so soft that one could almost sink into them like quicksand. However, there were only two people in the entire suite, and even all of the servers had been asked to vacate the suit.

    "You should really fix that rotten temper of yours," Arlot said as he read the newspaper that he was holding in a calm manner. "Agitation and frustration won''t solve any problems. We''ve already done the best that we can. Not everything has gone ording to n, but the final oue won''t be affected."

    Brando was standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window with a lit cigar of premium quality in his hand. He was wearing an expensive designer suit, and one hand was stuck in his trouser pocket while the other was holding the cigar. The tinum rings on his hand were further proof of his wealth, if any further proof was even needed.

    "Not everything has gone ording to n? You can say that again!" A cold smile appeared on his face as he looked at the recently sustained scar on his face. The scar squirmed like a hideous worm with every chance in his facial expression, and he gnashed his teeth together as he said, "The three death gods of the Caribbean are furious! They''ll still be able to ascend to godhood, but they won''t be able to obtain Tezcatlipoca''s inheritance. They originally had a chance to take all of Tezcatlipoca''s secrets and divine arts straight from his mind, but what now?"

    He curled a finger and a crystalline ashtray flew over to him. He tapped the cigar against the lip of the ashtray as he continued with a cold smile, "As things are now, they''ll only be able to possess the Yin energy of a death god. They''ll have immense power but no arts to use, and as a result, our negotiations with them havepletely stalled, how will the final oue not be affected?"

    "At the very least, they still have a chance to reach the death god level," Arlot said as he closed his newspaper. "The worst-case scenario would be if they couldn''t get anything out of this. Speaking of which, have you received any information on that Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Brando squashed his cigar into the ashtray in a frustrated manner as his teeth transformed into sharp fangs. "No! He entered the underworld! No one dares to enter the underworld at this point in time, so no one knows whether he''ll reappear or not!"

    He turned to Arlot with a vicious expression as he continued, "He''s like a sword that''s constantly hanging over our heads!"

    A vicious gleam also shed through Arlot''s eyes as he replied, "I understand that, which is why I''m conducting surveince over the entire city of Phdelphia. In contrast with those wolf cubs of yours, my followers will be able to see far more from the sky. Due to our presence in this city, all of the vengeful spirits have either fled or hidden themselves, so there are only humans and us in this city right now! As soon as any new Yin energy emerges, I''ll immediately be notified. If he dares to try and stick his nose into this matter, then he''d better be prepared for his nose to be chopped off! Other people may fear death gods, but we don''t. We''re immortal and there''s nothing about them that we need to fear!"

 Chapter 962: Revelation

    <h4>Chapter 962: Revtion</h4>

    It was 12 AM, midnight.

    On the eastern outskirts of Phdelphia stood a two-story ancient Europa-style building. It had been constructed in a very pronounced Gothic style, and it had clearly already existed for a very long time. Its walls were crawling with ivy, and it was situated in a forest, giving it a holy and regal appearance.

    Any Usonian who stood here would be struck by a sense of reverence and veneration. This was none other than the vastly renowned Independence Hall of Usonia, ranked behind only the Statue of Liberty among Usonia''s top 10ndmarks.

    Several hundred years ago, it was here that the first Usonian president, George Washington, read out the monumental Deration of Independence. Due to the historic significance of the city, there was an unspoken rule among all powers that Phdelphia was not to be encroached upon.

    However, this rule only applied to Usonians and non-humans. At this moment, there were two figures currently standing in the bell tower at the top of Independence Hall. The ground beneath their feet was paved from stone, and there was a staircase that was leading upward, but it had been sealed shut. Four panels of ss that were tinted white were situated all around the huge bell, which didn''t obstruct the vision of the two figures in the slightest.

    Normally, no one woulde here, and this ce was off-limits. This was one of the ces that the Usonian government absolutely wouldn''t allow to be defiled. However, a Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld naturally didn''t care about any of that. In fact, the fact that this ce was viewed as sacred and off-limits made it the perfect hiding spot for him.

    "There are a total of four Yin Yang Mezzanines in Phdelphia that lead to the underworld," Benson said as he spread open a map.

    Qin Ye was standing right beside him, and he nodded with a serious expression.

    Upon his arrival in Phdelphia, there had only been around a month left until the conclusion of the grand script of death. 20 days had already passed since then, so at the very most, he would only have about 11 or 12 days left.

    He cast his gaze out of the bell tower at the rest of the city.

    It was nighttime, and the streets werepletely deserted due to the supernatural disasters taking ce. The only sources of light came from the streetmps and the televisions shing in apartments, presenting a very eerie scene to behold.

    Who knew what kind of chaos the city would descend into in 12 days'' time?

    Even standing in the bell tower, Qin Ye could sense the terrifying Yin energy brewing within Phdelphia. The Yin energy was converging from all directions, enshrouding the entire city in dark clouds for the duration of a month. The light of the moon and the stars werepletely concealed, setting the scene for the chaos that was about to unfold.

    It was so quiet that one couldn''t help but feel uneasy, and it was a very oppressive environment to be in.

    Benson wanted to keep talking, but didn''t receive a response from Qin Ye as he had expected. He turned to Qin Ye with a puzzled expression, then cast his gaze toward the same direction that Qin Ye was looking in.

    THere was nothing out of the ordinary there, yet just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, he suddenly sprang up as if he had been zapped by electricity, then slid down onto the ground with his back against the wall as his body trembled uncontrobly.

    Right as this gaze was passing over a certain hotel, he sensed the Yin energy of two incredibly fearsome beings, standing before him like an insurmountable mountain.

    The Yin energy was indescribably vast, and normal Yin spirits could only worship and revere.

    "Th, th, th, those are Dukes..." He was stuttering from horror. "Two of them!!"

    No, there''s not just two Dukes...

    Boundless Yin energy was swirling around them, forming a formidable sea. It was like the most nightmarish scene imaginable, the very definition of hell on earth!

    This was once the capital of Usonia, but it was currently a battlefield rife with demons and monsters!

    "Rest assured," Qin Ye said in a calm voice, "The death gods of the four pirs are different from other death gods."

    Strictly speaking, it was the death gods ruling over major underworlds that were different from other death gods. Unless one such ruler death god unleashed an all-out Yin energy eruption, it would be very difficult for other death gods to detect them. In addition to that, the bell tower of the Independence Hall was the perfect hiding spot, so it was very unlikely that anyone would find them here.

    This was his main advantage.

    The second advantage that he had was the fact that his Dusk Legionnaire was an extremely stealthy unit that could do a lot of work for him.

    This was the final period of peace before the storm, and the next 12 days were to decide whether it was Qin Ye who was going to be fast enough to intercept the grand script of death or whether it was his opposition that was going to be powerful enough to keep him at bay.

    He took a moment to calm himself down, then drew the map into his own grasp and began to carefully inspect it.

    He couldn''t afford to rush, he had to be careful, careful, and more careful in order to spot every possible w or oversight in the n. Otherwise, no matter how well the n was executed, his failure would be decided from the outset if the n itself were wed to begin with.

    The map had been drawn by the resistance army a day ago, and it was already the day after the day he had arrived in the settlement of the resistance army. As soon as the map was ready, he didn''t dy in the slightest and immediately arrived at Phdelphia, where the final showdown was going to take ce.

    Five minutes ticked past, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes... As he carefully scrutinized the map, theyout of Phdelphia began to surface in his mind. 20 minutester, his brows furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought.

    Something''s wrong here...

    Several minutester, he spread the map open and focused on a few areas annotated in red as he murmured to himself, "Firstly, looking at this from the church''s standpoint, the Freemasonry is a sworn enemy. On this asion, they''re only coborating with the Freemasonry as they''ve folded to the Freemasonry''s vast wealth and influence. At the very most, all they''ll be willing to do is follow the agreement and unleash the Spear of Longinus at the right time, but they certainly won''t go above and beyond to assist the three death gods of the Caribbean."

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward Benson. He had given Benson a rough idea of what he was trying to do. After all, he couldn''t just make Benson go into thispletely blind as there would undoubtedly be many asions where Benson would have to exercise autonomy when leading his troops.

    Benson nodded in response. "I agree. If I were in the church''s shoes, that would indeed be my stance in this matter."

    He didn''t think it was unnecessary for Qin Ye to be considering what the church was thinking. In this tumultuous storm concerning multiple powerful parties, it was important to consider the thoughts and motives of all parties as ignoring these details could lead to a failure to consider many possible scenarios that could arise. With so many incredibly powerful beings, any oversight on their part could easily spell death for them, and Qin Ye certainly didn''t want to see that happen.

    If he could seed here, he would be able to obtain a floating fortress asrge as a city, resolve the issue concerning the next international conference to be held by the Cathayan Underworld, and intercept the grand script of death. Any one of these rewards alone would already be enough to warrant his involvement here.

    "It sounds like there are no issues, but how is Kraken supposed toe up?" Qin Ye asked with narrowed eyes as he pointed at four of the red spots on the map.

    Benson''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    Indeed, Kraken was still in the underworld at this point. A certain fleet was dragging Tezcatlipoca''s heart behind them, leading Kraken on a wild goose chase, and Kraken wasn''t going to be led up to the mortal realm until the conclusion of the grand script of death. However, there arose an issue: which Yin Yang Mezzanine would be massive enough to allow a gargantuan creature like Kraken to pass through?

    "Thergest Yin Yang Mezzanine in Phdelphia is only around 50 meters in size... That''s not even enough for one of Kraken''s tentacles to pass through!" Benson mused.

    Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he murmured, "That''s not the only problem here. ording to my research, the Spear of Longinus is indeed an exceptionally powerful divine artifact, but it can only ensure the death of its target if it manages to pierce into their body. Kraken''s far too massive to fit through any of the Yin Yang Mezzanines here. Even the Dware River would only just be able to contain one of its tentacles, but piercing the spear into one of Kraken''s tentacles alone won''t be enough to kill it. If it doesn''t die, the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea won''t be able toe into existence. As a result, they won''t be able to perform a divine miracle, and the entire grand script of death would fail."

    All of a sudden, a thought urred to both of them, and they immediately met as Benson said in a trembling voice, "Could it be that Phdelphia is only a distraction? Is Kraken actually going to be appearing elsewhere/"

    Even the most careful and meticulous of individuals wouldn''t have been able to think of these problems had they not had a map to consult. With so many powerful forces gathered in Phdelphia, who could''ve possibly imagined that the city would only be acting as a decoy?

    A sense of tion welled up in Benson''s heart. This meant that there was a very good chance that he and his troops would survive. However, he then immediately banished the thought.

    Their objective was to assist Qin Ye to the best of their abilities, not to prioritize survival above all else.

    If he were to disy too much joy here, he would only incur displeasure from Qin Ye, and that could result in catastrophic consequences for the resistance army. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, "Are you sure about that?"

    Qin Ye''s hands were sped behind his back as he paced back and forth in the bell tower.

    He ced his hand on the bell as he contemted the situation. He knew that the decision he was going to make next was going to have a decisive impact on the oue of this mission. It was obviously safest to stay here, but risk and reward always came hand in hand.

    Several minutester, he pursed his lips as he mused, "There''s a very good chance that this is the case. The purpose of Phdelphia has already been fulfilled. The city was once where Tezcatlipoca had been held captive, and ording to the Freemasonry''s original n, the three death gods of the Caribbean would''ve had a chance to obtain Tezcatlipoca''s divine arts and inheritance if they had attained godhood here. Otherwise, all they would have would be Duke level power, but they wouldn''t know any divine arts. Even if they were to sessfully attain godhood, they would only be at the very bottom of the death god pecking order, perhaps even inferior to the mythic spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds."

    He withdrew his hand from the bell as he continued, "Phdelphia has already lost its purpose, but our opposition is trying to make it useful again. They''re continuing to raise the stakes in Phdelphia, trying to lure potential enemies like myself into focusing all of my attention on Phdelphia, thereby overlooking the true location where the grand script of death is going to unfold. Benson!"

    "Yes, Esteemed Yama-King Qin!" Benson immediately replied.

    "Conduct a search right away to see if there arerger Yin Yang Mezzanines around Phdelphia, I''m talking about the type that''srge enough to grant passage to the likes of a creature like Kraken! If such a Yin Yang Mezzanine exists, then Phdelphia definitely wouldn''t be the ce we need to be focusing on. Also, during your search, make sure to pay special attention to the sea."

    Benson''s mouth gaped open slightly as he replied, "There''s no need to conduct a search, esteemed Yama-King Qin."

    He waspletely in awe of Qin Ye''s deductive abilities as he continued, "The Dware River leads straight to Dware Bay, which is home to thergest Yin Yang Mezzanines on the entire new continent, the Dware Great Blue Hole Abyss!"

    He quickly spread open the map before pointing at a certain spot on it. "The Dware Great Blue Hole is thergest of its kind in the entire underworld with a radius of 437.326 kilometers! Even two Krakens could fit through it at a squeeze, let alone one!"

    That''s it!

    Benson continued, "Legend has it that a god once perished there. It''s been around ever since the new continent came into existence, and no one knows how it was created. However, there are close to 50,000 troops stationed around it. It''s thergest Yin Yang Mezzanine that leads to the mortal realm, and we once considered traveling through it to the mortal realm, but it was too difficult for us in the end."

    Qin Ye nodded slightly upon hearing this.

    It may be difficult for you, but it''s no problem at all for Kraken!

    Even if this piece of news were to be reported to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, there was no way that they would be interested in battling one of the six kings in the mortal realm at a time like this. In fact, there was a very good chance that they would even prohibit the death gods under them from participating in this event as well!

    Hence, regardless of what happened in the mortal realm, they would refuse to get involved, and with that example set by them, the other death gods wouldn''t investigate this matter, either.

    "What a brilliant n. They haven''t bothered to conceal anything, but it makes no difference in the end. It really does look like no death gods can be underestimated," Qin Y mused. "What is the closest corresponding city in the mortal realm to that ce?"

    "That would be Cape May and Dover!"

 Chapter 963: 10 Days (1)

    <h4>Chapter 963: 10 Days (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye carefully inspected the map.

    Thergest cities on either side of Dware Bay were Cape May and Dover, encircling Dware Bay alongside the New Jersey inds. In the underworld, the location directly corresponding with Dware Bay was none other than the Great Blue Hole Abyss!

    It was a tailor-made passageway for Kraken!

    "Tezcatlipoca has been released by me and the three death gods are most likely furious as a result. They''re going to deploy all of their troops to ensure that the final disy of the divine miracle isn''t going to fall t on its face..." Qin Ye pointed a certain spot on the map and said, "This is most likely where everything is going to happen..."

    The excitement in his voice suddenly died down here, and he continued in a hesitant manner, "... Send your troops to those cities right away, I want constant reports on the surrounding few major cities."

    "Yes," Benson immediately replied as he carefully inspected Qin Ye, and after a long hesitation, he finally said, "There''s nothing wrong with your logic, but why do I get the feeling that you''re not very confident?"

    Qin Ye didn''t reply, and his brows furrowed slightly.

    Benson''s instincts were very urate. Just now, he had suddenly thought of something.

    It was still something to do with Phdelphia.

    He cast his gaze into the night with a contemtive expression. There was something that he had overlooked: why hadn''t the people in Phdelphia set off yet?

    He could vaguely sense the power of four death gods, three of which were very familiar, namely Fernando, Brando, and Arlot, as well as one that he was unfamiliar with.

    Two days had already passed since that night at Saint Peter''s Church, and Phdelphia was nothing more than an empty shell now. If they only wanted to divert the attention of their enemies, it would suffice to leave only a single Yama-King here, while the majority of their forces should be guarding Dware Bay. Were they not afraid that he would resurface to foil their ns?

    Why was it that not only had the number of top-end powerful beings here not decreased, it had increased instead?

    There are 11 to 12 days left at most before the conclusion of the grand script of death. Are they that convinced that I won''t be able to see through their ruse and determine Dware Bay to be the site where everything unfolds? Am I missing something here?

    After pondering the matter for a long while, he shook his head in a defeated manner.

    He couldn''t make sense of the situation.

    Seeing as that was the case, the only thing he could do was focus on what he was currently doing.

    He sat down and his aura slowly disappeared, remaining as still as a stone statue. He closed his eyes and instructed, "Send out 1,000 of your troops, and make sure that they''re the ones at the lowest cultivation ranks among your forces. Get them to pretend as if they''re naturally urring spirits with no sentient will and conduct surveince over every corner of Phdelphia."

    For some reason, he couldn''t help but shake this sense of unease.

    "Yes!" Benson replied with a respectful bow, then said in a hesitant voice, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, have you considered the possibility that the Freemasonry and the church would clear out all of the Yin spirits in the city in this situation?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    He was certain that the church and the Freemasonry definitely wouldn''t exterminate all of the Yin spirits in the city.

    Throughout Phdelphia''s three-century-long existence, countless Yin spirits had gathered in the city, making it extremely difficult and costly to eradicate all of them.

    WIth four Dukes in the city, no matter how many low-grade Yin spirits there were, they would be no different from pesky flies. It was most likely the case that only the Yin spirits at or above the Anitya Hellguard level would attract any attention and be killed just as a safety precaution. Furthermore, Phdelphia wasn''t even going to be the site of the final showdown.

    All of the Yin spirits above the Anitya Hellguard level would''ve either already been ced into designated hunting areas by the government or possessed human hosts to live in the mortal realm, so there wouldn''t be any of them left in the city to be cleaned up.

    Among all of the countless Usonian natural spirits, it wouldn''t be a strange sight at all to have a few native Usonian Yin spirits dispersed among them.

    "Rest assured." Qin Ye spread his fingers, and several faint blue Yin energy threads silently extended out of his fingertips.

    "My servants will be constantly looking after all of you."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    On a certain ind in the Caribbean Sea of the underworld.

    This was a small ind shaped like a flower, but all of the merchant associations of the underworld knew that it definitely wasn''t as beautiful a ce as its outward appearance suggested. This was because the ind was the stronghold of the three Caribbean death gods!

    Several dozen ssic Spanish galleons that were most popr during the Age of Discovery were tearing through the waves on the surface of the sea with brown skeletons hanging all over them. The ship at the very front was over 200 meters in size and was inky-ck in color, creating a stark contrast with its pristine white yet tattered sails.

    On the sails were drawn a design that appeared to depict a lunar eclipse. However, it wasn''t a lunar eclipse, nor was it a moon. Instead, it was a ck pearl.

    At the forefront of the ship stood an imposing Yin spirit at the Marquess level. Extremely dense Yin energy was flowing out of his entire body and surging through his surroundings, and perched atop his fingertip was a messenger bird.

    The Yin spirit was essentially a skeleton covered in ayer of deathly pale skin, and under his membrane-like skin were bright red chunks of flesh. He was wearing pirate captain''s clothing from the republic era, consisting of a long robe with golden edges and dark wooden buttons. To cap off the pirate image, there was a skeletal owl perched on his shoulder. This was none other than one of the three Caribbean death gods that had appeared during thest international conference.

    The messenger bird was chirping quietly as he listened intently, and several secondster, he raised his hand to allow the messenger bird to fly away. He then took a deep breath before turning around. The sailors on the ship had been extremely rowdy and boisterous just a moment ago, but they had suddenly gone quiet.

    The Caribbean Sea was the most chaotic region in Usonia''s territorial sea, but it was also thergest trade route in Usonia! It was said to be the golden trade route of the western hemisphere, and even though Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were no longer overseeing this ce, all of the ship captains here had climbed to their positions through countless battles and skirmishes.

    Their reputations were supported by the weight of the lives they had taken.

    The skeletal ship captain took a deep breath, and his robe pped in the sea breeze as he called out in a loud voice, "Everyone!"

    His raised hands were trembling from excessive excitement, and he roared in a rousing voice, "During our lifetimes, everyone looked down on us. Here in the underworld, even though we''ve dered independence and seized control over the coastline of the Caribbean Sea, those ignorant and stubborn leaders on the world stage continue to look down on us! They called us maggots, they called us ants... I''ll never forget how we were humiliated during thest world conference!!"

    His voice was rumbling like thunder, and he was injecting all of his Marquess level power into his voice, causing the fleet of 60 ships to sway and teeter.

    "But I''m telling all of you now that this is our time! We''re going to show the entire world through our actions who the ruler of this new world is! Sail with me to Dware Bay and witness our ascension to godhood! The glorious name of the ck Pearl will go down in the history books for the rest of eternity!!"

    Dead silence.

    In the next instant, thousands of skeletal sailors on all of the ships erupted into a raucousmotion, raising their weapons high up into the air as they roared, "For the new age!"

    "Our three leaders will stand at the top of the world!"

    "We will be the next n of royalty!"

    "We''ll forever follow in your footsteps!!"

    Yin energy erupted like a tsunami, and even the surface of the sea was undting violently in the face of the terrifying wave of Yin energy.

    The skeletal captain standing at the front of the ck Pearl raised his hand high up into the air, basking in the waves of thunderous cheers that were washing over him, as well as the scorching killing intent and the fierce desire for a better future exuding from every single one of his crew members. Netherfire erupted into the sky in pirs of mes, presenting a spectacr sight to behold out at sea.

    From here onward, I, Leoric, will create a new era!

    The 60 warships were carrying 65,000 Yin spirits, among which were three Marquesses, 25 Counts, as well as countless Barons, Viscounts, and Knights. These forces had been umted over the span of three centuries, and it was the trump card of the Caribbean Sea!

    All those who looked down on me and belittled me... The Cathayan Underworld, the three pirs, all of the underworlds in the world... Just you wait! In 10 days, you''re going to witness the birth of a miracle!

    Amid the rumblingmotion, he made a quieting gesture like an elegant conductor, and themotion quickly died down.

    "Look." He pointed toward a certain direction, and all of the sailors cast their eyes toward that direction. It was also right at this moment that Yin energy erupted from three of the ships in the fleet, permeating through the area like ink and staining the sea in a radius of several kilometers ck.

    A skeletal sailor''s mouth gaped open slightly before gaping open further and further. After several seconds, he was standing rooted to the spot with an astonished expression, and only after a period of stunned silence did he exim, "My god..."

    He wasn''t the only one, all of the skeletal sailors werepletely stunned by what they were seeing. Directly beneath them, the seawater was like a mirror, reflecting a scene in the mortal realm.

    They didn''t know which city this was, but they could see that countless men and women wearing ck and white robes were converging from all directions.

    The surrounding tall buildings were all draped with banners of the Slumber of the Sea and the Stars, and promotional flyers of Death God Dax were flying all over the ce.

    "Everyone," Leoric dered in a grand voice. "All of these are my followers. With these followers, I''ll be able to make a breakthrough to be a Duke and stand at the very top of the entire underworld! I''ve tasted humiliation from all of those people who looked down on me like ants, and I''m going to repay them a thousandfold!!"

    He lowered his voice as he continued, "Now, it''s time to ready your cannons and draw your swords! The 60-ship fleet of the Caribbean Sea is attacking in full force! If anyone dares to stand in opposition to us, tear them to shreds!!"

    BOOM!! Yin energy erupted to connect the 60 ships into a unified unit, and they sailed toward Northern Usonia as a formidable force.

    Amid the thunderousmotion, Leoric returned to the captain''s cabin.

    He was no longer facing his men, so he didn''t need to conceal his emotions any longer, and a grim look appeared on his face as he strode into the cabin before closing the door.

    There were two other Marquesses seated in the room.

    One of them was a ck skeleton wearing a rotten robe worn by Europa nobles in the 14th and 15th centuries, and his inky-ck skull waspletely bare save for a white curled wig.

    The other one was also a skeleton with a head of blonde hair but only half a skull, and she was wearing a dress with a belt tightly fastened around her waist.

    As soon as Leoric strode into the room, he picked up a bottle of gin and downed it in one go before hurling it into the corner, where the bottle shattered into pieces. "Curse those useless idiots! How did they manage to allow Tezcatlipoca to get away? He waspletely sealed and powerless!"

    His chest was rising and falling violently as he paced rapidly back and forth in the cabin. Yin energy was rising up before dissipating incessantly all over his body, and theherfire in his eyes had turned a scarlet color.

    "How did those incapable idiots manage to be Dukes? This world is so unfair that it sickens me to the stomach!" he roared as he mmed a fist onto the table. "If we still had Tezcatlipoca held captive and could force him to acknowledge our identity, even if our parent god reawakens, they''ll have no choice but to ept us, but now, we have nothing! We went to so much effort to capture Tezcatlipoca, yet he was allowed to escape just like that by those idiots!"

    The blond skeleton opened her hand fan and replied, "It was all because of that high-grade emissary from the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Fuck!" Leoric crushed the globe beside him in a fit of rage as he spat through gritted teeth, "It''s the Cathayan Underworld again! Why are they so intent on humiliating us?! All their King Yanluo knows how to do is talk shit! We had to kill our way up through the ranks! How are we inferior to trash like him in any way?! We must exact our revenge on him for the way he treated us at thest international conference!"

    "Allowing your anger to get the better of you is the most foolish thing you can do right now!" the ck skeleton harrumphed coldly. "All of our followers all over the nation are already beginning to gather in Cape May, and the Freemasonry will buy us 10 days of time. If we don''t resolve this matter in 10 days, the Usonian government will intervene, so our priority right now is to figure out what to do."

    Leoric was seething with fury as he scratched at his own deathly pale scalp before replying in a hateful voice, "Why didn''t they tell us before this that there was a high-grade emissary from the Cathayan Underworld in Phdelphia? What were they doing before this?!"

    A long silence ensued, following which he raised his head, and a hint of insanity surfaced in theherfire in his eyes. "Tell them that if they encounter any emissaries from the Cathayan Underworld again, kill them on sight! We''ll take responsibility for everything!"

    "Calm down!" the blond skeleton eximed in a panicked voice. "This is one of the four pirs we''re talking about here!"

    "So what?!" Leoric spat through gritted teeth. "This is the new continent! A new era is about to emerge here, and we are going to be the rulers of this new era!"

    He then cast his gaze out the window at the countless devout followers being reflected on the surface of the sea. After taking a deep breath, he continued, "In addition, tell them to speed up the proceedings."

    He turned to the two skeletons in the room as he dered, "The final act of the grand script of death will be enacted in one week! I can no longer wait to ascend to godhood... When that timees, I''ll be taking a good look at the horror on the faces of all of the people who dared to humiliate and insult us. Anyone who dares to stand in our way will be killed! I don''t care what pir they are, understood?!"

 Chapter 964: 10 Days (2)

    <h4>Chapter 964: 10 Days (2)</h4>

    "Hiyah!!" At the foot of the pyramid, 10,000 Yin soldiers were currently training. A ck and white Yin Yang design was slowly revolving beneath their feet while giving off a faint luster, and they were rapidly familiarizing themselves with this newly obtained military formation.

    Qin Ye was standing at the top of the pyramid, overseeing the proceedings with a serious expression. Wumu was one of the best military formations in the world, and the reason for this was that it was able to enhance Yin soldiers by as much as 30%! Furthermore, it made all of the Yin soldiers epassed within itpletely fearless and immune to intimidation from the Yin energy of more powerful foes. In addition to that, the overall effect of the military formation would be raised by 1% per 100,000 Yin soldiers in the formation.

    This didn''t sound like much, but under most circumstances, a military formation could already be considered to be first-rate if it could provide enhancements of 20%, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that the enhancements granted by Wumu were capable of bing more potent the more Yin soldiers were epassed within it. The underworld wascking in everything aside from poption, and if an army of five million Yin soldiers could be gathered, Wumu would be powerful enough to raise every single Yin soldier to the Anitya Hellguard level! With the Cathayan Underworld''s past poption, it wouldn''t have been impossible to elevate all Yin soldiers to the Infernal Judge level.

    Several million Anitya Hellguards would be enough to overwhelm several Yama-Kings, let alone millions of Infernal Judges.

    This was one of the Cathayan Underworld''s premier military formations but also one of its simplest in that it did nothing but purely enhance the power of Yin soldiers.

    All military formations were only effective on low-grade underworld emissaries. This was a very special type of item, its original copy most likely came from the Aurogon''s Eye of the Six Origin Buildings, but it could be copied onto other scrolls. The only limitation was that each scroll could only be used a maximum of 20 times.

    The method of usage was also very simple: the underworld emissary holding the military formation only had to spread open the scroll, then select the targets that he wanted the military formation to act upon. The main difference between military formations and arts was that the former''s maintenance required constant Yin energy expenditure. It required a foundation to provide it with energy. Thus, generally speaking, the military formation would either be unleashed by a Yama-King in person or tied to a Yin jade mine. After 20 uses, close to half of the energy in a Yin jade mine would be used up.

    With Qin Ye''s current vast reserves of Yin energy, the military formation was naturally tied to... Fate.

    You want to use me of stealing Yin energy? What do you mean by steal? It''s called borrow! Repeat after me: bo, rrow!

    As for whether the second King Yanluo was going to notice that his power was constantly being stolen, that was not something for Qin Ye to worry about. After all, no wise and mighty leader would ever concern themselves with such trivial details, right?

    "Yama-King Qin!" Right at this moment, a Yin spirit rushed over to Qin Ye. He was wearing a suit of silver armor with a very unique cape on his back, upon which was embroidered the design of a sun. He extended a respectful bow as he said in an excited voice, "They''ve begun to move!"

    This man''s name was Boda, and he was one of the five founding members of the resistance army, having led the resistance army in countless battles against the Eagle Warriors.

    Qin Ye immediately turned around before asking, "Which city is it? Phdelphia, Cape May, or Dover?"

    "Cape May!" Boda''s chest was heaving violently as he licked his own dried and cracked lips.

    "What about Phdelphia? Is there still no change there?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Not at the moment."

    <i>I see... </i> Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back, and his beaded bracelet fell into his palm with a flick of his wrist. A contemtive look appeared on his face as his mind began to race.

    It was already the third day since the night at Saint Peter''s Church.

    The day before, he had devised an initial n after consulting the map provided by Benson, and the resistance army had immediately sent out 1,000 Yin spirits, who entered the mortal realm in secret through a Yin Yang Mezzanine before possessing residents of Phdelphia. After that, they controlled their hosts to move toward the nearby major cities such as Cape May, Dover, and Bell, as well as all of the major streets in Phdelphia. They were apanied by the Porter Spirit and the Spatial Spirit from Qin Ye''s Dusk Legionnaire.

    These were the least powerful beings in his Dusk Legionnaire at the moment, and if he were to send out Yin spirits of a higher caliber, they would be detected right away.

    There was no time for him to assign them specific tasks or give them detailed instructions. There was only a rough overall n, and fast adaptation and thinking on the fly were going to be very important.

    Theoretically speaking, his judgment should be correct. Phdelphia was currentlypletely useless to his opposition. There was no way that Kraken would be able to enter Phdelphia, and the only possible ce for the three death gods of the Caribbean to ascend to godhood was Dware Bay, which wasrge enough to hold Kraken. However, he still couldn''t convince himself to be fully confident.

    If Phdelphie really werepletely useless, why were there still four Dukes situated here?

    "Who''s currently conducting surveince on Phdelphia?"

    Right as his voice trailed off, two Yin spirits suddenly rushed into the room, and after extending respectful bows, they panted as they reported, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, they''ve made a move! We received reports from S.H.I.E.L.D.st night that an enormous amount of Yin energy is currently on the move through The Bahamas and Port-au-Prince! The Yin energy is so vast that it''s impossible to conduct surveince over its entire mass!"

    The other Yin spirit wanted to say something as well, but he waited until hispanion finished before immediately reporting, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, Warlord Dalton and Warlord Erza of the underworld''s Red Eagle Navy are also on the move! They''re leading a fleet of 25 ships straight toward Central Usonia!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. and he quickly fell into deep thought.

    He didn''t say anything and continued to pace back and forth slowly in the room, but his heartbeat was rapidly elerating, and his adrenal nds were working overtime.

    So it''s finallying... This storm is finally about to begin...

    These three pieces of news indicated that the opposition was already fully on the move. Were they being spurred on by a sense of urgency following the Saint Peter''s Church incident?

    In addition to that, there were still several things to be considered.

    Firstly, why hadn''t any of the four Dukes left Phdelphia? That didn''t make any sense!

    Secondly, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a special department in Usonia and didn''t have much of a presence in the mortal realm. The fact that they had ess to reports from S.H.I.E.L.D. indicated that the resistance army had forces in the mortal realm. As expected of an army that had evaded the Eagle Warriors on multiple asions.

    Furthermore, directly below Port-au-Prince and the Bahamas was the Caribbean Sea!

    The Caribbean Sea wasn''t a part of Northern Usonia or Southern Usonia. Instead, it was situated in Central Usonia. The Bahamas were the northern gate of the Mediterranean Sea, and the fact that such a vast amount of Yin energy had been detected to be on the move in that area indicated that the three death gods of the Caribbean had set off as well!

    Thirdly, Warlord Dalton, whom he had met on one previous asion, was beginning to move from the west to the east. Qin Ye had specifically instructed Bensons'' troops to keep an eye on him and his fleet. This seemed to be only a normal military maneuver on the surface, but unbeknownst to everyone else, attached to one of the ships in Warlord Dalton''s fleet was Tezcatlipoca''s heart!

    "Their arrival will herald themencement of the final act!" he murmured to himself.

    Boda hesitated momentarily before gritting his teeth as he asked, "Are you sure about that, Yama-King Qin?"

    It was extremely important for them to urately deduce the time of the grand script of death''s conclusion.

    "I''m certain," Qin Ye replied in a confident voice. "The Red Eagle Navy and the ck Shirt Navy both have ties with the three death gods. In other words, they''ve already been bribed. They''re acting as bait to lead Kraken on a wild goose chase in the west, buying the three death gods of the Caribbean and the Freemasonry to prepare in the east. Once the two naval branches arrive, Kraken will also follow suit, rushing from the underworld into the mortal realm!"

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward a pyramid in the distance with a cold smile on his face. "This is not a movie. Even with the Freemasonry''s immense wealth and influence, there''s no way it would be able to sweep an event as catastrophic as Kraken wreaking havoc in Dware Bay under the rug. I''m willing to bet that they would''ve only been able to convince the Usonian government to not get involved for a single day. In fact, it may even be shorter than that, perhaps 12 hours or 16 hours. Don''t forget that right above Dware Bay are the cities of Phdelphia, New York, and Washington DC. The Freemasonry still isn''t powerful enough to control the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the president wouldn''t dare to allow them to do whatever they pleased for too long. If they can''t conclude the grand script of death in the allotted time period, the government will intervene and bombard Kraken with missiles. They won''t be able to kill Kraken, but once Kraken flees the scene, their grand script of death would be ced in an extremely awkward situation."

    Several secondster, he concluded, "There''s no way they would allow that to happen."

    THis n had been brewing for over 100 years, but it most likely wouldn''t even take 10 hours to conclude the final act.

    Silence.

    Several secondster, Boda asked with tightly furrowed brows, "Yama-King Qin, how do we find out the exact time that they''re going to execute their n?"

    "Do you have any troops stationed near the Great Blue Hole?"

    "We do," Boda replied as his eyes lit up.

    Indeed, the instant that Kraken passes through the Yin Yang Mezzanine will herald themencement of the final act!

    "Fantastic!" Qin Ye could barely contain his own excitement. "When the timees, I''m going there in person to see this grand scene for myself."

    I have to be calm right now... All of the required information has already been gathered, but if I want to intercept this grand script of death, every step of the n must be executed to perfection.

    His mind was racing as he turned toward a Yin spirit andmanded, "Send out a messenger to pass this onto Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, make sure it reaches them at all costs!"

    He pulled out his own token before tossing it to the Yin spirit, who nodded in response before instantly vanishing as a gust of Yin wind.

    The message that Qin Ye had for the two rulers of the new continent was already enclosed in the token, and this was their final trump card.

    If he were to seed, then he would be facing the full wrath of the Red Eagle Navy, the ck Shirt Navy, the pirates of the Caribbean, and four Dukes. If he wanted to escape, then he would require some assistance.

    <i>I wonder how the Usonian government is going to exin a divine descent in the mortal realm... </i> A faint smile appeared on his face as this thought urred to him.

    After that, he turned to Boda and asked, "Who''s conducting surveince on Phdelphia at the moment?"

    "Mr. Benson is overseeing the city in person, so please rest assured, Yama-King Qin. We have a lot of experience when ites to monitoring Yin energy at or above the Marquess level. Otherwise, we wouldn''t have been able to evade Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa up to this point," Boda replied with a serious expression. "Possessing cats and rats is something that we often do to keep ourselves safe, and if any changes take ce in Phdelphia, we''ll immediately know."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    The storm wasing. He didn''t know why the four Dukes in Phdelphia were still in the city, but he could only watch the situation and adjust as it unfolded.

    The biggest advantage he had was that he was in the shadows while his opposition was out in the open. The Spatial Spirit was already hiding in Phdelphia, and that was the final security he had set up in the city.

    He shook his head to rid himself of the erratic thoughts going through his mind, then asked, "Have your troops already arrived in Cape May and Dover? Are they safe?"

    "They''re safe for sure," Boda replied as he offered up a stack of documents. "This is a list of names of all of the Yin spirits to have arrived in Cape May and Dover, as well as their Yin energy signatures."

    Qin Ye swept a finger through the air, and the documents flew up before many of the names on them were crossed out. As for the remaining Yin spirits, every one of them had a speck ofherfire beside their name.

    With all of this prepared, Qin Ye could descend at any time!

    His Dusk Legionnaire could disregard all restrictions, but if he wanted to descend into the mortal realm, he required a summon from the host upied by those Yin spirits to open up a passageway for him.

    A speck ofherfire appeared on Qin Ye''s fingertip as he mused, "Now then, let us see what''s be of the site where the final act of the grand script of death will take ce."

 Chapter 965: 10 Days (3)

    <h4>Chapter 965: 10 Days (3)</h4>

    Cape May was a coastal city, and looking out from the city, one would be greeted by the sight of the boundless sea.

    The city was very small, and it had been founded tomemorate the Dutch explorer, Cornelius May. It had a very small poption of less than 5,000, but that didn''t mean that there were only less than 5,000 people here.

    The city was situated right next to Dware Bay and had exceptional scenery. Even though it didn''t have many permanent residents, there were restaurants peppered all over the coastline from modern fancy restaurants to more casual restaurants. However, there weren''t many of them, either, and they could house a total of around 2,000 to 3,000 patrons.

    At this moment, it was 10 PM at night, and inside a certain hotel, the bed, the television, and all of the picture frames in the rooms suddenly began to wobble slightly as if a low-level earthquake were taking ce. However, everything quickly settled down again, and at the same time, a Caucasian man lying on the bed of one of the rooms slowly opened his eyes.

    This was a thin middle-aged man in his forties wearing a pair of frameless sses and an immacte suit. He almost fell over a he got out of the bed, but immediately caught himself on the bedside table. After taking a few seconds to find his bearings, he rushed over to the window before gently pulling the curtains aside.

    The beach was always the perfect site for rxation. The tall palm trees outside provided perfect shade for beachgoers, and his hotel was situated in a very good location, allowing him to see the beach and most of Cape May. However, on this day, Cape May seemed to be a little different from how it normally was.

    On this day, tens of thousands of people had flooded into this sparsely popted city!

    They were wearing ck and white robes with hoods that concealed their faces. Their robes were ck on the left and white on the red, making them appear like halves of Oreo biscuits. Individually, they would be quite amusing to behold, but tens of thousands of people wearing the same attire was truly an astonishing sight.

    These robed figures filled all of the streets, spreading through the entire city with the restaurant and hotel area as the center. The tiny city of Cape May simply wasn''trge enough to hold so many people, and it was as if the entire city had been surrounded.

    There were banners hanging on all of the buildings across from the hotel that the man was staying in, and all of the banners bore the symbol of the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea. Countless Death God Dax flyers were flying through the air, and it was impossible for anyone to drive cars through the crowd.

    "The entire city has been overrun... Are these all of the followers of Death God Dax across the entire nation?" the man murmured to himself. "As expected, the Freemasonry really has already struck a deal with the government. There''s no way that a small city like Cape May could house so many people. With tens of thousands of people, there would be countless logistical issues that have to be addressed. However..."

    He scoured his gaze over the streets as he continued, "It''s as if the police force and the government arepletely oblivious to the situation. Even the residents of the city have disappeared. They''ve most likely already been evacuated in advance, and now, this is a city exclusively for the followers of Death God Dax."

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out. The man closed the curtains, but didn''t open the door. Right as he turned around, a flier had already been pushed into his room through the gap under the door.

    He picked it up and had a look.

    "The legend of the Fifth Sun, the true death god, the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea, the regal and almighty Death God Dax will show us the true path! By god''s decree, when the moonlight spills down onto the surface of the sea in six days, the legendary sea monster Kraken will rise up for its once-in-1,000-years feeding frenzy. At the same time, the almighty Death God Dax will leave his divine kingdom to take Kraken to the boundless abyss."

    The message was very striking, written in white text on ck paper.

    The man flipped the flier over and was greeted by the sight of the triangr eye at the center of the page, which represented omniscience and omnipotence.

    He took a deep breath before cing the flier onto the table, then habitually flicked his wrist to roll his beaded bracelet down into his own grasp, only to find that there was no bracelet. Instead, he sped his hands behind his back and stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in silence.

    "Six days, eh?" he finally murmured to himself after several minutes of silence. "I only have five days left to gather as much information as possible. Depending on how much information I manage to gather, I may have some chances. This is the third day since that incident at Saint Peter''s Church, and my original estimate was that I would have 11 to 12 days left, but that timeframe has been shortened to only eight days now. Have they decided to enact their n in advance or was this always the nned date to execute the n?"

    After several seconds of contemtive silence, he shook his head.

    It didn''t matter either way. What was important was whether he could glean the entire n within the final five days, then work out a n of his own to intercept the grand script of death.

    His gaze traveled to the flier, and he murmured to himself, "This must be a test... The fact that they''ve stuck a flier into this room indicates that they''re aware that the person living in the room isn''t one of their own. Someone must''ve organized for all of them toe here, yet the four Dukes in Phdelphia still haven''t made their move even in the face of such a grand asion. Why have they remained in Phdelphia this entire time? A base of followers is the foundation for godhood. Without followers and faith, there would be no religion, and without a religion, no god can be born. There must be someone controlling everything here. Through these flyers, they''re currently scouring for suspicious individuals in the city. If I receive the flier but don''t disy any interest or leave my room, then I''m willing to bet that there will be enforcersing very soon to investigate."

    He stroked his own chin as he continued, "In that case, it would be best for me to blend in with the crowd during the next few days, but I shouldn''t appear overly eager, either. I should act like apletely oblivious individual who''s merely curious about what all this fuss is about."

    He then turned his gaze toward the window. "This is truly a prime location."

    During the next five days, all of the important actors of this final act will take the stage one after another, and Kraken definitely won''t be appearing too far away from here.

    This was a divine miracle, and it was designed to send all of Dax''s followers into a frenzy. After witnessing the divine miracle, they would actively and vehemently promote the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea. They had developed this base of followers during the past century, and this was the asion where they were going to harvest the fruits of theirbors.

    Nothing could convince their followers more soundly than a divine miracle connected to a prophecy.

    "If Kraken isn''t far away, then the fleet of the three Caribbean death gods won''t be far away, and the ship dragging along Tezcatlipoca''s heart won''t be far away, either! Even more importantly..."

    He made his way over to the window and pulled the curtains aside again. "The Spear of Longinus won''t be far away, and I''m sure Tezcatlipoca is lurking nearby as well."

    This was his opportunity to reim his own heart, and he was almost certain that Tezcatlipoca wouldn''t be able to pass up the temptation!

    As such, he wasn''t fighting alone!

    "Now, all that''s left to do is to wait for themencement of this epic show."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Bermuda, Hamilton, Britannia Overseas Territory.

    This was a very small ce, so much so that it never received any attention. It was also not a very wealthy ce with the Bermuda Dor as its currency, and most of the residents'' ie came from fishing.

    It was already nighttime, and the light of the dying sun basked the surface of the sea in golden radiance. Rays of fragment golden light were reflected by the waves, and a series of fishing boats were rapidly returning to the inds. For these small fishing boats, the sea at night was a very perilous ce.

    However, one of the boats remained behind.

    It wasn''t a fishing boat.

    Instead, it was a small cruise ship that could house around 30 people. At this moment, there was a woman wearing a cloak on the deck. Her eyes were concealed, and she was wearing a bone ne. Her palms were joined together as she knelt on the deck of the ship, and she was chanting something incessantly.

    On the deck in front of her was an array drawn using blood, and several young men and women were standing off to the side with grief-stricken expressions and eyes that were red and swollen from crying.

    "Have you still not found them?" a Caucasian woman asked in a sobbing voice. "Yesterday, my father went out fishing with some friends, and I''m certain that their boat disappeared near here!"

    The woman raised her head, and even though her eyes were covered, she turned her gaze toward the group of young men and women as she replied, "We need to leave this ce now."

    "Why?" a young man asked in an incredulous manner. "Why should we leave when we haven''t found anything? We''re not leaving until we find our father!"

    The woman stood up and said in a grim voice, "An extremely fearsome mass of Yin energy passed through here recently. Your father most likely encountered some... supernatural event, and this is why you asked me toe here."

    One of the young men and women immediately opened their mouth to say something, but the woman cut them off with a shake of her head as she continued, "I can sense that if we don''t leave this ce, the same fate will befall us."

    "I''ve had enough of her bullshit!" One of the young men stepped forward with a furious expression. "I knew we shouldn''t have paid her toe here! She doesn''t have ult eyes, she''s a blinddy scamming us out of our money! What we should be doing now is wait for the coastline patrols! Do you still not understand?"

    The woman didn''t reply. She merely shook her head in a sorrowful manner. "How unfortunate..."

    Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, she abruptly turned toward a certain direction.

    The young man who had spoken was even more enraged to see this, and he grabbed onto her shoulders as he yelled, "Are you still trying to fool us? You wasted so much of our time and money, yet you haven''t done anything! If you don''t give us a full refund right now, I''m going to..."

    "Wait... David..." A woman gentlytched onto his shirt as she said in a trembling voice, "There really does seem to be something off about this ce..."

    Their ship was the only thing in this area of the sea.

    The sound of the waves, the sea birds, and even the rumbling of the ship''s engine hadpletely faded.

    It was as if all sound had been stripped from this world, and at the same time, an indescribable sense of horror was washing over their hearts like a tsunami.

    The woman suddenly fell to her knees, and her entire body was trembling with fear as she pressed her forehead against the ground, not even daring to utter even a single word.

    No one dared to speak anymore, and everyone was inspecting their surroundings intently. Immediately thereafter, all of the young men and women on the ship suddenly fell to the ground in silence.

    One body after another fell onto the deck around the cloaked woman, and she was biting down onto her own lower lip with such force that she was drawing blood, but she still didn''t dare to say anything.

    They had all died!

    In the blink of an eye, all eight of them had died in unison!

    The cloaked woman raised her head in a fearful manner, and right at this moment, a fierce gust of wind suddenly swept past, stripping away the cloth that was covering her eyes.

    As a result, a pair of deathly pale eyes were revealed, and at this moment, a nightmarish scene was being reflected in her ghastly eyes.

    The surface of the sea bulged upward as if a giant beast were rising to the surface, and one warship after another from the Age of Discovery rose up from the seabed while emanating boundless Yin energy.

    Enormous volumes of seawater cascaded down the sides of the ships, and all of the ships were packed with Yin spirits that were long dead. Fierceherfire was burning in their eyes, and all of them were standing still on the spot with menacing weapons in their hands.

    The cruise ship was situated right at the center of the fleet that had just emerged from the depths, and there had to be several dozen ships in the fleet in total!

    The souls of the young men and women who had just copsed had already been bound by chains and were screaming as they were dragged onto one of the ships. Right in front of the witch was a gigantic ck ship that was over 200 meters in size, and it was situated no more than 20 meters away from her!

    Her teeth were chattering audibly as she looked up with a horrified expression.

    She saw three Yin spirits wearing pirate attire standing at the bow of the ship, watching her in apletely emotionless manner.

    What kind of fearsome beings are these?!

    Their terrifying Yin energy was like an insurmountable mountain, and the cloaked woman only took a single nce at them before lowering her head to the ground again in fearful and reverent silence.

    Why have these ships from another world appeared here? Is this world about to face destruction?

    "Ah, so this is what it feels like to be back in the mortal realm..." Leoric said as he spread his arms open, then cast his gaze down toward the small ship down below.

    "And there''s fresh blood food here as well."

    There were still three days left till the conclusion of the grand script of death.

    The 60-ship fleet of the Caribbean Sea had passed through the Yin Yang Mezzanine and was the first to arrive!

 Chapter 966: 10 Days (4)

    <h4>Chapter 966: 10 Days (4)</h4>

    Usonia, New Jersey, S.H.I.E.L.D. branch.

    Several men in gray camouge clothing were seated in the building. Some were reading the newspaper while smoking cigarettes, while others were ying around on theirputers in a bored manner. The supernatural disasters in Northern Usonia were quite severe, but the situation wasn''t too bad in the major cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Phdelphia.

    The most severely affected regions were the northernmost part and the central part of Northern Usonia.

    Those areas were far away from the political and economic center of the nation, and they didn''t receive much attention. Most of Usonia''s certified exorcists were gathered there, and as for working at the New Jersey S.H.I.E.L.D. branch, which was situated in the city of Trenton, it was a high-paying job with not much to do.

    It was already past 6 PM, but it still wasn''t the time where Yin spirits were most active. Hence, the staff in the branch were either ying cards, chatting, or examining their gear, and the atmosphere was far more rxed than what one would find in a Cathayan Special Investigations Department branch.

    Right at this moment, the rm registered a faint beep, and the room instantly fell silent as all of the exorcists looked up, but quickly turned back to what they were doing again.

    This was a very normal urrence. asionally, powerful Yin spirits would pass through the area, and most of the time, they would suddenly appear before disappearing just as quickly. There was no cause for concern as long as these Yin spirits didn''t linger in the mortal realm.

    However, right as they all turned back to what they were doing, all of the rms in the room began to screech at full volume! One wave of sound swept through the branch after another, and within the short span of just three seconds, bright red lights were shing everywhere!

    The piercing rm rang out throughout the entire building, and everyone was rooted to the spot in the face of this abrupt turn of events. Their first reaction was to wonder whether there had been an equipment malfunction in the rm system.

    This was New Jersey! Directly above them were the cities of Phdelphia, Washington DC, and New York! That was the first defensive line of the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, which Yin spirit would dare toe here? Did they have a death wish?

    The staff member monitoring the screens was also of the same opinion, yet as soon as he looked up to inspect the screens, his expression instantly stiffened, and his lips began to tremble as the cigarette he was holding in his mouth fell to the ground.

    He got up unsteadily while supporting himself by pressing his hands firmly against the table, then stared at the screens in a ck-jawed manner.

    "What on earth is going on?" Behind him, all of the exorcists of the New Jersey branch were also looking on with astonished expressions, and it was as if all of them had been transformed into statues.

    On the screen, several dozen red dots were currently speeding rapidly toward thergest bay in the state of New Jersey, Dware Bay. There were only around 60 red dots in total, yet the Yin energy figures on the upper right corner of the screen were climbing at an incredible rate!

    One million, ten million, one hundred million, two hundred million, five hundred million, a billion, 1.5 billion, 1.8 billion, two billion!

    Someone''s cup ttered onto the ground, yet no one paid any heed to that as they stared at the screen like deer staring at headlights.

    All of a sudden, an emotionless robotic voice rang out. "Attention! Attention! We are experiencing an S-level supernatural disaster! I repeat: we are experiencing an S-level supernatural disaster! An army with a total sum of Yin energy of 2.018 billion has appeared 100 nautical miles away from Dware Bay. At their current speed and trajectory, they''ll be reaching Dware Bay in two hours, 12 minutes, and 50 seconds. Note: this army cannot be stopped, notification has already been sent out to all Usonian S.H.I.E.L.D. branches..."

    The robotic voice faded here, and everyone shuddered before finally returning to their senses.

    "What the hell is going on?!" An overwhelming wave of horror instantly swept over everyone as an exorcist screamed in a panicked voice, "A vengeful spirit army with a total Yin energy sum in excess of two billion?! How is this even possible?!"

    "Two billion... My god!"

    "Is the underworld attacking the mortal realm?!"

    "Request reinforcements right away! Otherwise, New Jersey is going to be wiped out in a single night!!"

    Amid the panicked cries and frantic screams, an authoritative voice suddenly rang out. "Be quiet, all of you!"

    The door had been flung open, and an elderly man wearing a Usonian military uniform made his way into the room with his hands sped behind his back, followed by a row of burly and imposing bodyguards in suits.

    There was an innate air of authority about him, and he sat down onto a chair as if he were the owner of this ce. The bodyguards behind him immediately closed the door, and he held up three fingers in apletely expressionless manner. "Three things: number one, you are not to tell anyone about anything that happens tonight. Those who do so will be charged on the count ofpromising national security. Secondly, regardless of where you receive calls from tonight, ignore them and keep them confidential, especially calls for reinforcement from Phdelphia and Cape May."

    Everyone was stunned to hear this. They were facing an army with a total sum of Yin energy in excess of two billion, yet they weren''t allowed to provide reinforcements...

    "Thirdly." The elderly man rose to his feet as he dered, "If you have any questions, you can feel free to ask me. My name is Pikov Williams."

    All those who wanted to say something immediately decided to hold their tongue upon hearing this.

    Pikov Williams was the head of the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. organization!

    Pikov swept his gaze around the room before pointing at the control room. "I''ll be in the control room during the next two days."

    He then strode into the control room, paying no further heed to all of the stunned staff in the S.H.I.E.L.D. branch. After that, he picked up the phone before dialing a number. "We''ve done everything you need us to do, but I''m sure you''re aware of what you''re allowed and not allowed to do. Cape May cannot be destroyed, at least not fully. We won''t be able to sweep the destruction of an entire city under the rug. Also, you only have eight hours."

    He nced at his watch before continuing, "You will have from midnight tomorrow night to 8 AM the next day to do what you need to do. If you fail to resolve everything during that time or some unforeseen circumstances arise, resulting in the situation spiraling out of control, then the government will immediately contact the Cathayan, Hindustani, and Aegyptian governments, requesting holy artifacts to resolve the issue."

    His voice was cold and forbidding, and he didn''t seem to want to speak even an extra syble to the person on the other side of the line.

    Right after his voice trailed off, Brando''s voice rang out on the other end of the line. "Of course. After this, the DuPont Consortium and the Rockefeller Consortium will cover all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization''s holy water and holy silver costs during the next three years with payments to be made quarterly. At the same time, the internal research centers of the Rothschild Family, the Morgan Family, the Mitsui Family, and Daehan''s Lee Family will be made essible to you. This is what we already agreed upon in advance."

    Money really is a powerful thing... Pikov heaved an internal sigh.

    The Freemasonry hadn''t made its wealth and influence felt for quite some time, yet that certainly didn''t mean that it had be any less powerful than before.

    The package that they were offering to the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization was simply irresistible, and to them, it was as if money were no different from air, with infinite supply and essibility.

    "Remember your promises," Pikov reiterated. "You only have eight hours, after which the government will be stepping in."

    He ended the call there.

    At this moment, inside the presidential suite that Brando was staying in, the lights were all off, and Brando had already transformed into a massive werewolf in the darkness. His seven eyes were glowing in unison, and he was seated on the sofa with his legs crossed. A wine ss was being gently swirled around in his hand, and Arlot was hanging upside from the ceiling. As Brando set down the phone, Arlot immediately asked, "How did it go?"

    "Everything is ready," Brando replied as he stood up before flexing his neck from side to side, making it crack audibly. "Let''s begin. It''s time to wee the big finale."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Brando crashed straight through the window before leaping outside.

    He rushed up along the smooth walls of the hotel, reaching the top of the hotel in what seemed like the blink of an eye before letting loose a long howl.

    His howl seemed to have awakened the darkness within Phdelphia, and countless wolf howls instantly rang out from all directions as one shadowy figure after another emerged from every corner of the city before rushing to the rooftops of the nearby buildings.

    "How rude." Inside the suit, Arlot shook his head with a resigned expression as he looked at the shattered remains of the window. He then bit into his own finger, and a drop of blood dripped down onto the ground.

    The ground rippled like water, and the drop of blood fell onto it inplete silence.

    One minute passed, then two minutes, and Arlot remained standing in the exact same posture.

    Three minutester, a burst of dazzling red light abruptly erupted forth!

    The burst of light erupted out of the suite, illuminating the entire hotel. One ancient rune after another appeared within the light, and as the light glowed with dazzling radiance, a signal was sent out to the entirety of Phdelphia as houses and streets lit up one after another.

    Right as these runes lit up, Qin Ye suddenly opened his eyes in the underworld.

    They''ve finally made their move!

    He then abruptly vanished on the spot, and three secondster, a man who was in his early thirties with a head of disheveled hair opened his eyes in a hotel room in Phdelphia.

    He had always had some reservations about Phdelphia, so the Spatial Spirit had been stationed here this entire time.

    He immediately made his way over to the window, then parted the curtains slightly before looking outside, upon which his pupils immediately contracted drastically.

    Countless runes had been inscribed all over the city of Phdelphia, but they had been concealed so well that even he had failed to detect them until after all of them had lit up.

    Waves of blood-red light were rippling through the air with the hotel at the center, and they were traveling so extremely quickly, rising up from Phdelphia straight up into the heavens!

    A gigantic red light barrier had appeared over Phdelphia like an all-epassing dome, and countless runes were shing on its surface, sealing the entire city.

    "Is this... Luby?" Qin Ye stared intently up at the sky through narrowed eyes. He had heard of this array before. It came from Hypnos, the Argosian god of sleep, and the array was capable of warding off all surveince and reconnaissance efforts. Furthermore, it forced all of the living beings epassed within the array to enter a state of slumber. So long as the array continued to stand, the state of slumber would also remain, and as a result, the array was also called "Eternal Slumber".

    The entirety of Phdelphia had fallen silent as if it were a city of the dead.

    Lights were still visible in countless houses in the city, but not a single sound could be heard.

    There were no meows or barks from cats and dogs, no chirping from insects, nor ring from car horns... Every single living being in the entire city had entered a state of slumber from which they couldn''t be roused until the array was removed.

    "Something big is about to happen in Phdelphia," he murmured to himself with a grim expression.

    Otherwise, why would they be going as far as to use Luby? What did they want to conceal from the public eye?

    Was this the root cause behind his concerns toward Phdelphia? In other words, was this why the four Dukes had remained here this entire time?

    Before he had a chance to think through the matter, countless dark clouds flew forth from the roof of the hotel before rushing into all of the houses into the city.

    He immediately lied back down in bed without any hesitation, then returned to the underworld.

    Those weren''t dark clouds, they were bats! Tens of thousands of bats!

    Those were all Arlot''s underlings! Not only were they using Luby, Arlot''s underlings had been deployed to conduct surveince over the entire city!

    As soon as Qin Ye returned to the underworld, he looked up with tightly furrowed brows and murmured to himself, "What exactly are they worried about?"

    He wasn''t sure whether these bats would be sensitive enough to be able to sense Yin energy fluctuations, but if he allowed them to get too close to his host before returning to the underworld, then there was a chance that he could be noticed.

    This was one of his hidden trump cards, and unveiling it here for no reason certainly wasn''t a good idea.

    However, what he was sure of was that there was definitely something in Phdelphia that he still hadn''t seen yet.

    Right at this moment, Benson rushed over to him, panting heavily as he reported with a serious expression, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, the Red Eagle Faction is on the move! ording to our sources from the east coast of the Usonian Underworld, the Red Eagle Navy is heading toward the west coast at full speed, led by Warlord Dalton and Warlord Erza. Behind them is a massive tsunami, which means that Kraken must be following them!"

    Is the final act finally about to begin? The next 24 hours will decide the final oue...

    Qin Ye took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then turned to Benson and instructed, "Take me to the Great Blue Hole Abyss right now!"

    Everything was ready and the show was about to begin.

    He had to arrive on the scene as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if he were even the slightest bitte, the grand script of death could be beyond his reach!

 Chapter 967: 10 Days (4)

    <h4>Chapter 967: 10 Days (4)</h4>

    The entirety of New Jersey was rumbling violently as boundless Yin energy erupted from the ground up into the sky, making it appear as if a ck screen had settled over heaven and earth. Qin Ye made no effort to conceal himself as he passed rapidly through the boundless Yin energy while Benson acted as his guide.

    Less than 10 minutes after he had flown through the area, a deafening roar rang out across the entire state. The closer Qin Ye drew to the Great Blue Hole Abyss,the louder the roar became, and it filled with fury, desire, and indignation.

    Just a little faster... Qin Ye was staring intently at the horizon in the distance. There, inky-ck Yin energy was already surging like a volcanic eruption. Layer upyer of dark Yin energy was rising up toward the heavens, dispersing all of the azure Yin energy of Limbo.

    The dark Yin energy epassed an area with a radius of several dozen kilometers, and countless monarch beasts were already rushing toward the area in a frenzy like sharks that had smelt blood. On the ground right behind Qin Ye, several monarch beasts were galloping along, rushing toward the sea with fric excitement in their eyes. Several more massive monarch beasts were already prowling the coastline, greedilypping up the pure underworld Yin energy seeping out of the Great Blue Hole Abyss.

    However, despite their burning desire to devour more Yin energy, none of the monarch beasts, including those that were capable of flight, dared to venture into the sea at all. Instead, they were all staring intently at the surface of the sea while greedily devouring Yin beasts from the coastline.

    There was something extremely terrifying there!

    They didn''t possess intelligence, but they did possess basic instincts, and their instincts told them that venturing into the sea at this moment would spell certain death for them!

    The pressure they were feeling came from a higher life form on apletely different level!

    At the same time, Qin Ye flew over the monarch beasts as a streak of light, then also stopped on the coastline while panting slightly.

    In the distance, Yin wind was howling violently, and a section of the sea was already bulging upward as if it were being forced up by some type of gigantic monster!

    The Yin energy was so powerful that thend on the coastline was beginning to crack, and right as all of the monarch beasts were retreating in an rmed fashion, a deafening roar abruptly rang out, following which hundreds of tentacles erupted out of the sea, sending boundless seawater flying up into the heavens.

    It was impossible to describe this scene with words.

    The tentacles seemed to conceal the entire sky, and it was as if several hundred mountains had risen up from the seabed while seawater fell in a torrential downpour.

    All of the monarch beasts instantly cried out in rm beforeying themselves t on the ground. A massive shadow that spanned a length of several dozen kilometers then emerged before grabbing toward the center with all its might amid a thunderous roar.

    It was an extremely astonishing sight, and the wind being swept up was so fierce that Qin Ye''s clothes were pping violently, even though he was standing kilometers away.

    Right at this moment, the bulge at the center of the sea reached the peak of its height, and a gargantuan pir of water erupted straight into the heavens!

    Benson''s legs gave out from under him at the sight of this phenomenal scene, and he would''ve fallen to his knees had Qin Ye not caught him. However, he didn''t even realize that Qin Ye was helping to keep him upright as he stared at the sky in a ck-jawed manner, watching as the enormous pir of water tore through Limbo before crashing down as a torrential storm.

    Is this what we have to face in battle? Is there really any chance for us to survive this?

    It could be clearly seen that there were countless ships rushing into the mortal realm within the pir of water. However, Qin Ye paid no heed to that and was instead staring intently at the surface of the sea. 10 seconds passed, then 20 seconds, then 30...

    The tentacles that had spread open like a blooming flower had already since returned to the sea. 40 secondster, another deafening roar rang out, and a figure that was several dozen kilometers in size rocketed up into the sky from within the sea. The Yin energy around it was so dense that it was impossible to make out the creature, and it was as if a dark moon had risen up from the depths.

    Boom!!

    Violent shockwaves crashed into the surface of the sea, instantly giving rise to tsunamis that were dozens of meters tall one after another. The tsunamis sent waves crashing in all directions, and it was as if a massive lotus flower were blooming on the sea, presenting a staggering sight that could take anyone''s breath away.

    For a full three minutes, Qin Ye stood in silence, watching the incredible storm taking ce in front of him. Layer uponyer of dark clouds were swirling in the sky as if the gates of hell were situated right above.

    Those who had never intercepted a grand script of death before would never be able to understand just how beneficial an experience it was. Furthermore, the involvement of Kraken on this asion further raised the stakes. If he could take Kraken back to the Cathayan Underworld, then it would be the seconding of Gui Xu!

    If it weren''t for these lofty stakes, he would''ve already left the continent right after obtaining Xu Fu''s notes.

    Seeing as I''ve decided to get involved, let me see this through to the very end! qhtoiqphetiqhewitqhoewqhtpoiewhtpiewqhtoiwqehtiwqhptq He gnashed his teeth together with a determined expression. There was no turning back now, and fortune always favored the brave!

    "Take your troops to the opening of the Yin Yang Mezzanine and prepare for battle!" he instructed as he turned to Benson with a serious look in his eyes. "Don''t do anything rash before you receive my signal!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Mortal realm, Cape May.

    The bell finally began to toll at midnight, and the followers of the White Religious Group, who had been silent and stagnant for several days, finally stood up.

    After several days of living out on the streets, one would think that they would be quite weary and dispirited, but their eyes were astonishingly bright as they made their way toward the coast in an orderly fashion.

    The seaside searchlights had already been switched on, illuminating the entire sea. Under the bright radiance of the searchlights, turbulent waves were rising up one after another before crashing onto the shore, sending sand, rocks, and shells flying in all directions.

    The crashing waves wet their robes and even their hair, yet no one was bothered by this as they stared intently at the sea while trembling uncontrobly from excitement. Countless followers had already brought their palms together and had knelt down in a devout fashion.

    By the decree of the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea, Death God Dax was going to perform a divine miracle by ying the demon of the sea. All of Dax''s followers would be able to witness this scene, as well as Dax''s divine nation.

    One person began to pray, and he was soon followed by tens of thousands of followers! Before long, a chorus of prayers had begun to ring out across the entire coastline.

    An elderly man was kneeling on the ground with his palms joined together in an extremely devout manner,pletely unbothered by the fact that he was kneeling on cold, wet sand. He would never forget that day, where he had encountered a storm out at sea. He thought that he was about to die, and he prayed with all his might to the gods, following which he was taken to the shore by a gentle breeze.

    After that, he discovered a flier in his boat, and he immediately decided to be a follower of the White Religious Group.

    There were countless other people just like him gathered here. They had all experienced things that couldn''t be exined by science, so they were absolutely confident that a divine miracle was going to take ce on this night, one that was going to be far more concrete and spectacr than the ambiguous miracles described in the bible.

    His slightly murky eyes were staring intently at the surface of the sea. 20 minutes quickly passed by, but he didn''t disy even the slightest hint of impatience. Shortly thereafter, his devout prayers suddenly drew to a halt.

    He wasn''t the only one, the voices of all of the tens of thousands of followers all over the coast had died down in this instant as they stared intently at the sea. Right there in the center of the sea, it was as if a brand new continent were rising up from the depth, causing the surface of the sea to bulge drastically upward.

    "My god..." The elderly man was rooted to the spot for a full five seconds before trembling as he rose to his feet. All of the followers could feel the fine hairs all over their bodies standing up on end as they stared at the sea with their mouths gaped wide open. The bulge at the center of the sea was bing more and more massive until finally, it exploded like a volcanic eruption of seawater!

    A pir of water that was several dozen kilometers in size erupted into the sky. Its size was ultimately finite, but in the eyes of normal humans, it was like a boundless spectacle that epassed the entire world!

    "This is the divine miracle..." The elderly man''s lips were trembling, and his hands were shaking so much that it was as if he were having a stroke. He immediately knelt down again as he yelled in a fervent voice, "This is the divine miracle! The divine miracle has begun!!"

    "This truly is a divine miracle!"

    "Almighty Death God Dax, your divine decree is about to be reality!"

    "You''ve never deceived your followers! You are the only true god that has ever existed! You are the only god in history who has performed a divine miracle!"

    "A god really does exist in this world!"

    Boom!! The seawater that had erupted into the sky came crashing back down like a gxy of stars, and at the same time, the screams and cheers of tion on the coast suddenly faded asplete silence descended upon the scene.

    All of the followers'' eyes widened in shock, and their entire bodies began to tremble uncontrobly. Countless followers had already sped their hands over their own mouths, and they had forgotten how to breathe as they looked on with astonishment etched on their faces.

    They were looking at a boundless fleet!

    Those were all ships from the Age of Discovery that belonged in museums!

    "My god..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    At the forefront of the fleet, the three death gods of the Caribbean were standing at the bow of their ship, breathing heavily with excitement. Behind them was their mighty fleet, and on either side of them were the Red Eagle Navy and the ck Shirt Navy.

    They were situated several hundred meters away from the coastline, making them visible to their followers, but not clearly visible. Leoric was thoroughly basking in the sensation of being worshiped by tens of thousands of followers.

    Once I be a death god, I''ll be able to leave a glorious legacy in the mortal realm...

    However, it wasn''t the time to be thinking about things like that!

    Dalton was standing on the ship at the forefront of the Red Eagle Navy''s fleet, while the warlord of the ck Shirt Navy, Orel, was also standing at the front of his fleet with his hands resting on the rapier that was propped in front of him.

    The Yin energy behind them was being buffeted by the fierce sea wind, as were their clothes, but neither of them took a single backward step.

    Everyone could sense that a gargantuan creature was currently rushing toward them in a frenzy from down below!

    It was time for the grand finale to unfold!

    "Come on..." Leoric took a deep breath as he clenched his fists tightly. "This is my time!"

    Amid the deathly silence, he could hear the sound of his own violently thumping heart. All of the actors had already gathered under the limelight, and all that was left was for him, the protagonist, to take the stage.

    In the next instant, several dozen gigantic tentacles abruptly extended out of the sea amid a resounding boom!

    "My god!!" All of the people on the coastline instantly erupted into a raucousmotion upon seeing this.

    The sea monster in the divine prophecy had appeared!

    It was downright unfathomable to them that such a gargantuan monster could truly exist in this world!

    This was the first time that Kraken had appeared in the mortal realm, yet it had no intention of doing any sightseeing. It could sense that right up ahead was the heart that it had been pursuing for over a year! The fleet up ahead had led it on an epic chase across the world, and the prize was finally within reach!

    Devouring the heart would make it the true ruler of the sea! Anyone that stood in its way had to die, including this fleet of several hundred ships!

    Several dozen mountainous tentacles crashed violently toward the ships up ahead amid an earth-shattering roar, yet they were met by countless projectiles fired by Yin energy cannons!

    "Fire!! Fire as quickly as you can!!!" Dalton roared frantically. Balls of crimson fire were being sted out of the cannons behind him, then shot forth toward the oing gigantic tentacles like a torrential storm.

    Countless balls of blue and green mes exploded in the sky, creating a dazzling line of fire above the sea in the night. That spectacr scene, along with the enraged roars of the Kraken, heralded the beginning of the grand script of death''s final act!

 Chapter 968: Battle For Godhood (1)

    <h4>Chapter 968: Battle For Godhood (1)</h4>

    The underworld was still in the so-called cold weapon era. There were cannons, but the current firearms weren''t very useful. After one round of fire, it would often take half a day of cooldown before the weapons could be fired again, so they were far more useful for intimidation than for practical battle.

    The several hundred ships on the sea were firing their cannons in unison, and half of the sea was illuminated a fiery red color, presenting a spectacr sight to behold. A thunderous roar of fury rang out as countless balls of dazzling mes erupted all over Kraken''s mountainous body.

    Even though it was only a single round of cannon fire, a collective bombardment from so many warships at once still produced an incredible amount of destructive power. Even the mighty Kraken was unable to bring its tentacles down in the face of the cannon fire and was forced back by the force of the explosions, crashing heavily into the sea to send massive waves rising up in all directions.

    The cannon firested for a full minute, and ming cannonballs rained down in a torrential downpour. Thick smoke wafted over the surface of the sea like a cloud of mist, and Leoric was standing at the bow of ships. His fingers had already dug into the railing that he was holding onto, and his teeth were grinding together audibly due to excessive tension and adrenaline as he stared intently into the mist.

    He wasn''t the only one. Dalton, Orel, Erza, all of the other Marquesses... Everyone had their attention focused on the cloud of mist, while the sailors behind them were frantically reloading the cannons and waiting for the barrels to cool down sufficiently for the next round of fire.

    This was only the opening salvo.

    Kraken was one of the six kings of the underworld, an extremely formidable being even among death gods, and it was ridiculous to think that it could be felled by just a single round of cannon fire. However, why had it suddenly be so subdued?

    In fact, it wasn''t just subdued, the entire scene had be deathly silent.

    The turbulent sea was reflecting the countless ships gathered here, and aside from the sound of crashing waves, there was no other sound to be heard at all. It was as if the gargantuan Kraken had simply vanished into the mist.

    Leoric''s heart was thumping like a jackhammer, and every single part of his soul was tense and on-edge. His upper body was inclined forward as he stared directly at the surface of the sea, frantically trying to spot the enormous Kraken, and wisps of Yin energy were seeping out unconsciously through the gaps between his tightly gritted teeth.

    He could clearly sense that Kraken''s terrifying Yin energy hadn''t been weakened in the slightest. Instead, it was rapidly converging likeva right before a volcanic eruption.

    All of a sudden, thousands of golden eyes lit up in unison within the inky-ck sea amid the deathly silence. It was like seeing a starry night sky, except it was in the sea!

    It was scenes like this that acted as inspiration for the most awe-inspiring and terrifying of nightmares.

    Every single person felt as if they were facing the starry night sky alone. It was an extremely beautiful sight to behold, but it evoked within the beholder nothing more than a sense of sheer horror that welled up from the deepest parts of their hearts.

    It''sing... Theherfire in Dalton''s eyes were flickering erratically as he gripped tightly onto the railing of his ship, and his throat had runpletely dry.

    How long had it been since he had been struck by this type of feeling, the feeling of dancing on a knife''s edge between life and death?

    Risk and reward truly came hand in hand. In order to be a god, one had to transcend beyond a god!

    Amid the tense silence, the sound of violently gushing water rang out from the sea again as one tentacle after another was raised up into the sky. There were even more tentacles on this asion than during thest attack, and immediately thereafter, whiteherfire was ignited upon the tips of the tentacles before they came crashing down like mountains toward the fleet amid an earth-shattering roar!

    Kraken was going all-out here!

    Never had anyone dared to provoke it like this during its entire life!

    "Fire!!" Theherfire in Leoric''s eyes instantly contracted drastically at the sight of the gigantic tentacles concealing the entire sky.

    As the order was issued, a thick metal chain shot out of the bows and sides of all of the ships, and all of these chains were tipped with sharp triangr spears. At the same time, more chains emerged from the sides of the ships, instantly connecting all of the ships as one. Meanwhile, all of the spear-tipped chains pierced urately into the iling tentacles in the sky as if they had eyes to guide them.

    None of the followers on the beach knew what material these chains were constructed from, nor how they were being propelled, but they were somehow able to force back Kraken''s tentacles a little, and Kraken let loose a roar of disbelief upon seeing this.

    However, their resistance proved to be futile in the end.

    In the next instant, a massive tsunami erupted over the surface of the sea, striking several dozen ships at once. However, in the instant that the ships were struck by the devastating waves, countless peculiar runes appeared on their surfaces. As a result, a protective barrier appeared around the ships, preventing those mountainous tentacles froming into direct contact with them.

    Despite this, there was no way to nullify the immense power behind the tentacles!

    The most fearsome thing about Kraken wasn''t its arts. In fact, it barely had any arts in its repertoire. Instead, the most terrifying thing about it was its sheer size.

    Of course, having such a massive body often proved to be quite inconvenient, but on the battlefield, particrlyrge-scale marine battlefields like this one, it was the undisputed king!

    Kraken could sense that its tentacles hadn''t actually struck the ships, but instead of pulling back, thick veins began to bulge on every single one of its tentacles as it exerted even more force to try and break through the defenses with brute strength alone!

    Leoric''s ship was at the forefront of his fleet, and most of it was pressed into the sea, causing even the deck to bepletely submerged, much to his rm and horror. Above the protective barrier around the ship, one could clearly see the giant suction disks on Kraken''s tentacles squirming violently, and the protective barrier began to creak and groan audibly as if it were going to shatter at any time.

    "Increase your Yin energy output! Do you want to die here?!" he turned around as he frantically yelled while the entire ship swayed like a leaf within a storm. "Increase your Yin energy output, damn it!! We have to withstand this!! We are the death gods who are going to stand at the pinnacle of this entire world! How can we be killed by a monster like this?! We are the hunters, not the prey!!"

    Everyone was aware that it would be nothing short of suicidal to be holding back at a time like this, and bright blue light began to glow from every single one of te metal chains. Through thebined efforts of the hundreds of interconnected ships, they were able to withstand this devastating attack from Kraken!

    On the shore, all of the followers werepletely dumbfounded.

    This was the sea monster mentioned in the divine prophecy? How was it so powerful?! It was fighting on even terms with the divine envoys sent down by their god! No, in fact, it was gaining a slight upper hand!

    An elderly man fell to his knees with a dull thump and began to pray with all his might. Countless followers quickly followed suit and joined their hands in devout prayer.

    Prior to witnessing this scene, they had been full of anticipation and excitement, hoping with all their might that the divine decree woulde true.

    Only after witnessing the divine decree unfold did theye to realize just how mysterious and perilous the world of the gods was. Even bystanders like them could sense the terrifying power surging through the sea at this moment.

    One tentacle after another rose up from the depths, flinging an enormous amount of seawater up into the sky. Kraken''s countless golden eyes blinked in a slightly dazed manner, as if it were surprised that these ants had managed to withstand an attack from it.

    Orel was panting heavily as he gripped onto the hilt of his rapier with his right hand with all his might. The rapier had already been stabbed into the deck of his ship, and only then was he able to prevent himself from being flung away by the force of the previous impact. At this moment, boundless seawater was receding all around him, and his entire ship had almost been submerged just now, but it had risen to the surface again. Looking around as his familiar ship and crew, he felt as if he had been given a new lease on life.

    We''ve survived the attack of a death god! We¡¯ve weathered the storm, and it''s our turn now!

    A bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face as he looked up at Kraken, even as he was still panting heavily. In order to bring down Kraken, they had prepared painstakingly and extensively. No matter how powerful Kraken was, it was still just a wild beast with no intelligence!

    "Attack!" He pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his own face with, only to find that the handkerchief was already soaking wet. He tossed it aside as he stood at the bow of his ship amid the mountainous waves, then pulled out his rapier and pointed it at Kraken from afar as he yelled with all his might, "Brave warriors of the ck Shirt Navy, attack!"

    "Everyone..." At the bow of the ck Pearl, Leoric was holding a skeletal warhammer with its sharp tip pointed directly at Kraken as his clothes pped violently in the fierce wind.

    His voice was filled with fanaticism and excitement, as well as an indescribable sense of anticipation and desire.

    He knew that with Kraken''s enormous body, its main weakness would be itsck of agility. It would take at least several minutes for signals to be sent to its brain through its nerves, and that was the main thing that they had in their favor.

    "Some people have called us lowly maggots! Some people say we''re not worthy of speaking on the world stage, and that no matter what we do, we''ll only be puppets of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa in the end."

    Countless Yin soldiers were already standing behind him on the ship with scorchingherfire burning in their eyes.

    "But I say no to that!! No one is lowly forever! We are going to make everyone see us through new eyes and make Usonia great again!! Attack!!"

    With that thunderous roar, countless Yin spirits rose up into the air from all of the ships. Through the use of some type of art, ck wings of Yin energy appeared on their backs as they rushed forward, taking them higher and higher up into the sky, making it appear as if a flock of countless crows had surrounded Kraken!

    All of Kraken''s golden eyes dimmed slightly, immediately following which massive tsunamis erupted rapidly in all directions.

    However, right as this happened, bursts of golden light began to emanate from the bodies of all of the Yin soldiers, giving them the appearance of holy angels or countless miniature suns.

    This was a military formation at work!

    "For the new age!!" someone roared, and in the next instant, all of the glowing Yin soldiers plummeted from the sky like a golden meteor shower, giving the entire sea a bright golden hue.

    This was the divine miracle that the followers had been promised!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It seemed to have taken all of Leoric''s energy to deliver that address, and he sped a hand over his own chest as he fell to one knee on the deck of his ship. At the same time, two figures appeared beside him.

    They were the other two death gods of the Caribbean.

    "Do we strike now?" the blond death god asked with a grim expression. "The Red Eagle Navy and ck Shirt Navy are willing to help us, but they won''t be willing to continue to lend us their assistance if things get any worse than this. They want to escape from the control of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa but don''t want to defect to any of the current death gods, so we''re only coborating temporarily with them."

    She looked up at the sky before continuing, "With the forces that we currently have at our disposal, even with the Four Winds Military Formation, we don''t have enough firepower to y Kraken. This is our trump card, and the disy we''ve put on is already enough to convince our followers that they''re witnessing a divine miracle, so we should begin wrapping things up now. If we keep dragging this on, the losses we''ll suffer will be far too severe!"

    Leoric took a deep breath before turning to face Kraken with a determined expression.

    "Alright."

    He rose to his feet again as he dered, "Let me put an end to all of this!"

 Chapter 969: Battle For Godhood (2)

    <h4>Chapter 969: Battle For Godhood (2)</h4>

    After making his decision, Leoric gritted his teeth and pulled a hollow golden box out of his pocket. He then took a deep breath and cast his gaze toward Kraken before opening the box.

    A streak of silver light immediately shot up into the heavens, then exploded like resplendent fireworks in the sky.

    Orel, Dalton, and Erza immediately turned their attention toward the explosion of silver light in the sky. They knew that the appearance of this signal would herald the conclusion of everything.

    The grand script of death that had been ongoing for over a century was going to draw to an end here.

    "From now on, I will be the only death god in the Caribbean Sea!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the same time, Qin Ye also saw this signal from the underworld.

    The situation in Cape May was very chaotic, but it was also quite simple and straightforward.

    The followers were gathered on the shore, witnessing this supposed divine miracle, and the three death gods of the Caribbean Sea were refraining from unleashing their trump card from the get-go so this scene could forever be engraved into the minds of their followers. They were prolonging this "divine miracle" to show everyone that the god they were worshiping truly existed, and only then would the followers bepletely devout to this new religion following the ying of Kraken.

    With a base of followers, they would have a foundation, and over the course of time, it wouldn''t be impossible for them to develop a brand new religion.

    "Yama-King Qin!" Benson called out in an urgent voice.

    They were currently standing atop the peak of a pyramid with hundreds of Yin energy screens all around them, disying the perspectives of all of the Yin spirits they had sent to Cape May and Phdelphia. Just as Qin Ye had anticipated, the opposition had made no effort to exterminate the Yin spirits in the two cities. Over the course of history, countless Yin spirits of native Usonians and new Usonians had gathered here, making it far too costly and time-consuming to exterminate all of them.

    Thus, none of the Yin spirits they had sent to the two cities had been harmed.

    Qin Ye shook his head as he quickly swept his gaze over the Yin energy screens around him. "They won''t be able tost much longer. With the forces that they''ve gathered, there''s no way they''ll be a match for Kraken! They''ll only be able tost one more hour at most, which means that they must y Kraken within this hour or face certain defeat!"

    They were challenging a god, and as such, there was always the risk of being defeated.

    Benson''s brows were tightly furrowed as he said, "That re they just set off should be a request for reinforcements. Are we still not going to act, Yama-King Qin?"

    "No!" Qin Ye immediately replied. The higher the stakes, the clearer his mind functioned. All of his tension, anticipation, and excitement worked to fuel his concentration as his gaze skimmed rapidly over one Yin energy screen after another. "Where are their reinforcementsing from? The only trump card they have that''s capable of killing Kraken is the Spear of Longinus, which means that this request for reinforcements is going to lead to the arrival of the Spear of Longinus on the battlefield!"

    Where is it going to be? Where will it attack from? How will it attack?

    Those are the things that he had to think about, and he definitely couldn''t afford to strike prematurely here. For the three death gods of the Caribbean and the Freemasonry, this act was drawing to a conclusion, but for him, it was only just beginning.

    He was frantically trying to track down the Spear of Longinus, but there were too many screens in front of him, and he didn''t know where to start.

    Every single one of these screens had the potential to hold the scene that he was looking for. All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he abruptly turned his gaze toward the collection of screens depicting the city of Phdelphia.

    Is it here?

    As soon as he turned his attention there, his eyes immediately lit up, and he quickly expanded one of the screens.

    That particr screen was depicting a church in Phdelphia.

    Having done his homework on the city of Phdelphia, Qin Ye immediately identified the church to be Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church.

    It was situated on the outskirts of the city and was a rather obscure church with lush greenery all around it. However, at this moment, all of the canopies of the trees around the church were burning withherfire in the night!

    To the left, a series of dark shadows were hidden among the trees, while to the right, there were countless ck shadows hanging from the branches.

    It was an extremely ominous and forbidding sight.

    Qin Ye continued to inspect the image with an intense gaze, and he discovered that there were two figures situated at the top of two tall buildings on either side of the church.

    On the left was Brando, who was seated on arge chair. He had already taken on his werewolf form and there was a cigar in his mouth. He seemed to be seated in a very casual and leisurely fashion, but his seven blood-red eyes remained firmly fixed on the church.

    On the left was a half-bat, half-human being, standing atop the roof of an apartment building like a stone statue. Countless bats were flying around him like dark clouds, surveying the surrounding area.

    "The two Dukes have situated themselves at Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church... Why is that?" Qin Ye murmured to himself with a thoughtful expression. "The three death gods of the Caribbean are battling Kraken, yet not only have the two Dukes not gone to reinforce them, they''re protecting this church instead. Why are they doing that? What in Phdelphia could be worthy of the presence of these two Dukes?"

    He watched the Yin energy screen with an intense gaze as he continued to murmur to himself, "It has to be something even more important than the battle unfolding at Cape May!"

    What could it be?

    The most important thing unfolding in Cape May was the disy of the divine miracle, and the only thing more important than that had to be... the Spear of Longinus!

    Everything suddenly clicked in his mind as a sh of enlightenment surfaced in his eyes.

    He had never been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong, and he finally understood what the problem was now.

    "The Spear of Longinus must pierce into the body of a death god in order to y it. However, I''ve been under a false assumption this entire time... Perhaps the spear doesn''t have to be held by someone. Perhaps it can be pierced into Kraken''s body through some other means given the right opportunity!"

    He stared intently at the image on the screen, and his breathing began to elerate. In the image, both Brando and Arlot looked up into the sky in unison. With their eyesight, they were naturally able to clearly see the silver re in the distance.

    In the next instant, the gates of the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church slowly opened, and boundless holy light spilled out from within the church.

    A person was standing within the holy light like a golden angel.

    It was Cardinal Fernando!

    He was wearing a giant box on his back, and behind him was a massive arcuballista!

    "The spear can be used as an arrow!" Qin Ye eximed.

    "There are two battlefields, one of which is in Phdelphia, while the other one is in Cape May. The battle taking ce in Cape May is attracting everyone''s attention, and they''re taking advantage of that to fire the Spear of Longinus from Phdelphia, passing over New Jersey to deliver a lethal blow to Kraken in Dware Bay! No one could''ve anticipated that the Spear of Longinus would be in Phdelphia rather than Cape May..."

    He cast his gaze toward Benson, and Benson seemed to have sensed his gaze as he looked back at Qin Ye.

    He ced a hand on Benson''s shoulder as he said in an urgent voice, "Send your troops to Cape May right now and help Kraken hold on at all cost!!"

    Benson closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. "Don''t forget your promise."

    This was their final struggle. For the sake of survival and a better future, they were going to make a final stand.

    Goosebumps had been raised all over his entire body, and even he didn''t know whether he was excited or scared. He made his way over to the pyramid, then raised a hand as he called out, "Brave warriors!!"

    All of the Yin soldiers of the resistance army had already gathered at the foot of the pyramid and were eagerly waiting for battle.

    "For our future, for our family and friends, for survival, I need all of you right now!"

    His voice began to shake with emotion as he continued, "Perhaps we won''t be able toe back, but we now have the chance to fight for the survival of our people! My brothers, my friend,e with me!!"

    He shot forth as a streak of light, heading directly toward the Yin Yang Mezzanine up above.

    As he rushed up into the sky, the Yin soldiers down below let loose a thunderous collective war cry, and theherfire in their eyes was flickering erratically.

    It was finally time to bring their lives in this bleak purgatory to an end. This was the goal that they had been striving for all along, and they were willing to sacrifice their all for it!

    Countless streaks of light erupted all around the pyramid, rising up into the heavens like a reverse waterfall of radiance.

    Not far away, all of the surviving Yin spirits of the resistance army were gathered, and they were knelt down on the ground, praying devoutly with all their might, hoping for the light of day to finally pierce through the night.

    Qin Ye''s robes were pping incessantly by the wind swept up by the rising streaks of light, but he paid no heed to that as he turned his gaze back toward the screen.

    He couldn''t afford to strike recklessly here.

    His forces were far inferior to the opposition''s forces, so if he were going to strike, he had to make sure to make it count.

    However, even after learning the fact that the Spear of Longinus was going to be fired from Phdelphia, there was still a lingering issue, which was that there were four Dukes currently in Phdelphia.

    They were Fernando, Brando, Arlot, and an unknown being.

    Qin Ye was certainly nowhere near as powerful as the second King Yanluo, so if he wanted to take the Spear of Longinus from them, he had to lure them out.

    There''s no way they''ll continue to sit around idly here given the urgent situation in Cape May! Kraken may be unable to kill the tens of thousands of Yin soldiers it''s up against in the short time, given that they have the assistance of a military formation, but what if Kraken is being assisted by the resistance army with the Wumu Military Formation at their disposal?

    The bnce would be instantly tipped in Kraken''s favor, and one of the four Dukes in Phdelphia would be forced to provide reinforcements!

    Meanwhile, all he had to do was prevent theunching of the Spear of Longinus. If he could do that, then the death gods of the Caribbean, the Red Eagle Navy, and the ck Shirt Navy would be doomed against Kraken!

    No one knew what was happening in the underworld, and in the image depicting Phdelphia, Fernando was walking along up ahead, while a friar in a tattered linen robe was following along behind them. They were followed by hundreds of reverends and priests, all of whom were standing around the arcuballista.

    This was a massive arcuballista that was around the same size as the church, and it was constructed entirely from gold. Fernando took a deep breath before opening the box on his back in a careful manner, revealing a rusty spear sitting at the center of the box.

    He ced the spear onto the arcuballista in a respectful manner, then sliced open his own arm and allowed his blood to drip onto the spear. In the next instant, all of the rust on the surface of the entire spear slowly fell away, following which bursts of dazzling golden light erupted from it, and it was aimed directly at Cape May!

 Chapter 970: Battle For Godhood (3)

    <h4>Chapter 970: Battle For Godhood (3)</h4>

    Cape May.

    A violent storm was raging over the sea, and Kraken''s tentacles were thrashing about violently, sweeping up waves with devastating destructive power. The seawater being flung up by its tentacles were like countless lethal bullets, and there were Yin soldiers perishing and falling out of the sky with each passing second.

    However, even more Yin soldiers were rising up into the sky to rece their fallenrades, and they were stubbornly avoiding direct battle. Instead, they were wielding bows and shooting arrows at Kraken from afar. These arrows had clearly been specially treated somehow, as evidenced by the fact that they were able to pierce through Kraken''s incredibly thick and hard skin.

    Kraken was bing more and more agitated and furious by the second. These attacks were nowhere near lethal, but they were extremely annoying. It was like being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. pping them away was a futile and vexing endeavor, but they couldn''t be ignored, either, as you would end up with mosquito bites all over your body.

    In this instance, its enormous body was working to its detriment, and due to itsck of intelligence, its attention waspletely drawn to the countless pesky Yin soldiers around it. Its tentacles were rising and falling over and over again, sending massive tsunamis surging in all directions, but not much substantial damage was being dealt.

    Having said that, its massive body was a dual-edged sword. It was extremely slow and cumbersome, but at the same time, every attack it unleashed covered a massive area, making one feel as if the entire sky were falling upon them with each attack that they faced.

    Even the slightest contact with one Kraken''s hundreds of iling tentacles would spell instant death for the victim. There were 20,000 to 30,000 Yin soldiers flying around Kraken like butterflies, but their numbers were rapidly diminishing.

    Leoric gnashed his teeth together viciously, and his skeletal face was twisted with fury and urgency. The railing was pulverized by his death grip as he roared, "Where are the Dukes from the Freemasonry? Why haven''t they stepped in yet?! Are they dead?!"

    Inky-ck Yin energy was seeping out from the gaps between his teeth, and theherfire in his eyes had turned a fiery-red color. "Are they waiting for all of our soldiers to die before they make a move? I should''ve known that they would screw us over like this!"

    "Calm down!" The blond skeleton beside him grabbed firmly onto his shoulder as she yelled, "Have you gone insane?! We have no choice but to rely on them, and they don''t stand to gain anything by betraying us! On top of that, the Spear of Longinus takes at least half an hour to set up, so we can''t expect them to act so quickly!"

    Dead silence.

    Several secondster, Leoric swatted her hand in an impatient manner. "I know that..."

    Countless falling Yin soldiers were being reflected in theherfire in his eyes, and his heart throbbed with pain with each soldier that fell out of the sky. "But if things continue like this, even if we manage to attain godhood, we won''t have any troops left to fight for us!"

    Half an hour felt like an eternity to them, but all they could do was wait.

    A massive price had to be expended in order to kill a god, and it was a sacrifice that had to be made, no matter how painful it was.

    Right at this moment, Leoric''s mouth suddenly gaped open as he abruptly turned his gaze back toward Cape May. He wasn''t the only one, the three death gods of the Caribbean, Dalton, Erza, and Orel had all turned back in unison with astonished looks in their eyes.

    Cape May wasn''t a veryrge city, yet at this moment, an army of around 10,000 troops had silently appeared on the rooftops of all of the buildings in the city.

    These were also Yin soldiers, but they definitely weren''t here to help them!

    Furthermore, all of these Yin soldiers were wielding bows and were aimed directly at the center of the sea!

    "No..." Leoric looked at the army on the rooftops, then turned back to look at Kraken with a dazed expression. An indescribable sense of horror gripped his heart like a vice, and in the next instant, he frantically rushed out like a madman. "NO!!!"

    That army is here on someone else''s orders! But how could this be?!

    He was met by a storm of countless arrows.

    Leoric''s Yin energy erupted in a frenzy, and his white hair rose up all around him as bright red marks appeared all over his deathly pale skin. His Marquess level Yin energy formed a dark cloud to oppose the arrows, and at the same time, he roared, "Akana, Zerens, hurry up and help me!!"

    The other two death gods of the Caribbean had already risen up into the sky before Leoric had even called for assistance, and they frantically rushed over to Leoric before joining their Yin energy with his, forming a massive wall of dense Yin energy.

    If they could seed here, then they were going to be death gods, but death gods had to have territories, and territories had to be ruled over by troops.

    If all of their troops were dead, then their titles as death gods would bepletely pointless and hollow!

    Theoretically speaking, there was no way that arrows shot by normal Yin soldiers should be able to pass through the collective Yin energy of three Marquesses, but in the instant that the arrows came into contact with their Yin energy, they managed to immediately pass through, punching countless holes into the wall of Yin energy before screeching through the air.

    The three death gods faltered slightly upon seeing this, and half a secondter, a string of anguished howls rang out behind them as they immediately swung around with horrified expressions.

    They were greeted by the sight of... nothing!

    There were tens of thousands of Yin soldiers around Kraken just a moment ago, yet they had been instantly cleared away, leaving only several hundred wounded Yin soldiers frantically flying away in retreat.

    Prior to this, they were still able to evade Kraken''s attacks fairly well, but there was no way for them to dodge the surprise attack from Cape May. As such, they were either felled by the arrows or swatted into oblivion by Kraken''s tentacles while attempting to evade the arrows.

    "Are those demons?!" The followers werepletely immersed in this epic battle, and they all turned back with disbelief in their eyes, incredulous that someone would dare to attack the army of a death god!

    The silence that had settled over the city of Cape May was so absolute that even a pin drop could be heard.

    "How dare you?!" Leoric''s mind was instantly ovee by fury. As a Marquess, he was capable of disying extraordinarily fast bursts of explosive speed, and he instantly rushed over to the archers, thereby allowing him to catch a clear glimpse of the intruders.

    This is the resistance army! Why are they here, and why are they trying to foil my ns?

    After a brief stunned stupor, heshed with burning fury.

    He didn''t care about their reasons or motives, they had to die for dealing such a heavy blow to his army!

    Just as Leoric was stunned by this sudden turn of events, the other two Caribbean death gods were also caughtpletely off guard. In their mind, such heavy losses would only be eptable once Kraken was dead, yet in this situation, the losses had already been suffered before the firing of the Spear of Longinus! From here onward, they were going to have to keep Kraken upied for another half an hour, and they didn''t even dare to imagine the losses that would be incurred during that time!

    The attacks from the three Marquesses arrived virtually inplete unison, and they were so enraged that they weren''t holding back in the slightest. In the face of their devastating power, the space before them was torn apart, following which a resounding boom that shook the entire city of Cape May rang out.

    After unleashing that all-out attack, Leoric didn''t even take another nce at the resistance army before turning to leave. However, he had only just turned around when he abruptly stiffened and turned back in a wooden manner to stare at the rooftops of Cape May inplete disbelief.

    His expression was mirrored on the faces of Akana and Zerens. Their astonishment stemmed from the fact that the resistance army had survived! They were all panting heavily as they bunched together in a tight formation, but the fact of the matter was that they had withstood the attacks of the three Marquesses!

    How was this possible?!

    The three death gods of the Caribbean were at aplete loss, yet they didn''t have time to think or react as in the next second, thousands of arrows had been aimed directly at them.

    "Fire!!" Benson was standing at the forefront of the resistance army, and all of his Yin energy was churning violently. Never did he think that there woulde a day when his army would be able to withstand the attacks of three Marquesses!

    Was this the power of the Wumu Military Formation?

    The arrows shot forth like a torrential storm, and the bodies of the three Marquesses flickered in a wraith-like manner as they evaded all of the arrows.

    However, they were stunned by the fact that these arrows had caused them pain!

    How had these arrows fired by normal Yin soldiers manage to cause them pain?!

    "Is this... a top-tier military formation?!" Leoric took an involuntary step backward, and right at this moment, a burst of blue light suddenly erupted above their heads.

    They reflexively disintegrated into Yin energy and scattered in retreat while the burst of blue light split the entirety of Cape May into two! The three death gods of the Caribbean drew a collective sharp breath upon seeing this, and they immediately turned their attention back to the sea.

    As a result, they were greeted by an unforgettable sight that chilled them to the bone.

    The giant figure in the sea had raised around a dozen tentacles, and the tips of those tentacles were glowing with blue light that was erupting forth in a frenzy. In the wake of the blue light, the sea was parted, and even the protective barriers around the fleets were groaning with strain.

    Kraken didn''t possess intelligence, but its instincts were enough to tell it who were its enemies and who were its allies.

    The resistance army had created this opportunity, and it had grabbed this opportunity to turn the area in a radius of several dozen kilometers around it into a living hell!

    Leoric waspletely rooted to the spot, stunned by this abrupt turn of events, and he immediately realized the predicament that he was in.

    If he wanted to keep Kraken upied, then he would have to oppose it in person. He would be assisted by all of the remaining Yin soldiers from the joint fleet, so under normal circumstances, they would be able to stall Kraken for some time.

    However, the presence of the resistance army changed everything. They were nothing more than measly maggots, but in this situation, they had be a thorn in his side!

    If the Yin soldiers were to attack Kraken, they would be met by another barrage of arrows, and the most frustrating thing to him was that he couldn''t wipe out these maggots in a short time!

    He really was caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    If things were to continue like this, they wouldn''t even be able tost half an hour!

    How had things be like this? Where had this top-tier military formatione from?

    Countless questions surfaced in his mind, and a sense of growing urgency and panic welled up in his heart as he turned to Akana before instructing in a trembling voice, "Call for reinforcements... Call for reinforcements from Phdelphia right away!! Tell Brando and Arlot that if they still want toplete the deal, then get their fucking asses over here to help us!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the underworld, Yin energy was revolving all around Qin Ye. He had already primed himself into the best condition and was ready to strike at any time.

    He knew exactly what his role was here.

    He was like a sheathed dagger, and he had to find the right opportunity to enter the fray. What his objective was now was to defeat the guardian of the Spear of Longinus.

    If Benson held up his end of the deal and fought all-out with his troops, then the Cape May battlefield would descend intoplete chaos, upon which Kraken would be a massive threat. Once the three death gods of the Caribbean found themselves in dire straits and requested reinforcements, an opportunity would open itself up for him to strike!

    In the image that he was staring intently into, the Spear of Longinus was already glowing with dazzling golden light as true energy gushed into it from all directions.

    The golden light was bing brighter and brighter, and the blue Yin energy threads extending out of fingertips were stretched taut as sweat began to bead up on his forehead.

    He didn''t know how much longer it would take for the Spear of Longinus to be fired, nor did he know whether Benson had achieved the oue that he wanted to see over at Cape May.

    However, he was only going to wait five more minutes before striking, regardless of whether any of the Dukes left Phdelphia.

    Right at this moment, he suddenly noticed Brando standing up in the Yin energy screen, and he was holding a messenger bird!

 Chapter 971: Battle For Godhood (4)

    <h4>Chapter 971: Battle For Godhood (4)</h4>

    In this instant, Qin Ye''s Yin energy erupted forth violently. He was so worked up that he didn''t even have the spare mental capacity to continue retraining his own Yin energy.

    Is the opportunity finally here? He stared intently at the screen, watching as Brando casually brought the messenger bird to his ears, watching as the messenger bird delivered its message, then continued watching as a grim look suddenly appeared on Brando''s face.

    Qin Ye was clenching his fists so vigorously that his joints were cracking audibly, and his throat had runpletely dry. His piercing gaze remained focused intently on the screen as he watched Brando''s every move.

    In the image, Brando raised a hand to release the messenger bird, then finally stood up from his throne-like chair on the rooftop before turning to Arlot on the rooftop across the street.

    Through the movement of his lips, Qin Ye could see what he was saying: "The three death gods are urgently requesting reinforcements, I''ll go to Cape May right away."

    In this moment, Qin Ye''s concentration was so absolute that he had gained the ability to read lips!

    After that, he couldn''t tell what Brando was saying anymore.

    Blood had rushed rapidly into his brain, causing his ears to ring incessantly and even his nose had begun to heat up. His fingers were trembling slightly as he stroked the Yin energy screen, and several secondster, he closed his eyes before taking a deep breath.

    He wasn''t allowing himself to set his hopes too high. He had made all of the preparations that he was capable of, but the odds had always been stacked against him, and he was striving to seed but prepared to fail.

    The power of worship from this grand script of death was like a delectable piece of meat hanging right in front of him, and he simply wouldn''t be able to live with himself if he didn''t even make an attempt to intercept it.

    Furthermore, there was also the prospect of securing Kraken, which would be the perfect living fortress to bolster the Cathayan Underworld''s naval defenses and act as a great solution to the problem that the Cathayan Underworld was facing with the uing international conference that it had to hold.

    Thankfully, luck was on his side this time.

    "Since when did I be so ambitious?" Heid a hand onto his own face, which was red with excitement, as he murmured to himself, "I really have been ruined by the second King Yanluo and Arthis..."

    He took a moment to calm himself, but didn''t immediately set off. Brando had only just left the scene, so if he were to strike too quickly, Brando would immediately turn around.

    With that in mind, he decided to keep waiting for a little longer.

    The timing of his strike had to be perfect, and that required immense patience and rity of mind.

    In the Yin energy screen, boundless radiance from all over the city of Phdelphia was converging toward the Spear of Longinus, making it glow with incandescent light like a sun in the night.

    On the rooftop, Arlot drifted forward and appeared at the center of the street like a stone statue. Behind him was the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church, and countless bats were flying around him, surrounding him in a hellish veil.

    He had alreadypletely taken on his vampire form, giving him the hideous upper body of a bat, and his huge nostrils moved slightly as he flicked out his tongue to lick his own lips. Even a vastly experienced old monster like him couldn''t help but experience an elevated heart rate at a time like this.

    "How long has it been since I''ve felt such fierce anticipation?" He gently spread open his wings as he murmured to himself, "But why can''t I shake this nagging feeling of unease?"

    At the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church, Fernando suddenly raised an eyebrow before opening his eyes. Friar Owen also opened his eyes virtually the exact same moment, and both of them turned their attention toward the night sky.

    In that instant, both of them could sense that there seemed to be someone watching them from within the darkness of the night.

    Was there an invisible fourth party involved in this battle for the grand script of death? Who would be powerful enough to intervene?

    The two of them exchanged a nce, but neither of them said anything. Basked within the pure white holy light, Fernando''s robes were pping slightly as he took a deep breath, then brought his palms together as if in prayer, but in reality, he was actually speaking in a quiet voice to Owen. "The only party that would dare to get involved here has to be one of the top-tier death gods from one of the four pirs."

    As soon as his voice trailed, the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church behind him suddenly exploded! However, the resulting rubble from the explosion wasn''t sent flying in all directions. Instead, every single tile and brick was suspended in mid-air as if they were being held in ce by invisible threads. At the center of what was once the church stood the extremely intricately crafted arcuballista. The two bronze giants on either side of the arcuballista had already raised the massive bow, and resplendent white light was illuminating the night as if a white rift had been sliced through heaven and earth.

    Everything seemed to have fallen still in this instant, and all sound was overshadowed by the booming and nging of the divine artifact.

    All of the living creatures in the area had also fallenpletely still. None of them dared to move in the face of this awe-inspiring power.

    The Spear of Longinus was going to beunched in 10 minutes, and it was as if the ticking sound of a figurative countdown timer could be heard.

    In the underworld, Qin Ye''s lips were tightly pursed as he kept track of the time that had passed by.

    It''s already been five minutes... I can''t keep waiting any longer!

    He crouched down slightly like a leopard about to pounce, and at the same time, the blue Yin energy thread extending out of his ring finger moved slightly. As a result, the Porter Spirit in Phdelphia slowly opened its eyes.

    Three... Two... One!

    In the blink of an eye, Qin Ye had already vanished on the spot, only to be reced by the expressionless Porter Spirit.

    It was finally time to strike!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Phdelphia.

    The Spear of Longinus had already reached its final stages of gathering power, and it was set to be fired within 10 minutes. However, Arlot wasn''t letting his guard down in the slightest. All of a sudden, Fernando, Owen, and he all looked up toward the same spot in the sky.

    All of a sudden, a burst of terrifying Yin energy swept through the entire city from that exact same spot! The owner of the Yin energy was making no attempt to conceal themselves, and the Yin energy was piercing straight toward the church like a sharp sword!

    Arlot faltered slightly upon seeing this. He didn''t think that there really would be someone who dared to enter the fray here!

    "There''s an intruder!!" His mouth abruptly gaped open to half a meter in size, and his thunderous voice was making the ground tremble violently as he flew up into the sky. Countless bats converged toward him like dark clouds from all directions, forming a pitch-ck screen in an area with a radius of half a kilometer around the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church.

    The sound of footsteps then rang out in the distance, and Arlot''s huge bat ears moved ever so slightly. The intruder had clearly been very cautious, waiting only until after Brando was long gone before striking.

    At the same time, the fearsome Yin energy in the air indicated that they were also a death god!

    They didn''t have the confidence to face two death gods at once, choosing instead to only take one on, which meant that when pitted up against a single death god, they were confident that they would be able to defeat their opponent or escape should things go awry!

    Hold on, Brando left just now because of an urgent request for reinforcements... Could it be that this was a trap all along to lure him away?!

    In the face of this massive threat, thick veins began to bulge on Arlot''s neck as he roared, "Who''s there?! Show yourself!!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, and it was audible throughout the entire city.

    The only reply he received was the sound of a second footstep. The first footstep had rung out over 10 kilometers away, yet this one was only several kilometers away!

    Whoever it was, they were rushing along at full speed without any reservations, and it was clear that they were very powerful!

    Damn it!!

    A third footstep rang out, and this one was only two kilometers away!

    My friend! Arlot''s wings were trembling, and within the ck screen formed by the countless bats, an unsettling blood-red color had appeared over his entire body as he crouched onto the ground like a fierce tiger. "I am Arlot Rockefeller, and the forces gathered here belong to the Freemasonry, the three death gods of the underworld''s Caribbean Sea, and the church! If you leave now, we''ll be sure topensate you handsomely!"

    Even at such close range, Arlot was still unable to detect the intruder''s Yin energy, and that was very disturbing to him.

    How is this possible? Why am I unable to detect their Yin energy, even though they''re clearly also a death god? Legend has it that the only Yin energy that a death god is unable to detect belongs to ruler death gods of powerful underworlds, but there''s no way that such a being could be present here! Could it be that they''re using some type of divine artifact? Fuck! That would make them even more troublesome to deal with!

    It was clear that the intruder was intent on raining on their parade.

    At this point, he had already calmed down as he knew that there was no way that the intruder would be willing to leave. Despite this, he still made one final attempt to end things peacefully, even as he was entering a battle-ready state. "If you leave now, I can give you five hundred million USD or underworld resources of an equivalent value!"

    However, there were no sounds of subsequent footsteps, which meant that the intruder was still nearby and hadn''t left!

    Arlot looked around with a wary expression. The intruder was remaining still and silent, indicating that they were gathering power, and what followed was going to be a devastating full-frontal attack!

    Having lived for all these years, he was finally going to sh with the monsters of the underworld.

    In the mortal realm, no one would dare to mess with a cardinal member of the Rockefeller Family like this, but it was apletely different story for those from the underworld.

    "What are you waiting for?!" he roared as he turned back to the two elderly men. "We''re on the same side! Fire the spear now!!"

    Friar Owen finally raised his head and cast a calm gaze toward Arlot. "Firstly, the Spear of Longinus will have to travel a distance of over 100 kilometers to reach Cape May, and it''s not an easy task to aim across such a long distance. Also... who said we were on the same side?"

    Arlot faltered slightly upon hearing this.

    "You..."

    "Mr. Rockefeller, the church is only coborating with you out of respect for your surname," Fernando said in a cold voice. "However, the end of the deal that we have to uphold is only to fire the Spear of Longinus."

    A sense of foreboding welled up in Arlot''s heart upon hearing this.

    Indeed, the church was already making a greatpromise to coborate with demons like them.

    The only reason they were able to coborate with one another was that the church would be firing the Spear of Longinus so it would be in their control the entire time, and they were helping the three death gods of the Caribbean in the underworld rather than directly assisting the Freemasonry.

    Thus, he had no right to order them to do anything, nor did they have a duty to help him.

    Right at this moment, a pleased voice suddenly rang out. "I was waiting for you to say that. In exchange for your efforts here, I''ll grant you proselytization rights in three underworld states and help you extradite your missionaries!"

    Fernando and Owen''s eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this.

    Immediately thereafter, the entire sky brightened.

    The boundless ck screen formed by the countless bats was torn apart by a pair of giant hands formed byherfire. The hands were hundreds of meters in size, and the screen was parted to reveal Qin Ye in a set of Yama-King robes and a mask on his face.

 Chapter 972: Battle For Godhood (5)

    <h4>Chapter 972: Battle For Godhood (5)</h4>

    Qin Ye was a person who very rarely took gambles unless he was sufficiently confident in his chances of sess. As such, the fact that he had appeared here was already a sign of his confidence.

    In the underworld, he had considered many things, including the rtionships between the three opposition parties. After some deep thought, he arrived at a conclusion: Brando and Arlot weren''t in Phdelphia to protect anything. Instead, they were paying a supervision role to ensure that the church followed through on its end of the deal.

    This was why he would''ve never had to face four Dukes. Instead, Brando and Arlot were the only ones who were going to stand in his way, and in the absence of Brando, there was only one Duke left to face.

    This was why he had dared to appear here in person.

    Arlot was the final obstacle that had to be conquered, and he was prepared to go all-out for this battle!

    In the instant that he appeared, he didn''t hesitate in the slightest as he grabbed toward Arlot with both hands. In the same instant, Arlot''s eyes took on a crimson color as countless bats converged toward him.

    Neither side was going to back down, and there was no way anything other than a decisive oue would be eptable.

    "Die!!" Arlot roared as countless bats began to rapidly revolve around him. Furthermore, they were elerating further and further, to the extent that they transformed into pure Yin energy to repel Qin Ye''s giantherfire hands. At the same time, a giant cocoon of ck Yin energy took shape around Arlot before exploding immediately thereafter!

    The strong stench of blood and gore wafted through the air as boundless Yin energy surged directly toward the be of the giant formed byherfire.

    At the same time, countless chains shot out of the giant''s sleeves in a fierce wave, and countless bats screeched as they plummeted out of the wave of Yin energy before disintegrating into nothingness in mid-air.

    However, Arlot''s attack seemed to have a mind of its own. Even though half of the wave of Yin energy was vanquished by the chains, the remaining half evaded all of the chains before continuing toward theherfire giant''s be at an astounding speed.

    "Don''t underestimate the death gods of the new continent!" Arlot roared as he swept his hands through the air, and his Yin energy pierced directly through thehermes like an ascending dragon before burrowing itself into the be of theherfire giant. Immediately thereafter, his entire body instantly became shriveled and wizened like a sack of wrinkly skin and bones, following which he inhaled with his might toward the hole created by his Yin energy.

    This was his Blood Reciprocation ability!

    What had burrowed into theherfire giant was Yin energy, yet what had been drawn out by his inhtion was a massive blood dragon!

    The blood dragon rushed rapidly toward Arlot, whose mouth had already opened up to two meters in size, and in the instant that the blood dragon gushed into his mouth, his entire body immediately swelled like a balloon.

    At the same time, the fiery giant in the distance dissipated amid an anguished roar.

    Fierce Yin wind swept through the entire city, and it was so ferocious that even the bell tower of the Independence Hall was creaking and groaning audibly. Amid the boundless Yin wind, a scintiting figure emerged. It was a man wearing the attire of a Cathayan Underworld Yama-King while wielding a golden spear.

    All of a sudden, the figure vanished in the blink of an eye!

    At the exact same moment, Arlot was struck by a sense of extreme peril traveling directly toward his be, and he screeched as a pair of bone spikes abruptly elongated out of his arms before being thrust behind him without any hesitation.

    At the same time, a figure appeared behind him and thrust their spear directly toward his back, immediately following which both of them disappeared in virtually the exact same split-second!

    A string of metallic ngs rang out in the sky, and the space up above was warping and twisting violently. In one instant, a pair of shadows could be seen in one ce, while in the next instant, a flurry of dazzling sparks erupted somewhere else entirely.

    The shes were taking ce so quickly that only Fernando and Owen were able to trace the twobatants with their eyes, but it was exactly because they were able to clearly see what was happening that they were even more rmed.

    This was truly a fight to the death. Both sides were aiming exclusively for their opponent''s vital regions, and they were only managing to evade each other''s lethal attacks through their instinctive sense of danger. Even though no divine artifacts were being used, neither side was holding back in the slightest, and a direct hit from any of their attacks could instantly put an end to the other''s life.

    Death gods had already gone beyond the realm of normal underworld emissaries, making them extremely difficult to kill, but it certainly wasn''t impossible to kill a death god.

    The shes were bing more and more treacherous, like climbing a mountain that was bing steeper and steeper the higher up one went, and even the slightestpse in concentration could spell death.

    However, neither side could stop.

    The shes wereing thick and fast, and Qin Ye was using everything he had learned to try and gain the upper hand, but he was only just barely able to maintain equal footing with Arlot.

    The issue for both of them was that this was the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church, and they were doing everything in their power to avoid using arts.

    Arlot knew that there was a very good chance that unleashing arts here would severely affect the firing of the Spear of Longinus. Even if the firing of the spear were dyed by a single minute, he would have to face the wrath of the three Caribbean death gods, and their agreement could suffer another blow, especially in this situation, where the three death gods were already extremely displeased by the escape of Tezcatlipoca.

    As for Qin Ye, he didn''t even know any arts!

    This was why he had chosen this battlefield. He knew that Arlot''s hands would be tied here, and that was what he had been counting on all along.

    Furthermore, vampires excelled in arts to begin with instead of being extremely physically endowed like werewolves. Thus, upon seeing Brando departing from Phdelphia to assist the three death gods of the Caribbean, Qin Ye had almost leaped up in celebration!

    It looked as if both sides were evenly matched, but neither side had any control orposure to speak of. All they were doing was frantically attacking each other''s vital regions, and if either of them were to stop even for a moment, they would immediately be overwhelmed by the opposition''s fierce assault.

    The only way this battle could end was with the death of one of thebatants!

    "Fernando!" Amid the perilous exchange of lethal attacks, Arlot suddenly yelled, "While it''s true that you have no obligation to help us, you''ll still fulfill your end of the deal, right?!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Qin Ye thrust his spear directly toward Arlot''s head, and Arlot only just barely managed to evade the attack with gritted teeth as a gash was sliced into his cheek. He was gnashing his teeth together audibly retaliated with lethal attacks of his own while warding off Qin Ye''s fierce assault.

    After several seconds of silence, Fernando replied, "We will."

    "How long left until the Spear of Longinus can be fired? Answer me!!"

    "It''ll be ready to be fired in one more minute," Fernando replied.

    Fernando''s response seemed to have provided immense reassurance to Arlot, and he let loose a furious roar as he swatted Qin Ye''s spear aside, then shot forth upward like a bolt of lightning, followed closely by a streak of golden light.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything as he waspletely engrossed in this battle.

    He knew that only after taking care of Arlot would he have the right to negotiate with the church.

    Under these circumstances where neither side was using arts, they were evenly matched, but he still had a trump card up his sleeve.

    The battle between the two appeared to be very simple and straightforward, but in reality, if there were any Yin spirits below the Yama-King level in the immediate vicinity, they would''ve already been wiped out of existence. Even though their attacks were quite crude and unrefined, the vast Yin energy that they were capable of unleashing with each strike was already a formidable force in itself.

    It''s still not time to unveil my trump card yet... I still have a minute, and I must take the right opportunity to strike! Otherwise, if Kraken perishes by someone else''s hands, all of my efforts would go toplete waste!

    Before he even had a chance to finish that thought, a burst of Yin energy suddenly exploded in the sky, and boundless blood erupted out of Arlot''s body. As soon as the blood came into contact with air, it instantly solidified, and within the span of half a second, a cage of blood had taken shape!

    He then turned to Qin Ye with a bloodthirsty expression as he dered, "Come!! It''s only you and me in here! No one will be able to disrupt our battle, and only one of us will leave this ce alive! If you want a fight to the death, then that''s exactly what you''ll get!"

    At the same time, a thunderous boom rang out from down below, Arlot''s pupils contracted as his eyes reflected the massive eruption of Yin energy taking ce below him. This was a sign that Qin Ye was releasing all of his Yin energy in an all-out eruption!

    The terrifying Yin energy formed a massive sea of darkness, and looking down onto it from above, it was as if a giant inky-ck spider lily were blooming down below.

    Unbeknownst to Arlot, this was exactly the moment that Qin Ye was waiting for, and adrenaline was coursing through his veins as flew up as a streak of dazzling light,bining as one with his spear to pierce through the heavens!

    No one was able to leave this cage, so there was no path for retreat or evasion, which meant that eachbatant had to take their opponent''s next attack head-on, making it the perfect opportunity for him to unleash an all-out attack!

    "Let''s end this!" He let loose a thunderous roar as a vicious look appeared in his eyes, and the image of Ghost King Zhao Yun impaling Arthis surfaced in his mind.

    In the instant that the eruption of Yin energy appeared down below, Arlot immediately understood Qin Ye''s intentions.

    He was trying to end this battle with one final all-out attack!

    "So this is what you were waiting for? Fine!" Boundless Yin energy surged into his body in a frenzy, and after less than a second, his body abruptly swelled as he transformed into a giant bat, then pounced toward Qin Ye with unstoppable might.

    "If this is what you want, then I''ll crush you at your own game!"

    He knew that even though he and Qin Ye had been evenly matched thus far, the fact that they were both going all-out for this next attack in this inescapable cage meant that both of them were going to sustain severe injuries.

    As a result, there would be no way for Qin Ye to stop the firing of the Spear of Longinus, which was going to take ce in one minute.

    It''s all over now! You''ve squandered your own chances through your own foolishness! A bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face as he drew upon all of the Yin energy in his entire body for the uing attack.

    The sh between two Yama-Kings made the air above Phdelphia twist and warp violently, and Fernando and Owen were looking on with extremely grim expressions. This final sh was going to decide the direction that the grand script of death was going to take.

    Arlot''s attack was aimed at Qin Ye''s throat, and Qin Ye''s attack was also aimed at his throat.

    It seemed that they were on course for mutual destruction.

    BOOM!!

    An earth-shattering boom rang out, and neither side chose to take evasive measures. Both of them could feel their own attack plunging into their opponent''s body, and in the next instant, their fields of view werepletely engulfed by ck light.

    A pir of inky-ck light erupted straight up into the heavens, and it was even darker than the night itself. All of the stars in the sky instantly lost all color, and Fernando and Owen were looking on intently to see the final oue of the battle. Only after close to 20 seconds had passed did the pir of Yin energy finally subside, and both of them drew a sharp breath in unison as they looked on with incredulous expressions.

    Owen stumbled back several steps in session inplete disbelief, then joined his palms together with his robes drenched in cold sweat. "Amen..."

    In the sky above, Qin Ye''s spear had plunged through Arlot''s throat, piercing through his spine with a bloodstained spear tip peeking out from the back of Arlot''s neck.

    At the same time, his throat had also been pierced by Arlot''s bone spike, and the bloodstained tip of the spike was also peeking out the back of his neck.

    The battle really had ended in mutual destruction.

    However, there was a triumphant look in Arlot''s eyes despite the grievous wound he had sustained.

    You have no backup. You are alone and there are only 10 seconds left until the firing of the Spear of Longinus, upon which the grand script of death will draw to a conclusion! I am the winner here!

    A satisfied smile appeared on his face as his body disintegrated into countless bats, leaving behind only a skeleton, which then also quickly dissipated into Yin energy.

    "What a pity..." Fernando withdrew his gaze and turned his attention back to the Spear of Longinus.

    The spear had to be fired, after all.

    There were still countless werewolves and bats in the city watching them, so they had to fulfill their end of the deal.

    "Hold on..." Right at this moment, a strangled voice that sounded like a set of bellows rang out, and Fernando and Owen both faltered slightly upon hearing this before immediately turning back to look up at the sky with incredulous expressions.

    That Cathayan Underworld Yama-King isn''t dead! How is this possible?! That should be a lethal injury!

 Chapter 973: Battle For Godhood (6)

    <h4>Chapter 973: Battle For Godhood (6)</h4>

    Yama-Kings weren''t unkible, they were just extremely difficult to kill.

    Upon sustaining a lethal injury, a Yama-King would be unable to maintain their external form and had to enter a state of slumber. Theoretically speaking, as someone who had eaten the Taisui fungus, Qin Ye should''ve fared even worse than a normal Yama-King in this situation and automatically entered the Taisui fungus''s cycle of reincarnation, but that hadn''t happened.

    Right in front of Fernando and Owen''s astonished eyes, the wound on Qin Ye''s neck was rapidly healing, and color was also beginning to return to his pale cheeks in what was an astonishing recovery.

    Qin Ye''s throat was in so much pain that he felt as if he were about to go insane. Blood was flowing down onto his chest, giving him quite a terrifying appearance, but he had to maintain a calm smile.

    He had always been searching for an opportunity where his opponent wouldn''t be able to evade his attack.

    He had thought that this opportunity would be very difficult to find, but Arlot had dug his own grave by creating that inescapable cage of blood. Unfortunately for him, he had yed right into Qin Ye''s Yellow Emperor Protector Seal!

    The victory that he had thought he had secured was nothing more than an illusion, and he had allowed Qin Ye to take one valuable step closer to his final goal!

    Qin Ye abruptly vanished as a gust of Yin wind, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing beside the Spear of Longinus. Fernando and Owen reflexively wanted to stop him, but Qin Ye had alreadyid a hand on the arcuballista.

    Even though he was only resting his hand on the weapon, the terrifying power gathering within it was enough to make his fingers tremble.

    "Let''s make a deal," Qin Ye said as he looked straight into the eyes of the two elderly men.

    Fernando was watching Qin Ye with a wary gaze. There was still a hole in his throat, within which flesh and blood were rapidly growing, presenting an extremely harrowing sight to behold. He lowered his gaze as he brought his palms together and replied, "Please allow me to refuse. There are countless werewolves and vampires in the city watching us, so it would be impossible for us not to fire the Spear of Longinus, and... Cardinal Owen, what are you doing?!"

    He cast a surprised gaze toward Owen to find that Owen''s hand was resting on the switch for the arcuballista, but he was slowly moving the switch to the off position.

    "Why don''t we listen to what he has to say?" Owen suggested with a faint smile. "Have you not sensed it yet, Fernando? From the moment he secured victory against Arlot, the number of vampires and werewolves in the city have been rapidly decreasing."

    Fernando faltered slightly upon hearing this, then spread his consciousness throughout the city, upon which he discovered that this was indeed the case. He turned to Qin Ye with a surprised expression and asked, "Do you have allies in the city? They''ve concealed their power very well, I haven''t been able to sense them."

    "That''s right." Qin Ye finally heaved an internal sigh of relief at the sight of Owen moving the switch to the off position. He then cleared his throat and withstood the excruciating pain as he said, "I released a death god not long ago, and I''m sure he''s extremely eager to take back what belongs to him, so he''s naturally doing everything in his power to help me in order to gain my favor. Cardinal Fernando, we''ve already worked together once before, what reservations could you possibly have?"

    Fernando was silent for a few seconds before replying, "The agreement has already been signed. If we don''t follow through, then we''ll have to face all-out war on both the new continent and in Europa, and the deaths resulting from those wars would further bolster the power of those two underworlds, which is something I''m sure you don''t want to see, either."

    "Of course," Qin Ye replied. "I''m not asking you to not fire the spear at all, I''m only asking that you dy the firing by half an hour. If you can do that, I''ll grant you proselytization rights in three provinces!"

    Fernando was still rather hesitant. "I..."

    "Cardinal Fernando." A hint of killing intent surfaced in Qin Ye''s eyes as he threatened, "If you refuse, I guarantee you that you won''t make it back to the Vatican City alive."

    Cold looks appeared on the faces of both cardinals, and Owen replied in a steely voice, "I don''t think you have the power to follow through on that threat."

    "I may not have the power, but what if we''re talking about a being above the Yama-King level here? Do you really think I came here without any reinforcements?" Qin Ye didn''t give the two cardinals any time to think as he continued, "All you agreed to do is to fire the Spear of Longinus, and I''m not trying to stop you from doing that. Just fire it half an hourte, and you''ll still have fulfilled your end of the deal! As for the excuse, that''s very simple: just me it on me! I''ll take the me for everything, and I''m sure the Freemasonry won''t be able to say anything then. You''ve received benefits from them and also proselytization rights from me, I''d advise you not to be too greedy..."

    A threatening tone had already crept into his voice in the end, and the eyelids of the two cardinals twitched violently upon hearing mention of a being above the Yama-King level. After a brief hesitation, Owen replied, "Alright, I agree to your proposal, but I hope you can remain faithful to your promise."

    A massive wave of relief instantly washed over Qin Ye upon hearing this. He had finally seeded!

    He had slowly uncovered the truth surrounding the grand script of death, then obtained Xu Fu''s notes, but decided to stay in Phdelphia to try and intercept the grand script of death. Just now, he had defeated Arlot using the Yellow Emperor Protector Seal, and with the promise from the two cardinals secured, all that was left was for him to reap the fruits of hisbors!

    No, I still haven''t quite seeded yet. There''s still one final step I have to execute at Cape May! A contemtive look appeared on his face as he cast his gaze toward the coastline.

    There was still one final step left before he could im godhood, and he was certain that it woulde as a shock to everyone.

    "I''ve given you my contact details before. Now then, I''ll be on my way." He instantly vanished before reappearing as a streak of light, making no attempt to conceal himself as he shot forth toward a certain direction.

    It wasn''t Cape May, nor was it Phdelphia. Instead, he was flying toward the city of Bridgeton in New Jersey.

    He was traveling extremely quickly, taking only several minutes to reach New Jersey, and a voice instantly rang out beside his ears upon his arrival. "What are you doing?! Why aren''t you going to Cape May right now? You worked so hard to get to this point, yet you''re not going to take the Spear of Longinus?!"

    It was Tezcatlipoca!

    He was swirling around Qin Ye like a cloud of white smoke, but Qin Ye remained unmoved as he replied, "You''ve been absent from this world for far too long. Why would I take the Spear of Longinus? To kill Kraken? No! The church won''t allow anyone to take the spear. The Freemasonry has expended a massive price, and the church has sent two cardinals to guard the spear, that''s already a clear indication of their intent to keep the spear safe."

    "So what are you going to do then?" Tezcatlipoca asked in a bewildered voice. "Are you going to allow all of your efforts to benefit someone else? If you don''t go to that battlefield and y Kraken in person, the ones to have thestugh will still be the death gods of the Caribbean!"

    "Why would I go to the battlefield in person?" Qin Ye asked in an emotionless manner. "You want me to assassinate Kraken on such a chaotic battlefield? Do you think I''m an almighty god of creation?"

    "Then what the hell are you going to do?!" Tezcatlipoca was about to go insane, and his voice was rumbling like thunder in the night.

    Qin Ye finally took a nce at him and said, "There are a total of 240 privately owned electricitypanies in Usonia, and they ount for 78% of the annual electricity production in the entire nation. In addition to that, there are six power nts run by the national government and 1,900 municipal-government-run electricitypanies. Those are the only options they have if they want to use electricity."

    "What on earth are you talking about?!"

    Qin Ye cast his gaze forward, and he could see the lights of Bridgetown on the horizon. After doing some mental calctions, he figured out that he had 15 minutes left to execute the final step.

    "What I''m saying is that Bridgetown has chosen the Exelon Corporation, as has Cape May. Through the power of electricity, I''ll be able to broadcast myself to Cape May! In the end, the followers will worship me as opposed to the three death gods of the Caribbean! I will be the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea! Don''t forget that Cape May is a seaside tourist city with countless LED screens on the beaches! Forget it, you don''t even know what an LED screen is. Do you know what a projector is?... Looks like that''s not ringing a bell, either."

    He had already spotted the television building and was flying toward it at full speed.

    He had to execute this all-important step in person!

    Shortly thereafter, he swept into the control room of the television building as a gust of Yin wind, then revealed himself, much to the rm of the staff inside, before turning to the invisible Tezcatlipoca with a faint smile. "Technology is the number one power of production in the modern world."

    "Who are you? What are you..." A Caucasian male stood up in the control room with a stunned expression, but his voice was abruptly cut off as strands of Yin energy shot forth out of Qin Ye''s fingertips before extending into the brains of all of the staff present.

    "Connect to thework between Phdelphia and Cape May right away, and at the same time, prepare to switch on all of the LED screens on the shore of Cape May for a city-wide broadcast!"

    His n was never to go to Cape May in person, at least not now. He could broadcast himself to all of the followers on the beach from the safety of this television building, so why would he venture into that perilous battlefield?

    Of course, his ultimate objective was Kraken''s body, but the power of worship that he could obtain from such a massive grand script of death definitely would be quite significant as well.

    If he had to go to Cape May, then he would only do so once he had absolute confidence.

    "My reinforcements should be here soon..." he mused to himself before turning to Tezcatlipoca. "There''s one more thing that I need your help with: help me hide from the Heavenly Dao. Don''t tell me you don''t know how, I''m certain you''re capable of doing this. You''re not a death god, you are the son of the new continent''s god of creation, which makes you a deity who is innately blessed by the Heavenly Dao. So what''s your answer?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Over at Cape May, Brando was leading the resistance effort against Kraken. He was the only one capable of withstanding Kraken''s attacks, and behind him were countless Yin soldiers, while the fleets down below were unleashing constant cannon fire in an effort to distract Kraken.

    "My god..." The tens of thousands of followers on the shore werepletely rooted to the spot. They hade here to witness a divine miracle, yet they were watching an epic battle between angels and demons.

    This was something that they had never seen before, and it was a memory that would permanently remain in their minds. All of the followers were reluctant to even blink as they stared intently at the sea.

    There, Kraken was like a gargantuan moving fortress, swinging its tentacles through the air with devastating power, but Brando was able to keep its attacks at bay every time. However, they were also unable to organize any offensive efforts and could only defend passively.

    Death God Dax said that he will put an end to the sea monster''s life with a single spear strike...

    Someone inteced their fingers and sped their hands together in devout prayer, and tens of thousands of other followers soon followed suit. Before long, the sound of a collective choir of prayers had rung out again across the entire shore.

    Amid this awe-inspiring scene, everyone failed to notice that the LED screens around them had already lit up, and they also failed to notice that all of the high-end hotels beside the sea with external lights installed had also lit up in unison.

    After another violent sh, Brando was sent flying several dozen meters. He shook out his numb and throbbing arms to get some feeling back into them, then gritted his teeth tightly as he cast his gaze toward the direction that Phdelphia was in.

    Why has the spear not been fired?! Something must''ve gone wrong! At this point, the spear should''ve already been fired and reached New Jersey toplete the divine prophecy, so why hasn''t that happened?! Where is Arlot? Did the church decide to betray us? What the hell is going on?!

 Chapter 974: Battle For Godhood (7)

    <h4>Chapter 974: Battle For Godhood (7)</h4>

    The three death gods of the Caribbean looked on with tightly gritted teeth as Kraken''s tentacles mmed into the surface of the sea once again amid a resounding boom. This time, cracks finally began to appear on the protective barriers around all of the ships in the fleets.

    Theherfire in Leoric''s eyes was flickering incessantly. Kraken was an advanced death god, while they were only a bunch of Infernal Judges and Abyssal Prefects. Even with all of their arrays and military formations activated in full force, they would only be able to resist for 30 minutes.

    This wasn''t a unified army. Instead, it was the forces of the Caribbean death gods in addition to the troops of the Red Eagle Navy and the ck Shirt Navy. There was no need for the two naval branches to put their lives on the line here. They were willing to assist the three death gods of the Caribbean to a certain extent, but they certainly weren''t going to stay if things became any more perilous than this.

    By their estimations, Kraken''s power was going to reach a peak at the 35-minute mark at thetest, upon which it would be able topletely destroy their defenses.

    Thus, the Spear of Longinus had to arrive before then!

    Akana hurriedly pulled out her pocket watch and took a look, and she discovered that it had already been 30 minutes!

    Why has the spear still not arrived?!

    It would take a minute for the Spear of Longinus to reach Cape May, so at this point, they should''ve already been able to see the eruption of holy light in Phdelphia, so why was that not the case?!

    There was no time to think on this perilous and fric battlefield. Once a gargantuan killing machine like Kraken began to move, what followed would be relentless barrages of devastating attacks.

    One tentacle after another shed with beams of light formed by Yin energy, churning up the entire surface of the sea.

    Countless streaks of light pierced through the sea like Moses parting the waves, and all of the fish that hadn''t been able to escape were instantly revealed before being pulverized into mangled masses of blood and flesh.

    "Don''t back down! Our time wille soon!" At this point, there was already no turning back, and Zerens was roaring at his troops with all his might. The final several thousand Yin soldiers in his Red Boiler fleet sprouted wings of Yin energy and rose up into the sky again.

    "For the new age!!" Countless arrows shot forth through the air like a meteor shower. These arrows were clearly different from the ones previously used in that each one was over a meter in length and was tipped with bright red mes.

    This was the inextinguishable mes of the underworld, and it could only be found on the new continent.

    Kraken let loose a thunderous roar of agony as the inextinguishable mes ignited all over its body, transforming it into a massive torch torch on the sea. However, that was still not enough to kill it and only served to make it even more enraged.

    Countless golden eyes abruptly sprang open within the mes, then turned a crimson color before adopting a bleak ck hue.

    An earth-shattering roar rang out, causing the entire surface of the sea to ripple violently, and hundreds of tentacles that were burning with inextinguishable mes rose up from the depths, basking the entirety of Dware Bay in the crimson glow of the mes.

    The hundreds of raised tentacles were like the petals of a gigantic flower of destruction, and all of the followers on the shore were rooted to the spot as they looked on at this unforgettable scene.

    "My god!" All of the followers at the forefront fell to their knees before pressing their foreheads against the sand as they trembled incessantly. "Is destruction about to befall this world? Please save us, almighty death god! Take this monster''s soul to hell! Slumber of the Stars and the Sea, your devout followers plead with you to put an end to all of this!"

    In the next instant, the ground quaked violently, and 50-meter-tall waves were swept up, forming a terrifying vortex with Kraken at the center. Immediately thereafter, its tentacles came crashing down with full force in all directions.

    Countless ck shadows were being cast onto the surface of the sea, and within the shadows were the despairing faces of the troops from the Red Eagle Navy, the ck Shirt Navy, and the Caribbean Sea.

    Under this devastating blow, all of the protective barriers were finally shattered. Virtually all of the ships were pressed into the sea, then floated back up stubbornly to the surface, but this was only the beginning of the nightmare.

    The tentacles of Kraken were right above them, and seawater was gushing down from them like a waterfall. The tentacles were situated less than 100 meters away, and at such close range, everyone could clearly see the suction disks on their undersides. At this moment, all of the suction disks had transformed into mouths that were filled with sharp fangs and bright red tongues.

    It was truly a terrifying sight to behold!

    "My god..." In the face of the mountain of massive mouths above him, even Dalton felt as if he had been plunged into a cial pit, and before he had a chance to react, the hundreds of mountainous tentacles came crashing down at once!

    Countless ships were erased out of existence by the attack, and countless specks ofherfire rose up into the sky amid anguished howls. Theherfire in Leoric''s eyes were flickering violently as he turned to Brando with tightly gritted teeth. He was so furious that he wasn''t even bothering to show any respect to the Duke as he asked, "Is this what you promised us? Is this how you''ve overseen the firing of the Spear of Longinus?! It''s already been 40 minutes! Where is the Spear of Longinus?!"

    Brando didn''t reply. He had nothing to say in response to Leoric''s usations.

    What the hell are you doing, Arlot?!

    "Captain!!" Right at this moment, an agonized wail rang out, and a first mate who was missing close to half of his body frantically flew toward Leoric as he yelled, "We can''t do it! We can''t keep this up any longer! We have to retreat, Captain! Otherwise, all of us are going to die... Arrrrgh!!"

    Before he had a chance to finish, a bright red tongue flew out from the distance, wrapping itself around what remained of his body before withdrawing in a sh.

    Immediately thereafter, countless crimson tongues appeared all around them like a nest of serpents!

    On the tip of every single tongue was a giant mouth that, and the sound of bones being crunched and crushed between the teeth of those giant mouths was enough to send shivers running down anyone''s spine!

    "No!" Theherfire in Leoric''s eyes was shing more erratically than ever before, but a determined look had appeared on his face as he said, "There''s no turning back now! We''ve plotted for over a century for this, and our only options are sess or death!!"

    He then swung around to face Brando as he continued, "Duke Brando, please hold back Kraken for 15 more minutes! I''m sure reinforcements will arrive from Phdelphia during that time, and we''ll still fulfill our agreement! "

    Even Brando was struggling immensely to keep up with Kraken''s overwhelming power, and he spat through gritted teeth, "I can onlyst 10 more minutes at most! This is an advanced death god on a rampage, and I don''t want to die yet!"

    "Fine!"

    After that, Leoric quickly flew back down onto the one of the remaining ships with Akana and Zerens before staring intently at Phdelphia.

    Come on! Come on!! I know that the Lord hasn''t abandoned us! Shouldn''t heaven reward those who are diligent and conscientious? We''ve already worked so hard, we deserve this prize! We''ve already gambled everything on this, and there''s no turning back!

    In the sky above, Brando was going all out to attract Kraken''s attention. Massive tsunamis were rising up one after another, and all of the ships were being flung up and down like rag dolls. The three death gods of the Caribbean paid no heed to that as they continued to direct their full attention toward Phdelphia, praying and pleading with all their might for a miracle to happen.

    Five minutes passed by... Akana was digging her fingers into the material of her own dress with a white-knuckled grip.

    10 minutes passed by... The railing of the ship was crushed by the death grips of Zerens and Leoric.

    However, nothing happened.

    Miracles were only known as miracles as they didn''t happen often.

    Their final ray of hope had been dashed, and they had been plunged into the abyss of despair.

    "How could this be?" Leoric murmured to himself in a trembling voice. "What''s going on? Why is this happening?"

    Right at this moment, a burst of dazzling light suddenly erupted up into the heavens.

    The light was giving off an aura of holiness and destruction, and it heralded the activation of the Spear of Longinus

    One moment, the three death gods of the Caribbean were in the depths of despair, yet a momentter, their hearts were filled with hope again!

    The three of them abruptly raised their heads to look up at the sky, and even Brando faltered slightly before turning toward the direction of Phdelphia with a stunned expression.

    At this point, it was apparent to everyone that something had gone wrong in Phdelphia, yet they had chosen not to retreat as they were hoping against hope that a miracle would arise in thest second, and it really did happen!

    "Don''t give up!!" The sudden turn of events hadpletely reinvigorated all of the Yin spirits on the battlefield, and Leoric swung his giant warhammer through the air as he re-entered the fray. At the same time, all of the remaining Yin soldiers converged like crows once again before rushing forward without any regard for their own lives, doing everything they could to alleviate the pressure on Brando.

    Dalton''s fleet had already surreptitiously retreated to the edge of the battlefield, yet as soon as he saw the pir of light rising up into the sky in Phdelphia, he immediately faltered momentarily before frantically yelling, "Turn around! Turn around!! Advance toward the center of the battlefield! Our chance has arrived, a new death god is about to be born!! Turn around right now!! Order all of our troops to fight like there''s no tomorrow!!"

    Several dozen messenger birds were instantly released.

    From their perspective in Cape May, the pir of light in Phdelphia was only around as thick as a needle, but it hadpletely ignited the mes of hope in their hearts.

    The Yin energy reciprocation they would receive from witnessing the birth of a death god at such close range would be enough to grant them a significant breakthrough in their cultivation ranks!

    Thus, the fleet that had already been scattered by Kraken''s attacks immediately converged once again, and they were even more fierce and determined than before!

    Erza drew her rapier and directed it forward as her long red hair danced in the wind. Her cape then abruptly fanned out behind her as she rose up into the sky like a soaring red eagle.

    "Soldiers of the Red Eagle Navy, attack!!"

    "Soldiers of the ck Shirt Navy, this is our time!! The divine artifact will only take one more minute at most to get here, we have to persevere no matter what!!"

    "Soldiers of the Caribbean, it''s time to give everything you have for the ultimate glory!!" Scarletherfire erupted out of Zerens''s entire body as he drew his sword and aimed it directly at Kraken. In this instant, he waspletely fearless!

    "I guarantee you that if you perish during this battle, your families will receive the best treatment possible! If you survive, you will be the future pirs of the Caribbean Underworld!"

    The fleets were a spent force just a moment ago, yet thousands of streaks of Yin energy abruptly erupted from all of the ships in all directions. This was all that they had left to give. All of the Yin soldiers leaped up into the heavens, then charged directly toward Kraken under the leadership of the Marquesses.

    This was the day that a god was going to be in!

    At the same time, a scintiting burst of light suddenly exploded in Phdelphia.

    All of the followers werepletely astonished by this fantastical scene, yet right at this moment, all of the LED screens along the entire coastline lit up as Qin Ye revealed his final trump card!

 Chapter 975: Battle For Godhood (Finale)

    <h4>Chapter 975: Battle For Godhood (Finale)</h4>

    All of the followers had their palms joined together as they prayed to Death God Dax in trembling voices.

    They had witnessed a truly miraculous scene on this night, and all that was left was for the divine prophecy to be fulfilled. This was destined to be a night that would be recorded in the history books, and once the divine prophecy was fulfilled, everything would draw to a conclusion.

    They were going to be the first followers of the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea, and they were very much looking forward to the rise of their god!

    Their initial astonishment and fear had transformed into anticipation, and even the youngest of the followers were beginning to pray with all their might.

    The sound of their collective prayers apanied the sound of the crashing waves to form an undting symphony.

    However, none of them closed their eyes as they couldn''t bear to shut out such an astonishing scene. As such, they discovered that the scene before them was suddenly bing brighter.

    What was going on?

    Some of the followers turned around to find where the light wasing from. This wasn''t a conscious gesture, it was merely an instinctive urge, and none of them were expecting to see anything more interesting than the battle taking ce on the sea anyway.

    However, right as the first follower turned around to look behind him and was about to withdraw his gaze, he was immediately transfixed by what he saw and his jaw dropped straight to the ground.

    His body then began to tremble uncontrobly, and he sprang to his feet before pointing a certain direction. He couldn''t even muster up a full sentence and could only give a strangled gasp of utter astonishment.

    His reaction to what he had seen was so extreme that it instantly attracted the attention of the other followers, and those around him also began to turn around.

    Curiosity was amon trait in human nature, and on this asion, their curiosity brought them a massive shock!

    An elderly follower turned around, and his eyes immediately widened while his pupils contracted drastically. A wizened hand flew over his mouth as he silently rose to his feet.

    A young follower turned around, and upon seeing what was unfolding behind him, he seemed to want to stand up, only for his legs to give out under him. As a result, he sat back down on the spot as his body began to tremble uncontrobly.

    Soon, all of the followers had turned around to stare at the miraculous scene unfolding behind them.

    The light shone on their faces, illuminating their astonished expressions, and it could be seen that every single one of them waspletely transfixed.

    In the extremely far distance behind them, there was a pir of light rising straight up into the heavens like a lighthouse in the darkness.

    If that were it, then this wouldn''t be a remarkable scene. What was truly astonishing was that all of the LED screens along the entire coastline were disying the same image. In addition to that, that same crystal clear image was being broadcast over the entire length of the building of thergest hotel in the city.

    The image was depicting a church.

    Most of the people present could identify it as the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church. However, at this moment, the church was in a very strange state. All of its buildings had beenpletely uprooted and were hovering in mid-air as if gravity had malfunctioned in the area. Those intricately crafted pirs and statues were all hovering around a massive ball of light.

    Boundless holy white light was radiating from the center, within which the indistinct form of a long spear could be just barely made out. Behind the spear was a figure in a ck cloak who was entirely enshrouded in darkness.

    His head was lowered, and he was carrying a scythe on his back. As he slowly raised his head, his ck cloak danced around him.

    This scene was resonating deep in the hearts of all of the followers. This was the spitting image of the grim reaper in western mythology!

    Qin Ye had used a sly trick here.

    This was only a form that he had taken in order to appease the followers gathered on the shore. If he were to appear before them in the form of a Cathayan Underworld Yama-King, he didn''t know how many of them would be willing to ept him, and there was a good chance that their worship wouldn''t be focused.

    However, firing the spear as the grim reaper would elicit eptance from all of the followers for sure!

    On the fliers for Death God Dax, there was no image of Dax enclosed.

    Thus, there was only a name circting around Usonia, but no face connected to the name. Dax itself was nothing more than a legend created by the grand script of death, and it had never shown itself to anyone.

    Presumably, it was supposed to be in Leoric''s appearance.

    However, Leoric was just a skeleton in pirate attire, so his image wasn''t sufficiently grand and imposing to capture the spirit of a mighty death god. Furthermore, he was more of a deceased spirit rather than a death god. Upon reaching the Duke level, one would undergo a massive change. An example of this could be seen in Qin Ye, who had managed to break through the curse of the Taisui fungus upon bing a Yama-King.

    He wanted to appear before the world in a perfect form.

    Prior to this, the image of Death God Dax had only existed in the imaginations of all of the followers, and Qin Ye was presenting to them an image of the grim reaper that had existed for thousands of years, so it undoubtedly a perfect match with the image that everyone had in mind!

    "Lord Dax..." someone called out from within the crowd, and his call was immediately acknowledged by all of the followers present. All of the people who had stood up immediately knelt down again, and their voices were trembling with excitement.

    "It''s Him! That must be Lord Dax!"

    "Is this divine descent that we''re witnessing right now?! Is the divine prophecy finally about to be fulfilled?!"

    "Is Lord Dax going to y that sea monster? Is He going toe here in person?!"

    Their voices grew louder and louder in waves, and before long, they had traveled into the ears of Leoric, who was in the midst of attacking Kraken with all his might.

    He faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately swung around, and in the next instant, he let loose a thunderous roar of fury as theherfire in his eyes erupted up to 10 meters in height!

    "Who is that?!" He rushed toward the shore like a madman with tightly gritted teeth, and he really did feel as if he were about to go mad! He wanted to hurl his warhammer directly toward the LED screens, but he caught himself right at thest second.

    There were people lining the entire coastline, and if he were to do that, he would be killing his own followers!

    Before he had a chance to do anything, one of Kraken''s tentacles was already swinging toward him like lightning, and he could only repress his own fury as he dodged the attack before turning to face the LED screens while trembling with rage.

    Who is that?! It''s not one of us! Dax is a name that belongs to me! Someone''s trying to take the power of worship from this grand script of death! But who would do that?!

    The two cardinals of the church and the two Dukes of the Freemasonry weren''t underworld beings, so they wouldn''t benefit at all from intercepting the grand script of death, and theck of a conflict of interest was why he had no qualms about working with them.

    So who was this person?!

    "I''m going to kill you!!!" He frantically rushed toward the shore again, but there was simply no way for him to bypass all of Kraken''s lethal tentacles in a short time.

    "Akana! Zerens!" For the first time, he was struck by a sense of overwhelming fear. Whoever this person was, he had concealed himself far too well, to the extent that even now, they still had no idea who he could be! How long had this man been plotting to intercept their grand script of death? Had he been watching from the very beginning and was only striking now that the grand script of death was about to reach its conclusion?!

    "We have to grab the attention of the followers!"

    He was screaming so loudly that his voice had turned hoarse, yet right as his voice trailed off, a grand and holy voice rang out from the loudspeakers on the shore. "I am the death god of the Fifth Sun..."

    You bastard!!

    Akana and Zerens had naturally also noticed what was happening on the shore, and they were absolutely livid with rage! The grand script of death that they had plotted for over a century toplete was currently being intercepted by someone else!

    They were frantically trying to bypass the resistance posed by Kraken while yelling with all their might toward the shore, yet their voices werepletely drowned out by the crashing waves and Kraken''s almighty roars.

    Thus, they could only look on helplessly as the image on the LED screens continued to unfold.

    A skeletal hand reached out of the figure''s flowing ck robes as he dered, "I am the ruler of hell, the only death god, the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea..."

    "No!!!" Leoric was truly on the verge of insanity, and he rushed toward the shore with no regard for his own safety as he frantically screeched, "He''s an imposter!! Don''t look at him!! Turn around!! Look at me!! I am..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a tentacle came sweeping toward him, and he felt as if the entire sky had fallen upon him, swatting him back by several hundred meters and obliterating his left arm. However, he paid no heed to his own injuries as he continued to scream toward the shore. "Look here! I am the true death god!!"

    Please look over here! I''m begging you!

    However, no one was paying any attention to him.

    All of the followers werepletely enthralled by the scene unfolding on the LED screens.

    In their eyes, this was the god that they had been worshiping for so long, and he was far more alluring to look at than a battle that had already been raging for an hour.

    Qin Ye continued, "I am Dax!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, and even though the deration was being made through the loudspeakers, heaven and earth still trembled violently.

    Brando turned around with a ck-jawed expression, unable to believe what he was seeing.

    Dalton, Erza, and Orel had also stopped what they were doing and were gawking at the shore with incredulous expressions.

    In that instant, all color seemed to have been stripped away from the world, and the hope that had just been ignited in their hearts turned into bitter despair once again.

    "The power of worship is acknowledging him!" Dalton eximed. He then swung around, and several secondster, he began to tremble with rage as he roared with fury and indignation, "You''re all a bunch of fools!! Take a good look and see who the true death god is!!"

    It doesn''t matter who the death god actually is, the only thing that matters is who looks more like the death god right now! A sinister smile had already appeared on Qin Ye''s skeletal face beneath his cloak.

    You''ve fought a sea monster for so long without being able to defeat it, yet you dare to call yourselves death gods? In your grand script of death, god was supposed to have descended and instantly in Kraken. You''ve already missed your opportunity to establish the right image in the eyes of your followers. There''s not even any chance for you to be viewed as heroes as everyone''s attention is on me as I fire the Spear of Longinus! In terms of grasping human psychology, you''re far too out of touch topete with me! You don''t know what they want, you don''t know what they fear, you don''t know what they want to see, so you were destined to fail!

    Whoosh!!

    The Spear of Longinus in front of him was finally fired.

    Even through the screen, a gust of fierce wind swept over all of the followers, blowing them off their feet, and all of the screens shattered violently in unison.

    However, that wasn''t important as everyone could already see a shooting star rise up into the sky before piercing through the darkness of the night and traveling straight toward the sea!

    "Lord Dax, You''ve answered our prayers!"

    "I am Your most loyal follower, Lord Dax! You are the only true God!"

    "Praise Lord Dax! Is this the conclusion of the divine prophecy?"

    Scintiting light illuminated the earth as all of the living beings in the entirety of New Jersey looked on at the miraculous arrow arcing through the sky!

    It wasunched from Phdelphia and was traveling directly toward Kraken all the way in Cape May!

    "NO!!!!!" Leoric was yelling with all his might as he and the other two death gods of the Caribbean rushed toward the light with no regard for their own safety.

    This isn''t how things were supposed to be! The script isn''t like this! I am the death god! I am Dax! That man is an imposter!!

 Chapter 976: Mid Yama-King (1)

    <h4>Chapter 976: Mid Yama-King (1)</h4>

    They were howling and screaming as if they had gone insane, but they were so tiny and insignificant in the face of the tsunamis swept up by Kraken. They reached out with all their might, but there was nothing they could do.

    Kraken could also sense a burst of unprecedented killing intent locking onto it, and it immediately began to sink downward without any hesitation.

    It had to escape from this ce. If it were to allow the attack aimed at it to strike itself, then its death would be sealed!

    The sense of peril that had welled up in its heart was so intense that all of its tentacles were trembling as it instinctively curled up into a ball to protect its own head.

    "No!!!" Leoric''s mouth was gaped open as wide as it would go as he stared at the streak of light shooting through the air with an expression of utter despair. The streak of light covered a distance of hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, and he was frantically rushing toward it, even struck by the impulsive urge to take the spear strike with his own body.

    Brando''s heart was also dripping blood. The Freemasonry had invested so much into this grand script of death. They had captured Tezcatlipoca on Aconcagua, they had created all of those artificial supernatural disasters, and as a Duke, he had to do everything in his power to appease a trio of lowly Marquesses, yet all of those efforts had gone down the drain. However, he wasn''t in as much mental anguish as the three death gods of the Caribbean.

    After all, what the Freemasonrycked the least had always been money.

    Thus, at the sight of the three death gods'' deranged gestures, he immediately grabbed onto them and yelled, "Have you gone insane?!"

    "Let go of me!!" Akana really was on the brink of insanity as theherfire in her eyes spiked up to over 10 meters in height. The doorway to godhood had been beckoning to her just a moment ago, yet now, the door was slowly swinging shut.

    Hope had turned to despair, then hope had arisen again, only to transform into despair a second time, and this emotional rollercoaster was so painful that she would rather be dead!

    Brando ignored their cries and held them firmly in ce. He couldn''t allow the three of them to die here. There would only be chances for further coborations in the future if they remained alive.

    However, he was also looking at the scene unfolding before his eyes with bleak despair in his heart. This fatal stumble at the final hurdle was truly going to haunt him for the rest of his days.

    In the blink of an eye, the streak of light flew into Kraken''s head, and the entire surface of the sea was inundated by light. Amid the boundless sea of light, Kraken''s horrified and agonized screeches could be heard ringing out incessantly.

    "ARRRGH!!" Leoric wed at his own head with all his might, and he begged in a sobbing voice, "No... No!! Stop! Please stop!!"

    He really did feel as if he had gone insane.

    This was far too heavy a psychological blow for them to bear. They had plotted for over 100 years and most of their troops had perished in this battle, but their grand script of death had been intercepted and their followers werepletely oblivious.

    There was no going back now. From the moment the Spear of Longinus was fired from the church, the final oue was already set in stone.

    Ironically, all of the followers present still had their palms joined together with extremely reverent expressions as they prayed in quiet voices, "Almighty God who oversees death, Your divine miracle is as deep as the sea and as vast as the sky. I worship You as the only true God, the only death god in history who has disyed a divine miracle!"

    As they continued to chant their prayers, specks of white light rose up from the bodies of every single follower. In the end, tens of thousands of specks of light had arisen, rising up into the sky before falling like a meteor shower.

    This was the light of worship!

    Theplete actualization of the divine prophecy erased all of the doubts they had toward Dax''s existence, but unbeknownst to them, they weren''t even worshiping the real Dax.

    The real Dax was standing behind them, reaching out a trembling hand as he tried to grab onto these specks of light in a helpless manner. Unfortunately, the vast storm of light didn''t even turn in their direction in the slightest before surging directly toward Phdelphia.

    "NO!!" The three death gods of the Caribbean felt as if serrated knives had been driven into their hearts, and they transformed into bursts of Yin energy as they frantically pursued the light of worship.

    "I''m going to tear you to pieces with my bare hands!! I''m going to eat your flesh and drink your blood!!"

    There was no point in staying in Cape May anymore. Kraken was still alive and frantically trying to ward off the Spear of Longinus, but its death was only a matter of time.

    Why would they stay here any longer? To watch exactly how their grand script of death became the biggest ironic tragedy in history? To continue basking in the taste of defeat?

    He may have lost, but he certainly wasn''t going to allow the shameless bastard who had stolen his worship to get away with this! He was going to capture him and torture him for all of eternity to vent his fury!

    Thus, four furious streaks of Yin energy shot forth directly toward Phdelphia.

    At the height of their fury, they were flying extremely quickly, and they arrived in Phdelphia after no more than 20 minutes. They didn''t dy in the slightest as they rushed directly toward the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church with burning killing intent. Soon, the imposter god had already appeared in their field of view.

    None of the three Caribbean death gods said anything upon seeing him. Whiteherfire erupted over Leoric''s entire body, and the joints of his hands were cracking audibly, such was the force with which he was holding onto his giant warhammer. At the same time, six arms emerged from Akana''s back, and each arm was holding a dagger that was around a foot in length, while Zerens had swelled drastically in size, transforming into a giant with an abnormal red pallor all over his body. Brando was also with them, and he was gnashing his teeth together violently with burning fury in his eyes.

    The eyes of the three death gods of the Caribbean were filled entirely by Qin Ye.

    It''s all your fault! How could we live with ourselves if we don''t kill you? You must die!

    From their perspective, Qin Ye was still a figure in a ck cloak with a scythe casually resting on his shoulder. There was no one around him. The two cardinals of the church had disappeared, and Arlot was also nowhere to be seen.

    "Die!!!" Brando and the three Caribbean death gods roared in unison as Brando made the first strike, shing his sharp ws straight toward Qin Ye''s throat.

    You piece of scum! You should be crucified with vultures tearing away your flesh bit by bit until your final breath!

    However, right as his attack was about to strike Qin Ye, he was suddenly stopped cold in his tracks. It was as if his ws had plunged into ake, and there was immense resistance all around him, preventing him from advancing even an inch further!

    "How insolent!" At the same time, a spear-wielding figure emerged from behind Qin Ye. No one had sensed him, nor had they been able to see how he had appeared, but in the instant that he emerged, Brando was immediately struck by a sense of grave peril that made all of his fur stand up on end, and he let loose a fearful yelp before hurriedly retreating to 100 meters away.

    "M... May I ask your name?" His voice was trembling slightly as he stared intently at the imposter god. Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out inside his mind, and he felt as if a mountain had fallen directly upon him, forcing him to fall heavily to his knees with a dull thump before kowtowing to the ground.

    This was a being above the Duke level! An invincible being in this world!

    Unfortunately, the three death gods of the Caribbean were too enraged to see Brando''s reaction.

    Their eyes were focused obsessively on the imposter god before them, and there was no room for anyone else!

    They had witnessed the ying of Kraken.

    They had witnessed the convergence of the power of worship.

    They had witnessed someone else steal their right to godhood!

    This was absolutely unforgivable!

    Right as they were about to reach Qin Ye, the figure behind Qin Ye seemed to sway slightly, and even though he didn''t unleash any arts, the three Caribbean death gods felt as if they had crashed into an insurmountable mountain. They were sent flying back several hundred meters with Yin energy gushing out of their bodies, and their souls were almost sent flying out.

    "Lord Brando!" Leoric was the first one to rise to his feet as he roared in a furious voice, "What are you doing?! Are you just going to watch as... Huh?!"

    They had been sent flying back by several hundred meters, while Brando had only retreated around 100 meters, so they were situated behind him.

    As a result, they could see the pitiful gesture that Brando had adopted, and they were all rooted to the spot.

    They looked at Brando, then cast their gaze forward to find an emissary of the Cathayan Underworld wearing Yama-King robes. He appeared to be quite young and also... somewhat familiar!

    Hold on, isn''t that the man who was apanying the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts? What was his name again? Ghost King Zhao? In that case, that imposter god has to be... the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo?!

    As soon as this thought sprang into his mind, Leoric became even more furious, and his breathing had be ragged and strained with rage. Despite the fact that Zhao Yun has almost just pped his soul out of his body just now, his gaze was focused intently on that imposter god this entire time.

    All of a sudden, he burst into raucousughter that was bing louder and more deranged by the second.

    An amused smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he made his way over to Leoric''s side. Leoric immediately tightened his grip around his warhammer, yet before he couldsh out, he had already been forced to his knees.

    "You''re trying to attract my attention and goad me into asking ''why are youughing?'', so you can reply by insulting me, right?"

    "You..." Half of Leoric''s body was buried in the earth, and he raised his head with great difficulty to glower directly at Qin Ye.

    "You''re like a cheesy pantomime viin!" Qin Ye chuckled. "You must be really angry and indignant right now, right?"

    "Die!!"

    Qin Ye took a step backward with an insulting smirk on his face. "Oh, I love that expression. You want to kill me so much, but you can''t do anything to me!"

    "You piece of..."

    "Shhh..." Qin Ye cut him off by raising a finger to his own lips. "Take a listen."

    Before Leoric had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye continued, "Listen to the howling of the sea."

    In the next instant, a blood-curdling screech erupted in the night!

    The voice belonged to Kraken!

    The three Caribbean death gods turned around with all their might in the direction of Cape May, and what they saw plunged their hearts even deeper into the abyss of despair.

    A flurry of worship was currently surging from Cape May to Phdelphia.

    No, that wasn''t all. More and more dazzling specks of light were appearing all over the nation, then frantically converging toward Phdelphia!

    "No... No... No!!" Zhao Yun cast a stunned gaze toward Leoric. Never did he think that Leoric would be able to break through his restrictions and stand up! What kind of powerful emotions could''ve lent him such immense power?

    Leoric didn''t know anything anymore. In the darkness of the night, countless specks of light were surging rapidly toward Qin Ye. Leoric dragged his broken warhammer behind him as he walked shakily toward the light. The light was so close to him, yet it felt so far out of reach.

    "Mine... This is mine... It''s all mine!" he howled in agony and heartbreak. "This worship belongs to me!! We slowly built up this worship over the course of 100 years! This is all mine! Arrrrgh..."

    The storm of worship consisted of at least 100,000 specks of light, and he spread his arms open in front of it, as if doing so would allow the power of worship to flow into his body.

    However, the storm of worship merely passed through him as if he didn''t even exist, furtherpounding his agony.

    "Give it back! Give it back to me!! Arrrrrgh!!"

 Chapter 977: Mid Yama-King (2)

    <h4>Chapter 977: Mid Yama-King (2)</h4>

    Unfortunately, not all effort was rewarded in this world.

    The three Caribbean death gods looked on in despair as the light of worship passed them by, then began to rapidly revolve around Qin Ye. This was the power of worship from the hundreds of thousands of followers that they had painstakingly gathered over the course of a century!

    Thud... Leoric''s legs gave out from under him, and he fell to his knees as he looked on in despair at the light of worship passing directly through his body. Several secondster, he abruptly swung around as he roared like a madman, "Why?! You''re the ruler of one of the four pirs, you already have everything!! Do you fear us that much? Are you that afraid to us rise up through the ranks?!"

    His voice was filled with burning jealousy and killing intent, but he could only look on helplessly as the light of worship formed a vortex around Qin Ye that was constantly expanding. Qin Ye had already closed his eyes and was hovering up into the air as if he werepletely weightless, and he replied in a mocking voice, "As a death god, you are truly incredibly naive. If you''re weak, then you''re going to be oppressed. It''s simple, and that''s how the world has always been. Back when Cathay was being invaded left, right, and center in the mortal realm, did we ever expect anyone to take pity on us?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the light of worship rapidly converged toward the center, forming a scintiting sun in the dark night and enveloping Qin Ye in a massive cocoon of light that was hovering in mid-air.

    Inside the cocoon of light, Qin Ye''s Yin energy was rapidly spreading across the new continent, rapidly encroaching upon the power of the existing death gods on the new continent.

    In that instant, Mtecutli, Mictetikasiwa, Xolotl, Ah Puch, and Supay all sensed what was happening, and they turned toward the direction of Phdelphia with incredulous expressions in unison. Of course, Brando, Leoric, Akana, and Zerens were also staring intently at the scene unfolding before them.

    This was their power of worship! They had prepared painstakingly for over 100 years, only to fall catastrophically at the final hurdle.

    Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and a burst of vast Yin energy erupted out of the cocoon of light. The Yin energy was far above the nascent Yama-King level, and it was so vast and powerful that the three Caribbean death gods were forced involuntarily to their knees.

    There was simply far too massive a disparity in power, and even though they wanted nothing more than to tear this man to shreds, they couldn''t help but kneel and kowtow to him.

    "I curse you! With every fiber of my being, I curse you!!" The enormous Yin energy was like a mountain weighing down upon Akana, and she couldn''t even raise her head under its immense weight.

    "I wish the most painful of deaths upon you!!" Zerens''s entire body was being crushed into the earth by the enormous power of worship, but he still raised his head with all his might to glower directly at Qin Ye with bloodshot eyes.

    However, the only sight that they were greeted by was that of the cocoon of light slowly revolving in mid-air, sending waves of resplendent light surging in all directions like shockwaves that spread through the entire city.

    Qin Ye couldn''t see any of this right now.

    In the instant that he was enveloped by the cocoon of worship, his heart was filled with excitement. As a nascent Yama-King, he was powerful enough to ensure self-preservation, but the full extent of his ambitions lied far beyond that!

    Thinking back to the steps that he had taken to be a Yama-King, none of the steps that he had taken had been defensive or passive. He had worked relentlessly and managed to chip away at even the most resolute of fortresses to get what he wanted.

    I''ve finally be a mid Yama-King... The three death gods of the Caribbean have taken advantage of the chaos in the new continent to weave a massive plot during the past century, but all of their work has benefitted me now...

    All of these thoughts quickly began to fade as the sound of devout prayers washed over him in waves one after another from all directions, and soon, he entered a peculiar tranquil state.

    He felt as if he could see one face after another shing before his eyes, and he saw just how the three death gods of the Caribbean had earned their followers. It was very simple. The Caribbean Sea was situated at the center of Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia, making it a natural fish farm. There were countlesspanies and fishermen there that depended on the sea for their survival.

    However, the sea was an unforgiving ce, and idents often happened. Throughout the past century, the three death gods of the Caribbean had performed countless "divine miracles" with the assistance of the Freemasonry, which included asionally saving a fishing boat or chasing fish to ces where they could be easily caught. Thus, over time, everyone came to know of the name of Dax in Central Usonia. It could be said that the religion of Dax was far more popr than even Catholicism in Central Usonian nations such as Mexico, Honduras, Guatem, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Jamaica.

    "I see..." Amid the sea of prayers, Qin Ye''s heart was as calm as a stillke, and he could feel his own soul rising up out of his body to look at the world of worship around him.

    "Northern Usonia is one of the main parishes of Catholicism. The religion of Dax was unable to stake a foothold there, so it chose to establish itself in Central Usonia, where there were many religions present, then slowly extend their influence toward Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia, using the sea to spread their faith. Humans are pragmatic creatures, they''ll be inclined to worship gods who have actually benefited them. Central Usonian nations aren''t developed nations like those in Northern Usonia. In the former, there were far more people fighting for their survival rather than searching for psychological pirs."

    He swept his gaze over the countless faces around him. There were people from all genders, ages, and ethnicities, and they were all knelt on the ground in a devout manner with their palms joined together, praying in reverence and worship.

    The tens of thousands of followers who hade to Cape May were the most devout of all of the followers, and there were many more followers elsewhere who were unable to make it here.

    They were the ones who had paved the way for Qin Ye''s breakthrough to the Mid Yama-King level.

    "Almighty Lord Dax, please grant me a bountiful school of fish when I go out to sea next..."

    "Esteemed Lord Dax, please let there be good weather during my next voyage..."

    Every single one of those prayers was tugging at his heartstrings, and he slowly closed his eyes as he dered in a gentle voice, "In the name of the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea, I grant all of your prayers."

    His voice echoed throughout the entire world of worship, and all of the praying followers instantly raised their heads with astonished expressions.

    Many of them looked around with surprised expressions, and only after a long while did they withdraw their gaze and kowtow respectfully toward the direction that Qin Ye was situated in. Meanwhile, Qin Ye had involuntarily raised his hand, and dazzling white light abruptly erupted out of his fingertips, instantly inundating him in resplendent white radiance.

    It was holy and warm.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes in a blissful manner. He had already experienced this feeling on several asions in the past, so it was already very familiar to him, and all he had to do now was wait.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    After what seemed like an eternity, a rift finally appeared on the cocoon of light, which was around three to four meters in size. Immediately thereafter, a burst of dazzling white light erupted straight into the sky, and in the next instant, boundless white light began to slowly seep out of the rift as well.

    The three death gods of the Caribbean closed their eyes with despairing expressions, and Brando heaved a long sigh with a forlorn shake of his head.

    It''s over... It''s all over...

    At this point, the situation waspletely unsalvageable, and what he had to think about now was how to exin himself during the conference between elders.

    The Freemasonry had lost billions of dors and owed multiple parties massive favors, and it was all his and Arlot''s fault. Arlot was most likely already in a state of slumber at this point, so he would have to face all of the other furious elders alone.

    Crack... Crack... The cocoon of light fell away piece by piece before disintegrating into a flurry of pristine white butterflies, following which a tall figure was revealed.

    It wasn''t Qin Ye.

    Well, it was Qin Ye, at least the soul belonged to Qin Ye, but the outward appearance waspletely different.

    He had the appearance of a native Usonian with a darkplexion, and his head was entirely concealed under his cloak. Only the lower half of his face was visible, thereby revealing hisplexion and someplex patterns etched on his skin.

    He was wearing a long ck cloak with a skeletal raven perched on his shoulder. The raven had sporadic ck feathers and a pair of blood-red eyes, and it was somehow existing despite itsck of flesh and organs.

    There was a giant scythe resting on his shoulder, and no feet were visible beneath his cloak as he hovered in mid-air. Furthermore, the hands that extended out of the sleeves of his cloak were skeletal hands.

    Boundless Yin energy was drifting out of his body, but there was nothing evil or sinister about his appearance. Instead, he was like a god who oversaw the natural order, and in his presence, one would inevitably be struck by a sense of awe and veneration.

    I was nning to stake a im on Usonia through the Plumed Serpent God, then take advantage of the war that''s inevitably going to take ce on the new continent in the future, but I don''t have to count on him anymore now!

    There were far too many benefits to this!

    The new continent was a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. Once Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa passed away, the major death gods on the new continent would be certain to wage war against one another in order to im ultimate ownership over the continent.

    As for the four pirs, they were undoubtedly going to get involved as well.

    The main obstacle for an underworld trying to conquer another underworld was that when waging war on a territory with another main religion, one''s powers would be diminished by 10% to 20%, thereby cing the invading nation at an inherent disadvantage. Even the weakest of death gods would do everything in their power to protect their underworld, and it was not always an easy task to conquer another nation.

    From this moment forth, the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t have to suffer that disadvantage anymore because its King Yanluo was also a death god in Usonia and had countless followers!

    Of course, he still couldn''t even begin topare with the influence of Catholicism in Northern Usonia. The followers of Catholicism numbered in the hundreds of millions, while his followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands at the very most. However, Central Usonia was an extremely important ce! It was the ribbon that connected Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia, and he would be made aware as soon as anyone tried to ess those two continents! Despite his rtively small influence, the location at which his influence was most concentrated was not far from ideal!

    "However..." A smile appeared on his face as he tightened his grip around his scythe. "Dax is an extremely weak deity. Its faith is built solely upon its followers, and this is the stronghold of the three Caribbean death gods, so there''s no way that they''d allow Dax to exist. They''re definitely going to do everything in their power to defame and nder Dax, perhaps even creating another legend in the process."

    He turned to the three Caribbean death gods, who were kneeling on the ground in silence, and continued, "So it''s best for you three to die."

    He turned to Zhao Yun and instructed, "General Zhao, take them to see Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa."

    He had to have full control over the Caribbean Sea!

    This was going to be the foundation from which the Cathayan Underworld would take advantage of the chaos that would sweep over the new continent in the future!

    "Yes, Lord Qin!" Zhao Yun replied, and in the next instant, his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear shot forth like a bolt of silver lightning directly toward the three death gods of the Caribbean!

 Chapter 978: Heavenly Dao Manifestation

    <h4>Chapter 978: Heavenly Dao Manifestation</h4>

    "Why?!" Akana raised her head with all her might upon hearing this, and she screamed in a furious and broken voice, "You''ve already won and taken everything from us! Why are you still intent on taking our lives?!"

    Qin Ye didn''t even bother to reply.

    Why? You''re too close to the birthce of my new religion, that''s why!

    "You can''t do this!" Zerens roared in a furious voice while panting heavily. "It''s against international regtions to kill death gods with autonomous jurisdiction power! We created the Caribbean civilization!"

    Qin Ye almostughed out loud upon hearing this.

    It was no wonder that these idiots could only cower in the Caribbean Sea. How had the nameless god of death conquered Outer Mongolia? He had deployed troops there without any warning.

    Had the Mongolian Underworld not requested reinforcements? No one had responded to them!

    These three were just a trio of pirates from the Caribbean Sea. Back then, Mongke Tengri had already been an established deity, yet he had been destroyed just like that, let alone Death God Dax, who didn''t even exist.

    Oh wait, I''m Dax now, aren''t I?

    As for their ims of founding the Caribbean civilization, it had been a long time since Qin Ye had heard such a funny joke. This ce belonged to the Aztecs and Incas, what im did they have on anything?

    Qin Ye was certain that even if the other death gods knew that it was him who had done this, they would all turn a blind eye anyway. Back when Usonian had sentenced the President of Iraq to death, which nations had actually taken substantial measures to condemn Usonia? They only "admonished" Usonia after the event, and it didn''t take a genius to figure out that all that was just for show.

    The underworlds were no different from the nations of the mortal realm, and in this case, the Cathayan Underworld was in the same position that Usonia in the mortal realm had been in.

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon hearing what the three death gods of the Caribbean had to say, but Qin Ye remainedpletely unmoved as he instructed, "Kill them."

    "No... No!!!" In the face of life-threatening danger,herfire erupted violently from the bodies of the three Caribbean death gods as they implored in trembling voices, "No, please! We can serve you! We can... Arrrrgh!"

    The Courage of Dragons Silver Spear had already reached them, and it was imbued with such immense power that the space before it was shatteringyer byyer. The bodies of the three death gods were disintegrating at a rate discernible even to the naked eye, yet just as Qin Ye shook his head and was about to turn away, he suddenly faltered slightly before abruptly turning back to face the three Caribbean death gods.

    Zhao Yun was also quite taken aback by what had just unfolded.

    A figure had appeared in front of the three Caribbean death gods and grabbed onto the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear!

    No one had seen how this figure had appeared, it was as if they had instantaneously teleported here without any warning. It was as if they were free toe and go anywhere they wanted in this world in an instant.

    It was a very thin and frail-looking figure without any Yin energy or true energy emanating from their body, yet it was this exact figure who had stopped Zhao Yun''s attack cold in its tracks. Zhao Yun immediately withdrew his spear as he stood resolutely in front of Qin Ye. His ck hair and cape were pping around him as he stared at the figure with a wary expression.

    "Be careful, Lord Qin." An unprecedented hint of caution and hesitation had crept into his voice as he said, "This thing... isn''t from any of the three realms."

    Qin Ye was staring intently at the opposing figure. The figure hadn''t said anything since their sudden emergence, and the only thing they had done was grab onto the tip of Zhao Yun''s spear and position while positioning themselves in front of the three death gods of the Caribbean. However, the manner in which they had appeared was what was most astonishing to Qin Ye.

    Yin energy gathered around his body as he reverted back to his King Yanluo appearance, and he gave Zhao Yun a reassuring pat on the shoulder before sping his hands behind his back and slowly taking a few steps toward the mysterious figure. "Just now, it seemed as if time had been erased and space had been severed. It was like a sudden frame drop in a video game, and that was the instant in which you appeared. I must say, that was masterfully done. Even Ghost King Zhao isn''t capable of this. Who are you?"

    The figure didn''t reply.

    They were adorned in a cloak woven from pure white feathers, yet somehow, it was giving off a ck sheen. They were an extremely contradictory yetpletely unified entity, and despite the countless self-contradictions they possessed, they somehow gave off an indescribable sense of harmony.

    The figure had no striking physical characteristics, and it wasn''t even possible to identify them as male or female.

    Right at this moment, the figure slowly raised their hand, yet the hand was raised toward Zhao Yun rather than Qin Ye.

    Boom!

    Boundless white mist surged out of their fingertips, instantly epassing an area with a radius of several kilometers. The mist seemed to have a mind of its own, and countless tentacles elongated out of it, reaching directly toward Zhao Yun.

    A hint of rm shed through Qin Ye''s eyes, and at the same time, Zhao Yun swept his spear horizontally through the air, unleashing a powerful shockwave that instantly shattered the ground around him. However, much to their astonishment, the mist remainedpletely unaffected! It seemed to be immune to the influence of all types of power!

    More and more mist was gathering, and it was approaching Zhao Yun faster and faster,pletely inundating him in the blink of an eye. However, in the next instant, all of the mist abruptly exploded, and the mysterious figure raised their head with a stunned expression.

    Zhao Yun was also quite taken aback as he stared at his own hands. He didn''t understand why the mysterious figure had backtracked. Only aftering into contact with the mist did he discover that it was seemingly immune to all power and was trying to take him to an unknown ce.

    The three death gods of the Caribbean were alsopletely rooted to the spot.

    This was a man above the Duke level! How could there possibly be anyone capable of opposing him?!

    Zhao Yun was only in a stunned stupor for an instant before tightening his grip around his spear again, yet just as he was about to rush forward, Qin Ye gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder.

    As soon as his palmnded on Zhao Yun''s shoulder, a burst of dazzling golden light appeared behind Zhao Yun''s head, immediately following which Fate slowly flew out from behind Zhao Yun in itspletely activated form.

    Qin Ye wasn''t controlling it at all.

    At this moment, Fate didn''t resemble a pen at all. Instead, its top had opened upyer uponyer like a lotus flower, and there was a golden soul situated in the hollow part of the pen''s body, giving off bursts of scintiting golden light. In the face of the golden radiance, the mysterious figure finally retreated a few steps.

    In the next instant, violent tremors rang through the entire area as all of the true energy and Yin energy in the city converged toward Qin Ye like a tsunami. The tremors were so strong that they instantly erupted out of the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, surging through the cities of Washington DC and New York!

    Within the span of less than a minute, the entire continent of Northern Usonia was trembling!

    Boundless Yin energy and true energy formed a chaotic rift, immediately following which a hand reached out from inside to tear the rift wider, and a familiar figure emerged from within.

    It was the second King Yanluo!

    Qin Ye cast a meaningful gaze toward the second King Yanluo. He had never seen the second King Yanluo go all-out, but in the face of this mysterious figure, he was revealing more of his power than ever before!

    The second King Yanluo wasn''t even in the mood to chat with them as he stared directly at the mysterious figure with tightly furrowed brows. "You are... Nothingness?"

    "Nothingness?" Qin Ye asked.

    The figure offered no reply, and several secondster, the second King Yanluo answered Qin Ye''s question. "You can also call them the Heavenly Dao."

    "The Heavenly Dao?!" Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    This was the Heavenly Dao, the ruler of this world?!

    No wonder they were a match for Zhao Yun.

    It was only to be expected that the Heavenly Dao would appear at some point to im Zhao Yun, but it seemed that the second King Yanluo had been constantly waiting for them.

    The second King Yanluo was rather displeased by Nothingness''sck of response, and he urged, "Speak up! Don''t act like you can''t talk!"

    Nothingness finally spoke, but when they opened their mouth, everyone felt as if they could hear the cries of apes, the roars of lions, the songs of countless birds... It was very strange in that it clearly wasn''t a human voice, but the meaning of its speech somehow managed to resonate directly in everyone''s minds.

    "I won''t allow you to kill them."

    Nothingness pointed at the three death gods of the Caribbean as they spoke.

    Brando and the three Caribbean death gods were alreadypletely rooted to the spot. The astonishment they were feeling from watching this extraordinary situation unfold had already far exceeded the concern they felt for their own safety.

    The second King Yanluo was wearing a set of camouge clothing, and there was dirt and leaves all over his clothes, but that did nothing to diminish his aura as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Setting that aside for now, why are you trying to take a Yama-King from my nation?"

    Qin Ye''s eyes had also narrowed slightly. He was suddenly struck by the feeling that the situation in the Caribbean was even moreplex than he had imagined.

    If the Heavenly Dao really had only intervened to prevent him from killing these three death gods, then why hadn''t they intervened during the destruction of Mongke Tengri?

    The Heavenly Dao had always been an entity of peace and fairness. They hadn''t even stepped in to prevent the death of Mongke Tengri, a god who had lived for thousands of years, so why were they intent on saving these three death gods now? Furthermore, they were clearly aware of the fact that he was the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, yet they were still going out of their way to try and capture Zhao Yun.

    "He''s overstepped his boundaries." Every time Nothingness opened their mouth to say something, their voice was different. On this asion, their voice was like the chirping of insects on a grasnd in a summer''s night, and it waspletely emotionless. "He tried to kill them, so I have to take him away. Beings above the death god level shouldn''t exist in this world."

    Nothingness finally raised their head, but nothing could be seen under the hood of their cloak aside from a pale chin and a pair of dazzling golden eyes above it.

    "You already left, why did youe back?"

    The second King Yanluo''s wary expression remained unchanged as he watched Nothingness and replied, "You know why I came back."

    Nothingness didn''t say anything.

    The second King Yanluo heaved a faint sigh. "They deserve to die. They don''t know who they''re making a deal with, and they''re tinged with that being''s aura, so they need to die."

    "I don''t agree with that," Nothingness countered. "It''s exactly because they''re tinged with that being''s aura that they should be observed for future reference."

    The second King Yanluo was rather amused to hear this. "Forever the observer, eh? This is why you''re never going to be able to get out of this universe."

    Nothingness offered no response.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything, either, but he was intently observing the two of them.

    Why was it that the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao had arrived to save three Abyssal Prefects? Why were they so important? Who exactly were they connected to?

    "Let''s end this here." The second King Yanluo and casually tore open space as he turned to Nothingness and said, "The Cathayan Underworld will take responsibility for everything it should take responsibility for, so let''s not whittle down the top-end beings in this world any further. I''m sure you''re aware of just how fearsome those things are. I promise that we won''t kill them, but in exchange, I ask that you don''t pursue this matter any further, either."

    Nothingness remained still on the spot as they watched the second King Yanluo walk into the spatial rift along with Qin Ye and Zhao Yun. The spatial rift then closed over, and only after a long while did Nothingness murmur to themselves, "I hope you''re right."

    In the blink of an eye, Nothingness vanished into thin air without any warning just as abruptly as they had appeared, and the three death gods of the Caribbean also vanished alongside them.

    Thus, Brando was the only one left at the scene.

    After a long while, a wry smile appeared on his face as he slowly and methodicallybed his fingers through his own hair. "I''m a Duke, but why does it feel like I don''t even exist here? At the very least, I can give a satisfactory answer to the elders now."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Upon re-emerging from the spatial rift, Qin Ye found himself situated on a ship.

    It was a luxury cruise ship, and even the servers on the ship were wearing immacte suits. They weren''t surprised in the slightest to see the second King Yanluo and Qin Ye''s sudden appearance. Instead, they immediately fell to their knees and greeted in a respectful voice, "Wee, esteemed underworld emissaries."

    The second King Yanluo''s attire waspletely inappropriate for this setting, but he was as rxed as if this was his own house. He casually picked up a ss of wine, then led Qin Ye over to a table, where they took a seat. The table was alreadyden with all types of delicacies.

    "You must be quite surprised to see me here, right?" He swirled his wine ss around with a reminiscent look in his eyes, and after a brief pause, he continued, "It has nothing to do with you, I don''t have a habit of cleaning up after you. On top of that, you''ve already done your best here, and truth be told, I didn''t think that you would be able to do so well. Having said that, the emergence of Nothingness came as quite a surprise to me. They haven''t appeared in several thousand years already, and I wouldn''t havee here if not for them."

    He downed the contents of his ss in one go before turning to Qin Ye with a meaningful expression. "The other reason I came back is to teach you your final lesson as King Yanluo."

    "Right now?" Qin Ye asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    "Right now."

 Chapter 979: The Black Box

    <h4>Chapter 979: The ck Box</h4>

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he took a sip of wine, then said in a slightly begrudging voice, "I actually really hate how you chose to return at a time like this. All of the glory that was supposed to have been mine is now yours!"

    "I didn''t want toe back, either," the second King Yanluo replied in azy voice as he crossed his legs and folded his hands in front of his stomach.

    "I can confidently say that my execution was wless here. Through taking the absolute minimal risk possible, I received returns far greater in magnitude than the risk I took, but why did you have to show up at the end?" Qin Ye red at the second King Yanluo in a displeased manner before setting down his wine ss. "And why did you leave just like that? Can''t you have a bit of backbone?! Don''t flip flop back and forth like this, you''re really stealing my limelight, do you understand?"

    The second King Yanluo''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this. "That''s not what you said when you begged me to clean up after you in the past..."

    "Times have changed," Qin Ye replied with a roll of his eyes. "Don''t tell me you''ve been doing your best to minimize your presence, your existence itself automatically ces you right under the center of the limelight!"

    The second King Yanluo, "Like I said, I didn''t want toe back myself. I came backst time for you, but this time, it really is for something different."

    He made a grabbing motion as he spoke, and a ck box appeared in his grasp from out of thin air before he ced it onto the table. He then cast a serious gaze toward Qin Ye and asked, "Don''t you think there are still some unanswered questions in the wake of what just happened?"

    <i>Wow, your subject-changing skills are trulycking! That was the most stiff and forced transition I''ve ever seen!</i> Qin Ye repressed the urge to continue pursuing the previous topic of conversation as he cast his gaze toward the ck box.

    It was a jade box that had been polished to an extraordinary degree of smoothness, yet all types of patterns were engraved on its surface.

    After just a single nce, Qin Ye''s brows immediately furrowed slightly. There were four different types of patterns engraved on the four corners.

    If they were simply different patterns, then that wouldn''t be much cause for attention, but the four types of patterns were inpletely different styles.

    One type was in the Aegyptian style, and it bore a strong resemnce to the murals in their pyramids.

    Another type came from Argosia, and it was clear to see that it was the renowned Argosian zodiac signs.

    The third type was from Hindustan, depicting a death god riding on the back of an elephant.

    The final type was from Cathay, and it was an inscription of the Aurogon.

    How had this box managed to incorporate these four types of cultures all at once?

    Qin Ye gentlyid a hand onto the box, and as soon as his hand came into contact with it, his mouth immediately sprang open in surprise.

    He discovered that the four types of engravings were imbued with four types of auras as well!

    They were all auras familiar to him, belonging to Anubis, Yamaraja, the twin death gods of the Argosian Underworld, and... the idiot beside him!

    A reminiscent look appeared on the second King Yanluo as he looked at the box. "When power ispletely passed over from one ruler to another, the previous ruler will be sure to reveal all of their secrets to their sessor. Even the emperors of ancient times would only reveal their trump cards at the very end, and this is my trump card. No, it''s the trump card of the entire world."

    Qin Ye was very intrigued to hear this. The fact that even someone like the second King Yanluo was treating this box so seriously indicated that it was definitely no ordinary item, and on top of that, this was the true trump card of a nation!

    "Is this the ck box used to fire forbidden arts?" he asked in a tentative manner.

    The second King Yanluo gave him a vicious re in response. "ck boxes aren''t required to fire forbidden arts! Have you thought about my question just now? What have you missed here?"

    Bullshit! There''s no way the wise and almighty Yanluo Qin could''ve possibly missed anything!

    Qin Ye aimed a disdainful nce at the second King Yanluo, and all of a sudden, a thought urred to him, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.

    He had indeed missed some things.

    For example...

    "Who wrote this grand script of death?" A serious look appeared on his face as he cast his gaze toward the box through narrowed eyes. "Does that have something to do with this?"

    The entire situation was already very clear at this point with the exception of a single point, which was the author of this grand script of death.

    He had thought that it was the Plumed Serpent God, but judging from how seriously the second King Yanluo was taking this matter, he had already abandoned that possibility.

    There was no way that the Plumed Serpent God would be able to invoke such a reaction from the second King Yanluo.

    "It does," the second King Yanluo replied as he looked into Qin Ye''s eyes with just as serious an expression. "What if I tell you that Lao Tzu, Guiguzi, and Mencius are all still in the underworld?" [All three of the aforementioned people are vastly renowned philosophers in Chinese history.]

    Qin Ye was astonished to hear this. This was the biggest bombshell that had been dropped onto him to date!

    The 12 envoys and Sixfold Ghost Kings that he had under hismand were already extremely renowned characters in Cathayan history, but they were nothingpared with Lao Tzu, Guiguzi, and Mencius!

    Even the most renowned of Cathayan emperors weren''t as well known as them! They were the soul of Cathay, the pirs of culture and civilization!

    How was it possible that these monumental saints were still in the underworld, and if they were still there, why hadn''t they reached out to him?

    "They aren''t under the jurisdiction of Hell." The second King Yanluo lit a cigarette and took a puff from it, then continued, "They''re Yin spirits, but they don''t belong directly to Hell. This is a very difficult matter to exin. Even I have to go through countless procedures just to be able to meet them, let alone someone like you."

    "Hold on..." Qin Ye massaged his own be as he asked, "Didn''t you say I was missing something? Weren''t we discussing the identity of the author of this grand script of death? Why are we suddenly talking about them now? How are these things rted?"

    The second King Yanluo''s eyes narrowed slightly as he replied, "Let me help you make sense of the situation. You''re not the only one pursuing the author of this grand script of death."

    "Nothingness and I have been watching them this entire time, but we don''t care about the things on the surface, we want to track down the roots. The first time it appeared was in Wellington."

    Wellington? As in Wellington, New Zend?

    Qin Ye didn''t interrupt and continued listening carefully.

    "After that, due to a sequence of unforeseen events, it passed through several sets of hands, traveling from Samoa to the Cook Inds, then to the Pitcairn Inds, Easter Ind, and the Gpagos Inds. If you''re familiar with the world map, I''m sure you know what this route entails."

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. Of course he was aware of what this route entailed.

    It was a route that led from the Eastern Pacific Ocean to the Western Pacific Ocean!

    "We''ve been tracking it for over a century, and only the rulers of the other three pirs and I are aware of this matter. No other death gods know about this. For example, Anubis is aware of this, but even Osiris has been keptpletely in the dark. I know about this, but Ksitigarbha is unaware."

    He looked intently into Qin Ye''s eyes as he continued, "This knowledge is only passed down between the absolute ruling death gods of the four pirs, and it''s exactly because of its existence that the four pirs came to be. After reaching the Gpagos Inds, it was finally obtained by the three death gods of the Caribbean, and from that point onward, the grand script of deathmenced."

    Qin Ye leaned back in his chair with a contemtive expression as he mused, "So you''re saying none of the death gods of the new continent wrote this grand script of death."

    "That''s right," the second King Yanluo replied with a smile. "The being that wrote this grand script of death doesn''t belong to our world."

    Qin Ye was starting to feel the onset of a headache. "What do you mean by that?"

    The second King Yanluo patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go up and take a look. You''re going to be witnessing the biggest and final secret of this world."

    He pointed at the ck box before continuing, "All of the information that we currently have is stored in this box, but this isn''t the right time for you to open it. Only open it once you''re ready."

    The second King Yanluo''s expression waspletely stoic and serious as he looked straight into Qin Ye''s eyes. "Don''t treat this as a joke even for a single second. Curiosity killed the cat, and it''ll kill you as well if you let it get the better of you. This thing has been in my possession for over 1,000 years, and it''s time for you to shoulder this duty as well. The truth behind the four pirs, the state of this world... You''llpletely understand everything once you decide to open this box."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything in response. Instead, he casually grabbed another ss of wine and began to make his way up to the deck of the cruise ship.

    The cruise ship was very luxurious, and he could tell that they were in the mortal realm, but he could also sense that every single one of the servers on the ship were possessed by Yin spirits.

    As soon as he made his way past them, all of them immediately lowered their heads in a respectful manner until he passed them by.

    He looked into his ss as the swirling wine reflected the light overhead, and his mind was feeling quite muddled.

    Firstly, the second King Yanluo''s recounting abilities were absolutely horrible. If he were to fill in for a reporter, he would definitely be fired on that very same day. However, Qin Ye was already used to this. He was dealing with the most powerful being in history, so he had to ept that such a being would have some ws.

    At the same time, Qin Ye was carefully analyzing the second King Yanluo''s mindset.

    Even though the second King Yanluo''s recount had been quite scattered and chaotic, he had still managed to catch a few things.

    "Where is this ship traveling to?" he suddenly asked as he stopped in his tracks.

    There was a tall and thin Caucasian male following along behind him, and this man was an Abyssal Prefect!

    Heid an arm diagonally across his own chest as he extended a respectful bow, then replied, "We are at Wellington''s first defensive line, esteemed underworld emissary."

    The first defensive line, eh? As expected... An idea was already beginning to take shape in his mind, but his expression betrayed nothing as he asked, "Who''s the supervisor here?"

    "That would be General Napoleon, esteemed underworld emissary." The server was still in a deep, respectful bow, and he continued, "We''re about to reach Puerto Santa Cruz and will be entering the underworld in around half an hour, so please prepare yourself for that, esteemed underworld emissary."

    Qin Ye nodded in response and didn''t say anything further as he arrived on the deck of the ship.

    Outside, he was greeted by the sight of the vast sea and the starry night sky.

    He leaned against the railing of the ship, taking one sip of wine after another. As soon as he ran out of wine, all he would have to do was set down the ss, and within 10 seconds, a server would definitely arrive in a wraith-like manner to give him a refill. Shortly thereafter, a server carried a table over to him and ced one delicacy onto another as if these delectable dishes grew on trees here.

    These were truly exceptional delicacies, and the taste and presentation were both impable.

    Qin Ye picked up a slice of Iberian ham and took a look at it, then set it down again as he asked, "Do all guests on this ship receive this type of treatment?"

    "That''s right." The Abyssal Prefect level server had appeared out of thin air to answer his question. "This is well deserved for the glorious warriors."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then snapped his fingers, and the chair swiveled around on its own, allowing him to cast his gaze out toward the sea.

    A ck box sealed by the ruler death gods of the four pirs, a grand script of death that had drifted across the entire Pacific Ocean, a mystery that had caught the attention of the second King Yanluo and the Heavenly Dao, a ship that was traveling toward the territory of General Napoleon...

    What exactly was this first defensive line defending?

    He had thought that he had already reaped as much reward from this as possible, obtaining Kraken''s body, progressing to the mid Yama-King level, and establishing a foothold on the new continent, but after witnessing the emergence of the second King Yanluo and the Heavenly Dao, he felt as if he still hadn''t trulye into contact with the true core of all of this. Only now was he beginning to uncover the truth.

    He smiled as he murmured to himself, "In your eyes, I''m still too weak, aren''t I? You thought I was unfit to inherit this ck box, isn''t that right? That''s why you were reluctant to leave this entire time. If I didn''t just so happen to get involved in this matter and perform better than you had expected, I bet you would''ve hidden the truth from me for even longer."

    Indeed, just as the second King Yanluo had said, he hade back to teach Qin Ye the final lesson.

    However, he was certain that if he hadn''tpletely reced Dax, torn the grand script of death to shreds, and attracted the attention of the Heavenly Dao by attempting to kill the three death gods of the Caribbean, there was no way that the second King Yanluo would''ve been willing to pass the ck box down to him.

    Despite the second King Yanluo''s rough exterior, he was quite a cunning man.

    "But you''ve overstepped your boundaries! Don''t forget that I am now the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!" he mused to himself with a cold expression.

    An awkward look then appeared on his face as he cleared his throat and murmured, "Having said that, I''m a kind and gracious ruler, so I''ll forgive you just this once..."

 Chapter 980: The Worlds Gate

    <h4>Chapter 980: The World''s Gate</h4>

    The cabin and deck of the ship were twopletely different worlds.

    The second King Yanluo was seated alone on the sofa, smoking one cigarette after another, and the ashtray in front of him was already packed full of cigarette butts. Furthermore, he wasn''t smoking a good brand of cigarettes. Instead, it was the really cheap and smelly type.

    The lighting was very gentle, and there was a musician ying a beautiful melody, but the second King Yanluo clearly wasn''t listening to it at all as he looked up at the ceiling with an absentminded look on his chiseled face. Several secondster, he suddenly spat out the cigarette in his mouth, and it flew straight into the ashtray as he said, "Take a seat."

    The space in front of him rippled slightly, following which a figure in a Taoist robe emerged out of thin air. No one else seemed to be able to see him, and he cupped a fist to extend a salute with his horsetail whisk slung diagonally across his chest. After watching the second King Yanluo with a meaningful expression for some time, he finally said, "You''ve overstepped your boundaries, Yanluo Xu."

    "Ah, wee, Yin Xi," the second King Yanluo greeted with a smile. "How have I overstepped my boundaries?"

    If there were any modern Taoists present, they would most likely immediately fall to their knees in the face of Yin Xi to revere one of the founders of their faith!

    ording to historical records, it was said that Yin Xi was one of Lao Tzu''s closestpanions and was the only person who had apanied Lao Tzu throughout his entire journey to founding Taoism!

    Yin Xi wore an indifferent expression as he replied in an unhurried manner, "I understand that you''re concerned in the wake of the abrupt changes that Hell has undergone. The descendants of Lao Tzu and the other seven major ns are confused as to why they have to issue so much military expenses every year. They''ve be very corrupt and have even cut offmunication between the Australis Underworld and Fengdu. You want to punish them, but are reluctant to do so as all of the Eight Great ns are dynasties that have stood for thousands of years, not to mention that the head of each n is a renowned emperor in Cathayan history. During their heyday, around 80% of all of the officials in the imperial court came from the eight ns. You can kill them all, but who would be left to oversee official matters if you do that? You''ve already issued orders on three asions to the Li n of the Tang Dynasty, forbidding them from establishing private armies, yet your orders have not been followed. You''ve warned the Zhu n of the Ming Dynasty against engaging in smuggling on multiple asions, yet they''re still the wealthiest n in the Cathayan Underworld. I''m sure you''ve heard of the secret treasure of Longxing Temple, which is said to be worth an astronomical sum. Then there''s also the Zhao n of the Song Dynasty, the Aisin-Gioro n... None of them are easy to deal with, and it would be impossible for you to pull them out by the roots. The Eight Great ns are all interconnected, and striking at any one of them would spell turmoil for the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld. On top of that, you''re azy man, so I''m not surprised that you decided to eradicate the old Hell and start everything anew. However..."

    He paused momentarily here before continuing in a cold voice, "It was agreed upon by all of the four pirs that the next ruler death god can''t inherit Pandora''s Box until they''ve been in power for at least 300 years. One of the major duties of the four pirs is to guard the secret within the box. The things inside it are far too dangerous, yet you''ve entrusted it to someone with no foundation and is only remarkable for the fact that he''s consumed the Taisui fungus."

    The second King Yanluo poured himself a ss of wine and swirled it around his ss without giving a reply.

    Yin Xi continued, "He may have passed our tests and been acknowledged by all of the gods in heaven, yet you''ve alleviated some of the psychological pressure of the tests imposed upon him by the three saints by proiming that they''re your tests, isn''t that right?"

    The second King Yanluo took a sip of wine before replying, "He''s still just a child."

    "But he''s taken on the duty of King Yanluo," Yin Xi sighed. "This is not an easy position to upy... Setting that aside for now, what were you thinking when you gave him Pandora''s Box? You can still take it back before he opens it."

    The second King Yanluo suddenly set down his wine ss as he turned to Yin Xi with a smile. "What do you think of my eyes?"

    Yin Xi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    Is he trying to seduce me?

    Before Yin Xi had a chance to reply, the second King Yanluo continued, "My eyes are never wrong when ites to judging character. Rest assured, I told him not to open the box unless he was absolutely confident, and he''ll definitely do just that."

    Yin Xi''s brows furrowed even further upon hearing this. "Is his self-restraint really that reliable?"

    "No, but you can count on his cowardice," the second King Yanluo replied.

    "..." Yin Xi had no idea what to say to that, and only after a long while did he begin, "In that case..."

    "In that case, why did I give it to him now? Is that what you want to ask?" The second King Yanluo flexed his neck from side to side as his smile faded, and he asked, "Do you know what he did? He ventured into the new continent alone as a nascent Yama-King and was somehow able to make sense of everything. I promise you that he hasn''t seen the grand script of death before his trip. After that, he managed to intercept the script without any assistance from us! Would you even be able to guarantee that you could do that if you were in his shoes?"

    He took a deep breath before continuing, "It would be inappropriate for any of us to get involved as our intervention would be sensed by the being that wrote the grand script of death. Hence, we needed someone to step in in our stead. Originally, I had already given up and was going to allow the three death gods of the Caribbean to attain godhood, then try and track down that being through them, but never did I think that he would be able to pull this off without any guidance from us! He''s shown himself to be extremely capable, so why can''t I give the box to him? Why can''t I try to add to his responsibilities a little? He''ll find out about all of this eventually anyway."

    Yin Xi countered in a grim voice, "But no one can predict the future, what if a problem arises with his administration?"

    A sly smile appeared on the second King Yanluo as he suddenly leaned forward and replied, "You know, that''s actually the second reason why I entrusted him with the box. You don''t know the finer details here, so you don''t know exactly what he''s obtained. Do you think all he''s gotten out of this is a breakthrough to the mid Yama-King level?"

    He shook his head, and his smile widened as he continued, "No, he''s obtained much more than you can imagine. The entire underworld is going to undergo an enormous change in the next 100 years, and that change will begin in the Cathayan Underworld! He will lead the Cathayan Underworld to greater heights than the first King Yanluo and I ever have, and it''s due to these two factors that I made up my mind to give him the box."

    Yin Xi was stunned to hear this.

    What exactly could the new King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld have possibly obtained to inspire so much confidence in the second King Yanluo? And what was this massive change going to be?

    A mysterious look appeared on the second King Yanluo''s face as he continued, "Perhaps he will have to be the one to resolve the issues in the Australis Underworld. Do you still think I''ve made the wrong decision?"

    Yin Xi had nothing to say to that, so he could only heave a faint sigh in response. "I hope you''ve made the right decision. I still have some matters to attend to, so I''ll be going now. I... No, all of us will be waiting for him at the World''s Gate. We are eagerly awaiting the day that the Cathayan Underworld''s troops step through the World''s Gate again, and only then will we truly acknowledge him."

    After that, Yin Xi vanished on the spot, while the second King Yanluo remained seated nonchntly on the sofa. He swirled the wine in his ss around gently as he chuckled to himself, "You think he needs acknowledgment from you? As the former King Yanluo, even I haven''t said anything yet, what are you getting so excited for? Just as you aren''t under the jurisdiction of the underworld, you have no jurisdictive power over the four pirs, either! These guardians really are getting worse and worse with each passing generation..."

    He brought his ss to his lips, yet just as he was about to take a sip, he suddenly stopped as the slight tremors had begun to run through the entire ship. Immediately thereafter, it began to gently descend as if it had entered an abyss.

    "Are we already there?" He set down the wine ss before standing up and stretchingzily. "Take a good look, Qin brat. This is the true state of the world, and given how intelligent you are, you should be able to figure out some things. You should be able to understand the responsibilities that you must shoulder and just how heavy they are..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the ship''s deck, Qin Ye was also holding a ss of wine.

    Just now, a vast expanse of mist had arisen.

    The mist was so dense that visibility had been reduced to absolute zero, yet the ship made no attempt to avoid it, sailing directly into it instead. Actually, the mist was rising up from around the ship, so there was no way for the ship to avoid it anyway.

    Qin Ye didn''t panic as he could smell the scent of another world within this mist, the scent of the underworld.

    However, it wasn''t exactly the same as the scent of the underworld as there was also a very strong odor of blood, as well as a type of aura that he harbored a natural aversion toward.

    The second King Yanluo hadn''t said anything, so this ce was most likely safe. With that in mind, Qin Ye continued to sip on his wine. After the cruise ship had been sailing through the mist for about 10 minutes, he was suddenly struck by a falling sensation.

    It was a very slight falling sensation, so minute that it didn''t even affect one''s bnce.

    After a long while, perhaps 20 to 30 minutes or even longer than that, the sound of sshing water finally rang out around them, and the dense white mist also receded.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in surprise as he was greeted by the sight of a source of light as the mist parted around him.

    The light was slightly more subtle than the light fromnterns, and it wasing from...

    "Holy shit, is that Yin jade?! This much Yin jade is being used just for lighting purposes?! That''s way too extravagant!" he eximed to himself.

    Technically speaking, the Yin jade wasn''t being used solely for lighting purposes. Instead, there was an indescribably gargantuan gate constructed entirely from Yin jade standing right in front of him, and the cruise ship was currently docked in a pitch-ck bay.

    There were ssic renaissance era Europa-style carvings engraved all over the gate, depicting the ruler gods of the four pirs. It was extremely beautiful to behold, and even the finer details such as the flowers and vines beneath the feet of the ruler death gods were clearly visible. The gate was several hundred meters tall and around 100 meters wide, and on either side of it were city walls that stretched on as far as the eyes could see, making it impossible to see whatid beyond the gate.

    Standing atop the city walls were countless spear-wielding Yin soldiers d in suits of armor. This definitely wasn''t just for show as Qin Ye could sense extremely potent killing intent emanating from all of these Yin soldiers, indicating that they were battle-hardened veterans.

    As aforementioned, this entire gate was carved out of a single piece of Yin jade, and the light wasing from the surrounding searchlights in all directions carved out of all types of ore.

    Just a rough nce at his surroundings was enough to make Qin Ye''s eyelids twitch violently.

    There was Dragonslumber Jade, Divine Falcon Stone, Winterless, Eternal Radiance... Every single one of them was at least A grade underworld ore, and they weren''t extremely rare, but there certainly wasn''t much of them, either, certainly not enough to warrant making searchlights out of them!

    In this ce, these pieces of precious ore were strewn around all over the ce like cabbage!

    "Holy shit..." He took a deep breath as he murmured to himself, "What the hell is this ce?!"

    "This is the World''s Gate." The second King Yanluo''s voice rang out from behind him before he patted Qin Ye on the shoulder. "This is the biggest secret in the world. Of course, you''ll only hear about it if Napoleon is willing to tell you."

    Qin Ye fell silent upon hearing this. "What if he''s not willing?"

    "Then you can try and open that ck box," the second King Yanluo replied.

    Why does it feel like you''re constantly trying to goad me into ying with fire? I''m not gonna fall for your tricks!

    Qin Ye ignored the second King Yanluo''s provocation as he stared at the gigantic gate in a ck-jawed manner. "The server on the ship told me that this is the first defensive line."

    "Indeed, it is," the second King Yanluo replied. "The first defensive line has a total of four exits, and this is one of them. The other three exits are being guarded by Alexander the Great, Constantine the Great, and Emperor Julius Caesar. As for the three saints of our Cathayan Underworld, they''re responsible for guarding the core area beyond this defensive line."

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    Napoleon, Alexander, Constantine, and Julius Caesar were all vastly renowned figures in history, yet all of them were guarding this so-called first defensive line!

    What could possibly lie beyond this gate?

 Chapter 981: Emperor Napoleon

    <h4>Chapter 981: Emperor Napoleon</h4>

    Right at this moment, all of the light instantly shone onto them, and Qin Ye abruptly discovered that they were the only two people on the ship.

    What was even more of a surprise was that the shadow cast by the second King Yanluo under the light had taken on a massive and terrifying form!

    It was impossible to tell what the shape was supposed to be as it was very abstract and indistinct, but just the shadow alone was enough to strike him with a sense of immense pressure, as if looking at it for even a moment too long would result in catastrophic consequences.

    Just how powerful is this man? He cast a meaningful nce toward the second King Yanluo in silence, and right at this moment, all of the Yin soldiers standing atop the city wall fell to one knee in unison as they greeted collectively, "We wee the third King Yanluo and the Yellow Emperor!"

    "They''ve seen me before?" Qin Ye asked.

    "No," the second King Yanluo replied. "But they''re aware of the existence of every single ruler death god in this world."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "Also, the current state of the Cathayan Underworld isn''t a secret here, either, but rest assured, no one here knows anything. Only the handful of guardians here are aware of what things are currently like in the Cathay, and they won''t disclose this information to anyone. You must take note that this ce doesn''t intersect with the outside world. All of the beings you see here are Yin spirits with some rare exceptions of top-tier cultivators from the mortal realm among them as well. However, they''re not under the jurisdiction of any underworld, and they hold no jurisdictive power over you, either."

    At the foot of the massive gate, a small entrance opened up. It was small only in rtive terms, in reality, it was still around 10 meters tall and 20 meters wide. A group of ancient Europa cavaliers were rapidly charging toward them, and their leader was riding an imposing skeletal warhorse with a tricorne from Europa''s middle ages sitting on his head and a rapier strapped to his side. The tricorne was embroidered with golden patterns, and it was matched by a blue surcoat with golden edges that was pping behind the cavalier as he rose along on his steed.

    "You must be wondering why there are so few Yama-Kings in the mortal realm, right?" The second King Yanluo pointed at the gate up ahead with a smile and said, "That''s because all of them are in here. The three saints of Hell, Lao Tzu, Guiguzi, and Mencius, are all on the brink of progressing beyond the Yama-King level, and they''ll most likely be making their breakthroughs within the next 300 years. As for the other living Yama-Kings of the Cathayan Underworld, there are four of them here!"

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "If you don''te into contact with the ck box, you''d never be aware of their existence, and no one in the mortal realm would ever imagine that there would be living people capable of progressing beyond the Yama-King level. If someone like Director Lei from the Special Investigations Department were here, he''d be in absolute awe. If you''re lucky, this guardian could make an exception and let you inside, upon which you may be able to see the most powerful beings in this world."

    Right at this moment, the group of cavaliers arrived before them, and their leader was a mid Yama-King!

    So this is Napoleon? Qin Ye inspected the figure before him with an intrigued expression.

    The Argosian Underworld had conquered all of Europa aside from Northern Europa, so theoretically speaking, Napoleon should''ve been under the rule of the Argosian Underworld.

    However, Qin Ye had seen the list of Yama-Kings and Abyssal Prefects in the Argosian Underworld, and Napoleon''s name wasn''t on that list. As it turned out, he was situated here.

    "Oh my goodness, it''s the third King Yanluo!" To Qin Ye''s surprise, Napoleon was a portly middle-aged man. Even though he was a Yin spirit, he looked no different from a normal person, and there was a cunning gleam in his eyes.

    He rubbed his hands together, and the tips of his mustache perked up slightly in a ratherical manner as he smiled and extended a slight bow. "To what do I owe this great honor? Your arrival truly marks a spectacr asion!"

    Qin Ye was rather perplexed as Napoleon seemed to be looking behind him rather than at him as he was talking.

    "Save your energy," the second King Yanluo said in an indifferent voice. "There''s no one else."

    Silence.

    The smile on Napoleon''s face gradually stiffened, then disappeared altogether, and several secondster, an extremely authoritative look appeared on his face as he asked in a cold voice, "Did the Cathayan Underworld not send its army here?"

    "I''m just here to take a look," Qin Ye replied in a calm voice.

    "I see," Napoleon said with a smile, then immediately turned away. "Farewell then."

    The remaining cavaliers then situated themselves directly in front of Qin Ye and the second King Yanluo, and Qin Ye was stunned to see this.

    As the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, he had never received such treatment before!

    Even the ruler death gods of the other three pirs wouldn''t dare to do this!

    "Aren''t you being a little too pragmatic?" The second King Yanluo didn''t seem to be surprised at all to see this, and he asked, "Is this how you Franks treat your guests?"

    Napoleon remained on his steed as he replied in a cold voice, "No one is allowed to enter this ce until they''ve opened Pandora''s Box, this is a rule that you personally set."

    He pointed at the gate behind him as he continued, "This is the World''s Gate, not the diplomacy hall for weing the leaders of the four pirs. If you insist on entering this ce, I can immediatelybel you as an intruder. You know that I have this right."

    "Can''t you make an exception?" the second King Yanluo asked. "Do you not n to count on the Cathayan Underworld''s support in the future? Also, I''ve already given him the ck box, and it''s only a matter of time before he opens it. When has the Cathayan Underworld ever shirked its international responsibilities?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Napoleon was already standing beside Qin Ye with a warm smile, gently dusting some non-existent lint away from Qin Ye''s shoulders as he said in a voice as gentle as marshmallows and feathers, "You''ve already received the ck box? Why didn''t you tell me that earlier? We''re constantly praying for the arrival of new reinforcements! Seeing as you''ve already received the ck box..."

    He cleared his throat before concluding, "Then you can take a tour to Puerto Santa Cruz."

    I still can''t go in?

    Qin Ye cast a bewildered gaze toward Napoleon, then looked at the World''s Gate again, and Napoleon suddenly put on a serious expression as he said, "Yanluo Qin, you may be a ruler of one of the four pirs and have obtained the ck box, but you can''t enter this ce until you''ve opened the box!"

    Your mood swings are more unpredictable than the weather!

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Then what if I don''t open the ck box in the next 300 years?"

    Napoleon withdrew his hand from Qin Ye''s shoulder, then slowly made his way back to his steed. On this asion, he couldn''t even be bothered to say anything to Qin Ye anymore, and he merely waved a hand, upon which the cavaliers converged once again.

    Holy shit, does this man have no shame?!

    Even as shameless as Qin Ye was, he couldn''t help but be stunned, and only after a long while did give a thumbs-up in awe and veneration. "What an inspiration to all of us..."

    "Let''s not waste any more time here," the second King Yanluo said as he swept a hand through the air, upon which all of the cavaliers instantly vanished. "I never intended to break the rules, let''s just go on a tour of Puerto Santa Cruz."

    Napoleon didn''t even bother to reply as he got onto his skeletal warhorse and vanished into the darkness as a plume of smoke.

    "That was badass!" Qin Ye couldn''t help but praise. "The degree of shamelessness he just disyed is reminiscent of my younger self..."

    This waspletely different from the Emperor Napoleon depicted in history books!

    "Don''t underestimate him," the second King Yanluo said in a casual voice. "None of the guardians here are slouches. Back when the nar scale triggered this barrier here, Napoleon and the other three emperors guarded the entrances with their lives, killing countless invaders until the three saints arrived to reinforce them. Let me tell you this: he''s far more powerful than the average mid Yama-King. As an example, the likes of Brando and Arlot wouldn''t evenst half an hour in a battle against him."

    Qin Ye cleared his throat quietly upon hearing this.

    What about me? How would I fare? Please praise me! Please hug me! Please raise me up high!

    The second King Yanluo cast a derisive nce toward him before giving a cold harrumph.

    Qin Ye was rather displeased to see this, and he cleared his throat much louder this time.

    The second King Yanluo rolled his eyes in response, and the message was very clear from his expression: "know your ce, you idiot!"

    An awkward silence ensued...

    "Can''t you tter me just a little?" After a minute, Qin Ye finally gave up, and a resigned look appeared on his face as he said, "I''m the ruler of one of the four pirs! You''re making me feel quite ashamed here..."

    "I didn''t know you were capable of feeling such an emotion," the second King Yanluo finally replied with a derisive expression. "Figure out what your strong points are and stick to them! Don''t alwayspare the strong points of others to your own weak points!"

    The second King Yanluo was just about to continue in his lecture, but a serious look had already appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he cast his gaze toward the distance.

    He then brushed the second King Yanluo aside before quickly rushing forward.

    They had arrived at a port, so there were many ships here.

    Directly ahead of him was a pure white eagle figurehead that was spreading its wings to epass the entire ship, which was a giant ship over 500 meters in length!

    It was still in the ancient Europa style and had a fantasy element to it. Qin Ye could tell that the figurehead of the ship was constructed from one of the hardest types of metal in the underworld, the Moonwheel Stone. This type of special ore was very easily identifiable by the gorgeous luster that it gave off, which strongly resembled moonlight.

    However, there were four massive cracks running along the body of the ship.

    They had pierced through the Moonwheel Stone and obliterated the structure of the ship. In all honesty, Qin Ye felt like it was a miracle that this ship was even floating at all.

    "This is the Moonlit Crown," the second King Yanluo introduced with a forlorn sigh. "It was destroyed when the nar scale hit 72 degrees 100 years ago. All of the soldiers on the ship perished aside from the Abyssal Prefect level general, who managed to escape."

    I see... Qin Ye made his way forward, inspecting the severely ravaged ship with an unblinking gaze under the dim moonlight. After a long while, he finally concluded, "These are w marks."

    The second King Yanluo didn''t deny this.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything further.

    This discovery alone was already extremely shocking to him.

    He had considered why the second King Yanluo had taken him here and why these people had been sent here to guard this ce.

    What the second King Yanluo had told him on the ship had been very ambiguous, and he was scrambling to make sense of what he had been told.

    All of a sudden, a thought urred to him like a bolt of lightning!

    "There must be some type of fearsome being sealed in here, right?" He turned his gaze away from the Moonlit Crown before turning toward the World''s Gate with a grim expression. "It must be either something extremely powerful, or extremely difficult to kill, or both, and that''s why you have to guard this ce, is that correct?"

    The second King Yanluo''s smile faded as he gave Qin Ye a nod of approval. "I knew you wouldn''t let me down. Keep going, let me see what else you can figure out."

 Chapter 982: The Truth?

    <h4>Chapter 982: The Truth?</h4>

    Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back and closed his eyes. With a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp, and he began to gently massage it as he calmly considered the situation.

    Fragments of memories came together one after another to create aplete image, and he raised his head to look up at the sky in a slightly absentminded manner as he murmured to himself, "I''ve always found it strange that all nations arebeled on the world map of the underworld, but there''s nothing to indicate the existence of the Australis. There''s no underworld or death gods there, and what''s even stranger is that no one has tried to conquer it. Even I''ve be more and more greedy for territory and poption, and I''m sure it must be the same for the other ruler gods of the three pirs. I didn''t think carefully about this in the past, but now..."

    He turned toward the second King Yanluo and spected, "I''m guessing some type of terrifying being was discovered in Australis, and that being has been kept strictly confidential ever since its discovery. This is a being that is extremely intelligent, and due to certain reasons, you''re unable to kill it, which is how the four pirs came into existence."

    "You think I was involved in the creation of the four pirs?" The second King Yanluo was rather surprised to hear this.

    "That''s right!" Qin Ye replied in a confident manner. "You selected the four most powerful underworlds in the world to create the four pirs, and one of the main responsibilities of the four pirs is to guard this ce. Don''t try to deny it, you''re the only one with sufficient authority to do something like this. In fact, I''m even beginning to suspect that the first King Yanluo passed the throne down to you because of the discovery made in Australis."

    "Is that all?"

    "No, there''s another reason for this," Qin Ye continued. "If I follow my current line of logic, it would only make sense that the rtionship between the four pirs isn''t one of purepetition. Instead, it''s one wherepetition and coboration coexist. You knew all of those from the very beginning, and that further solidifies my confidence that you were the one who founded the four pirs."

    The second King Yanluo''s mouth gaped open slightly as he stared at Qin Ye in a stunned manner. With his tall stature and his bushy eyebrows, that expression actually made him look rather adorable.

    "This assumption also stems from the ck box itself. You said that the world''s biggest secret is sealed within the box, and that there are four guardians of this secret. It''s then a very easy assumption to make that this was the reason for the four pirs'' emergence. At the very least, this is one of the main reasons that the four pirs came into existence. Can you not try to look adorable?! It''s really disgusting when you do it!"

    The second King Yanluo shut his mouth.

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes before continuing, "Given all of what I just said is true, another exnation for this grand script of death on the new continent has arisen. You confirmed that this script doesn''te from any underworld. Instead, ites from something else, and that thing should be what you''ve been guarding in Australis. Ah, I forgot to mention this, but I''m certain it''s in Australis as New Zend acts as a barrier to the right of Australis, while the Sanfotsi Inds lie above it. Those ces all have underworlds, so looking at the map, the only ce where the problem could''ve possibly arisen is in Australis. The fact that this grand script of death came from Australis tells me that the being in Australis possesses an extremely high degree of intelligence. On top of that, it wasn''t a coincidence that the grand script of death drifted across the sea all the way into the hands of three Caribbean death gods. On the matter of what to do with the three Caribbean death gods, you and Nothingness have conflicting opinions. An idiot like you... Ahem! Ahem, ahem, ahem! What I meant to say is, someone as shrewd and mighty as yourself would definitely choose to get rid of them."

    As soon as the words "an idiot like you" slipped out of his mouth, a murderous gleam instantly appeared in the second King Yanluo''s eyes, and Qin Ye was immediately cleared his throat violently out of self-preservation before continuing, "However, Nothingness has more of a cautious and observant personality, so they would definitely want to get something out of the three Caribbean death gods."

    The idiot nodded with a satisfied expression, clearly very pleased with the adjectives of "shrewd" and "mighty" bestowed upon him.

    Qin Ye lowered his head to hide his disdainful expression as he continued, "However, it''s undeniable that striking at the wrong time would have a detrimental effect. This is quite possibly the first grand script of death that being has released in the past several thousand years, and you wanted to observe and see exactly what that being wanted to aplish with this grand script of death. Thus, neither you nor Nothingness were in a ce to intervene. Ah, allow me to add something here. The Heavenly Dao is the ultimate observer and would never actively intervene in any situation unless the stakes were extremely high. In light of that, is it correct of me to assume that the being inside is a threat to all of the living beings in this world?"

    He put on a seductive expression as he urged, "Come on, tell me, it won''t hurt you to do so!"

    The second King Yanluo raised an eyebrow before replying with a surly expression. "That''s correct."

    I thought so!

    Qin Ye hurriedly pulled out the ck box and thrust it into the second King Yanluo''s hands as if he couldn''t wait to part with it. "Please don''t give something like this to me ever again!"

    The second King Yanluo''s eyes widened with incredulity as he stared at Qin Ye. "Are you sure you don''t want to... reconsider?"

    "No, no, it''s fine. I am just an ordinary King Yanluo with no aspirations and... Hold on, put down your fists! We can talk about this like civilized people!"

    A drop of sweat began to slide down Qin Ye''s forehead as he frantically tried to keep the second King Yanluo''s intimidating fists at bay. "Come on, we''re both educated people, aren''t we? We both went to school, right? Didn''t your teachers tell you to y nice and renounce violence?"

    The second King Yanluo''s fists were giving off a gleam that said "I''m going to beat the crap out of you", and he shook them in a menacing manner as he repeated, "Are you sure you don''t want to reconsider?"

    "No, there''s no need for that, I''ve already made up my mind to ept this responsibility!" Qin Ye said as he pulled out a silken handkerchief to dab at the sweat on his forehead. "It is an honor for me to undertake such a meaningful duty, so put down your fists and let''s talk! At the very least, I can hold onto the box until the next King Yanluo reces me!"

    At the end of his reply, Qin Ye''s voice was already on the verge of cracking, and the second King Yanluo dropped his fists with a pleased expression. "As expected, violence is always the right answer in this world."

    Rude! Neanderthal! Bully! Idiot!

    Countless insults shed through Qin Ye''s mind as he gritted his teeth before continuing, "Continuing from where I left off, this is the root cause behind your conflict in opinion with Nothingness. Nothingness wants to find out more about that being through the three Caribbean death gods, yet you''re of the opinion that they''ve already lost all value and should be disposed of, thereby resulting in that run-in not long ago. At the same time, both of you were concerned that that being may have done something to that grand script of death that would alert that being as soon as either of you intervened. Thus, you could only observe in the past. However, once the grand script of death drew to a conclusion, you finally realized something. Which wise, handsome, powerful, talented, breathtaking, graceful, regal, and extraordinarily capable figure was it who had resolved this issue?"

    Qin Ye''s words wereing thick and fast like a barrage from a machine gun now. "Who was it that resolved all of this when neither of you could intervene? Who was it that stepped up when both of you werepletely stumped? Who was it that had ventured straight into the enemy''s stronghold alone and intercepted the grand script of death like the genius that he is? Who was it that prevented the three Caribbean death gods from attaining godhood while also making that being fail to detect your intervention"

    The second King Yanluo waspletely stunned by this string of shameless questions, and after several seconds of hesitation, he asked, "Are you referring to yourself?"

    I mean, it clearly is him, but why is it that I felt like he had done a good job prior to this, but I no longer feel that way now? Is it because of how shameless he is?

    Qin Ye puffed out his chest in a tall and proud manner as he nodded in response. "That''s right! I''m d you''ve finally realized just how brilliant I am and are beginning to worship me, which is why you finally decided to pass the ck box onto me. By the way, can I really not return that thing?"

    "No," the second King Yanluo replied with a stony expression. "On top of that, you have to open it as soon as possible."

    "Alright, I''ll be sure to open it in the next 3,000 years... Hold on, put your fists down! Can''t you be a bit more civilized?"

    The second King Yanluo harrumphed coldly before dropping his fists again. "Is that all you have to say?"

    Qin Ye was trembling in the face of the second King Yanluo''s tant intimidation, and he replied, "That''s all."

    "Well done," the second King Yanluo said as a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "Everything you said was basically correct. I knew that even if you couldn''t go in, you would still be able to figure out everything through extraption and analysis. Is it really that beneficial to train and gain experience in the mortal realm? Does it help broaden one''s horizons?"

    "Not necessarily," Qin Ye replied. "It''s just that everything is too stiff and nd in the underworld, and that''s not a joke. In the mortal realm, you get to experience so many things, even though your experiences are limited by your lifespan, and it''s truly very difficult to describe. Even now, when I asionally think back to all of the joy, the sadness, the anger... everything that I experienced during my time in the mortal realm, it''s still a wave of mixed emotions. However, it''s different in the underworld."

    Aplex smile appeared on his face as he heaved a faint sigh. "Due to the existence of cultivation, there is a clear power hierarchy that cannot be ovee. On top of that, Yin spirits don''t have human limitations such as fatigue and hunger. If worsees to worst, they can just live in caves without ever setting foot outside, whereas that would spell death for someone in the mortal realm. As such, the underworld was always bound to be more nd and inflexible. It''s simply an unavoidable reality, and if I had topare the two, I would say living in the mortal realm for 100 years is far more fruitful than living in the underworld for even 500 years."

    The second King Yanluo nodded with a contemtive expression upon hearing this.

    It seemed that Granny Meng had chosen the right person to take over as the third King Yanluo.

    "Hold on, what is that look of approval I see in your eyes? Please don''t look at me like that! I''m constantly thinking about how I can quit this job!"

    The second King Yanluo ignored him and turned toward the harbor as he said, "There''s actually something else I haven''t told you. Do you know how many warships and weapons there are here?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    The second King Yanluo turned back to him and said, "There are a total of 200 warships and in excess of a million units of all types of bows and crossbows here! This is the real reason I brought you here! No one else knows what you brought back from the new continent, but I do! We both know what Xu Fu''s notes could potentially contain!"

    His breathing was beginning to elerate as he unconsciously drew closer to Qin Ye, and Qin Ye could see the fervent excitement in his eyes.

    "They have no idea how drastically that tiny notepad can change the entire world! You''re right, the underworld is too nd and rigid, but was it really unable to discover a new energy resource even after several thousand years? No, that''s simply because the underworld never had a pressing need for a new energy resource. With a cultivation system in existence, mid and high-grade underworld emissaries can live better lives than if there was no energy resource. Hence, they''ve never been in a hurry to find one, and that''s why no energy resource exists in the underworld. Once you invent this new energy resource, you''ll be able to stun the entire world!"

    He ced a hand onto Qin Ye''s shoulder as he continued, "On top of that, this ce is in even more dire need of a new energy resource. With a new energy resource, we might be able to bring some hypotheses into reality. Perhaps we''ll be able to create stronger and more durable mechanical ships powered by the new energy rather than manually operated wooden ships! Perhaps we''ll even be able to invent firearms and cannons! I''m not talking about the firearms from the Europa underworlds, which are more for decoration than practical usage, having to cool down for 10 minutes between each shot, I''m talking about true weapons of mass destruction like eh ones in the mortal realm! The world needs this! Once you usher in this new era, that will be the time for you to open the ck box, and the army of the Cathayan Underworld will be able to enter this ce! When that timees, you''ll have earned the right to know what type of secret lies beyond this gate! This is why I had to bring you here to take a look no matter what."

 Chapter 983: High Hopes

    <h4>Chapter 983: High Hopes</h4>

    Qin Ye cast his gaze past the second King Yanluo toward the vast sea, as well as the many warships floating on the surface of the sea.

    They were like still and silent monuments standing as a reminder of their past glory.

    He then cast his gaze toward the World''s Gate, at all of the armor-d soldiers standing as straight as gpoles in the chilling wind, as well as the city that extended up the way into the clouds beyond the gate. All of the high-caliber ore here should''ve been used in construction and research and development, but they were only being utilized as sources of light.

    If the new energy resource could reach this ce one day, what would that look like?

    Was it going to be a mechanical city powered by Yin energy?

    After that, all weapons were going to be powered by this new energy resource, and there were going to bebels that read "Made in Cathay" on every single one of them!

    It had to be said that it sounded very far-fetched, but also extremely alluring!

    He was capable of doing this! In fact, he was the only person with any hope of being able to do this!

    Having lived in the mortal realm for so long, he knew just how much an energy resource could transform the world. The panels of advisors of all of the underworlds were also aware that a new energy resource would be the key to the next era, yet their eagerness was rathercking.

    Just as the second King Yanluo said, mid and high-grade underworld emissaries would rather not see the emergence of a new energy resource. Seeing one hadn''t been discovered yet, everyone could simply sleep on the matter and turn a blind eye.

    This was why everyone was so stunned by the unveiling of the new energy resource during thest international conference.

    Everyone was pretending to be asleep, why did he have to wake everyone up?

    However, that was only the mindset of the three pirs. As for the other underworlds, they would feel as if this were the only opportunity for them to catch up to or even surpass the four pirs.

    With these underworlds as his allies, he would be able to sell them this technology in exchange for wealth.

    Wealth would attract talent, thereby leading to the development of more technology! Ultimately, it was going to be a positive cycle that would constantly reinforce itself over time!

    "What would it look like if we could equip this entire ce with modern weaponry?" Qin Ye murmured to himself as he turned his gaze toward the vast World''s Gate.

    How powerful would the Cathayan Underworld be in the wake of such a massive advancement?

    It definitely wouldn''t be a difficult task to recreate the glory days of the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty!

    The second King Yanluo smiled and replied, "If you can aplish that, then you''ll most definitely go down in history. Also..."

    He pointed at the World''s Gate with a sly expression as he continued, "You don''t need to have everything done before youe to them. All you have to do is show them the future, and you''ll receive unimaginable reciprocation. What lies beyond the World''s Gate is known as the World''s Dungeon. It''s an extremely dangerous ce, but at the same time, you''ll find countless resources that don''t even exist in the outside world. If you can gain the approval of the three saints, the four guardians, and the six holy disciples, you''ll receive resources that will have the three pirs green with envy."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before nodding with a determined expression.

    He had no choice but to do this, and in reality, he was very keen to aplish something like this as well.

    This was a being that even the second King Yanluo was wary of, if a weakling like him could take care of it, wouldn''t that indirectly indicate that he was the most powerful being in this world? When that time came, an idiot like the second King Yanluo wouldn''t even be fit to be his servant!

    Of course, Qin Ye didn''t dare to articte any of these thoughts. Instead, he cleared his throat and asked, "What''s happened to Kraken''s body?"

    "I''ve already sent it back to Ashmound for you," the second King Yanluo replied before turning and making his way back toward the World''s Gate while giving Qin Ye a farewell wave. "Goodbye then. Once I enter this ce, I shouldn''t being out for the next few centuries. I hope you''ll be able to bring me news that can satisfy me next time youe here. Otherwise, don''t even bothering in."

    "Really?! I can choose not to go in?! (©b¨Œ©b*)"

    "... I swear I will kill you right now."

    "... It was just a joke, don''t take it so seriously! I was just kidding, haha..."

    The second King Yanluo vanished on the spot, and Qin Ye looked around to make sure that the second King Yanluo was nowhere to be seen before giving the World''s Gate a vicious middle finger.

    However, it really didn''t aplish anything, and a few secondster, he put his hand down again in a defeated manner.

    It was exactly because of people like the second King Yanluo in the world, who were busy creating and striving, that he was able to slowly develop behind them.

    Only ordinary people had the right to slow down and enjoy life. What excuse did he have to be dissatisfied given that he had the skills to seed in his role?

    It wasn''t like he would have to step onto the battlefield in person. At the very least, that most likely wouldn''t have to happen. After all, "King Yanluo Deserts Battle" wouldn''t make for a very good headline...

    He gently pped his own cheeks with his hands as he heaved a faint sigh. "Looks like there are some really high hopes on me..."

    Aplex smile appeared on his face before he vanished as a gust of Yin wind and returned to the cruise ship.

    "Where would you like to go, esteemed underworld emissary?" the server on the ship immediately asked with a respectful bow.

    "Wuyang, Cathay."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    Cathayan Underworld, Six Origin Diagram za.

    The massive za waspletely empty aside from the Harken, who was slowly moving around on the za. The ce had be rather different from before.

    At the center of the za was a pure white world, within which stood the Harken. Every time it took a step, a golden Yin rune would appear beneath its foot. At the edge of the za was a vast expanse of blurry space. It was very difficult to describe this scene, it was as if an ink painting had been spread open in the air, presenting an illusory image.

    Right behind the Harken were Zu Chongzhi, Lu Ban, and Li Chun, all three of whom were hovering in mid-air, carefully recording every single Yin rune that appeared before organizing them in the order that the Harken ced them in. Up above, the sky was like a mirror, reflecting everything down below.

    This space seemed to exist independently from the rest of the world, and it was incredibly peaceful. All of a sudden, the three schrs looked up with surprised expressions at the figure that had abruptly appeared beside them. After a brief stupor, excited looks appeared on their faces, and they were just about to say something when the figure waved a hand with a smile before turning to watch in silence as the Harken continued toy down Yin runes.

    After watching for a few minutes, Qin Ye finally couldn''t help but break his silence. "What are you doing?"

    "I''m setting up the 18 abysses of punishment!" the Harken replied in a grumpy voice. "Neither Ghost King Zhao nor the second King Yanluo are here, who else can do this aside from me? Warden Arthis is pestering the crap out of me every day while you''ve gone to Hawaii to take a beach holiday! If I don''t do this, the Yin spirits are going to explode sooner orter!"

    It was clear that the Harken was very displeased.

    "... I have to disagree with you there. When did I ever go to Hawaii for a holiday? I was clearly in the new continent engaging in a battle of wits against the other death gods there!"

    The Harken swung around with an angry expression. "I don''t care in the slightest where you went or what you''ve done! Just tell me where the second King Yanluo is! This is a job that we were supposed to do together, yet he suddenly ran off somewhere and left everything to me! Does he have no shame?"

    I don''t think he does...

    Qin Ye cleared his throat before replying, "He''s most likely not going to appear in the next few centuries. Did he say anything to you before he left? Maybe he told you not to wait for him?"

    The Harken thought about this for a moment before imitating the second King Yanluo''s voice as it said, "Stay here and don''t go anywhere, I''ll be right back."

    "..." Qin Ye didn''t know what to say.

    The Harken stood up as it said, "Now that you''vee back, I can take a rest. By the way, how did everything go?"

    The three schrs immediately turned to Qin Ye with burning anticipation in their eyes upon hearing this.

    All of them were aware of what Qin Ye''s sudden trip to the new continent entailed.

    If he had seeded, then the resurgence of the Cathayan Underworld was imminent, so his trip was extremely important!

    "I seeded, thankfully," Qin Ye replied with a serious expression, then ced a hand onto his own chest. His chest immediately transformed into a Yin energy vortex, from within which he pulled out a notepad withplex patterns on its surface.

    "Are these Xu Fu''s notes?" Zu Chongzhi''s throat was a little dry from excitement. He was the only true mathematician present, while Zhang Heng was a true physicist, and as such, they were more aware than everyone else of just how significant this notepad was.

    It was the key to the next era!

    "Yes, I''ve already taken a look at it," Qin Ye replied with slightly furrowed brows. "A bloodline restriction has been ced on the notepad. I should''ve anticipated this beforehand, given how cautious and cunning Xu Fu has shown himself to be in the past."

    The Harken''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Generally speaking, a bloodline restriction can only be undone by the person who set it. The problem is that Xu Fu has forcibly erased all of his own memories. Are you worried that even he won''t be able to recall the method to undo the restriction?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    What was even more troublesome was that if they were to try and ess Xu Fu''s restricted memories in any way, it would result in the instant death of Xu Fu''s soul. This was thest trick that Xu Fu had up his sleeve for escape and revival.

    He had approached the Harken as soon as he came back so that they could figure out a solution to this.

    What could they do?

    The request forms issued by the three major research centers for a meeting had already piled up to half a foot thick, and the pile of "greeting letters"sent by other nations had already well exceeded half a meter in thickness. Of course, the greetings were kept short and concise, while the majority of the content in these letters consisted of questions about the progression of the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource.

    In order to confirm something, particrly something significant enough to determine the direction of an entire era, the nation bringing about the change had to make a series of moves such as determining experimentation sites, assembling research and development teams, establishing a project, setting aside funds for said project...

    Only after all of this was done could everyone else be certain that the nation was actually going to do the thing that it proimed.

    If the Cathayan Underworld were to dere the new energy resource, only to take no follow-up action, it would eventually lose the support of all of the other underworlds, and even the five nations of Northern Europa would only verbally support the Cathayan Underworld.

    Integrity was the most important trait for a nation on the international stage, and no nation that had turned its back on integrity had ever ended up better for it. Eventually, they would be shunned and ostracized by their coborative partners and perhaps even the rest of the entire world.

    "Where is Ghost King Zhao?" the Harken asked.

    "He''s already gone to Westriver Province. I asked him to go and take a look first. When are we going to set off?"

    "Right now." The Harken habitually sprang onto Qin Ye''s shoulder as it said, "Nothing is more important than this, so everything else will have to wait."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and in the next instant, both he and the Harken vanished a gust of Yin wind. Several hourster, they arrived before the six paths of reincarnation.

    It was still as grand and majestic as ever with mes erupting into the heavens. However, what was different from thest time Qin Ye visited the ce was that there were a lot more Yin spirits around.

    There were many newly appointed public servants traversing through the karmic fire passageways, and asionally, an underworld emissary could be seen taking new souls into the six paths of reincarnation. Beside the giant karmic me lotus, there had even been some houses constructed, setting the base for the construction of a new city.

 Chapter 984: Arthisâ€™s Transformation

    <h4>Chapter 984: Arthis¡¯s Transformation</h4>

    The arrival of Qin Ye with the Harken on his shoulder didn''t attract any attention, and neither of them turned their attention toward the city that was just beginning to be established. Instead, both of them cast their gaze into the six paths of reincarnation.

    "Is that... Arthis?" Qin Ye asked in a surprised voice as he raised an eyebrow.

    "It seems like it..." The Harken was also quite taken aback. "But how did this happen? Her Yin energy has increased by 1% in just a few months! This rate of growth is incredible!"

    What on earth is going on?!

    High-grade underworld emissaries could no longer achieve cultivation progression through Hell''s Record. If they wanted to reach the Yama-King level, there would only be two options avable to them.

    The first option was to do so through a grand script of death. They would have to establish their own mythology in the mortal realm, then umte followers over the course of centuries until they could finallyplete their metamorphosis.

    The second option was to constantly umte more des in order to progress through Hell''s administrative system. High-grade underworld emissaries were different from their low-grade counterparts in that many belonging to thetter category only had official titles but no actual administrative power. In contrast, virtually all high-grade underworld emissaries had substantial administrative power, and if they could make a breakthrough, they would be perfectly deserving and justified Yama-Kings.

    However, these des couldn''t just be umted quietly, they had to be reported to the higher-ups as well and be seen by King Yanluo.

    Presentations had to be made, and these des were built up over the course of lengthy political careers!

    Thus, never had there been an instance like this one, where an underworld emissary had rapidly improved their powers in silence!

    Qin Ye and the Harken exchanged a nce before both of them swept directly toward the core of the six paths of reincarnation as a gust of Yin wind.

    Within the massive mountain of fire, one passageway after another was split up by the karmic mes. In contrast with how empty the six paths of reincarnation had been several months ago, there were countless Yin spirits that hade down from the mortal realm here, and through a constant process of selection, hundreds of underworld emissaries were quickly selected to fill the various roles in the six paths of reincarnation. At this point, the six paths of reincarnation were already bustling with activity with low-grade underworld emissaries regrly entering and exiting the premises.

    Qin Ye and the Harken were intentionally concealing themselves, so no one could sense their arrival. They had witnessed the creation of the six paths of reincarnation in person, so they weren''t unfamiliar with the passageways within it. Soon, they passed through an area with densely packed office buildings and arrived behind the area.

    There, they were greeted by the sight of a massive Ksitigarbha statue with golden Buddhistnterns hanging all over its body. Behind the statue was a tightly shut ck wooden door, upon which was engraved a piece of artwork depicting Zhong Kui capturing ghosts. [Zhong Kui is a deity in Chinese mythology that is said to protect homes and ward off evil.] Bursts of Yin energy were surging out from the gaps around the door, and in the blink of an eye, Qin Ye and the Harken had already passed through the door.

    Beyond the door was a massive path that was 200 meters wide and over a kilometer in length.

    There were giant red pirs situated at intervals of 100 meters on either side of the path, upon which were engraved reliefs of all Hell''s Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings. These pirs were connected by angr beams, and strings of litnterns trailing down by about 30 to 40 meters were hanging at 10-meter intervals along these beams, burning with greenhermes.

    It was as if these giant pirs had formed a boundary, and beyond these pirs was a sea of Yin spirits, all of whom had died terrible deaths. Some of them were missing limbs, some of them were missing heads, some of them only had half their bodies intact, and they were wearing attire from all eras. It was like witnessing a sea of agony, and all of the Yin spirits were frantically trying to pass through the boundary formed by the giant pirs with all their might, yet none of them were able to seed.

    "Looks like Arthis has really done her homework." Qin Ye was quite impressed.

    However, the Harken shook its head with disapproval as it said, "There''s no originality or creativity at all. This is the renowned ''Inner Demon Path'' of Fengdu, and she''s copied it to a tee. On this path, one would be scrutinized by countless agonized Yin spirits, and no matter how brave or brazen they are, they''ll be sure to be struck by a sense of fear. All those who are put onto this path were extremely controversial or heinous figures during their lifetimes. These people are unable to be judged by the Department of Prudence and can only be sent here to be judged by the warden in person."

    It pointed its chin forward, and right at the end of the path, a bright red gate swung open. The gate was also extremely massive in size, and one could just barely make out the outlines of a pce beyond the gate. Even though there wasn''t a single person in sight, the gate still struck the beholder with an instinctive sense of awe and fear.

    "Can you feel it?" the Harken asked as it cast its gaze toward the pce through narrowed eyes.

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a solemn expression. "I can sense a very strange type of power that definitely doesn''t belong to Arthis herself."

    Furthermore, Arthis''s Yin energy was bing more and more powerful by the second!

    It wasn''t just her Yin energy, there was another type of indescribable power involved, as if something were being smelted and fused as one with her spiritual body.

    This was extremely strange. It was exceedingly difficult to be a Yama-King. Otherwise, the Cathayan Underworld would''ve produced more than just 20 or so Yama-Kings during its history of several thousand years. However, at this rate, Arthis was definitely going to be able to be a Yama-King within the next century or so!

    "Something''s definitely gone wrong..." the Harken mused as it swept its gaze around thepletely deserted path. "This is the core of the entire six paths of reincarnation, so there should be guards everywhere here, yet not a single guard is present."

    "There''s only one possibility," Qin Ye analyzed. "Arthis knows that something''s gone wrong with her, so she sent the guards away before they could get hurt."

    What exactly is going on?

    The two of them exchanged a wary nce, then rushed directly toward the gate as a streak of ck light.

    The ck mist up ahead gradually began to clear up as if they were passing through a tunnel of ck mist, and right as the ck mistpletely faded, both Qin Ye and the Harken were stunned by what they saw.

    Inside the main pce, Arthis had already reverted back to her true form, which was the head of a gorgeous woman with Yin energy surging out of all of its orifices. The head was several dozen meters in size with a pair of bright red eyes, and it was hanging in mid-air like a miniature sun. The hair on the head was spread in all directions like silken threads, extending into the sea of Yin spirits beyond the rows of pirs before pulling back bright white balls of light that were frantically stuffed into Arthis''s mouth.

    The intricately designed warden''s office around her had beenpletely demolished with the desk, screens, tables, and chairs all smashed into countless scraps of broken wood. The sound of chewing could be heard alongside the anguished howls of countless Yin spirits, and Arthis''s teeth were chomping down incessantly as Yin energy and threads of white light erupted forth in a frenzy. Arthis''s eyes werepletely bloodshot from starvation, and it was as if she couldn''t stuff the balls of light into her own mouth quickly enough.

    "I''m so hungry!!" She had also seen Qin Ye and the Harken, but she was too busy eating to talk. Each time she opened and clothed her mouth, hundreds of balls of light were devoured, and it seemed that she had already been doing this for quite a while.

    "That''s light of worship!" Qin Ye eximed in an incredulous manner. He was far too familiar with these balls of light!

    Light of worship would only appear from a religion, and he was certainly no stranger to this as he had justnded a massive bounty of worship in the new continent!

    The quantity of light of worship that Arthis was devouring couldn''tpare with that stemming from the grand script of death, but the power of light of worship was determined by the faith of a religion''s followers. Qin Ye had been able to progress to the mid Yama-King level off the back of the worship and faith from Dax''s hundreds of thousands of followers, but where was this light of worshiping from in the six paths of reincarnation?

    Was iting from the sinful Yin spirits here?

    "Have you ever seen something like this before?" Qin Ye asked as he stared at the ravenous Arthis in a ck-jawed manner.

    The Harken was alsopletely rooted to the spot as it shook its head in response. "Never..."

    Right at this moment, slight tremors ran through Qin Ye''s chest, and before he had a chance to react, Xu Fu''s notepad flew out of his chest without any warning before flying rapidly toward the center of the hall as fast as a bolt of lightning!

    This was a very abrupt development, but Qin Ye and the Harken also reacted extremely quickly.

    Right as the notepad flew out of Qin Ye''s chest, a chain erupted out of his sleeve like a venomous viper, shooting directly toward the notepad. However, in the instant the chain came into contact with the notepad, a clear ng rang out, and the chain was unable to wrap itself around the notepad!

    At the same time, an indistinctyer of scarlet light had already arisen from the surface of the notepad, and the light was rapidly bing brighter and brighter before finally imploding into a cloud of red mist that transformed into countlessplex runes.

    "What''s going on?" All of the Harken''s fur had stood up on end as it stared at the notepad with a stunned expression before swinging around to face Qin Ye. "You can''t grab it with your chain?"

    Qin Ye looked down at his own hand with a shocked expression. In the instant that the chain hade into the notepad, he had felt an extremely strong burst of recoil power that was definitely not below the Yama-King level!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be pondering that. This notepad was far too significant, and his top priority was to recover it. With that in mind, he instantly swept a sleeve through the air, and hundreds of chins shot forth like lightning in unison. At the same time, the Harken opened its mouth to expel a streak of golden light that surged toward the notepad like a golden serpent.

    They definitely couldn''t allow any mishaps to take ce when it came to this notepad!

    The chains and the streak of light surged rapidly through the air, yet right at this moment, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared up ahead to intercept both of them. Immediately thereafter, a tall figure emerged in front of the notepad.

    It was Zhao Yun.

    "It''s alright, my Lord," Zhao Yun said as he scrutinized the notepad intently. "This is a very good thing!"

    Qin Ye was very relieved and reassured to see Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun was also aware of just how important this notepad was, and he definitely wouldn''t make jokes on such an important matter.

    Meanwhile, more and more runes were rising up into the air from the notepad, and as more runes appeared, the color of the notepad also began to gradually lighten. At the same time, Qin Ye noticed withtion that the cover of the notepad was beginning to gently vibrate!

    It was as if a film that had been in ce for a long time was about toe off!

    "What''s going on?" Qin Ye asked as he turned to Zhao Yun. "What''s happened to Arthis, and what is happening to Xu Fu''s notepad? Xu Fu has cast a bloodline restriction on the notepad, making it very difficult to ess, so why..."

    A hint of disbelief appeared on his face as the vibration of the notepad''s surface became more and more pronounced, and some of the pages were even beginning to bulge upward.

    Was it being affected by power that was about the Yama-King level?

    A smile appeared on Zhao Yun''s face as he replied, "Indeed, Xu Fu has ced a bloodline restriction on the notepad, making it impossible to ess for anyone aside from himself. Even I would struggle greatly to undo the restriction. However, just because I can''t do it doesn''t mean that the six paths of reincarnation are also incapable of such a feat. Don''t forget that our six paths of reincarnation are the most special areas of life and death in this world."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "What about the six paths of reincarnation make them..."

    His voice suddenly cut off as a thought abruptly urred to him.

    What he had forgotten was that they hadn''t constructed the six paths of reincarnation exclusively by themselves. Instead, it also contained not only the body of the ancient god, Yu Kiang, but also the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn!

 Chapter 985: Three Rules

    <h4>Chapter 985: Three Rules</h4>

    This was a creation-grade divine artifact and the body of a living ancient god!

    Perhaps they weren''t just materials... It suddenly urred to Qin Ye that the six paths of reincarnation could serve more than just its intended purpose.

    At this point, the red mist around Xu Fu''s notepad was already bing fainter and fainter. At the same time, hints of golden light were beginning to spill out of its pages. Qin Ye took a deep breath to calm himself down, then asked, "Are you saying that thebination of the two has resulted in some type of unexpected change?"

    "That''s very much possible," the Harken said as it paced back and forth with a contemtive expression. "You already know thews of the underworld, such as Yin Yang co-action, and Yin Yang non-interaction, but below thesews are also rules of underworld physics."

    The Harken turned toward the notepad before continuing, "Firstly, each creation-grade divine artifact has its own unique ability, as well as one or even several additional abilities, and the additional abilities could be simr to the primary, unique ability. You already know that. Secondly, two creation-grade divine artifacts with simr properties can fuse together under special circumstances. Thirdly, unless a creation-grade divine artifact ispletely destroyed, its ability won''t disappear. Instead, it will simply go from one form to another, and this is an example of that third rule."

    I see... Qin Ye nodded with a contemtive expression in response. This was a sound exnation for what was taking ce here.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s six paths of reincarnation were most likely the most special reincarnation system in the entire world, and no unforeseen changes had arisen prior to this most likely because the twoponents hadn''tpletely fused together yet. After several months, Yu Kiang and the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn had finally fused as one, and the effects were beginning to show.

    "What is its ability?"

    Zhao Yun cupped his fist in a salute as he replied, "I have some theories. I arrived here several days before you did, and my guess is that after fusing into the six paths of reincarnation, the ability of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn still exists. It transcends beyond the ancient god, Yu Kiang, and its unique ability has transformed into somethingpletely brand new, but also simr to its original one. What do you think the unique property of Yu Kiang is?"

    Qin Ye rubbed his own chin in contemtion as he replied, "Is it its identity as a rain god?"

    "Yes, but also no," Zhao Yun replied. "To put it more urately, it''s the process of creating something from nothing, then regressing from something to nothing. In other words, it''s a cycle!"

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly with befuddlement upon hearing this, but a thought then suddenly urred to him, and he was struck by a sense of enlightenment.

    Indeed, the water cycle gave rise to rain, and that was a process of creating something from nothing.

    The rain would then fall onto the ground and return to nothingness. After that, it would rise up from the ground as water molecules to be absorbed by the clouds to produce rain again, and that was a cycle in itself!

    What he had been confused about was what simrities existed between Yu Kiang and the six paths of reincarnation, but thinking about it now...

    Weren''t the six paths of reincarnation cycles in themselves? Didn''t they also create something from nothing, then revert something back to nothing?

    Did this mean that Yu Kiang corresponded with the philosophical meaning of the six paths of reincarnation?

    "Then how was the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn also fused?"

    Zhao Yun thought about this for a moment before replying, "I''m guessing that the unique ability of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn is quite possibly purification, dposition, or restoration, with an additional sensory ability."

    He turned toward Arthis before continuing, "Here''s my theory: Arthis became like this because of faith. She wants to be a Yama-King. That''s quite obvious, and it''s amon goal for all underworld emissaries. This goal or desire became the driving force behind the new six paths of reincarnation, activating the new six paths of reincarnation that had justpleted its fusion. No one has evere here up to this point, but most Yin spirits were aware that this ce had to have a warden. On top of that, the existence of a warden could''ve been unintentionally revealed by the other underworld emissaries here when they say things such as ''if you don''t confess now, you won''t have a chance to do so when you face the warden''..."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath as he nodded in response. "This will instill a sense of worship in the Yin spirits who have passed through the six paths of reincarnation. They are awaiting notification from the six paths of reincarnation, and the only one they can pray to and worship is the warden, Arthis! They may not even have realized this themselves!"

    The Harken''s eyes lit up upon hearing this. "We all know the two paths to be a Yama-King, but out of the two paths, pursuing godhood through umting power of worship is more difficult due to how fragile Yin spirits are. After passing through the 18 abysses of punishment and reaching the six paths of reincarnation, they''ve already atoned for all of the sins theymitted during their lifetimes, making them pure souls awaiting reincarnation. All they have are their memories and their faith, and Yin spirits like this are far too fragile. Hence, it''s impossible to extract their faith from them. Some have tried in the past, but all of them have failed. This is impossible even for Yin spirits that haven''t passed through the 18 abysses of punishment, let alone those that have! However, the 18 abysses of punishment don''t even exist yet! I''m still in the process of creating them! Hence, the Yin spirits that havee here are still rather fragile, but in better condition than if they had passed through the 18 abysses of punishment. Could it be that the new six paths of reincarnation have sensed their warden''s desires and have automatically purified the Yin spirits?"

    "That''s exactly what I thought," Zhao Yun replied with a nod.

    He then turned to the notepad and said, "Clearly, we''ve discovered one of the properties of the new six paths of reincarnation, which is that it isn''t something that can only be used by a single person. Otherwise, you wouldn''t be able to extract the runes from Xu Fu''s notepad while Arthis is extracting power of worship from the Yin spirits."

    This was a process of purification!

    Xu Fu''s bloodline restriction, which had Qin Yepletely stumped, was currently being rapidly purified, dposed, or restored by the new six paths of reincarnation!

    It was impossible to determine which one of those three abilities applied here because all three were possible in this situation.

    In any case, this was a massive weight off his shoulders!

    This thing was a restriction shredder!

    With that massive issue unexpectedly resolved, Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief. "In short, the ability of the new six paths of reincarnation is purification, dposition, or restoration, and this ability is not limited for usage to a single person. With that in mind, there''s something I want to try..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he closed his eyes, and 10 secondster, the entire pce began to tremble slightly. The greedy gleam in Arthis''s eyes vanished, and in the next instant, boundless Yin energy converged before scattering as countless ck butterflies, revealing Arthis, who was holding a hand to her own forehead. She then immediately turned to Qin Ye with a vicious expression.

    "Come, only one of us is going to leave this ce alive today! I''m going to... Ah, Brother Yun!"

    Her voice was abruptly toned down three octaves, and she put on a shy disy as she turned her face slightly to the side while adopting a gentle expression. "You did the right thing, Brother Yun. As a woman, I can''t afford to spoil my own figure."

    What is this?! How could there be such a shameless piece of scum under my administration?!

    Qin Ye''s expression immediately darkened as he stabbed Arthis right where it hurt the most. "He''s already been watching you eat like that for several days."

    Arthis blushed as she lowered her head. "That''s so embarrassing..."

    Qin Ye continued to wield his figurative dagger with relish as he chuckled coldly, "I would be embarrassed too if Brother Yun saw me eating in my true form."

    Boom!

    Arthis waspletely rooted to the spot, feeling as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

    Arthis''s true form was something that she had been desperately trying to hide from Zhao Yun because it only had a mouth and was missing all of thedy bits!

    Of course, the mouth could still be used, but change was the spice of life, and it couldn''t be used all the time! Furthermore, due to herck of a body, her throat muscles were most likely not very tight, either...

    Arthis turned toward Qin Ye with a vicious expression. She had decided there and then that only one of her and this snake of a man would be able to leave this ce alive!

    "Come on now, let''s all get along." Zhao Yun stepped in right before themencement of an all-out battle. "You must be tired, go and take a rest. We''ll examine the six paths of reincarnation to see just how it''s changed in case you have problems using it in the future."

    "Alright." Arthis blushed upon hearing this, and both Qin Ye and the Harken were very perplexed to see this. What was there to blush about?

    Thus, Arthis vanished as a gust of Yin wind, leaving a parting sentence behind. "Use it however you like, Brother Yun, I guarantee you there won''t be any problems."

    Qin Ye looked on with a wooden expression as she departed. In reality, he really wanted Zhao Yun to take her off his hands, but for the sake of Zhao Yun''s future happiness, he simply couldn''t bring himself to tell Zhao Yun to take her.

    "Looks like I was right." Once Arthispletely disappeared from view, Qin Ye turned to Zhao Yun and said, "The new six paths of reincarnation answers to be first and foremost. I instructed it to cut off Arthis from absorbing more power of worship, and it obeyed. At the same time, I instructed it to prioritize undoing the restriction on Xu Fu''s notes, and it did that as well."

    The three of them were standing in a triangr formation, and the Harken and Zhao Yun were facing Qin Ye with their backs facing the hall. Right at this moment, a burst of golden light arose behind them.

    The light was very gentle, yet both the Harken and Zhao Yun immediately swung around to see it.

    Right before their eyes, Xu Fu''s notepad had beenpletely opened!

    The red restriction on its surface had disappeared, revealing its white pages, upon which were inscribed countless Cathayan characters and apanying diagrams!

    Even Zhao Yun couldn''t help but tremble with excitement at this monumental sight.

    The key to the next era, the defibritor that was going to revive the Cathayan Underworld, had finally fallen into their hands!

    Qin Ye''s throat had suddenly run dry.

    Having lived in the mortal realm for so long, he knew that all wars that took ce in the mortal realm were for resources.

    These resources included things like poption, territory, crude oil, gold... These were the stakes for virtually every war that had taken ce in history.

    The day that he had been longing for for all this time had finally arrived!

    I have to be calm and not make a fool out of myself... He took several deep breaths in session, then gritted his teeth and raised a hand to draw the notepad into his grasp.

    Despite his impatience, he opened the notepad extremely carefully, and he was greeted by the sight of pages upon pages of incredibly detailed text and diagrams!

    "Yin Yang universal energy resource concept", "Yin Yang kic energy application and expectations", "super massive living being modification technology", "Yin Yang universal energy resource ws"...

    These titles were like fireworks going off one after another right beside Qin Ye''s ears, making them ring incessantly!

 Chapter 986: â€œResurgenceâ€ Discussion Group

    <h4>Chapter 986: ¡°Resurgence¡± Discussion Group</h4>

    Zhao Yun and the Harken were also looking at the notes, and the three of them read the notes intently for a full 10 minutes before heaving a collective satisfied sigh. Excited smiles appeared on all of their faces, but none of them said anything.

    After a long while, the Harken finally broke the silence. "We''ve finally done it... This shoddy Hell is finally about to wee a resurgence..."

    There had been minor resurgences in the past, such as the foreign funds that Qin Ye had managed to attract to Hell, but in contrast with this notepad, all of those past so-called resurgences were downright negligible.

    This was something that could allow Hell to establish a dominant dynasty for centuries, even millennia toe!

    This was something that was enough to elevate a minor underworld to the same level as the four pirs!

    It was the key to a new era!

    No words could describe the significance of this asion, and with that in mind, the trio remainedpletely silent in fear of spoiling this moment with cheap words.

    Qin Ye was vigorously massaging his own temples to the point that it was beginning to hurt, and only then was he able to repress the excitement in his own heart. As he began to speak again, his voice was a little hoarse. "I''ve decided that research into the new six paths of reincarnation will be delegated to Warden Arthis, while the rest of Hell''s elite officials will be fully dedicated to tackling the contents of this notepad!"

    The Harken nodded in response. "That assistant of yours has already assembled a list of names for you. Seven of them worked in the research and development of nuclear weapons in the mortal realm, while the other three were involved in the research and development of forbidden arts in the underworld."

    "Why are there so few of them?" Qin Ye was quite taken aback to hear this. "And why are we focusing on nuclear weapons? Aren''t we discussing the new energy resource right now?"

    The Harken replied, "The reason why there are going to be so few people involved is because too many people will result in too many opinions that have to be considered. This team will form the foundation of this project, and we only want and need the best of the best. They will be the ones to see the project through to the very end."

    The main problem facing the new energy resource was research and development. What was this research and development team going to do? How were they going to do this? Were they going to follow instructions from a certain department or directly from Qin Ye himself? Was this going to be a permanent research and development team or just a temporary team assembled solely for this project? How was their progress going to be reported? Individually or collectively? Should their progress reports be released to the public or should there only be a single publication at the end of the project to announce the results?

    These things all had to be decided now.

    "That''s already quite a few people," Zhao Yun sighed. "I''ve heard of the nuclear weapons of the mortal realm, and most of the nuclear weaponry researchers in Cathay are still alive. In the wake of the destruction of Fengdu, we''re already quite fortunate to have been left with Zhang Heng, Lu Ban, and Zu Chongzhi. As for why we''re talking about forbidden arts and nuclear weapons, firstly, this is the underworld, so Yin runes will definitely be required to break down and analyze this new energy resource. This is the biggest point of difference between the underworld and the mortal realm. We know what the foundational building blocks of all things in the underworld are, so we''ll be able to fully dissect this energy resource so that it can have other applications as well."

    Qin Ye sat down on a chair as he listened to Zhao Yun''s exnation. Soon, all three of them were seated in the empty hall, discussing the future of the new energy resource. This was a scene that wouldn''t have been umon in nations in the early stages of their development.

    Qin Ye had an intense look in his eyes as he rubbed his own chin and said, "I took a brief look at the notes just now, and from what I saw, the new energy resource requires conversions between three types of substances. Should we be focusing our research into the end product produced by the conversion process? Is that the secret to the new energy resource?"

    This new energy resource could determine whether the Cathayan Underworld would be able to truly re-establish itself as one of the four pirs and determine the course that its future was going to take, so everyone was pondering their words extra carefully before they spoke.

    After a long pause, the Harken said, "This is only the beginning. If we think about the new energy resource in terms of electrical currents, then this Yin rune could be referred to as the origin rune of the new energy resource. What we have to consider now is whether this new energy resource consists of breaking down this origin rune and sending its constituent parts to different ces, or whether it''s an electrical current formed by countless copies of the same origin rune. This is the decisive difference between the mortal realm and the underworld! Xu Fu isn''t familiar with Yin runes, so his new energy resource is only halfplete, making it useable in both the mortal realm and the underworld. What we have to do is remove the mortal realm portion of the new energy resource while ensuring that it''ll still work after the event. This is going to be a task that''s no easier than creating the new energy resource in the first ce, and in addition to that..."

    It made a grabbing motion, and a stack of documents was instantly pulled out of thin air before hovering in mid-air in an orderly fashion.

    Qin Ye only took a single nce at the documents before his brows furrowed tightly.

    "These are the application forms submitted by the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and the documents flew over to him. After some careful inspection, his brows furrowed even further.

    "The seven top researchers of the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center are already prepared to travel to the Cathayan Underworld at any time, and we humbly request that the Cathayan Underworld opens up its borders to us as soon as possible!"

    "The Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research and Development Station is eagerly awaiting the establishment of a research and development pathway by the Cathayan Underworld. Our top 10 researchers are ready to set off at a moment''s notice!"

    "The nine top researchers of the Thaurissan Yin Rune Research Center have already permanently settled in the Nipponese Underworld. Even though it was agreed that the Cathayan Underworld would only be opening its borders in the next three to five years, we are eager to establish a coborative rtionship earlier than that! In exchange, we don''t require anypensation at all!"

    "Asian Director of the Anderson Consortium, Baron Cameron, adamantly requests an audience with the managing underworld emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource project! Please believe in our Anderson Consortium''s sincerity! Our headquarters has already granted us unlimited funds to invest in the project, and all we need is to be able to inspect the research and development site or attend an academic conference! Baron Cameron and his entourage will be staying in the Felipinas for the next five years, and we are eagerly awaiting a response from you!"

    "Eastern Asian Director of the Holy Roman Consortium, Viscount Anbusen, desperately requests an audience with the managing underworld emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource project! The Holy Roman Consortium owns 28% of all of the A grade and S grade mines in the world, and a coboration between our two parties would definitely be immensely mutually beneficial! All we need is an academic report or permission to inspect the research and development site, and we''ll immediately open up ess to our high-grade mines on Mount Fuji, the Alborz mountain range, the Caraballo mountain range, the Cherskiy mountain range, and Kinzan for you!"

    There were countless more simr letters from a myriad of different parties.

    Interestingly enough, there were virtually no official diplomatic documents among them. Instead, the vast majority of these documents were private letters, and they had somehow been delivered to just outside the Array of the Nine Gods.

    However, by doing this, they were unknowingly exerting immense pressure on the Cathayan Underworld!

    Qin Ye remained silent as he gently drummed his fingers against his armrest. None of them were overstepping their boundaries or doing anything out of the ordinary, but in the current state of the Cathayan Underworld, their actions ced Qin Ye in a very difficult predicament.

    The Harken and Zhao Yun didn''t try to rush him. They also knew that there was an extremely difficult decision to be made.

    It would be extremely difficult toplete a monumental worldwide project like this one with the power of one nation alone, and that was even taking into ount the fact that the Cathayan Underworld wascking in everything at the moment. The nation was still too busy constructing basic infrastructure, and this meant that it was necessary for external parties to get involved. However, Qin Ye had to regte just how many external parties became involved and how they were involved in the project.

    If he allowed too many external parties to participate in the project, would the Cathayan Underworld''s authority bepromised? In terms of research and development, whoever had the most useful ideas would have the speaking rights. If the researchers from other research and development organizations were to demonstrate overwhelming superiority in all areaspared with the researchers of the Cathayan Underworld, that would be quite damaging to the Cathayan Underworld''s image.

    However, if he didn''t allow enough parties to get involved, then the time required toplete the project would be lengthened. Furthermore, the Cathayan Underworld could only contribute around 10 researchers. They were supposed to be the leaders overseeing this project, but once everyone noticed the severeck of researchers from the Cathayan Underworld, they would begin to doubt the research and development capabilities of the Cathayan Underworld, and that would also be very dangerous.

    The suspicious parties would begin to probe the Cathayan Underworld, and if the true state of the Cathayan Underworld were to be revealed to the world, the consequences would be truly catastrophic.

    There was always a myriad of things to consider in international affairs, and it was extremely important to be cautious and think many steps ahead.

    "At the very least, we still have three to five years to prepare." Qin Ye finally broke his silence. "My idea is that we develop a prototype capable of demonstrating the usage of the new energy resource before the world trade conference. If we can do that, we''ll definitely be able to stun all of the foreign underworld emissaries during the conference. At a minimum, we have to ensure that the entire body of Kraken can be powered by the new energy resource before then! In order to do this, we must develop the origin rune within the next three years! We must develop the origin rune before all of the other research organizations, and that would give us all of the initiative!"

    No one was going to go against King Yanluo''s orders. Of course, Zhao Yun and the Harken''s willingness to ept his decisions was because he still hadn''t taken a false step yet. Thus, Zhao Yun immediately asked, "What would be the ideal location?"

    Qin Ye thought about this momentarily before replying, "I think it should be the city of Echu."

    The conference couldn''t be held near the Array of the Nine Gods as that would still incur a slight risk of exposure. The city of Echu was home to an important waterway that ran through the entirety of Ashmound, and all of the Yin beasts in the waterway had either been tamed or were being constantly evicted, so it was a very peaceful and safe area.

    "That''s a good idea," Zhao Yun nodded in response after a brief moment of contemtion. "With the location decided, there are many questions that we have to consider, such as..."

    "Let''s not discuss the finer details for now. We can establish a general n here, but when ites to the more nuanced details, we should leave that to the professionals to take care of. After we absorb all of the information in these notes, I''ll go and meet all of our Yin rune researchers to finalize the exact details."

    After a brief pause, Qin Ye continued, "What I''m thinking is that this research team should be in operation from now until the end of the world trade conference. During that time, the team will be responsible for cultivating as many researchers as possible. After that, we can take advantage of the momentum of this project as an opportunity to establish the education industry. The research team will answer directly to me and deliver periodic reports solely to me. There''s no need to release progress reports to the general public as we still don''t know whether the path we''re going to take is correct or not."

    If they were to get the entire nation engrossed in the progress of this project, only for it to end in failure, the researchers would perhaps be able to ept the oue, but the weight of public opinion wouldpletely crush them!

    "That''ll be the n for now," Qin Ye decided. "Within a month, we have to develop a general idea of what this new energy resource is all about based on Xu Fu''s notes. In a month, we''ll hold a dedicated discussion conference. As for the name of this team, we''ll call it... ''resurgence'' for now."

 Chapter 987: A Month Later

    <h4>Chapter 987: A Month Later</h4>

    At the Everburn Underworld.

    Inside an elegant room, an elderly Yin spirit was standing in front of the window, looking out at the bustling city outside.

    There were countless intricately embroidered fabric signs pping in the wind outside, bearing the names of the teahouses and restaurants along the streets. Some of the Yin spirits outside were wearing antiquated attire while others were wearing Mao suits, presenting a scene that made one feel as if they had gone several centuries back in time, and a sense of patriotic pride welled up in the elderly Yin spirit''s heart.

    "This is what the Cathayan Underworld should be like..." The elderly Yin spirit was wearing a blue jacket and a pristine white changshan, giving him the elegant and refined appearance of an important official from ancient times. He was ying with a pair of crafted walnuts in his hand as he smiled and said, "In the mortal realm, Cathay is constantly trying to pursue global trends and is losing its own cultural heritage in the process. Who could''ve imagined that Everburn would develop so quickly in the past few years? Having said that, this is only to be expected ording to the city developmental n that was released. There''s always great potential for growth when ites to new cities..."

    He then turned away from the window and took a seat on one of the taishi chairs in the room. Every single inch of the room that he was situated in was constructed from timber that was intricately carved with beautiful designs. The room was extremely spacious, spanning an area of around 130 to 140 square meters, and gorgeous screens were positioned in just the right ces around the room, creating a perfect blend of decoration and privacy.

    Yellow ptialnterns were hanging from the ceiling, while bronze incense burners in the shape of cranes were positioned all around the room. There was also a pair of beautiful white vases each around a meter tall sitting atop gold-ted lotus-shaped vase holders, within which were ced bouquets of red spider lilies in full bloom. The decor and construction weren''t overly extravagant or luxurious, but it still didn''t fail to create a very auspicious atmosphere.

    Right at this moment, a burst of door-knocking rang out, following which a server drifted into the room before extending a respectful bow as he said, "Elder Xu, Mr. Deng and Mr. Pang have arrived."

    The elderly man''s eyes immediately lit up as he rose to his feet. "Invite them in here right away!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, two Yin spirits had already made their way into the room from outside. "It''s alright, we cane in on our own."

    As soon as they strode into the room, the Yin spirit on the left looked around with an awestruck expression as he mused, "Tsk, tsk, look at this ce! The style is much better than any Europa style, Usonian style, or Mediterranean style. Out of all of the cultures in the entire world, ours is the only one that can create such a stunning effect with only wooden construction materials and such simple ornaments."

    He then made his way straight over to the table and took a seat, then picked up a teacup and took a sip, upon which he immediately eximed, "This is exceptional tea!"

    Instead of departing from the room, the server was standing off to the side, and he smiled and extended a slight bow as he said, "This is the signature tea of our state guest reception, you''ll struggle to find this tea anywhere else. If you enjoy it, you can take a couple of boxes of tea leaves when you leave."

    "I don''t think we''ll be able to leave." The Yin spirit on the right was an elderly man wearing an antiquated melon cap, and he smiled as he waved his embroidered hand fan in a subtle manner.

    The server immediately recognized this as a signal to give them some privacy, and he promptly left the room.

    As soon as they departed, Elder Xu made his way over to the two elderly men before shaking their hands with an excited expression. "Deng Ruifeng, Pang Hai... I really didn''t think that the three of us would be able to meet again someday. The three of us have beenpeting against one another our entire lives, I didn''t think we would ever be on the same side for once..."

    His voice was beginning to choke up, and Deng Ruifeng gently pped his hand fan as he shook his head and heaved a faint sigh. "Indeed, no one could''ve anticipated this. Who would''ve ever thought that the dean of the National Tsing Hua University''s nuclear technology department, Xu Chengyang, the director of the National Nuclear Research Institute, Pang Hai, and my inept self would be reunited here? Fate truly works in some unpredictable ways sometimes."

    If there were any nuclear researchers present, they would be astonished to hear these three names!

    Xu Chengyang was an honorary profession at the National Tsing Hua University, and he had directly participated in and been present during the detonation experiments of Cathay''s first nuclear bomb and atomic bomb. He was known as the Cathayan father of nuclear weaponry. Of course, there were many people who shared this title in Cathay, but he was the most prestigious and renowned member of this elite and exclusive club.

    Pang Hai was the director of the prestigious National Nuclear Research Institute, and he had also experienced and participated in the entire process of nuclear weapons production. After that, he had dedicated himself wholeheartedly to developing nuclear energy for civilian usage. It was no exaggeration to say that he had yed a part in the construction of 80% of all of the nuclear power nts in the entire nation.

    As for the "inept" Deng Ruifeng, not only had he participated in the first ever Cathayan nuclear experiment, he had participated in generation upon generation of nuclear weapon testing. Almost every single nuclear weapon that Cathay currently had had been influenced by him in one way or another.

    It could be said that the three of them were the main pirs of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy in Cathay.

    Unfortunately, the academic world in Cathay wasn''t a pure ce where everyone could work together without any boundaries.

    Instead, there was apetitive rtionship between all of the prominent institutions.

    Upon joining a certain academy or institute, one''s allegiance would lie with that organization, thereby pitting them against the leading experts of other major academic organizations. Of course, the same thing applied to foreign nations as well. Even though they were very familiar with one another, they were forced topete with each other as adversaries due to their different allegiances.

    10 years ago, these three exceptional minds had passed away in a short time period, and never did they think that they would be able to cast aside their respective allegiances someday to work together, something that they had always wanted to do during their lifetimes.

    All of them had immense respect for one another, yet they represented different agendas and had topete for the interest of their respective organizations.

    However, here in the Cathayan Underworld, the education sector didn''t exist, so there were no factions or academic organizations to speak of!

    There was only one institution for them to work for, and that was the entire nation itself!

    The three of them quickly took a seat, then discussed some memories from their lifetimes as they sampled the delectable tea. No one could''ve ever imagined that the three leading figures of the mortal realm in nuclear research and development would be reunited on such friendly terms in another world.

    Before they knew it, an hour had already flown by, and Xu Chengyang finally moved onto the main topic. "For what reason do you think Yanluo Qin summoned the three of us here?"

    A month ago, the Cathayan Underworld had gone to great lengths to track the three of them down.

    They clearly recalled that they had been approached by darkfeathers, who remained in the shadows and carried out all of the nation''s confidential duties, much like the Ming Dynasty''s Silk Robe Division. The darkfeathers had taken them to Everburn in secret, protecting them every step of the way.

    Upon arriving in Everburn, designated underworld emissaries were assigned to teach them about the history of the underworld and the current state of the underworld without hiding any details.

    "What could he possibly have summoned us here for?" Deng Ruifeng chuckled as he turned to cast his gaze out the window. "This situation is so reminiscent of the situation we faced back in the day."

    "Indeed, the new administration is only a few years old. All of the major industries are yet to be set up, and there''s a constant looming threat from foreign adversaries, so we naturally have to sharpen our swords," Pang Hai chimed in. "That''s why I said we most likely won''t be able to leave. The fact that the three of us have been gathered here today indicates that the Cathayan Underworld is already nning to dabble in nuclear weaponry."

    Xu Chengyang''s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "But ording to what I''ve heard, they''re developing a new energy resource."

    The Cathayan Underworld hadn''t kept what was expected of the trio a secret. After an initial probing phase to determine that they still had the resolve and heart to serve the nation, everything had been revealed to them, following which thick contracts had beenid down right in front of them.

    From the instant they signed their contracts, they were granted the best treatment that one could receive in the Cathayan Underworld, but at the same time, they had to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to the new project.

    As for exactly what the project was, they didn''t know, but from what they had been told, it seemed that it involved a new energy resource, rather than the nuclear energy that they were leading experts in.

    Deng Ruifeng was silent for a moment before offering his thoughts. "It may well be a new energy resource, but seeing as the Cathayan Underworld has clearly be interested in nuclear weaponry, this new energy resource doesn''t necessarily have to not be nuclear energy."

    A contemtive look appeared on Pang Hai''s face as he said, "I don''t agree with that. Even in the mortal realm, producing energy through nuclear fusion is only a project that exists in theory. We all know that if this can be a reality, electricity fees would be dirt cheap and electricity would also be much more readily avable than it currently is. However, the underworld is different from the mortal realm. I''m sure the two of you have already noticed this as well, there are no energy resources here at all, and nuclear energy is an advanced energy resource built on the foundation of other energy resources. Without electricity, how can there be nuclear energy? Even if we set up a nuclear power nt, if our calctions are off by even the slightest margin, the entire nation would be blown up and we would all be back to square one..."

    Xu Chengyang nodded in agreement. "I concur with Professor Pang''s opinion. I''m guessing this new energy resource is a foundational energy resource like electricity, one that can be used by civilians. However, I also agree with Professor Deng''s statement that this new energy resource could act as a foundation for the development of nuclear weaponry in the future. In reality, nuclear energy is also a type of energy resource. My guess is that Hell wants us to participate in this project and see if there are anymon traits between nuclear energy and this new energy resource, as well as to see whether nuclear energy can be produced with this new energy resource as a foundation. After that, the research will most likely turn to nuclear weaponry."

    Neither of the professors had any objections to this.

    This was a very sound and objective analysis. They were all eagerly waiting to see exactly what the so-called forbidden arts of the underworld consisted of. What was the algorithm involved? How did they differ from nuclear weapons in the mortal realm? Would they be able to be fathers of nuclear weaponry once again here in the underworld?

    Right at this moment, a Yin spirit in Silk Robe Division attire made his way into the room.

    It was Li Jixi, the supervisor of the darkfeathers and also the man responsible for the safety of the trio in the room. Upon their arrival in Everburn, there hadn''t been a single moment where the darkfeathers had been more than 100 meters away from the trio.

    "Greetings, esteemed professors," He cupped his fist in a respectful salute as he extended a slight bow. "Yanluo Qin has summoned the three of you to the Aurogon''s Pce, and we will apany you there."

    The three Yin spirits exchanged a nce upon hearing this. The moment they had been waiting for had finally arrived...

    It was still the same work that they had done during their lifetimes, but why did they suddenly feel so excited?

    Xu Chengyang took a moment topose himself, then said, "We''ll be in your care then. May I ask who else is going to participate in the meeting and what kind of meeting this is?"

    Li Jixi replied, "All of the schrs and directors of Hell will be in attendance. The meeting will be one during which the research and development of the new energy resource is discussed, and everyone is encouraged to speak their mind freely."

    As expected...

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Six Origin Diagram, Aurogon''s Pce.

    This was the first time this ce had been opened up to so many people, and countless Yin soldiers had already been stationed here.

    Even though Xu Chengyang''s trio was already somewhat mentally prepared, they still couldn''t help but be struck by a sense of immense pressure as soon as they entered the pce.

    Qin Ye was seated at the very center while the Harken and the Zhao Yun were situated on either side of him. Even without drawing upon their Yin energy, their auras as high-grade underworld emissaries were enough to exert incredible pressure upon everyone.

    Right as the trio sat down in an uneasy manner, Qin Ye dered, "Looks like everyone''s all here. In that case, I hereby announce themencement of the meeting."

    Xu Chengyang''s cast a surprised gaze toward Qin Ye upon hearing this.

    They were familiar with Qin Ye''s personality, and they knew that he didn''t like to waste time with formalities, but they didn''t think that he would still be so concise and straightforward even during such an important meeting.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to them as he put on a serious expression and continued, "First, I have to show all of you something, and after that, we''ll have a session of free discussion."

 Chapter 988: First Meeting of the Resurgence Team (1)

    <h4>Chapter 988: First Meeting of the Resurgence Team (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye raised a hand, and the entire room began to fall into darkness. Within the darkness, a burst of golden light began to slowly emerge.

    Aside from Xu Chengyang''s trio, other schrs, the minister of energy, and Gu Qing were the only other people present. Xu Chengyang''s trio didn''t make much of this, but Gu Qing and the minister of energy could extrapte just how important a meeting this was from this lineup alone.

    No servants had been allowed to be present in the meeting. The two of them exchanged a nce and gave each other a slight nod. Didn''t this entail that no one else aside from them had permission to know about the content being discussed? Was it something strictly confidential?

    Before they could ponder this any further, the golden light became clearer and clearer, and the first thing to appear was a line of text that read "discussion for the scope and widespread usage of energy resources".

    Sure enough, this really was a meeting regarding the new energy resource!

    All of the schrs present felt their hearts skip a beat at the sight of this line of text.

    Throughout the course of history, each time a new energy resource had emerged, the arrival of a brand new era had followed. As such, it was an incredible honor to be able to participate in the research and development of a new energy resource.

    As renowned professors of the mortal realm, Xu Chengyang''s trio were thinking even deeper than that.

    The term "widespread usage" was essentially the same as "civilian usage".

    Only energy resources fit for civilian usage could be used on a widespread basis and act as a foundation for nuclear energy, the form of energy that they were most familiar with.

    There was virtually not a single nuclear energy apparatus that didn''t require electricity to function.

    Level sensors, level gauges, nucleon scales, nuclear reactor cores, nuclear reactor pressure vessels, nuclear reactor internal parts, control rod drive mechanisms... All of these things required energy to function!

    If nuclear energy were the tip of the pyramid, then all of the building blocks beneath it would be other energy resources.

    No one wanted to disrupt this historic moment, and as the golden text slowly appeared, a male voice also rang out. "I''ve always wondered why there is no energy resource in the underworld."

    The voice belonged to Xu Fu.

    "It was just a question that I had in my mind, but I wasn''t too interested in knowing the answer. Having lived for so long, very few things interest me. However, my interest was sparked when I stumbled upon Gui Xu''s body."

    The Harken exined, "Gui Xu is one of the four divine turtles that reside offshore. It''s around 187 square kilometers in size, making it farrger than the average small ind, and it belonged to Hell."

    All of the underworld emissaries present nodded before continuing to listen.

    "I suddenly developed an idea: why don''t I transform Gui Xu into a floating fortress on the sea? This world is not safe for me. There are powerful beings in all three realms, and even though I''m already standing at the pinnacle, I am but one lone man. In the face of Heaven and Hell, I would be no match if they decided to target me. Hence, I need a secure fortress. Thus, I began to contemte how to transform Gui Xu into a floating fortress. First, I would need an enormous source of kic energy. Only the most explosive of energy resources can move such a massive body at a satisfactory speed. If I could invent a super energy resource, a reactor asrge as a room would be enough to drive Gui Xu''s body, and it would rule over the sea! All of this can only be fulfilled on the basis of a suitable energy resource and I have limitless time toplete this project."

    Boom!

    As soon as the voice trailed off, theherfire in the eyes of all of the schrs present immediately sprang up to two meters in height.

    Zu Chongzhi and the others were rather desensitized, but Pang Hai, Xu Chengyang, and Deng Ruifeng were astonished beyond belief!

    "Isn''t this bioengineering?!" Xu Chengyang couldn''t help but exim. His voice was quite loud and was trembling from excitement. "Is it possible to power a giant living being using this new energy resource?! This is something that can only be seen in science-fiction movies in the mortal realm!"

    "No, this is a living being powered by nuclear energy!" Never did Pang Hai think that he would be struck by such a massive bombshell from the get-go.

    At the same time, he was ovee by a sense of joy, the joy of seeing another academic peak to be conquered in the distance.

    "If such a massive Yin beast could be powered using nuclear energy, its destructive power would be unmatched in the sea!"

    In this instant, all three of them becamepletely enraptured by this project.

    It was a whole new peak to conquer, another opportunity to have their names go down in history!

    The ambition of their youth was being reunited in their hearts, and even though they had only heard a brief introduction, they could already predict just how monumental this project was going to be.

    Qin Ye was very pleased to see the trio''s reactions, and he smiled as he said, "It''s too early to be discussing this matter now, so please keep watching. However, let me make this clear: what you''re seeing here is only just barely scratching the surface."

    Xu Fu''s voice continued, "Over several centuries of research, I finally discovered that this was feasible! However, it''s extremely difficult. I''ve tried everything that I could get my hands on from both the mortal realm and the underworld, and finally, I was able to decide on my first subject: voidsilver. Voidsilver is a metal produced only in the underworld. It''s produced at very high quantities, but it''s not very useful, and most of it is used to craft jewelry and ornaments. However, when voidsilver essories are moved quickly, such as being pulled quickly down one''s arm, one would be struck with a sense of numbness and sharp pain. Obviously, the most prevalent energy resource in the mortal realm is electricity. It is the pir that is supporting modern society, and it''s produced by the forces of attraction and repulsion between the subatomic particles of electrons and protons. These two types of subatomic particles are constantly shing to produce electricity, and going off this principle, I suddenly realized that I had been too intent on testing out precious ore and metals, neglecting the moremon things around me in the process. For example, is the phenomenon produced by voidsilver essories a case of static electricity in souls?"

    No one said anything.

    In the face of such an enthralling monolog, everyone chose to maintain a respectful silence, irrespective of the identity of the heinous individual who had made these discoveries.

    Xu Fu''s voice continued, "With voidsilver as my primary test subject, I began to conduct experiments by creating physical friction between voidsilver and other objects to see whether anything else will trigger a simr reaction to the one seen between voidsilver and spirits. I was disappointed to find that most of the things I tested yielded no reaction or minimal reactions, until I tested graphite. Graphite of the mortal realm yields an extremely strong chemical reaction with voidsilver of the underworld! When I create friction between the two and observe their atomic makeup in aboratory, I find that these two things are somehow able to fuse as one to form a type of macroparticle that can reach asrge as one micrometer! I could sense that sess was on the horizon, and after more and more refinement and experimentation, I finally seeded! I named this brand new substance wishpower as it arose from my wishes and it transcends beyond the borders of the underworld and the mortal realm!"

    The voice abruptly cut off here, and the image also fell still. One Yin jadentern was lit up after another in the hall, but everyone still remained deathly silent.

    Everyone had already guessed that this would be the reason they had been summoned here, but actually witnessing this was something different altogether.

    It was only a short presentation, yet it hadpletely tipped their worldview on its head and left them scrambling to recover the function of their brains!

    After several thousand years of darkness in the underworld, someone had finally stepped forward with a proposal of light!

    Antern had been lit up within the darkness, and even though it was still extremely dim, its faint radiance represented hope and countless possibilities.

    This was a meeting that deserved to go down in Hell''s history books, even though it wasn''t a grand asion and only had about 10 witnesses!

    On either side of the hall, five secretaries were frantically recording everything that had been said. They weren''t idiots, and they also knew what this entailed. There was a very good chance that their notes would be teaching material for Hell in the next decade!

    Qin Ye finally broke the silence as he said, "Everyone, a new energy resource has already appeared, but this is not the end of our work."

    He stood up with his hands pressed against the table, looking around at everyone with an authoritative expression like a ruler inspecting his own territory as he continued in a rousing voice, "Our journey has only just begun! Wishpower is the name given to this new energy resource by someone else, but this energy resource can be used across both the mortal realm and the underworld. What we have to do is remove its dependence on mortal realm resources, creating an energy resource that is self-sufficient in the underworld and can be used by all underworlds! This new energy resource will stem from wishpower, but will transcend beyond wishpoewr! That is our ultimate objective!"

    Zhao Yun took a deep breath. A new era wasing, but at the same time, there wasn''t much time left for them.

    He cleared his throat as he interjected, "Xu Fu has a limited understanding of the underworld, so he''s made a mistake."

    He also stood up and looked around at everyone as he said, "This isn''t a macroparticle formed by friction between subatomic particles. Instead, it''s the attraction and repulsion between Yin runes!"

    Everything in the underworld came from Yin runes.

    "In other words, it contains a type of Yin rune simr to electrons and protons!"

    Qin Ye continued where he left off. "The foundation of electricity are electrons and protons. We''ve already found one half of thebination, all we need to do is to find the other half, a Yin rune that can create a violent reaction with this one. Once we do that, we''ll have the foundation of the new energy resource!"

    The Harken didn''t say anything.

    It knew that this meeting was more of a motivational meeting rather than a discussion meeting.

    It was designed to captivate and excite everyone. All of the Yin spirits present had to participate in the research of the new energy resource, but the Harken knew just how difficult this was going to be.

    There were countless types of objects in the underworld, and finding one that contained the precise Yin rune to react with the Yin rune harbored by voidsilver would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

    The corresponding Yin rune could be hiding in any one of the levels of Archimedes''s Yin Rune Wheel, which meant that there were over a billion candidate Yin runes that they had to sift through to find the right one!

    Qin Ye turned to everyone with an imcable gaze as he said in an authoritative voice, "We must find this Yin rune within five years! It is the key to the new energy resource and will allow us to take that all-important first step."

    Developing a new energy resource was far from a simple task.

    If it was only a matter of finding two specific Yin runes, thebination would''ve been discovered long ago throughout the course of the underworld''s lengthy history. Given the vast poption of Yin spirits in the underworld, there would''ve definitely been some coincidence that had led to such a discovery.

    The truly difficult part was whether they would be able to find a Yin rune with sufficient repulsive and attractive properties with the one found in voidsilver. Would the reaction be strong enough to produce electricity? What was this other half? Was it suitable for civilian usage? What was going to be the cost price for producing this new energy resource? How violent was the reaction between the two types of Yin runes going to be? Could the reaction be harnessed, and if so, how cold it be harnessed?

    These were the key problems that had to be answered.

    "We n toplete this first step within the next three years," Qin Ye said with an intense look in his eyes. "Who wishes to volunteer for this task?"

 Chapter 989: First Meeting of the Resurgence Team (2)

    <h4>Chapter 989: First Meeting of the Resurgence Team (2)</h4>

    No one offered a response.

    It was a very simple question, but the implications were very severe.

    Essentially, Qin Ye was asking for a volunteer to be the main architect of the entire project.

    Who didn''t want such a prestigious title? If this project ended in sess, the name of the main architect would most definitely be recorded in the history books directly above everyone else involved.

    However, simrly, if the project were to go awry, the main architect would definitely be the first to be med. Risk and reward had alwayse hand in hand, and in exchange for the potential for greater glory, one had to take on more responsibility.

    This was a long road with no light at the end of the tunnel, and someone had to lead the way, even though no one knew whether the road led to nirvana or the abyss. Thus, this was a grueling test of resolve and courage.

    This was a task of unprecedented gravity, and even Zu Chongzhi and the others, who had participated in the research and development of forbidden arts, didn''t say anything. After a long while, Deng Ruifeng, Xu Chengyang, and Pang Hai stood up almost in perfect synchronicity as they said, "We''re willing to give it a try."

    "We are also willing." Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban stood up almost immediately thereafter. They also wanted to prove themselves and didn''t want to be outdone by these neers.

    Qin Ye maintained a serious expression as he looked into their eyes one after another. "Are you confident in your ability to seed?"

    "Not at all," Xu Chengyang replied with a wry smile. "I had no confidence back when I was researching and developing nuclear weapons, either. It was just a case of taking blind stabs in the dark until we hit gold, and no one can predict what the ultimate oue is going to be."

    A carefree smile appeared on Zu Chongzhi''s face as he said, "I''ve already lived for far longer than anyone has the right to, and in return, it''s only right that I take on the most difficult of duties. If no one steps up, then how is the nation going to advance? Yanluo Qin, please appoint me as the main architect!"

    "Senior Zu..." Deng Ruifeng wanted to say something, but Zu Chongzhi raised a hand to cut him off.

    "You''re still too young to take on such a responsibility."

    Xu Chengyang''s trio wanted to vehemently object to this, but they couldn''t say anything.

    Zu Chongzhi was a pioneering figure in the history of Cathayan science, and he absolutely had the right to say something like that.

    "If you fail, you''ll face such heavy criticism from all of the officials and citizens of the nation that your futures will be ruined," Lu Ban said. "In contrast, our names have already gone down in history, and even if they criticize us, it won''t be as severe. Perhaps we''ll still be given a second chance by the nation even if we fail, but that same courtesy definitely wouldn''t be afforded to the three of you."

    Deng Ruifeng opened his mouth to say something, but remained silent in the end, and a few secondster, he nodded in response with aplex expression.

    In the face of such an important duty, everyone had cast aside their own interests to think for the greater good.

    Qin Ye exchanged a nce with Zhao Yun and the Harken in silence before also rising to his feet.

    He then smiled as he said, "I''m very pleased to see your resolve. The invention of a new energy resource will have a far greater impact on the underworld than you can imagine. It''ll be a momentous asionparable with the past industrial revolutions of the mortal realm, and it''ll propel the Cathayan Underworld all the way to the top of the world!"

    Indeed, the impact was going to be far greater than they could imagine as no one knew exactly what type of monster was sealed in the Australis Underworld. However, the fact that even the second King Yanluo had to guard it in person was a clear testament to just how formidable it was.

    If that entire ce could be equipped with weapons powered by the new energy resource, then the Cathayan Underworld''s status in the world would reach unprecedented heights!

    "The first industrial revolution was in Europa, while the second one was in Usonia, and now, it''s finally our turn."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before continuing, "In that case, the main architects will be Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi, while Xu Chengyang, Deng Ruifeng, and Pang Hai will serve as the vice architects. Are there any objections?"

    No one said anything.

    Even Qin Ye didn''t know whether he had chosen the right people or whether this was even a feasible path, but he could only assign these duties to the people that he trusted the most.

    Qin Ye dered with a solemn expression, "From this moment onward, the Resurgence Team is officially founded with Xu Chengyang, Deng Ruifeng, and Pang Hai taking on the roles of team leader and vice team leaders."

    "Yes," the trio replied with a collective bow. They knew that the heaviest burdens had been taken by Zu Chongzhi and the others, leaving them with no time and energy to take care of anything else. As such, the three of them would be responsible for all of the other logistical matters, including the all-important human resources arrangements.

    Before they had a chance to think about this any further, Qin Ye continued, "There''s no need to request permission for any personnel changes in the Resurgence Team, just report the changes to me after the event. No matter who you want on the team, you can take them without any exceptions. There''s also no need for the Resurgence Team to request any resources, just take them and report to me after the event. All municipal governments and the central government will prioritize your needs above all other departments, and I''ll make sure that all of the provinces, cities, and counties are aware of this. The Resurgence Team will answer directly to me and is not under the jurisdiction of any departments. As long as I approve of its operations, no one is allowed to impede the Resurgence Team."

    This string of orders was met byplete silence from everyone.

    The excitement on the faces of Zu Chongzhi, Lu Ban, and the three professors from the mortal realm had already been reced by serious expressions, and several secondster, Zu Chongzhi said in a slightly trembling voice, "Rest assured, Yanluo Qin, I''ll be sure to fulfill my duties, even if it costs me my life!"

    They had been given the power to transcend beyond all of the administrative departments! If they couldn''t make anything out of this opportunity, not only would the other departments be extremely displeased, they wouldn''t even be able to live with themselves!

    It was clear that they were being asked to dedicate everything they had to creating this new energy resource, and they had to see this through to the very end!

    "The specific details will be sent to all of you by Assistant Wangter." Qin Ye finally sat down. A new era was beckoning, and in the face of such a monumental shift in history, the responsibility of having to make these decisions was weighing on him like a massive mountain.

    You''re not the ones who''ll have to bear the brunt of the consequences, that''ll be me... He couldn''t help but give an internal wry smile as he swept his gaze across everyone present.

    Without the resolve and courage required to take on these responsibilities and the potential for nationwide criticism, he wouldn''t be fit to be the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    As for how he was going to eventually be evaluated in the history books, that was not something for him to consider for now.

    "Seeing as the team has already been assembled, the Human Resources Department will be presenting a list of political achievements of all of our underworld emissaries during their lifetimes and their time in the underworld to you. All of the underworld emissaries of the North Yin Pavilion will help you sift through the list, but this is only a temporary arrangement."

    During this past month, he had already discussed these points with Zhao Yun and the Harken countless times.

    He continued, "Following the establishment of the team, all matters taking ce within the team must be reported to me as soon as possible. Also, I want to see a finalized list of names of all of the underworld emissaries you want within a month."

    He leaned back in his chair as he smiled and said, "Don''t look so glum and serious, this is a good thing. At the very least, we have a chance to grasp the key to the next era, and none of the other underworlds even have this opportunity. Now that the direction of the team has been confirmed, let''s discuss what we''re going to do next."

    Perhaps less seasoned individuals would be confused to hear this. After all, hadn''t Qin Ye already organized everything? However, having had simr experiences to this in the mortal realm, the three professors immediately knew what Qin Ye was referring to.

    He was asking what the team should do as its first step following its founding.

    At the same time, this was a good opportunity for him to examine whether any of the people in the team only had resounding reputations but no actual skills to back them up, even though the possibility of that was virtually negligible. As a ruler, it had be second nature to him to keep his subordinates on their toes. The only exceptions to that were the likes of the second King Yanluo and Zhao Yun.

    Xu Chengyang''s trio didn''t say anything. They were rtive neers, and they still weren''t sufficiently familiar with Hell''s core regtions to speak here.

    Zu Chongzhi exchanged a nce with Lu Ban before thetter rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "I think our top priority should be to stabilize."

    "Oh?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in response.

    Zu Chongzhi exined, "I''m not saying we should stabilize the situation. Instead, we should stabilize our international standing."

    He gestured toward the door, and Wang Chenghao immediately made his way over to his table with a stack of documents. Zu Chongzhi picked up one of the documents with a serious expression as he said, "Currently, most of the world''s top consortiums have already gathered outside the Array of the Nine Gods. Alongside them are envoys sent from all underworlds, and they''re using whatever excuse possible to try and find out whether the new energy resource project is authentic or not."

    He ced that document back onto the table as he continued, "I''ve traveled for hundreds of years to further my knowledge, and in that process, I became quite well versed with the unspoken rules of the internationalmunity, one of which is that super projects than can define an era like this one must be disyed to the public. Setting aside the fact that it''s very likely we''ll have to use resources from other nations during our future research and development, the status of the Cathayan Underworld alone makes it unfeasible for us to hide everything as it is our obligation to be open, honest, and transparent. ording to international regtions, the four pirs must release white papers on their financial, military, and economic situation once every 10 years, and no major decisions can be hidden. After all, any decision made by one of the four pirs could affect the entire world. As such, we have to hold a press conference, but it can''t be held within our borders. With General Zhao''s powers, it won''t be difficult to create a temporary ind, but that''s only a temporary solution. During our research and development, we have to disy some parts of our progress to the public."

    All of the nations in the world were interconnected, and no one could truly stand alone. Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh as he massaged his own be.

    The Cathayan Underworld could choose to withhold all information, but the new energy resource was going to have to be promoted to the rest of the world eventually. They had to let the rest of the world know the rules and method of operation of the new energy resource, as well as how to construct the base stations required for its operation.

    Otherwise, if they were to only release everything only after all of it wasplete, all of the other nations would have to take a few more years to set up everything, and that would incur international dissatisfaction.

    All of the major consortiums and nations in the world had their eyes focused on the Cathayan Underworld, and for it to withhold this information was to neglect its international duties. Perhaps all of the other nations would swallow the bitter pill one time, but the limits of their patience was not to be tested.

    However, this also brought about another problem.

    "A press conference is not out of the question," Qin Ye said. "But every single word that we release will be scrutinized under microscopes, and we''ll have to face constant attacks and doubt from the international academic society. This is something that''s inevitable for every significant new breakthrough that has ever been made in history. Are you all prepared for this?"

    He cast a meaningful gaze toward everyone as he spoke.

    "Rest assured, Yanluo Qin, we''re more than ready!" Zu Chongzhi replied with a serious expression. "Give me two months, one to recruit the people we want, and the second month to familiarize ourselves with the notes. In two months, we''ll directly face all of the journalists and schrs of the world and answer their questions one by one!"

    "All seven members of the Argosian Underworld''s round table will most likely be there," Zhao Yun cautioned. "As well as the Borobudur Temple of the Hindustani Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld''s Pyramid of Truth. No Yin spirit from the academic society is going to be willing to pass up this opportunity to gather information on the new energy resource. Are you sure you''ll be able to stand up to them?"

    Without enduring trials and tribtions, a new piece of innovation could never reach the top.

    What they had to do was to ept the challenge and directly face these trials and tribtions!

 Chapter 990: Centenary Underworld Academic Convention (1)

    <h4>Chapter 990: Centenary Underworld Academic Convention (1)</h4>

    Nipponese Underworld, Shikoku.

    Shikoku referred to the easternmost cluster of Nipponese Inds. The Nipponese Underworld was still reeling from the international conference that had been held in Nara one and a half months ago, but it had no choice but to open the best hotel it had, the Shikoku Underworld Hotel, to amodate the foreign emissaries that still hadn''t left the country.

    Inside an elegant Nipponese-style courtyard, an elderly Caucasian man wearing a white robe was looking up at the sky in an absentminded manner. His appearance was quite ordinary, and he didn''t even seem to be a Yin spirit. He was seated on a wooden chair, and beside him were seated six other men in the same attire.

    If there were any other Yin spirits present, they would definitely be astonished by the fact that all seven members of the Argosian Underworld''s round table had been gathered in this small courtyard!

    The leader of the group was Death God Archimedes, and he was apanied by Aristotle, Thales of Miletus, Pythagoras, Euclid, Diophantus, and Ptolemy! If this lineup were present in any ce in the world aside from the Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld, it would be a formidable force to be reckoned with!

    The courtyard waspletely silent, and no one said anything as they held their teacups with contemtive expressions. Right at this moment, a Yin spirit wearing a kimono made his way into the courtyard. His face was of a snowy white color, presenting quite a stark contrast with his ck lips, and he extended a respectful bow as he informed, "Esteemed underworld emissaries, I''ve received some news."

    Archimedes immediately turned his gaze toward the servant upon hearing this, and the servant bowed even deeper as he continued, "An hour ago, several dozen messenger birds flew out of the Cathayan Underworld''s Array of the Nine Gods, carrying these things with them..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, his eyes abruptly widened as he cast his gaze forward with a stunned and horrified expression. In the next instant, his entire body shot back like an arrow, disappearing from the courtyard in the blink of an eye before he even had a chance to cry out.

    A cold look appeared on Aristotle''s face as he harrumphed, "Just cut straight to the point! I have no time to waste with incapable servants like this. It looks like the servants of the Nipponese Underworld are in need of some etiquette training."

    After that, he raised his hand, and a scroll that had fallen onto the ground flew into his grasp. He unfurled the scroll to take a look, and after only a single nce, theherfire in his eyes instantly erupted up to a meter in height.

    Only after a full five seconds had passed did he hand the scroll over to Archimedes with a faint sigh of relief. "The Cathayan Underworld has agreed to our request. In 15 days, they''ll be holding a press conference on the ind of Jeju-do, and all of the international underworlds are invited to attend the asion."

    Archimedes quickly read through the contents of the scroll before setting it aside as he mused, "Why is the press conference being held at Jeju-do? Why not Formosa or any other coastal city in the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Euclid''s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "It''smon knowledge that the Cathayan Underworld''s political transition wasn''t as smooth as it could''ve been. We don''t know the exact circumstances, but the more reluctant they are to open up their borders, the more it seems like they''re hiding something."

    He then shrugged as he sighed, "But even then, so what? It''s not like we can destroy the Cathayan Underworld. Jeju-do as the press conference location also makes some sense. The Daehan Underworld has always been a subsidiary nation to the Cathayan Underworld, so technically, it can be said that Jeju-do is within the Cathayan Underworld''s territory. So long as it continues to exist, it will still be one of the four pirs, and all we can do is take advantage of this period of its feebleness to gain as much power as possible."

    He epted the scroll from Diophantus and took a nce at it before a cold smile appeared on his face. "So the main architects of the new energy resource project will be Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban. During the several-thousand-year-long feudal era of Cathay, they''ve never put much focus on the development of heavy industries, and as a result, the nation has a pitiful number of renowned mathematicians and physicists. Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban are already the best that they have to offer, but they''re certainly not exceptional minds by any stretch of the imagination. I recall that they''ve studied in the Argosian Underworld at some point, right? Didn''t you meet them at the time, Ptolemy?"

    Ptolemy was a slightly chubby middle-aged man with a short blond beard, and he gave a slight nod in response. "I did."

    A hint of pride then surfaced in his eyes as he said, "They wanted to join the round table, but I turned them down. Due to the abilities of King Yanluo''s Seal, the Cathayan Underworld has improved in the field of Yin runes, but it''s nothing remarkable. What right do they have to join the round table? They have no worthy knowledge that they can exchange with us, so why would I agree to their request?"

    "Don''t you think this is very strange?" Aristotle''s eyes narrowed slightly as he mused, "There are countless brilliant minds in Cathay who have participated in the research and development of energy resources in the modern era. Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban have only participated in the research and development of forbidden arts in the past, and it''s already extremely shameless of them to still be clinging onto relevance off the back of contributions that they made hundreds of years ago."

    He then turned to Archimedes as he continued, "So why is it that Yanluo Qin appointed them to be the main architects rather than any of the other modern talents who would be more suited to the job?"

    Archimedes took a sip of tea as he said, "Don''t underestimate Yanluo Qin. He may have only been inaugurated not long ago, but he''s certainly very much capable of seeding in his role. To answer your question, we can look back at the second-generation forbidden arts startup module that they unveiled during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts."

    This was a very embarrassing subject, so much so that none of the Abyssal Prefects present had dared to mention it.

    Archimedes was one of the most brilliant mathematicians in world history, yet he had been so enthralled by the startup module that he had begun calcting and rambling to himself like a madman on the spot! He had suffered such aplete and utter loss ofposure that Hypnos had to send him away right in front of all of the world''s death gods, and that was surely an extremely humiliating memory, so it came as quite a surprise to everyone that he was mentioning the incident in such a calm and nonchnt manner.

    Diophantus turned to Archimedes with a stunned expression and wanted to say something, but Archimedes held up a hand to stop him as he smiled and said, "There''s a very good chance that the startup module was genuine, and I find no shame in kneeling down to knowledge."

    After that, his smile faded as he put on a serious expression and continued, "The intentions of the Cathayan Underworld are very clear: they want to develop second-generation forbidden arts, and this is closely tied to the domestic situation within their borders. Everyone knows that the Cathayan Underworld has endured a rough political transition, but we don''t know exactly how rough it was. However, it most likely had quite a significant negative impact on them. Otherwise, there''s no way that the Cathayan Underworld would take such a massive risk to unveil the second-generation forbidden arts startup module during a conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts."

    Indeed, what the Cathayan Underworld had imed at the time was that they had discovered the new energy resource during their research into the startup module.

    However, mentioning something like this during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts was nothing less than a p in the face to the Coalition of Underworlds! None of the other nations were saying anything, but they were definitely displeased by this as well.

    What exactly were their intentions in researching and developing second-generation forbidden arts? Did they want to recreate the tragedy that had befallen the Alkebn Underworlds?

    Pythagoras massaged his own temples as he said with a wry smile, "It was also because of this that following the conclusion of thest international conference, the Hindustani Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld immediately announced that they were going to form research and development teams within the next half a year specifically to develop second-generation forbidden arts."

    This was a butterfly effect that was leading to the brewing of a massive storm.

    Archimedes nodded in response and didn''t continue pursuing this subject. Instead, he changed to a different topic as he said, "At the time, we were all stunned by the Cathayan Underworld''s announcement and missed the best opportunity. While it''s true that the forbidden arts startup module could be genuine, that doesn''t mean the same applies to the new energy resource! They''ve muddled up the concepts, yet we have no way to verify their ims. Even if we were to raise our suspicions, they could just say something like ''so and so Yin rune within the forbidden arts startup module has so and so function'', and we won''t know if they''re bluffing or not. However, we have another opportunity now."

    He stared at the scroll with a serious expression as he rose to his feet and continued, "Throughout the course of history, all new innovations and ideas must undergo trials by fire in which doubts and questions are raised against them! This isn''t something malicious in nature. Instead, it''s supposed to help the researchers, developers, and inventors better refine their ideas, bringing fresh perspectives to identify every single hole and w possible. As such, the Cathayan Underworld must answer our questions in regard to this project. Back when we developed the first forbidden art several centuries ago, we held a debate at Parthenon with several dozen of the world''s leading schrs! Even now, I can''t help but get goosebumps when I think back to that asion! We dered that Yin runes and religions could bebined to give rise to brand new Yin runes, but no one believed us! However, we seeded and presented the Yin rune wheel, and that formed the first-ever forbidden art! If the Cathayan Underworld wants all nations and consortiums all over the world to embrace this monumental invention of theirs, then the first thing they must do is win a debate against all of the scientists in the world! We are not the only mathematicians, physicists, and chemists in this world, all of the past Nobel prize winners will be traveling to the Cathayan Underworld for this press conference. They have no choice but to ept this debate that is to take ce between the entire academic world! It has nothing to do with national agendas, and all past instances of these debates have been referred to as Great Revtion Debates! Sess would earn them worldwide acknowledgment, while failure would severely impact the progress of their project. This is a challenge that their schrs must ept and can only ept!"

    His cheeks were slightly flushed with excitement as he concluded, "They must prove themselves in front of the entire world."

    Everyone nodded with serious expressions.

    Fundamentally speaking, they were also schrs and academics, and they knew just how important Great Revtion Debates were.

    It was a purely academic debate without any national agendas, and its sole purpose was to determine whether a piece of new innovation was viable.

    "When we go to Jeju-do, we will no longer be representing the Argosian Underworld. Instead, we will only be schrs of the round table!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Meanwhile, in another elegant room, a Yin spirit wearing a white Arab robe was absentmindedly ying with an antiquated gold coin in his hand. Beside him sat the representative of the Sacred Treasure Consortium, Kana Fujii, and Izanami was also present, but seated in an inferior position to Kana Fujii''s.

    The door was silently opened, and a short elderly man strode in, followed by five men and women wearing whiteb coats.

    Their appearances weren''t remarkable in any way, and their attire was also very simplistic, but as soon as they entered the room, the Yin spirit in the white Arab robe, Kana Fujii, and Izanami stood up in unison before extending slight bows. They then put on weing smiles as they greeted warmly, "Wee to Shikoku, esteemed schrs!"

    The white-robed Yin spirit maintained his slight bow as a gesture of respect and inferiority as he shook elderly man''s hand, and he put on a genuine smile a he said, "This world needs you now more than ever."

    Hideki Yukawa, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949 for his prediction of the pi meson.

    Shin''ichir¨­ Tomonaga, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in the years of 1965 for his work in the development of quantum electrodynamics.

    Reona Esaki, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials.

    Yoichiro Nambu, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for the role he yed in the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics.

    All of Nippon''s recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics were gathered in this room!

    "You''re far too kind, Mr. Khilok." Hideki Yukawa shook the man''s hand as he said, "We are here purely for the pursuit of knowledge, and this is a duty that we cannot pass up."

 Chapter 991: Centenary Underworld Academic Convention (2)

    <h4>Chapter 991: Centenary Underworld Academic Convention (2)</h4>

    This man was the heir to the Rachman n of the Abbasid Consortium, one of the top consortiums in the world. He had an ungodly amount of wealth at his disposal, and even Yama-Kings and death gods had to treat him with respect.

    Very rarely would there be any death gods outside of the four pirs, but that didn''t mean that a n like this didn''t possess power equivalent to death gods. It was even rumored that the Rachman n had 10 forbidden arts hidden all over the world, and if anything were to happen to the n, the forbidden arts would be immediately activated.

    "I''m naturally well aware of your attitude toward science." Khilok adjusted the white keffiyeh on his head as he said with a smile as warm as the noon sun, "However, this is an extremely important matter, so I had to invite all of you for a meeting in person to discuss some things, I hope you don''t mind. Please,e and take a seat."

    Gold-ted teaware with prominent Arabic elements had already been ced in the room, and as soon as everyone sat down, a group of women with seductive figures wearing veils over their faces came in while carrying a series of exquisite snacks.

    There were two types of Arabic desserts that were renowned across the entire world, one of which was cheese, while the other was fondue.

    Thus, cheese and fondue were the mainponents of all of the snacks being brought out. However, in contrast with therge chunks of stiff cheese being sold on the market, all of these snacks were petite and elegant like artistic masterpieces. Coupled with other ingredients such as snowy white cream, beautiful red cherries, and thick chocte, the snacks could make one''s stomach growl on sight.

    However, none of the Yin spirits present were in the mood to taste them.

    Khilok picked up his teacup and took a sip, then gently set it down again. Khilok had an interesting nickname, which was the "underworld fox". Following the war during which the Aegyptian Underworld conquered the entire Arabic Underworld, the Rachman n was the only prominent n that survived, and on top of that, it became even more powerful than prior to the war.

    Normally, he was a very reserved Yin spirit who hid his own emotions extremely well, but he was unable to hide his urgency and excitement here as he took a sip of tea just for show, then immediately cut straight to the chase. "Everyone, the press conference that the Cathayan Underworld is going to be holding is going to be just as significant to the underworld as the Millennium Prize Problems and the Riemann hypothesis are to the mortal realm. All of the leading figures in the scientific fields will be present during such a significant press conference, and the Cathayan Underworld will be doing everything in its power to prove itself. In technical terms, this will be known as a Great Revtion Debate, and the only ones able to enter the official debate hall will be recipients of extremely prestigious prizes such as the Nobel Prize, the Lars Onsager Prize, the Fields Medal, and the Copley Medal. During this press conference, I want you to..."

    Hideki Yukawa gently swirled the tea in his cup with a slightly dark expression. "This is our duty and also something that we must do to uphold our pride as schrs."

    He looked straight into Khilok''s eyes as he said, "The new energy resource concerns the three major fields of mathematics, chemistry, and physics. All of the major prize recipients in those fields will be present aside from those from the new continent, and we''ll be asking the most stringent of questions in order to get the most meaningful answers."

    His voice carried an imcable tone as he continued, "We must hold this attitude in order to pay our due diligence to this world and to the new energy resource, and nopromise can be made on this front."

    "No, no, no, you''re misunderstanding my intentions," Khilok hurriedly said as he waved his hands. "Our Rachman n is preparing to ept the requests made by yourboratory right away, and at the same time, we ask that you don''t hold back at all during the Cathayan Underworld''s official press conference! Make sure to pose the most difficult-to-answer questions and don''t give them any chance to weasel their way out of answering your questions!"

    Reona Esaki was rather taken aback to hear this. "Are you sure you want us to do that?"

    "I''m certain!" Khilok replied in a serious voice. "Also, I want to inform you that this is a joint decision made by the Rachman n and our close ally, the Sacred Treasure Consortium. The exact same instruction will be issued by all of the decision-makers of the top 10 consortiums to their subsidiaryboratories. Make sure you don''t hold back and don''t overlook any questions! Do not give them a chance to stall for time!"

    The room fellpletely silent.

    Makoto Kobayashi wore a surprised and bemused expression as he said, "Pardon me for stating the obvious, but even if the direction of their research is incorrect, if you can take on the project, you''ll be sure to be greatly inspired, so..."

    "There''s no way we''ll be able to take on the project," Kana Fujii said in an indifferent voice. "This is the Cathayan Underworld, not someboratory, no one can threaten them. You''re not a member of any consortium, so you don''t know what we have to deal with. What we have to do is to wait for the Cathayan Underworld to release its yellow papers! If there''s a mistake that they fail to discover now, it could lead to the loss of billions of USD in the future! Even an error in a decimal point could lead to catastrophic consequences, and if we invest recklessly without first ensuring beyond any doubt that the project is 100% urate and viable, then we could be losing astronomical sums of money somewhere down the line! As such, your duty is to do everything in your power to check for holes and ws in the project. Otherwise, you''ll be doing us a massive disservice!"

    I see... All of the scientists nodded in response.

    The times were changing, and the costs required toplete certain projects proposed by certainboratories could be a significant sum even for an entire nation. Thus, mostboratories had financial backers such as the Abbasid Consortium, the Sacred Treasure Consortium, and all of the other major consortiums.

    Out of all of the renowned scientists in the underworld, half of them answered to their respective governments, while the other half was under the control of the consortiums. Thus, their decision was going to have a very major impact.

    "Rest assured." The Nipponese scientists rose to their feet as they promised, "We''ll be sure to do our best!"

    In the world of academia, there were no nationalities, only right or wrong!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the same time, in another luxurious room, there was an elderly Yin spirit seated on a wheelchair, pushing a stack of documents to the other side of the table with a cane, at the top of which was embedded a diamond the size of an infant''s fist.

    This was a redwood table constructed in an antiquated and elegant style, and across from the elderly Yin spirit were seated five other Yin spirits wearing immacte suits.

    "This is the list of names of people who will be attending the press conference in Jeju-do in 15 days. Go ahead and take a look," the elderly man said, then pulled a silken handkerchief and gently coughed into it.

    A middle-aged man with a mustache epted the list and took a quick nce, upon which theherfire in his eyes immediately flickered slightly.

    Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen, recipient of the Nobel Prize of Physics in 1901 for inventing X-ray technology.

    Pierre Curie and Marie Curie, recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their pioneering research in radioactivity.

    Philipp Lenard, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 for his work on cathode rays.

    Guglielmo Marchese Marconi, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for inventing and refining the wireless telegraph system.

    The list included names of at least 100 recipients of Nobel Prizes, Lars Onsager Prizes, Fields Medals, and Copley Medals, and they were all going to attend the same press conference in 15 days!

    This was going to be one of the most prestigious academic events in history, and one could only imagine how much pressure the schrs of the Cathayan Underworld would be ced under.

    There weren''t going to be any physical attacks, but the waves of questioning were going to be even more fearsome. ording to the rules of Great Revtion Debates, if anyone were to raise their hand, then their question had to be answered. None of the people qualified to enter the official debate hall were going to be inept in this field, and there was no way any of them would ask pointless questions.

    Every single question was going to be a stern test in itself, and if there were any falsehoods involved in the project, it would definitely be uncovered within an hour!

    The elderly man turned toward them and said, "This may seem like a formidable list, but don''t forget that all of you have also imed some of the most prestigious awards in the scientific fields! You are not inferior to any of the people on this list! Your good friend, James Rainwater, won''t be able to attend the press conference as he''s unable to leave the new continent, but you''re just as capable as him and everyone else! You''ve always been able to splendidlyplete all of the research and development tasks assigned to you by our Imperial Consortium, and..."

    He suddenly burst into a fit of violent coughing here as he covered his mouth with his handkerchief, and after taking several seconds to catch his breath, he continued, "I''m sure you''ll continue to live up to our expectations. Use your vast knowledge to pick out every single hole and w in the project during the press conference in 15 days! Make sure you don''t leave any stone left unturned!"

    His face had be slightly flushed, and several secondster, a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "How I wish the Cathayan Underworld can withstand all of the questions and scrutiny that are about to be directed at them..."

    Ben Roy Mottelson couldn''t help but chuckle upon hearing this. "Wouldn''t you rather see them be crushed by the academic world?"

    The elderly man didn''t reply. He merely waved a hand, and the scientists in the room quietly left.

    Thus, the room fell silent again, and after a long while, the elderly man finally murmured to himself with a wry smile, "Who knows what I want to see? If they can''t stand up to the test, then they''ll be sure to produce something better next time. However, if they do manage to transcend this tribtion, then we''ll be able to expect the release of the yellow papers within the next decade. I bet those other old farts are also tossing and turning at night like I am. After all, this is a debate that could decide the direction of an entire era. Even a Yin spirit like me, who is outside of the academic world, can''t help but feel excited at the prospect of being able to participate in this unprecedented debate..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Cathayan Underworld, Everburn, North Yin Pavilion.

    "Assistant Wang, this is the list of names from the Imperial Consortium requesting participation in the uing debate, please give your approval."

    "Secretary Jiang, this is the list of names from the Index Consortium requesting participation in the uing debate, please give your approval."

    "Please give this list of names to Assistant Wang or Secretary Jiang right away. These are the representatives of the five nations of Northern Europa wishing to be granted participation in the debate, and the group consists of Fenrir and five Northern Europa scientists who are recipients of prestigious awards in the relevant scientific fields!"

    Inside the office of King Yanluo, Wang Chenghao and Secretary Jiang were about to be drowned under the documents flooding in from all parts of the world!

    Initially, they hadn''t thought much of this.

    The first entry request they had received was from the Nipponese Underworld, and their list of names included Izanami and an Infernal Judge who was a subordinate of hers.

    It was only a duo consisting of an Abyssal Prefect and an Infernal Judge, and Wang Chenghao had only taken a quick nce at the document before filing it away to be signed by Qin Ye when he had some spare time.

    However, next came the list of names from the Sacred Treasure Consortium.

    The list of six Nobel Prize recipients had him furrowing his brows slightly, but he didn''t think much of it, either, and ced it together with the request sent by Izanami.

    Thinking back now, he realized that he was still too young and inexperienced. He had failed to realize that the Nipponese Underworld''s application was clearly the precursor of a massive tsunami!

    During the three days after that, all of the applications from all over the world arrived one after another!

    Each nation was bringing several scientists that had received prestigious awards in their fields. These were the type of people that he could only see on television and in textbooks during his time at school!

    After that came the participation requests from the world''s top 10 consortiums.

    Some of the chairmen of these consortiums were evening in person, and what was even more troublesome was that the number of prestigious scientists requesting participation was quickly climbing!

    At this point, there were already over 100!

    Every single one of those names was enough to send chills running down his spine, including the likes of Archimedes, the Curies, Wilhelm R?ntgen, Philipp Lenard... These were all nightmarish figures from his school days, and the fact that they were all going to be in attendance during the Jeju-do press conference was raising goosebumps all over his skin!

    "How many are there in total now?" he asked in a strained voice.

    Secretary was looking up at the ceiling as if he had lost his soul, and he replied, "All of the recipients of the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Lars Onsager Prizes, Fields Medals, and Copley Medals since 1900 areing with the exception of the scientists from the new continent, and that amounts to a total of 176 individuals..."

    "My god..."

 Chapter 992: Centenary Underworld Academic Convention (3)

    <h4>Chapter 992: Centenary Underworld Academic Convention (3)</h4>

    176 recipients of prestigious awards in the scientific fields... What did they want to do?

    Actually, it didn''t even matter what they wanted to do, just the fact that so many powerhouse scientists were gathering together at a press conference was already astonishing beyond belief.

    No mistakes or falsehoods could possibly be hidden from them, and one could only imagine the immense pressure they would pile onto the researchers of the Cathayan Underworld.

    "You take some records for now, I''ll go contact Yanluo Qin!" Wang Chenghao immediately departed from the room.

    Six Origin Diagram, Aurogon''s Eye, central hall.

    The entire hall seemed to be situated in outer space with a vast and illusory setting and countless stars all around.

    The stars were arranged in rings and giving off dazzling light. The group of individuals at the center of the hall were surrounded by the countless stars, and the radiance of the stars had already be extremely soft upon reaching them from such a far distance away. Looking down from the ceiling, one would discover that there were nine giant rings in the hall, and the closer to the center the rings were, the fewer stars they contained, but at the same time, the stars closest to the center were thergest and brightest ones.

    In reality, these weren''t stars at all. Instead, they were shimmering Yin runes that formed a gxy of millions of stars!

    Qin Ye, Zhao Yun, and the Harken were all present, standing in a triangr formation as they watched the leader and deputy leaders of the Resurgence Team with solemn expressions. Beneath their feet was a grid formed by blue rays of light, much like a chessboard, and it was rippling incessantly, giving off a peaceful and ethereal appearance.

    Beside them were Zu Chongzhi, Lu Ban, and the three professors, and theirherfire was on the verge of being snuffed out. Their eyes were tightly shut, and their bodies were trembling slightly while Zhao Yun and the Harken were quietly chanting something. Wisps of Yin energy interspersed with countless indistinct runes were rising up before drifting into their temples.

    This was a soul bolstering enchantment.

    The names of the underworld''s arts had always been concise and clean, but that didn''t necessarily mean that they weren''t powerful.

    Souls of Yin spirits could gather or scatter. As a soul became more condensed, the possibility of a breakthrough could arise, but if a soul wasn''t sufficiently condensed, it could dissipate. The dissipation process was so subtle that it was extremely difficult to detect with the naked eye, and a soul could even dissipate for several centuries withoutpletely vanishing, but the process was undoubtedly taking ce.

    A soul bolstering enchantment had the effect of injecting a vast amount of Yin energy into one''s body in a short time while also sealing off all of the Yin spirit''s meridians so that no Yin energy could seep out. Once Yin energy became condensed to that extent, a breakthrough was going toe next. However, the soul bolstering enchantment wouldn''t allow a Yin spirit to make a breakthrough, but the effect produced would be the same as if a breakthrough had been made.

    What did that mean?

    A Yama-King was able to see an entire nation with a single nce. From a biological perspective, this was the result of incredible eyesight and motion capture ability. At the same time, a Yama-King''s brain would be far more evolved than that of the average Yin spirit, just like a CPU upgrade, allowing it to store and analyze far more information. Furthermore, with this improved "CPU", it would also be very difficult for memories to fade.

    "Aside from using a soul bolstering enchantment, there''s no other way to inject all of the Yin runes into the minds of the schrs..." Qin Ye sighed. He didn''t know how to use this enchantment, and with his status, there was no need for him to learn to use it, either. However, as soon as Zhao Yun and the Harken proposed this enchantment to him, he could already predict the residual aftereffects.

    Essentially, what they were doing was extraditing their Yin energy to the schrs, and after casting this enchantment, they would be unable to use Yin energy for at least a month!

    With millions of Yin runes to remember, one had to be at least an Abyssal Prefect to be able to memorize everything. However, the three professors of the mortal realm weren''t even Netherworld Operatives, and even Zu Chongzhi and the others were only Anitya Hellguards. In order to elevate their physical functions to the extent where they would be able to memorize all of the Yin runes using the soul bolstering enchantment, Zhao Yun and the Harken would have to tax themselves immensely.

    However, this would allow all of the schrs to memorize all of the Yin runes and develop eidetic memory.

    "Despite the drawbacks, this is a necessity," Qin Ye sighed as he looked down at his own right hand with a grim expression.

    A messenger bird was nestled in his grasp, and he gently closed his hand around it, upon which it dissipated into a wisp of Yin energy. Everyone else in the room was focused entirely on the soul bolstering enchantment, so no one noticed what he was doing.

    The messenger bird had just been sent to him by Wang Chenghao, and it contained a list of names of all of the people wishing to be present during the press conference.

    "So there''s going to be close to 200 prestigious scientific award recipients, important representatives from the top 10 consortiums, several death gods, and representatives from the three pirs..." Just the mere thought of this was enough to strike him with a throbbing headache.

    All of the world''s leading experts in the relevant fields were going to be present, and if this press conference were to go awry, this project would crumble like a house of cards before it even began!

    Qin Ye was feeling extremely uneasy about everything.

    They were going to be judged by the entire academic world, and it was truly going to be a trial by fire. During the past dozen or so days, they had worked tirelessly day and night, and not a single one of them had gotten even a wink of sleep. They had read Xu Fu''s notes over and over again and thought of all of the questions that could be raised, forming groups to raise questions against one another to simte the debate that was going to be held, but they simply didn''t have enough time and people.

    There were simply far too few capable schrs in the nation, and once the Resurgence Team officially began to work on the project, the education sector had to be established. This was going to be a lengthy process.

    At this point, it was only going to be a handful of them facing the entire academic world in a debate, and it was almost certain that there were going to be questions asked that they weren''t prepared for.

    Thankfully, there were many questions that they could refuse to answer by citing confidentiality, and that was the only shield they had to hide behind.

    "However, voidsilver must be revealed, and unfortunately, that''s the only lead we currently have on the rest of the world. Regardless of what the final oue of the debate turns out to be, voidsilver is definitely going to be the next big thing in the world. All scientists will immediately begin to research it, but in order to give the rest of the world what they want, we have to reveal our only advantage and level the ying field against our own favor..."

    Right at this moment, the other underworld emissaries in the room finally opened their eyes, which had remained closed for an entire day, and even Zhao Yun was visibly exhausted.

    "It''s done," he dered in a concise manner before immediately closing his eyes again to begin the rest and recuperation process.

    He and the Harken''s Yin energy had already been significantly debilitated, yet the researchers were giving off Abyssal Prefect level auras!

    "How do you feel?" Qin Ye immediately asked.

    The question was naturally being posed toward the researchers of the Resurgence Team.

    "I''ve never felt better!" Lu Ban replied, and he wanted to force a smile onto his own face, but was unable to do it in the end.

    They knew that memory alone wouldn''t be enough for them to win the Great Revtion Debate.

    As a schr, having exceptional memory was certainly an advantage, but it was far from everything. In order to stave off a challenge from the top scientists of the entire world, what they needed was a wealth of knowledge!

    Unfortunately, Cathay had never been all that exceptional in the field of physics. Otherwise, why would they have gone all the way to the Argosian Underworld to study several centuries ago?

    The Curie Laboratory, the R?ntgen Laboratory, the Lenard Laboratory... All of theseboratories were vastly renowned in the entire world, and even though they had memorized all of the Yin runes in existence, that still didn''t instill them with much confidence.

    "Don''t worry." Qin Ye knew exactly how they felt.

    As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, the pressure on him was even more severe! If this project proved to be a flop, then he would be faced with bacsh and ridicule from the entire world.

    "Regardless of whether you seed or not, we''ll still continue to do this!" he dered in a serious voice, giving everyone a vote of confidence. "With these notes at our disposal, I''m certain we''ll be able to discover a new energy resource sooner orter, so just do your best and don''t fear the consequences! If we fail, we''ll receive some ridicule, but what I want to know is whether you have the confidence to ensure that we''ll have thestugh!"

    Xu Chengyang took a deep breath, and his pulse began to quicken as his cheeks became slightly flushed.

    In this instant, he felt as if he had traveled several decades back in time. In that small room, sitting across from that elderly man in front of that small table, he had been asked: "Don''t pay any heed to what other people think, all I''m asking is whether you have the confidence!"

    History always managed to repeat itself, and despite the fact that he was already an old man, the passion of his youth had beenpletely reignited!

    "You can count on us!!" Pang Hai, Deng Ruifeng, and Xu Chengyang were filled with a sense of unprecedented determination.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath. In this situation, he was also beginning to feel a sense of excitement. As the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, he was fulfilling his duties and rising to the challenge posed to him by the entire world.

    So what if he was going to be ridiculed andmbasted by the entire world? So what if all of his allies were to turn on him and stab him in the back? Given enough time, he was confident that he would be able to repay all those who had wronged him by tenfold!

    As the ruler of a nation, he had to have the determination and resolve to take on these responsibilities!

    I really have changed...

    He swept his gaze across everyone in the room, and his voice was calm but also filled with imcable determination as he dered, "In that case, it''s time to face the world!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Jeju-do.

    Unbeknownst to everyone in the mortal realm, this scenic ind waspletely different in appearance in the underworld.

    Here in the underworld, it was a bleak and eeriend.

    None of the trees on the ind grew any leaves, but they were still alive. This was like an ind of the undead with undting mountains of different shapes and sizes, and wisps of Yin energy drifting between them. If a horror movie were to be filmed here, the production cost would be significantly reduced as there was no need for any CGI with this perfect setting.

    However, its geographic location was very important. It was thergest ind facing the Strait of Tsushima, and it acted as a natural barrier to the eastern part of the Cathayan Underworld''s territorial sea. There was also a Cathayan military stronghold there, which was being overseen by Liu Yu.

    Following the subjugation of the Daehan Underworld, Liu Yu had be a lot more obedient. Under the orders of Qin Ye, the previously wild and uncouth Liu Yu had immediately begun construction work on the ind. Perhaps after being spared by Qin Ye, he had found purpose in living once again.

    It had only been around a dozen days since he had received Qin Ye''s orders, and the final step of the Jeju-do construction project was currently beingpleted.

    "I wonder what the purpose of this construction project is."

    Standing atop the city wall, Liu Yu was looking into the distance, and he couldn''t help but heave a long sigh as he gently stroked his hand over the city wall.

    Not only was he the ruler of this ind, he was also the security guard.

    He had no choice but to ept this duty, and he didn''t want to reject it in the first ce. Qin Ye''s orders had been brought to him by an Emissary of Hell who was only a Netherworld Operative, and even though Liu Yu was the official ruler of Hanyang, the Netherworld Operative had treated him with utter disdain.

    Indeed, it was an order, and his opinion was invalid. The order had been delivered in the form of a true imperial edict, and that was something that he hadn''t seen in over 100 years prior to this.

    "Was it all just a dream, after all?" he mused to himself with aplex expression.

    He had fantasized about mobilizing his troops and invading Eastmount Province. He knew that no one was a match for him there, yet what was standing there now was a city, an insurmountable fortress known as Ashmound.

    He found this to be quite strange himself, but ever since Qin Ye became an Abyssal Prefect and slowly reached the Yama-King level thereafter, all of his ambitions had slowly died down like a candle me being snuffed out.

    It wasn''t that he no longer had ambitions, he simply didn''t dare to entertain them.

    He knew just how ruthless and unforgiving the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo could be.

    Even now, aside from Yang Jiye and Yu Qian, not a single one of the 12 envoys were serving roles befitting of their skills. All of them were working in very ordinary jobs and were beingpletely shunned. Even Zhou Yu and the others didn''t know why they had been assigned these jobs.

    Right at this moment, he abruptly raised his head and cast his gaze out toward the sea.

    On the horizon in the distance, a row of Yin beasts crashed through the waves and were heading straight for Jeju-do!

    Behind them were several dozen massive ships!

    The ships were constructed from all types of different wooden materials and constructed in numerous different styles, but all of them were extremely intricately crafted and breathtakinglyvish!

    Right at this moment, three gs suddenly rose up on the three ships at the very front.

    They were the gs of the Aegyptian Underworld, the Argosian Underworld, and the Hindustani Underworld.

    These gs were far too recognizable.

    Liu Yu wasn''t surprised to see this.

    After all, the Cathayan Underworld was on equal footing with these powerhouse underworlds.

    However, the next 10 gs to appear instantly had himpletely rooted to the spot.

    He shuddered as he leaned forward with an astonished look on his face, staring intently at the 10 gs.

    "These are the gs of all of the top 10 consortiums in the world! Why have all of these superpowers arrived at Jeju-do at the same time?! What on earth is going to happen here?!"

 Chapter 993: Great Revelation Debate (1)

    <h4>Chapter 993: Great Revtion Debate (1)</h4>

    Jeju-do''s military stronghold was known as Xinluo City.

    Following close to half a month of tireless construction, Liu Yu''s efforts had given rise to a city wall that was over 20 meters tall, with a stretch of pces lined up beyond it. It was still nowhere near as majestic as the Forbidden City, but it was certainlyparable in scale, if not even superior to the Meridian Gate.

    The most eye-catchingndmark was an antiquated arena-like building constructed at the center of the city.

    It wasn''t veryrge with a diameter of around 50 meters, and it resembled a tiered ssroom. At the center of the building was an altar-like tall tform, and the gs of all nations were pping in the wind atop the walls around the building. Groups of Cathayan Yin soldiers were also stationed on either side of the path leading to the entrance of the building, presenting a serious and menacing sight.

    From the eight watchtowers on the surrounding city walls, one could see everything inside the building, and following Qin Ye''s instructions, this ce had been given the name "Great Revtion Stage".

    Liu Yu was standing atop one of the watchtowers, staring intently at every single one of the Yin spirits entering the Great Revtion Stage.

    Most of them were Caucasian Yin spirits, but there were also asionally some Asian Yin spirits among them. He only recognized some of them, but just the ones that he recognized alone were enough to strike astonishment deep into his heart.

    Hideki Yukawa, the Curies, Rontgen... All of them were leading scientists in their respective fields! These were the type of people whom he would never be granted an audience with no matter how much he begged, yet all of them hade to him on this day!

    Every single one of them was a living treasure of their respective underworld. Technology was the number one productive force, there was no arguing with that. The massive changes that the mortal realm had undergone in the past century or so had allowed it topletely leave the underworld in the dust, and as the mere ruler of Hanyang, he would''ve never been able to meet all these people, yet they were currently gathered right before his eyes.

    Envy had the potential to drive one insane, and Liu Yu''s heart was burning with envy, but after a long while, he could only heave a long sigh.

    His time had already passed by, and his dreams and aspirations were going to remain dreams.

    "My Lord." An underworld emissary approached him before asking in a low voice, "Should we give them a warm wee as the hosts? These Yin spirits are all extraordinary characters..."

    Liu Yu''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this.

    He was naturally also aware of that. Those individuals wearing attire that indicated that they were the representatives of the top 10 consortiums were clearly among the most influential people present, yet they were treating everyone with respect, handing out business cards with warm smiles on their faces. They were only Soul Hunters and Netherworld Operatives, but all of them had Infernal Judge level, and they were being treated with just as much respect as they were affording everyone else.

    asionally, someone would approach these representatives, who would normally be very difficult to secure in-person meetings with, and the representatives would immediately answer their questions with friendly smiles.

    However, Liu Yu knew that if he were to approach these people without Qin Ye''s permission, he would be reced as the ruler of Hanyang within the next half an hour.

    Even in the best-case scenario, he would still be reduced to the situation that the likes of Zhou Yu and Ma Fubo were in, undertaking lowly jobs that werepletely unbefitting of their status, redeeming themselves through their persistent efforts in the hopes that Yanluo Qin would think of them someday.

    He lowered his head to hide his own expression as he replied, "There''s no need for that. We serve the Cathayan Underworld now, and if we approach these people without Yanluo Qin''s permission, we''ll be suspected for treason. Are you trying to goad me into challenging Yanluo Qin''s authority?"

    The underworld emissary almost swore out loud upon hearing this.

    You certainly weren''t acting all chummy with the Cathayan Underworld and Yanluo Qin back when you contacted the Russian Underworld!

    "Keep a close eye on them, and if any mishaps ur, report to me right away." Liu Yu didn''t want to stay here any longer, and after issuing that final instruction, he immediately vanished as a gust of Yin wind from the watchtower.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    All of the schrs sat down onto the tiered seats with serious expressions.

    The venue that they were situated in was far from extravagant. It had been constructed on short notice, and it couldn''t even begin topare with the Omniscient Holy Pce in Istanbul, but they didn''t mind that at all.

    All of the Yin spirits seated in this venue were fully dedicated to scientific research. They didn''t care about physical luxuries, all they cared about was how far they could go on this path and whether they would be able to reach new heights in their research.

    Now, a new peak really had been presented before them.

    This was apletely unprecedented development that could change the entire world, and they were here to examine its authenticity.

    No one was saying anything. ording to the requirements of the Coalition of Underworlds'' Knowledge and Patent Protection Committee, the Great Revtion Debate was going to begin in two hours. This was an extremely significant debate, one that could possibly influence the entire underworld for thousands of years toe!

    They opened their notepads, and all of the scientists were seated at the very front so they could better listen to the presentation and decide whether the project was genuine and viable or not. Behind them were the representatives of the top 10 consortiums and the various underworlds in attendance.

    There was no one else more nervous than them.

    A bald elderly man in a white and golden priest robe was staring up intently at the empty Great Revtion Stage while constantly massaging a string of prayer beads. Two middle-aged men were seated on either side of him, and the one on his left, a man with a short beard wearing a professional suit, smiled as he said, "There''s no need to be so nervous, Sir. It''s been several thousand years, and it''s about time the underworld weed a technology boom."

    The elderly man shook his head with a forced smile, then heaved a faint sigh without saying anything as he swept his gaze across all of the other consortium representatives seated around him.

    How could he not be nervous?

    The oue of this debate was going to decide whether he was going to invest an astronomical sum of money! A single misstep could result in catastrophic consequences!

    The other representatives also turned toward him as if they had sensed his gaze and nodded in his direction.

    They were going to bear witness to history on this day!

    At the same time, trillions of dors were waiting to be poured into this project as soon as it was deemed to be viable by the oue of the debate!

    "Come... Let me see whether a new era is going to begin on this very day!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Inside another pavilion, Qin Ye was seated at the center while holding a teacup, and Zu Chongzhi, Xu Chengyang, and some others were seated on either side of him.

    Everyone in the room was silent, and Zu Chongzhi, Xu Chengyang, and the other schrs were extremely anxious, as evidenced by the tight fists that were clenched within their sleeves.

    They were about to face all of the leading physicists in this world, and they were also feeling extremely tense and nervous.

    All of a sudden, Qin Ye smiled and said, "Looks like Liu Yu isn''t an idiot, after all. Even though he doesn''t know that I''vee here, he hasn''t approached any of the parties that have arrived."

    He gently dusted some non-existent lint of his immacte dragon robe as he mused, "If he had dared to approach any of them, I would''ve had him executed right away, but I''ll let him live for a while longer now..."

    He was trying to lighten the mood a little, but no one was able to even force a smile onto their face, not even the three professors, who were very much ustomed to delivering reports on important asions back in the mortal realm.

    "Your Excellency." Right at this moment, the door was gently pushed open, and an underworld emissary rushed in with a solemn expression as he reported, "There are only 10 minutes left until the Great Revtion Debate is scheduled to begin."

    "Let''s go." Qin Ye nodded in response before rising to his feet and casting his eyes directly forward with a fierce gaze, as if he could see through the buildings into the sea of knowledge that lied beyond them.

    All of the schrs heaved a collective sigh of relief upon hearing this.

    It was often the case that waiting for an important event to begin was far more grueling than the event itself.

    Zu Chongzhi clenched his fists as he also rose to his feet. It had always been a dream of his to stand on such a prestigious stage, and that dream was finally about to be fulfilled.

    Having prepared so extensively and prepared so many backup ns, all that was left for him to do was execute. Wallowing in fear certainly wasn''t going to help him, and it was time to face the academic world!

    Everything was going to be decided in the next few hours...

    The door was opened, and bright sunlight flooded into the room. Qin Ye was walking at the very forefront, and he slowly turned around to address everyone.

    Everyone cast their eyes toward him, and several secondster, he said in a solemn voice, "I''ll be counting on all of you."

    Before anyone had a chance to reply, all of them instantly vanished on the spot, and when they reappeared, they were already standing on the Great Revtion Stage.

    Lu Ban looked around at all of the familiar and unfamiliar faces around him. Every single one of them had made a significant mark on the developmental history of the world, and the immense pressure that their mere presence alone was giving off instantly struck him with a sense of asphyxiation. However, right after they appeared on the stage, he was immediately stunned by the gesture that all of the Yin spirits in the venue adopted.

    Every single one of them, regardless of what consortium or nation they were from, raised their hands, and in the next instant, warm apuse rang out across the entire venue.

    It was genuine apuse that was meant to lend them courage, and it was also a gesture of respect toward the brave schrs facing the entire academic world in this Great Revtion Debate.

    Just the fact that they were standing on this stage alone meant that they were under the limelight of the entire world!

    The apuse wasn''t very loud, but it sounded like rumbling thunder to every single one of the Cathayan Underworld''s schrs, and their adrenal nds immediately began to work overtime as even their cheeks became slightly flushed.

    What else could one ask for as a scientist? This was the highest honor that could be bestowed upon them!

    Qin Ye raised a hand to make a quieting motion, and the apuse finally faded.

    At the center of the Great Revtion tform was a wooden lectern, and Qin Ye made his way to the center before releasing his mid Yama-King level Yin energy, upon which the venue instantly fellpletely silent.

    "Wee. I am the Cathayan Underworld''s third King Yanluo, Qin Ye." There was no need to waste too much time introducing himself given his status.

    The fact that he was present at a press conference of such significance meant that he had to deliver an opening address.

    In truth, he didn''t have to be here today. However, he had chosen to be here. Not only that, but he was nning to sit on the stage and weather the storm alongside all of his schrs!

    Regardless of what the final oue turned out to be, he was showing his schrs through his actions that the Cathayan Underworld was standing behind them until the very end, and that even King Yanluo himself was fighting in the same trench as them!

    Liu Yu almost passed out upon seeing this from his vantage point atop the watchtower.

    "He''s already a mid Yama-King? How is this possible?! He was only an Anitya Hellguard less than 10 years ago, yet he''s already a mid Yama-King now?!"

    However, no one in the venue cared about what he was thinking.

    Everyone''s eyes were fixed intently on the schrs on the stage, and even Qin Ye''s existence was being ignored.

    Qin Ye wasn''t fazed by this at all as he continued in a calm voice, "The underworld has existed for thousands of years, and due to the existence of a cultivation system, we''ve always been advancing in front of the mortal realm. However, around 100 years ago, the mortal realm underwent a drastic transformation, allowing it to surpass the underworld in what seemed like the blink of an eye! I''m sure everyone knows the key behind the mortal realm''s rapid advancement. It can be summed up into two words: energy resource! The emergence of a new energy resource heralded the beginning of an industrial revolution, and that gave rise to a brand new era! On this day, the Cathayan Underworld is also going to be ushering in this new era for the entire underworld!"

 Chapter 994: Great Revelation Debate (2)

    <h4>Chapter 994: Great Revtion Debate (2)</h4>

    His voice became firm and authoritative as he continued, "It''s still not time to reveal the entire process of the new energy resource''s invention. In fact, there will be some confidential details that we won''t be disclosing today. However, the Cathayan Underworld will fulfill its own duty. ording to the seventh sub-use of the 14th use of international regtions, all details regarding the research and development of all inventions capable of impacting the entire world in areas including but not limited to technology and warfare must be released to the entire world. On this day, we are holding a press conference to answer everyone''s questions about the Zhu Rong n. Next, please wee the team leader and deputy team leaders of the Zhu Rong n research and development team."

    Amid another round of apuse, Qin Ye departed from the main stage and took a seat in a special position. He folded his hands on top of one another and rested his chin on them, then smiled as he nodded toward the five schrs who were slowly standing up on the stage.

    Regardless of what the final oue turns out to be, all I ask is that you embrace your mission right now. As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, I will be waiting for you until the very end!

    He didn''t appear to be nervous at all, but in reality, his heart was thumping like a jackhammer. However, as King Yanluo, the calm facade that he was putting on instilled a great sense of calm and confidence into his schrs. Furthermore, the fact that Qin Ye was willing to stand with them through thick and thin made them even more determined to repay him.

    With that in mind, Zu Chongzhi suddenly feltpletely rxed as he stood at the central position with Lu Ban beside him, while the three professors of the mortal realm stood on either side of them.

    The entire venue waspletely silent.

    All of the Yin spirits present were leading physicists in history, and none of them would be so uncouth as to hurl verbal insults just because they didn''t recognize Xu Chengyang''s trio. The fact that they were standing on this stage meant that they were already worthy of respect.

    Zu Chongzhi adjusted his own sses as he looked around at all of the physicists present with a calm smile. "I''m very pleased and honored to be standing here today. Before we begin, I want to make one thing clear: the new energy resource was initially discovered during the dissection process of the second-generation forbidden arts startup module. The constituent Yin runes of the second-generation forbidden arts startup module are extremelyplex and strictly confidential at this point in time, so please forgive us for not being able to disy them. However, we are willing to discuss everything from a purely theoretical and academic point of view."

    His voice was calm and cid. Even though Cathayan physics hadn''t undergone any industrial revolutions, Zu Chongzhi was a renowned mathematician in history, and physics and mathematics had always had an intimate rtionship with one another. In order to be an exceptional physicist, a solid foundation in mathematics was absolutely quintessential, and there were many advanced physics topics that required expression through mathematical models.

    "We were inspired by the Yin rune with the codename of ''Meridian'' and decided to temporarily halt our research into second-generation forbidden arts. If it can speed up the development of the new energy resource, the usage of Archimedes''s Yin Rune Wheel will also be drastically increased. After two whole years of sorting and research into all of the Yin runes that our Cathayan Underworld currently possesses, we finally discovered that there are electron-like Yin runes in existence in this world..."

    Everyone continued to remain silent.

    All of the consortium representatives were listening with rapt focus, even though there were many parts they didn''t understand. Only very asionally would they quietly consult the advisors beside them about certain details. As for the physicists seated at the very front, all of them were watching intently as Zu Chongzhi delivered his address, and no one was raising any objections yet.

    Qin Ye was also looking on with butterflies fluttering in his stomach despite his calm guise. He knew that prior to the main part of the press conference, a recount of the discovery process had to be provided, and this part was more of a general description than anything else.

    All of the physicists in the venue were waiting for Zu Chongzhi to cut to the chase so that they could scrutinize this incredible scientific breakthrough under the most stringent lens possible.

    Zu Chongzhi was naturally aware of all of this as well.

    The closer he drew to the main topic of his address, the more intense the pressure flooding toward him from all directions became.

    He looked down at the script for his address, and his pupils contracted drastically, but his voice remained calm as he continued, "I hereby officially dere that this Yin rune, which has been named ''Dawn'' by the Cathayan Underworld, possesses identical properties to some particles in the mortal realm! What I''m referring to here are the subatomic particles of electrons and protons!"

    All of the scientists stopped their note-taking almost inplete unison.

    Behind them, all of the national and consortium representatives had unconsciously sat up straighter, and their mouths were suddenly parched.

    "Hence, we are willing to make a bold prediction that the new energy resource of the underworld will be no different from the electricity of the mortal realm!"

    Boom!

    This announcement was like a massive hammer strike dealt onto the hearts of all of the physicists present. In the wake of this astonishing bombshell, Zu Chongzhi continued in a resolute voice, "Due to thews of Yin Yang co-action, the electrons and protons of the mortal realm must be reflected in some form in the underworld! At this point in time, the Cathayan Underworld has already eliminated 3.24 million Yin runes and is currently progressing toward the final target!"

    All of a sudden, everyone fell silent as a hand was finally raised.

    It was held up high and stuck out like a sore thumb in the venue.

    Everyone turned their attention toward that hand, and Zu Chongzhi could feel his own heart skipping a beat. The one who had raised their hand was a middle-aged Caucasian male who he had seen before.

    It was Patrick ckett, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1948 for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomaism.

    He turned toward Patrick ckett and nodded as he asked, "What would you like to say, Mr. ckett?"

    ckett was a thin middle-aged man with a head of disheveled red hair that resembled a bird''s nest. However, no one despised him for his unkempt appearance. Instead, everyone was watching him with full focus and respect.

    He adjusted his own golden-rimmed sses as he smiled and said, "As we all know, following my death, I''ve been doing research into the theory of symmetry rted to cosmic radiation. Of course, this is a branch of thews of Yin Yang co-action proposed by Mr. Cui Jue. However, I''ve been fortunate enough to establish an independent field of science through my research, perhaps you may have heard of it."

    "Indeed, I have," Zu Chongzhi replied with a smile. "You proposed thews of Yin Yang supersymmetry, stating that the underworld and the mortal realm are essentially mirror reflections of one another. However, strictly speaking, this is only a hypothesis, so it should perhaps be known as the theory of Yin Yang supersymmetry."

    There were no weapons being used, but this debate was a war of words, and Zu Chongzhi wasn''t holding back in the slightest.

    He wasn''t trying to target ckett because he had a personal vendetta toward him, there was simply no need for excessive politeness and pleasantries. In the world of science, everything was ck and white, and ckett certainly wasn''t going to take offense to Xu Chongzhi for simply stating a fact.

    Indeed, ckett wasn''t bothered in the slightest by this as he readily agreed, "That''s correct. My theory is that if something exists in the mortal realm, then it must also exist in the underworld. However, my theory is different from thews of Yin Yang co-action as I''m referring to the present moment. If something exists in the mortal realm, then something equivalent to it must also exist in the underworld in the exact same moment in time. However, thews of Yin Yang co-action are different. ording to what you said just now, you''ve determined that there is an energy resource in the underworld identical to electricity in the mortal realm. As we all know, atoms, electrons, and protons are all particles, which means that they follow thews of quantum physics. Every single particle can be described through wave function or probability distribution. Wave function describes its possible location, velocity, and other properties, but there''s no way to derive any definitive values. All elementary particles possess properties within this scope. For example, if you were to measure a particle through an experiment, you would be able to derive an exact location due to the effect of wave function copse."

    From an outsider perspective, a scientist immersed in their own world could appear quite wooden, single-minded, and even idiotic.

    However, on this asion, his seemingly pointless ramblings definitely couldn''t be ignored.

    Khilok turned to a Yin spirit in the appearance of a middle-aged woman seated beside him and asked, "What is he trying to say?"

    If someone had seen a portrait of her in the past, they would be able to identify her as none other than Maria Goeppert Mayer!

    In 1963, she received the Nobel Prize in Physics for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus, bing only the second woman after Marie Curie to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.

    She was a short and stubby figure, and she adjusted her own sses but didn''t immediately answer Khilok''s question. Despite this, Khilok didn''t seem to be annoyed in the slightest.

    She took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over the goosebumps on her own arm as she said, "This rtes to one of the 10 biggest unsolved problems in physics, namely the inability to urately measure microscopic particles. His lifelong goal has always been to urately measure microscopic particles. At the very least, that has be his pursuit aftering to the underworld. However, in order to refute Zu Chongzhi, he''s even overturned his own ultimate goal!"

    Khilok''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. He had no idea what he had just heard.

    Maria exined, "Let me put it this way: every single particle is different and possesses different wavelengths. In order to urately measure a particle, it has to be stationary. However, in order to urately measure something, the first thing one must do is observe, and a particle has to move in order to be observed. This is an unsolvable conundrum, at least at this point in time. If particles can''t be urately measured, then there would be no way to establish a Yin Yang supersymmetry graph, and the ultimate objective of a Yin Yang supersymmetry graph is to prove that the underworld has everything that exists in the mortal realm. If Yin Yang supersymmetry can''t be verified, then a terrifying pitfall would arise. This pitfall stems from the inability to urately measure microscopic particles, but ultimately, it can determine whether electricity truly exists in the underworld!"

    ckett waspletely in his element at this point, and he had even stood up from his seat and was walking along the aisle as he continued, "The uracy with which we can measure some parameters of microscopic particles is limited. For example, the multiplied product of the uracy of a particle''s measured location, dx, and the uracy of the measured momentum of a particle, dpx, is no smaller than h. If we make dpx smaller but make dxrger, then we''ll be able to measure the momentum of a particle rtively urately at the cost of measuring uracy in terms of location. We can also choose to make dx smaller and dpxrger in order to more urately measure the location of a particle at the expense of momentum measurement uracy. This is known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Interference is required to survey something, so surveince bes innately inurate. May I ask how you can be certain that such a thing exists in the underworld without being able to even observe it? How can you be certain that such a thing doesn''t only exist in the past?"

    Qin Ye waspletely dumbfounded.

    He cast his gaze toward all of the other national and consortium representatives to find his own expression mirrored on their faces as well.

    Thankfully, he wasn''t the only onepletely perplexed by the question.

    Fortunately for Zu Chongzhi, the exnation for this was very simple, yet just as he was about to reply, all of the scientists present suddenly raised their hands in unison!

    176 of the most brilliant minds in this world had raised their hands at once, wanting to receive an answer to a question that had seemingly just urred to them.

    What had they just thought of? Was it an extension of the question that had just been raised?

    Even Qin Ye''s pulse was beginning to quicken rapidly upon seeing this. It didn''t take a genius to realize that the question that had just been raised had most likely reminded everyone of something extremely important.

    There was no need to pick anyone else to ask the question as ckett seemed to have also just arrived at the same train of thought, and he pped a hand to his own forehead as he immediately said, "I have one more question, and this question strikes at the very core of the concept being presented!"

 Chapter 995: Great Revelation Debate (3)

    <h4>Chapter 995: Great Revtion Debate (3)</h4>

    "The question rted to another one of the 10 biggest unsolved problems in physics: is it possible to calcte all parameters that represent the physical world? You said that there should be no difference between the new energy resource and electricity. Alright, if we ept that assumption, then that would mean that you''ve discovered electrons. In that case, protons must also exist! The aforementioned problem, otherwise known as the measurement problem, was proposed by Mr. Einstein, and the core of this question lies in the existence of electrons and protons. Do they still exist now? How do you know they didn''t exist only in the past? In other words, due to the inability to prove thew of Yin Yang supersymmetry, we can''t be sure whether protons still exist now! On top of that, due to the problem proposed by Mr. Einstein, there''s a possibility that the Yin runes that represent protons may also have only existed in the past!"

    His chest was heaving violently as he concluded, "Please borate, Mr. Zu."

    Just the first question alone involved concepts from two of the 10 biggest unsolvable problems in the field of physics, and no one could''ve imagined such a stern test from the get-go.

    After ckett asked this question, all of the scientists present put down their hands again.

    The same question had urred to all of them just now. After all, the 10 unsolvable questions in physics were eternal conundrums that weremonly known to everyone in this field, and the mention of one of them immediately led everyone to think of other potential problems on this list that could rte to the subject matter at hand.

    Zu Chongzhi didn''t immediately reply.

    He was being scrutinized by the most brilliant minds in this field, and theherfire in all of their eyes were burning violently from excessive excitement, glowing with urgency to hear the answer to his question.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, Zu Chongzhi was holding onto the corners of the lectern with a white-knuckled grip.

    They had prepared for this question, but unfortunately for them, the Cathayan Underworld was trulyckluster when it came to the field of physics.

    Throughout the past few thousand years of Cathayan history, agricultural development had been prioritized far above industrial development, and it was already a minor miracle that Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi had arisen over time.

    He suddenly discovered that he was already being forced to use an important trump card, and this was only the first question!

    Should I use it?

    He reflexively turned his gaze toward Qin Ye.

    This was their final trump card and thest thing that they could rely on. Once it was used, they would no longer have a final trump card. However, they were being faced with two of the 10 biggest unsolved questions in physics, and there was no other choice.

    Qin Ye met their gaze with his own, and after two seconds of contemtion, he gave them a decisive nod.

    At this point, the debate had already begun, and they had to at least weather this first storm no matter what.

    Who knew what was going to happen next? Perhaps this was already the most difficult hurdle to ovee!

    Upon receiving Qin Ye''s approval, Zu Chongzhi turned his attention back to all of the physicists present as he said, "I understand your question, Mr. ckett. You''re suspecting that protons, which correspond with electrons, have only existed in the past but do not exist in the present. In order to support your case, you''ve even turned your back on your own theory of Yin Yang supersymmetry, isn''t that right?"

    ckett didn''t feel insulted in the slightest as he replied, "We are merely followers on the path to knowledge. If it means gaining more knowledge, I''m willing to believe in god, or myself, or anything. I''m only temporarily switching my faith in order to better address the issue at hand in the pursuit for knowledge."

    Zu Chongzhi took a deep breath as he said, "Alright, then let''s return to your question. What I said was that the Yin rune, Dawn, possesses identical properties to some particles in the mortal realm. However, I didn''t say that we discovered electrons. Instead, what we discovered were protons!"

    Dead silence.

    Immediately thereafter, the entire scene erupted!

    "That''s impossible!" A scientist eximed. "How could it possibly be protons rather than electrons?"

    "Is this supposed to be a joke?" Marie Curie adjusted her own sses in disbelief. "You discovered protons first? Are you sure they''re protons?"

    "This is incredible..."

    "A proton Yin rune was what was discovered first?"

    "I can''t believe this! Is that really true? I''m seriously beginning to doubt the authenticity of this press conference."

    Amid the raucousmotion, Kana Fujii immediately turned to Hideki Yukawa, who was seated beside her, and asked, "Why is there such a strong reaction? Is this notion supposed to be extremely far-fetched?"

    Hideki Yukawa himself was also astonished, and he replied, "Well, no, but also yes. Let me exin. Protons are the most basic building blocks of the mortal realm. It can be said that the outermostyer of Archimedes''s Yin Rune Wheel, theyer that''s supposed to contain the most foundational Yin runes and the highest number of Yin runes, isn''t actually the foundationalyer. There are even more foundational Yin runes that can be found, but current technology is insufficient to discover these Yin runes, and there''s no way a death god would dedicate themselves to something like this. In the past, Aristotle and Archimedes have tried to break down one of the Yin runes in the outermostyer of the wheel, and they managed to break it down into hundreds of Yin runes. Perhaps this can be called the 10thyer of the wheel, but doing that alone took them 50 years. The total number of Yin runes in the outermostyer of the wheel is around three million. Only death gods are capable of further breaking down these three million elementary Yin runes, but breaking down all of them would take an absolutely unfathomable amount of work. Thus, the two of them gave up on this project. Proton Yin runes are the most foundational building blocks of the underworld, and they''re extremely difficult to discover. In contrast, electrons are far easier to discover."

    "Why is that?" Kana Fujii asked.

    "That''s because electricity and maism are inseparable things. Any ce with maic force present must also have electricity. Are you familiar with the concept of electromaic fields? Electromaic fields refer to electrical currents that are surging sporadically through a certain area. In other words, electrons create very clear phenomena that make them easier to capture. However, it really is far too difficult to discover protons, to the point that I''m suspecting them of making all of this up entirely!"

    Zu Chongzhi made a quieting motion, and the venue instantly fell silent.

    All eyes were on him, and everyone was eagerlytching onto his every word.

    "I know that all of you must have questions. As the fundamental building blocks of the world, protons are extremely difficult to discover, as are Yin runes representing protons. You may even think I''m trying to deceive all of you. However..."

    He made a grabbing motion, upon which a golden scroll appeared in his grasp, and the words "Imperial Edict" were clearly inscribed upon the scroll in ck text.

    He continued, "With Yanluo Qin''s permission, we were able to draw upon the power of King Yanluo''s Seal to finally break down particles to their smallest constituent parts! I''m talking about proton Yin runes, fundamental Yin runes that even King Yanluo''s Seal is unable to break down even further! Proton Yin runes have already appeared, electron Yin runes cannot be far away!"

    His voice was like thunder rumbling throughout the entire venue!

    Crack! Marie Curie unconsciously snapped her pen in half as she rose unsteadily to her feet, almost knocking over her own chair in the process.

    Rontgen''s throat hadpletely run dry, and he attempted to stand up on several asions, but his legs simply didn''t have the strength to support him.

    Hideki Yukawa had also risen to his feet and was staring at Zu Chongzhi with a stunned expression. He was soon followed by Niels Henrik David Bohr, G¨¹nter Guiume, Frits Zernike, Max Born, Robert Brattain, John Bardeen, William Shockley... Almost all of the scientists present had risen to their feet.

    "My god..." At the very front, the experts of the Euler''s Gem, Sirian, Thaurissan research institutes had all stood up from their chairs.

    Several secondster, raucous apuse rang out!

    The underworld and consortium representatives behind them were also apuding vigorously.

    This was a massive disy of determination.

    Everyone knew that King Yanluo''s Seal had an absolutely broken ability, which was the ability to increase the cohesion of Yin runes by a level.

    This didn''t seem like much, but in reality, all of the Yin runes affected would be imbued with the aura of the Great Dao and be more refined versions of themselves. As a result, their Yin energy would be elevated as well. This was why the Cathayan Underworld had the greatest number of Yama-Kings and why none of the other nations had been overly stunned by the fact that a being above the Yama-King level had appeared in the Cathayan Underworld.

    It could all be attributed to King Yanluo''s Seal.

    After giving a round of apuse, Hideki Yukawa sat back down onto his chair with a wry smile as he said, "In the physics field, there''s amon saying that one shouldn''t go to the Cathayan Underworld lest they lose all interest in other Yin runes. Thank heavens the Cathayan Underworld isn''t very advanced in the field of physics..."

    This was truly a stunning revtion!

    Everyone was focused on the ability of King Yanluo''s Seal to make Yin runesrger and more powerful, yet they forgot that it was also capable of making Yin runes smaller and more refined until they returned to their primordial state!

    This was definitely usible considering the ability of King Yanluo''s Seal. Seeing as it was able to elevate Yin runes to a higher level, there was no reason it wouldn''t be able to strip Yin runes down to their most fundamental form.

    Thus, the Cathayan Underworld was truly capable of this, and it was the only nation in the entire underworld capable of doing this!

    This thought alone was enough to fill countless scientists with the impulsive urge to travel to the Cathayan Underworld!

    Having weathered the first storm, Zu Chongzhi was finally able to heave an internal sigh of relief.

    Thankfully, King Yanluo''s Seal really was capable of what he had just proimed. Otherwise, that first question alone would''ve been enough to stump him.

    Zu Chongzhi''s heart was still thumping violently, and if he could sweat, he would already be drenched in cold sweat by now. Despite this, he still maintained a calm smile as he turned toward ckett and asked, "Do you have any other questions?"

    A wry smile appeared on ckett''s face as he shrugged in response. "You still haven''t told us what you n to do if electrons don''t currently exist. However, that''s a stupid question. Mas can be found in the underworld, so it looks like discovering electrons is only a matter of time. I offer you my heartfelt congrattions, and I''ll be constantly awaiting news of the Cathayan Underworld''s discovery of electrons."

    Below the stage, Qin Ye''s heart was also racing like a hummingbird''s wings despite his calm facade.

    Unfortunately, they could only rely on swindling everyone to convince them of the authenticity of the Cathayan Underworld''s ims. If the Cathayan Underworld really had developed a new energy resource, it would be able to act with far more confidence and decisiveness.

    Zu Chongzhi wouldn''t even have to deliver an address. All he would have to do would be to throw a bunch of data at all of the scientists present, and that would be irrefutable evidence that no one could deny.

    After the raucousmotion died down, Rontgen was still holding his feather quill, but his brows were slightly furrowed and he wasn''t writing anything.

    He couldn''t shake the feeling that there was something wrong here, but he didn''t get a chance to ponder this matter any deeper than that because Zu Chongzhi had already continued in his address.

    For this press conference, the Cathayan Underworld had prepared countless documents that would allow them to swindle the masses, as well as backup ns in case these documents fell through. Even though they were on a very tight schedule, they had done everything in their power to ensure that there were no holes in their logic.

    There were a few logical holes that couldn''t be patched up, but stories like the previous one had been fabricated to create a usible case.

    Unfortunately, this trump card couldn''t be used a second time. Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh before continuing to survey the proceedings.

    Only an hour had passed by thus far, and only a third of the report had been delivered.

    The next waves toe were most likely only going to be more and more violent!

 Chapter 996: Great Revelation Debate (4)

    <h4>Chapter 996: Great Revtion Debate (4)</h4>

    I can''t let things continue like this!

    Qin Ye wasn''t saying anything, but his nerves were constantly jangling. The press conference was still ongoing and there hadn''t been too much controversy thus far. After all, the scientists present weren''t going to raise questions using things that they couldn''t even verify.

    However, if things were to continue like this, something was going to have to give!

    The only sign of his anxiety was his fingers, which were constantly tapping the table as a gesture to relieve some tension, and his mind was racing incessantly.

    Zu Chongzhi was in the process of reading out the first part of the report, which spanned seven pages. There were still six pages left until the end of this first part, and these six pages contained too much technical content, making them far too easy to nitpick.

    At Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban''s level of expertise, even if their logic were to be unraveled, it wouldn''t unravel catastrophically. Furthermore, the Cathayan Underworld had a being above the Yama-King level in the form of Zhao Yun. He wouldn''t know how to answer the technical questions about the project, but it could be said that his understanding of Yin runes exceeded that of the rest of the world.

    Some theories that seemed to be imusible could be exined through different Yin runebinations proposed by a being above the Yama-King level. If they couldn''t even ensure that the presentation would be at least mostly usible, then Qin Ye wouldn''t even have decided to hold this press conference.

    Unfortunately, the fact of the matter was that they were trying to swindle the rest of the world, and if Zu Chongzhi continued reading this first part of the presentation, something catastrophic was bound to happen. There were several theories involved in this first part that even Zhao Yun couldn''t be certain of their viability.

    In the scientific fields, blurred lines and gray areas couldn''t be allowed to exist. Prior to this, Qin Ye had been holding onto a sliver of hope that perhaps the ws in their presentation wouldn''t be uncovered, but after the first round of questions, it was clear that he had been too naive, after all.

    Thus, he gritted his teeth and carefully released a wisp of Yin energy, which whispered into Lu Ban''s ear. "We can''t continue reading this section of the presentation. Let me ask you this: are you and Zu Chongzhi willing to be disgraced?"

    Lu Ban was rather taken aback by this sudden question, but before he had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye continued, "You are known to the rest of the world as the god of carpentry and masonry, and the father of pi, respectively... Are you willing to set aside those titles for now? I assure you that the disgrace that you suffer here will be made up for in spades within the next 20 years! However, during this time, you''ll be denounced and scoffed at by all of your contemporaries... Are you willing to ept this for the sake of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    Lu Ban shuddered ever so slightly upon hearing this, and only after a brief silence did he reply, "I am."

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he continued, "Alright, then open up your consciousness and allow my consciousness to enter your body. Also, tell Zu Chongzhi to find an opportune moment to conclude the first part of the presentation as soon as possible!"

    He could already sense that there were several scientists who were already preparing to ask further questions, and he didn''t want to wait for the next question to be raised!

    An important lesson that he had learned as King Yanluo was that adaptation was just as important as sound nning, and that when it came time for decisions to be made, they had to be made quickly and decisively!

    Lu Ban gritted his teeth tightly, then gave a slight nod before turning to say something to Zu Chongzhi. A hint of surprise surfaced in Zu Chongzhi''s eyes upon hearing what Lu Ban had to say, and several secondster, he also nodded with aplex expression.

    After that, he continued delivering the presentation as if nothing had happened.

    "There is a very interesting theory in the mortal realm known as string theory. The basic viewpoint of string theory is that the fundamental units of the natural world aren''t particles such as electrons, photons, neutrinos, and quarks. Instead, those units are minuscule strings, including open-ended strings and circr close-ended strings. The different vibrations and activity of the strings produce all types of different fundamental particles, and energy and matter can be converted into one another, so string theory doesn''t prove that matter doesn''t exist. The strings in string theory exist on an extremely tiny scale, and that controls their properties and basic principles. There are also several types ofrger membrane-like objects, aptly named ''membranes''. Objectively speaking, the space that we exist in is likely to be a D3 membrane that exists in a 9+1 vector of space and time, and Yin runes are also membranes, formingyers that envelop the Yin runes below them. In order to discover true fermions or bosons, one would have to examine the most fundamental structures and determine whether space exists in the form of strings or points. ording to the experiments that we''ve performed, we''ve already broken down Yin runes into proton Yin runes that cannot be broken down any further..."

    10 minutester, he picked up his teacup and took a sip, then cleared his throat a few times, but when he attempted to continue speaking, he discovered that his voice was a little hoarse, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "Looks like my age is catching up to me."

    It was also at this moment that Lu Ban surreptitiously took his ce, then turned to everyone present with a smile as he said, "As the main architect of the project, Mr. Zu Chongzhi is responsible for research and experimentation, while I''m responsible for other areas. Please allow Main Architect Zu to take a moment of rest while I continue the presentation."

    This was a very reasonable request.

    Yin spirits didn''t have to worry about physical fatigue, but mental fatigue was certainly still something that had to be considered, and no one was going to refute that point. In terms of age, Zu Chongzhi was far older than all of the other scientists present, perhaps even older than all of thembined, so no one denied him the chance to rest.

    Everyone failed to notice that in the instant Lu Ban stepped up to the lectern, Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly lit up before slowly falling shut as he sat beneath the stage.

    His consciousness had alreadypletely entered Lu Ban''s soul, and this was the simplest type of possession. There was no difficulty involved, and with his lofty cultivation rank, no one would notice what he was doing.

    I don''t want to lie to the world, I just need a bit more time.

    At the same time, Lu Ban also closed his eyes momentarily before reopening them, and unbeknownst to everyone, the man standing in front of the lectern had be the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo.

    A derisive smile appeared on his face, but it was concealed beneath his white beard so no one could see it.

    He then quickly adopted a serious expression, and he knew that what he was about to do next was most likely going to make Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban denounced as pseudoscientists by the entire academic world.

    Rest assured, the disgrace that you suffer today will act as fuel for you to light up the entire world in the future!

    He clenched his fists tightly as he said, "Due to the differences in our assigned duties, please allow me to deliver the second part of the report."

    All of the scientists immediately raised their heads with befuddled expressions upon hearing this.

    Did this mean that the first part was over? No, it clearly wasn''t over yet!

    There was no clear conclusion, nor any solid evidence to support what had been said! There had to be at least a third of the presentation missing, and that was clear to everyone present, but they were moving on to the second part now?

    Qin Ye paid no heed to themotion that was beginning to arise within the venue as he continued, "The part that I''m responsible for is the promotion of the new energy resource for civilian and military use."

    Themotion gradually died down out of respect for the speaker, but all of the scientists present were still utterly perplexed as they exchanged puzzled nces with their contemporaries.

    There was clearly something wrong, but they couldn''t figure out exactly what was amiss.

    Maria turned to Khilok and was just about to say something, only to discover that Khilok, who had sat through Zu Chongzhi''s address like a detached wooden statue, had suddenly be extremely interested in the presentation and was staring intently up at Lu Ban on the stage.

    He wasn''t the only one, all of the consortium and national representatives were disying the exact same reaction.

    They had all been on the verge of sleep during Zu Chongzhi''s long and technical presentation, but all of them had suddenly been reinvigorated by this current segment. Some of them were even leaning forward and tapping their recorders on the shoulder, indicating to them not to miss even a single word that was said.

    Qin Ye could see all of this from the stage, and he took a deep breath. He knew that his actions would lead to the research and development team being heavily criticized by the entire academic world. In fact, the Cathayan Underworld would likely be denounced for this, but he had no choice!

    He couldn''t allow the press conference to continue, knowing that it was destined to end in disaster. He had to seize the initiative and establish his own tempo. With that in mind, he cast his gaze past the scientists, towards the consortium and national representatives behind them.

    Science was the driving force of the world, but scientists weren''t the rulers of the world. Instead, that distinction belonged to these all-important representatives.

    As long as these people felt this press conference to be eptable, then the opinions of the scientists didn''t actually have a decisive impact. Around half a month, while he had been discussing with the entire research team and Zhao Yun and the Harken strategies to help them weather the storm that was this Great Revtion Debate, everyone had been thinking about the issue from an academic point of view, yet he had suggested this new incision point that took advantage of human psychology.

    If Zu Chongzhi and the others could handle everything thrown at them by all of the world''s leading physicists, then he wouldn''t have used this backup n, as even he felt ashamed to do something like this. However, someone had to do this and bear the consequences.

    Amid the silence, Qin Ye said through Lu Ban''s mouth, "ording to the physical effect of electricity, we made a prediction. Seeing as proton Yin runes are so simr to protons in the mortal realm, then the prediction we''ve made is that electron Yin runes will also be very simr to electrons in the mortal realm. In that case, the energy resource that we can derive from these Yin runes should be very simr to electricity in the mortal realm. In that case..."

    He paused momentarily as he stroked his own beard with a smile before continuing, "Can we also predict that all electric circuits and appliance temtes from the mortal realm can also be used in the underworld?"

    Theherfire in the eyes of all of the consortium and national representatives in the venue instantly spiked up to three meters in height upon hearing this.

    What did this entail? It entailed countless employment opportunities and the rise of at least several dozen new industries! In fact, the emergence of an 11th powerhouse consortium wouldn''t even be out of the equation!

    However, in contrast with them, Archimedes and Aristotle, who were seated at the back, were astonished by this abrupt change in subject, and their mouths gaped open as they exchanged a shocked nce.

    "They can''t just change the subject like this!" Aristotle eximed. "Prior to this, they were discussing whether particles existed or not, and whether they existed in the present or only in the past. If this point had been refuted, all of the national and consortium representatives would make careful consideration about how to proceed, but they''ve suddenly started discussing the project''s developmental potential now! They''re still talking about the same project, but these are different facets of the project entirely! All of what is being said now can only eventuate if the new energy resource is viable, and they haven''t proved that yet!"

    He immediately prepared to rise to his feet and protest. Among all of the scientists present, only death gods serving in the political sphere like them could identify this problem. Most of the other scientists were still engrossed in the report delivered by Zu Chongzhi earlier, leading to a failure to realize the fact that "Lu Ban'''' was attempting to swindle everyone!

    If he didn''t point this out and demand the discussion to return to the first part of the report, that first part would be epted to have concluded and the press conference would continue while the most important questions still hadn''t been answered!

    However, as soon as he stood up, Archimedes grabbed onto his whiteb coat before gently shaking his head, then gestured up ahead with a steely expression.

    Aristotle reflexively cast his gaze forward upon seeing this, and right in front of them, all of the consortium representatives were waiting to pounce like sharks that had smelled blood!

 Chapter 997: Great Revelation Debate (5)

    <h4>Chapter 997: Great Revtion Debate (5)</h4>

    "Do you think the impact of the new energy resource will be greater, or if the impact these consortiums have on our national economy will be greater?" Archimedes asked with a smile, even though his teeth were gritted tightly. "How shameless of the Cathayan Underworld''s researchers... There must be a problem with their report, perhaps even one that''s impossible to resolve! They''re currently trying to seize control of the tempo of this press conference because they know that scientists are the drivers behind societal development, but there''s no way they''re ever going to be the rulers of society!"

    "Isn''t that all the more reason to point this out?" Aristotle turned toward the seated Qin Ye with a cold expression. "Are we just going to allow them to fool everyone like this?!"

    A wry smile appeared on Archimedes''s face as he said, "You have to realize that we''re not just schrs anymore. You''ve been granted three administrative regions, I''ve been granted four, and both of us have shared extremely intimate ties with Thanatos and Hypnos. In our current situation, we have to think for our nation, first and foremost. I''m certain that there are holes in the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource, and that these holes are quite significant. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be in such a hurry to conclude the first segment of the presentation. However, from the Argosian Underworld''s perspective, wouldn''t it be better to let them continue? Why don''t we let all of the world''s schrs slowly uncover the truth that the Cathayan Underworld is trying to hide? Once that happens, their reputation in the academic world will be swept to the ground. If you point this out now, it won''t have much of an effect. At the very worst, the Cathayan Underworld will admit that its research and development still aren''tplete, but is that an issue in the academic world? No, there will even be some scientists thanking the Cathayan Underworld for opening their eyes to these ideas and for making the effort to use King Yanluo''s Seal to dissect the most fundamentalyer of Yin runes. In this situation, we simply can''t win!"

    He took a deep breath, then continued, "Hence, I''m asking you to sit and watch. The academic world is an extremely pure realm with no gray areas, and it''s exactly because of this that all falsehoods will eventually be weeded out and be met with the utmost contempt. They''re in such a hurry toplete this press conference because they need to present a significant achievement to the world in order to return to the international stage, isn''t that right? Just wait and see. Once everyone returns to their senses after the conclusion of this press conference, the Cathayan Underworld will bepletely banished from the academic world!"

    He gestured to all of the scientists present as he concluded, "There are close to 200 recipients of prestigious scientific awards here, and they hold countless patents between them. ording to the internationalws of the underworld, they have the right to shut down these patents to any parties that they please. Without the assistance of so many physics-rted patents, even if the Cathayan Underworld is already on the verge of discovering the new energy resource, it really is yet to be seen who''s going to actually discover it first in the end!"

    Aristotle calmed down before casting a derisive gaze toward the two people on the stage.

    In his eyes, these two weren''t worthy of being called scientists. They hadpletely abandoned their integrity in allowing their King Yanluo to read out the second part of the presentation in their stead!

    Were they not aware that from this day onward, they were going to be public enemies of the international academic world?

    No one would want tomunicate and exchange ideas with them, and once word of their unscrupulous deeds spread around the world, no one would want to be their student. Furthermore, the Cathayan Underworld would never be able to sign any research and development agreements as no one would want to work with a bunch of scam artists.

    While it was true that they desperately needed to make their voices heard upon first returning to the world stage, but they were paying far too heavy a price to do this. Did they think that the Argosian Underworld, which had already seen through everything, wasn''t going to inform all of the other scientists of its observations?

    The attitudes of the Yin spirits present in the venue had undergone aplete 180-degree turn.

    The fervent scientists were nowpletely disinterested and aloof, while the consortium and national representatives, who were just about to nod off a moment ago, werepping up "Lu Ban''s" every word.

    Theherfire in their eyes had risen up to several meters in height as they looked on with rapt focus.

    Qin Ye cleared his throat and continued, "All we''re missing is just the electron. When we discover electrons, it''ll take no more than a year for the Cathayan Underworld toplete the new energy resource. We don''t need to think about how to generate electricity or how to use the new energy resource as there''s a ready-made model waiting for us to reference in the mortal realm! The first people to master the new energy resource would be the gods of energy in the underworld! Everyone, all you need to do is reach out and take the relevant blueprints from the mortal realm, and the underworld will experience a period of growth, the rate of which has never been seen before!"

    Maria waspletely rooted to the spot, then turned her gaze toward Khilok.

    Following their deaths, some scientists chose to continue pursuing research and knowledge, but there were also ones like her who decided not to continue down this endless path, choosing to be advisors for consortiums instead.

    As an advisor, she was well aware that consortiums didn''t care about technical specifications at all. Instead, they only cared about what could bring them more wealth and influence. During a press conference like this, what the scientists wanted to hear were equations, statistics, and data. That was what they thought academic press conferences should be like.

    However, what "Lu Ban" was doing was talking about how the new energy resource could benefit the world as if the resource itself already existed!

    Weren''t they supposed to be discussing whether the new energy resource actually existed? If it didn''t exist, then all of these hopes and aspirations would all be pointless illusions!

    "Maria." A voice suddenly snapped her out of her train of thought, and she turned to discover Khilok looking at her with a contemtive expression as he asked, "What do you think?"

    Maria raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Khilok smiled as he exined, "What do you think of what Mr. Lu just said about setting up infrastructure like the electricalworks in the mortal realm in advance in preparation to wee the new energy resource?"

    Maria pursed her lips before replying in a cautious voice, "Mr. Khilok, no established modules have been presented yet, and all of this is just spection!"

    Khilok raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Oh?"

    "All of this is just spection! There''s nothing concrete to support it! They haven''t shown us anything to prove that their new energy resource exists, and all they''re doing is painting a picture for what the future could look like!" All of a sudden, a thought urred to Maria, and she concluded, "They''re making a false equivalence!"

    Khilok smiled as he asked, "But haven''t they already discovered proton Yin runes? In contrast, electron Yin runes are supposed to be easier to discover, aren''t they? I think even if they don''t have the new energy resourcepleted now, it''ll appear within the next few years."

    "Your Excellency!" Maria''s voice spiked up with rm as she said, "The fact of the matter is that it still hasn''t appeared yet! It still hasn''t been discovered, and it''s yet to be seen whether it even exists in this current timeline! Due to the inability to prove the theory of Yin Yang supersymmetry, we''ll never know if electron Yin runes exist in the present or only in the past!"

    Khilok''s smile faded upon hearing this.

    He watched Maria with a meaningful gaze for a few seconds before a smile returned to his face as he said, "That may be true, but I''m still very intrigued by all of this."

    Maria was in utter disbelief upon hearing this.

    Is this man insane? Why is he so interested in something that may not even exist?

    However, unbeknownst to her and all of the other scientists present, this was the difference between scientists and business people.

    The scientific world was one that was ck and white with no eptablepromises, but the lines were far more blurred in the business world. As long as the reward was significantly alluring, there would always be organizations willing to invest massive sums of money despite the risks.

    If this gamble paid off, the investing parties would receive unfathomable rewards!

    It wasn''t like they hadn''t done simr things in the past. If one had a feasible blueprint and could convince people of its potential, they would definitely be able to secure massive investments to the tune of hundreds of millions or even billions of dors. Hence, the logic and mindsets of the two parties of scientists and businesspeople were simply iparable.

    All of a sudden, R?ntgen ceased in his note-taking as he raised a hand to interrupt the presentation.

    He sat on his chair in a slightly dazed manner, thenbed his fingers through his hair as he watched Lu Ban with aplex gaze. "Mr. Lu, are you actually a scientist?"

    Lu Ban looked straight into his eyes and replied, "I am a scientist and researcher of the Cathayan Underworld."

    "In that case, you should disy the integrity and precision expected of a scientist!" R?ntgen rose to his feet with a steely expression as he said, "The new energy resource hasn''t appeared yet! After the conclusion of the first part of your presentation, I immediately sensed that something was amiss, but I didn''t think of it right away at the time. Just now, I realized what was wrong: you bypassed another hypothesis! I''m referring to another one of the 10 biggest unsolved problems in physics, the proton lifespan hypothesis! The one who proposed the hypothesis is the great physicist, Albert Einstein, and even though he couldn''t make it to the press conference due to the situation on the new continent, that doesn''t mean you can just ignore his ideas!"

    Another shift in attitudes took ce.

    The eyes of all of the scientists instantly lit up, while the representatives of the top 10 consortiums looked on with tightly furrowed brows.

    R?ntgen paid no heed to that as he continued, "Inside a nuclear core, a proton can be converted into a neutron. However, free protons are stable and have unlimited lifespans. In 1974, the SU5 grand unified theory was proposed by Howard Georgi and Sheldon show, in which electromaic, weak, and strong forces are merged into a single force. ording to this theory, protons are unstable, and their lifespans are estimated to be roughly 10^30 years. At the same time, various theories were proposed. For example, protons are theorized to be able to automatically derive charge quantization, thereby resulting in all charge values being integer multiples of e/3. This also exins why there is less antimatter than matter in space, thereby providing leads for space exploration. It was also theorized that protons themselves are unstable, but that cannot be confirmed as we are currently unable to closely observe protons. You proim that you''ve managed to produce the most fundamental proton Yin runes, which is feasible given the ability of King Yanluo''s Seal. However, all Yin runes must face the problem of dissipation followed by condensation. In electric generators, this will result in mass power outages and evenplete electric equipment malfunction, the consequences are impossible to predict! Also, we''re not even sure whether these proton Yin runes abide by the mortal realm''s SU5 grand unified theory, so how could you possibly release such a ridiculous conclusion right now?!"

    Zu Chongzhi''s face was heavily flushed, and his hand was trembling slightly as he stroked his own beard.

    Never had he been criticized so harshly before, but this was a bitter pill that he would simply have to swallow.

    On the day that the new energy resource cast its radiance over the entire world, all would be redeemed!

    "Mr. Wilhelm." Right at this moment, a benevolent voice rang out, and one of the representatives of the 10 consortiums, a portly Yin spirit wearing antiquated noble robes, stood up with a smile as he said, "This is a press conference, so shouldn''t it be disyed to all of the people who wish to see it?"

    R?ntgen turned around and was just about to issue a retort, but was forced to immediately swallow his words.

    The man who had just spoken was Wantoni, the director of the Blue Forest Consortium''s development and investment department.

    At the same time, he was also the number one financial backer of R?ntgen''s researchboratory.

    The meaning behind his words was very clear: you may not want to hear this, but we do!

    Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief.

    The tempo was back under his control.

    This was what was going to ensure that he could constantly control the tempo of the press conference. The scientists present definitely couldn''t support entire researchboratories on their own, particrly not physics experimentationboratories. Everyone knew just how much money it cost to run suchboratories.

    As long as the financial backers of these scientists wanted the press conference to proceed at this current rate, then that dreaded first part of the presentation would never have to be re-explored!

 Chapter 998: Great Revelation Debate (6)

    <h4>Chapter 998: Great Revtion Debate (6)</h4>

    However, that still wasn''t enough.

    Even though the Cathayan Underworld was still in a period of recovery, it was still a nation, after all, and having exchanged souls of certain top-tier researchers and scientists with the mortal realm, it had naturally prepared appropriate backup ns.

    During the past half a month or so, they hadn''t just been preparing for this debate, the current panel of advisors of the Cathayan Underworld had also been hard at work.

    As such, Qin Ye was well aware of how much fury would be directed at the Cathayan Underworld if all of the scientists present were to realize that they were being swindled.

    A major difference between the underworld and the mortal realm was that the former had a reincarnation system. As a result, important Yin spirits could choose when to be reincarnated into the mortal realm. If these scientists wanted to return to the mortal realm, the death gods of their respective nations would naturally do everything in their power to convince them to stay in the underworld, but it was an unspoken rule that these scientists couldn''t be forced to stay against their will.

    Due to the fact that no one was sure when patent-holding scientists would leave the underworld, a new regtion was released by the Coalition of Underworlds 200 years ago, stating that all scientists would retain the rights for their own patents until they left the underworld and entered the cycle of reincarnation.

    Large sums of patent fees were enough to make all scientists who held important patents extremely rich, and the favorable research and development environment of the underworld provided further incentive for scientists to stay.

    Thus, Qin Ye knew that they had to be able to endure this press conference, but they couldn''t afford to turn all of the scientists against them. It was inevitable that they were going to be attacked once all of the scientists realized what was happening, but at the very least, they had to remain on amicable terms with all of these scientists.

    As he was reading out Lu Ban''s section of the report, a messenger bird was quietly released, and it flew up into the air beforending on the watchtower that he had been resting in earlier.

    The messenger bird dissipated into a gust of Yin wind that passed through the gaps around the window before being caught by a hand.

    The hand belonged to Zhao Yun.

    The messenger bird transformed into a vortex, and Qin Ye''s voice rang out from inside it. "Ghost King Zhao, prepare that thing and bring it in at an opportune moment."

    Instead of immediately giving a reply, Zhao Yun took a deep breath before asking, "Are you sure? That thing can''t even be described as a trump card. If we reveal it to the world, far too many questions would follow, we could even arouse suspicions from the Coalition of Underworlds! ording to the eighth sub-use of the 17th use of thews of the Coalition of Underworlds, research into weapons of mass destruction is strictly prohibited. Even if they''re beneficial to the underworld, detailed statistics must be reported so that research and development teams can determine their degree of danger. All weapons of mass destruction developed prior to the inception of this rule are ignored, but as a result of this rule, no further weapons or Yin runes of mass destruction have been developed in the past few centuries after the development of first-generation forbidden arts. In light of that, is it really wise to present this to everyone? Even if we''re utterly humiliated here, once we sessfully develop the new energy resource, all will be redeemed anyway."

    After a few seconds of silence, Qin Ye''s decisive voice rang out in response. "I''m certain. At the very least, we have to ensure that we remain on good terms with the academic world. I''m already reading the report for the second backup n, and I''m sure you can imagine the storm that''s going to hit us once they realize that we''ve pulled the wool over their eyes. If we turn all of these scientists against us, the majority of the physics-rted patents in the world would be unavable to us. We may only be meeting these scientists for the first time, but we have to ensure that this isn''t thest time. Also, that thing isn''tpletely a weapon of mass destruction, it''s distinction is rather unclear, so trust me on this one."

    After that, the Yin energy vortex quietly dissipated, and Zhao Yun took a deep breath before looking behind him.

    There was no one else aside from him in the entire watchtower.

    Behind him stood a square box that was around three meters tall and just as wide. The entire box was constructed from Yin jade, and the Yin energy inside it was so intense that it was enough to send chills running down one''s spine.

    It was giving off a familiar scent of the sea, as well as a hint of light that didn''t belong to the underworld.

    "Are we going to have to use this trump card, after all?"

    Zhao Yun ced his hand on the massive Yin jade box and was silent for a moment before a carefree smile appeared on his face.

    "So what? We are the Cathayan Underworld, the most powerful of the four pirs, we don''t need to answer to anyone!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Lu Ban closed his report before giving Zu Chongzhi a slight nod.

    The second segment of the report hadsted 30 minutes, and all of the consortium and national representatives were thoroughly engrossed, but all of the scientists were clearly feeling far from pleased.

    This was the Great Revtion Debate, the most prestigious asion in the academic world, and they hade all this way to the Cathayan Underworld just to be treated like idiots!

    In their eyes, this was aplete waste of time, and they no longer even wanted to be here.

    Aristotle swept his gaze across all of the scientists present and murmured to himself, "The Cathayan Underworld has made a foolish decision. These scientists are just about ready to erupt!"

    He leaned back in his seat in a rxed manner as he said with a faint smile, "Suddenly moving onto the second part of the presentation will indeed alleviate the pressure on their schrs, but they''ve severely underestimated the thirst for knowledge that these scientists have. Then again, Cathay has always beenckluster in the scientific fields, so it''s only to be expected that they think they can get away with this. They may have bought themselves some time, but all of the scientists are staring at them like vultures, and they won''t rest until they receive answers to their questions! If the Cathayan Underworld is unwilling to bow its head and admit its faults, then the entire scientific world is going topletely turn on them!"

    The silence in the venue was only the calm before the storm.

    When they erupt again, they''re going to do so with the fury of a volcano!

    "The only thing that can save them is concrete evidence of the existence of their new energy resource," Diophantus mused. "However, if they had something like that, then they wouldn''t have prematurely concluded the first part of their presentation, which clearly has some type of problem. Looks like we''re in for a good show today. This is the first time I''ll be seeing one of the four pirs denounced by the entire academic world! From this day forth, they''ll be known as scam artists to the entire world!"

    On the main stage, Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban''s eyes met, and the former gritted his teeth before picking up the first part of the report again. "There''s no doubt that the future of the new energy resource is a glorious one, and the first step to that glorious future is to prove its existence!"

    He cast a nce toward Qin Ye as he spoke.

    After the second part of the report had been read to capture the interest of all of the national and consortium representatives, Qin Ye had already returned to his own body, and at the sight of Zu Chongzhi''s gaze, he gave a slight nod in response.

    In a situation like this, it was important to constantly adapt and think on the fly. Seeing as they had no choice but to bring out all of their trump cards, then that was what they were going to have to do!

    This was already the best that they could do, and the rest would be decided by fate.

    Zu Chongzhi looked down at his script and was just about to continue when a scientist suddenly stood up as he said, "Mr. Zu."

    His voice was very calm, but there were clearly some emotions bubbling under the surface as he continued, "This is the first Great Revtion Debate since the conclusion of the Cathayan Underworld''s seclusion, and it''s only the second Great Revtion Debate in the Cathayan Underworld''s history after the invention of underworld gunpowder. Throughout all of history, there have only been 12 Great Revtion Debates in total, and every single one of them has heralded the arrival of a new era. Today, all of us havee from all corners of the world to this ind in the middle of nowhere to attend this press conference in this crude venue, and we only have one objective!"

    His voice was growing louder and louder, and right in front of everyone''s eyes, he looked straight into Zu Chongzhi''s eyes as he said, "We want to know the truth behind the new energy resource! Stop wasting time with your pointless words! While it''s true that this press conference is held for everyone, this is not just a press conference, it''s a debate to decide the authenticity of the next big thing in the field of physics, and it could potentially define the next era of the entire underworld! You are one of the four pirs, please don''t bring disgrace to that title!"

    After that, he extended a slight bow before sitting back down. The representatives of the 10 consortiums didn''t seem to have heard that at all, but all of the national representatives had turned their attention toward Zu Chongzhi, waiting for his response.

    As expected, the storm had arrived, after all.

    After staying silent for half an hour, someone had finally spoken up on behalf of all of the scientists present, and this was an ultimatum! If the Cathayan Underworld didn''t want to be denounced by the entire scientific world, then it would have to face this storm head-on!

    "May I ask your name?" Qin Ye suddenly asked, right as the scientist sat back down onto his chair.

    "He is Pieter Zeeman," Archimedes replied in the scientist''s stead. "He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1902 for his discovery of the Zeeman effect, which rtes to radiation in maic fields. Yanluo Qin, you may be the ruler of one of the four most powerful nations in the world, but the academic world transcends beyond politics."

    Aristotle smiled as he chimed in, "This is a debate among the academic world, and the entire world is watching."

    The implication behind his words was very clear, he was warning Qin Ye not to to use his status as King Yanluo to exert pressure on the scientists present, lest he be struck by bacsh from the entire world.

    "I was just curious," Qin Ye replied with a smile and impable etiquette, but he then lowered his head for an instant as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.

    Never ce trust in the conscience of politicians as most of them didn''t have any, and Qin Ye was quickly walking down the path of no return...

    "Please directly answer our questions," Pieter Zeeman reiterated, yet right after his voice trailed off, another voice instantly rang out like thunder across the entire venue.

    "What a joke!"

    There were only two death gods present, namely Archimedes and Aristotle, and they immediately looked up into the sky.

    The voice was very calm, but their souls were shaking in their bodies at the mere sound of it! It was as if they were being scrutinized by a formidable beast that could take their lives in an instant!

    "That''s Ghost King Zhao!"

    Before they had a chance to react, Zhao Yun continued in an imcable voice, "You should be honored to have been invited here by the Cathayan Underworld. Since when did the Cathayan Underworld be open to criticism from the likes of you? We are doing a great service to the world in our willingness to share a part of the new energy resource, and only releasing the new energy resource after it''s beenpletely developed is our right! We don''t need you to worry about whether our research and development has hit any hurdles, and it''s up to us whether we want to release the new energy resource! Who are you to be directing usations at us?"

    In the sky above, Zhao Yun was standing in mid-air, and a huge Yin-jade box with Yin runes all over its surface was revolving around him. His red cape was pping in the wind alongside his long ck hair, and his Yin energy weighed down upon the entire venue like an insurmountable mountain, giving him the appearance of a divine deity who had just descended into the mortal world!

    "Ghost King Zhao!" Archimedes finally rose to his feet as he said, "These are the rules of the world! Are you going to turn your back on the entire world?!"

    "General Zhao." Qin Ye also put on a feigned expression of disapproval as he said, "You can''t say that, it is an honor for our Cathayan Underworld to be holding such a prestigious event."

    Some things could be said by Zhao Yun, but it would be far too unbefitting of someone of his status to say something like this.

    "Yes, my Lord." Zhao Yun cupped his fist in a respectful salute before turning his gaze toward everyone else in the venue. "You want to see the truth?"

    The massive Yin jade box suddenly fell onto the ground with a resounding boom as he spoke.

    "This is the truth that you want to see!"

 Chapter 999: Great Revelation Debate (Finale)

    <h4>Chapter 999: Great Revtion Debate (Finale)</h4>

    <i>The truth? </i>

    Archimedes''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.

    As one of the world''s leading physicists and mathematicians, he knew that there was only one thing that could disy the truth, but if they had concrete proof, then why didn''t they bring it out sooner? Were they insane? This sequence of presentation made no logical sense at all!

    However, no one could be bothered to point out the Cathayan Underworld''s logical facies at a time like this.

    As soon as the giant Yin jade boxnded on the ground, all of the scientists immediately rose to their feet as they stared intently at the box with solemn expressions.

    Afternding on the ground, the box slowly opened right before everyone''s eager eyes. The lid had only opened up by a sliver when all of the scientists immediately drew a collective sharp breath, and many of them had already sprung to their feet and were about to rush directly toward the box!

    As soon as they began to move, bursts of Yin energy descended around the main stage, and one Yin soldier after another appeared. They were d in armaments forged from the carapace of blight vermin, and they were standing around the stage like resolute towers with their hands already resting on the hilts of their weapons.

    Qin Ye finally rose to his feet in a slow and elegant manner. "Everyone, this is Jeju-do, the territory of the Cathayan Underworld, shouldn''t you be a little more restrained?"

    His mid Yama-King level Yin energy then swept through the entire venue like a shockwave, and Archimedes''s pupils contracted drastically in response. Wasn''t he only a nascent Yama-Kingst time? How had he be a mid Yama-King in less than two months?

    However, that wasn''t the main point here.

    Even with the Yin soldiers blocking the way, all of the scientists were still trying to rush toward the main stage as they looked on with astonishment and awe in their eyes.

    "My god..." Maria had also sprung to her feet, as had Khilok and all of the consortium and underworld representatives in the venue. In that instant, all of them felt as if a surge of electricity had flowed from the tips of their tailbones to the tops of their heads, and they almost screamed out loud!

    "How is this possible?"

    "I can''t believe this, but at the same time, I can''t deny what I''m seeing!"

    "They''ve already developed a prototype? If so, why didn''t they unveil this thing earlier?"

    "This doesn''t make any sense! Their entire report was based on guesses and assumptions, it''spletely different from a report describing something that already exists!"

    The entire venue had erupted into a frenzy as all of them had been greeted by the sight of the gate leading to the new era.

    Rays of light were seeping out from the center of the box. The light wasn''ting from Yin jade. Instead, it wasing from an energy resource!

    This was electrical lighting!

    Finally, the box waspletely opened, and its lid fell to the ground with a loud thud. Within the box was apletely charred ck object that resembled a section of a turtle''s shell, and within it were pieces of machinery!

    It wasn''t a pretty sight at all.

    The wires and circuitry were looking quite chaotic and erratic, but no one could ignore the lights shing from the object!

    Inside the massive press conference venue, the object was extremely tiny, but the impact that it had exceeded its physical size by countless times!

    Every single one of those lights was like a scintiting sun!

    "This is the new energy resource..." Rontgen''s hands were trembling as he unconsciously reached out toward the object,pletely ignoring the armored Yin soldiers in front of him as he murmured to himself in a trembling voice, "There''s no mistaking it, this really is a new energy resource!"

    There were a total of five lights shining on the object, and even though they were so tiny, even though they were shing unsteadily, these were the objects that heralded the arrival of a new era!

    In that instant, all of the scientists felt as if they had been ushered into a brand new world.

    Silence quickly descended over the entire venue.

    Everyone was in awe and astonishment at the sight of this monumental object, and at the same time, they were also enraptured and intoxicated by the new era that was beckoning to them.

    ckett''s eyelids twitched slightly, and he seemed to want to close his eyes, but he simply couldn''t bring himself to stop looking at those five glorious lights. He murmured to himself in a hoarse voice, "This is the most worthwhile trip I''ve ever made..."

    His attitude had instantly taken a massive turn!

    Behind them, the representatives of the 10 consortiums had already risen to their feet, but they didn''t rush toward the Yin jade box as there was a wall of scientists standing in front of them. Instead, they merely stood on the spot, as clouds of ck Yin energy billowed out of their mouths and nostrils from their strained breathing, looking as if they were about to transform into terrifying monsters at any moment.

    They could hear the sound of money!

    It wasn''t just a coin or two, it was the sound of a sea of money washing over every single one of their brain cells!

    After a full minute ofplete silence, all of the scientists raised their heads and turned to Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban with fervent expressions, having undergone aplete 180-degree turn in their attitudes.

    All of their contempt and anger had transformed into respect and veneration for the people who had opened the door to this new age. They didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly in fear that doing so would shatter this beautiful dream.

    "Is this real?"

    Amid the deathly silence, Sir John Dous Cockcroft, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 for splitting the atomic nucleus and his role in the development of nuclear power, asked in a trembling voice, "How did you do this? If you already have a prototype, why was the first part of your presentation so unsound? Why didn''t you just release the statistics behind it? We don''t need the core theoretical statistics, you could''ve easily provided us with data that can prove the existence of this new energy resource beyond a reasonable doubt without revealing any of your core secrets! On behalf of the Coalition of Underworlds'' scientific researchmittee, I request that the Cathayan Underworld immediately release the corresponding data for this project! At the same time, all of my patents will be avable to the Cathayan Underworldpletely free of charge!"

    His deration seemed to have opened the floodgates, and as soon as his voice trailed off, another scientist immediately said, "I have a total of three patents, all of which are rted to the rtive symmetry of energy resources, and I''m also willing to provide them to the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development team free of charge!"

    Countless more announcements of a simr nature were quickly made one after another.

    Right at this moment, Lu Ban finally spoke up. "Everyone, this isn''t aplete underworld energy resource. We are trying to integrate the energy resource of the mortal realm with proton Yin runes, and the effect has been quite unexpected. Now then, let me tell you all about the functions of this unit..."

    Archimedes was still seated on his chair, and he didn''t say anything, but he was holding the armrests of his chair in a white-knuckled grip, revealing the fact that he wasn''t as calm as he appeared.

    The other members of the round table were seated beside him, and they were also staring intently at the main stage with tumultuous emotions in their hearts.

    How was this possible?!

    They had their own pride as the best scientific research group in the world, yet the research and development team of the Cathayan Underworld had beaten them at their own game!

    How did they manage to do this?! If you had a prototype to begin with, why did you deliver the first part of the presentation in such a shaky manner?! Just show us this to begin with! Do you enjoy toying with us like this?!

    Shame, disbelief, fury, envy... All types of emotions were welling up in their hearts, and they were gritting their teeth with audible force. They were even struck by the urge to rush onto the main stage and take the unit back to the Argosian Underworld, then disassemble it and ster the Argosian Underworld''s tags to every single one of its parts!

    However, they could only look on as the Cathayan Underworld opened the door to the new era. This was no different from a vicious p to the face for them!

    Qin Ye finally heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, but a serious look then immediately appeared on his face.

    If it weren''t for the fact that his hand had been forced, he definitely wouldn''t have been willing to bring out this unit.

    This was a piece of Gui Xu that had been salvaged after its detonation!

    Discovering an energy resource that could be created solely in the underworld wasn''t going to be an easy task, but restoring a part of Gui Xu while referencing Xu Fu''s notes was far simpler. Fortunately, this piece had been preserved very well. It had most likely erupted out of Gui Xu''s shell as soon as the explosion hadmenced, and the probe team had found this unit over 100 kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosion.

    The explosion of Gui Xu was a major event that deserved to go down in the history books, and there was no way that a search wouldn''t have been conducted on the surrounding area. However, Qin Ye had never thought of a good use for this thing until now.

    In the academic world, as long as you could bring out a substantial object to support your ims, you could even tell everyone that 1+1=3 and no one would disagree with you!

    On the main stage, Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi were still delivering their presentation, but beneath the stage, the Yin soldiers were struggling to hold back the excited scientists. Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi''s presentation was falling upon deaf ears as all of the scientists had their attention focused entirely on the object within the Yin jade box.

    "It looks like it''s been damaged!"

    "Could it be that someone has tried to destroy it?"

    "No, this kind of damage looks like it would''ve most likely stemmed from an explosion caused by a failed experiment! It''s clear that this is only a part of the whole unit!"

    "If they''ve already developed this viable prototype, then the finished product can''t be far away!"

    "It''ll take three, maybe four more years at most for the Cathayan Underworld toplete development on the new energy resource! To think that they''ve invented something so earth-shattering during the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long seclusion!"

    At this point, everyone had already forgotten all about the Great Revtion Debate.

    There was an actual prototype being presented to everyone, and it served as irrefutable evidence, so there was no need for any further debate!

    If it weren''t for the menacing Yin soldiers standing in their way, all of them would''ve already rushed over to get a closer look at the damaged unit!

    Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out across the entire venue. "Yanluo Qin."

    None of the scientists turned around. They didn''t have time to turn around and see who it was that was speaking! This unit was most likely going to be put in a scientific museum in a decade, just like the tools that Albert Einstein had used in the mortal realm! This was the first energy unit in the underworld!

    Thus, unbeknownst to them, the representatives of the top 10 consortiums, their financial backers, had already put on smiles that made it appear as if Qin Ye were their birth father!

    They weren''t the only ones. The national representatives behind them, particrly the representatives of the underworlds that had signed agreements with the Cathayan Underworld, such as the five Northern Europa underworlds, were struck by the urge to rush up to Qin Ye and kiss his shoes!

    The one who had spoken was a bald elderly man wearing a white and golden priest robe. His attire was very simple and ordinary, but the cross that he was holding was a single piece of rippling diamond, one of the most expensive materials in the underworld.

    He joined his palms together as he smiled and extended a slight bow. "I am the representative of the Psalm Consortium, and..."

    "I am the representative of the Sacred Treasure Consortium, Kana Fujii. We meet again, Yanluo Qin." Before he had a chance to finish, he was cut off by Kana Fujii, who had already picked up the hem of her kimono and was making her way toward Qin Ye in a pair of high wooden sandals.

    The elderly man from the Psalm Consortium waspletely rooted to the spot upon seeing this.

    <i>Don''t you know that you should respect your elders?! I was the first one to speak! Did you not hear me?! You have to wait your turn! </i>

    However, before he had a chance to say anything, several more voices rang out in quick session.

    "Yanluo Qin, I am Khilok, the representative of the Abbasid Consortium, it''s an honor to meet you."

    "Yanluo Qin, I''ve heard so much about you, but seeing you in person now, you''re even more handsome and majestic than the rumors im!"

    "Yanluo Qin, your most loyal and genuine allies havee to attend your press conference!"

 Chapter 1000: Conclusion

    <h4>Chapter 1000: Conclusion</h4>

    The elderly man from the Psalm Consortium almost crushed the cross in his hand.

    The most loyal and genuine allies of the Cathayan Underworld? More like the most shameless scum in history!

    He aimed a vicious nce at his shameless peers, and he knew exactly what was going to happen next.

    They had to invest! Even if they had to beg, they had to somehow convince the Cathayan Underworld to allow them to invest in the new energy resource project!

    Being able to invest in this project, which was going to usher in a brand new era, would be an enormous opportunity!

    The underworld has a greater poption than the mortal realm, and the amount of consumer demand for this new energy resource would be enough to support a new powerhouse consortium!

    With that in mind, the elderly man immediately sprang into action. Despite his elderly appearance, his body was as agile and slippery as an eel as he quickly skirted around his peers, then pressed himself against the section of the railing that was closest to Qin Ye as he dered, "I''m willing to offer 1,000 tons of S grade materials! Just say the word and it''s all yours!"

    Holy shit!

    All of his peers turned to face him with appalled expressions.

    Wasn''t he supposed to establish good rtions with Qin Ye first before discussing things like this? Surely this was too barbaric and straightforward! Where was his sense of dignity as a representative of one of the top 10 consortiums?

    Qin Ye raised his head in a casual manner before replying, "The Cathayan Underworld has more than enough resources for now to support its own research."

    "Surely you could never have too many resources at your disposal!" The elderly man picked up the hem of his robe and began to straddle the railing in preparation to jump down, as a fawning smile appeared on his face. "There must be some resources that you''re running short on! I''m willing to donate these resources free of charge as a gesture to acknowledge the significant contribution that the Cathayan Underworld is making to the entire world! All I want is to be able to help you! There''s always strength in more numbers!"

    Qin Ye looked up at the railing up above. Beyond the railing were 10 faces that were wearing glowing smiles like 10 sunflowers embracing the sun.

    Theherfire in their eyes had all erupted into burning torches, and they were eagerly fighting for Qin Ye''s attention.

    At the sight of Qin Ye''s gaze, their smiles became even more sycophantic, and Khilok rubbed his hands together as he said, "Yanluo Qin, do you remember me? We met during thest international conference, and at the time, our Abbasid Consortium had brought you avish present. Unfortunately, the present was too extravagant and was held up at customs, dying its arrival by a whole month. The present is a warship constructed from pure gold and wood from Yin Nightmare Trees. We''ve named the ship ''The Sun'', and it''s docked at Shikoku of the Nipponese Underworld right now! Have a good think, Your Excellency, I''m sure you''ll recall it!"

    This is taking shamelessness to whole new levels!

    All of the consortium representatives turned toward Khilok with stunned expressions, unsure of whether to be appalled or impressed.

    Qin Ye smiled as he replied, "Now that you mention it, I do seem to have some recollection of that."

    Upon hearing this, Khilok''s smile immediately became so pronounced that all of his wrinkles bunched together as he said, "I knew it wouldn''t slip your mind, Yanluo Qin! The Sun will reach the Cathayan Underworld within three days, please ept it!"

    "Is that supposed to be your investment into the Zhu Rong n?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Of course not!" Khilok immediately replied as he put on a serious expression. "The Sun is just an insignificant little gift from our Abbasid Consortium to the Cathayan Underworld, we''ll be sending professional personnel to discuss investment into the Zhu Rong project. Please ce your trust in our Abbasid Consortium, there is no limit to the amount we''re able to invest into the project!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the elderly man from the Psalm Consortium interjected, "When ites to the energy and machinery sectors, our Psalm Consortium is the undisputed number one consortium in the industry. I won''t waste your time with unnecessary words, Yanluo Qin. Our Psalm Consortium is very interested in the Zhu Rong n, and the amount of funds we''re willing to invest into the project is also unlimited!"

    "Do you think you two are the only top consortiums in the world? What a joke! Yanluo Qin, if you''re willing to give our Blue Forest Consortium a chance, we''re also willing to repay you with unlimited investment funds!"

    "What right do you have to say anything here? You''re a corporationprised of high-end restaurants and restaurant chains, what right do you have to participate in the Zhu Rong n? Are you going to renovate your restaurants into power nts? Don''t make meugh!"

    "Taking all things into consideration, our Index Consortium is the most qualified consortium to y a role in this project! We specialize in real estate, and if you''re willing to give us a chance, not only are we willing to offer unlimited investment funds, we can immediately construct the best research and developmentboratories free of charge at any location you desire!"

    All of the consortium representatives had gonepletely insane!

    They all knew that the new energy resource was going to bring about enormous changes in the entire underworld, and if they could participate in the project, the returns they would be able to make would be astronomical!

    Right as they were bickering among one another, Qin Ye finally raised a hand, and like the conductor of an orchestra, his simple gesture immediately silenced the bickering consortium representatives.

    He had a feeling that if he were to instruct the surrounding Yin soldiers to depart, the 10 consortium representatives would immediately rush over to him and fight for the right to kiss his hand!

    "To discuss the specific details, please directly contact our ministry of foreign affairs and research and development team," he said in azy voice. "I''ll be going ahead now."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    Right after he departed, the expressions on the faces of the 10 consortium representatives instantly returned to normal, and they exchanged a few nces before silently departing.

    All of them were walking very quickly as they knew that the true battle was about to begin!

    Khilok returned to his own seat, and Maria was already seated beside him. He smoothed down his own white Arab robe and slowly sat down in silence with a contemtive look in his eyes.

    After a full 30 seconds of silence, he suddenly asked, "Did you manage to see the unit up close?"

    Maria shook her head in response, and her face was still flushed with excitement as she replied, "The soldiers refused to let us get close to it. I can understand why they''re being so cautious, but it really is quite a pity."

    Khilok fell silent again, but a short whileter, he suddenly asked, "Do you think it was real or fake?"

    Maria turned to face him with a surprised expression.

    She had thought that Khilok had already been swayed and had already decided to invest in the project, but as it turned out, she had been the naive one in the end!

    "There''s no need to look at me like that," Khilok said in a calm voice. "The new energy resource is an enormous investment opportunity, and we must take all of the necessary precautions to ensure that the investment won''t fall through, that''s why I went to the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld to test him just now."

    That pitiful disy you put on was nothing more than a test?

    Maria nodded in response with aplex expression, and Khilok continued, "If he werecking in confidence, he would''ve rejected all of us, but he didn''t. Having said that, the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld has shown during thest international conference that he''s not someone who''ll fold easily, even under immense pressure, so his attitude here can''t be taken as solid evidence of anything. I can''t decide on what to believe, so I want to ask you what percentage chance you think this press conference has of being genuine."

    Perhaps scientists could be fooled, but there was no way he would be swindled.

    He had seen and experienced far too much trickery and deception during his time in the underworld. Prior to the Argosian Underworld''s attack on the Alkebn Underworlds, they had just signed mutual trade agreements in the pce of Macbeth.

    The diplomats of the Argosian Underworld had assured the Mythic Spirits that the two parties were going to be the closest of allies from that point onward, yet the forbidden arts had been tossed out right after that.

    Kana Fujii also had the same concerns. She was concealing her own mouth behind her hand fan as he asked, "What do you think?"

    Hideki Yukawa was seated right beside her, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he replied, "I think we should proceed with caution. While it''s true that the Cathayan Underworld has brought out a decisive piece of evidence, don''t you think there''s something fishy about the way this press conference was held? Firstly, given the attitude that the Cathayan Underworld has disyed in the past, if it had already developed a new energy resource, it would''ve already boasted about it to the entire world countless times! Also, with that unit up their sleeve, why did they allow Mr. Lu and Mr. Zu to endure such a rigorous debate before bringing it out? Those two are the best scientists that the Cathayan Underworld has to offer, but they''re certainly not at the top of the world when ites to the field of physics, and there are far too many top-tier scientists in attendance here. Why would they have intentionally ced themselves into such a difficult situation before bailing themselves out? If you ask me, I feel as if the esteemed Yanluo Qin decided to bring that unit out as a spur of the moment choice, and that''s what I don''t understand..."

    Why hadn''t they brought out this instrumental piece of evidence from the very beginning?

    This could''ve been a press conference that would go down in history, so why had they chosen to do things like this?

    He cast his gaze toward scientists that were still huddled around the main stage, and he murmured to himself, "Is the unit real or fake? Logically speaking, it should be fake, but it looks real no matter how I look at it!"

    A grim look appeared on Kana Fujii''s face as she nodded and said, "I''ll report this to the board of directors right away for them to make a decision."

    At the same time, Archimedes heaved a faint sigh as he said, "Report the situation to the two death gods."

    The emergence of the unit hadpletely foiled their ns to watch the Cathayan Underworld be denounced by the entire academic world. This honor should''ve belonged to the Argosian Underworld!

    For countless years, it had always been the Argosian Underworld''s research into Yin rune that had fueled the development of the world, yet they had just been beaten at their own game by the Cathayan Underworld, which wasn''t even known for its excellence in the field of physics!

    This was a direct p to the face to all of the members of their round table!

    "I still don''t understand why they decided to hold the press conference like this!" he mused through gritted teeth. "If they had something like this, then they should''ve brought it from the very beginning, but they didn''t do that! Were they trying to create suspense and a theatrical effect by doing things this way?"

    "The only exnation would be that the unit is fake!" Diophantus said in a cold voice.

    If that were the case, then the Cathayan Underworld would''ve just lied to the entire world, and that would be an inexcusable crime!

    However, there was no way for them to verify anything as the Cathayan Underworld could simply refuse them ess to the unit by dering it to be strictly confidential.

    "Let''s go." Archimedes rose to his feet as he said, "If the unit really is fake, then the truth will be uncovered sooner orter. From this point onward, they''re going to have to constantly hold one press conference after another, and something new would have to be presented at every single one of these press conferences. As the developers of the new energy resource, they get to dictate the rules. The yellow papers of the new technology are the core of the project, and it could earn them unimaginable sums of wealth, but they have to instill their potential investors with sufficient confidence first. If the unit is fake, then their deception will slowly be unraveled during future press conferences, and I''m very much looking forward to seeing the day when they''re forced to reap the bitter fruits of their actions. In the academic world, particrly in the fields of mathematics, physics, and astrology, no one excels beyond our Argosian Underworld!"

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye had appeared in the watchtower, and Zhao Yun was also there.

    Neither of them said anything, and there wasn''t any joy derived from the apparent victory they had just secured. After a long while, Zhao Yun finally sighed, "So we were forced to disy that thing to the world, after all."

    Qin Ye wanted to force a smile onto his own face, but was unable to do so in the end.

    Only after a few minutes had passed did he look up into the sky as he sighed, "Regardless of what happens in the future, we had to weather this storm first. We can''t allow the Zhu Rong n to fall apart before it even has a chance to develop! Otherwise, there''s no way I would''ve presented that thing given the countless drawbacks."

    The room fell silent again.

    A short whileter, Zhao Yun asked, "What do we do from here onward?"

    "We do our best," Qin Ye replied as he closed his eyes. "What''s done has already been done, and we must face the consequences now. Seeing as I''ve already disyed that thing to the world, it''s time to do everything in my power to weather the subsequent storms that will arise from my decision."

 Chapter 1001: The Future Path

    <h4>Chapter 1001: The Future Path</h4>

    The watchtower was very quiet, and neither Qin Ye nor Zhao Yun were saying anything. Around 40 minutester, Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban also made their way into the watchtower alongside Xu Chengyang and the others.

    Qin Ye took a nce at them to find that Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, and Deng Ruifeng''s faces were all flushed with excitement. It had been far too long since they had been at the center of such a monumental asion, and there were many people referring to them as senior and teacher during the press conference.

    In contrast, Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi weren''t in the mood to celebrate. Instead, they were clearly quite concerned.

    "Take a seat." Qin Ye gestured at the chairs around him as he spoke, and the door was quietly closed. Once everyone had sat down, he said, "Let''s have a meeting. I won''t waste any time, what do you all think about the press conference? Professor Xu, Professor Pang, Professor Deng, we''ll begin with you three."

    "Alright." Deng Ruifeng took a moment topose himself, then replied, "I think the press conference went splendidly. In my opinion, it was a resounding sess."

    Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi turned to him with a shocked expression upon hearing this, but didn''t say anything and soon looked away again.

    Pang Hai continued where Deng Ruifeng left off. "There were so many renowned scientists gathered here at this press conference, but not a single one of them was able to point out any holes in our project, this is already a resounding sess! Yanluo Qin, I was fortunate enough to have participated in the Berlin Nuclear Energy Industry Conference, and there were a total of four conference halls, every single one of which housed extremely intense wars of words! The debates were extremely fierce, and there were even many professors who only delivered short addresses before being stumped by the questions raised against them, forcing them to leave the stage in disgrace. In contrast, the academic society of the underworld is far gentler."

    "You only think that because you don''t know the core reasons behind their attitude!" Lu Ban interjected in a forlorn voice. "If we had continued reading the first part of the report to the very end, we would''ve been utterly disgraced just like the professors you mentioned."

    "There''s no need to be so agitated, Mr. Lu," Qin Ye said as he gently set down his teacup. "At the very least, we won the opening battle, didn''t we?"

    "How could we not be agitated, Lord Qin?!" This was the first time that Zu Chongzhi had ever cut Qin Ye off like this, and he rose to his feet before extending a deep bow as he said, "You''re even more aware than we are of the consequences of disying that unit! Back when we were assembling our trump cards, we didn''t even count that unit as one of them! That''s not something that can be shown to the world unless there''s absolutely no other choice! Lord Qin, we''re willing toy down our reputations and endure shame and criticism for the greater good! By disying that unit to everyone, we''ve ced ourselves in a dire situation!"

    Qin Ye turned to Zu Chongzhi with a surprised expression, and Zu Chongzhi looked straight into his eyes with pure sincerity and urgency.

    They really were willing to set aside their reputations, and they didn''t care about how the world saw them. Furthermore, they were willing to make these sacrifices even before experimentation into the new energy resource had begun.

    Qin Ye''s smile slowly faded, and only then did he turn toward the three professors, who werepletely befuddled by the exchange they were witnessing. "The three of you have only juste into contact with the important figures of the underworld, so there are still many things that you have to learn from your seniors."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he turned to Zhao Yun and said, "I''ll give the exnation, you fill in the gaps. Due to the fact that you haven''te into contact with significant figures in the world for the past few years, your political senses have been dulled. That part of Gui Xu has allowed us to survive this press conference unscathed, but Xu Fu''s energy resource is one that requires materials from both the underworld and the mortal realm, so there''s still a very long way to go until we can make it an energy resource that can be created solely in the underworld. As such, that part of Gui Xu isn''t actually anywhere near as significant as it''s believed to be. However, that''s not the most important concern."

    He cast his gaze out the window toward the bustling press conference venue as he continued, "Disying a prototype makes up for all of the holes in our presentation, thereby allowing us to endure this Great Revtion Debate, but it''s only going to create greater problems for us to face in the future."

    The three professors'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and they seemed to have thought of the problem as well.

    Seeing as they already had a "prototype", they were essentially going to be forced to release the corresponding statistics and data.

    All of the scientists of the entire world were going to be scrutinizing them, and they were going to be under constant pressure to release more details. Essentially, the research and development team was going to be roasted over a figurative open me!

    The opening victory had been secured, but at what cost? From this point onward, the pressure being exerted upon them would potentially be able to crush them at any moment!

    "Do you know what this entails?" Qin Ye withdrew his gaze before turning to all of the researchers in the room. "Our Cathayan Underworld hasn''t even begun our research and development yet, but the rest of the world thinks that we''ve already developed a prototype. Our perceived progress and actual progress are aplete mismatch. If the other nations take this as the truth and begin to ask about the Cathayan Underworld''s framework base stations, sites for power nts, equipment, and even whether we need things like wind power and hydropower, how do we respond?"

    Deng Ruifeng drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and theherfire in his eyes began to flicker slightly.

    It wasn''t that he couldn''t think of all of this himself, it was just that due to his long absence from political affairs, his instincts in this area had been dulled. With Qin Ye spelling everything out for him, he immediately realized just how perilous their situation had be.

    Indeed, they had managed to weather this storm, but just as Qin Ye had said, they were perceived to have already developed a working prototype, how were they supposed to respond to inquiries made by other nations based on that assumption?

    If they were to just give random answers and the other nations did as they were told, only for the infrastructure that they set up to be aplete mismatch with the new energy resource, who was going to reimburse those nations for the money and resources they poured into the construction projects? At that point, even if the Cathayan Underworld were to sessfully develop the new energy resource, it would still be the public enemy of the entire world!

    If they didn''t respond, then the expectations would bepounded further and further, eventually transforming into immense pressure from all sides. The longer they stalled, the less patience the other underworlds were going to have, and once their patience ran out and the Cathayan Underworld still hadn''t developed the new energy resource, its reputation, which had only just recovered slightly, would suffer a devastating blow. If that were to happen, the Cathayan Underworld would truly be dancing on a knife''s edge!

    "Now that the other underworlds are under the opinion that we''ve already developed a prototype, they''ll be thinking that it''ll only take four or five more years at most toplete the new energy resource, but in reality, our research hasn''t even begun yet! The duration of my original n was supposed to be 10 to 15 years! Even though we''ve made sufficient preparations, we''ve still underestimated just how much attention the prospect of a new energy resource has received from the rest of the world. If it weren''t for how perilous the first part of the presentation was turning out to be, I wouldn''t have ended that segment prematurely, and I certainly wouldn''t have disyed that fragment of Gui Xu to the world."

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh as he massaged the beaded bracelet in his hand in a slow and methodical manner. "What do we do from here?"

    Indeed, what were they going to do?

    Silence.

    A short whileter, a faint chuckle suddenly rang out.

    It hade from Pang Hai.

    A faint smile had appeared on his face, and it was growing wider and wider as he suddenly burst intoughter. "What are we so worried about, everyone? We don''t need to discuss what to do, the choice has already been made for us! We have no choice but to do our best! We just have to put everything on the line and give it everything we have!"

    His words washed over everyone like an enlightening breeze, and several secondster, both Deng Ruifeng and Xu Chengyang smiled as thetter said, "Indeed, we just have to do our best! It''s not like we haven''t been in a situation like this before. Several decades ago, when we were working in the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and artificial satellite projects, we had no blueprints or any information to work with. Our backs were against the wall, and the entire world had already written us off, but what happened in the end?"

    The three professors were clearly reinvigorated upon hearing this, having been reminded of the fighting days of their youth. It was as if the soul of the scientist within them had been awakened.

    Qin Ye was also very encouraged to see this. Regardless of what happened in the future, it was definitely a good start for everyone to reignite their passion and drive for science.

    Productivity was going to bepletely different between active research and passive research! He was very d that these schrs were able to rekindle their passion and drive, particrly when facing such a daunting task.

    They had to be able to present a finished product during the world trade conference in 10 years!

    The entire world was scrutinizing them, and they had to get the job done at all cost!

    "You''re right, there''s nothing to think about here," Qin Ye said with a carefree smile. "I''ll be with you every step of the way!"

    You focus on the research, I''ll use my Yama-King level Yin energy to break down Yin runes for you. No matter how many Yin runes you need, I''ll make sure to keep theming!

    This was the first monumental event in the history of the new administration,parable with the unification of the nation, and it was indeed time to give it everything they had!

    There was no point in thinking about whether this was an achievable task. There was no path for retreat, so the only way to proceed was to advance!

    After all, fortune always favored the brave, did it not?

    "Once we return to the Cathayan Underworld, the research and development team will immediately be founded! I want to see the team progressing in the right direction within a month, can you do that?"

    "Yes!"

    Back then, they had developed the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the artificial satellite from scratch! These circumstances were far more favorable as they had Xu Fu''s notes at their disposal, so there was no reason why this was beyond their reach!

    Only the Cathayan Underworld was capable of ushering in this new era!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The waves of the seapped at the side of the ship while R?ntgen stared at the man in front of him with a surprised expression.

    He was very much taken aback by their sudden arrival.

    "You seem surprised," Archimedes said with a smile. "Rest assured, I bear no ill will."

    "Of course, I didn''t suspect that you bore any ill will toward me, I was simply taken aback. Ah, please take a seat!" R?ntgen had arge cabin to himself, and it was quite a spacious room. Scientists of his caliber were given exceptional treatment all over the world, and there were even premium cigars and wine in his cabin.

    "Would you like something to drink, Sir? I have 50-year-old red wine from the Polly Vineyard. It''s delightfully warm on the tongue but is also very rich and full-bodied..."

    "That''s alright, I''ll pass," Archimedes replied with a smile. "There''s no need for formalities. I''m sure you can tell that I have something to discuss with you."

    R?ntgen smiled as he sat down beside Archimedes in a respectful manner, then asked, "What can I help you with, Senior?"

    "You won''t just be helping me," Archimedes replied with a benevolent smile. "We''ll be helping each other here. Let me keep this brief. Mr. R?ntgen, don''t you feel like the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference was a little strange?"

    After a few seconds of silence, R?ntgen''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I do get that feeling. There was no need for them to have presented the second part of the report, that could''ve been presented separately during the new energy resource outlook press conference. Also, the second part of the report rendered the assumptions and exnations in the first part a little redundant. However, they did manage to bring out a prototype in the end. As one of the top scientists in the history of the world, I''m sure you''re aware that concrete evidence like this cannot be refuted. In my eyes, that changes everything, and I''m willing to overlook the strange way in which the press conference was held."

    Archimedes immediately asked, "Then why was the first part of their presentation so shaky? Forgive me for being blunt, but the first part of the presentation made it seem as if they had only recently begun working on this project and were trying to secure investment from the rest of the world before any progress has even been made! However, a nation like the Cathayan Underworld shouldn''t have to count on investments from other nations. The Cathayan Underworld is renowned as the most powerful underworld, and its power is undeniable to anyone. They''ve also experienced countless important asions throughout history, so why is that this press conference was held in such an illogical fashion?"

    R?ntgenRontgen''s brows furrowed even deeper upon hearing this. He didn''t like to think about anything outside of his research, and he was getting a little impatient as he picked up a cigar, then lit it before taking a puff. "What are you trying to say?"

    "I''m saying that they''re hiding something!" Archimedes replied as he looked straight into R?ntgen''s eyes. "Right now, I''m not standing before you as a death god of the Argosian Underworld. Instead, I''m having a discussion with you purely as a fellow scientist. Have you considered this possibility? What if, during the press conference, they discovered that they didn''t have the theoretical framework to back up the prototype they presented, which is why they made ast-second decision to switch to the second part of the presentation? In that case, the strange sequence of the presentations can be exined."

    R?ntgen shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and the cigar in his hand fell onto the ground as he stared at Archimedes with an incredulous expression.

    If that were true, then the question that arose from this would be why was the Cathayan Underworld''s theoretical framework unable to support the prototype it had presented?

    There was only one possible answer: the entire project was nothing more than a pipe dream! In that case, that press conference would''ve also been aplete hoax!

 Chapter 1002: The Seed of Doubt

    <h4>Chapter 1002: The Seed of Doubt</h4>

    "That''s impossible!" R?ntgen immediately countered. "If that''s true, then their actions would lead to the Cathayan Underworld being denounced by the entire world! Even one of the four pirs wouldn''t be able to handle such severe consequences! Don''t forget that we have the power to deny them ess to our patents!"

    A hint of temptation crept into Archimedes''s voice as he said, "Perhaps this would''ve been impossible in the past, but what about now? How many nations are displeased with the Cathayan Underworld''s return to the center of the international political stage? Why are they allowed to simplye back and take back their original position after a century-long absence? How many nations are dreaming of taking the Cathayan Underworld''s spot for themselves? In this situation, they need to prove themselves, and what better way to do that than to release a new energy resource? If they could pull this off, the Cathayan Underworld would return straight to the top of the world! Do you think the third King Yanluo would be willing to concede inferiority to his predecessors?"

    R?ntgen''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he offered no response. He bent down to pick up the dropped cigar, then snuffed it out in his ashtray before taking a seat again as he smiled and said, "That pure spection, and it''s not enough to prove that the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference was a hoax. After all, everyone saw the prototype powered by the new energy resource."

    "Are you sure you saw it?" Archimedes stood up and slowly made his way behind R?ntgen before gently resting his hands on R?ntgen''s shoulders. "Why is it that I recall that those Yin soldiers prevented everyone from getting a good look at the unit? Did you really see it?"

    He leaned down beside R?ntgen, and his long white hair pooled down like a waterfall as he asked, "Did you get to touch it? Are you sure it was real?"

    R?ntgen heaved a faint sigh. "Senior Archimedes, the academic world is independent because it has no intention of interfering with any nation''s political affairs, regardless of whether it''s the four pirs or any other underworld."

    "No, no, no, Mr. R?ntgen, I have no intention of forcing to you involve yourself in political affairs. Instead, I''m approaching this from a purely academic perspective and asking the most basic questions."

    R?ntgen turned to look straight in Archimides''s eyes. "Are you really still a schr?"

    Archimedes replied with a smile, "I always have been and always will be. If there''s a problem with the prototype unit they presented at the end, then that would exin the illogical procession of the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference, would it not?"

    R?ntgen fell silent upon hearing this.

    After a long while, he finally said, "But this is only a guess, and you have no evidence to back up your assumption. Even though the unit was far away, we could still see it clearly, and the light that it was emitting really was powered by an energy resource rather than Yin energy. These two things are fundamentally different, and no one, not even death gods, can use Yin energy to generate the same type of light as that from an energy resource. That would go against thews of the world."

    Archimedes heaved a faint sigh in response. "Mr. R?ntgen, you have been one of the leading scientists in the underworld for the past century, have you not paid any attention to worldly affairs? A death god may not be able to do this, but what about a being above the death god level with King Yanluo''s seal to assist them? There are many things in this world that only the Cathayan Underworld has, my friend..."

    The room fell silent again.

    Only after a full three minutes had passed did R?ntgen ask in a hesitant voice, "What is your point?"

    "I have no other intention than to issue you a friendly reminder," Archimedes said as a serious look appeared on his face. "I also want to see the emergence of a new energy resource, but we can''t ept a fake new energy resource used to deceive the rest of the world for political power! If they dare to do this, they will be a disgrace to the entire academic world and will be abandoned by the entire underworld! If something isn''t real, it won''t be able to withstand the test of time. We have always held the United Underworlds Scientific Research Conventions, and as always, we will be rigorously scrutinizing the subsequent reports released by the Cathayan Underworld. If the new energy resource is fake, then the contents of their reports will definitely be severelycking in substance, and many things will also begin to rise to the surface!"

    Silence descended upon the room again.

    Several secondster, R?ntgen said, "I''m sure you''re aware that we''ve establishedmittees for each region."

    Archimedes smiled and replied, "I''m aware of that. If I''m not mistaken, you''re a part of the Wisdom Scale Committee, one of thergest of thosemittees. In addition to that, given your des in the field of physics, you are worthy of acting as chairman of themittee."

    R?ntgen nodded and said, "I''ll notify mymittee of this. Also, we''ll be holding in-depth discussions of the subsequent reports released by the Cathayan Underworld, and we''re counting on you to examine the reports as well. However, I can only represent myself here when I say that your arguments on this matter do have some merit."

    Archimedes smiled in response before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind.

    R?ntgen lit another cigar, and after a long while, the door to his cabin was opened, following which several middle-aged men strode into the room. "What did hee to see you for? He may be one of the founding fathers of mathematics, physics, and even astrology, which makes him worthy of our respect, but he no longer belongs in our circle."

    Instead of answering the question, R?ntgen set down his cigar as he replied, "From now on, we''ll be closely monitoring all of the academic reports released by the Cathayan Underworld in rtion to the Zhu Rong n and the new energy resource."

    The group of schrs exchanged a few nces, but didn''t ask why. Instead, they merely shrugged in response. "Alright, if that''s what you want. Truth be told, I came to see you for the exact same reason. For some reason, we just received a message from the Chapel of Truth and the Omnipotent Hall not long ago, requesting us to pay close attention to the subsequent reports released by the Cathayan Underworld on the new energy resource..."

    R?ntgen faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face, and he heaved a faint sigh before casting his gaze out the window at the rippling waves and bright, blue sky.

    "Everyone ims to be pure scientists, but who can actually prevent themselves from being tainted by worldly affairs?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Are there any reports of any of the top consortiums making investments?"

    "No."

    "What about the schrs? Have any of them applied to assist in the research and development of the new energy resource."

    "I''m... afraid not."

    In the King Yanluo''s office, Qin Ye was quickly reading through a stack of files while Wang Chenghao was answering his questions.

    It had already been 20 days since the Great Revtion Debate, and the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld had already sprung into action. Firstly, Zhao Yun was using his Yin energy to search for brilliant minds in the fields of physics, chemistry, and mathematics from all over the nation. After that was an initial selection process thatsted around half a month, running day and night without rest. At the same time, the logistics department was gathering resources from all over the nation, the most important of which were the 7,842 types of ore, each of which was being sent in 10-kilogram batches to Everburn from all parts of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Everyone knew that the new administration was up to something, but nothing had been revealed. Only the insiders knew what was going on, and the entire Cathayan Underworld was extremely busy at work.

    Setting aside the low-level Emissaries of Hell, even Qin Ye, the King Yanluo himself, was being buried under documents and files every single day, giving him no free time to do anything else.

    Upon hearing Wang Chenghao''s response, Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he set down his pen. Several secondster, he continued approving documents as he asked in a calm voice, "What about the three major research institutes? Have they asked about our progress?"

    "No..."

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh before setting down his pen again, then massaged his own pulsing temples as he turned to Wang Chenghao before asking, "What about the golden ship from the Abbasid Consortium? Surely that''s arrived, right?"

    "It has," Wang Chenghao replied. "10 days ago, it was docked outside the Array of the Nine Gods, and it''s currently docked at Ashmound Port. Would you like to take a look at it?"

    Qin Ye shook his head before standing up to do some stretches. As he did so, a string of cracks rang out from his joints, and he suddenly said, "Let me ask you a question. Why is it that our press conference was such a resounding sess, and we even managed to bring out a prototype powered by the new energy resource, but everyone seems to have be disinterested in the project? Isn''t that counterintuitive?"

    Indeed, the entire world''s attitude toward the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource seemed to havepletely cooled down, even though there had been such intense interest in it during the press conference itself.

    A serious look appeared on Wang Chenghao''s face as he replied, "It''s because they don''t trust us."

    "Correct." Qin Ye turned around and cast his gaze out the window toward Everburn. The North Yin Pavilion was the tallest building in the city, and from his vantage point, he could see the thriving city that Everburn had transformed into during the past few years, filled with antiquated buildings of all sizes and descriptions.

    "So why don''t they trust us?"

    "Because someone is intentionally arousing their suspicions." Before Wang Chenghao had a chance to reply, the door was opened, and Lu Ban and Deng Ruifeng made their way into the room with exhausted expressions. Qin Ye gestured for them to take a seat, and they didn''t refuse as they practically copsed onto their chairs.

    Lu Ban''s eyes were a little bloodshot, and theherfire within them had dimmed significantly. He had to see every single one of the members of the Resurgence Team in person in order to assess their skills and abilities. All Yin spirits who were deemed to have suitable skills for the project and were willing to participate had been transported to Everburn by Zhao Yun, and the selection process had been extremely grueling for Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi, as well as the three professors.

    Deng Ruifeng was utterly exhausted as he sat in his chair and handed a stack of documents over to Wang Chenghao.

    Wang Chenghao passed the documents over to Qin Ye, who immediately began to inspect them.

    This was a spreadsheet containing the names of all of the Resurgence Team''s members!

    This selection process had originally been nned to take a month, but it had beenpletely several days ahead of schedule. It had to be said that when it came to work ethic, the early scientists of Cathay were inferior to no one!

    The odds had always been against them, so they were always having to work extra hard to catch up with the rest of the world.

    Deng Ruifeng picked up the teacup Wang Chenghao had offered to him before downing its contents in one go. This was one of the most expensive teas in the underworld, yet it tasted no different from water to him at this moment in time. After gulping down the cup of tea, he seemed to have been slightly reinvigorated as he said, "There are a total of 1,200 Yin spirits. The five of us will be the only decision-makers, and below us are 12 supervisors overseeing different parts of the project. Below them are the specific groups responsible for different duties such as calction, experimentation, purification, etc. Thates to a total of over 800 Yin spirits, among which 97 are group leaders, and the rest are the support staff."

    "You don''t need to worry about the support staff," Qin Ye said as he scanned his gaze rapidly over the documents. "I''ll take care of that myself. If you want anything, just say the word, and it''ll be guaranteed to be sent to you within an hour."

    Their backs were against the wall, and the level of urgency had to be at an all-time high. If anyone were to dy the progress of the project with tardiness or ipetence, then he wouldn''t mind severely punishing them in order to set an example for everyone else.

    "Good." Lu Ban heaved a sigh of relief before continuing where Deng Ruifeng had left off. "All of the team leaders are academicians, while the supervisors are roughly equivalent in skills and abilities with the Changjiang Schrs of the mortal realm. As for the individual group leaders, they''re all roughly at professor level, and all of the group members mostly consist of university lecturers or individuals who had worked long stints in the relevant industries, such as researchers in the mortal realm''s chemical nts. We handpicked every single one of them, so you can be assured that they''ll be up to the task."

    Qin Ye closed the list of names as a chill ran down his spine.

    Is it finally all about to begin?

    They were finally going to embark on the journey toplete this project, which was going to shape the entire world, and the scorching anticipation and sense of achievement made him feel as if his soul were about to be set alight!

    "You just said someone is intentionally arousing suspicions, what did you mean by that?" Qin Ye asked as he picked up his teacup.

    "Please take a look at this," Lu Ban replied as he pulled out a folded magazine before handing it to Qin Ye.

    It was the "Scientific Eye", and this edition was released 10 days ago.

 Chapter 1003: First Inklings of Doubt

    <h4>Chapter 1003: First Inklings of Doubt</h4>

    It was a red magazine with an omniscient eye printed on the cover, and around the eye were written the words "Scientific Eye" in thenguages of the four pirs.

    All of the scientists in the academic world knew that cirction for this magazine was very limited, but it represented the peak of scientific journalism, and all articles published on the magazine were definitely worthy of close attention.

    On this asion, the headline on the cover was: "Does the New Energy Resource Truly Exist?"

    The author of the article was none other than Archimedes.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon seeing this before opening the magazine to read the article.

    "A new energy resource is an eternal pursuit for the world, both in the mortal realm and the underworld. During the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource press conference held a week ago, we were fortunate enough to have witnessed the foundation for the future. However, after the conference, I couldn''t help but ask myself: ''did we really see the foundation of the future?''. Perhaps many of you will wonder what there is to doubt given that we''ve already been presented with a decisive prototype unit. However, all true scientists know that on the path to pursuing knowledge, there are two factors that determine how far a scientist will go. The first factor is their wealth of knowledge. Only with sufficient foundational knowledge will one be able to do great things. The second factor is logic."

    "This is quite well-written," Qin Ye remarked. "Did someone else write this in his stead?"

    Zu Chongzhi shook his head in response. "As one of the founding fathers of many fields of science in the world, Mr. Archimedes would have no trouble writing something like this. In fact, he''s always one of the chief editors of the Scientific Eye."

    "I see," Qin Ye sighed in a forlorn manner.

    Archimedes was indeed a brilliant mind, but given their respective stances, his brilliance made him a troublesome adversary to the Cathayan Underworld.

    Given the opportunity, he wouldn''t mind stomping this pioneer of the past deep into the dirt.

    He continued reading.

    "There are no concrete parameters to describe the logic of a schr, but all top-tier scientists should be aware that when producing an invention, the first step is to think. One''s wealth of knowledge determines the depth of their thinking, and after thates the development of logic. Why is something happening? Why isn''t something happening? What determines whether something happens or not? All of the questions that arise during the process of invention can only be answered through a sound logical framework and extensive experimentation. During the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference, I saw a type of logic, namely wed logic. I don''t understand why the Cathayan Underworld held the press conference in the fashion that it did. ording to normal logic, once a decisive prototype was developed, the sequence of the report should''ve been very simple and smooth. However, what all of the scientists at the press conference saw was an iplete first segment. Mr. R?ntgen and Mr. ckett pointed out some fundamental ws with that first segment of the presentation, but they didn''t receive any convincing answers. This shouldn''t be how a press conference is held if there is already a viable prototype in existence."

    Is he finally about to get to the point? Qin Ye calmly flipped over the page. Archimedes''s article was very long, but he had enough patience to read it to the end.

    "Right as I was wondering about what stage the Cathayan Underworld had reached in its research and development and whether they required assistance from us, the events that unfolded next further deepened my suspicions. The first segment of the presentation had just concluded, and they attributed everything to King Yanluo''s Seal. However, they then suddenly began to talk about the new energy resource''s future outlook in the second segment! My first thought was that they were trying to distract and deceive everyone, but out of respect for science, I continued listening. The second segment was dedicated to the investors, and it was quite a lengthy segment, but they read out the entire thing, even though it waspletely unsuitable for the situation at the time. As for the third segment, there wasn''t even a verbal presentation, all they did was bring out the new energy resource unit! At the time, I was stunned, but also perplexed. What kind of mindset and logic could''ve led to such a bemusing sequence of presentation? If they had a prototype, then they should''ve brought it out to begin with instead of wasting everyone''s time. Were they trying to make a fool out of all of the scientists in attendance? After pondering this matter further, I decided that this wasn''t the case. There were some clear holes in the first segment of the presentation, and that made the situation even more perplexing. Why is it that an inventor is unable to exin their own invention? This made me think that the sequence of the presentation had never been settled on to begin with. It felt as if they had moved on to the second part as a spur-of-the-moment decision in order to avoid the holes in the first part from being scrutinized any further. In the end, it seemed like they had been forced to bring out a prototype. However, if the prototype were genuine, then why would there have been holes in the first segment of their presentation? I thought about this for a very long time, and in the end, a harrowing possibility sprang into my mind. What if there are some elements of falsehood in both the prototype and the entire press conference? That would perfectly exin the abnormalities in the press conference! Please note that this is only a theory of mine that is not supported by any evidence. What is furtherpounding my doubts are the existence of things unique to the Cathayan Underworld, such as King Yanluo''s seal and a being above the Yama-King level. We can specte all we want about what these things are capable of, but no one knows exactly what they can do aside from the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo. Also, even the prototype presented at the end wasn''t made avable for close inspection to any of the scientists! Of course, I''m sure the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t deceive the entire underworld over something like this. Otherwise, all of the international patents would be shut off to them. The reputation of a scam artist isn''t something that one of the four pirs should carry. ln any case, the way to discern the truth is very simple. The United Underworlds Scientific Research Committee will be keeping a close eye on the monthly and quarterly reports issued by the Cathayan Underworld surrounding the new energy resource. We warmly embrace every piece of new technology, but we definitely won''t let any liars and chatans get away with deceiving everyone."

    Including the attached images, this article was a full three pages in length.

    "This wasn''t written by Archimedes himself," Qin Ye said in a calm voice as he closed the magazine. "He approved of the publication of the article, but it had to have been written by a foreign affairs official of the Argosian Underworld. The article seems to be quite mild, but a lot of ambiguous wording is used, as well as a lot of inducive vocabry, which leads me to believe that this wasn''t written by him."

    "Regardless of whether it was written by him, what do we do now, Your Excellency?" Lu Ban asked in a concerned manner.

    "We ignore it," Qin Ye replied with tightly furrowed brows. "We don''t have time to be addressing spection from the outside world. Back when I decided to move on to the second part of the presentation prematurely, I asked you if you were willing to put your reputation on the line."

    Lu Ban smiled as he replied, "And my answer remains the same, I''m not afraid to have my name dragged through the mud."

    Deng Ruifeng didn''t say anything, but he was filled with genuine admiration toward Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi.

    In terms of professionalism, they were perhaps superior to these ancient schrs, but if the same decision were left to him, then he would have to think about it for at least a day or two before making his choice.

    He had also witnessed Qin Ye''s possession of Lu Ban, and this meant that theirmunication had been extremely brief. Lu Ban had agreed to do this without a second thought, and this wasn''t just going to be a slight dent on his reputation.

    At the very least, they wouldn''t be able to produce reports concurrent with their perceived progress for the next two to three years, and no one knew exactly how long it would take for them to catch up.

    During that time, he was going to be known as a disgrace and a chatan to the entire academic world!

    Prior to this, he had thought that either Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, or he would''ve been more fit to act as team leader, but that thought hadpletely faded now.

    With great power came great responsibility, and he was d that he was being shielded from such a massive responsibility.

    "Rest assured, I will repay you handsomely for the faith you''ve ced in me," Qin Ye vowed in a serious manner. "We''ll take a break for three days, following which the Resurgence Team will be officially founded!"

    Is it finally about to begin?

    Deng Ruifeng repressed the tumultuous emotions in his heart as he asked, "May I ask what the specific location is going to be?"

    Originally, the Resurgence Team had been tasked with deciding on a location, but in the end, Qin Ye had changed his mind and taken on this task himself.

    "The location will be Outer Mongolia," he replied with a smile. "The fourth and sixth departments of Yin Construction are all situated there. The Yin Mountains of the underworld are different from those of the mortal realm as it''s a mountain range naturally formed by the weather. General Zhao has already reinforced it three times, so it''ll be able to withstand all of the experiments run during the development of the new energy resource."

    Both Deng Ruifeng and Lu Ban were quite taken aback to hear this.

    Qin Ye wasn''t perfect, and in their eyes, there were many areas where he wascking, particrly in his administrative decision-making.

    An example of this was how he had left Outer Mongoliapletely untouched after conquering it.

    All he had done was mark it as territory of the Cathayan Underworld and established a trade route to the region. Aside from that, he didn''t even send a new governor there, nor reced any of the officials at any level. As a result, Outer Mongolia only really belonged to the Cathayan Underworld on an in-name basis.

    Wang Chenghao said, "Your Excellency, the name of the current death god of Inner Mongolia is Chivu Adam Sokhor, an evil ghost from Outer Mongolia. Following the demise of Mongke Tengri, he was fortunate enough to have absorbed most of the power of worship, thereby bing a new death god. During the past few years, he''s already submitted around a dozen subjugation applications and made it very clear that he''s willing to ept any arrangement our Cathayan Underworld has for him. On top of that, he''s made efforts to soothe the unease that''s been brewing in Outer Mongolia, and during these past few years, Outer Mongolia''s GDP hasn''t dropped by much. Would you like to see a record of his political achievements?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response as he took a sip of tea. "Is the GDP of Outer Mongolia going straight into our treasury?"

    "Yes."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response. "Looks like he''s a smart man. You don''t need to concern yourself with this, Su Daji has already gone to Outer Mongolia. Bring Chivu''s personal file to me tonight, I don''t need to see it right now."

    He then turned to the two schrs and dered, "In 10 days, all of Outer Mongolia''sherworldly citizens will be vacated and be absorbed into the Cathayan Underworld. All of Outer Mongolia will be deserted, and the entire Yin Mountains will be your research and development institute."

    Deng Ruifeng drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    He wasn''t stunned by the gesture that Qin Ye was making. Instead, he was stunned by the realization of why Qin Ye had left Outer Mongoliapletely untouched for so many years.

    Even though Mongke Tengri had passed away, there had to be some loyal followers of his left behind, and Qin Ye wanted to see if these followers were going to do anything. If they were to step out of line, then the oue was certainly not going to be pretty for them.

    At the same time, the Yin Mountains had been Qin Ye''s true objective all along!

    The Yin Mountains were a natural border between Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, the former of which was a vast desert, and Deng Ruifeng was extremely familiar with deserts as they were natural nuclear testing sites!

    The threat of nuclear radiation meant that nuclear weapons couldn''t be tested in normal areas. For example, in the mortal realm, the first atomic bomb that had been detonated at Lop Nor had exploded on the Gobi Desert at 3 PM on the 16th of October, 1964.

    This meant that following the conclusion of the new energy resource''s development, they were going to take advantage of the natural location and the foundation forged by the new energy resource to develop nuclear weapons as the next step!

 Chapter 1004: Occupying the Yin Mountains

    <h4>Chapter 1004: upying the Yin Mountains</h4>

    Indeed, Qin Ye had made no attempt to hide his own strategic intent, and this was clearly evidenced by the location he had chosen.

    He had no intention of rebuilding Outer Mongolia at all. During the divine war, Outer Mongolia had been severely ravaged, and the current Cathayan Underworld didn''t possess the power to rebuild the area, so instead, he was just going to use it as an experimentation site. The Yin spirits of Outer Mongolia were going to be absorbed into the Cathayan Underworld, therebypletely erasing the religion of Mongke Tengri, and he could also take this opportunity to weed out all of Mongke Tengri''s remaining followers.

    There could only be one faith in the Cathayan Underworld, and that belonged to him, the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Having served as Qin Ye''s secretary for so long, Wang Chenghao had clearly also interpreted Qin Ye''s intentions. "Chivu has followed your orders and kept records of all of the rebellions that have taken ce, most of which have already been quelled, and only a small proportion of them are still ongoing. Should I bring you those records along with Chivu''s personal records tonight?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    "Your Excellency, there''s something else I must speak to you about. What should we do about the monthly and quarterly reports that we should be releasing?" Deng Ruifeng asked.

    "Don''t release a thing." The one who had replied to him was Lu Ban rather than Qin Ye. "There''s no need to make a big deal out of it, just say that we still haven''t finishedpiling our data or that our research has reached an important juncture."

    He turned to Qin Ye as he chuckled, "Dere the decision under my name, I''ll handle all of the criticism thates our way."

    Deng Ruifeng opened his mouth to say something, but remained silent in the end as he cupped his fist in a salute before extending a deep bow toward Lu Ban.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Outer Mongolian Underworld.

    During the divine war that had taken ce following the Russian Underworld''s invasion, the Mongolian Underworld''s capital city, anbaatar, had been virtually razed to the ground. Even after five to six years of development, the only thing that had been reconstructed was a set of sturdy city walls, and inside the city walls were rows upon rows of tents.

    At the very center was avish golden tent. Even though anbaatar had endured an invasion and hadn''t received any support from the Cathayan Underworld, those in power always had special rights regardless of the situation.

    The golden tent was veryrge, taking up roughly 100 square meters of area, and its interior was decorated with crude beast bones. The floor was paved with bluestone arranged in an orderly fashion, and there were ornaments embedded with gold, agate, and jade everywhere, giving the tent a pronounced ancient Cathayan Underworld style. It was clear from this that the owner of the tent was a Yin spirit who very much longed for the Cathayan Underworld.

    On a wooden bench, covered in a piece of snowy white beast hide, at the center of the tent sat a tall and thin man wearing Mongolian attire, drinking some kumis.

    He was an Anitya Hellguard, which already ced him at the very top in a ce like Outer Mongolia. His face had a sickly yellowplexion, and he had a long beard that was arranged into braids, while his hair was arranged into a bun of the Cathayan style, giving him quite a strange appearance of contrasting styles.

    Beside him were several chairs, upon which were seated some other Yin spirits. After having a few cups of kumis, the tall man sighed, "It''s been five and a half years... The Cathayan Underworld still hasn''t issued any response to us, have they abandoned us?"

    "Surely not..." one of the Yin spirits said with tightly furrowed brows. "All of our yearly GDP goes directly to the Cathayan Underworld''s treasury..."

    "Then why hasn''t Everburn given us a response yet?" The tall man set down his cup as he sighed, "This is the Cathayan Underworld we''re talking about, we can''t pass up any opportunity to join such a prestigious underworld."

    Indeed, who wouldn''t want to join one of the four pirs, particrly an underworld like Mongolia, which was stuck right in between the Cathayan Underworld and the Russian Underworld.

    They didn''t want to have to experience the pain of watching their nation fall again, and they certainly weren''t going to join the Russian Underworld, but why was it that the Cathayan Underworld was refusing to respond to them?

    Right at this moment, his expression suddenly stiffened as he cast an astonished gaze out of his tent.

    He wasn''t the only one, all of the Yin spirits in the tent shuddered before looking out of the tent in unison.

    At the same time, an indescribable sense of horror began to well up in their hearts. It was as if they were mice facing the being at the very top of the food chain!

    The cups in their hands were trembling incessantly, and all of a sudden, the entire golden tent began to sway and flutter amid gusts of fierce wind.

    There was someone far more powerful than them outside the tent!

    Who could it possibly be?

    "Lord Chivu..." Everyone turned toward the tall man at the center of the tent, and he gritted his teeth tightly before standing up and making his way outside.

    The closer he drew to the entrance of the tent, the more overwhelming the fear in his heart became. He had never felt such fierce Yin wind before, and he felt as if his soul were about to be snuffed out. There was someone outside, and as soon as he emerged from his tent, he woulde face to face with them!

    Right as he arrived at the entrance of the tent, the curtain was suddenly flung open, and the other Yin spirits looked on in astonishment as their leader copsed to his knees and knelt down right at the entrance!

    "Lord Chivu!" They didn''t dare to hesitate any longer as they rushed toward Chivu at once, but in the instant they approached the entrance of the tent, all of them let loose cries of rm before also falling to their knees behind Chivu.

    Right outside the tent was a guard of honor consisting of 20 Yin spirits, standing in silence.

    Countless pieces of white paper money were fluttering through the sky, drifting down upon the pale-faced female servants. At the very center of the guard of honor was a sedan chair being carried by six burly hungry ghosts, upon which sat a regal figure. Ribbons of silk gauze were fluttering all around her, and Yin energy was drifting in all directions. The Yin spirits didn''t even dare to raise their heads to look at her!

    Right behind her was a wooden que, upon which the words "Imperial Envoy Su" were written in bold text. All of the Yin spirits present were too scared to even utter a single sound in her presence.

    Finally, an imperial envoy had arrived! The Cathayan Underworld imperial envoy whom they''d been waiting for day and night had finally arrived!

    However, now that this long-awaited moment was finally here, they were unable to say anything.

    Only after close to half a minute had passed did Chivu finally break the silence in a trembling voice. "We pay our respects to the esteemed divine envoy!"

    He then pressed his own forehead firmly against the ground, and the sea of Yin energy churning around the imperial envoy was making his soul sway unsteadily.

    "You''ve done very well, Chivu." A gentle voice rang out above his head. "You may stand up."

    "I wouldn''t dare!" Chivu immediately replied in a reverent voice.

    The woman above him seemed to be very pleased as she said, "Congrattions, you''ve passed our King Yanluo''s test. From this day forth, allherworldly citizens of Outer Mongolia are to gather at anbaatar to be taken by me to the Cathayan Underworld. You will all be citizens of the Cathayan Underworld and reside there as the Mongolian tribe. All of the capable figures among you will be distributed to all of the provinces and cities, where you will be official Emissaries of Hell."

    Her deration immediately sent a surge of tion running through all of the Yin spirits'' hearts, and Chivu was so excited that his lips were trembling as he hurriedly replied in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, esteemed King Yanluo!!"

    They were like seedlings waiting for rain, and they had already waited for over five years!

    During that time, they had done everything in their power to ensure that the productivity of their people could keep up with past GDP standards, and they were finally being rewarded for their tireless efforts!

    Are we finally going to be incorporated into the Cathayan Underworld?

    "These will be the roles assigned to you in the Cathayan Underworld." A series of golden scrollsnded in front of the Yin spirits. "I''ll be counting on you to take care of the rest from here."

    "Of course! We''ll do everything you say! Subordinate Chivu thanks King Yanluo for his great generosity!" Chivu kowtowed once again before finally rising unsteadily to his feet.

    His legs were trembling, but they were doing so from tion rather than fear!

    He finally caught a glimpse of the imperial envoy for the first time, and a hint of awe shed through his eyes before he lowered his head in a respectful manner. "We''ll prepare a wee banquet for you right away, esteemed divine envoy. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"

    She was beautiful, incredibly so, but he knew that this wasn''t a woman that he could lust for.

    "I am Su Daji," Su Daji replied with a smile. "There''s no need to arrange a banquet. This is a rather urgent matter, and all of the Yin spirits in Outer Mongolia are to be vacated within the next few days. I was sent here with the sole task of overseeing this matter, so I''m afraid I don''t have any time to be chatting further with you here, Mayor Chivu."

    I''m a mayor? Chivu tightened his grip around the scroll in his hand as if he were afraid that it would fly away.

    At the moment, he was the ruler of a nation, but he wasn''t dismayed in the slightest by the prospect of serving as a mayor in the Cathayan Underworld.

    It seemed like a massive demotion, but in his eyes, it was a blessing from the gods!

    "We''ll begin organizing everything right away!" Chivu replied as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute, then turned around with an excited expression to face his colleagues, who were still reeling from this ecstacy and astonishment. "Summon all of the city and county supervisors to see me in my tent right away! Hurry!!"

    "Yes!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time flew by very quickly.

    A piece of news spread through the entirety of Outer Mongolia like wildfire within just a single day!

    All Yin spirits of Outer Mongolia were to be evacuated and integrated into the Cathayan Underworld province of Inner Mongolia. The Cathayan Underworld had marked out 12 grasnds and was going to be constructing 12 cities within the next five years to house all of the Yin spirits of Outer Mongolia!

    There was going to be a mass migration!

    During the next two to three days, one teleportation array after another was constantly being activated. Su Daji was doing everything in her power toplete this task. She knew that both Qin Hui and herself had terrible reputations in a historical context, and she was very fortunate to have been given this task.

    This was her opportunity to make up for her past crimes!

    She wasn''t sparing any Yin energy, and troops from her Hungry Ghost Legion were guarding every single teleportation array. With her power as an Abyssal Prefect, it wasn''t too difficult a task to oversee Outer Mongolia, which was only around the size of a province. She was constantly conducting surveince over the entire region, and if any resistance arose, she made sure that it was quelled immediately.

    Due to the existence of a cultivation system, it was far easier and more convenient to enforce a mass migration than it was in the mortal realm, where a mass migration of a simr scale would most likely take years.

    A census would have to be conducted, following which woulde the negotiation of terms and the actual mass migration itself. Every single one of those steps was going to take a considerable amount of time, yet the process could be significantly abbreviated here.

    In particr, the people of Outer Mongolia had endured an invasion, and that trauma had left them with an innate fear toward high-grade underworld emissaries.

    Countlessherworldly citizens were pouring into the teleportation arrays, returning to the embrace of the mothend. Everyone had vacated their original homes to gather together, so they didn''t see the Yin soldiers that had arrived to upy thend of Outer Mongolia.

    The Yin soldiers were carrying no gs, and they didn''t appear to have set encampments. All of the encampments were situated within valleys, and the countless naturally formed caves in the Yin Mountains acted as the perfect hiding spots for them.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, anyone who came within a kilometer of this ce would be immediately shot down on the spot, regardless of who they were, and there was even an emergency contact array connected directly to Zhao Yun within the mountain range.

    Seven dayster.

    Within a certain valley, an extremely well-concealed teleportation array was shing incessantly as one Yin spirit after another emerged from it.

    They were led by none other than Lu Ban, Zu Chongzhi, Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, and Du Ruifeng!

 Chapter 1005: Commencement of Research

    <h4>Chapter 1005: Commencement of Research</h4>

    Behind the three professors were hundreds of researchers, and after emerging from the giant teleportation array, they began to inspect their surroundings with curious expressions.

    Is this where we''re going to be working from now on?

    The mortal realm identities of all of these researchers had been examined and verified by Death Inquisitors. At the same time, they had all signed a series of agreements, which included terms such as: all researchers were prohibited from leaving the Yin Mountains prior to the conclusion of the project.

    There was also a term that stated that all details of the project were to remain strictly confidential, with any attempt to leak information leading to immediate expulsion from the group and entry into the six paths of reincarnation.

    Following the conclusion of the project, all members of the research and development team would receive a mansion in either Everburn or Ashmound, as well as monthly pensions of no less than 8,000 Yin spirit stones. At the same time, they were going to receive bonuses between 500,000 and 5,000,000 Yin spirit stones depending on the role they yed in the project.

    "So this is where we''ll be working for an extended period from now on..." Zu Chongzhi mused as he cast his gaze toward the distance, as did Xu Chengyang and the others.

    All of the researchers who had just emerged from the teleportation array were climbing up to the peak of the mountain along the path that had just been chiseled out before looking into the distance with excited expressions. They were greeted by the sight of some sparse grasnds, followed by sand dunes and desert that stretched as far as the eyes could see. They were situated in lush greenery themselves, yet they were looking out at a bleak desert, and it made them feel as if they were peering into an unpredictable future.

    The future was a nk te, and they had to leave their mark on it.

    After a long while, Zu Chongzhi withdrew his gaze as he smiled and said, "I suggest that we organize a tree-nting activity once every week from here onward. Perhaps we''ll be able to see an oasis at the conclusion of this project."

    After that, he suddenly spread his arms open like an enthusiastic young man before yelling into the distance with all his might.

    His voice echoed throughout the entire basin like a p of rumbling thunder that was filled with scorching anticipation toward the future, as well as a sense of unease toward the uing project. His emotions were like a drop of ink that had fallen into water, and it quickly infected everyone.

    All of the Yin spirits, regardless of their age, cupped their hands around their mouths and roared at the vast desert in the distance, expelling all of their concerns, doubts, and anxiety through their voices.

    This ce was going to be their permanent home until the new energy resource was developed!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time flew by in a sh.

    When a person had a pursuit in life, the days would always pass by very quickly, but also in a very meaningful manner. This feeling was particrly exacerbated when there was a group of people working toward the same goal.

    ck ck ck... Secretary Jiang''s footsteps were echoing throughout the corridor.

    This was a corridor that waspletely devoid of daylight. The floor was etched with intricate dragon designs, while the ceiling bore engravings of resplendent phoenixes. There were alsonterns forged in the shape of dragon heads hanging on either side of the corridor, which was around 10 meters wide and five meters tall, but there was still an oppressive atmosphere in the corridor.

    Yin soldiers were situated along the corridor with very short intervals between them. These were the most elite Yin soldiers that the Cathayan Underworld had to offer, and they were all wearing armor forged from the carapace of blight vermin as they stood like stone statues on either side of the corridor. Despite how still they were at this moment, Secretary Jiang knew that even if he were to disy any inappropriate behavior here, the Yin soldiers would strike him down without any hesitation.

    This was the interior of the Yin Mountains, the more central area of the Cathayan Underworld''s Resurgence Team, and it had been named N¨¹wa. [1]

    The name was meant to entail creation and theing of a brand new era!

    At the end of the corridor was a tightly shut gate, and Secretary Jiang quickly made his way over to it before stopping in front of it.

    This was an antiquated bluestone gate with the image of a beastly head carved onto its surface. Eight Yin soldiers were standing in a row in front of the gate, and their hands were constantly resting on the hilts of their swords.

    In the instant that Secretary Jiang drew to a halt, a series ofplex runes quickly lit up on the gate, and two beams of blue light surged out of the beastly head''s eyes. The beams of light enveloped Secretary Jiang''s entire body, transforming his spiritual body into a state that was both illusory yet substantial at the same time.

    Secretary Jiang didn''t panic upon seeing this. Instead, he waited calmly in silence, and several secondster, the light slowly faded. A string of dull, mechanical noises then rang out from within the beastly head, and it slowly opened as the statuesque Yin soldiers standing in front of the gate finally broke their silence. "What have youe here for?"

    "We''ve already reached the end of the year, and it''s been about eight months since Yanluo Qin first arrived at the Yin Mountains. The end-of-year wrap-up meeting is scheduled soon, and due to the special nature of this year, the meeting is going to be held in a conference hall in the Yin Mountains." Secretary Jiang then pointed at the messenger bird perched on his own shoulder as he continued, "I also have a spoken message from Ghost King Zhao."

    The gate was finally opened, and the Yin soldiers stepped aside to grant Secretary Jiang passage. Only then did he make his way past the gate as he habitually dabbed at the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead.

    Even though he had passed through this gate so many times, it still struck him with an overwhelming sense of ceremony and veneration.

    After passing through the gate, Secretary Jiang arrived in a spacious area filled with countless Yin energy screens. Researchers wearing whiteb coats were traversing incessantly through the area, which was veryrge, spanning several hundred square meters in area. At the very center of the area stood Qin Ye with his hands sped behind his back, looking beyond a pane of ss with all of the scientists beside him.

    The pane of ss was massive, and it was most likely reinforced ss. Beyond it was a massive pattern that was shing incessantly with boundless purple light.

    These patterns formed a giant vortex, at the center of which were several pieces of ore that Secretary Jiang was unable to identify.

    Is it finished?

    Secretary Jiang almost cried out, but immediately repressed the urge to do so. Even so, his heart was still thumping violently as he stood at the entrance in silence. In front of him were several dozen Yin soldiers who were armed to the teeth, with heavy shields resting on the ground and spears pointed directly at the entrance.

    Behind them were three moreyers of crossbow-wielding Yin soldiers, presenting a formidable sight to behold.

    Qin Ye didn''t even realize that Secretary Jiang had entered the room. Right beside him, Deng Ruifeng was quickly adjusting the machinery while the scientists beside him were frantically taking notes as Xu Chengyang analyzed, "This is the 32nd time we''ve repeated the Faraday direct current generator experiment, and on this asion, we used voidsilver and yama crystals. ording to the form, ¡Ó E¡¤dR = ©¡Ò(B/t)¡¤dS, where E is the intensity of the electric field and dR is a tiny section of the rectangr conductor frame... The sensory range of the form, ¡Ó E¡¤dR = ©¡Ò(B/t)¡¤dS, is wider than Faraday''s electromaic detection form... The fact that the form, ¡Ó E¡¤dR = ©¡Ò(B/t)¡¤dS, not only indicates maic field B can generate electric field E or generate electromotive ¡Ó E¡¤dR, the changes in the distribution of maic field B on curved surface S can also generate electric field E or electromotive ¡Ó E¡¤dR. The effect of the two should be equivalent to one another..."

    "What does this mean?" Qin Ye couldn''t help but interject.

    Before Xu Chengyang had a chance to reply, Pang Hai exined, "It means that if our analysis here is correct, then we''ve found the electron Yin rune. However, we don''t know what vessel the Yin rune is contained in, and we have to track down the corresponding vessel."

    Right at this moment, all of the electric patterns suddenly faded, and a collective faint sigh rang out, but no one was dejected by this turn of events.

    A group of Yin spirits immediately entered the testing site from the sides before cleaning up the remnants of the experiment.

    "You don''t seem too disappointed," Qin Ye observed as he turned toward Xu Chengyang and the others.

    "It''s still far too early for disappointment to begin setting in," Xu Chengyang replied with a smile. "Even before going into this, we were already prepared to conduct tens of thousands of experiments. It''s only been a few hundred experiments so far, and that''s nowhere near enough to bring us down... You,e over here."

    He was alreadypletely engrossed in his research and had be ustomed to Qin Ye''s presence. He gestured toward another scientist, and the scientist immediately made his way toward him.

    "The failure of the yama crystals was a bit of a surprise to me. It''s widely epted as the crystal with the greatest maic force, and it possesses extremely strong properties of exclusivity. We were originally nning to use it to repel the materials from the mortal realm used by Xu Fu, but it''spletely failed in that regard. Could it be because of thews of Yin Yang non-interaction? That can''t be the case! If that applied here, then Xu Fu wouldn''t have been able to create this new energy resource at all. Thews of non-interaction aren''t referring to these microscopic particles. In fact, I''ve heard from Yanluo Qin that the three realms are all interconnected, and the only things that thews of non-interaction apply to are the intelligent life forms. For the next batch of experiments, I''m nning to use the three groups of crystals between B-542 and B-641. If that doesn''t work, then it means that precious ore doesn''t contain electron Yin runes. That would be good news. After all, what we''re pursuing is an energy resource that''s affordable and essible to everyone."

    "So we can only use a process of elimination then?"

    "There''s no other way. What we have to do first is topletely separate Xu Fu''s energy resource so we can observe its internal makeup."

    Qin Ye wisely decided to leave the room.

    This was the battlefield of science, and the scientists'' job was to be emotionless machines. Qin Ye had already witnessed the scientists go into their fully absorbed and deranged state, and he had no interest in experiencing that again.

    Qin Ye emerged from the ranks of the Yin soldiers like Moses parting the waves, then gave a slight nod in Secretary Jiang''s direction, and Secretary Jiang immediately followed along behind him.

    Upon emerging from the gate, Qin Ye discovered that even though they were still in thepletely sealed and isted interior of a mountain, the air was still much better than the air inside, which was filled with the odor of all types of chemicals.

    The fact that those scientists had stayed in there for several months straight was truly worthy of admiration.

    "What is it?" he asked as he strode along the corridor.

    "Your Excellency, we''ve reached the end of the year," Secretary Jiang replied. "You have to oversee the end-of-year wrap-up meetings and all of the other meetings to be held at this time of year. Several days ago, you instructed everyone to travel to the Yin Mountains, and now, all of the important officials from our provinces and cities have already arrived."

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but massage his own throbbing be upon hearing this. Only now did he realize that he had already spent close to eight months in the Yin Mountains.

    The end of the year was the busiest time of the year.

    All of the major government departments were eager to report their political achievements, and in this age, where resources still weren''t very abundant, countless cities were waiting for details on the following year''s resource distribution. He had entered the main researchboratory a month ago, and if he were to go through the mountain of work waiting for him, then it would most likely be at least another month before he could return to theboratory.

    He didn''t understand most of what was being discussed between the scientists, but he really wanted to involve himself as much as possible in this monumental revolution.

    "Have you organized ces for everyone to rest?" he asked as he quickened his footsteps.

    "I have. Back when Mr. Gu Qing presented the blueprint of the Yin Mountains to you, you requested the addition of resting quarters capable of housing 200 people. That''s where everyone is staying right now. Would you like to go and see them? Should I inform them of your arrival?"

    "There''s no need for that," Qin Ye replied. "Get them to discuss and exchange the insights that they''ve gathered in their roles and give their reports to me, I''ll see what needs to be done after I read their reports. Also, tell them to constantly be ready for a summons from me."

    [1] [N¨¹wa is a goddess of creation in Chinese mythology said to have created the human race.]

 Chapter 1006: Strange Happenings in the Kunlun Mountains

    <h4>Chapter 1006: Strange Happenings in the Kunlun Mountains</h4>

    The door was gently closed, and Qin Ye sat down behind his own desk. This was the temporary King Yanluo''s office.

    It was a spacious room with no windows, as if it had been constructed underground, and there were bright ptialnterns hanging overhead. Qin Ye was seated on a timber nine dragon chair, and behind him was a screen in the typical Cathayan style, on either side of which was a pair of incense burners constructed in the shape of a crane, standing at around the height of an adult human. Directly ahead of him was a Yin energy clock that was around half a tall as an adult human with enamel patterns on its surface, and it would chime with the passing of each hour.

    On either side of the Yin energy clock were four chairs and a table, and aside from those things, the only things in the room were bookshelves full of different books, covering all types of topics.

    It was often the case that bookshelves like these were only for show, and the books on them were never actually read. However, that wasn''t the case here. Every single one of these books had clearly been pulled out at some point, and many of them hadn''t even been put back properly, still protruding around an inch past the edge of the bookshelf.

    Qin Ye spread open his palm, upon which sat a messenger bird, then closed his hand again, and the messenger bird dissipated into a gust of Yin wind as Zhao Yun''s voice rang out.

    "Your Excellency, Kunlun Mountain is on the move."

    Kunlun Mountain is on the move?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly with befuddlement upon hearing this, but his eyes then immediately lit up with a hint of enlightenment.

    He had forgotten all about Kunlun Mountain.

    Following his ascension to the throne, the second King Yanluo had told him that Kunlun Mountain was going to open up in five years, and that Heaven would be connected with the underworld again. Thinking about it now, it was about time.

    "Kunlun Mountain falls under the jurisdiction of Wanjiang Province, and I''ve already instructed the administrativemissioner of Wanjiang Province, Gao Fu, to bring you the relevant documents. Don''t underestimate this event, Your Excellency, Heaven has its own unique properties that you need to take note of. Just as the underworld is the realm of reincarnation for the mortal realm, while the mortal realm is the foundation of the three realms, the unique thing about Heaven is that it''s able to connect with any one of the other two realms! If the power of the mortal realm is known as true energy and the power of the underworld is known as Yin energy, then the power of Heaven should be known as immortal energy. All beings, objects, and arts formed by immortal energy can connect with the mortal realm and the underworld, but that''s been strictly prohibited."

    Qin Ye rubbed his own chin with a thoughtful expression upon hearing this. It was no wonder that all of the legends he had heard about deities descending from the heavens involved them doing so in secret. Furthermore, things that are brought down from Heaven never remained in the mortal realm.

    "It''s quite a pity," he sighed in a forlorn manner. "If it isn''t for the situation we''re currently in, I really would be interested in exploring Heaven."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Time flew by very quickly.

    Three dayster, Secretary Jiang quickly made his way into the room before offering up a document. "Yanluo Qin, all of the administrativemissioners have arrived."

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod, and Secretary Jiang left the room. Shortly thereafter, the door was opened again, and four middle-aged men and women wearing Mao suits strode into the room. Mao suits were worn in ce of normal suits for high-end public servants of Hell.

    "Take a seat." Qin Ye made an inviting hand gesture as he spoke. Cups of tea had already been ced onto the four tables, and the four men and women exchanged a nce before taking a seat. Only after a full five minutes had passed did Qin Ye raise his head and brandish a document to the four men and women. "Who wrote this?"

    The title of the document was "New n for the Economic Development of the Second Region''s Three Provinces".

    Three months ago, Qin Ye had issued an order for the Cathayan Underworld to be split up into several major regions. The old Hell''s administration method was used with seven regions in total being established, making it more convenient for future Abyssal Prefects to manage the nation.

    "It was me," a middle-aged woman said as she adjusted her own sses. "Our Cathayan Underworld has finally emerged from quite a rough period. This year, the GDP of our second region was seventeen million Yin spirit stones, which is over 10% of the Cathayan Underworld''s total GDP. However, this economic system is not a healthy one."

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup and took a sip as he nodded in response, then indicated for the woman to continue.

    "With the rise in domestic production, our sea trade with the Alkebn Underworlds during the past few years, and the reparations paid to us by the Russian Underworld, we can basically ensure standard quality of life and recreation for allherworldly citizens. However, due to the shortages in resources, the products that we receive from sea trade are mostly purchased as soon as they reach the coastal cities, meaning that very little of it makes it ind. Also, our economy is primarily relying on the real estate sector for growth, stemming from the increasing demand for housing fromherworldly citizens, but I''m concerned that if things continue like this, a housing bubble like the one seen in the mortal realm several years ago will take shape."

    The other administrativemissioners all nodded in agreement with this sentiment.

    The second region belonged to the western part of the Cathayan Underworld, and it consisted of four provinces, including Westriver Province and Wanjiang Province. Resources and information were shared, so this report didn''t just reflect the thoughts of a single administrativemissioner. Instead, it represented the opinions of all of the administrativemissioners present.

    Qin Ye set down his teacup and asked, "In your opinion, what are the other prime drivers behind the economy at the moment?"

    "There are a lot." The administrativemissioner of Westriver Province was a chubby Yin spirit who had worked at the provincial level back in the mortal realm for close to 20 years, and he said with a serious expression, "I think disaster relief work sits first and foremost on this list. The natural disasters of the underworld are extremely terrifying, and even wind and storms can eraseherworldly citizens out of existence at any moment if they didn''t have houses. This has also directly stimted the real estate market, but I don''t think this should be our main point of focus."

    Qin Ye thought about this for a moment before replying, "Disaster relief is an ongoing driver of the economy that''s outside of our control, so we won''t mention that for now. Are there any others?"

    Before anyone had a chance to reply, he smiled as he suggested, "Education, perhaps?"

    All of the administrativemissioners'' eyes lit up in unison upon hearing this. Was the education industry about to be established?

    Qin Ye gently stroked his own teacup as he continued, "As all of you are aware, education in the underworld ispletely different from education in the mortal realm. Yin runes, Yin energy, cultivation... These are allpletely unique subjects. Education isn''t just mandatory for children in the underworld, it''s something that''spulsory to everyone."

    He reached out and drew several Yin runes in mid-air. They seemed to have a mind of their own as they morphed into all types of different shapes, then drifted through the air before slowly vanishing into a flurry of white butterflies.

    "If we don''t educate our people, then we''re going to fall behind everyone. Thousands of Yin spirits are being injected into the underworld from the mortal realm every single day, so education is a sector that will never incur losses. It can also act as a pathway for disposable ie to be invested in a worthwhile manner. After so many years of development, I''m sure there are manyherworldly citizens who have already saved up some funds, so we should be encouraging them to spend. Also, after three to four years of study, some people will be able to reciprocate society. Only with sufficient knowledge of the underworld will they know what the underworld truly needs, thereby telling them what areas they should improve and develop in."

    None of the administrativemissioners said anything.

    Was it really that simple to establish the education industry?

    The fact that Qin Ye was staying in the Yin Mountains in person was a clear indication of just how seriously he was taking this research and development project. Was he of the opinion that there was insufficient skilled personnel working on the project and wanted to replenish these stocks as quickly as possible?

    "Where should the first cohort of graduates be sent for internships?" the administrativemissioner of Jianghan Province asked. "Our Cathayan Underworld currently doesn''t have corresponding workces..."

    In raising this question, he was trying to probe for Qin Ye''s true intentions.

    Qin Ye smiled as he replied, "The Yin Mountains Research Institute is sorelycking in skilled personnel, is it not? As for how these students should be developed, it''s very simple: we''ll employ a system of survival of the fittest. Underworld emissaries must have sufficient knowledge of the underworld to seed in their roles. During these past few years, they didn''t have time to study as they were prioritizing the development of their respective cities, but now that they finally have the spare time, they need to develop other skills. If they do well in their studies, then they can return to their original roles. If they don''t, then they''ll be sent back for further study. Make sure that all students'' marks are strictly supervised and implement a zero-tolerance policy on fabricating marks and results. Also, we need to abolish the practice of exam-oriented education. The students aren''t studying in order to do well in tests, they''re studying for the sake of their own personal development! We should be encouraging them to make their own choices and actively innovate!"

    The education industry really is about to be established... The four administrativemissioners nodded in response.

    "Secretary Jiang is waiting for you in the Tian Kui conference hall with some further information. All of the other administrativemissioners are also there. Have a good discussion with everyone, and I''ll be listening to all of your opinions and ideas tomorrow. You can go now."

    "Lord Qin," the administrativemissioner of Wanjiang Province suddenly interjected. "I have something to tell you."

    The other administrativemissioners left the room so the two of them were the only ones left, and Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the administrativemissioner as he asked, "Your name is Gao Fi, right?"

    "That''s right, Your Excellency." Gao Fi extended a slight bow as he said, "Lord Zhao has a message for you."

    "Go ahead."

    Gao Fi nodded in response before rying the message. "Lord Zhao is of the opinion that you should go to Kunlun Mountain and take a look there if possible."

    "Alright," Qin Ye replied before continuing to read through the documents on his desk, and under normal circumstances, that would''ve been Gao Fi''s cue to leave, but he didn''t depart on this asion.

    Gao Fi took a moment to muster up some courage, then said, "Lord Qin, the mortal realm has already requested reinforcements through the City God Temple, asking for assistance from the underworld."

    Qin Ye raised his head upon hearing this.

    How interesting! The mortal realm has requested reinforcements, and Zhao Yun wants me to go and take a look as well... What heavenly official could possibly deserve an audience with King Yanluo in person? Surely it''s overkill for me to pay them a visit... unless they''re an extremely important figure...

    With that in mind, he smiled as he prompted, "Tell me the details."

    "Yes, Lord Qin." Gao Fi heaved an internal sigh of relief as he said, "Half a month ago, an extremely powerful burst of Yin energy suddenly erupted in the southwestern part of Wanjiang province. This Yin energy ispletely different from anything we''ve ever seen before. There''s no way to describe it with words, it''s as if... a passageway to another world has been opened up, and all Death Inquisitors have been forced out of Kunlun Mountain as a result!"

    Qin Ye gently drummed his fingers on the surface of his desk as he asked, "What''s the exact location?"

    "Kongur Tagh," Gao Fi replied. "The tallest peak in the Kunlun Mountain Range."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before waving a dismissive hand, and Gao Fi immediately departed from the room.

    Following Gao Fi''s departure, Qin Ye set down his pen as a reminiscent look surfaced in his eyes, and after a long while, a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

    It had only been several years since hisst visit to the mortal realm, so why did it feel as if an entire lifetime had passed by since then?

    "It must be you, right?" he murmured to himself. "Otherwise, General Zhao wouldn''t have spoken so ambiguously on this matter. I truly didn''t think that there woulde a day when we would meet again. If it really is you, then I wouldn''t mind paying you a visit in person. No other heavenly official is worthy of this honor..."

 Chapter 1007: King Yanluo Temple

    <h4>Chapter 1007: King Yanluo Temple</h4>

    Akto County.

    In thenguage of the Uyghurs, Akto meant "white g". In the past, the residents of this county had a tradition of nting white gs near their own viges, and that was how the name was derived. In the present day, Akto County had another name.

    In thenguage of the Kyrgyzs, Akto also meant "white mountain".

    This was because there was a white, snowy mountain clearly visible in the county, extending all the way up into the clouds. At the same time, Akto County was the county that had been least affected by the supernatural disasters that had concluded over a year ago.

    In fact, it had been affected so little that Cathay hadn''t even set up a branch of the Special Investigations Department here.

    The reason for this was because this ce was home to the dojo of one of the three most powerful beings of the mortal realm, Sword Master Xuanyuan.

    The name "One Sword Sect" was a very ordinary name, but it wasn''t ordinary in the slightest in the context of Cathay history. It was one of the ancient sects that stood at the very top of the pecking order, and in the past, each generation of the sect only had no more than 10 disciples, but during the supernatural disasters, the sect was forced to take in disciples on arge scale. As a result, almost all of Akto County was currently relying on this sect and its subsidiary businesses for survival.

    In this ce, one could hear terms rted to cultivation everywhere, even in the most mundane of ces. The people discussing cultivation were all from the same sect. In fact, all of the Han people in the entirety of Akto County were disciples of the One Sword Sect.

    In the modern era, cultivators looked virtually no different from normal people. They didn''t have to wear any special sect attire, and the only thing indicating that they were disciples of the One Sword Sect were the small sword nes that they wore.

    "Hey, did you see that?" Four men and women were seated around an antiquated table. They were all quite fashionable in appearance, and one of them, a woman who appeared to be no more than 20 years of age, had even dyed her hair blue.

    One of the men among them said in a mysterious voice, "The spiritual light on top of Kongur Tagh has already been shing for several consecutive days already... Could it be that our sect master is about to make a breakthrough?"

    "Surely not!" the blue-haired woman eximed. "Isn''t the Yama-King level something that only exists in legends? Even the other two most powerful beings of the mortal realm haven''t reached that level..."

    Even though the group was speaking in hushed voices, Qin Ye could clearly hear everything they were saying from the neighboring table.

    Due to therge influx of Han people, in addition to the significant Muslim poption of Wanjiang Province, the cuisine served in Akto County was very diverse and varied. For example, the pf that he was dining on was a lot less oily than the authentic pf of Wanjiang Province, but the vors were very rich and fragrant, making it a very enjoyable meal for him.

    Themb was sweet and juicy, and Wanjiang Province was renowned across the entire nation for its deliciousmb dishes. As he took a sip of soup, many past memories began to surface in his mind.

    "Sword Master Xuanyuan, eh? It''s been a long time since I''ve heard that name..." he murmured to himself, as he stared at the blue designs on the bottom of his soup bowl in an absentminded manner.

    It had only been a few years since hisst visit to the mortal realm, yet for some reason, these names felt like they belonged to acquaintances from a past life.

    It seemed like he simply no longer belonged to this world. This was something that he had never felt before, and he couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh. He had traversed between the mortal realm and the underworld countless times in the past, but he had always felt that he belonged more to the mortal realm. However, that feeling hadpletely disappeared at some point.

    When had he entered this mindset?

    He poked at the bottom of his bowl with his chopsticks in an absentminded manner, as the past eight years of his life shed through his mind. In the end, he decided that this shift in mindset had begun following the war of unification.

    Ever since then, his trips to the mortal realm had be few and far in between.

    All of a sudden, a smile appeared on his face as he looked up at the ceiling before murmuring to himself in an inaudible voice, "It feels like someone''s watching me..."

    He was currently wearing a hoodie and a pair of jeans, making him look no different from a normal young man. However, he couldn''t shake the feeling that he didn''t belong in this world.

    It was as if this world was resistant to his entry, and something seemed to be constantly watching him.

    After a long silence, he finally figured out what it was. "It''s the Heavenly Dao."

    He didn''t have much interest in cultivation, which was why even though Zhao Yun had told him that Yama-Kings would develop a vague sense of the Heavenly Dao''s existence, he had never noticed this before.

    "It seems to be constantly monitoring me in case I do anything out of line in the mortal realm, and it''s not afraid of being noticed by me." He took a sip of his soup before shaking his head with a faint smile. "Looks like the actions of the second King Yanluo are still clear in its memories..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a loud thunderp suddenly erupted outside, even though there wasn''t a single cloud in the sky. Qin Ye immediately cleared his throat before cupping his fist in a salute. "Please don''t mind me, I''m just rambling to myself..."

    After paying for his meal, he quickly made his way out onto the street, then pulled up the hood of his hoodie. He was just about to transform into a gust of Yin wind to go and see Sword Master Xuanyuan when something up ahead caught his attention, and a faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of it.

    Akto County wasn''t veryrge nor very prosperous. The houses here were all bungalows, and the buildings were quite tightly clumped together. Qin Ye was situated in a small alleyway, and at the end of the alleyway was a temple.

    King Yanluo Temple!

    The name of the temple was written inrge golden characters on a que, reflecting the light of the sun. After looking at the temple for several seconds, he made his way directly toward it.

    The legend of King Yanluo, in other words, his legend, was currently circting in thisnd. His faith had only been established following the war of unification, and he had never had a chance to examine the faith that belonged to him.

    To his surprise, it was a very popr temple.

    It was no different from an ordinary temple with an usher monk seated behind a red table at the entrance, and beside him was arge pile of incense sticks, as well as pink lotus flowers folded from paper. ording to the sign by the door, all one had to do was to pay an incense fee and they would be able to take a stick of incense.

    At the same time, it was clearly stated that the incense was being sold for five dors per stick.

    Trantion: don''t just toss in a coin and take a stick of incense! I''m watching you, you stingy bastard!

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately go in. Seeing a temple of his own faith was a very strange feeling, and he could even see specks of white light of worship glowing from the bodies of the temple''s visitors. At the same time, he was also able to see their lifespans and their karma hovering right above their heads.

    Does this mean I can automatically use the abilities of the Book of Life and Death now? He looked down at his own hands with a surprised expression.

    In that case, what about King Yanluo''s Seal?

    If he could use King Yanluo''s Seal whenever and wherever he wanted, then that meant that he could boost his own arts by a level at any time he pleased! After all, the ability of King Yanluo''s Seal was to elevate the quality of Yin runes. If the Yin runes of an art could be instantly reced by Yin runes of a higher caliber, then the power of the art would undoubtedly increase!

    He closed his eyes and experimented with this idea in silence, and in the next instant, he immediately reopened his eyes as an ted look appeared on his face.

    A faint, undetectable tremor ran through the surrounding earth, following which boundless Yin energy surged up before revolving around him. At the same time, countless Yin runes were rapidly evolving in his hands.

    He was standing at the foot of a tree outside the temple, and no one was able to see what he was doing. From an outsider perspective, one would only be able to see a young man leaning against the tree, resting with his arms crossed.

    However, in reality, the boundless Yin energy that he had gathered was dancing joyfully around him as if it had found its master. He was using the Heavenly Dra art that he was most familiar with. This art used sixth-ring Yin runes, yet the Yin runes in his hands had already made a breakthrough to the seventh ring!

    Furthermore, the Yin runes were still elevating to the eighth ring, then to the ninth!

    All of this had happened in no more than the blink of an eye!

    "A nine-ring level Heavenly Dra?" He looked down at his own hands with a stunned expression, then raised his head and instantly swept his gaze across the entire city. There wasn''t a single Yin spirit in the city. However, an inky-ck vortex then suddenly took shape above his palm, following which an inky-ck chain shot forth through the entire city like a bolt of lightning before flying into the distance.

    No more than three secondster, the chain shuddered slightly before abruptly pulling back, and by the time it returned to Qin Ye, there was already an inky-ck Yin spirit bound by the chain.

    The Yin spirit was a child with only a mouth on his face. The mouth was proportionally massivepared to his face, and it was letting loose a piercing scream. However, in the instant that the Yin spirit caught sight of Qin Ye, he immediately shut his mouth and began to tremble incessantly.

    By the time he arrived in front of Qin Ye, he had already transformed into a child with a slightly paleplexion, and he looked at Qin Ye with a pair ofrge and innocent eyes as he put on an adorable disy. "Uncle..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, Qin Ye instantly swatted him out of existence with a flick of his wrist.

    Uncle, my arse! Look at my youthful and handsome face! I''m clearly too young and handsome to be an uncle!

    Come to think of it, does my Heavenly Dra have its own GPS now? He looked down at the chain wrapped around his arm with an intrigued expression. Unfortunately, the mortal realm was not a good ce to be testing his abilities, so he couldn''t find out how powerful his enhanced Heavenly Dra was.

    Unbeknownst to him, right at this moment, in a small vige over 100 kilometers away, ama was in the process of loudly reciting something while spinning a set of prayer wheels. There were vigers gathered all around the area, pointing and staring at something. All of a sudden, thema''s voice abruptly cut off, and he turned to look directly up ahead with an incredulous expression.

    Right in front of everyone stood a coffin.

    It was a ck coffin with its four corners bolted shut by metal nails, and yellow talismans were stered all over its surface. What was even more terrifying was that blood was flowing out all around the coffin!

    However, just a moment ago, all of the blood had flowed back into the coffin!

    "It''s gone!" thema eximed as he stared at the coffin with a stunned expression. "The vengeful spirit is gone! How could this be?! Did somethinge here just now? Why did that vengeful spirit suddenly vanish?"

    At the same time, a cry of surprise suddenly rang out from the King Yanluo Temple, immediately following which a massivemotion ensued!

    "King Yanluo has revealed himself! My god!!"

    "Is that true? Has King Yanluo really revealed himself?! Why have his eyes opened?!"

    The entire temple had erupted into a flurry ofmotion and activity, and Qin Ye cast a surprised gaze toward the temple to discover a bronze statue of himself seated at the center of the temple.

    The statue was wearing a regal crown and a golden dragon robe, and its eyes should''ve been closed, but at this moment, they were open and staring intently outside!

    "Step aside! Please let me through!" An elderly man frantically squeezed his way through the crowd, and he was panting so heavily that even his beard was trembling, but he didn''t pay any heed to any of that. As soon as he burst out of the crowd, he immediately began to look around in a frantic manner.

    Finally, his gaze settled on Qin Ye, who was standing at the foot of the tree.

    In that instant, he felt as if day had transitioned into night, along with a sense of extreme horror coupled with a faint hint of intimacy. He had a feeling that if that man wanted the entire city dead, he would be able to achieve that in less than a second!

    This was no human!

    However, if he wasn''t a human, then why wasn''t he giving off any underworldly aura? He was certain that this man was from the underworld, but for some reason, the monk was struck by the urge to kneel down and kowtow as if he were facing an almighty ruler.

    What kind of being was this man?!

    "Go and invite the enforcement team!" he hurriedly said in a low voice, then rushed out as quickly as he could while bystanders looked on with surprised expressions.

    "Master Ren Hui?"

    "Master Ren Hui, why have youe out?"

    The monk ignored all of these inquisitive voices as he rushed over to Qin Ye before cupping his fist in a salute as he said in a trembling voice, "I pay my respects to the esteemed underworld emissary!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a thought suddenly urred to him, leaving him feeling as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

    It was daytime right now, which meant that the underworld emissary had appeared during the day!

    This meant that he had to at least be at the Anitya Hellguard level!

    Why had such a high-ranking underworld emissary suddenlye to this King Yanluo Temple in such a rural city? What could he possibly be here for?!

 Chapter 1008: Legends in the Mortal Realm

    <h4>Chapter 1008: Legends in the Mortal Realm</h4>

    Qin Ye cast an intrigued gaze toward the elderly monk. "You can see my power?"

    The old monk shook his head with tightly pursed lips. He couldn''t see Qin Ye''s power, but he could feel it, and he felt as if he were facing a boundless abyss!

    Qin Ye hadn''t intended to stay here for long, but he was rather intrigued now. He ignored all of the curious eyes around him as he gestured toward the temple and asked, "When was this temple built?"

    He made his way toward the temple as he spoke, and the elderly monk immediately followed along behind him as he replied, "Three years ago."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Who do you worship?"

    "We worship the King Yanluo, Yanluo Qin," the elderly monk replied. "We''ve actually always been worshiping the former King Yanluo, and we were ssified as a Taoist temple, but one day... Let me think how long ago it''s been..."

    He paused momentarily to gather his thoughts, then continued, "Roughly five to six years ago, all of the statues of the former King Yanluo across the nation suddenly cracked. In the eyes of normal followers, this isn''t a significant event, but we know that this is a sign that our god has ascended to Heaven. At the same time, all of the Ksitigarbha statues cracked as well..."

    He took a careful look at Qin Ye before joining his palms together as he continued, "It was also at that time that the national religionmittee held a meeting. Due to certain things that have happened in the past, the Cathayan government has always turned a blind eye to religion, so no outsiders have ever attended meetings held by the religionmittee. In fact, only at the most significant of the religionmittee''s meetings would there be personnel from the ministry of culture or perhaps the propaganda department present. However, during that meeting three years ago, the directors of both the ministry of culture and the propaganda department were in attendance, and they released a series of items, including unearthed documents, statues, and ques, among other things. ording to the inscriptions on those objects, it was clearly stated that Hell had a new ruler by the surname of Qin. At the same time, both organizations requested hundreds of millions of dors in funds to renovate all of the temples rted to Hell''s King Yanluo. In addition to that, even the information rted to Hell''s King Yanluo on all of our search engines and encyclopedias were also amended, and we were also required to actively promote these changes. As a result, everyone came to know of the existence of Yanluo Qin after a few years."

    He hadn''t seen the records of himself that had been unearthed in the mortal realm, but that was clearly his grand script of death. Cathay''s poption was in excess of a billion, and given enough time, his faith would be unshakeable.

    "What does this Yanluo Qin do?"

    "Yanluo Qin oversees life, death, fortune, misfortune, tribtions, illnesses, and karma for the dead. Come to think of it, ever since Yanluo Qin became the ruler of Hell, many people with inner demons havee to offer up incense, and that same night, they would be ryed dreams by underworld emissaries. Regardless of whether they were believers or not, they would all be ryed dreams after offering incense, and those dreams would tell them which path of reincarnation they would be sent to after their deaths. All of those dreams are remembered in perfect detail even after waking up."

    Looks like my Death Inquisitors are quite capable... A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he turned to the several men in ck jackets who had appeared behind him. "Are you enforcers or investigators from the Special Investigations Department?"

    The elderly monk''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and even his hands began to tremble as he hurriedly said, "Sir, no, this isn''t..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, his vision suddenly blurred, and in the next instant, Qin Ye had already vanished on the spot.

    Thud... The elderly monk''s legs gave out from under him as he copsed to his knees, and the men in ck jackets immediately rushed over before inspecting their surroundings with surprised expressions. Only after a long while did they turn toward the elderly monk, who was lookingpletely shell-shocked and sweating profusely. "Where did he go?"

    The elderly monk shook his head in a ck-jawed manner.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Kongur Tagh, Kunlun Mountains.

    ording to legends, this peak was as tall as the heavens, and taking a step up from there would take one straight to the realm of heavenly immortals. It was also said that the Queen Mother of the West resided there along with the elixir of immortality.

    Kunlun Mountain had always been shrouded in mystique and mystery, yet the true owner of this ce only had a humble shack to live in.

    It was a shack constructed from straw, and somehow, even though it was situated on a snowy mountain peak, there was a forest of green bamboo growing around the shack. Right in front of the shack was an elderly man wearing coir fiber clothing and holding a fishing rod in one hand while the other hand was supporting his own chin, making it appear as if he were taking a nap while fishing.

    In front of him was a rippling pond that was several dozen meters wide, and its surface was riddled with lotus flowers and lily pads. This was something that shouldn''t have possibly existed on the top of a snowy mountain!

    However, what was most eye-catching was a stone que protruding out of the water at the center of the pond, pierced into which was a weathered-looking sword.

    The elderly fisherman waspletely still, and this seemed to be a snapshot frozen in time. However, all of a sudden, the elderly man opened his eyes before sweeping a wary gaze over his surroundings. "Who''s there? We''re not expecting any visitors today, so you must be an uninvited intruder. I''d advise you to show yourself before I force you to do so!"

    A figure emerged from the bamboo forest, and it was none other than Qin Ye.

    The snow seemed to be incapable of falling on him, and he patted a bamboo tree next to him as he smiled and said, "Sword Master Xuanyuan sure is tasteful to have created this forest on the peak of a snowy mountain. I have to say, it''s quite a nice sight to behold. Are you his disciple? It''s not easy for a human to cultivate to the Infernal Judge level, you''ve done quite well."

    In the instant that Qin Ye revealed himself, the elderly fisherman''s coir fiber clothing immediately began to p around him, even though there wasn''t any wind. He was watching Qin Ye with an extremely wary expression, and he was hunched over like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey, while thick veins were bulging on his arms.

    A drop of cold sweat slid down from his forehead before falling onto the snow on the ground, creating a sizzling sound as if boiling water had been poured onto the snow instead.

    As an Infernal Judge, he was already close to bing a high-grade underworld emissary, and this allowed him to see some things that low-grade underworld emissaries couldn''t. In his eyes, Qin Ye wasn''t a man at all. Instead, he was a walking abyss!

    His outward appearance was no different from that of an ordinary young man, but there were several terrifying bursts of Yin energy behind, protecting him as if they were living beings. In the instant that he appeared, all of the true energy on the entire mountainpletely vanished, leaving only surging azure Yin energy behind.

    "You..."

    "There''s no need to be afraid," Qin Ye said in a soothing voice. "I''m an old acquaintance of your master''s."

    "Indeed, he is." As soon as his voice trailed off, the door of the straw shack swung open, revealing Sword Master Xuanyuan, whom Qin Ye hadn''t met in several years. He was wearing a Taoist robe, and he extended a deep bow as he said, "Greetings, Yanluo Qin."

    Thud!

    As soon as Qin Ye''s identity was revealed, the elderly fisherman copsed onto all-fours. He wanted to raise his head, but didn''t dare to do so, and could only observe Qin Ye in secret out of the corners of his eyes.

    Yanluo Qin? This man is Yanluo Qin, the ruler of Hell?

    After this finally sank in, the first thing that the elderly fisherman felt was fear, followed by a sense of gratefulness, grateful for the fact that he was able to meet this legendary figure in the flesh.

    "It''s already been several years since youst visited the mortal realm, is there something you have to do on this asion?" Sword Master Xuanyuan made an inviting gesture, and Qin Ye followed him into the straw shack.

    The interior of the shack was also very simple with an eight immortal table and several taishi chairs in one room, while the other room only housed a round futon. Qin Ye made himself at home and sat down on the main seat. There were already two cups of tea sitting on the table.

    "In the entirety of Cathay, you''ll only be able to taste this tea here. This is already the best thing I can offer in the way of hospitality, I hope you won''t mind, Yanluo Qin," Sword Master Xuanyuan said in an earnest manner.

    "Of course not," Qin Ye replied with a smile, then removed the lid of the teacup, and a burst of cold fragrance immediately wafted toward him.

    The fragrance was faint yet lingered in the air, and it made him feel as if his soul were being cleansed. He turned to Sword Master Xuanyuan with a surprised expression and praised, "This is some fine tea."

    A period of silence then ensued.

    Qin Ye took a sip of tea, and after a brief pause, he finally said, "Long time no see."

    "Indeed, it has been. I''m honored that you still remember me, Yanluo Qin. I''m not going to be tormented for eternity after my death, am I?" Sword Master Xuanyuan replied with a wry smile.

    Qin Ye''s smile faded as he put on a serious expression, and he replied, "I understand and can empathize with why you did the things you did. You can ry my message to all of the people who are worrying about this as well."

    He gently drummed his fingers on the surface of the table as a reminiscent look appeared in his eyes, seemingly thinking back to the days he had spent in the mortal realm. "All humans have to have something that they stand for during their lives, and they have to act ordingly. Besides, the situation at the time was quite special. I could''ve been more forthright and transparent, and you didn''t go too far, either. At the very least, I feel like our separation was an amicable one in the end, although it can only just barely count as amicable."

    Sword Master Xuanyuan heaved a faint sigh.

    Many people in important positions were regretting what they had done. They regretted not treating Qin Ye better when he was in the mortal realm, and they regretted sending darkfeathers to spy him time and time again. However, they also knew in their hearts that if the same situation repeated itself, they would still make the exact same decisions.

    "There''s no need to be hung up over all that, it''s already in the past," Qin Ye said with a carefree smile. "To answer your question, there is indeed something I came here to do."

    Sword Master Xuanyuan''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Does it have something to do with the strange urrences on Kongur Tagh?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and before he had a chance to say anything, Sword Master Xuanyuan immediately said in an urgent voice, "Is the situation serious? Will we see more supernatural disasters?"

    A reassuring smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "There''s no need to be rmed. The strange happenings on Kongur Tagh are a result of the imminent opening of the gates of Heaven. Several years ago, all three realms witnessed my inauguration, and this time, there''s most likely going to be an acquaintance of mine descending from Heaven."

    Sword Master Xuanyuan heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this before asking, "Who is it?"

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup before taking a sip, and all of a sudden, Sword Master Xuanyuan was struck by the feeling that Qin Ye felt very... indistinct.

    Even though it had only been several years since theirst meeting, Qin Ye had undergone a drastic transformation since then, and just the mere sight of him was enough to send chills running down Sword Master Xuanyuan''s spine.

    The sound of Qin Ye setting down his teacup onto the table jerked Sword Master Xuanyuan out of his train of thought, and Qin Ye replied, "It might be Ksitigarbha."

    Sword Master Xuanyuan immediately drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and he stared at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression.

    "Why do you look so surprised?"

    Sword Master Xuanyuan shook his head before making his way over to the back of the room and opening the door.

    This straw shack had been built on a lone peak.

    Deep within the bamboo forest, at the edge of the lone peak''s cliff, stood a statue of Ksitigarbha!

    It was covered in snow, but through the murky and snowy sky, there was a faint ray of light shining down upon Ksitigarbha''s joined palms.

    This was a statue that seemed to be as old as time itself. No one knew how long it had been standing for, nor exactly why there was a statue of Ksitigarbha on Kongur Tagh of Kunlun Mountain. At the center of its palms was a lotus flower that was swaying in the wind, even with the naked eye, one could see countless vengeful spirits howling and sobbing around the lotus flower.

    Sword Master Xuanyuan''s robes were pping violently in the howling wind, and he turned toward Qin Ye as he said, "This ce has been home to all of my predecessors that bore the title of Sword Master Xuanyuan. However, this statue has been here even before we founded our sect. It hasn''t changed at all in several thousand years, yet around half a month ago, a lotus flower suddenly grew out of the snow that had fallen onto its palm as if something had been awakened."

 Chapter 1009: Heavenly Official

    <h4>Chapter 1009: Heavenly Official</h4>

    In the instant that Sword Master Xuanyuan''s voice trailed off, Qin Ye was surprised to discover that the statue of Ksitigarbha had opened its eyes. Immediately thereafter, its stone mouth began to move as well as it said in a gentle voice, "We meet again."

    Sword Master Xuanyuan was astonished to see this.

    This was one of the four legendary bodhisattvas!

    Meanwhile, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "Long time no see. In what form are you speaking to me at the moment?"

    The stone statue replied in a calm voice, "The gates of Heaven haven''t officially opened yet, so I can only project myself into this statue."

    It then turned to Sword Master Xuanyuan and asked, "You must be the guardian for this generation, right?"

    Guardian?

    Qin Ye turned to Sword Master Xuanyuan with a perplexed expression, but Sword Master Xuanyuan himself was just as befuddled as he asked, "May I ask what that means, Your Excellency?"

    "Have you forgotten?" A smile appeared on the stone statue''s face, and in the next instant, it suddenly sprang to life as all of the snow it was buried under began to slowly fall away. "Do you know how the title of sword master came into existence?"

    Sword Master Xuanyuan shook his head in response.

    The stone statue exined, "Beneath Kunlun Mountain was a vast supply of red gold with color resembling fire. It was said that the Yellow Emperor once stationed his troops here after vanquishing Chi You''s army, and they dug deep into the mountain in search of the red gold, but they encountered nothing but copper ore. Nevertheless, a sword was forged from the ore that had been unearthed, and it was named Xuanyuan. On one side of the sword was engraved the sun, the moon, and the stars, while on the other side was engraved mountains, rivers, valleys, and forests. Eventually, the sword was lost, but unbeknownst to the world, the sword had been bestowed upon the Goddess Earth Mother. The Yellow Emperor and the Goddess Earth Mother were husband and wife, and they had 25 children, one of whom buried the Goddess Earth Mother following her demise. That child''s name was Chen. Is that also your surname?"

    Sword Master Xuanyuan nodded in response.

    The stone statue continued, "After burying the Goddess Earth Mother, Chen and his direct lineal descendants were tasked with safekeeping the Xuanyuan Sword. However, it''s been several thousand years since then, and you seem to have forgotten this tale."

    Silence.

    Qin Ye was rather surprised to hear that the title of Sword Master Xuanyuan had such a rich history, and Sword Master Xuanyuan himself was clearly oblivious to this as well. After several seconds of stunned silence, he asked, "Is that true?"

    "It is," the stone statue replied. "I have never deceived anyone. If it isn''t for this piece of history, why have the past generations of Sword Master Xuanyuan all resided here? This stone statue of mine is a beacon of Heaven, and it''s also the ce where underworld emissaries normallye to ascend to Heaven. If you weren''t a descendant of the Goddess Earth Mother, you wouldn''t have been tasked with protecting this ce. That''s enough of that story, I projected myself into this stone statue on this asion because I have something to discuss with Yanluo Qin."

    Sword Master Xuanyuan took that as his cue to leave, and thus, Qin Ye and the stone statue were the only ones left on the mountain peak. The stone statue said, "I really didn''t think that you would be able to contend with those three old monsters and bring the Cathayan Underworld back to the world stage."

    "Well, you threw me into the deep end, didn''t you? It was either sink or swim from there," Qin Ye replied with a smile.

    At this point, he was already well past the point of wanting to resign from his role. In fact, he had be ustomed to serving as the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo.

    The stone statue sighed, "You make it sound so simple, but there aren''t many people in the world who could''ve done what you have."

    "You didn''te here just to chat with me, did you? I''m really busy at the moment," Qin Ye said as he habitually swept a sleeve through the air. However,he wasn''t wearing his dragon robe, so that gesture was made to look rather awkward.

    A faint smile appeared on the stone statue''s face, but it was quickly reced by a serious expression as it said, "If I didn''t have anything important to tell you, I would''ve waited until the opening of the gates of Heaven in a few months to descend, but now, there''s something that you must know."

    As soon as its voice trailed off, a petal slowly detached itself from the lotus flower sitting on the stone statue''s palms, and the petal quickly swelled in size. By the time itnded in Qin Ye''s hand, it had already transformed into a jade tablet.

    The tablet was warm to the touch, and uponing into contact with it, Qin Ye immediately felt a type of power that he had never felt before surge into his hand. It wasn''t cold nor warm, and it couldn''t be described with words. It was the power of... emotions!

    In the instant that he closed his hand around the jade tablet, a series of emotions immediately welled up in his heart. Qin Ye quickly repressed those emotions as he asked, "Is this the power of Heaven? What is it called?"

    "This power is known as immortal energy," the stone statue replied. "All of us, including you and I, are a part of faith. Heaven and Hell represent Yin and Yang, while the mortal realm is the bncing line between Yin and Yang. The power of Heaven and Helle from the same source, the only difference lies in the form of expression."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and he suddenly recalled what Zhao Yun had once said to him. He had said that the power of Heaven was capable of connecting with all three realms. As it turned out, that power stemmed from the same source as the power of the underworld.

    He wasn''t going to ask for the reason for this. After all, he had never been interested in cultivation to begin with. Instead, he attempted to draw upon the immortal energy within the jade tablet, and it willingly obeyed. As a result, the jade tablet was slowly opened, revealing line upon line of golden text etched onto its surface.

    After just a single nce, Qin Ye found himselfpletely unable to look away!

    "Western Jin Dynasty, reign of Xianhe, Year 327, immortal energy rose up from the eastern coastline of Cathay... What is this?"

    "These are the ascension archives," the stone statue replied. "All living beings who have ascended are recorded in these archives."

    Qin Ye continued reading.

    "... It was suspected that a living being had transcended a tribtion there. Following an inspection conducted by heavenly inspectors, it was discovered that 300 nautical miles away from the eastern coastline, a giant turtle had incurred a lightning tribtion in an attempt to ascend to Heaven. It was verified that this turtle was the divine beast, Gui Xu."

    Qin Ye''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he waspletely engrossed in his reading at this point.

    "However, Gui Xu failed to transcend the tribtion, and thus, it was denied ascension to Heaven. Following its demise, Gui Xu''s body was going to transform into a blessed paradise. Several dayster, and-dwelling Yama-King, suspected to be the wanderer among the clouds from the Qin Dynasty, arrived at the scene. Thereafter, the whereabouts of Gui Xu''s body became a mystery..."

    Dead silence.

    Qin Ye was staring intently at the jade tablet as countless pieces of information began to surface in his mind. He realized that there was something missing in the Cathayan Underworld''s research into the new energy resource!

    There was only a short passage inscribed on the jade tablet, and closed the jade tablet before beginning to pace back and forth with his hands sped behind his back. After a long while, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Who asked you to give this to me?"

    "It was the Aurogon," the stone statue replied. "The Aurogon was the most special Yama-King in the entire underworld as its gaze is capable of piercing through all three realms. Due to this ability, it possesses an extremely potent sense of precognition. This type of precognition isn''t the same as the vague intuition for danger that underworld emissaries can sense after reaching a certain level. Instead, it''s far more concrete and intense. Aside from this jade tablet, it also asked me to ry a message to you: ''go against the flow''."

    Go against the flow?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this. During these past eight months, they had been trying to separate Xu Fu''s energy resource into its underworld and mortal realm constituent parts. That way, they would be able to observe what materials Xu Fu used from the mortal realm to create the energy resource, thereby giving them an idea of what could possibly be used from the underworld to replicate the same effect.

    After all, everything they had told the world had been a lie thus far. Not only had they not yet discovered electron Yin runes, they hadn''t even discovered proton Yin runes yet!

    The research and development team was currently split up into three sections, one of which was responsible for establishing mathematical and physical models.

    Another section had been tasked with running experiments on creating friction between all types of different materials to see if a new energy resource simr to electricity could be generated, and most of the materials used were maic ore.

    The final section''s job was to use King Yanluo''s Seal to break down the fundamental runes on the first level of Archimedes''s Yin Rune Wheel. This was a lengthy process, and with so many fundamental Yin runes in existence, it could take an extremely long time to find the right ones through trial and error.

    In short, it was a project that struck one with a sense of despair.

    At this moment, they were indeed struggling against the flow of the river of despair, but was this what the Aurogon meant by going against the flow?

    "No, that doesn''t seem correct..." He turned to the stone statue in a slightly agitated manner as he asked, "Can you tell me exactly what this precognition ability entails? We''re all friends here, can''t you give me some clues?"

    The stone statue was rather taken aback by Qin Ye''s suddenly transition into his shameless mode, and only after a few seconds of silence did it reply, "I don''t want to be so cryptic, either, it''s just that precognition is something that concerns the Heavenly Dao, and it''s not something that can be clearly described. Precognition is something that allows you to see an oue that could arise in the form of an indistinct image. However, that''s only the oue, the process could be altered by anything and everything. For example, the Heavenly Dao could y a role. If I describe those images to you in detail, the Heavenly Dao will definitely sense our conversation, and there would be no telling what mishaps could arise. I''ve heard that the Heavenly Dao possesses sentience, and I can sense the aura of the Heavenly Dao on you, which tells me that you''vee into close contact with it in the past."

    Qin Ye was rather taken aback to hear this.

    Heaven doesn''t know the true name of the Heavenly Dao? They don''t know about the existence of Nothingness?

    As expected of the second King Yanluo to withhold such information from Heaven. Qin Ye had no idea how the first King Yanluo had convinced him to take his ce, but a man like the second King Yanluo simply didn''t belong on a throne. Instead, he should''ve been exploring the universe like an almighty Kun Peng!

    "Is that it? You can''t even give me any clues?" Qin Ye asked.

    The stone statue shook its head in response. "I''m afraid not. When it''s time for you to understand, you''ll understand, these things can''t be forced. Also, please take this lotus flower with you. The gates of Heaven will be opened wherever this lotus flower is. Seeing as Sword Master Xuanyuan has already forgotten his duty, there''s no need for this lotus flower to remain in the mortal realm."

    Does this mean I canmunicate with Heaven whenever I want from here onward?

    Qin Ye certainly wasn''t opposed to that.

    He had onlye to Kongur Tagh to see this old acquaintance from the underworld. He was extremely busy at the moment, as were the Harken, Zhao Yun, and Arakshasa, and they certainly didn''t have the time to throw a big weing party for the opening of the gates of Heaven.

    If the gates of Heaven could be opened near the Yin Mountains, then that would be ideal as it saved both time and effort. Thus, he didn''t refuse the offer, and with a gentle wave of his hand, the lotus flower drifted into his hand, immediately following which the stone statue fellpletely still and lifeless again.

    After that, he made his way down the mountain without bothering to inform Sword Master Xuanyuan of his departure.

    The frosty wind was blowing violently, but it was nowhere near as cold as Hell. He left no footprints in the snow in his wake, and after walking for several hundred meters, he was greeted by the sight of a series of Taoist temples and antiquated buildings. Several dozen cultivators were yelling with vigor as they practiced their sword techniques in the snow.

    It was a good feeling to be back in the mortal realm, and a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he murmured to himself, "I see, so this is what the Aurogon meant. Has all of our research thus far been conducted in the wrong direction? The Aurogon could see that we were going down the wrong path, so it had to send me a message. Having said that, what exactly is ''against the flow'' supposed to mean?"

 Chapter 1010: Physical Isolation

    <h4>Chapter 1010: Physical Istion</h4>

    Even through the thickyer of umted snow, one could still just barely make out the stone path underneath. There were also some pine trees and even some antiquated stonenterns on either side of the path.

    Qin Ye gently leaped upward, and his body seemed to bepletely weightless as he quickly drifted over to the top of the mountain. From this vantage point, he could see the vast sea of clouds below him, as well as the bright red sun in the distance.

    "The mistake we''ve made is that we''ve failed to take into ount the location of Xu Fu''sboratory!" He sat down with his legs crossed on the peak of the snowy mountain, and despite the beautiful scenery before him, he didn''t have any interest in appreciating it as he murmured to himself, "In order to invent the new energy resource, Xu Fu traveled all over the world and even visited Albert Einstein, but hisboratory had always been inside Gui Xu! Gui Xu was half an immortal, holding Mount Peni in its belly and possessing rich immortal energy. As a result, all of the items in Xu Fu''sboratory had constantly been immersed in immortal energy! During the past eight months, we''ve constantly been trying to find one or both of electron Yin runes and proton Yin runes, but we never had the right conditions to begin with as we didn''t have ess to immortal energy! With that in mind, the path that we''re currently going down may well lead to a dead-end!"

    Upon making this realization, he felt extremely grateful and ted.

    What was the most terrifying thing in scientific research?

    Not being able to see the path forward was one thing, but pursuing a path for decades, only to find that it led to nowhere, was a far more terrifying prospect!

    Back before the invention of dynamos and electrical motors, countless scientists had beenpeting against one another, but in the end, it was only Michael Faraday who had had thestugh.

    "Even Xu Fu himself most likely didn''t realize this. He thought he had developed the new energy resource using only materials from the mortal realm and the underworld, but in reality, he unwittingly used things from all three realms!"

    He closed his eyes and quickly leafed through Xu Fu''s notes in his mind. Line after line, sentence after sentence crossed his mind, and in the end, his eyes sprang open as an enlightened look appeared on his face.

    As expected, ording to Xu Fu''s notes, regardless of what experiment it was that he had performed, the most important experiments rted to the new energy resource had all beenpleted in Gui Xu.

    Gui Xu wasn''t just a divine beast, its body had transformed into a natural ecosystem with an ind, ake, a mountain, everything that a healthy ecosystem would have.

    ording to Heaven''s records, Gui Xu''s body was going to transform into a blessed paradise following its failed tribtion transcendence.

    How was that transformation process supposed to take ce?

    "It could only have undergone that transformation on its own," Qin Ye mused as he stroked his own chin with a contemtive look on his face. "Immortal energy is a source of kic energy just like Yin energy, and it was immortal energy that was fueling its transformation! Over the course of centuries, the immortal energy would''ve transformed Gui Xu into a blessed paradise, but Xu Fu''s arrival put a premature end to all of that as he modified Gui Xu''s body into a floating fortress! This process most likely caused Gui Xu''s immortal energy to dissipate at an even slower rate, and over time, even its organs and the things inside them were immersed in immortal energy."

    Qin Ye had to admit that he was extremely fortunate.

    If he hadn''t made this realization based on the Aurogon''s message, then the research team could''ve toiled away for decades without getting anywhere!

    There was an innate hole in Xu Fu''s notes that even Xu Fu himself didn''t know existed!

    "As for whether my theory is correct, that''s very simple to confirm." He stood up, and even though the light of the sun was illuminating his entire body, there was no shadow of him cast onto the ground.

    He had discovered the true path forward, and a heartfelt smile had appeared on his face.

    "All we need to do ispletely iste the constituent parts of the new energy resource to see how many parts there are!"

    As soon as that thought urred to him, he couldn''t help but p himself on the forehead.

    This was something that they should''ve done from the very beginning, but no one had thought of this!

    They had always thought that the new energy resource consisted of two things, one of which was Yin energy, while the other was true energy, and that all they had to do was extract the true energy. Thus, they had always been performing their experiments with the intention of finding something that could react with the true energy, but they never considered that there could be a thirdponent at y here.

    Gui Xu''s cause of death had been mentioned very vaguely in Xu Fu''s notes, but the mystery had been solved here.

    He didn''t want to think about this any longer, and thus, he immediately vanished from the mountaintop as a gust of Yin wind.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Shortly thereafter, Qin Ye appeared in the Yin Mountains research center, and Secretary Jiang, who was in the process of helping him sort out his documents, was given quite a fright. "Your Excellency! I didn''t think you''de back so soon!"

    Qin Ye was absolutely ecstatic as he ordered, "Get Qian Dui toe and see me."

    Qian Dui was also present in the research center.

    As the supervisor of the darkfeathers and a top spy during his time in the mortal realm, he was responsible for the safety of the entire research center, as well as the safety of all of the scientists in theboratories.

    During the past eight months, there had already been three major explosions and several dozen minor idents. If it weren''t for Qian Dui''s dedicated efforts, there would''ve most likely already been scientists injured during the experiments.

    Qian Dui quickly strode into the room before extending a respectful bow.

    "No need for formalities," Qin Ye said with a serious expression. "How many istionboratories are there and where are they?"

    Qian Duluo immediately replied, "There are a total of four istionboratories focused in area two with a total of 12 scientists and 53 assistants. At the moment, they''re still stuck on the basic matter istion stage."

    This essentially meant that they hadn''t made any progress at all.

    Qin Ye was bing more and more convinced that the possibility that had urred to him was the truth, and he forcibly repressed his own excitement as he said, "Instruct the five main architects to travel to the istionboratories. Also, instruct the scientists in the istionboratories to stop what they''re doing and prepare high power microscopes and the unit containing the new energy resource!"

    "Yes!"

    Qian Dui departed, and Qin Ye immediately conjured up a messenger bird before speaking into it. "Pleasee to the Yin Mountains research center right away."

    With a flick of his finger, the messenger bird was sent flying away, and he also vanished from the room at the same time.

    By the time he reappeared, he was already in the conference hall neighboring the istionboratories in area two. He could hear a flurry ofmotion and activity in theboratories nearby. This was the sound of people cleaning up the experimentation sites. If no one kept theseboratories in order, then these scientists would transform them intoplete pigsties. Out of all of the assistants that had been recruited, most of them were responsible for cleanup duty.

    The sound of footsteps ringing out from the corridor indicated the passage of all of the assistants who were busy at work, and unbeknownst to all of them, their King Yanluo was seated in the neighboring conference hall, seperated from them by only a single wall.

    Qin Ye sat alone in the conference hall with his brows furrowed in deep thought. He had to organize his own thoughts.

    If we discover three types of energy, then that means the creation of the new energy resource must depend on Heaven. That would make sense, considering natural lightning alsoes from Heaven. All we need to do is find the true particles, then select simr things in the underworld, and perhaps this path will yield a positive oue!

    Selecting things with simr properties to a certain point of reference was certainly going to be far easier than searching aimlessly for a needle in a haystack!

    They couldn''t directly use Xu Fu''s energy resource as it was both connected to all three realms, yet also disjointed at the same time.

    The reason that it was disjointed was due to the inherent differences in matter. The Yin runes of the underworld, the immortal energy of Heaven, the true energy of the mortal realm... It was like the evolution of monkeys, some evolved into humans, while some others evolved into goris.

    The origin was the same, but the final oue was different. Such a thing would undoubtedly be rejected by the outside world.

    Thinking back, these past eight months of work hadn''t actually beenpletely in vain.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye raised a hand, and a file of documents appeared in mid-air, which he immediately opened and began to read through.

    These were the records of the work that had been done during the past eight months, and what he was looking for was...

    "This is it!" He traced a line of text with his finger as he read aloud, "Under an environment simting the underworld, where there is only pure Yin energy, the energy resource created by Xu Fu is less than 30% as effective as it normally is (the degree of efficacy fluctuates between 27.321% and 30.452%), whereas in the mortal realm, it''s efficacy reaches 100%. The constituent parts of the energy resource from the three realms haven''tpletely fused together. After all, they exist in different realms altogether. However, if we can find out the energy resource''s fundamental constituents, we''ll be able to find substitutes in the underworld!"

    That would undoubtedly significantly speed up the development of the new energy resource!

    "Lord Qin." Right at this moment, the door was opened, and Qian Dui made his way into the room. "All of the scientists are ready."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before immediately leaving the room, then entered the neighboringboratory.

    Inside theboratory were all types of equipment, some of which had been purchased from the Russian Underworld and the Alkebn Underworlds, while the rest had been crafted based on models from the mortal realm. This was the mainboratory of the istion area, and it was very spacious. Just like in the mainboratory of the Yin Mountains research center, there was a pane of ss up ahead, behind which was the experimentation area.

    All of the scientists were present, and Qin Ye cut straight to the chase. "Everyone, I went to visit an old friend during the past couple of days, and he showed me something that leads me to believe that we may have gone down the wrong path."

    "Are you sure?" Xu Chengyang immediately asked in a serious voice. "Yanluo Qin, pardon my rudeness, but you''re not a scientist, and this is noughing matter!"

    It was very difficult to see whether the wrong path had been pursued in scientific research.

    At times, the equations worked out, the models were fine, and the experiments could also be conducted, but the desired effect simply couldn''t be achieved.

    In situations like that, it was very difficult to realize that the wrong path had been pursued until practically the very end. It was often the case that by the time the realization was made, years, perhaps even decades, had already passed by.

    Regardless of how they conducted their current experiments, there always seemed to be something missing, and they had also suspected whether they were pursuing the wrong path, but the most important quality for a scientist was conviction and belief.

    They had to firmly believe that their path was correct.

    If Qin Ye were a scientist himself, then perhaps they would be willing to listen to his ideas, but he didn''t know a thing about science, what right did he have to im that the path being pursued was wrong?

    Most sessful scientists were as stubborn as mules, and they certainly weren''t going to back down just because Qin Ye was the ruler of the nation!

    "I''m not certain," Qin Ye said in an earnest manner. "But please listen to what I have to say, and after that, I''ll conduct an experiment right here in front of all of you. What I discovered was that there may be a third type of energy hidden within this energy resource!"

    "That''s impossible!" Zu Chongzhi immediately countered in a serious voice. "All of us can practically recite Xu Fu''s notes back to front, and no third type of energy was every mentioned! Every single step and all of the tools used in the process of developing the new energy resource were either from the mortal realm or the underworld, there''s no way there can be anything that goes beyond the scope of those two realms!"

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he turned to the underworld emissary beside him. "Bring me an energy resource unit that can still be used."

    "Your Excellency!" Lu Ban stood up with an urgent expression. "Please be careful! Following Gui Xu''s explosion, we were only able to salvage five usable units, and during the past eight months of experimentation, we''ve already used up three of them! The remaining two units can provide us with samples of the new energy resource, and we must cherish them! We have to develop the new energy resource before we use up the energy in those two units!"

    Qin Ye shook his head in a reassuring yet firm gesture.

    Scientists undoubtedly excelled in scientific research, but their understanding of the three realms was farckingpared with Qin Ye''s, so there wasn''t even any point exining the situation to them.

    Thus, he was going to use irrefutable, scientific proof to tell them that there was very likely a third type of energy hidden within this new energy resource, one that was from Heaven!

 Chapter 1011: Astonishment!

    <h4>Chapter 1011: Astonishment!</h4>

    He raised his hands with a serious expression as he said, "Everyone, this is something that can potentially open up a brand new set of possibilities for us and take us drastically closer to our end goal! Why shouldn''t we do this?"

    This was indeed a reasonable argument, yet all of the scientists couldn''t help but feel strong resistance to Qin Ye''s idea when they looked at the energy units that had been carried into theboratory.

    There were only two units left able to provide them with the new energy resource to experiment on!

    If Qin Ye were to fail on this asion, then they would only have one unit left, cing them into an even more dire situation!

    If they couldn''t develop the new energy resource before the energy in these five units ran out, the Cathayan Underworld''s reputation would be doomed, and it most likely wouldn''t be able to recover within the next few centuries!

    Zu Chongzhi considered the situation for a moment before proposing, "Your Excellency, let''s talk about this first. Can you tell us exactly what has led you to make this decision?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response before giving everyone a recount of what had happened on Kongur Tagh, but the scientists were clearly all still unconvinced.

    Lu Ban wore a grim expression as he said, "Your Excellency, if what you said really is correct, then why didn''t Xu Fu discover this during his own research?"

    Qin Ye had also considered this question before, and his conclusion was that this was a ssic example of someone being misled by themselves.

    For a typical scientist like Xu Fu, once he discovered that the types of energy could be fused together, the first thing that he would do would definitely be to find out exactly what thebined product could aplish. His goal was to transform Gui Xu into a floating fortress, and he didn''t need to know why or how the new energy resource worked as he wasn''t going to receive a prize for that anyway.

    However, the scientists didn''t agree with his perspective.

    "Your Excellency, there''s no way that a scientist would think like that!" Pang Hai countered with a serious expression. "Out of all of the scientists that I know, all of them take the ''why'' just as, if not more seriously, than the ''what''. To say that a scientist like Xu Fu would only be interested in developing the new energy resource without having any interest in analyzing it simply doesn''t make sense to me."

    In the field of scientific research, Qin Ye was on a level ying field with all of the scientists present.

    Everyone was striving towards finding the right path, so no one was criticizing one another, and despite the fact that the conversation had be slightly heated, it was still very constructive and civilized.

    "He wasn''t just a scientist, he was also a cultivator, so it''s impossible for us to imagine his state of mind at the time. In any case, our research has hit a bottleneck, and this is the only thing that we can try, so why don''t we give it a shot?"

    "Lord Qin, we''re not opposed to trying new things, but the circumstances simply don''t allow us that luxury! We have to conserve the remaining samples of the energy resource as much as we can!"

    Thus, an impasse ensued, and neither side was willing to back down.

    All of the assistants looked on as the main architects argued with their King Yanluo, but they couldn''t take any part in this conversation.

    When it came to subjects like this, it was very difficult to tell who was wrong and who was right. The architects were taking the conservative approach, banking on the adage that slow and steady would allow them to win the race in the end, while Qin Ye was proposing a radical new route. They had already failed to deliver two quarterly reports and eight monthly reports, and the pressure being exerted upon them from the rest of the world was already mounting to a peak!

    There was no way that the other three pirs would be willing to pass up this opportunity.

    Finally, Zu Chongzhi heaved a resigned sigh. "Yanluo Qin''s word overrides all else in Hell."

    "But..." Xu Chengyang and the others were still clearly quite reluctant.

    One of the biggest taboos in scientific research was the involvement of unqualified outsiders.

    They were vehemently resisting this experiment as they were afraid of the consequences arising from both oues.

    If it were indeed discovered that a new path had to be pursued, then how were they going to allocate their scientists given there was already a shortage in skilled personnel? Were they supposed to set up another department, or perhapspletely terminate the current areas of research?

    Of course, that would be a good dilemma to have. At the very least, if something new were discovered, then they would be closer to the truth, and that would only excite and reinvigorate all of the scientists.

    However, if nothing were discovered, not only would one of the two precious remaining energy units have been wasted, the morale of the research team would be significantly deted as well.

    "Don''t worry, just trust me," Qin Ye said in a reassuring voice. He then turned to the assistant beside him and instructed, "Open the door."

    There was no need to waste any more time on words, he had to let his actions do the talking for him.

    Behind the pane of reinforced ss was a room with an area of around 50 square meters. At the center of the room was a hollow box that was hovering in mid-air, and within the box was a ball of bluish-purple energy that was shing and arcing incessantly like lightning.

    This was the energy that had been extracted. This would''ve been impossible to aplish through the conventional means of the mortal realm, but in this world where cultivation existed, the energy could be fundamentally extracted in the form of Yin runes, thereby producing substantial, visible energy that didn''t dissipate.

    This was also one of thews of the underworld: thew of energy constancy.

    "He''s too eager for progress..." Pang Hai sighed as he stood outside the pane of ss. He was not optimistic about this experiment at all.

    "We are in no ce to criticize the decisions of Yanluo Qin," Zu Chongzhi said in an indifferent voice, following which everyone fell silent and began to scrutinize the proceedings intently.

    Seeing as they had already made a decision, then they had to be prepared for the consequences. At this moment, Qin Ye had already reached out with his hand to hover above the energy resource, and Yin energy was surging out of his palm in a frenzy.

    In this instant, even Qin Ye himself was feeling extremely nervous.

    It was the moment of truth!

    With that in mind, all of the Yin energy in his entire body surged toward the energy resource without any reservation, and the ball of energy instantly swelled drastically in size as if it hade under some type of stimtion, ballooning up into a ball of bluish-purple light that was around a meter in size in the blink of an eye!

    Countless arcs of energy were shing all around the ball of light, and the box was unable to contain the energy any longer as it exploded violently. Qin Ye''s hair and robes were blown straight back by the shockwaves resulting from the explosion, but he remainedpletely still on the spot as he inspected the energy with single-minded focus.

    This was the first time he had been in such close proximity to the new energy resource.

    He slowly closed his eyes, and the first thing that he felt was extremely rich Yin energy, taking up around half of the energy resource.

    The other portion of the energy resource consisted of true energy. He could clearly sense that this was the aura of the mortal realm, and it was very warm. The two types of energy were fused together in perfect harmony, disying no instability nor any intent to separate from one another.

    He released his entirety of consciousness, searching with all his might while delving deeper and deeper into the energy resource.

    He was desperately searching for a third type of energy, yet even after reaching the very center of the energy resource, he still failed to discover anything.

    "Could it be that the two types of energy have been in contact with immortal energy for too long, and the immortal energy has been assimted?"

    However, as soon as this thought sprang into his mind, he immediately rejected it.

    If that were the case, then the assimted product would be impossible to separate into its original constituent parts, which meant that his guess would''ve beenpletely off.

    In that case, how could the Aurogon''s message be exined?

    In the underworld, where a cultivation system existed, he believed more in the arcane and unquantifiables than science.

    His consciousness was raking through every single inch of the energy resource, yet his search still proved to be fruitless.

    His heart gradually began to sink. Could it be that he really had been wrong?

    "My guess was that the energy of Heaven hadbined Yin energy and true energy, but there are no neutralizingponents within these two types of energy at all. Was I incorrect in my assumption?" He continued to increase his Yin energy output as he murmured to himself through gritted teeth, "Perhaps it''s not at the center? But if it allowed the two types of energy to fuse together, then where could it be aside from in the center?"

    All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and his eyes lit up as he withdrew all of his Yin energy at once.

    All of the architects outside heaved a forlorn sigh upon seeing this.

    Even though they were opposed to this experiment, they also desperately wanted to see it seed.

    However, the reality being presented before them was that even their King Yanluo hadn''t been able to bring about any change in the energy resource.

    "How unfortunate..." Deng Ruifeng massaged his own be as he sighed, "Looks like we''ll have to pick up the pace. Yanluo Qin can''t be med for this, all he wanted was to contribute and..."

    Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, his pupils abruptly contracted, and he was instantly struck by the urge to push the people in front of him aside so he could rush over to the experimentation area.

    However, before he had a chance to do that, everyone else in front of him had already let loose cries of surprise before rushing over and pressing themselves tightly against the pane of ss!

    Zu Chongzhi''s lips were trembling as he eximed, "This is a third type of energy!"

    "How is this possible?"

    "It exists! It actually exists!"

    "It wasn''t on Xu Fu''s notes at all! Could it be that even he failed to realize its existence?"

    "My god... This is enough topletely scrap all of our hypotheses and ns!"

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything.

    His eyes were glowing like a pair of torches, and his mouth was slightly agape while his chest was heaving violently. Right beneath his hand was ayer of indistinct white light that enveloped the entire energy resource!

    Qin Ye felt as if there were a jolt of electricity running along the length of his spine as he eximed, "There really is something else! I was right, and Xu Fu was wrong! He didn''t know about Gui Xu''s cause of death, so he failed to take into ount the possibility that a third type of energy could be involved! The new energy isn''t just formed by true energy and Yin energy, there''s something from Heaven thrown into the mix as well, and that''s the key to all of this!"

    A thought had suddenly urred to him just now.

    There were two ways to fuse two entities together, one of which was neutralization, while the other one was simply envelopment!

    The two types of energy had been enveloped together, and over time, they had slowly reacted with one another.

    Thus, Qin Ye had withdrawn his Yin energy from within the energy resource and focused it on the surface of the energy resource, and as a result, a reaction had immediately taken ce!

    All of a sudden, the door was flung open, and the architects were revealed at the entrance, desperately trying to rush into the room, only to be kept out by Qian Dui. A stern look immediately appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he scolded, "What do you think you''re doing? Get out of here right away! It''s not safe for you to be in here!"

    Xu Chengyang''s teeth were gritted tightly as he frantically held back the overexcited architects while doing everything in his power to repress the excitement and ecstasy in his own heart. "The energy resource is in an unstable state, it could even create a ck hole! Do you want to die?! If we die, who''s going to work on this project for Hell?! We have to wait!"

    He wasn''t any less excited than the others, but he was able to maintain a shred of rity as he rubbed his hands together in an eager manner. "I have a feeling that we''ve finally found the right path forward!"

    He then swung around toward one of the assistants, who was already rooted to the spot, and instructed, "Bring a set of analytical apparatus over here right away! We can''t waste any of the energy resource! Hurry!!"

    A scorching wave of excitement had swept over everyone, and the assistants were naturally aware of what this entailed as well. In the history of scientific research, a change in the state of something had always entailed a monumental step forward!

    The assistant immediately rushed out of the room.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to what was happening outside the experimentation area, as he continued to analyze the energy resource. He had only been able to evoke a reaction from the energy resource just now, but it was still going to take some time topletely iste it, and once that happened, this experiment would be a resounding sess.

    However, as he injected more and more Yin energy into the energy resource, he discovered that his own mid Yama-King level Yin energy was unable to iste the three types of energy!

    To put it more urately, he couldn''t tear through the "skin" on the surface!

 Chapter 1012: Energy Constancy

    <h4>Chapter 1012: Energy Constancy</h4>

    What was going on?

    Qin Ye''s brows were tightly furrowed as he continued to dissect the energy resource on a deeper level, but after 20 minutes, he finally shook his head and heaved a resigned sigh.

    There was no way to iste the three types of energy.

    In a world like this one, there were many things that couldn''t be exined with science or even the arcane.

    Qin Ye stepped out of the experimentation area intoplete silence, and Zu Chongzhi was the first one to approach him as he asked with an intense gaze, "How did it go, Your Excellency?"

    Everyone''s eyes were focused on Qin Ye, and he replied, "There really is a third type of energy present. It''s very difficult to detect, and it envelops the energy resource like a membrane."

    This announcement was immediately met by a string of gasps. All of the architects exchanged a nce to find their own disbelief mirrored in one another''s eyes.

    There really was a third type of energy present!

    This meant that from this point onward, their general direction and thought process had to bepletely overhauled! All of the dissatisfaction that they had harbored toward Qin Ye''s actions hadpletely vanished at this point. Just like during the Great Revtion Debate, in the face of concrete evidence, even the most stubborn and vtile of scientists would instantly be as obedient and docile as domestic pets.

    "So that means even Xu Fu himself was oblivious to the fact that he had actually used three types of energy in the creation of the new energy resource?" Xu Chengyang''s hands were sped behind his back as he quickly paced back and forth in the room. In his current state, it wouldn''t look out of ce at all if there were smoke rising up from the top of his head.

    This was definitely the biggest discovery that the Resurgence Team had made thus far!

    In fact, it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to call it the first step in the right direction to creating the new energy resource!

    What was most embarrassing and infuriating to all of the scientists was that it was their King Yanluo who had made the discovery as opposed to them!

    Thinking back to how they had doubted Qin Ye, the scientists felt even more embarrassed, and the architects were constantly stealing nces at Qin Ye, wondering whether they should apologize or not.

    As scientists, this was the correct attitude to have, but they didn''t know if their King Yanluo was going to be petty and hold it against them or not.

    Right at this moment, the door was opened, and several assistants hurriedly rushed into the room while holding microscopes and all types of other apparatus, defusing the awkwardness in the room as they did so.

    "All of the analytical apparatus have been brought here!" one of the assistants said while panting heavily. "Should we set everything down here? Do you need any other pieces of equipment? We''ll bring them over right away!"

    "We don''t actually need all of that," Qin Ye said. "What we have to do now is adjust our n going forward. Also, our foremost objective has to be to iste the three types of energy."

    The biggest difference between underworld scientists and their counterparts from the mortal realm was that the former had to constantly consider arcane factors that could affect their scientific research. From that perspective, Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban were indeed more suited than the three professors of the mortal realm to act as the main architects.

    Sure enough, upon hearing what Qin Ye had to say, Xu Chengyang''s trio failed to immediately react, but Zu Chongzhi instantly caught onto the implications behind Qin Ye''s words as he asked in an urgent voice, "Are you unable to iste it?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response with a grim expression.

    The third type of energy was very strange. From a scientific perspective, the energy resource that Xu Fu had created had already existed for hundreds of years, which meant that it had most likely already perfectlybined into a single, inseparable form of energy, perhaps one that was truly formed by the most fundamental particles on the same level as protons and electrons. Those were already the most fundamental building blocks of the three realms, and they couldn''t be controlled even by arcane forces.

    After several seconds of silence, Deng Ruifeng asked, "Is there something wrong?"

    Lu Ban sighed, "During the past few years, Hell has made it clear to all of itsherworldly citizens that they''re already dead. This is a mental barrier that everyone needs to ovee, and due to the fact that we''re no longer in the mortal realm, there are certain things that we have to consider. When conducting scientific research in the underworld, we have to always consider supernatural forces, and it''s certainly not an insignificant factor of consideration. For example, if we can extract the energy resource without using any apparatus and maintain it for long periods of time under normal physical conditions, then that has to be attributed to supernatural forces. Of course, this isn''t an absolute rule. Instead, the role that supernatural forces y is estimated based on the past research and development projects we''ve participated in. However, there are no supernatural forces more potent than the power of a Yama-King. If even a Yama-King is unable to iste this energy resource, than that essentially means that there''s no way to iste it!"

    The excitement of the architects was instantly quashed upon hearing this, and Pang Hai opened his mouth several times to say something, but in the end, he could only ask in a desperate voice, "Is there no other way? What if we approach this from a scientific perspective?"

    "Science doesn''t exist in the underworld, there''s only Yin runology," Zu Chongzhi sighed. "Everything that can be achieved through science can also be achieved using Yin energy. In fact, Yin energy can even rece the new energy resource, the problem is that there are too few individuals in the underworld capable of this. In order to aplish this, one would have to possess Yama-King level power, and there are only a few dozen Yama-Kings in the entire underworld, most of which belong to the four pirs. Are we supposed to ask all of these Yama-Kings to act as electric generators every day? There are far more worthwhile things for a Yama-King to do. Even if we had spare Yama-Kings at our disposal, who would we assign such a task to? All Yama-Kings are dignified beings who stand at the top of the world. Who would want to act as an electric generator and be theughing stock of their peers?"

    The three deputy architects fell silent upon hearing this.

    Pang Hai ran his hands through his own hair in a frustrated manner as he said, "In the pursuit of science, failure isn''t worthy of fear, what''s truly terrifying is being unable to find the reasons for failure! We''ve already found the right path forward, but is there no way to actually forge ahead?!"

    He couldn''t ept this! He wasn''t the only one, none of the architects, scientists, and even assistants could ept this oue!

    "Perhaps there''s still hope," Qin Ye interjected. "Not long ago, I summoned Ghost King Zhao toe here, and it''s precisely because I was worried that this would happen. As a Yama-King, I''m unable to aplish this, but that doesn''t mean that a being above the Yama-King level would also be unable to!"

    The mes of hope were reignited in the hearts of all of the scientists upon hearing this.

    In a short span of time, they had experienced hope, despair, and now hope again, leaving them feeling very much emotionally drained.

    However, they weren''t going to allow themselves to rest yet. They were going to wait for Zhao Yun no matter how long he took to get here!

    They had to wait for the final oue. Otherwise, they would be too distracted to do anything else!

    Time slowly passed by, and less than half an hourter, Zhao Yun made his way into the room. Right as he was about to speak, Qin Ye shook his head and pointed to the pane of reinforced ss as he said, "Ghost King Zhao, try and see if you can break down that thing, we can talk about everything elseter."

    Zhao Yun nodded in response before immediately entering the experimentation area, following which a burst of Yin energy far more formidable than Qin Ye''s erupted forth.

    The Yin energy surged into every single part of the energy resource like countless tiny snakes as Qin Ye said, "It''s not on the inside, it''s a membrane-like structure on the very outside!"

    Zhao Yun immediately withdrew his Yin energy topletely envelop the exterior of the energy resource, and just like during Qin Ye''s experiment, a burst of white light immediately appeared. All of the scientists, architects, and assistants unconsciously stood up as they stared intently at the scene unfolding beyond the pane of ss with intense, unblinking eyes.

    By the time 10 minutes had passed by, Qin Ye''s expression had alreadypletely darkened.

    There was virtually no change in the energy resource. A reaction had indeed taken ce, but there was no substantial change.

    Having attempted the same thing himself, Qin Ye knew that if no change arose within 10 minutes, then it was very likely that no change was ever going to take ce.

    20 minutes soon passed by, then 30. On this asion, no one crowded around Zhao Yun to ask any questions. Instead, they were all staring expectantly at Zhao Yun, hoping against hope that he would somehow have some good news for them.

    However, Zhao Yun''s response was a shake of his head.

    Zu Chongzhi''s visions immediately darkened, and his legs almost gave out from under him.

    The intense emotional rollercoaster he had gone on in such a short time was far too much for him to handle, and all of the scientists present were struck by a sense of crushing despair.

    "Is there no other way?" Deng Ruifeng asked in a trembling voice.

    "I''m afraid not," Zhao Yun replied with a grim expression. "Even my Yin energy was unable to aplish this, so no one else would be able to do it, either."

    Amid the silence, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "What about a divine artifact? King Yanluo''s Seal, perhaps?"

    "Highly unlikely," Zhao Yun replied with a shake of his head. "King Yanluo''s Seal may be the foundation of Hell, but this energy resource has incorporated elements from all three realms. King Yanluo''s Seal could perhaps be able to iste the fundamental underworld matter from the energy resource, but it won''t be able to do anything to the otherponents from the mortal realm and Heaven."

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh upon hearing this.

    There was nothing more disheartening than being shown hope, only to then have it dashed in an instant.

    The best way to proceed now was to devise a new n, then emte a simr type of matter to be isted by King Yanluo''s Seal before tracking down a simr Yin rune.

    Unfortunately, in the realm of science, simr didn''t equate to same.

    It was very likely that if a simr substitute were used, various issues could arise, or the entire thing could just fail to work.

    Right at this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly said, "I can only think of two ways, one of which is to ask the second King Yanluo to give this a try."

    Qin Ye sighed, "That''s going to be very difficult. Even I can''t enter the ce where he''s currently at, and it''s very unlikely that a messenger bird would be able to make it to him. Unless hees out himself, there''s no way for us to reach him. What''s the second option?"

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly as he replied, "The second option is to find a divine artifact capable ofpletely isting the new energy resource. However, that''s going to be very difficult. I don''t know of any creation-grade divine artifacts capable of this, and even if one exists, there''s no way its owner would be willing to lend it to us."

    Qin Ye opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it in the end.

    Having refused to release eight monthly reports and two quarterly reports, the dissatisfaction that the entire world harbored toward them had already reached a peak. By his estimations, the entire world would turn on them if they couldn''t release something worth their while by the end of the next quarter.

    The three pirs would be more than eager to nt a knife into the back of the Cathayan Underworld, and if they had all of the patent-holding scientists on their side as well... Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be fearful of such a formidable force.

    Who would possibly be willing to lend the Cathayan Underworld their divine artifact at a time like this?

    Right at this moment, Lu Ban suddenly said, "Hold on, what we need now is a creation-grade divine artifact capable of stripping something down to its most fundamental form, right?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response.

    A hint of excitement appeared in Lu Ban''s eyes as he asked, "Then will a creation-grade divine artifact with purification and restoration abilities fit the bill?"

    Qin Ye was momentarily perplexed by Lu Ban''s sudden excitement before a thought suddenly urred to him, and he and Zhao Yun both eximed in unison, "Are you talking about the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn?!"

    That''s right, they had the new six paths of reincarnation to work with!

 Chapter 1013: The Might of the Warden

    <h4>Chapter 1013: The Might of the Warden</h4>

    Qin Ye pped a hand to his own forehead. "How did I not think of that?"

    The foundation of the new six paths of reincarnation was the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn, and following its fusion with Yu Kiang, they were still yet to find the correct way to use the resulting creation-grade divine artifact. Of course, that was also due to the fact that they didn''t have enough time on their hands.

    "The six paths of reincarnation are actually not an area. Instead, it''s the first divine artifact in history to have arisen from the fusion of the body of an ancient god and a creation-grade divine artifact! We originally spected that its ability was one of purification, restoration, or dposition, so it should possess the ability to iste this new energy resource!"

    Zhao Yun immediately chimed in, "On top of that, its power is superior even to my own, and as the core of Hell''s reincarnation system, it belongs to the Heavenly Dao, just like the three realms!"

    "Hold on, Your Excellency, would you be able to exin all of this to me?" Xu Chengyang hurriedly asked in an excited voice. From the depths of despair, he had been shown another glimmer of hope, and this one seemed to be brighter than all of the previous ones!

    Zhao Yun and Qin Ye exchanged a smiling nce before thetter replied, "Basically, there should be nothing in this world that the new six paths of reincarnation aren''t able to break down!"

    "Then what are we still waiting for?!" Pang Hai asked in an urgent voice. "Your Excellency, please allow us to travel to Westriver Province right away! Every second counts!"

    "Of course," Qin Ye said with a smile. "We''ll set off right away!"

    He definitely had to be present to witness this historic scene in person!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "I''m so hungry!!" In the new six paths of reincarnation, there wasn''t a single underworld emissary to be seen on the Inner Demon Path. In the pce at the end of the path, Arthis was frantically devouring worship, but it did nothing to satiate her hunger.

    Right at this moment, a respectful voice rang out nearby. "Warden Arthis, Yanluo Qin is here to see you."

    "I don''t have time to see him!" Arthis spat out a reply as she continued to drag worship into her own mouth with her long hair, much like an octopus hunting for food in the sea with its tentacles.

    So what if you''vee to see me? I don''t have to see you if I don''t want to! Once I be a Yama-King, I''ll show you who''s boss!

    "Ghost King Zhao is also with him," the underworld emissary in the corner said in a tentative voice.

    In the next instant, something shed before his eyes, and when his vision cleared again, Arthis was already nowhere to be seen.

    By the time Qin Ye''s group arrived at the Inner Demon Path, they were greeted by the sight of Arthis wearing a white dress, holding an oil paper umbre with a rain of red spider lily petals falling upon her.

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly as he cast his gaze toward the pirs on either side of the path. Atop the pirs stood hundreds of underworld emissaries with resigned looks on their faces, grabbing handfuls of flower petals from the baskets they were holding before tossing them down and generating Yin wind to blow them through the air. It was clear that they had all been forced to do this by Arthis.

    "Your Excellency, what''s going on here?" Lu Ban asked with a bemused expression.

    Qin Ye was silent for a moment before heaving a faint sigh. "Not a day goes by where she doesn''t make a fool out of herself..."

    He was suddenly very grateful that he had made the wise decision to instate Arthis as the warden of the new six paths of reincarnation. If he had put her in Everburn, the culture of the entire government would''ve been ruined by her!

    Arthis''s attention clearly wasn''t focused on Qin Ye. In the blink of an eye, she arrived beside Zhao Yun like an obedient little bird, holding her umbre above them with one hand while ying with the material of her dress in a shy disy.

    "Brother Yun, what brings you all the way here?" she asked as she put on a seductive smile. "If you need something from me, you could''ve just sent me a message, there''s no need for you to be so polite and formal with me."

    Qin Ye looked on with a wooden expression. He could tell that Arthis was doing everything in her power to be as open and daring as the modern woman, but she was still struggling to ovee the values of restraint and chastity that had been drilled into her mind from ancient times.

    At this rate, when is she ever going to be able to hit it off with Brother Yun?

    The conscientious Yanluo Qin was beginning to worry about the future happiness of his valued subordinate...

    Zhao Yun smiled as he replied, "I want to use the new six paths of reincarnation for something very important. Would you be able to give me a hand, Warden Arthis?"

    Arthis''s smile became even more seductive as sheined, "Don''t call me warden, call me little sweetie pie like you always do..."

    The sound of Qin Ye violently clearing his throat suddenly rang out, and Arthis red at him before rolling her eyes and drifting away. "Come with me."

    As they made their way down the path, Qin Ye snuck closer to Zhao Yun and gently bumped his shoulder as he asked, "Brother Zhao, what type of woman do you fancy?"

    Zhao Yun replied with a serious expression, "There''s no need for you to concern yourself with such trivial matters, Yanluo Qin, although what I can tell you is that I''m definitely not into her type."

    "That''s good to hear, but can you try and lead her on anyway? She''s been a bit disobedient ofte, and it would be great if you could help keep her on the end of my leash..."

    Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye with an appalled expression, and Qin Ye immediately put on a serious disy as he said, "That was just a joke. Men who lead women on without any intention of giving them happiness are scum!"

    Finally, they reached the pce at the end of the path, and serious looks appeared on everyone''s faces in anticipation of what was about toe.

    The entire area fellpletely silent, and Zhao Yun made a grabbing motion, upon which a ball of energy that resembled lightning appeared at the center of the hall. He then made an inviting hand gesture before backing away to the side.

    Arthis made her way over to the ball of energy, and during this brief span of time, she had already put on avish, red dress in the style of the Tang Dynasty with a bright yellow bandeau, as well as a silken sash around her waist, and a silk ribbon slung over her shoulders, both of which were trailing at least two meters along the ground.

    She took a deep breath, and in the next instant, her Yin energy erupted forth in a frenzy!

    The entire hall trembled violently, and Qin Ye and Zhao Yun''s pupils instantly contracted slightly.

    She had be more powerful yet again!

    At this point, she had already reached the mid Abyssal Prefect level!

    "She''ll definitely be a Yama-King in the next 30 years," Zhao Yun said in a confident voice.

    Qin Ye nodded in response, but there was no tion on his face at all as Arthis''s Yin energy was different from theirs.

    Their Yin energy was the purest Yin energy that was pitch-ck like the void. However, Arthis was different. Yu Kiang had been devoured by the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn, and as the warden of the new six paths of reincarnation, her Yin energy was tinged with hints of red.

    "She''s not going to experience any problems, is she?" They were always bickering with one another, but deep down, Arthis meant a lot to Qin Ye. After all, they had been through some serious hardships together.

    For some reason, she was the type of friend with whom he could only endure hardships, but they seemed to be unable to remain on amicable terms in times of peace and prosperity.

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response as he replied with a grim expression, "I''m not sure. She''s the only underworld emissary who has progressed in her cultivation in this unique manner in the past several thousand years. However, the second King Yanluo is aware of her situation, and he didn''t say anything, so she should be fine."

    They didn''t continue discussing this subject as the scenes unfolding before them had caught their attention.

    Instead of injecting her Yin energy into the energy resource, Arthis had directed it into the entirety of the new six paths of reincarnation! Immediately thereafter, wisps of golden karmic fire began to ignite within the rifts on the ground.

    As soon as the karmic fire emerged from the rifts, they rose upyer uponyer to form a fiery lotus flower, with the energy resource enveloped at the very center. As the mes rose up higher and higher, the energy resource began to give off an indistinct white radiance!

    Deng Ruifeng adjusted his own sses, and as he stared intently at the scene unfolding before his eyes, he felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his own chest. All of the scientists were also looking on with rapt focus and anticipation, hunched over like hunting leopards about to pounce onto their prey at any moment!

    However, before they had a chance to say anything further, the white light began to slowly disperse through the air like shockwaves, and at the same time, countless irregr lumps began to appear at the center of the energy resource!

    Dead silence.

    No one dared to say anything in fear that their voice would wake everyone up from this beautiful dream.

    Pang Hai was leaning forward at such a sharp angle that he was on the verge of falling over, but he didn''t notice that at all. Theherfire in his eyes had already sprung up to over three meters in height as he murmured to himself, "Something''s finally changing!"

    Scientists were never afraid of change. On the contrary, they were afraid of things that never changed!

    "Thank heavens, something''s finally changing!"

    "It''s happening! We made the right choice toe here!"

    "We''re going to make history!"

    The white light was bing brighter and brighter, and several minutester, the indestructible ball of energy resource suddenly split up into three parts with a faint buzzing sound!

    One part was a fist-sized ck object, another part was a green object of around the same size, and the final part was a thumb-sized white object!

    In that instant, Qin Ye felt as if a jolt of electricity were running through his entire body. This feeling stemmed from the astonishment and excitement of witnessing history unfold right before his eyes!

    He knew that this moment was going to change the trajectory of the entire underworld''s future.

    His fists were clenched tightly, and the veins on the backs of his hands were bulging as he struggled to contain his own emotions.

    "It''s been eight months of work without rest..." Lu Ban was beginning to choke up as he said, "Even though we were wrong, thank heavens Yanluo Qin was able to make this revtion! Finally, we''ve arrived at the beginning of the right path forward!"

    "Lord Qin!" Xu Chengyang suddenly turned around, and his voice was also choking up as he fervently expressed his gratitude. "Thank you! Thank you! I apologize for my misjudgment and for doubting your decision! If it wasn''t for you, there''s no way we would''ve discovered such a massive issue so soon!"

    Pang Hai''s lips were tightly pursed as he said, "If it wasn''t for you, we most likely would''ve failed to discover the presence of a third element in the energy resource until the very end, and by then, it would''ve already been far toote! Prior to this, I was only around 30% confident that we would be able to develop the new energy resource, but now, I''m over 60% confident that we''ll be able to do this! Now that we know what the fundamentalponents of the energy resource are, we''ll be able topare them with Yin runes and find substitutes, then test to see what kind of changes will take ce in the new energy resource once theponents from the mortal realm and Heaven are reced! This sets the foundation for the development of the new energy resource! I have no doubt that our research will progress by leaps and bounds from here onward!"

    Right at this moment, Zhao Yun''s voice suddenly rang out. "Don''t celebrate too early, everyone."

    A smile appeared on his face as he continued, "There''s most likely something better still toe! My Yin energy can sense that the purification, dposition, or restoration of the new six paths of reincarnation still isn''t over!"

    It''s still not over yet?

    Qin Ye turned to the energy resource with an intense gaze upon hearing this.

    All of the scientists faltered slightly before they were instantly ovee by a wave of tion, then immediately turned their attention back to the energy resource as well.

    The fact that the process was still ongoing meant that there was still a more fundamental form that theponents could return to!

    In that case, they would even be spared the effort of having to find simr substitutes!

    The new six paths of reincarnation was truly the most effective dposer of matter in this world by far!

 Chapter 1014: Tourmaline

    <h4>Chapter 1014: Tourmaline</h4>

    White light was shing incessantly, and right before everyone''s astonished eyes, the threeponents continued to transform. Furthermore, there were substantial objects being materialized within them!

    "This is incredible!" Xu Chengyang eximed in a trembling voice as he adjusted his own sses in disbelief. "Are theponents returning to their original forms?"

    "I think it goes deeper than that..." Zu Chongzhi was alsopletely bbergasted as he said, "This is a process of creating something from nothing, it''s close to the power of the Heavenly Dao!"

    Even Qin Ye was finding this very difficult to believe, and turned to Zhao Yun as he asked, "General Zhao, have you seen anything like this in the past?"

    "No." Zhao Yun was just as astonished as he was. "The ability to return something to its origins is power close to that of the Heavenly Dao... Is this the power of an ancient god fused with a creation-grade divine artifact? I don''t think we can even refer to the new six paths of reincarnation as a creation-grade divine artifact anymore..."

    However, no one was pondering this at this moment.

    Everyone''s eyes werepletely glued to the scene unfolding before them, and they desperately wanted to know what the final objects were going to be.

    They were going to be the three materials that formed the energy resource presented in their most primitive forms!

    "Come on, this has to seed! If everything goes well, we''ll be taking a massive step toward our end goal!"

    "This is going to save us an enormous amount of time! No longer will we have to experiment with a pool of countless items. Instead, we''ll be able to conduct our search based on the original subjects themselves!"

    As the white light became more and more intense, the atmosphere was also bing more and more asphyxiating. All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and the white light suddenly began to glow brighter than ever before! All of the underworld emissaries present, including even Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, were forced to close their eyes. Several secondster, the light faded, and as everyone reopened their eyes...

    Lu Ban''s legs almost gave out from under him, and he stumbled unsteadily with cheeks that were heavily flushed from excitement as he eximed, "We did it! We seeded!!"

    Hovering right in front of them were three objects, consisting of two rocks and a clouds of white mist.

    "We really did it..." Qin Ye''s hands were trembling as he looked on in awe and tion. This was undoubtedly going to be a historic moment, and they were bearing witness to it!

    This was the first step to the creation of the new energy resource, the precursor to the dawn of a new era!

    He closed his eyes to collect himself, and only then did he feel just how violently his heart was thumping. Even in the split-second prior to sess, he didn''t dare to allow himself to hope.

    During the past eight months, he had endured far too much disappointment, yet on this day, he could finally bring himself to hope again!

    "Be quiet, everyone!" The main architects of the project immediately made their way over to Qin Ye before asking, "Yanluo Qin, can you tell what these things are?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, Zhao Yun did so in his stead. "That rock at the center is giving off ck Yin energy, and if I''m not mistaken, that should be a ma of the underworld known as apass rock."

    "Is it amon product?" Pang Hai immediately asked.

    The new energy resource had to be something that could be made avable for widespread civilian use, so the avability of itsponents was a very important factor of consideration.

    If the materials were too expensive, then that would go against their original objective.

    "It''s very abundant!" Qin Ye replied with an excited expression. "It arises naturally in iron mines, and the ratio of iron ore and ma rock that one can normally expect to excavate from an iron mine is around 10:1, so it''s definitely cheap and readily avable!"

    Before anyone else had a chance to ask, he continued, "The other rock should be tourmaline."

    It was a ck rock with some semi-transparent sections, but those sections were red and green in color. It was like a piece of ore consisting of different random minerals, and it was something that wouldn''t attract any attention if it were sitting on the side of the road.

    Who could''ve imagined that these mundane objects would form the key to ushering in the new era?

    "Tourmaline?" Deng Ruifeng''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Tourmaline is the only stone in the natural world confirmed to always carry electricity! In 1703, a few children in Amsterdam, Nethends were ying with some tourmaline that had been brought back from Brazil by Dutch voyagers. One of the children discovered that the tourmaline was able to attract the dust and grass clippings nearby, and that was when tourmaline became known. In 1880, the Curies officially unveiled its secret. Feeble electric currents measured at 0.06mA run along the crystalline surface of tourmaline, and it can naturally replenish its own electricity stores through sunlight! It''s the battery of the natural world! That was when tourmaline truly became known to the entire world."

    All of the underworld emissaries cast their eyes toward the final object.

    It was a cloud of white mist that looked as if it could be scattered by a gentle breeze.

    After a brief silence, Zhao Yun said, "If I''m not mistaken, that''s immortal energy in its purest form. I specte that just as Yanluo Qin said, this immortal energy was innately carried by Gui Xu and unwittingly incorporated by Xu Fu into his energy resource. It wasn''t contained in any particr object. Instead, it belonged in Gui Xu''s remains, so it can''t be restored any further than this."

    At this point, the ability of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn had finally been confirmed. It was restoration!

    Out of the three abilities, purification, dposition, and restoration, then only one that could''ve achieved this was restoration!

    No one said anything.

    Everyone''s minds were racing as they frantically calcted the costs involved.

    Compass rocks were verymonce, and tourmaline was also quite an abundant material. Thus, the most difficult thing to obtain was immortal energy!

    "That''s not an issue," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Leave it to me!"

    Of course, this didn''t mean that they could create an energy resource.

    With these materials, they would only be able to recreate Xu Fu''s energy resource, which had already been confirmed through experimentation to be far less efficient in the underworld.

    However, this provided them with a massive clue to solving the puzzle. ording to thews of Yin Yang co-action, there had to be a type of ore that contained electron Yin runes in the underworld to correspond with tourmaline of the mortal realm!

    If they could find that, then they would''ve essentially found the electron of the underworld!

    After that, they could search for materials that could physically react with the electron Yin runes, and that would allow them to find proton Yin runes!

    "In that case, we''ll leave the immortal energy to you, Yanluo Qin. If you can obtain that, then we''ll be able to immediately create Xu Fu''s energy resource!" Deng Ruifeng said in an excited manner.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he smiled and repeated, "Xu Fu''s energy resource?"

    Deng Ruifeng nodded with a wry smile as he replied, "We''ve heard about what Xu Fu has done. Even though hemitted treason, we can''t take the contribution of discovering a new energy resource away from him. His crimes can''t cancel out the fact that he was a brilliant scientist, but we can choose to give him whatever degree of significance we like in the history books."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. He wasn''t petty enough to take this away from Xu Fu, he had always been a man with a very clear sense of right and wrong.

    As for how Xu Fu was going to be recorded in the history books, it was most likely just going to be something like: "underworld emissary Xu Fu discovered an energy resource reaction by chance. Following further research and development by Hell''s Resurgence Team, a new energy resource was developed by...

    Qin Ye was silent for a short while before asking, "There''s still around a month left until the opening of the gates of Heaven, what do you n to do during this time?"

    "Search for samples!" the architects replied in unison. At the same time, serious looks appeared on their faces, and Pang Hai said, "Yanluo Qin, we may be on the right path now, but there''s still a massive amount of work that we have to do from here. Firstly, we have to find an ore that corresponds with tourmaline in the underworld. There are currently close to 5,000 known types of ore in the underworld, which isn''t much, but we have to examine all of the possible reactions that they can generate under all types of physical states. For example, a certain type of ore could disy simr properties to tourmaline, but perhaps it can only disy such properties under certain physical conditions. Thus, we''ll have to test everything one by one. Rest assured, we''ve already anticipated a situation like this and prepared aprehensive n for this, but it''s still going to take a very long time."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "How long will it take?"

    Zu Chongzhi sighed, "Some physical conditions are very difficult to emte and require lengthy observation periods. Even if we''re lucky, it''ll still take at least a year toplete all of the tests?"

    "What if we''re not so lucky?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Then it''ll take at least two years, and it won''t even surprise me if it takes more than three years. If we have to go through all of the known types of ore in the underworld and it turns out that the veryst one is the one we need, then the entire duration of this process will take around four years and seven months."

    Everyone turned to Qin Ye with concerned expressions.

    It had already been eight months, and it wasn''t exactly aplete waste of time.

    There was a breaking in process required for all new research and development teams in order to ensure their smooth operation, and this was the process that was taking ce now. Furthermore, many of the Yin runes in the firstyer of Archimedes''s Yin Rune Wheel had already been broken down, and that could prove to be useful in the future.

    However, assuming the research team had ordinary luck, it would take over two and a half years toplete these tests. In addition to the eight months that had already passed by, that would amount to over three years!

    Would Hell be able to withstand the immense pressure from the rest of the world for three whole years?

    They knew that even though they hadn''t received any demands for reports to be released, they could imagine all of the forceful and demanding letters that their King Yanluo had already received. They were able to focus wholeheartedly on their research only because someone else was handling all of the external pressures for them.

    An amused look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "Don''t forget that this is the Cathayan Underworld, when has the Cathayan Underworld ever bowed its head in the face of pressure from the rest of the world? Just do what you need to do. The hardships that we have to face now are nothing. During Cathay''s development of the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the artificial satellite in the mortal realm, Russia had suddenly withdrawn all of its experts and destroyed all of the relevant documents. The entire world was already convinced that Cathay wouldn''t be able to develop nuclear weapons, but we proved them all wrong. I don''t care how displeased the rest of the world is now, once we develop the new energy resource, everyone has to shut up!"

    After that, he gave Zhao Yun a nod, and both of them vanished on the spot.

    The scientists stood in silence with their lips tightly pursed, following which Zu Chongzhi turned to the other architects as he said, "Let''s begin, everyone. Time is of the essence, and I, for one, can''t wait to begin!"

    Lu Ban nodded as he chimed in, "Yanluo Qin is right, these hardships are nothing! Once we develop the new energy resource, the rest of the world won''t be able to say anything!"

    "Let''s go to theboratories! I don''t know about all of you, but I don''t want to rest anymore!"

    "I''ve never been more ready! Let''s get started right away!"

    "You want me to rest after such a major breakthrough? In your dreams!"

    At this point, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun had already arrived in another room.

    This room was not far away from Qin Ye''s office, but it was constantly locked and was not to be opened unless explicit orders were received from him.

    However, the room had been opened now.

    There were Yin soldiers standing on guard outside, and the instruction they had received was that no one, not even the architects, was allowed to enter the room aside from Yanluo Qin and those apanying him.

    Upon entering the room, Qin Ye snapped his fingers, and the room was instantly brightly lit.

    The room wasn''t veryrge, only around the size of a normal office, but there were over 100 grids in here, all of which were separated by ss, and adhered to every single grid was a tag from Hell.

    The grips were rectangr in shape, and each one had the name and picture of a scientist from the Cathayan Underworld stered to it.

    All of the grids were filled with letters.

    These were all of the letters rted to the new energy resource that the Cathayan Underworld had received during the past eight months.

 Chapter 1015: Mounting Pressure

    <h4>Chapter 1015: Mounting Pressure</h4>

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything as he made his way over to one of the ss grids. He gentlyid a hand onto its surface, then slowly pulled out a letter as he said, "This is a letter sent by the round table of the Argosian Underworld. Do you know what''s written on here?"

    Zhao Yun was silent for a moment before replying, "What else can it be other than a reprimanding letter?"

    "We''re not just being reprimanded," Qin Ye said in a cold voice as he opened the letter. "We''re being condemned! They''re condemning us from the international moral high ground! This is a letter from the World Energy Resource Coboration Organization."

    "The World Energy Resource Coboration Organization is thergest energy resource trade organization in the world." Zhao Yun sat down onto a chair, and his brows furrowed slightly as he said, "They have the mostprehensive records on all of the energy resources currently discovered in the world, including the likes of iron, copper, and coal. This also includes all of the major mines that have been discovered by all nations, as well as all of the mines that are currently being inspected. ording to international regtions, all nations must report their energy resources upon discovery to the organization to be recorded. If they''re going to condemn us through this organization, then there''s no way that we can refute them on a moral basis. However, we don''t have to y their game, the Cathayan Underworld has always made its own rules in the world!"

    Zhao Yun was reminding Qin Ye to be more firm and assertive. There was no need for the Cathayan Underworld to endure this type of condemnation!

    After a long while, Qin Ye sighed, "I understand all that, but I''m not the second King Yanluo, and the Cathayan Underworld isn''t Usonia."

    He also sat down and ced a hand onto Zhao Yun''s arm as he looked into his eyes with an earnest expression. "I''ve thought long and hard about what attitude the Cathayan Underworld should adopt when facing the rest of the world, and my conclusion is that it''s not appropriate for us to be too aggressive, at least not on certain things."

    This was a difference in political styles, and Zhao Yun could understand that.

    Qin Ye continued, "One of the biggest differences between the underworld and the mortal realm is that there''s no clear supreme superpower here. The four pirs are allparable with one another, but that''s not the case in the mortal realm, where Usonia reigns supreme. The reason why Usonia was able to establish itself as the premier superpower in the world is its currency, which is universally used across the entire world, not its weapons. However, we are currently on the path to aplishing the same thing with our dragon jade!"

    The four pirs each had their own currency and exchange rates, but there was also seamless docking between them. The Cathayan Underworld''s official international currency was called dragon jade, the Hindustani Underworld''s currency was called the bodhi, the Argosian Underworld''s currency was called the drachma, and the Aegyptian Underworld''s currency was called the deben.

    "Hence..." With a sly smile and a snap of his fingers, all of the surrounding letters were set alight, but the mes didn''t damage the ss grids at all, and soon, the only letter left in the room was the one in his hand.

    "I think it''s time to adopt my shameless persona again."

    He opened the letter as he read aloud, "To the esteemed King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld and the new energy resource research team. ording to the 21st use on the third page of thews of the Coalition of Underworlds, all underworlds must report all discovered energy resources to the World Energy Resource Coboration Organization. Your nation has already discovered a new energy resource and has begun to use it, so you''re legally obligated to submit all information surrounding the new energy resource to the World Energy Resource Coboration Organization! You should be taking the initiative toplete your international obligations, not avoid them! All of the world''s major scientific research organizations and scientists are eagerly awaiting the birth of the new energy resource, yet your nation haspletely ignored us! This is an extreme case of negligence, and it should not be seen from one of the pirs! I''m sure that letters from many scientists would''ve already reached your nation, and seeing as the new energy resource is already in use, you are obligated to submit all data pertaining to the energy resource as soon as possible! This is your duty as one of the world''s leading nations! Allow me to issue you a friendly reminder that you''ve already failed to release eight monthly progress reports and two quarterly progress reports. The entire world is beginning to lose both faith and patience, and these actions are unbefitting of a nation of the Cathayan Underworld''s lofty status. I''m sure you''re already aware of this, but if you continue in this fashion, then you will be denied ess to all of the world''s patents! We will not be lending our support to a nation that refuses to obey thews and fulfill its duties! Please carefully consider the contents of this letter."

    Qin Ye ced the letter onto the table, and just as Zhao Yun was about to speak, he pulled out another letter. "I have another letter here, this one written by the World Energy Resource Research Organization. Take a look."

    He tossed the letter over to Zhao Yun, who caught it with a cold smile as he said, "The president of the World Energy Resource Research Organization is Archimedes, so I can already tell what this letter is going to be. To the esteemed King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld and the new energy resource research team. Do you still remember your international obligations? You''ve already presented a prototype unit, so why hasn''t any data been released? Are you nning to keep the entire underworld in the dark? The emergence of the prototype unit entails that the project has already entered the practical experimentation stage. As such, you should be setting an example for the entire world rather than keeping the rest of the world in the dark! If you continue to do this, our World Energy Resource Research Organization will have no choice but to suspect ulterior motives! As you''ve stated in the past, the new energy resource was discovered within the second-generation forbidden arts startup module. In that case, we have no choice but to suspect that the Cathayan Underworld could be conducting experiments on second-generation forbidden arts in secret! Please hold an academic press conference right away to assuage the world''s concerns, or we''ll reserve the right to sanction the Cathayan Underworld! Also, this is the most important project taking ce in the world at the moment, and our organization has already notified your negligence to the GTO, the Underworld Forbidden Arts Research Organization, as well as other relevant major organizations. If you continue to do as you please, then you''ll be sanctioned by the entire world, spearheaded by the three pirs! All energy resource supplies from foreign nations will be cut off to the Cathayan Underworld, and the dragon jade currency will be removed from international trade! Please carefully consider the contents of this letter and actively work with the international organizations for mutually beneficial oues!"

    Zhao Yun looked up from the letter and was greeted by the sight of a stony look on Qin Ye''s face. He gestured toward all of the empty ss cabs around them and said, "We''ve received over 200 simr letters in the past eight months. There are some from official organizations, but most of them are from the world''s leading scientists. Initially, they were quite polite, but they''ve steadily lost their patience and have even sent letters directly to me, letters filled with insults, calling us chatans and international scam artists. I''ve stopped reading those letters at this point, it''s just a waste of time and mental energy."

    "What are you going to do?" Zhao Yun asked.

    Qin Ye didn''t give a direct reply. Instead, he smiled as he said, "We''ve reached the end of the year, and there''s always an end-of-year wrap-up conference at this time every year, isn''t there? If I recall correctly, the one being held by the World Energy Resource Coboration Organization and the World Energy Resource Research Organization is being held in the Aegyptian Underworld."

    "Are you nning to go?"

    "Why not?" Qin Ye asked with a bright smile.

    "What are you going to do there?"

    Qin Ye''s smile faded as he said in an imcable voice, "I''m going to tell them that these are the internal affairs of the Cathayan Underworld, and that if they want answers, then they''ll just have to wait! The Cathayan Underworld takes orders from no one!"

    A smile also appeared on Zhao Yun''s face upon hearing this. "This type of aggression is very much unlike you, it''s far more typical of the second King Yanluo."

    "Before this, I didn''t have the right to be aggressive, I had to survive first," Qin Ye said with a smile as he folded up the letter. "Also, like I just said, Usonia was able to be the premier superpower nation in the mortal realm initially because of its weapons, but what truly sealed their position is their currency. This new energy resource is an incredible trump card, and it would be a massive waste if we unveil it just like that. This is a brilliant opportunity for our Cathayan Underworld to be the premier superpower of the underworld! We have forbidden arts at our disposal, and if the entire world uses our energy resource, and this energy resource can only be purchased using dragon jade, what do you think will happen?"

    Zhao Yun drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    That would lead to a currency war, one that stemmed directly from the new energy resource, and all nations in the world would be forced to participate!

    If an exclusive rtionship could be formed between the new energy resource and dragon jade, then the Cathayan Underworld really did have a chance to be the world''s premier superpower!

    That wouldpletely shatter the bnce of the four pirs that had stood for the past three thousand years, and it was something that even the first King Yanluo and the second King Yanluo hadn''t managed to achieve!

    A sly smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he continued, "First, we establish a foundation through the new energy resource, which will be mostmonly used. After that, we''ll establish exchange rates between the new energy resource and other energy resources. We''ll expand step by step until we take over the entire energy sector! It''s going to take a very long time, but energy is the lifeblood of a nation, and it would take them at least decades, if not centuries to develop new energy resources of their own! We have the ability to grasp the future in our hands, and that''s why I want to be more aggressive from time to time and change my normal amicable political image. Is that not the right thing to do?"

    The uing conference was going to be the perfect opportunity to enact this change!

    Zhao Yun paused momentarily upon hearing this before giving a firm nod.

    "Have you already begun to implement this n?"

    "I have," Qin Ye replied with a mysterious smile. "If you have some spare time, you can go and take a look. Zhaode, which corresponds with the city of Taian in the mortal realm, is where everything is happening. The top economists and currency experts that havee down from the mortal realm have also been hard at work for the past eight months. Just wait and see. When the new energy resource appears, not only will a new era be ushered into the underworld, our Cathayan Underworld will also rise to unprecedented heights!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Archimedes set down his goose feather quill after reading over a document, then massaged his own be in a weary manner.

    He had to spend one week out of each quarter reading through all of the documents from the World Energy Resource Research Organization. He strongly detested this time-consuming job, but for the sake of the nation''s interests, he had no choice but to do this.

    "Your Excellency, if you''re tired, then why don''t you take a rest?" a servant suggested in a gentle voice.

    Archimedes shook his head in response.

    Under normal circumstances, reading through these documents would be a waste of time, but all of the documents that were currently ced on his desk had been sent from all of the world''s major research and development organizations, and all of them were condemning the Cathayan Underworld''s actions!

    They were disobeying internationalws, refusing to hold academic press conferences, withholding data rted to the new energy resource, and in light of these transgressions, they were determined to ensure the Cathayan Underworld''s attendance at the end-of-year energy resource research and development conference.

    "The battle for resources in this world is so cruel..." he sighed with a wry smile as he signed his name at the end of the document.

    A nation that had already fallen couldn''t be allowed to rise again!

    Having been absent from the world stage for so long, what right did the Cathayan Underworld have to return to its former lofty status?

 Chapter 1016: Attitudes and Stances

    <h4>Chapter 1016: Attitudes and Stances</h4>

    Truth be told, Archimedes was feeling a little ted.

    For any new rulers, the initial period of their reign was always the time period where they were most prone to making mistakes. Throughout the course of history, there hadn''t been a single ruler who hadn''t made a mistake, and only seasoned rulers on the international stage could ensure that their errors were kept to a minimum.

    He knew that the new ruler of the Cathayan Underworld was quite young, and even if he had been chosen by the second King Yanluo, there were definitely going to be people in the Cathayan Underworld displeased by his rise to power. The best way to escte a civil conflict was by applying international pressure.

    "You think you can just iste yourself from the rest of the world, but it''s not that easy," Archimedes murmured to himself as he continued to read through the documents on his desk with a smile on his face. "You need to make your voice heard on the international stage in order to show everyone that you have firm control of the throne. Thus, you chose to take a gamble on a new energy resource. This is a very risky ploy, and if it pays off, the rewards will be bountiful, but do you really think you''re the second King Yanluo? What makes you think you can withstand all of the pressure from the rest of the world? Science is the number one force of production. If all of the scientists in the world turn their backs on the Cathayan Underworld, how are you going to develop your new energy resource? If you release the energy resource, only for it to be discovered that the energy resource had infringed upon the patents of all of the world''s leading scientists, the penalty fines that you''ll have to pay will be so severe that it could even impact the Cathayan Underworld''s overall GDP! That would result in a series of civil issues, and in addition to the pressure exerted upon you from the rest of the world, you''ll feel like the walls are closing in on you from both the inside and the side..."

    He quickly signed his name on another document, and a hint of anticipation shed through his eyes. "If you fail to make your voice heard this time, do you think we''ll give you another opportunity to re-establish yourself on the world stage in the future?"

    However, his brows then furrowed slightly as he murmured to himself, "The main issue lies in the Array of the Nine Gods set up by the second King Yanluo. Under that array, no one knows what the Cathayan Underworld is doing, and no one is able to undo the array..."

    As a scientist himself, he knew exactly what scientists were like.

    They were all up in arms right now, calling for the Cathayan Underworld to be sanctioned, but as soon as the new energy resource was released, they would most likely immediately change their attitudes and beg the Cathayan Underworld to release the data rted to the energy resource.

    Everything was happening far too slowly at the moment.

    It was clear that the Cathayan Underworld was intent on ignoring the entire world while working on the new energy resource inplete istion. Once the new energy resource emerged, everyone would have to bow their heads to them anyway.

    Thus, they had to somehow apply so much pressure to the Cathayan Underworld that they had no choice but to coborate with the rest of the world before the new energy resource waspleted!

    "The rise of a new energy resource would be an absolute nightmare to the entire world! It would allow the Cathayan Underworld to be a supreme superpower, just like Usonia in the mortal realm!"

    His mind was racing as he leaned back in his chair while looking up at the ceiling in an absentminded manner. "However, if the entire world gets involved, then everyone would get a share, and the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able to im this new energy resource solely for themselves. Only by aplishing this can we ensure that the Cathayan Underworld won''t be able to rise again!"

    A cold look shed through his eyes.

    Yanluo Qin, do you really think you''re the only one who''s been working hard during these past eight months? Do you really think the rest of the world can''t do anything other than make threats of sanctions? Isting yourself from the rest of the world will prevent the world from seeing what stage you''re at in your research and development, but do you know what''s been happening in the world during this time?

    "Notify all of the research organizations requesting an audience with me to meet me at the golden hall in half an hour," he instructed.

    The servant extended a respectful bow as he asked, "What should I tell them as the reason for the meeting?"

    Archimedes turned his gaze toward the mountainous pile of documents on his desk as he replied, "It will be a meeting to discuss the future and outlook of the new energy resource, of course."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "The Cathayan Underworld has gone too far!" Inside a hall with a pure golden color scheme, a man wearing a ck coat, a tall tophat, and a monocle was pacing back and forth in an agitated manner while his voice rang out like thunder across the entire hall. "It''s been eight months! Eight whole months!"

    He cast his gaze through his surroundings. This was a very spacious hall with intricately designed sofas positioned all around it, and the white carpet on the floor was spotless and pristine. A crystalline chandelier was hanging overhead, but of course, it was only a decorative piece.

    There were also famous carvings and pieces of artwork from renowned underworld artists ced all around the hall, and currently, the fourrge sofas, eac of which could seat five people, werepletely upied. The people sitting on the sofas were all leading scientists in the world, and they had all been present during the Great Revtion Debate eight months ago!

    "Calm down, Faraday," R?ntgen said with slightly furrowed brows. "Getting worked up isn''t going to achieve anything. In contrast with the Cathayan Underworld, we''re far too tiny and insignificant, only international organizations can exert pressure upon them. As long as they don''t intend topletely detach themselves from the rest of the world, they''ll be sure to respond, and I''m sure no country would be foolish enough to actually sever all ties with the entire world."

    "How can I calm down?" Faraday was the inventor of the dynamo, and his voice was bing even louder while his cheeks were bing flushed with frustration.

    He raised a hand and pointed up at the ceiling as he said, "The new energy resource is something that can transform the entire world! Countless industries will arise from such an invention! Just a few days ago, the Lumi¨¨re brothers, who only came down to the underworld not long ago..."

    ckett raised a hand as he interjected, "Hold on, are you referring to Auguste and Louis Lumi¨¨re?"

    Faraday nodded in response. He was certain that everyone in the room knew these two names.

    If no method of usage could be found for an energy resource, then it would just be pure, untapped energy.

    These two brothers were extremely renowned in the mortal realm as inventors of the movie!

    "They''re not the only ones! The inventor of the television, John Baird, also came to ask me how the new energy resource wasing along! Countless businesses are also eagerly awaiting updates on the new energy! Think about how many industries can arise in the wake of the new energy resource''s release! They could do so much good in this world, yet as one of the four pirs, they''ve chosen to remainpletely silent! They need to speak up! The eight monthly reports and two quarterly reports amounts to a total of 10 missed reports! Setting aside the fact that they''repletely ignoring international regtions, let me ask all of you this: have any of you received patent applications from them?"

    The usage of rights of scientific patents could be very expensive depending on the time period that one applied for.

    Silence.

    After a long while, Faraday answered his own question. "At the very least, I haven''t received one. If the Cathayan Underworld really are close to developing the new energy resource as they proimed during the Great Revtion Debate, then there''s no way they can avoid my dynamo patent! It doesn''t make any sense!"

    "I haven''t received any applications, either," a middle-aged man with a brown beard chimed in.

    This was the recipient of the sixth Nobel Prize in Physics, Joseph John Thomson.

    Simrly, no one researching energy resources simr to electricity could avoid his book, "Conduction of Electricity through Gasses".

    "I haven''t, either," another tall man said.

    This was Louis de Broglie, the one who had postted the wave nature of electrons, and he was also the recipient of the 29th Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929.

    "Same with me."

    "I''ve already instructed my assistants to inform me right away as soon as they receive any letters from the Cathayan Underworld, but I haven''t heard anything."

    One scientist chimed in after another, and the atmosphere in the room was bing more and more heated.

    They were being treated like idiots by the Cathayan Underworld!

    Not a single one of the world''s leading physicists had received patent applications from the Cathayan Underworld! How were they even going about developing this new energy resource?

    It was simply impossible unless they could re-establish the entire physics world, and that would take thousands of years!

    The rate and sequence of submitted patent applications would allow them to extrapte what stage the Cathayan Underworld''s research had reached, yet not even a single application had been received!

    "I raised doubts against the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference from the very beginning, but it seems like no one took me seriously."

    Right at this moment, an eldelry voice rang out from the entrance of the hall, and Archimedes and Aristotle pushed open the intricately carved doors before making their way into the room.

    All of the scientists quickly rose to their feet as a gesture of respect.

    Perhaps they were no longer pure scientists, but they were still the pioneers of mathematics and physics!

    "No need for formalities, take a seat, everyone," Aristotle said as with an amicable smile. "We came here as we had heard all of your requests. The main purpose of the World Energy Resource Research Organization is to help all of the scientists in the world. Without scientists, there would be no way for this world to make any progress."

    All of the scientists sat down with distrungled expressions, and Archimedes picked up a cup of coffee that had been offered to him before taking a sip. "I know that all of you are very angry and frustrated. However, I must make one thing clear: the World Energy Resource Research Organization epts no responsibility on this matter. All of the condemnation and usations we''ve aimed at the Cathayan Underworld have been published on scientific magazines and even international newspapers, and we certainly weren''t ambiguous in our attitude, either. However, the Cathayan Underworld has continued to ignore us."

    "What do we do then?" a scientist asked with tightly furrowed brows. "They''re harming both our interests and the interests of the entire world! Are we just going to allow them to get away with this?"

    Archimedes and Aristotle exchanged a nce, and thetter gave a slight nod before sweeping a hand through the air, upon which the doors were slowly shut.

    The room fell silent, and this sudden silence immediately gave rise to a tense and rather menacing atmosphere. All of the scientists involuntarily sat up straighter as they turned their attention toward the two death gods.

    Archimedes''s Yin energy began to slowly disperse through the room, and soon, it was as if everyone were standing on a Yin cloud. He looked around at everyone, then leaned forward slightly as he said, "The Cathayan Underworld is not to be trusted! I''m not trying to turn you all against the Cathayan Underworld as part of the Argosian Underworld''s propaganda, I wouldn''t stoop as low as that on a matter that could impact the entire world! We are all scientists. Perhaps you no longer acknowledge us as scientists, but we are also eagerly awaiting the birth of a new energy resource! Think about it, did the Great Revtion Debate not conclude under inexplicable circumstances? At the time, I even approached all of you one by one. You are all leading scientists with Nobel Prizes in Physics rted to electricity, and I gave you all an in-depth analysis of how the Cathayan Underworld had diverted attention and made false equivalencies during their press conference. However, none of you took me seriously at the time."

    Aristotle sighed as he chimed in, "Your horizons have been limited to the bounds of your researchboratories, but unlike you, we look at problems from both a political and an academic perspective. However, at the time, we were also unsure of whether there was actually a problem with the Cathayan Underworld''s energy resource n. What truly convinced us of this beyond a reasonable doubt are the actions of the Cathayan Underworld during the past eight months!"

    His voice became more and more forceful as he continued, "Have any of you considered the possibility that the new energy resource may not have emerged at all? Have you considered that this could only be a ploy for the Cathayan Underworld to try and secure more political power? Otherwise, why do they require no patents or assistance? Think about it, from the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts to now, they''ve been ying the same two cards over and over again: energy resource, nuclear energy! These are their trump cards, but time waits for now one, and their actions have set off many rm bells for us."

    He snapped his fingers, and sets of documents equivalent to the number of scientists present appeared out of thin air before falling into the hands of the scientists. "Everyone, only scientists understand science, politicians can never understand the aspirations of science! During these past few months, not only have the three pirs kept a close eye on all of the Cathayan Underworld''s words and actions in rtion to the new energy resource, they''ve also gathered all of their research and development power to draft up this contract. Please take a good look everyone, this is our ''Prometheus'' n!"

 Chapter 1017: Prometheus

    <h4>Chapter 1017: Prometheus</h4>

    All of the scientists faltered slightly upon hearing this, havingpletely failed to anticipate this turn of events.

    They had never heard of the Prometheus n. Weren''t they supposed to be discussing the Cathayan Underworld''s next press conference?

    All of the scientists exchanged puzzled nces while Archimedes smiled and prompted, "Why don''t you all take a look first?"

    R?ntgen picked up the scroll in front of him with a skeptical expression, but after opening it and taking a look, he immediately raised his head as if he had been pricked by a needle to stare at the two death gods with incredulity in his eyes.

    He wasn''t the only one, all of the scientists were astonished by what they had seen, and it clearly showed in their expressions.

    The title on the scroll was like a nuclear bomb that had been set off in their hearts, and they were stunned beyond belief!

    "The Prometheus n involves the three pirs dedicating all of their research and development power into creating a brand new energy resource? Have you gone insane?" Louis de Broglie closed the scroll with a snap as he said in a trembling voice, "How much resources would that require? How many cities would have to be designated experimentation sites? We can''t afford the investment required toplete such a monumental project! On top of that, the Cathayan Underworld is already well ahead of us! Don''t forget that they''ve already unveiled a prototype unit!"

    "But which one of you has actually seen the prototype unit up close?" Archimedes stood up with a serious expression as he said in a thunderous voice, "At the time, all of you were kept several dozen meters away, how can you be sure that was a genuine prototype unit? If it was, then we are the only people who should have the right to have examined it up close! If we could''ve confirmed the authenticity of the prototype unit, then the entire world would''ve been convinced, and all of those ancient ns and international corporations would''ve invested everything they had into this project! Money, resources, no matter what''s required, all the Cathayan Underworld would have to do is ask, and it would be theirs!"

    He stood up as he looked around at everyone, and his voice was making the entire room tremble. "But they didn''t do that. Why did they not do that? Under normal circumstances, there''s no way that anyone would pass up such a fantastic opportunity! However, what did they do? They went as far as to deploy their Yin soldiers to keep all of you at bay! After that, they had gonepletely silent for eight months, refusing to hold any academic press conferences and turning down all of the invitations issued to them by the World Energy Resource Research Organization! This is their duty, yet they''ve continued to remain silent even in the face of the threat of major sanctions! Do you still believe even now that they''re actually ahead of us in the race of creating a new energy resource? How foolish can you be?!"

    His voice was almost deafening to all of the scientists present, and after taking a deep breath, he lowered his voice as he urged, "Open your eyes and take a good, hard look at reality, everyone! Deception is impossible in science, but the underworld is rife with deception! Don''t be frightened by the title of the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo! Just because he''s in such a lofty position doesn''t mean that he can''t be a scam artist! This is a verymonly used political strategy. They have no interest in actually developing the new energy resource, this is all just a ruse for them to secure more political power! Think about it, everyone! Are you going to be fooled by him for the rest of your lives?"

    No one said anything in response.

    Indeed, there were benefits to the Cathayan Underworld''splete istion from the rest of the world, but there were drawbacks as well, one of which was that they couldn''t monitor the situation unfolding in the rest of the world. As such, they didn''t know whether their allies and enemies were angry or pleased.

    "Then what if the new energy resource really does exist?" Joseph Thomson asked. "Doesn''t that mean all of our investments will be in vain?"

    Archimedes pointed directly at Joseph as he said, "That''s why I''m asking you to take a good look at the documents I''ve provided. If you do, you''ll see that there''s a use that states that the three pirs will cover all expenses rted to the research and development of the new energy resource. You don''t need to pay a single cent, all you have to do is contribute your expertise, and your names will go down in history!"

    Everyone fell silent yet again.

    After a long while, Faraday finally said with a serious expression, "Even if we don''t need to pay for any expenses, wouldn''t this pit us directly against the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "This is fairpetition, nothing more, nothing less," Aristotle said in a calm manner. "In the underworld, the Argosian Underworld has always excelled above everyone else in research and development, while the Cathayan Underworld excels in military might. I''m confident that the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development capacity wouldn''t allow them to create a new energy resource. Even if they have a head start of two or three years, we can still catch up!"

    Faraday''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Have you thought about what would happen if the Cathayan Underworld is telling the truth? What if they really are extremely close topleting the new energy resource? If that''s the case, our defeat would be sealed, and we would be theughing stock of the entire world! Our reputations would be tarnished for the next few centuries, if not longer!"

    Aristotle''s eyelids twitched slightly, but he replied in a resolute voice, "That''s why we''re putting down our names as the main architects. If the project fails, then your names won''t be included!"

    All of the scientists looked up to stare at the two death gods with incredulity in their eyes upon hearing this.

    They were putting their reputations on the line here!

    This deration essentially meant that all of the three pirs were convinced that the Cathayan Underworld was telling a massive lie!

    In reality, this wasn''t such a difficult decision to understand. The first time the new energy resource had been proposed was during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. However, no content rted to the new energy resource was presented, but everyone simply thought that more information would be released in the subsequent press conference. After all, surely the Great Revtion Debate would allow everyone to examine the authenticity of the Cathayan Underworld''s ims.

    Everyone was convinced that there was no way one of the four pirs would lie about something like this.

    However, the Great Revtion Debate had been held under extremely inexplicable circumstances. No concrete evidence was provided aside from the final prototype, but no one had been allowed to get close to it, so it was impossible to verify its authenticity! All they could tell was that it looked real to the naked eye, but would it stand up to scrutiny from scientific apparatus?

    The final straw was the Cathayan Underworld''s silence, which had alreadysted eight months. This was already enough for the three pirs to arrive at its decision!

    If it were to be said that the Cathayan Underworld was taking a gamble, then the risk was simply too significant. Essentially, they were putting the future prosperity of their nation for the next 1,000 years on the line.

    Thus, they spected that the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource wasn''t aplete ruse. Perhaps they discovered some leads that could put them on the path to creating a new energy resource, but they definitely didn''t have enough to be on the brink ofpleting the new energy resource as they proimed.

    The final deciding factor was the Great Revtion Debate.

    Under the immense pressure exerted upon them, the Cathayan Underworld had been forced to reveal some things, such as voidsilver.

    As a result of this, the price of voidsilver on the international market had spiked up by over twofold! The three pirs believed that this was very likely to be the only thing that the Cathayan Underworld had discovered thus far, and that wasn''t a gap that couldn''t be breached!

    Archimedes gave everyone some time to think before asking, "Is there anyone who''s still unconvinced?"

    None of the scientists immediately replied. Only after a long while had passed did someone ask, "What percentage chance do the three pirs think that the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource is fake?"

    They''re on the hook!

    Archimedes and Aristotle exchanged a nce and an undetectable nod.

    Truth be told, this was also just an unproven theory. The fact that the Cathayan Underworld had been able to bring up voidsilver was an indication that they really were working toward the development of a new energy resource, and they were ahead of the rest of the world, but this gap was most likely not very big!

    They needed more help! With all of the top scientists in the world on their side, they would be able to bridge this gap!

    "Over 70%," Aristotle replied. "Nothing is 100% certain in this world, but think back to what the Cathayn Underworld has done since it dered the existence of this new energy resource. Do they really deserve your trust? There''s no telling who''s actually going to discover the new energy resource first! The Cathayan Underworld isn''t guaranteed to go down in history as the birth nation of the new energy resource!"

    All of the scientists fell silent as they exchanged nces with one another.

    Indeed, all of them wanted to be the ones to create history, this was their lifelong pursuit!

    They had already achieved this goal back in the mortal realm, but they certainly wouldn''t mind doing it again in the underworld as well!

    However, everyone was still quite cautious, and in the end, all of the scientists directed their attention toward Faraday, who stood with a wry smile as he said, "I just had a look at the document. The three pirs are nning to establish the Heavenly Fire Research Station in Istanbul, and all of the world''s scientists are wee to join the project. It really is a very alluring prospect. However, I think we should still wait."

    "That''s a wise decision. We''ll be looking forward to hearing your final choice," Archimedes said with a smile.

    Faraday pursed his lips with a grim expression, making the wrinkles around his mouth appear extremely deep and pronounced, and only after several minutes of deliberation did he decide, "We''ll wait until the end of January. Due to the emergence of the new energy resource, the Cathayan Underworld has its own designated venue and reporting schedule during the energy resource conference to be held in Dubai at the end of January. If they can''t bring out anything during that conference, then I, for one, would be willing to sign this agreement!"

    This was not a minor conference, and very few parties had the honor of being allocated a dedicated venue and reporting time slot during the conference.

    All of those parties were either nations that produced an abundance of ore or the four pirs. Aside from them, no other nations were granted this opportunity.

    "There''s still over a month left until the conference, and that will give us some time to think as well."

    Archimedes rose to his feet as he nodded and said, "Of course, if you have any questions, you can contact me directly. I will be traveling to Dubai at the beginning of January, and I hope to see everyone there."

    Before anyone had a chance to respond, he had already vanished on the spot.

    By the time they reappeared, he and Aristotle were standing in front of a resplendent door.

    "Do you think they''ll agree?" Aristotle asked.

    Archimedes replied with an indifferent expression, "The choice isn''t ours to make, it depends on whether the Cathayan Underworld will be able to present anything substantial during the uing conference. If they can''t, they won''t even have to try and persuade the scientists any further."

    A cold smile appeared on his face as he continued, "After all, the patience of the world is limited. At the same time, I trust in the judgment of our panel of advisors. I''m confident that the Cathayan Underworld is only trying to gain political power and do not have the corresponding research oues to back up their ims! I trust in my own eyes!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he opened the door before making his way into the room beyond with a smile on his face and his arms spread wide open in a weing gesture. "We meet again, my dear friends. Ah, what a pity, only eight of the 10 top consortiums have sent their representatives, it looks like the remaining two are still standing on the Cathayan Underworld''s side. No matter."

    As soon as Archimedes made his way into the room, a hint of surprise appeared on his face, following which his smile became even more genuine. "And we have some unexpected guests! Wee, Mr. Franklin of the Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research and Mr. Volta of the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center!"

 Chapter 1018: Switching Sides?

    <h4>Chapter 1018: Switching Sides?</h4>

    The academic society of the underworld was a very delicate thing.

    All nations had their own scientists, and they would regrly hold all types of seminars together, but the scientists from the new continent were always absent.

    This made sense, given the current state of the new continent, which prevented any of its scientists from leaving its borders.

    However, there was one exception, and it was the independent scientist, Benjamin Franklin.

    Benjamin Franklin just so happened to be studying overseas 100 years before Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa went insane, so he missed the most chaotic time period at the very beginning. After that, he spent the next few centuries founding the Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research Station.

    Currently, he was seated on one of therge sofas, nodding in Archimedes''s direction as a polite gesture of respect.

    Just like in the previous conference hall, the sofas formed a semi-circle around the room, surrounding a particrly intricately crafted sofa at the very center. That seat had clearly been left for Archimedes and Aristotle, and they didn''t refuse the kind offer as they sat down onto it, then looked around at all of the Yin spirits present with a faint smile.

    No one said anything.

    The only sound in the room came from the cracklingherfire burning in themps in the corners of the room.

    Only after a full three minutes had passed by did Aristotle finally break the silence. "I''m d to see that all of you have returned. Have you already made your decision?"

    Kana Fujii wore a smile of impable etiquette as she said, "Esteemed death god, it''s not a matter of whether we''ve made up our minds or not. The situation here is that the three pirs need our help and want us to stand on your side."

    On this day, she wasn''t wearing a kimono. Instead, she was wearing a tight-fitting business suit, giving her a very sharp and professional appearance. She picked up her coffee cup in an elegant manner before taking a sip, then continued, "Hence, we''re not here to tell you our decisions. Instead, we want to know if you''ve made any new discoveries indicating that the Cathayan Underworld is unreliable."

    These wily old foxes certainly weren''t going to make a choice unless there was enough evidence to convince them.

    Archimedes wore a warm smile on his elderly face as he said, "I understand and respect that, but what could you possibly still be hesitating about in light of the Cathayan Underworld''s recent actions? Invest in us and stand on our side, and you''ll receive resources from the three pirs. On top of that, depending on the amount you invest, you''ll receive a corresponding proportion of the end product once the new energy resource is developed. We are not like the Cathayan Underworld, we won''t keep the new energy resource to ourselves. Instead, we''ll share it with everyone who ys a role in developing it. I''m sure it''s not too difficult to weigh up your options here."

    "But you have to ensure that you''ll actually be able to develop a new energy resource." Khilok set down his coffee cup and folded his hands over his own stomach as he said with furrowed brows, "Also, you have to ensure that you canplete it before the Cathayan Underworld brings out their new energy resource. At the very least, you have to ensure that your new energy resource is fully developed within a quarter. All of us are acutely aware of the situation at hand, so there''s no need to waste time going around in circles. At the end of the day, you''re only specting about the state of the Cathayan Underworld. You have no concrete evidence to support your ims, and while it may seem like the Cathayan Underworld is deceiving the entire world, there could always be other factors at y here. You want us to pick sides now, but we all know just how unforgiving the Cathayan Underworld can be to those who pick the wrong sides. The third King Yanluo''s political style is different from that of his two predecessors in that he''s willing and able to endure adversity and even humiliation. People like him always strike with the most ruthless ferocity when they decide to exact their revenge! He won''t afford everyone the opportunity to repent and make up for their mistakes, that was already made clear during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts."

    "In that case, why did you alle here today?" Aristotle asked.

    "It''s because we''re still unsure, of course," Khilok replied with a smile. "There''s an old saying that warns against putting all of one''s eggs in a single basket, is there not?"

    The elderly man from the Psalm Consortium said, "I can tell you the decision made by our two chairmen. They don''t approve of investing in the Cathayan Underworld at the moment, nor do they approve of taking your side."

    "What do you mean by ''at the moment''?" Archimedes asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.

    "The end-of-year energy resource conference ising up in a month, and it''s no exaggeration to say that this conference is essentially solely being held for the Cathayan Underworld," the elderly man replied as he gently massaged the cross that he was holding. "We need to wait for a bit longer."

    "And what about after that?"

    The elderly man''s smile faded as he put on a serious expression. "If the Cathayan Underworld is still unable to bring out anything..."

    He pursed his lips, and Kana Fujii took a deep breath before continuing where he left off. "In that case, the Psalm Consortium and the Sacred Treasure Consortium will be working together to found the Brighter Tomorrow Investment Company in Hokkaido of the Nipponese Underworld."

    A cold look shed through Archimedes''s eyes upon hearing this. "Is it really just going to be an investmentpany? There are no taxes imposed onpanies registered in the city of Wakkanai in Hokkaido. On top of that, confidentiality is a top priority, and there''s virtually no possibility of any information regarding thepanies there being leaked. That makes it the perfect ce to set up a business fortress, ensuring confidentiality while also avoiding expensive tariffs, thereby making it known as the Cayman Inds of the underworld. If you''re founding your investmentpany there, does that mean you''re nning to hide from the beginning to the end and control everything solely with this shellpany?"

    He leaned back onto the sofa as he said, "In that case, regardless of the final oue, you''ll always be the winners. However..."

    He released his Yin energy without any reservation, allowing it to surge through the entire room as he warned in a cold voice, "If you want to appease both sides at the same time, you''ll inevitably end up falling through the middle and not being able to appease either side! Don''t you know what we want? Do you think the three pirs really need investments from you?!"

    No one said anything.

    They were naturally aware that the three pirs wouldn''t need their mary investment. Instead, what the three pirs wanted was their participation and their influence on the rest of the world!

    If they could recruit the top 10 consortiums to join the project, then that would create an image that the entire world was standing on their side, thereby allowing them to influence some fence-sitters and neutral parties. Their ultimate goal was to force all of the scientists to deny the Cathayan Underworld ess to their patents.

    Without ess to patents, even if the Cathayan Underworld could develop the new energy resource first, they would have to share it unless they wanted to instigate a world war! During the research and development process, they would have to incorporate all of the patents rted to electricity!

    Of course, it would be even better if they couldn''t develop the new energy resource at all due tock of patent essibility.

    At least 505 of all of the financial backers of all of the world''s major researchboratories were among these top 10 consortiums. As for the rest, they could use their own investments and influence to sway the underworld that the remaining scientists belonged to, thereby exerting pressure upon them indirectly.

    "We''re not begging you to join us, we''re presenting you with an opportunity," Archimedes said in a cold voice as he rose to his feet and withdrew his Yin energy. "We can allow you to wait until the conclusion of the energy resource conference, but if you want to pick a side, then you have to show some sincerity. Don''t try to cate us with some shellpany!"

    If you want to join us, then you have to do so using the name of your consortium! This is an opportunity to change the world! You either don''t participate or fully dedicate yourselves, fence-sitters are not wee here!

    After that, Archimedes and Aristotle vanished from the room.

    The room fellpletely silent, and after a short while, Kana Fujii shrugged as she said, "What did I tell you? I knew that they wouldn''t allow that. Do you really think the death gods of the three pirs are idiots?"

    No one seemed to have been fazed by Archimedes''s disy of anger, and Khilok also shrugged as he picked up his coffee cup to take another sip. "The process of negotiation has always been a series of tests to probe out the opposing party''s boundaries. I''m certain there are going to be far more situations like this one arising over the next month."

    It was far too difficult to intimidate these wily old foxes, and Archimedes was also aware of that himself.

    The new energy resource was not just a battlefield for all of the major international powers, but also for these top consortiums as well.

    Benjamin Franklin had remained silent this entire time, but he finally spoke now. "Let me ask you this, everyone: if the Cathayan Underworld fails to bring out anything again, which side are you going to stand with?"

    His question was met byplete silence.

    Franklin adjusted his suit as he rose to his feet, then said, "My apologies, but I don''t have any time to waste here. The thought of a new energy resource rted to electricity fills me with irrepressible excitement! If the Cathayan Underworld can''t do this, then we''ll do it ourselves! I need a guarantee, powerful financial backers, and all the equipment I want. If all those conditions can be satisfied, then the Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research Station and the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center can consider revoking their agreement with the Cathayan Underworld. If any of those conditions can''t be fulfilled, then we''d rather choose the Cathayan Underworld. I''ll be taking my leave now. If the subsequent meetings are just going to be more pointless squabbles like this one, then I won''t being back."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time flew by very quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a month had already passed by.

    Qin Ye was seated in his office, inspecting the reports from the Resurgence Team. During this past month, progress hadn''t sped up as expected. Instead, it had entered a rather slow phase.

    This was understandable to him.

    What they had to do now was topare the Yin rune charts of three substances in order to find something from the underworld that can attract energy from both the mortal realm and Heaven. They also had to find the electron Yin rune from the vast sea of Yin runes in existence.

    Only after finding these things would progress rapidly elerate. However, they hadn''t managed to find these things thus far.

    Having said that, at least they were making progress, albeit slow progress, in contrast with what they were doing eight months ago, which was essentially banging their heads repeatedly against a wall. This time, everyone was confident that they were on the right path.

    "Then there''s the special group that was founded a month ago led by Zu Chongzhi and the others with the purpose of studying the connection betweenpass rocks and voidsilver..." Qin Ye murmured to himself as he scrutinized a report intently. "What''s interesting is that voidsilver was what was stated in Xu Fu''s notes, but apass rock had been restored by the new six paths of reincarnation, which means that there must be some type of connection between the two. Electricity and maism have always been interconnected. Compass rocks are maic in nature, while voidsilver contain electricity. In the end, what Xu Fu chose was voidsilver. In that case, does this mean thatpass rocks will transition toward bing voidsilver under certain special physical conditions? Following the conversion, he discovered that tourmaline of the mortal realm is a more suitable fit. He didn''t have any opportunity to test out all of the types of ore in the underworld, and as a result, he must''ve essentially been forced to create an energy resource that incorporated elements from the mortal realm as well."

    He heaved a faint sigh as he set down the report. In reality, he couldn''t understand anything. He could only read the conclusive summary at the end, but even that contained too much jargon for him to fully understand.

    He cast his gaze toward a flower pot sitting on his desk, within which sat a lotus flower that was gently swaying from side to side.

    "It''s already been a month, yet the gates of Heaven still haven''t opened. Has there been a dy?"

    He didn''t dwell on this matter for long. After all, in contrast with the research and development currently taking ce, this was apletely inconsequential matter.

    It didn''t really make a difference to him when the gates of Heaven opened.

    "Your Excellency." Right at this moment, the door was opened, and Secretary Jiang approached Qin Ye before offering up a scroll in a respectful manner. "This scroll has just arrived from Ashmound, and it pertains to the end-of-year energy resource conference."

    It''s finally here...

    Qin Ye epted the scroll, and he didn''t even have to inspect its contents to know roughly what it was going to say.

    If he continued to remain silent, the rest of the world couldpletely turn on the Cathayan Underworld, but there was nothing for him to present at the moment!

    "Looks like I''ll have to act like a shameless bastard again. Thankfully, that''s my specialty..."

 Chapter 1019: Heavenly Dao Contract

    <h4>Chapter 1019: Heavenly Dao Contract</h4>

    All of a sudden, Qin Ye vanished on the spot, and by the time he reappeared, it was already 30 minutester.

    He had arrived at the za of the Six Origin Diagrams, and as soon as he emerged, he was rather taken aback by the sight that he was greeted by.

    It had only been a year since hisst visit to the za, yet it was alreadypletely different from that time!

    The Aurogon''s Eye at the very center waspletely open, and the entire building seemed to have sprung to life with all types of faint light radiating from within it, while the other five buildings stood around it like stars around the moon.

    On the ground below, the Harken had already conjured up countless Yin runes during the past year. Countless Yin runes were present on the ground in an orderly fashion over the length of several dozen kilometers, and their size and the amount of distance separating each Yin rune were allpletely identical, the only thing different was the form of the Yin runes themselves. Every single Yin rune was giving off silver radiance, and even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be stunned by this marvelous spectacle.

    Furthermore, it wasn''t just the ground that was riddled with Yin runes, the entire surrounding space had also been enveloped by vast expanses of Yin runes, which had formed walls around the area. Looking up into the heavens, one would be struck by the feeling that they had stepped into a gxy of stars, and it was truly a breathtaking sight to behold.

    Wisps of indistinct Yin energy were seeping out from the gaps in the bluestone, then rising up into the sky before falling as white paper money. All of the Yin soldiers were standing outside the Yin rune boundaries, and it was impossible to see exactly where the Harken was from where Qin Ye was standing.

    At the sight of Qin Ye''s arrival, all of the Yin soldiers immediately dropped to one knee as they greeted in unison, "Wee, Yanluo Qin."

    It was a very insignificant moment, but Qin Ye couldn''t help but marvel at the sight of countless Yin soldiers bowing to him under the vast sky that was filled with Yin runes.

    "No need for formalities." He raised his hand as he searched for the Harken''s Yin energy, then vanished on the spot in a sh. By the time he reappeared, he had already entered the Yin rune barrier and arrived beside the Harken, where he hovered in mid-air.

    After watching for close to 20 minutes, he asked, "Are these the six paths of reincarnation?"

    The Harken didn''t even raise its head as it wagged its tail in response.

    The six paths of reincarnation were functional, but they only possessed the most basic reincarnation function. There was no way to assign exactly which path Yin spirits were supposed to go to, and the Harken had always been the one working on making this happen.

    "Is it one of the six paths?"

    The Harken''s tail didn''t even move on this asion.

    "Is it the path of the hungry ghost?" Qin Ye continued asking.

    The Harken gave no response.

    "Is it the path of gods?"

    The Harken faltered slightly.

    "Is it the... Wait! What the hell are you doing?! Stop! Help! There''s an assassin here!! This rabid dog is trying to harm your King Yanluo!!"

    Qin Ye fled for his life as the Harken galloped along behind him, gnashing its fangs together as it did so. "Come on then! Let''s see if anyone''s going to be brave enough to stop me! I''m in the process of drawing the most difficult Yin rune of the lot, yet you''re yapping nonstop behind me! Can you shut the fuck up?! I''m not letting you get away today until I bite off your third leg!! Woof!!"

    10 minutester, Qin Ye wore a dark expression with the Harken biting onto him, attached to his arm like a ma that couldn''t even be shaken off.

    "The world is such a beautiful ce, why are you so violent and angry?" After finally prying open the Harken''s mouth with great difficulty, Qin Ye inspected his own arm with a pained expression as he said, "You''ve even left a bruise! Have you been using a teething sticktely? Ow! Fuck!!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the Harken had already bitten onto his back, and the look in its eyes told Qin Ye that one of them had to die here today!

    Teething stick my arse!! I''m the goddamn Harken, not some pet puppy!

    Several minutester, Qin Ye finally managed to get the Harken off him, and he panted heavily as he asked, "So which path is it?"

    The Harken turned around with a grumpy expression as it pointed its tail at Qin Ye like a sword. "I admire your dedication to making my job as difficult as possible. Seeing as you''re asking so nicely, my kind and generous self will answer your question. This is the path of Yin and Yang, and I''m just about finished with it. With only a single Yama-King working on this task, there would be no way toplete the six paths of reincarnation and the 18 abysses of punishment without at least 100 years of work. Would you like to take my ce?"

    As soon as its voice trailed off, Qin Ye had already arrived at the very center of the za. The Harken pursed its lips as it gently stomped onto the ground with one of its small paws, and in the blink of an eye, all of the surrounding Yin runes seemed to have sprung to life as they began to slowly revolve around the za.

    An astonished look appeared on Qin Ye''s face. It was as if a gxy had awakened around him with the Yin runes glowing like dazzling stars. An extremely profound feeling made its way into his be, and he couldn''t help but close his eyes to experience it.

    In the instant that he closed his eyes, a mental image of a path appeared in his mind. It was extremely wide, roughly a kilometer in width, and it was so long that there was no end in sight. Only a tall gate could be seen at the conclusion of the path.

    Red spider lilies were in full bloom on either side of the path, and countless specks ofherfire were hovering in the sky. The color scheme of the entire image consisted of only ck, white, and red, and asionally, some gigantic shadows would sh past.

    Qin Ye carefully inspected the image. These were the most memorable experiences of the first King Yanluo, the second King Yanluo, and himself, such as the battle of the Strait of Tsushima, the battle of Ashmound, international conferences, and much more.

    Only after close to half an hour had passed did he reopen his eyes, then nodded with a pleased expression. "Not bad."

    "Not bad?! That''s it?!" The Harken''s voice immediately sprang up a few octaves, and the threatening look in its eyes said: "I''ll give you three seconds to think of some better adjectives!"

    "... Splendid! Fantastic!"

    The Harken was finally satisfied, and it lowered its head as it continued to move along the za while drawing Yin runes with its small paws. "Seeing as you already know how important my work is, get out if you have nothing else to say! Don''t stand there like an idiot! Oi, someone, put up a ''Do Not Disturb'' sign!"

    A period of silence ensued, and only after working for another 10 minutes did the Harken raise its head and allow itself to take a moment to rx. Right as it was about to lower its head again, its eyelids suddenly twitched slightly, and an angry look appeared on its face. "Why are you still here?!"

    Qin Ye rubbed his own chin in silence for a few seconds before replying, "You''re a Yama-King, right? I wanna ask you something."

    The tone of Qin Ye''s voice said "I''ve got no one else to ask, so I might as well ask you even though you''re useless", and all of the Harken''s fur immediately stood up on end upon hearing this.

    These King Yanluos are just getting worse and worse generation after generation... Have they even lost their basic respect for me?

    Qin Ye was naturally oblivious to what the Harken was thinking, and his smile faded as a serious look appeared on his face. "I''m about to set off for Dubai."

    "I see," the Harken replied in an emotionless voice. "Are you going to that energy resource conference?"

    It then heaved a faint sigh as it continued, "You''ve dropped a bombshell onto the entire world, and the three pirs must react. During the past year, the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t held any academic press conferences, nor released any progress reports. If you''re going to Dubai, then you''re most likely going to have to face the wrath of the entire world. A year of silence is more than enough topletely whittle down all of the patience that the scientists have."

    It turned around and habitually jumped onto Qin Ye''s shoulder, where it lied down and made itselffortable. "Given the current stage that our research and development is at, there''s naturally no way we can reveal the truth to the world. You''re going to have to face the collective wrath of the entire world, and with the three pirs stirring things up, all of the scientists and even the consortiums could side with them. I don''t like your chances during the uing conference. What''s your n?"

    A cold look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "I''m going to this conference with the sole purpose of disying the Cathayan Underworld''s attitude to everyone! These are the internal affairs of our Cathayan Underworld! If you want to know what''s going on, you have to wait until we feel like showing you! If we don''t want to show you, then you can''t do anything other than shut up and wait!"

    "We''re on the exact same page here!" the Harken said with a cold smile. "The Cathayan Underworld has never bowed its head to anyone! In the past, you werecking in power, so you had to put on an amicable disy for everyone. However, once we develop the new energy resource, the Cathayan Underworld will be rapidly propelled to unprecedented heights, so there''s no need to act all meek and docile any longer! If you want to know what''s going on, then wait. If you don''t, then piss off! The Cathayan Underworld doesn''t need a weak, sniveling yes-man for a King Yanluo!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. However, he also knew that being aggressive and unyielding didn''t equate to being foolish and rash. During this uing conference, there was something that he had to get his hands on.

    With that in mind, he raised a hand, and a document appeared in mid-air.

    The Harken took a nce at it before asking, "What''s this?"

    "This is something that we must obtain, and they''ll definitely be at the conference!" Qin Ye replied in a cold voice. "I''ve prepared extensively for this, but I''m still missing one final thing. I need an extremely binding type of contract, the type that can allow me to enforce my will on the opposing party and can never be altered!"

    Do you really think I woulde here just to bid you farewell?

    "What you want is a Heavenly Dao Contract," the Harken immediately replied. "That is the paramount contract of the three realms, one that no one can revoke. The method of usage is also very simple, all you need to do is use Yin runes to spell out the Heavenly Dao''s name, and that''s something that all Yama-Kings can do."

    It paused momentarily before a sly smile appeared on its face. "There''s only a single person in this world who knows the true name of the Heavenly Dao, and because he knows it, all of the Yama-Kings of the Cathayan Underworld also know it!"

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which his eyes immediately lit up.

    He also knew the Heavenly Dao''s true name! It was Nothingness!

    This was the name that the second King Yanluo had referred to the Heavenly Dao with in person back on the new continent, so it was definitely the Heavenly Dao''s true name.

    "Use the Yin energy of both parties to write out this name, and that''ll create a binding contract that no one would dare to betray, not even an advanced Yama-King wielding a creation-grade divine artifact! These are the rules of the Heavenly Dao!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Dubai.

    In the underworld, this city was known as the city of bones. It was just as luxurious as Dubai in the mortal realm, standing like a jewel in the desert, but all of its buildings, roads, and other infrastructure were constructed entirely from bones!

    This was an extremelyvish ce, and all of the bones had been twisted to build one outrageously imaginative modern building after another. This city had been built by Death God Osiris in person, and due to the fact that Dubai in the mortal realm was connected to many energy resource nations, it also received the same status in the underworld. As a result, all conferences concerning energy resources were held here.

    Dubai''srgest hotel was the Skeletal Sailboat.

    Not only was this thergest hotel in Dubai, it was also the best one, and it belonged to the Index Consortium. Only the bottom 30 floors were operating, while the five floors above the 30th floor had been reserved for the international teams that were going to participate in the uing conference. At this point, there were already many Yin spirits gathered in these five designated floors.

    "Are you sure?" Benjamin Franklin was seated in his room, looking out at the city of Dubai through the floor-to-ceiling window as he asked, "Are you certain that they''lle?"

    "I am," the scientist behind him replied. "I''ve caught a clear glimpse of their room, and it''s a presidential suite."

    So the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo ising in person...

    However, the next thing that the scientist had to say immediately made him stand up from his chair in astonishment.

    "However, there are only two rooms."

    Two presidential suites? Does that mean two Yama-Kings areing?

    This was already a formidable two-man lineup, but the problem was...

    "Where is their research and development team?!" Franklin asked in an incredulous voice. "Is there not a single researcher that''s going to being from the Cathayan Underworld?! Why are they only sending two Yama-Kings?! What are they trying to do?!"

    A surge of fury immediately welled up in his heart.

    This was an energy resource conference, why were two Yama-Kingsing in the ce of the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development team?! Did they think all of the other conference attendees were idiots?!

 Chapter 1020: Energy Conference (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1020: Energy Conference (1)</h4>

    Franklin wore a furious expression as he stood in front of the window in silence, and only after a long while did he ask through gritted teeth, "What about during the conference? Did they arrange a research team to appear during the conference?"

    Generally speaking, reports of durations of half an hour, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, and perhaps even longer in some special cases, were delivered during international conferences like this. Of course, the durations of the reports were decided based on their level of importance.

    For many small underworlds, they were perhaps unable to earn a half-hour time slot even over the course of several centuries, whereas for the four pirs, 45 minutes was a bare minimum, and 60-minute reports were verymonce. Furthermore, this was the end-of-year energy resource wrap-up conference, and ording to past conventions, all reports were expected to go overtime.

    "... No..."

    Franklin swung around violently as his lips trembled with rage.

    "Then what the hell has the Cathayan Underworlde here to do?!" His voice was filled with unbridled fury as he yelled, "We are the Euler''s Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research Station, an organization that they''ve signed a research and development agreement with! Is this how they treat their allies?!"

    Thump! He mmed his fist violently onto the ss with an expression that was twisted with rage.

    The scientist beside him sighed, "Benjamin, the agreement that we''ve signed only begins to take effect after we enter the Cathayan Underworld. Prior to that, they have no obligation to report the progress of their research and development to us."

    Franklin closed his eyes as he gently held a hand over his own chest. "There''s no longer a heart here, but I still have my passion for science! We are standing on the cusp of a new era! It''s only one step away, yet I can''t take this step forward! Can you understand how I feel? The agreement that we signed is due to take effect in three years, and I had thought that they would perhaps asionally miss a monthly or quarterly progress report here and there, and I was prepared to ept that, but look at what they''re doing! Do they look like they have any intention of showing the rest of the world their progress?"

    He heaved a long sigh as he said, "Perhaps Archimedes really was right."

    He wasn''t the only one who was beginning to think this.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    "The Cathayan Underworld doesn''t isn''t going to hold a press conference?" R?ntgen stared at the servant with a stunned expression. "Are you sure you didn''t misread the schedule?"

    "I''m afraid not, Mr. R?ntgen," the servant replied with a wry smile. "All of the scientists participating in this conference, including yourself, have instructed us to notify them of the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference time slot, but the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t seem to have any intention of holding a press conference at all..."

    Fuck!

    R?ntgen buried his fingers into his own hair as he wed at his own scalp in fury.

    Are you just going to ept that the entire world is going to turn on you?! You haven''t released anything in the entirety of the past year! Your credibility has already plummeted down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench! Are you seriously oblivious to the fact that this is the final chance that the world is willing to give you?!

    Never in history had there been an instance where all of the world''s scientists had withdrawn their patent usage rights at once, but this was a project that was going to usher in the next era!

    Was the Cathayan Underworld really not concerned that everyone''s patents would be made inessible to them? If that were to happen, even if they managed to develop the new energy resource, it would have to be shared with the rest of the world due to the unauthorized usage of patents!

    "If they would just ask, if they would just release even the slightest bit of reliable information, I would dly offer up my patent usage rights for free! Why aren''t they doing that?!"

    In this instant, all of the scientists were stunned by the schedule of the energy resource conference.

    "Are you sure the Cathayan Underworld didn''t apply for a time slot? Maybe there''s been a mistake?"

    "Have they gone insane?! Are they really going to make the entire world their enemy?!"

    "Are their heads filled with dog shit?! Do they really think they can leave the entire world hanging just because they have the new energy resource in their grasp?! How arrogant and foolish do you have to be?!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The presidential suites of the Skeletal Sailboat were situated on the very top floor, and from there, one could see the entirety of Dubai.

    Even though this was the best hotel in Dubai, it only had 10 presidential suites. The decor was exceptional, and each presidential suite was constructed in a different style such as middle eastern, south Asian, and styles corresponding with the four pirs, and each suite was the work of renowned underworld designers.

    Qin Ye was seated on the sofa on the balcony, looking into the distance. The sand of the desert in the distance was being swept up by the wind, forming an illusory yellow veil that gave off the unique and primitive beauty of the desert.

    Zhao Yun was standing beside him, and on this asion, he had put on a suit. He raised his wrist to take a look at his watch, then said, "Your Excellency, the conference willmence in half an hour."

    Qin Ye nodded in response as he cast his gaze toward the foot of the building. The distance from the top floor to ground level was well within his visibility range as a Yama-King, and he could already see a series of precious Yin beast, strapped to the backs of which were luxurious saddles, the type that normalherworldly citizens wouldn''t be able to afford even after working their entire lives.

    "There are three Yama-King level auras among them," he suddenly remarked. "One is a nascent Yama-King, another is a mid Yama-King, and the final one is an advanced Yama-King. The first two are our old friends, Archimedes and Aristotle. I don''t like facing opponents like them, but I have to admit that they are irreceable figures in the academic world."

    Without their contributions, perhaps mathematics and physics wouldn''t even exist.

    Even though they had already entered the political sphere, their statuses in the academic world werepletely beyond dispute and reproach.

    Zhao Yun''s expression changed slightly as he said, "The final one is Death God Osiris of the Aegyptian Underworld. As the hosts of this conference, it''s only to be expected that the Aegyptian Underworld would send out a death god."

    After a brief moment of silence, Qin Ye suddenly said, "I''m beginning to have second thoughts about you making you y such a shameless role now. Isn''t this going to tarnish your reputation?"

    "I''ll be fine," Zhao Yun replied in a calm voice. "Prior toing here, you decided to y that role yourself, and I disapproved of that n from the very beginning. Thankfully, the panel of advisors were able to convince you to delegate that role to me."

    Acting as the ruler of an underworld nation could be a very lengthy job, and underworld rulers were changing their facades every day depending on the situations that they faced.

    "There are some things that would be more appropriate for us to do than for yourself. It''s still not quite right for us to present ourselves as too aggressive and unyielding to the rest of the world. As such, I''ll y the role of the aggressor, while you do the rest. Speaking of which, I''ll be counting you, Lord Qin."

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he quickly ran through the n provided by the panel of advisors in his mind, then opened his eyes as he replied with a firm nod, "You can count on me."

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and after being given permission toe in, a servant made his way into the room before extending a respectful bow. "Esteemed Yanluo Qin, it''s time for you to go to the conference hall. The energy resource conference is going tomence in 25 minutes, and most of the guests have already arrived."

    He paused momentarily here before adding in a careful manner, "Of course, that also includes all of the invited scientists."

    "Who told you toe here?" Qin Ye asked in a casual voice as he set down the coffee cup in his hand.

    The servant gulped nervously before replying, "My apologies, esteemed Yanluo Qin, but Lord Archimedes of the World Energy Resource Research Organization insisted that I ryed this message to you."

    "Alright, you can go now," Qin Ye instructed in a calm voice, and the servant immediately departed.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he cast his gaze out the floor-to-ceiling window.

    Was this a reminder or a threat? In any case, it didn''t matter.

    "We didn''te here with the intention of being civilized and reasonable anyway."

    He rose to his feet, and Zhao Yun followed along behind him. After opening the door, two rows of Yin soldiers standing outside on either side of the door immediately stood up straight and gently tapped the ends of their spear against the ground. At the same time, oneherfiremp after another lit up in session along the corridor, lighting the path for Qin Ye.

    After making his way down two floors along the ptial staircase, they arrived at the conference hall of the Skeletal Sailboat.

    This floor was over 10 meters tall, and it had been constructed in the ancient Aegyptian style, giving it the appearance of a royal pce from ancient Aegypt. Extremely beautiful statues were present all around the room, and paintings with a very pronounced Aegyptian style had been drawn directly onto the walls.

    Within the spacious hall was a series of tables and chairs constructed from some type of white stone material. Many of the chairs were already upied, and there was nock of familiar faces to Qin Ye among them. At the very front of the hall were five three-meter-long tables with extremely intricate carvings engraved onto their surface.

    In the instant that Qin Ye and Zhao Yun entered the hall, everyone''s eyes immediately turned toward them, and all of the scientists were staring at them so intently that it was as if they were trying to bore holes directly into their bodies. Qin Ye''s gaze passed straight over them before settling on the three Yin spirits at the very front.

    They were Archimedes, Aristotle, and the mummy-like Osiris, who was wearing avish crown and holding a snakehead staff in his hand.

    "Long time no see, Yanluo Qin," Archimedes said with a polite nod. "It''s a pity that your research team isn''t with you."

    Theherfire in the eyes of all of the scientists present flickered slightly at the mention of the absence of the Cathayan Underworld research team.

    As soon as Archimedes''s voice trailed off, another voice immediately rang out. "Mr. Qin, where is your nation''s research team? When are they going to arrive?"

    The one who had spoken was a scientist.

    Qin Ye didn''t even appear to have heard him as he nodded to acknowledge the three death gods, and then made his way over to the front of the hall without even sparing a single nce at all of the scientists present.

    Only after they had taken a seat did Zhao Yun finally reply, "Who told you that the Cathayan Underworld''s research team was going toe here? Do they have to be here? These are the internal affairs of the Cathayan Underworld, why do we need to exin this to all of you?"

    Whoosh!

    Theherfire in the eyes of all of the scientists present flickered violently upon hearing this.

    One''s attitude could often be extrapted from the very first thing that they said, and Zhao Yun had made his attitude very clear: "these are the Cathayan Underworld''s internal affairs, so it''s none of your business!"

    Archimedes and Aristotle were also rather taken aback to hear this, and they turned to stare directly at Zhao Yun before turning to each other as they exchanged a nce.

    They could smell the figurative scent of gunpowder in the air!

    "What an aggressive attitude!" Aristotle eximed in a low voice. "This is exactly how the second King Yanluo liked to do things back when he was in power... Is the Cathayan Underworld returning to its old ways?"

    Archimedes''s brows furrowed slightly as he replied, "I don''t think so. Judging from the few interactions we''ve had with the third King Yanluo thus far, I can tell that prefers to y within the rules and silence all of his enemies within the constraints of the rules. If they wanted to return to their aggressive and unyielding ways, then they would''ve continued in the second King Yanluo''s style during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts!"

    He cast a wary nce toward Zhao Yun. All of a sudden, he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen on this day!

    It felt as if they were going to be taken back to those times when that brutish bully of a King Yanluo was still in power!

 Chapter 1021: Energy Conference (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1021: Energy Conference (2)</h4>

    The entire hall immediately fell silent in the wake of Zhao Yun''s response.

    All of the scientists'' mouths gaped open slightly as they exchanged astonished nces with one another as if they were unable to believe their own ears, immediately following which came a flurry of hushed chatter.

    It had been far too long since they had seen the Cathayan Underworld adopt such an aggressive stance, but it didn''t seem out of ce in the slightest.

    After all, the Cathayan Underworld had acted exactly like this for over 1,000 years, and upon seeing this familiar aggression from the Cathayan Underworld, their first instinct wasn''t to protest in outrage. Instead, their souls shuddered in fear, and everything they were about to say instantly got stuck in their throats.

    In the second row, Kana Fujii concealed her mouth behind her fan as she cast a stunned gaze toward Zhao Yun, while Khilok tightened his grip around his armrests as he leaned forward slightly. All of the consortium representatives shuddered ever so slightly as if they had been pricked by needles, and they all exchanged fleeting nces with one another before looking away again.

    The entire hall had fallenpletely silent.

    After a long while, Archimedes turned to Aristotle and said in a low voice, "Back when the second King Yanluo was in power, he ruled with an iron fist, and that was the time when the Cathayan Underworld''s rtionship with the rest of the world was at its very worst. The second King Yanluo was able to dominate the entire world with his power alone, but unrest and dissatisfaction toward him had been brewing throughout the entire duration of his time in power. I think the second King Yanluo was also aware of the drawbacks of his political style as well, which is why he chose the third King Yanluo. The third King Yanluo is meant to erase the bad taste he left in everyone''s mouths. In other words, he''s supposed to clean up the mess that the second King Yanluo left behind. As such, I don''t think the third King Yanluo is going to be so aggressive. During the rule of the second King Yanluo, imports and exports dropped sharply by 46%pared with when the first King Yanluo was in power. I''m sure they''re well aware of the drawbacks of such an aggressive political style as well. After all, no one wants to see another Hitler arise in the world."

    Aristotle pursed his lips slightly as he said, "That''s also the impression that I get from the few instances of interaction I''ve had with the third King Yanluo thus far. He incorporates both aggression and guile into his political style, which makes him easier to ept than the second King Yanluo, as evidenced by the attitudes of all of the other nations during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. However, why is he suddenly changing his style at a time like this?"

    Could it be that the Cathayan Underworld was going to return to its old ways? That definitely wasn''t good news for the rest of the world!

    Furthermore, they had already prepared such a big asion to exert pressure on the Cathayan Underworld, what were they supposed to do now? Should they continue to apply more pressure or back down from the challenge?

    Several secondster, Archimedes raised his head with a determined expression as he said, "We can''t back down! Regardless of whether it''s the change in the Cathayan Underworld''s political style or the new energy resource, either one of those will have a significant impact on the rest of the world! If the Cathayan Underworld returns to its aggressive ways and holds the trump card that is the new energy resource, then the bnce of the entire world will be tilted severely in their favor! We have no choice but to forge ahead here!"

    In the blink of an eye,plete silence had descended over the entire hall, and all of the Yin spirits present were in deep thought. After a long while, the melodious chime of a clock rang out, echoing throughout the entire hall, and Archimedes took a deep breath before making his way onto the main stage.

    A lion was carved onto the left side of the lectern on the main stage, while an eagle was carved onto the right, and the two were connected together to form a stone tform that was five meters in length.

    This represented freedom and allegiance. No one wanted to return to the ancient times, where the underworld had been a world of war and bloodshed.

    He stood on the stage as he swept his gaze throughout the entire hall, and he feigned a nonchnt expression as he briefly met Qin Ye''s gaze, only to be met by a calm gaze from Qin Ye as well.

    Both of them seemed to be quite calm and cid, but in reality, the meeting of their eyes was like a sh between swords.

    "I''m very happy to see everyone again here for another reunion after 10 years," he said with a smile. "You''ve all heard my opening address countless times before, so I won''t waste any more of your time. All I want to say is that the subject of energy resources is an eternal topic of discussion in the underworld. It''s true that its development has been suppressed somewhat. For high-grade underworld emissaries, it doesn''t matter whether an energy resource exists, but for normalherworldly citizens, an energy resource would be a long-awaited blessing. Unfortunately, high-grade underworld emissaries are the decision-makers in this world."

    He paused momentarily as he took a deep breath, and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging as he gripped onto the stone lectern.

    Following that brief opening address, it was time to transform this energy resource conference into a battlefield!

    All of the Yin spirits seemed to have sensed something, and they unconsciously sat up straighter in their seats. Archimedes took a moment to collect his own thoughts, then continued, "Under these circumstances, the Cathayan Underworld, one of the four pirs, has finally presented a new energy resource to the entire world through its tireless efforts. On behalf of all of the low and mid-grade underworld emissaries, as well as all of theherworldly citizens out there, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Cathayan Underworld and its research and development team."

    ording tomon etiquette, there should''ve been some apuse here, but that didn''t happen.

    The tsunami was about to strike, and no one was in the mood to p.

    "ording to international underworld regtions, basic data and progress reports pertaining to all projects that will affect the entire underworld for the next century must be released periodically to the rest of the world. During this energy resource conference, there will be a total of three scientists releasing their theses and some data, but due to the practical circumstances, the World Energy Resource Research Organization has taken the initiative to make some small changes."

    He spread open his arms as he continued, "I''m sure that the report that everyone wants to hear the mostes from the Cathayan Underworld, so all other reports will be pushed back. As we all know, once the new energy resource arises, the entire world will face unprecedented changes, and a report on this new energy resource is more than worthy of the honor of getting the ball rolling here. Ghost King Zhao, do you have any objections?"

    Everyone immediately turned toward Zhao Yun with intense looks in their eyes.

    Just now, Zhao Yun had gently tapped his table. It wasn''t very loud, but it was extremely attention-grabbing nheless.

    Is it about to begin? All of the Yin spirits waited with bated breath for what Zhao Yun was about to say.

    "I do have an objection," Zhao Yun replied. "Our Cathayan Underworld hasn''t prepared an academic report."

    Archimedes''s smile remained unchanged as he said, "But this is a duty that your Cathayan Underworld must uphold. Internationalws are not to be broken. Allow me to remind you that the one who proposed thisw was the first King Yanluo, and he had proposed it in order to maintain the power bnce of the underworld in the wake of the development of biological weapons. Also, we don''t need you to release all of the detailed data on the project, all we need to see are some important scientific parameters. With these parameters alone, it won''t be possible for us to extrapte the materials that you used, nor the sequential steps in your research and development. There is no academic conflict here, nor the possibility for patent theft."

    An authoritative tone crept into his voice as he concluded, "As one of the four pirs, you owe this duty to the rest of the world."

    Zhao Yun finally stood up, and upon seeing this, Kana Fujii licked her lips, which were slightly dry and cracked from anxiety, while Khilok was also biting firmly down onto his own lower lip. The representatives of the top 10 consortiums were all extremely tense and anxious.

    "Firstly, there''s one thing that our Cathayan Underworld must make clear." Zhao Yun made a grabbing motion, and a scroll appeared out of thin air before falling into his grasp. "Following a discussion held among our top officials, it was decided that once the new energy resource is developed, we won''t be exporting it to other underworlds unless they need it. In other words, this will be a domestic energy resource used exclusively in the Cathayan Underworld."

    Dead silence.

    It was a very short statement, but it was like an asteroid crashing into Earth, sending shockwaves sweeping through the entire hall!

    The shockwaves were so powerful that everyone, including even Archimedes, Aristotle, and Osiris were stunned intoplete silence.

    Three secondster, the entire hall erupted into a frenzy.

    "What the hell are you saying?!" Franklin mmed his armrest as he sprang to his feet while staring at Zhao Yun with a stunned expression. "Do you realize what you just said?! The new energy resource is the key to the next era! You have the ability to develop it, and you have a duty to make it avable to the entire world! How can you keep it to yourself?!"

    "I beg to differ," Qin Ye countered in an indifferent voice. "This is our nation''s energy resource, and we can do with it as we please. If anyone has a right to teach me how to run my nation, it''s certainly not you!!"

    Thump!

    He mmed his hand down onto the table in front of him, and his mid Yama-King level Yin energy erupted forth in a frenzy. However, immediately thereafter, another burst of Yin energy also erupted into the heavens as Osiris also sprang to his feet. "Esteemed Yanluo Qin, this is the territory of the Aegyptian Underworld, so I would request that you..."

    Before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, he abruptly shuddered, and the table in front of him shattered without any warning before he was sent flying back like a cannonball!

    "What right do you have to interrupt our King Yanluo when he''s speaking?!" Zhao Yun''s voice was like rumbling thunder, causing the entire hall to tremble and buzz. "If you want to speak to Yanluo Qin, then get Anubis toe here! Who do you think you are?!"

    It had to be said that politics in the underworld was far more crude and primitive than in the mortal realm.

    The existence of cultivation directly resulted in this contrast.

    Osiris''s expression twisted with fury beneath his bandages, making it look as if countless insects were crawling beneath his shroud. At the same time, countless Yin runes began to give off golden radiance from his bandages, and he said in a cold voice, "I was only going to issue a friendly reminder. Don''t you think it''s inappropriate to be using brute force during an international conference like this?"

    "What are your nation''s intentions?" a scientist asked in a loud voice. "Is this how you fulfill your obligations to the rest of the world as one of the four pirs?"

    "You were the ones who created the rules of the world, yet you''re renouncing them yourself now? This is utterly ridiculous!"

    "Yanluo Qin, as the ruler of one of the four pirs, you should be taking it upon yourself to help the entire underworld advance, not hinder its development!"

    "Your decision has let down the entire scientific world and the entire world in general!"

    "Please reconsider, Yanluo Qin! The new energy resource is the key to the next era! We have no intention of stealing your research and development oues from you! We are simply following international regtions and asking you to perform your duties!"

    "The development of the new energy resource must be supervised by the rest of the world! We have to know whether your nation is developing something else, perhaps even weapons!"

    "Yanluo Qin, ording to my knowledge, trade between the Cathayan Underworld and the rest of the world has dropped by close to 50% during the past 1,000 years! Are you really going to fall back into your old ways and be renounced by the entire world?!"

    "Silence!!" Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from the main stage, and Archimedes''s Yin energy swept through the entire hall like a wave of darkness, drowning out all voices aside from those of Zhao Yun and Osiris.

    "Everyone, this is an international conference, not an open-air market!" He turned his gaze toward Qin Ye as he said, "Yanluo Qin, please restrain your nation''s death god."

    A derisive sneer appeared on his face. "Why should I? Who was the one that instigated this? I came to attend this conference to answer everyone''s questions, not to be harassed!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, and all of the scientists present gnashed their teeth together viciously.

    You''re being harassed? What a load of bullshit! All we''re asking is that you perform your rightful duties! You''re the one who''s holding the entire world under duress!

    Archimedes opened his mouth to say something, but wasn''t able to muster up any words in the end.

    What Zhao Yun had just said had transformed the entireplexity of the situation, and as a result, this really was harassment!

 Chapter 1022: Energy Conference (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1022: Energy Conference (3)</h4>

    On some matters, scientists wereplete idiots. They had no idea just how significant Zhao Yun''s announcement was.

    Archimedes and Aristotle exchanged a nce, and they could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.

    However, there was no time to waste, and they had to speak up!

    "Yanluo Qin." Aristotle finally stood up as he asked, "Are you certain that the energy resource is going to be exclusively used domestically?"

    "That''s right," Zhao Yun replied in Qin Ye''s stead. "However, let me remind you again that we are willing to export the energy resource to other nations that need it, which means that other nations can apply for it. Once an application is submitted, we''ll review it and decide whether or not to release our energy resource to that nation based on a series of criteria."

    Silence quickly descended over the entire venue.

    No one had anticipated this turn of events. In their eyes, the only possible point of contention here would be whether the Cathayan Underworld released a report during the conference or not, but no one could''ve predicted that the Cathayan Underworld would decide to ce its own energy resource under lockdown!

    The scientists didn''t know what to do, and they turned to Archimedes in unison for guidance.

    Archimedes was gnashing his teeth together tightly. That deration from Zhao Yun changed absolutely everything!

    After a long silence, he finally said, "As the president of the World Energy Resource Research Organization, I hereby announce an adjournment of this conference. The conference will rmence in 30 minutes, please take a rest during that time. Also, I would like to invite the four secretaries of the World Energy Resource Research Organization toe with me for a discussion in the adjacent conference hall."

    After that, he didn''t wait for a response from anyone before vanishing on the spot as a gust of Yin wind.

    At the same time, R?ntgen, Franklin, nck, and Schrodinger also vanished from their seats at the same time.

    "As expected, they have no countermeasures against this," Zhao Yun said as he sat back down with a smile. "Your wisdom is unmatched, Yanluo Qin."

    "It has nothing to do with me," Qin Ye replied. "Full credit goes to the panel of advisors. Even I failed to consider this possibility. However..."

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he swept his gaze over the scientists who were beginning to exit the hall, and he said, "This is still far from over. Don''t forget that the worst-case scenario that we anticipated is for the World Energy Resource Research Organization to immediately levy sanctions against us, and looking at things now, there''s a very good chance that the oue of a vote would be in favor of sanctions. Take a look, all of the scientists are fuming!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the neighboring conference hall, no one was saying anything. nck was holding the handle of his coffee cup so tightly that it was cracking audibly, and he was fuming inplete silence.

    Not only was the Cathayan Underworld not fulfilling its duty, even though it held the new energy resource, it was openly provoking all scientists during the energy resource convention! How could they be so selfish?!

    This wasn''t the way that one of the four pirs was supposed to handle itself! Did they think that all the four pirs did was receive benefits from the rest of the world without giving back anything?

    Archimedes swept his gaze over all of the scientists in the room. Every single one of them could be counted as the cream of the crop even among Nobel Prize recipients in the mortal realm. All of them were vastly renowned figures that were worshiped and revered in the scientific world, yet they were being treated like fools by the Cathayan Underworld! Archimedes was quickly considering what to say next, as well as everyone''s possible reactions, and only after a long while did he break the silence. "Everyone..."

    Before he had a chance to say anything else, nck erupted into a furious outburst. "How could he do this?! He''spletely disregarding the entire world! What is he trying to do? Is he trying to return to the Cathayan Underworld''s old ways? Has he not learned his lesson from looking back over the history of the past 1,000 years? I thought this third King Yanluo would be different, but he''s no different at all from the second King Yanluo!"

    He took a hateful chug of coffee before mming the coffee cup down onto the table as he continued, "A man like him has no right to be the leader of one of the four pirs! He''s nothing more than a shameless bastard!"

    "Max, I hate to break it to you, but they really are entitled to do this," Aristotle sighed.

    "How?!"

    "What are you saying? ording to international regtions, they must release the data from the first stage of their new energy resource n! They''ve already brought out a prototype unit, which means they''re already at least at the fifth or sixth stage! What gives them the right to refuse to perform their duties?!"

    "Are you siding with them now?! Don''t tell me there''s some type of unspoken alliance between the four pirs!"

    A loudmotion instantly erupted, and Archimedes massaged his own be with a wry smile as he said, "Please listen to me, everyone. Ghost King Zhao just said that their energy resource is going to be used exclusively domestically. Do you still not understand what this entails? Something that can impact the entire world has to be made avable to the entire world first. ording to international trade regtions, internationalws can only be enforced on something that''s been distributed to the entire world. This applies to the majority of things in the world with only rare exceptions such as forbidden arts. If they choose to withhold the new energy resource from the international market and don''t even submit an application to do this, then we can''t adjudge this new energy resource as an internationally distributed item!"

    This was the main issue at y here!

    The Cathayan Underworld was taking advantage of a loophole in the international regtions!

    In reality, these twows were contradictory to one another. ording to thews of the Coalition of Underworlds, details pertaining to all things capable of affecting the entire world and shaping an era had to be released to the entire world for supervision and coborative purposes.

    However, international trade regtions stated that something had to enter the international market first and be recognized by the entire world before being falling under the scope of international regtions. This was aw that had been created for the convenience of the energy resource and the futures trading markets.

    Prior to today, no one had imagined that a nation would keep something that could impact the entire world, the key to ushering in the next era, exclusively within their own borders without releasing it to the rest of the world!

    Were they mentally impaired?!

    For the sake of their nation''s interests and their status in the underworld, as well as speaking rights in the world and political aspirations, there was no way that any ruler of any nation would make a decision like this! Anyone who made this type of discovery would immediately present it to the rest of the world in order to attract investment and secure patent usage rights, as well as assistance from all of the world''s major researchboratories. These were all extremely beneficial things to have.

    However, the Cathayan Underworld had made it clear that they were keeping the new energy resource to themselves and refusing to release it to the rest of the world!

    Archimedes had immediately realized the impact of this announcement upon hearing it. After all, as the president of the World Energy Resource Research Organization, he was well versed with all international trade regtions pertaining to the energy resource market. As such, he was absolutely appalled by just the sheer shamelessness of the Cathayan Underworld!

    "Are they really not going to release their energy resource to the rest of the world?" At this point, Schrodinger had also realized the implications behind this, and he turned to Archimedes with a dazed expression. "Have they gone insane? This is enough for the Cathayan Underworld''s name to be etched in the history of the underworld for the rest of eternity! How could they just pass up this opportunity to go down in the history books like this?!"

    No ruler with any shred of intelligence left would do something like this!

    The other secretaries also wanted to say something, but they discovered that the case being made by the Cathayan Underworld waspletely irrefutable!

    All of the scientists across the entire world were eagerly awaiting the rise of this new sun in the underworld, yet they were being told that the sun was only going to shine on the Cathayan Underworld and no one else!

    After a long while, R?ntgen finally said in an enraged voice, "They''repletely renouncing their duties to contribute to the advancement of the rest of the world!"

    Regardless of whether it was in the mortal realm or the underworld, in cases of contradictoryws, the first instance the contradiction was presented almost always concluded in a "not guilty" verdict.

    A bucket of cold water had been poured all over their hope and anticipation, but they couldn''t even refute anything!

    "That''s not all." Franklin pursed his lips tightly, causing the wrinkles around his mouth to deepen significantly. "If you think that''s the extent of it, then you''re severely underestimating the Cathayan Underworld."

    "That''s right," Aristotle said with a cold expression. "Don''t forget that the Cathayan Underworld didn''t just say that the energy resource would be kept to themselves without any room forpromise. If other nations applied for it, the energy resource could still be made avable to them..."

    There wasn''t any need to borate any further.

    This was an extremely sly and unscrupulous tactic!

    Once the new energy resource appeared, who wasn''t going to apply for it? Which death god could withstand the pressure of their entire nation and simply refuse to apply for the new energy resource?

    Perhaps they could simply keep the existence of the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource strictly confidential to their own people, but that was only a bandaid fix.

    The Cathayan Underworld shared borders with the Hindustani Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld. One day, on what should''ve been a pitch-ck night, theherworldly citizens residing on the borders of the twotter underworlds would see lights appear in the Cathayan Underworld across the border! How could the new energy resource continue to be kept a secret then?

    Once it became revealed to the entire world that the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource had been kept a secret from them, worldwide protests would most likely follow!

    The Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld had never expanded their borders, so their political systems were authoritarian in nature. However, the other two pirs, the Argosian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld, both had democratic political systems!

    They had conquered too many other nations, resulting in a myriad of political parties. For example, Osiris belonged to the Spiritual Faith Party founded by Queen Cleopatra the Seventh. These death gods were subordinates to the ruler death god of the Aegyptian Underworld, but they certainly wouldn''t mind taking advantage of suitable opportunities to create chaos and seize the throne for themselves!

    "When that timees, both the Aegyptian Underworld and the Argosian Underworld will suffer severe implications! At the very least, there will be mass strikes, and even civil wars wouldn''t be out of the question!" Aristotle ran his fingers through his own white hair, and a slightly twisted look appeared on his face as he wed at his own scalp.

    This was an extremely unscrupulous move from the Cathayan Underworld!

    "Even that''s not the extent of it. I must say, the Cathayan Underworld''s current panel of advisors are extremelypetent," Archimedes sighed. "Think about it: what do we care about the most right now?"

    A slightly befuddled look appeared on Aristotle''s face as he cast his gaze toward Archimedes, but a thought then immediately urred to him, and theherfire in his eyes sprang up significantly as he eximed, "We want to know the current state of the Cathayan Underworld!"

    Archimedes nodded firmly in response.

    Indeed, what was the current state of the Cathayan Underworld? Why was it that Qin Ye refused to open up the nation''s borders even after taking over as the third King Yanluo?

    "If they refuse to release their energy resource to the world, then our hands would bepletely tied. If we go to them, then the entire world would get to see the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource, but if we don''t go to them, we''ll never know exactly what the current state of the Cathayan Underworld is like! As expected of the Cathayan Underworld, they''ve never excelled in the scientific fields, but their guile and cunningness are unmatched..."

    Due to the contradictoryws at y here, the best way for them to proceed would be to keep all information pertaining to the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource strictly confidential while also elerating research into their own new energy resource.

    However, if they were to enter the Cathayan Underworld, countless journalists would undoubtedly follow. Once the bright lights and the energy-resource-driven new industries of the Cathayan Underworld were revealed to the entire world, all of the other three pirs would face a ferocious storm of civil unrest.

    Essentially, the Cathayan Underworld had earned itself several dozen years of peace!

    With that in mind, Archimedes knew that he couldn''t let this drag on any longer. He took a deep breath topose himself, then turned toward all of the scientists present and said, "Everyone, I''ve said this in the past: the Cathayan Underworld is not to be trusted! Do you believe me now?"

    No one offered a response.

    This was an extremely effective tactic from the Cathayan Underworld, but there was one consequence that they had failed to take into ount.

    Actually, perhaps they were aware of this consequence, but the benefits derived from this tactic outweighed the drawbacks in their eyes, so they were willing to ept the consequences.

    What Archimedes was thinking of here was the attitude of the scientific world!

    After a long while, Franklin finally asked in a grim voice, "What do you suggest?"

    "I suggest we don''t dy this any longer and immediately dere the Prometheus n!" Archimedes stood up as a grim tone also crept into his voice. "The Cathayan Underworld is ying with the entire world! They don''t have any respect or consideration for anyone else! We can''t just passively allow them to dictate terms like this any longer! If we miss this opportunity, the next chance we get to hold a gathering like this will be another 10 years from now! We must act now and tell all of our peers that we can no longer depend on the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource any longer! Only by holding the sword in our own hands can we ensure that we won''t be harmed by it! Come, everyone,e to my side! The energy resource conference will run for three days, which is more than enough time! Let''s show the Cathayan Underworld the consequences of disregarding internationalws and disrespecting the entire world!"

 Chapter 1023: Energy Conference (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1023: Energy Conference (4)</h4>

    There were no other alternatives, nor any time for them to think.

    Prior to this, no one had imagined that there would actually be a nation holding something capable of changing the entire world but refuse to release it to the world! This was something that hadn''t happened in the past several thousand years!

    Furthermore, it was enabled by the contradiction between thews of the Coalition of Underworlds and international trade regtions, and regardless of whether it was in the underworld or in the mortal realm, cases with no precedents were almost always given a "not guilty" verdict.

    As such, they really couldn''t do anything to the Cathayan Underworld!

    "Listen to me," Archimedes said in a serious voice. "I admit that I''ve withheld some information from you all."

    The break was only 30 minutes, and around half of that had already passed by. In these final 15 minutes or so, he had to arrive at a consensus with the secretaries of the World Energy Resource Research Organization.

    There was no time for them to pick and choose!

    They weren''t targeting anyone, they were simply fighting for the basic interests of the entire world.

    He exchanged a nce with Aristotle, then said, "The Cathayan Underworld most likely really has already partially developed a new energy resource."

    All of the scientists'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and Aristotle immediately said, "But they should still be very far frompleting the project! Let me reiterate: this event cannot be viewed from an academic perspective. If you analyze things from a political perspective, you''ll find that in the wake of the Cathayan Underworld''s change in administration, the new King Yanluo is desperately seeking a sense of identity. No King Yanluo would be willing to resign themselves to mediocrity. He wants to outstrip both of his predecessors and take the Cathayan Underworld to unprecedented heights! No one dared to oppose the second King Yanluo, but the third King Yanluo does not have that luxury."

    His voice was urgent and insistent as he continued, "In order to establish sufficient influence in the world, there are very few options for him to choose from, and the new energy resource is his best trump card. He yed this card earlier than he should''ve in order to weather the storm that was the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, but in the process, he''s ced immense pressure on himself! Once they choose to go down this path, they will no longer have any options other than to bite the bullet and continue their research. Think about it, why have they been acting in such an abnormal and inexplicable manner ever since the announcement of the new energy resource? Do you still want to continue to be deceived by them? You''ve given them chances to prove themselves, but have they cherished those chances?"

    "Hold on..." Right at this moment, Schrodinger finally calmed down from his fit of rage, and he cast a stunned gaze toward Archimedes. "Are you proposing that we impose intellectual sanctions upon them?!"

    That would entail withholding all patent usage rights, which would incur massive penalty fines!

    "I don''t want any part in that!" Just the mere thought of this was enough to send chills running down his spine, and his voice spiked up drastically as he eximed, "Do you know what your decision entails?! You''re going to instigate a war in the academic world, and countless scientists are going to be casualties in this war!"

    Aristotle turned to him with a surprised expression. "Then what do you propose? Are you just going to continue to tolerate the Cathayan Underworld''s attitude andck of action?!"

    "Those are two entirely different things!" Schrodinger countered as he cast a wary gaze toward the two Argosian death gods, and as his anger seeped away, he was finally able to think rationally again. "Are you sure you''re not ndering the Cathayan Underworld for the interests of your Argosian Underworld? Let me remind you that the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t done anything wrong, nor have they broken any internationalws! You''ve be far too biased and irrational! I don''t think you currently possess the sense of fairness and rationality required of the president of the World Energy Resource Research Organization!"

    Archimedes heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this. "I had thought that you would be brave enough to challenge the rules for the pursuit of the truth and knowledge. Hypothetically speaking, what if they y this card for the next few decades, and that buys them enough time to actually develop the new energy resource. What do we do then? Are we just going to wait for them for decades on end?"

    "Pardon me for being blunt," R?ntgen said. "But what you''re implying is that the Cathayan Underworld could be a schr-tyrant of the world, but isn''t the biggest schr-tyrant currently in the world your Argosian Underworld?"

    Thump!

    Right at this moment, a coffee cup was mmed heavily onto the table.

    Franklin was holding the cup with one hand as he said with a cold expression, "I think all of you have lost your courage as scientists! Knowledge is eternal, and the pursuit for truth is the most noble pursuit of all! Science is the number one force of production! Without science and technology, the world would regress! The key to the next era is currently dangling right in front of our eyes, yet you''re hesitant to grab it because you''re afraid of some international regtions?"

    nck had also calmed down at this point. Upon hearing the Cathayan Underworld''s deration, the first emotion he had been struck by had been anger, followed by disappointment, but his next reaction after that was to think about whether the Cathayan Underworld''s actions went against any internationalws.

    However, what he discovered was that they were acting perfectly within the constraints of thew!

    Schrodinger''s words had allowed him to regain his rationality, and he suddenly realized that they were beginning to lose the unbiased stance of fairness required of secretaries of the World Energy Resource Research Organization.

    "Calm down, Franklin," he said. "The Cathayan Underworld hasn''t broken any internationalws, and this doesn''t count as a monopoly, either."

    "But that''s no excuse for them to deceive us like this!" Franklin picked up his coffee cup and took a massive gulp, then turned toward Archimedes before giving him a nod. "I had thought that they would cherish this opportunity, that they would consider everyone else''s feelings, that they would be able to empathize with our desire to see the rise of a new era, but it looks like I was wrong. The Cathayan Underworld thinks only for itself and has never considered our feelings at all!"

    "Franklin, the feelings and desires of scientists don''t equate to thew! Let me reiterate this: the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t broken any international regtions! As such, we have no right to impose sanctions upon them!"

    At this point, even an idiot would understand that Archimedes was trying to convince everyone to impose sanctions upon the Cathayan Underworld, but that simply wasn''t fair!

    Following the second King Yanluo, the Cathayan Underworld finally had a King Yanluo who was willing to be reasonable and y by the rules. You could call him dirty, unscrupulous, cowardly... You could throw all of the derogatory adjectives in the world at him, but the fact of the matter was that everything he was doing fell within the constraints of thew!

    If one were defeated, then they had to admit defeat. Schrodinger and R?ntgen were well aware of the consequences of disregarding internationalws, but who were the ones actually bending international regtions for their own gain here?

    Who was the one trying to use the feelings of scientists as leverage to try and escte this matter into an international affair?

    They cast their eyes directly toward Archimedes and Aristotle, and their hearts were filled with disappointment. Right at this moment, an imcable voice rang out. "My research team and I are willing to join the Prometheus n!"

    "No, you can''t!"

    "Calm down and think about this, Franklin!"

    R?ntgen, Schrodinger, and nck were horrified by Franklin''s irrational decision.

    Indeed, just as Archimedes had said, the Cathayan Underworld held an advantage when it came to the research and development of a new energy resource. Perhaps this advantage wasn''t very significant, but it was an advantage nheless.

    If Franklin chose to join the Prometheus n, then he would bepletely parting ways with the Cathayan Underworld! If they failed to develop a new energy resource or only managed to develop their energy resource after the Cathayan Underworld, then they would bepletely left behind by the new era!

    "How can I calm down?" Franklin countered in a furious voice. "Should I calm down and watch as they continue to make fools out of us all? Should I calm down and watch as they disregard the entire world?!"

    He mmed his hand heavily down onto the table as he spat through gritted teeth, "You may be able to endure this, but I won''t stand for it! The academic world has its own rules, and seeing as he''s trampling all over our rules, then he''d better prepare to face our wrath!"

    "Franklin, you are the ones breaking internationalws here!"

    "I don''t care about that! I''m a scientist, not a politician! All I know is that the next era is right before my eyes! If they want to hide it from the rest of the world, then they can do that over my dead body!!"

    "You''re overthinking this, everyone," Aristotle said in a calm voice. "We all know what scientific standards are like the Cathayan Underworld. Their own scientists have to go to other countries to study because their own nation is too far behind the rest of the world. The central hub of physics and Yin runology has always been the Argosian Underworld. We may have fallen behind a little in this race to develop a new energy resource, but I have trust in everyone''s abilities! If we gather all of the world''s leading scientists and are still unable to catch up to and surpass the Cathayan Underworld, then we''re not fit to be called the leading scientists of the world! I believe in all of you, are you not willing to believe in yourselves?! Do you think you''ll have your names go down in the history books just by sucking up to the Cathayan Underworld? Wake up! Do you think the Cathayan Underworld has any consideration for any of you?!"

    Archimedes also stood up andid a hand on Aristotle''s shoulder while giving him a shake of his head, then cast a grim gaze toward the final three secretaries.

    "It''s time to make your choice, everyone. There are only two sides that you can choose from, and there''s no way to develop a new energy resource without relying on the power of a nation. Are you going to stand with the three pirs, who are unified and stand as one, or are you going to stand with the Cathayan Underworld, who has deceived the entire world and trampled all over the academic world. The choice is up to you, the new era is in your hands."

    Everyone fellpletely silent.

    R?ntgen, Schrodinger, and nck exchanged a nce with one another. They knew that they couldn''t sit on the fence any longer.

    They could only choose one of the two sidesid out before them, one of which was the Cathayan Underworld, which had a temporary lead, while the other was the Prometheus n, which had a bright outlook.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "What a load of bulllshit!" Alessandro Volta mmed his coffee cup heavily down onto his table, spilling coffee everywhere as he did so.

    This was a simple round table, around which sat Alessandro Volta and Michael Faraday. If Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein were also present, then this would be a gathering of the four fathers of electricity.

    No patents rted to electricity and electricity-like energy resources could bypass the four of them.

    Scientists had their own social circles, such as those in the electricity circle. This was a verymon sight, and it exined why they were the only two people here.

    "Did you hear what they said?!" Volta pulled out a cigar, but didn''t light, and he said in a resentful voice, "They''re disregarding the entire academic world! They don''t care how much of an impact their actions are going to have on the rest of the world at all! They don''t deserve to continue as one of the four pirs!"

    A wry smile appeared on Faraday''s face, and he replied, "Truth be told, the caution that they''re exercising makes sense. This is a discovery that can change the entire world, and they''re well within their rights to withhold all information surrounding it. We desperately want to see what they''re up to, but they have no obligation to show us. Looking at everything they''ve done thus far, they haven''t broken any internationalws."

 Chapter 1024: Energy Conference (5)

    <h4>Chapter 1024: Energy Conference (5)</h4>

    "How could you speak in their favor?" Volta turned to stare at Faraday with an incredulous expression.

    "I''m just speaking the truth. The academic world has be a little too conceited," Faraday replied with a shrug. "Just because we want to see it doesn''t mean that they have to show it to us. Don''t look at me like that! I had an epiphany just now: we are only scientists, what can we do in the face of a powerhouse like the Cathayan Underworld? Can we unite all scientists to sanction them? Can we withhold our patent usage rights from them? If we could aplish that, perhaps the Cathayan Underworld would concede to us, but have you considered how difficult it would be to unite all scientists?"

    He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair as he heaved a faint sigh. "We should be thankful that Cai Lun is no longer in the underworld. Otherwise, the Cathayan Underworld would be able to immediately retaliate using Cai Lun''s paper patent. Otherwise, our only other alternative would be to join the Prometheus n."

    Volta fell silent upon hearing this.

    In contrast with Franklin, who had decided to take a gamble on the Prometheus n, he wasn''t optimistic about this n''s outlook.

    Even though Archimedes had already analyzed the situation for everyone, and he was willing to admit that he found Archimedes''s theory to be quite sound. It was most likely the case that the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t far ahead of the rest of the world in the development of the new energy resource, and that they were only using the subject as a means to secure more political power and establish the image of the third King Yanluo.

    However, in science, even a small lead could result in a gap thatpetitors wouldn''t be able to bridge even after decades of hard work!

    "Prometheus n, eh?" Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out beside them, and the two Yin spirits looked up with surprised expressions to find that Qin Ye had arrived beside thempletely without their notice.

    "To what do we owe this honor, Yanluo Qin?" Volta was rolling his eyes internally, but he put on a respectful smile as he said, "I thought we were already speaking very quietly with one another, my apologies if our conversation distracted you."

    What he meant to say was: "As the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, is it really appropriate for you to be eavesdropping on others like this?"

    "I was just passing through," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Can I sit here?"

    He pointed at a chair off to the side as he spoke.

    "Of course!" The two scientists wanted nothing more than to say no, but they couldn''t just chase the ruler of one of the four pirs away.

    Thus, Qin Ye sat down in the vacant chair, and everyone in the entire hall instantly turned their attention toward the trio. A servant immediately offered up a cup of coffee, and Qin Ye picked up the cup before taking a sip. As he set the coffee cup down, a meaningful look surfaced in his eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

    "Would you two like to know about the current state of the new energy resource?"

    Volta and Faraday immediately sprang to their feet in unison upon hearing this, and they were staring at Qin Ye with incredulous expressions, unsure of what he was plotting.

    He had just dered to everyone that they weren''t going to reveal the current state of the energy resource, yet he was asking them if they wanted to hear about it now?

    The two Yin spirits exchanged an astonished nce, and they were at aplete loss for what to do.

    Qin Ye''s smile faded as he continued, "If you want someone to trust you, then you have to show them your sincerity first, that has always been a mantra that I''ve stuck by."

    He made a grabbing motion as he spoke, and two scrolls appeared on the table.

    "Are those... Heavenly Dao Contract Scrolls?!" Faraday''s voice instantly spiked up a few octaves as the astonishment in his eyes became even more pronounced.

    Regardless of what the Cathayan Underworld''s attitude had been prior to this, in this moment, he truly believed that Qin Ye was willing to tell them what they wanted to hear the most!

    These scrolls were extremely difficult to obtain. Even a death god would be lucky to obtain one during their lifetime, yet Qin Ye had brought out two at once! It was clear that what he was about to say next was going to be extremely impactful!

    His throat suddenly felt as dry as the Sahara Desert, and instead of immediately epting the scroll, he reflexively looked around, upon which he discovered that theherfire in the eyes of all of the scientists seated at the surrounding tables had sprung up to over a meter in height as they scrutinized the trio intently.

    Was the Cathayan Underworld offering them a chance to hear the truth? Were they going to ept the opportunity or not?

    Volta and Faraday werepletely rooted to the spot, looking as if they had been transformed into stone statues.

    "Gentlemen," Qin Ye urged in a solemn voice. "I''m afraid we don''t have much time on our hands. 10 minutes of the half-hour break have already passed by. In the name of the third King Yanluo, I guarantee you that Mr. Archimedes and Mr. Aristotle, whom you respect so much, are definitely currently in the process of doing everything in their power to recruit other scientists to their side. This is the most basic power struggle between nations, and it''s instinctive to all politicians."

    In half an hour, the oue of the power struggle was going to be decided!

    "I need you on my side." He gently pushed the two scrolls on the table towards the two scientists as he said, "I''ve already written all of the rules in there, including what you can and can''t reveal to everyone else. Open the scrolls, and I''ll tell you everything you want to know about the new energy resource!"

    Volta and Faraday exchanged aplex nce, and neither of them wanted to ept the scroll.

    These things were like hot potatoes. Even if they were to ept them, they wouldn''t be able to hold them.

    However, the raging curiosity in their hearts refused to allow them to even consider the option of refusing this offer!

    Take the scroll and open it! Aside from the scientists of the Cathayan Underworld, you will be the ones closest to the truth!

    Dead silence.

    A full two minutes passed by, and Qin Ye was forcibly repressing the urgency and agitation in his heart. He knew that Archimedes and Aristotle were definitely doing the same thing elsewhere. There was no way that they would allow the Cathayan Underworld to be the premier superpower of the world.

    Not only would the birth of a new energy resourcepletely alter the power bnce between nations, it would also shift the international central hub of science from the east coast of the pacific ocean to the west coast. Both of these oues would be extremely detrimental to the Argosian Underworld.

    He needed Faraday and Volta, two of the fathers of electricity. To put it more urately, he needed their patents. For this purpose, he was even willing to offer up Heavenly Dao Contract Scrolls. At the very least, this would prevent the two of them from voting in favor of the intellectual sanctions that Archimedes and Aristotle were potentially going to propose.

    Two minutester, Faraday grabbed onto a scroll with a trembling hand. He seemed to want to smile, but simply couldn''t muster up any expression even remotely resembling a smile, and in the end, he proposed, "I know of a nice, private location where we can speak in greater depth. Would you be interested ining with me, Yanluo Qin?"

    "Of course, please lead the way."

    Thus, Qin Ye followed the two scientists out of the hall. The two scientists were walking along in an absentminded manner, and only after three minutes, they arrived in a quiet and secluded room. A servant opened the door, and they immediately headed straight for the booth. After taking a seat, Faraday took several deep breaths before opening his scroll with trembling hands.

    As soon as the scroll was opened, it released a burst of dazzling radiance. There wasn''t a single word written on it, only what appeared to be a living vast starry sky!

    "It really is a Heavenly Dao Contract Scroll..." Faraday''s voice was trembling as he gently stroked the surface of the scroll with his finger. "This is said to be an unbreakable vow. Legend has it that each death god only has one chance in their life to get the Heavenly Dao to bear witness for them. This isn''t just a one-off request. Instead, the Heavenly Dao will continue to oversee that matter for as long as the death god lives! I didn''t think that such a thing truly exists..."

    He took another deep breath, and his Yin energy flowed to his fingertip. However, right as his fingertip was about toe into contact with the scroll, he suddenly paused before turning to Volta. "Are you going to sign the contract as well?"

    Volta seemed to be extremely conflicted, and only after a full 30 seconds had passed did he grit his teeth as he opened the scroll.

    The two scientists quickly signed their names on the scrolls, then closed them before handing the scrolls back to Qin Ye. Before Qin Ye even had a chance to stow the two scrolls away, they asked in an urgent manner, "Who else is there? Who else did you invite?"

    "I invited Mr. James Maxwell as well," Qin Ye replied.

    On the 20th of March, 1800, Alessandro Volta announced that he had invented the voltaic pile.

    This was one of history''s miraculous inventions!

    Perhaps not many people in the present day would be familiar with what a voltaic pile was, but they would definitely know its other name.

    The voltaic pile was also known as a battery pack!

    Faraday was the father of lines of maic force and lines of electric force, as well as the Faraday effect and the dynamo. He was an extremely significant contributor to electricity.

    Maxwell was the founder of ssical electrodynamics, as well as one of the founding fathers of statistical mechanics. He predicted the existence of electromaic waves and perfectly described electromaic force fields. He was the inventor of Maxwell''s equation, and all radio technology stemmed from electromaic force fields.

    Volta, Faraday, Franklin, and Einstein were known as the fathers of electricity, while Maxwell was also an extremely important figure in the field of physics as well as in the study of electricity.

    "What do you want to tell us?" Upon hearing Maxwell''s name, Volta and Faraday could already sense that what Qin Ye was going to say next was going to be extremely impactful, and they hurriedly looked down at their watches. "There are still 10 minutes left!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then said in a serious expression, "The Cathayan Underworld really does have a new energy resource, but we haven''t released any details pertaining to its research and development because it''s rted to a massive scandal that just took ce in the Cathayan Underworld. As you both know, I only recently ascended to the throne. However, I''m sure you don''t know who my most formidable adversary was during this early phase of my time in power."

    He took a deep breath before revealing, "It was Xu Fu. After being discovered by me, Xu Fu fled to the west in an attempt to reach Northern Usonia, but he was captured in the end. The one who discovered the new energy resource wasn''t the Cathayan Underworld. Instead, it was him. He was extremely special in that he had consumed the Taisui fungus, thereby making him a living underworld emissary. When he first invented this new energy resource, it had incorporated elements from both the mortal realm and the underworld, which means that it can''t be replicated in the underworld alone. What we are doing now is separating the mortal realm elements from the energy resource and recing them with underworld Yin runes. Due to the nature of this scandal, we couldn''t reveal everything about the new energy resource. On top of that, Xu Fu has always remained in contact with the Argosian Underworld, and they''ve been constantly exerting pressure upon our Cathayan Underworld to try and take the new energy resource away from us, so we had no choice but to keep everything a secret. The prototype unit that you saw is genuine, but it''s one that Xu Fu created in the past. Thus far, we are still far away from being able to replicate such a unit."

    Faraday and Volta exchanged a nce upon hearing this, and they could see their own astonishment and enlightenment mirrored in one another''s eyes.

    I see...

    No wonder the Cathayan Underworld had refused to reveal any details pertaining to the new energy resource this entire time, the reason for this was that its main architect was a treasonous criminal! There was no way that they could ask someone like him to continue designing the new energy resource, so the Cathayan Underworld had to start everything again on this foundation!

    However, this issue wasn''t a concern to them. Instead, they had already been ovee by a wave of tion!

    As scientists, what they cared the most about was whether the new energy resource truly existed, and if so, what stage of development was it at?

    Having been told all of this by Qin Ye, they could feel the Cathayan Underworld''s sincerity.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo had approached them in person and brought out Heavenly Dao Contract Scrolls! This was already a massive show of sincerity, but it still wasn''t enough!

    "What stage of development have you reached at this point?" Faraday asked in an urgent voice.

    "We''vepletely dissected the new energy resource and found the electron Yin rune," Qin Ye replied without any hesitation.

    He had already brought out Heavenly Dao Contract Scrolls, so he had no intention of deceiving these two scientists.

    Volta felt as if a surge of electricity were running along his spine, yet before he could say anything, Faraday asked, "How long will it be until the new energy resource is projected to be ready?"

    "Three years at a minimum, 10 years at most!"

    Both of the scientists closed their eyes in unison and heaved a collective sigh of relief.

    The Cathayan Underworld hadn''t deceived everyone, after all!

    At the same time, they knew that if anyone dared to provoke the Cathayan Underworld on this asion, they would definitely be left to sorely rue their decision!

 Chapter 1025: Decree of Sanctions (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1025: Decree of Sanctions (1)</h4>

    As scientists, they were well aware that the process of creating something from nothing was far more difficult than reducing something to nothing!

    The Prometheus n essentially involved creating something from nothing. Prior to hearing what Qin Ye had to say, perhaps they would''ve thought that there was a chance for the Prometheus n to catch up. After all, the Cathayan Underworld had never excelled in the field of physics. If Archimedes was right in that the Cathayan Underworld only had a small lead, then the chances of the Prometheus n seeding weren''t that low.

    However, things werepletely different now.

    The Cathayan Underworld had a far more significant lead than Archimedes spected! Outsiders to the scientific disciplines like Qin Ye wouldn''t be able to grasp just how difficult it would be for the Prometheus n to catch up, but as leading scientists, their instincts were very sharp, and they were certain that there was no way that the Prometheus n would be able to catch up even if it really did manage to recruit all of the world''s leading scientists!

    "What do you need us to do?" Volta asked in a cautious manner as countless thoughts surged through his mind one after another.

    Qin Ye replied in a serious voice, "The energy resource conference will run for a total of three days. I''m guessing that one of three possible oues is going to arise. Number one: everyone pretends as if nothing ever happened. This is basically impossible. You should be even more acutely aware than I am of the fact that Archimedes and Aristotle have stopped being pure scientists long ago. They lean more toward politicians now, and fighting for political power on the international stage is a basic instinct for politicians. Number two, they''ll use all of the scientists present at the conference to exert pressure upon us, forcing us to make our new energy resource avable to the entire world. However, they should be aware that we''re ying by the rules."

    Volta nodded in response, and he could already sense what was about toe, but he still asked, "What''s the third possibility?"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "They''ll still pretend as if nothing ever happened, but during the closing ceremony in three days'' time, they''re going to strike by imposing intellectual sanctions upon us! How do we tell which one of these options they pursued? That''s very simple."

    Qin Ye crossed his legs and folded his hands over his own stomach as he said, "It won''t be difficult to know who has met who during the next three days. If they begin to request meetings with scientists on arge scale, then they''ll definitely attempt to impose intellectual sanctions upon us during the closing ceremony."

    He leaned forward slightly as he looked into the two scientists'' eyes with an earnest expression. "What I want you to do is refrain from casting your votes when the sanctions are first proposed. There''s no way the new energy resource can be developed without incorporating the patents owned by the three of you. Rest assured, I haven''t yed any tricks on this matter in the Heavenly Dao Contract Scroll. At the end of the day, everything is up to you. If you don''t cast your votes, the Cathayan Underworld will release monthly progress reports on the new energy resource. In addition to that, your names will also be included in the list of deputy architects!"

    Volta and Faraday''s eyes lit up in unison as they stared intently at Qin Ye.

    The temptation here was enormous!

    They were both renowned scientists in the mortal realm, but aftering to the underworld, the majority of scientists failed to replicate their past glory.

    The pursuit of science was a never-ending journey to climb to the next tallest peak. However, due to the drastic differences between the mortal realm and the underworld, they were unable to even find the next peak, so they didn''t know what to pursue.

    However, an opportunity had been presented to them now.

    "Your decision today will decide whether three new names will be attached to the monumental project that will usher in a new era." Qin Ye gently patted the two scientists'' hands with his own hands as he urged, "Consider this offer carefully."

    The sincerity of the Cathayan Underworld was on full disy here.

    After that, Qin Ye stood up to depart. There wasn''t much time left of the 30-minute break, and he had to return to the conference hall.

    Right as he was about to exit the room, Faraday suddenly raised his head and said, "Yanluo Qin, if you win in the end, how do you n to profit from the new energy resource?"

    Qin Ye''s footsteps faltered, and he slowly turned around to look directly at the two scientists. He then stared at them in silence until the two of them were beginning to feel rather uneasy and were instinctively pressing their backs against their chairs for a sense of security, and only then did a mysterious smile appear on his face.

    "The patent usage rights will be shared with the entire global academic world. All scientists can have ess to the patent free of charge to be used personally or for theirboratories. As for the patent fees..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "All architects involved will get a share."

    After that, Qin Ye closed the door behind him and departed for good this time. All of a sudden, he had an epiphany, and this epiphany allowed him to stand at a higher vantage point and see things more clearly!

    "Your Excellency." Zhao Yun was waiting at the corner, and he quickly followed along behind Qin Ye. "How did it go?"

    "Some things have urred to me just now," Qin Ye replied. "As for exactly how everything is going to progress, we''ll know very soon."

    Right at this moment, the melodious chime of the clock rang out again, signaling the rmencement of the energy resource conference. It was also a deration that both sides had already bet their chips, and there was no going back.

    At this moment, inside the conference hall, several raised hands had just been put down.

    "That''s truly quite a surprise..." Archimedes said in an expressionless manner. "I didn''t anticipate this to be the oue..."

    Aristotle said, "You''ve already made your decision, and there''s no going back now!"

    "Rest assured," R?ntgen replied with a wooden expression. "I won''t regret my decision regardless of the oue."

    After that, several of the scientists in the room vanished on the spot in unison as gusts of Yin wind.

    The melodious chime of the clock rang out, and Archimedes heaved a forlorn sigh. "The higher we climb, the more difficult it bes to climb higher. Every time, there''s always a reason why we can''t back down. We''re like a pair of antelopes attacking each other with our horns until one side is pushed into the abyss."

    Aristotle said in an expressionless manner, "The situation may seem perilous, but I''m confident that we will emerge victorious on this asion!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    All of the scientists returned to their seats one after another.

    Perhaps they could sense something, but for some reason, everyone was extremely quiet. All of the scientists took fleeting nces at the death gods at the front of the hall before immediately looking away, and even as Archimedes gave another address and officially announced the rmencement of the conference, there was no mention of the Cathayan Underworld. Furthermore, no one found this to be strange.

    The figurative scent of gunpowder was wafting through the air, and it was as if everyone was afraid that opening their mouths to say something would lead to them choking on the acrid scent.

    Their reactions arose from a sense of instinctive fear.

    Something''s about to happen... A scientist looked around with an uneasy expression before finally settling his gaze on the front of the hall.

    The death gods at the front were quite calm and collected, but he could sense that this ce was about to be a battlefield soon...

    "Please give a warm round of apuse to Mr. R?ntgen, who is about to deliver his report on his new research into Yin rune fluoroscopy!"

    A flurry of apuse immediately rang out, and Qin Ye also joined in just for the sake of it. After that, the first day of the conference concluded without a hitch.

    The schedule of the energy resource convention was as follows: there was going to be one day for the opening ceremony and all of the reports, another day for group discussions, and half a day for the closing ceremony and an address on the future outlook. Following the conclusion of the first day, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun immediately returned to Qin Ye''s room. Standing in front of the window, Qin Ye had released his consciousness in full force as he stared at the front entrance of the Skeletal Sailboat in an absentminded manner.

    "What are you looking at, Your Excellency."

    Qin Ye offered no reply and continued to stand in front of the window. Half an hourter, a burst ofmotion suddenly rang out at the entrance of the hotel, and a group of over 20 Yin spirits emerged.

    A cold smile appeared on his face as he finally broke his silence. "Looks like a storm ising. You asked me what I was looking at, right? I''m looking at how the Argosian Underworld is going to react. As expected, politicians simply don''t know how to back down. Do you think they gathered all of those scientists at once just to enjoy a meal together?"

    This was clearly a rhetorical question, and Zhao Yun didn''t even bother to offer a response.

    "They''ve made their move... Even though we''ve made it clear to everyone that we''re acting within the constraints of thew, they''ve still decided to plot against us." Qin Ye made his way over to the table and poured out two sses of wine, one of which he handed to Zhao Yun. "After tonight, there are going to be group discussions for the entire day tomorrow, and the day after that will be the closing ceremony. This is a timeframe of only around 30 hours, and they don''t even have enough time to wait for new orders from Athens, yet they still chose to strike. Why is that? What''s given them the courage to do this? This has always stumped me i the past, and I even thought that perhaps this conference would conclude in a sedate and peaceful manner. After all, we''ve caught thempletely off guard here, and it''s very normal for them to make a mistake in their panic. However, a question raised by Volta and Faraday made me realize where they''re driving their confidence from."

    He took a sip of wine, and the rich liquid slid down his throat as he stared at his ss in an absentminded manner while swirling the wine around in circles. "Do you think scientists are rich?"

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded in response after a brief moment of contemtion.

    They were definitely rich.

    In the underworld, scientists had full ownership over their own patents, so all of them had to be extremely wealthy.

    "That''s where you''re wrong," Qin Ye said with a faint smile. "They are extremely poor! Their patents are only useful in very specific areas in high-level scientific research, and that''s because most of the patents they hold are from the mortal realm! As a result, many of their patents are rendered redundant in the underworld! For example, for a high-grade underworld emissary, they can forcibly use Yin jade to rece electricity, just like how we were doing international broadcasts in the past! These patents are impossible to promote to the entire world. If they''re not fit for civilian use, then how much money can these patents possibly make them? That''s not even taking into ount the fact that it''s very expensive to conduct scientific research and development! I''m willing to bet that there aren''t even many millionaires among them!"

    Zhao Yun opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off as he said, "I know what you want to say. You want to say that there''s been no detailed investigation into this subject matter, right? Indeed, there''s no concrete evidence, but if there''s one thing I know, then it''s the mindsets of politicians! If these scientists really could earn exorbitant ie from their patents, would the governments not intervene? Politicians are heartless leeches! There''s no way they''d pass up opportunities like that if they existed!"

    Take the QR code patent of the mortal realm as an example. If that patent hadn''t been made avablepletely free of charge, national governments would''ve definitely intervened!

    With a poption of over a billion, even if each person only paid one cent through scanning QR codes every day, that would still be an ie of over ten million! There was no way that the national governments wouldn''t pounce onto such a lucrative product!

    "Also, they have financial backing from consortiums. If their patents really were prevalently used, they wouldn''t need to have financial backing! Every single scientist would be a vault on legs! General Zhao, do you know what Archimedes''s trump card is now?"

    Zhao Yun was silent for a few seconds before casting an admiring gaze toward Qin Ye. "You''re saying that if we don''t develop the new energy resource, the entire world would turn a blind eye, and high-grade underworld emissaries wouldn''t care at all. Without backing from those in power, these scientists haven''t been able to make any progress during the past few centuries. Hence, all of them are desperately hoping that we would develop the new energy resource and usher in a new era for them!"

    Pursuit of science and the truth? Benefitting the people and the entire world? What a load of bullshit! At the end of the day, what they wanted was money!

    Only after a new energy resource was developed would their mortal realm patents be applicable to the underworld, thereby allowing them to earn exorbitant ies! That would allow them to research whatever they wanted!

    Without money, they were puppets to their financial backers, forced to do their bidding rather than pursue their own passions!

    This was the source of Archimedes''s confidence and what all of the scientists wanted!

 Chapter 1026: Decree of Sanctions (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1026: Decree of Sanctions (2)</h4>

    "That''s exactly right!" Qin Ye said. "This is the true trump card that Archimedes has been banking on, and we failed to think of this in the past. As a result, all of the scientists would be willing to work with Archimedes and force us to release the new energy resource to the world!"

    Qin Ye had been wondering why Archimedes still had so much sway in the scientific world, even though all of the scientists already knew that he had be more a politician than a scientist.

    As it turned out, their goals stemmed from the same roots.

    "Keeping the energy resource to ourselves creates a very favorable situation for us, but there are drawbacks as well. Due to the fact that our nation is isted from the rest of the world, we''re unable to monitor changes in the outside world. However, once we understand and ept this drawback, we''re able to adapt and create changes that we want to see!"

    After making this realization, everything had suddenly be clear to him!

    A sly smile appeared on his face as he said, "As long as we make the appropriate adjustments, enormous changes will follow!"

    He gestured for Zhao Yun toe to him, following which he whispered something into Zhao Yun''s ears, and Zhao Yun''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    As he stepped back to look at Qin Ye, he was simply inplete awe. How was it possible for a human brain to function like this? Following a single conversation with a pair of scientists, he had instantly devised an extremely devious strategy!

    If they were to act ording to Qin Ye''s n, even Zhao Yun felt like there was a very good chance that they would seed!

    "I''m truly speechless." He cupped his fist in a salute as he extended a deep, respectful bow. "I am utterly amazed by your peerless intelligence and wisdom, Your Excellency. However, I must point out that we''re still yet to secure the support of even a single scientist thus far."

    "Is that really important?" A wide smile had appeared on Qin Ye''s face. Even he didn''t anticipate that the brief conversation with Volta and Faraday would bring about such a game-changing epiphany.

    While it was true that he didn''t have any support from the scientists, that wasn''t important anymore.

    "It would be a pleasant surprise if they sided with us, but even if they don''t, after making this realization, there''s no way that those dogmatic and narrow-minded old geezers would be able to stand against me!" Qin Ye said with a cold smile. "This is not our final opportunity, this is their final opportunity! If they pick the wrong side this time, they''ll bepletely forgotten by the passage of history!"

    Once the new energy resource emerged, massive changes would sweep over the entire world, and the academic world was also going to be dealt an unprecedented blow!

    "Just do as I say," Qin Ye instructed as a devilish gleam appeared in his eyes. "I''m looking forward to the day that aplete revolution sweeps through the academic world, but I''m even more looking forward to the closing ceremony two days from now!"

    The second day quickly arrived.

    As the president and chief secretary, respectively, of the World Energy Resource Research Organization, Archimedes and Aristotle had sufficient reason to check on all of the groups during the group discussions in the morning.

    At noon, they enjoyed a "pleasant" lunch together, to which the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t invited.

    More discussions were held in the afternoon, and dinner was the same story. Even close to midnight, there was still a steady stream of Yin beastsing and going in front of the hotel. All of the scientists had been invited by the World Energy Resource Research Organization to discuss the future development of energy resources in the underworld in a certain high-end restaurant.

    "They''re guarding against you," Qin Ye remarked as he stood in front of his window.

    It was clear that they had reached some type of agreement during the day, and they were only going to discuss the truly important matters at night. Everything had been arranged on such short notice that there were still peopleing and going even at midnight.

    They were concerned that they would be eavesdropped upon if they were to discuss these things in the hotel, but in reality, Zhao Yun didn''t even have any interest in doing that.

    Zhao Yun nodded in response as he said, "However, they haven''t managed to cover all of their tracks. There are a total of 57 scientists attending this conference, and all of them have left the hotel."

    "Including Volta, Faraday, and Maxwell?"

    "That''s right," Zhao Yun confirmed.

    Qin Ye nodded in response, but didn''t disy any reaction.

    After arriving at that realization earlier in the day, he already had absolute confidence.

    Right now, he was looking forward to the closing ceremony to be held the next day even more than Archimedes and Aristotle were!

    He couldn''t wait to see the looks on their faces when he enacted his n!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    It was amid this false atmosphere of peace and tranquility that the third day of the energy resource conference arrived.

    All of the seats in the massive conference had already beenpletely upied by Yin spirits.

    Everyone knew what had happened in the past few days. Themotion seen on the first day didn''t arise again, and all of the scientists were looking at the death gods at the front of the hall withplex expressions. However, if any of the death gods looked back at them, they would immediately avert their eyes.

    It was clear that they were intentionally avoiding eye contact, which was a sign of guilt and unease.

    "Looks like Archimedes managed to convince quite a few of them," Qin Ye said to Zhao Yun in a low voice.

    "I supposed that couldn''t be helped," Zhao Yun replied. "However, I''m confident that they''re definitely going to regret their own decision soon."

    Everything was clear to Qin Ye, and he knew exactly where he had to strike, so there was no uncertainty or unease, only a sense of quiet confidence and anticipation.

    Qin Ye nodded in response before casting his gaze toward Volta, Maxwell, and Faraday.

    The three of them just so happened to be looking at him as well, but as soon as their eyes met, the trio immediately averted their eyes as well.

    Qin Ye pursed his lips upon seeing this as he gently massaged his beaded bracelet.

    Why are you avoiding my gaze? Did you not choose me in the end? In that case, I hope you won''t regret your decision.

    Right at this moment, Archimedes stood up on the main stage. "Everyone, after three days of this energy resource conference, everything is going to draw to a conclusion here. During these past few days, we''ve exchanged some very interesting ideas about new technological developments in the underworld outside of the field of Yin runology, and I found this to be both very intriguing and also extremely eye-opening. Unfortunately, we still weren''t able to hear a report from the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource research and development team."

    He extended a slight bow of apology toward Qin Ye, then cast his gaze toward all of the scientists again. "Everyone has gathered here for the sake of the world''s development. However, there can be no greater development for the entire world than the birth of a new energy resource. It would be as bright and eye-catching as the sun, and most, if not all of you, havee here to see the rise of this sun."

    Is he cutting straight to the chase already? Is he afraid that unexpected circumstances will arise if he dys for too long? Is he feeling uneasy in the face of my calm disy from yesterday?

    Qin Ye gave him a friendly smile.

    At the same time, Archimedes''s gaze fell upon Qin Ye, and he was trying to find any signs that suggested that Qin Ye was forcing a smile, but his efforts proved to be futile in the end.

    Could it be that this was a genuine smile?

    Archimedes withdrew his gaze as a hint of befuddlement welled up in his heart.

    This didn''t make sense! There was no way to hide the news of who had met who during the conference.

    He should be aware that I invited all of the scientists for a meeting yesterday, so why is he still so calm? Does he still have a trump card up his sleeve? Could it be that he''s already seen through my n and devised a solution?

    For some reason, a chilling sensation welled up in his heart.

    Archimedes looked down at the script that he was holding, and he had a feeling that if he were to continue reading ording to this script, he would only be bringing humiliation upon himself, but he simply couldn''t think of how that could be the case.

    No, surely not... Without ess to everyone''s patents, as soon as they release the patent for their new energy resource, they''ll immediately be met with an internationalwsuit. In the end, it would be adjudged that they had infringed everyone''s patents, and as a result, the new energy resource would be distributed to all of the scientists. In that case, what would be the point even if they could develop the new energy resource?

    Furthermore, there was no way he could back down now! The Argosian Underworld had to remain at the center of the academic world!

    With that in mind, he gritted his teeth as he continued, "Here, I must announce a very unfortunate decision. Due to the Cathayan Underworld''s repeated infringement of internationalws, the World Energy Resource Research Organization must impose some sanctions upon the Cathayan Underworld."

    His breathing was beginning to elerate as he continued, "The Cathayan Underworld and its energy resource research and development team have been found to have infringed up the 17th use of the third section on the sixth page of the world energy resource bill, as well as all of its subuses. The imposed sanctions will include the following."

    In this instant, all of the scientists took a deep breath and involuntarily sat up straighter.

    The storm was finallying, and the suspense had reached a peak. Every single one of the scientists in attendance could feel their own skin crawling with anticipation and tension!

    The entire hall waspletely silent, and Qin Ye had even made an inviting hand gesture. Archimedes gritted his teeth as he prepared to announce the sanctions. At this point, there was no longer any possibility for retreat, nor did he want to retreat!

    Thus, he cleared his throat and dered, "Firstly, the sanctions will be imposed a month from now. The Cathayan Underworld must release the 10 progress reports on the new energy resource that it has refrained from releasing thus far. On top of that, progress reports must continue to be released in a timely fashion until the new energy resource is developed. Secondly, the Cathayan Underworld must pay a fine of five hundred billion Yin spirit stones for its infringement of international regtions. Thirdly, prior topleting all of its rightful duties, all scientists will withhold their patent usage rights from the Cathayan Underworld. Fourthly... Fifthly..."

    His voice was like rumbling thunder ringing out across the entire hall, and all of the scientists'' souls were trembling as they listened with bated breath.

    Only after a full 10 minutes had passed did Archimedes finish reading out the sanctions before turning to Qin Ye with a sympathetic expression. "It''s very unfortunate that these sanctions must be imposed, but your nation must act in ordance with international regtions. If you have any questions, Chief Secretary Aristotle can answer them for you, and we also have five professional legal advisors here as well. We look forward to seeing your nation turn over a new leaf."

    "Hold on a minute." Qin Ye finally broke his silence. "Who decided on these sanctions?"

    "The world did, Yanluo Qin."

    "Which world is this?" Qin Ye rose to his feet, and his Yin energy began to slowly seep through the entire hall like a puddle of ink. Theherfire in the eyes of all of the scientists flickered slightly upon seeing this. They were being struck by a sense of instinctive fear in the presence of an apex predator. At the same time, Archimedes had also released his own Yin energy in case Qin Ye did anything out of line.

    "Is this a world that even the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t know about?"

    The Yin energy from the two of them quickly intertwined with one another, and none of the scientists in the entire hall dared to utter a single word in the face of the confrontation between the president of the World Energy Resource Research Organization and the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    "As the subject being sanctioned, we had to take measures to keep the proceedings a secret from the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Who agreed to these sanctions? Why am I not seeing anyone raise their hand in support of these sanctions?"

    "My apologies, but the Cathayan Underworld''s spokesperson in the World Energy Resource Research Organization was withdrawn over 100 years ago, and you didn''t send a new spokesperson to rece them. Do you expect the entire world to wait for your nation alone?"

    Archimedes wasn''t backing down in the slightest, and it seemed as if this confrontation could be escted at any moment.

    All of the scientists present were gripping tightly onto their armrests while theherfire in their eyes flickered erratically.

    Very rarely did they participate in conferences that facilitated showdowns between major nations, and they would remember this conference for the rest of their days in the underworld!

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Do you really think you can run a dictatorship as the president of the World Energy Resource Research Organization? Either you hold another vote now or you scrap the proposed sanctions altogether, and we''ll move on as if nothing ever happened!"

    Archimedes''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    He wasn''t opposed to holding another vote, but at this point, how could Qin Ye not be aware of the fact that another vote wasn''t going to change the final oue?

    Before he had a chance to ponder this matter any further, Qin Ye continued, "However, prior to the vote, I need five minutes to deliver an address."

 Chapter 1027: Decree of Sanctions (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1027: Decree of Sanctions (3)</h4>

    Archimedes didn''t say anything. He was extremely reluctant to allow Qin Ye to speak at a time like this, but there was no sound reason for him to turn down this request.

    Both of them remained silent as they stared at one another, and everyone else in the hall was alsopletely silent. However, the silence was more deafening than even the loudest of squabbles.

    Amid the silence, all of the scientists had involuntarily sat up straighter, and many of them were unconsciously wringing their own hands together in a futile attempt to relieve some tension. Even though they very rarely participated in conferences like this, they could all sense that the floodgates were about to be opened.

    Was the tsunami going topletely inundate the Cathayan Underworld or was the Cathayan Underworld going to be able to weather the storm? Everything would be decided in the next few minutes.

    No one dared to even breathe too loudly in fear of attracting attention to themselves, and even the lightest of pin drops would be audibly heard in this hall at this moment.

    "What do you want to say?" After a brief silence, Archimedes finally said, "The Cathayan Underworld didn''t request any time to speak during this conference..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, another burst of Yin energy erupted into the heavens.

    This burst of Yin energy was so fearsome that as it swept through the hall, theherfire in the eye of all of the scientists present were instantly snuffed out like a candle me in the wind, only to immediately reignite again.

    This was the fury of a being above the Yama-King level!

    All of the scientists gasped as they reflexively pressed their backs tighter against the backs of their chairs. This was an action borne out of their self-preservation instincts in the face of an apex predator. At the same time, Osiris also took a deep breath before rising to his feet.

    As the representative of the Aegyptian Underworld, which was hosting this conference, he could refrain from speaking under normal circumstances and only offer Archimedes his moral support, but at a time like this, he definitely couldn''t remain silent any longer!

    "General Zhao..." As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, he was sent flying back close to 20 meters as if he had just been struck by a giant hand.

    Zhao Yun didn''t even bother to take a nce at him. Instead, he swept his gaze across all of the horrified scientists looking on from below the stage. "Are you saying that the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t even have the right to speak here at this conference?

    Archimedes was struggling to withstand the pressure exerted upon him by Zhao Yun as he said with gritted teeth, "Like I said, the Cathayan Underworld has not requested any time to speak during this conference..."

    "My god!!"

    "Ghost King Zhao!! Please calm down!!"

    All of the scientists instantly rose to their feet as they frantically called out for Zhao Yun to restrain himself.

    Right as Archimedes gave his reply, countless cracks suddenly appeared all over the walls and the ceiling of the entire hall!

    Zhao Yun hadn''tshed out or anything like that, this was simply a result of the space copsing in the face of his release of Yin energy.

    All of the scientists had stood up as if they wanted to flee the scene, and they were utterly astonished by the power of a being above the Yama-King level!

    Countless specks ofherfire were flickering erratically in countless eye sockets as Zhao Yun cast his gaze toward Archimedes again. "Does our King Yanluo have a right to speak in this conference?"

    Archimedes could feel Yin energy converging toward him from all directions like an iron cage,pletely immobilizing him and rendering him unable to utter even a single word.

    He felt as if he had returned to the era where the entire world had been bullied by the second King Yanluo, and a series of traumatic memories instantly flooded through his mind.

    "You should be thankful." Zhao Yun sat back down, and his voice was still calm and cid as he said, "Under our third King Yanluo, Hell advocates for peace. If the second King Yanluo were here in his stead, you wouldn''t be able to leave this ce alive!"

    No shit! If the second King Yanluo was here, we wouldn''t even dare to refuse!

    Aristotle didn''t dare to say anything as he stood off to the side, and he gulped nervously as he chewed down onto his own lower lip.

    "We can talk reason and sense with all of you if we want, but I certainly have no obligation to do so! The almighty King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld requires your permission to speak during an international conference? Who the hell do you think you are?! If you want to say anything, get your twin gods toe here and speak to us instead!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder that shook the entire hall, and all of the scientists could feel the fine hairs on the back of their necks standing up on end.

    This was still the same Cathayan Underworld...

    Their new ruler may have been more reasonable and willing to y by the rules, but their patience was not to be tested!

    It seemed that ever since the second King Yanluo ascended to the throne, the Cathayan Underworld''s diplomacy strategies had gonepletely off the deep end...

    Zhao Yun turned toward the scientists seated in the hall as he said, "Now then, let me ask you all once again. The third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld wants to deliver an address. Who wants to deny him this right?"

    None of the Yin spirits dared to say anything.

    Qin Ye maintained a calm facade on the outside, but on the inside, he was hyperventting like a fangirl! Zhao Yun was always so friendly and amicable with him, and as a result, he had forgotten just how badass Zhao Yun could be!

    Back when he and Zhao Yun had discussed this possible scenario, all Zhao Yun had said was: "Don''t worry about that, you can leave it to be if it happens."

    No wonder he had looked so confident!

    Several secondster, Zhao Yun rose to his feet before cupping his fist in a respectful salute as he bowed toward Qin Ye. "Looks like there are no longer any objects. Please go ahead, Yanluo Qin."

    As a self-proimed Oscar-worthy actor, Qin Ye immediately put on a displeased expression as he reprimanded, "Ghost King Zhao, this is an international conference, and we should follow the rules here."

    "Of course, please forgive me, Yanluo Qin," Zhao Yun replied as he lowered his head, and it was as if the fearsome aura he had just released had never appeared at all.

    "If they need to have some sense talked into them, then just speak to them, there''s no need to use force. Make sure this is thest time you do something like this."

    After "reprimanding" Zhao Yun, Qin Ye made his way onto the main stage in a graceful manner. At this point, Archimedes had already vacated the lectern for him, but he was gritting his teeth so tightly from fury that he felt as if his teeth were about to shatter!

    You''re only reprimanding him now? Don''t make meugh! Where were you when he was intimidating everyone with his Yin energy?! You''re not a diplomat, you''re a fucking terrorist! Have you no shame?! Isn''t the third King Yanluo supposed to be a man of reason?!

    At this point, it had already be clear to Archimedes that this third King Yanluo seemed to be amicable and reasonable on the surface, but when it mattered, he was even more shameless and aggressive than the second King Yanluo!

    The only difference was that the second King Yanluo threw his weight around without any regard for his own reputation, while Qin Ye was still keeping up appearances most of the time.

    Among all of the world leaders he had evere into contact with, these ones were definitely the most difficult ones to deal with.

    Why is it that each passing generation of the Cathayan Underworld''s ruler is more of a pain in the ass than the previous one?! Where do they keep finding these bastards from?!

    However, there was no opportunity for him to vent his frustration. No one was paying any attention to him as all eyes were on Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye stood behind the lectern in an elegant manner as he said, "Everyone, I don''t have much to say. What I''m going to say next will be automatically recorded by image capture crystals, and I swear in the name of the third King Yanluo and the reputation of the Cathayan Underworld that everything I''m about to say next is the truth. Firstly, the Cathayan Underworld really is developing a new energy resource. What I can tell everyone is that the development process involves some secrets that we cannot reveal at this time. However, once the new energy resource is ready, all of the data you want to see will be released alongside the new energy resource''spletion."

    All of the scientists had already sat back down again, and upon hearing what Qin Ye had to say, a wave of hushed discussion immediately swept over the entire hall.

    Franklin didn''t say anything as he stared intently at Qin Ye. He didn''t believe a single word that Qin Ye was saying!

    Scientific research wasn''t something that could be proven through empty words.

    He wasn''t going to believe Qin Ye until he actually released everything that the entire academic world wanted to see!

    However, he couldn''t raise any objections here. With that in mind, he cast a wary gaze toward Zhao Yun. He had a feeling that if he were to speak against Qin Ye now, Zhao Yun would immediately p him all the way to Siberia!

    Just because we''re not saying anything doesn''t mean we''re incapable of thinking! Science is a pursuit that deals in concrete truths! You''ve been leading the entire world on for so long, yet you think you can continue to fool everyone with that so-called promise?

    Qin Ye paid no heed to what the scientists were thinking as he made a grabbing motion, upon which a scroll appeared in his grasp.

    "I will personally submit this scroll to themittee of the four pirs to be archived."

    A faint smile appeared on his face, and a hint of anticipation surfaced in his eyes as he slowly unfurled the scroll. "This scroll was written by me in person, and here''s what it says: upon the release of the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource following itspletion, the new energy resource will be made avable to the entire academic worldpletely free of charge."

    BOOM!!!

    Everyone felt as if they had been struck by a bolt of lightning upon hearing this.

    Franklin was looking up at the main stage with a derisive sneer, but his expression instantly stiffened before transforming into one of incredulity and shock.

    He wasn''t the only one, the jaws of all of the scientists present had dropped straight to the ground as they looked up at the main stage with astonished expressions as if the sun were rising up there.

    Their expressions were also mirrored on the faces of Archimedes and Aristotle, who were also staring at Qin Ye inplete disbelief.

    However, before they even had a chance to process what had just been said, Qin Ye continued, "The fees that the Cathayan Underworld will charge for its new energy resource will be determined by referencing the standard cost of electricity in the mortal realm. During the research and development process, all scientists deemed to be participants of the project will be viewed as patent holders, and their names will be included in the new energy resource developer records. Once every five years, all of the participants in the project will receive..."

    He paused here, and all of the scientists present felt as if a jolt of electricity had surged all the way from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes!

    All of them instantly sat bolt upright as they looked on with bated breath and scorching anticipation in their eyes!

    Qin Ye smiled as he continued, "0.00000001% of the pure profits from the patent fees!"

    Silence quickly descended over the entire venue.

    In the next instant, the entire conference hall erupted like a volcano!

    "Did I hear that right?! Are my ears ying tricks on me?!" Schrodinger sprang up from his seat like a jack in the box, but his gesture wasn''t out of ce at all as all of the astonished scientists around him had also sprung to their feet.

    "Did I mishear him?! Is this real?!" nck had thrown a hand over his own mouth to stifle his own voice in fear that he would wake himself up from this beautiful dream!

    Most of the scientists were too stunned to even say anything, and they could only reflexively stand up as they stared at the figure on the main stage.

    The hushed chatter quickly crescendoed into a raucousmotion, and all of the scientists were on the verge of going insane as they yelled with all their might, "Yanluo Qin, are you being serious right now?!"

    "0.00000001%!? Are you sure?!"

    "Has this been drafted as a nationalw of the Cathayan Underworld?! Is this really happening right now?!"

    "Yanluo Qin, this decision of yours will surely go down in the history books as one of the most generous and significant decisions of all time!!"

    Qin Ye smiled as he nodded in response. "My word is final on this matter. Ah, my apologies, I appear to have taken more than the five minutes that I asked for. Let''s invite Mr. Archimedes back onto the stage so he can continue to oversee the voting process."

    He turned toward Archimedes and gave him a slight nod, while Archimedes was staring back at him with utter incredulity in his eyes.

    You want me to continue holding this vote?! Fuck off!!

 Chapter 1028: Decisive Blow

    <h4>Chapter 1028: Decisive Blow</h4>

    His entire body was trembling as he stared at Qin Ye, and his head was gently shaking from side to side in apletely unconscious gesture of disbelief. Qin Ye had only delivered a very short address, but he knew that it was a decisive blow.

    "Are you alright, Mr. Archimedes?" Qin Ye asked with a concerned expression. "Isn''t there a vote on the proposed sanctions that still has to be held? Are you not going to continue holding the vote?"

    All of the swear words in Archimedes''s vocabry had welled up in his heart, and he wanted nothing more than to pounce onto this devious bastard and bite him to death!

    He finally understood why Qin Ye had been so calm throughout this entire conference. Despite his youth, this King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld had managed to look even further ahead than he had.

    What excuse had he used to unite all of the scientists to impose sanctions on the Cathayan Underworld?

    He imed that this was all for the sake of science and having their names go down in history. He knew the mindset of a scientist far too well, so he knew exactly what strings to pull to tempt them.

    However, Qin Ye was a step ahead of him. He had used this tactic for thousands of years, and it had worked every time. As such, he had taken it for granted that this tactic would continue to work without fail.

    Thus, that led to him overlooking something.

    Why was it that the scientists were so eager to heed his call? Was it really because they respected him as one of the founding fathers of mathematics and physics?

    No...

    Looking back now, he suddenly realized that this was a historical problem!

    After arriving in the underworld, scientists from the mortal realm simply couldn''t make much progress in the field of Yin runology during a short span of several centuries, and they certainly weren''t doing well in the field of underworld physics that stemmed from Yin runology. Without any scientific products, they would have no patents, and without any patents, they would have no money.

    In order to allow scientists to livefortable lives in the underworld, the underworld had devised new patent regtions, stating that all of their patents from the mortal realm remained effective in the underworld until they were willing to return to the cycle of reincarnation, and that 100% of profits derived from these patents would go to their owners.

    However, were patents from the mortal realm really applicable in the underworld?

    There were some applications, but they were so rare that most scientists couldn''t even earn five-figure yearly sries from their patents. Without money, how were they supposed to fund their own research?

    As such, scientists were extremely poor. Upon hearing about the favorable patent regtions in the underworld, Qin Ye had thought that all leading scientists were quite wealthy, but after his conversation with Volta and Faraday, he suddenly realized that scientists were extremely impoverished!

    Archimedes was also only just arriving at this realization, and his hands were trembling uncontrobly. He realized that he had already discarded his identity as a scientist long ago. He had more money than he could ever spend, so of course he wasn''t going to care about the financial situations of other scientists. In reality, their struggling finances was the reason why these scientists had heeded his call time and time again and were willing to exert pressure upon the Cathayan Underworld at his behest!

    You want to talk to me about the pure and noble pursuit of science? Without money, how am I supposed to pursue anything? Do you know how much money colliders cost?! I can''t pursue shit without money!!

    The development of the new energy resource was going to act as a foundation for higher-level electricity-like energy resources, thereby revitalizing the entire scientific world and making all of their patents applicable again!

    At this point, Aristotle had also realized what was happening, and he murmured to himself in a trembling voice, "At the end of the day, they had to side with us for the sake of money!"

    Their failure to recognize this meant that their defeat was now sealed.

    Qin Ye had already promised these scientists exorbitant sums of money issued once every five years, and he was making the patent usage rights for the new energy resource essible for free to all of them as well!

    What a cunning bastard!!

    They cast a despairing gaze toward all of the scientists present. Theherfire in their eyes had already sprung up to two meters in height, and their eyes were filled with excitement and gratitude.

    It was clear that the final oue of the power struggle had already been decided.

    They had painstakingly nned for this conference for so long, yet Qin Ye had been able topletely thwart them with just a short address.

    They hadn''t even just been thwarted, they had beenpletely ughtered! It was a one-sided beating that left them wanting nothing more than to flee the scene in humiliation.

    The most painful thing for them was that they still had to finish what they had started and oversee the vote to impose sanctions on the Cathayan Underworld.

    Essentially, they had to step onto the main stage and p themselves in the face!

    My god!! I don''t want to live anymore!!

    Archimedes didn''t say anything as he vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind. Having already made aplete fool out of himself during the conference in Nara, he couldn''t bear to be humiliated here again, especially not in front of these scientists who looked up to him and treated him with respect.

    As a result, Aristotle was left on his own, and he waspletely rooted to the spot!

    Motherfucker!! Aristotle, you old fuck!! Get back here right now! Are you giving this opportunity for humiliation to me? Well, I don''t need it! You can do the honors!

    However, he had no choice but to steel himself and face the music.

    After cursing Archimedes 10,000 times in his heart, he stepped onto the main stage with a steely expression. He repressed the urge to hurl a torrent of abuse at Qin Ye as he called for silence.

    Everyone did fall silent as he instructed, but he could sense that everyone was simply waiting for him to get this pointless segment done and over with so they could move on.

    "Please cast your votes now. Three, two one, the sanctions will not be imposed. This conference is hereby over."

    The entire processsted no more than five seconds, and it was nothing more than a joke.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Aristotle instantly vanished on the spot, not even bothering to say something like "I look forward to meeting you all again next time".

    He was simply far too embarrassed to say any longer. Not a single hand had been raised in approval of the sanctions!

    Instead, all of the scientists had been looking up at him with derisive sneers, and their expression said: "do you think we''re stupid?"

    Their derisive eyes were like bullets pelting Aristotle''s entire body, and throughout the several thousand years of his existence, he had never been humiliated like this before!

    After dering the conclusion of the conference, he returned straight to his own room. As for what happened next, he didn''t care.

    If I get involved in this again, I''m a fucking pig!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye was seated on his chair, looking around at the empty main stage. His opposition had been soprehensively beaten that he didn''t even feel like gloating anymore.

    As soon as he realized exactly what all of the scientists wanted, he knew that his victory was assured.

    However...

    He swept his gaze around the conference hall with a faint smile on his face. This conference still wasn''t truly over yet.

    All of the scientists had already stood up and were gathered around him like a pack of wolves staring at a piece of delectable meat, and they couldn''t help but converge toward him.

    They wanted to get closer, but they didn''t dare to. They wanted to speak to him, but they didn''t dare to do that, either.

    Qin Ye''s deration had struck them right in their impoverished souls!

    "There''s no need to be so tense and formal," Qin Ye said with a smile. "At the end of the day, this energy conference is an event held for the sake ofmunication, and words are needed formunication. If you have anything you don''t understand, feel free to ask and I''d be happy to answer all of your questions."

    The academic world was going to wee a renaissance following thepletion of the new energy resource, and by making this gesture, Qin Ye was telling the rest of the world that he was an amodating and reasonable ruler, unlike that barbaric bully that was his predecessor!

    "Yanluo Qin!" A Yin spirit wearing noble attire from ancient Europa made his way through the sea of Yin spirits gathered around Qin Ye, then said in a voice that was trembling with excitement, "I have some questions, and I hope that you may be so generous as to provide some answers for me."

    What a nice and polite man! Why weren''t you this amicable and civilized from the very beginning? Isn''t it nice to be speaking to one another respectfully like this?

    Qin Ye snapped his fingers, and his chair swiveled around so that he was facing Franklin. A smile then appeared on his face as he said, "Go right ahead, Mr. Franklin, I would be happy to answer your questions."

    Franklin had been one step away from joining Qin Ye''s opposing faction, yet at this moment, he was facing Qin Ye with an incredibly fawning smile on his face.

    Franklin felt as if there were a scorching walnut in his throat, making his throat feel both hot and swollen as he made his way over to Qin Ye''s side and said in a sycophantic voice, "I wanted to ask if you were serious about the 0.00000001%."

    This was the question that all of the scientists present wanted to ask!

    "Of course," Qin Ye replied in a serious voice as his smile faded. "I would never make a joke about something important like this. The past rulers of the Cathayan Underworld have never gone back on their word, and I n to do the same. This proposal will enter the archives of the Coalition of Underworlds through the World Energy Resource Research Organization. This is an internal affair of the Cathayan Underworld. It is our patent, and we reserve full autonomy on who we decide to grant the usage rights of the patents to, no one else has any right to intervene on this matter."

    Everyone fell silent once again.

    However, on this asion, they had fallen silent because they didn''t know what to say. There were too many things that they wanted to say, and all of it was getting stuck in their throats, preventing them from saying anything.

    However, in summary, this was what they wanted to say:

    You are our father!! Please fund my future endeavors, daddy!!

    "0.00000001%..." Rontgen''s throat was feeling absolutely parched, and there were stars dancing in front of his eyes. "In the mortal realm, the total sum of crude oil traded in the past five years worldwide was fifty trillion dors... 0.00000001% of that would be... would be..."

    His mind had gonepletely nk.

    He had been blindsided by a freight train of tion that hadpletely run him over!

    "Five million... That equates to five million per five years!" a scientist who excelled in mathematics eximed in a trembling voice.

    This wasn''t a significant sum for them back in the mortal realm, but having been impoverished for so long in the underworld, this was an absolute godsend!

    "That''s not all, everyone!" Faraday felt as if he were about to pass out as he yelled, "Don''t forget that we''re referring to crude oil here!"

    Veins suddenly began to bulge on his neck as he spoke, and his eyes had turnedpletely bloodshot.

    The scientists faltered momentarily to process what he had just said, immediately following which a thunderousmotion rang out!

    "He''s right! Those figures only apply to crude oil!"

    "My god! In that case, how much are we actually going to receive per five years?!"

    "I didn''t think this day would evere!"

    Without an energy resource, there was no way for them to apply for projects with the death gods of their respective national governments.

    However, they were going to have their own money now!

    Indeed, those figures only applied to crude oil, andherworldly citizens had no need for crude oil, but what about electricity-like energy resources?

    All of the nations across the entire underworld were frantically trying to improve the quality of life of theirherworldly citizens in fear that they would rise up in revolt.

    The emergence of an electricity-like energy resource would entail that countless recreational products would arise, including televisions, phones, movies, you name it!

    Who would find the underworld boring then? Who would bementing their own quality of life then?

    Once the new energy resource became released to the entire world, how much would 0.00000001% of the profits equate to?

 Chapter 1029: Perfect Conclusion to the Energy Resource Conference

    <h4>Chapter 1029: Perfect Conclusion to the Energy Resource Conference</h4>

    While it was true that crude oil was more expensive than electricity as an energy resource, the scale of the market for electricity far exceeded that of crude oil!

    In terms of the number of people using the two energy resources, electricity had crude oilprehensively beaten.

    Even if the total annual profits for electricity were only eighty trillion, 0.00000001% would still be eight million! Compared with the patent usage fees that they were receiving, which amounted to less than 10,000 a month on average, this was such a massive improvement that it scarcely seemed real!

    They were allpletely immersed in the shock factor of the massive profits they were going to be earning, but they failed to realize that every time they tried to ask about the state of the new energy resource, their questions were always skilfully diverted.

    "Ghost King Zhao will stay here to hold the contract signing ceremony, I''ll be going on ahead. If you''re interested, I suggest you stick around to witness the birth of this grand contract. This is going to be a monumental moment in history. Trust me, the underworld''s technology boom is going to start from this contract."

    "Of course!" There wasn''t even the slightest hint of anger to be seen on all of the scientists'' faces at this point. All of them were smiling like sunflowers looking up at the sun, and all of their indignation and fury had faded away like snow under a scorching summer sun.

    "We will be fully supporting the birth of the new energy resource!"

    "If nuclear energy is the peak of all energy resources, then electricity would be the foundation of all energy resources! I don''t even dare to imagine what''s going to happen after an electricity-like energy resource appears in this world!"

    "A scientific revolution is about to sweep through the entire underworld!"

    "A while back, I was considering whether I should enter the cycle of reincarnation, I''m extremely thankful that I decided against it in the end!"

    Qin Ye gave a pleased nod in response to everyone''s reactions.

    Was there still any need for him to ask whether they wanted to withhold their patent usage rights from the Cathayan Underworld?

    All of these scientists were on the verge of kneeling down to lick Qin Ye''s boots! If the three pirs were to instruct them to withhold their patents from the Cathayan Underworld, they would jump onto the three pirs and tear them into shreds even without Qin Ye having to say anything!

    Thus, the biggest obstacle on the path of developing the new energy resource had been removed, and Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief. Of course, this only served to buy the research team some time, the most important thing was that the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development had to keep up!

    Theck of an energy resource was a problem that had stumped the entire underworld for centuries, and there was no shortcut to the end. However, the fact that they had already developed the electron Yin rune meant that they were ahead of the rest of the world!

    He had never been as optimistic about the future as he was now, and he couldn''t wait to return to the Yin Mountains. With that in mind, he rose to his feet and gave a parting nod as he said, "This is where we part ways, everyone. The Cathayan Underworld willpile the relevant data as soon as possible, and I guarantee you that all of the initial experimentation data will be released during the conference that the Cathayan Underworld will be holding in Jeju-do next year."

    "That''s not a problem at all, Yanluo Qin. If you need any of my patents, you can feel free to use them as you see fit!"

    "Yanluo Qin, we are very much looking forward to the day when we can enter the Cathayan Underworld to contribute to the development of the new energy resource!"

    "We eagerly await our opportunity to y a role in the development of the new energy resource!"

    "Please feel free to contact me via messenger bird if you require my services. Even if I''m on the other side of the world, I''ll be sure to heed your call!"

    All of the scientists immediately began to express their devotion toward the new energy resource project.

    There was no better time to speak up!

    If they could provide sufficient assistance, was there a possibility, even just the slightest sliver of a possibility, that their 0.00000001% share could turn into 0.00000002%?

    When dealing with numbers in the trillions, even a tiny change in the number at the end of the seven zeros after the decimal point would result in an enormous difference! Was there a possibility that they could shorten the number after the decimal point to only seven digits as opposed to eight?

    Just the mere thought of this was enough to make their spines tingle with excitement!

    Qin Ye merely smiled before vanishing on the spot as a gust of Yin wind.

    By the time he reappeared, he had already arrived in the floating fortress that had been given to him by the second King Yanluo. This floating fortress was his mode of transportation for all trips out of the Cathayan Underworld at the moment. A short whileter, the sound of a foghorn rang out across the entirety of Dubai, and the fortress began to rapidly fly toward the Cathayan Underworld atop a vast Yin cloud.

    In the distance, a pair of shriveled eyes concealed behind bandages that were etched with golden Yin runes were looking on at the departing fortress. Osiris was standing at the top of the tallest building in the Dubai Underworld, the Dubai Tower, and he heaved a forlorn sigh as he looked on with a defeated expression.

    "Did the two death gods of the Argosian Underworld fail in the end?" A seductive female voice suddenly rang out beside him, and a woman wearing a white dress and a golden snake crown with dark green eyeshadow and golden eyeliner appeared beside him, seemingly out of thin air.

    This was Queen Cleopatra the Seventh, the final female elder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

    "I''m afraid they did," Osiris replied with a slight nod. He cast a forlorn gaze toward the horizon, as well as the majestic pce sitting atop the vast Yin cloud in the distance, and he sighed, "I suggest that the panel of elders raise the evaluation on Yanluo Qin. He is far more difficult to deal with than we first imagined."

    One of the main jobs of all nations'' panels of elders was to assess the rulers of other nations and predict what they were going to do next, as well as determine their logical thinking process. However, the Cathayan Underworld had been isted from the rest of the world for over a century, so there was no information avable for anyone to make an analysis on Qin Ye based on the Cathayan Underworld''s internal affairs. As such, they could only gather information on him based on his handling of international affairs!

    "Last time, he managed topletely disband the Utopia Alliance. This time, he put an end to the Prometheus n before it could even be conceived. While it''s true that he''s different from the second King Yanluo in that he appears to be a man of reason, he''s far more sly and cunning! I think he''s an extremely dangerous character!"

    Cleopatra turned to Osiris with a rather surprised expression. "Very rarely do I see you make such a high appraisal of any world leader!"

    "He''s definitely deserving of this appraisal," Osiris sighed. "It''s no wonder that he was chosen to be the second King Yanluo''s sessor, he''s definitely no slouch. During the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long absence, it lost virtually all of its political influence on the rest of the world. In fact, most of their former allies have already switched sides to join us, but I have a feeling that this third King Yanluo will lead the Cathayan Underworld on a mighty resurgence."

    Cleopatra looked on with an absentminded expression at the waves of undting sand and Yin energy in the distance as she said, "Indeed, a mere century is not a very long time for an underworld that has already stood for thousands of years."

    Silence.

    Several secondster, she asked, "In that case, do you think it''s necessary for us to change our attitude toward the Cathayan Underworld? The Prometheus n has failed before it even had a chance to seed, and under these circumstances, no one will be able to prevent the emergence of the new energy resource. Once that happens, the state of the entire world is going to undergo a massive transformation."

    Osiris faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a cold look appeared on his face as he turned toward Cleopatra. "Are you a lobbyist? Who are you lobbying for? Tutankhamun? Ramesses?"

    Cleopatra didn''t answer the question. Instead, she picked up her dress with a smile before extending an elegant curtsey. "The times are constantly advancing. The new energy resource is most likely going to crush this era into pieces, and anyone who tries to stand in its way will be crushed as well. Ever since the Aegyptian Underworld conquered the middle east all those years ago, we''ve found ourselves in very close proximity with the Cathayan Underworld, and that''s why Lord Anubis insisted on trying to stifle the resurgence of the Cathayan Underworld. However, two attempts have already been made, both of which have failed, and dissenting voices are beginning to arise among the panel of elders. If you ask me, our Aegyptian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld are the two pirs closest to the Cathayan Underworld, so shouldn''t we be abandoning the Argosian Underworld, which is far away in the continent of Europa? This is most likely going to be theirst attempt to try and bring down the Cathayan Underworld, right? The scientists have chosen to side with the Cathayan Underworld, and without the scientists on their side, they won''t be able to withhold patent usage rights from the Cathayan Underworld, thereby rendering them unable to interfere with the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development. In addition to that, the Prometheus n has be an utter failure as well. What can they do next? Can they impose economic sanctions upon them? The Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t care about that at all, considering they''re isted from the rest of the world anyway. Can they impose technological sanctions upon them? How will they go about doing that? There''s no way the scientists would support them. Every single one of them will receive a 0.00000001% share of the profits... What a lucrative promise! Even I''m shocked by his generosity!"

    A gorgeous smile that resembled a blooming flower appeared on her face as she continued, "Seeing as we can''t stop this juggernaut, why don''t we consider joining them?"

    Her body began to slowly disintegrate into Yin wind as she said, "The next meeting between the panel of elders will be held in three years. If you want to know our thoughts, you''re more than wee to attend, and perhaps our ideas can open up new possibilities to you. We may be inpetition with the Cathayan Underworld now, but that doesn''t mean we can''t be allies in the future. Why do we insist on trying to defy the arrival of the new era?"

    Momentster, shepletely vanished on the spot, but Osiris stood by himself in silence for a very long time following her departure.

    There were definitely going to be different voices in any nation.

    No death god could run a true dictatorship unless they were ungodly powerful like the second King Yanluo.

    Perhaps it really was time to carefully consider the possibility of forging an allegiance with the Cathayan Underworld. After news of what had just happened spread throughout the entire world, the other two pirs were also undoubtedly going to reassess their rtionship with this dormant powerhouse that had just emerged from its slumber.

    After heaving a faint sigh, Osiris also vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    All things in world politics were rted to one another somehow, but Qin Ye didn''t have time to consider these corrtions at the moment.

    There was only one question on his mind: what was he going to do next?

    He was seated in the tallest pavilion of the floating fortress. The floor of this pavilion was paved with white jade, and countless pieces of renowned artwork and calligraphy were hanging on the walls around the room. Aside from that, the only other things in the room were a table and a chair.

    There was a piece of paper ced on the table, and many grids and columns had been drawn onto the piece of paper. Qin Ye was supporting his own chin with one hand while twirling a calligraphy brushzily with his other hand, taking long pauses before writing onto the sheet of paper.

    He was devising a n for the next step.

    The biggest external obstacles had been cleared away, and it was time to focus wholeheartedly on developing this new energy resource.

    This was something that he couldn''t help with, but that didn''t mean that he couldn''t do some other things!

    Why were the three pirs so desperate to try and stop him?

    On one hand, there was the notion of trying to reduce the four pirs to only three pirs so there would be more resources distributed to each pir, but the other factor was the possibility of the dragon jade taking over the world!

    If Qin Ye could y his cards well, then the new energy resource would be the perfect springboard to elevate the dragon jade into the dominant currency on the world market, and that was what the three pirs were most wary of.

    At this point, the Cathayan Underworld has not dered whether the new energy resource was going to be tied to the dragon jade. Furthermore, there was still going to be quite some time before the new energy resource was fully developed. However, Qin Ye was certain that as soon as he announced a connection between the dragon jade and the new energy resource, such as "all new energy resource output was going to be settled in the dragon jade currency", then the three pirs would immediately cast aside all pretenses of geniality and do everything in their power to resist the rise of the dragon jade!

    That would send tremors through the entire world, and it could even be the catalyst to kick off the next world war!

    "I can''t rush this process, everything has to be done slowly and steadily," Qin Ye murmured to himself as he looked down at the n he was writing down onto the sheet of paper. "This is an extremely impactful card, and I have to find the best way to y it. I don''t mind holding it for a bit longer than I have to, but when I do y it, I have to make sure that itpletely crushes the opposition!"

 Chapter 1030: Monumental Research Findings

    <h4>Chapter 1030: Monumental Research Findings</h4>

    The world seemed to be constantly changing, but also seemed to be unchanging at the same time.

    In the Yin Mountains Research Center, Secretary Jiang strode into the room while holding a stack of newspapers in a respectful manner as he said, "Your Excellency, these are thetest international newspapers."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before picking up one of the newspapers as he asked, "How long have these newspapers been dyed for?"

    "There''s a half-day dy," Secretary Jiang replied. "The International Daily is unable to reach the Cathayan Underworld due to the existence of the Array of the Nine Gods, but there''s a receiving point in Daehan, and Mr. Liu Yu personally set up a passageway from Hanyang to the three eastern provinces of our Cathayan Underworld. After that, Mr. Qin Hui sends the newspapers to our research center via Yin beasts, and there''s a dy of around 10 hours."

    Qin Ye was just about to open the newspaper when he suddenly paused momentarily and asked, "How is everything going in Daehan?"

    "Mr. Liu Yu submitted his offerings during the first half of this year, and they''re all extremely precious items."

    "What about their GDP? Has that gone into our national treasury yet?" Qin Ye asked.

    The offerings didn''t matter to him at all.

    Secretary Jiang shook his head in response. "We''ve received no news of that thus far."

    Qin Ye chuckled to himself upon hearing this.

    It was clear that Liu Yu wanted to approach the Cathayan Underworld but didn''t dare to do so. He had most likely established rtions with the Nipponese Underworld or the Russian Underworld. Otherwise, what reason did he have for not submitting Daehan''s GDP to the Cathayan Underworld''s treasury?

    Was he under the opinion that the offerings alone would be enough to cate the Cathayan Underworld? He was trying to appease both sides, and the inevitable final oue would be a failure to appease either side.

    The 12 envoys had been like a tumor back then, and in contrast, Liu Yu was nothing more than a rash.

    Qin Ye rustled the newspaper in his hands as he mused, "It''s already been a month since I returned to the Cathayan Underworld. I''ve given you many opportunities, Liu Yu. When the time is right, I''ll have you executed to set an example for the 12 envoys."

    He had shunned the 12 envoys all this time, but that didn''t mean that he hadn''t been keeping tabs on them. After all, all of them were vastly renowned figures in history.

    At this moment, Zhou Yu was serving as a secretary in the North Yin Pavilion, Ma Fubo had been assigned an insignificant job under Qian Dui, Guo Ziyi was guarding the southwestern border, and as for the others, they had also been given insignificant roles. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to use these people for more appropriate roles, this simply wasn''t the right time.

    He had to give them some time to cool down and witness the development of Hell. Only after developing confidence in the new administration would they be content to serve it.

    At the end of that process, he was going to show them the fate that awaited treasonous individuals.

    After setting aside that train of thought, Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the newspaper, and after taking only a brief nce, he immediately raised an eyebrow as he murmured to himself, "As expected, it''s happening, after all."

    There were currently three major newspaperpanies in the world, one of which was the The Times, published by the five Northern Europa underworlds, as well as the dic Underworld, another one was the Pan-Europa Monthly, published by Central Europa and Southern Europa, and the final one was the Two Rivers Monthly, published by the Hindustani Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld.

    In the underworld, there were no daily or even weekly newspapers.

    Allherworldly citizens had extremely long lifespans, so they didn''t scrutinize the passage of time as intently.

    The newspaper that Qin Ye was holding was the Two Rivers Monthly, and the headline on the front page read: "The Prometheus n Has Been Established! The Three Pirs Disy Their Determination to Compete With the New Energy Resource n!"

    The entire front page was dedicated to praising the contents of the Prometheus n, including the dor amount being invested, the scale of the government officials involved, the government research and development departments that were getting involved, the manpower and resources that were going to be used, and of course, it was capped off by an important address from Archimedes.

    Secretary Jiang left the room to give Qin Ye some privacy, and Qin Ye read through the newspaper several times before an amused smile appeared on his face.

    "An initial investment of fifty billion, involvement from seven leading national research centers, and the n is to be overseen by the national energy resource departments and national ministries of technology... It sounds like a big deal, but it''s only putting on a show for normalherworldly citizens."

    He leaned back casually against his chair as he held his teacup with one hand while gently skimming the index finger of his other hand over the newspaper. "Only the initial investment sum has been stated, but nothing has been said about the current progress of the project. On top of that, the participating parties are a joke! It makes sense that there are mathematicians participating in the n. The Argosian Underworld is home to some of the best mathematicians in the entire world, as is the entire continent of Europa. These brilliant minds pass down directly from the mortal realm, and even the second King Yanluo can''t do anything about that."

    However, the best mathematicians in the world were the members of the Argosian Underworld''s round table, were they not? In that case, what was the point in involving all of these other mathematicians that no one had ever even heard of? Were they just there to fill up a list of names and make the newspaper article look better?

    Setting aside the mathematicians for now, what was going on with these chemists and medical scientists?

    "This indicates that the main scientists driving the development of the new energy resource, the physicists, haven''t sided with them." He smiled as he set down the newspaper. "Of course, I can understand why they''re doing this. They can''t just allow the Cathayan Underworld to develop the energy resource, so even though they have no physicists on their side, they still have to take a stand. They know that their initial and subsequent investments are most likely all going to waste, but they have to make those investments regardless."

    However, the fact of the matter was that their n was destined to fail from the very beginning, while the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource n was firmly on the right track.

    Only at this point was Qin Ye truly confident that he had the new energy resource n in the bag.

    The three pirs knew that the Cathayan Underworld had an advantage in the development of the new energy resource. Their objective had been to win the support of all of the world''s leading physicists so that they would have a chance of catching up to and exceeding the Cathayan Underworld.

    However, they failed to realize why the scientists had been willing to stand with them. In other words, the fact that this had always been the case for the past several centuries made them take the support of the scientists for granted, and they had never considered why they had the support of all of the scientists in the first ce.

    Without any money up for grabs, no one was going to stand by them!

    Thus, as soon as Qin Ye offered that lucrative deal to all of the scientists at the conference, he was able to easily win them over.

    Even though the three pirs had lost all support and were aware that they were far behind in this race, they still had to bite the bullet and ce all of their eggs in this basket anyway. Otherwise, if they didn''t take a stand before the Cathayan Underworldpleted its new energy resource, then all of theirherworldly citizens would rise up in revolt!

    Qin Ye stood up from his chair and quickly made his way over to the mainboratory.

    While it was true that the Cathayan Underworld had already seized the initiative and the upper hand during the previous exchanges, there was still a possibility that the three pirs coulde from behind to seize the final victory.

    The chances of this were very slim, but he had to make sure that they werepletely snuffed out, and the best way to do that was obviously to increase the rate of progress in their own new energy resource!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time passed by one day after another, and in the blink of an eye, two years had flown past.

    These two years had passed by very peacefully without any significant events taking ce. Of course, the entire world was still waiting to see when Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were going to meet their demise. Aside from that, there were two massive invisible vortexes lurking beneath the surface.

    The east and the west had formed two opposing fronts of a battlefield. If an analogy had to be made, then it would be as if two forbidden arts were brewing, and all of the world''s Yin energy was rapidly converging toward those two ces.

    During the past two years, the Argosian Underworld had released 13 reports on the new energy resource, averaging one report per two months, giving off the image that the development of their new energy resource was progressing far faster than expected.

    These reports were ced on all of the major monthly publications, and Qin Ye had naturally seen them. He wasn''t the only one, the entire Yin Mountains Research Center had seen the reports as well. However, no one had lost any confidence.

    The three pirs had an extremely strong foundation. Even without the physicists joining them, the mathematicians were still a force to be reckoned with, and their research was progressing very quickly, but not unexpectedly so.

    However, due to the hype that they were creating, all of theherworldly citizens in the entire world, aside from those in the Cathayan Underworld, which was still isted from the rest of the world, hade to understand that the three pirs werepeting with the Cathayan Underworld to develop a new energy resource. The winner of this race could be the ruler of the next era!

    This was currently the hottest topic in the entire underworld. Whenever the hype was about to die down, it would immediately spike up again with the release of a new report.

    By generating hype and drawing attention, the three pirs were able to attract more scientists to join their n. However, the researchers of the Yin Mountains Research Center weren''t distracted or disheartened by these reports at all. Instead, the reports only served to reassure them that they definitely held a massive lead!

    In the words of Lu Ban: "If frequent reports need to be released to generate attention for a monumental project like this one, then that clearly indicates that they don''t have enough talent working on the project and are hoping to attract more skilled personnel."

    Simrly, Zu Chongzhi only took a brief look at the reports before setting them aside.

    "They''re still stuck on what we were working on two and a half years ago. This entire report is still revolving around voidsilver, which we had no choice but to reveal during the Great Revtion Debate, but that doesn''t matter anyway."

    In contrast with the scorching atmosphere in the west, the Cathayan Underworld was as peaceful as a tranquilke. Unbeknownst to all of itsherworldly citizens, Qian Dui had already armed the entirety of the Yin Mountains to the teeth. There were outposts set up five kilometers away from the mountain range, and any outsiders sighted at these outposts would be executed on the spot with no exceptions!

    Even at night, the entirety of the Yin Mountains was always brightly lit.

    As the research and development continued, the veil concealing the new energy resource was being slowly peeled away. The newboratories that had been set up could no longer be contained in the original mountain range, and many externalboratories had to be built into the mountains as a result. Late at night, the brightly litboratories presented a dazzling sight to behold.

    Secretary Jiang made his way into the temporary King Yanluo''s office and reported, "Your Excellency, today is New Year''s Eve. Should we give everyone a two-day break to celebrate the new year?"

    Qin Ye was reading through documents at his desk, and he immediately looked up upon hearing this.

    Was it already the new year?

    Come to think of it, this is already my fourth year in the Yin Mountains...

    A smile appeared on his face as he said, "That''s a great idea. If they''re unwilling to take a break, tell me I''ll cut off all Yin jade supplies so their research can''t continue. They''ve been working far too hardtely, and they must take a break! Also, pick out the best offerings that havee in from all over the nation and get them to send those offerings here from Everburn..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the door of the office was violently flung open, and a researcher with disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes rushed into the room. Theherfire in his eyes had sprung up to two meters in height, and even his soul was wavering unsteadily as he panted heavily.

    "Who the hell are you?!" Secretary Jiang was given a massive fright as he reflexively shielded Qin Ye with his own body. "Get out of here right now or you''ll be executed on the spot!!"

    The researcher didn''t seem to have heard him at all, and he fell to his knees with a dull thump as he stared intently at Qin Ye.

    In that instant, Qin Ye was struck by a sudden epiphany.

    Is it today? Is today going to be the day? Is thepletion of the new energy resource going to fall right on the new year?

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still, and he raised his head with a slightly dazed expression to look up at the clock hanging on his wall.

    It was 11:59:58 PM.

    In the next instant, a bell chime rang out, indicating the arrival of the new year and shattering the silence in the room.

    "Yanluo Qin, we''ve done it!!" the researcher sobbed. "We found it! We''ve finally found the proton Yin rune that corresponds with the electron Yin rune!!"

 Chapter 1031: An Underworld Energy Resource!

    <h4>Chapter 1031: An Underworld Energy Resource!</h4>

    Qin Ye immediately sprang to his feet upon hearing this.

    In this instant, the excitement in his heart was like scorching mes, erupting all the way up to the top of his head. His Yin energy surged out of his body uncontrobly, sending Secretary Jiang flying into the wall like a ragdoll, but neither Qin Ye nor Secretary Jiang himself paid nay heed to that. Right as Qin Ye closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and regain control over his own turbulent Yin energy, Secretary Jiang asked, "Your Excellency, should we further increase the security measures in the Yin Mountains?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response as he waved a dismissive hand, upon which Secretary Jiang immediately departed. After that, Qin Ye turned to the researcher and asked, "When did it happen?"

    "10 minutes ago!" The researcher wanted to stand up, but his legs felt like jelly. Right as he gritted his teeth and prepared to try and stand up again, a hand was offered to him.

    He grabbed onto the hand in an unsteady manner to haul himself to his feet, then immediately copsed onto a chair. "Thank you, Yanluo Qin."

    "Skip the formalities and tell me what I want to hear!" Qin Ye said in an urgent voice. "Are you certain we''ve discovered the proton Yin rune? Whichyer of the Yin rune wheel does it belong to?"

    The researcher replied in a trembling voice, "It belongs to the thirdyer, and it''s number is 423153. Please give it a name, Yanluo Qin!"

    Even though it had already been assigned a number, it was far too significant to go without a name!

    Qin Ye didn''t reply. Instead, he had already transformed into a gust of Yin wind that was blowing directly toward the mainboratory.

    It could be clearly seen that security had already been tightened throughout the entire research center.

    Qian Dui had reacted very quickly, and rows of Yin soldiers were stationed at all of the major gates, while a series of stone contraptions had been set up. The closer Qin Ye got to the mainboratory, the more Yin soldiers he found standing in his way, and only after revealing himself to the Yin soldiers was he granted free passage.

    As Qin Ye approached theboratory, his excitement grew further and further. A dull thump rang out as the door was flung open by his Yin wind, and in the next instant, he had already appeared in the mainboratory, which was surrounded by countless Yin soldiers.

    However, no one even spared a nce at him.

    All of the scientists and assistants had their attention focused entirely on the reinforced ss window at the very center of theboratory, and all of the scientists were looking on with trembling fingers and glowing eyes.

    No one wanted to say anything to break the silence. Qin Ye made his way over to them quietly, and Zu Chongzhi was the first one to see him. However, right as he was about to speak, Qin Ye shook his head and pointed at the ss window before casting his gaze toward it as well.

    Inside it was a ck object with a rugged and bumpy surface. This was thepass rock, which contained the electron Yin rune.

    At this moment, a cluster of fine Yin runes was gently revolving around it in all directions.

    It was like a golden sea of stars orbiting around a ck asteroid. These Yin runes were of a very rudimentary level, perhaps only normally used by Netherworld Operatives and Soul Hunters, but these mundane Yin runes were the key to ushering in a new era!

    "This is an experiment being conducted in a vacuum," Zu Chongzhi exined in a low voice. "Electricity can still be generated in a vacuum, and such an environment is more forgiving on the apparatus. If the experiment works under these conditions, it''ll definitely also work under normal conditions!"

    "Have you still notpleted the experiment?"

    Zu Chongzhi shook his head in response. "During the past three years, we''ve tried almost all of the Yin runes in existence. The electron Yin rune contained within thepass rock has been named ''Kui'', and there are only three Yin runes that can react with Kui. For the first two Yin runes, the reactions weren''t strong enough. We could only sense the emergence of the electricity. For example, if we ce our hand onto the material, we would be struck by a slight numbing sensation, but we couldn''t even see arcs of electricity appear, which told us that those Yin runes weren''t suitable for generating a high power energy resource. However, during this experiment, we were able to create visible arcs of energy!"

    He took a deep breath before continuing, "There''s a very good chance that we''ll be able to seed this time. If we fail, we''ll most likely have to spend another two years searching for candidates from the first and secondyers of Yin runes, and I don''t want to have to do that. After all, there are far too many Yin runes in the first and secondyers, over two times the number of Yin runes in the third to the ninthyersbined, so we are very much hoping that this Yin rune will work."

    No one said anything after that.

    Speaking would be a gesture of disrespect to such a holy and significant moment.

    Five seconds passed by, then 10 seconds, then 20... Right as Qin Ye was beginning to grow a little agitated, a dazzling spark suddenly erupted out of one of the Yin runes around thepass rock.

    A string of gasps immediately rang out, and it took all of the scientists'' willpower to stop themselves from yelling out loud. They continued to stare at the ss window, not even daring to blink, and that spark was like the first torch in the dark corridor leading to the new era.

    Immediately thereafter, the spark quickly spread through the surrounding area, creating a sea of electricity with the countless Yin runes around it!

    The sound of sizzling and zapping rang out incessantly while chips were flying off the surface of thepass rock one after another! The electricity continued to zap and sparkle, illuminating all of the excited faces outside the ss window.

    All of the Yin runes around the piece ofpass rock had been lit up by that single spar, creating a sea of blue light within the span of less than 20 seconds. The light was so radiant that the entireboratory had been illuminated to be as bright as day, and all of the scientists were on the verge of bursting into tears.

    In fact, if they had any tears, all of them would already be sobbing with joy at this point.

    Finally, all of the Yin runes began to glow like a dazzling blue river. This was a very brief moment, but it was breathtakingly beautiful and eternally unforgettable.

    This was a spark! An electricity-like energy resource!

    "We did it..." Zu Chongzhi''s voice was trembling so much that one could barely even tell what he was saying. He rushed over involuntarily to the ss window and reached out with a trembling hand, as if he wanted to touch the resplendent sea of blue light beyond the ss, and he repeated over and over again in a sobbing voice, "We did it... We did it..."

    "WE DID IT!!!" One of the scientists was finally unable to repress their excitement any longer as they yelled with all their might.

    "Yes!!! We did it! We seeded!"

    "Haha, we finally did it!"

    "It''s been three whole years, but it was well worth the wait!!"

    "We''ve opened the door to the new era! We''ve created history! Hahahaha!"

    "We''re the best!! Hahaha!!"

    A string of thunderous cheers instantly rang out, and all of the emotions that had been repressed thus far were pouring out like a volcanic eruption!

    Lu Ban jumped up like a child before throwing his arms around Xu Chengyang, and the two of them mmed their fists into each other''s backs with all their might as if they were trying to kill each other! They simply didn''t know what to do with themselves, and theherfire in their eyes was burning like torches!

    "We did it, Old Man Lu! We lived up to everyone''s hopes and expectations!" Xu Chengyang yelled in a sobbing voice.

    Lu Ban was no moreposed than Xu Chengyang was, and he replied, "That''s right!! We are the first nation in the world to have discovered a new energy resource!! This research center is the most spectacr one in the world!!"

    Many of the other researchers and assistants were also celebrating with reckless abandon, while others had copsed to the ground and were yelling with all their might to express their joy and vent the countless frustrations they had suffered during the past three years.

    Ghosts didn''t have tears, but they were very much capable of feeling joy.

    For over 1,000 consecutive days, they had been confined in this pressure cooker, seeing the same people and doing the same things day after day after day...

    They had endured this hellish environment in the hope of reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, and now the light had finally appeared, and it was illuminating all of them from the inside and the outside.

    Qin Ye nodded with a myriad of emotions in his eyes as he silently departed from theboratory.

    Qian Dui was standing right at the entrance, and he immediately asked, "How did it go, Your Excellency?"

    "It was a sess!" Tears had welled up in Qin Ye''s eyes as he said in an emotional voice, "Let them do whatever they want. Once they''re finished here, give them a week''s holiday and bring the best recreation and cuisines possible to the Yin Mountains Research Center. They deserve the best that our nation has to offer."

    They had endured countless failures, confined in this undergroundboratory for over 1,000 days, all for the sake of finding a single Yin rune amid a vast sea of possibilities. No one had raised anyints, and out of all of the original researchers, not even a single one had backed out!

    With a team like this at its disposal, the Cathayan Underworld had a bright future ahead!

    "We hold the key to bing the premier powerhouse in the world in our hands!" He licked his own lips as he made his way back to his office.

    He walked instead of flying, and it was as if he wanted to see every single inch of this research center more clearly and firmly etch it into his own mind.

    "My scientists have worked so hard, I have to reciprocate them by working just as hard!" He gently skimmed his fingers along the wall and paid no heed to the bowing underworld emissaries around him as he fell into deep thought.

    He had to make sure that this new energy had the biggest impact on the world stage possible!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    After returning to his office, an image capture crystal containing footage from this experiment was quickly brought to him, allowing him to experience that monumental moment once again.

    Behind the reinforced ss window, a burst of light suddenly erupted before quickly being snuffed out again, but following the fading of the light, thepass rock at the very center had been transformed into voidsilver!

    A series of data had also been ced on his desk, and he didn''t understand any of it, but a researcher soon arrived in his office to exin all of the data to him in detail. After a long while, right as he was listening intently to the exnations being provided by the researcher, the sound of door-knocking suddenly rang out.

    Secretary Jiang made his way into the room with tightly furrowed brows. "Your Excellency, the five architects would like to see you."

    "Invite them in right away!" Qin Ye immediately instructed. "Didn''t I tell you that they cane and see me whenever they want?"

    Secretary Jiang seemed to be rather hesitant to speak, but in the end, he gritted his teeth as he said, "They received your order for them to take a rest, but they''ve refused..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the five architects had already made their way into the room. "Secretary Jiang is not to me, Yanluo Qin."

    The group was led by Lu Ban, followed by Zu Chongzhi, Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, and Deng Ruifeng. The five of them had already calmed down at this point, but there was still a residual gleam of excitement in their eyes.

    "Take a seat and have some tea," Qin Ye said with a smile, and the five architects didn''t refuse the offer. Even now, their chests were still heaving violently, and they had so much they wanted to say to Qin Ye, but none of them could muster up a single word.

    After a long silence, Lu Ban finally cupped his fist in a salute as he said in a trembling voice, "I''m d we lived up to what was expected of us."

    "I knew you would get the job done." Qin Ye made his way over to Lu Ban before holding onto his hands, then pulled the hands of the other architects together as well. "Perhaps the Cathayan Underworld struggled with physics and Yin runology in the past, but from now on, you are the world''s best physicists and Yin runologists!"

    During this research and development process, all of the researchers hade into contact with countless Yin runes!

    Not only were these scientists the pioneers of the new energy resource, they were also going to be the foundation for the Cathayan Underworld''s education industry!

    Following the conclusion of their research in several years, the education industry of the Cathayan Underworld would be fully established as well!

    "Your Excellency, this isn''t what we came here to talk about." Even now, Pang Hai''s voice was still trembling as he said with a serious expression, "We don''t need any rest! We want to begin the next stage of research and development right away! We''ve already discovered the electron and proton Yin runes, and ording to the model of Xu Fu''s energy resource, all we need to do is to find the final membrane, and the new energy resource will beplete! The door to the new era is already halfway open to us, and it''ll only take one more small push to get it fully open! We can''t rest at a time like this!"

 Chapter 1032: Beginnings of the Education Industry

    <h4>Chapter 1032: Beginnings of the Education Industry</h4>

    "Indeed, we can''t afford to rest on oururels now, Your Excellency!" Zu Chongzhi chimed in in an excited voice. "Scientific research is a very unpredictable thing, and if the Prometheus n also somehow stumbles upon the proton Yin rune, then we still won''t know what the final oue is going to be!"

    Qin Ye didn''t reply.

    In reality, he had been constantly monitoring the progress of the Prometheus n. During the past two years, they had also been progressing extremely quickly, having already extracted the electron Yin rune from voidsilver as well. However, ording tost month''s report, their research into proton Yin runes had only reached the fourthyer.

    Qin Ye could even guess the opposition''s thought process. The electron Yin rune was situated in the fifthyer, which would lead them to believe that the corresponding proton Yin rune would be in the sameyer or a nearby one. Thus, they were searching through the fifthyer.

    However, the proton Yin rune was in the fourthyer. Instead, it was in the third one.

    Upon failing to discover the proton Yin rune in the fifthyer, they would perhaps go to the fourthyer or the sixthyer.

    Even if their search went to the thirdyer, there was definitely no way that they would anticipate that this incredible energy stemmed from string theory!

    Particle theory was used when it came to the structure of matter in the mortal realm. Everything was made up of particles such as electrons and protons, but that wasn''t the case in string theory. ording to string theory, things like protons and electrons didn''t exist as particles. Instead, they existed in the form of strings or lines.

    All matter that existed in the form of strings would have a membrane on the outside.

    The electron Yin rune, Kui, and the proton Yin rune that had just been discovered, were enveloped within a membrane of immortal energy. If they hadn''t gleaned the final form of the new energy resource, there was no way that anyone would''ve thought that string theory would be proven in the underworld. Due to this factor alone, their victory was already virtuallypletely assured.

    Of course, this was the case in theory. Perhaps there was an extremely minuscule possibility that the new energy resource could be assembled in a different way.

    Countless thoughts were shing through Qin Ye''s mind, and he finally raised his head as he asked, "Are you sure? You''re not the only ones who need to be considered, the other researchers need rest as well."

    "There''s no need for that!" Xu Chengyang replied with a wide smile. "You don''t understand what makes us scientists tick, Your Excellency. If we find a worthwhile goal, we''re willing to even sacrifice our own lives for it! There''s no way anyone would be willing to take a break when we''re so close to reaching our final target! This will go down in history as one of the most monumental breakthroughs ever, and I''m willing to bet that everyone would fight for the right to continue working!"

    Qin Ye rose to his feet and slowly paced back and forth in the room as he asked, "What do you n to do next?"

    Lu Ban immediately replied, "The electron Yin rune and the proton Yin rune have already formed a perfect electric current. What we have to do next is examine the timing of its formation, as well as its sustainability and power. This is the final step! If the energy can remain in a stable form without dissipating after being stored in a generator for over 15 years, then we''ll be able to dere to the entire world that we''ve seeded! The Argosian Underworld and the western world have always led the rest of the world when ites to science, but the new energy resource that can be made avable for widespread usage will have arisen in the east!"

    Qin Ye''s breathing was beginning to elerate a little as he asked, "How much longer will that take?"

    "We''re not sure at the moment. If everything goes well, it could only be several months, but if progress is slow, then it could take one or two years."

    "Alright," Qin Ye finally decided. "But make sure to constantly monitor your own mental and psychological state! Yin spirits don''t get sick, but your mental state will directly affect your soul. If your soul fluctuates too violently, then I''ll have no choice but to send you to the six paths of reincarnation."

    "We''ll be sure to do so, Yanluo Qin!" The five architects didn''t look as if they had been toiling away for three whole years at all. Instead, it was as if they had just been injected with shots of stimnts!

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he waved a dismissive hand. "Go on, then. I''ll stay here with all of you until the very end."

    Thus, everyone departed, leaving Qin Ye to sit alone in his office. Instead of continuing to read through the documents on his desk, he picked up his teacup and sipped on some tea for half an hour before suddenly knocking on the desk.

    Secretary Jiang immediately appeared in a wraith-like manner.

    "Where are Qin Changxin and Li Lanzhi?" Qin Ye asked.

    "They already arrived an hour ago. Should I instruct them toe and see you?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and soon, Qin Changxin and Li Lanzhi made their way into the room together.

    A reminiscent look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he cast his gaze toward Li Lanzhi, the past mayor of Deadsend City. During the past decade or so, she had served various different roles, including administrativemissioner and governess, and in the end, she had risen all the way up the ranks to enter the ministry of education.

    "Greetings, Yanluo Qin." The current Li Lanzhi was far more steadfast than she had been during their first meeting in Deadsend City all those years ago. Her attitude was neither arrogant nor humble, and even in the presence of Qin Ye, she only extended a slight curtsey as a gesture of respect.

    She knew that Qin Ye valued capable subordinates far more than unnecessary formalities.

    The GDP of Deadsend City had been able to outstrip that of the newly established capital of Shanxi Province, Changan, and it was exactly because of this that she had been climbing so rapidly up the ranks to her current position.

    "Take a seat," Qin Ye said with an inviting hand gesture, and a servant immediately entered the room before offering everyone cups of tea. The door was gently closed, and only then did Qin Ye turn towards Qin Changxin as he asked, "How are things going in Everburn?"

    Qin Changxin was responsible for overseeing all matters in Everburn and Ashmound, which were currently the two most prosperous cities of the Cathayan Underworld. They were the spearheads of the national economy, and during the past few years, Qin Ye had only visited the cities once per quarter, so he had to enquire Qin Changxin for the specific details.

    "Everything has been going quite well," Qin Changxin replied. "Both cities have been serving their own purpose, and the positive effect they''ve had on the economy has been quite pronounced. Just like in the mortal realm, Ashmound''s capacity for economic development is clearly superior to that of Everburn due to its superior location. On top of that, urban clusters are beginning to take shape. The Cathayan Underworld is currently in a stage of rapid development, but at the moment, this rapid development only applies to these two cities. Once we remove the Array of the Nine Gods, the rate of development that our nation experiences will undergo another sharp rise."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before asking a seemingly unrted question, "What about theherworldly citizens? What role do they y on a microeconomic basis? I don''t want to hear a repeat of everything written in the quarterly reports you''ve submitted, I want to hear what you''ve seen and your thoughts based on those observations."

    Qin Changxin was silent for a moment before replying, "The contributions to the economy made by theherworldly citizens have mostlye in the recreation and catering industries. Most of the revenue is generated from all of the paid entry amusement parks and tourist attractions, and business in the catering industry is thriving at the moment. I think this is a result of theck of diversity in the forms of recreation avable at this point in time."

    This was not an issue that could be resolved in the short term.

    Qin Ye nodded in response before finally asking the true question that was on his mind. "In that case, if we offer them another avenue through which they can spend their money, do you think they''ll be able to afford it?"

    This question seemed to be quite an idiotic one as the answers had been clearly presented to him on the monthly and quarterly reports.

    ording to those reports, the answer was a resounding yes, but he still wanted to hear Qin Changxin''s opinion on this matter.

    "Of course!" Qin Changxin replied with a slightly surprised expression. "Not only that, I think this is a necessary step to take."

    "Oh?"

    "As time passes, more and more Yin spirits areing into our Cathayan Underworld. After another 30 to 40 years, the children and rtives of our currentherworldly citizens wille down to the underworld as well, and theck of consumer options we have for ourherworldly citizens will only continue to result in more and more dissatisfaction. Even during these past few years, modes of recreation such as Yin-beast-riding and opera have only just begun to emerge, but the future outlook is not very positive. We''ve thought about increasing new forms of expenditure and attracting some of the money currently being spent on recreation to those areas, but that''s going to be very difficult. If the new forms of expenditure won''t benefit Hell in any way, even if it can attract some of the money spent on the recreation industry, that won''t help to improve society in any way. I''ve considered establishing an insurance industry, but I decided against that in the end. Yin spirits are immune from illness, and they won''t die under normal circumstances, either, so there''s no way an insurance industry could survive. The idea with the brightest outlook that I can think of are mortal realm tours facilitated through temporary reincarnation, but the six paths of reincarnation are an extremely integral part of Hell, and seeing as you haven''t opened them up for usage, it''s clear that the time still isn''t right. As for other industries..."

    He heaved a faint sigh as he concluded, "I''m afraid I can''t think of much else."

    Qin Ye set down the teacup in his hand, then paused momentarily before analyzing, "The main issue here is ack of knowledge."

    He stood up, and with a casual flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp. He began to gently massage the beaded bracelet as he said, "Everything in the underworld is dependent on Yin runes. However, we have no one to teach ourherworldly citizens about Yin runes. If we don''t master Yin runes, then we won''t be able to establish supply chains, and we''ll have to resign ourselves to being a resource export nation on the world stage."

    He turned around to face Qin Changxin and Li Lanzhi as he continued, "Global economics is actually very simple to understand. To put it in rudimentary terms, there are three types of nations in this world, namely resource providing nations, resource processing nations, and technology export nations. In the mortal realm, Cathay is currently a resource processing nation, while Usonia is a technology exporting nation, thetter of which earns the most money. These three types of nations form a cycle of supply and demand to ensure that the world''s economy runs smoothly. However, in order to be a technology exporting nation in the underworld, we have to master Yin runes."

    Li Lanzhi heaved a faint sigh. "That''s not going to be an easy task. Yin runology is an extremelyplex field, and in our Cathayan Underworld, there are very few people well versed in the field of Yin runology. Our ministry of education may be called that, but we don''t even possess the knowledge to provide education to the masses..."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. Instead, he merely watched the two underworld emissaries in silence with a faint smile on his face.

    The two underworld emissaries looked back at him with puzzled expressions, but shortly thereafter, their eyes lit up in unison, and they almost sprang out of their seats as Li Lanzhi asked in an incredulous voice, "Could it be that you''re nning to establish the education industry? Is it time?"

    These two certainly weren''t idiots.

    Qin Ye''s previous questions had already allowed him to determine whetherherworldly citizens had leftover disposable ie, and it would naturally be ideal if this disposable ie could be used to reciprocate society.

    In the past, there weren''t any options to choose from, but one of the deputy ministers of education was present, and the education industry had been mentioned, so Qin Ye''s intentions were as clear as day!

    Education was essential to a prosperous society, and it would be the ideal area forherworldly citizens to spend their disposable ies on!

    "I see..." Qin Changxin drew a sharp breath as he asked, "Does this mean that the researchers of the Yin Mountains Research Center are about to produce the final product? After the conclusion of this project, this massive research center will have to be disbanded. After that, where will all of the scientists go?"

    Li Lanzhi immediately chimed in in an excited voice, "It''s not just the scientists! Everyone has already been working here for three years, and the project still isn''t over yet. By the time the conclusion of the project is reached, even the average researcher will be an expert in the context of the entire nation! They would be more than qualified to serve as lecturers and professors in an infantile education industry!"

    Once all of these scientists were disbanded and could contribute to the nation in other ways, the Cathayan Underworld''s education industry would have the skilled personnel it needed to seed!

    The excessive expenditure of disposable ie on recreation and catering would undoubtedly be transferred to the education industry!

    After all, there wasn''t a single Yin spirit who didn''t want to be more powerful!

    Qin Changxin was stunned into silence for a few seconds. He was stunned by just how brilliant this opportunity was, as well as Qin Ye''s perfect timing. After a long while, he suddenly cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Your Excellency! I... I don''t even know what to say! I can already envision the bright future that is awaiting our Cathayan Underworld."

    Qin Ye smiled as he said, "Gathered here, all of the scientists form a ball of fire, but when released, they''ll be the sparks required to light up the entire nation!"

 Chapter 1033: The Final Challenge (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1033: The Final Challenge (1)</h4>

    Silence.

    Qin Changxin nodded in acknowledgment of Qin Ye''s artful analogy, and Li Lanzhi also gave an appreciative smile in response.

    Everyone was happy aside from Qin Ye.

    Why are my subordinates always so slow when ites to things like this? Shouldn''t they be falling to their knees in reverence and eximing something like: "Such an apt and wonderful analogy has never been heard before! Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Your Excellency!"

    He couldn''t help but miss Su Daji and Qin Hui a little.

    All of the subordinates around him were too candid and forthright, perhaps it was time to teach them the art of boot-licking...

    Setting that train of thought aside, Qin Ye pursed his lips slightly in displeasure at theck of praise directed his way, then said, "What we have to do next is build a foundation, as well as choose locations for our universities and select subjects to be taught."

    A school couldn''t be built just like that. Subjects like art, architecture, and humanities were rtively easy to create curriculums for, but subjects like geography, biology, botany, physics, and Yin runology werepletely different from the mortal realm. Materials had to be gathered from all over the nation, and courses had to be carefully nned out. Even with the mortal realm acting as reference, the content being taught under these subjects had to be evaluated over and over again before they could actually be presented in the ssroom.

    "Hold a meeting at the ministry of education as soon as possible and present your ideas to me. I want to see aplete n within the next quarter!"

    "Yes!" Li Lanzhi stood up and extended an excited bow.

    This moment had finallye! The education industry was the foundation for a nation''s prosperity. From this day forth, they would actually have something to do in the ministry of education rather than just sit around and drink tea!

    She was even beginning to imagine the glorious future that awaited this department once countless primary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, and even universities appeared all over the nation!

    Qin Ye asked a few more questions before dismissing the two underworld emissaries, then turned toward the thick pile of documents sitting on his desk before falling into deep thought.

    If it weren''t for the fact that the conclusion was imminent in the development of the new energy resource, there was no way he would''ve begun establishing the education industry.

    He had been thinking about what to do with all of these scientists following the conclusion of the new energy resource''s development.

    Of course, they were definitely going to be rewarded, but what about after that? Were they just going to be sent home? That would be a massive waste!

    Furthermore, what was he supposed to do with this massive Yin Mountains Research Center?

    His initial n was to give them half a year of rest, then immediately begin conducting research into second-generation forbidden arts. However, that didn''t seem appropriate, either.

    The entire nation had been scoured on this asion, and even then, the number of scientists that had been gathered was still sorelycking. If they were to begin conducting research into second-generation forbidden arts, they would continue to be gued by the same problem of ack of skilled personnel. As such, it would be better to dy that project by a few decades. After all, the Array of the Nine Gods was still in ce anyway.

    Once the seeds of education sowed by these scientists grew into a massive forest, that would be the time to begin implementing all of the major nationwide research and development ns.

    Each and every one of these major research and development projects would be an opportunity for rapid growth for all of the scientists involved, and these scientists would be released all over the nation again to pass their knowledge onto others, thereby creating a positive self-reinforcing cycle. After two or three cycles of this, the Cathayan Underworld should be able to return to the same level it had been at back in Fengdu!

    "The education industry isn''t the only thing that needs to be focused on." Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he flicked through the documents on his desk, stopping at a document that bore the following line of text:

    "Predictions about the new energy resource and its rted industrial developments, as well as how the Cathayan Underworld can seize the initiative during the new energy resource boom."

    This document alone was around an inch thick.

    Predictions were made on the basis of an electricity-like energy resource, extending to all of the new industries that were about to appear in the Cathayan Underworld, of which there were hundreds!

    "Telmunication, media, movies, radio, electricity... The emergence of these industries will drastically raise the employment rate amongherworldly citizens and make this world far more diverse! Once the new energy resource ispleted and sufficient nning has been conducted, these industries will be implemented across the entire nation!"

    A hint of excitement was beginning to appear in his eyes, and the image of an antiquated city powered by electricity began to take shape in his mind.

    The dark underworld was finally about to wee the radiance of technology! Just this alone would be enough for his name to be engraved onto the stone que bearing the names of the most brilliant underworld rulers in history!

    "When that timees, the entire world is going to wee a technology boom on a massive scale, and the impoverished scientists will all be wealthy beyond their wildest dreams! I won''t be able topete with them in the area of patents. However..."

    A sly smile appeared on his face as he slowly opened the document, revealing a series of lines of text, such as "application for the establishment of the Golden Tripod Film Studio", "application for the establishment of the Harken Inte Media Corporation", and "application for the establishment of the Six Paths Computer Corporation".

    The general public was still unaware of the fact that the Cathayan Underworld was about to usher in a new era, and many of them didn''t even know that a new energy resource was being developed.

    However, all of the high-ranking government officials were already salivating at the future prospects. In the instant that the new energy resource waspleted, the first batch of film studios, television stations, and inte media corporations would flood into the global market under the name of the Cathayan Underworld!

    The more he saw, the more excited he became, and only after a long while did he finally close the document.

    "A new energy resource is about to be born... I can''t wait to see the entire Cathayan Underworld powered by this new energy resource!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the Haeundae Hotel of the Daehan Underworld, thergest and best hotel in the entire Daehan Underworld, there were over 100 people waiting in the lobby, and they were led by Franklin.

    He was holding a cigar in one hand as he sat on his chair in an absentminded manner, casting nces outside once every few seconds.

    "Don''t be so anxious, Benjamin." Volta was seated on another chair, and he said, "There''s no way the Cathayan Underworld would lie about something like this, and we''ve only been here for three hours."

    Despite what he was saying, he was also constantly casting his gaze toward the entrance, and theherfire in his eyes was slightly dim, a clear sign that he had been on-edge for quite some time.

    Benjamin offered no response.

    All of the scientists present had one of three different emblems emzoned on their chests. Any scientist worth their salt would immediately be able to identify these scientists as the core personnel of the three most renowned research centers in the entire world.

    Furthermore, virtually all scientists rted to electricity were also present.

    They had signed agreements with the Cathayan Underworld. Between three to five years, Euler''s Stone, Sirian, and Thaurissan were going to establish an agreement with the Cathayan Underworld''s advanced research center, and three years had already passed by.

    During this process, there had been some unsavory incidents, such as the Cathayan Underworld''s refusal to release data rted to the new energy resource, the farce of a press conference held at the Great Revtion Debate, and the sanctions that had almost been imposed upon the Cathayan Underworld during the energy resource conference, but in the years following the energy resource conference, not a single scientist had tried to rush the Cathayan Underworld again.

    They were all under the impression that there was still going to be at least a year until the Cathayan Underworld activated the research and development agreement, but they had suddenly received invitations from the Cathayan Underworld three days ago!

    The invitations had arrived so abruptly that all of the scientists had beenpletely caught off guard. However, they then immediately realized something, which was that the Cathayan Underworld had to have already made a groundbreaking development in its research into Yin runes!

    Otherwise, there was no way they would''ve allowed all of the scientists to get involved and examine the most foundational and most important data.

    On the other side of the world, the scientists of the Prometheus n were still hard at work, but everyone knew that this research and development war that had already raged for several years, this technological revolution that was going to usher in a new era, was most likely going to draw to a conclusion soon.

    Of course, they weren''t the only ones in the lobby.

    Aside from the three major research centers, the top scientists of the five Northern Europa nations'' royal academy had also been invited, and their group consisted of Vice-dean Emoven and the 12 other scientists from the academy, including the likes of James Clerk Maxwell, the father of electric power, Paul Dirac, the father of the electron, Joseph John Thomson, and Peter Goddard, who excelled in string theory.

    All of them were vastly renowned figures in the field of physics!

    They had already chosen to join forces with the Cathayan Underworld, and they were prepared to give everything they had toplete the final steps required to usher in the new era.

    Emoven had even brought a letter written by the death gods of all five of the Northern Europa nations, thanking the Cathayan Underworld for bestowing this opportunity upon them.

    However, Emoven''s attention wasn''t on this letter. Like all of the other scientists in the lobby, he was also staring at the entrance of the hotel in silence, waiting with anxious anticipation.

    What stage had the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development reached? Were they going to be allowed topletely participate in the research and development process?

    Finally, the door was opened right before everyone''s eager eyes, and Qian Dui made his way into the lobby before extending a slight bow. "Greetings, esteemed scientists, I am the director of the Cathayan Underworld''s department of homnd security. I''m going to deprive you of all of your senses using Yin energy and take you to the site where the new energy resource is being developed. If you''re opposed to that, you can still back out now."

    All of the scientists'' eyes immediately lit up at the mention of the new energy resource.

    How could any of them possibly back out with the opportunity to have their names go down in the history books dangling right in front of their very eyes?!

    "In that case, please pardon me."

    Qian Dui crushed the piece of Yin jade in his hand, and a burst of powerful Yin energy stored within the piece of Yin jade instantly engulfed the entire lobby. All of the scientists immediately lost their sense of hearing and sight, so they were unable to see the giant Yin energy vortex that had appeared in front of them before sucking them in one after another.

    The trip took 40 minutes toplete, and as the Yin energy was lifted, all of the scientists immediately drew a collective sharp breath.

    They were situated at the foot of a mountain, and facing them was a massive waterfall that was crashing down violently.

    At the foot of the waterfall were a series of mighty structures standing and forming an unbroken line.

    Franklin faltered slightly upon seeing this, then eximed in an incredulous voice, "Is this... a hydroelectric power station?!"

 Chapter 1034: The Final Challenge (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1034: The Final Challenge (2)</h4>

    The waterfall was crashing down with deafening force, sending watery mist spraying in all directions. All of the scientists standing in front of the waterfall werepletely rooted to the spot. Emoven adjusted her own sses as she looked on with an incredulous expression. She was an elegant middle-aged woman wearing a tight-fitting business suit, and at this moment, she felt as if something had gotten stuck in her throat, rendering her unable to speak.

    They had thought that upon finally getting to see the Cathayan Underworld''s research team after so many years, they would be extremely excited, but in reality, there was nothing but astonishment in their hearts.

    Have they already reached this step? Were they really telling the truth all along? Have they always been ahead of the rest of the world? Is this still the same Cathayan Underworld that we all know, the one that ranks deadst among the four pirs in both Yin runology and physics?

    All of the scientists were so astonished that they could feel their own ears ringing. However, the astonishment faded just as quickly as it had arisen because something had immediately urred to them.

    Did this mean that the development of the new energy resource was about to draw to a conclusion?

    In that case, the most difficult part of the project would''ve already passed by, and that would mean that they were only here to ensure their participation in the project!

    This was a moment in which their names could go down in history! With that in mind, all of the scientists'' breathing immediately began to elerate as they turned toward Qian Dui in unison.

    "Hold on." Right at this moment, Emoven''s puzzled voice rang out. "This hydroelectric power station doesn''t appear to have any electricity."

    "That''s correct," Qian Dui replied with a smile. "Someone will rify the situation with all of you soon. For now, pleasee with me."

    All of the scientists nodded in response before following Qian Dui as he made his way toward the hydroelectric power station.

    The hydroelectric power station didn''t have any electricity, and that indicated that the energy resource hadn''t beenpleted yet. However, why was there a hydroelectric power station to begin with?

    Hadn''t they only constructed this final testing site because the new electricity-like energy resource had already taken a massive step forward?

    With that in mind, they quickly made their way toward the hydroelectric power station, eager to see the truth.

    One door was opened after another, and they weren''t even in the mood to examine the research center. In fact, even the exnations being provided by the workers beside them were falling upon deaf ears as they followed along behind Qian Dui with single-minded focus,pletely ignoring everything else that they thought to be a distraction.

    All they wanted to see right now was the truth!

    As the final door was opened, their anticipation and excitement had already climbed to a peak. Right as the door was opened, a burst of blue radiance immediately washed over them.

    Deathly silence.

    All of the foreign scientists werepletely rooted to the spot as they stood at the entrance, looking ahead with dazed expressions. Inside the room, Zu Chongzhi and the other architects turned toward them with weing smiles.

    In the past, even though the Cathayan Underworld held King Yanluo''s Seal, it still wasn''t the center of the academic world.

    In the past, they had to go to other nations just to learn about physics and Yin runology.

    However, on this asion, they were the ones that everyone else had to learn from!

    If you''re all so good at what you do, why are you here sucking up to us? Why didn''t you invent the new energy resource yourselves?

    Of course, despite what they were thinking, they presented warm and amicable smiles as they greeted, "Wee to the Yin Mountains Research Center, everyone."

    No one offered a response.

    All of the scientists were looking beyond them with awe and wonder in their eyes.

    Right behind the architects, within a reinforced ssboratory, a massive ball of electricity was glowing with the radiance of 1,000 suns!

    This was far too familiar a scene to all of the foreign scientists.

    "My god..." Emoven''s handbag fell to the ground as she walked forward while trembling uncontrobly, like a devout follower meeting the god that she worshiped for the first time in the flesh.

    She reached out in a ck-jawed manner as the blue light washed over her, and only after a long, stunned silence was she able to muster up the words, "This is the new energy resource! An electricity-like energy resource really has appeared!"

    She wasn''t the only one stunned by what she was seeing, all of the scientists'' jaws had dropped to the ground at the sight of the radiant blue sun.

    Franklin was the most excited out of everyone, and only after a long while did he turn toward the smiling scientists of the Cathayan Underworld as he eximed, "I can''t believe you''ve already reached this step!"

    "This is incredible!"

    "To think that the new era, one ushered in by this new energy resource, would be brought into existence by the Cathayan Underworld!"

    "This research and development agreement is the most worthwhile agreement I''ve ever signed!"

    "I''m truly in disbelief... A few years ago, I was even considering entering the cycle of reincarnation, who would''ve thought that a new energy resource would arise so soon?"

    After what seemed like an eternity, the scientists finally managed to tear their eyes away from the ball of electricity. Amid the sound of heavy breathing, Franklin stepped forward and extended a respectful bow toward the five architects. He was beginning to choke up as he said in an emotional voice, "Thank you! Through your efforts, you have saved the entire field of physics!"

    All scientists knew just how significant this new energy resource was going to be to their future research and development.

    From this point onward, they would be able to pursue whatever projects they wanted, rather than having to ask Abyssal Prefects or Yama-Kings if they had to help them break down a Yin rune or item.

    From now on, all scientists would be able to conduct research in theirboratories independently without having to rely on any external assistance, and their patents were finally going to enjoy widespread usage!

    No longer did they need to worry about pleasing others and sucking up to the consortiums!

    With that in mind, all of them were excited beyond belief, and Emoven''s eyes had turnedpletely bloodshot as she asked in a frantic voice, "Where is all the rted data?! All of us swear on the Heavenly Dao that we won''t disclose any details to anyone else! From now on, please give us the most difficult duties toplete, the more difficult the better!"

    This was an opportunity for their names to go down in the history books, and even if they had to kneel down and beg, they were going to stay here at all costs!

    Never had Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban felt so satisfied before. In the past, the Cathayan Underworld had always been dwelling near the bottom of the pack when it came to all types of research and development conventions, and never did they think that such a glorious day woulde!

    It was impossible for Pang Hai, Xu Chengyang, and Deng Ruifeng to understand what they were feeling. This was an issue that had gued the Cathayan Underworld for thousands of years, and it had finally been ovee! If it weren''t for the fact that there were all these other scientists present, they would already be embracing one another in celebration!

    "We''ll give all of you copies of the rted data right away. At this point, there is only one final problem left to ovee."

    Lu Ban turned around and gently stroked his own beard as he stared directly into the ball of electricity. "We need to figure out how to fuse the electron Yin rune and the proton Yin rune together, so that they can be true particles and enter a stable state!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Another four months had passed by since the three major research centers were invited to join the Cathayan Underworld as per their agreement.

    During this time, the atmosphere in the Yin Mountains Research Center had reached a peak. This was the final charge down the home straight, and no one wanted to be left behind.

    Everyone was working as quickly as they could, and if anyone were found cking or dragging everyone else down, then they would be promptly dispatched and thrown off the wagon.

    Everyone''s sights were focused exclusively on the finish line, and they had no eyes for anything else.

    The new energy resource was going to form the core of the new era, and with itspletion imminent, other things were also beginning to be set into motion.

    "Yanluo Qin." Secretary Jiang''s voice rang out beside Qin Ye''s ears. "The panel of advisors and the department directors that you''ve called for have all arrived. Would you like to see them now?"

    Qin Ye opened his eyes.

    In front of him was a conference hall that was around 100 meters in size. It had been constructed in a refined and antiquated style with elegant screens dividing the hall up into sections to provide some privacy.

    A red carpet with golden edges and designs of mighty dragons and resplendent phoenixes embroidered onto its surface had beenid down onto the ground, and there was a giant, antiquated ptialntern hanging overhead, carrying countless pieces of Yin jade that were giving off a faint white light.

    At the center of the conference hall was a table that was over 10 meters in size, behind which was a row of chairs, all of which had been upied by underworld emissaries, while Qin Ye was upying the main seat.

    He didn''t have a habit of wasting time with unnecessary words, and after sweeping his gaze across all of the underworld emissaries present, he said, "All of you have a right to know that the development of our new energy resource has already reached the final step. A new era is about to arrive, and with the new energy resource in our hands, this is an opportunity the likes of which I daresay we''ve never had in the past. If I can''t make our Cathayan Underworld the leader of this new era..."

    A cold look appeared in his eyes as he concluded, "I won''t be able to forgive myself."

    He was sending a clear message here. Even as the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, he was cing immense pressure on himself. Under these circumstances, the panel of advisors had no right not to give it their all.

    No one replied, but the resolute looks on their faces were a sufficient show of their determination.

    For advisors like them, it was also an unprecedented opportunity to be able to take advantage of the arrival of a brand new era in the world.

    All of the underworld emissaries exchanged a nce with one another, and they could all see their own determination mirrored in one another''s eyes. Qin Ye continued, "During these past few months, we''ve already thought extensively about how much power we''ll be able to secure using the new energy resource as leverage. We''ve also considered the possible reactions of the three pirs and the rest of the world, as well as how we can deal with those reactions."

    He gently tapped a knuckle against the table, where a stack of documents that was around an inch in height was sitting like a nuclear bomb that was waiting to be detonated.

    "This is the biggest secret that our Cathayan Underworld currently has. Aside from us, no one knows what we''re going to do next. We''ve already considered all of the possible oues that we can think of, and from today onward, we''re going to begin taking stock of everything. We have to decide on which step to begin at, who we should target first, how we can emerge unscathed from the attacks of both the Hindustani Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld, which underworlds we should recruit to our side first... After thepletion of the new energy resource, this strictly confidential n will immediately begin to be prepared for implementation. I know that all of us have already worked without rest or sleep for four months and that you''re all very tired, but all that I ask is that you don''t rest until I do."

    All of the underworld emissaries'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and Qin Ye opened the document in front of him as he said in a calm voice, "We''ll begin with our Asia-Pacific strategy..."

    Right at this moment, the door was abruptly flung open, and Secretary Jiang rushed in while panting heavily. He paid no heed to everyone''s surprised reactions as he rushed over to Qin Ye before whispering into his ear, "Your Excellency, the architects and the representatives of the research team wish to see you."

    "What''s wrong?" Qin Ye asked.

    "The final experiment, with the codename of ''Genesis'', has failed. All I know is that the bottom of the simted hydroelectric power station has been punctured, but all of the scientists have already been rescued, and Mr. Qian is already taking care of the aftermath. During this process, the entire area surrounding the hydroelectric power station has been ced under lockdown!"

 Chapter 1035: The Final Challenge (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1035: The Final Challenge (3)</h4>

    Well done...

    Qin Ye wasn''t surprised at all to hear this. All experiments had a chance of failure, and he had already experienced far too many simr situations during the past four years.

    "Meeting adjourned," he dered as he rose to his feet in a calm manner. "Let me reiterate: no one is allowed to leave the Yin Mountains before the conclusion of the meeting! Secretary Jiang will notify all of you when the meeting is set to rmence."

    After that, he vanished into thin air as a gust of Yin wind.

    In the next instant, he had already appeared outside the Yin Mountains and was traveling directly toward the hydroelectric power station situated at the center of the Ul Shan basin in the Yin Mountain Range.

    He had put on a calm and rxed disy in the conference hall, but at this moment, he was flying at full speed with a grim look on his face, and after less than a minute, he had already arrived above the hydroelectric power station.

    Down below, the entire area had already been surrounded by Yin soldiers, and he vanished on the spot once again before reappearing in the undergroundboratory beneath the hydroelectric power station.

    He had guessed that none of the scientists would''ve left, and that was indeed the case. As he appeared in theboratory, he was greeted by a chaotic scene, as well as a giant crater in the ground that was close to 20 meter meters wide and over 20 meters deep.

    All of the architects were gathered around the crater, and Qian Dui was also present. Qin Ye immediately made his way toward them before asking, "What happened?"

    Qian Dui replied, "There was an explosion that wasn''t recorded, but ording to what I''ve managed to gather thus far, the explosion resulted from the first-ever attempt to generate electricity, and judging from the density of the Yin energy, the explosion would''ve taken ce right at the beginning of the experiment. However, ording to my observation, the morale of the architects and the foreign scientists doesn''t seem to have been dented at all."

    "Of course our morale hasn''t been damaged," Lu Ban immediately chimed in to their left as he stared intently into the giant crater. "We know that a brand new world lies up ahead, and we are merely passing over the most crooked steps on the staircase to the new world. What''s there to be sad or dejected about? No physicist or chemist is a stranger to failure."

    The underworld emissaries who were responsible for cleaning up the aftermath had already made their way into the room, but they received no attention from any of the scientists or architects. Emoven was in the process of discussing something with Xu Chengyang with her brows tightly furrowed, and Franklin was also locked in a heated discussion with Dirac. In the wake of the explosion, his hair had been blown up to resemble a bird''s nest, but it seemed as if he had already forgotten about the major explosion that had just taken ce less than an hour ago.

    Qin Ye walked ap around the crater, then made a subtle hand gesture toward the five architects. The architects immediately nodded in response, then issued an apology to the scientists who were speaking with them before following Qin Ye out of the room.

    The hydroelectric power station wasn''t veryrge, but it certainly wasn''t small, either, and it had everything that a hydroelectric power station should have. Qin Ye and the five architects were walking along the dam, which resembled a city wall, and Qin Ye finally asked, "What was the specific cause of the explosion?"

    Zu Chongzhi sighed, "I won''t bore you with the exact scientific principles involved, all you need to know is that basic underworld matter, at least the matter in the new energy resource that we can currently analyze, is in string form rather than particle form. The only theory from the mortal realm that corresponds with this is string theory, and in string theory, matter is arranged in threads before being interwoven into strings, and that is the basic gist of string theory. However, in order for matter to exist in this form, there must be a membrane enveloping it on the outside."

    He paused momentarily before continuing in a sullen voice, "This membrane is also a type of Yin rune, and during the past four months, we''ve searched through all of the Yin runes that have disyed reactions with the electron Yin rune and the proton Yin rune. The one that we just tested was the Yin rune that disyed the strongest reaction, but unfortunately, we still failed. At the moment, we''re unable to find any Yin rune that can bring string theory into reality."

    Qin Ye turned toward Zu Chongzhi with a slightly surprised expression.

    This essentially meant that the experiment hade to a grinding halt. The gates of the new era were standing right in front of them, yet the final step of the staircase leading to the gates was missing. However, Zu Chongzhi and the others didn''t seem to be all that surprised by this oue.

    "So what do we do now?" Qin Ye asked.

    Lu Ban swept a cautious gaze through their surroundings, then replied in a low voice, "To be honest, we''ve had a theory ever since the beginning of the experimentation stage. However, the theory can only be tested in the final step. That appears to be our only choice right now, but only you can decide whether we actually pursue it."

    "I''m listening."

    Lu Ban took a deep breath before continuing, "Since the six paths of reincarnation broke down Xu Fu''s energy resource into threeponents, we''ve already managed to find a substitute for tourmaline of the mortal realm. However, in order to create this brand new type of electricity-like energy string, the only possible source from which we can secure a suitable membrane would be..."

    His voice trailed off there as he pointed directly upward.

    He was referring to Heaven!

    A sh of enlightenment appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes, and he quickly fell into deep thought.

    This appeared to be a very simple issue to resolve, but it was connected to a vital problem.

    He needed an energy resource that could be made readily avable to the entire world, not an extremely precious resource that could only be used on a niche basis at best.

    If the energy resource couldn''t be made readily avable, then there would be no way to bring about a new industrial revolution, and the impact of this imminent new era was also going to be significantly lessened.

    However, in order for the new energy resource to be made readily avable, the production cost had to be cheap, and it had to only incorporate materials that were also readily avable.

    Relying on Heaven was a temporary solution, but there was no way it would be sustainable over the long run.

    Under these circumstances, would the Cathayan Underworld be able to be the world''s electric generator as they had nned?

    "Is there no other way?" he asked in a grim voice.

    The five architects shook their heads in unison, and Xu Chengyang replied, "Perhaps there is. After all, we still haven''t searched through the Yin runes in the first and secondyers. However, there is an extremely vast number of foundational Yin runes, and it would take another three to four years to search through all of them. Don''t forget that the Prometheus n is nipping at our heels, and three to four years is already enough time for many unforeseen circumstances to arise!"

    Silence.

    Several secondster, Qin Ye nodded in response. "Alright, I''m aware of the situation now. I''ll enquire Ksitigarbha about this right away, and I''lle back to you with an answer within a day."

    After bidding farewell to the scientists, Qin Ye instantly vanished on the spot, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing on arge altar.

    This was an altar constructed from bluestone, and it resembled the Temple of Heaven in the mortal realm with rows of banisters etched with engravings of the Harken and the Aurogon situated all around the altar, while a pristine white lotus flower sat at the very center.

    This was where Ksitigarbha was situated!

    The gates of Heaven had opened long ago, but there had been no divine descent. At the moment, Hell was far too busy to deal with Heaven, so upon discovering that he was unable to actively summon Ksitigarbha, nor was he able to directly contact Heaven, Qin Ye had nted this lotus flower here and essentially forgotten all about it.

    This ce was still part of the Yin Mountain Range, and it wasn''t far away from the Yin Mountains Research Center. He felt like had already done Ksitigarbha a great service by building an altar for him that resembled the Temple of Heaven of the mortal realm.

    "I didn''t think that I would have to bother him again after all," Qin Ye murmured to himself with a self-derisive smile before extending his consciousness toward the lotus flower.

    Yin energy surged in waves from all directions, and in the blink of an eye, an inky-ck vortex had taken shape around the altar. Even in the midst of Yama-King level Yin energy, the lotus flower still managed to remainpletely untouched and untarnished, and not even a single one of its petals had been blown off.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes, and at this point, his consciousness had already entered a murky realm that was very difficult to describe. It was as if it had pierced through the atmosphere and reached what was further beyond.

    However, all of a sudden, he reopened his eyes with a surprised expression.

    His consciousness had been cut off, which meant that Ksitigarbha had rejected his call!

    "Could it be something''s happened in Heaven?" he murmured to himself with tightly furrowed brows. "That shouldn''t be the case. If something were to happen in Heaven, the bnce of the three realms would be disrupted, and the second King Yanluo would definitely inform me of that somehow. Even if he''s unable to send a message to me for some reason, the Harken and Brother Zhao would inform me of such a thing, yet neither of them have said anything."

    In that case, it was most likely the case that nothing had happened in Heaven, and Ksitigarbha simply didn''t want to speak to him.

    Upon making this realization, Qin Ye was immediately struck by a sense of awkwardness. Then again, this made sense. Ksitigarbha had gone out of his way to arrive in the underworld to see him and ask if there was anything he could help Qin Ye with, only to be immediately abandoned on thispletely deserted za in the middle of nowhere.

    It was indeed a well-constructed ce, but that still didn''t change the fact that Ksitigarbha had been abandoned here without anypany for several years!

    Couldn''t Qin Ye have at least paid semi-regr visits to this ce? How was anyone supposed to harbor friendly feelings towards him after what he had done?

    Qin Ye was suddenly struck by the feeling that if he were in Ksitigarbha''s shoes, he would also want to ignore himself.

    "How could you do this?" He pped himself on the back of the hand in a reprimanding gesture before stroking his own chin as he began to slowly circle around the lotus flower.

    How could he get through to Ksitigarbha? Could he still make up for this by watering and fertilizing the lotus flower every day?

    At the very least, he would have to repent for several months, and he certainly didn''t have that much time on his hands. Qin Ye had never been one to stick to the straight and narrow, and his hand was already creeping toward the sash around his own waist.

    You made me do this! I didn''t want to have to do this!

    Right as he gently lifted up the hem of his dragon robe and was about to pull out his water gun to squirt the lotus flower in the face, the lotus flower suddenly swayed slightly before going into full bloom.

    At the center of the flower was a sympathetic human face, but at this moment, it wore a cold expression.

    An extremely awkward atmosphere immediately settled over the entire scene.

    Qin Ye surreptitiously released the hem of his dragon robe as he cleared his throat and greeted, "Lord Ksitigarbha."

    A cold smile appeared on the human face as it said, "I must say, out of all of the past King Yanluos, you are the only one who has ever thought about defiling a god and was actually prepared to do it."

    "... It''s not that serious, I was just trying to... apply some organic fertilizer... I haven''t seen you in a few years and I really missed you."

    "You missed me so much that you wanted to take off your pants?"

    "... I mean, if you want, I can take off the rest of my clothes as well..."

    Motherfucker!

    Ksitigarbha had already witnessed just how shameless the new King Yanluo was from up in Heaven, but he had thought that after undertaking the role of King Yanluo, Qin Ye''s status would''ve naturally erased the negative facets of his personality, but some things were simply impossible to erase. Shamelessness was carved into Qin Ye''s DNA, and there was simply no getting rid of it!

    The human face repressed its fury as it said in a cold voice, "It''s a rare asion when the esteemed Yanluo Qin thinks of me. To what do I owe this great honor?"

    These words were clearly meant to be an insult, and they carried the anger and indignation that had been building up in Ksitigarbha''s heart for the past few years.

    However, Qin Ye''s shamelessness was not to be underestimated, and these verbal attacks werepletely ineffective on him. If Ksitigarbha was under the opinion that this would be enough to awaken Qin Ye''s sense of conscience and make him have second thoughts about stating his request, then he was dead wrong!

    Qin Ye rubbed his hands together and said, "Well, I obviously came to you because I have a request for you. After all, we''re not that familiar with one another, so why would Ie to find you for nothing? Hey, don''t go! Don''t close your petals! Why are you so petty?! Oi, I''m warning you! If you don''t open your petals right now, then you''re going to get a spray! I''ve got diabetes, I''m telling you! My piss will kill this flower if you''re not careful!"

 Chapter 1036: The Gate to the New Era (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1036: The Gate to the New Era (1)</h4>

    Thus, in this wilderness in the middle of nowhere, the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo and a flower engaged in extensive negotiations, which concluded in an impasse.

    Ksitigarbha discovered that this shameless piece of shit really was capable of taking a piss on the flower, while Qin Ye discovered that he hadn''t drunk evenou water beforeing here...

    "Let''s stop attacking each other like this. We''rerades fighting in the same trench, and I really do have an urgent request for you. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be bothering you at a time like this."

    Ksitigarbha''s face resembled that of the sunflower in nts Vs Zombies, and he finally nodded in response. He was also aware that Qin Ye was telling the truth.

    The development of the new energy resource had sapped away the time and energy of all of Hell''s high-ranking officials, so there really was no spare capacity for them to address the opening of the gates of Heaven. However, he was still furious at the fact that he had been shunned and ignored like this.

    His good intentions had fallen upon a cold and heartless subject, and for this, his peers in Heaven had ridiculed him for years! Now that Qin Ye was finally here to see him, he naturally had to get Qin Ye back for this.

    However, in the face of truly important matters, these trivial squabbles had to be set aside.

    "Are you ready?" Ksitigarbha asked before heaving a forlorn sigh. "Never has there been such a low-key opening of the gates of Heaven before..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a pir of golden light erupted straight into the heavens from the center of the lotus flower before plunging into the dense clouds of the underworld. Immediately thereafter, the inky-ck clouds began to rapidly revolve as if they were being churned and stirred, forming a Yin energy vortex that was hundreds of meters in radius.

    Inside the vortex, the golden light fanned out silently, forming a light screen that was several dozen meters wide. The screen depicted one antiquated Cathayan-style building after another, all of which were hovering among the clouds like abodes for the gods. Streaks of light were dancing near these heavenly abodes like fireflies flying around a fire on a summer''s night, further contributing a sense of mystique and majesty to this already awe-inspiring scene.

    "Is this Heaven?" Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he took a closer look, and he discovered that those streaks of light were flying carriages, some of which were drawn by azure birds, while others were drawn by qilins, resembling asteroid belts revolving arounds.

    These heavenly abodes weren''t the only things depicted on the light screens, there were also trees that extended up into the heavens through the sea of clouds. The trees were riddled with vines and burls, and a series of vibrant vermillion birds were perched upon them. Colorful auspicious clouds were drifting around the trees, and it was impossible to tell their age. Under the light of the sun, the canopies of these giant trees, the sea of clouds, and the heavenly abodes created such a beautiful sight to behold that it scarcely seemed real.

    There were also mountains hovering above the clouds, some of which were situated around the heavenly abodes. asionally, a giant beast would rise up, scattering the clouds around it, and only then would one realize that these mountains were being carried on the backs of these giant beasts.

    "It''s so beautiful," Qin Ye couldn''t help but remark.

    A faint smile appeared on Ksitigarbha''s face as he replied, "Of course. After all, this is the final home to all gods."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the golden light screen abruptly converged toward the center, and several dozen figures scattered themselves onto the earth like a cluster of stars.

    At the very center of the group was a man wearing a monk robe.

    It was impossible to tell his age. If you were to call him young, he had a pair of eyes that seemed to have witnessed the entire passage of history, and they simply didn''t belong on a young man. However, if you were to call him old, there wasn''t a single wrinkle on his face, and his back wasn''t hunched over in the slightest, so there didn''t seem to be anything elderly or wizened about him.

    He was wearing an extremely ordinary yellow monk robe, and he joined his palms together with a faint smile. A nine-ringed monk staff was resting at the bend of one of his arms, and a rootless lotus flower was in a process of constantly withering away before blooming again beneath his feet. Behind his head was an indistinct golden wheel of light, and he looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes as he said, "I hope that you''ve been well, Yanluo Qin?"

    It was Ksitigarbha!

    Qin Ye had thought that there would be countless things that he wanted to say when he finally had the chance to meet one of the former rulers of Hell, but in the presence of Ksitigarbha, he suddenly discovered that nothing needed to be said, nor did he want to say anything.

    "Likewise," he replied with a smile as he also joined his own palms together.

    From obtaining the fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal in Clear Creek County, to being pursued by Dong Zhuo''s Assassins of the Underworld, to entering the Special Investigations Department, to the battles of Tsushima, Daehan, Alkebn... He had endured countless hardships and tribtions to reach his current position.

    Whether he had been willing to ept the fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal or not, all of the people that had featured in his life, all of the people and things that he had been attached to in the past... In the wake of aplete change in his mental stage, were those things really still important?

    At the very least, he had already grown ustomed to and was enjoying this lifestyle.

    Right at this moment, the dozens of heavenly soldiers behind Ksitigarbha fell to one knee in unison as they said in a respectful manner, "We pay our respects to the ruler of Hell!"

    Only then did Qin Ye cast his gaze toward them. "No need for formalities."

    All of them were wearing antiquated attire that had clearly been carefully selected. They were all handsome individuals wearing tight-fitting white robes, upon which were embroidered intricate designs depicting flowers or birds. On their heads were white jade crowns with a golden hairpin to keep their hair in ce, and just like Ksitigarbha, all of them were giving off faint wisps of immortal energy.

    Furthermore, they were all at the Soul Hunter level!

    "This is quite a grand wee," Qin Ye said as he turned back toward Ksitigarbha. "Should we take a walk?"

    It was clear that they wanted to speak to one another, and all of the heavenly soldiers immediately took that as their cue to leave. Thus, all of them dispersed into the surrounding area, and not a single one of them approached the altar. The two Yama-Kings casually strolled along for a while before Qin Ye finally broke the silence. "I was thinking about something just now. Back on Kunlun Mountain, you said that the powers of Heaven and Hell stem from the same source, and that the only difference lies in the form of expression."

    Ksitigarbha nodded in response. "The Aurogon asked me to ry that message to you. Is there something wrong?"

    "We''ve encountered a bottleneck in our research, and we''re currently facing a dilemma," Qin Ye replied with furrowed brows.

    A serious look appeared on his face as he turned toward Ksitigarbha before asking, "Do you know of string theory?"

    "I''ve heard of it."

    "The basic form in which matter in the underworld is constructed is based on string theory. As I''m sure you''re already aware, what our Cathayan Underworld is currently developing is something that will have an unimaginably massive impact on the entire world, it''s something that will usher in a new era! We''re already standing in front of the gate leading to the new era, but there are no more steps ahead of us."

    KKsitigarbha nodded in response. He knew how it felt for something to be so close, yet so far away at the same time.

    "We have one final theory, and if that theory doesn''t work, then we''ll most likely have to extend the duration of our research by at least two years, even up to three to five years. However..."

    "It''s very unpredictable," Ksitigarbhapleted his sentence for him with a faint sigh.

    Qin Ye nodded as he continued, "Our final choice is to use immortal energy to form the required membrane just as Xu Fu did in the past. As such, I have two questions that I hope you can answer. Firstly, how do you exin the statement that the powers of Heaven and Hell stem from the same source?"

    Ksitigarbha thought about this for a few seconds before replying, "It means exactly what it says. Firstly, you have to know that the mortal realm was the first realm toe into existence, and Heaven and Hell only emerged after it. The mortal realm may be the weakest of the three realms, but it''s the foundation of both Heaven and Hell. Seeing as the mortal realm is the first realm to exist, it was also the first ce where the power system was developed. ''Power'' is nothing more than a way to gather and use the surrounding particles or strings. Of course, I''m not an expert in this field, but I''m sure you can understand what I''m saying."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and Ksitigarbha continued, "Hence, the powers of Heaven and Hell are both essentially different ways to use true energy. With true energy as the basis, if you go up infinitely high, then you''ll have immortal energy, and if you go down infinitely low, then you''ll have Yin energy. However, if true energy, immortal energy, and Yin energy are to be viewed as three lines, then they were all the same line initially, and they only split up into three separate thingster on. This is what I mean when I say that they stem from the same source, do you understand what I''m saying?"

    It was clear that Ksitigarbha wasn''t well versed with scientific vocabry, but he was sufficiently familiar with Yin energy, so this was an exnation that could be understood.

    "It''s said that if one can return Yin energy, true energy, and immortal energy to their initial origin point, then they would attain a type of power known as chaos, and throughout all of history, only a single person in the three realms have mastered this type of power."

    "You mean the second King Yanluo?" Qin Ye asked with a stunned expression.

    Ksitigarbha nodded in confirmation with a faint smile. "Those who attain this type of power are said to have gone beyond the Yama-King level. However, the second King Yanluo has clearly traveled extremely far down this path and reached an even higher level than that."

    Qin Ye was just about to nod in response when a thought suddenly urred to him.

    He was already well aware of just how overpowered the second King Yanluo was.

    What exactly could be lurking behind the world''s gate in Australis that would require even someone like him to guard?

    This was something that had triggered the unrest on the new continent, released a grand script of death into the world, and had to be guarded by the second King Yanluo in person...

    Not only that, even the three saints had to be there as well!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be considering that. After taking a moment to arrange his own thoughts, he asked, "Are you saying that if we use immortal energy as a membrane, the new energy resource won''t be affected?"

    "Theoretically speaking, that should definitely be the case," Ksitigarbha replied in a confident manner.

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief upon hearing this.

    Now, all they needed was to test whether the failed Genesis experiment would be a sess with the inclusion of this membrane.

    The failure of an experiment could be caused by several different factors, and even though they didn''t know the final answer yet, at the very least, they were on the right track!

    Qin Ye forcibly repressed the urge to return to theboratory right away as he asked, "What about the costs? If this works, then this will be the model for the new energy resource. In order to create the new energy resource, immortal energy will have to be used. How much will that cost?"

    Ksitigarbha''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and only after pondering the question for a long time did he reply, "The three realms are said to be unable to interact with one another, but in reality, they have always been tied together throughout the course of history. Do you know where immortal energyes from?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    Ksitigarbha continued, "As the gates of Heaven were opened, I''m sure you saw the sea of clouds up above. That sea of clouds has a name, it''s known as the heavenly river! Ites from the creation-grade divine artifact of Heaven, the Fortune Jade te, and its ability is the same as that of King Yanluo''s Seal in that the Fortune Jade te attracts the heavenly river, while the heavenly river attracts immortal energy. Essentially, if you want to use immortal energy, then you''ll have to permanently station a massive amount of manpower in Heaven and also preparerge batches of immortal energy storage equipment."

    Qin Ye''s heart sank slightly upon hearing this.

    This was what he was most afraid of. There was no way that they could handle the costs involved in this n!

    The new energy resource was only a stepping stone, the main objective that Qin Ye wanted to achieve was to propel the dragon jade to international supremacy using a new energy resource that could be distributed to the entire world.

    It was a spear, but the spear wasn''t worthy of fear, it was the soldier holding the spear!

    ording to what Ksitigarbha had just described, the costs involved would be so high that the new energy resource would only be able to satisfy domestic demand at the very most, which meant that there was no way it could be released to the entire world. In that case, what was the point in working so hard for it? All of the political maneuvers that Qin Ye had prepared were going to fail anyway!

    "However..." Right at this moment, Ksitigarbha''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he said, "Perhaps there''s another way."

    Can you not finish what you''re saying in one go?!

    Qin Ye red at Ksitigarbha and was struck by the urge to take a piss on him!

    After a long pause, Ksitigarbha finally continued, "I''ll tell you about itter. All you need to know is that the entirety of the heavenly riveres from the heavenly waterfall, which is the ce where immortal energy is most abundant and most rich. Coincidentally, the heavenly soldiers that havee here on this asion..."

    A slightly awkward look appeared on his face as his voice trailed off before he cleared his throat. "You''ll know when the timees. That may be a usible path for you to pursue."

    All of a sudden, a contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he looked up at the sky.

    Ksitigarbha was rather perplexed by the sudden change in Qin Ye''s demeanor, and after a long while, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Do you remember the other message that the Aurogon asked you to ry to me during our meeting on Kunlun Mountain?"

    Before Ksitigarbha had a chance to reply, he answered his own question. "The message was ''go against the flow''! You just mentioned a heavenly waterfall, right?"

    Ksitigarbha slightly upon hearing this, and several secondster, his eyes lit with enlightenment as he also looked up at the sky. "I see! The foresight of the Aurogon is truly incredible!"

 Chapter 1037: The Gate to the New Era (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1037: The Gate to the New Era (2)</h4>

    Neither of the Yama-Kings immediately said anything, but both of them had thought of many things.

    After a long while, Qin Ye finally asked, "Did the image that the Aurogon see involve me extracting immortal energy directly from the heavenly waterfall? Wouldn''t that result in even higher costs? If the Aurogon was able to foresee this, then there''s no reason why it wouldn''t be aware of our true objective."

    The ultimate goal was to use the new energy resource to establish dragon jade supremacy, as well as all of the new industries that would be powered by the energy resource, thereby allowing the Cathayan Underworld to dominate the entire global market. Once dragon jade supremacy was established, the Cathayan Underworld''s rise would be unstoppable!

    Ksitigarbha didn''t answer Qin Ye''s questions. Instead, he swept his gaze over the heavenly soldiers in the sky before asking, "Do you know who they are?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    Ksitigarbha lowered his head as a faint smile appeared on his face. "I finally understand what the Aurogon was talking about now. This is not an infeasible n, but it''ll have to wait. The top priority right now is to test whether immortal energy can act as the membrane of the new energy resource! Where is theboratory? Take me there!"

    Qin Ye naturally wasn''t going to refuse. This was the final step topleting the new energy resource, and if that step could bepleted here, then the rise of the Cathayan Underworld would be all but assured!

    Thus, the two Yama-Kings immediately traveled to theboratory. Qin Ye had only left not long ago, so theboratory still hadn''t been cleaned up, nor had it been repaired yet. Of course, none of the scientists had left, and they were still locked in heated discussions.

    Thus, no one noticed the arrival of the two Yama-Kings, and in the end, Qin Ye had to clear his throat a few times to grab their attention.

    Right as everyone''s gaze fell upon Ksitigarbha, all of the scientists drew a sharp breath, and a wave of emotions immediately swept over Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban. "Did... Didn''t you..."

    Ksitigarbha shook his head with a faint smile as he swept a cid gaze across all of the scientists present. "Long time no see, everyone."

    This was Ksitigarbha, one of the past rulers of the Cathayan Underworld!

    All of the scientists immediately set their discussions aside before extending a respectful bow in unison. "Lord Ksitigarbha."

    "This isn''t the time for sentimental reunions." Qin Ye snapped his fingers urgently, and the servants who were in the process of cleaning up theboratory were instantly whisked away like paper cranes, immediately following which the door mmed shut.

    A serious atmosphere descended over the entire room, and all of the scientists seemed to have sensed something as they turned toward Qin Ye in unison.

    Qin Ye wasted no time and cut straight to the chase. "During the initial stages of our research, we managed to break the new energy resource down into threeponents. Do you still remember that?"

    Was their n feasible? All they needed was an answer to that question.

    Either theypletely pushed open the gate to the new era or returned to the drawing board to devise new strategies.

    In any case, Qin Ye didn''t want to wait any longer.

    Before any of the scientists had a chance to reply, he continued, "Through those threeponents, we ascertained that the new energy resource is based on string theory. The explosion that just took ce was most likely a result of an inability to contain the released energy of the new energy resource. You haven''t found a suitable membrane, which is why you haven''t been able to contain the new energy resource, isn''t that right?"

    String theory?!

    All of the foreign scientists immediately turned to look at the Cathayan Underworld''s scientists with stunned expressions.

    This was the core of the entire new energy resource n, the part that they hadn''t been able toe into contact with. The Cathayan Underworld''s scientists had never told them about the supporting theory behind the new energy resource, and only now did they discover that it was string theory instead of particle theory!

    This was apletely different theory on the fundamental makeup of all matter in the world!

    This piece of news was like a bombshell that left them reeling, and they wanted to say something, but werepletely unable to. Their throats had runpletely dry, and they were staring intently at Qin Ye, unwilling to look away even for a single instant.

    Everyone realized that the fact that Qin Ye was disclosing this piece of knowledge to everyone now was an indication that he wanted toplete this new energy resource right away!

    This thought surged through everyone''s bodies like an electric current. Major scientific developments often arose at the most unexpected of times, and if they could seed here, then they were going to be the witnesses of the new era''s arrival!

    "Are we doing this right now? But... I haven''t had a chance to mentally prepare myself at all!" Franklin''s hands were trembling so violently that it looked as if he were suffering from spasms, and he was gasping for air like a fish out of water.

    Right before everyone''s expectant eyes, Qin Ye instructed, "Activate the machinery!"

    The electric generator hadn''t been destroyed during the explosion, and tremors immediately ran through the entire hall at his behest.

    All of the foreign scientists gathered in theboratory were very proud and dignified characters under normal circumstances, but they had no thoughts of refusing at all as they all gathered in front of a control panel.

    Volta took a deep breath before pressing the switch with a trembling finger. In the face of an important experiment, all scientists would inevitably be struck by nerves and anxiety.

    Even though the entire world had gone silent, themotion in their own hearts was so loud that they couldn''t hear anything else, and all of them were staring intently at Qin Ye, waiting for further instructions.

    Qin Ye was standing at the center of theboratory, right next to the massive crater in the ground, and after exchanging a nce with Ksitigarbha, he raised a hand high up into the air.

    "Recreate the Genesis experiment."

    His voice was very quiet, but it echoed like the strike of a gong throughout the entireboratory, and his instruction was very short and concise, but it was alsopletely imcable. "Three."

    Volta could feel chills running down his own spine as his trembling finger hovered above the button.

    "Two."

    All of the scientists were biting down on their own lower lips, while theherfire in their eyes had sprung up to three meters in height.

    "One! Begin the experiment!"

    With the fall of Qin Ye''s hand, all of the buttons were pressed at the same time, and a series of golden Yin runes instantly lit up behind the slightly cracked panel of reinforced ss.

    The Yin runes quickly multiplied in number and became brighter and brighter, forming a river of dazzling golden light!

    Within the radiant golden river, two particrlyplex Yin runes slowly arose before approaching one another like the sun and the moon. As they drew closer and closer to each other, the first sparks finally appeared on their surfaces.

    Zap...

    It was like the first me that had arisen from the first human who had decided that it was a good idea to rub two sticks together for an extended period of time.

    All of the scientists present had already witnessed this scene countless times, yet they had never been as nervous as they were now as they stared intently at the two Yin runes.

    The sound of zapping electricity grew louder and louder, and two Yin runes had already transitioned from a golden color into bright blue and silver. Arcs of electricity were quickly flying in all directions, rapidly filling the entirety of the Yin runes.

    Now!

    Qin Ye nodded at Ksitigarbha, and Ksitigarbha immediately joined his palms together, following which a ring of pristine white immortal energy erupted forth in all directions!

    It was as if a gust of fierce wind had swept through theboratory, and all of the scientists frantically shielded their own faces as their clothes pped violently around them. However, no one wanted to miss this potentially monumental scene, and they were all staring intently at the panel of reinforced ss from the gaps between their arms and fingers.

    "Is this immortal energy?" Lu Ban murmured to himself in a slightly hoarse voice. Just now, he had been struck by a sensation that he had never felt before.

    Was this going to work?

    This was the final step that they had envisioned. If they couldn''tplete it, then they would have to take at least several more years to find a suitable membrane from the countless Yin runes in the first and secondyers.

    However, if they could seed here, then he wouldn''t have any regrets even if he were to disintegrate amid this burst of dazzling light!

    Right in front of everyone''s expectant eyes, the white immortal energy surged over to the panel of reinforced ss, then passed through it as if it didn''t even exist.

    Time seemed to havepletely fallen still in this instant.

    Emoven had pped her hands over her own mouth, while Franklin was looking on with tightly clenched fists, and all of the other scientists had already put down their trembling arms as they leaned forward involuntarily, staring intently at the gate leading to the future standing right ahead of them.

    Would the gate be flung open or swing shut firmly in their faces?

    Five secondster, a burst of bright blue light filled the entire room.

    "My god..." Emoven''s hands were still sped over her own mouth as she walked forward in a mechanical manner. Beside her, Volta raised his head to look beyond the panel of reinforced ss in a ck-jawed manner.

    Furthermore, Thomson''s mouth gaped open, and he swayed unsteadily before his legs gave out under him, sending him tumbling to the ground. Dirac was shaking his head in awe and disbelief as he also looked on with incredulity in his eyes.

    All of the people in theboratory, including Qin Ye and Ksitigarbha, were basked under the glorious blue light.

    Right in front of them, the pure white immortal energy had draped itself over the two Yin runes like a thin veil.

    The two Yin runes had been extremely vtile just a moment ago, yet now, they were beginning to slowly fuse as one!

    The electric currents were no longer violent, and it was as if a pure white veil of moonlight had settled over a calm and cid sea, presenting an indescribably beautiful sight to behold.

    Deathly silence.

    After a long while, Zu Chongzhi finally broke the silence in a dazed manner. "Did we seed?"

    "I think so..." Lu Ban replied in a ck-jawed manner as he stared intently at the pair of fusing Yin runes. "This is string fusion!"

    His voice was growing louder and louder as he yelled with excitement, "It''s taken less than a minute for them to form electricity-like energy strings! We did it! We really did it!!"

    "Wait!!" Franklin was screeching like a banshee as he wed at his own scalp while theherfire in his eyes were burning like torches. "Test its wattage!! We have to make sure that it''s not going to dissipate! Who''s recording the statistics from the experiment?!"

    All of the scientists exchanged a few astonished nces before instantly rushing over to the control panels, following which a series of voices that were filled with irrepressible excitement immediately rang out.

    "My god, I struggle to fathom even divine deities creating anything more perfect than this!" Volta yelled. "There''s no energy escapage at all! It''s perfect!"

    Emoven looked as if she were about to go insane as she yelled, "Just a single Yin rune is yielding a reading of 100 watts! This is insane! This is tens of thousands of times more power than that of the individual particles in the mortal realm!"

    "There''s no sign of fission at all! It''s a perfect fusion, and there''s no energy leakage whatsoever! We''re witnessing the birth of a brand new Yin rune, one that was born solely for the purpose of generating the new energy resource!"

    Right at this moment, the bright blue light behind the ss window flickered violently, and no more than a few secondster, a brand new Yin rune that no one had ever seen before finally appeared beyond the pane of ss.

    It was like the sun, and it attracted everyone''s undivided attention.

    It was so grand and majestic and perfect, disying no signs to indicate that it had been assembled.

    In this instant, it was as if the sound of a new era''s arrival could be physically heard in the hall.

    "We did it..." Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief amid theplete silence.

    He could clearly sense that this was a perfect and whole Yin rune. Furthermore, every single inch of it was pulsing with immense energy.

    This was the energy resource of the underworld, and it appeared directly in the form of a Yin rune rather than in any physical state.

    Three and a half years of tireless effort, and the seed of the new energy resource had finally bloomed into a beautiful flower after being watered by so much blood, sweat, and tears.

    "We did it!" Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban made their way over to the panel of ss to stare at the Yin rune beyond it with ck-jawed expressions. A few secondster, the two of them locked each other in a tight embrace before jumping up and down excitedly like a pair of kids. Their voices were breaking as if they were going through puberty again as they yelled with all their might, "We did it! We did it!! We are the first witnesses of the birth of the new energy resource! We are the ones who have ushered in the new era that the entire world has waited for for several thousand years!"

 Chapter 1038: The Gate to the New Era (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1038: The Gate to the New Era (3)</h4>

    The entire hall erupted into a frenzy. It only took one second to go from stunned silence to a raucousmotion.

    Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban were the ones who kicked off the celebration, and before the foreign scientists even had a chance to react, three figures rushed over while screaming at the top of their lungs,ughing and sobbing as they plunged headfirst into the two-man huddle of Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban like a trio of madmen.

    They were, of course, none other than Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, and Deng Ruifeng.

    "We did it! We did it!!" Deng Ruifeng was hugging Pang Hai and Xu Chengyang so tightly that he was on the verge of snapping their necks as he yelled with all his might, "The degree of fusion is 100% with 0% leakage and 0% breakage rate! Hahahaha!!"

    Pang Hai was rather weak and frail, and he had already grown ustomed to being jostled around like a ragdoll. His voice was choking up, and he habitually dabbed at the corners of his own eyes, even though he no longer had tears.

    Everyone was expressing their excitement in different ways. Some were embracing those around them while yelling andughing with all their might, while others had their heads lowered as their bodies trembled uncontrobly, preferring to bask in the gravity of the asion in silence.

    "Wait for us, new era, we''reing!!" A thunderous roar of celebration suddenly rang out from one of the scientists.

    They had been working on this project day and night for three and half years. Hundreds of researchers had constantly been working without rest, and even their King Yanluo hade to the Yin Mountains Research Center in person.

    They were almost crippled by the fear that they would be unable to develop anything in the end.

    They had doubted themselves countless times, wondering if they were pursuing the right path.

    However, no one articted any of this.

    All of the scientists had buried these doubts and fears, only allowing them to act as motivation and fuel to work even harder!

    They were putting their own backs against the wall and working as if their lives depended on it, just like during the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the artificial satellite projects. With those experiences behind them, they were already ustomed to fighting through adversity with tenacity and determination.

    It was thanks to their hard work that Cathay had risen in the mortal realm, and it was also because of them that the Cathayan Underworld finally had a chance to make a resurgence following a century-long slumber!

    Even though Yin spirits didn''t have tears, the sound of sobbing rang out across the entireboratory, and many of the Cathayan Underworld''s scientists were locked in tight embraces with one another as they sobbed without any regard for their own image. It was as if they were trying to lift the massive weight from their shoulders with their sobs, and they were bawling with all their might.

    No one knew how much pressure they had been under.

    No one knew how many times they had doubted themselves and skirted near the edges of the pit of despair.

    All of their efforts had finally bore fruit, and no one disrupted this scene of joyous celebration.

    None of the foreign scientists joined their huddles. They were also aware of just how much pressure the Cathayan Underworld''s scientists would''ve been under during the initial stages of the development process.

    While it was true that they had also participated in the development of the new energy resource, they knew that they had onlye in for the tail-end of the project, but they were absent during the beginning stages, where the going would''ve been at its toughest.

    Thus, even though they were also excited and ted beyond belief, none of them interrupted the Cathayan Underworld''s scientists. Instead, they merely looked on with joyous smiles.

    All of a sudden, the sound of apuse rang out. Emoven was pping so vigorously that her hands quickly became red and swollen, and her voice was choking up as she said, "Every major scientific research and development project is a battle. These are extremely stern tests for the scientists involved physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually. You have emerged victorious with flying colors from this grueling battle!"

    Franklin was also joining in on the apuse with a hint of envy in his eyes. "Congrattions. From this day forth, your names will go down in the history of the underworld as some of the most influential scientists of all time!"

    "You are the pioneers of the new energy resource! Congrattions to you all!"

    "Congrattions, you''ve flung open the gates to the next era! The entire world will undergo massive changes because of you!"

    "Your achievements will illuminate the path ahead for the entire underworld for at least the next few centuries!"

    "Even if you enter the cycle of reincarnation someday, your names will forever be remembered in the underworld!"

    Congrattions were flying in left, right, and center, and the five architects finally realized their ownck ofposure. After separating from one another, Zu Chongzhi was still rubbing at his own eyes as he sobbed, "I''m sorry, I''m just... so happy..."

    Looking back, even they didn''t know how they had endured all of those grueling days and nights.

    There were asionally research and development projects thatsted decades in the mortal realm, such as controlled nuclear fusion and sending astronauts to the moon, but a quick search would tell you that those projects didn''t run continuously throughout their durations.

    Instead, the projects only went on for a year, maybe a year and a half at the very most, and if no oues arose, then they would be temporarily set aside and await future restarts.

    Controlled nuclear fusion was an example of this; it had already been shut down and reopened countless times.

    Throughout the history of the mortal realm, there were virtually no research and development projects like this one, which spanned a period of over three years and involved hundreds of scientists, all of which were confined to theirboratories until the project waspleted!

    Living humans would simply be crushed by such a grueling project, which meant that this was only possible in the underworld.

    If the new energy resource were the second world war, then the emergence of the new energy resource on this day would be equivalent to the pivotal Battle of Moscow!

    This was the crown jewel of the scientific world, and even the round table of the Argosian Underworld hadn''t achieved such prestigious honors before!

    "Why are you crying?" Volta made his way over to Zu Chongzhi with a smile before spreading his arms open and locking Zu Chongzhi in a tight embrace as he whispered in his ears, "I''m going to be honest, I''m extremely, extremely envious of you right now."

    He released Zu Chongzhi before shaking his hand vigorously as continued, "I never thought that this project woulde into fruition in the Cathayan Underworld, but you''ve shown me just how narrow-minded I am through your actions. Congrattions."

    Following Volta''s departure, Emoven strode over to the architects, and her makeup was a little messy due to the eruption ofherfire from her eyes. Under normal circumstances, she had always kept her presentation immacte, but she didn''t care about that at all at this moment as he grabbed onto Lu Ban''s hand and gave it a vigorous shake. "I am incredibly thankful that the mighty death gods of Northern Europa have signed this research and development agreement with your nation. Congrattions to you all! This is a piece of technology is going to change the entire world, and I''m immensely honored to have been able to witness its birth."

    Franklin was already sick of waiting his turn, and hetched tightly onto Xu Chengyang''s hand as he said, "Don''t cry, this is the time to be celebrating! Do you know how envious I am of you? Your names will go down in the history of the entire world! There is no greater honor for a scientist! I can''t think of anything else to say aside from congrattions, but my congrattions are as genuine as can be, so please ept them!"

    "The beauty of science lies in the fact that you never know when the next surprise will arrive!"

    "We weren''t expecting to witness something at all, so we didn''t prepare anything! Damn it, I should''ve brought my champagne!"

    "Everyone waspletely caught off guard! We were wallowing in the pits of despair just a few hours ago, but now, we''re on top of the world! I''m so happy I could kiss you right now!"

    Indeed, in the constant battle that was scientific development, one could never predict when victory was going toe.

    No one could''ve anticipated that there would be such a drastic turn of events no more than half a day since the failure of the Genesis experiment.

    The only thing that one could do was to constantly expect the unexpected.

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye pped his hands together, and all of the scientists finally turned their attention toward him, as if they had only just recalled that there were still two Yama-Kings present.

    "Take a rest, everyone," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Tomorrow afternoon, we''ll be holding a dinner banquet for everyone in the Yin Mountains! If you don''t wish to rest, there will be designated locations with suitable environments for you to hold discussions as you please. Also..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "The emergence of the new energy resource means that all of your patents will be in use again, and I think it''s time we discuss all of your patents during theing month. Ah, that reminds me, for confidentiality purposes, please remain in the Cathayan Underworld during this uing period of time. We''ll be counting on all of you for the research projects toe."

    "Of course!"

    "Even if you hadn''t said that, we have no ns of leaving in the short term!"

    "I wouldn''t leave even if you tried to chase me away! You''ll have to throw out my dead body if you want me to leave!"

    The new energy resource had indeed been born, but there were still many things left that had to be done, such as integrating the energy resource with machinery and examining the performance of the new energy resource under different environments.

    It was also imperative to test the highest and lowest wattages that could be reached by normal electric generators and top-tier electric generators.

    These things all seemed like trivial details, but every single one of those parameters would be a new thesis that would be enough to stun the entire world! If anyone wanted to reference these theses, they would have to do so at very high costs!

    This was another form of patent. Many patents weren''t owned by a single person. For example, the Cathayan Underworld had contributed over 2,000 patents to the 5G technology patent in the mortal realm, yet the final number that came to pass was only 30% of all of the patents used in the development of 5G technology. Usonia had submitted over 1,000 patents, but the final number that passed was also around 30%. Thus, the patent usage fees were distributed to many parties.

    Having been impoverished for so long, they finally had a chance to earn massive ies, and there was no way they were going to leave!

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile, then exchanged a nce with Ksitigarbha before departing in silence.

    The other underworld emissaries were going to take care of the rest, including the cleanup and the celebrations. After some time, the next stage of research wouldmence, and only after the education n was implemented would the Yin Mountains Research Center wee a period of peace and quiet.

    By the time Qin Ye and Ksitigarbha reappeared, they were already standing at the peak of the tallest mountain in the Yin Mountain Range.

    Neither of them said anything.

    Qin Ye spread open his arms as he repressed the excitement in his own heart, looking as if he wanted to embrace the entire world. Fierce gusts of Yin wind were blowing past his ears, but he didn''t release any Yin energy to resist them.

    "So this is what it feels like to stand at the top of the world," he sighed after a long while, and his arms finally fell back to his sides.

    He truly didn''t think that this would be the day...

    He was only running a test and had thought that there would perhaps only be a 50% chance of sess, and the immediate sess had knocked him clean off his feet!

    "I thought you would yell at the sky a few times," Ksitigarbha said with a faint smile.

    "I wanted to do that," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "But it feels a little embarrassing to do that with you standing next to me."

    After that, he cast an intense gaze toward the boundless desert up ahead, as if he wanted to see past them into the Russian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld that stood further in the distance.

    The gates of the new era have already swung open, yet you''re still living in an ignorant dream.

    The emergence of the new energy resource was nothing less than disaster for them.

    "Less than 20 years ago, I first came to Hell and witnessed a bleak nation that had lost all hope, filled with Yin spirits that were only just barely getting by. Arakshasa and I were the only underworld emissaries at the time." He closed his eyes with a smile as he said, "The Cathayan Underworld had just been razed to the ground, and blight vermin were everywhere, while the three divine artifacts were nowhere to be found. However, on this day, no more than 20 years after the Cathayan Underworld had been in its worst state for thousands of years, Everburn and Ashmound are thriving, the six paths of reincarnation have been established in Lotus City, the three divine artifacts have been restored to their rightful ces, and Outer Mongolia has also returned! I wouldn''t dare to proim that I''ve done an exceptional job, but at the very least, I can say that I''ve perhaps lived up to my role as King Yanluo."

    His words were a little disjointed from excessive excitement as he continued, "I''ve been scared before and have thought countless times about giving up. During the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long absence, they took our speaking rights and plundered our territory. I''m going to make them cough up everything that they''ve taken from us and more! All those who have betrayed us, who have tried tosh out at us when we''re down, just you wait! When the new energy resource is revealed to the entire world, I''ll make sure you''re left ruing your past decisions!"

 Chapter 1039: Plans For the Future

    <h4>Chapter 1039: ns For the Future</h4>

    Ksitigarbha cast his gaze into the distance with a pleased smile, and he said, "I''m most d that you think this way. However..."

    His smile faded as he turned to Qin Ye with a serious expression. "Have you thought about what it means to go against the flow?"

    Indeed, there was still a major problem that was still yet to be resolved, and that was the issue of immortal energy.

    If they couldn''t resolve this problem, then the costs of producing the new energy resource would be too high, and it wouldn''t be possible to distribute it to the entire world.

    If they couldn''t do that, then they wouldn''t be able to y any of their subsequent cards.

    Qin Ye was silent for a moment before asking, "Why did you say that there was a possibility earlier?"

    Ksitigarbha shook his head with a smile as he asked, "If you want to know the answer to that question, then why don''t you meet them?"

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately give a reply.

    His mind was racing as he thought about what he had to do next. Firstly, he had to negotiate patent usage rights with all of the scientists. Only with their patents approved for usage to the Cathayan Underworld would the future path be a smooth one, allowing him to y the rest of the cards he had prepared.

    Those scientists'' patents seemed to have nothing to do with the new energy resource, but in reality, even though the internal structure of the new energy resource was different from electricity, there was an 80% degree of simrity between the two. Thus, the patents, theses, and experiments rted to electricity under the ownership of all of the scientists would be rted to the new energy resource. If he couldn''t secure their patent usage rights, then the Cathayan Underworld would immediately be sanctioned by the entire world during the new energy resource''s release.

    The energy resources were too simr, and as a result, there was no way to fully distinguish between the two. All of the theories that applied to electricity in the mortal realm applied to the new energy resource as well, and in particr, following the emergence of the new energy resource, all of the leading physicists'' patents, which had scarcely seen use in the underworld prior to this, would instantly be extremely hotmodities! As a result, all scientists would be able to earn sizable ies, and this was something that had never happened before.

    If the World Energy Resource Research Organization wanted to step in and moderate, then that would take at least a year or so. If the negotiations went awry, then the scientists would be asking for exorbitant patent usage fees during this time. This was an energy resource that was going to be used across the entire world! If a scientist asked for a one billion dor patent usage fee, do you give it to them or not?

    Furthermore, there were some patents that he had to secure, such as Faraday''s electric motor patent, the Lumi¨¨re brothers'' patents rted to movies, and John Logie Baird''s patents rted to televisions.

    There were many other patents on this list, such as ones rted to batteries, electric generators,puters, etc. The fact that the new energy resource was so simr to electricity meant that its release would inevitably sweep up an inventor''s boom as inventors of the underworld would be able to steal ideas directly from the mortal realm to be used with the new energy resource!

    This was the true trump card of the Cathayan Underworld!

    The future ahead was so beautiful that Qin Ye''s pulse was racing just thinking about it.

    Never did he think that he would be able to directly participate in the rise of a major nation.

    "However, in order to aplish all of this, we have to secure all of the patents first, then set everything else into motion. Of course, prior to all of this, the most important thing to do is to establish the price of the new energy resource, and that price would be directly rted to the heavenly waterfall. I wonder what kind of ce Heaven is," Qin Ye murmured to himself.

    Heaven was a realm that was full of secrets to both the mortal realm and the underworld.

    "You''ll know everything after you speak to them in person," Ksitigarbha said with aplex smile. Qin Ye didn''t know whether his eyes were ying tricks on him, but he felt as if he could spot hints of amusement, sympathy, and schadenfreude in Ksitigarbha''s smile.

    Qin Ye slowly vanished on the spot as he said, "Tell them that I''ll be arranging a banquet to wee them in person in the Yin Mountains Research Center''s banquet hall in two hours."

    Ksitigarbha was insisting on putting up a mysterious front, so he would just have to tear this veil of mystery apart.

    Two hourster, Qin Ye slowly pushed open the doors to the banquet hall.

    Even though this was the banquet hall of a research center, it was still extremely intricately constructed. It had already been a decade since the unification of the Cathayan Underworld, and it had be far more prosperous than the bleak and impoverished new Hell from before that time.

    The red carpet was embroidered with an extremely life-like image of the Aurogon, whilempstands carved in the shape of the Harken''s head were hanging from the surrounding walls. There was also a huge golden spider lily ptialntern that was exquisitely crafted hanging overhead, as well asrgempstands in the design of the Pixiu Chimera or the Aurogon positioned all around the room, burning with rows ofherfire candles to give the entire hall avish and auspicious atmosphere.

    At this point, there were already several dozen heavenly officials gathered here. The men among them were handsome and dashing, while the women were beautiful and seductive. As soon as Qin Ye pushed the doors open, all of the heavenly officials immediately extended respectful bows as they greeted, "We pay our respects to Yanluo Qin. May you live as long as the heavens, and may your name forever go down in history."

    "Take a seat," Qin Ye said with a casual nod, then made his way onto the main stage under the protection of several underworld emissaries.

    For the sake of this meeting, slight adjustments had been made to the hall. All of the round dining tables had been removed, reced by rows of circr chairs in the style of the Ming Dynasty.

    The circr chairs were all ck in color with golden reliefs embedded onto the armrests, and they were separated by elegantly carved, antiquated square sandalwood tables. The several dozen heavenly officials were seated in three rows, and after everyone had taken a seat, Qin Ye raised a hand as he said, "This is our first meeting, and you may or may not be aware of the way I like to do things. However, in order to ensure that we have a smooth and enjoyable discussion from here onward, I would like toy down a ground-rule first."

    His smile faded as he swept his gaze across all of the heavenly officials present, then dered in a serious voice, "If there''s something to be said, then make it straightforward and concise. If there''s nothing to be said, then we conclude this meeting. Understood?"

    "Yes."

    Qin Ye crossed his legs as he sat on his chair, then picked up his teacup and took a sip of warm tea as he swept a furtive nce across all of the heavenly officials present.

    Let me see what these beings from Heaven are all about! So many historic deities and renowned figures are gathered in a single ce... What kind of world is Heaven like?

    Amid the silence, a young heavenly official rose to his feet, and he extended a deep, respectful bow, with a genuine smile of admiration on his face as he said in a voice as soothing as spring rain, "Yanluo Qin, I am an official who serves under the Yellow Emperor."

    Qin Ye gently set down his teacup upon hearing this, and a serious look appeared on his face.

    The Yellow Emperor was a legendary Cathayan sovereign and a cultural hero of Cathay!

    We''re certainly starting off with a bang! Qin Ye wore a calm expression as he listened to what the young man had to say.

    The young man continued in a respectful voice, "Seeing as the new Hell has already been established, the Yellow Emperor Retirement Home is wondering when investments will resume."

    The serious look on Qin Ye''s face instantly gave way to astonishment, and even his eyelids had begun twitching slightly as he stared at the young man with a nk expression.

    Are you fucking kidding me?!

    The young heavenly official''s head was still lowered, so he was naturally oblivious to Qin Ye''s reaction, and he continued, "The Yellow Emperor Retirement Home is situated near Yaochi Mountain within the western heavenly gate, and it''s an extremely beautiful and scenic location. For 500 years straight, it has been rated as the best retirement home in Heaven for five consecutive terms. Recently, it was decided by our higher-ups that we will be constructing new facilities within the Yaochi Mountain basin, including a golf course and a ski facility, among other things."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "This decisiones from our retirement home''s Vice-director Bo Yikao and the chief of our development department, Bao Tianzi. The projects will require an estimated investment of seven hundred million ''tongbao'', so your investment would be greatly appreciated."

    The entire hall had gonepletely silent, and a very peculiar atmosphere had arisen.

    Qin Ye was struggling to repress the urge to throw up a mouthful of blood.

    "Hold on a second." He couldn''t take this any longer, and he raised a hand to gesture for the young man to sit down, then repressed the urge to swear out loud as he pointed at one of the female heavenly officials. "Who are you?"

    "Esteemed Yanluo Qin!" The female heavenly official immediately stood up before extending a deep bow as she replied in an excited manner, "I am an official serving at Half the Sky Retirement Home. [1] Our director is N¨¹wa, and our vice-director is Princess Wencheng, who was once an Abyssal Prefect."

    I don''t need you to tell me that she''s an Abyssal Prefect! She''s not just an Abyssal Prefect, she''s also Arthis''s teacher and the owner of the Peach Blossom Lantern! The problem here is... Isn''t there something wrong with all of this? You''re ruining the image of Heaven!

    His eyelids were twitching insistently now, and before the woman had a chance to finish, he gestured for her to take a seat again before pointing at another heavenly official.

    "Yanluo Qin, I am an official who serves under the Yellow Springs Retirement Home. Most of Hell''s Yama-Kings are staying in the Yellow Springs Retirement Home, so you can''t not invest in our retirement home! Our Yellow Springs Retirement Home is situated near the Great Rift Valley of Heaven, and there''s beautiful scenery there throughout all four seasons of the year..."

    "Next."

    "Yanluo Qin, I am the chief of the Ancestral Dragon Retirement Home''s development department. Please pardon me for being frank, but all of the heavenly officials of our Ancestral Dragon Retirement Home have served in Hell for long periods of time and have made significant contributions to Hell..."

    "Next!!!"

    As it turned out, every single one of the heavenly officials present were retirement home representatives.

    Around 15 minutester, Qin Ye looked up at the sky with a wooden expression, lookingpletely suicidal.

    I was wondering why Heaven had the mostbor and capital out of the three realms, it''s all because of these fucking retirement homes!

    It was no wonder that everyone was so eager to ascend to Heaven after their retirement. Even though they had left Hell, they were still expecting investments from Hell!

    Qin Ye was feeling a little depressed.

    His glorious image of Heaven had beenpletely shattered, and he finally understood why Ksitigarbha had put on that expression at the mention of the heavenly officials.

    He massaged his own temples in an exhausted manner before turning to all of the heavenly officials present with a suicidal expression. "So... all of you are here to request investments?"

    All of the heavenly officials immediately nodded in response.

    An awkward silence instantly followed.

    I''m so fucking poor that I''m almost tempted to sell my own body! Where am I supposed to find money to invest in your retirement homes?!

    The silence was a little long, so much so that all of the heavenly officials were starting to grow a little uneasy. Finally, Qin Ye broke the silence in a cold voice. "Get out! Get out of my sight right this instant!"

    "Yanluo Qin, you can''t do this!"

    "All of our retirement homes'' retirees are people who have made significant contributions to Hell in the past? You can''t do this!"

    "Your Excellency, the three realms each have their own roles, and it was agreed upon by the rulers of all three realms that Heaven would be responsible for elderly care! You can''t go back on this agreement on a whim!"

    Qin Ye''s head was throbbing with pain!

    Who could''ve imagined that Heaven would be one massive retirement home?!

    He had envisioned ascension to be this glorious experience, but it was aplete farce!

    Which motherfucker wrote all those legends?! It''s no wonder everyone''s so eager to ascend! Why work hard in your cultivation when you can just ascend to Heaven and progress slowly in your cultivation even if you do nothing?! You want me to invest in your retirement homes?! Get fucked!

    After a long while, Qin Ye finally repressed the fury in his heart. Having waited for so long to see the truth behind Heaven, he was extremely disheartened to find out that it was all just one massive retirement home. All of a sudden, a thought urred to him.

    "Hold on, which one of your retirement homes is closest to the heavenly waterfall?"

    "Me! Over here, Your Excellency!" A young heavenly official who was around 183 to 184 centimeters in height immediately rushed out from the crowd of heavenly officials as if he had just been given a shot of stimnts.

    "I am an official who serves under the Xi He Retirement Home! All of the rulers of the underworld since the Tang Dynasty are staying at our retirement home, and we are situated extremely close to the heavenly waterfall!!"

    [1] [The expression "half the sky" refers to a saying that women are responsible for carrying half the sky in society. In other words, they contribute to society just as much as men do. Thus, the expression "half the sky" is directly rted to women, so judging from the name of this retirement home, I''m assuming it''s run exclusively by women, perhaps epting only female retirees as well.]

 Chapter 1040: Smuggling? (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1040: Smuggling? (1)</h4>

    The entire hall fell silent.

    Everyone was looking at the heavenly official from the Xi He Retirement Home, wondering what Qin Ye''s intentions were.

    There was no way they weren''t going to allow him to not invest! Heaven was depending on Hell''s investment for its elderly care, and they wouldn''t be able to answer to their superiors if they couldn''t secure investments!

    "Xi He Retirement Home, eh?" Qin Ye rose to his feet, and with a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp. He gently massaged the bracelet as he gestured for the heavenly official to continue.

    The heavenly official immediately obliged. "Our Xi He Retirement Home is the most recently established set of retirement homes, and it''s situated at the venues where the first and second Divine Peach Banquets were held. The retirement home was constructed by Heaven''s Rolling Door Real Estate Company, and most of its inhabitants are Abyssal Prefects who came from Hell. Abyssal Prefect Cui Jue was the one who gathered the funds required to construct the retirement home."

    Qin Ye looked up at the heavens and heaved a long sigh before asking, "Who else is there?"

    "Our vice-director is Abyssal Prefect Zhong Kui, and our second vice-director is Abyssal Prefect Zhang Liang, who once served as the governor of Fengdu. There are currently a total of 43 Abyssal Prefects in our retirement home. Your Excellency, you can''t just leave these past heroes of Hell to spend their twilight years in misery and sadness!"

    Misery and sadness my arse!

    Qin Ye was on the verge of erupting, but he caught himself just in the nick of time. His eyelids were practically spasming at this point as he said, "These are indeed all pirs of Hell who have made significant contributions..."

    The heavenly official''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, while the rest of the heavenly officials stared at Qin Ye with appalled expressions.

    They''re only Abyssal Prefects, yet they can already be considered to be pirs of Hell? We have Yama-Kings and emperors from the major dynasties of the mortal realm staying at our retirement homes, why don''t they qualify as pirs of Hell?! Aren''t you being a little too tant with your bias here?!

    Qin Ye naturally wasn''t going to consider what the other heavenly officials were thinking. He gave the servant behind him a slight nod, then vanished as a gust of Yin wind. The servant immediately knew what Qin Ye wanted, and he smiled as he said, "Please wait here, everyone. In the meantime, the heavenly official of the Xi He Retirement Home cane with me."

    "Why is the representative of the Xi He Retirement Home the only one granted a private audience with Yanluo Qin?"

    "In terms of contributions made to Hell, our Yellow Emperor Retirement Home doesn''t lose to any other retirement home!"

    "The Xi He Retirement was only founded less than 300 years ago, why do they get investments while we''re left out here to dry?"

    "This is an agreement established by the rulers of all three realms! Is Yanluo Qin nning to renounce it?!"

    The underworld emissary''s smile slowly faded, and several secondster, he yelled, "Silence! The representative of the Xi He Retirement Home is only being granted an audience with Yanluo Qin, there''s no guarantee whether an investment would be made or not. Even if investments are to be made, it''s up to Yanluo Qin to decide the sequence with which he invests in your retirement homes. Here in Hell, there''s no one who can tell our King Yanluo what to do! I understand that you''re all very worked up, but you still have to follow the rules here! Guards!"

    "Present!" A row of Yin soldiers fanned out in silence outside the hall, while the servant swept a menacing gaze across all of the fearful heavenly officials in the hall.

    "Take everyone somewhere else to rest. I''ll be sure to inform all of you as soon as I receive any news. In the meantime, please ponder upon your transgressions and make sure you treat our King Yanluo with respect next time!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye didn''t pay any heed to these trivial matters. After disintegrating into a gust of Yin wind, the next time he appeared, he was already in the guest hall, where Ksitigarbha was currently seated, sipping casually on some tea.

    The guest hall was veryrge, and at the very back was an embroidered piece of artwork depicting a ghostly dragon emerging from aherworldly sea. The piece of artwork was five meters wide and two meters tall, and around it were ced several antiquated tables and chairs in an orderly fashion. As soon as Qin Ye appeared, Ksitigarbha set down his teacup with a smile as he said, "That was pretty quick. Throughout all of history, only the second King Yanluo was a little quicker than you."

    Qin Ye sat down beside Ksitigarbha in a grumpy manner, then picked up a teacup and downed all of its contents in one go before mming it down onto the table. "How did he deal with them?"

    "He said: ''I don''t have money, but I do have a pair of fists, would you like me to show them to you?'' In the end, several upper immortals had no choice but toe down in person through divine descent to negotiate terms. During the second King Yanluo''s reign, Hell invested the least that it ever did into Heaven."

    Qin Ye wanted to chuckle, but couldn''t bring himself to do so, and he massaged his own throbbing temples as he sighed, "So Heaven is actually one massive retirement home?"

    "That''s right," Ksitigarbha replied with a smile. "You must be very surprised, right? I was just like you when I found out. The original purpose of Heaven can no longer be traced, but giving some retired underworld emissaries and deities a ce to rest isn''t a bad idea. On top of that, they were telling the truth about the agreement. There is a renowned stone que in heaven known as the Hong Meng Stone que, and Hao Tian, the first King Yanluo, and the Yellow Emperor, the rulers of Heaven, Hell, and the mortal realm, respectively, erected the agreement in the form of the stone que, stating that so long as Heaven continued to exist, Hell would issue 50% of its operating costs."

    Qin Ye was holding back a torrent of abuse as he asked through gritted teeth, "What about the other 50%?"

    "The earnings from Taoism and Buddhism will cover that."

    A menacing look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he asked, "What if I refuse to invest?"

    Ksitigarbha smiled and replied, "How do you think your power matches up against that of the second King Yanluo?"

    Qin Ye gave a cold harrumph in response.

    "What do you think of all the deities and powerful beings in Heaven?" Ksitigarbha joined his palms together in a benevolent manner as he said, "If you don''t invest, countless legendary figures from Cathay''s history will constantly be knocking on your door every single day. They''re also Yama-Kings, so you won''t be able to avoid them, Amitabha."

    He pulled a scroll out of his sleeve as he spoke, then pointed a finger at it, and a speck of immortal energy instantly transformed into a lotus flower that bloomed on the scroll.

    "What''s that?" Qin Ye asked. He seemed to be able to see a map of the Yin Mountains on the scroll.

    Ksitigarbha smiled as he gently tossed the scroll upward, and it vanished into thin air as he replied, "This is one of your hiding spots, of course. It wasn''t easy for me to track down this ce, so I can''t just forget it..."

    A horrified look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he stared at Ksitigarbha, and a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart. "Hold on a minute..."

    A pleasant smile appeared on Ksitigarbha''s face as he continued, "As the manager overseeing the attraction of investments from Hell, if Yanluo Qin tries to use force to avoid paying his debts, then I will hold him ountable."

    Holy fuck!

    Qin Ye abruptly sprang to his feet, and his lips began to tremble as he pointed at Ksitigarbha and ordered, "Guards, throw this demonic monk out of this ce at once!"

    I thought you really came down just to catch up with me and reminisce about old times, but this was a fucking trap all along!

    "Don''t be like that, Benefactor Qin, we can talk about this..."

    "Piss off! And that''s Yanluo Qin to you, not Benefactor Qin! I have no money to give!"

    "Surely you can always spare something. No one has it easy at the moment..."

    After a period of heated discussion, Qin Ye sat back down again with a resigned expression, sorely regretting his decision to allow this sly monk into the Yin Mountains Research Center. "You know what the current situation in Hell is like. I don''t have money, but Ghost King Zhao has a pair of fists! At the very most, I can only invest in the retirement homes that you and the Aurogon are in. As for the rest, I don''t know any of them anyway!"

    Ksitigarbha heaved a forlorn sigh. "I don''t want to have to do this, either, but during the past century, Hell has beenpletely inactive, and as a result, the facilities of many of Heaven''s retirement homes are suffering from deterioration and neglect. There are a lot of renovations and repairs that have to be made, and everyone is hoping that Hell would foot part of the bill. Also, due to therge number of underworld emissaries who ascended under abnormal circumstances, hundreds of retirement homes have been forced to expand. The heavenly officials that havee to see you are only the first group of representatives. Once some of the construction projects are underway, you''ll receive many more visits from representatives of other retirement homes."

    At this moment, all Qin Ye wanted to do was to rush through the world''s gate and drag out the irresponsible bastard hiding in there, then p him to death!

    It was no wonder that the second King Yanluo had rushed into the world''s gate so soon and proimed that he wasn''t going toe out for the next few centuries! As usual, he was running away from his responsibilities again!

    Right at this moment, Secretary Jiang entered the room. "Your Excellency, the heavenly official from the Xi He Retirement Home is here. Would you like to meet him now?"

    Qin Ye massaged his own be and didn''t reply.

    The rules of the three realms had to be followed, but he really didn''t want to make this investment right now.

    However, after carefully pondering the issue, he realized that he had no choice.

    His top priority at the moment was to secure sources ofrge batches of immortal energy, and the best way to do that would be to invest in or directly be a shareholder in the Xi He Retirement Home, thereby allowing him to secure immortal energy directly from the heavenly waterfall. However, if he were to invest in only the Xi He Retirement Home, his target would be too obvious, and the Xi He Retirement Home would undoubtedlye under a huge amount of scrutiny.

    He raised his head as he turned to Ksitigarbha with a dejected expression. "Can immortal energy directly enter Hell?"

    "It can," Ksitigarbha replied with a nod. "However, Heaven, Hell, and the mortal realm are likeyers of an egg. Hell is the yolk at the very center, and it''s separated from Heaven by the mortal realm. Immortal energy can enter Hell, but it cannot be allowed to enter the mortal realm!"

    "Why is that?"

    Ksitigarbha replied, "If immortal energy is allowed to enter the mortal realm, a series of uncontroble changes will arise. For example, lifespans will be lengthened, and some people will be able to find opportunities to ascend. If the lifespans of people in the mortal realm are extended by too much, then Hell would be directly affected, and the equilibrium of the three realms will be tipped off bnce. Regardless of whether it''s Yin energy or immortal energy that enters the mortal realm, the bnce of the three realms will be affected, and the consequences of that will be far more catastrophic than you can imagine."

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately instruct Secretary Jiang to invite the heavenly official in to see him. Instead, he asked, "In that case, can we open up a direct passageway just like your divine descent?"

    "That won''t work, either. I was once a Yama-King of Hell, which is why I was able to do this. However, creating an independent passageway through which immortal energy can be funneled into Hell to support the new energy resource would be a project on apletely different scale. On top of that, it encroaches upon the basicws of non-interaction between the three realms, and the Heavenly Dao will most likely step in. This would be considered as smuggling between realms. The Heavenly Dao most likely won''t intervene when ites to interaction between the three realms on a small scale, but billions of tons of immortal energy will have to be funneled into Hell to support the new energy resource, and that wouldpletely change the state of the world, so there''s no way the Heavenly Dao wouldn''t step in. You could perhaps do this in secret and have the second King Yanluo cover up for you. At the same time, you also have to make sure that everyone in Heaven is satisfied so they don''t go around saying anything. Otherwise..."

    He paused momentarily before continuing in a grim voice, "You''ll have to endure a total of 81 heavenly tribtions, and I''m sure you won''t enjoy that."

    Qin Ye fell silent upon hearing this, and many thoughts were shing through his mind.

    The best thing to use here would be a battery that could store immortal energy and be transported to Hell. That would make it possible for immortal energy to be funneled into Hell without the need for aplete passageway, and all that would be required would be the battery patent. However, before he had a chance to follow that train of thought any further, Ksitigarbha suddenly said, "I recall that the Mother Buddha possesses a treasure known as the Mutton Fat Jade Vial, which is capable of storing entire seas and mountains."

    Qin Ye was naturally aware of why Ksitigarbha had suddenly decided to mention this, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "Just tell me which retirement home she''s staying in."

    A benevolent smile returned to Ksitigarbha''s face, and his demeanor became even more amicable as he replied, "She just so happens to be in the same retirement home as I am! As for the amount to invest, it doesn''t have to be too much. Seeing as Hell is also struggling financially at the moment, just a few billion will suffice. Dragon jade can be used in both Heaven and Hell. After entering Heaven, it''ll react with immortal energy and gradually transform into immortal jade, so you don''t have to worry about the logistics."

    "... I''m really beginning to doubt that you''re the same person who vowed not to gain enlightenment until he saved all souls and emptied Hell..."

    "That''s neither here nor there, Yanluo Qin, this is just the rental fee for the jade vial. Followers of Buddhism like myself have no need for money, Amitabha... By the way, if you manage to develop wireless transfer technology using the new energy resource, you can pay through that as well..."

 Chapter 1041: Smuggling? (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1041: Smuggling? (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye massaged his own be for the nth time today.

    There were traps and potholes everywhere! In the end, he was still too young and naive!

    Never did he think that the biggest trap in existence would be Heaven!

    His mind was racing as he pondered how to proceed. He had to borrow the Mutton Fade Jade Vial, and he also had to invest in the Xi He Retirement Home while also satisfying all of the other retirement home representatives. The jade vial would be ced beneath the heavenly waterfall, and the final step was to open up another passageway simr to the one that had facilitated Ksitigarbha''s divine descent, thereby allowing the jade vial to descend to Hell once per week or once per month.

    Seeing as there was no way to resist, his only option was to ept the situation. With that in mind, Qin Ye said, "Investing is not entirely out of the question."

    A faint smile appeared on Ksitigarbha''s face, and he seemed to have already predicted from the very beginning that this would be Qin Ye''s choice.

    "Seeing as you''ve already decided to invest, then let''s discuss mybor fee next..."

    "Ah, the representative of the Xi He Retirement Home must be growing impatient. Secretary Jiang, invite him in to see me."

    Ksitigarbha was a little speechless.

    He couldn''t believe how shameless this King Yanluo was. At the very least, the second King Yanluo would''ve addressed his request with an answer like: "piss off, you''re not getting anything from me", but Qin Ye hadpletely ignored him!

    The heavenly official soon entered the room, and as soon as he did so, he immediately fell to his knees in a respectful manner in the face of the two Yama-Kings. "Minister Yao Jingming of the Xi He Retirement Home pays his respects to the two upper immortals."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. Instead, he merely watched Yao Jingming in silence until the hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to stand upon on end, and only then did a faint smile appear on his face as he said, "Investing in your retirement home is not out of the question."

    "Thank you, Yanluo..."

    "Not so fast." Qin Ye was gently massaging his beaded bracelet, producing a faint rustling sound that exerted an indescribable sense of pressure on the heavenly official inside the quiet room. Qin Ye leaned back in his chair as he said, "Abyssal Prefect Cui and Abyssal Prefect Zhong both served Hell very well, so Hell is naturally not going to abandon them. However, I''m sure Heaven is aware of Hell''s current situation. We''ll definitely take care of them, but it would be unrealistic to expect us to take care of all of their needs. What I''m saying is that we can only go one step at a time, do you understand what I''m saying?"

    Yao Jingming immediately nodded in response. What Qin Ye was saying was that there had to be a sequence to the way that things were done.

    "May I ask what your ns are, Your Excellency?" he asked in a careful manner.

    Qin Ye smiled as he replied, "Hell is currently rapidly developing, and in order to ensure prosperity and stability in the long term, we initiated the new energy resource n. I''m guessing the retirement homes of Heaven finally decided to send representatives to Hell precisely because of this new energy n, right? I''m sure they''re well aware of just how profitable this n will be."

    He leaned forward slightly, and the beaded bracelet in his hand fell still, causing the entire room to abruptly fall silent.

    Right as cold sweat was pouring down Yao Jingming''s forehead like rain, Qin Ye finally broke the silence. "I want over half the equity of the Xi He Retirement Home. From now on, the Xi He Retirement Home will be a direct investment target of Hell, and no one else from the retirement home is allowed to participate in its development, particrly the development of the heavenly waterfall. At the same time, I won''t participate in any other areas of decision-making in the retirement home, such as human resources management."

    A wry smile appeared on Yao Jingming''s face as he replied, "Your Excellency, I''m afraid there''s been no such precedent..."

    The concept of equity didn''t exist in Heaven!

    "Then let this be the first-ever case," Qin Ye said. "This is my decision, tell Abyssal Prefect Cui to have a good think about it."

    "Your Excellency..." A reluctant look appeared on Yao Jingming''s face. "This is preposterous..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Qin Ye continued, "Of course, even though we''re in different realms now, they once made significant contributions to Hell. If they agree with this arrangement, then I guarantee them that once the new energy resource is up and running, 0.000001% of the pure profits that it earns will be invested in the Xi He Retirement Home once every five years in the form of dividends over a duration of 100 years."

    Yao Jingming shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and a drop of cold sweat fell onto the ground in front of him.

    As the minister of the Xi He Retirement Home, he was mainly responsible for overseeing matters rted to money and food in the retirement home.

    Thus, he was very much aware of the current state of the Xi He Retirement Home.

    It was an understatement to call the retirement home poor... Around 100 years ago, 200 Abyssal Prefects ascended at the same time, forcing Heaven to construct hundreds of retirement homes in a hurry. However, everything had happened far too abruptly, and there simply weren''t enough spare resources to go around!

    Thus, Heaven employed a very sly tactic.

    The plot ofnd upon which the Xi He Retirement Home was granted to them free of taxes and rent, but it was only granted to them for 300 years.

    Abyssal Prefect Cui had almost erupted into a flurry of profanities upon hearing this, but getting angry was never a solution to any problem.

    Heaven was a massive retirement home for all of the most powerful beings in Cathayan history, and even Yama-Kings were amon sight there, let alone Abyssal Prefects. Even the high-grade retirement homes for Yama-Kings hadn''t been constructed yet, and Heaven was constantly tightening its budget, so there was no money to be spent on constructing retirement homes for Abyssal Prefects.

    Thus, he had to swallow that bitter pill.

    However, upon arriving at the plot ofnd assigned to them, they were given another nasty surprise!

    The plot ofnd was right next to the heavenly waterfall! It was an extremely scenic location, but the waterfall was rumbling incessantly day and night! How was anyone supposed to live there?!

    However, the contract had already been signed, so there was nothing they could do. Furthermore, investments for newly constructed retirement homes in new areas in Heaven were calcted once every 10 years. The first 10 years were generally used to find a suitable site and tally up the number of people, as well as to contact the construction teams of Heaven to see who would be willing to take on the job. After all, heavenly officials were all quitezy.

    Thus, they had no choice but to ask Hell for money.

    The new King Yanluo seemed to be reasonably approachable, and the situation was truly dire. Not only were there close to 200 Abyssal Prefects who didn''t even have money for clothes and food, let alone retirement care, they were on the verge of going insane from listening to that waterfall every single second of every day! As long as Hell was willing to invest, equity was nothing!

    The key seemed to be the heavenly waterfall.

    That was the source of immortal energy for the entirety of Heaven, and the third King Yanluo seemed to be very interested in it for some reason.

    He didn''t know exactly what Qin Ye wanted to do with the heavenly waterfall, but it most likely wasn''t anything good.

    Most importantly, he was open to investing in the Xi He Retirement Home, but the problem was that the Xi He Retirement Home was situated right next to the heavenly waterfall! If something were to happen to the heavenly waterfall, the Xi He Retirement Home would have to take responsibility! In a world where Yama-Kings were amon sight, how could a bunch of Abyssal Prefects take responsibility for anything?!

    Thus, Qin Ye''s proposal had to be turned down. However, the most damning thing was that final dividend yield that he proposed!

    0.000001% of the new energy resource''s pure profits? Surely that would be at least tens of millions per year, if not over a hundred million!

    Right as his mind was racing, Ksitigarbha said, "There''s no need to overthink this, the third King Yanluo bears no ill will, he simply wants ess to the heavenly waterfall for research and development purposes rted to the new energy resource."

    Yao Jingming cast a skeptical gaze toward him.

    Ksitigarbha continued, "Rest assured, I''ll take care of this in person, so there''s no need for your heavenly officials to do anything."

    Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand as he said, "You can go now. Ry what I said to the director of the Xi He Retirement Home, and I want a reply within a week."

    "Yes, Your Excellency."

    Thus, Yao Jingming departed, and only then did Qin Ye ask, "How likely do you think they''ll be to agree?"

    "I''d say there''s an over 80% chance," Ksitigarbha replied with a smile. "You''re not in Heaven, so you don''t know the situation there. At this point, the Abyssal Prefects have already arranged many joint protests, but what can we do? Most of the original inhabitants of Heaven are ancient gods, and in ordance with the rate of ascensions from Hell, retirement homes are constructed at a rate of one per several centuries. Due to the slow rate of construction, the existing retirement homes do their best to have high-quality and diverse facilities. Facilities like sports grounds, tea rooms, massage suites, dance halls, and horse farms are pretty much standard at this point, and recently, seaside resorts and ski parks were also thrown into the mix. Each retirement home of this caliber costs several billion to build, and fairness has to be ensured all around. All of the past retirement homes were built so well, but in the face of the copse of Hell, there''s been a sudden massive influx of Yama-Kings and Abyssal Prefects, and they''re only being assigned random plots ofnd and told to fend for themselves. How could any of the recently ascended underworld emissaries ept this arrangement? Thus, they began to stage protests, and they''ve all made significant contributions to Hell in the past, so Heaven could only agree to their requests. However, they want at least three to four new retirement homes! Where is the money for that going toe from? This is why all of these representatives were sent down to Hell to secure investments as soon as the gates of Heaven were opened."

    He heaved a faint sigh before taking a sip of tea. "No one has it easy nowadays..."

    Oh? Then why do you sound so smug? Is it because I agreed to invest in your retirement home?

    Qin Ye stared intently at Ksitigarbha, trying to find a crack in his facade, but Ksitigarbha wore a cid expression that waspletely impable.

    Looks like his acting skills are just as exceptional as my own...

    After a brief pause, he asked, "What about you? You''re not going to betray me, are you?"

    A serious look appeared on Ksitigarbha''s face as he replied, "That''ll depend on the degree of sincerity you show me."

    "... Guards, bring me Ghost King Zhao''s Courage of Dragons Silver Spear! There''s no need to handle it carefully, just throw it into the room!"

    "Hey, don''t be like that, Yanluo Qin! Something as valuable as the Mutton Fat Jade Vial has to be delivered by someone trustworthy, do you think the Mother Buddha would just give it to any heavenly official? Once the vial is given to me, I''ll be held liable in all of this. I also have to help you gather immortal energy, then deliver it to you in secret at the risk of being caught by the Heavenly Dao, so this is far from easy for me! We both served Hell together at some point, surely you wouldn''t abandon an old friend to spend his retirement years in poverty and despair!"

    The veins on Qin Ye''s forehead were bulging like worms, and he reflexively reached out, only to grab onto thin air.

    Unfortunately, the spear still hadn''t been delivered, so he couldn''t y this demonic monk...

    After forcibly repressing the killing intent in his heart, he put on a fake smile as he asked, "Can I count on you then?"

    "Rest assured, as long as you show me enough sincerity, I will repay you in kind."

    Reality was often drastically different from imagination, and that certainly applied to the character of Ksitigarbha. As shameless as Qin Ye was, even he didn''t want to speak with this bastard any longer. Thus, he wisely vanished as a gust of Yin wind, and by the time he reappeared, he was already in a massive conference hall.

    This was thergest and more secure conference hall in the entire Yin Mountains Research Center.

    All of the advisors were already present, as well as the minister of education, the minister of finance, and the minister of technology, all of whom had traveled quite far to get here.

    He wasn''t in the mood to squabble with Ksitigarbha as he had more important things to do.

    The issue surrounding immortal energy had been resolved, all that was left now was to use the new energy resource to tip the entire world on its head!

 Chapter 1042: Continuation of the Zhu Rong Plan (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1042: Continuation of the Zhu Rong n (1)</h4>

    This was a grand and majestic conference hall.

    The main color scheme was ck, giving it a very solemn atmosphere. ck gs with white edges were trailing down the surrounding walls, and each g bore a huge "Qin" character. At the center of the hall was a tall stage, on either side of which was a statue of the Harken and the Pixiu Chimera, each of which was over three meters tall, with candles that were burning with whiteherfire ced all over their bodies. The ground waspletely paved with bluestone.

    Beneath the tall stage were dozens of tables and chairs, which were already fully upied, and Qin Ye had appeared right on the tall stage.

    A thick stack of documents was ced on the table in front of him, and the documents had been made into a hardcover book with a ck cover, upon which was written the words "Zhu Rong" in free-flowing text.

    It was the Zhu Rong n!

    The book was over half a foot thick, and even Qin Ye couldn''t help but take a deep breath as he extended a hand toward it.

    The deration of the Zhu Rong n he had made during the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts hadn''t been a lie. All that was needed was a right opportunity, and that opportunity had finally arrived!

    During these past few years, the Yin Mountains Research Center had been working tirelessly to conquer the problems surrounding the new energy resource, and without the interference of international circumstances, the panel of advisors hadn''t been cking off, either. They were constantly adding to the Zhu Rong n, as all of them had discovered that this n wasn''t something that could bepleted in just a year or two. At the very least, it would take dozens of years, perhaps even over a century of effort.

    On this day, the n was finally going to be set into motion.

    "Let''s begin," Qin Ye said with a nod, and a line of Yin soldiers immediately entered the hall. They were all soldiers who had been stationed in the Yin Mountains, and they were led by Qian Dui in person, who was wearing a suit of antiquated armor. All of the Yin soldiers had their hands resting on the hilts of their des, and as soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, countless Yin runes lit up in unison around him before dimming again.

    From this moment forth, only beings above the Yama-King level would be able to infiltrate this hall without being detected.

    The entire hall had fallenpletely silent.

    For the past few years, all of the underworld emissaries had been waiting. They had drafted countless ns and backup ns for how to proceed following the development of the new energy resource, and their efforts were going to be put to the test on this day.

    Together, they were going to decide the direction that history took.

    After close to a minute of silence, an underworld emissary rose to his feet before extending a respectful bow. "Your Excellency, I am number A41. We''ve already read the report on the new energy resource, and ording to our understanding, we believe that the situation is extremely simr to the one stipted in n A1, so we believe that would be the best n to proceed with at the moment."

    Instead of praising them for their hard work, Qin Ye asked in a cautious manner, "It''s only been half a day since the new energy resource was developed, are you sure you''ve had sufficient time to fully understand the report?"

    None of the people on the panel of advisors had names. Instead, they were referred to by their numbers. A41 was an elderly man who appeared to be around 60 to 70 years of age, and he had a refined appearance that was contributed to by the sses on his face. He was quite thin and had a small beard, and it could be said that there was nothing remarkable at all about his appearance.

    However, if anyone from the mortal realm''s finance circle were present, they would definitely be able to immediately identify this elderly man as one of the honorary professors of Yenching University''s finance branch, Bai Chengzhou!

    He had made countless connections in the finance circle during his lifetime, and it could be said that he was among the first pioneers of university finance in Cathay. Most of the people who came into the finance circle after him had read his books, and around half of them were students that he had taught in the past. At the same time, he was also a regr guest on the CCTV Business Channel. His analyses of international finance had been hailed as masterpieces by countless investors in the stock market, as well as small and medium-sizedpanies.

    He passed away in Jishuitan Hospital in 2023, and the national minister of finance, as well as the presidents of several major banks, including the Bank of Cathay, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Cathay, and the Agricultural Bank of Cathay had attended his funeral in person, alongside dozens of vastly renowned figures in the finance circle.

    Back when the new Hell was first established, Qin Ye was concerned that the souls of the brilliant minds that perished in the mortal realm would transform into malicious spirits, which was why he had signed the highly specialized personnel soul extradition agreement with the mortal realm.

    The agreement stated that prior to the burial of any deceased person considered to be highly specialized in their respective fields, their bodies had to be taken on ap around the city of Wuyang, and this person was one of them!

    During the past 20 years in which they had been in the underworld, they hadn''t been able to make much of an impact initially. After all, this was apletely different era from the one in the mortal realm. Thus, they were sent down by Qin Ye to all of the grassroots units for training, and only half a year prior to the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, as the Cathayan Underworld finally decided to return to the world stage, were all of these people summoned and gathered together to form the panel of advisors.

    It was important to listen to the opinions of experts and integrate their advice with his own experience to choose the most correct path forward.

    As the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, the load on his shoulders was very heavy, and it would certainly benefit him to share the load.

    Bai Chengzhou adjusted his own sses as he replied in a calm voice, "The report was actually very simple, in my opinion. We only had two questions: firstly, in what areas is the new energy resource different from electricity? Secondly, what is the magnitude of difference in those areas? The answers to these two questions are very obvious. The new energy resource is virtually no different from electricity at all, and its wattage is thousands of times higher than the electric particles of the mortal realm. It''s incredible to think that the wattage of a particle can be measured, but perhaps this is what I shoulde to expect in the underworld."

    The entire hall was very silent, and all of the underworld emissaries, including Qin Ye, were listening intently. This wasn''t a particrly illustrious meeting, and there wasn''t a big deal made out of it, but it was no exaggeration to say that its significance was on par with the founding of the nation!

    "We predict that the economy of the underworld will undergo a period of exponential growth!" he dered, and his face was slightly flushed from excitement despite his calm voice. "Of course, that sounds like an obvious statement. However, what''s most important is that this will be a massive bombshell to the entire world, one that''s powerful enough to change the state of the entire underworld! We can allow everything to develop as normal domestically, as all of the government departments will oversee the development of all of our industries. All we have to do is ensure that all of our departments follow thews of the mortal realm and implement measures to avoid monopolies. However, on the international stage is where we can really make our mark!"

    He was feeling extremely excited. This was the first step to the rise of a powerhouse nation. Cathay in the mortal realm still hadn''t reached this point yet, but here in the underworld, they were already well on their way to dictating terms on the international stage!

    He slowed down the cadence of his speech as he continued, "Your Excellency, the first thing you need to know about is the mode of operation of superpower nations. An example of this is Usonia. They tied their currency directly to energy resources, then used those energy resources to create new technology to export to the rest of the world, and that''s how they earn their money. After that, through a sequence of measures, they recycle their currency, then invest it into new research to create more new technology."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Even though he had been a noob in finance and economics in the past, he had since developed a good foundation in these two fields from his time serving as King Yanluo. At the very least, he would be able to stump a few finance professors in a debate with no problems.

    Bai Chengzhou seemed to be of the opinion that more specific details had to be provided, and he continued, "The first thing that we have to do is apply for patents. We should be able to secure 100% of the patents for the new energy resource, but what we have to apply for are patents for products rted to electricity, such as televisions and movies. These patents are all being held by scientists, and we have to secure them as soon as possible! After that, we take blueprints directly from the mortal realm and immediately begin producing these products! This is technology, and even though it''s the same technology as what''s already present in the mortal realm, but in the underworld, it''s unique, innovative technology! Depending on whether the scientists are willing to sell, we can even consider purchasing their patents outright! Computers, phones, chips, televisions... If we can purchase any of those patents outright, then we''ll have an infinite lead in that area of production! However, we''re not very optimistic about this. The scientists themselves are also aware of just how much wealth their patents can create, and most importantly, many scientists holding the rights to patents pertaining to chips and phones still haven''te down to the underworld yet. After securing the technology, we''ll be able to immediately dere the discovery of the new energy resource! Of course, prior to that, we have to conduct some experiments for a year or two first. We have to determine what wattage electric generators to use and how many generator sets to install in cities with different poption densities and factory scales. After that, we can kick down the gates of the new era!"

    His face became even more flushed with excitement as he continued, "The first step would be to establish base stations all over the world. We can construct base stations for other nations, or even give them the base station blueprints. Power nt blueprints aren''t difficult to obtain, we can just take them directly from the mortal realm, and there''s no need to keep these blueprints a secret. What''s most important is that all units of the new energy resource provided must be settled in dragon jade!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    The new energy resource''s current name was the electricity-like energy string. If it were to be settled exclusively using dragon jade, then that would be the equivalent of all the crude oil transactions in the mortal realm being settled using renminbi. [1] In fact, it would be even more significant than that! After all, electricity was far more prevalently used than crude oil! Electricity had to be used for virtually everything in the modern-day, but many people would nevere into direct contact with crude oil throughout their entire lifetimes.

    Crude oil wasn''t just a fuel, it was also used in many chemical products and even stic. Its presence was lurking in countless nondescript things, and its usage was second only to electricity in the mortal realm. Despite the fact that crude oil was less prevalently used than electricity, it was still enough to establish Usonia''s dominance.

    The USD was directly tied to crude oil, and now, the electricity-like energy resource of the underworld was going to be directly tied to the dragon jade!

    He had thought long and hard about how best to y the card that was the new energy resource, but as it turned out, he had been overthinking things!

    Bai Chengzhou continued, "If the world epts the arrangement of settling new energy resource transactions exclusively using dragon jade, then our Cathayan Underworld''s dragon jade will be the most prevalently used currency in the world! This is the first step to establishing dominance on the world stage. However, international economics is never that simple. We can tie our currency to this new energy resource, but in 10 years, maybe 20 years, other countries may be able to develop other new energy resources. Thus, we have to always remain ahead of the entire world, making technical breakthroughs on our electricity-like energy resource so that ourpetitors will never be able to truly challenge us in this field!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Indeed, electricity wasn''t all that significant. It granted the Cathayan Underworld a temporary lead, but what if another nation developed sr power or something like that?

    However, if they could tie important industries such as the telmunication, film, phone, andputer industries to the new energy resource, then unless another nation could develop sr power phones andputers to match that, the Cathayan Underworld''s energy resource would always be the widely epted number one energy resource in the world! As a result, the dragon jade, which was tied directly to it, would also be widely epted as the number one currency in the world!

    "What do you suggest?"

    An elderly man replied with a smile, "Our proposal is very simple: take a break for a month, then immediately begin developing underworldputers and phones. Even if we don''t develop those things, we have to at least begin developing normal electrical appliances to gain a technological lead over the rest of the world! We can take many blueprints from the mortal realm, but many substitutes will most likely bepletely different. We may not be able to lead the rest of the world in all fields, but we have to at least ensure a lead in some fields!"

    "What do you suggest?" Qin Ye repeated.

    Bai Chengzhou and the elderly man exchanged a nce before dering, "We suggest that we begin with radio technology! Once we''ve developed that, we''ll be able to produce things like radios, televisions, and movies right away! At the same time as we''re initiating an economic invasion, we''re alsounching a cultural invasion! If everything is done right, our Cathayan Underworld will be powerful beyond imagination! It wouldn''t be unrealistic in the slightest to say that we could be the premier powerhouse nation in the world"

    [1] [Renminbi is the name for the Chinese currency]

 Chapter 1043: Continuation of the Zhu Rong Plan (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1043: Continuation of the Zhu Rong n (2)</h4>

    Fantastic!

    Qin Ye almost erupted into involuntary apuse upon hearing this.

    For all his cunning and guile, there was no way that he would be able to find the most suitable path to proceed with in such aplex affair.

    In order to dominate the international market, connecting the new energy resource with the dragon jade definitely wasn''t the only thing that had to be considered. That was only the desired oue, and countless things had to be considered in order to achieve this oue.

    Just by listening to Bai Chengzhou alone, Qin Ye could feel his thought process bing much clearer!

    "For the current underworld, television and radio technology doesn''t just constitute technological output, it also involves cultural output," he murmured to himself in a contemtive manner as he gently tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers.

    Why was it that so many people in Cathay revered western films and culture, yet paid no heed to or even denounced their own culture?

    A sense of novelty was undoubtedly a factor behind this phenomenon.

    The emergence of the new energy resource heralded the arrival of a new era, and anyone would be lying if they said that they weren''t intrigued by this.

    On the other hand, Usonia and Nippon did a far better job of exporting their culture to the rest of the world than Cathay did. Of course, this was something that could only be considered once the basic quality of life for all of the Cathayan Underworld''s citizens could be ensured. However, that wasn''t to say that they couldn''t work toward those two objectives simultaneously.

    Where the mortal realm had failed in the past, there was a very good chance that he could seed in the underworld!

    The underworld was also run by an authoritarian system, and the new energy resource had just been developed, making this an opportunity that wouldn''t even arise once every 1,000 years, so why shouldn''t he give this a shot?

    After a long while, he mused to himself, "In that case, it looks like we''ll have to start establishing unions for directors, screenwriters, actors, and other relevant personnel..."

    Perhaps it would still take a few more months to iron out the technological issues at hand, but in the present day, the field that radio technology was most prevalently used in was the recreation industry! Furthermore, this technology could also be used to develop satellites in the future!

    As the problems in technology were being resolved, the film industry had to be established simultaneously!

    There wouldn''t even be a need to find actors for movies like Cathayan Ghost Story, The Grudge, and Ghost! Hold on, would these movies encourageherworldly citizens to go back and haunt the mortal realm? On second thought, perhaps these movies wouldn''t be very appropriate, after all...

    After setting that train of thought aside, Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the director of the propaganda department. Theherfire in the director''s eyes had already sprung up to half a meter in height, and before Qin Ye even had a chance to speak, he immediately rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute. "I''ve already recorded everything that''s been said here, Your Excellency. Once I get back, I''ll begin establishing central offices for radio, television, and movies right away! At the same time, I''ll prepare authorization policies and release numbers! I''ll be sure to have everything prepared within half a year!"

    It was finally his time to shine!

    Prior to this monumental development, the Cathayan Underworld''s propaganda department had been nothing more than dead weight.

    They had no funds and nothing to do, and if it weren''t for the Hell''s Weekly newspaper that they were responsible for releasing, they would literally have no duties to speak of.

    However, all of that was about to change!

    From this day forth, they were going to be ranked alongside their high and mighty colleagues of the energy resource and finance departments!

    He was so happy that he would''ve already burst into song and dance, if not for the fact that he was in the presence of Yanluo Qin!

    Qin Ye also heaved a long internal sigh of relief.

    The first step to making the dragon jade the most prevalently used currency in the world and establishing the Cathayan Underworld as the dominant global powerhouse had finally been decided.

    What were they going to do next?

    He turned to Bai Chengzhou with an eager expression, and thetter immediately continued, "The second step is research into the phone,puter, chip, and artificial intelligence industries. With the new energy resource ready and blueprints just waiting to be taken from the mortal realm, the underworld is going to experience a technological boom for the next decade or so. During this time, the underworld will rapidly catch up to the mortal realm, and we have to seize the initiative! In the short term, we can rely on the peak created by the rising film and recreation industries, but that peak is too insignificant, and it''ll most likely be surpassed before too long, even if we don''t reveal the constituentponents of the new energy resource to the rest of the world. We''ve conducted targeted research into the internationalws of the underworld, and in the case of a redevelopment of a certain energy resource, we''ll only be able to take up 30% of the patents at most. In order to surpass ourpetition, we have to strike from the most cutting-edge industries. In fact, we can even begin exploring other nes in the future! I''m sure Earth isn''t the only ne in all of space, where three realms arebined as one!"

    This deration immediately triggered a flurry of discussion, and even Qin Ye was extremely tempted by this prospect.

    They were clearly going off-topic, but why was it that he didn''t want to return the discussion to the subject at hand?

    Who said that the underworld couldn''t send out spacecrafts to explore other nes? Who was to say that the so-called dark universe wasn''t just the entrance to another world? Why couldn''t there be other gods and other civilizations in space?

    Calm down, you''re getting ahead of yourself here... Qin Ye took several deep breaths in session while reminding himself that this wasn''t the time to be considering something like this.

    The top priority for them right now was to establish dominance over the rest of the world. Only then would they be able to consider sending Yin spirits into space.

    After a brief pause, he sighed, "That''s most likely going to be rather difficult at the moment."

    "Your Excellency, this is very..."

    "I know." Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off as he said, "I agree with the opinions of everyone on the panel of advisors. We''ll start by developing basic electronic equipment such as televisions and phones, but after all that is done, I think the most important thing would be to establish the education industry. We are currently standing at the starting line of what is going to be a period of rapid development for the underworld, but while it''s true that your methods may be applicable if such an opportunity were to be encountered in the mortal realm, what about the underworld? At the moment, we do not have an education system. As you all have seen, regardless of the makeup of the electricity-like energy string, it''s still essentially a Yin rune. Without Yin rune experts, making developments in these areas is a lot more difficult."

    He turned to Vice-director Li Lanzhi of the ministry of education, who was also present in the hall, and said, "In the long run, the education industry will be the key to Hell''s resurgence. It won''t take too long, all we''ll need is about 20 years, and we''ll be able to return to our former level. At the moment, it''s unrealistic to dedicate all of our scientists to new research and experiment projects."

    Right at this moment, the elderly man who had spoken earlier stood up and said, "I am A25, and I have some insights that I would like to share with you."

    "Go ahead," Qin Ye prompted with a nod.

    None of the members of the panel of elders were ordinary figures. This elderly man had a very nondescript appearance, seemingly in his fifties with a slightly portly build and a bald spot on his head. However, all of those familiar with him in the mortal realm knew that he was another important figure in the international finance circles!

    He wasn''t as renowned as Bai Chengzhou, but among all of the currently active economists, around 10% to 20% of the ones who had some renown in the finance circles had been taught by him.

    If he had continued on his original trajectory, he wasn''t guaranteed to overtake Bai Chengzhou, but his chances certainly weren''t negligible. However, after spending most of his life in the international finance circle, he felt as if he had understood all there was to be understood, and with no further achievements left for him to make, he switched to the international situation analysis circle.

    In this circle, histent potential waspletely stimted. All of the situations that arose on the international stage stemmed from the state of the economy, so the two circles were closely interconnected to begin with.

    Ever since he entered the international situation analysis circle, he managed to urately predict the future direction of the world time and time again. His most renowned feat came during 1998, where he was called upon by the prime minister to work with several major domestic banks to ward off the Asian financial crisis. Furthermore, he had also predicted the 2008 subprime crisis.

    His name was Jin Changshou, and this was a name that was firmly ingrained in Cathay''s history in the international situation analysis circle. His uncanny knack for predicting the future and spotting obscure trends was unmatched, and he passed away in the First Military Hospital in 2021.

    Qin Ye certainly wasn''t going to turn down a request to speak from someone like him! He was dying to hear Jin Changshou''s opinions!

    "There''s no problem with what you''ve just said, but there''s a project that we must invest in right away!"

    Jin Changshou wore a smile on his face, but his voice was very heavy as he said, "What we have to do now isn''t to release the new energy resource to the rest of the world. Instead, we should wait until our technological output passageways have matured, perhaps even after those passageways have been established across our entire nation. A significant amount of the work involved in developing this new energy resource was done for us by Xu Fu, and there''s no way another new energy resource will appear in the world within the next decade. This is a window of time that we must make use of. We''ll continue to keep the new energy resource a secret and allow them to research and develop as they please. Once they''re done, we''ll bring out our energy resource along with all of the mature passageways and products that we''ve already established, making all of their prior efforts go to waste! After that, we''ll export our technology to the rest of the world, and this is where the problem arises."

    A grim look appeared on his face as he continued, "All exports of technology require sufficient protection, and we''re not equipped to provide that at the moment. We don''t have an army, all we have is a being above the Yama-King level, and that''s not enough!"

    Qin Ye was enlightened upon hearing this.

    He looked down at the table, and he finally understood why this n was a part of the Zhu Rong n.

    "You''re saying we need to develop second-generation forbidden arts?" he asked in a cautious manner.

    "That''s right!" Jin Changshou replied. "In the mortal realm, Usonia''s technology output relies entirely upon their military prowess! Without sufficient military power to protect our technology, it''ll be like sendingmbs into a wolves'' den! Things like movies and televisions still won''t be enough to trigger the bottom line of the three pirs, but they definitely won''t continue to stand by idly once we begin developing products such as chips,puters, and aviation equipment! If we announce our ventures into these industries but don''t have sufficient military power to protect them, then a new world war will most likely follow!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Jin Changshou waspletely right. With electricity as a foundation, it would be a lot easier to develop nuclear energy than it would be to do so from scratch, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that they had the second-generation forbidden arts startup module!

    Only with nuclear energy at their disposal would they be able to fend for themselves in terms of military power on the world stage, and only then would they be able to export their cutting-edge technology to the rest of the world in exchange for massive sums of dragon jade.

    Both of these ns had to support one another.

    After a brief moment of thought, he decided, "We''ll discuss the topic of who should undertake this project another time. During this meeting, we''ll only discuss future development possibilities and the feasibility of the options avable to us. Continue."

    Jin Changshou sat back down, and Bai Chengzhou continued, "What we''ve said just now is only the prelude for what''s toe. Connecting the dragon jade with our new energy resource, developing new technology, and exporting our technology are key steps to establishing dominance on the world''s political stage, but we''re going to encounter many challenges after that."

    He continued in a grim voice, "The first challenge will be intion and trade shock. The first thing that we have to do after we establish direct ties between our new energy resource and the dragon jade is to print massive amounts of dragon jade! Given that all new energy resource transactions are to be settled with dragon jade, once we enter the international currency and energy resource markets, other nations must use dragon jade to buy our new energy resource, so we must prepare sufficient currency reserves!"

    This was very easy to understand.

    Once the new energy resource entered the world stage, the entire world would be scrambling to purchase dragon jade, and if they didn''t prepare for that sharp increase in demand, then there would be ack of currency domestically.

    What would be the oue of that?

    With 100 dragon jade, one would be able to purchase a car, perhaps even two or three cars...

    This seemed like a good thing, but in reality, it wasn''t.

    As a result of this, sries and wages were also going to decrease. The economy would always return to an equilibrium, and the issue that would arise from this would be chaos in the currency system.

    If 100 dragon jade could purchase a car, how was change supposed to be given?

    If one dragon jade could purchase 10 kilograms of rice, how many pieces of 10-cent and one-cent currency would have to be prepared?

    Currency had been invented to make trading more convenient, but in this hypothetical situation, it would impede trade instead, thereby proving to be very detrimental for currency cirction.

    During the dozen or so years that Qin Ye had been in power, he had learned about all of this. However, he knew that this still wasn''t the most terrifying part. Several decades down the track, the inconvenience of using the dragon jade currency could lead to the currency being scrapped altogether, thereby resulting in a degradation to a society where items were exchanged for other items. If the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t prepared sufficient dragon jade stores by the time the new energy resource entered the global market, another storm would sweep over the entire nation in just two to three years!

 Chapter 1044: Continuation of the Zhu Rong Plan (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1044: Continuation of the Zhu Rong n (3)</h4>

    That storm would be intion.

    Back when he was first learning this, he had found this to be quite confusing. Why would intion ur with less dragon jade in the domestic currency market?

    Only after learning about this subject in-depth did he realize that this was because of currency reflux.

    Currency reflux could take ce through international trade or national debt, and that would deal a massive blow on the Cathayan Underworld''s currency market, which would''ve already shrunk significantly at that point, thereby creating massive intion and unimaginable losses in intangible assets!

    Every nation was extremely cautious when it came to manipting its currency.

    Bai Chengzhou continued, "Once the new energy resource enters the market, we have to open up currency exchange services so that the rest of the world can exchange all of the dragon jade we''ve stored. Only then will they have the dragon jade required to purchase our energy resource."

    Only then would the Cathayan Underworld''s dragon jade be the dominant currency on the world market.

    "Ideally, after all of this, the total amount of currency in our nation will still maintain its current level. However, we''ll haverge sums of dragon jade overseas, and the best way to ensure that those sums of dragon jade don''t just remain idle would be to open up national trade right away!"

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. National trade would require all of the Cathayan Underworld''s ports and cities to open up, and once that happened, the entire world would be able to see exactly what had be of the Cathayan Underworld.

    They would alle to realize that the Fengdu of the past was already gone, and that Everburn had taken its ce.

    What would the other underworlds think?

    The most infuriating thing to them would be that this impoverished nation had the most advanced energy resource in the entire world!

    The entire nation would be brightly lit by the new energy resource, and the light would illuminate the envious faces of all of the foreign underworld emissaries across the entire world.

    The Zhu Rong n must be implemented...

    As Qin Ye reaffirmed his determination, Bai Chengzhou continued, "When the timees, our entire nation will have ess to the new energy resource, and that would be enough to disguise the signs of the fall of the old Hell. On top of that, we can limit the cities that we open up to the rest of the world to only our port cities. For example, we can focus all of our trade on the ind of Formosa, transforming it into a global trade city, and that''ll prevent the rest of the world from seeing deeper ind into our nation. I think this is the best way to proceed, and we won''t need to ask the second King Yanluo to remove the Array of the Nine Gods. All of the other nations will only be able to watch as we develop within the safety of the array!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this. He had failed to consider this as a possible tactic!

    The Kraken was going to be modified into a military fortress to weather the storm that was the international trade conference and also to stun all of those hillbillies. However, it wasn''trge enough to hold merchant ships from all over the world. Ports weren''t just ces for ships to dock, rest and recreation facilities for the sailors on the ships also had to be provided. The Kraken possessed an enormous body, but it still wasn''trge enough to ept several hundred cargo ships at once while also providing facilities for rest and recreation.

    However, Formosa could satisfy all of these requirements.

    With an area of 36,000 square kilometers, it was 150 times the size of the Kraken, which meant that several port cities could be developed on it.

    He immediately cast his gaze toward the several directors of Yin Construction, upon which he discovered that all of them wore calm and unflustered expressions, but were frantically taking notes.

    The construction boom sweeping across the entire nation still hadn''t passed yet, so it was the perfect time to be developing Formosa.

    There was massive potential for the real estate industry to grow in the current Cathayan Underworld!

    Bai Chengzhou continued, "As long as we hold second-generation forbidden arts, in fact, we don''t even need to fully develop them. All we have to do is tell the world that we have the ability to detonate the forbidden arts reactor, and that would be enough. With second-generation forbidden arts acting as protection and with the new energy resource attracting the attention of the entire world, we''ll be able to export our new energy resource and its rted technology to the rest of the world, then frantically trade with other nations! The other nations will be under the opinion that we have to do this in order to recycle our dragon jade, thereby forming a trade loop to ward off intion, never would they guess that we really do need these things! If we only open up Formosa to the rest of the world, there''s no way they''ll be able to see through us! Within a century, there will be a good chance for us to restore the Cathayan Underworld to its former glory!"

    His deafening voice reverberated throughout the entire hall, and all of the Yin spirits present in this meeting couldn''t help but be swept up by his excitement.

    The resurgence of their nation was imminent.

    The nation had endured far too many hardships. The longest feudal era in history resulted in the dominance of major ns and apletely untenable state of affairs. Thus, the second King Yanluo made the bold decision for the entirety of Hell to ascend to Heaven, and in the wake of these drastic changes, only now were they finally seeing a glimmer of hope for a resurgence!

    "Directors of Yin Construction," Qin Ye called out.

    "Present!"

    Qin Ye turned to the directors and instructed, "Prepare all of the best city designers and construction workers."

    He swept his gaze across all of the Yin spirits present as he continued, "I''ve discussed this with General Zhao and the Harken in the past, and our n is to continue keeping all of this a secret. There are still five and a half years left until the international trade conference is scheduled to be held..."

    His voice trailed off here, but it was clear what the conclusion of his sentence would''ve been.

    Five and a half yearster, they were going to stun the entire world!

    Thus, during these next five and a half years, all of the basic technological output, includingrge numbers of film scripts, scripts for variety shows, radio towers, etc. All of these things had to be developed.

    These things weren''t difficult to develop. All they had to do was take blueprints directly from the mortal realm, then search for suitable substitutes in the underworld. At the very most, it would take a year to sort out everything. None of the top researchers of the nation would even have to get involved as this was a project simple enough for less skilled personnel toplete.

    As for the remaining four and a half years, that would be the time for them to roll out the new energy resource across the entire nation and usher in a new era for the Cathayan Underworld!

    Six of the eight directors of Yin Construction were present, and as they exchanged a nce with one another, all of them could see their own eagerness mirrored in each other''s eyes.

    They had a very happy predicament on their hands. At the moment, there were countless real estate development businesses all over the nation, and there were already far too many jobs for Yin Construction to handle. In a year and a half at most, they would have toy down circuitry all over the entire nation, and that project had to bepleted within four years. With the massive influx of workers required toplete these projects, Yin Construction was going to be an extremely bloated organization once all of these projects were finished.

    However, this was only to be expected. There was a type of efficiency known as Cathayan efficiency. If a foreign nation wanted to construct a road, for example, they would have to hold multiple parliamentary discussions and face opposition from different parties. However, this didn''t exist at all in Cathay!

    A bridge could be constructed in a month! A hospital could be built overnight!

    As long as the government supplied them with sufficient funding,ying down circuitry all over the entire nation over the span of four years wasn''t an issue! This was one of the main advantages of an authoritarian government system!

    After a brief pause, Qin Ye continued, "Tell them to make all the required preparations, and I want to see the construction blueprint for the entire ind of Formosa within a month, as well as blueprints for at least 10 ports thatply with international standards! If everything goes well, our policies will be inclined toward the construction of Formosa. Do you have the confidence toplete the construction of 10 ports and 10 cities within four years?"

    The directors took a collective deep breath, following which one of them replied, "If we can get all of the currently unemployedherworldly citizens in our nation to participate in this project, then it''s possible. On top of that, we also require sufficient machinery."

    "Rest assured, you''ll have all the support you need for the duration of the projects."

    The directors exchanged a nce with one another, then nodded firmly in response.

    This was a political mission that had to bepleted!

    "Very good." Qin Ye nodded before turning to Bai Chengzhou. "In that case, after the international trade conference, we''ll open up Formosa immediately. At the same time, we''ll announce that we''ve made big strides in the Zhu Rong n."

    "The education industry also has to be established," Bai Chengzhou added.

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and his mind was already drifting to the prospect of second-generation forbidden arts.

    Such a grand project could onlymence once the education industry had produced several generations of talented personnel, and that would take at least 30 years.

    For projects of this magnitude, even a powerhouse nation like Usonia in the underworld would only be able to take on two at the same time at most. Any more than that, and the strain on the entire national economy would be too great.

    The meeting continued, and only after three whole days did the entire meeting conclude.

    Every single step had been discussed in detail, and upon leaving the conference hall, all of the Yin spirits were feeling utterly exhausted, but they couldn''t snuff out the mes of excitement in their hearts no matter what!

    Everyone knew how Usonia had risen to be a powerhouse nation in the mortal realm.

    The process of its rise had been dissected and studied countless times, and it was finally the Cathayan Underworld''s turn to replicate it!

    The sense of mission, excitement, and anticipation in their hearts made it impossible for them to rest. Instead, they returned to Everburn right away, rushing back eagerly to their respective departments to ry the contents of the meeting to their colleagues.

    This was a grand n for the resurgence of an entire nation! If anyone dared to try and ck off or do a halfhearted job, then they weren''t going to keep their jobs for much longer!

    In the Yin Mountains Research Center, Qin Ye had also returned to his own room and was drinking some tea.

    On a mental level, he was utterly exhausted, but at the same time, he was extremely satisfied and fulfilled.

    You know, this King Yanluo job isn''t so bad...

    A faint smile appeared on his face as he looked around at the room with a slightly wistful expression.

    He had stuck with his scientists through thick and thin, and next, it was time to negotiate patent usage rights with the foreign scientists and register patents on the international level, neither of which were processes that he had to take part in in person.

    This room had been his office for the past four years, and now that it was time to return to Everburn, he had to admit that he was a little reluctant to leave.

    However, his reluctance to part with this ce was far outweighed by his eagerness to see what new heights he could take the Cathayan Underworld to!

    The gates to the new era were already open, and following his return to Everburn, massive changes would sweep over the entire underworld!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Cathayan Underworld, Everburn.

    Following the past few years of development, Everburn had already be the undisputed center of the Cathayan Underworld. There were many finer details that were still slightlycking, but it was a grand and majestic city, nheless.

    The city had been nned out very well in its construction, with countless antiquated buildings stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions. Tamed Yin beasts were drawing carriages through the streets, and the business area was extremely lively and bustling. A series of cloth gs that were burning withherfire were pping in the wind in the recreation district, giving it a very vibrant and alluring appearance.

    The topography of Everburn was rather rugged and uneven. It wasn''t quite as rugged as a mountain city, but it wasn''t far off. Once night fell,herfire would light up in all of the well-organized buildings, and even though they were a little sparse, there was still a sense of prosperity to the city. They were stars on a clear summer''s night, striking the beholder with an indescribable sense of peace and harmony.

    Of course, the Cathayan Underworld was stillcking in resources, so only Ashmound and Everburn had been constructed to this extent. Just like in the major cities of the mortal realm, there were also countless dream-chasing Yin spirits who hade to Everburn from all parts of the nation.

    At this point, two months had already passed since the final breakthrough in the Yin Mountains.

    None of theherworldly citizens were aware of the monumental development that had taken ce over at the Yin Mountains.

    Life had to go on, and unless it was something directly rted to them, none of theherworldly citizens were interested.

    However, all of a sudden, all of theherworldly citizens looked up into the sky in unison.

    In the blink of an eye, countless Yin energy screens had appeared out of thin air, and the Yin spirits who had only recently perished were allpletely rooted to the spot by this astonishing sight.

    What the hell is going on?!

 Chapter 1045: Education is the Key (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1045: Education is the Key (1)</h4>

    Yin Xiangnan, male, 25 years of age, passed away at age 18...

    He entered the underworld seven years ago, participating in all types of grand asions during his time here, and he was part of the second batch of Yin spirits to have entered the new Hell.

    Right as the Yin energy screens appeared, he immediately looked up to watch them intently with an unblinking gaze.

    It had been so long since Yin energy screens hadst appeared that he had almost forgotten their existence. However, he knew that everytime these screens appeared, it was always to dere some major event!

    He wasn''t the only one. In this instant, all of the Yin spirits who had some experience in Hell immediately stopped what they were doing to look up at the screens.

    Currently, the daily number of people who died from natural causes in Cathay was around 52,000, and over the course of the past decade, the number of Yin spirits in the new Hell had already exceeded two hundred million!

    In terms of national poption, Cathay ranked first in the world with 1.4 billion, Hindustan was second with 1.3 billion, Usonia was third with three hundred million, Indonesia was fourth with 260 million, and Brazil was fifth with 210 million. Thus, the current poption of Yin spirits in the Cathayan Underworld would already be enough for it to rank as the fifth most populous nation in the mortal realm!

    Thus, most of the Yin spirits werepletely bamboozled.

    Who am I? Where am I? What''s going on?

    Inside the office that Yin Xiangnan was situated in, all of the Yin spirits stuck their heads out the windows with stunned expressions, pointing up at the Yin energy screens in the sky while discussing spiritedly among themselves.

    "What on earth is that?"

    "I''ve never seen this before! Could it be aliens? Oh wait, I''m already dead..."

    "Hey, look at this! These things ripple when you poke it! What is this stuff?"

    What a bunch of excitable hillbillies!

    Yin Xiangnan cleared his throat as he said, "Watch and learn my friends, something big is about to happen."

    "Do you know what these things are?" Countless Yin spirits were gathered on the street, and all of the Yin spirits in thepany turned to Yin Xiangnan with curious expressions.

    "Of course," Yin Xiangnan replied as he took a sip of his tea. "You only came down recently, so you haven''t seen any of Hell''s past national public announcements. I recall thest one was around five to six years ago, when the founding of the thirding of Hell was announced."

    "Not bad, Brother Yin!"

    "As expected of an old ghost like you!"

    "So basically, these things are like LED screens that can be conjured up across the entire nation?"

    Yin Xiangnan was very pleased with the feeling of being looked up to by his peers.

    Right as he was about to speak, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a woman rushed into the room. "I could hear all of you chit-chatting all the way from outside! Have you finished your report, Yin Xiangnan? And all of you, do you think a national public announcement is an excuse for you to stop working? Even if the sky falls on us right now, your finance department has to submit its report by the end of today, no ifs, ands, or buts, do I make myself clear? It''s already the end of the month! Hurry, hurry, hurry! You can''t be wasting time like this!"

    The smug look on Yin Xiangna''s face immediately vanished as he replied in an awkward manner, "We''ll do that right away..."

    Right at this moment, a burst of white light suddenly erupted from all of the screens across the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld.

    All of the Cathayan Underworld''s hundreds of cities, thousands of counties, and tens of thousands of viges and townships were basked in this white light at the same time. All of the Yin spirits who were chatting with one another instantly fell silent as they looked up at this divine miracle.

    Several secondster, a surge of Yin energy swept over all of the screens, following which Qin Ye''s face emerged. He was wearing a tight-fitting ck dragon robe, and the Harken was on his left, while Zhao Yun was on his right.

    These were three of Hell''s five top dogs!

    This was what they were referred to by theherworldly citizens, the other two were Arthis, who was the master of the six paths of reincarnation, and Qin Changxin, who was overseeing all matters in Everburn and Ashmound. Of course, most of the Yin spirits had only ever heard of their names, and it was an astonishing sight to be seeing three of the five top dogs at once!

    In this instant, the entire Cathayan Underworld was silent, and Qin Ye dered, "I am the ruler of Hell, Yanluo Qin."

    His gaze seemed to be able to sweep over the entire nation, and every single Yin spirit felt as if Qin Ye''s gaze had rested on them individually for an instant. Qin Ye continued, "What is an underworld emissary?"

    What is he trying to say?

    Yin Xiangnan looked out the window as well to stare up at the screens suspended in the sky, and even the female manager who had just rushed into the room was also looking up at the sky with a puzzled expression.

    What were underworld emissaries? The answer to that question was simple: they were the enforcers of Hell responsible for maintainingw and order in the Cathayan Underworld.

    Why was such a question being asked?

    Qin Ye seemed to have gleaned the thoughts of all of theherworldly citizens across the entire nation, and he said, "There are six ranks among underworld emissaries, namely Netherworld Operative, Soul Hunter, Anitya Hellguard, Infernal Judge, Abyssal Prefect, and Yama-King. I''m sure many of you have already heard of this."

    Countlessherworldly citizens nodded in response to this. During these past few years, the ranks of the underworld emissaries hadn''t been kept a secret from theherworldly citizens, but nor had they ever been borated upon.

    Why was this topic suddenly being discussed?

    Right as everyone was looking on with befuddlement in their hearts, the image suddenly zoomed out, depicting several Netherworld Operatives wearing long ck robes, giving off menacing Yin energy while holding Soul Shackles in their hands.

    It wasn''t difficult to reach this rank, all one had to do was to be officially anointed by Hell. During the past decade, someherworldly citizens had already managed to reach this level.

    The images were depicting all corners of the mortal realm, and most of them depicted hospitals. As soon as any mortal perished, a murky soul would emerge from their body, following which a Soul Shackle would instantly be wound around their neck. At the same time, a talisman would be stered to their forehead, and with an authoritative cry of "by Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse'''', the dazed looks in the eyes of the Yin spirits would give way to rity once again, and they would follow along behind the Netherworld Operatives obediently.

    One Soul Shackle could often capture several Yin spirits, and wherever a Netherworld Operative appeared, all of the drifting souls in the surrounding area would frantically rush away. Those who couldn''t get away in time immediately fell to the ground, kneeling with their foreheads pressed against the ground as they trembled uncontrobly.

    The Netherworld Operatives were like imposing rulers of death!

    "That''s so badass!" This sentiment was shared by countless young, male Yin spirits all over the nation. However, they were only intrigued by how badass the Netherworld Operatives looked to them. In contrast, most of the Yin spirits were thinking of something else entirely.

    These Netherworld Operatives could return to the mortal realm!

    Several elderly Yin spirits were rooted to the spot for several seconds on a za, and as they spoke, even their voices were cracking from excitement. "They can return to the mortal realm?! These Netherworld Operatives are allowed to return to the mortal realm?!"

    They were aware of the six ranks of underworld emissaries, but they didn''t actually know how powerful they were or what purposes they served.

    "Does this mean that if we get selected to be Netherworld Operatives, we''ll be able to return to the mortal realm?!"

    "My god, that''s insane! I recall that only those who performed their jobs well in Yin Construction would be given the chance to return to the mortal realm for a trip!"

    "I heard about that as well from the old ghosts in my area, but that privilege was done away with long ago. It looks like the only way to return to the mortal realm now would be to be a Netherworld Operative!"

    Countless Yin spirits were extremely enticed by the prospect of a return to the mortal realm.

    They were willing to make any sacrifice even if they were only permitted to take a single look at the mortal realm!

    Once again, Qin Ye seemed to have read everyone''s thoughts, and he exined, "Netherworld Operatives form the foundation of the underworld emissary system. They''re responsible for collecting all Yin spirits in the mortal realm and guiding them into the underworld. Netherworld Operatives work in the mortal realm, and they''re changed once every decade."

    The Netherworld Operatives depicted on the screens began to rise up into the air, then instantly disintegrated into Yin energy that drifted in all directions like gusts of wind before reforming themselves as if they were performing a magic trick. At the same time, the Soul Shackles in their hands were dancing like venomous vipers that had a mind of their own, and their demonhead sabers were resting on their shoulders, giving them a menacing and domineering appearance.

    "Netherworld Operatives possess basic underworld emissary abilities, and their powers are equivalent to that of 50 normal Yin spiritsbined. Not only are they responsible for harvesting souls, they also have a duty to inspect the mortal realm and immediately report to their higher-ups if they discover any malicious spirits."

    All of the Yin spirits of the Cathayan Underworld were looking on intently. This was the first time the power system of the underworld was being exined to them, and it was also the first time that countless Yin spirits were directly facing the arcane.

    What came next was an image depicting Soul Hunters.

    Yin energy was drifting all around them, and they appeared to be no different from Netherworld Operatives. However, everyone could see that the Yin energy around them was far more substantial. If Netherworld Operatives could only slice rifts into the ground several meters in length with their attacks, then Soul Hunters would be able to fell entire buildings with a single nonchnt gesture, and the Yin energy screens seemed to be trembling in the face of their power.

    The image transitioned again, and on this asion, it was depicting a vast expanse of inky darkness.

    Within the darkness, two specks ofherfire, one azure and one red, suddenly lit up, following the howls and sobs of countless evil ghosts rang out incessantly. All of a sudden, two figures, one ck and one white, emerged in a wraith-like manner.

    They were wearing familiar pointed hats and ck and white long robes, holding mourning sticks in their hands. The word "prosperity" was written on top of one of their heads, while the other one carried the words "world peace" on top of their head. Their inky-ck hair trailed down from the brims of their hats, pping in the wind, while their crimson tongues dangled over a meter in length out of their mouths.

    However, not only were the Yin spirits not horrified by this, they found this to be a very intimate and iming sight.

    These two underworld emissaries were virtually the spokespeople of Hell, namely White Anitya Hellguard Xie Bi''an, and ck Anitya Hellguard Fan Wujiu!

    "Those are the ck and White Anitya Hellguards!" Yin Xiangnan was looking up at the screens in the sky with an excited expression. He didn''t know why this information was suddenly being presented to them, but he was very intrigued, nheless.

    All of theherworldly citizens looked on with intrigued expressions as a river appeared in front of the ck and White Anitya Hellguards.

    What are they going to do?

    Right in front of everyone''s puzzled eyes, the ck and White Anitya Hellguards slowly raised their hands before gently pressing them downward.

    In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire river was split in half down the middle!

    "Holy shit!!!" Yin Xiangnan''s eyeballs almost bulged out of their sockets as he abruptly sprang to his feet, sending his chair flying back with a piercing scraping noise as the legs of the chair slid across the floor, but no one chastised him for this.

    All of the colleagues around him, including the female supervisor who had just said that everyone had to work even if the sky were falling on them, were allpletely rooted to the spot as they stared at the screens with ck-jawed expressions.

    In that instant, the entire Cathayan Underworld had fallen so silent that even a pin drop would be audible.

    If the powers of Netherworld Operatives and Soul Hunters could still be understood and epted, then the powers of the ck and White Anitya Hellguards werepletely outside the realm of everyone''sprehension!

    With a simple gesture, they had split an entire river! How could this be real?

    Amid the deathly silence, Qin Ye continued, "Anitya Hellguards are considered to be mid-grade underworld emissaries. Upon reaching this level, one would''vepletely transcended beyond normal Yin spirits. No matter how many Yin spirits challenge them at once, they would all bembs to the ughter, and there are rarely ever any ghosts that can stand a chance against an Anitya Hellguard."

    The Yin energy screens shimmered slightly as Yin energy permeated across their surface, and by the time the Yin energy dissipated, a tall mountain was revealed.

    At the top of the mountain stood a lone figure.

    Netherfire was revolving all around him, and his Yin energy was as vast as a river, countless times more fearsome than that of an Anitya Hellguard, which had already stunned the entire Cathayan Underworld into silence with their disy of power.

    This has to be an Infernal Judge!

    The same thought urred to all of theherworldly citizens, and with it came a sense of scorching anticipation, especially for a certain group of people.

    These were the people who had been special forces soldiers during their lives in the mortal realm, and never did they think that the power system in the underworld could be so terrifying and so alluring!

    Everyone was truly eagerly waiting to see what happened next, and right before their expectant eyes, the Infernal Judge gently raised a hand.

 Chapter 1046: Education is the Key (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1046: Education is the Key (2)</h4>

    Right as the Infernal Judge raised his hand, all of the Yin spirits involuntarily stood up a little straighter as they stared intently at the image unfolding before their eyes.

    In the next instant, a speck of light appeared in the sky before bing brighter and brighter.

    Initially, it was white in color, as if it were a star in the cosmos, but before long, it had turned a scarlet color, and it was also bingrger and clearer by the second!

    All of the Yin spirits'' eyelids were twitching, and even through the screens, they were struck by an asphyxiating sense of pressure. In the face of this astonishing scene, movies like 2012 and Armageddon were child''s y!

    "Holy shit..." Theherfire in a young Yin spirit''s eyes had turnedpletely red, perhaps from fear, or perhaps from excitement. "Did he just summon an asteroid?!"

    Indeed, that was exactly what it was.

    The asteroid wasing from above the heavens and burning with boundless scorching mes, as if a fire god were descending from above, crashing down toward an area near the Infernal Judge.

    The closer it got, the faster it seemed to travel, and at this point, the entire sky had been illuminated a scarlet color. It was as if the sky were a piece of paper, and a scarlet demon was about to tear out from behind it at any moment!

    Everyone looked on with bated breath, and finally, an earth-shattering boom rang out as scorching mes erupted in all directions!

    BOOM!!!!

    The giant asteroid crashed down around 10 kilometers in front of the Infernal Judge, andyer uponyer of shockwaves erupted forth in a frenzy, sending fierce wind blowing in all directions and uprooting all of the surrounding trees. Visible shockwaves instantly proliferated through the entire surrounding area, followed by a burst of blinding light.

    Boundless light illuminated the entire Cathayan Underworld, and all of theherworldly citizens involuntarily closed their eyes. Only after the light hadpletely faded did they carefully reopen their eyes, following which theherfire in all of their eyes instantly contracted drastically.

    They were greeted by the sight of a bleak desert.

    The Infernal Judge had been standing in front of a forest just a moment ago, yet all that was left now was a barren desert.

    One could easily be forgiven for thinking that this ce had always been a desert if not for the asteroid sitting at the center of the desert.

    Silence.

    The silencested for over a minute, following which the sound of spirited discussion gradually rang out, slowly bing louder and louder until it crescendoed into a raucousmotion in just several seconds!

    "Is this the power of an Infernal Judge?! Legend has it that Zhong Kui has reached this level!"

    "How dare you mention the great Zhong Kui directly by name?! He''ll erase you with a casual flick of his finger!"

    "That''s not an Infernal Judge, that''s a fucking human weapon!"

    "Is this what all underworld emissaries are like?! This is not the image I had of them at all!"

    However, the most excited ones of all were the young Yin spirits.

    All of them were looking on with their jaws resting on the ground,pletely stunned by what they had seen.

    All of them had fantasized about jumping into a xianxia novel and bing godly figures capable of erasing entire worlds with a simple gesture, and this dream didn''t seempletely out of reach now!

    "Is this real?" Amid the raucousmotion, one young Yin spirit after another finally returned to their senses. "Are underworld emissaries all like the immortals that we see in xianxia novels? Even an Infernal Judge is capable of this?!"

    "My god... Could it be that I didn''t die? Did I arrive in the world of a xianxia novel instead?"

    "Are we able to cultivate Yin energy as well?"

    "Holy shit, this is unbelievable! If I had known this is what this world is like, I would''ve died sooner!"

    "Silence!" Qin Ye seemed to be able to hear themotion ringing out across the nation, and his voice rang out again. "Infernal Judges are the cream of the crop when ites to mid-grade underworld emissaries. Each major cultivation rank entails a massive disparity in power. Next, I will be showing you the powers of Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings, the pinnacle of all underworld emissaries."

    As his voice trailed off, all of the screens across the nation dimmed in unison once again, and as they lit up, another image had appeared.

    This one was depicting Qin Changxin.

    He was standing atop the sea, and in front of him stood a massive ind.

    Before anyone had a chance to react, he gently thrust a hand forward without any embellishment.

    There was no charging of power prior to unleashing a powerful technique, not even a war cry or anything like that. He merely thrust his palm forward as if he were swatting at a mosquito.

    However, as a result of his casual gesture, heaven and earth instantly began to tremble and quake violently! Through the shaking image, all of theherworldly citizens could see the giant ind exploding into countless pieces. Tsunamis erupted in all directions up to dozens of meters in height, then crashed down heavily to form massive vortexes!

    This was the power of an Abyssal Prefect!

    With just a simple gesture, Qin Changxin hadpletely transformed the entire area, erasing what was once andmass! All of theherworldly citizens looked on with ck-jawed expressions for a long while before casting their eyes toward the direction of Everburn in unison.

    So this is what an underworld emissary is! Why are they called underworld emissaries? They should be called human weapons! If this is what an Abyssal Prefect is capable of, what can a Yama-King do? Are they human nuclear weapons?!

    Only now was everyone beginning to realize just how fearsome their youthful-looking King Yanluo was.

    Countless Yin spirits gulped in unison in Everburn.

    Prior to this, they had thought that Qin Changxin was only an administrative official responsible for overseeing the operation of the city, and only now did they realize that if he wanted, he could erase the entire city in seconds!

    Everyone fell silent for the nth time, then turned back to face the screens in unison again.

    They had already been stunned to the point of numbness, but they still wanted to see what a Yama-King was capable of.

    Unfortunately, a disy of power from a Yama-King wasn''t depicted on the screens. Instead, the image of Qin Ye, Zhao Yun, and the Harken reappeared.

    It was still the same image, but all of theherworldly citizens were looking at the trio in apletely new light.

    In the past, they had worshiped and respected the trio for giving everyone safe and stable lives in the underworld. Even though the education industry had not been established, everyone''s quality of life had been steadily improving ever since the fabled war of unification.

    However, on this asion, there was also an element of fear, fear toward a higher, more powerful life form.

    Even though no disy of power had been put on by a Yama-King, the unknown was always the most terrifying.

    Having already seen what an Abyssal Prefect was capable of, they didn''t even dare to imagine what a Yama-King could do.

    Qin Ye seemed to be able to see every single Yin spirit staring up at the Yin energy screens, and he said, "Seeing as everyone has developed a basic understanding of underworld emissaries, there are a few important things I have to announce. Firstly, allherworldly citizens are eligible to be underworld emissaries."

    Under normal circumstances, this announcement would''ve sent the entire nation into a raucous frenzy. How could everyone not be excited by such a tantalizing prospect?

    However, at this moment, there was only a string of gasps, followed by furtive exchanged nces, thenplete silence yet again out of fear and respect.

    "Secondly, as underworld emissaries, you must know the state of the world and what makes the underworld tick. What allows us to perform all of these miraculous feats? Why are we able to do things that only characters in fantasy novels are capable of?"

    He watched all of his people with an intense gaze, then finally dered his most important objective. "All of this will be taught to everyone in schools! From this day forth, we will be selecting sites all over the nation to construct 100 universities! We will start from square one, teaching everyone how to identify Yin runes and practice using Yin energy! University education willst a span of six years, and allherworldly citizens can issue tuition fees to learn about Yin energy and rted subjects. On top of that, we will be providing designated drill grounds and breakthrough halls for all of you. From this day forth, only Netherworld Operatives will be tasked with harvesting souls from the mortal realm. All troops will be disbanded, and aside from the veteran soldiers who participated in the battle of Ashmound, all other Yin soldiers will return to school. In six years, the military will be expanded nationwide, and one must be a Soul Hunter at a minimum to join the military! Hundreds of thousands of university application sites will be opened up across the entire nation. As for details on fees, enrollment times, and semester dates, everything will be released by the North Yin Pavilion."

    His voice was growing louder and louder, like a wave that was slowly building to a peak, as he continued, "Simrly, from this day forth, we will be hiring university teachers from all over the nation! All subjects, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, art, biology, meteorology, economics, agriculture architecture, you name it! All of the teaching materials on these subjects will be prepared within a year and a half of the universities being constructed, and these materials will be authored by all of Hell''s relevant experts!"

    Theherfire in his eyes was glowing as he cast his gaze over his people.

    "Do you want to change yourselves? Do you want to make this nation more diverse and vibrant? You hold the key in your own hands! Knowledge can change the entire world, and it can also change your fates! I am eagerly waiting to see which ones among you will be able to stand beside me as new Yama-Kings in a few centuries'' time!"

    After that, all of the Yin energy screens across the nation rapidly vanished one by one.

    The entire nation was still silent.

    Close to a minuteter, deafening yells finally rang out!

    Yin Xiangnan pped a hand over his own mouth as he screamed into his own palm, but his actions didn''t look out of ce at all as all of his colleagues were screaming as well!

    He knew that a nationwide announcement through these Yin energy screens had to entail the urrence of a major event!

    The education industry wasing, and this education industry was one that would allow them to set foot into the realm of underworld emissaries!

    Who didn''t want to possess godly power? Who didn''t want to climb higher up the social hierarchy?

    Dying had already been a drastic change for them, and at this point, many Yin spirits had already profited through all types of industries to be bosses, something that they had never thought they would be able to do during their lives in the mortal realm. However, Hell was telling them that the truly massive changes were still yet toe!

    Money and influence were nothing! What was truly going to decide one''s ce in the world was power, the power to be human weapons!

    Furthermore, anyone could do this! Everyone could be underworld emissaries through education! In six years, Hell was going to expand its military, and everyone wanted to be a part of that!

    They knew that their chances of bing Yama-Kings were so slim that they were essentially negligible, but there was still a chance!

    The underworld had given everyone an equal opportunity, regardless of what regrets they may have left behind in the mortal realm, and everyone was excited beyond belief!

    "Holy shit..." Yin Xiangnan suddenly rushed toward the door as he yelled, "I quit!! I''m going to enroll in an underworld university in a year from now!"

    However, it was already toote.

    Right after Qin Ye''s final deration, countless Yin spirits had already gathered in front of the hundreds of thousands of registration sites,pletely blocking up all of the streets and roads!

    This was the starting line, and everyone was trying to get there first!

 Chapter 1047: Astonishing Patent Numbers

    <h4>Chapter 1047: Astonishing Patent Numbers</h4>

    North Yin Pavilion.

    Qin Ye released his consciousness with a pleased expression, experiencing the reaction that all of his people were disying to his announcement.

    The underworld was far too boring and rigid a ce at the moment.

    Due to theck of resources, the rise of any industry required time. Regardless of what industry it was, it had to start from imports. Imports were key to the rise of all of the industries popping up in the Cathayan Underworld, then came the emergence ofpanies and corporations.

    Basic quality of life could be ensured now, but industries for things like luxury clothing and essories were virtually nonexistent. The recreation industry was also a puddle of stagnant water without any fresh input.

    Thus, it was a very boring ce. Netherworldly citizens could only survive, but they couldn''t do much else, and that was a particrly strikingparison to the lives they had led back in the mortal realm.

    However, the announcement that had just been made hadpletely blown this puddle of stagnant water apart!

    The birth of the education industry heralded the rise of all types of industries after two or three cycles of six years! Furthermore, there would be no need to worry about unemployment!

    Setting aside the fact that everyone had the chance to be underworld emissaries through education, more and morepanies were appearing in the Cathayan Underworld, all of which required development, so there was no way thatherworldly citizens who had learned professional skills in schools would go unemployed!

    Then there was the alluring prospect of joining the military, thereby bing a part of Hell, in six years.

    Thus, it came as no surprise that countless Yin spirits all over the nation were scrambling to enroll for university, and he could even foresee what glorious scenes awaited the nation in six years.

    "Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Your Excellency!" Qin Hui and Su Daji were standing on either side of him with fawning expressions. "This is a brilliant move! The funds required for the expenditure required to establish the education industry will be taken from theherworldly citizens. Perhaps some people would''veined, but it was a stroke of genius to show them just how powerful underworld emissaries are! Everyone wants to be more powerful, and with that carrot dangling in front of them, no one willin about having to pay for education! I am truly in awe of your brilliance, Your Excellency!"

    Qin Ye was very pleased to hear this.

    It had to be said that ttery like this had its ce. At the very least, it was very good for improving mood.

    Furthermore, even though Qin Hui wasn''t exactly a good and righteous individual, he had served as a prime minister in the past, thereby giving him the knowledge and experience to understand Qin Ye''s ns, and it was extremely enjoyable to have his own genius pointed out by someone who understood him.

    Qin Hui wasn''t wrong. There were far more options for recreation and entertainment avable in the mortal realm, yet theherworldly citizens hadn''t risen up in revolt even though resources were sorelycking in the underworld and there wasn''t anywhere near as much diversity in entertainment, and the main reason behind this was that they didn''t need to give that much, either.

    The only cost they had was for housing, and even that was optional. If worse came to worst, they could easily spend a night in a cave or under a bridge.

    As for other spending, most of that came in the form of entertainment and catering, and these were certainly optional as well. Even then, these options were only avable in the cities of Ashmound and Everburn. In other ces, many industries were still yet to arise, and entertainment and recreation options were sorelycking.

    Under these circumstances, an attempt to establish the education industry would''ve most likely been met with resistance.

    However, if they were to tell everyone that they could all be gods through learning, then everything would bepletely different, as had already been evidenced!

    Having dangled the carrot in front of them, everyone would be innately motivated to learn, and as a result, it would be far easier to establish the education industry than in an environment where no one wanted to learn.

    "The show has only just begun..." He smiled as he closed his eyes, then released his consciousness once again, to Ashmound, on this asion.

    On the coast of Ashmound, the Kraken''s massive body was floating on the sea, and the entire area was surrounded by tens of thousands of Yin soldiers.

    Around the Kraken''s body were millions, even close to a billion Yin runes, slowly drifting through the water beneath the dark surface of the sea, like countless stars orbiting around a mountain.

    Zhao Yun was seated at the center of the Kraken''s body, and he reached out with both index fingers toward the carcass, upon which oneplex Yin rune after another slowly vanished into the Kraken''s body through his fingers. As a result, wisps of Yin energy slowly surged and churned, and the Kraken''s body began to take on an inky-ck hue while also taking on a metallic quality.

    King Yanluo''s Seal was slowly revolving right above his head, devouring all of the Yin energy that was being released.

    Zhao Yun seemed to have sensed Qin Ye''s gaze, and the former opened his eyes before giving a slight nod of acknowledgment.

    "How much longer will it take?" Qin Ye asked from Everburn.

    Zhao Yun thought about this for a moment before replying, "I''ll be able toplete this prior to themencement of the international trade conference, but I don''t have any time to spare. At the same time, I need the undivided assistance of Yin Construction."

    Qin Ye opened his eyes before having a faint sigh of relief.

    There were still five and a half years left until the international trade conference.

    During these five and a half years, the new energy resource had to be set up across the entire nation, patents had to be applied for, universities had to be constructed, and the Kraken''s body had to be modified.

    They were sorelycking in skilled workers right now! This was a being above the Yama-King level, and he had the assistance of King Yanluo''s Seal, yet even with that mind bogglingbination, the Kraken modification project could still only just barely bepleted within five and a half years. Furthermore, several major projects were going to be taking ce at once, and Qin Ye wanted nothing more than to have billions of Yin spirits at his disposal!

    "Aren''t you rushing things a little too much, Your Excellency?" Su Daji asked in a careful manner.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response as he cast his gaze out of the North Yin Pavilion at the rest of the Cathayan Underworld, which had erupted into aplete frenzy. "There''s still more work that needs to be done."

    That''s true, but is it really a good idea to strain the entire nation like this?

    Su Daji didn''t say anything further, but there was a hint of concern in her eyes. All of these projects were ones that absolutely had to bepleted and could benefit the entire nation enormously, but if all of them were implemented at once, then the strain on the Cathayan Underworld''s manpower and resources would be extremely severe. If anything were to go wrong, society itself couldpletely copse!

    However, she was sure that Qin Ye had already considered this. Despite his rtive youth, he was far more shrewd and cunning than he appeared.

    Several secondster, Qin Ye continued, "Also, in five and a half years, it''ll be a decade since the Great Revtion Debate. If we don''t bring out anything to show the rest of the world, the Prometheus n could beat us to it."

    There were some things that weren''t actually impossible to develop, it was just that some projects required too much resource, manpower, and mary investment. Many foreign nations didn''t have authoritarian government systems, and even constructing a road could take years, let alone super projects of this scale.

    The president was theoretically the top dog of the nation, but they were also quite powerless.

    Countless informants were nted in all of the parliamentary houses, and if it weren''t for the fact that the Cathayan Underworld had already dered its new energy resource, none of the other nations would have participated in this race at all.

    Once the three pirs decided to fully dedicate themselves to the project, it definitely wouldn''t take them very long to produce something worth showing to the world.

    "On top of that, in five years, we have to hold the international trade conference that will be attended by the entire world!"

    A hint of excitement appeared on his face as he continued, "Even though it seems like I''m really pushing the envelope here, when the timees, we''ll be able to earn back everything we invested with interest! At the same time, we can tell the rest of the world that we''ve already established countless industries on the thing that they were still yet to be able to develop. The rules of the energy resource market will be dictated by us, and it''ll only be a matter of time before the Cathayan Underworld ascends to the throne of the entire world!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time flew by in a sh, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, it was already four yearster.

    At the Ghostdom Intellectual Property Organization, which corresponded with the World Intellectual Property Organization of the mortal realm.

    Every single day, there were always countless Yin spirits gathered at the organization''s Rome headquarters. Hundreds of letters flooded to this ce from all parts of the world daily, and all of these letters were rted to all types of patents and intellectual properties.

    Just like Rome in the mortal realm, Rome in the underworld had a very pronounced Baroque style with churches everywhere. Surprisingly, Rome was under the jurisdiction of the twin gods of the Argosian Underworld, but they didn''t force everyone to worship them. Instead, one could even follow the religions of Catholicism or Christianity here.

    As a result, this ce was also known as the religionless area of the underworld.

    Due to this unique characteristic, all of the underworld''sherworldly citizens who were atheists were gathered here. They lived here and worked here, transforming this ce into a melting pot of cultures and styles, making it a city renowned for fine art and diverse and delicious cuisines. It was rated as one of the underworld''s top five cities, and was the only one in the top five aside from the capital cities of the four pirs.

    The GIPO headquarters was situated in thergest church in the city, which was a glorious Baroque-style building with renaissance-era statues a verymon sight, giving the ce a strong air of western artistry.

    In a garden filled with neatly pruned underworld roses and evergreen trees, there stood a fountain of worship that was 30 meters in height, pouring out water like a waterfall. Hundreds of female Yin spirit reliefs were engraved onto the bottom half of the fountain, while the top half carried statues of the leaders of the four pirs. The statues were extremely life-like, and above them was the emblem of the GIPO, which was quite simr to that of the WIPO of the mortal realm.

    All of the underworld''s patents and intellectual properties had to be registered here, and any that weren''t registered were viewed as non-existent.

    Beneath the GIPO was the renowned tomb of knowledge. All of the underworld''s patents that had been lodged over the past several thousand years were stored there for safekeeping, and the death gods of the four pirs had sealed the ce in person. Unless prior approval was acquired, no Yin spirit would be able to break into this ce to steal anything.

    In the tomb of knowledge, one could find the inception date of any patent, as well as the process of its birth, the identity of its inventor, all of the personnel involved, its registration date, who had purchased it, when it wasing to an end, etc. In any case, all information rted to patents were stored here with no exceptions.

    ck, ck, ck... The sound of leather boots rang out in the corridor.

    The floor of this corridor was as smooth as a mirror''s surface, and it could clearly reflect the arched ceiling above it. There were countless candles molded in the form of angels and the Holy Father positioned along either side of the corridor, giving the ce a strong religious aura.

    There wasn''t a single Yin spirit here as this corridor was already close to the core of the GIPO, the Godsend Chamber and the Court of Truth. All conflicts rted to patents were read out in the Godsend Chamber before being judged in the Court of Truth.

    At the same time, the offices of the GIPO''s director and vice-director, Cangus and Birlocks, respectively, were situated next to the Godsend Chamber.

    The owner of the leather boots made their way to the entrance of the Godsend Chamber before opening the door without any hesitation as they said in an urgent voice, "Things are bing stranger and stranger!"

    The Godsend Chamber was normally empty, but five people were seated in it at the moment.

    Director Carlos and Vice-director Birlocks were both present, and seated alongside them were Father Reynold of the church, and the two judges of the Court of Truth, who were also board members of the GIPO.

    All of the GIPO''s five board members were present, and right between them was an opened wooden crate containing dozens upon dozens of documents from the Cathayan Underworld, all of which were requesting for approval.

    "Calm down and tell us what happened," Birlocks sighed as he adjusted his own golden-rimmed sses.

    A man in a professional suit was standing at the entrance, and he hurriedly extended a respectful bow as he said, "Another crate of application documents have just arrived from the Cathayan Underworld, and there are roughly 2132 documents in total from that batch!"

    He cast his gaze toward the wooden crate at the center of the room, then gulped nervously as he continued, "In addition to the literary work patent applications in front of all of you, the Cathayan Underworld has submitted over 4,000 patent and intellectual property applications at once! This is simply unheard of!"

 Chapter 1048: What the Hell is Going On?! (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1048: What the Hell is Going On?! (1)</h4>

    None of the five board members said anything.

    After a long while, Cangus finally broke the silence. "Alright, you can go now. Make sure not to disclose this information to anyone else."

    The luxurious doors were gently shut, and the room fell intoplete silence. Only after three full minutes had passed did Cangus speak again. "How long will it take before the three pirs hear about this?"

    "They most likely already know," Birlocks replied with a faint sigh. "No international organization aside from the World Energy Resource Research Organization is overseen by underworld emissaries from first-rate underworlds or above, but that doesn''t mean that they can''t nt informants in these international organizations."

    "Then there''s no need to hide anything," Father Reynold said as he cast his gaze toward the giant wooden crate at the center of the room. "Let''s think about how to take care of these things."

    This was avish room with a colored ss mosaic at the back verymonly seen in religious settings. Intricately crafted statues of the Holy Father and the Holy Mother were situated in the gaps between the windows, and at the center of the room was the wooden crate, while the desks of the five board members were situated around it, so there was no way any of them could not see the pesky wooden crate.

    The five board members were all wearing white cardinal hats and white priest robes with golden edges. Furthermore, all of them appeared to be quite advanced in age, looking to be at least 70 to 80 years old, and they had all been renowned cardinals from different nations at some point in history.

    It had already been close to 1,000 years since they entered the underworld, but they had never seen anything this bizarre!

    "Even the most significant patent booms in history can''t even begin topare with this," one of the judges mused. "Back when the Cathayan Underworld applied for its gunpowder-rted patents, they had submitted 241 patents in 50 years, and that was already almost unheard of, but now..."

    His eyelids were twitching as he stared at the wooden crate, wondering if the Cathayan Underworld was ying a prank on them.

    All patents were manifestations of umted knowledge, so was that supposed to mean that they had gathered enough knowledge for over 4,000 patents in just 10 years? Was that supposed to be a joke? Had they already reached a higher tier of civilization than the rest of the world?

    The wooden crate was like a massive rock weighing down on all of their chests. Finally, Cangus curled a finger, and one file after another flew out of the wooden crate before opening up before him.

    In the instant that his gaze settled onto the contents of these files, his pupils abruptly contracted, and his facial hair began to tremble slightly. He looked at the files, then back at the wooden crate, and his mouth gaped open wider and wider with astonishment. "How is this possible..."

    Before the other board members had a chance to react, he gently pressed a hand down onto his desk, and all of the files in the wooden crate flew up into mid-air before forming a row in front of him for inspection.

    Cangus''s gaze passed over one file after another in silence, but his silence wasn''t a calm one. After seeing just a few files, his body had clearly tensed up, and after looking through around 20 to 30 of the files, he was already standing up slightly from his seat with his mouth gaped open in disbelief. His lips were moving as if he wanted to say something, but he was unable to muster up even a single word.

    His reaction naturally attracted the attention of all of the other board members.

    They had seen countless strange and exotic patents during the past few centuries, but never had they seen their director lose theirposure like this in response to any past patent application!

    After a long while, Cangus seemed to have finally awakened from a dream. He heaved a long sigh before covering his eyes with one hand, while waving his other hand through the air, sending all of the files fluttering toward the other four board members like butterflies. "Take a look. All of the patents being applied for here are the same type of patent."

    The files quickly arrived in front of the four board members, yet after only a brief inspection, the two judges, who had already served for hundreds of years, instantly sprang to their feet with astonished expressions.

    These were all applications for book patents!

    To put it more urately, these were all patent applications for literary ssics!

    The underworld was different from the mortal realm in that all literary ssics had ssics patents due to the fact that almost all of their authors were living in the underworld.

    If it were only literary ssics, then they wouldn''t have been all that surprised. All of the literary ssics had already been archived in the GIPO, and anyone who had referenced them, tranted them, or printed them had to submit all rted details to the GIPO. However, the patent applications in front of them were indeed for literary ssics, but not for trantions or reprints. Instead, these were film scripts!

    They were film scripts based on the literary ssics!

    Furthermore, these film scripts weren''t for stageys. Instead, they were clearly stated to be things like "The Dream of Red Mansions Television Series Film Script ssics Patent", "Journey to the West Movie Film Script ssics Patent", and "Three Kingdoms Television Series and Movie Film Script ssics Patent".

    After just a rough nce, they realized that ssics patents were being applied for all of the poems, literary ssics, and stories that were renowned in the slightest in the form of film scripts!

    This could only mean one thing: the Cathayan Underworld had developed the new energy resource!

    Furthermore, this new energy resource had to be quite simr to electricity, able to be used with televisions and movie technology. The gates to the new era had already been flung wide open, and this was the Cathayan Underworld''s first present to the rest of the world!

    Is this true?

    The five board members could feel their own skin crawling, and their hands were trembling uncontrobly.

    "Why haven''t they released the new energy resource yet?" Birlocks asked as his breathing began to elerate, then answered his own question. "No, it makes sense for them not to have released the new energy resource yet. They''re waiting for the three pirs'' Prometheus n to make further progress before they m the door shut on them!"

    The most eye-catching subject during the past few years was undoubtedly the race to develop the new energy resource taking ce between the three pirs and the Cathayan Underworld.

    Everyone knew that the one who controlled the new energy resource would be the ruler of the next era!

    The three pirs had established the Prometheus n in the hopes of catching up to the Cathayan Underworld, while the Cathayan Underworld had isted itself from the rest of the world, making it impossible for anyone to see what stage their research and development had reached. However, these film-rted patent applications were extremely telling!

    Even an idiot would be able to read through the lines and see what these film patent applications entailed!

    "They''re right to withhold this information," Cangus said. "They''re registering patents for their own nation''s film scripts and stories with the intention of dominating the entire global entertainment industry! If they really have already discovered the new energy resource, then once it''s released, no nation would be able topete with the Cathayan Underworld, which has already prepared all of its film and recreation facilities! They''ll be like the Hollywood of the mortal realm, dominating the entire film market!"

    They were trying to establish a monopoly on an industry that didn''t even exist yet! This waspletely outside of the rules!

    "Report this to the Coalition of Underworlds right away!" Father Reynold said in an urgent voice. "This is not something that we can handle on our own!"

    "Wait!" Cangus rose to his feet with a serious expression as he said, "The most important thing for us to do now is to determine whether the Cathayan Underworld really has developed the new energy resource, and to do that, we need to see the rest of its patent applications! Billy!"

    The doors immediately swung open, and the underworld emissary from before strode into the room in a respectful manner.

    "Bring us all of the patent applications that the Cathayan Underworld has just submitted! Hurry!"

    "Yes!"

    Each passing second felt like an hour to the five board members as they waited impatiently for the rest of the patent applications to arrive.

    They knew that there was a very good chance they were witnessing the birth of a new era, but they were also aware that this was an extremely significant turning point in the world. Judging from the Cathayan Underworld''s actions, it was clear that they wanted to establish aplete monopoly in the entertainment industry, not allowing theirpetitors any chance to even secure a sliver of market share!

    What a shameless yet ruthlessly cunning move!

    Soon, a wooden crate that was around one cubic meter in volume was carried into the room, and as soon as it was set down, Cangus waved a dismissive hand, upon which all of the underworld emissaries instantly left the room. He then frantically opened the crate before grabbing a document to read.

    As soon as he saw the contents of the document, he waspletely rooted to the spot.

    If he had only been astonished a moment ago, then at this point, his soul had already been whisked away.

    Only after three full minutes had passed did he reach out with a trembling hand, grabbing another file in a mechanical manner before staring at it with a nk expression.

    He then picked up the next file like a madman, then the next one, and soon, files were flying everywhere! This was an imagepletely unbefitting of the director of the GIPO, but it was as if he had gonepletely insane and had no regard for etiquette anymore!

    Several minutester, documents were fluttering through the air like snow, and he slumped back onto his seat in despair before suddenly falling unconscious as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

    "Director!"

    "Director, are you alright?"

    "Director!!"

    The other board members immediately rushed over to him and shook him vigorously, upon which he slowly awakened from his unconscious state. However, he remained silent as he pointed at the documents fluttering down around them with trembling fingers.

    "What the hell is going on?!" Birlocks frantically grabbed a pile of documents before taking a look, yet after just a single nce, his legs instantly gave out from under him, causing him to kneel down onto the ground.

    The other three board members immediately also grabbed documents for themselves upon seeing this, and their reactions were not dissimr from those of Cangus and Birlocks.

    "Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Phone Patent Application"

    "Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Computer Patent Application"

    "Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Lightbulb Patent Application"

    "Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Television Patent Application"

    "Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Microwave Patent Application"

    "Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Generator Patent Application"

    ......

    Virtually all electronic products had been covered in this vast array of patent applications!

    They turned around in a wooden manner to stare at the wooden crate with ck-jawed expressions, only to find that there were countless more documents still sitting in the crate.

    "If two types of new energy resources appear at the same time, then the one with the more refined anciry system would emerge victorious." Cangus said in a trembling voice. "It looks like the new energy resource discovered by the Cathayan Underworld is very simr to the electricity of the mortal realm. As long as they have all of their anciry facilities set up, the film industry, the entertainment industry, the telmunication industry, theputer industry... Countless industries would beunched at the same time from them! They''re trying to take all of the patents!"

    All of the board members shuddered in unison.

    This was an extremely vicious move from the Cathayan Underworld!

    "If this is brand new technology, then there would be no problem with their actions," Father Reynold said in a grim voice. "But what they''ve discovered is an electricity-like energy resource, which allows them to take all of their blueprints and designs directly from the mortal realm! This definitely can''t count as their patents, but at the same time, they really are brand new patents in the underworld!"

    How were they supposed to judge this?!

    ording to past conventions in both the underworld and the mortal realm, cases with no precedents like this were generally approved, but that would allow the Cathayan Underworld to gobble up all of the electricity-rted patents at once!

    The scientists hadn''t raised any objections, so it was clear thatmunication had already taken ce between them, but this was an attempt to establish monopolies over countless industries!

    A single nation was trying to establish monopolies on all of the technologies rted to the new energy resource! Were they trying to start a world war?

    "Report this to the Coalition of Underworlds right away!" Cangus yelled. "This is not something we can pass judgment on! These aren''t patent applications, these are the precursors to the next world war!"

 Chapter 1049: What the Hell is Going On?! (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1049: What the Hell is Going On?! (2)</h4>

    An hourter.

    Coalition of Underworlds, Rome Branch.

    The diplomat was a ck male wearing a pair of frameless sses, and after asking the question "are you sure?" several times, then seeing the documents presented to him, he had copsed onto his chair as if all of the bones had suddenly been pulled out of his body.

    "Are you sure they''ve developed a new energy resource? Are you sure this isn''t all just for show? Many doubts have been raised over their new energy resource n in the past! Are you sure this is a decision made by the Cathayan Underworld? Are you sure this is their messenger bird?"

    After receiving affirmative answers to all of his questions, the diplomat dug his fingers into his own scalp as he stared at the documents in front of him with bloodshot eyes.

    What was he supposed to do here?

    Cases with no precedents should be approved, following which relevantws were established, but who would dare to approve something like this?!

    No one wanted to see another world war! Peaceful development was key for the entire world, and all of these patents were approved, it would be a miracle if no world war erupted!

    "Fuck!!" Several minutester, he mmed a fist viciously down onto the table. "What the hell am I supposed to do?! Everyone, please contact the Cathayan Underworld right away and require them to provide the actual products that they''re registering patents for. If they don''t have actual products, then their patent applications will be seen as spurious! All patent applications must be supported by actual products that have been verified! In the meantime, I''ll report this news to the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds right away!"

    The five board members departed, leaving the diplomat to pace back and forth in the room in an agitated manner with his hands sped behind his back. At the same time, he was constantly taking nces at the door, and a minuteter, he rushed over to the door in silence before gently closing it, as if to cut off the rest of the world.

    In the instant the door was closed, the room fell extremely silent, and there wasn''t even the sound of breathing to be heard.

    The window was open, and birds were chirping outside, but the sound was unable to enter the room at all.

    The room had exceptional decor of a very pronounced Europa style, and there was an expensive carpet on the ground. The fire in the firece gently flickered slightly, immediately following which a figure slowly appeared within the mirror off to the side.

    The reflection in the mirror didn''t belong to the diplomat!

    "Lord Rumyantsev!" The diplomat immediately rushed toward the mirror as if he had seen his savior, then asked, "What do we do?"

    The brows of Rumyantsev''s reflection were tightly furrowed, and he didn''t say anything for a long time.

    After a moment of contemtion, he decided, "Don''t notify the Coalition of Underworlds for now. At the very least, we don''t need to issue a formal report. Also, tell the GIPO that the Cathayan Underworld must provide actual products for all of the patents that they''ve applied for. You''ve done very well to ce emphasis on this point. If they can''t provide any actual products and none of their top dogse here to apply pressure, then postpone the approval of their patents by citing insufficient evidence provided!"

    The diplomat shuddered slightly upon hearing this. "But Lord Rumyantsev, we''d be publicly opposing the Cathayan Underworld by doing this!"

    Rumyantsevpletely ignored the diplomat as he continued, "Also, find a way to notify the Prometheus n''sboratory of this situation."

    "But..."

    "After you do that, I''ll pay off your 1.2 million gambling debt, and neither of us will owe the other anything, nor will I evere to find you again."

    After that, Rumyantsev''s reflection vanished from the mirror. At the same time, Rumyantsev slowly opened his eyes on the top floor of a luxurious estate several thousand kilometers away in the Russian Underworld.

    It was not easy serving as an official for the Coalition of Underworlds.

    Not only did he have to consider the matter of right and wrong, he also had to keep an eye on the state of the entire world. If he said anything wrong, then he could be reced in a matter of months. He had to know what the four pirs were thinking, and he also had to take benefits from the weaker nations. Furthermore, there were countless people eyeing his role, so he was constantly under immense pressure.

    Paying off a gambling debt of 1.2 million was nothing more than a joke for him, and it was certainly well worth the price if this piece of astonishing news could be delivered to the Prometheus n''sboratory.

    Has the Cathayan Underworld reallypleted its new energy resource?

    He sat in silence on the spacious andfortable wooden sofa with his head resting on one of his hands.

    The Cuban cigar in his other hand remained unlit, and the premium coffee in the fine chinaware cup in front of him had gone cold long ago. His servant had changed the coffee three or four times already, but he didn''t appear to have noticed at all.

    The entire room was eerily quiet, and only the sound of crackling sparks in the firece could be heard.

    "It''s already been eight years since the Great Revtion Debate..." He finally heaved a faint sigh before picking up the cup of coffee, which had already been refilled many times already, then took a sip.

    The coffee was slightly bitter, but he felt it to bepletely tasteless.

    If they really had seeded, then what was going to be of the Russian Underworld?

    They shared a border with the Cathayan Underworld, were they really going to continue to stand with the three pirs?

    During these past eight years, the three pirs had published many reports, but the actual progress they had made on their new energy resource had been kept a secret as well.

    It was time to make a choice.

    Did they continue to stand with the west, or return to the east?

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    "What did you say?" At the same time, Archimedes and Aristotle stood up in unison in the city of Athens in the Argosian Underworld, seemingly astonished by what they had just heard.

    "Are you sure you didn''t mishear? Do you know what that entails? I''ll give you some time to have a good think, then tell me what you want to say."

    Inside the spacious stone hall, an underworld emissary was knelt on the red carpet with his forehead pressed against the ground, and he said in a trembling voice, "I was telling the truth, Your Excellency! This is news straight from the GIPO, stating that the Cathayan Underworld has submitted over 4,000 patent applications! Without our help, there''s no way the GIPO would dare to turn down the Cathayan Underworld''s applications!"

    "Those shameless bastards!" Theherfire in Aristotle''s eyes had turnedpletely red. "How can they not be ashamed of doing something like this?! None of those patents are theirs! They''re all patents taken directly from the mortal realm!"

    Archimedes looked up at the ceiling with a dazed expression as he murmured, "However, those patents don''t exist in the underworld, so ording to international underworldws, no one can refute the Cathayan Underworld''s applications."

    "What about those scientists?!"

    "Do you still not see what''s going on here? The fact that they''ve submitted all of these patent applications means that they''ve already taken care of the scientists somehow. At the very least, this project would''ve had to have been sufficiently profitable for the scientists to shut them up."

    "Does that mean they really have developed a new energy resource, one that''s already been verified by all of the scientists? Otherwise, there''s no way they''d be able to convince all of the scientists with nothing more than false stories!"

    "I don''t know..." Archimedes massaged his own be, and even he was feeling extremely concerned. "All I know is that we must react to this right away. Otherwise, the consequences will be catastrophic!"

    If this news were fake, then the Cathayan Underworld would''ve imed all the patents with a piece of fake news, in which case that would be aplete gamble from them.

    If their research and development failed, then they would have to handle the consequences. This was a global technological war instigated by them, and if they discovered that they couldn''t im the tallest peak, then they would take the second-best option, controlling all patents rted to the new energy resource, forcing other nations to have to negotiate with them even if they were to develop the new energy resource before the Cathayan Underworld did.

    "There''s no need to worry about that." Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from outside, and as soon as they heard this voice, both Archimedes and Aristotle reflexively sprang to their feet before extending respectful bows.

    All of the Yin soldiers standing at the entrance instantly parted, and Hypnos emerged like Moses parting the waves. He wore an extremely grim expression as he waved a dismissive hand, and all of the guards and servants instantly departed in silence. Thus, the only people left in the hall were Aristotle, Archimedes, and Hypnos.

    None of them said anything, and the only sound that could be heard was from the crackling sparks on the torches lit around the room.

    Hypnos made his way over to a brazier before staring absentmindedly into the mes. Archimedes and Aristotle exchanged a nce, following which the former asked, "Why are you here?"

    "How could I note here after what happened?" Hypnos sighed as he raised his head. "The international trade conference is about to arrive, and regardless of what happens, we''ll receive an exnation for all of this during the conference. Once the light of truth washes over the situation, all will be made clear."

    He abruptly turned around, and his voice suddenly sprang up an octave as he continued, "Quite frankly, I''m very disappointed in the two of you."

    Archimedes and Aristotle hung their heads as they gritted their teeth and knelt down onto the floor.

    Hypnos gently stroked the edge of the brazier as he continued, "It''s already been over eight years since the Great Revtion Debate, what stage have you reached? We haven''t even managed to find the proton Yin rune yet! You''ve predicted that it''s in one of the three bottomyers, but how many Yin runes are in those threeyers? There are millions!! You see these torches? They are about to be snuffed out like our Prometheus n unless we can add fuel to the fire! If we''re unable to do that, then our defeat is going to be imminent! It''s already been eight years, yet you''ve projected that there will still be at least three years until youplete the new energy resource!"

    He quickly strode over to the two schrs, and incredibly dense Yin energy was wafting all around him as he leaned down and asked, "The Cathayan Underworld has already made a move, yet you''re still trying to guess whether they''re bluffing, right? You''re thinking that if they fail, they''ll use these patents as leverage to force negotiations, right? Let me tell you this: if that was the case, then I would be ecstatic! Even if they have some leverage in the form of the patents, as long as we hold the new energy resource, the initiative will always be with us! We''ll have plenty of time to torture them, and the entire world must bow down to us, do you understand?"

    A sense of bitterness welled up in Archimedes''s heart.

    He had done his best, but the Cathayan Underworld had made its lead count. Furthermore, these patent applications weren''t sufficient proof that the Cathayan Underworld had actually developed the new energy resource, and in his opinion, Hypnos was being overly sensitive here.

    However, before they had a chance to say anything, Hypnos asked, "Do you think my concerns are unnecessary? What if I tell you that the Russian Underworld is also aware of this, but their ruler death god didn''t contact me? What do you think now?"

    The two schrs'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, but neither of them said anything.

    "They''re hesitating," Hypnos sighed as he stood up straight again. "Get up."

    There was nothing left to be said, and he was actually feeling quite calm and peaceful now.

    They had already done everything in their power. For the new energy resource, the two sides hadpeted for over a decade, ever since the conference held in Nara.

    They had already done the very best that they could, and now, all that was left to do was to wait for the oue. Thus, he wasn''t distraught or anguished. Furthermore, there was no way to say whether the Cathayan Underworld had actually developed the new energy resource or not.

    All he wanted to do was vent some of his anger. Their new energy resource was still nowhere to be seen, yet the Cathayan Underworld were telling the entire world through their actions that they had gotten there first. Furthermore, the silence of the Russian Underworld indicated that they were beginning to panic and considering whether to switch sides.

    It was only a single piece of news, yet it had stirred up all of the most powerful nations of the entire world. However, the integrity of politicians was never to be trusted, so no one knew whether the Cathayan Underworld was bluffing or not.

    Amid the silence, Archimedes cleared his throat before asking, "So what would you like us to do now?"

    Hypnos had alreadypletely calmed down at this point, and he replied, "Make one final charge at the new energy resource and strive to produce something prior to the international trade conference. The international trade conference will be held in the Cathayan Underworld in half a year, and we''ll be able to see the Cathayan Underworld then. If they really have developed the new energy resource, then there''s no way we won''t be able to tell. On top of that, they must release the new energy resource. They''ve already stalled through the conference in Nara and the Great Revtion Debate, buying them a whole decade of time, but enough is enough, and this is the limit. When the timees, all sides will beying down their cards once and for all!"

 Chapter 1050: The Wheel of History

    <h4>Chapter 1050: The Wheel of History</h4>

    Surprisingly enough, the news of the 4,000+ patent applications submitted by the Cathayan Underworld didn''t spread, and the Cathayan Underworld didn''t take any further measures, either.

    Some forms ofpetition were silent, yet lethal. Furthermore, retreat was not an option. In fact, not even the slightestpromise could be made.

    The one who managed to clinch the pulse of the new era would be the ruler of this world, and there was no need for any verbalmunication in apetition like this, everyone was simply forging ahead in silence as quickly as they could, striving to get to the end goal before their opposition did.

    11 years ago, the subject of the new energy resource was presented to all of theherworldly citizens for the very first time.

    10 years ago, during the Great Revtion Debate, the Cathayan Underworld had presented decisive evidence, but the entire academic world had still been rather unconvinced. There was no way that the three pirs would simply stand by idly and watch as the Cathayan Underworld rose to ascendency in the new era, so they had joined forces to establish the Prometheus n, and thus began this technological battle that had already been raging for over 10 years.

    No one had explicitly dered the existence of this technological battle, but it wasmon knowledge among the parties involved, and all sides were doing everything in their power to reach the finish line as quickly as they could. Seeing as the battle had already begun, there was no turning back for anyone, and on this day, the first shot was finally fired.

    It was the Cathayan Underworld yet again.

    Perhaps this was a reminder to the rest of the world that it was time to take sides.

    Alternatively, perhaps this was ast resort and an eptance of defeat. Perhaps their research and development had failed, and they were going after the patents instead. So long as they held the patents in their hands, they could allow theirpetition to develop the new energy resource and still profit from it.

    Not many death gods were aware of this turn of events, and among those that did, none of them said or did anything. They were all aware that at this stage, nothing they could do would have an impact on the final oue.

    The Cathayan Underworld was on the move, and this was clearly not just another jab being thrown.

    The sword had been drawn, and it had to taste blood!

    Inside an antiquated building in the city of Paris, the capital city of the Franks Underworld, which was part of the Argosian Underworld''s territory, an elderly man heaved a faint sigh as he nodded in the direction of the person standing in front of him. "I understand."

    "Thank you for your understanding." Around a dozen bodyguards in suits were standing in front of him, and the man at the center of the group was around two meters tall, with dense blond hair, pronounced sideburns, and a physique that was on the thinner side.

    He was also wearing a suit, yet even the suit was unable to conceal the muscles bulging beneath his clothes, presenting a contradictory image to his thin figure. However, none of the underworld emissaries present were amused by this.

    This man was Epaminondas.

    He was the man who had waged a historic battle against the invincible Spartan army at the time and crushed them in that battle. He was renowned as the most brilliant general in ancient Argosia, and he was a nascent death god. It was also him who had battered down the resistance of the Franks Underworld during the invasion of the Argosian Underworld. The formidable Teutonic Order was no match for the Argosian Underworld''s devastating army, and in the end, the Franks Underworld became part of the Argosian Underworld''s territory.

    Currently, the Franks Underworld was known as the Franks Province of the Argosian Underworld.

    Epaminondas continued, "We are not trying to force anyone, this is your duty. There are still a year and 10 months left until themencement of the international trade conference. Prior to themencement of every international conference, a world organization must inspect the venue to ensure that the hosting party can provide suitable conditions and facilities to host the conference, isn''t that right?"

    A wry smile appeared on the elderly man''s face. "That''s correct, but there are still four months left until the appointed time..."

    "That''s not important," Epaminondas said as he reached out to grab the elderly man''s hands with his ownrge hands. "All of the death gods are eagerly awaiting further news from you."

    After that, he turned strode toward the door, and all of the Yin soldiers instantly parted to grant him free passage.

    The entire room fell silent again.

    Right at this moment, the chime of a clock rang out, indicating the conclusion of the workday.

    The elderly man heaved a faint sigh, then packed up his bags before exiting the hall.

    On the familiar road, one carriage after another was quickly traveling past, drawn by a collection of different Yin beasts. At this hour, the streets were always full of pedestrians, and he quickly made his way around to the back of the GTO office. There was arge stable there, and as a Yin spirit of his status, he naturally had a carriage of his own.

    He wasn''t walking very quickly, but right as he rounded the corner and disappeared from the field of view of those on the street, he couldn''t help but lean against the wall as he heaved a long sigh.

    Something was about to happen, and it was definitely not just some minor event!

    His soul was trembling uncontrobly, and only in a ce like this, where he waspletely out of sight, did he dare to disy his fears and insecurities.

    As one of the directors of the GTO, he had witnessed far too many economic dealings during his time in this role, and the more of those he saw, the more horrified he felt. He had even submitted a resignation to his higher-ups several months ago, but it wasn''t approved.

    He clenched a tight fist and leaned his forehead against the fist, while the other side of the fist was resting against the wall. His teeth were gritted tightly, and various events that had taken ce during this past year quickly shed through his mind. 10 months ago, the Russian Underworld had suddenly begun to sway in its stance and stopped supplying tea leaves to the Nipponese Underworld.

    There were only two major tea consuming nations in the world: the Nipponese Underworld and the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Russian Underworld only produced one type of tea leaf that was grown in extremely cold conditions, known as Frost Jade Elixir. Of course, the Yin spirits of the Russian Underworld had no interest in tea, so it was the perfect export to the Nipponese Underworld and the Cathayan Underworld.

    Now that the Russian Underworld was refraining from exporting their tea leaves to the Nipponese Underworld, where was it nning to export this product instead?

    There was no answer to this question as they hadn''t exported their tea leaves anywhere!

    Eight months ago, the five nations of Northern Europa had begun to purchaserge amounts ofpass rocks. In fact, all of thepass rocks in all major areas were beginning to be purchased by somepanies. These transactions weren''t facilitated through the international trade tform, and they were viewed as transactions betweenpanies. At the very least, that was how outsiders saw it.

    In the beginning, he was also under the same opinion.

    Only after seeing an investigation report from the Aegyptian Underworld did he realize that 80% of all of thesepass rocks had been purchased by Asia. More specifically, they had all been purchased by subsidiary nations to the Cathayan Underworld!

    Seven months ago, the Cathayan Underworld had increased its metal ore trade volume, and the three major iron ore mines of the Alkebn Underworlds had increased their output by 200%! One ship after another had crossed through the Red Sea into the Hindustani Ocean, and even though they were intercepted by the Aegyptian Underworld for a few months, they couldn''t be intercepted forever. In the end, they were granted passage into Southern Asia, which was also part of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory!

    Many more simrly nondescript-looking economic maneuvers had taken ce in the past few months, and it was as if the entire world had sprung to life and was silently preparing for something, much like a living organism preparing for a big move.

    There were things constantly happening every single month, and it was clear that a massive storm was brewing.

    No one mentioned the word "war", but even he couldn''t help but be struck bye a bone-chilling sensation at this moment.

    What was going to be of this world?

    All of a sudden, a voice rang out from behind him. "Sir, there''s a very good chance that there''s going to be a storm tonight, do you want to use your carriage?"

    "No, it''s alright." The elderly Yin spirit shook his head with a distracted expression. Having served as a director at the GTO for so long, he had developed very sharp instincts, and for some reason, he was being struck by a premonition of extreme peril, the magnitude of which exceeded even the renowned Aegyptian Underworld''s credit crisis from 300 years ago and the massive intion of the Aegyptian Underworld''s drachma 700 years ago.

    Prior to the arrival of any international crisis, countless abnormal signs would definitely appear, and that was certainly happening now...

    He heaved another sigh, and just as he was about to separate himself from the wall, he abruptly faltered on the spot.

    The person who had just spoken to him was a woman, yet his coach driver was a man!

    Furthermore, a coach driver only ever followed instructions, they would never ask a carriage owner what they wanted to do with their carriage!

    In that case, who was standing behind him?

    He gulped nervously before turning around, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a woman wearing a kimono.

    She was breathtakingly beautiful, to the point that the elderly man was momentarily entranced. The woman extended a respectful bow, then slowly stepped away to reveal an incredible scene.

    tter... The elderly man''s briefcase fell onto the ground as he looked on with a stunned expression.

    There were several dozen bodyguards, all of whom were wearing immacte suits, lurking behind the stable''s pirs, squatting on the nearby trees, or hiding in the shadows cast by the surrounding buildings.

    All of them were in different hiding spots, but the crossbows that they were holding were all directed at the elderly man.

    However, this wasn''t why the elderly man was so stunned.

    In fact, he didn''t even feel frightened by this situation. The only emotion in his heart was astonishment as he stared at the three elderly men at the center of the group of bodyguards with a ck-jawed expression.

    This was an extremely old trio who resembled wizened zombies, and they were wearing casual clothes. All of them were seated on wheelchairs, which were being slowly pushed toward the director of the GTO by Yin spirits with powerful builds.

    "This is impossible..." the elderly man said in a trembling voice as he cast his gaze back to the building.

    Epaminondas had literally just been here a few minutes ago! How had these people managed to avoid being detected by a death god?

    If Epaminondas were aware that these people were here, then he would''ve never allowed them to meet him!

    "Listen up, Perkins." The elderly man at the center of the trio was the first one to speak, and he gently tapped his gem-studded cane onto the ground as he said, "I want you to tell me why Epaminondas came to see, and I want detailed records on all resource transactions that have taken ce in the world, particrly in Southern Asia. I need to know the parties involved in the transactions, what was transacted at what time and what ce, everything! Make it as detailed as possible, do you understand me?"

    Perkins gulped nervously upon hearing this.

    "But that''s illegal?" was what he wanted to say, but he couldn''t bring himself to utter even a single word.

    None of the members of the GTO were unfamiliar with this group of elderly Yin spirits.

    Fujii Heihachiro, current chairman of the Sacred Treasure Consortium.

    Faizal Eben Abduh Aziz, current chairman of the Abbasid Consortium.

    Archbishop Antonio, current chairman of the Psalm Consortium.

    "We don''t have any time to waste with you here! We came here in person precisely because we don''t want anyone to know that we''vee to see you. As you''re aware, our quasi-divine artifacts are embedded directly into our souls, and only they can go undetected by all death gods."

    Perkins''s mouth gaped open like a spluttering fish, following which he copsed to his knees and wailed in an anguished voice, "What the hell is going on? What is happening to this world?!"

    No one offered a response.

    After a long while, the elderly man on the left smiled and said, "As expected of a director of the GTO who has already served for several centuries, I knew you would''ve sensed that something was happening."

    He made a casual gesture, and a burly bodyguard immediately stepped forward to help Perkins to his feet. At the same time, the elderly man stood up from his wheelchair, supported by his cane, as he said with a sinister smile, "Something massive is going to happen, of course. The wheel of history is upon us, and if we can''t negotiate it well, then it''ll crush us. There may even be members of the four pirs falling from grace. I think that''s quite serious, wouldn''t you agree? Hence..."

    He made his way over to Perkins, then violently stabbed his cane deep into the ground right in front of Perkins as he continued with a hint of urgency in his voice, "We really don''t have time to listen to your excuses."

 Chapter 1051: Report from the Governments Energy Resource Department

    <h4>Chapter 1051: Report from the Government''s Energy Resource Department</h4>

    Inside a spacious office, Wang Chenghao silently made his way over to Qin Ye before reporting in a low voice, "Your Excellency, the three directors of the GTO have arrived outside the Array of the Nine Gods, and they''re requesting entry into our Cathayan Underworld."

    Inside the spacious conference hall, all of the supervisors of the energy resource department were present, while Qin Ye was hosting the meeting in person on the main stage at the center of the room. The newly appointed director of the energy resource department, Zhou Dingfang, was seated beside him, as well as Vice-director Ma Kun, Vice-director Zhu Yiming, Main Architect Mi Xingguo, themander of the Frontier Brigade''s first division, Gao Mingliang, and themander of the second division, Qin Xinzhong.

    The deputy architects were gathered in front of them, reading out a government report in an excited manner. "At this point, circuitry has beenid down in 90% of all of the cities across the entire nation, and from here onward..."

    Another four years had passed since the emergence of the electricity-like energy string.

    During these four years, the entire poption of the Cathayan Underworld had been put to work! The education and construction industries had developed rapidly, and the entertainment industry was also raring to go. Hundreds of film scripts were sitting in the propaganda department, and hundreds of film crews and thousands of actors were eagerly awaiting their chance to shine.

    This was the wrap-up meeting for the conclusion of the first stage of work, and Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon being interrupted by Wang Chenghao. "What are they doing here?"

    "ording to international regtions, the GTO has a right and a duty to inspect the site where the next international trade conference will be taking ce a year and a half in advance. On top of that, we haven''t submitted any information to them, so they don''t even know where the international trade conference is going to be held. As such, their request is actually very reasonable."

    A derisive sneer appeared on Qin Ye''s face. He wasn''t concerned at all by the fact that there had been no response to the 4,000 patent applications he had submitted.

    He was intentionally trying to alert the entire world, and he actually wanted the GIPO to spread the news and tell all of the underworlds that the wheel of history was rolling once again, and that they would either have to submit to it, or be crushed by its weight.

    However, it was clear that the spread of this news had been stalled by some underworlds.

    The underworlds with the ability to stop the spread of this news definitely weren''t ordinary underworlds, and right after the Cathayan Underworld had submitted its patent applications, these three directors of the GTO had arrived.

    Their visit seemed to be reasonable, but was that really the case?

    Who had asked them toe here, and what objectives did they have?

    A series of thoughts quickly shed through Qin Ye''s mind, and after a brief hesitation, he instructed, "Take them to the Kraken Fortress at the Bohai Sea."

    "Your Excellency!" Qin Xinzhong hurriedly interjected. "Work on the fortress still isn''tplete yet, and if we reveal it so early, all of the other underworlds will most likely be very wary of us!"

    "Then let them think what they want!" Qin Ye replied in a cold and imcable voice. "In the face of the new energy resource, they''ll forever be on the back foot. Following the submission of our patent applications, the Heavenly Fire Research Station hasn''t released any progress reports. Why is that? If I''m not mistaken, they''re most likely so busy that they don''t have the spare time and manpower to keep up pretenses anymore. None of the three pirs are going to just roll over and ept defeat. All of them must be clearly aware that the submission of these patent applications is a deration of war from me! The four pirs have beenpeting against one another for thousands of years, and I''m going to put an end to all of this once and for all at the international trade conference!"

    Not only did he have to win, he had to secure a resounding victory!

    None of the underworld emissaries present said anything further. Their expressions remained unchanged, but deep down, their emotions were churning and riling!

    Never had they felt such a strong sense of patriotic pride!

    On the main stage, Fang Lin said, "The world is currently at a crossroads, and our Cathayan Underworld is also undergoing a period of rapid growth. The esteemed Harken has created the 18 abysses of punishment and the six paths of reincarnation, Ghost King Zhao is working on the Kraken Fortress in person with the assistance of King Yanluo''s Seal, and all of the most skilled workers of Yin Construction are working tirelessly on transforming the entire ind of Formosa. At the same time, they''ve beenying down circuitry all over the entire nation in conjunction with all of our nation''s real estatepanies and government departments. Two years ago, after two years of blueprint design, Yanluo Qin stepped in in person, working with 100,000 construction workers to construct the power nt at the origin site of the Yellow Springs within half a year, and that is also our nation''srgest power nt to date. In theing three years, an estimated investment of three billion will be made to construct thergest thermal power nt in the nation in Inner Mongolia. At the same time, an estimated investment of three hundred billion will be made by the Everburn government to construct 1,000 medium-sized thermal power nts within the next five years. Additionally, a further investment of a hundred billion will be made to construct 500 hydroelectric power nts and wind farms!"

    Fang Lin''s voice was filled with patriotic pride as he made these announcements, and all of the underworld emissaries participating in the meeting were also feeling the exact same sense of pride.

    This was an extraordinary feat!

    During the past five and a half years, all of the participating Yin spirits had worked with virtually no sleep or rest. All of the officials of the energy resource department had been deployed, and even the main architects and directors were no exception to that. The prospecting teams, the inspection teams, the construction teams, the energy resource department, the construction department, and the frontier brigade had traveled all over the nation within the past few years. Due to the severeck of manpower, the frontier brigade had finally re-emerged in the new Hell, and it was led by Qin Xinzhong.

    There was no way that all of this could''ve been possible in the mortal realm due to the physical limitations of Yin spiritspared with humans.

    These were absolutely massive projectsparable to the powerworks set up in Cathay between 1949 and 1978 with the assistance of Russia. However, at the time, Cathay had been unaware of just how significant that project was going to be. Furthermore, electricity management policies had constantly oscited between centralized and decentralized management.

    Only after 1978, the year in which the 11th Third Plenum was held, did Cathay truly develop aspirations for electricity. The national electricitywork was further refined between 1978 and 1997, and the relevant departments, such as the energy resource department, the ministry of electric power industry, and the ministry of water conservancy and electric power, were also founded during this time period.

    That was an electricity revolution that hadsted 20 years, stretching even to the turn of the millennium, and there were still many ces that experienced regr power outages in order to keep up with the electricity demands of the major cities.

    During his address, Fang Lin had already choked up on several asions, and his hands were trembling as he held onto his script. Having been a part of the mortal realm''s electricity revolution, he knew just how hard the entire Cathayan Underworld had worked to aplish these feats. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I hereby announce that our Cathayan Underworld has alreadypleted all of its objectives for the first stage of our energy resource n! Thank you for your hard work, everyone!"

    A round of thunderous apuse immediately rang out, and if it weren''t for the fact that Qin Ye was present, all of the underworld emissaries would''ve most likely already risen to their feet in celebration. Even Qin Ye himself couldn''t help but be ovee by a wave of excitement.

    Fang Lin''s lips were trembling as he continued, "In addition, electricity will be supplied to the entire nation on the 15th of next month, and tomemorate the asion, we will be holding a national lighting ceremony!!"

    Silence.

    Three secondster, a round of even more thunderous apuse rang out, and theherfire in the eyes of all of the underworld emissaries present were shing incessantly.

    The Cathayan Underworld had onlypleted the equivalent of two thirds of the workpleted in Cathay''s electricity revolution in the mortal realm. At the very least, it would take until thepletion of the 1,000 thermal power nts and 500 hydroelectric power stations and wind farms before this journey finally drew to a conclusion. However, they hadpleted something that had taken Cathay 15 years in the mortal realm in just five years here, and that was an incredible feat!

    It was exactly because of this monumental feat that the Cathayan Underworld could enjoy the honor of being the first nation in the underworld with nationwide ess to an energy resource!

    The lighting ceremony wasn''t just a show put on by switching on countless lights, it was a sign that this entire world was about to enter a new era!

    In no more than 20 days, the Cathayan Underworld was going to trigger a worldwide change!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Perkins was seated in a louchuan, looking out at the dark sea in the distance. Even now, he still couldn''t understand what was happening.

    The ship was an antiquated Cathayan-style louchuan that was giving off a strong sense of age and history. It was veryrge, close to 100 meters in size, and it was also very luxurious, easily able to house the three directors, over 20 secretaries, and dozen or so secretaries of the GTO. However, none of them could truly bring themselves to settle down on the ship. The dark seawater around them was like a bottomless abyss, and the ship was packed with statuesque Yin soldiers who seemed to almost be inanimate and refused to answer any questions.

    The captain''s cabin had been locked this entire time, and they had tried to enter it, only to be forced back by the Yin soldiers on the ship.

    Back when they had first set foot onto the ship, they had been extremely excited. After all, they were going to be the first foreign Yin spirits to have stepped into the Cathayan Underworld for past century, but they quickly discovered that something was wrong.

    There was no wee arranged for them, and no one even told them where they were going.

    Countless thoughts and possibilities were shing through Perkins''s mind, and right at this moment, another director made his way over to him and said, "The Cathayan Underworld has no intention of allowing us to reach their borders."

    "I can see that, but they can''t just keep us here like this forever!" Perkins replied. "Judging from the political style adopted by the Cathayan Underworld in the past, they wouldn''t tantly encroach upon international regtions like this, and the third King Yanluo has always abided by thew. He''s certainly not opposed to exploiting legal loopholes, but there''s no way he won''t grant us ess to the Cathayan Underworld. After all, it''s their turn to host the international trade conference... Hold on..."

    All of a sudden, his eyes narrowed slightly as he cast a confused gaze forward. "Look over there... Is there something there?"

    All of the other underworld emissaries on the deck of the ship had also seen what he had seen, which was what appeared to be a small ind on the horizon.

    A small ind by itself obviously wouldn''t present much of a remarkable sight. What was astonishing to them was that there were countless golden vortexes of light revolving incessantly around the ind.

    There were so many Yin runes around the ind that the surrounding sea for a radius of hundreds of meters had been illuminated a bright golden color, and all of the foreign underworld emissaries on the ship were looking on with stunned expressions. All of a sudden, one of them eximed, "There''s a Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld here!"

    As soon as they caught sight of this sea of Yin runes, an aura more overwhelmingly powerful than any they had ever sensed before came crashing down upon them, instantly causing their legs to give out from under them and forcing them to their knees.

    "Who is that?! Which Yama-King could possibly possess such fearsome Yin energy?! This Yin energy is even more formidable than that of the twin gods of the Argosian Underworld!" Perkins''s face had turned deathly pale, and his body was trembling uncontrobly as he supported himself with his palms pressed against the deck. "What is he doing here? Is this our destination? What is this ce?"

    In a state of extreme fear, it was very difficult to sense the passing of time, and only after the ship had drawn to a halt did Perkins look up with a fearful expression. In the instant that he raised his head, all of the underworld emissaries let loose cries of surprise as their bodies were drawn toward the center of the ind against their will.

    They were sent flying through the air so quickly that their surroundings had turned into aplete blur, and before they even had a chance to close their eyes, they had already arrived at their destination.

    Immediately thereafter, all of the foreign underworld emissaries drew a collective sharp breath as they looked around with incredulous expressions, and theherfire in their eyes sprang up to over three meters in height.

    "My god..." Perkins''s legs gave out from under him again as he fell onto the ground with a dull thump, and all of his colleagues were also looking at the scene presented to them with disbelief in their eyes.

    They were looking at a massive city with a radius in excess of 150 kilometers. This was an ancient Cathayan-style city with four tall tall buildings surrounding a massive pagoda that extended all the way up into the heavens. Countless bright rednterns were hanging from the pagoda, giving it a menacing and awe-inspiring appearance.

    However, this wasn''t worthy of their stunned reactions.

    They had seen many giant Cathayan cities in the past, and this city was nowhere near as impressive as Fengdu. What was truly astonishing to them was that eight chains were extending out from the very top of the pagoda, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, and were attached to eight gargantuan tentacles!

    Those tentacles were riddled with golden eyes that were reflecting the light of the moon, giving off an extremely eerie appearance in the night.

    Perkins stood up unsteadily as his heart thumped violently, and his voice trembling as he eximed, "They''ve in a marine monarch beast and used its body to create a floating city! This is... a biological mothership!! My god!!"

 Chapter 1052: Electric Wire? (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1052: Electric Wire? (1)</h4>

    "A biological mothership?!" The jaw of the director beside Perkins had already dropped straight to the ground, while theherfire in his eyes had contracted drastically. "How is that possible?! How could the Cathayan Underworld possibly be capable of creating a biological mothership?!"

    "This is impossible! It doesn''t make any sense!"

    "My god... Did they capture one of the six kings?! Which one is it?!"

    "None of the other three pirs have managed to do this, how have they done this?"

    Theoretically speaking, it wasn''t difficult to create a biological mothership in the underworld.

    The more powerful a Yin beast was, the more difficult it would be to damage its body, so one could dig holes or even set off explosions in the carcass of a powerful Yin beast without any concerns. Yama-King level Yin beasts relied heavily on their powerful bodies, and their skin was resolute beyond belief. As far back as several centuries ago, Darwin had already proposed the theory of Yin beast biology, but none of the underworlds had been able to put his theories into practice.

    Powerful Yin beasts were quite intelligent, and if death gods were to try and hunt them down, they wouldn''t even rise to the surface. Instead, they would dive down to depths in excess of 10,000 meters, where the terrifying water pressure would severely hamper even a death god''s movement and powers. Furthermore, failure to capture and kill the Yin beast would undoubtedly incur vengeance from the Yin beast in the future, and due to those reasons, no one had ever tried to capture one of the six kings, and Yin beast biology remained just a theory.

    As for Yin beasts below the death god level, they simply didn''t make for suitable subjects. Ascending to the death god level was a significant evolutionary process to be a higher life form, and it was very easy to spot a Yin beast of that caliber based on their physical size. There were underworlds who had tried to create biological motherships in the past from the bodies of Abyssal Prefect level Yin beasts, but those projects had all concluded in failure, and thus, this theory that was supposed to have kicked off the great era of underworld exploration never eventuated.

    In the present day, there were only so many safe waterways, and even if a death god were to discover precious materials elsewhere, it would be very difficult for them to send Yin spirits to collect those materials. It could be said that due to the obstacles posed by marine Yin beats, the underworld had only managed to explore roughly 50% of this entire ne.

    Thus, it was an extremely astonishing sight to be seeing a biological mothership.

    There was no doubt about it, its massive size had already far exceeded the stature that an Abyssal Prefects level Yin beast would be capable of reaching.

    As they were looking on with astonished expressions, a humanoid figure had finally appeared before them. Before they had a chance to identify the humanoid figure, the figure released a burst of terrifying Yin energy before abruptly withdrawing it, demonstrating exceptional Yin energy control.

    This is a Yama-King! All of the underworld emissaries immediately extended respectful bows in unison. "We pay our respects to the esteemed Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld."

    Zhao Yun was standing before them, and he didn''t give a reply right away. He was actually quite displeased that he had to stop what he was doing at such a crucial juncture to greet these people.

    It had already been four whole years since he set foot on the Kraken''s body alongside 50,000 construction workers and King Yanluo''s Seal.

    He had personally witnessed the rise of a giant city from scratch, transferring all of the buildings on the blueprints into the real world, and at this point, they were already charging down the home stretch.

    Right beneath his feet, hundreds of scientists from the Yin Mountains Research Center wereying down an electromotive system, and the project should bepleted in another one and a half more years at most, right in time for the international trade conference!

    He didn''t have any time to be wasting with these people from the GTO!

    "The Heavenly Pir City is in the process of construction, and it will be the venue where the international trade conference is held. Feel free to roam the ind and inspect it as you please, all food and lodging in the city will be taken care of for you. I''ll be taking my leave now." After that, Zhao Yun instantly vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    It could be said that Zhao Yun was being quite rude here, but none of the foreign underworld emissaries took any offense to that.

    This was the attitude that a Yama-King should have!

    "I''ll inspect the conference venue," Perkins said as he heaved an internal sigh of relief with Zhao Yun''s departure. He then pulled out a notepad as he continued, "Cathayan buildings have a strong emphasis on symmetry with four city gates, each one corresponding to one of north, south, east, or west. As we discussed earlier, I''ll be inspecting the central area, while Director Erwin will be inspecting the left side of the city with 10 evaluators. Start by evaluating the safety measures in ce, then the ease of navigation, traffic system, lodging conditions, and environmental conditions to give a score based on international standards. If there are any problematic areas, then record them using image capture crystals, then seek out that Yama-King formunication. Director Lisa, you''ll be responsible for assessing the right side of the city. Once we''vepleted all of our inspections, we''ll meet back up and discuss the next step."

    "Understood."

    They had already conducted so much simr work in the past that there wasn''t any need for a detailed debriefing. Thus, the three directors parted ways, and Perkins strode directly toward the pagoda at the center of the city.

    This was a biological mothership, and with each step he took, Perkins couldn''t help but be struck by a sense of awe and privilege. They were most likely the first foreign underworld emissaries to have set foot onto this ce, and given the power of the Cathayan Underworld, there was no way it wouldn''t have transformed this ce into a prosperous city, so this inspection was only a formality.

    He adjusted his own emerald ring, then strode along with his group of assessors, and he quickly discovered that this city was different from other underworld cities.

    The difference lied in the streetmps.

    Initially, he didn''t notice this, but he quickly came to realize that these streetmps were far taller than normal streetmps were in the underworld.

    Netherfire wasn''t all that bright, so most streetmps were only around two meters tall. Any taller than that, and its light would fail to illuminate the street down below sufficiently. However, streetmps in this Heavenly Pir City ranged from three to five meters tall, and there washerfire burning within them, but the light that they cast onto the ground wasn''t very bright.

    All Yin spirits could see in the dark, but it was still far moreforting to have light in the darkness. Even though Perkins could clearly see everything around him, it was all in ck and white, and that was what the majority of Yin spirits saw at night, making for a very ufortable experience.

    "The Cathayan Underworld has stood for thousands of years, how could an oversight as simple as this one have taken ce?" His brows furrowed slightly as he pointed at the secretaries and assistants behind them, and they immediately recorded this matter.

    "The issues surrounding the brightness ofherfire and lighting facilities in the underworld have already been ironed out thousands of years ago. Could it be that they chose to make the streetmps taller to give them a more auspicious appearance? The problem is that with streetmps this tall, it bes quite unpleasant to navigate the city at night. Even if they add more streetmps, it still won''t change the fact that nothing will be fully illuminated."

    Aside from the streetmps, everything else was beautiful. Ancient Cathayan-style buildings were renowned for their beauty and majesty, and therger the area that the architects had to work with, the more they would be able to show off the culture that the Cathayan Underworld had established during the past several thousand years. The clusters of tall and grand buildings were interspersed with petite yet elegantly designed gardens, presenting a gorgeous contrast to behold.

    Everything aside from the streetmps waspletely impable here.

    "Holding a conference here almost feels like taking a holiday," he mused with a hint of approval in his eyes, and before they knew it, the group had already reached the tall pagoda at the very center of the city.

    This was still a ssic antiquated Cathayan-style building, resembling an elongated version of the Yellow Crane Tower. The eight giant tentacles attached to the top of the pagoda with chains could be seen all around the pagoda, and these tentacles were riddled with countless golden eyes, making the building appear as if it really were a heavenly pir that stood between heaven and earth. As for those golden eyes, they were like bright moons hanging in the sky.

    "What breathtaking beauty..." Perkins praised. "I can already imagine walking higher and higher up this building during the international trade conference like I''m taking a stroll among the stars... The design is truly innovative..."

    Right as he was about to step through the main entrance of the pagoda, Perkins faltered slightly once again.

    He had spotted more lights.

    From his perspective, each level of the pagoda was around four to five meters tall with antiquated Cathayan ptialnterns hanging overhead. However, due to the height at which thenterns were hanging, theherfire within them was unable to provide a sufficient illumination effect.

    The secretaries and assistants behind him immediately made records of this issue even without requiring an instruction from him, while he led the way and stepped in through the entrance.

    As soon as he entered the pagoda, he was greeted by the sight of several intricately crafted screens, upon which were embroidered different types of scenery and flora and fauna, dividing the spacious hall up into several independent sections. A series of decorative nts could be seen, ced in elegant Cathayan-style vases or intricately carved round pots, adding a hint of vibrance to what was otherwise a rather nd color scheme.

    The yellow ptialnterns overhead were giving off a faint and rxing light, and a series of bronze candlesticks were ced around the room, also providing a soothing ambience with their gentle radiance. This was only the first floor, and Perkins already found himself nodding with approval.

    As expected of a powerhouse nation with a culture as illustrious as that of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Standing here, he felt as if he were strolling through the long history of the Cathayan Underworld, and he couldn''t help but be immersed in the experience. Some of the secretaries and assistants behind him had never been to the Cathayan Underworld before, and they were alreadypletely entranced by the gorgeous scenes around them.

    In contrast, Perkins was moreposed. He had witnessed scenes like this far too many times during his tenure, and he made his way to the center of the first floor, where there was a notice board, upon which a clear diagram of the structure of the entire building could be seen.

    Perkins looked up as he said, "The fifth conference hall that''s designated for private discussions between underworlds is located on the 25th floor, so let''s start there."

    There were no objections.

    Insiderge buildings like this one, designated teleportation arrays were generally present, just like at the venue where the international conference in Nara was held. The teleportation arrays weren''t veryrge, but they were sufficient for underworld emissaries to reach wherever they wanted to go in the blink of an eye. Soon, they found the teleportation array after the directions in the hall, and Perkins stepped onto it first.

    After a virtually nonexistent split second of dizziness, he had already arrived at his destination, and he nodded in approval upon sensing this. This indicated that the teleportation array was very stable and minimized the difort one would experience during the teleportation process. As expected of one of the four pirs.

    There was a terrace up ahead, one that was veryrge and able to hold a gathering of several dozens of people at once.

    Immactely pruned potted nts were ced on either side of a staircase, which was around two meters wide and led directly upward.

    "The fifth conference hall is at the top of this staircase." Perkins stood on the terrace and cast his gaze toward the vast sea in the distance. In the sky above, one golden eye after another was hanging overhead, resembling a series of bright moons.

    "It''s just as beautiful as I imagined. As usual, the aesthetics of the Cathayan Underworld are impable." He made his way over to the railing, then looked down from there, and the entirety of the Heavenly Pir City was visible from his vantage point.

    From his perspective, the specks ofherfire fluttering over the streets and alleys were like fireflies dancing on a summer''s night, and with the golden moons in the distance, it created the feeling that he was standing among a boundless sea of stars.

    A gentle breeze blew past, and a flurry of blue flower petals were swept up.

    These were the renowned Divine Blood Flowers of the underworld, and they were his favorite flower.

    The bright blue flower petals were riddled with barely visible crimson veins that resembled tiny blood vessels, while the bottom halves of the petals were white in color. The flowers wererge and vibrant, withyers of petals, and they were the mostmon flower presented when weing guests.

    A smile appeared on his face as he reached out toward one of the flowers, yet his hand immediately faltered as soon as he made contact with the flower pot.

    He had just noticed some type of wire.

    After a brief hesitation, he quickly looked left and right, then gently tugged on the wire, only to find that it was stretchedpletely taut and was very long.

    "What is this?" He cast his gaze along the wire to find that it stretched all the way to the edge of the building, then seemed to circle around the building in aplete loop.

    What kind of wire could this be?

    He stared intently at the wire in his hand, and all of a sudden, his hands began to tremble as a thought urred to him.

    These looked like electric wires!

 Chapter 1053: Electric Wire? (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1053: Electric Wire? (2)</h4>

    As soon as this thought urred to him, Perkins abruptly shuddered as he hurriedly released the wire. His lips were trembling violently, and theplexion of his face was osciting back and forth between red and blue.

    He hunched over in an unsteady manner, looking down at the city below, which was only around the size of a matchbox from his perspective, and he felt as if booming thunderps were ringing out in his mind alongside the emergence of countless images. The sensory shock was too severe for him to bear, and he was struggling to remain on his feet.

    "Mr. Perkins, are you alright?"

    "What''s wrong, Mr. Perkins?"

    A flurry ofmotion instantly rang out from behind him as the group of assessors apanying him quickly rushed over, and he could even hear the sound of their feet thumping on the wooden floor.

    His first instinct was that he had to keep them away so no one else saw what he had just seen!

    "I''m fine." His arms were still trembling as he forced himself to his feet, then said to the assessors, "Let''s do things as usual and go through the checklist of parameters. At this point, I''m sure I don''t have to teach you how to do this. You''ve all been doing this for several centuries already, so I trust that you no longer need my guidance. Go on, now."

    The assessors were still a little perplexed, but none of them wanted to go against their superior, and after exchanging a few nces, they silently departed to carry out their work.

    As for Perkins, he remained standing on the spot in silence. Only after a full 10 minutes had passed by did he hunch over slightly and adjust the emerald ring on his finger, then reach a trembling hand out toward the flower pot from earlier. He ran his hand along the wall and slowly inched it forward, then dragged that wire out again.

    Having already determined what the wire was, he began to follow it, searching for its origin point and where it led to.

    The wire was very long, and soon, he had already followed it for 10 meters, but there was still no end in sight. At this point, he was already certain that this wire circled all the way around the entire terrace, then led into some type of tunnel.

    Anyone else standing on the terrace would be enjoying the scenery that could only be presented from such a high vantage point, yet Perkins was scurrying around the terrace like a thief. After around 10 minutes of exploration, he finally discovered that all of the wires led up to the beams running along the edges of the ceiling.

    All ancient Cathayan buildings had mythical beasts engraved along the edges of the ceiling. Things like the Pixiu Chimera and the Harken were verymon sights under this context, and Perkins immediately caught sight of them.

    However, as he cast his gaze along the edges of the ceiling, his soul abruptly shuddered, and his entire worldview began to copse right in front of his very eyes!

    He was ovee by an overwhelming sense of fear toward the unknown, and he could see the gates of a new era!

    Around the engravings of these mythical beasts were two more wires.

    They hugged the contours of the entire building very discreetly, surrounding the building in a very nondescript manner.

    Furthermore, there were countless thumb-sized light bulbs running along the length of the wires!

    In that instant, Perkins''s mind wentpletely nk, and he didn''t even know who he was or where he was anymore.

    This was a clear sign that the Cathayan Underworld had already sessfully developed a new energy resource!

    When did this happen? If he hadn''t just so happened to have stumbled upon all of this during his inspection, how much longer was the Cathayan Underworld nning to keep this a secret?

    Why hadn''t they announced this yet? What were they plotting?!

    Boom!!

    His soul began to tremble violently yet again, and even his body was losing its substance as a result. He habitually adjusted his own emerald ring over and over again as he repressed the fluctuations of his soul, but he couldn''t calm himself down no matter what.

    His mind was entirely filled by an image, depicting this entire pagoda shining with golden radiance, like a beacon of the new era shedding its light upon the dark ages!

    What a magnificent sight that was going to be!

    In that instant, he suddenly understood everything.

    He was gasping for air as he sped one hand over his own chest, while his other hand was pressed firmly against the railing to support his own weight and prevent himself from falling to his knees.

    He finally understood why the state of the world had been changing so quickly during the past year.

    Why had the Russian Underworld ceased its exports? Why was the attitude that the other nations held toward the Cathayan Underworld constantly osciting back and forth? Why had the Cathayan Underworld purchased such massive quantities ofpass rocks without going through the international market?

    In this instant, everything made sense to him now.

    "The Cathayan Underworld has already developed a new energy resource! That has to be it! It''s the only exnation that makes everything make sense! No wonder their streetmps are so tall, that''s not an oversight at all, they simply don''t need to useherfire for lighting purposes! What they''ll be using instead is their new energy resource, one that''s extremely simr to electricity! This entire world is going to undergo a massive change, and it''s all going to start during the international trade conference! The Cathayan Underworld has been hiding this trump card all this time, and it''s undoubtedly going to be revealed during the conference! Why have they refrained from announcing the sessful development of their new energy resource for so long? What are they plotting? They must be setting a trap! Even if the Prometheus n develops their new energy resource, the entire world will still choose the Cathayan Underworld''s energy resource because the Prometheus n''s anciry facilities aregging too far behind! The longer they refrain from dering this news, the longer the Heavenly Fire Research Center will continue in its research and development, thereby further whittling down the resources of the three pirs! What a vicious trap!"

    The projected investments into the Prometheus n that numbered in the hundreds of billions didn''t seem like much considering all of the three pirs'' GDP numbered in the trillions. However, their GDP had to be invested into many areas, such as education, retirement care, propaganda, and after all of those areas were catered, there wasn''t much left at all.

    Furthermore, there was more than just one scientific project to invest in!

    In order to ensure that they were constantly leading the rest of the world, the three pirs had to regrly make technological breakthroughs, which required investments that numbered in the billions into dozens of projects. As such, even for the three pirs, investing in a super project like the Prometheus n entailed a significant economic strain.

    Even if their n were to seed, it would all be for nothing as the Cathayan Underworld had already gotten there ahead of them!

    Furthermore, they were keeping their new energy resource a secret and watching with glee as the three pirs continued to pour vast amounts of resources into a futile cause! What a vicious n this was!

    "You seem quite surprised." A calm voice suddenly rang out beside Perkins, instantly snapping him out of his train of thought.

    "Who''s there?!" He instantly turned around, and all of a sudden, a hand grabbed onto his wrist before pulling his emerald ring off his finger.

    "So this is the eye of Esm¨¦ralda, one of the 108 Demon Stars serving under Hypnos. It''s said that she can see anything through her eyes regardless of how far away her eyes were detached from her body." Zhao Yun stood behind Perkins in a casual manner as he gently stroked the ring. "Storing one of her eyes in a ring is a great idea. However..."

    He smiled as he tossed the ring back to Perkins. "Have you not noticed that this ring''s ability has beenpletely nullified in the instant it passed through the Array of the Nine Gods? Did you really think that the barrier set up by the second King Yanluo would be so easy to pass through? Even if you gouge out one of Thanatos''s eyes, he still wouldn''t be able to see anything, let alone the eye of a Demon Star!"

    Zhao Yun sat down onto a chair off to the side, then crossed his legs and tapped the table in front of him "Take a seat."

    Perkins had taken on an ashenplexion, and he copsed onto his chair more so than sat down on it.

    As soon as he sat down, he immediately said, "Esteemed Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld, this isn''t what you think..."

    "I didn''t think anything of this," Zhao Yun replied in an indifferent voice. "A trivial matter like this isn''t worthy of my consideration. However..."

    He paused momentarily as he cast an amused gaze toward Perkins, who was so tensed up that he was as stiff as a board, and said, "Our King Yanluo wants to see you."

    "Y-Y-Yanluo Qin? Why would his esteemed self want to see me?" Perkins was stuttering from fear. Everything that he had seen thus far hadpletely gone beyond his expectations, and it could already be considered a feat that he was able to speak at all.

    Zhao Yun smiled as he gently skimmed a finger over the table and said, "Many things have happened in the underworld during these past few years. As a director of the GTO, you would be very much privy to all of these, and our King Yanluo wants to know exactly what''s been happeningtely."

    "B, but that''s against the rules..."

    "Don''t be in such a hurry to refuse," Zhao Yun said as he stood up and vanished as a gust of Yin wind, leaving behind some parting words as he did so. "ording to the regtions, the inspection should take no more than a week, following which all of the assessors should return to the GTO, but as a director, you can stay behind and continue your inspection. It just so happens to be the case that our Cathayan Underworld will be putting on a show in 15 days, and we would like you to be present for that. Finally, I''m sure you''re aware of what you can and can''t say once you leave this ce."

    There was no need to ask whether Perkins agreed to this arrangement at all, he had no right to refuse one of the four pirs!

    The Coalition of Underworlds would only be the Coalition of Underworlds with the four pirs involved. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than a ragtag bunch of weak underworlds.

    Thus, Zhao Yun departed, and the terrace fell silent again.

    The meeting between the two had been extremely brief,sting no more than three minutes, and Perkins couldn''t help but wonder if it had all just been a hallucination.

    However, the remnants of the fearsome Yin energy lingering in the area told him that a meeting had most definitely just taken ce!

    Only after Zhao Yun''s departure was Perkins struck by an overwhelming sense of relief, as if his life had just been spared, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrobly as he copsed back against his chair.

    "They''re putting on a show?" he murmured to himself.

    What could this show possibly be?

    He cast his gaze out toward the vast biological mothership beneath the pagoda, looking at the countless streets and alleys, as well as all of theherfire streetmps that were only there to keep up appearances.

    Wasn''t this already the most spectacr show possible?

    "The times are about to change..." he murmured to himself in a trembling voice. "The gate to the new era has already been pushed open, and several thousand years of history are about to be erased. Who is going to be the ruler of the new era? The battle for supremacy is one that''s going to involve the entire underworld..."

    In the end, a wry smile appeared on his face as he realized just how powerless he was.

    The giant dragon that had been lying dormant for over a century in the east had finally awakened, and it was about to tear the bnce of this world into shreds!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    15 days passed by in the blink of an eye.

    Eight days ago, the inspection team had already left the Cathayan Underworld. Throughout the entirety of their stay, they hadn''t been able to set foot outside the Heavenly Pir City at all, so they could only take back information about the Heavenly Pir City with them, and nothing more.

    However, their leader, Director Perkins, had decided to stay behind.

    His eyes were already severely bloodshot from the past 15 days of waiting, and he was eager to see what this show that had been promised to him was going to entail.

    He wanted to know how this giant dragon was going to tear the entire world apart, while the rest of the world was stillpletely in the dark.

    "Mr. Perkins." The door was slowly opened, and an underworld emissary made his way into the room. Perkins immediately stood up to stare intently at the underworld emissary.

    During the past 15 days, he hadn''t set foot outside his room at all because he simply hadn''t been in the mood to go anywhere. He had a feeling that this was the day that the Cathayan Underworld was going to announce its return to the pinnacle of the world, and he was going to bear witness to this monumental asion!

    His only question was in what way was this announcement going to be made?

    He opened his mouth several times, but was unable to say anything, and the servant extended a slight bow with a polite smile as he said, "Mr. Perkins, our King Yanluo would like to see you. Pleasee to the top of the pagoda to witness the nationwide celebratoryntern festival."

 Chapter 1054: Lantern Festival (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1054: Lantern Festival (1)</h4>

    As soon as the servant''s voice trailed off, Perkins stumbled forward a few steps, and the servant was given quite a fright by this as he immediately backtracked with a wary expression. "Mr. Perkins, are you alright?"

    Perkins rushed over to the servant before grabbing his shoulders with both hands and asking with intense, bloodshot eyes, "What kind ofntern festival is this?"

    "Thentern festival is... antern festival..." The servant was perplexed. What other types ofntern festivals could there be?

    "I''m asking you what type ofntern festival it''s going to be! Is it going to be with normalnterns or... or that type ofntern?!"

    Thankfully, the servant had undergone national etiquette training, so even though he was internally denouncing Perkins as an idiot, he still maintained a polite smile as he replied, "It will be a ptialntern and firework ceremony, which is held every year on the 1st of October to celebrate the founding of the nation."

    I see... Thank heavens for that...

    Perkins removed his hands from the servant''s shoulders, and only then did he realize theplete loss of hisposure. "Thank you for the exnation. You can go now."

    The servant bowed with impable manners, then left the room. As he closed the door, he immediately rolled his eyes as a disdainful look appeared on his face. "Is that man an idiot? Where did this hillbillye from? How does he not know what antern festival is? He looked like a rabid dog back there! Looks like the GTO should really focus on improving the etiquette of its staff!"

    Perkins naturally couldn''t hear the insults being directed his way. He quickly paced back and forth in his room, and he quickly began to tense up once again.

    Hold on a minute, if this really is just a normal firework ptialntern ceremony, Yanluo Qin wouldn''t have invited me to spectate it, and it certainly wouldn''t be a spectacle worth watching...

    He had a feeling that a monumental moment in history was going to take ce on this night!

    He quickly adjusted his own suit before making his way to the top of the pagoda with a myriad of emotions churning in his heart.

    He wanted to see the answer to his questions, but he knew that if the answer was the one that he expected, then this entire world was going to be tipped on its head!

    All of the underworlds and death gods were going to be scrutinizing this moment intently, and the state of the entire world was going to undergo drastic changes!

    He wanted desperately to know the answer, but at the same time, his legs felt like lead, and he was too afraid to find out the answer.

    The world wasn''t prepared at all for something like this!

    The pagoda was normallypletely deserted, but at this moment, there were dozens of Yin soldiers upying each floor. Perkins made his way to the top floor with a heavy heart, then scaled the final staircase to reach the top of the building.

    Down below was a vast sea of ck Yin energy that resembled ayer of clouds. Up here, it was already impossible to see the city down below. The onlyndmarks that were visible were the tops of the four slightly shorter surrounding pagodas that were peeking through the clouds like four mountain peaks.

    Tea and snacks had already been prepared at the center of the top floor, and several taishi chairs had been ced around the table. Zhao Yun was seated on one of the chairs, casually eating some sunflower seeds, and he gave a nod to acknowledge Perkins''s arrival.

    Perkins''s gaze quickly swept over Zhao Yun as he cast his eyes directly forward, where a young man wearing a ck dragon robe was seated on a recliner chair right in front of the railing up ahead. He was holding a cup of wine in one hand, and he raised the cup in a casual and elegant manner in Perkins''s direction as he greeted, "Wee, Director Perkins of the GTO, I''ve heard much about you."

    That''s the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!

    Perkins gulped nervously at the sight of Qin Ye. This King Yanluo had a very youthful appearance, but he possessed cunningness and guile far beyond his years. He had only upied the throne for several years, yet the three pirs hadn''t managed to best him yet!

    If the second King Yanluo were still in power, then that would be very normal.

    However, this King Yanluo was so young and his cultivation rank was so low that it was downright unimaginable for him to have achieved all of this!

    Furthermore, the most remarkable thing about him was that he always managed to beat his opposition while remaining within the constraints of the rules. He was far more gentle in his approach than the second King Yanluo, and due to his more amicable political style, many nations across the entire world had begun to develop a positive image of the Cathayan Underworld.

    All of these thoughts shed through Perkins''s mind in an instant, and he extended a deep and respectful bow as he said, "Director Perkins of the GTO pays his respects to the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld."

    "Take a seat," Qin Ye offered, and Perkins immediately did as he was told, making his way over to a chair before sitting down on it in a careful manner, before inspecting his surroundings.

    As soon as he did so, theherfire in his eyes instantly flickered slightly.

    Everything was too casual here...

    There were no guards in the surrounding area at all! While it was true that Qin Ye was a mid Yama-King himself, and he also had Zhao Yun for apaniment, thereby making any further guards redundant, there still had to be a sense of ceremony!

    How could the ruler of one of the four pirs not be surrounded by countless officials and Yin soldiers? Unless...

    Perkins''s hands began to tremble slightly as a thought urred to him.

    Unless Qin Ye didn''t want anyone else to hear what they were going to be discussing next!

    Perkins''s breathing drew to a halt as this thought urred to him, and he felt as if he were dancing on the edge of a sharp knife that could cut him in half with the slightest misstep.

    "What are you so afraid of?" Right at this moment, a gentle hand ced itself onto his shoulder, and Qin Ye appeared beside him, then pulled out a silken handkerchief to dab at Perkins''s forehead. "I''m an advocate for peace and reason, so there''s no need to be afraid in my presence."

    "Yanluo Qin!" Perkins''s hands were trembling even more severely now, causing the tea in his cup to spill all over his hand, and he gritted his teeth as he mustered up all of his courage before asking, "What exactly is it that you want me to see?"

    If he didn''t ask that question now, then his curiosity was going to make him explode!

    Qin Ye smiled as he picked up Perkins''s hand, then led him over to the railing. He raised a hand, pointing a finger into the distance before sweeping ir over the four pavilions in the distance as he asked with a smile, "Don''t you think something is missing here?"

    Perkins pursed his lips and shook his head in response.

    Right at this moment, the melodious chime of a clock rang out from below the clouds, and Qin Ye released Perkins''s hand as he asked with a smile, "Don''t you think this ce is missing some sparkle?"

    The clock chimes signifying the arrival of National Day rang out across the entire ind, and at the same time, all of the air at the top of the pagoda seemed to have congealed. Perkins wanted to stand up, but his knees were too weak, so he could only sit on the ground as he held his own upper body upright by holding onto the railings, while peering through the gaps in the railings toward the sea of clouds down below.

    It was also at this time that Zhao Yun rose to his feet, and he took a deep breath, upon which all of the surrounding Yin energy surged toward him like the tide, forming a vortex of Yin energy with a radius of several hundred meters around the pagoda. At the same time, his voice rang out like rumbling thunder throughout the heavens.

    "Units 1 to 10 of the Yin Mountains Power Station, get ready!"

    A series of light screens suddenly appeared in the east, illuminating Perkins''s deathly pale face and his trembling hands that were locked tightly around the railing.

    The screens depicted groups of extremely excited Yin spirits wearing whiteb coats, and behind them were electric generator sets that were close to 20 meters tall and several dozens of meters wide!

    There was no mistaking it now, the Cathayan Underworld was serious about this!

    His mouth gaped wide open, and countless emotions surged through his heart, causing him to tremble uncontrobly, but he was staring intently at the light screens, unwilling to miss even the slightest of details.

    Inside all of the light screens, all of the engineers and scientists replied in loud voices, "The Yin Mountains Power Station is ready to be activated at any time!"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response before dering, "Units 1 to 300 of the Western Power Station, get ready!"

    Several hundred light screens appeared one after another in rapid session above the clouds, following which countless vigorous voices shook the heavens in response.

    "Unit 1 is ready to be activated at any time!"

    "Unit 5 is ready!"

    "Unit 21 is ready!"

    "Unit 130..."

    "Unit 200..."

    The high-ranking officials of all of the government departments, including the likes of Qin Changxin and Qin Xinzhong, seemed to have sensed something, and all of them had emerged onto the top of the North Yin Pavilion.

    They cast their eyes toward Everburn in unison, watching the countless specks ofherfire burning in the distance.

    They could see all of the Yin spirits gathered on the zas throughout the city, holding candles in their hands as they awaited the promised fireworks.

    An amused smile appeared on Qin Changxin''s face upon seeing this.

    My apologies, but you won''t get to see any fireworks today. Instead, you''re going to witness the rise of a new era!

    Qin Xinzhong suddenly heaved an emotional sigh. "To think that the Cathayan Underworld was able to reach this step from nothing in just over 10 years... This is truly incredible..."

    Deadsend, Ashmound, Eastwood, Shadowend, Mirage... All of the mayors of the Cathayan Underworld''s cities had been alerted in advance to what was going to happen, and they had all gathered on the tallest buildings in their respective cities with their family and friends to eagerly await the dawn of the new era!

    "Units 1 to 100 of the Aurogon Power Station, get ready!"

    "Units 1 to 200 of the Nine Yin Power Station, get ready!"

    "Units 1 to 200 of the Suiren Power Station, get ready!"

    It took Zhao Yun a full 30 minutes just to call out the names of all of the power stations, and the response that he received came in the form of thousands of light screens, depicting the excited faces of countless Yin spirits, all of whom were raring to go, eager to usher in this new era.

    In total, it took a whole 50 minutes for everything to be ready.

    As a result, the fireworks disy for the new Hell''s 16th National Day was dyed by 50 minutes.

    Perhaps countlessherworldly citizens were alreadyining about the dy, but that did nothing to dampen the moods of everyone above the clouds.

    Qin Ye finally rose to his feet, then extended a deep bow toward all of the light screens around him, and in this moment, even he was ovee by emotion.

    An unimaginable amount of resources and hard work had culminated in this asion, and he was about to witness history.

    "Thank you for your hard work over the past decade, everyone."

    He stood up straight again as he dered, "On this day, let us draw a conclusion to this era! The future belongs to us, and it''s up to all of you to usher in the new era! Now then, on mymand... Activate all of the generator sets!!"

    All of the generator sets across the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld were activated in unison at his behest!

    All of the Yin spirits depicted in the surrounding light screens instantly pressed the buttons that their fingers had been resting on, and in that instant, a string of slight tremors seemed to have run through the entire nation.

    The giant wheel of history was going to crush everything in its path en route to creating a new era.

    A chapter in history had drawn to a conclusion, and a new one was about to be written.

    From this day onward, the world was going to wee an era of rapid development, filled with countless possibilities and opportunities!

    Five minutester, bursts of dazzling light pierced through the clouds from the ground below, illuminating the entire pagoda into an immortal paradise!

 Chapter 1055: Lantern Festival (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1055: Lantern Festival (2)</h4>

    At the top of a tall building stood the families of several important government officials, and a small boy was holding onto his father''s hand as he asked in a perplexed manner, "Daddy, I don''t see anything, isn''t there supposed to be a fireworks disy tonight?"

    This was the tallest building in the city of Eastwood, also its government building, and it had been constructed by the Eastcloud Real Estate Corporation. At this moment, all of the city''s most important officials and their families were standing on the top of the building.

    However, the atmosphere of excitement had long since been reced by one of confusion and impatience.

    "What on earth is going on?" a young Yin spirit asked as he looked at the city around him. Even though the vision of Yin spirits wasn''t restricted by the night, they could only see ck and white at night time, which gave the entire city a very nd and eerie appearance, making for a less than pleasant visual experience.

    "There''s always been firework disys at night on the 1st of October every year!"

    "Back in the mortal realm, no one was this interested in fireworks. It was a visual spectacle, but even the average family could easily afford fireworks if they wanted to. Now, it''s actually be a highlight of every year..."

    "You should be happy with what you have, you didn''t even experience the early days of the new Hell. Apparently, even chess sets were extremely scarce back then."

    "Is that true? Surely that''s an exaggeration!"

    There were many more rooftops like this one all over the Cathayan Underworld.

    The rooftop of the North Yin Pavilion was different from other ces in that there was a particrlyrge number of Yin spirits gathered there. However, it was still very orderly and quiet without any Yin spirits disying signs of impatience.

    They knew that the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld was going to undergo massive changes on this night!

    Qin Xinzhong approached Qin Changxin as he said, "Father, it''s already been 47 minutes, and some unrest is beginning to appear across Everburn."

    Qin Changxin had been looking up at the sky this entire time, and he didn''t even move upon hearing this. Instead, he asked in a calm voice, "Have you sent out Yin soldiers to maintain order?"

    "I have... Should I release an exnation to the entire city?"

    Qin Changxin didn''t reply, and only after a long while did he speak again. "Xinzhong, do you know why I''ve stood so firmly by the Cathayan Underworld''s side this entire time, even though I would immediately be granted an extremely high status if I were to return to the Nipponese Underworld?"

    Qin Xinzhong shook his head in response.

    Qin Changxin smiled as he pointed up at the sky and continued, "In the vast universe out there, surely there have to be other nes like ours, with three realmsbined into one. Who''s going to be able to take us to search for those nes? At this point, only the Cathayan Underworld is capable of that. Once the new energy resource emerges, the rise of superpower nations will follow not long thereafter, and all types ofpetition in the world will be far fiercer than they were prior to this monumental breakthrough. We are witnessing the arrival of a new era! I would stand here for a year if I had to, let alone 47 minutes! As for theirints, there''s no need to worry about them. Once the light of the new era dawns on them, all of the unrest will instantly be quelled!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Yin Xiangnan was looking up at the sky with a displeased expression.

    He was surrounded by severalpanions, and their necks were growing sore from straining and looking up, but there was still no sight of the long-awaited fireworks disy.

    "What the hell is going on?" a Yin spiritined. "The fireworks disy has to be overdue by at least half an hour at this point! Has the annual celebration been canceled this year?"

    "Who knows? We didn''t receive any notification beforehand..."

    "This is going too far! I was waiting for this day to have some fun! The next opportunity to let loose would be the Cold Suit Festival, which is still over a month away!"

    "This is appalling from the government! How could they not notify everyone in advance of the cancetion? Are they blind? Do they not see so manyherworldly citizens waiting for the fireworks disy? I''m going to report them!"

    "Exactly! Why are we paying taxes if they don''t even care about us taxpayers!"

    Yin Xiangnan heaved a faint sigh.

    It was an undeniable fact that forms of recreation were sorelycking in the underworld.

    Fireworks disys had gone off on the nights of the 1st of October for the past 10 years without fail, and it had already be a tradition.

    Countless Yin spirits were looking forward to this day, and all of the stall owners lining the streets selling snacks were looking on with uneasy expressions, as were all of the other stall owners selling other products. The fact that no prior notification had been issued was making everyone feel extremely disgruntled.

    So be it, it''s not like we can do anything about this...

    Right as Yin Xiangnan was about to depart with disappointment in his heart, he suddenly faltered momentarily.

    A very pronounced buzzing sound had suddenly rung out in close proximity to the North Yin Pavilion, which stood at the absolute center of the city.

    It was as if something had been activated, arising from a slumber, causing the entire area to tremble slightly.

    "What on earth..." He looked up with a surprised expression, only to be met by the sight of the ck-jawed faces of all of hispanions.

    "What''s going on with you guys?" He waved a hand in front of their faces in a perplexed manner. Hispanions had beenining just a moment ago, yet they had suddenly beenpletely rooted to the spot with their mouths gaped wide open. Only after Yin Xiangnan had waved his hand in front of their faces for a while did one of them raise a trembling finger to point directly forward.

    Yin Xiangnan was just about to turn around to cast his gaze in that direction when he discovered that the faces of hispanions... were green!

    It wasn''t the green light released byherfire. Instead, it was... light! Pure green light!!

    All of a sudden, a string of mechanical cracks rang out, and the light behind him was bing brighter and brighter! This was the light that he was familiar with, light from the mortal realm!

    The light washed over the ground and instantly passed him by. In the next instant, a three-meter-tallmppost beside him suddenly lit up with pure white light.

    This wasn''t the faintherfire that could only illuminate a radius of five to six meters, this was light that could illuminate everything within a range of several dozens of meters, and it lit up the night in a sh!

    Starting from the North Yin Pavilion, one circle of light after another appeared throughout the entirety of Everburn like ripples spreading over a pond!

    Deathly silence.

    The entire nation had fallenpletely silent!

    Theherfire in Yin Xiangnan''s eyes was flickering violently, and he couldn''t bear to tear his gaze away from the beautiful scene in front of him, yet he still forced himself to turn around.

    Standing around 100 meters behind him, the entirety of the North Yin Pavilion had be brightly lit! Theser beams at the top of the building were sweeping across the entire city, basking anything that it shone down upon in brilliant green radiance!

    In a span of no more than five minutes, the entire city had been lit up, and a series of bright searchlights had even been activated on the city walls.

    "Is this... light?" A Yin spirit finally returned to his senses as he stared at his own trembling hands while murmuring to himself in a shaking voice, "Is this... electricity? Please don''t let this be a dream!"

    Soon, more and more Yin spirits across the entire nation began to react to what they were seeing, and within the span of 10 seconds, a raucousmotion had swept through the entire Cathayan Underworld like a tsunami!

    "Holy shit!!" In Shadowend City, a young man flung open his windows like a madman, then cast his gaze toward the streetmps across the street as he yelled with all his might, "We have electricity!!!"

    Countlessherworldly citizens had already gathered on the streets to see the lights, and just like the young man, many of them were also screaming at the top of their lungs!

    "We have electricity now! I can''t believe I''m seeing electricity in the underworld!!"

    "A new era has arrived!! Long live, Hell!! Long live, Yanluo Qin!!"

    The lights had allowed them to see color in the night, making it a warm and inviting environment.

    At the same time, they knew that with the emergence of electricity, everything in the mortal realm wasn''t going to be too far away from them.

    Inside a university, there was a student reading a book at night under aherfiremp, and he was extremely displeased by the fact that theherfire in themp had suddenly been snuffed out. However, in the next instant, brilliant radiance had washed over the entire university!

    Deafening yells instantly rang out from all of the dormitories, and countless windows were flung open as all of theherfire on the schoolyard was extinguished in unison. The inky darkness of the night had been illuminated to be as bright as day!

    The schoolyard wasn''t veryrge, but the fact that it was illuminated by this new source of light made it the most sought-after ce in the entire university, and many students were already breaking curfew to drift toward the schoolyard like moths to a me.

    "Hey, stop! You''re all breaking curfew! Return to your dormitories right now or you''ll have five marks deducted off your next exams!"

    "Stop, everyone, stop! You have to follow the rules! Ah, the dean is here!"

    Unfortunately, no one paid any heed to these frantic cries.

    The light that they hadn''t seen in so many years filled them with a sense of intimacy, and the aura of the mortal realm hadpletely lit up this nd and dreary schoolyard.

    Countless students drifted out of their windows to stroll under the lights of the schoolyard. Never did they think that a day woulde where they would cherish electric lighting as much as they did now!

    Some were quietly strolling through the schoolyard, basking in the brilliant and familiar radiance, but they were severely outnumbered by the students who were roaring to the heavens in excitement. "We have electricity now!!!"

    "Long live, Hell!! Long live, Yanluo Qin!!"

    "I didn''t think that this day would evere! It truly brings a tear to my eyes..."

    "I can''t wait for televisions and movies to appear now! I''ve been bored out of my mind these past few years!"

    "Fuck these books, I need a phone to y games on! My fingers are already twitching just thinking about it!"

    "This is what the world should be like!"

    Celebratory voices had rung out across the entire nation.

    One city after another lit up in sequential order from the east to the west, and soon, the entire Cathayan Underworld had been illuminated, bing the first nation in this ne to bask in the light of the new era!

    Countless lights glowed with scintiting radiance, dispelling the dim and depressing light cast byherfire. Looking down from the heavens, it was as if an old and tattered veil had been slowly cast aside, or as if the page of an ancient book was being turned over.

    The new page was one that was dazzling as the stars!

    Countless golden stars appeared all over the previously dark and bleak Cathayan Underworld, forming a sea of light that heralded the arrival of the new era, and a giant dragon seemed to have awakened amid everyone''s deafening cheers.

    The blood of the giant dragon was beginning to flow again.

    Within the span of half an hour, countless golden stars spread from the east to the west, from the south to the north, like dragon scales emerging across the entire nation, and thunderous roars of excitement could be heard all over the nation, spanning an area in excess of ten million square kilometers.

    The normalherworldly citizens were filled with excitement, but for the Yin spirits who had already been notified of this in advance, they were more astonished than anything else.

    On the rooftop of the North Yin Pavilion, Qin Changxin closed his eyes and took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, but to no avail.

    A thunderousmotion could be heard all around him, and the impatience and frustration of all of the city''sherworldly citizens had been transformed into excitement and tion!

    The entire city had been illuminated by the light of a new era, and no one could remain unmoved by this astonishing sight.

    "They did it! They really did it!" an underworld emissary beside Qin Changxin couldn''t help but roar with all his might as he flung both of his hands up into the air. "After 10 years of painstaking work, we finally did it!! We are the ones who have ushered in the new era for the entire world! Hahaha!"

 Chapter 1056: Lantern Festival (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1056: Lantern Festival (3)</h4>

    One area lit up after another across the Cathayan Underworld, like body parts of the giant dragon awakening one by one.

    In contrast with the lighting facilities in the mortal realm, the light show of the Cathayan Underworld was still quiteckluster.

    Lights hadn''t even been set up in every area. In order to give all of theherworldly citizens a surprise, Hell had only set up lights in all of the nonresidential buildings and the streetmps.

    However, these lights were more than enough to ignite the fire in the hearts of all of theherworldly citizens.

    They were weing the arrival of the new era in person!

    Across countless cities, counties, and viges, everyone was cheering with all their might, ovee by an unprecedented sense of joy at the monumental achievement that their nation had aplished ahead of the rest of the world.

    All of the officials of the hundreds of cities across the nation were able to bear witness to this breathtaking scene.

    They saw their cities light up in rings from the center until they were entirely basked in golden radiance, and it was impossible to describe the emotions that they were feeling at this moment.

    A governor had a hand sped over his own chest, and even though there was no heart in his chest cavity, he felt as if something were thumping violently in there, threatening to leap out of his body at any moment to join in on the nationwide celebrations.

    This was the deep-rooted patriotic pride that had been ingrained into every single fiber of his being.

    It was the pride of seeing his mothend rise up once again after remaining dormant for over a century.

    These officials of the Cathayan Underworld''s cities were more refined and restrained, so they weren''t going topletely lose theirposure like normalherworldly citizens. However, all of them extended a bow toward Everburn in unison, and their bodies were trembling uncontrobly as they did so.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Meanwhile, the long energy resource battle waged by all of the major power stations across the nation was also drawing to a conclusion.

    In the Reincarnation Power Station of Westriver Province, all of the Yin spirits present were unconsciously seated bolt upright with their entire bodies tensed up in anticipation. They wanted to scream, to shout, but they repressed those overwhelming urges as they stared intently at the screen, particrly at the number that was constantly jumping up further and further in the top left corner.

    "We''re at two hundred million kW/m!" The eyes of the researcher operating the equipment were about to bulge out of their sockets as they stared at the screen with ck-jawed expressions. Many Yin spirits had already piled around the monitor, witnessing this historic moment with him. He couldn''t help but read out the number as it continued to jump up. "278 million... 279 million... 280 million! We''re only twenty million away from our goal of three hundred million!"

    To put this into context, aparison could be drawn to the province of Jiangsu in the mortal realm. In 2018, Jiangsu Province had used a total of six hundred billion kilowatt hours of electricity, which meant that six hundred billion units of electricity had to be produced per hour, equating to roughly ten billion units per minute.

    At this point, the new energy resource of Hell was only being used for lighting purposes.

    Aside from that, there was no infrastructure that required electricity.

    Furthermore, the current poption of the Cathayan Underworld was only around a seventh of the mortal realm''s poption. In order to satisfy the future electricity demands of a poption of this size, a minimum rate of three hundred million kW/m would have to be reached, equating to eighteen billion kilowatt hours.

    The Yin spirits gathered around the screen were thest group of people in the Cathayan Underworld who were still yet to erupt into celebration. Only after their target was reached could this night truly be called a sess.

    At this point, the number on the screen had already reached the home stretch.

    As the number on the upper left corner continued to jump up incessantly, 90% of the map on the screen had already turned green, with only a final small section left untouched.

    Everyone was breathing extremely heavily as they crowded around the screen, praying with all their might that their target could be reached.

    Finally, the final city of Westriver Province began to take on a hint of green.

    The green color slowly spread, and once this city turned green, the entire map of the nation would be fully converted!

    All of a sudden, a clear ringing sound rang out.

    All of the Yin spirits in front of the screen instantly rose to their feet, and after a brief moment of silence, a burst of thunderous cheers instantly rang out.

    "We did it! We reached three hundred million kW/m!"

    "I can''t believe this! I thought it would be impossible toplete this project in such a short timeframe, but we really did it!!"

    "Only now can we truly say that the new energy resource of our Cathayan Underworld is on the right track!"

    "Everyone, let this be the first of many sesses toe!"

    From this moment forth, there was no longer any cause to be concerned whether the nation was only going to be illuminated for one night before falling into darkness again. With thepletion of this goal, the new energy resource was here to stay!

    Amid the deafening cheers, an elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair picked up a microphone with trembling hands, then cleared his throat before dering, "All units of Westriver Province have been activated, achieving an output of eighteen billion kilowatt-hours! We''ve fulfilled our target to perfection!"

    His voice was enveloped in Yin energy, transforming into a discreet speck of silver light that flew up into the sky before flying directly toward the Bohai Sea.

    Unbeknownst to him, hundreds of other specks of silver light were also rising up from all over the nation before converging toward the Heavenly Pir City!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Bohai Sea, Kraken Fortress.

    The Heavenly Pir City had also be a bustling hub of activity, there were countless construction workers here, but none of them could see what was happening above the clouds.

    On the top floor of the tall pagoda, Perkins was so stunned that he had already copsed to the ground, leaning against the railing as he looked on with a ck-jawed expression.

    The countless lights down below hadpletely illuminated the clouds, and he could imagine just how spectacr and vibrant the scene beneath the clouds would be.

    He couldn''t see that, but what he could see were the four surrounding pagodas. Just now, golden light had appeared on the pagodas floor after floor, presenting an indescribably breathtaking sight to behold.

    At this point, the four pagodas had already transformed into four dazzling golden mountains that had illuminated even the heavens into a bright golden color.

    Amid the golden radiance, Perkins slowly raised a hand in an awestruck gesture. This was the first time after his death that he had been able to see the world at night in full color.

    The sky was no longer a dreary gray color. Instead, it was bright blue like a vast sapphire.

    Only now did he realize that the underworld at night was every bit as spectacr as the mortal realm.

    His hand fell limply back down again as he leaned against the railing.

    He had noticed what appeared to be electric wires earlier, so he was already mentally prepared for this, but what about the rest of the world?

    Once the international trade conference began, all of the world''s leaders were going toe to the Cathayan Underworld,pletely unprepared for this bombshell!

    He could already envision the unstoppable wheel of history crushing all those in its path who didn''t manage to get out of the way in time, and now that the wheel had been set into motion, there was no going back!

    Finally, he opened his eyes as he recovered some semnce ofposure. He struggled to his feet, relying heavily on the railing for support, and his legs were still trembling as he dusted off his own suit and said, "I am a neutral party in all of this, but Yanluo Qin, have you thought about the repercussions of all of this? In the face of the new energy resource, all of the world''s old rules will be shattered, and the state of the entire world will be massively shaken up. The Cathayan Underworld will be the only party to benefit from this! In the wake of such massive changes, some smaller underworlds may go bankrupt, and we could even witness the emergence of a fifth pir! None of that is beneficial to the world in any way! Esteemed Yanluo Qin, I ask that you give the rest of the world sufficient time to prepare and adjust. Otherwise, if the global economy receives such a massive shock, there''s a very good chance we could see the emergence of widespread financial crises!"

    "So what?" Zhao Yun asked as he took a sip of his wine with a nonchnt smile.

    "What exactly is it that you''re trying to achieve?!"

    Qin Ye leaned back in his chair in a rxed manner, and his voice was very calm, but his words were as sharp as a de. "It''s time for a dominant force to appear in this world."

    Perkins''s pupils contracted drastically upon hearing this, and he reflexively brought his palms together to pray to the gods above.

    Whoever is up there, cast your omniscient gaze upon this demon! He''s going to build the glory of the Cathayan Underworld upon the demise of other underworlds! Why are you not punishing him?!

    The entire world was still under the impression that the third King Yanluo was a reasonable individual who yed by the rules, but in reality, he was even more ruthless and terrifying than his two predecessors!

    Perkins was even beginning to pray that something could go wrong so that the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development would be dyed by another four to five years, thereby giving the rest of the world time to prepare. Otherwise, he didn''t even dare to imagine the bloodbath that would unfold during the international trade conference!

    However, as soon as this thought began to take shape in his mind, countless specks of silver light suddenly converged from all directions before forming a series of light screens in mid-air. The screens depicted the faces of countless scientists who were excited beyond belief, and all of them were yelling at the top of their lungs.

    "All units of Westriver Province have been activated, achieving an output of eighteen billion kilowatt hours! We''ve fulfilled our target to perfection!"

    "All units of Wanjiang Province have been activated, achieving an output of twenty billion kilowatt hours! We''ve fulfilled our target to perfection!

    "All units of Everburn have been activated, achieving an output of fifteen billion kilowatt hours! We''ve fulfilled our target to perfection!

    "All units of Ashmound Province have been activated, achieving an output of thirteen billion kilowatt hours! We''ve fulfilled our target to perfection!

    There were hundreds of these screens in total, and Perkins could practically hear the old era crumbling away while the new era arose from its remains.

    The new era had arrived, after all.

    "You''re making an enemy out of the entire world!" he eximed in a horrified voice.

    "No, we''re trading with the entire world," Qin Ye countered. "The GTO is the organization that is most well versed with all of the economic changes taking ce worldwide, which side are you going to take?"

    "We..."

    "Don''t be in such a hurry to reply," Qin Ye interjected. "The world doesn''t need anyone to survive. A world trade organization is necessary, but it doesn''t have to be called the GTO. Perhaps it can instead be known as... the Pan-Asian Trade Organization. The entire world will trade with our Cathayan Underworld, and we''ll withdraw from the GTO to found the Pan-Asian Trade Organization. What do you think of that? Of course, if you''re willing to agree, then the Cathayan Underworld will investrge sums of money each year to support your organization. Or, are you afraid that we won''t have the money to invest?"

    Perkins opened his mouth before closing it several times in session.

    His soul was trembling violently, and he knew that the biggest advantage that the Cathayan Underworld currently held was its isted status from the rest of the world. As a result of this, no one was aware that they had already developed the new energy resource and had already moved on to constructing anciry facilities! They were digging a massive pit for the three pirs to fall into!

    However, the biggest disadvantage that they had was also their isted status, which made them unaware of what was going on in the rest of the world.

    Thus, they needed an informant in the outside world. With anciry facilities already being constructed for the new energy resource, it was clear to Perkins that a currency war was going to follow.

    With the assistance of the GTO, the Cathayan Underworld would be in an even better position. Looking at things now, he simply couldn''t envision a future where the Cathayan Underworld could possibly lose, and if they did achieve victory, then would there be any need for the GTO to continue to exist?

    Would the center of the entire world not shift to eastern Asia? If that were to happen, what would be of the GTO?

    After making sense of all of this, he cast aplex gaze toward Qin Ye''s outstretched hand.

    30 secondster, he finally reached out to shake Qin Ye''s hand with his own hand.

    "Please remember your promise, Yanluo Qin."

 Chapter 1057: Letter of Invitation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1057: Letter of Invitation (1)</h4>

    Anubis stroked a finger over the bright red enveloped in front of him in silence.

    He was situated in arge temple that had been constructed in the ssic Ma''at style of Aegypt. This was the earliest religion of Aegypt, and it was also the religion that gave rise to the likes of Anubis and Osiris, among other gods. As the anchors of religion in the Aegyptian Underworld, there was no way they would allow other religions to be present on their territory, and Rome was the only exception to this.

    Around 1,000 years ago, after the Aegyptian Underworld conquered the middle east, the first thing that it did was wipe out allpeting religions. Currently, most of the middle east followed polytheistic religions, and even this temple had been constructed in the ancient Aegyptian style.

    Anubis was seated on the throne at the very center of the temple, and on either side of him was a row of seven tables and chairs. At this moment, four of those chairs had already been upied, and their upants were all death gods.

    They were Osiris, Menes, Ramesses the Second, and Cleopatra the Seventh.

    As one of the four pirs, the Aegyptian Underworld had three capital cities, which were the original capital city of Cairo, the city of Istanbul, which had been conquered along with the middle east, and the city of Baghdad in the east. They had been named the Sacred City of Atum, the Sacred City of Amon, and the Sacred City of Ptah, respectively, with Macbeth as the central capital city.

    The three capital cities each corresponded with one of the Aegyptian Underworld''s three major religions, with the Sacred City of Atum tied with the Heliopolis religion, which included death gods such as Osiris, Seth, Nephthys, and Anubis himself.

    This was a religion worshiped by all of the high-end nobles of the Aegyptian Underworld.

    The Sacred City of Amon was rted to the Hermopolitan religion, which included many of the Aegyptian Underworld''s death god level elders, and Marquess level grand priests.

    The final one of the three major religions was the Memphis religion, and it was the most popr religion among themon masses because it perfectly exined the rtionship between the Nile River and the sun.

    The three religions were divided, but also extremely united, and that summed up the situation in the Aegyptian Underworld. As a result of this, it was mandated that when any decisions were being made, Anubis had to summon the death gods from the other two religions.

    This was why there were four death gods and a ruler death god seated in this temple at this moment.

    Anubis gently lifted a hand, and the letter of invitation opened up in mid-air. All of the words inscribed upon it were significantly magnified, allowing everyone to see the contents of the letter. "Take a look and tell me what you think, everyone."

    Amid the silence, all of the death gods quickly read through the letter, and a grim look appeared on Osiris''s face as he mused, "This is the first time that the Cathayan Underworld had actively invited everyone to attend an international conference held by them, right?"

    "Could it be that their attitude is changing? I''m referring to their attitude toward the rest of the world," Ramesses the Second spected with a contemtive expression. "On the past few asions, they were forced to turn up due to the pressure we''ve exerted on them, but they''re taking the initiative to invite us this time. Does this entail that the Cathayan Underworld has rested enough and is ready to bare its fangs at the rest of the world again?"

    "Why do you have to always look at things in such an aggressive way?" Cleopatra the Seventh asked in a disdainful manner. "Instead of saying that they''re baring their fangs at the world, why can''t you say that the Cathayan Underworld is actively reintegrating itself into the rest of the world for mutually beneficial oues?"

    "How naive are you?" Ramesses the Second countered in a cold voice. "The four pirs have beenpeting against one another for thousands of years. Who doesn''t want to be the ruler of this world? There is no world in which mutually beneficial oues can be achieved, every single underworld is constantly trying to seize more political power at the expense of others. This invitation extended by the Cathayan Underworld is very likely a deration to the rest of the world that they''re ready to seize back the political power that they''ve lost during their century-long absence. Why are they suddenly so confident?"

    Menes said in an unhurried voice, "I agree with Cleopatra''s viewpoint. Regardless of what their intentions are, there''s no need for us to try and stop them. The current world prioritizes peaceful development above all else, and the costs of desperately trying to repress an underworld, particrly one of the four pirs, far outweigh the benefits. We''ve all been dabbling in the world''s economy for many years, I''m sure you can all see what''s happening here. This is a natural cycle. They''ve be powerful again, so they''ll naturally try to im more power over the world. If we insist on trying to repress them, the oue will most likely be far from desirable. Ramesses, I recall that you were the one most vehemently supporting our nation''s participation in the Prometheus n, look at what that''se to. They''ve been researching for 10 years without producing anything concrete, and with each of the three pirs having to contribute hundreds of billions in funds per year, this is not a small investment by any stretch of the imagination. Even if we have thrown all of that money into the sea, we would hear a huge ssh, but our investments haven''t amounted to anything here."

    "In that case, are you content to just stand by and watch as the three pirs be the four pirs again? Currently, we''re receiving far more benefits than back when the Cathayan Underworld was around! Do you want to see the Cathayan Underworld return to its former status again?"

    "What do you suggest then? That we try to repress them? The second King Yanluo is like an insurmountable mountain! The Cathayan Underworld''s economy hasn''t benefited from his reign, but under his leadership, the Cathayan Underworld has gained an enormous amount of political power. How are we supposed to repress the Cathayan Underworld so long as he continues to exist? Can you be certain that he''s no longer around? Even if he''s not here anymore, there''s still Ghost King Zhao. Are you nning for all of us to constantly live in fear every single day under the Scales of Eternal Justice?"

    "That''s enough." The debate between the dovish parties and the hawkish parties was one that existed in all nations. Anubis''s brows furrowed slightly as he gently tapped the table, and the entire hall instantly fell silent.

    The dovish and hawkish factions could bicker and fight all they want, but the decisive vote always lied in the hands of the most powerful ruler death god.

    This was the fundamental reason why the ruler death god of an underworld had to be more powerful than other death gods in the nation.

    Just the thought of the second King Yanluo was giving Anubis a headache, but he still rified, "The second King Yanluo isn''t around at the moment, and we most likely won''t be seeing him for the next few centuries."

    Ramesses''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Are you sure?"

    "I''m certain," Anubis replied in an assured voice.

    "Why is that?" Cleopatra asked in a perplexed manner. "Where has he gone that would require him to be absent from the Cathayan Underworld for several centuries?"

    Anubis took a calm nce at her as he replied, "That''s not something you should be asking about."

    He slowly rose to his feet as he continued, "We don''t know for sure whether the Cathayan Underworld has truly changed its attitude toward the rest of the world, but the fact that they''ve dared to send out these letters of invitation half a year early is a clear sign that they''ve made sufficient preparations. There''s someone telling Director Perkins of the GTO what to do, and I don''t know who it is, but it definitely isn''t one of the three pirs. He''s only just concluded his year-long inspection of the Cathayan Underworld, so I''m sure he has extensive knowledge on the current state of the Cathayan Underworld. Find him and make him tell us everything he knows, down to the finest of details! Also, approach all of the underworlds with the research oues of the Prometheus n and ask them who is willing to stand on our side this time!"

    "As you wish."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    In the Russian Underworld, the nameless god of death was seated in his pce in silence as he stroked the letter of invitation he had just received in an absentminded manner.

    Catherine the Great and Peter the Great were both present, and only after a long while did the nameless god of death break his silence. "Have either of you heard of the Heavenly Pir City?"

    Both of them shook their heads in response.

    In contrast with the free-flowing debate that had been taking ce at the Aegyptian Underworld, the atmosphere was far tenser and more subdued here, and it seemed that everyone was carefully deliberating each word that came out of their mouths.

    Their caution stemmed from the fact that the Russian Underworld was a direct neighbor to the Cathayan Underworld, and it shared arger border with the Cathayan Underworld than any other nation in the world!

    Countless KGB spies were situated all along the shared border between the two nations, and they were constantly reporting everything that they observed and detected to the nameless god of death. Just a year ago, they had suddenly detected massive energy fluctuations.

    Furthermore, these fluctuations had constantly been present since then, and they had been growing stronger and stronger!

    There was a city by the name of Chunhui in the mortal realm that sat on the shared border between Cathay, Russia, and North Daehan, and such a city existed in the underworld as well.

    The three death gods present were the only ones who were aware that upon detecting the massive energy fluctuations that had arisen in the Cathayan Underworld a year ago, the Russian Underworld''s biological mothership, the Beluga, had already entered the Nipponese Sea in secret through the Arctic Ocean, and it was there that they were able to discover a shocking revtion, one that they were certain no other country had discovered.

    The most potent source of the energy fluctuations was just off the coast of the Bohai Sea.

    The coast of the Bohai Sea was extremely close to Chunhui, and if it had been even a little further away, they wouldn''t have been able to discover this. Even so, they were only able to capture some fragmented energy waves. However, just those fragmented wave energy waves alone were enough to strike shock and apprehension deep into their hearts!

    Throughout this past year, they had even begun to minimize their contact with the three pirs, the Beluga had been constantly stationed in the region of the sea shared by the three nations. Furthermore, all of the KGB spies on the border had been deployed, as well as many darkfeathers below the Anitya Hellguard level, but unfortunately for them, the Array of the Nine Gods had been fortified.

    It was most likely Ghost King Zhao who had fortified the array, and at this point, even darkfeathers at the Netherworld Operative level weren''t able to bypass it!

    The reason why they were treating this situation with such caution was because the faint energy waves that they had been able to detect throughout this past year had never appeared in this world prior to that!

    This was energy that hadn''t existed in the underworld prior to a year ago!

    If this were the so-called new energy resource, then didn''t this entail that the Cathayan Underworld was already using the energy resource on a widespread basis?

    In that case, how could the Prometheus n possibly win?

    The stakes were far too high here, and they didn''t dare to make a decision. Even at the risk of offending the three pirs, they had to sit on the fence and watch the situation unfold.

    If the Cathayan Underworld really did already possess a new energy resource...

    The nameless god of death shuddered as this thought arose in his mind.

    If that were the case, then the Russian Underworld would either be the biggest victim or the biggest beneficiary!

    Why is the Cathayan Underworld still isting itself from the rest of the world?! We''re about to go insane from waiting here!

    After a long silence, Catherine the Great finally shook her head as she replied in a grim voice, "I haven''t heard of it, but the location is an extremely troublesome one..."

    On the letter of invitation, it was clearly stated that the Heavenly Pir City was situated on the coast of the Bohai Sea.

    The meeting had alreadysted 30 minutes, and only two sentences had been spoken during this time. After another 15 had passed by, the nameless god of death stood up as he said in a grim voice, "Inform the parliamentary houses and the panel of elders right away. We can''t keep this a secret any longer. Notify the entire nation! This is a gamble that''s going to decide the future of our Russian Underworld! This doesn''t just concern us anymore, the fate of the entire nation is at stake! Get them toe and see me right away!"

 Chapter 1058: Letter of Invitation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1058: Letter of Invitation (2)</h4>

    The sound of leather boots clicking along a hard floor rang out across the entire hall. This was an extremely antiquated hall with walls that were riddled with murals and vines.

    An underworld emissary wearing a suit was quickly walking through the hall with a grim expression, and he soon emerged from the hall onto the cliff outside.

    This was a bottomless cliff that was filled with inky-ck Yin energy, and he quickly made his way over to the edge of the cliff before reporting with a respectful bow, "Lord J?rmungandr, a letter hase from the Cathayan Underworld!"

    Silence.

    Despite theck of a response, the underworld emissary didn''t move a single muscle, and after a full five seconds, a burst of violent rumbling erupted from the bottom of the abyss. Close to a minuteter, a gigantic skeletal snake''s head suddenly rose up from within the rift, emerging through the inky-ck Yin energy.

    On top of the head stood a woman in a long dress woven from ck swan feathers.

    Half of her face belonged to a beautiful woman, while the other half was a mass of mangled blood and flesh so rotten and hideous that it was enough to make the beholder''s skin crawl. She took a nce at the underworld emissary before waving a dismissive hand as she said, "You can go now."

    The letter that the underworld emissary was holding flew up into the air before drifting toward H.

    Right as the underworld emissary disappeared, H immediately opened the letter before quickly reading through it.

    This letter of invitation was clearly different from the other ones that had been sent out. As the Cathayan Underworld''s first and most resolute ally, Qin Ye knew that the five Northern Europa nations deserved differential treatment, and this letter of invitation was over half a centimeter thick.

    With each sentence that she read through, H''s expression would change slightly. Initially, she was concerned and anxious, but that soon gave way to relief, then excitement. At the end, her cheeks had be flushed with excitement, and she was gently weeping into her own hand as she held the letter between her trembling fingers.

    "What does it say? Hurry up and tell me!" J?rmungandr urged in a disgruntled voice.

    Over a decade ago, the Cathayan Underworld had finally emerged from its century-long slumber and weathered the storm that was the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. At the time, they had chosen to stand with the Cathayan Underworld, and that had been a massive gamble.

    H pursed her lips tightly as she fought topose herself, then said in a trembling voice, "They''ve managed to fool the entire world! They already developed their new energy resource five and a half years ago, and during the five years after that, they''veid down a nationwidework for the new energy resource! At this point, thework has already been operating for over a year, and there have been no issues whatsoever!"

    She was clenching her fists so tightly that her joints were cracking audibly. "They did it! They seeded! Once their new energy resource is released to the rest of the world, the state of the entire world will be transformed! I''m confident that the Cathayan Underworld''s panel of advisors has the ability to make this count! J?rmungandr, we have to attend this international trade conference!"

    Those outside of the five Northern Europa nations weren''t aware of just how terrible their situation had been.

    The Argosian Underworld had already conquered most of Europa, and only Northern Europa had remained untouched. However, it was like a tasty morsel that the Argosian Underworld had constantly been plotting to devour. Due to their strained rtionship with the Argosian Underworld, no other underworlds dared to trade with the five Northern Europa nations.

    This caused their economy to suffer tremendously, and it could be said that unspoken sanctions had been ced upon them.

    In the past, they wouldn''t even dare to attend a conference where the Argosian Underworld would be present, but this situation waspletely different!

    They had to go and see how the Cathayan Underworld was going to change the world!

    They had to go and see the reactions of the three pirs once they finally discovered that they had been kept in the dark all along!

    They also wanted to see the reactions of all of the underworlds who had relied on the Argosian Underworld andshed out at the five Northern Europa nations in the past!

    This was their prize for choosing the right side, and it was a well-deserved one!

    After a moment of stunned silence, J?rmungandr roared with excitement, "Is that true?!"

    "Of course! I wouldn''t lie to you about something like this!"

    J?rmungandr''s gigantic serpentine body was trembling uncontrobly, and several secondster, his voice rang out like rumbling thunder throughout his entire pce. "All officials, get ready! Prepare the best possible representative team for the uing international trade conference! In half a year''s time, we set off for the Cathayan Underworld!"

    The letters of invitation sent out by the Cathayan Underworld had stirred the entire world up into a frenzy.

    The Cathayan Underworld had switched from a passive stance to seizing the initiative, and all of the underworlds were extremely wary of this development.

    "Is the dragon about to awaken?" Anko was seated in her pce of snow and ice, looking at the letter of invitation in front of her as she bit down onto her bottom lip.

    Her Celtic Underworld didn''t possess a smallndmass, but in terms of poption, it was very much a small underworld.

    As the death god of a small underworld, she had to possess extremely sharp and sensitive political instincts, and it was exactly because of this that her soul was trembling with fear.

    She knew that this uing conference was going to change the course of history, and at the very least, she had to attend it to witness the making of history!

    She reflexively stroked the goosebumps that had appeared over her arms as she gritted her teeth and dered, "Prepare a representative team! In half a year, we will be attending the international trade conference in the Cathayan Underworld!"

    Hindustani Underworld, Kasa Temple.

    This was one of the Hindustani Underworld''s 10 major temples. Just like the mortal realm, there was still a caste system present in the Hindustani Underworld. Furthermore, all important conference venues were located in renowned temples, such as the Mahabodhi Temple where Death God Yamaraja was situated.

    Theoretically speaking, all of the temples could only fall under the Brahmin surname, but the Kasa Temple was an exception because it had been rented to the top 10 consortiums at an annual rental fee in excess of a billion.

    There were once 15 top consortiums in the world, but five of them had declined significantly, so there were only 10 left, and they were the dominant forces in the world''s economy.

    Under normal circumstances, underworld emissaries were rarely ever sighted here, but during the past month, countless Yin spirits had gathered here from all over the world.

    "What on earth is the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld thinking? Why would he put us in such a difficult predicament?"

    In the Lotus Hall of the Kasa Temple, Manager Khilok of the Abbasid Consortium mmed the letter of invitation heavily onto the table, then dug his fingers into his hair and wed at his own scalp in frustration.

    Around him were the current managers of all of the top 10 consortiums, and they knew that the chairmen of their respective consortiums were all on the way as well.

    This conference was going to decide the direction that the world took for the next few centuries, and the chairmen had to be present in-person to ensure that they didn''t end up on the wrong side of history.

    Kana Fujii was also clearly very frustrated. The three pirs had already sprung their trap during thest conference in Nara, and if it weren''t for the Cathayan Underworld turning the tables at the veryst moment, they would most likely already be out of the four pirs by now.

    The intention of the three pirs had been very clear: to strip the Cathayan Underworld of its forbidden arts supervision rights.

    If that were to happen, then the other three pirs would need to supervise the nations around the Cathayan Underworld. That would give them sufficient reason to send their troops into those underworlds to surround the Cathayan Underworld from all sides.

    However, their n had failed in a spectacr fashion, but they didn''t give up there. Instead, they had forced the responsibility of holding the next international trade conference onto the Cathayan Underworld.

    A conference of this caliber naturally had to be held in the host nation''s territory, and that would give the entire world the opportunity to see the current state of the Cathayan Underworld! If it were discovered that the Cathayan Underworld''s power didn''t match its status, then the proposal to add another nation to the four pirs would most likely instantly be raised during the international trade conference!

    Of course, that would only be applicable if the Cathayan Underworld really had suffered a severe dip in power, and the entire world thought that to be the case. Otherwise, why was the Cathayan Underworld refusing to open up to the rest of the world?

    However, not only had the Cathayan Underworld agreed to this, it had also sent out its letters of invitation early!

    This was a sign that they were extremely confident, but if they really did have the power to back up their confidence, then why did they wait until they had been forced to the edge of a cliff during the conference in Nara before finally turning the tables?

    These decisions were extremely difficult to understand!

    "What did Perkins say?" Kana Fujii asked with gritted teeth as she turned toward another representative.

    That representative was a red-haired woman, and she replied, "He said that the Cathayan Underworld hasn''t undergone any changes. He didn''t get to go to the maind. Instead, he was only invited to an ind off the coast of the Cathayan Underworld. Our chairman spoke to him in person, which is already a great honor for him, so unless he has a death wish, there''s no way he would lie about this."

    "Shit!" Kana Fujii couldn''t help but swear out loud upon hearing this. She then took a deep breath before turning to everyone else. "Everyone, my guess is that either Perkins really did fail to discover anything, and the city known as the Heavenly Pir City really hasn''t undergone any changes, or the Cathayan Underworld is keeping whatever changes that have taken ce a secret from him. The three pirs have always employed a follow-up tactic to their strategies, and they''ll be sure to bring up the issue of the Cathayan Underworld''s forbidden arts supervision rights again during this uing conference. We all know that they arranged for the Cathayan Underworld to host this international trade conference so that they could see the true state of the Cathayan Underworld. If they see even the slightest opportunity for them to strike, they''ll be sure to pounce on it!"

    She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip in a frustrated manner, then continued, "ording to our sources, the second King Yanluo has gone to a ce that cannot be spoken about, and he won''t return for several centuries. In his absence, is the third King Yanluo going to be able to handle the pressure from the three pirs? He should be even more aware than we are of just how troublesome the three pirs are to deal with, yet he still sent out these letters of invitation so early. Is this a show of confidence? If it isn''t, then there must be something else that they''re relying on. It means that the Cathayan Underworld has a trump card up its sleeve that all of us arepletely oblivious to."

    Khilok gritted his teeth as he said, "I can''t shake the feeling that the Cathayan Underworld has done this not just to disy their confidence, but also... to end the struggle between the four pirs once and for all!"

    "That''s impossible!"

    All of the consortium representatives present were astonished to hear this.

    "Their opponents are the three pirs, underworlds that are just as ancient as the Cathayan Underworld!"

    "The four pirs have already stood for thousands of years, there''s no way that stalemate can be broken so easily!"

    Khilok''s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "Then what if they''ve already developed their new energy resource?"

    "That''s even more impossible!"

    "Think about how much pressure the Prometheus n has exerted upon them! If they''ve already developed the new energy resource, there''s no way that they wouldn''t have already released it!"

    "Upon releasing the new energy resource, the Cathayan Underworld would be able to immediately win back all of the political power it''s lost with interest! There''s no way they would keep it a secret!"

    "Also, don''t forget that Perkins hasn''t seen anything even after staying in the Cathayan Underworld for a year! There''s no way he would lie to us."

    Khilok massaged his own temples with a hint of weariness in his eyes.

    He also felt this to be impossible.

    No one would develop a new energy resource, yet keep it a secret, particrly the Cathayan Underworld, which had to be desperate to reim its lost political power.

    If that really were the case, then the implications were downright terrifying!

    That would mean that the Cathayan Underworld was aiming for a much loftier goal than simply reiming its lost influence and political power!

    Even though everyone was vehemently rebuking Khilok''s idea, they also couldn''t shake the suspicion that maybe, just maybe, the Cathayan Underworld could''ve already developed their new energy resource, but was keeping it a secret! Otherwise, they would be sitting at home, drinking coffee, rather than gathering here like a bunch of cats on a hot tin roof!

    Everyone could smell the scent of an approaching storm from these letters of invitation, but none of them could be sure of what was toe.

    "The chairmen will be arriving soon," Khilok said as he lowered his head. "They will decide on what we do next. However, the chairmen are all quite advanced in age, so we will be the ones who attend the conference in their stead. Let me issue all of you a warning to be careful, more careful than you''ve ever been before! This conference is definitely not going to be your average international conference, so keep your wits about you and constantly be looking to adapt to change! I don''t want to see another five of our consortiums fall from grace in the aftermath of this conference!"

 Chapter 1059: Worldwide Storm

    <h4>Chapter 1059: Worldwide Storm</h4>

    The letters of invitation sent out by the Cathayan Underworld fell short of instantly summoning all nations to its borders, but they had definitely stirred up the entire underworld.

    In response to these letters, reply letters quickly came flocking to the Cathayan Underworld from other underworlds.

    "The Red Moon Federation will be sure to attend the international trade conference."

    "The Semitic Underworld will be sure to attend the international trade conference."

    "The Hopi Underworld will be sure to attend the international trade conference."

    Over 10 of the 34 nations had instantly replied, while the rest were still waiting and watching.

    All of them were focusing their attention on the three pirs, more specifically, the Prometheus n.

    Thest sh had taken ce 10 years ago, and it had already been an extremely fierce one. There was no way that the three pirs were going to pass up this opportunity.

    On thest asion, they had tried to strip the Cathayan Underworld of its forbidden arts supervision rights. If it were to be discovered on this asion that the Cathayan Underworld didn''t possess power befitting of its status, then the three pirs would most likely pounce with full force during this international trade conference!

    However, the three pirs remained silent this entire time.

    Time flew by very quickly, and three months went by in the blink of an eye. These three months had been extremely peaceful, but all of the nations in the underworld were looking on in tense anticipation, waiting for the next big development.

    On the three months and 15 days mark, the three pirs made their intentions known one after another. Firstly, it was Anubis who confirmed that the Aegyptian Underworld would be attending the international trade conference in the Cathayan Underworld in three months.

    After that, the Hindustani Underworld and the Argosian Underworld both expressed the same intention as well.

    "What on earth are they ying at?!" At the Kasa Temple, all of the consortium representatives were in aplete panic.

    The temple was already packed to the rafters with Yin spirits, all of whom were renowned figures in world economics that excelled in their respective fields. All of them were earning monthly sries in excess of 100,000 in their respective professions, and they had all gathered in this ce in anticipation of the drastic changes that were about to sweep over the entire world.

    10 normal-looking elderly men had reced Khilok, Kana Fujii, and the others. However, despite their ordinary appearance, no one dared to oppose them, and even Khilok and the others had to treat them with the utmost respect.

    These were the chairmen of the top 10 consortiums!

    One of the elderly men scanned his gaze over the reportsid out before him with a grim expression as he said, "There has been no notification issued at all. Our sources have already confirmed that no notification has been issued through any medium, whether it be newspapers, announcements through Yin energy screens, nothing!"

    Another elderly man was also staring intently at the reports. Thus far, no one had taken a side yet. While it was indeed always wisest to make decisions at thest moment with all information made avable, making ast-second decision to pick a side was far less impactful than joining a side earlier.

    The fact that the chairmen of the top 10 consortiums were all present was a clear indication that what they were about to do next was going to shake the entire world!

    They were very confident in their own instincts, and their instincts told them that the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld was preparing for a final showdown with the three pirs. Even if he didn''t initiate the showdown, the three pirs would force him to take a stand. There was no way that the three pirs would be willing to see the Cathayan Underworld return to its former status as that would deprive them of some of their entitled benefits and political power.

    The higher the stakes, the more important it was to remain calm and objective.

    The elderly man finally looked up from the reports and said, "Why is it that no notification was issued beforehand, but they''re intentionally making a massive deal out of the announcement made by the ministry of foreign affairs?"

    A bald elderly man wearing a kimono adjusted his own ck-rimmed sses, and his appearance waspletely unremarkable. Kana Fujii was standing respectfully behind him as he said in a grim voice, "It''s because the three pirs also have a trump card of their own."

    "What trump card are you referring to?"

    "I''m referring to an energy resource," the bald elderly man replied, and as he did so, a visibleyer of goosebumps were raised on the back of his hand. He took a deep breath before continuing, "Perhaps it''s not aplete energy resource, but they had to have at least taken a significant step in their research and development. Don''t forget that this is the international trade conference, everyone..."

    An enlightened look appeared on the faces of all of the Yin spirits present upon hearing this.

    The international trade conference was tied directly to the GTO, which oversaw the international energy resource market!

    If the three pirs had developed a new energy resource, then they would immediately apply to enter the international energy resource market. In doing so, they wouldpletely steal the limelight away from the Cathayan Underworld during the international trade conference, and if the Cathayan Underworld really was in its weakest state in the past several thousand years as everyone suspected, then it would bepletely powerless to retaliate!

    The wheel of history had already been set into motion, and something had to be crushed under it as a sacrifice.

    This uing international trade conference was going to be an extremely perilous affair, but rather than fear, all of the consortium chairmen were brimming with excitement. If a powerhouse nation of the world were to fall from grace, that would open up countless business opportunities!

    Alternatively, if the Cathayan Underworld were toplete its resurgence and seize back all of its lost political power, then that would also present a vast array of business opportunities!

    An elderly man in a white Arab robe set down his coffee cup as he said, "If their trump card really is an energy resource, then we''ll know about it very soon. Of course, we won''t be able to find out any information as they know that their people can''t resist the temptation of our money, so they''ve kept all information pertaining to the Prometheus n strictly confidential to us. However, if they want us to stand on their side and invest in other nations using our funds in exchange for the support of those nations, then they''ll have no choice but to tell us the truth!"

    Right at this moment, several Yin spirits rushed into the room, led by a Caucasian man with blue eyes and blond hair. As soon as he entered the room, he made a dismissive gesture, and the rows of private Yin soldiers in the room instantly departed, leaving only the 10 consortium chairmen and their entourages behind.

    The Caucasian man then extended a deep bow as he reported in an excited voice, "I have a letter from the three pirs, stating that 10 days ago, the researchers of the Prometheus n sessfully discovered the proton and electron Yin runes. In two more years at most, their new energy resource will bepleted!"

    All 10 of the consortium chairmen instantly stood up in unison.

    An elderly Caucasian man who was around 180 centimeters tall, wearing a suit and a monocle, stepped forward as he urged, "Keep going!"

    "Yes... They''re going to apply for a new energy resource patent during this international trade conference, and they''re making preparations for their new energy resource to enter the international energy resource market. At the same time, the GIPO is going to lead the way to found the world''s biggest energy resourcepany with multiple nations as shareholders!"

    Boom!

    All of the Yin spirits present werepletely rooted to the spot as if they had been struck by lightning.

    After a long while, the elderly man in the kimono raised a trembling hand to his own face to cover his eyes. "This is an extremely timely piece of news! Shiro!"

    "I''m here, My Lord."

    "Tally up all of our Sacred Treasure Consortium''s usable liquid capital right away!"

    "Yes!"

    The elderly Arab man drew a sharp breath as he mused, "This is a significant show of determination! They would rather make the entire world rich and grant all other nations increased political power and speaking rights than allow the Cathayan Underworld to return to its former status!"

    Thus, that same question arose once again: what choice was everyone going to make?

    The Sacred Treasure Consortium had already made its choice, what about the rest of the consortiums?

    All of the consortium chairmen exchanged nces with one another, and they knew that they couldn''t sit on the fence any longer.

    It was time to make a choice!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye was standing on the top floor of the Aurogon''s Eye, which was situated on the Six Origin Diagram za of Everburn. Secretary Jiang quietly approached him before reporting, "Yanluo Qin, the three pirs have responded, dering that they''ll attend the international trade conference. Immediately after that, the remaining 18 underworlds also expressed their intention to attend the conference. Thus far, all of the world''s underworlds have agreed to attend."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then waved a hand to dismiss Secretary Jiang.

    "Everyone''sing... Great!" He heaved a faint sigh of relief, then cast his gaze toward the Harken, who was nibbling on sunflower seeds off to the side with a bored look on its face. "The fact that these replies have onlye in three months after we sent out our letters of invitation indicates that there''s most likely been a decisive breakthrough in the Prometheus n."

    "Doesn''t that y right into your hands?" the Harken asked as it rolled its eyes in response. "You''ll be able to crush their hopes even moreprehensively now."

    Indeed...

    Qin Ye cast his gaze outside, looking at the vast city of Everburn beyond the Six Origin Diagram za, and a series of emotions surged through his heart at once.

    Several universities had already been set up during the past few years, and under the illumination of the lights, all types of professional knowledge were being imparted in these havens of education.

    In the south part of the city, a university town spanning an area of several hundred acres had justpleted construction at the end of the previous year. That was the actors union, the directors union, and the screenwriters union, surrounded by three arts academies, and that was the ce receiving the most enrolment applications at the moment.

    To the east, there stood a building that was over 200 meters tall, extending all the way up into the clouds. That was the Cathay Central Television Building, overseeing all of the nation''s television channels, and it had close to 100 levels, providing a workce for all of the major regional television channels. Once construction waspleted on all of the television towers across the nation, Cathay Central Television would finally be able to carry out its work.

    It had only been 16 to 17 years since he had obtained the fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal, and he had already achieved something that would''ve beenpletely unimaginable to him at the beginning of his journey.

    However, it still wasn''t enough!

    "There''s still no premier superpower nation in this world, but we are about to change that!"

    He took a deep breath, and his voice rang out across the entirety of Everburn like rumbling thunder. "Everyone, heed my call!"

    His voice erupted through the heavens, and even the clouds in the sky began to recede out of the city like the falling tide.

    Outside the city walls of Everburn, tens of thousands of elite troops were already raring to go.

    Behind them were countless transportation vehicles that were carrying all types of daily necessities and drawn by Yin beasts, forming a line that was several hundred meters long.

    Behind this line was a massive entourage, forming a line that stretched for over a kilometer a length.

    Among the entourage were chefs, schrs, and people working in all types of upations. It could be said that this entourage included everyone that there should be in a city.

    This was the first international conference that the Cathayan Underworld was hosting since Qin Ye''s inauguration, and he wasn''t going to allow anyone to drop the ball!

    He couldn''t help but smile at the size of this formidable entourage. The city was empty, as it should be. After several years of tireless work from Zhao Yun, the Heavenly Pir City had finallypleted construction four months ago. After a month of clean-up and three months of organization, it was time to fill this city!

    Qian Dui was standing at the forefront of the entourage, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Please give us your instructions, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before dering, "Set off for the Heavenly Pir City! Let''s give a warm wee to all of our international friends!"

    Come! Let''s see who''s going toe out on top as the ultimate victor! This battle will decide the fate of the entire world for the next few centuries!

 Chapter 1060: Official Commencement of the International Trade Conference (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1060: Official Commencement of the International Trade Conference (1)</h4>

    The enormous fleet sliced through the waves, leaving trails of white foam on the surface of the bright blue water.

    The fleet was led by a massive trireme, which was the signature warship that allowed the Phoenicians, the Argosians, and the Romans to rule over the Mediterranean Sea. In contrast with the louchuan of Cathay, the trireme was very t with high-arching bows and sterns, and they generally each had two sails, onerge and one small.

    This trireme was different from the average trireme in that it was over 500 meters in size, making it worthy of the title of a moving marine fortress. Furthermore, triremes were normally split up into three levels, two for the crew, while the bottom one was the cabin. However, this trireme was split up into seven levels, and the figurehead at the bow was a statue of the two death gods of the Argosian Underworld that was forged from bronze, while the figurehead for the stern of the ship was a statue of Hades, the death god of Argosian Heaven.

    Luxurious golden tapestries trailed down from either side of the ship''s railings, and as opposed to two sails, it had four massive sails, upon which were drawn portraits of the Argosian Underworld''s three most powerful death gods. The ship was so beautiful that it resembled an artistic masterpiece.

    Around this ship was the Golden Fleet, led by none other than Erinys!

    All Yin spirits of the Argosian Underworld knew that this was the mothership of the Golden Fleet that had once reigned supreme over the Mediterranean Sea, the Hades!

    "Heavenly Pir City, eh? Can''t say I''ve ever heard the name before." On the deck, Thanatos was seated among arge number of Yin soldiers, gently swirling a golden goblet, which was holding a liquid that was as red as blood. His gaze slowly swept over the Yin spirits beside the table, before finally settling on Archimedes.

    Archimedes shook his head in response, indicating that he had also never heard of that name before. He was looking a little worse for wear, but his soul was extremely excited.

    Due to how severely his soul had been taxed, he was looking far thinner than before. He was wearing a pure white robe with a golden chain around his wrist, on the surface of which countlessplex silver Yin runes could be seen. As for the other end of the chain, it was attached to a palm-sized box on the table.

    This was a metal box that waspletely ck in color with no visible seam from which the box could be opened, and Archimedes was holding it with a tight grip as if the box were his most prized possession.

    "What does that matter?" He smiled as he said, "Regardless of where the conference is being held, we will be the stars of the show!"

    He gently stroked the box as he continued, "We are the first ones to have developed the electron and proton Yin runes. Granted, the new energy resource will still take around two or three more years to be fully developed, but so long as we have these two Yin runes, we are already invincible! Ah, we''ve arrived... I''ve really missed this ce..."

    Right in front of them was the vast Array of the Nine Gods thatpletely enshrouded the Cathayan Underworld like an all-epassing bowl.

    Countless Yin runes were surging over the surface of the array, and Thanatos rose to his feet as he cast his gaze toward the array with aplex expression. "I detest the way that the second King Yanluo did things, and as it turned out, his political style really was unsuitable for peaceful development. During his reign, the Cathayan Underworld''s GDP had fallen drastically, and its rtionship with the rest of the world had also be very strained. As a ruler, he was aplete and utter failure, but I have to admit that he ispletely unmatched in the field of cultivation."

    Erinys remained silent as she stood beside Thanatos, but she could tell what he was thinking. He would rather expand the four pirs to five pirs or strip the Cathayan Underworld of some of its rights than kick the Cathayan Underworld out of the four pirs entirely, and the reason for that was precisely the existence of the second King Yanluo.

    Archimedes''s eyelids twitched slightly at the mention of the second King Yanluo. "Are you sure he won''t be attending this conference?"

    Thanatos shook his head in response, then made his way to the bow of the ship as he murmured to himself in an inaudible voice, "It''s exactly because of people like him, who have reached the pinnacle of cultivation, that our world has managed to remain so safe."

    A wave crashed into the ship, and all of the Yin soldiers quickly parted as a teleportation array that was over 100 meters tall appeared in front of Thanatos.

    Boundless Yin energy was swirling within the teleportation array alongside countless Yin runes, giving it the appearance of a ck hole.

    The existence of the teleportation array itself was like a direct provocation to all of the foreign underworlds.

    It was as if the teleportation array was saying: "Come in! You''ve always wanted to see the true state of the Cathayan Underworld, haven''t you? This is your chance! Here on my home turf, let''s put an end to all of this once and for all!"

    Thanatos''s clothes pped violently amid the gusts of Yin wind swept up by the vast Yin energy, and even though he wasn''t face to face with Qin Ye, he could sense the determination of the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Let me see how you''ve cleaned up the mess left behind by the second King Yanluo! What gives you the confidence to ept our challenge? Show me!

    "Let''s go!" He waved a hand through the air, and the entirety of the Golden Fleet traveled directly towards the teleportation array up ahead, led by the Hades.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The rush of dizziness was very brief, which was an indication that the creator of this teleportation array was a cultivator of an extremely high caliber. Could it be Ghost King Zhao? A series of thoughts quickly shed through Thanatos''s mind, and as he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by the sight of a vast city.

    In front of them was a prosperous port. Perhaps it hadn''t been all that prosperous in the past, but with all of the world''s representative fleets gathered here, it was given an extremely grand and imposing appearance.

    "This is a ssic Cathayan city." He cast his gaze toward the distance, past the wee entourage, and he could already see the faces of many old friends.

    He continued to look beyond them, at the tall buildings constructed in the ancient Cathayan style in the distance. The entire city was extremely symmetrical with one tall pagoda extending all the way up into the clouds at the center, surrounded by four shorter pagodas.

    This certainly wasn''t enough to impress him.

    In contrast with ces like the three capital cities of the Aegyptian Underworld, Athens, and the majestic Mahabodhi Temple, this city wasn''t remarkable in the slightest. The only thing that intrigued him was that this city seemed to be very new, as if construction on it had only just recently beenpleted.

    At this point, the ship''s gangway had already beenid down, and Thanatos adjusted his clothes briefly before walking down the gangway with Erinys and Archimedes in apaniment. This was a lineup of one ruler death god and two death gods, and it was an indication of just how seriously they were taking this conference.

    Beyond the port stood the gs of all 34 underworlds, and at the foot of the gs, an Abyssal Prefect of the Cathayan Underworld smiled as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute. "Qin Changxin wees the arrival of one of the Argosian Underworld''s ruler death gods. It is an honor of the highest degree for Heavenly Pir City to be hosting such prestigious individuals as yourself."

    An impable smile appeared on Thanatos''s face as he nodded in acknowledgment of Qin Changxin, who asked, "Your Excellency, would you like to go to the main pagoda right away, or do you have some other ns?"

    In the mortal realm, this would be a very normal question. For every international conference, the participants would have to at least travel on flights thatsted several hours, which could be quite a taxing affair, but there was no need for rest for the Yin spirits of the underworld.

    Before Thanatos even had a chance to reply, Izanami emerged in her wooden sandals and said, "There''s still a day left until themencement of the conference, so we''re rtively early. No one hase to Heavenly Pir City before, and Lord Thanatos and I would like to explore the city alone. There''s no need to trouble you any further from here."

    Thanatos''s expression remained unchanged, but his brows had furrowed ever so slightly.

    Something''s wrong...

    Essentially, what Izanami was saying was: "Piss off! I have something to say to Thanatos!"

    Why was she in such a hurry?

    He swept his gaze around the area, and his heart immediately sank in response to what he saw.

    Yamaraja, Anubis, and the ruler death gods of five more underworlds had emerged to greet them, but that was all!

    An incredulous look appeared on his face as he took a closer look, but there really was no one else!

    Thanatos was the ruler death god of the Argosian Underworld, one of the four pirs, yet only seven death gods had emerged to greet him!

    This wasn''t a matter of losing face or anything like that.

    Even though the Zhu Rong n had stolen the limelight from the founding of the Utopia Alliance during thest international conference, the alliance still existed, and it had been developing quite well in the past decade.

    Following the removal of international barriers, many of the underworlds around the three pirs had benefited significantly from an economic perspective. However, there were a total of 17 underworlds in the Utopia Alliance, yet not even half of them were present!

    Furthermore, where was their most important Asian ally, the nameless god of death of the Russian Underworld?!

    The fact that even he wasn''t here was extremely disturbing to Thanatos!

    An indescribable sense of urgency suddenly welled up in his heart as he turned to Izanami with a smile and said, "That sounds great."

    In response, Izanami heaved an undetectable sigh of relief.

    Qin Changxin naturally wasn''t going to stop them, and he extended a respectful bow before departing, maintaining perfect etiquette throughout the interaction.

    As soon as he left, Yamaraja made his way directly over to Thanatos, then said in a grim voice, "There''s been an unexpected development."

    Thanatos''s eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this. "What unexpected development could there possibly be? Archimedes has already brought the proton and electron Yin runes!"

    Yamaraja didn''t reply. Instead, he turned and departed from the port, and Thanatos, Archimedes, and Erinys immediately followed along. The four of them entered a luxurious carriage, and with a gentle flick of the coach driver''s whip, the carriage sped away.

    The interior of the carriage was extremely luxurious and spacious, roughly around 40 square meters in area, which would easily be able to house 10 death gods. This was clearly a custom-made carriage, and it was drawn by 16 skeletal warhorses. The carriage interior had a luxurious chandelier, beautiful decor, delectable snacks, soft sofas, and a lush, snowy white carpet. However, none of the death gods were in a mood to enjoy the setting.

    "Thanatos, you should''vee a week earlier." Yamaraja''s expression had be extremely grim as he spoke, and Thanatos''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this. The sense of unease in his heart was growing more and more pronounced. Something that even Yamaraja was taking so seriously was clearly not going to be a trivial matter. What could''ve possibly urged over half of the nations in the Utopia Alliance to reconsider their stances?

    "What is going on?" Thanatos asked in an extremely grim voice. "Surely there''s nothing that can trump what we''ve prepared! Don''t tell me that the Cathayan Underworld has also discovered the electron and proton Yin runes already!"

    "No," Anubis said with a shake of his head. "We haven''t seen any sign that they''ve developed the new energy resource, but there''s definitely something wrong here."

    He picked up his coffee cup before taking a sip, then set the cup down again as he asked, "Do you know the truth behind Heavenly Pir City?"

    The truth?

    Thanatos''s brows furrowed even more tightly upon hearing this, yet before he had a chance to think further about this, Izanami said, "This is... one of the six kings."

    Thanatos had just raised his coffee cup to his own lips, and he almost spilled his coffee in disbelief upon hearing this.

    He wasn''t the only one, Archimedes had also looked up with a stunned expression at the other ruler death gods, while Erinys had beenpletely rooted to the spot as if she had been struck by lightning. Only after a long silence did she manage to protest in a feeble voice, "That''s impossible..."

    "Are you certain?!" Thanatos''s breathing immediately began to elerate as he wiped off the coffee that had spilled onto his hand. "Did you just say that this city is one of the six kings?"

    Anubis nodded in response with a firm expression. "That''s right, it''s one of the six kings, and the Cathayan Underworld has made no effort to disguise that fact. Do you understand now, my friend? Do you understand why so many underworlds chose not to greet you?"

    Thanatos''s mouth gaped open slightly in astonishment, and he was struggling to process this bombshell.

    He finally understood why the wee for him had been so pitiful, and he couldn''t help but think back to the conference in Nara, where no one had dared to ept the olive branches extended by the Cathayan Underworld. On this asion, they were getting a taste of their own medicine!

    It was the exact same situation, where no one dared to wee them!

    After a span of 10 years, the Cathayan Underworld had returned the favor!

 Chapter 1061: Official Commencement of the International Trade Conference (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1061: Official Commencement of the International Trade Conference (2)</h4>

    What familiar scenes these were!

    On the international stage, insults didn''t need to be verballymunicated for the subject to understand. Initially, Thanatos was furious at this situation, but that was quickly reced by a sense ofplex bitterness.

    Never did he think that the world would turn a cold shoulder on him like this!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be thinking about these matters, he was facing an even more terrifying problem at the moment!

    The interior of the carriage instantly fellpletely silent.

    Thanatos crossed his legs as he gently tapped the armrests of his chair in an absentminded silence.

    He was organizing his own thoughts.

    How was it possible that the Cathayan Underworld had constructed a city on the back of one of the six kings? This was an entirely impossible feat!

    "Given how aggressive the six kings are, there''s no way a city could be built on the back of one of them! Unless... it''s dead!" he mused as his eyes narrowed slightly.

    On this asion, Erinys was wearing a golden visor, and whiteherfire instantly erupted out of the eye slits as she said in a stunned voice, "The Cathayan Underworld is unting its naval dominance to the rest of the world! Most nations have coastal sections, and the fact that the Cathayan Underworld already possesses the power to y one of the six kings means that their coastlines are no longer safe! This is why no one dared toe and greet us!"

    Everyone knew that the three pirs had joined forces to try and strip the Cathayan Underworld of its forbidden arts supervision rights a decade ago, only to be thwarted by the Zhu Rong n. Once the three pirs managed to glean the true state of the Cathayan Underworld during this international trade conference, then they would definitely strike again, and they absolutely weren''t going to allow the Cathayan Underworld to slip off the hook!

    In other words, the final showdown between these powerhouses was going to take ce during this international trade conference!

    Everyone wanted to see the true state of the Cathayan Underworld, but instead of being held on the Cathayan Underworld''s maind, the international trade conference was being held in a city constructed on the body of one of the six kings!

    Is this supposed to be a fucking joke?! If they can already kill the six kings, then their naval dominance was essentially absolute and unshakeable!

    This was an indirect show of the Cathayan Underworld''s military power, through which they were telling everyone that even though the Cathayan Underworld had gone out to buy milk for over a century, it was still everyone''s daddy!

    "Can we leave the ind?" Thanatos asked as he turned to Yamaraja. "Can we enter the Cathayan Underworld''s maind?"

    "There''s no way that would be possible," Yamaraja replied. "There are emissaries from the Cathayan Underworld constantly watching over this ce from the four pagodas, and Ghost King Zhao is also here. Unless you want to be caught and paraded like a fool in front of everyone, you''d better not try anything."

    Thanatos fell silent upon hearing this, but he was cursing internally.

    He took a deep breath before turning to everyone else in the carriage. "I still support the opinion of our panel of elders, there''s definitely something off about the Cathayan Underworld! They''ve made a show of power by disying their naval dominance, but at the same time, they''re not allowing us to leave this ind! That''s self-contradictory! Under normal circumstances, an underworld wielding such immense power would be eager to open up their nation to the rest of the world and show everyone just how powerful they are!"

    Right at this moment, the carriage drew to a halt.

    Thanatos immediately exited the carriage, followed by everyone else. They had arrived at a cape, and there was nock of other underworld emissaries present.

    These underworld emissaries were wearing attire from various different nations, and many of them were from underworlds that fell under the Utopia Alliance. It was clear that the ruler death gods of these underworlds had anticipated that they could be meeting some awkward individuals here, such as Thanatos and his group, so they had only sent underworld emissaries here rather than visit this ce in person.

    A cold smile appeared on Thanatos''s face upon seeing this. As the ruler of one of the four pirs, he had never been treated like this before!

    In the face of the Cathayan Underworld''s disy of naval dominance, these allied nations, which had all benefited from being a part of the Utopia Alliance, didn''t even dare to speak to him!

    They were far too pragmatic, so much so that he wanted nothing more than to rush over to these people and kick them to death!

    The carriage was far too eye-catching to miss, and upon seeing it, all of the underworld emissaries in the area quickly departed. A cold smile appeared on Yamaraja''s face as he said in an ironic voice, "How thoughtful of them to leave this area all to us. We arrived a month earlier than you did, and we''ve already been receiving this treatment for an entire month! Do you know where this ce is?"

    Thanatos quickly repressed the rage in his heart as he shook his head in response.

    This was a cape, a very ordinary one.

    The ground was littered with rocks that were rustling and ttering together from the waves.

    All of a sudden, Thanatos''s expression changed ever so slightly, and he squatted down before gently stroking the ground.

    The sensation was very strange... These rocks didn''t feel like rocks at all!

    "Is this... an enamelyer?" Even though he had already been told that this was one of the six kings, witnessing it for himself was still an astonishing experience.

    The Yin energy reciprocation that he could feel through his hand told him beyond a doubt that this really was one of the six kings!

    The final shred of hope that he had harbored in his heart had been instantly erased.

    He stood up before taking a deep breath. "What a massive surprise this is. As expected of the Cathayan Underworld, are they not even going to attempt to hide this? Alternatively, perhaps they''re trying to intimidate us with this? But this doesn''t change anything!"

    He abruptly swung around as he continued, "In the face of the new energy resource, this is not enough to have a decisive effect on the final oue! The other underworlds are only avoiding us because they''re unaware of what our trump card is..."

    His voice abruptly cut off there as a realization dawned on him.

    The other underworlds were unaware of what their trump card was, but the top 10 consortiums did!

    He had written letters to them in person, so why weren''t any of their representatives present, either?

    At the time, close to half of the top 10 consortiums had clearly expressed their support of the three pirs! Surely they were aware of what the decisive factors in this sh were! The carcass of the six kings was great for intimidation, but it wasn''t like it could move. This biological fortress was only a reflection of the fact that the Cathayan Underworld possessed sufficient power to attain naval dominance, but unless they wanted to start a war, this was really nothing more than an empty threat. Inparison, the new energy resource was countless times more significant than this biological fortress!

    In that case, why weren''t any of the top 10 consortiums'' representatives here? Were they really that foolish?

    Countless thoughts were shing through his mind, and all of a sudden, he drew a sharp breath as a harrowing thought began to take shape in his mind.

    Before he had a chance to articte it, Archimedes did so in his stead in a trembling voice. "My Lord, we still can''t tell whether this is a biological fortress or a biological mothership! The Cathayan Underworld has never said that this thing is unable to move!"

    Everything became clear to Thanatos in this instant.

    Indeed, what the other underworlds were wary of wasn''t this biological fortress. In contrast with the new energy resource, which could change the entire world and provide unimaginable opportunities, everyone would still stand by the three pirs even if this biological fortress was a show of the Cathayan Underworld''s potential for naval dominance.

    However, what if this biological fortress was actually a biological mothership that was capable of movement?

    In that case, a question naturally arose.

    Thanatos looked out at the turbulent sea with an absentminded expression, and in this instant, his heart hadpletely sunk.

    How was this thing capable of movement?

    If this thing really were a biological mothership, what was allowing it to move?

    His hands began to tremble as the only possible answer to that question surfaced in his mind. It had to be an energy resource, one that was countless times more advanced than theirs!

    "That''s impossible!" he reflexively denied. "If they''ve already developed a new energy resource, then why didn''t they release it? For the past 10 years, they''ve remained silent and allowed all of the other underworlds to defect to our side. Why would they ce themselves in such a passive position?"

    Surely this can''t be true!

    Just the mere thought of this possibility alone was striking fear deep into his heart. If this really were the case, then this international trade conference would be their funeral!

    This was what the other underworlds and the top 10 consortiums were afraid of!

    Thanatos immediately turned to Yamaraja and Anubis as he continued, "You came here before me, have you sensed anything strange taking ce in Heavenly Pir City?"

    "Not at all," Anubis replied in a grim voice. "I''ve arrived at the same conclusions that you have, and as such, I''ve been keeping a close eye on everything. When I discovered that this was one of the six kings, my reaction was much the same as yours. After that, I''ve constantly been vignt for any abnormal activity, but there hasn''t been anything."

    Thanatos closed his eyes and heaved a faint sigh of relief upon hearing this.

    If Yin spirits could sweat, then his clothes would already be drenched in cold sweat, and even now, there was still a sense of lingering fear in his heart.

    Archimedes was also quite relieved to hear this. "Perhaps we''re overthinking things. The Cathayan Underworld didn''t possess the carcass of any of the six kings in the past, so they must''ve secured it during the past decade or so. 10 years is nowhere near enough time to create a biological mothership, so the carcass is most likely only being used as an ind to carry this city."

    His thoughts became clearer and clearer as he continued, "In order to create a biological mothership, the insides of this carcass would have to bepletely dug out. All of the organs would have to be removed, and the existing blood vessels and muscles would have to be used as bridges to establish biomechanical systems that would allow the fortress to move. It would take at least six to seven years toplete such a feat, and there wasn''t enough time for the Cathayan Underworld to do all of this! Also, you made a very good point earlier: if the Cathayan Underworld really is as powerful as it''s trying to make itself appear, then why is it so insistent on keeping the state of the nation a secret to the rest of the world? They don''t want us to see the internal state of the Cathayan Underworld, and if this really is a biological mothership, why didn''t they move it further out into the sea instead of keeping it in the Bohai Sea?"

    This was an angle that even Anubis and Yamaraja had failed to consider, and both of them nodded in response upon hearing this, while Izanami also heaved a faint sigh of relief.

    She had already taken such a firm stance that there was no choice for her but to cling to the three pirs until the very end.

    If the Cathayan Underworld were to win this showdown, the three pirs would most likely emerge rtively unscathed, but the Nipponese Underworld would practically be doomed! As such, she was the one who was most afraid of the prospect of the Cathayan Underworld developing a new energy resource.

    Thanatos didn''t offer an immediate response to Archimedes''s analysis. Instead, he sped his hands behind his back and slowly paced back and forth as he said in a grim voice, "We have to change our ns. I''ve had this nagging sense of foreboding this entire time, and now that we''ve seen this, my suggestion is that we don''t throw any jabs at all. Instead, we bring out our trump card with full force from the get-go, not affording them any opportunity to react at all!"

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "ording to the conference schedule that we''ve all received, there are still 18 hours left until themencement of the conference. We have to make sufficient preparations and apply to deliver an address right away as soon as the conference begins! Mr. Archimedes will then bring out the proton and electron Yin runes, and we''ll submit a joint request with the chairmen of the consortiums to found a new energy resource foundation. We have to secure victory in one fell swoop. Otherwise..."

    He cast his gaze toward the vast and majestic Heavenly Pir City as he sighed, "I''m afraid of what could happen next."

    The sequence of events that had taken ce since his arrival in Heavenly Pir City hadpletely thrown him off.

    Even though the possibility that the Cathayan Underworld had developed their new energy resource had already been denied through logical thinking, just the mere thought of it had still been enough to paralyze him with fear. He had never felt like this before. Even though he held the decisive trump card in his hands, he felt like the situation was still constantly spiraling out of his control somehow.

 Chapter 1062: Official Commencement of the International Trade Conference (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1062: Official Commencement of the International Trade Conference (3)</h4>

    The international trade conference was split up into six main conferences to be held over three days, during which three major topics were going to be discussed, namely new developments in world trade, re-signing of trade agreements, and erection of new trade agreements. Each major subject was going to be addressed over the course of a day, and the first conference was going to take ce the very next day.

    Thanatos refused to meet with anyone prior to themencement of the conference. He was feeling extremely uneasy about all of this, and he needed to remain calm. Only after the dust had settled, and he emerged as the victor, would he meet with all of the underworld representatives requesting an audience with him.

    He hadn''t evene face to face with his old opponent yet, and his confidence had already been severely dented, which was very unsettling for him.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Behind the main pagoda, thousands of white doves flew up into the sky. Just like in the mortal realm, these birds were meant to represent peace and prosperity, alluding to the hope that the underworld would continue to develop peacefully without ever being ravaged by war again.

    As the doves rose up into the air, a bright red carpet flew out of the entrance of the main pagoda before draping itself over the ground.

    Grand and majestic Cathayan-style music rang out across the entire city, and amid this solemn and ceremonial atmosphere, gusts of Yin wind slowly swept past, causing the 34 gs in front of the main pagoda to p incessantly.

    "Has it begun?" Death Goddess Anko took a deep breath, then closed her eyes as she ced her hand over her chest to sense her own spiritual fluctuations.

    It was 2 PM, which was the scheduled time for the first discussion of the international trade conference to be held.

    She stood up and headed toward the main pagoda, apanied by her servants. Along the way, she saw many ruler death gods, but the atmosphere of this international trade conference was different from that of all previous editions, and it was a very strange experience.

    The GTO had always advocated for a peaceful and friendly business environment, so all past editions of the international trade conference had been very lively, with every single underworld trying to sell their products to other nations. No small underworld would be turned away, nor would any opportunity to do business withrge underworlds be passed up.

    However, she had already encountered quite a few death gods whom she was quite familiar with, but all of them merely nodded in her direction in acknowledgment before making their way into the main pagoda with absentminded expressions.

    Anko drew to a halt in front of the main pagoda, looking up at the point where it vanished into the clouds as she heaved a faint sigh. The servant beside her immediately asked, "Is there anything you would like me to do, Your Excellency?"

    Anko shook her head, and only after a long while did she withdraw her gaze as she said in a calm voice, "Let''s go in."

    Once the conference began, the sh between the four pirs would alsomence, and everyone was going to be swept up in their conflict.

    Who was going toe out on top?

    Prior to arriving at Heavenly Pir City, she had felt more confident in the three pirs'' chances. After all, the Cathayan Underworld had been absent for over a century, losing a massive amount of political power and influence during that time, and there was surely no way that the situation could be turned around in a decade.

    However, as soon as she arrived at Heavenly Pir City, her entire worldview was instantly flipped onto its head!

    This was a city constructed on the back of one of the six kings!

    This was an extraordinary concept that she was still unable to wrap her head around, and it made her realize that the Cathayan Underworld was just as, if not more prepared, than the three pirs for this sh!

    The battlefield was the Cathayan Underworld''s home turf, and they were going to be facing a challenge from the rulers of the three pirs. Even though she hadn''t stepped into the main pagoda yet, her soul was already trembling with anticipation.

    After passing through a teleportation array, she quickly arrived in front of a conference hall, upon which the servant departed in a respectful manner. Anko took a look inside, and a grim look immediately appeared on her face.

    Silence.

    Many death gods had already arrived, but the silence was deafening, and the atmosphere waspletely unlike that of previous editions of the international trade conference!

    This was a spacious, tiered, open-air hall situated on the 67th floor of the main pagoda, and there was a disparity of roughly 20 meters between the highest and lowest points of the hall. Looking up at the sky above, Anko was greeted by the sight of ayer of dark Yin clouds, giving this ce a particrly gloomy and oppressive atmosphere.

    A simple yet intricately crafted screen was situated at the center of the hall, and giant pirs could be seen throughout the hall. There were alsonterns in the corners, designed in the mold of the Harken''s head, and faint wisps of smoke were drifting out of the incense burners. A series of lotus flowers were protruding out of gold-ted vases littered throughout the hall, and overall, it was a very tastefully constructed hall that wasn''t excessively extravagant, but was still very elegant and aesthetically pleasing.

    However, she didn''t have any time to appreciate the construction and decor, as her eyes had beenpletely drawn to something else.

    The reason for the silence of all of the Yin spirits wasn''t the four pirs. Instead, it was the 10 Yin spirits situated at the center of the hall.

    They were so old and frail in appearance that it looked as if they could disintegrate at any second amid even the gentlest of breezes, but none of the Yin spirits present were foolish enough to look down on them. The emblems that they wore on their chests made them worthy of the attention of all of the underworlds.

    "My god..." Anko murmured to herself as she quickly made her way over to her seat, then sat down in silence with her face still slightly flushed.

    Her gaze roamed over the 10 elderly Yin spirits, and her soul was trembling as she murmured to herself, "Those are the chairmen of the top 10 consortiums! Thest time all of them gathered in one ce was 1,000 years ago, right after thest world war, where everything had to be rebuilt, and countless business opportunities were presented. In fact, they weren''t even as powerful as they are now. At the time, the Argosian Underworld had only recently conquered most of Europa, and the three capital cities of the Aegyptian Underworld, as well as its independent holy city, had also just been founded. After an extensive period of war, new life had to be breathed into the entire underworld, thereby heralding the arrival of a new era, and all of them swooped in on that opportunity. Why have they appeared here this time? Could it be that they''re of the opinion that this conference is no less important than the events that transpired 1,000 years ago? Is this conference really that significant? Even if the Cathayan Underworld falls from grace, surely no one would truly dare to kick them out of the four pirs! At the very most, they''ll only be stripped of some of their rights, and several centuriester, they''ll be able to rise again, so why are all 10 of the consortium chairmen here?! Do they know something that we don''t?!"

    Right at this moment, a death god who Anko was on rather friendly terms with, Death Goddess Giltine of Lithuania, slowly approached her. If it weren''t for the fact that she held half a vote, no one would even remember the death goddess of such a small nation.

    Upon reaching Anko, Giltine asked, "Have you noticed their seating position?"

    Anko faltered slightly upon hearing this before a thought suddenly urred to her, and she instantly turned toward the 10 consortium chairmen again, only to find that they were seated at the exact center of the hall with no inclination toward either side!

    "Are they... taking a neutral stance?" Anko asked with a stunned expression.

    It was generally the norm that allies would sit together with one another, and even though the top 10 consortiums didn''t hold any votes, they could sway the policies of many underworlds through their vast wealth and influence, so they were certainly not to be ignored.

    However, on this asion, they had chosen to sit on the fence!

    Right at this moment, a burst of faint buzzing rang out, and all of the representative teams up ahead turned around to see what was happening. Anko and Giltine did the same, thinking that the three pirs were arriving, only to find that it was actually six Mythic Spirit representatives of the Alkebn Underworlds, as well as the other close ally of the Cathayan Underworld, the Five Nation Alliance of Northern Europa!

    J?rmungandr, H, and Fenrir were all present, and... they were smiling!

    It was clear to everyone that the three pirs were definitely going tosh out during this conference, but not only did they not appear fearful in the slightest, there seemed to be a slight hint of tion on their faces.

    In reality, they could barely contain their joy, and it took all of their self-control to only be disying a slight hint of tion.

    All of the death gods'' brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and even the expressions of the 10 consortium chairmen had changed ever so slightly.

    They knew more than most of the death gods in the world. For example, they were aware that the three pirs were holding a trump card in the form of the proton and electron Yin runes, but looking at things now, it seemed that the Cathayan Underworld was most likely holding a trump card that was just as devastating!

    "This is truly going to be a sh for the ages..." the chairman of the Psalm consortium sighed. "It''s clear that both sides are holding trump cards that they each think will have a decisive effect on the final oue. I have a feeling that we really will be seeing the dawn of the new era here. Even if it''s just for the sake of the new energy resource, I''m sure we''ve made the right decision toe here, but I feel like that won''t be all we''ll be seeing today..."

    Thus, they continued to sit on the fence.

    In the face of a new era, they didn''t care how they were viewed in the eyes of others.

    They had millions of employees in thousands ofpanies and corporations all over the world, depending on them for their livelihoods, and they didn''t dare to take any chances.

    Thus, the 10 elderly chairmen remained firmly rooted to the center of the hall in apletely shameless disy, telling everyone through their actions that they still hadn''t made a choice yet. Their presence was far too eye-catching, and all of the death gods that entered the hall couldn''t help but take a few extra nces at them.

    Finally, Thanatos also arrived at the conference hall with a smile, but that smile was almost wiped off his face as he caught sight of the 10 consortium chairmen.

    Shit! Those shameless pieces of scum!

    The representatives of the three pirs were all furious to see this, and they were struck by the urge to crucify these 10 shameless old farts! The Heavenly Fire Research Center had already informed them of the discovery of the electron and proton Yin runes, yet as soon as they arrived at Heavenly Pir City and realized that the city was constructed on the back of one of the six kings, they immediately changed their stances again!

    How could they be so shameless?!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be going after the consortium chairmen. With the arrival of the three pirs, the entire hall fell silent for a second as a gesture of respect. At the same time, Qin Ye stood up with a smile at the front of the hall and greeted, "Wee, my friends."

    "It is an honor for us to be here, Yanluo Qin." The death gods of the three pirs had to put on smiles again as they made their way to the front of the hall, where their seats were located. As was always the convention in these international conferences, if the four pirs were present, then they had to be seated at the very front. Right as they passed by the 10 consortium chairmen, they cast a seemingly casual nce toward them, but the 10 chairmen continued to look unwaveringly up ahead,pletely ignoring the three pirs.

    Qin Ye was a little disappointed to be seeing this.

    Where was all their ir and sass?

    Back during the conference in Nara, even the smallest and weakest of underworlds had dared to oppose the Cathayan Underworld. On this asion, they were being supported by the three pirs, so why weren''t they saying anything now?

    Was Heavenly Pir City alone enough to silence all of them? There would be no fun in taming them if they were going to be so timid and docile to begin with!

    He withdrew his gaze as he turned his attention back to the representatives of the three pirs.

    Do you think you can continue to ride the fence just by remaining silent? You''ve seen nothing yet! Heavenly Pir City is nothing more than a city, and it''s nothingpared with the arrival of a new era! Just you wait, far bigger surprises are still yet toe! You''re all on my territory now, so I dictate the rules here!

 Chapter 1063: Fierce Clash (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1063: Fierce sh (1)</h4>

    With all these thoughts shing through Qin Ye''s mind, he was barely able to contain his own excitement, but he had to keep calm here. Anubis was walking at the forefront of the three pirs'' representatives, and he smiled as he extended a paw toward Qin Ye. "Long time no see, Yanluo Qin."

    "Indeed, long time no see," Qin Ye replied with a genuine smile. In the instant that the two of them shook hands, there should''ve been some faint chatter at the back, but instead, there was an eerie silence on this asion.

    The nameless god of death and Peter the Great were seated on their chairs, looking at the handshake withplex expressions.

    Simrly, all of the other ruler death gods were also looking on from their chairs, and no one even offered any apuse for the arrival of the three pirs. Heavenly Pir City was like a giant rock weighing down directly on all of their hearts, and the only sound in the hall came from the shing image capture crystals as the journalists frantically took photographs of the handshake.

    Right as the two of them were about to withdraw their hands, a hint of surprise appeared in Anubis''s eyes as he eximed in a low voice, "You''re already a mid Yama-King?"

    "Indeed, but it was all down to luck," Qin Ye replied with a modest smile.

    Anubis''s pupils contracted slightly as he nodded and withdrew his hand.

    It had only taken him 10 years to progress from a nascent Yama-King to a mid Yama-King... What kind of insane cultivation speed was this?!

    Once all of the underworld emissaries present had sat down, the toll of a bell rang out on the main stage, heralding the officialmencement of the first session of discussion for the international trade conference. Thus, a gust of Yin wind blew onto the stage before forming a humanoid figure.

    It was an elderly man with a head of white hair, holding a cane in one hand, and he extended a deep bow to everyone present.

    This man was the president of the GTO and the world''s first-ever trademissioner, Camross.

    Behind him were the three directors of the GTO, Perkins, Lisa, and Erwin.

    Despite his elderly appearance, Camross was full of energy and vigor as he smiled and said, "After 50 years, we''ve all gathered again here today. This is a good thing. It shows that our world has been abiding by the ethos of peaceful development, and we haven''t seen any war or unnecessary, widespread bloodshed. In a peaceful era like ours, world trade bes an extremely important subject of discussion, and that''s why our GTO arose to serve the entire world. Today, I am honored to announce the officialmencement of yet another international trade conference!"

    A round of apuse immediately rang out across the entire hall, led by Perkins, but everyone failed to notice the slightlyplex look in Perkins''s eyes.

    Everyone else aside from him was still oblivious to the storm that wasing.

    Camross was most likely still under the opinion that this was just going to be a normal international trade conference, with the only difference being the unique conference venue, which was this city constructed on the back of one of the six kings.

    He cast a sympathetic gaze toward all of the underworld emissaries present, and his gaze rested momentarily on the representatives of the three pirs before he quickly looked away.

    Ignorance was bliss, but their bliss wasn''t going tost long. Everyone was about to witness one of the most significant turning points in history, yet they were stillpletely oblivious. Did they think that Heavenly Pir City was the only thing that the Cathayan Underworld had to show to the rest of the world? If so, then they were far too naive. The true trump card of the Cathayan Underworld was going to blow everyone out of the water!

    Camross continued, "ording to past convention, the first order of business is to deliver the report on the trade data for the past 50 years. The GTO has kept detailed records of which nations have experienced increases in imports and exports, and we''ll begin with Asia..."

    This was nothing more than a routine report, and virtually no one was listening. Everyone was well aware of the trade figures of their own underworld and their important trade partners, so there wasn''t much point in listening to the report.

    One gaze after another swept over the representatives of the three pirs, and even Thanatos felt as if he were sitting on a bed of nails.

    Their allies were waiting for their retaliation, which was nned to take ce right after the conclusion of the report!

    However, Thanatos was suddenly beginning to have second thoughts.

    It definitely wasn''t ideal to be revealing their trump card from the get-go...

    With that in mind, he cast his gaze toward Anubis and Yamaraja, only to find that they were also looking back at him.

    I see, so you two feel just as uneasy as I do.

    Thanatos gave them a faint smile before withdrawing his gaze.

    Then let''s do it!

    He cast his gaze toward Qin Ye, who just so happened to be looking at him as well. As Yama-Kings, both of them had a vague sense of premonition for the storm that was about toe.

    Let me see what trump card you have up your sleeve that''s given you so much confidence!

    The only sound ringing out across the entire hall was Camross''s voice, and around an hourter, the report finally concluded.

    At this point, an eerie silence had settled over the entire room. Prior to this, the faint sound of breathing could still have been heard, but even that had long since faded.

    Everyone was staring intently at the four figures at the very front of the hall, waiting with bated breath for what was about toe. Amid the silence, Camross cleared his throat as he said, "ording to normal procedure, it''s now time for all of the national representatives to state their nation''s needs for the next 50 years. The four pirs are the leaders of the world''s economy, so let''s invite them to give their addresses first."

    Thanatos cast his gaze toward Qin Ye and made an inviting hand gesture in a graceful manner.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "It is a tradition in the Cathayan Underworld to respect one''s seniors. I''m still a rtive novice in my position, and as my senior, it''s only right for you to go first."

    If you don''t go before me, it won''t be as satisfying when I crush your hopes and dreams!

    Thanatos raised an eyebrow in response. "In that case, please pardon me."

    Amid the tense and expectant silence, Thanatos and Archimedes rose to their feet. Countless pairs of eyes instantly focused on them, then on the box that Archimedes was holding.

    Is it about to begin?

    Anko unconsciously sat up straighter in her seat, while the expressions of the 10 consortium chairmen also changed ever so slightly. Every single Yin spirit present could sense that a storm was about to arrive.

    Everyone looked on as Thanatos stepped onto the main stage, then acknowledged everyone in the hall with a calm nod and a faint smile.

    His voice was as elegant as music yed by an ancient Argosian harp as he said, "As the four pirs, we have a duty to lead the rest of the world forward. We enjoy privileges above all other nations, and as such, it''s only right that we take on more duty and responsibility as well. During the past several thousand years, the economic development of the underworld has already reached a peak, or, in other words, a bottleneck. I''ve constantly been thinking about what could possibly help the world break through that bottleneck to usher in a new era."

    He smiled as he turned toward Qin Ye, but his words were directed at all of the Yin spirits in the hall. "Around a decade ago, the Cathayan Underworld provided me with an answer to that question."

    Deathly silence.

    In the next instant, a string of loud gasps rang out, and everyone turned to stare at Thanatos with stunned expressions.

    Anko had almost sprung to her feet, and she wasn''t the only one! In that instant, all of the Yin spirits in the hall, regardless of whether they were ruler death gods, consortium representatives, or journalists, reflexively began to spring to their feet before catching themselves at thest second.

    "My god..." Anko pped a hand over her own mouth as she murmured to herself, "Is he talking about a new energy resource?! Is that their trump card?!"

    There was definitely no way he would make a joke about something like this on an asion like this!

    At the very least, they had to have made a significant breakthrough!

    "Have they gotten there ahead of the Cathayan Underworld?!" a ruler death god murmured to himself with an incredulous expression.

    "Has the Prometheus n already seeded?!"

    "I haven''t heard anything about that, but the fact that Death God Thanatos is mentioning this subject now means that they had to have made a significant breakthrough!"

    "Does that mean that they''vee from behind and beaten the Cathayan Underworld? Did they manage to catch up, after all?"

    "Do you still believe in the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource at this point? They''ve gone over 10 years without releasing a single report! It''s clearly all a sham!"

    After a brief flurry of chatter, everyone quickly fell silent again.

    Under different circumstances, the entire hall would''ve definitely erupted into a raucous frenzy, but at this moment, everyone wanted to hear what Thanatos had to say next.

    The 10 consortium chairmen were holding the armrests of their chairs in a white-knuckled grip as they stared intently at Thanatos.

    After a brief pause, Thanatos''s voice abruptly sprang up an octave as he dered, "On behalf of the Heavenly Fire Research Center, I hereby announce that we are the first research organization to have discovered both electron and proton Yin runes! The new era is already beckoning to us! In two to three more years, the new energy resource will be developed, and a new chapter in history will be written!"

    Some of the death gods present had already risen to their feet upon hearing this.

    All of the death gods'' mouths had gaped open slightly, and they were staring at the box being held by Archimedes with ck-jawed expressions.

    Even the breathing of the 10 consortium chairmen had be extremely ragged. No one had anticipated that the three pirs would drop such a massive bombshell from the get-go, not affording anyone the opportunity to mentally prepare themselves!

    "They did it! The three pirs really did manage toe from behind and beat the Cathayan Underworld!" a death god murmured to himself in a stunned manner.

    Everyone was still reeling as Thanatos continued, "At the same time, the Heavenly Fire Research Center is going to be applying for patents during this international trade conference! On top of that, the electron and proton Yin runes will be released to the international energy resource market!"

    Boom!!

    Everyone erupted into a raucous frenzy upon hearing this.

    This announcement entailed that the international energy resource market was going to undergo a massive overhaul, and the GTO was also going to experience significant changes as a result!

    The most important thing was that the Cathayan Underworld yed no role in any of this!

    Countless death gods cast their eyes toward Qin Ye in unison. In this race to open the gates to the new era, the Cathayan Underworld had been beaten by the three pirs!

    For the next few centuries, perhaps even the next 1,000 years, the Cathayan Underworld was going to bepletely at the three pirs'' mercy! They would have to constantly be ying catch-up, but it would be very difficult for them to actually catch up as the three pirs were the dictators of the rules!

    It only took no more than a second for the entire hall to erupt into raucous chatter. Everyone was so stunned by this announcement that they no longer cared that they were attending an international trade conference held on the Cathayan Underworld''s territory. Small underworlds could see an opportunity to catch up to medium-sized underworlds, medium-sized underworlds were eyeing the pedestal of first-rate underworlds, while first-rate underworlds already had their eyes on the Cathayan Underworld!

    A new era was about to arrive, bringing countless opportunities to those who were ready to grab them!

    Camross waspletely rooted to the spot upon hearing this. He hadpletely failed to anticipate that such an astonishing announcement would be made to kick off this edition of the international trade conference!

    All of the ruler death gods still had the self-control and restraint required to maintain a shred of calmness, but the same couldn''t be said about all of the journalists in the hall!

    The new era wasing!

    Light was shing incessantly from the image capture crystals, and questions were being frantically yelled from all directions.

    "Lord Thanatos, are you certain that you''ve already discovered the two fundamental Yin runes required to create the new energy resource?"

    "Lord Thanatos, how is your new energy resource going to enter the global energy resource market? How will the price be set? What prerequisites must be satisfied before a nation can purchase the patent for the energy resource?"

    "Never did I think that I would get to see the emergence of a new energy resource before entering the cycle of reincarnation!"

    "They''ve managed to overtake the Cathayan Underworld! The new energy resource was initially proposed by the Cathayan Underworld, but they''ve lost the race!"

    "My god, this is the most incredible international conference I''ve ever attended by far!"

    No one could''ve anticipated such a stunning turn of events, and amid the chaotic frenzy, Thanatos cast a meaningful gaze toward Qin Ye.

    How are you going to respond? In the wake of this announcement, I can dictate the course that the entirety of this international trade conference takes! During the next few days, everyone is going to be discussing nothing but the new energy resource! This is the biggest trump card possible, and nothing can beat it. Inparison, your trump card is already redundant.

    However, to his surprise, he discovered that Qin Ye wasn''t panicked or flustered in the slightest.

    Why was he so calm? Could it be that he really did hold a trump card superior to the new energy resource? What could that trump card possibly be?

 Chapter 1064: Fierce Clash (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1064: Fierce sh (2)</h4>

    "This is incredible..." Kuwal of the Red Moon Federation stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds, before finally slumping back onto his chair, looking as if he had lost his soul.

    This was an unprecedented development...

    The four pirs were no longer advancing together. Instead, the three pirs had abandoned the Cathayan Underworld! If the Cathayan Underworld wanted to use electricity, then it would have to follow the rulesid down by the three pirs until the next technological revolution!

    This was the damning nature of technological dominance. An example of this could be drawn to the technology blockade imposed by Intel and IBM upon Cathay in the mortal realm. No matter how hard the Cathayan researchers had tried, there was simply no way they could replicate the core technology, which made thempletely reliant on Intel and IBM for industries rted to chips.

    Thus, Intel and IBM were able to change their rules and prices at will,pletely dictating terms, while Cathay was forced to passively adapt and resign itself to being confined within the boundaries of those rules.

    Tanvana was silent for a long while before finally heaving a long sigh. "One era is about to give way to another. The trump card of the three pirs is simply too powerful to refute."

    She was already beginning to envision the future. The Red Moon Federation was situated in Southern Asia. Even the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t going to be able to get its hands on the core technology of the new energy resource, so there was certainly no way that any of its subsidiary nations would be able to, either!

    If the Red Moon Federation could establish could rtions with the three pirs and ride this wave, perhaps it would be able to be a second-rate underworld in the future!

    "What a pity..." Anko heaved a long sigh. "The Cathayan Underworld was close, but not close enough. Who could''ve imagined that the Prometheus n woulde from behind to achieve sess first?"

    "Indeed..." Giltine also sighed as she cast a sympathetic gaze toward Qin Ye. "Over a decade ago, the Cathayan Underworld opened itself up to the rest of the world again, and the new King Yanluo needed to establish himself, so he announced the Zhu Rong n. However, the rulers of the three pirs are more experienced than him, and they forced him to reveal some important pieces of information during the Great Revtion Debate. They had to have discovered one or both of the proton and electron Yin Runes from voidsilver! That would''ve saved them a lot of time, and the Cathayan Underworld had no choice but to reveal the discovery of voidsilver in order to settle the controversy that was arising. It was from that point that the Cathayan Underworld''s fate was sealed. The Cathayan Underworld has never excelled in the scientific fields, so it''s not a surprise that they weren''t able to beat the three pirs. Once their new energy resource is developed, all of the three pirs'' anciry facilities would already be established, thereby rendering the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resourcepletely redundant. This is an extremely heavy blow for a new King Yanluo like him, and the Cathayan Underworld has been ced in a very perilous position..."

    Amid the flurry ofmotion, there were some people who remainedpletely still.

    They were the nameless god of death of the Russian Underworld, and the 10 consortium chairmen.

    They were staring intently at Qin Ye with unblinking eyes.

    Is that it? The three pirs have unveiled their ultimate trump card from the get-go, clearly in an attempt to crush you once and for all. Do you not even have the ability to struggle? Alternatively, could it be that the trump card of the three pirs was more significant than you anticipated, and you thought that Heavenly Pir City would be enough to sway the world to your side?

    What was going to be of the Cathayan Underworld after this?

    Qin Ye seemed to have sensed everyone''s anticipation, and he turned toward the three pirs with a faint smile. For some reason, the hearts of all of the three pirs'' ruler death gods sank slightly upon seeing this.

    Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye began to apud.

    His apuse wasing from the first row, and the sound snapped all of the frenzied Yin spirits back to reality as they turned their attention toward Qin Ye with surprised expressions. It was also right at this moment that Qin Ye rose to his feet and said, "Congrattions!"

    All of themotion in the hall instantly died down as one pair of surprised eyes after another settled on Qin Ye.

    As for the 10 consortium chairmen and the death gods of the three pirs, all of them were gripping their armrests tightly as they looked on with tense expressions.

    Was there going to be another unexpected turn of events?

    "Thank you," Thanatos replied as he forcibly repressed the surprise in his heart. "If we hadn''t taken notes from your nation''s research, we wouldn''t have achieved this so quickly."

    Are you finally going to retaliate? Come! Let me see if your trump card can trump mine!

    Right before Thanatos''s wary eyes, Qin Ye smiled as he pointed upward.

    What''s that supposed to mean?

    Everyone''s eyes were focused on Qin Ye, so his simple gesture caught everyone''s attention, and they all looked up in unison.

    There was nothing.

    The ceiling was still just that, a ceiling, and it was certainly very well-constructed, but there was nothing remarkable about it aside from that.

    Right at this moment, all of theherfirenterns overhead were snuffed out at once.

    An oppressive darkness instantly descended upon the entire hall, striking everyone with a sense of asphyxiation.

    Thanatos''s pupils contracted slightly as he looked up at the hovering ptialnterns. All of a sudden, a preposterous thought urred to him, and he pursed his lips tightly as he murmured in a voice audible only to himself, "Surely not..."

    Is he going to get thenterns to light up? Surely that''s not possible!

    What seemed like a second, but could''ve also been an eternity, passed by, and all of sudden, the entire hall was brightly lit without any warning!

    All of the ptialnterns lit up overhead, radiating a warm glow from behind the transparent material of thenterns.

    Immediately thereafter, more sources of light appeared in all corners of the hall, basking the entire hall in resplendent radiance.

    Deathly silence had descended upon the entire hall again.

    Thanatos felt as if his own mind had gonepletely nk, as if the golden radiance that the hall was basked in had stripped him of his cognitive abilities.

    Anubis and Yamaraja stood up in unison, and even they were unable to disguise the astonishment on their faces. They were like a pair of hillbillies entering a big city for the first time, as their heads swiveled around 180 degrees to see the entirety of the brightly lit hall.

    All of the Yin spirits in the hall had fallen silent, including even the rowdy journalists.

    They wanted to do their jobs and ask questions, but try as they might, they were simply unable to force any words out of their mouths. All of them were like fish that had been pulled out of water, spluttering and gasping for air as they looked around with astonished expressions.

    This was a monumental moment in history.

    It signified the passing of an era, and all of the Yin spirits in the hall felt as if they had been struck by lightning.

    They could all hear the old era fading away, while the gate to the new era swung wide open.

    The entire hall was silent for a full 10 seconds, and Camross was the first one to return to his senses as he frantically rushed over to the railing before looking down.

    That seemed to snap all of the Yin spirits in the hall out of their reverie as they returned to their senses, but all of them still remained silent. All of a sudden, everyone, aside from Qin Ye, regardless of whether they were ruler death gods or journalists, rushed frantically over to the railing to look out at the city.

    They were greeted by the sight of a sea of light and the sound of deafening cries of surprise. Upon seeing the lights that had appeared in the night, none of the Yin spirits were able to contain their own emotions any longer!

    Two representatives were conversing with one another, seated beside the fountain on the za, and their heads had swiveled around 180 degrees as they turned to stare at the scene unfolding behind them with incredulous expressions.

    The fountain behind them was around 50 meters in radius, and the music of a ssical Cathayan zither song suddenly began to y, while countless pirs of water erupted to the surface. At the same time, lights of different colors appeared in unison beneath the fountain, making the pirs of water extremely colorful and vibrant.

    "What the fuck?!" a young underworld emissary eximed. "What the hell is this?! Is that electricity?! Are my eyes ying tricks on me?!"

    "No, your eyes are working fine..." The representative that he was speaking to had already stood up with a ck-jawed expression, and he waspletely rooted to the spot as he stared at the neon signs above the surrounding businesses. "This is electricity... Electricity has appeared in the underworld!!"

    On the streets, some underworld emissaries were doing some sightseeing in Heavenly Pir City, and they were all stunned by what they were seeing. Even more underworld emissaries were resting at the hotels, and they were about to go insane!

    "How is this possible?! Oh my god!!" Two female Caucasian underworld emissaries pped their hands over their own mouths as they stared at the massive LED screens that had risen up before them. The screen was depicting every single area in Heavenly Pir City, while also giving detailed descriptions.

    Countless documents were scattered at the feet of the pair of female underworld emissaries, but they paid no heed to that at all. The scene unfolding before their eyes instantly took them back several decades, when they had still been in the mortal realm.

    Several secondster, one of the women removed her hands from over her mouth, then said in a trembling voice, "Is this electricity? Does this mean the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource n has seeded? My god... Does this mean we''ll also be able to use electricity soon? Does this mean we''ll have air conditioners? Phones? Televisions? Movies? I can''t believe this..."

    All of the lights on the four secondary pagodas lit up one level after another, as if it were slowly being dipped in gold, and above them, beams of green and red light were already piercing through the sky, informing all of the Yin spirits in the city that the new era had arrived!

    On a ship docked at the port, a sailor Yin spirit was drinking from a bottle of wine, and the bottle slipped out of his hand before ttering onto the ground, but he didn''t seem to have noticed at all. Instead, he was staring at Heavenly Pir City with a ck-jawed expression, and after a stunned stupor thatsted a full minute, he frantically rushed toward the center of the city.

    Inside a restaurant, several representatives were sampling some delicious Cathayan dishes when a beam of green light slowly swept past them, prompting them to look up, upon which they were greeted by an incredible sight.

    All of the lights in the entirety of Heavenly Pir City were being switched on in rapid session, and as the top floor of the main pagoda lit up, all of the death gods who were looking out into the distance finally turned back around, directing their attention toward Qin Ye again.

    Archimedes''s lips were trembling uncontrobly, and he was sping a hand over his own heart as Yin energy poured out of all of his orifices. "You''ve already seeded... You already seeded a long time ago, yet you didn''t tell anyone!! Arrrrrgh!!!"

    He rammed himself viciously into a nearby pole, doing so with such immense power that the pole was left trembling unsteadily.

    Never had been sopletely and utterly humiliated before.

    The Cathayan Underworld had always beenckluster in the scientific fields, and the Argosian Underworld had always looked down on them in this regard, but they had been beaten at their own game!

    What was most pitiful and ironic was that he had been working so hard for so long, under the illusion that they could stille from behind to win this race!

    They had only just discovered the proton and electron Yin runes, but judging from what he was seeing now, it was clear that the Cathayan Underworld had already developed their new energy resource long ago!

    The humiliation and fury was too much for Archimedes to bear!

 Chapter 1065: Fierce Clash (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1065: Fierce sh (3)</h4>

    Thanatos''s expression had darkened considerably. In contrast with Archimedes, he was the one who was truly being humiliated!

    Just a moment ago, he had stood on the stage, dering to everyone that the Heavenly Fire Research Center was the first scientific organization to discover the proton and electron Yin runes, thereby ushering in the new era, but his announcement had been refuted with such brutality that he didn''t know what to do with himself!

    However, no one cared about what he was thinking at this moment, everyone was already in a frenzied state!

    "This is electricity... They actually managed to develop a new energy resource!" Giltine''s hands were trembling as she looked around at the dazzling lights around her, while a rush of dizziness washed over her.

    "Who''s participated in the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development? I want all of their data and statistics right away!"

    "Is there anyone from any of our allied underworlds that was a part of the Cathayan Underworld''s research and development team?"

    "This is electricity! There''s no mistaking it!"

    "The new era is right in front of our eyes! Countless industries and possibilities are going to appear in this world from this day forth!"

    "I am truly honored and awestruck to be able to witness such a monumental moment in history!"

    Thanatos''s speech had filled them with a sense of anticipation and longing, prompting them to envision what it was going to be like once electricity appeared in the underworld, yet the Cathayan Underworld had brought their visions into reality!

    Their lofty statuses and their exceptional self-control were the only things stopping them from shrieking like banshees, but they still couldn''t help but discuss what they were seeing with one another in hushed conversations, and their collective voices culminated into a loud and chaotic chorus than rang out across the entire hall.

    How could they not be excited?

    This was a massive cake that had just emerged, one sorge that even the smallest slice from it would be able to present countless opportunities and profits!

    Some of the Yin spirits present were more restrained and reticent, but others knew that in certain situations, shamelessness had its merits, and they were the ones who immediately tried to pounce onto this opportunity.

    Right as everyone was still thinking about how to proceed, several figures had already jumped up from their wheelchairs and were rushing forward at an extraordinary speedpletely unbefitting of their frail and elderly appearance. As they did so, they had already pulled out gold-ted business cards, and they wanted nothing more than to shove those cards straight into Qin Ye''s brain so he could never forget them!

    "Yanluo Qin, I am the chairman of the Psalm Consortium, Archbishop Antonio. May I ask if the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource n will be distributed to the rest of the world? The construction team of our Psalm Consortium is one of the best in the world! We have experience in constructing countless churches, so you can ce your trust in us!"

    "Yanluo Qin, I am Chairman Abduh of the Abbasid Consortium. Our construction team consists of top-tier artisans who constructed the pyramids thousands of years ago, and we would be honored to offer you our services. On top of that, we are willing to take on all of your nation''s electricity industry construction projects at the lowest possible price!"

    "Yanluo Qin, look no further than our Blue Forest Consortium! We control all of the world''s high-end restaurants, theaters, and all types of other recreational facilities! We are the best choice for you!"

    You shameless old bastards!!

    All of the death gods present were glowering at the 10 elderly men with furious expressions.

    Everyone knew that the emergence of electricity would bring on a worldwide revolution. There were countless industries that relied on electricity, and they were undoubtedly going to be rising up one after another in rapid session in the near future!

    If the top 10 consortiums could dominate just a few of those industries each, then their status would be unshakeable!

    However, this opportunity wasn''t just going to be handed to them on a silver tter.

    There were countless nations that wanted to sign electricity agreements in order to increase their employment rates, and the death gods of those nations wanted to bend down and lick Qin Ye''s boots as well, but they were death gods, and they had to maintain some sense of dignity!

    They were gritting their teeth so tightly that they felt as if their teeth were on the verge of shattering, but they couldn''t do anything.

    During the past editions of the international trade conference, journalists weren''t permitted to enter the main conference hall, but all of them had burst through the doors and were surging into the hall with just as much enthusiasm and vigor as the 10 consortium chairmen.

    "Yanluo Qin! Yanluo Qin!" They looked as if they had gone insane as their image capture crystals shed incessantly in Qin Ye''s direction.

    "Yanluo Qin, when did the Cathayan Underworld develop the new energy resource?"

    "Yanluo Qin, will the data surrounding the new energy resource be released?"

    "How long has the Cathayan Underworld already been using the new energy resource?"

    The three pirs had opened the gate to the new era, only to find that someone had already walked through the gate ahead of them!

    So this is the trump card you had up your sleeve... You chose this open-air conference hall so that everyone could see the light show you''re putting on outside!

    "Please be quiet and respect the rules of the international trade conference, everyone." Qin Ye finally spoke, and everyone immediately obeyed and fell silent.

    He turned toward the dumbstruck Camross with a nod, then said, "Chairman Camross, I think the emergence of the new energy resource is important enough to act as the main subject for this international trade conference, so why don''t we make it the focus here?"

    A wry smile appeared on Camross''s face. He didn''t dare to raise any objections, but as the chairman of the GTO, it was his responsibility to maintain order here.

    "Yanluo Qin, with all due respect, I must refuse. No one anticipated this turn of events, so we haven''t made any preparations. In order to discuss the new energy resource, the conference will have to be extended by at least a month, and we have to organize for people to prepare the relevant documents right away, including certificates of approval for all of the patents involved..."

    Right at this moment, Perkins, who had remained silent this entire time, suddenly stepped forward and interjected, "Mr. Chairman, all of that has already been prepared."

    Camross immediately turned toward Perkins with an incredulous expression, as did the three pirs.

    You sly dog! How could you betray us like this? At least give us some forewarning!

    Goosebumps instantly appeared all over Perkins''s entire body, and he didn''t even dare to look at the death gods of the three pirs. Without the relevant documents, the three pirs could still apply to postpone everything, but now that everything was ready, there was no way for them to weasel their way out of this predicament!

    The Cathayan Underworld had dropped a massive bombshell on the entire world, and there was no time for them to react!

    "Fuck!" Yamaraja swore under his breath, and a sense of irrepressible panic was surging through his heart. He couldn''t even remember thest time he had felt this type of fear.

    It was clear that the Cathayan Underworld was about to make its move. The new energy resource alone wasn''t worthy of panic, what was truly damning were all of the follow-up strategies that the Cathayan Underworld had undoubtedly prepared!

    "Are you sure?" Camross asked with an incredulous expression. "Do you think this is a good time to be discussing something like this?"

    "Of course it is!" The one who had replied wasn''t Perkins. Instead, it was Archbishop Antonio, the chairman of the Psalm Consortium. An amicable smile appeared on his wizened face as he said, "I can''t wait, even for a single second, to hear about Yanluo Qin''s grand ns for the future of the new energy resource! Seeing as everything has already been prepared, why shouldn''t we begin discussions right away? Isn''t the international trade conference the perfect asion to be holding such discussions?"

    He cast his gaze toward all of the other underworlds as he said, "Next year, the Psalm Consortium is preparing to invest hundreds of billions into the real estate and religious industries that we''re most familiar with. Please give us your support, everyone."

    Trantion: "All of the underworlds depending on our investments to support your economy, speak up right now! This is the time to make your voices heard!"

    Silence.

    Several secondster, the ruler death gods of the Hopi Underworld and the Semitic Underworld said, "We agree with Archbishop Antonio''s opinion."

    "We concur!"

    <i>Concur my fucking arse!! </i>

    Anubis had to strain every sinew in his own body just to fight back the urge to kill Archbishop Antonio on the spot!

    Aren''t we supposed to be allies? Isn''t the Psalm Consortium supposed to stand with the three pirs? How could you stab us in the back like this?! Aren''t you afraid that I''ll raze your Psalm Consortium to the ground?!

    However, upon thinking about how much of the Aegyptian Underworld''s tax revenue came from the corporations under the Psalm Consortium, Anubis knew that there was no way he could actuallysh out against them, and that made him even more furious, but also resigned at the same time.

    Camross took a deep breath and ignored Archbishop Antonio as he continued to stare directly at Perkins. "Are you sure? You still have a chance to change your mind. There are over 500 documents that have to be prepared, and that''s not even counting all of the patent approval certificates."

    Perkins gritted his teeth and stole a nce at Qin Ye, then replied through gritted teeth, "I''m certain!"

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he chimed in, "There''s no need to force anything. If the GTO is unwilling to facilitate this discussion, then we can just found a Pan-Asian Trade Organization and discuss this subject there."

    Camross''s heartpletely sank upon hearing this.

    However, Qin Ye paid no heed to his reaction at all as he cast his gaze around the entire hall. "All of the Asian Underworlds are present, right?"

    At the same time, the chairman of the Sacred Treasure Consortium cleared his throat as he cast a threatening gaze toward the few Asian Underworlds that held voting rights during these international conferences.

    If you dare to say no, I''ll show you that even an old dog can still bite! Hold on, did I just call myself an old dog?

    "I concur..."

    "I... also concur."

    "I concur."

    Fuck!

    Yamaraja''s fists were so tightly clenched that the joints of his hands were cracking within his sleeves, and just like Anubis, he was struck by the urge to wipe out the Sacred Consortium in a fit of fury!

    However, he then thought of the massive yearly rent that was issued for the Kasa Temple, as well as thergest contributors to government tax revenue in the Hindustani Silicon Valley...

    Fuck! I''ll let you off the hook this one time!

    Camross heaved a faint sigh, then cast his gaze toward thepletely silent hall. Even the three pirs weren''t raising any objections, so he could only concede. "We''ll do as you say, Yanluo Qin. This meeting is hereby adjourned. The second discussion that was scheduled for 8 PM tonight will be canceled, and a discussion meeting for the future development and outlook of the new energy resource will be held in its stead by..."

    "I''ll hold the meeting in person," Qin Ye chimed in with a smile. "After all, no one understands the new energy resource as deeply as the Cathayan Underworld, isn''t that right?"

    Camross sighed, "As you wish. Meeting adjourned."

    All of the Yin spirits immediately stood up and departed from the hall. No matter how alluring the new energy resource was, they knew that the most important thing to do at a time like this was to calm down and organize their own thoughts.

    A massive wave wasing, and they had to build sturdy boats in order to be able to ride the wave, rather than be drowned.

    They knew that some were destined to be crushed by the wave, while others would be elevated to unprecedented heights.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face at the sight of all of the hurriedly departing Yin spirits.

    Little did they know that the new energy resource was only a catalyst. What wasing next was going to be the main surprise!

 Chapter 1066: The Second Meeting (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1066: The Second Meeting (1)</h4>

    Thus, a break ensued.

    Of course, this was only a break for the Cathayan Underworld. For the other underworlds, this was no different from torture.

    In the conference hall allocated to the staff of the GTO, several pairs of eyes were fixed firmly on Perkins, and it took a long while for Camross to repress the fury in his heart before he broke his silence. "When did you defect to the Cathayan Underworld''s side? Are you not aware that it''s strictly prohibited for the staff of all world organizations to make private deals with other underworlds? I can apply to have you fired for just this transgression alone!"

    Lisa also sighed as she chimed in, "Perkins, we''ve already been working together for several hundred years, how could you do something so foolish? If we allow the Cathayan Underworld to dictate terms now, they''ll be able to adopt a dominant position over the rest of the world! This world needs bnce, and thispletely destroys that bnce! You''re going to be responsible for the rise of a monster! If any single nation bes too powerful, the entire world will gravitate toward them, and that is definitely not good news! The Cathayan Underworld has always been a peaceful nation, but trust me when I say that if they can climb to a position simr to that of Usonia in the mortal realm, they wouldn''t act any differently! This is simply what power does to a nation, there''s no way the ruler of the nation can change that!"

    Camross shook his head as he closed his eyes in a weary manner. "The Cathayan Underworld is going to be the scourge of the entire world, and you will be the one responsible for all of this!"

    "What else could I have done?" Perkins asked with a wry smile. "Have you considered the fact that they hold the new energy resource in their hands? This ispletely different from anything else the world has ever seen! If they want to, they could easily ditch us and establish a trade organization of their own! If that happens, the influence and status of our GTO will be significantly dented! Think about it: how massive a market is the new energy resource going to create? Countless industries will arise in the wake of the new energy resource''s release, and any one of those industries could match the sum of transactions currently being overseen by our GTO!"

    He took a deep breath before continuing in a serious voice, "If I didn''t agree to join them, they would''ve immediately established an independent trade organization. If that happens, do you think our GTO will see more trade or if their Pan-Asian Trade Organization will be the center of the international market instead? I''m sure I don''t need to teach you the difference between low-grade trade and high-grade trade! A new era ising, and we have no choice but to conform to it. As opposed to standing against the Cathayan Underworld and sacrificing ourselves like martyrs for a futile cause, it''s far wiser to join them from the very beginning!"

    Deathly silence.

    Everyone had been too stunned to think logically before this, but Perkins had been pondering this matter for over a year, and upon hearing what he had to say, all of his colleagues felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads.

    Indeed, just the slightest misstep here could''ve swept the reputation of this international organization, which had already stood for thousands of years, to the ground!

    Camross was silent for a while before asking in a feeble voice, "Will they really do that? Would they be willing to make an enemy out of a world organization?"

    Erwin hadn''t spoken this entire time, but he finally gave his input. "They would certainly be willing to do that. There are no internationalws that prohibit the establishment of another trade organization. This falls within normal trade between regions and nations, and we have no right to stop them. This isn''t a matter of making enemies, either, we''re simply adopting different stances on this situation. As the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, it''s only right for him to secure the greatest amount of benefits possible for his nation, and with such a decisive trump card in his hands, he could easily abandon our GTO and start again elsewhere."

    Camross slumped back against his chair in a defeated manner, looking up at the electrical lights overhead with an absentminded expression.

    There simply wasn''t enough time for them to think this matter through! The new energy resource had opened the gate to the new era, and the one who had opened the gate was ready to reap the rewards for theirbors, yet the rest of the world still wasn''t ready yet!

    He ran his hands through his own hair in a frustrated manner, and he was frantically trying to think of a way out, but he was drawing aplete nk.

    In the face of the wheel of history, no one could stand against it.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    <i>Crack... </i>A cup was crushed into powder in Thanatos''s hand, and he opened his hand to let the powder escape, then narrowed his eyes as he cast his gaze toward all of the Yin spirits in the conference hall.

    This could be said to be a gathering of the most powerful and influential underworld emissaries in the entire world. The representatives of the Argosian Underworld during this meeting were Erinys and Thanatos, while Yamaraja and Durga represented the Hindustani Underworld, and Anubis and Menes were the representatives of the Aegyptian Underworld.

    Archimedes wasn''t present as he had been severely traumatized, and wasn''t fit to participate in this meeting as a result. Even now, he was still unable to ept the fact that the Cathayan Underworld had developed the new energy resource before him, and that he had been fooled for so many years.

    The representatives of the three pirs hade to this international trade conference with high hopes, only to have a bucket of cold water poured straight onto their heads, and that wasn''t the scary part, what was truly terrifying was the gigantic wave that was still toe!

    "What do we do now?" Thanatos gritted his teeth as he massaged his own temples, which were throbbing with pain. It was as if the lights that he had just witnessed had speared their way right into his mind and were stabbing at his brain like countless needles of radiance.

    However, regardless of how much his head was throbbing, they had to think about what to do next.

    "The Cathayan Underworld is definitely going to advance toward the energy resource market. What are they going to do?"

    "They''re going topletely dictate terms on the international energy resource market!" Yamaraja spat through gritted teeth. The new energy resource was going to create countless industries and generate unimaginable revenue, yet the Hindustani Underworld wasn''t going to be able to benefit from that at all!

    If they had won this race, then their n was to release some patents, but only a portion of the patents that was small enough that the Cathayan Underworld would spend the next few centuries frantically chasing after them, but to no avail.

    They were going to replicate the mortal realm, denying the Cathayan Underworld ess to cutting-edge technology, much like what the likes of IBM and AMD had done.

    None of the blows were going to be lethal on their own, but the Cathayan Underworld would be forced to endure blow after blow for the next few centuries, and over time, its influence on the rest of the world would be virtually non-existent.

    Now that the roles were reversed, one would expect that the Cathayan Underworld would do the same thing to them!

    Yamaraja took a deep breath to force himself to calm down, then continued, "They''ll export their energy-resource-rted technology to other nations, helping them set up base stations, then take energy usage fees and patent fees from the entire world! Even if each Yin spirit only uses half a dragon jade worth of electricity per day, that would still amount to an astronomical sum, even for the Cathayan Underworld!"

    His expression darkened even further as he continued, "After that, they''ll only export high-end technology while purchasing massive quantities of imports in order to spend all of the dragon jade that returns to their nation through currency reflux, thereby forming a positive, self-reinforcing trade cycle! In the end, even we''ll be forced to purchase the Cathayan Underworld''s national debt!"

    Menes heaved a long sigh upon hearing this. "If it reallyes to that, then we''ll never be able to dere war on the Cathayan Underworld..."

    There was no way they would be able to dere war on the Cathayan Underworld while owing them money! In doing so, they would be resigning themselves to the notion that the debts owed to them were going to be defaulted!

    Deathly silence.

    No matter how they thought about it, there was no solution, and they couldn''t even threaten war to resolve this issue! They could already envision theirplete and utter defeat in a few hours.

    Amid the grim silence, Anubis finally spoke up. "Listen up, we don''t know exactly what the Cathayan Underworld is going to do, but we have to persevere no matter what! We absolutely cannot allow them to intervene in the construction of energy resource base stations in our nations, and we can''t ept any funds from them! We must do everything in our power to cut off all avenues through which the Cathayan Underworld can exert influence on the politics of other nations through the international energy resource market!"

    "That''s impossible," Yamaraja countered in a grim voice. "The Cathayan Underworld will definitely offer extremely alluring benefits, and the other underworlds won''t be able to resist. After all, they have no ambitions to fight for supremacy in this world!"

    "But we still have our veto rights as members of the four pirs!" Anubis said in a vicious voice as he abruptly rose to his feet. "We have to stop them from getting their way no matter what!"

    Erinys''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and even she couldn''t help but shudder in the face of Anubis''s words.

    The veto rights of the four pirs was their absolute final trump card. It was the most shameless trump card they had at their disposal, and it was only to be used in desperate times when all else failed.

    All of the other underworlds desperately wanted to be one of the four pirs, and a significant factor behind that was a trio of rights held by the four pirs, namely forbidden arts supervision rights, veto rights, and the right to impose sanctions.

    With forbidden arts supervision rights, a nation could make up any excuse to interfere with the internal politics of other nations and investigate said nation, perhaps even to take military action against them. Furthermore, they could permanently station troops in nations that were suspected to have dabbled in forbidden arts research, as well as set up permanent military bases in the territorial seas of those nations.

    Veto rights were self-exnatory. It basically tranted into: "I disagree, and without my approval, you can''t do anything."

    As for the right to impose sanctions, that was exercised when a nation posed a threat to one of the four pirs, but they were too far away, or it wasn''t convenient to take military action against them for some reason, and it involved calling upon allies to impose economic sanctions upon the offending nation. These three privileges were extremely sought after by all underworlds, and they all but assured the four pirs of their ce.

    No one even remembered thest time veto rights had been used, yet in the face of the wheel of history, even the three pirs had no choice but to turn to this final resort.

    A wry smile appeared on Yamaraja''s face as he said, "Veto rights can''t be exercised on all matters, they can only be exercised on major events that can impact the entire world, such as a world organization being reced, or the center of the world shifting to somewhere else. As one of the four pirs, the Cathayan Underworld is also well aware of this. I have a feeling that they''ll reveal their n during the next discussion meeting, and their tactics will most likely bepletely unexpected to us. We simply don''t have enough time to predict what they''re going to do!"

    Everyone was aware that the Cathayan Underworld was aiming to make some big moves, considering they had refrained from revealing the new energy resource, even though they had already developed it long ago.

    Their goal was to rule this entire world, and everyone was going to fight to secure the best deal for themselves in this imminent new world order!

 Chapter 1067: The Second Meeting (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1067: The Second Meeting (2)</h4>

    The foreign underworlds were very anxious, as was the Cathayan Underworld. On the top floor of the main pagoda, the panel of advisors and all of the top schrs in the fields of international affairs analysis, finance, and domestic affairs analysis had already gathered to assess the report that Qin Ye was holding.

    The entire hall waspletely silent, and even the servants in the room had their mouths shut. Furthermore, Qin Ye and the panel of advisors all had unnaturally flushedplexions, and despite the fact that the asional exchange of words between them were all conducted in hushed tones, it was still possible to hear the excitement in their voices.

    The atmosphere was exactly like what one would expect during the final moments before a volcanic eruption.

    They all knew that they were witnessing the rise of the Cathayan Underworld. If they could seed, then the Cathayan Underworld would slowly but surely be the dominant force in this world!

    This process wasn''t going to take too long. With the changes that the new energy resource was going to bring about, it would only take 100 years at most for the Cathayan Underworld to reach unprecedented heights that had never been reached by any other nation in the past!

    "Your Excellency." Qian Dui quietly made his way into the room with a solemn expression, then quickly strode over to Qin Ye before reporting in a low voice, "The chairmen of the top 10 consortiums desperately request an audience with you. In exchange for a meeting, they''re even willing to offer mining rights to all of their S-grade mines, free of charge for five years!"

    At this point, there were 40 minutes left until themencement of the second meeting.

    This meeting was definitely going to attract the attention of the entire world and go down in the history books. In order to request an audience with Qin Ye before the meeting, the 10 consortium chairmen had hauled crate upon crate of dragon jade to the foot of the main pagoda, then rushed up to the floor just beneath the top floor in person in the hopes of being granted passage to see Qin Ye, but they clearly weren''t going to have their wish granted.

    These 40 minutes were far too important to be sold for any price.

    "I don''t have time to see them," Qin Ye replied without even turning to look at Qian Dui. Only after discussing something with one of the advisors did he finally turn toward Qian Dui as he continued, "During the past decade, they chose to sit on the fence and didn''t approach us at all, yet they want to turn around and reap all the benefits now? They made a choice, and they have to live with it now. Tell them that if they want to join us, then attend the next meeting and listen carefully to what we have to say. The Cathayan Underworld doesn''t need their political funding."

    "Yes, Your Excellency." Qian Dui silently departed, only for Secretary Jiang to enter the room shortly thereafter.

    "Your Excellency, there are still about 15 more minutes before you should prepare to go downstairs. As the hosts, we should arrive at least 20 minutes early as a gesture of respect to everyone else. You need to take some time to rest in order to be able to face the uing challenges in the best mental state possible."

    Qin Ye exhaled as he rubbed his own throbbing eyes. Several hours had already passed by without being noticed at all.

    The world map in front of him was riddled with blue, green, and red lines that would bepletely unintelligible to the uninitiated, and he took one final look at the map before giving all of his advisors a nod of acknowledgment. "Thank you for your hard work, everyone. If we can secure the final victory, then I''ll be sure to hold a massive celebratory banquet and offer toasts to all of you in person!"

    "Rest assured, Yanluo Qin," a thin elderly man replied with a steely expression. "The future is ours! The underworld isn''t like the mortal realm, which has to constantly deal with economic problems and perhaps even financial crises. Due to the existence of cultivation and the power system, the economy in the underworld is very stable, and that will prove to be their downfall! In terms of politics, no one has been dabbling in this field longer than Cathay! The heritage of Aegypt had beenpletely severed at some point, Hindustan has beenpletely colonized in the past, and the Babylonian Empire has also been lost to the sands of time. Out of the four major civilizations in history, only Cathay''s culture has been passed down to the present day without being severed at any point. Our nation has gone through a feudal era spanning thousands of years, giving us far more experience than all other nations when ites to political maneuvers and tactics. In the mortal realm, Cathay isn''t powerful to fully maximize this advantage, but it''s an entirely different story here in the underworld!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, picking up the final report on the table before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind.

    Group Chat Administrator Cathayan Underworld: @everyone

    Group Member Argosian Underworld has entered the chat.

    Group Member Aegyptian Underworld has entered the chat.

    Group Member Hindustani Underworld has entered the chat.

    Group Chat Administrator Cathayan Underworld: Let the game begin!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The chime of a clock rang out across the entire Heavenly Pir City, signaling themencement of the second meeting. By the time Qin Ye appeared on the main stage as a gust of Yin wind, he discovered that the hall was alreadypletely filled.

    There were no reporters and journalists on this asion. Instead, they had been reced by rows of Yin spirits wearing long ck robes, ck top hats, and veils over their faces. Their hands were all sped together, and it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

    Qin Ye''s gaze lingered momentarily on these Yin spirits, who were known as witnesses of history.

    They existed only in the underworld, and they were official witnesses of history known and approved by the four pirs.

    No one knew who they were, and they had only appeared on a handful of asions throughout the underworld''s history.

    In fact, there were only six known asions in history where they had appeared, namely the Argosian Underworld''s deployment of troops to the rest of Europa, the detonation of the first forbidden art, the Aegyptian Underworld conquering the middle east, the Argosian Underworld and Aegyptian Underworld''s Mediterranean Sea war, the border war between the Russian Underworld and the Cathayan Underworld, and the seven underworlds attacking the Cathayan Underworld at once... This was the seventh known asion.

    These people wouldn''t appear unless a moment that was truly going to change history arose.

    They never spoke or intervened, regardless of whether history was progressing in the right or wrong direction in their opinion. All they did was observe.

    All leaders of world organizations in the underworld had the right to summon, and they could travel to any ce in the world within an hour.

    There were light streetmps standing in every corner of this level of the pagoda, spread out in an extremely even manner. The Yin energy around them was very murky and indistinct, which was a clear sign to all of the Yin spirits present that this space had already been sealed, so everything that was to take ce in the hall was going to be strictly confidential. At the same time, it also told everyone that they were carrying quasi-divine artifacts.

    There were 18 witnesses of history present, which amounted to 10 quasi-divine artifacts! It was clear that the GTO had already determined that this was going to be a day that was going to change the course of history!

    The 10 consortium chairmen took a solemn nce at the witnesses of history in the hall, before Archbishop Antonio lowered his head with a frustrated expression. "You can choose not to meet us now, but you can''t distribute your energy resource and technology to the rest of the world without our assistance! Let me see what you have up your sleeve!"

    Qin Ye swept his gaze around the hall, then said, "Wee back, everyone. I''m sure you''ve all been waiting a long time for this second meeting, so I won''t waste any time with unnecessary words. Let''s begin right away. From here, I will be reading out the new energy resource''s usage and distribution methods."

    All of the Yin spirits in the hall unconsciously sat up straighter upon hearing this, while the representatives of the three pirs were staring intently at Qin Ye. If he tried to do anything out of line, then they were going to use their veto rights to stop him!

    The entire hall was so silent that as Qin Ye opened the file in front of him, the resulting rustling of paper could be audibly heard. He took a nce at the document before him, then read aloud, "From this day on, the Cathayan Underworld will be registering a new energy resource patent."

    The representatives of the three pirs heaved a collective sigh of relief upon hearing this.

    They knew that Qin Ye was drawing his figurative sword with this announcement, but the fact that Qin Ye wasn''t aiming to cut them down from the get-go was still a slight relief to them.

    "The name of the new energy resource is ''electricity-like energy string'', and it was developed entirely by the Cathayan Underworld, so we are applying for 100% of all patents involved."

    "Objection!" Archimedes, having recovered somewhat from his earlier trauma, immediately countered, "The electricity-like energy string was clearly developed on the basis of string theory, and as a result, we cannot look past the father of string theory, the Italian scientist, Gabriele Veneziano. Seeing as you''ve used his theory, some of the patents of the new energy resource should go to him."

    Qin Ye offered no response to this question. Instead, an elderly man who was apanying him replied, "ording to my knowledge, Gabriele Veneziano chose to enter the cycle of reincarnation 10 years ago because there was no ce for the application of string theory in the underworld, leading him to decide to return to the mortal realm to continue his research there. On top of that, his application to enter the cycle of reincarnation was approved by none other than the Argosian Underworld. Are you suggesting that we can onlymence the new energy resource project once he returns to the underworld? On top of that, copyright has nothing to do with independent development and research patent rights. Finally, our nation is only applying for 100% of the patents, and that is still yet to be approved by the GIPO. As the chairman of the World Energy Resource Research Organization, I think that you are unfit to y a role in the patent assessment panel."

    Archimedes almost swore out loud upon hearing this! <i>Who is this old fart with the sharp tongue?!</i>

    "It''s not up to me whether I''ll be a part of the panel or not, that will be up to the world to decide. As the chairman of the World Energy Resource Research Organization, I am only raising reasonable doubts. After all, this is an extremely significant matter, and I''m an expert when ites to assessing energy resources, so I think my input still has some value here."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "I can understand your urgency, but this isn''t the World Energy Resource Research Organization, this is the international trade conference held by the GTO. We will submit all of the necessary applications for the new energy resource''s patent rights. If you want to discuss the matters of the World Energy Resource Research Organization with our nation''s scientists, I would be happy to open another conference hall to facilitate your discussion. However, pardon me for asking this, but are the other directors of the World Energy Resource Research Organization and its hundreds of assessors here?"

    If they aren''t here, then what right do you have to raise any queries? Our Cathayan Underworld may be inferior to your Argosian Underworld in the scientific fields, but in terms of foreign affairs, you don''t have any advantage in a discussion of foreign affairs!

    Archimedes opened his mouth to reply, but didn''t say anything in the end.

    He was on the Cathayan Underworld''s territory, and he didn''t dare to escte this issue any further. As the chairman of the World Energy Resource Research Organization, he had the right to put this meeting on pause in order to assess all of the patents first, but he could already sense the hostility aimed at him from the chairmen of the top 10 consortiums.

    He took a fleeting nce upward, and he could sense the aura of a being above the death god level lurking at the top of the pagoda, indicating that Ghost King Zhao was also present.

    "The GTO is not responsible for assessing patents, that is the GIPO''s job," Camross finally interjected. "Please continue, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then cleared his throat before continuing, "Secondly, the Cathayan Underworld will be entering the energy resource market with immediate effect. As a temporary arrangement, our nation will be taking 50% of all revenue generated by the new energy resource, while the remaining 50% will be reserved for other parties involved in the patents, and that amount will be distributed in detail after the GIPO''s assessment isplete."

    The representatives of the three pirs exchanged a perplexed nce upon hearing this.

    What was he trying to do here? Wasn''t he supposed to be fighting for 100% of the revenue generated by the new energy resource? Even 0.01% of the total generated revenue would equate to billions, even tens of billions!

 Chapter 1068: The Second Meeting (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1068: The Second Meeting (3)</h4>

    They weren''t the only ones who were confused, all of the other underworld emissaries in the hall were also quite puzzled. There was a very simple and direct benefit to entering the energy resource market: the one who entered the market first would be able to recover their funds the quickest, and dictate terms to all those who entered the market after them.

    The Cathayan Underworld had already won the race to develop the new energy resource. Lights had already appeared over the entire city, which meant that they had a lead of several years on the Argosian Underworld when it came to the construction of anciry facilities. By the time the Argosian Underworld developed their energy resource and reached the stage that the Cathayan Underworld was currently at, the Cathayan Underworld would''ve most likely already developed phones.

    Thus, no underworld would choose to use the Argosian Underworld''s technology. Regardless of how close their nation was with the Argosian Underworld, there was no way that they would stubbornly choose to use the Argosian Underworld''s technology at the risk of incurring mass dissatisfaction from their poptions.

    Furthermore, the Argosian Underworld wasn''t going to continue investing in the research and development of the energy resource anyway. In a race of technological output, a lead of several years was absolutely decisive. Thus, the Argosian Underworld would rather scrap the Prometheus n and begin researching the next generation energy resource, rather than continue to waste time trying to develop the electricity-like energy string.

    There was no problem with Qin Ye''s deration for the Cathayan Underworld to enter the international energy resource market with immediate effect, and that was an announcement that would be easily epted by the entire world. From this point onward, the Cathayan Underworld would be entitled to receive astronomical sums in patent usage fees for each unit of the new energy resource that was used in the world.

    At a time like this, the Cathayan Underworld should''ve immediately tried to seize control of 100% of the patent rights, but they hadn''t done that.

    Why was that the case?

    The death gods of the three pirs and even the financial maestros that were the 10 consortium chairmen were all very perplexed to hear this.

    It was clear that Qin Ye was plotting something, but at the very least, this was a piece of good news for the three pirs at face value as it meant that the Cathayan Underworld''s economy wasn''t going to grow as rapidly as it otherwise would''ve. Furthermore, this proposal raised no conflict of interest with any other underworld or organization so no one raised any objections.

    Qin Ye paused momentarily to assess the situation, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

    As expected, no one had caught onto anything.

    There were no slouches on the Cathayan Underworld''s panel of advisors, and the trap had already been set. Qin Ye couldn''t wait to get to thest item on his list!

    However,cency could ruin even the surest of victories, and with that in mind, he calmed himself down before continuing, "Thirdly, the Cathayan Underworld''s technological output will be provided in the form of assistance. The Cathayan Underworld''s construction workers will assist other nations in constructing their electrical base stations, and for neighboring countries, the new energy resource can be provided to them throughying down electricalworks. On top of that, experts will be sent out from our Cathayan Underworld to provide effective technological support..."

    "Objection!"

    "Objection!"

    "Objection!"

    Before he even had a chance to finish, three opposing voices had already rung out in unison.

    All of the Yin spirits immediately turned toward the people who had spoken, and to no one''s surprise, they were the ruler death gods of the three pirs.

    "What is your reason for objecting?" Camross asked.

    "It''s a matter of national security," Anubis replied in a calm voice. "Before we determine how dangerous the new energy resource could potentially be, it''s too risky to allow the Cathayan Underworld to construct base stations in our countries. Who knows whether they''ll be nting things like bombs or listening devices in their base stations?"

    "With all due respect, Mr. Anubis, please allow me to remind you that we''re only discussing the new energy resource here," Camross said.

    Who the fuck would nt bombs or listening devices in power stations? Are they mentally disabled?!

    Yamaraja interjected, "Prior to sufficient assessment of potential risk factors, anything is possible. What if the electricity-like energy resource is as dangerous as nuclear energy of the mortal realm? In that case, no one would allow another nation to construct their base stations for them. Don''t forget how the new energy resource was discovered! The inspiration for it was derived from the Zhu Rong n''s second-generation forbidden arts startup module!"

    All of the death gods present were quickly weighing up the risks and benefits involved. While it was correct that the risks involved in the new energy resources hadn''t yet been assessed, none of the small underworlds cared about that at all!

    They were dying for the Cathayan Underworld to provide them with their blueprints and technology! As long as the new energy resource could reach their nations, they didn''t even mind if the Cathayan Underworld sent their construction teams directly to them!

    How did forbidden arts have anything to do with them?

    Besides, why would the Cathayan Underworld sabotage their own new energy resource n by blowing up the power stations that they constructed for other nations?

    Of course, raising these points would pit them in direct opposition against the three pirs, so no one dared to say anything.

    After a brief silence, Perkins said in a respectful voice, "Esteemed death gods, please allow me to remind you that Yanluo Qin is only stating his intentions. He is telling us how the Cathayan Underworld is preparing to integrate the new energy resource into the rest of the world, not asking for our verdicts on his proposals. All of you have signed countless agreements in the past, so you should know the process very well at this point. First, the intentions are stated, and only after that will all details be finalized. For a massive project like this one, there could easily be several hundred agreements attached to it, so there''s no need to be in a hurry to make your opinions known now. Please continue, Yanluo Qin."

    Do you want to fucking die?!

    Yamaraja cast his gaze toward Perkins through narrowed eyes. He was the informant that the Russian Underworld had gone to great lengths to recruit, yet he hadpletely betrayed them!

    What was even more infuriating was that during this international trade conference, the directors and chairman of the GTO had superior speaking rightspared to them!

    "Shit..." Thanatos swore under his breath before falling silent.

    Qin Ye gave a nod in Perkins''s direction, then turned his gaze toward the next item on the list, and his hand began to tremble slightly as he held onto the report.

    Up to this point, everything that had been served up was only the entree, and the main course was onlying now!

    He reflexively cast his gaze toward the ruler death gods of the three pirs, and they just so happened to be looking back at him. As their eyes met, it was as if an unspoken deration of war had beenid down.

    "Fourthly." Qin Ye turned his gaze back to the report, then continued, "Once the new energy resource enters the world energy resource market, all transactions rted to it will be settled in dragon jade."

    Silence immediately descended upon the scene.

    All of the death gods looked up at Qin Ye with stunned expressions, and the ruler death gods of the three pirs were so astonished to hear this that they felt as if they were in a dream!

    Camross''s mouth was gaped wide open, and he was spluttering for air like a fish out of water as he slowly rose to his feet. He pointed a trembling finger at Qin Ye with a horrified look on his face, but he couldn''t muster up even a single word.

    There were so many things that he wanted to say, but he couldn''t articte any of them before he slumped back down onto his chair. Meanwhile, all of the death gods present had slowly risen to their feet, and even the chairmen of the 10 consortiums had stood up as theherfire in their eyes sprang up to over two meters in height.

    "Objection!!!"

    After a full 10 seconds of silence, Anubis finally let loose an enraged roar. "You''re trying to create a currency dictatorship! All of the death gods of the Aegyptian Underworld unanimously object to this proposal!!"

    BOOM!!!

    The entire hall had erupted in response to this announcement!

    "They''re trying to anchor their currency!!" Anko gasped as she sped a hand over her own mouth. "What a bold move! Are they not afraid of the potential bacsh?!"

    "Are they directly telling the entire world that the Cathayan Underworld is about to make a resurgence?" Giltine was also astonished as she looked up at the main stage. "Are they trying to rule over this world?!"

    "What is the Cathayan Underworld trying to do? Are they trying to be a dominant force in the underworld?"

    "Is the equivalent of Usonia in the mortal realm finally about to appear in the underworld?"

    "Is this what the Cathayan Underworld was aiming at all along?"

    "My god... They''re going topletely revolutionize the energy resource market!"

    The reaction of the 10 consortium chairmen was much the same.

    "So this is what they wanted..." Archbishop Antonio slumped back in his chair with a stunned expression. "So the previous few proposals were all just a setup for this one... Aren''t they asking for too much?"

    "I didn''t think this was possible..." Another chairman was on the verge of hyperventtion. "Who thought of this idea? They''re trying to plunder the entire world!"

    Even the 18 witnesses of history had raised their heads in unison to stare directly at Qin Ye.

    The fourth proposal seemed very simple, but in reality, it was no different from resting a sword on the necks of the three pirs!

    If all transactions rted to the new energy resource were settled with dragon jade, then all nations would have to prepare massive sums of dragon jade in order to be able to purchase electricity. Qin Ye wasn''t as generous as Nik Te, he certainly wasn''t going to release the patent of the new energy resource to the rest of the world free of charge. If others wanted to use it, then they would have to pay!

    Where was this money going toe from? It was going toe from foreign exchange, of course!

    However, during the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long absence, the reserves of all nations'' dragon jade had diminished significantly.

    Thus, the first priority for all nations was to provide massive quantities of exports to the Cathayan Underworld, using their products to exchange for the Cathayan Underworld''s dragon jade!

    For the Cathayan Underworld, this was a brilliant opportunity as the Cathayan Underworld also had no reserves of foreign currency! However, they couldn''t tell everyone that, and through this tactic, they would be able to rapidly umte funds without revealing their predicament to everyone else!

    Furthermore, these exports were going to significantly bolster the Cathayan Underworld''s productivity and technology. Unbeknownst to the entire world, the Cathayan Underworld was sorelycking in the most basic of products, such as seeds, livestock, wool, milk, fruits... They were going to take as much as the rest of the world had to offer!

    Even this was only scratching the surface, the crux of the matter was that this arrangement was going to make the Cathayan Underworld the king of the world''s economy!

    All nations would have to immediately establish trade agreements with the Cathayan Underworld, and from this day forth, the Cathayan Underworld was going to be the core of the entire underworld''s economy! As a result, its political power, status, and influence would be significantly bolstered!

    All nations that traded with the Cathayan Underworld would have to suck up to them. Whatever the Cathayan Underworld, they would have to give them. Otherwise, they would refuse to purchase exports, rendering a nation devoid of dragon jade, and without dragon jade, there would be no way to purchase the new energy resource. Without the new energy resource, dissatisfaction from the poption would eventually boil over to the point of rebellion, which could lead to the demise of those nations!

    The first domino had already been tipped over, and it was setting off a massive chain reaction.

    Furthermore, this wasn''t the end, the most terrifying developments were still toe!

    What would happen once the Cathayan Underworld released massive quantities of dragon jade into the world?

    There was no way that the Cathayan Underworld could print too much dragon jade. If they were to do that, once currency reflux took ce from international trade, the dragon jade that they had previously released, in addition to the dragon jade already circting in the domestic economy, would instantly result in massive intion.

    Thus, there had to be a limit on the amount of dragon jade released to the rest of the world.

    However, the rest of the world wouldn''t allow that!

    The new energy resource was directly tied to dragon jade, and without sufficient dragon jade released to the world, some nations wouldn''t be able to satisfy their demand for the new energy resource!

    What could they do in that situation?

    This was where the concept of national debt came into the equation.

    National debt was also known as international nk cheques, and it had to be bought, no matter how reluctant a nation was to do so.

    The Cathayan Underworld wasn''t going to print more dragon jade, they were only going to act as handlers of dragon jade.

    Once all of the nations in the world purchased the Cathayan Underworld''s national debt, they would all have enough money to purchase the new energy resource, but as a result, the Cathayan Underworld would be the biggest debtors in the entire world.

    However, on the international stage, the debtors were the ones who called the shots.

    No one would dare to plot against the Cathayan Underworld or object to its proposals in fear of the Cathayan Underworld simply refusing to pay off its national debt!

 Chapter 1069: The Second Meeting (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1069: The Second Meeting (4)</h4>

    This was a tactic that Usonia had been using for many years in the mortal realm, and it was as shameless as it was effective.

    Back when Qin Ye was alive, he had wondered why the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t a more dominant force on the international stage when it held so much of Usonia''s national debt.

    Only after dabbling in international affairs himself did he realize that on the world stage, the debtors had far more leverage than the creditors.

    In frank terms, national debt was essentially equivalent to nk cheques. If the debtor refused to pay, then the creditor really couldn''t do anything. Usonia didn''t dare to print more USD as it was trying to control intion, and that resulted in insufficient USD circting in the international currency market to satisfy demand. Without sufficient reserves of USD, then they would be able to purchase Usonian technology and other Usonian exports, and this was the exact tactic that Qin Ye was currently employing.

    What was even more harrowing was the thought of how depleted every nation''s dragon jade reserves had be during the Cathayan Underworld''s century-long seclusion.

    Didn''t anyone even have enough dragon jade to pay off the patent fees for the first 10 years?

    This was why the strategy that Qin Ye was adopting was so shocking to everyone!

    Essentially, Qin Ye was only stopping just short of tantly telling everyone that he wanted to be the ruler of this world!

    "What a truly stunning maneuver..." The nameless god of death heaved a long sigh before leaning back in his chair and falling silent.

    Izanami was staring nkly at Qin Ye, and an overwhelming sense of regret suddenly welled up in her heart, regret over her decision to stand with the three pirs.

    The ones who were most astonished of all were the 10 consortium chairmen.

    Archbishop Antonio stared at Qin Ye for a long while before heaving a forlorn sigh. "What a young, yet ruthless leader."

    "Indeed... When he dered that all transactions rted to the new energy resource were going to be settled with dragon jade, goosebumps rose up over my entire body," Faizal Eben Abduh Aziz, the chairman of the Abbasid Consortium, agreed. "I didn''t anticipate his ambitions to be so vast! Antonio, have you thought about why he raised the first three proposals?"

    "Of course," Archbishop Antonio replied through gritted teeth. "Out of those three, only the first one really matters, while the other two only act as smokescreens! It is the duty of the International Mary Fund to oversee the international currency market, and those who are found guilty of trying to create a currency monopoly will be fined to the tune of hundreds of billions, even as high as trillions! I''m sure no underworld would be able to handle such dire consequences! If the Cathayan Underworld dared to take 100% of the patent fees and connect the new energy resource solely to the dragon jade, then that would definitely be viewed as an attempt to create a currency monopoly. However, they''ve chosen to only take 50% instead, and that ces the situation in a gray area that''s not so easy to adjudge. They''re willing to sacrifice 50% of the patents precisely because they want to connect the dragon jade to the new energy resource without drawing the ire of the IMF. They''re advancing slowly and steadily toward bing the premier powerhouse of the world, rather than being overly ambitious and risking catastrophic consequences."

    He shuddered as he continued, "Perkins really has let out a monster this time, one that has never been seen in history! The underworld has never experienced a currency crisis or a revolution brought on by an energy resource, and the Cathayan Underworld is taking advantage of this to anchor their currency and create a positive trade loop! They''re trying to use the power of the entire world to nurture the Cathayan Underworld! Within the next decade alone, the Cathayan Underworld will experience a meteoric rise, I can''t even begin to imagine their growth 20, 30, 50, 100 years down the line! They have their eyes set firmly on the ultimate prize of bing the world''s premier powerhouse, and no one can stop them..."

    No one could''ve imagined that the Cathayan Underworld had already developed a new energy resource, only to keep it a secret for years and only reveal it after extensive anciry facilities had already been constructed!

    Everything that the Cathayan Underworld was doing had never been seen before, and they weren''t affording the rest of the world any time to react. There were no relevantws in this area, so there was no way to sanction them through international regtions!

    As such, they were essentially able to do whatever they wanted!

    Right at this moment, a burst of Yin energy swept through the entire hall, and Yin energy was surging like a tsunami around Yamaraja as he rose to his feet. He was only one step away from transcending beyond the Yama-King level, and his immense aura was causing the entire building to buzz audibly. Countless vengeful spirits converged toward him from all directions as if they were being siphoned toward him, forming a terrifying sea of souls that epassed the entire hall.

    "Yanluo Qin, we cannot permit the anchoring of any currency in the underworld! The three pirs will do anything necessary to protect the freedom of the currency market!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, and it swept up such fierce Yin wind that all of the death gods present were forced to their feet with expressions of rm and fear.

    All pretenses of geniality had been cast aside...

    In the face of such an important subject, there was no way that the three pirs could continue to stand by idly and watch as Qin Ye did as he pleased.

    Yamaraja was more powerful than Qin Ye, and the Yin wind being swept up by his Yin energy was causing Qin Ye''s robes to p incessantly, but Qin Ye remainedpletely unfazed as he cast a cold gaze toward Yamaraja. "Are you threatening violence on our Cathayan Underworld''s territory?"

    Anubis also rose to his found, and boundless infernal sand seeped through the ground underfoot. All of a sudden, an enormous volume of sand rose up from down below like a reverse waterfall, inundating the entire hall.

    "The four pirs should be leading the world toward freedom and improvement, not trying to create a global autocracy!" He slowly rose up into the air as he said in a cold voice, "Please rethink your decision, Yanluo Qin. You are provoking the entire international currency market through your actions!"

    Qin Ye stood like a resolute pir amid the fierce Yin wind as he replied, "Am I really provoking the international currency market, or am I only threatening the autocracy of the three pirs? What''s wrong with anchoring the dragon jade? That would make it convenient for countless small underworlds to purchase the new energy resource, thereby making it truly essible to the entire world! Seeing as you no longer wish to act civilized, then don''t me me for responding in kind."

    As soon as his voice trailed, a burst of incredibly powerful Yin energy crashed down from the roof of the pagoda,pletely quelling the Yin energy of the three pirs!

    Zhao Yun was standing on the tiles on the rooftop of the pagoda with the bright moon above his head and his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear shimmering with a silver light in his hand.

    If a battle were to break out, he would be able to enter the fray within a second.

    At the same time, tens of thousands of Yin soldiers Ashmound, Yanjing, and the three eastern provinces would immediately converge to surround the Kraken Fortress, ensuring that none of the death gods present managed to escape!

    Zhao Yun was making no effort to restrain his Yin energy at all, and it was causing the entire pagoda to tremble incessantly. All of a sudden, all of the vengeful spirits, infernal sand, and dark clouds of Yin energy began to fade away like snow melting under the scorching sun.

    Shit!

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs quickly exchanged a furious nce. In the heat of the moment, they had forgotten about Zhao Yun!

    Yamaraja reluctantly withdrew his Yin energy before casting a resentful nce up toward the rooftop. He felt as if he had returned to several centuries ago, reliving the era where the second King Yanluo had done as he pleased, while the rest of the world could only look on helplessly.

    Why was it that he was gone, but the Cathayan Underworld still had a being above the Yama-King level? How was this fair?!

    The ruler gods of the three pirs sat back down as they withdrew their Yin energy, and Thanatos wore an expression of fury and indignation as he spat through gritted teeth, "Violence can''t solve any problems."

    "Is that so?" Qin Ye cast a cold gaze toward them as he replied, "I think unreasonable threats of violence should be met with violence! You just threatened the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo on the Cathayan Underworld''s territory! Who do you think you are?! If anyone dares to provoke the Cathayan Underworld from now on, the Cathayan Underworld will immediately prepare to dere war on them, regardless of which underworld you are!"

    He leaned forward like a prowling tiger as he lowered his voice in a menacing manner. "If you think I''m joking, then feel free to try me! Now then, if you want to listen, then sit down. Otherwise, the door is right behind you, and you''re free to go at any time!"

    Trantion: "Sit down and listen, or piss off!"

    Of course, in politics, the wording had to be more mellow, and his words were already extremely sharp. This was a situation that could only take ce in the underworld, where a power system existed. In the mortal realm, the politicians were even more tactful with their wording.

    Deathly silence ensued.

    All of the death gods turned their attention toward the representatives of the three pirs, then snuck furtive nces at Qin Ye. In that instant, all of them were struck by the feeling that they had just witnessed the maturation of a fierce tiger.

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs were in an extremely difficult situation. They definitely didn''t want a war with the Cathayan Underworld, but if they were to back down now, it would be the equivalent of epting a p to the face without any retaliation!

    They were beings who stood at the top of this world! Never had they been humiliated like this before!

    Amid the awkward and tense standoff, Perkins finally broke the silence. "There''s no need to get so worked up, everyone. Once again, let me remind everyone that Yanluo Qin is only stating his intentions. Let us continue."

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs were struck by the urge to p this dirty rat into oblivion!

    If sufficient resistance couldn''t be raised against these stated intentions, then they would be finalized as terms for the agreements to be signed in the future, so they couldn''t afford to let things slide here!

    Perkins gritted his teeth before continuing, "Connecting the new energy resource to a single currency is beneficial for trade and settlements. This is an area that our GTO is responsible for, and if all of the world''s nations use their currencies to purchase the new energy resource, that would result in an immense workload for our GTO. Please put yourselves in our shoes and consider our position. After all, we weren''t able to apply for funding over this past century..."

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs were furious, but didn''t know what to say.

    The second King Yanluo was basically an international bully, but he was also very generous and righteous. The funding for the world organizations was provided by all nations, with the four pirs providing more than other nations, and it was very difficult to secure.

    The funding would definitely be provided, but the amount and timing of the funds to be delivered were always hotly contested subjects.

    During the past few centuries, the Cathayan Underworld has given its share with minimal fuss, but the three pirs had constantly been trying to dy and reduce their payments. Now, their stinginess wasing back to bite them in the backside!

    The point that Perkins had made about insufficient funding infuriated them to the point that they were almost throwing up blood, but if they wanted to defuse the situation, then they couldn''t continue to raise objections.

    "Also..." Perkins still wasn''t finished, and he cast a wary gaze toward the representatives of the three pirs as he continued, "The other underworlds still haven''t spoken yet. Even if the three pirs object to these proposals, everything will have toe down to a vote."

    Thanatos took a deep breath before turning to look behind him.

    All of the underworld representatives, including those from insignificant underworlds like Giltine from the Lithuanian Underworld, Anko from the Celtic Underworld, and the death gods from the Red Moon Federation, all looked away to avoid meeting his gaze.

    Don''t look at us! Ourherworldly citizens are all dying for a new energy resource to emerge! We don''t care about the international currency market or the power bnce of the world, we want convenience and tangible benefits! If you ask me, connecting the dragon jade to the new energy resource sounds very convenient and beneficial...

 Chapter 1070: The Final Blow (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1070: The Final Blow (1)</h4>

    The traitorous dogs!

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs were truly on the verge of throwing up blood now!

    Indeed, anchoring the dragon jade to the new energy resource would make trading very convenient for all nations, but it would also rapidly elevate the Cathayan Underworld''s status in the world! In the span of just a few years, it would exceed the Cathayan Underworld under the leadership of the second King Yanluo!

    The world was only so big, and if the Cathayan Underworld''s status were to be drastically elevated, all nations would have to suck up to the Cathayan Underworld to a certain extent for fear of having their energy resource supply cut off.

    Thus, the influence of the three pirs would be significantly weakened, but that didn''t entail any cost for the small underworlds, at least not at the moment.

    Small underworlds didn''t care about international power struggles, their priority was to lead their nations and people toward prosperity.

    Things like influence on the world stage were too far away for them to consider, and as such, they didn''t care about that at all!

    If a vote were to be held at this moment, the majority of the death gods present would be certain to vote in approval of Qin Ye''s proposals. This was why the ruler death gods of the three pirs were going as far as to threaten violence to oppose Qin Ye''s proposed intentions!

    However, there wasn''t even a single death who was willing to engage in eye contact with them, and Thanatos was so enraged by this that his entire body was trembling uncontrobly.

    Rather than humiliating himself any further, he lowered his head, and he was gripping the table in front of him so tightly that his fingers were about to punch cleanly through it. "We can''t count on them... They''ve already been blinded by the short-sighted vision that''s been presented to them! We can only count on ourselves here! If we had more time, we would definitely be able to find a solution!"

    He cast a desperate gaze up toward Qin Ye on the main stage, and he knew that there was no way they would be able to buy any more time.

    The Cathayan Underworld was already making its move, and the other underworlds weren''t going to wait. It would only take half a month, perhaps a month at most, for the Cathayan Underworld to hold a patent authorization conference under the joint request of all death gods all over the world. At the same time, all of the underworlds would apply pressure to the GIPO to approve the Cathayan Underworld''s patent applications as soon as possible. After all, the longer the assessment process dragged on, the longer they would be without electricity.

    After that, the Cathayan Underworld''s construction teams and technicians would spread through the entire world, leaving permanent marks on all of the nations across the entire world!

    The wheel of history couldn''t be stopped. The interests of countless parties were involved here, and even the three pirs couldn''t stand against the wishes of the entire world!

    As such, there wasn''t going to be any time afforded to them. Regardless of their objections, it was inevitable that the Cathayan Underworld''s new energy resource was going to spread across the entire world. As soon as this thought urred to him, Thanatos was struck by a sense of powerlessness, and he could only raise his head to the heavens and heave a long sigh.

    Before he knew it, the wheel of history had already run over the three pirs.

    Havingpeted and fought against the Cathayan Underworld for so long, he could only watch as the Cathayan Underworld was elevated to unprecedented heights by the rest of the world.

    "No... There''s still a way for us to turn this around!" Anubis took a deep breath before rising to his feet again.

    He didn''t immediately say anything, but all of the death gods could sense that another storm wasing. Anubis heaved a forlorn sigh, but there was a look of unshakeable determination in his eyes.

    Throughout the past few thousand years, countless underworlds have fallen, and only 34 remain. How many civilizations have been lost to the sands of time? Throughout the entire history of the underworld, no single force has managed to rule supreme, but on this day, this man has created the foundation for such a stranglehold of power over the entire world. If he gets his way, the entire world will inevitably be an autocracy! He is using all of the world''s Yin jade to pile up his own throne! I refuse to allow that to happen, and the three pirs will oppose him to the very end!!

    His gaze was as sharp as a sword as he stared intently at Qin Ye, then said, "I wish to exercise my veto rights!"

    All of the Yin spirits in the entire hall immediately turned toward him.

    "I don''t think I''ve ever seen this before," Peter the Great sighed. "The three pirs have run out of cards to y."

    The three pirs had drawn a straight flush here, but they failed to anticipate the royal flush that the Cathayan Underworld was holding.

    Who could''ve possibly anticipated this oue?

    The nameless god of death had a rather absentminded look on his face. He was busy thinking about how to mend the Russian Underworld''s rtionship with the Cathayan Underworld and make up for their past bad blood. After a long while, he cast a wary gaze toward Qin Ye and said, "The Cathayan Underworld has endured doubt and ridicule from the rest of the world for 10 years, but little did everyone know that they were preparing a decisive blow. Peter, we need to reassess the Cathayan Underworld. This King Yanluo is different from both of his predecessors. He''s willing and able to cower and hide, but if he strikes, he makes sure that the blow is decisive. This is the most terrifying type of opponent to face. To be honest, I don''t fear the second King Yanluo. He''s more powerful than anyone in history, and he can be extremely unreasonable at times, but he''s a terrible politician. However, I''m really beginning to fear this third King Yanluo now... The most terrifying thing is that he''s only just beginning toe into his own as a politician. In the future, the Cathayan Underworld is going to be even more fearsome!"

    Silence quickly descended over the entire venue.

    Amid the silence, Archbishop Antonio finally spoke up. "There''s no need for that, my friend. Peaceful development is the top priority for the modern world, and just as Yanluo Qin says, anchoring the dragon jade to the new energy resource is good to all parties, including the GTO, the Cathayan Underworld, and all other underworlds. This conserves a massive amount of expenditure and workload for all parties, and it also doesn''t require having to constantly convert currencies. The new era has already arrived, why are you so determined to try and stop it?"

    Yamaraja turned to Archbishop Antonio with a vicious gaze as he mouthed the words: "Are you betraying us as well?"

    Archbishop Antonio was able to interpret Yamaraja''s silent usation, yet before he had a chance to reply, Yamaraja turned away with a self-derisive smile and a defeated shake of his head.

    There was no betrayal here, the top 10 consortiums had always been allied solely to money!

    Seeing as Yamaraja had already turned away, Archbishop Antonio didn''t bother to reply. Instead, he shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh. "The three pirs have lost. They''re already beginning to panic, and who can me them? The wheel of history is unstoppable, and there''s not enough time for them to do anything. They think that they can bail themselves out with their veto rights, but they''ve forgotten one thing, they''ve forgotten that there are many other powers in this world, and they are more than willing to wee the arrival of the new era!"

    He pointed a finger at the other underworlds, and Peter the Great cast his gaze toward that direction to find that all of the death gods of the small and medium-sized underworlds were staring intently at Anubis with tightly furrowed brows and pursed lips.

    "In the face of the pressure exerted upon them by the entire world, the three pirs don''t have time to do anything else, and they certainly wouldn''t dare to try and obstruct the emergence of the new energy resource. If they were to do that, then the Cathayan Underworld really would establish a Pan-Asian Trade Organization for all other underworlds to join, and that would be the absolute worst-case scenario for the three pirs."

    Following the release of the new energy resource, the three pirs were left with the realization that their hand was nowhere near as good as they had thought it was, and that they only had one card left to y, which was their veto rights.

    Anubis continued, "I object to the anchoring of the dragon jade to the new energy resource, and I don''t want to see any further discussion of this subject in the future!"

    "I concur," Yamaraja chimed in.

    "I also concur," Thanatos said with a cold expression. He knew that this was their final struggle. If they couldn''t stop this tide here, then it would soon escte into a tsunami that would sweep through the entire world!

    Once that happened, the Cathayan Underworld would be the dominant powerhouse of the world in no more than 10 years!

    "Objection!" Right at this moment, a rather fearful and feeble voice rang out, but it was like rumbling thunder in the ears of all of the Yin spirits in the hall. The ruler death gods turned their attention toward the direction where the voice hade from, only to find that it was the death god of an insignificant underworld that was extremely forgettable.

    It was Death God Masauwu of the Hopi Underworld.

    He was light years away from reaching the status of the three pirs, yet he was standing his ground right before everyone''s eyes and directly opposing the three pirs!

    "I... object!" Masauwu was almost paralyzed from fear, yet he still gritted his teeth tightly as he said in an urgent voice, "If there''s no set currency anchored to the new energy resource, not only will that result in a massive additional workload, we would also have to go through multiple currency conversions each energy resource transaction, which ispletely unnecessary! In light of that, I support anchoring the dragon jade to the new energy resource!"

    With one person leading the way, everyone was instilled with the confidence to follow.

    Qin Ye gave H a meaningful look, and H immediately knew what he wanted. She rose to her feet and dered, "The Five Nation Alliance of Northern Europa objects to the three pirs'' unreasonable use of their veto rights! Connecting the dragon jade to the new energy resource will significantly conserve manpower, resources, and overall workload, making it far more convenient for the entire world to ess the new energy resource! You are using your veto rights to impede the progress of the world, and that goes against the duties of the four pirs! The five underworlds of Northern Europa strongly object to this proposal!"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, all of the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds also stood up. "The Coalition of Alkebn Underworlds would also like to raise an objection! Anchoring the dragon jade to the new energy resource is extremely beneficial to the world''s consumption of the new energy resource! Otherwise, with so many currencies in the world, settlements of new energy resource transactions would take an enormous amount of work! The decision made by the three pirs to use their veto rights is one that is extremely selfish and doesn''t consider the rest of the world in the slightest!"

    "The Red Moon Federation would like to raise an objection!"

    "The Etruscan Underworld would like to raise an objection!"

    "The Irish Underworld would like to raise an objection!"

    "The Star Cluster Alliance would like to raise an objection!"

    The floodgates were truly open now!

    Everyone had risen up to reject the three pirs'' veto rights, and this had never happened before. Even the death gods of the Utopia Alliance had chosen to remain silent, and the ruler death gods of the three pirs were under immense pressure.

    Anko took a deep breath as she also stood up and raised her hand. Amid the raucousmotion, her voice wasn''t all that prominent, but she still chose to participate in this revolutionary movement without any qualms or reservations.

    "The Celtic Underworld stands firmly by the Cathayan Underworld''s decision! Anchoring the dragon jade to the new energy resource provides only benefits to small and medium-sized underworlds, and we won''t give up these benefits just to cater to the wishes of the three pirs! Please reconsider your decision to exercise your veto rights!"

    Giltine also stood up beside Anko as she raised her hand high up into the air. "Objection! This is not the time to be exercising your veto rights! The three pirs have lost sight of their rightful duties!"

    Thanatos, Yamaraja, and Anubis looked on in astonishment at all of the hands raised against them. The voice of the world was extremely clear, and even the chairmen of the top 10 consortiums had joined them.

    In that instant, their hearts truly sank to rock bottom. They felt as if they were facing an insurmountable wave that was going to inundate them all.

    "Have you all gone insane?" Yamaraja yelled in a desperate voice. "Do you know what you''re doing right now? You''re feeding a monster! You will never have any speaking rights in this world from now on! This is a grave error that all of you are making!!"

 Chapter 1071: The Final Blow (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1071: The Final Blow (2)</h4>

    The three pirs were already standing at the top of the world, so they were constantly focused on securing more political power and international speaking rights. In contrast, other underworlds had so little influence that international speaking rights weren''t even a consideration, and they were far more interested in leading their nation and citizens to prosperity.

    Perhaps in several centuries, when they became truly powerful, they would realize that they had no international speaking rights, but that was too far away. At the moment, their priority was to improve the economy and the overall quality of life of their citizens.

    Once the new energy resource was released to the world, both of those areas would be rapidly improved.

    Who knew what was going to happen several centuries down the track? The world was constantly changing, and no one could predict the future.

    Death God Kuwal of the Red Moon Federation heaved a faint sigh as he said, "With all due respect, only time can tell us whether our decision is correct or not. At the moment, we believe that your decision is incorrect."

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs were furious, and Anubis looked on at all of the death gods present with a cold expression as he said, "Veto rights are a privilege granted to the four pirs, you have no right to revoke our veto rights under any circumstances!"

    This was not an easy deration for him to make. In doing so, he was forcing the rest of the world to make a decision, and it was very likely that this would result in massive fracturing of the Coalition of Underworlds!

    He was taking a gamble, gambling that the smaller underworlds had to rely on the Coalition of Underworlds to maintain their international statuses, and that they weren''t willing to abandon the Coalition of Underworlds. If that were the case, then at the very least, they would have to remain silent on this matter.

    Themotion in the hall slowly died down.

    It wasn''t that they didn''t want to say anything, the problem was that Anubis was right! They didn''t have the right to revoke the four pirs'' veto rights! Thus, everyone turned toward Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye dered in a cold voice, "In that case, the Cathayan Underworld officially announces the founding of the Pan-AsianTrade Organization following the conclusion of this international trade conference. All preparations have already been made in advance, and we will be uniting all nations within Asia to join our association, as well as any other nations that wish to join. In this new trade organization, we will be using our own method to settle new energy resource transactions."

    There was no need to argue with the three pirs. With the new energy resource in his grasp, he would undoubtedly have the support of all other underworlds. Once electricityworks were set up in all of the nations surrounding the three pirs, they would undoubtedly be struck by severe civil unrest that could lead to catastrophic consequences.

    "Do you insist on fracturing this world?" Anubis spat through gritted teeth. "The Coalition of Underworlds has stood for thousands of years, are you trying to use your new energy resource to destroy it?"

    "I''m not the one insisting on fracturing this world, it''s you!!" Qin Ye stabbed a finger in Anubis''s direction as he said in a cold voice, "You are stubbornly refusing to listen to the wishes of all of the other underworlds, and that is what has resulted in this oue! Let me issue you one final warning: it''s still not toote to turn back, but if you go any further than this, the consequences will be irreversible!"

    "Are you disregarding our veto rights?"

    "Not at all. On the contrary, I hold your rights in extremely high regard, and that''s why our nation is going to the trouble of establishing a new trade organization to satisfy everyone!"

    None of the other death gods were able to interject on this conversation.

    It had finally dawned on them that if an unfavorable oue were to be reached here, then there really was a chance that the Coalition of Underworlds could copse after standing for thousands of years!

    "Your veto rights cannot be used here!" Right at this moment, another voice rang out, and the death gods of the three pirs immediately turned toward that direction.

    Who said that?! Do you want to die?!

    Even Qin Ye was quite surprised to hear this voice, and all of the other death gods present had already risen to their feet in astonishment while looking up with incredulity in their eyes.

    "How could this be? Did they... Did they really speak just now?" Anko was so astonished that even her voice had taken on a sharper pitch, and her eyes were full of disbelief. "Aren''t they only supposed to be observers?"

    "This is the first time that witnesses of history have ever directly interfered with the progression of history..." another death god said in a trembling voice. "They didn''t do this on any of the six previous asions that they appeared, so why are they doing this now?"

    The entire hall had erupted into chatter, and all eyes were focused up above, where a witness of history was hovering in mid-air.

    Gusts of Yin wind were revolving around them, giving them an illusory appearance, and their robes and silver hair were pping incessantly.

    Their hands were concealed with their sleeves, and it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female. Right at this moment, they repeated, "Your veto rights cannot be used here."

    "Who are you?" Yamaraja''s ck robes began to surge. This was their final struggle, and they had to win at all costs.

    A series of white skeletal hands emerged from beneath his robes, then pointed directly at the witness of history. "Who do you represent? What right do you have to say this?"

    "I represent thew," the witness of history replied in a calm voice. "I am the original edition of the first-ever ''Basic Underworld Laws'' book authored by all of the death gods at the time. Thus, I represent all of the rules of the underworld. Your veto rights can only apply to things that have already appeared or happened, it cannot be used to revoke things that still haven''t happened yet. Also, Ie from the world''s gate."

    The expressions of the three pirs'' ruler death gods changed slightly upon hearing this, and they all remained silent. Meanwhile, the witness of history continued, "The future is a culmination of everyone''s choices, and everyone should be free to bear the consequences of their choices. The future should not be stifled before it has a chance to eventuate."

    "But have you thought about the oues of this?!" Anubis frantically yelled. "This world is going to bepletely tipped off bnce! Your intervention here could lead the world to a catastrophic future!"

    Silence.

    Several secondster, the witness of history replied, "The future holds countless possibilities, and you''ve only described one of them that stems from your imagination. However, there are many underworlds in the world, and their wishes may not align with yours. This is also a request from all of your seniors in the world''s gate."

    The rest of their words weremunicated directly into the ears of the four pirs'' ruler death gods as voice transmissions, making the message inaudible to everyone else.

    "The seal is already loosening, and we need new weapons and new strategies. Far too many Yin soldiers are perishing beyond the world''s gate every year, so much so that the bnce of the cycle of reincarnation is beginning to be affected, so please consider your decisions carefully."

    Deathly silence descended upon the entire hall for the nth time.

    Several secondster, Anubis nodded with barely contained rage as he said, "Fine! Remember the decision that you made here today, everyone. All you have to bear the consequences for the future that you''ve created! You think they''ll continue to uphold peace in the underworld once they be a dominant powerhouse in the world? You''re wrong! In their position, any underworld would aim to replicate what Usonia has be in the mortal realm! There was no dominant force in this world, but you''ve created one through your actions here!"

    His eyes were bloodshot as he swept his gaze across the entire hall. "Why is there no reply? Do you not dare to reply?"

    He shook his head before turning and departing from the hall, leaving only one final parting message. "All of you will regret this."

    With his departure, Yamaraja and the Hindustani Underworld''s representative team, and Anubis and the Aegyptian Underworld''s representative team also left in silence.

    Thus, only one pir remained in the hall!

    Under normal circumstances, there would be no point for a conference to continue in the absence of three of the four pirs.

    Even if the conference were to continue, the oue wouldn¡¯t be acknowledged, and the atmosphere would also be extremely heavy.

    However, that didn''t apply here!

    With the departure of the three pirs, everyone knew that the showdown was over.

    An oue to the sh between the four pirs had been decided on the very first day! No one could stop the wheel of history, not even the three pirs, and thus, they chose to depart.

    However, in the instant that they left, all of the death gods who had their heads lowered, seemingly contemting life and other profound subjects, suddenly raised their heads again as they turned their eyes toward Qin Ye with urgency and anticipation etched on their faces.

    Go on! Don''t stop! The pesky hindrances are gone, let''s enjoy our time together without them!

    Qin Ye was slightly stunned by how quickly the death gods'' demeanor had changed, and after a brief pause, he asked, "Should we continue?"

    The response was ted smiles and enthusiastic apuse from everyone, including all of the members of the Utopia Alliance.

    Why had they joined the Utopia Alliance? It was for the sake of developing their nations and securing benefits from the three pirs, of course! There were no true alliances between nations!

    However, now that the three pirs had clearly had a falling out with the Cathayan Underworld, would they be able to secure more benefits if they defected to the Cathayan Underworld''s side instead?

    The new energy resource wasn''t a piece of innovation like the invention of paper or gunpowder, it was something that could shape an entire era! It could rapidly transform a small nation into an economic powerhouse, and it was just as capable of bringing arge nation to its knees. No one in their right mind would be opposed to the spread of the new energy resource!

    Theherfire in the eyes of all of the death gods present had turned bright red and had risen up like burning pyres!

    The scraps that the three pirs didn''t want were absolute blessings to smaller underworlds, and even if they had to join the Pan-Asian Trade Organization to secure the full benefit of the new energy resource, they were prepared to do that.

    In the eyes of smaller underworlds, international speaking rights weren''t even a factor for consideration, all they were focused on was taking full advantage of the imminent industrial revolution.

    The future was never clear, and everyone chose to disregard the warning from the three pirs.

    Qin Ye''s gaze slowly roamed over the entire hall.

    He knew that none of these nations were truly loyal to the Cathayan Underworld. No nation was willing to submit to another nation, it was simply about securing the most benefits.

    At this moment, the Cathayan Underworld was like a glowing savior to the world. Once electricity was released to the entire world, all underworlds would focus research and development powers on conquering the obstacles to the new energy resource. After that, countless patents would appear one after another, and the entire world was going to flourish in the wake of these drastic changes!

    As the leader of this new era, Qin Ye had be the center of attention for everyone.

    "A slight mishap has just taken ce, but I''m sure the three pirs will eventuallye around and see the light. Next, you will get to see just how far our Cathayan Underworld has developed the new energy resource these past few years!"

    Whoosh... A series of LED screens suddenly descended all around the pagoda.

    Their descent was silent, but that didn''t make them any less eye-catching!

    Has the Cathayan Underworld already developed LED screens? Just how long has it been since they sessfully developed the new energy resource? How many patents have they imed over the past decade, and how many have they left for us?

 Chapter 1072: Perfect Conclusion to the International Trade Conference

    <h4>Chapter 1072: Perfect Conclusion to the International Trade Conference</h4>

    Qin Ye extended a slight bow toward all of the death gods in the hall as he dered, "In the present day, peaceful development is the universal pursuit, and all nations are trying to improve their economy and the quality of life for their citizens. The arrival of the new energy resource will undoubtedly bring about an industrial revolution, and that will provide an unprecedented stimulus for the economy and people''s livelihoods."

    One image after another quickly shed on the LED screens, depicting the scenes that had taken ce following the development of the new energy resource, and what was most astonishing to everyone was the images of the countless factories that were already operating.

    The mechanical sound of production lines rang out across the entire hall as the workers depicted on the screens produced watches, clothes, food, everything that one could think of! Their movements were extremely smooth and well-rehearsed, and the images were downright mesmerizing!

    In the ears of the death gods, the sound of the production lines wasn''t the sound of machinery. Instead, it was the sound of future profits!

    "They''ve already begun the mechanization process of their industries!" Death God Masauwu''s hands were trembling as he held onto his armrests. These images were absolutely glorious in his eyes, and no death god could ignore them!

    Out of all of the nations in the underworld, the four pirs had the most resources and talented personnel. As for the other underworlds, their economies were so-so, and there were certainly no high-end talents flocking to their borders. At the root of the matter, there was only one culprit to me for this: these nations simply weren''t sufficiently advanced.

    There was nothing about these nations that could tempt talented individuals, so there was naturally no influx of talent.

    However, once the new energy resource was implemented, it would bring about the rise of countless industries!

    Everyone would have opportunities to make a name for themselves in these new industries, and all underworlds would have a chance to rise to unprecedented heights!

    This was why they had dared to openly oppose the three pirs!

    Everyone was silent as they stared at the images with glowing eyes, and they wanted nothing more than for these facilities to be replicated in their own nations. The purely mechanized pathways of production, the perfect production lines... The underworld was going to step into hte modern day within the next 10 years! After that, it would be time to explore the integration of Yin runes with the energy resource.

    This was the gate to the new era!

    Only after watching for a full five minutes did all of the death gods finally return to their senses, and at this point, their faces were already slightly flushed with excitement. One pair of eyes after another was focused on Qin Ye, and amid the scrutiny, Qin Ye dered, "The new energy resource was developed five and a half years ago, which means that our Cathayan Underworld has already been walking down this path for five years. During these past five years, our Cathayan Underworld''s scientific research and development institutions have dabbled in many areas."

    All of the death gods were quite surprised to hear that the new energy resource had already been in existence for five and a half years, and they unconsciously sat up straighter as they stared intently at Qin Ye.

    They weren''t thinking about how to surpass the Cathayan Underworld. Instead, they were wondering just how far the Cathayan Underworld had already progressed and how many industries it had established, as well as how many industries were left for them to explore. They were also wondering whether the experience umted by the Cathayan Underworld could be referenced by them, and whether the Cathayan Underworld would be willing to share their experience.

    Qin Ye was naturally aware of what they were thinking, but he didn''t shed any light on those questions. The new energy resource had been established, and it was now time to bring on the main course dish by dish.

    "Chairman Camross." He suddenly turned to Camross as he said, "This edition of the international trade conference will have an impact on many industries, all of which are new industries that are about to emerge, so I would like to extend the duration of this conference."

    This waspletely unprecedented!

    Never had an international trade conference been extended before, but at this point, Qin Ye''s wishes really were everyone''smand!

    Camross hesitated momentarily before asking, "Is there a need for that, Yanluo Qin?"

    "Definitely," Qin Ye replied in a serious manner. "The arrival of the new era doesn''t just concern the GTO anymore. I will be inviting the chairmen and assessment teams of the GIPO, the World Energy Resource Research Organization, and the Coalition of Underworlds to take part in our conference. At the same time, the Cathayan Underworld is going to be a central hub for international trade in the future, and with that in mind, our nation will be opening up the ind of Formosa to the rest of the world as a trade port. Hence, I would also like to transfer this conference to a different location."

    He cast his gaze toward everyone else in the hall as he continued, "Our Cathayan Underworld will be opening up Formosa in half a month, and it will act as the site where all transactions rted to the new energy resource will be settled on an annual basis. At the same time, it will also be the new location where the international trade conference will continue to be held. An industrial revolution is already imminent, and it will involve countless industries. This conference will go down in the history books, everyone! This conference willst at least half a year, so please make preparations for the long haul. Also, I must warn all of the world organizations that an unprecedented test awaits them!"

    Camross took a deep breath before rising to his feet.

    He had already made up his mind that the GTO had to attach its name to such a monumental opportunity.

    "As you wish."

    Qin Ye nodded before turning to the other death gods. "Are we all in agreement here?"

    The reply was a round of thunderous apuse.

    "Yanluo Qin''s proposal is the best proposal, and we dly ept it on behalf of the Star Cluster Alliance. At the same time, we would like to express our deep gratitude toward how thoughtful and considerate you have been to the rest of the world."

    "I would also like to thank the Cathayan Underworld for its consideration on behalf of the Hopi Underworld."

    "I express my thanks on behalf of the Semitic Underworld. Your kindness will forever be remembered."

    Camross made a quieting gesture to silence the raucous apuse, forcibly repressing the own excitement in his heart as he dered, "Now then, I, the chairman of the GTO, hereby officially dere the adjournment of the international conference. At the same time, I look forward to seeing all of you again on the ind of Formosa in 15 days to continue this monumental conference that will go down in history!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    One ship after another set sail from the Heavenly Pir City, and the departing death gods didn''t dy in the slightest as they traveled back to their underworlds at full speed.

    At the top of the main pagoda stood Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, and they could see everything from their vantage point.

    Countless fleets were leaving lines of white foam behind on the inky-ck surface of the sea, and this was a grand scene reminiscent of the one that Qin Ye had witnessed at the Red Sea of the Alkebn Underworlds.

    At the time, he had wondered when he would be able to witness something like this in the Cathayan Underworld, and they had achieved this in less than 20 years.

    Not only that, but the Heavenly Pir City was bright and resplendent, standing like a lighthouse in the night, guiding all of the ships toward a brighter future.

    A gentle breeze swept over Qin Ye''s face, and even he couldn''t help but feel extremely excited upon witnessing this scene.

    The hibernating giant dragon had been awakened by him, and soon, it was about to rise beyond the entire world as the undisputed dominant international powerhouse. The sense of achievement and satisfaction that he derived from it was so immense that his heart was filled to the verge of bursting, and standing at the top of the main pagoda, he was struck by an almost irrepressible urge to yell: "I did it! Can you see me now? Granny Meng, Brother Xu, can you see what I''ve done?"

    He had lived up to, and far exceeded, everyone''s expectations, taking the Cathayan Underworld from nothing just over a decade ago to the imminent global powerhouse that it was about to be. Furthermore, it had be the only nation in the entire underworld capable of rising to the very top!

    They had defeated the Argosian Underworld, which was renowned for its scientific prowess, the Hindustani Underworld, which was renowned for its rich religious culture, and the Aegyptian Underworld, which was renowned as a military powerhouse. During the past several thousand years, countless civilizations had risen and fallen, but no civilization had ever stood atop the entire underworld as the undisputedly dominant powerhouse!

    At this moment, the Cathayan Underworld was already standing at the foot of the mountain, and given some time to umte and develop, it would be sure to be the dominant force in the underworld within 50 years!

    "I have fulfilled my duties," Qin Ye said in an emotional voice as he ced his fist in front of his own chest.

    "Indeed." Zhao Yun was standing behind Qin Ye, and even though Qin Ye couldn''t see him, he still extended a genuine and respectful bow.

    "You''ve done what none of your predecessors have managed to achieve, you are the King Yanluo that I admire the most."

    "You''re too kind," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "In terms of achievements, I can''tpare with the first King Yanluo. He managed to unite the entire Cathayan Underworld during an era that was rife with war, while gods and demons freely roamed the underworld. Inparison, what I have achieved here is entirely insignificant."

    "But you are about to take our Cathayan Underworld to unprecedented heights!" Zhao Yun said in an uncharacteristically earnest voice. "Once the Cathayan Underworld reaches the top of the world, you will be the greatest King Yanluo in the Cathayan Underworld''s history! I''m willing toy down my life for you at a moment''s notice, Your Excellency!"

    Qin Ye turned around with a slightly surprised expression. This was the first time that Zhao Yun had expressed his loyalty through his words, and he was unexpectedly vehement.

    Having already grown ustomed to serving as King Yanluo, he knew that even though a path of glory had beenid down in front of the Cathayan Underworld, it definitely wouldn''t be an easy path to walk.

    The three pirs had been defeated, but they would still do everything in their power to cause trouble for the Cathayan Underworld. Only in several decades, once the Cathayan Underworld became undisputedly far more powerful than the three pirs, would its position as the underworld''s dominant powerhouse truly be consolidated. However, once that time arrived, even more issues would arise.

    As the dominant force in the world, the Cathayan Underworld would have to take on more responsibilities than all other nations, such as addressing the situation in the Usonian Underworld and tackling whatever lied beyond the world''s gate.

    In any case, this wasn''t the time to be thinking so far ahead. A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he pointed at the hundreds of fleets departing from the Heavenly Pir City. "Do you know why they''re in such a hurry to get back?"

    Zhao Yun considered the question for a moment before replying, "I would say they''re in a hurry to discuss the path ahead with their advisors."

    "What path could they be discussing?" Qin Ye asked as he turned back to face the sea. "Have you thought about the differences between this situation and the one where electricity was first developed in the mortal realm?"

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, he continued, "The main difference here is that there''s no need for trial and error in the underworld."

    Zhao Yun''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately understood what Qin Ye was trying to say.

    The mortal realm had undergone an economic, technological, and cultural boom during the several decades after the conclusion of the second world war. During those few decades, thousands of years worth of progress had been made, and all of this progress had been made through extensive trial and error.

    At the time, the second world war had only just concluded, and amid the wreckage, all nations were unsure of what future path they were supposed to take. However, they eventually found the answer through trial and error, thereby resulting in the present-day world.

    However, the underworld didn''t need to do that! All it had to do was replicate the sessful model demonstrated by the mortal realm, and that created an issue, one that they had to face right away:petition.

    The new energy resource was extremely simr to electricity, and that meant that it could impact all industries impacted by electricity in the mortal realm. This would give rise to thousands of new industries, spanning all sectors that already existed in the mortal realm that used electricity.

    No matter how dominant the Cathayan Underworld was, there was no way it could control all of those industries. If it insisted on doing so, then the entire world would rise up in revolt. Thus, they had to release some industries, while only working on high-end technology by taking advantage of the lead they currently had on the rest of the world.

    However, what exactly were the most important areas of technology for them to focus on?

    Was itputer chips?

    That was definitely a core piece of technology in the mortal realm.

    What aboutputer and inte technology?

    That was crucial as well.

    What about space exploration technology?

    That was something that all powerful nations in the mortal realm were focusing their efforts on.

    What about military technology?

    There were simply far too many industries for the Cathayan Underworld to work on all at once. All of the underworlds had to find the industries that they were most suited to upying, following which a discussion would be held during the international trade conference. The Cathayan Underworld had an innate advantage in the form of the lead in development that they had over the rest of the world, so it was very unlikely that any underworld would choose topete with them in the industries that they wanted to target.

    However, there were too many industries that they wanted to grab, and not enough hands!

    "That''s why I invited them." He turned toward the opening of the stairwell, then greeted, "Wee! Long time no see."

 Chapter 1073: Strategy for the Future

    <h4>Chapter 1073: Strategy for the Future</h4>

    H was wearing a dress woven from ck goose feathers, and in the instant she caught sight of Qin Ye, she immediately picked up the hem of her dress and rushed over to him. Right in front of Zhao Yun''s astonished eyes, she fell to one knee in front of Qin Ye, then gently picked up his hand and gave it a gentle kiss.

    "Esteemed Yanluo Qin, your glorious radiance will forever shine above our five Northern Europa nations! We will follow you until the end of time!"

    No one felt her gesture to be overly exaggerated, and J?rmungandr and Fenrir also extended respectful bows as they said, "Your wish is ourmand! From now on, the alliance between our five Northern Europa nations and the Cathayan Underworld will never be broken! Northern Europa will always be the Cathayan Underworld''s closest ally!"

    "No need for formalities," Qin Ye said with a smile as he helped H to her feet.

    "Take a seat."

    All of the death gods sat down.

    They were all extremely eager to find out why Qin Ye had asked them to stay behind, but on the surface, they were keeping up calm and collected facades.

    On the top floor of the main pagoda, a feast had already been set up on a table, including all of the Cathayan Underworld''s most renowned dishes, coupled with peach blossom wine of the highest quality. One could scarcely think of a more enjoyable experience than to stand atop the main pagoda, looking out at the surrounding sea of clouds, while sampling the best delicacies that the Cathayan Underworld had to offer. However, none of the death gods present were in the mood to enjoy themselves here.

    Qin Ye filled the cups of the death gods in person, then raised his own cup to propose a toast. "For the future!"

    "For the future!"

    The cups were gently brought together, following which everyone took sips of their wine. After setting down his cup, Mythic Spirit Golden Rhinoceros asked, "Yanluo Qin, may I ask why you''ve requested us to stay behind?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, but it was then quickly reced by a serious expression as he said, "I asked all of you to stay behind because I don''t trust anyone else. We are the greatest of allies, and there are some things that I would much rather hand over to you than to others."

    He picked up the wine gon and slowly poured out some transparent pink wine as he continued, "Once all of the death gods return to their respective underworlds, the first thing they''ll be doing will definitely be to find the industries that they''re most suited to developing. Due to the fact that this industrial revolution is following the model already established in the mortal realm, there is virtually nopetition. Each nation can choose many industries, in which they will be suppliers in this world. They will also dictate the rules in those industries, and that is a mutually beneficial oue for everyone. However..."

    He set down the gon as he looked into the eyes of all of the death gods present. "I think that we should seize control of some industries."

    "Which ones are you referring to?" J?rmungandr asked.

    Qin Ye didn''t offer a direct reply. Instead, he said, "In reality, it''s not exactly urate to refer to this as an industrial revolution. After all, we can secure designs for all electricity-rted products from the mortal realm, and all we have to do is rece the electric circuits with ones that the electricity-like energy string can pass through. Even for cutting-edge technology likeputer chips, it would only take a year at most for sessful development to be achieved. In the mortal realm, nations may be reluctant to share their technology with others, but they definitely wouldn''t have such qualms when ites to the underworld. Thus, it''ll be very easy to get our hands on these pieces of technology, and even if they refuse to give it to us, we can just send out underworld emissaries to obtain them. When technological bottlenecks aren''t an issue, the only issue that exists would be rted to the construction of infrastructure. It''ll take at least four to five years toplete basic development of infrastructure, and that''s how long it''ll take for us to catch up to the mortal realm. That''s not a very long time, but what about the high-end technological industries? During the next few years, there will most definitely be a boom in civilian products such as light bulbs, cars, appliances, etc. Once the need for all of those basic products is fulfilled, what woulde next would be an information boom! The chip industry, theputer industry, the phone industry... Those will all arise one after another, and those are crucial industries that cannot allow our underworlds to seize control of."

    He leaned forward slightly as he said, "As such, I would like you to choose these industries as your main focus for development."

    All of the death gods nodded in response, and at the same time, there was a hint of awe in their eyes.

    They were astounded by how deeply Qin Ye was thinking into the future.

    No national leader could be considered to bepetent if they only looked at what was directly in front of them. Instead, they had to at least see several steps ahead, and if they became content andcent in their sess, then they would eventually be caught up to and surpassed.

    What was most impressive to all of the death gods was that Qin Ye hadn''t allowed his sess to get to him at all, and that he was still constantly thinking into the future. It was no exaggeration to say that he was the pioneer of a new era, and his name would go down in all of the underworld''s history books alongside an extremely ttering description of his feats.

    However, he hadn''t allowed this to blind him from looking into the future, and that was a key trait for an exceptional ruler.

    In his human form, Fenrir was a tall and burly man wearing an antiquated Brittanian naval general''s uniform. His sideburns connected his beard and his hair, and his golden pupils shed slightly as he said, "I see, so you''re suggesting that we get ahead of the curve. However, our five Northern Europa nations aren''t adept in these industries. Instead, we excel in biology, and the construction of cars, nes, and factories. As I''m sure you''re aware, the fields that the talented personnel excel in here in the underworld are no different from those of the mortal realm. If we choose those industries to specialize in, then we''ll have no advantage against ces that already have personnel that are skilled in these fields. As such, we are more inclined to develop cars and nes."

    "When ites to things like this, development can be quite fast as long as a foundation is established," Qin Ye replied. "If you choose to work on theputer and phone industries, then our Cathayan Underworld would be able to develop the chip industry with no qualms. These industries all require extensive foundations, and that will be the main obstacle for us to ovee in the next four to five years. If we can conquer those obstacles, then the next era will still belong to us."

    The Cathayan Underworld is choosing the chip industry?

    The death gods of the five Northern Europa nations and the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds were all quite surprised to hear this.

    The development of chip technology for Cathay in the mortal realm had been stagnant for a long time, and they were beingprehensively dominated by Usonia in this field. Nippon, Daehan, and Usonia were the world leaders when it came to chip technology in the mortal realm, so how could the Cathayan Underworld possibly expect to excel in this field?

    Of course, they could send underworld emissaries to the new continent, but was that really a good idea at a time like this?

    Qin Ye was naturally aware of what they were thinking. However, unbeknownst to them, he had an alternate identity by the name of Dax in Northern Usonia.

    In the mortal realm, Usonia was the nation with the most skilled and talented personnel, and unlike everyone else, not only did he have a safe pathway through which he could ess the new continent, he was considered to be a death god there!

    Thus, there really was a very good chance that he would be able to sessfully tap into the chip industry!

    The three death gods of Northern Europa fell into deep thought.

    This was an extremely alluring proposal, one that they couldn''t help but be tempted by, but several secondster, H still shook her head in response. "If nopanies from the new continent get involved in these industries, we would be in a level ying field with ourpetition, but if the three pirs will be participating as well, I''m afraid I''m not confident in our ability to oupete them."

    A warm smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "That''s why our Cathayan Underworld will only sign a scientific research agreement with you, and the most important use in that agreement is information sharing."

    Holy shit!!

    The three death gods of Northern Europa were so ecstatic to hear this that they almost jumped up into the air.

    They forcibly repressed their tion as their minds began to race.

    With the Cathayan Underworld''s current scientific research prowess, they were ahead of the rest of the world!

    The five Northern Europa nations couldn''tpete with the three pirs, but once the Cathayan Underworld brought out its scientific research agreement containing the information sharing use, the rest of the world would know what choice to make.

    Once that happened, there was a very good chance that Northern Europa could receive support from all of the major consortiums in the form of funding and skilled personnel! After all, virtually all of the world''s leading scientists were funded by those top consortiums!

    Thus, it really would be possible for them to take over those lucrative industries!

    J?rmungandr picked up Qin Ye''s cup of wine and offered it up to Qin Ye with both hands. His voice was trembling from excitement as he said, "Thank you for your kindness. Your glorious name will forever bememorated in the annals of Valha! The five Northern Europa nations will forever be the Cathayan Underworld''s most loyal allies!"

    "What about us?" The Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds were eager to hear what arrangement Qin Ye had for them. They knew that they had no advantage whatsoever when it came to technology, so there was no chance that they would be able to take over some cutting-edge industries. However, they couldn''t just stand by and watch after the five Northern Europa nations received such a lucrative slice of the cake!

    "Don''t worry, I was just getting to you," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "The Alkebn Underworlds can''t offer much on the technological front, so what I need you to do during this industrial revolution is to establish your own industrial systems. It would be detrimental to ask your nations to involve yourselves in cutting-edge industries, but what do you think about producing televisions and movies?"

    Holy shit!! Thank you, daddy!!

    The Mythic Spirits almost screamed out loud!

    The television industry would undoubtedly be dominated by the Nipponese Underworld. At the very least, that was what the Nipponese Underworld thought. However, it had chosen the wrong side, and it had to be punished for that.

    Just the mere thoughts of the immense profits to be made in the television and movie industries almost had Mythic Spirit Golden Rhinoceros jumping out of his seat!

    This banquet went on for over two hours before everyone finally departed. Following the banquet''s conclusion, servants immediately converged to clean up the tables.

    Qin Ye and Zhao Yun strolled through the hallways of the main pagoda, and the former suddenly asked, "Do you think I was being too generous by handing over theputer and phone industries?"

    "A little," Zhao Yun replied with a smile. "Both of those things are necessities, and there are massive profit margins in both industries. Hence, you made the right decision to control the chip industry. In the mortal realm, 3.5% of profits for each phone sold have to be submitted to pay off chip patent fees. If it isn''t for the fact that Cathay has a massive market, there would be no way that brands like Xiaomi and Huawei would appear in other countries. As long as we control the chip industry, we will have a stranglehold on the heart of the phone industry. This is the most lucrative sector of theputer industry, the phone industry, and other cutting-edge electronics industries."

    "Looks like you''ve done your homework," Qin Ye said. "Let me ask you one more thing."

    "Please go ahead."

    Qin Ye raised his head to look up at the heavens, and only after a long pause did he ask, "Do you think space exists for the underworld? Theoretically speaking, once we break through the limits of our sky, we would enter Limbo, and above Limbo is the mortal realm, so does space exist for us?"

    Zhao Yun was rather stumped by this question.

    "I''m thinking... it probably doesn''t..." he replied in an uncertain voice.

    "Is that so?" Qin Ye asked with a smile. "In that case, are the sun, the moon, and the stars we''re seeing now just King Yanluo''s Seal and the Book of Life and Death? How were these things manifested?"

 Chapter 1074: True Objective

    <h4>Chapter 1074: True Objective</h4>

    Zhao Yun was stumped once again by this question.

    Wasn''t thismon knowledge?

    The sun, moon, and stars of the Cathayan Underworld were manifested by Hell''s three creation-grade divine artifacts. As for how these celestial bodies were manifested, even beings above the Yama-King level were unable to find out.

    No one would bother to ponder this question as there was simply no point!

    Qin Ye paid no heed to what Zhao Yun was thinking as he pointed up at the sky and said, "Look, the sun and the moon of the underworld are the same as the ones in the mortal realm. You can even see some familiar constetions like the Big Dipper. However, do you know what the oldest star chart in the world is?"

    Zhao Yun waspletely unable to follow Qin Ye''s logic, and he shook his head in response. "I''m afraid I do not."

    Qin Ye smiled as he replied, "Ironically, the world''s earliest star chart wasn''t made by anyone from Europa or Usonia, where astrology is most popr. Instead, it was drawn in 600 AD by the Cathayan astronomer, Li Chunfeng, but it''s currently being showcased in the Britannian Museum."

    "I''m sure the three death gods of Northern Europa would be open to exchanging it for something."

    "There''s no need for that," Qin Ye replied. "The mortal realm is the mortal realm, while the underworld is the underworld. This is not an artifact of the underworld, and the mortal realm and the underworld should never intersect. If this artifact were in the underworld, I would''ve requested the five Northern Europa nations to hand it over long ago. Now that I think about it, we actually have arger collection of national treasures from other nations than them."

    A smile appeared on Zhao Yun''s face upon hearing this.

    Qin Ye continued, "We can see the Big Dipper, but where are all of the other constetions?"

    He seemed to be talking to himself as he mused, "If the stars manifested by the three divine artifacts were based on the stars of the mortal realm, then there''s no way it would be so different. I''m more inclined to believe that these aren''t the stars of the mortal realm. Instead, these are stars from another ne. In other words, the space of the underworld."

    Zhao Yun was at a loss for words, and only after a long while did he reply, "I don''t know what to say..."

    "That''s alright," Qin Ye said with a smile. "This only urred to me recently. I think that the three divine artifacts are perhaps just ry devices, mirrors of sorts. They reflect the stars of outer space, but are unable to perform a divine miracle, such as creating stars, on their own."

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. "That does sound like it makes sense. After all, only a god of creation is able to create a or a ne. Creation-grade divine artifacts are immensely powerful, but such a miraculous feat is still beyond them."

    Qin Ye''s hair was swept up by a gust of Yin wind as he murmured, "In that case, what lies beyond this starry sky?"

    Zhao Yun massaged his own brows as he asked, "Pardon me for asking, but what is the point in all of this spection?"

    Qin Ye didn''t offer a direct reply. Instead, he lowered his head as he said, "I''m sure you''re aware of just how capable the new energy resource is of generating astronomical profits. As such, we need to take measures to prevent potential wars that could arise over these profits! In order to do that, we only have one option; to create second-grade forbidden arts! That''s what we must do next. We must be able to keep the massive profits that we generate safe in order to be free from worries. However, our ultimate objective is not just to be free from worries, we have to think about what the catalyst to usher in the next era will be. Only then will it always maintain an insurmountable technological advantage over the rest of the world."

    The two of them just so happened to have arrived beside a balcony that was constructed purely from wood, with a wooden raised flower bed at the center, nted in which were nts that had been offered as tribute from various ces.

    It had to be said that the nts of the underworld each had their own unique beauty.

    There were spider lily flowers that were as red as blood, Yin locust wood that was bright blue like the sky, dreamleaf flowers that were as translucent as crystals, and many more exotic nts that were spectacr to behold.

    Beside the raised flower bed were rows of hanging ptialnterns, organized in order from highest to lowest. At night, this was a very beautiful ce to be.

    Qin Ye raised a hand to pluck off a leaf from a Yin locust tree. The bright blue leaf contained specks of radiance, making it appear as if he were holding a miniature starry sky in his hand. At this point, they had already been walking for over half an hour, and as soon as they stopped here, servants immediately set up teaware and snacks for them. Everything was so efficient and well-rehearsed, and by the time Qin Ye and Zhao Yun turned around, the faint fragrance of tea was already wafting toward them.

    The two of them made their way over to a pair of taishi chairs before taking a seat. Qin Ye picked up a teacup before taking a sip, then continued where they had left off. "You have some questions for me, don''t you?"

    "I do." Zhao Yun had also picked up a teacup, but he wasn''t drinking from it. "You told Northern Europa''s Five Nation Alliance earlier that we would produce chips, while they producedputers and phones, thereby allowing us to dominate the market for high-end technology. In my opinion, after the industrial revolution brought on by the new energy resource, we will enter the information era. The information era relies heavily onputers and phones, as has already been demonstrated in the mortal realm. I''m wondering how that rtes to outer space."

    An amused smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he replied, "The notion that the information age is the next era is only a story sold to outsiders who don''t know any better. The next era that I''m talking about is a true new era that even the mortal realm hasn''t stepped into yet! That is the true objective that we are aiming for! The mortal realm has alreadypleted all of the trial and error for the electricity era and the information age, so all we have to do is replicate their path. In 10 years, maybe 15 years at most, our technology will reach the same level as that of the mortal realm. That doesn''t count as a new era."

    He leaned forward slightly as he continued, "Haven''t you noticed? Due to the fact that the mortal realm has already shown us the way, the underworld isn''t actually taking scientific research and development all that seriously. That''s even more reason for us to grab this opportunity and establish a foundation for the next era during this era! In doing so, we will always stay ahead of the pack and ensure eternal glory for our Cathayan Underworld!"

    "So you''ve set your sights on outer space?" Zhao Yun asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    "That''s right," Qin Ye replied in a calm manner as he leaned back in his chair. "At the very most, this industrial revolution will onlyst 20 to 30 years. After we develop the second-generation forbidden arts, we''ll form a space exploration team right away. I''ve already thought of a name for our first rocket, we''ll name it Chang''e, what do you think?" [Chang''e is the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology.]

    You''re thinking way too far ahead!

    Zhao Yun repressed his own exasperation as he asked in a skeptical voice, "Why? Is outer space worth exploring for us?"

    "Of course it is!" Qin Ye replied as his eyes immediately lit up. "Firstly, if we can establish a space station or attain the ability to fire rockets, we''ll be able to carry forbidden arts! Currently, forbidden arts are sealed within the modules, but when the timees, we''ll be perfectly capable of firing our forbidden arts! Thus, we''ll be able to threaten the entire world, and no matter how massive our future profits be, we''ll be able to protect ourselves!"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response. Sufficient protection had to apany profits. Otherwise, those profits would be stolen.

    "Secondly, there may be extremely abundant resources in outer space. On Earth, rare earth is extremely precious, but it can be found in abundance all over the moon. The ''blue water droplets'' all over Mars have been confirmed to be sapphire ore, and this indicates that violent volcanic activity has taken ce on Mars in the past. That means that there could be unimaginable amounts of precious ore hiding beneath its surface! It may only be 11% of the size of Earth, but what about the others? The emergence of electricity entails that the final parts of the underworld that have yet to be explored will be explored soon. Furthermore, massive exploitation of resources will inevitably follow. As we saw in the mortal realm, humans have managed to use up resources that have arisen over the course of hundreds of millions of years in just a few decades, and that will surely apply to the underworld as well. Sooner orter, we''ll have to consider exploring other nes."

    Zhao Yun heaved a faint sigh in response. "But Your Excellency, this is all pure spection. There''s no way for us to know whether space even exists for the underworld! Just as you said, if we rise beyond the sky in the underworld, we''ll reach Limbo! There''s nothing up there!"

    "I''m naturally aware of that," Qin Ye replied. "However, there''s one person who can give me an answer."

    This step was imperative to deciding whether the Cathayan Underworld could lead the rest of the underworld for the centuries, even millennia, toe, so he had to find out the truth.

    Zhao Yun was perplexed for a moment before an enlightened smile appeared on his face. "Of course! How could I have forgotten about the second King Yanluo..."

    He had actually gone on vacations to other nes!

    "If we don''t set our sights on the sky, then we''ll have to turn to the sea," Qin Ye mused. "However, I would rather focus on the cosmos. After all, the sea is also a part of our world, and the mortal realm is already beginning to taste the bitter fruits of excessive resource exploitation. I don''t want the underworld to suffer the same fate, so it''s always better to expand outward rather than constantly dig deeper into our own ne. In the mortal realm, if they want to conduct space exploration, then they''ll have to develop advanced artificial intelligence first. After that, they''ll have to develop technology that can allow humans to hibernate during long voyages in space. Both of these types of technology have only ever been seen in sci-fi films. However, the underworld is different. Yin spirits have unlimited lifespans, and their physical conditions can be examined through their soulfire. In addition to that, they don''t need to breathe or eat... They''re natural astronauts! We can''t not take advantage of this! The 15-day break for this international trade conference isn''t for them, it''s for me instead."

    He rose to his feet, and at the same time, Wang Chenghao rounded the corner, approaching him before extending a respectful bow. "Your Excellency, the ship to Australis is ready, and the voyage is projected to take a day and a half."

    "I''ll be right back." As Qin Ye departed with Wang Chenghao, he said, "Only after confirming whether space exists or not can I decide whether our Cathayan Underworld should dedicate our scientific research and development power to space exploration. If that need does arise, we need to decide which nations we want to work for us on this project. This is a project for the future, but it must be finalized now. During my absence, I''ll be counting on you to hold the fort, Brother Zhao."

    "Yes," Zhao Yun replied with a respectful bow, and by the time he stood up straight again, Qin Ye was already gone.

    A faint smile appeared on Zhao Yun''s face as he disappeared on the spot while murmuring to himself, "He is the perfect King Yanluo candidate. With him at the helm, Hell will be safe and prosperous for thousands of years toe."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The world was very peaceful

    All nations were very quiet. To everyone''s surprise, the three pirs didn''t kick up a fuss. All of the underworlds were busy nning for the future, and there was no story about this edition of the international trade conference even on The Underworld Weekly, which was the highest-selling newspaper in the underworld.

    "Looks like someone''s determined to keep what happened during the conference strictly confidential..." Qin Ye murmured to himself as he set the newspaper aside. "If I recall correctly, The Underworld Weekly is published by the Psalm Consortium. They''ll be desperate for the usage rights of news-rted patents, such as mechanical printers. At the same time, they''ll be trying to extend their influence into the media sector... Actually, why am I even thinking about this?"

    He was situated in a veryrge room with extravagant decor that had a pronounced Cathayan style, and there was everything that one would ever need here in this room.

    He stood up and cast his gaze out the window, looking at the boundless sea outside. The light of the sun was shining down onto the surface of the sea, giving it the appearance of a rippling ck gem.

    This area of the sea was already quite close to Australis, and it had already been a day and six hours since his departure from the Bohai Sea. In six more hours at most, he would arrive at the world''s gate, the ce that was full of mysteries.

    Right at this moment, the entire ship swayed violently, as if it had just crashed into some type of massive object.

 Chapter 1075: Letter In A Bottle

    <h4>Chapter 1075: Letter In A Bottle</h4>

    Right as the tremors began to run through the ship, Qin Ye had already released his Yin energy to protect the entire ship.

    The sound of chaotic footsteps rang out outside, and after about 10 minutes had passed by, the door of Qin Ye''s cabin was finally knocked on, and Qian Dui''s voice was heard outside. "Your Excellency."

    "Come in."

    Having secured Qin Ye''s permission, Qian Dui made his way into the room. He was holding a bottle with both hands, and he offered the bottle up to Qian Dui in a respectful manner.

    What''s this?

    Qin Ye inspected the bottle with an intrigued expression. This was a rather umon hexagonal bottle that waspletely transparent, and inside it was a rolled-up piece of parchment paper.

    A letter in a bottle, eh?

    Qin Ye turned to Qian Dui as he asked, "Why did you bring this to me?"

    "This is going to sound very far-fetched, but this is what the ship appears to have crashed into," Qian Dui replied with tightly furrowed brows. "At the time of the impact, the only thing in contact with the ship was this bottle. It''s very difficult to describe what happened... The bottle was like a mountain, and a massive section of the ship''s hull has caved in from the impact. The shape of the caved-in section is exactly the same as the shape of the bottle, except magnified countless times."

    Qin Ye immediately understood what had happened. This was a sign of power being released, but strangely enough, he couldn''t find any traces of power in this bottle.

    There wasn''t any Yin energy, true energy, or immortal energy, it simply seemed to be apletely ordinary bottle.

    Interesting...

    Qin Ye continued to inspect the bottle as he waved a dismissive hand.

    Qian Dui took that as his cue to leave, and only then did Qin Ye set down the bottle before removing the cork, then pulled out the piece of parchment paper inside.

    He hadpleted this sequence of actions extremely cautiously, but no mishaps arose during this process.

    However, this made him even more cautious. It was as if this bottle were calling out to him, waiting for him to open it!

    He carefully ced the piece of parchment paper onto the table and began to slowly unfurl it. His Yin energy had already formed an imprable barrier around him, but in the next instant, his pupils abruptly contracted, even though he had only spread less than a centimeter of the piece of parchment paper open.

    His entire soul had begun to tremble and sway violently, like a fast-moving ship that had crashed into a giant cier, and countless voices rang out beside his ears.

    It was as if thousands of deranged individuals were howling and weeping right beside him, and it was an absolutely ghastly sound that evoked horror from the deepest parts of one''s heart. All of the sounds that he feared were being incorporated into these voices, and all of the fine hairs all over his body had stood up on end, while goosebumps were raised all over his skin.

    Furthermore, amid these countless chaotic voices was an illusory voice that was particrly potent. That voice was situated at the very deepest part of these ghastly voices, and it made one''s soul involuntarily want to search for it.

    "Look at me..."

    Screams rang out from all directions, forming a turbulent wave that attempted to shatter the defenses around Qin Ye''s soul. Right at this moment, a gash abruptly appeared on Qin Ye''s be, and from within that gash emerged apletely expressionless vertical pupil.

    As soon as the pupil appeared, bursts of inky-ck light filled the entire room, forcing back those chaotic voices. At the same time, Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly sprang open.

    There was a hint of lingering fear in his eyes as he looked down at the piece of parchment paper with an incredulous expression. "What the hell is this thing?"

    It was extraordinary that this piece of paper was almost able to break down the defenses around his soul when he was a mid Yama-King!

    He took a deep breath to calm himself down, then dabbed at the cold sweat on his own forehead as he stared intently at the piece of parchment paper.

    At some point, the piece of paper had already beenpletely unfurled.

    It was riddled with chaotic runes that had been inscribed using an extremely sinister red ink, and it didn''t seem to be as simple as just blood. If an analogy had to be made, then this would be like someone being tortured to death, then dragged along a sharp asphalt road by the killer, and this red ink would be the culmination of scraps of their flesh, their blood, and their anguished fury.

    Just the mere sight of it struck the beholder with a sense of repulsion and unease.

    At the very center of the piece of parchment paper was a triangr eye, and there were strange symbols all around its three edges. Qin Ye couldn''t understand anything, but the words "save me" emerged directly in his mind.

    "Is this supposed to be some type of text?" A ball of inky-ck mes was ignited in his hand, burning the piece of parchment paper to ashes, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.

    "Is this some type of text capable of registering directly in the reader''s mind? I''ve never seen this type of text before, but I think it''s safe to assume that this isn''t any known type of text on Earth. Even the earliest cuneiform text is different from this."

    His brows furrowed slightly as he cast a contemtive gaze outside through his window.

    "Who has written this, and where has ite from?"

    There was no way to answer those questions.

    Right as he was in a state of deep thought, a voice suddenly rang out in his cabin. "That''s not any form of text from Earth."

    Soul Shackles immediately flew out of Qin Ye''s sleeves like pouncing vipers upon hearing this voice as he instinctively acted to protect himself, but in the next instant, his mind registered the voice and identified who it belonged to, upon which he rxed again.

    All of a sudden, boundless radiance descended from the heavens all around the ship, forming a vast sea of light.

    At the same time, a pir of light that was several dozen meters thick struck the ship with unerring uracy, but the ship merely swayed slightly and remainedpletely unharmed.

    "What was that?"

    "What''s going on?"

    "Protect Yanluo Qin! Hurry!"

    "All troops, prepare for battle!"

    Right as the entire ship was about to erupt into a frenzy of activity, Qin Ye''s calm voice rang out to reassure everyone. "It''s alright, I''m just being visited by an old friend, so there''s no need for panic. Continue toward Australis."

    After issuing that order, Qin Ye didn''t pay any further heed to the activity on the ship. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the pir of light that had appeared in a corner of his cabin.

    This was a dazzling pir of white light that was giving off an air of holiness, as if it were capable of cleansing everything within it.

    This was a divine descent, and Qin Ye only knew one person who made such shy entrances.

    He sat down in front of the table, then filled two teacups, and by the time he was done, a figure had already taken a seat across from him. "Long time no see."

    "Indeed," Qin Ye said as he pushed a cup of tea toward the figure. "You seem to be recovering quite well."

    The figure seated across from him was none other than the Plumed Serpent God, and on this asion, he had taken the form of a man with a darkplexion, wearing a long brown robe and golden Aztec-style ornaments on his arms and around his neck. There was also a beast skull sitting on his head, attached to which were bright and vibrant feathers, and the parts of his body that were bared were riddled with white tattoos.

    He epted the teacup as he smiled and replied in fluent Cathayan, "It''s all thanks to you."

    It really is all thanks to me, I''m d to see you know your ce...

    Qin Ye rested his chin on his hand as a smile appeared on his face, and he suddenly said without any warning, "I met Tezcatlipoca."

    The Plumed Serpent God shuddered ever so slightly upon hearing this. It was a barely detectable reaction, but Qin Ye was able to capture it.

    "He''s just a failed pseudo-god." The Plumed Serpent God set down the teacup in a calm manner, making it appear as if he wasn''t the perpetrator behind the tragedies of the five suns.

    "A pseudo-god?" Qin Ye asked as he feigned a surprised expression. "He was the sun god of the First Sun in the most powerful religion on the new continent! How can he be referred to as a pseudo-god? If he''s a pseudo-god, then what are you supposed to be? Don''t forget that you were banished and renounced by the entire Aztec religion!"

    "I''m different from him."

    "Pardon me for being frank," Qin Ye said with a smile. "But the main difference between you and him is how valuable you are to me."

    The Plumed Serpent God''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this. In the next few centuries, pandemonium was undoubtedly going to ensue on the new continent, and originally, Qin Ye only had the Plumed Serpent God as a foothold on the new continent, but he had an even better foothold now, thereby severely diminishing the value that the Plumed Serpent God could offer to him.

    As Dax, Qin Ye would be able to roam freely all over the new continent, while in contrast, the Plumed Serpent God was only a puppet that still hadn''t managed to separate himself from the Heavenly Dao yet.

    With that in mind, a fawning smile appeared on the Plumed Serpent God''s face, and he said, "In order to separate myself from the Heavenly Dao, I can''t do anything to help you in return. Thus, in exchange for your help, I''m willing to offer you a special gift."

    "Oh? Go on," Qin Ye prompted with a smile as he set down his teacup.

    The Plumed Serpent God leaned forward slightly as he asked in a low voice, "Are you interested in the treasure vault left behind from the era of Aztec mythology?"

    Qin Ye''s expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, and he had to admit that he was intrigued.

    This was the treasure vault of an entire religion! This was definitely one of the trump cards that the Plumed Serpent God was counting on using against the Aztec religion once he was separated from the Heavenly Dao, but he was offering it up to Qin Ye without any hesitation.

    It had to be said that the Plumed Serpent God was extremely decisive and shrewd.

    The Plumed Serpent God added, "Rest assured, no one wille after you even if you open the treasure vault. You''ve already met Tezcatlipoca, so you should be aware that our mighty parent god is currently in a state of slumber, and no one knows when they''ll awaken. That treasure vault will be a present to you as thanks for your help."

    A hint of a smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, "So you''re giving me something that''s not even yours? There''s not much sincerity there."

    Before the Plumed Serpent God had a chance to reply, Qin Ye''s smile faded as he said in a serious voice, "We''ll talk about the treasure vaultter. For now, I need you to tell me something."

    "I''ll be sure to tell you everything I know."

    "Did you just say that the message in that bottle was from another world?" Qin Ye asked. "I don''t care about where it came from, all I want to know is how the message managed to enter our world. Don''t tell me that you don''t know! You''ve been integrated with the Heavenly Dao in the past, and during that time, you''ve learned some of the things that the Heavenly Dao knows, you''ve admitted that to me in person before."

    Outside the underworld was Limbo, and outside of that was the human realm, while heaven lied beyond the human realm. From a spatial perspective, the three realms were like the yolk, white, and shell of an egg! There was no gap for anything to enter the underworld, so how had this thing from another world managed to find its way into the underworld?

    The being that had created that bottle was definitely no ordinary being!

    His heartbeat was beginning to elerate a little as these thoughts urred to him. Originally, he was nning to ask the second King Yanluo about this, but the Plumed Serpent God could also provide him with the answers that he wanted.

    If he could find out how this bottle had made its way into the underworld, perhaps he would be able to enter that alternate world through the same pathway!

    That would be the beginning of his conquest of the underworld''s space!

 Chapter 1076: Beacon

    <h4>Chapter 1076: Beacon</h4>

    The Plumed Serpent God''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and only after a long while did he shake his head with furrowed brows. "I''m afraid I don''t know, and I can''t search for an answer, either. If the Heavenly Dao discovers that I''ve retained autonomy, then even you could be implicated," he said in a cunning manner. "The Heavenly Dao is paying very close attention to the subject that you want to know about. I have a feeling that if I actively try to investigate this matter, or even think about prying into it, They would immediately find out."

    Then what use do I have for you?

    Qin Ye cast a disapproving nce toward him, then said, "In that case, let''s talk about the treasure vault."

    Wait, didn''t you just say we''ll talk about the treasure vaultter? I guess I should''ve known better...

    The Plumed Serpent God didn''t dare to voice any of theseints, and instead, he said, "At the center of the Caribbean Sea is an ind that''ll only rise up from the sea during a full moon, and the locals refer to it as the Dream Ind. You need three men and a woman to represent the four main gods of the four suns, and at the center of the ind is an abandoned divine altar. Get the for people to stand around the altar and utter the names of the four gods of wind, water, rain, and fire, while you stand at the very center to represent the sun god, and the gates of the treasure vault will be opened up to you."

    "It''s that simple?" Qin Ye asked with furrowed brows.

    The Plumed Serpent God shook his head in response. "No, the fifth person has to fulfill a very specific set of criteria. They can''t be dead, nor alive, and they have to belong to the local religion, possessing traits simr to the fifth sun god. That person will be the key to opening the gate."

    That sounds like an impossible role to fill... Hold on!

    Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly lit up as he thought of his own alternate identity as Dax.

    That was aplete match for all of the traits that the Plumed Serpent God had just described!

    "Looks like you really did learn some things during your time as one with the Heavenly Dao."

    The Plumed Serpent God smiled and replied, "The new continent is the ce of my origin, so I''ll naturally pay extra attention to it."

    "So what do you want?" Qin Ye asked. "Surely you didn''t perform this divine descent just to present this gift."

    Silence.

    Several secondster, the Plumed Serpent God sighed, "I do have something to ask of you. Truth be told, even if you hadn''t said anything, I would''ve offered up the treasure vault anyway. All that I ask is that once you gain control over the treasure vault, you give me one of the swords stored within it."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. Instead, he merely stared directly at the Plumed Serpent God in silence. It was clear that this proposal wouldn''t be enough to tempt Qin Ye unless all of the details were revealed.

    The Plumed Serpent God fell silent again, and only after a long while did he make up his mind as he gritted his teeth and said, "Seeing as you''ve met Tezcatlipoca, you must be aware of our n to kill Cipactli. As a result of that, you may have developed some misunderstandings toward me. In reality, the legends aren''t entirely urate..."

    "I have no interest in hearing about your personal differences," Qin Ye said. "Continue."

    The Plumed Serpent God hesitated momentarily, then continued, "The fifth sun god possessed the power of all of the gods of the Aztec religion. With that power, we were able to propel the body of Cipactli up into the heavens so that it could act as the sun. The sword that I want is the sword that our parent god forged for the fifth sun god. In other words, it''s a sword that contains the power of all of the gods of the Aztec religion! If I can obtain the sword, I''ll be able topletely free myself from the Heavenly Dao, bing a religion representative that the Heavenly Dao is unable to restrict!"

    His voice had already be extremely excited, and Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Why didn''t you ask our Cathayan Underworld to help you secure that sword from the very beginning?"

    The Plumed Serpent God sighed in response. "That''s because my body wasn''t able to handle the sword back then. After consuming the blood of a divinity, it took me 10 years of hibernation to fully digest it, and only now do I even dare to consider this option."

    "I see." Qin Ye nodded in response. "I can help you here."

    "Trust me, the treasures in that vault definitely won''t disappoint you! Tezcatlipoca is also frantically trying to get into the vault, and he also wants that sword. As long as you give the sword to me, you can have everything else in the vault!"

    "Alright, is there anything else you need to speak to me about?" Qin Ye asked.

    "That''s all. I look forward to your sess." The Plumed Serpent God extended a deep bow before vanishing from the room as countless specks of white light.

    Thus, the cabin fell silent again.

    Qin Ye held his teacup and took a small sip, then gave a faint chuckle.

    There was no way that he was going to give that sword to the Plumed Serpent God.

    If the Plumed Serpent God were telling the truth, then that sword represented a religion, and the Heavenly Dao was unable to imprison representatives of religions, so They would be forced to release him. In that case, if he were to present that sword to the Plumed Serpent God, wouldn''t he be the main god of the Aztec religion, the true fifth sun god?

    This wasn''t just a sword, it was a symbol of power over an entire religion, and it was a perfect toy for Dax!

    At this moment, he didn''t necessarily need the Plumed Serpent God as he could invest in Tezcatlipoca as well. However, truth be told, he didn''t want to invest in either of them.

    With the identity of Dax at his disposal, why would he invest in someone else?

    However, there was no hurry toplete this task.

    13 dayster, the international trade conference was going to resume on the ind of Formosa, and that was by far his main priority right now.

    He had to decide whether to advance toward the sea or to rise up to explore the heavens, and in order to determine that, he needed the second King Yanluo to provide him with an answer.

    Time passed by very quickly, and half an hourter, the ship finally drew to a halt.

    Qin Ye cast his gaze forward with a grim expression. On the previous asion he had visited the world''s gate, he hadn''t even gotten to see what it looked like. On this asion, he was able to witness it in its full glory, but he still couldn''t see it clearly.

    An inky-ck light barrier was stretching up into the heavens, and its surface was riddled with countless crimson runes. Even for him, just seeing the light barrier from afar was making his eyes throb with pain.

    Outside the light barrier were countless small warships, and as soon as their ship emerged, around a dozen of those small warships had already surrounded it.

    However, the warships didn''t try to impede them, and that was most likely because Napoleon had already recorded his Yin energy during hisst visit. Despite this, he still wasn''t granted passage through the world''s gate, so Qin Ye had no choice but to wait while his arrival was reported to those inside the gate. Meanwhile, the ship arrived in a city that he had never visited, and one that hadn''t ever been included on any map before, either.

    "So this is the city of Makran." Around half an hourter, Qin Ye was seated on the top floor of the most luxurious hotel of this city that he hadn''t ever heard of before, and he was inspecting the cityscape around down below.

    This was a prosperous city that wasn''t any less impressive than Ashmound.

    It had clearly already been developing for many years, and buildings representative of western cultures were littered throughout the city. It was like taking a stroll through Sydney in the mortal realm, except the nts were different.

    "Are you sure this city can''t be found on any maps?" he asked.

    "I''ve double-checked, and that is indeed the case," Qian Dui replied from behind Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye nodded in response before sweeping his gaze across all of theherworldly citizens down below. Every single one of them was giving off a pronounced sense of killing intent.

    He was certain that these were all Yin soldiers who had fought on actual battlefields in the past. It seemed that all of theherworldly citizens of this city were either Yin soldiers or retired Yin soldiers!

    Furthermore, this city was clearly an important military stronghold, and every single street had been carefully designed. The city had three sets of city walls, dividing the city up into an outer, middle, and inner section, and many Yin soldiers were patrolling along the top of each city wall.

    However, the city had everything that one would find in a normal city, and even this hotel had been constructed in an extremely luxurious style.

    There was a mural of an angel and a demon drawn on the roof overhead, and several resplendent chandeliers were also hanging down from above. Every single stone pir and door in the surrounding area had been constructed with clear renaissance-era influences, giving them an elegant yet solemn appearance.

    The carpet was red, and the Bohemian designs embroidered onto it were very beautiful to behold. There were even violinists for hire, and they only cost one Yin jade per performance.

    There were no national currencies here, Yin jade was the only currency in use. It was as if this ce werepletely detached from the rest of the world and didn''t follow any of the world''s rules.

    Right at this moment, a shadow was cast in front of Qin Ye, and he turned around to find that the second King Yanluo had already taken a seat across from him. Following along behind him was a server that was holding a menu with a fawning look on his face.

    "You can order." The second King Yanluo was looking a little frail, and there were even dark rings around his eyes, giving him an exhausted appearance. The server immediately handed the menu over to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye took a look at the menu to find that he didn''t recognize even a single dish on it!

    "I''ll let you do the honors." He cleared his throat in a slightly awkward manner as he handed the menu over to the second King Yanluo.

    The second King Yanluo''s brows furrowed slightly as he took the menu from Qin Ye, then nced at it before quickly rattling off a total of seven dishes, while the server took notes.

    Qin Ye was very pleased to see the second King Yanluo ordering so few dishes, but he put on a fake disy of generosity as he said, "Is that all? Surely that''s not enough for the two of us! How about we order some more? Let''s add a bottle of juice!"

    The second King Yanluo handed the menu back to the server as he said, "Ignore him, that''s all we''ll order."

    The server extended a respectful bow, then asked with a smile, "Are we following the usual rules?"

    "That''s right."

    "Don''t be like that! it''s not every day that I get to treat you to a meal, so feel free to order away! I''ll foot the bill," Qin Ye insisted.

    The server nced at the menu before departing. "Alright, so I''ll bring on one of every dish beside these seven."

    <i>What the fuck?! </i>

    Qin Ye almost fell out of his chair as he stared at the second King Yanluo as if he had seen a ghost.

    You can do that?! How could you be so cruel?! I''m never treating you to another meal ever again!

    As Qin Ye was staring at the second King Yanluo with an appalled expression, the second King Yanluo was also looking right back at him, and Qin Ye was starting to grow a little ufortable from the prolonged eye contact. "Don''t look at me like that, I don''t swing that way!"

    "Shut up!" The second King Yanluo aimed a vicious re at him before asking, "Did you encounter anything strange on the way here?"

    Qin Ye''s smile immediately faded, and he nodded in response before providing a recount of what had just happened.

    "I see." The second King Yanluo sighed as he swiped a finger across Qin Ye''s be. "It even managed to leave a mark on you... Has another opening appeared on the defensive circle?"

    In that instant, Qin Ye felt something that he hadn''t detected before drifting out of his body.

    There was clearly no sensation at all, but after that thing exited his body, he suddenly felt more refreshed and rxed.

    "Did something just nt its seed in me without my consent?"

    "... That is essentially what''s happened, but why does your wording feel so awkward?"

    "That''s not the point!" Qin Ye activated his "that''s not the point" interjection skill as he asked, "What exactly is that thing? Is it an alien?"

 Chapter 1077: The Astonishing Answer (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1077: The Astonishing Answer (1)</h4>

    A stunned look instantly appeared on the second King Yanluo''s face. "Have you still not opened the ck box? You''ve even developed electricity, yet you still haven''t opened the ck box?! How much of a coward are you?! I bet you''re even scared of your own reflection!"

    "Let''s be more civilized here! I''m not a coward, I''m just spineless..."

    In the face of the second King Yanluo''s menacing gaze, Qin Ye immediately made the wise decision to stop talking. He had a feeling that if he had continued, he would''ve been asking for a beating.

    Qin Ye cleared his throat as he continued, "Anyway, I''ll open the ck box when the opportunity arises. Can you tell me what I saw on my way here?"

    The second King Yanluo gulped down some ice water before replying, "What you saw was the eye of the mortal coil. When you see that diagram, you''ll hear the most ghastly sound imaginable, and your soul will be dragged into a dark abyss. On top of that, it''ll enter your body as a parasite, but there''s no need to worry, that thing only possesses Yama-King level power at the very most, so you would''ve still been able to survive."

    Qin Ye pulled out a pristine white silken handkerchief and dabbed at the cold sweat that had beaded up on his forehead. Right at this moment, one delectable dish was brought into the room after another, and the second King Yanluo immediately tucked into the feast while disying terrible table manners.

    What a waste of his handsome appearance! How did this bastard even be King Yanluo? He''s a disgrace to all King Yanluos!

    The second King Yanluo seemed to have sensed what he was thinking, and he gave Qin Ye a menacing re, upon which Qin Ye immediately cleared his throat in an awkward manner again.

    "Is there something wrong with your throat? Are you doing too much deepthroating?"

    Qin Ye was astonished by the fact that such a filthy joke hade out of the second King Yanluo''s mouth, and only after a long while did manage to find his voice again. "Our new energy resource has been sessfully developed. You already know that, right?"

    This was such a monumental feat, but for some reason, Qin Ye didn''t feel any sense of achievement dering it to the second King Yanluo here.

    After taking a deep breath, Qin Ye put on a serious expression as he continued, "I have a few questions."

    The second King Yanluo didn''t even bother to reply. Instead, he merely nodded in response while munching on amb chop, disying no respect to Qin Ye whatsoever.

    I''ll fucking stuff thatmb chop up your nose if you don''t treat me with more respect!

    Despite what he was thinking, Qin Ye naturally didn''t dare to verbalize any of his thoughts. "Why did you send witnesses of history to the international trade conference, and why did they help us?"

    "I wasn''t the one who sent them." The second King Yanluo finally looked up from his food, then took a sip of wine before exining, "We put it down to a vote, and that oue was unanimously approved."

    "Why is that?"

    The second King Yanluo set down his knife and fork, then dabbed at his own mouth with a napkin before asking in a serious voice, "Do you know the truth behind space?"

    Qin Ye shook his head with a nk expression.

    The second King Yanluo looked straight into his eyes as he continued, "Firstly, you have to understand the concept of the three realms. They are like threeyers of paper situated at the same point. They are all rted, but they don''t exist on the same ne, do you understand?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    The three realms were three different nes, but these three nes all arose from the same origin point, namely the mortal realm. Thus, one could enter and exit these three realms through certain special methods, but that did nothing to change the fact that they weren''t on the same ne.

    This wasmon knowledge, and Qin Ye was very perplexed about why the second King Yanluo had suddenly decided to mention this.

    The second King Yanluo continued, "The space of the underworld is just like the space of the mortal realm, but it has a different name. In the underworld, the Milky Way is known as the Yin Space River, and all of the star systems within this gxy are known as Yin Space Systems."

    "Hold on!" Qin Ye raised a hand to cut off the second King Yanluo as he stared at him with an intense expression. "So you''re saying that space exists for the underworld?"

    "That''s not important, let me continue..."

    "That''s very important!" Qin Ye eximed in an excited voice. "It concerns the future strategy that the Cathayan Underworld is going to adopt! Otherwise, who woulde here just to watch you eat like a pig? Ah, forgive me, I got a little too excited there... What I meant to say was..."

    The second King Yanluo waved a dismissive hand in response. "I''m not that petty. Continue."

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but question the authenticity of the second King Yanluo''s words at the sight of the fork that had stabbed deeply into the table in front of him as soon as he had uttered the words "eat like a pig"...

    That was way too close! I have to be more careful from now on...

    With a hint of lingering fear in his heart, Qin Ye continued, "I''m sure you know how significant an impact the emergence of electricity will have on this world. If our Cathayan Underworld wants to maintain its lead over the rest of the world, then we have to begin making ns for what we''re going to do in the future right away! I have two ideas, one of which is to explore the sea, while the other is space exploration."

    "I''m assuming you lean toward thetter?" the second King Yanluo asked.

    "That''s right," Qin Ye replied. "The sea is still a part of our ne, while space lies outside of our ne. Following the emergence of electricity, the rate of exploitation of resources in the underworld will experience a dramatic spike. Once machinery reces manpower, production will be countless times more efficient, and at that rate, it won''t be long before all of the underworld''s resources are exhausted."

    In the mortal realm, it had only taken several decades since the conclusion of the second world war to virtually exhaust all of the usable resources on Earth. A limit had even been ced on the amount of crude oil that could be drilled, and with the higher poption density, yet smallerndmasses, of the underworld, it would only be a matter of time before resources became overly exploited.

    The second King Yanluo didn''t say anything. Instead, he merely yed with his empty cup in silence.

    Qin Ye continued, "I came here with the sole purpose of confirming whether space exists for the underworld, and you''ve just told me that it does!"

    This was a crucial answer! It entailed that there were going to be infinite possibilities for the future strategy that the Cathayan Underworld was going to adopt!

    Through the new energy resource, they were going to profit from the entire world, and those profits could be invested into space exploration. Once the Cathayan Underworld''s rocket technology matured, the entire underworld would have to bow to the threat of the Cathayan Underworld''s forbidden arts!

    With rockets at its disposal, the Cathayan Underworld would be the only nation capable of threatening the entire world!

    Once rocket technology matured to the point that they could be sent to space, the entire underworld would be under his scrutiny, and nothing would be able to hide from him! Furthermore, how much resources were there in space, waiting to be exploited by him?

    Even if they discovered only a single resource-rich, that would be a massive discovery!

    The second King Yanluo watched him in silence, and only after a long while did he speak again. "Firstly, I must apud this idea of yours. Secondly, I''ve discovered one of your fatal ws."

    Qin Ye was stunned to hear this.

    ws? Me? Impossible! I''m absolutely wless!

    "You''re using the mindset that you had in the mortal realm to think about everything," the second King Yanluo said. "You''ve only been serving as King Yanluo for a very short time, and you stayed for too long in the mortal realm. As such, your n for elevating the Cathayan Underworld to the top of the world is to replicate the model established by Usonia in the mortal realm."

    "Is there something wrong with that?"

    "Of course there is!" The second King Yanluo''s voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves, drawing attention from several of the nearby guests, and only then did he lower his voice as he continued, "Have you still not realized that the foundations of the underworld are Yin energy and Yin runes? You''ve achieved sess in the form of the new energy resource, but this is only a foundational energy resource. Once you begin to research deeper and moreplex things, you''ll realize that everything is straying further and further away from how things are in the mortal realm! The difference between the underworld and the mortal realm is like that between night and day!"

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly, and he didn''t say anything.

    The second King Yanluo grabbed onto his hand and began to gently draw something onto his palm. As he did so, he continued, "Your idea of turning to space is correct, but if you choose the wrong method to approach this, you will encounter insurmountable technological hurdles. Also, there are many instances where Yin energy can make things far more convenient than replicating technology from the mortal realm. At the end of the day, you are severely underestimating Yin energy."

    He released Qin Ye''s hand as his voice trailed off, and Qin Ye was surprised to discover that aplex rune had appeared on his palm.

    Upon only a slight injection of Yin energy into the rune, bursts of ck light instantly emerged from his palm, and all of the surrounding Yin energy rapidly converged toward him!

    "This is the Yin Gathering Array," the second King Yanluo exined. "It is fueled purely by the power of the array''s formation. There is no waste, nor any need for concern that it''ll run out of fuel as there is boundless Yin energy in the Yin Space River, which it can draw upon at any time."

    Qin Ye''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and in that instant, a crucial thought urred to him.

    In order to propel spacecrafts into space, material considerations were a concern, but finding a suitable fuel source was also imperative!

    The fuel that was mostmonly used for this purpose in the mortal realm was hydrogen fuel, but that definitely wouldn''t work in the mortal realm. His original n was to create controlled Yin rune fusion to generate the required propulsion force, but this array could aplish the same objective far more efficiently and easily!

    If they could perfect this Yin Gathering Array and expand it, the effect that it could achieve could perhaps beparable to that of controlled Yin rune fusion!

    This waspletely different from trying to achieve the same goal through scientific means!

    The existence of things like arrays was only made possible by the power system of the underworld, and it really waspletely different from science!

    This realization was like a bucket of cold water that had been poured over Qin Ye''s head, instantly alerting him to how narrow-minded he had been. He cast his gaze toward the second King Yanluo before asking, "What about materials for the spacecrafts?"

    The second King Yanluo replied, "You can use fortification arts to fortify the outer shell, and weightlessness arts can be used to counteract a part of the ne''s gravitational pull. In fact, if you can find out the fundamental thing that allows underworld emissaries to fly, you''ll be able to send spacecrafts into space even without fuel! Also, it''s not just a tall tale that high-grade cultivators are able to traverse through space. My skin, hair, and bones are immune to all types of disasters and storms that can be encountered in outer space, making me far better equipped for space travel than the spacecrafts of the mortal realm. If you think about this from the perspective of the power system, your eyes will be opened up to a brand new world!"

    He took a deep breath before concluding, "Ultimately, thises down to ack of experience."

    Qin Ye was rather indignant upon hearing this, and he countered, "Then why is it that the entire underworld has submitted to me after I developed the new energy resource?"

    The second King Yanluo smiled as he replied, "To answer that, you first have to understand why no new energy resource has appeared in the underworld thus far. It''s because there are too few high-grade underworld emissaries. You want them to visit one city after another and create energy resource systems for all of the underworld''sherworldly citizens? That''s possible in theory, but there''s no way that it would be practically achievable. High-grade underworld emissaries are proud beings, and they have better things to do with their time. On top of that, they can do everything that electricity can do with their Yin energy, so they don''t need a new energy resource. The ones who need an energy resource are mid-grade and low-grade underworld emissaries andherworldly citizens, and with the existence of the power system, it would be downright suicidal for those people to stage a protest. This is why no new energy resource has been developed."

    Qin Ye pursed his lips and remained silent.

    "You managed to do this, and I apud you for it. If no new energy resource emerges, then everything will remain the same, but as soon as it appears, the entire world must incorporate it. Otherwise, civil unrest and rebellions are no joke. However, the only thing that this new energy resource can aplish is make the lives ofherworldly citizens more convenient and provide them with more forms of entertainment, thereby making them content to live in the underworld and not inclined to rebel. However, if you think that you can use this new energy resource to reach the most high-end technology in the underworld, then you''re dead wrong! At the end of the day, this is technology, and thus, its method of usage will differ from that of Yin energy and Yin runes. Technology can change the entire underworld, but it''s definitely not enough for you to reach the heights that you seek. Take this as advice from me, a cultivator who had traversed through countless nes in the past."

 Chapter 1078: The Astonishing Answer (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1078: The Astonishing Answer (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything.

    He was gently drumming his fingers against the table as he fell into deep thought.

    He wasn''t sure whether the second King Yanluo was entirely correct, but there was definitely one thing that he was right about: he really wasn''t holding Yin runes and Yin energy in very high regard.

    In his mind, Yin energy was represented by Yama-Kings and forbidden arts, while Yin runes were embodied by arts. In his mind, technology was capable of doing everything those things could, so upon uniting the nation, his first reaction was to pursue technological advancement and replicate the model established in the mortal realm.

    He couldn''t exactly be med for this. In less than 20 years, he had united the entire nation and had set the Cathayan Underworld on the path to bing the dominant global superpower, but prior to that, he had lived in the mortal realm for an extended period of time.

    In the face of the unknown, one would naturally habitually gravitate toward what they were familiar with and knew best.

    "You''re very lucky," the second King Yanluo said as he poured himself a cup of wine. "This world really does need a new energy resource. For example, prior to the emergence of the new energy resource, if you wanted to release a message to the entire nation, then Yin energy would have to be used to conjure up screens across the nation, which is quite taxing even for a Yama-King. However, with the new energy resource, you''ll be able to broadcast messages to the entire nation through televisions and radios, and even phones in the future, which is far more convenient. This is the purpose of the new energy resource''s existence. However, don''t be fooled into thinking that the new energy resource will allow you to conquer the differences between the underworld and the mortal realm to create spacecrafts and powerful weapons. In the research and development of weapons of the highest caliber in the underworld, Yin runes and the Yin energy have always been the only things to have been used. Do you think no one else has tried to create weapons based on the designs in the mortal realm? Take a gun, for instance. That doesn''t require an energy resource to power, so why hasn''t it appeared in the underworld?"

    He paused momentarily before answering his own question. "It''s because it''s not feasible."

    "Why is that?" Qin Ye immediately asked.

    He wasn''t willing to give up on his own n just yet.

    It had already been rified that space exploration was indeed the way to go, and any leader worth their salt would immediately jump onto the idea.

    However, the way that he nned to bring this n into reality was being dismissed!

    The entire world had just bowed down to the technology he had unveiled, so why couldn''t heplete his future objectives through this technology?

    He wasn''t unable to ept the notion that he was wrong. However, the problem was that if the second King Yanluo were right, then that meant that they hadpletely strayed onto the wrong path, and that the advantage they had gained over the rest of the world through technology would soon cease to exist. Once that happened, the rest of the world woulde to understand that the Cathayan Underworld''s third King Yanluo was nothing more than an idiot.

    "Could it be that what the three pirs are most afraid of is that I''ll use the massive profits earned through the new energy resource to research Yin runes and Yin energy, rather than reinvest it into technology?" he asked.

    "That''s right," the second King Yanluo confirmed. "Research into Yin runes and Yin energy is extremely costly. For example, you can go and take a look at the prices of S-grade ore on the international market. Those resources cost hundreds of times more than things like rare earth and diamond in the mortal realm! Why are they so expensive? It''s because each type of precious ore will disy a different reaction with Yin energy under certain conditions, and these reactions created the foundation for all of the underworld''s weapons. I''m sure you''ve heard of the time when our Cathayan Underworld was attacked by seven powerful underworlds at once. During that battle, we had to bring out hundreds of weapons capable of destroying entire nations to intimidate them into retreat, thereby also cementing our Cathayan Underworld''s reputation as the most powerful underworld of all. However, you can''t achieve this through technology. You asked me why that''s the case, didn''t you? It''s because of thews of Yin Yang non-interaction. If something arises that can bring a fundamental change to the entire underworld, then the will of this world won''t allow it to exist. Don''t look at me like that, this is very normal. In a world with a power system like this, there are many, many things that can''t be exined."

    He picked up his cup and took a sip of wine before continuing, "If you try to create a gun, you''ll discover that in the instant the gun ispleted, it''ll vanish into a flurry of ck butterflies. Do you really think the underworld has always remained in a cold weaponry era due to insufficient technology? You''re dealing with sly old geezers who''ve lived for thousands of years, none of them are idiots! Ah, by the way, the one who performed the gun experiment I just mentioned was none other than the Hindustani Underworld, and at the time, the gun was going to be named ''Yamaraja''s Pistol''. At the time, the Hindustani Underworld had just been defeated by us, and Yamaraja was thirsty for revenge. Thus, he tried to use the methods of the mortal realm to create pistols that underworld emissaries of all levels could use. With his powers, it only took him three seconds to create a gun, but in the instant that it took shape, it disintegrated. This is an experiment that is renowned across the entire world. After that, countless underworld emissaries performed more experiments along the same vein, creating things like cannons and nes, but none of those things worked, either. However, you''ll never know what''s feasible or not until you create it. With the current economic situation in the Cathayan Underworld, can we handle such severe potential losses of time and money?"

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh as he massaged his own temples. "Are those things unable to exist because they weren''t created using Yin energy and Yin runes?"

    "Who knows? No one knows exactly what can and can''t be created by replicating the products of the mortal realm. For example, your electric generators seem to work just fine," the second King Yanluo replied with a casual shrug. "However, things powered by Yin energy and Yin runes are an entirely different branch of technology, and it''s fundamentally different from the technology of the mortal realm."

    Qin Ye was very disappointed to hear this. He had envisioned a smooth path ahead for the Cathayan Underworld''s resurgence, only for it to bepletely rejected.

    However, he was also very grateful that he had decided to make this trip. Otherwise, he would''ve gone ahead with his original n, and that could''ve resulted in catastrophic consequences.

    Of course, this didn''t mean that hepletely believed what the second King Yanluo said, he was still going to conduct experiments for himself once he returned to the Cathayan Underworld.

    At the very least, he had confirmed one thing here, which was that space exploration was indeed the right way to go.

    "If what you said is true, then the umtion period will be very long." Qin Ye poured a cup of wine for himself as well, and it was premium wine that he would''ve thoroughly enjoyed under normal consequences, but it waspletely tasteless to him at this moment.

    "It won''t take too long. After all, there are still some people from the past administration present in the current Hell, and you also have Ghost King Zhao to help you," the second King Yanluo replied. "A Yama-King and a being above the Yama-King level are entirely different concepts. He stands above everyone else, thereby allowing him to see more than everyone else, and it would only take about 10 years to re-establish the field of Yin runology. Of course, it''ll require a lot of hard work from him to make that happen."

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes in response before asking, "So why did you suddenly bring up this topic?"

    The second King Yanluo scratched his own head with a dumbstruck expression. "You''re right... Why did I bring up this topic?"

    He discovered that during the course of their conversation, he had forgotten the original subject they were discussing!

    Amid the awkward silence, Qin Ye rolled his eyes again as he said, "What I was asking you earlier is why the witnesses of history help us quell the three pirs'' protests?"

    "Ah, yes, that''s right!" The second King Yanluo pped his own forehead with an enlightened expression, then replied, "The reason for that is very simple: precious ore is far too rare in the underworld, and only with enough money can sufficient precious ore be purchased. It''s clear that the Cathayan Underworld is going to be the wealthiest underworld in the next few decades, and everyone thought that with this massive advantage that you''ve created for the Cathayan Underworld, you''ll definitely be dedicating your efforts to the research and development of Yin runes and Yin energy."

    So it was a misunderstanding...

    A wry smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    He gently swirled the wine in his cup, and the surface of the liquid reflected an image of his face as he fell into a contemtive silence.

    The second King Yanluo didn''t care about what he was thinking at all, and he continued to tuck in to the delicious feastid out before him.

    All of a sudden, Qin Ye asked, "Do you think I''ll be able to seed?"

    He was naturally referring to his space exploration endeavor.

    "It''s hard to say," the second King Yanluo replied with furrowed brows as he set down his knife and fork. "Do you know why space exploration was never researched in the underworld in the past?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    "It''s because no one had the required resources. In order to invest in space exploration, a massive amount of precious ore would have to be used up. The underworld''s economy didn''t allow for this luxury, and due to the fact that the four pirs were constantlypeting with one another, none of them was able to be a dominant force in the world economy. However, you''ve managed to do this. You have earned the Cathayan Underworld a special privilege that no one has ever had ess to in the underworld, and in the next few decades, you''ll have ess to massive sums of funds that you''ll be able to invest into space exploration. On top of that, you''ve chosen the right path. If you can dominate the heavens, then the entire world will be under your scrutiny and sitting on the palm of your hand. Once that happens, the Cathayan Underworld will be the undisputed number one underworld! If you can convert Yin energy or Yin runes into kic energy, then you''ll be able to send anything into space, even entire cities, and the entire world will erupt into a frenzy once you manage to achieve that!"

    Qin Ye stared at his own cup in a contemtive silence. This meant that the underworld was about to enter a space exploration era, but at this point, he didn''t even know how he was supposed to go about creating spacecrafts anymore.

    There was no reason for the second King Yanluo to lie to him, and if everything he said was true, then if he were to create a spacecraft based on the design of the mortal realm, then it would most likely disintegrate as soon as itpleted. Thus, he had to consider what a spacecraft of the underworld was supposed to be like.

    Was it supposed to be a flying fortress with countless Yin runes engraved all over its surface?

    Was it supposed to be some type of giant mystical space tree?

    Perhaps it could be a hollowed-out mountain?

    He didn''t know what to think anymore.

    "Truth be told, I''m also very concerned," the second King Yanluo continued.

    "About me?" Qin Ye asked as he set down his cup.

    "That''s right."

    The second King Yanluo leaned back in his chair as he said, "You have a brilliant mind, and your courage is... eptable. However, you haven''t spent a long enough time in the underworld for you topletely grasp the concept of Yin Yang non-interaction. Let''s continue with our initial topic of space exploration. Do you know what the space of the underworld is?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, he continued, "We were discussing this topic earlier, but you led our conversation astray. Now, prepare to be shocked again. The so-called space of the underworld is a long stream formed by many Yin Space Rivers. From the outside, it looks quite simr to the Milky Way of the mortal realm. I call it Yin Space Spirals, and we are situated in the seventh spiral. Here, our civilization is a high mid-tier civilization. However, in the space of the underworld, there is aw known as the maicw, which states that two simr civilizations will attract each other. Outside of each ne is something called a nar scale..."

    "Hold on!" Qin Ye suddenly raised a hand to cut him off.

    The term "nar scale" seemed very familiar to him for some reason...

    After some deep thought, he suddenly recalled something.

    During hisst visit to the world''s gate, he had seen the Moonlit Crown, and at the time, the second King Yanluo had mentioned the nar scale.

    The second King Yanluo nodded in confirmation as he continued, "A nar scale is something that is constantly bncing a ne''s position in Yin space. Each ne has its own nar scale, and when the nar scale reaches 90 degrees, an exit will appear in the ne. At the same time, certain... unfathomable things will happen."

 Chapter 1079: The Astonishing Answer (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1079: The Astonishing Answer (3)</h4>

    He raised his knife and fork with his hands, then smiled as he gently brought them together with a light clink.

    "You''re saying nes will collide?" Qin Ye asked.

    "No, but they wille into contact with one another," the second King Yanluo replied with a smile. "That''spletely different from the mortal realm, right? Due to this difference, I''m willing to bet that the space exploration model of the mortal realm definitely isn''t suited to the underworld. I''m sure you must be wondering what this exit of the underworld is supposed to be, right?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. These were all questions that he had wanted to ask earlier, but the rejection of his n to dabble in space exploration using the technology of the mortal realm had made him forget all about this.

    The second King Yanluo smiled as he continued, "When the nar scale reaches 90 degrees, a supercritical tide will be observed, and that is the only way to exit the ne. This happens once every 50 years. Do you still think the technology of the mortal realm is applicable to the underworld now? I''m willing to make a bet with you right now that the only possible way to enable space exploration in the underworld is by relying on Yin energy and Yin runes. In the underworld, only power can oppose power. If the materials of the mortal realm were toe into contact with the supercritical tide, they would instantly be torn apart! The universe of the mortal realm and the universe of the underworld arepletely different things!"

    "I see." Qin Ye stood up as he nodded at the second King Yanluo. "Thank you for the advice. Once I get back, I''ll begin conducting experiments right away."

    The second King Yanluo smiled as he raised his cup in response. "I''m d to hear that. You aren''t ignoring my advice, nor are you epting it without any skepticism. A capable ruler must learn to think critically and independently. In that regard, you''re already doing very well, all you need is to address this final w of yours."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before immediately turning to depart.

    He couldn''t wait to return to the Cathayan Underworld to put the second King Yanluo''s ims to the test.

    "By the way," the second King Yanluo suddenly said. "If you really want to gain a better understanding of Yin runes, I think there''s a certain ce you should go to."

    "Oh?"

    "That ce is San Juan Teotihuac¨¢n," the second King Yanluo continued. "Pass through the Avenue of the Dead, and at the center between the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, you''ll arrive at a ce that can''t be found in the underworld, but does exist in the underworld. In 1 AD, the underworld peace and equality treaty was signed there. The first King Yanluo and the three pirs left an indescribable defensive setup there, and the concept of the setup is so exquisite that even I was extremely impressed."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "I can see that your fate will bepletely altered there. Also... Oh? You were nning to go there anyway? Did someone already tell you to go there?"

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing mention of the underworld peace and equality treaty.

    That was an extremely important treaty that bound all underworlds, creating a foundation for a world where no nation was permitted to invade or harass other nations.

    So that''s where that treaty was signed...

    His brows furrowed slightly as he replied, "The Plumed Serpent God offered me the treasure vault of the Aztec religion as thanks. However, that treasure vault is in the Caribbean Sea. Does that have something to do with this ce?"

    The second King Yanluo chuckled in response. "So it was the Plumed Serpent God. San Juan Teotihuac¨¢n is located in Mexico, and to the right of Mexico is none other than the Caribbean Sea. My advice to you is to be careful when dealing with the Plumed Serpent God. The circumstances behind why he was devoured by the Heavenly Dao aren''t that simple."

    Qin Ye wanted to ask more questions, but it was clear that the second King Yanluo had no intention of speaking about this matter any further.

    This had always been the second King Yanluo''s style. He always provided Qin Ye with the minimum required information so that he could learn and adapt on his own.

    Several minutes after Qin Ye''s departure, the second King Yanluo picked up his cup of wine before taking a sip. "I must say, I''m quite surprised by how capable a King Yanluo he turned out to be. He''s only been serving as King Yanluo for less than 20 years, yet he already has his sights set on the heavens. The ruler death gods of the three pirs have lived for thousands of years, but they don''t even have the acumen that a newbie like him does."

    An amused smile then appeared on his face. "Perhaps it''s exactly because he''s a newbie that he has no fear. He doesn''t know what space entails, which is why he dares to think along those lines..."

    Right at this moment, a server appeared beside him with a respectful smile. "Sir, thates to a total of 23,452 Yin jade. Would you like to pay now or after your meal?"

    The second King Yanluo was instantly rooted to his chair as he turned around with an incredulous expression. "He didn''t pay the bill?!"

    "I''m afraid not."

    "... Motherfucker..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    ck Death City.

    This city was situated at the center of Jianghan Province, but it wasn''t the province''s capital city. Among all of Jianghan Province''s cities, it ranked third.

    It was most renowned for its mining industry, and it only produced one type of S-grade ore, which was shadow paraffin wax. This just so happened to be the type of S-grade ore that was the easiest to mine. As for other types of S-grade ore, several mines containing them had also been discovered, but they were too difficult to mine.

    Each S-grade mine hadrge amounts of associated ore, and shadow paraffin wax was no exception to this. Thus, the mining industry was the city''s main industry, and miningpanies of different scales could be found all over the city.

    The First Mining Department of the Cathayan Underworld was also situated here, but it was only responsible for regting A-grade ore and didn''t actually engage in any mining activities. This department had thergest collection of auditors and ountants out of anywhere in the entire Jianghan Province.

    "Zhou Jin." The door of the finance branch was pushed open, and a Yin spirit hurriedly made his way into the room. "The boss wants to see you."

    A young man raised his head from behind a stack of files. He had a rather gentle appearance, but he gave off an innate gant disposition, and he was the type of handsome chick ma that would be sure to attract a lot of attention from the opposite sex.

    Unfortunately, he was wearing a pair of old-fashioned wooden sses that wererge and heavy, concealing much of his handsome face, and he was also dressed in a very nd and ordinary Mao suit.

    "Which boss wants to see me?" he asked as he adjusted his own sses, and his voice was also quite attractive.

    "The big boss," the Yin spirit replied with a smile. "You didn''t do anything wrong, did you? The boss has clearly been in a rather foul mood ofte. Actually, no, that can''t be! You haven''t set a single foot wrong during your time here!"

    Zhou Jin shrugged as he stood up before quickly making his way up to the top floor of the First Mining Department building.

    Since ancient times, leaders had always enjoyed elevating themselves, and the director of the First Mining Department was no exception to this. Along the way, many of the female staff in the building put on their best seductive smiles for Zhou Jin, drawing much ire and envy from their male colleagues.

    Zhou Jin paid no heed to them. He had never met the director during his time here, so this was a first for him.

    Upon reaching the top floor, he rounded a corner, upon which he was immediately greeted by the sight of the department director pacing back and forth in front of the door to his office, looking extremely agitated.

    As soon as the director caught sight of him, he immediately rushed over to Zhou Jin before grabbing onto one of his hands. "You''re finally here! What''s going on? Why is there someone from the Department of Social Security here to see you? Did you... Did you get into some trouble?"

    "Not that I can think of," Zhou Jin replied in a respectful manner. "In any case, it would be rude to keep them waiting, so I''ll go in now if that''s alright with you."

    "Alright..." The director stepped aside with aplex expression and a worried look in his eyes.

    Zhou Jin was renowned for being a grounded and sensible individual. He had already been here for over five years, and during his time here, he had never made any mistakes in his work, and he shared good rtionships with all of his colleagues, so surely he hadn''t done anything wrong!

    In that case, why was he receiving a visit from the Department of Social Security?

    Zhou Jin knocked on the door, then opened it and made his way into the room before closing the door behind him.

    The atmosphere in the room was a little tense. In the director''s chair sat an elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair, while a pair of younger Yin spirits were seated on either side of him.

    All three of these Yin spirits were giving off an indescribable aura, and Zhou Jin immediately identified it as an aura of someone who had been on a battlefield before.

    With that in mind, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he extended a slight bow.

    Before he had a chance to say anything, the white-haired elderly man at the center of the trio stood up before extending a hand. "I am Zhang Huaien, the leader of the first team of the Department of Social Security."

    "I am Zhou Jin, an employee at the First Mining Department."

    Zhang Huaien patted Zhou Jin''s shoulder with a smile as he said, "Never did I think that I would get to meet you in person... You''re my idol, Commander Zhou Gongjin."

    Zhou Jin habitually adjusted his sses as a wry smile appeared on his face. "That''s all in the past now."

    Zhang Huaien opened his mouth again, as if he wanted to say something, but refrained from doing so in the end. After a brief handshake with Zhou Jin, he said in a serious voice, "Mr. Zhou Gongjin, it was decided by the government to send you and the other 12 envoys down to the grassroots units. I admire you for your historic achievements, but from the government''s point of view, I don''t think the wrong decision was made."

    Zhou Yu''s wry smile became even more pronounced upon hearing this.

    After pledging their loyalty to Qin Ye, they hadn''t received any favorable treatment. At their point, their actions were already pointless.

    If they didn''t surrender themselves, then Zhao Yun would''ve captured them in person, and they wouldn''t have been able to put up any resistance. They didn''t have top-tier military arrays, nor weapons capable of destroying nations, so in the face of a being above the Yama-King level, they werepletely powerless.

    Thus, they were sent to work in various grassroots units and were strictly prohibited from revealing their pasts to anyone. If they went against this mandate, then they would immediately be thrown in prison.

    If they had known that this would happen, then they certainly wouldn''t have acted the same way that they did.

    Having said that, who could''ve anticipated that the Cathayan Underworld would develop so quickly that in less than 20 years, it was in a position to reap profits from the entire world!

    They had been watching the entire time as Hell had risen up from nothing more than rubble and ruin to the global powerhouse that it was today...

    "It''s all in the past," he said with a forced smile.

    Themander who had dominated the Battle of Red Cliffs was long gone.

    "Not necessarily," Zhang Huaien said in a low voice.

    Zhou Yu''s soul shuddered violently upon hearing this, but he was immediately able topose himself again.

    "Mr. Zhou Gongjin." Zhang Huaien took a few steps backward, then extended a military salute as he dered, "Hell is summoning all of the old Hell''s underworld emissaries to Everburn for an assembly. However, you can choose not to go."

    Zhou Yu finally raised his head, and in that instant, he suddenly felt as if he had been given a new lease on life.

    Having reached the heights that he had scaled in the past, of course he wasn''t content to live out a mundane afterlife before entering the cycle of reincarnation! There was naturally still an urge within him to return to his original position!

    "Am I the only one being summoned?"

    No, Zhang Huaien replied with a shake of his head. "Mr. Qin Hui, Ms. Su Daji, and the past 12 envoys have all been summoned to return to Everburn if they wish to do so."

    "Why?"

    Zhang Huaien shook his head in response. "I don''t know. All I know is that Everburn has new missions to assign to everyone. Now then, are you willing to go, Commander Zhou?"

    "Of course!" Zhou Yu replied without any hesitation as a scorching light appeared in his eyes.

    He was desperately yearning for an opportunity to make his return!

    Despite how slim the chances were, he had constantly been hoping to be granted such an opportunity, and it was finally here!

 Chapter 1080: Gathering of the Old Hellâ€™s Officials

    <h4>Chapter 1080: Gathering of the Old Hell¡¯s Officials</h4>

    In the present day, Everburn was a bustling city that was glowing with a resplendent beauty thatbined both modern and antiquated elements. There were antiquated buildings lining the streets, but the interior of these buildings was illuminated by electrical lighting. Despite this, the setting was extremely natural, unlike the buildings modeled after ancient buildings in the mortal realm.

    At the back of the spacious conference hall was an ancient Cathayan-style screen, and vibrant artwork depicting the 18 abysses of punishment were drawn onto the wooden walls. Ptialnterns constructed in the shape of dragon heads illuminated the entire hall, and Zhou Yu was looking out at the city through a window, feeling a myriad of emotions at once.

    Has Everburn already be this prosperous?

    It still couldn''tpare with the Fengdu of old, but in the span of less than 20 years, it had already far surpassed his Laos Underworld.

    The 12 envoys were seated around a conference table behind him, and just as Zhou Yu had anticipated, not even a single one of the 12 envoys was absent.

    A gust of Yin wind swept over him, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

    The 12 envoys were once the most powerful Infernal Judges below Abyssal Prefects. In fact, they had once been Abyssal Prefects, but had been forced to regress back into Infernal Judges.

    All of them were vastly renowned characters in history with spine-tingling legends attributed to their names.

    They weren''tcking in foresight, power, or charisma, and all of them were extremely talented minds in the fields of politics, economics, and military affairs.

    None of them wanted to live out a pointless afterlife, then return to the cycle of reincarnation. They wanted to lead a glorious afterlife! They didn''t want to return to the cycle of reincarnation, they wanted to bring even more glory to their own names!

    Before he knew it, he found himself reminiscing about the past, and only after a long while did he turn back around before taking a seat on his chair. He then cast his gaze toward his past peers, whom he hadn''t seen in several years, and aplex look appeared in his eyes. "Have you all been well?"

    Even though it had only been five and a half years, the cruel nature of reality had changed them significantly. The most noticeable change was that the irrepressible pride that all of them had harbored was already nowhere to be seen.

    "I''ve been getting by," Gao Changgong replied with a wry smile.

    In the history books, he was renowned for his handsome looks, but during the past few years, he had never taken off his bronze demon mask.

    "Has anyone been working near Everburn? Have you heard anything about why we''ve been summoned here? Are we about to be punished for our past actions?"

    Right at this moment, a cold harrumph rang out from outside, and Yu Qian and Yang Jiye made their way into the hall together. Yu Qian gave all of them a cold look as he said, "Are you worried now? Are you scared now? Back all of you joined forces to humiliate our King Yanluo, you put on extremely spectacr performances!"

    At the time, all of the 12 envoys, with the exception of Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, had tried to bully the new King Yanluo into granting them independence.

    No one offered a reply to Yu Qian. Perhaps they were too embarrassed or remorseful, or perhaps there were some other emotions swirling around in their hearts.

    Only after a long while did Wang Meng chuckle with a wry smile, "We were all once part of the 12 envoys, is there really a need for you to embarrass us any further?"

    Before Yu Qian had a chance to reply, the door was opened once again, following which another voice rang out. "Well, well, well, if it isn''t Prime Minister Wang! We''ve never met before, but I''ve heard much about you. However, you seem to be a little different from the Prime Minister Wang that I''ve heard so much about."

    Qin Hui and Su Daji made their way into the hall together.

    Qin Hui was wearing a ck official''s suit, while Su Daji was gently pping a circr fan with a seductive look in her gorgeous eyes.

    Compared with the 12 envoys, they had surrendered very quickly.

    During these past few years, one of them had been acting as the special advisor of the three eastern provinces, while the other had been acting as the special adviser of the Pearl Delta.

    Of course, in light of their past crimes, they were already extremely fortunate to have been in the positions that they were in, and they were constantly walking on eggshells and repenting for their past transgressions. However, the 12 envoys were clearly in a far worse position than they were, and seeing them struck the two with an immense sense of superiority.

    "Oh? What differences do you see?" Su Daji covered her mouth with her fan as she feigned a curious expression.

    Qin Hui replied, "Legend has it that Prime Minister Wang was the undisputed number one military tactician during the era of the 16 kingdoms. He was said to have carried himself with grace and dignity at all times, but why is it that he''s sitting here right now,menting his own ill fortune like a homeless dog?"

    All of the 12 envoys instantly turned toward him, and a cold smile appeared on Ma Fubo''s face as he said, "Back when we were the 12 envoys, you were nothing more than a wretched cur!"

    "That was back then, and we''re currently in the present." Su Daji sat down onto a chair in an elegant manner while gently fanning herself as she countered, "At the very most, we were onlybeled as disloyal subordinates, whereas you were used of treason!"

    A cold look shed through Ban Dingyuan''s eyes as a hint of a smile appeared on his face. "Demonic witch, do you think this sword that I carry is just for show?"

    Before he had a chance to say anything else, he suddenly felt his foot being trod on under the table, and he immediately reflexively turned toward the person who had stepped on his foot with an inquisitive gaze.

    It was none other than Guo Ziyi.

    Guo Ziyi shook his head in Ban Dinguan''s direction, then poured himself a cup of tea and began to drink from it as if nothing had happened.

    Ban Dingyuan''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he instantly understood Guo Ziyi''s intentions.

    It didn''t matter that this was a reunion between officials who had served the old Hell. What was important was that they had all considered treason in the past.

    At the time, Qin Ye had only been an Anitya Hellguard, who could''ve possibly anticipated that he would be able to unite the nation and set it on the path of bing a dominant force on the world stage in less than 20 years?

    If all of these rebellious subordinates were to gather together and act amicably toward one another, what would Qin Ye think upon seeing their interactions?

    He would immediately suspect that they were plotting treason once again!

    This was why Qin Hui and Su Daji had decided to spark a conflict as soon as they entered the room. Otherwise, they didn''t benefit in any way from provoking the 12 envoys. It was clear that they were putting on a show, especially for Yu Qian and Yang Jiye, who were acting as the eyes and ears of their King Yanluo.

    With that in mind, Ban Dingyuan heaved a long sigh and didn''t say anything further.

    Right at this moment, the door was opened once again, and Qin Ye made his way into the hall with the Harken in his arms. Trailing along behind him were Zhao Yun and several other underworld emissaries, and as soon as they entered the hall, the doors and windows were all shut in unison. All of the underworld emissaries present instantly rose to their feet before extending respectful bows. "We pay our respects to Yanluo Qin!"

    Qin Ye swept an indifferent gaze over these underworld emissaries.

    Back then, the 12 envoys had joined forces to exert pressure on him, and he was only just barely able to weather that storm, but what about now?

    A faint smile appeared on his face as he made an inviting hand gesture and said, "Take a seat."

    No one dared to sit down.

    The pride that they had harbored in the past had already beenpletely whittled down during the past few years, and all of them knew their ce now.

    Only after Qin Ye had taken a seat did everyone else finally sit back down.

    All of the 12 envoys were quietly sizing up the underworld emissaries who had followed Qin Ye into the hall. If they could identify these underworld emissaries, then they would be able to confirm what the objective for this meeting was, thereby allowing them to mentally prepare themselves for what was about toe.

    Zhou Yu was also casting furtive nces at Qin Ye''s entourage, yet he had only taken a few nces before he suddenly reflexively sat up straighter.

    "What''s wrong?" Chang Yuchun, who was seated beside him, furrowed his brows slightly upon seeing this.

    Zhou Yu shook his head in response, and several secondster, he withdrew his gaze as a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.

    "Do you know who they are?" he asked in a low voice.

    Chang Yuchun shook his head in response.

    Zhou Yu forcibly repressed his own excitement as he took a deep breath, then said, "The one seated second to the left of Yanluo Qin is the director of the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People''s Republic of Cathay, Zhang Ting. He served from 2000 to 2017, and he passed away in 2025."

    "Is that supposed to be a remarkable upation?" Chang Yuchun asked.

    "Of course it is!" Zhou Yu replied. "How long has it been since youst learned about the mortal realm? In the mortal realm, brains trusts are distributed throughout various organizations. In 2020, there were around 8,209 brains trusts in the entire world, of which Northern Usonia owned close to 2,000 think tanks, Europa owned over 2,200, and Asia owned close to 1,900. Among all nations, Usonia ranked number one with close to 1,900 think tanks, Hindustan was second with 509 think tanks, Cathay was third with 507 think tanks, and the top 10 is rounded out by Brittania, Argentina, Germany, Russia, Franks, Nippon, and Italia."

    These were the brightest minds in the world, and also the ones who were able to most urately analyze the state of the world.

    Zhou Yu continued, "The Development Research Center of the State Council of the People''s Republic of Cathay is ranked very highly on the world''s top 100 think tanks. There''s no way that a single person can consider everything. When ites to national policies, all of them arise through discussions between think tanks and government administrations. They have had an impact throughout all of history, except they were known by different names at different time periods, such as advisors, strategists, etc. Zhang Ting was able to serve as the director of the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People''s Republic of Cathay for 17 years, standing firmly through the tumultuous period following the turn of the millennium and choosing the best path forward during the chaos of the global financial crisis. This is sufficient testament to his intelligence and decision-making ability. What do you think a meeting with someone like him present entails?"

    Chang Yuchun''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    This entailed that their King Yanluo was giving them an opportunity to participate in the nation''s politics!

    No, not only was this an opportunity, it was also a test, a test to see if they were wholeheartedly dedicated to serving the new administration, and to see if their ideas could keep up with the current world.

    With that in mind, his hands involuntarily balled up into tight fists under the table.

    "That''s not all," Zhou Yu continued. "That man was the vice-director of the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People''s Republic of Cathay, Ye Yun. That man over there was the director of the Cathay Institutes of Contemporary International Rtions, Shi Xiangyang. That''s the former director of the Cathayan Institute of World Economics and Politics, Tao Guoqiang. That''s the former director of the Center for Cathay and Globalization, Li Dongming. In 2020, four of Cathay''s think tanks, including the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People''s Republic of Cathay, were nominated for the world''s most outstanding policy research think tank. Six of Cathay''s think tanks, including the Cathay Institutes of Contemporary International Rtions, were listed on the rankings for the best think tanks in foreign policy and international affairs. Four of Cathay''s think tanks, including the Center for Cathay and Globalization, were listed on the rankings for the best think tanks in international economic policy. These people are all among the cream of the crop, even in those top-tier think tanks, and their judgment of international and domestic conditions are extremely urate. Do you understand what''s going on now?"

    Something big was about to happen!

    Chang Yuchun also sat up straighter upon hearing this. This was most likely the only opportunity they were going to get to make their voices heard following their five-year banishment, and they were all intent on grabbing this opportunity with both hands!

 Chapter 1081: Space Exploration (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1081: Space Exploration (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye hadn''t told the 12 envoys what was happening. He had only requested their presence without any forewarning, and this was a test in itself, one that would examine whether the 12 envoys were capable of adapting with the changing times.

    He gently stroked the Harken, which was wagging its tail with a pleased expression, and after several seconds of silence, he said, "As I''m sure you''re all aware, the new energy resource has already emerged. In the wake of the imminent industrial revolution, the world is about to undergo a massive change. However, the times are always advancing, and we can only maintain a temporary lead with the new energy resource. In order to continue to lead the rest of the world, we must always maintain a technological advantage. Hence, I have a question for all of you: given the current state of the world, where should we turn to? The sky or the sea?"

    He leaned back in his chair, then picked up his teacup as he prompted, "Please feel free to give your opinions, everyone."

    His deration was met byplete silence.

    After the silence had worn on for close to 20 seconds, Zhou Yu finally sensed that something was wrong. He cast a furtive nce toward the other envoys, only to find that they were alsomunicating with one another in silence with their eyes.

    He lowered his head as he twiddled his thumbs in an absentminded manner. This was a habitual gesture of his whenever he was in deep thought.

    The test had already begun!

    Under normal circumstances, there was no ce for them to speak during a meeting like this, which had the purpose of deciding the nation''s future strategy. After all, they had been absent from the political sphere for too long. However, the brains trust, which was supposed to be speaking at a time like this, wasn''t saying anything, and Qin Ye wasn''t asking for any input from them, either, so it was clear that he wanted to hear what the 12 envoys had to say.

    What exactly does he want to hear? Is he testing to see whether we still harbor ambitions in politics? Alternatively, is he trying to see whether we''re still keeping an eye on international and domestic affairs despite our five-year absence from politics? Does he want to examine how sensitive we are to the current situation? Is he trying to see whether our thinking is able to keep up with the ever-evolving times?

    The new energy resource was about to sweep through the entire world, and this was an unprecedented crossroads for the Cathayan Underworld. Perhaps this was why they had been invited to attend this meeting!

    With that in mind, Zhou Yu was just about to speak when Gao Changgong''s voice rang out before him. "Perhaps it''s impudent for me to speak now, but I would like to offer my opinion."

    All of the 12 envoys were extremely renowned figures in history, and seeing as Zhou Yu was able to catch on to what was happening, there was no reason why the others wouldn''t be able to as well.

    If this were a video game, then the average rating of the governors, administrativemissioners, and procurators under Qin Ye''smand would be around 70, while the 12 envoys were at least going to be rated above 90.

    Qin Ye smiled as he gave an encouraging nod, and Gao Changgong continued, "I think that developing internally is the safe and steady path, while developing outward is less conventional. However, if we can sessfully develop outward, then our Cathayan Underworld will be able to maintain its lead over the rest of the world for at least 1,000 years!"

    No one raised any objections to this, and Gao Changgong continued, "Our Yanluo Qin was able to unite the nation and make its voice heard on the world stage in the span of less than 20 years, and that''s already an exceptional achievement. However, the three pirs aren''t just going to give up and allow our Cathayan Underworld to rise to dominance."

    "We all experienced that era, and we all know that their military prowess and research and development abilities are at the top of the world. The new Hell hasn''t been established for a very long time, and our GDP is still iparable to that of the three pirs. They have a foundation built up over thousands of years to work with, while we had to start from scratch. If I''m not mistaken, our GDP forst year was six trillion, and for the past five years, we''ve maintained a rate of annual GDP growth of around 18%. In contrast, our neighbor, the Hindustani Underworld, which is also one of the four pirs, had a GDP of 35 trillionst year."

    Even though the brains trust were already familiar with these figures, their eyelids still twitched slightly upon hearing this.

    These figures were truly damning to the Cathayan Underworld.

    "During the thousands of years of the three pirs'' development, countless Yin spirits have chosen not to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and their industries have already reached the very pinnacle of what was possible during the feudal era. This is a massive disparity caused by the differences in our poptions, and under these circumstances, even if we can maintain a rate of growth in excess of 20% per year, it would still take us 200 to 300 years to catch up. On top of that, this rapid rate of growth is only made possible by this industrial revolution and technological boom."

    He heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "Under these circumstances, it''s certainly far from easy for us to develop space exploration projects. In contrast, developing the sea is different. Yin spirits don''t need to breathe, and high water pressures will only result in a decrease in speed, but aren''t lethal. As such, Yin spirits are extremely well-equipped to be conducting work on the seabed. All we have to do is develop materials that can withstand high pressures so that our dive boats can enter the deep sea. At the same time, these materials can also be considered for the construction of spacecrafts. I''m not saying that we should scrap the idea of space exploration altogether. On the contrary, I think this is a necessary path to take, but not one that we should pursue now. Instead, we should focus on establishing some simpler industries so that we can slowly umte a strong foundation and skilled personnel. If our attempts to delve into space exploration fail, or it ends up taking too long, our advantage willpletely disappear!"

    As his voice trailed off, he turned toward Qin Ye with a rather uneasy expression.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. As Gao Changgong was speaking, he had sensed that something wasn''t quite right, but he wasn''t able to immediately put his finger on exactly what was wrong.

    This was a very strange feeling.

    However, this wasn''t the time to be considering something like that, and he set that train of thought aside as he began to apud. A round of apuse instantly rang out throughout the entire hall.

    Several secondster, the apuse subsided, and Qin Ye took a sip of his tea, then said, "That was very sound analysis, but I don''t think we need to be quite so cautious. Our current situation is much like when Cathay was first established as a nation in the mortal realm. In fact, our situation is slightly better inparison. However, we don''t have much time to waste. The new energy resource is our only chance to make a resurgence, and we need to use this period of time to develop the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the artificial satellite of the underworld. Perhaps you could say that I''m being too ambitious, but in my opinion, developing the sea won''t be enough for us to stamp our authority on the rest of the world. What do you think, Director Zhang?"

    Zhang Ting was an elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair, and he was wearing a Mao suit and a pair of ck-rimmed sses. He gently adjusted his sses as he said, "I agree. On the surface, it looks like the difference between developing toward the sea or developing toward outer space is that the former is the safer option, while thetter presents more of a risk. However, I must remind everyone not to overlook one thing, and that is our power. Indeed, if we were to develop toward the sea, then perhaps we would be the first nation to develop seabed excavation and construction equipment. However, once we begin digging up resources from the sea, the entire world will gather to share the spoils. Given the current state of our Cathayan Underworld, we can''t ensure that we''ll be able to secure sufficient benefits from deep-sea excavation.¡±

    Shi Xiangyang nodded as he chimed in, "Once we develop deep-sea excavation technology, we''ll have no choice but to release it to the world unless we want to instigate a world war. Even if we manage to hold the majority of the patents, the battle for the sea will be a cruel and ruthless affair. In order to secure thergest amount of resources possible from the sea, all of the underworlds will be sure to deploy their naval fleets. The other three pirs all have formidable fleets, but what do we have? All we have is the Kraken mothership, and at the very most, that can only ensure that we''ll be able to upy a single area of the sea. In that case, what about the other areas? Even if we are the ones to develop deep-sea excavation technology, the other underworlds will be able to imrger regions of the sea than we''ll be able to, and that is simply an unfavorable deal for us in the end."

    All of the underworld emissaries present nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

    Thus, the entire hall fell silent again. In reality, it wasn''t up to the 12 envoys to decide whether the Cathayan Underworld developed toward the sea or toward outer space. With their current statuses, they didn''t even have the right to participate in a meeting as important as this one.

    Their input was only a catalyst to begin the conversation, leading into the questions that Qin Ye truly wanted to ask.

    With that in mind, he took a deep breath to repress his own excitement and anticipation, then said, "If we do decide to pursue space exploration, what do you all think the spacecrafts of the underworld will look like? We''re only speaking on hypothetical terms here, so you can suggest anything you want, even things like floating cities and flying mountains, I''m open to all ideas here."

    The 12 envoys exchanged a few nces with one another, and several secondster, Yu Qian stood up as he said, "All of the underworld''s arts are formed by the inscription of Yin runes. When inscribed onto an object, all Yin runes will bestow upon that object the corresponding ability. For example, if we engrave a Skyglide Art array onto an airship, then it''ll be capable of flight, and it has nothing to do with the airship''s design. This is the biggest difference between the mortal realm and the underworld! We don''t need to dedicate any effort to researching airships, nor do we care about their outward appearance. All we need to do is perfect the arts required to make the airship fly!"

    Qin Ye abruptly looked up and cast a meaningful gaze toward Yu Qian upon hearing this. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but refrained from doing so in the end and merely nodded, indicating for Yu Qian to continue.

    This was an answer that he hadpletely failed to envision!

    Right at this moment, Chang Yuchun chimed in, "Another area of consideration is that if we want to explore outer space, we''ll have to think about asteroids and other threats present in the environment of space. Thus, our airships must be extremely resolute, so certain structurally bolstering arts should also be developed."

    "Also, we need to be able to adjust and control the airship''s flight speed!" Zhou Yu was also getting involved in the conversation. "Arts like the Skyglide Art can only allow an airship to fly, but are unable to determine its flight speed. Hence, we must develop speed-rted arts as well. On top of that, those arts must be controlled by Yin rune experts, and taking into ount the fact that even Yin spirits will experience mental fatigue from working for extended periods of time, each spacecraft will need to have at least two to three Yin rune experts onboard."

    "We also need to think about weapons!" Ma Fubo said. "If we encounter any Yin beasts in outer space, we need to have the option to be able to attack them if we''re unable to get away... Your Excellency, is there something wrong?"

    Qin Ye had raised a hand, and everyone quickly fell silent upon seeing this.

    He didn''t say anything. Instead, he gently drummed his fingers against the surface of the table as he stared at his own teacup in an absentminded manner.

    He cast his gaze toward Zhao Yun and the Harken, and both of them seemed to be just as perplexed as he was.

    This wasn''t the type of response that Qin Ye had been expecting to hear.

    Qin Ye had asked everyone to talk about their ideas of what spacecrafts could be like, and logically speaking, shouldn''t their first reaction have been to ask whether space truly existed for the underworld?

    Judging from what everyone had just said, it seemed that the existence of space was already a foregone conclusion, which meant that all of them were already aware of the existence of space!

    He finally understood why he had felt like something was amiss earlier. Whether space existed was something that even Zhao Yun and the Harken didn''t know about, and he only confirmed its existence after consulting the second King Yanluo, so how did the 12 envoys know about this?

    "You know that space exists? And you even know that there are Yin beasts in space?" he asked as he watched the 12 envoys with tightly furrowed brows.

    Judging from the reactions of Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, Yang Jiye immediately understood what was going on, and he exined, "Please forgive us for our oversight, Your Excellency. The fact of the matter is that all of us 12 envoys know about the existence of space."

    "How do you know about this?" The Harken finally spoke, and its authoritative voice rang out across the entire hall like rumbling thunder, striking all of the other underworld emissaries in the hall with a sense of asphyxiation. "Why is it that all of you know about this, but I don''t?"

    Yang Jiye and Yu Qian immediately stood up before extending respectful bows. "Please forgive us and allow us the chance to exin."

    "Go ahead."

    Yang Jiye continued, "On the 20th of July, 1969, the human race stepped onto the moon for the very first time. This event didn''t create much of a stir in the underworld. However, half a yearter, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa of the new continent arrived outside our Cathayan Underworld''s Array of the Nine Gods, and at the time, they were met by the second King Yanluo. Their meeting took ce in the Great Viet, which was once the vassal state under Gao Changgong."

    The three Yama-Kings immediately turned their attention toward Gao Changgong upon hearing this, and he shuddered as he instantly rose to his feet before extending a respectful bow. "It''s true, I was present at the time as well. During the meeting, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa described some... unfathomable things, and it was from them that we learned that this world doesn''t actually consist of only three realms!"

 Chapter 1082: Space Exploration (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1082: Space Exploration (2)</h4>

    Near the end of 1969.

    In a certain guest hall, Gao Changgong was seated on his chair in a respectful manner, taking asional nces at the two death gods in the hall through the eyeholes of his bronze mask.

    This was a spacious room constructed with some Great Viet influences, but of course, it was mostly constructed in the typical style of the Cathayan Underworld. At the back of the hall was an embroidered screen that was around three meters in length and roughly a meter tall, depicting the Aurogon dancing through a sea of clouds. Around it were several resplendentnterns, and the entire hall was very elegant to behold.

    At the center of the room were two rows of tables and chairs, and the two death gods were seated on the first and second chairs of the row on the left.

    They were already extremely old, and they were wearing Aztec-style cloaks with green as the primary color scheme. These cloaks were embellished with intricately crafted golden ornaments and colorful feathers, andplex tattoos could be seen on the exposed parts of their skin. It was clear from their presentation that they were taking this visit very seriously.

    There was an indescribable aura of rot and decay in their Yin energy, and if it weren''t for the fact that his presence was necessary, Gao Changgong would''ve already fled from the room.

    With each passing second, he felt as if he were slowly aging, and in addition to that, these were two deranged death gods that no one in the world dared to provoke! This was probably the only ce where they would disy any restraint and civility.

    Right at this moment, the door was gently pushed open, and Gao Changgong heaved an internal sigh of relief as he immediately rose to his feet before extending a respectful bow. "Gao Changgong pays his respects to Yanluo Xu."

    The person who had just entered the room was the second King Yanluo, and he was wearing a tight-fitting white robe with a golden crown on his head, and there was a white jade belt around his waist, entuating his exceptional figure. His brows looked as if they had been carved out of granite, and his eyes were bright as stars, while his face was as chiseled as a marble statue. Even though he was only standing on the spot, he still gave off an extremely authoritative and intimidating aura.

    The two ruler death gods of the new continent slowly rose to their feet, then extended deep, respectful bows while holding onto their canes for support.

    No matter how deranged or insane they were, they didn''t dare to do anything out of line in the presence of this man.

    Gao Changgong obediently picked up his notepad. Everything that Yanluo Xu said and did had to be recorded, but the two ruler death gods of the new continent had specifically stated that no outsiders were to be present during this meeting, so he had to fill in andplete the tasks that would normally be assigned to the secretaries and assistants.

    "Why are you here again?" the second King Yanluo asked in an impatient manner before taking a sip of tea. "The foundation of your religion has been destroyed, and your faith no longer has an anchor, so your demise is inevitable. Plus, it''s not like you''re going to die, you''ll only be returning to the Heavenly Dao. Surely that''s not too difficult for you to ept! I''ve told you this in the past: my cultivation method doesn''t suit you. I am a living human, while you two are Yin spirits, so we''re fundamentally different. Are you deaf or do you not understand Cathayan?"

    Mtecutli was holding onto his cane with both hands, and he looked so frail that it was as if he could pass away at any moment. Even though the second King Yanluo was being quite rude, he didn''t dare to disy any displeasure as he smiled, causing all of the wrinkles on his face to bunch up together. "Esteemed Yanluo Xu, I have a question that you are most likely the only one in this world capable of answering."

    "Go on then," the second King Yanluo prompted in an impatient manner.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa exchanged a nce before the former asked, "Does space exist in this world? I''m not talking about the underworld, not the space of the mortal realm."

    The second King Yanluo was rather taken aback to hear this question, and he put down his teacup as he asked, "Why do you ask that?"

    Mtecutli replied, "Half a year ago, humans stepped onto the moon in the mortal realm. You''re already aware of our situation. During the past century or so, we''ve been frantically searching for a solution to our predicament, but unless we can get Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia to believe in the Aztec religion again, there''s no way for us to survive. However, what if we turn to outer space?"

    Mictetikasiwa was wearing a golden crown that seemed almost too heavy for her frail head to carry, and she said in an excited voice, "If space exists, then perhaps there''s a realm just like ours somewhere out there! We can still live for several more centuries, and if we can spread our religion to another suitable ne during that time, we''ll be able to survive! Hence, we came here to ask you this question."

    In the face of the two pairs of eager eyes, a hint of a smile appeared on the second King Yanluo''s face as he said, "I didn''t think that you two would be the first ones in the underworld to think about exploring other nes. I can tell you now that space does exist, and it''s very likely that intelligent life forms exist in this very star system. The Milky Way of the Underworld is known as the Yin Space River, and in contrast with the Milky Way of the mortal realm, all nes within this star system are situated very close to one another!"

    The two ruler death gods of the new continent immediately sprang to their feet with excitement upon hearing this.

    Mictetikasiwa then extended a respectful bow toward the second King Yanluo as she said, "Thank you for answering our question. So long as we continue to live, we promise that the new continent will ever be an enemy to the Cathayan Underworld."

    "It''s not a big deal," the second King Yanluo replied with a casual smile. "Besides, no one dares to make an enemy out of me."

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa nodded sheepishly in response. "Once we return to the new continent, we''ll begin conducting research in this area right away, and all of our findings will be stored at San Juan Teotihuac¨¢n. All of those records will be made fully essible to all past and present King Yanluos of the Cathayan Underworld."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    After Gao Changgong ryed his memory to everyone in the room, the hall fellpletely silent. Qin Ye was absentmindedly drumming his fingers against the tabletop, and he had already fallen into deep thought.

    This exined many things that couldn''t be exined in the past.

    For example, why was it that there hadn''t been any civil turmoil in Usonian even though Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had already gone off the deep end several centuries ago?

    It was because they weren''tpletely deranged, after all. They were indeed devouring their own followers in order to extend their lifespans, but they hadn''t made it so that it waspletely impossible for theirherworldly citizens to survive.

    Simrly, why hadn''t Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa intervened during the plot hatched by the three Caribbean Death Gods?

    Were they oblivious to what was happening? Surely there was no way that was possible! They were the ruler death gods of Usonia, and there was no way they would''ve failed to notice something so significant. After all, the Kraken had entered their territory, how could they possibly have failed to detect that?

    One of the six kings had encroached upon their territory, and that was an act of direct provocation toward them, yet they hadn''t done anything.

    This was because they were also researching space exploration, and they had a head start of several decades on the Cathayan Underworld! No wonder they didn''t have the time to spare to address anything else!

    Their insanity was only a facade that prevented the rest of the world from entering Usonia. They were well aware of the fact that the entire world was eagerly awaiting their demise. Once they passed away, the new continent would be left with only several ordinary death gods and no ruler, and a world war would most likely ensue as the entire world fought to im this massive continent!

    For every underworld, there was no limit to their desire to increase their territory and poption.

    I see... I finally understand why they didn''t ask me any questions back when I told them Zhao Yun''s cultivation method. It''s because they were focused entirely on something else. They''ve already been researching space exploration for several decades, and they didn''t dare to believe the method I provided to them, nor were they willing to give up on the project that they had been working on for several decades. The new cultivation method is something that they were only going to consider if and when their forays into space exploration fail, so there was naturally no need for them to ask any questions.

    With that in mind, a faint smile appeared on his face.

    The ne was like a chessboard, while all of the death gods were pieces on the chessboard. In the past, he had thought that the two ruler death gods of the new continent were only a pair of deranged old geezers who were desperately iling about like fatally wounded animals, but it seemed that they weren''t quite so desperate or deranged after all.

    If he hadn''t summoned the 12 envoys for this meeting, he would''ve never guessed that the new continent would be researching space exploration technology!

    "They have more than enough people for the job, including the past death gods and all of the brilliant minds of Usonia. No wonder no skilled personnel from Usonia ever appears during international conferences. You would think that at least a small percentage of them would be able to escape from the new continent, but that hasn''t been the case. What''s most likely been happening is that as soon as they entered the underworld, they were taken by Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa straight to the ce where space exploration technology was being researched."

    At this point, everything was clear to Qin Ye.

    Even though the new continent was also researching space exploration, there was no direct conflict between them and the Cathayan Underworld as the objectives of the two werepletely different.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s research was designed to usher in a new era for the underworld, whereas the new continent''s research was for the sole purpose of allowing Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to escape this ne to spread their religion to other nes.

    Thus, the scale and technology involved were all going to be drastically different.

    However, there were still going to be simrities, such as the thought processes involved and the arts used.

    With that in mind, a thought was already beginning to take shape in Qin Ye''s heart.

    Was there a chance for the Cathayan Underworld and the new continent to coborate in this field? If that were possible, then the Cathayan Underworld would have a lead of several decades over the rest of the world when it came to space exploration technology!

    "There''s no fundamental conflict of interest, and their source of information was the second King Yanluo, so a coboration is definitely not impossible! On top of that, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa don''t care about anything like patents right now. They''re doing this for survival, not for money! In exchange, I can grant them the usage rights to King Yanluo''s Seal!"

    King Yanluo''s Seal was able to improve the quality of Yin energy, and enhance Yin runes. As such, it should be a massive asset when it came to research into the field of space exploration! Regardless of whether it could provide any actual benefit or not, at the very least, it should be a tempting proposition to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa!

    With that in mind, Qin Ye was even more convinced that space exploration was the right way to go.

    Under the current circumstances, the Cathayan Underworld had the most advanced energy resource technology in the world. Even if the second King Yanluo was right, and this energy resource couldn''t y a fundamental role when it came to space exploration, it could help that cause in other areas. He was confident that once he made this proposal following themencement of the international trade conference, there would be no underworld willing topete with the Cathayan Underworld.

    In addition to that, he also had to conduct his own experiments to see what he could get away with creating without it disintegrating into ck butterflies, as the second King Yanluo had proimed. That task could be delegated to his researchers, and in the meantime, he had to travel to the new continent right away to negotiate with Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    This was a negotiation between ruler death gods, so no one could go in his ce.

    While he was there, he could also take a look at the so-called treasure vault mentioned by the Plumed Serpent God, as well as visit the ce that the second King Yanluo had described.

    Having made up his mind, he raised his head and cast his gaze toward everyone in the room. "12 envoys."

    "Present!" The 12 envoys immediately rose to their feet as they cupped their fists in respectful salutes.

    A serious look appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and an authoritative tone also crept into his voice as he said, "There''s something I need you to do for me right now."

    Before they had a chance to ask, he continued, "Our Cathayan Underworld is about to begin a project, the scale of which has never been seen in history. As long as you do everything in your power to contribute to this project, I can let bygones be bygones and forget the past. What do you say?"

    Silence.

    While it was true that they had disrespected Qin Ye in the past, they hadn''t ever considered betraying this nation, and in this situation, they knew that the era that belonged to them had already passed by.

    With that in mind, countlessplex emotions welled up in their hearts. However, there was no point in reminiscing about the past, and Zhou Yu stood up as he cupped his fist in a salute. "I, Zhou Gongjin, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    Their era had already passed them by, but there was nothing stopping them from contributing to creating the era that belonged to the Cathayan Underworld!

    How could their names be absent from the new era?

    Zhou Yu''s deration seemed to have snapped all of the 12 envoys out of their reverie, and in that instant, all of them stood up in unison.

    "I, Ma Fubo, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Chang Yuchun, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Han Qinhu, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Guo Ziyi, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Ban Dingyuan, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Wang Meng, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Gao Changgong, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    "I, Cha Han, am willing to dedicate my life to serving Hell!"

    In the past, the 12 envoys had been haughty and untamed, going as far as to try and force their King Yanluo to grant them independence, but on this day, all of them were submitting to the new administration again.

 Chapter 1083: Meeting with Yanluo Qin

    <h4>Chapter 1083: Meeting with Yanluo Qin</h4>

    A group of Yin spirits were walking over the tiled ground as their robes pped incessantly around them.

    They were making their way through a hallway in the Kasa Temple of the Hindustani Underworld, and the hallway was lined with statues of deities from Hindustani religions. All of the servants who caught sight of this group of Yin spirits immediately backed away to the side to grant them free passage, then bowed as a gesture of respect.

    The group was led by Faizal Eben Abduh Aziz, current chairman of the Abbasid Consortium, and behind him were all of the higher-ups of the Abbasid Consortium.

    Up ahead, a gate that was five meters tall was already slowly beginning to open, and shadows were flickering incessantly beyond the gate. 10 chairs had been ced around a massive stone table, and all of the representatives of the other consortiums were already present.

    "Sorry for arrivingte." Faizal quickly made his way over to his seat before immediately sitting down, and even though he was still panting slightly, he immediately asked, "Is there any news?"

    "No." Archbishop Antonio, the chairman of the Psalm Consortium, was seated beside him, and he replied with furrowed brows, "The Cathayan Underworld is refusing to meet with anyone, and even the ruler death gods of all of the underworlds haven''t been granted audiences."

    "Damn it!" Faizal picked up his coffee cup before taking a sip. "Is Yanluo Qin really trying to keep us out of this? Surely that''s not possible! We hold shares in most of the world''spanies, and no matter what industries they want to develop in, they have to deal with us!"

    Fujii Heihachiro gently tapped the table, then said, "In my opinion, the fact that the Cathayan Underworld is refusing tomunicate with us is a sign that they''re not pleased with us."

    Indeed, the top 10 consortiums had sat on the fence until the veryst moment, and that was inevitably going to be frowned upon.

    However, there was no helping that. Prior to attending the international trade conference, the top 10 consortiums had all received news that the Heavenly Fire Research Center had managed to develop electron and proton Yin runes. Under those circumstances, how could they possibly make the decision to side with the Cathayan Underworld?

    Who could''ve possibly imagined that the Cathayan Underworld would suddenly pull out such a stunning trump card, right when all seemed lost, to deal the three pirs a lethal blow?

    "But he''ll inevitably have to coborate with us, so he''ll have to see us sooner orter, anyway! Why is he doing this?" The chairman of the Blue Forest Consortium, Johnson, gritted his teeth as he spected, "Could it be that he wants us to atone for our mistakes? In that case, we''ll do that! If he wants benefits, then we''ll give him benefits! The problem is that he''s refusing to even tell us what he wants!"

    This was no different to torture for them!

    After a few seconds of silence, Archbishop Antonio sighed, "We''ll discuss thister. We made an error in judgment on this asion, so it''s only right that we pay for our mistake. However, we didn''t gather here to talk about this."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he swept his gaze across everyone present. "What we need to know is what future path the Cathayan Underworld is going to take! They''ve earned themselves an unprecedented opportunity, and they''ll be sure to do everything in their power to maintain their advantage! In order to do that, they''ll have to choose a path that grants them the greatest profit over the longest period of time, and the most profitable industries in the world are all rted to cutting-edge technology. We have to know their choice so that we can best organize our resources."

    It was certainly no easy task to mobilize a consortium.

    In order to prepare for the massive changes that were about to sweep over the entire world, they had already drawn upon most of their avable funds, just to be able to keep up with the Cathayan Underworld.

    Earning money was one thing, but what was far more important to them was to be able to take part in the world''s most high-end projects and to remain as leaders of the financial world in the new era.

    For this purpose, all of thepanies under the consortiums had endured a hellish week, during which stock had been taken all types of data, ount books, and assets. Thus, aside from the billions of liquid assets that the consortiums themselves could invest at any time, they also had ess to the tens of billions worth of property owned by their subsidiarypanies that they could quickly convert into more liquid assets that they could use for investment!

    In order for any nation to develop industries,panies were essential, and the top 10 consortiums owned a vast number ofpanies.

    After a few seconds of contemtive silence, Faizal said, "After we cote all of our resources, it''ll be time for the battle to begin. Who are our opponents going to be?"

    All of the consortium chairmen looked at one another upon hearing this.

    They were all allies, but they were also each other''s fiercestpetitors.

    Johnson yed with the ring on his finger in an absentminded manner as he said, "The signing of this agreement has been dyed for 10 years, so it''s already well overdue. While it''s true that we''ll eventually bepeting against one another at some point, for now, we have to join forces and kick out all of the meddlers first. In order to guarantee that we won''t attack one another when it''s time to strike, we have to sign the Kais Agreement by the end of today."

    This was their true objective foring here.

    The top 10 consortiums were far from harmonious. Each of them held shares in dozens, even hundreds ofpanies, and they were allpeting against one another. However, they weren''t the only ones with considerable power in the financial world.

    There were also manyrge and powerfulpanies, and even though they hadn''t formed consortiums, some of them were even morepetitive than the top 10 consortiums when it came to certain industries!

    For example, there was the ck Orchid Shipyard of the Croatian Underworld, which was part of the Argosian Underworld. The top consortiums had been trying to buy into the shipyard for a long time as they were world leaders when it came to ship-crafting, but no suitable opportunity had arisen.

    There was also the Ace Mining Company of the Alkebn Underworlds, which was the toppany in the world in the field of mining equipment and technology, and the top 10 consortiums had also failed to buy into it.

    If the Cathayan Underworld wanted to develop these industries, then the top 10 consortiums would facepetition from these existingpanies. Thus, the first thing that they had to do was get rid of these meddling parties, and only then would thepetition between the top 10 consortiums trulymence.

    There were no objections to that.

    There was no time for them to waste, and if they didn''t sign this agreement, then they would beginshing out at one another before theirpetition could be eliminated.

    Whoosh... A sheet of parchment paper that had side lengths of over a meter was rolled out onto the table, and it was riddled with all types ofplex symbols.

    All of the consortium chairmen pulled out their pens before signing their names, then deposited theirherworldly fire as their mark.

    Heihachiro Fujii pulled out an exquisitely crafted pen, then gently rolled up the sleeve of his kimono, yet right as he was about to put pen to paper, he suddenly faltered in his movements. "The Cathayan Underworld won''t be happy with what we''re doing here, will they?"

    "Of course not," Archbishop Antonio replied with a smile. "Regardless of what path they choose to pursue, they must have coborative partners, and the best coborative partners for them would be ones that only have technology and skills to offer, but don''t possess any influence. They definitely don''t want to see our consortiums involved with the coborative partners that they choose."

    Johnson chimed in in an indifferent voice, "By doing this, we''re also telling Yanluo Qin that our influence on this world is not to be ignored. I understand that he''s unhappy with us for making the wrong choice, and we canpensate him for that, but it''s bad practice for him to be keeping us out like this."

    Heihachiro Fujii nodded in response before signing his name onto the sheet of paper.

    Right at this moment, the sound of a long horn rang out from outside, and the 10 consortium chairmen exchanged a nce with one another before rising to their feet.

    That sound indicated that it was time for them to go on the move and proceed to the first stage of their n.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Northern Dragon Port, Formosa.

    After a day of travel, the chairmen of the top 10 consortiums arrived at the port.

    Heihachiro Fujii was the final one to emerge from the ship. He was not fond of noisy and morous asions, and he wouldn''t even havee here if it weren''t for the fact that this conference was far too important for him to miss.

    Kana Fujii was supporting him from the side, and he waved a dismissive hand, upon which the dozen or so bodyguards, secretaries, assistants, and Kana Fujii herself backed away to give him more personal space.

    He was looking at this city, thispletely brand new city.

    It was resplendent and glorious with antiquated Cathayan-style buildings positioned neatly next to one another, and even though there weren''t many Yin spirits traversing through the city, it still gave off a sense of prosperity and vitality.

    "For at least the next century, this is going to be the number one port in the entire world," Heihachiro Fujii mused as he strode forward, and Kana Fujii hurriedly rushed to his side to support him, but he didn''t seem to have noticed at all as he continued, "When the timees, this ind will be filled by representative teams from all of the underworld''s nations, and there could even a branch of the International Committee of Energy Resources could be set up here. Countlesspanies and industries rted to energy resources will at least set up departments here, and when that timees, this city will be a cosmopolitan. Walking on the streets, you''ll be able to see countless foreign Yin spirits. This ce will be the heart of the world''s energy resources, but I wonder how long this willst for... What do you think?"

    Kana Fujii faltered slightly before extending a respectful bow as she said, "I''m not sure..."

    "I''m not asking you." Heihachiro Fujii turned to the side, where an Emissary of Hell with his hands sped behind his back had appeared no more than two meters away from him.

    "The quasi-divine artifact within my body is vibrating..." Heihachiro Fujiiid a hand onto his own chest as he cast his gaze around him. "No one else here seems to be able to see you. Are you... an Abyssal Prefect?"

    Qin Hui nodded in response. "You can call me Abyssal Prefect Qin, and it''s true that no one else here can see me."

    Heihachiro Fujii''s pupils contracted ever so slightly upon hearing this.

    He had only just arrived at a port, and a high-grade Emissary of Hell had already appeared. Who had sent this Abyssal Prefect here? Could it be... a Yama-King?

    He forcibly repressed the excitement that was welling up in his heart, but he could already smell the scent of an opportunity in the air!

    "Can I help you?" he asked with a calm smile, but the veins on the back of his hand were bulging, such was the tightness with which he was gripping his cane.

    Qin Hui also put on a smile with impable etiquette as he cupped his fist in a salute in response. "If you have some time now, our King Yanluo would like to see you."

    Crack!

    The handle of Heihachiro Fujii''s wooden cane was almost snapped straight off his cane by him, and he eagerly replied, "Of course I have time. Would he like to meet me now?"

    "That''s right," Qin Hui replied with a slight bow. "Rest assured, no one will notice your departure, Ghost King Zhao''s Yin energy will make sure of that."

    Heihachiro Fujii was so excited that he could scream!

    There were still six hours until the conference was scheduled to rmence, and the doors of the Cathayan Underworld had remained tightly shut to all of the world''s nations and consortiums, yet it was being opened to him now!

    He waved off all of his bodyguards, then closed his eyes, and when he reopened his eyes, he found himself situated in a resplendent hall.

    The hall wasn''t veryrge, but it was constructed in a very impressive and daunting fashion. However, Heihachiro Fujii was in no mood to be appreciating the hall''s architecture. As soon as he arrived in the hall, he immediately sensed an overwhelming aura descend upon him, and he instantly extended a deep and respectful bow. "Heihachiro Fujii pays his respects to the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!"

    There was no response, but he knew that the young ruler on the throne was looking at him.

    Only after a few seconds of silence did a voice ring out in response. "If a conflict of interest were to arise between your consortium and Amano-Iwato, what would you do?"

 Chapter 1084: The Wedge of Amano-Iwato (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1084: The Wedge of Amano-Iwato (1)</h4>

    What kind of questions is that?

    Heihachiro Fujii still hadn''t stood up straight from his bowed position, and his mind was rapidly racing.

    His instinct was naturally to look after his consortium''s interests above all else. To him, the Nipponese Underworld was only a springboard.

    However, he had been invited here by the Cathayan Underworld to see its King Yanluo, whom no one else had been granted an audience with, which meant that there was a very good chance that they had been chosen.

    The Cathayan Underworld was interested in coborating with the Sacred Treasure Consortium!

    If he were to answer truthfully, then wouldn''t it make him appear too selfish in that he was prioritizing the interests of his own consortium above all else? No one would like a coborative partner like that.

    What if he were to say that he would prioritize the interests of the nation?

    The problem there was that the Sacred Treasure Consortium was based in the Nipponese Underworld, and if he were to provide an answer like that, he would essentially be dering that he was standing by the Nipponese Underworld. In that case, how could he expect the Cathayan Underworld to be content with working with him?

    This seemed to be a very simple question, but it was actually extremely difficult to answer.

    After a few seconds of contemtion, Heihachiro Fujii replied, "I would act ording to the signed agreements and the requests of the coborative parties involved."

    There was no response.

    A few more seconds passed before he finally heard the voice that was like music to his ears. "Bring out a chair! How could we leave the esteemed chairman of the Sacred Treasure Consortium to stand like this? Where are your manners?"

    Heihachiro Fujii heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this. He knew that at the very least, he had passed the first test.

    Only now did he get a chance to take a look at Qin Ye, and his first impression of Qin Ye was that he was very young.

    Qin Ye was wearing a golden dragon robe and a white jade crown on his head. His legs were folded, and he was leaning casually against one of the armrests of his throne.

    His sitting posture was veryzy and informal, but Heihachiro Fujii certainly wasn''t going to look down on him for that. The new ruler of the Cathayan Underworld seemed so young and harmless on the surface, but within the span of less than 20 years, he hadpletely transformed the Cathayan Underworld and single-handedly warded off the three pirs.

    It was rude to look directly at a ruler, so Heihachiro Fujii quickly withdrew his gaze. At this point, a table and a chair had already been brought out by the servants, and Heihachiro Fujii sat down in a formal manner. Only after hearing the sound of Qin Ye picking up his teacup and taking a sip did he pick up his own teacup so that he could quench his own parched throat.

    Qin Ye smiled as he said, "I''ve looked into the Sacred Treasure Consortium briefly in the past, but I''m still currently unsure of exactly what areas the consortium specializes in."

    Is he assessing the power of our Sacred Treasure Consortium now?

    Heihachiro Fujii gently set down his teacup. He knew that he was situated at an extremely important crossroads, and if he could pass Qin Ye''s test, then the Sacred Treasure Consortium would be set for centuries of glory! However, if he couldn''t provide satisfactory answers, then he would immediately be eliminated, and there would be at least ninepetitors capable of taking his ce.

    Heihachiro Fujii knew that Qin Ye already knew the answer to this question. At the very least, he already knew what the Sacred Treasure Consortium specialized in on the surface, so what he wanted to know had to be confidential information lurking beneath the surface.

    "Our main source of revenuees from cutting-edge machinery," Heihachiro Fujii replied. "Thepanies under our consortium produce roughly 30% of all of the cutting-edge machinery in the world. As I''m sure you''re aware, the machinery of the underworld is different from that of the mortal realm. All we have to do is replicate the models of the mortal realm, then inscribe Yin runes upon them or power them using Yin jade or Yin spirit stones, and they can achieve the same effect as the machinery in the mortal realm, even without the need for an energy resource. Our Sacred Treasure Consortium has the best Yin rune designers in the entire underworld. Among the top 100 machinery Yin rune designers in the world, 32 of them are Nipponese Yin spirits, and 25 of those belong to our Sacred Treasure Consortium."

    Qin Ye''s expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, and even he couldn''t help but be impressed.

    The upation of Yin rune designer was one of the top upations in the underworld, and they were responsible for designing Yin runes ording to different conditions raised by their employers. These people were the foundation of the underworld''s Yin rune development.

    The fact that the Sacred Treasure Consortium possessed 25 of the top 100 Yin rune designers in the world was a very tempting prospect for Qin Ye. These people were exactly what he needed for what he was about to do next!

    "Of course, that was in the past. Yin rune design is a very time-consuming andplicated process. For example, for a single crane to function perfectly, millions of Yin runes must be inscribed upon it, and those Yin runes are not of a low caliber, either. Thus, in the past, it would''ve taken as long as two to three years to produce something like that. However, everything is different now. With the new energy resource, we can consider mass production of machinery, something that was impossible for us in the past, so our Sacred Treasure Consortium must find a suitable new direction to take during this industrial revolution."

    There were clearly some implications behind Heihachiro''s words.

    He had praised the new energy resource, stating that it allowed for the possibility of mass production of machinery, which had previously been impossible in the past.

    However, the new energy resource also posed a major threat to the core interests of the Sacred Treasure Consortium. However, he was still willing to hold a discussion with the Cathayan Underworld to find a "suitable new direction", and he wanted Qin Ye to tell him what this new direction should be.

    "In the field of machinery, the two most renowned Yin rune machinery constructionpanies in the world are the Heaven Corporation and the Apostle Corporation, both of which our Sacred Treasure Consortium holds majority shares in. However, not many people are aware that they belong to our Sacred Treasure Consortium. We also have some other projects that are dependent on the development of machinery Yin runes, but that information is publicly avable, so I''m sure you already know about it."

    That was indeed the case.

    The Heaven Corporation and the Apostle Corporation dominated virtually the entire cutting-edge Yin rune machinery industry, but they had made sure not to form an absolute duopoly. It was quite a surprise to Qin Ye that both of thosepanies belonged to the Sacred Treasure Consortium.

    The more he heard about the Sacred Treasure Consortium, the more convinced Qin Ye became that they were the ideal coborative partner.

    With that in mind, he didn''t want to waste any further time, and there was no point in doing so, anyway. Thus, he smiled as he said, "So what if our Cathayan Underworld wants to use the Yin rune designers of your Sacred Treasure Consortium? Just to make things clear, we want them to work on a project that they don''t have any prior experience in."

    This is it!

    A sense of excitement immediately welled up in Heihachiro Fujii''s heart. This meant that the Cathayan Underworld''s future path of development clearly involved cutting-edge Yin runes, and the only Yin runes worthy of such a title had to be in the eighth circle or above!

    What could it possibly be? Computers? Sea exploration? Weaponry?

    Regardless of which area the Cathayan Underworld was going to choose to focus on, if the Sacred Treasure Consortium could be its main coborative partner, then its position at the top of the financial world would be assured for at least the next few centuries!

    No one in the underworld was more aware than he was of just how profitable the cutting-edge Yin rune industry was!

    A hint of urgency crept into his voice as he said, "If the Cathayan Underworld is willing to grant our Sacred Treasure Consortium this opportunity, then we''re willing to put our reputation, built up over 1,500 years, on the line! We''ll be sure to do everything in our power toplete whatever task is assigned to us!"

    "Even if it means that the Cathayan Underworld will be using all of your Yin rune designers?"

    "Of course!" Heihachiro Fujii replied without any hesitation.

    Take them all! If you need more, I can get you over 200 first-rate designers and hundreds of second-rate designers! I''m not passing up this opportunity for anything!

    The Cathayan Underworld''s world-leading energy resource technology was a perfect fit with the Yin rune designers under the Sacred Treasure Consortium, and the Sacred Treasure Consortium would receive patents for everything that was developed by this partnership!

    At the very least, the percentage of patents that the Sacred Treasure Consortium would receive would be no less than 10%, and if it could reach 30%...

    Just the mere thought of this was enough to fill Heihachiro with excitement!

    However, he knew that it was at times like this that it was extremely important to remain calm, and he took a moment topose himself before asking, "May I ask exactly which area the Cathayan Underworld is choosing to focus on?"

    Qin Ye took a sip of his tea before replying in an unhurried manner, "We are pursuing aviation, specifically space exploration."

    Heihachiro Fujii instantly raised his head to stare directly at Qin Ye upon hearing this, then immediately lowered his head again as he realized how rude that gesture had been.

    At the same time, theherfire in his eyes was beginning to turn red.

    As expected, the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t just going to rest on itsurels after ushering in this new era. Instead, it had already decided on its next main area of focus!

    If this coborative partnership could seed, then the Sacred Treasure Consortium would be able to expand its industries into space exploration and even the exploration of foreign nes!

    If he could take 30% of the patents involved... No, even 20% would result in astronomical sums of profit!

    Of course, there was no way that he was going to tell anyone else about this. Qin Ye had summoned him for this private meeting and imparted such an important secret upon him. If he were to go out and tell someone else about this, his days in the underworld would truly be numbered.

    The profits that could be generated were going to be downright astonishing, but before considering that, the issue of feasibility had to be considered.

    How was the Cathayan Underworld so sure that space existed for the underworld? In order to conduct space exploration, Yin rune designers will be required to develop new arts and arrays. In fact, given the emergence of the new energy resource, there could even be a brand new type of technology emerging from this coborative partnership!

    His hand suddenly shuddered slightly, and a ssh of tea fell onto the back of his hand. He had suddenly realized that thebination of the new energy resource and Yin runes would give rise to the industry of fantasy machinery, something that had only ever been seen in the movies, games, and cartoons of the mortal realm!

    Alternatively, it could be named something like Yin energy technology. In any case, this was going to be aplete fusion between two different branches of technology, and if it could seed, the future potential would be limitless!

    Furthermore, the Sacred Treasure Consortium would be able to im dozens, perhaps even hundreds of new patents from this!

    Even 10% of the resulting patents would be a sum that the other nine top consortiums would fight to the death over, and just as importantly, the Sacred Treasure Consortium would be one of the dictators of the rules in this new era!

    "We''ll do everything in our power to fulfill the Cathayan Underworld''s requirements." There was no point in wasting time with words here. In the face of such a massive opportunity, the most important thing to do was to express his stance.

    "Good." Qin Ye raised his teacup to offer a parting toast. "We''ll discuss the specific details after the conference. You have no issues with that, right? I hope you really can put your reputation on the line, as you proimed."

    "Of course! We''ll do everything you say!"

    Thus, Heihachiro Fujii left, and he did so in extremely high spirits.

    After just a brief conversation, he had found out the answer that all of the other top consortiums were desperately trying to find.

    Right after his departure, a figure emerged from behind a screen beside Qin Ye''s throne.

    It was Qin Changxin.

    He was rather perplexed as he asked, "Your Excellency, why did you want me to be present during this meeting? And why are you only using the Sacred Treasure Consortium?"

    If Qin Ye had chosen to inform all 10 of the top consortiums, they would definitely be willing to offer the Cathayan Underworld a tremendous amount of benefits. However, in doing what he had just done, he had minimized the benefits that the Cathayan Underworld would receive.

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup before taking a sip, then called out, "Oda Nobunaga."

    It had been far too long since someone had referred to him by this name, and Qin Changxin immediately fell to one knee upon hearing it.

    "I never go back on my promises. You joined the new Hell during the most difficult period of its development, and I''ve seen all of the contributions that you and your son have made. At the same time, I never forgot my promise to the two of you."

    He cast his gaze toward Qin Changxin, who suddenly began to tremble as he anticipated what Qin Ye was about to say next.

    "I told you that I''ll be deploying troops to Amano-Iwato within the next 20 years to fulfill my promise to you. It looks like it''s going to take a little longer. At the very least, we''ll have to wait until we''ve sessfully developed second-generation forbidden arts, but I''ve just nted a wedge in the Nipponese Underworld."

    Qin Changxin would be weeping if he had any tears to shed, and he didn''t say anything as he kowtowed heavily to the ground.

 Chapter 1085: The Wedge of Amano-Iwato (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1085: The Wedge of Amano-Iwato (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye smiled as he continued, "Don''t get all emotional now. Help in one''s time of need is always the most valuable help that can be given. You weren''t always a citizen of the Cathayan Underworld, but you''ve already remained loyal, and your diligence in your work is unquestionable, so this is what you deserve."

    For the current Cathayan Underworld, it would almost be entirely inconsequential whether someone like Oda Nobunaga joined them or not. However, at the time, Oda Nobunaga had been an extremely important asset.

    It didn''t seem like he had contributed much during the rise of the new Hell, but that was only because he was limited by his cultivation rank. Once the new Hell was established, he entered the administration andpleted many important duties behind the scenes.

    Given his contributions, he had just as much right to call himself a citizen of the Cathayan Underworld as all of the Cathayan Underworld''sherworldly citizens.

    Qin Changxin continued, "I''m not doing this solely for you, either. If we can conquer the Cathayan Underworld, then it''ll be the first barrier to the east of our Cathayan Underworld. The Nipponese Underworld''s geographic advantages are too significant to ignore, and directly to the east of it is the Pacific Ocean. On top of that, the Nipponese Underworld''s dense poption and wealth of scientists would be significant assets for us."

    Why was territory important for an underworld? It was because territory equated to poption, and poption provided an endless stream ofherworldly citizens over time.

    "In order to ensure that we''ll be able to conquer the Nipponese Underworld, we''ll first need to develop second-generation forbidden arts to intimidate all of the other underworlds. The three pirs are too far away from the Nipponese Underworld to offer it much assistance, and the Kraken Mothership can intercept them on the sea. However, they can send reinforcements to the Nipponese Underworld through the Russian Underworld, so we still have to wait. Prior to that, we will establish close ties with the dominant force in the Nipponese Underworld''s economy, and I''m sure they''ll know what choice to make once the battle truly begins between our two nations."

    On one hand, there was the Nipponese Underworld, whose demise was inevitable, while on the other hand was their coborative partner that was bringing them massive profits. The choice was beyond simple for the decision-makers of the consortium.

    In fact, the Sacred Treasure Consortium wouldn''t even need to directly assist the Cathayan Underworld. All they would have to do would be to stand by and watch, and the entire Nipponese Underworld would suffer a major economic downturn!

    The Nipponese Underworld wasn''t an authoritarian underworld like the Cathayan Underworld. Instead, it was a capitalist nation, so there was no way that its government would have as many military factories as the Cathayan Underworld!

    Qin Ye was confident that the Sacred Treasure Consortium wouldn''t be willing to pass up this major opportunity. Cutting-edge Yin runes would definitely be used in the industry of military technology, and as a result, the Nipponese Underworld would be dependent upon it. Once that dependence grew to a certain degree of significance, the Cathayan Underworld would pull the rug out from under their feet.

    When the time came, all the Sacred Treasure Consortium would need to do would be to cease its operations in the Nipponese Underworld, and the entire nation would be left floundering like a fish out of water!

    "Have patience, it''ll take at least another decade for this wedge to grow to the point that it would have a decisive effect," Qin Ye said with a smile as he rose to his feet. "Now then, let''s go and greet all of the death gods. I''m sure they must be desperate to see me at this point."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.

    On this day, Formosa had truly be the heart of the entire world.

    Countless underworld emissaries from all over the world were scrutinizing the ind of Formosa, and that was only to be expected, considering that it was the first trade port that the Cathayan Underworld had opened up since its century-long seclusion.

    Masa strode along the red carpet, passing by the orderly rows of Yin soldiers standing on either side of the path as he made his way into the main conference hall.

    His heart was full of anticipation and excitement.

    The Hopi Underworld had always been apletely insignificant underworld, with its tiny territory and sparse followers. In fact, even though he was the Hopi Underworld''s ruler death god, even he had no idea what the religion''s origins were.

    However, things were different now.

    This was the underworld''s first-ever industrial revolution, and all underworlds had the chance to rise significantly up the international pecking order through it! There were only 34 underworlds in total, but the new energy resource was going to give rise to hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of new industries!

    The underworld was a technological desert, and anyone who managed to cultivate it would be rewarded with an oasis for their efforts.

    With that in mind, he took a deep breath before entering the conference hall.

    As soon as he entered the conference hall, he was momentarily rooted to the spot.

    This was still a tiered conference hall, and the ones in attendance were still the same ruler death gods and consortium chairmen, but on this asion, the entire hall was eerily silent.

    However, it was an absolutely deafening silence, and everyone could sense the tension and anticipation bubbling beneath the silence.

    All of the people in attendance were like hungry wolves waiting for this feast to begin, and they were ready to pounce at any time in order to im the most delectable cuts of meat on offer!

    Masa gulped nervously before sitting down in silence on the seat reserved for him.

    20 minutester, a group of Yin soldiers brought out a long horn that was over a meter in length, constructed from the horn of a Yin beast, and upon being blown, the horn released a single elongated note. At the same time, the sound of drumming rang out, and thebined sounds further exacerbated the anticipation in everyone''s hearts.

    Each strike of the drums seemed to be resounding directly in the hearts of the death gods, and they reflexively sat up straighter as they gripped their armrests tightly in an effort to repress the surging emotions in their hearts.

    This conference was going to pull back the curtains on the new era!

    All of the death gods were extremely excited, and Heihachiro Fujii was even more excited than them. He could only pray to the heavens in silence to instill a hint of calmness into his own heart.

    Everyone was ready and gathered, and all that was left was for the host to appear.

    As the special guest invited by the host, the Sacred Treasure Consortium had to give the host their full support!

    In the face of such a massive opportunity, they had to ensure at all costs that it wasn''t stolen by anyone else!

    He swept his gaze across the faces of the other nine consortium chairmen, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

    I really look forward to seeing your shocked expressions soon. After theing century, there will be an enormous gap between us. I, Heihachiro Fujii, and my Sacred Treasure Consortium will be one of the dictators of the rules of the new era, while all of you can only look up to me in awe and resignation!

    Everyone in the hall had their eyes focused firmly on the main stage, and all of a sudden, a cloud of Yin energy suddenly appeared on the stage, from within which Qin Ye silently emerged. There was a brief moment of silence, followed by thunderous apuse.

    Qin Ye smiled as he made a quieting gesture, and as he swept his gaze across the entire hall, a hint of amusement appeared in his eyes.

    At the very front, Anubis, Yamaraja, and Thanatos were all in attendance, and they were all pping with warm smiles, as if there had been no prior conflict between them at all.

    I really hope you can still keep smiling after you hear the next step of our Cathayan Underworld''s n.

    His gaze roamed over the ruler death gods of the three pirs, then settled momentarily on the representatives of the Sacred Treasure Consortium. It was only a split-second pause, but it didn''t escape Heihachiro Fujii''s attention, and he gave an almost undetectable nod in response. His gaze then turned toward Izanami, who was seated in a corner of the hall.

    <i>Amano-Iwato has been standing for over 1,000 years, but it won''t be around for much longer... </i>

    Before Izanami could sense his scrutiny, he withdrew his gaze before looking straight ahead.

    From this point onward, our Cathayan Underworld is going to be unstoppable!

    "Wee back to the Cathayan Underworld, everyone." As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, everyone else in the hall immediately fell silent, and he extended a slight bow as he continued, "We adjourned the international conference in order to give everyone more time to prepare. Are you all ready now? Are you ready to share the gifts that this new era has to offer?"

    Someone led the way and began to apud, and in less than two seconds, everyone in the hall had erupted into raucous apuse once again.

    Qin Ye waited for the apuse to die down before continuing with a smile, "As the pioneer of this new era, the Cathayan Underworld has both a duty and a right to lead everyone in taking the first step. Next, please allow me to read our Cathayan Underworld''s n for development in this new era."

    This was an extremely important segment. No specific details were going to be revealed at this point, but the main direction of future development for the Cathayan Underworld was definitely going to be revealed here.

    Essentially, this was a flex to the entire world, telling everyone that this was what the Cathayan Underworld wanted to do, so that no other underworlds would get involved in those fields unless they wanted topete with the Cathayan Underworld and be crushed!

    At this point, the Cathayan Underworld was already the undisputed leading power in the world, and as such, they had the right to dictate some terms on the rest of the world.

    As all of the death gods looked on with anticipation in their eyes, Qin Ye continued, "The future development of our Cathayan Underworld will be split up into 17 major directions."

    So they''ve chosen 17 targets to pursue...

    All of the death gods were looking on with intense focus in their eyes.

    The Cathayan Underworld had an advantage over the rest of the world when it came to technology and infrastructure rted to the new energy resource, and no one wanted topete directly with them, at least not at the moment.

    "The first thing that our Cathayan Underworld ns to do is to develop the entertainment industry, with emphasis ced on film and media. At this point, our Cathayan Underworld''s actors union and directors union have already been established for three years. During that time, we''ve registered tens of thousands of actors and directors. At the same time, shooting will begin on hundreds of films in a few months. Mass production has also begun on the new printers designed in ordance with the new energy resource, and at the same time, our Cathayan Underworld has established an International Intellectual Property Administration to deal with any intellectual property disputes that arise."

    All of the death gods nodded upon hearing this. This was a very reasonable arrangement.

    In the instant that they saw those LED screens in the Heavenly Pir City, all of the ruler death gods knew that developing in the film industry wouldn''t be a viable possibility for their nations.

    It wasn''t that development in this industry was impossible. After all, the market would be able to amodate different brands. However, it would be a better use of their funds and resources to invest in other industries, and there was no reason to fight fire with fire against the Cathayan Underworld in an industry that they already had their eyes set on. With so many new industries set to arise in the wake of the industrial revolution, all nations had the luxury of choice.

    Qin Ye swept his gaze over the faces of all of the death gods. The Cathayan Underworld was better prepared than all other nations to upy these industries, so there shouldn''t be anyone willing topete with them.

    Even though the report had only just begun, Qin Ye couldn''t help but feel a sense of excitement as his mind wandered to the final few pages of the report, and what the reactions of everyone in the hall were going to be once he read out those final few pages.

    "Secondly, our Cathayan Underworld wants to rapidly develop the high-end chip industry, as well as rted industries, such as the phone industry and theputer industry, which will be very likely to arise in the future."

    All of the death gods'' expressions finally changed slightly upon hearing this, including the ruler death gods of the three pirs.

    This was an industry that they also wanted to upy!

    With the mortal realm''s temte readily avable, things like phones andputers were likely to appear very soon in the underworld, and the core of those things were chips!

    Why did Cathay want to produce the Loongson chip in the mortal realm? It was because high-end industries like the chip industry had very little dependence onbor, and were also highly profitable.

    Thus, giving up this industry would be a massive concession, but the ruler death gods of the three pirs continued to remain silent.

    This was because Qin Ye had specified a desire to develop the high-end chip industry, thereby making the low-end and mid-end chip industries avable for upation to other nations. As long as they didn''tpete directly with the Cathayan Underworld, they would still be able to seize arge proportion of the market share. However...

    "He''s glossing over that point in just a single sentence?" Anubis turned to Thanatos and Yamaraja with a stunned look on his face. "Does that mean this isn''t a major area of focus for the Cathayan Underworld?"

    They had thought that they would have to fight tooth and w with the Cathayan Underworld over this point, yet Qin Ye had glossed over it as if it were nothing more than an afterthought, and that was setting off the rm bells in the hearts of the three ruler death gods.

    "Does that mean their main area of focus is something even more important than chips?" Yamaraja murmured as he lowered his head slightly. "What future path are they going to take? The chip industry is clearly the crux of the next era, yet that''s not their main focus? Could be that they''ve found a superior future path to take?"

 Chapter 1086: Shocking the World

    <h4>Chapter 1086: Shocking the World</h4>

    Despite the questions in their hearts, they continued listening.

    "Fifthly, our Cathayan Underworld wants to rapidly develop themunications industry, striving to establishmunication services that can rival those of the mortal realm and to set up a worldwidemunicationwork."

    "Number 12..."

    "Number 13..."

    Qin Ye''s report was very long, but no one wasining. The Cathayan Underworld had ushered in this new era, so everyone was naturally intent on hearing Qin Ye''s future ns. Everyone was listening carefully to which industries the Cathayan Underworld wanted to develop in, examining whether the future path that the Cathayan Underworld wanted to take ovepped with their own ns.

    The more the three pirs heard, the warier they became.

    This was because all of the points that had been raised thus far had been glossed over by a single sentence each.

    Could it be that they wanted to develop all 17 of those industries? But that simply wasn''t feasible!

    The development of an industry didn''t just involve creating the relevant technology. That was only the foundation, and many more resources had to be expended thereafter.

    There were also many logistical issues that had to be ironed out, and things were made particrly difficult by the fact that everything had to start from scratch, so it was definitely impossible to develop all of those industries at once.

    The Cathayan Underworld needed a core industry to develop, and they knew that Qin Ye wasn''t foolish enough to be so blinded by the prospect of the profits that could be made that he wanted to dip his toe into everything.

    "So none of the points that have been raised thus far is the main focus for the Cathayan Underworld..." Yamaraja murmured to himself with tightly furrowed brows. "In that case, what exactly does he want to do? What has the Cathayan Underworld chosen?"

    The more he dyed the announcement, the more unbearable the suspense became.

    The waiting process was far more torturous and grueling than hearing the final oue.

    Time slowly passed by, and finally, Qin Ye flipped over another page, upon which he reached the final point.

    An involuntary smile appeared on his face at the sight of this final point, and he raised his head to look at the ruler death gods of the three pirs.

    At the same time, the three ruler death gods cast their eyes toward him as well.

    They were the only ones in this world who couldpete with the Cathayan Underworld, and they were listening intently to hear what Qin Ye had to say next.

    The three ruler death gods knew that the final point was about to be announced, and they took a deep breath in unison as they sat up straighter with wary looks in their eyes.

    This was going to be the Cathayan Underworld''s true choice, one that they had taken over all of the aforementioned lucrative industries...

    "The final thing that I have to announce is also the most important thing," Qin Ye said as he raised his head to look at all of the death gods present. "Our Cathayan Underworld will be taking on its biggest project for the next century, and its codename is Moon Pce."

    Moon Pce?

    All of the death gods'' eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    This was the future path chosen by the Cathayan Underworld, but was it one that was suitable for them to pursue as well?

    Qin Ye put down the report as he dered, "In the next 20 years, the Cathayan Underworld will be trying to break through this ne and send Yin spirits into space!"

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs almost sprang to their feet upon hearing this.

    Yamaraja, Anubis, and Thanatos were staring at Qin Ye with ck-jawed expressions, and their mouths were gaped open, but they were unable to utter even a single word.

    All of the other death gods were alsopletely astonished by this announcement.

    Several of the top 10 consortiums'' chairmen had risen to their feet with incredulous looks on their faces, and as for the rest, it was taking all of their self-control not to stand up alongside their peers.

    Everyone fellpletely silent.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to everyone''s reactions as he continued, "In 50 years, we''ll be establishing nar aviation bases and space stationsparable with the ones in the mortal realm. We will be shifting our focus to outer space, and in 100 years, we''ll begin the colonization process, searching for all nes in space that could potentially harbor resources. For this purpose, our Ctahayan Underworld has decided to set an entire province aside as our research andunch center!"

    He paused here momentarily, then continued, "The Moon Pce project will be the Cathayan Underworld''s next 100-year n, and further details will be revealed during the press conference to be held after this international trade conference, so please stay tuned for that."

    That was the conclusion of his report, but the entire hall was stillpletely silent.

    Only after a full 30 seconds had passed did Anubis finally return to his senses as he asked, "So you''re saying that space exists for our ne?"

    Isn''t there only Limbo up there?

    "It does," Qin Ye replied in a confident voice. "Our space is known as the Yin Space System, and it''s situated in the seventh spiral of the Yin Space River. In order to enter and exit the ne, a special method must be employed."

    Crack... A faint crack rang out as Yamaraja''s fingers sank into the stone table in front of him. "What is this special method?"

    "The Cathayan Underworld is currently conducting experiments, but our informationes from a reliable source in the form of the second King Yanluo, who is the only person from the underworld to have visited other nes. The method that he described is quite far-fetched, so we''re still testing to see if it works."

    Dead silence ensued once again.

    After 10 seconds of silence, H murmured to herself in an astonished voice, "My god... What did I just hear? Space exists for our world?!"

    "Is that true? If so, then what was the point in fighting over territory for the past thousands of years?"

    More and more voices began to ring out, and shortly thereafter, the entire hall had erupted into a raucous frenzy!

    "Is this really true?! Has the Cathayan Underworld already verified the existence of space?!"

    "This is incredible! This moment is one that''s going to change history!"

    "I can''t believe this... So this is going to be the main focus for the Cathayan Underworld!"

    "Even now, I still can''t help but wonder if my ears were ying tricks on me!"

    "Yanluo Qin!" Anubis was trembling slightly as he said, "The Aegyptian Underworld strongly requests that the Cathayan Underworld release all of the information it has on this subject! This is something that affects our entire ne!"

    The worldview that he had built up over thousands of years had been destroyed in an instant.

    If space existed, then what had everyone been doing for the past thousands of years?! Why hadn''t any discovered space before this?!

    What was the point in fighting over resources in the underworld? There were infinite resources in space!

    Thanatos had already made his way to the main path running down the center of the hall, and he yelled, "The Argosian Underworld concurs with this request! The Cathayan Underworld must fulfill its duties as one of the four pirs and lead the entire ne into the new era! Please release all information that you have on this subject right away!"

    No wonder they disyed no interest in any of the industries that were mentioned. If I had known about this beforehand, then I wouldn''t be interested in any of those industries, either!

    In the future, it wasn''t even going to matter who had more speaking rights in the underworld, everyone was going to be fighting to establish dominance in space! If the Cathayan Underworld could establish their Moon Pce in the cosmos, then it would be able to strike out at any underworld at a moment''s notice, and there would be no way to strike back at them! Who would dare to oppose the Cathayan Underworld then?

    This was an astonishing bombshell, and Thanatos''s first reaction wasn''t to think about how to oppose it. Instead, he wanted to verify the authenticity behind this im.

    If space truly existed, then who would bother to fight over the underworld? There was no limit to the territory that could be conquered in the vast cosmos!

    "The Hindustani Underworld also concurs!" Yamaraja had also risen to his feet. "Yanluo Qin, please release all of the relevant information right away!"

    "The Nipponese Underworld concurs!"

    "The Russian Underworld concurs!"

    "The Hopi Underworld concurs!"

    "The Northern Europa Underworlds concur!"

    "The Red Moon Federation concurs!"

    "The Star Cluster Alliance concurs!"

    "The Alkebn Underworlds concur!"

    In the blink of an eye, 33 of the underworld''s 34 ruler death gods had risen to their feet!

    For all of the small underworlds, branching out into the heavens was the only way for them to gain more power!

    Amid the raucousmotion, Qin Ye made a quieting gesture as he called for silence.

    Themotion instantly died down, and only then did he continue, "We have no information to release as of yet. Our only source of information is a verbal statement from the second King Yanluo, and even I haven''t seen space for myself. At the moment, the Cathayan Underworld is working toward making space exploration a reality."

    "The Argosian Underworld''s round table is willing to assist the Cathayan Underworld in this project! All we ask is that you make all findings publicly avable to everyone!" Thanatos immediately said. "Please trust us, Yanluo Qin. We''ve had our differences in the past, but if space exploration can be a reality, then all conflicts between underworlds will cease to exist! We wouldn''t do something foolish out of selfish greed at the risk of ruining this grand n!"

    "The Aegyptian Underworld would like to apply to participate in the Moon Pce project, and we are willing to provide you with our best Yin rune experts! This is a global effort, no single nation canplete this project!"

    "The Hindustani Underworld is situated closest to the Cathayan Underworld! Not only can we provide you with our best scientists, we can even provide ournd! Our Hindustani Underworld has a very diverse geography and topography, and we can fulfill the requirements to construct any type of aviation base!"

    Right after the three pirs'' ruler death gods made their deration, a string of urgent voices rang out almost inplete unison.

    "The Psalm Consortium is willing to donate eight hundred billion Yin jade into the Moon Pce project!"

    "The Abbasid Consortium is willing to provide a trillion Yin jade in exchange for a ce on the Moon Pce project!"

    "The Purple Radiance Consortium is willing to provide a trillion Yin jade, as well as all of our scientists, to join the Moon Pce project!"

    "The Blue Forest Consortium is willing to provide a trillion Yin jade, as well as ess to all of our researchboratories, to join the Moon Pce project!"

    "The Fellmer Consortium is willing to provide a trillion Yin jade to join the Moon Pce project!"

    Some of the other ruler death gods in the hall also wanted to speak, but their words got stuck in their throats.

    These consortiums were normally so stingy that it was a chore just to get a single Yin jade out of them, but in the face of a truly monumental opportunity, they were all disying the power of their wealth.

    The sums of money that they were offering exceeded many of the smaller underworld''s annual GDPs, and all 10 of the consortiums had expressed an urge to participate in the project, which culminated in an investment of trillions! That was such a staggering amount of money that it was downright unfathomable!

    All of the other ruler death gods immediately turned to Qin Ye with envious looks in their eyes. Qin Ye hadn''t even brought out any concrete evidence to support his im, and there were already trillions of Yin jade being thrown at him!

    Of course, everyone was aware that if the Cathayan Underworld''s ims turned out to be false, then they wouldn''t receive even a single cent, but they still couldn''t help but be extremely envious of Qin Ye''s position.

    Qin Ye made a quieting gesture once again, and the entire hall obliged.

    He was like a musical conductor, and his movements dictated the words and actions of everyone in the hall.

    "First, I''d like to announce that we''ve already formed a coborative partnership with the Sacred Treasure Consortium."

    One furious pair of eyes after another immediately turned toward Heihachiro Fujii. In the face of the scorching scrutiny from the other nine consortium chairmen, Heihachiro Fujii remained seated calmly in his chair, looking directly ahead with a faint smile on his face.

    You mad? You jealous? You hatin'' on me? So what! I am the ultimate winner here! This is what you get for not being in the same cultural circle as the Cathayan Underworld! My consortium has already been selected ahead of all of your consortiums!

    At this point, it had be clear to Heihachiro that Qin Ye was using him as a shield, but even if he had to dedicate all of the Sacred Treasure Consortium''s power to the cause, he was going to act as a satisfactory shield for Qin Ye!

    "Damn it!" The chairman of the Fellmer Consortium was gritting his teeth tightly as he withdrew his murderous gaze. "When did that old bastard get a chance to speak with the Cathayan Underworld? No wonder he signed that agreement without any qualms back in the Kasa Temple! Curse him, that shameless old fox!"

    However, he still hadn''t given up yet.

    Qin Ye had proimed the Sacred Treasure Consortium to be a coborative partner, but not their only coborative partner! Thus, there was still a chance for everyone else.

    Meanwhile, in the corner of the hall, Izanami was wearing a smile as vibrant as a blooming red spider lily.

 Chapter 1087: Aiming for the Stars

    <h4>Chapter 1087: Aiming for the Stars</h4>

    The arrival of the space exploration era would be a blessing from the heavens for all small underworlds.

    They were allplete non-factors when it came to fighting for territory and power in the underworld, but what about space?

    Izanami was even beginning to envision a future where the Nipponese Underworld could be one of the four pirs!

    Under normal circumstances, Izanami wanted nothing more than to kill Heihachiro Fujii and take all of his wealth, but at this moment, she could kiss the old fox!

    A concerning thought appeared in her heart, but she quickly dismissed it. Surely the Nipponese Underworld wasn''t going to be so unfortunate that it would experience a demise right on the doorstep of the new era!

    Qin Ye continued, "As for investments, we do not require any right now. This is only a n, and we still have to make extensive preparations. When the timees, I''ll hold another conference to debrief everyone. This is the conclusion of the Cathayan Underworld''s report."

    He departed from the stage, following which another death god stepped onto it.

    Qin Ye didn''t listen to any of the subsequent presentations. Instead, he fell into deep thought.

    It had only been less than 20 days since he had learned about the existence of supercritical tides from the second King Yanluo, and during that time, he had met with the 12 envoys and assigned them roles in the uing space exploration project. The wealth of knowledge and experience that the 12 envoys had when it came to Yin runes were vital in a project like this. Aside from that, he had also summoned all of the scientists from the Yin Mountains Research Center for a discussion, as well as to assign them tasks. There was too little time for him to prepare anything else, and even the panel of advisors had failed to anticipate such a vehement reaction to this announcement.

    However, it was only to be expected.

    Prior to this point, the rest of the world didn''t even know that space existed for the underworld, so they had no right to get involved. Even though Qin Ye''s knowledge on this subject was also extremely limited, he was still far ahead of the rest of the world. At the very least, he knew the way to leave this ne.

    If he refused to share his secrets with the rest of the world, then everyone else would only be able to stand by and watch as the Cathayan Underworld kept everything to itself.

    However, it was unrealistic for the Cathayan Underworld to do this alone, especially considering the fact that the Cathayan Underworld was still very muchcking in the knowledge and expertise required toplete this project.

    Perhaps this would be a good time to do away with the Array of the Nine Gods...

    He was holding the secret to space exploration, so even if the other underworlds became aware of the fact that the Cathayan Underworld was nowhere near as powerful as it had been in the past, no one would say anything, and there certainly wouldn''t be anyone proposing the revocation of the Cathayan Underworld''s status as one of the four pirs.

    If the array were removed, then countless trading posts could be set up, thereby providing another significant boost to the rate of the Cathayan Underworld''s economic development. Furthermore, it would allow the Cathayan Underworld''sherworldly citizens toe into contact with the outside world. However...

    His brows furrowed slightly as he shook his head and rejected the idea.

    This still wasn''t the right time.

    He had to take over the Nipponese Underworld, both to fulfill his promise, and so that he could use the Nipponese Underworld as a barrier to the east of the Cathayan Underworld. Kuroyasha and Karasutengu had trespassed upon the Cathayan Underworld''s territory in the past, and Izanami had even attacked him through a divine descent. For these crimes, she had to die!

    During the conference in Nara and even the Great Revtion Debate, Izanami had always stood resolutely behind the three pirs, and it was time that she paid for her repeated provocation of the Cathayan Underworld.

    By conquering the Nipponese Underworld, he would be dering to the rest of the world that the Cathayan Underworld was not to be messed with!

    A consideration also had to be made toward the future. Once Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa met their demise, or the managed to flee to another ne during the supercritical tide, the new continent''s underworlds would be ripe for the taking, and a war waged over that territory would be inevitable, unless the Cathayan Underworld couldplete the Moon Pce project before that.

    If he were to withdraw the Array of the Nine Gods, but the project still wasn''tpleted by then, and a war over the new continent ensued, then he would have no right to participate in that war with the world already aware of the Cathayan Underworld''sck of power.

    As a ruler, he had to be able to constantly see several steps ahead.

    It''s best to wait until after second-generation forbidden arts are developed. Otherwise, if we have both the Moon Pce project and the new energy resource, but no means to protect them with, then we would be asking for trouble.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye heaved a forlorn internal sigh.

    This was a brilliant opportunity, and if the array could be removed, then the Cathayan Underworld would benefit immensely.

    As for the Moon Pce project, it was indeed something that the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able toplete on its own. Thus, he had to recruit the power of the entire world to work on the project, and it had to bepleted in the Cathayan Underworld. That would allow the Cathayan Underworld''s Yin expertise in Yin runology to improve rapidly!

    Right at this moment, Yamaraja joined his palms together and put on his most friendly voice as he asked, "Yanluo Qin, pardon me for having my doubts, but is this information reliable?"

    "It is as long as the second King Yanluo hasn''t lied to me," Qin Ye replied with a faint smile.

    Yamaraja took a deep breath as he involuntarily leaned toward Qin Ye from behind his table, then said in an urgent voice, "I know that there have been some misunderstandings between us in the past, but on the international stage, everyone has to look out for the interests of their own underworld, isn''t that right? In contrast with this monumental revtion, all of our past differences arepletely inconsequential, wouldn''t you agree?"

    Inconsequential? You''ve been plotting against our Cathayan Underworld ever since its return to the world stage, yet you''re saying that''s all inconsequential? Are you trying to suck up to me now? You can act friendly all you like, but I don''t have to agree to anything you say!

    While it was true that the Cathayan Underworld couldn''t keep the Moon Pce project all to itself, he was in charge and could dictate whether the three pirs would participate in the project, and to what extent they were able to participate.

    Thus, he merely gave Yamaraja a faint smile and remained silent.

    The three pirs were also aware of this. The Moon Pce project was going to contain countless patents, and it was a massive patent in itself!

    If the Cathayan Underworld decided to keep this project to itself, then any nation that had space exploration aspirations in the future would have to issue the Cathayan Underworld massive sums worth of patent fees. The phone chip patent fee in the mortal realm was 15%, if the Cathayan Underworld were to set a 20% patent fee for space exploration, then the entire world would be at their mercy!

    Thus, it was only natural that Yamaraja was desperately trying to make amends now.

    As long as they could reach space, they would have endlessnd to conquer, and they could perhaps even find intelligent civilizations! That was far more important than anything happening in the underworld!

    Thus, Yamaraja was doing his absolute best to make his smile and voice as amicable as possible as he continued, "I think that the four pirs should let bygones be bygones and work together to make this a project a reality, what do you think?"

    On this asion, Qin Ye finally responded. "Surely it''s not a good idea to just keep out all the other underworlds."

    "With our joint powers, the four pirs can achieve anything!" Yamaraja replied with a smile. "And we''re the only ones with sufficient power to contribute to this project in a meaningful way, wouldn''t you agree?"

    Once again, Qin Ye merely smiled and offered no response.

    Yamaraja''s frustration was growing, but he made sure that he didn''t show it at all as he continued, "The Hindustani Underworld would like to invite you for a visit. When would you be able toe to our nation, Yanluo Qin?"

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    Oh? Are you conceding to me? You''re not going to make threats anymore? You''re not going to try and screw me over anymore?

    Even the new energy resource wasn''t enough to make three pirs extend an olive branch, but the Moon Pce project had already convinced the Hindustani Underworld that it was time to make amends with the Cathayan Underworld.

    This was the first invitation for a visit that Qin Ye had received from one of the three pirs since his inauguration!

    This also meant that the Hindustani Underworld was beginning to try and ept the Cathayan Underworld. It was clear that Yamaraja was extremely tempted by the opportunities that this project could provide, and it was a project that one could only participate in if the Cathayan Underworld allowed it.

    Thus, Qin Ye was even more convinced that he had made the right decision. He hadn''t even produced concrete evidence to support his ims yet, but one of the three pirs was already extending an olive branch toward him. If he were to try and keep this project all to the Cathayan Underworld, he really would be asking for a world war!

    No one would want to see another underworld''s space station hovering right above them unless they could also build space stations of their own!

    Qin Ye considered the situation momentarily before deciding that an olive branch from one of the three pirs wasn''t something that he could turn down. Thus, he replied, "I have to go and visit the second King Yanluo to confirm some things about space. After that, I''ll pay the Hindustani Underworld a visit with my representative team."

    Yamaraja immediately pped his hands together with glee upon hearing this. "We are very much looking forward to our visit! Once this conference is over, we''ll extend an official invitation in the form of a diplomatic letter."

    Thanatos and Anubis were looking on with furious expressions at their conversation.

    You fucking traitor! We only asked you to probe out the attitude of the Cathayan Underworld on behalf of the three pirs, why are you inviting Yanluo Qin to your nation? We haven''t even extended an invitation yet!

    However, they were seperated from Qin Ye by Yamaraja, so no matter how eager they were to participate in the Moon Pce project, they had to exercise self-restraint in order to keep up appearances. After all, they couldn''t just stick their heads around Yamaraja to speak to Qin Ye while another underworld was still delivering its report!

    Thanatos gave a cold harrumph as he cast a disdainful gaze before turning to Qin Ye.

    As soon as their eyes met, Thanatos''s expression immediately made aplete 180 as he put on the warmest and most amicable smile he was capable of.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Turn down all requests for an audience with me. I''m not meeting anyone aside from the ruler death gods of the three pirs."

    Following the morning meeting, letters of invitation came surging in like snowkes in a snowstorm, but all of them were rejected by Qin Ye.

    These were all letters submitted by underworlds outside of the three pirs that wished to see Qin Ye. They couldn''t see Qin Ye anytime they wanted, so they had to try and take advantage of this opportunity to meet him.

    However, the three pirs were different as they could officially request an audience with Qin Ye through a state visit.

    A state visit was an international invitation of the highest order, and once one was submitted, it was rarely ever turned down. The four pirs were constantlypeting with one another, but they were always open to coboration on the truly important matters.

    After giving that instruction, Qin Ye quickly made his way into a conference hall, where Zhang Ting, Ye Yun, Shi Xiangyang, Tao Guoqiang, Li Dongming, and several other advisors were already waiting for him.

    "There''s been an unexpected turn of events," Qin Ye said with a serious expression as he sat down on the main seat. "The rest of the world is far more interested in the Moon Pce project than we anticipated, and I don''t think this is a project that we can keep to ourselves. The current circumstances simply don''t allow for that. We''ve just released the new energy resource, and now, we''re proposing the Moon Pce project as well. If another nation had brought out both of these things, they would''ve most likely already been conquered by the three pirs before this conference was even held. By the way, Yamaraja has already extended an invitation for a state visit to me, and I didn''t refuse."

    Shi Xiangyang nodded in response. "This is what we expected. This future development of the entire underworld hinges on this project, and it would be far too difficult for one nation to keep it to themselves, not to mention the fact that our nation currently isn''t powerful enough to do that. Thus, we might as well go with the flow and establish a global research and development organization, and distribute patents based on contributions. Of course, we can manipte this process a little. After all, the project will unfold in our nation, and we provided everyone with the idea and all of the required information. That alone should be enough for us to secure 30% of the patents."

    30% wasn''t a lot. What the Cathayan Underworld wanted was at least 50% of all of the patents!

    Zhang Ting nodded in Shi Xiangyang''s direction, then turned to Qin Ye with a solemn expression. "In addition, the Moon Pce project isn''t even underway yet, and Yamaraja has undoubtedly extended this invitation to you to examine our progress. We''ll need to release progress reports on the Moon Pce project. We can''t just keep everything a secret like we did with the new energy resource as the pressure from the rest of the world would crush us. Thus, when the timees, we''ll need to bring out some things of substance."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "For example?"

    "For example, we need to be able to determine how far away the next supercritical tide is, as well as what signs will arise to signify itsmencement, and where it''s going to appear!" Zhang Ting replied. "For this purpose, you''ll most likely have to pay the new continent another visit."

 Chapter 1088: Ideas

    <h4>Chapter 1088: Ideas</h4>

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response before falling into deep thought.

    Just as Zhang Ting had said, the most important thing to do now was to decide on the next step to proceed toward.

    Even though they had decided on pursuing space exploration, their knowledge of space was currently only limited to several buzzwords, such as nar scale, supercritical tide, and Yin Space River. Furthermore, ording to the second King Yanluo, supercritical tides arose once every 50 years, which meant that an opportunity to go to space would only emerge once every five decades.

    If they missed the opportunity, then they would have to wait for another 50 years. How far away was the next supercritical tide, and where was it going to take ce?

    These were questions that had to be answered.

    Before Qin Ye had a chance toplete his train of thought, Tao Guoqiang said, "There''s also another reason why you must go to the new continent, and that is the scale of space exploration."

    "The scale?" Qin Ye was rather perplexed to hear this.

    Tao Guoqiang nodded in response, then exined, "After our meeting with the 12 envoys, I approached them to ask some further questions, and in doing so, I found out something quite concerning."

    He pressed a small button beside the table, and four LED screens immediately descended around the room, each depicting a map of the underworld.

    In contrast with a normal map, the territory of each underworld had been annotated using different colors. For example, the Cathayan Underworld''s territory was red, while the new continent was yellow.

    "Please take a look here, Yanluo Qin." Tao Guoqiang stood up, then made his way over to one of the screens before pointing a finger at the new continent. "The term ''new continent'' derives its origins from Columbia, and it''s split up into two sections, namely Southern Usonia and Northern Usonia. Due to how far away this continent is situated from Europa and Asia, they never underwent any industrial revolution. Thus, the gods of the new continentpletely failed to anticipate that the firearms of the mortal realm would ravage their entire race, resulting in a severe shortage of followers and the copse of their religions. Prior to those events, the native religions on the new continent were the Aztec religion, the Incan religion, and the Native Usonian religion. Among the three, the Aztec religion is the most resolute and has the longest history. In fact, the mighty Pyramid of the Sun of the Aztec religion had already been constructed prior to the first century BC. What''s interesting is that the Aztec religion is mainly situated in Mexico, which is located in Central Usonia. This geographic advantage has allowed it to develop toward both Southern Usonia and Northern Usonia. Thus, following a lengthy battle waged between the gods, the one who became the death god of the new continent was Mtecutli."

    He paused here momentarily before asking, "What does this entail?"

    If any other official had raised a question like this to Qin Ye, then they would most likely receive a stern re from Qin Ye before being forced to sheepishly answer their own question. However, this didn''t apply to the advisors, who couldmunicate with Qin Ye as equals.

    Qin Ye pondered the question for several seconds before shaking his head in response.

    Tao Guoqiang continued in a grim voice, "This entails that the new continent''s underworlds are extremely powerful! They possess thergest territory and the most death gods out of any underworld, and if it weren''t for the tragedy that befell them in the mortal realm, there would most likely be five pirs instead of four, and there''s a very good chance that they would''ve been no less powerful than our Cathayan Underworld."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was finally beginning to sense that something wasn''t quite right.

    Tao Guoqiang continued, "How had the Aztec religion managed to achieve this? After learning that branching out into space is their only chance for survival, I think it''s very safe to assume that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would''ve begun developing space exploration technology right away. After all, judging from the current chaotic state of the new continent, it''s clear that all they want is to survive at all costs. However, they hadn''t restrained their insanity at all even after learning about the existence of space. Why is that?"

    An enlightened look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes as he replied, "Is it because they don''t want other underworlds to know that they''re working toward space exploration? But why would that be the case? Why wouldn''t they want others to know about this? Could it be that the new continent wants to keep the space exploration technology all to itself? That doesn''t make any sense... All that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa care about is survival, so they should actually be eager for other underworlds to join in on their research."

    No one interrupted his train of thought, and after a full 10 minutes, Qin Ye abruptly raised his head as he eximed, "Unless there are restrictions to space exploration!"

    Tao Guoqiang extended a genuine bow of admiration. "Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye gently drummed the surface of the table with his fingers as he murmured to himself, "What could the restriction be? The number of people? The total sum of Yin energy? In any case, there must be some type of restriction that prevents too many Yin spirits from going into space at once. Perhaps... only two Yama-Kings can pass through at once, and they''re not confident in their ability to oupete the other underworlds. If they were to reveal their space exploration aspirations to the world, then all of the other nations would pounce at the opportunity. Thus, they chose to keep this a secret."

    This was the importance of information.

    Qin Ye had confirmed the existence of space with the second King Yanluo, then learned about the past from the 12 envoys, allowing him to glean the truth being hidden by the new continent little by little, thereby cing himself in a more and more advantageous position.

    Tao Guoqiang nodded as he said, "That''s right, but this still isn''t the most important part."

    He pointed at the new continent on the map as he continued with a serious expression, "The most important thing for us to find out is how much the new continent has expended for the sake of space exploration."

    Qin Ye immediately understood what Tao Guoqiang was trying to say, and he finally realized why he had felt like something was not quite right before.

    He suddenly realized exactly what space exploration entailed in this context.

    If everything had gone smoothly, the new continent would currently be the most powerful of the four pirs.

    Unfortunately, the events that transpired in the mortal realm spelled an inevitable demise for the continent''s ruler death gods. However, that didn''t do anything to prevent them from umting wealth!

    The Aztec, Incan, and Native Usonian civilizations all used gold to craft their essories. This was the case in the mortal realm, and Yin spirits came from the mortal realm, so the traditions and habits ofherworldly citizens were always quite simr to those of the mortal realm. ording to the Cathayan Underworld''s records, the Usonian Underworlds were just as wealthy andvish, with even more umted wealth than the Cathayan Underworld.

    As such, this was an enormously wealthy underworld, and all of its power had been dedicated to developing space exploration technology for several decades, yet apparently, they had nothing to show for it!

    Given how urgent Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s situation was, there was no way that they would be taking things slowly. However, not only did they have nothing to show for their efforts, the new continent was bing more and more chaotic!

    "I heard from the resistance of the new continent that whole viges and towns are disappearing one after another. This means that they are taking wealth and manpower from the continent even more frantically than before. That can only mean one thing... In order to send someone into space, all of the wealth umted by a powerhouse underworld over thousands of years must be exhausted!"

    Prior to the first century, gods were free to roam thend, and the world was ravaged by constant war. At the time, the Cathayan Underworld had only been a collection of tribes and viges, fighting for a ce in the underworld.

    During the first century, all of the major underworlds were established, and the four pirs were elected, thereby giving rise to the foundation of the present-day world.

    The downturn of the Usonian Underworlds had begun during the 17th century, which meant that they had over 1,700 years of prosperous development prior to that!

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had a foundation built up over the course of 1,700 years at their disposal, yet it was clear that they were beginning to struggle!

    Just how terrifying a project was space exploration going to be? How could it possibly require the expenditure of such a vast amount of resources!

    A chill ran down Qin Ye''s spine as these thoughts passed through his mind. With the Cathayan Underworld in its current state, there was no way that it would have a stronger foundation than the new continent. If even the new continent was struggling with this project, then the Cathayan Underworld certainly wouldn''t fare any better!

    "We have to work together with the entire world here. This is not a project that any single nation canplete on their own," Zhang Ting summarized. "At the very least, that''s what it seems like given the current information that we have. However, we''ll have to trouble you to pay a visit to the new continent to find out the exact details."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a sense of admiration toward his advisors in his heart.

    There were many things that he had failed to consider, but they had filled in all the gaps for him, putting their capabilities and diligence on full disy.

    A contemtive look appeared on his face as he considered what he was going to do next.

    He definitely had to pay the new continent a visit, but the questions were how, and when.

    He massaged his own be as he fell into deep thought. The new continent was an extremely chaotic ce, and he had just revealed the existence of space to the entire world, so everything that he did from here onward would definitely be put under intense scrutiny.

    There was a very good chance that the new continent had already been developing space exploration technology for the past few decades, and the ruler death gods of the three pirs certainly weren''t idiots. If he were to travel to the new continent at a time like this, it was very likely that they would also realize the inconsistencies in Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s actions for the past century. They could then draw a link between that and space exploration, and that was something that Qin Ye definitely didn''t want to see.

    The verbal agreement made between the second King Yanluo and the two ruler death gods of the new continent was the Cathayan Underworld''s biggest advantage when it came to space exploration, and he didn''t want any other underworlds to approach Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    As for the possibility that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would refuse to follow through on their agreement, that was impossible. No one in the entire underworld dared to revoke a promise made to the second King Yanluo.

    Will I have to use that?

    He raised his head and gave all of his advisors a nod as he said, "Alright, I know what needs to be done. Make sure to keep the contents of this meeting strictly confidential, and we''ll hold a second round of discussion when I return from the new continent."

    "May I ask when you''re nning to go?"

    "Now!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Qin Ye vanished on the spot, then quickly reappeared in a spacious hall in the North Yin Pavilion.

    The room waspletely isted, and there were no ornaments or embellishments aside from the ptialnterns lining the walls. At the very center of the room was a statue of the Goddess Earth Mother, withmps in the shape of lotus flowers positioned all over its body.

    This was a silent meditation chamber, and only he was able to ess this room.

    Entering this ce was equivalent to going into seclusion, and he wouldn''t be able to hear anyone calling for him until he left the chamber.

    Qin Ye glided over the bluestone floor, then sat down with his legs crossed in front of the statue of the Goddess Earth Mother. He then cleared his mind of all thoughts so that his body and his mind became one.

    In the next instant, his eyes abruptly sprang open.

    Yin energy surged out of his body before swirling incessantly around him, and an imagepletely different from the Cathayan Underworld had already appeared in his eyes.

    The image depicted a series of tall pyramids, a lush rainforest, and other snippets of scenery that couldn''t be found anywhere in the Cathayan Underworld. In the blink of an eye, he had already broken through the boundaries between the mortal realm and the underworld, traveling toward the Caribbean Sea, where Dax was situated.

 Chapter 1089: Chichenhagen

    <h4>Chapter 1089: Chichenhagen</h4>

    Whoosh!

    The perspective of the image rose rapidly upward, passing through the underworld and reaching Limbo. Right at this moment, Qin Ye abruptly withdrew all of his Yin energy, and by the time all of the Yin energy dissipated, he had already vanished from the silent meditation chamber.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Mexico.

    To the east of Mexico was the renowned Gulf of Mexico, which produced an abundance of seafood, including the Mexican dwarf crayfish. Furthermore, this was a gulf used by both Usonia and Mexico, and there was almost no clear border.

    Traveling further east out of the Gulf of Mexico, one would enter the Caribbean Sea, which was filled with countless inds, and was also home to all types of seafood, including the rock lobster of the Bahamas, the lobster of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and thend crabs of Antigua. Countless types of delicious seafood were hauled out of this legendary region of the sea every year, and understandably, the fishing industry here was booming.

    It wasn''t just Usonia and Mexico, there were also other nations like Columbia and Venezu that were also heavily involved in the fishing industry here. As a result, all of the inds in the Caribbean Sea were rife with fisheries and seafood restaurants.

    However, at some point, all of the shipyards and fisheries on these inds began to hang ck gs on their buildings.

    The bottom half of the g depicted the sea, while the top half depicted the stars, and at the very top was the word "Death" written in dark blue letters.

    Even in the modern world, venturing out to sea was still a very risky prospect, so one would think that none of the fisheries here would be willing to put up such ominous gs, but on the contrary, these gs were everywhere!

    In addition to that, several Gothic-style Sea God Pavilions had been established during the past 10 years, and there were full-time oracles working at these pavilions, conducting prayer sessions at set intervals and preaching the gospel to the people.

    Outside a beautiful Sea God Pavilion, an oracle joined his palms together as he smiled and asked, "Are you a follower of Dax as well?"

    Qin Ye was standing in front of the oracle, and he looked up at the Sea God Pavilion with aplex look in his eyes. In contrast with the white dome roofs typical of Catholic churches, the roof of the Sea God Pavilion was in the shape of a pyramid, and its surface was riddled with engraved reliefs, depicting the epic battle between Sea God Dax and the sea monster.

    Not long ago, Dax had only been an urban legend, but at this point, the legend of Dax had already well and truly taken root in the Caribbean Sea.

    Dax was Qin Ye''s alternate identity, so he was able to receive all of the prayers from the Caribbean Sea. These prayers would appear in his consciousness as white balls of light, and upon injecting his consciousness into a certain ball of light, he would be able to grant a prayer, crossing through space and time to assist the one who had made the prayer.

    This was a divine duty.

    The sea could provide hope, but it had also been the demise of countless sailors. The legend of Dax had first been established, and there was some ovep between Dax and his identity as King Yanluo as both were death gods. Thus, it wasn''t very difficult for him to control this alternate identity. In fact, due to the fact that Dax wasn''t a legitimate deity and had only been in existence for a very short time, he could even separate himself from Dax''s divine duty and have that taken care of by a specialized team.

    This was exactly what he had done.

    The divine duty of Dax was overseen by a confidential department of the Cathayan Underworld, the Marine Worship Department. In order to keep the legend of Dax alive and well, he had specially chosen several hundred underworld emissaries, who had been assigned the duty of sifting through the prayers of Dax''s followers and deciding which ones to grant.

    Over the course of 10 years, Dax had gathered a huge number of followers. Most of these followers were only casual believers, and most of them were people who depended on the sea for their livelihoods.

    Qin Ye withdrew his gaze as he asked with a smile, "Does Dax actually exist?"

    "Our god is not to be doubted." The oracle was an elderly man wearing a ck and white robe, and he said with a reverent expression, "The honorable Dax is the only god to have performed a divine miracle in recent history. He is revered and worshiped by at least several thousand seamen, and there are tens of thousands more fringe followers. We are an official religion, one that has been acknowledged by and registered in the government. We are not a cult."

    Qin Ye put on an intrigued expression as he said, "I heard that Dax performed a divine miracle 10 years ago."

    "Please refer to Him as the honorable Dax." Even though they were standing right in front of the pavilion''s entrance, the elderly man didn''t invite Qin Ye into the pavilion. Instead, he said with a serious expression, "That is true. Only the higher-ups of our religion have copies of the footage of the divine miracle, and one of the conditions that the government raised in exchange for officially acknowledging our religions is that the footage must not be leaked to the outside world. If you revere and worship the honorable Dax, you''ll also be able to see the divine miracle that He once performed."

    "Have you seen it?"

    "I have."

    "Then do you revere and worship Dax?"

    "I do," the elderly man replied with a serious expression.

    Qin Ye smiled as he said, "That''s quite a surprise! You bear the mark of Mtecutli, which means that you were once an Eagle Warrior, yet you''ve chosen to believe in another god now?"

    A stunned look instantly appeared in the elderly man''s eyes upon hearing this, and he eximed, "Who are you?!"

    In the instant that his voice trailed off, the elderly man was suddenly struck by the feeling that everything had vanished around him.

    The wind had fallen silent, and the sound of the rustling leaves of the tall palm trees on either side of the street couldn''t be heard anymore, either. The sound of the cars on the street, the mor of conversation between the people nearby... All of that had suddenly faded into nothingness!

    How powerful did one have to be in order to be able to do this?

    The elderly man began to tremble involuntarily, and sweat began to pour down from his forehead as his mouth gaped open slightly. In this instant, he felt as if he were standing in front of a rift leading to a bottomless abyss, and the fearsome Yin wind blowing out of the rift was causing his robes and beard to p and sway incessantly.

    This man has to be above the Marquess level! But how did he enter the Usonian Underworld?! Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa set up the Seal of the Five Suns, and no news hase from Xolotl''s Screen, either, so how has he made his way here?!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be pondering these questions. The color was being drained out of the world in front of his eyes, reducing it to pure ck and white. As for the young man standing in front of him, he had bepletely enveloped in countless gusts of Yin wind, making it impossible to see him clearly.

    The elderly man had a feeling that if he insisted on looking deeper, he would catch sight of a terrifying monster!

    All of the illusions instantly faded, and the elderly man shuddered as patches of discoloration from livor mortis suddenly began to emerge on his skin. He frantically covered up the discoloration of his skin with his robes, then proceeded to kneel down in front of Qin Ye.

    However, he found himself physically unable to kneel down.

    An indescribable type of power had prevented him from kneeling down as he intended.

    "No need for formalities," Qin Ye said in an indifferent voice. "Take me to the nearest Yin Yang Mezzanine, and don''t mention what happened here to anyone. Otherwise, you''ll have Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to answer to."

    "Yes..." The elderly man gritted his teeth as he strode forward while trembling uncontrobly. "Pleasee with me..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Two hourster, Qin Ye was wearing a ck cloak,pletely absorbed in his own thoughts as he stared at the vast pyramid before him.

    Aegypt wasn''t the only ce that had pyramids, Usonia had them as well. There was even a seabed pyramid that had been built over 10,000 years ago outside the Formosa Strait, but pyramids were different in appearance depending on different regions.

    The Aegyptian pyramids had t surfaces, with each side presented as an equteral triangle. However, the Usonian pyramids were different. Most of Usonia''s pyramids were situated in Mexico. After all, Mexico was the origin of the Aztec religion.

    The pyramids of Usonia also had equteral triangr sides, but they were split up into levels. At this moment, Qin Ye was situated in thergest city in the Usonian Underworld, Chichenhagen, and the pyramid standing before him was a massive one that took up over 400 square kilometers of area!

    The entire city of Chichenhagen was inside this pyramid!

    On each level of the pyramid were many smallmunities that were packed tightly together, and there were countless shacks that resembled mushrooms from a distance, filling up all avable space on the pyramid.

    One Yin beast after another was traversing along the wide streets on the pyramid, carrying all types of different cargo, and each level of the pyramid could even be divided into two rings. Giant candles were lit on the edges of the levels, and these candles burned non-stop day and night. Regardless of whether one surveyed the pyramid up close or from afar, it was still a truly awe-inspiring sight, and Qin Ye found it to be more of a spectacle than any city he had ever seen!

    He cast his gaze toward the top of the pyramid, which waspletely concealed behind the clouds in the sky.

    "What''s up there?" he asked in a casual manner.

    The elderly man was standing beside him with his palms joined together, and he replied in a respectful voice, "Up there is the pce of the almighty Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, and no one else can enter the pyramid without a summons."

    "Has that always been the case?" Qin Ye asked as he continued to look up at the clouds.

    "No," the elderly man replied. "Several decades ago, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa sensed that their lives were about toe to an end, and they began to construct a tomb on the top of the pyramid. Since then, the top two levels of Chichenhagen had beenpletely shut off to everyone else."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before waving a dismissive hand. "You can go now."

    He was certain that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would''ve already sensed him, and that their messengers would be arriving soon.

    The elderly man departed, and Qin Ye looked up once again, using the hood of his cloak to shield his eyes from the sun as he carefully inspected this unique city.

    The clouds up above concealed everything at the top of the pyramid, and after a long while, he murmured to himself, "I hope you won''t disappoint me. I have a good feeling that you won''t disappoint me."

    He stared intently at the gigantic pyramid as he mused to himself, "Several decades ago, Usonia sent the first group of humans to the moon in the mortal realm, and that ignited the me of hope in your hearts. You then sealed off the top two levels of Chichenhagen, under the excuse that you''re constructing a tomb up there..."

    Qin Ye was almost certain that those top two levels were Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s aviation base!

    His gaze roamed over Chichenhagen, and on every level, he could see countless Eagle Warriors standing on guard. "There''s no way that anyone would be able to discover the aviation base here, and I''m certain that you''re not actually insane, you''re only pretending to be insane! If you had actually gone deranged, then Chichenhagen wouldn''t be anywhere near as orderly and well-maintained as it is now! If you had actually gone insane, then the first ce to be razed to the ground would''ve been this city! This ce is home to the new continent''s most powerful underworld emissaries and a diverse range of skilled personnel! You managed to convince the rest of the world that you''re desperately consuming Yin energy in order to break through the Yama-King level, but if that were true, then this city would bepletely dead already, yet that''s clearly not the case! Is this why you deployed soldiers to bolster Xolotl''s Screen and even set up underworld restrictions? The only three remaining death gods under you, Xolotl, Supay, and Ah Puch have most likely also already sensed that something isn''t quite right, but there''s no incentive for them to expose the situation here. If they were to do that, then all of the world''s nations would intervene right away. Instead, what they want is for all of the nations to intervene only after the demise or departure of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Thus, your objectives are the same, so you worked together to deceive the entire world."

    If it weren''t for the fact that Qin Ye had consumed the Taisui fungus, thereby allowing him to ignore all restrictions, there was no way that he would''ve been able to make it here.

    During the two-hour journey that he had taken to get to this ce, he had sensed dozens of restrictions sweeping over his body.

    "Show me the answer." He closed his eyes and gently sped his hands together. At this point, he could already hear a carriage galloping toward him from nearby. "Show me if you''re actually working toward space exploration, and if so, let me see how far you''ve gone!"

 Chapter 1090: Conversation Between Ruler Death Gods (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1090: Conversation Between Ruler Death Gods (1)</h4>

    "Are you sure?" Mtecutli turned around with an incredulous expression to face the servant down below.

    The servant replied in an uneasy manner, "I am, and he''s currently standing right outside the northeastern gate of Chichenhagen..."

    Silence.

    Only after a few seconds had passed did Mtecutli give a slight nod in response. "Alright, you can go now."

    This was an enormous space, and everyone standing inside was made to resemble ants on a chessboard.

    Down below was a vast expanse of ck Yin clouds, and the entire space was surrounded by a pitch-ck sky. Specks of light that resembled stars were flying through the sky in all types of different trajectories, and within this simted space, there was a gigantic object that was just barely visible under the radiance of the stars.

    "Why is he here?" Mictetikasiwa asked as her brows furrowed tightly. "On top of that, he didn''t pass through Xolotl''s Screen, nor did he set off any of the restrictions. How did he enter the new continent?"

    Mtecutli didn''t reply right away. A few secondster, a cold smile appeared on his face as he said, "It looks like Xolotl and the others aren''t the only ones waiting to see us die..."

    Mictetikasiwa raised an eyebrow as she asked, "So you''re saying that the Cathayan Underworld has nted a foothold in the new continent, and that he''s also waiting for the day that the religions of the new continent meet their demise? Is he not afraid of having to face our wrath by disying his intentions so tantly?"

    A self-derisive look appeared on Mtecutli''s face as he chuckled, "We''ll both disappear eventually. We''ll either fuse as one with the Heavenly Dao, or leave this ne and be reced by Xolotl and the others. We''re just a pair of doomed rulers clinging onto dear life, what is there to fear about our wrath?

    "So he''s certain that we''re going to die?" Mictetikasiwa mused as her eyes narrowed slightly.

    If that were the case, then it meant that the cultivation method he had provided to them to help them break through the Yama-King level was nothing but a lie! Did he really think that the new continent wouldn''t dare to attack the Cathayan Underworld?

    At this point, nothing was beyond them!

    Mtecutli turned toward her with aplex smile on his face as he said, "Perhaps he''s certain that we''re going to have to leave this world one way or another."

    After that, his colorful cape, which was around two meters in length, rose up behind him like a pair of wings, and he vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind. "Let''s go and meet him. He is trespassing on our territory, and he has to provide a good reason for his actions."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the third-tost level of Chichenhagen was the Golden Sun Pce, and on the ground at the center of the pce was a resplendent carpet with the legend of the five suns embroidered upon it.

    On the four walls were murals depicting important legends from the previous four suns, and up above was a hollow stone ceiling that had been constructed in the shape of the sun, made to appear especially life-like and vibrant by the addition of colorful paint.

    Extremely intricately crafted golden candlesticks were positioned all around the room, and the very center were two rows of tables and chairs, three of which were already upied.

    "Yanluo Qin, long time no see," Mtecutli greeted with a smile as he extended a wizened hand.

    "Indeed." Qin Ye also smiled as he shook Mtecutli''s hand, but as he attempted to pull back his hand, Mtecutli refused to let go.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he looked into Mtecutli''s eyes, andplete silence instantly descended upon the entire pce.

    Several secondster, Mtecutli tightened his grip slightly as he remarked, "You''ve already be a mid Yama-King. I must say, that''s very impressive. During your inauguration, you were still only a nascent Yama-King, yet you''ve already made a breakthrough within the past few years. As expected of a powerhouse nation like the Cathayan Underworld."

    He was still holding onto Qin Ye''s hand, and all of the golden essories hanging from his body were clinking incessantly.

    His smile then slowly faded, and an authoritative gleam that could only belong to a ruler death god appeared in his eyes.

    "However, don''t forget that you''re in this room with two advanced death gods." He released Qin Ye''s hand as he said, "The Seal of the Five Suns is a restriction that can only be unleashed by advanced Death Gods with the assistance of the creation-grade divine artifact, the Crystal Skull of the Sun God. With this restriction in ce, we''ll immediately be alerted if any underworld emissary below the advanced death god level enters our territory without our permission."

    A smile appeared on his face, causing his wrinkles to pile together as he concluded, "Trespassing on the territory of another nation is seen as a deration of war."

    As his voice trailed off, the Yin energy of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa surged through the air in silence, and even though no sound could be heard, that didn''t make the eruption of Yin energy any less fearsome! The entire world around Qin Ye transformed into aplete blur, and Yin energy was surging around him like a vortex, causing the fine hairs all over his body to stand up on end. In the blink of an eye, he felt as if he had been plunged into a swirling vortex of suffocating killing intent.

    This was clearly meant to be a disy of intimidation, but that wasn''t going to work on the current Qin Ye. He stood like a resolute mountain amid the waves of Yin energy, and even though his robes and hair were pping incessantly, he remained calm and collected, standing with his hands sped behind his back as he said in an unhurried manner, "I naturally have a good exnation for my unannounced entry."

    He paused momentarily as his eyes narrowed slightly, then continued, "For example, if I told you that I''m here to support the new continent''s space exploration project, would that be a good enough reason?"

    All of the Yin energy in the room silently dissipated, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa remained standing still on the spot as if nothing had just happened.

    "Space exploration project?" Mtecutli''s expression remainedpletely unchanged. "Yanluo Qin, do you think that we''re so senile that you can just make up any excuse to cate us?"

    Qin Ye took a meaningful look at the two death gods, then suddenly sat down and crossed his legs before casually picking up the coffee cup on the table and taking a sip. "It looks like I was mistaken. It''s not important whether this project exists or not. There are only the three of us here right now, do you two have some time to hear me tell a story?"

    "Of course! I would be d to humor you, Yanluo Qin." Mictetikasiwa also sat down, and the tense atmosphere and killing intent in the room instantly vanished. It was as if they were the closest of neighbors, catching up after a long separation.

    Qin Ye was still smiling, but internally, he was dead serious.

    He wanted to hear the two death gods tell the truth, not to cate him with lies. However, for a pair of ruler death gods who had already lived for thousands of years, the truth could be extremely difficult to extract.

    If he wanted to hear them tell the truth, then he had to give them sufficient incentive.

    Furthermore, even if they did tell him the truth, it was still yet to be seen whether actually had the information that he needed.

    "This story begins on a certain continent." He took a sip of his coffee, then continued, "The two death gods of this continent encountered some unforeseen circumstances outside of their control, causing the copse of their religion. Thus, as deities, their anchor in the mortal realm became weaker and weaker, and they had to think of a way to avoid fading into the sands of time."

    Mtecutli raised a hand to interrupt Qin Ye as he said, "Pardon me for being frank, Yanluo Qin, but your story isn''t original at all, and your delivery is also quite clumsy."

    "That''s because the delivery and the originality of the story aren''t important at all." Qin Ye maintained a polite smile as he continued, "They tried many things to ensure their own survival, hoping totch onto any opportunity that they could. Right as they were at aplete loss for what to do and were beginning to fall into despair, the mortal realm gave them hope again. Specifically, what had given them hope was the news that humans had been sent to space for the very first time."

    He set down his coffee cup as his smile faded, and he looked directly at the two death gods to gauge their reactions.

    "That''s an interesting story," Mtecutli said as he nodded in response, but his expression betrayed no emotion whatsoever.

    Qin Ye withdrew his gaze in a slightly disappointed manner upon seeing this. However this was only to be expected. If he didn''t offer the two of them sufficient incentive to tell the truth, then they would remainpletely unmoved, even if he were to spill his guts to them.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye continued with his story. "However, the odds were still against them. Specifically, they ran into two major problems. Firstly, their underworld has thergest territory out of any underworld, and if they were to let the other underworlds know that they intended to venture into space, then all of the other underworlds would do everything in their power to seize this opportunity as well. Thus, their underworld would be swarmed by foreign visitors, and that would severely hinder their n. This is simply due to human nature. The other underworlds could refrain from participating in the project, but they''ll do everything in their power to ensure that they can establish foundations on the new continent prior to the departure of the two death gods. Only then would they have the best chance to im the most territory from the new continent once the two death gods were gone."

    Mtecutli heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this. "Indeed, an insatiable appetite for arger territory has always been a part of human nature."

    Qin Ye nodded in agreement, then continued, "They don''t want to be interrupted at all before they seed in their project, so they decided to keep everything a secret."

    He took another sip of his coffee before turning to look at the two death gods again. "What do you think of the story thus far?"

    "I''m a little intrigued now," Mictetikasiwa replied with a smile.

    "Well, the most interesting part is still toe." Qin Ye leaned toward the two death gods as he gently tapped the table with his fingers. "As the two death gods developed their project further and further, they suddenly realized that they didn''t have enough funds."

    Right as his voice trailed off, the smiles on the faces of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa stiffened ever so slightly.

    There it is!

    Qin Ye wasn''tpletely sure of whether the new continent was actually pursuing space exploration. ording to his analysis, there was an extremely high chance that this was the case, and only once they had delved extremely deep into the project would they encounter issues rted to insufficient funds.

    However, an extremely high chance didn''t equate to certainty.

    There was no way for him to confirm without a doubt that the new continent really was pursuing this path, and before confirmation could be made, this was all just a hypothesis.

    Qin Ye was using everything that he had learned and extrapted to chip away at Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s internal defenses, and all he wanted to know was the truth. Even if the truth turned out to be unfavorable news to him, he was still already prepared topensate the new continent in exchange for the truth.

    This was something that was worthy of taking a gamble on!

    Mtecutli looked into Qin Ye''s eyes with a calm expression, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he mused, "How interesting."

    Qin Ye looked straight back at the two death gods as he continued, "The underworld of the two death gods had the most plentiful mineral produce out of any nation, and it had umted a foundation over the course of close to 2,000 years, and never did they think that this foundation would be insufficient to support this single super project. Thus, they found themselves in a situation where they couldn''t advance any further, but retreat also wasn''t an option."

 Chapter 1091: Conversation Between Death Gods (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1091: Conversation Between Death Gods (2)</h4>

    Inside the Golden Sun Pce, Qin Ye''s voice was echoing through a hall. "They couldn''t reveal their ns to anyone, and they didn''t trust any other underworlds. Those underworlds were all far more interested in iming their territory than to help them achieve their objective. They could promise the rest of the world to split the new continent''s territory with all of the major underworlds following their departure, but the death gods beneath them would immediately revolt in the face of such a decision. Also, ruler death gods took immense pride in their territory, and they couldn''t bring themselves to do something so shameless. Most importantly, they didn''t dare to tell the rest of the world what they were doing as doing so would lead to the entire world frantically trying to get involved in their space exploration project. They wanted to raise more funds, but there was no avenue through which they could do so. They weren''t as powerful or as influential as the four pirs, and there was no way that the four pirs would allow them to be the first ones to enter space and seize the initiative when it came to space exploration. For the two death gods, all they wanted was to survive, yet for the rest of the world, this was the key to ushering in an era of space exploration. No underworlds aside from the four pirs would even dare to think about being the first nation to send their Yin spirits into space. In fact, with the current state of the military of the underworld that the two death gods belonged to, a deration of their ns to pursue space voyage would most likely trigger a war that would spell doom for the entire continent."

    A wry smile appeared on the faces of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    "Was the world not afraid of retaliation from the two death gods? After all, they had nothing to lose. However, in the eyes of all of the major underworlds, it was worth incurring this risk if they could gain an advantage over the rest of the world in the race of space exploration. The rewards simply far outweighed the risks, and the two death gods were aware of that as well. Thus, they chose to remain silent and continued to develop in secret."

    Silence.

    Several secondster, Mtecutli chuckled, "That is indeed a very interesting story."

    Qin Ye looked straight into the eyes of the two death gods, and he still couldn''t see any notable changes in their expressions. It was clear that this still wasn''t enough to sway them.

    It seemed that he would have to do more to convince them to tell the truth...

    "Did you think that was the end?" Qin Ye asked with a smile. "This story is only just beginning."

    "Oh?"

    Qin Ye continued, "One day, the ruler of one of the four pirs approached them, expressing a desire to participate in the project and provide the two death gods withrge quantities of resources. Isn''t that a very interesting twist?"

    Mtecutli nodded in response. "That is a very heart-warming story, but the four pirs are not charity organizations, is that the ruler of one of the four pirs really so kind-hearted?"

    "Of course not," Qin Ye replied as he looked straight into Mtecutli''s eyes. "He wants all of the space exploration technology developed by the two death gods thus far, and in exchange, he promises to provide the two death gods with sufficient funds, and a guarantee that they would be allowed to enter space first once the supercritical tide arrived! This is a promise made by me, the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld. Now, please tell me whether you''re pursuing space exploration or not, and if so, what stage have you progressed up to."

    Qin Ye was finally putting all of his cards onto the table.

    The story was already finished, and it was time for an oue to be reached. He had already disyed sufficient sincerity, and regardless of whether Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were actually developing space exploration technology, he needed to hear an answer from them!

    The entire hall fellpletely silent, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa sat still in their chairs like stone statues.

    However, this silence was a very encouraging sign for Qin Ye.

    It meant that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were thinking about something, and that entailed that at the very least, they were hiding something extremely important, and there was a very good chance that a space exploration project was what they were hiding.

    After all, Usonia in the mortal realm was the first nation to have sent humans into space, so they had an innate advantage when it came to space exploration.

    With that in mind, he looked into the eyes of the two death gods with genuine expressions, patiently awaiting their response.

    There''s no need to keep secrets. I''ve alreadyid down my cards, and it''s time to show me yours. This is a mutually beneficial trade, so what is there to hesitate about?

    The silence in the hall stretched on for a full 10 minutes before a faint smile appeared on Mtecutli''s face, and he gently tapped his staff against the ground, upon which an extremely intricately crafted box sitting on Qin Ye''s table sprang open, revealing a series cut cigars inside.

    "These are Brazilian cigars of the highest quality," Mtecutli introduced as he casually picked up a cigar, then lit it with a speck ofherfire that had ignited on his fingertip.

    He took a deep breath before blowing out a cloud of cigar smoke, then made an inviting hand gesture.

    There was no need to conduct this discussion in a stiff and formal fashion like diplomats representing their respective nations. Instead, it would be far more constructive to discuss this matter like friends.

    Qin Ye epted the invitation, lighting a cigar for himself. The cigar had a very rich cherry fragrance that was coupled with the slight bitterness of coffee, presenting a very interestingbination to savor.

    After a few seconds of silence, Mtecutli finally said, "I apud your deductive thinking."

    His voice was serious and authoritative, and there was no longer a smile on his face.

    "I thought about many things just now, and this is indeed a rare opportunity. I mustmend you for connecting the dots and seeing through our n," he said as he gave Qin Ye a nod of approval. "No other nation in the entire underworld is suspecting that we''re pursuing space exploration, and it''s in the best interests of the three death gods below us to wait for us to leave, so they wouldn''t do anything to disrupt this current situation. You must''ve already met with the second King Yanluo, right? Firstly, please pass on my gratitude to him for confirming the existence of space to us. Secondly, the promise that we made back then is still effective, but only under the condition that you fulfill your promise to us."

    A strong surge of tion instantly welled up in Qin Ye''s heart, and he leaned forward slightly in an unconscious manner as he asked, "So you really have been pursuing space exploration?"

    "That''s right," Mictetikasiwa replied in a candid manner. "We started in 1976, so it''s already been over 50 years at this point!"

    So I was right!

    Even though Qin Ye knew that there was a very good chance that he would be right, he was still very relieved to have his suspicions confirmed.

    His gamble had paid off, and this alone was more than sufficient reward for his trip to the new continent!

    "In that case..."

    "There''s no hurry, Yanluo Qin." Mtecutli picked up Mictetikasiwa''s hand, then stood up with a smile as he said, "I can guarantee you that news of your visit won''t be leaked to anyone. As for how we should proceed from here, I think it''s best that we show you exactly what space exploration is, and why this goal has been beyond our reach, even though we''ve invested over 50 years and expended everything that we''ve umted during the past 1,700 years. Trust me, this is definitely going to be an unforgettable spectacle for you."

    His body slowly began to disintegrate into Yin wind as he continued, "Wee to the biggest secret in Chichenhagen, the Stairway to Heaven. We have to go and make some preparations, and once we''re ready, an underworld emissary will take you there. Coincidentally, there is going to be a supercritical tide tonight, one that takes ce every 50 years."

    The two of thempletely vanished, and Qin Ye was the only one left in the hall.

    He leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes, and even now, his scalp was still tingling from excitement.

    He was ecstatic that he made the correct deductions and struck the nail right on the head. He was willing to bet that if he hadn''t told Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa that the Cathayan Underworld was willing to assist them, and that they would be the first ones to be granted ess to space, then there was no way they would''ve told him the truth!

    The new continent didn''t have the right to decide that, but the Cathayan Underworld did!

    The Cathayan Underworld was on the cusp of bing a dominant powerhouse on the world stage, and if it were to dere a space exploration project, the first reaction of the other underworlds would definitely be to join them, rather than to destroy them.

    It was like they hadn''t battled the Cathayan Underworld in the past, and the painful lessons they had learned through that experience were still fresh in their minds. Anyone who dared to wage war against the Cathayan Underworld would immediately be met by a barrage of forbidden arts.

    Furthermore, the Cathayan Underworld held the new energy resource and the Moon Pce project, and no one would dare to doubt them. However, this was only a temporary arrangement. Once space exploration technology was truly developed, the three pirs would definitely be the first ones to go against the Cathayan Underworld in order to fight for the right to be the first underworld to enter space.

    Of course, even though the three pirs seemed to be extremely close right now, when the time came, all of them were also going to bepeting against one another for the right to enter space first.

    Under those circumstances, the ruler death god of any underworld, even apletely insignificant one like the Hopi Underworld, would be met by opposition from the entire world if they wanted to be the first one to enter space.

    The only ones who could enter space first without incurring any objections from the rest of the world would be the two ruler death gods of the new continent as everyone knew that their departure would be permanent.

    Despite the deranged facade they were putting on, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were extremely intelligent. In fact, there were no slouches among all of the death gods who had endured the great war of theherworld and survived to this point. They had clearly considered all of these points as well, and that was why they had decided to tell Qin Ye the truth.

    They were already a spent force, so why wouldn''t they ept help? Furthermore, the party willing to help them had guaranteed that they would get to enter space first! It was almost too good to be true!

    "Only after covering all of my bases did I dare to reveal myself to be Dax," Qin Ye murmured to himself in an excited manner as he snuffed out his cigar. "Otherwise, it would still be too early to reveal that identity. However, it''s clear that the two of you are going to help me keep this a secret. How selfish of you... Both of you are clearly aware of just how important a role Dax is going to y on the new continent following your departures."

    Dax was the death god of the Caribbean Sea, and using that identity, Qin Ye could ept Central Usonia into the Cathayan Underworld through King Yanluo''s Seal. Central Usonia was the onlyndmass connecting Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia, and once that became a part of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory, he would''ve already won the battle for Usonia even without directly participating in it.

    Right at this moment, a figure appeared at the entrance of the hall. They werepletely hunched over and wearing an inky-ck cloak, making it impossible to glean any of their features, and they drifted into the room atop a Yin cloud.

    This was a Prefect-level underworld emissary.

    "I don''t appear to have met you before," Qin Ye said in an indifferent voice.

    "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a servant god to the esteemed Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, and you can refer to me as ''Secret''. Please follow me, and I''ll lead you to the Heavenly tform, Yanluo Qin," the underworld emissary said in a respectful manner.

    "Oh? Where''s that?" Qin Ye asked in a curious manner.

    The cloaked figure made an inviting hand gesture as they replied in a respectful voice, "That is the first gate leading to the final secret of our Usonian Underworld. From there, we can look up at the starry heavens, and I will be your guide and attendant on the way there, introducing you to the most grand project that the Usonian Underworld has ever taken on, the Sixth Day."

    <i>The Sixth Day, eh? </i>Qin Ye smiled as he stood up before following the cloaked figure out of the hall.

    It was said that God had taken seven days to create the world, and the devil, Satan, appeared on the sixth day, so this certainly wasn''t a lucky number.

    "Does it entail that if they don''t manage to sessfully ascend, they''ll be the devil and bring destruction to the entire world? That''s quite a disy of determination!" Qin Ye murmured to himself. "Let me see what you''ve achieved over the past five decades!"

 Chapter 1092: Heavenly Platform

    <h4>Chapter 1092: Heavenly tform</h4>

    Rumble... A heavy stone door was opened, revealing a dark passageway beyond.

    The passageway was around five meters wide, and its walls were lined with torches that were burning with azureherfire. On either side of the passageway were statues of gods from the new continent''s three religions, and the craftsmanship was extremely beautiful and life-like.

    Qin Ye wasn''t very familiar with Aztec religions, but he could still identify some of the statues, such as Opochtli, the god of fishing and birdcatchers, Huehueteotl, the god of fire and time, and Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night sky.

    The passageway was very long and nted at a 30-degree angle, leading upward throughout the entirety of its length. Yin soldiers were stationed at 10-meter intervals on either side of the passageway, and they were wearing suits of armor crafted from gold in the form of fierce tigers, decorated by vibrant feathers, while wielding sharp des.

    "These are the most powerful Yin soldiers of the Usonian Underworld, the Sabertooth Tiger SS," Secret introduced. "And they''re only stationed at the most important ces, such as here."

    Qin Ye nodded in response while following along silently behind Secret. After walking for a long while, a giant roof finally appeared above them.

    The entire roof was constructed from countless stone bs that formed a portrait of Mtecutli, and at the center of the portrait was a circr indentation.

    Secret turned around and extended a respectful bow as he informed, "Yanluo Qin, above this ce is the Heavenly tform. The Sixth Day project is split up into two major sections, the Heavenly tform and the Eye of the Stars. Without permission from both Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, no Yin spirits are granted ess to this ce, and any trespassers would be killed on the spot by the Sabertooth Tiger SS."

    Secret then pulled out a fist-sized crystal skull, which he carefully slotted into the indentation, and it was a perfect fit.

    With a gentle twist of the skull, a string of mechanical sounds rang out, and one circle of Yin runes lit up after another. Several secondster, the roof abruptly sprang open, and light from a ball of whiteherfire shone down from above.

    A hint of pride and excitement crept into Secret''s voice as he extended a respectful bow and dered, "Wee to the Sixth Day, Yanluo Qin."

    So this is the final secret of the new continent...

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before disintegrating into a gust of Yin wind, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing on the first step.

    In the instant that he set foot on that step, his pupils abruptly contracted, and all of his Yin energy reflexively converged as he clenched his fists tightly, then gradually rxed again.

    He was looking ahead with a stunned expression, then slowly raised his head until he was looking almost directly upward, directing his gaze straight into the clouds. Only after several seconds of stunned silence did he murmur to himself, "This is incredible..."

    He had thought about what the Sixth Day would be like. He had envisioned a giantboratory with countless Yin spirits wearing whiteb coats busily performing different duties amidst a collection of intricate machinery.

    He had also envisioned a group of underworld emissaries d in ck cloaks, chanting incessantly as they gathered around a symbol of the sun, injecting their Yin energy into the sun so that it was able to rise up into the heavens.

    However, this was apletely unexpected scene for him!

    It was a vast sea of white mist that was proliferating outward in all directions from the center, forming oneyer of waves after another. Qin Ye''s robes were pping incessantly in the wind, and Secret also made his way onto the step as he said, "Yanluo Qin, it''s already dead."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, but his gaze was still fixed on the spectacle above him. Words failed to describe the emotions that he was feeling at this moment, and all he could do was marvel at the astonishing sight that had been presented to him.

    At this moment, he was standing in a suspended corridor, and at the end of the corridor was a small altar that was concealed within the white mist, making it quite indistinct in appearance.

    Right in front of Qin Ye was a vast sea of white mist, and within the mist was apletely nude giant. The giant had a head of white hair, and it stood like a pir between heaven and earth!

    It was roughly 400 to 500 meters tall, and Qin Ye couldn''t even see the highest point of the giant''s body from where he was standing.

    There wasn''t any skin on its body, and thus, its bright red muscle fibers and stark white tendons were exposed. It didn''t possess a nose or a mouth, only a single giant eye on its face, and one of its hands was ced in front of its own face, while the other one was raised high up into the air, disappearing into the boundless Yin clouds up above. His hair was growing straight out of his bones, and it was swaying incessantly amid the white mist, which was flowing and ebbing around the giant as if it were a living creature.

    Standing in front of the giant, Qin Ye was made to look downright diminutive. The visual impact of witnessing such a giant was much like that of looking up at the sky, or standing in front of a massive waterfall, presenting the beholder with a sense of perspective, while also instilling within them a sense of awe and astonishment.

    Of course, Qin Ye had no such emotional response. During his time as King Yanluo, he had witnessed far too many strange and exotic sights, and even though this giant was very impressive to behold, it presented nowhere near as much of a visual impact as the gargantuan Kraken.

    What had truly stunned him was something else.

    He spread open his hand, and the white mist drifted through the gaps between his fingers. After a long silence, aplex look appeared on his face as he asked, "Is this... immortal energy?"

    Secret extended a respectful bow as he replied, "Yanluo Qin, this is the body of the fifth sun god."

    So this is the legendary final sun god?

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze carefully roamed over the body of the giant, and in doing so, he discovered that there were many signs of assembly all over the fifth sun god''s body.

    For example, surrounding its wrist joint were red muscle fibers and white tendons, yet its hand gradually transitioned to an abnormal gray color, and by the time the color gradient reached its fingers, it had already turnedpletely white. Furthermore, the giant had tentacles instead of fingers!

    As Qin Ye looked down, he could just barely make out countless tentacles concealed beneath the white mist, and if he had to make an analogy, he would describe the fifth sun god as a human that had sprouted out of an octopus''s head.

    Things like this were amon sight in fantasy books and films, but Qin Ye knew that this was impossible in real life. The giant''s upper body was that of a human, while its lower body consisted of a mass of tentacles. This was abination of a vertebrate and an invertebrate, and there was no way that the Heavenly Dao would create something like this as it didn''t correspond with anyws of nature or evolution!

    "I heard that the fifth sun god''s body is formed by the body of Cipactli." The emotions surging through Qin Ye''s heart gradually subsided as he looked at the body of the fifth sun god, and he said, "It was infused with the divine power of many gods, and the chaos caused by theing together of so many different types of divine power ultimately proved to be its demise. ording to Aztec legends, it''s only mentioned that the fifth sun god perished, but there are no records detailing where its body went."

    Secret exined, "All living beings must arrive in the realm of the death gods upon their demise, no matter who they are. That is a ruleid down by the Heavenly Dao."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before withdrawing his gaze.

    Never did he think that the so-called Heavenly tform would be the body of the fifth sun god.

    However, this also begged a very important question: why was something as precious as the fifth sun god''s remains situated here?

    There was no way it was here just for show. Prior to beginning this project, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would''ve already known just how grand this project was going to be, and they couldn''t afford to incur any unnecessary costs in a project like this. Transporting the body of the fifth sun god here had to have required the expenditure of an enormous amount of manpower and resources, so it had to be beneficial to the project''spletion somehow.

    Qin Ye continued to carefully inspect the giant body. He couldn''t see any signs to indicate that the body had been modified in any way, so why was it here, and why had it been named the Heavenly tform?

    Secret seemed to have sensed his befuddlement, and he exined, "Yalnuo Qin, the true secret of the Heavenly tform isn''t here."

    "Oh?"

    "Pleasee with me." Secret made his way directly forward, and the white mist ahead of him partedyer byyer, revealing an altar at the end of the suspended bridge.

    The altar wasn''t veryrge, standing at only around five meters in size, and it was a ssic Aztec sun altar. The symbol of the sun had been carved onto the ground, and six beams of sunlight extended outward to form the corners of the altar, while the sun was the altar''s center.

    Secret made his way onto the altar, then made an inviting hand gesture. Qin Ye did the same, and at the same time, he was carefully inspecting his surroundings.

    Within the sea of mist, there were countless other suspended bridges just like this one, and it was impossible to see their origins and endpoints.

    As Secret injected his Yin energy into the altar, one circle of Yin runes after another lit up around the sun, making it clear that this was a teleportation array.

    The air vibrated slightly, and both of them instantly vanished on the spot. The surrounding area warped and twisted momentarily, and as the surroundings became clear again, Qin Ye cast his gaze around him, upon which he immediately drew a sharp breath.

    He looked up with a hint of awe in his eyes at the "sun" that was staring down at him.

    At this moment, they were standing on the palm of the fifth sun god, which was elevated hundreds of meters up into the sky.

    As aforementioned, one of the giant''s hands was ced in front of its face, while the other one was extended straight upward, and at this moment, they were situated on the palm of thetter. The hand was situated no more than 10 meters away from the "sun" in the sky, which was actually a giant eyeball that was at least 10 meters in size!

    The eyeball waspletely transparent, and rings of golden patterns could be seen on its surface. However, what was most shocking to Qin Ye wasn''t the eye itself, nor the strange patterns inscribed onto its surface. Instead, it was the pupil of the eye, which was around a foot in size and situated directly in front of him.

    "This is incredible..." Qin Ye''s throat had runpletely dry, and he involuntarily reached out to ce a hand onto the eyeball, which was as cold as ss. His voice was filled with astonishment as he eximed, "How is this possible?!"

    The pupil was inky-ck in color, but it wasn''t inherently ck. Instead, it was reflecting something.

    From Qin Ye''s perspective, he was able to clearly see that a vast starry sky was being reflected in the pupil!

    He could see one distant after another, as well as countless stars and asteroid belts. He could see a boundless sea of Yin energy, and he knew that he was witnessing the space of the underworld!

 Chapter 1093: Eye of the Stars

    <h4>Chapter 1093: Eye of the Stars</h4>

    Right as his hand came into contact with the eyeball, the entire body of the fifth sun god shuddered slightly, immediately following which circles of dazzling Yin runes began to appear on its massive head!

    One circle of Yin runes after another expanded outward, starting from the eyeball, and they were soplex that Qin Ye was certain that they were at least from the eighth circle. More and more Yin runes began to appear, and they were bing brighter and brighter. The Yin runes quickly spread over the entire head, and a few secondster, a string of mechanical sounds rang out from the head!

    Qin Ye looked on with aplex expression as he heaved a faint sigh. The two ruler death gods of the new continent had done the same thing as he had, transforming the body of a god into a biomechanical creature.

    Right at this moment, the skull of the fifth sun godpletely opened up amid the mechanical sounds, and if one were to look closely, they would be able to see some faint separation lines on its skull. One intricately crafted golden mechanical arm after another extended out from behind the sections of the skull, and the entire skull shifted downward slightly, lowering the eye as a result, thereby allowing the people standing on the palm to be able to easily see into the translucent eyeball.

    With a faint click, the head of the fifth sun god finally stopped moving, and a series ofherfire symbols were ignited on the golden patterns within the giant eyeball. There were countlessherfire symbols inside the eyeball, and standing in front of it, Qin Ye felt as if he were being scrutinized by the sun, or being gazed at by countless Yin spirits in space. It was... a truly indescribable feeling.

    Qin Ye stood on the spot with a dazed look on his face, and a thought that even he found to be incredible had already surfaced in his mind. He gentlyid a hand onto the eyeball, but as opposed to touching the pupil, heid his hand onto the circle just beyond the pupil.

    He gently pulled his hand downward, and to his surprise, the golden circle followed the movement of his hand! More mechanical sounds began to ring out, and as the golden circle revolved, the image of space within the pupil was constantly changing!

    As Qin Ye''s hand drew to a halt, a appeared within the pupil!

    It was very far away from them, so Qin Ye was only just barely able to make out the''s appearance, but in this instant, a fineyer of goosebumps appeared all over his body as he finally understood what this thing was.

    It was a telescope, one that had been constructed from the fifth sun god''s body!

    The pupil at the center of the eye was the optical tube, while the circle just outside of it was the finderscope. In that case, the other circles had to be the star diagonal, and the teleconverter.

    They had created an unprecedented super telescope inside the brain of the fifth sun god using its unique divine eye. This was a vast and grand project, the scope of which was truly unfathomable!

    Through the telescope, one would be able to observe space and supercritical tides, and it was no wonder that it was called the Heavenly tform.

    Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be awestruck by this astonishing sight, and his gaze slowly roamed over the sophisticated mechanical arms, the ck optical tube, and the glowing Yin runes. Only after a long while did he break his silence. "The mechanical arms are constructed from Flowing Fire Crystals, an S-grade ore."

    As King Yanluo, perhaps he didn''t know the functions of all S-grade ore, but he had to be able to recognize them.

    "The optical tube is constructed from Dark Wicked Rock, another S-grade ore. Just these things alone would push the telescope''s production costs into the tens of billions... Is this the price that must be paid in order to catch a glimpse of space?"

    Secret didn''t reply. He knew when it was appropriate for him to offer exnations, and when it was suitable for him to remain silent.

    Qin Ye withdrew his hand, but he was staring at the giant telescope in front of him this entire time. After a long while, a wry smile appeared on his face, and a myriad of emotions surfaced in his heart.

    Was he stunned?

    He was, but this wasn''t enough to astonish him to the point that he lost hisposure. All capable rulers had a good deal of self-restraint, and revealing too much emotion was heavily frowned upon.

    He wasn''t astonished. Instead, he could sense some type of deep-rooted conviction in his heart crumbling away.

    He had lived in the mortal realm for too long. Just as the second King Yanluo had said, he was trying to apply everything in the mortal realm to the underworld, essentially trying to jam a square block into a triangr hole.

    The technology of the mortal realm simply wasn''t the technology of the underworld.

    True underworld technology was like what he was seeing right now. The materials used could only be found in the underworld, and Yin runes were used to power the entire system. Through thisbination, even the body of a god could be modified!

    This was no longer scientific technology. Instead, it was Yin energy technology, fantasy science! Whatever it was, it waspletely different from the technology in the mortal realm!

    This was what underworld technology should''ve been like.

    In this world, there weren''t any aircrafts with sleek lines or rockets sting off into space.

    Instead, what could be found in this world were the things that one would expect to find in fantasy movies and animated shows! It was abination of unfathomable power and resources that could only be found in the underworld!

    This was true nar technology, and it was the path that truly belonged in the underworld.

    Only by doing this could one reach space from the underworld.

    "I was wrong." An epiphany dawned on Qin Ye as an enlightened look appeared in his eyes. "I was wrong from the very beginning. I was only lucky to have developed the new energy resource, but returning to simplicity is required to produce truly cutting-edge technology in the underworld."

    Yin runes and Yin energy were the foundation of the underworld!

    Things like nuclear fusion, nuclear fission,puters, inte... These things simply had nothing to do with the underworld.

    They could do some things and make the lives of Yin spirits more convenient, but never would they be capable of producing the most cutting-edge technology in the underworld.

    In short, he had chosen the wrong path.

    Yin energy and Yin runes should''ve always been prioritized in the development of the underworld! The right path wasn''t to replicate the models established by the mortal realm and trying to find things to rece Yin energy and Yin runes.

    "What is it called?" he finally asked.

    "Ometeotl, the name of the god of creation," Secret replied.

    "That''s a good name." Qin Ye nodded as he asked, "Is this the Eye of the Stars?"

    "No, this is the Heavenly tform," Secret replied as he extended another respectful bow. "The heavens can be viewed through here, and it was personally named by Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa. The entire project to construct the only telescope in the underworld took 15 years toplete. Through the superimposition of Yin runes, it''s able to pierce through the supercritical tide and truly see space. The specific details pertaining to the technology used are strictly confidential, and I only have an extremely surface-level understanding of it."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and his curiosity toward the new continent was growing further and further.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had deceived the entire world and built something truly extraordinary here!

    If this is the Heavenly tform, then what is the Eye of the Stars going to be like?

    He inspected his surroundings to find that there weren''t any workers, nor any signs to indicate that work had been recently conducted here. This indicated that this ce was no longer the main focus, and people would onlye here when they needed to use the telescope for something.

    In order to make space exploration a reality, one had to first understand what space was like, and constructing a telescope was always the first step to this process.

    "So it seems that the new continent has already progressed beyond this first stage," Qin Ye murmured to himself. "Just this observation alone makes this trip worthwhile. They haven''t kept the first step of their research a secret from me, and by doing this, they''re luring me in while also fulfilling their promise to the second King Yanluo. I knew that no one would dare to go back on a promise made to that bully!"

    Several secondster, he turned to Secret and instructed, "Take me to the Eye of the Stars."

    "As you wish," Secret replied as he pulled out a golden seal, then gently crushed it.

    The resulting golden powder from the crushed seal instantly surged into the eyeball of the fifth sun god''s body as if it had a mind of its own.

    In the blink of an eye, all of theherfire Yin runes around the eyeball turned a golden color, and immediately thereafter, a burst of pure white light erupted out of the pupil of the eyeball topletely epass both of them.

    <i>Is this a new method of teleportation? By doing it this way, it''s impossible for the subject being teleported to discern which direction they''re being teleported in... </i>Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought. The more significant the project, the more it was able to improve an underworld''s overall expertise in Yin runes. Just this teleportation method alone would be able to earn the new continent considerable sums of patent fees if it were released to the rest of the world.

    Three secondster, the lightpletely faded, and the surrounding scene gradually transitioned from pure white to inky darkness. In the instant that Qin Ye found himself able to see his surroundings again, two voices rang out in unison. "Wee to the Eye of the Stars, the site at which the second stage of our space exploration project is being conducted."

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were standing right in front of Qin Ye, but he was looking beyond them into the distance.

    It was dark, very much so.

    The ground was covered in surging Yin energy, and dark Yin clouds reached all the way up to Qin Ye''s knees. He could see thousands of underworld emissaries busy at work in this area.

    This was a gigantic construction site that had been separated into several major areas in an orderly fashion, and the sound of tools being used could be clearly heard. Instead of watching the underworld emissaries to see how they were working, Qin Ye cast his gaze upward.

    Up above, Yin clouds were surging and churning incessantly, filling the entire space, and there was a vast vortex over 20 meters above his head.

    At a rough visual estimate, the vortex was over 200 meters in size, and within it was a vast starry sky.

    s and nes were shing through the vortex like fishing swimming in the ocean, and they were all giving off different types of light that differed in color, shade, and brightness. However, no matter how he looked at it, the scene simply seemed surreal to him.

    "This is a simted space created ording to the eye of the fifth sun god." Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were standing beside Qin Ye, and Mtecutli said, "We created this simtion by referencing the footage captured by our most advanced image capture crystals, then reversed the footage through the use of Yin runes. Finally, we output the image through some machinery. It''s a pity that we weren''t able to participate in your new energy resource n as many of these processes could be powered by the new energy resource."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "What are they doing over there?"

    Truth be told, the Eye of the Stars was a slight disappointment to him.

    He had been astonished by the Heavenly tform, yet he felt nothing toward the Eye of the Stars.

    Mictetikasiwa replied, "They''re constructing the flying pce, of course. Through our observations, we determined that we''ll be able to withstand the force of the supercritical tide, but there are some types of immeasurable energy interspersed through it, and we can''t afford to take any risks. Hence..."

    Right at this moment, a ne began to slowly make its way through the image presented in the giant vortex, and half of the image was soon taken up by the ne.

    Qin Ye inspected the image through narrowed eyes, then suddenly drew a sharp breath as he took a couple of involuntary steps backward. However, his eyes remained firmly fixed on the ne, and his pupils had contracted drastically.

    There was a clear sound of something being devoureding from behind the ne, as if something were nibbling away at the ne...

    Within the starry sky, there was something that was devouring the ne!

    Qin Ye looked on with rapt focus as the image of the ne became clearer and clearer, and he finally caught sight of the gargantuan creature sitting on the back of the ne.

    At the same time, several hundred bright red eyes turned toward him in unison.

    "Hence, we did everything in our power to construct this fortress, this infallible floating city!" Mictetikasiwa dered in an excited voice that echoed throughout the entire space. "This is Omeyocan, the divine city! It is a masterpiece created using the most advanced Yin runes and technology of the underworld, and it will be the vessel that we use to leave this world!"

 Chapter 1094: Omeyocan

    <h4>Chapter 1094: Omeyocan</h4>

    Right as Mictetikasiwa''s voice trailed off, the ne in the vortex slowly revolved to reveal the gargantuan creature sitting on the back of it.

    It was a giant hermit crab, one that was constructed entirely from mechanical parts.

    It was impossible to tell exactly how massive it was, but it had to be at least 1,000 kilometers in size, and it was attached firmly to the back of the ne like an all-devouring demon, greedily digging up the ore on the ne.

    It was impossible to describe its appearance with words. Even though its appearance was so strange, there wasn''t anything hideous or sinister about it. Instead, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

    This was the underworld''s first-ever spacecraft. In fact, it was a floating city!

    Qin Ye continued to stare into the vortex with an astonished expression. The hermit crab was so massive that just the mere sight of it had made all of the fine hairs all over his entire body stand up on end, and its entire body was riddled withyer uponyer of densely packed greenherfire and golden Yin runes. At the same time, its countless "eyes" were giving off a crimson light, and its gigantic pincers were positioned in front of it like a shield. Its eight legs had gouged deep into the ne, acting as hooks to keep it in ce, and it was carrying a huge pyramid on its back.

    At the top of the pyramid, there was an enormous me that rose up to over a kilometer in height, resembling an eternal torch in the darkness of space. In that instant, Qin Ye thought back to all of the fantastical technology portrayed in the Final Fantasy series that he had yed in the past, as well as all of the animated shows that he had previously watched, but this thing put all of that to shame!

    They simply weren''t on the same level...

    He finally understood why all of the wealth that the Usonian Underworlds had umted over the span of over 1,700 years had been exhausted. This was a project that no single underworld couldplete on its own, not even one of the four pirs!

    "This is our vision," Mtecutli said in an excited voice as he stood beside Qin Ye. "It''s situated in a separate ne, and webined it with the images of space that we managed to record. This is a constant reminder to us of our ultimate objective, but in reality, it''s still yet to beunched into space."

    Qin Ye stared at the gargantuan hermit crab with a dazed expression. It waspletely different from the spacecrafts of the mortal realm. It wasn''t streamlined in the slightest, but there was no need to consider air resistance anyway. It would be the most impractical design conceivable for a spacecraft in the mortal realm, but it had been made into reality in the underworld. This was what a spacecraft of the underworld was supposed to look like!

    Looking at the vast Omeyocan, Qin Ye knew that he had most definitely been wrong about the future direction that he had envisioned.

    He involuntarily closed his eyes, but the image of the gigantic Omeyocan was all that he could think of. Power, Yin energy, and Yin runes were the foundation of the underworld. Everything in the mortal realm could be referenced, but that was the extent of it.

    The mortal realm had nuclear weapons, while the underworld had forbidden arts. However, Yama-Kings of the underworld could directly withstand forbidden arts and survive, but that was impossible in the mortal realm.

    The mortal realm had special forces, but even the Netherworld Operatives of the underworld were far more powerful than the most elite special forces soldiers. Upon reaching the Yama-King level, one would attain power that waspletely unfathomable to those in the mortal realm.

    The rulers of the underworld were more brutal and ruthless, but this wasn''t because they didn''t know how to be diplomatic. Instead, it was because of the power system.

    In the face of overwhelming power, everything else was simply inconsequential.

    The scientists of the underworld had always been impoverished and unable to make big strides in scientific development, but because they suddenly lost their intelligence upon arriving in the underworld. Instead, it was still because of the power system!

    They hadn''t found the right way to integrate power with technology.

    This wasn''t an integration of the past and the present. Instead, it involved integrating Yin runes with the most basic industries of the mortal realm to create something that had never been seen before!

    There was no need to design streamlined bodies to minimize air resistance, or things like propulsion fuel, space pods, hibernation pods, and propellers, all that was needed were countless Yin runes linked together by the most advanced technology. Once this was achieved, one would be able to create floating cities like the ones that only appeared in fantasy novels and films!

    This was apletely different path than the one taken by the aviation industry in the mortal realm!

    With that in mind, Qin Ye finally understood what he had to do, but at the same time, a disheartening realization dawned on him.

    Even though he was a Yama-King, his mastery of Yin runes was downright pitiful. He had always adopted ackadaisical attitude when it came to cultivation, and as a result, he was far less powerful than his cultivation rank suggested. In fact, any of the ruler death gods of the other three pirs would be able to easily stomp him into the dirt in a one-on-one battle.

    I thought that having a sharp mind alone would be enough to allow me to seed as a ruler in the underworld, but it looks like I was wrong. If my mindset is incorrect, then that incorrect mindset will be adopted by all of my subordinates. My reliance on the mortal realm means that everyone else is also turning to the mortal realm for answers, when in reality, the correct path is the one being taken by the two ruler death gods of the new continent. It seems that I''ve allowed my pride to pull the wool over my eyes.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye knew that he had to improve his mastery of Yin runes as quickly as possible. If he were to continue like this, then he would be an incapable King Yanluo that would ultimately lead the Cathayan Underworld to ruin.

    He turned toward Mtecutli as he asked, "Are you sure this thing will be able to ascend to space?"

    "Theoretically, it should be able to do that with no issues," Mtecutli replied as he looked up at the gargantuan Omeyocan. "The Hummingbird Art that allows for flight has been applied to every single part and connective joint. While it''s true that our technology isn''t as advanced as that of the mortal realm, that doesn''t matter here. On top of that, we''ve applied four types of arts, including the Fortification Art, to every single part of Omeyocan. Its outer shell is constructed from the lightest and most resolute SS-grade metallic ore, darksilver, and for this purpose, we dug up all of the darksilver ore across Northern Usonia and Southern Usonia. As for the material used to inscribe Yin runes upon the outer shell, we used the sap from dragonblood trees, which are S-grade natural treasures. Through a simtion, we''ve determined that the sap from dragonblood trees is able to preserve itself for over 50 years in the weightless and airless environment of space. Since we decided to use the sap of dragonblood trees, its color hasn''t faded in the slightest. Using this sap, we created a brand new array on the entire surface of Omeyocan, and we named the array ''Teteocan''."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Omeyocan is the name of the thirteenth heaven in Aztec mythology, and directly next to it is Teteocan, the twelfth heaven where the parent god of the Aztec religion resides."

    He turned toward Mtecutli with a genuine expression as he said, "I sincerely wish you luck in making it through the twelfth heaven to reach Omeyocan."

    You have my respects for pioneering the space exploration industry in this world, and I hope to see you seed.

    "Thank you for your kind words," Mictetikasiwa replied as a wide smile appeared on her face, causing all of her wrinkles to bunch together. She then pointed at Omeyocan as she said, "The Teteocan array consists of five arts, including the Flotation Art, the Buoyancy Art, and the Directional Control Art. I have the blueprint for the array, and you can see it anytime you''d like."

    She was making it sound very simple, but Qin Ye knew that this was far from a simple matter.

    Arts werebinations of Yin runes that came together to achieve resonance, which would then produce the desired oue.

    Every single Yin rune used in an art had to be extremely carefully selected, and it was often the case that thousands of candidate runes had to be sifted through to find the right one.

    Over the past several thousand years since the great war of theherworld, every single established art had already been refined to the extreme.

    In order tobine several arts together, one would have to inject additional Yin runes into arts that had already been refined to perfection. Furthermore, not only did they have to bebined in a way that would prevent them from rejecting one another, they had to resonate with each other as well, and this was most certainly not a simple process.

    "I wouldn''t dare to say that we''ve found the most ideal solution possible, but this is already the best way we can think of to allow Omeyocan to fly in an environment without gravity," Mtecutli said in a slightly wistful voice. If he were the ruler death god of the Cathayan Underworld and possessed an incredible creation-grade divine artifact like King Yanluo''s Seal, perhaps they would be able to find a better solution.

    Many thoughts were shing through Qin Ye''s mind at the moment, and he had already seen enough. All he wanted to do now was to find a quiet ce to rest and digest everything that he had just witnessed.

    Most importantly, he had to establish a clear understanding of the rtionship between Yin runes and Yin energy, and scientific technology.

    "Is the supercritical tide going to be taking ce tonight?" he asked. In doing so, he was implicitly stating that he didn''t have any interest in staying here any longer, and that he wanted to wait for nighttime.

    Mtecutli immediately understood his intentions, and he replied, "That''s right. Someone will be taking you to the Heavenly tform when the timees as that''s the best ce to see the supercritical tide. Would you like to go and rest now?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and several underworld emissaries immediately approached him in a respectful manner before leading him away.

    15 minutester, Qin Ye was lying on a recliner chair in a guest room outside Chichenhagen, and he closed his eyes to reflect on what he had just seen.

    Countless emotions were bouncing around in his heart, including excitement from finally identifying the right path ahead, anticipation for the future changes that he was going to make, as well as astonishment from witnessing the fifth sun god telescope and Omeyocan. This collection of emotions was swirling around incessantly in his mind, and in the end, they culminated into a long sigh.

    In order to stay ahead of the times, Qin Ye had to constantly be conducting self-reflection and inspecting himself for ws.

    At this moment, Qin Ye was going through intense self-reflection in the wake of the revtion that had just been presented to him. His old mindset and new views were constantly shing, and even he didn''t know what these shes were going to result in in the end.

    For now, he didn''t have time to think about Yin runes. His mastery of Yin runes wasn''t veryckluster, but the second King Yanluo had told him of a ce where he could improve his Yin rune mastery.

    Setting that aside, there was only one question left: why had they chosen to construct Omeyocan in the form of a hermit crab?

    The sight of Omeyocan had left an extremely deep impression on him, even more so than the body of the fifth sun god, so his mind couldn''t help but stray toward thoughts surrounding that astonishing flying fortress.

    Could it be that their Yin runebinations aren''t good enough to facilitate space exploration for extended periods of time, so they have to stop for repairs on every that they reach? Could it be to prevent the sap from the dragonblood trees from being worn away by the harsh environment of space? In that case, they would require more storage room to store spare parts and Yin rune inscription materials. Could that be the reason for the form that they chose for Omeyocan?

    Qin Ye certainly wasn''t naive enough to believe that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had chosen this form because they liked hermit crabs.

    There was no way that things like personal preferences could y a role in something as important as this.

    The hermit crab''s form did indeed allow for massive storage space, but other forms could achieve the same thing as well, as long as they were hollowed out.

    Qin Ye was unable to think of an answer to this question, so he set it aside as he thought about himself instead.

    If the Cathayan Underworld were going to construct a space fortress, what form was it going to be constructed in?

    The images of countless mythical creatures immediately began to sh through his mind.

 Chapter 1095: Supercritical Tide (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1095: Supercritical Tide (1)</h4>

    His first thought was a dragon, but he then quickly discarded that idea.

    Dragons were too long and slender, making them impressive in appearance, but impractical in practice. If the middle section were to be struck by an asteroid, there was a very good chance that the spacecraft would snap in half.

    With a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp, and he gently massaged it as he murmured to himself with a contemtive expression. "Let''s think about why Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa decided to design their spacecraft in the form of a hermit crab. I shouldn''t be thinking about the needs of the floating fortress. Instead, I should be thinking about this from a biological point of view."

    The recliner chair was veryfortable, and the padding on the chair was extremely soft, but this wasn''t the time to be rxing. His mind was racing rapidly as he sat up from the chair, then ced his elbows onto his legs and supported his chin with his hands as he fell into deep thought.

    "Hermit crabs are known for their hardness and defensive capabilities."

    He continued to massage his bracelet as he murmured to himself, "Their shells are extremely resolute, and they can spread force over the entirety of their structure. This is not for the purpose of storage. Instead, it''s designed to withstand all of the disasters present in space, such as shooting stars, asteroids, and perhaps even attacks from extraterrestrial civilizations. In the face of these threats, Omeyocan can withdraw into its shell and forcibly barge its way through asteroid belts. On top of that, if an ident urs and Omeyocan is forced to make an emergencynding, thereby taking it into a ne''s gravisphere, then the shell will be able to protect the control hub from being damaged."

    Once he discovered the right angle to approach the problem, everything became clear to him.

    He was trying to figure out the thought process of the new continent''s Yin rune experts and mechanical engineers that were involved in the construction of Omeyocan.

    This was a very important step. It was the method used by the only pioneers of the space exploration industry in the underworld, and it could perhaps be applied to the Cathayan Underworld''s own space fortress!

    His mind then wandered back to the previous question that he was considering: what form was the Cathayan Underworld''s space fortress going to be constructed in?

    All types of creatures shed through his mind, including the Phoenix, the Harken, the Zhuyan Ape, the Aurogon... Each of them had their own advantages, but once again, they were all rejected one by one.

    "The advantage of these mythical creations doesn''te from the creations themselves. Instead, ites from the power that they contain, but flying fortresses are unable to make use of this power. However..."

    He rose to his feet as he took a deep breath, and his mind was racing as he continued his analysis. "We can choose from Yin beasts that inhabit the harshest of environments! There are countless different types of environments in the underworld, and the Yin beasts that have evolved to adapt to these environments have already been proven by the process of natural selection to be superior to their extinct peers! We could even specifically observe the internal makeup of insects and other flying Yin beasts!"

    If it weren''t for the fact that he was stuck here, he would immediately summon his panel of advisors for a meeting to discuss this concept.

    He took several deep breaths in session to calm himself down, then closed his eyes as he murmured to himself, "Don''t rush... There''s still a lot of time, so there''s no need to rush."

    There were too many things that he still had to do on the new continent, including iming the Plumed Serpent God''s treasure vault and visiting the ce that the second King Yanluo had asked him to. The path to space exploration was a long one, and excessive zeal and ambition could result in major setbacks.

    With that in mind, he gradually calmed down, and time slowly passed by. After about three hours, the sound of door-knocking finally rang out.

    "Yanluo Qin." Secret appeared at the entrance, and he was still wearing the exact same attire as before. "The supercritical tide willmence in an hour, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would like to invite you to see it with them on the Heavenly tform."

    Qin Ye naturally wasn''t going to refuse such a brilliant opportunity.

    Thus, he followed Secret back to the Heavenly tform, where he couldn''t help but marvel at the gigantic body of the fifth sun god once again. He then stepped onto the teleportation array, and soon, he arrived in front of the eyeball once again.

    However, Secret hadn''t apanied him on this asion, so he had arrived on his own.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were already waiting for him, dressed in the mostvish ceremonial attire of the Aztec religion.

    Even by the standards of the present-day, the Aztecs led extremely extravagant lifestyles, mainly due to the fact that gold was avable in vast abundance in this civilization. The golden essories worn by wealthy tycoons in the mortal realm were an extremelymon sight even in the middle-ss society of the Aztec civilization, let alone the highest echelon of the Aztec civilization that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa belonged to.

    Their golden crowns were crafted to the highest degree of quality and detail, and the serpent god essories in front of their foreheads were so life-like that it was as if they could spring forward at any moment. The golden strands attached to Mictetikasiwa''s earrings were virtually as thin as strands of hair, and they had been intertwined into the form of sunbirds. Even in the most high-end jewelry stores, Qin Ye had never seen any essories as intricately crafted and as beautiful as these.

    "Wee, Yanluo Qin," Mtecutli greeted with a smile as he extended a slight bow. "There is still half an hour until the supercritical tide begins, and from here, we''ll be able to see it in its purest form. The telescope has already been adjusted to the most suitable viewing angle, so everything is ready."

    A table and three chairs had already been prepared, and the table wasden with all types of delicacies. The three death gods sat down onto the chairs, and Qin Ye was seated at the center, looking up at the Eye of the Stars with an awe-struck expression.

    The eye was different from thest time he had seen it. On this asion, all of the golden circles around the pupil had alreadypletely spread out, forming a series of evenrger independent circles.

    Countless golden Yin runes were dancing on the circles, and it was as if only now was the eye working at full capacity. Within the pupil at the center was an image of the vast and boundless space.

    However, the space wasn''t whole. Instead, there was a bright red rift running along it. The rift wasn''t veryrge, and it was also quite faint, but it resembled a fresh wound on the pitch-ck sky.

    One cloud of nebe after another slowly seeped out from the rift like mist, and it was as if the sky was bleeding. Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask about it, Mtecutli said with a grim expression, "You must be wondering what that red line is, right? We have also been trying to find out the answer to that question. We named it the ''Scar of the Sun'', and it''s been there since the first time we looked into space."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "When the supercritical tide begins, you''ll be able to see some unique astronomical phenomena here, and it''s exactly because of that thing that we decided to create Omeyocan."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. Mtecutli wasn''t making a big deal out of this, but the implications behind his words were quite serious.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were advanced Yama-Kings. If Zhao Yun didn''t exist, then they would be ranked along the ruler death gods of the three pirs as the most powerful beings of the underworld.

    What could''ve possibly made them so wary that they exhausted the wealth of their entire nation to construct this enormous flying city?

    Right at this moment, a thought suddenly shed through Qin Ye''s mind, and he turned to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa with a meaningful gaze.

    Even if there were some unforeseeable hazards in space, surely constructing Omeyocan was overkill.

    It would have to take at least tens of thousands of Yin spirits to operate this gigantic flying city, which meant that they were intending to take tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of Yin spirits into space with them!

    Was that all just so that they could continue to have citizens that they could rule over? No, the truth most likely wasn''t as simple as that.

    My earlier theory seems to have been too simple. Why was Omeyocan constructed in the form of a hermit crab, and why was its shell constructed to be the same as Chichenhagen? That shell is perhaps where all of theherworldly citizens are going to live. That makes sense. After all, even if they really do discover extraterrestrial civilizations, it would take more than just the two of them to spread their religion, and that is most likely why they''ve decided to take so manyherworldly citizens with them. However...

    He nced at the two ruler death gods out of the corners of his eyes, and his thoughts were bing clearer and clearer.

    It was clear that deep thought had gone into the decision to construct Omeyocan in the form of a hermit crab, and another thought had just urred to Qin Ye. Hermit crabs could survive even after shedding their shells!

    The shells that they upied once belonged to different shellfish, which they consumed before taking their shells. After shedding their shell, their Achilles heel would be revealed in the form of their soft and vulnerable backs, and that was a weakness that was impossible for them to defend!

    However, if there were no predators that fed on hermit crabs, then they would be able to survive even without shells!

    With that in mind, it would be safe to assume that the pyramid on the back of Omeyocan was its shell, and that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were prepared to discard the shell and flee on their own if a sufficiently dire situation were to befall them!

    He closed his eyes and carefully recalled the appearance of Omeyocan. Several secondster, he nodded in confirmation to himself. The "crab" that was the main body of Omeyocan was only less than 200 square kilometers in area, which essentially confirmed his theory.

    He didn''t think this was cruel or heartless, it was an understandable decision.

    If he had been in the shoes of the two ruler death gods and also chosen to construct his space fortress in the form of a hermit crab, he would''ve done the same thing.

    The only thing astonishing to him was how incredibly genius the thought process that went into creating Omeyocan was. The hermit crab''s habits, characteristics, and advantages had all been maximized in this design!

    This was going to be a path that the Cathayan Underworld also had to take in the future in the construction and design of its flying fortress.

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the dark sky depicted within the eye of the sun god, as well as that red rift.

    What could''ve possibly convinced Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa that it was not only necessary to create a flying fortress with such immense defensive prowess, but also to prepare an escape mechanism in addition to that?

    The two of them were among the most powerful death gods in the underworlds, and Omeyocan was an almighty fortress that could hold hundreds of thousands of people! What could''ve possibly made them so wary and concerned?

    Was this the price that had to be paid for space exploration?

    "Yanluo Qin?" Right at this moment, Mtecutli''s voice rang out beside Qin Ye''s ears, snapping him out of his reverie.

    A faint smile appeared on his face as he said, "My apologies, I got lost in my own thoughts there."

    Mtecutli also smiled as he said, "There is only one minute left until themencement of the supercritical tide."

    Have I already been thinking for that long?

    Qin Ye nodded in response as he cast his own chaotic thoughts aside, then focused his gaze on the eye of the sun god.

    Now then, show me the answer.

    Everyone remained silent as they waited for the show to begin, and soon, 60 seconds had passed by. In the instant that the minute ticked past, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and the entire pupil of the eyeball began to vibrate.

    In fact, it wasn''t the eye of the sun god that was vibrating, it was the entire space depicted within it instead!

    In this instant, all of the asteroid belts around the nes in the Yin Space River began to slowly revolve, and they were gradually picking up speed. Soon, boundless mes had been ignited, creating one dazzling band of fire after another, and immediately thereafter, there was a jolt, following which the frenzy of activity died down again.

    Qin Ye was staring at the extraordinary scene before his eyes with an incredulous expression. This waspletely different from the space of the mortal realm, and it couldn''t be exined by science.

    This was the space of the underworld.

    All of the asteroid belts around the nes that he could see had already transformed into bands of runes.

    This was the nar scale!

 Chapter 1096: Supercritical Tide (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1096: Supercritical Tide (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye''s pupils abruptly contracted slightly upon seeing this.

    He had envisioned the space of the underworld to be quite simr to the space of the mortal realm. Even though the second King Yanluo had already told him about things like supercritical tides, nar scales, and the Yin Space River, he had thought that these terms were simply different ways to describe the things present in the space of the mortal realm.

    However, what he was seeing waspletely different from his expectations.

    Qin Ye inspected the bands of Yin runes carefully, and discovered that he recognized every single one of them. They were all mid to high-grade Yin runes within or above the fifth circle!

    These asteroid belts formed by Yin runes were known as nar scales, and there was one around every ne. Their radiance lit up the inky darkness of space, much like street lights turning on in a city at night, and as a result, Qin Ye was able to clearly see all of the nesid out before him.

    He gently exhaled as he stood on the palm of the fifth sun god, looking into the space that he had never seen before. All of a sudden, he was ovee by a sense of awe and wonder.

    So this is the space of the underworld...

    Some of the nes were extremely even and symmetrical, while others had very irregr topography, and there were even some nes that were formed by countless pieces of charred, ck bones and asteroids...

    There were nes of all sizes and descriptions!

    The Yin Space River was like a vast piece of ck velvet, while the nes and their nar scales were like designs embroidered onto the ck velvet. In contrast, a human couldn''t be any tinier and more insignificant, and the sight of the vast cosmos struck the beholder with a sense of awe and perspective, as well as an urge to explore.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa didn''t say anything, nor were they looking down on Qin Ye for his loss ofposure. Back when they had seen space for the first time, their reaction had been much the same.

    The higher one stood, the more one would be able to see, and the more they woulde to realize just how insignificant they were.

    After staring into space for a long while, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    In contrast with what he was witnessing, all of his worries and concerns seemed so insignificant.

    Right at this moment, all of the nes in the entire Yin Space River suddenly began to tremble slightly.

    All of the Yin runes began to fluctuate in brightness, and several secondster, the entire Yin Space River began to sh unsteadily like a lightbulb with a bad connection.

    "What''s going on?" Qin Ye was instantly snapped out of his reverie as his brows furrowed slightly. There was no way that Yin runes would react like this for no reason, and there was only one type of situation that could cause such a strong reaction in Yin runes: there was an external influx of Yin energy triggering this reaction.

    All arts consisted of Yin runes that resonated with one another, and Yin energy had to be injected into the system to trigger the chain reaction. Without the injection of Yin energy, arts would only be chains of Yin runes that couldn''t do anything.

    Inside the Yin Space River, there were countless Yin runes and boundless Yin energy. However, having existed for countless years, these Yin runes and the Yin energy had already fused as one long ago. In this state, there was no way that any fundamental change could take ce in space. An analogy could be drawn here to the space of the mortal realm. The Big Bang was the event that had created the universe, but having been in existence for tens of billions of years, space had already reached a natural equilibrium, which exined why there hadn''t been any subsequent Big Bangs.

    The only thing that could trigger such a violent reaction was an influx of Yin energy that didn''t belong to the space here!

    Could it being from extraterrestrial life forms?

    Qin Ye was staring intently at the center of the image with an unblinking gaze. All of the nes in the entirety of the Yin Space River were shing and flickering unsteadily, yet the Scar of the Sun remainedpletely unmoved. However, the red mist around it was bing dense and denser.

    It was as if some type of terrifying monster were about to tear its way out of the rift!

    What could it be?

    Inside the image, the nar scale was trembling more and more violently, and at this point, even Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had risen to their feet. "The reaction is even more violent thanst time!"

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything, but his mind was already racing rapidly.

    The reaction is more violent thanst time? Could this mean... that something''sing closer and closer to the underworld?

    In the next instant, the image fell intoplete darkness.

    All color seemed to have been drained away, and the entirety of the Yin Space River seemed to have returned to a state of primitive chaos.

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon seeing this. In this instant, he had been struck by an inexplicable feeling, and goosebumps had been raised all over his arms.

    As a Yama-King, he was extremely sensitive to impending danger. In fact, this premonition was developed as an Abyssal Prefect. Past instances of this included Qin Ye''s premonitions of danger in the Huang n''s earthen building, during the Xu Fu crisis, and prior to the arrival of the three pirs. However, never had he been struck by such a strong premonition of peril before! Furthermore, the scene that he was witnessing was actually taking ce countless kilometers away, and it was already striking him with an inexplicable sense of terror!

    "You must be wondering what could''ve driven us to create Omeyocan, right?" Mtecutli''s voice rang out behind him. "That is the reason we created Omeyocan! We saw that thingst time, and it''s like a demon that resides in space, constantly sizing up all of the Yin Star Systems. On the previous asion, we saw one of its eyes. In the next few seconds, the darkness will begin to vibrate, after which an eyeball the size of a ne will appear. Their eye will be of a crimson color, and it''ll appear right at the Scar of the Sun. It''s like the center of the entire Yin Space River, able to see us from countless kilometers away!"

    Could it be that they had been discovered by an almighty extraterrestrial being?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this. None of the nes actually possessed light of their own, and the light that they were giving off was light that was being reflected from other stars. The fact that all of them had gone dark at once could only mean one thing: the stars had disappeared.

    Of course, the stars couldn''t possibly just cease to exist all of a sudden, so there was only one terrifying exnation: they had been covered up.

    Some unfathomably gargantuan object hadpletely covered up all of the stars!

    Their light had been intercepted, meaning that it was unable to reach this Yin Star System, thereby plunging it entirely into darkness.

    Something had covered up all of the stars and was watching them at this very moment. In fact, perhaps it was even approaching them!

    "Are we able to see further than this?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Yes, but we''ll have to wait until the supercritical tide begins," Mtecutli replied with a rare surprised look on his face. "Last time, the eye had already appeared at this point..."

    On the previous asion, it had only taken the eye five seconds to appear, yet over 10 seconds had already passed by on this asion.

    There were no vibrations, nor any gargantuan eyes. The only thing that they could see was an all-epassing, suffocating darkness.

    No one said anything after that.

    Everyone was waiting for the arrival of the supercritical tide in silence. After a full minute had passed by, something finally seemed to have begun to move within the darkness.

    It was very difficult to describe this spectacle. Theoretically speaking, there would be no way to detect any movement in pure darkness, but this vast expanse of darkness seemed to have a life of its own, and one could clearly sense that it was moving.

    The vibrations were bing more and more powerful, and 10 secondster, a pir of dazzling white light suddenly erupted into the heavens.

    Light returned to the entire Yin Space River, yet in this instant, Qin Ye, Mtecutli, and Mictetikasiwa let loose a cry of rm in unison as they took an involuntary step backward.

    A terrifying giant had appeared in the image!

    It was very difficult to describe just how massive this creature was. It was wearing a tattered ck cloak, and the parts of its body that were revealed were all white, skeletal appendages. It had a total of four arms and was wearing a mask that resembled a goat''s skull. Above the mask was the antler of a deer that resembled theplex canopy of a locust tree, while down below was a vast expanse of ck Yin energy.

    Two of its palms were resting on two nes, and the massive nes were around the same size as its hands. Scarlet mes were erupting out of its eyes, and around it were countless humanoid figures wearing white clothes and ck conical hats. There were hundreds of thousands of these humanoid figures hovering in the air around the giant, like stars around a moon!

    The giant was so enormous that it took up the entirety of heaven and earth! With just a single press of its palm, an entire ne would be utterly destroyed. None of the shooting stars and asteroids could inflict even the slightest harm upon it. In fact, they were like peashooter projectiles that wentpletely unnoticed by the giant, even as they exploded upon striking its body.

    "Is that a spatial Yin beast?" Mtecutli was staring at the gigantic monster with a stunned expression. "How is this possible? This is an image of our Yin Star System! How could there be such an enormous monster in our Yin Star System?!"

    With a monster like this present, not even 10 Omeyocans would be able to protect Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa!

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. He didn''t know what this thing was, but something simply wasn''t adding up in his mind.

    If such a monster truly existed, then why was it that the underworld had never been attacked by it before?

    A monster like this was definitely above the Yama-King level! The terrifying power that it was giving off was something that Qin Ye had only ever felt from the second King Yanluo, and with its astonishing mass, it wouldn''t take very long at all for it to traverse through their entire Yin Star System, so why had it left the underworld untouched?

    Could it be that it had only recently made an arrival in this Yin Star System?

    Could it be that it discovered this rift during thest supercritical tide 50 years ago, then took advantage of this supercritical tide to pass through it?

    No, this isn''t the time to be thinking about these things...

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the white light. In the instant that the monster emerged, he had clearly caught sight of that pir of white light striking the giant''s chest, upon which the image of a dazzling white sword appeared on the giant''s body.

    This was an antiquated Cathayan longsword. Cathayan swords were very different from western swords, so it was clearly identifiable.

    The sword was bound by chains from all directions, keeping it hovering in mid-air. It was only an image, but in the instant that Qin Ye caught sight of it, he felt a violent wave abruptly surge through his consciousness.

    "What is that thing?" Qin Ye immediately lowered his head and frantically massaged his own temples to fight off the splitting headache that he had suddenly been struck by. "Since when was there such a fearsome sword in Cathay? It''s not the Xuanyuan Sword... Half of the Xuanyuan Sword is still in the possession of Sword Master Xuanyuan, yet this sword is whole, but what Cathayan sword other than the Xuayuan Sword could evoke fear even within me?"

    Right at this moment, he abruptly raised his head and cast his gaze toward the heavens.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa also raised their heads in unison, and they faltered momentarily at the sight that they were greeted by, following which furious looks appeared on their faces. "How dare you!"

    Qin Ye also faltered slightly before immediately casting his gaze toward the eye of the sun god.

    Inside the image depicted within the pupil, that spatial giant was reaching out toward the lens with a gargantuan hand!

    It was grabbing out toward the underworld!

    It was also at this moment that all of the Yama-King level death gods in the entire underworld raised their heads in unison!

 Chapter 1097: Prepare to Have Your Hand Chopped Off

    <h4>Chapter 1097: Prepare to Have Your Hand Chopped Off</h4>

    In the Elysian Fields of the Argosian Underworld, the Three Judges, Aeacus the Just, Minos the Strong, and Rhadamanthus the Enigmatic, also raised their heads to look up at the sky.

    "Who dares to provoke the mighty Argosian Underworld?!"

    BOOM!!

    Right at this moment, all of the underworlds across the entire ne were greeted by an extraordinary sight that had never been seen before!

    In the sky above, the blurry outline of a gigantic hand had appeared amid a burst of dazzling light. Even though the denseyer of clouds up above, the outline of the hand was visible, and its emergence was apanied by rumbling thunder and violent earthquakes!

    It wasn''t traveling very quickly, but it was reaching out toward the underworld from outside the ne, and as it descended from the heavens, it erupted into fierce mes, like mes of sin that were going to judge the entire underworld.

    In the Divine Pce of Hades, the servants were screaming and trembling amid this doomsday-like scene. In contrast, Hypnos remained calm and collected as he murmured to himself, "It''s Them!"

    He cast his gaze toward the direction of the Cathayan Underworld. "Can you feel that, Brother?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he flew up into the heavens as a streak of light, and pairs of wings that were formed entirely by ck Yin energy appeared on his back. Immediately thereafter, the wings quickly spread open one after another, and in the blink of an eye, he had already transformed into a 72-winged fallen angel. One half of his body was ck, while the other was white, and he made a grabbing motion with one hand.

    Inside the Divine Pce of Hades was a massive coffin.

    It was said that this coffin belonged to Hades, who was the death god of Heaven. Right at this moment, the coffin cracked in response to Hypnos''s grabbing motion, and a pitch-ck longsword that was riddled with Yin runes flew into Hypnos''s grasp. At the same time, he flew directly up toward the massive hand as a streak of dazzling light.

    His golden hair was pping erratically within the fierce wind, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his handsome face. "You still dare to attack the underworld? It looks like you''ve already forgotten the lesson taught to you by the world''s gate!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    At the venue for the international trade conference in the Cathayan Underworld, Yamaraja mmed a hand onto the table and rose to his feet as soon as the giant hand appeared.

    "Insolence!!"

    Silence quickly descended over the entire venue.

    Yamaraja was attending a meeting, during which matters regarding patent applications rted to the new energy resource were being discussed, and his sudden outburst immediately attracted everyone''s attention. Before they had a chance to ask what was going on, Anubis also rose to his feet with a cold smile. "What a rare guest this is... We can''t allow them to leave without giving them something to remember us by!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, both of the ruler death gods rushed out of the pavilion at once, and it was also at this moment that a devastating aura descended upon the entire ind of Formosa.

    H, Fenrir, and J?rmungandr immediately sensed this aura, and they instantly rushed out of the pavilion without a second thought. They were apanied by several other Duke level death gods.

    On the rooftop of the pavilion, Zhao Yun picked up his spear with a grim expression as he squatted downward slightly like a coiled spring. This was the first time he had put on such a wary disy since he had transcended beyond the Yama-King level.

    Such fearsome Yin energy, yet it doesn''t belong to the underworld at all! Where did this monstere from?

    Yamaraja was cackling with menacing glee, and his ck cloak was being blown upward into a virtuallypletely vertical state. There were hundreds of scarlet eyes beneath him, and he reached his left hand out of the sleeve of his cloak. "Yurlunggur."

    The sound of a deafening serpentine hiss rang out across the entire sky above the ind of Formosa over an area of hundreds of kilometers. All of the clouds in the sky quickly parted, and a massive green serpent projection appeared beside Yamaraja''s left hand.

    He then reached his right hand out of the sleeve of his cloak as well. "Peacock."

    Scintiting light erupted from his right hand, and countless beautiful patterns were emerging within the light, much like the image of a peacock spreading its canopy.

    He joined his palms together. "?akti."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his body began to expand rapidly in size. 100 meter... 300 meters... 500 meters... Several secondster, a giant that was entirely formed by Yin energy, standing at over 1,000 meters in height, had appeared in the sky above Formosa!

    The giant was like a pir that connected heaven and earth, with the Yurlunggur on its left and the Peacock on its right. It had three heads and six arms, and it was impossible to determine its gender from its facial features. The giant raised two of its hands, and a pir of five-colored Yin energy erupted out of its palms, hurtling up toward the heavens amid the cries of countless birds.

    In the instant that the pir of Yin energy appeared, Tsunamis that rose up to hundreds of meters tall erupted over the sea outside of Formosa. Immediately thereafter, the five-colored pir of light parted down the middle, then quickly diverged, manifesting a lethal sea of yellow sand on one side, and a waterfall that was over 100 kilometers wide on the other.

    The clouds in the sky instantly exploded. In the wake of the power of two advanced death gods, even the heavens weren''t able to remain intact. Layers of Yin clouds surged forth in all directions, revealing a massive hole at the center. Countless Yin runes churned violently as they attempted to fill the hole, but they were unable to converge in the face of the terrifying disy of power.

    At the center of the flood of Yin clouds was a dazzling Yin rune vortex, resembling a massive piece of burning paper. The edge of the vortex was as resplendent as fire, and within this gargantuan vortex, which was tens of thousands of kilometers in size, one could see the outline of an enormous hand piercing through space, reaching out directly toward the underworld from outside the ne.

    The nar barrier between space and the underworld had been torn apart, and it was possible for one to take advantage of this opportunity to fly directly into space. However, in doing so, they would have to withstand all-out attacks from two advanced death gods and that extraterrestrial monster. This was also why space was only essible during supercritical tides. Only prolonged eruptions of enormous power could tear open the nar barrier for an extended period of time. However, nothing could fly into space in the wake of such devastating power.

    "What the hell is that thing?!" H had already expanded to over 200 meters tall, and half of her body was breathtakingly beautiful, while the other half waspletely rotten and decayed. She was staring up at the heavens with a stunned expression. "You''re extremely powerful, but you''re going to regret striking out against the underworld! Die!!"

    With that sharp screech, countless tree branches emerged from beneath her dress, then intertwined with one another to form tentacles that were giving off deathly Yin energy. They were like countless spears that rose up into the heavens at above the speed of sound, and at the same time, all of the death gods around her also unleashed their most powerful attacks toward the giant hand up in the sky.

    Zhao Yun was the only one who had refrained from attacking.

    He was waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

    He didn''t care who or what this monster was, the fact that it dared to attack the Cathayan Underworld was a crime punishable by death 1,000 times over!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Inside the world''s gate, all of the Yama-King level Yin spirits raised their heads in unison.

    Napoleon looked up for a while, then lowered his head again.

    At another gate, a man with a strong build and golden essories hanging down from all over his body also looked up at the sky. After a long while, he looked away as well.

    Within the world''s gate, the second King Yanluo''s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn''t even bother to take a look.

    "Are you not going to take a look?" asked an elderly man who was situated beside him.

    The elderly man was wearing a white robe and straddled atop an ox. He had a long, white beard, and even though he was clearly a Yin spirit, there wasn''t any Yin energy released from his body.

    "I''ll pass," the second King Yanluo replied as hezily lit a cigarette. "This is just a ploy to try and lure me away. I''m willing to bet that if we leave, there will immediately be a crisis in the world''s gate. "

    "It seems like the brunt of the attack is aimed at the Cathayan Underworld," the elderly man remarked with a smile as he stroked his own beard.

    "It hasn''t evenpletely broken through the nar barrier yet. If they can''t even deal with something like this, then that would be truly pitiful," the second King Yanluo chuckled. "Just wait and see. All of the underworld''s death gods are extremely prideful and irritable characters. If it dares to reach out, then it better prepare to have its hand chopped off!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the top of Chichenhagen, Qin Ye looked on with an astonished expression as the monster swatted a palm violently toward the underworld. In retaliation, several dozen bursts of Yin energy rose upward to oppose the hand.

    This was truly a sh of the titans, and the entire image within the eye of the sun god was trembling violently. In the instant that the sh took ce, a burst of scintiting white light immediately erupted.

    The white light washed over the entire Heavenly tform like a wave, and even Qin Ye had to squint with all his might in order to see what was happening in the image.

    One shockwave after another was spreading through the cosmos, keeping the giant''s gargantuan hand at bay. Thus, a brief impasse took ce between the two sides. Three secondster, the monster suddenly let loose an agonized roar, then stumbled back a single step.

    At the same time, its enormous hand exploded violently, followed by its arm, then its shoulder, all of which exploded into countless pieces. Some of those pieces remained suspended in space, while others crashed down toward other nes as asteroids and shooting stars.

    Not only had the giant''s attack been stopped, it had been wounded by the retaliative strike!

    Is this the power of the underworld''s death gods?

    Qin Ye had been toying with the death gods so muchtely that he had forgotten just how fearsome they could be!

    However, this wasn''t the time to be thinking about things like this. In the instant that the monster''s arm was destroyed, all of the countless white-robed Yin spirits around it opened their eyes in unison.

    They were like masked corpses drifting through space, and their eyes were of an extremely bright crimson color. All of their eyes had sprung open in unison, and it was as if a sea of crimson stars had suddenly appeared in space. At the same time, their heads turned in a mechanical manner toward the retreating spatial monster, and in the next instant, all of their mouths sprang open to around half a foot in size as they pounced toward the monster in a frenzy.

    What are they doing?

    Qin Ye was staring intently at the scene unfolding before his eyes. This waspletely beyond his understanding of the world. As the ruler of one of the four pirs, he had an undeniable obligation to deal with such a massive threat to the underworld.

    In space, the countless Yin spirits rushed over to the chest of the retreating monster, and their hands interlinked with one another to form a massive circr diagram. Theyers of the circle were stacked on top of one another to form an airtight barrier, and thus, the beam of light, that had shone onto the monster''s chest earlier, also illuminated them.

    Right at this moment, the sound of a rising and receding tide rang out. It was very faint, but it was audible across the entire underworld, and at the same time, a vast expanse of scarlet mist emerged from all directions, then surged toward the monster in unison.

    This was the true supercritical tide!

    Right as the red mist drifted over the image of the sword, the entire sword was stained a scarlet color, and in the next instant, the entire image began to tremble violently.

    The image of the sword suddenly seemed to have sprung to life, instantly punching a massive hole through the monster''s chest! It had even bypassed the defensive array formed by the Yin spirits as if it didn''t even exist, then continued to fly into the distance!

    Qin Ye, Mtecutli, and Mictetikasiwa all drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and they exchanged an astonished nce with one another.

    What exactly was that sword? Was it a defensive measure that had been collectively set up by the entire underworld?

 Chapter 1098: No Time to Waste

    <h4>Chapter 1098: No Time to Waste</h4>

    In the instant that the sword pierced through the monster''s body, its mouth abruptly sprang open, and it let loose an earth-shattering shriek.

    The shriek was truly audible throughout the entire Yin Star System, and it was far louder than the one it had let loose when its arm had been destroyed. In the next instant, the monster suddenly disintegrated!

    Is it dead?

    Qin Ye was watching the unfolding scene with an intense, unblinking gaze. He didn''t think that the monster would die so easily. Being enormous in size had both benefits and disadvantages. Therger something was, the slower it would be because it would take too long to transmit signals from the brain to the rest of the body. However, increases in size also improved one''s ability to take hits.

    Surely it wouldn''t die that easily...

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly, and just as he expected, right after the monster disintegrated into Yin energy, the flood of Yin energy instantly surged away in a frenzy, heading toward the Scar of the Sun.

    The sea of Yin energy quickly vanished into the rift, and in the blink of an eye, the entire Yin Star System returned to peace and quiet once again. All of the nes were glowing with dazzling light, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.

    Aside from a select group of people, no one was aware of the terrifying battle that had just taken ce.

    Silence.

    Only after a full five minutes did Qin Ye finally find his voice again. "What was that thing?"

    "I don''t know..." Mtecutli shook his head in a dazed manner. "I''ve never seen it before... I''ve never seen anything that massive before!"

    "It''s a Yin spirit," Mictetikasiwa said in a grim voice. "I''m certain that at its core, that thing is a Yin spirit."

    No shit! Yin energy is the only energy that exists in the Yin Space River, so only Yin spirits can survive there!

    Qin Ye rolled his eyes in a discreet manner before falling into deep thought.

    Time slowly passed by, and all three of the ruler death gods were absorbed in their own thoughts. The more Qin Ye thought about the situation, the more solemn his expression became, and he turned toward Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa before asking, "This is your second time observing a supercritical tide, right?"

    The answer to that was obvious. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had only chosen to pursue space exploration after Usonia had sent humans to space for the first time in the mortal realm, and that was only around 50 to 60 years ago, so this could only have been the second time.

    "Are you sure that was only one eye that opened up at the Scar of the Sun on the first asion?" Qin Ye asked.

    "We''re certain of that. In fact, we have footage stored in image capture crystals," Mictetikasiwa replied. "Also, there''s something that I have to tell you: thest supercritical tide was 30 years ago."

    30 years ago?

    Qin Ye was very surprised to hear this. There was no way that the second King Yanluo would misremember such an important detail, and he had definitely said 50 years, not 30 years.

    "Does this mean the intervals between the supercritical tides are shrinking?" Qin Ye murmured to himself.

    Indeed, that had to be the case. After all, Usonia had only reached the moon less than 60 years ago, how could Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa possibly have already witnessed two supercritical tides during that time if they were spaced 50 years apart?

    In order to create all of this, it would''ve taken at least 10 years. Thus, if the intervals between the supercritical tides weren''t growing shorter and shorter, then there would be a bug in the timeline.

    Mtecutli nodded in response. "Have you thought of something?"

    Qin Ye had indeed thought of something, and it was quite a terrifying prospect.

    The more he thought about his own theory, the heavier his heart became, and only after a long while did he reply, "If the intervals between supercritical tides really have shortened to only 30 years, then I''m sure you''d want to go to space during the next supercritical tide. If we assume that there are other intelligent civilizations in the Yin Space River, and that they also want to go to space at the same time, what do you think will happen?"

    Theherfire in the eyes of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa flickered violently upon hearing this. "Are you saying that our flying fortress will run into their flying fortress?"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he gently stroked the eye of the sun god. "We''ve already run into one, haven''t we?"

    "What do you mean?" Mtecutli reflexively asked, but a thought then immediately urred to him, and he swung around to look at Qin Ye with a bewildered expression.

    He had just realized that what Qin Ye was saying was that the spatial giant they had just seen was the flying fortress of another civilization!

    The giant was the flying fortress itself, and the hundreds of thousands of Yin spirits around it were the Yin soldiers of that civilization!

    It all makes sense...

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa werepletely rooted to the spot. They didn''t even consider this possibility, and if that thing really were a flying fortress from another civilization, then the technology used would bepletely different from theirs!

    They werebining mechanical parts with Yin runes, yet that civilization hadbined a living being with Yin runes to create a living fortress!

    "It doesn''t necessarily have to be alive," Qin Ye mused.

    The second King Yanluo was definitely aware of this, but it was clear that he didn''t want to tell Qin Ye.

    The second King Yanlou was aware that space exploration was his objective, yet he had made no mention of this topic, so there would be no point in asking him about it.

    "There''s something in space that''s trying to test us and examine our power," he murmured to himself as his eyes narrowed slightly. "I presume they only discovered our ne recently, perhaps only during the past century. If that''s the case, then what were they observingst time?"

    Theherfire in the eyes of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa flickered violently once again.

    Neither of them were idiots, and Qin Ye''s words had evoked some thoughts within them, particrly thoughts surrounding the Dark Forest theory.

    This theory stated that the universe was a massive dark forest, and that all civilizations were gun-wielding hunters. No one dared to reveal their own locations in fear of falling prey to all of the other hunters in the forest.

    Once a ne discovered another ne, its first thought would definitely be to conquer that ne for itsnd, poption, and technology.

    However, prior to this, the power of the targeted civilization had to be determined first.

    Thus, the other ne had been observing the underworld through the supercritical tide, which took ce once every few decades.

    "We have several leads that we can work with right now," Mtecutli said with tightly furrowed brows. "Firstly, that ne seems to only be able to appear in our Yin Star System during supercritical tides. Secondly, they don''t possess an overwhelming advantage in power against us."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    The spatial giant had been defeated by a joint strike from all of the underworld''s most powerful death gods, and even though this was only a single sh, it was enough to indicate that neither side held a crushing advantage over the other.

    "In that case, what are they observing?" Mtecutli''s eyes narrowed slightly as he analyzed, "Seeing as they don''t have an overwhelming advantage in power over us, that indicates that their level of development is around on par with ours."

    A cold smile appeared on Mictetikasiwa''s face as she said, "If we assume that our civilizations are roughly at the same level of development, then there can only be one thing that they''re trying to observe: they want to see if we''ve developed space exploration technology. During thest supercritical tide, they didn''t discover any spatial fortresses of ours. Thus, on this asion, they sent out an army to test us."

    She turned to Mtecutli and Qin Ye as she asked, "What do you think they''ll send our way next?"

    The opposition was only going to be bolder and more aggressive. During the next supercritical tide, it was very likely that they would send out something even more fearsome!

    They would keep doing this until they could ascertain what was required to break through the underworld''s defenses, and only then would they deploy their troops in full force.

    Prior to that, they would test the underworld over and over again, perhaps for the next few centuries toe.

    There''s no time to waste...

    A sense of urgency welled up in Qin Ye''s heart.

    He turned toward the two ruler death gods of the new continent, and they were also looking back at him. Mictetikasiwa asked, "Are you going to give up on your n?"

    "Of course not!" Qin Ye immediately scoffed in response.

    What reason was there to give up?

    The opposition was already openly provoking the underworld! Not only was he not going to give up, he was going to elerate the development of his space exploration ne, striving to ensure that the underworld would have spatial fortresses of its own by the time the opposition struck again!

    Not only was this the duty of the Cathayan Underworld as one of the four pirs, it was a responsibility that had to be shouldered by all of the ruler death gods in the entire underworld!

    "As expected, the Cathayan Underworld never produced cowards," Mictetikasiwa chuckled. "It''s gettingte now, so I''ll get someone to take you back to your room. We''ll send you the information that you want a bitter."

    On one side was the new continent, which had deceived the entire underworld and was the only underworld that was aware of the existence of space, while on the other side was the Cathayan Underworld, which was making a resurgence and seeking allies.

    Their goals aligned with one another, so there wasn''t any need for extensive negotiation. Furthermore, it was clear that the new continent didn''t care about what was to be of the rest of the underworld, so long as the two ruler death gods could leave this ne.

    However, it was a different story for Qin Ye.

    Ultimately, the alignment of their goals diverged at some point, so even though the three ruler death gods had a lot to speak to one another about, they didn''t have any interest in an in-depth conversation. In their eyes, that brief exchange of thoughts earlier was already a conversation of sufficient depth.

    Qin Ye naturally had no objections, and right after he returned to the ruler death god suite that he was staying in, the sound of door-knocking immediately rang out.

    "Come in."

    The door was opened, and a Yin spirit in a white cloak made his way into the room in a respectful manner.

    He was carrying a box that was forged from gold and crafted in an extremely intricate fashion in the Aztec style. There were threerge eyes on the Yin spirit''s white cloak, and after extending a slight bow, he informed, "Yanluo Qin, this is the information that you want."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before dismissing the Yin spirit with a wave of his hand.

    This was all of the experience in space exploration that the new continent had gathered during the past few decades.

    In the wake of what he had just witnessed, Qin Ye couldn''t wait to see this information for himself.

    The box was constructed purely from gold with patterns all over its surface, and there was a golden key slotted into the keyhole at the top of the box.

    Qin Ye twisted the key, and a string of mechanical sounds instantly rang out within the box, following which one Yin rune after another lit up on the surface of the box like a series of artworks.

    As expected of the most confidential information in the new continent. The locking mechanism incorporates both mechanics and Yin runes, and these Yin runes have most likely been inscribed onto the box by Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa in person. Thus, even if someone obtains the box and the key, they wouldn''t be able to open it without Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s permission.

    He gently stroked the golden box with his hand. He had found the right path ahead, and that was the greatest reward he had reaped during this trip to the new continent.

    The Yin runes on the box were bing brighter and brighter, yet Qin Ye''s hand, which was gently stroking the box, abruptly stiffened.

    An extreme sense of foreboding then suddenly welled up in his heart, and he quickly rose to his feet as he stared intently at the box while sensing the Yin energy on it.

    "This Yin energy doesn''t belong to Mtecutli or Mictetikasiwa!"

    A chill instantly ran down his spine, and he rushed out of the room without any hesitation.

    Right at this moment, an earth-shattering explosion erupted behind him.

    BOOM!!!

    In the instant that he rushed out through the door, the golden box had exploded!

 Chapter 1099: Disappearance

    <h4>Chapter 1099: Disappearance</h4>

    Pieces of gold were sent flying in all directions, yet Qin Ye''s body had taken on a wraith-like quality, and none of the golden shrapnel was able to strike him.

    However, his attention wasn''t on the explosion. Instead, he was already beginning to think about why this had happened.

    That golden box was the core of the new continent, and it contained all of the space exploration experience that the new continent had umted during the past few decades. In fact, it could even contain the production method for the eye of the sun god, and there was no way that any harm would be allowed to befall such an important thing.

    Thus, the only possibility was that it had been tampered with before it was given to him.

    The underworld emissary who had given him the box was standing right outside the door, and for the sake of confidentiality, Qin Ye hadn''t allowed anyone else to enter the room that he was staying in, so it was clear who was to me.

    A piece of shrapnel flew directly toward Qin Ye, but was sent flying away by a flick of his finger, and his mind was racing as he sought to make sense of the situation.

    "Could it be that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa don''t want to give me this information, so they decided to destroy it and pin the me on their servants? Alternatively, could it be that they were trying to kill me outright with that explosion?"

    All of his Yin energy had already erupted out of his body, and he was ready to release hundreds of messenger birds at a moment''s notice.

    Golden shrapnel was flying through the air all around him, and the sound of the thundering footsteps of Yin soldiers could be heard from all directions. He could sense that there were at least several thousand Yin soldiers rushing toward his ruler death god suite at this moment, and even more Yin soldiers had already raised the rm. The sound of long horns were ringing out across the entire city of Chichenhagen, and tens of thousands more Yin soldiers were rushing up from the bottom few levels.

    What was he supposed to do here?

    His hands were trembling slightly as he considered whether to stay or leave.

    He was on the highest level of alertness possible as he quickly analyzed the situation, and he raised his foot several times before setting it back down again each time.

    The situation simply didn''t make sense to him!

    In the distance, countless soldiers from the Sabertooth Tiger SS had already appeared, and he gritted his teeth tightly as he decided to stay.

    If he were to leave now, then he wouldn''t be able to find out the truth.

    He had already sent out all of his messenger birds just now, and he was confident in his own ability tost a few hours.

    Before he had a chance to think about the situation any further, two bursts of Yin energy had already risen up into the heavens from the top of Chichenhagen.

    They were so vast and enormous... Qin Ye could sense that they were even more powerful than the Yin energy of the three pirs'' ruler death gods! They were truly on the cusp of going beyond the Yama-King level, and as soon as the two bursts of Yin energy appeared, they instantly surrounded the entire city of Chichenhagen as if they had a mind of their own. At the same time, Mtecutli''s authoritative voice rang out across the entire city. "Lock down all of the passageways! All Eagle Warriors and Sabertooth Tiger SS troops, assemble right away! No Yin spirit is permitted to leave, and all troops have permission to strike down anyone who dares to leave! Xolotl, Ah Puch, Supay, keep a close eye on all of the pathways in and out of the new continent, and strictly prohibit anyone from entering or exiting the new continent!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, two pairs of eyes settled on Qin Ye in unison.

    Qin Ye''s hands were sped behind his back, and at this moment, his room was inplete disarray. At the end of the corridor, a Prefect-level underworld emissary raised a hand to stop all of the approaching Sabertooth Tiger SS troops, but at the same time, he was also blocking Qin Ye''s path to departure.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still, and in the next instant, two bursts of enormous Yin energy pierced through everything, disregarding all of the city walls and restrictions before descending no more than five meters in front of Qin Ye. Immediately thereafter, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa appeared in front of him.

    "Are you here to finish the job?" Qin Ye asked with a smile.

    He appeared to be quite calm and collected, but his hands were mmy with cold sweat, and his fight or flight instincts were fully activated.

    There were two advanced death gods here, and Chichenhagen was their home territory. In addition to that, they had hundreds of thousands of elite troops under theirmand, making this an extremely perilous situation for him.

    Their eyes met, and Mtecutli strode forward as he leaned on his cane, then exined, "There''s been a misunderstanding, Yanluo Qin. We are not yet so senile and foolish that we would provoke the Cathayan Underworld and risk facing the wrath of the second King Yanluo and Ghost King Zhao. All we want is to be able to leave this ne, we have no other objective aside from that."

    What he was saying made sense, and it was exactly because of this that Qin Ye decided not to leave in the end.

    However, the golden box had exploded right in front of him! Was he supposed to believe that it was just a coincidence?

    Thus, he offered no response, and Mictetikasiwa said in a solemn voice, "You really have misconstrued our intentions, Yanluo Qin. Just now, we could sense that the seal we had ced on the golden box had been activated, but it wasn''t activated using the Yin runes that we had ced on it. The security measures ced on the box aren''t inferior to those ced on the ck boxes of the mortal realm, and we oversaw every single step of the box''s creation in person. Something like this naturally has other functions aside from just opening and closing. In a dire situation, we would rather have it self-destruct than for all of the information we''ve painstakingly gathered to be leaked. Mtecutli and I engraved these Yin runes onto the box in person, and we''ve branded our soulfire onto it as well. No matter where or when it''s opened, we''ll be able to immediately sense it, and we are also very puzzled as to why the self-destruction Yin rune group was activated."

    Qin Ye continued to remain silent.

    Right at this moment, bursts of radiance from military arrays rose up into the heavens around the pce where Qin Ye was staying, and a cold look appeared in his eyes as he watched Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa through narrowed eyes. Mtecutli immediately raised a hand as hemanded, "All troops are to retreat to at least 1,000 meters away from this pce, and no one is permitted to enter the vicinity without my express permission!"

    "Yes!"

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa knew that this was an extremely sensitive situation, and if they couldn''t defuse it correctly, it was very much possible that the Cathayan Underworld could dere war on the new continent!

    However, they had no idea what had just happened, either!

    Even now, Qin Ye still hadn''t withdrawn his Yin energy, so it was clear that he didn''t trust them, and that was quite understandable to them. They had handed over the most important ck box of their nation to him in order to fulfill a promise, only for the ck box to instantly explode. If they were in his shoes, they would also be extremely skeptical and furious.

    In fact, there was a very good chance that Ghost King Zhao was already on his way, perhaps alongside other Yama-Kings from the Cathayan Underworld!

    Amid the deathly silence, he took a deep breath, then stepped forward with a serious expression. He then crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes as he murmured, "Four Winds, Four Waters, Four Rains, Four Mist! Let the four sun gods and the Heavenly Dao bear witness to my vow!"

    An indescribable feeling instantly descended upon Qin Ye, as if some unfathomable being had turned its attention here.

    No one else had arrived on the scene, but Qin Ye could feel himself being watched by something.

    His expression changed slightly upon seeing this. This was a Heavenly Dao vow, one that could never be revoked. Could it be that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa really did have nothing to do with this? Could it really have just been a coincidence?

    "I, Ruler Death God Mtecutli of the new continent, (I, Ruler Death God Mictetikasiwa of the new continent,) vow to never aim to harm Yanluo Qin for any reason during our lifetimes! Please bear witness to our eternal friendship with the Cathayan Underworld!"

    As soon as their voices trailed off, that indescribable feeling instantly disappeared, but Qin Ye could clearly sense that some type of unfathomable connection had been formed between him and the two ruler death gods.

    It seemed to be a connection by the name of... trust.

    "Are you willing to trust us now?" Mtecutli asked with a grim expression. "We have no intention of plotting against the Cathayan Underworld!"

    The tense atmosphere in the area finally subsided, and Qin Ye slowly withdrew his Yin energy. Unbeknownst to everyone else, his back was already drenched in cold sweat.

    There was no way anyone else could understand the suffocating sense of pressure that the trio had been under. If any of them had said or done the wrong thing, then the consequences could''ve been absolutely catastrophic!

    Just as the standoff was about to reach a climax, it was peacefully resolved, and both parties heaved an internal sigh of relief. Only now did Qin Ye break his silence. "I require an exnation."

    He paused momentarily before continuing in a cold voice, "I had a look into the box right before its explosion, and it was empty."

    "That''s impossible!" Mictetikasiwa eximed. "From the very beginning, every single step of our Tonatyw n was recorded in that box, including even the method for creating the eye of the sun god! You have to trust us, Yanluo Qin! No one in this world would dare to go back on a promise made to the second King Yanluo!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This was another reason why he had decided to stay.

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa did have some motive for plotting against him, but at the same time, they had to be aware that promises to some people simply couldn''t be broken. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have made this promise in the first ce.

    Furthermore, they had taken Qin Ye to see the Heavenly tform and the Eye of the Stars, as well as the supercritical tide, and it simply wouldn''t make sense for them to do that if their objective had been to kill him from the very beginning.

    Thus, all three of them fell silent. It was an extremely strange situation, one that no one knew how to make sense of.

    Several secondster, Mtecutli finally broke the silence. "Let''s not stand around here any longer. Pleasee with us to the Four Rains Pce, and we''ll be sure to give you an exnation there."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    10 minutester, the trio was situated on a balcony of the Four Rains Pce.

    There were no other Yin spirits here aside from them, and the entire area within a radius of 100 kilometers of this ce was being constantly monitored by the three ruler death gods. If any potential culprit were to reveal themselves, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would swoop on them in an instant!

    The balcony was veryrge, and it was connected to a pce that had been entirely constructed from wood, but framed with golden edges, therebybining the Aztec and Middle Eastern styles. The pirs were constructed from ivory, and pieces of purple drapery were fluttering around the balcony. At the center of the balcony, a tableden with fruits and coffee had already been prepared, alongside several chairs.

    "On behalf of the entire new continent, please allow me to apologize for our security oversight, Yanluo Qin." Mtecutli personally poured a cup of coffee for Qin Ye, then offered it up with both hands, acting in an extremely respectful manner.

    At a time like this, he really didn''t want to sh with the Cathayan Underworld.

    Qin Ye epted the coffee. The misunderstanding had been cleared up, but he was still furious.

    Where was the information that he wanted?! This was his primary objective foring to the new continent, yet it was gone!

    Who was it that had dared to tamper with the golden box right under their noses?

 Chapter 1100: Death Star (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1100: Death Star (1)</h4>

    Mictetikasiwa seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and she leaned forward slightly as she said, "Yanluo Qin, we didn''t send anyone to deliver the golden box to you. Our n was to hand over the golden box to you in person tomorrow."

    Qin Ye''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. This meant that someone had managed to infiltrate the heart of the new continent''s most confidential n!

    Could it be the three pirs?

    No... If it were someone from the three pirs, then they would already be aware of the new continent''s space exploration n, and they wouldn''t have been so stunned by Qin Ye''s deration of his intentions to develop space exploration.

    Even the underworld emissary who had delivered the golden box to him had been an imposter, which meant that whatever this third party was, they had to have infiltrated extremely deep into the n!

    "I can''t think of any potential candidate aside from the three pirs, but it can''t be them!" Qin Ye said with tightly furrowed brows. The meddling party had almost turned the new continent against the Cathayan Underworld, and he was desperate to dig them up, yet he didn''t even know where to begin his investigation!

    "No other underworld would have the power or the courage to pull this off." He forced himself to take a deep breath and repress the fury in his heart as he mused, "Could it be one of Xolotl, Ah Puch, or Supay?"

    Mtecutli shook his head in response. "No, it couldn''t have been them. They want nothing more than to see us leave, so our objectives are aligned. If we had been any less trusting of one another, then that situation could''ve easily escted into an all-out war between our underworlds! If that were to happen, our new continent would have to go to battle against the Cathayan Underworld, thereby making it impossible for us to focus on the Tonatyw n, and that is theplete opposite of what they want to see."

    Not only could they not derive any benefit from this, they would also be running the risk of being caught by the three ruler death gods. Furthermore, if they were caught, then death would be the only possible fate that awaited them, and there was no way they would be so foolish.

    "In that case, who could it be?" Qin Ye asked. "You told me that you would give me an exnation."

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were also furious. They were fighting for their lives here, yet someone was trying to thwart their ns! If they could track down the culprit, they would be sure to tear them to shreds!

    They exchanged a nce, following which Mictetikasiwa exined, "There were no residual traces ofherfire for us to examine, but through the residual Yin energy in the area, we were able to determine that the culprit was the number zero special Yin spirit by the codename of Death Star. They are at least an Abyssal Prefect, and they''ve taken over the body of the original messenger, ''Anoia''."

    Death Star?

    A grim look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this.

    All special Yin spirits were extremely troublesome beings to deal with for underworld emissaries, and they had all arisen from extremely special circumstances. For example, Ryu Changmin had emerged from the MV Sewol incident, which had stunned the entire nation of Daehan, following which nationwide protests had taken ce.

    Then there was Kwon Kyung-ho, who had emerged on the train to Busan, and he had perished before he was even born. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the light of the outside world, he had been shot dead by a gun, thereby dying an extremely tragic and unique death.

    This made it extremely difficult for special Yin spirits to emerge. As soon as any incident concerning major losses of life took ce in the mortal realm, underworld emissaries would instantly arrive on the scene, and if any single-digit special Yin spirits were discovered to have taken shape, then they would immediately be taken care of. Thus, single-digit special Yin spirits were exceedingly rare, let alone number zero, which stood at the top of the pack.

    He had heard of Death Stars as well.

    Anyone who saw a Death Star would immediately die, and even Yin spirits were no exception to this!

    Furthermore, Death Stars were also capable of shapeshifting into any form, as well as simting the Yin energy of other beings. It was an extremely strange existence, of which there were no historical records, and the only mentions of it in history books came from its involvement in major events concerning entire races.

    "Has the new continent''s security system been breached?" Qin Ye asked in a calm voice.

    Despite his calm tone, his words were like a p to the face for Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    The number of times that Death Stars had appeared in history could be counted on a single hand, yet they couldn''t even keep out something like this?

    Not only was there a number zero special Yin spirit roaming their territory, they had even allowed it to be an Abyssal Prefect!

    Were their underworld emissaries not afraid of death? How could they be so ipetent?

    "We''ll do everything in our power to track it down as soon as possible. However, what we should be doing now is to find out who the mastermind behind this Death Star is!"

    Why would a Death Star steal information on space exploration? It had no use for such information!

    Qin Ye set down his coffee cup as he leaned forward slightly with a serious expression, then said, "I want the information that the Death Star has taken. I also want to know where and why it appeared, as well as how it disappeared!"

    Qin Ye was making it very apparent that he didn''t trust the new continent''s ability to resolve this issue quickly, and both Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were quite disgruntled by this, but they couldn''t say anything.

    "We''ll do that as soon as possible," Mtecutli replied. "Within a month, we''ll be sure to give you an answer. I can sense that the information still hasn''t left the new continent. We have no ns to reveal this information to the public, but at the same time, we''re well aware of just how important the information is. We''ve made marks on every single page, but they''ve somehow been covered up at the moment, making it impossible for us to sense their exact location. All we can be sure of is that they''re still on the new continent."

    Mictetikasiwa''s voice was full of ice-cold killing intent as she said, "Rest assured, Yanluo Qin, as long as the information and the Death Star are still on the new continent, we''ll be sure to give you a satisfactory answer."

    Are you sure about that?

    Qin Ye nodded in response, but he wasn''t reassured in the slightest.

    It wasn''t going to be so easy!

    Whoever the mastermind behind this heist was, they had managed to pull this off right under the noses of two advanced death gods, and their minion was a number zero Prefect-level special Yin spirit! This had to be an extremely deep rabbit hole, and Qin Ye wasn''t confident that they would be able to get to the bottom of it within a month.

    However, he didn''t say anything else. If he were to press any further, then he would risk irking Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    "I still have some other ces to go during this period of time, so I''ll see you in a month," he said as he rose to his feet. "I hope to hear your verdict when I return."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Professor Horner was watering his nts.

    It was already deep into the night, but he had a habit of watering his nts at this time.

    As a university professor, the remuneration he received was quite impressive. As a result, he owned a very nice apartment with awn and a swimming pool. He and his wife, as well as his son and daughter, all lived together in the apartment.

    The apartment''s construction wasn''t all thatvish. At the very least, it didn''t appear to be so on the surface. On the top floor of the apartment, his wife was holding their children, trembling as she looked down at the man watering his nts down below.

    Their son was holding a notepad, and his hand was also trembling as he wrote: "He''s watering the nts again. Every day at this time, he would appear on thewn. He''s my father. At the very least, he was my father up until several months ago, but I don''t know what kind of monster he is right now under that human skin!"

    His pen was pped out of his hand by his mother, whose face was deathly pale, and she said in a trembling voice, "Stop writing! I don''t want to relive that memory again! Stop!!"

    After that desperate wail, the woman hugged her two children tightly to her, and the three of them sobbed into each other''s arms, not daring to separate from one another.

    It had been four months.

    Prior to the past four months, her husband had been an easygoing and refined gentleman, but one day, he suddenly became something else entirely.

    They had all seen him fall down the staircase. His hand had been twisted into a mangled mess as a result of the fall, but it returned to normal after just a few twists.

    While cooking, he cut his hand with his knife, but no blood came out of the gash!

    While watering the nts at night, the water in his watering can was as red as blood, and when facing the mirror, he had no reflection!

    He''s no longer a human...

    The woman was trembling uncontrobly. Every single night felt like an eternity to them, and they didn''t dare to try and leave. During the several dozen times that they had tried to escape, he would always appear in the room out of nowhere just in the nick of time.

    He would then smile at them as his head twisted to an impossible angle, watching them without a single hint of emotion in his eyes, as if he were sizing up a flock ofmbs to be ughtered.

    There was no escape for them...

    Professor Horner didn''t know what was happening on the top floor, nor did he have any interest in finding out.

    All he was doing was quietly watering his nts. Right as he reached thest nt, he suddenly noticed that something had appeared in the flower pot.

    He picked it up with an intrigued expression and took a look at it, upon which he discovered that it was a cutout from a newspaper. The backside had an English passage written on it, while the front side bore a photograph.

    The newspaper cut out was clearly very old, as evidenced by the fact that it was already yellow with age. It was so frail that even a gentle breeze could cause it to disintegrate, yet somehow, it managed to remain intact even as Professor Horner picked it up.

    He inspected the cutout with a curious expression to find that the photograph bore the image of a ck adolescent male who appeared to be around 13 to 14 years of age.

    His mouth had been stuffed, and there were tear streaks all over his face. A semi-spherical silver dome was situated on his head, and his entire body was bound to a chair.

    In the instant that Horner looked at the photo, he let loose an agonized shriek, and Yin energy erupted out of all of his orifices. At the same time, all of the meridians in his entire body bulged violently, and this was particrly noticeable on his arms, which looked as if they had the roots of an ancient locust tree growing under the skin.

    "Shit!!" He threw away the photograph with a furious expression, and he was panting heavily as he looked around with bloodshot eyes. "Who''s there?"

    No one offered a response.

    The ce where they were living wasn''t a rural or secluded area, yet for some reason, there wasn''t any sound that could be heard.

    A flock of crows hadnded on the apple tree in the yard, and they were squawking incessantly.

    Right as Horner was about to withdraw his gaze, a calm voice suddenly rang out from behind him. "Only past death gods would be able to see a photograph of a Death Star and remain alive."

    As soon as he heard this voice, all of the muscles all over Horner''s entire body tensed up, and Yin energy surged out of all of his orifices once again, but he rxed again in the next instant.

    "Yanluo Qin." Horner dabbed at the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead before turning around with a smile. "I didn''t think that we would ever meet again."

    At some point, a folding stool had appeared in front of the apartment, and a young man with shoulder-length ck hair, wearing a ck dragon robe, was seated on the folding chair. The chair was very simple and unremarkable, but it somehow resembled a throne with him seated on it.

    "Long time no see." Qin Ye was holding a cup of coffee, and he raised it as he said, "Looks like you''ve been recovering quite well."

    "Thank you," Horner replied with a smile. "Do you need something from me?"

    Qin Ye raised his chin toward the photograph that Horner had just cast aside. "Have you seen him before?"

    "I''m not interested in living people," Horner replied, then picked up his garden shears and began to trim one of his nts.

    Qin Ye shrugged with a disappointed expression. "That''s a real pity. On that photo is the only Death Star to have escaped during the past 100 years. Anyway, that''s not what I came here to see you for anyway."

    Horner severed a branch as his eyes narrowed slightly. "The fact that you''vee here to see me in person must mean that you have a difficult task for me toplete. Can I refuse?"

    A hint of a smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he took a sip of his coffee. "What gives you the illusion that you have the right to refuse, Tezcatlipoca?"

    Horner''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    "Don''t you want to see the treasure vault of your parent god?" Qin Ye continued with a smile. "The Plumed Serpent God was the one who provided me with its location."

 Chapter 1101: Death Star (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1101: Death Star (2)</h4>

    In some ways, Usonian was a very peculiar nation.

    It was touted as the most advanced nation in the world, yet it didn''t have a high-speed railway system.

    The reason for this was also very unfortunate. During the second world war, they had taken a very simple approach to setting up their railway system. Thus, aside from the main lines, countless branch lines were also constructed, meaning that even every town and vige had ess to rail travel. Due to the simplicity of the system, there was insufficient nning, and these railway systems took up what were once the best roads.

    Not long after the second world war, railway freight was found to be insufficient to satisfy Usonia''s freight needs, so it was gradually abandoned.

    Furthermore, even Usonia couldn''t truly provide all viges and downs with ess to the railway system. While it was true that branch lines had been constructed even to rural areas, those railway tracks were of an extremely low quality, and they had to be scrapped after just several dozen freight runs. As a result, an idea that was very good in theory was found to becking when implemented in real life, as was quite often the case.

    After that came the high-speed rail era.

    In order to upgrade these railway tracks to high-speed railway tracks, the funds required were downright unfathomable! Thus, not a single president dared to raise the matter. With the original railways taking up the prime location, new high-speed railways would have to be constructed at suboptimal locations. Furthermore, where were they supposed to begin? Due to the fact that this was a democratic nation, the voice of the people was too powerful, and choosing to begin construction on a high-speed railway system anywhere would immediately evoke objections from the rest of the nation!

    At the end of the day, it was simply impossible for Usonia to replicate the efficiency of Cathay. If they decided to construct a high-speed railway system in Washington DC and New York first, then that would be met with objections from the west coast. If they decided to begin construction in Los Angeles, then that would be met with objections from the east coast. There was simply no way to satisfy everyone.

    Thus, Qin Ye was stuck taking the train with Tezcatlipoca, and both of them were extremely bored.

    "Why did you have to choose to travel by train?" Tezcatlipoca sighed. "The railway system of Usonia is the worst railway system in the world, and you''re traveling to Mexico! Wouldn''t it have been much better to travel by ne?"

    Qin Ye didn''t reply. Instead, he merely looked out at the scenery outside in silence.

    It had to be said that the new continent was a blessednd. Its climate was quite mild, it spanned manytitudes, and it was abundant in natural resources. If the trains of Usonia weren''t so goddamn slow, then this would be quite an enjoyable trip.

    Of course traveling by ne would be best. However, there would be no way for him to sense the Death Star''s Yin energy then.

    He desperately needed the space exploration logs of the new continent, and if it weren''t for the fact that there were no leads whatsoever, he was even willing to search through the entirety of the new continent!

    He didn''t have any high hopes that the Usonian Underworld would be able to track down the Death Star. After all, it had remained hidden right under the two ruler death gods'' noses for close to 100 years, so why would he believe that they would suddenly be able to track it down now?

    "Where do you think the Death Star will be hiding?" Qin Ye asked.

    Tezcatlipoca''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. He really didn''t want to answer this question, and he didn''t even want to be in Qin Ye''s presence at this moment.

    He was once a ruler death god of the new continent, yet he was being forced to meet with the ruler of the world''s most powerful underworld while he was in his weakest state, and that was very humiliating for him.

    However, he had no choice but to agree toe on this trip.

    He was just about to refuse to answer the question when a thought suddenly urred to him. "You think that he could be hiding in the mortal realm?"

    Qin Ye merely smiled and offered no response.

    Tezcatlipoca also didn''t say anything, and he fell into deep thought. The more he thought about it, the more usible this possibility seemed to him!

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had promised Qin Ye that they would give him a satisfactory answer within a month.

    Qin Ye was the ruler of one of the four pirs, so they had to follow through on a promise made to him. With Mtecutli, Mictetikasiwa, Xolotl, Ah Puch, and Supay doing everything in their power to search for the Death Star, it would only take around half a month or so at most before the Death Star was tracked down.

    "So you think it''s more likely that the Death Star is hiding somewhere in Limbo or in the mortal realm?" Tezcatlipoca asked. "Do you think you could encounter it during this train ride?"

    Once again, Qin Ye merely smiled and offered no response.

    That was indeed his thought process.

    Why had the Death Star given the box to him? Was it trying to find something from him? Alternatively, was it trying to strike up some type of conflict centered around him?

    Qin Ye was willing to try his luck.

    Right at this moment, the train entered a tunnel, and the entire surroundings fell dark.

    These old trains were quite noisy, and the rhythmic clunking created quite a calming effect in conjunction with the tunnel lights that appeared at intervals of several dozen meters.

    The sudden onset of darkness was a little jarring, and Qin Ye narrowed his eyes slightly to adjust. In the instant that his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he suddenly discovered that Tezcatlipoca had disappeared!

    He instantly rose to his feet to inspect his surroundings with a grim expression, and only then did he discover that not only was Tezcatlipoca gone, the entire carriage had undergone aplete transformation.

    Most passengers of Usonian trains were hipsters and old people, and generally speaking, the trains were always buzzing with conversation. However, there wasn''t any sound to be heard at this moment!

    A light had appeared above Qin Ye''s head. It was a very dim, yellow light that only illuminated an area in a radius of a meter around him. Furthermore, this was a round light as opposed to the rectangr lights used in normal trains.

    It was a yellow light covered by a metal dome, and this type of light only appeared in several types of ces, namely mines, jails, and interrogation rooms.

    "Looks like I''m in luck," Qin Ye murmured to himself. "You really dared toe and find me? Are you not afraid of death?!"

    Right as his voice trailed off, the light above his head suddenly flickered slightly, and Qin Ye looked around to find that the walls of the train had be yellow with age, and countless curses were inscribed upon them with blood. At the same time, bloody handprints had also appeared all over the windows.

    The train carriage had suddenly transformed into a room of the same size, and there was blood everywhere. If a normal person were in Qin Ye''s shoes, they would''ve most likely already been driven insane!

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the ss, upon which he was greeted by the sight of apletely different scene.

    The interior of the tunnel was pitch-ck, but inside the pane of ss was a bright, blue sky. A group of men and women wearing professional suits were seated behind a rectangr wooden table, looking directly ahead in an expressionless manner.

    They seemed to have sensed Qin Ye''s gaze, and all of them turned toward him in unison.

    Their faces were deathly pale, and their bodies were covered in green and purple patches of livor mortis. They had no eyes, and their eyelids had been sewn shut, but all of them were looking directly at Qin Ye.

    Standing face-to-face with so many evil ghosts in a pitch-ck tunnel was an extremely terrifying experience, but Qin Ye had be ustomed to things like this long ago.

    In the next instant, a light was switched on up ahead, illuminating a narrow passageway that resembled the entrance to hell.

    After this light was switched on, seven or eight more lights were switched on one after another, and the final light illuminated a metal door, one that belonged to a jail.

    It was also right at this moment that a gust of Yin wind suddenly swept through the entire passageway, and an ice-cold hand that was deathly pale gentlyid itself onto Qin Ye''s shoulder, following which something slowly pressed against his back.

    "Guilty." A raspy voice rang out behind him, and it was impossible to tell whether the voice belonged to a man or woman.

    It was like a ghostly wail drifting out of a graveyard, and the icy hand slid down Qin Ye''s body, following which another voice rang out. "Guilty."

    As soon as the voice trailed off, an earth-shattering boom rang out, as if something had crashed heavily into the metal door, and the entire passageway trembled slightly.

    However, the voices didn''t end there.

    "Guilty."

    "Guilty!"

    "Guilty!!"

    Around a dozen voices rang out behind Qin Ye one after another, and all of a sudden, it was as if an entire jury had gathered behind him!

    This was a jury of the dead.

    As the guilty verdict was delivered, the metal door swayed and trembled violently, as if there were an immensely powerful giant behind the door refusing to ept the verdict.

    A crimson eye suddenly lit up in the darkness, and all of the lights along the entire passageway began to flicker erratically. All of them were lit aside from the one that was closest to the metal door.

    It was as if the light didn''t dare to switch on in fear of revealing the horrors that lied beyond the metal door.

    "Piss off!" Qin Ye slowly raised a hand, and a flurry of Soul Shackles erupted behind him. A string of anguished howls rang out, following which the thing that was pressed against his back instantly vanished.

    Thus, the passageway fell silent again, but the silence wasn''t absolute. Instead, the sound of heavy breathing could be heard. It was an extremely unsettling sound, as if countless people were standing within the surrounding darkness, watching him from the shadows.

    The sound of breathing grew louder and louder, but also more strained and strangled. It was like the sound of someone trying to breathe with all their might, but their mouth and nose had been covered up, and suffocation was inevitable.

    Several secondster, the light above the metal door finally lit up.

    The dim light illuminated a series of heavy, ck bars, and behind the bars stood an inky-ck figure. Everything was so eerie and disturbing.

    The figure was a boy, one of Alkebn-Usonian descent.

    Blood was flowing out of all of his orifices, and his entire body had been charred ck. He was strapped to a chair with a silver, semi-spherical helmet on his head, and his mouth and nose had been covered by transparent ss covers. He was breathing heavily, and around a dozen ropes could be clearly seen, strapped to his body.

    He was sitting on an electric chair.

    The inky-ck tunnel had transformed into a dimly lit execution chamber, and the door between carriages had transformed into an electric chair. The charred boy sitting on the electric chair wore a sinister and bloodthirsty smile as he stared directly at Qin Ye.

    He was very young, only around 13 to 14 years of age at most, and in the instant that he appeared, the entire space warped slightly.

    The potency of his Yin energy and killing intent were far above even those of Ryu Changmin and Kwon Kyung-ho!

    It was also in this instant that countless horrified screams rang out throughout the entire passageway. All of the voices were weeping and howling, striking one with a bone-chilling sensation.

    "I''m sorry..."

    "I was wrong, please forgive me..."

    "I''m sorry... I really am sorry..."

    "I didn''t want this to happen... Please forgive me..."

    Qin Ye watched the boy with a smile before opening his mouth to speak. "George Stinney, the boy who convinced 36 states of Usonia to abolish the death sentence. Your name will forever be recorded in the history books. I don''t want to have to destroy you, so tell me who you''re serving. Back when you were about to evolve into a Death Star, who was it that was powerful and resourceful enough to save you from the underworld emissaries of the new continent? Tell me!"

 Chapter 1102: Death Star (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1102: Death Star (3)</h4>

    No response.

    All of a sudden, George Stinney began to chuckle silently to himself.

    As he did so, more and more blood began to pour out of his orifices, and his mouth grewrger andrger, tearing open his entire body like a wound!

    Countless chunks of bright red flesh emerged from beneath the charred-ck skin of his body. Electric chairs were capable of instantly drying out one''s body, so the end result wasn''t a serene and peaceful corpse. Instead, it was a dried-out mummy.

    His charred head was tilted 30 degrees to right, as if his neck had been snapped, and his mouth continued to grow wider and wider, forming a grotesque smile that literally stretched from ear to ear, revealing an iplete set of mutted teeth that were covered in blood.

    ¡°I want¡­¡±

    A sharp, yet raspy voice rang out from his mouth, much like the sound of a cat scratching at ss with its ws, and it was an extremely unpleasant sound.

    With each word that he uttered, all of the lights throughout the entire passageway would flicker erratically. Qin Ye knew that this wasn''t some type of special effect. Instead, this was happening because the evil ghost''s Yin energy and killing intent were too potent for this illusion to handle.

    ¡°you¡­¡±

    Crack!

    His head tilted even further to his left, and at this point, it was already creating a right angle with the rest of his body. At the same time, his eyes, his nose... All of his facial features began to cave in, presenting a horrifying sight to behold.

    ¡°to die!!!¡±

    <i>Crack!! </i> His head twisted violently until it was upside-down, and it was also in this instant that his eyes, nose, and mouth transformed into four ck holes. Bursts of inky-ck Yin energy surged out of his facial features, and the entire illusion was instantly plunged intoplete darkness.

    At the same time, Qin Ye was suddenly struck by a burst of excruciating pain that came directly from his soul. It originated from his be and rapidly spread through his entire body.

    He had never experienced this type of pain before, and it felt as if his soul were being torn apart. This was the most special trait of Death Stars: anyone who saw them was sure to die!

    "Insolence!" Qin Ye let loose a loud cry as his Yin energy erupted out of his body. His Yin energy was too powerful for the illusion to contain, and massive cracks were already beginning to appear in the space around him. At the same time, he gently raised a hand, and a Soul Shackle shot forth through the air like lightning.

    "You must have a death wish if you''re attacking me!"

    In the instant that the Soul Shackle was about to reach the electric chair, the illusion in the entire carriage suddenly vanished.

    It was still the same train carriage as before.

    The train had only just emerged from the tunnel, and all of the surrounding passengers were looking at Qin Ye with surprised expressions, wondering why he had suddenly sprung to his feet.

    Tezcatlipoca raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. "Did you see him?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, Tezcatlipoca continued, "To think that such a terrifying creature is atrge in Usonia right as we speak... Such powerful Yin energy, such terrifying killing intent! It''s as if he resents the entire world! Even though you only entered an illusion, I can smell his hatred on you."

    "I did meet him," Qin Ye replied as he sat down with aplex expression, and after a long while, he heaved a forlorn sigh. "What a pity."

    He cast his eyes downward, and his beaded bracelet had already slid into his palm.

    10 years ago, perhaps he would''ve had some fun and talked some trash during that encounter, but he just couldn''t bring himself to do that now.

    It seemed that people really did grow and mature...

    "Why do you seem so disappointed?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

    "I''m disappointed because I wasn''t able to destroy him," Qin Ye replied with a shake of his head.

    He cast his gaze toward the window beside him, and he discovered that a faint handprint had appeared there.

    It wasn''t arge handprint, looking as if it belonged to a boy in his early teens, and it seemed to be a memento of the tragic life that he had led.

    "What a poor boy..." he sighed before falling silent.

    However, Tezcatlipoca was suddenly in the mood to talk.

    He cast a meaningful gaze toward Qin Ye before suddenly chuckling, "I didn''t expect the third King Yanluo to be so sympathetic. Your predecessors were always so cold and ruthless. There are countless tragedies that take ce in the world every single day, there''s no way you can remedy all of them. Among the entire world''s poption, the majority live in unfortunate circumstances, having to struggle for survival. I had thought that you would''ve already seen through all of this and rid yourself of your empathy."

    Qin Ye replied, "Truth be told, I really miss the days before I became King Yanluo."

    "Oh?"

    "Back then, I could do whatever I wanted, acting on my sense of justice and delivering retribution to those who deserve it. Isn''t this why Hell exists?"

    "Pardon me for being frank, but Hell only exists to oversee the cycle of reincarnation. Those who die enter the underworld to be reincarnated, and their past lives are wiped away in order to further human civilization. You are seeing it as something that''s far more noble than it actually is."

    "Is that what the underworld is to you? No wonder the Usonian Underworld copsed."

    "Then why did you choose to be King Yanluo? Wouldn''t it have been much more enjoyable for you to serve as an underworld emissary?" Tezcatlipoca asked with an amused smile. "If you just want to uphold justice and right as many wrongs in the world as possible, then why did you decide to climb to the top? Given the underworld emissary ssification of your nation, once you be an Anitya Hellguard, you won''t be able to experience any of that. You may be the one in power, but you''re actually further away from the people that you want to help."

    Qin Ye replied in a calm voice, "It''s exactly because I''ve started from the bottom and seen too much pain and suffering that I came to understand something: perhaps I can save hundreds, even thousands of people as a low-grade underworld emissary, but in order to save an entire nation, I must climb to the top."

    "Looks like neither of us will be able to convince the other," Tezcatlipoca said with a smile. "I just think there''s no need for us to right the wrongs of the mortal realm. Our job is to oversee the cycle of reincarnation, and that is the purpose of the underworld''s existence. Aside from the four pirs, no other underworld has a reward and punishment system for the dead, yet the underworld is still operating just fine, is it not?"

    "That''s why those underworlds will never be able to be part of the four pirs," Qin Ye scoffed. "You''re just a sun god, and you only share some of the power of a death god due to the special nature of the Aztec religion. You don''t even know the purpose for a death god''s existence, what right do you have to debate me on this topic?"

    Tezcatlipoca raised his hands in surrender, then downed the rest of his coffee in one go before setting the cup down. He then asked, "What do you think about the Death Star?"

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he was silent for several minutes before replying with a grim expression, "He''s trying to lure me somewhere."

    He massaged his own be in a slightly frustrated manner, then pulled an old magazine out of his pocket. The color on the cover of the magazine was extremely faded, and it looked to be something from at least a decade ago. On the cover was written the English headline "The Truth Behind a Grave Miscarriage of Justice Revealed After 70 Years? This is the Most Egregious Tragedy in the History of the Usonian Legal System!"

    "This magazine was rather difficult to track down, but this is an extremely important event, so I did my best to track down some information from back then," Qin Ye said as he flipped open the magazine to the article that he wanted to see.

    "In 1944, George and his family were living in the small town of Alcolu, located in rendon County of South Carolina. He had an elder brother, a younger brother, and two younger sisters. Discrimination against cks has always been prevalent in the south of Usonia, and the town of Alcolu epitomized that discriminative culture. The white district and the ck district was separated by a railway, and eachmunity had their own schools and churches. The whites and the cks in the town rarely ever interacted with one another."

    "You didn''t know about this before?" Tezcatlipoca asked with a surprised expression.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. This wasn''t an incident that had taken ce in his own nation, and it had happened too long ago, so he never learned about this tragedy.

    "On the 23rd of March, a priest discovered the bodies of two white girls in a ditch in the ck district. The bodies belonged to Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 7. The police discovered that the two girls had been beaten by a blunt metal object, and Betty had also been sexually assaulted. ording to witnesses, thest time these two girls were seen were when they had set off on their bikes to search for flowers. They passed by George''s residence, and they asked George and his seven-year-old sister, Katherine, where they could find passion flowers. The police immediately arrested George and his 17-year-old brother, John, but John waster released. After that, the sheriff dered that George had already confessed to the crime of following, attacking, and sexually assaulting the girls, and that they had found a rail spike that he was hiding."

    Tezcatlipoca''s expression remained unchanged as she said, "The past is always filled with unnecessary bloodshed and injustices. They should be ming Christopher Columbus for this tragedy. Come to think of it, I should be ming him as well. If it weren''t for him, the three religions of the new continent would still be at the height of their powers."

    Qin Ye ignored Tezcatlipoca and continued reading aloud from the article.

    "George was convicted for first-degree murder, and he was locked in a jail cell where he was interrogated alone, without permission for anywyers or family to visit him. On the 24th of April, his trial took ce in the rendon County Court. cks didn''t have the right to vote, so the entire jury consisted of whites. Over 1,000 white people attended the court hearing, but no cks were allowed to enter. The defensewyer that had been assigned to George didn''t gather any witnesses, nor did he interrogate the witnesses of the prosecution, and he barely made an attempt to defend his client at all. The jury only took 10 minutes to arrive at a guilty verdict, and the judge dered, there and then, that he was to be executed by electric chair..."

    "Given how sympathetic you are, are you not saddened by what you''re reading?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

    "These are just words on a piece of paper," Qin Ye replied in a calm voice.

    Reality was far crueler than words could ever be.

    "However, words can often reveal some hidden truths." He offered the magazine to Tezcatlipoca and said, "Take a look."

    Tezcatlipoca''s eyes narrowed slightly as he read through the section that Qin Ye was pointing at. After just a brief nce, his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Haiti?"

    "That''s right, they were Haitians who had immigrated to Usonia not long before the incident." Qin Ye downed the coffee in his cup in one go as he turned to Tezcatlipoca with a serious expression. "It can be said that Haiti is the center of the Caribbean Sea."

    "What does that mean?"

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "Where are we going?"

    A hint of enlightenment appeared in Tezcatlipoca''s eyes upon hearing this. "The treasure vault of the Aztec gods."

    "And where is that?"

    "At the center of the Caribbean Sea," Tezcatlipoca replied.

    "And where is Haiti?"

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t reply, and there was no need for a reply because the answer was obvious. Haiti just so happened to be at the center of the Caribbean Sea as well!

    "The Death Star is definitely serving someone," Qin Ye said in a serious voice as he tucked the magazine away again. "The mastermind behind this has to be a death god, one that''s extremely powerful. At the very least, they must have considerable power and influence over the Usonian Underworld. They''re luring us to the Caribbean Sea, which just so happens to be our target destination anyway."

    He paused momentarily before asking with a smile, "A name just popped up in your mind, didn''t it?"

    Tezcatlipoca gritted his teeth as he replied, "Are you referring to the Plumed Serpent God?"

 Chapter 1103: Hell Island

    <h4>Chapter 1103: Hell Ind</h4>

    "As the second sun god, he would have the power to save the Death Star and keep him hidden, and he would also be familiar with the process that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa would go through to capture the Death Star."

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t say anything, but his brows were tightly furrowed, and only after a long while did he shake his head in response. "I really want to say that it''s him, but there''s no motive for him to do this, so it can''t be him."

    Qin Ye didn''t reply, and his mind was already racing.

    If the Plumed Serpent God really was the one behind this, then that would exin how the Death Star was able to infiltrate Chichenhagen.

    The Plumed Serpent God was once a ruler death god, and even though he had gone to the Alkebn Underworlds for thousands of years, he had to have left some trump cards on the new continent, so he would definitely be capable of hiding the Death Star.

    However, the question was why did the Plumed Serpent God require space exploration information?

    That information didn''t benefit him in any way in his current state!

    "However... What if he''s specifically targeting me? He doesn''t have any need for that information, but he knows I need it, and he''s using that against me. Let''s think about his objective: he wants to exact revenge on the entire new continent. Thus, he wouldn''t want to see Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa leave the underworld. Instead, he would want all of the new continent death gods to witness his triumphant return. If a conflict arises between the new continent and the Cathayan Underworld, then the chaos in the new continent would be further exacerbated. As a result, the fight for the new continent could begin early, and that would present an opportunity for him."

    Qin Ye was making all of this analysis out loud, and Tezcatlipoca''s eyelids were twitching slightly after hearing what Qin Ye had to say. "He still hasn''t separated himself from the Heavenly Dao, so he''s still relying on you, and he wouldn''t do something so foolish. Trust me, there''s no way that a past ruler death god would do something so stupid."

    Qin Ye massaged his own be and remained silent.

    He had actually thought of the Plumed Serpent God, not because of the above reasons. Well, that wasn''t entirely true. Those reasons were a factor of consideration, but there was an even more important factor, and that was what the second King Yanluo had told him.

    In that restaurant in the world''s gate, the second King Yanluo had told him to be wary of the Plumed Serpent God.

    Why was it that all of the other death gods had either perished or ascended to Heaven once their religions copsed, yet the Plumed Serpent God was bound by the Heavenly Dao instead?

    It seemed that the Plumed Serpent God was capable of doing some things that were beyond the abilities of other new continent death gods!

    "Also, if the Plumed Serpent God really is behind this, that would exin why the Death Star is luring us."

    "Hold on." Tezcatlipoca was also beginning to take this seriously. Quetzalcoatl had been a sworn enemy of his for thousands of years, and he couldn''t not be serious when it came to matters that concerned him.

    "Why are you saying that he''s luring us somewhere?"

    "Has your brainpletely atrophied during the time you''ve been sealed away? You better wake up and start contributing with your brain because you''re definitely not going to be any help to me in battle in your current state. "

    Tezcatlipoca gnashed his teeth together viciously upon hearing this. Qin Ye was showing him no respect at all, but he couldn''t do anything!

    Qin Ye continued, "He''s only an Abyssal Prefect, while I''m a Yama-King, so he''s just taking a massive risk just to appear before me. There would be no reason for him to appear other than to tell me that we''re already close to hisir, and that we should seek him out if we want the space exploration information. This makes me even more inclined to believe that the Plumed Serpent God is behind this. The Death Star is serving someone, and our destination is a ce that the Plumed Serpent God told us to visit. The Plumed Serpent God isn''t able to appear as he pleases right now, so would it make sense for him to get the Death Star to ensure that we go to the ce he pointed out to us? As long as I still want the space exploration information, I have no choice but to track down the Death Star, and that makes perfect sense given the current state of the Plumed Serpent God. He wants us to go to the treasure vault, but he isn''t sure whether we''ll go there or not. Thus, he decided to use the Death Star."

    He turned toward Tezcatlipoca as he asked, "Do you know of the existence of this treasure vault."

    "No," Tezcatlipoca replied with a shake of his head. "However, I''m not denying its existence. There is inevitably some bias in our parent god when ites to his treatment of his children, and as a cripple, I have no right to know about these things. In contrast, Quetzalcoatl was a sun god, so it makes sense that he would be privy to this information. Thus, I can''t say for sure whether it exists or not. No matter how I think about it, it doesn''t make sense. In order to separate himself from the Heavenly Dao, Quetzalcoatl must rely on you. If your assumptions are correct, then he''s essentially forcing you to go to the treasure vault right now. Isn''t he afraid that you''ll turn on him for this?"

    "That''s also the point that I''m struggling with right now," Qin Ye said as he leaned back against his seat. "There''s no way that he would be so stupid. There''s only a 40% chance that he''s the one behind this. As for the other 60%, that would be someone trying to pin the me on him."

    Silence.

    A short whileter, Tezcatlipoca said, "In any case, we''re nning to go to the treasure vault anyway, so we''ll proceed ording to the n. Perhaps the Death Star doesn''t have anything to do with the treasure vault."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Canc¨²n, Mexico.

    This was one of the world''s renowned tourism cities with one of the world''s top 10 beaches. The entire city was shaped like a snake, and looking out from the beach of Canc¨²n, one would be able to clearly see that the seawater was split up into patches of light blue, dark blue, and navy. It was truly a breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold.

    The city wasn''t very big, but it had everything that one could want for. It had the best hotels in the world, as well as tourismpanies, beaches, and fisheries, which were integral to the Mexican economy. The northern part of the city was the tourist district, while the southern part was where the fisheries and fishermen of the city were gathered.

    The smell of fish had already be a permanent part of the air here. In contrast with thevish and refined northern part of the city, the southern part was more chaotic, but also more lively. Many interesting things could be found here, such as fortune-tellers, diviners, and all types of seafood snacks. The presentation of the cuisine wasn''t fantastic, and perhaps these things couldn''tpare with the dishes served in the top restaurants in the northern part of the city, but they were down-to-earth delicacies that couldn''t be tasted anywhere else.

    TACO y TEQUILA was the liveliest ce in the southern part of Cancun, and even though it was already quite far away from the seafood markets and the ports, the strong scent of the sea still lingered in the air here as most of the patrons of the bistro had juste from those ces.

    "Have you heard?" A ck man was sitting at a table in the bistro, adding some condiments to his taco. This was one of the most renowned Mexican dishes, consisting of a thin corn-based shell, inside of which was ced meat and vegetables, as well as condiments of one''s choice. The vors were rich and delicious, and it was very popr both in Mexico and in the rest of the world. [1] However, many people in Canc¨²n preferred to put fish or seafood in their tacos.

    The ck manpleted his taco, then took a bite out of it, and a blissful look appeared on his face as the thin corn shell crunched in his mouth. "Someone is offering a lot of money to be taken out to sea."

    There was a white man and two more ck men seated at the same time. The white man was wearing a pair of jeans and a jean jacket, and he was chugging on a bottle of Corona beer. This was the national beer of Mexico, and it was also the best-selling Mexican beer in the world. In the city of Canc¨²n, most of the restaurants sold this beer.

    "How much are we talking here?" The white man finally set down his bottle, then burped as he turned toward the ck man.

    The ck man who had spoken looked around cautiously, then replied in a low voice, "5,000 USD!"

    "My god!" The white man almost sprang up from his chair, then also looked around before sitting back down. His voice was full of irrepressible excitement as he asked, "Who''s offering the money, and where does he want to go?"

    The ck man took a bite out of his taco before replying, "It''s a Cathayan man..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the white man said with an envious expression, "I knew it had to be a Cathayan! It seems like there''s nothing in this world that they can''t buy!"

    "Let me finish!" the ck man said in a careful voice. "Listen to me, Eddy. The Cathayan is also apanied by a white man, and the ce they want to go is somewhere I''ve never heard of before. It''s called Dream Ind or something. Also, the two of them are really strange. They only appear at night, and no matter how hot it is, they insist on wearing ck cloaks. What''s most peculiar of all is that none of the people who''ve met them are able to remember what they look like!"

    Eddy''s eyes immediately widened upon hearing this. "Are you serious?"

    "Dead serious!" The ck man had already finished his taco at this point, and he popped the lid off a bottle of beer in a well-rehearsed manner, then took a long chug. The sensation of the cold, frothy beer running down his esophagus was like taking an internal shower, and he chugged on the beer for a full five seconds before putting down the bottle with a huge burp. "You know my grandpa, Bwonsamdi? He''s one of the oldest sailors in Canc¨²n, right?"

    Eddy nodded in response.

    Old Bwonsamdi had already been sailing for 50 years, and there was no ce that he didn''t know of in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. He was known as the living map of Canc¨²n. Even though he was quite old now and very rarely sailed anymore, his fishery was a very sessful business in Canc¨²n with four fishing boats, including even one for catching sharks.

    For the majority of the normal citizens of Canc¨²n, he was already the spitting image of a sessful entrepreneur.

    If anyone wanted to ask about any ce in Canc¨²n, or about the distribution of fish species in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, then old Bwonsamdi was the go-to man to visit. However, a fee had to be issued in USD in exchange for his services.

    "My grandpa was the first person that they approached," the ck man said. "At the time, I was in the adjacent room, so I took a few nces at them. I swore to myself that I would remember what they looked like, but as soon as they left, I forgot! Also..."

    He took a deep breath before continuing with a grim expression, "My grandpa warned me to never go to Dream Ind unless I wanted to die, and to never approach those two people!"

    Right at this moment, the doors of the bistro were opened, allowing the bright sunlight outside to shine into the bistro, thereby illuminating the two figures standing at the entrance.

    The doors of the bistro were ssic saloon doors that were often seen in western Usonian films, and in the instant that the two figures entered the bistro, everyone involuntarily shuddered.

    Qin Ye cast his gaze around the bistro to find that it was much like the dai pai dongs of Cathay. [2]

    There were all types of people here, and the most eye-catching fixtures were the giant fish skeletons and the dartboards hanging from them.

    However, they weren''t in the mood to appreciate the decor of the bistro. Instead, Qin Ye cut straight to the point. "Who knows of Dream Ind?"

    No one replied.

    "That''s them!!" In the corner, the ck man almost sprang to his feet. "I knew that they wouldn''t leave so easily!"

    Tezcatlipoca cast a quick nce toward the ck man, then paid no further heed to him. "We''re offering 5,000 USD."

    Everyone still remained silent.

    "5,000 USD per person," Qin Ye continued. "There are five of us in total, and we''ll each pay 5,000 USD, or the equivalent sum in Mexican pesos if that''s preferred. All you need to do is take us to Dream Ind once. Those who can provide verified leads on Dream Ind will receive 1,000 USD, and anyone willing to take us to Dream Ind will receive a total of 25,000 USD for the five of us."

    Everyone in the bistro was finally interested upon hearing this.

    The sound of chatter slowly arose, but no one took up the offer. Many of the bistro''s patrons were experienced sailors, but they were all looking at one another with perplexed expressions because none of them knew where this Dream Ind was!

    Right at this moment, an elderly voice suddenly rang out. "Hell Ind, eh? Hehe, you must have a death wish if you want to go there. Take my advice, my friends, don''t throw your lives away. That ce isn''t Dream Ind, it''s an ind of nightmares, and no one hase back from the ind alive!"

    [1] [I know that what tacos are is prettymon knowledge for people in the west, but it''s not so well-known in China, hence the provided exnation.]

    [2] [Dai pai dong are a type of open-air food stall in China.]

 Chapter 1104: Leoric

    <h4>Chapter 1104: Leoric</h4>

    Everyone immediately turned toward the person who had just spoken.

    The bistro wasn''t very big, and it had a prominent western style. To put it more urately, it was a very pronounced cowboy style. To the right of the entrance were the bar and the kitchen, and to the left were the tables and chairs, all of which were constructed from timber. One could see the entire bistro with a single nce, so everyone immediately saw the person who had just spoken.

    It was a white man.

    Even though Mexico was the cradle of cowboys, this was Canc¨²n, which was a fishing and tourism city that was surrounded by sea. Thus, it was very rare to see people wearing cowboy suits here. However, that was exactly what this man was wearing.

    His face was riddled with scars, and he didn''t appear to be all that old, but there was already some white to his coarse stubble. His eyes were bright and piercing, and not only was he wearing a cowboy hat, there was also a red bandanna around his neck, apanying a cowboy vest and a white shirt. There was a slice of fried kingfish sitting in front of him, as well as a bottle of wine that had already been opened, rather than a Corona beer that was most popr in the restaurant. Overall, he didn''t seem to fit in at all with the rest of the bistro.

    Looks like someone''s taken the job...

    A string of forlorn sighs rang out in the bistro. 5,000 USD was being offered for each passenger! In a ce like Mexico, where 400 to 500 USD could fulfill all of one''s spending needs for quite some time, this was a massive sum of money.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t have anything to do with them now.

    No one tried to listen in on their conversation. It was clear that the white man was not to be messed with, and the two people offering the job were also extremely menacing and eerie somehow. This was clearly a trio that no one wanted to get involved with.

    In the corner, Eddy''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Have you seen them before?"

    "No," the ck man replied with a shrug. "So many touristse to Canc¨²n every day from all over the world, how could I possibly recognize all of them?"

    Eddy didn''t say anything, but his brows were tightly furrowed.

    He could smell a familiar scent from the white man. It was the scent of gunpowder.

    This was clearly a man who had been ying with guns for a very long time, and even the gaps under his fingernails were filled with gunpowder. Furthermore, it was clear that he was extremely familiar with the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, as evidenced by the fact that he knew of Dream Ind when no one else did. There was no way that a man like him would be just some no-name character.

    The fact that he knew of a ce that no one else in the entire bistro had even heard of meant that there was a very good chance that he was a pirate!

    Since ancient times, the Caribbean Sea had always been a paradise for pirates. Even in the present day, anyone who dared to venture out of the Bahamas would be entering an area of the sea that was rife with pirates.

    Furthermore, this man was clearly no ordinary pirate. He had seen many third-rate pirates in the past, and all of them were always obsessed with drugs, alcohol, and women. For pirates, as soon as they reachednd, they would immediately celebrate and enjoy themselves like there was no tomorrow. They were constantly being hunted by the authorities, so being able to set foot onnd was an extremely rare opportunity for them.

    However, this man clearly wasn''t one of those third-rate pirates. He was as calm and calcting as a cheetah, and anyone who dared to attack him would immediately be met with violent retaliation.

    Should I drop that Cathayan man a hint to be careful?

    The thought only briefly crossed Eddy''s mind before he shrugged and sat down to continue drinking his beer.

    What did he have to gain from meddling in other people''s business?

    At this point, Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca had already made their way over to the table where the man was sitting, and he raised his ss of wine as a weing smile appeared on his face. "Please, take a seat. The name''s Evan G. Woody."

    He reached out to shake Qin Ye''s hand, and upon doing so, he was surprised to discover that Qin Ye''s hand waspletely devoid of any body heat.

    Qin Ye slowly lowered his hood, and only then did Woody discover that he was dealing with an extremely young man. Furthermore, he could tell that Qin Ye didn''t have much experience, if any, with guns.

    However, for some reason, the two of them struck him with an extremely potent sense of peril and foreboding, and without even realizing it, the butt of the cigar in his mouth had already beenpressed down to a pulp by his front teeth.

    His brows furrowed slightly as he processed this sensation. The fact that this young man didn''t have any experience with guns meant that he most likely hadn''t killed anyone in the past, so where was this sense of uneaseing from?

    "Are you a pirate?" Qin Ye looked down at his own hand, the one that had just shaken Woody''s hand, and he casually remarked, "You''ve been a pirate for at least 20 years. Even if you''re an idiot, you have to at least be a first mate by now."

    Woody immediately tried to stand up, yet to his shock and horror, he discovered that he was unable to do so!

    It was as if a giant, invisible hand had rested itself on his body, and his pupils instantly contracted as his hand reflexively tried to search for the gun strapped to his waist, but his hand wasn''t even able to move!

    Furthermore, he was unable to make any sound, either!

    This is a pair of monsters!

    His clothes were instantly drenched in cold sweat. Never did he think that he would be able to encounter a "myth" here!

    "All of your scars are very old, and you don''t have any recent injuries, so it seems you''re already living the high life." Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the bottle of wine on the table and remarked, "You have decent taste. Are you a captain? A vice-captain, perhaps?"

    Woody''s lips were trembling, and he felt as if his heart had been caught in a vice. He opened his mouth to try and speak, but was unable to muster up even a single word.

    He was sorely regretting his decision to speak up now, but the price that they were offering was far too alluring for him to pass up!

    Qin Ye sat back in his chair and said, "Take me to where I want to go. This is an order, not a request, you have no choice in the matter."

    All of a sudden, Woody found himself able to move again, and he heaved a long sigh of relief as he watched Qin Ye with a wary expression.

    "Are you... a ''myth''?"

    "Ie from Cathay, so I don''t understand the special terms in yournguage," Qin Ye replied with a smile.

    Woody wasn''t reassured by Qin Ye''s exnation. Instead, he became even more cautious.

    He gulped nervously as he said, "As I''m sure you know, there are countless myths about the Caribbean Sea, such as the fountain of youth, the holy grail, things like that... I''ve seen some things that... cannot be exined with logic, and those things include Dream Ind. We call those inexplicable things or living beings ''myths''."

    He didn''t deny that he was a pirate. In the face of a myth, lying would be an extremely foolish move.

    "I''m not interested in those things," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Tell me about Dream Ind. How do you know about it? And it''s quite remarkable that you were able to leave the ind alive..."

    Indeed, it was incredible to think that a mortal had stepped into the realm of gods and emerged on the other side with his life.

    "This is not a good ce to talk," Woody said with a solemn expression. "Truth be told, there are people from several other fleets here, and ording to our rules, we''ll allow them to disembark from their ships to rest at set intervals. Please follow me upstairs, we have a booth there that''s been permanently reserved."

    So this is a pirate hideout, eh?

    Qin Ye wasn''t interested in that, and he followed Woody upstairs.

    The upstairs booth wasn''t veryrge, nor was it very small. It was around 100 square meters in area, and the decor in the room had a pronounced gothic style. In the instant that Qin Ye entered the room, a chill immediately ran down Woody''s spine, and he hurriedly swung around.

    The door was silently shut, immediately following which all of the windows were also shut, and the curtains were drawn. However, no one had moved, and it was as if all of those actions had been performed by poltergeists.

    If Woody had any doubts earlier, then there was no doubt in his mind at all that he had encountered a myth.

    "Don''t worry, just tell me what I want to know," Qin Ye said as he sat down onto a sofa before crossing his legs. "I''m not a fan of unnecessary bloodshed, and I''m not looking for any trouble."

    Woody took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak. "We discovered this ind by ident. In contrast with fishing boats, the hips of our...pany have set routes and times..."

    Before he had a chance to continue, Tezcatlipoca suddenly interjected, "What is the name of your ship?"

    This was a very strange question. After all, the name of the ship wasn''t important. Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he cast his gaze toward Tezcatlipoca, who exined through voice transmission, "They worship the three Caribbean death gods. If I''m not mistaken, this man belongs to the ck Pearl. There are many things that have happened on the new continent during the past few years, and it''s very difficult to exin everything."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a contemtive expression.

    Dax was an identity that he had stolen from the three death gods, but where were the three death gods now?

    It seemed that they were no longer in the Caribbean Sea. Otherwise, there was no way that the religion of Dax would''ve spread so quickly. However, all gods required followers. If gods were ships, then followers were anchors that kept those ships in ce. Thus, even though the three death gods had left, some of their followers had to have remained behind.

    Followers required doctrines, but given that the three death gods were just a trio of pirates during their lifetimes, one could imagine that their doctrines wouldn''t have been very sophisticated. Judging from his past interactions with the three death gods, Qin Ye was of the opinion that their doctrine was most likely the type that encouraged people to do as they desired, and that corresponded quite well with the upation of pirates.

    "The Emerald," Woody replied in a respectful voice while carefully watching the duo in front of him. "In the past, we worshiped Leoric, and asionally, we would receive guidance from some divine miracles, but it''s already been many years since west received any instructions from him..."

    Of course! Your god has already pissed off!

    Qin Ye finally understood why Tezcatlipoca had decided to ask this question.

    The Emerald revered Leoric, who was once one of the three Caribbean Death Gods, yet they had found Dream Ind, which was where the treasure vault of the Aztec gods was located.

    Why had the three death gods been taken away by the Heavenly Dao, and why had the second King Yanluo tried to kill them?

    He still recalled that the second King Yanluo had said that they had been tinged by something''s aura. The Heavenly Dao''s opinion was that they should observe the three death gods to lure out the mastermind behind them, whereas the second King Yanluo thought that it was best to kill them on the spot, and that had resulted in an altercation.

    Whose aura had they been tinged by? Was it a coincidence that the Emerald had discovered Dream Ind?

    The Plumed Serpent God had told Qin Ye the location of Dream Ind. Could this mean that the three death gods had been tinged by the Plumed Serpent God''s aura?!

    Was that who the three death gods were serving?

    Was this a ridiculous theory? Indeed, it did sound a little ridiculous. However, to the three death gods, the Plumed Serpent God would''ve been an insurmountable figure because this was Mexico, the cradle of the entire Aztec religion!

    Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were no longer running the nation, and in the absence of their influence, if the Plumed Serpent God wanted some Yin spirits to do his bidding, then no one would be in a position to refuse. In fact, the three Caribbean death gods would''ve been more than eager to serve as the Plumed Serpent God''sckeys! The Plumed Serpent God was once a true sun god, and under normal circumstances, there was no way that the three Caribbean death gods would receive an olive branch extended to them by such a mighty figure!

    With the assistance of the three death gods, it would be entirely possible to hide the Death Star in the Caribbean Sea, and the entire theory made sense, considering the Plumed Serpent God was still restricted by the Heavenly Dao and unable to do things for himself. Furthermore, it would also make sense for him to intentionally allow the followers of the three death gods to discover Dream Ind.

    "Is it really you?" Qin Ye looked up at the ceiling through narrowed eyes. "No, that wouldn''t make sense... You''re relying on the Cathayan Underworld to free yourself from the Heavenly Dao, so surely you wouldn''t dare to plot against us at the same time. Alternatively, if someone''s trying to pin the me on you... Who could it possibly be? I know all of the world''s death gods, and aside from the ruler death gods of a few select powerful nations, or major alliances like the Northern Europa Underworlds, who would be able to pin the me on you?

 Chapter 1105: Ship of the Dead (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1105: Ship of the Dead (1)</h4>

    This was a question that no one could answer.

    Thinking back, the Plumed Serpent God had always been concealed behind a shroud of mystery from the very beginning. No one knew exactly what he was doing, and all of the information gathered on him was collected through his own verbal ounts.

    He had helped Qin Ye in the past. During the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, he had performed a divine descent in front of all of the underworld''s death gods, thereby swinging the momentum toward the Cathayan Underworld. However, Qin Ye had returned the favor. If it weren''t for that drop of blood of a divinity, the Plumed Serpent God most likely still wouldn''t be able to appear in the underworld of his own ord.

    However, on the international political stage, there were no true friendships.

    Neither side owed the other any more favors, and they were both on the same starting line. However, this wasn''t what Qin Ye was truly focused on.

    He had never gotten too closely involved with the Plumed Serpent God because of his personality traits.

    Out of the four suns of the Aztec religion, he was directly or indirectly responsible for the copse of three of them. Furthermore, he wasn''t someone who could be content with what he had. On the contrary, he was extremely ambitious. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have dominated the Alkebn Underworlds with the intention of returning to the new continent someday.

    Qin Ye didn''t like an ambitious and sinister character like him. Furthermore, the Plumed Serpent God was going to be one of his future potentialpetitors for supremacy over the new continent once Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa from this world one way or another.

    In contrast, he much preferred working with Tezcatlipoca, who was a victim of history and far easier to control.

    Having arranged all of his thoughts, he turned toward Woody again. "Continue."

    Woody gulped nervously before doing as he was told. "I''m sure someone like you is aware that there are some things in this world that we can''te into contact with."

    At this point, he was sorely regretting his decision not to keep quiet and hide the fact that he knew about Dream Ind.

    These people... No, these monsters were not beings that he could afford to get involved with! Why had they appeared at a bistro of all ces? Did they not have anything better to do?!

    "I have received divine edicts from Leoric in the past. However..." He gritted his teeth before continuing, "Leoric hasn''t appeared for close to 10 years now. Even though Dax took over his followers and undermined his authority, he didn''t reappear, and I only received one piece of divine edict during the past decade."

    A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as he recounted, "One morning, I woke up on my ship, and I discovered a parchment scroll ced beside my bed. The scroll had a ck wax seal adhered to it, and that''s a symbol unique to Leoric. Enclosed on the scroll was a map. It was a map of the Caribbean Sea, but that was a Caribbean Sea that I had never seen before!"

    A hint of horror crept into his eyes as he spoke, and his voice was beginning to tremble. "At the center of the Caribbean Sea was an ind in the shape of a pyramid, and what''s even stranger is that there were countless monsters drawn around the ind!"

    Monsters?

    Qin Ye turned to Tezcatlipoca and asked, "Does your treasure vault have guardians?"

    "No," Tezcatlipoca replied. "The treasure vaults of gods cannot be reached by mortals, so there''s no need for guardians."

    They were conversing with one another, and Woody could see their lips moving, but he couldn''t hear what they were saying, and that only made him even more horrified. The fear in his heart made him involuntarily spill all of his secrets. "What''s even stranger about the map is that around the ind, the entire Caribbean Sea is taken up by a massive sea monster!"

    Tezcatlipoca abruptly raised his head upon hearing this, and Yin energy was beginning to seep out of all of his orifices as he stared intently at Woody. "What does the sea monster look like?"

    Woody couldn''t see the Yin energy, but he could instinctively sense that the white man standing before him had suddenly be countless times more terrifying. It was as if he was standing in front of a sabertooth tiger, one that had been starving for several days!

    "I, I can''t exin it..." His voice was beginning to tremble, and he unconsciously sank deeper into the sofa in a bid to search for a sense of security. "It, it seems to have 1,000 mouths, 1,000 eyes, countless tentacles... And its head looks a little like a sea anemone! I had never seen anything so terrifying in my life! Even though it was a rather abstract drawing and I only took one nce at it, I had nightmares for a month straight! All of the nightmares were about that sea monster... It would chase after me, and no matter how I tried to get away, I would always be devoured by it."

    Tezcatlipoca raised his head as a twisted smile appeared on his face, and his eyes were already bloodshot as he ground his teeth together furiously.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you alright?"

    No response.

    Several secondster, Tezcatlipoca sat back down onto the sofa and nodded in response. "As I''m sure you''re aware, the fifth sun god was once the sea monster, Cipactli."

    Qin Ye''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. "You''re not saying..."

    The twisted smile on Tezcatlipoca''s face became even more pronounced as he said, "The ce where we slew Cipactli was the center of the Caribbean Sea! The sea monster on that map is none other than Cipactli! Cipactli was known as the Eternal Devourer, and it resides in the abyss. It devours everything around it, including space, so no one is able to track it down. This is most likely why Dream Ind is able to remain hidden to everyone!"

    Qin Ye was silent for a long while before turning to Woody. "When did you receive that divine edict? I need the exact time."

    "Nine years ago," Woody replied without any hesitation. "There''s no way I would misremember something so important, and we were able to track down Dream Ind using the coordinates on the map..."

    "I''m not interested in hearing about how you found the ind," Qin Ye interrupted, and the room fell silent.

    Neither Qin Ye nor Tezcatlipoca said anything as both of them realized that things were bing more and more bizarre.

    Dream Ind was located at the ce where Cipactli had perished, yet the treasure vault of the Aztec gods was also there? How did Leoric know about this?

    Everything was pointing in the Plumed Serpent God, and it seemed a little too obvious.

    Even more importantly, the three death gods of the Caribbean Sea had been taken by the Heavenly Dao 10 years ago, so why was it that a death god that had been taken by the Heavenly Dao was able to send a message to one of his followers?

    "This is impossible... Even the Plumed Serpent God needs my help to descend into this world, there''s no way Leoric would''ve been able to send out that message! In that case, who could it have been?"

    Coincidentally, all of the signs seemed to be pointing toward the Plumed Serpent God once again.

    How interesting...

    Qin Ye stood up and put on his hood as he said, "Take me to your ship tomorrow night."

    Regardless of what the underlying truth was, everything would be clear once they found Dream Ind, and it was very likely that the Death Star was there as well.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time passed by very quickly, and Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca arrived at the port the next night.

    Even at night, the port was still very busy. After all, the arrival of ships wasn''t going to be dyed by the time of day. However, this was quite a chaotic ce, and there weren''t even any instructions on the map.

    This port was named "Owl", and the asphalt road here had virtually been entirely worn away.

    There was a short wooden bridge that had been crudely constructed next to the shore, and one could tell that this port had been standing for at least several centuries. In fact, it could even be a relic from the golden era of Caribbean piracy.

    However, it was still usable.

    At this moment, there were already five people standing at the port.

    They were Qin Ye, Tezcatlipoca, Woody, and two burly white men, both of whom were looking at Woody with puzzled expressions, wondering why their captain had been silent this entire time when he was normally much more talkative. Furthermore, he seemed a little... afraid? Afraid of those two?

    What was there to be afraid of? For pirates like them, guns were the only thing that they feared. One of themid a hand onto the gun strapped to his waist, then turned to look elsewhere.

    At this moment, Woody had his palms together and was praying to the heavens, something that he very rarely did. If he could turn back time, he would definitely go back to the previous day and give himself a few vicious ps to the face. At this point, there was nothing he could do aside from pray.

    12 AM.

    Finally, a dim yellow light appeared on the inky-ck surface of the sea in the distance.

    Woody repressed the fear in his own heart as he gritted his teeth and stepped forward. He knew that turning back wasn''t an option at this point, and he had to put on a strong front as the captain to do everything in his power to ensure the survival of his crew.

    "Get ready to board the ship!"

    The sound of sshing waves was growing louder and louder, but it was bing more and more apparent from Woody''s expression that something was wrong.

    "What''s wrong?" Qin Ye asked.

    Woody shook his head in response. Under normal circumstances, the ship should''ve already been elerating at this point. However, it was still drifting slowly toward the port at a steady pace, and the signal light had been ignited on the ship.

    In order to avoid run-ins with the government, some lights had to be switched on. However, whenever a ship approached a port, the signal light had to be switched on, both to herald their arrival and to allow others to identify the ship.

    The fact that the signal light hadn''t been switched on meant that something had happened...

    Everyone remained silent, and it took the ship a full hour to finally reach a point where it was clearly visible to the naked eye from the shore, and thus, everyone was finally able to see what had happened on the ship.

    "My god..." One of Woody''s crewmates fell to his knees with a dull thump, and cold sweat was pouring down his entire body as he stared at their ship with bulging eyes.

    Beside him, the other crewmate was also looking up with trembling lips, and his breathing had already unconsciously ceased.

    Woody''s mouth was also gaped open with incredulity, and he was staring at his own ship with a furious expression, but he didn''t dare to take even a single step forward as his fear far outweighed his fury.

    Their entire crew, consisting of several dozen men, were hanging from the mast!

    Their bodies werepletely charred ck with blood flowing out of the orifices, and they were all hanging from the mast like kites, while countless crows flew around the mast incessantly. The only light that was switched on on the ship was an old searchlight that was giving off a dim yellow glow.

 Chapter 1106: Ship of the Dead (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1106: Ship of the Dead (2)</h4>

    "My god..." Woody fell to his knees as his entire body trembled uncontrobly. "What the hell happened?!"

    Under extreme fear and duress, one would often think of things thatpounded their fear even further, and Woody''s thoughts immediately turned toward the arcane and the supernatural, upon which he became even more horrified.

    Had they encountered a legendary ghost ship? Was this even reality?

    The only sounds that could be heard were the sshing of the waves and the squawking of the ravens as they flew around the bodies.

    In contrast, Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca were far calmer, but they also wore grim expressions, and Tezcatlipoca remarked, "The killing intent and resentment that I can sense from that ship are extremely powerful..."

    "It''s the Death Star," Qin Ye said with narrowed eyes. "He''s been on this ship. This is both a warning and an act of provocation."

    If this was just a warning, then it wouldn''t have been issued so early. Qin Ye was confident that the Death Star was situated on Dream Ind, and they hadn''t even set sail yet, so this would be far too early for a warning to be issued.

    The only thing that Qin Ye was rather wary of was how crude and unrefined this provocation tactic was.

    The Death Star was able to hide in Chichenhagen and steal something so important from right under the noses of the two ruler death gods, so it had to have some extremely intricate and refined tricks up its sleeve. In that case, why had it chosen to do something so primitive and unsightly?

    "It''s almost as if someone was telling him what to do while he was at Chichenhagen, but that guiding force has disappeared since then," Qin Ye murmured to himself as the sea breeze gently picked up his hair and robes. "In other words, someone provided him with a bag of tricks, but all of the tricks in the bag have been exhausted now."

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t say anything. He knew that Qin Ye was only thinking out loud and didn''t require a response to his thoughts.

    Who could''ve possibly done this aside from Quetzalcoatl?

    With each divine descent, he could issue one set of instructions, but if he couldn''t perform a divine descent, then he wouldn''t be able to issue any instructions, and the Death Star would have to act on its own.

    However, it was precisely because of how obvious everything was that Qin Ye didn''t dare to believe that it really was the Plumed Serpent God. If the Plumed Serpent God really was the mastermind behind everything, then this would truly be a spectacr series of maniption.

    "Let''s board the ship." With a wave of Qin Ye''s hand, all of the bodies fell into the sea, and he strode directly toward the ship.

    "No!!" Woody had tears and snot flowing down his face as he frantically crawled over to Qin Ye before throwing his arms around Qin Ye''s leg. "We can''t! This ship had already been cursed! We don''t want to die!"

    "No! I''m not going! There''s no way I''m going near that ship!!" one of the crewmates screamed. "I''m going home!! My home is in New Jersey, and I''m going back there! I''m never doing this shit again!!"

    The other crewmate rose to his feet unsteadily, and his face was deathly pale as he panted heavily. "I''m not going, Woody! You hear me? I''m not going even if you kill me! They must''ve encountered those things! There''s no doubt about it! I''m not going to ever set foot on that ship again!!"

    Qin Ye pushed Woody aside before continuing toward the dock. "Each of you will receive 10,000 USD after all is said and done."

    "Shut the fuck up!! Did you not hear me?!" The two crewmates were so horrified that they were on the verge of going insane, and one of them suddenly pulled out his gun as he stared intently at Tezcatlipoca with bloodshot eyes. "You''ve got too much money to spend, do you?! Hurry up and hand over the money right now! I won''t hurt you, but I''m not going to throw my life away, either!"

    Tezcatlipoca slowly lowered his hood. "Foolish human..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a bullet was fired from the gun, and a hole had appeared on his forehead.

    "You made me do this! I''m not throwing my fucking life away for something like this!" The man put down his gun with gritted teeth, and his lips were still trembling. Woody turned to the man with an incredulous expression, then suddenly sprang to his feet before rushing back in horror.

    "What are you so afraid of?" the man scoffed. "We''ve been working together for seven or eight years already, I have no intention of getting into a gunfight with a ruthless bastard like you!"

    Right at this moment, his entire body suddenly stiffened as a hand had been ced onto his shoulder.

    He reflexively began to turn around, but then suddenly stopped cold in his tracks as his body shuddered as if it had been electrocuted. A horrified look appeared in his eyes as something dawned on him.

    There were only five people on this port, and the person standing behind him was the one that had just been shot through the head...

    "Is this what you humans call guns?" Tezcatlipoca''s voice rang out from behind him, and the man''s pupils instantly contracted as all of the fine hairs all over his body stood up on end.

    Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Woody and the other crewmate were already backing away with horrified expressions white trembling uncontrobly.

    The man''s teeth began to chatter with fear, and all of the color was drained from his face as his gun ttered onto the ground. At the same time, goosebumps were raised over his entire body, and cold sweat began to pour down his face.

    "It''s a bit more powerful than I expected." Tezcatlipoca was smiling, and his mouth had already opened up to over half a meter in diameter.

    Right as he was about to bite the man''s head off, Qin Ye interjected, "Don''t kill him. If they''re all dead, we''ll have no one to pilot the ship for us."

    Silence.

    Half a secondter, the crewmate felt a gentle pat on his shoulder. "You''re a lucky man."

    Even though it was only a gentle tap, he immediately copsed to the ground as if all of the bones in his entire body had suddenly vanished.

    He wanted to scream, but he was too horrified to find his own voice.

    He wanted to stand up, but his legs were like literal noodles, and he couldn''t inject any strength into them.

    This man is a monster!!

    He was screaming with all his might internally as he curled up into a ball on the ground, sobbing in a broken manner into his own arms.

    "Get on the ship. Do I need to repeat myself?" Tezcatlipoca asked as he turned toward Woody and the other man.

    The two of them nodded in a mechanical manner in response, then made their way toward the ship.

    The ship was alreadypletely stained by blood.

    There were streaks of blood all over the deck, and one could imagine how the crew had been dragged over the deck, then hung up on the mast. There were so many people on the ship, yet there wasn''t any sign of resistance. At the end of the deck, there was a message inscribed in blood that read: "Wee to hell".

    Woody''s trio was trembling uncontrobly as they stood on the ship. Everything that they had seen thus far went beyond their wildest imaginations, and even the most terrifying nightmares they had endured hadn''t been anywhere near as frightening as this!

    "What a joke," Qin Ye mused as he nced at the message in blood. "A Yin spirit who hasn''t even ever been to hell is weing me to hell? The true hell is far more terrifying than you could ever imagine."

    After that, he entered the ship''s cabin, as did Tezcatlipoca.

    Even without any instructions, Woody''s trio knew what they had to do if they didn''t want to die.

    Thus, Woody entered the captain''s room, almost in a trance, and he stood in front of the helm with his hands resting on it in a dazed manner.

    All of a sudden, he began banging his own head viciously against the helm over and over again.

    This is a nightmare! It has to be a nightmare! It hurts so much already, why am I still not awake?

    The door was opened, and the two crewmates made their way into the room. One of them said in a voice that was so hoarse that it didn''t sound like it even belonged to a human anymore, "Captain, sh, should we set off?"

    Woody closed his eyes as he epted the fact that this wasn''t a dream, and he said in a trembling voice, "Let us pray that we cane back alive... We set sail for Dream Ind!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A day had already passed since the ship had set off, and Qin Ye was sitting in the spacious andvish cabin. He poured himself a Corona beer before taking a sip.

    "You don''t seem to be worried at all," Tezcatlipoca remarked.

    He was sitting across from Qin Ye, swirling a ss of red wine.

    "I''m thinking about something right now," Qin Ye replied as his brows furrowed slightly. "The Plumed Serpent God told me that five people are required to open the treasure vault, and there just so happens to be five of us left. Isn''t that too good to be a coincidence?"

    "Maybe." Tezcatlipoca took a sip of his wine, then said with a serious expression, "I''ve also been thinking about a lot during the past day."

    "Oh?"

    Tezcatlipoca picked up a cigar, but instead of lighting it, he was ying with it absentmindedly as he said, "Quetzalcoatl told you that he doesn''t want anything from the treasure vault aside from the sword of the sun god, right?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. That was indeed what the Plumed Serpent God had said.

    A cold smile appeared on Tezcatlipoca''s face as he continued, "So he''s trying to use the power of a god of creation to sever his ties with the Heavenly Dao. That is the only possibility. However, what if I told you that our parent god never used a sword?"

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

    Tezcatlipoca continued, "Not only did They never use a sword, They never used any weapon, nor did They bestow their power upon any object. I''ve never heard of this so-called sword of the sun god. Also, you''ve already told him that you''ve met me, and he and I are sworn enemies. In his absence, he should be aware that there''s a very good chance that you would approach me to track down the treasure vault of the Aztec gods together. Suppose that this sword does exist. If I were to enter the treasure vault, there would be no way that he would be able to get his hands onto the sword!"

    Indeed, the power of the Aztec parent god, Ometeotl, was creation. With that power, one could even create a brand new religion, so how could Tezcatlipoca possibly hand it over to the Plumed Serpent God?

    "What are you implying?" Qin Ye asked.

    "I think that he only wants us to enter the treasure vault. As for why, I don''t know," Tezcatlipoca mused with tightly furrowed brows. "On top of that, it looks like this treasure vault really does exist, but it''s not a treasure vault of the Aztec gods. At the very least, my treasures aren''t stored in there."

    In that case, to whom did this treasure vault belong, and what did this have to do with the disappearance of the new continent''s space exploration information?

    There were too many unanswered mysteries, and both of them fell silent again.

    Right at this moment, both of them abruptly raised their heads before turning to the wall of the cabin as if they could see through it.

    An icy-cold aura of death that didn''t belong to the sea at all had just washed over the ship, as if they had just crossed the boundary between life and death an instant ago.

    At the same time, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and Woody carefully pushed open the door before informing in a respectful voice, "We''ve already entered the vicinity of Dream Ind, and we''ll be able to reach it in one more hour at most."

 Chapter 1107: Dream Island (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1107: Dream Ind (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca got onto the deck and looked out at the cold and forbidding sea before them.

    The Caribbean Sea''s climate was warm and pleasant all year round, yet they felt as if they had just sailed into the Arctic Ocean. However, there were no visible changes to the sea.

    It was as if the mortal realm and the underworld were separated by an invisible line, and they had just crossed that line.

    "The Yin energy here is extremely strong." Qin Ye was looking out at the sea with a wary expression. The surface of the sea here was such a dark blue color that it was almost ck, and he could see that this dark color wasing from the Yin energy that had umted within the water over the past several thousand years!

    Furthermore, there was no end in sight to this darkness.

    "This Yin energy has already been here for a long time." He reached out before casually making a grabbing motion, and wisps of Yin energy surged toward his fingertips. He then carefully examined the Yin energy before concluding, "It has no conscious will, which means that it doesn''t belong to anything."

    "This is Cipactli''s Yin energy," Tezcatlipoca said with a cold smile. "There''s no way I could fail to recognize this Yin energy. Take a closer look, see what else is different here."

    Qin Ye did as he was told, and several secondster, he replied, "There''s no life here at all."

    Indeed, there were no birds or fish, nor any waves, and even the wind carried with it the scent of death and decay. It was as if this was the ce that the ocean came to die.

    Sailing through thispletely silent and lifeless region of the sea felt like sailing toward certain doom, and the deafening silence was enough to drive one mad.

    Far in the distance was a vast expanse of white mist that epassed everything, and the contrast between the dark sea and the white mist made this ce even more eerie and frightening.

    "This area of the sea has already been corrupted by Cipactli''s aura, and its resentment from dying here has made this ce a natural prison," Tezcatlipoca said. "Any living being that enters this area will be suppressed by Cipactli''s resentment, which has already been brewing here for thousands of years. No matter how powerful you are, your bodily condition will steadily decline until your demise. On top of that, no one is able to sense this as it''s happening. Perhaps someone like the second King Yanluo would be able to. As long as you''re not more powerful than Cipactli during its living days, you''ll be susceptible to its power."

    "How much longer?"

    This question was directed toward Woody, who was standing behind them.

    Woody was already doing everything in his power to minimize his sense of existence, and he was given quite a fright by this sudden question. He shuddered slightly before immediately replying, "Half a day..."

    A terrifying thought seemed to have sprung into his mind, and he gulped nervously as he said, "That ind is extremely strange. It only appears at night, and it''s always enshrouded in mist, the exact same white mist that you''re seeing right now. Mist is a natural enemy to all seafarers, so all ships will skirt around this ce. If it wasn''t for that map, we would''ve never imagined that an ind would appear here at night."

    Qin Ye''s hair was being ruffled by the sea breeze, and he casually arranged it as he asked, "What''s on the ind?"

    "Monsters!" Woody replied in a trembling voice that had be very high-pitched from fear. "It''s impossible to describe those monsters... That ind shouldn''t exist in the human world! All of the people that were with me died, and I was the only one who managed to escape!"

    His eyes turnedpletely bloodshot as he buried his fingers into his own hair and wed at his own scalp. "No matter what you do, don''t go there! Even you will be devoured by that hell!"

    "It''s alright, Ie from hell," Qin Ye replied in a calm voice.

    Woody faltered slightly upon hearing this, and only then did he notice that the two of them were casting no shadows under the sun!

    Are they envoys of hell that are about to return to hell?

    His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and he didn''t dare to say anything further as he squeezed himself into a corner of the ship, trying to get as far away from this demonic duo as possible.

    Time passed by very quickly, and night soon arrived. Right on the stroke of midnight, Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca, who were sitting in the cabin, looked up in unison before casting their eyes toward the surface of the sea in the distance.

    The sound of gentle waves rang out like a soothing melody.

    That wouldn''t be noteworthy at all, except there were no waves at all in this area of the sea during the day!

    It was as if the sea had suddenly awakened right on the stroke of midnight.

    The death god had opened its eyes, and the demon had been uncaged. Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca instantly appeared on the deck at the same time, but they weren''t the only ones there.

    "Gavin, Francis, why are you two here?" Tezcatlipoca asked with narrowed eyes as he turned toward the pair of sailors on the deck.

    Why did they still dare to appear on the deck sote at night even after witnessing something so terrifying during the day? Logically speaking, they should''ve been cowering in the captain''s room with Woody.

    Gavin and Francis turned around with dazed expressions, and Qin Ye raised a hand to stop Tezcatlipoca from saying what he was about to say next. He could see that both of the sailors were trembling uncontrobly, and their faces were deathly pale.

    He looked at the time to find that it was 12:03 AM.

    "The ship... is moving..." Gavin''s voice waspletely devoid of any vitality, and even though it had only been a few hours, he seemed to have aged several years. His eyes had sunken in noticeably, and patches of white hair had even begun to appear on his head.

    Furthermore, it was clear that he was extremely horrified for some reason.

    Hasn''t the ship always been moving?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly, but he didn''t say anything as he knew that Gavin would exin anyway.

    "The ship... It''s moving!" Gavin was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and he copsed to the deck as his anguished wails echoed through the night. "The ship already ran out of fuel, yet it''s still moving!!"

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this, and before Francis and Gavin had a chance to say anything further, he rushed over to the side of the ship and looked down at the water past the railing.

    "Can you feel anything?" he asked with a serious expression.

    Even Tezcatlipoca was feeling a little spooked at this point, and he replied, "No, but something seems to be dragging our ship along."

    Indeed, they couldn''t sense any Yin energy!

    Even for two death gods like them, they were unable to sense anything. The sea and the mist remained the same, but the ship was somehow moving!

    The two of them exchanged a nce, yet before they had a chance to say anything, the surface of the sea began to move.

    The white mist that was still on the distant horizon in the afternoon was only three kilometers away from them at most at this point, and it was beginning to slowly spread open like a white lotus flower that was blooming on the surface of the sea at midnight.

    At the same time, waves began to surge through the water down below, and upon reaching several kilometers away, the waves had already reached around a meter in height!

    "The ind is rising up..." Tezcatlipoca said as he looked into the center of the mist. "I can sense a godly aura slowly rising up, but it doesn''t belong to our parent god!"

    "Whose aura is it?"

    "I can''t tell!" Tezcatlipoca replied as he massaged his own temples vigorously. "I definitely recognize it, and it''s extremely familiar, but the Yin energy is being obstructed by Cipactli''s resentment, so I''m unable to sense who it belongs to!"

    "Is it dead or alive?" Qin Ye asked.

    "It''s dead. It''s a divine artifact, but it definitely isn''t one that belongs to our parent god!"

    Right at this moment, the white mist exploded violently! To put it more urately, countless ck shadows with long wispy tails trailing along behind them had just erupted out of the mist.

    "ARRRRRGH!!" Francis and Gavin had never been this horrified in their lives, and they were hugging each other tightly as they sobbed and screamed like female leads in third-rate horror movies.

    The wind sweeping through the area suddenly became stronger, causing Qin Ye''s robes to p incessantly, and he pulled the robe tighter around him as he stared into the distance.

    The countless ck shadows shed through the sky like arrows, and they were so fast that they were leaving trails of mist behind them in the night sky.

    Qin Ye could see that this was a flock of skeletal birds.

    Before he had a chance to arrange his own thoughts, Tezcatlipoca suddenly eximed, "Yanluo Qin, look!"

    Qin Ye looked down as he was told, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly.

    Countless specks of bright light had appeared beneath the surface of the sea!

    They were slowly floating upward as if they had been summoned, and within the span of no more than three minutes, they had risen to the surface of the sea, revealing themselves to be ss bottles, within which were rolled-up pieces of parchment paper.

    Each bottle was around the size of a beer bottle, and there were too many of them to count, epassing an area with a radius of at least three kilometers of the sea outside of the white mist.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this. These things struck him with a sense of familiarity, but he was unable to immediately think of where he had seen them before.

    Boom!

    However, there was no time at all to think, and in the next instant, the ship rushed forward rapidly as if it were being pushed by a giant!

    The bottles on the surface of the sea were scattered in the wake of the ship, and the sea breeze had transformed into a violent gale! The ship was traveling so quickly that even Gavin and Francis''s screams were being left behind.

    "We''ll be entering the white mist in 40 seconds." Qin Ye took a deep breath as he tried to collect his own thoughts.

    Countless images quickly shed through his mind, and 10 secondster, an enlightened look suddenly appeared in his eyes. "It''s the three Caribbean death gods!"

    "What?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response, and his eyes were glowing brighter and brighter.

    Most of the mysteries that had been stumping him had been resolved, but there was one mystery that hadn''t been resolved this entire time, which was how the grand script of death of the three Caribbean death gods hade into existence.

    The Heavenly Dao had said that it wasn''t a product of the underworld, so who had created it?

    Furthermore, the three death gods had said that they had found the grand script of death in the form of a rolled-up piece of parchment in a bottle that washed up on the shore of the sea.

    At the same time, he had alsoe into contact with one of those bottles, and the contents of the letter inside could even create severe mental disruption even for a Yama-King.

    Could it be that all of those bottled letters came from this ce?

    Before he had a chance to think about this any further, a low roar suddenly rang out across the entire surface of the sea.

    The sound was very low-pitched, but the volume was extraordinarily loud, and massive waves were being swept up on the sea by the violent soundwaves.

    It was like the sobbing of countless children, the repentance of countless sinners, and it pierced directly into the deepest parts of one''s heart.

    "Help me..."

    "It hurts so much... Save me..."

    "I''ll give you everything you want!"

 Chapter 1108: Dream Island (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1108: Dream Ind (2)</h4>

    Only underworld emissaries could hear this sound, and it subsided just as quickly as it had begun.

    "Who could it be?" Tezcatlipoca''s brows were tightly furrowed as he fell into deep thought. He had never heard this sound before.

    "You don''t know who it is?" Qin Ye asked.

    "I''ve never heard this sound before," Tezcatlipoca replied with a shake of his head. "That doesn''t make sense. The divine artifact of an acquaintance lies here, so I should be able to recognize them, even if they''re an ancient god, but this aura..."

    "So be it," Qin Ye said as he cast his gaze toward the white mist up ahead. "Whoever it is, we''ll find out once we get there."

    In the next instant, the ship plunged violently into the white mist, which was icy cold and epassed the ship from all directions. Within the mist, the sound of fierce, howling winds was the only sound that could be heard, and five minutester, apletely new scene appeared before everyone''s eyes.

    The white mist had disappeared.

    To put it more urately, the white mist was now behind them, standing like a white city wall, while up ahead was a giant ind.

    The ind was around 100 square kilometers in area, and there wasn''t a single tree or building on the ind, only grass that had grown to be taller than the average adult human.

    In the sky above within the wall of white mist, lightning was shing incessantly, and fierce wind was sweeping through the tall grass. Everything was on clear disy, yet for some reason, the beholder was struck by an indescribable sense of fear, as if there were some type of monster lurking within the grass, waiting to drag anyone who dared to set foot on the ind to their doom.

    Woody''s legs were trembling uncontrobly, and he made his way over to Qin Ye unsteadily while using a rifle as a crutch. "Ar, ar, are we really going in there?"

    None of them had any idea what horrors could be lurking on the ind.

    "Stay within 10 meters of us and you won''t die," Qin Ye said. "Unless, maybe you want to go to hell right away?"

    Woody gritted his teeth and took several deep breaths before falling silent, then nodded at Francis and Gavin.

    At the end of the day, they were renowned pirates who had reigned supreme over the Caribbean Sea, and they were certainly better than the average person at controlling their fear.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    20 minutester, the group appeared at the edge of the tall grass with Qin Ye leading the way and Tezcatlipoca bringing up the rear.

    Gavin gulped nervously as he held tightly onto the rifle in his hands. He knew that the monster bringing up the rear wasn''t there to protect them. Instead, he was there to prevent them from running away.

    As he looked at the tall grass up ahead, his mind was screaming at him not to go in there. It was telling him to run, that there was no way he could leave this ce alive!

    "Fuck!" he cursed to himself before stepping even closer to Woody and Francis.

    Right at this moment, a burst of rustling suddenly rang out up ahead.

    It wasing closer and closer, and Woody took a deep breath as he abruptly aimed his rifle at the tall grass up ahead. In the next instant, the grass suddenly parted, and a white shadow shot forth toward the group.

    Before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Qin Ye had already plucked the object out of the air between his index and middle fingers.

    It was a paper airne.

    Qin Ye spread it open to find that the words "Agenda of the Omeyocan n" were written on it inrge text.

    "As expected, the Death Star is here."

    Qin Ye tucked the piece of paper away into his cloak.

    This was the ce where all of the mysteries were going to be unraveled.

    "Now then, let me see what this so-called hell looks like."

    He then began to rise up into the air, but after ascending to only a meter in height, he immediately dropped back down again.

    "There''s a flight restriction here," Tezcatlipoca said. "You aren''t more powerful than Cipactli while it was still alive, so you won''t be able to fly here. Allow me."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Tezcatlipoca took a deep breath thatsted for an entire minute, and his body quickly began to bulge like a balloon. Right before the astonished eyes of Woody''s trio, he abruptly exhaled, and a burst of faint mist immediately surged through the surrounding area.

    All of the tall grass in a radius of several hundred meters around them was folded backward by the mist, and that area was only continuing to expand.

    Right after the area crossed a radius of a kilometer, countless crimson eyes suddenly lit up within the tall grass behind them.

    "Fuck!" Francis immediately swiveled his rifle around, yet before he could pull the trigger, Qin Ye warned in a cold voice, "If you don''t follow my instructions, I can grant you a swift death right here!"

    He and Tezcatlipoca then also turned toward the same direction.

    There were tens of thousands of these red dots, and they were all lurking beneath the grass, watching the group from afar like countless rats in the darkness. Three secondster, all of them quickly disappeared.

    There''s something down there...

    Woody was chewing down tightly onto his own lower lip, and his hands were mmy with sweat. There was something inside the grass, and it was waiting for them to go in!

    Tezcatlipoca took a deep breath again to withdraw all of the mist, following which his brows furrowed even tighter.

    "There are no living beings around here," he said with a surprised expression. "My mist spreads over the ground, and it hasn''t detected anything stepping on the ground."

    "Is that so?" Qin Ye pursed his lips as he cast his gaze toward the tall grass.

    In that case, they had to be situated on leaves or on the stems of the wild grass.

    This meant that they had to be extremely small, but there was clearly a massive number of them.

    Tezcatlipoca said, "About 50 kilometers directly up ahead, there''s a patch of emptynd where there''s no grass."

    That should be where the altar is situated...

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a chain that was formed by Yin energy instantly shot forth to connect him with the other four people in the group.

    He then rushed forward as fast as the wind, and the three humans behind him didn''t even get a chance to cry out in surprise before they were dragged along behind him.

    Qin Ye was leading from the front with his Yin energy fully released. Mortals wouldn''t be able to see this, but all supernatural beings were able to see a vast sea of Yin energy around Qin Ye, and all of the grass in the surrounding area waspletely ttened to the ground. This was a warning to all of the living beings on the ind, telling them to stay away or be killed!

    None of them were saying anything, and they were flying along at around half a meter above the ground. Qin Ye was acting as the engine that was driving everyone forward, while Tezcatlipoca brought up the rear.

    Woody, Francis, and Gavin werepletely tensed up, and they were breathing heavily, while their eyes werepletely bloodshot and wide open. Their rifles were aimed in three different directions, and if any signs of disturbance arose in the surrounding area, they weren''t going to be sparing with their bullets at all.

    The group was drawing closer and closer to the plot of emptynd up ahead, and Qin Ye was also on high alert, ready tosh out any moment if required. Right as they reached within 50 meters of their destination, a string of whistling sounds suddenly rang out all around them.

    This was the sound of arrows being fired, but how was that possible?

    In the instant that they lowered their heads, a ck shadow appeared above them, forming an inky-ck screen in the sky.

    Woody''s trio was greatly rmed by this, yet before they could shoot upward, the ck cloud quickly swept over their heads, following which the surrounding area fellpletely silent again.

    Qin Ye swept a hand through the air, and a ck shadow shot forth from behind him beforending on his palm. He took only a single nce at it before his brows furrowed tightly.

    "What is it?" Tezcatlipoca made his way over to Qin Ye, and a grim look also appeared on his face at the sight of the object sitting on Qin Ye''s palms.

    It wasn''t an arrow. Instead, it was a blowdart.

    It was like a miniature carrot with fletching formed by grass, while the tip was a ck bone needle that was giving off strong Yin energy.

    "Is that... a blowdart?" Tezcatlipoca looked at the projectile with a stunned expression before casting his gaze toward the boundless tall grass.

    How many of these monsters were lurking in this grasnd?

    That was the first thought that sprang into his mind, following which he began to wonder what exactly these things were.

    There was no way that they could be humans. Humans wouldn''t be able to hide in the tall grass without standing on the ground as their body weight would be far too much for the grass to support. Thus, if these had been humans, the mist that he had released earlier would''ve definitely been able to sense them.

    Thus, this had to be a type of living being that was far smaller than humans. It was unclear how long they had lived here, but they had made this grasnd their home, and they had even established their own civilization!

    "Have you seen those things before?" Qin Ye asked in a grim voice.

    "No... This is incredible!" Tezcatlipoca was staring up ahead with a dazed expression, and the only thing that he could see was the tall grass swaying in the wind up ahead.

    He withdrew his gaze before falling into deep thought, then said, "I have a theory... This is the ce where Cipactli perished, so this ind should be a part of its remains. However, it wasn''t an important piece, which is why it wasn''t taken for the creation of the fifth sun god."

    "Then how do you exin this thing?" Qin Ye asked as he raised the blowdart that he was holding.

    Tezcatlipoca replied, "That can be attributed to the blood of a divinity. Cipactli was known as the Eternal Devourer, and it possessed innate godly attributes. Otherwise, its body wouldn''t have been used to create the fifth sun god. The only exnation that I can think of for this is that its blood triggered some strange changes in the ecosystem of this ind."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything.

    Only after a long while did he speak again. "Tezcatlipoca, I''m beginning to see why the Plumed Serpent God was able to plot against you so easily now."

    A hint of anger shed through Tezcatlipoca''s eyes upon hearing this.

    This was a tant insult! Qin Ye was essentially calling him an idiot!

    He repressed his anger as he asked, "What do you think then?"

    Qin Ye tossed the blowdart aside before asking, "This ind only ''awakens'' every night at 12 AM. Where was it before that?"

    "On the seabed?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Do you think this grasnd can grow on the seabed? You mentioned an ecosystem? Where could the ecosystem have possiblye from?"

    The fury in Tezcatlipoca''s heart instantly vanished, and he was left feeling quite embarrassed by his own oversight.

    Before he had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye continued, "The ecological environment on the ind had to have been affected by something else. The blood of a divinity was only responsible for creating these strange living beings. Someone has set up a restriction on the ind, a restriction that makes it only appear at night. Only after that will the blood of a divinity be able to affect the ind and cause some changes."

    "Who could it be?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

    The fact that neither of them could sense the restriction meant that the person who had set it up had to at least be an advanced Yama-King!

    "Perhaps it could be... the Plumed Serpent God?" A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as countless chains abruptly erupted out of his sleeves, unleashing his Heavenly Dra!

 Chapter 1109: Monkeys?

    <h4>Chapter 1109: Monkeys?</h4>

    In the instant that the Heavenly Dra was released, Qin Ye tugged on his chain and rushed forward once again.

    Countless Soul Shackles disappeared into the tall grass like vicious vipers, and a flurry of screeches instantly rang out incessantly. At the same time, Woody''s trio cried out in rm as they were dragged forward by the chain, rising up to half a meter above the ground before rushing directly toward the center of the sea of tall grass.

    Woody''s mouth was gaped wide open, and he could only hear the sound of the fierce wind blowing past his ears. They were traveling as fast as a motorcycle! He had seen far too many inexplicable things during the past day, and only two seconds after they had erupted into motion did he return to his senses. "My god..."

    I''m going to write all of this into a book and have it passed down for all of eternity! That is, if I can go back alive...

    Before he had a chance to finish that thought, a vast ck cloud suddenly rose up over the sea of tall grass,pletely blocking out the sky and the sun.

    That wasn''t a dark cloud, it was a cluster of countless throwing spears!

    They were flying through the air with tremendous force, sweeping up fierce winds as they hurtled directly toward Qin Ye''s group.

    Woody''s trio began trembling uncontrobly with fear upon seeing this, and Francis finally snapped as he fired the first shot.

    There was a wave of spears being hurled at them from hidden monsters on a treacherous ind in the middle of nowhere, and they were about to die!

    "ARRRRGH!!!" He was screaming with all his might as he fired his rifle over and over again, yet that did nothing to stop the oing rain of spears. In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of spears were no more than a meter away from them, and he could even clearly see their sharp, ck tips!

    He closed his eyes inplete despair.

    However, a string of ngs suddenly rang out, and... there was no pain.

    He was closing his eyes so tightly from excessive horror that his eyelids were hurting, and he was doing his best to brace himself for death, but the embrace of death never came.

    Not only was there no pain, he could feel that he was still moving forward.

    He mustered up his courage and opened his eyes by a sliver, immediately following which his mouthpletely gaped open in shock.

    They were still advancing and hadn''t slowed down in the slightest.

    An airtight ball of chains had taken shape around them, protecting everyone and keeping all of the oing spears at bay.

    "My god..." He shuddered as he closed his eyes again, and he was finally able to rx. Only then did he notice that his back was already drenched in cold sweat.

    Before he had a chance to calm down, his eyes suddenly sprang open again as he looked around with an rmed expression.

    They had just stopped...

    Why had they stopped?

    He felt as if he were riding on an emotional rollercoaster that refused to allow his heart to rest, even for a single moment. He hurriedly looked around to find that the cocoon of chains around them had alreadypletely scattered, and Qin Ye was standing right in front of them with his brows slightly furrowed, seemingly sensing something.

    "Is something wrong?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

    This grasnd was perhaps lethal to a normal human, but the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld shouldn''t have any trouble traversing through it. He knew that Qin Ye''s Dusk Legionnaire was normally the first thing that he turned to during perilous situations, and he hadn''t even summoned that. Instead, he was only using his Heavenly Dra, which indicated that he simply didn''t want to waste any time in this grasnd.

    After all, there were too far too many of these unknown things lurking in the tall grass, and it would be way too much effort to hunt them all down.

    Qin Ye''s brows were tightly furrowed as he shook his head, then curled a finger, and several Soul Shackles immediately flew back toward him. Tezcatlipoca turned toward the Soul Shackles to find that there were several strange things tied to the ends of the shackles.

    They were monkeys, of which there were three in total, and the Soul Shackles had pierced through their chests.

    However, these definitely weren''t normal monkeys.

    They were only around 40 centimeters tall, withrge heads and thin bodies, and the facial features of monkeys were clearly visible on their faces. However, they were wearing grass skirts, as well as headbands and bracelets woven from wild grass!

    Not only that, but all that remained of their bodies seemed to be ayer of skin, which was covered in sparse ck fur, and their stomachs were bulging. Furthermore, they were holding several blowdart tubes in their hands.

    This was a race that had established a civilization.

    "These are citizens of the four waters!" Tezcatlipoca eximed as a hint of recognition shed through his eyes.

    Qin Ye didn''t ask what that meant. Instead, he raised a hand, and all of the orifices of the three monkeys spread open at once. Their facial features opened up as far as they would go, making it appear as if they had been resurrected from the dead, and white soul emerged from their orifices before forming three indistinct shadows above them.

    These were souls.

    However, the souls of normal people or living beings were Yin energy projections that were identical to those living beings'' physical forms, but the souls of these monkeys were presented in the form of twisted human faces!

    All of the human faces wore extremely painful expressions, and Tezcatlipoca was stunned to see this. "How is this possible?!"

    "Those things aren''t souls," Qin Ye said with a serious expression as he inspected the three human faces through narrowed eyes. "These things don''t have souls. My Soul Shackles sensed that something was wrong with them, and that''s why I decided to capture these three to take a closer look. The new continent is your territory, tell me what these things are."

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t immediately reply. Instead, his brows were tightly furrowed, and only after a long while did he exim, "This is unbelievable... As I''m sure you''re aware, the body and the soul are one, and the soul of any living being will appear in the form of that living being. However, their souls have turned into these things, and there''s only one possible exnation for that. Firstly, I''m very certain of one thing, which is that thisnd once belonged to the Plumed Serpent God. These monkey-like creatures were once his people. After the second sun was overthrown, he unleashed an enormous flood in a fit of rage, transforming all of his people into monkeys. In Aztec mythology, these monkeys are known as the people of the four waters. During the extended period of time before the next sun god rose to power, the people of the four waters gradually disappeared. Never did I think that I would see them again one day."

    "Get to the point," Qin Ye urged as his brows furrowed slightly.

    Tezcatlipoca pursed his lips with displeasure, but still did as he was told. "The Plumed Serpent God was a genuine death god, so there''s no way that the souls of his people could''ve undergone this type of mutation. The fact that this has happened can only mean one thing: there are two death gods here! The Plumed Serpent God has handed over the rulership rights over this ind to another death god, and the unique properties of that death god resulted in the mutations of these creatures'' souls. However, that''s the strangest part about all of this: I can''t think of any death god that would have such an effect on the souls of living beings."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Qin Ye''s pupils contracted drastically, and he turned to Tezcatlipoca with a grim expression.

    "What''s the problem?" Tezcatlipoca asked in a puzzled manner. "Did I say something wrong?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response, and unbeknownst to everyone else, his hands were already mmy with cold sweat.

    "Let''s go back." He turned and went back the direction he hade from without any hesitation.

    "Why?" Tezcatlipoca was rather perplexed. "I can sense that there''s a powerful divine artifact here, one that could perhaps even evolve to be a creation-grade divine artifact in the future."

    Qin Ye shook his head once again. He was never going to venture into a fightpletely blind and unprepared.

    Furthermore, a terrifying theory had already taken shape in his mind.

    Right at this moment, the voice that they had heard earlier rang out once again, and it erupted through the heavens like a rumbling thunderp. It seemed to be suppressing immense agony as it said, "Just as he said, your reactions are very sharp, indeed. However, you''re a little toote. You''ve already stepped into my domain."

    As soon as the voice trailed off, the entirety of Dream Ind shuddered violently, following which the entire ind began to rapidly copse toward the center, as if a giant ck hole had appeared there!

    All of the tall grass across the entire ind rapidly receded, and even the surface of the earth itself was being rapidly devoured by that invisible ck hole!

    Woody''s trio was caught in each other''s arms in a tight embrace as they trembled uncontrobly and screamed with all their might. There seemed to be a giant hand plucking out all of the tall grass around them by the roots, then sending them flying toward the center of the ind.

    It was as if a massive mouth had appeared at the center of the ind, and it was devouring everything with all its might! In the blink of an eye, the entire sky was filled by clumps of flying grass.

    Furthermore, all of the people of the four waters that were hiding in the grass earlier were screaming as they flew through the air like helpless fallen leaves in the wind, and all of them were also being swept toward the center of the ind.

    Qin Ye''s eyelids were twitching violently as he wrapped his Soul Shackle around everyone, then rushed toward the shore at full speed.

    Beneath their feet, the grass had already receded like the tide, revealing countless human skeletons underfoot!

    There were far too many sets of human remains to count, and it seemed that the entire ind was piled up by human bones!

    This was the true appearance of Dream Ind! It was a true hell!

    Qin Ye''s teeth were gritted tightly, and he could confirm beyond a doubt now that the Plumed Serpent God had harbored sinister intentions by convincing him toe here.

    However, even he had to apud the brilliance of the Plumed Serpent God''s n.

    He had made it so abundantly obvious that he was the mastermind behind everything that Qin Ye couldn''t bring himself to believe that the Plumed Serpent God was actually behind all this.

    This was like a precarious wooden bridge hanging over a cliff, on the other side of which lied a brilliant treasure. The bridge appeared to be quite solid, and it was quite wide and stable, so surely anyone would try to cross it.

    After all, there wasn''t any danger anyway.

    Everything that had been disyed to Qin Ye prior to his arrival on Dream Ind were things that had posed no threat to him as a Yama-King.

    However, only after making his way to the center of the bridge did he realize that the wood was rotten at its core.

    It seemed like a simple plot, but the cunning, audacity, and judgment of human nature involved was extraordinary. As expected of the sly bastard who had ruined four suns of the Aztec religion.

    The suction force was too strong, causing all of their clothes to p violently. Woody''s trio didn''t even get a chance to cry out before they were sucked away, and only after flying away for over 10 meters did they notice the Soul Shackles strapped around their waists.

    The sound of the howling wind was extremely loud, and Tezcatlipoca yelled in an urgent voice, "What the hell is going on here?"

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth together furiously as he said, "Have you forgotten about the three Caribbean death gods from 10 years ago?"

    What does that have to do with this?

    Tezcatlipoca was just about to ask that question when he suddenly thought of the countless ss bottles spread over the sea outside the ind.

    The three death gods had obtained the grand script of death from the Caribbean Sea, but no one knew where the grand script of death hade from...

    Tezcatlipoca turned to Qin Ye with an incredulous expression. "You''re saying the Plumed Serpent God already met the three Caribbean death gods long ago, and that this is where the grand script of death came from?"

    "No," Qin Ye replied with a wry smile. "What I''m saying is that he''s betrayed the underworld!"

    Nothingness had said that the creator of the grand script of death wasn''t a being from the underworld.

    It came from a distant world, and this was most likely itsir here in the underworld!

 Chapter 1110: Ax (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1110: Ax (1)</h4>

    ording to what Tezcatlipoca had said earlier, this ce was once under the Plumed Serpent God''s jurisdiction, but it had been taken over by another death god.

    Perhaps this unknown death god was rted to the three Caribbean death gods and the grand script of death from 10 years ago.

    Furthermore, the grand script of death had something to do with the ck box.

    In that case, why had the Plumed Serpent God led them to this ce?

    This wasn''t the time to be thinking about that. Prior to making sufficient preparations, Qin Ye wasn''t even going to think about opening the ck box.

    He was already galloping along as fast as he could, and if it weren''t for the flight restriction here, he would''ve already taken to the sky. However, the enormous suction forceing from behind them prevented him from reaching top speed.

    All of a sudden, Woody''s feeble voice rang out from behind him. "We... We can''t hold on for much longer..."

    Qin Ye didn''t even have to look back as he could assess the situation with his consciousness alone.

    He was frantically charging ahead, while the ck hole behind them was pulling in the opposite direction with all its might. Tezcatlipoca was fine, but the three humans were clearly struggling. Their blood had already seeped through the pores of their skin in the form of crimson beads before being sucked away by the immense suction force, and their souls were also flickering unsteadily.

    His eyes narrowed slightly, and in the next instant, he suddenly released the Soul Shackle around their waists, upon which the three of them were instantly sucked into the distance amid anguished wails.

    Having shed those dead weights, they were finally able to elerate, and Tezcatlipoca drew closer to Qin Ye as he said, "I thought you would''ve protected them at all costs."

    Qin Ye took an indifferent nce at him. "I never disregard human lives."

    Before Tezcatlipoca had a chance to say anything, he exined, "The Plumed Serpent God said that five people are required to open the treasure vault, so I''m very curious to see whether those three will be able to survive even if I abandon them."

    The Plumed Serpent God had woven this borate plot to lure them onto this ind, there was no way that he would ept a failure to open the treasure vault.

    Without those three dead weights slowing them down, the two of them instantly elerated drastically, flying over the ground as a pair of dark shadows, and in less than two minutes, they had already arrived by the shore.

    As soon as they arrived, Tezcatlipoca''s pupils contracted slightly as he asked, "Is there someone on the ship?"

    Their ship was over a kilometer away!

    "No, the ind is sinking," Qin Ye said as he looked down with a grim expression.

    "Damn it..." Tezcatlipoca gritted his teeth as he transformed into a gust of Yin wind to fly toward the ship, yet right as he was about to step onto the surface of the sea, Qin Ye stopped him cold in his tracks.

    Before he had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye shook his head before pointing down at the sea. Tezcatlipoca was rather perplexed, but he also looked down at the sea below, upon which his pupils instantly contracted drastically.

    Even though the seawater had been extremely dark, it was still able to reflect the sky like a mirror.

    However, there weren''t any reflections on the surface of the surrounding sea at this moment, and it was also rippling in an extremely irregr fashion.

    Normally, waves on the sea rose up one after another, but that wasn''t the case here. Instead, every single square meter of the sea was writhing and churning violently.

    Those weren''t waves. Instead, it was as if ayer of skin had settled over the entire sea, and countless worms were writhing beneath the skin in an attempt to break out.

    The sea was no longer the sea...

    Beneath the surface, millions of unknown creatures had gathered!

    Their physical appearance was virtually no different from seawater, and when tightly bunched together like this, it was impossible to see what they were. However, all of them had bright, crimson eyes, and it was as if there were countless piranhas lurking beneath the surface.

    "My Yin energy is unable to prate through them," Qin Ye said with tightly gritted teeth. "They''re capable of devouring Yin energy!"

    "Shit!" Tezcatlipoca cursed under his breath. If there were only one or two of them, then they would be entirely consequential, but there were far too many of them gathered here!

    In addition to the flight restriction, these ursed things really could wear them down until they died here!

    What could they do?

    The two of them exchanged a nce before immediately turning around to rush back toward the center of the ind without any hesitation.

    In the instant that they did so, both of them were stunned by what they saw.

    It had only taken them two minutes to reach the shore, yet during this time, the ind had undergone aplete transformation.

    Its gentle exterior had been removed, revealing its true, sinister appearance. The entire ind was covered in bones, piling up a total of threeyers.

    Every singleyer consistedpletely of bones, and it resembled a bone lotus flower that was over 30 meters tall blooming on the sea. It was several hundred kilometers in size, and Yin energy was permeating over its entire surface. This was a scene that one would only see in movies.

    It was a silent invitation, one that said: "Wee to my hell!"

    "Fine, we''ll just have to ept the invitation then!" Qin Ye said with a cold smile as he rushed directly toward the center of the ind as a gust of Yin wind, followed closely by Tezcatlipoca.

    They were a pair of Yama-Kings, what did they have to be afraid of?

    They were traveling extremely quickly, and even though they couldn''t fly, they were still able to levitate slightly. The terrifying suction forceing from the center of the ind didn''t affect them in the slightest, and they sliced through the fierce wind like a pair of sharp swords. As they traveled toward the center of the ind, the rate at which the ind was sinking became noticeably faster!

    10 minutester, they had already arrived at the center of the ind, and at this moment, the seawater had already submerged the secondyer of the skeletal lotus flower.

    All of a sudden, they seemed to have passed through some type of barrier, and the sound of the howling wind around them instantly subsided. At the same time, a skeletal za that was around a kilometer in size had appeared before them.

    The skeletons were quite chaotic, but there was a strange type of order to the chaos, and Tezcatlipoca immediately drew a sharp breath upon seeing this. "This is the Aztec genealogy!"

    "What does that mean?"

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t seem to have heard Qin Ye as he cast a stunned gaze toward the left. "On the left is the hummingbird, while at the center..."

    He and Qin Ye cast their eyes toward the center of the tform, where four pirs were standing on a pair of diagrams arranged out of skeletons.

    They were diagrams of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa!

    Tezcatlipoca''s mouth gaped wide open as he shook his own head in disbelief. "Whenbined, they are known as the world''s gate!"

    The world''s gate?!

    Qin Ye turned to Tezcatlipoca with a stunned expression and asked, "Are you sure that''s what it''s called?"

    "I''m certain of it!" Tezcatlipoca confirmed. "Our parent god told me about this once upon a time, before I slew Cipactli. That was also the only time that he told me about this. He said to never open the world''s gate, and he even showed me the diagram of the world''s gate. In the next few thousand years after that, I never saw this diagram, and I thought it was only a myth, but now..."

    Qin Ye pursed his lips as his mind began to race rapidly.

    This was the ce where Tezcatlipoca had in Cipactli, yet this was also the ce where the world''s gate was situated.

    Could it be that there were two world''s gates in this world? If that were the case, then why hadn''t the second King Yanluo said anything about this? Was he of the opinion that Qin Ye would nevere here?

    In contrast with that theory, Qin Ye was leaning more toward the possibility that even the second King Yanluo didn''t know about this. Qin Ye had some theories about what lied beyond the world''s gate, and if this ce really was another world''s gate, then it would definitely be heavily guarded.

    Furthermore, during the new continent''s heyday, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were at the height of their powers, ruling over around a dozen religions of the new continent and devouring several smaller religions, such as the Mayans and the Incas. Thus, they had the chance to be the fifth pir, and Tezcatlipoca had said that the four pirs had just about agreed to this. Under those circumstances, their priority would''ve been to share the responsibility of guarding the world''s gate. Thus, it was a surprise that there was a world''s gate here, but it did make sense.

    He cast his gaze toward the world''s gate to find that Woody''s trio was situated at the foot of three pirs, but they were already dead.

    There were no injuries on their bodies, but their soulfire had lit three soulmps at the top of the stone pirs.

    The sound of the crashing waves was bing louder and louder, and Qin Ye cast his gaze toward Tezcatlipoca, who was also looking at him.

    Tezcatlipoca knew what Qin Ye''s intentions were. He was the one who was going to light the finalmp.

    Tezcatlipoca gritted his teeth and said, "Yanluo Qin, don''t forget that the underworlds that have survived to this point are the cream of the crop. However, that doesn''t mean that these were the only underworlds to ever exist in the very beginning."

    He seemed to be unable to hear the approaching waves as he continued, "There were once hundreds of underworlds, all of which had their own religions. Many evil gods had emerged among them, such as the Aegyptian god of the desert, Seth, and the mother of the sea of the Carthage Underworld, which has already fallen. These are only two examples out of many, and..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Fate had already slipped out of Qin Ye''s sleeve, and it had opened up like a lotus flower with its sharp tip aimed directly at his throat.

    "I think you''re a smart man, so I don''t want to waste too much time with words," Qin Ye said. "I don''t want to have to face those monsters in the sea. There are no records of those things that I''m aware of, and we know nothing about them. In contrast, regardless of what we''ll have to face here, it''ll only be a death god, which is something that I do know about."

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t say anything.

    It was clear that this was a sacrifice, and he was very reluctant to offer himself as tribute.

    Right at this moment, a massive wave crashed into the ind, and only the topyer of the skeletal lotus flower was still above the surface of the sea. From where they were standing, they could even see the crashing waves about to creep over the edge of the thirdyer.

    At this point, Fate hadpletely opened up, and Qin Ye said in a cold voice, "Either open the gate on your own, or I''ll kill you and use your body to open it! I''m sure you know what the best option is for you!"

    Tezcatlipoca''s face was twisted with fury as he said through gritted teeth, "I am a death god..."

    Whoosh!

    A shackle wound itself around his neck and pushed him over to one of the stone pirs. At this point, the seawater was already beginning to submerge the thirdyer of the skeletal lotus flower, and Qin Ye''s eyes were slightly bloodshot as he threatened, "I''m the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld! No one is going to say anything even if I kill a past death god like you!"

    "Shit!" Tezcatlipoca cursed loudly before pressing his palms toward the clear handprint indentation on the stone pir.

    Boom!

    His Yin energy erupted forth, instantly rising to the top along the ancient stone pir, lighting up a white soulmp there. At the same time, Qin Ye was already standing at the center of the four pirs.

    In the instant that the soulmp was lit, the four stone pirs suddenly shuddered slightly, following which four beams of sunlight erupted into the sky. The sunlight then formed a vast pir of light thatpletely epassed Qin Ye within it.

    Four stone pirs to represent four suns, eh?

    Everything in front of Qin Ye''s eyes was rapidly changing, and he was struck by a familiar rush of dizziness, causing him to involuntarily close his eyes.

    After an indeterminate period of time, he finally reopened his eyes, and he was greeted by the sight of a sea of golden radiance.

 Chapter 1111: Ax (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1111: Ax (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye was staring at everything in front of him with an incredulous expression.

    This was a golden pce constructed in a prominent Aztec style, and many Aztec gods were engraved onto the surrounding walls.

    The carvings were extremely intricate, and the pce was around a kilometer in size. Furthermore, it was constructed entirely from the A-grade ore, heavenrealm stone.

    Qin Ye knew that not only was this type of ore extremely hard and durable, even more importantly, it was able to absorb Yin energy.

    All Yin energy released inside and outside of the pce would bepletely absorbed. The fact that the entire treasure vault was constructed from heavenlrealm stone made it just as much a prison as it was a treasure vault.

    It was exactly because of this that they weren''t able to sense who exactly it was that was imprisoned here.

    "So there really is a treasure vault here." Tezcatlipoca''s voice rang out from beside him, and Qin Ye red at him with a disdainful expression.

    What? So you''re suddenly eager to join me now that there''s a treasure vault? Shouldn''t you be hanging from that pir outside? You''vee at a really bad time!

    "Why are you here?"

    Trantion: piss off!

    Tezcatlipoca put on an innocent expression as he said, "I don''t know, either. I opened my eyes, and vo, here I was."

    He was pretending to bepletely oblivious to the implications behind Qin Ye''s words.

    The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, following which Tezcatlipoca said, "You''ll need someone who''s familiar with the Aztec religion to apany you, won''t you? Otherwise, you won''t even be able to identify the treasures here."

    Qin Ye pursed his lips as he averted his gaze, then said, "We can take a look, but don''t touch anything in here no matter what you do."

    Tezcatlipoca''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately understood Qin Ye''s intentions.

    Those three humans had perished due to insufficient Yin energy. The four soulmps outside had to be lit in order to open the treasure vault, and for death gods like them, this was no issue, but for those three ordinary humans, it required their souls to bepletely sucked out of their bodies.

    Most importantly, the three soulmps had already been lit even prior to Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca''s arrival.

    In other words, those soulmps were going to be lit regardless of whether they had abandoned the three of them or not. This meant that whatever was trapped inside here wanted them toe in. In fact, it had done everything in its power to ensure that they woulde in.

    Under these circumstances, Qin Ye was feeling very circumspect and cautious. If they were to casually touch things without exercising any caution, they could trigger unforeseen oues that could prove to be extremely detrimental.

    Right at this moment, the entire hall began to tremble slightly, and both of them immediately released their Yin energy without any hesitation as they inspected their surroundings with cautious looks in their eyes.

    The hall was riddled with all types of patterns, and the patterns were perfectly arranged around a relief of a sun at the very center of the hall. In the instant that the hall began to tremble, bursts of golden light erupted out of all of the eyes of the Aztec god engravings on the walls.

    The light slowly surged over the hall, flowing along the reliefs on the walls. Several minutester, the lines of all of the reliefs of the Aztec gods on the walls were glowing with dazzling golden light. The juxtaposition ofplexity and simplicity presented a truly stunning sight to behold.

    The hall was over a kilometer in radius and over 100 meters tall. All of the ancient gods of a fallen religion seemed to have sprung to life within the surging golden radiance. As for Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca, they were like a pair of mortals standing at the feet of gods. They were gods themselves, so they weren''t stunned by this sight, but this was still a breathtaking scene for them to behold.

    10 minutester, the outlines of all of the gods were filled by the golden light, yet the golden radiance continued onward in a winding path, converging toward the sun at the center.

    In the instant that all of the golden lightpletely gathered at the center of the hall, a burst of pure golden radiance suddenly erupted from the relief of the sun.

    The golden light was like a beacon that had emerged in the darkness, evoking a sense of awe and veneration.

    The golden light proliferated outward in rings that resembled shockwaves, but they weren''t actually very strong. Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca''s clothes were pping incessantly amid the wave of golden light, but to them, it only felt like a series of gentle hands caressing their bodies. Within the massive golden sun, a weapon was beginning to emerge from the radiance.

    It was apanied by countless specks of pure golden light, making it resemble a rising sun that was surrounded by a cluster of stars. The specks of light formed a golden fountain that was several dozen meters tall, but it was unable to conceal the majesty of the weapon at the center of the light.

    "It''s only one step away from bing a creation-grade divine artifact..." Qin Ye watched the weapon for a while through narrowed eyes, then turned his gaze toward Tezcatlipoca again. Right as the weapon began to rise up, a stunned look had suddenly appeared in Tezcatlipoca''s eyes, and his lips were trembling slightly as he took an involuntary step forward.

    All of a sudden, a deafening buzzing sound rang out, and all of the light faded at the same time. The hall returned to normal again, and the only thing that had changed was the stone ax standing at the center of the sun.

    "That''s it... It still exists..." Tezcatlipoca''s mouth was already gaped wide open in astonishment.

    "What is it?" Qin Ye asked.

    Tezcatlipoca didn''t immediately reply. There was an extremelyplex look on his face, and only after a long while did he lower his head as he took several deep breaths in session. By the time he raised his head again, his expression had already returned to normal.

    "Its name is Tepoztli, and it was once my weapon," he replied as he looked at the stone ax withplex emotions in his eyes.

    "As I''m sure you''re aware, ording to Aztec mythology, the Plumed Serpent God and I slew Cipactli. That was also the beginning of the dark age for the entire Aztec religion, and it was during that battle that I lost my foot. Tepoztli was the weapon that I was using at the time. It came from one of our parent god¡¯s four children, Xipe Totec. She was the one who crafted this weapon for me. Thus, the weapon had gone through the hands of her and myself, and it had also been bathed in the blood of the Eternal Devourer. As a result, it''s only one step away from bing a creation-grade divine artifact."

    The hall fell silent.

    Qin Ye didn''t respond to Tezcatlipoca''s story. This item was likely very important to Tezcatlipoca. In fact, there was a very good chance that it was his origin divine artifact. However, it was also quite important to Qin Ye.

    The Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn had formed the six paths of reincarnation, and this new six paths of reincarnation could strip everything down to their origins.

    What if this divine artifact were to fuse as one with the 18 abysses of punishment? What kind of reaction would that produce?

    His silence represented his attitude, and Tezcatlipoca immediately understood what he had to do. He turned toward Qin Ye, just in time to see Qin Ye looking back at him.

    "Yanluo Qin!" Tezcatlipoca sped his left fist over his own chest without any hesitation as he said, "Please give it to me. It will allow me to recover over 20% of my peak power! I swear that I will never oppose the Cathayan Underworld for as long as I live!"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    Tezcatlipoca had ambition, but unfortunately for him, he didn''t possess the Plumed Serpent God''s intelligence. Qin Ye could clearly sense that Tezcatlipoca was easier to control inparison.

    If the Plumed Serpent God were here and in Tezcatlipoca''s position, he would definitely say: "I will do everything the Cathayan Underworld tells me to in exchange for this weapon!"

    He would be aware that the Cathayan Underworld didn''t need an ally who "would never oppose the Cathayan Underworld". After all, the Cathayan Underworld was a powerhouse that wasn''t afraid of opposition.

    Instead, what the Cathayan Underworld needed was an obedient servant.

    Even now, Tezcatlipoca was still unwilling to set aside his pride, and he was verbally expressing an urge to return to his former glory, so Qin Ye had to knock him down a peg in order to teach him a lesson.

    "We''ll discuss this another time," he replied in a calm voice. "Our top priority now is to find a way out of here. Like I said, we can''t touch anything in here."

    Tezcatlipoca drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. Qin Ye''s excuse made sense, but who could predict what was going to happen in the future?

    He had to scour the entire world for the remains of the fifth sun god, then use that to reform his own body, so there was no way he could stay here for any length of time.

    In his absence, the Cathayan Underworld could send anyone to take the weapon away!

    He forcibly repressed the violent killing intent that was rising up in his heart as he asked with gritted teeth, "Yanluo Qin, we''re allies, right?"

    "Since when were we allies?" Qin Ye asked. "Did we establish any verbal or written agreement to form an alliance? You better know your ce! I''m already doing you a great favor by keeping you alive right now! What right do you have to negotiate an alliance with me? Do you have power or an army? You have nothing! I helped you escape and recover some of your power because death gods are already very rare in the world, and I didn''t want to see another one die for nothing! Don''t treat my kindness as an invitation to step over me as you please!"

    Tezcatlipoca was trembling with rage, and countless emotions welled up in his heart, including indignation, fury, and humiliation...

    He was being tantly insulted, and he wanted nothing more than to tear Qin Ye to shreds with his bare hands! However, his response was: "Alright, I understand."

    He needed the Cathayan Underworld''s help!

    Right at this moment, a faint crack suddenly rang out, and Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca both faltered slightly before turning toward Tepoztli in unison, only to discover that the ax had separated itself from the sun and was hovering in mid-air!

    In the next instant, it shot forth like lightning directly toward the two of them!

    The space in its wake was sliced apart, creating arcs of ck lightning, and all of a sudden, a sense of foreboding welled up in Qin Ye''s heart as he immediately yelled, "Don''t move!!"

    However, it was already toote.

    Tezcatlipoca had already reflexively reached out.

    The weapon that had been separated from him for thousands of years was calling out to him, and even though he had heard what Qin Ye had said, he still couldn''t stop himself from reaching out for it.

    In the next instant, the ax was caught firmly in his grasp, and even he was stunned by this sudden turn of events as he stared at Tepoztli with an astonished expression.

    Right at this moment, boundless golden light erupted from Tepoztli topletely epass Tezcatlipoca, and an ancient godly aura abruptly arose within the golden radiance.

    At the same time, the surrounding walls began to rumble and tremble violently as a series of cracks rapidly appeared on their surface.

    Simultaneously, the sun at the center of the hall copsed violently, and a burst of incredibly powerful Yin energy erupted into the heavens, forming a fountain of Yin energy.

    The Yin energy belonged to a mid Yama-King!

    Damn it!

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then immediately transformed into a gust of Yin wind that rushed directly toward the opening formed by the copsed sun.

    Down below was a giant, bottomless abyss.

    Within the abyss was an eyeball that was over 100 meters in size, and it was also looking up at him.

    It was like the manifestation of all of the negative emotions in existence, and at the center o the eye, a mark that was shaped like an ax shaft was rapidly healing.

    "Thank you." The inky-ck pupil at the center of the eye immediately focused, and a deafening roar erupted from the abyss beneath the ground.

    "My name is Medes. I''ve been trapped here for thousands of years, never did I think that I would be freed again someday... Hahahahaha!"

    In this instant, Qin Ye understood everything.

 Chapter 1112: Black Sea

    <h4>Chapter 1112: ck Sea</h4>

    If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

    This quote sprang into Qin Ye''s mind, and it fitted this situation perfectly.

    The hall was over a kilometer in size, yet the sun was only around 20 meters in size. As soon as Tepoztli fell into Tezcatlipoca''s grasp, the relief of the sunpletely crumbled, revealing a bottomless abyss down below.

    The abyss was filled with human remains, but they weren''t normal remains. Instead, they were only around 40 centimeters tall with disproportionatelyrge skulls.

    These were the remains of the people of the four waters.

    Amid the countless sets of remains sat the giant eye, and even just looking at it was enough to evoke countless negative emotions within Qin Ye''s heart. A series of python-like tentacles sat atop the pile of bones, and it was a truly nightmarish scene to behold.

    The Death Star was seated right in front of the eyeball.

    "I see..." Qin Ye took a few steps backward as he slowly closed his eyes. "Everything makes sense now..."

    The Plumed Serpent God had ordered the Death Star to steal Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s space exploration information in order to lure Qin Ye to this ce. This was a security measure taken in case the treasure vault of the Aztec gods wasn''t enough to tempt Qin Ye.

    However, his target wasn''t Qin Ye. Instead, it was Tezcatlipoca!

    Qin Ye had once threatened the Plumed Serpent God, stating that he didn''t necessarily have to work with him. At the time, he had revealed the fact that he had met Tezcatlipoca, and that had provided the Plumed Serpent God with an opportunity.

    No one was more familiar with Tezcatlipoca than he was.

    Furthermore, this was the treasure vault of the Aztec gods, and Tezcatlipoca was clearly the ideal guide. Even more importantly, the Plumed Serpent God hadn''t explicitly told Qin Ye to take Tezcatlipoca with him. If he had done that, then Qin Ye most likely wouldn''t have taken Tezcatlipoca with him.

    Taking Tezcatlipoca was an instinctive measure. It was like taking a tour guide to a tourist destination that one was unfamiliar with, and it was a very understandable reaction. Furthermore, this was a decision made solely by Qin Ye himself, so he didn''t feel the need to be cautious of it.

    Upon arriving at this ind, they had already stepped into the hunting grounds of this extraterrestrial god, and the Plumed Serpent God also bared his fangs at the same time. However, there was no going back now.

    The ind was sinking, and the sea was filled with monsters that could devour Yin energy. Thus, the only option avable to them was to enter the treasure vault, and the moment they entered the treasure vault was the moment that this showdown drew to a conclusion.

    Tepoztli sensed the presence of its former owner and automatically entered its former owner''s body. As a result of Tepoztli''s departure, the seal on the extraterrestrial god was broken.

    "What an incredibly cunning plot this is... Looks like I underestimated him, after all." A wry smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. During the past few years, he had been at the top of the world, and even the ruler death gods of the three pirs were wrapped around his little finger. However, little did he know that he was being used by the Plumed Serpent God this entire time.

    The Plumed Serpent God had told him nothing but the truth and convinced Qin Ye that he could control everything. Never did he think that the Plumed Serpent God''s true target would be Tezcatlipoca.

    "Quetzalcoatl, you''ve truly angered me now."

    He could even predict what the Plumed Serpent God was thinking.

    He and Tezcatlipoca were sworn enemies, and upon recovering Tepoztli, Tezcatlipoca''s powers would undoubtedly receive a significant boost. However, in order to open this prison, the Plumed Serpent God was willing to set aside a vendetta that had been raging for thousands of years to do something that benefitted this sworn enemy of his.

    His cold and calcting nature really did deserve praise.

    Since when did this idea spring into his mind?

    "It most likely urred to him after he became aware of the fact that I met Tezcatlipoca," Qin Ye murmured to himself. "At the time, our coboration was a mutually beneficial one. Once that rtionship ended and he knew that I hade into contact with Tezcatlipoca, he realized that his position could be usurped by Tezcatlipoca. Thus..."

    He opened his eyes as he looked into the abyss down below. "He contacted this foreign god. There''s no way that Tezcatlipoca could''ve known about this ce, and he certainly couldn''t have predicted that his entry would break the seal on the foreign god. It all makes sense now..."

    He turned toward Tezcatlipoca to find that thetter was entirely bathed in golden light, and his aura was elevating with each passing second. Meanwhile, countless cracks had already appeared on the surrounding pce, and it was clearly on the verge of copse.

    He took a deep breath, and in the next instant, he had already descended into the massive abyss.

    His Yin energy was fully released, and inky-ck Yin energy was surging out of his orifices incessantly, swirling around his entire body like a ck dragon as he descended from above.

    "I have something to ask you." Within the abyss, Medes was bound by countless chains that were as thick as adult human arms, but the chains were quickly snapping one after another amid a string of loud ngs.

    "Did you release a grand script of death 10 years ago that ended up in the Caribbean Sea?"

    The sound of snapping chains was still ringing out incessantly, and there seemed to be a smile in Medes''s voice as he said, "I release countless grand scripts of death every year, I don''t know whether they make it to the outside world or where they end up."

    "When did the Plumed Serpent God get into contact with you?"

    "Ah, let me think. Was it several centuries ago or just one century ago? It''s been too long, I don''t remember anymore."

    "Final question," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Do youe from space?"

    "That''s right." Without Tepoztli to restrict Medes, the chains were like frail, papier-mach¨¦ structures to it.

    It was watching Qin Ye with its massive eye as it continued, "There''s more than just one intelligent civilization in space. Allow me to interest myself: I am Medes of the Fenyl religion, and I alsoe from the seventh spiral."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Greetings, and goodbye."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his Heavenly Dra instantly erupted out of his sleeves.

    Countless chains instantly filled the entire abyss, intertwining to form a series of giant dragons that pounced directly toward Medes.

    All extraterrestrial beings had to be eradicated!

    The world''s gate that the second King Yanluo was guarding in Australis most likely contained a monster just like Medes! Back when the Heavenly Dao had taken the three Caribbean death gods, they were also trying to figure out where their grand script of death hade from. However, all of this had be a mystery due to the copse of the Aztec religion''s fifth sun and the subsequent hibernation of all of the Aztec gods.

    On this day, he had solved this mystery, and as the ruler of one of the four pirs, backing down was not an option for him!

    At the same time as he unleashed his Heavenly Dra, Qin Ye abruptly sprang into action as well, and in the blink of an eye, he was already within 100 meters of Medes. Simultaneously, Fate flew out of his sleeve, transforming into a silver spear that was hurtling directly toward the center of Mede''s giant pupil.

    BOOM!!!

    In retaliation, Medes instantly raised countless tentacles that bloomed like a giant, grotesque flower from within the depth. At the tips of all of the tentacles, one eye sprang open after another, and Fate was kept firmly at bay amid a resounding boom.

    In the blink of an eye, an inky-ck shockwave surged through the entire area, and countless bones were sent flying upward within the abyss before being reduced to dust by the shockwaves.

    "You''re an intermediate death god?" Down below, Mede''s giant eyeball was squirming violently, and its voice resembled rumbling thunder. "How dare you provoke the mighty Fenyl religion?!"

    All of a sudden, the giant eyeball split apart down the middle, transforming into a massive mouth, and a pir of scarlet light shot forth out of the mouth like lightning.

    It was a tongue, one that had transformed into a red serpent.

    The tongue was piercing directly toward Qin Ye''s chest, yet right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out up above.

    The world''s gate and this seal that had stood for countless years was copsing violently.

    Qin Ye and Medes both faltered slightly upon seeing this, immediately following which both of them raised a hand in unison. Fate was hurtling directly toward the red scarlet tongue, yet before they had a chance to make contact with one another, an earth-shattering boom rang out.

    It was as if a mountain had just copsed.

    The sound was quite faint in the beginning, but in the span of no more than a second, it had crescendoed into a deafeningmotion that was causing the entire abyss to quake violently!

    Only then did it ur to Qin Ye that this ind had sunk into the sea. In that case, seawater was in the process of gushing into the hall, and the nearby seawater contained...

    Before he even had a chance to finish that thought, Medes suddenly let loose a piercing screech as if it had seen something terrifying, immediately following which it withdrew all of its tentacles before quickly fleeing deeper into the darkness.

    It was also at the same moment that a massive pir of water came crashing down violently from the opening left behind by the shattered sun relief. The water then spilled to every single corner as if it had a life of its own.

    That wasn''t seawater.

    Qin Ye finally caught a clear glimpse of it to find that they were countless inky-ck snakes!

    Each one of them was only around the size of a finger, but there were far too many of them, so many that just the mere sight of them was enough to make one''s skin crawl! They were interspersed throughout the seawater, and all of them had crimson eyes. These were the exact same things that Qin Ye had seen in the seawater outside earlier.

    As soon as theynded on the ground, they began to frantically search for something as their bodies squirmed incessantly. All of a sudden, they seemed to have sensed something, and they turned toward Qin Ye in unison before letting a collective, sharp screech.

    More and more seawater was gushing into the hall, and all of the seawater split apart into countless tiny snakes. Their bodies were coiled like springs, and they were ready to pounce at any moment.

    "Run!!" Right at this moment, Tezcatlipoca''s voice suddenly rang out in Qin Ye''s mind. "We have to get out of here! Those are satans, the guardians of this ce, and their duty is to destroy all souls here if the seal in this ce is ever broken! They''re monsters born from the blood of the Eternal Devourer, and souls devoured by them can never be restored!"

    Fuck!

    Qin Ye immediately transformed into a gust of Yin wind, then fled toward the same direction as Medes without any hesitation.

    With the seal broken, the flight restriction was also undone, and in the instant he sprang into action, tens of thousands of ck snakes in all directions screeched in unison before pouncing toward him like lightning.

    They really were lightning-fast!

    Qin Ye was stunned by the fact that these things could keep up with the speed of a mid Yama-King!

    In the blink of an eye, he was already surrounded by countless ck snakes, and he could even clearly see the dark blue patterns all over their bodies, as well as the sharp fangs inside their mouths.

    Azureherfire quickly lit up within their crimson eyes, immediately following which more and more ck snakes began to spring up into the sky, quickly forming a giant ball of snakes that was over 50 meters in size within the abyss!

 Chapter 1113: Land of Origins (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1113: Land of Origins (1)</h4>

    The sound of hissing and screeching rang out throughout the entire abyss, and tens of thousands of Qin Ye sank their fangs into Qin Ye''s body in unison.

    There were far too many of them to count, and seawater was still gushing down incessantly from the opening up above. The abyss was enormous, but at this point, a shallow ck wave had already umted at its bottom.

    Millions of snakes were flooding into the abyss, writhing and squirming incessantly, presenting a nightmarish sight for any sufferer of trypophobia. As soon as the snakesnded on the ground, they would immediately coil slightly before shooting up toward the ball of snakes in the sky like speeding arrows, making the ballrger andrger. In the span of no more than a minute, the ball had already expanded from over 50 meters in size to over 100 meters!

    It was like a ck sun that was constantly absorbing the surrounding sunlight, and at the center of the ball of snakes, a series of rings lit up all over their bodies as the azureherfire ignited in their eyes. Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out, and the enormous ball of snakes transformed into a massive ball ofherfire that was hanging in mid-air like an azure sun!

    There was no higher thought governing their actions, only an instinctive urge to devour.

    Everything in their wake had to be devoured, and they were the final guardians of this prison.

    After burning for about five seconds, an earth-shattering boom suddenly erupted from the center of the scorching azure sun, followed by a chorus of sharp screeches as two humanoid figures shot out like lightning. Behind them, countless snakes were sent flying in all directions.

    "These things really are monsters..." Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly as he flew through the air, and his dragon robe was riddled with holes from the fangs of the satan snakes.

    Kwon Kyung-ho was seated on his shoulder with a stunned expression. "What are those things? Even my ability isn''t able to keep them at bay for long!"

    Kwon Kyung-ho''s special ability was Untouchable Love, which was able to keep all living beings from entering a 10-meter radius of him unless those living beings were more powerful than him, and at this point, he was only one step away from bing an Abyssal Prefect.

    Qin Ye cast an intense, unblinking gaze directly up ahead. He could already see the end of the darkness, where there was a massive mountain of pale flesh. That was Medes fleeing into the distance.

    These satan snakes were clearly designed specifically for Medes, and Qin Ye couldn''t help but be amazed by the ingenuity of the ancient gods of the past. These things would be extremely difficult for Medes to deal with. They were nothing more than mere ants for Medes, but with enough ants, even an elephant could be felled. However, Qin Ye wasn''t asrge and cumbersome as Medes, and he had his Dusk Legionnaire up his sleeve, so he was better equipped to deal with these snakes.

    The only problem was that even Kwon Kyung-ho''s special ability couldn''tst very long against these things. It hadn''t even been two minutes, and half of his array had already been devoured. These satan snakes were capable of devouring all things, and if Qin Ye hadn''t done everything in his power to free himself from that massive ball of snakes, once Kwon Kyung-ho''s array waspletely worn down, he would most likely have to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

    Right as he was rushing toward the passageway as quickly as she could, a loud crack suddenly rang out right beside him.

    He immediately turned with an incredulous expression to look behind him.

    The ceiling above the abyss, which was the floor of the hall up above, was finally unable to withstand the terrifying pressure, and it copsed violently right in front of Qin Ye''s astonished eyes.

    As a result, countless more satan snakes flooded down into the abyss.

    They were squirming and screeching as they instantly took up the entire abyss, frantically raising their heads as if they were trying to sense something.

    "Fuck!" Qin Ye swore to himself before instantly fleeing without any hesitation.

    It was also at this moment that everything behind him suddenly fell silent.

    There were hundreds of millions of satan snakes behind him, and as soon as he sprang into action, all of them immediately turned toward him with their crimson eyes.

    Almost immediately thereafter, Qin Ye felt a burst of incessant rumbling behind him, and he didn''t even have to look to know that it was the sound of the countless satan snakes setting off in pursuit.

    There was no time to turn around and look. Qin Ye had no idea where these things hade from, and they only possessed Netherworld Operative level power, but they were frighteningly fast.

    Furthermore, Qin Ye''s eruption of Yin energy had repelled all of the surrounding snakes, but not even a single one of them had been killed.

    They were no different from the indestructible monsters from myths and legends, and their appetites were incredible! On top of that, they were extremely determined and refused to give up on any prey that they discovered.

    They were the most terrifying and efficient killers that Qin Ye had ever seen.

    Fierce wind was blowing past Qin Ye''s ears as he followed Medes down the passageway like lightning.

    The abyss was massive, and it resembled a beehive with countless branches and passageways. Without Medes leading the way, Qin Ye would have no idea where he was supposed to go. However, what was very strange to him was that Medes had stopped moving quite a while ago.

    There was no time for him to consider why Medes had stopped moving. Within the short span of just half a minute, he had already blown right past Medes. In this situation, anyone who wasgging behind would be the ultimate victim. There was no need for him to outrun the snakes, he just had to outrun Medes in order to not fall prey to the snakes.

    Right as he was passing by Medes, he took a quick nce at it, upon which his pupils instantly contracted slightly.

    What he was looking at was indeed Medes.

    Its giant body took up virtually the entire passageway. However, it was only a slough!

    The giant eye had split open down the center, transforming into a bizarre eye-mouth, which was lined with sharp teeth.

    The eyeball was no longer disying any signs of life, and it had turned a deathly white color. However, Qin Ye had no idea where the thing inside it had gone.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before abruptly raising a hand. Right in front of the slough was a huge hole that was around 20 meters in size. His first instinct was to destroy this slough, yet right as he was about to unleash his Yin energy to do so, he suddenly paused momentarily, then flipped a palm over to send a chain plunging into the slough.

    Immediately thereafter, he hurled the massive slough backward with violent force, sending it flying into the oing sea of satan snakes.

    A bone-chilling chorus of crunching instantly rang out, while Qin Ye rushed into the hole without a single backward nce.

    The hole was the only path ahead, so there was no way that he would be thrown off Medes''s trail. Two minutester, he found another slough.

    This was apletely humanoid skeleton that was around 15 to 16 meters in height, and its entire body was riddled with bone spikes. While it was humanoid in form, every single bone was slightly different from human bones, and that culminated into something that bore no resemnce to a human skeleton at all.

    In particr, the bone spikes on the back were so dense that they resembled a giant crystal cluster, each of which was seven to eight meters in length. Furthermore, its chest cavity had been torn wide open, and only bones were left.

    It was constantly evolving, and evolution required time, so it didn''t have any spare capacity to set up traps within the passageway.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before rushing deeper into the abyss as quickly as he could.

    He was unable to travel at full speed within the passageway, and after 10 minutes, he could already hear the sound of faint screeching ringing out behind him. Thankfully, the sloughs that Medes had left behind were the perfect distractions for the satan snakes. After another 10 minutes passed by, Qin Ye finally caught sight of a speck of white light in the distance.

    The exit was right up ahead!

    Qin Ye felt as if he had been presented with a beacon with hope in the darkness of despair, and he immediately sped up. Three minutester, he was able to identify the source of light as a gate that was wide open.

    Mtecutli was engraved on the left side of the gate, while Mictetikasiwa was carved onto the right, and the gate was slowly closing.

    At this point, the sea of satan snakes was still at least 500 meters behind him, and he would be safe as soon as he entered this gate.

    He knew this because the satan snakes clearly couldn''t devour rock. Otherwise, instead of chasing after him, they would be frantically devouring the abyss itself.

    He rushed through the gate like lightning as a gust of Yin wind, and it was also in this instant that he caught sight of what lied beyond the gate.

    He was greeted by the sight of countless skeletal crows that were hovering in mid-air, all of which were directly facing the gate, and in the instant that Qin Ye rushed through, all of them shot forth toward him in unison!

    The countless crows obscured the entire sky, and the sound of them whistling through the air rang out incessantly. There wasn''t any time to think at all as Qin Ye brandished Fate, and the tip of the pen opened upyer uponyer while expanding at the same time, transforming into a silver umbre that was around three meters in size andpletely shielded him behind it.

    In the next instant, one crow after another flew headfirst into the umbre in rapid session, and the impact was so powerful that Fate was almost jerked out of Qin Ye''s hand. What was even more concerning to him was that the continuous impact was creating a burst of powerful propulsion force that was slowly pushing him back toward the gate!

    If he were pushed out of the gate, then he would meet certain doom in the form of the sea of satan snakes. In this dire situation, countless chains flew out of his sleeves, forming a dense in front of him.

    However, time was required to form the, and there was no way for Qin Ye to inject all of his Yin energy into his Heavenly Dra in such a short time. Thus, a clear crack rang out as the Soul Shackles that he released shattered into clouds of Yin energy.

    The storm of crows continued, and he was like a small raft in a tsunami, barely managing to keep itself afloat. However, the Heavenly Dra hadn''t beenpletely ineffective as the crows also had to expend a sizable amount of Yin energy to burst through it. On this asion, Qin Ye''s body was shaking violently, but he was rooted firmly to the spot.

    The gate was slowly closing, and time seemed to be passing by at an extremely sluggish pace. Qin Ye''s mind was virtuallypletely nk, and his body was being governed by his survival instincts rather than his thoughts.

    He knew that retreat wasn''t an option, and that the only way was forward! He could already hear the hissing of the satan snakesing from behind him!

    The sea of snakes was definitely no more than 100 meters away from him at this point, and he didn''t even dare to turn around to check how close the gate was topletely closing.

    After what seemed like an eternity, he finally heard a dull thump ring out from behind him, and he felt as if his heart had been released from a vice.

    He heaved a long sigh of relief, and only now did he realize that his clothes were already drenched in sweat.

    At the same time, the countless skeletal crows vanished in an instant.

    His heart was still thumping violently, and he dabbed at the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. He didn''t need a mirror to know that this was definitely far from his best look.

    With a flick of his wrist, Fate reverted back to its pen form, then flew into his sleeve, and he leaned back against the gate in a weary manner as he panted heavily.

    He hade within inches of certain doom.

    If he hadn''t managed to withstand Medes''s attack, he would''ve been pushed back outside of the gate.

    Indeed, he was certain that he had been attacked. Having had a moment to collect his thoughts, he had already figured out everything that had just happened.

    The stone gate was constructed from baleful soul rock, which was a type of A-grade material. It was very thick and had been enhanced by Yin runes, but for a Yama-King, it would only take less than half a minute to break through it.

    Medes didn''t close the stone gate before he had entered through it as it was concerned that Qin Ye would break through the stone gate in his desperation to get away from the satan snakes. If that had happened, then the gate wouldn''t have been able to keep out the satan snakes, and both of them would die.

    Thus, the best opportunity to strike was right when Qin Ye entered the gate. If Medes had managed to push Qin Ye out of the gate, then he wouldn''t have had enough time to break through it before he was inundated by the sea of satan snakes. Furthermore, upon entering the gate, one would automatically be struck by a sense ofcency, thereby further helping Medes''s cause.

    This also served as a warning to Qin Ye, telling him that it was still a Yama-King, even though it had been sealed in this ce for thousands of years, and that it didn''t fear Qin Ye in battle.

    "As expected, all Yama-Kings are sly old dogs!" His voice was a little hoarse, but there was no time to address that. He rose to his feet, and his top priority at this moment was to find out where he was.

    As he inspected his surroundings, his pupils abruptly contracted slightly as he caught sight of a sword.

    This was a sword that he had seen before, and it was only visible through the eye of the sun god.

    An incredulous look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "Could this be... the origin site of the supercritical tide?!"

 Chapter 1114: Land of Origins (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1114: Land of Origins (2)</h4>

    This was a massive valley that was several dozen kilometers in size. It wasn''t a natural valley, as evidenced by the countless signs of man-made carvings that were visible.

    The entire valley had been carved into the shape of an arena, and the ce where he had just emerged from just so happened to be the wall of this arena. Furthermore, the wall had countless gates, and this was only one of them.

    Around the valley was a series of tiered spectator stands, much like the ones that would be seen in arenas, and many of the seats were already damaged. Most of the seats had vines crawling all over their surface, indicating that they had been around for a very long time. There were also some giant stone tforms distributed among the tiered seats, upon which stood majestic statues.

    Some of the statues were already missing their heads, while others had beenpletely buried under nt cover. The entire arena gave off a bleak yet grand aura, and it seemed to exist as a separate entity from the rest of the world.

    Qin Ye slowly took a step forward, then waved a hand through the air, and a burst of Yin energy erupted forth, mming into the ground with a resounding boom.

    Boom!

    The sound echoed around the arena, then gradually subsided over the course of several minutes.

    It seemed that he was the only one in this vast space. There was no sound, and it was eerily lonely and deste here. The onlypany that he had came in the form of the giant statues, which seemed to be observing him from all directions.

    Only after a full 10 minutes had passed by did Qin Ye fly up into the air as a gust of Yin wind.

    There was no flight restriction here, so he was able to easily rise to the top of the wall, then casually strolled up the staircase along the passageway.

    He gently brushed a hand over a table, which was covered in dust, and there were empty seats stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions. It was like standing alone in a massive sports stadium, and the sheer scale of the ce was very daunting.

    Right at this moment, he suddenly raised his head and looked around with a confused expression.

    He could feel someone watching him.

    It was a very difficult feeling to describe, as if moonlight had suddenly appeared in a pitch-ck night, and that moonlight was shining down directly upon him.

    However, as he looked around, he couldn''t find anyone else.

    "It''s not Medes." He closed his eyes to better experience the feeling. "This power bears no ill will toward me, and... I seem to have encountered it in the past."

    Who could it be?

    There was no way he was going to ask that question out loud as that would simply be idiotic.

    Yin energy was already flowing along his fingertips, and if he were to notice anything amiss, then he would immediately unleash a ferocious barrage of attacks.

    He strolled quietly in this corner that seemed to have been abandoned by the world, and after a full hour, he made his way to the very top of the arena. Right as he set foot onto the final step, he curled a finger, and in the next instant, countless chains rippled over the entire arena like a pond that had just been disturbed, then quickly returned to his sleeves.

    During his casual stroll, he had already set up his Heavenly Dra over the entire arena, yet it hadn''t managed to ensnare anything.

    It was as if the scrutiny that he was sensing had been nothing more than an illusion.

    "So it''s noting from the ground." He looked up at the sky as he mused to himself, "Does that mean it''sing from above? Could it be the Heavenly Dao?"

    His brows furrowed slightly as he sat down on a seat on the top level of the arena. Behind him was an undting mountain range, and he could sense a body of vast Yin energy on the other side of the mountain range.

    That was Medes.

    Medes wasn''t attacking him, and Qin Ye had no intention of breaking this temporary truce, either. While it was true that Medes had been trapped here for thousands of years and wasn''t as powerful as it had once been, Qin Ye still wasn''t absolutely confident in his ability to defeat it in battle.

    Thus, a peculiar impasse ensued between the two of them, and as Qin Ye sat on his seat, his eyes narrowed slightly as a contemtive look appeared on his face.

    Battle wasn''t his forte. In contrast, he much preferred to use his brain, and that was exactly what he was doing right now.

    "Medes is putting on a disy of weakness, which means that it doesn''t want to sh directly with me, but why hasn''t it fled far away from this ce then? If I were it, I would get as far away from this ce as possible, then return once I fully recover my power, but it hasn''t done that. Could this mean that there''s no way to go very far in this ce?"

    In other words, this was an isted space.

    He had been to ces like this one before, such as the Huang n''s earthen building, which was a forsakennd. Thews in those ces werepletely different from the ones outside, and from the outside, one couldn''t even sense what was happening inside those ces.

    He had no intention of scaling a mountain to take a look from that vantage point. At this moment, both he and Medes were plotting to kill each other, yet neither of them were confident in their abilities to do so, and they didn''t want to risk their lives. If he were to approach Medes and break this fragile, unspoken truce, then the oue could be far from desirable.

    "I''m too weak." Qin Ye felt no shame at all in making that objective observation. "In that case, I need to draw upon external powers to help me."

    There was no one else in this ce that he could count on, so the only thing that he could use to his advantage was the geography here.

    "Medes clearly knew about this escape route from the very beginning, so it must be quite familiar with this ce. In contrast, I know nothing about this ce, so it would be unwise for me to charge blindly into battle."

    At the very least, he had to ensure that they were on the same starting line, and in order to ensure that, he had to familiarize himself with this ce first.

    From the ce where he was sitting, he could see the entire arena, and the stone statues in the arena were extremely eye-catching. Right as his gaze settled onto a stone statue situated across from his, he suddenly faltered slightly.

    His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the statue, and he murmured to himself, "Is that... Anubis?"

    The statue was extremely life-like, but it was different from the Anubis that Qin Ye had seen in real life in that the statue was holding a viper scepter in its left hand, and the Scales of Eternal Justice in its right hand.

    Around a kilometer away from this statue was a statue of a pair of twin gods. The twin death gods were virtually identical in appearance, and one of them was holding a codex, while the other was wielding a sword. They were both wearing white robes, and the only difference between them was their wings.

    One of them had wings carved of marble, while the other had wings carved out of dark obsidian.

    They were the ruler death gods of the Argosian Underworld, Thanatos and Hypnos.

    He then caught sight of statues of Yamaraja, the Goddess Earth Mother, Ksitigarbha, the Harken, the second King Yanluo, and what appeared to be the first King Yanluo.

    There was also Anko, Giltine, H, Izanami...

    He raised an eyebrow as he murmured to himself, "Could this have been a past conference venue for all of the death gods in the entire underworld? But the numbers don''t add up! There are only around 60 to 70 death gods in the entire underworld at the moment. Even if all of them attended this meeting, they wouldn''t be able to fill up all of these seats."

    With that in mind, he cast his gaze toward the other statues that he couldn''t identify.

    "These statues have been ced alongside all of the other death gods, so they should be death gods themselves as well, and there are about 200 of them in total... Could it be that they''re all death gods from religions that have faded into the annals of history?"

    What important conference had been held by these death gods several thousands of years ago?

    He had no answer to that question, so he could only set it aside for now. He transformed into a gust of Yin wind, and a few secondster, he was already standing at the center of the arena.

    He looked up at the sky, and even though he had already seen what was up there, now that he had finally decided that he was going to take a closer look, he still couldn''t help but be stunned by the sight that he was greeted by.

    There was a sword hovering in the sky.

    There were four metal chains connected to the sword, and each chain was embedded into the hand of one of the ruler death gods of the four pirs, thereby bncing the sword in mid-air in a very stable manner.

    The chains weren''t objectively thin, but in contrast with the sword, they appeared extremely thin, striking the observer with the feeling that the sword could fall at any moment.

    The sword had to be over 100 meters in length, and it was forged in the ancient Cathayan style. The hilt and the body of the sword virtuallypletely blended in with one another, and there were countless patterns engraved onto its surface, including designs of all types of flora and fauna. Even for a mid Yama-King like Qin Ye, just the mere sight of the sword was enough to strike him with a sense of oppressive difort.

    "What sword is this?" He averted his gaze as he massaged his own be. "This has to be a sword from before the Spring and Autumn period. Back in the Han and Tang Dynasties, the hilts of swords werepletely independent from the des. However..."

    The fact that this sword was here meant that it was definitely no ordinary sword, yet the only renowned Cathayan swords that Qin Ye could think of from before the Spring and Autumn period were the Xuanyuan sword and the mythical godyer sword. However, neither of those swords were important enough to appear here.

    Setting aside the fact that the Xuanyuan sword was in the mortal realm, it represented the Yellow Emperor, and there was no way that it would appear during an international conference. The Xuanyuan sword heavily symbolized the Cathayan Underworld, and there was no way that the other underworlds would allow a sword with such a heavy bias to represent this world conference.

    As for the godyer sword, what did it entail? Power?

    This giant sword had to be extremely symbolic. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be present here in such a unique setting. Qin Ye shook his head as he cast this train of thought aside, then turned his attention to what was under the massive sword.

    Beneath the sword was a tall tform with around a dozen steps. Its radius was roughly 50 meters, and it was over three meters tall.

    It was extremely simplistic andpletely devoid of embellishments, but that didn''t mean that it was empty.

    On the tform was a round stone table that was just as simplistic, and on the table was a parchment scroll.

    Qin Ye hadn''t noticed the scroll earlier as it was far too tinypared with the entire za, even though it was around a meter in height.

    He quickly made his way over to the scroll, and just as he was about to pick it up, he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks.

    Something had suddenly urred to him: Medes had to be unable to ess this tform for some reason!

    This scroll hadn''t been opened before. If Medes were able to ess this ce, then the scroll would''ve been opened long ago!

    Is there something different about this ce?

    Qin Ye swept his gaze across his surroundings, but didn''t notice anything amiss. After several seconds of contemtion, he swiped a finger through the air to sever the rope that bound the scroll.

    As a result, the scroll was unfurled, and a passage of ancient text was instantly revealed. Upon seeing the title of the scroll, even Qin Ye couldn''t help but let loose a cry of surprise. "How is this possible?!"

    The title of the scroll was "Treaty on the Establishment and Truce of the Underworld".

    This was the first-ever official international treaty in the underworld!

    The second King Yanluo had told him that this treaty had put an end to the underworld''s chaotic warring era, thereby kicking off the era of peaceful and prosperous development. It was also because of this that the four pirs were elected and the Coalition of Underworlds was founded!

    This treaty was truly historic, and he had always thought that it was in the possession of the Coalition of Underworlds. Never did he think that he would find it here!

    Furthermore...

    "There are three things that I came to the new continent to do," he murmured to himself as he stared at the scroll in an absentminded manner. "To collect space exploration information, to find the treasure vault of the Aztec gods, and to undergo the Yin rune mastery trial that the second King Yanluo told me about..."

    Never did he think that all three of those things would be focused in the same ce!

    This was the ce where the underworld''s first-ever international treaty had been signed, and in the words of the second King Yanluo, "the first King Yanluo and the three pirs left an indescribable defensive setup there, and the concept of the setup is so exquisite that even I was extremely impressed"!

    Right at this moment, he suddenly looked up to find that the sky had... opened up!

    A gargantuan creature had appeared above the clouds!

 Chapter 1115: Land of Origins (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1115: Land of Origins (3)</h4>

    A burst of violent rumbling rang out, and the clouds rapidly parted in all directions, revealing a massive vortex at the center. At the heart of the vortex was a pure golden eye that was entirely formed by runes, and it was in the process of slowly opening.

    As the eye opened, the entire world was trembling and quaking. Qin Ye could feel himself rising up higher and higher, drifting into the sky, as light as a feather, as if that eye were producing immense suction force. After just a few minutes, he found himself hovering right in front of the eye.

    Aside from the eye, everything else seemed to bepletely illusory, and it was as if the color of the surrounding clouds were slowly fading away.

    The eye was the only thing that was clear and in focus, and Qin Ye found himself physically unable to look away from it.

    "This is... the Heavenly Dao," he murmured to himself with an awestruck expression. He recalled that the second King Yanluo had told him that the peace treaty had been signed with the Heavenly Dao acting as witness.

    <i>So the Heavenly Dao has been keeping an eye on this ce this entire time... </i>

    It was also because of this that he was immediately noticed by the Heavenly Dao as soon as he opened the peace treaty. In fact, it was earlier than that. He could sense that something had already been scrutinizing him even before he opened the peace treaty.

    The giant eye continued to stare at Qin Ye in silence, and after a long while, Qin Ye''s soul suddenly shuddered. It was as if he had woken up from a dream, and he finally awakened from that illusion.

    He discovered that he was still standing on the tform, facing the peace treaty.

    Throughout this entire process, he hadn''t moved a single step.

    "I see," Qin Ye mused to himself. "The second King Yanluo said that this was the ce where the foundation for the current underworld was established. In that case, above this ce must be the pyramids of Teotihuac¨¢n. This world itself most likely isn''t even real, and only this arena truly exists."

    At the same time, a n was already beginning to take shape in his mind, a n that would allow him to kill Medes.

    However, he still had to gather some more evidence.

    He departed from the tform, then flew toward the opposite direction that Medes was situated in. On this asion, he flew out of the boundaries of the arena, flying over the tall mountains behind it. As he did so, an incredible scene was presented to him.

    He was greeted by the sight of boundless chaos!

    It was as if a mountain range and valley had been dug out of the ground, then hurled into space. There was nond connected to the mountain range. Instead,it was simply hovering in mid-air!

    The mountain range was surrounded by boundless darkness, within which the asional asteroid could be seen flying past. There was no light here, nor was there any life.

    "So I was right," he murmured to himself as an excited look appeared in his eyes. "This isted world is situated inside a rift of the real world, and it can only connect itself with the real world through certain special avenues. In other words, this is an arena designed for Medes and me!"

    Neither of them would be able to escape this ce, and only one of them would be able to survive.

    Qin Ye transformed into a gust of Yin wind once again, then returned to the tall tform in silence.

    "Brother Xu mentioned that there was a defensive measure set up here, one that even he was extremely impressed by," Qin Ye murmured to himself as he gently stroked the stone tform. "Something that can impress even someone like him must be extremely powerful. This is the most special ce in the entire arena, and it''s the only ce inessible to Medes."

    Upon arriving here, one woulde under the notice of the Heavenly Dao, and this was the main weapon that he could use to his advantage!

    If he were to directly engage Medes in battle and fight fire with fire, the oue would be very difficult to predict. However, he had at least two superior alternatives now.

    The first alternative was to find that defensive measure, which would ensure that he would at least never be defeated by Medes. If that didn''t work, then he could simply retreat to this tform. Messenger birds wouldn''t be able to fly through the chaos that surrounded this ce, but his prolonged absence would definitely be noticed by Zhao Yun, who would then set off to search for him.

    If he couldn''t find Qin Ye, then he would notify the second King Yanluo, and the second King Yanluo would definitely be able to find him.

    Thus, he was in an infallible position!

    "Actually, I have onest trick up my sleeve," he mused. "The Heavenly Dao is observing me, and Medes is a god from another ne. If I engage an extraterrestrial god in battle, the Heavenly Dao would immediately detect their existence. In order to track down the grand script of death of the three Caribbean death gods, They even went as far to send a manifestation of Themself into the world. That manifestation was able to abduct Brother Zhao against his will, and They would''ve seeded had it not been for Brother Xu''s intervention. In that case, They would easily have enough power to destroy Medes. However, this will be a little risky."

    This was a final resort that he would only turn to if he had no other alternatives. He had met the Heavenly Dao before, so he knew just how cold and forbidding that They could be. Thus, it was not a good idea to rely on Them. With that in mind, he set aside that train of thought for now before turning toward the treaty again.

    This treaty, which was thousands of years old, was the most special thing here.

    Time passed by slowly, and after a full hour, Qin Ye raised his head with a puzzled look on his face.

    He couldn''t find anything amiss about the treaty.

    The text on the scroll was written from left to right, and it contained all of the terms and uses of the treaty, of which there weren''t all that many. Below that were the signatures of all of the death gods.

    "Could it be that it''s not here?" His brows furrowed tightly as he fell into deep thought, and five minutester, he shook his head in a decisive manner.

    This ce was constantly under the surveince of the Heavenly Dao, and that was already the best defensive measure possible, so it would be redundant to set up any other defensive measures here.

    Hold on...

    A thought suddenly urred to him, and his eyes immediately lit up.

    Several secondster, an enlightened look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "I see..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Fate appeared in his grasp with a flick of his wrist, and immediately thereafter, he swiped it toward the peace treaty in an abrupt and violent motion.

    At the exact same moment, an indescribable and imcable force obstructed his arm, locking it firmly into ce. The tip of Fate was only a centimeter away from the scroll, but it was unable to descend any further.

    In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out in the heavens, and the clouds rapidly parted, following which a massive eye consisting entirely of runes emerged.

    However, it wasn''t an illusion on this asion. It was truly the eye of the Heavenly Dao!

    At the same time, a burst of deafening rumbling rang out from the entire arena, and the entire floor erupted in all directions, revealing nothing but inky-ck chaos down below.

    The main tform was the only thing that truly existed.

    "I knew it..." Qin Ye murmured to himself as he looked around with a triumphant expression.

    What had the defensive measures been set up for? They were implemented to protect the treaty, of course! There were no traps here, and the only being surveying the ce was the Heavenly Dao. Thus, the Heavenly Dao was the only defensive measure here, and in order to trigger this defensive measure, the treaty had toe under threat.

    If he hadn''t broken down everything and thought about it in reverse, he would''ve most likely never been able to figure out what this so-called defensive measure was.

    Never did he think that the enforcer of this defensive measure would be the Heavenly Dao Themself!

    Right as these thoughts were shing through his mind, a chart of the 28 constetions had appeared in the space above the tform. At this moment, all of the constetions were giving off dazzling light that radiated directly into the heavens, illuminating the massive eye of runes in the sky.

    This was divine descent, and it was being performed by the paramount god of this world, one that could even be referred to as the god of creation!

    A sea of white light inundated the entire arena, and within the white light was an indistinct figure that was slowly descending from above with boundless light beneath their feet, and a pair of pristine white wings on their back.

    It was impossible to describe this being with words. Even though Qin Ye was the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, he was still struck by a sense of boundless pressure in the face of this figure.

    It was impossible to tell the gender of this figure.

    Their cloak was pping incessantly in the breeze, and it was impossible to glean their appearance.

    Their exposed hands were so fair and pristine that they seemed to be translucent.

    On one side was boundless, all-epassing darkness, while on the other side was radiant, pure light.

    They were light, but also darkness. They were creation, but also destruction. They were the enforcer of the world, and also the one who established thews to be enforced.

    A pair of pure golden eyes lit up beneath the hood of the cloak, then settled themselves onto Qin Ye. "It''s you."

    It was impossible to discern the figure''s gender from their voice. In fact, it didn''t even sound like human speech. Instead, it was like the cries of countless animals, the whistling of the wind, the crashing of the sea''s waves.

    "Indeed," Qin Ye replied with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute. "We meet again, Nothingness."

    This was a true divine descent, one that waspletely different from what the Plumed Serpent God had performed in the past, and the entire world was bowing in reverence. A pir of light that was thousands of meters thick had epassed the center of the arena, and Nothingness''s pristine, white wings were glowing with faint golden radiance that resembled stars in the night sky with the inky-ck chaos acting as a backdrop.

    After a brief silence, Nothingness asked in an emotionless voice, "Are you trying to destroy the foundation of the underworld?"

    "That is not my intention at all," Qin Ye replied with a bow. "I''ve tracked down the source of the grand script of death used by the Caribbean death gods."

    Nothingness remainedpletely still, but Their head turned toward the direction that Medes was situated in with unerring uracy. Nothingness then raised a hand, and an entire mountain in that direction instantly vanished!

    Qin Ye shuddered as he cast an incredulous gaze toward the mountain.

    There was no disy of power, nor any extravagant shes or bangs. That mountain, along with the entire mountain range that it belonged to, had simply been erased out of existence!

    As a result, two figures were revealed beneath the mountain range, one of which was the Death Star, and he was looking up at the almighty Heavenly Dao with his mouth gaped open in astonishment.

    The other figure was apletely nude man.

    He possessed a humanoid appearance, but at the center of his head was a massive eye, and he was standing at around three meters tall. Furthermore, it looked as if he had beenpletely skinned, and all of his tendons, bones, and muscles were bared to the world. His entire body was riddled with bone spikes, and his single, golden eye was also staring up at Nothingness with incredulity.

    "Are you... a manifestation of this ne''s will?" he asked as he gulped nervously.

    Why had a manifestation of this ne''s will appeared here?

    He had thought that he had finally escaped from the prison that had trapped him for thousands of years, only to find that he had actually walked right into the ughterhouse.

    "Maggot!" For the first time, a hint of human emotion crept into Nothingness''s voice, and it was disdain.

    In the next instant, the sky behind Them over a span in excess of 100 kilometers suddenly began to warp and twist, following which countless swords of light erupted out of thin air in a torrential storm.

    It was impossible to tell how many swords there were in total, and they formed a gorgeous river of light between Nothingness and Medes. However, behind the captivating beauty of this scene was lethal killing intent.

    Medes''s anguished roar rang out across the entirend, and 10 secondster, the river of light abruptly vanished. The cloak that Nothingness was wearing descended all around Them like goose feathers, and the ce where Medes had been standing earlier had already been reduced to a plot of tnd that was as smooth and unblemished as a mirror.

    A series of pages were picked up by the breeze before flying toward Qin Ye, who reflexively reached out for them. There were many of these pages, and they fluttered into his hands like butterflies. After just a single nce at them, he couldn''t help but heave a long sigh of relief.

    This was the information pertaining to the Omeyocan n!

    He had finally achieved the main objective for this trip to the new continent.

    However, right as he set down those pages, he caught sight of a hand.

    It was Nothingness''s hand.

    It was no more than a meter away from him, and it was an inky-ck hand with its five fingerspletely spread apart. At the center of the palm was a bright, blue eye, which was fixed intently on him.

    "What is the meaning of this?" Qin Ye asked as he narrowed his eyes in a wary manner.

    A gust of fierce wind suddenly swept up, seemingly out of nowhere, picking up Nothingness''s cloak, revealing, in the process, that there was no body beneath the cloak.

    "It''s your turn now."

 Chapter 1116: Land of Origins (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1116: Land of Origins (4)</h4>

    "Is that supposed to be a joke?" Qin Ye took a step backward as he drew upon all of the Yin energy within his own body, ready to unleash it at a moment''s notice. "If so, that''s not a very funny joke."

    "I never make jokes." Nothingness''s voice was as graceful and mysterious as ever. "If you want something, then you have to give up something for it. The Heavenly Dao has always upheld fairness. You attempted to destroy the first-ever treaty of the underworld, and for that, you must be punished."

    "What''s the punishment?"

    "The trial of inner demons." The radiance in the Heavenly Dao''s palm was growing brighter and brighter as They spoke. "It''s a divine art created by the ruler death gods of the four pirs, alongside Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa of the new continent."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. He could tell that Nothingness definitely wasn''t kidding.

    "Will I die?"

    "No," Nothingness replied. "You''ll only be forever lost in an illusion unless you can break through the cycle of fate and return to this time and ce."

    A divine art rted to time, eh?

    Qin Ye was feeling extremely wary at this point. All arts rted to the domains of space and time were arts of the highest caliber.

    "Are you ready?" Nothingness didn''t wait for a reply from him, and the light glowing from Their hand had already be bright to the extreme.

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye suddenly said, "Wait!"

    The light was still as dazzling as ever, but it wasn''t unleashed.

    Looks like there''s no way to weasel my way out of this one...

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before continuing, "You see yourself as the embodiment of fairness?"

    Nothingness provided no answer to that question.

    "In that case, why are you being unfair to me?"

    "Oh?" Nothingness finally responded upon hearing this.

    Qin Ye stared intently at Nothingness, observing every single minute change in Their facial expression as he continued, "I did indeed do something that ced the treaty under threat, but I also found the root of the Caribbean death gods'' grand script of death for you! That should cancel out this transgression, so I shouldn''t receive any punishment."

    Nothingness''s expression changed once again.

    Their brows furrowed ever so slightly, as if They were finally realizing theplexity of the situation. However, They only hesitated for a short while before replying, "Regardless of who has attempted to destroy the treaty and for what reason, they must undergo the trial of inner demons as a punishment. This is a rule that all of the death gods decided on, and I bore witness to that decision."

    Not only was Qin Ye not disheartened by this, he mockingly apuded the decision as he said, "So this is what you see as fair. I tracked down Medes for you, yet you''ve offered me no reward. How is that fair?"

    There was no way for him to avoid the trial of inner demons, but he had to make the most of the situation and gather as much information as possible.

    He certainly didn''t dare to look down on a divine art like this, and any information could be extremely beneficial to his current situation.

    Furthermore, there was one thing that he had to rify before he began the trial.

    The Heavenly Dao was clearly hesitant about how to proceed.

    The light in Their hand shed a few times, then faded away in the end.

    A conflicted look appeared on Their face for the first time. The question that Qin Ye had raised waspletely pointless to a human, but for Them, who was the embodiment of fairness and justice, it was a moral dilemma to be grappled with.

    Several secondster, Their body suddenly scattered as countless specks of light, then reformed into a Caucasian woman wearing the attire of Europa nobles from ancient times.

    She had shoulder-length golden hair with a diamond-studded crown on her head, and her clothing was extremelyvish. Furthermore, she was clearly breathtakingly beautiful, but as soon as one moved their gaze away from her face, they would instantly forget her appearance.

    "What is this?"

    "This is my kind side," Nothingness replied with a smile, seemingly far more willing to put on human expressions in this form. "The Heavenly Dao is an entity formed by thebination of all things in this ne, and that naturally includes emotions."

    She picked up the hem of her dress before extending a slight curtsey.

    "You are correct. The Heavenly Dao has always been fair, and you''ve attempted to destroy the treaty, so you should be punished, but at the same time, you discovered the origins of the Caribbean Sea''s grand script of death, so you should also be rewarded. Thus, I''ll grant you 10 minutes to ask me any questions you want, but you can''t ask about the fundamental details of the trial of inner demons. Your time begins now."

    The space rippled slightly, and a pure golden hourss appeared out of thin air. The sand within it began to trickle downward, yet instead of immediately asking a question, Qin Ye''s mind began to race as he thought about what questions he wanted to ask.

    There was one question that he had already decided to ask, but there were other questions as well. This was the Heavenly Dao, the being that had witnessed the birth of humans and civilizations! They were the mostprehensive encyclopedia in this entire world! If he were to miss this opportunity, there wouldn''t be a second chance.

    After the hourss had already been set into ce for 30 seconds, Qin Ye finally asked, "What is that sword?"

    He was referring to the sword hanging above the peace treaty. He wanted to know why this sword was here, and what gave it the right to be here.

    Nothingness smiled as She replied, "Given how much time you''ve spent in the mortal realm, you should be very familiar with this sword. In the 4th century BC, there was an official who served Dionysius I of Syracuse, Italia. He really liked to tter Dionysius, and he felt Dionysius to be extremely fortunate. Thus, Dionysius proposed that they swap identities for a day so that the official could experience what it was like to act as ruler. The official agreed to this, but only when he sat onto the throne did he notice a sharp sword hanging above the throne, suspended by a strand of horsehair. The official''s name was Damocles."

    I see...

    Qin Ye finally understood that this was the Sword of Damocles. It had been ced here not because it was superior to all other divine artifacts. Instead, it served as a warning to all death gods, telling them that with great power came great responsibility, and that they had to exercise restraint when wielding their immense power.

    Qin Ye nodded in response before asking, "What is the true name of this ce?"

    "This is the Land of Origins," the Heavenly Dao replied. "Everything began here. Old Hell''s Legacy began 3,000 years ago, and prior to that was the era known as the Souldoom Era. Due to the vast number of Yin spirits that had been destroyed during that period of war and chaos, the four pirs began to emerge as a stabilizing force of peace in this world, and thus, this conference was naturally held."

    She cast her gaze toward the gates down below as she continued, "There are a total of 108 gates here, trapping 108 extraterrestrial gods behind them."

    How is that possible?!

    Qin Ye cast an astonished gaze toward the Heavenly Dao, who seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and She continued, "That was my original intention. However, I only managed to capture five or six extraterrestrial gods in the end. Thus, most of these gates are empty, and Medes dug through to one of those gates in order to reach this ce without being detected. After all, it''s already been far too long since anyone has set foot in this ce. Even if they had been detected, there would be no need to address them anyway as there is no way out of here."

    "What are extraterrestrial gods?" Qin Ye asked with a grim expression.

    "They are gods that are not from this ne," the Heavenly Dao replied. "I''m sure you''ve already inherited a ck box. The ck boxes of the four pirs contain the biggest secret in this world. You may think that the biggest secret in this world is the existence of space, but have you considered how these extraterrestrial gods were able to enter our ne? How did they manage to confirm that Earth has an underworld? You''re only seeing the tip of the iceberg here, and I advise you not to waste any time on this question until you''ve seen the contents of the ck box."

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the hourss to find that half the time had already passed. There were too many questions that he wanted to ask, and nowhere near enough time to ask them!

    "Third question: how many beings are there above the Yama-King level in this world, including Yin beasts?"

    "Including me, there are a total of four," Nothingness replied. "They are the second King Yanluo, Ghost King Zhao, myself, and the inner demon."

    The inner demon? The same one as the one in the trial of inner demons?

    "What is the inner dem..."

    Before he had a chance to finish his question, Nothingness interjected in a cold voice, "Yanluo Qin, I already told you that you can''t ask me any questions about the fundamental nature of the trial of inner demons."

    "Yes, but I''m not asking for any of the fundamental details, all I want to know is the makeup and basic concept of this divine art," Qin Ye countered.

    Silence.

    Qin Ye stared intently at the hourss. He really wanted to urge the Heavenly Dao to extend the timer to make up for this silence, but he remained silent in the end, patiently waiting for the Heavenly Dao''s reply.

    Only after a full 20 seconds had passed did Nothingness speak again. "The inner demon is something that has existed longer than all underworlds and death gods. Ever since humans came into existence, it has been present in the hearts of humans. It''s a soul that possesses a form, but cannot be seen. Even for beings above the Yama-King level, not everyone is able to see it. As he is now, Ghost King Zhao would not be able to see the inner demon. It feeds on all negative emotions for sustenance, and it exists in the mortal realm. It has some connection with the underworld because without the inner demon, the underworld wouldn''t have the 18 abysses of punishment or the six paths of reincarnation. It is the underworld''s duty to reward kind souls and punish malicious ones, so from that perspective, the inner demon shares some duties with the death gods. Thus, you can refer to it as a quasi-death god. However, its powers are superior to virtually all death gods of the underworld. This divine art incorporates some of the inner demon''s unique characteristics, and if you can emerge safely from the trial of inner demons, then there won''t be any weaknesses in your psyche. On top of that, you''ll also discover why the system of reward and punishment exists in the underworld. Finally, you''ll be able to see the shadow of the inner demon."

    At this point, there was only a tiny amount of sand left in the upper half of the hourss. "Final question: are there any other defensive measures set up here aside from yourself?"

    "No," Nothingness replied in a calm voice. "I am the only and ultimate defensive measure here, and the only way that I can punish those who attempt to destroy the peace treaty is through the trial of inner demons."

    There were only a few grains of sand left now, and Qin Ye hurriedly blurted out, "Bonus question: how dangerous is the trial of inner demons?"

    A smile appeared on the Heavenly Dao''s face. This was the first true smile that had appeared on Their face.

    "It''s invincible," She said as she raised her hand again, and the eyeball on her palm began to glow with golden light. "Anyone with emotions will inevitably be lost in it, and throughout the course of history, the second King Yanluo is the only one to have emerged from it safely."

    The light instantly devoured Qin Ye.

    Everything in the surrounding area became murky and unclear. Qin Ye was ovee by a rush of intense dizziness, following which his consciousnesspletely faded.

    After an indeterminate period of time, an indistinct voice rang out beside his ears. "Dogballs... Dogballs! Wake up..."

    The voice was filled with concern and benevolence. "I just picked some wild vegetables for you from the mountains, wake up and have some..."

 Chapter 1117: Trial of Inner Demons (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1117: Trial of Inner Demons (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye''s life was divided into three parts.

    The first part was before he ate the Taisui fungus. The entire nation was at war, and he was living in constant poverty and starvation.

    Every day was full of despair. He would wake up hungry, then fall asleep, still hungry. Every single day brought a renewed wave of despair, but all that ended once he consumed the Taisui fungus.

    The second part of his life was after he devoured the Taisui fungus, but before he met Granny Meng.

    That was a very happy time in his life. He was looked after by all types of prestigious individuals, and even though he would have to leave most of the time after just four or five years, it was definitely far better than living in constant starvation and despair.

    Once the nationwide surveince system was established, he didn''t dare to do that type of thing anymore. With the money that he saved up and his ability to see Yin spirits, he was able to open a coffin shop. The ie wasn''t exceptional, but he was able to get by, and during this period of time, he went back and forth between all types of universities.

    The third part of his life began after he obtained King Yanluo''s Seal.

    It had to be said that his personality had already undergone aplete change. If he could see his past self as his current self, he would be very amused by what he had been.

    There was a price to maturity. All of his tendencies to fool around in the past had alreadypletely faded away at this point.

    As his current self, he was constantly forcing himself to exercise caution with his own speech and actions. Countless Yin spirits across the entire underworld were looking to him for leadership, so he had no choice but to set the right example. If he had continued to act as he had in the past, he wouldn''t have been able to establish himself as a strong and authoritative ruler.

    Which version of himself was the best version?

    There was no way to answer that.

    He knew that his current self had be far colder and more aloof. If he were to encounter the female apparition of the Wang Family or the corpse in the freezer again, he most likely wouldn''t sympathize with the victims at all. All he would do would be to capture the evil ghosts involved, then leave.

    He had thought that his mental fortitude was unbreakable, but as soon as he heard this voice, all of the emotions that had been hidden deep in his heart instantly erupted forth like water through a broken dam.

    He immediately opened his eyes, upon which he discovered that he was in a house constructed from y.

    The walls were already riddled with cracks, and it was clear that the house was very old.

    There was virtually no furniture in the room at all. He was lying on a "bed" that consisted of a wooden board situated on top of several wooden sticks, with ayer of straw covering the wooden board. The bed was so hard that his back was aching from lying on it, and draped over his body was a nket so old that it was impossible to identify its original color. Aside from that, there was only a table with no chairs in the room.

    This was an extremely familiar scene.

    In that instant, tears immediately welled up in his eyes.

    He had thought that this memory would never appear in his mind again.

    However, it turned out that this memory had only been buried under a thin veil, and it only took a slight breeze to remove the veil and expose the unforgettable memories underneath.

    He was a little scared to face the person beside him, and only after making an effort to brace himself did he turn toward the elderly man standing at his bedside.

    The elderly man was extremely thin and wizened.

    Just like the nket, his clothes were also so old that their original color had already faded, and there were severalrge holes in them that hadn''t been mended. The man''s face was riddled with deep wrinkles that looked as if they were rifts that were threatening to open up and tear apart his thin and frail body.

    The only source of light in the room came from a candle, and it had burned down to the point that it was only less than an inch in height.

    The elderly man was holding a bowl in an unsteady manner. It was supposed to be a bowl of congee, but in reality, it was really only a bowl of water with a few grains of rice and several wild vegetable leaves floating in it. He was clearly starving, yet he refused to take even the smallest sip from the bowl, which he was offering to his grandson.

    "Come on, Dogballs, eat it while it''s hot."

    Qin Ye was unable to hold back his own tears any longer.

    He couldn''t even remember thest time he had shed a tear, yet he couldn''t hold back any longer.

    In the past, he would''ve definitely thrown himself into his grandfather''s arms and bawled into his thin, yet wide, chest. However, at this moment, he was merely shedding tears in silence as he held onto the elderly man''s wizened hands.

    "I''m not hungry, Grandpa, you eat it instead."

    His grandfather smiled as he patted him on the head. "I''m not hungry, either. You''re at the age where your body is growing, so you should eat as much as possible."

    "I''m really not hungry right now," Qin Ye said as he wiped the tears from his face. "If you don''t eat it, then it''ll go to waste."

    "Alright, then I''ll eat itter." The elderly man ced the bowl onto the table, and in that instant, time seemed to havepletely fallen still.

    The entire scene then disintegrated into Yin energy and dissipated into nothingness.

    All of a sudden, there was nothing around Qin Ye aside from a vast expanse of inky darkness.

    He stood within the darkness, as if he were standing in the night sky, and in front of him, a series of golden lines were shing through the air, as if they were trying to form some type of message.

    The sorrowful look on his face instantly faded, and he was once again the wise and calcting ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    He cast his gaze across his surroundings and called out, "Hello?"

    There was no response.

    "I''m the only one here," he murmured to himself. He reached out to try and touch the golden lines, which were moving ording to a set pattern, but his hand passed right through them, and he was unable to touch them at all.

    "Does this mean I failed?" He heaved a forlorn sigh. "If I fail, I will be lost... Is this what it means to be lost?"

    He withdrew his hand as his brows furrowed tightly.

    Inside the illusion, he and his grandfather had exchanged no more than 10 sentences in total, yet he had already failed? Where had he gone wrong?

    He didn''t panic or be frustrated as during the 10 minutes of questions he had asked the Heavenly Dao, he had received the answer to a very important question, which was whether this ce had any other defensive measures in ce.

    Nothingness had told him that the answer was no, while the second King Yanluo had once referred to this ce as a trial.

    This meant that the trial that the second King Yanluo had been referring to was actually the same thing as this divine art!

    "Perhaps I can interpret it like this: the trial of inner demons isn''t impossible to pass, it''s simply very difficult to pass, but upon passing the trial, the process itself will be an extremely valuable experience."

    This was why he wasn''t flustered at all.

    As long as this was a trial, then there had to be a way to pass it. There was no way that a trial with no solution would be presented to him. Thus, all he had to do was find the solution.

    The surrounding area was still pitch-ck, and even with his vast consciousness as a Yama-King, he wasn''t able to find any boundaries to this ce. After carefully searching for several hours to ensure that there was indeed nothing in the surrounding area, he sat down in mid-air with his legs crossed and fell into deep thought.

    "The golden light in front of me is clearly moving ording to some type of pattern. There are no Yin runes within it, only pure Yin energy. I''m unable to touch it, and for now, I don''t know what it entails. ording to the conditions of the trial, I''ve already failed. There''s nothing within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers around me, and if this is the state of being ''lost'', then there would be no way to pass this trial from this point. If we assume that this trial definitely has a solution, then it should provide the trial-taker with a second chance, but how do I trigger this second chance?"

    There was no way to physically touch the golden light before him, and injecting his Yin energy into it incurred no reaction, either, so that could be eliminated for now.

    However, aside from the golden light, there wasn''t anything else at all in this space.

    After contemting the situation for a long while, a smile suddenly appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "There''s something else here that I can use to my advantage... It''s time!"

    In a ce where nothing tangible existed, the only thing that existed was time.

    The trial of inner demons was an art, so it would be very easy to establish how long it would take for the trial to be reset each time.

    Waiting was a trial in itself.

    However, he couldn''t just waste this time. He stood up and habitually began to pace side to side while massaging his beaded bracelet, waiting for his second chance, while also rapidly contemting the situation.

    10 minutester, his brows furrowed slightly as he analyzed to himself, "The only possible mistake I could''ve made had to havee from the conversation. That wasn''t what I said, but this shouldn''t be the fundamental reason behind the mistake."

    It would be impossible to expect one to immediately enter the same mindset and emotional state upon returning to a memory from their past.

    In other words, if this was the requirement to pass the trial, then it would be impossible to pass.

    "I recall that I drank that bowl of soup at the time, but I was still hungry..." Qin Ye murmured to himself.

    In the first part of Qin Ye''s life, all of his memories were tinged with an ever-present sense of hunger.

    The vige he was living in had mostly been deserted as most of its residents had fled to the counties and cities for better lives. The only residents that remained in the vige were those who couldn''t make it to those ces. Thankfully, there was a mountain behind the vige, and some small animals could asionally be caught there.

    However, animals weren''t idiots, and they had their own survival instincts. Eventually, they realized that many of their brethren that went to that mountain didn''t return, and thus, they became reluctant to go there. Qin Ye could recall that during that month, they didn''t capture even a single rabbit.

    A bowl of wild vegetable soup certainly wasn''t enough to fill him up, so his grandfather returned to the mountain in search of more food...

    Hold on!

    Right at this moment, a hint of enlightenment appeared in his eyes as he suddenly realized where he had gone wrong.

    "I told Grandpa that I wasn''t hungry, and that dyed him from returning to the mountain."

    At the time, it was his hunger that had led to the two of them returning to the mountain, and it was there that they had discovered the Taisui fungus.

    At the same time, Qin Ye made another realization.

    Why was it that dying the return to the mountain would result in the failure of the trial?

    "That can only mean that the Taisui fungus can only be discovered on that mountain at the specific time and ce," he analyzed to himself as he stroked his own chin.

    In that case, did that mean that the entire trial centered around the Taisui fungus, while they were only NPCs?

    Was uncovering the secret to the Taisui fungus the only way to pass the trial? In order to uncover the secret, he had to replicate the exact same sequence of events from back then.

    "This is incredible..." he murmured to himself. "Only the omniscient and omnipotent Heavenly Dao would be able to recreate that scene. This really is worthy of being called a divine art."

    Right at this moment, the surrounding space began to tremble slightly.

    Is it beginning again? So the trigger really is the passage of time...

    Qin Ye wasn''t surprised by this. In a trial like this, where no leads were provided and the oue was unclear, he had to be prepared for anything and remain calm under all circumstances. He gazed deep into the darkness up ahead, and as the tremors ran through the surrounding space, the darkness resembled the inside of an egg, with beams of white light shining in from outside, slicing the darkness into shreds.

    Qin Ye gently closed his eyes.

    After a brief sh of blinding light, he immediately opened his eyes, upon which he discovered that he had returned to the straw bed in the crude house.

    The trial had restarted!

    He instantly leaped up from the bed and rushed out of the room without any hesitation.

    On this asion, his grandfather wasn''t by his side.

    However, he would definitely return soon, upon which the same scene would unfold again.

    He had entered this "scene" earlier than he had imagined. It seemed that on thest asion, he had been unustomed to the rush of dizziness from entering the trial, and that had affected his judgment of time.

    Prior to his grandfather''s return, he had to verify something important.

    "If I have to uncover the secret of the Taisui fungus, then that means it''s definitely not a naturally forming entity! I wasn''t able to see it at the time because I wasn''t someone capable of traversing between Yin and Yang, but that doesn''t mean that my current self is unable to see it!"

    What exactly could it have been that he had failed to see at the time? What had happened in this ce all those years ago?

 Chapter 1118: Trial of Inner Demons (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1118: Trial of Inner Demons (2)</h4>

    Judging from the current leads that he had extrapted, he had failed the first trial because he had dyed the timing of his grandfather''s return to the mountain, and that dy may have resulted in a failure to encounter the Taisui fungus.

    This was the most direct oue. Otherwise, there was no way to exin why he had failed the trial just by refusing to drink the soup.

    It was also because of this that his instincts were telling him that there were some hidden circumstances behind the emergence of the Taisui fungus.

    There were no clear leads to follow in this trial of inner demons, so he could only extrapte little by little, making the most of the signs presented to him. Furthermore, he didn''t know how many times the trial could be reset, and what consequences would await him if he were to fail it too many times.

    He rushed out of the room, and the familiar sight of the vige appeared before his eyes.

    The barren farms, the dpidated and uninhabited homes, and the city in the distance beyond the mountain... Everything was so familiar.

    This was a true vige, one that was different from most of the so-called viges in the 1900s and 2000s. It was virtuallypletely isted from the rest of the world, and in order to scale up and down the mountain, there was only one well-trodden path to follow.

    It had already been seven years since the founding of the new Cathay, and they were living in the mountains to avoid the chaos of war. However, their vige still hadn''t been graced by the radiance of socialism yet, so their lives were very difficult. Even the province of Guangxi, which was a coastal province, had been experiencing a massive famine at the time, let alone regions that were further ind.

    There were far too many people who were starving.

    All of these pieces of information were shing through Qin Ye''s mind, and right as he emerged from the house, he discovered a man in a Mao suit standing in front of the entrance.

    In the instant that Qin Ye caught sight of the man, his expression instantly changed slightly, following which he immediately lowered his head.

    In this timeline, he was still his 18-year-old self, who hadn''t yet consumed the Taisui fungus. As an 18-year-old who had lived in this vige his entire life, there was no way that the authoritative gleam of the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo would appear in his eyes, and he wasn''t sure if he would be deemed to have failed the trial again if he were to put on an expression unbefitting of his age and status.

    "Hell, child." This was a middle-aged man who was quite thin and pale, and he wore a warm smile as he asked, "Is this the Liu n''s Vige?"

    Qin Ye''s head remained bowed, and he didn''t reply. The long shadow cast by the man under the sun wasrge enough topletely conceal Qin Ye''s shadow.

    The time at this moment was somewhere between 11:30 AM and noon.

    He had never seen this man before, nor was this person actually a human!

    He still possessed all of his powers as a mid Yama-King, so he was able to instantly determine this without any need for verification.

    This was a living corpse.

    He could see that an extremelyplex Yin rune had been inscribed onto the man''s back, and that he had already "lived" for many, many years.

    Furthermore, this wasn''t just a normal living corpse. Beneath the skin, there were no bones, no organs, nor any flesh!

    In the face of a Yama-King, no apparitions or supernatural creatures could hide their true form.

    He could clearly see that the so-called bones beneath the man''s skin were nothing more than a series of bamboo battens!

    The craftsmanship was extremely exquisite.

    A living corpse has visited the Liu n''s Vige before? And they came before the Taisui fungus appeared? What''s going on here? Who would create a monster like this?

    "Did you hear me, child?" The man''s smile remained unchanged as he asked again, "Is this the Liu n''s Vige?"

    "Yes," Qin Ye replied as he finally raised his head.

    The man nodded in response, then asked, "There''s a Taoist temple on this mountain, right?"

    Indeed, there was.

    Qin Ye put on an innocent expression and nodded in confirmation, while rapidly recalling back to what that Taoist temple looked like.

    It was an ancient Taoist temple from the distant past. Most of it had already copsed and been covered in greenery. Only a small section of it remained, and the statue that was worshiped in the temple remainedpletely undamaged, but it was crawling with vines.

    The ruined temple was one of the few ces for the children of the Liu n''s Vige to explore, and it was also the origin of all of the vige''s supernatural tales.

    Right at this moment, a loud cry suddenly rang out. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Stay away from my grandson!"

    Qin Ye''s grandfather, Qin Zhongguo had appeared on the path, and as soon as he caught sight of the living corpse, he immediately raised the sickle in his hand with an enraged expression, transforming from a benevolent elderly man into a ferocious lion.

    The man was still smiling. It seemed as if his expression were incapable of changing. However, he politely stepped away from Qin Ye until they were over a meter apart. If it weren''t for the fact that Qin Ye could see him for what he truly was, there was no way he would''ve guessed that this man was nothing more than an empty shell.

    Qin Zhongguo quickly rushed over and positioned himself in front of Qin Ye as he watched the man with a wary expression in silence.

    The man continued to smile as he said, "I''m just asking for directions."

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Zhongguo''s face. "Directions? There''s nothing here in this godforsaken vige! What are you trying to find?"

    The man took another step backward as he replied, "We''re here for the Taoist temple on the mountain. If you''re willing to lead the way, we can give you 50 kilograms of top-quality rice, or 50 kilograms worth of food stamps of your choice."

    He reached into his pocket, then pulled out a stack of colorful food stamps as he spoke.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he had already concealed himself behind the door and was eavesdropping on the conversation from there.

    Upon opening a diary from the past and reading through its entries, one would always find that they had forgotten some details. However, upon recalling those details, one would find that their memories of those events would begin to slowly transform into something different.

    Food stamps were the product of a long-gone era.

    On the 25th of August, 1955, during the 17th plenary session of the State Council of the People''s Republic of Cathay, the bill for food stamps was passed, and right after that plenary session, all types of food stamps flooded into society. They had be the main source of purchasing power in society, and they were even more valuable than the Cathayan currency itself.

    This memory was from 1956. Qin Ye was 18 years old at the time, and it had only been just over a year since the release of food stamps, which meant that they were still extremely sought-after. In fact, there were widespread food stamp shortages across the entire nation. This was true even in the capital city, let alone a rural area like the one Qin Ye was living in.

    Only those in the top echelons of society had ess to food stamps.

    This man was wearing a brand new Mao suit, and it was clear that he held a lofty status in the political system. At the very least, he had to be an important figure in the ministry of food.

    There didn''t appear to be anything amiss about this. However, everyone was oblivious to the existence of a certain department: the Special Investigations Department, once known as the National Divine Guardian Division.

    Qin Ye knew that in the beginning of the republic era, the Special Investigations Department had already reformed. During the period of war and unrest, countless people had died, and their souls had no ce to go due to the copse of Hell.

    During that period of time, there had been a massive spike in supernatural disasters, and everything had been filed away in the records of the Special Investigations Department.

    He recalled a set of statistics that he saw back in the Academy of Cultivators.

    Between the years 1949 and 1959, the Special Investigations Department had a total of 54,000 registered investigators, which wasparable to the number of investigators there currently were. However, after 1960, the number of investigators sharply declined to less than 20,000!

    Among those who survived, most of them went on to be high-ranking members of the Special Investigations Department, such as Zhou Yunlong. However, over 40,000 investigators had perished during the span of just 10 years!

    That statistic alone was enough to reflect just how fierce the conflict between the mortal realm and the underworld had been. It has most likely gotten to the point where both realms were engaged in full-scale war!

    The branches of the Special Investigations Department were always situated not far away from the government buildings, which meant that they had to be close to the ministry of food.

    Despite this, they had failed to discover this living corpse, who was clearly serving as a high-ranking official of the ministry of food, and this meant that the person who had created it was most likely more powerful than an Infernal Judge.

    Furthermore, Qin Zhongguo wasn''t unaware of the dangers that lurked on the mountain. Not only were the people starving in this era, the animals were also starving. However, for the sake of the 50 kilograms worth of food stamps, he decided to take a risk in order to feed his grandson.

    Qin Zhongguo''s hands began to tremble slightly as he looked at the stack of food stamps.

    He didn''t have any food stamps, but he would asionally go to the city, so he naturally recognized them.

    "How about it?" the man asked with a smile. "Just take us to the temple, and the food stamps are all yours."

    Qin Zhongguo gritted his teeth before nodding in agreement. There was no way he could refuse this offer.

    "When do we set off?"

    "How about now?"

    "No!" Qin Zhongguo shook his head in response. "I just picked some wild vegetables, and it''s been days since my grandson had a hot meal!"

    Behind the door, Qin Ye closed his eyes, and his tear ducts were beginning to throb again.

    Unbeknownst to him at the time, that trip up the mountain would be an eternal farewell.

    If only both of them had returned from that trip.

    If both of them had be immortals, he wouldn''t have been so lonely during this past century.

    Tears began to flow down his face in silence. He wasn''t a man who shed tears easily, but for the first time in over 100 years, his tears began to flow.

    However, he knew that this wasn''t the time to be getting caught up in emotions. He stepped out from behind the door and said, "Grandpa, I''ll go with you."

    He had to ensure that the exact sequence of events from back then was perfectly replicated.

    He recalled that Qin Zhongguo had been very hesitant to take him.

    Thinking back now, his grandfather was most likely worried that these people would try to hurt him, which was why he wanted to leave him behind.

    Sure enough, Qin Zhongguo''s brows furrowed slightly as he skirted around the topic. "Let''s have some food first."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything further. However, another question had popped up in his mind.

    He hadn''t seen this living corpse at the time, so how had his grandfather led this man up the mountain? Why hadn''t he seen this man back then?

    Before he had a chance to ponder this matter any further, the man said, "Then we have ourselves a deal."

    Qin Zhongguo nodded in response. "May I ask your name?"

    "My name is Ye Xianzu," the man casually replied. "You can just call me Mr. Ye."

    Ye Xianzu? I seem to have heard this name somewhere before...

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed even more tightly as Ye Xianzu continued, "All you need to do is lead the way, and we''ll follow along behind you."

    Qin Zhongguo nodded once again. "It takes a bit longer to cook in a rural vige like ours, so you''ll have to wait for me."

    "That''s not an issue," Ye Xianzu replied. "We''ve already eaten, so we''ll be waiting outside."

    He then turned toward another direction and said, "I''ve found a guide for us, everyone, but we''ll have to wait for a bit before we set off."

    Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the same direction, and as soon as he did so, his pupils immediately contracted slightly.

    Ye Xianzu had been saying "we" this entire time, but Qin Ye hadn''t taken much notice of that quirk in his speech. Only now, as he turned toward the entrance of the vige, did he catch sight of a group of people standing outside.

    No, those weren''t people...

    All of the "people" were wearing long white robes and pointed white hats, as if they were a group of mourners.

    Every single one of them had their heads lowered, and they were standing in silence.

    However, Qin Ye could see that all of these "people" were actually paper figures draped in human skin!

    Beneath their human skin, all of the paper figures had their eyes closed. They had bright red blush applied to their cheeks, as well as bright red lips to match.

    Furthermore, they were traveling during the day!

    Who created these things? Only Anitya Hellguards are able to travel during the day, and there are over 10 of these puppets here! How many more undiscovered secrets are there in this vige?

 Chapter 1119: Trial of Inner Demons (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1119: Trial of Inner Demons (3)</h4>

    Many events in history were simply glossed over, but once given the chance to re-explore those passages with the advantage of foresight, one would often discover many things that were once hidden to them.

    "Dogballs... Dogballs?" Qin Zhongguo''s perplexed voice rang out beside Qin Ye''s ears, jerking him out of his train of thought. At this point, Qin Zhongguo had returned to his normal, benevolent self, and the fierce disy he had just put on had alreadypletely faded.

    He raised the bunch of wild vegetables in his hand as he said, "We have food now. I''ll cook up something right away, and after we eat, I''ll lead those people up the mountain. After Ie back, we won''t have to worry about food for quite some time."

    Qin Ye wanted to say something, but couldn''t bring himself to say anything in the end.

    A series ofplex emotions were surging through his heart like violent waves. Knowing what he did now, this memory waspletely different to him.

    Back then, he had been naive enough to believe that his grandfather had returned to the mountain so that both of them could have food, but in reality, it was only for his sake.

    Furthermore, Qin Zhongguo didn''t even have to go. He was an old and experienced hunter and gatherer living near a mountain, and without having to worry about Qin Ye, his skills would more than suffice for him to feed himself.

    Furthermore, in that day and age, having any food to eat at all was already a blessing. They had lived like this day after day, and aside from that day, Qin Zhongguo had never gone up the mountain twice in a day.

    In the end, it was all for those food stamps, for the sake of this broken, yet warm family.

    "Grandpa." Qin Ye repressed his own emotions and blinked a few times to hold back his tears as he said, "Those people are really strange."

    That was the only warning that he could issue, and it waste by over a century.

    It was apletely useless warning, but it was something that he wanted to say.

    If he had woken up earlier back then and noticed that group before his grandfather had returned, perhaps none of this would''ve ever happened.

    Qin Zhongguo also cast his gaze out the door, and a hint of concern appeared in his eyes. "Maybe they''re a group of mourners. They are indeed a little strange, so I think you should..."

    "Grandpa!" Qin Ye was finally unable to hold back his emotions any longer, and his lips were trembling as he grabbed onto his grandfather''s hand. "Mother and Father have already left... Please don''t leave me as well..."

    Back then, he had said the same thing to convince Qin Zhongguo to agree to bring him along, but it was a herculean struggle for him to utter these words now, so much so that he was digging his fingernails into his own palm to the point of drawing blood.

    Qin Zhongguo faltered slightly upon hearing this, then cupped Qin Ye''s cheeks between hisrge and warm hands.

    A benevolent smile appeared on his wizened face as he said in a gentle voice, "Alright, we''ll go together."

    During the early parts of the republic era, gas stoves still weren''t avable in rural viges like this one, so firewood had to be lit for cooking. Qin Ye made his way over to the water jug outside of the room, then sshed his own face with water to calm himself down.

    He couldn''t allow himself to be engrossed in this scene, even though it was one of his most precious memories.

    "The Cathayan Underworld is still waiting for me." He stared at his own rippling reflection on the surface of the water as he gritted his teeth tightly. "I don''t just represent myself... I am the ruler of one of the four pirs! I have a heavy responsibility on my shoulders! I have to go back..."

    In order to do that, he had to shatter this precious memory, even if the shards of the shattered memory were going to slice into his heart.

    Right at this moment, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as a voice rang out from behind him. "Delicious."

    It was Ye Xianzu''s voice.

    Qin Ye pretended not to have heard him clearly as he feigned a surprised expression. "What was that?"

    Qin Ye felt as if a starving wolf were standing behind him with its ws resting on his shoulders. Its gnarly tongue was alsopping at his neck.

    At the same time, the ]sound of Ye Xianzu''s moving adam''s apple could be clearly heard. This was an extremely eerie sensation, and back then, Qin Ye would''ve definitely broken into a cold sweat.

    Ye Xianzu was pressed up tightly against him as he repeated, "Delicious."

    Qin Ye looked into the water jug.

    There was no reflection of anyone else aside from himself, yet Ye Xianzu was standing behind him at this very moment, and he knew that Ye Xianzu was using the word "delicious" to describe him.

    He was referring to Qin Ye''s flesh as a virgin boy.

    He feigned a fearful expression as he shuddered, then abruptly turned around and pressed his own back against the wall as he asked, "Do you want us to lead you up the mountain, Mr. Ye?"

    "That''s right," Ye Xianzu replied with a smile. "Rest assured, we won''t do anything. All we want is to visit the Taoist temple, and all you need to do is lead the way so that we can follow you to the temple."

    His bright red tongue extended out of his mouth as he licked his own lips, and Qin Ye could clearly see that a bamboo batten inside his body was controlling his tongue.

    "How do we lead the way? Aren''t you worried that your group will be separated?"

    Theoretically speaking, that group of "people" should''ve been gathered around their tour guide in fear of being separated from the group. After all, that ruined temple was located deep in the mountain.

    Qin Ye recalled that it was close to 1 PM when he ate the Taisui fungus.

    It would take close to an hour of walking to get to the Taoist temple, and this was apletely undeveloped mountain. Thus, without someone leading the way, it would be very easy to get lost in there and starve to death.

    Of course, Qin Ye was aware that these people didn''t need eyes. Instead, they could rely on their natural sensitivity toward blood and flesh.

    However, that brought about another question, which was why they were standing so far away.

    Furthermore, after consuming the Taisui fungus, his grandfather had immediately forced him to return home, unwilling to listen to any of his objections. As soon as he returned home, he was ovee by a rush of dizziness, and by the time he woke up, it was already the next day.

    That meant that this group of evil ghosts hadn''t devoured them.

    In that case, what was their target? The Taoist temple or the Taisui fungus?

    Regardless of what their target was, there should''ve been no way for him and his grandfather to have survived this ordeal.

    What exactly had happened following his departure from the mountain?

    With that in mind, an extremely absurd thought arose in his mind, one that made his skin crawl.

    Was his grandfather actually dead?!

    At the time, he had discovered his grandfather''s body, and he had buried the body himself. However, was that really his grandfather''s body? Was he really dead?

    As a Yama-King, there were countless ways that he could replicate a corpse that would fool the average person, so was it actually his grandfather''s corpse that he had seen at the time?

    Perhaps that question could be answered during this trial of inner demons.

    "You don''t need to worry about that," Ye Xianzu said with a smile before gently patting Qin Ye on the head, then turned to depart.

    Qin Ye stood beside the water jug, watching the group of mourners in silence.

    "A corpseherding technique is being used here." His eyes narrowed slightly as he mused, "Ye Xianzu is the only true evil ghost among them. Where have I heard this name before? A name that I can recall must be connected to a major event, but I can''t recall what it is..."

    Soon, the bowl of soup was ready, and on this asion, Qin Ye didn''t refuse it. After finishing the soup, he immediately made his way over to his grandfather''s side before holding firmly onto his hand.

    Qin Zhongguo smiled as he gave Qin Ye''s hand a gentle pat, then took a deep breath before walking over to Ye Xianz. "Mr. Ye."

    This was already a scene that Qin Ye had never witnessed before. If this were a game, then this would be the equivalent of discovering one of the hidden branches in the storyline.

    It was closely connected to the main storyline, but it was extremely difficult to uncover. Back then, Qin Zhongguo most likely didn''t want Qin Ye to worry, which was why he hadmunicated with these people on his own.

    Even though this was something that he had never seen before, the trial of inner demons was still ongoing. Did this mean that he could continue to uncover these mysteries as long as he didn''t stray away from the "main storyline"?

    In that case, what was difficult about this trial?

    He certainly wasn''t a masochist, so he really wanted to get out of this heart-wrenching trial, but the Heavenly Dao had told him that this trial was invincible, yet it didn''t seem difficult at all!

    Of course, it was extremely painful to experience these memories again, given what he knew now, but it was certainly far from unbearable.

    With these questions in his mind, he was already prepared to unleash his Yin energy at any moment as he followed the group up the mountain path.

    Right at the foot of the mountain, Ye Xianzu stopped before turning to Qin Ye and his grandfather. "You two go on ahead, we''ll follow you."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. Following the reset of the trial of inner demons, he had already performed some experiments, even taking a risk to converse with Ye Xianzu with a short while. However, that didn''t mean that he wanted to perform these experiments. Instead, he had only done what he had to.

    If he were to perform aimless experiments without establishing boundaries for himself, there was a very good chance that he could fail the trial again at any moment. The main thing that he was unsure of at this moment was whether there was a limit on the number of times he could take this trail.

    Qin Zhongguo paused momentarily before speaking. "We''ll only wait for half an hour on the mountain, and you need to give me the food stamps right now."

    He extended a hand as he spoke.

    "No problem at all," Ye Xianzu said as he handed over the food stamps with that perpetual smile on his face.

    Qin Zhongguo epted the food stamps, then gritted his teeth before putting on a serious expression that Qin Ye had never seen before. "Make sure you follow along closely and don''t go wandering off on your own. Legend has it that there are some... unspeakable things on this mountain, and all of us experienced explorers of this mountain know about them."

    Ye Xianzu smile widened even further, as if it were about to stretch from ear to ear, and he nodded in response. "Alright."

    Unspeakable things? There were unspeakable things standing right in front of them!

    After receiving a response, Qin Zhongguo didn''t waste any further time. He bowed his body like a spring, and despite his advanced age, his body was full of incredible vitality. Qin Ye was quite surprised to see this. In his memories, he had never seen Qin Zhongguo disy this side to himself.

    "Take a good look, Dogballs." His murky eyes had suddenly be bright and piercing, and even though he was carrying Qin Ye on his back, his body shot forth like a speeding arrow.

    Qin Ye''s mouth gaped open slightly in surprise. At this moment, Qin Zhongguo was holding a ball of red yarn, and he was running in a very unique way.

    As soon as his front foot came into contact with the ground, he immediately sprang back up into the air like a spring. Furthermore, there were no holes in his defense at all even as he was moving. Regardless of which direction a potential attack came from, he would be perfectly positioned to evade it.

    This was definitely not something that a normal old man would be capable of!

    Qin Ye turned to Qin Zhongguo with a stunned expression, and Qin Zhongguo seemed to have felt his gaze. "Do you know why I never took you up to the mountain?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in a mechanical manner.

    Never did he think that his closest family member in this world, the one who had raised him, would have been hiding this facet to himself all along!

    If it weren''t for this trial of inner demons, he would still bepletely oblivious to this!

    "I am a mountain runner," Qin Zhongguo said with a resigned smile. "If it isn''t for these special circumstances, I would''ve never returned to this line of work for the rest of my life. This mountain is hiding far too many secrets. It''s not as simple a ce as it looks, and people like us specialize in unraveling its secrets. However, the more we find out, the more we realize just how cruel this world is."

    Then why are you revealing all this to me this time?

    Qin Zhongguo seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and he smiled as he said, "Dogballs, remember this: no matter what happenster, go back home and don''t turn around. Once you''re home, you''ll be safe."

    He was like a sly old fox. His body was no longer as strong and fast as it was during his youth, but he made up for that with his vast experience. He turned around and took a wary look at the people following along behind them as he continued, "Those things... are not human!"

    Qin Ye was stunned to hear that his grandfather was aware of this all along.

    "There is no Taoist temple on this mountain! What you think is the Taoist temple is actually an ancient tomb! Haven''t you noticed that only children dare to go there? No one who''s older or has lost their virginity dares to go there!"

 Chapter 1120: Trial of Inner Demons (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1120: Trial of Inner Demons (4)</h4>

    Qin Ye was truly astonished.

    This second round of the trial of inner demons had shown him far too many things that he had been oblivious to in the past.

    As it turned out, evil ghosts had visited their vige and conversed with his grandfather. The reason his grandfather had gone up the mountain a second time was for those food stamps, and he knew all along that those things weren''t humans! However, he still took a risk, all in a bid to feed his beloved grandson.

    Also, the Taoist temple that he was familiar with was actually an ancient tomb!

    These evil ghosts had visited the ancient tomb, yet for some reason, they hadn''t devoured Qin Ye and his grandfather...

    All of these revtions hadpletely smashed his original memory of this event into pieces, and everything was progressing in apletely different direction!

    Would it just be a different process leading to the same oue, or would it produce apletely different oue as well?

    Qin Ye didn''t know what to expect.

    Right at this moment, Qin Zhongguo seemed to have sensed something, and he smiled as he said, "I''m not as good as I used to be, so I can only just barely carry you as I run."

    He was releasing red yarn from the ball in his hand as he traveled up the mountain. Qin Ye knew that the same thing had most likely happened back then as well, but his grandfather had concealed this very well, so he didn''t notice.

    It was summer at that point in time, and the temperatures surrounding the mountain were quite high.

    In his youth, Qin Ye would run to the "Taoist temple" whenever he felt hot as it was very cool there.

    Now that he knew what he did, thatforting coolness suddenly became extremely eerie and sinister!

    Not long after they began to scale the mountain, Qin Ye had already surreptitiously swept his gaze through his surroundings many times. In the past, he was oblivious to all of this, but in his current form, he was able to see that the entire mountain was riddled with Yin spirits, numbering in the tens of thousands!

    This was definitely not a normal sight on what was supposed to be a deserted mountain!

    Furthermore, these Yin spirits weren''tpletely devoid of sentient will. Instead, they were kneeling and kowtowing toward the same direction, as if they were the most devout followers of some religion.

    What on earth is going on here?

    Qin Ye''s mind was racing rapidly.

    We never encountered any supernatural events on the mountain, yet there are so many Yin spirits here. Also, why didn''t the nearby branches of the Special Investigations Department discover this? And who are these Yin spirits kneeling down to?

    He could clearly sense that Ye Xianzu and the other evil ghosts were only several hundred meters behind them.

    The plot was only continuing to thicken, and more leads were required for him to unravel this mystery, so he would just have to wait and watch the situation unfold.

    The deeper they ventured into the mountain, the lower the air temperature became. As they approached the tomb, it was no longer just pleasantly cool anymore. Instead, there was an eerie chill in the air.

    The shadows of the surrounding trees were like sinister wraiths, and the forest was far too quiet, so quiet that it waspletely devoid of the cries of insects, birds, and other animals.

    It was as silent as a cemetery.

    However, in the eyes of Qin Ye, not only was this forest notpletely deserted, there was a terrifying number of beings here.

    There were tens of thousands of Yin spirits gathered in this area alone!

    The Yin spirits near the foot of the mountain were all dressed in different attire, but the Yin spirits here were all dressed in apletely uniform manner. They were all wearing the same white robes, kneeling toward the same direction with their foreheads resting against the ground, presenting a bone-chilling sight to behold.

    After advancing another 500 meters, Qin Ye''s expression changed ever so slightly as he involuntarily tugged on his grandfather''s clothes.

    Right in front of them was a crimson line that seemed to have separated Yin and Yang, splitting up the entire forest.

    It was aplex Yin rune inscribed using the blood of some type of unknown creature, and Qin Ye was immediately able to identify that this was a Yin rune of an extremely high caliber, at least belonging to the eighth circle or above!

    There were also countless kneeling Yin spirits beyond the crimson line, but they were wearing ck robes instead of white, and all of them were kneeling toward none other than that ruined "Taoist temple"!

    A breeze suddenly blew through the area, causing the leaves of the surrounding trees to rustle incessantly in an eerie symphony.

    Amid the deathly silence, the faint rustling made one feel extremely on-edge, and that applied even to Qin Ye as he knew that the Taisui fungus was most likely going to emerge very soon.

    "Do you feel it as well?" Qin Zhongguo suddenly stopped just short of the crimson line, and it was unclear whether this was a coincidence or not.

    "As expected, virgin boys and girls are naturally able to sense this thing," he sighed as he pulled out a jade pendant, and only then did he carefully step over the crimson line.

    At the same time, all of the ck-robed Yin spirits kneeling in front of the Taoist temple turned around at the same time, staring at the two of them with their deathly pale faces.

    There was still no sound whatsoever.

    Qin Zhongguo waspletely oblivious to the fact that all of the Yin spirits around them had turned to look at them. He carefully made his way through this congregation of the dead, and with each step he took, theherfire in the eyes of the ck-robed Yin spirits would flicker slightly. Several secondster, the entire mountain was already filled with shingherfire and eerie Yin energy.

    It was close to noon at this moment, which was the time of day when Yang energy was at its peak, yet there was an extremely invasive chill permeating through the air.

    However, Qin Ye paid no heed to that. In the instant that they stepped over the crimson line, he raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.

    Ye Xianzu had been deathly silent during this entire trip, yet just now, his Yin energy had suddenly fluctuated slightly.

    He wasn''t the only one, the Yin energy of the entire group was fluctuating violently. Furthermore, all of the white-robed Yin spirits wearing white, pointed hats raised their heads in unison, turning toward Qin Ye''s duo with greedy expressions.

    A hint of enlightenment shed through Qin Ye''s eyes as he finally realized what their role was.

    Are we supposed to be the minesweepers? Ye Xianzu most likely knows that something is about to happen here, but he doesn''t know if there''s going to be any danger involved, so he used those food stamps to lure Grandpa into this ce first. The Yin energy here is extremely dense, a normal living person wouldn''t even be able to spend an hour here. Just the Yin energy alone will be enough for them to automatically open their infernal eyes and see some things that they shouldn''t see. At the time, Grandpa consumed the Taisui fungus... How long did he stay here after that?

    Qin Ye had no answers to these questions. However, he had fallen into a slumber for an entire day after consuming the Taisui fungus, so his grandfather had to have remained there for quite some time as well.

    With that in mind, his hands involuntarily balled up into tight fists.

    Perhaps Grandpa isn''t dead! The possibility of that is very low, but if he did die, the cause of death would most likely have been due to the corruption of the Yin energy here, making him unable to resist the effects of the Taisui fungus! In that case, all of these Yin spirits would''ve contributed to his death!

    A sense of burning hatred welled up in Qin Ye''s heart alongside these thoughts. He was a fair and conscientious ruler, but his grandfather was his only rtive in this world, and when it came to him, there was nothing that Qin Ye wouldn''t do.

    However, this wasn''t the time to be considering these things as the Taisui fungus was about to emerge.

    He raised his head to look up at the sky. Whenever the Taisui fungus appeared, the first thing to undergo a change would be the sky.

    Qin Zhongguo seemed to have sensed something, and he looked around with a wary expression. Unbeknownst to him, the countless Yin spirits around them had already risen to their feet. Several ck-robed women with deathly pale faces and inky-ck long hair had already approached Qin Zhongguo until they were no more than a meter apart, and they had all taken a deep breath in unison.

    They were preparing to blow out Qin Zhongguo''s three fires of life!

    Qin Ye was holding onto Qin Zhongguo''s hand as tightly as he could, and never had he felt the passage of time to be so slow and torturous. Right at this moment, all of the Yin spirits looked up into the sky in unison before letting loose silent screams.

    Gusts of bone-chilling Yin wind instantly swept through the area.

    In that instant, all of the clouds in the sky rapidly converged toward the center in a scene reminiscent of a sci-fi film. Half of the sun was concealed, while the other half was still exposed, creating an eerie Yin Yang diagram in the sky.

    The entire forest had be as dark as night, and specks ofherfire rose up into the sky, resembling stars in the night sky.

    Qin Zhongguo reflexively threw his arms around Qin Ye to shield him.

    He couldn''t see the surroundingherfire, but it was naturally extremely disturbing to him that day had suddenly transitioned into night.

    He was instantly ovee by the fear of the unknown, and the first thing that he should''ve done in this situation was to flee for his life, but he didn''t move.

    Right in front of them, a beam of sunlight that was only around as thick as a human arm had shone down right onto the stone que in front of the Taoist temple with unerring uracy.

    This was a damaged stone que that had already been standing for countless years, and even the text engraved upon it had bepletely illegible. However, what was very strange was that there wasn''t any vegetation growing on it, and right at this moment, a flower bud grew out of the stone que.

    It was the Taisui fungus!

    Qin Ye was biting down onto his own lower lip with such force that he was almost drawing blood. This was an extremely nostalgic scene, one that had changed his entire life.

    He was already mentally prepared for this, but now that it had arrived, he still couldn''t help but be ovee with emotion.

    He turned to Qin Zhongguo with a despairing expression and opened his mouth in silence, but didn''t say anything in the end.

    He had to look ahead.

    The fate of one of the four pirs was resting on his shoulders, and he couldn''t afford to lose himself in past memories. All of the nations in the entire underworld were looking to him as a world leader, and he had heavy burdens and responsibilities that he had to carry. He was no longer the youngd running his coffin shop without a care in the world.

    The Harken, Zhao Yun, the second King Yanluo... All of them were waiting for him to return.

    Thus, he didn''t say anything.

    The flower on the stone que was very strange in that it resembled both flesh and nt matter. Its petals were presented inyers, and it was around a foot in size. Under the illumination of the sunlight, it bloomed further and further, and at the center, a fist-sized stamen that resembled a human face was bing clearer and clearer.

    As the Taisui fungus emerged, its flower petals gradually turned from a light blue color to a crimson color, and the human face at its center was continuing to be clearer and clearer, making it look as if a person were about to emerge from the stamen.

    Right at this moment, Qin Zhongguo stepped forward before shooting through the air like a speeding arrow.

    At the same time, all of the Yin spirits present turned toward Qin Zhongguo in unison. Their mouths opened up as wide as they would go, and theherfire in their eyes erupted into the sky as they pounced toward Qin Zhongguo without any hesitation.

    All of a sudden, a sound that waspletely inaudible to the human ear rang out, and all of the Yin spirits were rooted to the spot before their heads swiveled around 180 degrees, casting their eyes toward the direction they hade from.

    Ye Xianzu was standing there, and he was holding a flute made out of a human bone as he heaved a faint sigh. "It really does work..."

    He was standing quite far away from Qin Zhongguo, so Qin Zhongguo was unable to hear what he was saying. At this point, he had already rushed over to the stone que, and his chest was heaving violently from excitement as he made a grab for the human face at the center of the flower.

    The sunlight was bing dimmer and dimmer, yet the surrounding area was bing clearer and clearer. However, right as Qin Zhongguo''s hand was about toe into contact with the human face, it suddenly stopped cold in its tracks.

    He then turned to look at Qin Ye with a stunned expression, and he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the next instant, he dissipated into a cloud of Yin energy.

    Immediately thereafter, the entire illusion began to disintegrate.

    A gust of Yin wind swept past Qin Ye, and he returned to his adult form once again. His eyes were tightly shut, and one of his hands was clenched into a tight fist, while the other hand was still frozen in a grabbing motion, even though it was no longer holding back Qin Zhongguo.

    "You win." He heaved a forlorn sigh. "I lost."

    He was unable to hold himself back in the end.

    He knew that this would be the consequence of his actions, but what if it could work? He didn''t want to pass up this chance, no matter how slim it was.

    What if time really had been reversed, and he was able to stop the past from unfolding?

    He didn''t care about immortality, all he wanted was to return to those days.

    Thus, in the instant that Qin Zhongguo reached out, he reflexively also reached out to hold Qin Zhongguo back.

 Chapter 1121: Eye (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1121: Eye (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye stared at his own hand in an absentminded manner, and only after a long while did he lower it back to his side. He knew that even if he were given another chance, he would make the same choice.

    The entire world fell silent again. The trial of inner demons was like an infinite cycle, and after each failure, the time before the next reset was filled with nothing but silence and darkness.

    Qin Ye couldn''t afford to waste this time. The rules of the trial of inner demons werepletely unclear, so he had to find them himself, and time was of the essence.

    "Everything that I experience during the trial has already happened, so the events are not to be altered. Any attempts to alter or dy the events will result in the failure of the trial. Everything beyond that seems to be tolerated."

    A contemtive look appeared on his face.

    It seemed to be quite simple, but Qin Ye didn''t allow himself to growcent. ording to the Heavenly Dao, this was supposed to be an invincible divine art, and at the moment, it seemed too easy.

    Impulsive urges struck everyone from time to time, but once the lesson was learned, one would be able to exercise restraint. He was certain that the next time this happened, he would be able to keep himself from interfering.

    His actions just now were a farewell to his past, an act of defiance toward the powerlessness of his past self, and a way of honoring the memory of his grandfather.

    However, as the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, his status and his responsibilities meant that he had to implement a policy of mind over matter.

    He heaved a forlorn sigh as the face and voice of his grandfather began to surface in his mind again. All of a sudden, his expression changed drastically, and he looked around in a stunned manner.

    He discovered that he couldn''t recall his grandfather''s face anymore!

    Not only that, but he couldn''t recall any of his experiences from his childhood!

    Aside from details like his name and where he was born, he had no recollection of anything that had happened to him prior to 15 years of age!

    Ayer of goosebumps instantly appeared over his skin as he looked up with an incredulous expression. "Is this what a divine art is capable of?"

    The trial of inner demons was finally baring its fangs!

    "There''s no limit to the number of times the trial can be repeated as there''s no need for that! The price paid for each failure is memories!" A grim look appeared on his face as he mused, "I''ve only been alive for less than 130 years, and I don''t know if the amount of memories that''ll be erased next time will increase. If we assume the worst-case scenario and say that twice the amount of memories will be lost next time, then..."

    He would only have three more chances left at most!

    Assuming the worst-case scenario, he would lose 30 years worth of memories next time, then 60 years of memories after that, and if he were to fail for a third time, even if he could find the key to passing this trial, he wouldn''t be able to remember it!

    Thus, after that, each time that he entered the trial of inner demons would be equivalent to entering it for the first time, thereby making the trial impossible to pass! That would create an infinite, inescapable loop, and he would truly be lost for all of eternity!

    At this moment, he was like a man standing alone amidst a pack of wolves in the night, and if he were to suffer even the slightestpse in concentration, the countless wolves around him would instantly pounce on him and tear him to shreds.

    "So I have three more chances at most." Cold sweat was flowing down his face, and he was wringing his hands together tightly. Before he knew it, the wolf pack had already bared their fangs, and only now did he sense its presence.

    What could he do?

    He still didn''t know what had happened after the emergence of the Taisui fungus, and that was most likely the key to this trial of inner demons. The problem was that he wasn''t confident in his ability to clear the rest of the trial in a single attempt.

    If he were to fail again, even if he were to only lose another 15 years of memories, he would be unable to recall that he had once consumed the Taisui fungus! That would result in the loss of his only advantage, and things would only spiral further and further out of control from there.

    He had already been forced into a corner.

    However, before he had a chance to think about anything else, the surrounding space suddenly blurred once again, and beams of white light pierced through the darkness.

    The third trial of inner demons was about to begin!

    "Why has ite so soon?!" Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly as the familiar rush of dizziness washed over him, and as soon as the dizziness faded, he immediately opened his eyes.

    Sure enough, he was lying on the straw bed once again.

    "Grandpa isn''t here, so he''s on the way back. If I leave the house now, I''ll run into Ye Xianzu." All of the leads that he had thus far quickly shed through his mind, and he decided not to get out of the bed on this asion.

    He only had close to an hour until he and his grandfather set off for the mountain again.

    He had to find a solution during this time, and he couldn''t allow anything to dy his thoughts.

    If he couldn''t think of a solution here, then he would lose even more memories. That would make him unable to recall what had happened during this point in his life, and everything would be aplete blur in his mind. If he had a 50% chance of passing the trial of inner demons in his current state, then that probability would drop to below 10% if he were to fail again!

    How could he get himself out of this predicament?

    His mind had never raced as quickly as it was doing now. Soon, he heard the sound of his grandfather speaking with someone outside, which meant that he had already met Ye Xianzu and was about toe in.

    Qin Ye''s fists were clenched tightly as he frantically thought of his own advantages, which were immortality and the ability to see supernatural things. How could those advantages help him in this situation?

    Countless thoughts were shing through his mind one after another, and all of a sudden, his pupils contracted slightly as he thought of a certain person.

    It was Lee Jung-sook.

    She had lost her memories at least six times in the past, yet she was still her current self.

    What she had done was...

    Qin Ye immediately jumped out of bed, then rushed into the kitchen and picked up a sickle before swiping it toward his own arm.

    However, right as the sickle''s de was about toe into contact with his skin, he was unable to force it down any further!

    He gritted his teeth tightly as he forced the sickle downward with all his might, yet there seemed to be an imcable, invisible force that was keeping his hand aloft, preventing him from implementing his n.

    He immediately tossed the sickle aside, then gathered some Yin energy at his fingertip before swiping it toward his own arm again.

    However, in the instant the Yin energy came into contact with his skin, it immediately dissipated.

    A frustrated look appeared on his face as he rubbed his own arm viciously and cursed under his own breath.

    The inability to record his own memories in any way, shape, or form, was most likely another rule imposed on him by the trial of inner demons.

    Thus, it seemed that the trial of inner demons only had two rules:

    Number 1: any attempt to alter the events in this memory will result in failure.

    Number 2: all attempts made to record memories will be rendered ineffective.

    It seemed to be very simple, but thebination of the two rules and the punishment for failure created a dilemma with no solution!

    "Dogballs! What are you doing?!" Qin Zhongguo''s panicked voice suddenly rang out, jerking Qin Ye out of his reverie. He turned to discover Qin Zhongguo staring at him with a stunned expression. He was holding his own wrist with a sickle on the ground beside him, so it was no wonder that Qin Zhongguo was so rmed.

    "Nothing." An unnatural smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "I was a little hungry, and I wanted to see if there was some food."

    He knew that his grandfather had thought of something just now, but there was no reason for him tomit suicide, so he could easily make up a lie and gloss over the situation.

    Sure enough, Qin Zhongguo didn''t ask any further questions. Instead, he heaved a faint sigh as he patted Qin Ye''s head with a loving expression. "Things will get better... Come on, I just picked some wild vegetables, let''s have a good meal."

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly as he watched Qin Zhongguo get to work.

    He didn''t want to give up!

    He didn''t have absolute confidence that he would be able to pass this trial of inner demons on this attempt, so he had to record his own memories!

    He took a deep breath and put on a calm facade as he said, "Grandpa, do you have a pen? I suddenly thought of some things that I want to record."

    If he couldn''t record the memories himself, could he get someone else to record them for him?

    If he were to see those records upon entering the trial of inner demons again, would he be able to recollect everything?

    "I don''t." Qin Zhongguo turned around with a perplexed expression. "We''ve never had anything like that... Can''t you get a few branches from outside and carve whatever it is you want to record onto the wall? Isn''t that what we''ve always done? Let''s have a good meal first, you need food to fuel your growing body."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly as he realized that this n wouldn''t work.

    If he were to ask his grandfather to make those records, he would definitely agree, but that would dy the timing of their trip up the mountain. The Taisui fungus only appeared for less than three minutes, and any dy would result in a failure of the trial again.

    What could he do?

    He ran his hands through his own hair in frustration as he desperately tried to think of a solution.

    He couldn''t make the records, nor could his grandfather... Could he ask Ye Xianzu to do it?

    That wouldn''t work, either! If he told Ye Xianzu everything, thetter would just ruin everything for him!

    What exactly happened in that Taoist temple after he consumed the Taisui fungus?

    Ye Xianzu was definitely one of the core figures involved!

    Who else could he ask?

    Who else could make those records for him? Alternatively, was there another way out?

    The room fellpletely silent, and the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the firewood from the kitchen. However, this was an extremely stressful silence, and he felt as if he could hear a countdown timer ticking down incessantly.

    After some time, Qin Zhongguo emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of soup. "Come and have some food, Dogballs. Once you drink this soup, you won''t be hungry anymore..."

    His voice abruptly cut off there.

    Having raised Qin Ye since he was a child, he was naturally familiar with Qin Ye''s personality. He was a growing young man who was constantly ravenous, yet at this moment, he waspletely absorbed in his own thoughts, disying no interest in the food, and it was clear that whatever was on his mind was quite serious.

    He heaved a faint sigh as he set down the bowl, then made his way over to Qin Ye''s side before patting him on the shoulder. "It''s a good thing that you want to pursue an education, but we have to fill our stomachs so we have the energy to do things. The people in the city are using... I think they''re called fountain pens. We can''t afford those, but I can perhaps buy you a pencil or two. Be a good boy and have some food first. Tomorrow, I''ll try and catch a fat rabbit and see if I can trade it for some pencils in the city."

    He was just about to continue persuading Qin Ye when Qin Ye abruptly turned to look at him with a gleam in his eyes.

    Even though he had been transported back in time, he still retained his memories and his powers. In that case, there was something else that he could use to achieve his goal!

    With that in mind, he nodded in response, and as his grandfather left the room to speak with Ye Xianzu, he made a grabbing motion, upon which a silver pen appeared in his grasp.

    It was Fate!

 Chapter 1122: Eye (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1122: Eye (2)</h4>

    In the instant that Fate appeared, Qin Ye instantly rushed into his own room before closing the door.

    He injected his Yin energy into Fate, and the golden soul in the shaft of Fate instantly began to dance in a joyful manner. ck Yin energy was converted into a drop of golden ink on the tip of Fate, following which it flew up before gently descending toward Qin Ye''s arm, even though Qin Ye wasn''t directly holding onto it.

    Fate was going to record his memories for him!

    However, it still didn''t work. Right as Fate was about toe into contact with his skin, that same burst of invisible power appeared to stop it cold in its tracks.

    However, Qin Ye wasn''t frustrated or dismayed by this. This was just an initial test, and there were other tests that he could perform.

    As soon as the intention of recording his memories appeared in his mind, the Heavenly Dao would sense it and stop what he was doing. In that case, what if he did this?

    He licked his lips and cast his gaze toward Fate, then closed his eyes.

    Only after a full five minutes did he reopen his eyes, and he grabbed onto Fate before bringing it downward.

    On this asion, the cold tip of the pen was able to make contact with his arm, and he quickly wrote down the word "I".

    There was no resistance, and Qin Ye wasn''t surprised at all by this.

    He realized that he may have discovered the only cheat code in this impregnable fortress!

    Right at this moment, Qin Zhongguo re-entered the room. His expression remained unchanged, and he gently patted Qin Ye''s head as he said, "Dogballs, I have to make another trip up the mountain."

    It was the exact same scene with the exact same dialog, but the oue was going to change depending on the decision that he made. Even though Qin Ye knew that this was an illusion, it felt extremely realistic, and he pursed his lips as he nodded in response.

    Let me see if this trial is truly as invincible as the Heavenly Dao proims it to be!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Once again, Qin Zhongguo was racing through the mountain with Qin Ye in tow. Several hundred meters behind them was the group led by Ye Xianzu, all of whom were following along with ease.

    They were traveling through a deste mountain, heading toward a ruined Taoist temple with evil ghosts following along closely behind them. If any normal young man were in Qin Ye''s shoes here, they would''ve most likely already fainted from horror.

    The chilling wind was causing the canopies of the surrounding trees to rustle incessantly, and Qin Ye allowed himself to be led by Qin Zhongguo toward the Taoist temple. With the experience that he had umted from the previous two failures, he knew not to do anything excessive.

    However, invisible to everyone else was a silver pen, which was flying along beside Qin Ye like a butterfly, inscribing lines of invisible text onto his arm. Despite this, the Heavenly Dao did nothing to intervene.

    There are only 20 more minutes left at most...

    Qin Ye''s hands were balled up into tight fists, and his heart was thumping rapidly from excessive tension.

    On this asion, he wasn''t going to stop his grandfather from consuming the Taisui fungus.

    He had to let go of the past, rather than be devoured by it. If he didn''t look ahead, then his life would be destined to be a failure, and he couldn''t afford to fail given the heavy responsibilities on his shoulders.

    Never had he been this desperate to uncover the truth behind something.

    Right as the Taoist temple appeared in his field of view, Qin Ye finally heaved a long sigh of relief, and Fate shuddered slightly in mid-air before vanishing into Yin energy.

    He hadpleted his records!

    Qin Ye took a deep breath to forcibly restore some calm into his mind.

    He didn''t dare to rx as he still wasn''t sure whether this method was feasible. Just because the Heavenly Dao hadn''t interfered didn''t mean that he had seeded. Perhaps this was destined to fail, so the Heavenly Dao felt no need to intervene.

    Thus, he wasn''t going to pass up any opportunity to gather more information.

    It was still the exact same scene asst time. The mountain was riddled with kneeling Yin spirits, and for the third time, he witnessed day transitioning into night, following which the flower emerged from the stone que.

    As Qin Zhongguo reached out for the Taisui fungus, he merely closed his eyes, even though his body was trembling uncontrobly.

    At the same time, his Yin energy had swelled to a peak.

    Everything that happened from this point onward would bepletely new to him, and it was also the inner demon that had troubled him for over 100 years.

    Qin Zhongguo was staring at the flower with an incredulous expression as he gently picked off the stamen while murmuring to himself, "I heard from an old senior that there''s a flower that grows from stone, and that eating the flower will grant immortality! Is that actually true?"

    Qin Ye forced himself not to look at Qin Zhongguo. He was afraid that if he were to look, his impulsive urges would overwhelm him once again.

    There was something else more important that he had to do, and he couldn''t afford to fall at the same hurdle twice.

    He was going to conduct a very risky experiment.

    His fingers moved ever so slightly, and Fate appeared in his grasp again as he said in a low voice, "Grandpa, there are strangers nearby."

    He had definitely heard the name Ye Xianzu before, and it had to be a name that was connected to an extremely important event. Otherwise, there was no way that it would''ve imed a ce in his memory.

    He wanted to see if he could figure out who this man was. The Taisui fungus had already been secured, and he wasn''t going to stop his grandfather from consuming it. However, perhaps he could use it to exchange for the information that he wanted.

    He had already released his consciousness throughout the area, and he could see that Ye Xianzu''s eyes had abruptly lit up as soon as the Taisui fungus appeared.

    It was clear that he recognized the Taisui fungus.

    However, what Qin Zhongguo said next struck a sense of incredulity directly into Qin Ye''s heart. "Those aren''t strangers. They''re my... fellow Taoists."

    Qin Ye looked up at Qin Zhongguo with a stunned expression. Firstly, the trial of inner demons hadn''t stopped here, so his theory was correct.

    The first two failures had been a result of his actions, which had prevented the Taisui fungus from being secured.

    However, things were different now.

    The Taisui fungus had already been secured, and the probability of attaining immortality from consuming the Taisui fungus wasn''t going to be altered by the timing of consumption. Thus, he didn''t fail the trial of inner demons.

    However, even more importantly, his grandfather seemed to be familiar with these people.

    He stared at Qin Zhongguo with a dazed expression, and a name suddenly popped into his mind.

    It was a name that had disappeared in the sands of time, the name of Cathay''s number one cult!

    Qin Zhongguo lowered his head with a slightly ashamed expression as he gently patted Qin Ye''s head. "They are my fellow Taoists from the Yiguandao."

    It really is the Yiguandao!

    Qin Ye took a few steps backward as he stared at Qin Zhongguo with a stunned expression, then turned back to look at Ye Xianzu, who was standing several hundred meters away.

    Yiguandao was the number one cult in Cathay, and it had run rampant in Cathay for over half a century!

    Its origins could be traced back to thete Qing Dynasty, and it was at the height of its powers in the 1940s. Essentially, it was a doomsday cult, stating that the end of the world was imminent, and that the only way to survive that tribtion would be to follow the teachings of the Yiguandao.

    Back in the 1940s, it had a total of over 300,000 followers in the capital city alone, and there were even more followers of the Yiguandao in all other cities across the nation.

    Back when it was in its heyday, it had been powerful enough topete with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party! None of the cults that emerged in Cathay after the Yiguandao were able to achieve anywhere near the same level of power and sess!

    The Yiguandao only suffered its demise in maind Cathay in 1950, after the People''s Republic of Cathay had been founded. At the time, the government took advantage of a meeting between the Yiguandao''s most important leaders in the capital city,shing out in full force to arrest all of the cult''s important figures.

    He should''ve thought of this earlier. He had never heard of the upation of "mountain runner" before, nor had ever seen the strange method of movement that his grandfather was using to travel up the mountain. There was no way that he could''ve attained this method of movement without learning it from somewhere.

    No wonder his grandfather was extremely reluctant to leave the vige and go to the city. At the time of this memory, it was the year 1956, and the purge of the Yiguandao several years ago was still clear in everyone''s memories. Members of the Yiguandao were still being actively hunted down and arrested, so it was extremely risky for his grandfather to venture into the more developed areas of the nation.

    As for Ye Xianzu, Qin Ye finally recalled who he was.

    There were 10 major supernatural events in Cathay''s history, most of which were just tall tales that were blown way out of proportion, and one of those events just so happened to have something to do with Ye Xianzu.

    That event took ce in none other than the year 1956, and it was the Lin Family Mansion incident.

    If he recalled correctly, this incident was going to take ce four or five months after the events of this memory. On that day, the local police station received a call from someone at the Lin Family Mansion, stating that they had killed someone.

    However, once the police arrived, they discovered that the Lin Family Mansion waspletely uninhabited. Right as they were about to leave, they heard a blood-curdling cry from inside, and upon breaking into the mansion, they discovered that the entire ce was filled with fresh blood, but there wasn''t anyone in there!

    At the time, this case had shaken the entire nation. However, that wasn''t why Qin Ye had such a strong impression of it. Instead, it was because he had seen this case in the Special Investigation Departments S-rank files!

    This meant that it wasn''t a hoax, and that a supernatural event really had taken ce there!

    The oue of the investigation stated on the file was: "The owner of the mansion, Ye Xianzu, is the suspected culprit, but no body was found."

    It seemed to be only an unfounded usation, but Qin Ye recalled that he had seen some records pertaining to Ye Xianzu on the file as well.

    Ye Xianzu was supposed to be 32 years of age, but ording to a hospital examination, he was already 87 years old. Furthermore, he was an empty shell of a man without any organs, whichpletely matched this Ye Xianzu''s current condition!

    What was even more extraordinary was that he disappeared not long after the medical examination.

    He had vanished from the face of the earth right under the noses of all of the public security departments!

    During the nationwide manhunt that followed, thest piece of information that was discovered about Ye Xianzu was that he had been living in this exact same mountain in close proximity to Qin Ye''s home! The residents of the vige at the time had confirmed that the photographs provided by the public security departments were photographs of Ye Xianzu, and he had already been living here for several decades! At the same time, it was verified that he was the "Master" of the Yiguandao that had managed to evade capture this entire time.

    The two most revered and high-ranking figures of the Yiguandao were the Master and the Mistress, which meant that Ye Xianzu was one of the two most powerful figures of the number one cult of Cathay!

    All of this information quickly flooded into Qin Ye''s mind, and it was a lot to process.

    As the plot continued to thicken, he discovered that he may as well have been blind back then!

    However, he quickly snapped out of his astonishment as more questions had surfaced in his mind.

    Who exactly was this Ye Xianzu, and what was he doing here? Also, who was the founder of the Yiguandao?

    Ye Xianzu wasn''t a human, he was an evil ghost. The fact that the Yiguandao had attained such a significant level of influence across the entire nation meant that it had to have had spies in the government working for it.

    They had to have seen Ye Xianzu at some point, and it was most likely also them who had identified Ye Xianzu to be Master in the end.

    In that case, why hadn''t the investigators of the Special Investigations Department managed to identify this?

    None of the Special Investigations Department''s files on Ye Xianzu stated that he was a Yin spirit. How had they been fooled by him?

    How had he managed to keep his identity a secret under the investigation of Infernal Judges and Abyssal Prefects? There had to be something extremely terrifying pulling the strings behind Ye Xianzu!

 Chapter 1123: Eye (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1123: Eye (3)</h4>

    "Are you alright, Dogballs?"

    Qin Zhongguoid a hand gently onto Qin Ye''s forehead with a concerned expression.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response, then cast aplex gaze toward his grandfather as he said, "You have some first, Grandpa."

    How many more secrets are you hiding from me, Grandpa?

    To Qin Zhongguo, the tale of the flower that grew from stone was only a myth, and he wasn''t sure if it was safe to eat, so he was happy to take the first bite in order to verify whether it was edible or not. Thus, he patted Qin Ye on the head again as he said with a warm smile, "Alright, I''ll eat it first."

    Qin Ye felt as if countless arrows had just pierced through his heart, and he lowered his head with a sorrowful expression. He was so saddened by this scene that even the shock of hearing that his grandfather was a follower of the Yiguandao wasn''t so potent anymore.

    Crunch...

    The sound of Qin Zhongguo eating half of the Taisui fungus rang out, and at the same time, Qin Ye took a deep breath before releasing his Yin energy to epass the entire mountain.

    Show me what happens after this! Let me see what I was unable to see all those years ago!

    He was certain that his Yin energy wouldn''t be detected by the surrounding low-grade Yin spirits, but strangely enough, in the instant that Qin Zhongguo consumed the Taisui fungus, all of the Yin surrounding Yin spirits were instantly rooted to the spot.

    Tens of thousands of Yin spirits turned in unison to stare intently at Qin Ye''s duo, following which they began to tremble, as if they were in fear of something.

    A gust of Yin wind blew through the area, causing the canopies of the surrounding trees to rustle incessantly, and amid the deathly silence, a sense of horror was slowly arising.

    Even the evil ghosts were shuddering in fear!

    Behind them, Ye Xianzu crouched down like a panther that could pounce at any moment, and he was holding a bell in his hand as he inspected the scene with a cautious expression.

    A muffled groan jerked Qin Ye out of his train of thought, and he reflexively cast his gaze toward Qin Zhongguo. At this point, Qin Zhongguo was already beginning to tremble slightly, and he was holding his head with his own hands as he moaned in agony.

    "Grandpa..." Tears began to well up in Qin Ye''s eyes, and he was biting down onto his own lower lip with such force that he was on the verge of drawing blood. Hetched onto the corner of Qin Zhongguo''s clothes and tugged on it helplessly.

    He knew what was going to happen next.

    For those who consumed the Taisui fungus, they were dancing on a precarious knife''s edge between heaven and hell.

    No response.

    The only sound that could be heard was Qin Zhongguo''s heavy panting, which was absolutely deafening, resembling the sound of several vintage cars starting up at once.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to this as he continued to gently tug on Qin Zhongguo''s clothes as he asked, "Are you alright?"

    In the next instant, a hand suddenly grabbed onto his hand.

    The hand belonged to Qin Zhongguo, and it didn''t even look like a human hand anymore.

    The entire hand was inky-ck in color, and wisps of Yin energy were seeping out of every single one of its pores. Its fingernails had turned green and had grown to over an inch in length, and the entire hand was covered in ck fur.

    Qin Zhongguo had his back facing Qin Ye, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Dogballs... Are you alright?"

    The Yin energy was entering his body...

    Qin Ye closed his eyes as tears began to silently flow down his face. He had thought that he was already mentally prepared to relive this scene, but only as it was unfolding before his eyes did hee to realize just how unprepared he was.

    "I''m... fine," he replied through tightly gritted teeth.

    Neither of them chose to face one another. They were standing so close to each other, yet it was as if they were separated by the entire world.

    Qin Ye was holding onto the corner of Qin Zhongguo''s clothes in a white-knuckled grip. He turned toward Qin Zhongguo as tears continued to flow down his face, and he asked in a strained voice, "Should we go home?"

    Qin Zhongguo seemed to be smiling, but his voice had be extremely sharp, and his entire body was trembling uncontrobly, as if he were trying to repress something with all his might.

    Finally, he shook his head in response.

    "Dogballs... Do you remember... what I said to you earlier?"

    Through his tear-filled eyes, Qin Ye could see that several gashes had appeared on the clothes on his grandfather''s back, revealing patches of inky-ck skin that were covered in ck fur.

    His body was swelling in size, and it was splitting his clothes apart.

    "I do," Qin Ye replied as he grabbed onto Qin Zhongguo''s inky-ck hand.

    "Good..." Qin Zhongguo''s voice was bing even more strained, and his trembling intensified as he said, "Go home right now! Once you get home... you''ll be safe. I''ll... go and find you soon..."

    He couldn''t refuse. If he were to refuse, then the preset sequence of events would be altered.

    He didn''t know when his grandfather hadpletely transformed into a Yin spirit. If he hadn''t left by the time that happened, then everything that took ce after this most likely wouldn''t eventuate. As a result, he would be adjudged to have failed the trial again.

    Qin Ye''s fingernails were already drawing blood from the center of his palm as he gritted his teeth tightly, then turned and departed the same way that he hade from.

    He rushed along the mountain path as quickly as he could, and he could see that Ye Xianzu and his group had drifted onto the branches of the trees on either side of the path as if they werepletely weightless.

    It was no wonder that he didn''t notice these people back then.

    A ruthless smile appeared on his face. He was going to kill them all!

    After rushing away for several hundred meters, he finally drew to a halt.

    His face was already smeared with tear streaks, and he wiped a trembling hand across his own face, then returned to the Taoist temple as a gust of Yin wind, situating himself right behind Ye Xianzu and his group.

    He paid no heed to them at all. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the Taoist temple, where a figure who was both familiar and alien to him was standing amid a vast expanse of Yin energy.

    Immediately thereafter, Qin Zhongguo''s agonized roar rang out across this entire mountain.

    He no longer resembled a human at all. His arms had be so long that they were resting on the ground, and his entire body hadpletely hunched over. His human skin had split open, revealing the stark, white bone of his skull, and a pair of bone spikes that resembled bull horns were growing out of his skull amid a gruesome cracking sound.

    His skin had already turned inky-ck in color, and a tail extended out of the back of his pants before mming heavily down onto the ground.

    A resounding boom rang out as a trench was smashed into the ground, and at this point, he had already swelled to over two meters tall. At the same time, two specks of whiteherfire had been ignited in his eyes.

    He had transformed into a mandrill...

    Qin Ye heaved a despairing sigh. He was extremely familiar with these low-grade ghostly beings.

    Right at this moment, several dozen figures in front of him shot forth like lightning.

    It was Ye Xianzu and his group of living dead.

    They reached out in unison, each releasing a hookedtch that flew through the air before urately striking the tree above Qin Zhongguo. Immediately thereafter, all of them drifted toward the tree as if they werepletely weightless.

    Ye Xianzu performed a somersault through the air beforending on two of the hooktches between the trees.

    A hand fan had appeared in his grasp, and he smiled as he asked, "How are you, Enforcer Qin?"

    Qin Ye''s hands balled up into tight fists as he cast a gaze that was filled with cold, vengeful fury toward Ye Xianzu.

    "It looks like Enforcer Qin is no longer capable of giving a reply. How unfortunate." Ye Xianzu heaved a faint sigh as he brandished his hand fan. "The esteemed Master Ye Xianzu of the Yiguandao is here in person! Surrender yourself to capture, foul beast!"

    Qin Ye remained still on the spot as he watched this scene unfold, and he was already beginning to rapidly analyze the situation.

    He had used Fate to record his memories, and the Heavenly Dao hadn''t prevented that, but he wasn''t sure that this would be guaranteed to seed. He could only say that it was theoretically sound, and he couldn''t pin all of his hopes onto that.

    He still had to perform further experiments to find the key to breaking this trial of inner demons wide open.

    "The trial of inner demons still hasn''t concluded yet, so there must be something else that I have to do to bring it to an end," he analyzed through gritted teeth. "Ye Xianzu and the others clearly bear ill will toward Grandpa, so either I kill them all to save Grandpa, or... I put an end to all of this myself."

    Mandrills were low-grade ghostly beings that could only reach the Anitya Hellguard level at the very most, so it would be a simple task for him to kill it, but emotionally, it would be one of the most difficult things he had ever done.

    Right at this moment, he suddenly heard a voice. "You''re sorely mistaken if you think I''ll simply surrender myself to the likes of you!"

    It was his grandfather''s voice! The voice had be rather distorted, but there was no mistaking it!

    He immediately cast his gaze toward the Taoist temple, where the mandrill was already standingpletely upright.

    In the next instant, the mandrill exploded into a vast expanse of Yin energy, and Qin Zhongguo''s indistinct figure could be seen, standing within the Yin energy. At the same time, all of the Yin energy around him was rapidly flowing into his body in a frenzy!

    It wasn''t just the Yin energy in the direct vicinity around him. Instead, all of the Yin energy across the entire province was surging toward him at once!

    "How is this possible?!" Qin Ye looked around with an astonished expression.

    This Yin energy was ridiculously powerful, even more powerful than Zhao Yun''s Yin energy!

    It was the most powerful Yin energy that he had ever experienced to date! It absolutely dwarfed the Yin energy of the three pirs'' ruler death gods, and it was well and truly above the Yama-King level!

    All of the surrounding trees were quickly uprooted, and the terrifying Yin energy formed an enormous vortex around Qin Zhongguo. The only thing that was visible within the vast vortex of Yin energy was a pair of bright, crimson eyes. Qin Ye pressed himself t against the ground, and he could see that his grandfather''s soul still hadn''t scattered!

    Instead, it had been trapped in his body by the creature that had taken on his form.

    <i>What the hell is this thing?! </i>

    "Who are you?" Ye Xianzu eximed as he stared at Qin Zhongguo with a stunned expression. "You''re not Enforcer Qin! Who are you?!"

    A derisive sneer appeared on Qin Zhongguo''s wizened face. "You don''t deserve to know who I am."

    He then curled a finger, and Ye Xianzu immediately let loose an anguished howl as his body abruptly exploded. The bamboo battens inside his body were sent flying in all directions, and at the same time, all of the living dead that he had brought with him also exploded into shreds of paper that fluttered through the air.

    After that, Qin Zhongguo cast his gaze toward Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly as a burst of enormous pressure crashed down onto his body. It was impossible to describe this pressure. The closest description would be like having the weight of all of the world''s mountainsbined pressing down upon him. He could sense that an almighty being''s gaze had pierced through the illusion and caught sight of his real self within this illusory scene!

 Chapter 1124: Eye (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1124: Eye (4)</h4>

    The power of the mandrill was sending shockwaves sweeping through the entire area in all directions, and all of the trees on the mountain were uprooted violently. Qin Ye was standing at the very center of the storm, and his clothes were pping incessantly.

    He didn''t move. Instead, he closed his eyes and allowed the fierce wind to blow by him. He seemed to be calm and collected, but countless emotions were surging through his heart alongside countless questions.

    The Yiguandao had lied dormant for several decades, and this scene was showing him that the Master and Mistress of the cult weren''t the most powerful figures. Instead, there was someone above them, someone who had transcended beyond the Yama-King level!

    Who could it be?

    One name after another quickly shed through his mind.

    Could it be the Heavenly Dao? No, They were the creator of this trial, and during the previous two failures of the trial, no such grand entrance had been made, so it didn''t make sense for one to be staged now.

    Could it be Zhao Yun or the second King Yanluo?

    That was even more imusible.

    In that case, there was only one possible candidate left.

    "You''re the inner demon." Qin Ye opened his eyes to stare intently at the mandrill. To be more urate, he was staring at Qin Zhongguo''s soul, which was struggling in despair inside the mandrill''s head.

    He had searched for his grandfather''s soul in the past, particrly on this mountain.

    In fact, he had sent over 2,000 Yin soldiers there to scour through the area. His grandfather had perished during the past century, so he knew that his soul had to still have been in the mortal realm!

    It had already been a very long time, and he didn''t know if his grandfather''s soul had already be a wandering ghost. However, the exhaustive search of the Yin soldiers proved to bepletely fruitless, and he finally knew why that had been the case.

    His grandfather''s soul hadn''t be a wandering ghost. In fact, there was a very good chance that it still existed to this very day!

    It had been abducted by the inner demon! No wonder he couldn''t find it!

    A sense of killing intent instantly welled up in his heart, and countless blood-red flowers bloomed over the entire mountain. The killing intent was so intense and irrepressible that as soon as it reared its head, it manifested itself in the form of these flowers of death and destruction.

    However, he didn''t immediately act. Instead, he forced himself to hold back his killing intent.

    This had to be the final part of the trial of inner demons, and there was still one question left to be answered: "How was this trial going to end?"

    As things currently were, it seemed that there was only one possible answer, but it was also the most imusible answer...

    He gritted his teeth as he raised Fate, which transformed into a long, silver spear.

    In order toplete this trial of inner demons, he had to strike down the inner demon, which was a feat that no one in this world was capable of achieving!

    The inner demon was something that would continue to exist so long as emotions existed, and it was precisely because of its existence that there were the 18 abysses of punishment and the six paths of reincarnation.

    He was holding back his killing intent as he knew that there was no way he could defeat the inner demon. He desperately wanted to recover his grandfather''s soul, but this wasn''t the time to do that.

    This was only a divine art, an illusion. Even if he could defeat the inner demon here, there would be no way for him to rescue his grandfather''s soul.

    In that case, what could he do? How could he put an end to this trial of inner demons?

    The fierce wind continued to howl around him as he considered all of the possible conclusions of the trial of inner demons.

    Right at this moment, a voice slowly rang out. "It''s truly a surprise to see Yanluo Qin here."

    Qin Ye immediately raised his head and cast an incredulous gaze toward the inner demon.

    The inner demon had never met him before! It was perhaps aware of who he was, but this trial of inner demons was ying out in a scene from the past! At the time, he would''ve been nothing more than a child in the inner demon''s eyes!

    He had only be King Yanluo during the past dozen or so years, so there was no way that the inner demon from back then would refer to him as Yanluo Qin!

    During the trial of inner demons, many things were hidden or concealed, but everything had to progress ording to the passage of history.

    However, the inner demon had broken this rule, which meant that this was the true inner demon!

    The inner demon had just performed a divine descent, allowing it to pass through the boundaries between illusion and reality, piercing through the trial of inner demons to arrive in this illusion!

    How is that possible?!

    This thought only urred to Qin Ye for a split-second before it waspletely drowned out by his enormous killing intent. In the next instant, he abruptly vanished on the spot without any warning. By the time he reappeared, he had already adopted his King Yanluo form, and Fate had transformed into a silver spear in his hand, which was being thrust directly toward the inner demon''s throat.

    This spear strike was unleashed with unbridled killing intent, and even the wind was severed by its power.

    There were no inhibitions or qualms behind the strike, and it had been unleashed with the pure intent to kill.

    The inner demon seemed to be rather taken aback by this, but it then raised two if its fingers in a calm manner.

    ng!

    In the blink of an eye, the entire image fell still.

    Qin Ye''s teeth were gritted tightly, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot as he looked ahead in silence. Behind him was a vast sea of Yin energy, within which were countless human faces that were howling, sobbing, warping, and twisting. The vast Yin energy was blowing his clothes straight upward, and all of the surrounding nts and animals were bowing in reverence.

    The fury of King Yanluo was a force of nature in itself.

    Right in front of him, the tip of his spear was caught between two of Qin Zhongguo''s fingers, and no matter how much force Qin Ye exerted, the two fingers were as stable and unmoving as a pair of mountains.

    At the same time, a boundless abyss also appeared behind the inner demon, from within which countless anguished howls could be heard, Within the boundless darkness, a golden eye abruptly sprang open.

    The eye was massive. It was over 100 meters in size, and it was like the eye of a deity, with its gaze piercing through the entire world. It watched Qin Ye in silence for a moment before asking, "Why are you doing this?"

    Only now did Qin Ye realize that he had been too rash in his approach, and he closed his eyes as he took several deep breaths. His hands were trembling slightly from fury, and only after a full 10 seconds had passed did he reopen his eyes. "Let''s make a deal. What do you want in exchange for Qin Zhongguo''s soul?"

    The eye fell silent.

    It seemed to be rather taken aback by this development. Qin Ye hadn''t asked why it had descended here, nor had he asked why it had taken over this body. Instead, he had asked something that waspletely unrted.

    After a brief silence, it replied, "I''m afraid I must refuse. Some things are simply indispensable."

    Qin Ye forcibly repressed the killing intent in his heart as he said in a cold voice, "You have one minute to rethink your answer."

    The entire scene fell silent again.

    Despite the silence, one could sense that a storm wasing, and the killing intent in the air was extremely potent.

    Finally, a voice that seemed to be an entity born from countless desires rang out. "Do you know who''s tomb this is?"

    Qin Ye didn''t bother to reply.

    He had never been a fan of battle. In contrast, he much preferred to y the coward, and he never fought battles that he wasn''t confident in winning. However, he was willing to throw all of that out the window here.

    There were some battles that he simply couldn''t back down from!

    Despite theck of a response, the inner demon remained unfazed as he continued, "This is the tomb of Jiang Shang."

    Qin Ye finally said something, but it wasn''t in response to the inner demon''s statement. "You have 45 seconds left."

    The inner demon continued in an unhurried manner, "Jiang Shang possessed a regal bloodline that could be traced back to Yu the Great, and his body was able to attain sainthood. Only the tomb of a true saint could give rise to a Taisui fungus once every 1,000 years."

    The inner demon looked into Qin Ye''s eyes with a calm expression as it continued, "Those who consume the Taisui fungus and are fortunate be immortals who transcend beyond Yin and Yang, but most of them transform into mandrills and lost ghosts. I am responsible for devouring all of the inner demons that arise from this. He is no longer a human, he is only a monster in a human''s skin, so why can''t I devour him?"

    Qin Ye slowly approached the inner demon with his silver spear trailing along behind him, and sparks were flying as the tip of the spear traveled along the ground. "You have 30 seconds left."

    The giant eye behind Qin Zhongguo contracted slightly. "Yanluo Qin, I''ve existed for thousands of years, and I live to devour all of the world''s inner demons. I have no intention of making you my enemy."

    "20 seconds."

    "I''ve seen you in the inner demons of many humans. Their awe and reverence toward you have all be sustenance for me. We overseepletely different domains, so our responsibilities arepletely separate, and there is no conflict of interest between us."

    "10 seconds."

    The inner demon finally fell silent.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in this instant, and even though no one was doing anything to escte the conflict, the tension in the air was only continuing to build.

    Qin Ye looked straight into the massive golden eye as he began a final countdown. "9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

    "Are you sure you want to face me in battle?" the inner demon asked.

    "Zero." That was the only response that he received.

    In the instant that Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, his Heavenly Dra erupted forth violently. At the same time, the Yin energy behind the inner demon also erupted into the heavens, and it was far more powerful than Qin Ye''s Yin energy.

    It was darker than any night could possibly be, and it was filled with boundless sin and evil.

    The entire sky had turned pitch-ck, and the sound of countless anguished howls and broken sobs rang out across this entire world. In the face of this vast world of darkness, Qin Ye was like a tiny raft on the vast. His presence was so tiny and insignificant that it was downright negligible.

    His Yin energy was no match for the inner demon''s Yin energy. There was far too massive a disparity in power between them, one that couldn''t be bridged by powerful emotions alone. At the same time, the entire sky suddenly began to warp toward the center, where Qin Zhongguo''s physical body was situated.

    "Don''t you dare!" Qin Ye roared as his Heavenly Dra plunged into the opposing darkness, only to vanish like sandcastles in the receding tide.

    Inside this dark and twisted hell, Qin Zhongguo''s head was snapped to the side.

    Boom!

    Never had Qin Ye been this furious before. Ever since he had devoured the Taisui fungus, he had never truly be enraged. At the very most, he would only scold his underworld emissaries for acts of ipetence, but those were only disys of stern authority that were devoid of any true anger.

    However, he was furious beyond belief at this moment, so much so that his eyes had turnedpletely bloodshot. He was so enraged that his hands were trembling too violently for him to even thrust his spear forward.

    At the height of his rage, he was unable to move a single muscle, and his entire body and mind were consumed by these intense emotions.

    Crack...

    Qin Zhongguo''s limbs were snapped, and he began to curl up into a ball in mid-air like a broken ragdoll.

    More cracks rang out as Qin Zhongguo''s bones snapped one after another. Immediately thereafter, an invisible, giant hand crushed him into an unrecognizable ball of mangled flesh and blood, then tossed his mutted remains down the mountain.

    "I gave you a chance. Even the Heavenly Dao has to treat me with respect! Who do you think you are? Just because I''m stooping down to speak to you as equals, you think you can walk all over me? You are a death god, so why are you so attached to a human? Howughable!"

    Right as the inner demon''s voice trailed off, a bolt of lightning suddenly shed through the air.

    However, it wasn''t a bolt of lightning. Instead, it was Qin Ye''s silver spear, moving faster and glowing more radiantly than ever before.

    The spear strike had been unleashed with Qin Ye''splete and undivided might, and it was so fast that it was untraceable to the naked eye. The only thing that could be seen was the streak of blinding light that it left in its wake.

 Chapter 1125: The Heavenly Daos Judgment (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1125: The Heavenly Dao''s Judgment (1)</h4>

    Just like how it was instinct for birds to take to the skies and for fish to breathe underwater, the attack unleashed by Qin Ye had also been born from pure, irrepressible instinct.

    His fury had exceeded a certain threshold, and his mind was entirely dominated by the urge to kill the being standing before him. As a result, his body acted on its own, perfectly executing his desire, filling it with pure, unadulterated power.

    Qin Ye''s body was like a blinding white beacon that rose up into the dark sky, piercing directly toward the giant eyeball up above. The surrounding gusts of Yin wind followed closely along behind him in his ascent, enveloping his body to create a juxtaposition between ck and white, making it appear as if his spear were piercing through Yin and Yang at once.

    This spear strike was already no less powerful than the one Zhao Yun had unleashed to tame Arthis.

    It was an attack that he had poured all of his emotions into, and it exceeded the upper limit of his power. At the same time, the three divine artifacts in Hell began to glow with dazzling light in unison.

    Above the Nine Yin Pavilion, King Yanluo''s Seal, the Book of Life and Death, and the Judgment Pen released a burst of buzzing at the same time, then shot forth like bolts of white lightning toward a certain direction.

    Meanwhile, night and day were rapidly interchanging back and forth between one another in the entire Cathayan Underworld!

    The Harken was in the process of inscribing the six paths of reincarnation when it looked up at the sky with a dumbstruck expression. "Is this... divine artifact resonance? Only King Yanluo can evoke resonance within the three divine artifacts! This means that Yanluo Qin is attacking something with all his might! What''s happening?"

    Who in this world could be worthy of such an attack from King Yanluo himself?

    It would only take a single order from him to summon both the Harken and Zhao Yun to his side, yet instead of doing that, he had chosen to go into battle himself. Why was this the case?

    Before the Harken could think about this any further, a gust of Yin wind arrived beside it, and Zhao Yun materialized from the Yin wind with a grim look on his face. "Do you know where Yanluo Qin has gone?"

    The Harken shook its head in response, and both of them looked up at the sky with concerned expressions.

    Regardless of where he had gone, he definitely had to be facing an extremely formidable foe!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Inside the trial of inner demons, the massive eye in the sky contracted violently.

    Qin Ye''s emotions were extremely pure at this moment. He couldn''t sense this himself, but the inner demon could see it clearly. Right in front of it, boundless Yin wind was rising up into the sky alongside dazzling white light, and it was as if a sun had emerged in the pitch-ck night.

    At the center of the sun, Qin Ye''s robes were pping incessantly, and his spear strike was filled with incredible might and unstoppable intent.

    Furthermore, Qin Ye''s body was rapidly transforming, turning into a skeleton that was wearing a golden crown, a golden dragon robe, and a white jade belt around its waist. ck hair was growing directly out of the skeleton''s skull, but somehow, that didn''t look strange at all. At the same time, a burst of peerless divine might shook the entire underworld.

    Three streaks of light shot forth toward Qin Ye, seemingly out of nowhere, thennded in his grasp. An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the silver spear was suddenly enshrouded within a shower of red spider lily petals, transforming it into a scarlet longsword!

    Even the inner demon was struck by a hint of fear in the face of this spear strike.

    "This is his true death god form!" it eximed with an incredulous expression.

    It couldn''t believe that the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo would go this far to strike down the inner demon, which had extremely deep connections with the 18 abysses of punishment and the six paths of reincarnation!

    Has he gone insane?! He''s doing all this, just for a mere human! He''s the leader of one of the four pirs, yet he''s turning on a god for the sake of a human!

    The attack arrived in the blink of an eye, and a gentle puncturing sound rang out as the sword pierced directly into the eye.

    An earth-shattering roar of agony rang out across the entire world, and heaven and earth began to quake and tremble violently.

    Amid the thunderous roar, streaks of dazzling white light descended from the heavens, piercing through the darkness in a grand and astonishing scene, much like the descent of angels into a world of darkness.

    Did I kill it?

    The blood-curdling howl and the copsing world around him finally jerked Qin Ye out of his emotional state, and as he looked up at the giant eyeball above his head, he suddenly realized just how rash and unwise his actions had been.

    A wry smile appeared on his face as this realization dawned on him.

    However, if he were given a second chance, he would do the exact same thing.

    He wasn''t a hot-blooded individual driven by emotions. Perhaps he would be saddened if the likes of Zhao Yun, the Harken, or Wang Chenghao were to perish someday, but Qin Zhongguo was the only one who could drive him to such emotional extremes that he was willing to attack a being with all his might, even though that being was clearly far more powerful than him.

    "How dare you?!" The entire illusion was quaking violently, and more and more beams of white light were piercing through the darkness, as if the eggshell of chaos were being broken, allowing light to filter into the world. It was also at this moment that hundreds of eyes suddenly sprang open across the entire sky.

    They were all golden eyes as well, while the eye that Qin Ye had pierced his spear into had already turned a dead, gray color. As for the other eyes, they were transitioning into a crimson color from intense fury.

    "I''m going to kill you!!!"

    The inner demon''s furious voice rang out across the entire sky, and in the next instant, dazzling beams of light erupted out of all of the eyes in unison, forming a vast, imprable of light that spanned for tens of thousands of kilometers.

    There was no way to evade this attack...

    Qin Ye''s heartpletely sank, but a faint smile of eptance had appeared on his face.

    It was time to pay for his rash actions. Despite this, he didn''t regret what he had done in the slightest. He was only a little disappointed that he wasn''t able to y the inner demon, after all.

    All of the mountains and rivers in the illusion began to copse, unable to withstand the devastating power of the inner demon''s wrath. The entire surrounding scene was disintegrating into Yin energy.

    Is this the true power of a being above the Yama-King level?

    Amid the scintiting light and devastating power, Qin Ye raised Fate in a final act of defiance.

    He would just have to die again.

    He had already made preparations for a situation like this, so it would only be a minor inconvenience to him. It was just a pity that even after 100 years and bing a mid Yama-King, he was still unable to reunite himself with Qin Zhongguo.

    Heaven and earth itself seemed to have turned on Qin Ye, and he slowly closed his eyes as he epted his own fate.

    Right at this moment, a calm voice suddenly rang out. "What do we have here?"

    The voice was casual and nonchnt, but it seemed to be imbued with the power of countlessws, and the copsing world was stabilized, just like that!

    Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly sprang open. He was familiar with this voice!

    He immediately turned around with an incredulous expression to stare at the figure making his way up the mountain path, as if he were taking a stroll in the park. In the face of his presence, not only had the copsing world stabilized, it was slowly beginning to return to its original state!

    Just his voice alone was imbued with the power ofws! This was something that even beings above the Yama-King level weren''t capable of!

    Deathly silence instantly descended upon the entire world.

    The sky was healing, and darkness rose up into the heavens once again, mending the rifts through which white light was filtering into this world. The mountains,kes, and rivers that had been razed to the ground were being restored like footage being yed in reverse, and order was rapidly being restored right in front of Qin Ye''s astonished eyes.

    "Brother Xu?!" Qin Ye eximed with an incredulous expression.

    Indeed, it was the second King Yanluo!

    He also entered the trial of inner demons? Is he here to help me?

    Right at this moment, the hundreds of massive eyes in the sky seemed to have witnessed something terrifying, and they immediately fled the scene as a giant shadow that was filled with unbridled hatred, not even hesitating in the slightest!

    However, the mandrill was still hovering in the sky.

    It stood against the backdrop of the boundless Yin clouds, staring at the second King Yanluo with a wary expression. "Who are you?"

    Qin Ye instantly turned back to look at the mandrill, and in that instant, everything became clear to him.

    The inner demon had indeed descended into this illusion in its true form, but in the instant that it caught sight of the second King Yanluo, it immediately fled.

    In the wake of its departure, the only thing that was left was the inner demon of the past, from the time where this memory was unfolding. Judging from the question that it had just raised, the mandrill had clearly never met the second King Yanluo before.

    This was the first meeting between the two monsters, and the second King Yanluo wasn''t here in his present form, either.

    However, this was the trial of inner demons, and all of the events unfolding within it had already taken ce in the past.

    This meant that... the second King Yanluo had visited this ce all the way back then!

    Qin Ye was astonished by this revtion!

    Did this mean that they had almost met as far back as a century ago?

    The second King Yanluo was wearing a crisp suit, which was extremely rare back then. His leather shoes were so brightly polished that they were practically sparkling, and he was wearing a pair of sunsses. He inspected the surrounding area, then turned to the mandrill again. "Have I been keeping too low a profile? How do you not know me?"

    The mandrill didn''t respond. It could instinctively sense life-threatening danger from this man.

    It had a feeling that if it were tosh out recklessly, there was a very good chance that it would perish here.

    But how was that possible? Even the Heavenly Dao hadn''t struck him with a feeling like this before! Where had this humane from?

    The second King Yanluo paid no heed to what the mandrill was thinking as he said, "The Taisui fungus emerges at the tomb of a saint once every 1,000 years, and it just so happens to be the turn of Jiang Shang''s tomb this time. His grandfather was unlucky, so I have no problem with you devouring him, but don''t even think about touching that child. He''s mine, do you understand?"

    The mandrill remained silent.

    It was aware of just how much of an underlying threat it was to allow someone who had attained immortality from consuming the Taisui fungus to live, but it didn''t dare to do anything!

    "What''s your name?" it finally asked.

    The second King Yanluo smiled in response. "Come ask my name when you transcend beyond this ne someday."

    The mandrill was silent for a moment longer before replying, "Fine, I''ll spare his life, and that''ll be the end of that, what do you think?"

    "Sure."

    In the instant that the second King Yanluo''s voice trailed off, the entire world disintegrated into Yin energy.

    Qin Ye had failed the trial yet again, but he wasn''t disheartened in the slightest. Instead, he was feeling extremely excited.

    He had finally uncovered the truth! He finally knew what had happened during the time that he had been unconscious all those years ago!

    The inner demon wanted to kill him, but the second King Yanluo had intervened and saved him, thereby leading to the events that had just unfolded.

    Only now did he realize that it wasn''t a coincidence that Granny Meng had found him all those years ago.

    He heaved a forlorn sigh.

    There were so many people in Cathay. Was Lee Jung-sook not a suitable candidate? Was Xu Fu not sufficiently cunning and powerful? Why had he been chosen over them?

    As it turned out, the second King Yanluo hade into his life as early as over a century ago.

    What he wanted was a diamond in the rough. He didn''t know whether Qin Ye had the innate talents required to seed in the future, but even for an idiot, staying in the mortal realm for a century would turn them into a far wiser person.

    In contrast, Lee Jung-sook and Xu Fu were no longer nk tes, so their potential for growth was severely limited, and that was why they hadn''t caught the second King Yanluo''s eye.

    As it turned out, the candidate for the third King Yanluo had already been decided long ago.

 Chapter 1126: The Heavenly Daos Judgment (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1126: The Heavenly Dao''s Judgment (2)</h4>

    If it weren''t for this trial of inner demons, never would he have imagined that so many things would''ve happened during his period of unconsciousness all those years ago.

    After a long silence, he suddenly turned toward a certain direction and asked, "Did you already know about this? Is that why you chose this specific memory?"

    There was still nothing but empty space in that direction, but there was something different.

    Nothingness was standing less than 20 meters away from him, and even though there was clearly no wind, Their clothes were pping incessantly.

    They didn''t deny this, nor did They admit to it. Instead, after a few seconds of silence, They said, "Sometimes, even your eyes will deceive you."

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. Instead, he cast his gaze forward.

    The indistinct object within the darkness had be a lot clearer. It consisted of countless streaks of light that were constantly flowing, thereby creating its outline, revealing it to be a Yin rune, one that Qin Ye had never seen before.

    It was around the size of a te, and it was extremelyplex, more so than even the Yin runes in the ninth circle. Furthermore, as soon as Qin Ye caught sight of it, an extremely intense sense of nostalgia welled up in his heart.

    He felt as if he could see the days that he had spent with his grandfather. Even though they were living in constant hunger and poverty, it was a peaceful and enjoyable life. He felt as if he could see the days free from worry that he had spent at the Academy of Cultivators. He felt as if he could see his leisurely daily life back when he was running his coffin shop. All of these memories converged as one, evoking hints of warm, nostalgic emotions in his heart.

    "This is one of the foundational Yin runes for constructing a divine art. Its name is Nostalgia, and you can refer to it as a Yin rune of the 10th circle."

    Nothingness was still wearing Their tattered ck robe as They made their way over to Qin Ye''s side, and on this asion, They had taken on the form of a wise elderly man. "It''s also known as one of the primary Yin runes. All of the other Yin runes from the first to the ninth circles are merely different parts of it that have been altered. The foundation of the underworld is people. To put it more urately, it''s the souls of people, and souls are where human emotions reside. There are a total of 72 obstacles in the trial of inner demons, and with each obstacle that is ovee, mastery will be attained over the corresponding Yin rune. If anyone can ovee all 72 obstacles, then they will possess a wless psyche and be able to use Yin runes as second nature."

    I see...

    Qin Ye nodded in response before turning to the Heavenly Dao. "You didn''t erase my memories."

    He had failed the trial, but he could still recall his past memories.

    "Unforeseen circumstances arose," Nothingness replied. "The inner demon descended into the trial in person, and that goes beyond the boundaries of this trial, so there''s no punishment for you on this asion."

    "Is that all?"

    "That''s all."

    "You know what I want to hear!" Qin Ye''s voice abruptly spiked up a few octaves as he looked straight into the Heavenly Dao''s eyes with a hostile expression. "You want to gloss things over just like that? Why did the inner demon descend into this trial? Why did you show me that particr memory? Are you trying to convince me that none of this can be attributed to your own selfish desires?!"

    Qin Ye was unable to suppress his own fury any longer, and he gritted his teeth as he continued, "Can you honestly tell me that this was only a normal trial?"

    His Yin energy erupted violently behind him as he stared intently into Nothingness''s eyes, only to be met with apletely expressionless gaze. "You knew that the inner demon had my grandfather''s soul, yet you didn''t try to inform me of that at all! I can let that slide. After all, you have no obligation to tell me those things. However, the inner demon isn''t as powerful as you, so why was it able to suddenly enter the trial of inner demons?! Don''t tell me you couldn''t stop it! I looked at the peace treaty, and I saw the second King Yanluo''s signature on it! Just that alone would be enough to intimidate the inner demon! You are the Heavenly Dao, yet you''re resorting to these dirty tricks to strike up conflict between the inner demon and myself! Why are you doing this?"

    His usations came thick and fast, yet Nothingness''s expression remainedpletely unchanged. "I can answer your questions, but are you sure you''re prepared to hear the answers?"

    A serious look appeared on Their face as They continued, "Once you hear what I have to say, your only choice will be to oppose the inner demon, one of the most powerful beings in this world, and backing down will not be an option. Are you sure you''re prepared to face all that?"

    Qin Ye drew Fate and rested it against Nothingness''s neck. "If you don''t tell me now, I''ll make sure you''re silenced forever."

    No one said anything.

    After a brief silence, the Heavenly Dao said in an indifferent voice. "The chances of you defeating me are below 1%."

    In other words, your threat is not menacing in the slightest.

    "Do you think that''s going to stop me from trying?" Qin Ye asked with a cold smile.

    Both of them fell silent again.

    After another brief silence, Nothingness said, "Following the fall of Fengdu, I was the first one to sense it, followed by the inner demon. I do not interfere with the changes of the three realms, but that doesn''t apply to the inner demon, who is an entity formed by all of the world''s desires to begin with. Thus, it chose to intervene."

    Intervene?

    The Heavenly Dao''s voice was very calm, but They were revealing a massive revtion.

    Why would the inner demon possibly step in in the wake of such an event?

    Hell had fallen, and the position of death god was vacated as a result. That was the only thing that could tempt it!

    It wanted to be a legitimate death god!

    It was no wonder that the Heavenly Dao had told him that he would have no choice but to oppose the inner demon after hearing the truth. The inner demon was lusting for his position, and for that alone, it had to die!

    "Judging from how things are right now, it ultimately failed, right?" Qin Ye asked.

    "That''s right. However, it''s failure doesn''t stem from an inability to enter the three realms. You have to realize that the inner demon is omnipresent, but also non-existent at the same time. It has no tangible form, but it exists wherever there are negative emotions. For underworld emissaries, one would have to at least be an Infernal Judge before and attain the ability to fly before they can pass through Limbo on their own. For humans, they''re still under the impression that the concept of the three realms is only a myth. Under normal circumstances, they''ll never be able to enter the other realms, so it''s no wonder that they think that. However, the inner demon is apletely unique existence. The boundaries of the three realms are essentially non-existent to it. It can hide itself within the darkness in the hearts of any human, Yin spirit, or heavenly immortal. This unique trait is the first reason that it decided to try and benefit from the fall of Fengdu. On top of that, all living beings and Yin spirits are governed by their desires. Humans travel to go to work, and they go to work to earn money... If the inner demon can be a true death god and rule over the entire nation, then it''ll be a ruler that can never be overthrown because it derives sustenance from all negative emotions. These are the two decisive factors that gave it the confidence to try and attain godhood, but it was unable to achieve this goal in the end. It''s not a Yin spirit, nor is it a human. It can only lurk within souls, and it can''t directly reveal itself to anyone."

    Nothingness''s voice trailed off here.

    Qin Ye was rather perplexed by this abrupt ending before realizing what the Heavenly Dao was implying.

    This was the biggest weakness of the inner demon! If it wanted to do something, then it required a vessel.

    Only with a vessel would it be able to unleash its true power.

    However, at the time, Hell had beenpletely destroyed, and in order to rebuild it, it would''ve faced the same problem that Qin Ye had faced all those years ago, and that was manpower.

    With such a severeck of manpower, how could Hell possibly be rebuilt?

    However, how had the new Helle into existence? It had initially been born from the manifestation of King Yanluo''s Seal!

    This involved creating an entire ne, something that the inner demon was incapable of. However, without this ne, Hell would be unable to attract any Yin spirits, and without Yin spirits in Hell, it wouldn''t be able to possess anyone, thereby rendering itpletely powerless.

    If it couldn''t possess a vessel, how could it rebuild Hell?

    It was invincible in that it possessed no form, but in the matter of rebuilding Hell, its most advantageous trait became the biggest obstacle in its path.

    Nothingness continued, "Thus, it thought of a way around all of this."

    Nothingness then fell silent again, and Qin Ye''s eyelids began to twitch as everything instantly became clear to him.

    The best way for the inner demon to bypass these obstacles would undoubtedly be to target those who had consumed the Taisui fungus!

    Only those who had consumed the Taisui fungus could pass through the three realms as they pleased.

    As long as the inner demon could create a foothold in the underworld, its entire n would be usible!

    No wonder it had been unwilling to make a deal with Qin Ye in exchange for Qin Zhongguo''s soul.

    Even now, it was still trying to target those who had consumed the Taisui fungus, which meant that it had never given up on its intention to be a true death god!

    Thus, it and Qin Ye were destined to be enemies, and that wasn''t even taking into ount the fact that the inner demon still held Qin Zhongguo''s soul.

    There was only one between the two that could survive in the end.

    "But Grandpa didn''t sessfully digest the Taisui fungus."

    "That''s not important," the Heavenly Dao replied. "All the inner demon needs is the Taisui fungus''s ability to ignore the boundaries between all realms. It doesn''t care what type of soul this is, all it cares about is the soul itself."

    A serious look appeared on Nothingness''s face as They continued, "That was also the first time I interfered with the operation of the three realms. You saw what happened after that. The second King Yanluo arrived at the scene, but at the time, Qin Zhongguo''s soul had already been devoured by the inner demon. Even as mighty as the second King Yanluo is, there would be no way for him to track down the inner demon unless he killed everyone in the world. Thus, he captured a part of Qin Zhongguo''s soul. His powers were already unmatched at that point, so the inner demon wasn''t able to detect what he did. Even if it did, it wouldn''t have been able to do anything, so it chose to depart. However, due to the fact that Qin Zhongguo''s soul was iplete, it was unable to establish an anchor in the underworld, and that''s why you''re King Yanlou right now. The part of Qin Zhongguo''s soul that was captured was used by me to form the foundation of the first obstacle of the trial of inner demons."

    Qin Ye raised his head with a furious expression. "So you''re forcing us to oppose one another?"

    He finally understood everything now. The inner demon had descended in person, going as far as to even oppose the Heavenly Dao, all for the sake of recovering the missing piece of Qin Zhongguo''s soul.

    From this point onward, the entire Cathayan Underworld would be under the threat of the inner demon!

    Itpletely made sense why it had founded the Yiguandao now.

    All deities required anchors.

    Without an anchor, the deity would fall. For example, the anchor of Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa, which were the native Usonians on the new continent, had virtually beenpletely wiped out, and those that remained no longer had faith in them. Thus, they had no choice but to turn to the stars.

    At the height of its power, the Yiguandao had be an extremely influential force, able topete with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party, and had it been allowed to develop further, it would''ve definitely be the primary national religion!

    A religion that belonged to the inner demon would create an anchor that would virtually never disappear!

    The inner demon had already made all of the necessary preparations, only for the second King Yanluo to stop it cold in its tracks at the veryst moment. As a result, it had been unable to implement its n for the past few centuries, but it finally had the opportunity to do so now.

    From this point onward, the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld was going to be pitted against a being above the Yama-King level.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath, then said, "I have another question."

    "Go ahead."

    "Hell has already been established, so the inner demon should be able to descend into the Cathayan Underworld anytime it pleases. Why hasn''t it done that?"

    Nothingness replied, "That''s very simple: Qin Zhongguo''s soul is iplete, so it was unable to use the soul to bypass the defenses of the three divine artifacts. However, things could be different now."

 Chapter 1127: The Heavenly Daos Judgment (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1127: The Heavenly Dao''s Judgment (3)</h4>

    Qin Ye wasn''t overly surprised to hear this.

    The inner demon was a massive threat that warranted his full attention, but it wasn''t something to panic over.

    After all, the inner demon was only a single entity.

    While it was true that hidden threats were always the most troublesome to deal with, at the very most, it was only a threat of the same level as the other three pirs. The Cathayan Underworld had no shortage of enemies in the underworld, and it wasn''t overly concerning for another one to be thrown into the mix.

    In that case, everything that it had said about now wishing to make an enemy out of Qin Ye and that they had no conflict of interest had been nothing more than lies.

    "So what happened to me earlier?" Qin Ye asked.

    "You adopted your true Yin spirit form," Nothingness replied. "You''ve actually already seen it many times. For example, Oda Nobunaga has revealed his true form in your presence in the past. Oda Nobutada also did the same thing back when you were in Daehan. There was also the recent instance where all of the Yama-Kings of the world revealed their true forms in order to deal with the extraterrestrial threat."

    "I want to know what exactly triggered that transformation," Qin Ye said.

    Nothingness was silent for a moment before sweeping a hand through the air, upon which a golden screen appeared, depicting the process of evolution. From paramecium to dinosaur, from cephalopod to echinoderm... Some were asrge as mountains, some were as tiny as ants. All types of living beings were rising and falling throughout the stream of evolution.

    Nothingness said, "Humans are in a state of equilibrium, but by no means are they perfect beings. Their main strength is their intelligence, and Yin spirits are the same as they maintain a human form. However, each Yin spirit has their own true form, a perfect form that allows them to unleash all of their power. It''s very difficult for most Yin spirits to capture this true form, which lies hidden in their souls, and only beings at or above the Infernal Judge level can reveal their true forms at will. In films of the mortal realm, those who set forth to vanquish ghosts and demons always force them to reveal their true forms first. Firstly, this allows them to gauge their power, and secondly, even though a being''s powers are significantly enhanced in their true form, if they die in their true form, they will be truly erased from existence, regardless of how powerful they are."

    I see... Looks like I''m never going to reveal my true form again then...

    Nothingness swept a hand through the air, and the light screen silently vanished.

    A contemtive silence then descended upon both of them, and it was broken several minutester by Nothingness, Who asked, "Do you not have anything to ask me?"

    "I thought you would tell me everything yourself," Qin Ye replied. "After all, you''re hiring me to y the inner demon for you, so shouldn''t you be the one actively providing me with information?"

    He had already identified the true purpose of the trial of inner demons.

    All death gods had steadily grown more powerful while weathering countless assassination attempts and potent threats. Back when there were many more underworlds and the entire underworld was at war, there were assassination operations taking ce on a regr basis. Unless one possessed the power to match their status, there was no way that they would survive for long.

    If the Cathayan Underworld were to choose space exploration as its main direction, then they would face the same situation.

    Under that context, Qin Ye was far too weak to fit his role as the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Furthermore, the Heavenly Dao was plotting to bring down the inner demon.

    Qin Ye had always been the one out-calcting and manipting others, but he had been well and truly beaten at his own game by the Heavenly Dao on this asion.

    Why had the Heavenly Dao put him through the trial of inner demons?

    While it was true that this was his punishment for trying to damage the peace treaty, was he expected to believe that the Heavenly Dao was unable to prevent the inner demon from detecting what was happening?

    There was no way that this was the case.

    Even a being like the Plumed Serpent God could bepletely concealed by the Heavenly Dao.

    If he hadn''t performed a divine descent, no one would even be aware that he was still alive.

    The Heavenly Dao was able to erase all signs that a death god was still alive, so it had to be a simple task for Them to conceal an unfolding divine art.

    Thus, the Heavenly Dao had to have allowed the true inner demon into the trial on purpose.

    At this point, Qin Ye had already mapped out the sequence of events that had led up to this point. Nothingness knew about all of this, including the fact that the second King Yanluo had set his eyes on him as far back as a century ago, which was why he hadn''t encountered any resistance when inheriting King Yanluo''s Seal. Of course, the Heavenly Dao had to have been aware that Qin Ye wasn''t the only one trying to ascend to the throne in the wake of the fall of the old Hell.

    The second King Yanluo hadn''t done anything to thwart the ns of Dong Zhuo and Cao Youdao, yet he had chosen to foil the inner demon''s ns.

    In other words, even the second King Yanluo was of the opinion that the inner demon would be entirely unstoppable if it were allowed to establish an anchor in the underworld.

    Now that the situation in Hell was already stable, the Heavenly Dao was taking advantage of this opportunity... No, perhaps They had already nned this out with the second King Yanluo in advance! The Heavenly Dao had intentionally left the trial of inner demons vulnerable to exploitation in order to see if the inner demon still harbored its old ambitions.

    If it didn''t intervene, then everything would be fine, and that would be the ideal oue. If that had happened, Qin Ye would most likely never find out that Qin Zhongguo''s soul was inside the inner demon''s body, and that it had already been taken over.

    If the inner demon failed to turn up, then that would mean that it had already discarded its ambitions to be a true death god. In that case, the only thing that would be achieved by informing Qin Ye of these things would be to instigate a war between the Cathayan Underworld and a being above the Yama-King level, which would be extremely detrimental to the stability of the Cathayan Underworld.

    However, the inner demon hade, which meant that it hadn''t given up on its ns.

    It was looking down on Qin Ye. It didn''t think that Qin Ye deserved his role, and it was under the opinion that it could od better.

    The Heavenly Dao didn''t prevent that as They knew that as long as the inner demon didn''t give up, in the instant that Qin Ye saw Qin Zhongguo''s soul in its body, he would have a reason to hunt down the inner demons.

    Thus, this had been an borate plot all along, and this was why Qin Ye was disying such hostility toward the Heavenly Dao.

    He didn''t know why the Heavenly Dao wanted to bring down the inner demon. All he knew was that They were using him to do Their dirty work while acting all high and mighty at the same time.

    Nothingness wasn''t enraged by Qin Ye''s thinly veiled insults. They turned to face Qin Ye, then said, "You really are just as sharp as the second King Yanluo says."

    They didn''t feel awkward at all at the fact that Qin Ye had seen through everything. In Their eyes, the only thing that mattered was to achieve their objective.

    Both of them fell silent again.

    Nothingness seemed to be formting Their words, and after a long silence, They finally spoke again. "Do you know how the supercritical tides took ce?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to answer, the Heavenly Dao continued, "It''s because two nes are getting closer and closer, and the natures of death gods are resonating with one another, thereby triggering the supercritical tide. The Land of Origins is where death gods are most concentrated, so the supercritical tide begins from here. Ultimately, the underworld must step out of this ne. It is inevitable that there will be fiercepetition between the underworld and the other nes that exist in space. Perhaps we can all coexist in peace and harmony, but it''s far more likely the future will not be so peaceful. In a war between nes, every single Yin spirit of the underworld will have to be involved. However, that doesn''t apply to the inner demon. It has no sense of good and evil, all it has is desire. If a war between nes takes ce, that''ll provide it with the perfect opportunity for growth. As long as it''s sufficiently intelligent and simply stays put, devouring the desires of two nes in secret, regardless of which sidees out on top, the inner demon will be an unstoppable monster. On top of that, it has more than sufficient reason to help other nes instigate war against the underworld, and Medes was most likely tempted by it. The inner demon can influence the world in extremely subtle and untraceable ways. We cannot allow it to grow more powerful and leave it unchecked. However..."

    "However, you''re too busy, so you want me toplete this insignificant task for you, right?" Qin Ye scoffed.

    The Heavenly Dao clearly didn''t manage to identify the insult in Qin Ye''s words, and They nodded in response. "Correct."

    Correct my arse! I was being sarcastic! Do you really think this is an insignificant task?! This is a being above the Yama-King level, and on top of that, it''spletely untraceable! How the hell am I supposed to hunt this thing down?! Can''t you be more self-aware?! At least offer me some type ofpensation or something like that!

    Qin Ye''s eyes were bulging as he stared at the Heavenly Dao, but They clearly weren''t getting the hint.

    I''ve never seen someone so shameless in my entire life!

    Qin Ye cursed internally as he temporarily set aside the urge to mentionpensation. "Between the inner demon and myself, one of us must die. Is there anything you can tell me that will help me?"

    Nothingness nodded in response. "The inner demon ispletely untraceable, and even I can''t track it down. However, seeing as it''s unwilling to discard its ambitions, that opens up a window of opportunity for you to kill it."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask, Nothingness continued, "Traces will be left behind in all of the people that it possesses."

    Qin Ye waited for a few seconds before blinking with a nk expression. "That''s it?"

    "That''s it."

    Motherfucker...

    If it weren''t for the fact that he was no match for the Heavenly Dao in battle, he would be challenging Them to a duel of life and death!

    Right at this moment, a thought suddenly urred to him, and a contemtive look appeared on his face as he fell into deep thought.

    Traces will be left behind in all of the people that it possesses...

    The most fearsome attribute of the inner demon was that it was untraceable, so it was impossible to tell where it was at any given time. However, if he could track it down, then he would be able to target it.

    Its biggest advantage was its untraceable nature, but now...

    Qin Ye suddenly raised his head and cast his gaze toward the Heavenly Dao. "What exactly are these traces that will be left behind?"

    "The people that it possesses will be able to see supernatural beings, and extremely peculiar supernatural events will be sure to ur in the area that they stay in. These traces will be present for three days after the possession, and you''ll be able to sense its location during those three days. If you use an art that allows you to constantly track it, it''ll definitely sense what you''re doing, and your n will be thwarted. Thus, this is already the most reliable method."

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but admire how ruthless the Heavenly Dao was.

    They had set a trap for the inner demon in the form of the trial of inner demons, and if the inner demon were to disy any signs that it still harbored its former ambitions, the Heavenly Dao would immediately act to hunt it down.

    "Also, if you think that the inner demon is only fearsome due to its untraceable nature, then you couldn''t be more wrong," Nothingness continued. "It''s able to easily exacerbate the desires in your heart, and it can switch to any host within a span of 10 seconds. Thus, even if you track it down you won''t be able to defeat it or even capture it."

    "Unless?" Qin Ye asked.

    "Unless you force it to reveal its true form," Nothingness replied with a smile. "However, in order to do that, you have to at least be able to resist all desires and emotions. No one is able topletely shut out their emotions and desires, but there are some ways in which you can prevent yourself from being controlled by the inner demon."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he involuntarily cast his gaze toward the Nostalgia Yin rune.

    It was clear that he had been targeted for this role from the very beginning, and he had dived headfirst into this trap!

 Chapter 1128: A Double Blessing (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1128: A Double Blessing (1)</h4>

    Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, five years had already passed by.

    North Yin Pavilion, Everburn.

    A burst of door-knocking rang out, and upon being given verbal permission for entry, Wang Chenghao quickly made his way into Qin Ye''s office. He was holding a stack of documents, and he extended a respectful bow as he said, "Your Excellency, a riot has taken ce in Shadowend City, and Yin soldiers have already been deployed to quell the unrest."

    "Anything else?" Zhao Yun was seated in Qin Ye''s position, and he didn''t even raise his head as he quickly read through the submitted memorials.

    "The end-of-year wrap-up meeting will begin in half an hour. These are all the documents for the meeting." Wang Chenghao ced the documents onto the table as he spoke, and Zhao Yun finally looked up from the memorials as he rubbed his own eyes, then picked up a document to take a look.

    During the past five years, Hell hadpletely gone onto the right track.

    The new energy resource had been established worldwide, resulting in massive revenue for Hell. This revenue was then reciprocated into all of Hell''s industries, forming a positive, self-reinforcing cycle.

    The base stations and research centers for all of the nations and regions in the underworld were bringing back one piece of new technology after another, and at the very least, there were no signs to suggest that the electricity-like energy string could be reced in the next few decades.

    The ind of Formosa had already be the center of Asia, not just because it was currently the only import ind of the Cathayan Underworld. Even more importantly, all of the underworld''s annual energy resource transactions were also settled there. At the same time, it was also the biggest energy resource market in the entire underworld.

    The tactic of connecting the dragon jade with the energy resource was an extremely shameless one, but it had been implemented without a hitch. After all, the only nations that this was detrimental to were the three pirs. The Cathayan Underworld''s annual GDP was experiencing rapid growth to the tune of close to 30% per year. At this point, the Cathayan Underworld was already filled with academies and factories. Of course, its foundation still wasn''t as vast as that of the past Fengdu, but it was already looking no less prosperous.

    The graduation of several generations of students had provided the Cathayan Underworld with a massive number of skilled personnel, and at this point, there were already forty millionherworldly citizens who had be Netherworld Operatives, thereby making them official underworld emissaries. Around 100herworldly citizens had reached the Anitya Hellguard level, and two had be Infernal Judges, both of which had been given important roles in the government and the military.

    The overall power of the Cathayan Underworld was growing at an incredible rate, and allherworldly citizens were filled with confidence for the Cathayan Underworld''s future. It was only a matter of time before the Cathayan Underworld was restored to its former glory,plete with its 10 Yama-Kings.

    Perhaps this would take 200 years, perhaps it would be 500 years.

    Zhao Yun read through the figures on the documents as he nodded and said, "Alright, leave it to me."

    Wang Chenghao took that as his cue to leave, and he gently closed the door after himself. Right after his departure, Zhao Yun heaved a long sigh before raising his head.

    He gently massaged his own temples as he inspected the extremely encouraging figures, but he wasn''t happy at all. He wasn''t suited to doing administrative work like this, and there was something that was constantly on his mind.

    "Yanluo Qin..." He cast his gaze out the window, looking at the throngs of people outside as he murmured to himself. "Where are you right now?"

    A nation couldn''t be without its leader for long.

    It had been five whole years since Qin Ye had extended new years greetings to the nation, and he had even been absent from the three major ghost festivals. All of theherworldly citizens had started to grow uneasy long ago, and even several high-ranking provincial officials had begun to inquire about Qin Ye''s whereabouts in subtle ways.

    His absence was a constant cause for uncertainty.

    Five years ago, the second King Yanluo had dered that Qin Ye was going into indefinite seclusion for cultivation, yet never did Zhao Yun think that his absence would stretch on for this long.

    The invitation letters from all of the other underworlds had already piled up into mountains. All of the nations were using any excuse they could to invite Qin Ye, such as art festivals and financial summits. Zhao Yun had turned down as many of those invitations as possible, and for those that he couldn''t turn down, he attended them in Qin Ye''s stead.

    He withdrew his gaze, then began to read through a ck file with a grim expression.

    Three years ago was when the first riot had taken ce in the Cathayan Underworld. At the time, a monster that was around 50 meters in size had appeared in Shadowend City, devouring 1,200 Yin spirits.

    Unlike in the mortal realm, riots in the underworld weren''t violent gatherings of many Yin spirits. Instead, they formed a collective, massive monster, one of which Qin Ye had previously killed, but this was on a far more massive scale than on that asion.

    It was a monster formed by 1,200 Yin spirits, and an entirerge vige had been razed to the ground. Furthermore, the incident had been kept strictly confidential as the cause was unable to be discovered after the event.

    Most riots took ce due to a dissatisfaction toward the administration. However, ording to the investigation, this vige was extremely happy with Hell''s administration! Just a few days ago, they had been promoting the agricultural slogan released by Hell, and there was simply no conceivable reason for them to start a revolt.

    However, that was what happened, and to this day, everyone was still none the wiser as to the reasons behind the incident.

    Just as everyone thought that this was going to be a one-off unexinable event, the second riot took ce 11 monthster!

    On that asion, 2,000 Yin spirits in the three eastern provinces had gathered together to form a 73-meter-tall monster! If it weren''t for the fact that Qin Hui had discovered it early and quelled it with violence, the consequences would''ve been catastrophic!

    That seemed to have broken the floodgates, and during the two years after that, seven more riots took ce, absorbing a total of 3,300herworldly citizens! On the previous asion, the resulting monster was already over 100 meters tall, destroying everything in its wake.

    Despite the frequency of these incidents, there were still no underlying reasons that could be tracked down.

    This had even affected the roles that were assigned to underworld emissaries. In the face of these riots, underworld emissaries often had to be deployed from other cities and regions to assist in quelling the unrest.

    However, in doing so, they were temporarily leaving their own cities and regions unattended, and this had already bred a lot of unease among Hell''s underworld emissaries.

    Right at this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly raised his head before casting his gaze toward the west.

    At the same time, the Harken, who had already been inscribing Yin runes onto the Six Origin Diagrams za for several years, suddenly stopped what it was doing before also raising its head.

    Zhao Yun faltered momentarily before rushing over to the window and flinging it open.

    A gust of Yin wind was suddenly swept up, and it instantly became a fierce gale, causing all of the signs in Everburn to sway violently. Even Zhao Yun, who was standing in front of the window, could feel his clothes being blown back by the wind.

    It was as if the eye of a typhoon had appeared somewhere in the Cathayan Underworld, and it was releasing gusts of Yin wind with all its might.

    Theherworldly citizens on the streets were fleeing frantically, and many of them had ducked into the shops on the streets for temporary shelter. "The weather reports didn''t mention this at all! I''ve got clothes hanging out to dry at home, I think I can say goodbye to them already!"

    "Holy shit, the wind''s only growing stronger and stronger!"

    All of a sudden, a sign was sent tumbling down by the wind, and the sound of it crashing violently onto the floor rang out along the entire street alongside countless rmed cries. Furthermore, this was happening in more than just one ce. However, Zhao Yun paid no heed to this as he stood atop the North Yin Pavilion. Instead, he was staring intently toward the west with an unblinking gaze.

    After a long while, he finally closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "15 years after the founding of the nation, that line has finally been crossed!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his eyes sprang open, and he instantly released his consciousness, scouring over the entire nation before settling on a certain ce several minutester.

    "As expected, it really was you," Zhao Yun murmured to himself with a smile. "I should be calling you Yama-King Arthis now, right?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "What''s going on?!"

    "What''s happening here?!"

    At the six paths of reincarnation, all of the departments had been stirred up into a chaotic frenzy. The entire mountain of fire was trembling violently, and Yin spirits were darting around all over the ce.

    "What is going on here?!" A ck-robed Yin spirit was gripping tightly onto a table as he yelled, "Where are the ck and White Anitya Hellguards?! Why aren''t they here at a time like this?!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the table that he was holding onto was flung violently across the room. All of the bookshelves in the room then copsed, and everything on the table fell onto the ground. It was as if a hurricane had suddenly swept through the entire room.

    The ck-robed Yin spirit had no idea what was happening.

    Is there a riot? But that''s impossible! This is the six paths of reincarnation, the ce with the most military forces in the entire nation! Who would dare to start a riot here? Could it be an earthquake then? But that disaster doesn''t exist in the underworld!

    Before he had a chance to think about the situation any further, a burst of enormous Yin energy suddenly erupted from the center of the six paths of reincarnation. He was then struck by a rush of dizziness, and by the time the dizziness receded, he found himself already standing outside the six paths of reincarnation!

    He looked down at his own trembling hands, struggling to believe that an eruption of Yin energy alone had blown him out of the six paths of reincarnation.

    How powerful did one have to be to achieve that?

    In the entire six paths of reincarnation, the only one powerful enough to do this was Warden Arthis, yet she had been in seclusion for the past decade!

    At the same time, the ck and White Anitya Hellguards were standing not far behind him, staring at the Soul Shackles in their hands with astonished expressions.

    It was clear that they had only just returned from soul capturing duties, and there were 12 Yin spirits trailing along behind them. However, in this instant, the Soul Shackles suddenly disintegrated without any warning, and at the same time, the Yin spirits behind them also began to slowly open their eyes.

    "What just happened?" The two Anitya Hellguards exchanged a dumbstruck nce, but before they had a chance to think about anything else, an earth-shattering boom rang out across the entire Lotus City Underworld!

    BOOM!!!

    All of the underworld emissaries in the city looked on with their mouths gaped open in incredulity.

    The six paths of reincarnation had sprung to life!

    Karmic mes of six different colors were erupting out of every singleyer of the lotus-flower-shaped pavilion, epassing the entirety of the six paths of reincarnation within it. At the same time, all of the underworld emissaries working in the six paths of reincarnation, which numbered in excess of 100,000, were blown out of the fiery mountain in unison.

    "Arrrgh!!"

    "Holy shit, what just happened?!"

    "Is this an earthquake? Does that even exist in the underworld?!"

    Countless Yin spirits were sent flying out of the fiery mountain, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold. However, all of the underworld emissaries outside were more astonished by the transformation taking ce in the six paths of reincarnation.

    Six-colored karmic fire was rising up toward the heavens incessantly, enveloping the entire six paths of reincarnation. Directly above the six paths of reincarnation, countless gusts of Yin wind converged from all directions, forming a vast vortex.

    "Look!" an underworld emissary yelled as he pointed up at the top of the six paths of reincarnation. "Is there something up there?"

    Indeed, there was.

    In the instant that these changes had begun to take ce in the six paths of reincarnation, a humanoid figure had appeared above it.

    It was Arthis!

    Her ck hair was dancing wildly behind her, and her eyes were tightly shut as she stood at the center of the Yin energy vortex. Furthermore, those ck clouds were slowly crafting her body!

    "Her soul is being refined by karmic fire, while her body is being forged by Yin energy..." The Harken, Zhao Yun, and Qin Changxin had all arrived on the scene.

    The Harken looked on with an awestruck expression as it sighed, "The first Yama-King of the new Hell is finally about to appear..."

    Right at this moment.

    BOOM!!!

    A burst of violent tremors suddenly ran through the sky, and the Yin clouds that had gathered around Arthis shuddered violently, looking as if they were about to copse!

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon seeing this, then abruptly turned toward another direction. "There''s someone else who''s also making a Yama-King level breakthrough, and they''re far more powerful than Arthis! The Yin energy is being drawn toward both of them, and it doesn''t know where to go!"

 Chapter 1129: A Double Blessing (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1129: A Double Blessing (2)</h4>

    A wave of darkness had appeared in the sky above the entire Cathayan Underworld, going east one moment, then traveling west the next. It was like a tug-of-war using a cast piece of ck fabric, and if one could rise beyond the underworld and look down from there, they would find that the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld was enshrouded in inky darkness.

    However, the darkness wasn''t still and dead. Instead, it was moving like the tide, and it was formed by countless Yin clouds. Such was the force with which each side was tugging on the Yin energy that a crack had begun to appear at the center of the vast expanse of darkness.

    The light of the sky filtered down through the rift, forming a radiant river of light, only to be quickly shut out again by the Yin clouds on either side of it. It was as if the entire body of darkness in the sky were a living creature.

    Light and darkness interchanged irregrly, while Yin energy shed, and it was as if two vast projections could be seen on either side, both of which were fighting over the Yin energy of the entire Cathayan Underworld.

    Inside a certain city, an underworld emissary raised his head, and the Yin spirits standing in front of him, who were awaiting his instructions, were rather perplexed to see this.

    The underworld emissary cast his gaze outside with a stunned expression, and soon, his colleagues realized that he was acting rather strange. Immediately thereafter, all of their mouths gaped open one after another, and theherfire in their eyes erupted violently as they turned to stare out the window with incredulous expressions.

    They were witnessing a vast river of Yin clouds!

    Boundlessherfire was surging through the air, forming the most resplendent stars amid the river of darkness.

    It was a truly wondrous sight to behold.

    "My god..." The underworld emissary took a deep breath with a dazed expression. The enormous power in the sky was enough to strike them with a sense of asphyxiation, and immediately thereafter, all of the underworld emissaries fell to their knees without any hesitation before kowtowing to the ground.

    This wasn''t happening in just a single city.

    Inside a university, the windows were already lined with Yin spirits, and a professor, who was in the process of marking exams, was looking up at the sky with an astonished expression, while his pen slipped out of his grasp and ttered onto the ground.

    Along a production line in a factory, every single factory worker was looking out the windows with dazed expressions, allowing the production line to pass by in front of them.

    In another city, all of the Yin spirits on the streets were staring up at the sky,pletely rooted to the spot, and the entire city was so silent that a pin drop could be audibly heard.

    All of the Yin spirits in the entire Cathayan Underworld, of which there were close to 400 million, were staring up at the astonishing phenomenon taking ce above them. The vast nket of Yin clouds, the enormous Yin energy, the millions of specks ofherfire... Never had they witnessed something so astonishing.

    This was the paramount pursuit of all Yin spirits, and they couldn''t help but tremble as they watched it unfold right in front of their very eyes.

    "What is that thing?" An elderly man was seated in front of his house, and the pipe in his hand had already fallen onto the ground as he stared up at the sky with a ck-jawed expression. "Why is it that my soul yearns for it so intensely?"

    Tens of thousands of underworld emissaries were hovering in the air outside of the fiery mountain. They were the most direct witnesses to this monumental scene that was worthy of nationwide celebration. Not only were they not any moreposed than the other Yin spirits, they were even more astonished as they were seeing this up-close.

    This was their ultimate goal!

    There were only a total of three Yama-Kings in the entire nation, and right before their very eyes, another one was about to emerge.

    They were envious, but not resentful. Witnessing this spectacle would only serve as motivation to fuel them to work even harder.

    "One day, I''m going to climb to these lofty heights and be the pride of the entire nation as well!" a young underworld emissary vowed through gritted teeth with his fists tightly clenched.

    The same sentiment was ringing out in the hearts of countless other underworld emissaries.

    Amid the deathly silence, everyone''s eyes were focused on Arthis. No one dared to disrupt this historic moment. As for Arthis herself, she waspletely oblivious to the inspiration that she was providing to all of the underworld emissaries across the nation.

    However, Zhao Yun and the Harken were not looking very pleased.

    "What can we do? Is there a way to stop this?" the Harken asked with a grim expression. "Who''s the other one making a breakthrough? Have you tracked them down?"

    Zhao Yun also wore an extremely grim expression, and countless images were rapidly shing through his pupils. Several secondster, he shook his head in response. "I can''t find them."

    "Then what do we do now?" The Harken was so agitated that it was jumping around like a puppy. "It''ll only take 30 more minutes at most before Arthis attains her death god form and bes a Yama-King! If someone is fighting over Yin energy with her, then neither of them will be able to make a sessful breakthrough! There isn''t enough Yin energy in the Cathayan Underworld to support two Yama-King level breakthroughs at once! This has never been seen in history! Prior to each Yama-King level breakthrough, the entire nation is put on notice. All citizens are informed of the event in advance, and a day of work stoppage is observed. Not only has there been no prior notice issued on this asion, both of them are making breakthroughs at once! Did they agree to do this in advance?!"

    The emergence of a new Yama-King was extremely important for the Cathayan Underworld, particrly in its current state.

    It served as an example to the entire nation, telling them that this was not just some unattainable dream.

    The first-ever Yama-King of the new Hell had an extremely high level of symbolic importance, yet now...

    Right at this moment, the force that waspeting with Arthis for Yin energy suddenly vanished.

    Zhao Yun and the Harken both turned toward the east with incredulity in their eyes. Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out, and all of the Yin energy in all directions converged toward Arakshasa, alongside countless specks ofherfire. The entire six paths of reincarnation was inundated by the wave of Yin energy andherfire, and it was truly a spectacr sight to behold!

    "Did they leave? Are they not going to make their breakthrough?" the Harken eximed.

    Zhao Yun immediately shook his head in response. "No! The other party has sensed that someone else is also making a Yama-King level breakthrough, and they''ve stepped aside! That means that they''re not making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King!"

    The Harken drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    If they weren''t making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King, how were they able to evoke resonance from the entire Cathayan Underworld and create such an astonishing phenomenon?

    "Don''t forget that there''s another type of breakthrough that can trigger this type of phenomenon," Zhao Yun reminded with an intense look in his eyes.

    "You mean someone''s making a breakthrough to be an advanced Yama-Kings?!" the Harken eximed.

    Indeed, that was what was happening.

    In the entire underworld, only the ruler death gods of the three pirs and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had reached this level.

    Upon reaching that level, the line that signified transcendence would be only one step away.

    The Harken was beginning to tremble uncontrobly. It knew that this type of phenomenon could only be triggered in the same nation as the one that the person making the breakthrough belonged to. Thus, this being had to be someone from the Cathayan Underworld, and there was only one possible candidate...

    "Is it Yanluo Qin?!" The Harken was struggling to believe this situation. "He''s bing an advanced Yama-King?! How is that possible?!"

    This man was the king of shameless cowards, the spineless weakling who shied away even from the faintest impression of danger... How had he possibly reached this point?!

    Had he invented his own dao of cowardice or something like that?!

    The Harken immediately turned to depart, only to be stopped cold in its tracks by Zhao Yun. "Where are you going?"

    "I''m going to see Yanluo Qin! I refuse to believe this until I see it for myself!"

    Zhao Yun shook his head with a serious expression. "I''ll go instead."

    Before the Harken had a chance to argue, Zhao Yun continued, "If it really is Yanluo Qin who''s making a breakthrough, and he''s given up on the Yin energy of the underworld, where can he go?"

    There was only one answer: the mortal realm.

    He was going to use all of the Yin energy and lost souls of the mortal realm to facilitate his breakthrough to be an advanced Yama-King!

    Once he seeded, he would reach the pinnacle of the path of cultivation.

    "You still haven''t recovered from your injuries, and the healing process will be significantly elerated by the Yin energy reciprocation from Yama-King level breakthroughs. If you absorb Yin energy in the mortal realm, you''ll be noticed by the entire world, and all of the other underworlds will be aware of the fact that you''re severely injured at the moment. Hence, it''s better for me to go instead."

    The Harken nodded reluctantly in response, and Zhao Yun sped away as a streak of Yin energy.

    Following his departure, the Harken turned back toward Arthis with anticipation in its eyes.

    It wasn''t excited for Arthis. Instead, it was excited for the Yin energy reciprocation that her breakthrough was going to provide. It would''ve taken 100 more years for it to recover from its injuries, but it could heal them in one fell swoop here!

    It had been a very long time since it had bared its fangs to the rest of the world, and it was very much looking forward to making a triumphant return...

    It took a deep breath, and countless Yin energy screens appeared across the entire Cathayan Underworld. "Warden Arakshasa of the six paths of reincarnation is currently making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King, so there''s no need to be rmed. Just continue to do what you''re doing as normal, and if anyone is caught trying to take advantage of this opportunity to wreak havoc, then they will be executed on the spot with no exceptions!"

    Its voice was heard across the entire Cathayan Underworld through the countless screens, and all of the Yin spirits across the nation instantly erupted into a frenzy.

    "Someone really has cultivated to the Yama-King level?! I thought that was next to impossible!"

    "ording to what we were taught at school, Yama-King is the ultimate cultivation rank! There are tens of billions of Yin spirits across the entire underworld, yet only less than 70 Yama-Kings!"

    "Now that Warden Arakshasa has made a breakthrough to be a Yama-King, our Cathayan Underworld will have four Yama-Kings!"

    "This must be a once-in-a-lifetime event!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A finger gently traced itself over a Yin rune. The Yin rune was massive, standing at over a meter in height, and it was extremelyplex. Just the mere sight of it was enough to evoke a sense of all-consuming rage in one''s heart, causing the beholder to lose their ability for rational thought.

    The name of the Yin rune was Anger, and it was the final Yin rune that represented the seven emotions and six desires.

    All of a sudden, the Yin rune began to revolve, picking up speed as it did so. In the end, it shrank down to around the size of a fingernail before flying into Qin Ye''s be.

    As the Yin rune entered his body, the surrounding darkness rapidly receded, and rays of sunlight shone down upon him as he was greeted by the familiar sight of the Land of Origins once again.

    Initially, his vision was a little hazy, like a blind person seeing light for the first time, but everything quickly became clear.

    He took several deep breaths in session, then heaved a long sigh. "It''s finally over."

    Behind him, his Dusk Legionnaire appeared one after another.

    Chu Renmei was already an advanced Abyssal Prefects, as was Huang Jiansen.

    After them came Kwon Kyung-ho, Ryu Changmin, Jason, Freddy, Leatherface, Otakemaru... All of them had also be Abyssal Prefects!

    Their cultivation bases were still a little unstable, but this was still a formidable lineup of around a dozen Abyssal Prefects, and that would be an astonishing sight for anyone.

    "This is what my Dusk Legionnaire should be like." Qin Ye smiled as he withdrew his gaze. "They''ve all be quite powerful now, but unfortunately, their numbers are still sorelycking. If I can fill the Dusk Legionnaire with its full quota of 100 ghosts, then no one would be willing to face me in battle."

    As for elevating them to the Yama-King level, that was simply imusible.

    "Also, I still need to find out whether they''re able to use artifacts. This art is perfect for me! I can position them in front of me as meat shields, and all I need to do is attack from behind them!"

    All of a sudden, a cold and aloof voice rang out from beside him. "I didn''t think that you would be able to reach this point."

    It was Nothingness.

    They were standing not far behind Qin Ye, and as Qin Ye turned his gaze toward Them, They said, "I had thought you would take two or three more years toplete the trial, but you''ve certainly surpassed my expectations."

    They swept a hand through the air, and a golden light screen appeared up ahead.

    It wasn''t veryrge, only around a meter in size, and there were over 100 names inscribed upon it. However, a small portion of those names had turned ck, while most of them were gray, and only four of the names were of a dazzling golden color.

    "Go on, write your name down. You have emerged from the most difficult trial in the world, and your name will be sure to go down in the history books for it!"

 Chapter 1130: A Double Blessing (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1130: A Double Blessing (3)</h4>

    A speck of Yin energy gathered at Qin Ye''s fingertip, and it quickly transformed into a burst of golden light. Qin Ye ced his finger onto the golden screen, but didn''t immediately write his name down.

    The names of all of the death gods in the world were inscribed onto the screen, including the ones that had already passed away.

    However, only four Yama-Kings had sessfully emerged from the trial of inner demons, namely Thanatos, Anubis, Yamaraja, and the first King Yanluo.

    Now, a fifth name was going to be added to that exclusive list.

    He took a deep breath, then wrote down his name in elegant and free-flowing text.

    Dazzling light erupted from the screen as Qin Ye''s name was cemented onto its surface, and the screen then began to slowly fade.

    At the same time, Hell''s Record, which had already lied dormant in Qin Ye''s chest for a very long time, abruptly flew out amid a burst of dazzling golden light, then suddenly exploded.

    The scraps of its countless pages transformed into specks of pure white light that revolved around him, and at the same time, a passage of golden text slowly appeared in the air.

    Name: Qin Ye (Nickname - Dogballs)

    ce of Origin: Liu Er Mound Vige, Gazi Gully, Tang An County, Qingguang City

    Family Members: Grandfather (deceased), Parents (deceased)

    Date of Birth: 1 October 1938

    upation: Ruler death god, ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Duration of term: 20 years, six months, and seven days.

    Cultivation level: Advanced Yama-King!

    I''ve finally done it...

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and words couldn''t describe the overflowing satisfaction that he was feeling in this moment.

    During the first three years of his reign, he had been going back and forth between the Cathayan Underworld and the Special Investigations Department. During that time, he had found the Book of Life and Death, Qin Changxin, and the Mirror of Eminence.

    During the six years after that, he had united the nation, felling Dong Zhuo, taming Su Daji and Qin Hui, constructing the new six paths of reincarnation in Lotus City, recovering the Outer Mongolian Underworld, and expanding the Cathayan Underworld''s territory to an unprecedented size in excess of eleven million square kilometers. These achievements were all sparkling entries on his resume as ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    In the 10 years after that, he defeated Xu Fu and obtained Gui Xu, then developed the new energy resource topletely turn the tables on the rest of the world. The Cathayan Underworld''s foundation was still quite shakypared with that of the other three pirs, but at this point, it had already well and truly entered the fastne in terms of development.

    Thergest port in the world was the Longmen Port of Formosa.

    Thergest energy resource exchange market in the world was the Cathayan Underworld Energy Resource Office on the ind of Formosa.

    Thergest customs office in the world was the Longmen Sea Customs Office.

    The most powerful currency in the world was the dragon jade, which was connected directly to the new energy resource.

    It was used by 27 underworlds, including the three pirs and the Russian Underworld!

    In the most recent five years of his reign, he hadpleted the trial that only four death gods in the world had previouslypleted.

    A series of des appeared around him, revolving rapidly, but he no longer wanted to look at those familiar numbers. Instead, he closed his eyes with a satisfied expression, spreading his arms open as he sensed the Yin energy around him, which was growing more and more potent.

    At this moment, he truly felt worthy to serve as the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Yin energy around him had be dense to the extreme, and there seemed to be no end to it in sight.

    Around a minuteter, all of the surrounding Yin energy gushed violently toward him, yet just as he was preparing to ept this hard-earned gift, he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a surprised gaze toward the Cathayan Underworld, following which a faint smile appeared on his face.

    "So Arthis is also undergoing a breakthrough right now... Looks like good things really doe in pairs."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly shot upward like a speeding arrow, traveling directly toward Limbo right before the Yin energy reached him.

    At the same time, the Yin energy that had already gathered around him followed him upward like a long, ck dragon.

    Nothingness''s cloak pped incessantly amid the vast Yin energy, and They looked up at the sky with aplex expression.

    There seemed to be no end to the Yin energy that was following Qin Ye toward Limbo, and it had even created a Yin energy vortex in the sky that was ascending alongside Qin Ye.

    "So you''re nning to relinquish the Yin energy of the underworld, choosing to travel to the mortal realm instead. In order to fuel your breakthrough, you''ll be devouring all of the wandering spirits in Cathay, and you''ll even be drawing upon Yin energy from other nations... Looks like you''ve finally worked up the courage to dere yourself to the world. Congrattions, Yanluo Qin."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Hurry! Don''t let it get away!" On the outskirts of Yanjing, four investigators from the Special Investigations Department had surrounded a headless evil ghost.

    It had already been many years since the conclusion of the supernatural disasters, and many people from the new generation didn''t even know about the supernatural disasters at all. All records of that horrific period had already been filed away, and since then, the Special Investigations Department had also beenying off more and more staff. However, those who remained were all the cream of the crop.

    The group wasn''t veryrge, only consisting of four people, and it was a standard battle team in the current Special Investigations Department, with two main attackers, a protector, and an auxiliary unit. The special thing about this team was that the auxiliary unit was the captain.

    This was a young man with snowy white hair and extremely pale skin, and it was clear that he was suffering from albinism. At the same time, his eyes were devoid of pupils, yet he was able to urately track the evil ghost with his eyes without the need for any equipment to assist him.

    "A17, approach from the left! A18, prepare to assist!"

    As he issued the orders, a series of silver threads emerged from his sleeve before falling silently onto the ground. However, with just a gentle tug, the threads became even sharper than steel wire. At the same time, two tall and imposing young men had already surrounded the evil ghost.

    "3, 2, ... Hold on!" Before he had a chance to finish his countdown, the white-haired young man abruptly shuddered as he stopped counting.

    "What''s wrong?" a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his early thirties standing behind him asked.

    The white-haired young man shook his head in response. Just now, he had been struck by an extremely terrifying premonition, but it had passed just as quickly as it had struck him, leading him to believe that it was just a figment of his imagination.

    Just as he was shaking his head to shake off that lingering sense of difort, he faltered once again as a stunned look appeared on his face.

    The evil ghost that they had surrounded, which only possessed Soul Hunter level power, had copsed to its knees, and its entire body was trembling uncontrobly. Even though it had no head, its upper body was swinging up and down like a seesaw, as if it were kowtowing incessantly, and for the first time, it spoke.

    However, its voice was trembling with horror.

    "Pl... Please spare me!!"

    All of the investigators were rather taken aback by this.

    They were also Soul Hunters, and they had only reached this level not long ago. In contrast, this evil ghost was a seasoned Yin spirit that had been prowling the outskirts of Yanjing for many years, yet it was begging them to spare it?

    All of a sudden, the white-haired young man''s teeth began to chatter uncontrobly, and he was struck by that same terrifying premonition again. It was screaming at him frantically, telling him to leave this ce right away.

    Gusts of Yin wind swept up around them out of nowhere, and he drew a sharp breath as the unease in his heart climbed to a peak. He immediately ordered without any hesitation, "Retreat!"

    However, it was already toote.

    Right as the order was issued, a massive eruption of Yin energy appeared 30 meters in front of them, resembling a volcanic eruption of darkness!

    There was more Yin energy than they could even fathom, and even in the internal records of the Special Investigations Department, there were no ounts of such terrifying eruptions of Yin energy. As soon as the Yin energy appeared, it quickly epassed the entire sky.

    However, that wasn''t what the investigators were looking at. Instead, they were staring at the figure rising up into the sky, standing right at the peak of the eruption of Yin energy.

    It was a skeleton, yet it had a head of long, ck hair, and it was wearing a golden crown, as well as a dragon robe, and a white jade belt around its waist. It was holding a silver pen, and it was giving off an indescribably formidable yet regal aura.

    At the same time, a burst of frantic beeping rang out from the investigators'' bodies in unison, but the beeping onlysted less than a second before it was silenced by a dull thump.

    The white-haired young man was jerked back to reality by the sound, and his hands were trembling so violently that it looked as if he were racked by spasms. He pulled out his Yin energy meter before taking a look, then closed his eyes in despair.

    The Yin energy meter had been blown out... These were Yin energy meters capable of containing the Yin energy of Prefect-level ghostly beings!

    Are we going to die here?

    Before he had a chance to think about anything else, the evil ghost before them let loose a horrified screech, then rapidly flew up into the sky as if it were being dragged away by a giant, invisible hand.

    Furthermore, it wasn''t the only one.

    All of the evil ghosts in the entire city of Yanjing were converging toward this ce, before involuntarily revolving around that regal figure.

    "Is it... Is it devouring those evil ghosts?!"

    "What kind of monster is this?! Is it an underworld emissary or another evil ghost?!"

    The astonished cries of his teammates snapped the white-haired young man out of his reverie, and he immediately pulled out his phone before speaking into it in a trembling voice. "A15, we are experiencing an emergency and requestmunication with our higher-ups!"

    However, his report waspletely superfluous.

    In this instant, the sound of Yin energy rms rang out across the entire nation of Cathay once again, after they had been lying dormant for the past decade.

    "My god... It''s already over five billion!"

    "Have we received any notification from Hell?! Contact the city gods right away! Have they been notified?!"

    "Report! The city gods have not received any recent notice from Hell, and they''re just as unprepared as we are!"

    "What about the lords of thend? Have you visited their temples?"

    "I did, and they also have no idea what''s going on!"

    "Damn it... Inform the central government right away! We have encountered a special emergency!"

    "There''s no need for that, Old Man Li... Take a look."

    At this moment, all of the Special Investigation Department branches across the nation that hadn''t yet been closed down were all witnessing the same bizarre scene.

    The map of the Cathay had been green for 10 years, yet it had turned bright red in the span of just a few seconds!

    Was the ruler of all ghosts emerging in the nation?!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Inside arge conference hall, the prime minister of Cathaya was holding a national conference, and right at this moment, the general secretary hurriedly made his way into the room with an urgent expression, then whispered something into the prime minister''s ear, upon which his expression changed ever so slightly.

    "Don''t panic, keep calm," he urged in a low voice. "Have you contacted Hell? Also, gather all investigators at the Anitya Hellguard level and above..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the door was opened again, and another secretary rushed into the room before reporting in a hushed voice, "Prime Minister, we''ve received news from the city god''s temple of Baoan. An Abyssal Prefect of Hell is making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King, while a mid Yama-King is making a breakthrough to be an advanced Yama-King. Due to insufficient Yin energy in the Cathayan Underworld to facilitate both breakthroughs, one of them will be using the evil ghosts of the mortal realm as an energy source instead, so there''s no need to be concerned. Hell also informed us that after this, there will no longer be any Yin spirits in Cathay."

    The prime minister was very relieved to hear this, and at the same time, he cast aplex gaze toward Zhou Xianlong and Lei Jun, who were also in attendance.

    The Special Investigations Department had once been an extremely powerful department, being the only government unit in history that possessed both political and military power. Was it finally time for this glorious department to be disbanded?

    It was a sad thought, but this was a good thing.

    No one wanted to live in constant fear.

    The supernatural disasters that hadsted 10 years had been an extremely horrific passage in Cathay''s history. Many cultivators and soldiers had courageously sacrificed themselves for the good of the nation, but their sacrifices were finally no longer going to be needed.

    "Pass on my congrattions to Hell," he instructed. "Also, make sure to take care of all of the cleanup work as well. Completely seal off the area where the mid Yama-King is making their breakthrough. ording to past convention, the higher-ups of Hell must engage in correspondence with us after this event."

    "Yes!"

 Chapter 1131: Advanced Yama-King! Eighth of the Underworld!

    <h4>Chapter 1131: Advanced Yama-King! Eighth of the Underworld!</h4>

    By the time Zheng Shuguo arrived at the Jiankou section of the Great Wall of Cathay, the entire ce had already been surrounded by over 1,000 investigators.

    Zheng Shuguo was wearing general epaulets on his shoulders, and all of the investigators that caught sight of him immediately bowed respectfully in greeting. Director Lei of the Special Investigations Department was in a semi-retirement mode, and as a result, the Prefect-level Zheng Shuguo had taken over as the director of the Special Investigations Department. Even though this department was already far from its heyday, the threat of a general was still enough to earn everyone''s respect.

    Zheng Shuguo nodded to acknowledge the investigators, then strode down directly from the beacon tower. The Jiankou section of the Great Wall was one of its most precarious stretches. The terrain here fluctuated drastically, and it was situated at over 1,000 meters above sea level. In fact, the terrain was so steep that this section of the Great Wall formed a "W" shape.

    However, Zheng Shuguo wasn''t in the mood to be looking at this right now. His gaze had already settled on the sky, where tens of thousands of evil ghosts were revolving in the air involuntarily up above, screaming in horror as they formed a massive ck ball. On the monitors, it could be clearly seen that millions of Yin spirits were still yet to arrive from even further away!

    "Have we verified which Yama-King this is?" he asked.

    "No, but..." The investigator beside him made his way over to him with a grim expression, then set the monitor down at a ce where it was convenient for Zheng Shuguo to see. After just a single nce, Zheng Shuguo could already feel his own pulse thumping violently.

    The Yin energy reading in the sky above this section of the Great Wall was registering in excess of five billion, and an even more terrifying burst of Yin energy had already epassed the entire nation.

    The Yin energy reading was 120 billion!

    "ording to our records, this is Ghost King Zhao''s Yin energy," the investigator informed.

    Zheng Shuguo massaged his own be in an exhausted manner as he said, "Maintain high alert at all times. This has already escted beyond what we can deal with. Remember your duties as investigators and the vows that you swore when you first joined the Special Investigations Department! If any mishaps ur, no one is allowed to retreat unless an order to retreat is issued!"

    "Yes!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye knew that his decision to absorb Yin energy from the mortal realm would create quite a stir, but he failed to anticipate just how massive a stir he was going to create.

    However, he didn''t have any spare capacity to think about that anyway.

    At the center of the area surrounded by the Yin spirits, the Yin energy was extremely dense, and it had formed a ball with a diameter in excess of 20 meters. asionally, a series of agonized human faces would appear on the surface of the ball, and on each asion that they did so, Yin energy would immediately frantically rush into the ball before filtering into Qin Ye''s body.

    There were some indescribable changes taking ce in his physical body. It wasn''t bing more resolute, nor was it bing more supple and limber. Instead, it was bing... more profound.

    One Yin rune after another was washing over every single one of his bones and tendons, then adhering themselvesyer byyer onto his bodily structures. There was no visible change, but Qin Ye could sense that his entire body was undergoing an unfathomable transformation. He had a feeling that back when he was a nascent Yama-King, he wouldn''t even be able to break through his current self''s defenses.

    This led him to wonder exactly what he was now.

    A Yin rune being? Xerath?

    There was no time for him to think as Yin energy was converging toward him from all directions, but it was giving him a sense of warmth, as if he had returned to his mother''s womb and was immersed in amniotic fluid. Several minutester, he slowly closed his eyes.

    As the Yin energy washed over him, every single cell in his body was slowly undergoing a qualitative change. He had alreadypletely transcended beyond all humans and Yin spirits, reaching a higher level of existence. There was only one term that could be used to describe what he was bing: a god.

    Time passed by one day after another, and after an indeterminate period of time, he finally opened his eyes.

    This was an instinctive action, just like how birds would break through the shells of their own eggs when it was time to hatch.

    At this moment, Qin Ye was experiencing a sense of restrictiveness.

    It was as if his hands and feet had been shackled. He wanted to rise to the heavens and dere himself to the world, but he could feel something enveloping him, andhe instinctively wanted to break through those things.

    He gently raised his hand, and in the instant that he came into contact with the Yin energyyer around him, it instantly disintegrated like snow under the scorching, summer sun.

    At the same time, he was struck by a sense of extreme hunger.

    There was no time for thought. He instinctively opened his mouth, and the enormous Yin energy vortex that was revolving around him gushed into his mouth in a frenzy.

    He was like a feeding whale, and after close to 20 minutes, all of the Yin energy had gushed into his stomach.

    Only then did he lick his own lips with a satisfied expression.

    He clenched his fists, and he could sense unprecedented power flowing through his veins. The ability to physically shatter space was often mentioned in fantasy novels, but that was always just a statement of hyperbole. However, in his present state, he really did feel as if he could shatter space with a single punch!

    He slowly raised his head, and a refreshing breeze blew into his face.

    He couldn''t help but take a deep breath, and his lungs were quickly filled with the cool, autumnal air.

    He then gently thrust his palm forward, and the space up ahead warped violently as if it had been struck by a giant fist.

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he withdrew his fist with an incredulous expression as he took a deep breath.

    "Was that... space?" He looked at his own fist with a stunned expression. "Did Ie into contact with space just now?!"

    In all power systems, time and space were always the paramountws, yet he had just been able to touch space with his bare hand!

    Right at this moment, an emotionless voice rang out beside him. "As an advanced Yama-King, you''ve already reached the very pinnacle of cultivation in the underworld. As such, you''ll naturally be able to touch the most profound things in this world."

    Qin Ye repressed his astonishment as he turned before cupping his fist in a salute. "What brings you here?"

    It was Nothingness.

    Standing behind Them was Zhao Yun, but thetter paid no heed to Nothingness and was looking at Qin Ye with concern in his eyes.

    Qin Ye gave him a reassuring nod, then continued, "Are you here to oversee my breakthrough?"

    Nothingness shook Their head in response. "There''s one thing that I''ve never been able to find the answer to, so I came to you for an answer."

    "Go ahead."

    Nothingness''s brows furrowed slightly as They said, "I''ve thought extensively about this for a long time. You are not a cold and detached person. On the contrary, you value interpersonal rtionships very highly, so theoretically speaking, you shouldn''t be able to pass the trial of inner demons..."

    "You want to know how I did it, right?" Qin Ye smiled as he summoned Fate with a flick of his wrist. "Do you recognize this?"

    "I do," Nothingness replied. "It''s the imperial pen of the second King Yanluo."

    After a brief silence, a thought seemed to have urred to Nothingness, and They said, "I get it now."

    Fate was able to inscribe the fate of all people. Failure toplete the trial of inner demons would result in an erasure of memories, but what if someone were to write down their memories?

    The trial of inner demons prohibited one from recording their own memories, but it had no restrictions on others recording one''s memories for them. The reason for this was very simple: in the scenarios presented in the trial of inner demons, there was no way that anyone else would help the trial-taker record their memories. If anyone in the illusion were to make records of the future, then the sequence of events in the trial of inner demons would be altered, thereby resulting in automatic failure.

    However, Fate was different.

    There was no need for Qin Ye to ask someone else to record his memories for him, and he didn''t even need to be controlling Fate as it wrote. Thus, with this trump card up his sleeve, he didn''t need to worry about failing the trial of inner demons at all!

    "I see," Nothingness sighed. "No wonder all of the other death gods had to endure so much in their lives before they could ovee the trial of inner demons, yet you were able to replicate their feats despite your severe rtiveck of life experience. It was truly a surprise that you were able to seed, but seeing as you were able to think of something as crafty as using Fate to help you, you deserved to win."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    He had never overestimated himself. On the contrary, he was very aware of his own limitations.

    In terms of mental fortitude, the ruler death gods of the three pirs were definitely superior to him. They had lived for too long and seen too much. They had survived the era of chaotic warfare across the entire underworld before climbing to the very top, and it was simply impossible for Qin Ye topete with them in terms of life experience.

    Thus, Fate had yed an extremely important role in his sess, but why did that matter?

    Tools were also a part of one''s power, and his name had already been recorded by the Heavenly Dao. History was always written at the discretion of the victors.

    "There''s something else I have to say." Nothingness''s voice was as unhurried and aloof as ever. They turned to nce at Zhao Yun, then asked, "Do you know why Ghost King Zhao came here in person?"

    "He came here to protect me during my breakthrough, of course," Qin Ye replied.

    Nothingness turned back to him, then asked, "Then why do you think I also came here?"

    "That would be... to witness history, of course! After all, I''m one of the eight most powerful beings in the world..."

    Silence.

    It was an extremely awkward silence.

    Several secondster, the Heavenly Dao said, "You''re right, I also came here to protect you."

    Wait, what? Really?

    Qin Ye was very much taken aback to hear this. Since when was he worthy of protection from the Heavenly Dao Themself? Was this one of the benefits of doing the Heavenly Dao''s bidding?

    The Heavenly Dao seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and They said in a cold voice, "Have you thought about how much attention you''ll attract by making this breakthrough in the mortal realm? You''re lucky that the Array of the Nine Gods is still standing and can conceal your actions. Otherwise, the entire world would''ve sensed what happened here. Also, have you forgotten who your opponent in the mortal realm is?"

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead.

    He had been too reckless...

    He had been too eager to make his breakthrough, and as a result, he had forgotten that the mortal realm was the domain of the inner demon!

    With that in mind, the inner demon most definitely already knew that he had be an advanced Yama-King!

    Before he had a chance to think about this any further, the Heavenly Dao continued, "Your divine nation has been attacked."

    "Divine nation?" Qin Ye asked as he raised his eyebrows.

    "This is a western concept," the Heavenly Dao exined. "ording to their hierarchy, Thanatos is a main god, otherwise known as a ruler death god. As for the Three Judges, they are subsidiary gods, while the nascent death gods who serve them are known as servant gods, and everyone else falls into the godly servant category. A divine nation is a nation ruled over by a god. In other words, it''s your underworld. The riots currently taking ce in the Cathayan Underworld aren''t important. They have already been quelled by Ghost King Zhao, but he doesn''t know the root cause behind the riots, and that''s another reason why he came here so urgently to see you. He has to report these strange happenings to you. However, the riots may not be important, but the implications behind them are extremely significant. They entail that the inner demon is about toplete its fusion, and it''s already attempting to find a way to enter the underworld. In the near future, you are most likely going to face a riot of an unprecedented scale. Once the inner demon has imed enough territory in the Cathayan Underworld, it will officially establish an anchor in the underworld, thereby allowing it to stake a foothold there. I''m afraid to tell you that you don''t have much time left."

 Chapter 1132: Meeting with the Special Investigations Department Again (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1132: Meeting with the Special Investigations Department Again (1)</h4>

    "I understand," Qin Ye replied with a nod. "Between me and the inner demon, one of us has to die, so there''s no need for you to try and fan the mes."

    Everyone has some things in their lives that are worth fighting for and striving toward. Even the most spineless cowards would be willing to rise up defiantly for the things that they cherished the most.

    Nothingness nodded in response, then flicked a finger through the air, and a streak of light flew into Qin Ye''s be. "That is the piece of Qin Zhongguo''s soul that was captured by the second King Yanluo. It''spletely undetectable, but with it, you''ll be able to sense the location of the inner demon."

    After that, Nothingness vanished into a cloud of white mist, and only then did Qin Ye allow himself a sigh of relief before turning to Zhao Yun with a faint smile.

    "Congrattions, Your Excellency!" Zhao Yun cupped his fist in an ted salute as he extended a deep now. "There are only seven advanced Yama-Kings left in the world, and you are the eighth one!"

    An emotional smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. Who could''ve imagined that a coward like him would be able to reach such dizzying heights from his humble beginnings back in Clear Creek County?

    What did this mean? It meant that no matter how talented one was, the dao of cowardice was always number one!

    Qin Ye resisted the urge to verbalize that rather shameful sentiment, then asked, "Did Arakshasa be a Yama-King?"

    "That''s right!" In the wake of these two massive pieces of good news, Zhao Yun was barely able to contain his tion. "Three days before youpleted your breakthrough, Arakshasa had alreadypleted her breakthrough. She has given herself the title of the Reincarnation King, and the Harken has granted her the title of the Yama-King of the First Pce in your stead."

    A nostalgic look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes.

    She''s finally made it...

    This was definitely good news. Where was the Cathayan Underworldcking inparison with the three pirs? It wascking in age, thereby resulting in a massive disparity between their poptions, as well as the number of mid and high-grade underworld emissaries that could only arise through the passage of time.

    All of the other three pirs had formidable death gods that had arisen throughout the course of history, yet the Cathayan Underworld only had three death gods, one of which was severely injured and nowhere near the height of its powers.

    As a result, he was constantly feeling insecure whenever he had to engage in direct confrontation with the other three pirs. However, he finally had some confidence now.

    He looked up to the heavens with anticipation in his eyes as he murmured to himself, "In another 1,000 years, Qin Changxin and the others could be Yama-Kings as well. Once that happens, the Cathayan Underworld will truly have nothing to fear."

    Perhaps by then, space exploration would''ve already be prevalent in the underworld. Brand new civilizations would emerge on the colonized nes, and there was even a possibility that the religions that had already been lost to the sands of time could be resurrected! For example, there were the three new continent religions that were hanging on by a thread, and the Celtic religion, which was about to fall. If that were to happen, how many more ruler death gods would emerge?

    That would be a truly exciting era.

    However...

    A cold look appeared in his eyes as he inspected his surroundings with a grim expression. Even here, he could sense a sinister gaze watching him.

    Before anything else could be done, he had to take care of the inner demon first.

    This was the biggest crisis that had arisen since his inauguration, and the inner demon was provoking him without any inhibitions!

    "Brother Zhao." Qin Ye turned to Zhao Yun with a serious expression. "Have there been riots taking ce in the Cathayan Underworld recently?"

    A stunned look appeared on Zhao Yun''s face upon hearing this, and he immediately nodded in response. "Yes. There have been seven riots thus far, each one on arger scale than the previous one. We''veunched thorough investigations and found no reasons for ourherworldly citizens to rise up in revolt. There were even some who were praising Hell the previous day, only to rise up in revolt the next day, and it''s all been extremely perplexing."

    Qin Ye nodded in response and didn''t immediately reply.

    How could he take care of the inner demon?

    It wasn''t in the underworld as it had no anchor point there. However, searching for it in the mortal realm would be no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.

    The inner demon was able to switch from host to host at will and was nigh untraceable. While it was true that with the piece of Qin Zhongguo''s soul given to him, he could sense the presence of the inner demon, but what was he going to do with that?

    How many people had the inner demon possessed over the past century? If he were to approach its host, would it not notice? As a being above the Yama-King level, it would be able to scour through the entire nation with a single nce, so there was no opportunity for him to strike.

    The inner demon could just wait until he had almost reached its host, then switch to another host on the other side of the nation! What would he be able to do then?

    In addition to that, even Zhao Yun most likely wasn''t a match for the inner demon, so he wouldn''t be able to do anything to it even if it didn''t run away.

    "Have you heard of the inner demon?" Qin Ye suddenly asked.

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "I have not."

    "Then, can you sense the presence of another being above the Yama-King level here in Cathay in the mortal realm?"

    Zhao Yun closed his eyes for a full 10 minutes, then reopened his eyes as a grim look appeared on his face. "I am unable to sense such a presence."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "The riots in the Cathayan Underworld were caused by the attempts of a Yin spirit above the Yama-King level, known as the inner demon, to enter the Cathayan Underworld. I''ll tell you about the specific detailster, let''s go and meet an old friend for now."

    He cast his gaze downward as he spoke. He didn''t know how long his breakthrough had taken, but several thousand investigators had already gathered down below, and they were all looking up at the sky with anxious expressions.

    If he wanted to bring down the inner demon, he couldn''t just rely on the power of the underworld alone as that would essentially be submitting himself to a stance of passivity from the get-go. In order to maximize his chances, he needed to take advantage of the surveincework across the entirety of Cathay.

    There was nothing that Cathay couldn''t do as long as the government decided that it had to be done, and that was the main advantage of an autocratic political system.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Zheng Shuguo was looking up at the sky with a nervous expression. The two beings in the sky above were giving off ridiculously vast Yin energy, and they seemed to be conversing about something.

    No one had brought out their true energy weapons as they didn''t want to escte the situation. Furthermore, they knew that their weapons were going to bepletely ineffective on these two Yin spirits, who stood at the very pinnacle of the cultivation world.

    They had already been here for nine whole days, and more and more investigators had been sent from other areas as reinforcements, including even several Infernal Judges. No one dared to let down their guard. After all, these two Yin spirits could easily tip the entirety of Cathay on its head if they wished to do so.

    Just as these thoughts were shing through his mind, he suddenly felt something, and he shuddered before immediately raising his head, only to discover that Qin Ye was also looking down at him.

    It was too far away for him to identify Qin Ye, but Qin Ye''s gaze alone was enough to make him feel as if he had stepped into hell, and his mind instantly wentpletely nk.

    He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but he wasn''t able to muster up a single word. A blur shed before his eyes, and the two Yin spirits were already standing in front of him.

    So fast!

    They were unfathomably fast! If they wanted to take his life, he wouldn''t even be aware of what was happening before he dropped dead!

    However, the fear and caution in his heart was gradually reced by a sense of relief as he had already identified the two Yin spirits standing before him.

    "Wee, Yanluo Qin, Ghost King Zhao." He extended a hand forward in a friendly manner.

    He had only been in charge at the Special Investigations Department for three years, and he had heard about some of the past matters, but they weren''t very clear to him. However, all investigators had to know those who were in power in Hell.

    "Hello." Qin Ye also extended a hand to shake Zheng Shuguo''s hand with a smile. "May I ask who you are?"

    "I am the director of the Special Investigations Department, Zheng Shuguo."

    Does that mean Old Man Lei has also retired? Times really have changed... How many people from back at the Academy of Cultivators have already started families? How many of them are still holding down jobs in the Special Investigations Departments? How many of them... are still alive?

    A hint of bittersweet nostalgia welled up in his heart, yet these emotions immediately faded with a brief sh of the Nostalgia Yin rune within his be.

    Zheng Shuguo was only a nascent Abyssal Prefect, so he was naturally unable to sense something as advanced as the Nostalgia Yin rune. However, Zhao Yun was immediately able to sense it, and he swung around to stare at Qin Ye with a stunned expression.

    Was that just a figment of my imagination just now? I feel like I just sensed something rted to the fundamental essence of Yin runes! Where has Yanluo Qin been these past few years?

    "Abyssal Prefect Arakshasa of Hell is making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King, and in order to not take any Yin energy from her, I came to the mortal realm to make my breakthrough. Apologies for any disturbance I may have caused," Qin Ye said with a smile as he withdrew his hand. "Also, all of the Yin spirits in Cathay have just been wiped out, and no evil ghosts above the Anitya Hellguard level will appear in at least the next 50 years."

    A wry smile appeared on Zheng Shuguo''s face.

    This was fantastic news, but didn''t this mean that the status of the Special Investigations Department was going to fall once again?

    Did the Special Investigations Department even have any purpose for existing at this point? He was quickly contemting whether he should be reporting this piece of information to his higher-ups.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to what Zheng Shuguo was thinking. Instead, his smile faded as a grim look appeared on his face, and he said, "Mr. Zheng, I require a strictly confidential conference hall right now. I want to invite all of the provincial-level officials rted to Yin spirits for an important meeting."

    A serious look appeared in Zheng Shuguo''s face upon hearing this, and he asked, "What level of importance is the meeting?"

    "It concerns the safety of the entire nation," Qin Ye replied. "Hell needs your help. I only recently became aware of the fact that there has always been a Yin spirit above the Yama-King level lurking in the mortal realm. It has already existed for thousands of years, and not long ago, it officially dered war on Hell."

    An evil ghost above the Yama-King level?!

    Zheng Shuguo was astonished to hear this. "I''ll organize the meeting right away!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    10 PM.

    A ne touched down at the Yanjing airstrip. Not many people were aware of the existence of this exclusive airstrip. Behind the airstrip was a row of antiquated buildings with golden tiles and red walls, and even though it was 10 o''clock at night, the buildings were still brightly lit inside.

    A Hongqi sedan with a number te that began with the number "0" was parked in the parking lot, and in the side hall, several young men and a middle-aged man were gathered together, drinking tea, taking asional nces at the main hall.

    Most of the people sitting here were wearing Mao suits, while the rest were wearing military uniforms, and they were all at least at the senior colonel rank. In fact, there were even a few major generals among them.

    One of the major generals turned to a square-faced man with a smile and asked, "Secretary Li, what''s going on today? Even the deputy prime minister, Director Zheng of the Special Investigations Department, and all of those directors that are rted to affairs on the other side are over here. Did something happen on the other side again?"

    His smile faded as he spoke.

    No one wanted to experience another 10 years of horrific supernatural disasters!

    Secretary Li shook his head in response. "I''m not sure what''s happening, either, but just like you said, the fact that all of these people are here means that something serious is afoot."

    Everyone fell silent and turned toward the main hall with concerned expressions.

    They had only enjoyed a few years of peace.

    During the war against those invisible monsters, countless investigators had given their lives, and only they were aware of just how terrifying the extent of the supernatural disasters had been.

    The peace that they had was extremely hard-fought, and no one wanted to lose it.

 Chapter 1133: Meeting with the Special Investigations Department Again (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1133: Meeting with the Special Investigations Department Again (2)</h4>

    This was a spacious conference hall.

    The styles of ancient Cathay and modern Cathay were perfectly bnced in the hall, creating a unique and harmonious sh ofplex and simplistic beauty.

    On the screens were drawn ink paintings of mountains and rivers, and the entire hall was surrounded by different screens, bonsai nts, and ptialnterns. There were four doors leading in and out of the conference hall, and bodyguards were already standing outside those doors.

    Among the people seated in the hall, not only were there several provincial-level officials, even the deputy prime minister was present.

    There was a conference table that was five meters in length, with three people seated on either side of it. Qin Ye was seated first to the right on the table, with Zhao Yun seated on his left. At the head of the table sat an elderly man with a thin and long face, and a head of snowy white hair. He always wore a smile on his face, and he made a regr appearance on all of the news channels of Cathay.

    This man was Zhao Xiangyun, the deputy prime minister who had been a politician for over 40 years. He had climbed all the way to the top from very humble beginnings as a vigemittee secretary, and his political achievements were many and illustrious.

    However, the perpetually smiling Deputy Prime Minister Zhao didn''t have so much as a hint of a smile on his face at the moment. A long head of ash had already umted on the cigarette that he was holding, and he was absentmindedly fiddling with his teacup in silence.

    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to say anything, he was simply too stunned to know what to say. Stability had only been restored to Cathay for less than 20 years. Once again, Cathay was on the right track, and everything was developing nicely, yet the news that Qin Ye had just presented was putting everything under threat again.

    Only after close to 20 seconds did Zhao Xiangyun begin to speak. "So what you''re saying is, a cultivator above the Yama-King level has officially dered war on Hell, and its foundation lies in the mortal realm?"

    He really didn''t want to hear an affirmative answer to this question, and at the same time, he was also subtly expressing his displeasure toward Qin Ye as the ruler of Hell.

    Having endured the decade of supernatural disasters, he was naturally aware of just how horrific those times had been. The general public was still extremely sensitive to these matters, so if he were to release any news of this, the entire nation would erupt into a panic once again, and that would severely undermine the stability of the nation.

    Also, what on earth was Hell doing?

    There were the supernatural disasters not long ago, during which the three eastern provinces and the Pearl Delta had been reduced to hellishirs for a pair of Abyssal Prefects, and now, there was a being above the Yama-King level!

    Why were there suddenly so many catastrophes now that the new administration of Hell was in power?

    Qin Ye could naturally sense Zhao Xiangyun''s displeasure, but he wasn''t annoyed by this at all. "Deputy Prime Minister, I should remind you that the mortal realm and the underworld are interconnected, and one cannot exist without the other. Over theing years, we''ll definitely be meeting again."

    You''re not happy? I''m pissed off as well! The excessive desires of everyone in the mortal realm, coupled with the severelycking power system, has created the perfect environment for the inner demon to grow more powerful!

    Indeed, Cathay had a poption in excess of 1.4 billion. If each of them even had a single desire, the inner demon would be able to easily transcend beyond the Yama-King level without even cultivating.

    Hell was doing the mortal realm a massive favor by proceeding to try and take care of this massive threat to Cathay, so Qin Ye certainly wasn''t going to take such an attitude from Zhao Xiangyun.

    Also, Zhao Xiangyun was already a very old man, while Qin Ye was the ruler of death in Cathay...

    This wasn''t a threat at all, it was just something to think about.

    Zhao Xiangyun shook his head with a dismayed expression, then finally tapped his cigarette against the edge of the ashtray to dislodge the log of ash that had umted at the front of the cigarette. He then turned his gaze toward everyone else seated at the table as he said, "Let''s discuss the matter at hand. Everyone in attendance is an expert in the supernatural realm, so please feel free to speak your mind."

    An elderly man was the first to speak. "Firstly, there have been records of the inner demon made by the Divine Protectors of Cathay."

    Qin Ye immediately turned toward the elderly man with an intrigued expression upon hearing this.

    Among the three most powerful beings in Cathay, two of them were in attendance, namely the old monk and Sword Master Xuanyuan. Aside from Qin Ye, Zhao Yun, Zhao Xiangyun, and those two, there were three other people seated at the table, one of which was Zheng Shuguo. Thus, there were two people that Qin Ye didn''t recognize, and the elderly man who had spoken was one of them. He had a slightly portly frame and a balding head, and from the emblem on his chest, one could see that he was from the SRC.

    Qin Ye was quite surprised that the mortal realm had records of the inner demon.

    Hell most likely had records of the inner demon as well, but they would''ve already been devoured by the Blight Vermin. Thus, he had thought that he wouldn''t be able to gather any information on the inner demon, and he was very surprised to hear that this was not the case.

    The elderly man turned to Qin Ye before making a self-introduction. "I am the director of the SRC''s National Research and Development Agency, Xu Lin. As far back as the Han Dynasty, the Divine Protectors of Cathay have made records of a Yin spirit that possesses no form, and seems to both be real and illusory at the same time. ording to those records, anyone who iscking in Yang energy and experiencing excessively powerful emotions wille under the scrutiny of Yin spirit. The earliest recordes from Zhang Daoling. The original text has already been lost, but it''s said that he was granted three treasures by the heavens, namely the seal, the sword, and the talisman. He was ecstatic because of this, and he immediately sensed that an invisible eye seemed to have locked onto him. The ecstacy in his heart grew stronger and stronger, and he immediately realized that something was wrong. Thus, he went into seclusion for 49 days, after which he was finally able to sever his inner demons. Thus, the Yin spirit became known as the inner demon."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "ording to Li Chunfeng, a Divine Protector from the Tang Dynasty, he was once overtaken by a mysterious force, and if Yuan Tiangang hadn''t given him a shove at the time, he would''ve been lost indefinitely. He attributed this to what he referred to as the inner demon, and that was when the term was first officially introduced into the records of the Divine Protectors of the nation. After that, there were more records of the inner demon in the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, but those records couldn''t be connected, and no one has seen the inner demon''s true form. On top of that, it strikes without any warning or precursor. Everyone who has been overtaken by it found themselves lost before they even realized what was happening. Of course, these are only official records made by some of the most powerful cultivators in history, and the inner demon seemed to specifically target them as well. What I want to draw everyone''s attention to is the fact that it doesn''t select negative emotions. Instead, it chooses violent and powerful emotions, which means that the stronger one''s desires and obsessions are, the more likely they''ll be targeted by the inner demon. These are all of the records that we have pertaining to the inner demon, I hope they can be of assistance to you."

    Qin Ye nodded in response as his brows furrowed tightly.

    ording to those records, even as far back as several thousand years ago, the inner demon had already dared to target Zhang Daoling, one of the most powerful cultivators in the world at the time. With its untraceable nature, there wasn''t any risk in its possession attempts. If it failed, then it would just leave, and no one would be able to track it down. If it seeded, then it would benefit immensely, so it was essentially a high-reward, no-risk situation.

    What was even more terrifying to think about was just how many people in Cathay had been possessed by it throughout the course of history?

    Unless he could gather all of those people, there would be no way to capture the inner demon. However, setting aside how they would even go about doing that, if they were tomence that operation, it would be a clear sign to the inner demon that it was being targeted.

    Zhao Yun seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and he said, "If we can track down the current host of the inner demon, Hell has an art that is capable of capturing it."

    "Oh?"

    Zhao Yun exined, "Don''t forget that the Harken''s title is the Nine Dissimilitude!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he recalled the etymology of the Harken as exined to him by Arthis in the past.

    As quoted by Arthis: "The horn on its head represents the rule ofw. A single word distinguishes between conviction and acquittal. Its dragon body represents auspiciousness. Its tiger head represents wisdom; its dog ears represent auditory acuity; its lion tail represents patience; and its Qilin feet represent all-rounded stability and an emphasis on good virtues. In Hell, any Yin spirits that are unable to be sentenced for whatever reason will invariably be sent to it. The esteemed creature need onlyy down on the ground and listen closely, and it would immediately be able to perceive the Yin spirit¡¯s entire life. If the Yin spirit has been evil, it will immediately be stabbed to death with its powerful horn. This esteemed creature is also well known across the mortal realm, and it is said to be synonymous with spiritual energy, divine energy, fortune, wealth, motivation, luck, vitality, strength, and courage. Thus, it¡¯s also called the God of Nine Energies.¡±"

    It was apletely opposite being to the inner demon!

    Zhao Yun continued, "The Harken''s ultimate technique is known as the Purgatory of Nine Energies, and it''s capable of purifying even the most heinous of beings. Even the soul of someone like Dong Zhou would emerge pure and virtuous again after spending 49 days in the Purgatory of Nine Energies. However, that''s only one of the technique''s abilities. In addition to that, it also acts as a spatial prison! Upon entering it, no one would be able toe out before the 49 days had passed by, even if the Harken were to perish during this time."

    Qin Ye was very surprised to hear this. Never did he think that the Harken had such a powerful technique up its sleeve!

    Wasn''t it supposed to just be a pet dog?

    "That''s all well and good, but how do we definitively track down the inner demon?" Sword Master Xuanyuan asked. "How can we be sure that the inner demon will still be in the same ce once the Harken arrives on the scene?"

    Everyone fell silent again.

    This was a problem with seemingly no solution.

    Several minutester, Qin Ye finally broke the silence. "This isn''t an impossible task. Perhaps we can think about this from another angle. What if we already know where it will go in advance?"

    Zhao Xiangyun''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "You''re suggesting we set a trap and lure it in?"

    Everyone at the table immediately raised their heads upon hearing this.

    No one said anything, but countless thoughts were racing through their minds, and they knew what was being implied here.

    The inner demon was indeedpletely untraceable, but by nature, there was no way that it would give up on a soul with extremely strong desires, especially if that soul belonged to someone of a lofty status.

    Thus, they could set a trap for it, and if it were to take the bait, it would be met by an ambush from the Harken. With the spatial prison and 49 days to work with, Zhao Yun, Arthis, the Harken, and Qin Ye would gang up on it, wearing it down until it perished!

    "If we need someone of a lofty status to tempt it, will the second-inmand of a province suffice?" Zhao Xiangyun asked before taking a sip of tea?

    Of course!

    There were no more than 100 governors and provincial partymittee secretaries in the entirety of Cathay, which ced them in an extremely exclusive club considering this was a nation with a poption in excess of 1.4 billion. Among that massive poption, there were very few individuals who could match the influence of those figures.

    Why would the inner demon want to target those people? That was because their actions and orders would warp the desires of an entire province!

    For example, if they were to implement an increase in food prices, that would be met with dismay from the entire poption of the province, which numbered in the tens, maybe even hundreds of millions! That would be an excellent source of sustenance for the inner demon, so how could it not be tempted by such a prospect?

    Thus, ording to historical records, it had always targeted extremely lofty and influential figures, such as Zhang Daoling and Yuan Tiangang.

    Having said that, this was still just a concept, and it wasn''t guaranteed to work. In the face of an untraceable opponent like the inner demon, they were only going to get one opportunity.

    This was a being above the Yama-King level that had lived for thousands of years. It had been in existence before all of the death gods came about, and it could be said to be the second true god of this world, behind only the Heavenly Dao. An old monster like that definitely wasn''t going to fall for the same trick twice, so they had to make the first time count.

    "I need proof." Due to this concept, he had thought of another possibility.

    "I have some ways to verify this, but I need some time. During this time, I want the Cathayan government to do three things for me."

    "I''m listening."

 Chapter 1134: Three Things

    <h4>Chapter 1134: Three Things</h4>

    The hall was so silent that even a pin drop would be audibly heard. Qin Ye paused momentarily before raising a finger. "Firstly, I want the cooperation of the Cathayan government. If our experiment seeds, then I would like the Cathayan government to conduct surveince on the entire national poption!"

    Xu Lin''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Zhao Xiangyun, who immediately nodded in response without any hesitation. "We can do that."

    "Secondly, if we really decide to strike, I want the Cathayan government to lock down the city as quickly as possible and think of an appropriate story to tell the general public."

    "Of course."

    "Thirdly, I need your trust." Qin Ye looked directly into Zhao Xiangyun''s eyes as he spoke.

    On this asion, Zhao Xiangyun didn''t answer right away. Instead, he looked straight back at Qin Ye with a neutral expression.

    This was a very simple request, but the implications behind it were far from simple.

    The inner demon was a monster that had existed for as long as human civilization. Thinking back, it would''ve most likely already emerged back during the era of Homo Sapiens. In other words, the inner demon hade into existence alongside the emergence of intelligence in humans.

    Thus, it had to have existed for at least over 10,000 years, perhaps tens of thousands of years. It had witnessed the entire history of the human race, and there was no way to tell just how many humans it had possessed in the past. It had most likely possessed everything including and in between emperors and normal people.

    If it were to be said that a certain high-ranking official had been possessed by the inner demon and needed to be controlled, what would the Cathayan government do?

    If it were only someone like a vige mayor, then that wouldn''t be a major problem. However, it would be a massive issue even if the possessed target were only a county magistrate!

    County magistrates weren''t all that high up on the political hierarchy, but each of them governed tens of thousands, up to even hundreds of thousands of people. There were only less than 1,500 counties in the entirety of Cathay, so even if the county party secretaries were thrown into the mix, there would only be less than 3,000 of them in total, and they were certainly not to be looked down on.

    What could they do in that hypothetical situation? Apprehend that county magistrate right away? In that case, what would be of their future political career?

    Furthermore, who was going to run the county in the interim? Was the county party secretary supposed to take over?

    "I''ll do my best," Zhao Xiangyun sighed. "It''s not as simple as you think, Yanluo Qin. Think about it: how much of a stir would be caused in the local area if an official were to suddenly be removed from their post? Also, would that not essentially put an end to their political career? You''re a ruler of a nation as well, so I''m sure you can understand these concerns. All that I can say is that I''ll do our best to fulfill this request."

    Qin Ye was indeed also aware of this, and he nodded in response with a faint sigh.

    This was the most difficult part about capturing the inner demon. If it were to possess a high-ranking official, extremelyplex logistical issues would arise, and that could have far-reaching consequences.

    "Alright, I won''t take up any more of your time then," Qin Ye said as he rose to his feet. "I''m very grateful that all of you havee to attend this meeting, even though it''s already quitete in the night. Before I go, I would like to issue one final reminder to all of you: if we fail to eradicate the inner demon, then you will be facing a cruel and ruthless Yama-King. If that happens, the 10 years of supernatural disasters would most likely escte into a permanent purgatory for Cathay. In the meantime, please await further news from us."

    After that, he and Zhao Yun vanished as gusts of Yin wind.

    No one else in the room stood up, and only after a long while did Zhao Xiangyun break the silence. "Do you think that parting reminder from Yanlou Qin was an attempt at fearmongering?"

    "Definitely not!" Master Chan Ming and Sword Master Xuanyuan replied in unison. "Deputy Prime Minister, during Hell''s extensive reign, it has never troubled the mortal realm before. This is a first."

    Xu Lin''s brows were tightly furrowed as he spected, "What if it''s because they''ve lied dormant for too long, and they want to increase their influence and speaking rights in the mortal realm?"

    "I think that''s very unlikely," Master Chan Ming replied. "ording to past records, all of the past King Yanluos have kept their distance from the mortal realm to the best of their abilities, and there''s no reason to think that the sessor that they chose would buck this trend. Also, if they want to gain more speaking rights, there would be countless better ways for them to achieve that."

    A wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "They have the Book of Life and Death, which governs life and death. If he tells me to do something in exchange for a 20-year extension on my lifespan, even I would be tempted to do their bidding. As such, there''s no need for them to employ such a foolish method if their objective is to have more of a presence in the mortal realm."

    Zhao Xiangyun nodded in response. "My thoughts exactly."

    He turned toward everyone else as he said, "We all know what happened to Hell not long ago. The fact that this new King Yanluo was able to lead Hell on such a stirring resurgence in less than 20 years means that he''s definitely extremely capable, so I believe we should trust him. In that case, we will have to deal with the reality that there really is an evil ghost above the Yama-King level lurking in the mortal realm, and that is an extremely daunting prospect."

    He rose to his feet as he continued, "I do not want to ever see a repeat of the supernatural disasters. No matter what needs to be done, we must cooperate with Hell to the best of our abilities!"

    "Yes!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye and Zhao Yun passed through Limbo, heading directly toward the underworld, and Qin Ye remained silent throughout this entire journey.

    In the sh against the inner demon, all beings below the Yama-King level would be nothing more than cannon fodder. Furthermore, given the ability of the inner demon to possess others, the more people it was confronted by, the less likely it would be caught.

    Thus, he had to assemble a small, yet powerful team.

    He was frantically arranging his own thoughts, and he already had an initial n. In order to set a trap, he had to invest sufficiently alluring bait to lure the inner demon in.

    However, prior to this, there were several things that he had to verify.

    Firstly, was the inner demon actually more inclined to target humans with lofty statuses in the world?

    Theoretically speaking, this madeplete sense, but it was very much worth considering whether this was actually true.

    If it turned out to be a false assumption, then the trap would''ve been set up for nothing, and the elite team that Qin Ye was going to bring to hunt down the inner demon would undoubtedly create massive Yin energy fluctuations in the mortal realm. The inner demon would definitely notice this and be alerted to their n. Thus, if it failed the first time, then it would never work in the future.

    Secondly, what were the signs that indicated how long the inner demon had possessed a host?

    This had an important impact on the timing of their strike. If they were toote, then the inner demon could already be gone, and if they struck too early, the inner demon may not have arrived yet. Simrly, if their timing were off, and the operation failed, then there would be no chance that the inner demon would ever fall for this n again.

    This was a Yin spirit that had existed for tens of thousands of years, yet it had barely been noticed at all throughout all of history, and that indicated that it clearly possessed certain special properties.

    It had to have been extremely cautious throughout history, and that was why there were so few records on it, even from the Divine Protectors of the country.

    In any case, the first thing that they had to do was to find the ce where the inner demon had most recently been staying, and only then could they track it down from there.

    If they were to use their Yin energy to conductrge-scale searches in the mortal realm, they would essentially be holding up massive neon signs, telling the inner demon that they wereing for it.

    As a result, they would most likely be met by fierce retaliation, and that would certainly be a terrifying prospect, considering that it was one of the most powerful beings in existence.

    Zhao Yun seemed to have gleaned Qin Ye''s thoughts, and he suddenly asked, "Your Excellency, are you thinking about how best to approach the inner demon?"

    Qin Ye''s hair was pping wildly in the fierce wind, and he nodded in response with tightly furrowed brows.

    There were nothing but dark Yin clouds up ahead, and they were forming a revolving vortex due to the Yin energy fluctuations, presenting a muddled and chaotic sight that reflected the state of Qin Ye''s mind.

    "There''s actually no need for you to actively track it down," Zhao Yun said. "I finally understand why theherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld had risen up in revolt for no reason now."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. He wasn''t in the mood to speak.

    It was because of the inner demon, of course.

    They had met during the trial of inner demons, and both of them knew that they were out for each other''s blood.

    It was only a matter of time before one side struck first, and the inner demon had chosen to seize the initiative.

    This was a warning to the Cathayan Underworld, stating that just because it had no anchor in the underworld didn''t mean that it couldn''t do anything to Hell.

    It was also a tactic to stall for time. ording to the Heavenly Dao, the inner demon hadn''tpleted its soul fusion yet, and it was trying to strike caution into the heart of the Cathayan Underworld in order to buy itself time toplete its fusion... Hold on!

    Qin Ye abruptly stopped cold in his tracks, then turned to look directly into Zhao Yun''s eyes, and Zhao Yun gave him a grim nod in response.

    Qin Ye''s eye''s immediately lit up as he pped his hands together. "You''re right! Why do I have to actively track it down? It''ll give up its own location!"

    He began to pace in mid-air in an excited manner.

    "All we need to do is find out where the next riot takes ce, then track down the corresponding Yin Yang Mezzanines in that area! Once we do that, we''ll be able to find the ce where the inner demon has stayed in the past!"

    Hell had three divine artifacts, and with Zhao Yun lurking as a threat, there was no way that the inner demon would dare to stay for long. It was like a virus that nted itself into the souls of theherworldly citizens, then quickly spread before erupting at once. However, the timeframe that this took ce over definitely wouldn''t be very long.

    Even though Zhao Yun was inferior to it in power, he was also a being above the Yama-King level, and if it lingered for too long in the Cathayan Underworld, Zhao Yun would definitely be able to detect it.

    There was a very good chance that this timeframe was within three days, and even if it wasn''t, the inner demon would''ve given up its location anyway!

    It was still like searching for a needle in a haystack, but on this asion, he was equipped with a ma!

    The inner demon would never be able to anticipate that both the mortal realm and the underworld would be striking against it at once!

    "Let''s go back first." Qin Ye transformed into a gust of Yin wind again as he traveled directly toward the underworld. "Gather the seven leaders of the darkfeathers and bring all of the records of the prior riots. Once I arrive in the North Yin Pavilion, we''ll be holding a meeting right away!"

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    This was a spacious conference hall constructedpletely in an antiquated Cathayan style, with heavy, wooden furniture that filled the hall with a serious atmosphere.

    Seated on the redwood chairs were several Yin spirits wearing feiyufu robes, sipping on some tea.

    There were a total of nine Yin spirits present, including the seven leaders of the darkfeathers, one of whom was Li Jixi.

    To the left of the head of the table was Qian Dui, while Qin Changxin was seated on the right. They were the first and second-generationmanders of the darkfeathers. It had already been over three years since Qin Changxin handed the reins over to Qian Dui, but due to how enormous the archives were, there were still some handover duties that were yet to bepleted, so Qin Changxin had stayed on as a vicemander of sorts.

    However, he no longer cared about this title.

    The only thing that he was focused on at this moment was advancing in his own cultivation, rather than his status.

    He and Arakshasa had been at around the same level for a long time, yet she was already a Yama-King now, while he was still only an Abyssal Prefect.

    He knew that ultimately, his roots lied in the Nipponese Underworld. If he wanted to be a Yama-King, not only did he require the approval of the Cathayan Underworld, he required the approval of the Nipponese Underworld as well.

    This was something that he wouldn''t even have dared to dream of in the past, yet it wasn''t all that far away from him now.

    In the instant that they conquered Amano-Iwato, he would be able to make his long-awaited breakthrough!

    "Mr. Qin, do you know what this meeting will be about?" Qian Dui asked.

    Qin Changxin shook his head in response, and another voice provided an answer to Qian Dui''s question. "He has to have encountered something extremely troublesome. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have the time to meet us in person."

    The voice belonged to a woman, and it was very familiar, but no one was able to immediately identify it.

    However, it only took a second for Qian Dui to figure out who it was, and he immediately rose to his feet before extending a respectful bow. "I was not aware of your arrival, Reincarnation King. Please forgive me for noting out to greet you sooner!"

    Arakshasa?

    Qin Changxin cast aplex gaze toward the direction that the voice hade from.

    All underworld emissaries yearned to reach the Yama-King level, yet she had gotten there before him!

 Chapter 1135: Future Missions

    <h4>Chapter 1135: Future Missions</h4>

    All of the underworld emissaries present rose to their feet, and they bowed in unison, with the exception of Qin Changxin. "We pay our respects to the Reincarnation King."

    Before she had even entered the hall, her Yin energy arrived first. It was as vast as the sea, and all of the underworld emissaries present felt as if they were facing an insurmountable mountain.

    Qin Changxin was so envious that he was about to go insane, but he could only look on as the gates of the hall were opened respectfully by a pair of servants, following which Arthis made her arrival like a regal queen. Behind her were four ptial maidens, holding elegant hand fans and incense burners.

    In her current form, she had a head of long, purple hair that danced in the non-existent breeze, and her hair became more and more illusory near the ends. In fact, the very ends of her hair consisted of countless screeching Yin souls.

    Furthermore, her skin had taken on a healthy, tannedplexion, as opposed to her former fairplexion, and there were some simple Yin runes inscribed onto her face. Her facial features were still the same as before, but looking at them made one feel as if they were staring into a bottomless abyss, and it evoked a strong sense of fear and unease.

    "Reincarnation King," Qin Changxin greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute with aplex expression.

    Arakshasa nodded in response with a smile. "Mr. Qin."

    With her arrival, the entire hall instantly fell silent. Qin Changxin was the only one present who had the right to converse directly with Arthis, but it was clear that he was wallowing in envy and didn''t wish to speak to her.

    Only after a full 10 minutes had passed was Qin Changxin able to repress the feeling of sour grapes in his heart.

    It''s alright, I''ll get there eventually...

    "I don''t believe I''ve offered you my congrattions yet, Ms. Arakshasa. You are the first Yama-King to have emerged since the founding of the new administration, and that is fantastic news," Qin Changxin finally said with a smile.

    "It was all by luck," Arakshasa replied. "You''re most likely going to be next. The moment we conquer Amano-Iwato and return you to your roots will be the moment you be a Yama-King."

    Conquer Amano-Iwato?

    All of the darkfeathers present were quite taken aback to hear this. They had no idea that the Cathayan Underworld had ns to attack the Nipponese Underworld in the future!

    Right at this moment, two gusts of Yin wind arrived on the main seats, and Qin Ye and Zhao Yun appeared in a sh. Qin Ye didn''t bother with any pleasantries as he cut straight to the chase. "Now that we''re all here, let''s..."

    His voice suddenly trailed off as he cast his gaze toward Arthis, who returned his gaze with a smile of impable etiquette.

    Holy shit, she really did be a Yama-King! But why is it that the more she puts on a dignified front, the more pretentious she feels? Is it because I''m too familiar with her? Am I too used to seeing her past self? She''s suddenly all grown up now...

    A nostalgic look appeared in his eyes as he nodded in Arakshasa''s direction. "That''s not a bad skin at all. Is it a limited edition skin released for the Year of the Snake?"

    Arthis immediately red at him in response.

    What skin? What are you talking about? I have no idea what you''re saying! I''m no longer the inte-addicted little girl I once was!

    After some brief words of congrattions, a serious look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "Thank you for your hard work during my absence."

    "It was only to be expected of us, Yanluo Qin," Qin Changxin replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.

    It was my pleasure! So... When are we attacking the Nipponese Underworld?

    Qin Ye smiled as he asked, "How is the development of second-generation forbidden artsing along?"

    During these past few years, even though they hadn''t immediately pursued space exploration, the development of second-generation forbidden arts had been in progress the entire time.

    This was an absolute necessity to protect the Cathayan Underworld''s interests, both in terms of the new energy resource and the uing developments they were going to be making in space exploration.

    There was no telling when minor conflicts would arise in the underworld, and those could escte into another world war.

    Furthermore, conquering the Nipponese Underworld was a must. From a geographic point of view, the Nipponese Underworld was the Cathayan Underworld''s bridge to the Eastern Pacific Ocean, so it was no less important than Formosa. In addition to that, conquering the Nipponese Underworld would be a flex to the rest of the world, as well as a fulfillment of the promise made to Oda Nobunaga.

    In order to intimidate the rest of the world and conquer the Cathayan Underworld, the second-generation forbidden arts were an absolute necessity.

    The three pirs were supporting the Nipponese Underworld, and even though they were very far away from the Nipponese Sea, there were troops from the three pirs permanently stationed in the eastern region of the Russian Underworld. Those forces included two Pope-level motherships and over 30 Bishop-level destroyers, making it the most powerful naval force presently situated in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

    From an outsider''s perspective, for the Cathayan Underworld to attack the Nipponese Underworld was apletely one-sided affair. Of course, given how much the Nipponese Underworld had sucked up to the three pirs in the past, the three pirs would definitely support it. In fact, they could even unite the rest of the world to levy sanctions against the Cathayan Underworld.

    This was one of the four pirs against a second-rate underworld. If the Cathayan Underworld couldn''t conquer the Nipponese Underworld within a month, then it would be theughing stock of the entire world. No death gods were idiots, and they would naturally lean toward the more powerful side.

    Either they didn''t attack Amano-Iwato at all, or they attacked in full force and aimed to conquer it in one fell swoop!

    The best way to prevent the three pirs from interfering would be to present the second-generation forbidden arts.

    If one wasn''t enough, then they would just keep detonating more until the three pirs backed off!

    Qin Changxin''s smile also faded as he replied, "We''ve made significant progress, and we should be able to sessfully develop second-generation forbidden arts in three to four more years."

    Good. I''ll leave that to the professionals, while I oversee the general proceedings...

    "Who''s overseeing this matter right now?" Qin Ye asked.

    "That would be General Zhao," Qin Changxin replied. "The second-generation forbidden arts concern some powers above the Yama-King level, so the research and development process is made a lot easier when there''s a being above the Yama-King level involved. After all, we don''t need to perform experiments like we did for the new energy resource, all we need to do is find the right Yin rune configuration."

    "I need a specific progress report."

    "At the moment, the development is 63%plete, and the detailed report will be in your office by the time you get back."

    Qin Changxin nodded in response, then curled a finger, and a series of pages immediately flew over to Qin Changxin and Arakshasa.

    Qin Changxin put on the sses that were hanging around his neck, then took a nce at the pages, upon which his brows furrowed slightly. "Whatnguage is this?"

    The document was around an inch in thickness, and it was entirely written in anguage that Qin Changxin had never seen before.

    It was squiggly like snakes, but snakes were streamlined with gentle curves, yet this text was extremely sharp and angr.

    Arthis transmitted her voice to him as an exnation. "This is thenguage of the Aztecs. Omeyocan... This is their space exploration n!"

    Even she was stunned by what she was seeing, and she began to flick through the pages with more eagerness and urgency.

    The more she saw, the more astonished she became.

    This wasn''t just a rundown of their n, it was aplete space exploration tutorial! Even though it wasn''t finished, at the very least, 40% of it was alreadyplete, and that was far moreprehensive than anything any other underworld had to offer at this point in time.

    Even though many of the underworlds hadn''t made any clear moves in this direction after the space exploration project was announced on Formosa, all of the three pirs had established their own space exploration departments. At the same time, the prices of gravity ore and resistant ore had been rising rapidly, and she had thought that the Cathayan Underworld had fallen behind during these past few years. However, this document ced the Cathayan Underworld at the very forefront of the pack once again!

    She gently closed the document, then turned to Qin Ye in silence with a meaningful expression.

    Qin Ye didn''t return Arthis''s gaze. Instead, he was looking at Qin Changxin as he asked, "Are you confident in your ability to oversee this project?"

    "I''ll do my very best toplete this task!" Qin Changxin rose to his feet with an excited expression, then extended a deep, respectful bow.

    "Alright, prepare a list of names. You can choose all of the scientists, equipment, and resources that you like. I need to see a detailed list of names and a specific n going forward within a month."

    "Yes!"

    Only then did Qin Ye withdraw his gaze and turn his attention toward the other darkfeathers.

    Aside from Qian Dui, this was the first time that all of the other leaders had met Qin Ye, and no dared to look directly into his eyes as they lowered their heads uneasily.

    Qin Ye adjusted his sitting posture as he crossed his legs, then asked, "How many riots have taken ce in the Cathayan Underworld during thest few months?"

    Silence quickly descended over the entire hall.

    Qin Ye''s voice was calm, but it was like the calm before the storm, striking everyone with a sense of asphyxiation.

    No one had anticipated the abrupt change in subject. The cause behind the riots waspletely inexplicable, and the government''s hands were tied as the matter was being kept strictly confidential, so it naturally fell upon the darkfeathers to investigate. However...

    Amid the silence, one of the leaders stood up before extending a deep bow. "Apologies for my ipetence, Yanluo Qin, but my investigation has yielded no results thus far."

    The conference hall fell silent again, and Qin Ye casually picked up his teacup. The leader who had just spoken remained in his bowed position, and all of the other leaders waited with bated breath for what was surely going to be heated criticism from Qin Ye.

    After a full 10 seconds had passed, Qin Ye said in a calm voice, "Take a seat."

    The leader sat down in silence, incredulous that he had been let off the hook so easily. Qin Ye took a sip of tea, then set down his teacup and asked, "What exactly has happened? Who is overseeing this matter? How well have the sites of the incidents been maintained? How many underworld emissaries have been stationed there?"

    Qian Dui had no choice but to speak now, and he cleared his throat before replying, "I am overseeing this matter, and there are a total of five sites. The first riot took ce three years ago, and since then, more riots have been taking ce at irregr intervals. On top of that, no discernible reason could be found for any of the riots. We''ve conducted exhaustive investigations into the policies implemented in the affected regions prior to the riots, and none of the policies directly affected theherworldly citizens there. Theherworldly citizens in those areas disyed no intention of revolting, either, and what''s even stranger is that even the Yin soldiers, darkfeathers, and government officials in those areas were swept up into the riots."

    No one could escape responsibility from this matter, but he couldn''t just leave these things unsaid.

    "Most of the riots that have taken ce thus far urred in viges. They''ve swept through the entirety of those viges, and up to this point, we haven''t received even a single messenger bird requesting assistance. In other words, it''s almost as if the local government, darkfeathers, and Yin soldiers nned out the riots in advance, and that is extremely perplexing to me..."

    He cast a careful nce toward Qin Ye, yet Qin Ye''s expression didn''t betray any of his thoughts.

    Thus, Qian Dui continued, "The seven affected viges have been ced intoplete lockdown, and a total of 120 darkfeathers have been stationed there. Also, we discovered something else very strange..."

    "Go ahead," Qin Ye prompted.

    Qian Dui pursed his lips before continuing, "Theherfire of the citizens of those viges still exist."

    Qin Ye and Arakshasa raised their heads in unison upon hearing this, while Zhao Yun waspletely unsurprised, clearly already aware of this.

    The fact that theirherfire remained meant that they weren''t dead!

    However, the riots had been quelled by Hell. The monsters had been formed byherworldly citizens, and thoseherworldly citizens had to have been destroyed along with the monsters.

    How was this possible?

 Chapter 1136: Personal Inspection

    <h4>Chapter 1136: Personal Inspection</h4>

    "It''s very difficult to verbally describe the exact situation," Qian Dui said in a wary voice. "Never in my years leading the darkfeathers have I ever seen something like this. I enquired Mr. Qin about this as well, and he has also never seen anything like this."

    "Neither have I," Zhao Yun chimed in. "If Yin spirits die, they should bepletely wiped out of existence. Also..."

    He cast a grim gaze toward Qin Ye before continuing, "The situation there is even moreplex than what we''ve described, so I think there''s a need for you to visit the sites of the incidents in person."

    Of course he had to visit the sites in person.

    These consecutive riots were a disy of power from the inner demon, as well as a time-stalling tactic. It had to be said that the inner demon had achieved its objectives, but at the same time, it had also left some things behind.

    There were no things in this world that were purely beneficial, and what the inner demon had left behind was its habits!

    Even Zhao Yun and the Harken were very unfamiliar with the concept of the inner demon, and only small snippets of records could be found throughout the several-thousand-year long history of the Special Investigations Department. It was the epitome of mystery and enigma, but as it was instigating these riots now, it was tearing away its own facade little by little.

    Perhaps the degree to which the facade was being removed was extremely minute, but this was extremely important information for Hell.

    Qin Ye''s fingers gently drummed the surface of the table, and after a long silence, he turned to Arthis.

    "Should we make a trip?"

    "Of course," Arthis replied with a faint smile.

    "Your Excellency..." Zhao Yun was rather concerned. They were dealing with a being above the Yama-King level, and if it were to appear, Qin Ye and Arthis would be crushed without being able to put up any resistance.

    However, before he had a chance to finish, Qin Ye shook his head to silence his concerns.

    "This is the Cathayan Underworld," he said. "The three divine artifacts reject its very existence, and if it were to stay here for too long, you would be able to sense it as well. Yin spirits will instinctively travel toward areas of high Yin energy density. The first thing that we have to do is find out why its visits to the underworld are so inconsistent."

    Zhao Yun didn''t say anything further. Qin Ye had already been in power for over 10 years, and during this time, Zhao Yun had learned that once he made a decision, he wasn''t going to change it.

    Thus, Qin Ye rose to his feet before sweeping his gaze across all of the underworld emissaries present. "Ry my orders."

    All of the underworld emissaries rose to his feet, and after several seconds of silence, Qin Ye continued, "From this day forth, darkfeathers are to be stationed in all provinces, cities, and counties. If any abnormal situations arise, they must be reported to themander immediately. Also, all Yin soldiers across the nation are to be on high alert at all times, ready to stamp out riots at a moment''s notice."

    "Understood!"

    After that, the three Yama-Kings vanished from the hall in unison as gusts of Yin wind.

    None of the underworld emissaries left in the hall stood up to leave. After a long while, a leader turned to Qian Dui before asking, "Commander, if I''m interpreting this correctly, is Yanluo Qin saying that there will be more riots in the future?"

    Qian Dui''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    This meeting had been arranged on very short notice, and the circumstances were very strange.

    The Yama-Kings seemed to be aware of the cause behind the riots, yet they hadn''t disclosed this information. Of course, the darkfeathers weren''t going to refuse to follow orders because of this, but it was certainly not a good feeling to be kept in the dark, particrly when information was extremely important for darkfeathers to carry out their duties.

    "Mr. Qin" Qian Dui rose to his feet before cupping his fist toward Qin Changxin in a salute. "Can I speak to you in private?"

    Qin Changxin shrugged in response. "Don''t look at me, I don''t know anything."

    Qian Dui heaved a disappointed sigh, yet before he had a chance to say anything else, Qin Changxin said, "However..."

    Everyone immediately paused to listen to what he had to say.

    Qin Changxin picked up his teacup and took a sip, then continued, "Have you considered why Yanluo Qin hasn''t told us anything? Perhaps only Yama-Kings have the right to know the truth behind this. Perhaps all those below the Yama-King level will simply be cannon fodder if they get involved. Think about that."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he cupped his fist in a parting salute, then left the hall.

    The conference hall fellpletely silent again, and Qian Dui could feel a chill running down his spine.

    Was that really true? If that really were the case, then this situation was far more terrifying than they imagined.!

    "Commander?"

    The concerned voice of one of the leaders jerked him out of his train of thought, and he heaved a long sigh before turning to everyone with a serious expression. "Brace yourselves, everyone. I have a feeling that we are going to be facing the most powerful adversary that has arisen since the founding of Hell."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Large Green Mountain was the name of a vige.

    It was a vige located in the western part of the Cathayan Underworld, and it used to have a poption of close to 1,000, yet at this moment, there was only an inky-ck light barrier there.

    The barrier was like a dome that had been ced over the entire vige, and it had an illusory appearance, but it was very much real. A series of profound Yin runes were flowing incessantly over its surface, and there were many underworld emissaries gathered within a radius of five kilometers. At the very least, there were 3,000 Yin soldiers stationed here, and no Yin spirits would be granted entry without an entry badge.

    This was the site where the first riot had taken ce.

    No one noticed that two gusts of Yin wind had passed directly through the barrier,nding at the southernmost point of the vige.

    "Holy shit, that was tiring!" As soon as they appeared, Arthis stretchedzily with a dismayed expression. "Dogballs, I finally know why you''ve been keeping up that facade every day since you became King Yanluo. You have to! With all those people looking up at you, you can''t help but act more serious and dignified."

    Qin Ye replied in an expressionless manner, "Let me remind you that I''m King Yanluo and you''re a Yama-King, so you have to maintain your image."

    A shocked look appeared on Arthis''s face upon hearing this. "So we can''t go back anymore?"

    Go back my arse! You make it sound like something happened between us!

    Qin Ye turned away with a disdainful expression. He could understand Arthis''s mindset. During these past years, the two of them had be rather distant from one another due to their different statuses, and the different circles that they interacted with. Arthis was aware of this, and she had intentionally distanced herself from Qin Ye.

    However, now that she had be a Yama-King, she felt herself to be an equal with Qin Ye, and all of the shit-talk that she had been repressing for over a decade was bubbling to the surface again!

    Qin Ye couldn''t give her this opportunity. All high-ranking Emissaries of Hell had to maintain their image. With that in mind, he squatted down andid his hand onto the ground.

    They were surrounded by a barren area where all of the trees had already been burned down, and the ground was riddled with twisted gashes. The entire vige had been ravaged to the point that it waspletely unrecognizable.

    No one would think that there were close to 1,000 people living here as recently as several years ago. Scraps of all of the facilities and houses in the vige could still be seen littered throughout the area, and the fallen utility poles were standing like tombstones on the ground.

    "I''ve read the records of this riot."

    Arthis''s hair and clothes were pping incessantly in the wind as she said, "The riot began in this vige, and it traveled for 20 kilometers before it was finally quelled."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then swept a cautious gaze through the surrounding area. "Do you sense anything?"

    "Nothing. This is apletely lifeless vige," Arthis replied.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything. Instead, he jumped onto a huge charred rock, then cast his gaze toward the distance before looking down at the ground in an absentminded manner.

    Arthis patiently waited for him to speak, and only after a full five minutes had passed did he break the silence. "Something''s wrong here."

    Before Arthis had a chance to say anything, he continued, "The inner demon is trying to intimidate me, but it''s certainly not going to do that by eradicating a vige once every few months. The Large Green Mountain belongs to Copper Flower City, and the riot was traveling toward Copper Flower City before it was stopped."

    He could still just barely make out a giant footprint on the ground. "Generating a threat against a city would be far more intimidating to me than threatening a county."

    Arthis''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "What are you trying to say?"

    With a flick of his wrist, Qin Ye''s beaded bracelet fell into his grasp, and he massaged it as he said, "With so manyherworldly citizens rioting at once, the inner demon has to be involved. It should be aware that it can''t stay in the underworld for very long, so the riot traveled toward Copper Flower City extremely quickly. However..."

    Arthis drew a sharp breath as an enlightened look appeared in her eyes. "However, it took the time topletely destroy this vige for seemingly no reason!"

    That didn''t make any logical sense!

    Given that the inner demon was clearly aware that it couldn''t remain in the underworld for long, the first thing that it should''ve done after instigating a Yin spirit riot would be to travel to a city to truly leave Hell with something to remember it by. With such a tight timeframe, why had it gone out of its way topletely destroy a vige?

    "Could it be that it left something here?" Arthis spected with tightly furrowed brows. "It has to be something that it''s unable to take away. If it could take that thing away with it, there would be no need to destroy this ce. Is it hiding something?"

    What could it be?

    The two of them swept their Yin energy through the vige several times, but didn''t discover anything for their efforts. Arthis was growing rather impatient, and she grumbled, "We should buy a gem of true sight for this."

    As soon as her voice trailed off, Fate had already transformed into a silver spear that was resting against her neck, and Qin Ye turned to her with a threatening expression. "Huh? What did you say? I didn''t hear you clearly."

    As a Yama-King, her first reaction was to think of a gem of true sight rather than using her infernal eyes? This was uneptable!

    "Hehe... It was just a joke! Don''t be so uptight, Dogballs... It''s so hard trying to adapt to this new status. Honestly..."

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye abruptly turned toward another direction, then raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for Arthis to be quiet.

    Arthis immediately fell silent, and several secondster, her eyes widened with incredulity as she swept her gaze through the surrounding area.

    "Waaah..."

    Faint sobs could be heard throughout this entire area!

    Initially, the sobbing was very quiet, but within the span of just several seconds, it had already be extremely loud and heart-wrenching!

    It was as if someone were bawling into their ears from right beside them!

    Never had Arthis seen something so strange, and she was stunned by this peculiar sight.

    "They haven''t ceased to exist?" she eximed with an incredulous expression. "It''s been three years, yet their souls are still here and haven''t been devoured?"

 Chapter 1137: Unwilling to Pass On

    <h4>Chapter 1137: Unwilling to Pass On</h4>

    The sobs were growing louder and louder alongside the gusts of Yin wind, and all of the surrounding shadowy figures also seemed to be swaying and flickering, as if they had been resurrected as evil ghosts. If a living human were standing here, they would be terrified even without the need for any special effects.

    Arthis''s eyes narrowed slightly as the anguished howls and wails traveled into her ears. Initially, the sound was very faint, but after only several seconds, it had already be extremely loud and insistent.

    "Save me..."

    "I don''t want to... I don''t want to be a part of that thing!"

    "Help... Help!"

    "Where are the Emissaries of Hell?! Why aren''t they here to save us?!"

    "Grandpa! Are you alright? Grandpa..."

    There were voices of both genders and different age ranges, and Arthis closed her eyes in silence as she clenched her fists tightly.

    She was ovee by a sense of responsibility.

    She stood above countless underworld emissaries, but it certainly wouldn''t be right for her to simply rest on herurels. Instead, she had a duty to ensure the safety and prosperity of the Cathayan Underworld''s citizens.

    These voices belonged to theherworldly citizens who had perished by the hands of the inner demon. Regardless of what they had done during their lives or whether they hadmitted sins or not, the fact that they were here meant that they had already atoned for their crimes. Thus, they were citizens of the Cathayan Underworld, and as such, they were deserving of Hell''s protection.

    However, there was no way for her to protect them! Their souls had been taken by an evil ghost right under their noses, and this was no different from a vicious p to the face for both Qin Ye and Arthis.

    After a full minute, Arthis opened her eyes, and she turned to Qin Ye, who was also looking at her. "Have you found any leads?"

    "I have," Qin Ye replied with a contemtive expression. "The fact that they''ve managed to leave this information behind is a sign of just how attached they were to the Cathayan Underworld, and thankfully, this information has allowed me to grasp some traits of the inner demon. Firstly, the entire mutation process took ce extremely quickly. Within a span of no more than 20 minutes, all of theherworldly citizens of the entire vige were under the control of the inner demon."

    He strode forward as he spoke, arriving in front of a giant footprint, which was still extremely clear, even though it had already been three years.

    Most of the roads in the vige were unpaved, so the footprint was able to leave a deep indentation on the road, which was around a foot in depth and four to five meters wide.

    It was shaped like a human footprint.

    "The footprints lead toward Copper Flower City," Qin Ye mused. "The riots that have taken ce during the past three years seemed to bepletely unrted in terms of time and location, but why is it that it insisted on destroying all of the viges even though it was clearly on a tight schedule?"

    No one could answer that question.

    Several secondster, a faint smile appeared on Arthis''s face as she suggested, "Why don''t we ask the things here?"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, her long, purple hair erupted violently, stretching for several dozen meters in all directions like the purple canopy of a giant peacock.

    A gust of fierce Yin wind swept past, causing her clothes to p wildly, and she slowly raised her hand in a regal gesture. Within her grasp was a bright, blue sword.

    "This sword..."

    As soon as Arthis opened her mouth to speak, Qin Ye interjected in an expressionless manner, "I know, it''s the Frostmourne. Can we move on now?"

    Arthis rolled her eyes at Qin Ye in a dismayed manner.

    How did you know what I was going to say?!

    Having had her attempt to boastpletely shut down by Qin Ye, she was no longer in the mood to show off, and she abruptly shed her sword downward.

    As a result, boundlessherfire instantly rose up from the ground.

    "All souls, heed my call," she dered in an authoritative voice.

    All of theherfire seemed to have heard her, and they converged toward her in frenzy, forming aherfire vortex around her in the blink of an eye.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this. He could sense that these specks ofherfire were too weak to be the souls of people.

    "Are these... the souls of animals?" he asked.

    Arthis nodded in response. "You didn''t know we could summon the souls of animals?"

    "Ah... Ha... Of course I did, I just didn''t think of that..." Qin Ye replied in an awkward manner.

    Arthis turned to him with a derisive smile, and her expression was conveying the words "uneducated scum".

    She gently waved a hand through the air, and theherfire danced around her in response, giving her the appearance of a fire goddess. "Human souls aren''t the only ones who can heed our call. If animals want to enter the cycle of reincarnation, there''s basically no way for them to do that. Only when they encounter opportunities like this will they have a sliver of hope. Thus, all of them are eager to heed my call, and this also confirms something. You are correct in that the inner demon didn''t have enough time to prey on the desires of animals. It came quickly, and it left in even more of a hurry. Otherwise, there would be no way for the animals here to have survived. It seems that it''s... avoiding something."

    It''s avoiding the Heavenly Dao...

    Qin Ye didn''t articte his thoughts. On the previous asion, the inner demon had alreadymitted a grave offense by barging its way into the Heavenly Dao''s divine art, and now, it was trying to instigate a war with one of the powerful nations in the underworld. If it were to allow itself to be tracked down, then it would lose its greatest advantage.

    With a casual wave of her hand, Arthis scattered theherfire around her, then sped her hands behind her back as she asked, "Who saw everything that happened here and can give me aplete ount of the events that took ce back then?"

    All of the specks ofherfire faltered momentarily, following which around a dozen specks jumped out at once, revolving frantically around Arthis in an attempt to catch her attention.

    "Alright, one at a time." Arthis couldn''t be more familiar with this process, and with a wave of her hand, seven or eight of the specks ofherfire were sent flying toward Qin Ye.

    Having lived for so long, Arthis had learned the value of caution. She was concerned that some of the animals would say that they knew something, even though they didn''t know anything, then provide false information in order to curry favor with underworld emissaries.

    By sending half of them to Qin Ye, they could verify the ounts provided separately to ensure that the stories matched up.

    Sure enough, upon seeing this, three of the specks ofherfire silently backed away, and Arthis and Qin Ye didn''t punish them for that. All living beings had desires, and it would be ridiculous for lofty figures like them to stoop to punishing animals.

    Qin Ye spread his hands open, and several specks ofherfire flew into his palm. He then closed his eyes before picking up a speck ofherfire and pressing it into his own be.

    Countless images instantly appeared in his mind, and at the same time, a skeletal sparrow that was perched on a branch in the vige silently fell down from the branch, bringing a conclusion to its afterlife.

    Yin beasts were unable to speak the humannguage, so in order to see the information in theirherfire, the best way was to devour them. However, not only did the sparrow not regret its decision, it was extremely d.

    Perhaps it would be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation and be reborn as a human!

    Qin Ye naturally wasn''t going to pay any heed to its thoughts. His consciousness was already quickly browsing through its memories, and several secondster, his eyes abruptly lit up as he rushed toward a smallke in the vige.

    Arthis did the same thing, and soon, the two of them were standing beside theke, staring intently at its surface.

    There was nothing to be seen there, but both of them had another image in their minds.

    It was an image that was enshrouded in Yin clouds, and all of the surrounding shadows were strangely elongated, much like looking into an ancient copper mirror. However, it was still possible to see what was in the image.

    Beside theke was a femaleherworldly citizen.

    She was wearing a faded cheongsam, and she had a head of short hair. Her appearance and essories were all very typical of a style that was popr in Shanghai back in the early 1900s, and in the image, she was grooming herself while looking at the surface of theke as a mirror.

    Mirrors already existed in this era in the underworld, but she seemed to prefer this method. Seated beside her was an elderly man who was also dressed in clothing from the same era, and he was watching her with a smile.

    "That woman is a virgin," Arthis remarked. "She has a virginity mark on her arm. It seems that she belonged to a rtively affluent family during her lifetime, but it''s clearly only a lower-middle-ss family that did slightly better for itself than the average person."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Indeed, there was a red virginity mark on the woman''s arm.

    Right at this moment, the woman turned around with a smile,bing her own hair as she cast her gaze toward the elderly man. "What do you think of today''s look, Uncle Liu?"

    "You look beautiful every day, Young Mistress," the elderly man replied with a genuine smile.

    The woman cupped her own face as she put on a beautiful smile. "Unfortunately, the specific makeup that I like is only sold during the chop hand festival, and it''s too expensive... I''m getting married, so I have to put some extra effort into my look, but top-end makeup is simply too expensive. I can''t believe the male side is only offering such cheap and low-quality makeup. Are they really that poor? I had to chase them up several times before they finally bought the ebony coffin and Burberry makeup box that I asked for, but those foreign brands nowhere near as good as what we have avable locally."

    The elderly man offered a wistful smile in response. "That is indeed a pity."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    Many Yin spirits had formed new families after arriving in the underworld, so that was nothing strange. However, no one in the underworld ordered coffins, and Burberry was a brand that only existed in the mortal realm, not in the underworld.

    As such, these were very strange requests. What did they entail?

    Before he had a chance to think about this any further, dense Yin clouds suddenly appeared overhead, gathering in the span of less than two seconds, immediately following which a bolt of crimson lightning crashed down directly upon the woman.

    Everything had happened far too quickly. It had only just registered with the woman that the sky had fallen dark, yet before she could even raise her head, she had already been struck by that bolt of lightning.

    A scream rang out as boundless Yin energy enveloped her body, following which the image fell dark.

    That was only to be expected. After all, these Yin beasts wouldn''t dare to approach such a fearsome eruption of Yin energy.

    Qin Ye raised his head with a contemtive expression, and Arthis just so happened to be looking at him as well.

    Neither of them said anything as they quickly analyzed what they had just seen, and after a full minute had passed, their eyes lit up in unison as they eximed at the same time, "That was a posthumous marriage!"

    "It''s dictated by thews of Hell that any attempt made by the mortal realm tomunicate with the underworld is not to be reciprocated! Anyone who breaks thisw will immediately enter the six paths of reincarnation!" Arthis said.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "However, a posthumous marriage would allow one to return to the mortal realm..."

    The correct way to arrange a posthumous marriage was to exchange the date of birth and eight characters of a horoscope of the other party with that of the deceased. Only virgins would be able to sense this, and the other party had to prepare a coffin, as well as a recently deceased body with the same date of birth and eight characters of a horoscope.

    If this could be sessfully done, then the deceased party would be able to use their soul to possess the body, thereby allowing them to live again!

    This procedure and all other procedures through which one could illicitly return to the mortal realm were all strongly despised by underworld emissaries. Once a deceased soul possessed a body, they would be concealed by Yang energy, and there would be no way for underworld emissaries to tell whether they were truly alive or not. An underworld emissary would have to at least be at the Anitya Hellguard level before they could discern this correctly, and this situation was very prone to creating artificial evil ghosts!

    Thus, this was made strictly illegal long ago, but the temptation of returning to the mortal realm was too great, and some were still willing to take the risk.

    Qin Ye gnashed his teeth together as he clenched his fists tightly.

    He finally understood how the inner demon had managed to descend into the underworld.

    Prior topletely fusing with Qin Zhongguo''s soul, it would still be unable to descend into the underworld.

    However, if it were to discover someonemunicating to the underworld from the mortal realm, and someone reciprocated thismunication despite its illegal nature, it would be able to use this as an anchor.

    It couldn''t enter the underworld on its own, but it could do so through various ceremonies held by living humans in the mortal realm.

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn sigh as he looked up at the heavens.

    "There is not just a sword hanging above our heads... Instead, there is a sea of swords! We don''t know when and where those swords coulde falling down to strike chaos and destruction into the entire Cathayan Underworld!"

 Chapter 1138: Posthumous Marriage (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1138: Posthumous Marriage (1)</h4>

    Arthis heaved a faint sigh as she shook her head with a forlorn expression.

    What could they do? How could they defend against this threat?

    There was no solution. Allherworldly citizens had a fundamental, instinctive desire to return to the mortal realm. Every year, there were always some who managed to return to the mortal realm through illicit means. This was obviously prohibited by Hell, but there was no way to ensure that everyone abided by thew.

    The Cathayan Underworld seemed to be a stable fortress, but in the eyes of the inner demon, it was a massive that was filled with holes. These holes were very small, yet through them, it was capable of destroying viges!

    "I don''t understand. Is everything I''ve done still not good enough?" Qin Ye''s hair was pping in the wind as he inspected the charred remains of the vige.

    Were theherworldly citizens not happy? Was the Cathayan Underworld''s international status too low? Was he not powerful enough? Why was it that even after all he had done, he was still being targeted by some almighty beings of the world? First, it was Xu Fu, now, it was the inner demon. Was it because he was too young? Was it because they thought they could do better than him?

    "Perhaps it''s simply because the position of King Yanluo is so alluring." He looked up at the sky with a dazed expression. He honestly couldn''t understand. Had the inner demon never thought about what would happen if it really were to take over as King Yanluo? Did it think that Zhao Yun and the second King Yanluo would simply let things slide? Could it be that it had only met the second King Yanluo once and didn''t know that he was the second King Yanluo? Could it be that the second King Yanluo letting it go during theirst encounter led it to believe that the position of King Yanluo was there for the taking?

    Little did it know just how much of an iron fist the second King Yanluo had ruled with. He didn''t want to conform to the wishes of the eight major ns, thereby resulting in a civil conflict, which culminated in the second-generation forbidden arts startup module being leaked, and only then did he decide that enough was enough.

    "There is no pinnacle when ites to power, there will be loftier positions one could strive for," Arthis said. "The inner demon may not be aware of why the old Hell was destroyed, but it''s definitely aware that Hell was destroyed at one point. It encountered the second King Yanluo and survived, so it naturally must''ve thought that the second King Yanluo held no objections to its actions. In fact, it may not even be aware that the man it had met was the second King Yanluo."

    Qin Ye was looking up at the Yin runes drifting over the barrier in the sky as he asked, "Then why didn''t the second King Yanluo kill it at the time?"

    "Because you were still too young at the time," Arthis replied with a smile. "When any position of significant power is passed on, the heir to the position must undergo many trials and tribtions. You were chosen virtually out of the blue, and you were a nk te with no influence or authority. Even more importantly, you didn''t have any power or powerful backers, either. The first King Yanluo had exceptional courage and foresight, while the second King Yanluo''s power was unmatched. You''ve only been in power for a very short time, to the extent that you haven''t even experienced any military shes with other nations. All of the personnel left over from the old Hell, including the Harken and myself, had endured many such wars in the past. Several centuries ago, Anubis''s Aegyptian Dog Deity Legion suddenly attacked from the east. The Cathayan Underworld officially dered war on the Aegyptian Underworld, and several dozen Yama-Kings were involved in that conflict. 500 years ago, a border conflict erupted between the Hindustani Underworld and the Cathayan Underworld. The two nations were on the brink ofunching forbidden arts at each other, and it took the twin death gods of the Argosian Underworld to travel to the border shared by the two nations and act as mediators to put an end to those tensions. That''s not even to mention the attack that the Cathayan Underworld endured from seven powerful underworld 700 years ago. In the eyes of the first and second King Yanluos, you will never mature and grow to be a worthy ruler unless you''ve experienced crises that could bring about the demise of the nation."

    A smile suddenly appeared on her face as she continued, "However, you''ve done much better than them when ites to internal affairs. On top of that, you have far thicker skin than the two of thembined. In summary, you have a bright future ahead of you. It would be like if all of the rightful heirs to a major n passed away, so that n had to scramble to find an unworthy and untested candidate to take over..."

    "Can you stop there? I know what you''re saying is true, but I can''t help but feel like this is going in a wrong direction..."

    "That''s not the point!" Arthis was also extremely well-versed in the usage of the "that''s not the point" skill. "Think about it. We can equate the second King Yanluo to the past head of that aforementioned, hypothetical n. All of a sudden, he discovered that the unworthy and useless candidate that he had found was doing a decent job."

    "So you''re just gonna pile on the insults, huh?" Qin Ye sighed with a wry smile.

    Arthis shrugged in response. "Perhaps the second King Yanluo is only habitually throwing more trouble your way to observe how you''ll ovee these trials. Trust me, he''s constantly having to struggle with the urge to dethrone you and rece you with someone else."

    Arthis continued, "Don''t think that a trial like this is unfair. The higher you climb up the ranks, the more rigorous the trials that you must face, both to prove your worth and to help you improve. Back when my mentor, Gul''dan, tricked me to go to the Frozen Throne, he set a stern trial for me in the form of Illidan Stormrage..." [These are all World of Warcraft characters.]

    That was where this conversation concluded, and Qin Ye turned to Arthis with a benevolent smile as he asked, "That report on my desk about the viability of inte research was written by you, right?"

    "That''s impossible, I''m illiterate."

    Right at this moment, faint fluctuations erupted nearby, and several figures suddenly appeared around them.

    They were underworld emissaries of the Netherworld Operative level, and they were among theherworldly citizens to have benefitted from the implementation of the education industry.

    "Who goes there? Ah, we pay our respects to Yanluo Qin and the Reincarnation King!" As soon as the underworld emissaries identified Qin Ye''s trio, they immediately fell to their knees with respectful expressions.

    "No need for formalities," Qin Ye said with a casual wave of his hand. "You''re able to detect me?"

    The leader of the underworld emissaries cupped his fist in a salute as he exined, "I''m naturally unable to sense your presence, but this array was set up by Ghost King Zhao, so even though your concealment abilities are extremely powerful, you''ll still be detected by the core of the array within 10 minutes."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "ording to the reports, theherfire of the vige''s citizens still remain, so why have I not seen them?"

    The fact that theirherfire still existed meant that the Yin spirits weren''t eradicated. However, he couldn''t sense any survivors in the vige at the moment.

    The group of underworld emissaries exchanged a few nces, following which their leader rose to his feet before sweeping a hand through the air, and an illusory light screen appeared in mid-air.

    A stone que was depicted on the screen, and the que was riddled with several hundred names.

    There was a speck ofherfire attached to every single name, but theherfire seemed to have been trapped on the stone que by something. They were frantically bouncing around beside the stone que, but were unable to separate themselves from it.

    "That''s the Anitya Soul Trap technique!" Arthis''s eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke. "During battles in the past, countless Yin spirits are destroyed, but a small portion is collected by other participants in the battles. These Yin spirits can be ced into the six paths of reincarnation to be refined for a few years, following which they''ll be restored asherworldly citizens. However, they''ll lose all of their past memories. As expected of a monster who''s witnessed the entire history of human civilization, I wonder where the inner demon learned this secret underworld technique from."

    Arthis didn''t have to continue for Qin Ye to know what was going on here.

    This wasn''t just a soul trapping technique performed for the sake of it, the inner demon was gathering citizens for its future kingdom!

    The inner demon didn''t require its citizens to have memories. So long as they had desires, it would eternally have control over them.

    "You don''t seem angry at all," Arthis remarked with a surprised expression. "That''s not a reaction I would expect from a ruler."

    Indeed, any ruler would be absolutely furious that anyone would dare to try and encroach upon their territory and people.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything.

    Arthis''s brows furrowed slightly as she asked, "Are you thinking about giving up on targeting the inner demon?"

    Is it because it''s too difficult? Is it because the power difference is too great and you''re worried for your own safety? That may all be true, but don''t forget that you''re the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld! How could you see such a massive threat to your authority, yet pretend as if nothing''s ever happened?

    Qin Ye could naturally hear the usation in Arthis''s words, but he didn''t reply right away. Instead, he turned to her before asking, "Would you like to apany me on a walk?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he transformed into a gust of Yin wind and headed directly toward Limbo.

    Arthis''s brows furrowed slightly, and she swept a sleeve through the air, upon which all of the underworld emissaries flew into her grasp as gusts of Yin wind, then immediately followed along.

    Directly above them was the ce where the posthumous wedding was being held.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "My son... You were taken from us far too early!"

    "I told you to be careful when crossing the road, but you never listened!"

    This was an extremely spacious white mourning hall.

    Qin Ye looked around with a rather surprised expression. It was clear that this was a funeral home, but it had beenpletely reserved by a single family. Funeral wreaths were ced all around the hall, at the foot of each of which was an inky-ck "Li" character.

    Qin Ye had thought that he would''ve emerged in a vige. After all, not many people believed in things like posthumous weddings nowadays, and it had be almost exclusively a practice observed in rural viges. However, this setting waspletely unexpected to him.

    A funeral home of this scale wouldn''t be found even in a county, so this was most likely a city, and a prefecture-level city, at that. At this moment, he was standing at the entrance to the funeral home, and the wreaths on either side of him extended for over 20 meters, while a long line of ck hearses was parked outside.

    "What''s happening here?" he asked as he turned to an employee standing behind the front desk.

    The man was extremely busy, rushing around to record the information of the guests, but he still retained his professionalism as he replied, "Someone died again. Starting from three years ago, someone has been dying at the exact same moment of the exact same day in each sessive year."

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he indicated toward the funeral home as he asked, "What are they doing here?"

    He was referring to a group of monks and Taoist priests, who were gathered in front of a ck coffin while chanting incessantly.

    The employee finally turned to Qin Ye, and a hint of coldness crept into his voice as he replied, "You''re not from around here, are you, sir? Have you not heard of the story about the incident that took ce three years ago on the dreaded seventh carriage? At the time, the entire carriage and all of the passengers that it housed were sliced cleanly in half. From that point onward, someone has perished at that exact same spot at the exact same moment of each following year!"

 Chapter 1139: Posthumous Wedding (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1139: Posthumous Wedding (2)</h4>

    The employee continued to take records as he said, "In the first year, the connection wasn''t drawn, but in the second year, it was the exact same cause of death at the exact same time. All of the victims were sliced cleanly in half along with their cars by something invisible. Isn''t that strange?"

    He then heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "If the victim was just a normal person, then there wouldn''t be such a big fuss, but do you know who died this time?"

    Qin Ye was inspecting the mourning hall as he asked, "Who?"

    The employee leaned in a little closer, then said in a quiet voice, "The eldest son of County Party Secretary Li."

    He then stole a nce behind him before continuing, "You see the police officers inside? They say that he was just driving on the road when he was suddenly dismembered, and his body was sliced cleanly in half. I heard that it took the mortician a lot of work to get his body back together... What the hell? Where did he go?"

    Right as he turned back around to face Qin Ye, his soul was almost jarred out of his body from fright. Qin Ye was already nowhere to be seen, and there was only a flurry of paper money for the dead fluttering down from above in his ce. The employee''s back was instantly drenched in cold sweat, and all of the fine hairs all over his body stood up on end. His throat had suddenly be parched, and he gulped nervously before making his way toward a ce where there were more people.

    Qin Ye hadn''t actually left.

    A living human would only be able to see an underworld emissary if thetter wished to be seen. If Qin Ye didn''t want to be seen, then no one would be able to detect his presence, even though he was standing mere meters away from the front desk.

    At this moment, his gaze was locked firmly on the center of the hall. A series of spirit banners and obituaries were littered throughout the hall, and paper money was flying everywhere. All types of food offerings were ced in front of the coffin alongside burning incense, and the sound of chanting and the knocking of wooden fish were ringing out incessantly.

    Qin Ye wasn''t looking at any of that. Instead, he was staring into the coffin.

    Right as he rose up into mid-air, the corpse of the deathly pale young man in the coffin abruptly opened his eyes before looking directly at him.

    There were no whites in his eyes, only inky-darkness, like the boundless, pitch-ck night.

    The two of them were separated by the coffin and a decent distance, but both of them could sense that each of them had seen the other.

    Inside the dark coffin, a menacing smile slowly appeared on the corpse''s face, and it silently mouthed the words "long time no see".

    In that instant, it was as if time had fallen still.

    All of a sudden, all of the surrounding sticks of incense were snapped in unison, and the monks that Taoist priests who were chanting opened their eyes at once. All of them shuddered involuntarily, then immediately rose to their feet without any hesitation. "Run!!"

    Before the grieving family had a chance to realize what was happening, all of the paper money on the ground rose up into the air, then shot forth like speeding arrows without any warning!

    "What on earth is happening?!"

    "My god, what''s going on?!"

    "This ce is haunted!!"

    The entire funeral home instantly erupted into a panicked frenzy, and the mourning family members were weeping just a moment ago, yet they were all fleeing in fear and rm now. The paper money that had flown up into the air seemed to have been given a life of their own, knocking over the wreaths one after another like dominos. At the same time, a gust of dark Yin wind converged out of nowhere, revolving around the flying paper money to form a Yin cloud vortex that was several dozen meters in radius!

    A derisive sneer appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he casually swept a sleeve through the air, and all of the paper money in front of him was instantly ignited byherfire before being burned to ashes. He then cast his gaze directly forward and said, "This is an extremely unoriginal wee that you''ve prepared for me."

    He wasn''t looking at the coffin. This trick to temporarily possess a corpse wasn''t intriguing to him at all. Furthermore, considering how weak this disy of power was, the inner demon had to be controlling the corpse from very far away.

    This made sense, considering this was the origin site of the first riot three years ago, so it most likely had already long since moved on from here.

    What Qin Ye was looking at was the room across from the coffin.

    No one could see the room as it wasn''t open, and it waspletely concealed behind the ck curtain at the back.

    Only he could see that there was a smaller red coffin in that room!

    In contrast with the simplistic ck coffin, this one was extremely intricately crafted with designs of dragons and phoenixes, as well as the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl engraved onto its surface. There was also arge table of offerings ced in front of it, but all of these offerings were pieces of makeup, and every single one appeared to have been used before.

    It was clear that there was something strange residing there.

    Furthermore, the door of the room was locked from the outside, and there were all types of furniture in there, including arge, antiquated, wooden bed, a mirror that was as tall as a person, a dresser, amp, as well as tables and chairs. However, all of those pieces of furniture also appeared to have been used.

    It was as if there were something living residing in that locked room.

    BOOM!!

    The door was abruptly blown open, and a figure arrived amid a gust of Yin wind. Behind her were around a dozen more figures, and a burst of pure Yin energy that belonged exclusively to Hell swept through the entire room, causing all of the light fixtures to flicker unsteadily. In the next instant, an authoritative voice rang out across the entire room. "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    The voice wasn''t very loud, but it was like a death sentence being pronounced in the ears of evil ghosts.

    Arthis was standing at the forefront of the group, apanied by the dozen or so underworld emissaries she had taken with her. The room waspletely silent, but she could clearly see that there was a woman in an antiquated red wedding dressing lying curled up into a ball in the coffin, resembling a frightened kitten.

    She was so horrified that her face was even paler than the average evil ghost, and her fingernails had already dug deep into her palms, yet they were drawing no blood.

    This was a corpse, a living corpse.

    The coffin exploded amid a resounding boom, followed by a scream from the bride. An invisible, giant hand then seemed to close itself around her neck, hosting her up into mid-air.

    "Spare me! Please!!" If a normal person were to have their neck constricted so tightly, they wouldn''t be able to utter any sound at all, yet the bride was able to scream at the top of her lungs. "Please don''t kill me, Your Excellency! I''ve never had any blood food! I''m only residing here temporarily!"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, she received a p to the face that was so vicious that her head turned around 180 degrees, but it instantly turned back as if she had no spine. She wanted to continue to beg for her life, but the sight of Arthis''s menacing expression convinced her that it was wiser to remain silent.

    Arthis cast a cold gaze toward the bride as she asked, "Do you recognize me?"

    The female ghost shuddered, and her lips were trembling as she replied, "I do. Y, you''re the esteemed warden..."

    This doesn''t make any sense! Why am I so unlucky? The number of posthumous weddings that take ce in the Cathayan Underworld is at least in the double figures, why am I the one who''s been caught? And why is the warden here in person?!

    As soon as she sensed Qin Ye and Arthis''s almighty Yin energy descend upon this city, she was already petrified, and she was so horrified to hear the words "by hell¡¯s dictum, all rabble shall disperse", that she almost disintegrated on the spot!

    Right at this moment, a voice rang out from behind Arthis. "Don''t kill her."

    The evil ghost shuddered upon hearing this, then cast an incredulous gaze forward. In the next instant, she copsed to the ground with a dull thump, looking as if all of the bones in her body had been pulled out.

    King Yanluo was here in person!

    Never had she been so terrified before, and she felt as if her soul had been plunged into a cial pit. She wanted to stand up, but her legs were too weak to move, and in the end, she struggled into a kneeling position before kowtowing to the ground.

    "Your Majesty, please spare me..." she sobbed. "I''ll never do this again..."

    Qin Ye ignored her and sat down in front of the table with Arthis.

    He doesn''t seem angry?

    Hell had implemented strictws againstmunicating with the mortal realm, yet there were still Yin spirits like her who slipped through the cracks. Due to her selfish desires, the inner demon was able to extend its influence into the Cathayan Underworld, thereby leading to the destruction of several viges.

    However, what could he do now?

    Was he going to throw a tantrum at this female ghost, who was only a Netherworld Operative and didn''t even know what the inner demon was? What would that aplish? It would only make him even more enraged and powerless.

    "Do you know how manyherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld were destroyed because of your posthumous wedding?" Qin Ye asked.

    The evil ghost was too horrified to speak, so she could only shake her head.

    "Your crimes are unforgivable," Arthis said with a cold expression. "However, you can still redeem yourself. Your life will not be spared, but if you don''t want to enter the six paths of reincarnation as well, then you''d better answer my next questions truthfully. If you refuse, I can search your soul right here, right now, and still ensure that your soul is intact and can be thrown into the 18 abysses of punishment, so if I were you, I would cooperate."

    "Yes..." The female ghost kowtowed once again.

    These were two of the most powerful beings in Hell, and in the instant that she saw both of them, she realized that her death was sealed.

    The room fell silent.

    Qin Ye was gently drumming his armrest with his fingers while stroking his own chin with his other hand. He didn''t immediately begin the interrogation. He had no interest in knowing this evil ghost''s name, but she may not be able to tell him about the things that he was interested in.

    She was simply too weak.

    The inner demon could easily keep herpletely oblivious to what it was doing. However, why was it that a curse seemed to have been ced onto this area?

    Three years ago, the first riot took ce, and the inner demon extended its tendrils into the underworld for the very first time,ying waste to the vige of Large Green Mountain in the process. It had already achieved its objective, so why was it still iming a victim in the same ce on the annual anniversary of the event?

    Was this its grand script of death? Was it hoping to create a legend as part of a grand script of death?

    That was a possibility, but if that were the case, then there was something else that didn''t make sense, which was the existence of this female ghost.

    She was the same female ghost that was arranging the posthumous wedding in Large Green Mountain, that much was clear to Qin Ye. However, who was supporting her?

    She had been staying in this room in this funeral home for three whole years. Who would do something as pointless as to support her during this time?

    "The lock hasn''t been opened before," Arthis said to Qin Ye in a low voice. "When I entered the room, I touched the lock, and it was covered in dust, which means that she hasn''t left the room since she first came in."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Once again, the inner demon had done something inexplicable.

    There was no apparent need for it to destroy Large Green Mountain so thoroughly, yet it did so anyway. In doing so, it didn''t have enough time to send the newly formed riot to Copper Flower City, and it was intercepted on the way there.

    Here, it should''ve immediately destroyed everything and eradicated everyone involved, yet this female ghost had been left alive.

    Qin Ye finally turned toward the female ghost as he asked, "What''s your name?"

 Chapter 1140: Ye Xianguo

    <h4>Chapter 1140: Ye Xianguo</h4>

    "My name is Liu Qing, Your Excellency," the female ghost replied in a trembling voice.

    "Who is supporting you?" Qin Ye asked.

    Liu Qing faltered slightly upon hearing this, yet before she had a chance to think, Arthis''s Yin energy swept toward her like a sharp de, instantly slicing through her shoulder-length hair right before her horrified eyes.

    "Ye Xianguo!" she screamed with all her might without any hesitation. "It''s Ye Xianguo from the county party standingmittee! He''s County Magistrate Li''s right-hand man and the administrator of the agricultural bureau!"

    Under extreme fear and duress, it was extremely unlikely that she would still have the presence of mind to lie.

    Qin Ye didn''t need to ask any follow-up questions, and Liu Qing was already telling her everything that she knew. She forcibly repressed the horror in her heart as she said in a trembling voice, "I sensed the contract for the posthumous wedding in the underworld. I initially didn''t want to go... I''ve always abided by all of thews implemented by Hell..."

    "We have no interest in hearing your life story!" Arthis interjected in a cold voice. "Get to the point."

    Liu Qing bit down onto her own lower lip before continuing, "When I arrived at the mortal realm, I wasn''t met with a corpse for the posthumous wedding. Instead, I was met with around a dozen humans. They were all very powerful, and they were led by Ye Xianguo, who is an Anitya Hellguard. Also, he''s very familiar with thews of Hell, and he gave me a choice..."

    Her breathing was beginning to be more and morebored, and she was trembling uncontrobly as she continued, "As I''m sure you''re aware, if I ept the contract for a posthumous wedding but am unable to find a corpse to possess, then I would soon cease to exist. I could''ve never imagined that this would be the situation that I would be getting myself into! I had no choice, Your Excellency! I really had no choice! You have to believe me!"

    She suddenly burst into sobs as she spoke. "He told me to stay here and possess this body, and I didn''t have to do anything. All I had to do was stay in this room, and it''s been three whole years since then!"

    Arthis didn''t say anything as she stole a nce at Qin Ye.

    The situation was not looking very optimistic. The inner demon was far more cautious than they anticipated. Even Liu Qing, who was apletely inconsequential pawn, had beenpletely kept in the dark, locked in this room for three years, so there was no way that she would know anything.

    However, instead of being disappointed, Qin Ye scrutinized Liu Qing intently as he asked, "Are you sure that his name is Ye Xianguo?"

    "I am!" Every single question was an opportunity for Liu Qin to redeem herself, and she was eagerly grabbing those opportunities with both hands. "I''m sure of it! He only told me his name once, but there''s no way I''d misremember it! He''s the only person I''ve seen during the past three years!"

    As expected, she had been locked in this room for three years and didn''t know anything. However, it made sense that she had a clear recollection of the only person she had seen during this time.

    "Alright, that''s all I need to know. Take her away," Qin Ye said as he rose to his feet.

    He didn''t give Liu Qing a chance to speak again. Several underworld emissaries immediately stepped forward, releasing Soul Shackles that shot directly into the joints of Liu Qing''s limbs and the top of her head. An anguished cry rang out, and a soul sphere emerged before flying into the grasp of one of the underworld emissaries.

    Qin Ye casually stepped out of the room. Given that huge eruption of Yin energy earlier, there were already personnel from the Special Investigations Department gathered outside the funeral home. However, they were still far from being able to see a Yama-King.

    "What did you think of?" Arthis asked as she walked along beside him.

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply. Only after the two of them had already emerged from the funeral home did he exin, "I think this should be a matter of setting an anchor. Since the beginning of time, the foundation of death gods has always been faith. If it weren''t for the copse of the new continent''s religions, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa wouldn''t have set their sights on space. What the inner demon is trying to do right now is the exact same thing as them. The term ''inner demon'' is amonly used one, but there''s no faith or belief attached to it. In order to stake a foothold in the underworld, it''ll definitely write its own grand script of death to try and attain godhood. If I''m not mistaken, the Yiguandao is the most important part of his grand script of death."

    He didn''t say anything further, but he was sure that Arthis could understand the situation.

    The grand script of death of the inner demon was different from all other grand scripts of death.

    Thus far, Qin Ye had encountered two grand scripts of death, one of which was in Daehan, while the other was on the new continent. One was written by the nameless god of death, while the other had been written by Medes. These two grand scripts of death shared a simrity, which was that both had been written by vastly renowned figures in history. With those grand scripts of death, anyone would have a chance at attaining godhood, given the right circumstances.

    If Liu Yu had been born in a nation like Si or Baekje rather than the most powerful nation in Asia, he definitely would''ve had a good chance at attaining godhood with the grand script of death.

    As for the three death gods of the Caribbean, they had developed their underworld for over 1,000 years before they hatched the ambition to strive for godhood. At that point, their reputation in the Caribbean Sea had already formed the foundation of their religion.

    In contrast, what about the inner demon? It had nothing!

    Of course, it was incredibly powerful, but it had no foundation, and no one was going to believe in it. Thus, the objective for its grand script of death had to be to make itself renowned across the entire nation. Perhaps the ultimate goal was to make the religion of the inner demon the national religion.

    "This means that its grand script of death must have an extremely grand scale. However, unfortunately for it, the Yiguandao faced stern resistance from the Cathayan government. At the time, it was already powerful enough to y a role in the conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party, but it missed that opportunity. I''m guessing that this is its attempt at aeback," Qin Ye analyzed. "On this asion, he has my grandfather''s soul, so he''s able to establish an anchor point in the underworld. Thus, hepletely relinquished his ns to be a god in the mortal realm, choosing instead to try and conquer the Cathayan Underworld through brute force. However, it knows that no matter how powerful it is, the Cathayan Underworld certainly won''t be a pushover. Thus, it doesn''t want to initiate a direct attack. Instead, it wants to take advantage of human desires, using humans to create a bridge between the two realms. Yin spirits who are tempted by the prospect of returning to the mortal realm will create anchor points in some parts of the Cathayan Underworld, and it doesn''t even need to know where those anchor points are. Once an anchor point is secured, it''ll perform an instantaneous divine descent to make everyone''s desires erupt at once."

    Arthis didn''t reply, and her brows also furrowed tightly.

    In the face of a fearsome opponent that they had never dealt with before, it was imperative to figure out the opponent''s n of attack. Otherwise, they would have no idea where the attacks were going toe from, and even a sound defense would be difficult to achieve, let alone retaliation.

    Qin Ye had just analyzed the inner demon''s n of attack in detail, and only after that did shee to realize just how difficult this opponent was to deal with.

    It was impossible to defend against or predict its attacks!

    Furthermore, as the inner demon fused more and morepletely with Qin Zhongguo''s soul, the intervals between the attacks will be shorter and shorter. Even at the height of its powers, Hell wouldn''t have been able to withstand something like this, let alone the current Hell!

    As the attacks became more and more frequent, more and more of the Cathayan Underworld would be razed to the ground. That would undoubtedly strike fear and panic into the hearts of theherworldly citizens, inevitably leading to their criticism of the current administration. Thus, Qin Ye''s anchor point would begin to waver, and that would be the perfect opportunity for the inner demon to strike!

    "The only solution is to kill everyone," Qin Ye sighed with a wry smile.

    That was clearly not feasible.

    Arthis gently tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, then said, "Alternatively, we can perhaps determine its location, then lure it into our trap."

    Qin Ye offered no response to this.

    This was far easier said than done.

    The inner demon had everything under its control, and even what seemed to be the most inconsequential of leads, such as that ghost bride, had been ounted for.

    It would be an extremely difficult task to lure such a powerful and cautious old monster into a trap. In fact, it was nigh on impossible!

    "At the very least, he did leave behind another lead in the form of Ye Xianguo," Qin Ye said.

    "Who is that?"

    Qin Ye closed his eyes as he recalled some information in his mind. "Among Cathay''s 10 major supernatural events was the Lin Family Mansion incident, which took ce in 1956, and was stored in the Special Investigations Department''s records as an S-rank case. If my memory is correct, then Ye Xianzu is none other than Ye Xianguo! Ye Xianzu is his alias, but the name Ye Xianguo was recorded in all of the major search engines, while the alias of Ye Xianzu was recorded by the Special Investigations Department. That incident took ce in 1956, which means that not long after he visited our vige, he went to the old capital city!"

    "How is that information useful to us?"

    Qin Ye averted his gaze, and after hesitating for a long while, he finally replied, "Perhaps the inner demon will have left some traces behind."

    Before he had a chance to say anything else, Arthis countered in a cold voice, "So that''s why you''re not nning to face off against the inner demon."

    Qin Ye opened his mouth to speak, but Arthis raised a hand to silence him as she continued, "Say no more... When I was asking you those questions earlier, you didn''t give me a clear answer, and now, you''re talking about finding traces left behind by the inner demon. I know you too well to be fooled by that. If you think you can strike, then you definitely wouldn''t hesitate. However, you''re only interested in finding traces left behind by the inner demon, and that''s because you''re not even thinking about luring it into a trap anymore. You have no way of dealing with it, so you''re choosing to avoid the issue. Let me guess, you''re even nning to negotiate with the inner demon and perhaps even considering granting it some territory in exchange for a truce, right? Don''t make meugh!"

    Her Yin energy erupted violently as she spoke, and she looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes as she continued, "Hell has never had a cowardly ruler! There are no King Yanluos in history who have bowed their heads to others, only King Yanluos who have perished in battle!"

    Having had his thoughts exposed mercilessly by Arthis, Qin Ye was also beginning to grow rather enraged, and he countered, "Fine! Let''s fight it then! Tell me what I should do! We know what the inner demon''s n is, but how can we stop it? At the very least, we''re still in a position to negotiate now. If it decides to go all-out from the very beginning, the Cathayan Underworld will face a cmitous disaster! I constructed the new Hell bit by bit over the course of close to 20 years! We''ve only recently established the six paths of reincarnation, and everything has only just gone back onto the right track! Do you want to see all of our hard work razed to the ground again?!"

    "So you want to split your territory with it in exchange for peace?!"

    "Where are you even getting this idea from? We haven''t even begun any negotiations yet, why is that the only possible oue in your mind? You have to remember that you are now a Yama-King, not an Infernal Judge! You need to see things in the context of an entire nation, not just a province!"

    A cold look appeared on Arthis''s face as she countered, "All I know is that if I encounter the inner demon, I would engage it in battle right away. I would rather die in battle than live a coward!"

    Qin Ye almost burst intoughter upon hearing this, and he made no attempt to hide his derision as he scoffed, "Oh wow, what a brilliant hero you are! Just throw away your life for honor and leave the entire nation to suffer! I am King Yanluo! If I die, who is going to take over from me?! Death is the easiest and most cowardly option you can take!"

    Neither side was going to convince the other anytime soon, and after glowering at each other for a while, both of them turned away, following which Arthis vanished as a gust of Yin wind in a fit of rage.

    Following her departure, Qin Ye stomped a foot violently down onto the ground, shattering the flooring instantly. He then ran his hands through his own hair in a frustrated manner a few times, and only then was he able to calm down a little.

    In his eyes, Arthis was extremely naive.

    As King Yanluo, his first priority was the safety and prosperity of his nation and his people. Going out in a ze of glory was simply not an option for him!

    The threat of the inner demon was like the Sword of Damocles, and the figurative horsehair keeping it suspended was about to snap! Dying in the line of duty for glory sounded all well and good, but all that would achieve would be to vacate the throne for the inner demon!

    After a long while, he finally regained his ability to think rationally, and he shook his head as he murmured to himself, "Politics is all about constantly negotiating to try and find the best middle ground."

    He didn''t want to have to negotiate with the inner demon, either! He had already been humiliated once by the 12 envoys during their first meeting, and he certainly didn''t want a repeat of that. Resorting to negotiation would be a sign of weakness that would bring shame to both him as King Yanluo and the Cathayan Underworld!

 Chapter 1141: Hesitation

    <h4>Chapter 1141: Hesitation</h4>

    A gust of Yin wind swept into the room, and Zhao Yun, who was in the process of assessing documents, looked up with a smile as he said, "You don''t seem to be in a very good mood, Your Excellency."

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup before taking a massive gulp, then exhaled before taking a seat. "Arthis and I had a difference in opinion."

    "Did you ask the panel of advisors?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. The panel of advisors excelled more at making nationwide strategic changes. As for how to lure in, trap, and kill an extremely powerful individual, there wasn''t much counsel they could offer.

    "There''s no way to ward off its attacks." He gave Zhao Yun a recount of what had happened, then heaved a forlorn sigh. "This is an invisible opponent, and if wesh out recklessly, our Cathayan Underworld could face an even more cmitous disaster that could shake the foundation of our entire nation. This is not the time to be recklessly using brute force."

    "Are you scared?" Zhao Yun asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    Even though the Cathayan Underworld had an authoritarian political system, just like Cathay in the mortal realm, parties didn''t y much of a role in the underworld, where there was a clear power system. Furthermore, there wasn''t as much emphasis ced on the political hierarchy, either. Otherwise, in the mortal realm, there was no way that Zhao Yun would''ve asked something like that.

    "Scared?" That usation seemed to have hit a sore spot with Qin Ye, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he said, "Were the nameless god of death and the ruler death gods of the three pirs a lesser threat than the inner demon? Was I ever scared of facing them? Don''t make meugh!"

    In his haste to deny this notion, he didn''t notice the contemtive look on Zhao Yun''s face.

    The tip of Zhao Yun''s pen was roaming over the paper in front of him, but he wasn''t actually writing anything, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly as he asked, "What do you n to do from here?"

    "Negotiate."

    Zhao Yun''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes before heaving a long sigh. "We''ll negotiate, and only when that doesn''t work will we turn to force. We are no longer fighting for ourselves here, the fate of the entire nation is on the line."

    In the past, he was able to think about nothing other than himself, but with his current status, any decision made by him could impact countless Yin spirits.

    There were many Yin spirits in the Cathayan Underworld, but they definitely weren''t expendable cannon fodder. Furthermore, the Cathayan Underworld couldn''t afford to lose everything that had been built up the past dozen or so years.

    For this, he was willing to set aside the hatred that he harbored toward the inner demon for abducting his grandfather''s soul. He was even willing to stoop down to meet and negotiate with the inner demon, all because of his responsibilities as King Yanluo.

    Zhao Yun pursed his lips, and his voice was as calm as ever as he asked, "If the negotiations fall through, how do we go about using force?"

    A sharp look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this, and he replied, "I''ll meet the inner demon in person. Through these attacks, it''s extending a warning to us, as well as trying to shatter our confidence. I will tell it that its efforts are futile! If Hell wants to track it down, nothing will be able to stop us! In the face of an opponent like this, we either leave it alone, or kill it with a single strike. However, I still haven''t found a way to effectively target it."

    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to kill the inner demon, this was simply not the right time to strike.

    Zhao Yun didn''t say anything, and Qin Ye continued, "So long as my grandfather''s soul is held by the inner demon, only one of us will be able to survive in the end. The more it meddles with the Cathayan Underworld, the more it tells me that it''s definitely not in its peak condition! The Heavenly Dao told me that fusing with my grandfather''s soul won''t be a fast process for the inner demon. As such, it''s doing all of this to stall for time so that we won''t be able to find it. Alternatively, perhaps it also wants me to seek it out."

    Both sides had their own qualms and concerns, so it was best not to strike until everyone had returned to their peak condition.

    Byshing out at the Cathayan Underworld, the inner demon was flexing its figurative muscles, telling Qin Ye that it had the ability to strike at Hell.

    What Qin Ye had seen in the funeral home was also a reflection of the inner demon''s attitude. It had intentionally left behind some traces for him to follow, encouraging him to continue his investigation.

    There were many simr situations that had taken ce in history. When there were two opposing sides, but neither side could conquer the other, pacts or treaties were often erected. Of course, it was often the case that those treaties and pacts weren''t followed through to the very end.

    The inner demon was waiting to bepletely fused with Qin Zhongguo''s soul, while Qin Ye had the entire Cathayan Underworld behind him. Both sides had sufficient resources for a long and drawn-out battle of attrition, and that was why Qin Ye felt like he would be able to negotiate with the inner demon.

    The room waspletely silent, and only after a long while did Zhao Yun finally set down his pen. "What if the negotiations seed?"

    In other words, when were they going to strike at the inner demon?

    At the moment, the inner demon had the upper hand, and its existence was like a de that was constantly resting on the Cathayan Underworld''s neck. Its unique properties meant that Hell would forever be on the back foot.

    Thus, were they going to retaliate or continue to remain passive?

    "We''ll definitely strike at it someday, but we have to wait for now," Qin Ye replied in an imcable voice. "We can''t afford to strike until we''re absolutely sure of our victory. Otherwise, if we allow it to get away, the consequences will be catastrophic."

    Zhao Yun heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this, and he smiled as he said, "I will forever support your decisions, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then turned to Zhao Yun with a suspicious expression. "Hold on a minute."

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to say anything, he rose to his feet with a cold smile. "I see what''s going on now... You''re on Arakshasa''s side! Don''t try to deny it! If you were on my side, then you would''ve supported my decision from the beginning!"

    He turned and ced his hands onto the desk, looking straight into Zhao Yun''s eyes with a piercing gaze. "Are you worried that I''ll be too indecisive and allow the inner demon to be too powerful, or are you worried that I''ll be too cowardly andpletely conform to the inner demon''s wishes?"

    Zhao Yun averted his gaze as he replied, "I didn''t say that."

    "But you were thinking it!" Qin Ye countered. "You''re constantly asking me for my solution, and only when I told you that the inner demon had to die did you dere that you were always going to support my decision. In your eyes,plying with the inner demon''s wishes for a period of time is a wise strategy, and that is what sets you apart from Arakshasa. After all, you''ve already been a Yama-King for several thousand years, and you''re used to looking at problems from the position of a Yama-King. However, you definitely wouldn''t support the decision to bow to an enemy, even if that enemy has lived for as long as this world and is even older than Hell itself, isn''t that right?"

    He didn''t give Zhao Yun the opportunity to skirt around the question. Instead, he immediately continued, "Hypothetically speaking, if I had decided to split my territory with the inner demon and grant it the mortal realm, what would you have done."

    Zhao Yun wasn''t one to lie, and after a long silence, he finally replied, "I would''ve protested your decision, regardless of the punishment handed down to me."

    Qin Ye harrumphed coldly, then exhaled before sitting back down onto the sofa as if nothing had ever happened. He gently drummed his fingers against the armrest of his chair, then suddenly asked, "I must stand out like a sore thumb whenpared with the style of the old Hell, right, Brother Zhao?"

    Zhao Yun immediately rose to his feet before shaking his head in response. "You''re overthinking things, Your Excellency. The style of the old Hell was actually only established during the reign of the second King Yanluo. However, with his unmatched powers, there was no one in the Cathayan Underworld who dared to go against him. As such, we became the undisputed most powerful nation in the underworld, but at the same time, our foreign affairs and foreign trade were suffering significantly. All of the world organizations were also wary of us, and that was far from ideal. In terms of political styles, I much prefer yours. You can be both passive or aggressive depending on the situation, and your timing is exceptional. However, the mantra of all past King Yanluos has always been that the Cathayan Underworld will never lower its head to anyone. Our new Hell must continue to uphold this mantra, particrly in such a chaotic world. Our invasion of the Nipponese Underworld will begin in a few years, and when that timees, not only will we face fierce resistance from the Nipponese Underworld itself, the three pirs will also be sure to get involved, as well as the world organizations. After that, we have to deal with the crisis of the new continent. Without this aggressive and unyielding stance, our Cathayan Underworld won''t be able to maintain its ce on the international stage, and that''s why I was a little concerned."

    If a nation were to lower its head once, then it would be prone to doing so over and over again.

    The examples set by Cathay in the Song and Qing Dynasties were an extremely painful reminder of this.

    Qin Ye rose to his feet with a smile, then said, "Rest assured, I may be passive at times, but out of all of the people whom I''ve seriously targeted, no one has lived to this point! For the next step of the n, I''ll have to trouble the Harken."

    Zhao Yun was rather taken aback to hear this. "Where are you going now, Your Excellency? At the moment, you''re the one most well-versed with the unique properties of the inner demon, how are you going to face it? Also, your direct supervision is required for the development of both the second-generation forbidden arts and the space exploration project..."

    "I''ll be going to meet the inner demon," Qin Ye replied. "Just now, I thought of something that I can use to my advantage."

    Liu Qing knew a name, and it was Ye Xianguo.

    Why did she know this name?

    The name had most likely been unintentionally revealed to her, but there was no need for the inner demon to reveal that name to her. IT had been so cautious that it hadpletely isted Liu Qing from the rest of the world. Given that Ye Xianguo was an Anitya Hellguard, there was a massive power disparity between the two, so there was no way that Liu Qing would''ve had the courage to actively ask for Ye Xianguo''s name.

    Thus, it was most likely the case that Ye Xianguo had told her his name himself with the goal of having her remember it.

    After that, she had been left in that funeral home for three years, and her sole purpose was to lure out Qin Ye before revealing that name to him.

    This was the second reason why Qin Ye believed that the inner demon would be willing to negotiate with him.

    Upon learning Ye Xianguo''s name, the first thing that he thought of was the infamous Lin Family Mansion incident.

    There was a very good chance that the inner demon was waiting for him there!

    "I''ll have to get you to apany me, General Zhao."

    Zhao Yun immediately cupped his fist in a salute before asking, "When do we set off?"

    "In three days," Qin Ye replied. "We may have to sh with the inner demon there. In that case, it would be a battle involving two beings above the Yama-King level and an advanced Yama-King. If there are any living humans in the area, they''ll definitely be killed if such a battle were to break out. Hence, I''ll have to inform the Cathayan authorities in advance."

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Time passed by very quickly, and close to an entire day flew by in the blink of an eye.

    Light was just beginning to appear in the sky, yet the government building of the capital city was already brightly lit. There were figures wearing Special Investigations Department emblems entering and exiting the building, and among them were at least two Infernal Judges!

    This city was the financial heart of Cathay, and there were two Infernal Judges who were permanently stationed in this city''s Special Investigations Department branch.

    A series of cars were parked at the entrance, and one high-ranking official after another from the Special Investigations Department emerged from the cars with grim expressions, then made their way silently into the building, while their secretaries hurriedly followed along behind them.

    "What''s going on?" Several assistants quickly rushed along, and one of them said in a low voice, "Director Shao received an urgent call at 5 AM, and he immediately got out of bed to travel to the capital city. I don''t know what the call was about, but I''ve never seen him look so serious."

    "I don''t know, either," the assistant beside him replied with a shake of his head. "Did you notice that high-ranking officials from the military and the government are also present? Just now, I saw General Liang and Mayor Ma..."

 Chapter 1142: The 73 Immortals

    <h4>Chapter 1142: The 73 Immortals</h4>

    All of the nation''s most advanced Yin spirit resistance weapons and most powerful cultivators were gathered in the Special Investigations Department branch of the capital city. However, no one was in the mood to make any small talk.

    Everyone in the building was wearing crisp, yellow uniforms that were simr to military uniforms from the republic era. After close to 20 years of development, particrly the several reforms that the Special Investigations Department had gone through, the uniforms were no longer restricted to just camouge designs.

    Among all of the people present, even the lowest-ranking ones were wearing major general epaulets.

    As the door was closed, the elderly man that was seated at the head of the table, resting with his eyes closed, finally opened his eyes. He was clearly quite advanced in age, but he certainly wasn''t disying much frailty, and despite his thin figure, he stood as straight and resolute as a strong tree. The stars of the general epaulets on his shoulders were giving off a cold gleam, further contributing to his authoritative aura, which was naturally permeating throughout the entire conference hall.

    He gently tapped the table, then wasted no time in cutting to the chase. "Let''s begin the meeting. Firstly, I must make something clear: during the Ghost Encounter Hour tonight, Ghost King Zhao of Hell will be entering our capital city. At 12 AM, Yin soldiers of Hell will be arriving in our realm, and tomorrow night, Yanluo Qin and the Reincarnation King will arrive in the capital city together. This information was provided directly to me by Ksitigarbha and the city god."

    He swept his gaze around the room, then continued, "ording to our reports, a being above the Yama-King level is currently lurking in our capital city, and it''s suspected to be closely rted to the Yiguandao."

    Many of the older people present immediately raised their heads upon hearing mention of the Yiguandao, and a cold look appeared in their eyes.

    Most of the younger generation had only heard of the Falun Gong, but only those who had experienced the republic era knew just how powerful the Yiguandao had be during its heyday.

    "I never thought I would hear that name again..." an elderly lieutenant general sighed. "Having said that, it''s only to be expected that there are still some residual remnants from what was once such a powerful organization."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the lieutenant general turned to the side, and an assistant immediately opened a file. "Many years ago, the leader of the Yiguandao, Zheng Guangbi, fled to Lotus City, then died from illness. After that, the Yiguandao was split, dividing into the Master Branch and the Mistress Branch. This was a key reason behind why we were able to strike down the Yiguandao in one fell swoop during the 1950s. After close to 20 years of intense investigation carried out by the Special Investigations Department, it was confirmed that there are supernatural forces present in the Yiguandao, and that both the Master Branch and the Mistress Branch revere a single figure known as the Many-faced God. In the underworld, it is referred to as the inner demon. ording to our historical records, the most recent entity rted to the inner demon was the White Lotus Sect, a cult from the republic era. Their godmother, the virgin mother, was also known as the Many-faced God. ording to our investigation, that being was at least above the Yama-King level!"

    No one said anything.

    The thought of a being above the Yama-King level lurking in the mortal realm was an extremely disturbing one.

    After a long silence, the general said, "There shouldn''t be much of their forces left behind. Most of their followers were arrested or killed, and there are historical reasons for the rise of the Yiguandao. At the time, the average education standard for the poption was quiteckluster, and if you ask me, the Yiguandao would struggle to attract many followers in the present day."

    What he was implying here was that it was perhaps overkill for Hell to be sending out a being above the Yama-King level and two Yama-Kings.

    If a battle were to ensue between the three of them, the entire capital city would most likely instantly be reduced to a city of death, and no one could afford to take that risk!

    The mayor and municipal partymittee secretary of the capital city, who were also present, were both silent with grim looks on their faces.

    The assistant turned over the page, then hesitated momentarily before pulling out a stack of papers.

    There were probably several dozen sheets of paper in total, all of which were yellow with age. He ced the stack respectfully down onto the table, then quickly backed away.

    Before the general had even reached out, the municipal partymittee secretary, Zhang Junliang, had already grabbed them. As he cast his gaze toward the sheet of paper in front of him, he was greeted by the sight of an image that he couldn''t understand, beneath which were the words "White Phoenix Immortal" written in blood-red text.

    It was clearly apletely unremarkable image, yet the more Zhang Junliang looked at it, the more his blood was beginning to churn, and he felt as if his soul were leaving his own body.

    It was impossible to describe this sensation... It was as if all of his emotions had been stimted at once, forming a chaotic cocktail that spilled through his mind. It was as if he had experienced all of the emotions that the human body had to offer in the span of just an instant.

    By the time he set down the sheet of paper, he had a smile on his face, yet tears were also flowing incessantly.

    "What the hell is this?" He tossed the piece of paper onto the table as if he had been electrocuted. "Is it a curse?"

    "No," a major general from the Special Investigations Department said with a grim expression as he cast his gaze toward the piece of paper. "It''s... a name."

    He swept his gaze around the room as he continued, "There was a certain incident recorded in file S0000 of the Special Investigations Department''s S-rank archives. For all those who were around during the republic era, do you recall why the national government was so insistent on weeding out the Yiguandao?"

    "It''s because its existence didn''t make sense," the general replied.

    "I''m not referring to that, what I''m asking is what made the government finally make up its mind to strike at the Yiguandao?" the major general said in a grim voice. "Does anyone still remember the poem verse ''smoke billows from the drum tower, tears fall from the stone lion, chaotic times will soon arrive''?"

    "I do." The one who spoke on this asion was another elderly general. There wasn''t much room for the younger generation to contribute during this meeting.

    "This was a verse from a poem written by the Yiguandao, implying that our party wouldn''t be able to maintain a stable hold over Cathay. What a joke that was!" The elderly general had a scar on his face, and hepletely ignored the "Smoke Free" signs in the hall as he pulled out a cigarette before lighting it. "Smoke did indeed billow out of the drum tower, but it was verified that this ''smoke'' was actually a swarm of insects that gathered at the top of the building. Why do you mention this now? Has the Special Investigations Department discovered something else?"

    The major general from the Special Investigations Department also lit a cigarette before taking a deep draw of it.

    "I wish it was as simple as that. This poem was written back when the Mistress Sun Suzhen of the Yiguandao''s Mistress Branch came to the capital city to summon immortals. Do you know how many immortals she summoned at the time?"

    At this point, everyone had already realized something, and their smiles had all faded. The general was looking at the major general with a grim expression as he asked, "How many?"

    "73," the major general replied as he snuffed out his cigarette. "All of those immortals are drawn on these sheets of paper. To be honest, even I wouldn''t have been able to recall them if I hadn''t seen these drawings."

    Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, and he took a deep breath before continuing, "At the time, the only things left behind at the site were these pieces of paper... Also, all of the things at the sites where the immortals were summoned disappeared!"

    Everyone continued to remain silent, but everyone had suddenly been beset by a bone-chilling sensation.

    A pronounced sense of foreboding had welled up in everyone''s hearts, and the general at the head of the table gulped slightly before asking, "Can you tell us the specific details?"

    "It was too long ago, so I can''t recall exactly what happened. At the time, I was only a section chief under Director Lei," the major general replied with a wry smile. "However, I do recall the changes that took ce in the areas near ours. In our area, we had an incense maiden temple. It wasn''t veryrge, nor had it been constructed by a renowned organization. After the summoning of the immortals, the incense maiden worshiped in the temple inexplicably disappeared. In the nearby areas, most of the things that disappeared were other statues or some other types of ancient artifacts. At the time, the Special Investigation Department had set up a designated section to investigate this case. Do you know what the oue of the investigation was?"

    A hint of lingering fear appeared in his eyes as he concluded, "Those statues... had gone off on their own!"

    Zhang Junliang''s lighter slipped out of his hand before ttering onto the table. It wasn''t a very loud sound, but it was enough to make everyone jump in their seats a little.

    It was like feeling a caress on the back in the inky-ck night, and one couldn''t help but be struck by an inexplicable sense of fear.

    "They went off on their own?" Zhang Junliang asked for confirmation.

    "That''s right." The major general''s expression showed that he was dead serious, and he looked into everyone''s eyes as he continued, "There were clear footprints on the ground, and there were no signs of this Sun Suzhen, even during the coup of the Yiguandao in 1950. Those who disappeared alongside her included the Senior Disciple Brother, Zhang Wufu, and the Master, Ye Xianzu, who is also the very same person as the Ye Xianguo who appeared at the Lin Family Mansion."

    That begged the question of whether the Senior Disciple Brother, the Master, and the Mistress of the Yiguandao were truly dead.

    If not, then where had they gone?

    Everyone was silent for a long while before the general finally spoke again. "Yanluo Qin has stayed in the Special Investigations Department in the past, and he should''ve seen these records at the time. After all, those case records are made publicly avable to those in the Special Investigations Department. Perhaps it''s exactly because of this that he decided to bring along two of the most powerful beings of Hell with him."

    Also, the three of them were visiting the capital city in person, so did this mean that the Many-faced God, the inner demon, was also in this city?

    If that were the case, then would those 73 immortals emerge from the mysterious folds of history once again?

    Had the remnants of the Yiguandao also gathered here?

    Zhang Junliang massaged his own temples vigorously. Never did he think that such a major event would take ce under his watch!

    If both the Yiguandao and Hell were involved, then if anything were to go wrong, the entire city could be at risk!

    However, as the municipal partymittee secretary of the capital city, he certainly wasn''tcking in courage and decisiveness. He gritted his teeth as he turned tomunicate wordlessly with the city''s mayor, then mustered up his determination as he said in a serious voice, "All of the city''s police and military forces will ensure that the city is sufficiently defended."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the mayor immediately said, "We''ll be holding a standingmittee meeting, and over the next two days, we''ll do our best to prohibit the citizens of the city from leaving their homes. At the same time, we''ll be entering an urgent state of war readiness."

    For the capital city, the financial heart of the nation, it would be extremely costly to have it cease to function for an entire day, but they had no choice but to do this.

    This was the biggest challenge that the mortal realm was going to face since the supernatural disasters.

    "Good." The general rose to his feet and said, "This meeting was held to inform everyone of the ongoing situation. Everyone must be united and work as one for us to weather this storm. Director Zheng Shuguo will be arriving tonight, and when the timees, I hope everyone will remain vignt at their posts. Director Zheng Shuguo has extensive experience inbating supernatural forces, and he was rmended as sessor by the former director, Lei Jun, so he''s definitely capable and worthy of our trust."

    This was a prophctic meeting designed to put everyone on the same page. During the next two days, the power hierarchy had to be clearly established, with Zheng Shuguo holding paramount power in the capital city. Only then would they be able to avoid issues caused by a confusion in leadership roles.

    Thus, the meeting was concluded.

    Everyone departed one after another, and Zhang Junliang and the mayor, Ji Changqing, were walking along the corridor in silence.

    They were the two top dogs of the capital city, and they definitely couldn''t allow anything to go wrong under their watch.

    "Changqing, I request that you gather the municipal standingmittee right away to hold an emergency meeting!" Zhang Junliang said.

    "Alright, I''ll prepare that right away." Ji Changqing didn''t waste any time with words and immediately departed.

    Thus, Zhang Junliang was left on his own in the corridor, and he stood on the spot for a while in silence, then suddenly turned toward another direction.

 Chapter 1143: Return of the Immortals

    <h4>Chapter 1143: Return of the Immortals</h4>

    It was 11:15 PM at night.

    The capital city was still brightly lit. This was a ce where miracles were created every single day. Countless construction sites were working day and night to further the construction of the city, and nighttime was when the construction projects were at their most active.

    This was because g trucks could only enter the city at night.

    In a particr construction site in the Dade District, there was a bright searchlight shining from a massive crane, resembling a glowing lighthouse in the night. The construction site waspletely opened, and countless g trucks were entering the site in an orderly fashion under the supervision of the workers. Bright searchlights were lit all around, casting ghostly shadows that were quite unsettling to behold in the night.

    "Speed up a little! Turn left!" The manager of the construction site was wearing a safety helmet as he barked instructions into a megaphone. Right in front of him was a line of around a dozen g trucks, and they were undergoing the final examinations.

    "Have some water, Manager Zheng." A thermos cup was handed to him from the side, and Manager Zheng set down his megaphone, then took a sip of warm water before heaving a long sigh.

    Earning money was not easy. He looked around at the lively and bustling construction site as he shook his head in silence.

    There were no concerns about real estate in the capital city going unsold. More and more rich people were emerging in the nation, and their demands were bing more and more rigorous to fulfill. They wanted sections of greenery, parking spots, all types of benefits... The district that they were constructing was an upper-mid-tier district, and the employers were enforcing a very tight timeframe on them. Furthermore, they had decided to sell the houses at an earlier date than initially nned, so the construction team was having to work day and night to meet their deadlines.

    He heaved a faint sigh and was just about to set down the thermos cup when his pupils abruptly contracted slightly.

    He thought his eyes were ying tricks on him, so he rubbed them before casting his gaze forward again, upon which he drew a sharp breath. He dragged over his apprentice, then said, "Look... Is there someone standing on top of unit A?"

    His voice was trembling. That building wasn''t sealed at the moment, so the top of it was essentially a forest of rebar. As such, there was no way that anyone would go up there unless they wanted to be skewered!

    However, he really could see a humanoid figure standing up there.

    His apprentice was a young man wearing a yellow safety helmet, and after looking up at the top of the building, he also drew a sharp breath. As he turned back to Manager Zheng, he immediately began to nod frantically as he stammered. "Y, y, you''re right! There r, really is someone up there!"

    The humanoid figure was entirely white in color, and it almost looked like an illusion as it stood at the top of the building, striking the beholder with a bone-chilling sensation.

    Who was up there? Why had they gone up there?

    Manager Zheng stared up at the figure for a moment longer before yelling, "What are you all looking at? Hurry up and contact the guy responsible for unit A and... Holy shit!"

    Before he had a chance to finish, he was already frantically rushing toward the construction site of unit A.

    This was because just now, the humanoid figure had taken a step forward.

    From the sharp rebar, they had taken a stride forward into the empty air up ahead, following which they immediately plummeted into freefall like a white flower petal.

    Manager Zheng''s eyes were alreadypletely bloodshot. He wouldn''t be held responsible for someonemitting suicide on his construction site, but if an incident like this were to take ce, a lengthy investigation would undoubtedly follow, thereby dying the project indefinitely. Everyone was waiting for the conclusion of the project so that they could be paid, so no one wanted to see any idents happen here.

    Even his apprentice was also rushing toward unit A frantically, and both of them were in such a panicked state that they didn''t even realize that they had already stepped onto the road.

    The sharp sound of screeching brakes suddenly rang out, and a pair of bright headlights illuminated Manager Zheng like a pair of hellish eyes. Manager Zheng almost had the soul frightened out of his body, and he was rooted to the spot, while his mind had gonepletely nk.

    "What''s going on?" A male voice rang out from the vehicle, and it was a little cold, but it didn''t sound displeased or angry.

    It was very calm, too calm, eerily so.

    The voice snapped Manager Zheng out of his stupor, and shuddered as he realized just how close he hade to an encounter with death. His back was drenched in cold sweat, and his legs almost gave out from under him.

    Right at this moment, he caught sight of the vehicle''s number te.

    He sped a hand over his own thumping heart as he said in a trembling voice, "This is the g truck for unit A!"

    No response.

    "Did you see that?!" Manager Zheng frantically tried to look through the car''s windscreen, but unfortunately, the headlights were too bright for him to see anything.

    "See what?" the male voice replied, still in apletely emotionless voice.

    "Someone jumped down from the top of the building! How could you have not seen that?!" Manager Zheng roared in a furious voice. The indifference of the driver was really getting on his nerves, and he was unable to hold back his temper any longer.

    Finally, the headlights were turned off.

    In the instant that they were turned off, the entire road was plunged intoplete darkness. Right as Manager Zheng''s eyes were quickly adjusting to the darkness, a sinister voice rang out from within the g truck. "Who jumped off the building? Was it... me?"

    Manager Zheng''s pupils contracted drastically as he stared through the windscreen, and his body was trembling uncontrobly. His mouth was gaped wide open, but he couldn''t muster up even a single word.

    His hands were trembling so violently that it looked as if they were spasming. He pointed at the figure through the windscreen, yet he was so horrified that he had lost his voice.

    That wasn''t a human, nor was it a g truck.

    The g truck should''ve been carrying construction waste, yet instead, it was filled with wreaths!

    As for the driver, it was a figure of unidentifiable gender, wearing a white lotus crown.

    Their face was deathly pale, but their cheeks were unnaturally red, much like a ssical Cathayan opera actor. Two white ribbons were trailing down from the white lotus crown, and blood was flowing out of all of their orifices as they watched Manager Zheng with a faint smile on their face. Held in one of their hands was a white balsam flower.

    "ARRRGH!!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the Special Investigations Department branch of the capital city, an investigator''s fingers were flying over his keyboard as he said in a grim voice, "We''re getting Yin energy readings of three million from the Dade District!"

    "We''re receiving Yin energy readings of 4.2 million from the Gan District."

    "We''re receiving Yin energy readings of 4.8 million from the Xishan District."

    "Three bursts of Yin energy have been detected in the Tianhu District, but the fluctuations are too drastic for a reading to be secured at the moment."

    This Special Investigations Department branch had the nation''s most advanced technology, and it was very much like a set out of a sci-fi movie. The desktopputers were as thin as paper, and all types of futuristic-looking devices were shing incessantly. If someone were to identally stumble into this ce, they would think that they had fallen through a portal into the future.

    In front of theputers stood a series of investigators, all of whom wore grim expressions. The footage being captured by the live high-definition surveince cameras all over the city was being disyed on the screens in front of them, and there were red symbols indicating the presence of figures cloaked in Yin energy. Behind them stood the city''s municipal partymittee secretary, Zhang Junliang, the mayor, Ji Changqing, the deputy mayor, Ma Youcai, and the director of the Special Investigations Department, Zheng Shuguo.

    The atmosphere in the branch was extremely oppressive, and Zheng Shuguo''s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "How many targets can be identified at the moment."

    A string of rapid typing rang out, following which someone replied, "We''ve identified 65 bursts of Yin energy total, seven of which belong to Abyssal Prefects, while the rest are all Infernal Judges."

    Zhang Junliang pursed his lips tightly, causing the wrinkles around his mouth to be even more pronounced. If it weren''t for his exceptional self-restraint, he would''ve already sworn out loud.

    It had only been 24 hours since the meeting that was held the day before, yet 65 powerful evil ghosts had already descended upon the city, and that number was only continuing to increase!

    The mythical 73 immortals truly existed, and they were making no attempt to hide their presence!

    One legendary evil ghost after another was popping up all over the city.

    This was thest batch of evil ghosts since the republic era. Ever since then, Cathay had steadily be more and more powerful, and belief in the supernatural and the arcane was gradually phased out. They had thought that everything was already behind them, buried in the sands of time, but they had returned in full force on this day.

    Zheng Shuguo swept his gaze over one screen after another as he issued a series of orders. "Maintainmunication with Hell at all times. When are Yanluo Qin and Ghost King Zhao going to arrive?"

    "They''ll be here in an hour, sir!"

    "Prior to their arrival, activate the supernatural tape! In the wake of the supernatural disasters, the citizens of the city should know what this entails. Group A, track the source of their Yin energy right away. Group B, instruct the municipal radio station to broadcast a notice prohibiting people from leaving their homes on all channels on repeat. Groups C and D, contact the military to set up the supernatural tape. We have to ensure that all of the citizens of the city are protected to the best of our abilities."

    Only after close to 20 minutes did he finish delegating orders, following which he finally turned his gaze toward therge screen at the center of the room.

    The screen was depicting the Oriental Pearl Television Tower in the Pudong District.

    At the moment, all of the Yin energy was converging toward the tower, yet somehow, there wasn''t any Yin energy there!

    This extreme contrast was making Zheng Shuguo very apprehensive, and he was staring intently at the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower.

    Ever since this morning, notices had been released throughout the entire city, prohibiting people from leaving their homes, so popr ces such as the revolving diner at the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower had naturally remained closed for the day.

    No one was allowed to leave their homes, and anyone who dared to do so would face the wrath of thew.

    However, there was currently someone there.

    It was impossible to see this person clearly, and no matter what angle the figure was filmed from, they registered as a blur on the screen.

    They were seated calmly beside a table, and the only things ced on the table were several sses of wine. With the high-zoom telescopes of the satellites, they could even clearly see the writing on the bottle of wine, but it was somehow impossible to make out this figure clearly.

    All they did was sit in silence, seemingly waiting for some friends.

    Zheng Shuguo closed his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly.

    The figure didn''t possess any Yin energy, but just the mere sight of them was enough to make his soul churn and sway.

    This was... a monster!

    He forcibly repressed his emotional fluctuations as he turned toward a map of the city. There were several dozen red dots on the screen, all of which were already close to the Oriental Pearl Television Tower.

    He joined his palms together as he murmured to himself, "Come, vermin of the Yiguandao! Let me see if you still have the power to wreak havoc on Cathayan soil!"

    Even if everyone in this room had to die, they had to protect the honor of their nation!

 Chapter 1144: Arrival of King Yanluo

    <h4>Chapter 1144: Arrival of King Yanluo</h4>

    "Master, are you alright?" Inside a high-end restaurant, an elderly man was trembling uncontrobly as he drew the curtains shut in a panicked manner, and his teeth were chattering audibly.

    The man was very old, looking to be in his eighties, and he was wearing a simple ck Taoist robe. No matter how his disciple tried to help him to his feet, he didn''t dare to stand up. Instead, all he did was frantically cover his own nose and mouth.

    "Is there something wrong with the air here?" His disciple was in his twenties, and he was quite perplexed. His master, Chang Kongzi, was one of the three founding fathers of the Zhengyi Dao, and he had been paid handsomely to hold a Dao seminar. A presidential suite had also been arranged for him in a five-star hotel, so there shouldn''t have been any problems with the air here.

    Also, he wasn''t aware of any history of heart problems with his master.

    Right at this moment, Chang Gongzi suddenly gripped onto his wrist, then silently mouthed the words "don''t move! get down!" to him.

    For some reason, even though all the windows were tightly shut, an extremely cold gust of wind abruptly swept through the room, and the light fixtures began to sh and zap unsteadily. Some blurry shadows had appeared between the flickering lights, and an inexplicable sense of fear permeated throughout the room.

    Cold sweat began to flow down the disciple''s forehead, and he immediatelyid low onto the ground. Almost as soon as he did so, the window in front of them was violently shattered.

    In the face of this startling turn of events, the two of them desperately mped their hands over their mouths and noses in silence while their eyes were also tightly shut.

    There was no sound to be heard.

    The cries of insects, the sound of the wind, of the cars outside... Everything seemed to have faded into silence. It wasn''t winter, but the Yin wind blowing in through the shattered window chilled one to the bone. The curtains were pping wildly, and immediately thereafter, a nose extended into the room.

    It was an extraordinarily long nose, much like the nose of a witch depicted in western mythology. At the base of the nose was a patch of long, white hair, and the face was riddled with what appeared to be ulcers in the shape of human faces. The giant nose was gently inhaling, as if it were trying to sniff out something.

    From the light reflecting off the floorboards, the disciple could see the reflection of the giant nose up above, and he was biting down onto his own lower lip with such force that he was drawing blood, yet he didn''t dare to make a single sound. Instead, he mped his hands even more tightly over his own nose and mouth. He knew that in the face of these things, releasing any Yang energy would spell certain death!

    Sniff sniff... Sniff sniff... The entire room was deathly silent, and only after a full 20 seconds had passed did the nose withdraw out of the room. At the same time, a voice that seemed to be capable of captivating one''s innermost desires rang out from outside. "What happened to you?"

    "I caught a whiff of a familiar scent," replied an extremely unpleasant voice that sounded like cat ws scratching over a ckboard. "I recall that their sect seemed to have captured me once several decades ago. I guess it must''ve been my imagination..."

    The voices gradually faded into the distance, and only after a full 10 minutes had passed did Chang Kongzi and his disciple get up from the ground. Both of them were deathly pale and panting heavily.

    Only now did the disciple realize that his back was already drenched in cold sweat, yet he paid no heed to that as he asked in a trembling voice, "What was that, Master?"

    Chang Kongzi made a quieting gesture, then silently made his way over to the window before taking a look outside. In the next instant, he abruptly drew a sharp breath, and he stumbled back several steps with an ashenplexion.

    The entire city was still brightly lit, yet there wasn''t a single person out on the streets.

    Instead, there were giant figures several dozen meters tall prowling the city with Yin energy revolving all around them, making the entire city appear as if it were a hellish nightmare.

    Each one of those figures was around 20 to 30 meters tall, and they came in all types of different shapes and forms. They were traversing through the streets and the tall buildings, releasing boundless Yin energy that converged toward the Oriental Pearl Television Tower from all directions. The entire ground was covered in dark Yin energy, and even the light of the moon had beenpletely obscured.

    Chang Kongzi wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead, then slumped onto a chair. He poured himself a ss of water before downing it one go, and his chest was heaving violently. "Have you heard of the regtion prohibiting one from bing gods after the republic era?"

    The disciple nodded in response. This was actually originally an ironic attack on the Department of Cultural Affairs for its excessive policing of the cultural sector. It stemmed from the actual regtion prohibiting the spread of feudal superstitions after the republic era. The Yiguandao and the Falun Gong had caused the government immense trouble prior to that, and that was what had led to the establishment of that regtion.

    "Is there something wrong with that, Master?"

    A wry smile appeared on Chang Kongzi''s face as he cast aplex gaze toward the giant figures prowling the city. "You thought that was just a joke, right? In reality, the true meaning behind that is that there is no longer any space for cultivation after the founding of the new Cathay. Demons are born from belief, and once the general public became educated, they learned to discern reality from mythology, and thus, it became impossible for new myths and legends to emerge. Thus, the history of mythology drew to a conclusion there. However, what about all of the demons that emerged prior to the founding of the republic?"

    Before the disciple had a chance to reply, he answered his own question. "Arge proportion of them were taken by Hell. However, we all know that a major revolution took ce in Hell close to 100 years ago, and it became impossible to get into contact with Fengdu. The Yiguandao took advantage of this window of opportunity to establish itself, then nurtured the final batch of demons prior to the founding of the republic."

    The disciple drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, then cast his gaze out the window as he said in a trembling voice, "Are you saying that they''re..."

    "That''s right." The reply came from another voice, a female voice that sent chills running down the listener''s spine. "Those demons are the 73 immortals."

    Right at this moment, all of the lights in the room were instantly snuffed out. Immediately thereafter, countless specks ofherfire were ignited in the room, and all of the doors swung shut violently. All of the mirrors in the room then seemed to sh briefly, following which a third figure appeared in the room, and they were seated directly across from Chang Kongzi!

    This was a woman who appeared to be nothing more than a sack of skin and bones. She had a head of ck hair and was wearing female attire from the republic era. Through her thin skin, her bones could be clearly seen, and she had no flesh, blood, or internal organs.

    She was just a sack of skin wrapped around a skeleton from several decades ago. In the instant that Chang Kongzi caught sight of her, he immediately charged toward the broken window. At the same time, he raised both hands in unison, releasing a flurry of talismans that instantly formed a giant paper crane, which burst into mes before crashing directly toward the female skeleton.

    "It''s been close to 60 years since west met, shouldn''t you be giving me a friendlier wee?" Right as Chang Kongzi sprang into action, the woman''s hair erupted forth like a ck waterfall, and in the instant that it came into contact with the giant paper crane, thetter was instantly reduced to tens of thousands of sparks that quickly faded into nothingness.

    During this brief moment, Chang Kongzhi had already rushed over to the window and jumped down without any hesitation.

    Despite the absence of wind, his clothes swelled up like a balloon, and he flew through the air as if he werepletely weightless.

    "You''re not getting away!" the woman chuckled coldly, and in the next instant, her head of ck hair spread open like the wings of the death god before she set off in pursuit.

    She was far faster than Chang Kongzi, and in the blink of an eye, she was no more than 100 meters away from him. Chang Kongzi''s eyelids were twitching violently as he had already identified the woman''s cultivation rank.

    She was an Infernal Judge...

    In contrast, he was only an Anitya Hellguard, and there was no way he could escape from her.

    Furthermore, if he were to unleash his full speed, he would attract the attention of all of the other hellish beings in the city, and that would certainly spell his doom.

    Is there no escape? Am I really going to die here?

    A sense of despair was rapidly stripping him of his fighting spirit. However, right at this moment, the woman behind him suddenly stiffened in mid-air, following which she was instantly reduced to ashes amid a sharp scream!

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in that instant.

    Chang Kongzi could hardly believe his own eyes!

    What just happened?

    He quickly received an answer to his question.

    The clouds in the sky seemed to be dispersing, and all of the surrounding buildings were trembling slightly. Chang Kongzi didn''t even have a chance to register the relief of escaping from certain death before he was struck by an indescribable sense of horror.

    He immediately drew a sharp breath, and his legs gave out under him, sending him tumbling to his knees.

    He raised his own hands with a bewildered expression to find that his fingers were trembling violently. Just now, he had sensed the heavens.

    It was an indescribable feeling. He had sensed something more vast than the earth and higher than the heavens!

    He didn''t even know whether this was a living being or a Yin spirit. All he could see was an almighty group arriving on the scene amid a boundless expanse of Yin energy.

    It was only a fleeting nce, but that was enough to remain his memory forever.

    At the same time, for some reason, he was struck by the urge to see the time. Perhaps this would be his time of death, and he instinctively cast his gaze toward therge clock in the distance.

    It was 7:30 PM at night.

    He wasn''t the only one.

    In this instant, all of the demons in the city turned toward this direction, where there were several hundred figures standing within the vast expanse of Yin energy.

    They were Yin soldiers who were clearing the path ahead!

    Chang Gongzi was trembling uncontrobly as he kowtowed heavily to the ground, and at the same time, the melodious toll of a bell rang out across the entire city alongside the sound of peaceful chanting.

    "Make way for King Yanluo!"

    That announcement seemed to have been dered by a eunuch.

    It was quite a frail voice, but it was somehow clearly audible despite the chanting and the sound of the marching Yin soldiers. Right after this deration, the sound of long horns rang out, and Yin energy converged toward the city from all directions, while paper money fell from the sky like snow.

    At the forefront were graceful women in elegant silken clothing. They held hollow golden lotus flowers in their left hands and skeletalherfirenterns in their right. The word "Everburn" was clearly written on all of thenterns, and there were a total of 12 rows of these women.

    Behind them were ck-armored Yin soldiers. The surface of their armor was gleaming under the glow of theherfire, and there were demonhead sabers strapped to their waists. Each row contained 100 Yin soldiers, and there were eight rows in total.

    Apanying the Yin soldiers were monks and Taoist priests who were chanting Ksitigarbha''s P¨±rvapra?idh¨¡na S¨±tra. Behind them was an entourage of several dozen Yin soldiers, holding banners of different colors and more skeletalnterns crafted from Yin beast bones. Theherfire in theirnternsbined to stretch for over 100 meters in length.

    The entire group advanced in silence like an inevitable force of nature, and despite therge number of Yin soldiers, their footsteps were extraordinarily synchronized. Their march struck the beholder with a sense of asphyxiation, and they were all giving off boundless killing intent that was rearing up from the depths of hell.

    Deathly silence ensued.

    All of the 73 immortals in the city exchanged a few nces, then involuntarily retreated several dozen meters. Right at this moment, all of the footsteps drew to a halt at the same time, despite theck of a clear instruction to stop. Several secondster, a loud and melodious voice rang out.

    "Yanluo Qin of Hell has arrived in the mortal realm!"

    This was immediately followed by three more announcements.

    "The Reincarnation King of Hell has arrived in the mortal realm!"

    "Ghost King Zhao of Hell has arrived in the mortal realm!"

    "The God of Nine Energies of Hell has arrived in the mortal realm!"

    Four balls ofherfire of different colors rose up in unison from the east, the west, the north, and the south, glowing like suns in the night. At the same time, boundless Yin energy erupted into the heavens, and everything fell deathly silent as the entire city was instantly transformed into a hellish abyss.

 Chapter 1145: The Lin Family Mansion (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1145: The Lin Family Mansion (1)</h4>

    At the Special Investigations Department, all of the researchers stopped typing at this exact moment, then stood up to stare intently at the four centralrge screens.

    This was a sh between four Yama-Kings and thest batch of demons before the founding of the republic, as well as the inner demon. Everyone was extremely nervous, but at the same time, this was an extraordinary spectacle that no one could bring themselves to look away from.

    If Hell were to eradicate all of these demons, then the Cathayan war against Yin spirits would draw to a sessful conclusion. However, if the inner demon were to get involved, and an all-out battle erupted, then the entire poption of the city would most likely perish!

    Zhang Junliang''s gaze was locked firmly on the screens, and his finger was already resting on the speed dial button on his phone. On the other end of the line ws his superior.

    If any issues were to arise, he would resolve it at all costs. He was even willing to put his political career on the line. The police force, the military, and the government were all ready to do their part, and they had to weather this storm no matter what.

    Qin Ye was naturally unaware of just how many people had their eyes on this ce. He slowly emerged from his carriage with gentle gusts of Yin wind swirling around him. Rather than a suffocating aura of darkness that one would expect the ruler of Hell to give off, he was emanating a sense of righteousness.

    He swept his gaze across the 73 demons in the city, following which a cold, derisive sneer appeared on his face.

    The names of these 73 immortals had already been buried under the sands of time. If it weren''t for Mistress Sun Suzhen summoning those immortals all those years ago, no one would''ve imagined that she would be capable of giving rise to these 73 evil ghosts.

    All of the demons had their eyes firmly fixed on Qin Ye, while Qin Changxin stepped forward before asking in an authoritative voice, "Why are you not kneeling in the presence of King Yanluo?"

    He was met by silence.

    Several secondster, one of the immortals suddenly burst into raucousughter, and theughter seemed to be contagious, quickly spreading through all of the 73 immortals.

    "Hahahaha!"

    "What a joke! Where did this little brate from?"

    "You''re telling me that''s King Yanluo? That''s the ruler of Hell? Hahahaha, he''s nothing special at all!"

    "Looks like Hell really has fallen from grace if instating brats like him as King Yanluo!"

    "How dare you!" Theherfire in Qin Changxin''s eyes shed with a menacing gleam, yet he had only just raised his hand before it was held down by Qin Ye.

    He slowly made his way toward the center of the center, and it seemed that he was only taking a casual stroll, but with each step, he was able to cover a vast distance. He paid no heed to the dozens of massive Yin spirits around him, and a smile appeared on his face as he strode along.

    "All of you must''ve perished during thest century, right?"

    A gust of Yin wind blew forth, causing his robes to p audibly. As he walked on ahead, he was ascending higher and higher into the heavens.

    "It''s no wonder that you don''t know anything."

    In the instant that his voice trailed off, the 73 immortals let loose a collective cry of rm, following which they were all forced to their knees at the same time!

    A white-haired Yin spirit was looking down at his own knees with an incredulous expression. Just now, it had been struck by apletely irresistible burst of power. It had no idea where the power had arisen from, and in the short span of a second, it had crushed them to the ground like an almighty mountain!

    The 73 immortals fell to their knees violently, resembling a series of giant tombstones in the night, while Qin Ye traversed through them like the death god that he was. All of the investigators from the Special Investigations Department were astonished to see this.

    Zheng Shuguo gulped nervously, and he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but was unable to muster up even a single word in the end.

    Is this the power of a Yama-King?

    With nothing more than his words, he was able to force the 73 immortals to their knees, and they weren''t able to put up any shred of resistance!

    Mayor Ji Changqing adjusted his own sses as he stood beside Zheng Shuguo, and he was also stunned. He didn''t know much about cultivation, but it was a breathtaking sight to see a tiny figure walking casually through the night, while one giant evil ghost after another was forced to their knees around him.

    In his eyes, Qin Ye was the king of the night.

    The daytime belonged to living humans, yet when night fell and the light of the sun faded, he would reign supreme in the darkness.

    Just as Qin Ye was walking past an evil ghost, which had already been forced to its knees with its forehead pressed tightly against the ground, the evil ghost turned its head with all its might, glowering at Qin Ye with bloodshot eyes as it panted, "The Many-faced God won''t let you get away with this!"

    Qin Ye was so close to the evil ghost that he could clearly see every single one of its sharp fangs, as well as the souls drifting out from the gaps between its fangs.

    Qin Ye took a nce at it, following which a smile appeared on his face.

    "You''ve devoured blood food in the past, haven''t you?" he asked.

    Before the evil ghost had a chance to reply, he continued, "In that case, you won''t get to go to Hell. I won''t ept you!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of scarlet fire erupted all over the evil ghost''s entire body, transforming it into a giant pyre of mes.

    An earth-shattering roar of agony rang out as the evil ghost was incinerated by the mes, but it waspletely immobilized and could only suffer a slow and painful death.

    "How dare you! The Many-faced God will strike you down!"

    "How dare you attack the 73 immortals?!"

    Qin Ye paid no heed to the rmed cries ringing out around him. Instead, he merely curled a finger, and despite how insignificant the gesture was, the achieved effect was certainly nothing to be scoffed at.

    All of the underworld emissaries drew their des in unison, and the des were giving off a silver gleam under the moonlight.

    In the next instant, all of the underworld emissaries yelled in unison, "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    Whoosh!!

    All of the des shed through the air in unison, only to be withdrawn less than a secondter.

    Their des were so fast that they were impossible to trace with the naked eye. The only sign indicating that they had attacked at all came in the form of their red capes, which were billowing upward from the excessive force used. The rising capes formed an undting red tide that was both spectacr and menacing.

    Several hundred de projections pierced through the night, slicing throughyer uponyer of dark Yin clouds before hurtling directly toward the 73 immortals.

    The Yin soldiers had struck with such perfect synchronicity that it was nothing short of art.

    At the same time, their brutality perfectlyplemented the breathtaking synchronicity with which they acted.

    All of the investigators from the Special Investigations Department drew a sharp breath in unison. Never did they think that this King Yanluo would be so overbearing and aggressive, choosing to strike down the 73 immortals without any warning.

    Right at this moment, all of the de projections disintegrated into Yin energy in mid-air as if they had never existed at all.

    The change had taken ce without any warning. It was as if they had simply been erased out of existence.

    "I thought you were only going to act as a spectator." Qin Ye raised his head in a calm manner, looking as if he had already predicted that this would happen. His gaze had been cast toward the revolving diner at the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower.

    An easy-going male voice rang out from the revolving diner. "You''ve already killed one of my minions, but his death was much deserved for the disrespect that he disyed toward you. As for the rest of my minions, how about you show them some mercy?"

    Qin Ye smiled in response. "Sure. Instead of dismembering them, I''ll leave their bodies intact!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the hundreds of Yin soldiers up ahead retreated, following which more Yin soldiers stepped forward to take their ce. All of these Yin soldiers were wielding bows with crimson mes burning at the tips of their arrows, presenting an eerie sight to behold in the night.

    "Zhou Gongjin''s karmic fire will not be snuffed out unless its target has been incinerated into nothingness. How about I give you a taste of it as a gift tomemorate this meeting?"

    Before the inner demon had a chance to say anything, Qin Changxin swept a hand through the air, and several thousand balls of crimson mes instantly rose up from the ground. However, they were aimed at the Oriental Pearl Television Tower rather than the 73 immortals!

    Beneath the Yin clouds, the thousands of balls of red fire were like a swarm of fireflies, imbued with lethal killing intent as they hurtled through the air.

    In the blink of an eye, all of the balls of fire plunged into the television tower in unison. They had no effect whatsoever on the things of the mortal realm, but all of the Yin energy in that area was instantly detonated, forming a gigantic ball of red and blue fire.

    "That''s not its true body!" Qin Ye said as his eyes narrowed slightly.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Lin Family Mansion.

    This was a renowned haunted mansion, the site where one of Cathay''s 10 major supernatural events had taken ce. No developers were willing to develop this ce, and even to this day, the mansion still hadn''t been demolished. Remnants of the white walls and ck tiles could still be seen, but they werepletely charred at this point.

    No living beings ever approached this ce. Even animals were wary of the area, let alone the nearby residents. However, right at this moment, there was a living creature casually approaching the area along the empty street.

    This was a dog, a pekingese to be exact.

    It was clear that this was a pekingese kept by a wealthy owner, as evidenced by its lustrous fur and healthy body.

    The route that it was taking was very strange. At times, it would trot along close beside a wall. Other times, it would make its way along the tops of the walls, and there were even instances where it walked backwards. However, regardless of what it was doing, it was drawing closer and closer to the wreckage of the mansion.

    Right as it entered a 10-meter distance of the mansion, a voice suddenly rang out from within the ruins. "Is the God of Nine Energies here to see me in person? To what do I owe this pleasure?"

    "So you do recognize me," the Harken said as a humanized smile appeared on its face. "Why don''t you guess why I''m here?"

    A smile seemed to have crept into the voice as it said, "Unless it''s absolutely necessary, I don''t wish to fight you."

    "Oh?"

    The voice continued, "I do not wish to make an enemy out of Ksitigarbha, and I certainly wouldn''t dare to irk the second King Yanluo. I heard you''re living a good life as a pet dog, why put yourself through this?"

    As soon as the voice trailed off, boundless Yin energy erupted out of the Harken''s body, causing everything in the nearby area, even the surrounding air, to shatteryer uponyer. As it continued to advance, its body was bingrger andrger.

    By the time it arrived at the ruined mansion, it had already adopted its true form as the God of Nine Energies, and there was a cold smile on its face as it mmed a paw downward. "I hope you can survive in a fight against a pet dog!"

    The ruins of the mansion had been neglected for decades, and it crumbled violently to the ground, sending dust and ashes rising up in all directions.

    Amid the rising dust, a humanoid figure was finally revealed.

    "You were in slumber for 100 years underground in Baoan. Without several hundred years, there would be no way for you to recover from your injuries. I didn''t think that you would attack me before then, but I stand corrected. Long time no see, God of Nine Energies."

 Chapter 1146: Lin Family Mansion (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1146: Lin Family Mansion (2)</h4>

    "It''s you?" The Harken''s paw faltered in mid-air as it looked on ahead with a stunned expression.

    Most of the Lin Family Mansion had already copsed in the face of the Harken''s power, revealing the charred ck walls inside. There was an independent space formed between several walls.

    The space was around 70 to 80 square meters in area, and the ground was littered with scraps of ruins. Amid the ruins, there was an eight immortal table and a taishi chair.

    Surrounding them were several dozen paper dolls, and there was a person sitting in front of the eight immortal table. From the Harken''s perspective, he could see the figure''s side profile. This was a middle-aged man who was holding a pen as he carefully etched out the facial features of the paper dolls.

    The man had a set of very ordinary facial features, and he was wearing a whiteb coat. However, none of that was important. What was most important here was that the Harken had met this man before!

    Not only that, but Qin Ye had also met him in the past!

    At this point, the Harken had already adopted his true form as the God of Nine Energies, so it was standing at several dozen meters tall. Its giant golden eyes were fixed firmly on the man, and several secondster, it heaved a forlorn sigh. "I see... So it''s you... You''re from the SRC, right? What was your name again?"

    "Chang Shun," the man replied calmly.

    That''s right, it was Chang Shun...

    Back when Qin Ye had been taken to visit the Exalted Father, Chang Shun had been his guide. [Refer back to chapters 85 and 86.]

    Who could''ve imagined that he would be a pawn for the inner demon?

    Hell was extremely powerful, and even with all of its unique properties, the inner demon didn''t dare to strike at Hell during the reigns of the first King Yanluo and the second King Yanluo. Even though there were no beings above the Yama-King level in Hell during the first King Yanluo''s reign, several dozen Yama-Kings and the Harken, which directly countered the inner demon, were still nothing to be scoffed at.

    Both Qin Ye and the Harken had always wondered how the inner demon was able to confirm that Hell had fallen, thereby giving it the courage to finallysh out at the new Hell.

    Was it due to the absence of Netherworld Operatives in the mortal realm?

    Was it due to an inability to get into contact with Fengdu?

    Was it due to the absence of the city gods and the lords of thend?

    These were all observable signs, but it was only circumstantial evidence at best.

    If the inner demon had made an error in judgment, then even with its immense powers, there would be no way it would be able to escape in the face of the Aurogon, the Harken, the Pixiu, the Sixfold Ghost Kings, the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces, and the three divine artifacts.

    It would be an absolute joke if the Cathayan Underworld at the height of its powers were unable to deal with a single being above the Yama-King level. The three pirs clearly knew of Zhao Yun''s existence, yet they still did whatever they wanted, and that was because all of the four pirs had the power to deal with a being above the Yama-King level, so they had nothing to fear.

    Given how cautious the inner demon had shown itself to be, there was no way that it wouldn''t be aware of this. Thus, this had always been a mystery, but it had finally been unraveled now.

    The inner demon had gathered many pieces of circumstantial evidence hinting at the fall of Hell, but that wasn''t enough to instill it with the courage to strike.

    That was until it discovered the Harken by chance.

    The Harken was severely injured at the time, and it had fled from Hell to the mortal realm, which meant that a catastrophe had to have struck Hell.

    Furthermore, the fact that it was so severely injured at the time meant that a massive explosion had to have taken ce in Hell. This allowed the inner demon to confirm what he wanted to see, and thus, it set its sights on Hell. Finally, it decided to make its move during the trial of inner demons, directly cing it in opposition to the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Harken was slowly making its way forward. Its body was formed by Yin energy, so it had no substance in the mortal realm. Its mountainous body was walking beside the inner demon in an extremely authoritative manner, and its long, white whiskers were dancing like white dragons in the night, while its golden scales were like bright, golden stars.

    With each step that it took, the Yin energy on the ground became denser and denser. Several secondster, the entire area has already been transformed into a Yin energy vortex that was thousands of meters in size. Amid the inky darkness, the atmosphere was bing tenser and tenser, and one could almost hear the sound of shing des in the air.

    However, the Harken continued to refrain from striking, and several secondster, it heaved a faint sigh as it swiped its w through the air in a dejected manner, upon which Chang Shun''s body toppled over like a rotten log.

    "That''s not his true body," it dered, and in the next instant, the Yin clouds overhead slowly parted, following which Zhao Yun descended from the heavens, wielding his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear, resembling a deity descending into the mortal realm.

    "As we expected," Zhao Yun said as he shook his head with a slightly disappointed expression.

    Seeing as the inner demon had already realized that Hell had to have endured a catastrophe based on the Harken''s injuries, it would definitely have kept an eye on this ce for a long period of time.

    Thus, it had to have noticed that the Harken had disappeared.

    Where had it gone?

    The mortal realm wasn''t a veryrge ce, not for a being above the Yama-King level, at the very least. Seeing as the Harken couldn''t be found in the mortal realm, then it could''ve only gone to Hell.

    In fact, it could even determine the year that the new Hell was founded based on the time of the Harken''s disappearance.

    It was also because of this that on this asion, it was definitely going to defend against the possibility of a visit from the God of Nine Energies, which was the being that posed the greatest threat to it.

    "ording to Yanluo Qin, the information left behind by the inner demon points to the Lin Family Mansion, but its true body isn''t here. It most likely just wanted to see to what extent you''ve recovered," Zhao Yun analyzed as he lowered his spear. "Yanluo Qin wanted toe here to negotiate with the inner demon."

    However, a negotiation didn''t mean that things couldn''t take a violent turn, and Qin Ye certainly wouldn''t be opposed to attacking the inner demon if the right opportunity were to arise.

    However, prior to the emergence of such an opportunity, Hell wasn''t going to take the initiative to flip the tables. After all, Hell was still at a disadvantageous position at the moment. Thus, the inner demon would be unable to determine to what extent the Harken had recovered.

    "That''s why it left behind a puppet in the Lin Family Mansion and a decoy at the Oriental Pearl Television Tower. It used the decoy to wee Yanluo Qin, thereby creating an opportunity for itself, and we had no choice but to take the bait. Even though he knew that the chances are very slim, he had to send someone here to take a look, and you''re undoubtedly the perfect candidate for this task. However, the inner demon has missed something."

    An inquisitive look appeared in the Harken''s eyes upon hearing this.

    Zhao Yun continued, "I''m guessing that it may still be unaware that I''ve transcended beyond the Yama-King level. Up to this point, the inner demon has entered the underworld five times, causing a riot on each asion, and all of the origin sites of those riots were rural areas. However, it hasn''t once set foot in the major cities, including the capital cities of the provinces, nor the likes of Everburn and Ashmound."

    The Harken''s eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this.

    "In those rural areas, information is very slow to circte, so it''s most likely the case that only the citizens of Everburn are aware that you''ve transcended beyond the Yama-King level! You''ve always been referred to as Ghost King Zhao, so it''s never been revealed that you''re above the Yama-King level!"

    The inner demon had only struck at rural areas of the Cathayan Underworld, and it had always left in a hurry, so there really was a very good chance that it didn''t know that a being above the Yama-King level had already emerged in Hell!

    In fact, that was perhaps what had given him the confidence to provoke Hell!

    "But you were so close to the inner demon just now, surely..." The Harken''s voice trailed off before it finished that thought.

    Indeed, if the inner demon''s true body were here, then it would definitely be able to identify Zhao Yun''s cultivation rank. However, as a precautionary measure against the Harken, it had chosen to send its minions and a puppet here instead.

    There was no way that the 73 immortals would''ve been able to sense Zhao Yun''s Yin energy at all!

    Zhao Yun''s scarlet cape was pping behind him, and a burst of cold killing intent was slowly permeating from his entire body.

    His gaze was as sharp as daggers, and even the Harken couldn''t help but feel a little intimidated. It knew that Zhao Yun really was preparing to carry out a hit job.

    Killing intent was radiating from his entire body, but his expression was as calm as ever as he continued, "ording to Yanluo Qin''s analysis, the inner demon also wants to negotiate with Hell. In a negotiation like that, the 73 immortals wouldn''t be able to y any role at all. In the face of King Yanluo, they don''t have the right to speak. As for using a puppet, that wouldn''t be able topletely convey the inner demon''s wishes or demands. In that case, what do you think the inner demon will do?"

    The Harken''s eyes instantly lit up as it replied, "It would split its own soul!"

    "That''s right." Zhao Yun sat down with his legs crossed, then closed his eyes. "Killing a fragment of one''s soul would be a blow to anyone. It''s not a major blow, but I''m guessing that the inner demon wouldn''t be willing to suffer a blow like that. On top of that, the soul fragment will automatically travel toward where the main soul is!"

    This was an understandable thought process.

    In the face of a group of Yama-Kings, why would the inner demon be willing to sacrifice a fragment of its soul? In its mind, no one from Hell would be able to trap it anyway.

    However, if it were unaware that Zhao Yun had already transcended beyond the Yama-King level, then there really would be a chance to trap it!

    In terms of ying with souls, Hell was the undisputed world leader. With this soul fragment, Hell would be able to instantly find the location of the inner demon''s true body!

    Spiritual tracking was a technique that had been around since the first era of Hell, and no matter where a Yin spirit fled to, they would inevitably be hunted down. This was one of Hell''s signature abilities.

    Thus, both the Harken and Zhao Yun fell silent.

    The Harken stood beside Zhao Yun, using its Yin energy topletely epass his body.

    All they could do now was wait, waiting for the mistake that the inner demon could potentially make.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The door of the elevator slowly opened, and Qin Ye stepped into the revolving diner at the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower. The lighting in the diner was very gentle, and the night scenery was gorgeous. Standing in front of therge floor-to-ceiling window was a man wearing a Mao suit with his back facing Qin Ye.

    On the table beside the man, a bottle of red wine had already been opened, and two sses of wine had been poured. They were like perfectly cut rubies, reflecting the radiance of the night.

    "Ye Xianguo? Or should I call you Ye Xianzu?" Qin Ye made his way directly over to the table before taking a seat.

    The man turned around, and he was wearing a detestable smile. His appearance remainedpletely unchangedpared to a century ago.

    "Long time no see," Qin Ye said as he took a sip of wine. "You were the one who invited me here, yet you''re greeting me with a puppet controlled by a fragment of your soul. Isn''t that a little too disrespectful to myself and Hell?"

    Ye Xianguo raised his winess and swirled its contents around, peering into the rich, red liquid as he did so. "I didn''t invite you here. In fact, even now, I''m still wondering whether this meeting is a good idea."

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    Indeed, no direct invitation had been extended, it was clear that the inner demon had intentionally nted a lead in the form of Liu Qing. Was it really necessary to deny such a tant, unspoken invitation?

    "As for disrespect toward Hell, it was certainly not my intention to disy any," Ye Xianguo continued. "During the past several thousand years, I haven''t dared to set foot even once in Hell. If that''s not a gesture of respect, then I don''t know what is. I haven''te here in person because I''m not foolish enough to face the God of Nine Energies."

    He leaned back in his chair, then continued, "In all things, there must be both give and take in order to ensure bnce. My abilities make me virtually invincible, but there are still some things that can pose a threat to me."

    "I''m not here to chat with you." Qin Ye set down his winess as he cast a cold gaze toward Ye Xianguo. "I''m here for an answer. Do you want war, or do you want peace?"

 Chapter 1147: War and Peace

    <h4>Chapter 1147: War and Peace</h4>

    "I genuinely didn''t think that you would give me the option to choose peace." Ye Xianguo took a casual sip of wine. "I thought that you would be determined to kill me."

    "As King Yanluo, I can''t afford to take that risk," Qin Ye replied with a smile, but the veins on the backs of his hands were bulging.

    If possible, he would tear the inner demon into a million shreds, but at this point, it was untouchable.

    This was only a fragment of the inner demon''s soul here, and if he were to allow his emotions to get the better of him, leading him to recklessly strike down this puppet, then the Cathayan Underworld would be sure to be beset with more riots. He could''ve acted on his own selfish wishes 20 years ago, but he couldn''t do that now.

    "I enjoy dealing with smart and practical people like you," Ye Xianguo said as he raised his ss before extending it slightly toward Qin Ye.

    "Same with me." Qin Ye also raised his ss, and the two sses gently touched with a crisp clink. Their eyes met, and both of them began to smile.

    Don''t think that your victory is assured! Come and attack Hell if you dare!

    "You''re clearly a smart man, so I won''t waste time with unnecessary words." The inner demon picked up the napkin beside him, then dabbed at its own mouth before proposing, "I promise that I won''t touch the Cathayan Underworld again for the next three years."

    Qin Ye smiled as he replied, "Alright, then Hell promises that it won''t attack any of the 73 immortals for the next three years."

    "How can I trust you?" the inner demon asked.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he scoffed, "Do you need a written contract?"

    The inner demon took a meaningful look at him, then shrugged in response. "You''re right, a written contract is useless."

    Neither of them would be willing to sign a Heavenly Dao Contract, and no other form of contract would be absolutely binding to them anyway. Thus, a verbal agreement would have to suffice.

    Just as Qin Ye was thinking that this conversation had drawn to a conclusion, Ye Xianguo suddenly leaned forward slightly, then said, "There''s actually another way to ensure a win-win oue for both of us, but it''ll depend on whether you''re courageous and decisive enough to pursue this path."

    "Oh?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    A mysterious smile appeared on Ye Xianguo''s face, and he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket before gently pushing it toward Qin Ye along the table.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly, and he could clearly sense that the aura of a Yama-King was enclosed within this piece of paper.

    Furthermore, this wasn''t normal paper. Instead, it was parchment paper that was extremely old, so much so that it was yellow with age and even showing signs of rot.

    This was true parchment paper, which was made with sheepskin that was soaked in limewater to remove the fats, then stretched vigorously using special wooden frames.

    Through the process of physical stretching, the sheepskin would be dried and maintain a stable state.

    This type of paper was very difficult to produce, but it was also extremely durable. The fact that it was already in such a sorry state meant that it had to have been at least several hundred years old.

    In terms of the evolution of paper, the underworld had followed a simr path to the mortal realm. During the 14th century, the paper of Cathay swept through the entire underworld, and as a result, parchment paper was phased out. Among the parchment paper that still remained in the present day, most bore religious or historical records. However, Qin Ye had also seen this type of paper in another setting.

    Ye Xianguo''s smile faded as he asked, "Don''t you want to see what''s inside here, Yanluo Qin?"

    Qin Ye calmly epted the piece of paper, thenid it outyer byyer. Finally, the symbol of an eye was revealed at the center of the piece of paper.

    To say that it was an image would be inurate. Instead, it more so resembled a type of text that formed the shape of an eye. In the instant that Qin Ye''s gaze settled on the eye, a burst of inexplicable violence and killing intent instantly reared up in his heart.

    This wasn''t the first time that this had happened, but on the previous asion, he was still only a mid Yama-King. At this point, he was already impervious to psychological blows like this.

    This was from an extraterrestrial god!

    Nothingness had been correct in assuming that the inner demon had coborated with extraterrestrial gods for its own personal gain.

    It had been born from the emotions of all of Earth''s living beings, yet for its own benefit, it had turned its back on the that had given rise to it without any hesitation.

    Qin Ye forcibly repressed his killing intent as he kept his head lowered. He was afraid that if he were to look at the inner demon now, he would be unable to repress the urge to attack.

    Anyone could serve as King Yanluo, but the inner demon absolutely could not be allowed to take this position!

    He slowly folded the piece of paper up again, then pushed it back toward the inner demon. "What is the meaning of this?"

    Ye Xianguo didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he was silent for a long while before speaking again. "There are many secrets in this world. For mortals, there is this, and then there is space outside of this. For them, there''s nothing that can pose a threat to them within billions of light years. However, do you know what lies outside of the underworld ne? Have you considered the possibility that there would be a pack of bloodthirsty wolves, constantly prowling outside of our world, searching for an opportunity to enter it? Have you wondered whether there are certain things that don''t belong to any of the three realms, but have actually already been lurking in our world for centuries?"

    A smile appeared on his face, and it stretched literally from ear to ear, splitting his face in half in a terrifying disy as he continued in an alluring voice, "We refer to them as extraterrestrial gods."

    A smile also appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

    "Absolutely not," Ye Xianguo replied. "They are extremely powerful, and all they need is an anchor point in order to enter the underworld. Do you understand what I''m saying now, Yanluo Qin?"

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    The inner demon had just raised a point that he had failed to consider, which was that if other nes were to invade the underworld, the underworld would naturally have to face them in battle, but where would the battlefield be?

    It could only be the underworld ne.

    Without space exploration technology, the underworld was at a severe disadvantage and could only settle for passivity.

    What would happen after that?

    If the underworld ne were to be the battlefield, regardless of whether the battle was lost or won, it would be a painful loss for the underworld!

    For the first time, he came to realize just how important space exploration technology was.

    Space exploration technology wasn''t just something that the Cathayan Underworld could leverage in order to maintain its lead over the rest of the world. Instead, it was imperative to ensure that the underworld wouldn''t be the battlefield for future shes between nes!

    "Even if we win the battle, it would take centuries for us to repair the underworld from its severely ravaged state," Ye Xianguo said in an indifferent voice. "In contrast, it would only take our enemy nes several decades to umte sufficient power tounch another attack. Even if we ward them off once, twice, thrice... It won''t matter in the end because we''ll have entered an infinite negative loop..."

    "What are you trying to say?" Qin Ye interjected impatiently as his brows furrowed slightly.

    He knew that this was all leading up to something, and he wanted the inner demon to cut straight to the chase.

    Those who hadn''t been in his position before would never be able to understand the responsibilities weighing down on the rulers of the four pirs, and this position definitely couldn''t be relinquished to a being like the inner demon!

    There was no way he could allow the inner demon to live, whether it was for his own sake or for the good of the entire world.

    Ye Xianguo took a deep breath, then asked with a smile, "In that case, why don''t we join the side that is destined to be victorious from the very beginning?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and in the next instant, his Heavenly Dra erupted out of his sleeves before hurtling directly toward Ye Xianguo.

    Ye Xianguo faltered slightly upon seeing this, then merely allowed himself to be destroyed by the Heavenly Dra without offering up any resistance. The wooden bamboo battens concealed beneath his skin were shattered into countless pieces, following which a thumb-sized speck of golden soulfire emerged.

    "I thought you were a smart man." A voice that waspletely different from Ye Xianguo''s wasing out of the soulfire. It was impossible to tell the gender of the voice, and it sounded like the culmination of countless anguished howls. With each word that was spoken, countless gusts of Yin wind were swept up through the surrounding area, transforming this ce into the center of a vortex.

    "After all, idiots wouldn''t even think to negotiate with me, but it appears I was mistaken about you."

    Right as the voice trailed off, Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen had already appeared on either side of the soulfire. The appearance of the two evil ghosts had undergone drastic transformations.

    Chu Renmei was wearing a tattered crimson cloak, while Huang Jiansen was wearing a white cloak.

    Threads of soulfire quickly unfurled from their hands, then shot forth toward the soulfire like lightning.

    The speck of soulfire seemed to bepletely oblivious to this as it said in an unhurried voice, "Even so, our verbal agreement still stands."

    Right as the soulfire threads were about to reach it, the speck of soulfire abruptly vanished.

    It was fast, incredibly so!

    It was on an entirely different levelpared with the speed of a Yama-King. In fact, it was approaching the speed of the Heavenly Dao!

    It was only a small speck of soulfire, but it left a stark white mark across the entire sky in its wake, as if a speeding arrow had sliced the entire heavens in half.

    "Is this the power of a being above the Yama-King level?" Qin Ye sighed as he made his way over to the window before casting his gaze outside.

    He knew that he wouldn''t be able to actually capture Ye Xianguo, but this was a disy of his attitude, the attitude of the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

    It was also right at this moment that a burst of silver light erupted from the center of the city, flying directly toward the speck of soulfire at a speed that wasn''t inferior to that of the inner demon.

    Zhao Yun had finally made his move!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Fierce wind was blowing past Zhao Yun''s ears, and his scarlet cape was billowing out behind him like a pair of wings. Netherfire was revolving along the entire length of his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear, and it was aimed directly at the speck of soulfire!

    The soulfire up ahead faltered slightly, then flickered violently as it was stopped cold in its tracks for a split-second out of sheer astonishment. "Hell has another being above the Yama-King level?!"

    This sudden turn of events had caught itpletely off guard. Up to this point, every act of provocation the inner demon had made was intended to merely intimidate Hell. It didn''t want to start a battle right away. After all, it was still incapable of traveling between the underworld and the mortal realm as it pleased at the moment.

    It had done all of this in order to create a fair negotiation environment.

    Simrly, Qin Ye had also made a grand entrance with four Yama-Kings descending at once, including the inner demon''s arch-nemesis, the God of Nine Energies. This was also an act that was meant to intimidate the inner demon.

    All of these mind games had been yed solely for the purpose of facilitating negotiation that had just taken ce. This was also why the inner demon hadn''t chosen to add any further terms to the negotiation.

    However, never had it considered that there would be a being above the Yama-King level among Hell''s ranks!

    This was not just a gesture of intimidation anymore, Hell was aiming for its throat!

    What could it do?

    It was flying through the air as quickly as it could, but this was only a soul fragment. If it were being pursued by a Yama-King, it would be able to escape, but there was no way it could escape from a being above the Yama-King level!

    Could it voluntarily destroy this soul fragment?

    Right as this thought urred to the inner demon, a clearly phoenix cry suddenly rang out behind it.

    The speck of soulfire flickered slightly, then turned around, upon which it witnessed an astonishing sight.

    A massive rift had split open in the sky over the entire city, and moonlight was filtering down through the rift to illuminate the earth. From within the inky darkness on either side of the rift, countless specks ofherfire surged forth as if they had been summoned. They rapidly converged and twisted before forming a giantherfire phoenix that was revolving around Zhao Yun, forming a gigantic vortex that was extraordinarily spectacr to behold.

    At the center of the vortex, Zhao Yun''s cape rose up behind him, and there was a stark contrast between his tiny figure and the vast sky behind him. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Yun''s cape transformed into a pair of fiery scarlet wings, and another phoenix cry rang out as he shot forth directly toward the inner demon as a ming phoenix.

    There was no time for the inner demon to evade!

    It was too fast, and it didn''t even have the time to self-detonate its soul fragment!

    If this soul fragment were to be captured, its main body would immediately be located, and the consequences would be catastrophic!

 Chapter 1148: Rat

    <h4>Chapter 1148: Rat</h4>

    Never did the inner demon think that it would face a situation like this.

    For the past several thousand years, no other being above the Yama-King level had arisen in the underworld aside from that monstrous second King Yanluo. Wasn''t the second King Yanluo currently busy dealing with extraterrestrial gods? Who was this being above the Yama-King level?

    However, there was no time for it to be thinking about things like this right now. In the face of Zhao Yun''s all-out attack, the entire sky above the city had been stained a scarlet color!

    "I''ll remember you!" Several thoughts shed through its mind in the blink of an eye, following which the speck ofherfire exploded violently without any hesitation.

    However, it wasn''t going to be that easy to get away.

    Zhao Yun was also above the Yama-King level, and he was going all out from the very beginning, while the inner demon had been caughtpletely off guard. Currently, all of the surrounding Yin energy was under Zhao Yun''s control, and there was no way that a soul fragment could resist him.

    Right as the soul fragment exploded, it discovered that the surrounding air had be aplete fortress! All of the Yin energy in the area had be as hard as iron and steel, and there was no way for it to self-detonate!

    "Damn it!" It cursed as it stared intently at the fiery phoenix up ahead.

    Self-detonation of the soul fragment clearly wasn''t going to be an option, nor were fighting or escaping. Thus, the only thing that it could do was take advantage of the little time that it had to think of a way to put the soul fragment into a hibernative state.

    This breathtaking scene had been witnessed by everyone who was keeping an eye on the situation, and all of the people in the Special Investigations Department had been stunned into silence as they stared up at the screens before them with nk expressions.

    This was what true power looked like!

    With every gesture that he made, it seemed that Zhao Yun was able to bend the entire world to his will!

    Zheng Shuguo shook his head with an awestruck expression. "If I can cultivate to that level, I''d be able to die with no regrets... How many people in history have managed to reach those heights?"

    Right at this moment, a piercing rm suddenly rang out in the hall of the Special Investigations Department.

    "Alert, alert!" An emotionless, mechanical voice dered, "The supernatural perimeter has been activated, please evacuate all nearby personnel right away. Repeat: The supernatural perimeter has been activated..."

    All of the investigators in the entire hall were instantly rooted to the spot.

    No one knew why this had suddenly happened, and everyone exchanged perplexed nces with one another.

    In the next instant, a burst of bright green suddenly erupted from the ground on therge screens.

    Zheng Shuguo''s heartpletely sank as he finally realized what had just happened. "This is bad!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    BOOM!!!

    A burst of violent buzzing rang out across the entire city.

    At the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower, there stood an extremely dpidated cauldron.

    It was an ancient artifact, and all four of its feet were welded firmly to the ground. Right at this moment, boundless green radiance erupted violently from the cauldron before erupting into the heavens.

    At the same time, a bright green barrier emerged from the ground in all directions around the city, and it was as if a gigantic dome had suddenly fallen onto the city.

    This was the city''s supernatural perimeter.

    Even during the decade of supernatural disasters, the supernatural perimeter hadn''t been activated before, yet it had beenpletely activated here, with the Nine Tripod Cauldrons acting as the core of the array!

    There were only eight of the nine cauldrons, so the set was iplete, yet these were artifacts that had gathered the fortune of the entire nation during the past several thousand years, so they were certainly not to be scoffed at!

    In order to ensure that they were able to function, there were hundreds of true energy conversion facilities installed underground throughout the city, which were able to generate advanced Yama-King level power in an instant!

    The barrier connected heaven and earth, and it appeared no more than 10 meters in front of the fiery phoenix that Zhao Yun had transformed into.

    As a result, Zhao Yun and the inner demon''s soul fragment were separated by the barrier.

    Before they knew it, both of them just so happened to have reached the outskirts of the city.

    In that instant, both of them faltered slightly.

    Immediately thereafter, the speck of soulfire fled into the distance with all its might without any hesitation. Right behind it, a burst of fire that threatened to incinerate the heavens exploded violently.

    The phoenix had only faltered for a split second before it tore through the green barrier violently, then shot forth like lightning toward the speck of soulfire.

    At the same time, Qin Ye abruptly sprang to his feet as he stared up at the sky in disbelief.

    Arthis was also astonished as she looked up at the radiance heavens, and the reaction of the Harken was much the same.

    How was this possible?! Why had the city''s supernatural perimeter been activated at a time like this?!

    None of them said anything. They all knew just how important this soul fragment was when it came to tracking down this invisible opponent. All of the underworld emissaries were staring up intently at the sky, watching as the mes drifted down from above, staring at the massive hole on the green barrier, looking on as the scarlet mes incinerated everything before slowly disappearing, revealing the spear-wielding figure at the center.

    Zhao Yun withdrew his gaze, then turned toward the stunned city in silence. In the blink of an eye, he arrived beside Qin Ye, then cupped his first in an apologetic salute, making no excuses for himself. "Please pardon my ipetence, Your Excellency."

    Qin Ye closed his eyes, and his fists were tightly clenched by his sides. He was so furious that his shoulders were trembling slightly, and he could barely contain his own rage.

    He had thought that he had already developed exceptionalposure. After all, he had been able to face even the ruler death gods of the three pirs with calmness and grace.

    However, only now did he discover that he simply hadn''t been pushed over the edge yet.

    Only after several seconds of silence did he asked, "Are you unable to catch it?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head with a grim expression. "The inner demon''s true body is already far away. It had begun to move as soon as you destroyed Ye Xianguo."

    "Then go after it!" Qin Ye roared.

    There was nowhere for him to vent his fury, and he finally snapped.

    Zhao Yun bowed his head as he replied, "If I go after the inner demon, no one will be able to ensure your safety, Your Excellency."

    The inner demon could instantaneously possess any host that it had possessed in the past.

    Thus, the fact that the supernatural perimeter had suddenly been activated could only mean one thing: there was a rat in the Supernatural Investigation Department.

    Furthermore, this rat had to be quite a high-ranking individual, given that they had ess to the supernatural perimeter activation facilities.

    If Zhao Yun were to set off in the pursuit, the inner demon could return, and a lineup of three Yama-Kings would be nowhere near enough to resist it.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything.

    After a long while, he finally sighed, "My apologies, I let my emotions get the better of me."

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, he had already vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

    He had forcibly repressed his own fury for now, but someone had to bear his wrath!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Less than three secondster, boundless Yin energy gushed into the entire Special Investigations Department building like a tsunami.

    Qin Ye was making no attempt to disguise his fury, and his Yin energy was causing the air temperature in the building to plummet rapidly.

    Zheng Shuguo closed his eyes in despair. He knew that they were about to face the wrath of a Yama-King.

    Half a secondter, all of the Yin energy converged violently, and Qin Ye appeared before them in the blink of an eye.

    Atop his shoulder-length ck hair was a regal, golden crown, and he was wearing a ck dragon robe. His entire lower body waspletely formed by Yin energy, and more Yin energy was billowing out of all of his orifices incessantly as hundreds of specks ofherfire danced around him, forming a fiery vortex.

    "Yanluo Qin..." Zheng Shuguo stepped forward with gritted teeth, yet before he had a chance to offer an exnation, he was struck by an irresistible force that pushed him back over 10 meters.

    No one dared to say anything, and no one even dared to look directly at Qin Ye.

    Amid the deathly silence, Qin Ye finally spoke.

    He was smiling, but his smile was colder than ice and sharper than the finest of des.

    "Is this how the mortal realm nned to help us, Director Zheng? I told you to make preparations in advance, so this is what you prepared?!"

    All of the screens in the room were shattered in unison, and the light fixtures flickered a few times before finally beingpletely snuffed out. Immediately thereafter, the emergency lights lit up, basking Qin Ye in green light, giving him the appearance of a demonic overlord.

    No one dared to reply.

    After a full 30 seconds of silence, Qin Ye demanded through gritted teeth, "I need an exnation. If no satisfactory exnation is given, no one will be allowed to leave this ce!"

    A string of dull thumps rang out as all of the doors were closed one after another.

    Zheng Shuguo heaved a long sigh. "Yanluo Qin, I am very sorry about this, and I assure you that we didn''t want to see this happen, either."

    He cast a cold gaze around the room as he continued, "Someone here has been possessed by the inner demon in the past, and I promise that I''ll give you an answer within a day."

    "Do you know how manyherworldly citizens in the Cathayan Underworld will lose their lives due to your oversight?" Qin Ye asked in a cold voice.

    The verbal agreement he had established with the inner demon still stood, but the inner demon certainly wasn''t going to just let things slide without any retaliation.

    As such, the next riot was most likely going to take ce very soon, and there was a very good chance that the affected area would berger than a vige on that asion.

    "Perhaps your grandparents could be among those to lose their lives!" Qin Ye''s fury had already faded at this point. Anger wasn''t going to solve any problems, the priority now was to track down the rat.

    "The Reincarnation King will take care of this matter. I''ll be staying in this city to await your answer until the matter is resolved."

    He disappeared once again, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing beside Zhao Yun.

    "We all made an oversight." Zhao Yun seemed to have already been thinking about this for a very long time, and as soon as Qin Ye appeared, he said, "The inner demon is different from all other Yin spirits."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This was why his wrath had faded so quickly.

    In the past, there would''ve been no way for Yin spirits to possess public servants, police officers, or soldiers unless these people willingly allowed themselves to be possessed.

    Even Prefect-level Yin spirits wouldn''t dare to make a move against such sensitive personnel.

    However, the inner demon waspletely different.

    To be urate, it couldn''t even be referred to as a Yin spirit. Instead, it was an entity formed by the most primitive of desires, and as long as those desires still existed, it would have a basis on which to exist.

    It was capable of taking over anyone with demons in their hearts, thereby making it impossible to defend against.

    "Now that we''ve let it slip away, we''ll have to expend a massive price to capture it next time," Qin Ye spat through gritted teeth.

    Some servants immediately brought out a cape before gently draping it onto his shoulders, but he brushed them away with a frustrated expression. "You can all go back for now. I''m going to wait here until an oue emerges!"

 Chapter 1149: Suspicions (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1149: Suspicions (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye had departed, yet everyone in the Special Investigations Department was still rooted to the spot in silence.

    Not long after Qin Ye''s departure, another gust of Yin wind blew into the building, following which Arthis emerged. She swept a cold gaze around the hall, then dered, "I am Reincarnation King Arthis, and I''ll be taking over this matter."

    Zheng Shuguo knew that he had already lost the right to oversee this matter any further. Four Yama-Kings had been deployed by Hell, yet due to the oversight of the Special Investigations Department, the soul fragment of a being above the Yama-King level had been allowed to escape. Under these circumstances, he was already very fortunate not to have been even more heavily insulted.

    How could Qin Ye and the others not be enraged?

    Arthis was making no attempt to hold back her Yin energy, allowing it to spread through the room like masses of venomous vipers, and that was a clear disy of her displeasure.

    All he could do now was cooperate to the best of his abilities in order to redeem himself as much as possible.

    "The Special Investigations Department is willing to fully cooperate. I hereby delegate full leadership rights to you on this matter," he dered.

    Arthis nodded in response. "Good. In that case, my first order is that no one in this building is allowed to leave without my permission!"

    Her purple hair danced wildly around her like menacing serpents as she threatened in a cold voice, "If you dare to try and leave without permission, don''t me me for crossing out your name on the Book of Life and Death!"

    As the warden of the six paths of reincarnation, she held significant power in Hell.

    Everyone exchanged a few nces, and no one raised any objections. Furthermore, they all distanced themselves from one another in a subtle manner.

    The city gods and the lords of thend had already informed them of the special properties of the inner demon. They had initially thought that they were dealing with a normal Yin spirit, which meant that there was no way it would be able to infiltrate a ce like the Special Investigations Department, but they were sorely mistaken.

    Anyone in this room could''ve been the culprit!

    Arthis continued, "My second order is for all those with ess to the supernatural perimeter activation facilities to step forward and assemble in front of me."

    Around a dozen figures stepped forward in silence.

    Zheng Shuguo faltered slightly upon seeing this, then said, "With all due respect, I think Secretary Zhang and Mayor Ji should be..."

    "Is there a problem?" Arthis interjected before he had a chance to finish.

    Zheng Shuguo paused momentarily before replying, "Secretary Zhang and Mayor Ji do indeed have ess to the supernatural perimeter activation facilities, but their ess rights are of the lowest level of priority. In order of high to low priority, firstes the director of this city''s Special Investigations Department, followed by the vice-director, then the military representative, and only after that do we have the secretary and the mayor."

    "Director Zheng." Zhang Junliang shook his head with a serious expression as he said, "Let''s not give special treatment here. Anyone could''ve been responsible for this."

    A wry smile appeared on Ji Changqing''s face as he sighed, "If we don''t step forward now, it would be fine if the culprit is discovered, but if that doesn''t turn out to be the case..."

    He shook his head and didn''t finish that thought.

    If no culprit were discovered, then they would stick out like sore thumbs, and their political careers would be as good as over.

    "I''m d you''ve got the right mindset, at least," Arthis said. "Everyone,e with me. Director Zheng, bring up the surveince footage right away. Check to see who was absent from the hall at the time of the incident, as well as all footage of the supernatural perimeter activation facilities."

    "Yes."

    Arthis was never one for wasting time, and after giving those instructions, she immediately made her way toward the control room, not giving anyone a chance to react.

    However, in the instant that the door to the control room was opened, everyone drew a sharp breath in unison.

    Zheng Shuguo was staring at the scene in front of him with a stunned expression as he murmured in a trembling voice, "How could this be..."

    Right in front of them was a blood-red corridor.

    There was blood everywhere, as well as countless corpses!

    All of the police officers, soldiers, investigators, SRC officers... They had all perished in extremely strange ways.

    Arthis''s eyes narrowed slightly as she curled a finger, and one of the bodies slowly drifted over to her.

    She intentionally paused momentarily, but no sound rang out from behind her.

    Looks like the culprit is hiding themselves quite well...

    Arthis was willing to bet that the culprit was among the group of people standing behind her.

    They had returned to the scene of the heinous crime they had justmitted, yet they weren''t giving off any abnormal emotional fluctuations. Could this be a special ability of the inner demons? An ability to repress one''s emotions?

    She didn''t say anything as the corpse hovered in front of her. Having seen Yin spirits in Hell who had perished in all types of different manners, she was already desensitized to the sight of death.

    The way that this man had died was very special. Directly from the front or the back, there were no visible injuries on his body, but right on the top of his head, there was a fist-sized hole, which waspletely empty inside.

    Arthis gently set down the body, then turned her gaze toward the other deceased victims.

    "All of the people here have died in two different ways, the first of which is through a gun wound on the body, while the other way is the hole on the top of the head, as seen with him there. There are only a total of three people who perished in thetter fashion, while the others all died from gun wounds. Director Zheng, do you have any insights or theories that you can offer?"

    Zheng Shuguo took a deep breath, then stepped forward as he analyzed, "Not a single one of my fallen colleagues have even drawn their gun here, so that means that everything happened very abruptly. Also, I paid close attention to Ghost King Zhao as he was pursuing the inner demon, and I noticed something different."

    He squatted down and gently closed the eyes of his deceased colleague. At the same time, he seemed to be arranging his own thoughts, and after a few seconds of silence, he continued, "Why is it that the rat here suddenly activated the supernatural perimeter?"

    "It must be because the inner demon failed to predict that we had a being above the Yama-King level among our ranks. If its true body hade here, then it wouldn''t have any cause for fear, but there was no way that a soul fragment would''ve been able to escape from Ghost King Zhao," Arthis replied.

    "That''s right!" Zheng Shuguo agreed. "At the time, the inner demon was doing everything in its power to flee from Ghost King Zhao. We''ve already received satellite footage of the incident, and I viewed the footage multiple times before Yanluo Qin''s arrival. As a result, I noticed that in the final instant, the inner demon chose to self-detonate its soul fragment. In that case, can we assume that it was under the opinion at the time that its soul fragment''s fate was sealed? In other words, even it had failed to anticipate that the rat among us would be able to suddenly save it."

    Arthis''s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she was rather impressed as she prompted, "Continue."

    Zheng Shuguo nodded in response before continuing, "In the final instant, right as the supernatural perimeter was activated, even the inner demon''s soul fragment faltered slightly, indicating that it was surprised. If it had failed to anticipate that the rat would save it at that crucial juncture, doesn''t that mean that this rat has an autonomous will? In other words, prior to receiving an order from the inner demon, the hosts that it''s possessed in the past are only normal humans, but deep in their hearts, they worship the inner demon and are willing to do anything for it. Is it possible that those who have been possessed by it have only had the seed of eternal servitude at all costs nted into their minds, notpletely controlled by the inner demon as we theorized?"

    Arthis''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. Zheng Shuguo didn''t rify his statements, but she understood what he was saying.

    He was telling her that there could be no way to track down the hosts of the inner demon as there was no way to tell them apart from everyone else under normal circumstances. Only when the inner demon was in danger would they disypletely different reactions from everyone else!

    Thus, they had to adopt a different approach, rather than a traditional investigative method.

    It wasn''t that he was unwilling to rify things, he simply didn''t trust anyone aside from himself at this moment.

    Arthis offered no opinion on his theory. Instead, she merely turned back toward the corridor as she said, "Let''s inspect the control room first."

    They soon arrived in the control room, but there was only a single corpse in there.

    The lethal blow had been dealt by a bullet to the back of the head, and the weapon in question was right beside the entrance.

    It was a ck pistol that waspletely ordinary and unremarkable.

    The culprit was also at the entrance. It was a young man holding the pistol, lying on the ground with his eyes wide open. There was also a hole right on top of his head.

    Perhaps he had no idea what he had done even in the moments leading up to his death.

    "He''s dead? How is that possible?" Ji Changqing asked with a stunned expression.

    The rat was dead at the scene of the crime!

    "He''s my bodyguard," Zhang Junliang said with a grim expression. He could virtually hear his political careering to an end, and he closed his eyes in despair as he said, "I''m willing to ept all investigations from the authorities."

    No one seemed to have heard him at all. Everyone was staring at the scene of the crime with ck-jawed expressions.

    How could the rat be dead? Was he really the rat? How could the investigation continue now?

    "Nobody move!" Right at this moment, Arakshasa''s Yin energy erupted forth violently, sealing the entire corridor.

    Her gaze was like a sharp sword as it roamed over everyone around her, and she said in a cold voice, "He''s just a scapegoat. The inner demon was indeed surprised by the sudden emergence of the supernatural perimeter during its escape, that much was clear both from my own observation and your satellite footage. I also clearly saw that it wanted to detonate its own soul fragment. If it knew that the rat that it had nted was going to do this, then that wouldn''t have been its reaction!"

    Her voice was like rumbling thunder as she continued, "This means that perhaps the situation was too urgent at the time, and it didn''t even have the time to consider these things, which meant that it was acting purely on instinct. However, a bodyguard has no right to enter the Special Investigations Department! Why would he be aware of what''s happening in here? How did he know that the inner demon was in danger? It can only be because someone tipped him off! Someone told him to do this, and that person was definitely at the scene at the time. That person is among you!"

    Her purple hair was dancing through the air like snakes, circling around one person after another.

    Shortly thereafter, her hair was slowly withdrawn, and she smiled as she flipped a hand over to reveal a ck phone.

    "The rat was somehow able to deliver the message to the bodyguard while staying in the building. That can only be achieved through this type of technology, right? There were no text messages sent to his phone within the past hour, and thest WeChat message that he received came from you, Secretary Zhang! Why don''t you exin to us exactly what''s going on here?"

    Everyone around Zhang Junliang immediately backed away from him as they watched him with shocked and wary expressions.

 Chapter 1150: Suspicions (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1150: Suspicions (2)</h4>

    Zhang Junliang''s lips were trembling, and he was struggling to repress the indignation in his heart.

    "I am innocent." His eyes were bloodshot with rage, and he closed them to disguise his anger as he said, "If I recall correctly, the message was sent to our government workers group chat. It can only be seen by public servants working for the government, and it was sent to the entire group chat, not to anyone individually."

    As expected of the municipal partymittee secretary of the capital city, even in a situation like this, he was able to remain calm and collected.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, someone immediately pulled out their phone, upon which Zheng Shuguo yelled, "Nobody move! If he really is only a scapegoat and someone sent him a message telling him what to do, then his death would make the entire trail run cold. As such, the final lead that we have would be the phones! I''ll get the relevant departments to conduct a thorough search on the contact records of all of the people in the hall just now!"

    Arthis curled a finger, and several phones immediately flew toward her. She took a nce at the phones, then nodded as she said, "The message was indeed sent to everyone in the group chat, and it''s an announcement that the work meeting for tomorrow will be postponed. However, that doesn''t mean that you''re off the hook. In a message, anything can act as a signal, including a special character or a specific time, so this doesn''t mean anything."

    A resigned smile appeared on Zhang Junliang''s face. "If you insist on framing me as the culprit, then I have nothing to say."

    "Then wait for the results of the investigation," Arthis said in a cold voice. "I''m sure the Special Investigations Department has its own tactics in this area."

    Zhang Junliang''s hands were beginning to tremble as he said, "With all due respect, do you know what an investigation like this entails for the reputation of an official like me?"

    He was only in his forties, yet he was already the municipal partymittee secretary of the capital city! He had a glorious future ahead of him in the political realm!

    However, if were toe under investigation by the Special Investigations Department, then it would all be over for him! The contents of an investigation like this would definitely be kept strictly confidential, so no one would know why he was being investigated. Everyone would only know that he had been investigated for some reason, and that would be a permanent blotch on his resume.

    "Don''t talk to me about that!" Arthis snapped as her Yin energy erupted violently, pushing everyone around her back several meters. Her gaze roamed over everyone in the room like a pair of daggers as she said, "All I know is that more than one person in the Special Investigations Department has been possessed by the inner demon! Hell gave you notification in advance, and four Yama-Kings were deployed, but someone in this building activated the supernatural perimeter to allow the inner demon''s soul fragment to escape! If you can''t get to the bottom of this, we''ll make sure the entire municipal government and this Special Investigations Department branch isid off for new staff!"

    After that, she vanished as a gust of Yin wind, leaving only a parting sentence behind. "I''ll be waiting for news from you."

    She had departed, but now one else left the scene.

    After a full minute had passed, Mayor Ji Changqing silently made his way over to Zheng Shuguo, yet before he even had a chance to speak, Zheng Shuguo said in a cold voice, "Mayor Ji, at times like this, we should be keeping our distance from one another."

    Ji Changqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something when he noticed that Zheng Shuguo''s fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white.

    This was extremely humiliating for him!

    This was the first major coboration between Hell and the mortal realm since he had taken over from Lei Jun, and the Special Investigations Department had made a royal mess of things.

    The ones who had perished from the holes on top of their heads had to have been killed by the inner demon, which meant that they were past hosts. As for everyone else, they had been killed by gunfire from them. This had happened right under his nose, and it was utterly humiliating for him!

    At the end, he had received a harsh dressing down from the Yama-Kings of Hell, forcing him to hand over the reins. At this point, he might as well not even have been involved in the n at all!

    Having been in the political realm for several decades, Ji Changqing was able to instantly guess what Zheng Shuguo was thinking. It was clear that Zheng Shuguo was already on the verge of snapping, so Ji Changqing wisely chose not to say anything and backed away.

    A few secondster, Zheng Shuguo turned around with a steely expression. "Launch an exhaustive investigation! I''ll immediately apply for an investigation of the highest level into the municipal government, the police force, and the Special Investigations Department!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the city god''s temple, an underworld emissary wore a fawning smile as he stood respectfully behind Qin Ye and introduced, "Yanluo Qin, this is the best tea in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang."

    These were Yama-Kings in the flesh! If he could make a good impression on them, would he be rewarded with a transfer to Everburn soon?

    Everburn was the bustling and prosperous core of the Cathayan Underworld, with hundreds of different types of cuisine catered toward Yin spirits! That was certainly a far better ce to work than in the mortal realm, where he could only absorb some Yin energy every night.

    However, Qin Ye wasn''t in the mood for any tea or conversation.

    He was standing at the entrance to the City God Temple, which had already beenpletely surrounded by soldiers and police officers of Cathay. One of his hands was sped behind his back, while the other was massaging his beaded bracelet in a frustrated manner, and he was frequently taking nces onto the road.

    The entire situation in the city had descended intoplete chaos.

    In the face of an opponent that had never been encountered before, it was imperative to dig up the special characteristics of that opponent little by little. Through this incident, he had discovered something new, which was that the inner demon targeted only one''s desires. It had nothing to do with Yin energy, and it didn''t care about national emblems of gs. As long as you had demons in your heart, you were prone to being possessed by it.

    Thus, there was no way to progress this current situation.

    Zhao Yun and the Harken had already returned to the Cathayan Underworld. In the near future, Hell was definitely going to have to face fierce retaliation from the inner demon. Of course, the retaliation would only be a one-off event, unless the inner demon wanted to dere all-out war on Hell right away. However, it was undeniably true that Hell was at a severe disadvantage.

    All of the hundreds of millions ofherworldly citizens in the Cathayan Underworld were epassed beneath this dark cloud, yet he waspletely powerless to do anything! Thisplete loss of control was something that Qin Ye was not used to, and it was extremely frustrating to him.

    "There''s no need for you to worry," Arthis said. "What''s happened is already in the past. We can''t change the past, so the only thing we can do is think about how to deal with the future. Looking at the inner demon''s special properties now, it''s no wonder that even the Heavenly Dao is reluctant to oppose it. It''s perhaps only slightly more powerful than Brother Zhao when ites to directbat prowess, so it would be no match for Hell in a direct confrontation, but its unique properties make it the most difficult opponent to deal with."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as a thought suddenly urred to him.

    What if he were to open the Array of the Nine Gods and allow this ursed thing to escape? In doing so, the inner demon would be the entire world''s problem, rather than just the Cathayan Underworld''s problem. With the four pirs working together, the inner demon''s days would for sure be numbered!

    However, that idea quickly faded from his mind.

    This still wasn''t the time to resort to something like that. However, they were close to being able to do this.

    The development of the second-generation forbidden arts was still ongoing, and during the past few years, the education system had allowed the field of Yin runology in the nation to develop rapidly. It still couldn''tpare with its past heyday, but it was already a sufficient foundation to develop the second-generation forbidden arts.

    After all, there was the new energy resource team, which was filled with extremely skilled and experienced personnel, holding the project in good stead.

    Once the second-generation forbidden arts were developed, it would be time to invade Amano Iwato and undo the Array of the Nine Gods!

    However, prior to that, he had to ensure the stability of the nation by ridding the world of the inner demon!

    "What do you think of Zheng Shuguo?" he asked as the passing breeze picked up his hair, causing it to dance all around him.

    "He''s not bad," Arthis replied. "He''s extremely observant. As soon as he saw what had happened in the control room, he immediately suggested that I should use alternative investigation methods, and his analysis was very sound."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    If Zheng Shuguo weren''t capable, then he would suggest for the government to rece him.

    The Special Investigations Department was the department of the mortal realm that came into the most frequent contact with Hell. All of the monthly reports of the city gods and the lords of thend also entered the Special Investigations Department first. If the director of the department couldn''t pull his weight, then he would have to be reced.

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask anything else, Arthis continued, "The situation at the site of the incident was veryplicated. There was no way for us to discern who the rat was, so I ordered everyone to stay at the Special Investigations Department building. I''ll be approaching Zheng Shuguo again tonight."

    "What are the specific issues that we''re facing?"

    Arthis thought about this question for a moment before replying, "The number of people who had been possessed by the inner demon was higher than we expected. On the surface, it looks like Secretary Zhang''s bodyguard was the direct culprit, while someone else told him what to do. However, bodyguards don''t have ess to the supernatural perimeter activation facilities. Despite this, the investigator who activated the supernatural perimeter perished by the hands of the bodyguard, and that can only mean that the investigator had also been possessed in the past. The bodyguard was responsible for killing all potential informants, thenmitting suicide. There are some suspicions surrounding Secretary Zhang, but they''re nothing major. I intentionally singled him out in the hope that this would lure everyone else into a false sense of security. I''m sure the Special Investigations Department will give us a response very soon. After all, they''ve been thoroughly humiliated here."

    If they didn''t want to all beid off, then they would have to redeem themselves.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes in silence. He knew that the Special Investigations Department alone couldn''t be counted on to do this.

    After a long while, he finally reopened his eyes, then said in a cold voice, "If we want to capture the inner demon, then we must lure it into our trap, and perhaps there''s a way to aplish that."

    Arthis''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. She couldn''t think of any way to achieve this.

    Qin Ye turned and looked her directly in the eye as he concluded, "We can use the Book of Life and Death."

    Arthis immediately raised her head as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning upon hearing this, and even with her toxic personality, she couldn''t help but praise Qin Ye. "That''s genius!"

    Arthis had immediately understood what Qin Ye''s n was.

    The Book of Life and Death recorded the sins and virtues of one''s life. This was the initial screening to decide where a Yin spirit was supposed to go, and only after that came the trials held by the Anitya Hellguards and Infernal Judges. In terms of judging Yin spirits, Hell had thousands of years of experience that it could draw upon.

    They wouldn''t be able to see who had been possessed by the inner demon in the past, but they would be able to see who had demons in their hearts.

    If they could find that person, and they just so happened to be a high-ranking provincial official, then they would have the perfect bait with which to lure the inner demon!

    The inner demon definitely wasn''t going to pass up the opportunity to possess an important provincial official!

 Chapter 1151: Riot of Safesoul City (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1151: Riot of Safesoul City (1)</h4>

    "You''ve found no problems?" Zheng Shuguo was scrutinizing the investigator before him intently with bloodshot eyes.

    The investigator shuddered slightly, then gritted his teeth as he replied, "That''s correct..."

    Zheng Shuguo closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh, and only after a long while did he wave a dismissive hand in a dejected manner. "Alright, you can go now."

    The investigator immediately fled as if he had been spared the death sentence. Thus, the office fell silent again.

    The light fixture overhead was giving off a stark, white glow, illuminating the cup of bitter, ck coffee sitting on the heavy wooden desk.

    It had already been 23 hours since the escape of the inner demon''s soul fragment, and Zheng Shuguo hadn''t had a wink of sleep during that time.

    He desperately wanted some type of breakthrough that he could report to the Yama-Kings. Otherwise, he would be too ashamed to continue his position. However, no matter which department was investigated or how the investigations were carried out, no issues were discovered.

    Arthis had figured out that Secretary Zhang''s bodyguard wasn''t actually the culprit. Instead, he had only been there to silence the culprit, and he had arrived at this conclusion as well. The operator of the supernatural perimeter had also been possessed, but as a result of that, the one who had instructed the culprit could''ve been anyone, thereby significantly erging the scope of their search.

    Two exhaustive investigations had been conducted back to back, but had yielded no results, and there was only less than an hour until the 24-hour timeframe that he had promised was up. He was so exhausted that he was already feeling numb, and a sense of powerlessness was spreading through his entire body like poison.

    He slowly opened his eyes, then picked up his coffee cup before taking a sip.

    The bitter coffee slid down his throat, and he heaved a long, forlorn sigh.

    Never had he been so desperate to be a Yama-King.

    Without sufficient power, he couldn''t even understand the nature of the sh between those almighty beings.

    Right as he set down his coffee cup and was about to press a button beside his desk, the door to his office was suddenly opened.

    Zheng Shuguo cast his gaze toward his visitors, upon which a spark instantly returned to his dejected eyes. He then rose to his feet before quickly making his way toward the visitors as if he had just seen his saviors. "Why are you here?"

    There were two elderly men standing at the entrance to his office, one of whom was Sword Master Xuanyuan, while the other was a thin man wearing a Mao suit.

    The second figure was someone who appeared virtually every single day on news broadcasts and newspapers. Those in the government system were all extremely familiar with this man.

    It was the director of the Organization Department, Rao Guanghui.

    All resumes, appointments, and recements of government officials had to be approved by him, regardless of what level the official was. Thus, he was certainly an extremely powerful figure.

    "Thank you for your hard work, Director Zheng." Rao Guanghui also approached Zheng Shuguo quickly, and the two shared a tight handshake.

    Following the handshake, Rao Guanghui immediately adopted a serious expression as he said, "Yanluo Qin left the city 10 minutes ago, returning to Hell alongside all of the other Yama-Kings. I was informed of this by the city god, so I presume that something''s gone wrong in Hell."

    Zheng Shuguo opened his mouth to reply, but could only give a wry smile in the end.

    The four Yama-Kings had countless servants in the city, yet instead of getting those servants to inform him directly of their departure, they had informed the city god and lord of thend instead.

    This was a clear disy of their dissatisfaction toward the Special Investigations Department.

    "The prime minister became aware of this quite some time ago, I must apologize for arriving sote." Rao Guanghui was already quite advanced in age, but his words and demeanor were as sharp as ever as he sat down onto the main seat. Sword Master Xuanyuan and Zheng Shuguo naturally sat down onto the sofas off to the side.

    Rao Guanghui continued, "Following the supernatural disasters, the prime minister has made it a top priority for us to maintain close contact with the underworld and ensure peace and harmony between the two realms. Upon learning about this matter, the prime minister''s orders were tounch an exhaustive investigation. Regardless of who is involved in this incident, it must be verified if they''ve been possessed, and if so, for what reason. For minor cases, a simple reprimand will suffice, but for major cases, they must be temporarilyid off."

    Zheng Shuguo nodded in response. It was impossible for humans to ward off the inner demon. Thus, they had to find out who had been possessed and for what reason, as well as whether these people were fit to continue in their government positions.

    "After realizing the severity of this issue, the prime minister has already arranged for a discussion with the brains trust of experts on Yin spirits, and an oue has already been reached."

    He pulled a brown paper bag out as he spoke, then gently ced it onto the table.

    Zheng Shuguo''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    In his position, there were many unique obstacles that he had to face. The power system was a very abstract thing, and as an Abyssal Prefect, it was very difficult for him to see through the eyes of Yama-Kings and figure out what they were nning to do. He was already among the most powerful beings of the mortal realm, but in the face of the colossus that was Hell, there were many instances where he could only rely on educated guesses.

    If something were to go wrong, he had to take responsibility, even though he had no idea what was going on, so it was a very frustrating job at times.

    Thus, he required the full support of the nation. In the past, he had been capable of resolving all supernatural incidents himself. However, the national government had to make a decision in this case, and they certainly hadn''t let him down.

    This was the efficiency that could only be achieved by authoritarian nations!

    The mes of hope were ignited in his heart, yet as soon as heid his hand onto the brown paper bag, Rao Guanghui reached out to stop him.

    "There are a few things that you must do now. Before we discuss the feasibility of the n, we have to ce everyone under surveince."

    Zheng Shuguo sighed, "They''re already under surveince, and investigations have beenunched, but nothing has been found."

    "That''s not enough!" Rao Guanghui leaned forward slightly as he said, "The brains trust suggests that everyone who has disyed any abnormal behavior from the arrival of Yanluo Qin in the mortal realm to the activation of the supernatural perimeter is to be ced under surveince of the highest level! Until this matter is resolved, they won''t be allowed to go anywhere!"

    Zheng Shuguo''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. The scope of the surveince was going to epass extremely important officials like Ji Changqing and Zhang Junliang, and that was an indication that the higher-ups were serious this time.

    Rao Guanghui paid no heed to what Zheng Shuguo was thinking as he continued, "At the time, the situation was extremely urgent. Have you considered why these people were in the mood to go and do other things?"

    This question struck Zheng Shuguo like a bolt of lightning, and he instantly rose to his feet as he stared at Rao Guanghui with a dumbstruck expression. His chest was heaving violently, and he opened his mouth to say something, but remained silent in the end.

    That was a fantastic point!

    At the time, the entire city had been in an extremely tense situation. If anything had gone wrong, which it ultimately did, everyone from the municipal government and the Special Investigations Department would be in deep trouble!

    In a situation like that, who would be in the mood to do other things?

    How was Zhang Junliang still thinking about sending messages in group chats discussing postponements of meetings?

    That was extremely suspicious in itself!

    "I''ll organize that right away!" He quickly rushed out the door, and thus, Rao Guanghui and Sword Master Xuanyuan were the only ones left in the room.

    Several secondster, Sword Master Xuanyuan said in a forlorn voice, "It''s a pity that the mortal realm is unable to produce a Yama-King. Ultimately, we were unable to see things from the same perspective as Hell, and that resulted in this major ident."

    Rao Guanghui lit a cigarette before taking a deep draw, and amid the cloud of cigarette smoke, he said, "That''s why we need to give Hell an answer."

    He gently stroked the brown paper bag with his wizened fingers as he continued, "And this is our answer. We''ll let Hell know that no matter where the inner demon is hiding, we''ll be able to track it down so long as we put our mind to it! This method will be ratherplicated to execute, and it''ll take a long time and be rather dangerous, but as long as we have the determination, we''ll be Hell''s strongest allies!"

    Sword Master Xuanyuan was looking at the brown paper bag with mixed emotions in his eyes, and only after a long while did he nod in agreement.

    "This method really is a show of the prime minister''s determination."

    Rao Guanghui snuffed out his cigarette as he closed his eyes. "We''ve already ced everyone under surveince, and we''ll be able to give Yanluo Qin a satisfactory answer as soon as he gets back!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Safesoul City.

    This city was located in the westernmost region of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory, sitting on the border between the Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld. Of course, it was still very far away from the actual border. At the moment, the poption of the Cathayan Underworld was nowhere near sufficient to take up the entire territory.

    This was the difference that time could make. Among the other three pirs, even the one with the smallest poption, the Argosian Underworld, had one or two billionherworldly citizens, yet the Cathayan Underworld''s current poption was onlyparable with that of Usonia in the mortal realm.

    Safesoul City wasn''t a veryrge city. Prior to the establishment of the free trade zone in Formosa, all of the cities had been much the same with the exceptions of cities like Everburn and Ashmound. However, ever since the Cathayan Underworld had opened itself up slightly to the rest of the world, the developmental advantage that coastal cities had over ind cities became far more apparent.

    Safesoul City only had a poption of around 100,000, and the city corresponded with Tibet in the mortal realm, so the buildings and attire worn by theherworldly citizens here all had strong Tibetan influences. The style wasn''t as pronounced as it was in the mortal realm, but it was still quite a refreshing sight to behold.

    7 PM.

    A series of lights had already been turned on, and right at this moment, the golden sunset in the sky suddenly began to warp and twist.

    "What''s that?" a little girl asked as she looked up at the sky with a curious expression, clutching the bowl of lollies she had just bought.

    Not only was her interest piqued by this sight, all of theherworldly citizens in the entire city quickly turned to look up at the sky. The dark clouds up above were beginning to twist and revolve, quickly transforming into a massive vortex! At the center of the vortex, a golden eye that resembled the eye of a deity emerged before looking down at the city.

    "What is that?"

    "Is that a new art developed by Hell?"

    "Is a Yama-King going to be announcing a neww?"

    "Is that... an eye?"

    Everyone was merely curious, and no one was under the impression that they were in any danger.

    Ever since Hell had been founded, nothing had been able to pose a threat to them. Their lives were growing better day after day, and as a result, even the Yin soldiers stationed in the city were growing a littlecent.

    In contrast, the mayor of Safesoul City hadn''t growncent at all.

    He was a square-faced man who appeared to be in his forties, and in contrast with his citizens, he shuddered at the sight of the giant golden eye in the sky, following which a resigned smile appeared on his face.

    "So it''s our city''s turn... I didn''t think we would be so unlucky..." He pressed the button beside his desk, then closed his eyes.

    Just a day ago, Ghost King Zhao had issued an order in person, calling for mayors to report to their higher-ups right away and await reinforcements if they were to spot any abnormal phenomena taking ce in their cities.

    In the instant that he pressed the button, the giant eye in the sky exploded violently, transforming into a series of golden light screens that rapidly descended from above.

 Chapter 1152: Riot of Safesoul City (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1152: Riot of Safesoul City (2)</h4>

    Boom!

    A pir of golden lightnded on the ground before exploding violently, forming a revolving golden vortex of Yin runes. The Yin runes within the vortex were soplex that they wereparable to the most advanced Yin runes in the ninth circle!

    Golden light pierced through the clouds like a storm of golden arrows before falling like rain.

    Violent explosions instantly erupted throughout the entire city as the ground was severely ravaged by the beams of golden light. Theherworldly citizens were looking on with interest and intrigue just a moment ago, yet they had finally realized that something was very wrong, and a string of horrified screams rang out as the entire city began to crumble.

    New Hell''s Legacy, year 24 of the thirding of Hell, the inner demon descended upon Safesoul City, destroying it within a day.

    "What the fuck is that thing?!" Aherworldly citizen was desperately fleeing for his life with bloodshot eyes. No one cared about the anti-flight restrictions in the city at a time like this. Anyone in the city who was capable of flight had already risen up into the air.

    However, it was toote.

    Right as he drifted up from the ground, a pir of golden light shone down upon him, instantly erasing his body out of his existence before he even had a chance to cry out. All that remained of him was a speck of soulfire, which quickly flew toward the center of the city.

    "No!!"

    "What''s happening?! Is this a divine tribtion?!"

    "Why hasn''t Hell issued us any forewarning? Have they abandoned us?"

    "Where are the reinforcements?!"

    The order in the city was instantly shattered as screams and wails rang out in all directions. From up above, one could clearly see waves of soulfire converging toward the center of Safesoul City.

    The only thought in everyone''s minds was to get away from here!

    This wasn''t some type of spectacr phenomenon, it was a divine tribtion!

    However, there was no way they could outrun the beams of light crashing down from above. One pir of golden light after another rained down upon the city, and countless specks ofherfire surged toward the center of the city in a frenzy amid anguished screams.

    Soon, tens of thousands of specks ofherfire had gathered, forming a gigantic fiery skull!

    Its mouth was wide open as it greedily devoured all of theherfire, growing bigger and bigger as it did so. Meanwhile, more and moreherfire continued to converge toward it from all directions.

    The painstakingly constructed houses in the city were easily annihted, reduced to ruins amid the devastation.

    Theherworldly citizens of the city had only lived less than 20 years in peace, but they were about to fall to their cruel fate. They were sobbing and screaming desperately as they rushed toward the city gates, but they were mercilessly reduced toherfire by the golden light, erasing them out of existence.

    In the municipal government building, the mayor calmly closed his eyes, waiting for his demise.

    He finally understood the meaning behind the order issued by Zhao Yun.

    There weren''t going to be any reinforcements...

    Even if Zhao Yun were situated right at the center of the Cathayan Underworld, he wouldn''t be able to make it here in time.

    Wherever this divine tribtion appeared, the entire area would bepletely razed to the ground.

    However, he didn''t want to ept this!

    He opened his eyes as he cast a forlorn gaze toward the city where he had served as mayor for a full decade.

    It was still so impoverished and sparsely popted, and unfortunately, he would never get to see its rise to prosperity...

    "Avenge us!" he roared with all his might, causing the ss window panes in front of him to rattle audibly.

    In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out up above, and a pir of golden light devoured the entire building.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Your Excellency!" An underworld emissary burst in through the doors, panting heavily as he did so. He immediately fell to one knee upon entering the room, then cupped his fist in a salute as he dered, "We''ve received a super Yin energy reading at Safesoul City in excess of a billion!"

    This was a city wall belonging to the city of Jianghan, which was situated right at the center of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Zhao Yun was seated on the city wall with his legs crossed, and his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear was ced beside him.

    Ever since he had returned to the Cathayan Underworld a day ago, he had been sitting here.

    From this point, he would be able to get to any part of the nation as quickly as possible.

    He knew that his efforts were most likely going to be futile, but even if there were only the slightest sliver of a chance for him to save a city, he didn''t want to give up on it.

    This was a home that they had built up with painstaking effort.

    It was a sanctuary for all of the Cathayan Underworld''sherworldly citizens.

    He had watched the entire process of the nation''s rise, and it broke his heart to see any of it being destroyed.

    "How long ago was the reading sent to us?" He finally rose to his feet, and one could sense that his emotions were churning beneath his calm exterior.

    "20 minutes ago!"

    It''s toote...

    He gently pursed his lips, and in the next instant, a resounding boom rang out, causing the entire city of Jianghan to tremble slightly. A vast expanse of Yin energy spread through the air in all directions, and before the reporting underworld emissary even had a chance to cry out, he had already been blown over 100 meters away. By the time he lowered his arms, the city wall was already empty.

    Faster... I need to go faster!

    The clouds were rapidly passing by beneath Zhao Yun as he stared intently forward. He knew that there was virtually no hope, but he didn''t want to give up.

    Perhaps he could still make it...

    He sped over one province after another as an extraordinarily fast streak of light, and 10 minutester, he swooped down through the clouds like a hunting eagle, upon which a city appeared before his eyes.

    It was Safesoul City.

    As soon as the city appeared before him, he gnashed his teeth together violently.

    It was toote. Even though he had already anticipated this, the sight of the ruined city was still so painful for him to behold that it knocked the breath out of him.

    Safesoul City had already been reduced to a set of ruins.

    Amid the ruins, countless specks ofherfire were shing incessantly, and a massive monster was situated at the center of the city.

    Zhao Yun made no attempt to conceal his own Yin energy, so the monster immediately noticed him. The mes on the monster''s back abruptly parted to reveal a blood-red eye, within the pupil of which was a mysterious blue Yin rune that was instantly aimed directly at Zhao Yun.

    "I''m sorry." Even though Zhao Yun had endured countless wars and seen more bloodshed than almost anyone in history, he couldn''t help but close his eyes as his body trembled. However, even as he did so, he was plummeting down from above faster and faster, until he resembled a dazzling shooting star.

    "Please allow me toy you to rest."

    His eyes sprang open, and his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear let loose a long and melodious cry, much like a dragon emerging from an abyss. Right as he pulled back his arm and was about to deliver the killing blow, a hand suddenly appeared beside him to stop him in his tracks.

    Qin Ye, Arthis, and the Harken had appeared beside him, and Qin Ye withdrew his hand as he said in a calm voice, "I should be the one apologizing, not you. I am the one who has failed them."

    Before anyone had a chance to reply, he vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind, and when he reappeared, he was already standing atop the ruins of the city wall.

    The city around him waspletely demolished.

    Gusts of Yin wind were sweeping through the bleak and empty streets, and it was incredible to think that this ce had been a thriving city not too long ago.

    Amid a burst of thunderous rumbling, the gigantic monster at the center of the city finally rose to its feet. As it did so, countless bones fell from its body like rain.

    This was a skeletal giant.

    Its entire body was burning with crimsonherfire, and its bone structure was very simr to that of a normal human, except it had a massive chest cavity, within which were over 100,000 lost souls. All that remained of them were their heads, and they were suspended within the monster''s chest cavity by their hair, looking out with wooden expressions, as if they were nothing more than puppets.

    On the giant''s forehead was a dark blue Yin rune.

    The skeletal giant was around 200 to 300 meters tall, and as it stood up, the cracking of its joints echoed throughout the entire heavens.

    Its massive shadow epassed the entire city as it looked down from above.

    Its eye sockets were filled with scarletherfire, and it turned its gaze toward Qin Ye, then suddenly crouched down like a lion about to pounce before letting loose a deafening roar toward Qin Ye.

    What remained of the city walls beside Qin Ye instantly crumbled, while gusts of Yin wind swept past him before blowing into the vast grasnd behind him like floodwaters through a broken dam.

    Qin Ye raised his head slightly to look up at the monster with aplex expression.

    These were his people...

    A very long time ago, he had experienced a riot ofherworldly citizens. All of theherworldly citizens were devoured by the riot to form a massive monster, and he had in that monster on that asion.

    The two of them looked at each other from afar, and the entire space seemed to have congealed. Amid the silence, Qin Ye extended a deep bow.

    "I''m sorry. Please allow me to apologize to all of you."

    The skeletal giant let loose another thunderous roar as it stood up straight, then rushed toward Qin Ye in a frenzy. Such was its weight and tremendous power that massive trenches were dug into the ground by its feet as itunched itself forward.

    At the same time, the countless heads in its chest cavity suddenly began to cackle in unison.

    Arthis took an involuntary step forward in the sky, but Zhao Yun stopped her before shaking his head at her.

    He was very pleased to see that Qin Ye was shouldering his own responsibilities.

    He was facing adversity with courage, and there was no need for anyone to share his load.

    In the face of the charging giant, Qin Ye remained calm and collected as he dered, "I promise to avenge you all!"

    Within the span of just a few seconds, the skeletal giant had already reached him, and it raised its palm up high before mming it down with all its might, generating such ferocious speed that a sonic boom was created.

    It was as if they were trying to vent their indignation and despair through this devastating strike.

    "Farewell." Qin Ye finally raised his head, and at this point, the giant''s palm was already upon him.

    Right in this instant, a burst of vast Yin energy erupted violently, sweeping through the area like powerful shockwaves.

    Within the darkness of the night, a burst of dazzling white light emerged like a shooting star.

    The skeletal giant''s entire body exploded into countless bones in front of the city wall before raining down from above while burning withherfire. On the city wall, Qin Ye had already adopted his true form, transforming into a golden skeleton that was wearing a dragon robe and a regal crown on its head. He had drawn his longsword, and with it, he had dealt the killing blow.

    This was his most official appearance, he had adopted it in order to bid farewell to his people.

    The rain of fiery bonessted close to half a minute, and Qin Ye was looking at the ruined city through the fiery storm.

    He had built up this nation bit by bit from nothing, and it could not be allowed to be torn down any further than this!

    The inner demon had to pay for its crimes!

    "Where are my darkfeathers?" His voice rumbled through thend like thunder.

    In the next instant, tens of thousands of Yin soldiers appeared on the horizon like a wave of darkness.

    "Conduct a search!" Qin Yemanded. "Find out where the Yin energy came from on this asion!"

    You''re sorely mistaken if you think I''m the only one who wants you to die! You think you can just barge into the trial of inner demons and the Heavenly Dao won''t care? Do you really think you''re invincible? I''ll put an end to you myself!

 Chapter 1153: Trap (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1153: Trap (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye closed his eyes as he stood atop the ruined city walls.

    Anger couldn''t solve any problems. The only way to trulyy these souls to rest would be to hunt down the inner demon!

    The demise of Safesoul City was an act of revenge from the inner demon, and it was also designed to further intimidate and demoralize Hell. It had almost been hunted down, so in exchange, it razed an entire city to the ground in order to vent its vengeful fury!

    "I am not the only one who detests your existence!" He closed his eyes as he released his consciousness, and a ck and white image of the entire city instantly appeared in his mind.

    Did you think really that the Heavenly Dao would just let things slide after you barged into Their divine art? Nothingness is cold and emotionless, but They''re still the Heavenly Dao of this world, and They stand on our side!

    A series of images appeared one after another, depicting a lively and bustling city in the mortal realm. Immediately thereafter, his perspective rose up higher and higher, and the city down below shrank further and further, until it was only a tiny spot on the map.

    Now then, prepare to receive the massive present that Nothingness prepared for you!

    The entire map of Cathay was entirely visible to Qin Ye. All of the surrounding dark clouds faded like snow under the scorching, summer sun, and with his omniscient perspective, he was able to immediately spot the only ce on the map that was glowing with red light.

    "Found you!" A cold smile appeared on his face.

    He was just about to deploy his darkfeathers, but he decided against issuing that order at thest moment.

    The inner demon had just attacked the Cathayan Underworld. If the darkfeathers were to immediately travel to the province of Shanxi now, the inner demon would be alerted and flee the scene.

    Against an opponent like the inner demon, he had to eradicate it in a single blow. He definitely didn''t want to see another city suffer the same fate as Safesoul City!

    He wanted to lure the inner demon into a trap, but the trap still hadn''t been constructed yet, so this still wasn''t the right time to strike.

    "You''re in luck." He took onest look at the red spot on the map in his consciousness, then forcibly scattered it before opening his eyes, upon which he discovered that the Harken, Zhao Yun, and Arthis were already standing around him.

    Before they had a chance to ask, Qin Ye nodded as he said, "It''s in Shanxi. However, this isn''t the time to strike. I''ll get the darkfeathers to continue following it and to ascertain its location... What are you all doing?"

    He didn''t notice this earlier, but looking at them now, the three Yama-Kings had surrounded him in a rather unnatural formation.

    "What are we doing?" Arthis scoffed. "We''re worried that you''ll have a rush of blood to the head and go to challenge the inner demon in person! After that, we can prepare for your funeral!"

    How could you think of me like that? Am I really that unwise in your eyes? Without at least an 80% chance of sess, there''s no way I would strike!

    "I''m not so foolish as to allow my anger to get the better of me," Qin Ye said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Where are my darkfeathers?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, around a dozen figures appeared in a wraith-like manner around him, then bowed in unison. "Please give us your instructions, Your Excellency."

    "The inner demon is in Shanxi," Qin Ye said with a cold expression. "Keep an eye on it at all costs!"

    "Yes!" all of the darkfeathers immediately replied without any hesitation.

    With the inner demon''s location ascertained, all that was left was to pick the right opportunity to strike, and when they did strike, they had to make absolute sure to make it count.

    In the blink of an eye, the darkfeathers vanished as a flurry of ck butterflies, following which Zhao Yun reported, "Your Excellency, we received news from the mortal realm just now."

    "Has there been an oue?" Qin Ye asked.

    "No," Zhao Yun replied after a brief hesitation.

    "Then I don''t have time to deal with them," Qin Ye said in a cold voice. "Due to their ipetence, Safesoul City was destroyed! They should be thankful that they''re still alive!"

    Even though they had discovered that the inner demon was in Shanxi, if it were to perform a long-distance transfer to another host, the trail would go cold again.

    The only way to be able to reliably track the inner demon would be to use a fragment of its soul, and they hade so close to capturing one, only for the opportunity to be ruined by the rat in the Special Investigations Department. In the wake of the incident, it had taken Qin Ye a lot of self-restraint not to send Zheng Shuguo to Hell for reincarnation.

    "Your Excellency!" Right as Qin Ye was about to depart, Zhao Yun''s voice rang out again. "The one requesting an audience with you on this asion isn''t Director Zheng."

    "Oh? Who is it then?" Qin Ye asked as he raised an eyebrow.

    "It''s Director Rao."

    Director Rao?

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly before a hint of enlightenment appeared in his eyes.

    There was only one Director Rao in the Cathayan government, and that was Director Rao Guanghui of the Organization Department.

    He was a truly powerful figure in the government system, and he was one of the leading candidates to be the next prime minister.

    The fact that he was extending an invitation toward Qin Ye in person was a sign that they were taking this matter very seriously.

    "Interesting." The Yin wind around Qin Ye subsided as he said, "In that case, let me see what this Director Rao has to say."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    With the arrival of Rao Guanghui, all of the surveince instruments and light fixtures within a radius of over 100 meters around the municipal government building had been switched on. At the same time, there were countless military police officers and bodyguards concealed within the shadows. The front of the municipal government building had also beenpletely shut off, and it was no exaggeration to say that there were guards stationed at every few steps.

    "Long time no see, Yanluo Qin." In the conference hall, Rao Guanghui extended a hand toward Qin Ye with a smile, looking as if he werepletely oblivious to what had happened earlier.

    Through his attitude, he was expressing the hope that Hell would let bygones be bygones and forget the past.

    "Indeed." After a brief handshake, Qin Ye took a seat, then said, "Unfortunately, we never seem to meet under positive circumstances. Otherwise, I would be more than happy to chat, Director Rao."

    Qin Ye wasn''t going to let things slide so easily. While it was true that Hell and the mortal realm were interdependent on one another, that was no reason for the Cathayan government to growx andcent.

    Rao Guanghui seemed to have failed to understand the intention behind Qin Ye''s words as he also took a seat. Cups of tea had already been brought onto the table for them.

    As soon as Rao Guanghui sat down, he said in an earnest voice, "Firstly, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for our oversight, and the massive losses that has caused to Hell."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and his impression of Rao Guanghui immediately improved significantly. At the very least, he wasn''t spouting excuses or pinning the me on others.

    "The losses were massive, indeed," Qin Ye said with a cold smile. "Not long after the inner demon''s soul fragment escaped, the inner demon exacted its revenge, razing a city with a poption of tens of thousands to the ground..."

    He leaned forward slightly with a cold expression as he said, "I don''t think this is something that can be settled with just a verbal apology."

    Rao Guanghui didn''t back down in the slightest as he looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes. "This is why I came to give you an answer."

    He pulled out a brown paper bag, then gently slid it over the table toward Qin Ye.

    The paper bag was caught by Qin Ye, who opened it before inspecting its contents.

    Only a few secondster, his eyes abruptly lit up, and he cast a meaningful gaze toward Rao Guanghui, who smiled as he made an inviting hand gesture.

    Qin Ye continued reading, and the more he saw, the more inspired he became. The contents of the document were allowing him to map out a path in his mind, the path to killing the inner demon!

    Only after a full five minutes had passed did he set down the paper bag, but he didn''t push it back to Rao Guanghui. Instead, he rested his hand on it as he cast his gaze toward Rao Guanghui and said, "This is a very interesting resume."

    "Indeed," Rao Guanghui replied as he picked up his teacup before taking a sip. "Li Xingjian, 51 years of age, governor of East Lake Province, mainly responsible for overseeing economic development andnd reform projects."

    Rao Guanghui seemed to already have had the informationmitted to memory, and he continued without pause, "He graduated from university at 22 years of age, then took on a job as a clerk at the Land Development Agency of Cangshui County in the city of Longzhou, Fulin Province. Due to the outstanding efficiency andpetence he disyed in the role, he caught the eye of the county magistrate of Cangshui County, Zhou Bin, who took him on as his secretary, thereby beginning his rapid rise up the ranks. Zhou Bin was an earnest and capable official who served for over 30 years, during which time he climbed up the ranks from county magistrate of Cangshui County to a member of the standing provincialmittee. As a result, Li Xingjian also enjoyed a meteoric rise. At 37 years of age, he was sent to a certain county in the three eastern provinces to serve as deputy county magistrate, and after several promotions, he became the governor of East Lake Province..."

    A wry smile appeared on his face as he concluded, "Unfortunately, he went on to embezzle at least hundreds of millions..."

    Qin Ye''s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "What am I supposed to do with this information?"

    Despite what he was asking, he already had a clear idea of what had to be done.

    Rao Guanghui took a deep breath before replying, "I''ve already seen the information on the inner demon that you sent through to us via the city gods and lords of thend. As a result, I''m very much aware of just how troublesome the inner demon is to deal with. The only way to capture it would be to lure it into a trap. Do you think an official of Li Xingjian''s caliber would be enough to act as this trap?"

    So I was right!

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. He didn''t think that the opportunity woulde this quickly, and he failed to anticipate the determination and resolve disyed by the government.

    There were many mysteries surrounding the inner demon, and they were being slowly stripped away by Hell, but there was still one thing that couldn''t be exined: why did it think that it could take down Hell on its own?

    Yes, it did have the assistance of the 73 immortals, but did it really think that this was enough?

    Any Yama-King could destroy the 73 immortals. The vast disparity in power simply couldn''t be bridged by numbers. In that case, where did it derive its confidence from?

    Extraterrestrial gods?

    That was a possibility, but all extraterrestrial gods had to be extremely careful in this ne. If they were to recklessly forge an alliance with the inner demon, they would immediately be hunted down by the Heavenly Dao.

    In that case, there was only one answer.

    Its greatest asset was people, living people!

    Those who had been possessed by it during their lifetimes had their souls corrupted, and once they entered the underworld, they would automatically create an anchor point for it. That would also exin why so many people had been possessed by it in the capital city''s Special Investigations Department branch.

    The inner demon had no specific objective. All it was doing at the moment was spreading its seed to create an anchor point for itself in the Cathayan Underworld in the future.

    The best way to evoke negative emotions within arge number of people would be to take over a high-ranking official. If it could take over a provincial official for example, then it would be able to implement policies that affected that entire province!

    Thus, there was no way that it would pass up this opportunity!

    This was a natural trap, and all they would have to do was wait for the inner demon to fall into it!

 Chapter 1154: Trap (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1154: Trap (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye picked up his teacup before lifting its lid, and the refreshing scent of tea instantly flowed into his nostrils. He lowered his head to take a sip, concealing the sharp look in his eyes as he did so.

    Never did he think that the mortal realm would be so determined that they would be willing to toss out a provincial governor in order to set this trap.

    This wasn''t just as simple as tossing someone out. Li Xingjian deserved this fate for his crimes, but in order to set up this trap, they had to allow him to continue to ept bribes and be more and more corrupt. In the process, he was undoubtedly going to affect the policy decision-making of the entire province, which meant that the poption of that entire province was involved in this plot, and it was quite a bold decision to make.

    Once again, the advantages of an authoritarian political system rose to the fore here.

    With the central government intentionally allowing Li Xingjian to do as he pleased, there would be a much higher chance of the inner demon falling for the trap! All they had to do was keep constant surveince on Li Xingjian, and once the inner demon decided to strike, the Harken would immediately arrive to trap it!

    Thus, Hell would be able to face off against the inner demon without any distractions.

    "Alright, then I''ll be counting on you," Qin Ye said with a smile as he set down his teacup.

    Rao Guanghui heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this, then stood up and extended a hand forward as he said, "Looking forward to coborating with you."

    "Likewise." Thus, another handshake concluded the meeting.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye slowly emerged in a room amid a gust of Yin wind.

    This was a very spacious room that was around 300 to 400 square meters in area, and it was separated into sections by several massive screens. A few nts in gold-ted pots were ced artfully in the corners of the hall, giving it a clean and simplistic, yet also decadent and refined look.

    The entire hall was brightly lit by the ptialnterns powered by the new energy resource, and in the instant that Qin Ye appeared, all of the surrounding underworld emissaries immediately bowed in unison. "Wee, Yanluo Qin!"

    Qin Ye smiled as he nodded toward the middle-aged Yin spirit at the forefront of the group. "No need for formalities. Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

    "Yes!"

    The four Yin spirits at the front stood up straight again, following which the Yin spirits behind them did the same. The two Yin spirits at the forefront were middle-aged individuals wearing purple official robes, and they stepped forward before extending another deep bow toward Qin Ye in unison.

    "Administrative Commissioner Liu Qiankun of Taixing Province pays his respects to Yanluo Qin!"

    "Governor Mu Shun of Taixing Province pays his respects to Yanluo Qin!"

    Qin Ye gave a nod of acknowledgment, before waving a hand, then sat down onto the main seat. All of the other officials also sat down one after another, then immediately opened their notepads.

    Computers hadn''t been developed yet, so paper notepads were still in use. However, things like cameras, video cameras, and recorders had already appeared. In the past, the secretaries and assistants had to frantically record everything that took ce during meetings using pen and paper, but they were able to use video cameras and microphones now, while image capture crystals had been reced by cameras.

    As the video cameras were switched on, the entire hall quickly fell silent. All of the high-ranking officials of Taixing Province present were eagerly awaiting themencement of the meeting. Taixing Province was one of the Cathayan Underworld''s ind provinces, and even though it corresponded with Shanxi Province of the mortal realm, it wasn''t blessed with the rich ore and mineral resources that Shanxi Province had. Thus, it rarely ever had anything to say during work report meetings, and it never caught the attention of Hell''s leaders.

    However, just a few hours ago, the high-ranking officials of the province received a call from the new energy resource phones, informing them that Qin Ye and the three other Yama-Kings were going to be arriving soon, and they were so ted by this news that they didn''t even know what to do with themselves!

    They didn''t know why these important figures were visiting their province, but if they could leave a positive impression on them, then that would do wonders for their political careers!

    Amid the silence, Qin Ye took a sip of tea, then said, "I''m sure everyone has already seen the emergency documents sent out a week ago."

    A week ago, Everburn had begun implementing measures to defend against the inner demon, which included distributing information about the inner demon''s special properties to all provinces. Of course, only officials of the governor level were aware that they were dealing with the inner demon. As for all of theherworldly citizens and Yin soldiers across the nation, they were only under the impression that they had to deal with potential natural disasters.

    This was the advantage of theck of information freedom in authoritarian nations. If information were free to circte, then everyone would be aware of the demise of Safesoul City, and that would spread panic across the entire nation. Countlessherworldly citizens would move to ces that they thought were safe, and that would result in severe overpoption of all of the nation''s major cities.

    All of the tion in the hearts of the underworld emissaries present instantly faded upon hearing this. Liu Qiankun suddenly realized that this visit from King Yanluo wasn''t necessarily a good thing, and a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart as he gulped nervously. "Your Excellency, could it be..."

    He couldn''t bring himself to continue. Qin Ye wore a grim expression as silence descended upon the entire hall again, and several secondster, Qin Ye informed, "10 hours ago, Safesoul City on the western border was destroyed."

    A string of stunned gasps rang out, following which everyone looked up with incredulous expressions.

    This was a city with a poption of tens of thousands, yet it was gone just like that?

    Liu Qiankun was holding his pen so tightly that it was on the verge of snapping, and a chill ran down his spine as this piece of news fully sank. However, before he had a chance to ask any questions, the next piece of news allowed him to heave a sigh of relief.

    "There won''t be another attack."

    However, before he even had a chance to finish his sigh of relief, what Qin Ye had to say next had them on the edge of their seats again. "However, the inner demon is currently lingering in Shanxi Province in the mortal realm, which corresponds with Taixing Province. We are unsure of its exact location."

    In just a short few seconds, all of the underworld emissaries present had been put on an emotional rollercoaster.

    Were they afraid? Of course they were! This was an invisible enemy, and the fear for their province''s safety waspounded by the fear of the unknown.

    At the same time, they knew that this was the time to profess their loyalty and determination. The capital city of Taixing Province was Eternahell City, which had tens of thousands of Yin soldiers, and they were confident that they would at least be able to put up a fight if the inner demon dared to strike at them!

    Only an idiot would pass up this opportunity to make a good impression, and all of the underworld emissaries present instantly began to profess their resolve. "Rest assured, Yanluo Qin. If the inner demon dares toe, then we''ll guard the province with our lives! So long as we still draw breath, the province will not be allowed to fall!"

    Qin Ye nodded with a pleased expression. He knew that if the inner demon were to attack, Eternahell City wouldn''t be able to resist at all, but the fighting spirit was something that he really liked to see.

    If these officials didn''t even have the resolve to resist, then the city would truly be doomed.

    "From this day forth, Eternahell City is to go on the highest level of alert," he ordered. "Also, deploy all of Eternahell City''s best darkfeathers. Prior to the inner deon''s departure from this ce, I want to know everything that it does, and even if it does leave, you must track it at all costs, understood?"

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time flew by in a sh, and in the blink of an eye, it had already been a month.

    In his office, Qin Ye was holding two reports while reading them in silence.

    "You two take a look as well." Several minutester, he pushed the reports toward Zhao Yun and Arthis, and both of them quickly read through the reports.

    Several more minutes passed by before Zhao Yun put down the reports with tightly furrowed brows. "This is very strange. The first report came from a week ago, stating that the darkfeathers have confirmed that the inner demon and the 73 immortals are all lurking in the city of Yuncheng."

    Zhao Yun swept a hand through the air, and a map appeared in mid-air. He then pointed his finger at a certain point in Shanxi Province as he continued, "This should be thest report sent out by the darkfeathers, and within three minutes of the report being sent out, the Yin energy of the darkfeatherspletely vanished, which means that they''ve already been discovered by the inner demon. However, this second report was sent a week after that one, and its contents confirm that the inner demon is still in Yuncheng. At the same time, this was also thest report sent out by that group of darkfeathers. Yesterday, all of the darkfeathers returned, but over 10 were sent out, and only five returned. After a month of investigation, they discovered these two reports..."

    He lowered his head in contemtion for a moment, then continued, "All of the darkfeathers have undergone special training and have been refined by the three divine artifacts, so their Yin energy is undetectable. The fact that so many of them have met their demise indicates that firstly, the inner demon has more spies in Yuncheng than we imagined. Secondly..."

    He paused momentarily as he turned to Qin Ye with a grim expression. "And this is what I''m most perplexed about. As soon as the first darkfeathers, it should''ve been on high alert. Even though we made it seem like our darkfeathers are scouring the entire nation, it should''ve left Yuncheng immediately. After all, its biggest advantage is its untraceable nature. It would be reasonable to think that it''s waiting for the return of the 73 immortals, but the 73 immortals already returned a week ago, so why hasn''t it left yet?"

    What was keeping it tethered to Yuncheng?

    We can''t send any more darkfeathers to Yuncheng...

    This was the first time that Hell had seized the initiative in this battle against the inner demon by tracking it down, at the cost of eight top-tier darkfeathers. If they were to send more darkfeathers to Yuncheng, even if the inner demon were under the impression that it hadn''t already been discovered, sending more darkfeathers to Yuncheng would definitely tip it off.

    If this trail were to run cold, then it would be next to impossible to track down the inner demon again. In fact, there was a good chance that the inner demon had already grown suspicious, but had only chosen to stay out of necessity for some reason.

    They couldn''t just allow it to escape!

    Qin Ye stood up while gently massaging his beaded bracelet, and he stared at the map for a long while before finally deciding, "I''m going to make a trip to Yuncheng myself."

    "Your Excellency!" Zhao Yun immediately raised his head, yet before he could say anything, Qin Ye brushed off his objections with a dismissive wave of his hand.

    "The inner demon is unique in that it can detect other beings through their emotions and desires, rather than having to rely on Yin energy like other Yin spirits. However, I''ve passed the trial of inner demons, obtaining the origin runes of emotions and desires, and with the three divine artifacts to conceal my Yin energy, there''s no way it''ll be able to notice me."

    "But..."

    "Brother Zhao." Qin Ye turned to him with an earnest expression as he said, "As King Yanluo, I must take on responsibilities fitting of my position. I''m the only one in Hell who can do this, so it should be up to me."

    He really has changed...

    Arthis had remained silent this entire time, but she was very much impressed and gratified. This was not something that the past cowardly Qin Ye wouldn¡¯t have ever said.

    Zhao Yun still seemed to want to say something, but he decided against it in the end.

    The 73 immortals had already returned, yet the inner demon still remained in Yuncheng, even though it was at risk of being discovered. Granted, even if it were tracked down, it could still flee extremely quickly, but why would it tempt fate like this?

    Was there something in Yuncheng that was so valuable to the inner demon that it was willing to risk being tracked down by Hell?

    Someone had to go to make sense of the situation, and as King Yanluo, Qin Ye owed a duty to the entire Cathayan Underworld.

    "Please look after yourself, Your Excellency," Zhao Yun said as he extended a deep bow.

    After that, he stood up straight again, and his voice rang out across the entire city as he ordered, "All officials of the governor level, gather at the first meeting hall right away!"

    Qin Ye could go, but there was no way that Hell would allow its King Yanluo to venture into such a perilous situation alone.

    Even if he had to face off against the inner demon on his own, there had to be an army following him!

 Chapter 1155: Ancient Corpse (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1155: Ancient Corpse (1)</h4>

    The light cast a bleak, white glow over the entire construction site, while pieces of machinery were rumbling incessantly. Around the construction site stood hundreds of humanoid figures.

    This wasn''t an urban area. In fact, it couldn''t even be referred to as the outskirts of a city. There was tall thatch stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions, yet all of the thatch within 100 meters of the construction site was inky-ck, as if ink had been spilled onto the area. Even further away, several dead trees could be seen, and countless red-eyed crows could be seen perched all over all of the trees.

    A pristine white bone spike that was covered in blood punched through the chest of a young Taoist priest, whose lips were trembling as he gripped tightly onto the bone spike, as if he were trying to arrest the flow of his own fading life force.

    The owner of the bone spike was a thin and pale man with a head of long hair. He waspletely expressionless, and it looked as if killing a human were no different to killing an ant to him. The young Taoist priest threw up a mouthful of blood, yet there was no fear on his face whatsoever as he scoffed in a trembling voice, "What a pathetic existence you are..."

    The long-haired man instantly squatted down before swiping an arm through the air, and his bone spike created a dazzling arc, decapitating the young Taoist priest and sending his head rolling away to the side.

    "These are supposed to be the direct lineal descendants of Mount Longhu''s Taoist Zhang?" The bone spike withdrew up the sleeve of the long-haired man, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he chuckled, "As expected, all of his descendants are trash."

    An eerie man in a Mao suit was standing beside him, but the man''s hands were concealed up his sleeves, and he cast a displeased nce toward the long-haired man as he said, "Mount Longhu has extremely far-reaching influence. Mount Longhu won''t just let you get away with killing him. This era is different from the one you lived in, it''s not so easy to find such endowed disciples nowadays."

    "So what?" the long-haired man scoffed as his tongue extended out to a foot in length before licking his lips. His pupils abruptly turned vertical as he said in a cold voice, "Taoism is thergest religion in this nation, but Taoist Master Zhang of this generation can''t even begin topare with Zhang Daoling! If Zhang Daoling were still around, even the Many-faced God wouldn''t want toe here. The three treasures of Taoism, the book, the sword, and the seal, can bebined to form the creation-grade divine artifact, the High Zenith World Vanquishing Bell, but I''ve seen the historical records. The Heavenly Teacher Sword was taken to Formosa and left at the bottom of the Sun Moon Lake, and the Taoist Master Zhang of pure bloodline also fled to Formosa. The one in charge here on Mount Longhu is nothing more than a powerless substitute. Without the bloodline of Taoist Master Zhang and the three treasures of Taoism, he would be asking for an early death if he dares to confront me."

    The eerie man remained unconvinced, and he reminded, "Don''t forget that you''ve already killed seven darkfeathers."

    Taoist Master Zhang wasn''t worthy of fear, but if he were to report the situation to Hell, then that could spell major trouble.

    Just the mere thought of being hunted down by underworld emissaries was enough to send chills running down his spine.

    The implication of Hell seemed to have triggered some type of strong emotion in the long-haired man, and his hair abruptly rose up, while his clothes pped on their own despite the absence of wind. His chest was also heaving violently, and only after a long while did he calm down again.

    "Since when did those traitors be the official administration?" he spat through gritted teeth. "700 of our brothers have already awakened. Aside from all of those who had their physical bodies destroyed, there are at least 2,000 whose remains can be found! Once our bodies and souls are restored andbined as one, Hell would pose no threat to us at all!"

    Right at this moment, a burst of violent tremors ran through this entire area, and a vast expanse of Yin energy that was invisible to mortals erupted into the heavens.

    This wasn''t Yin energy that belonged to Hell. Instead, it was murkier and more ancient, and it was imbued with an extremely ruthless and bloodthirsty aura.

    The long-haired man and eerie man''s hair and clothes were blown upward to the point that they were virtuallypletely vertical, yet they weren''t rmed by this in the slightest. In fact, the long-haired man was ted as he turned around, and he was literally smiling from ear to ear before quickly rushing backward.

    This was an extremely rural ce without any human poption, and what was most strange about it was the dryness of the soil.

    Regardless of whether it rained in this ce or not, the soil here seemed to be incapable of absorbing any moisture. Over this parchedndscape was a small stone mountain.

    It really wasn''t appropriate to even call it a mountain. Instead, it was only a stone mound that was around one to two meters tall, and roughly 20 meters in radius. At the center of the mound was a spring, but the spring was filled with sediment and very murky as a result.

    Anyone with any knowledge in fengshui would definitely avoid this ce at all costs.

    The parched earth, the murky pond, and the stone mound were all signs that this was an extremely unlucky and perilous ce!

    It indicated that there was something buried here that wasn''t attracting any energy to it at all. Either the being buried here had been far too sinful during their lifetime and had been buried here in order to seal the corpse away, or their descendants had buried them here in the hope that their corpse would undergo some type of mutation. Otherwise, there was no way that a normal person would be buried in a ce like this!

    The long-haired man was extremely fast, and he reached the stone mound in the blink of an eye. A pit around 50 meters in size had already been dug out there, and there were ropedders leading downward all around the pit. A dim light was glowing down below, situated at a depth in excess of 100 meters.

    There were already over 100 people gathered around the ce, and at the center was a square-faced man in a pair of sses and a suit. His brows furrowed slightly as he turned to the left. "I require an exnation, Mr. Zhao."

    "An exnation for what?" The man who was being referred to as Mr. Zhao was unnaturally thin and pale, looking as if he could be blown over by a strong breeze. However, he seemed to be the leader of the group, and everyone was gathered around him.

    "Why has something like this been dug out of this ce?" the square-faced man asked with a furious expression. "Don''t you know that this plot ofnd could be easily sold for millions? How do I exin this to the Ministry of Land and Resources?"

    Mr. Zhao was a very old man, looking to be in his eighties, and he was wearing a Mao suit as he gently stroked his beard with a smile. "Are you still worried about things like that, County Magistrate Hu?"

    County Magistrate Hu replied, "As the county magistrate, I naturally have to look out for this county. Land is the economic basis of Ruicheng County, yet you didn''t tell me what was under here at all! Why would I not be worried? Are you doubting my devotion to the nation?"

    Mr. Zhao was very amused to hear this, and he turned to the side, upon which a man in a suit beside him immediately handed him a piece of paper with both hands.

    "Here''s two million, pretend you never saw this. We''ve been working together for several years already, haven''t we?" Mr. Zhao said with a smile.

    County Magistrate Hu didn''t even look at the money. Instead, he was watching Mr. Zhao with a hint of a smile on his face. "Indeed, it''s been a few years. During these past few years, you''ve dug thousands of holes across my county. Have you ever stopped to consider how much inconvenience your actions have brought to our work?"

    Mr. Zhao''s smile remained unchanged, and he looked at County Magistrate Hu for a few seconds before snapping his fingers, upon which another man stepped forward before handing another piece of paper to him.

    "Five million." Mr. Zhaoid a hand onto County Magistrate Hu''s shoulder as he said, "You''re working very hard to being out sote at night. This is a little show of appreciation from ourpany. Just like the cheque fromst time, you can cash the cheque at any international bank, and there''s no way it''ll be traced back to you."

    County Magistrate Hu''s expression finally eased slightly, and he patted Mr. Zhao''s hand as he sighed, "I really do work too hard for this county."

    "I understand, and I want to make your work as easy as possible." Mr. Zhao withdrew his hand with a smile, and right at this moment, a horrified scream rang out from the bottom of the pit.

    Mr. Zhao cast a nce toward the pit, following which a mysterious smile appeared on his face. "Don''t you want to know what''s down there, County Magistrate Hu?"

    County Magistrate Hu''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Mr. Zhao, I''m responsible for attracting business and investments to our county, and yourpany is one that was recruited to our county. However, I would be overstepping the boundaries of my job if I were to interfere with the operations of your business. That is something that was made clear by the central government. Are you trying to lure me into making a mistake?"

    Mr. Zhao''s smile grew even more enigmatic as he replied, "That''s true."

    Thus, County Magistrate Hu turned to depart. "Seeing as the foundational work has already beenpleted, I''m guessing that yourpany is about to make a start on your project. In that case, it looks like I have nothing more to worry about. Make sure to issue me a report tomorrow. I''m very busy, so as a practical consideration, I won''t be attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony."

    After that, he quickly left the scene. For some reason, the longer he stayed, the more ufortable he felt.

    Outside this plot ofnd was a ck Santana, and County Magistrate Hu stepped into the car before immediately instructing, "Let''s go back."

    The driver immediately turned on the ignition, and only after driving close to 100 meters away from the scene did he dare to speak. "Who are those people, County Magistrate Hu? They... They don''t look like good people to me..."

    All drivers were extremely trusted subordinates to leaders, and County Magistrate Hu was resting with his eyes closed in the back of the car, but his eyes immediately sprang open upon hearing this. "You think I need you to tell me who to interact with?! Attracting business and investments is the most important thing! Who cares about who those people are? They''ve paid millions for each hole that they''ve dug, and over the past few years, they''ve invested over a hundred million into our county! With their investment, we don''t need any support from government policies, so what does it matter if they''re good people or not?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Right after County Magistrate Hu departed, the long-haired man made his way over to Mr. Zhao, then said, "Esteemed Many-faced God, don''t you think he''s being a little too greedy? He''s going to be detained and interrogated by the government eventually, and when that timees, he could spill the beans about us, so should we..."

    "There''s no need for that," Mr. Zhao replied as he licked his lips, as if he were looking forward to a delicious meal. "His soul is extremely tasty. Save him for me, it''s been a very long time since I''ve smelled anything so delicious..."

    A woman holding a child emerged. She was wearing a professional suit as well, and she asked, "What about the darkfeathers? We''ve already caught seven darkfeathers this month, isn''t it about time that you left this ce?"

    Mr. Zhao''s smile finally faded as his brows furrowed tightly.

    There was nothing that he feared in the mortal realm, and the only thing that he was wary of was the power of Hell.

    Never did he think that they would also have a being above the Yama-King level. In addition to that, the Harken had also made a full recovery, so if a battle were to ensue, the oue would be truly difficult to predict.

    The seven darkfeathers were already a warning sign. At the very least, it indicated that Hell was doing everything in its power to track him down. Was it trying to secure revenge for Safesoul City?

    He looked down at the giant pit, then raised his head to look up at the sky, and only after a long while did he finally decide, "No, we''ll stay. Keep digging! The fengshui of this ce clearly indicates that we''re not far away from that being''s tomb!"

 Chapter 1156: Ancient Corpse (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1156: Ancient Corpse (2)</h4>

    Before the Many-faced God had a chance to finish, a shrill howl rang out from the bottom of the pit once again, and it seemed to be imbued with thousands of years worth of resentment and hatred.

    "Resentment is about to awaken," the long-haired man sighed. "Let me go and assist him."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he took a step forward, then plummeted toward the bottom of the pit like a dead weight.

    It was extremely cold at the bottom of the pit. The Yin wind here had already reached an extreme level of density, causing the temperatures to plummet drastically, and even though it had only been a short time, the walls were already covered with white frost.

    However, even the frost was unable to disguise the disgusting texture of the soil, which was only growing more and more hideous the lower one went down the hole. The soil on the surrounding walls were like sliced flesh, with an extremely sticky and viscous texture. Furthermore, there was a type of dark red liquid oozing out of it.

    Even for those not well-versed in fengshui, it would be more than apparent that this was not a good ce to be, and one couldn''t help but wonder what kind of horrifying being had been sealed here.

    The long-haired man was descending faster and faster, and upon reaching a depth of around 80 meters, he arrived in a massive cave. There were chains surrounding the entire cave, and the chains were nailed to the walls by a series of branches.

    They had already been here for countless years, yet these branches were still lush and full of vitality, without showing any signs of trying or atrophy. It beggared belief that branches that had been underground for so many years could still be so lush and green.

    "This is the Starry Forest Array," the long-haired man remarked. "They''ve truly expended a lot of effort here. However, I bet they never expected that we would be the ones to be revived instead of them several thousand yearster! All you can do is lie in the cradle of mythology and watch all of this unfold helplessly!"

    With an eruption of sand and dust, hended violently at the bottom of the pit, where a massive coffin lied.

    The coffin was huge, over 10 meters in size, but it didn''t appear out of ce at all in this massive pit. It was as if a giant were resting in it.

    Instead of a wooden coffin, this was a coffin constructed entirely from stone, which indicated that the coffin was more for sealing than for burial.

    It was clear that several thousand years ago, someone wanted to seal the being in the coffin away forever.

    The coffin seemed to have been constructed from a single rock, and at the head of the coffin was an engraving simr to the eight trigrams. Countless corpses were littered around the coffin, all of whom had blood flowing out of all of their orifices and were wearing construction worker uniforms.

    "Qimen Dunjia..." The long-haired man stroked the design with aplex expression, then closed his eyes as he murmured to himself, "After several thousand years, we''ve finally returned."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the design on the coffin abruptly shattered, and his palmpletely sank into it. In the next instant, a thunderous roar rang out throughout the entire pit.

    Less than half a secondter, the giant coffin trembled violently, immediately following which its heavy lid was forced slowly upward. A massive palm that was covered in white fur with inky-ck nails then emerged alongside the aura of a nascent Yama-King.

    "So it''s you." A hoarse voice rang out. "How long has it been?"

    "Maybe 3,000 years, maybe 6,000 years, who knows?" the long-haired man replied with a smile. "We have returned."

    A brief silence ensued.

    Several secondster, an indignant voice rang out inside the coffin. "Indeed, we have returned. We have to show them who the real master of this world is! Is our king still alive?"

    "I don''t know," the long-haired man replied with a shake of his head.

    "Then whose orders are you following?" The voice in the coffin was growing very frustrated. "We''ve already been reduced to this pitiful state, we can''t do anything on our own!"

    "We are following the orders of a monster known as the Many-faced God," the long-haired man replied.

    "Never heard of him," the voice in the coffin scoffed.

    A wary look immediately appeared on the long-haired man''s face as he urged, "Be careful with what you say, my brother. That monster is no ordinary being. Its powers areparable with those of our master, and he definitely didn''te after us. He''s very familiar with our battles, so he''s at least from the same era as us, perhaps even earlier. If we want to revive our king, then we must work with him."

    The coffin fell silent again.

    A long whileter, the coffin exploded violently, and powerful Yin energy erupted forth as a thunderous voice rang out. "What a strange world this is. Never did I think that I would see beings from the same era as myself after thousands of years."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "There are four Yin energy passageways below Yuncheng," Zhao Yun said as he turned around. "We have a total of 50,000 Yin soldiers, so 12,500 troops will be sent to each passageway. If anything happens, these troops will arrive on the scene to reinforce Yanluo Qin as quickly as possible."

    This was a spacious conference hall, and Qin Ye, the Harken, Arthis, Liu Qiankun, Mu Shun, all of the high-ranking military and political officials of Taixing Province, and the branch general of the darkfeathers were all present.

    Their King Yanluo was venturing into peril alone, and if they couldn''t ensure his safety, then they might as well put an end to their own lives.

    "The Reincarnation King, the Harken, and I will be leading three of the teams, while the other team will be led by General Li Lang. Yanluo Qin will use messenger birds to inform us of his safety at four-hour intervals. If four hours go by without receiving a messenger bird, then all Yin soldiers are to be deployed immediately."

    Liu Qiankun raised a hand, and upon receiving permission to speak, he asked, "Will we have to notify Yuncheng in advance before we deploy our Yin soldiers?"

    "No," the Harken replied. "We simply can''t do that. If we inform Yuncheng, then they''ll make preparations, and the inner demon will catch on to what we''re doing."

    Sacrifices were required to secure victories.

    Mu Shun took a deep breath, then asked with a serious expression, "When do we set off for Yuncheng?"

    "As soon as all of you are prepared," Qin Ye replied. "One of the Yin energy passageways is situated in Zhaozhou County, and my n is to enter the mortal realm through that passageway. The darkfeathers in Zhaozhou County are still alive, so that means that it''s still a rtively safe ce."

    "Don''t forget that the inner demon has seen you before," the Harken reminded in a serious voice.

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "It''s alright, I have a way around that."

    "Your Excellency." Right at this moment, a darkfeather entered the hall, and as soon as he did so, he immediately extended a respectful bow as he reported, "The Yin Yang Mezzanine of Yuncheng is currently in the process of vanishing."

    Everyone immediately turned toward the darkfeathers, and Liu Qiankun was so startled to hear this that theherfire in his eyes flickered erratically.

    Never had he heard anything like this before.

    All underworld emissaries could only ess the mortal realm through Yin Yang Mezzanines, and they had never exhibited any changes in the past, so how could one suddenly disappear?

    "Your Excellency!" He and Mu Shun immediately stood up at the same time, then cupped his fist as he said in an urgent voice, "I''ve never heard of anything like this before. Yin Yang Mezzanines are unable to close, and they''re constantly being watched by Yin soldiers."

    They werepletely oblivious to the fact that the Yin Yang Mezzanine was disappearing, and that was uneptable.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. This wasn''t the time to be pointing fingers. No Yin Yang Mezzanine had ever disappeared in the past, so the disappearance of this one clearly had something to do with the inner demon.

    What exactly could it be doing in Yuncheng that was worth taking such a massive risk for? Was it not concerned that Hell would notice the abnormal activity taking ce in Yuncheng?

    The inner demon was certainly not an idiot, so the only possibility was that it felt like whatever it was doing in Yuncheng was worth the risk.

    Furthermore, there was a very good chance that it would leave Yuncheng very soon. There was no way that it was foolish enough to stay in Yuncheng for much longer, so it had decided to close the Yin Yang Mezzanine in order to buy itself time. It seemed that the arrival of the darkfeathers had made it wary and suspicious after all.

    What should they do?

    If the inner demon were to leave, did they pretend as if nothing had happened or did they search the entire city to try and find what it was that had convinced the inner demon to take such a massive risk?

    He had a feeling that this was the inner demon''s true objective. The inner demon had already existed for far too long, most likely dating back to the beginning of human existence. It had even witnessed the birth of Hell, and through thousands of years of observation, it should be aware that Hell was definitely more powerful than what was disyed on the surface.

    Even with the addition of the 73 immortals, it wasn''t powerful enough to directly oppose Hell.

    Hell and the inner demon were locked in a race against time, and whichever sidepleted their preparations first would be the first to revoke the verbal agreement. Whatever the inner demon wanted to do was definitely not going to be good news for Hell, and with that in mind, Qin Ye was determined to stop him.

    He swept a hand through the air, and a page appeared out of nowhere. In the instant that it appeared, all of the underworld emissaries below the Yama-King level present shuddered involuntarily before falling to their knees.

    It was the Book of Life and Death.

    Qin Ye''s gaze quickly roamed over the Book of Life and Death, inspecting the entries of Yuncheng.

    Complete silence descended upon the hall, and only after close to a minute had passed by did Qin Ye exhale as he clenched his fists tightly.

    Luck was on his side.

    ording to the Book of Life and Death, the mayor of Yuncheng, Bai Liangping, had taken over the responsibility of attracting business and investments to the city three years ago. One of the businesses that he had attracted to the city was a rtively unknownpany called Hong Fa Real Estate, and this business had invested a total of 1.2 billion into the city''s Mount Tianmu project.

    Hong Fa Real Estate was only a shellpany that was directly controlled by Yuncheng''s Teng Fei Greenery Corporation. There were a total of four controlling shareholders in the Teng Fei Greenery Corporation, all of whom were rtives of Bai Liangping.

    Hong Fa Real Estate didn''t possess the qualifications required to carry out the project, so its parentpany, Teng Fei Greenery, had to step in. Due to cutting corners in materials and costs in the project, Bai Liangping''s family had profited to the tune of hundreds of millions.

    Thus, Teng Fei Greenery had made massive earnings from the project, and it was already inviting tenders for the project. Furthermore, there just so happened to be some people who had contacted them during the past few months.

    This was an extremely fortunate development for Qin Ye.

    He took a deep breath, then immediately turned to Zhao Yun as he said, "Go to the mortal realm right away."

    "Yes." Zhao Yun didn''t ask why as he knew that Qin Ye would tell him.

    "Inform Director Rao that we require the mortal''s realm''s full cooperation." Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, he turned toward the darkfeather who had just delivered the report, then asked, "How much longer will it be until the Yin Yang Mezzanine disappears?"

    "Less than 12 hours, Your Excellency."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a grim expression. The education industry had only been rolled out in the Cathayan Underworld for a few years, so even Infernal Judges were very rare in the nation. As such, they were naturally unaware of the fact that Yin Yang Mezzanines could be closed.

    A single Yama-King would possess the power to close a Yin Yang Mezzanine on their own, and with four Yin Yang Mezzanines in Yuncheng, it meant that there were four Yama-Kings in the city working together to close the Yin Yang Mezzanines.

 Chapter 1157: 12 Hours (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1157: 12 Hours (1)</h4>

    Where had these Yama-Kingse from?

    There wasn''t a single Yama-King among the 73 immortals! It was as if those four Yama-Kings had sprung up out of nowhere! Could this be the true objective that the inner demon had taken such a massive risk to try and achieve?

    In exchange for four Yama-Kings, it was indeed worth the risk.

    The inner demon was a menace to the entire Cathayan Underworld. A terrorist could sow dissension and chaos in an entire nation, but there was no way that they would be able topletely destroy a nation.

    In the worst-case scenario, the Cathayan Underworld would have to shrink its territory to around 80% of its full territory, then split it up into several regions, each of which would be personally overseen by a Yama-King. Even the inner demon wouldn''t dare to directly face hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers who were enhanced by the Wumu military formation, and with the three divine artifacts at their disposal, the Yama-Kings could provide reinforcements to any area at any time.

    However, if the inner demon had powerful allies in the form of several Yama-Kings, then the situation would bepletely different.

    With such a formidable force at its disposal, it really would be able to threaten the reign of Hell!

    "Everyone, adopt your posts! Let''s get moving!" After delivering that final instruction, Qin Ye vanished from the room as a gust of Yin wind.

    Everyone in the hall immediately rose to their feet, and after extending parting bows toward the Yama-Kings, they quickly departed. Thus, only three Yama-Kings were left in the room.

    After a long while, the Harken sighed, "Our King Yanluo has truly grown and matured."

    They had witnessed the entire process of Qin Ye''s journey, and it was exactly because of this that they were even more incredulous.

    "Indeed," Arthis agreed. "The current situation is extremely perilous andplex, yet his thoughts are very clear, and he''s restraining his own emotions very well... I truly didn''t think that he would be able to reach this point."

    She paused here as her brows furrowed slightly. "However, I don''t understand his decision."

    She had only been a Yama-King for a short time, so it made sense that she wasn''t able to trace the thought process of other Yama-Kings. The Harken was aware of this, and it patiently exined, "The Yin Yang Mezzanines are closing... If you were the inner demon, what would you do?"

    Before Arthis had a chance to reply, it continued, "If I were the inner demon, I would station all of the Yama-Kings under mymand beside the Yin Yang Mezzanines so they can kill anyone thates through! It knows that even if we haven''t taken notice of Yuncheng, the closing Yin Yang Mezzanines would''ve definitely aroused our suspicion, and we would undoubtedly send people to investigate. In other words, the period of time prior to the closing of the Yin Yang Mezzanines would be when they''re on their highest alert. If we go up now, no matter how well we conceal ourselves, there''s a very good chance that we''ll be discovered. On top of that, during the closing of a Yin Yang Mezzanine, there will be violent shes of true energy and Yin energy, which would not be pleasant even for a Yama-King to endure. After forcing our way through that, we would have to face the inner demon''s Yama-Kings in battle, and the oues would most likely be far from desirable. Hence, if we want to enter Yuncheng right now, then there''s only one way to do so. Yanluo Qin didn''t explicitly state the method, but it''s one that all Yama-Kings should be able to think of as no one is more familiar with Yama-Kings than Yama-Kings themselves."

    A contemtive look appeared on Arthis''s face as she mused, "Are you saying that the best way to proceed would be to enter the mortal realm through Yin Yang Mezzanines in other cities, then use some form of transport to travel to Yuncheng?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response, and her brows furrowed tightly as she continued, "But that would take at least three hours, and that''s not taking into ount all types of potential unforeseen dys. Will we really be able to make it in time?"

    "That''s why Yanluo Qin looked at Yuncheng''s Book of Life and Death just now," Zhao Yun exined.

    "We need to stall for time," the Harken chimed in in a cold voice. "We have to hope that the mortal realm can offer us ample support, and that the trap of East Lake Province can also be used on Yuncheng."

    Arthis was finally enlightened upon hearing this.

    At this point, there was no way to enter Yuncheng from the Cathayan Underworld. The inner demon had already taken a huge risk to prevent entry into Yuncheng, and it was most likely going to leave the city soon.

    Following its departure, the entire trail would run cold. This was a being above the Yama-King level with several Yama-Kings in apaniment, and if they wanted to hide, it would be next to impossible to find them.

    There was no way for Hell to prevent the closing of the Yin Yang Mezzanines, but the mortal realm had a chance of being able to do this!

    As long as they could set a good trap, then Qin Ye would have enough time to find an opportunity to enter Yuncheng!

    Zhao Yun opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it in the end.

    He suspected that Qin Ye had another hidden n, but this n was too risky, and he didn''t dare to articte it.

    At this moment, all of Hell''s Yama-Kings were gathered in the underworld directly beneath Yuncheng.

    Thus, if a suitable opportunity were to present itself, this mission could change from a scouting mission to a hit job at any time!

    After witnessing the demise of Safesoul City, even they were all filled with vengeful fury toward the inner demon, let alone Qin Ye himself. With that in mind, there was a very good chance that Qin Ye would cast aside his low-risk philosophy to carry out a highly risky hit job against the inner demon.

    He took a deep breath and refrained from sharing this possibility as he cast a concerned gaze outside.

    Please be careful... If something happens to you, even the second King Yanluo won''t be able to make it back in time...

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Useless!" Rao Guanghui mmed a folder onto the table, and his hands were trembling so much from rage that he was unable to even pull a cigarette out of the box.

    He hurled the box of cigarettes away in a frustrated manner, then pointed at the middle-aged man standing in front of him before letting loose a torrent of abuse. "You call yourself an inspector?! If these files hadn''t been thrust right into our faces, you would''ve continued to have been keptpletely in the dark, wouldn''t you?"

    He picked up the folder before mming it viciously down onto the table again. "Just the mayor of Yuncheng alone has embezzled at least hundreds of millions! What do you have to say for yourself as the inspector?! Are you blind or just stupid?! Are you too busy looking at the coal mines to see anything else?! Why is the government still paying you if you''re going to be such an ipetent idiot?!"

    The middle-aged man didn''t even dare to raise his head, and his face waspletely flushed as he said, "Your criticism is valid... We''ll be sure to change our ways..."

    His job was a very difficult one. No more than 20 minutes ago, the city god of Yanjing had arrived at the Special Investigations Department in person to submit files detailing the corruption of the mayor of Yuncheng, Bai Liangping. Upon seeing the submitted information, the middle-aged man had almost passed out from shock and horror.

    The mayor of a city wasn''t a particrly high-ranking official in a national context, but Bai Liangping had embezzled hundreds of millions! Just the Mount Tianmu project alone hadted him astronomical sums, and that wasn''t even taking into ount everything else.

    However, there wasn''t much he could''ve done. Working as a disciplinarymittee inspector was a grueling and thankless job, and they were always short-staffed. How were they supposed to know that the mayor of a city would dare to be so bold and brazen?

    As he continued to endure insults from Director Rao, he wanted nothing more than to drag out the secretary of Yuncheng to give him a vicious beating.

    The secretary''s job was supposed to be to ensure that the mayor was doing the right thing, yet someone else was being med for his ipetence!

    Director Rao was so enraged that he burst intoughter. "You''re going to change your ways now? After all of the damage has already been done, only now are you going to change your ways?! Get out of my sight and tell Director Zheng toe and see me!"

    The middle-aged man was more than happy to leave, and soon, Zheng Shuguo entered the room.

    "Take a seat." Director Rao had finallyposed himself sufficiently to be able to light a cigarette. "You''ve seen the report. We''re working with a very tight timeframe, and something big is most likely going to happen in Yuncheng. Tell me what you think."

    Zheng Shuguo was silent for a moment before heaving a faint sigh. "Sacrifices must be made for rewards to be had."

    Director Rao took a meaningful look at him, but didn''t say anything.

    It was due to their oversight that the inner demon had managed to escape, and now, Hell was asking for their cooperation.

    What did this entail? It meant that they had to do nothing!

    They couldn''t evacuate the city''s citizens, they couldn''t get the Special Investigation Department involved, and everything had to remain the way it had always been!

    Not only that, but they had to set a trap within the next few hours and hope that the inner demon would fall into it!

    Even though Hell had guaranteed that it would do its best to avoid casualties, there was a good chance thatrge masses of Yuncheng citizens would perish, and that was what Zheng Shuguo had meant by sacrifices.

    Rao Guanghui rose to his feet before pacing around his desk. This was the most difficult decision he had ever had to make during the decades he had spent as a politician.

    However, a decision had to be made nheless, and he quickly made his choice. He opened a drawer, then pulled out a file before handing it over to Zheng Shuguo.

    "Currently, there are people from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection overseeing the case involving Bai Liangping and the Mount Tianmu project," he said with a wry smile. "They haven''tpletely failed in their duty. At the very least, they''ve realized that there''s something wrong with Mayor Bai."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "We must establish a link with them as quickly as possible. In order to keep Bai Liangping on the hook, the people from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection have only negotiated with him the past half a year, but no agreements have been signed. Today... "

    He gritted his teeth as he concluded, "I''m going to give him a massive present!"

    Zheng Shuguo picked up the file before taking a look, then almost immediately drew a sharp breath.

    It was an investment of 1.2 billion USD to purchase his business! This really was a massive present!

    "This is the best that we can do at the moment. It isn''t a massive sum, but it definitely won''t arouse any suspicions. Through this, I hope to be able to lure in the inner demon and make up for our past failure, which allowed it to escape."

    Zheng Shuguo pursed his lips tightly as he closed the file, then said, "I''ll get that arranged right away!"

    Right as Zheng Shuguo was about to leave, Director Rao suddenly added, "I need an answer from you within six hours."

    The Yin Yang Mezzanines were going to close in 12 hours, so six hours was all that they could afford to spend on this.

    This was the sincerity of the mortal realm.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Beside a dark trench in Ruicheng County of Yuncheng City, a man turned to the Many-faced God with a puzzled expression as he asked, "Are you still not going to leave?"

    This ce was called Heilonggou, and it was part of the outskirts of Ruicheng County. It had received this name because not only did this trench not have any flora or fauna around it, it was situated very close to a lush forest, but the closer one came to the trench, the more bleak and deste thendscape became.

    Furthermore, the entire trench had no bottom in sight, and its walls were pitch-ck, as if it had been burned in the past. [Heilonggou directly trantes into ck Dragon Trench.]

    There was a ce that no one visited under normal circumstances.

    Above the trench was a muscr man who was over two meters tall, and he was standing in mid-air. Extremely dense Yin energy was surging out of his body, and one profound Yin rune after another was flying into the trench like shooting stars, while rumbling echoes rang out incessantly.

    "Heh... He wants to leave, but this is too good an opportunity to pass up, so he can''t help but stay." The man had a scar that resembled a writing centipede, extending all the way from the left corner of his forehead to the right corner of his lips, and it was particrly gruesome to look at whenever he smiled. "It''ll take over 10 hours to close the Yin Yang Mezzanines, and true energy and Yin energy will be constantly shing during the first three hours. No one wants to take the risk toe up and see what''s happening during those three hours."

    A faint smile appeared on Mr. Zhao''s face as he said, "I''m on Hell''s cklist, so I have to be careful."

    "What a joke Hell is!" the muscr man scoffed. "They''re just descendants of a traitor. You''re only here because too many darkfeathers havee here, and you''re worried that Hell has a way to track you. Hence, you want to see if more darkfeathers wille through once the true energy and Yin energy subsides in order to verify your suspicions, isn''t that right?"

    Mr. Zhao sighed, "We can afford to stay here for three more hours. After all, the souls of the four of you have already been restored, and we''re not far away from reviving your king. If possible, I really don''t want to leave at such a crucial juncture."

    "Caution is the best policy," the muscr man said in an indifferent voice. "If I were you, I would get as far away from this ce as possible. After all, no matter how sound a n seems, there''s always a possibility for unforeseen changes."

    "Indeed..." Mr. Zhao looked up at the sky as he mused, "I didn''t think he woulde so quickly... Is that Taoist Master Zhang from Mount Longhu? That imposter came to us? Does he have a death wish?"

    The muscr man took a nce in the same direction, then lowered his head in a disinterested manner as he continued to control his own Yin energy. "Be careful. He''s here with the Heavenly Teacher Seal, and he''s not alone. It looks like all of the high-ranking members of the Zhengyi Dao are here... What did you do? Did you dig up Wang Chongyang''s grave?"

    "I didn''t go that far, but there are going to have to be some new graves erected very soon," Mr. Zhao said with a cold smile, then vanished as a gust of Yin wind.

 Chapter 1158: 12 Hours (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1158: 12 Hours (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye''s eyes sprang open in the darkness, and he abruptly pushed the coffin lid above him aside before sitting bolt upright.

    This was a ck hearse, and around the coffin were countless white prayer gs and funeral wreaths. At this moment, Qin Ye was seated in the coffin.

    The surrounding "mourners" weren''t surprised or horrified by the sudden reanimation of the corpse in the slightest, and one of them even identally burped as he had stopped his fake crying too abruptly. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Qin?"

    The hearse was on the way to Yuncheng from Zhaozhou Province.

    This was the method that Qin Ye had devised. He was using the origin runes of emotions and desires to conceal his emotions and desires, then travel to Yuncheng in a hearse. The drivers and "mourners" were all personnel from the Special Investigations Department, and he had examined them using the origin runes of emotions and desires to ensure that they hadn''t been possessed by the inner demon in the past.

    Qin Ye offered no reply to the question. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly as he continued to look up at the sky.

    What immense power... This is true energy! The group is led by an advanced Infernal Judge, and there are 10 Anitya Hellguards as well. They''re humans, but they possess something that can even pose a threat to a Yama-King!

    Right at this moment, a shadow shed through the sky. It was traveling so quickly that it generated a fierce gale, ttening all of the grass in its wake, and even the clouds in the sky were disrupted by the flying figure.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this.

    It was a Taoist priest with a long beard, holding a horsetail whisk.

    He was wearing a blue robe, upon which was inscribed the pattern of a Yin Yang, and his robes were pping incessantly around him, giving him an ethereal appearance.

    It was clear that this was no ordinary person, and he was the one carrying the thing that Qin Ye sensed could pose a threat to a Yama-King.

    Right as the middle-aged Taoist priest flew past, 10 figures followed along closely behind him like a squad of fighter aircrafts, generating such fierce wind that all of the clouds in their wake were rapidly parting.

    They made no attempt to disguise their killing intent whatsoever as they flew directly toward Yuncheng.

    Damn it!

    Qin Ye cursed internally as he withdrew his gaze, thenid back down into the coffin.

    He didn''t know what the mortal realm was doing, and he didn''t have the time to check. All he could do was ce his full trust in them and do everything in his own power from his end.

    These types of perilous situations were ones that all rulers hated the most. There was no way to haveplete control, and this was an example of the unforeseen circumstances that could arise.

    Right at this moment, the voice of an investigator suddenly rang out in the earpiece that Qin Ye was wearing. "We''ve rified the situation, Mr. Qin. Half an hour ago, Taoist Master Zhang of Mount Longhu took the Heavenly Teacher Seal and traveled to Yuncheng with all 10 of the Zhengyi Dao''s elders."

    "Why have they done that?"

    "We''re not sure," the voice in the earpiece replied.

    All of a sudden, the hearse drew to a very abrupt halt amid a flurry of cries of surprise. Two secondster, the voice in the earpiece rang out again. "Mr. Qin, the road up ahead has been sealed off."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and right as he was about to lift the coffin lid again to take a look, he suddenly fellpletely still, closing his eyes as heid motionless in the coffin like a true corpse.

    Right in this instant, all sound seemed to have faded from the world.

    The investigator who wasmunicating with him fell silent, and even the sounds of the wind outside and the hearse''s running engine hadpletely vanished. An extremely eerie and oppressive silence had suddenly descended upon the hearse.

    A faint sound rang out, but it didn''t inspire any hope or evoke any relief. Instead, it was like walking through a pitch-ck alleyway at night with no one else around, only for the sound of another voice to suddenly ring out!

    Qin Ye knew that he and the investigators were the only people in the hearse, so if anyone had entered the vehicle, then the investigators would''ve definitely alerted him.

    However, they hadn''t done that.

    In fact, he couldn¡¯t even hear the breathing of the investigators. It was as if all of them had been suddenly muted somehow!

    A burst of icy Yin energy permeated throughout the entire hearse, immediately following which the sound of heavy panting rang out, alongside the sound of a cane tapping itself against the ground. It sounded as if there were an elderly man walking through the hearse in abored manner with his feet dragging behind him.

    At the same time, the nauseating stench of a corpse spread through the entire vehicle.

    Something had just walked into the hearse.

    Furthermore, it was an Abyssal Prefect, so none of the investigators had been able to detect it.

    An Abyssal Prefect won''t be able to blow my cover...

    Qin Ye''s eyes were tightly shut, and his mind was already racing rapidly. The first thing that he thought of was that this had confirmed his suspicions.

    As expected, as the Yin Yang Mezzanines continued to close, the inner demon was bing more and more cautious. Was it waiting? Was it waiting to see if more darkfeathers would appear in order to verify whether it had been tracked down or not? It seemed that despite the caution that Hell had exercised, the darkfeathers that had been sent after the inner demon had still made it quite wary...

    Perhaps for anyone else, it wouldn''t be important to verify this, but that didn''t apply to the inner demon as a good portion of its power stemmed from its untraceable nature.

    With the Harken''s spatial seal posing as a potent threat, any possibility that it had been tracked down could put it in lethal danger!

    Amid the darkness, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    Despite the inner demon''s wiles and caution, there was no way that it would''ve guessed that it wasn''t Hell that was targeting it on this asion.

    Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out from the coffin lid, following which Yin energy and that same nauseating corpse odor flooded into the coffin. Even with his eyes closed, Qin Ye could sense the change in light, and the disgusting smell almost made him vomit on the spot.

    The intruder had opened his coffin.

    "Tsk tsk, it''s such a pity that he''s died so young. Even his soul has already dissipated." A quiet voice rang out above Qin Ye, and a pair of icy hands gently stroked his face. He could even feel the intruder''s sharp fingernails tracing over his cheeks.

    The fingernails traced all the way down to his chest, then rested over his heart momentarily before abruptly piercing into his body!

    There was no response.

    The sound of licking and sucking rang out as the intruder devoured the blood on its fingers, and several secondster, a forlorn sigh rang out. "So it really is a corpse... How boring..."

    The sound of the tapping cane gradually faded into the distance, and the world seemed to have been reawakened as all sound returned. Inside the coffin, Qin Ye opened his eyes.

    As a Yama-King, physical death couldn''t count as death unless his soul was also destroyed.

    He counted down the passing time internally, and 10 minutester, he gently pushed the coffin lid aside before sitting up in the coffin.

    The hearse was still stuck at the same ce with cars all around them, and the voices of disgruntled drivers could be heard ringing out incessantly. All of the investigators in the hearse were observing their surroundings with cautious expressions,pletely oblivious to the fact that they had just brushed shoulders with death no more than 10 minutes ago.

    Qin Ye hadn''t tried to alert them to what was happening as the massive disparity in power between them and the intruder would''ve rendered his cautionary words futile anyway.

    What he really wanted to know was who exactly was that intruder just now.

    It wasn''t one of the 73 immortals. There were only several Abyssal Prefects among the 73 immortals, and he had alreadymitted their Yin energy to memory, but that Abyssal Prefect was one that he had never met before.

    Furthermore, the intruder''s Yin energy was very strange. It was filled with an aura of rot and decay, as if it had been buried underground for thousands of years. It was as if he had just been visited by a mummy.

    He was feeling very fortunate that he had chosen this course of action now. Given how cautious the inner demon was, there had to be powerful beings stationed beside all of the Yin Yang Mezzanines in the city.

    What he had failed to anticipate was that the inner demon had also set up a backup n even here in the mortal realm. However, there was no way that it would''ve been able to predict that King Yanluo would be here in person instead of more darkfeathers!

    "So they''ve sealed off the road, eh?" He looked on ahead with tightly gritted teeth.

    The rats that the inner demon had nted in the government were making their presence felt...

    A stockade had already been erected right in front of them, but there was no one behind the stockade!

    All of the people wearing police uniforms and high visibility vests were living corpses!

    Damn it...

    Qin Ye cursed internally as he nced at his own watch, thenid back down into the coffin.

    There were still 11 hours left.

    Given these precautionary measures, either something big was about to happen or the inner demon was already preparing to retreat.

    If he couldn''t enter Yuncheng in 11 hours, once the Yin Yang Mezzanines werepletely shut, it would all be toote. What exactly was the inner demon doing? How had it suddenly recruited several Yama-Kings as allies? Who were these unfamiliar high-grade underworld emissaries? The mystery was only continuing to thicken.

    For the sake of himself and Safesoul City, there was no way he could allow this prime opportunity to slip through his fingers!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    True energy surged violently through the air, and the eyes of the Taoist priest at the forefront werepletely bloodshot. His robes were pping incessantly as he focused his gaze intently on a certain part of Yuncheng.

    Several hours ago, the soulmp belonging to his direct lineal disciple, Yun Kong, had been snuffed out.

    If it were only his direct lineal descendant, perhaps he wouldn''t have been so enraged. However, the Zhengyi Dao was a sect of Taoism in which one could marry, and Yun Kong was his son!

    Mount Longhu didn''t possess any powerful cultivators on par with high-grade emissaries, but it did have the Heavenly Teacher Seal left behind by the original Heavenly Teacher Zhang. In his fit of vengeful fury, he had stormed into the ancestral hall without any hesitation, bringing out the Heavenly Teacher Seal and inviting the 10 elders of the Zhengyi Dao to travel to Yuncheng right away.

    He was gritting his teeth with such force that it felt as if his teeth were about to shatter. "I don''t care who you are, you will pay for this!"

    In the face of the Heavenly Teacher Seal, even an Abyssal Prefect would be in significant danger!

    Right at this moment, his gaze abruptly settled on a certain ce, and he descended rapidly from the heavens. The 10 elders descended behind him like graceful cranes, and theynded on the ground one after another.

    "You! You are the one who killed my son!" The middle-aged Taoist priest''s lips were trembling as he pointed his horsetail whisk directly forward.

    This was an extremely rural area on the outskirts of Yuncheng.

    There were almost no trees on the vast and emptyndscape, and there were certainly no farms or houses. There, in the middle of nowhere, stood a man with a paleplexion and a head of long hair.

    From this man''s body, the Taoist priest could sense the aura of his son''s soul!

    A faint smile appeared on the man''s face. "Greetings, Taoist Master Zhang."

    Taoist Master Zhang wasted no time with words as the horsetail whisk in his hand expanded rapidly, crossing a span of several dozen meters as itshed out viciously toward the long-haired man.

    He had no intention of chatting with the murderer of his own son!

    However, as the horsetail whisk crashed into the long-haired man''s body, the strands of horsehair erupted in all directions and left himpletely unharmed. A furious roar rang out as Taoist Master Zhang sprang up into the heavens, then swooped down like an eagle hunting its prey. With a gentle flourish of his horsetail whisk, countless silver threads parted, and a longsword appeared in his grasp.

    The sword was giving off extremely fierce sword energy, slicing a trench that was several meters deep into the ground.

    "Die!!!"

    The air seemed to have congealed, and Taoist Master Zhang''s fierce killing intent was causing the long-haired man''s hair to p incessantly, while his skin was rippling like the surface of a disturbed pond. However, in the face of Taoist Master Zhang''s furious, all-out attack, a smile appeared on the long-haired man''s face.

    "Mount Longhu is several hundred kilometers away from here, so I mustmend you for making the long journey."

    He slowly rose up into the air, and inky-ck Yin energy surged out of all his orifices. The Yin energy was so powerful and violent that it formed a dark vortex spanning a radius in excess of a kilometer around him.

    The vortex had taken shape in no more than a second!

    "For your troubles, how about I send you to reunite with your son?"

    The Yin energy exploded violently, and the entire heavens were stained ck. Amid the suffocating darkness, a twisted figure that was over 10 meters tall slowly rose to its feet.

    "I am one of the four ominous stars, Envy."

    Taoist Master Zhang stopped cold in his tracks in mid-air as he stared at the dark Yin energy up ahead with an incredulous expression, as well as the terrifying figure within the Yin energy. Several secondster, he shuddered as he murmured to himself, "How is this possible... This is... a Yama-King level evil ghost!"

 Chapter 1159: 12 Hours (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1159: 12 Hours (3)</h4>

    A heavy storm was pouring down. Inside a lounge in Yuncheng''s municipal government building, a young man looked up at the sky, then lowered his head as his brows furrowed slightly.

    "What''s going on? It was bright and sunny not long ago, but it''s absolutely pouring now."

    There were several other young men and women in the lounge, some of which were smoking, some of which were drinking tea, and they were all taking the time to rx.

    A man who appeared to be in histe twenties lit a cigarette before taking a deep draw. "It is quite strange, isn''t it? It''s like those clouds were suddenly summoned out of nowhere. Are the supernatural disasters back?"

    "Don''t say that!"

    "We finally managed to endure that nightmare and return to the right track! If it happens again... I don''t even dare to think about that..."

    "That is not funny at all. At the time, I was still in high school, and quite a few of my fellow students died during those supernatural disasters..."

    Right at this moment, the phone of a young, bespectacled man suddenly began to ring. He took a nce at the phone, then immediately rose to his feet with a smile as he said, "Please excuse me, I need to take a call."

    He closed the door before making his way to a familiar quiet ce, then looked around cautiously before carefully epting the call. "Hello."

    "Hello, Secretary Zhang." A slightly sycophantic voice rang out from the other end of the line. "Is Mayor Bai there?"

    Secretary Zhang replied in a low voice, "Mayor Bai is currently holding a development area overhaul meeting. As I''m sure you''re aware, an ident took ce at the development area not long ago, and people were sent down from the provincial government to investigate."

    "May I ask how much longer he''ll be in the meeting?"

    Secretary Zhang thought about this for a moment before replying, "The meeting has only just begun, so it''ll be about two hours. You''ve called at a rather unfortunate time, I''m afraid."

    Inside an office building in Yuncheng, a thin middle-aged man was holding his phone as he spoke into it with a fawning expression. "I''m calling because I have an interest in taking over the Mount Tianmu development project, but I''m a little short on funds at the moment. The price that you''ve stated is a little too..."

    "I''m sorry, Manager Li, but I have no say on the prices of the project," Secretary Zhang interjected. "That is Mayor Bai''s job, and also, please allow me to remind you that this price is alreadyparable with market standards. We haven''t charged any additional fees for the initial investment."

    Fuck off!

    Manager Li almost threw his phone across the room upon hearing this.

    While it was true that the price wasparable with market standards and no additional fees had been charged, the initial work that had already been done on the project was downright abysmal!

    At the very most, other constructionpanies would only dare to skip one bolt per frame junction, but they were missing two! There were two fewer steel beams per frame junction than what should''ve been installed, and that was only one of a whole host of problems.

    There were issues everywhere, yet they still dared to sell off the project at market standard prices! How could they be so shameless?!

    However, Manager Li naturally wasn''t going to verbalize theseints.

    Instead, he continued in a fawning voice, "I understand. We are definitely more than willing to support Mayor Bai in his work, but the price really is too high for us to ept."

    He could sense Secretary Zhang''s impatience, and he immediately continued, "However, I have a cousin who''sing over from Hong Kong to visit me, and he has the wealth required to take on this project!"

    Secretary Zhang was just about to end the call, but his finger paused right above the button on his phone, and a smile appeared on his face. "Go on."

    "I told him about the Mount Tianmu project, and he''s very interested! He''ll only be staying for one day, so please inform Mayor Bai as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence!"

    Secretary Zhang''s smile gradually faded upon hearing this.

    This was no longer the 90''s or the 00''s, where even high-ranking government officials had to suck up to investors.

    Nowadays, the investment environment in Cathay had improved significantly, and knowing Mayor Bai''s personality, he knew that there was no way he would be willing to drop everything that he was doing and take time out of his busy schedule to visit a Hong Kong investor in person.

    "I''m sorry, but..."

    "1.2 billion USD!"

    The two voices rang out almost at the exact same time, and Secretary Zhang faltered slightly upon hearing this before suddenly standing bolt upright.

    Manager Li quickly continued, "My cousin has decided to invest 1.2 billion USD into the project! He''s flying back to Hong Kong tonight, so please..."

    "I''ll inform Mayor Bai right away!"

    The call was abruptly cut off, and Manager Li heaved a long sigh of relief, then pulled out a silken handkerchief to dab at the cold sweat on his forehead. After that, he turned around like a well-trained dog with his hands folded together.

    This was arge office, and the wooden desk in the office was over two meters wide, with an intricately crafted, gold-ted model of a ship sitting on it.

    Behind the desk was a soft leather sofa, and behind that was a row of bookshelves. There was also a corner sofa in an antiquated Cathayan style hugging the corner of the room against the wall. At this moment, there were five men and women seated on the leather sofa, which was over three meters long. Their leader was a middle-aged man, while the rest of the group were all in their twenties.

    They were wearing crisp, professional suits, and their eyes were as sharp as hawks. They wore on their chests an umon emblem, which consisted of a golden shield and a pair of crossed swords on a circr red background. All those who were familiar with the legal system knew that this was the emblem of the Disciplinary Committee of the Cathayan Communist Party!

    Generally speaking, a visit from them was never good news.

    Manager Li''s voice was trembling as he said, "I''ve already told you everything, so please lighten my sentence..."

    Everyone ignored him, and they were all changing their clothes, taking off their professional suits before putting on luxury clothing, as well as expensive perfumes and colognes.

    Their leader quicklybed his own hair, then adjusted his tie as he asked, "Has all of the information been recorded?"

    "Yes!"

    "What about the documents?"

    "They''ve all been prepared as well."

    "Do you all remember your lines?"

    "Yes!"

    The middle-aged man adjusted his tie one final time, then finally cast his gaze toward Manager Li, whose legs were about to give out from under him at this point.

    He then said in a convincing Southern Fujian ent, "From now on, I am your cousin, understood?"

    "Yes..." Manager Li frantically dabbed at the cold sweat pouring down his face as he bit tightly down onto his own lower lip.

    The middle-aged man took a nce at his watch, then said, "We still have four and a half hours left until the next mission will be issued to us."

    It won''t be easy to get Bai Liangping to take the bait.

    He had already embezzled a massive amount of funds as the mayor of Yuncheng, and he was very adept at distinguishing between true corporations and scam artists. In the sale of this project, what he was most worried about wasn''t whether the buyer would have sufficient funds. Instead, it was the powers behind the buyers.

    Naturally, the disciplinarymittee had already prepared a convincing package to lure Bai Liangping in.

    "Let''s go!" the middle-aged man instructed.

    At this point, everyone had alreadypleted their makeovers, but after making his way over to the door, the middle-aged man turned around before asking, "Where''s Li Lianshun?"

    "Captain, his legs are trembling too much for him to walk."

    The middle-aged man returned to Li Lianshun''s side, then looked him straight in the eye as he said, "We have four and a half hours left. We''ll have to get to the municipal government building from here, then invite Bai Liangping to a restaurant for a meal before beginning negotiations. All of that will take at least one and a half hours, so the negotiations must beplete within three hours. You only have one chance."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the street, the line of cars had already stretched to several dozen meters in length. Amid the vehicles, the hearse that Qin Ye was in waspletely eye-catching. Under normal circumstances, all of the cars would be making way for the hearse, but the road closure meant that there was nowhere for those cars to go to make way.

    The windows of the hearse were covered by drawn curtains, and the windscreen was made from one-way ss, preventing those outside from seeing into the vehicle. Every single inspector in the hearse was quickly typing on theirptops.

    "We''ve already connected to Yuncheng''s Special Investigations Department branch through the backend." A female "mourner" was gently pressing her earpiece as she said, "Strangely enough, they''ve denied ess to their supernatural perimeter activation facilities to everyone."

    That''s no surprise at all. Seven top-tier darkfeathers have already fallen in this city, which indicates that this ce must be crawling with the inner demon''s spies...

    Qin Ye''s eyes were closed, and he was gently massaging his beaded bracelet as heid in the coffin. However, his eyes sprang open once every few seconds, and he had to forcibly repress the urge to constantly check his watch.

    Two and a half hours had already passed by, which meant that the Yin Yang Mezzanines of Yucheng were going to close in less than 10 hours. That was definitely enough time for four Yama-Kings and a being above the Yama-King level to wipe away all of the traces here.

    With each passing second, Qin Ye was bing more and more agitated.

    What was the mortal realm doing? Why hadn''t the government made a move yet? Had their people really already been deployed? If they still weren''t here in the next few hours, would he have to send his Yin soldiers to directly attack Yuncheng?

    Qin Ye rejected that idea almost as soon as it crossed his mind.

    The inner demon still hadn''t left, and it was clearly waiting to see whether Hell would expose itself. If he were tounch an all-out attack on Yuncheng, he would perhaps be able to find out what the inner demon was up to, but that would confirm to the inner demon that it had indeed been tracked down, and the detriment simply outweighed the reward.

    A conversation quickly began in the hearse. "There''s a massive traffic jam at Azure Dragon Mountain, and a road ident has been cited as the reason. I requested the satellite images of the site, and there are no road idents there. Once every five minutes, a burst of Yin energy belonging to a being at or above the Abyssal Prefect level would sweep over this road, so it''s extremely tightly guarded."

    Another male investigator zoomed into the image with a grim expression as he said, "Behind Azure Dragon Mountain is a plot of barrennd referred to by the locals as Barren Rock Bank. The area spans an area of roughly 20 square kilometers, and the only way to Barren Rock Bank is to travel over Azure Dragon Mountain. ording to the data we''ve gathered, there has been a powerful eruption of Yin energy on Barren Rock Bank, but it has been very carefully contained."

    "How powerful are we talking?" Qin Ye suddenly asked.

    The investigator faltered momentarily, then quickly typed something on his keyboard before replying, "It''s at least at the Prefect-level, but we''re unsure of whether it''s at the Yama-King level. There''s no way to pin down the opposition''s whereabouts, and his opponent is an Infernal Judge. Looking at the data we have on file, it seems to be the current master of Mount Longhu, Taoist Master Zhang."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of violent tremors ran through the ground, and it was so violent that all of the cars in the area jumped up slightly in unison.

    A woman was checking her phone in a red sedan, and she was given a massive fright by this. She immediately looked up from her phone, and her first reaction was that someone had to have crashed into her car.

    However, in the instant that she looked up, the enraged look on her face instantly congealed, then transitioned from anger to shock.

    Two secondster, she removed her sunsses, then opened the door of her car, getting out onto the street with her hand covering her own mouth in shock.

    She wasn''t the only one. Countless drivers on this road had emerged from their cars, then turned their attention toward Yuncheng with incredulous expressions.

    The clouds in the sky had sprung to life!

    They were surging and churning as if someone were manipting them, and this phenomenon was taking ce over such a massive area that there was no end to it in sight!

    A female driver was sipping on a beverage, and it fell out of her hand and onto the ground, but she waspletely oblivious to that. There was an astonished expression on her face as she eximed, "Are those... some type of characters?! Have any of you ever seen them before?"

    She didn''t know who she was asking, nor was she expecting any response.

    This scene waspletely beyond the limits of herprehension, and she didn''t know how to respond.

    After a long while, a dazed voice rang out in response. "I''ve never seen anything like this... What the hell is going on?!"

    The clouds in the sky had formed a series of enormous characters!

    It was the Heavenly Teacher Seal at work!

 Chapter 1160: 12 Hours (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1160: 12 Hours (4)</h4>

    After several seconds ofplete silence, a raucousmotion abruptly erupted, and a sense of panic and unease spread through the entire crowd like a virus!

    "What is that?!"

    "What on earth is going on?! Is something happening in Yuncheng?!"

    "I''ve never seen anything like this before... Is this the supernatural perimeter?!"

    "Are we experiencing supernatural disasters again?!"

    Not only were all of the normal people present astonished beyond belief, even all of the investigators in the hearse had risen to their feet and were staring up at the sky with incredulous expressions. At the same time, the sharp sound of an rm rang out from theirptops in unison.

    Red lights were shing incessantly as a mechanical voice repeated the same message over and over again. "Alert! Alert! True energy readings in excess of one hundred million have been registered... Alert! Alert!..."

    An investigator was looking up at the sky with his mouth gaped wide open,pletely oblivious to the fact that his mouse had just ttered onto the ground.

    Qin Ye had also risen to his feet, and he was looking up at the characters in the sky. Even he could feel a slight sense of peril at the sight of them.

    "This is the Heavenly Teacher Seal!" He took a deep breath as he cast his gaze toward Yuncheng.

    Taoist Master Zhang had finally activated the Heavenly Teacher Seal, which meant that he was facing a Yama-King level opponent!

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in this instant, and Qin Ye was looking out of the car window intently with bated breath. Countless thoughts were shing through his mind one after another, and he was holding onto the sides of his coffin with a white-knuckled grip.

    Was this an opportunity?

    He didn''t know.

    He didn''t know why Taoist Master Zhang was facing a Yama-King, thereby forcing him to activate the Heavenly Teacher Seal. No one could''ve anticipated this radical turn of events!

    If he were to do nothing, then perhaps he would be stuck here for the next few hours. With an Abyssal Prefect inspecting this ce once every five minutes, anything that they did would quickly be noticed, and there was virtually no chance for them to reach Yuncheng.

    However, there was perhaps an opportunity now.

    Right in front of everyone''s astonished eyes, more and more characters began to appear in the sky, and in the next instant, countless projections suddenly emerged from the clouds. They were all wielding longswords of cloud and mist, giving them the appearance of celestial deities descending from the heavens upon Yuncheng!

    The entire world seemed to stand still in this instant.

    All of the city''s citizens, including the drivers of the cars stuck at the stockade, looked on with their mouths gaped wide open at this miraculous scene.

    Qin Ye was also watching, but he wasn''t looking at the proceedings unfolding before him. Instead, he was counting down the time internally.

    All of a sudden, he raised his head as his eyes abruptly lit up. "It''s been six minutes since this ce wasst inspected!"

    That was only to be expected.

    He didn''t know why Taoist Master Zhang had suddenly decided tosh out, but he had well and truly attracted the attention of the entire city.

    Qin Ye crouched down slightly like a leopard about to pounce, and his origin runes of desires were activated topletely conceal all of his desires. His Yin energy was also growing weaker and weaker as he prepared to set off.

    In the next instant, the countless projections of cloud and mist in the sky let loose a torrential barrage of arrows that descended toward Yuncheng. Immediately after that, an enormous shockwave erupted out of Yuncheng in all directions like a tsunami!

    "Holy shit!" There were countless people watching from the sealed road, and some had even pulled out their phones to take videos. However, in the face of the powerful shockwaves, all of them screamed as they rushed back into their cars.

    Countless car doors were closed one after another, and in the instant that the shockwave reached the sealed road, the stockade up ahead was sent flying like a piece of paper. It was as if a disaster movie had been replicated in reality, and the shockwave devoured and inundated everything in its path.

    Amid the chaos, a pair of eyes sprang open, inspecting the surroundings like an apex predator.

    It was Qin Ye.

    Upon reaching this point, the shockwave had already lost most of its power, but it still caused the hearse to sway violently.

    However, no matter how much the hearse veered or trembled, Qin Ye remained in perfect bnce and stability, and his robes and long hair were pping incessantly.

    "Five..." He paid no heed to the tumbling investigators around him, and a serious look appeared on his face as he gathered his Yin energy.

    "Four..." No one knew what he was counting down to, yet with each number that he uttered, his Yin energy would grow more condensed, and it was clear that he was priming himself into his peak condition.

    "Three..."

    "Two..."

    "One!" Uponpleting his countdown, he didn''t immediately spring into action. Instead, he closed his eyes and carefully released his consciousness.

    There was no Yama-King level consciousness sweeping over this area!

    In the wake of the mighty disy of power from the Heavenly Teacher Seal, Yuncheng was made to look like a city that sat above the clouds, and amid the chaos, no one was paying any attention to this road!

    Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly sprang open as he shot forth like a speeding arrow directly toward the toll station up ahead.

    At this point, it was 3 PM, and there were still nine hours left until the closing of the Yin Yang Mezzanines.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    An Audi sedan veered across the road, and it almost crashed into the guardrail before just barely drawing to a halt. Secretary Zhang was panting heavily as he looked up ahead with a ck-jawed expression, and his lips were trembling uncontrobly. Only after several seconds did he return to his senses, upon which he immediately turned around. "Mayor Bai!"

    "Shut up and drive!" In the backseat, Bai Liangping pulled out his handkerchief before gently dabbing at the cold sweat on his forehead.

    He had no idea what had just happened. All he had heard was a massive sound, following which the Audi sedan he was in was sent screeching across the road, and even now, he was still in a state of shock.

    He had been resting with his eyes closed this entire time, and by the time he opened his eyes, the scene around him had already descended into chaos.

    "Mayor Bai, wouldn''t it be a better idea if we returned to the Special Investigations Department for now?" Secretary Zhang carefully asked.

    The supernatural disasters were still fresh in his memory, and all those terrifying memories were flooding back into his mind.

    "Are you an idiot?" Bai Liangping yelled in an enraged voice. "There''s an investor from Hong Kong waiting for us right now, and they''ll only be here until 6 PM! Take a look at what time it is now! You want us to go back and miss this opportunity?!"

    "I..."

    "We''re only 300 meters away from the Crown Hotel, and we''re going there even if we have to walk!" As soon as his voice trailed off, Bai Liangping opened the car door before walking out in a determined manner.

    The entire area had been inundated by a sea of mist, but there was still visibility up to around 10 meters.

    He adjusted his own tie as he gritted his teeth tightly.

    There was no way he was going to pass up 1.2 billion USD!

    Furthermore, too many areas of Mount Tianmu had been dug up, and apparently, some people from the provincial government had already caught on to what was happening. If he couldn''t offload this ticking time bomb to someone else, he would be facing the disciplinarymittee very soon!

    He was still young with a bright future ahead, so he certainly couldn''t allow himself to fall here!

    Half an hourter, a middle-aged man stood up with a smile in a spacious cafe, then reached out a hand with a slightly surprised look on his face. "Wee, Mayor Bai. Truth be told, I didn''t think you were going toe. I was already preparing to set off for the airport. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Li Lianshun''s cousin, Li Zhengkai, the CEO of the Hong Kong Integrity Corporation."

    "Apologies for my tardiness, I was held up at work a little longer than expected." Bai Liangping also reached out with a smile, and the two shared a brief handshake.

    They were situated at the center of the Crown Hotel''s cafe, but there wasn''t even a single person around them. Bai Liangping was struck by an instinctive sense of unease upon seeing this, and his brows furrowed slightly as he suggested, "Perhaps we should go somewhere more private."

    Li Zhengkai sat down onto the soft sofa behind him, then picked up his coffee cup before taking a sip, casting a quick nce at his own wrist as he did so. "Rest assured, Mayor Bai, I''ve reserved the entire cafe."

    Bai Liangping''s expression changed ever so slightly as he caught sight of the watch on Li Zhangkai''s wrist. It was a custom Rolex watch, of which there were less than 500 worldwide, and each of them would fetch a price in the seven figures.

    "Alright, shall we begin then?"

    "Of course." Li Zhengkai raised his cup with a smile as he said, "I''m not very familiar with this cousin of mine, but I heard about the project from him, and it sounds very intrigued, so our corporation would perhaps be interested in it."

    Bai Liangping turned toward his secretary, and thetter immediately opened his briefcase before pulling out the file that contained the information on Mount Tianmu, while Bai Liangping began to surreptitiously size up Li Zhengkai.

    His attire and mannerisms certainly fit the image of a wealthy businessman in Bai Liangping''s mind.

    However, he had never heard of this Integrity Corporation!

    Any corporation capable of mustering up 1.2 billion USD at once was definitely no ordinary corporation, so there was no way that he wouldn''t have heard of it. The first step to attracting investors was to get a good grasp on the domestic corporate environment, including that of Formosa and Hong Kong. If the prospective investor here were something like the Formosa Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, perhaps he wouldn''t even ask any questions at all, but this Integrity Corporation was nowhere near as reliable in his eyes.

    He was well aware of the issues with the Mountain Tianmu project, and he didn''t dare to hand it over to just any buyer.

    Li Zhengkai had five assistants reading the documents along with him, and Bai Liangping was rather impressed to see this. After a brief hesitation, he asked, "Mr. Li, may I ask what industry your Integrity Corporation is involved in? Pardon me for my ignorance, but I''ve never heard of your corporation before. I''m not raising any doubts here, it''s simply standard practice for me to get a better understanding of your business when ites to working together on such arge project. The Mount Tianmu project is one that has a lot of potential, and I would like to see your corporation''s certification documents first before we decide whether we''d like to go ahead with this deal or not."

    Li Zhengkai nodded in response, then picked up his coffee cup again, sneaking a nce at his watch as he did so, upon which his eyelids twitched slightly.

    It was already 3:30 PM, which meant that they only had two and a half more hours left toplete the task assigned to them.

    From the very beginning, he knew that if he wanted to negotiate with Bai Liangping under a standard environment, it would take weeks, perhaps even months, to seal the deal.

    Thus, he couldn''t approach this through normal avenues.

    If he wanted to lure in Bai Liangping in the next two and a half hours, then he had to explore alternative options.

    He set down his coffee cup, then casually snapped his fingers, and all of his assistants immediately set down the documents they were inspecting before leaving the cafe. Li Zhengkai then turned toward Bai Liangping with a hint of a smile on his face as he said, "Our corporation has no qualifications or credentials."

    Bai Liangping raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and the hint of unease in his heart was instantly drastically exacerbated. "Mr. Li, are you trying to make a fool out of a mayor of Cathay?"

    The underlying threat in his words was very apparent, yet Li Zhengkai wasn''t concerned in the slightest. His smile remained unchanged as he looked directly into Bai Liangping''s eyes before asking, "Mayor Bai, how much do you think 1.2 billion USD will convert to if it''sundered at the international market price?"

    Bai Liangping immediately rose to his feet before storming away with a cold expression. "I have no time to waste with you, Mr. Li. I wish you a safe trip back to Hong Kong."

    This man had the gall to tantly speak about moneyundering!

    As he made his way to the entrance of the cafe, he aimed a vicious re at Li Lianshun. If it weren''t for the fact that they were in a public setting, he would be tempted to give the idiot a violent beating!

    The Mount Tianmu project was like a pile of rotten meat, yet it had somehow attracted a tiger! This was definitely not a corporation that he wanted to be working with!

    Right as he was about to leave, Li Zhengkai''s voice rang out again. "Hold on a minute, Mayor Bai. I can do a 10% customs clearance fee. Would that be enough for you to reconsider?"

    The automatic sliding doors were slowly closing, but they didn''t closepletely as Bai Liangping had paused right in the middle.

    Li Zhengkai continued, "All you need to do is find a supervisionpany that can take the me for you, and you''ll be able topletely offload the Mount Tianmu project to me. ording to my research, this project is missing three hundred million renminbi, and all of those funds have gone to you and your nephew''s real estate and shellpanies. I''m not sure how much longer you''ll be able to cover that up for, so I would advise you to reconsider. Right now, I only have just over two hours before I have to go."

    The automatic sliding doors finally fell shut, while Bai Liangping had already re-entered the cafe.

    He turned around, and a devious smile had appeared on his face. "Raise the customs clearance fee to 15%, and I think we can have a good chat."

 Chapter 1161: 12 Hours (5)

    <h4>Chapter 1161: 12 Hours (5)</h4>

    Qin Ye was flying through the air like a shooting star. The entirety of Yuncheng had been inundated in a sea of white mist, and in the city were at least four Yama-Kings, as well as the inner demon, which was above the Yama-King level. One of the Yama-Kings was facing Taoist Master Zhang in battle, while two of them were closing the Yin Yang Mezzanines in the city as quickly as they could.

    All ns had to have an intended goal and a fundamental threshold, but strictly speaking here, the intended goal for Qin Ye''s current operation wasn''t very clear.

    What exactly was he trying to do?

    He was trying to track down the inner demon and find out what it was trying to do by closing the Yin Yang Mezzanines. These were only targets that had sprung into Qin Ye''s mind after he became aware of the fact that the Yin Yang Mezzanines were closing. This indicated that at least four Yama-Kings had appeared in Yuncheng, which wasparable to the top-end power of Hell, and he simply couldn''t allow himself to rest unless he saw for himself what was happening.

    However, he had a safer way to do this as well, and that was the threshold.

    That would involve waiting until everything was over, then sending out darkfeathers to investigate.

    The problem was that by that time, all of the traces would''ve most likely already been hidden. Given how cautious the inner demon was, it would be extremely unlikely that it would leave anything behind for the darkfeathers to be able to capitalize on. Having said that, it wouldn''t be apletely hopeless task. After all, he wasn''t the only one who wanted the inner demon dead.

    Just because Hell couldn''t find any traces didn''t mean that the Heavenly Dao would be in the same boat!

    In that case, why was Qin Ye insisting on traveling to Yuncheng now? That was because he knew what this n could potentially escte into given the right circumstances!

    No one knew that the Heavenly Dao was also targeting the inner demon, and there was no way that the inner demon would''ve guessed that the Heavenly Dao would''ve left Their mark in Qin Zhongguo''s soul, nor would it have been able to anticipate that there were already tens of thousands of Yin soldier''s gathered beneath the four Yin Yang Mezzanines. Furthermore, Qin Changxin, Qin Xinzhong, and all of the Cathayan Underworld''s provincial governors were in the process of deploying hundreds of thousands of troops along with the Wumu military formation to the site as well.

    The four Yama-Kings all had their attention focused on Yuncheng, and given the right opportunity, the Harken would immediately be able to perform a divine descent to arrive at Yuncheng, thereby sealing off the entire city. In that case, the n would be a true hit job with the four Yama-Kings and three divine artifacts of Hell against the inner demon!

    This was the maximal potential of the n, and the chances of this actually eventuating were most likely no more than 1%, but if they could seed, then the inner demon would be struck down once and for all! Thus, even though the opportunity was an extremely slim one, he was still willing to take a gamble.

    He was flying through the air like a speeding arrow, covering vast distances in the blink of an eye. Amid the all-epassing sea of mist, Qin Ye could just barely make out the city of Yuncheng up ahead. As for the stockade and living corpses blocking the road, they had already been blown far away by the fierce wind generated by the Heavenly Teacher Seal.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath as he rushed directly toward the toll station, and right at this moment, he habitually checked his watch.

    It was 3:30 PM, and there were still eight and a half hours left until the closing of the Yin Yang Mezzanines.

    He had to go faster!

    He couldn''t fully unleash his Yin energy. Even though all of the Yama-Kings in the city had their attention drawn to Taoist Master Zhang, they definitely wouldn''t be distracted for long. Taoist Master Zhang was only an Infernal Judge, even though he was forcing himself to use a Yama-King level divine artifact, there was no way he would be a match for a true Yama-King.

    In fact, he would be lucky to survive the battle, and 10 minutes had already passed by since the battle''smencement, so perhaps he had already been defeated.

    Qin Ye was traveling as quickly as he dared, and he was drawing closer and closer to Yuncheng. The closer he drew to the city, the more his heartbeat began to elerate. Once he set foot into the city, he would''ve stepped into the center of this mystery.

    After taking a deep breath, he made one final charge for the toll station. However, no more than half a second after he had rushed through the toll station, his expression abruptly stiffened, and he suddenly exploded into Yin energy before his body reformed again some distance away.

    He cast an incredulous gaze toward the mist up ahead, then extended a finger forward, and a Soul Shackle shot forth before quickly returning with a strand of something wrapped around its tip.

    It was a thread of interwoven hair.

    Qin Ye gently flicked the thread, and it produced a sound simr to the string of a zither. The string was woven from countless threads of hair, and it was extremely resolute. Qin Ye had a feeling that even if he were to unleash all of his Yin energy, it would not be an easy task to sever the thread.

    He raised his head with a surprised expression and cast his gaze forward, upon which he discovered that these threads were littered all throughout the outskirts of Yuncheng! It was like aser from a spy film!

    There were far too many of these threads to count, and they were constantly changing positions rapidly!

    They were concealed within the mist, making them extremely difficult to notice, and if any Yin spirit were to dare to charge through it, they would instantly be dismembered on the spot.

    "What on earth is this stuff?" He cast an incredulous gaze forward.

    Could it be that the inner demon was responsible for this?

    No, that didn''t make sense. Without the sea of mist to support them, these threads didn''t pose much of a potent threat, and the mist came from Taoist Master Zhang''s Heavenly Teacher Seal. Surely the inner demon wouldn''t have anticipated the attack from Taoist Master Zhang.

    Furthermore, these things weren''t here before. It was as if the emergence of the sea of mist had triggered some type of chain reaction.

    In addition to that...

    He cast his gaze forward with a grim expression, and right in front of his eyes, the shadow of a massive building had appeared behind the toll station!

    He couldn''t see exactly what it was. This was a phenomenon triggered by the heavenly teacher seal, which automatically kept out detection from all power systems. All he could see was a shadowy figure that was as vast as a mountain, and right in front of it was what appeared to be a statue of a woman.

    The statue had free-flowing clothes and was holding a long flute, but he couldn''t see anything beyond that.

    When had this thing appeared?

    Was this illusion or reality?

    However, this wasn''t the time to be looking at things like this. There was no way that Taoist Master Zhang would be a match for a Yama-King, so time was of the essence for Qin Ye.

    After taking a deep breath, he abruptly sprang up like a butterfly in the wind, advancing as he traversed through the tiny gaps between the threads.

    It was as if he were dancing on a knife¡¯s edge or charging through a storm.

    On many asions,he was almost grazed by the threads in his way, but he was always able to just barely avoid them by the skin of his teeth. The further he advanced, the clearer his mind became. Whoever had set this up had to have been at least a Yama-King. Otherwise, this wouldn''t have posed such a severe obstacle even to him.

    This passageway that was filled with threads stretched on for around 3 km, and right after he passed through the first kilometer, all of the fine hairs all over his entire body suddenly stood up on end. An extreme sense of peril abruptly welled up in his heart, and he immediately ducked his head to the side without any hesitation. Immediately thereafter, a crisp ng rang out and a white mark appeared on his cheek.

    Qin Ye immediately drew to a halt, and gusts of Yin wind revolved around him as he inspected the surrounding threads with a cautious expression.

    They seem to be extending out of heaven and earth, with no origin, nor any end Insight. This was a natural forest, and as was the case with forests, there were often some terrifying killers lurking within them.

    His gaze fell upon the threads up ahead, and he discovered that a series of paper cutout figures had appeared on them.

    The paper figures were very simple in design, with round heads and square hands and feet. The only thing remarkable about them were the specks of soulfire burning at their heads.

    Furthermore, all of them were holding paper swords.

    The entire area waspletely silent, and there were thousands of these paper figures present, littered all over the path ahead of Qin Ye like snow. One of them had just left that mark on his cheek, so he certainly wasn''t going to ignore them.

    What exactly was hiding in the city of Yuncheng?

    Qin Ye was watching these paper figures in silence while countless thoughts were shing through his mind.

    Why was the inner demon staying in Yuncheng?

    Why was it that Yuncheng, which was far from a renowned city, had suddenly be the gathering ce for four Yama-Kings?

    Why was it that these threads had appeared upon the activation of the Heavenly Teacher Seal?

    He couldn''t make sense of this situation, and this wasn''t the time to be thinking about things like this. He could already sense a burst of Yin energy drawing closer and closer at an incredible speed, making no attempt to conceal itself at all.

    The Yin energy belonged to a Yama-King, and they were going to arrive here within two minutes!

    If they were to discover him here, there would be no way for him to advance any further!

    Thus, he had to bypass the obstacles up ahead in the next one and a half minutes at most.

    He took a deep breath, then released his Yin energy ever so slightly. "Pardon my intrusion."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he rose up into the air like a crane, then shot forth rapidly through the air. At the same time, all of the paper figures flew up in unison before forming a military formation that was several hundred meters in size, then rushed toward Qin Ye at the same time with their swords raised!

    Neither side was going to back down.

    In the instant that the two sides shed, a dull thump rang out, and hundreds of paper figures were sent flying backward. Directly ahead of them was Qin Ye, who had a rippling vortex of dark Yin energy around him, which was preventing the paper figures from getting within 10 meters of him.

    This was Ryu Changmin''s special ability, Untouchable Love!

    In a one-on-one battle against a high-grade underworld emissary, this special ability could only be used sparingly as a surprise tactic, but in the face of arge number of low-level opponents, it was a crushing ability.

    The paper figures formed a long stream that extended for over three hundred meters, but Qin Ye was able to fly through it without any impediment. Countless shreds of paper were flying through the air in front of him, and the sound of swords whistling through the air was ringing out incessantly around him.

    All of a sudden, a sharp scream rang out, and all of the paper figures that had been sent flying converged in unison, quickly forming a snowy white ball. The surface of the ball was constantly undting, and countless paper figures were piercing their swords into it in a frenzy, producing a string of ngs that rang out in rapid session.

    Qin Ye was continuing to advance rapidly. These paper figures didn''t pose much of an obstacle for him, but they clung onto him tenaciously like glue.

    It was impossible to incinerate them usingherfire, and his Heavenly Dra waspletely ineffective as well. During the short span of half a minute, he tried all of the tricks at his disposal, but was unable to inflict any harm upon these paper figures!

    This was definitely not a good sign, and he could sense that the Yama-King he had detected earlier was less than 20 kilometers away from him, which meant that a confrontation was going to take ce in half a minute more at most.

    These paper figures were like a neon sign that he couldn''t rid himself of, constantly signaling his location to the enemy!

    Over three hours had already passed, so the inner demon had most likely already left. Even if it hadn''t, the Harken could only epass an area of a certain size with its spatial seal.

    If the inner demon weren''t in that area, then the spatial seal would be futile, and would only startle the inner demon and make it even more cautious.

    What do I do? Should I risk it?

    The Yin Yang Mezzanines were going to close in less than eight hours!

 Chapter 1162: 12 Hours (6)

    <h4>Chapter 1162: 12 Hours (6)</h4>

    "It''s about time you left," the muscr man said as he stood in front of Heilonggou.

    The Many-faced God finally rose to his feet before heaving a faint sigh of relief. "Looks like I was overthinking things."

    From the bottom of Heilonggou, countless Yin souls were wailing as they rose up toward the sky, and countless specks ofherfire were emerging from the depths, making it appear as if a gxy of stars were rising up from the abyss.

    The Many-faced God''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I just can''t shake this feeling of unease... I''ve had this feeling ever since I returned from the Land of Origins."

    The muscr man didn''t say anything. He knew that at their level, a premonition of danger was something that couldn''t be ignored, and that it could often save them from lethal danger.

    "There''s no need to worry anymore," he said as he peered deep into the abyss. "Even now, no further darkfeathers have appeared, and that''s enough to prove that you haven''t been tracked down. The darkfeathers that appeared before this only came here by chance."

    The Many-faced God nodded in response before heaving a faint sigh. "It''s a pity that after I leave, it''ll most likely be decades before I can return to this ce. The closing of the Yin Yang Mezzanines will definitely alert Hell to the fact that something''s happening here."

    "We can afford to wait for a few decades," the muscr man said in an indifferent voice.

    The Many-faced God didn''t say anything further, and his body abruptly disintegrated into Yin energy before vanishing on the spot.

    Unbeknownst to him, right after his departure, the muscr man heaved a sigh of relief before spreading open his palm to take a look, upon which it was revealed that his hands were already mmy with cold sweat.

    "Where did this old monstere from?" He cast a fearful gaze toward the direction that the inner demon had just departed in. "He''s so familiar with our past, to the point that he was able to retell our story to a tee! That would be impossible unless he''s lived thousands of years! It''s most likely lived even longer than we have!"

    All of a sudden, his pupils contracted slightly.

    He could sense that the Many-faced God''s Yin energy had faltered slightly in mid-air, as if it were... hesitating?

    At this moment, he was situated right above the center of Yuncheng.

    In the next instant, the Yin energy abruptly descended from above!

    "What the hell is going on?" The muscr man waspletely astonished by this turn of events.

    What could''ve possibly convinced a being of the Many-faced God''s caliber to stay?

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "It''s a pleasure working with you." In the cafe of the Crown Hotel, Bai Liangping raised his coffee cup before touching it to Li Zhengkai''s cup.

    Not only had hepletely offloaded the Mount Tianmu project, he was going to receive 15% of 1.2 billion USD, which equated to 180 million USD in customs clearance fees!

    If it were only 180 million renminbi, that wouldn''t have been enough to tempt him as the risk and reward simply didn''t match up. However, even if his political career were to end at this very moment, 180 million USD would be enough to ensure a life of luxury.

    He had to admit that Li Zhengkai was very well prepared and knew how to present apelling case. If it weren''t for the fact that he had to return to Hong Kong soon, Bai Liangping would''ve continued the negotiations longer so that he could figure out what this Li Zhengkai was all about, but this was a great oue as well.

    There was no written contract, only a verbal agreement. Even if the deal were to fall through or Li Zhengkai refused to acknowledge that an agreement had ever been made, Bai Liangping wouldn''t lose anything.

    There was no way that a moneyundering corporation based in Hong Kong would be able to do anything to a mayor of Cathay!

    "I must say that I''m quite surprised by how decisive you are, Mayor Bai," Li Zhengkai said. "I was already prepared for the negotiations to fail, so this was actually a rather unexpected, albeit pleasant, oue. I was invited to Yuncheng by my cousin, and I was originally nning tounder this sum of money in Hong Kong."

    Bai Liangping turned to Li Lianshun with a smile, and he suddenly felt like Li Lianshun wasn''t so detestable after all.

    "Isn''t this going to cause any trouble for you, Mayor Bai?"

    "There will be some trouble, but I have it under control," Bai Liangping replied. "The central government encourages some people to pursue wealth, so this abides by national policy."

    "Well said, Mayor Bai. Let''s drink to national policy."

    The two coffee cups came together once again, and it was also right at this moment that the entire sky above the hotel suddenly fell dark.

    "The weather is a fickle mistress, it can change at the drop of a hat," Li Zhengkai remarked. "It was bright and sunny not long, then all that mist descended upon the city, and now..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, the entire hotel began to tremble violently as if it were experiencing an earthquake.

    A panickedmotion immediately rang out, and at the same time, all the light fixtures were snuffed out in unison!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Bai Liangping awoke with a splitting headache. The earthquake had arrived too abruptly, and he had lost his footing. As he fell down, his forehead had banged into the armrest of the sofa.

    He gently massaged his throbbing forehead, and he couldn''t help butment his own misfortune. Aside from Li Zhengkai, who had sprung up out of the blue to take the Mount Tianmu project off his hands, the entire day had been haunted by bad luck.

    His hands were frantically roaming over the ground in search of his sses, and the surrounding area waspletely silent. The darkness was so absolute that he couldn''t even see his own hands, and he was feeling quite uneasy as he could sense that something seemed to be right beside him.

    After a few seconds of searching, he finally found his sses, but in the instant that he put them on, his entire body shuddered, following which he cast his gaze forward with an incredulous expression.

    No more than half a meter in front of him, he could see another figure who was identical to him!

    He knew that he had to be looking quite disheveled at this moment. His hair was ruffled, and his clothes were also in slight disarray, but the mirror image of himself waspletely impable in both hair and attire. Furthermore, the figure was smiling at him with a sinister expression!

    "Arrrrgh!" Bai Liangping screamed as he sprang up to his feet, then frantically backtracked as he looked at the mirror image of himself with a horrified expression. "Who are you?! What do you want from me?!"

    The Bai Liangping across from him offered no reply, and his body began to slowly slither along the ground like a snake. As he advanced along the ground, his body began to rot, and by the time he had covered a meter of ground, all 10 of his fingers had already fallen off!

    "Arrrrgh!" Bai Liangping buried his fingers into his own hair before grabbing at their roots, and his face was twisted with horror as he screamed with all his might, "Secretary Zhang!! Li Lianshun!! Where are you?!"

    However, there was no reply.

    His voice echoed through the darkness, and that was the only sound that he could hear.

    The "Bai Liangping" in front of him was still slithering forward, and he was also continuing to rot rapidly. At this point, his entire body had already melted like a candle, and his eyeballs had fallen onto the ground.

    Only his mouth remained intact, and it was still maintaining the same sinister smile.

    "Such delicious desire... I''ve lived for thousands of years and traveled to countless ces, but the only one I can think of who had desireparable with yours was He Shen from the Qing Dynasty... I can''t pass up such a rare delicacy... Look at the desires in your heart! They''re rejoicing, weing me!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, countless mirrors suddenly appeared in the darkness.

    They were countless windows that were connected together, and a ck and white photograph was depicted within them.

    Bai Liangping was seated at the center of the photograph, wearing a shroud, and there were several figures identical to him gathered beside him! All of them had blood flowing out of all of their orifices, and behind the Bai Liangping in the shroud, another Bai Liangping whose head had twisted to ny degrees and was melting away like wax had his arms around Bai Liangping''s neck in a gruesome embrace!

    "ARRRGH!!!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Inside the hotel, Li Zhengkai and the others had all fallen to the ground due to the earthquake that had just taken ce, and right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out from their watches in unison.

    Li Zhengkai pulled back his sleeve to take a look, then hurriedly cast his gaze forward to find Bai Liangping with his head raised and his mouth gaped open, staring into empty space while trembling uncontrobly.

    It was as if he were looking at an extremely terrifying being!

    "It''s here!" Li Zhengkai roared, then immediately sprang to his feet before hiding behind the counter without any hesitation.

    It was also at this exact same moment that boundless Yin energy emerged out of thin air before gushing into Bai Liangping''s seven orifices in a frenzy, quickly swelling up his entire body like a balloon.

    All of the buildings within a radius of roughly a kilometer around the Crown Hotel all began to tremble violently!

    What kind of monster is this?!

    Li Zhengkai gritted his teeth tightly as he pressed a button on his watch.

    Meanwhile, four men and women raised their heads in unison in Yuncheng, among which were the long-haired man and the muscr man.

    They were all staring in a certain direction with astonished expressions, and only after a long while did they return to their senses.

    "What incredible power... He''s even more powerful than our king was at his peak!"

    "What on earth is he supposed to be?! Why have we never heard of him?!"

    At the same time, Qin Ye, who was still enveloped within countless paper figures, abruptly raised his head before turning to his watch with a stunned expression.

    A red dot was buzzing incessantly on his watch, and a row of purple numbers was shing rapidly.

    One billion... Two billion... Three billion!

    The rate of increase showed no signs of slowing down, as if it would increase infinitely!

    "The inner demon is performing a diving descent!" he eximed.

    He had thought that everything was under his control, but now that this was actually happening, he was at a slight loss for what to do.

    The mortal realm really had seeded!

    He didn''t know what they had done or who they had used to tempt the inner demon, but they really had managed to attract the interest of the inner demon and convince it to possess a new host!

    Given how cautious the inner demon was, there was no way that it would voluntarily release its Yin energy, so the fact that its Yin energy was being released so violently now indicated that there was a very good chance it was unable to control its own Yin energy from spreading during a possession.

    Furthermore, it seemed that a process was required for the inner demon to possess someone, and this process was not instantaneous.

    These were useful pieces of information, but this wasn''t the time to be thinking about things like this!

    The inner demon still hadn''t left the city, and Qin Ye was torn as to whether he should strike or not.

    He cast his gaze forward, toward the array that the Harken had activated. He had been told that the array could epass a radius of 10 kilometers, which would be enough to cover the entire main urban area of any major city.

    However, he had only just entered the outskirts of the city, so he was definitely more than 10 kilometers away from the inner demon right now!

    If the Harken were to unleash its array, would he be able to get there before the inner demonpleted its possession?

    Furthermore, even if they really did manage to trap the inner demon, would they be capable of killing it?

    Qin Ye didn''t know what decision to make.

 Chapter 1163: Lishan Laomu

    <h4>Chapter 1163: Lishan Laomu</h4>

    Countless thoughts were quickly shing through Qin Ye''s mind. Not only did he have to deal with the Yama-King that was quickly approaching him, he also had to consider the next set of orders that he was going to issue.

    The inner demon was possessing a new host whilepletely oblivious to the fact that the Yama-Kings of Hell were nearby, and this was a brilliant opportunity!

    However, if he decided to go ahead with the hit job, then that would lead to a direct battle against the inner demon! If they couldn''t kill it, then they would have to face fierce retaliation from it, which would undoubtedly lead to more cities falling to the same fate as Safesoul City.

    He only had 10 minutes at most to think. This was a conclusion that he had drawn from the Safesoul City riot. Within 10 minutes, the inner demon was capable of possessing all living beings within a certain area, whether that be an individual or a group.

    <i>What do I do? Should I risk it? </i>

    A bead of sweat began to flow down Qin Ye''s forehead, and he had stopped cold in his tracks. He didn''t dare to waste any time with unnecessary thoughts.

    The decision that he was about to make was going to decide the actions of Hell''s four Yama-Kings and hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers.

    All of a sudden, he raised his head and cast his gaze forward with fierce killing intent in his eyes.

    "Get out of my way!" An enraged voice rang out up ahead.

    Not only were the paper figures standing in Qin Ye''s way, they were also posing an obstacle to the oing figure.

    As soon as the furious voice rang out, all of the paper figures up ahead were sent flying, but to Qin Ye''s surprise, they didn''t converge, and they merely allowed the oing figure to pass through without any impediment!

    The approaching figure was like Moses parting the Red Sea, and he instantly passed over a distance of several hundred meters.

    Upon catching sight of Qin Ye, the figure was clearly very much taken aback.

    It was a Taoist priest wearing a blue robe, upon which was embroidered the image of the eight trigrams. His beard was swaying in the wind along with his long sleeves, and he would''ve appeared quite elegant and refined were it not for the blood all over his body.

    Their eyes met amid the sea of paper figures, and half a secondter, Qin Ye eximed, "Taoist Master Zhang?"

    "Yanluo Qin?!" A hint of hope surfaced in Taoist Master Zhang''s lifeless eyes, and he immediately flew over to Qin Ye, who swept a sleeve through the air, upon which both of them descended onto the ground. Using his Yin energy, he was able to conceal the Yang energy of Taoist Master Zhang.

    The quickly approaching Yama-King was most likely pursuing Taoist Master Zhang. Even with the Heavenly Teacher Seal to assist him, it was clear that Taoist Master Zhang had suffered a heavy defeat, and if Qin Ye didn''t conceal his Yin energy, he would be tracked down even if he were to flee to the corners of the world.

    Strangely enough, with Taoist Master Zhang apanying him, all of the threads that they encountered quickly parted, and the paper figures ceased to chase them as well.

    Qin Ye turned toward Taoist Master Zhang with a stunned expression, wondering how he was doing this.

    Was it the Heavenly Teacher Seal? Was it because he was a prominent figure in traditional Taoism?

    Qin Ye cursed internally as he gnashed his teeth together.

    There was too much information to process, and he didn''t know what to do, yet he couldn''t afford even the slightest dy or distraction at a time like this!

    Should he flee or should he fight?

    Should he pretend to not have seen the inner demon''s possession, or risk it all in an attempt to hunt down the inner demon once and for all?

    Both sides had four Yama-Kings, but Hell had hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers with the Wumu military formation to enhance them, so they certainly weren''tpletely without chances!

    He was biting down onto his own lower lip with such force that he was almost drawing blood. Several minutes had already passed by, and the inner demon''s possession was most likely about to conclude soon. After all, it was only possessing a normal human.

    Some decisions had to be made in a split-second, but he simply wasn''t decisive enough to do that.

    He gritted his teeth as he checked his watch, upon which he was surprised by the fact that the inner demon''s possession was taking so long.

    A Soul Shackle was linking Qin Ye and Taoist Master Zhang together, and thetter panted in a strained voice, "It won''t finish that quickly! This is the Bodhima??a of Lishan Laomu, one of the Six Royals, who rank below only the Three Pure Ones in Taoism!"

    He seemed to have gleaned Qin Ye''s thoughts, and his hand was sped over his own chest as he continued, "I''ve never seen anything as fearsome as that monster in the city, but even he can''t do as he pleases in the Bodhima??a of Lishan Laomu!"

    Lishan Laomu? That''s such a familiar name...

    He felt so frustrated that his head was about to explode! One piece of information after another was flooding into mind, and all of them were important pieces of information that he had to take into consideration for the decision that he was about to make. He couldn''t just ignore any of those pieces of information, but he was also unable to consider them all at once.

    All of a sudden, he tugged on the Soul Shackle, and the two of them ducked into the mist off to the side. There just so happened to be a green belt there, so they were perfectly concealed.

    Almost at the exact same moment, a gust of fierce Yin wind swept over above them, followed by countless specks ofherfire, then continued onward without pause.

    As soon as the figure passed through the area, Taoist Master Zhang immediately copsed onto the ground, panting heavily as he did so.

    "You won''t die," Qin Ye said. "You''re not going to die so long as I don''t let you die. I have a few questions that I need to ask you. Firstly, who was that just now?"

    Taoist Master Zhang gritted his teeth as he forced himself into a sitting position, then reached a trembling hand into his own robe before pulling out a jade vial. He tipped out a golden pill from the vial before swallowing it, and hisplexion immediately began to improve at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye. After closing his eyes and catching his breath for a few seconds, he reopened his eyes as he replied, "It was Envy... Don''t ask me who that is, I don''t know the answer to that question myself. No such name has ever been recorded in the tomes of Taoism, and he''s not the only Yama-King in this city right now!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Second question: why are these threads and paper cutouts letting you through?"

    "You don''t know why?" Taoist Master Zhang was quite taken aback to hear this. "I am one of the Divine Heavenly Guardians, and this is the Bodhima??a of Lishan Laomu!"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, he grabbed onto Qin Ye''s sleeve as he continued in a fervent voice, "Lishan Laomu''s tomb has always been below Yuncheng! As a result, all evil and demonic beings will be debilitated to a certain extent here. As for the Divine Heavenly Guardians, we are tasked with protecting the tomb of Lishan Laomu!"

    Qin Ye took a nce at his watch again.

    It had already been five minutes since the inner demon had begun its possession.

    He didn''t know when the possession was going to end, but time was most definitely of the essence here!

    He forcibly repressed all of the negative emotions in his heart using the origin runes of desires, then took a deep breath before asking, "Was the shadow that appeared behind the toll station earlier the tomb of Lishan Laomu? Why is she helping you?"

    The more urgent the situation was, the more important it became to remain calm and collected. Only then would he be able to make the best decisions as quickly as possible.

    Never did he think that the tomb of Lishan Laomu actually existed!

    There were countless tombs of vastly renowned figures littered all over Cathay, but it truly came as a surprise to him that Yuncheng, which was by no means an important city, would be the home of Lishan Laomu''s tomb!

    This was an extremely impactful piece of information!

    It was said that she was the one who had felled the Chiyou in a historic battle. She wasn''t all that renowned, and she didn''t have many believers and worshippers. In fact, she didn''t even have a name, which made it seem like she was only some lower god, but in reality, a strong argument could be made that she was worthy of a spot as one of the Three Pure Ones of Taoism.

    The city that housed her tomb would definitely not be a ce where normal evil ghosts dared to wreak havoc.

    Of course, the inner demon and the four Yama-Kings were far from normal evil ghosts.

    Taoist Master Zhang wiped away the blood at the corners of his lips with his sleeves, then asked, "Yanluo Qin, why do you think our Zhengyi Dao decided to split off from the main branch of Taoism to base ourselves in Mount Longhu?"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up as he replied, "Is it because you''re the guardians of Lishan Laomu''s tomb?"

    This was an important revtion, but it couldn¡¯t resolve the issue that he was currently facing!

    Right at this moment, his watch began to glow again.

    He took a nce at it to find that the red dot that symbolized the inner demon was gradually growing dimmer, which indicated that its possession was about to conclude.

    There was no time left, and he had to make a decision!

    Qin Ye immediately rose to his feet, then waved a dismissive hand, indicating for Taoist Master Zhang to leave.

    In one more minute at most, the inner demon''s possession would definitely beplete, so he had to make a decision within the next 30 seconds, thereby leaving the Harken and the others 30 seconds to make the required preparations.

    "Yanluo Qin!" Right at this moment, Taoist Master Zhang rushed over to Qin Ye before falling to his knees, then kowtowed heavily against the ground as he implored, "Please avenge the Zhengyi Dao!"

    Qin Ye immediately grabbed Taoist Master Zhang and hoisted him to his feet.

    Taoist Master Zhang''s head was stained with blood, but his expression was very much at ease. Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he said, "Piss off! This is not something that an Infernal Judge like you can get yourself involved in! Do you know what''s happened here? Do you know how many Yin soldiers will have to die to avenge your little sect? Do you know what''s at stake here? Get out of my sight!"

    The rage that was building up in Qin Ye''s heart had to be vented somewhere, and he violently threw Taoist Master Zhang aside.

    However, Taoist Master Zhang quickly struggled to his feet, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "Don''t lie to me, Yanluo Qin... I know what these injuries entail! How much longer will I have to live? No more than a month, right? I am the current master of the Zhengyi Dao, and once I die, my heir should rece me, but my heir is already dead! They killed my only son! He hasn''t fathered any offspring yet, so his death signifies the end of our bloodline! I won''t let them get away with this!"

    Blood began to pour out of all of his orifices as Qin Ye looked on with an rmed expression. "What are you doing?"

    All of a sudden, a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of the top of Taoist Master Zhang''s head!

 Chapter 1164: Southern Purple Palace (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1164: Southern Purple Pce (1)</h4>

    Within the pir of golden light was an illusory white figure in the form of an infant. The infant was holding a half-white, half-red jade seal, while seated on a white lotus flower that was in full bloom.

    "Ick the power to exact revenge..." Taoist Master Zhang''s aura was bing weaker and weaker, but the golden light above him was only growing brighter and brighter, resembling a dazzling star that was determined to pierce through the white mist.

    "I had already given up, but at the very least, I had to return the Heavenly Master Seal before I died. That was until I saw you! You also want to kill them, isn''t that right?"

    The golden light swept through the heavens, making it appear as if the sun had risen directly above Yuncheng.

    The infant atop the white lotus above Taoist Master Zhang''s head abruptly exploded, leaving behind only the fist-sized jade seal hovering in mid-air, giving off an indescribable sense of majesty.

    At the same time, Taoist Master Zhang took hisst breath before falling to the ground.

    He had destroyed his own nascent soul!

    Qin Ye''s mouth was slightly agape as he stared at Taoist Master Zhang''s body. "Why?"

    The self-sacrificial spirit of humans was truly remarkable...

    "Avenge the Zhengyi Dao!" Taoist Master Zhang still wasn''t dead, but he certainly wasn''t far from death, and Qin Ye didn''t even have to look to know that his name on the Book of Life and Death was slowly turning ck.

    "I relinquished ownership of the Heavenly Teacher Seal, so you can use it to open the tomb of Lishan Laomu. With that, you''ll be able to seal all evil spirits within this entire city, while you and your allies are free to enter or leave the city as you please! Please..."

    In the wake of this final revtion, Qin Ye was finally able to make a decision.

    A seal over the entire city that he could enter and exit as he pleased was the final piece required for the n to seed!

    This was a perfect opportunity!

    Of course, the battle with the inner demon still hadn''t been won, but surely no better opportunity could present itself.

    He had nned out everything meticulously in advance, but the oue was so abrupt and unexpected. Change truly was the only eternal thing.

    Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh before epting the Heavenly Teacher Seal.

    "You can rest easy..." He closed his eyes, and he didn''t conceal his own Yin energy any longer as he injected it into the Heavenly Teacher Seal in a frenzy.

    All of a sudden, it was as if he were holding the sun in his hand, and dazzling radiance was shining in all directions!

    "I will avenge the Zhengyi Dao for you!"

    "Thank you..." Taoist Master Zhang finally closed his eyes with a satisfied smile on his face.

    The golden light became brighter and brighter, and Qin Ye could already sense the entire city directing their attention toward him. Several Yama-King level auras were also frantically rushing toward him.

    A gentle breeze picked up his ck hair, and in the next instant, a decisive look appeared in his eyes as he abruptly crushed the sun in his grasp!

    Boundless Yin energy rose up behind him, then split up into countless bursts that erupted into the heavens.

    Countless specks ofherfire were also surging out of the ground, and the Yin energy was so fierce that Qin Ye''s robes were being blown vertically upward.

    Amid the sea of Yin energy, Qin Ye dered, "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    The voices of hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers immediately rang out in response from behind him!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Eternahell City, Hell.

    A burst of enormous might abruptly surged into the Cathayan Underworld, and this burst of power was so vast that even the sun in the sky trembled slightly.

    A sea of white mist slowly descended from above like a thin, white veil, and inside the government building of Eternahell City, the Harken, Zhao Yun, and Arthis raised their heads in unison to look up at the sky with stunned expressions.

    "Is this... immortal energy?" The Harken was inplete disbelief. "How could such rich immortal energy have appeared here? No matter what happens, Heaven won''t interfere with the affairs of the mortal realm or the underworld! What''s going on?!"

    All of the residents of Heaven were once the most powerful ancient gods, and if their powers were to interfere with the other two realms, the resulting consequences could be catastrophic. Thus, they were all relegated to Heaven and put into retirement homes.

    Even if the other two realms were topletely copse, Heaven wouldn''t do anything, and even someone like Ksitigarbha was only able to project himself down into the two realms. In light of that, how was it possible that such rich immortal energy had appeared here?

    The mist surged through Eternahell City in waves, instantly enshrouding the entire city in a sea of white. Amid the boundless immortal energy, Zhao Yun rose up into the sky as a streak of light, then inspected his surroundings with a grim expression.

    500,000 Yin soldiers were already gathered around Eternahell City, awaiting further instructions.

    Their killing intent was virtually palpable, and they were all raring to go. They were no longer the same newbie soldiers from back when Hell was first established. Having endured countless battles since then, this was truly a ferocious and formidable army, and they were all thirsting for the inner demon''s blood!

    "What do we do?" Arthis also flew up into the sky with a wary expression.

    "This area has been sealed... This is something simr to the Array of the Nine Gods!" Zhao Yun said as he looked up at the sky. "Yuncheng is directly above us... If memory serves me correctly, the tomb of Lishan Laomu is situated in none other than Yuncheng."

    Arthis''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. As a Yama-King of Hell, she was naturally aware of who Lishan Laomu was.

    "An array simr to the Array of the Nine Gods... Could it be the Southern Purple Pce 10-sided Array?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response.

    The Southern Purple Pce was one of Lishan Laomu''s treasured decrees, and it was the beginning passage!

    What should we do now? Someone''s suddenly opened the tomb of Lishan Laomu, so the situation in Yuncheng must''ve already spiraled intoplete chaos! Does Yanluo Qin need our reinforcements? Should we storm the city?

    He was expecting any message from Qin Ye. This turn of events had taken ce extremely abruptly without any prior notice, which meant that Qin Ye himself had most likely also failed to anticipate this. In this urgent situation, he couldn''t afford to hesitate or dy!

    Zhao Yun''s breathing was beginning to be morebored as he felt the weight of the responsibility weighing down upon him. Several secondster, he closed his eyes and murmured to himself, "I hope I''m doing the right thing."

    He then took a deep breath and abruptly reopened his eyes, then yelled in a thunderous voice, "Are all of themanders and generals present?"

    "We''re all here!" Su Daji, Qin Hui and the others immediately stepped forward in response, then cupped their fists in respectful salutes.

    Zhao Yun gritted his teeth as he raised a hand, and his red cape billowed upward like the scarlet me of a torch!

    "Follow me! We must reinforce our King Yanluo!"

    "Yes!!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Zhao Yun flew up into the heavens as aherfire phoenix, leaving a massive wave of crimson mes in his wake.

    At the top of the government building, the Harken licked its lips with a cold expression.

    The inner demon was the most sinister of demons that had lurked in the hearts of man for thousands of years, and it was finally time for them to confront it!

    With a thunderous roar, the Harken transformed into the God of Nine Energies. His body swelled to over 100 meters in length, and it was glowing with light of nine different colors, lending further radiance to the sea of crimson fire in the sky.

    Behind the Harken, Arakshasa''s purple hair was surging like the tide, and countless Yin spirits were revolving around her. As the ruler of the six paths of reincarnation, she was protected by the boundless power of worship in the form of countless specks of white light as she rose rapidly up toward Limbo.

    Outside of Eternahell City, Su Daji took a deep breath. She was well aware of just how fearsome the inner demon was, but at the same time, it had been centuries since Hell had deployed all of its troops and most powerful beings in full force like this.

    In light of this, she felt like there was nothing to fear!

    The inner demon was only a single being, what could it possibly do against the collective power of Hell?

    She gently raised her hand, and her body abruptly exploded into a wave of Yin energy that rose up into the sky behind the three Yama-Kings. "East Conquering Army, advance!"

    The entire sky was inundated by boundless Yin energy, and the enormous ruler of hungry ghosts that had made an appearance back in the Pearl Delta emerged once again with a thunderous roar. Around her were tens of thousands of hungry ghosts, all of which were screeching and writhing as they apanied their ruler back to the mortal realm.

    Dark red Yin clouds churned and tumbled behind Su Daji, and a skeletal hound that was over 100 meters in size leaped out before pouncing directly toward Limbo with tens of thousands of other skeletal dogs around it.

    As all of themanders and generals sprang into action, all of the Yin soldiers also rose up into the sky as streaks of light, forming a formidable reverse waterfall thatpletely tore the passageway to Limbo apart!

    The sight of hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers rising up toward the heavens at once was truly a breathtaking spectacle to behold, and countlessherworldly citizens of Eternahell City were looking on in awe and wonder. In the sky above, the sun and the clouds seemed to have lost their color,pletely outshone by the formidable army that was rising through the heavens.

    Dazzling light shone down upon the faces of all of Eternahell City''s underworld emissaries, and they were also looking on with astonishment and amazement. At the top of the government building, Administrative Commissioner Liu Qiankun stroked his own beard with a trembling hand as he dered, "Long live, Hell!"

    "Long live, Hell!" Governor Mu Shun echoed as he extended a deep bow.

    Perhaps their voices had reached the rest of the city, but soon, everyone began to make their voices heard. In the beginning, it was only a slight murmur that was spreading throughout the city, but in the span of less than a minute, it had already crescendoed into a raucousmotion.

    "Long live, Hell!!"

    "Long live, Hell!!"

    "Long live, Hell!!"

    "Long live, Hell!!"

    New Hell''s Legacy: During year 25 of the third era of Hell, Yanluo Qin, the Reincarnation King, Ghost King Zhao, and the Harken led an army of 570,000 Yin soldiers to strike down the inner demon in the mortal realm.

    In the face of the final threat that could pose a threat to the Cathayan Underworld, Hell had chosen to draw its sword!

 Chapter 1165: Southern Purple Palace (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1165: Southern Purple Pce (2)</h4>

    "Arrrrgh!!" In the cafe of the Crown Hotel of Yuncheng, Bai Liangping was wing frantically at his own head as he knelt on the ground and screamed like a madman.

    Behind the counter, all of the investigators of the Special Investigations Department and Li Lianshun were looking on with stunned expressions. In particr, Li Lianshun''s legs had already given out from under him, and he felt as if he were in a dream.

    However, no one was paying any heed to him. Li Zhengkai was staring intently at Bai Liangping, who was bleeding out of all of his orifices. Veins were bulging all over his body in a grotesque disy, giving him the appearance of a gnarly piece of dried wood.

    His screams didn''t even sound human anymore, and wisps of Yin energy were frantically seeping out of all of his pores. However, right at this moment, his screaming abruptly ceased.

    He opened his mouth, and a burst of inky-ck Yin energy was expelled, as if he had just swallowed a bomb and was letting out the smoke from the explosion.

    The Yin energy transformed into countless screaming and sobbing faces, releasing sharp screeches that sent chills running down one''s spine, then dissipated into nothingness.

    "What a delicious soul that was..." Bai Liangping burped with a satisfied expression. "I haven''t had a soul that delicious since Heshen''s. That was a meal that I will savor for a very long time. Honestly, serving as the mayor of a city is a waste of your talents..."

    He stretched his body, but he didn''t stretch as a human would. Instead, his shoulders suddenly rose up and down in a grotesque manner, as if he had no bones. His head then turned 180 degrees, and his blood-red eyes locked on firmly to the people outside. "Tsk... I thought that there would be some side dishes, but they''re not very appetizing at all..."

    Right at this moment, he abruptly raised his head, and the bones in his body were cracking audibly from his unnatural movements. Immediately thereafter, a stunned look appeared on his face, and his mouth began to gape open wider and wider.

    "This is... the Southern Purple Pce 10-sided Array?!" he screeched in a shocked voice, then abruptly shot out of the building like a speeding arrow, and only the sound of his incredulous voice still lingered in the air.

    "The tomb of Lishan Laomu is being opened! How could this be?! It''s only taken me less than 10 minutes to possess this body, what could''ve possibly happened during that time?!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    His body broke through the top of the building with a resounding boom before appearing in the sky, following which he immediately cast his gaze toward the south. Even though he was already mentally prepared, his heart still sank at the sight that he was greeted by.

    The effects brought on by the activation of the Heavenly Teacher Seal wouldn''t dissipate so quickly, and the entire city was still inundated in mist. Nothing should''ve been visible in the mist, but clusters of ancient buildings had appeared.

    Only the outlines of these buildings were visible, and in front of these buildings was an enormous statue that stood like a pir between heaven and earth.

    It was also notpletely visible, but just the sight of its outline struck one with an involuntary sense of awe and reverence. In the instant that the inner demon cast its gaze toward the statue, thetter opened its eyes within the sea of mist that covered the entire sky.

    It was a pair of golden eyes, the pupils of which were in the shape of nine-petaled lotus flowers that were in full bloom, with countlessplex runes around them. Given the vast size of the statue, even its eyes were over 100 meters in size, and Bai Liangping was being reflected at the center of the lotus flowers.

    Amid a string of audible cracking, the gargantuan statue slowly raised its hand.

    As it did so, all of the surrounding cloud and mist receded like the falling tide, and in this instant, all of the people in Yuncheng were looking on with dumbstruck expressions.

    People were packed in front of an apartment window, filming the scene unfolding before their eyes with their cameras and phones. However, upon witnessing the emergence of the deity-like statue, one phone after another fell to the ground, while their owners looked on with their mouths gaped wide open in astonishment.

    In the municipal government building and the Special Investigations Department, all of the public servants and investigators looked up at once, staring at this fantastical scene with dumbfounded expressions. Throughout the entire city, from the main urban area to the outskirts, hundreds of thousands of people witnessed something that they were never going to forget.

    The giant statue''s raised palm abruptly thrust down toward Bai Liangping, creating a sharp screeching sound as it did so. Layer uponyer of cloud and mist was scattered, and shockwaves spread through the air for several kilometers, making it appear as if the sky were copsing!

    Beneath the descending palm, Bai Lianping''s clothes had been torn to shreds, and his face was instantly ttened by the powerful shockwaves, but he was disying no fear at all as he continued to look up with a cold expression.

    In the face of this devastating strike, the inner demon let loose an earth-shattering roar, and Yin energy erupted violently out of its body, immediately following which it also raised a palm.

    In that instant, the entire world seemed to have been muted.

    All of the white mist was instantly cleared away, then quickly converged once again.

    The sh had gone beyond what could be heard by human ears, and the palm of the enormous statue was stopped cold in its tracks, unable to descend any further!

    Beneath its palm, Bai Liangping looked up with a vicious expression, and a scarlet vertical eye had already opened up on his be. "Lishan Laomu, I am even older and more regal than you are! You think you have what it takes to strike me down?!"

    A clear cracking sound rang out, and in the next instant, the entire statue of Lishan Laomu shattered violently.

    Countless chunks of stone rained down from above, and inky-ck Yin energy inundated heaven and earth as a voice that seemed to belong to a deity echoed throughout the entire city. "I existed before the Buddha. I existed before the patriarch of Taoism. I''ve seen the entire progression of human history. I''ve watched you rise up to take over the world, and I''ve witnessed the history of civilization. How dare you disrespect me?!"

    The inner demon''s Yin energy fully erupted, and a series of massive cracks spread over the surface of Lishan Laomu''s statue like wildfire. Boundless Yin energy erupted out of the cracks, and in a span of less than three seconds, the entire statue hadpletely shattered.

    Right in the instant that the statue shattered, the inner demon''s smile abruptly stiffened.

    Instead of falling down upon the city as a destructive storm of stone, the massive statue gently drifted down as a shower of flower petals.

    Bai Liangping reached out a trembling hand, allowing a flower petal tond on his palm, then immediately looked up at the sky.

    Amid the mist and the shower of flower petals, a holy voice akin to the singing of angels rang out, reverberating throughout heaven and earth.

    The treasured decree of Lishan Laomu was being recited!

    At the same time, a pir of dazzling radiance erupted into the sky above the indistinct tomb of Lishan Laomu, and in the instant that it came into contact with the sky, it transformed into countless specks of white light that rained down from the heavens.

    The specks of light were drifting down very slowly, and in the instant that theynded on the ground, countless pristine white lotus flowers bloomed across thend!

    All of this had taken ce in the span of less than a minute, and tens of thousands of giant paper figures wielding longswords had already appeared.

    These were the Divine Heavenly Guardians!

    In contrast with the paper figures that Qin Ye had encountered earlier, each of these was around two meters in size, and they were folded in an extremely meticulous and intricate manner, looking no different from the heavenly soldiers and generals depicted on theic strips from the 70s and the 80s. They were wielding all types of different weapons, and in the instant that they appeared, they pointed their weapons directly at the inner demon before letting loose a thunderous war cry in unison.

    Countless pirs of light erupted into the heavens around Yuncheng,pletely surrounding the city and transforming it into an arena for gods!

    How did this happen?

    The inner demon was stunned to see this, and it knew that it wouldn''t be able to get away.

    The Southern Purple Pce 10-sided Array was the original form of the Array of the Nine Gods. Who could''ve anticipated that Lishan Laomu would''ve set up such an array in her own tomb?

    The array was incapable of killing the inner demon, but it had well and truly trapped the inner demon here.

    Who activated this formation, and what objective do they have for trapping me here?

    His questions were quickly answered.

    A resounding boom erupted through the heavens, and an extremely disharmonious burst of crimson appeared within the white mist. It was like a sword of blood that threatened to slice through the entire world, tearing through the heavens and the boundaries between the three realms.

    It was a scarletherfire phoenix!

    A trail of scorchingherfire was left in its wake, and upon reaching the apex of the heavens, the phoenix turned around in an elegant manner, then converged toward the center to form a blood-red cape that covered half of the entire sky. Standing in front of the cape was none other than Zhao, who was wearing a white robe and holding a silver spear.

    He pointed his spear directly at the inner demon''s head as he dered, "I am here to y you once and for all!"

    With this thunderous deration, a burst of Yin energy that wasn''t much weaker than the inner demon''s spread through the entire city. All of the trees in the city were violently ttened, and cracks ran through the ground nearest to the center of the city, while advertisement signs between the city''s tall buildings flew through the air like discarded flyers in the wind.

    However, this was only the beginning.

    Amid the roars of countless ghosts, a redherfire lotus flower bloomed in the sky, illuminating the heavens like a giantntern. Gusts of Yin wind howled as a massive white bone fountain emerged, forming a skeletal vortex in mid-air. Finally, a skeletal throne was formed amid the countless specks of scarletherfire.

    On the throne sat Arthis with Soul Shackles sped in her left hand, and a soul guidingmp in her right hand. Her legs were casually crossed, and there was a faint smile on her ruby red lips as she gently knocked on the armrest of her throne.

    In the next instant, all of the bones burst into bleak, whiteherfire as they screeched in unison, "The Reincarnation King is here! All hail Her Majesty!"

    However, this was still not the end.

    Right between Zhao Yun and Arthis, a burst of nine-colored Yin energy tore through the boundaries between the mortal realm and the underworld, forming a dazzling nine-colored gxy. Within the gxy was a giant foot standing atop a Yin cloud with nine-colored light revolving around it. In the next instant, an enormous figure burst through into the mortal realm before letting loose a deafening roar toward the inner demon.

    The roar scattered the clouds and eradicated the mist. Behind them were hundreds of thousands of specks ofherfire, forming a spectacr light show, and with each speck ofherfire that emerged, the Yin energy in the air would be fractionally more formidable.

    The Yin soldiers had arrived.

    A speck ofherfire descended before transforming into a Yin soldier d in a suit of ck armor, wielding a long spear, and this was immediately followed by a second speck ofherfire, before the rest of theherfire began to fall one after another in rapid session.

    All of a sudden, hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers had appeared above the Yin clouds, forming a sea of ck in front of the inner demon before aiming their spears directly at him.

    In the sky above was a formidable army of Yin soldiers led by three Yama-Kings, while the ground below was littered with Divine Heavenly Guardians.

    There was no way to escape whether bynd or through the sky, and the inner demon was well and truly trapped!

 Chapter 1166: Fortune and Faith

    <h4>Chapter 1166: Fortune and Faith</h4>

    The entire city fellpletely silent in this instant.

    As the inner demon looked on at the scene unfolding before it, it understood everything.

    Bai Liangping had been nothing more than a delectable bait, and in the instant that the inner demon took the bait, someone opened the tomb of Lishan Laomu.

    For Hell, this was the only chance they would have to trap the inner demon, so they were striking despite the verbal agreement that had only recently been formed between Qin Ye and the inner demon.

    Only one side was going to leave this city alive.

    In the face of this unavoidable crisis, the inner demon was able to keep its cool as it said, "Two Yama-Kings and a being above the Yama-King level... What a formidable lineup this is. Where is your King Yanluo? Surely he wouldn''t be absent from such a grand asion. In fact, I would feel a little insulted if he isn''t here."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a humanoid figure slowly stood up atop the Harken''s head, then slowly raised a hand before gently thrusting it downward.

    ck and white spiraled beneath the feet of all of the Yin soldiers present, and countless indistinct golden runes drifted through the air as all of the Yin soldiers yelled in unison, "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!"

    The collective voices of hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers created powerful soundwaves that surged through the city, and the entire city seemed to ripple slightly before returning to its original state.

    Upon hearing this, all of the Yin spirits in Yuncheng, the wandering ghosts that still hadn''t made it into the underworld yet, fell to their knees and kowtowed to the ground as they trembled incessantly.

    Qin Ye and the inner demon''s eyes met from across the army of hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers. Even though they were standing so far away from one another, the killing intent in the air was virtually palpable.

    "We finally meet again, inner demon," Qin Ye said in a cold voice.

    "Indeed," the inner demon replied. "It''s been 100 years since ourst meeting... I shouldn''t have let you gost time."

    This was an arena where only one side would emerge alive, yet the two of them were chatting casually as if they were old friends. However, no one was growingcent as a result of this. Even an idiot could sense the killing intent hidden behind their words.

    This was only the calm before the storm, and the more cid this period was, the more terrifying the storm was going to be.

    "If you dared toe after me back then, you would''ve spared me a lot of trouble," Qin Ye scoffed.

    If the inner demon had insisted on hunting down Qin Ye back then, then the second King Yanluo would''ve put an end to its life there and then!

    "Your little guardian angel won''t save you on this asion," the inner demon chuckled. "The world''s gate needs him, so he can''te here. I didn''t think that you woulde after me again so quickly. It''s clear that neither of us have made sufficient preparations, so why are you in such a hurry?"

    "I think it shoulde as no surprise to you that I want you dead as soon as possible," Qin Ye replied with a faint smile. "Are you ready to ept your fate now?"

    Seeing as he had already made up his mind and Zhao Yun had also adapted perfectly to the situation, there really was no reason not to take a gamble.

    On this very day, the oue of the battle between Hell and the inner demon was going to be decided.

    With 570,000 Yin soldiers, four Yama-Kings, and 50,000 Divine Heavenly Guardians at Hell''s disposal, Qin Ye was confident in their chances.

    Before the inner demon had a chance to reply, he had already raised his hand, and the melodious sound of a long horn rang out behind him.

    At the forefront of the army of Yin soldiers, all of the cavaliers riding atop skeletal warhorses lowered their visors in unison while raising their spears. The warhorses lowered their center of gravity in preparation for a forward charge, and the killing intent in the air was virtually palpable.

    Behind the cavaliers, rows of Yin soldiers also raised their spears, waiting for the order to charge.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in this moment, and in the next instant, Qin Ye brought his hand down in a single, decisive motion.

    The silence was instantly shattered by the sound of the galloping hooves of countless horses, immediately followed by the rumbling of war drums. The army had set off, and it was threatening to destroy everything in its wake. The battle had well and truly begun!

    The inner demon''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and the oing army was reflected within its eyes. Even though it was a being above the Yama-King level, witnessing an army of over 500,000 Yin soldiers, led by four Yama-Kings, was still a sight that shocked him to the core.

    This was the power of the new Hell!

    The inner demon took a deep breath, following which a cold smile appeared on its face. "It won''t be that easy to capture my head!"

    The inner demon''s forte was its untraceable nature, but having lived for so long, it knew that if it couldn''t retreat, then the only option would be to advance with full force!

    If it could weather this storm, then it would survive. If it couldn''t, then it would beid to rest here alongside Lishan Laomu!

    In the face of the enormous wave of Yin energy, Bai Liangping suddenly plunged his hand into his own chest. His brows furrowed slightly as he did so, and he quickly pulled out a shard of some sort.

    It was a piece of bone.

    It was impossible to tell how old the bone was, but it was yellow with age and riddled with bloodstains.

    In the instant that the shard of bone appeared, Zhao Yun''s pupils immediately contracted slightly, and heunched himself through the air, transforming into a river of crimson above the Yin soldiers.

    At the end of the river was his silver spear, which was flying directly toward the inner demon''s throat with incredible speed.

    Zhao Yun had already reached the peak of his speed, and his Yin energy had beenpletely released.

    He had sprung into action so quickly that even the other three Yama-Kings didn''t have a chance to react, and he knew that he had to prevent the inner demon from activating that shard!

    However, the inner demon was even faster. After all, it was more powerful than Zhao Yun, and the two of them were separated by a vast distance.

    In the face of Zhao Yun''s devastating attack, the inner demon smiled.

    At the same time, it tightened its grip around the bone shard, then injected its Yin energy into it in a frenzy. A resounding boom instantly rang out, and right as Zhao Yun reached within 100 meters of the inner demon, a white tide erupted up from the ground, forcibly separating the two.

    A violent crashing sound rang out as Zhao Yun''s spear plunged firmly into the white tide, but the tide remained intact!

    "I''ll remember this, Yanluo Qin, and I''ll be sure to repay the favor by a hundredfold in the future!" The inner demon''s cold voice rang out from behind the wall.

    As soon as its voice trailed off, it vanished on the spot.

    It was still in Yuncheng.

    At this moment, Yuncheng was epassed within the Southern Purple Pce 10-sided Array, so no one could escape.

    Zhao Yun withdrew his spear with a grim expression, and at this point, Qin Ye had already arrived beside him. Qin Ye extended a hand andid it against the white tide, upon which he discovered that it was a white skeletal wall that was as tall as the heavens!

    It had split the entirety of Yuncheng into two.

    On one side was Qin Ye and his army, while the inner demon was on the other side.

    "You can''t break through this wall?" Qin Ye asked with a surprised expression.

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "This is a wall formed by the remains of a being of fortune and worship. No one will be able to break through it."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask, Zhao Yun continued, "There''s only one way to get through it: we have to use blight vermin! With their ability to devour all things, only they can break through this wall."

    This was a name that Qin Ye hadn''t heard in a very long time.

    After a brief moment of contemtion, he asked, "Are there any blight vermin left in Fengdu?"

    "There should be. Fengdu is a massive ce, and you''ve seen their speed before. They had already been devouring each other for over a century before you first saw them, and there were still quite arge number of them back then, so there should at least still be a small portion left."

    Qin Ye nodded in response and was just about to order Arthis to fetch the blight vermin when Zhao Yun raised a hand to stop him.

    "Your Excellency, we have to think about this carefully before we make a decision!" Zhao Yun cautioned with a grim expression. "Have you considered whose remains were used to activate this wall? Throughout the history of Cathay, there are only two people who are beings of fortune and worship!"

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, and the questions that he had already set aside in his mind quickly resurfaced.

    Why had the inner demon chosen to stay here for so long?

    Why was the tomb of Lishan Laomu here?

    Why was it that four Yama-Kings that he had never seen had suddenly appeared here as well?

    "Who were they?" he asked in a grim voice.

    "They were the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou," Zhao Yun replied. "They are both beings of fortune, and the two of them shared the power of worship of the entire nation. Whichever one of them who had won in the end would''ve been able to create an era for themselves, and in the end, it was the Yellow Emperor who came out on top."

    Qin Ye sped his hands behind his back as he paced from side to side in an agitated manner. "There''s no way the remains came from the Yellow Emperor, so they have to belong to Chiyou, but Chiyou has no grave! If I recall correctly, Chiyou''s body was dismembered by the Yellow Emperor, and the two pieces were dragged in two different directions by two longma that never rested and were perpetually in motion. The two parts of its body are the head and the body... Could it be that the inner demon stayed in Yuncheng for so long because it discovered one of the longma that was dragging along a part of Chiyou''s body?"

    "That''s definitely not the case!" Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "Your Excellency, I''m assuming you''ve never seen a longma before. In fact, the number of longma witnessed by the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kingsbined wouldn''t exceed three. I had the fortune of seeing one in the past, and there''s no way that these creatures can ever be captured. They have a unique property, which is that whatever distance they''re away from someone when they''re first seen, they''ll forever maintain that distance between themselves and the beholder. They are invisible to mortals, and they can traverse freely through the three realms as they please. Even the second King Yanluo most likely won''t be able to capture a longma, let alone the inner demon!"

    Qin Ye didn''t reply, and his brows were tightly furrowed.

    He couldn''t make sense of what was happening.

    The only being that the bone shard could belong to was Chiyou, but Chiyou had nothing to do with Yuncheng! How had the inner demon obtained that bone hard, and why had it stayed here for so long?

    Qin Ye could sense that he was getting closer to the answer, but it remained just out of reach.

    "There must be some things that we don''t know about hiding in Yuncheng, and those things are what the inner demong is targeting. Perhaps they could even be its trump card! I presume that the emergence of the four Yama-Kings is also closely rted to this. My suggestion is that we refrain from unleashing an all-out assault right away," Zhao Yun said. "While the blight vermin are being brought over to Yuncheng, I think it''s necessary for us to try and get a grasp on what they''re doing. In a world with power systems and cultivation, there are too many secrets, and even a single misstep could result in catastrophic circumstances. We have already reached the final stage of our battle against the inner demon, and we can''t afford to risk anypses in judgment!"

 Chapter 1167: The Divided Yuncheng

    <h4>Chapter 1167: The Divided Yuncheng</h4>

    A sea of Yin soldiers was stationed at the foot of the skeletal wall. At the center of the army, a massive tent had already been set up. Inside the tent, Qin Ye was inspecting a map through narrowed eyes while tracing a finger gently over the map.

    This was a map of Yuncheng, and it was so detailed that every single vige was annotated on it.

    Zhao Yun was right, there were secrets in this city that had to be uncovered. The inner demon had already been forced into a corner, and they had to know everything up its sleeve before they could proceed any further.

    "There are a total of 12 counties in Yuncheng, and this skeletal wall runs from the right side of Yuncheng, namely the border of Xiaxian Province and Pinglu Province, then extends all the way to the border of Sheshan Province and Hejin Province in the left, thereby splitting the city up into two."

    He pointed to the upper right section of the map and continued, "This is where we are, and the lower left is where the inner demon is."

    The tent was around 20 to 30 meters in size, and it wasn''t exactly luxurious, but it had everything that was needed. Zhao Yun, Arthis, and the Harken were also in the tent, alongside Su Daji, Qin Hui, and the othermanders of the army, but they didn''t have a right to speak here.

    "It''s already been six hours since our Yin soldiers have arrived in Yuncheng, and all of the missions that everyone has assigned have beenpleted. Now, I want everyone to share any opinions or insights you might have on this current situation, and we''ll begin with the Reincarnation King."

    Arthis was seatedzily on her reclining chair as she said, "There are three officials in Yuncheng involved with the inner demon, namely the mayor, and the director and vice-director of the Ministry of Land and Resources."

    She was looking more and more like she fit her status as a Yama-King as she continued with a cold expression, "This should be something that only concerns the mortal realm, but during my interactions with them, I discovered some interesting things."

    She curled a finger, and a document flew over to her, upon which she sat up straight and adopted a serious expression. "Yuncheng is situated on the border of the provinces of Jiangxi and Shanxi, and since the beginning of the republic era, someone had already approached them."

    She raised her head as she continued, "That someone is the Jiang Family. At the time, they were a merchant family, but in the wake of the reforms in the national system, they''ve already be the Jiang Group. They''ve been extremely generous with their investments, particrly in the several decades after the national reform, investing at least several billion into Yuncheng. Out of interest and curiosity, I did some digging into the Jiang Group, and I discovered that not a single one of them is on the Book of Life and Death!"

    "So it''s apany of dead people?" the Harken asked as its eyes narrowed slightly.

    "With the inner demon''s powers, if it''s the one controlling thepany, then it''s not unexpected that the Special Investigations Department wasn''t able to discover anything amiss," Arthis said. "That''s not important, the key is the CEO of the Jiang Group. Would anyone like to guess who it is?"

    A name suddenly shed through Qin Ye''s mind, and he asked, "Is it Ye Xianguo?"

    Arthis nodded in response.

    So the Yiguandao is behind this...

    The puppets of the inner demon had already made their move several decades ago, but they were caught off guard and vanquished by the national government. However, it was clear that some of them had managed to escape, and they had gathered in Yuncheng.

    This made Qin Ye even more convinced that there had to be some type of astonishing secret hidden in Yuncheng. Otherwise, there was no way that the inner demon would''ve picked up this trail again after its failed Yiguandao experiment.

    For a being as cautious as the inner demon, the Yiguandao simply attracted too much attention, and it definitely wouldn''t be doing this unless the potential rewards far outweighed the risks.

    Arthis seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and she continued, "During the past few decades, the Jiang Group has only done one thing in Yuncheng, and that is to dig holes. They haven''t constructed anything. All they''ve done is dig holes at all costs. They''ve even gone as far as to pay exorbitant sums to prominent, existing businesses, only to raze them to the ground and dig holes on the site."

    She made a pinching motion, and several photographs fell into her grasp.

    They were three photographs depicting the wreckage of construction sites.

    The photographs each depicted a different construction site, but what was identical in all three of them was that they each featured a massive, bottomless hole.

    "The locals refer to them as bottomless holes," Arthis said with a cold smile. "ording to current national policies,nd is worth its weight in gold, yet these holes have never been filled."

    She gently flipped over the photographs to reveal some writing on the backs of them, which she read aloud, "23rd of May, 1962. Journalist Wang of the Shanxi Provincial Paper, who had taken a photograph of this bottomless hole, suddenly walked toward the hole and spread his arms open before falling into it. His body was never recovered."

    "28th of August, 1982. A certain construction worker with the surname of Li was working overnight at a construction site with his crew. The next morning, the entire construction crew disappeared without a trace."

    "30th of March, 1959. Teacher Zhao of Yuncheng''s Wutong Middle School took his ss of students to learn about geography and the bottomless holes. Within an hour, the teacher and all of his students jumped into the hole together."

    She stacked the three photographs neatly one on top of one another, then continued, "No one has survived after getting within 10 meters of these wreckage sites. Since the first day the Jiang Group began digging these holes, a total of 234 residents of Yuncheng have gone too close to the holes, and not a single one of them have survived."

    The entire tent fell silent.

    It was clear that the Yiguandao was very interested in whatever was beneath Yuncheng, so much so that they were even willing to risk being discovered again. However, aside from the fact that it was home to the tomb of Lishan Laomu, they couldn''t think of anything that was special about Yuncheng.

    "This is where the interesting partes in," Qin Ye said. "The Reincarnation King went to the municipal government, while I went to the Special Investigations Department, and in their files, I found something very interesting."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "All of the holes were dug at sites where supernatural events have taken ce at one point or another. On top of that, during the 10 years of supernatural disasters, several hundred hunting areas appeared in Yuncheng, and that number was over 1,000 at its peak!"

    Everyone drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    Yuncheng had a total of 12 counties and a territory of 14,000 square kilometers, which meant that there had been almost one hunting area per 10 square kilometers! This density far exceeded even the cities that were most heavily impacted by the supernatural disasters!

    The Harken took a deep breath before asking, "Could it be that all of these hunting areas were ruins of construction sites left behind by the Jiang Group?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a serious expression. "That''s correct. Back when I was at the Special Investigations Department, I never heard anything about Yuncheng. Theoretically speaking, with so many hunting areas in the city, the entire city should''ve been evacuated right away. However, not a single evacuation was staged in Yuncheng throughout the period of natural disasters. ording to the records of Yuncheng''s Special Investigations Department branch, 1,742 hunting areas were found in Yuncheng, but not a single one of them ever erupted!"

    Everyone fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

    The supernatural disasters had taken ce 20 years ago, but the inner demon had already begun searching for something in Yuncheng three to four decades before the beginning of the supernatural disasters.

    It was clear that it had found what it was looking for, and it had done so with unerring uracy, with an evil ghost in slumber beneath every bottomless hole that was dug. However, why had they only appeared now?

    Had they been unable to or unwilling to appear before this?

    With the inner demon''s powers, there should''ve been no array in the world capable of trapping it with the exceptions of top-tier arrays such as the Array of the Nine Gods or the Southern Purple Pce 10-sided Array. However, the higher the caliber of an array, the more runes and cores would need to be inserted, thereby increasing the amount of area taken up by the array. The problem was that judging from the photographs of the bottomless holes presented by Arthis, they were no more than 30 meters in size each, and there was no way that top-tier arrays could be set up within them.

    "The inner demon could''ve destroyed these arrays, but it didn''t do that," Zhao Yun said.

    "Why not?" Qin Ye immediately asked. "Why didn''t the inner demon destroy the arrays? And why has it decided to release them all now?"

    "Could it be because it wasn''t confident before this?" the Harken asked.

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "No. The inner demon is more powerful than I am, and it wouldn''t even fear Lishan Laomu herself. I can''t think of anyone in this world that it would fear aside from the second King Yanluo."

    "In that case, they must''ve failed to reach apromise in their negotiation prior to this point," Arthis theorized. "No oue was achieved during decades of negotiation, and one was only reached recently."

    She turned toward Qin Ye before asking, "What major events have taken ce in the world recently?"

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.

    So many major events had taken ce recently. The new Hell had been founded, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had begun their research into space exploration... Hold on...

    His eyes abruptly lit up, following which he immediately drew a sharp breath.

    There was something that had been taking ce in the underworld for the past 10 years, and its impact was bing more and more severe!

    It was the arrival of extraterrestrial gods!

    The inner demon had made a clear attempt to try and lure him into siding with the extraterrestrial gods.

    His mind was racing rapidly as he quickly made sense of the situation.

    Several decades ago, the inner demon''s Yiguandao experiment had failed, but due to the fact that it had discovered the being buried under Yuncheng, it had decided to pursue this trail again, but no agreement was reached between them.

    That was until recently, when he obtained the assistance of the extraterrestrial gods, thereby giving him better chips to bargain with.

    Longmas couldn''t be captured in this ne, but there was no guarantee that extraterrestrial gods from other nes wouldn''t be able to aplish that feat! After all, through the Omeyocan telescope, Qin Ye had clearly witnessed the runology prowess of the opposing ne was far superior to that of the underworld.

    He gently massaged his beaded bracelet as a series of statistics that he had recently seen in the Special Investigations Department surfaced in his mind.

    Among the hunting areas that had been discovered in Yuncheng, there were four major hunting areas that contained Yin energy exceeding the Abyssal Prefect level. Due to the ridiculously high numbers and the fact that norge-scale supernatural disaster had taken ce in Yuncheng, it was thought that there had been an equipment malfunction, so the situation wasn''t reported.

    However, fourpletely unidentifiable Yama-Kings had just so happened to appear in Yuncheng!

    With that in mind, a cohesive theory took shape in Qin Ye''s mind, and he immediately dered, "Allmanders, heed my call!"

    All of the underworld emissaries in the tent immediately stood up and cupped their fists in salute in response.

    "Gather an army of 17,000 Yin soldiers and split them up into 1,742 groups to enter and investigate every bottomless hole in the city! Get them to take image capture crystals with them, and tell them to gather the most detailed records possible!"

    "Yes!"

    "As for the four hunting areas that were suspected to have belonged to beings above the Abyssal Prefect level, I''ll investigate those myself. Begin right away!"

    If his theory proved to be true, then the inner demon''s trump card wouldn''t just be limited to all of the evil ghosts buried under the city, it would also include the extraterrestrial gods!

    The only question was why the inner demon had failed to reach an agreement with these evil ghosts for so long.

    Who were these evil ghosts and what was their agenda?

    Uncovering this information could be crucial if they wanted to seed in the uing battle!

 Chapter 1168: Heavenly Inquiry

    <h4>Chapter 1168: Heavenly Inquiry</h4>

    All of themanders departed, and just as the three Yama-Kings were also about to leave, Qin Ye suddenly said, "Ghost King Zhao, please stay behind."

    Soon, Zhao Yun and Qin Ye were the only ones left in the tent, and the servants quickly brought on two cups of tea for them. Qin Ye picked up his teacup, but didn''t drink from it, and not only did he not appear to be more rxed, his brows were furrowed even tighter than before.

    The atmosphere was very tense and gloomy, and Zhao Yun decided to try and lighten the mood. "Your Excellency, you made the right decision. There''s no way that the inner demon could''ve anticipated that the tomb of Lishan Laomu would suddenly open, and that the Southern Purple Pce Array would seal the entire city. There must be some useful leads in the ruins of those construction sites."

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. It was clear that Zhao Yun was just trying to console him.

    With Yuncheng split up into two, the inner demon had definitely imed the most advantageous side for itself, while the side that Qin Ye and the others were on was the one that the inner demon had abandoned.

    "Whose remains could they be?" he suddenly said as he looked into Zhao Yun''s eyes with a grim expression. "This is the key to solving this mystery."

    He revealed his theory to Zhao Yun, including his suspected involvement of the extraterrestrial gods, then said, "There were over 1,000 ancient corpses buried here, and their bodies were destroyed, but not their souls. Over the past several thousand years, some of them have already be Yama-Kings. This indicates that an extremely fearsome battle must''ve taken ce in Yuncheng in the past, and these corpses were all left behind from that battle. Who could they be?"

    Zhao Yun pursed his lips, and only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh. "That''s what I''m perplexed about as well. There are only several instances in the historical records detailingrge outbreaks of powerful evil ghosts, some of which have even included Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings, but none of those instances took ce anywhere near Yuncheng! The battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou took ce in Hebei Province, so if there are remains, that should be where they''re found."

    Right as he was about to continue, Qin Ye suddenly interjected, "The bone shard that the inner demon brought out belonged to a being of fortune and faith, but perhaps there were more of them than just the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou. Perhaps Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu, could also count as one?"

    "I don''t think so," Zhao Yun replied with a shake of his head. "At the very most, Liu Xiu only extended the bloodline of a dynasty and created an ethnic group, which is still far from enough from making him worthy of being referred to as a being of fortune and faith. From my knowledge, the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou were the only two beings worthy of that title, and whoever came out on top between them would be the pioneer of the new era."

    In that case, it could only be Chiyou.

    However, the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou took ce in Hebei, which was far away from Yuncheng! Furthermore, ording to historical records, after Chiyou was in, his head and body relentlessly tried to join back together again, and that was why the Yellow Emperor used longmas to separate the two parts of his body, ensuring that they would never meet again.

    Silence descended upon the tent.

    All of a sudden, Zhao Yun said, "Perhaps we should ask Lishan Laomu directly."

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, but then quickly dimmed once again.

    That was indeed the best way to proceed. Now that Chiyou''s remains had resurfaced, perhaps Heaven would make an exception, and Qin Ye was prepared to visit the retirement home that Lishan Laomo was staying in, but there wasn''t enough time!

    "The Southern Purple Pce Array will onlyst four days," he sighed with a shake of his head.

    "Perhaps there''s another way..." A contemtive look appeared on Zhao Yun''s face as he said, "Your Excellency, interaction between Heaven and the underworld is impossible due to the fact that the mortal realm is sandwiched between them. However, that doesn''t mean that we won''t be able tomunicate with Heaven. In the past, Ksitigarbha has visited the underworld, even though that was only a projection. I''ve only just thought of this, but there are two ways for Heaven to interact with the underworld, the first of which would be through a projection like the one used by Ksitigarbha. That can only be initiated by someone in Heaven, so we''re unable to make it happen. The second way would be to find something closely rted to the one you want to get into contact with, then use the Heavenly Inquiry art!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes lit up once again, only to dim again a few secondster.

    This was indeed a good idea, but they needed something extremely closely rted to Lishan Laomu, and he didn''t have that!

    This was indeed the tomb of Lishan Laomu, but it was only something erected by her descendants tomemorate her!

    Perhaps Lishan Laomu had pointed out this city to be the ce of her origin, but she wouldn''t have left behind anything rted to her here. Even though she had set up an array here, arrays were formed by runes, so it couldn''t be counted as an item.

    Lishan Laomu could perhaps project herself here if she wished to do so, but Qin Ye didn''t have anything through which he could directly contact Lishan Laomu using Heavenly Inquiry.

    Zhao Yun also realized this shortly thereafter, and he heaved a forlorn sigh. "It seems that fate is stacked against us."

    "It''s alright." Qin Ye quickly recovered from his disappointment, then rose to his feet as he said in a cold voice, "If we can''t think of anything, then we''ll just have to make something happen through our actions."

    Just as Zhao Yun had said, there was no way that the inner demon would''ve anticipated the opening of the tomb of Lishan Laomu. The skeletal wall allowed the inner demon to keep the most advantageous side of the city to itself, but even though this part of the city was no longer useful to it, there had to be many leads left behind.

    Zhao Yun rose to his feet before cupping his fist in a solemn salute. "Be careful, Your Excellency."

    He had a feeling that whatever was buried under this city was more terrifying than they could imagine!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    A stone pir was shattered by a vicious punch, and Envy''s face was twisted with fury as he turned to the inner demon with tightly gritted teeth. "So this was your n? You''ve trapped all of us here! What do we do now?"

    The four Yama-Kings had surrounded the inner demon, and outside of them were countless evil ghosts, including several Abyssal Prefects, the 73 immortals, and several hundred Anitya Hellguards and Soul Hunters.

    No one could''ve anticipated that there was such a massive number of evil ghosts buried beneath Yuncheng.

    The inner demon didn''t say anything, and before it could speak, the muscr man said, "If you didn''t promise us that you could resurrect our king, there''s no way we would''ve decided to ally ourselves with you! I told you to leave this ce, but you insisted on staying, and we''re all trapped here now!"

    "Are you doubting me?" The inner demon asked in a cold voice. It was still using Bai Liangping''s body as it said, "Don''t forget who was the one that dug all of you up from underground!"

    Its Yin energy swept through the entire area, and under its immense pressure, none of the evil ghosts present were able to say anything. Bai Liangping swept a cold gaze around him as he said in a frosty voice, "If it isn''t for me, you would still be buried right now! If your king were here, he would have the right to speak to me as equals, but who do you think you are?!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder, and in response to it, the 73 immortals slowly opened their eyes, making no attempt to conceal their Yin energy as they slowly hovered up into the sky like 73 ck suns.

    Deathly silence ensued.

    Menacing Yin energy was surging incessantly, and pairs of crimson eyes that looked as if they belonged to a pack of fierce wolves emerged in the surrounding area. Envy''s hands balled up into tight fists as a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face, and his inky-ck nails were drawing blood from his own palms, but he paid that no heed.

    Right beside him, Resentment, who had possessed a short and chubby elderly man, slowly raised his hands, and a series of white bone spikes had already pierced through his clothes as they extended out of his body.

    The inner demon leaned forward slightly as a menacing smile appeared on his face. "What? You feel insulted? Do you think this is several thousand years ago, back when you were still the rulers of the human race? Are you enraged that even someone like me would dare to speak to you like this?"

    His Yin energy surged through the area like a tsunami, transforming the entire ce into an inky-ck abyss as he continued, "Why don''t you try me then? If you really dare to attack me, I''ll send you all back to hell in seconds!"

    The atmosphere was extremely tense, and it seemed that a physical altercation was inevitable.

    Amid the oppressive silence, Resentment suddenly smiled, and in the next instant, his arm elongated to over 10 meters in length, spearing directly toward the inner demon''s chest like lightning!

    The attack was so fast that only a faint shadow could be seen flying through the air, and the anguished howls of vengeful spirits rang out in all directions.

    In the face of this rapid attack, the inner demon waspletely unimpressed, and a derisive smirk appeared on his face. However, before he even had a chance to retaliate, a wave of inky-ck hair erupted from behind Resentment like a den of countless snakes, wrapping around Resentment''s arm and stopping it cold in its tracks!

    At this point, Resentment''s hand was no more than a foot away from the inner demon, yet Bai Liangping''s chest, which had been normal and whole just a moment ago, had already transformed into a mouth that was gaped wide open! Within it were several dozen tentacles and rows upon rows of sharp, scalpel-like fangs, just waiting for Resentment''s hand to enter.

    "What are you doing, Lust?" Resentment slowly turned around.

    A woman wearing a dirty white dress had appeared behind them out of the blue.

    Her feet were bare, and her dress was originally a pristine white color, but it was grimy and stained with blotches of blood. Her long, ck hair draped down around her face like dead seaweed, and through her hair, one could only see a single crimson eye.

    "Having an altercation here isn''t going to help anything," Lust said, and her voice was as cringe-inducing as the sound of metal scraping over a ckboard.

    Her body remainedpletely still, yet her head was turning toward the inner demon like the head of a broken doll.

    "I have one question for you: will you still be able to fulfill your agreement with us?"

    "I can''t offer you any guarantees, but I assure you that I have no intention of dying here," the inner demon replied.

    "I see." Lust nodded in response. "What do you n to do now?"

    "I''m going to Fenglingdu!" the inner demon replied without any hesitation. "They won''t be able to bypass the Thousand Tribtion Walls. Even if they manage to do that, all I have to do is bury the remains of your king at Fenglingdu, and that''ll be enough for us to weather this storm."

    Envy''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "You''re going to activate the Myriad Soul Pagoda? That wasn''t part of our agreement! The Myriad Soul Pagoda is thest thing we can count on for the return of our king. If you active it, but we fail on this asion, we''ll have to wait for countless years for the next opportunity!"

    A cold smile appeared on the inner demon''s face as it said, "The Myriad Soul Pagoda will only be ast resort. If I recall correctly, the Southern Purple Pce Array will only be able tost for four days before it dissipates. During that time, they won''t even be able to bypass the Thousand Tribtion Walls! Even if they somehow manage to bypass that and force me to activate the Myriad Soul Pagoda, there''s no way they''ll be able to set foot into the pagoda. By the time four days pass by, my reinforcements will already be waiting outside the array!"

 Chapter 1169: First Middle School

    <h4>Chapter 1169: First Middle School</h4>

    Since the early morning, the entirety of Yuncheng had been ced intoplete lockdown.

    The news broadcasts were repeating over and over again that the lockdown was due to a chemical spill from a factory in the city, but barely anyone was stupid enough to believe that.

    The air temperature was rapidly plummeting, and some people had seen reflections of countless soldiers wearing antiquated armor on their windows. Some had taken photographs of people that couldn''t be seen in the lens, and some had clearly heard the sound of nging footsteps ringing out on the empty streets outside. The decade of supernatural disasters had only passed by not long ago, so it was still very much fresh in many people''s memories.

    Everyone began to pull out their talismans before hanging them up at their doorway with red thread, and in no more than three hours, the entire city seemed to have returned to the days of the supernatural disasters. Talismans were swaying in front of every household, and all windows and doors were tightly shut as everyone stayed indoors in fear and unease.

    Thankfully for them, no one disturbed them.

    Neither side wanted to make the situation moreplex than it already was, particrly the inner demon. They didn''t want to have to deal with the mortal realm while also facing Hell.

    Four hours after all of the Divine Heavenly Guardians had appeared, they transformed into sheets of paper that drifted down all over the city.

    It was as if they had gone into standby mode, having not received any orders for too long.

    The white skeletal wall that ran across the entire city was an extremely eye-catching sight. A battle was about to break out between the two sides, but they had been forcibly separated by the wall. As a result, they were forced to calm down, but at the same time, this only meant that the battle was going to be even more ferocious when it didmence.

    The wall was like a dam that was keeping out a flood.

    The longer it held the flood at bay, the more the pressure was going to build.

    The municipal government had done everything in its power to keep the citizens of the city safe. Everyone was staying indoors, so Yuncheng was made to appear like apletely dead and deserted city.

    A boot gently stepped onto the ground, and Qin Ye slowly emerged amid a gust of Yin wind. Right behind him was Zhao Yun, who was virtually always by his side.

    "There was no need for you to follow me here," Qin Ye said.

    Zhao Yun shook his head in response, but didn''t say anything.

    Qin Ye was already an advanced Yama-King, so there were very few beings in the world who could pose a threat to him, but Zhao Yun still insisted on following him in case any unforeseen circumstances arose.

    The two of them had arrived at an abandoned yground.

    This was a yground that was purchased for 100,000 in 1955, which was a massive sum back then. Several supernatural events had taken ce here, so no one dared to purchase this plot ofnd, and thus, it had been abandoned this entire time.

    The yground wasn''t paved with concrete as modern ygrounds were. Instead, it was a dirt yground, and the removal of rocks had been done very well, so it was clear that the person who had built this school had put in a lot of love and effort.

    Unfortunately, in the face of the power of capitalism, the school had fallen into ruin.

    The yground wasn''t very big, and at its center was a tall pole. That was a pole used to mount the national g, and its color had alreadypletely faded. A tattered national g was hung up at half-mast, and it was pping in the wind in a pathetic manner, as if it werementing its past glory days.

    The school building was constructed from red bricks, and at the time, this would''ve been quite a nice school. At this point, half of it had already copsed, and the remaining half was covered in vines, giving it a particrly decrepit and eerie appearance.

    This was the first digging site that the Jiang Group had invested in.

    Qin Ye closed his eyes to inspect the surrounding area with his consciousness, and several secondster, he reopened his eyes. "The Yin energy here is very pronounced, but it''s not very powerful."

    This was quite strange. Most of these evil ghosts had only been released recently, and there was no way that their Yin energy should''ve dissipated in such a short time. The Yin energy that belonged to them would have clear signs through which their owners could be identified, but that wasn''t the case here.

    "Perhaps it''s been tampered with," Zhao Yun suggested with a grim expression. "They wouldn''t want the Special Investigations Department to grow suspicious. Normal people can''t enter this ce, but if the Special Investigations Department finds out what''s happening here, Hell would be quickly notified as well."

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to continue, Qin Ye shook his head as he interjected, "That doesn''t make sense! The timeline is off!"

    All of these evil ghosts had only been released recently, which meant that the inner demon would''ve definitely already realized that the Emissaries of Hell were no longer present in the mortal realm. As such, it wouldn''t care if the Special Investigations Department detected anything or not.

    Furthermore, the inner demon had to dig over 1,000 of these bottomless holes on its own, and it was very unlikely that it would''ve had the time to carefully conceal the secrets below them.

    At the very most, it would only be able to make some rough concealments.

    "Brother Zhao." He turned to Zhao Yun before giving him a nod, then stepped aside.

    Zhao Yun took a deep breath, and his Yin energy surged out of his body in a frenzy.

    The terrifying Yin energy swept through the entire area like fierce wind blowing away the mist, and the things that were concealed here were no longer able to remain hidden. No more than three secondster, Zhao Yun abruptly raised his head before gently stomping his foot onto the ground.

    A series of cracks extended from his feet, and they were growingrger and deeper by the second, while wisps of reddish-ck Yin energy were already beginning to seep upward.

    In the short span of just 10 seconds, the cracks had already spread over the entire yground, and a resounding boom rang out as the ground gave out from under their feet, sending them falling downward.

    A hole with a radius of around 20 meters had appeared at the center of the yground, and it was extremely deep.

    Even after falling for a full minute, the bottom still wasn''t in sight. Qin Ye raised his head to find that at this point, the sun had been reduced to around the size of a table tennis ball from his perspective, and there was nothing butplete darkness around them.

    Within the darkness, there was a bone-chilling aura that was rapidly spreading. Darkness had no effect on underworld emissaries, and Qin Ye could clearly see that a type of reddish-ck mist had already formed a bottomless vortex beneath them.

    "This is Yin energy." He reached out a hand, and the mist rose up to meet him as if it had found its owner, wrapping around his finger to form a loop. Qin Ye shook his head as his brows furrowed slightly. "But at the same time, it''s not Yin energy."

    It was fundamentally the same as Yin energy, but it was behavingpletely differently!

    Yin energy for Yin spirits was equivalent to blood for humans. It was something that only Yin spirits possessed, but this particr type of Yin energy was filled with all types of negative emotions associated with war, causing it to change color into a third type of Yin energy that Qin Ye had never seen before.

    The Yin energy of Limbo was azure, the Yin energy of the underworld was ck, and this Yin energy was a reddish-ck color.

    The Yin energy had already formed a ball above Zhao Yun''s palm, and after inspecting it for a long while, he said, "This is Yin energy from before Hell emerged. The Yin energy of Hell is ck because it was formed by the remains of the Goddess Earth Mother. However, Yin energy that hasn''t ever passed through Hell is different."

    The ball of Yin energy disintegrated as he gently crushed it, and his brows furrowed tightly as he inspected the surrounding area with a cautious expression. "I can''t think of who could''ve possibly been buried here. It has to have been a powerful ancient god whose physical body already ceases to exist. During the time they were around, Hell didn''t exist yet, and no one realized that spirits could also cultivate. Their cultivation aptitude is definitely not inferior to mine, and over a long period of time, they found a way to cultivate. There''s a very good chance that this has something to do with the official founding of Hell after the Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation. The formation of Hell affected all of the living beings in the world, and the being that was buried here most likely sensed something, thereby allowing them to cultivate on their own to the Yama-King level."

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face. This was definitely not good news. Over the past several thousand years, only around 20 Yama-Kings had emerged in Hell, yet whoever had been buried here had reached that level on their own.

    Just how fearsome would they have been during their living days?

    Both Zhao Yun and Qin Ye fell silent. It felt as if there were a monster lurking within the darkness, ready to pounce at any moment, and there seemed to be no end to this darkness.

    Half an hourter, Qin Ye''s brows had be tightly furrowed.

    There was no way that such a deep hole could possibly exist!

    "It would take around seven minutes toplete a 5,00-meter fall, but we''ve already been falling for at least half an hour at this point, which would be equivalent to falling 25,000 meters." He raised his head and pointed upward as he spoke. "Look."

    Zhao Yun looked up as he was told, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly. The sun was still around the size of a table tennis ball above their heads. If they really had already fallen for 25,000 meters, the sun would''ve faded out of view long ago!

    "Could there be an array here that confounds the senses?" Qin Ye murmured with tightly furrowed brows. "The fact that it works on us means that the one who created the array has to at least be an advanced Yama-King. On top of that, an array that''s this well concealed, yet able to affect Yama-Kings, must be extremely renowned, but I can''t think of any that would fit this description..."

    The one who had set up this array had to be extremely skilled in their craft, perhaps even unmatched throughout all of history!

    Of course, the array wasn''t impossible to dispel.

    "It can confound the senses, but it can''t conceal objects." A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and his Heavenly Dra abruptly erupted out of his sleeve, flying straight down for around half a minute before a ng finally rang out from down below.

    However, that was immediately followed by a loud buzzing sound.

    It was like the sound of a bee''s nest, except amplified manifold, and in the instant that the sound rang out, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun''s expressions both changed slightly as they released their emissary auras without any hesitation.

    It appeared that they had just activated a trap. This was an array left behind by someone who was at least an advanced Yama-King, so it would certainly be unwise to underestimate the traps here.

    Less than five secondster, a burst of golden light appeared behind the reddish-ck mist. The golden light was moving extremely fast, like a pack of starving wolves that had finally encountered some fresh meat. A deafening boom rang out, and tens of thousands of tiny ck insects appeared around Qin Ye and Zhao Yun with wisps of reddish-ck mist trailing along behind them.

    At such close range, Qin Ye was able to see these insects clearly, and they resembled flying beetles with translucent green rings beneath their hard ck shells. Their eyes were glowing with greedy, golden radiance, and drops of bright red liquid were dripping down from their mandibles.

    "These are Soul Devouring Beetles!" Zhao Yun eximed, and in the next instant, the swarm of beetles converged toward them from all directions in a frenzy amid a sharp screeching sound!

 Chapter 1170: Qimen Dunjia (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1170: Qimen Dunjia (1)</h4>

    As soon as the insects reached Qin Ye, he was stunned to discover that his emissary aura wasn''t able to keep them out! The insects were rapidly devouring his emissary aura!

    At the same time, a burst of scarlet mes swept through the entire cave, and the fire was so fierce that it illuminated everything in the cave aside from Qin Ye bright red. The mes then erupted out of the hole, forming a massive torch that extended all the way up into the heavens!

    Zhao Yun had sprung into action!

    Only after a full 30 seconds had passed did the pir of fire gradually subside, and the walls of the hole had already been set alight, illuminating the entire hole so that it was as bright as day.

    Zhao Yun slowly spread open his hand to reveal several charred insects lying at the center of the palm. Much to Qin Ye''s astonishment, they were still alive and struggling doggedly to shake off the charred ashes all over their bodies.

    Zhao Yun closed his hand firmly around the insects, then turned to Qin Ye with a grim expression as he asked, "Do you know what these are, Your Excellency?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    "You may not have seen these insects in this infantile form, but you''ve definitely seen the mature insects at Fengdu."

    A thought urred to Qin Ye upon hearing this, and he asked in an incredulous voice, "Are these blight vermin?"

    "That''s right." Zhao Yun cast his gaze downward, and at this point, the entire bottom of the hole had already been revealed to them. "Thervae of blight vermin are known as soul devouring beetles, and they grow from devouring Yin spirits."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before casting his gaze downward.

    Who had been buried in this ce?

    Not only had they been buried near the tomb of Lishan Laomu, the jailers of this ce wererval blight vermin! It was clear that whatever was buried here was not supposed to evere out!

    The mystery was only bing more and moreplex, and he shook his head before rushing straight to the bottom of the hole as a gust of Yin wind.

    There was no point in guessing, and there was only one way to find out.

    Several secondster, the two of themnded on solid ground, and Zhao Yun instantly used his Yin energy to envelope both Qin Ye and himself, then swept his Yin energy through the surrounding area to clear away all of the reddish-ck Yin energy, thereby revealing the true appearance of this bottomless hole.

    A stunned look appeared on his face as he stared at what stood in front of them.

    It was a bronze gate that was over five meters tall.

    Two oilmps were lit on either side of the gate, but themps weren''t burning with red mes. Instead, it was whiteherfire!

    Around a dozen human skeletons were resting against the door, dressed in clothing from all types of different eras. Their hands were all ced against the gate as if their dying wish had been to open the gate and see what lied beyond it.

    Qin Ye heaved a forlorn sigh at the sight of these unfortunate individuals, then made his way over to the gate to scrutinize it more closely.

    The gate was riddled withplex carved designs, and these designs resembled some type of text!

    "This text has to be at least 4,000 years old," Qin Ye murmured as he gently stroked the gate. "The earliest recorded text in Cathayan history is cuneiform, but cuneiform already has the structure of orthodox text, and there are even some elements of early Cathayan that could be identified in it, but this text..."

    He paused momentarily, then continued in an incredulous voice, "It''s even older than cuneiform!"

    The text on the bronze gate was extremelyplex. In fact, they were more like simplified artworks than text. Many of the "characters" were clearly modeled after different types of flora and fauna, such as fish or flowers.

    "Cuneiform originated from the Shang Dynasty, and that was already over 3,600 years ago. Does this mean that this gate is at least 3,600 years old?" Zhao Yun spected with furrowed brows.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. "It has to at least be 4,000 years old. The evolution of anguage was an extremely lengthy process back then. Historians have never managed to actually verify the existence of the Xia Dynasty, but perhaps this gate would be concrete evidence of that."

    The 5,000-year-long history of Cathay began from the Xia Dynasty. Without the Xia Dynasty, the nation''s history would be reduced to only around 3,600 years, which was roughly 60% of Aegypt''s history.

    Zhao Yun nodded in response, then turned his attention toward theherfire on either side of the gate. "To think that these twomps are still lit even after all this time... I can sense the power of an Abyssal Prefect within them, but it''s already very feeble, and it''ll most likelypletely run out after a month."

    Only the soulfire formed by the soul of a high-grade underworld emissary could burn for so long.

    Just how noble did the figure behind the gate have to be for the soulfire of a high-grade underworld emissary to be used just to light themps in front of this gate?

    After taking several deep breaths, Qin Ye ced his palm against the gate, then released his Yin energy, and the gate finally slowly swung open with an agonizing groan.

    This was the truth that no living human would ever be able to uncover. Only the dead could enter this ce!

    After the gate waspletely opened, everything inside was revealed to Qin Ye and Zhao Yun. Even though he already had an idea of what to expect, Qin Ye still couldn''t help but gasp as his mouth gaped open slightly.

    This was a cave that wasn''trge, nor small.

    It was around 100 meters in size, and down below was a pool of inky-ck water that was opaque, making it impossible to see the bottom.

    A series of lotus flowers were growing out of the water, and it was incredible to see them here considering thepleteck of sunlight. Furthermore, there wasn''t even a single lotus leaf in the entire pond.

    At the center of the lotus flowers was a stone tform, which waspletely empty.

    However, four chains were nailed firmly to the stone tform, and each chain led toward a different direction.

    After just a single nce, Zhao Yun said, "Those are infernal demon sealing chains, constructed from the premium ore ''Nightmare'', which has already run out long ago."

    That name struck a chord with Qin Ye, and his brows furrowed slightly before his eyes suddenly lit up. "Is this the same Nightmare that can only be used by Yama-Kings?"

    He involuntarily took a step forward, only for Zhao Yun to hold him back with a firm shake of his head.

    "Look at what shape that stone tform is in."

    "It''s round. What does that mean?" Qin Ye asked.

    "I''ve heard of this setup before." Zhao Yun squatted down slightly like a leopard about to pounce, then continued, "If I''m not mistaken, there are a total of 4,320 lotus flowers here!"

    Qin Ye carefully counted all of the lotus flowers in the pond. This was not a veryrge number for the consciousness of a Yama-King, shortly thereafter, he turned to Zhao Yun with a stunned expression. "4,320... How did you know that?"

    Zhao Yun didn''t say anything, but he took a few steps backward in a cautious manner, and only then did he reply, "This is the so-called ''Qimen''."

    He pointed toward the center of the tform, then said, "There is something there, but we can''t see it. The eight trigrams lie in the center, while 4,320 objects are situated around it, and that forms the Qimen Dunjia!"

    Qimen Dunjia?

    Qin Ye turned toward the lotus flowers with a perplexed expression as he said, "Is this really the Qimen Dunjia? I''ve read about the Qimen Dunjia before, and I recall that it only required 18 objects!"

    "That''s only the current Qimen Dunjia," Zhao Yun replied. "Back when the Qimen Dunjia first appeared, it required 4,320 objects. After some refinement, that number was reduced to 1,080, and during the Zhou Dynasty, Jiang Shangpressed it further down to 72 in order to fit the requirements of his marching army. During the Han Dynasty, Huang Shigong passed the Qimen Dunjia down to Zhang Liang, who reformed it once again, making it into its current form, which requires only 18 objects. What we''re seeing here is the most primitive version of the Qimen Dunjia. The first field where the Qimen Dunjia was applied was in the military. You can interpret the Qimen as an army, while the Dunjia are the troops within the army. The Qimen''s purpose is to conceal the troops, and it''s able to do that so perfectly that even when the thing it''s concealing is right in front of it, we''re unable to see it, nor are we able to sense any Yin energy."

    He paused momentarily before turning to Qin Ye, then asked, "Do you know what the original name of the Qimen Dunjia was?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    His ignorance was being put on full disy here!

    "It was originally called Eight Directions Eight Winds."

    This name struck another chord in Qin Ye''s mind, and he immediately eximed, "Lishan Laomu''s Eight Directions Eight Winds?!"

    Of course! The creator of the Qimen Dunjia is none other than Lishan Laomu!

    "This array was set up by Lishan Laomu in person," Zhao Yun said. "In fact, all of the seals within this bottomless hole were most likely set up by her... But why?"

    There was no exnation.

    Amid the silence, Zhao Yun heaved a faint sigh. "Let''s go. Unless Lishan Laomu is here in person, no one will be able to resolve the original version of the Qimen Dunjia, and any misstep could result in life-threatening danger. There''s no way for us to see what''s on that stone tform, so there''s no longer any point in staying here."

    Right as he was about to depart, Qin Ye suddenly grabbed onto his sleeve.

    "Your Excellency?" Zhao Yun turned to him with a perplexed expression.

    "You said this was set up by Lishan Laomu herself, right?" Qin Ye asked as he stared intently at the stone tform.

    "That''s right." Zhao Yun didn''t know what Qin Ye was thinking, but he still exined, "Only a Yama-King would be able to forge infernal demon sealing chains, and only Lishan Laomu herself can create the original version of the Qimen Dunjia, so this ce could only have been created by her."

    Qin Ye''s heart was thumping in his chest, and he took a deep breath before asking, "Then why don''t we invite Lishan Laomu toe here in person to take a look?"

    Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye with a puzzled expression.

    Invite Lishan Laomu here? How are we supposed to do that?

    However, in the next instant, his eyes abruptly lit up, and he pped a palm to his own forehead as he eximed, "You''re suggesting we perform a Heavenly Inquiry?"

    He had forgotten all about that possibility!

    There was most likely no other ce in the mortal realm or the underworld where an object closely rted to Lishan Laomu could be found, but such an object was sitting in front of them at this very moment!

    The Qimen Dunjia had definitely been set up by Lishan Laomu, and there was a very good chance that the infernal demon sealing chains had also been created by her!

    As long as she was willing to answer their questions, all of the mysteries surrounding Yuncheng would be unraveled!

 Chapter 1171: Qimen Dunjia (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1171: Qimen Dunjia (2)</h4>

    The two of them took a deep breath, then cast their eyes toward the center of the stone tform. In order to perform a Heavenly Inquiry, they had to first be in contact with something rted to Lishan Laomu.

    However, if they were to touch this Qimen Dunjia, they had no idea what was going to happen here.

    Zhao Yun jumped up slightly, then immediatelynded back down onto the ground. "There''s a flight restriction."

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. "I''ll do it."

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, several Soul Shackles flew upward, then tied themselves around one of the infernal demon sealing chains with a loud ng. Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye tugged on the Soul Shackles, pulling himself up into the air beforending on the chain.

    Right as this happened, a sharp sense of peril suddenly speared into his mind, and all of the surrounding lotus flowers swiveled around in unison to aim themselves directly at Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye immediately crouched down like a leopard on the chain, and amid the silence, a faint buzzing sound was beginning to ring out.

    In the beginning, the sound was very faint, but within the span of just two seconds, it was audibly echoing throughout the entire cave.

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon hearing this before his expression changed drastically. "There are more soul devouring beetles!"

    Even without that reminder from Zhao Yun, Qin Ye had already spotted them.

    A series of thumb-sized white eggs were floating to the surface from the bottom of the ck pond, and they were writhing and struggling frantically, as if they were trying to break free. In fact, many of thervae had already emerged from the eggs, and a series of golden eyes could be seen opening up within the pond.

    In the blink of an eye, the entire pond was illuminated by golden light, resembling a ck diamond with gold embedded into it, creating a beautiful scene to behold, but also one that was fraught with lethal peril.

    The entire process took no more than five seconds, and immediately after that, countless arrows of water shot out of the pond before hurtling directly toward Qin Ye.

    It was as if the entire pond had sprung to life, and Zhao Yun drew a sharp breath before instinctively rushing toward Qin Ye. However, before he had a chance to reach Qin Ye, he stopped cold in his tracks and looked on with an astonished expression as what appeared to be rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.

    All of the soul devouring beetles had stopped in unison.

    Every single drop of water epassed an awakened soul devouring beetle, and due to the momentum that was created, it looked as if countless arrows of water had shot out of the pond. However, now that the soul devouring beetles had suddenly stopped moving, the water lost its momentum, and it naturally fell back down.

    Amid the shower, the soul devouring beetles flew around aimlessly, buzzing around like headless flies above the pond. Several secondster, all of them plunged back down into the pond, and everything fell still and silent again.

    Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye with a shocked expression.

    Once a soul devouring beetle chose a target, that target wouldn''t be able to escape even if they were to flee to the corners of the world, so why had they suddenly seem to have lost track of Qin Ye from such close range?

    Standing on the chain, Qin Ye dabbed at the cold sweat that had beaded up on his forehead. If it weren''t for that inspired idea that had suddenly urred to him, both of them would''ve most likely already been inundated by that swarm of soul devouring beetles by now.

    "King Yanluo''s Seal saved us," he exined as he took a deep breath.

    Zhao Yun''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    King Yanluo''s Seal was able to feign true energy.

    Soul devouring beetles devoured Yin energy for sustenance, and these soul devouring beetles were very strange in that they didn''t seem to be able to leave this pond for long, so once their target disappeared, they would naturally return to the pond.

    It sounded simple, but Qin Ye was teetering on a chain just now, making it impossible for him to take evasive measures, and it was extremely impressive that he was able to think of that on the fly in such a dire situation.

    At the very least, Zhao Yun didn''t think that he would''ve been able to do that in the same situation.

    "This is a prison prepared for a soul," Qin Ye said. "I don''t know who was buried here, but they were buried here alive without resources, and all they could do was wait for death. After they died, if their soul dared to step out of here, then it would be devoured by countless soul devouring beetles. Thus, they''re destined to be trapped for eternity on that stone tform."

    With thebination of infernal demon sealing chains and soul devouring beetles here, it was virtually impossible to free whoever had been trapped here.

    Having weathered that storm, the rest of the process was much simpler. Using his Soul Shackles, Qin Ye was able to quickly pull himself to the center of the stone tform, which was less than three meters in size.

    An image of the Yellow Emperor was engraved onto the ground, and a part of it had already been pressed down to reveal a hole that was around a meter in size at the center of the stone tform, within which sat a ck coffin.

    It was clear that arts had been used here, as evidenced by the fact that half of the stone pir had been charred ck, and there were several clear finger indentations on the ground. It was clear that the inner demon was responsible for this.

    Seeing as the inner demon had already set the example, all Qin Ye had to do was follow the same process, and thus, he gently pressed his palm against the ground.

    The sound of operating mechanical parts rang out, and the entire stone tform began to tremble slightly as the ck coffin slowly rose up.

    A deep rumbling sound then swept through the entire cave, and right as the coffin emerged, a burst of Yin energy that was as dark as inky slowly seeped out of the gaps alongside streams of blood.

    A wary look immediately appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he jumped onto one of the chains without any hesitation, observing the rising coffin with an intense, unblinking gaze.

    This was one of the major pieces of the puzzle that was Yuncheng. The secret in this city had convinced the inner demon to take a massive risk, so it was certainly not to be taken lightly.

    Right now, this secret was about to be uncovered.

    As the coffin rose up higher and higher, it was stained entirely red by the Yin energy and blood that was gushing out of it. Close to 20 secondster, the entire coffin had already appeared on the stone tform, while the tform had transformed into a gushing fountain with blood flowing down all around it before sinking to the bottom of the pond.

    A Soul Shackle abruptly shot out of Qin Ye''s sleeve before piercing directly into the coffin, and at the exact same moment, a burst of powerful Yin energy erupted out of the coffin, apanied by a resentful hissing sound that gradually subsided.

    The Yin energy was so powerful that it formed a substantial shockwave, causing all of the surrounding lotus flowers to rear back. Even Qin Ye''s robes were pping incessantly, yet in the face of this abrupt storm, he remained as still and resolute as an immovable mountain, then tugged on his Soul Shackle firmly.

    A resounding boom rang out as the lid of the coffin was pulled off, then fell into the water below with a dull thump, thereby finally revealing the face of the demon.

    Inside the coffin was a boundless expanse of reddish-ck Yin energy, within whichid the shriveled up body of a monkey.

    It wasn''t entirely urate to call it a monkey. The corpse was around two meters tall, and it had to be curled up in order to fit in the coffin. It had a bald spot, but there was sparse white fur growing on its head, extending to over a meter in length, virtually filling the entire bottom of the coffin. Furthermore, they seemed to be alive, and upon encountering light, they began to twist and curl slightly.

    The "monkey" had three eyes, six ears, and a forked tail. Its arms were incredibly long and encircled around itself, and each hand only had four fingers, but those fingers were over a foot in length, resembling sharp des.

    It had clearly already been dead for a very long time, but its body hadn''t decayed at all. Instead, it had only be dried and shriveled like a mummy, and blood was gushing out of all of its orifices like a fountain, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.

    Qin Ye was certain that he had never seen or heard of any creature like this before, and he reflexively turned toward Zhao Yun with a dumbstruck expression.

    However, Zhao Yun was just as befuddled as he was, and he shook his head in response.

    "I''ve never heard of a being like this before, but one thing is for certain: this is a demon. If it were alive, we would refer to it as a demonic immortal. It''s definitely a Yama-King level being. Even after its death, its Yin energy refuses to dissipate, and the blood gushing out of the coffin is a result of its excessively powerful Yin energy mutating the surrounding environment. I presume its soul was taken by the inner demon, and we can refer to its soul as a demonic ghostly immortal."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed tightly as he inspected the surrounding area with a grim expression.

    Why had this thing been sealed here by Lishan Laomu?

    All was going to be revealed soon.

    "General Zhao!" Qin Ye called out, then ducked slightly to the side, and Zhao Yun immediately plunged his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear through the entire coffin. From the tail-end of the spear, a Soul Shackle fell into Zhao Yun''s grasp, following which an almighty voice rang out, chanting the treasured decree of Lishan Laomu.

    Initially, the voice was quite faint, but it quickly grew louder and louder until even the walls of the cave were trembling dramatically.

    In the beginning, one could still clearly tell that it was Zhao Yun''s voice, but a few secondster, it was as if there were countless voices calling out at once.

    The entire pond erupted into a frenzy as the chanting grew louder and louder, and the water in the pond formed inky-ck beads that slowly rose up into the air.

    Several minutester, Zhao Yun abruptly sped his hands together, and a burst of dazzling golden light erupted from his palms. At the same time, all of the water droplets hanging in the air converged at once, forming a huge screen of water while ripples surged through the air.

    Inside the screen,yers of white clouds were quickly receding into the distance, following which a resplendent golden pce appeared.

    The image was zooming in rapidly, and all of the female servants in the pce turned around with stunned expressions. At the center of the pce was an elegant and regal woman seated with her eyes closed on a phoenix throne.

    The image continued to zoom in further and further, and upon reaching within 20 meters of the woman, she finally opened her eyes.

    Her eyes were golden in color, and her pupils were in the shape of nine-petaled lotus flowers in full bloom. Her expression was aloof and indifferent, and she asked in an authoritative voice, "Who is seeking me out?"

    However, in the next instant, she abruptly raised her head, and a stunned look appeared on her face as she eximed, "Is that Zhuolu? That''s a divine battleground from several thousand years ago! How did you get in there?"

 Chapter 1172: Legend of Zhuolu

    <h4>Chapter 1172: Legend of Zhuolu</h4>

    Zhuolu?

    Qin Ye and Zhao Yun felt as if a huge bombshell had just been dropped onto their heads.

    This was an extremely renowned ce. It was here that the Yellow Emperor had defeated Chiyou, thereby giving rise to the people of Cathay. That was the most significant and spectacr battle between demons and gods that had taken ce during Cathay''s 5,000-year-long history.

    The fact that the inner demon had produced what was suspected to be a piece of Chiyou''s remains was a sign that those evil ghosts were perhaps subordinates of Chiyou, but never did they anticipate that this ce would be Zhuolu!

    This was Shanxi Province, which was several hundred kilometers away from Zhuolu Town of Hebei Province!

    "Are you sure you''re not mistaken?" Qin Ye asked with tightly furrowed brows. This was such a shocking answer that he was struggling to believe it.

    "I''m certain of it." With a dismissive wave of Lishan Laomu''s hand, all of the servants around her quickly left the room, following which she stepped forward with a serious expression before extending a slight curtsey. "Nice to finally meet you, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then immediately cut to the chase as he asked, "Can you exin to us what''s going on here? We are currently in Yuncheng of Shanxi Province, which is nowhere near Zhuolu of Hebei Province!"

    Lishan Laomu heaved a faint sigh. As an ancient goddess who had lived for several thousand years, she had many, many secrets, and this one was undoubtedly her most important secret.

    She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again without uttering a word.

    Zhao Yun said, "With all due respect, even if you don''t say anything, we can just ask the Goddess Earth Mother."

    Even though Zhao Yun was more powerful than Lishan Laomu, all of the beings in Heaven''s retirement homes were extremely lofty in status. As King Yanluo, Qin Ye could regard them as equals, but the same didn''t apply for Zhao Yun.

    "There''s no need for that." Lishan Laomu shook her head as she heaved a faint sigh. "I knew this day was going toe, and it''s about time all of this came to an end anyway."

    Everyone fell silent again.

    Inside the screen of water, Lishan Laomu was standing atop a cloud as she slowly paced back and forth within her pce, as if she were arranging her memories. After a long while, she finally began her story.

    "I know that almost all historians believe that Zhuolu is the same Zhuolu of Hebei Province. In fact, this idea began to spread as far back as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and at this point, virtually everyone regards it as the truth. However, have you considered the situation from back then?"

    She turned around, and the gentle sunlight of Heaven shone down onto her face, basking her in a warm glow.

    She gently traced her fingers through the air, and soon, a map of the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei appeared in mid-air. Shaanxi was situated in the northwest, and it was connected to Hebei by Shanxi.

    "Those were extremely primitive times, where wandering out of one''s settlement was considered to be no different frommitting suicide. Even though there were powerful beings like us during those times, we were opposed by all types of immensely powerful beasts, evil ghosts, and demons. The Jiuli Tribes and the Xuanyuan Tribe were active in Shanxi and Shaanxi. This has already been proven by modern historians, and they''ve even uncovered ruins of those civilizations. They are correct in that assessment. Bodies of water have always bred civilizations, and almost all civilizations on Earth have been established along rivers,kes, or seas. Thus, an extremely important problem arises."

    Qin Ye had already identified this problem, and he asked, "Is it distance?"

    "That''s right!" Lishan Laomu replied in a serious voice. "ording to the segregation of historians, the area in which the Xuanyuan Tribe was active at the time was over 900 kilometers away from Zhuolu of Hebei Province, which means that they were over 800 kilometers away from the Jiuli Tribes. Given how perilous the world was back then, why would those two tribes go into battle on a battlefield that was close to 1,000 kilometers away?"

    Qin Ye''s eyes gradually lit up upon hearing this.

    Indeed, given the state of the world at the time, there was no way that they would travel close to 1,000 kilometers just for a battle!

    While it was true that there was an abundance of powerful beings back then, low-grade cultivators were still unable to survive without food, nor were they capable of flight.

    In fact, that could only be achieved after reaching the Infernal Judge level. Thus, if this were true, then the only possibility was that the Battle of Zhuolu took ce between only the most powerful beings of the two tribes.

    However, that was not the case ording to any historical records.

    Aside from those powerful beings, each side also had a massive army, and even if every single soldier in those armies were cultivators, what ranks would they have reached? Surely there was no way that both sides had massive armies consisting entirely of Infernal Judges!

    Would they not require supplies?

    Also, with such massive armies, there was no way that they would be able to travel very quickly.

    Furthermore, during those perilous times, were they not concerned that their tribes would be attacked after they left? If their tribes were attacked while they were locked in battle, were they supposed to retreat or continue the battle and sacrifice their tribe?

    No matter how one looked at this, it simply didn''t make sense that they would go such a long way for a battle.

    This was quite a startling revtion to Qin Ye. If Lishan Laomu hadn''t pointed out all of this to him, never did he think that there would be such a massive problem with this theory, which had already been epted to be the truth for several thousand years!

    Even the sharpest and most brilliant of minds could be dulled by mob psychology...

    Zhao Yun also felt as if a whole new world had been opened up to him, and he immediately asked, "So where is the true Zhuolu? Is it in Yuncheng?"

    "That''s right!" Lishan Laomu replied in an imcable voice. "In fact, Zhuolu should be spelled as Zhuolu instead." [Here, she''s saying that äÃÂ¹ should be spelled as ×ÇÂ½. Both of them have the exact same pronunciation, but obviously, different characters are used.]

    She slowly wrote the correct spelling of Zhuolu in mid-air.

    "This is the correct spelling." A reminiscent look appeared on her face as she sighed, "In ancient times, the Weihe River and the Yellow River converged at Tongguan, and the water there is quite murky, thereby ounting for the ''zhuo'' in the name. Back then, when looking out at Fenglingdu from Tongguan, one would see a vast hignd that stretched for several dozen kilometers, and that is the ''lu''." [In Chinese, ×Ç(zhuo) trantes to murky, and Â½(lu) trantes tond.]

    Tongguan... Zhuolu...

    Qin Ye was quickly assessing the map of Shanxi in his mind, and several secondster, he drew a sharp breath as he abruptly raised his head to look at the screen of water.

    If his memory served him correctly, then Zhuolu was situated right at the foot of Lishan Mountain. Furthermore, ording to historical records, the territory of the Xuanyuan Tribe wasn''t far away from that of the Chiyou Tribe.

    Thus, it was very much possible that a battle could''ve taken ce between them at Zhuolu, and Zhuolu was certainly arge enough ce to facilitate such a battle!

    "Thus, the true Zhuolu isn''t in Hebei Province at all. Instead, it''s right beneath your feet!" Lishan Laomu dered. "The ancient battlefield of the Battle of Zhuolu is located in the southwestern area of Ruicheng County of Yuncheng, in a ce known as Fenglingdu. It was also there that the two parts of Chiyou''s body were dragged away in two different directions by longmas. After I ascended to Heaven, I set up my tomb here to seal all of the demonic deities buried in Zhuolu. At the time, Chiyou''s army had 82 branches and 4,320 cultivators. Thus, I created the Qimen Dunjia to seal them all near my tomb!"

    The story was very simple and concise, and it was over very quickly, but Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were still reeling from what they had just heard.

    Who could''ve imagined that a nondescript city like Yuncheng would be harboring such an astonishing secret?

    Up to this point, all of their questions had been answered.

    Why had the inner demon stayed in Yuncheng for so long? Where had these unknown Yama-Kingse from? Why was it that the skeletal wall had kept the inner demon and the others in the half of the city where Ruicheng County was situated?

    Also, why had Lishan Laomu participated in that battle from all those years ago?

    She wasn''t one of the Yellow Emperor''s subordinates. In fact, she was his teacher. She was all alone, but she was extremely powerful, and even if she didn''t actively participate in the battle, there was no way that the Yellow Emperor or Chiyou would engage her in battle.

    At the time, she simply had no choice.

    Their armies were already on the doorstep of her Bodhima??a, and if she didn''t pick a side, the safety of her Bodhima??a would be under threat.

    Upon picking a side, she had an agenda that she had to fight for.

    At the time, the Yellow Emperor had just so happened to have been trapped by the Wind God and the Rain God, and Lishan Laomu had saved him from that predicament. As a result, she had earned herself a lofty status, ranking below only the Three Pure Ones!

    She preferred to keep a low profile, so she wasn''t all that renowned, but that didn''t mean that she wasn''t one of the most important figures when it came to shaping the history of Cathay!

    So why exactly had the inner demone here?

    The answer was already very obvious at this point: he wanted to release all of the demonic deities that had been sealed here!

    Why had it chosen to ally itself with Chiyou''s subordinates? It was because the Jiuli Tribes were natural enemies to the entirety of Cathay!

    The very existence of this nation was a constant reminder of their defeat and humiliation! If they couldn''t destroy this nation, then they would be bringing shame to their bloodline!

    They were perfect allies for the inner demon and extraterrestrial gods!

    I see...

    Having finally made sense of everything, an enlightened smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. He described the situation in Yuncheng to Lishan Laomu, then asked, "What is the inner demon trying to do now? Would you be able to impart your wisdom upon us?"

    "I wouldn''t dare to say I have much wisdom," Lishan Laomu replied with a modest smile. "ording to what you just told me, it''s clear that the inner demon knows what it''s doing and has kept the half of the city that includes Ruicheng County for itself. If I recall correctly, the final device that can allow Chiyou''s forces to make a return can be found in Ruicheng County, and that is the Myriad Soul Pagoda. It''s said that if Chiyou''s body were reunited with his head, then he would be able to be resurrected in the Myriad Soul Pagoda. This is an indestructible array created by Chiyou and all of the demonic deities under hismand, and once activated, Chiyou will begin a revival process. However, it can only be used once every 1,000 years."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    The Myriad Soul Pagoda was most likely the inner demon''s final trump card. However, the inner demon didn''t possess both parts of Chiyou''s body, so it was most likely only aiming to take advantage of the indestructible nature of the array to oust the Southern Purple Pce 10-sided Array, which could only stand for four days.

    "Are you sure there''s no way for Chiyou to be resurrected?"

    Lishan Laomu paused momentarily before replying, "Theoretically speaking, it''s not impossible. Longmas are impossible to catch in this world, but one person has seen the longmas in the past and even stroked them before."

    "Who is it?" Zhao Yun asked in a stunned voice.

    "It''s the one who released the longmas, of course," Lishan Laomu replied.

    "Someone had to have tied Chiyou''s body to the tails of the longmas. In that person''s eyes, the longmas are always right in front of him, and he could easily reach out and touch them at will. They are the only person capable of that in this world, but who knows if their bloodline still exists after these past thousands of years? It would certainly not be an easy task to trace back thousands of years to try and track down a single person. At the very least, no one in Heaven would be capable of doing that."

    Qin Ye sighed as he repressed that thought, and just as he was about to bid farewell to Lishan Laomu, she suddenly said, "Please wait, Yanluo Qin."

    Shen then gently pointed a finger forward, and two specks of golden light passed through the screen of water beforending in Qin Ye''s grasp.

    One of them was a bamboo scroll, while the other was a jade hairpin.

    A forlorn look appeared on Lishan Laomu''s face, but it quickly faded as she said, "This event is directly rted to me as well. It was I who assisted the Yellow Emperor in defeating Chiyou all those years ago, and now, the burden should fall upon me to resolve this matter once and for all. Perhaps it was meant to be that you stumbled upon all of this in Yuncheng. That bamboo scroll is a list of all of the powerful cultivators under Chiyou''smand, including the four ominous stars, the 12 demonic spirits, and more. As for the jade hairpin..."

    A faint smile appeared on her face, and the screen of water slowly vanished, dripping back down into the pond. "I have a feeling that there wille a time where you''ll have to use it."

 Chapter 1173: The Final Ally

    <h4>Chapter 1173: The Final Ally</h4>

    Qin Ye held onto the bamboo scroll in silence with a contemtive look on his face.

    Their conversation with Lishan Laomu had onlysted half an hour, but all of his questions had been answered. At this point, he truly knew everything that he needed to know, and all that was left was to unleash an all-out attack!

    Qin Ye slowly unfurled the bamboo scroll, then gently traced his fingers along its surface. The monkey that they had just seen in the coffin was etched on the first page of the scroll.

    Even though it was a very simple drawing, it captured the spirit and image of the monkey perfectly. In fact, it was several times more fearsome than the corpse that they had just seen.

    Envy, a mid Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou''smand. He was a white monkey who attained intelligence, with three eyes, six ears, and two tails, and he perished during the Battle of Zhuolu. No records of him can be found in the ssic of Mountains and Seas.

    Lust, a nascent Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou''smand. He was a 700-year-old pink skeleton with two faces and four arms, perishing during the Battle of Zhuolu. No records of him can be found in the ssic of Mountains and Seas.

    Resentment, an advanced Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou''smand. He was an ox who attained intelligence after 1,300 years of cultivation, with a body as massive as a mountain, the head of a cow, the body of a human, and legs of a spider. He perished during the Battle of Zhuolu, and no records of him can be found in the ssic of Mountains and Seas.

    Insanity, a mid Yama-King who is one of the four ominous stars under Chiyou''smand. He was a 900-year-old mandrill with no substantial body, formed entirely by Yin wind. He perished during the Battle of Zhuolu, and no records of him can be found in the ssic of Mountains and Seas.

    These were most likely the four Yama-Kings who were sealing the Yin Yang Mezzanines.

    Hell also had four Yama-Kings, but Zhao Yun had to face the inner demon, so they were actually at a disadvantage when it came to top-end power.

    The rest of the bamboo scroll included records of many evil ghosts that had appeared in the past. Qin Ye did a quick count to find that there were 12 Abyssal Prefects, while the rest were all Infernal Judges and Anitya Hellguards. With the 73 immortals thrown into the mix as well, the forces under the inner demon''smand were far more powerful than Hell had imagined!

    There was also the Myriad Soul Pagoda that they would have to contend with, and things were looking far from optimistic.

    A battle definitely had to happen. This was an extremely rare opportunity, and it would be an absolute travesty to pass it up. Furthermore, if they were to allow the inner demon to get away, they would be facing fierce retaliation.

    However, how were they supposed to fight such a formidable enemy?

    "There won''t be any chances to pick them off individually. I''m sure that they''re all staying together on the other side of the wall, and if I were to go to the other side, I would immediately be detected by the inner demon," Zhao Yun said in a grim voice.

    Qin Ye gently closed the bamboo scroll as he shook his head. As things currently were, they were only evenly matched with the inner demon''s forces at most, and under these circumstances, it would be virtually impossible to kill the inner demon. However...

    He raised his head to look up at the sky as he said, "Rest assured, we still have an important ally who hasn''t arrived yet."

    "Who is it?" Zhao Yun followed his gaze upward, then asked with furrowed brows, "Are you referring to the Heavenly Dao?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This was one of the main reasons he had decided to strike.

    He was over 90% sure that the Heavenly Dao would intervene!

    No decision was ever made in a vacuum. Under different circumstances and at different times, different decisions had to be made.

    The Heavenly Dao was a transcendent and detached being, so it made sense that They didn''t care about the fall of Hell.

    Even if all three realms were to copse, They would just have to wait several million years until the next batch of intelligent living beings appeared. Perhaps those beings wouldn''t even be humans, but what did that matter?

    "However, things are different now," Qin Ye said. "The existence of extraterrestrial gods can pose a direct threat to the Heavenly Dao Themself. They had never shown Themself in the past, but up to this point, They had already appeared twice, with the first asion taking ce during the plot of the three Caribbean death gods."

    He turned to Zhao Yun before asking, "What do you think this entails?"

    Zhao Yun''s brows furrowed slightly as he replied, "The Heavenly Dao is taking a more hands-on approach with the affairs of the world. Could it be about to fully descend upon the world soon?"

    "That''s right. The existence of extraterrestrial gods has struck fear into Their heart, so They must ensure that the three realms possess sufficient power to weather this storm. Do you know how I managed to gauge the mindset of the Heavenly Dao?" Qin Ye asked with a cunning smile. "When have you ever seen the Heavenly Dao make a request to anyone to kill a being above the Yama-King level in Their stead?"

    The existence of the inner demon had already affected the bnce of the three realms.

    Once again, in the past, the Heavenly Dao would''ve simply turned a blind eye to this. However, the inner demon had chosen to coborate with extraterrestrial gods, thereby allying itself with the Plumed Serpent God, and that was something that the Heavenly Dao absolutely could not tolerate!

    "Why aren''t They doing this Themself?" Zhao Yun asked with a puzzled expression.

    Qin Ye replied, "You haven''t directlymunicated with the Heavenly Dao before, so you don''t know what They''re like. Let me give you an example. The Yellow Emperor had already defeated Chiyou thousands of years ago, and the era of the human race was about to begin, so why was it that Chiyou was still able to leave behind something like the Myriad Soul Pagoda? Don''t you think that it''spletely pointless and poses a constant underlying threat to the human race?"

    Zhao Yun contemted this in silence for a long while before replying, "Beings above the Yama-King level are able to sense many things that they were unable to in the past, such as the Great Dao. The Great Dao has a total of 50 major branches, and those major branches split up further into countless minor branches. It epasses the rules by which the world functions. For example, when someone gets hungry, they have to eat, and when fish leave the water, they''ll die, etc. However, among the 50 major branches of the Great Dao, one of them is the dao of unpredictability, and I think that best exins the Heavenly Dao''s attitude on this matter."

    Qin Ye nodded in response to Zhao Yun''s sound analysis, then asked, "Do you think the Heavenly Dao can count as a living being?"

    Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, Qin Ye answered his own question. "No, They are a machine. They are the epitome of thews of the world, and They can never break Their ownws. Thus, They epted the unpredictable element that was left behind by Chiyou''s forces. At the same time, They allowed the unpredictable entity that is the inner demon to exist. Among the 50 major branches of the Great Dao, there has to be one that states that the Heavenly Dao is prohibited from interfering with the operation of the world. This is not difficult to extrapte. In fact, it''s very obvious from Their past actions. However, as the inner demon slowly transformed from an unpredictable entity to a predictable threat that had allied itself with the extraterrestrial gods, the Heavenly Dao was no longer able to remain aloof and detached. At the same time, They felt a sense of shame as the representative of thews of the world, feeling as if They had gone against the purpose of its own existence. Thus, They chose me to kill the inner demon for them. However, we now know that the inner demon is far more powerful than we anticipated. If we fail, we won''t be able to track down the inner demon again unless we kill the entire poption of Cathay. If we were to do that, the three realms would be thrown into severe imbnce, and that would make this worldpletely vulnerable to the extraterrestrial gods. Hence, the Heavenly Dao can''t allow us to fail, and I wouldn''t work for Them for free, either. What do you think of my analysis, Nothingness?"

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately reflexively positioned himself in front of Qin Ye as a shield.

    Just now, a humanoid figure had suddenly appeared behind Zhao Yun and Qin Ye, looking as if it had been standing there the entire time.

    Zhao Yun immediately turned around, and with just a single nce, he was able to gauge how powerful this being was.

    Its power was as unfathomable as an abyss, but without entering the abyss, one would bepletely unable to sense just how fearsome its power was. Even Zhao Yun was struck by an indescribable sense of fear in the presence of the Heavenly Dao, and this was only a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao.

    He instantly released his Yin energy without any hesitation, forming an inky-ck wall of energy as he looked on with a wary expression.

    Nothingness took a nce at Zhao Yun, then turned toward Qin Ye, and They remainedpletely expressionless the entire time, as if nothing in this world were capable of piquing its interest. "How presumptuous of you."

    "Presumptuous? I think not," Qin Ye countered with a smile. "The fact that you''ve appeared here means that my analysis was all correct. You want us to take you into consideration when we''re deciding on our strategy, right?"

    Nothingness remained silent, and before They had a chance to speak, Qin Ye continued, "This is the third time that you''ve appeared. You''ve witnessed the entire history of the world, and even during the most arduous times for the human race, the most that you did was pass down some divine edicts in order to provide some vague guidance to our ancestors. However, you''ve already descended upon this world three times in less than 30 years. Is the threat of the extraterrestrial gods already this severe?"

    If the Heavenly Dao possessed human emotions, it would''ve most likely already pped Qin Ye across the face!

    One could only get away with this type of gloating in the face of apletely emotionless machine.

    Qin Ye was staring intently at the Heavenly Dao. He was further affirming his own hypothesis that the Heavenly Dao was indeed an emotionless machine. A clear understanding of the Heavenly Dao''s mindset could be very useful in the future.

    The Heavenly Dao paid no heed to Qin Ye''s tant probing, and perhaps They didn''t care anyway. After a long silence, They finally said, "You won''t be able to break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda. That is something that has inherited the fortune and faith of a generation. Truth be told, during the Battle of Zhuolu, even I couldn''t tell who was going to win as their fortune was the same. The Yellow Emperor won in the end, taking away half the fortune to establish the era of the human race. Chiyou lost, and the other half of the fortune transformed into the Myriad Soul Pagoda to be buried beneath Zhuolu. What you''re facing is not the inner demon. Instead, it''s half of the fortune of Cathay, and the faith and worship vested in Chiyou and his forces."

    "So?" Qin Ye prompted.

    For some reason, Nothingness was struck by the urge to hit something, but that urge quickly faded. They couldn''t understand why Qin Ye was so smug and self-assured in a situation like this.

    "I will break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda for you." After that parting sentence, Nothingness''s body began to fade.

    "You''re not going to kill the inner demon yourself?"

    There was no response, and the Heavenly Dao vanished just as abruptly as They had appeared.

    "Your Excellency..." Zhao Yun turned to Qin Ye, but thetter merely shook his head and remained silent.

    After a long silence, Qin Ye finally mused, "Does this mean that the Heavenly Dao believes that we have the power to kill the inner demon if the Myriad Soul Pagoda is broken?"

 Chapter 1174: Preparing for Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1174: Preparing for Battle</h4>

    "Su Wei of the Demon Vanquishing Army pays his respects to Yanluo Qin and his esteemed superiors."

    "Fang Changqing of the Soul Quelling Army pays his respects to Yanluo Qin and his esteemed superiors."

    "Wang Zi''an of the Reincarnation Army pays his respects to Yanluo Qin and his esteemed superiors."

    It was 3 AM, and a group of generals d in antiquated army had just entered the massive tent that had been set up in Yuncheng. Inside the tent were the four Yama-Kings and all of the high-ranking officials of the Yuncheng municipal government and the local Special Investigations Department branch.

    At this point, all of the forces had already been gathered, and the army had swelled to a total of over 630,000 troops.

    The entirety of Yuncheng was filled with specks ofherfire that were even more dazzling than the stars in the sky, presenting a scene that was akin to the outer space of the underworld. It was both magnificent menacing, and it struck the beholder with a sense of asphyxiation.

    Inside the tent, the tension in the air was virtually palpable. A series ofherfire candles were flickering incessantly, casting wavering shadows across the entire tent, and a constant stream of underworld emissaries were entering and exiting the tent, presenting different files that they stacked onto the table in front of Qin Ye.

    Starting from the previous night, 1,700 scouting groups had entered the bottomless holes, then returned at 12 AM. After taking three hours topile all of the gathered data, all of the information had been ced into these files, which had, in turn, been presented to everyone in the tent.

    Mayor Bai of Yuncheng had disappeared, so the municipal partymittee secretary was attending the meeting in his stead. With each page that he read, the more terrified he became, and by the time he had finished reading thepiled information, his clothes were already drenched in cold sweat.

    No one could''ve imagined that there would be so many evil ghosts buried under Yuncheng! Essentially, they had been living above a massive evil ghost tomb for thousands of years!

    They had no right to speak here. Given the power of the mortal realm, the most they could do was assist Hell. They had only just been presented with this information, while themanders of the Yin soldiers present had alreadypleted an analysis of power between the two sides, and the results of that analysis were far from optimistic.

    This was thergest and final opposing force, yet the enemy forces were extremely powerful. In total, they had 1,656 Anitya Hellguards, 24 Infernal Judges, six Abyssal Prefects, and four Yama-Kings!

    Could they really win this battle?

    One uneasy pair of eyes after another was directed toward Qin Ye, who was sitting on the main seat in the camp.

    Due to the unease that everyone was feeling, all of themanders had fallen silent.

    This was the third time in the history of the new Hell that their King Yanluo had led Hell''s troops into battle. The first asion was the Battle of Ashmound, while the second asion was the war of unification.

    The new administration of Hell had already created countless miracles in the past, but was this hurdle going to prove to be too difficult to ovee?

    Amid the silence, Qin Ye tapped his table to draw everyone''s attention, then said, "Now that everyone has had a chance to look at the data, I''m sure you all have an idea of the situation that we''re facing. While the bottomless holes have been investigated, the Reincarnation King has already brought back some blight vermin. Thankfully, there was still a small batch left."

    He slowly rose to his feet, and his Yin energy seeped through the tent around him. All of the preparations wereplete, and it was time to begin the final battle!

    His voice was very calm, as if he were describing somethingpletely mundane, and he dered, "At 5 AM tomorrow, a total of 700 blight vermin will break through the skeletal wall for us. An hour after that, our entire army will advance toward Zhuolu. This is an unavoidable battle!"

    He swept a fiery gaze across everyone present as he continued, "The fate of humanity and the world rests on the oue of this battle! As descendants of the Yellow Emperor, we have no excuse, nor any right to avoid this battle! I''ll be counting on you, everyone."

    Some battles had to be fought, even though they were clearly going to be extremely difficult from the outset.

    The enemy was more formidable than anything Hell had ever faced, but backing down was not an option. As was the case with all turning points in history, someone had to step up and make the difficult decision, one that could even be considered to be a little deranged.

    Failure would spell catastrophe, while victory would ensure the future.

    Through his words, Qin Ye was expressing his determination to everyone, and all of themanders reflexively sat up a little straighter as the concern and unease in their eyes turned into calmness and resilience.

    The worst that could happen to them was death.

    They had lost their chance to be heroes as humans, but they certainly weren''t going to be remembered as cowards in the afterlife!

    With a wave of Qin Ye''s hand, four badges appeared in mid-air. His gaze swept over the faces of all of themanders present as he gently picked up one of the badges, then injected his Yin energy into it, upon which the image of Envy appeared on its surface.

    He took a deep breath, then asked in a voice that was brimming with killing intent, "Who wishes to step up and y Envy of the four ominous stars?"

    "East Conquering General Gao Mingquan wishes to offer his services!"

    "Border Guardian General Xu Zi''an wishes to offer his services!"

    "West Vanquishing General Su Wei wishes to offer his services!"

    "East Vanquishing General Fang Changqing wishes to offer his services!"

    In the blink of an eye, several generals stepped forward at once, yet they were all forced back into their seats by a gust of Yin wind, following which a figure made its way to the center of the tent.

    "Sit back down, this is not an opponent that you can deal with." Arthis turned to Qin Ye with a serious expression, then cupped her fist in a salute and extended a deep bow as she said, "Warden of the six paths of reincarnation and Reincarnation King Arthis wishes to offer her services!"

    "Are you sure?" Qin Ye asked with a serious expression. This was not the time to be messing around.

    Arthis stood up straight as she dered, "Hell has never feared nor bowed its head to anyone! Are we scared just because our enemies are powerful? These demonic scoundrels must be in for their transgressions against the Cathayan Underworld! So long as I still exist, I will make sure to tie Envy down with every fiber of my being! Even if I am to die, I will drag him into the cycle of reincarnation with me!"

    Qin Ye didn''t waste any more time with words, and one of the badges flew into Arthis''s grasp.

    Arthis epted the badge as she cupped her fist in a salute, following which Qin Ye picked up the second badge. "Who wishes to step up and y Lust of the four ominous stars?"

    Before anyone else had a chance to say anything, the Harken had already stepped forward. "I''ll be taking Lust''s head."

    Even though the Harken was quite diminutive in stature, the entire city of Yuncheng seemed to be trembling with each step that it took, and its fearsome power as a divine beast of Hell was not to be looked down on.

    "Are you confident in your chances?"

    "So long as I still live, Lust won''t be going anywhere!" the Harken dered with imcable confidence. "After this battle, no one would dare to challenge Hell''s authority ever again!"

    With that, the Harken took another one of the remaining three badges.

    With only two badges left, Qin Ye was a little hesitant about how to proceed.

    He and Zhao Yun both had to face the inner demon together. On a one-on-one basis, neither of them would be a match for the inner demon, particrly considering the fact that Zhao Yun didn''t possess the origin runes of emotions and desires. In this battle, ying the inner demon was the key, but it seemed like they werecking the high-end power to deal with both the inner demon and all of its other powerful allies.

    Even though the four ominous stars weren''t necessarily close allies of the inner demon, in the face of amon enemy, they would definitely set aside any internal conflict that they had in order to oppose Hell together. If he and Zhao Yun were to face the inner demon, who would oppose Resentment and Insanity?

    Additionally, the 73 immortals had to be ounted for as well. In arge-scale battle like this, allowing the enemy''s powerful beings to do as they pleased was no different from suicide.

    Right at this moment, a voice rang out at the entrance of the tent. "Yanluo Qin, may I be worthy of offering my services?"

    Qin Ye immediately cast his gaze toward the entrance, and the curtain was pulled aside to reveal a group of figures.

    The tent was quite arge one, so the entrance was also quite wide, and from Qin Ye''s position, he could clearly see Qin Changxin, Qin Xinzhong, Murai Sadakatsu, Mori Ranmaru, and others standing outside.

    It could be said that all of the aides that Oda Nobunaga had taken from the Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl were gathered here, and behind them were several dozen men wearing ck ninja attire.

    Behind those ninjas was a group consisting of over 1,000 people. They were once elite Yin soldiers who answered directly to Qin Ye, and at the center of the three groups was an inky-ck coffin.

    The coffin was sealed shut with chains and talismans, but even so, wisps of dark Yin energy were still slowly seeping out of it, swirling around the coffin like mist. Upon sensing this Yin energy, all of the underworld emissaries present faltered slightly, then turned toward the four Yama-Kings in unison with incredulous expressions.

    Never did they think that they would see something so powerful and regal on an asion like this.

    Before anyone had a chance to say anything, Arthis''s voice rang out like rumbling thunder, reaching the ears of every underworld emissary in Yuncheng. "Our backs are truly against the wall here, everyone. The fate of our nation hinges on the oue of this battle, and we don''t know how many underworld emissaries will survive to the end."

    Her voice was audible to every single Yin soldier and underworld emissary in the city, and all of them immediately dropped what they were doing to listen carefully.

    "Let me make this clear to all of you," Arthis dered in a calm voice. "Anyone who dares to retreat will be sent straight to the path of the beast, the path of the hungry ghost, and the path of the asura!"

    It was a very simple and concise announcement, but that didn''t make it any less impactful, and it put her determination and ruthlessness on full disy.

    "Conversely, regardless of where you are and whether you perish, as long as you stand firm until the very end, the path of man and the path of gods will be open to all of you!"

    All of the underworld emissaries in the city drew a collective sharp breath upon hearing this.

    At this point, Hell hadn''t opened up the six paths of reincarnation yet, and there was only a single reason for this: there weren''t that many Yin spirits.

    Over the course of the past several millennia, the other three pirs had all gathered billions ofherworldly citizens, yet the Cathayan Underworld only had around three hundred to four hundred million, and almost all of them were elderly people who had died from natural causes.

    It wasn''t that there weren''t anyherworldly citizens who wanted to be reincarnated. In fact, mostherworldly citizens wished to be reincarnated, but Hell didn''t permit that.

    However, that was finally going to change here!

    Hefty rewards never failed to spark courage and sacrificial spirit in the hearts of men. Even though there was an extremely arduous battle up ahead, Arthis''s deration instantly gave the morale of all of Hell''s troops a significant boost.

    "Long live, Hell!" someone suddenly yelled in the distance, and the cry was contagious, quickly spreading across the entirety of Yuncheng.

    "Long live, Hell!"

    "Long live, Hell!"

    "Long live, Hell!"

    The collective voices of all of the Yin soldiers swept through the entire city like a tsunami!

    Qin Ye inspected his surroundings withplex emotions in his eyes. He had built up Hell from scratch, and his army had absolute loyalty toward him. Additionally, he had the help of Lishan Laomu and the Heavenly Dao.

    Even though the armies were evenly matched, even though he was facing ancient demonic deities, there was no excuse for losing this battle!

 Chapter 1175: Marching Toward Zhuolu

    <h4>Chapter 1175: Marching Toward Zhuolu</h4>

    Qin Ye turned and cast his gaze toward the rest of themanders in the tent, all of whom stepped forward in unison, volunteering to im the remaining badge.

    Around a dozen voices rang out in unison, and Qin Ye took a nce at everyone before sending the badge flying into Su Daji''s grasp.

    Su Daji instantly shuddered as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning, then cast an incredulous gaze toward Qin Ye.

    She had always been a high-ranking official, but she knew that once the education system was established in the Cathayan Underworld, more and more Abyssal Prefects would emerge during theing centuries, and she would definitely be marginalized as a result.

    After all, she hadmitted treason in the past, and that was a permanent blotch on her political resume.

    Thus, never did she think that she would receive a badge. She and Qin Hui hadn''t said anything this entire time as they knew that they had no right to try andy im to something so important.

    Who could''ve imagined that this badge would be assigned to them!

    As soon as they returned to their sense, she and Qin Hui immediately fell to their knees before kowtowing onto the ground. "Your trust in us is not misced, Yanluo Qin! Even if we have to die 1,000 deaths, we''ll make sure to keep Resentment at bay!"

    Not all Abyssal Prefects were made equal.

    For example, vile beings like Su Daji and Qin Hui, who had to be restricted using the six paths of reincarnation, were far more powerful than the Abyssal Prefects among the 73 immortals. Over the past two decades, Su Daji and Qin Hui had also be more powerful, and with their Hungry Ghost Legion and Asura Legion, whichbined to over 100,000 troops, coupled with the Wumu military formation, it certainly wasn''t impossible for them to keep Resentment at bay.

    Qin Ye nodded in response. It was about time that he gave them an opportunity to redeem themselves.

    He withdrew his gaze, then turned toward all of themanders before bringing out the final badge.

    "Even I do not know what the Myriad Soul Pagoda is like. Once it''s activated, it''s most likely the case that no one will be around to issue orders to all of you. You have an army of over 500,000 troops under yourmand, and all you have to do is one thing: keep the 73 immortals and all of the other enemies at bay, do you understand?"

    The badge fell into Qin Changxin''s grasp, and epted it with a deep breath, then cupped his fist in a salute alongside all of the othermanders. "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Zhuolu.

    In the present-day, this historic battlefield had be a basin, one that would be impossible to emerge from after entry. No one knew what had been buried here several thousand years ago. Everyone only knew that this was an extremely far ce from Ruicheng County, so far away that no developers were willing to approach it.

    It was a veryrge space, spanning over 50 kilometers in radius, but there was no greenery here at all, and it waspletely barren.

    The basin was surrounded by several mountain ranges with a small yet turbulent river flowing through it.

    The mountain range on the left was like a coiled serpent, representing the Azure Dragon. The mountain range to the left resembled a prowling predator, representing the White Tiger. The upper mountain range spread open to either side, resembling the Vermillion Bird spreading its wings to take flight, while the mountain range in the rear was t and smooth, much like the shell of the Xuanwu Turtle.

    All of that, in addition to the fast-flowing river, made this an extremely perilous ce in a fengshui context, and whatever was buried here would be condemned to a fate of suffering for eternity, but even a slight mishap could result in terrifying corpse mutations.

    Standing atop a stone mountain was a short being with a head that resembled the skull of a crow, and two balls ofherfire burning in the eye sockets. The strange being was staring intently into the distance, where a gargantuan wall could be seen on the horizon.

    This elderly being wasn''t very tall, but its arms were extraordinarily long, and even though it clearly had legs, it was walking on all fours. The enamelyer all over its entire body was riddled with countless tiny holes, and gusts of Yin wind were gushing into the holes in corkscrew form.

    These were longears, the lowliest members of the 82 divisions under Chiyou''smand. If it weren''t for that, it wouldn''t have been sent here as a scout.

    There were also several dozen more scouts behind the stone mountain, and they were staring intently at the passageway that led into this ce.

    The terrain here was very strange. From the outside, it appeared to be a basin, but on the inside, it was actually a hignd.

    In order to enter the basin from outside, there were only several mountain paths that could be taken, one of which ran through the center of this stone mountain.

    The longear lowered its head to take a look, and it saw several hundred evil ghosts gathered roughly a kilometer behind the stone mountain. These were the elite members of the Nigu Division and the Xinn Division, and they were releasing formidableherfire and Yin energy. Anyone who passed through this ce would immediately be met by a fierce assault from these beings.

    However, they weren''t the most powerful forces here.

    The longear cast its gaze further into the distance, where a fearsome Yin energy vortex could be seen. The enigmatic Many-faced God and all of the four ominous stars were in there, as well as the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    The longear heaved a silent sight.

    They had already been defeated once at Zhuolu, were they going to be able to reverse the oue of history here on this asion?

    The Jiuli Tribes were no longer as powerful as they had been in their heyday, but the main forces were still present! Even if they had to stain the entirety of Zhuolu with blood, they were determined to dere to the world that they had returned!

    The sky was bright and clear.

    It was 6 AM, and the sky was still filled with stars, but there was already a hint of golden light rising up on the horizon.

    Gusts of wind swept through the area, asionally sending rocks and stones rolling down from the mountain. The longear withdrew its gaze. It knew that even though the enemy hadn''t made a move on the previous day, an all-out battle could erupt at any moment during the next four days!

    All of a sudden, the longear stiffened on the spot, having just caught sight of something out of the corners of its eyes.

    It stood up straight with an incredulous expression, and an overwhelming sense of peril and foreboding suddenly welled up in its heart, sending every single cell of its body into overdrive. It could see that all of the scouts around it had stood up.

    This was no illusion!

    A voice was screaming frantically at it in its mind as right in front of the eyes of all of the scouts, an opening had appeared on the vast skeletal wall on the horizon.

    In that instant, it was as if time had fallenpletely still.

    Inside the vortex of Yin energy, the inner demon abruptly raised its head before casting its gaze toward the Thousand Tribtion Wall. "Have they broken through it already? As expected of the most powerful underworlds in history..."

    Envy also raised his head, and in the blink of an eye, all of the Yin energy in his entire body began to surge and churn violently, while vengeful spirits formed by Yin energy drifted out of his orifices incessantly.

    Come! Let us put an end to this millennia-long vendetta once and for all!

    Lust''s blood-red eyes sprang open amid a clump of disheveled hair, and he cast his gaze toward the Thousand Tribtion Wall, then slowly crouched down, lowering his center of gravity as if he were a leopard about to pounce on its prey.

    Is it finally about to begin?

    This was perhaps going to be the final battle between gods and demons in this nation, and he couldn''t wait to reverse the defeat they had suffered thousands of years ago.

    All of the demonic ghostly immortals and 73 immortals had detected the change in the Thousand Tribtion Wall. It was far too apparent, like an ink blotch on a pristine sheet of white paper. As the crack continued to widen further and further, wisps of pure ck Yin energy that represented Hell began to seep through.

    More and more cracks began to appear, and they were widening rapidly. After no more than a minute, the entire wall was already riddled with cracks, and so much ck Yin energy had seeped through that half of the sky had turned pitch-ck.

    Everyone was looking on and waiting with bated breath. It was clear that the instant that the Thousand Tribtion Wall fell would be the instant that this historic battle began.

    Right around the minute mark, the Thousand Tribtion Wall finally copsed, unable to hold itself upright any longer. Immediately thereafter, hundreds of inky-ck insects crawled through, frantically gnawing away at the Thousand Tribtion Wall, which was still copsing at an rming speed.

    However, no one paid any heed to this.

    Even as massive sections of the wall copsed one after another, no one took a single nce at it.

    Everyone''s attention was focused on the hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers standing behind the wall. They were gathered in an orderly formation with a vast wall of Yin energy from the four Yama-Kings in front of them, presenting a breathtaking and formidable sight to behold.

    Fierce gusts of wind suddenly began to sweep through the area, causing the gs of Hell carried by the Yin soldiers to p incessantly.

    Amid the tense and bloodthirsty atmosphere, Qin Ye slowly reached out a hand. He was standing at the forefront of the army, and boundless Yin energy gathered around him, following which an inky-ck longsword suddenly appeared in his grasp.

    He gently grabbed onto the hilt of the sword, then pointed its tip directly at Zhuolu.

    The scouts at the forefront finally realized what was happening, and they screamed in terror as they rushed back as quickly as they could. Behind them, the armies of the Nigu Division and the Xinn Division were already crouching down onto the ground, preparing to charge ahead.

    This was a moment in history that was going to be eternally remembered, a battle that would put an end to a conflict that had been raging for as long as the human race had existed.

    In the next instant, Yin energy erupted violently, and a burst of loud buzzing rang out over the ground as Qin Ye sped toward Zhuolu on his own like a lone eagle soaring over the desert!

    This was like an injection of stimnts directly into the souls of all of the underworld emissaries, causing their adrenalin to spike through the roof. At the same time, the thunderous sound of pounding war drums rang out, and Zhao Yun pointed his spear directly forward as hemanded, "Charge!"

    "Charge!!!"

    "Long live, Hell!"

    Zhao Yun''s order was met by countless war cries, and heaven and earth trembled as the army of over 600,000 Yin soldiers charged ahead as a single unit!

    The tens of thousands of skeletal warhorses at the forefront lowered their heads in unison, and the heavy cavalry they were carrying on their backs formed the first wave.

    All of the warhorses were charging close beside one another in rows, forming imprable walls that galloped ahead like unstoppable juggernauts.

    With hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers charging forward at once, the entire earth was quaking and groaning violently. The formidable army was bulldozing straight through allndmarks in their path, and their eyes were set on one thing and one thing only: Zhuolu!

    As the ground began to quake and rumble, the inner demon''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and it was suddenly struck by a sense of foreboding.

    It had failed to anticipate that Hell''s army would be so uniform and well organized. The collective killing intent and unstoppable momentum of Hell''s advancing army was significantly boosting their morale while denting the morale of the opposing army and striking fear directly into their hearts.

    The Battle of Zhuolu had taken ce at far too early a point in history, at a time when military formations didn''t exist. Thus, they had never seen such a massive army advance in such a uniform fashion, and it felt as if they were facing a force of nature, striking them with a sense of powerlessness and despair.

    They were ustomed to a far more primitive style of battle, which were essentially massive, chaotic melees without any formation or organization to speak of, and they had never faced a well-trained army that was armed to the teeth, such as the one they were facing now.

    This army had slowly developed year after year alongside the advancement of Hell. Their discipline and fearlessness had been forged through countless battles, and it was upon those experiences that they built their unshakeable confidence and unwavering resolve.

    "Stop them!" the inner demon yelled frantically. Chiyou''s army had never undergone any formal training, and the inner demon knew that if Hell''s army were allowed to charge into the ranks of Chiyou''s forces, they would be like tigers rushing into a sheep''s stable, instantly plunging the entirety of Chiyou''s army into chaos and disarray!

    Even without that frantic cry from the inner demon, Resentment had already sensed that something was wrong, and he immediately charged forward with bloodshot eyes.

    "Charge!" His thunderous voice rang out across the entirety of Zhuolu as he roared, "Anyone who retreats will be executed on the spot!"

 Chapter 1176: King Yanluos Display of Power

    <h4>Chapter 1176: King Yanluo''s Disy of Power</h4>

    In contrast with the regimented and disciplined army of Hell, the army of the Xinn Division and the Nigu Division had inferior equipment and no organized training experience. However, they were demonic deities who had fought against the mighty army of the Yellow Emperor, and not only were they not intimidated by the advance of Hell''s army, their bloodlust and killing intent were stimted instead.

    With Resentment leading the charge, the army let loose a collective roar, and in the next instant, the ground began to quake violently as hundreds of demonic deities charged forward in an unstoppable wave.

    Retreat was not an option for either side.

    In this instant, Zhuolu had transformed into the most primitive and most brutal of arenas, and only one side could emerge alive!

    The eruption of Yin energy transformed the two armies into a pair of gargantuan, inky-ck asteroids that were crashing toward one another with all their might, trying topletely and utterly destroy the other at all cost. The killing intent radiating from the two armies was so fearsome that even the earth was groaning.

    The inner demon looked on with an intense gaze at the back, having already pulled out the bloodstained boneshard, which it was massaging incessantly in a nervous manner.

    Something''s not right!

    It only took 40 seconds for all of the heavy cavalry units of Hell to reach their top speed, and directly opposing them was a stone mountain. Were they preparing to forcibly charge their way right through it?

    The most important assets for heavy cavalry were speed and momentum, yet it appeared as if they were about to sacrifice all of that! Had they gone insane?

    Right at this moment, a gentle voice rang out across the entirety of Zhuolu, and the inner demon faltered slightly before immediately raising its head to try and find the source of the voice.

    Qin Ye had already risen up into the heavens, and the clouds of Yin energy released by the tens of thousands of heavy cavalry troops were churning incessantly. He stood like a bright moon above the river of darkness, and as his voice rang out, all of the Yin energy in all directions seemed to fall still before rapidly converging behind him!

    A sense of foreboding immediately welled up in the inner demon''s heart upon seeing this. This was only its instinct, but it knew that it would be unwise not to trust this instinct. Thus, it should immediately issue words of caution to its allies, but how could it go about doing that?

    As the only being above the Yama-King level, the inner demon was the undisputed leader of this army. If it were to suddenly yell out for everyone to be careful, the entire army would immediately be extremely tentative. Furthermore, they didn''t even know where the danger wasing from!

    As the inner demon was hesitating about how to proceed, Qin Ye''s robes were blown directly upward in mid-air as fierce Yin wind howled around him, forming a giant ck hole behind him that was over 100 kilometers in radius!

    Countless specks ofherfire were shing frantically within the ck hole, as if to heed the call of the ruler of Hell. At the same time, the talismans on the surface of an inky-ck coffin near the skeletal wall spontaneously erupted into me. The lid of the coffin was slowly lifted amid a burst of creaking and groaning, following which boundless Yin energy erupted out into the open.

    Veins were bulging on Qin Ye''s forehead as he drew a trail of blood along the de of his sword with his fingers. His voice was also growing louder and louder, until his chanting resembled rumbling thunder.

    The inner demon was gritting its teeth tightly as it inspected its surroundings, and as Qin Ye''s chanting grew louder and louder, the entire space began to rumble incessantly. This was a call being made by the ruler of Hell in person, and it could be sensed across all three realms. In this instant, all of the paramount beings within the three realms turned their attention toward Zhuolu in unison.

    Within the short span of just 20 seconds, the incantation waspleted, and an earth-shattering boom suddenly erupted out of the ck hole of Yin energy behind Qin Ye. At the same time, the coffin lying behind the skeletal wall was finallypletely opened.

    The faint sound of crashing waves rang out across the entire sky, yet the two charging armies paid it no heed and continued to advance toward one another.

    From above, one would be able to see that the two armies were no more than two kilometers apart at this point.

    The army of demonic ghostly immortals had already gotten into formation beside the stone mountain, and they were led by three Abyssal Prefects.

    The inner demon didn''t pay any heed to that. Its gaze had been focused on Qin Ye this entire time. From the moment that the sound of the waves had begun to ring, it had immediately sensed that something was wrong. As the sound of the crashing waves grew louder and louder, the sense of foreboding in its heart also became more and more pronounced.

    It was sure that it had heard this sound somewhere before, but it couldn''t quite recall where.

    All of a sudden, its expression abruptly stiffened, and on this asion, it yelled without any hesitation, "Retreat!"

    Resentment turned in mid-air toward the inner demon with a dumbstruck expression. The two armies hadn''t even shed yet, and retreating at a time like this definitely wasn''t a wise decision.

    With that in mind, he gritted his teeth and pretended not to have heard the inner demon, then continued to charge directly toward Qin Ye as a wave of reddish-ck Yin energy.

    Right at this moment, the sound of the crashing waves crescendoed to a peak, and the enormous Yin energy vortex behind Qin Ye exploded violently, sending a massive body of Yin energy that was as viscous as water flooding out into the open!

    It was as if a massive dam had suddenly been broken, resulting in a ferocious flood.

    In that instant, time seemed to have fallenpletely still.

    All of the Yin soldiers and demonic ghostly immortals suddenly discovered that they were unable to hear any sound. The Yin soldiers continued onward without pause, while all of the demonic ghostly immortals raised their heads in unison, staring at the vast waves of Yin energy crashing down from the heavens with incredulous expressions.

    It was the Yellow Springs!

    Right above the Yellow Springs was a majestic seal that was glowing as it hovered in mid-air. The nine dragons carved etched onto its surface seemed to sprung to life, releasing tiny pirs of water out of their mouths. However, these pirs of water expanded drastically as soon as they emerged, and by the time they reached the ground, they had already swelled to be enormous waterfalls!

    That''s King Yanluo''s Seal!

    The inner demon turned to Qin Ye with a stunned expression, realizing that it had underestimated Hell''s determination to hunt it down.

    The waterfalls crashing down from the heavens and the heavy cavalry charging along the ground formed an inescapable wall of destruction, and the inner demon knew that if the army of demonic ghostly immortals were to be struck by the Yellow Springs, the oue would be utterly catastrophic!

    It had already been stunned into silence. There was no way that the forces of the Nigu Division and the Xinn Division could oppose the turbulent Yellow Springs, and all that it could hope for now was that they could retreat in time to escape the Yellow Springs.

    In the sky above, Resentment was alsopletely rooted to the spot.

    Having never participated in collectivized military warfare, there was no way that he could''ve been prepared for this, and this was why Hell had the confidence and courage tounch an attack, even though the forces on both sides were evenly matched.

    Having only recently been resurrected, there was no way that the inner demon''s forces would possess any powerful artifacts.

    In addition to that, Hell had far more advanced weaponry at its disposal, thereby culminating in a significant advantage!

    "Retreat!" Resentment looked on in horror at the oing Yellow Springs. He had no intention of experiencing the terrifying power imbued within the Yellow Springs for himself.

    "Retreat! Retreat!" he frantically yelled over and over again while rushing back toward the stronghold as quickly as he could.

    Right behind him, the Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges of the Nigu Division and the Xinn Division were also frantically rushing back in retreat. They didn''t know what wasing at them, but they knew that they couldn''t ignore the overwhelming sense of peril that had welled up in their hearts.

    At this point, the tens of thousands of heavy cavalry were only 1,500 meters away from the stone mountain.

    The gs of the 10 major branches of the army were raised in unison, resembling dragons and phoenixes spreading their wings and taking flight into the heavens!

    "Charge!" the entire army roared in unison, and their collective voices were like rumbling thunder rolling across thendscape.

    In the instant that this order was issued, the tens of thousands of heavy cavalry units sprang up in unison, forming a leaping ck wave on the horizon. Even the demonic ghostly immortals and 73 immortals were heavily intimidated by this astonishing sight.

    The heavy cavalry units had formed an unbroken tidal wave that seemed to be capable of destroying all obstacles in their way, and that tidal wave wasing directly toward them!

    They could even see the scorchingherfire burning beneath the visors of the heavy cavalry units charging at the forefront, as well as the light gleaming off their menacing spears.

    However, their astonishment didn''t end there. As they continued to look on, all of the heavy cavalry unitsnded on the Yellow Springs instead of descending back down onto the ground. The Yellow Springs carried them higher and higher, making them resemble heavenly warriors that had descended from the heavens, and the spears of all of the heavy cavalry units were aimed directly at them.

    The Yellow Springs were inundating Zhuolu!

    In the face of this all-conquering wave, all of the low-grade demonic ghostly immortals at the forefront could only look on in shock and horror.

    In their mind, the stone mountain was their only salvation. Escape was already impossible, so the only thing that they could rely on to save them seemed to be this stone mountain.

    In the next instant, a doomsday-like scene ensued.

    The Yellow Springs crashed violently into the stone mountain, sending massive sshes of inky-ck water spraying in all directions. The water of the Yellow Springs fell from above like stars plummeting down from the sky, followed by the formidable heavy cavalry units.

    The low-grade demonic ghostly immortals down below didn''t even get a chance to cry out before they werepletely inundated by the Yellow Springs.

    At the same time, the ground began to tremble violently as countless spears and arrows were aimed directly toward Zhuolu. Resentment, Lust, Envy, Insanity, and the inner demon were all gathered together, exchanging silent nces with one another. They were so stunned that they had lost the ability to speak, and the only thing that they could see was the indomitable army of Hell carried by the waves of the Yellow Springs.

    They weren''t in fear. Instead, they were humiliated!

    This was a rematch of the most significant battle in Cathayan history. They had thought that the descendants of the Yellow Emperor wouldn''t pose much obstacle to their plight at all, and never did they think that they would be sopletely and utterly crushed from the very outset of the battle!

    It was as if they were being told that this era no longer belonged to them, that the times had already left them far behind.

    After a long while, Lust finally recovered from her stunned stupor. Not only was she not disheartened at the sight of how formidable Hell was, she was brimming with killing intent. "It looks like we really underestimated the descendants of the Yellow Emperor."

    Envy turned toward the inner demon before asking, "You said that you have a way to resurrect our king. Are you sure?"

    "You''re still suspecting me even at a time like this?" the inner demon scoffed. "That was the first condition of the agreement that we signed, I wouldn''t lie about something so important."

    Envy nodded in response. "Open the Myriad Soul Pagoda!"

    The other Yama-Kings immediately turned toward him upon hearing this.

    Envy took a deep breath, then sighed, "The times have changed..."

    The formidable disy put on by Hell''s army had crushed their pride and arrogance.

    "If we can''t resurrect our king on this asion, I don''t think we''ll ever get another chance. If we''re unable to resurrect our king, then there''s no reason for us to continue to exist. We should''ve disappeared into history long ago, and I would be too ashamed to continue living if we''re defeated once again by the descendants of the Yellow Emperor."

 Chapter 1177: Yama-Kings Display Their Might

    <h4>Chapter 1177: Yama-Kings Disy Their Might</h4>

    The inner demon scrutinized Resentment intently, and after a long while, he suddenly burst intoughter. "Your pride and vanity are pathetic andughable. I feel like I''ve chosen the wrong allies."

    The four Yama-Kings immediately turned toward it, and Resentment said in a cold voice, "Save your insults forter. If we die, you won''t survive, either."

    "That''s why I agree to your unreasonable request," the inner demon replied with a smile. "I didn''t think that the renowned army of Chiyou would be reduced to such a pitiful state after only the opening exchange. You lot are far weaker than even I had imagined..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Lust''s hair seemed to have sprung to life, transforming into countless pikes that pierced into the inner demon''s body. However, the inner demon remainedpletely unharmed, and its Yin energy formed a series of tiny vortexes that slowly pushed Lust''s hair out of its body.

    "I need an hour of preparation time. Don''t tell me that you''re too ipetent to even hold back the enemy for an hour..."

    The inner demon abruptly vanished on the spot, and the four Yama-Kings cast their eyes out of Zhuolu. Their brief conversation hadsted no more than 20 seconds, yet the army of Hell was already upon them.

    The vast Yellow Springs hadpletely surrounded them, and this was originally a patch of high ground in the basin, but it had beenpletely leveled out by the Yellow Springs. Countless heavy cavalry units had already surrounded the entirety of Zhuolu, and behind them were countless Yin soldiers with bows and arrows at the ready.

    In terms of power, the two armies were actually quite evenly matched. However, the difference between them was the thousands of years of experience that Hell had over Chiyou''s forces. It was this advantage that had allowed them to crush the army of demonic ghostly immortals from the outset of the battle.

    Having secured such a significant advantage, Hell''s army certainly wasn''t going to relent!

    All of the heavy cavalry units raised their spears, and the sound of thundering war drums and melodious long horns rang out from behind them. There were over 100manders among the heavy cavalry units, and they yelled in unison, "Get into formation!"

    The nging of metal armor rang out incessantly, and in the span of no more than five minutes, all of the heavy cavalry units had arranged themselves into a central-facing triangr formation.

    All the troops were ready, and they were only waiting for an order.

    The wind seemed to have ceased, and the killing intent in the air also seemed to have congealed in this instant.

    This was a formation that had been specifically designed for charging, and upon adopting this formation, it meant that an army was ready to unleash an all-out assault!

    The first hint of daylight appeared in the distant sky. The sun, the moon, and the stars could all be seen at once, and bright red radiance illuminated the earth, peeling back the veil of darkness and revealing the formidable army concealed within the darkness.

    The capes worn by all of the heavy cavalry units were pping incessantly in the fierce wind, much like the raised hackles of wolves, and amid the deathly silence, the sound of a long horn finally rang out.

    The order to attack had finally been issued, and the entire earth immediately began to rumble violently.

    All of the heavy cavalry units charged forward in unison, and the pounding hooves of their powerful steeds were making Zhuolu tremble and quake. The demonic ghostly immortals could only look on with tightly gritted teeth as the ck wave closing in on them was reflected in theherfire in their eyes. The extreme sense of peril in their hearts instantly caused their adrenalin to spike through the roof!

    Even Envy and all of the other Yama-Kings had been stunned into silence upon seeing this.

    After several thousand years of development, warfare had already be something that they werepletely unfamiliar with...

    The entire army was like a well-oiled machine, a single, unified entity. This style of warfare was far more advanced than anything that had been seen during their era.

    However, they were the remnants of the mighty Chiyou''s forces, and they certainly weren''t just going to roll over and ept their fate!

    The earth was quaking violently, and a dust storm had been swept up by the fierce gusts of Yin wind, while the waves of the Yellow Springs crashed and undted incessantly. Even Envy could feel his own skin crawling, and his body was trembling in sync with the earth.

    At this point, the heavy cavalry units of Hell were only 300 meters away, and they had formed an imprable and inescapable wave of destruction as their armor and weapons gleamed under the light of the dawn sun.

    At the same time, Envy abruptly swung his arm downward and ordered, "Charge!"

    It was as if a pack of ferocious beasts had been released from their cage, and over 1,000 different types of demons and evil ghosts were sent charging toward the heavy cavalry units, while reddish-ck Yin energy swelled into a formidable wave.

    One of the 73 immortals in the form of an elderly woman slowly drifted forward. She was wearing a white scarf and a set of white linen garments, holding a jade vial with a willow leaf extending out of it. There was a hideous smile on her face as she rushed toward the heavy cavalry units charging at the forefront.

    As she advanced, her body swelled in size, and after crossing over around a dozen meters, her body had also risen to roughly a dozen meters in height. At the same time, all of her wrinkles were smoothed out due to the expansion of her body, transforming into a young and beautiful woman.

    The two sides were drawing closer and closer, and their eyes were focused solely on one another.

    The woman roared as she elerated even further, and several dozen arms abruptly emerged from her back before thrusting forward with violent force.

    Several underworld emissaries were swatted back amid muffled groans, but to the woman''s surprise, the wave of heavy cavalry units didn''t stop.

    They only had one objective, which was to advance and strike deep into the heart of the enemy.

    The heavy cavalry units were connected by countless chains, so the impact of the woman''s attack was spread throughout countless heavy cavalry units. At the same time, countless spears plunged into her body.

    She raised her head and let loose an agonized screech, following which the nails on her hands abruptly elongated to over a meter in length before being viciously swept forward.

    On this asion, she was targeting the Yin soldiers on the skeletal horses.

    Several Yin soldiers were instantly reduced toherfire before they even had a chance to cry out, but the woman still felt as if something weren''t quite right.

    Why was it that her attacks were only able to kill four or five of these basic Yin soldiers at a time?

    "Are you confused?" Right at this moment, a voice rang out beside her ear amid a gust of wind.

    The woman reflexivelyshed out toward the direction the voice hade from, yet her attacknded on nothing but empty air.

    A longsword had already plunged into the back of her neck, following which Yin energy erupted violently like a wave, and the excruciating pain immediately caused her to cry out in agony.

    Something''s not right!

    Another gust of wind swept past, and the woman gritted her teeth tightly as she repressed the pain with all her might whileshing out once again with three of her arms.

    However, in the instant that she reached out toward her assant, her three arms were severed at once!

    Who''s there?!

    An overwhelming sense of horror welled up in her heart, and she frantically retreated, but the gust of Yin wind stuck to her like glue, revolving around her incessantly. Within the span of less than 20 seconds, all of her arms had been severed, and she waspletely rooted to the spot as she looked on in shock and horror.

    Up to this point, she hadn''t even caught a clear glimpse of her assant!

    "Yin soldiers may be weak and insignificant on their own, but when enhanced by a military formation of the highest caliber and Yanluo Qin''s Judgment Pen, several thousand Yin soldiers would be capable of killing an Infernal Judge."

    The woman''s head turned around 180 degrees in a mechanical manner, and her expression had bepletely twisted.

    A series of gashes appeared all over her body as she spat through gritted teeth, "Who are you?"

    The sound of a sword being returned to its scabbard rang out, and a man who was wearing the same armor as all of the heavy cavalry units turned around to face the woman''s indignant gaze.

    He was a slightly short and portly figure, and his face was concealed behind a visor. "I am Han Qinhu. You most likely haven''t heard of me."

    Countless Yin soldiers rushed past him, casting admiring nces his way as they did so, but they didn''t pause even for a single moment.

    Their purpose was to advance, and they wouldn''t rest until Zhuolu had been razed to the ground!

    "Why..." The woman''s body exploded violently, crumbling into giant chunks of flesh that fell onto the ground amid a cloud of Yin energy. Soon, only her head remained, but her gaze was still fixed intently on Han Qinhu. "Why..."

    "Why was I able to defeat you so easily?" Han Qinhu jumped onto his steed, then rushed away behind the rest of the heavy cavalry units. "You evil ghosts from the past century really are ignorant. Did you think that you were still ancient ghostly immortals who can reign supreme in this world? You''re nothing in the face of underworld emissaries like myself!"

    The woman couldn''t hear his exnation anymore as her body had already disintegrated into Yin energy.

    Qin Ye had failed to consider this point, but in reality, Hell''s army had an advantage when it came to overall power!

    This was because the 73 immortals were evil ghosts who had passed through Hell in the past.

    The demonic ghostly immortals had existed even before the emergence of Hell, but that didn''t apply to the 73 immortals!

    Thus, the vanguard of the inner demon''s forces was crushed in the blink of an eye!

    Given the powers of the 73 immortals, they were only fit to lead the vanguard, and they were well aware of this themselves. Thus, aside from the seven Abyssal Prefects, all of the other Infernal Judges and Anitya Hellguards had rushed toward the oing wave of destruction along with the demonic ghostly immortals.

    What they had failed to anticipate was that the 73 immortals would be crushed so quickly andprehensively!

    For the army of demonic ghostly immortals, the loss of the 73 immortals wouldn''t be a significant one. In reality, they also looked down on these modern evil ghosts. However, even though the loss wasn''t objectively significant, it was extremely damaging to troop morale.

    "How is this possible?" A demonic ghostly immortal that was over five meters tall with three serpentine necks stopped cold in its tracks as it looked ahead with a stunned expression. In the distance, the bodies of three Infernal Judges had just been reduced to ashes in an instant.

    They had been burned to a crisp by red lotus karmic fire, which could only be used by Yama-Kings or certain special figures.

    At this moment, an irond underworld emissary was slowly making his way out of the karmic fire. The red lotus karmic fire around him instantly erupted to over 10 meters height as if they were revering their king, transforming an area with a radius of several dozen meters around him into a fiery hell.

    The demonic ghostly immortal could barely believe its own eyes!

    It was astonished to see that the irond figure had just defeated three opponents of the same cultivation rank as himself with such ridiculous ease! How had he done this?

    "Who are you?" it asked with a menacing expression as it gritted its teeth tightly and adopted a defensive posture.

    "Zhou Gongjin." The irond figure had no steed, and he slowly raised a hand, upon which all of the karmic fire around him transformed into countless fiery serpents that pounced directly toward the demonic ghostly immortal. "I''m just a nobody, so there''s no need for you to remember my name."

    Right at this moment, a burst of extremely fearsome Yin energy swept over the battlefield like a wrecking ball, instantly eradicating over 100 heavy cavalry units and their steeds!

 Chapter 1178: Battle of Zhuolu (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1178: Battle of Zhuolu (1)</h4>

    Zhou Yu''s pupils abruptly contracted upon seeing this. He wanted to move, but found himself unable to keep up, and all he could do was instinctively fold his arms in front of himself as a shield, while the karmic fire around him formed a protective cocoon.

    However, he knew full well that this wouldn''t be enough to save him.

    The oing attack was causing his eardrums to tremble violently, and deep trenches had been plowed into the ground in its wake. This was definitely not an attack that an Infernal Judge could withstand!

    Am I going to die here?

    Right as this thought sprang into his mind, a burst of Yin energy that was equally as fearsome knocked him aside violently.

    He was sent flying back like a cannonball, but he paid no heed to his own injuries as he immediately raised his head and cast his gaze forward with an intense look in his eyes.

    As a result, he was able to see that the Yin energy that had just erased over 100 heavy cavalry units out of existence hade from a stone, one that was only around the size of a thumb!

    We''re being attacked by a Yama-King!

    An overwhelming sense of peril instantly pierced directly into his mind, and he sprang to his feet without any hesitation. "Retreat!"

    The sound of thundering hooves quickly rang out as one row of heavy cavalry units after another retreated in unison. As soon as they regained their footing, tens of thousands of spear-wielding soldiers positioned themselves in front of the heavy cavalry units, using their giant shields to form a defensive wall. Behind the heavy cavalry units, tens of thousands of ming arrows flew up into the sky, resembling dazzling stars in the night.

    Zhou Yu habitually raised a hand to wipe away the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead. Just a moment ago, he had thought that his fate was sealed. Even now, he was still wondering how he had survived. As the opposing army quickly dispersed, he finally caught sight of their assant.

    Around a kilometer in front of him was a monkey-like Yin spirit that was standing at over three meters tall. It had three eyes and six ears, and it was giving off an unidentifiable aura as it stood atop a pile of skeletal warhorse corpses that was over 10 meters in height.

    "I am Envy." Envy swept its gaze through the surrounding area, watching all of the Yin soldiers around. It then abruptly opened its mouth before letting loose a thunderous roar. "Who wishes to perish by my hands?!"

    Reddish-ck Yin energy erupted forth as formidable shockwaves fuelled by the power of its roar, and all of the surrounding Yin soldiers, including even the heavy cavalry units, were sent flying back several dozen meters like leaves in a windstorm. Theherfire in the eyes of all of the Yin soldiers around Envy were almost snuffed out, and just the mere sight of it was sending chills running down Zhou Yu''s spine.

    The existence of Envy was like a manifestation of horror, and when looking at it, one would see countless souls intertwined with one another, howling in grief and sobbing with agony. It was a scene even more terrifying than the path of the hungry ghost!

    However, a vast expanse of Yin energy that was not inferior in power to Envy''s was gathering right in front of it, forming a Yin energy vortex that was several dozen meters in size.

    A pair of hands slowly tore open the vortex.

    The hands belonged to a woman, and as she slowly emerged from the vortex, all of the surrounding Yin soldiers faltered momentarily, following which thunderous cheers instantly rang out.

    "We pay our respects to the Reincarnation King!"

    "Long live, Hell!"

    "Long live, Hell!"

    Reincarnation King Arakshasa had arrived!

    A sea of countless Yin spirits had already taken shape behind her, and her dark purple hair was dancing wildly like a den of vicious vipers. Yin energy that was definitely not inferior to Envy''s was surging out of her sleeves in enormous quantities, and she took a nce at Envy with her seductive eyes as a smile appeared on her face. "Aren''t you supposed to be an advanced Yama-King? Have you been reduced to only a nascent Yama-King because you have no physical body? That''s no fun! I won''t get much of a sense of achievement out of beating you now."

    Countless Yin spirits howled in agony as she spoke. As an official Emissary of Hell, the regal aura that she carried innately hadpletely overwhelmed Envy''s aura.

    This was a battle between Yama-Kings, and all of the surrounding Yin spirits formed a circle, giving the two Yama-Kings a wide berth as their battlefield.

    All of the Yin soldiers were filled with anticipation and anxiety as they looked on intently with unblinking eyes, but Zhou Yu''s attention seemed to be elsewhere.

    We''ve made it into the inner circle!

    Beneath his visor, a hint of excitement had surfaced in his eyes.

    The military tactics employed by Chiyou''s forces were extremely simplistic in the eyes of an expert tactician like him. There was an outer circle and an inner circle, with the former consisting entirely of cannon fodder, such as the 73 immortals, the Infernal Judges, the Anitya Hellguards, etc.

    The outer circle''s role was to chip away at Hell and blunt the attack of its army, while the inner circle was the true ace in the hole!

    He was certain that this wasn''t the original n for Chiyou''s forces, but the vast disparity in the strength of the two armies had forced them to resort to these tactics.

    Beyond the inner circle was Zhuolu, which was where the inner demon was.

    Once they bypassed the inner circle, they would be able to charge straight into Zhuolu!

    "Go around them!" In this battle, the 12 envoys were only chiliarchies, and even that position had only been granted to them in light of their past des in battle. Regardless of what anyone else thought, Zhou Yu cherished this opportunity greatly. He no longer wanted to be shunned and assigned roles that werepletely unbefitting of his abilities!

    Thinking back to the heights that he had reached in the past, if he wanted to scale those peaks again, then he had to take some risks.

    If he could approach the inner demon and see into the core of Zhuolu, that would undoubtedly be an enormous contribution, and in his mind, the risk was very much worth taking!

    The Yin soldiers around him were a little hesitant. "But we haven''t received any orders from our higher-ups..."

    "We can''t always wait for orders in a battle like this. It''s important to be able to adapt with the ever-changing situation," Zhou Yu countered as he immediately jumped onto his steed without any hesitation. "I''m sure you''re aware of the side-effects of the Judgment Pen."

    After that, he didn''t waste any more time with words and set off on horseback.

    The surrounding Yin soldiers exchanged a few nces, then cast their eyes behind them in unison.

    There, a golden pen was dancing in mid-air, writing down one line of text after another. These lines of text were slowly fading away, and with each line that vanished, the Yin energy being released by the Yin soldiers would be slightly powerful. Initially, the vast majority of the army possessed no cultivation rank at all, but at this point, most of them were already beginning to progress toward the Netherworld Operative level.

    If this entire army of hundreds of thousands of troops could all be Netherworld Operatives, then the overall might of the army would be significantly enhanced!

    However, Qin Ye had made it no secret to them that only the underworld emissaries who survived this battle would be able to permanently retain their cultivation rank. This was not something that he could control. Instead, it was a special property of the three divine artifacts.

    King Yanluo''s Seal could improve the quality of Cathayan Yin energy, thereby resulting in a faster rate at which high-grade underworld emissaries arise, and this was why the Cathayan Underworld had always been the most powerful underworld. As for the Judgment Pen and the Book of Life and Death, they were like catalysts thatpletely activated King Yanluo''s Seal.

    Once activated, the ability of King Yanluo''s Seal to improve the quality of Yin energy would be infinitely enhanced, thereby allowing it to produce arge batch of underworld emissaries in a short time. However, the underworld emissaries epting this Yin energy would have to digest it through constant battle. If they could do that, then their souls would be broken by the overload of Yin energy.

    In other words, even if Hell were to secure a crushing victory here in Zhuolu, there definitely wouldn''t be many Yin soldiers who survived this battle. However, the overall quality of the Yin soldiers would take a massive leap.

    "Fuck it!" One of the Yin soldiers pulled down his visor in a violent motion. "We might all end up dead anyway, so what does it matter if we die a bitter or a little sooner? We''ve already died once anyway, let''s do this!"

    The higher the risk taken, the greater the challenge, and the more severe the tribtion that their souls would have to transcend. Thus, perhaps this would be what allowed them to survive in the end!

    With that in mind, a group of around a dozen cavaliers spurred on their steeds to follow along behind Zhou Yu. More Yin soldiers quickly followed, and by the end, there were only less than 200 Yin soldiers left in this chiliarch.

    No one could''ve anticipated that a wraith-like unit would be sneaking through the battlefield, piercing directly toward the heart of the enemy!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Zhou Yu inspected his surroundings in a cautious manner. Even though he had devised this n, he wasn''t an idiot, and he knew that the utmost caution had to be exercised.

    "The four Yama-Kings have all engaged their respective opponents in battle..." He scanned the battlefield around him with a cautious gaze. The battlefield had been split up into four major sections, but none of the Yama-Kings from either side were attacking. This still wasn''t the time for all-out war yet, so the Yama-Kings on each side were only present to ensure that the Yama-Kings of the enemy camp couldn''t act as they pleased.

    Meanwhile, the Yin soldiers were locked in a fierce battle against Chiyou''s remnant forces, and hundreds of specks ofherfire were rising up into the sky with each passing second. The battlefield had already transformed into an abattoir, and it was either kill or be killed!

    At this point, the 73 immortals had virtually all already fallen, and all of the demonic ghostly immortals had joined the battle. Thus, there really was a chance that he would be able to make it all the way to the heart of the enemy camp. His goal was only to scout out the situation there, and he certainly wasn''t deluded enough to think that he could take on the inner demon himself.

    Right at this moment, Zhou Yu''s attention was suddenly drawn to something.

    There were several groups of Yin soldiers around them who had also detached themselves from the main battlefield. They were traversing through the enemy forces like sharp scalpels, and they were also advancing toward the heart of Zhuolu!

    Who are they?

    Zhou Yu was almost certain that these Yin soldiers weren''t acting on their own. There had to be people leading them, and the only ones who Zhou Yu could think of that would have the same idea as him were his formerrades.

    There were a total of 11 groups, and they had clearly all noticed him as well, but they didn''t say anything, either. Despite theck of verbalmunication, there was a tacit understanding between all of them, and they were aimed solely at the heart of Zhuolu!

    From his vantage point high up in the sky, Qin Ye had immediately caught sight of these 11 groups.

    It seemed that aside from Liu Yu, all of the other members of the 12 envoys had thought of the same strategy. Had they discovered something that no one else had? Were they trying to skirt around the battlefield to cut off the inner demon from behind?

    With that in mind, Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up, and he couldn''t help but internallymend the 12 envoys for their courage and decisiveness.

    He looked on in silence at the 11 advancing groups, refraining from issuing any orders to them. Instead, all he did was wave a hand in their direction, and three threads that were invisible to the naked eye immediately shot forth toward them.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Unbeknownst to everyone, there were only three figures left at the center of Zhuolu.

    They were a pair of Abyssal Prefects, and the inner demon, who was frantically injecting its Yin energy into the bone shard.

    The bone shard had turned an inky-ck color, and all around the inner demon, a series of bright red gashes had appeared over the ground, branching out in all directions.

    The 12 envoys were advancing with courage, but the inner demon was also extremely confident.

    Anyone who entered a 100-meter area of this ce would be killed on the spot!

    It cast its gaze toward the bone shard in its grasp, then heaved a faint sigh.

    Activating the Myriad Soul Pagoda now definitely wasn''t a wise option, but it was the only choice.

    It was quite unfortunate as it was nning to use the Myriad Soul Pagoda at ater date, and the chances of sess would be far higher if there were an extraterrestrial god present.

    Right at this moment, it abruptly raised his head and cast its gaze toward the distance.

    The ground was beginning to tremble.

    The two Abyssal Prefects had also sensed this, and they stood up in unison before turning toward the distance with incredulous expressions.

    A dark cloud of mist had permeated throughout arge area around them. The main battlefield of Zhoulu was still several kilometers away from the sea of mist, so there was no way that they should''ve been able to hear such loud, pounding horse hooves.

    The fact that they were hearing this meant that someone was approaching this ce!

 Chapter 1179: Battle of Zhuolu

    <h4>Chapter 1179: Battle of Zhuolu</h4>

    No one moved. It wasn''t that they didn''t want to move, they were too incredulous to move. A few secondster, a string of loud neighs rang out as several hundred warhorses descended from the vast expanse of Yin clouds with Yin energy swirling all around them.

    What are those idiots doing?! How did they allow these enemy soldiers to slip through?!

    The inner demon turned to the two Abyssal Prefects, then spat through gritted teeth, "So this is how Chiyou''s forces fare in battle? How eye-opening!"

    The two Abyssal Prefects stood up, and their faces were flushed with humiliation as they turned toward the intruders with fierce killing intent in their eyes.

    Their gaze was met by hundreds of pairs of ferocious and determined eyes.

    All of the Yin soldiers were carrying injuries and had suffered damage to their armor. Several dozen of them were clearly already on the brink of death, but they had made it through to their destination!

    The air seemed to have congealed under the weight of the killing intent from both sides. With a flick of his finger, Zhou Yu released a messenger bird that was holding an image capture crystal with its beak. It was also at this exact moment that the two Abyssal Prefects abruptly vanished on the spot.

    "Retreat!" Zhou Yu yelled without any hesitation, swiveling around on his skeletal warhorse to rush back the same way he hade from. All of the Yin soldiers under hismand instantly dispersed like mercury and fled in all directions.

    "You''re not going anywhere!" One of the Abyssal Prefects resembled a log with tree bark all over its entire body. It had a very thin build, and its tattered ck cloak was like a piece of clothing hanging out to dry on a clothesline. In the instant that the 11 envoys dispersed, the Abyssal Prefect thrust a palm down toward the ground, and a series of wilted vines erupted out of the ground like giant dragons rising up out of the sea, pouncing directly toward the underworld emissaries.

    Standing atop the sea of vines was the other Abyssal Prefect, who had a short and stubby build with deathly pale flesh that was riddled with holes. The second Abyssal Prefect brought its palms together, and flowers began to bloom on the wilted vines, producing countless skulls that were burning with scorchingherfire. A menacing smile appeared on the second Abyssal Prefect''s face, following which it snapped its fingers.

    BOOM!!

    An inky-ck shockwave abruptly swept through the entire space, and countless specks ofherfire were sent flying in all directions. Amid the violent explosion, both of the Abyssal Prefects cast their eyes toward a certain direction with their eyes wide with astonishment.

    They didn''t die? How did they survive?!

    The two Abyssal Prefects vanished on the spot, then immediately reappeared, unsure of how to proceed.

    The Yin soldiers had already escaped out of the Yin cloud circle, and their mission was to protect the inner demon as it activated the Myriad Soul Pagoda. Thus, they were faced with a dilemma.

    Should they give chase? That was clearly unwise. Their mission was to protect the inner demon, and if they were to give chase, only for something to happen during their absence, the consequences could be catastrophic.

    However, letting the enemy go was just as unappealing an option!

    They were two Abyssal Prefects, yet they had allowed a group of Infernal Judges to escape! This was no different from a p to the face for them!

    Only after a few seconds of silence did the first Abyssal Prefect speak again. "Don''t be rash. The true battle begins when the Myriad Soul Pagoda is activated. Even Master Envy is refraining from attacking at this point, and we need to do the same."

    "Lucky bastards!" the second Abyssal Prefect cursed in an indignant voice.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Fierce wind was blowing past Zhou Yu''s ears, and even as his horse drew to a halt, his soul was still trembling uncontrobly. That was an after-effect of enduring a near-death experience.

    However, the important thing was that he had survived!

    He heaved a long sigh of relief, then turned around to check how many of hisrades were left. However, as he did so, he was instantly rooted to the spot.

    Not a single person had died!

    How was this possible?

    Right at this moment, the sound of pounding horse hooves drew closer from the distance, and his astonishment was exacerbated even further as he discovered that none of the 11 envoys had fallen!

    After crossing through the entire battlefield, 403 Yin soldiers were left of the original 847 they had brought with them. After a quick count, Zhou Yu discovered that there were still 403 Yin soldiers left!

    "This is impossible..." he murmured to himself.

    "It most certainly is impossible!" Ma Fubo said in an excited voice as he pulled back his visor. "A Yama-King must''ve noticed us and given us their protection!"

    Who could''ve been capable of doing that?

    The 11 envoys quickly inspected their surroundings.

    The Yama-Kings among the four demonic ghostly immortals were all locked in standoffs with their opponents, so none of them would''ve been able to do anything. Thus, there was only one possible candidate for the mysterious Yama-King who had protected them.

    With that in mind, Zhou Yu cast his gaze up toward the heavens, then ced his right hand onto his own chest before extending a deep bow.

    Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out, seemingly out of nowhere. "Looks like you''re notpletely ungrateful, after all."

    All of the envoys'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and before they had a chance to say anything, the voice continued, "There''s no need to be rmed, allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Ryu Changmin, Chu Renmei, and Huang Jiansen of the Dusk Legionnaire. Rest assured, our Dusk Legionnaire doesn''t have any Yin energy, so the enemy won''t be able to detect us."

    Ryu Changmin slowly appeared before continuing, "Time is of the essence. Yanluo Qin didn''t say anything to me at the time, but having been with him for 20 years, I feel like I have a decent grasp of what he''s thinking, and I''m guessing that he wants to ask you one thing: are you willing to pull off something big?"

    "How big are we talking?" Wang Meng asked as he lifted his visor. There was no fear at all in his eyes, only excitement and anticipation.

    The 12 envoys had been repressed for almost 20 years.

    All of them were vastly renowned figures in history.

    During their time in the mortal realm, they had been revered and respected, yet due to their transgressions against King Yanluo, they were being treated as inferior to even normal soldiers in the underworld.

    Due to their past mistakes, they had been forced to sit on the sidelines for two decades, watching as the Cathayan Underworld made its meteoric resurgence, desperately hoping that they would get a chance to redeem themselves and stamp their names into history once again.

    Thus, they weren''t hesitating at all in the face of this opportunity.

    "Big enough to potentially have a decisive effect on the oue of this battle," Ryu Changmin chuckled. "Let me make this clear in advance: this is not a proposal from Yanluo Qin, it''s solely my idea. I just so happen to have some special abilities that can work in our favor here, so how about it? Would you like to give it a shot?"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The two Abyssal Prefects slowly returned to the inner demon''s side, and the inner demon took a nce at them before giving them a faint smile.

    It was only a slight gesture, but it exacerbated the humiliation of the two Abyssal Prefects by severalfold.

    Unfortunately for them, they couldn''t even protest, and all they could do was sit in silence beside the inner demon.

    However, as soon as they sat down, several hundred arrows with Yin energy trailing behind them shot out of the Yin clouds, flying directly toward the inner demon. Upon calcting the area covered by the Yin cloud circle, it would be very easy to determine where the center was, and that was where the inner demon was situated.

    The wood-like Abyssal Prefect didn''t hesitate in the slightest as it thrust both of its palms down toward the ground, and a ck forest of wilted trees erupted out of the ground, forming a barricade all around them.

    There was no way that the arrows would be able to pierce through the forest, but right as they were about to plunge into the forest, a string of dull thumps rang out from the Yin clouds, and several hundred fiery birds flew out behind the arrows.

    All of the arrows were instantly set alight before plunging into the forest, and what was extremely peculiar was that these mes seemed to be alive! In the blink of an eye, the inner demon had already been surrounded by a sea of fire!

    "Don''t just stand there and watch!" the inner demon yelled in a furious voice. At this point, the bone shard in its grasp was close topletely ck.

    Damn it!

    The wood-like Abyssal Prefect gritted its teeth as it withdrew the forest that it had summoned, and right at this moment, the sound of pounding horse hooves rang out in the distance once again.

    They dare toe again?!

    The two Abyssal Prefects were furious at the humiliation they had suffered, and they shot forth into the Yin clouds like lightning. At the same time, the 11 groups of Yin soldiers rushed out from the Yin clouds with ferocious killing intent.

    "Die!" The wood-like Abyssal Prefect was being driven made by rage and humiliation!

    These Yin soldiers wereing and going as they pleased,pletely disregarding the two Abyssal Prefects, and to them, this was the most tant form of provocation!

    The only way to vent their fury would be to destroy these pesky Yin soldiers!

    Thus, the wood-like Abyssal Prefect wasn''t holding back in the slightest as it reached out with a grabbing motion, and its Yin energy erupted in full force, causing even the surrounding space to tremble slightly.

    However, much to its surprise, its targets didn''t bother to take any evasive measures.

    Why was that the case?

    An overwhelming sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in its heart, and even as it was still reaching out with its hand, its head had already swiveled around to look in the inner demon''s direction, while theherfire in its eyes had sprung up like ming pyres from horror.

    In the face of its vicious grab, there was no way for Gao Changgong to evade it.

    To an Infernal Judge, an attack from an Abyssal Prefect was unavoidable, and reddish-ck Yin energy had locked onto his entire body, causing his soul to tremble violently. Even his teeth were beginning to chatter uncontrobly.

    However, he paid no heed to that at all. The Yin energy of the Abyssal Prefect was rapidly chipping away at his courage, but he still looked forward with a determined expression, and theherfire in his eyes had turned bright red.

    "Charge!" he roared with all his might, as if he were trying to dispel the fear in his heart, then pressed his own body tightly against the back of his steed as he charged toward the wood-like Abyssal Prefect at full speed!

    The skeletal warhorse was instantly erased out of his existence, and reddish-ck Yin energy began to seep out of his soul, which was on the verge of disintegrating. The metal visor covering his face also shattered, revealing his outrageously handsome features.

    His long ck hair danced wildly in the wind, yet the resolve in his eyes didn''t waver even in the slightest. This was the path they had chosen, and they either made a resurgence here or died noble deaths!

    His determination was carrying him forward with unstoppable force!

    "Your Excellency!" At this point, the sense of peril in the wood-like Abyssal Prefect''s heart had already spiked to an unprecedented degree. Never had it felt anything like this, even when pitted against the Abyssal Prefects under the Yellow Emperor all those years ago!

    Even though nothing had happened yet, it had already instinctively yelled out in horror.

    The inner demon finally raised its head, and it was also in this instant that a series of ck ripples appeared around Gao Changgong''s body, forcibly pushing back all of the wood-like Abyssal Prefect''s Yin energy.

    It was Untouchable Love!

    Gao Changgong had already drawn his sword and was roaring with all his might, putting on a disy that was aplete mismatch with his cultured and refined appearance. His body was still pressed up tightly against the back of his steed, and the inner demon was the only thing in his eyes!

    How did this happen?! The wood-like Abyssal Prefect looked down at its own hands with a stunned expression, then suddenly screamed before frantically rushing back toward the center of Zhuolu, only to be intercepted by the 11 envoys and all of the Yin soldiers they had brought with them.

    "Piss off!" The wood-like Abyssal Prefect was desperate as it unleashed one powerful art after another, but it knew that it was already toote.

    The trump card that the enemy was hiding was already approaching the heart of Zhuolu!

    The inner demon looked on at the approaching Gao Changgong with a cold expression, then slowly raised a hand as it said, "Are you a possession Yin spirit? I must say, this was quite a smart trick, but unfortunately for you, you''re too weak."

    It gently curled a finger, and Ryu Changmin emerged from Gao Changgong''s body without being able to pose any resistance. Immediately thereafter, the inner demon stabbed a finger forward, and a beam of ck light shot directly toward Gao Changgong''s be.

    The attack was truly as fast as lightning!

    The inner demon hadn''t unleashed power beyond the Yama-King level. Advanced Yama-King level power was more than enough to do the trick.

    It turned away with an indifferent expression, only to immediately turn back again as an astonished look appeared on its face.

    "No!" The two Abyssal Prefects behind him let loose blood-curdling screams in unison.

    Ryu Changmin had disappeared on the spot, and he had been reced by a golden skeleton wearing a golden dragon robe and a regal crown.

    The skeleton was wielding a sword, which was pointed directly at the bone shard!

    This was the Dusk Legionnaire''s mutual teleportation ability!

    "You didn''t expect this, did you?" A humanized smile appeared on Qin Ye''s skeletal face. "Surprise!"

 Chapter 1180: Myriad Soul Pagoda (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1180: Myriad Soul Pagoda (1)</h4>

    In this instant, it was as if time had stoodpletely still.

    Qin Ye wasn''t holding back in the slightest as he swung his sword through the air. Such a brilliant opportunity would onlye once. None of his subordinates had informed him of this n, but they were able to execute it to perfection with abination of experience, courage, and determination.

    The attack hade far too abruptly, and it was traveling far too quickly. Having beenpletely caught off guard by this sudden turn of events, even the inner demon was rooted to the spot for a split second, immediately following which it instinctively dodged toward the side.

    In the next instant, it abruptly drew a sharp breath before raising its hand in an attempt to block the attack, even going as far as to use its own body as a shield.

    In that split-second of panic, it had forgotten that the bone shard was right behind it!

    However, it was already toote.

    Everything seemed to slow down, and the inner demon felt its own senses heightened significantly in this instant. Out of the corners of its eyes, it could see the two Abyssal Prefects screaming as they barged through the intercepting envoys, desperately trying to rush back to the center of Zhuolu.

    It also saw Qin Ye''s sword slicing through the bone shard, severing it into two pieces in mid-air.

    All of the blood in its body instantly rushed into its head upon seeing this, and it was so enraged that it found itself temporarily unable to speak. Hundreds of golden eyes immediately lit up on its arm as it grabbed toward Qin Ye with all its might.

    Die!

    Right as its palm was about to strike Qin Ye, thetter vanished on the spot once again, only to be reced by another Yin spirit.

    This was the Dusk Legionnaire''s mutual teleportation ability!

    The inner demon''s enraged strike sent a wave of Yin energy sweeping through the air, instantly forming a Yin energy fountain that was several dozen kilometers in radius!

    An enraged roar rang out from within the churning Yin energy, and the 11 envoys exchanged a nce with one another before immediately fleeing into the distance without any hesitation.

    Alongside the violent eruption of Yin energy taking ce behind them came an indescribable sense of horror that was making their souls tremble.

    The inner demon''s roar grew louder and louder until it resembled rumbling thunder, and the two armies locked in battle in the distance faltered slightly upon hearing this before turning toward the center of Zhuolu with stunned expressions.

    An aura that was above the Yama-King level erupted forth without any reservation alongside boundless Yin energy, while Qin Ye returned to his post behind Hell''s army.

    Zhao Yun turned to him with a dumbstruck expression as he asked, "What did you do just now?"

    "Nothing," Qin Ye replied. "I just poked the ho''s nest a little. This is when the true battle is going to begin."

    In its fit of fury, the inner demon was restraining its own power at all, and the vast Yin energy that it was releasing had formed an enormous vortex in the sky. Within the vast vortex, a giant golden eye suddenly appeared.

    It was like a sun that had risen in the night, and in the instant that it appeared, an oppressive atmosphere settled over the entire battlefield. Everyone on the battlefield could only look up helplessly at the gigantic eye in the sky, feeling extremely tiny and insignificant.

    "To think that I was tricked by mere ants... How pitiful..." The inner demon''s enraged voice rumbled throughout the heavens, following which thousands of golden eyes lit up in unison, illuminating the entire sky!

    At the same time, a burst of violent trembling began to spread through the earth, bing more and more pronounced by the second!

    By the end, it had already escted into a full-blown earthquake!

    Giant rocks were flying in all directions as countless trenches appeared over the earth before growing wider and wider. Bursts of scarlet Yin energy erupted into the heavens from those trenches, fusing together perfectly with the countless dazzling eyes in the sky.

    An earth-shattering boom rang out as all of the Yin clouds exploded violently, and in the next instant, all of the underworld emissaries and demonic ghostly immortals drew a sharp breath in unison as they looked up at the sky with astonished expressions.

    They were greeted by the sight of a giant butterfly that appeared to be around 50 kilometers in size, roughlyparable with the size of the entirety of Zhuolu!

    The butterfly was hovering amid the Yin energy up above, looking like a deity that had descended from the heavens.

    However, it wasn''t strictly a true butterfly. Its head was more like that of a dragonfly, with a gaping hole at the center, within which was a giant golden eye. On either side of the head was a pair of deer antlers, and they were astonishing in size, winding upward to form a crown that was several kilometers in stature!

    Furthermore, its wings didn''t belong to a butterfly, either. Instead, they were like phoenix wings that werepletely formed by crimson mes, with clear signs of feathers visible within.

    Its entire body was covered in inky-ck fur that resembled mountains and valleys, gently swaying in the fierce wind. Its body was also riddled with irregr eyes that were around 10 meters in size each, making for a terrifying monster that would only appear in one''s worst nightmares.

    "This is the inner demon''s true form..." Zhao Yun murmured after taking a deep breath. "Whatever you did, it looks like you''ve truly enraged it."

    The inner demon spread its wings like a god of creation, and bursts of rainbow light fell from its wings like rain. In the blink of an eye, the countless beams of rainbow light had vanished into the bodies of all of the Yin soldiers on the battlefield.

    Han Qinhu was in the process of fleeing the scene, and he immediately raised his shield, but the light passed through everything without encountering any impediment before vanishing into his forehead.

    It was a breathtakingly beautiful scene to behold, but it was also one that was fraught with lethal peril. The spiritual body of the inner demon was impossibly massive, virtually concealing the entire heavens, and its voice was like rumbling thunder as it dered, "No one''s heart is devoid of weaknesses. Yanluo Qin, you have truly enraged me."

    You have no right to oppose me! I am the only true god in this world!

    In the next instant, an indescribable sense of violence welled up from deep within Han Qinhu''s soul. He wanted to resist it, but found himselfpletely unable to do so! He had to vent this fury and violence, and the urge was just as instinctive as that of drinking, eating, and breathing!

    He drew his sword in one swift motion, then stabbed it directly toward Wang Meng with bloodshot eyes, only to be met with a spear strike from Wang Meng at the same time.

    They weren''t the only ones ovee by this irrepressible sense of violence. In the blink of an eye, all of the Yin soldiers on the battlefield seemed to have gone insane, picking up their weapons and attacking theirrades. Their orderly formation instantly copsed, and within the span of just several seconds, thousands of specks ofherfire had already risen up into the air.

    At the same time, the four Yama-Kings on the inner demon''s side exchanged a nce with one another before immediately turning around and rushing back toward the center of Zhuolu without any hesitation.

    All of the demonic ghostly immortals also followed them in their retreat, and at this point, the ground was no longer cracking any further.

    Envy''s teeth were tightly gritted as he internally cursed the two Abyssal Prefects for their clear failure to protect the inner demon.

    All of a sudden, the entire battlefield pulsed slightly like a heartbeat, but none of the frenzied Yin soldiers on the battlefield detected this slight tremor.

    "The Myriad Soul Pagoda has been activated!" Resentment was frantically rushing toward Zhuolu as quickly as he could. "It''s still not the right time yet! No one knows what''s going to happen if the Myriad Soul Pagoda is activated too early! What do we do now?"

    He cast his gaze toward the center of Zhuolu with tightly furrowed brows, and there, a series of small mounds had already begun to emerge on thendscape.

    The tops of the mounds were cracking and copsing incessantly, as if there were a powerful giant beneath the surface.

    Envy was silent for a moment before replying, "We have no other options. The Many-faced God is stalling for time for our sake, all we can do is get back as quickly as possible."

    Right at this moment, a pure white ripple swept over the entire battlefield in the blink of an eye. It was like a wave of soothingfort, and all of the raised weapons were instantly lowered again.

    "What just happened to me?" Wang Meng''s soul was trembling as heid a hand over his own chest with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes. The power of the inner demon was like an all-incinerating ze, yet the white ripple was like an almighty flood that had drowned out the fire.

    "What was I doing just now?"

    "What happened?"

    "Why was I about to attack you?"

    All of the Yin soldiers exchanged one astonished nce after another, then turned around collectively toward the rear of Hell''s army.

    Qin Ye was standing there with a giant rune behind him. The rune was constantly changing in form, and it was releasing one wave of white light after another. Amid the white radiance, even the most violent of tendencies and most powerful of desires were soothed and quelled.

    "That''s the origin rune of emotions and desires!" the inner demon eximed as it cast a stunned gaze toward Qin Ye.

    However, the astonishment on its face quickly faded, and all of its eyes fell shut as pirs of dazzling golden light descended behind it. At the same time, it slowly rose up into the air like an ascending deity. "I must say, this is quite unexpected, but you''re already toote to stop me. Come... Come to the arena of millennia past, the ce where this civilization began! We''ll be waiting for you!"

    Its voice was like rumbling thunder, but it garnered no reply.

    All of the Yin energy in Zhao Yun''s entire body was swelling rapidly as he made a grabbing motion, upon which his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear fell into his grasp. His Yin energy had formed a vast vortex beside him, and it was releasing fierce wind that caused his suit of silver armor to clink incessantly. At the same time, Arakshasa, the Harken, and Qin Ye also released their Yin energy into the heavens while inspecting their surroundings with wary expressions.

    An ancient, ruthless aura was slowly seeping over the entire battlefield, and it was growing more and more pronounced. Meanwhile, the earth began to tremble, and the tremors were also bing more and more violent.

    The inner demon had only been stalling for time just now.

    This aura was so apparent that even the Yin soldiers on the battlefield could clearly sense it, and in response, they instinctively formed a series of groups in an attempt to seek safety in numbers.

    In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and the entirety of Zhuolupletely copsed!

    Countless giant rocks were sent tumbling down as a gargantuan pagoda rose up toward the heavens.

 Chapter 1181: Myriad Soul Pagoda (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1181: Myriad Soul Pagoda (2)</h4>

    Yin soldiers and skeletal warhorses were sent tumbling in all directions as the vast pagoda rose up from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, countless more Yin soldiers were reduced toherfire that rose up into the sky.

    "What''s going on?" Guo Ziyi inspected his surroundings with a stunned expression to find a series of ancient corridors and walls. There were also countless pirs and altars around him, all of which were giving fearsome Yin energy.

    The ground was trembling violently, and there was no way for him to remain mounted on his steed. Countless rocks were crashing down from above like shooting stars, and Guo Ziyi immediately ducked under his steed for protection.

    The violent tremorssted a full 10 minutes before finally subsiding, and only after several more minutes had passed did some underworld emissaries rise to their feet with fearful expressions.

    Guo Ziyi gently brushed his hands over his armor. His armor was already covered in dust and dirt, but he didn''t pay any heed to that as he immediately looked up forward, following which he instantly drew a sharp breath.

    An enormous pagoda was standing before him.

    It had to be at least 400 to 500 meters in height, and it was split up into four levels. Furthermore, the entire building was paved with bones!

    The bones belonged to all types of creatures, including giant beasts, birds, and even human bones. At this point, the inner demon had already vanished, and the pagoda was the only thing left standing on the battlefield.

    The entire pagoda was covered in unidentifiable text that was crimson in color, and it was extremely vast, taking up the entirety of Zhuolu.

    The corkscrew staircase that Guo Ziyi was standing on was around 40 to 50 meters wide, and from where he was, he could clearly hear the sound of howling wind up above, while skeletal gs spread along the staircase pped incessantly.

    The fierce wind was blowing through the holes in the skeletal gs, and a murder of crows arrived on the scene, seemingly out of nowhere, beforending on the gs like harbingers of death. Tied beneath several human skulls was a tattered piece of beast hide, upon which was inscribed some type of crimson text, and the skulls that were swaying in the wind seemed to be cackling in silence.

    "What on earth is this ce..." Guo Ziyi took a few steps backward with an astonished look on his face. This building was far more ancient than anything even during his lifetime!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Resentment grabbed onto the inner demon''s cor, then gave it an enraged tug as he glowered into the inner demon''s eyes with a furious expression.

    The inner demon was still using Bai Liangping''s body, even though the body was as broken as a rag doll. Many sections of bone, flesh, and tendons had already been exposed beneath the skin.

    "Why did you do this?!" Resentment roared in an enraged voice as Yin energy surged out of all of his orifices. "Why has the Myriad Soul Pagoda been activated early? How many times have we told you that these are the only remains left behind by our king! Unless we restore them to their perfect state, the Myriad Soul Pagoda won''t be able to provide us with any protection!"

    The inner demon''s body was gently spasming, and its head had been twisted to an impossible angle. Its facial features werepletely inhuman, and only the constantly moving eyeballs in its sockets indicated that it was alive.

    Before Resentment had a chance to say anything further, a deathly white hand had already grabbed onto his mouth. The hand didn''t appear to be exerting any force at all, but Resentment''s skull was creaking audibly.

    "Shut up," the inner demon said in apletely emotionless voice, then dragged its broken body slowly to the edge of this level before casting its gaze in Qin Ye''s direction.

    "Hell is regrouping right as we speak, so why are you not attacking now? What are you waiting for?!"

    There was no response.

    All of the Yama-Kings present were looking at the inner demon with suspicious eyes.

    It was ridiculous to them that a group of Infernal Judges could''ve bypassed a being above the Yama-King level tounch a sessful attack on Chiyou''s remains. The situation had deteriorated to a point where there really wasn''t much else that could go wrong.

    Right at this moment, Lust''s ghastly voice rang out from behind the inner demon. "You promised us that you would help us resurrect our king, and it''s time for you to follow through on that promise!"

    The inner demon turned to her with a stunned expression. "Now? You''re going to bring that up now?"

    There was still no response.

    However, the four Yama-Kings had already silently surrounded the inner demon, and their answer was very apparent.

    If the inner demon couldn''t fulfill its promise, then there was no point for them to continue in this battle.

    An alliance like theirs wouldpletely fall apart if the agreement that the alliance was built upon were to be revoked.

    The 73 immortals that served as the inner demon''s subordinates had virtually beenpletely wiped out, and in the wake of that, the power bnce between the inner demon and Chiyou''s remnant forces was already slowly shifting toward parity.

    It was exactly because of this that there was no clear leader in this group, thereby leading to the potential for a conflict.

    All of a sudden, vast Yin energy erupted out of the inner demon''s body, and in the next instant, its appearance began to rapidly change, as if it were going back in time to search through all of the humans it had possessed in the past.

    A cold smile appeared on its face as it said, "Choosing to work with you lot was the most idiotic decision of my life. So be it, let me show you my trump card!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The sound of a long horn rang out, and the gs of Hell''s army were pping in the wind as Yin soldiers converged toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda from all directions. The sudden emergence of the Myriad Soul Pagoda hadpletely shattered their formation, but they were quickly rallying.

    As for Chiyou''s forces, it was unclear why they weren''t doing anything, but their inactivity granted both sides a brief period of peace. However, everyone could sense that this was only the calm before the storm.

    This was most definitely not the end. Instead, both sides were waiting for the opportunity to pounce at the enemy''s throat!

    Behind Hell''s army, Qin Ye was holding the Judgment Pen and the Book of Life and Death, and the Yin energy of Hell''s four Yama-Kings had already been released to epass the Myriad Soul Pagoda in preparation for a counterattack. However, the inner demon and Chiyou''s forces weren''t doing anything.

    "What are they doing?" Qin Ye mused. "How could they pass up an opportunity like this?"

    The Harken shook its head in response. It was also unable toprehend why the enemy wasn''t attacking. If the four enemy Yama-Kings and all of their troops were to strike at a time like this, Hell''s army would definitely suffer severe casualties.

    However, they hadn''t done that.

    Qin Ye was on the constant lookout for an enemy attack while also quickly analyzing the Myriad Soul Pagoda. Even though he didn''t know what era this building was from, he could still sense the domineering aura that it was giving off. It was like the sun in the sky, inspiring awe and veneration from all of its beholders.

    However, this sun was broken.

    There was a massive slope on the western side of the pagoda, as if that part of the pagoda had been sliced off by a sword, and the slope was so massive that an army of 10,000 troops could charge through it!

    "Nothingness hasn''t appeared. They said that They would help us break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda''s defenses when it appeared, but the Myriad Soul Pagoda has no defenses at the moment," Qin Ye murmured to himself. "In that case, has that promise been postponed or revoked altogether?"

    There was a very important distinction between the two. If the Heavenly Dao had only postponed the fulfillment of Their promise, then They would still step in when necessary. However, it was definitely unwise to pin one''s hopes on an emotionless machine like the Heavenly Dao.

    Right at this moment, the Harken''s nose twitched slightly as it cast a perplexed gaze toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda. "I''m catching a really strong scent of blood."

    As soon as its voice trailed off, streams of blood began to slowly flow down from the top level of the Myriad Soul Pagoda. They were like a series of bloody waterfalls, slowly draping a red coat over the entire pagoda.

    Are they finally about to attack?

    Everyone remained silent as they stared intently at the top of the pagoda. A Yama-King could easily inspect an entire nation with a single nce, so it was an easy feat for them to inspect the top of the pagoda, particrly when it had no defenses.

    The damage sustained by the pagoda and itsck of defenses could all be attributed to that surprise attack from Qin Ye.

    Inky-ck Yin energy was revolving around the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, and QIn Ye could just barely make out the inner demon standing there. Its face was rapidly changing in appearance, and its attire was also quickly transitioning back through the eras. In less than a minute, it had gone back to the era of grass and beast hide garments.

    All of a sudden, it withdrew all of its Yin energy, revealing a figure that waspletely different in appearance to Bai Liangping. Instead, it was a man with a head of disheveled hair, wearing a beast hide garment and holding a whip in his hand.

    The whip was very crude, woven from soft tree bark.

    A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in Qin Ye''s heart without any warning, as if something terrible were about to happen. At the same time, the inner demon raised its hands and began to chant something.

    There was clearly nothing happening, yet Qin Ye''s heartbeat was rapidly elerating.

    He looked down at the assembling army down below, then asked, "How much longer will they take?"

    "At least 20 more minutes," Zhao Yun replied. "Even with the losses suffered thus far, the army still has a total of at least 400,000 troops, and that''s not even taking the Asura Legion and the Hungry Ghost legion into ount."

    Therger the army, the longer it would take to organize.

    "Can the process be sped up somehow?"

    "I''m afraid that would be very difficult... What''s wrong, Your Excellency?" Zhao Yun could sense that Qin Ye was growing rather agitated.

    Qin Ye shook his head in response.

    He looked up at the inner demon, who was still chanting, then down at the troops gathering beneath his feet. More and more troops were flocking to the area, but he wasn''t feeling any sense of security at all. Instead, the sense of foreboding in his heart was only growing more and more pronounced!

    Right at this moment, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

    In the next instant, the sound of horse hooves began to approach from the distance.

    Qin Ye felt as if the sound were resonating directly in his heart, and it wasn''ting from the ground. Instead...

    Qin Ye abruptly raised his head to look up at the sky.

    The sound of the horse hooves wasing from the heavens!

    We can''t keep waiting!

    He immediately turned to Zhao Yun as he said, "Brother Zhao, stop him!"

    Zhao Yun didn''t ask why. Instead, his body abruptly transformed into a gust of Yin wind that swept directly toward the top of the pagoda. Right at this moment, the inner demon finally turned toward Qin Ye, and their eyes met.

    No words were exchanged between them, but the tension in the air was palpable.

    A faint smile appeared on the inner demon''s face, and all of a sudden, the muscles on its arms bulged dramatically!

    With a thunderous roar, the sound of horse hooves drew to an abrupt halt, and a white horse that was over 20 meters tall was pulled out of thin air.

    To be urate, this creature couldn''t be referred to as a horse. Its body was covered in golden scales, and there was a pair of deer antlers on its head, while a white mane extended all the way from its head to its tail. Furthermore, there was a head that was around five meters in size tied to its tail!

    It was the longma that was carrying Chiyou''s head!

 Chapter 1182: Myriad Soul Pagoda (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1182: Myriad Soul Pagoda (3)</h4>

    In the instant that the longma appeared, all of the living humans in Cathay were struck by an indescribable sense of fear and repulsion.

    Above Zhuolu, the four Yama-Kings drew a sharp breath in unison. The two longmas raised their heads and neighed with tion as they galloped joyfully around the inner demon at the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda. The two sections of the corpse that were attached to their tails had already been reduced to skeletons, but right at this moment, a speck of golden soulfire ignited within the skull''s eye sockets!

    At the time of Chiyou''s death, Hell didn''t exist yet, so its soul couldn''t enter the six paths of reincarnation. Thus, the only way to ensure that he couldn''t resurrect himself was by physically separating his body. However, having been separated for thousands of years, the two sections of his body had finally been reunited!

    His fingers twitched slightly, and the movement was extremely slight, but in the next instant, all of the clouds in the sky turned dark as day transitioned into night, and a terrifying scarlet color slowly began to appear behind the clouds.

    He was still alive...

    He had been waiting for thousands of years for the opportunity to make a triumphant return!

    "Fuck..." Even Zhao Yun could only curse out loud upon seeing this.

    Who could''ve imagined that the inner demon would''ve possessed the keeper of the longmas all those years ago?

    Only a being as powerful as the inner demon could''ve done something like this right under the Yellow Emperor''s nose!

    Gusts of fierce crimson wind suddenly began to sweep through the area, causing Zhao Yun''s armor to clink and ng incessantly. All of a sudden, he charged directly toward the top of the pagoda as a stream of silver light that was giving off incredible killing intent.

    Qin Ye, Arakshasa, and the Harken followed along right behind him as three gusts of Yin wind, attacking the Myriad Soul Pagoda at full speed.

    A burst of golden light shed as Qin Ye''s longsword was drawn from its scabbard, shing a bright crescent through the air. This was apanied by the Yin energy of the Harken and Arthis''s Soul Shackles, all of which were aimed directly at the inner demon.

    "What a powerful spear," the inner demon mused with a faint smile. "Unfortunately, you''re a little toote."

    In the next instant, he abruptly tightened his grip around the necks of the longmas that he was stroking, and the two longmas were decapitated in unison. The cross-sections of their wounds were as smooth as mirrors, and two plumes of crimson mist rose up into the sky from their wounds!

    At the same time, the four Yama-Kings that were doubting the inner demon just a moment ago positioned themselves in front of the inner demon as shields in unison.

    "Let there be wind!" Insanity''s vessel was in the form of a thin middle-aged man, and his voice was like a gust of frosty wind sweeping through a valley.

    Fierce wind immediately began to howl from all directions, and the wind was so strong that the arts unleashed by the three Yama-Kings were blown slightly off their original course.

    However, it was unable to stop Zhao Yun''s spear.

    Right as Zhao Yun entered a 100-meter range of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, the tip of his spear crashed into an invisible barrier, and due to the excessive force behind the attack, his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear began to bend. Zhao Yun let loose a loud roar as the spear slipped out of his hand, following which he reached his right hand out toward his waist to draw his longsword.

    However, before he had a chance tosh out with the longsword, a faint thump rang out across heaven and earth, and at the same time, a faint golden light barrier abruptly appeared in front of Zhao Yun.

    The light barrier was so faint that it was barely visible, but upon close inspection, one would be able to see countless antiquated designs revolving incessantly all over its surface.

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon seeing this, then heaved a long sight as he slid his sword back into its scabbard. In the next instant, he was joined by the three Yama-Kings of Hell.

    Qin Ye reached out a hand with a grim expression to gently stroke the light barrier as he asked, "Did you hear that just now?"

    The Harken gritted its teeth as it replied, "It was the sound of a heartbeat. Chiyou''s body has been restored, and he''s already beginning to return to life!"

    Qin Ye pursed his lips as he cast his gaze toward the light barrier up ahead, and before he had a chance to ask, Zhao Yun shook his head as he said, "This is a barrier formed by fortune and faith. Chiyou was the only one who was capable ofpeting with the Yellow Emperor back then, and whoever came out on top would''ve created history. The fortune that Chiyou possesses is immense, and it''s already epassed the entirety of the Myriad Soul Pagoda. The only ce we can exploit is..."

    The four of them turned toward that slope.

    Aside from that part, the Myriad Soul Pagoda was devoid of any weaknesses!

    Of course, the enemy was also aware that the slope was the only vulnerable section of the pagoda.

    From that slope, any level of the pagoda could be essed, and at the top of the slope, the four Yama-Kings on the inner demon''s side were assembled together, looking out at Hell''s army with resolute expressions.

    This was the sequel to the battle between gods and demons that had taken ce thousands of years ago, and it was going to decide the final ruler of Cathay!

    In the face of the enemy''s unadulterated battle intent, Qin Ye raised his hand as he ordered, "Everyone, get into formation! In one hour, weunch an all-out attack!"

    If you want a battle, then Hell will give you a battle! The Cathayan Underworld has never been afraid of a fight!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    40 minutester.

    The hundreds of thousands of troops of Hell''s army had gathered around the Myriad Soul Pagoda, forming a formidable inky-ck wave that was brimming with battle intent. At the center of the army, the Myriad Soul Pagoda was like a lone ind in a hostile sea, waiting to be assaulted by the powerful waves toe.

    This was the final showdown, and the army of Hell waspletely assembled!

    Warhorses were raring to go, while Yin soldiers were brandishing their weapons and gs. Amid the tense atmosphere, Qin Ye rose up into the sky, then looked down at the army as he dered, "Throughout the entire history of the Cathayan Underworld, not once has there been a battle that we''ve lost!"

    A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as he thought back to the days when he was all alone, facing and transcending all types of trials and tribtions to develop Hell to its current state.

    There were so many things that he wanted to say. He wanted to motivate his troops, but as all those past memories shed through his mind, he was suddenly ovee by a myriad of emotions, and he roared in a deafening voice, "We cannot hand over everything that we''ve built to someone else! Hell''s history will note to an end on this day, regardless of who tries to strike it down!"

    He cast his gaze toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda as he continued, "If you want a battle, then Hell will give you a battle! Regardless of what you do, the oue will always be the same! Attack!"

    The sound of pounding war drums rang out, and Ban Chao''s face was slightly flushed. It had been far too long since he had witnessed something that made his blood boil like this.

    No one could oppose the Cathayan Underworld!

    He raised his longsword as he roared, "Charge!"

    Directly ahead of him, the inky-ck wave of Yin soldiers immediately sprang into action, resembling a ck dragon that had awoken from a long slumber, charging directly toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda!

    At the forefront were still the heavy cavalry units. They formed the spearhead of the wave of destruction that was crashing violently toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    BOOM!!

    A resounding boom rang out as the Yin soldiers shed with the Myriad Soul Pagoda. However, in the instant that they did so, the sound of a vigorous heartbeat suddenly erupted.

    It was like the sound of a pounding drum, and it was audible across all corners of the battlefield. The first Yin soldiers who charged into the slope were greeted by the sight of a scene from a primitive era over 5,000 years in the past. They were witnessing a burly and imposing figure, presiding over the battlefield like an invincible deity.

    The sound of the heartbeat rang out once again, and the sound went against allws of physics and nature. In this instant, that same heartbeat was heard by everyone across the entirety of Cathay!

    The heartbeat rang out yet again, and it was as if some type switch had been turned on. As soon as the Yin soldiers set foot into the pagoda, a violent reaction was triggered in the sky, and a series of ripples suddenly appeared over the four corners of the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    The sound of metal shing and grinding against itself rang out, and four thick chains descended from the heavens amid the ripples. The chains were emerging out of space bit by bit, as if they were drawn by a brush, and in the end, the chains were stretched taut as they locked themselves firmly to the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    The chains weren''t spectacr to behold, and they were formed by ck and white interchanging links. Surrounding each chain was an ever-shifting aura, taking on different forms such as different types of flora and fauna, or various types of scenery.

    This was profound bipr metal!

    Profound bipr metal was a legendary material that hadn''t been seen even since ancient times. It existed somewhere between illusion and reality, and it was extremely difficult to forge, capable of locking onto all things either with form or devoid of form.

    In addition to that, these chains were riddled with countless names, and just the mere sight of these names was enough to evoke within the beholder a sense of awe and veneration.

    There was the Gongsun Xuanyuan, Geng Chen, Chi Songzi, Chong Li, Yao Chonghua, Si Wenming...

    All of these names belonged to extremely renowned figures in history!

    Countless names that had appeared in myths and legends throughout history were etched in glowing text onto these four chains!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the top of the pagoda, the inner demon was standing on the ground, holding a brush that was dripping with blood. The shaft of the brush was fashioned from a white bone, and the inner demon was inspecting its surroundings with a wary expression.

    Four statues had appeared between the profound bipr metal chains, depicting the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Xuanwu Turtle, and these statues were overlooking the entire Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    Above the Azure Dragon statue, a me that was around a meter in thickness slowly lit up, but it was also gradually fading.

    "Eight hours..." The inner demon turned toward Chiyou''s remnant forces with a serious expression. "All you need to do is hold back Hell''s army for eight hours, and the initial stage of your king''s resurrection will beplete! During this time, he will be able to instinctively react to danger, and all you have to do is keep Hell''s army at bay!"

    The inner demon set the tip of its brush down onto the ground, inscribing the first rune onto the pagoda.

    As the brush came into contact with the Myriad Soul Pagoda, invisible ripples instantly surged throughout the interior of the entire pagoda.

    At the same time, the sound of Chiyou''s heartbeat rang out once again, and a vast sea of ck mist descended from the heavens like a tsunami, instantly epassing an area with a radius of several hundred kilometers.

    "Stop them!"

    "Keep the enemy at bay, even if it costs you your lives!"

    The four Yama-Kings who were allied with the inner demon instantly shot forth as four streaks of light hurtling down from above, while several hundred streaks of light filled the entire sky like a shower of shooting stars!

 Chapter 1183: Myriad Soul Pagoda (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1183: Myriad Soul Pagoda (4)</h4>

    Yin clouds descended from the heavens, epassing the entire Myriad Soul Pagoda in the blink of an eye. Thousands of specks ofherfire also came crashing down toward the side of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, presenting a truly surreal and breathtaking sight to behold.

    However, none of this was able to stop the troops of Hell. On the slope, tens of thousands of heavy cavalry units formed a formidable ck wave, which had already rushed several dozen meters up the pagoda. Behind them were hundreds of thousands of charging Yin soldiers, and the sound of long horns rang out across the heavens while countless gs were waving incessantly. The ck wave was surging directly toward the only vulnerable spot on the Myriad Soul Pagoda with unstoppable force.

    This was the final showdown that was going to decide who was going to be the ruler of Cathay, and neither side was willing to back down.

    "Charge!" Chang Yuchun led from the front, forming the first wave alongside Zhou Yu, Ban Chao, Wang Meng, and the other envoys. It was like a sh between tides with the heavens crashing down from above, while the formidable army down below charged upward to meet it.

    The two formidable waves shed violently, kicking off the final chapter of this Battle of Zhuolu!

    Right as he entered the Yin cloud, Chang Yuchun immediately drew to a halt.

    Something wasn''t quite right here!

    He had charged into the Yin cloud with countless Yin soldiers around him, yet he felt as if he werepletely alone and on his own in here!

    It was as if he had beenpletely isted from the rest of the world, plunged into a purgatory that was filled with boundless darkness and oppression. It was as if there were something in the darkness behind him, slowly reaching out toward him.

    All of the heavy cavalry units were connected by chains, and the chains on either side of him were clearly moving, but as he reached out, he was unable to touch anyone else. His hand traced along the chains, but it felt as if the chains stretched on for an infinitely long distance with no end in sight.

    "Who''s there?!" All of a sudden, he swept his longsword through the air, but failed to strike anything.

    He could hear the sound of faint breathing in the darkness. Who was it that was breathing?

    He wasn''t the only one here.

    All of the Yin soldiers had charged into the Yin cloud as a collective unit, yet all of them had been relegated to their own independent spaces.

    Qin Ye could also hear that faint sound of breathing. It was extremely quiet, but at the same time, it was also somehow extremely invasive, influencing one''s heartbeat to match the rhythm of the breathing.

    That was Chiyou''s breathing. The fact that he had begun breathing indicated that the resurrection process had well and truly begun, and there wasn''t going to be much time left for the army of Hell.

    Right at this moment, a burst of dazzling light suddenly shone down upon the darkness.

    It was like a lighthouse in a storm, shining down from several hundred meters up above, illuminating every single corner of the darkness. The ck wave in front of Chang Yuchun rapidly revolved, forming an inky-ck vortex, and a burst of golden light erupted out of the revolving vortex.

    Is this it?

    For a brief moment, Qin Ye wondered whether he should enter the vortex, but he only hesitated for a split-second before flying into the vortex as a gust of Yin wind.

    At this point, there was no going back!

    However, right as he rushed into the vortex, the entire world seemed to stand still for an instant, immediately following which Nothingness''s voice rang out beside his ears. "You only have four hours. At the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, the profound bipr metal chains are connected to the four symbol array. You''ll find out the specifics once you get up there, what I''m here to tell you is that the mes of the four symbol array have already been lit. Each of the four mes in the four symbol array will burn for one hour, and once all four mes burn out, Chiyou will return."

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this. Upon entering this ce, even Nothingness was clearly beginning to grow anxious, as evidenced by the fact that They had taken the initiative to approach Qin Ye and were speaking much more than normal.

    "What''s the deal with these Yin clouds?" Qin Ye asked.

    "This is an automatic defense measure. Chiyou still hasn''tpletely resurrected, but his instincts have already returned. As a bearer of the fortune and faith of Cathay, his capabilities are far beyond what you can imagine. He is rejecting your entrance to the Myriad Soul Pagoda. You really do not have much time left."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "I hope you can help us when the timees."

    Nothingness didn''t say anything.

    "I managed to break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda''s defenses even without you. If you don''t want to go back on your own promise and break the rules you established yourself, then lend us your assistance elsewhere!"

    There was still no response, and it seemed that Nothingness had already left.

    "Fuck!" Qin Ye cursed to himself before rushing into the vortex.

    In the instant that emerged from the vortex, he was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be a boundless space.

    There was no ground or sky, all that could be seen were Yin clouds stretching as far as the eye could see in all directions. Different body parts were drifting through the Yin clouds, including mouths, tongues, ears, eyes, and noses. They were like asteroids of an asteroid belt, revolving around the nine-petaled lotus flower tform at the center.

    A scarlet lotus flower that was around 100 meters in size was growing, seemingly out of thin air. Its main stem was split up into countless branches, and several hundred scarlet lotus flowers were swaying in the darkness like stars in the sky. The army of Hell was situatedyer uponyer several kilometers away from the lotus flower tform.

    Behind the scarlet lotus flower was an open bronze gate, upon which were engraved extremely antiquated patterns, and the gate was standing in the middle of space without any support structures.

    Qin Ye was unable to describe what he was seeing in words, but he found this ce to be extremely fitting as an ancient battlefield between gods and demons.

    Fierce wind was blowing all around him, and Qin Ye didn''t waste any time as he raised a hand. "All troops, heed my call!"

    "We''re here, Your Excellency!"

    "Prior to setting off, you''ve all already been assigned duties, so enact your duties as nned!"

    Zhao Yun abruptly raised his head as he cast his gaze toward Qin Ye, and he seemed to want to say something, but refrained from doing so in the end. Instead, he merely cupped his fist in a salute. "Yes!"

    The duties assigned to everyone had been assigned prior to their attack on Zhuolu. However, at the time, they had been nning for arge-scale battle. Under those circumstances, even if Qin Ye were to face the inner demon on his own, the other Yama-Kings would be able to reinforce him. However, that was not the case now.

    They had to ovee the enemy before the mes of the four symbol array burned out, so there was no time for dy!

    At the very most, they would only have four hours before Chiyou''s return. They didn''t dare to gamble, nor could they afford to take a gamble. The entire army was going to create an opportunity for Qin Ye to scale to the top of the pagoda, but that would mean that he would be facing the inner demon on his own.

    Even with the Dusk Legionnaire at his disposal, there was no way that he would be a match for the inner demon. Thus, he would have to hold on for dear life until Zhao Yun arrived, but that was certainly easier said than done against an opponent as formidable as the inner demon!

    "Your Excellency..." Zhao Yun still wanted to say something, but Qin Ye shook his head to cut him off.

    "The Myriad Soul Pagoda is like a hand that''s slowly pushing us toward the edge of a cliff. Setting aside whether the four mes actually reflect the amount of time it would take for Chiyou toplete his resurrection, even if they don''t, we can''t afford to y it safe and go up one level at a time. If the rate of Chiyou''s resurrection exceeds the rate at which our army advances, then no one will be able to stop the inner demon with a resurrected Chiyou on its side. If that happens, the only solution will be to go to the world''s gate and request assistance from the second King Yanluo, but that will only be ast resort. For now, we march!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately flew directly toward the gate as a gust of Yin wind.

    As the saying went, fortune favors the brave, and Qin Ye could only hope to create his own luck through courage.

    "Charge!"

    A thunderous war cry rang out as all of Hell''s troops advanced directly toward the bronze gate like an inky-ck wave.

    Come! This is the final war that will decide who reigns supreme in Cathay. Let''s see who will get thestugh!

    Wang Meng was already primed to peak condition as he charged directly toward the bronze gate. The other envoys were advancing beside, forming an unstoppable wave that was sweeping through everything in its path.

    At the same time, the scarlet lotus flower at the center quickly spread open, revealing several hundred demonic ghostly immortals seated on the lotus flower tforms within the flower.

    Yin energy erupted into the heavens as an earth-shattering roar rang out, and a giant monkey Yin spirit with three eyes, six ears, and a forked tail abruptly stood up before letting loose a thunderous roar. "Kill them all!"

    In the next instant, several hundred bursts ofherfire and Yin wind swept through the air. These were the true elite among Chiyou''s forces, and every single one of them was at least at the Anitya Hellguard level. In the blink of an eye, the sweeping Yin wind and flickingherfire had given the entire scene a hellishplexion.

    "Karmic Fire Legion, ready your arrows!" Zhou Yu was spurring on his steed relentlessly as he charged on ahead with a fierce look in his eyes.

    The sound of pounding war drums rang out, and all of the demonic ghostly immortals'' eyes immediately widened at the sight that they were greeted by.

    Countless balls of scorching crimson fire had appeared in the sky, numbering at least over 100,000!

    "Fire!" a general roared, and all of the arrows were released at once, flying through the air like rain to form a bright red bridge between the two armies. The storm of arrows was like a gue of locusts, eradicating everything in its wake, and several demonic ghostly immortals that werecking in defensive prowess were immediately sent tumbling down amid agonized howls.

    Beneath the storm of scarlet karmic fire, the two armies shed violently. Yin energy exploded through the air, forming shockwaves that were visible to the naked eye spreading in all directions.

    Both sides werepletely absorbed by the desire to vanquish their enemies, and right at this moment, a demonic ghostly immortal threw its head back and roared to the heavens, following which its body swelled rapidly in size, reaching a height of 20 to 30 meters in the blink of an eye.

    Immediately thereafter, the mace it was wielding came crashing down with devastating force, instantly crushing around a dozen Yin soldiers. However, before it had a chance to unleash another attack, its body had already been sliced in half by Hell''s army.

    Seated atop the lotus flower, Envy''s Yin energy had already swelled to a peak, forming a terrifying vortex of reddish-ck Yin energy that was several kilometers in diameter.

    However, he wasn''t doing anything.

    He was facing four Yama-Kings, so the best course of action for him was to remain still. However, that didn''t mean that he was fearful of the enemy!

    Envy slowly stood up as he watched the approaching army. He was determined not to allow them to advance beyond this point, even if he had to die here!

    However, right at this moment, the entire army suddenly parted down the middle, splitting up into two groups that rushed directly toward the gate behind Envy!

    Envy faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately let loose a ferocious roar as his arms elongated infinitely before sweeping violently toward either side of him.

    You''re not getting past me!

    However, right as he was about tosh out, he was stopped cold in his tracks, then looked down at his own arms with a grim expression.

    Two azure Soul Shackles had wound themselves around his arms, preventing him from moving as he pleased. At the same time, a burst of incredibly fearsome Yin energy had alreadypletely locked onto him.

    Yin energy and tens of thousands of specks ofherfire had formed an enormous vortex in front of him, and the Soul Shackles were protruding out of the vortex.

    Envy slowly withdrew his arms as he asked, "What is your name?"

    A female voice rang out from within the vortex in response. "I am Reincarnation King Arakshasa, the one who will put an end to your life!"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, countless Soul Shackles that were burning with scorching karmic fire erupted out of the vortex!

 Chapter 1184: Myriad Soul Pagoda (5)

    <h4>Chapter 1184: Myriad Soul Pagoda (5)</h4>

    Envy let loose a furious roar as all of his fur shot forth in unison. Even though his fur was quite short, each and every one of them was like a lethal steel needle, striking all of the oing Soul Shackles and knocking them off their original path.

    "Oh? So you''re not aplete pushover." Arakshasa remained concealed within the vortex as a red karmic me lotus flower flew out. As soon as it emerged, the terrifying heat of its mes immediately caused the surrounding air to warp and shimmer violently.

    Envy''s Yin energy erupted forth in full force, and his reddish-ck Yin energy surged up into the heavens like a reverse waterfall. Amid the reverse waterfall, a pair of giant scarlet eyes slowly opened. Following an earth-shattering roar, the karmic fire lotus flower was abruptly destroyed, while the Yin energy around Envy exploded like a tsunami.

    As a result, it was revealed that he was a white monkey with three eyes and six ears. Close to half of his body had been stripped down to the bones, and he was wearing a beast hide skirt, holding a section of wood that was riddled with flowers that never faded, bearing fruit that never wilted. The monkey crouched down slightly, and in the next instant, it pounced directly toward the sky at an rming speed!

    With a thunderous roar of fury, the section of wood it was wielding was swung down with tremendous force, causing the entire space to tremble, and Arthis''s Yin energy vortex was instantly destroyed.

    "Even before your ancestors appeared, I was serving our revered king." Yin energy faded like the falling tide while Envy stood like an immovable pir with a cold smile on his face. "How dare an ant like you disy such disrespect to me? Show me what you''ve got, Reincarnation King! Don''t tell me this is all that the Yama-Kings of Hell are capable of!"

    Silence.

    Two secondster, a cold voice rang out in response. "As you wish."

    A burst of golden light erupted directly into the heavens, followed immediately by a second burst, then a third one... Soon, countless bursts of golden light had erupted into the sky!

    The entire darkness was illuminated by the boundless golden light, and within the sea of light, a mystical and holy voice rang out, but in the span of less than a second, it had already transformed into an anguished howl of grief.

    All of the souls in the six paths of reincarnation were wailing in unison as an enormous figure that was virtually the same size as Envy burst out of the Yin clouds.

    This was a massive Asura that resembled a statue, but it was most definitely a living being. It had three heads and six arms, and in its hands were six different items, namely a dagger, a skull, a string of prayer beads, a vase, a red spider lily, and a willow branch. She was seated on a lotus flower tform formed by the karmic mes of Hell, and all six of her golden eyes locked onto Envy in unison.

    Envy faltered slightly upon seeing this, and even he was astonished by just how formidable the Asura''s Yin energy was. What was most rming to him was that there was a hint of the power of worship interspersed within the Yin energy!

    His soul began to tremble violently, and in this moment, he felt as if he had returned to the Battle of Zhuolu, facing the most formidable foes he had ever battled.

    Never did he think that he would be struck by the same feeling in the face of another enemy over 5,000 yearster.

    He opened his mouth as wide as it would go, looking as if he had dislocated his jaw, then let loose a thunderous roar, releasing powerful soundwaves that forced Arakshasa downward. Immediately thereafter, an enormous circle of Yin clouds exploded over the ground, and Envy sprang up into the air before swinging his staff viciously down toward Arakshasa.

    Arakshasa''s three faces were each disying a different emotion, namely anger, tion, and grief, and in the instant that the staff came crashing down toward her, she stood up and raised two of her palms to the heavens.

    A circle of king protea flowers bloomed all around her, and right as Envy''s staff was about to strike the top of her head, she looked up before beginning to chant an incantation.

    All of her joints began to crack and morph, and her body expanded further and further, threatening to epass the entirety of heaven and earth. Right as the staff came into contact with her, Envy was stunned to discover that it had already been caught by the Asura''s raised hands.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Violent Yin energy exploded in all directions, and even Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, who were charging at the forefront, could feel their clothes pping incessantly around them.

    The two Yama-Kings were going all-out from the get-go, and it was very unlikely that an oue would be decided in their battle anytime soon. In fact, unless one of them decided tounch a kamikaze attack, it would most likely be a matter of days before their battle drew to a conclusion. The Yin energy shockwaves from their battle were sweeping through the entire battlefield, and both armies were pushed aside slightly.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to all of this. Arthis was taking on Envy, and the army had been split up into three parts. Only around 100,000 troops had been left to her, and they were facing demonic ghostly immortals that were all Anitya Hellguards, Infernal Judges, or even Abyssal Prefects.

    He didn''t want to think about the eventual casualties. The casualties would undoubtedly be severe, but this wasn''t the time to be considering such things.

    The Yin soldiers were willingly staying behind as they wanted to give their King Yanluo the best opportunity to get to the top of the pagoda, and if he were to hesitate, he would be squandering their sacrifices.

    The only way for him to repay them was to forge ahead as quickly as he could, doing everything in his power to defeat the inner demon before Hell''s army waspletely vanquished.

    At this point, the bronze gate was only around a kilometer away, and Qin Ye finally allowed himself to take a backward nce.

    A ferocious battle was taking ce behind him, and some of the demonic ghostly immortals that had suffered grievous wounds were rushing headfirst into Hell''s army before self-detonating. Even at the cost of their own lives, they were determined to slow the advance of the enemy Yin soldiers.

    In the wake of the devastating self-detonations, several hundred Yin soldiers were killed on the spot, and thousands of Yin soldiers were severely wounded by the resulting shockwaves. However, even more Yin soldiers stepped up fearlessly to take their ce. The two armies were like a pair of ferocious wolves, tearing into one another at all costs.

    At the center of the battlefield, the battle between Arthis and Envy had also reached white-hot intensity. Both of them wanted to defeat the other as quickly as possible so they could help their respective armies, but that was certainly not an easy task for either of them.

    Qin Ye withdrew his gaze, then turned to Zhao Yun before asking, "Do you feel it?"

    Zhao Yun nodded in response with a grim expression. "The level is sealing Chiyou''s nine orifices."

    Once the seal was undone, the rate at which Chiyou''s resurrection would progress would undoubtedly increase significantly.

    Over 5,000 years ago, the Yellow Emperor was only able to dismember Chiyou''s body, but was unable to do anything else.

    With that in mind, all of the other levels were perhaps sealing other parts of Chiyou''s body as well. This was a race against time, and whichever side could achieve their objective faster would be the one that came out on top.

    Thus, both sides had to do everything in their power to get to their target first!

    Right at this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly yelled, "Get into formation!"

    At this point, the bronze gate was right up ahead, and beyond it was a vast expanse of dazzling white light.

    Hundreds of thousands of troops swiveled around in unison, and the sound of pounding horse hooves echoed throughout this entire level. In the blink of an eye, the massive army fused as one, forming an enormous military formation.

    This formation was optimized forrge armies to charge at the highest possible speed.

    The hundreds of thousands of galloping Yin soldiersbined their momentum as one, advancing toward the second level like a heavy chariot with a vast expanse of Yin energy and dust swirling around it.

    From this point onward, they weren''t going to stop until they reached the top of the pagoda!

    As they drew closer and closer, the gate became clearer and clearer in their field of view, and right in the instant they reached the gate...

    ng!

    The sound of metal crashing into metal rang out in everyone''s ears, and most of the Yin soldiers involuntarily covered their ears with their hands. However, as soon as they did that, all of them shuddered involuntarily, and a sense of extreme peril abruptly welled up in their hearts.

    A sharp aura converged toward them from all directions, forming countless sabers, swords, spears, and other ded weapons that descended from the heavens like shooting stars.

    Despite the fact that they were caught off guard by the attack, all of the Yin soldiers remainedpletely calm and collected. As a series of orders were issued, the original military formation immediately transitioned into something else, transforming into a reddish-golden divine bird in the blink of an eye. The bird was covered in reddish-golden fire, and it swooped toward the oing attacks with unstoppable might!

    This was the Wumu Vermilion Bird Array!

    "Charge!" All of the army''s generals raised their gs in unison as they roared with all their. They had already spent too much time limating themselves with their environment on the first floor of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, so they had no time to waste!

    The heavy cavalry units charged ahead like an unstoppable war fortress, and even though the environment on this level was just as strange as the one on the previous level, no one stopped even for a moment.

    This was a grave, but instead of people, it was swords that were buried here.

    Millions of swords were plunged into the ground in front of the graves, and they came in all types of different shapes and sizes.

    This was a tomb for swords!

    While Qin Ye had anticipated the presence of this entirely metallic world in the pagoda, this was still a very astonishing sight.

    It was said that Chiyou''s head was forged from metal, and his entire body was indestructible. Seeing as part of the seal had been broken, it was no surprise that some of his metallic aura had seeped out.

    However, unlike the first level, there was no end in sight to this level, so under normal circumstances, the army would have to carry out scouting missions in order to find the entrance and altar leading to the third level.

    That would undoubtedly be an extremely perilous endeavor on this level, which was filled with Chiyou''s metallic aura.

    Hold on...

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly as he suddenly sensed that thendscape on the second level wasn''t actually imbued with the will and the aura of Chiyou. Instead, it was filled with another type of sharp aura that was suppressing everything on this level.

    It was the metallic aura of the White Tiger, and it was directly suppressing Chiyou''s metallic aura!

    "We''re not the only ones who want to put an end to all of this..." Yin energy danced wildly around him as he suddenly drew his longsword before pointing it directly forward. "The gods also want me to put an end to this vendetta thatst stretched across thousands of years!"

    With all these hopes and expectations on my shoulders, how can I retreat? How can I afford to be defeated?

    Right at this moment, a twisted figure appeared at the center of this tomb of swords, it was squatted down next to the hilt of a certain sword. Its inky-ck hair trailed virtually all the way down to the ground, and it suddenly raised its head before casting a fierce gaze toward Qin Ye, as if it had sensed his scorching battle intent.

    At this point, Hell''s army still had over 300,000 troops left.

 Chapter 1185: Charge (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1185: Charge (1)</h4>

    Inside the tomb of swords with boundless Yin energy swirling all around him, Qin Ye was charging forward with unstoppable might, while Lust was waiting for him at the center of the tomb.

    The sword strike of King Yanluo caused all of the Yin energy on the entire second level to tremble violently, and boundless Yin energy rose up from the ground like a flurry of inky-ck feathers. At the same time, gusts of ferocious wind were swept, causing all of the swords in the tomb to ring and tremble.

    Lust''s crimson eyes abruptly widened beneath her ck hair. Even she could clearly sense Qin Ye''s fierce battle intent.

    This feeling of encountering a formidable foe was one that she hadn''t experienced in thousands of years, and Lust''s fingers were digging so viciously into the hilt of her giant sword that several white marks were left on its surface.

    This was a worthy foe!

    In the face of Qin Ye''s all-out attack, Lust threw her head back and roared to the heavens. In the next instant, she abruptly vanished on the spot, and as soon as she reappeared, her ck hair fanned out like a pair of ck wings, and she made no attempt to retreat as she charged directly toward Qin Ye while wielding a wooden sword.

    At the same time, the demonic ghostly immortals gathered in the entire tomb of swords roared in unison as they released their Yin energy in full force, advancing to meet the boundless ck wave that was Hell''s army.

    The two armies rapidly approached one another, and in the blink of an eye, there was only a distance of around 300 meters left between them.

    The tension in the air was palpable, and right at this moment, Hell''s army split apart once again as they charged directly toward the bronze gate up ahead, while the 100,000 troops at the center shed viciously with the oing demonic ghostly immortals.

    Having split up yet again, the army had been reduced to only 200,000 troops, and there were still two levels left before they reached the top of the pagoda.

    It was as if two tsunamis had collided with one another as the two armies shed with all their might. The enemy was reflected in theherfire in the eyes of both sides, and even if they had to die, they were going to take as many of their enemies down with them!

    Yin energy erupted through the area asyers of shockwaves, and within the span of no more than several seconds, hundreds of specks of soulfire had risen up into the sky.

    Neither side was holding back at all, and the battle instantly reached white-hot intensity as every attack was unleashed with the intent to kill. Meanwhile, the Yin soldiers of Hell on both sides were charging as quickly as they could toward the giant bronze gate at the back of the sword tomb.

    East Vanquishing General Fang Changqing raised his sword as he roared, "Everyone, follow me!"

    200,000 troops galloped along behind him, causing the entire sword tomb to tremble and quake. Having already built up significant momentum, Hell''s army had transformed into an unstoppable juggernaut, and any demonic ghostly immortal that became entangled in it would quickly meet their demise.

    "You''re not going anywhere!" Lust screeched as she rose up into the sky, and her ck hair shot forth like lightning in all directions before plunging into all of the antiquated swords in the tomb.

    "Rise!" With an earth-shattering roar, all of the swords in the entire tomb were pulled out of the ground by her hair.

    Bursts of sword energy rose up from the ground toward the heavens, while Lust wore a twisted expression as she watched the two branches of Hell''s army that were traveling around her.

    All of a sudden, she twisted her own head around 180 degrees with all her might, and bursts of sword energy erupted out of all these antiquated swords in a frenzy, forming a long river of destructive sword energy that was several dozen kilometers wide.

    However, the two advancing branches of Hell''s army didn''t even take a single nce at the oing attack. Right as the river of sword energy was about to strike them, a giant paw suddenly appeared in mid-air before quickly swatting the sword energy away!

    Lust faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately raised her head with a wary expression.

    She could sense that she had been locked onto by an incredibly fearsome burst of killing intent.

    Layer uponyer of Yin energy rose up in front of her, rising to several hundred meters in height like a powerful tsunami. Within this tsunami of Yin energy, a pair of golden eyes abruptly sprang open, staring intently at Lust.

    "Courage!" A rumbling voice rang out throughout the entire level, and the morale of Hell''s army instantly received a boost. The two opposing armies were evenly matched just a moment ago, but the demonic ghostly immortals were suddenly being forced back!

    "Wisdom!"

    "Spirit!"

    The voice was like an enormous gong being struck, and cracks began to appear all over Lust''s skin from the resulting soundwaves. However, the voice didn''t stop there, and with each word that it uttered, the power of Hell''s army would receive a noticeable boost.

    "Essence!"

    "Fortune!"

    "Wealth!"

    "Luck!"

    "Vitality!"

    "Power!"

    In the instant that thest of the nine words was uttered, Yin energy gushed out of Lust''s entire body in a frenzy, and she screamed as she retreated over 100 meters. At the same time, a nine-colored divine beast suddenlynded on the ground in front of Lust with a rumbling thud.

    "What kind of monster is this?" Even Lust was slightly dazed at the sight of her assant.

    The monster had the head of a tiger, upon which was a single horn, the ears of a dog, the body of a dragon, the tail of a lion, and the paws of a qilin. This was the God of Nine Energies that had faded into the pages of myths and legends for a century, but it had made its return here in the Myriad Soul Pagoda!

    Boundless Yin energy was gathering within the Harken''s mouth, and the Yin energy was so fierce and formidable that Lust''s hair was blown into a chaotic frenzy. Even the scales all of the Harken''s own body were rattling incessantly.

    Lust''s pupils abruptly contracted as a burst of white light illuminated the entire world.

    The brilliant white radiance swept over heaven and earth,pletely eradicating the darkness, and Yin energy surged through the air as the entire space began to fluctuate violently.

    All of the underworld emissaries faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which thunderous cheers rang out across the entire level. "Long live, Hell!"

    However, right in this instant, wisps of Yin energy began to converge, and within the Yin energy, a monstrous figure that was also several hundred meters in size with disheveled hair and hundreds of thin arms had appeared.

    The figure''s fearsome Yin energy and formidable killing intent were no lesser than those of the Harken!

    "It hurts... It hurts so much!" An agonized howl erupted from behind the Yin clouds, and it sounded like the collective voices of thousands of tormented Yin spirits. In the next instant, hundreds of bright red eyes and mouths sprang open in unison within the Yin cloud before turning toward the Harken.

    "Tsk, what a troublesome opponent this is," the Harken said with a grim expression.

    As soon as its voice trailed off, the two giant beasts shed violently like an asteroid crashing into Earth!

    Neither side was willing to back down, and the only way to survive would be to tear the other to shreds!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Right as the battle on the second level was reaching white-hot intensity, Qin Ye and the remaining Yin soldiers had already rushed into the bronze gate.

    Once again, they entered an independent, isted space, and at the same time, Nothingness''s voice rang out again. On this asion, even Their voice was tinged with a hint of caution. "The me of the Vermilion Bird has gone out, and the me of the Xuanwu Turtle has just been lit. You don''t have much time left."

    Qin Ye paid no heed to the voice as he continued to charge forward at full speed. Fierce wind was howling past his ears, and Yin energy was swirling violently over 10 kilometers away, indicating the presence of an exit.

    His gaze was focused intently forward, and he was already beginning to calcte in his mind. There were only 200,000 troops left, and all of them had to fill thest two levels. There was no way that they would bring any Yin soldiers into battle against the inner demon as they would only be cannon fodder.

    Lust and Envy had already appeared, and they were locked in battle with the Harken and Arthis, respectively. Zhao Yun was going to face the Yama-King stationed on the next level, while Qin Hui, Su Daji, the 12 envoys, and all of the generals were going to lead the entirety of what remained of the army against the Yama-King on the final level. They were going to do everything in their power to keep the inner demon''s subordinates upied, even at the cost of their lives.

    There were still close to three hours left.

    "The inner demon is not someone that can be killed in three hours!" Qin Ye said in a frustrated voice. "Why aren''t you getting directly involved? I have a vendetta against the inner demon, so I''m happy to be used by you, but you have to do your part as well! Are you just going to stand by idly and watch?!"

    In the face of Qin Ye''s outburst, Nothingness remainedpletely emotionless as They said. "You''re still too young... You don''t understand what it entails for one to be protected by fortune and faith. They are the ones chosen by the ne. The Battle of Zhuolu was the origin of human civilization in Cathay. Let me reiterate that Chiyou''s fortune and faith aren''t inferior to those of the Yellow Emperor, and as the will of the ne, there''s no way for me to strike at someone chosen by the ne."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, Nothingness continued, "Chiyou''s orifices, killing intent, body, and will are all sealed here. The inner demon is protected by Chiyou''s fortune and faith, and there''s no way I can strike at it without a suitable opportunity."

    "What constitutes a suitable opportunity?" Qin Ye asked with gritted teeth while rushing ahead toward a chaotic halo that had appeared before him.

    However, there was no reply.

    "Fuck!" Qin Ye swore to himself before vanishing into the vortex.

    Even the Heavenly Dao was wary of Chiyou, and he definitely didn''t want to face Chiyou and the inner demon at the same time.

    He had to get to the top of the pagoda as quickly as possible to prevent the inner demon frompleting the ceremony. Otherwise, the consequences were going to be catastrophic!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the top of the pagoda.

    Countless threads of blood were extending out of the pond of blood at the very center, quickly spreading along the runes that the inner demon had inscribed onto the ground. Two-thirds of the required runes had already beenpleted, and bursts of crimson light were rising up into the heavens, basking the Myriad Soul Pagoda in a crimson glow.

    A vast, primitive and antiquated aura was filling the entire area, making one feel as if they had gone back in time and returned to a far more primitive era. If anyone below a high-grade underworld emissary were to enter this ce, they would immediately be crushed to the ground by this aura alone!

    All of a sudden, the inner demon, who was inscribing runes onto the ground, raised its head before casting its gaze behind it.

    There, the me of the Vermilion Bird statues had already faded, while the me of the Xuanwu Turtle had been lit.

    There are still three hours left...

    It cast its gaze downward as it raised an eyebrow.

    I''ll admit that you''re a troublesome opponent. You prepared this trap with the mortal realm, and I fell into it, but did you ever consider that what you thought was the prey could actually be the hunter? In one more hour at most, the blood array will beplete, and Chiyou''s body will be restored. Who in this world will be able to stop both me and Chiyou?

    A faint smile appeared on its face as it extended its bone brush toward the ground again, but right at this moment, the third sound of a bell being struck rang out, and less than 20 minutester, a fourth bell chime rang out!

    The inner demon looked up with a bewildered expression.

    They''ve already reached the third level? What the hell are the four ominous stars doing?! How were they able to break through the third level so quickly?

    It lowered its head to inspect the blood array on the ground, wondering if it could finish the array in time.

    The enemy was already right beneath its feet!

 Chapter 1186: Charge! (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1186: Charge! (2)</h4>

    "Charge!" An earth-shattering roar rang out across the third level, and in the instant that Hell''s army rushed into the level, they immediately inundated the entire space like a tsunami, charging forward as quickly as they could without any hesitation.

    The third level of the Myriad Soul Pagoda was a boundless sea of fire, with a lone winged Yin spirit standing in mid-air. The Yin spirit was holding a staff, and its skin was as dry as tree bark, while several strands of white hair trailed down from its otherwise bald head.

    This was Insanity of the four ominous stars.

    "Gongjin!" Ban Chao yelled as he charged at the forefront of Hell''s army. The sound of pounding war drums was echoing throughout the entire level, while countless gs were waving in the air.

    All of a sudden, the formation of the army underwent an abrupt change. The heavy cavalry units swapped ces with the footsoldiers, and a series ofrge shields were raised before being pushed forward like a moving wall.

    At the same time, white light erupted from beneath the feet of all of the Yin soldiers before injecting itself into the wall of shields, upon which the shields began to glow with dazzling radiance, as if they were divine weapons.

    This was the Wumu Xuanwu Shield Array!

    At the exact same moment, Zhou Yu rose up into the sky from the back of his steed, then roared, "Karmic Fire Legion, fire!"

    With thatmand, over 100,000 arrows were fired at once.

    The arrows were like a gue of locusts, and Zhou Yu took a deep breath that seemed to stretch on forever, causing his entire body to swell up. In the next instant, he exhaled violently, releasing a wave of scorching fire that swept over a massive area.

    As a result, all of the arrows that had been fired were instantly set alight, and crimson light illuminated the entire sky as the arrows rained down upon the army of demonic ghostly immortals like a meteor shower, sending scorching heat and dazzling radiance surging down from above.

    Rumble!!

    Arrows shed as Yin energy exploded violently, sweeping up fearsome soundwaves and shockwaves that erupted in all directions. It was as if heaven and earth had been tipped on their heads, or as if magma were erupting out of the sky!

    Under the bright red sky, the two formidable armies endured the soundwaves and shockwaves as they shed viciously.

    The battle instantly reached white-hot intensity, andherfire was rising up into the sky with each passing second. However, right at this moment, a sharp howl suddenly rang out, threatening to tear the entire sky apart.

    Countless des of wind were hurtling down from above!

    "Die!" Insanity screeched as he spread his wings, releasing countless des of wind that shot fort in all directions. They were being dominated! Even though they were doing their best to limate themselves to this battlefield as quickly as possible, it was certainly not so simple to adjust to a disparity of several thousand years of battle experience in just an hour.

    However, even so, he was confident that they would be able tost over an hour as long as he joined the battle!

    The des of wind swept over the ground, and Chang Yuchun immediately dodged to the side in an incredibly agile manner, despite his burly frame. A trench that was 10 meters deep was sliced into the ground, and several Yin soldiers who weren''t able to evade in time were instantly reduced toherfire amid anguished cries.

    However, the rest of the Yin soldiers were taking evasive measures in a very organized fashion.

    They partedyer uponyer, as if they were already prepared for this. High up in the sky, Insanity shuddered slightly as he caught sight of a silver figure with a flowing red cape behind the Yin soldiers.

    It was Ghost King Zhao Yun!

    He stood like an immovable mountain with his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear shining as bright as the moon, and in this instant, he resembled a deity that had descended from Heaven. Yin energy was condensing all around him, forming a projection of a Buddha behind him!

    It was an inky-ck Buddha, and right at this moment, Zhao Yun slowly opened his eyes to meet Insanity''s gaze.

    His eyes werepletely emotionless, as still and tranquil as a picturesqueke.

    An indescribable sense of horror suddenly welled up in Insanity''s heart, and he immediately screeched as he rushed back frantically without any hesitation.

    Zhao Yun didn''t give chase. Instead, he began to chant an incantation.

    Bursts of radiance began to rise up all around him, filling the third level with dazzling golden lotus flowers.

    Boom!

    As soon as Zhao Yunpleted his incantation, his body shot forth like lightning as he rushed forward at an inexplicable speed.

    It was impossible to trace him as he flew through the air.

    In the blink of an eye, all of the golden lotus flowers in the entire space wilted, and a clear phoenix cry rang out across the heavens.

    By the time he reappeared, Zhao Yun was already right behind Insanity. Insanity''s wings were spread wide open, and his eyes were filled with incredulity as he eximed, "What kind of spear technique is this?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his body abruptly exploded into a shower of rain that fell from above.

    "It''s not something you''ll be able to understand," Zhao Yun said in a casual voice, then abruptly vanished on the spot, charging toward the army of demonic ghostly immortals down below.

    With each step that he took, an enemy life was imed.

    "Go!" Qin Ye yelled, and the army split up once again. 100,000 of the remaining 200,000 troops were left behind, and the final 100,000 Yin soldiers advanced toward the bronze gate up ahead.

    This was the final level, and once they scaled it, they would reach the inner demon!

    However, right as the army split up into three groups, a shrill voice that was full of resentment rang out across the entire level. "No one is getting through unless I''m dead!"

    Immediately thereafter, the blood that was raining down from the sky converged once again to reform Insanity''s body. However, before he had a chance toplete his reformation, another spear strike pierced directly through his head, destroying his body once again.

    On this asion, the rain of blood formed by Insanity''s body dispersed even further, and at the same time, countless authoritative voices rang out in unison. "Those who retreat will be killed on the spot! No one is getting past here unless I''m dead!"

    One Insanity after another quickly took form within the rain of blood, and they were all roaring with all their might, supporting the army of demonic ghostly immortals to ensure that their formation remained unbroken. In doing so, the morale of the army of demonic ghostly immortals was significantly boosted, and they were beginning to push back Hell''s army!

    Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a hint of respect surfaced in his eyes, and he turned to Qin Ye as he said, "Please go on ahead, Your Excellency."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then transformed into a gust of Yin wind, wasting no time as he led the final 100,000 Yin soldiers directly toward the bronze gate.

    He knew that beings above the Yama-King level were powerful enough to easily defeat Yama-Kings, but even for them, killing a Yama-King was no simple task.

    Upon reaching the Yama-King level, one''s life force would undergo a fundamental evolution. If the Yama-King didn''t want to be killed, then there was a chance that they would be able to escape.

    In this situation, Insanity definitely had a chance to flee. However, he was choosing to burn through his own life force to guard this level.

    If things were to continue like this, he would be "killed" over and over again until he became a natural spirit with no consciousness whatsoever, and his cultivation rank would also plummet. In fact, he would be lucky if he could retain an Infernal Judge cultivation rank.

    However, that was what he had chosen to do, despite the fact that he was facing an opponent, against whom he waspletely powerless.

    Ever since the beginning of this battle, retreat had never been an option.

    If retreat were an option, there wouldn''t have been so many casualties in this battle already.

    There was no pointmenting over the lost lives, and Qin Ye rushed toward the bronze gate leading to the final level without any hesitation.

    The remaining army of 100,000 rumbled along behind him like a ferocious wave, fulfilling their final duty.

    Meanwhile, on the third level, Zhao Yun continued to y Insanity over and over again.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the instant that Hell''s army reached the fourth level, Resentment, who was situated at the center of the fourth level, was given a nasty surprise.

    The enemy had arrived far sooner than anticipated!

    It had only taken them no more than two hours and 35 minutes to reach the fourth level!

    The weight on his shoulders instantly became significantly heavier. However, there was no time for him to hesitate. The sound of a series of long horns rang out, and at the same time, around a dozen gs were raised up into the sky!

    All of the generals of the army and the 12 envoys dered their presence one after another, then charged toward what could quite possibly be the final battle of their lives.

    Despite the formidable opponent they were facing, no one paused even for an instant, and Hell''s army advanced with unstoppable might and ferocious killing intent, charging toward the top of the pagoda!

    Resentment took a deep breath, following which his body expanded drastically.

    His clothes were torn to shredsyer uponyer, and his Yin energy erupted into the heavens as he roared, "Charge!"

    It was the most primitive of roars to kick off the most direct of battles. At this point, both sides had already pulled out all the stops, and no one was going to back down!

    A spear plunged into the body of a demonic ghostly immortal, which screeched as it stumbled back in retreat, but even as it did so, the long saber in its hand decapitated around a dozen Yin soldiers.

    Another demonic ghostly immortalid waste to several dozen Yin soldiers with a single attack, but before it had a chance to celebrate, it was punched full of holes by a storm of arrows.

    This was truly a gruesome ughterhouse.

    "Go, Your Excellency!" Qin Hui urged.

    Su Daji also wore an urgent expression as she yelled, "Your Excellency, you''re so close! Hurry!"

    Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly. Even though he had experienced battles in the past, he couldn''t help but be stunned by just how brutal this one was.

    Retreat wasn''t an option for either side, and both armies were like starving wolves that could only quench their hunger with the blood of the enemy.

    He wanted tomit all of these faces firmly into his memory, but in the end, he took a deep breath before casting a determined gaze toward the bronze gate on the fourth level.

    His troops were already doing everything in their power, and he certainly couldn''t squander their efforts.

    The best way to repay them would be to rush to the top as quickly as he could!

    With that in mind, Qin Ye released his Yin energy with all his might, instantly reaching his maximal speed as he charged toward the bronze gate.

    Inner demon, it''s about time that we met again!

    In the instant that he set off, Resentment immediately detected what he was doing. However, before Resentment had a chance to do anything, a flurry of gs rose up among Hell''s army, following which bursts of interchanging ck and white light erupted into the sky. Countless skeletal hounds pounced toward him with no regard for their own safety, and they were apanied by hungry ghosts that were in a blind frenzy to devour everything in their path.

    Amid the chaos, a rumbling thunderp rang out up above, and several demonic ghostly immortals were sent flying back hundreds of meters. A giant palm formed by bright red flesh and white bones had emerged, and that was what was responsible for forcing back the demonic ghostly immortals.

    Hundreds of meters up in the sky, dense Yin clouds had gathered, and a pair of crimson eyeballs lit up as Su Daji''s cackling echoed throughout the heavens. "Who dares to face me?"

    On the other side of the battlefield, countless skeletal hounds exploded violently, forming a vast skeletal vortex around an antiquated headless corpse in an official''s suit from the Song Dynasty who was holding his own head. "Hehe, when ites to the number of people killed, no one on this battlefield can match me!"

    Resentment''s killing intent had reached a peak, and he licked his own lips in a bloodthirsty manner. "I''m going to kill every single one of you!"

    He couldn''t catch up to that Yama-King, but he certainly wasn''t going to allow these ants to live!

    He cast a grim gaze up above.

    Many-faced God, our forces have already been fully deployed into this battle, and even if we all die here, we''ll have no regrets if our king is resurrected. However, if you dare to disappoint us, even if our souls enter the six paths of reincarnation, we''ll drag you down with us!

 Chapter 1187: Charge! (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1187: Charge! (3)</h4>

    Countless helicopters had formed a circle in the sky, and all of the helicopters were connected by lengths of thin rope. These lengths of rope were crafted from neither metal nor fabric, and all of them were already ckened with age. There were countless bone shards hanging from the rope, and they were ttering together in the wind like a soothing luby.

    The pilots of the helicopters were constantly inspecting the monitor screens in front of them while their hands were resting beside a blue button, which was present in each helicopter. If any unrest or disturbance were to arise, they would immediately press those buttons without any hesitation.

    True Energy Spirit Vanquishing Missiles were the most advanced weapons against Yin spirits developed by the mortal realm during the 10 years of supernatural disasters, and they were only used to deal with evil ghosts at or above the Infernal Judge level.

    There were over 100 helicopters present in the area, and each one was carrying four True Energy Spirit Vanquishing Missiles.

    Below the helicopters were countless armored tanks that had arranged themselves into rows, and behind the tanks was an army of tens of thousands of troops. All of the soldiers and weaponry had yellow talismans stered to them, which was quite amusing to behold, but no one was in the mood to beughing.

    Everyone''s attention was focused intently on Zhuolu, and the Yin energy there had already gone beyond the threshold, making it clearly visible even to humans.

    It was exactly because of this that everyone was extremely fearful. The entirety of Zhuolu had already transformed into a viscous vortex of Yin energy, and if it weren''t for the protection of artifacts, no one would''ve been able to stand here. Furthermore, just the mere sight of the enormous pagoda was enough to strike further fear into the hearts of the beholders.

    Zheng Shuguo and all of the Judge-level branch directors of the Special Investigations Department had already arrived on the scene, and schrs from the SRC were working frantically around them to calcte the Yin energy values.

    "Five billion... 5.5 billion... It''s still rising... Six billion... It''s still rising!"

    Zheng Shuguo didn''t even bother to continue listening.

    A Yin energy reading in excess of one billion was already beyond the threshold of the mortal realm, and these readings had already gone well beyond that.

    At this point, all he could do was pray for Hell''s victory.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Gusts of fierce wind were blowing while Yin energy surged in waves. Within the dark passageway, that lonely sense of istion resurfaced once again, but Qin Ye didn''t pause as he rushed directly toward the vortex up ahead.

    The wind was howling past his ears as he slowly calmed himself down.

    On this asion, he was truly all on his own.

    The vortex up ahead was growingrger andrger in his field of view as he drew closer to it.

    He was charging into the final showdown, and there was no room for fear or doubts.

    In the blink of an eye, he crossed over a distance of several hundred meters, rushing directly into the vortex.

    In the instant that he appeared, all of his blood and flesh faded, revealing a ck skeleton that was wearing a regal crown and a golden dragon robe. Boundless Yin energy erupted out of his body as his longsword was drawn with a sharp whistling sound.

    This was his true form as a Yama-King!

    He had to face off against the inner demon and hold his own long enough until Zhao Yun arrived, so there was no room for anycency orpses in concentration.

    As he descended upon the top of the pagoda, the Yin energy vortex expanded dramatically, opening upyer uponyer like a blooming flower. At the center of the pagoda was Qin Ye, but as soon as he arrived, a series of formidable attacks immediately erupted toward him.

    It was a boundless storm of swords!

    The storm of swords consisted of swords of 13 different colors, and it formed an enormous sword lotus flower outside the Yin energy vortex that Qin Ye had emerged from. As soon as he appeared, all of the swords immediately came crashing down in a torrential downpour.

    Countless swords of light plunged into the center of the vortex, and at the same time, Qin Ye let loose a loud roar as he slowly drew his longsword in response to the flurry of attacks.

    This was a challenge from the inner demon, daring him to cross through this lethal storm to the other side.

    In the face of this gauntlet thrown down by the inner demon, a streak of dazzling white light swept through the entire space.

    The white radiance seemed to have sliced the very air apart, and the sea of swords disintegrated into ck butterflies in the face of Qin Ye''s almighty attack. Amid the storm of ck butterflies, Qin Ye and the inner demon finally found themselves face to face with one another.

    In that instant, time seemed to have stoodpletely still.

    Several secondster, Qin Ye slowly raised his sword before pointing it at the screen formed by the ck butterflies. "We meet again."

    Beyond the screen, a familiar voice rang out in response. "Indeed... You''ve certainly grown since ourst meeting a century ago."

    In the instant that the voice rang out, Qin Ye''s pupils abruptly contracted. Prior to reaching the top of the pagoda, he had already adjusted his mentality to its best possible state, but in this instant, his heart was filled with unbridled killing intent!

    A burst of pure white sword energy swept over the ground, and the entire top of the pagoda was almost sliced in half. The sword strike had been unleashed by Qin Ye, and the ground before him split up toward either direction, while the ck butterflies up ahead dissipated into Yin energy, finally revealing a familiar face.

    It was an elderly man wearing a set of simple and crude attire.

    This was a face that had always remained in Qin Ye''s heart, but one that could never bring himself to think of.

    It was Qin Zhongguo!

    Even those with the most exceptional mental fortitude had vulnerabilities in their hearts, and exploiting those vulnerabilities was what the inner demon excelled at the most. Not only did it enjoy pouring salt on the wounds of others, it relished tearing open old scars and mutting them as much as possible.

    There was no way that one couldpletely ignore the sway of their emotions, and Qin Ye''s attack had been unleashed without any nning in advance.

    There was only a single thought in his mind: "I''m going to kill him!"

    However, the burst of sword energy had been stopped cold in its tracks by a single raised finger from Qin Zhongguo. It then raised its head slightly as it chuckled, "Humans really are predicta..."

    Before it had a chance to finish, Qin Ye''s foot had already struck its face with vicious force!

    Teeth, blood, and saliva were sent flying in all directions as the inner demon''s head twisted around with a bewildered look on its face.

    It was shocked that Qin Ye could be so decisive and ruthless!

    It didn''t have ess to Qin Ye''s memories, but it did possess Qin Zhongguo''s memories, so it was very much aware of Qin Ye''s emotional attachment toward Qin Zhongguo, which was why it was certain that Qin Ye would hesitate!

    Once the vulnerability in Qin Ye''s heart was uncovered, it would be able to take full advantage.

    Before it had a chance to finish that thought, Qin Zhongguo''s elderly body suddenly doubled over like a prawn. A punch had justnded on his stomach, and it had been thrown with such vicious force and decisiveness that it was as if Qin Ye were trying to punch cleanly through Qin Zhongguo''s body!

    The inner demon threw up another massive mouthful of blood as it was sent flying back several dozen meters, and it waspletely astonished by the heartless disy that Qin Ye was putting on!

    Right at this moment, a figure appeared above it.

    It was none other than Qin Ye.

    Tears were following out of his empty skeletal eye sockets, but theherfire in his eyes didn''t waver in the slightest. It was a very strange paradox, as if Qin Ye''s body were weeping, but his logic remainedpletely unshaken. The drastic contrast between the two had caught the inner demonpletely off guard.

    He had never encountered a situation so strange before.

    In the next instant, the Yin energy behind Qin Ye exploded violently, revealing a giant andplex rune that was constantly changing. At the same time, he elerated even further, until he was barely traceable to the naked eye, and the golden sword in his grasp was shed directly toward the inner demon amid a flurry of silver light.

    "I see..." the inner demon murmured to itself, right before it was inundated by the wave of sword energy.

    The sword energy was so vast and ferocious that the entire top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda began to tremble violently, and a series of cracks instantly began to rapidly extend in all directions. Sword energy was surging throughout the entire space, and countless dazzling white sword marks were lingering in the air, refusing to fade.

    The assault was so fierce that the inner demon was almost shredded into countless pieces. Amid this devastating storm, Qin Ye''s hand suddenly drew to a halt, and only then did the countless sword marks in the air begin to slowly fade.

    Boundless Yin energy converged toward his arm, giving his entire arm an illusory appearance, and in the next instant, he unleashed the most powerful sword strike of his life!

    "Get out of my grandfather''s body!"

    With that earth-shattering roar, the sword strike was unleashed, and even the sun and the moon paled into insignificance in its wake, while heaven and earth groaned and quaked.

    This was a truly unmatched sword strike that was a culmination of every single ounce of power in Qin Ye''s body.

    However, in front of this almighty attack, a hand suddenly appeared.

    It was a hand that was covered in blood and riddled with wounds, and it didn''t belong there, but it had appeared there nheless.

    With a flick of a finger, all of the sword energy unleashed by Qin Ye was instantly shattered. From Qin Ye''s perspective, he could only see boundless light surging back toward him, following which he was struck by a burst of immense force that he was unable to pose any resistance against. In that instant, he felt as if all of his senses had faded, and before he knew it, he had already been sent back flying several hundred meters.

    White radiance filled the entire space as powerful shockwaves triggered a string of explosions in rapid session in the surrounding air. The shockwaves eruptedyer uponyer like a blooming lotus flower, feeding into one another as they proliferated outward in all directions, causing the entire space to tremble incessantly.

    Qin Ye fell heavily down onto the ground at the center of the top of the pagoda. His robes had been torn to shreds, his ribs had been broken, and his hair waspletely disheveled.

    Heid a hand over his own chest as he immediately rose to his feet, staring intently at the inner demon as he did so.

    The inner demon didn''t continue to attack.

    It wasn''t that it didn''t want to, it was simply incapable of doing so.

    Qin Zhongguo''s body was hanging on by a thread, and if it were to move, the entire body would fall apart.

    His entire body was riddled with wounds, and blood was gushing out incessantly. The inner demon slowly inspected its own body as he raised its arms. "I see that the origin rune of emotions and desires is the source of your confidence, but can you control your own instincts?"

    The inner demon grabbed onto its own head, and as it did so, all of the joints in its body were twisted to an unimaginable degree, making it resemble a human corkscrew.

    Crack!

    It snapped its own neck with its own two hands, and its head was dangling to the side as it abruptly turned around. "So what if I do this?"

    It thenid its hands onto its own stomach before pulling its hands apart, and Qin Zhongguo''s entire body was drawn apart like a kite. "Humans really are fragile."

    Qin Ye let loose a guttural roar of fury upon seeing this. Tears were still flowing out of his eye sockets, but theherfire in his eyes remainedpletely unmoved, and he charged toward the inner demon with all his might.

    The origin rune of emotions and desires was rapidly revolving behind him, but to no avail.

    This was an instinctive reaction that wasn''t governed by emotions. It was only natural that one''s first reaction would be tosh out and exact revenge upon seeing their closest rtive being mutted.

    He''s fallen for it! Even though they''ve been evolving for thousands of years, humans haven''t made any progress at all. All of them are just ves to their emotions and desires. How pitiful!

 Chapter 1188: Charge! (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1188: Charge! (4)</h4>

    "Hahahaha!" The inner demon guffawed its body abruptly swelled in size. Qin Zhongguo''s physical body waspletely torn apart, and in its ce arose a skeletal giant that was three meters tall. Its entire body was covered in muscles, sinews, and bones, and its back was riddled with bone spikes, while bone scythes were growing out of its elbow joints.

    At the same time, the bone spikes on its back thrust forward with vicious force. As they did so, they transformed into Yin energy of 13 different colors that surged toward Qin Ye''s seven orifices.

    At this point in the battle, it was already supremely confident. Having been able to exploit the vulnerability in Qin Ye''s heart, its victory was assured!

    This was its innate ability, which was invisible to everyone else, the Cage of Desires!

    Qin Ye was rushing forward at full speed, and the Yin energy of 13 different colors was drawing closer and closer to him. A victorious smile had already appeared on the inner demon''s face, yet right at this moment, Qin Ye suddenly stopped cold in his tracks before flying back several hundred meters.

    How could this be?!

    The inner demon looked on with an astonished expression. Its Yin energy had alreadye into contact with Qin Ye''s clothes, transforming into purplish-ck feelers that were riddled with eyes and mouths, frantically trying to sniff out something. However, theplete loss of control that Qin Ye had just exhibited had vanished in the blink of an eye!

    How had he aplished this?

    The inner demon cast an incredulous gaze toward Qin Ye, and right at this moment, a series of golden characters appeared all over Qin Ye''s robes.

    His entire body was basked in golden light, and he finally calmed down as he said in a trembling voice, "Are you surprised? There''s no need to be surprised. I''m going to put your soul through eternal torment in the path of the beast!"

    His clothes were like a golden sun, and every single character on them was clearly discernible.

    "When I''m unable to control myself and even the origin rune of emotions and desires can''t help me, I would automatically stop everything I''m doing and retreat until I''m away from danger."

    It was Fate!

    The dual safety of Fate and the origin rune of emotions and desires was what gave him the confidence to challenge the inner demon!

    Silence.

    Right at this moment, the me of the Xuanwu Turtle was abruptly snuffed out, and the third me, that of the Azure Dragon, finally lit up.

    It was also in this instant that the inner demon let loose an earth-shattering roar, and boundless Yin energy converged from all directions to envelop its entire body.

    There was no more time to waste!

    It wasn''t that the inner demon didn''t want to stall for time. However, in a battle of life and death, one would inevitably default to their most familiar style of battle, and never did he think that Qin Ye would have a foolproof n to counter what it excelled at the most.

    The Yin energy vortex quickly dissipated, revealing a skeleton that was over 10 meters tall. The skeleton''s body was riddled with bone spikes and countless golden eyes, and it opened its mouth as it sighed, "I underestimated you. You are the only fifth one to have seen this true form of mine in the past several thousand years."

    All of the surrounding souls were howling with all their might as it spoke, and it was as if hell had descended upon this ce.

    It cast its gaze toward Qin Ye before raising two fingers. "20 minutes is all I''ll need. In the face of an absolute disparity in power, your little tricks are useless."

    As soon as its voice trailed off, it abruptly vanished on the spot.

    It was fast, incredibly so!

    It waspletely untraceable to the naked eye, and in the next instant, Qin Ye was struck by a sense of overwhelming peril that instantly swept through his entire body.

    The inner demon had appeared above him without any warning, and the bone scythes growing out of its elbows were crashing down toward him with devastating power.

    In this dire situation, Qin Ye raised his arms above his head, doing everything he could to shield himself.

    A burst of terrifying shockwaves erupted from beneath Qin Ye''s feet, and countless cracks spread over the top of the pagoda.

    The entire pagoda was rumbling violently, and shards and chunks of stone were sent flying in all directions.

    Qin Ye threw up a mouthful of blood as the sound of cracking bones rang out, and countless cracks had already appeared over his golden arms.

    An earth-shattering boom rang out as the ground beneath his feetpletely gave away, forming a massive crater that was over 100 meters in size.

    All of this had happened in no more than the blink of an eye!

    Qin Ye''s teeth were gritted tightly as he held on for dear life. The inner demon wasn''t using any arts, it was merely crushing Qin Ye with its absolute Yin energy advantage. Qin Ye had a feeling that if he were to continue fighting fire with fire, his body would be shattered.

    Furthermore, this still wasn''t the inner demon''s full power!

    After that attack, the inner demon vanished once again.

    There was unmatched killing intent and peerless power all around Qin Ye, and there was no time for him to react. The golden sword in his hand transformed into a ball of golden light, and a string of loud ngs rang out in rapid session in the air whilerge sections of the ground on the top of the pagoda were shattered explosively.

    For a whole three minutes, neither of thebatants could be seen. Three minutester, Qin Ye''s body was sent flying like a cannonball amid a muffled groan, following which he crashed heavily into the statue of the Vermilion Bird.

    The inner demon was hovering in the distance, and all of the golden eyes on its body abruptly sprang open. In the next instant, boundless rainbow light swept over the entire top of the pagoda.

    It was apletely unavoidable attack with no blind spots, and it was as if a sun had risen up above the Myriad Soul Pagoda!

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon seeing this, and an inky-ck ripple instantly proliferated outward from his body. Right as the ripple appeared, the boundless light descended like a divine tribtion.

    Qin Ye was using the Untouchable Love ability to protect himself from this attack, yet as soon as the attack arrived, Ryu Changmin''s panicked voice immediately rang out in his mind. "He''s too powerful! I can''t keep up!"

    Ryu Changmin was only an Abyssal Prefect.

    He was an extremely unique Yin spirit with exceptional abilities, but the disparity in cultivation rank was simply too vast to be bridged.

    What do I do?

    Qin Ye''s mind was racing. He still had more tricks up his sleeves, such as the Heavenly Dra or the mutual teleportation ability. However, if he were to use any of those abilities, the inner demon would definitely grow extremely wary, and it would be virtually impossible for him to damage the array here.

    This was a very peculiar array. It had been inscribed onto the ground, but even though the ground had already been severely ravaged during the course of their battle thus far, all of the blood characters had detached themselves from the ground and were hovering in mid-air.

    Before he had a chance to think about anything else, a resounding boom rang out, and the light that was 10 meters away just a moment ago abruptly descended upon him.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still, and the Yin energy ripple around Qin Ye instantly disintegrated right in front of his astonished eyes. The Book of Life and Death immediately flew out of his chest, forming anotheryer of defense.

    Countless names appeared upon it, and those names transitioned between golden and inky-ck in color as the Book of Life and Death released a burst of incredible power to keep the light at bay. However, before Qin Ye even had a chance to catch his breath, all of the light before him suddenly converged and transformed into a massive rainbow sword.

    Even though Qin Ye was already mentally prepared for this battle, he still couldn''t help but be struck by a sense of despair.

    The inner demon was far more powerful than he was. Even with the Book of Life and Death, there was no way he would be able to withstand this attack.

    "You are the third person to ever see this attack." The inner demon''s voice rang out from all directions. "I''ve given it a nice name: Godyer."

    In the next instant, the golden sword exploded violently, and an indescribably powerful burst of forcepletely inundated Qin Ye.

    A golden sun rose up into the sky from the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, illuminating the entire heavens. Even the entirety of Shanxi Province trembled incessantly in the wake of its might, let alone Zhuolu and the city of Yuncheng.

    The inner demon''s expression was slightly twisted with ferocity, and golden light exploded into countless shockwaves before it, sweeping through a vast area with devastating force. By the time everything faded, everything in the surrounding area had been razed to the ground.

    Qin Ye had already retreated to the statue of the Vermilion Bird and also reverted back to his human form, panting heavily with a hand sped over his own chest.

    His dragon robes were covered in blood, as was his entire body, and he was coughing uncontrobly. With each cough, copious amounts of blood would gush out of his mouth, and his body was aplete mess. If it weren''t for the Dusk Legionnaire''s mutual teleportation ability, the Yellow Emperor Protector Seal would''ve most likely already been activated.

    Right at this moment, the inner demon descended slowly in front of him, and an icy cold finger was pressed against his be.

    Am I about to die again?

    Qin Ye wanted to muster up some strength so that he could at least face his demise with some dignity, but he found himself unable to summon any strength, and he felt as if his body had been split apart at the seams.

    "A weakling like you has no right to act as the ruler of Hell," the inner demon said in a cold voice, and ck light was quickly converging toward its fingertip.

    Right at this moment, something suddenly ttered gently onto the ground.

    Both the inner demon and Qin Ye reflexively turned to see what it was, and it turned out that a jade hairpin had slipped out of Qin Ye''s grasp.

    It was a very ordinary hairpin, and it was not remarkable in any way. Furthermore, it waspletely stained by Qin Ye''s blood, making it impossible to glean its original color.

    However, right at this moment, an indescribable aura began to spread rapidly from the jade hairpin.

    The inner demon faltered momentarily before eximing, "This is... the aura of Lishan Laomu!"

    The ck light that was gathering at its fingertip immediately erupted.

    Several secondster, it suddenly raised its head to look up at the sky, then spat through gritted teeth, "That meddling bitch!"

    Right above him, Qin Ye''s body waspletely spread open, and millions of specks of silver light were surging toward him in a frenzy from the entirety of Yuncheng!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Yuncheng.

    The countless paper cutouts littered all throughout the city suddenly began to move.

    There was not a breath of wind, so the movement waspletely inexplicable.

    Having received no orders, these Divine Heavenly Guardians had reverted back into paper cutouts and drifted down onto the ground, but they were suddenly moving again.

    The first paper figure stood up in a rather shaky manner, and it was quickly followed by all of itsrades.

    In the span of no more than 10 minutes, all of the Divine Heavenly Guardians across the entire city had risen to their feet before turning toward Zhuolu in the distance.

    In the next instant, all of them formed a stream of paper that surged toward Zhuolu from all directions at an incredible speed!

 Chapter 1189: Slaying the Demon (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1189: ying the Demon (1)</h4>

    In this instant, the sound of piercing rms rang out within all of the Special Investigations Department branches throughout Cathay.

    "Alert! Alert! Yin energy readings in excess of 100 million have been registered!"

    "Alert! Alert! Yin energy readings have exceeded 300 million... one billion..."

    A cup fell onto the ground, but no one moved. Everyone waspletely rooted to the spot like inanimate statues.

    "1.5 billion... 1.7 billion... Yin energy readings in Shanxi Province have exceeded two billion..."

    Zheng Shuguo abruptly raised his head to stare at theputer with a stunned expression. In this instant, the same notification was ringing out from all of the helicopters, tanks, andputers around Zhuolu.

    No one said anything, and several secondster, Zheng Shuguo rushed out of the tent before casting his gaze toward Zhuolu.

    His pupils immediately contracted drastically at the sight that he was greeted by, and several secondster, he uttered a single word in a trembling voice. "Fuck..."

    All of his colleagues quickly rushed out after him, and a string of gasps rang out, followed byplete silence.

    After what seemed like an eternity, someone finally said in a trembling voice, "My god..."

    What is going on here?!

    The entire sky above them had turnedpletely white. However, it wasn''t from clouds, nor from light. Instead, countless paper cutouts had filled the entire heavens and were revolving around the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda as if they had been summoned there!

    There were at least hundreds of millions of these paper figures, and countless more of them were still converging toward this ce from further away in the distance!

    "Where are these thingsing from?!" Zheng Shuguo suddenly turned toward the investigators who were still in the tent as he yelled, "Launch an investigation right away! We have to find out where these things areing from!"

    "Already on it!" Inside the tent, a middle-aged man was quickly typing on his keyboard, and a few secondster, his hands suddenly came to a rest as he drew a sharp breath. "Director Zheng..."

    Before he had a chance to say anything else, Zheng Shuguo had already rushed over to theputer.

    On theputer screen, a clear image was being disyed.

    Zheng Shuguo waspletely dumbfounded as he stared at the image. He had envisioned countless possibilities, but this was most definitely not one of them!

    On the screen, the entire tomb of Lishan Laomu was depicted, and it was rapidly disintegrating into paper cutouts that were flying up into the sky.

    The entire tomb was folded out of paper!

    After a few seconds of stunned silence, he asked, "What about the true energy readings?"

    "Each paper figure only has five to 10 points of true energy..." the middle-aged man replied in a trembling voice. "But the total true energy reading has already exceeded two billion, and it''s still increasing!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    The inner demon was looking directly ahead with a stunned expression.

    In the instant that it unleashed that intended killing blow with its finger, a piece of paper flew into the finger, followed by countless more. In the blink of an eye, the finger was struck millions of times, thereby knocking it to the side!

    A burst of dazzling light swept over a corner of the top of the pagoda,pletely erasing that corner. However, the inner demon knew that its attack had failed to strike its target.

    Where is he?

    The inner demon hurriedly inspected its surroundings to search for Qin Ye, and as it did so, it waspletely stunned by what it saw.

    Paper cutouts were raining down from the heavens, and there were still more flocking to the scene before converging to the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    Millions of Divine Heavenly Guardians were arriving by the second, and they concealed the entire sky, formingyer uponyer of paper with their paper swords pointed directly at the inner demon. It was as if heaven and earth had transformed into a cage of paper, and the paper cutouts that formed the cage were quiteical to behold, but the inner demon was in no mood tough because it was unable to sense Qin Ye''s Yin energy!

    "This is... the Qimen Dunjia!" it spat through gritted teeth, then immediately swept its right hand through the air without any hesitation. Countless Divine Heavenly Guardians to its right instantly exploded, flying through the air as countless shreds of paper. However, the shreds of paper formed a barrier that even its consciousness was unable to prate, and after descending onto the ground, the shreds of paper quickly stood up once again!

    There was no end to them!

    The inner demon''s gaze swept through the world of paper around it like a sharp de, and several secondster, a cold smile appeared on its face. "So this is the ruler of Hell? The so-called King Yanluo?"

    It squatted down like a coiled snake, ready to spring and pounce at any moment to deliver a lethal blow. A cold sneer appeared on its face as it chuckled in a mocking voice, "You''re nothing but a cowardly turtle! I killed tens of thousands of Hell''s Yin spirits and wiped out the entirety of Safesoul City, yet you don''t dare to do anything to me! You don''t even have the courage to face me!"

    Its voice rang out like rumbling thunder across the top of the pagoda, but it received no reply.

    Its ears were twitching slightly as if they were radars, trying to capture even the slightest sound around it, and a few secondster, it exhaled as it stood up straight again, then scoffed, "What a useless coward you are."

    I can''t do anything through these paper cutouts, and he won''te out...

    It seemed that this was a predicament with no solution, but the inner demon quickly cast that thought aside and returned to the center of the pond of blood.

    The paper cutouts had covered everything, but were unable to cover the pond of blood in which Chiyou''s head was situated, and it was as bright as a star in the night.

    The inner demon stopped at the edge of the blood pond, then cast its gaze toward the statues on the four corners of the top of the pagoda, which the paper cutouts had also failed to conceal, and in doing so, it discovered that the final me, that of the White Tiger, had already been ignited.

    "We''re into the final hour..." The inner demon licked its lips as it cast its gaze toward the head in the blood pond, which had already opened its eyes. "You must be very much looking forward to returning as well, right? After all, you''ve been absent from this world for so long..."

    Around three kilometers away, Qin Ye was watching intently.

    The paper cutouts could cut off the inner demon''s senses, but they didn''t affect him at all.

    The Qimen Dunjia was a type of concealment art to begin with, and this was the original version created by Lishan Laomu, so its protective and concealment properties were top-notch.

    However, what was he supposed to do now?

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t been enraged by the inner demon''s provocation, the problem was that he would simply be offering his head up on a tter if he were to rush out now! Even though his fingernails were digging into the palm of his hand, such was the force with which he was clenching his fists, he didn''t move at all.

    He had to endure this and remain calm...

    He gnashed his teeth together tightly as his mind began to race.

    Seeing as the inner demon had given up on attacking him, he was fully confident that he would be able tost until Zhao Yun arrived. However, even after that, would they be able to defeat the inner demon within an hour?

    He wasn''t sure about that. In fact, he was rather pessimistic about their chances.

    Unless the Heavenly Dao decides to intervene, there''s no way any of us will be able to kill the inner demon!

    However, the Heavenly Dao had told him that the inner demon was currently protected by the fortune and faith of Chiyou, thereby rendering Them unable to attack it.

    In that case, how could he remove the inner demon from this protection?

    The Myriad Soul Pagoda is the final trump card left behind by Chiyou... Could it be that the inner demon will be protected by Chiyou''s fortune and faith as long as he''s in the Myriad Soul Pagoda?

    He didn''t know the answer to that question, but it was the only glimmer of hope.

    If they could kill the inner demon within the final hour, there would be no one toplete the resurrection of Chiyou, and even if they only had a minute left, they would be able to seal him again!

    He didn''t allow himself to be swept up by emotions as he knew that he most likely only had one opportunity. If he couldn''t make that opportunity count, then he would have to face the inner demon directly with Zhao Yun by his side. The inner demon wouldn''t be able to defeat them, but it certainly wouldn''t be a difficult task for it to stall out the rest of the hour.

    Time was quickly ticking down, and Qin Ye closed his eyes as he considered how to proceed.

    10 minutes quickly passed by, and the thoughts of the inner demon''s speed and power were constantly swimming through his mind. The origin rune of emotions and desires was rapidly changing shape behind him to repress the agitation in his heart, and only after a full 15 minutes had passed did he finally reopen his eyes.

    He was crouched down onto the ground like a leopard about to pounce, with his eyes locked firmly on the inner demon.

    At a time like this, courage was more important than strategy, and it was the only way to proceed!

    In the next instant, he shot forth like a speeding arrow directly toward the inner demon.

    Right as he sprang into action, the inner demon immediately raised its head, casting its gaze toward the direction that Qin Ye wasing from.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Boom!

    Yin energy erupted into the heavens in all directions, and the devastating power reduced thousands of Yin soldiers toherfire.

    The ground was littered with broken weapons, and a group of Yin soldiers who only had half their bodies remaining struggled to their feet, but they were no longer able to battle.

    Half of Qin Hui''s head was missing, and there was also a hole running through his chest. Theherfire in this remaining eye was like a candle in the wind, looking as if it were about to be snuffed out at any moment.

    Su Daji''s lower body was gone, and both of her arms werepletely twisted. The bright red color of her eyes had faded, and her mouth was gently spasming, but was incapable of opening or closing.

    Zhou Yu had a spear punched through his body, and he was frantically trying to pull the spear out of himself with both hands, but to no avail. Bao Chao had been nailed to a mountain by a massive ax, and his hands were dangling limply beside him, while his iling legs were unable to reach the shaft of the ax. Half of Chang Yuchun''s body had disappeared, and he was holding his saber with his remaining hand, but no longer had the energy to wield it.

    The countless broken gs and destroyed weapons all presented a clear image of just how brutal this battle had been.

    Resentment''s chest was heaving violently, and his crimson eyes were filled with shock and fury.

    This group of Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges had managed to stall him for an entire army! In addition to that, his entire army had been decimated, and even he had sustained significant injuries.

    "I can''t allow them to catch their breath..." He gritted his teeth tightly as he rose to his feet. "Even if our king is resurrected, they will only act as obstacles to him!"

    However, right as he was about to step forward, a clear phoenix cry suddenly rang out, and a silver figure flew through the bronze gate to arrive on the fourth level!

    In that instant, it was as if time had fallenpletely still.

    Resentment looked on in astonishment at the mighty fiery phoenix flying directly toward him with peerless heat and radiance.

    Lust is dead!

    That was the first thought that urred to him, and he knew that the enemy was flying toward the top of the pagoda to reunite with Qin Ye!

    "You''re not going anywhere!" Resentment didn''t hesitate even for an instant as he released all of his Yin energy violently and positioned himself in front of the bronze gate.

    An earth-shattering boom rang out as powerful shockwaves swept through the area, and Zhao Yun flew straight into the bronze gate as a streak of light, while Resentment was sent flying back several hundred meters amid an agonized cry.

    "Damn it!" he panted as he gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet.

    Right as he was about to rush toward the bronze gate, he stopped cold in his tracks once again before turning around with a stunned expression.

    Two bursts of incredibly powerful Yin energy had appeared at the entrance to the fourth level right on Zhao Yun''s heels!

    One of them was basked in nine-colored light, while the other was surrounded by countless vengeful spirits. They didn''t pause even for a single moment as they rushed toward the bronze gate up ahead with unstoppable might!

    Envy and Lust are both dead as well...

    In this instant, Resentment felt as if his heart had been plunged into a cial pit, but he didn''t hesitate at all as he immediately rushed toward the bronze gate after them.

    One could imagine just how perilous the situation at the top of the pagoda was going to be.

    All of Chiyou''s remnant forces and the 73 immortals had been in. Having sustained such heavy losses, the only thing that could make up for this would be the resurrection of their king. Otherwise, even if he could survive this battle, there would be no reason for it to continue living.

    This was the final showdown. The vendetta that had spanned thousands of years, involving Nothingness, Lishan Laomu, Hell, the Jiuli Tribes, the inner demon... It was all going toe to an end here!

 Chapter 1190: Slaying the Demon (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1190: ying the Demon (2)</h4>

    At the top of the pagoda, countless paper cutouts parted in the distance, and the inner demon immediately rose to its feet.

    A pair of specks ofherfire appeared in its dark eye sockets, and it slowly raised its hand.

    The paper cutouts partedyer uponyer like Moses parting the Red Sea, and a humanoid figure rushed directly toward the inner demon. In the instant that the figure appeared, rainbow light suddenly lit up from the inner demon''s palm, and a rainbow spear was sent flying toward the oing figure.

    Countless paper cutouts were torn apart before falling onto the ground like snow, and the approaching figure was also destroyed in an instant.

    It''s not him!

    The inner demon immediately shifted its gaze away from the humanoid figure, and right at this moment, countless paper cutouts split apart all around it as a series of ghostly figures rushed out.

    Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Kwon Kyung-ho, the Spatial Spirit, the Porter Spirit... The entirety of the Dusk Legionnaire had been deployed! Ghostly shadows sprang from a human''s worst nightmare toward the inner demon from all directions, swinging their weapons with all their might.

    Freddy was cackling at the top of his lungs, and there wasn''t even a single inch of unblemished skin on his burned face. All of the twisted blood and flesh beneath his skin was revealed, and he was staring intently at the inner demon with his bloodshot eyes as he swept his metal ws ferociously through the air.

    A clear ng rang out, but the inner demon didn''t even budge a single millimeter. Attacks from Abyssal Prefects had no effect on it whatsoever. In fact, it wasn''t even paying attention to these assants as it was looking beyond them, seeing if Qin Ye had also emerged alongside them.

    A sharp de shed through the air as Otakemaru unleashed a de projection that was over 100 meters in length. All of the paper cutouts in the de projection''s path were instantly sliced into shreds, yet this powerful attack wasn''t even able to leave the slightest of marks on the inner demon''s body.

    At the same time, all of the attacks struck the inner demon one after another, and shockwaves erupted over several kilometers while shredded paper rained down from above. Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in this instant.

    "You realized that you''re no match for me, so you''re resorting to impeding the resurrection of Chiyou, is that right?" the inner demon scoffed, and in the next instant, all of the surrounding members of the Dusk Legionnaire disintegrated into Yin energy.

    The inner demon then raised its hand and seemed to hesitate momentarily before unleashing a burst of rainbow Yin energy, which transformed into a lethal spear that pierced directly toward Qin Ye.

    In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and all of the paper around it was instantly set alight.

    They hadn''t been ignited byherfire. Instead, it was due to the fact that the spear was traveling at above the speed of sound, and the friction with the air was so extreme that it was able to set the paper alight.

    A trail of fire was left in its wake, and Qin Ye was instantly sent flying several kilometers backward as if a shooting star had just crashed into him.

    The paper cutouts in the wake of the spear fell awayyer uponyer, only to rapidly reform again. Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly with his arms crossed in front of his chest as a shield. The wrist on his right arm was so broken that it waspletely unrecognizable, and he couldn''t help but throw up a mouthful of blood.

    The inner demon was correct. It stood at the apex of the world in terms of power, so defeating it was impossible, but it was certainly possible to stop Chiyou''s resurrection!

    However, he couldn''t do that through brute force.

    Just you wait...

    Qin Ye bit down viciously onto his own lower lip to stop himself from groaning in pain, and even as he was retreating, his eyes were firmly focused on the inner demon.

    He had already set his anchor.

    This certainly wasn''t an extravagant or spectacr tactic, but it was the method that he thought had the best chance of seeding.

    Come! Attack me!

    The inner demon stood on the spot in silence for a while, then turned back around.

    It''s noting?

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched as his heart immediately sank. Had he failed, after all?

    However, right at this moment, the inner demon suddenly turned around again right in front of Qin Ye''s despairing eyes. Immediately thereafter, it crouched down, and the muscles on its legs bulged as all of the Yin energy and power within its body began to swell rapidly.

    All of a sudden, it stepped forward, and a burst of shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye swept violently over the ground in all directions. The thick piles of paper that had umted on the ground were instantly flung upward, giving the inner demon the appearance of a deity of death that had descended on a snowy night.

    Taking advantage of the instant before the paper cutouts managed topletely recover, it was able to lock onto Qin Ye!

    It''sing!

    Unbeknownst to the inner demon, it was rushing right into the trap that Qin Ye had set for it!

    It''s taken the bait! This is it!

    The blood pond that Chiyou was in was naturally very important, but if it could capture Qin Ye, it would be able to ensure that it could bail out and escape! This was the perfect hostage, and there was no reason not to capture him!

    The inner demon instantly vanished, and the howls and wails of the countless ghosts rang out across the entire space.

    Right in front of Qin Ye''s eyes, a ck shadow was rapidly expanding, and an indescribable sense of pressure was descending upon him.

    This was the inner demon in full flight!

    It was traveling so fast that words failed to describe its speed. It was like a ray of light, and it was virtually as fast as instantaneous teleportation!

    Qin Ye''s heartbeat began to drastically elerate. As expected, the inner demon had been holding back during their prior battle. All smart cultivators knew the importance of keeping trump cards up their sleeves, but with the allure of taking Qin Ye as hostage being presented to it in this current situation, the inner demon was finally willing to disy its full power.

    The inner demon''s raucous cackling rang out across the top of the entire pagoda as its hands swelled drastically in size in the air. It was also right at this moment, that the origin rune of emotions and desires behind Qin Ye began to revolve rapidly, ensuring that he maintained an extreme state of calm.

    His body was instinctively producing adrenalin with all its might, as one would expect in the face of an attack from a being above the Yama-King level. However, the origin rune of emotions and desires prevented Qin Ye from doing anything rash.

    He swept a sleeve through the air, instantly releasing a vast Heavenly Dra. At the same time, he rushed forward with all his might, charging directly toward the inner demon''s attack rather than taking evasive measures.

    He couldn''t afford even the slightest misstep here.

    He had already walked onto the tightrope, and he either made it to the other side or fell into the abyss on either side of the tightrope.

    The inner demon faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which the bone spikes on its back instantly elongated before intertwining with one another to form a pair of giant wings thatpletely enveloped itself.

    The Heavenly Dra scraped over the bone wings, sending sparks flying in all directions, but were repelled and returned to Qin Ye''s sleeve. At the same time, the inner demon''s palm was still reaching out toward Qin Ye, but it had slowed down a little.

    It did want to capture Qin Ye, but it definitely didn''t want to capture a corpse.

    The circumstances were different now.

    During the prior battle, it would''ve definitely killed Qin Ye had the opportunity presented itself as it still had enough time back then. If it could kill an enemy Yama-King, particrly Hell''s King Yanluo, then the morale of the enemy army would drop significantly.

    However, Qin Ye was there for the taking now, and that was why it had chosen to leave the blood pond. In contrast with the prospect of having to face Hell together with a resurrected Chiyou, it much preferred the idea of capturing a hostage that would ensure that it would be able to escape.

    A living King Yanluo was the best hostage possible.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and his heart was fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird. The sound of his own heartbeat was ringing out in his eardrums as loud as thunder, but he was able to remainpletely calm and collected due to the effect of the origin rune of emotions and desires.

    His energy, essence, and spirit had all been primed to a peak.

    He had been waiting for this moment this entire time.

    He had been waiting for the inner demon to make this choice. Seeing as the inner demon hade out and abandoned Chiyou, he was certain that it definitely wouldn''t kill him.

    Just as he predicted, the power of this attack was severelycking. The inner demon had no choice but to hold back in order to ensure that Qin Ye could survive. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qin Ye immediately pulled out Fate and injected his Yin energy into it, upon which it transformed into a massive white umbre.

    The umbre shielded Qin Ye from the attack, and not only was the inner demon not able to capture Qin Ye, it wasn''t even able to break through Fate!

    The inner demon faltered slightly upon seeing this.

    Something wasn''t quite right...

    The tempo of the battle was off! Qin Ye was acting very strangely considering the situation!

    Could he be plotting something? But what could it be? Even with all four of Hell''s Yama-Kings together, they might still not be able to defeat me... In that case, he could only be targeting... Chiyou!

    As soon as that thought urred to the inner demon, it immediately abandoned Qin Ye and rushed back toward the pond of blood.

    The inner demon had caught on to what was happening extremely quickly, but it was still toote! Qin Ye was virtuallypletely drenched in blood, but he paid no heed to that as he injected all of his energy into Fate, which transformed into a spear, then thrust it toward the rapidly retreating inner demon with all his might.

    "Piss off!" the inner demon roared. It could clearly sense that something irreversible was about to happen, and it had no time to waste on Qin Ye. All of the bone spikes on its back detached themselves from its body, then transformed into hundreds of skeletal crows that converged toward Qin Ye in a frenzy.

    Right at this moment, a silver spear emerged from the side, and all of the surrounding Yin energy and paper cutouts quickly scattered to either direction. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Yun was revealed!

    Yin energy surged violently as Zhao Yun''s enormous power caused the entire surrounding space to shimmer and warp.

    "Stop him!" Qin Ye roared with all his might.

    Zhao Yun immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, thrusting his silver spear forward like a dragon springing out of the sea.

    Why is he here?!

    It was clear that Zhao Yun had already been waiting here for some time, and he had umted a significant amount of power for this spear strike. How had he gotten here so quickly?!

    At this point, the inner demon knew that it had been led in a wrong direction, but it didn''t have time to think about how things had yed out like this.

    The sense of foreboding in its heart was quickly bing more and more pronounced by the second, and it let loose a thunderous roar as its body instantly transformed. However, right as itpleted its transformation, a burst of dazzling light suddenly illuminated the entire sky.

    It was an attack unleashed by Zhao Yun''s sword, and there was no way to evade it. The entire space was virtually sliced apart by the attack, and the inner demon''s frustration had mounted to a peak.

    This was an opponent that was on par with it. Under normal circumstances, it would take at least a day for it to defeat Zhao Yun, but it didn''t have anywhere near that much time in this situation!

    All it had done was stray away from the pond of blood for an instant! How had things escted so quickly?!

    In the face of Zhao Yun''s attack, the inner demon''s body instantly disintegrated into countless vengeful spirits, all of which rushed directly toward the blood pond.

    Everyone across the entirety of Shanxi Province could see a gigantic sword mark, which had appeared in the sky above Fenglingdu.

    Zhao Yun''s sword strike had split the heavens!

 Chapter 1191: Slaying the Demon (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1191: ying the Demon (3)</h4>

    The sword energy shed through the clouds and the heavens, yet Zhao Yun didn''t even withdraw his sword before it disintegrated into countless specks of silver light that spread out all around him.

    He knew that the attack he had just unleashed hadn''t struck its intended target.

    In the instant that the attack hade into contact with the inner demon''s body, it had transformed into countless vengeful spirits, which were rapidly traversing through the countless specks of silver light like sshes of ink.

    Right as it bypassed Zhao Yun, a pir of nine-colored light suddenly erupted into the heavens up ahead, and countless paper cutouts fanned out as a vast expanse of Yin energy filled the entire space. Within the Yin energy, a giant mouth that was radiating nine-colored radiance sprang open, revealing a ck hole with a radius in excess of 100 meters within!

    BOOM!!

    Scintiting radiance filled heaven and earth,pletely eradicating the darkness.

    Amid the dazzling light, the vengeful spirits rapidly disintegrated as countless ck shadows shot forth in a frenzy. These shadows were all formed by Yin energy, and they came in all types of different shapes and forms, including humans and different types of beasts. Some were flying through the air, some were galloping along the ground, some were standing atop flying swords... Each of them was only around an inch in size, and they were all frantically rushing toward the pond of blood.

    The inner demon knew that something extremely terrifying and irreversible was about to happen!

    In this instant, the inner demon experienced fear for the first time in thousands of years. The sense of peril in its heart was growing clearer and clearer, and right at this moment, its soul shuddered as it cast an incredulous gaze toward the pond of blood. As a result, all of the tiny ck shadows stopped cold in their tracks.

    A figure slowly stood up beside the blood pond.

    It was Kwon Kyung-ho, and there was a chain connected to his body.

    The sound of the chain stretching taut rang out, and all of the miniature shadows turned around with stunned expressions to find that the other end of the chain concealed somewhere up Qin Ye''s sleeve!

    Qin Ye was panting heavily. If he were a normal human, the injuries that he had sustained would''ve already been lethal. Even as a Yama-King, he was barely able to remain on his feet, but he was still tugging tightly onto the chain.

    Countless paper cutouts descended on either side of the chain like snow right as it was stretched taut.

    "I see..." all of the miniature shadows murmured in unison.

    In this instant, the inner demon finally understood what had happened.

    Firstly, Qin Ye''s attacks definitely hadn''t been unleashed blindly and aimlessly. Instead, his objective was to fling all of the paper cutouts into the air.

    All of the attacks unleashed by Qin Ye and the inner demon against one another had shredded countless paper cutouts, and those shreds of paper had piled up onto the ground. That yed right into Qin Ye''s hands as Lishan Laomu''s Qimen Dunjia was about to conceal his Yin energy and that of his allies.

    However, he didn''t give the inner demon any time to think beforeunching an attack, and that was precisely why the inner demon had chosen to leave the pond of blood to try and capture Qin Ye.

    Through his actions, he was implying that he was able to see the inner demon''s location.

    The pond of blood was at the center, and if Qin Ye couldn''t see the inner demon''s position, there would be no way for him to be sure that the inner demon was there. If he hadunched an attack under those circumstances, he would be exposing himself while attackingpletely aimlessly, and that would be no different frommitting suicide.

    The inner demon had immediately caught on to this, but due to how abruptly this opportunity had presented itself, the inner demon didn''t have the time to consider another question, which was whether the Qimen Dunjia was concealing other people aside from Qin Ye.

    The answer to that was yes!

    Not only was the Qimen Dunjia concealing Qin Ye, it was also doing the same for Zhao Yun, the Harken, and Arthis, who had just made it to the top of the pagoda.

    The inner demon was unaware that the other three Yama-Kings had arrived! In its mind, capturing Qin Ye presented no risk and provided it with a foolproof safety, and in its haste to take Qin Ye as hostage, it had failed to consider just how many people there were on the top of the pagoda at this moment.

    Thus, it had rushed away from the pond of blood, thinking that it would definitely have thestugh.

    In retaliation, Qin Ye had unleashed his Heavenly Dra, and even though it had been withdrawn shortly thereafter, one of the Soul Shackles in the Heavenly Dra was connected to Kwon Kyung-ho, who was moving stealthily forward with his body concealed by the piles of shredded paper, and his Yin energy concealed by the Qimen Dunjia, thereby resulting in this current situation.

    Even as Qin Ye''s opponent, the inner demon couldn''t help but be impressed by his impable nning and foresight.

    In what seemed like a dire situation, he hade up with the best possible n in a very short time, and it was a wless n with trapsid every single step of the way.

    "Well done," it sighed as it turned toward Qin Ye. "I underestimated you."

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said in a strained voice, "If you had chosen to remain at the pond of blood at all cost, it would''ve been very difficult for us to bypass you in the time that''s left, so the best way was to divert you away."

    The inner demon heaved a forlorn sigh.

    Where did I go wrong? What incorrect decisions did I make? How have I suddenly fallen into this dire situation?

    Right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events suddenly took ce.

    Kwon Kyung-ho was abruptly decapitated out of the blue, and there was still a stunned look on his face even as his head flew up into the air. Immediately thereafter, his body began to rapidly disintegrate.

    It was Resentment!

    He had arrived on the scene just in the nick of time, and everyone''s attention had been focused on the inner demon, so no one had noticed him!

    He was also panting heavily, and his injuries were no less severe than Qin Ye''s, but he stood as determined as ever as he yelled, "Go! Don''t let our deaths be in vain!"

    No one had anticipated something like this, and the despair in the inner demon''s heart was instantly erased as all of the miniature shadows rushed directly toward the pond of blood at an incredible speed.

    It was greeted by a devastating paw strike from the Harken.

    Hundreds of the miniature shadows disintegrated into Yin wind, but the inner demon didn''t pause even for a single instant. At the same time, Zhao Yun flew through the air like lightning as he said, "The inner demon is hidden in one of them! The only way to track it down is to destroy all of these shadows!"

    He shed his sword through the air as he spoke, unleashing a vast expanse of sword energy that shredded countless surrounding paper cutouts in an instant.

    Amid the storm of shredded paper that was falling like snow, the inner demon gave a pained groan, yet all of the miniature shadows took on a crimson color and elerated even further!

    However, right at this moment, all of the miniature shadows stopped cold in their tracks once again as they cast their eyes toward the pond of blood with incredulous expressions.

    Kwon Kyung-ho had vanished, and Qin Ye had taken his ce!

    This was the Dusk Legionnaire''s mutual teleportation ability!

    "No!" The inner demon let loose a desperate cry, and Resentment also faltered slightly upon seeing this.

    The hope that had just been ignited in their hearts was instantly snuffed out again as he rushed frantically toward the blood pond.

    Everything seemed to slow down in this moment.

    The two Yama-Kings instinctively raised their hands in unison. One of them was wielding a broken de, while the other was holding the bloodstained Fate, and both of their bodies were riddled with wounds.

    Their injuries were just as severe as one another''s, and they shouldn''t even have been able to move, but in this decisive moment, their determination and resilience lent them the strength to unleash one final attack.

    Time seemed to stand still for a moment. In the next instant, Resentment''s head flew up into the air, and his eyes were filled with deep sorrow as he murmured, "I''ve done everything in my power, my king..."

    A burst of Yin energy rose up into the heavens, and Resentment''s body disintegrated into a flurry of ck butterflies.

    The cultivation rank advantage that Qin Ye had over Resentment had proven to be decisive.

    However, Resentment''s saber had also reached Qin Ye''s neck and had sliced two to three centimeters into it. Blood was gushing out of the wound, staining half of Qin Ye''s entire body red, and the de wasn''t far away from decapitating him as well.

    Even as the two were facing lethal blows from one another, neither of them had backed down even half a step!

    ck butterflies were fluttering before Qin Ye''s eyes, but he paid them no heed. He seemed to not have sensed his injuries at all as he heaved a faint sigh of relief, then plunged Fate down toward the pond of blood with all his might!

    "Stop!" The inner demon was about to go insane! Never did it think that this would be the final oue. All of its Yin energy erupted in a frenzy as it transformed into a ck shadow, flying past Zhao Yun and the Harken at an unimaginable speed.

    A pir of blood erupted out of the pond, and an indignant and furious roar rang out throughout heaven and earth.

    It was as if a nuclear bomb of sound had been detonated, and all of the trees across the entirety of Shanxi Province were bent backward, while shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye instantly swept over the entire city of Yuncheng!

    Fate had already transformed into a spear that had plunged directly into Chiyou''s be in the pond of blood.

    Chiyou''s eyes had already sprung open, and he was staring up at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression. "How dare you?! I am the king of the Jiuli Tribes..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, his head was dragged out of the pond of blood by Qin Ye, who then pulled Fate out of the head before kicking it away with all his might.

    The head was sent flying out of the pagoda like a shooting star, fading rapidly into the distance.

    "No!" the inner demon screeched as it flew past Qin Ye. Even though it passed by extremely close to Qin Ye, it didn''t take even a single nce at him.

    If Chiyou were dead, then there was no way it would be able tost three days against four Yama-Kings on its own!

    Even if it could, there was still the Harken''s Nine Energy Array, which could seal it for another week! Without Chiyou as an ally, its chances of survival were next to zero!

    I can still do this in time!

    Its gaze was focused intently on the head that was flying into the distance. Yuncheng was epassed under Lishan Laomu''s array, so the head would definitely fall within the boundaries of the city. All it had to do was find the head, then put it back into the pond of blood, and the oue would be different for sure!

    Zhao Yun, the Harken, and Arthis immediately prepared to set off in pursuit, but they were stopped by Qin Ye.

    "Your Excellency, we can''t let it get away!" Zhao Yun urged in a frantic voice.

    Qin Ye shook his head and closed his eyes as he said, "There''s no need to go after it... Everything is over now..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he fell unconscious to the ground.

    There was nothing more that he had left to give. He could hear Zhao Yun yelling at him in a concerned voice, but he didn''t want to respond.

    So sleepy...

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Damn it!" The inner demon flew out of the Myriad Soul Pagoda with tightly gritted teeth. It had never suffered such a humiliating defeat before!

    Why aren''t they chasing after me? Shouldn''t they be trying to stop me from recovering Chiyou''s head? Do they think that their victory is assured?

    Right at this moment, an overwhelming sense of fear and peril suddenly welled up in its heart.

    Never had it a sense of foreboding this severe!

    It immediately turned around to flee back into the Myriad Soul Pagoda, but the world around it suddenly fell still, and a humanoid figure appeared behind it.

 Chapter 1192: Reward

    <h4>Chapter 1192: Reward</h4>

    Everything in the world seemed to fall still for a second, and immediately thereafter, the inner demon let loose a thunderous roar, releasing boundless light as it attempted to adopt its true form again.

    However, right at this moment, Nothingness reached out and gentlyid a hand onto its head.

    "Do you regret what you''ve done?" Nothingness asked in an emotionless voice. "You''ve transcended several major tribtions, and even I am unable to track you down. Even for me, the only way to find you would be to kill everyone in this world. You should''ve lived for all of eternity, but here you are,pletely cornered and trapped."

    The light that was radiating from the inner demon''s body flowed back into itself as if time were being reversed, and it stared intently at the Heavenly Dao as it gritted its teeth tightly. "Throughout the past several thousand years, I haven''t interfered with any of your ns, nor destroyed any civilizations! Why do you insist on hunting me down?!"

    The Heavenly Dao heaved a faint sigh.

    They offered no response as They abruptly tightened Their grip, and the inner demon immediately shuddered, following which a blood-curdling screech rang out across the entire Shanxi Province.

    Nothingness made a grabbing motion before pulling Their arm back, and a butterfly that was around half a meter in size and was glowing with rainbow radiance was pulled out of the inner demon''s body.

    Countless ripples instantly appeared around the butterfly, and in the blink of an eye, the butterfly was destroyed before beingpressed into a palm-sized ball that was colorless and transparent.

    BOOM!!!

    A deafening noise rang out across the entire world, as if the sky were copsing.

    Regardless of whether it was the very bottom of the Mariana Trench or at the top of Mount Everest.

    Regardless of whether it was a sleeping infant or a deaf elderly individual.

    In this instant, everyone in this world who possessed a consciousness heard the same sound ring out from the bottom of their hearts.

    All of a sudden, vast expanses of inky-ck clouds appeared in the sky, and they had appeared and expanded so quickly that they formed a solid ck screen over the sky in the span of less than a second.

    The entire world was epassed within the darkness, from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere, from the south pole to the north pole. It was like the explosion of a nuclear weapon that impacted the entire world, and circles of Yin clouds were slowly spreading toward all directions with Fenglingdu at the center, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.

    In the next instant, all of the darkness began to rapidly converge toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda, making it resemble a funnel in a sea of ink.

    A giant butterfly projection that was over 100 kilometers in size rose up into the heavens from the center of the funnel. It possessed no substantial form, but it most definitely existed. It wasn''t illusory, but it was as unreachable as a rainbow.

    It was roaring and sighing with grief as if it signified the end of an era in history. In the end, it vanished into the center of the funnel amid an indignant roar, fading into nothingness.

    At the same time, all of the Yin clouds faded, and the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars returned. As light reced darkness, countless people across Cathay raised their heads in unison.

    Inside the encampment outside Fenglingdu, several of the surrounding soldiers abruptly raised their heads to look up at the sky with dumbfounded expressions.

    All of the investigators, including Zheng Shuguo, had witnessed this scene, as had the entire army that had surrounded Fenglingdu.

    In the next instant, a wisp of rainbow energy surged out of their orifices before forming a rainbow butterfly that flew up into the sky.

    The same thing was taking ce in millions of people across Cathay!

    These people belonged to all types of demographics, and the range and scope were nothing short of astounding.

    The millions of rainbow butterflies crossed through space to instantly descend upon Zhuolu before converging to form a massive ghostly face, which then faded away into nothingness amid an anguished howl.

    A burst of violently rumbling rang out within the Myriad Soul Pagoda, and the entire pagoda suddenly began to tremble and sway.

    In the next instant, bursts of yellow radiance descended from the sky, and all of the clouds up above parted toward either side. The light was like a divine sword that fell directly onto the Myriad Soul Pagoda, and an audible crack rang out from the indestructible pagoda.

    A crack appeared at the top of the pagoda before rapidly extending all the way down to its bottom, and a resounding boom rang out as the entire pagoda crumbled away, tumbling down level after level from the top to the bottom. With the pagoda''s destruction, the countless Yin soldiers in the pagoda also fell back down onto Zhuolu.

    The long vendetta between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou had finally drawn to a conclusion in this moment.

    Right in the instant that the ghostly face vanished, Qin Ye''s body gradually began to fade before suddenly disappearing as well!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Qin Ye was feeling extremely sluggish.

    Every single nook and cranny in his body felt as if it had been filled with lead, and it was as if his eyes had been sewn shut.

    He wanted to open his eyes to see what had be of the inner demon and Chiyou, but the exhaustion was too great, and his consciousness quickly faded away.

    He slept for what felt like an eternity, and by the time he reopened his eyes, the first sight that he was greeted by was a pure white world.

    It was an ancient temple constructed from ice. It was extremely beautiful, and all of the flora and fauna around it were also carved out of ice in an extremely meticulous and lifelike fashion.

    This was a world that sat above a sea of cloud and mist, and at this moment, Qin Ye was situated in a spacious room of ice. Even though the entire room was constructed from ice, it was somehow very warm.

    His brows furrowed slightly as he inspected his surroundings, and he then took a moment to inspect his body, upon which he discovered that he had already made a full recovery, and his powers had advanced even further.

    Unfortunately, he still wasn''t close to reaching above the Yama-King level.

    "You''re awake." Right at this moment, a familiar cold and aloof voice rang out from behind him. Qin Ye didn''t even bother to turn around as he stood up before performing a few stretches, cracking his own joints one after another as he asked in a casual voice, "Is this your divine nation?"

    There was no response, so Qin Ye took that as confirmation.

    He casually inspected his surroundings as he said, "I must say, it really suits you, given your personality."

    "This is only a part of my divine nation, situated on the peak of Mount Everest." Nothingness slowly made Their way over to Qin Ye. At this moment, They were in the form of an elderly and benevolent Taoist priest, as if They were trying to make Themself appear not so cold and indifferent, but there was no way to hide Their inherent nature.

    They made their way out of the temple as They said, "You''ve already been sleeping for two whole years."

    Do They want to have a chat?

    Qin Ye hurriedly followed along behind Them.

    The two of them slowly strode along the icy path outside, passing by a series of empty temples before the Heavenly Dao finally said, "The battle at Fenglingdu wentpletely beyond my expectations. Out of the original army of Hell, there are still over 100,000 troops remaining, and they''ve all undergone breakthroughs following their return to Hell."

    "I see."

    "After the inner demon left the Myriad Soul Pagoda, I intervened to erase it out of existence in person... Why are you not surprised at all by that?"

    Qin Ye shrugged in response. "The fact that I''ve woken up here means that Hell is already safe. Otherwise, given your personality, you wouldn''t even take a second nce at me. In this ne, the only person worthy of your respect is the second King Yanluo. As for everyone else, they ultimately all exist within the boundaries of yourws. Only those who can go beyond the boundaries of yourws will be acknowledged by you, right?"

    The Heavenly Dao nodded in response.

    "You brought me here because you feel like the bnce of karma is skewed, that yourws are unbnced. I helped you kill the inner demon, yet you didn''t do much throughout the entire process, so you feel like the interaction wasn''t fair. Thus, you decided to bring me here. To be honest, I really do pity you sometimes. Were you the one who created thews or are you just a ve to them?"

    The Heavenly Dao raised Their head and cast Their gaze up toward the clouds in silence.

    After a long while, They finally said, "That''s apletely pointless question."

    It was clear that the Heavenly Dao didn''t want to discuss this subject any further, and They said in an indifferent voice, "I am both the creator and the enforcer ofws, and allws must abide by the policy of fairness. Hell did indeed contribute far more to the battle of Fenglingdu than I did, so as the spokesperson of thews, I should offer you a token of gratitude."

    They made a grabbing motion, and the space before Them rippled slightly. By the time They spread their fingers open, a rainbow ball had already appeared on Their palm.

    "This is the soul of the inner demon."

    The ball seemed to have been formed by Yin energy, and it was glittering and translucent. Every single second, there seemed to be countless anguished souls wailing within it, and the Heavenly Dao said, "Any underworld emissary at the Infernal Judge level or above can immediately make a breakthrough to be Yama-King after devouring this."

    Qin Ye drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and a hint of burning desire appeared in his eyes as he looked at the ball.

    This was something capable of instantly creating a Yama-King! It was no exaggeration to call it a divine artifact!

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t killed high-grade underworld emissaries before, but all high-grade underworld emissaries who perished either returned to heaven and earth, or naturally dissipated into Yin wind orherfire. However, the Heavenly Dao was somehow able to regather the inner demon''s soul after its death! Just how powerful were They?

    The value of an item like this could not be overstated. With it at his disposal, he could give rise to a fifth Yama-King at any time! However, the question was who he should give it to.

    Wang Chenghao wouldn''t work, he wasn''t suited to serve as a Yama-King. Su Daji and Qin Hui were out of the question as well. They were loyal at the moment, but there were permanent blemishes on their past. If he were to give them something so precious, what were the people who had followed Qin Ye from the very beginning supposed to think?

    After thinking for a while, Qin Ye discovered that Qin Changxin and Qin Xinzhong seemed to be the only suitable candidates. However, they didn''t believe in the religions of Cathay, and without the power of worship from their native Nipponese Underworld, could this thing really seed?

    All of a sudden, a name sprang into his mind, but he quickly repressed it.

    This was something that he had to think long and hard about.

    The Heavenly Dao paid no heed to what Qin Ye was thinking as They continued onward, and a giant gate of ice appeared up ahead. With a wave of Their hand, the gate swung open.

    Given how astonishing the first present had been, Qin Ye was already mentally prepared for what was toe, but even then, he couldn''t help but be stunned by the sight of what was beyond the gate of ice.

 Chapter 1193: Nippon Plan (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1193: Nippon n (1)</h4>

    Beyond the gate was a round hall that was filled with ice statues of different deities, including N¨¹wa, Jesus, Zeus... There were a total of seven statues, each of which was over 100 meters tall, while the hall was over 150 meters in size, presenting a grand and majestic sight to behold.

    At the center of the seven statues, a head that was around 10 meters in size was hovering in mid-air with its eyes closed. A series of golden chains that werepletely formed by runes were extending out of space around it, disappearing into its orifices to keep the head suspended.

    This was aplete skeletal head with three eyes and a head of fiery red hair.

    It was no longer disying any signs of life, yet its hair was slowly dancing in the air like a nest of snakes, and a series of extremely eye-catching scarlet patterns were visible on the skull.

    The skull was giving off a sense of indescribable power that was vast and all-conquering. Even as it hovered in mid-air in a stationary manner, it was causing the space within a radius of several dozen meters around it to ripple incessantly, and it was as if it didn''t belong in this world at all. It was clear that the owner of the skull had to have been an extremely mighty figure during their living days.

    Qin Ye could only think of a single person who could possess a skull like this.

    "Is this Chiyou''s skull?" He swung around as he turned to the Heavenly Dao with a bewildered expression. "Are you giving it to me?"

    The Heavenly Dao''s expression remained as indifferent as ever, and They merely nodded in response. "You don''t want it?"

    "I do! Of course I do!" Qin Ye was ecstatic! Having resolved the crisis in both the underworld and the mortal realm, the next item on the agenda was for the Cathayan Underworld to develop its second-generation forbidden arts and space exploration technology. For these endeavors, the skull of an ancient god that was blessed with fortune and faith was an extremely useful asset!

    What was he going to do with it? He was going to create a super telescope, of course!

    This thing was essentially a divine artifact when it came to space technology development! It had been incredible to him that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had used the remains of the fifth sun god to create their telescope, and even after obtaining the document outlining the Omeyocan n, he didn''t think that he would ever be able to replicate it.

    However, with Chiyou''s head, the Cathayan Underworld was going to be the only nation in the underworld with a publicly known super telescope, and that was going to happen in the near future!

    The Heavenly Dao took a nce at him, then swept a hand through the air, and Chiyou''s skull transformed into a streak of light that fell into Qin Ye''s grasp. Only then did Qin Ye discover that there was still another gate up ahead!

    Before he had a chance to think about anything else, time stopped for an instant, following which both he and the Heavenly Dao arrived in front of the gate at the same time.

    The Heavenly Daoid Their hand onto the gate of ice, and They were just about to open it when They suddenly stopped before turning toward Qin Ye. "What do you think is going to be inside, Yanluo Qin?"

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately reply, and truth be told, his heartbeat was rapidly elerating at this moment.

    Whatever was beyond this gate had to be extremely precious. The first present provided by the Heavenly Dao was the soul of the inner demon, which was an extraordinary item that could instantly create a Yama-King. The second present was Chiyou''s head, and whatever was beyond this gate had to be even more valuable than the two previous items. Otherwise, the Heavenly Dao wouldn''t have saved it forst.

    A series of possibilities quickly shed through his mind, and several secondster, he asked with barely repressed excitement in his voice, "Is it the Qimen Dunjia?"

    This was an extremely powerful array, and it was something that only Lishan Laomu possessed.

    If they could make the arrayrge enough, it would be an all-epassing concealment array, and that would be considerably beneficial for the potential military operations that the Cathayan Underworld could be about to undertake soon.

    A faint smile appeared on the Heavenly Dao''s face as They slowly pushed the gate open.

    A burst of deep rumbling rang out from the gate, and natural light flooded into the hall. Instead of leading toward another room, this gate led toward the outside world.

    Outside was a vast sea of clouds with the asional mountain summit peaking through, resembling small inds on the sea.

    However, Qin Ye''s gaze wasn''t drawn to the spectacr scenery. Instead, he was looking at the enormous entity sitting above the sea of clouds!

    He was ovee by a rush of excitement that temporarily robbed him of the ability to speak, and there were fireworks going off in his head.

    Up to this point, he had everything he needed to facilitate space exploration!

    He couldn''t wait to return to the Cathayan Underworld to begin the new journey.

    "With that, we''re even now." The Heavenly Dao made a grabbing motion, and the enormous object transformed into a ball of light that flew into Qin Ye''s palm. "This will most likely be ourst meeting unless extraterrestrial gods invade this ne."

    Everything in the surrounding area was quickly fading away, and Qin Ye faltered slightly before suddenly yelling, "Why are you giving these things to me?"

    There was no response.

    Within the span of less than 20 seconds, everything faded away into nothingness, and it was as if the majestic pce of ice had never appeared in the first ce. It was also at this moment that a slightly forlorn voice rang out. "I am destined to be bound to this ne, unable to step into outer space. However, I possess the ability to pave the way for others to step out of this ne, in pursuit of alternate worlds. The second King Yanluo told me that they really do exist..."

    So They want to pass on Their dream to someone else... A gust of fierce wind swept over the summit of the mountain, and Qin Ye gently arranged his own hair as a smile appeared on his face.

    At this moment, the Heavenly Dao really did seem like an intelligent being.

    However, that no longer had anything to do with him.

    He took a deep breath as an excited look appeared in his eyes, and his heart was brimming with motivation. He couldn''t wait to finally restore the Cathayan Underworld to its rightful ce at the top of the world!

    Everything that he had done prior to this still wasn''t enough! He wanted the Cathayan Underworld to officially regain its ce on the four pirs without any dispute, and in order to do that, the Cathayan Underworld had to flex its muscles to the rest of the world!

    He cast his gaze toward the direction that Nippon was situated in, then vanished into thin air in a sh.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Everburn.

    Not many people were aware that their King Yanluo was absent, and the other Yama-Kings were already ustomed to having to fill in for him. Unfortunately for them, they had ended up with an unreliable King Yanluo who seemed to be absent most of the time.

    Thus, Zhao Yun and the Harken took turns assessing official documents in Qin Ye''s ce, while Arthis returned to her leisurely job as the ruler of the six paths of reincarnation. Of course, that was only after her proposal to serve as secretary to Zhao Yun was sternly turned down by Zhao Yun himself.

    The tip of Zhao Yun''s pen was quickly shing over a sheet of paper. The Cathayan Underworld had well and truly entered a period of rapid development, so there wasn''t much for them to do, and they didn''t need to be as careful and cautious as they had been when Hell was first founded. All they needed to do was support this rapidly growing nation to ensure that it didn''t grow in the wrong direction.

    News of Hell''s victory over Chiyou at Fenglingdu had already spread across the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld, and it was all that anyone could talk about. Chiyou was a vastly renowned demonic deity in the history of Cathay, yet he had been defeated by their administration!

    Every singleherworldly citizen was filled with a sense of patriotic pride and confidence. Following the battle, only less than 200,000 troops had remained of Hell''s army, and upon their return, they had been weed by theherworldly citizens of Everburn on the streets, stretching for over 20 kilometers out of the city!

    During the past two years, the main focus had been to promote these soldiers who had participated in this battle up the ranks so that they could be leaders in the military and rebuild Hell''s army. After all, the battle against the inner demon had put a severe dent in Hell''s military forces.

    As a reward for their valiant efforts during the battle, Su Daji had been promoted to be the administrativemissioner of the Pearl Delta, while Qin Hui had also had his wish of bing the governor of the two easternmost provinces fulfilled.

    All that was left was to continue to develop the education industry, as well as the industrial revolution and technological boom brought on by the new energy resource.

    Phones, LED screens, televisions, lightbulbs... Everything in the mortal realm that could be useful in the underworld had already appeared in the underworld at this point. This wasn''t very difficult, considering they were able to take the blueprints and designs straight from the mortal realm, then make slight adjustments so that they would be suitable for usage with the electricity-like energy string. Over the past few years of development, Hell was already progressing toward a nationalwork.

    At the moment, the Cathayan Underworld was in a prosperous state that was rather difficult to describe through words. It was filled with antiquated cities with wooden buildings, and all of theherworldly citizens were wearing antiquated attire, while those who wore suits were looked down on. However, whenever nighttime arrived, the entire city would be brightly lit, with countless streetlights along the main roads, illuminating the carriages drawn by Yin beasts.

    Zhao Yun was in the process of assessing a report filed by Heavenly Man Pictures against Southern Manor Films for establishing a monopoly. In the grand scheme of things, this waspletely trivial, and if he didn''t want this report to be presented to him, it wouldn''t even have appeared on the desk of King Yanluo at all. However, Zhao Yun had never seen a movie before, and he was very intrigued by things like this.

    "Oh? Are you interested in movies?" Right at this moment, a familiar voice rang out beside Zhao Yun, whose eyes immediately lit up as he rose to his feet with a relieved expression.

    "Your Excellency, you''re finally back! After the battle against the inner demon, the Heavenly Dao arrived in person to take you away, and we couldn''t do anything."

    Qin Ye poured himself a cup of tea before taking a sip, upon which an impressed look appeared on his face. "It tastes like tea leaf production technology has improved."

    "Indeed. The improvement took ce as a result of an invention fromst year that uses the new energy resource." Zhao Yun smiled as he sat down onto the taishi chair across from Qin Ye, then asked, "Now that you''re back, would you like to hear a report for thest two years?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    He was extremely eager to make some big moves, but prior to that, he had to develop an understanding of where the nation was currently at.

    He took a sip of tea, then said, "Get all of the department directors to make some preparations, and we''ll hold an annual report tomorrow... Actually, scratch that. I''m sure they reported everything directly to you during the past two years. Just gather all of them for a meeting, there''s no need to make it too official. You''ll be participating in the meeting as well, and you can give me a rundown of everything that''s happened while they fill in the gaps."

    Zhao Yun nodded in response, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Your Excellency, are you not nning to dere your return to all of the departments?"

    He had a feeling that Qin Ye was about to make some big moves following his return.

    In the past, the first thing that Qin Ye did following his return from trips would always be to inform the nation of his return, thereby assuring theherworldly citizens. However, it seemed that he wasn''t nning to do that, which indicated that he was nning to do something more important.

    "There''s no need for that," Qin Ye replied with a mysterious smile. "We''ll be holding two conferences back-to-back, and everyone will know that I''ve returned by then."

    "Conferences? What type of conferences?" Zhao Yun asked as his expression changed slightly.

    Qin Ye smiled as he gestured for Zhao Yun toe closer, then whispered something into his ear.

    Zhao Yun''s pupils immediately contracted as he heard what Qin Ye had to say, and he abruptly rose to his feet with a stunned expression. "Have you already made a decision?"

    "I never go make careless promises," Qin Ye replied after taking a sip of tea. "The Cathayan Underworld''s return to the top of the world is inevitable, but first, we have to return to our former position, and I think there''s one final step left before our position is restored. If we continue developing like this for the next five centuries, we''ll be on par with the other three pirs, but 500 years is too long. I want to make a move now! I think it''s time for us to flex our muscles!"

 Chapter 1194: Nippon Plan (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1194: Nippon n (2)</h4>

    This was a spacious conference hall.

    There was a screen that was two meters tall with beautiful designs embroidered upon it, and gold-ted statues filled all of the corners and vacant spaces in the hall, making it appear even more resplendent. Even the ptialnterns overhead had been ted with gold.

    In front of the scenic artwork at the center sat Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, while in front of them was a podium. The conference hall was 20 meters in both length and width, and it was already filled with Yin spirits.

    "... Thus concludes our report for the past two years." At this moment, the middle-aged Yin spirit who was in the process of delivering his report at the front turned around before extending a respectful bow. A clerk immediately epted his documents before presenting them to Qin Ye, who gave a slight nod, and only then did the middle-aged Yin spirit step down from the podium.

    All of the department directors had alreadypleted their reports, and the first thing that should bemended was that none of them were surprised by his return.

    All of the directors had already grown ustomed to their King Yanluo''s long absences.

    Over the past dozen or so years, particrly following the establishment of the education industry, it had already be clear, even to the most clueless of underworld emissaries, that their King Yanluo was the main driving force behind the Cathayan Underworld''s rapid development. As long as no one could stop him, the development of the Cathayan Underworld would also bepletely unstoppable.

    With undying souls, limitless time, and aplete cultivation system, this was a world that waspletely different from the mortal realm, where nothing could be done in the absence of the main leader.

    In this world, time periods were counted in units of centuries.

    Qin Ye flipped over a page of the document, but even as his gaze was roaming over the page, his thoughts were elsewhere.

    The second thing that was quite encouraging was that during the past two years, the Cathayan Underworld had experienced a period of rapid growth. GDP was rising steadily, and the massive revenue from the new energy resource base stations and all of the patents held by the Cathayan Underworld was a much-needed injection of funds into the economy. Everything was progressing in a very positive direction.

    Thirdly, the military had adapted very positively despite the deaths of over 300,000 troops during the Battle of Zhuolu. The retired Yin soldiers had either entered the cycle of reincarnation, or had been given extensive benefits to ensure that they lived outfortable lives. All of the Yin soldiers from that battle who remained in the military were being groomed as leaders, and they were extremely sought-after by all of the military branches.

    With the model of development from the mortal realm, all that the Cathayan Underworld had to do was replicate the model, so it didn''t make much difference whether Qin Ye was absent or not.

    Right at this moment, he cleared his throat, and all of the directors down below immediately sat up straighter. "Thank you for your hard work, everyone. You''ve all done very well during my absence. Your contributions were imperative to allowing our Cathayan Underworld to develop to this stage from such humble beginnings."

    He picked up his teacup as he smiled and continued, "However, there are two experts here who aren''t directors that are also in attendance, and I want to hear what they think."

    He had already made a decision about how to proceed, but this was quite a significant step that could affect the state of the entire world. Thus, it was best to introduce the idea more gradually so that everyone could be mentally prepared.

    All of the directors immediately turned their attention toward the two seats down below.

    They were President Lu Ban of the Yin Mountains State-run Research Institute, and President Zu Chonghzi of the Sword Coral State-run Research Center.

    Lu Ban hesitated momentarily before standing up and cupping his fist in a salute. "Your Excellency, do you want to do this right now?"

    A slightly portly man with a head of white hair turned to Lu Ban with a faint smile.

    It was the director of the ministry of revenue, Zhang Kangliang.

    The Sword Coral State-run Research Center had been officially founded after the Omeyocan n was obtained. No one knew what they were researching, but Zhang Kangliang knew that every year, the two state-run research institutes were given 150 billion in funding! However, even he wasn''t qualified to know the truth, and it was finally about to be revealed now!

    Not only was Zhang Kiangliang eager to hear what was about toe next, all of the directors were also very intrigued. It was clear that Qin Ye had entrusted them with a secret task. Otherwise, there was no way that all of the directors would be oblivious to what they had been researching.

    "Of course." Qin Ye nodded with a smile. "Could it be that you don''t trust these colleagues of yours?"

    A burst of amusedughter rang out, but Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi didn''t join in. Instead, their brows furrowed even tighter.

    Of course they trusted these colleagues, but if this n were to be announced, there would be no going back!

    There was going to be a war between nations on the horizon! Never did they think that this day woulde so soon.

    Zu Chongzhi quickly swept these errant thoughts out of his mind before cupping his fist in a salute. "Of course not. We have full trust in everyone here. In that case, please pardon me."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "At this point, the first stage of the Chang''e n has already reached a thirdpletion!"

    All of the directors'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this.

    During the past few years, the government had dedicatedrge amounts of resources to developing new materials toplement the new energy resource, but no one knew where those materials went, and the space exploration n that had made such a big ssh also seemed to have disappeared. Only now did everyone realize that this was what the Sword Coral State-run Research Institute had been founded for.

    Thus, two of the questions that had gued them for the past two years were instantly answered, and they developed a clearer understanding of the government''s political strategy.

    Zu Chongzhi continued, "The Omeyocan that you brought back for us has been extremely useful. At the moment, we''ve alreadypleted construction on the space collection equipment and space simtion rooms. However, there''s still a lot of misalignment when ites to the blueprint of the ship."

    Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off there. "We''ll discuss the specificster. President Lu, it''s your turn now."

    Lu Ban cupped his fist in a salute. "Development of the second-generation forbidden arts has already reached the halfway stage. In contrast with the mortal realm, we don''t needunching equipment ormand systems. ording to the startup modules left behind by the second King Yanluo, the second-generation forbidden arts are also guided by Yin energy. With King Yanluo''s Seal at our disposal, we''ll undoubtedly be able to go further in forbidden arts research than other underworlds, and we estimate that second-generation forbidden arts will be developed within the next 10 years."

    Deathly silence.

    All of the officials in the hall turned toward Lu Ban upon hearing this before quickly looking away again.

    Zhang Kangliang gulped nervously as he cast a surreptitiously nce at Qin Ye. Why was he choosing to reveal both the space exploration and forbidden arts n now?

    Only two years had passed since the Battle of Zhuolu, were they going into battle again?

    Before Lu Ban had a chance to continue, Qin Ye nodded and gestured for both of them to take a seat.

    Thus, the entire conference hall fellpletely silent, so silent that even the slightest of pin drops would be clearly audible. The people seated here were the most high-ranking politicians in the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld, and they could already sense something from what had been said thus far.

    Qin Ye took a sip of tea before suddenly turning to Zhao Yun. "Ghost King Zhao, where do you think we''reckingpared with the other three pirs at the moment?"

    Before Zhao Yun could reply, he added, "What I''m asking is, what are we missing that would convince other nations to side with us?"

    This is it...

    All of the directors opened their notepads as they stared intently up at the two most powerful figures in the nation.

    Zhao Yun was silent for a full minute before replying, "In terms of overall power, I''d say we''re roughlyparable with the Britannian Underworld, which would make us a second-rate underworld. However, there''s more to it than that. Our Cathayan Underworld possesses a brilliant resource in the form of the Cathayan poption. As more time passes, the poption of our Cathayan Underworld will grow exponentially. The new energy resource has smashed open the gate to the new era for us, and with each passing year, ourbor force and wealth of skilled personnel will continue to be bolstered by the mortal realm. This is our main advantage. Furthermore, the education system in Cathay has its ws, but it''s undeniable that Cathay has the mostplete universal education in the world. This is actually beneficial for us as the highly skilled personnel from the mortal realm have to forget everything they''ve learned and start again from scratch after entering the underworld, while less specialized individuals are able to ept these changes more quickly. Of course, the Hindustani Underworld also has the same advantage. However, the caste system is present for Hindustan in both the mortal realm and the underworld, and their degree of universal education is far inferior to ours. Thus, in terms ofherworldly citizen procurement rate and the level of general education, we have a crushing advantage over the other three pirs."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "In that case, why is it that everything, from the conference in Nara to the new energy resource press conference, has been so difficult for us? Why is it that only after the new energy resource was released, the construction of all of the base stations werepleted, electricity was supplied to the entire world, and our currency was tied to the new energy resource that all of the other underworlds sided themselves with us? In fact, even now, some of them are still a little undecided in their stance toward us."

    It was as if a scripted exchange were taking ce between Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, but all of the officials present knew that this conversation was going to decide the future direction of the Cathayan Underworld, so they had to listen and observe carefully.

    Zhao Yun heaved a faint sigh in response. "It''s because our Cathayan Underworld hasn''t yet disyed its power since we opened ourselves up to the rest of the world, and because of that, all of the other underworlds are doubting us! If we had attended the conference in Nara with the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings, none of them would''ve dared to plot against us."

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he turned toward everyone else in the room. "In that case, how do you all propose we can disy to the rest of the world as quickly as possible that we''ve already returned to the height of our powers? Alternatively, even if we haven''t, how do we ensure that they wouldn''t dare to plot against us again?"

    No one said anything.

    The answer was very clear: second-generation forbidden arts!

    However, in order to disy the forbidden arts to the world, it would have to be detonated, and where was that going to happen?

    In contrast with the nuclear weapons of the mortal realm, the forbidden arts of the underworld were sealed within molds, and after detonating one, even a Yama-King would have to rest and recuperate for quite some time. Furthermore, the mold containing the forbidden art would immediately be scrapped.

    All carrier molds were constructed from rare and precious materials, so they were extremely expensive. It could be said that every single carrier mold was a work of art, and with such extravagant costs involved, there was no way they could just detonate one of the forbidden arts for the viewing pleasure of other nations.

    The only way to prove that the Cathayan Underworld had returned to its peak would be to detonate one in another underworld!

    In this instant, all of the officials finally understood what Qin Ye''s true intentions were, and they looked up toward the podium in unison with intense looks in their eyes.

    The nation was about to go to war!

 Chapter 1195: Nippon Plan (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1195: Nippon n (3)</h4>

    Before Qin Ye opened his mouth to speak, Zhao Yun said, "You''re correct, Your Excellency. The other three pirs aren''t stupid, and they''ve already backed down after failing to breach our Cathayan Underworld''s defenses for over 10 years. The fact that many of the attitudes of many of the underworlds toward our Cathayan Underworld has begun to shift is a clear indication of this. They wouldn''t dare to do that if the three pirs were going to oppose our Cathayan Underworld to the very end. It''s already been several years since the new energy resource was released, and as long as their advisors aren''tpletely useless, they''d realize that even if our Cathayan Underworld had been standing on itsst leg, these past few years would''ve been enough for us to make a rapid recovery. Of course, in reality, we''re nowhere near as powerful as they imagine. However, are we going to continue to iste ourselves just because of that?"

    His voice began to grow louder as he spoke. This was something that he had to say as even if he were to encounter resistance from the department directors, Qi Ye would be able to shore him up. If Qin Ye were to say this and encounter resistance, then there would be no backup, and it would be difficult to bring up the subject again in the future.

    "As our Cathayan Underworld continues to develop, we''ll definitely have to open up the Array of the Nine Gods. The array existed to protect us, but at the moment, it''s already severely restricting our information exchange pathways with the rest of the world. Our Yin energy optical fibers are unable to go beyond our borders, and our military is also unable to reach the rest of the world. Thus, our presence is absent from the entire underworld, and as a result, we''re reducing our own influence. However, if we remove the array, there''s no way that we would be powerful enough to withstand an attack from the three pirs. The underworld is not a safe ce, and the only thing that can ensure our safety is power. Only during the past few centuries did wars that wiped out nations gradually disappear. We must prove ourselves to the entire underworld once again!"

    Just like during the Gulf War in the 90''s, where Usonia had shown the world once again who was the boss.

    Influence and speaking rights in the world were priceless assets, and a small nation could disregard such things, but they were extremely important to major nations.

    No one said anything.

    At this point, everyone already understood Qin Ye''s intentions, but this was far easier said than done.

    At the very least, it would take several dozen more years of preparation before they could implement this n.

    Finally, an elderly man in a Mao suit stood up to speak with a serious expression. "Yanluo Qin, given how expensive carrier molds are to produce, there are definitely no more than 30 of those molds across the three pirs. There''s no way we can just sacrifice a second-generation forbidden art carrier mold for no reason! These are extremely precious assets that we must manage carefully."

    This man was the top dog of the military arms department, General Xie Yong, so it was no wonder that he was so familiar with forbidden arts.

    Xie Yong continued, "The production cost of a second-generation forbidden art can only be higher than that of a first-generation forbidden art, and at the moment, the cost of a forbidden art could make a severe dent in our nation''s finances."

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face.

    What Xie Yong was thinking was that they would simply detonate a forbidden art for demonstration purposes. The other three pirs could do that, but with the current state of affairs of the Cathayan Underworld, this wasn''t something they could afford to do.

    Thus, the implication was that if a forbidden art had to be detonated, then there had to be a target, so what was this target going to be?

    Qin Ye sat up straighter as he smiled and said, "Indeed, detonating a second-generation forbidden art would be extremely taxing to our nation''s finances, and at the moment, we can only detonate two at most. The first one will be detonated for all of you to see as a proof of concept. As for the second one, that will naturally before the entire world to see. Not only will we show them the second-generation forbidden art, we have to make an example out of something so that no one thinks about messing with us again!"

    In the first row, Qin Changxin was furiously writing down notes, but the tip of his pen suddenly drew to a halt.

    A thought seemed to have urred to him, while all of the other directors thought of something else, and they turned toward Lu Ban in unison.

    Spacecraftunching technology + second-generation forbidden arts...

    Thisbination would essentially allow them tounch nuclear weapons!

    In the face of this formidablebination, any underworld''s defenses would be instantly destroyed! Following the detonation of the forbidden art, enemy morale and defenses would be in shambles, and that would allow Hell to crush them with its army, even after having so many troops killed during the Battle of Zhuolu. In fact, that would only make the rest of the world more astonished by how the Cathayan Underworld was able to conquer the enemy with so few troops!

    Everything had clicked into ce, and it seemed that Hell really was preparing to instigate a war between underworlds!

    Of course, they couldn''t publicly dere the second-generation forbidden arts. After all, the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts had only been re-signed less than 20 years ago. However, they could easily just change the name into something like Alpha Missile or Xuanyuan Sword Art...

    In any case, they were going to stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that these were forbidden arts, and there wasn''t anything anyone could do about it!

    "Your Excellency..." Qin Changxin finally opened his mouth to speak, and his voice was trembling slightly as he asked, "Where will the... testing site be?"

    Qin Ye looked straight into his eyes before asking, "What do you think about Amano-Iwato?"

    The hall instantly fell deathly silent.

    In the next instant, theherfire in the eyes of all of the officials present sprang up drastically.

    "I concur," Xie Yong immediately said before Qin Changxin had a chance to reply.

    Immediately thereafter, several more directors concurred one after another. How could they pass up such a brilliant opportunity?

    This was a war to conquer a nation! Perhaps it was still quite far away in the future, but if they could y a part in making such a massive contribution to the Cathayan Underworld, then surely they would be given favorable reincarnations in the next life!

    "I concur!" Qin Changxin rose to his feet, then cupped his fist in a salute and extended a deep bow.

    The promise that had been made to him was finally about to be fulfilled, and it seemed that there was no chance that they could fail!

    They had one being above the Yama-King level, an advanced Yama-King, and two Yama-Kings, in addition to second-generation forbidden arts coupled withunching technology... How could they possibly lose?!

    He knew that the purpose behind the second-generation forbidden art was not just to crush Amano-Iwato''s defenses, but also to make up for the losses in Yin soldiers suffered during the Battle of Zhuolu. In addition to that, it was a warning to the entire world, telling them that a second-generation forbidden art would being their way if they dared to make a move against the Cathayan Underworld!

    "Take a seat, everyone," Qin Ye said with a smile. "This is only an idea at the moment. Let''s call this idea the Nippon n for now. I''ll have to trouble President Lu and President Zu to make the n possible. Everything will hinge on when they canplete their research and development. That will be the end of this meeting. Director Qin, please stay behind."

    All of the directors quickly departed.

    This meeting was a perfect reflection of Qin Ye''s style, which was to do things quickly and efficiently, but just because it was over quickly didn''t mean that it wasn''t impactful.

    They knew that from this point onward, there were many things that they would have to prepare.

    Thus, the only ones left in the conference hall were Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, while Qin Changxin eagerly entered the small conference chamber.

    Only now did Zhao Yun allow himself to heave a sigh of relief. "It''s a really good thing you thought of a way to gradually build up to that announcement. Otherwise, the directors wouldn''t have agreed to the idea of initiating a war against another nation so soon after the Battle of Zhuolu."

    "It''s about time that we flex our muscles to the world," Qin Ye said in a cold voice. "Izanami has been overstepping her boundaries for far too long. During the 20 years of my reign, she has constantly been provoking the Cathayan Underworld."

    Zhao Yun raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Is that the only reason we''re starting this war?"

    "That''s not the entire reason," Qin Ye replied with a faint smile. "We have to look after our loyal subordinates too. I made a promise to Qin Changxin, and I have to follow through."

    Zhao Yun nodded in response.

    All of a sudden, Qin Ye changed the subject. "There''s something that I haven''t told you. Anyone at or above the Infernal Judge level can immediately be a Yama-King under any circumstance after consuming the soul that the Heavenly Dao extracted out of the inner demon."

    Zhao Yun immediately raised his head upon hearing this, and a thought seemed to have urred to him as he said in a trembling voice, "You don''t mean..."

    Qin Ye continued, "If I recall correctly, Yue Fei''s soul is in the Nipponese Underworld, and that''s the true reason why this war has to happen!"

    At the end of the day, Qin Changxin was still Oda Nobunaga.

    However, Yue Fei was in the Nipponese Underworld, and he wasn''t a Yama-King!

    Once Yue Fei became a Yama-King, the top-end power of Hell would receive another significant boost. Furthermore, this was a disy of power to the entire world, and in addition to that, there was the promise that had been made to Qin Changxin and the need to teach Izanami a lesson for her transgressions.

    Thus, there was abination of reasons that made the Nipponese Underworld the ideal target, and Qin Ye couldn''t think of any better candidate.

    It was like they were asking for it!

    Zhao Yun took a deep breath, then cupped his fist in a salute, yet just as he was about to depart, he suddenly asked, "What about Qin Hui?"

    "He''s in luck," Qin Ye replied. "He and Su Daji have truly put their lives on the line during the Battle of Zhuolu, so I''ll let him live even after we recover Yue Fei''s soul."

    Qin Ye had always been fair and just in his administration of rewards and punishments.

    On this asion, Zhao Yun didn''t say anything and vanished from the room.

    Qin Ye also departed. Seeing as they were going to make a move against Amano-Iwato, the first step would be to get an understanding of Amano-Iwato''s military prowess.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Two gusts of Yin wind flew into the conference chamber, and Qin Changxin immediately stood up from his chair before extending a deep bow.

    "Your Excellency..." His voice was trembling with emotion. "I didn''t think you would truly fulfill your promise! I am extremely fortunate to have made the decision to follow you!"

    "No need for formalities, Director Qin. Take a seat." The trio sat down, and Qin Ye smiled as he said, "You and I have known each other for a long time, and you watched Hell grow from essentially nothing, so you''re no less invested in Hell than I am. As such, it''s only expected of me that I fulfill my promise to you."

    "Thank you, Yanluo Qin!" Qin Changxin stood up again before extending another deep bow.

    Cups of fragrant tea were quickly brought into the room, and Qin Ye took a sip before continuing, "I''m sure you already know why I asked you to stay behind."

    "Of course!" Qin Changxin rose to his feet and bowed for a third time as he cupped his fist in a salute. "I''ll be sure to tell you everything I know!"

    He had been waiting for this moment for centuries!

    Finally, he was about to reim the Nipponese Underworld!

    After sitting down again, Qin Changxin was silent for a few minutes, as if he were carefully contemting his words. Only after five minutes had passed did he begin to speak. "Your Excellency, I don''t know if there have been any major changes in Amano-Iwato during the past few centuries, but I can tell you everything from before that."

    He repressed his own excitement as he continued with a serious expression, "Firstly, Amano-Iwato is different from all other underworlds as it''s an underworld inhabited by both ghosts and demons, and there are even some so-called deities there!"

 Chapter 1196: Eight Million Gods

    <h4>Chapter 1196: Eight Million Gods</h4>

    Without requiring any prompting from Qin Ye, Qin Changxin immediately continued, "The religion that Nippon worships is Shinto, and due to the special nature of the Shinto religion, Nippon''s gods and demons are actually split up into two branches."

    He took a deep breath before taking a sip of tea to wet his parched throat. Having waited for this day for so long, he was so excited that even his hands were trembling slightly.

    After setting down his teacup, he took another deep breath before continuing, "The two branches are the Amatsukami and the Kunitsukami, and they are collectively known as the eight million gods."

    Eight million?

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. That was truly a massive number. This was the foundation of an underworld that had existed for thousands of years. Generations upon generations of Yin spirits added up to form a formidable army, yet the Nipponese Underworld was only a third-rate underworld, so one could only imagine just how fearsome the other three pirs were.

    "Among the eight million gods, four million belong to the Amatsukami, while the other four million belong to the Kunitsukami. If we instigate this war with the intention of conquering the Nipponese Underworld, their Heaven won''t just stand by and watch Amano-Iwato fall. If Amano-Iwato is conquered, the reincarnated people will be people of the Nipponese Underworld. In 50, maybe 100 years, after all of the Nipponese People have gone through reincarnation, the Nipponese Underworld would truly be the territory of the Cathayan Underworld, and its religion would also naturally be the Cathayan Underworld''s religion. No independent nation would be willing to be a subsidiary to another underworld. Hence, not only will we be facing the Nipponese Underworld in this war, we''ll also be facing its gods!"

    This entailed an army of eight million, and a grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he nodded in response, indicating for Qin Changxin to continue.

    "Even after we develop second-generation forbidden arts, we''ll only be able to attack the Kunitsukami, while the Amatsukami are in the mythical Takamagahara, which is the equivalent to the Cathayan Underworld''s Heaven. They will remain unaffected, and they''ll most likely form the bulk of the resistance that we''ll have to face. As for the leaders of the Amatsukami, perhaps you''ve heard of them. They are Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. Of course, just like Izanami, they''re also only Abyssal Prefects. The Amatsukami and the Kunituskami have historically had a rocky rtionship, having gone to war against each other many times, but we have to expect that they would set aside their differences to oppose us as one."

    He waved a hand through the air, and a map of Nippon appeared. However, it was a map of ancient Nippon, rather than one of modern Nippon.

    Coincidentally, ancient Nippon was heavily influenced by Cathayan culture, leading to the nation being split up into nine regions, namely Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

    Qin Changxin tapped on the Kansai region, then moved his finger to the Shikoku region as he said, "I haven''t been to Takamagahara, but it''s said that Takamagahara is situated in the spirit realm in the sky above Kyoto, which is in the Kansai region. In other words, that is the stronghold of the Amatsukami, whereas Shikoku is the stronghold of the Kunitsukami. However, the so-called demons and deities of Nippon cannot even begin topare with those of Cathay. As I''m sure you''re aware, the foundations of all underworlds stem from the myths and worship of the mortal realm. The system of demons and deities in Taoism is far more vast than anything the Nipponese Underworld has to offer. Nippon believes in the Shinto religion, and the mantra of the religion is that all things have spirits. This concept gave rise to evil ghosts such as Futakuchi-onna, Sadako Yamamura, and Kayako Saeki, as well as many demonic entities. In Nippon, there''s no clear distinction between demons and ghosts. This concept that all things have spirits have resulted in the emergence of some inexplicable ghosts and deities. For example, if a chair were to develop a spirit, it would be one of the Kunitsukami. The same would apply if an umbre developed a spirit. Among the four million Kunitsukami, there are even deities such as the slipper god and the door god, which would only be the lowliest of underworld emissaries in the Cathayan Underworld. Hence, there won''t be much resistanceing from the Kunitsukami."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    If he wanted to make a move against the Nipponese Underworld, then he naturally had to understand their power system first. Essentially, the so-called four million Kunitsukami were like the poprputer game "Nobunaga''s Ambition". Each of the names of their attacks was shier than the previous one, but in reality, they were all quite underwhelming, such as 1,000 people thrusting bamboo spears at an enemy...

    Thus, in reality, the power of the four million Kunitsukami was downright pitiful. The Amatsukami were most likely going to be more powerful, but definitely not by much. Thus, knowing full well that the overall quality was severelycking, they could only make up for that with numbers, gathering all of the demons and ghosts, even things such as slipper ghosts and umbre ghosts, thereby forming an army of four million.

    With that in mind, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. Now that he thought about it, he had met the leader of the Kunitsukami before. It was none other than Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

    His son''s name was Susa Boy, who had split up into two entities, namely Crow Tengu and ck Yaksha, after suffering from a split personality. After that ill-advised trip that it took to the Cathayan Underworld, it had never returned.

    At the same time, another one of Nippon''s three great yokai, Otakemaru, was also in his Dusk Legionnaire. Qin Ye nodded toward Qin Changxin as he said, "You''ve provided a very detailed rundown of the situation in Nippon, Director Qin. Where do you propose we should strike from?"

    "I say we strike from Hokkaido!" Qin Changxin replied in a confident voice. "Amano-Iwato is situated under present-day Kyoto, which means that there are virtually no troops stationed in Tohoku and Hokkaido. If we choose to begin our invasion there, we''ll be able to force into a battle in the Chubu or Kansai region. Thus, they''ll be forced to gather all of their troops, and that will be where the second-generation forbidden art can achieve the best effect."

    There were all things that had to be done prior to instigating the war. A strategy had to be devised, and corresponding preparations had to be made. For example, if they decided to begin their invasion from Tohoku and Hokkaido, then they would have begun training their navy and building ports and ships at the Strait of Tsushima. Furthermore, the production chains would also have to begin to lean toward the three eastern provinces, which were going to support the invading army.

    These were major moves that had to be made over the course of years, so nning had to begin right away.

    Qin Ye nodded in response. It was time to call up all of the high-ranking officials of the three eastern provinces for a meeting. At the same time, it was about time that he summoned Liu Yu and made an example out of him.

    If they were going to invade from Tohoku, then Daehan and the Strait of Tsushima had to be firmly within his control.

    Just as Qin Ye was about to bring the meeting to a conclusion, Qin Changxin suddenly asked, "Your Excellency, have you thought about how you''re going to rule over Amano-Iwato after you conquer it?"

    Qin Ye was rather taken aback by this question, and he smiled as he replied, "Rest assured, Director Qin. Our Cathayan Underworld had 12 envoys during ancient times, and there''s no reason why we can''t instate a new set of 12 envoys. Our Cathayan Underworld has many subsidiary nations, so we''ll need to at least assign three frontier governors, and you''ll be the first one."

    Qin Ye didn''t even have to think about the other two, they were definitely going to be Yu Qian and Yang Jiye. He would rather split the Southern Asian inds between the two than send out more envoys.

    Once Amano-Iwato was conquered, the defense chain of the entire Cathayan Underworld would beplete, and the Cathayan Underworld would be protected from all directions.

    However, Qin Changxin shook his head in response. "I''ve never doubted your promise to me, Your Excellency. However, what I''m saying is that Amano-Iwato is an underworld that has stood for over 2,000 years, and its power is certainly not just limited to the Amatsukami and the Kunitsukami. There will also be the Minakanushi and the national protective array, which will take at least one or two months to bypass. During this time, theherworldly citizens of Amano-Iwato will definitely revolve. In addition to that, we''ll be facing pressure from the three pirs, and the situation would undoubtedly be extremely chaotic. Under those circumstances, how can we continue to make stable progress?"

    Qin Ye hadn''t thought about this yet. He didn''t want to have to do something as heinous as engaging in mass ughter. The Cathayan Underworld needed the Nipponese Underworld''s territory, but it would certainly also receive a significant boost from the Nipponese Underworld''sherworldly citizens.

    If they were to kill the entire poption of the Nipponese Underworld, then they would have to start from square one, just like when the new Hell was being established all those years ago.

    "What are your thoughts?" Qin Ye asked. The fact that Qin Changxin was raising this matter meant that he had to have already thought of a good solution.

    Qin Changxin smiled as he replied, "We can do exactly what the Nipponese government did in the mortal realm. If someone in Amano-Iwato with a lofty status were willing to ept us and help us stabilize the situation, that would be ideal, would it not?"

    "Of course!" Qin Ye immediately replied. "Who are you referring to?"

    "Do you still remember the old man who was on that boat with us several years ago?" Qin Changxin asked.

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    Iwasaki Kyouya!

    That man was the current owner of the Mitsubishi Corporation! Even in the Cathayan Underworld, he would definitely be a brilliant figure!

    It would be nothing short of ideal to have someone like him control the current situation!

    In particr, he most likely wasn''t dead yet. During the time of their meeting, he had only been in his sixties.

    As for persuading him, that certainly wasn''t impossible.

    For an entity like the Mitsubishi Corporation, profit was often valued above patriotic devotion.

 Chapter 1197: Spacecraft (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1197: Spacecraft (1)</h4>

    Thus concluded the short meeting, and everyone departed.

    Seeing as a n to strike at the Nipponese Underworld had already been devised, certain factors had to be considered in advance, and preparations had to begin right away. These preparations included conscription for the next few years, officially recovering the Hanyang Underworld, and construction in the Strait of Tsushima and the three eastern provinces.

    After this meeting, all of the directors were undoubtedly going to begin to make some moves. However, there was still a lot of time left, so there was no need to rush.

    The other factor to be considered was the pressure from other underworlds. The three pirs were definitely going to get involved. After all, this was going to be a tant denial of an underworld''s right to exist, so the three pirs were undoubtedly going to be deploying their troops. ording to the current n, the idea was to intercept these troops with the second-generation forbidden art. However, a question arose from that arrangement: who was going to intercept these troops prior to the detonation of the forbidden art?

    The armies of the three pirs were definitely no joke. During the conference in Nara, Qin Ye had witnessed Erinys''s Golden Fleet. The naval might of the three pirs was certainly nothing to be scoffed at, and once their troops were deployed, they would definitely be led by death gods.

    Thus, they had to stall those troops until the second-generation forbidden art descended upon Amano-Iwato. Where was that battlefield going to be? Who was going tomand Hell''s army? Which Yama-Kings were going to be deployed? All of these things had to be arranged.

    At the same time, they had to consider just how powerful the Nipponese Underworld''s resistance was going to be.

    However, the prerequisite to all of this was the development of second-generation forbidden arts andunching technology.

    Qin Ye returned to his own office, then read through some official documents in an absentminded manner before tossing them aside. He sat in his chair in contemtion for a short while, then summoned Wang Chenghao into the office. "Inform President Zu and everyone else who needs to be notified that I''ll be making a trip to the Sword Coral Research Institute tomorrow. You''ll being with me."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The Sword Coral Research Institute was situated in the province of Hainan. For every country, their underworld and mortal realm maps would be slightly different. In the underworld, there was a massive coral ind that was around 70 to 80 square kilometers situated to the west of Hainan, and it was shaped like a sword.

    Ever since Qin Ye brought back the Omeyocan n, construction had begun on the Sword Coral Research Institute, and only after the two years since the inner demon was in was constructionpleted.

    The pristine white waves were crashing against the ck rocks, and Qin Ye stood atop a rock with his hands sped behind his back, looking out at the vast sea before him. "It''s underground?"

    Zu Chongzhi smiled as he replied, "We initially nned to construct the research institute above the ground, but there was too much noise from the sea, so we decided to construct it underground in the end."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he pressed a palm down onto the ground, and a series of circles of Yin runes immediately began to spread over the ground like ripples. Several secondster, the rocks split apart in all directions, and a hole that was around 100 meters in size was revealed.

    There were a total of four staircases that were constructed from faux wood, each of which was at least 20 to 30 meters wide. On either side of the staircases were faux wood railings that were quite refined and antiquated in appearance, while the walls were riddled with reliefs, and they were naturally depicting the grand achievements of the third King Yanluo.

    Qin Ye made his way down the staircase while inspecting his surroundings. During the past few years of development of the education industry, knowledge in Yin runology had be more prevalent, and it was beginning to show. For example, there was no need to walk down these staircases. Instead, they were like the automatic esctors that one would find in the shopping centers of the mortal realm.

    At the same time, Zu Chongzhi was giving Qin Ye a report of the progress that had been made during the past two years. "With the emergence of the new energy resource, space exploration technology has also been slowly progressing. Here, I must apologize for my ipetence. Even with the models of the mortal realm, we haven''t been able to make much progress in thest two years."

    Qin Ye finally withdrew his gaze. At this point, they had already reached the bottom of the staircases, and ahead of them was a heavy ck gate. There was a que that was over 20 meters in length hanging above the gate, and the words "Sword Coral Research Institute" were glowing withherfire upon it.

    On either side of the gate were around a dozen Yin soldiers, and they immediately made a fist with their right hand before sping it in front of the chest as a salute toward Qin Ye and Zu Chongzhi. Zu Chongzhi injected his Yin energy into the gate, and it slowly opened. Only then did Qin Ye ask, "What''s the problem?"

    Beyond the gate was a cavernous space. Computers still hadn''t been developed yet, and up ahead was a front desk where 20 to 30 underworld emissaries were gathered. Behind the front desk was a relief of the Harken capturing ghosts, and the wooden badges of all of the departments were hanging on the wall. There were tables and chairs, screens, and all types of ornaments ced on either side to conceal the gates that led to different ces.

    Zu Chongzhi walked along as he sighed, "Space exploration in the mortal realm stems from astrology, but we have no stars to observe."

    He led Qin Ye through a gate, and the elevator beyond the gate rose up, quickly taking them to a giant tform.

    This was a ce with an abundance of advanced Yin runes. The area was roughly three kilometers in size, and the ground was a round tform constructed from white jade. At the center of the tform was a hole that was around 500 meters in size, and there was nothing in it. Working groups were gathered around the hole in an eight trigrams formation, and there were countless men in blue robes reading through documents in their respective positions.

    Beyond the tform was the vast and ethereal space. It was clear just from a single nce that no one aside from Zhao Yun could''ve torn open space like this.

    "The center of the tform is where the telescope is supposed to be," Zu Chongzhi exined. "Professor Zhou, Professor Ma, please gather all of the professors of the working group here. Yanluo Qin is here for an inspection, so please raise any troubles and concerns that you have, and we''ll try to work on some solutions."

    Soon, around a dozen Yin spirits in ck robes were gathered at the scene, and all of them were looking quite unkempt. Right after Zu Chongzhi introduced everyone, one of the professors immediately said, "Your Excellency, there''s no way for us to continue in our work unless we have ess to a telescope!"

    "This is Professor Ma Xingchun from the materials department," Zu Chongzhi said, and he was just about to do some further exnation, but Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off.

    "There''s no need to exin anything. Scientists don''t need to waste their time on appearances and formalities. Let''s go and continue our discussion over there."

    There were many eight immortal tables beside the railing, and they were clearly meant to be ces for the workers to gather and exchange ideas. As soon as they sat down, tea was immediately brought to them, but Ma Xingchun shook his head to refuse his cup of tea.

    It was clear that he had a lot to get off his chest, and as soon as they sat down, he immediately began. "We''ve alreadypletely memorized the Omeyocan n that you brought to us, but the foundation of everything is the telescope."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, indicating for him to continue.

    "Without a telescope, we''re unable to examine the special properties of the space of this ne. We can''t determine whether there will be certain hazards, and we can''t do things like calcte the degree of loss of gravity from the trajectories of the asteroids. Thus, there''s no way for us to decide on what materials to us."

    "Isn''t that all outlined in the Omeyocan n?" Qin Ye asked.

    "We can''t just copy what''s on the n," another professor replied before Ma Xingchun could. "Through our analysis, we discovered that the Omeyocan n''s spacecraft isn''t suitable for our Cathayan Underworld. The design chosen for that spacecraft imitates a hermit crab, which is able to detach its shell at any point, but that was a decision made based on the special circumstances of the Usonian Underworld, and it''s not something we can replicate. If we''re going ahead with space exploration, then the entire nation muste together as one and pool its efforts together. Retreat cannot be an option! Hence, the design of our spacecraft will definitely have to be different. Truth be told, the material science and biology professors here have already proposed a better idea. On top of that, ording to the information we were given, there will be Yin beasts in outer space. If we can trace their movement and determine from their special characteristics what properties are required to travel through space, then that''ll allow us to make the best decision about how to proceed."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "What about the telescope? What requirements do you have for that?"

    Zu Chongzhi replied, "During the past two years of research, we''ve managed to work out the concept behind the super telescope described in the Omeyocan n. Following the demise of Yama-King level beings, their soul will dissipate, but their Yin energy will forever remain in their bones. They were able to infinitely extend the visual range of the telescope through Yin energy and Yin rune resonance. If we want to achieve the same thing, then we must use the bones of a Yama-King level Yin beast, and the only suitable thing we have at the moment is the Kraken. ording to Ghost King Zhao''s investigation, there are no longer any Yama-King level Yin beasts left in the Cathayan Underworld, and we''re currently trying to make Prefect-level Yin beasts work, but we''ve performed over 20 experiments, and Prefect-level Yin energy is simply unable to achieve perfect resonance with advanced Yin runes. If we lower our standards, then the effectiveness of the telescope will be greatly discounted."

    Qin Ye set down his teacup before looking directly at the professors. "Hypothetically speaking, if Hell can provide you with the remains of a Yama-King level being, how long will it take for you to build a super telescope."

    "One year! No, eight months!" All of the professors immediately stood up with fervent expressions upon hearing this.

    They had already had enough of this inability to make progress!

    The Cathayan Underworld was trying to develop space exploration technology, but they weren''t able to do anything! During the past two years, they had already memorized the Omeyocan n back to front, and they had be extremely frustrated by the limitations preventing them from making progress.

    Back when the Sword Coral Research Institute was first founded, all of the work groups were constantly debating with one another. However, at this point, everyone spent all their time drinking tea and reading newspapers together, asionally pulling out the Omeyocan n, which everyone had already memorized, so see if they would be struck by any miraculous sense of inspiration.

    Now that they were hearing what appeared to be a promise from Hell, they certainly weren''t going to pass up this opportunity!

    The Yin Mountains Research Institute had already made progress in developing second-generation forbidden arts, how could they fall behind? The Ying Mountains Research Institute was constantly releasing progress reports and holding press conferences at all of the major academies, while the Sword Coral Research Institute was unable to release anything. How were they supposed to recruit people in the future?

    Qin Ye smiled as he rose to his feet. "Pleasee with me, everyone."

    The professors needed no further invitation, and Qin Ye vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind before reappearing beside therge hole at the center of the tform. All of the scientists hurriedly followed along, not wanting to waste even a second.

    The entire scene had fallenpletely silent, and even the scientists and trainees who were elsewhere in the room turned to see what was happening, wondering why the professors were so excited..

    The professors paid no heed to what everyone else was thinking. They were staring intently into the hole, wondering if it was finally time for their Sword Coral Research Institute to shine after two whole years of frustrating stagnation.

    Ma Xingchun was so excited that his hands were trembling slightly, and everyone looked on intently as Qin Ye pulled out a small ck ball.

    The ball waspletely formed by Yin energy, and it was impossible to tell what it was. He gently crushed the ball in his hand, and in the next instant, a burst of vast Yin energy erupted over the entire area.

    All of the tables and chairs on the entire tform trembled and swayed violently in the face of the fearsome shockwaves, and all of the scientists who were drinking tea immediately had their tea spilled all over their chests. However, no one paid any heed to that as their attention was focused entirely on Qin Ye and the professors.

    This is... Yama-King level Yin energy!

 Chapter 1198: Spacecraft (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1198: Spacecraft (2)</h4>

    All of the scientists and trainees stood up virtually in unison as they looked on with incredulous expressions. Right before their astonished eyes, Yin energy was surging in formidable waves, causing their clothes to p incessantly and all of the items on the entire tform to tremble and shake.

    This was Yama-King level Yin energy, yet no one could see a second Yama-King present.

    Thus, the only exnation was that their King Yanluo had brought out a Yama-King level object!

    Will we finally have something to do other than read the Omeyocan n over and over again? Will we finally be able topete with the Yin Mountains Research Institute?

    No one knew just how frustrating their job was. They were given fantastic benefits, but they had nothing to do! The entire nation was rapidly bing more powerful, and the confidence that the poption had in the nation was growing by the day, but they had nothing to do with that!

    However, all that was about to change!

    A young scientist adjusted his own sses before immediately rushing over. He was followed by all of the other scientists present, who also converged toward the center of the tform as quickly as they could.

    "Hey! Don''t push! Get out of my way!"

    "Oi, who just passed through my body right now? Follow the rules, damn it!"

    "Have you no shame?! Levitation is prohibited here! How many times has the president told us that?!"

    A loudmotion instantly rang out as the center of the tform waspletely surrounded, and Zu Chongzhi was thoroughly embarrassed as he yelled, "Everyone, get back to 10 meters away! You''re making a fool out of yourselves in front of our King Yanluo! Anyone who gets any closer will be stripped of their right to continue participating in the research!"

    Under normal circumstances, that threat would carry no weight at all as there was nothing to research anyway.

    However, all of the scientists immediately backed away like obedient kittens upon hearing this, then instantly extended their heads forward by several meters. There were even some who went as far as to detach their own heads and toss them forward so that they could hang around the hole like orbiting stars.

    "Get your heads back as well!" Zu Chongzhi was almost roaring with fury at this point.

    Can these people not have some restraint?! What an utter disgrace!

    "It''s alright," Qin Ye said with a faint smile, then quickly made a string of hand seals, and the small ck ball at the center of the hole immediately exploded. A burst of powerful Yin energy was released, following which a skull with a head of red hair appeared above the hole.

    Everyone fell silent in this instant.

    This was what they had been dreaming of for years, and even Zu Chongzhi waspletely speechless in this moment. Everyone here knew the Omeyocan n back to front, so it was immediately apparent to them that this was the required medium for them to construct their super telescope!

    Furthermore, they could sense that this skull was even more powerful than that of the average Yama-King! Not only was it giving off Yama-King level Yin energy, it was also releasing a type of indescribable energy fluctuations that no one had ever felt before!

    Several secondster, Zu Chongzhi was the first one to return to his senses, and he took a deep breath before turning around. "All groups, begin discussion right away! Report all avable personnel to me! We will only be needing three group for this area!"

    Even though the Sword Coral Research Institute was responsible for the space exploration project, the project could be divided into several major areas, including materials, design, crafting, etc.

    At the moment, there were over 20 groups in total, and most of them were dedicated to design and crafting, so not many could be spared.

    However, the scientists immediately began to raise objections upon hearing this.

    "Three groups?! That head is massive! How can three groups be enough?"

    "I''m afraid I''ll have to disagree here, President. Design is aprehensive process that requires involvement in all parts of a project. If we''re not involved, how will we know how to design the telescope?"

    "That''s right! Firstly, we''ll need to get an in-depth understanding of the anatomy of this head, and that''s something that can only be achieved through extended observation. Experience is the mother of wisdom! How can we develop wisdom if you don''t let us experiment?"

    This was the only breakthrough that could allow the project to advance, and everyone was desperate to be involved.

    Why is it that some people get to work on this while we have to stand by and watch? Are you doubting my skills? How about wepare our credentials from the mortal realm?

    A loudmotion quickly broke out, and Zu Chongzhi was feeling the onset of a headache. He heaved a faint sigh, yet right as he was about to speak, Qin Ye beat him to it. "Please be quiet, everyone!"

    His Yama-King level Yin energy swept over the entire tform, and everyone immediately fell silent. Qin Ye smiled as he swept his gaze across everyone present, then asked, "What''s the rush?"

    What''s the rush?

    Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this before the fervent looks in their eyes became even more pronounced.

    Does that mean... there''s more?

    Qin Ye didn''t try to build any suspense, and he made a grabbing motion right in front of everyone''s eager eyes, upon which another ck ball appeared in his grasp. On this asion, as soon as the ck ball appeared, theherfire in the eyes of all of the scientists present erupted violently, and they frantically retreated to several dozen meters away.

    Their reaction was purely instinctive, one that was natural in the face of any apex predator.

    They could sense that the ck ball posed a lethal threat to them, one that was near inevitable, much like the power ofws!

    Zu Chongzhi was also in the same situation. His chest was heaving violently, and his back was pressed tightly against a table as he asked, "Your Excellency, could it be..."

    "That''s right, it''s a being above the Yama-King level," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "And it''s also going to be our spacecraft."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of light erupted straight into the dark heavens up above. Immediately thereafter, a burst of golden Yin energy rose up into the sky like a reverse waterfall, andyers uponyers of Yin clouds instantly gathered, creating a breathtaking sight to behold.

    A loud buzzing sound rang out, following which a massive butterfly that was over 100 kilometers in size descended from the Yin clouds.

    The entire tform instantly fell deathly silent.

    Inparison with this gargantuan object, the scientists down below were like specks of dust. This was also the present that had lied beyond the final gate in the Heavenly Dao''s pce of ice, theplete physical body of the inner demon.

    Even though this wasn''t the first time that Qin Ye had seen this body, he still couldn''t help but be awestruck in its presence.

    From the moment that he firstid eyes on it, a concept of the spacecraft had already emerged in his heart. Nothing was more suitable for this purpose. The body of a being above the Yama-King level was virtually indestructible, and if it were to be used as a spacecraft, it would undoubtedly be the ruler of the cosmos!

    "Your Excellency, is this... Is this really for us?" A trembling voice rang out.

    Can we really modify such a legendary entity?

    "Of course," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "This is the foundation of our future spacecraft. If I give you five years, will you be able toplete this project?"

    "For sure!"

    "Yes! As long as we have sufficient resources, we''ll be able to produce a decisive result within four and a half years!"

    "That''s not difficult at all! All we have to do is devise a blueprint ording to the structure of this body! We can even directly incorporate elements from the Omeyocan spacecraft!"

    A flurry of excited voices instantly rang out, and Ma Xingchun was so excited that his hands were trembling. He swung around to face Zu Chongzhi as he urged, "Please give the order now, President! I''m willing to make a pledge right here, right now, that I''ll produce an oue within the next five years with the three research and development groups!"

    "Not so fast!" An elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair suddenly stepped forward with around a dozen scientists behind him. "What makes you think you have the right to take on this project? Do you think I''m so old that I''m already senile? How many credentials do you havepared with mine? I think my second group is most qualified to take on this project!"

    Before he had a chance to finish, another elderly man stepped forward. "From the Chang''e project to the Yutu project, I''ve been the designer of six of the total of 14 satellites! I think we would all agree that the most skilled and qualified personnel should be assigned to this project, and that would undoubtedly be me and my group!"

    "That must be why both Chang''e-2 and Yutu-3 failed!"

    "Even so, I still created four sessful satellites! What have you done that could even begin topare with that?"

    With these incredible resources presented to them, it would only be a matter of time before they outdid the Yin Mountains Research Institute, and no one wanted to pass up this opportunity!

    Amid themotion and chaos, Qin Ye silently departed. It was up to the scientists to decide who would take on which projects, he had more important things to do.

    He had to begin nting footholds in Amano-Iwato in preparation for the future invasion.

    This was also going to be a lengthy process. Among Hell''s Yama-Kings, both Arthis and the Harken were extremely arrogant. If he were to send them to the Nipponese Underworld for negotiations, they would most likely instigate a war right away!

    Zhao Yun was also unsuitable for the task. He was quite calm, but he wasn''t a brilliant politician. As for Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges, they would simply fail to properly represent the Cathayan Underworld.

    Thus, the task had to fall upon his shoulders.

    "However, before that, I have some things to do," he murmured to himself before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind, and shortly thereafter, he had already arrived at the North Yin Pavilion in Everburn.

    He sat down at his own desk before writing out two imperial edicts, then knocked onto his desk, following which Secretary Jiang quickly made his way into the office.

    "Take this to the panel of advisors," Qin Ye said as he handed Secretary Jiang one of the imperial edicts, then continued, "This one goes to the Hanyang Underworld."

    Secretary Jiang picked up the imperial edicts before taking a look, and theherfire in his eyes immediately flickered slightly.

    The first imperial edict instructed the panel of advisors to devise as detailed a wartime strategy as possible within a season with the Nipponese Underworld as the hypothetical enemy.

    The second imperial edict was a summons to the ruler of Hanyang, Liu Yu.

    Both of these imperial edicts were teeming with killing intent, and Secretary Jiang carefully stowed them up his sleeve. Before he had a chance to leave the room, Qin Ye called out, "Hold on."

    After a brief silence, he continued, "Deliver a confidential verbal edict to Qin Hui, tell him that if any stirrings of a rebellion emerge in the Hanyang Underworld, kill all those involved with no exceptions!"

 Chapter 1199: Nine Dragon Abyss

    <h4>Chapter 1199: Nine Dragon Abyss</h4>

    Inside a brightly lit room, Liu Yu sat with a grim expression on his face, holding an imperial edict so tightly with his hands that the material was creasing beneath his fingers.

    "What is it, Your Excellency?" a ck-robed middle-aged man in the room asked with furrowed brows.

    This was a room that was around 100 square meters in area with incense burners fashioned in the form of cranes giving off a faint fragrance. At this moment, the doors of the room were tightly shut, and different types of fruits and intricate snacks had been carefully arranged on the eight immortal table at the center of the room. Including Liu Yu, there were four men seated around the table.

    They were Chu Linh Th?ch, Th?m ?i?n T?, and V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c.

    "Take a look for yourself." Liu Yu tossed the imperial edict onto the table like a dirty rag, causing the jade tes that were carrying the fruits and snacks to tter loudly. Chu Linh Th?ch raised an eyebrow as he took the imperial edict before taking a look, upon which a grim look also appeared on his face.

    "What does it say?" Th?m ?i?n T? and V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c asked in unison.

    However, Chu Linh Th?ch offered no reply. Instead, he picked up his teacup with tightly furrowed brows before taking a sip.

    Meanwhile, a cold smile appeared on Liu Yu''s face as he stroked his own beard. "That rascal in Everburn is summoning me to see him."

    After a full five seconds of silence, Th?m ?i?n T? asked in a surprised voice, "That''s it?"

    "That''s it!" Liu Yu suddenly mmed the table, and all of the teacups were almost knocked over.

    The entire room fell silent again.

    In any dynasty, Th?m ?i?n T?, V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c, and Chu Linh Th?ch would''ve been considered to be top-tier warriors. They werepletely ruthless and fearless in battle, yet in this moment, all three of them had fallen into an uneasy silence.

    Several secondster, Chu Linh Th?ch heaved a forlorn sigh. "The times have changed, Your Excellency. Yanluo Qin is no longer the same pushover he once was. Following the past 20 years of development, the Cathayan Underworld has reached great heights once again. It''s time that we bowed our heads to him."

    He looked up at the ptialntern overhead, which was antiquated in style, but was giving off electrical light. "Ever since the new energy resource was released to the world, even the three pirs have abandoned the idea of trying to knock down the Cathayan Underworld. With each passing base station that''s set up, their rtionship with the Cathayan Underworld grows closer and closer. The times have well and truly changed, Your Excellency."

    Liu Yu didn''t say anything, and only after a long while did he heave a long sigh. "Did I make a mistake?"

    "Not necessarily," V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c signed. "Under those circumstances, who wouldn''t have been tempted to im some territory for themselves? The only mistake we made was that we weren''t decisive enough, and it certainly didn''t help that Yu Qian and Yang Jiye had to mess with our ns. Also, Hell was far more decisive than we anticipated. After the imperial court meeting, they used new weapons to establish a brief and fragile rtionship of mutual benefit with us, thereby causing us to miss the ideal opportunity, and after that, they immediately took down Ashmound. At that point, it was already toote for us. Then came the intervention of the second King Yanluo and the return of Ghost King Zhao, and all of that took ce within a span of just three years. Everything changed in those three short years..."

    He heaved a faint sigh and shook his head as he fell silent.

    Thus, the room fell into silence again.

    Finally, Liu Yu opened his mouth to speak. "There''s no point in dwelling on the past. What should we do about this imperial edict?"

    Chu Linh Th?ch''s brows were tightly furrowed as he asked, "Are you worried that he''ll exact vengeance on you?"

    A cold smile appeared on Liu Yu''s face as he replied, "The third King Yanluo is definitely not one to just forget about grudges. Have you still not figured that out at this point? He''s much more able to swallow humiliation than the second King Yanluo, but whenever he''s chosen to strike back, I can''t think of an instance where he''s failed. To be honest, I''m not afraid of the second King Yanluo. At least with him, you always know what''sing. However, there''s no way to tell what the third King Yanluo is thinking, and if he does choose to strike you down, he''ll make sure to do it in one fell swoop."

    He picked up his teacup as if he wanted to take a sip, but set it down without doing so in the end. "Zhou Gongjin, Wang Meng, and the others pledged their loyalty to him even before us, but what happened to them? They were still essentially banished to grassroots units for over 10 years. No one in the nation was even aware of where those renowned historic figures were! If they hadn''t put their lives on the line during the Battle of Zhuolu, they''d still be toiling away with no reward for the foreseeable future. If I ept this summons..."

    His fists clenched up tightly as the silken tablecloth bunched up in his hands.

    Am I walking to my own execution?

    The entire imperial edict only consisted of a single sentence, but that only made it all the more unsettling.

    "Perhaps we can defect to the Nipponese Underworld," Th?m ?i?n T? murmured. "We''ve interacted quite frequently with them over the past century."

    "Are you an idiot?" V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c snapped. "Do you think the armies of the three eastern provinces are just there for show? Why do you think Qin Hui was assigned to the three eastern provinces? The economic center of the Cathayan Underworld lies on the coastline in cities like Ashmound and the City of Salvation! Why would an Abyssal Prefect like Qin Hui have been sent to the three eastern provinces instead of those ces? I''m willing to bet that if we disy any intention of defecting to the Nipponese Underworld at all, we''ll be dead before we know it! There''s no way we''d be able to get past the Strait of Tsushima! Also, how do you n to pass through the Array of the Nine Gods? We were connected to the Nipponese Underworld through Otakemaru, but Otakemaru has been missing for decades!"

    Amid the heated conversation, Liu Yu remained silent, and only after a full minute had passed did he heave a resigned sigh. "I will be traveling to Everburn to meet Yanluo Qin in three weeks. Prior to that, gather all of the documents detailing our dealings with the Nipponese Underworld in preparation for the meeting."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Cathayan Underworld, six paths of reincarnation.

    This was a certain section of the six paths of reincarnation with a long corridor that was 10 meters wide, and the walls were lined withnterns in the shape of the Pixiu Chimera''s head. Furthermore, there were Yin soldiers stationed along the corridor at five-step intervals.

    There was no sound whatsoever, and one wouldn''t even be able to tell if the heavily armored Yin soldiers were dead or alive if not for theherfire burning in their eyes.

    A group of red-robed servants drifted onto the ground in a respectful manner, and Qin Ye was situated at the center of the ground with his hands sped behind his back, flying atop a Yin cloud.

    There seemed to be no end to the corridor, and the monotonous scenery gave one a sense that the path was constantly repeating. Aside from the round halls that appeared once every kilometer, it was as if one had entered the world of reincarnation.

    Finally, 15 minutester, what appeared up ahead was a giant gate as opposed to another round hall. The gate was 20 meters tall and 15 meters wide, and the left half of the gate carried a relief of the Harken, while the right bore the design of the Pixiu chimera. At the center was an extremelyplex Lu Ban lock with a total of 32 rods.

    Arthis was already standing beside the Lu Ban lock, and her brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Qin Ye. "What brings you here?"

    Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand, and the servants on either side of him immediately departed, leaving only him and Arthis behind. He gently stroked the gate as he said, "I had always heard that the safest of cities had the most secure of prisons, and it seems that this ce is a perfect example."

    "... I''m sorry, but this ce is not a prison, it''s called the Nine Dragon Abyss, and it doesn''t have anything to do with the safety of the city. By the way, when are you going to be able to develop inte? I bet my Diamond rank ount has already fallen off!"

    Do you have to be so boring?! Can''t you just humor me for once?!

    Qin Ye cast a disdainful gaze toward Arthis.

    This was the downside of having too much power. There was simply no one that he could confide in anymore.

    "Open the gate!" Qin Ye snapped. He couldn''t even find anyone to fool around with anymore, and it was a little disheartening.

    I guess I can''t have everything...

    The extremelyplex 32-rod Lu Ban lock slowly opened up in front of Qin Ye, revealing an icy world beyond.

    There was whiteherfire everywhere, and the area was lit by massive candles. Down the center was a massive path, either side of which was lined bynterns crafted in the shape of the heads of Hell''s divine beasts, and they were all burning withherfire. Qin Ye knew that if any urgent situations were to arise, those mes would immediately erupt to transform this ce into a sea of fire.

    These were reincarnation karmic mes, mes of an even higher caliber than hellish karmic mes, and any being below the Infernal Judge level would be instantly killed on contact.

    On either side of the path were a total of 10 gates, every single one of which was forged from A-grade ore, ensuring that they were absolutely soundproof and devoid of any gaps.

    This was like the most secure prison in the Cathayan Underworld, and unless Arthis opened these gates in person, there was no other way to open them.

    There was no one here, nor any light present. If anyone were to be locked into this ce, then they would have to face eternal darkness.

    Qin Ye was here to see someone.

    As Arthis opened the fourth cell on the left, a room withvish decor was revealed.

    The room was around 100 square meters in size, and it was constructed in an antiquated Cathayan style. Inside the room was a person reading a book in silence.

    To be more urate, it was a spirit.

    His physical body was already gone, and all that remained was a pale, shadow-like soul. All alone in this spacious room, it seemed like an extremely lonely existence.

    A thin silver chain was locked around each of his four limbs, and the chains were very long, allowing him to move freely throughout the entire room. He seemed to have a decent degree of freedom, but all those well-versed in material sciences would be able to identify the material of the chains as spirit vanquishing rock. Even a Yama-King wouldn''t be able to break free from these chains.

    "Long time no see, Mr. Xu," Qin Ye said.

    Xu Fu flipped over a page in his book, then nodded with a calm expression. "Indeed. Take a seat."

    The three of them sat down at the eight immortal table at the center of the room, and Xu Fu said, "The books you sent me this time are quite good. Next time, please send me the Twenty-Four Histories. I''m nning to rewrite the history of Cathay."

    "I''m d to hear it," Qin Ye replied with a faint smile. "Have you been well, Mr. Xu."

    "I have, thank you for asking," Xu Fu chuckled. "I''m surprised you still remember someone like me."

    After the second King Yanluo searched Xu Fu''s soul, he didn''t destroy it. However, the soul was iplete, so it was impossible for Xu Fu to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Otherwise, Qin Ye wouldn''t have allowed such a ticking time bomb to remain in the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Nine Dragon Abyss was the ideal ce for him to stay, in his current form, Xu Fu wouldn''t be able to stray far away from the six paths of reincarnation even if he were released.

    "Do you need something from me?"

    "I do," Qin Ye said as he looked straight into Xu Fu''s eyes. "I have a question. How familiar are you with Amano-Iwato?"

    Xu Fu''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "Could it be that you''re nning to take down Izanami?!"

 Chapter 1200: Insider

    <h4>Chapter 1200: Insider</h4>

    Qin Ye smiled as he replied, "As the ruler of a nation, I''m naturally always interested in expanding my territory."

    Xu Fu''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. It had to be said that he was extremely handsome and refined in appearance. This expression would make anyone else appear sinister and sleazy, but it had an entirely different effect on him.

    Before he had a chance to reply, Arthis suddenly said, "Do you really want to stay here for the rest of your life?"

    Xu Fu immediately turned toward Arthis upon hearing this, and only after a long while did he shift his gaze away.

    Instead of speaking right away, he began to tap the surface of the table with his fingers, and several minutester, he smiled as he said, "The situation in the East Cathay Sea actually isn''t all thatplex."

    This was a decision that he couldn''t take lightly. He knew that even though Qin Ye hadn''t promised him any reward in exchange for this information, it would be extremely unwise of him to lie to Qin Ye in his current state. Furthermore, there was no way that the Nipponese Underworld would be able to withstand an attack from several Yama-Kings anyway, so there was no reason for him to lie.

    "Many years ago, I constructed Fantasy City using the seabed passageway. Due to the geographic location, the first party that I had to contact was the Nipponese Underworld." He smiled as he continued, "I''m not afraid to admit that I was constantly prepared to have to make my escape at the time, and the first direction I considered was naturally to go toward the east. The Nipponese Underworld wouldn''t ept me as they feared the wrath of the Cathayan Underworld, but at the very least, they wouldn''t be able to stop me from entering the new continent through the Pacific Ocean. I didn''t establish any deep ties with the Nipponese Underworld, but I did learn some things about it. For example, there are no Yin Yang Mezzanines in the mortal realm in Nippon. Instead, all of its entrances to the underworld are in its Shinto shrines. Do you know of shimenawa ropes? ording to Nipponese legends, stepping over a shimenawa rope entails crossing into another world. In reality, that''s not just a myth. The Nipponese Underworld has a total of nine Abyssal Prefects, but only Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto are advanced Abyssal Prefects ruling over the nine regions. They are assisted by around 30 Infernal Judges, who keep records of almost all of the shimenawa ropes, including who they are and when they crossed over. Only through those ces can one enter the Nipponese Underworld. In other words, the entrances to the Nipponese Underworld are very narrow, which make them very inconvenient for armies to pass through. This indicates that Izanami has already abandoned all thoughts of expanding her territory. However, if you want to advance your army into the Nipponese Underworld, then the only way would be by crossing over the shimenawa ropes."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "What do you mean when you say they keep records of ''almost'' all of the shimenawa ropes?"

    Xu Fu replied, "I once heard a rumor. There is a set number of shimenawa ropes in Nippon, but there are some that are unmonitored."

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    "They''re either situated near dpidated and abandoned shrines, or in extremely secluded areas. There''s no one maintaining those shimenawa ropes, but with the passage of time, some of them seem to be barely hanging on by a thread, but they refuse to snap. Why do you think that is?"

    "I have no time to y games," Qin Ye said in an indifferent voice.

    Xu Fu smiled as he continued, "It''s because of the Shinto religion. All underworlds exist due to legends in the mortal realm. That''s how things like grand scripts of deathe into existence. The legends and religions of the mortal realm can have an extremely significant impact on an underworld, and the existence of the Shinto religion makes it so that everything in Nippon truly has a spirit. Thus, it''s not an umon sight for things like ancient trees or rocks in secluded ces to develop spirits over time. The shimenawa ropes that they draw are more so for marking out their own territory rather than connecting the underworld with the mortal realm, and if I recall correctly, the most renowned of those territories belong to three ghostly immortals. The first one is Aokigahara of the Fuji River in Yamanashi prefecture. Upon reaching the deepest point of Aokigahara, you''ll encounter two massive trees that have centuries of history, and between them is a shimenawa rope formed entirely by interwoven ck and white hair. The second ce is Sandanbeki Rock Cliff of Wakayama prefecture. The shimenawa rope there is situated out at sea between two stone pirs, and it''s formed by the remains of seabirds, with all types of bird''s nests resting on it. The third one is the waterfall of Tojinbo in Fukui prefecture. The shimenawa rope there is situated on the seabed instead of on the surface of the sea. There are two giant stone pirs on the seabed there, between which is a shimenawa rope formed by seaweed, all types of shellfish, and the remains of fish. Foreigners wouldn''t be able to draw the connection at all, but the Nipponese would definitely be able to identify it as a shimenawa rope."

    He made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a horsetail whisk flew into his grasp as he continued, "If you would like to increase the scale at which your army advances into the Nipponese Underworld, then you''ll have toe into contact with these three demonic ghostly immortals."

    "Who are they?" Arthis asked.

    "I don''t know," Xu Fu replied. "I don''t have much interest in beings below the Yama-King level. However, they are the only pathways between Nippon and its underworld that aren''t monitored by Amano-Iwato. There are some other shimenawa ropes as well that belong to creatures such as Bake-danuki, but those are too small to be useful to you."

    This was a very important piece of information, and Qin Yemitted it to his memory before asking, "Is there anything else?"

    "There are many other pieces of information I can provide. How about you give me a month to recollect everything, then write it all down for you?" Xu Fu suggested. "If you want to know more information as quickly as possible, there''s someone I can rmend to you."

    "Who is that?"

    "Liu Yu, of course," Xu Fu replied with a smile. "Liu Yu was the first Emissary of Hell of note to contact Izanami, so she was naturally eager to reciprocate, and she sent someone by the name of Th?m ?i?n T? to Liu Yu."

    Th?m ?i?n T??

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. This was a very familiar name to him, so it had to have at least some level of importance in history.

    "He''s one of three most powerful warriors under Liu Yu, ranking alongside Chu Linh Th?ch and V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c," Arthis exined. "He''s only an Anitya Hellguard, so he''s nothing to be worried about."

    "Indeed," Xu Fu said with a smile. "Yanluo Qin has already be an advanced Yama-King, a level that I was only able to reach after thousands of years, and that''s a clear indication of how powerful Hell has be. As such, there''s naturally no need for you to be wary of a mere Anitya Hellguard. However, Th?m ?i?n T? was sent as a representative of Izanami, and during the first two years, allmunication between Fantasy City and Izanami was facilitated through Th?m ?i?n T?. In the beginning, we only traded some general items such as specialty local products, but as time passed, Th?m ?i?n T? began to ask for cultivation arts, arts, and artifacts. After that, he was reced by Otakemaru, who began to engage in trade of military weapons with me. Don''t forget that Liu Yu is outside of the Array of the Nine Gods."

    Qin Ye stood up as he nodded in response. "Alright, I understand."

    There was no further exchange of words, and Qin Ye and Arthis promptly departed. After returning to the six paths of reincarnation, Arthis turned to Qin Ye before asking, "What are you going to do?"

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he departed as a gust of Yin wind. "I''m going to make an example out of him, of course!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Liu Yu lifted the curtain of the carriage that he was sitting in before looking outside with an uneasy expression, and only after several minutes had passed did he allow the curtain to fall again.

    They were less than 10 kilometers away from Everburn.

    It had already been a very long time since he had been here, and he was astonished by just how drastically the Cathayan Underworld had transformed over the past two decades.

    A series of massive carriages drawn by Yin beasts were traveling along the main road. Most of them were cargo carriages, and there were quite a few passenger carriages as well, but not many of them were privately owned. After all, keeping and maintaining a Yin beast was quite expensive.

    There were countless orchards and farms on either side of the road. With the dissemination of the new energy resource, the Cathayan Underworld was able to replicate therge-scale farming machinery of the mortal realm. This type of model actually wasn''t suitable in Cathay due to its massive poption, but that wasn''t an issue in the Cathayan Underworld. Due to theparatively smaller poption, it was actually easier to implement farming on arge scale.

    It was often the case that stretches of factories would be interspersed between the farnds. Those were processing nts for different types of food such as eggs and dairy, meat and poultry, and even tea and other beverages. All of these industries were coexisting alongside therge-scale farms in a symbiotic rtionship, presenting a prosperous sight to behold.

    A series of cargo carriages were parked on the side of the road before traveling to all parts of the nation after they were filled with different types of food products. Liu Yu closed his eyes with a pained expression as he lowered the curtain.

    He naturally wasn''t going to take a public transport carriage. Instead, he was sitting in a luxurious rental beast-drawn carriage. The interior of the carriage was as stable as if they were in a stationary room, and there were all types of furniture, snacks, and beverages inside the carriage.

    Th?m ?i?n T?, V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c, and Chu Linh Th?ch were also in the carriage, but none of them were saying anything. Only after a long while did Chu Linh Th?ch heave a forlorn sigh. "It still feels like a dream..."

    Indeed, the rapid development that the Cathayan Underworld had experienced during the past 20 years waspletely surreal!

    Liu Yu took a sip of tea before gently setting his teacup down onto the table. "Have you noticed that not a single person hase to greet us since we entered the Cathayan Underworld? We were only granted travel permits by the relevant departments. What do you think that entails?"

    No one dared to reply.

    This was a clear indication that Hell was alreadypletely disappointed in the Hanyang Underworld.

    They had never been so fearful toward what was waiting for them, and this fear was being exacerbated further and further the closer they drew to Everburn.

    After a long while, Liu Yu heaved a resigned sigh. "We can only hope Yanluo Qin will forgive us in light of what we''ve prepared..."

    He wasn''t even convinced by his own words, but in the face of this colossal powerhouse, he no longer had any intention of resisting.

    Finally, a massive que bearing the word "Everburn" appeared in the distance, and it was surrounded by hovering specks of whiteherfire, making it look as if it were alive.

    Beneath the que was a security checkpoint constructed in the style of the Han Dynasty, and beyond the checkpoint was the vast and majestic city that was Everburn.

    The city was a perfectbination of antiquated and modern elements, and Liu Yu slowly closed his eyes as he instructed, "Take us to the Zhou Manor at 1204 Yellow Springs Road. "

 Chapter 1201: Attitudes

    <h4>Chapter 1201: Attitudes</h4>

    Over an hourter, the beast-drawn carriage that Liu Yu was sitting in slowly departed from Yellow Springs Road.

    The deeper one went down this road, the higher the rank of the officials living there. If it weren''t for their historic reputations, there was no way that the 12 envoys would''ve been able to live here. Even so, they were still only able to live not far from where the road began.

    Liu Yu lowered the curtain of the carriage before heaving a faint sigh. "Let''s go."

    "Your Excellency, all of your past colleagues are avoiding you! If we go back like this and Yanluo Qin decides to punish us for our transgressions, there won''t even be anyone to intercede for us!" Th?m ?i?n T? said in a grim voice.

    "Do you think meeting them will improve our situation?" Liu Yu snapped. "They''re barely able to keep themselves afloat, what makes you think they would be willing and able to help us?!"

    After many days of intense emotional stress, Liu Yu finally cracked. "I only came here to see if I could find a way out, but I always knew the chances were slim. Now that our final shred of hope has been dashed, let''s just face reality and ept our fate."

    He closed his eyes as he spoke, but his eyelids were trembling slightly.

    He heaved a long sigh as he leaned back against his seat while stroking a red wooden box, and after a long silence, he finally instructed, "Take us to the North Yin Pavilion."

    Th?m ?i?n T?, V??ng Tr?n ¨¢c, and Chu Linh Th?ch''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, and Chu Linh Th?ch gulped nervously as he said, "If we give that box to Yanluo Qin, our deaths will be sealed."

    "That may be true, but at the very least, we''ll have a chance of being allowed to reincarnate," Liu Yu said in a cold voice. "Alternatively, are you under the impression that we''ll be allowed to live anyway?"

    Everyone fell silent, and the carriage turned a corner before heading straight toward the North Yin Pavilion.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Liu Yu wants to see me?" Qin Ye asked as looked up from the document that he was reading. "Where is he right now?"

    "He''s waiting at the front desk," Wang Chenghao replied. "Would you like to see him now?"

    "Let him wait. Tell him that I''m busy." Qin Ye lowered his head to continue reading the document, yet right as Wang Chenghao was about to leave, he suddenly said, "Yu Qian and Yang Jiye are currently in Everburn for a debriefing at the moment, right? Get them toe and see me."

    Wang Chenghao quickly departed, and shortly thereafter, Yu Qian and Yang Jiye arrived before extending a bow in unison. "Yanluo Qin."

    This was their reward for choosing the correct side.

    While Zhou Yu and the others were still toiling away in grassroots units, Yu Qian and Yang Jiye had been allowed to keep their former territory and had even been granted the entirety of Southern Asia! One of them had been assigned with the duty of keeping an eye on the Hindustani Underworld to the east, while the other was overseeing the Strait of Tsushima.

    These were two extremely important locations, and only the most trusted of subordinates would''ve been assigned such duties.

    "Take a seat," Qin Ye said with a smile as he made an inviting hand gesture.

    Tea was immediately brought on by the servants, and as Yu Qian picked up his teacup, the refreshing fragrance of tea wafted into his nostrils, upon which his eyes immediately lit up. "This is some fine tea!"

    "We''ve already prepared some for you to take with you if you like," Qin Ye replied with a smile, then took a sip of his own tea before cutting straight to the chase. "Liu Yu is here."

    Yang Jiye''s smile faded upon hearing this, and he asked, "What do you n to do with him, Your Excellency?"

    Qin Ye looked down at his teacup as he replied, "He''s already mentally prepared for what''sing to him. I''ve finally summoned him to see me for the first time in over 20 years, and I''m sure he knows there''s no reason why I would spare his life. On top of that, we''re preparing for war against the Nipponese Underworld, so I have to recover the Hanyang Underworld. Originally, my n was to kill him in the presence of all of the envoys, but I''ve changed my mind now. He came here even though he knows that his death is inevitable, so he must be trying to salvage what little reputation and honor he can. Under these circumstances, if I were to grant him the death sentence, the impact that it would have on the other envoys wouldn''t be quite as potent. On top of that, Liu Yu is quite a capable warrior, so it would be a pity to kill him."

    Indeed, Liu Yu was someone who had once almost united the entirety of Cathay, and there certainly weren''t many people in history who could boast the same achievement.

    "But Your Excellency, sparing him wouldpromise your authority!" Yu Qian immediately countered. "There have been countless brilliant individuals throughout history, but if Hell chooses not to use them, they''ll beplete nobodies! Xiang Yu was every bit the warrior that Liu Yu was, if not more, but after entering the underworld, he was unwilling to work with Liu Bang, and he threatened King Yanluo at the time to try and get his way. As a result, he was banished from the military and never heard from again. Why should Liu Yu receive special treatment?"

    "I disagree." To Qin Ye''s surprise, Yang Jiye offered an objection before he could. "The events that you described took ce during the reign of the first King Yanluo, where he had a vast abundance of powerful warriors under hismand, so Xiang Yu was entirely disposable. In contrast, it would indeed be a pity to kill Liu Yu under these circumstances."

    After expressing their opinions, neither of them said anything further, and they both turned to Qin Ye for his opinion.

    After a few minutes of contemtion, Qin Ye concluded, "He definitely must be killed, but depending on his performance, he can perhaps redeem himself. If he proves himself to be useful, I''m willing to send him to the path of the beast to be reincarnated for three lifetimes before returning to serve Hell. If the opposite is true, then I wouldn''t mind sending an extra passenger to ck Yaksha''s paper flower boat. Servants, summon Liu Yu to see me."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    This wasn''t the first time that Liu Yu had entered the North Yin Pavilion.

    He had been here on a previous asion many years ago, but since then, the world had changed rapidly and left him far behind.

    He followed a servant into the pavilion, walking over the red carpet in the resplendent long corridor. Along the way, he was greeted by the sight of the asional passing group of ptial maidens carrying tters that wereden with all types of delicacies and fine wines. Countless chaotic thoughts were shing through his mind, but he was brought back to reality by the voice of the servant. "We''re here, Master Liu."

    Up ahead was an open redwood door with extremely life-like reliefs of the Aurogon engraved upon it. Beyond the door was a series of giant red pirs carved in the form of coiled dragons, and a figure was seated on a golden throne at the center of the spacious room.

    He was giving off a vast tsunami-like aura that could only belong to an advanced Yama-King, and Liu Yu heaved a long sigh before making his way into the room.

    As soon as he entered the room, the door was gently closed behind him.

    The entire pce was very quiet, so much so that even a pin drop would be audibly heard, and the only sound came from the asional sips of tea taken by Yu Qian and Yang Jiye. Liu Yu gritted his teeth tightly, then fell to his knees before kowtowing heavily to the ground. "I am here to atone for my crimes."

    This was humiliation of the highest order.

    He was an emperor who had oncee close to uniting Cathay, yet he was forced to kowtow to the emperor of the underworld, and in the instant that his forehead made contact with the carpet, his expression was slightly twisted from shame.

    All of his pride faded away like the wind with this gesture.

    There was still no sound.

    Qin Ye''s overwhelming Yin energy was flowing through the pce as if it had substantial form, and Liu Yu didn''t dare to raise his head. Only after several seconds had passed did he hear a calm voice. "What crimes do you have to atone for?"

    A myriad of emotions were surging through Liu Yu''s heart as he replied, "I havemitted too many transgressions to count! Threatening Hell with the Hanyang Dynasty is a crime of disloyalty! Raising my troops against Everburn is a crime of insubordination, and refusing to yield even as the other envoys conceded is a crime of sin! I deserve nothing but the severest of punishments, but I implore that you give me the opportunity to redeem myself!"

    He was being very open and honest. Then again, in this situation, he didn''t dare to hide anything. A reminiscent look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes as he stared at Liu Yu.

    Back when he was at the most difficult stage of his tenure as King Yanluo, the 12 envoys had seemed like insurmountable obstacles, but since then, all of them had been forced to concede to him one after another.

    "Is that all of the crimes that you have to atone for?" Qin Ye asked as he took a sip of tea. "Have a good, hard think. Is there anything else of particr importance that you''ve neglected to mention?"

    If Yin spirits could sweat, Liu Yu would already be drenched in cold sweat.

    Of course there was!

    He had colluded with Izanami and the Russian Underworld to betray the Cathayan Underworld! This was the severest of all of his transgressions!

    He didn''t dare to reveal this. As one of the former 12 envoys, he knew just how cruel thews of Hell were. Furthermore, with the emergence of the Reincarnation King, the 18 abysses of punishment had most likely also beenpleted, and just the thought of that was enough to make his skin crawl.

    Even those as mighty as Su Daji and Qin Hui didn''t dare to oppose Hell after entering the 18 abysses of punishment.

    He didn''t dare to answer, but that didn''t mean that everyone was going to wait patiently for him.

    "Hurry up!" Yu Qian prompted. "Yanluo Qin has asked you a question. As his subordinate, you are obligated to reply!"

    "I... I..." Liu Yu was beginning to tremble at this point, and he kowtowed once again as he said, "My crimes are too heinous to be mentioned, but I ask for an opportunity to redeem myself! From now on, I will put my life on the line and fight for Hell wherever you see fit!"

    The only way he could beg for a sliver of an opportunity for redemption for himself was to rely on his prowess as a warrior, and that only further exacerbated his humiliation.

    "Too heinous to be mentioned?" Qin Ye repeated in an indifferent voice. "Don''t worry, the worst that could happen to you is to be sent to the 18 abysses of punishment. Do you think I wouldn''t send you there as long as you don''t admit to your crimes? Just the crime of raising your army against the City of Salvation alone warrants the death sentence by a hundredfold!"

    He mmed the table as he abruptly rose to his feet. "In the wake of the old Hell''s demise, everyone was fully dedicated to building the new Hell. You were the only subordinates that I could rely on at the time, yet what did you do?! You tried to usurp me!"

    He made his way over to Liu Yu and looked intently down at him. "This is yourst chance, Liu Yu. Tell me what else you did. If you disy enough sincerity, I can consider not putting you through 10 lifetimes of reincarnation as a punishment!"

    This was the final straw that broke the camel''s back, and Liu Yu''s psychological defenses were instantly destroyed.

    Prior toing here, he had thought of countless excuses and countless ways that he could try to weasel his way out of punishment, but only now did he realize that there was no chance for negotiation at all in the face of absolute power.

    He raised his hands above his head, offering a red wooden box to Qin Ye.

    "These are the records of everything I''ve done over the past century, including who I''vee into contact with, how I contacted them, and all of the information I managed to gather on those people. All I ask is that you give me an opportunity to redeem myself, Yanluo Qin..."

    Qin Ye''s eyes finally lit up upon seeing this.

    This was exactly what he wanted!

 Chapter 1202: The Verdict on Liu Yu

    <h4>Chapter 1202: The Verdict on Liu Yu</h4>

    There was another reason why Qin Ye didn''t want to kill Liu Yu right away, and that was because he wanted the records of his interactions and dealings with other nations.

    It would be very simple to kill Liu Yu. However, if he were to give Liu Yu no hope at all, then there was a very good chance that Liu Yu would simply refuse to say anything or provide false information. If that were to happen, he wouldn''t be able to derive any benefit out of this.

    Thus, he wanted Liu Yu to hand over the information himself.

    With a gentle wave of his hand, the box flew into Qin Ye''s grasp, following which he returned to his seat as a gust of Yin wind, and only after a long while did he speak again.

    "Liu Yu."

    "I''m here."

    "In the wake of the fall of Fengdu, you staged a coup with the forces of Hanyang, and that is a crime of treason. You established your own territory, refusing to return to the Cathayan Underworld, that is a crime of insubordination. You coborated with external forces to conspire against your own nation, and that is a crime of disloyalty. For those three crimes, you will be sentenced to the ultimate punishment in the six paths of reincarnation."

    In that instant, Liu Yu''s breathingpletely stopped, and he felt as if the world were falling apart around him.

    His vision wentpletely dark, and he was wing at the carpet with such force that it was being torn by his fingers. He opened his mouth several times to say something, but was unable to say anything in the end.

    No... It shouldn''t be like this... I don''t want my name to be disgraced like this!

    Right at this moment, Qin Ye''s voice rang out again. "However, in light of the fact that you''re sincere in your desire to redeem yourself and the service you''ve provided to the old Hell..."

    He paused intentionally as he cast his gaze toward Liu Yu.

    Liu Yu had bitten through his lower lip, and his body was trembling uncontrobly.

    "You will be sent to the path of the beast for three lifetimes, after which you will get a chance to serve Hell again."

    Liu Yu felt as if a massive weight had fallen off his shoulders, and he kowtowed once again in a wooden manner. "I ept my fate and thank you for your kindness..."

    A Soul Shackle extended out of the heavens, plunging into Liu Yu''s chest before dragging him away.

    "How fortunate for him," Yu Qian sighed before turning to Qin Ye with a smile. "Your generosity truly knows no bounds, Yanluo Qin. Had I been in your position, I wouldn''t have been so kind."

    Qin Ye smiled in response and offered no reply. At this point, the 12 envoys were virtually negligible to the current Hell, so sentencing Liu Yu didn''t affect him much on an emotional level.

    "Get Zhou Gongjin toe and see me," he said in an indifferent voice.

    As soon as the order was issued, a voice dered from outside, "Zhou Gongjin, Yanluo Qin will see you now!"

    At the same time, the sound of a long horn rang out, and the gates were opened one after another. Soon, Zhou Yu made his way into the pce, d in a full suit of armor, then cupped his fist in a salute. "Zhou Gongjin pays his respects to Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye was seated casually on his throne, gently drumming the armrest with his fingers as he said with a smile, "Long time no see, Commander Zhou. Have you been well?"

    Theherfire in Zhou Yu''s eyes flickered slightly as he hurriedly replied, "I have been well, thank you for asking, Your Excellency."

    "No need for formalities," Qin Ye said. "I saw the valiant efforts of the 12 envoys during the Battle of Zhuolu."

    "We were only doing what was to be expected of us."

    These replies were a little rigid, and Qin Ye didn''t like that. He put on a nonchnt disy as he remarked, "It looks like the 12 envoys are still as powerful as ever."

    It seemed like nothing more than an errant remark, but it immediately set Zhou Yu''s mind racing.

    What''s that supposed to mean? Does he think we''re too powerful and is beginning to grow wary of us?

    He carefully contemted his words before replying, "In order to make up for our past mistakes, we haven''t dared to ck off in our training for even a single day so that we would constantly be ready to serve Hell when required."

    The fear and caution in Zhou Yu''s words were very apparent, and Qin Ye couldn''t help but think back to the time when the 12 envoys had stormed Everburn, which was only a plot of barrennd. He was willing to bet that they had never thought the day woulde where they would have to Hell like this.

    "How is the training of the naval forcesing along?"

    Theherfire in Zhou Yu''s eyes flickered once again upon hearing this, and he seemed to have realized something as he replied, "I''ve been constantly training our naval forces in preparation for the day that they''ll be deployed."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "I have a mission, and after much thought, I realized that you''re the only one capable of undertaking it. In the wake of Liu Yu''s punishment, Hanyang will be vacant. However, the Hanyang Underworld is situated at a very important location, monitoring both the Strait of Tsushima and the Russian Underworld, so it cannot be without a leader. Will you be able to take over?"

    "Yes, Yanluo Qin! I would be honored!" Zhou Yu immediately replied as he cupped his fist in an ted salute.

    Qin Ye cautioned with a meaningful expression, "Don''t forget that these are naval forces of the sea, which are different from the naval forces of the Red Cliffs."

    "I''ve never trained sea-dwelling naval forces, but I''m willing to give it a try!" Zhou Yu certainly wasn''t going to pass up this opportunity!

    "Alright, you can go now," Qin Ye said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You''ll receive an official assignment notice within a week. As for what you''re going to do and how you''re expected to develop Hanyang, Governor Qin Hui will be the one to tell you all that."

    "Yes!" Zhou Yu took a deep breath before departing from the hall.

    Inside the hall, Qin Ye exchanged a nce with Yu Qian and Yang Jiye. At this point, all of the preparations were underway, and all that was left was for the panel of advisors to go through the information provided by Liu Yu and devise a n to invade the Nipponese Underworld. The gears of war had already been set into motion...

    Qin Ye rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a salute. "I''ll be taking my leave now."

    Before Yu Qian and Yang Jiye had a chance to speak, he continued, "Once the panel of advisors decides on a n, I''ll be sure to notify the two of you right away via messenger birds. All you have to do is keep a close eye on the Hindustani Underworld and the Strait of Tsushima. Make sure not even a single fly gets past you!"

    "Yes!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Time passed by very quickly, and a quarter shed past in the blink of an eye. Everything was peaceful and prosperous in the Cathayan Underworld, and the nation was developing rapidly.

    On the surface, there didn''t appear to be anything out of the ordinary happening, but there were certain things that were unfolding in a slow and subtle manner away from the public eye.

    For example, the term "Nipponese Underworld" was frequently making headlines during the past quarter.

    During the past few years, the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t refrained from participating in international conferences. The nation had only just re-established its ce in the world, and it was naturally wise to bolster that position.

    That wasn''t to say that they attended every conference that they could, but the Cathayan Underworld was never absent from the important conferences. During this time, the Cathayan Underworld naturally interacted with all of the other major underworlds.

    The most frequent source of international news in rtion to the Cathayan Underworld was Izanami of the Nipponese Underworld. However, all of these pieces of news were negative with no exceptions. For example, there were news stories about how Izanami was opposed to the Cathayan Underworld''s policies, how she was a spokesperson for the three pirs, encouraging the Russian Underworld to form an Eastern Asian co-prosperity sphere, only to be rejected.

    All of these pieces of news were spread through the media as subtle propaganda, and within the short span of just a month, public opinion of the Nipponese Underworld had begun to plummet.

    Of course, this was only the beginning.

    A reason had to be manufactured to instigate this war. Only then could they contain controversy and prevent an eruption of domestic anti-war sentiments. Thus, the first thing that the Cathayan Underworld had to do was to viinize the Nipponese Underworld.

    Thankfully, the two nations had a less than amicable rtionship to begin with, and that was why it had been so easy to stir up public outrage toward the Nipponese Underworld.

    There were also other preparatory measures being taken, such as Minister of Defense Qin Changxin''s recent announcement that two fleets consisting of a total of four naval divisions were going to be established in the next three years, or the policy that the government had implemented at the end of March to open up all coastal ports and support the shipbuilding industry.

    Thanks to the Array of the Nine Gods, the Cathayan Underworld didn''t have to hide its intentions. No one could leak any information to the outside world, but those in the Cathayan Underworld who knew what to look for could already see the writing on the wall. As a result, the number of Yin spirits conscripted into the military swelled to an all-time high, and around 20% of all enrolment applications in the nation were submitted to military academies.

    This machine of war that was powerful enough to strike fear into the entire world was already being silently mobilized, and once it emerged from the Array of the Nine Gods, it wouldy waste to its unfortunate target.

    Meanwhile, Qin Ye''s attention was primarily dedicated to the research into space exploration technology and second-generation forbidden arts. Without those two things, there was no way he was going to war, even if the entire nation fully supported a war effort.

    During this process, he also discovered some new uses for the origin rune of emotions and desires. At the moment, he could control it to split it up into countless butterflies, and he could control these butterflies at will anywhere within the Cathayan Underworld, but he couldn''t sense them when they were in the mortal realm.

    Each butterfly was capable of stirring up or calming a Yin spirit''s emotions, so there was one apanying every single researcher in the Sword Coral Research Institute and the Yin Mountains Research Institute.

    This allowed all of the scientists to be absolutely calm or extremely fervent depending on the requirements of the situation. Thus, Qin Ye was able to manipte their emotions like machines, and the efficiency of the two research institutes was raised by about 20% as a result.

    Out of the two research institutes, the Yin Mountains Research Institute was by far the more renowned one. After all, it was the birthce of the electricity-like energy string. However, the Sword Coral Research Institute was certainly nothing to be scoffed at, and it was constantly vying to outdo its more renowned counterpart, so there was a rtionship of healthypetition between the two.

    At this moment, in the Yin Mountains Research Institute, Qin Ye and Lu Ban were peering through a panel of ss with serious expressions.

    This was the newly developed impact-resistant ss, and it would take five minutes even for an Abyssal Prefect to shatter it. The cost of its production was incredibly expensive, and directly beneath it was a spacious area.

    The area was roughly 10 kilometers in size, and the ground was littered with engraved Yin runes. There were also countless talismans hovering in the air and slowly revolving, releasing bright blue light that had a dreamy quality to it.

    The statues of the four symbols were situated in the four corners of the space, each releasing a beam of rainbow light that converged at the center, where a crimson saber was lying in a pit that was around 50 meters in radius.

    As one burst of power after another rapidly converged toward the de, illusory images of countless different types of flora and fauna were glowing on its surface, and it was releasing an aura that was superior to even the Yama-King level!

 Chapter 1203: Land of the Setting Sun

    <h4>Chapter 1203: Land of the Setting Sun</h4>

    Arcs of blue electricity surged over the massive de, and balls of light that resembled stars slowly lit up in a profound pattern on the surface of the sword. They were like bright celestial bodies in a storm of lightning.

    Bursts of Yin energy converged toward the de to ignite the dazzling stars, and there were around 17 stars in total on the entire sword. However, each one of them was extremely slow to light up, and right as the fifth star was ignited, the surrounding Yin energy abruptly shuddered beforepletely fading.

    "What a pity," Qin Ye sighed as he turned around. Looks like we still have a long way to go.

    This was the mold for the second-generation forbidden art.

    It had been crafted in the form of a ymore, and its production cost was in the tens of billions. It had only just beenpleted, yet only in theory was it able to contain a second-generation forbidden art. Unfortunately, during this first experiment, it was only able to gather Yin energy in five of its nodes.

    Unless all 17 nodes could light up at once, the second-generation forbidden art couldn''t bepleted. Furthermore, the subsequent molds would potentially have to undergo massive changes in order to light up all 17 nodes, so at the very most, only a quarter of the project wasplete.

    No one was surprised by this, and Lu Ban waspletely unfazed. It would be extremely abnormal if they seeded right away.

    The surrounding recorders were quickly taking notes, and Lu Ban strolled along beside Qin Ye as he said, "We estimate that we''ll be able toplete 10 nodes within a year. This projection is thanks, inrge part, to the cooperation of Ghost King Zhao, whose understanding of advanced Yin runes is near unrivaled in this world. However, subsequent required injection of funds is going to be a big problem..."

    "Just do what you need to do," Qin Ye instructed without any hesitation. "As long as the costs are necessary, I''ll ensure that they''re met."

    Right at this moment, Wang Chenghao quickly made his way over to them. "Your Excellency, the panel of advisors have submitted their n of action against the Nipponese Underworld."

    Qin Ye took a deep breath upon hearing this, then asked, "Where are they right now?"

    "They''ve already arrived at the Yin Mountains," Wang Chenghao replied as the two of them quickly departed. "The main decision-makers behind the n were Director Qin Changxin and the top academicians of the panel of advisors. From this day forth, the panel of advisors will be split up into two groups, one of which will go to the Yin Mountains Research Institute, while the other will go to the Sword Coral Research Institute, and that''ll allow them to constantly monitor the progress of the two projects."

    All wartime strategies had to be decided based on real-world circumstances, and second-generation forbidden arts and the means by which tounch the forbidden arts were imperative for the n to seed. Thus, these two pieces of technology formed the core of this strategy.

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then quickly passed through a long corridor with excitement in his heart before arriving in front of arge door.

    The door was opened, and Qin Ye stepped into the room beyond before giving everyone inside a casual nod. "Take a seat, everyone."

    Beyond the door was a spacious conference hall, within which around a dozen underworld emissaries had already gathered. After taking a seat, Qin Ye wasted no time in getting to the main topic at hand. "Let''s begin. Who''s going to be presenting the n to me?"

    Qin Changxin rose to his feet. Having worked with Qin Ye for over 20 years, he knew that Qin Ye wasn''t one to waste time with formalities.

    He cupped his fist in a salute toward everyone in the hall, then began his report. "With the information that Liu Yu provided three months ago, we were able to develop a clear understanding of the Nipponese Underworld. At the moment, what we know is that the core of the Nipponese Underworld is split up into three levels, the Dream Caverns, the Blood Maggot Abyss, and the Inner Heavens. ording to what I''ve seen and heard in the past, the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld is situated underground, and its entrance resembles a volcano. Yin spirits are taken to volcanic crater by underworld emissaries before jumping in, and the Dream Caverns refer to the stretch from the volcanic crater to underground. The Blood Maggot Abyss is where Izanami''s entire body was consumed by maggots, while the Inner Heavens are a hignd constructed beneath the ground to replicate Takamagahara. Its highest point is Izanami''s resting quarters, Amano-Iwato."

    Everyone present, including Qin Ye, was listening intently in silence. Meanwhile, Qin Changxin''s voice continued to echo throughout the conference hall. "ording to Liu Yu''s records, the Nipponese Underworld hasn''t explored Limbo. As we all know, there are Prefect-level monarch beasts residing in Limbo, so it would be too dangerous for third-rate underworlds to explore. In contrast, our Cathayan Underworld is able to ess the mortal realm through Yin Yang Mezzanines that pass directly through Limbo. The Nipponese Underworld does not have the power to protect those passageways, so they employed a different method."

    He set his chair aside before taking a few steps backward, then began to draw a design in the air with his hand. Soon, the image of a massive mirror that waspletely formed by Yin energy took shape in mid-air.

    It was a stone mirror with a mirror surface at the center, which was surrounded by a stone frame. The material of the frame had been carved into the form of Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto, and the carvings were holding the mirror with their hands.

    "This is an inter-realm mirror," Qin Changxin introduced in a serious voice. "There are over 1,000 of these mirrors in the Nipponese Underworld, and they can connect the underworld to the mortal realm, so this is how their underworld emissaries traverse between the two realms. The final destinations that these mirrors lead to are the areas beyond the shimenawa ropes of the major Shinto shrines."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Are you saying that there are only around 1,000 openings through which the Nipponese Underworld can deploy its troops?"

    "That''s correct."

    "How big are these mirrors?"

    "They''re around 20 meters wide and 15 meters tall."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. This meant that at the very most, the mirrors could only allow rows of 20 Yin soldiers to pass through, which would equate to a maximum of 20,000 troops deployed at a time.

    In the face of Hell''s army enhanced by the Wumu military formation, an army of 20,000 would be nothing more than cannon fodder!

    All of a sudden, one of the other decision-making academicians interjected, "Your Excellency, this is not an arrangement that the Nipponese Underworld chose voluntarily. Do you still recall the time when the seven underworld joined forces to attack our Cathayan Underworld?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and the academician continued, "Back then, the army of the Russian Underworld was stationed at the Nipponese Underworld, which was also involved in the war. However, as we all know, they never set foot into our Cathayan Underworld in the end. Seeing as they failed, they had to ept a punishment, and that punishment was for the Nipponese Underworld to rid itself of all avenues through which it could mobilize troops on arge scale. Even now, the Nipponese Underworld still doesn''t dare to go against this order that''s been enforced upon them. On top of that, this is not just a matter of 20,000 troops. While it''s true that they can only deploy 20,000 troops at a time, and that''s nowhere near enough tobat our army, the important thing to realize is that those 20,000 troops will be distributed throughout all of the Nipponese Underworld. In other words, if we focus our attack on a single ce, we won''t even be facing 20,000 troops."

    I see...

    Qin Changxin continued, "This is n A, which involves attacking from the mortal realm."

    "Is there something wrong with that?" Qin Ye asked.

    Qin Changxin didn''t give a direct reply. Instead, he said, "Following this n would create a problem. The Nipponese Underworld is very much aware of its limitations, so it intentionally made its inter-realm mirrors quite small, thereby making their nation more difficult to invade and easier to defend. Thus, the same restrictions apply to us in that we can also deploy 20,000 troops into their borders at a time."

    It was unknown whether the Amatsukami would participate in the war, but there was a very high likelihood that they would. In any case, the main opposition that they would have to face would still be from the Kunitsukami. The Nipponese Underworld could deploy 20,000 troops at a time, but this was referring to deployment from the underworld to the mortal realm, while the same limitation applied to the Cathayan Underworld.

    Thus, the 20,000 troops of Hell''s army would have to face the four million Kunitsukami, and no matter how weak those Kunitsukami were, victory was still all but assured for them.

    Qin Ye stroked his own chin in a contemtive silence for a long while before asking, "What''s n B?"

    "n B involves attacking from the underworld. We enter Hokkaido from the Strait of Tsushima, locking down the coastline of Hokkaido while the Hanyang Underworld also deploys its troops to intercept the Nipponese Underworld''s army from the other side, thereby forcing them into a showdown with us in Kansai or Chugoku. Once that happens, we''ll be able to wipe them out in one fell swoop with a forbidden art!"

    "What are the limitations of that n?"

    "The issue here is that the Nipponese Underworld has always been extremely cautious when ites to the Strait of Tsushima. They''re constantly monitoring the area, so we wouldn''t be able to mobilize our army without their detection. As soon as they discover our intention to attack Hokkaido, they''ll be able to choose to engage us in naval warfare in the Sea of Nippon. What makes things even more troublesome is the Nipponese Underworld''s national protective array, Divine Wind."

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    Just the name of this array alone spelled trouble.

    Many years ago, the Mongolian Empire almost conquered Nippon, but their entire army was forced back into retreat by none other than a gust of wind. All of the Nipponese people thanked the heavens for this miracle, referring to it as the Divine Wind.

    Taking back Yue Fei from the Nipponese Underworld was one thing, but there was also the other objective, which was for the Nipponese Underworld to flex its muscles to the entire world. Deploying Yama-Kings alone wouldn''t be enough. All of the other three pirs had ess to top-tier military formations, which would allow them to stall a Yama-King for a short time with just tens of thousands of Yin soldiers. Thus, Yama-Kings on their own wouldn''t be able to produce a sufficiently intimidatory effect.

    What they had to disy was a brand new way of war that was unique to the Cathayan Underworld.

    The intention was to shock the entire world with a moment simr to when the atomic bombs were dropped in the second world war.

    Only then would they be able to ensure that the Array of the Nine Gods could be safely withdrawn without the three pirs constantly raring to make a move against the Cathayan Underworld. They would constantly remember that plotting against the Cathayan Underworld could lead to devastating consequences.

    With the Divine Wind Array at their disposal, the Nipponese Underworld would definitely choose the Nipponese Sea as their battleground. Even if they didn''t react right away, they should at least be able to intercept the Cathayan Underworld''s army near Hokkaido, and that would not be ideal.

    If they couldn''t even take down a third-rate underworld like the Nipponese Underworld with speed and ease, then that would be like a p to the face for the Cathayan Underworld.

    "Looks like neither n A nor n B are viable. Is there a n C?"

    Qin Changxin replied, "No, but we do have abination n. Firstly, we deploy troops from the Hanyang Underworld to pressure the Nipponese Underworld from the Shikoku region, making it appear as if we''re going tounch a direct attack there..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Qin Ye''s eyes lit up as he said, "So you''re saying we distract them in the underworld while taking down the three unmonitored shimenawa ropes in the mortal realm before using those to enter Hokkaido. After that, we advance our army from both sides to force the enemy to the center, is that correct?"

    Before Qin Changxin had a chance to reply, Qin Ye continued, "In doing so, we''ll definitely be able to corner the Nipponese Underworld''s army into a final showdown, but during the process, they''ll vacate a lot of territory, which we''ll have to conquer. However, if we do that, our forces will be weakened as we don''t have that many troops to spare."

    Qin Changxin nodded in response. "That''s right, which is why we still need to do one more thing, which is to find puppets for our Cathayan Underworld!"

 Chapter 1204: Nine Ghostly Monarchs

    <h4>Chapter 1204: Nine Ghostly Monarchs</h4>

    Just like during the war between Nippon and Cathay in the mortal realm, with each ce that was conquered, a faux government had to be established in order to maintain control over the territory.

    Qin Changxin said in a fervent voice, "The Nipponese Underworld isn''t arge nation, but its hierarchy ispletely different from our Cathayan Underworld. Instead of a linear system, theirs is more like a triangr system with Izanami at the top of the triangle. There are three powers vying with one another, and not all of them are in support of Izanami''s reign. In fact, there are even some among them with pro-Cathayan sentiments."

    Qin Ye raised his head and took a meaningful look at Qin Changxin upon hearing this, but didn''t say anything. With a gentle wave of his hand, the documents on the table flew over to him, and he began to carefully inspect them.

    Qin Changxin opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but remained silent in the end and sat back down.

    His eagerness had gotten the better of him.

    He knew what mistake he had made. He had been yearning for this for several centuries, and due to his excessive eagerness, he had missed some things.

    For example, Izanami wasn''t the only Abyssal Prefect in the Nipponese Underworld. She was the only one who could be considered to be half a step away from the Yama-King level, but in terms of Abyssal Prefects, there were actually nine in total in the Nipponese Underworld.

    There was Yamata no Orochi of Kyushu, Susa Boy of Chugoku, Susanoo-no-Mikoto of Kansai, Izanami of Chubu, Hato of Kanto, Emperor Sutoku of Tohoku, and Tamamo-no-Mae of Hokkaido.

    Each Abyssal Prefect was overseeing a region. Izanami knew that she wasn''t powerful enough to force all of the Abyssal Prefects to submit to her, so she very wisely chose to adopt an authoritarian system. The number of troops in each region wouldn''t exceed 300,000, and the rest were all gathered in Kanto or Chubu.

    This information should''ve been disclosed to Qin Ye from the get-go, but in his haste to proceed, Qin Changxin had neglected to do so. It was as if he wanted to convince Qin Ye that attacking the Nipponese Underworld was a trivial matter that he didn''t need to personally attend to, and that all he had to do was give his approval.

    If Qin Ye were a mediocre ruler, he would''ve most likely allowed Qin Changxin to do as he pleased. However, as a conscientious ruler who ruled with an iron fist, the more information that Qin Changxin revealed, the more he was struck by the feeling that things were creeping out of his control. This was why Qin Ye had chosen to silence Qin Changxin for now, and it was also a silent reprimand, warning him not to get ahead of himself in these crucial moments.

    A wry smile appeared on Qin Changxin''s face as he clenched his fists tightly.

    I thought I''d be able to face all of this calmly, but we''ve only just begun the nning process and I''ve alreadypletely lost control over my own emotions. How pitiful...

    Time slowly passed by, and the only sound that could be heard in the hall was the rustling of pages. The displeasure in Qin Ye''s heart had already faded, and he waspletely absorbed by the information that he was reading.

    Just as Qin Changxin had said, aside from demons and deities of the Nipponese Underworld, there were two more prominent powers, the first of which was the warring states.

    Almost every Nipponese warring state had a Daimyo assigned by Izanami, and the heart of each area was the tenshu pavilion of the Daimyo, while the caves of the nine ghostly monarchs were situated at the center of each region.

    The Nipponese Underworld had a total of 54 tenshu pavilions, which was identical to the number of warring states during the Nipponese sengoku period.

    The forces of the warring states weren''t included in the four million Kunitsukami, and the number of troops under each Daimyo was forbidden from crossing 10,000. Even so, that would amount to a total of 540,000 additional Yin soldiers.

    The second of those aforementioned forces were the consortiums.

    In contrast with the consortiums of the mortal realm, the consortiums of the underworld had the right to assemble private armies!

    ording to Liu Yu''s records, the dealings that took ce between the Hanyang Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld had always been facilitated by the Hongan-ji Consortium. This was a consortium with ties to the government, and it was the self-proimed second consortium of the Nipponese Underworld. However, Liu Yu didn''t know the names of the other consortiums.

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "What is Hongan-ji?"

    Qin Changxin had been carefully observing Qin Ye this entire time, waiting for an opportunity to redeem himself, and he immediately exined, "Your Excellency, the Hongan-ji is the head temple of Nippon''s J¨­do Shinsh¨± religion. Saint Shinran founded the J¨­do Shinsh¨± religion in 1272 during the Kamakura period. In 1465, the head temple was burned down. In 1483, the eighth Monshu, Rennyo, constructed a new head temple in the Yamashina Ward of Kyoto. In 1535, the temple was burned down again by Daimyo Rokkaku Yoshikata and the Tiantai Sect. In 1542, the 10th Monshu, Sh¨­nyo, constructed the head temple once again in Ishiyama of Settsu Province. In 1580, the temple was burned down by me, and that was how I received my title as enemy of the Buddha."

    His voice was moderate in volume, just loud enough for everyone to listen to, but not loud enough to disrupt one''s thoughts.

    Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response, and Qin Changxin continued, "Prior to the sengoku period in Nippon, the temples were undoubtedly one of the wealthiest powers. The J¨­do Shinsh¨± religion''s heritage has already stretched for over 600 years, and during that time, it''s most definitely built up a strong foundation. There is an eternal rule in the underworld, which is firste, first serve. Even the six major consortiums, which were incredibly powerful entities in Nippon in the mortal realm during the 1980s, once they enter the underworld, they''ll have to face the established, existing consortiums, and it''ll be extremely difficult for them to outdo such sternpetition. The modern shareholding system makes it so that they''re unable to be buried withrge amounts of wealth after they die, unlike the eight major ns of the Cathayan Underworld. The Hongan-ji Consortium would definitely take measures to prevent the likes of Liu Yu froming into contact with other consortiums, so it''s no surprise that he doesn''t know the names of any of the other consortiums."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Qin Changxin was a seasoned politician, and he immediately caught on to where he had gone wrong before quickly making adjustments, but instead of being encouraged by this information, Qin Ye''s brows were tightly furrowed.

    The Hongan-ji Consortium was the self-proimed number two consortium of the Nipponese Underworld, so the number one consortium was undoubtedly the Sacred Treasure Consortium, one of the world''s top 10 consortiums. However, he didn''t want to coborate with the Sacred Treasure Consortium.

    For an entity as powerful as the Sacred Treasure Consortium, it didn''t matter to them whether the Nipponese Underworld fell or not. If he were to coborate with them, a situation could potentially arise where they wouldpete with the Cathayan Underworld for the initiative, and that was not something he wanted to see.

    He shifted his gaze toward the Kanto and Chubu regions. Only with a map and this information as reference did he slowly begin to discover some issues that he had previouslypletely failed to notice.

    Several minutester, he tapped the table as he raised his head and said, "I can see that everyone has predicted that the armies of the three pirs will be passing through the Strait of Tsushima, and the suggestion is that we intercept them at the Ryukyu Inds. I have no objections to that, but can we go into further detail here?"

    The Ryukyu Inds connected Formosa and the Nipponese Underworld. If they could im those inds, then they would be able to cut off a major avenue through which reinforcements could be provided to the Nipponese Underworld. The only alternative would be to go through the Russian Underworld, but that waspletely imusible. Unless the nameless god of death had turned into an idiot overnight, there was no way that he would allow millions of foreign Yin soldiers to pass through his nation.

    "Of course." The academician was rather perplexed by theck of response from Qin Changxin, but he immediately took over nheless. "Simr to the situation in the mortal realm, there are some territorial disputes taking ce in the Ryukyu Inds in the underworld as well. However, they wouldn''t dare to say anything if we took over the inds by force. At the very most, all they would be able to do would be toin to the Coalition of Underworld, but if our Cathayan Underworld is willing to make apromise of even a single decimal point on the new energy resource, I''m sure no other underworld would support the Nipponese Underworld. Once we take over the Ryukyu Inds, we''ll be able to turn it into a stronghold on the front lines during the next few years to contend with the threat from the three pirs. The Kraken will have to be present in order to oppose the Argosian Underworld''s Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet, and the Ryukyu Inds will serve as the perfect supply station."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Alright, so if we manage to stop the three pirs'' forces at the Ryukyu Inds, we must ensure that on the other end, we can force all of the Nipponese Underworld''s troops into one ce as quickly as possible. Due to the limitations of the inter-realm mirrors, we won''t be able to deploy arge number of troops at once. Thus, in order to achieve this objective, we must umte troops in Hokkaido before deploying them in a single wave. However, the map clearly states that the three most powerful arrays in Nippon in the mortal realm are all situated in the Kanto and Chubu regions. Even once our troops descend into the Nipponese Underworld, they''ll arrive in Kanto and Chubu, which are both a long way away from Hokkaido."

    He looked up at all of the underworld emissaries present with a grim expression as he continued, "Hence, we need an insider, a puppet that will work with us from within the Nipponese Underworld. We can grant a certain corporation a monopoly in the Nipponese Underworld in the future, and we can even elevate their leader to be an Abyssal Prefect. However, if we don''t have such a puppet, our army will be unable to go all the way from Chubu to Hokkaido. It''s not like we''re unable to force all of the Nipponese Underworld''s Yin soldiers to Chubu if we don''t conquer Hokkaido, but it''ll take far longer to achieve that objective. I''m sure everyone is aware of our nation''s true power at the moment, and it''s certainly not wise for us to expend our forces in the Nipponese Underworld. The whole point of this war is for us to set an example to the rest of the world by crushing the Nipponese Underworld with our second-generation forbidden arts."

    Thus, a problem arose: who was going to approach the suitable n, corporation, or perhaps even daimyo in the Nipponese Underworld?

    This was the downside of an isted nation. The only viable candidate was Qin Changxin, but as an Abyssal Prefect, there was a very good chance that he would be discovered. Sending darkfeathers would also be inappropriate. This was an extremely important matter, and if the darkfeathers were to be captured by emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld, it would only take a simple soul search to expose the entire n.

    No one among the Harken, Zhao Yun, or Arthis had any connections in the Nipponese Underworld, so there was no one that could take on this role!

    After a long silence, Qin Ye finally decided, "I''ll make a trip to the Nipponese Underworld myself."

    "Where do you n to strike from, Your Excellency?" Qin Changxin asked.

    "I''m going after the three great yokai of the mortal realm," Qin Ye replied. "If I can''t establish a connection through them, I''ll have them killed and conjure up false evidence to pin the me on another death god. That''s something that an Abyssal Prefect cannot aplish."

    Among all of the death gods present, the Harken was constructing the 18 abysses of punishment, while Zhao Yun had to oversee the daily operation of Hell in Qin Ye''s absence, and Arthis certainly couldn''t leave the six paths of reincarnation.

    "It''s decided then." Qin Ye wasn''t one to waste time with unnecessary deliberation, and he rose to his feet as he said, "Flesh out the n further prior to my return, and devise two ns, one for if my trip to the Nipponese Underworld proves to be sessful, and the second one in case of failure. I''ll give all of you an answer within the next two months."

    "Yes!"

 Chapter 1205: Iwasaki Kyouya

    <h4>Chapter 1205: Iwasaki Kyouya</h4>

    A beast-drawn carriage was racing along the street, heading directly toward the Hanyang Underworld.

    Soon, it arrived in front of a huge city with a city wall that was 50 meters tall, on either side of which were sheer cliffs. The words "White Deer Pass" were inscribed on a que at the top of the city wall in free-flowing text, and there were countless searchlights in front of the wall, illuminating an area with a radius of several hundred meters in front of the city. At the same time, the top of the city wall was being patrolled by rows of heavily armed Yin soldiers.

    White Deer Pass was constructed during the 10th year of Qin Ye''s reign as part of Hell''s 20-year-long infrastructure construction boom. Upon leaving White Deer Pass, one would arrive outside the borders of the Cathayan Underworld to reach the Daehan Penins.

    This beast-drawn carriage was very understated in appearance, but the internal decor was extremelyvish, and it was being drawn by Anitya Hellguard level Yin beasts. There was a total of four such beasts drawing the carriage, and it was racing along as fast as a train all the way from Everburn to Hanyang.

    After an examination at the city gate, the carriage was allowed to travel into the city, and the curtain was gently lifted before quickly falling again.

    Zhou Yu was seated in the carriage behind the curtain, looking out at this border city with an intrigued expression. He wasn''t the only one in the carriage. Instead, he was also apanied by a middle-aged man and a young man, both of whom were in antiquated attire.

    "Commander, we''re about to reach Hanyang soon... Are we just going to leave like this?" the young man suddenly urged.

    "What do you want to see happen?" Zhou Yu asked. "Do you want us to take more of our former subordinates with us?"

    The young man pursed his lips with indignation as he replied, "At the very least, you should''ve brought the elite guards that you trained at the Laos Underworld with you. We all know how much time and effort you spent training them over the years."

    Zhou Yu shook his head as he chuckled, "At the time, what Yanluo Qin said was that I can state any request to Governor Qin, but did you really think he was serious?"

    Before the young man had a chance to reply, Zhou Yu immediately continued, "No, that was a warning, telling me that Governor Qin was watching my every move! Qin Hui has disyed his character over and over again throughout the course of history. He''s nothing more than a weasel, and all weasels share a particr personality trait, which is that they be obedientpdogs in the face of powerful rulers, because he knows where his poweres from. If I were to try and take any of my past troops with me, I''m willing to bet that Governor Qin would immediately report me to Everburn, or perhaps even execute me on the spot before reporting what he had done. He may be a weasel, but he''s also an Abyssal Prefect. Even though Yanluo has already opened our shackles, it''ll still take me close to a century at least to be an Abyssal Prefect."

    He cast his gaze out the window as he continued, "Yanluo Qin has already made it very clear what he wants to me do. I''ve been sent to Hanyang to train the navy, so it''ll naturally also fall upon me to buildrge, seaworthy ships. I have to develop the entire shipbuilding industry, then conscript soldiers and train them to be elite naval warriors. If I can''t even extrapte all of that, then I don''t deserve to be sent to Hanyang."

    "My apologies, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me," the young man sighed.

    This was an extremely precious opportunity, and they were terrified of not living up to Qin Ye''s expectations.

    "I can''t help but feel like Yanluo Qin is nning a big move." The middle-aged man finally broke his silence. "What do you think Yanluo Qin''s intentions are, Gongjin?"

    In other words, why had he suddenly decided to use the 12 envoys, and why had he chosen to send Zhou Yu to Hanyang?

    Zhou Yu shook his head in silence, offering no reply.

    He was no idiot. In fact, among the 12 envoys, he was the one who kept most up to date with current affairs, and he had an inkling of what Qin Ye wanted to do, but he didn''t dare to be certain.

    Could it be that he wants to take down the Nipponese Underworld? But this is no longer the era of chaos and war in the underworld, this is an era of peace in the wake of the establishment of the Coalition of Underworlds! Can the Cathayan Underworld really afford to initiate a war with the intention of wiping out an entire nation at a time like this? Does it really have the power to take down the Nipponese Underworld? The Nipponese Underworld may becking in top-end power, but it''s been standing for thousands of years, and its creation-grade divine artifacts are definitely no joke...

    Zhou Yu could onlyment his unwise decision to try and take advantage of the fall of the old Hell. Otherwise, he would''ve still been in the central circle of power and been privy to this information.

    Yang Jiye and Yu Qian definitely knew Qin Ye''s ns, but there was no way that they were going to tell him. However...

    A faint smile appeared on his face as a sharp look surfaced in his eyes.

    If Qin Ye really did want a navy so that he could wage war against the Nipponse Underworld, then he was going to give him an invincible navy!

    If his assumptions were correct, then this would be his chance to make a resurgence!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    Mortal realm, Nippon, Tokyo, Chuo City, Akashicho, Map of 9.

    This was a triangr building situated among a cluster of tall skyscrapers. On the outside, its appearance was quite understated, but everyone who lived nearby knew that on the inte, this ce was known was Nippon''s number one hospital, St. Luke''s International Hospital.

    This private hospital had a history of over 100 years, and it was constructed by Rudolf Teusler. The interior of the hospital didn''t look as if it belonged in a hospital at all, with beige walls and decor, and a pronounced minimalist Nipponese style. All of the rooms were constructed extremely well, and all of the beds were multi-purpose mattresses that could also double as sickbeds.

    There was a brightly lit room on the top floor constructed in an extremelyvish Europa style, with replicas of famous artworks hanging on the walls, and the carpet on the floor was so soft that it felt like stepping on clouds. As an extremely thoughtful design element that prevented patients from having direct artificial light shone down upon them, all of the light fixtures were hidden in inconspicuous ces, yet the room didn''t feel dim at all.

    This was the most luxurious ward in the entirety of St. Luke''s International Hospital. The ward couldn''t be reserved with money alone, and the patients that it housed were always either extremely wealthy or of exceedingly high status.

    This was where Iwasaki Kyouya was staying.

    He was at an extremely advanced age of 92. The average life expectancy in Nippon was very high, so he wasn''t an umon case. However, it was very remarkable that he still hadn''t gone senile at this age and still retained the ability to take care of business matters.

    However, that was all in the past.

    Iwasaki Kyouya''s face was riddled with liver spots, and he was looking up at the ceiling through slightly murky eyes. His face had be far more wizened than when Qin Yest saw him. He was wearing an oxygen mask, and a woman in expensive clothing was holding his hand, dabbing at her non-existent tears, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.

    A derisive sneer appeared on his face beneath the oxygen mask. Would there still be so many people here if it weren''t for his massive estate that was waiting to be inherited?

    During the first half of the year, he suffered a fall, and all of the symptoms of his advanced age overcame him at once. All of the suppressed illnesses and the feebleness brought on by organ deterioration werebining to drag him closer and closer to the abyss of death.

    He cast his gaze toward his adopted son, Iwasaki Ichiro. This was his driver, and he wasn''t a prominent figure in the family, but he always appeared when his adopted father needed him most.

    Just you watch... My will is going to give all of you a nasty surprise! I''m not so senile that I''m unable to distinguish who has my best interests at heart and who only has eyes for my money. Don''t think that you''ll get thestugh even when I''m dead!

    He closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

    Time passed by very quickly, and not many more people came to visit him in his ward. All of his children and grandchildren were busy fighting over his inheritance, and it was clear to all of them that he really wasn''t going to make it this time.

    Soon, the only one left by his bedside was Iwasaki Ichiro.

    His illness was very simple: it was organ deterioration. It was an illness born from old age, and it was terminal. Even St. Luke''s International Hospital couldn''t help him, all they could ensure was that he would live out the rest of his few days in rtivefort.

    Ever since he moved into the hospital, he had been more energetic. After all, all he did was lie on a bed every day. After dinner earlier in the day, he took a short nap, and he couldn''t fall asleep, even though it was already midnight.

    He turned to Iwasaki Ichiro before scribbling the words "I want to go out for a walk" onto the palm of his hand with his finger.

    Iwasaki Ichiro shook his head in response. "It''s too windy outside, but we can stand by the window and take a look outside."

    Iwasaki Kyouya nodded in response.

    Right as Iwasaki Ichiro was about to help him out of bed, all of hte light fixtures in the room suddenly shed momentarily before being snuffed out in unison.

    A cautious gleam shed through Iwasaki Ichiro''s eyes as he reflexively pulled out a gun and positioned himself in front of the bed. At the same time, a youthful voice rang out from within the darkness. "Long time no see, Mr. Iwasaki. So you''ve reached the end of your lifespan as well... How unfortunate."

    A wistful tone crept into the voice as it spoke.

    Iwasaki Kyouya brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    He could swear that he had heard this voice before, but he couldn''t remember where...

    He gently tugged on Iwasaki Ichiro''s sleeve, trying to tell him not to shoot, but he was unable to speak due to his condition.

    "Don''t shoot." All of a sudden, his raspy voice rang out, and he was momentarily stunned by the sound of his own voice before looking down at his own body with an incredulous expression.

    In this instant, he felt as if he had returned to the peak of his powers!

    His energy and bodily condition had all returned to same state as back in his thirties, and he immediately tore off the oxygen mask before taking several deep breaths of fresh air in session.

    "May I ask which esteemed guest hase to visit me?" His chest was heaving violently as he swept an intense gaze around the room, and in the next instant, all of the lights in the room lit up in unison, revealing a person seated on the sofa.

    It was a young man, and he waved at Iwasaki Kyouya with a smile.

    Iwasaki Kyouya''s brows furrowed slightly as he stared intently at the young man, and a few secondster, he drew a sharp breath as a memory from over 20 years ago surfaced in his mind.

    "Mr. Qin?" He took a deep breath before extending a deep bow. "Can you... save me?"

    "I''m afraid I can''t," Qin Ye sighed. "You only had a month left to live, and all I can do is allow you to live in this state for two weeks. No one is able to break the cycle of the Heavenly Dao."

    Iwasaki Kyouya heaved a disappointed sigh upon hearing this, but his eyes soon lit up again.

    Being able to live for two weeks in this state was already beyond his wildest dreams!

    If he had a choice, he definitely wouldn''t want to die the slow and tortured death that he was inevitably heading toward.

    "My apologies, I was too greedy," he said with a smile. "Ichiro, tell mywyers toe and see me tomorrow afternoon! Also, making a booking at Minokichi Honten Takeshigerou! I have important matters to discuss with Mr. Qin."

    Minokichi Honten Takeshigerou was the best kaiseki-ry¨­ri restaurant in Tokyo, and it was also a business under the Mitsubishi Corporation.

    Iwasaki Ichiro immediately rushed over to help Iwasaki Kyouya put on his clothes, only to be pushed aside by thetter. He couldn''t remember thest time his body had felt this good!

    "Would you do me the honor of dining with me, Mr. Qin?" he asked as he extended another deep bow toward Qin Ye.

    "Of course," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "I came here today to see off an old friend, and also to discuss some matters that''lle up after your death. I''m referring to after you enter the underworld."

    An enlightened look appeared on Iwasaki Kyouya''s face as he said, "Pleasee with me."

 Chapter 1206: Meeting with Iwasaki Kyouya (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1206: Meeting with Iwasaki Kyouya (1)</h4>

    Takeshigerou was a kaiseki-ry¨­ri restaurant that had been building up a reputation for itself in Tokyo ofte, securing three Michelin stars within the first two years of its opening.

    This was a reservation-only restaurant, and no photography was allowed. Every single table was situated in rooms with exceptional privacy, and the ssic Nipponese-style construction, soft tatami mats, and faint incense fragrance in the air gave the entire ce a Zen-filled aura.

    It was already 1 AM, clearly not within business hours, but those rules only applied to the majority, and there were always some people who transcended beyond the rules.

    Iwasaki Kyouya was clearly among that type of people.

    One delectable dish after another was brought on, and despite thete hour, the entire restaurant was brightly lit. The hostess of the restaurant was wearing a beautiful kimono and an equally gorgeous smile. The tip for this meal alone exceeded a million NPY, and she couldn''t help but smile at the image of Fukuzawa Yukichi on the 10,000 NPY bills.

    Iwasaki Kyouya closed his eyes with a blissful expression as he swallowed a mouthful of bluefin tuna belly. The intramuscr fat waspletely devoid of any undesirable vors, and it felt like heaven as it melted in his mouth. Only after basking in the blissful sensation for a long while did Iwasaki Kyouya set down his chopsticks.

    "It''s been far too long since I''ve felt something like this." He raised a hand, and Iwasaki Ichiro immediately picked up a pristine, warm towel before wiping his hand in a respectful manner.

    "Ever since I was admitted into the hospital, all I could eat was congee that had been boiled into mush. Amaterasu-¨­kami knows how much I missed this delicious sashimi." He turned to Qin Ye with a smile, then said, "This is my adopted son, Iwasaki Ichiro, and he''s also the heir to a fifth of my estate."

    The towel slipped out of Iwasaki Ichiro''s hand and fell onto the ground as he turned toward Iwasaki Kyouya with a stunned expression.

    Iwasaki Kyouya looked back at him and said, "This is what you deserve. Setting those trivial matters aside for now, let me introduce to you Mr. Qin of Cathay."

    Iwasaki Ichiro was only 35 years of age, but he had been serving Iwasaki Kyouya for close to 20 years. Never during his time with Iwasaki Kyouya had he heard something so astonishing.

    A fifth of Iwasaki Kyouya''s estate equated to tens of billions of USD, and it was being brushed off as a trivial matter inparison with introducing this young man!

    Did this mean that this young man could make even tens of billions of USD pale into insignificance?

    He cast a wary gaze toward Qin Ye. He knew that Qin Ye definitely had to be someone from the "other side". Having been with Iwasaki Kyouya for close to 20 years, he had seen far too many unfathomable things. He knew of the existence of another world, but never had he seen someone from the other side capable of reinvigorating someone on the brink of death like this.

    Everyone that they had consulted, both from this world and the other side, had told them that Iwasaki Kyouya had reached the end of his lifespan, yet this young man had allowed Iwasaki Kyouya to return to the height of his powers without even lifting a finger!

    This was nothing short of a divine miracle!

    "Greetings, Mr. Qin." He reached out with both hands in a respectful manner, and Qin Ye casually shook his hand.

    Iwasaki Kyouya took a sip of sake, then filled Qin Ye''s cup as a hopeful look appeared in his eyes. "Mr. Qin, can you really not..."

    "I can''t." Qin Ye cut him off with a smile. "Unfortunately, you''re Nipponese. If you were in Cathay, I''d be able to extend your lifespan for several years. By all standards, you''ve lived an exceptional life, so you should be able to die with no regrets."

    He raised his cup as he continued, "Don''t fear death, it''s just a new beginning."

    Iwasaki Kyouya smiled in response. He was already prepared to lie on the deathbed and wait for his demise, yet he now had two weeks at the peak of his physical condition. He couldn''t wait to see everyone''s reactions once he dered his will the next day.

    "Please pardon my rudeness." He extended a deep bow while supporting himself with his hands on his knees. "I didn''t get to learn your identityst time, Mr. Qin. Would you be able to enlighten me this time?"

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, and at the same time, countless dark shadows flickered around the room. Iwasaki Ichiro almost sprang to his feet upon seeing this, but he was held down by Iwasaki Kyouya.

    In that instant, it was as if they had entered the depths of hell, but in the next instant, everything faded like an illusion, and only then did Qin Ye reply, "I am a Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld, Qin Ye."

    A Yama-King?!

    Iwasaki Kyouya''s eyes sprang wide open with shock upon hearing this. As the leader of one of the six major corporations that were supporting Nippon,he knew exactly what the term "Yama-King" entailed. It meant that Qin Ye was standing at the very peak of the pyramid in the Cathayan Underworld''s power hierarchy!

    "I must say, this is quite a surprise." He took a deep breath, and his mind was racing as he said, "I am honored to be in your presence. It''s a pity that it won''t be easy for us to meet again once I enter the underworld. I wonder if immigration is possible in the underworld."

    Qin Ye smiled once again as he gently traced a finger over the rim of his cup. "You sure like to talk in roundabout ways, Mr. Iwasaki."

    It was clear that he wanted to hang onto Qin Ye''s coattails. His fear of an unknown world was entirely understandable. If he could establish a connection with a Yama-King, it would be far better than having to go to the Nipponese Underworld alone.

    "Actually... There might be a way," Qin Ye said as his eyes narrowed slightly. "It just depends on whether you''re willing to explore the option."

    Herees the main topic of discussion...

    Iwasaki Kyouya was naturally aware that there was no way a Yama-King would visit him solely for the purpose of catching up. It was clear that he was here to make some type of proposal.

    "I''m listening."

    With a wave of Qin Ye''s hand, the entire restaurant was silently enveloped in Yin runes so that no one would be able to eavesdrop on their conversation. Only then did he lean forward as he said, "Before that, I have a question for you. Does the Mitsubishi Corporation have a foundation in the Nipponese Underworld?"

    Iwasaki Kyouya''s smile faded as he asked, "How will my answer influence this discussion?"

    Qin Ye leaned back against his chair in a casual manner as he replied, "If the answer is yes, then I need a favor from you. If not, then you''ll have missed out on an opportunity."

    Evente at night, Tokyo was still a thriving hub of activity, but the atmosphere in the restaurant was quite tense.

    Iwasaki Kyouya didn''t reply right away. Instead, he was gently tapping the table with his middle and index fingers in a contemtive silence. Iwasaki Ichiro knew that this was a habitual gesture of his whenever he had to make an important decision.

    Furthermore, he could sense that this was the most difficult decision that Iwasaki Kyouya had ever had to make as he had never looked this hesitant and indecisive before.

    Iwasaki Ichiro¡¯s hands involuntarily balled up into tight fists. No matter what important figures Iwasaki Kyouya had met with in the past, never had he shown such an indecisive side of himself.

    He could see things from Iwasaki Kyouya''s perspective, so he couldn''t understand why he was hesitating, nor just how much pressure he was under in Qin Ye''s presence.

    Only after a full five minutes did Iwasaki Kyouya ask, "Can you give me some time to think about it?"

    "I''m afraid not," Qin Ye replied with a shake of his head.

    Iwasaki Kyouya gritted his teeth momentarily before cutting straight to the chase. "Alright, then please pardon me for being blunt, but what will we receive in return for helping you?"

    Qin Ye replied, "How about this? At the moment, the number one consortium in the Nipponese Underworld is the Sacred Treasure Consortium, followed by the Hongan-ji Consortium. If our coboration seeds, I can''t guarantee that I''ll elevate you to the same status as the Sacred Treasure Consortium, but I can at least assure you that you''ll be able to take the ce of the Hongan-ji Consortium."

    Iwasaki Kyouya fell silent once again.

    Having been in the business world for so long, he had learned a poignant lesson: the greater the reward, the greater the risk and effort that had to be taken.

    The fact that Qin Ye was promising him such a staggering reward was a clear indication of how arduous the task was going to be.

    Another five minutes passed by before Iwasaki Kyouya suddenly abruptly raised his head. "Mr. Qin, I don''t want to lie to you, and I''m very tempted by your offer, but at the moment, the foundation that our Mitsubishi Corporation has established in the underworld most likely won''t be able to fulfill your requirements."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, he continued, "Our Mitsubishi Corporation was established in 1893, so we''ve only been around for less than 200 years. ording to my knowledge of the Nipponese Underworld, both the Sacred Treasure Consortium and the Hongan-ji Consortium are powerhouses that have been running for hundreds, perhaps even over 1,000 years! The influence that they have on the Nipponese Underworld cannot be understated, and there''s simply no chance for us to overtake them! Throughout the course of our corporation''s history, only four or five generations of our Iwasaki Family''s patriarchs have entered the Nipponese Underworld, so we''re sorelycking in manpower and wealth in contrast with ourpetition."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and instead of continuing to pursue this subject, he suddenly asked, "I recall that the Mitsubishi Corporation was previously into heavy industry and manufacturing, right?"

    "That''s correct."

    "Initially, the corporation focused on sea freight and once dominated the shipbuilding and sea freight industries in Asia. Additionally, the world''s first-ever aircraft carrier, Hosho, was constructed by Mitsubishi, right?"

    Iwasaki Kyouya was just about to reply when Qin Ye raised a hand to stop him. "I don''t need you to have an enormous amount of wealth in the underworld right now, all you need to do is tell me how much of the sea freight industry of the Nipponese Underworld you have control over."

    Iwasaki Kyouya took a deep breath before asking, "What do you need?"

    Qin Ye looked deep into his eyes as he replied, "I need to transport 200,000 Yin spirits from Chubu to Hokkaido without being discovered."

    A sharp gleam shed through Iwasaki Kyouya''s eyes, and he gave Qin Ye a meaningful look before replying, "I''m afraid I can''t give you an answer right now..."

    "But you have no choice in the matter." Qin Ye raised his head, and a cold smile appeared on his face before he brought one of his hands up from under the table. After spreading open his palm, a piece of folded parchment paper was revealed, and it transformed into a sheet of paper that was half a meter in size.

    Both Iwasaki Kyouya and Qin Ye''s names were inscribed on the sheet of paper!

    "This is a Heavenly Dao scroll. From the instant that you heard what I had to say, you lost the right to divulge this information to anyone else." Qin Ye slowly hovered up into mid-air, and specks ofherfire and gusts of Yin wind swirled all around him as he cast his gaze toward Iwasaki Kyouya with a faint smile on his face. "I''ll give you three days to think but I want an answer after that! Before you find your ancestors, make sure to keep the Heavenly Dao scroll with you at all times. Otherwise, believe me when I say that I can take back everything that I gave you in an instant!"

 Chapter 1207: Meeting with Iwasaki Kyouya (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1207: Meeting with Iwasaki Kyouya (2)</h4>

    Whoosh... Qin Ye transformed into a vortex of Yin energy and vanished on the spot. As soon as he left, Iwasaki Ichiro immediately stood up with a concerned expression. "Sir, are you alright?"

    Iwasaki Kyouya gently pushed his hand aside before rising to his feet. "I''m fine."

    Iwasaki Ichiro opened his mouth several times, but didn''t say anything in the end.

    Iwasaki Kyouya adjusted his own clothes, then said, "Do you want to say that there''s no need for me to fear him?"

    Before he had a chance to reply, Iwasaki Kyouya sighed, "You know far too little about that world. Do you know what Yama-Kings are? The most powerful underworld emissaries in the Nipponese Underworld are only Abyssal Prefects, and ording to my knowledge, Yama-Kings stand above Abyssal Prefects. In the entire underworld, there are only several dozen Yama-Kings in total. They are the true rulers of the other world, and I''m about to go there soon. How can I not be afraid?"

    "Also..." He raised a hand before clenching it into a tight fist, and veins bulged on his wizened arm. "After experiencing the feeling of youth, no one would want to return to old age! Make the preparations for an evocation tonight!"

    After that, he immediately departed.

    Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. On the second day, the entirety of the Mitsubishi Corporation was given a massive shock by the announcement of Iwasaki Kyouya''s will. At 12 AM on the third day, Iwasaki Kyouya was already seated on his own in a booth in Takeshigerou.

    Qin Ye hadn''t left Iwasaki Kyouya with any means to contact him, but he knew that Qin Ye would definitely be able to find him.

    Right as the clock struck 12 AM, a gust of Yin wind slowly took shape in front of him, and several secondster, Qin Ye had already appeared on the seat.

    In front of them was avish meal, with top-grade sushi that had been made no more than two minutes ago. The fish that was sitting on the rice hadn''t even been warmed by the heat of the rice yet, but no one was in the mood to sample it.

    Iwasaki Kyouya extended a deep bow, but didn''t immediately say anything. Instead, he spread open a piece of parchment paper, and the names of three people appeared on it.

    Qin Ye, Iwasaki Kyouya, and Iwasaki Iwasaki Yatar¨­.

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this. Even as the ruler of a nation, he felt a hint of admiration toward Iwasaki Yatar¨­.

    This was the man who had once dominated the entirety of the shipbuilding and ship freight industries in Asia. Furthermore, he had singlehandedly founded the Mitsubishi Corporation, spreading its name far and wide throughout Nippon and even every single corner of Asia.

    "You''ve already met your ancestor?" Qin Ye asked as he picked up his cup of sake before taking a sip.

    "I have." Iwasaki Kyouya extended a deep bow before pulling a paper cutout out of his pocket, then said with a careful expression, "My ancestor wishes to speak to you in person."

    He didn''t dare to say anything further because the first thing that Iwasaki Yatar¨­ had said after descending through evocation was: "You''re telling me a Yama-King came to Nippon and specifically came to our Mitsubishi Corporation? Who are you kidding?"

    In his mind, a Yama-King should''ve been pursuing a coboration with entities like the Sacred Treasure Consortium. The Mitsubishi Corporation was extremely powerful in the mortal realm, but it didn''t have much influence at all in the underworld, so why would a Yama-Kinge to seek them out in person?

    Qin Ye casually nodded in response, and Iwasaki Kyouya took a deep breath before pulling out a small silver de, with which he gently sliced open his own finger, allowing his blood to drip onto the paper cutout. The drop of blood was like gasoline on fire, instantly igniting a burst of blueherfire.

    The paper figure rose unsteadily to its feet, then inspected its surroundings in a very humanized gesture. In the instant that it caught sight of Qin Ye, its legs clearly trembled, following which it fell to its knees on the table and kowtowed with all its might as it greeted in a trembling voice, "It is the utmost honor for me to be in your presence, Yanluo Qin!"

    This was the dogeza pose, one that was used in Nippon to express the utmost respect or apology.

    Iwasaki Kyouya''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this. Never did he think that Iwasaki Yatar¨­, who was revered like a god by the entire Iwasaki Family, would choose to adopt such a pose in the instant that he saw Qin Ye.

    However, he immediately reacted. Given what Iwasaki Yatar¨­ was doing, there was certainly no way that he could just keep on sitting. That would be a massive act of disrespect to both Qin Ye and his ancestor!

    Thus, Iwasaki Kyouya quickly adopted the dogeza pose as well, and he stared intently down at the tatami mat beneath him, wondering why his ancestor was putting on such a lowly disy. What was it about this particr Yama-King that made him so special?

    The paper figure paid no heed to Iwasaki Kyouya''s thoughts. In reality, it was even more stunned than Iwasaki Kyouya. Never did it think that the Yama-King in question would be the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!

    That, in addition to the Heavenly Dao scroll from earlier, immediately ignited a scorching me in his heart!

    Amid the silence, Qin Ye smiled and asked, "You recognize me?"

    "I do! You are the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, the third King Yanluo, the leader of one of the underworld''s four pirs!" Iwasaki Yatar¨­ was intentionally rattling off these titles for Iwasaki Kyouya to hear. "I wouldn''t dare to say that I''m familiar with you, but I was fortunate enough to have caught a glimpse of you from afar during the conference in Nara, and from that point on, I never dared to forget your face!"

    "You were granted ess to the conference in Nara?" Qin Ye asked.

    Iwasaki Yatar¨­ replied, "The ships that weed all of the underworlds at the conference in Nara was the biggest order our Mitsubishi Corporation had received in the past decade."

    I see. It looks like the Mitsubishi Corporation really isn''t doing all that well in the Nipponese Underworld.

    This made sense, considering the existence of the Sacred Treasure Consortium and the Hongan-ji Consortium. As a consortium that had only arisen within the past 100 years, what right did the Mitsubishi Corporation have to be a powerhouse in the underworld right away?

    "As I''m sure you¡¯re aware, once your name is written down on a Heavenly Dao scroll, your soul will be destroyed if you go against the terms listed on the scroll."

    "Yes!" Iwasaki Yatar¨­ replied in a determined voice. "Please tell us what you would like us to do, Your Excellency!"

    This was definitely not an opportunity that he was going to pass up!

    None of the exceptionally powerful and influential figures in the mortal realm wanted to settle for mediocrity in the underworld, but opportunities were simply very difficult toe by.

    The room fell silent again.

    No one said anything, and only after a few seconds did Qin Ye made an inviting hand gestures. "Take a seat."

    The paper figure sat down onto the table with its legs folded beneath it, and Qin Ye said, "I need a fleet of ships to be prepared in the next few years. This fleet must be big enough to transport 200,000 Yin spirits from Chubu to Hokkaido without being discovered by anyone. Can you do that?"

    The paper figure extended a deep bow. "We may not be able to do this within five years, but it may be achievable in five years."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask, the paper figure continued, "After arriving in the Nipponese Underworld, our Mitsubishi Heavy Industries naturally chose to pursue shipbuilding as our first option as it was the industry that we were most familiar with."

    Qin Ye didn''t cut him off. Information was extremely important when it came to nning, and he was confident that someone as intelligent as Iwasaki Yatar¨­ wouldn''t waste time spouting useless nonsense at a time like this.

    "The Sacred Treasure Consortium has a monopoly on the Nipponese Underworld''s shipbuilding industry, but their shipbuilding skills and technology are outdated. They haven''t kept much of an eye on the development of the mortal realm during the past century. After all, a century is far too short a period of time in the underworld. The field that we chose to pursue was submarine construction. For people like us, even in the mortal realm, we had some connections in the underworld. Not everyone is content with the Sacred Treasure Consortium''s monopoly over the shipbuilding and sea freight industries. Currently, our Mitsubishi Consortium of the underworld has three major investors who are supporting us in our submarine endeavors. However, this is a very difficult piece of technology to develop, and over the past three years, we''ve only managed toplete half of the research. If you can give us another five years, I''m fairly confident that we should be able to develop the first generation of submarines."

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. "I want a definitive answer. Will you be able to develop the submarines in five years or not?"

    The paper figure was seated silently on the table, and there were countless emotions surging through its heart.

    Iwasaki Yatar¨­ was certainly no idiot, and he immediately understood what 200,000 Yin spirits entailed. Qin Ye was asking for his help to start a war!

    With the assistance of submarines, there was no way that Tamamo-no-Mae of Hokkaido would be able to stop 200,000 Cathayan Yin soldiers!

    Once they conquered Hokkaido, the Cathayan Underworld would have a firm foothold in the Nipponese Underworld, and given its power, it would only be a matter of time before it conquered the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld. If the Mitsubishi Consortium could make a significant contribution in this war, then its status in the Nipponese Underworld would undoubtedly be massively elevated!

    However, if they were to do this, then they would be betraying the Nipponese Underworld. If the operation were to fail, then the entire Iwasaki Family would be erased without the possibility of ever being able to reincarnate.

    Of course, the Cathayan Underworld certainly wasn''t afraid of the Nipponese Underworld, but in an era of peace like this, they had to contend with pressure from the three pirs and the Russian Underworld as well.

    This was a decision that could transform their fate, and he didn''t dare to make it rashly.

    "Your Excellency..." he said in a slightly bitter voice. "I''m afraid this is too difficult a decision for me to make on the spot..."

    Qin Ye raised a finger in response. "One month is all it''ll take for our Cathayan Underworld to wipe out all resistance. If we aren''t able to do that, we''ll take all of the members of the Iwasaki Family in the Nipponese Underworld to the Cathayan Underworld. At the same time, I''ll convince the Cathayan government to ept the immigration applications of all of the important members of the Iwasaki Family in the mortal realm. Even if the n fails, you''ll be Yin spirits of our Cathayan Underworld, and Izanami wouldn''t dare to do anything to you."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "Of course, if you can provide the submarines, there''s no way this n will fail. This is the only time that I will be making contact with you."

    This was a once-in-an-era opportunity, and sess would equate to unfathomable rewards!

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still, and even after a full 10 minutes, the paper figure was still seated in silence. Finally, it said in a determined voice, "Alright, then we''ll take a gamble!"

    "You don''t regret this decision," Qin Ye said with a faint smile. "The Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference will be held in half a year, and when that timees, you''ll receive your first present from me."

    "I look forward to it!" Seeing as a decision had already been made, there was no room for Iwasaki Yatar¨­ to backtrack now.

    During this meeting, their intention to coborate had been established, but as for the finer details of the n, those would have to be fleshed out through frequent interactions and exchanges of all types of information between the two parties, and these exchanges had to be facilitated by suitable opportunities.

    At the moment, the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t opened itself up to any other nation. Formosa was its only foreign affairs outpost, and if the Cathayan Underworld were to suddenly be too close with the Mitsubishi Corporation, that would attract a lot of unwanted suspicion and attention.

    A buildup was required for everything, and only once everything was ready would it be time to initiate the n, particrly when it came to a major operation to bring down a nation that would take years toplete.

    With everything decided, Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh of relief before raising his cup. "I propose a toast tomemorate our first coboration."

    "Cheers." Iwasaki Kyouya was still reeling from what he had just seen, and he hurriedly also raised his cup before downing his sake in one go. "May I ask how long you''ll be staying in Nippon, Mr. Qin? I don''t have much time left, but it would be my honor to provide you with my best hospitality."

    Qin Ye was reaching out with his chopsticks for a piece of sashimi, and he stopped what he was doing as he replied, "Actually, there is something that I would like your help with."

    "Please go ahead!" both the paper figure and Iwasaki Kyouya urged in unison.

    Qin Ye set down his chopsticks as he asked with a serious expression, "Have you heard of the three great yokai of Nippon?"

 Chapter 1208: The Three Great Yokai

    <h4>Chapter 1208: The Three Great Yokai</h4>

    The paper figure instantly understood why Qin Ye was asking this question.

    Having already been in the Nipponese Underworld for over 100 years, Iwasaki Yatar¨­ was naturally aware of the rules there, and he knew just how useful a defensive resource the inter-realm mirrors were to the Nipponese Underworld. It was no exaggeration to say that with the inter-realm mirrors in ce, the Nipponese Underworld would be able to contend with 10 times the number of Yin soldiers than in its own military!

    However, the system of the inter-realm mirrors was wed, and the only w came in the form of the three yokai of the mortal realm.

    They were the only evil ghosts who could enter the Nipponese Underworld without using the inter-realm mirrors, and this was an arrangement that Izanami had to ept due to the special nature of their identities.

    After going beyond the shimenawa ropes of the three yokai, one would reach the Chubu region, and arge number of ships was required to take Hell''s troops from Chubu to Hokkaido.

    Having rified its own thoughts, the paper figure replied in a respectful voice, "I understand what you want, Your Excellency."

    "Oh?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He hadn''t attempted to conceal too much. As long as the names of the Iwasaki Family were on the Heavenly Dao scroll, there was no way that they would be able to betray him.

    Low-grade Yin spirits werepletely oblivious to what Heavenly Dao scrolls and Heavenly Dao vows were. They didn''t even know what they had signed. At the very most, they would only be able to sense a vague karmic shift.

    The paper figure stepped forward, then said, "The only way to enter the Nipponese Underworld without using the inter-realm mirrors would be to use the shimenawa ropes of the mortal realm''s three yokai, so you''ve made a very good choice here. The three yokai have this privilege as they''re all extremely special beings with extraordinary pasts."

    He paused momentarily before continuing, "I only know two of the three yokai of the mortal realm, and those two are responsible for the rise of Aokigahara and the Sandanbeki Rock Cliff. As for the Tojinbo Waterfalls, they only have a very minor connection to those two yokai. Firstly, the yokai situated at the Sandanbeki Rock Cliff is Hiruko no Kami."

    Hiruko no Kami...

    Qin Ye''s brows furrowed slightly, but his eyes then immediately lit up.

    As King Yanluo, he naturally had to develop a thorough understanding of all of the world''s religions, and Hiruko no Kami was an extremely renowned figure in Nipponese legends.

    Prior to the rise of Izanagi and Izanami, there were the primitive gods of Takamagahara, but the history of Nipponese mythology began with those two.

    ording to the legends, Izanagi and Izanami were ordered by the gods of Takamagahara to create a kingdom. Izanagi suggested that they split up, and that when they met up again, the distance that they had covered would be the territory of Nippon. Izanami agreed to this, but as they met, Izanami said, "What a handsome man you are."

    Izanagi also said, "What a beautiful woman you are."

    It was considered to be an omen of misfortune for the woman to have spoken first, but Izanagi paid that no heed. Not long after that, they gave birth to their first child, and he was called Hiruko.

    In Nipponese, the term "Hiruko" referred to infants with iplete development, and that applied to this Hiruko as well.

    He was born as a ball of rotten flesh without any bones or organs. Izanagi felt this to be too misfortunate an omen to ignore, so they abandoned him, and only after that did the legend of Izanagi and Izanami''s creation of the human race arise.

    "So this Hiruko no Kami..." Qin Ye began.

    The paper figure immediately exined, "He is the same Hiruko that was abandoned in Nipponese mythology. After creating humans, the dirt on Izanagi''s body formed the Hyakki Yagy¨­. However, the abandoned Hiruko was also thought of as dirt, and he drifted to a ce near the Sandanbeki Rock Cliff, where he was stopped by a rock. From then onward, he harbored boundless resentment toward his own parents, and any living being that entered his territory would die without exception. That area has already transformed into a true domain of ghosts, and in order to hide this controversy, Izanami didn''t allow Hiruko no Kami to enter the underworld."

    I see... Qin Ye nodded in response as his eyes narrowed slightly.

    He was confident that this Hiruko no Kami would be willing to let them through into the Nipponese Underworld. This was the best piece of news he had received since he arrived in Nippon!

    The paper figure continued, "Your Excellency, you may think that Hiruko no Kami resents the Nipponese Underworld, but his hatred is nothingpared with what is harbored by the one in Aokigahara! On top of that, Aokigahara in the underworld is a cursed region of the sea that''ll devour even Yin spirits, and it''s directly connected to the Nippon Sea! No Yin spirits can approach the area unless they''re at least at the Anitya Hellguard level, and I think that is the best target for you."

    "Oh?" Qin Ye raised an eyebrow with an intrigued expression.

    The paper figure asked, "Your Excellency, have you heard of Amanozako?"

    Qin Ye shook his head in response. This was a very unfamiliar name to him.

    The paper figure exined, "Her full name is Amanozako Himekami, and she is a manifestation of Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s rage. She has the body of a human but the head of a beast. Her appearance is extremely hideous, but her powers rival those of Susanoo-no-Mikoto! Susanoo-no-Mikoto also abandoned her as he despised her appearance. On top of that, when the Nipponese Underworld was first founded, Izanami didn''t invite Amanozako into the underworld as she didn''t want to give Susanoo-no-Mikoto a powerful ally."

    Sure enough, this was a world where looks were imperative.

    Those who were too hideous didn''t even have the right to be retained by their parents!

    Qin Ye set that train of thought aside and nodded in response. If he could form a coborative rtionship with those two, then the foundation for the attack on the Nipponese Underworld would already beid. All that would be left would be toplete the second-generation forbidden arts and theunching technology.

    However, he had no ns to approach Amanozako and Hiruko at the moment.

    The Mitsubishi Consortium needed time to develop submarines, but Amanozako and Hiruko could open up their pathways into the underworld at any time, so they required no time to prepare. If he were to discuss terms with them now, they would most likely ask for exorbitantpensation, and there was also the possibility that their allegiances could shift over time.

    With that, Qin Ye had aplished everything he hade to Nippon to do. The initial interaction with the Mitsubishi Corporation was a resounding sess, and all that was left to do was to find opportunities to begin coborating in secret.

    His body began to vanish as gusts of Yin wind as he dered, "During the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference in the underworld in half a year''s time, I''ll have some good news to present to you."

    "Thank you for gracing us with your presence!"

    In the blink of an eye, Qin Ye reappeared on a certain street in Tokyo.

    As the most developed city in all of Asia, it was an understatement to call Tokyo a city that never slept. However, despite all the bright lights andvish extravagance, the sorrow of what was once the world''s number one city could not be disguised.

    During the 1980s, Nippon''s GDP was over 70% of Usonia''s, and Tokyo also leapfrogged New York to be the undisputed number one city in the world. However, following a financial crisis in the 1990s, everything came crashing down.

    However, even now, no other city in Asia had managed to surpass it. The foundation that it had umted was far too massive, and many of the things that were in the city now were left behind in the wake of that popped financial bubble.

    An example of that was the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, which was right ahead of Qin Ye.

    It was once the Tokyo residence of a feudal lord, but it waster renovated into the national garden. It spanned an area of close to 60 hectares, and it was the undisputed number one garden in Tokyo.

    The after-effects of the financial crisis could still be seen here. Even though house prices had already dropped to around 50,000 to 60,000 RMB per square kilometer in the non-central parts of Tokyo, which was an absolute bargainpared to house prices in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, but there were still far too many jobless, homeless people sleeping on the benches in the park at night. In fact, there were a few in front of Qin Ye right at this moment.

    He had just purchased a ne ticket for the next day, and he didn''t feel like sleeping, so he strolled into the park. He wanted to see what had be of this once-extravagant city that had left the likes of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Seoul in the dust.

    The night was extremely peaceful, and the only sounds that could be heard was the asional car horn, as well as the rustling of the tree branches in the night breeze. Qin Ye slowly strode along the path in the garden, enjoying a rare moment of peace.

    There were many stonempstands from a long-gone era on either side of the path, and some of them were already covered in moss.

    Right as Qin Ye was walking past one of the antiquatedmps, an azure mes suddenly appeared within it.

    Qin Ye immediately cast his gaze toward that direction.

    Immediately thereafter, azureherfire lit up in all of themps that lined the path!

    The night breeze turned into a howling gale, causing all of the trees in the park to shriek like countless howling ghosts. Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked around in disbelief.

    Who could''ve discovered me? Since when did Nippon have a Yama-King? Alternatively, could it be a coincidence?

    Right at this moment, a strong gust of wind arose behind him as if it had torn open this space before blowing directly toward him from behind.

    Whoever it was, they hadn''t concealed their Yin energy at all, and Qin Ye was just about to retaliate when his expression changed ever so slightly.

    This attack wasn''t imbued with any Yin energy, it was just a pure attack!

    It was extremely fast, so much so that sonic booms were erupting through the air, and the assant was clearly a veteran of the battlefield, but this was nowhere near enough to pose a threat to Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye didn''t even turn around as he reached behind himself, catching the tip of the oing spear between his fingers with unerring uracy before turning around with eyes that were filled with killing intent.

    No matter who it was, they couldn''t be allowed to live after discovering him!

    However, right as he caught sight of his assant, his pupils immediately contracted slightly.

    It was an acquaintance, one that he had never thought that he would meet here!

    "Am I not even worthy of having you face my attack head-on now?" A familiar male voice rang out from behind Qin Ye.

    Qin Ye turned around with an incredulous expression. A young man was standing behind him, looking directly at him with aplex smile on his face.

    His features were quite ordinary, not handsome nor hideous, and he was wearing a kimono. There was no one around him, and he was holding a three-meter-long spear, with a tip that was a meter in length on its own.

    This was the renowned Nipponese spear, Tonbokiri!

    "Honda Tadakatsu..." Qin Ye''s long hair was pping behind him in the Yin wind like a pair of crow''s wings. "How did you find me?"

 Chapter 1209: Feathersheen City

    <h4>Chapter 1209: Feathersheen City</h4>

    In the next instant, a burst of vast Yin energy spread through the area, and it was so enormous and fearsome that it was like a boundless expanse of mist on the sea, while Honda Tadakatsu was left feeling like a lost raft.

    All of the trees in the entire park were swaying violently, and theherfire in the antiquatedmps had sprung up to over two meters in height. The garden had be his own personal hell, and Honda Tadakatsu reflexively stumbled back before drawing a sharp breath. "You''re a Yama-King?!"

    During hisst visit to Nippon, Qin Ye had concealed his Yin energy, and it never urred to Honda Tadakatsu that he could''ve been a high-grade underworld emissary. He had thought that Qin Ye would be around the same level as him, which was the mid-Infernal Judge level. By his reasoning, even at the very most, Qin Ye wouldn''t have been an Abyssal Prefect.

    To him, it was like seeing an old friend on the street and giving him a friendly p on the back. However, it seemed that he had made a severepse in judgment...

    As Qin Ye slowly turned around, Honda Tadakatsu continued to stumble back with his mouth gaped wide open in shock. He reflexively made a grabbing motion, upon which Tonbokiri returned to his grasp, and the entire shaft of the spear was trembling gently.

    "How did you find me?" Countless Yin winds had gathered behind Qin Ye to form a terrifying vortex, within which lost souls were howling incessantly. WIth each step that he took, the Yin energy around him would ripple violently, and countless fallen leaves were shrieking through the air like kites with severed strings.

    With each step that he took, Honda Tadakatsu would take a step backward, and only as his back crashed into a tree did he return to his senses, following which he asked through gritted teeth, "Is this how you greet an old friend?"

    Since when were we friends?

    Qin Ye watched him through narrowed eyes for a few seconds before abruptly withdrawing his Yin energy. He suddenly recalled that Honda Tadakatsu had once told him that if he were willing to rule over Nippon, he would be willing to serve him.

    Could it be that he was serious?

    Yama-King level Yin energy could crush an Infernal Judge to a pulp, so it was a massive relief to Honda Tadakatsu once Qin Ye withdrew his Yin energy. He looked directly at Qin Ye as he exined, "We''ve both touched the Book of Life and Death before, so we can sense one another if we try. Have you not noticed that?"

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and tried to sense Honda Tadakatsu, upon which he discovered that it really was the case.

    At the same time, he could clearly sense the Book of Life and Death. There were many Infernal Judge level Yin spirits in the Book of Life and Death, but he had never carefully inspected them as Yin spirits of that level simply didn''t attract his interest.

    "Why are you here to see me?" he asked as he slowly clenched his fists behind his back.

    He wasn''t sure whether he should kill Honda Tadakatsu or not.

    "I thought we were friends," Honda Tadakatsu replied as he looked right back at Qin Ye. "My fiefdom, Feathersheen City, lies beneath Tokyo, and I thought I should invite you to my home for some hospitality. I''ve already prepared a banquet for you in Feathersheen City."

    Silence.

    Several secondster, Qin Ye smiled as he said, "I thought you were only kidding at the time."

    Indeed, it seemed that Honda Tadakatsu had taken their conversation seriously.

    Of course, Qin Ye wasn''t so immature, but if he were to leave now, he would arouse suspicions from Honda Tadakatsu. This trip to Nippon was strictly confidential, and he didn''t want any unnecessary trouble.

    Furthermore, the fact that Honda Tadakatsu''s fiefdom in the underworld was equivalent to Tokyo in the mortal realm was a clear indication that he was an extremely important figure in the Nipponese Underworld, so he could be a valuable source of information.

    "So what would you like to do now?" Honda Tadakatsu asked.

    "Well, it would be rude not to ept an invitation from an old friend, would it not?" Qin Ye replied with a smile.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    10 minutester, Qin Ye was standing in front of arge shrine, inspecting his surroundings with a rather surprised expression.

    The shrine was situated in Yoyogi, Tokyo, and it was surrounded by a vast forest, which was thergest area of greenery in the central area of Tokyo, spanning the entire area between Yoyogi and Harajuku, which amounted to a total of 70 hectares. Inside this forest was the number one Shinto shrine of Nippon, Meiji Jingu.

    Emperor Meiji and Empress Sh¨­ken were the ones worshiped in Meiji Jingu, and it could be said that this was the head temple of the Shinto religion.

    Only an extremely important figure to the Nipponese Underworld would possess an inter-realm mirror here. It seemed that Honda Tadakatsu''s status in the Nipponese Underworld was even loftier than Qin Ye had expected.

    It was already past 3 AM at this point, but there were still lit candles on the candlesticks outside the shrine, as if to provide guidance to the lost souls wandering through limbo. The shrine was extremely majestic, but there was something a little eerie about it at the moment.

    Honda Tadakatsu pulled back the sleeve of his kimono as he made an inviting hand gesture, then led the way into the shrine.

    They passed through the entrance and several corridors, arriving in a room with seals adhered to the doors. The interior of the room was extremely tidy, and there was a ck vase that was around a meter in height with lush plum blossoms inside situated in each of the four corners. At the center of the wall was a mirror.

    It was a floor-to-ceiling mirror that was roughly three meters tall and two meters wide. At the foot of the mirror were statues of the Hyakki Yagy¨­, while carvings of Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto were present on top of the mirror. The mirror''s surface was incredibly smooth and pristine, but it was incapable of reflection.

    This was an inter-realm mirror!

    Qin Ye took a long look at it before stepping into the mirror together with Honda Tadakatsu.

    After a brief rush of dizziness, Qin Ye slowly opened his eyes, and he was greeted by the sight of arge city in the form of a tenshu pavilion in the ssic style of the Nipponese Sengoku period.

    At the center was the inner citadel, and it was over 100 meters tall with the emblem of the Honda n hanging at the center, surrounded by countless specks ofherfire. Situated around the inner citadel were four smaller branch tenshu pavilions that were connected by passageways that were suspended in mid-air, and at this moment, the entire tenshu pavilion was brightly lit.

    "Wee to Feathersheen City!" Honda Tadakatsu smiled as he extended a slight bow. "I came into possession of this city a century ago, and after what happened at the Strait of Tsushimast time, I received the rights to expand it."

    Right in front of them was an altar, upon which was a faintly glowing teleportation array formed by Yin runes. The two of them stepped onto the array, and they quickly arrived in a spacious room.

    This was a ssic antiquated Nipponese-style room, and it was veryrge, looking to be around 200 to 300 square meters in area. There was a bamboo curtain hanging in front of each seat, and a group of kabuki dancers were already gathered and ready to perform on the tatami mats at the center of the room. Right as Qin Ye sat down, the instrumentals began, and it was at just the right volume, clearly audible, but not loud enough to hinder conversation.

    The bamboo curtains were pulled up by the servants off to the side, and Honda Tadakatsu picked up his ck sake cup with a smile. "I didn''t think I would ever meet you again, Qin San, and it''s certainly a massive surprise to me that you''ve already be a Yama-King. Let''s drink to that."

    "I also didn''t think that you would''ve already be a daimyo." Qin Ye took a sip of his sake, then set down his cup with a reminiscent look in his eyes. "I still remember everything that happened at the Strait of Tsushima as clearly as if it were yesterday, but over two decades have already passed since then."

    "Indeed..." Honda Tadakatsu sighed. "Almost all of the daimyos at the time were punished. Out of the 54 daimyos, 42 of them were demoted, and they were allowed to keep their tenshu pavilions, but were forced to reduce the number of troops in their private armies."

    Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to look at Honda Tadakatsu.

    However, Honda Tadakatsu was watching the dancers and sampling a piece of sashimi, seeminglypletely oblivious to what he had just said. Firstly, a daimyo wasn''t an official post.

    During the Sengoku era of Nippon, anyone could receive the title of daimyo so long as they had sufficient territory, troops, and wealth. There were different levels among daimyos, with the lowliest ones roughly equivalent in rank to shoyus, while the most prominent ones, such as Takeda Shingen of Kai Province, Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province, and Oda Nobunaga of Owari Province were roughly equivalent to the likes of the Naidaijin or the Dainagon.

    This made sense considering Toyotomi Hideyoshi dered himself to be Kampaku as soon as he united the nation, thus making him the head of Nippon, and he was a daimyo prior to that.

    Honda Tadakatsu didn''t appear to have said anything significant, but in reality, he had just revealed the internal conflict between the system of gods and demons and the system of daimyos in the Nipponese Underworld.

    In reality, there were always signs of this internal conflict present if one knew where to look. For example, why wasn''t there even a single god or demon present back at the Strait of Tsushima? Why was it that only daimyos had been present?

    It was most likely the case that the daimyo system was inferior to the system of gods and demons. After all, Izanami wasn''t part of the daimyo system. With that in mind, Qin Ye took another nce at Honda Tadakatsu, wondering if he had intentionally said this or if it had just been an errant thought that he had expressed out loud.

    Qin Ye smiled as he took a sip of sake, but his mind was racing as he said, "It looks like the daimyos don''t have it easy, either. The regime seems to be quite restrictive and oppressive toward daimyos. Does that apply to you as well?"

    "It does..." Honda Tadakatsu sighed. "On the surface, it looks like I have it all, but in reality... Hehe..."

    Both of them fell silent there.

    Qin Ye was bing more and more confused about Honda Tadakatsu''s mindset. In the past, he had told Honda Tadakatsu that he was the future heir to the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo, and he was certain that Honda Tadakatsu wouldn''t forget something like that. Now that Qin Ye had be a Yama-King, he couldn''t help but wonder how he was being regarded by Honda Tadakatsu.

    Was he saying all of this in an attempt to initiate an exchange of information, or was he justmenting about his situation to what he perceived to be an old friend?

    This was extremely important as it reflected the attitude of the daimyos in response to an invasion from the Cathayan Underworld. The daimyos of the Sengoku period were a force to be reckoned with, and if they were willing to defect to the Cathayan Underworld, that would naturally be extremely wee. Thus, if possible, Qin Ye really wanted to absorb them into the Cathayan Underworld.

    At the moment, the two of them were like a pair of crickets touching one another with their feelers, but not directly expressing their true intentions.

    After several seconds of silence, Qin Ye smiled as he said, "Perhaps some things will change in half a year''s time."

    "Oh?" Honda Tadakatsu picked up his cup to hide the hint of excitement that shed through his eyes.

    "In half a year, I''m going to hold an Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference."

    Honda Tadakatsu sighed, "We most likely won''t have the right to attend the conference."

    "Not necessarily," Qin Ye said. "When the timees, I''ll be sending invitations to Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, H¨­j¨­ Tokimune, and yourself. Izanami wouldn''t dare to refuse."

    On the surface, it appeared that Qin Ye was helping him or that he was widening the rift between the daimyos and the gods and demons, but at the same time, he was also implying that this was the reason why he hade to Nippon.

    He was visiting to see which people he wanted to invite.

    Perhaps this was an absurd reason. After all, no one would believe that a Yama-King woulde to Nippon in person over such a trivial matter, but at the very least, it was a somewhat usible excuse.

    As for what happened next...

    Qin Ye set down his cup.

    Once Qin Ye confirmed that the Mitsubishi Corporation and the daimyos were interested in a deeper coborative partnership, he would have to find opportunities to initiate contact with those parties.

    These things couldn''t be rushed. If he were to do things too hastily, his ns could be exposed.

    He had already reaped sufficient reward from this trip to Nippon, and it would be unwise to try and pursue much more than this.

 Chapter 1210: Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1210: Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference (1)</h4>

    The banquet stretched on for two hours before Qin Ye rose to his feet and departed.

    As he vanished on the spot, all of the kabuki dancers extended deep bows, and just as they were about to depart, Honda Tadakatsu suddenly said, "Hold on."

    He turned around with a smile as he said, "That was quite a performance. You deserve a reward."

    The lead dancer raised her head with a surprised expression upon hearing this, following which a genuine smile appeared on her face. "Thank..."

    Before she had a chance to finish, five bursts of bright light shed through the hall, and all of the dancers were reduced to specks ofherfire before they even had a chance to cry out.

    The sound of des being returned to their scabbards rang out across the hall, and five figures slowly rose to their feet within the darkness.

    "Master." Honda Tadakatsu''s smile faded as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.

    The person that he was speaking to was a slightly chubby man who was around 170 centimeters in height, with a small mustache on his face.

    He was wearing a traditional ck official''s hat, with a ck kariginu to match, upon which was embroidered round golden chrysanthemum flowers. There was a katana hanging from his waist, and he was holding a hand fan.

    His appearance was very ordinary, but he was giving off a regal aura of superiority.

    The four men behind him were also wearing the same ck hats, but their robes were white in color, and they had decorative essories hanging from their waists. They were all different in appearance, but there was one shared trait among them, and that was the intense killing intent that they were giving off.

    The man made his way over to the railing, then cast a meaningful gaze toward the direction that Qin Ye had departed in before heaving a faint sigh. "You did very well, Tadakatsu."

    "It''s just a pity that we weren''t able to find out his true intentions. I don''t even know if he understood what we were trying to tell him," Honda Tadakatsu replied.

    "I must say, this was quite the coincidence," the man said as he took a seat. "Iwasaki Kyouya was one of the people we''ve been keeping an eye on. He''s about to reach the end of his lifespan, so our underworld emissaries were already waiting nearby, and they just so happened to see Yanluo Qin give Iwasaki Kyouya a visit."

    One of the white-robed men''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "While it''s true that Yanluo Qin and Iwasaki Kyouya had some past ties, is it really true that Yanluo Qin came to Nippon just to bid him farewell?"

    This man was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first sh¨­gun of Nippon!

    Honda Tadakatsu, Sakai Tadatsugu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Ii Naomasa were known as the Shitenn¨­, and at this moment, they were all gathered in the same tenshu pavilion.

    "The ruler of one of the four pirs wouldn''t have that much spare time on their hands." Tokugawa Ieyasu took his rightful ce on the main seat, then continued, "Make sure to silence all of the underworld emissaries who have seen Yanluo Qin tonight."

    "Yes!"

    Tokugawa Ieyasu was silent for a moment before musing, "If you ask me, I think he understood what we were trying to convey to him."

    Sakakibara Yasumasa was just about to say something, but Tokugawa Ieyasu raised a hand to stop him. "Otherwise, he wouldn''t have mentioned Toyotomi Hideyoshi, H¨­j¨­ Tokimune, and myself when he extended that invitation to Tadakatsu San. It might be a little bit of an overstatement for me to say this, but the three of us represent the three eras of Nippon. As such, it stands to reason that we would be the ones most unwilling to be oppressed, and we''re also the most influential figures among all of the daimyos."

    No one denied this, and they all lowered their heads with contemtive expressions.

    H¨­j¨­ Tokimune managed to fight back two invasions from the Mongol army. Even though the divine wind was the reason they were able to force back the Mongol troops, he benefited from being the ruler of Nippon at the time.

    As for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he united Nippon even before Tokugawa Ieyasu, but due to his greed, he did something that ultimately proved to be his own downfall, which wasshing out at Daehan.

    At the time, the king of Daehan, Yi Yeon, had been banished, and all of the eight provinces of Yi Dynasty Daehan had also been conquered. He was extremely resentful, but couldn''t do anything. Thus, he could only turn to Daehan''s backer, which was the Ming Dynasty empire at the time, for reinforcements.

    The Wanli Emperor was very displeased to hear about what Nippon had done, and thus, Song Yingchang and Li Rusong were deployed alongside an army of 40,000 troops to reinforce Daehan,prehensively crushing Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s army of 150,000.

    At the time, the morale of Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s army was at an all-time high. It had just united all of Nippon, and it was quite a formidable army, but unfortunately for them, cannons had just been invented in the Ming Dynasty empire.

    Thus, the battle becamepletely unfair. By modern standards, cannons back in those days were inurate andcking in firepower, but don''t forget that they were being pitted against soldiers who were only equipped with primitive weapons like swords and spears!

    As soon as Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s army stepped onto the battlefield, it was hit by a barrage of unknown steel balls, and the battle was quickly over.

    Five yearster, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to have a second try, and the oue was much the same. Through those two battles, Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s forces were dealt irrecoverable blows.

    At the time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s reign was forged on the foundation of the five major subordinates under him, namely Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Ukita Hideie, M¨­ri Terumoto, and Kobayakawa Takakage. During the two Daehan wars, three of those ns suffered heavy losses, and as a result, Tokugawa Ieyasu became the most powerful of the five subordinates due to the fact that he had always conserved his own forces. Thus, the foundation was set for Tokugawa Ieyasu''s subsequent rise to power.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu heaved a long sigh. "So long as Izanami continues to be in power, none of us will truly be free."

    The entire hall fell silent.

    This was the root of the conflict between the daimyos and the gods and demons.

    "That''s not even to mention Ashikaga Yoshiaki..." Honda Tadakatsu said in a resentful voice.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time in the underworld passed like sand in an eternal hourss. The sand was constantly slipping away, but no one could sense its departure.

    Half a year passed by in the blink of an eye, and for underworld emissaries like Honda Tadakatsu, it seemed like nothing had changed, but all of the top rulers of the Asian underworlds were beginning to pay special attention to their calendars.

    Starting from the beginning of the month, the Golden Temple of the underworld became extremely busy. This temple existed in the mortal realm as well, and it was in Hindustan, a nation where religion was extremely revered. Thus, most of the important religiousndmarks of Hindustan in the mortal realm were replicated in the underworld as well.

    The Golden Temple of the underworld was even more massive than the one in the mortal realm. In Hindustan, the Golden Temple had been constructed using 750 kilograms of gold, but its equivalent in the Hindustani Underworld had been constructed using an entire metric ton of gold! Virtually the entirety of the interior was constructed from pure gold.

    At this moment, there was a woman with a thin veil over her face, wearing a five-colored cape, standing at the entrance of the temple.

    She was extremely beautiful, and it was clear form her features that she was Hindustani in ethnicity. There were images depicting all types of legends etched onto her cape, and she looked just like an ordinary woman from the mortal realm, but no one dared to look down on her.

    This woman was none other than the Sky Serpent King!

    Among all of the Hindustani Underworld''s death gods, she was the one closest to the advanced Yama-King level, and she was also the prime minister of the Hindustani Underworld.

    Her smile was impable, and there was a line of Yin spirit servants with white turbans on their heads standing behind her. She raised her head as she asked, "How long until Yanluo Qin arrives?"

    "No more than five minutes," one of the servants replied.

    The Sky Serpent King nodded in response and didn''t say anything further.

    She knew that this conference was not going to be a simple affair. Each international conference was an opportunity for underworlds to fight for speaking rights, and in particr, the Cathayan Underworld was attending this conference as the second host.

    Indeed, the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference had two host nations, and this was due to the fact that Asia was the only continent in the entire underworld with two members of the four pirs.

    Countless pairs of eyes were focused on this ce, and everyone wanted to see what moves the Cathayan Underworld was going to make during this conference.

    After all, it was their first time hosting an international conference since their century-long absence.

    The servant paused momentarily before continuing in a hesitant voice, "Also, there''s something else I need to tell you about."

    What were you doing before this?

    The Sky Serpent King''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and the servant hurriedly exined, "This is something that was raised by Mistress Izanami less than 10 minutes ago, so we''ve only just been informed as well..."

    "Go ahead," the Sky Serpent King urged before the servant had a chance to finish.

    The servant pursed his lips, then said, "There will be two Nipponese representative teams attending this conference."

    The Sky Serpent King''s body remainedpletely still, but her head swiveled around 90 degrees, and three snakes slowly converged toward the center of her pupils as she asked in a frosty voice, "Why have you only just been informed of this?! Tell me what''s going on!"

    The servant felt as if his soul had been plunged into a cial pit, and he hurriedly exined, "One of the representative teams is led by Izanami and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, while the other one is led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, H¨­j¨­ Tokimune, and Honda Tadakatsu."

    "They''re not led by Izanamizz/"

    "No..."

    "Then what right do they have to attend this conference?!"

    "They also have letters of invitation..."

    The Sky Serpent King''s fury instantly faded, and her eyes narrowed slightly in a calcting manner as she asked, "Who sent them their letters of invitation?"

    "They were from the Cathayan Underworld," the servant replied. "We haven''t prepared any ces for them to rest, nor any seats for them in the conference venue. Should we..."

    "Allow them to participate in the conference," the Sky Serpent King said in an indifferent voice. "This is the Nipponese Underworld''s issue. All parties with letters of invitation are allowed entry. Also, make sure to reprimand Izanami for not rifying the number of representative teams from her nation in advance."

    "Yes." The servant released a messenger bird into the air, and at the same time, the Sky Serpent King''s eyes abruptly sprang open as a warm smile appeared on her face.

    At the end of the road, a giant carriage that was over 10 meters tall and crafted in the form of a Yin beast was slowly approaching the temple.

    It was a moving pce.

    Even all of the bells hanging outside the carriage were extremely intricate, having been crafted entirely from underworld gold, and the carriage itself was constructed from the A-grade material, Linglong Crystal, which was able to withstand 10 Yama-King level attacks. That wasn''t even to mention the top-tier Yin runes inscribed upon it.

    As a foreign death god, she was very envious of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Even she couldn''t understand these Yin runes, so they had to be Yin runes from the 10th circle, and only King Yanluo''s Seal could give rise to such Yin runes!

    She repressed the envy in her heart as she lifted the hem of hervish dress, and right as the carriage drew to a halt before her, she extended a deep bow. "It is my honor to wee Yanluo Qin to the Hindustani Underworld."

    ssic Hindustani music had already begun to y, and female dancers on either side began to dance along to the music. Qin Ye was the final death god to arrive, and the conference was about to begin.

    Countless pairs of eyes were already peering through the walls, focusing on the young King Yanluo.

 Chapter 1211: Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1211: Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference (2)</h4>

    "So is that who you serve now?" On the top floor of the Golden Temple, a thin man was waving his hand fan as he looked at the extravagant weing ceremony taking ce down below with his eyes narrowed in derision.

    He was making no attempt at all to hide the mockery in his voice, and standing right beside him were Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, H¨­j¨­ Tokimune, and Honda Tadakatsu.

    There were around 10 Yin spirits in their group in total, but there was a clear divide between them.

    "What are you talking about, General Ashikaga? I''m afraid I don''t understand." H¨­j¨­ Tokimune was also a thin man, and he was wearing a kampaku robe. He spread open his hand fan and used it to cover his own mouth as he said, "Only by working together as a unified force can we take the Nipponese Underworld to greater heights. Do you think our situation isn''t already terrible enough?"

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki gave the three kampakus a cold look, skipping over Honda Tadakatsu entirely, then turned his head to disguise the scorching resentment in his eyes.

    Those robes were a tant insult to him, yet the three kampakus were all wearing the same thing!

    After a brief silence, he said, "If you think we should work together as a unified force, then we should all follow Mistress Izanami''s orders."

    He turned to look the three kampakus straight in the eye as he continued, "Why do I not recall seeing your names on the list of representatives? What are you supposed to be? You don''t have any official status in the Nipponese Underworld, so what right do you have to attend this international conference? Are you here as mascots?"

    A hint of killing intent surfaced in Honda Tadakatsu''s eyes, only to immediately vanish, but his hand was already resting on the decorative dagger that was strapped to his waist.

    A cold smile appeared on Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s face as he countered, "Aren''t you the more experienced one when ites to acting as a mascot, General Ashikaga? In the past, you were our mascots, and now, you''re Mistress Izanami''s mascot. As soon as she waves her little bell, you immediately go rushing to her like an obedient dog. Would you mind sharing your mascot experience with us so we can learn from you?"

    "How dare you?!"

    "What gives you the right to speak to General Ashikaga in such an uncouth manner?!"

    "You bring shame to the Nipponese Underworld!"

    Several underworld emissaries behind Ashikaga Yoshiaki immediately expressed their fury as they drew their daggers, but right at this moment, a calm female voice rang out. "Do you think you still haven''t made enough of a fool out of yourselves already?"

    A burst of Prefect-level Yin energy erupted forth violently, and everyone instantly fell silent.

    "Mistress Izanami!"

    Izanami was wearing a red and white robe, and she slowly made her way over to the group, apanied by several servants and Daitengu, who had a bright red face and a head of white hair.

    All of the underworld emissaries quickly parted, and Izanami strode over to the railing before looking down.

    She continued watching in silence for about five minutes, and she only stepped back from the railing once Qin Ye entered the Golden Temple. As she departed, she took an indifferent nce at the three kampakus, but didn''t say anything.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki immediately followed along behind her, and only after they had left the hall did Izanami instruct, "Make sure to keep a close eye on them. Report to me immediately if they have any interaction with the Cathayan Underworld, but don''t take any aggressive measures."

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki looked up with a surprised expression upon hearing this. "But Mistress Izanami..."

    "Do as I say!" Izanami said in an imcable voice.

    "Yes..." Ashikaga Yoshiaki stepped away to the side with a slightly indignant expression.

    Izanami didn''t even take a nce at him, leaving him behind as she entered the corridor.

    Regardless of whether she wanted to greet Qin Ye or not, she had to wee him as a gesture of respect.

    "Idiot," Izanami murmured to herself as she massaged her own be. As she walked along, she continued, "Our Nipponese Underworld is in a very awkward position in the underworld. When the three pirs tried tosh out against the Cathayan Underworld, we had to act as the spearhead, but who could''ve predicted that the Cathayan Underworld would develop the new energy resource topletely turn the tables on the three pirs? Now that the three pirs have backed down, we''ve been left out to dry. Our top priority now is to repair our rtionship with the Cathayan Underworld. Regardless of whether Yanluo Qin wants to strike up conflict between the demons and gods and the daimyos, or if he has other ns for inviting the daimyos to the conference, it''s imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to mend our rtionship with the Cathayan Underworld."

    To the east of the Nipponese Underworld was the Antic Ocean, but it was surrounded by the Cathayan Underworld in all three other directions. Thus, the Nipponese Underworld has no foreign aid whatsoever, and if the Cathayan Underworld were to make a resurgence, it would loom over the Nipponese Underworld like an all-epassing shadow.

    Thus, they had no choice.

    "To think that Ashikaga Yoshiaki is still trying to take advantage of this opportunity to take the daimyos down a peg? Is he blind? Just how stupid can he be?!"

    In her eyes, the presence of the three kampakus at this conference would exacerbate the internal conflict within the Nipponese Underworld, but that wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. In an underworld without any other advanced Abyssal Prefects, she was the undisputed ruler!

    Daitengu said, "You haven''t even said anything, yet he''s making a move in your stead, so he''spletely overstepping the boundaries of his authority. It seems that he doesn''t know exactly who it was that gave him the power that he enjoys now. If it isn''t for you, there''s no way he would''ve been able to suppress those daimyos. We''re only using him as a puppet, yet he''s deluded himself into thinking that he''s someone important. What a hopeless fool he is!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Yanluo Qin!" Yamaraja''s attitude toward Qin Ye had taken aplete 180-degree turnpared with 10 years ago. As soon as Qin Ye made his way into the temple, he immediately rushed over and grabbed Qin Ye''s hand with both of his own. Even the three glowing red eyes under his ck hood were curved up at the corners as if they were smiling.

    "Long time no see! I''ve really missed you." He was shaking Qin Ye''s hand as if they were the closest of friends, and countless cameras immediately began to sh around them.

    "Indeed, I''ve also missed you greatly. Come to think of it, this is my first time here at the Hindustani Underworld, and it''s far more beautiful than I imagined." Qin Ye was also ying along, acting as if they were old friends who had been reunited after a long separation.

    "That sure is a glowingplimenting from you, Yanluo Qin." Yamaraja was holding onto Qin Ye''s hand, and it was as if he hadpletely forgotten how he had treated Qin Ye during the conference in Nara and the Great Revtion Debate. Even as he began to move through the hall, he was still holding onto Qin Ye''s hand and dragging him along.

    Goosebumps were being raised all over Qin Ye''s body from the excessive disy of affection.

    "This is all thanks to the Cathayan Underworld." He smiled as he waved at the sea of cameras while walking along beside Qin Ye. "If it isn''t for the invention of the new energy resource, the entire underworld would still be in the dark ages."

    "Long time no see, Yanluo Qin."

    "Have you been well, Yanluo Qin?"

    All of a sudden, Anubis popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, wearing a whole host of gold, jade, and diamond essories as he grabbed onto Qin Ye''s other hand with a wide smile.

    Meanwhile, Thanatos withdrew his hand in an awkward manner, cursing the human anatomy for only having two hands.

    Instead, he held onto Anubis''s other hand so that the ruler death gods of the four pirs formed a line in order to not make himself look so awkward.

    It had been over 100 years since the rulers of the four pirs hade together in peace and harmony, and all of the surrounding cameras were shing incessantly.

    The shing lights of the cameras formed a sea of radiance, and Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly. He couldn''t help but feel intoxicated by this feeling of standing at the pinnacle of the world.

    Only after a full minute had passed did the shing lights gradually subside, and Yamaraja cleared his throat as he said, "Everyone, there is still half an hour until themencement of the conference. Why don''t we enter the venue now to see if everyone is satisfied with the location. If there are anyints, we can make adjustments right away."

    Everyone was in agreement with the idea, and the Qin Ye nodded at the three death gods before entering the venue first. Thanatos was thest one in the line, and his smile slowly faded as he watched Qin Ye''s departing figure.

    "What do you think of this?" he asked.

    Yamaraja''s eyes narrowed slightly in response. "What do you mean?"

    "The Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference is imperative to the direction that the world''s economy takes, and it''s always been hosted by the Hindustani Underworld and the Cathayan Underworld together. However, on this asion, the Hindustani Underworld is only hosting two minor conferences, while the Cathayan Underworld is holding three major conferences and five minor conferences. Why did you make such a big concession?"

    Yamaraja didn''t reply.

    The power bnce of the world was slowly shifting. Ever since the Cathayan Underworld''s aggressive resurgence, the entire world had be reliant on its new energy resource, so there was no longer any way for them to suppress the Cathayan Underworld.

    Economic sanctions simply wouldn''t work, and as for military sanctions, the Cathayan Underworld seemed to have never feared sanctions of that nature.

    Asia had already been split up into two major sections, with the Hindustani Underworld controlling the Indonesian Inds, the Maluku Inds, and the world''s gate in the Australis Underworld, as well as the Strait of Tsushima. As for the rest, including Southern Asia, and the Nipponese Underworld, that was all in the Cathayan Underworld''s sphere of influence.

    Continuing the conflict wouldn''t help the situation at all, and after the past decade of developments, Yamaraja no longer had much confidence that other underworlds would continue to stand by him. After all, national power outages were no joke and could easily spark mass Yin spirit protests and riots.

    Thus, under these circumstances, the three pirs chose to back down and allow the Cathayan Underworld to recover its influence and speaking rights in the world. Thanatos was well aware of this, but he was rather reluctant to ept it.

    After all, the three pirs had reigned supreme for over 100 years, and it hurt him greatly to relinquish the power that he had umted during that time.

    "The times are constantly changing," Yamaraja said as he slowly made his way into the venue. "Sometimes, the pendulum swings to one side, and at other times, it swings to the other side. It''s clear that we won''t be blessed by the times for at least the next century. Rather than trying to fight the natural order, it''s much wiser for us to wait until the pendulum naturally swings in our favor. There are no eternal empires in this world, that''s something everyone knows, is it not?"

    Thanatos didn''t say anything, and only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh before entering the venue as well.

    In any case, the Argosian Underworld was the furthest of the three pirs from the Cathayan Underworld. The first of the three pirs that would have to face the pressure of the Cathayan Underworld''s resurgence would be the Hindustani Underworld, followed by the Aegyptian Underworld, while the Argosian Underworld would be thest to be affected.

    Prior to the development of inte technology, the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able to impact them.

    "So be it." With that in mind, his gloomy mood was lightened a little. "Let me see what surprises the Cathayan Underworld has in store for this international conference."

 Chapter 1212: Hidden Sword (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1212: Hidden Sword (1)</h4>

    The Golden Hall was the most grand andvish hall in the Golden Temple,bining the styles of Sikh temples and mosques. Every single pir and even the dome-shaped roof was covered in gold foil, and a series of extremely life-like statues and renowned ancient Hindustani artworks were perfectly embedded within them, giving the entire hall both a sense of beauty and majesty.

    A tall tform stood at the center of the hall with the ruler death gods of the four pirs seated on it. Behind them were the gs of all of the nations in the Coalition of Underworlds. The main tform was surrounded by stairs in all directions, and all of the death gods of the Asia-Pacific, as well as the death gods that had received special invites, were gathered here.

    Round chandeliers that carried strong religious elements were hanging up above, illuminating the entire hall with gentle yellow radiance. As the candles being held by the Naga statues on either side of the hall were ignited, Yamaraja rose up from his seat before extending a slight bow. "I am truly very pleased to be able to see so many of you during this conference. Different civilizations give rise to different cultures, and culture is the driving force behind societal development. Here in the underworld, we have unlimited time, and I firmly believe that all cultures that adapt with the natural order will bloom into something beautiful one day. However, during this process, we have to carefully nurture and protect these cultures, and that is why the four pirs came into existence. We are willing to ept the extra responsibility of leading the world forward, and it''s also because of this that the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference arose."

    He was already very ustomed to asions like this, and he gently raised a hand, upon which bursts of Yin energy surged out of his fingertips, forming a series of Yin energy images in the air.

    The images depicted the earliest parts of human civilization, then the industrial revolution and the renaissance. One empire after another rose up before falling, and finally, the images concluded with the modern underworld.

    "We have reason to be confident that with the unlimited time that we have, the entire world will be one big nation someday. The Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference is designed to help us achieve that goal, so let''s give a warm round of apuse to themencement of this conference. I hope that all of the underworlds can improve together through economic coborations."

    After several seconds of apuse, Yamaraja extended another slight bow. "Looking back to what has happened between thest conference and now, the spotlight of the entire world has undoubtedly been focused on the Cathayan Underworld."

    Many pairs of eyes were immediately directed toward Qin Ye, carrying all types of emotions. Everyone knew just how much wealth the new energy resource had earned for the Cathayan Underworld. Just the S-rank materials that they had received alone would''ve amounted to staggering quantities!

    "The emergence of the new energy resource has allowed the entire underworld to step into a new era. We''ll only need 50 years toplete a journey that the mortal realm took centuries toplete. Thebined usage of Yin energy and the new energy resource can be referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, and as the pioneer behind all of this, Yanluo Qin of the Cathayan Underworld is undoubtedly the main character here, so without further ado, we wee him to deliver his address."

    Raucous apuse rang out once again, and this wave was far more genuine than the previous one.

    The Cathayan Underworld had already be the trade center of Asia. Virtually all of the registrations and assessments of the most advanced pieces of technology were processed in Formosa, and the entire underworld was paying close attention to everything that the Cathayan Underworld did.

    Qin Ye smiled as he rose to his feet, then made his way to the lectern at the very front of the main tform. He extended a slight bow, then cast a very subtle nce toward Izanami.

    This conference was the first step to his n to conquer the Nipponese Underworld!

    He slowly spread open his speech script, making sure to do so carefully as if there were a sharp sword wrapped inside it.

    If Izanami couldn''t sense the impending peril, then this sword would be plunged deep into her heart!

    "I am extremely honored to be the opening speaker for this conference," Qin Ye said. "I''m sure everyone is eager to hear how our Cathayan Underworld ns to take the new energy resource to greater heights. For this address, I have several important decisions that I would like to announce."

    The entire hall fell deathly silent upon hearing this, and even the ruler death gods of the three pirs had involuntarily sat up straighter.

    Whatever these important decisions were, they were undoubtedly going to have a massive global impact.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath. He had alreadypletely unfurled his script at this point, and it was lying on the lectern like a sharp sword that had just been drawn from its scabbard.

    He wasted no time as he cast a serious gaze toward all of the death gods and dered, "The first decision rtes to the settlement of new energy resource transactions."

    Everyone continued to remain silent.

    At the moment, this was a major area of spending for all nations, and even the slightest change in policy could result in fluctuations of billions.

    "From next year onward, our Cathayan Underworld will be lowering all new energy resource settlement fees."

    Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief upon hearing this, and all of the death gods looked at one another to see their own excitement mirrored in one another''s eyes, immediately following which a sea of raucous apuse rang out.

    This was something that had to be apuded!

    Any other nation with such an important asset would only elevate the price, yet the Cathayan Underworld was willing to do the opposite!

    This was the generosity of the most powerful nation in the world!

    Thanatos was also apuding vigorously. This was naturally fantastic news, but at the same time, he couldn''t help but feel perplexed as he stared at Qin Ye.

    Is he insane? Is there really an underworld that doesn''t love money? Is this supposed to be a joke? Why is he lowering the fees? Is it out of the kindness of his heart? Does he even have any of that?

    He couldn''t understand the decision.

    The apuse was too loud, and Qin Ye had to raise a hand to gesture for silence before continuing, "At the moment, each unit of the new energy resource costs somewhere between 0.55 to 0.65 dragon jade. After thorough deliberation between our Cathayan Underworld''s energy resource and finance departments, we''ve decided that the costs for the new energy resource will be lowered across the board starting from next year. The degree of lowering will differ depending on the number of units of the new energy resource purchased by each nation, and the specific figures will be released during the main conference."

    A wave of apuse rang out once again. They couldn''t have asked for any better news to kick off the conference. However, that wasn''t all Qin Ye had to say. "On the basis of the existing discount, we''ll be lowering the price by a further 0.01 dragon jade. These funds will be stored in the Cathayan Underworld''s Heaven and Earth Bank, and it will temporarily be named the ''energy resource development fund''. This money will not go to our Cathayan Underworld. Instead, after being stored for five years, we will use it to found an international energy resource research society in the city of Changan. The entirety of this fund will go to the development of energy resources."

    Everyone was astounded by this announcement, and several death gods raised their heads to look up at Qin Ye with incredulous expressions. He was doing the entire world a massive favor here!

    Essentially, he was lowering the price by a further 2% and providing the entire world with the opportunity to participate in deeper research into the new energy resource!

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs exchanged a nce before quickly looking away again.

    Yamajara''s long ck nails were gently tapping against the surface of the table.

    I see, so he still feels like he doesn''t have enough influence in the world. Indeed, the Cathayan Underworld definitely isn''t as influential as it once was, so he''s nning to strengthen the bond between the Cathayan Underworld and the rest of the world by doing this. He''s using the economy to reel in all of the world''s death gods, then using the energy resource research fund to attract all of the world''s leading scientists. Is he nning to advance the Cathayan Underworld''s Yin rune industry?

    He cast a subtle nce toward Thanatos. The Argosian Underworld had always been the world leader in the Yin rune industry, so Thanatos should''ve been the first one to feel threatened by this announcement.

    However, much to his surprise, Thanatos didn''t say anything.

    Given the discount on the new energy resource that Qin Ye was offering to the entire world, Thanatos was willing to swallow this bitter pill, but he couldn''t tell if this was the right decision or not.

    While the entire venue was still spiritedly discussing this announcement, Qin Ye stole a nce at Izanami to find that she was apuding with an ted look on her face,pletely oblivious to the fact that a de had already been ced onto her neck.

    He withdrew his gaze before clearing his throat, and the entire venue instantly fell silent.

    "Currently, there are still a total of six underworlds left in Asia, namely the Cathayan Underworld, the Hindustani Underworld, the Russian Underworld, the Nipponese Underworld, the Indonesian Underworld, and the Bandeshi Underworld. The Cathayan Underworld has decided to establish an equal trade rtionship with all of the underworlds in Asia, with standardized tariffs and no more energy resource export quotas. On top of that, we will grant the aforementioned five nations the right to construct base stations..."

    Before he had even finished, Izanami, Yamaraja, and the death gods of the Bandeshi Underworld and the Indonesian Underworld looked up at Qin Ye in unison with astonished expressions.

    Isn''t this a move to abolish energy resource trade barriers?!

    "Thank you for your generosity!" The ruler death god of the Bandeshi Underworld was the first to stand up before extending a deep bow, and he was immediately followed by Izanami and the ruler death god of the Indonesian Underworld.

    Qin Ye nodded in response, and his expression betrayed no emotions, but his heartbeat was already beginning to elerate.

    With these announcements made, the Nipponese Underworld was alreadypletely at his mercy, and Izanami was stillpletely oblivious.

    "Let me finish," Qin Ye said with a smile. "Of course, these rights will only be granted to capable enterprises or powers. For example, from the information that I''ve gathered, I can see that the Grand Pavilion Corporation of the Nipponese Underworld fits my criteria, and that''s why I''ve invited them to attend this conference."

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and H¨­j¨­ Tokimune were seated in a corner of the hall, and all of them immediately looked up as their mouths gaped open in shock. If it weren''t for the fact that they were gripping tightly onto the armrests of their chairs, they wouldn''t have been able to stop themselves from jumping to their feet!

    A massive opportunity had just fallen onto theirps!

    He understood... He understood what Tadakatsu San was trying to convey!

    This was his answer, and this opportunity was enough for them to rise to unprecedented heights!

    The construction of base stations was undoubtedly going to be extremely profitable. Qin Ye had dered that he was going to abolish trade barriers between the five nations, and the Nipponese Underworld certainly wasn''t going to fear the Indonesian Underworld and the Bandeshi Underworld in a battle of technology!

    Not only did they not fear them, they could even try to take over the national markets of those two underworlds! Perhaps they could even make some forays into the vast market of the Hindustani Underworld!

    In the face of this golden opportunity, they could barely contain themselves!

    Not far away from them, Ashikaga Yoshiaki was also staring at them with incredulity in his eyes.

    Why? Why has this opportunity been given to them? I''m better than them in every aspect! Why wasn''t I considered?!

 Chapter 1213: Hidden Sword (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1213: Hidden Sword (2)</h4>

    "Within the next half a year, our Cathayan Underworld will be issuing letters of invitation to all of the major enterprises of the aforementioned five nations. Of course, enterprises can put their own names forward as well. In the end, our Cathayan Underworld will conduct an evaluation on all of the candidate enterprises, and each nation will have one to two enterprises that''ll receive the construction and development rights of the base stations."

    After that, Qin Ye extended a slight bow before returning to his seat.

    As an opening report to rify the Cathayan Underworld''s ns, half an hour was already sufficient. As for the remaining finer details, they would be discussed during the minor conferences and one-to-one discussions between underworlds. Qin Ye had brought along sufficient professional personnel to take care of those procedures.

    He cast a surreptitious gaze toward Izanami once again. She was wearing a slightly reserved smile, and it seemed that she was wary of something.

    Qin Ye was certain that Izanami would take the bait after providing such alluring terms.

    Initiating war against the Nipponese Underworld definitely wasn''t as simple as just sending Yama-Kings to conquer the nation.

    In order to facilitate the invasion, he needed all types of reasons, and it was exactly because of this that he needed to consider the state of the world. At the very least, he had to silence the underworlds as much as possible, and these concessions were what he was using to keep everyone quiet.

    This was also the first step to stripping away the Nipponese Underworld''s defenses prior to initiating the war.

    There were all types of expenses required for an invasion, and those expenses really could add up. As an example, in the mortal realm, Usonia''s economy had been heavily affected during its war efforts, even though it was only fighting the Middle East, and Qin Ye definitely didn''t want to replicate that.

    "What an inspiring speech! The generosity of the Cathayan Underworld is truly admirable!" As the host, Yamaraja returned to the lectern. "Next, it will be the Hindustani Underworld''s turn to deliver an address. Without further ado, I will express my opinions on the Asian-Pacific economy..."

    Yamaraja''s address was also quite spectacr, but with the bombshell that the Cathayan Underworld had dropped earlier, the ruler death gods of the Asian underworlds were barely able to focus.

    They were all looking at Qin Ye, eagerly awaiting the end of the conference so that they could immediately extend requests to meet Qin Ye in person.

    Soon, another two and a half hours passed by, and all of the representatives had delivered their addresses on behalf of their nations. As soon as the conclusion of the morning meeting was dered, all of the ruler death gods of the Asian underworlds immediately rushed toward Qin Ye.

    "Yanluo Qin." Izanami hurried over to Qin Ye''s side with a smile. "I am truly in awe and admiration of the Cathayan Underworld''s generosity. Would you be able to spare some time out of your busy schedule for me? It would be a great honor for me if I could have lunch with you, Yanluo Qin."

    Qin Ye turned to her with a smile and replied, "I''m also very happy to n out the economic blueprint of Asia with the Nipponese Underworld. The Nipponese Underworld is undoubtedly an indispensable part of the Asian economy. However, I think this discussion should take ce between the majorpanies and organizations of our two nations, rather than our governments. Only then will the trade barriers truly be done away with, wouldn''t you agree?"

    Izanami''s expression stiffened ever so slightly upon hearing this, but she quickly regained herposure as she smiled and replied, "That does make sense. What a pity. I hope to be able to speak with you again soon, Yanluo Qin."

    Izanami extended a bow with impable etiquette, then departed with Daitengu.

    As soon as she turned around, a cold look immediately appeared on her face.

    She wasn''t bothered by Qin Ye''s rejection of her invitation. In reality, that was the expected oue. After all, the Nipponese Underworld had acted as the spearhead for the three pirs for so long, and these things were not forgiven so easily.

    What really frustrated her was that what Qin Ye was doing essentiallypletely kept out the demons and gods of the Nipponese Underworld!

    He had explicitly chosen the daimyos to work with, and the Cathayan Underworld controlled the entire assessment process, which meant that only the daimyos would be granted the base station construction rights! Her intention was to invite Qin Ye to lunch so that she could try and convince Qin Ye to include the demons and gods in the deal as well, but he had turned her down decisively.

    "There''s no need to be too upset," Daitengu said. "The Cathayan Underworld is clearly trying to exacerbate the conflict between the two major domestic factions of our nation, but just as you said, we''ve been abandoned and left out to dry by the three pirs. As a small nation, we have to learn to survive within the cracks. The three pirs have abandoned us, so our top priority right now is to mend our rtionship with the Cathayan Underworld. Even if the demons and gods aren''t involved, it''s still a good thing that we can establish a connection with the Cathayan Underworld through the daimyos. Isn''t that the exact same reason you implemented that policy a while back, allowing tourists from the Cathayan Underworld to visit our Nipponese Underworld without visas? Somepromises must be made, we can''t always expect perfect oues."

    Izanami heaved a faint sigh. "Looks like I was a little too greedy. Let''s go. Get Ashikaga Yoshiaki to keep a close eye on the kampakus, I don''t want to see the daimyos be too powerful."

    "Understood."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Among the Asian-Pacific underworlds, all of them aside from the Hindustani Underworld wanted to speak with Qin Ye in person. However, the Cathayan Underworld hadn''t invited any ruler death gods. Instead, they had invited the ministries ofmerce of those nations.

    The first ones to enter the conference hall were the three kampakus of the Nipponese Underworld, and everyone was forced to see them through new eyes.

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, H¨­j¨­ Tokimune, and Honda Tadakatsu had no attention to spare for all of the envious eyes focused on them. For them, the discussion that wasing up was one that would decide their fates.

    The four of them made their way uneasily into the conference hall, upon which they immediately heaved a long sigh of relief.

    Qin Ye was present in person.

    "Yanluo Qin." H¨­j¨­ Tokimune stepped forward and extended a deep bow as he said in a trembling voice, "On behalf of the daimyos, we express our sincerest gratitude for your assistance! The daimyos will forever be the most loyal followers of the Cathayan Underworld in the Nipponese Underworld!"

    "Take a seat." Qin Ye smiled as he made an inviting hand gesture, and four daimyos did as they were told. Qin Ye then waved a hand through the air, releasing countless Yin runes, and said, "I don''t like to waste time going around in circles. What could be so important that the three most influential daimyos in Nipponese history have decided to contact me? And why were you being so subtle with what you were trying to say?"

    He really did understand!

    All of the daimyos heaved another internal sigh of relief. They had already guessed that Qin Ye had understood what they were trying to convey, but they were still quite relieved to hear it confirmed.

    "We wish to seek help from the Cathayan Underworld." H¨­j¨­ Tokimune cut straight to the chase. It was clear that they had done their homework, so they were aware that Qin Ye didn''t like to waste time with unnecessary small talk. "We are willing to offer everything we have in return!"

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he released a hint of his Yin energy, filling the entire hall with a menacing atmosphere, which caused the three daimyos to involuntarily sit up straighter.

    With a wave of his hand, Qin Ye summoned four parchment scrolls to himself, then said in an imcable voice, "Sign it or get out."

    Those are Heavenly Dao vows!

    Theherfire in the eyes of three daimyos flickered slightly as they stared at Qin Ye.

    After a full minute of silence, Honda Tadakatsu imparted his soulfire onto the scroll in front of him.

    "What are you all still hesitating for?" he asked as he mmed his Heavenly Dao vow onto the table. "Are you going to just pass up this opportunity? We''ve been oppressed and suffocated for several centuries! All of us were heroes in the mortal realm! Are you really willing to continue living like this?"

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s facial muscles spasmed slightly as he gritted his teeth, then also imparted his soulfire onto his scroll.

    Qin Ye wasn''t surprised by their decisions at all.

    Strictly speaking, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were sworn enemies. After all, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had been fighting on the front lines with Daehan, while Tokugawa Ieyasu had conserved his forces and seized power for himself. The fact that the two of them were willing to sit at the same table for the same cause was already a clear indication of just how important this opportunity was to them.

    After Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu and H¨­j¨­ Tokimune also signed their Heavenly Dao vows one after another.

    "Good." Qin Ye put the four scrolls away, then turned to the four underworld emissaries with a bright and piercing gaze. "Let me ask you this: are you opposed to serving a new ruler death god?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the four underworld emissaries stood up in unison to stare at Qin Ye with stunned expressions.

    Never did they think that this was the type of help Qin Ye would be seeking from them!

    The Cathayan Underworld was going to initiate a war to conquer the Nipponese Underworld!

    Countless emotions were surging through their hearts, and they instinctively wanted to refuse, but they couldn''t bring themselves to do so.

    If they missed out on this opportunity, there would be nothing left for them...

    Furthermore, it wasn''t like the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able to conquer the Nipponese Underworld without their help.

    If they were to refuse, then many issues would arise.

    Given the current state of the Nipponese Underworld, they would definitely have to go into battle, and there was a very good chance that they would be used as cannon fodder. If they refused to act as cannon fodder, then Izanami would kill them before the war even began. If they were to step onto the battlefield, then they would be enemies of the Cathayan Underworld. The oue of the war was clear, so they would be downright idiotic if they chose to refuse this offer and be enemies with their future master.

    The entire hall instantly fell deathly silent. This was too important a decision, so much so that they didn''t dare to say anything. Only after a long while did Tokugawa Ieyasu find his voice again. "Once the Cathayan Underworld conquers the Nipponese Underworld, does that mean that the Nipponese Underworld would cease to exist?"

    He didn''t even state the oue in a hypothetical sense as the oue was far too clear.

    "No, I won''t erase any civilizations," Qin Ye replied. "The Nipponese Underworld will still be allowed to develop independently, while our Cathayan Underworld will only offer political guidance. This arrangement willst a span of 300 years. Firstly, I can guarantee the preservation of the daimyo system. I''ll have to tell you this sooner orter anyway, so I may as well reveal this to you now: the future ruler of the Nipponese Underworld will be Oda Nobunaga, so he''ll definitely stand up for the rights of the daimyos."

    The room fell silent yet again.

    However, it was clear that this statement had had an impact on the four underworld emissaries.

    Their differences from back in the mortal realm had already been set aside after their deaths. Not many people still held onto their grudges from their living days even after their deaths. Instead, most of them chose to band together as they were from the same era. Thus, having Oda Nobunaga in power would be far better than being ruled over by Izanami.

    "Also, your statuses and fiefs will not be changed, whereas the system of demons and gods will bepletely eradicated."

    The native death gods couldn''t be allowed to continue to exist once a nation was conquered!

 Chapter 1214: The Vulnerability of the Nipponese Underworld

    <h4>Chapter 1214: The Vulnerability of the Nipponese Underworld</h4>

    After a long while, Tokugawa Ieyasu finally said, "I''m afraid we''re unable to make such a major decision right now."

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this. "Are you hesitating out of patriotism?"

    H¨­j¨­ Tokimune shook his head in response. "It''s not like the Nipponese Underworld is Nippon. Every underworld is the divine nation of death gods. At the very most, we are only servant gods."

    Tokugawa Ieyasu gently pped his hand fan as he said in a cold voice, "In the Nipponese Underworld, we feel no sense of belonging, only oppression and anguish."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Alright, I can understand. I''ll give you a few months to think about it, but before I let you go, I''m rather curious; what forced you to take this step?"

    What Qin Ye wanted was to find spokespeople for himself in the Nipponese Underworld. The Mitsubishi Consortium alone wasn''t powerful enough, but the daimyos wouldplement them very well. Theherworldly citizens of the Nipponese Underworld revered them as heroes, so they would be far better spokespeople than the Mitsubishi Consortium.

    However, there was an element of uncertainty about them.

    There were several points that had to be addressed before the invasion of the Nipponese Underworld could go ahead. Firstly, there was the attitude of all of the world''s underworlds. Then came the development of the second-generation forbidden arts and theunching technology. Thirdly, spokespeople had to be found, andstly, entrances to the underworld from the mortal realm had to be secured.

    The conflict between the daimyos and the demons and gods of the Nipponese Underworld was an unexpected bonus. Even if the daimyos ultimately refused his offer, he still had other spokespeople that he could fall back on.

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi was silent for a moment before a wry smile appeared on his face. "Your Excellency, do you know why all past rulers are so heavily sought after by the ruler death gods when they enter the underworld?"

    Qin Ye was naturally aware of the reasons behind this.

    All emperors, even the most ipetent ones, had to be taken seriously once they entered the underworld as they were blessed by the fortune of their respective era!

    Perhaps they couldn''tpare with the likes of Chiyou, but they were still the focus of the fortune and faith of the entire nation. They were extremely valuable for bolstering divine nations, or could be used to elevate the religion of the ruler death god through avenues such as ryed dreams.

    A cold smile appeared on H¨­j¨­ Tokimune''s face as he said, "The Nipponese Underworld is an exception to this."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and H¨­j¨­ Tokimune continued, "Nippon''s faith and fortune are focused on the emperor and the shoguns. We do not have the bloodline of the emperor, and it is the ultimate pursuit of all court nobles and samurais to be shoguns. While it''s true that Hideyoshi San was the one who was actually in power in Nippon at the time, while Ieyasu San even established his own shogunate, the actual shogun was Ashikaga Yoshiaki!"

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this before recalling the thin man in the de official''s robe apanying Izanami.

    Under normal circumstances, the name of Ashikaga Yoshiaki wouldn''t have drawn his attention at all. However, as King Yanluo, it was important for him to get a good grasp on the representative teams of all of the underworlds prior to attending an international conference, and it was exactly because of this that he had a vague recollection of this rather unfamiliar name.

    Several centuries of hatred were welling up in Toyotomi Hideyoshi''s heart once, and he could barely contain himself as he said, "During the Sengoku period, there were no shogunates in Nippon, but the concept still existed. It was epted by all daimyos at the time that only the one who unified the nation would be able to establish a new shogunate. Prior to the unification of the nation, Ashikaga Yoshiaki held the status of shogun, but he was just a court jester, and no one cared to deal with him."

    An enlightened look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this.

    At the time, everyone was at war, so no one wanted to divert their forces to deal with a shogunate that only existed on an in-name basis.

    Anyone who dared to strike at the shogunate would be the public enemy of all daimyos, and thus, under those peculiar circumstances, the shogunate survived, even though it was hanging by a thread.

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi gritted his teeth as he said, "However, no one anticipated that it would be me who united the nation. The problem is that there is an unofficial rule in Nippon, which is that only those of noble descent could establish a shogunate. Unfortunately, I was only a farmer before I began my military career, so even though I had already united Nippon, there was always stern opposition to my desire to establish a shogunate."

    I see.

    Qin Ye also recalled that Toyotomi Hideyoshi never established a shogunate, and it all made sense now.

    Due to the special state of Nippon at the time, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi united the nation, he had all types of daimyos serving him, many of whom were of noble descent, so they would naturally be opposed to his desire to establish a shogunate.

    Due to his inability to be a shogun, Toyotomi Hideyoshi created the title of taiko in a fit of rage, which was the ancient form of the regent title. From then onward, he became the "retired emperor" who was actually still in power.

    On the contrary, Tokugawa Ieyasu didn''t have that issue. However, he had taken over from Toyotomi Hideyoshi by betraying him and starting a revolt, thereby plunging Nippon into the heat of war again, so his ascent to the throne was also not noble nor dignified.

    Thus, the only one befitting the shogun title at the time turned out to be Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

    In the mortal realm, he was only the shogun on an in-name basis without any actual jurisdictive power, but in the underworld, his title meant that he was the inheritor of the nation''s fortune and faith.

    "Why isn''t Ashikaga Yoshiaki standing on the same side as you?" Qin Ye asked as he picked up his teacup before taking a sip.

    At the mention of that name, Honda Tadakatsu finally spoke for the first time. "He wants nothing more than for us to die. Upon reaching his generation, the Ashikaga n had already run out of capable sessors. If it weren''t for the wars that took ce during the Sengoku period, the Ashikaga shogunate wouldn''t have fallen so soon. We were the ones who destroyed his empire, so how could he not hate us? However, even Ieyasu San and Hideyoshi San have set aside their differences after entering the underworld, but Ashikaga Yoshiaki is still holding onto his grudge. Due to his status as a past shogun, he was treated as an esteemed guest by Izanami as soon as he entered the underworld, and it''s all thanks to his constant effort to strike against us these past few centuries that we''ve ended up in such a sorry state."

    The only one from their era with any speaking rights in the Nipponese Underworld was Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and he was being used by Izanami as a pawn against the daimyos. It was already quite arduous for them to have survived to this point, and it was no wonder that not even a single emissary of the Nipponese Underworld had been sighted back at the Strait of Tsushima.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye nodded in response. The faction of demons and gods was the established force in the underworld, so they naturally didn''t want anypetition. However, the collective force of the daimyos was too powerful for them topletely eradicate. Unfortunately, none of the daimyos had any fortune or faith after entering the underworld, so it was as if fate had yed a cruel joke on them.

    "I can see how you''ve ended up in such a difficult position." He raised his teacup to bid the regents farewell. "Have a good think about my offer. I look forward to hearing your response."

    "We''ll be sure to consider the offer carefully and give you a response as soon as possible!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the modern underworld where the new energy resource had already be prevalent, information had be far more essible than before.

    There were televisions and newspapers, through which one could keep up with daily affairs. Phones were still in the 3G era, so they were a little slow, and the inte was still under development. However, it was already a significant improvement from the days ofmunication through messenger birds.

    Thus, the Nipponese Underworld immediately received news of the Cathayan Underworld''s lowering of its new energy resource costs.

    Iwasaki Yatar¨­ was pacing back and forth in his room in an urgent manner. No one was more anxious than he was as this was the day that the Cathayan Underworld was supposed to fulfill the first part of its promise to him.

    He was holding a newspaper as he quickly paced back and forth, feeling as if he had the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Due to the Heavenly Dao vow he had signed, he couldn''t share this information with anyone else in the Mitsubishi Consortium, and his mind was racing so quickly that figurative sparks were flying.

    After a long while, he sat down in front of his low tea table before opening the newspaper again. He had already read this newspaper far too many times, but he felt like he could never get enough of reading it.

    "The preparations for the war efforts, yet Izanami is stillpletely oblivious." He licked his lips as a sharp look appeared in his eyes. "Then again, she isn''t entirely to me. If I hadn''t been informed in advance, I wouldn''t have been able to make the connection, either. This is where the first step begins!"

    By offering such a brilliant opportunity to the rest of Asia, the other Asian underworlds would be far less vehement in their objections once the war between the two nationsmenced.

    "The lowering of the energy resource costs is only the first step. The second step would be their true objective, which is to open up the Nipponese Underworld!" he murmured to himself as he stared intently at the newspaper. "Everyone who hase down into the underworld from the six major corporations of the mortal realm in the past 100 years, the daimyos, and even ourselves... All of us are being considered for the base station construction rights! With this injection of funds, we''ll be able to develop submarines faster, and our interactions with the Cathayan Underworld will take ce on an official basis, so no suspicions will be aroused! Because of how wide a scope this deration epasses, Izanami won''t be able to single out the connection between the Cathayan Underworld and the daimyos, as well as our Mitsubishi Consortium. There''s no way that she''ll be able to predict the danger that''sing from both the sea and fromnd. Of course, that''s because the shimenawa ropes of the three great yokai in the mortal realm have still yet to be opened, so she has no sense of urgency or danger. What a brilliant n this is..."

    He heaved a long sigh, then closed the newspaper as unbridled excitement appeared in his eyes.

    The times had changed...

    The most drastic change in the underworld for the past few centuries was about tomence, and he couldn''t wait for it to begin!

    He gently tapped the small bell sitting on the corner of his table, and soon, a man in a suit made his way into the room before extending a bow. "Is there something you need from me, Chairman?"

    "Grab the relevant documents and apply for base station construction rights from the Cathayan Underworld right away!"

    The man faltered slightly upon hearing this. "Chairman, is this really an opportunity that we could be considered for?"

    "Just do as I say! How will you know if we can secure this opportunity if we don''t try?" Iwasaki Yatar¨­ replied in an urgent voice. "At the same time, cease development on all other projects and focus solely on the development of submarines!"

 Chapter 1215: Rapidly Passing Time

    <h4>Chapter 1215: Rapidly Passing Time</h4>

    Hindustani Underworld, Golden Temple.

    It had already been six days since the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference.

    The discussion with the daimyos was the main reason why Qin Ye had attended this conference, and after that, he didn''t have much to do.

    The conference continued as normal, and he met with various death gods and consortium representatives. In reality, international conferences were often very stale affairs. Most of the work had already been done in advance, and the actual conferences were just formalities.

    Time passed by very quickly, and the week-long conference flew by in a sh. After signing several contracts that had already been finalized in Formosa, Qin Ye returned to the Cathayan Underworld on the final day of the conference and immediately returned to his busy work schedule.

    The first foothold had already been established in the Nipponese Underworld, and things were being set into motion inside the Cathayan Underworld as well. The media was spreading propaganda to sway public opinion, and anti-Nippon sentiments spread like wildfire throughout the entire nation.

    One carefully nned out news story after another was presented to theherworldly citizens, followed by extremely rousing and catchy conscription slogans. It had to be said that riling up the people was the best way to expand the military. After several months, 300,000 new troops had been conscripted, and that was quite a staggering number, considering the Cathayan Underworld currently only had less than 400 millionherworldly citizens.

    Inside his office, Qin Ye was reading through a report. Three months had already passed by since the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference, and everything was progressing as nned.

    Qin Changxin was seated beside him, delivering a verbal report. "... Zhou Gongjing is currently overseeing theprehensive renovation of the Hanyang Underworld. At the moment, 12 ports have been added, and the construction projects are projected to bepleted sometime in the middle of next year."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Qin Changxin was even more invested in the invasion of the Nipponese Underworld than Qin Ye himself, and he was making an effort to be actively involved in everything. In fact, he had even developed a thorough understanding of the ships and ports that had previously been unfamiliar to him.

    Right at this moment, the door of the room was opened, and Wang Chenghao quickly strode into the room with a messenger bird perched on his arm. "Your Excellency, we''ve received a message from the Nipponese Underworld."

    Qin Ye and Qin Changxin immediately looked up upon hearing this, and with a wave of his hand, the messenger bird flew onto Qin Ye''s shoulder. After hearing the message carried by the messenger bird, Qin Ye turned to Qin Changxin and said, "It''s a message from the three kampakus."

    Qin Changxin didn''t say anything, but his hands were gripping the armrests of his chair tightly, and his gaze was locked firmly on Qin Ye.

    "They agreed."

    A hint of visible relief appeared in Qin Changxin''s eyes.

    With another wave of Qin Ye''s hand, the messenger bird disintegrated into Yin energy, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face as he said, "They agreed to use four tenshu pavilions as outposts, and those tenshu pavilions are located in Yamagata, Kochi, Nagasaki, and Aomori."

    "So they''re creating a line of outposts throughout the Nipponese Underworld," Qin Changxin mused. "Those four locations form a line through the easternmost part of the Nipponese Underworld to its westernmost part, and they''re the easiest ces for us to conquer. I''m assuming they didn''t choose Kanto or Chubu as that''s where the strongholds of the demons and gods are located. Takamagahara and Yomotsu Hirasaka are both situated there, so infiltration would be impossible for them."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Once the war begins, they''ll deploy their troops to seize control over the important cities in several provinces right as our troops arrive in the Nipponese Underworld. However, we have to reinforce them as soon as possible. They are all going to be in different areas, and the local yokai will immediately retaliate."

    "What are their conditions?" Qin Changxin asked with a contemtive expression.

    "They want fiefdoms," Qin Ye replied as he gently tapped the table. "Ultimately, they don''t like that the entire nation is open and connected. They prefer the past arrangement, where all of them had their own fiefdoms, in which they could control the taxation, poption, and economy. On top of that, they''re certainly not asking for small fiefdoms. Each of them is not only asking for the fiefdoms that they once had, they also want the several surrounding cities and counties."

    He turned to Qin Changxin with a hint of a smile on his face. "What do you n to do?"

    "Agree to their conditions," Qin Changxin replied without any hesitation. "Prior to themencement of the war, everything is negotiable. As for after that, there will always be solutions."

    The first foothold had already been established.

    Izanami hadn''t caught onto Qin Ye''s intentions at all during the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference. All that was required now was toplete the development of the second-generation forbidden arts andunching technology, as well as to wait until the Mitsubishi Corporation developed its submarines. After that, they would be able to immediately contact the three great yokai of the mortal realm to initiate the n.

    "This day has finallye..." Qin Ye stood up and made his way over to the window, then cast his gaze toward the north. "I''m eagerly awaiting the day we can finally set this n into motion..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Four years passed by in the blink of an eye.

    The world was like the sea. There would asionally, but a tsunami here and there, but the sea was still the sea, and it wouldn''t be destroyed by a tsunami or a storm. It was still operating as normal, and all of the underworlds were like the major oceans, segregating the sea that was the world into sections.

    New Hell''s Legacy, year 30 of the thirding of Hell, Director Qin of the Cathayan Underworld held an official press conference to implement the "Asia-Pacific Energy Resource Coboration Act", officially doing away with the energy resource trade barriers in the Asia-Pacific.

    New Hell''s Legacy, year 32 of the thirding of Hell, the director of the ministry of energy resources formed a coborative rtionship with the Argosian Underworld. The Cathayan Underworld and the seven members of the Argosian Underworld''s round table implemented the global energy resource coboration n, abolishing all international energy resource coboration barriers, sending the entire world into a frenzy.

    New Hell''s Legacy, year 33 of the thirding of Hell, Yanluo Qin lowered the cost of the energy resource once again during the Six Eyes Conference. The electricity-like energy string''s price was set at 0.5 dragon jade per unit, and during November of that year, the Argosian Underworld made a public international announcement, dering that the first obstacle to the development of electricity-like energy string substitutes and electricity-like Yin energy waves had been ovee.

    At the end of the same year, the Cathayan Underworld also made a public international announcement, officially dering a second-generation energy resource known as the Hyper Joule Separation Rune. As a result, the entire underworld underwent another energy resource revolution.

    This was a good beginning. Back when the new energy resource was first developed, there were many lucky coincidences involved, and in reality, the research and development capabilities of the Cathayan Underworld were still far from being able to match those of the Argosian Underworld.

    However, with the release of the new energy resource and the anchoring of the dragon jade,rge sums of revenue began to flow into the Cathayan Underworld, giving it more and more influence on the world stage, to the point that it was approaching its status back when the second King Yanluo was in power.

    These funds were then immediately invested into the education sector and all types of infrastructure construction, and a series of roads wereid, connecting Everburn to all parts of the nation. Railway tracks were also built, and the Yin soldiers of Hell swept through all of the uninhabited areas, driving out all of the Yin beasts there before constructing a series of bridges.

    The Cathayan Underworld had been developing the second-generation energy resource virtually at the exact same time as the Argosian Underworld, yet the gap between the two had only been a few months. This was a clear indication that the Yin runologists of the Cathayan Underworld had truly risen up in the wake of the new energy resource boom.

    New Hell''s Legacy, year 34 of the thirding of Hell, the Russian Underworld proposed the abolition of the International Military Coboration Conference, stating that in times of peace, the conference was all but redundant. However, the proposal was unanimously turned down by the four pirs, citing the threat that had previously appeared in space as the reason for the rejection.

    In August of the same year, Yamaraja of the Hindustani Underworld sent a secret message to Yanluo Qin, stating an intention to bolster the forces at the world''s gate. A total of 50,000 elite troops from the Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld were deployed in the name of patrolling the sea, only to mysteriously disappear without a trace. All of the underworlds expressed unease toward this, wanting to know whether the two armies had gone, but to their surprise, the Argosian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworldpletely turned a blind eye to this, and the issue was eventuallyid to rest with no resolution.

    In November of the same year, the Aegyptian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld simultaneously announced that they were going to be tackling the issues surrounding the transmission power of the Hyper Joule Separation Rune.

    New Hell''s Legacy, year 34 of the thirding of Hell, the Cathayan Underworld expanded its army even further to 1.3 million.

    This was an extremely high percentage rtive to the overall poption, considering the Cathayan army in the mortal realm epassed a total of less than three million troops despite boasting a poption well in excess of a billion.

    Everything was progressing as nned, and something seemed to be brewing beneath the calm surface.

    Even in the Cathayan Underworld, the weather was very warm and pleasant in April, dispelling a lot of the eerie coldness that was normally present.

    North Yin Pavilion, Everburn.

    Everburn had be even more grand and majestic, and at this point, it was even more of a spectacle than the forbidden city of the mortal realm. As more and more people began to work in the North Yin Pavilion, it was expanded over and over again, to the point that it now consisted of a main building that was over 100 meters tall, coupled with seven branch buildings. There were over 30 departments in total, and it had be a massive cluster of buildings that took up an enormous area.

    Due to the red walls on the outside and the golden roofs on the inside that stretched as far as the eye could see and gleamed with golden radiance under the light of the setting sun, it bore a strong resemnce to the forbidden city, and it was sometimes jokingly referred to as just that by theherworldly citizens.

    This day was no different from any other day. Secretary Jiang was busy performing his daily duties when a messenger bird suddenly flew into Everburn andnded on his desk.

    "Hmm?" Secretary Jiang turned to the messenger bird with a perplexed expression.

    Who''s still using these things? Isn''t everyone using phones and intemunication now?

    He picked up the messenger bird before taking a listen, then abruptly rose to his feet and rushed toward Qin Ye''s office, knocking over several of his colleagues on the way there.

    After arriving at the office, he knocked on the door, and he immediately stepped into the room upon receiving permission to enter. "Your Excellency, we''ve received a message from the Sword Coral Research Institute!"

 Chapter 1216: Sword of the Heavenly God (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1216: Sword of the Heavenly God (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye was reading through some documents, and he slowly raised his head in a seemingly indifferent manner upon hearing this, then asked, "What did they say?"

    The tion that was surging through Secretary Jiang''s heart gradually subsided in the face of Qin Ye''s calm disy, and he couldn''t help but think about how some people seemed to be born to take on certain roles.

    He was Qin Ye''s first chief secretary, and just like Wang Chenghao, he had watched Qin Ye''s entire journey from his official inauguration, growing from a hot-headed young man into a perpetuallyposed ruler. He knew just how long Hell had been waiting for this piece of news.

    It had already been six and a half years since the nned invasion of the Nipponese Underworld was first announced, and it was not much of an exaggeration to say that all of the higher-ups of Hell had been constantly waiting for this piece of news during that time. The fact that Qin Ye could maintain such calmness andposure upon hearing that a message hade from the Sword Coral Research Institute was a clear indication of just how much he had grown.

    His calmness naturally rubbed off on those around him, and Secretary Jiang also quickly calmed down as he smiled and reported, "Congrattions, Yanluo Qin, the Sword Coral Research Institute''s space exploration n has made an important breakthrough. The Jade Rabbit super altitude shuttle has already passed through the Array of the Nine Gods and has officially reached super attitudes!"

    Beyond the sky of the entire underworld was Limbo, and only Yama-Kings could directly fly into Limbo. As for this super altitude, that described the chaotic region between the sky and Limbo.

    The Yin energy there was extremely chaotic, thereby making for exceptionally violent and destructive Yin energy storms. At the moment, the underworld already had some short-distance flying Yin beasts, and some flight paths had been mapped out for them, but none of those flying Yin beasts were capable of reaching super attitudes.

    Unless one was at the Yama-King level, it was virtually impossible to withstand the fierce Yin wind formed by the violent Yin energy there. Space exploration technology in the underworld was still far away from reaching a level where satelliteunches were possible. After all, it had only been less than a decade since the new energy resource had been released, and all of the underworlds were busy developing all types of electronic necessities, so very few underworlds had the spare capacity to focus on this area.

    However, the Cathayan Underworld had seeded!

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before asking, "What''s the maximum flight duration? What speeds can it reach? Can it remain intact after reaching super attitudes?"

    "There are no exact details yet," Secretary Jiang immediately replied. "The project was only justpleted, and they say that they''re currently in the process ofpiling the information and will be sending it to Everburn as soon as possible. All of the data will be collected under Ghost King Zhao''s supervision to ensure that no mishaps ur."

    Qin Ye closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, and only after a few seconds did he ask, "What is my schedule like for today?"

    Secretary Jiang didn''t even need to look at the schedule before replying, "There''s going to be a policy revision meeting shortly, and it¡¯s mainly targeting the issue of insufficient housing in the cities in the face of the ever-growing Yin spirit poption, thereby requiring new real estate measures to be taken. The meeting willst roughly one and a half hours, and after that..."

    Secretary Jiang rattled off a list for a full three minutes, then concluded, "There are no meetings that you absolutely must attend."

    "Good," Qin Ye replied. "Clear my schedule and tell Secretary Wang that if there''s anything I need to take care of in person, get the Harken to do it for me."

    "Yes!"

    After that, Qin Ye rose to his feet, yet before he even had a chance to depart, another burst of door-knocking rang out, following which Wang Chenghao rushed into the room after receiving permission toe in.

    "Your Excellency!" he panted. "We''ve received a message from the Yin Mountains Research Institute!"

    Secretary Jiang and Qin Ye immediately turned toward him in unison. Qin Ye curled a finger in his direction, and a messenger bird flew up from Wang Chenghao''s shoulder beforending on Qin Ye''s palm.

    Secretary Jiang didn''t say anything, and even he was feeling extremely nervous.

    Could it be that their project was alsoplete? If that were the case, then this would be nothing short of the most ideal situation possible!

    These two pieces were all that was missing from the war preparations!

    Only after a full 20 seconds did Qin Ye raise his head, and instead of departing, he sat back down in his seat with a contemtive expression. A few more secondster, he raised his head with a serious expression and said, "Get the minister of defense, the director of uniformed services, and all of the Yama-Kings and Abyssal Prefects to gather at Everburn this afternoon."

    Secretary Jiang and Wang Chenghao quickly pulled out their notepads before writing down Qin Ye''s instructions.

    Never had they felt so full of vigor, and the tips of their pens were creating sparks as they flew over the surface of the paper. There were countless questions that they wanted to ask, but they couldn''t ask any of them!

    "Arrange recements for me on all of the meetings that I have to attend." Qin Ye continued to issue one order after another. "Get all of the researchers of the second-generation forbidden arts at the Yin Mountains Research Institute to take the relevant equipment to the Badain Jaran Desert."

    Secretary Jiang''s pen paused momentarily before he continued to furiously take notes, and a smile had already appeared on his face.

    This is it! Our Cathayan Underworld will be the first nation in the world to have second-generation forbidden arts!

    Without the massive revenue stream generated by the new energy resource, it would''ve been very difficult to support the two super projects, the second-generation forbidden arts and space exploration, at once. However, the Cathayan Underworld hadpleted these two grand projects that would give them a huge lead over the rest of the world!

    Qin Ye''s voice didn''t cease even for a moment as he continued, "Get all of the researchers of the Jade Rabbit project from the Sword Coral Research Institute to take the relevant equipment and data to the Gurbant¨¹ngg¨¹t Desert. Inform the minister of defense, the director of uniformed services, and all of the Yama-Kings and Abyssal Prefects to travel to the Gurbant¨¹ngg¨¹t Desert, also!"

    Secretary Jiang and Wang Chenghao were bing extremely excited at this point.

    That was the designated testing site for the second-generation forbidden art! The world''s first-ever second-generation forbidden art was about to be detonated there!

    Secretary Jiang was unable to suppress his curiosity in the end, and he asked, "Your Excellency... Did we seed?"

    Qin Ye nodded with a faint smile.

    "Three hours ago, the Yin Mountains Research Institutepleted the second-generation forbidden arts startup module, and assembly has also beenpleted."

    Secretary Jiang''s hands balled up into tight fists, and all of his blood was rushing to his head at once, causing his ears to ring and his vision to blur. Only after a long while did he manage to suppress his excitement as he sighed, "Thank the heavens."

    "Go on." Qin Ye waved a dismissive hand with a smile, and the two of them immediately left the room.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Gurbant¨¹ngg¨¹t Desert.

    There were no cities here, only some scattered viges. However, this afternoon, around a dozen Yin beasts were spotted flying over this extremely sparsely popted region, and each of them was carrying all types of different equipment.

    Soon, a sandstorm was swept up as rows of Yin beasts with Yin soldiers standing on their backs stormed into the desert, and the weapons of all of the Yin soldiers were gleaming under the sun.

    Is something about to happen?

    Some of the curiousherworldly citizens decided to go and take a look, but countless Yin soldiers were already standing on the outskirts of the desert, forming an imprable circle to prohibit allherworldly citizens from entry.

    At the center of the desert, the atmosphere was already tense to the extreme. Zhao Yun was present in person, and behind him was a massive mechanical beast that was resting on the ground.

    The mechanical beast had the form of a cow, and it was around 10 meters tall with countless Yin runes inscribed all over its body. A ymore was strapped to its back with several chains.

    Only half of the ymore was exposed, but there were countlessplex Yin runes on just the visible part of the ymore alone. Virtually all of these Yin runes were within or beyond the ninth circle, and it was impossible to make out anything clearly.

    All of the Yin runes were glowing like stars, making it appear as if the sword were forged from celestial bodies, and bursts of faint shockwaves were spreading from the hilt of the sword every single second, as if it were unable to contain the power that it held, but was still somehow able to maintain a peculiar bnce.

    The surrounding sand proliferated outward alongside the invisible shockwaves, making it appear as if the mechanical cow were a living creature that was breathing rhythmically.

    "How are the figures looking?" Lu Ban was frantically traversing through a group of underworld emissaries like a madman.

    "The device is in a perfect state of homeostasis without any Yin rune fluctuations being generated."

    "What about the resonance figures?"

    "That hasn''t changed. The explosion will most likely wipe out the entirety of the Gurbant¨¹ngg¨¹t Desert!"

    "And the startup module?"

    "That''s stable as well. No mishaps will ur due to tremors or swaying."

    Lu Ban opened his mouth to ask more questions, but seeing as the three most important parameters were fine, there really wasn''t anything more to ask.

    However, he simply couldn''t bring himself to calm down.

    Forbidden arts in the underworld were extremely expensive to produce as they werepletely different from the nuclear weapons of the mortal realm. They had to be activated using Yin energy, and only Yama-King level Yin energy would suffice. If a mishap were to ur during the explosion, even Yama-Kings would be destroyed, and everyone else here would most likely perish as well!

    In order to ensure absolute stability, astronomical sums of money had been invested into the construction of every single inch of the ymore!

    As the time of detonation drew closer and closer, Lu Ban became more and more anxious. Just as he was pacing from side to side, Zhao Yun finally smiled and said, "There''s no need to be so agitated, President Lu. These figures have already been tested countless times, and even if something goes wrong during the explosion, there''s no way it could produce more power than the chain reaction triggered that destroyed the old Hell. Yanluo Qin will be bringing King Yanluo''s Seal here, and no matter how powerful the second-generation forbidden art is, there''s no way it can break through the defenses of King Yanluo''s Seal, so you can rest assured."

    Lu Ban finally stopped in his tracks before heaving a faint sigh. "I understand all of that, but how can I calm down at a time like this? We can''t jump to these conclusions until the actual figurese out."

    Right at this moment, gusts of Yin wind swept forth, and in the blink of an eye, Qin Ye and all of the high-ranking officials of Hell emerged on the scene.

    Across from the mechanical cow, another mechanical Yin beast that was around 20 meters in length with a 25-meter wingspan appeared on the sand dune.

    This was a mechanical Yin beast modeled after a crane.

    Its long legs were folded under its belly, and its wings were wide and sturdy. Its entire body was also riddled withplex Yin runes, making it appear as if it were a gxy that could take flight at any time.

    At the center of the sand dune, countless gusts of Yin wind formed a vast vortex, and Qin Ye stepped out from within the vortex before sweeping his gaze across his surroundings. "Everyone, get ready!"

    Zhao Yun immediately pressed his palm against the ground upon hearing this, and ck ripples spread through the air in all directions around him, instantly epassing an area in excess of 100,000 square kilometers!

    Once the shockwaves spread to their furthest point, the power behind them was exhausted, and they rose upzily before rapidly sweeping back toward the center. Within the span of less than a minute, a massive dome that was over 100 kilometers in size had taken shape.

    Qin Ye then cast a fervent gaze toward Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban. "Is everything ready?"

    "Of course!"

    At this point, no matter how concerned and nervous the two of them were, they knew that they couldn''t back down.

    Lu Ban stepped forward as he said, "There''s only one question now: who''s going to swing the sword?"

 Chapter 1217: Sword of the Heavenly God (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1217: Sword of the Heavenly God (2)</h4>

    Qin Ye was just about to reply when Arthis said, "Allow me. Aside from myself, no one can draw Frostmourne."

    "Why can''t it be my Warive of Azzinoth?" Qin Ye countered.

    Zhao Yun and the Harken turned away, pretending as if they hadn''t heard anything, and they were very relieved that they were the only ones who could hear this conversation. Thankfully, they still had some shred of self-awareness and weremunicating through voice transmission that only Yama-Kings could hear.

    Looks like they do have a sense of shame after all! Why am I so d about that?

    Arthis rolled her eyes at Qin Ye and said, "Do you think anyone would agree for you to swing the sword?"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, she continued, "Brother Yun is above the Yama-King level, so he''s not fit for the task. His Yin energy injection is different from that of a normal Yama-King, and the second-generation forbidden art was designed to be activated by Yama-Kings, not beings above that level. Excessively powerful injections of Yin energy could cause it to be detonated earlier than expected, so it was decided from the very beginning that Brother Yun wouldn''t be able to do this."

    "There''s still the Harken, isn''t there?" Qin Ye reflexively countered.

    "I don''t have hands," the Harken said in a cold voice before jumping onto his shoulder.

    Arthis continued, "Given how precious you are to our Cathayan Underworld, if you tried to swing the sword, all of the researchers would immediately stand in front of you to stop you with their lives! No matter how you look at it, I''m the best candidate for the test."

    Qin Ye looked around at the surrounding researchers, all of whom were already extremely tensed up, and wisely decided to back down.

    Thus, the entire scene fell silent, and Arthis stood in front of the ymore and closed her eyes before taking several deep breaths in session. Only after a full 10 minutes had passed did she reopen her eyes, then nodded toward the anxious researchers.

    Her Yin energy had alreadypletely calmed down, and it was as condensed and peaceful as the still surface of a tranquilke.

    The entirety of her attention was focused on a single thing, and that was the sword before her.

    Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban exchanged a nce, then gritted their teeth as they each raised a hand in unison. The piercing sound of an rm immediately rang out across the entire desert.

    All of the Yin soldiers quickly scattered until they were outside of the protective barrier, and it was as if the sequence had already been rehearsed hundreds of times. The Harken raised one of its paws, and a series of massive light screens appeared in front of all of the Yin soldiers.

    The screens depicted Arthis standing alone in the desert. It was already dusk, and her lone figure blended in with the desert and the setting sun. The heat rising up from the desert caused the air around her to shimmer and warp, giving her an abstract and indistinct appearance.

    A gust of Yin wind slowly swept past, raising up her purple hair like a pair of wings. Amid this scene of surreal beauty, she slowly raised her hands.

    "Calcte the stability curve!" Lu Ban roared with all his might.

    Beside him were over 100 scientists, each of whom was carrying apass-like object. A series of Yin runes were dancing within thepasses before flying out like butterflies to form lines of profound text.

    "The stability value has reached its peak!"

    "Yin energy flow is ideal!"

    "All physical parameters are stable!"

    "All Yin energy parameters are stable!"

    The reports came in one after another for close to a minute, and Lu Ban took a deep breath before raising his hand once again. "Open the ox container muzzle!"

    Inside the Yin energy images, beams of red light that extended for several meters abruptly shot out of the mechanical cow''s eyes. Immediately thereafter, all of the chains on its back fell away, and the ymore was no longer bound.

    An enormous gust of Yin wind rose up into the sky, and even from over 100,000 kilometers away, all of the Yin energy screens trembled violently. Countless Yin soldiers were staring intently at the screens, trying tomit this historic scene into their memories, not even daring to breathe as they waited for this monumental detonation to take ce.

    Qin Changxin was also among them, and he was more invested in this than anyone. His fingernails had dug deep into his palm, and he didn''t want to miss a single thing.

    This was the world''s first-ever second-generation forbidden art, the weapon that was going to bring the Nipponese Underworld to its knees! All of the measures that they had prepared during the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference several years ago were going to bring about Izanami''s downfall!

    The entire desert waspletely silent aside from the rustling of the wind, and ymore slowly rose up into the air amid a burst of nging and buzzing. As it did so, the air around it began to twist and warp.

    Not only that, but tremors ran through the entire desert as if a strong earthquake were taking ce, and bursts of Yin energy were slowly rising up from the desert in all directions before surging toward the ymore at the center in a rapid frenzy.

    The desert was instantly transformed into a sea of mist with Yin clouds surging through both heaven and earth. Even Qin Ye''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this. Even as a Yama-King, he could sense power far beyond his own contained within the ymore.

    Right at this moment, Arthis grabbed onto the hilt of the sword.

    The sword was enormous, even taller than her, but it somehow seemed to belong in her hand. Her purple hair and clothes rippled slightly, then fell still again.

    All of the phenomena vanished at the same time, and countless Yin runes were shing on the surface of the sword like stars, giving it the appearance of a sparkling gxy.

    Arthis cast a surprised gaze toward her own hand, then turned to Qin Ye with a smile before mouthing the words: "here I go".

    In the instant that her voice trailed off, she transformed into a gust of violent Yin wind, flying directly up toward the crane shuttle that was awaiting her up above.

    The crane let loose a clear cry, and its wings, which were constructed from precious materials, spread open elegantly. With dense Yin energy all around it, the crane quickly flew up into the heavens.

    On the ground below, tens of thousands of Yin soldiers were looking up at the sky. As soon as the crane flew up into the Yin clouds overhead, they immediately formed a vast vortex that was rumbling and twisting incessantly, giving off vast and unpredictable power. Beams of crimson light were shing within the vortex, giving it a sinister appearance.

    Lu Ban was so anxious that all of the hair on his head was standing up on end, and he frantically yelled, "All groups report to me! Is everything operating in a normal and stable fashion?"

    "Stable for group one!"

    "Stable for group two!"

    "Stable for group three!"

    "Stable for group four!"

    One voice after another rang out, but that did nothing to assuage everyone''s anxiety. The Yin soldiers and underworld emissaries outside of the central sphere of power were perhaps only treating this as a visual spectacle, but the truly high-ranking officials knew just how significant the second-generation forbidden art was.

    After what seemed like an eternity, all sound faded from the world.

    Amid the deathly silence, a figure pierced through the heavens like lightning in a storm before ascending from above.

    Her clothes and purple hair were pping incessantly, and she was like a deity that had descended from heaven. Right as she began her descent, she shed the dazzling sword in her hand through the air.

    BOOM!!

    A violent boom rang out across the entire desert, and sand erupted upward for over 100 meters before falling like rain. Heaven and earth were illuminated by dazzling white radiance, following which nothing else could be seen.

    All of the underworld emissaries closed their eyes, and for an instant, they lost their sense of hearing as well.

    Even the Yama-Kings had closed their eyes. The light was too powerful and violent, and it was as if it were threatening to devour the entire world.

    Only after a full minute had passed did Qin Ye open his eyes, and in the instant that he did so, even he couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath.

    The Harken had also opened its eyes while perched on his shoulder, and its mouth was gaped wide open as if it wanted to say something, but couldn''t utter even a single word in the end.

    A stunned silence began to spread until the entire desert waspletely silent.

    They were seeing clouds,yers uponyers of clouds.

    Each cloud had a different shape, and in total, it was a nine-tiered sea of clouds. The pir of clouds extended right up into the heavens, undergoing nine violent explosions in an extremely short time.

    Each level of the sea of clouds was a shockwave, and they progressed fromrge to small from the bottom to the top. The bottom level was filled with boundless sand and inky-ck Yin energy that resembled a sea of ck flower petals.

    Countless souls were howling and screaming within it, and this applied to every other level as well. It was as if this were a massive pir formed by Yin spirits, culminating into a dazzling sun at the very top.

    It was a crimson sun that stood like a ruby above the 18 abysses of punishment. The sun was tens of thousands of meters in size, and even the actual sun paled in the face of its radiance. All of the Yin clouds were scattered, and a gigantic hole had been forcibly torn into the heavens.

    None of the Yin spirits uttered even a single word.

    They were all proud of this moment, but also astonished by the marvelous spectacle they were witnessing, shocked by the power of underworld technology.

    Everyone was alsopletely still.

    They were all entirely enraptured by this scene, and it seemed that they had been robbed of the ability to think and move.

    Only after a full 30 minutes had passed did everything begin to slowly dim, and the Yin clouds on the ground gradually faded, but the entire desert within an area of over 100,000 square kilometers had been reduced to countless shattered ss shards!

    The ss shards were in all types of different colors, and they were buried within the sand of the desert, presenting an incredible spectacle to behold.

    Upon being exposed to high temperatures, sand would sometimes turn into ss, and that was what had happened here. Not only did the second-generation forbidden art possess terrifying destructive power, it was also capable of giving off incredible heat!

    "Where''s Arthis?" Qin Ye was the first one to return to his senses.

    "I''m over here." Arthis''s voice rang out from behind him, and Qin Ye turned around to look for her, upon which his pupils immediately contracted drastically.

    Arthis was in an extremely sorry state. Her clothes were in tatters, andrge sections of her hair had been charred, even though she had been several thousand meters above the ground earlier!

    Lu Ban and the scientists were quickly tallying up the figures, but Qin Ye paid no heed to that. In contrast with a bunch of statistics and figures that he couldn''t understand, he was much more interested in hearing the first-hand experience of another Yama-King in the face of the second-generation forbidden art.

    "How did it feel?"

    Arthis took a deep breath before replying in a grim voice, "It was terrifying... I''ve never experienced something so terrifying before. It''s very difficult to describe. For beings below the Yama-King level, they most likely wouldn''t even be able to work up the urge to run away. It''s like... a demon that robs you of your autonomy."

    She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, then continued, "The second-generation forbidden art presents two waves of destruction, the first of whiches from the extremely high temperatures and destructive force generated by the countless advanced Yin runes, and that''s capable of instantly destroying everything within range. After thates the spiritual impact. All Yin spirits at or below the Prefect-level will have their soulspletely destroyed if they''re within range."

    "Can a Yama-King directly withstand it?"

    "Absolutely not!" Arthis immediately replied without any hesitation. "If I had gotten away anyter than I did, I most likely wouldn''t be standing here right now. There''s no way that a Yama-King would be able to withstand the power of the second-generation forbidden art. Perhaps only beings above the Yama-King level would be capable of that..."

    As soon as her voice trailed off, a string of rmed cries rang out from behind them, followed by a clear crack.

    Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, then swung around to find that a massive crack had appeared on the protective barrier erected by Zhao Yun!

    As soon as the crack appeared, it began to rapidly elongate, and bursts of crimson radiance quickly surged in through the crack. Qin Ye''s mind wentpletely nk for a moment before he hurriedly yelled, "Look out!"

    Even a being above the Yama-King level couldn''t withstand this power!

 Chapter 1218: The First Order

    <h4>Chapter 1218: The First Order</h4>

    A grim look appeared in Zhao Yun''s eyes as he thrust his palms forward without any hesitation, mming them against the wavering protective barrier. Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye, the Harken, and Arthis did the same thing.

    Massive quantities of Yin energy were injected into the protective barrier, but it was still too little, toote. Qin Ye''s pupils contracted drastically as he yelled, "What are you waiting for?! Run!"

    The destructive power of the second-generation forbidden art was so great that even a being above the Yama-King level couldn''t withstand it, and this waspletely outside of their expectations.

    Lu Ban and the others shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and only then did they return to their senses before frantically fleeing the scene. They knew that they were only posing hindrances here. If the Yama-Kings didn''t have to withstand the power of the explosion to protect everyone else, they would''ve been the first ones to escape.

    In the blink of an eye, all of the Yin soldiers around the protective barrier retreated in a frenzy. Meanwhile, Qin Ye and the Yama-Kings were reinforcing the protective barrier with all their might, and their arms were cracking incessantly from the strain. Qin Ye''s teeth were gritted tightly as he said, "What happened, General Zhao?"

    "I was too careless." Zhao Yun''s teeth were also gritted tightly, and his cape was burning with scorchingherfire. "This protective barrier is able to withstand 30 times the power of a first-generation forbidden art. ording to the estimates of the Yin Mountains Research Institute, the second-generation forbidden art should be somewhere within 10 times to 20 times more powerful than first-generation forbidden arts. At the moment, this is already the most powerful defensive barrier I''m capable of creating..."

    <i>Damn it... </i>

    Sweat was pouring down Qin Ye''s face from exertion, and right at this moment, the Harken yelled, "Get out of here!"

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, it continued, "All of us are expendable, but no harm can be allowed to befall you! Even if we''re injured, we can recover behind the scenes, but no one can take your ce!"

    "Go!" Arthis also urged with a grim expression. "Hurry! We won''t be able tost much longer! Where''s your cowardly side when we need it? Just get out of here, we''ll take care of the rest!"

    This wasn''t the time for hesitation, and Qin Ye closed his eyes before immediately turning around and rushing away.

    Right at this moment, the enormous protective barrier warped violently.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still.

    The protective barrier was like a massive ck screen that had been distorted into strange angles, as if a terrifying, deformed monster were lurking beneath it, but in the next instant, everything fell still again.

    It was the briefest moment of calm before the impending storm.

    Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering boom rang out as countless bursts of red light tore through the darkness, forming a crimson rose that bloomed violently over the sky for over 100,000 kilometers.

    This was the true power of the second-generation forbidden art!

    Qin Ye didn''t even get a chance to swear out loud before the gusts of fierce wind swept up walls of yellow sand that filled the entire sky!

    All he could do wasy himself t against the ground and protect his own head with his arms, while releasing his Yin energy with all his might to form a barrier around him. After that, he closed his eyes and let the heavens decide his fate.

    The entire world seemed to have been robbed of sound, but it was trembling violently as if an earthquake had struck. After what felt like an eternity, Qin Ye slowly opened his eyes, and his first reaction was to inspect his own internal condition.

    Much to his surprise, he waspletely fine!

    Furthermore, he could see that Zhao Yun, Arthis, and the Harken were all standing in their original spots, rtively unscathed, while an enormous ck hole that was over 100,000 kilometers in size had appeared at the center of the desert.

    I''m... fine?

    He slowly rose to his feet, and even now, his heart was still thumping like a jackhammer. He raised his own hand and took a look to confirm that he was indeed safe and sound. Only then did he notice that his entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.

    "Are you alright?" he asked in an extremely hoarse voice.

    The three Yama-King''s nodded in unison, but for some reason, they didn''t say anything, and he couldn''t see their expressions as they had their backs facing him.

    "What happened just now? Why didn''t the explosion of the second-generation forbidden art do anything? Did you manage to withstand it?"

    But that''s impossible! If they could withstand it, they wouldn''t have told me to leave!

    Zhao Yun was the first one to return to his senses, and he raised his head before pointing up at the sky. Qin Ye looked up in the same direction, then finally heaved a long sigh of relief.

    A figure had appeared up above.

    It was a well-built figure with a head of short hair, wearing a set of simple camouge attire andbat boots.

    "Is that the second King Yanluo?" All of the unease in Qin Ye''s heart instantly faded. "He came right in the nick of time..."

    At the moment, a ck ball was rapidly shrinking within the second King Yanluo''s palm, and finally, he crushed it into nothingness between his two hands. He then descended onto the ground before turning to Qin Ye with an impressed expression.

    "Not bad at all." Several secondster, he began to apud with a smile. "I didn''t think that you would be able to restore the record of the Demonic Oven''s explosion."

    "What''s that?" Qin Ye made his way over to the second King Yanluo. He was already over 180 centimeters tall, but he was still significantly shorter than the second King Yanluo, and that was very displeasing to him.

    How the hell did you get so tall? Did you get fed growth hormone with your breast milk as a baby?!

    The second King Yanluo waved at Zhao Yun and the others before exining, "There was a mighty divine artifact in space that was the size of a. However, due to certain reasons, it once exploded, and you''ve just managed to replicate the explosion from back then. Of course, this explosion is only a tiny fraction of the power of the actual explosion. When a true divine artifact explodes, only a true deity would be able to survive, and I was fortunate enough to have witnessed that. However, it''s far too difficult topletely replicate the circumstances that led to the explosion. I could only guess the most fundamental factors, and in my spare time, I recorded it out of boredom..."

    "Hold on, you''re saying this isn''t the second-generation forbidden art startup module that you left behind?" Qin Ye asked with a stony expression.

    The second King Yanluo faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which his mouth gaped wide open, but he quickly put on aposed expression as he replied, "That was uh... indeed my thought process back then... So I created that into... whatever startup module..."

    You''re not fooling anyone!

    Qin Ye had to hold back the urge to p him across the face! Why hadn''t he told everyone in advance that this was replicating the power of an explosion of a divine artifact asrge as a?! Things were on the verge of descending into disaster just now!

    No wonder the researchers and Zhao Yun had all misevaluated its power, there was no way that anyone could''ve calcted this!

    In the face of Qin Ye''s cold gaze, the second King Yanluo was feeling quite awkward, and he cleared his throat before using his "that''s not the point!" diversion technique.

    A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. It had been a long time since he had seen anyone use that diversion technique. As Arthis, Wang Chenghao, and himself had climbed up higher and higher through the ranks, they had done away with such shameless tactics, but it appeared that the second King Yanluo still hadn''t received the memo.

    The second King Yanluo continued with a serious expression, "The point is that your restoration has beenpleted far sooner than I expected. If I had taken on this project myself, it would''ve most likely taken me 50 to 60 years to reach the same stage. Hence, on behalf of the world''s gate, I would like to order 12 second-generation forbidden arts from you!"

    "On behalf of the world''s gate? Can you even represent them?" Qin Ye countered. "Has everyone else agreed? You''re not getting anything out of me unless you pay up?"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a scroll was tossed into his hands, and he spread it open to take a look, upon which his expression immediately changed.

    It was a massive list of A-grade and S-grade materials, as well as S-grade war fortresses, mechanical beasts, and siege weapons!

    Qin Ye closed the scroll as a warm smile appeared on his face. "Should we take a walk together?"

    Zhao Yun and the others could clearly see that they wanted to discuss something alone, so they quickly departed. It was already nighttime, and the sky was filled with countless stars. Qin Ye and the second King Yanluo slowly walked along the desert, enjoying the unique scenery of the desert in the night.

    After walking quietly for a few minutes, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Will this cause radiation to the area?"

    "No," the second King Yanluo replied. "You can''t even begin to imagine what the original explosion was like. It doesn''t require any radiation, just the power of the explosion alone was enough to kill all beings that weren''t true gods."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    Before he had a chance to continue, the second King Yanluo asked, "What do you n to name it?"

    Qin Ye was silent for a long while before replying, "Seeing as this is replicating the explosion of the Demon''s Oven, I wanted to call it Demon, but demons don''t exist in the Cathayan Underworld, so it should be named Death God."

    It was a simple name, yet it entailed pure death.

    The second King Yanluo nodded in response. He was useless at naming things, so he didn''t find this to be a bad idea. Qin Ye continued, "Is the situation in the world''s gate that bad?"

    He stopped in his tracks as he looked into the second King Yanluo''s eyes, then said, "Even now, I''m unable to fathom exactly how powerful you are, and even the Heavenly Dao seems to fear you to a certain extent. The entire world is like a game to you. Youe and go as you please without any fears or worries. How is there something in the world''s gate that even you''re unable to take care of?"

    The second King Yanluo looked back at him, and only after a long silence did he reply, "It''s not as simple as you think."

    He paused for another minute before casually kicking up some sand as he continued, "I never nned to step in. You want to know why? It''s very simple. All of you think that you''re gods, death gods, but you don''t know how big this universe is and how terrifying true gods are. They are on the other side of the universe, watching everything developing, witnessing the rise and fall of one civilization and after another. They are far colder and more aloof than the Heavenly Dao. In contrast with them, the Heavenly Dao is as pure as a three-year-old infant. For any civilization, once it branches out into space, it will be a new beginning. They will have emerged from theirfort zone and stepped onto the battlefield between realms. If they seed, then they''ll encounter countless civilizations that they had never thought existed. There are demons, elves, insects, all types of strange things. If the underworld can''t break these shackles, then it doesn''t deserve to take that step. At the very most, I can only ensure that Earth won''t be destroyed. This is my home, after all, and I''ll help where I can, but I definitely won''t do everything and lure all of you into a false sense of security. You may be standing at the pinnacle of the underworld, but in the face of the most powerful civilizations in space, you''re nothing. On top of that, I''m not your nanny. Why should I risk my life for your sake? If I were to do that, other gods would do the same, and that''s strictly prohibited."

    "You''re a god?" Qin Ye asked with a stunned expression.

    "Indeed, a true god!" the second King Yanluo replied as he puffed out his chest.

    Qin Ye hesitated for a long time before asking a suicidal question. "Are you insane?"

    "I can kill you with a single punch, you know that?" The second King Yanluo red at him before vanishing on the spot. "In 10 years, we''llplete the trade!"

 Chapter 1219: The Final Step

    <h4>Chapter 1219: The Final Step</h4>

    "Did the second King Yanluo leave?" After a long while, the Harken jumped onto Qin Ye''s shoulder in a well-rehearsed fashion.

    Qin Ye nodded in response before suddenly asking, "What is the current military strength of our nation like?"

    The war against the Nipponese Underworld was going to be initiated within the next two to three years, and this was an enquiry made before the final charge down the home stretch.

    A serious look appeared in the Harken''s eyes as it replied, "We have a standing army of 1.5 million and 10,000 praetorian guards. Coupled with the second-generation forbidden arts, it''ll be enough to take down the Nipponese Underworld!"

    "What about our equipment?"

    "We have the most advanced equipment in the world." It was Zhao Yun who replied on this asion, and he made his way over to Qin Ye before extending a slight bow. "The first decade of the past 30 years of our Cathayan Underworld''s development was focused on infrastructure construction and research and development. In the 10 years after that, we focused on education, and ever since you decided to attack the Nipponese Underworld, there have been marked improvements in the military sector."

    "Most importantly, our Cathayan Underworld and the Hanyang Underworld are extremely well-connected, as are all of the regions within the Cathayan Underworld," Arthis also chimed in. "Thus, we can mobilize our forces extremely quickly, definitely far quicker than the Nipponese Underworld will be able to."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then turned and cast his gaze toward the boundless desert.

    This ce couldn''t even be called a desert anymore. Instead, it was like and of mirrors! If moonndings became possible in the underworld someday, then this ce would definitely be an internationally renownedndmark, much like the Sahara desert or the Great Wall in the mortal realm.

    ss shards of all types of different colors were littered all over the ground, looking as if they were uneven crystalline pirs. If one wasn''t aware of how they had been formed, they would most likely be stunned by how incredible nature could be.

    However, for all those who did know of the origins of this ce, this sight would only evoke memories of lingering fear.

    This was a piece of history.

    The resurgence of the Cathayan Underworld was going to begin from this desert!

    Even Qin Ye himself was struck by a sense of surrealism as he stood here. This was a desert of ss that would only appear in movies, and it was truly an awe-inspiring sight. He couldn''t help but wonder whether the second-generation forbidden art would cause more destruction to the Nipponese Underworld than the nuclear bombs had inflicted upon Nippon in the mortal realm back in the second world war.

    "I have to make a trip," he suddenly said.

    Before anyone else had a chance to reply, he turned around with a serious expression and continued, "Now that everything has been prepared, all we need to do is recruit the help of the three great yokai of the mortal realm, and we''ll be able to immediately deploy our troops to the Hanyang Underworld. At the moment, Commander Zhou has gathered forces in excess of 100 seaworthy ships. We must take down the Nipponese Underworld as quickly as possible!"

    They couldn''t afford to give the rest of the world any time to react!

    Is it finally about to begin?

    All of the Yama-Kings nodded in response before cupping their fists in parting salutes.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Nippon, Aokigahara.

    This ce had an alternative name that was renowned across Asia and even the entire world, and that was "suicide forest". The number of people whomitted suicide here was second only to the Golden Gate Bridge of Usonia, which was quite ironic, considering that this ce was a forest that seemed to be teeming with life.

    The species of trees here were quite uniform, so it was impossible to decipher where one was unless they had a vast wealth of experience in survival in the world. Due to the abundance of iron ore and volcanic magma here, the maic fields preventedpasses from working properly. Regardless of whether one intended tomit suicide, once they entered this ce, it was virtually impossible to get out again.

    There were countless legends associated with this forest, and one could spot corpses hanging by rope from trees virtually once every several hundred meters. It was said that the residents living nearby could hear the rustling of rope every night, and there were even ims that people had seen a hung ghost with a tongue that was over a meter in length roaming through the forest.

    "In the past, most of the nearby residents were quite impoverished." An elderly man was walking along a country road while supporting himself with a cane, and he was panting slightly as he said, "Unfortunately, they had to leave abandoned infants and many elderly people in the forest to starve to death, and that was how Aokigahara came into existence. Everyone knows that the better living standards be, the more peoplee tomit suicide here. You haven''te here tomit suicide, have you, young man?"

    Qin Ye was walking along behind the elderly man in a crisp suit while inspecting the vige with an intrigued expression, and he casually replied, "No."

    The aura of resentment hanging over the forest was extremely dense, so much so that it was clearly visible to him. The entire forest was epassed under a vast expanse of gray mist, within which there were countless howling souls.

    All of the people who had entered this ce were at the height of despair, and they carried immense resentment toward the world. Over the past centuries, this ce had already be a paradise for evil ghosts.

    What was a little troublesome was that the evil ghosts had already fused as one with the surrounding trees and even formed an array. This was apletely naturally forming array, and it would not be easy to dispel it.

    It wasn''t that he couldn''t dispel it, the problem was that doing so carelessly would cause quite amotion, one that could perhaps even be noticed by the Nipponese Underworld.

    "Good. There''s no shortage of tourists whoe here every year. It''s a good thing that you reserved a room with me in advance. If you had contacted me a week or twoter than you did, I may not have had any vacancies."

    Qin Ye nodded casually in response, then continued to inspect his surroundings. It had to be said that the scenery was very unique here.

    It was no different from the average Nipponese vige, but there were many signs littered throughout the vige withrge red text written on them, bearing messages such as "Life is something to be cherished!", "Please think about your family!", "There''s always hope in life, so don''t give up!", etc.

    The elderly man turned around to discover Qin Ye looking at the signs, and a wry smile appeared on his face. "Those signs don''t really do much. When you see a person who''s determined to end their own life here, they are extremely calm and stable, so it''s impossible to tell who''s here for tourism and who''s here tomit suicide. These signs aren''t anywhere near enough to shake their resolve. Ah, we''re here, pleasee in."

    The elderly man''s room wasn''t veryrge. It was an ordinary Nipponse-style wooden cabin, and it seemed to be quite old, but it was very clean and tidy. The elderly man led Qin Ye into the room with a smile, then put on his slippers, and right as he was going to pour some tea, Qin Ye''s voice suddenly rang out from behind him. "Have you heard of the shimenawa of Aokigahara?"

    The elderly man turned around to face Qin Ye with a wary expression, and only after a long while did he ask, "Who are you?"

    Qin Ye calmly put on a pair of slippers himself, then said, "Yamada Shintaro, also known as Master Yokoromo. You were banished from Enryakuji of ¨­tsu 20 years ago and came to Aokigahara tomit suicide, but you encountered Iwasaki Ky¨­ya, who was on holiday at the time, and he convinced you to live on and join the Mitsubishi Corporation. There''s no need to be so tense and anxious, it was Mr. Iwasaki himself who told me toe here. I''m sure he already gave you a call several years ago. I was dyed by some matters, so I''m a few yearste. Mr. Iwasaki has already passed away. If you need confirmation, you can call Iwasaki Ichiro. Tell him that my surname is Qin, and that we met several years ago in Takeshiger¨­. I''m sure he still remembers me."

    Master Yokomoro stared at Qin Ye for a moment longer before extending a slight bow. "Please pardon me."

    He quickly made his way into the inner room, and several minutester, he emerged with a smile before extending a deep bow. "It is an honor for me to be visited by you in person, Mr. Qin. Iwasaki San has asked me to pass on his greetings to you, and he also wanted to know if you require any assistance."

    "It''s alright." Qin Ye sat down onto the sofa and said, "All I need is some information, and I''ll be leaving soon."

    Qin Ye didn''t know what Iwasaki Ichiro had said to Master Yokoromo, but he was acting in an extremely respectful fashion. He poured a cup of tea for Qin Ye, then offered it up to him with both hands, and only then did a serious look appear on his face as he said, "I recall that you asked about a legend earlier. So many people have died in Aokigahara, yet there haven''t been any evil ghosts wreaking havoc, and that''s because of the Nipponese Underworld''s intervention. There are underworld emissaries sent to patrol the forest each year, and they appear in the deepest part of the forest. There is a shimenawa there, and those who step over the rope will arrive in the world of the dead."

    Qin Ye took a small sip of the tea to find that it was slightly bitter, but had a very vibrant green color.

    At some point in history, tea in Cathay and Nippon diverged in two different directions. In the past, tea leaves were steamed in Cathay, but during the Song and Ming Dynasties, roasting became the preferred method of treatment for tea leaves. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, tea spread to Nippon, but they had always maintained the tradition of steaming their tea leaves.

    Roasted tea was far more fragrant than steamed tea, while steamed tea was more vibrant in color, but also more bitter. The so-called mocha was essentially steamed green tea leaves ground into powder.

    Qin Ye wasn''t a fan of this type of tea.

    "So is there one or not?"

    "There is," Master Tokoromo replied with a serious expression. "My master told me that there''s a yokai lurking in Aokigahara, and it''s been there since the reign of Emperor Jimmu! It collects the hair of all of the people who''ve died in the forest and uses their souls and their hair to weave its shimenawa, which is the only ck shimenawa in existence! My master says that there are two massive ancient trees in Aokigahara, but they can''t be seen from the outside. Only by taking a specific route and using a specific method will one be able to see the other world. Each of the trees is over 100 meters tall, and between the two trees is the ck shimenawa."

    "How do I get in there?" Qin Ye asked.

    Master Tokoromo carefully pulled an item out of his pocket before offering it up to Qin Ye with both hands.

    It was a white finger bone.

    It looked as if it had been constructed from jade, and it was very smooth to the touch. As soon as Qin Ye epted the bone, he discovered that it was pointed in a certain direction, and it refused to point in any other direction even with the application of physical force!

    "This is a bone that belonged to a renowned Buddhist master," Master Tokoromo said as he brought his palms together. "It will guide you in the right direction in Aokigahara."

    Qin Ye nodded in response before stowing the bone away. "Anything else?"

    Master Tokoromo shook his head in response, and Qin Ye instantly vanished into a burst of Yin energy.

    Master Tokoromo was so startled by this that he dropped his teacup onto the ground, and he abruptly stood up as if he had been electrocuted, while cold sweat poured down his face.

    What happened?! How did he suddenly disappear like that?! What kind of being was I speaking to just now?!

 Chapter 1220: Amanozako (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1220: Amanozako (1)</h4>

    Qin Ye flew directly into Aokigahara as a gust of Yin wind, causing the canopies of the trees in his wake to rustle audibly.

    He spread open his palm, and the finger bone in his hand was pointed resolutely in a certain direction. After flying in that direction for 10 minutes, a rock face appeared before him.

    He had arrived at the foot of Mount Fuji, and there were mountain ranges of different sizes everywhere here. However, this mountain range was a little different.

    In the eyes of normal humans, this was just another mountain face, and the only minute difference was that there seemed to be slightly fewer trees nearby. However, from Qin Ye''s perspective, he could see a hole in the mountain face that had clearly been drilled through artificial means!

    The hole was veryrge, roughly 10 meters in diameter, and there was a pair of skeletons wearing onmyouji attire standing at its entrance.

    Wisps of Yin energy were seeping out of the hole, and the finger bone was also pointed directly at it!

    Interesting... A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he slowly made his way toward the mountain face.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the entrance of the hole, the two skeletons were standing like statues while holding hand fans, but in this instant, both of them raised their heads in unison.

    "Hmm?" They cast a perplexed gaze toward the approaching Qin Ye, then turned to one another in a surprised manner.

    "Is he here tomit suicide and just so happened to arrive here?" one of the skeletons asked.

    "Why do I get the feeling... that he can see us?" the other skeleton mused. "He''s been looking in this direction this entire time."

    "How is that possible?" the first skeleton scoffed. "There''s no Yin energying from his body, and there''s no way normal humans can see underworld emissaries..."

    Before the skeleton even had a chance to finish its sentence, Qin Ye abruptly vanished on the spot, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing right beside them.

    The two skeletons turned toward him in a wooden manner, and they were so frightened that their teeth were chattering uncontrobly, while theherfire in their eyes had turned bright red. Before they had a chance to say anything, Qin Yeid his hands onto their shoulders before asking in a calm voice, "Is Amanozako in here?"

    The two underworld emissaries nodded in unison.

    It wasn''t that they didn''t want to hide the truth, they were simply too terrified to do so!

    As soon as they nodded in response, they immediately realized what they had just done, and their mouths abruptly sprang open. "Who are y..."

    In the blink of an eye, the two of them were reduced to a flurry of ck butterflies that vanished on the spot, while Qin Ye continued onward like a gust of Yin wind.

    Inside the mountain face was a pitch-ck passageway with human-skinnterns hanging on either side, and all of the underworld emissaries in the wake of the gust of Yin wind were instantly reduced to ashes.

    The passageway wasn''t very long, only several dozen meters in length, and Qin Ye quickly emerged on the other side, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a wilted forest.

    There were no wilted sections of Aokigahara on any satellite images, but one had appeared here.

    The ground waspletely covered in a thickyer of dead leaves, and as they were blown up into the air by the gusts of Yin wind, they resembled paper money for the dead. Beneath the fallen leaves were countless skeletons that had been partially devoured, and there were also countless bodies hanging from the wilted trees, swaying slightly in the wind as if they had sprung back to life.

    As the gust of Yin wind continued onward, a murder of crows squawked as they flew up into the air, and there was such a massive number of them that they resembled a dark cloud. This ce was a tomb that had been abandoned even by the gods. There seemed to be something constantly watching Qin Ye from behind the wilted branches and dead leaves, but Qin Ye waspletely unfazed.

    He had seen far more terrifying sights than this, and his gaze was focused entirely on the center of the forest, where there were two giant trees extending up into the heavens, between which was a ck shimenawa.

    It was as if all of the vitality in this part of the forest had been robbed by these two trees. The entire forest was wilted and dead, but these two trees were thriving, and their enormous canopies were casting massive shadows onto the undergrowth, giving the ce an even more eerie and sinister aura.

    Beyond the pair of trees was an abyss of pure darkness, but Qin Ye certainly wasn''t afraid of something like this.

    A cold smile appeared on his face, and with a wave of his arm, all of the fallen leaves were sent flying like countless ck and yellow butterflies. At the same time, a series of Soul Shackles flew directly toward the shimenawa like speeding arrows.

    "You''re a Yama-King?!" An astonished voice rang out from behind the shimenawa, and in the next instant, a pair of bright golden eyes lit up within the darkness. Countless gusts of Yin wind blew out from the area between the shimenawa in a frenzy, following which an enormous creature slowly extended its head out of the darkness.

    It was also at the same time that Qin Ye drew to a halt in front of the shimenawa, and countless dead leaves were falling around him as he sped his hands behind his back. "Are you Amanozako?"

    The shimenawa was around 20 meters above the ground, and within the darkness above the rope, there was a massive monster with a huge nose and sharp, hooked fangs staring intently at him with its mouth gaped wide open.

    It was wearing a court noble hat, and only its head, neck, and hands were revealed, as well as a small section of its scarlet clothes. It had a pair of golden eyeballs and azure skin, and the flesh on its face was bulging in a grotesque manner, while thin strands of hair were trailing down from either side of its hat.

    It was a massive monster, standing at over 10 meters in size, and its hands were instinctively ced in front of it for protection while its body was writhing in an uneasy manner.

    She really is hideous...

    That was Qin Ye''s first thought.

    His second thought was: If I were Susanoo-no-Mikoto, I would definitely abandon you as well...

    Qin Ye repressed the disgust in his heart as he said, "I''m sure you recognize me."

    Amanozako was jerked out of her astonished stupor upon hearing this, and in the next instant, a deafening scream rang out across the entire forest, causing all of the trees to sway violently.

    "You''re the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld!" Unadulterated horror appeared in Amanozako''s eyes as she frantically retreated into the darkness, but she wasn''t as fast as Qin Ye''s Soul Shackles.

    The sound of chains plunging into flesh rang out incessantly as the Soul Shackles pierced into the darkness, and Amanozako howled with agony as bursts of Yin energy erupted out of her body like fountains.

    "You''re not going anywhere!" A cold look appeared in Qin Ye''s eyes as he tugged vigorously on his Soul Shackles, and a ck shadow passed over his head as a giant figure was pulled out of the darkness, then crashed down onto the ground, sending dead leaves flying in all directions.

    It was Amanozako.

    She was wearing a scarlet kimono with the Hyakki Yagy¨­ embroidered upon it, and her sparse hair was arranged into a knot on the back of head with several hairpins attached to it. The lower half of her body was that of a snake, and it was still concealed within the darkness, but rotten and putrid pus was flowing out from under every single one of her scales.

    Qin Ye suddenly felt a sense of sympathy toward her, and he heaved a faint sigh before patting her hand. "Don''t be afraid, I bear no ill will toward you."

    She hadn''t chosen to look like this.

    Judging from her hair and her attire, it was clear that she strived for beauty as well, but unfortunately, she simply wasn''t born with the natural gifts required.

    On top of that, her father had abandoned her right after she was born, leaving her in this godforsaken ce. It really was an extremely unfortunate existence.

    Amanozako gritted her teeth as she slowly mbered up from the ground. As soon as she raised her upper body, she immediately got down into a dogeza pose. "Amanozako wees Yanluo Qin of the Cathayan Underworld! May I ask how I have caused offense to you, Your Excellency? State your order and I will immediately execute it!"

    The sound of leather boots crunching down onto fallen leaves rang out, and she looked up ever so slightly, just so she could see the pair of shiny shoes before her.

    "Raise your head."

    "Yes..." Amanozako was extremely reluctant to follow this order. She was partially relegating herself here in order to hide from the rest of the world.

    Even her parents had abandoned her for her looks, and she didn''t want anyone else to see her, but she was forced to disy her face now.

    However, as soon as she raised her head, a surprised look immediately appeared in her eyes.

    She saw a handsome young man without any disgust or pity in his eyes, only a sense of regal majesty.

    He only sees me as a lower underworld emissary, not a monster...

    At times, it only took a single look to convey many things, and words weren''t necessarily always required.

    Neither of them said anything, but Amanozako was suddenly struck by a sense of eptance, something that she hadn''t felt for a very long time, and it was making her quite emotional.

    With that change in mindset, she extended a genuine bow toward Qin Ye before asking, "What instructions do you have for me, Your Excellency?"

    Qin Ye looked intently at her for a long while before finally asking, "Is there hatred in your heart?"

    There was no need to ask her what or who exactly she hated. Amanozako gritted her teeth as she replied in a trembling voice, "There is... I hate Susanoo-no-Mikoto for abandoning me! I hate Izanami for not allowing me to enter the underworld, relegating me to the mortal realm to be ridiculed! I hate those underworld emissaries! They always look at me with pity and disgust instead of the reverence afforded to gods!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "The Nipponese Underworld is only a third-rate underworld. You are already only half a step away from bing an Abyssal Prefect, so they don''t have the ability to ce you into the cycle of reincarnation, just like how Yama-Kings can''t be reincarnated in the Cathayan Underworld. However, we can allow Abyssal Prefects to be reincarnated."

    Amanozako shuddered violently upon hearing this, and her giant mouth sprang open as if she wanted to say something, but she was unable to utter even a single word.

    "I can allow you to be reincarnated, and you can even be the most beautiful woman in the world in your next life if you want. However, I need you to do something for me in return."

    Before Amanozako had a chance to reply, Qin Ye extended a hand forward, and a sheet of parchment paper that was riddled with text appeared in his grasp. "I don''t want to waste any time. This is a Heavenly Dao Contract written by Ghost King Zhao, and no one can revoke it unless they''re more powerful than him. Write down your name or die here."

    All of the Soul Shackles reared like giant pythons from beneath the fallen leaves as he spoke, and they aimed themselves directly at Amanozako.

    "You have 10 minutes to think."

    The sound of a countdown timer seemed to be ringing out inside the forest, and Amanozako''s giant eyes were swiveling from side to side in a hesitant manner, but after only seven minutes, she kowtowed as she said, "I''m willing to do your bidding."

    "Oh? You''re not going to take more time to think about it?"

    Amanozako shook her head in response. "I don''t want to die. The fact that you''re here means that you have a way to enter Nippon without being detected. Seeing as Izanami still has appeared, it''s clear that you''ve managed to remain concealed to her. In other words, given my rtionship with the Nipponese Underworld, it would perhaps be centuries for me to be discovered if I were to die here. In contrast, if I agree to serve you, then I still have a chance at reincarnation, while the alternative is instant death without any chance at reincarnation. I may be ugly, but I''m not stupid."

    A smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "You''re going to trust me just like that?"

    Amanozako raised her head and looked directly into his eyes as she murmured, "My intuition is telling me that you''re trustworthy."

    Qin Ye was the first person to have regarded her without any pity or disgust, and that was an extremely precious thing to her.

    "May I ask what your ns are, Your Excellency?" Amanozako asked as she wrote her name down on the Heavenly Dao Contract.

    Qin Ye stowed the contract away as a cold smile appeared on his face. "It''s very simple, really. I want to conquer the Nipponese Underworld."

 Chapter 1221: Amanozako (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1221: Amanozako (2)</h4>

    Amanozako abruptly raised her head to stare at Qin Ye with shock in her eyes, but she then quickly lowered her head again.

    This was quite a revtion, but it wasn''t actually unexpected.

    After all, why else would the ruler of one of the four pirs havee in person to seek her out?

    Amanozako was silent for a long while before adopting the dogeza pose again. "Your Excellency, may I ask what you n to do with Susanoo-no-Mikoto?"

    Qin Ye replied in an indifferent voice, "Once an underworld is conquered, all of the original gods that are worshiped there must be dealt with, including him and Izanami."

    A thought then suddenly urred to him, and he continued, "I can''t execute him as there would be too much pressure from the rest of the world, and even I don''t have the right to execute a death god who''s been around for over 1,000 years."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Amanozako kowtowed once again as she said in a cold voice, "If possible, please leave him to me!"

    "That''s not out of the question," Qin Ye replied with a smile.

    Amanozako stood up and took a deep breath, then said, "Please tell me what you need me to do, Your Excellency."

    Qin Ye waved a hand through the air, and a map of Nippon that was formed entirely by Yin energy appeared in mid-air. Qin Ye pointed at the area between Shizuoka and Yamanashi and said, "This is where Mount Fuji is. Mount Fuji is not far away from Tokyo, but it''s not a coastal prefecture. When the timees, I need you to transport around 200,000 Yin soldiers to the coastline as quickly as possible."

    A contemtive look appeared on Amanozako''s face as she said, "Tokyo is situated at Tokyo Bay, and even though it''s not as important in the underworld as it is in the mortal realm, it''s still one of the Nipponese Underworld''s most important cities, so it''s very heavily guarded."

    "I''m asking you whether you can do it or not," Qin Ye said in an indifferent voice.

    Amanozako gritted her teeth before replying, "It''ll be difficult. Tokyo is part of Chubu, which is guarded in person by Izanami, as well as four powerful daimyos..."

    All of a sudden, her voice trailed off, and she raised her head to stare at Qin Ye with a stunned expression as if a thought had just urred to her.

    He was proposing traveling by sea from Mount Fuji, so he would''ve definitely considered the possibility of being intercepted by Izanami and the daimyos. The only power in Chubu capable of opposing Izanami and the demons and gods were the daimyos, so if Qin Ye wanted to transport his troops through Chubu without being detected, the only way would be to recruit the help of the daimyos.

    Did this mean that the Cathayan Underworld had already swayed the daimyos over to its side?

    A series ofplex emotions immediately welled up in her heart. When she first found out that Qin Ye was nning to invade the Nipponese Underworld, she had thought that perhaps the Nipponese Underworld would be able to put up a struggle with the help of the rest of the world. Only now did she realize just how hopeless the situation actually was.

    If she dared to stand up for the Nipponese Underworld, then she would be destined to be crushed along with it.

    Thus, she suddenly stopped what she was saying and changed the subject in a subtle manner. "Once you enter the Nipponese Underworld through Aokigahara''s shimenawa, you''ll encounter a river. I call it the Higan River, and from there, you can go directly to the Kanagawa coastline."

    She stole a nce at Qin Ye as she continued, "However, you''ll have to pass through the territories of the two daimyos, M¨­ri Terumoto, and Kobayakawa Takakage."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "That''s not an area of concern. Anything else?"

    I knew it! He really has recruited the daimyos already!

    Never had Amanozako felt the Nipponese Underworld to be in such severe peril before. She gulped nervously, then continued, "Yue Fei''s soul is situated in the Meiji Jingu of Tokyo."

    A hint of tion shed through Qin Ye''s eyes upon hearing this.

    He was striking at the Nipponese Underworld not just for its geographic location and international status, but also for Yue Fei''s soul!

    Everyone knew that Yue Fei''s soul was in the Nipponese Underworld, and the Nipponese Underworld had never denied this, but even the daimyos didn''t know where it was hidden. After all, this was Izanami''s greatest secret.

    "I guess it makes sense that you know this, considering you''re the daughter of Susanoo-no-Mikoto," Qin Ye said. "Can you tell me the specific details?"

    "Yes." Amanozako kowtowed before continuing, "The Meiji Shingu is thergest Shinto shrine in Chubu. At the very center of the Meiji Shingu is thergest shrine gate in the Nipponese Underworld, and I recall that I heard by chance that that is where Yue Fei''s soul is."

    Amanozako didn''t know anything beyond that, but this was already enough information.

    Qin Ye''s body began to disintegrate into Yin wind as he said, "The daimyos can be trusted. Given your status, it would be very easy for you toe into contact with their representatives, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Make sure to keep in close contact with them and pay attention to the international state of affairs. Once the war begins, we won''t be able tomunicate through letters."

    Even after he vanished on the spot, Amanozako didn''t dare to get up, and only after waiting for half a minute did she finally rise up from the ground.

    There was a conflicted look in her eyes. She didn''t want to die, but nor did she detest the Nipponese Underworld as much as the daimyos did. At the end of the day, she still belonged to the faction of demons and gods.

    After a long while, a mocking look appeared on her face as she slowly made her way back to the shimenawa. "To think that they view themselves as so high and mighty, but in reality, they can easily be brought down by those who are truly powerful."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Time passed by like flowing water, and another two years went by in a sh.

    During the past two years, the military equipment of the Cathayan Underworld had received another boost. With the deposit issued by the second King Yanluo, a massive batch of precious resources had appeared in the Cathayan Underworld.

    Formosa, Nipponese Underworld Embassy.

    Kawashima Takuma set his coffee cupzily down onto his timber desk, then swiveled around on his chair to enjoy the sunlight pouring in through the window, letting loose a moan of pleasure as he did so.

    The world was as peaceful as the surface of a stillke, and it was a fantastic time to be alive.

    After working for 15 years here, he would be able to return to the cab. He had only secured this role after staving off countlesspetitors.

    At this point, he had already been serving in this role for seven years, developing an extensivework during that time. Furthermore, Formosa was a very good ce with mild weather, an abundance of delicious cuisines, restaurants from all different countries, and a great hospitality industry. As the world''srgest first-generation energy resource transaction settlement site, this ce had been transformed into a globalized city.

    From his perspective, he could see countless antiquated Cathayan-style buildings that resembled undting ck waves, interspersed through which were resplendent Buddhist temples, pristine, white mosques, and extravagant churches. Anyone who visited the ind would be stunned by its beauty and luxury.

    Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and he casually said, "Come in..."

    The door was opened, and a secretary rushed into the room before immediately extending a deep bow. "Mr. Kawashima, the Formosa municipal government is requesting us to go to the first port right away."

    "Alright." Kawashima Takuma slowly rose to his feet, then adjusted his suit before putting it on and making his way outside.

    He wasn''t worried at all.

    He was responsible for mediating conflicts between the Cathayan Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld, but there were never any major conflicts in such peaceful times.

    He got into a beast-drawn carriage, and it quickly arrived at the first port. However, as soon as he emerged from the corridor, he noticed that the situation... wasn''t quite right.

    There was a ship docked in front of the port. It was a purely metallic ship that was enormous, constructed in a style much like the warships of the Ming Dynasty. However, the gs on the ship were from the Nipponese Underworld.

    There were people of all ethnicities currently gathered on the port, locked in spirited discussion with one another, and the governor and administrativemissioner of the province of Formosa were also present.

    What''s going on here?

    Kawashima Takuma hurried over to them before extending a respectful bow. "Governor Cao, Commissioner Zhou, we meet again."

    However, the response he received was a cold harrumph, following which Governor Cao asked in a cold voice, "Is this a ship from your nation, Envoy Kawashima?"

    Kawashima Takuma took a look at it before nodding in response.

    In reality, he didn''t know whether it was or not. He had files on all of the ships that arrived at this port, and he definitely couldn''t examine them one by one. However, even though he didn''t know for sure, he couldn''t think of any other reason why the ship would be carrying the gs of the Nipponese Underworld.

    "Good," Commissioner Zhou said in a cold voice. "Nipponese soldiers in excess of 1,000 have trespassed on our territory! What is the meaning of this?! Is this a deration of war against our Cathayan Underworld?!"

    What?!

    The calm look on Kawashima Takuma''s face instantly gave way to shock. This was such an astonishing turn of events that he was temporarily at a loss for how to respond.

    The Nipponese Underworld is provoking Everburn? The Nipponese Underworld has sent soldiers to invade the Cathayan Underworld? Have they gone insane?! Why would they do that?!

    "There must''ve been a mistake, Commissioner Zhou!" Thinking back to his careless admission that this was a Nipponese ship, his soul was trembling, and he immediately said in a frantic voice, "That''s definitely impossible! Our two nations have such a strong rtionship with one another, there''s no way we would do something like that!"

    "Are you saying that I''m in the wrong?! How dare you!" Commissioner Zhou Kun snapped in a furious voice.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a grabbing motion, and a light screen appeared in mid-air, depicting the deck of the metal ship, which was littered with Nipponese armor and military uniforms!

    The scene was extremely chaotic, as if a battle had just taken ce, and an overwhelming sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Kawashima Takuma''s heart.

    Before he had a chance to say anything, Commissioner Zhou dered, "The Nipponese Underworld''s Yin soldiers have trespassed on the territory of the Cathayan Underworld, and that is equivalent to an act of war! Guards, detain him right away!"

    Cries of rm rang out from all directions as all of the bystanders turned to Zhou Kun with stunned expressions.

    An act of war? From the Nipponese Underworld? How is that possible?!

    It was also quite astonishing that they were detaining the envoy of the Nipponese Underworld based on this piece of scant evidence alone.

    Were they not afraid of having to bear the consequences?

    Before Kawashima Takuma had a chance to say anything, a group of Yin soldiers rushed toward him before pinning him to the ground.

    "Please have mercy! There must''ve been a mistake!" Kawashima Takuma finally returned to his senses as he screamed with all his might. "There has to have been a misunderstanding! There''s no way that the Nipponese Underworld would dere war on the Cathayan Underworld!"

    "Then how do you exin those soldiers?" Governor Cao Gui asked with intense killing intent in his eyes.

    "Those aren''t soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld!" Kawashima Takuma was absolutely frantic at this point. "There''s no way that''s possible! The Nipponese Underworld wouldn''t do something so stupid!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a thought suddenly urred to him.

    Why was this scene so familiar?

    On the 18th of September, 1931, the Nipponese army tossed over a body, proiming that a Nipponese soldier had been killed by Cathayans. After that...

    That was the 9.18 Incident, and these events were extremely simr to what had happened back then!

    It was clear that the Nipponese Underworld was being set up, and he frantically raised his head as he screamed, "I request an examination of the soldiers on the ship! They''re definitely not soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld!"

    "Ridiculous!" Cao Gui scoffed. "Due to the urgency of the situation, I''ve already eradicated all of the Nipponese troops on the ship!"

    At this point, Kawashima Takuma''s teeth were chattering from horror.

    At this point, it was virtually set in stone that soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld had invaded the Cathayan Underworld.

    All of the soldiers had been eradicated, so the Cathayan Underworld could im whatever it wanted!

    This was like the Cathayan version of the 9.18 Incident!

    What are they going to do?! Could it be that they''re going to start a war?!

 Chapter 1222: The 9.18 Incident

    <h4>Chapter 1222: The 9.18 Incident</h4>

    The sound of leather shoes on floor tiles rang out through the entire corridor as a thin Yin spirit in a suit hurriedly walked along with an urgent expression. Following behind him were several Yin spirits in high-end underworld suits, and their expressions were just as urgent and panicked as his.

    However, no matter how panicked they were feeling, they didn''t dare to cause amotion, and they had to nod in acknowledgment whenever they passed by any underworld emissaries.

    This was the Formosa Provincial Courthouse, and all personnel from underworlds outside of the four pirs were considered to be inferior here.

    The group of Yin spirits quickly passed through several doors, and a spacious hall appeared up ahead. Yin spirits of all types of different ethnicities were conversing with one another at the tables in the hall, and there was arge table that was around 15 meters in length at the center of the hall.

    They quickly strode over to the table, and the thin Yin spirit at the forefront of the groundid her hands t against the table as he said with gritted teeth, "I need to see Envoy Kawashima Takuma of the Nipponese Underworld! Now!"

    The Cathayan Yin spirit at the front desk was wearing a hanfu dress, and she checked the table in front of her before replying with a smile, "My apologies, Madam Saotome, but Envoy Kawashima is currently in a meeting with the administrativemissioner."

    "Are you sure it''s just a meeting?!" Madam Saotome''s voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves, attracting much attention from everyone else in the hall, and he immediately lowered his voice as he said, "This is uwful detention! It goes against internationalws!"

    "I''m sorry," the woman replied as she extended a slight bow. "We''ll notify you right away when themission concludes his meeting with Envoy Kawashima."

    "Listen here!" Saotome was on the verge of erupting. "This is most definitely a misunderstanding, the biggest misunderstanding in the history of our two underworlds! In order to resolve this misunderstanding, we came here all the way from the Nipponese Underworld! You can''t just keep us out like this!"

    "I''m sorry," the woman apologized again with another bow.

    Damn it!

    Saotome took a moment to suppress the fury that was building up in his heart, then turned to the Yin spirits behind him and said, "Go and find a ce to wait! The Cathayan Underworld can''t just keep us from seeing our nation''s envoy forever!"

    Right at this moment, the phone began to ring, and the female Yin spirit at the front desk picked up the receiver before listening for a few seconds, then ced her hand over the mouthpiece as she said, "Envoy Saotome, Commissioner Zhou has just concluded his meeting with Envoy Kawashima, and Envoy Kawashima would like to see you now."

    "Take me to him!"

    This was a rather small room.

    It had all of the standard furniture, including a phone, and aside from the several Yin soldiers standing on lookout duty outside, it would be just like any other guest room.

    Kawashima Takuma was seated on the sofa with his head in his hands. After just a single day, his soul had already be extremely frail. His cheeks were sunken, and theherfire in his eyes had been reduced to the size of peas, looking as if they could be snuffed out at any moment.

    The door swung open violently, and Saotome rushed in. Kawashima Takuma''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing him, but before he had even stood up from the sofa, he was dragged to his feet by the cor by Saotome.

    "Do you know what you''ve done?!" Saotome''s eyes were virtually spitting fire. "Do you know how massive a crisis this is?!"

    Kawashima Takuma''s lips were trembling, but he couldn''t utter even a single word.

    "That''s enough!" a female Yin spirit said in a grim voice. "This is not the time to be discussing who''s at fault. We are here to solve the problem, not vent our anger!"

    Saotome set Kawashima Takuma back down onto the sofa, then immediately said through gritted teeth, "I''ll ask the question, you do the talking. Firstly, is the ship ours?"

    "It is," Kawashima Takuma lowered his head in a dejected manner. "It''s a ship from the Furroku Shipbuilding Factory. Only thergest shipbuilding factories have the technology required to construct irond warships. ording to the serial number on the rear of the ship, it was constructed over 40 years ago, and we''ve managed to find out both the location of production and the staff involved."

    "Idiot! Did you not try to deny it?!"

    "Of course I did!" Kawashima Takuma abruptly rose to his feet. Rage and indignation had been building up inside him like a pressure cooker the entire day, and it finally all erupted as he roared, "What did you want me to say?! I said that there were no Nipponese underworld emissaries, and that it was just a pile of clothes on the ship, but themissioner didn''t believe me! He says he has witnesses who saw the soldiers fighting back! After that, all of the soldiers were eradicated! Do you know what that means?! They robbed us of the chance to defend ourselves even before we arrived on the scene!"

    Saotome''s eyelids twitched slightly, and he massaged his temples vigorously as he said, "Take a seat. My apologies, I got too worked up there."

    All of the underworld emissaries took a seat, and ady said, "What about the Cathayan Underworld? What are they saying?"

    "That''s the most terrifying part." Kawashima Takuma tried to pick up his teacup, but his hands were trembling so violently that it was as if he were spasming, and he mmed the teacup down as he said in a trembling voice, "The Cathayan Underworld isn''t saying anything! All they''re doing is levying usations one after another! Before you got here, all they did was me the Nipponese Underworld over and over again for this situation!"

    Deathly silence.

    Not a single under world emissary said anything.

    If the Cathayan Underworld could let things slide, then this would be nothing more than a minor incident, but if they chose to pursue this matter to the end, then this really could be an indisputable excuse to start a war!

    The gravity of the situation was finally beginning to dawn on everyone, and one of them asked in a trembling voice, "They''re not nning to start a war, are they?"

    "That''s impossible!"

    "There''s no reason for them to do that!"

    "Our Nipponese Underworld may be a third-rate underworld, but our defenses are top-notch! On top of that, we have a creation-grade divine artifact!"

    "Is that supposed to be a joke? You think the three pirs and the other underworlds will just watch as the Cathayan Underworld starts a war? Times have changed! We''re living in a peaceful era now!"

    "Then what exactly do they want?" Saotome was absolutely frantic at this point. "Are they trying to sanction us? But why? What have we done to offend them? What reason could they have for trying to start a war against us?"

    One of the other underworld emissaries'' brows were tightly furrowed as he said, "Not only that, but they chose the daimyos as their coborative partner for the construction of energy resource base stations, and in order to mend our rtionship with the Cathayan Underworld, Mistress Izanami has let that slide. We are doing everything in our power to mend the rtionship between our two nations, why would they suddenly do this?"

    It was clear that this was the precursor for levying economic sanctions or taking military action against the Nipponese Underworld!

    Were they trying to make an example out of the Nipponese Underworld to send a warning to the three pirs?

    But the three pirs hadn''t taken any measures that were detrimental to the Cathayan Underworld! There were many minor conflicts that took ce between nations on the international stage, but there was no need to take such aggressive measures! Even an idiot would be able to tell that the Nipponese Underworld was being framed, and that waspletely unbefitting of an underworld of the Cathayan Underworld''s status. It was as if they just wanted to find an excuse to attack the Nipponese Underworld, but what would the other underworlds think?

    Wouldn''t this ruin their reputation and make them seem like a warmongering nation?

    What in the Nipponese Underworld could be worth that price?

    All of the underworld emissaries fell into deep thought, and Kawashima Takuma opened his mouth to say something on several asions, only to close it again.

    He really wanted to say that this incident was virtually identical to the 9.18 Incident that took ce in the mortal realm several dozen years ago, and that the Cathayan Underworld was potentially considering initiating war against the Nipponese Underworld.

    However, this was such an idiotic conclusion that even he didn''t dare to believe it himself, so he refrained from expressing it.

    Finally, Saotome made a decision, and a pained look appeared on his face as he said, "Get the presents, we need to pay the governor and the administrativemissioner a visit. We need to try and find out what they want and express to them that the Nipponese Underworld is willing to ept whatever ising as long as they don''t cross any boundaries."

    "Yes."

    "Understood."

    A series of newspapers were fluttering through all of the streets and alleys of the Cathayan Underworld.

    The Nipponese Underworld waspletely oblivious to just how much the Cathayan Underworld was hyping up the incident that they thought could easily be resolved peacefully.

    "Extra! Extra!" Yellow-robed paperboys were yelling with all their might as they paced through the streets. "Yin soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld have trespassed upon the territory of our Cathayan Underworld once again! The governor and administrativemissioner of Formosa slew over 1,000 Nipponese Yin soldiers and banished the Nipponese irond warship from our waters!"

    "The Nipponese Underworld haspletely disregarded international borders, sending an irond warship straight into Cathayan waters!"

    "The Coalition of Underworlds is turning a blind eye, and the Nipponese Underworld is bing bolder by the day!"

    These extremely provocative headlines resulted in massive newspaper sales.

    "Give me a copy." In front of a newspaper stand, a man was holding a newspaper in one hand and his breakfast in the other. After taking only a quick nce, he immediately gave a cold harrumph. "I can''t believe Nippon is still this cocky even in the underworld! Do they still think this is back in 1938?"

    "I know, right?" the owner of the newspaper stand immediately chimed in. "If you ask me, we should just attack them and show them just how powerful our Cathayan Underworld is now!"

    "That''s right! That''s exactly what we should do!"

    "We need to avenge ourselves for what happened in the mortal realm! I can''t believe the Nippon is still messing with us even in the underworld!"

    "Aren''t we and the Hindustani Underworld supposed to be the top dogs in Asia? Since when did the Nipponese Underworld dare to invade our waters?"

    All of the surrounding Yin spirits had been roused into a frenzy.

    Simr scenes were taking ce in every city, county, and vige in the Cathayan Underworld. The Cathayan Underworld had finally risen up once again and re-established some confidence, and it certainly wasn''t going to take such provocation without retaliation!

    It was time to deploy troops across the Strait of Tsushima to avenge Cathay for what happened in the mortal realm!

    Simr anti-Nippon sentiments swept through the entire Cathayan Underworld like wildfire within the span of just a few days. Of course, it wasn''t just the newspapers doing the work, the government was also pushing the propaganda, with frequent mentions of the incident made on television, news, and all other media outlets.

    What did this entail?

    A mature government would''ve been able to sense that this was the precursor for a war. Regardless of whether a war was actually initiated, preparations for the worst had to be made as anything less than that could spell catastrophe.

    However, due to the Array of the Nine Gods, no one could sense the unrest that was brewing inside the Cathayan Underworld.

    Four dayster, the Cathayan Underworld''s government, which had remained silent this entire time, suddenly held a press conference, and that was when the first inklings of what was toe were revealed.

    They heavily criticized the Nipponese Underworld for sending its Yin soldiers into the Cathayan Underworld''s territory without permission.

    They heavily criticized the Nipponese Underworld for sending its warship into the Cathayan Underworld''s waters without permission.

    They also heavily criticized the Nipponese Underworld''s uncooperative attitude, and stated that the Cathayan Underworld retained the right to consider military retaliation. All of a sudden, the rest of the world was beginning to realize just how serious things were.

    The press conference had all of the underworlds utterly astonished.

    Why was the Cathayan Underworld being so shameless and reckless? What exactly had the Nipponese Underworld done to deserve this?!

 Chapter 1223: Impending War

    <h4>Chapter 1223: Impending War</h4>

    "In the face of the Nipponese Underworld''s tant disregard of internationalws, the Cathayan Underworld retains the right to take further measures should it choose to do so. We are unable to understand why the Nipponese Underworld insists on trampling over the friendship of our two nations and disrespecting the boundaries between our two nations! If the Nipponese Underworld continues to do as it pleases without any regard for consequences, then the Cathayan Underworld will be forced to take action!"

    At the press conference held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Formosa, speaker Geng Lijun was wearing a Mao suit with a serious look on his face.

    His voice was loud and clear, and it was audible throughout the entire hall, within which were gathered several dozen reporters from all over the world, and countless cameras were shing all around them.

    Right as Geng Lijunpleted his address, a reporter raised their hand before standing up. "May I ask what you''re referring to when you say ''take action''?"

    Geng Lijun replied in a steely voice, "Even now, the Cathayan Underworld still hasn''t received any officialmunication from the Nipponese Underworld. The Nipponese Underworld insists on denying the incident or attempting to pin the me on others, thereby preventing the issue from being resolved. The Cathayan Underworld will not tolerate any other underworld sending its armed forces into our territory without permission! This is an unprecedented act of aggression and disrespect! Due to the sinister nature of the incident, the Cathayan Underworld will be removing Formosa''s Nipponese Embassy and temporarily cease all international rtions with the Nipponese Underworld with immediate effect. All visas forherworldly citizens of the Nipponese Underworld traveling to Formosa will also be canceled, and the Nipponese Underworld''s scientists will be temporarily kept out of the work conducted by the energy resource research and developmentmittee."

    All of the reporters in the hall erupted into a frenzy upon hearing this.

    This was a one-sided cold war!

    The Cathayan Underworld was refusing allmunication with the Nipponese Underworld, and the situation between the two nations had never been this grim!

    Geng Lijun continued without pause, "Of course, that won''t be the extent of the measures taken by the Cathayan Underworld to address this issue. No underworld can trespass upon the Cathayan Underworld''s territory without permission, and the Cathayan Underworld will certainly not allow foreign Yin soldiers to pass through its territory! The aforementioned transgressions are equivalent to acts of war! As for the final oue of this incident, further observation will be required to determine that, but the worst oues are not out of the question."

    A teacup was gently set down onto the table, and the entire conference hall fell deathly silent in response to the television broadcast.

    This was a spacious conference hall with pronounced Nipponese-style d¨¦cor. At the center of the hall was a round timer table, around which were a series of televisions that had been embedded into the walls. At this moment, the live broadcast of the Cathayan Underworld''s press conference were ying out on all of the television screens.

    Geng Lijun''s voice wasn''t overly loud, but it was like rumbling thunder in the ears of those in the conference hall, and none of them dared to say anything.

    Izanami was sitting on the main seat, and seated alongside her were Susanoo-no-Mikoto, Tamamo-no-Mae, Shuten-doji, and several other powerful yokai. Finally, she exhaled before asking, "What happened to our people?"

    "They didn''t get to enter the venue," Susanoo-no-Mikoto sighed. "It''s not that they didn''t want to, the Cathayan Underworld refused to grant them entry. Envoy Kawashima and Saotome''s group have also been detained at the Cathayan Underworld."

    Izanami raised her head to sweep her gaze across all of the yokai present, but all of them averted her gaze, and after several seconds, she asked, "So we don''t know anything about the current state in the Cathayan Underworld at the moment, is that right?"

    No one replied.

    "This is not the time to be pinning me, our top priority is to resolve this matter!" Susanoo-no-Mikoto said.

    "We can hold a press conference ourselves. That is the only way we canmunicate with the Cathayan Underworld at the moment. Alternatively, you could call the Cathayan Underworld to negotiate something."

    "I tried that, and they refused," Izanami replied.

    Emperor Sutoku gave a cold harrumph. "So they want to resolve this matter, but they''re refusing tomunicate with us. What exactly is the Cathayan Underworld trying to do?! Does it think that it owns the entirety of Asia?!"

    Everyone could sense that a storm wasing, but no one knew what the cause of the storm was.

    International affairs were an extension of domestic politics. This had always been a fact.

    Did this mean that something had gone wrong in the Cathayan Underworld?

    No. On the contrary, it was in a period of rapid growth, raking in astronomical sums of money every single day! With that in mind, this simply didn''t make any sense!

    Was there someone from the international stage exerting pressure on the Cathayan Underworld?

    That wasn''t the case, either. No one would dare to exert pressure on the Cathayan Underworld unless they wanted to be threatened with nationwide power outages. Case in point: even a figure as high and mighty Yamaraja had swallowed his pride and was treating Qin Ye with the utmost respect.

    "There are only two possible ways that we can proceed right now," Emperor Sutoku said through gritted teeth. "One, we hold a press conference and dere to the world that this incident has nothing to do with our Nipponese Underworld. The problem is that the ship and all of the people involved have been detained, and the so-called Nipponese Yin soldiers have been wiped out by the governor and the administrativemissioner, so we have no leads."

    Tamamo-no-Mae had a head of shoulder-length ck hair, and she was wearing a fox mask and a ck kimono. Her voice was full of seduction as she said, "But wouldn''t that be a direct revocation to the Cathayan Underworld? As you know, all of the supposed evidence is in their hands. If they insist on pursuing this matter, then there''s nothing we can do. The most important thing is whether they intend to take this further or not."

    If they were to deny trespassing on the Cathayan Underworld''s territory, only for the Cathayan Underworld to release a series of evidence to the contrary, that would be an extremely awkward situation.

    Furthermore, it gave the Cathayan Underworld the impression that the Nipponese Underworld was refusing to admit to its faults and bow its head. However, the question was: what did the Cathayan Underworld want to gain from forcing the Nipponese Underworld into submission? Was it just a show of strength?

    If they really were seeking to start a war, then there was no way that the Nipponese Underworld would be able to survive!

    Everyone was hoping against hope that the Cathayan Underworld would defuse the situation eventually, but the chances of that were getting slimmer and slimmer.

    "What''s our second option?" Izanami asked.

    "Contact the Hindustani Underworld and hope that they''ll act as mediator," Emperor Sutoku sighed. "It''s the duty of the four pirs to ensure peace in the underworld, so this is not a request that they can refuse."

    Silence.

    Izanami took several minutes to consider the situation, then decided, "Hold a press conference, and also contact the Hindustani Underworld at the same time. Regardless of whether the Cathayan Underworld defuses the situation or not, we have to rify why exactly it''s doing this! Yanluo Qin can refuse to speak to us, but he can''t do the same to Yamaraja."

    She rose to her feet and cast a grim gaze toward all of the yokai in the room. "We are the only independent Asian underworld left to the east of the Cathayan Underworld, so we are the most heavily impacted by its return to its position as one of the four pirs. Hence, we have to resolve this issue no matter what!"

    "Understood."

    "Go," Izanami said as she waved a dismissive hand, then added, "Susanoo-no-Mikoto, please stay behind."

    All of the yokai departed, and soon, Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto were the only ones left in the room.

    Only after a full 10 minutes of silence did Izanami speak again. "Come on a walk with me."

    Her pristine white kimono trailed over the ground like a cloud, and several servants immediately followed along behind her, gently picking up the hem of her kimono.

    The two of them walked along in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

    They turned a corner into a passageway with reliefs of the Hyakki Yagy¨­ on the walls. It was unclear where this passageway led to, but the deeper they went, the more Yin soldiers there were. At the same time, there were also many Yin rune restrictions concealed within the reliefs, and they were shing incessantly.

    The passageway was very long, roughly around 100 meters in length. The two of them had only walked around 20 meters before Susanoo-no-Mikoto suddenly raised his head and cast his gaze toward Izanami. Izanami''s expression remained unchanged, while Susanoo-no-Mikoto opened his mouth, as if to say something, but decided against it in the end, and the two of them continued onward in silence.

    At the end of the passageway was a stone gate that was riddled with engraved restrictions and was also carrying motifs of the three divine artifacts. The aura emanating from the restrictions was quite powerful, but what was strange about it was that one wouldn''t be able to sense it at all from any distance in excess of 10 meters away.

    By the time the two of them arrived, the stone gate had already been opened by the Yin soldiers on either side of it, revealing a golden shimenawa, beyond which was a boundless expanse of darkness.

    Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto stepped over the shimenawa, upon which they arrived in a spacious and luxurious courtyard that was over 200 square meters in area.

    It was a ssic Nipponese-style dry garden, and there were many servants standing in the courtyard, but every single one of them was an Anitya Hellguard.

    "You think... it has something to do with him?" Susanoo-no-Mikoto asked as he turned to face Izanami.

    Izanami closed her eyes and took a deep breath before replying, "Aside from this, I can''t think of any other reason. All rulers need to leave their mark on the world. Ever since the first King Yanluo passed the throne onto the second King Yanluo, the Cathayan Underworld was destined to be different from other underworlds in that its ruler could be reced without warning. That''s why the world wasn''t all that stunned when Yanluo Qin ascended to the throne. The first King Yanluo established Hell, while the second King Yanluo took the Cathayan Underworld to unprecedented heights. What is the third King Yanluo''s legacy going to be? What is he going to leave behind?"

    "The new energy resource?" Susanoo-no-Mikoto asked.

    "Yes, but that''s not enough," Izanami replied as she opened her eyes. "Just the new energy resource alone isn''t enough topete with the grand achievements of his two predecessors. On top of that, he wasn''t the one who developed the new energy resource. If he wants to leave his mark on the world, don''t you think this is a very good incision point? If ''he'' is returned to his homnd, the entire Cathayan Underworld would praise Yanluo Qin. After all, there are very few figures in Cathayan history who''s viewed as more heroic than he is. Aside from that, I can''t think of a better exnation for the Cathayan Underworld inexplicable actions."

    A door was slowly opened to reveal a brightly lit room. At the very center of the room was a man who was drinking alone, and he didn''t even raise his head to acknowledge his visitors.

    Izanami put on a gentle smile as she said, "We''vee to visit you again, Yue Fei."

    Yue Fei continued to ignore them, looking as if he hadn''t heard her at all.

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s brows furrowed tightly as he said, "There are very few people who are definitively aware that Yue Fei is in the Nipponese Underworld, including a small handful of the Cathayan Underworld''s highest-ranking officials and you and me. If they really areing for him, then the situation is very troublesome..."

    They would either have to hand over Yue Fei or ept the sanctions.

    At this point, they were stillpletely oblivious to just how much danger they were in, thinking that this was still just foreign affairs dispute.

    Never did they think that the Cathayan Underworld was trulying for their throats!

 Chapter 1224: Refusal to Mediate!

    <h4>Chapter 1224: Refusal to Mediate!</h4>

    Decisions to invade other nations were never taken lightly, no matter how small the target nation was.

    At the root of all wars were conflicts of interest. If there were no benefits to be reaped from a war, then it would be entirely pointless.

    Prior toshing out at the Nipponese Underworld, the Cathayan Underworld had to consider how to conduct its invasion, as well as which parts to conquer and which parts to relinquish. This involved a series of decisions that had been made over the course of several years of meticulous nning and inspection. However, once the decisions were made and things were set into motion, everything would quickly escte into an all-consuming tsunami.

    At this moment, none of the death gods in the underworld had realized exactly what was on the horizon. Thus, no one paid much attention to this incident. After all, it was far more important for them to look after their own nation''s domestic affairs.

    Simrly, Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto were also not overly concerned. They slowly made their way into the room, and a servant immediately closed the door behind them.

    A middle-aged man with a long beard was seated on a tatami mat with his side facing them, and he didn''t even bother to turn around to face them directly.

    He was quite thin with a jaded look in his eyes, and he wasn''t very tall, roughly 178 centimeters in height. He was wearing an antiquated Cathayan robe, and he was holding a wine cup in his callous-covered hand. He didn''t even raise his head as he asked, "What do you want this time?"

    Izanami didn''t reply. Instead, she inspected her surroundings with a reminiscent look in her eyes, and only after a long while did she break her silence. "Truth be told, I really do admire you very much. Once again, the doors of the Nipponese Underworld are open to you at any time. If you decide to join us, you''ll be treated with the utmost reverence and respect."

    A faint smile appeared on Yue Fei''s face. After the passage of over 1,000 years, he had developed a graceful and refined disposition.

    He gently set down his cup as he said, "You''ve already been telling that joke for over 1,000 years. Haven''t you gotten bored of it yet?"

    Izanami remained unfazed as she countered in a calm voice, "You''ve been staying in this room for over 1,000 years. Don''t you feel miserable?"

    She heaved a faint sigh, then continued in a gentle voice, "You''ve already been here for over 1,000 years. During that time, you haven''t set foot outside of this room even once. Do you know how much the Cathayan Underworld has changed? Don''t you want to go back to take a look?"

    Yue Fei finally turned around with a smile on his face.

    The right half of his body, from his neck to his chest, hadpletely disappeared, and the wound was riddled with countless teeth marks!

    The wound was impossible to heal, and Yin energy was slowly pouring out of it, giving him an extremely ghastly appearance. However, Yue Fei didn''t seem to be able to feel anything as he asked, "You want me to go back like this?"

    Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, yet before they had a chance to say anything, Yue Fei pressed his hands against the table and supported himself up into a standing position with great effort, then panted, "You are not the true ruler of the Nipponese Underworld! There was a death god here before you, and you didn''t create the Nipponese Underworld! You are gued by Their blood maggots, constantly leaving you on the brink of death, and only by devouring my flesh can your symptoms be alleviated. Then again, I don''t need to tell you all that, do I?"

    Indeed, ording to Nipponese legends, the Nipponese Underworld wasn''t created by Izanami. She had entered the Nipponese Underworld and eaten the food there, thereby rendering her unable to ever return to the mortal realm. Furthermore, in her attempt to escape, she was beset by the curse of blood maggots.

    In other words, she had never attained the acknowledgment of the Nipponese Underworld. The Nipponese Underworld only wanted to retain a god so that it would be able to operate as normal.

    So who was the one that had created the Nipponese Underworld?

    Izanami didn''t say anything, but Yue Fei wasn''t done yet. "Firstes a nation, thenes the legends and religions, and that gives rise to death gods. Prior to your emergence, there was only one Nipponese emperor, and that was Emperor Jimmu, the one known as the son of the gods. Do you really not know who Emperor Jimmu is?"

    He suddenly burst into raucousughter before continuing, "If you didn''t know, then you wouldn''t have pursued my soul so desperately! For that cause, all of the first generation of great yokai lost their lives, and only Tamamo-no-Mae and Shuten-doji remain! Even the likes of Nurarihyon and Tsuchigumo all perished in that battle in Nanjing! Only the Yin energy of the Cathayan Underworld can suppress the blood maggots because that is a curse from our Cathayan Underworld. Throughout all of history, you''ve been nothing more than the spokesperson of the Cathayan Underworld in the province of Nippon! This underworld was created by Xu Fu! There''s no way that a lowly Abyssal Prefect such as yourself would''ve been able to create all of this!"

    In the instant that Yue Fei''s voice trailed off, a vicious pnded on his face, and there was such force behind the p that his head was flung to the side. Immediately thereafter, countless strands of ck hair wound themselves around him like a pit of snakes, constricting him viciously from all directions.

    "Insolence!" Izanami said in a cold voice. "I respect you, but that doesn''t mean you can say whatever you please. Seeing as you don''t want to live, I''ll take you one step closer to death!"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, her head abruptly expanded in size, and Yin energy permeated throughout the entire room before transforming into an inky-ck vortex. From within the Yin energy, countless bright red maggots emerged from beneath her skin like demonic spawn, while she opened her mouth up wide.

    Yue Fei was bound by her hair, rendering himpletely unable to evade, so he could only allow her to sink her teeth into his wound.

    A string of chewing noises rang out incessantly, and even though Yue Fei was having his soul devoured alive, he didn''t even so much as wince in pain. Only after a meal thatsted a full 10 minutes did Izanami withdraw her Yin energy and return to her original form.

    She pulled out her handkerchief and gently dabbed at her own mouth, then said with a disdainful expression, "I''ve given you many chances in the past, but you''ve never cherished them! All you can do now is run your mouth, you can''t even recover your cultivation rank! I''ve passed the curse of the blood maggots onto you as well, and your cultivation rank has plummeted to only the Soul Hunter level. Aside from serving as a food source to relieve my pain, you''re nothing but a useless piece of trash! If you had been more obedient, you would''ve spared yourself a lot of torment."

    After that, she departed from the room. Susanoo-no-Mikoto had remained silent this entire time, and he also departed, closing the door behind him as he did so.

    After leaving the room, Izanami stopped in her tracks and raised her head to look up at the sky. Only after a long while did she break her silence. "He''s right. Once I realized that the blood maggot curse didn''t originate from Nippon, I searched for its origins all over the world. The first ce that I searched was the Nipponese Underworld, and I was very fortunate to have been able to trace it back to Xu Fu. However, I couldn''t tell him that I had been afflicted by his curse as that would only put me at his mercy. Hence, I needed the soul of a high-grade Emissary of Hell to alleviate my pain."

    She heaved a forlorn sign as she slowly strolled forward. "He was once an Abyssal Prefect, but he''s only a Soul Hunter now. At the very most, his soul will only be able tost 100 more years. Do you think I can let him go back now? If I did that, the Cathayan Underworld would most likely immediately dere war against us in a fit of rage!"

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto heaved a long sigh.

    If the Cathayan Underworld really were doing this to recover Yue Fei''s soul, then this was a problem with no solution!

    Izanami continued to walk along as she said, "Contact the Hindustani Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and the Russian Underworld. Tell them that they have my permission to station their troops in our Nipponese Underworld and even establish military bases here. Also, do everything in our power to express our good faith to the Cathayan Underworld and prevent them from escting the situation."

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto opened his mouth to say something, but only heaved a faint sigh in the end.

    The sound of wooden clogs on floorboards rang out along the entire corridor as Toyotomi Hideyoshi quickly rushed along, followed by several servants.

    At the conclusion of the corridor was a door, and as soon as Toyotomi Hideyoshi entered through the door, the servants behind him immediately closed it before habitually standing on lookout in front of it.

    Beyond the door was a spacious guest room where Tokugawa Ieyasu and Honda Tadakatsu were already present.

    They were all bound by Heavenly Dao vows, so there was no way that they could reveal what they were doing to anyone else. Furthermore, the fewer people involved, the fewer people they would have to share the spoils with, so even if they weren''t bound by their vows, they most likely wouldn''t have divulged this information to anyone, anyway.

    "It''s about to begin." Toyotomi Hideyoshi took a seat, and he didn''t even touch his tea before immediately beginning to speak. "The Cathayan Underworld''s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already publicly denounced the Nipponese Underworld, and the wording they''ve used is extremely severe. All of this is clearly leading up to a deration of war. By my estimates, it won''t be more than a month before Hell''s army is officially deployed from Everburn!"

    Theherfire in the eyes of the three underworld emissaries flickered violently upon hearing this. They couldn''t help but be ovee by excitement on the cusp of the event that was going to usher in a new era.

    "Are you all ready, everyone?" Tokugawa Ieyasu asked after taking a deep breath.

    "Of course!" Honda Tadakatsu replied with a bloodthirsty smile. "I have 3,000 cavaliers and 5,000 foot soldiers constantly at the ready. I''m dying to see who in the Nipponese Underworld is a match for my Tonbokiri!"

    "I have 1,000 artillery troops and 11,000 foot soldiers raring to go," Toyotomi Hideyoshi chimed in. "Rest assured, the other daimyos are all going to follow my lead, and the total number of troops that we can draw upon will be around 60,000!"

    Tokugawa Ieyasu took a deep breath, then pulled out a letter. "This is an order from Izanami, instructing me to apply for entry to the Cathayan Underworld on an official basis as a business trip. She''s undoubtedly hoping that I can mediate the situation somehow. This could be thest time we meet with the Cathayan Underworld prior to the start of the war. Who wants to go?"

    "I''ll go." Honda Tadakatsu rose to his feet before cupping his fist in a salute. "Prior to themencement of the war, we still need tomunicate with Amanozako. She doesn''t have many troops under hermand, but her powers are almostparable with those of Susanoo-no-Mikoto! Once the war begins, Izanami will definitely travel to the front lines. She''s still under the delusion that peace negotiations are possible. Once that happens, Shizuoka will be left unguarded, and Amanozako will be able to wreak havoc as she pleases there. All we need to do is break through the defenses between Aokigahara and the coastline to allow the Cathayan army to enter the sea, and everything will be as good as over!"

 Chapter 1225: Conclusion of the Prelude

    <h4>Chapter 1225: Conclusion of the Prelude</h4>

    The tsunami had risen.

    One wave after another was crashing over the world stage. No more than a week after the first press conference, the Cathayan Underworld held its second press conference.

    In the beginning, everyone had thought that this was only a foreign affairs incident, but in the short span of just a month, it had escted to a dangerous extent. The Cathayan Underworld''s voice was growing louder and louder, and its stance was bing more and more aggressive. At this point, all of the death gods had already realized that something massive was about to happen in the Asia-Pacific.

    However, even after repeatedly reading through all of the reports on the major international events to have taken ce this year, none of the death gods were able to gather any useful information, so all they could do was focus their attention on this press conference.

    In the spacious conference hall, Geng Lijun dered, "... We are issuing yet another warning to the Nipponese Underworld. There is a limit to the Cathayan Underworld''s patience! Do not think that you can just hide the truth by remaining silent! The Nipponese Underworld has ignored the Cathayan Underworld''s statements over and over again, and the Cathayan Underworld has decided that if no satisfactory resolution is reached in two weeks, then it will be levying sanctions against the Nipponese Underworld."

    A massive stir ran through the entire conference hall, and everyone was stunned by what they had just heard.

    The wording was so severe that it didn''t just seem like sanctions anymore.

    Amid the silence, a reporter raised his hand, and Geng Lijun made an inviting hand gesture toward him, upon which the reporter rose to his feet and said, "Esteemed spokesperson of the Cathayan Underworld, we noticed that the Cathayan Underworld seems to be extremely displeased with the Nipponese Underworld at the moment."

    Geng Lijun raised a hand to stop him, then said, "Correction: we are already at the end of our patience. We cannot tolerate being disrespected like this any longer, and it''s imperative that the Nipponese Underworld responds to the situation."

    The reporter nodded in response before immediately continuing, "But from my knowledge, the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t seem to have established any foreign affairs pathways with the Nipponese Underworld, and ording to my sources, the Cathayan Underworld has repeatedly turned down the Nipponese Underworld''s requests for a joint investigation. In fact, there are envoys from the Nipponese Underworld detained in the Cathayan Underworld right as we speak. If all connections between the two nations have already been severed, how can the issue be resolved?"

    Geng Lijun adjusted his own sses before replying in a calm voice, "The Cathayan Underworld has severed all ties with the Nipponese Underworld as we do not want to see Nipponese armed forces enter our territory again. As for a joint investigation, why is that an arrangement that the Cathayan Underworld needs to ept? We already hold indisputable evidence in our hands. All the Nipponese Underworld needs to do is find out where the ship was built, whose soldiers were on the ship, and who issued the order for the deployment of the troops. How does that have anything to do with the Nipponese Underworld? We do not need to cooperate with the Nipponese Underworld, this should be an investigation that theyunch by themselves. So long as this incident remains unresolved, ties between the two nations will continue to be severed!"

    Unbeknownst to everyone, despite the calm disy he was putting on, his hands were trembling beneath the lectern.

    He knew that there were only two weeks left until the date of the official deployment of troops!

    As soon as the reporter sat down, another one immediately stood up to rece him. "I noticed that the Cathayan Underworld has mentioned levying sanctions against the Nipponese Underworld on multiple asions. May I ask what these sanctions entail?"

    "They epass military, foreign affairs, and economic sanctions, of course," Geng Lijun replied in a serious voice. "Allow me to reiterate this: the Nipponese Underworld has sent armed forces into our territory without permission! They have chosen to trample over the authority of the Cathayan Underworld, and this is an act of war! The Cathayan Underworld will never tolerate acts of provocation like this!"

    The live broadcast of this press conference could be seen all over the world.

    At the Argosian Underworld.

    Hypnos was sitting on a sofa, watching the television with furrowed brows. Several other underworld emissaries were seated in silence at the round table before him.

    The broadcast drew to a conclusion, and Hypnos massaged his own be as he asked, "What do you all think?"

    "They''re being far too aggressive, inexplicably so," one of the underworld emissaries replied. "ording to what we''ve gathered, the Cathayan Underworld is holding all of the evidence and not giving the Nipponese Underworld a chance to deny the usations. It''s clear that they''re determined to strike at the Nipponese Underworld."

    "That''s all obvious," Hypnos said as he picked up his teacup before taking a sip. "Every time the Cathayan Underworld has made a statement on this matter, they''ve mentioned the possibility of levying severe sanctions, and on no asion have they ever denied the possibility of military sanctions. Do you think the Cathayan Underworld will actually attack the Nipponese Underworld."

    Only after two full minutes of silence did Archimedes reply, "It''s actually... not impossible. I only realized this just now, but the Cathayan Underworld has turned down all of the three pirs'' invitations to discuss this incident, and their wording has been extremely severe. It''s like they''re determined to pin thebel of invaders onto the Nipponese Underworld. If you think about it, why would they want to do that? It''s because if thebel sticks, then the Cathayan Underworld''s retaliation through military means will be categorized as self defense!"

    "Aren''t you overthinking things?" another underworld emissary countered. "In this day and age, any nation that dares to start a war will be sanctioned by the entire world! The price is too heavy to pay! Why would the Cathayan Underworld do this?"

    Hypnos''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. Something had just urred to him upon hearing the words "sanctioned by the entire world".

    How was the rest of the world going to sanction the Cathayan Underworld?

    The price of the new energy resource had been dropping for several consecutive years, and the patents were still being held by the Cathayan Underworld, so no one could do anything to them.

    A sense of growing unease was beginning to well up in his heart, and he took arge gulp of coffee before rising to his feet. "Where is Erinys? Get her to take the Golden Fleet to the Strait of Tsushima right away! I''m going to contact Yamaraja and Izanami."

    "Yes!"

    There was nothing in this world that could bepletely concealed. During the past few months, a tsunami had continuously been brewing in the Cathayan Underworld, and now that it was about to strike, it was inevitable that some signs would be revealed.

    However, those signs weren''t enough to make the rest of the world think that the Cathayan Underworld was going to initiate a war to bring down a nation.

    If they were to do that, they would be attacked by the entire world!

    However, there was still a lingering sense of unease on the international stage. During the following two weeks, all of the death gods across the world made their attitudes known, expressing a desire to see a peaceful resolution to the Asia-Pacific incident, and the Nipponese Underworld was holding a press conference once every three days, bringing out all types of evidence to prove their innocence.

    A weekter, the Argosian Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and the Hindustani Underworld also stepped forward one after another.

    "I think this is just a diplomatic incident. While it''s true that the Nipponese Underworld is primarily at fault here, the Cathayan Underworld''s treatment of this matter has not been conducive to achieving a peaceful resolution at all. We want the Asia-Pacific to remain peaceful, and we think that this matter can be resolved through peaceful means of negotiation." - Thanatos.

    "The Cathayan Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld are the only two underworlds that still remain in Eastern Asia, and the two should be regarding one another as close allies. These two underworlds have had extensive trade and diplomatic rtionships, and it would be far too unfortunate if this coborative rtionship that hassted over 1,000 years were to be severed as a result of this diplomatic incident. I hope to be able to do my part in contributing to a peaceful resolution in this matter." - Anubis.

    "The esteemed ruler of the Hindustani Underworld, Yamaraja, has already contacted the esteemed ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, Yanluo Qin. Their conversationsted over half an hour, and we are currently awaiting confirmation from the Cathayan Underworld. Once permission is issued by the Cathayan Underworld, the Hindustani Underworld will immediately hold a meeting between the leaders of the Cathayan, Hindustani, and Nipponese Underworlds to discuss a resolution to this major diplomatic incident." - The Ganges Daily.

    The three pirs had made their voices heard, but the only response that they received was a fourth press conference held by the Cathayan Underworld.

    "We are unsure of why the three pirs have determined this incident to be a diplomatic incident. In our eyes, this is a precursor for more sinister measures to be taken by the Nipponese Underworld against the Cathayan Underworld! Nippon has done the exact same thing in the mortal realm, and it cannot be trusted. The Cathayan Underworld reserves the right to determine whether this is a diplomatic incident or not. We do not need other nations categorizing things for us!"

    This was the final response from the Cathayan Underworld. During the subsequent week, the Cathayan Underworld didn''t release any further public announcements no matter how the rest of the world tried to mediate the conflict.

    This was very much the calm before the storm.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the Hanyang Underworld.

    The entire city was already up in arms with countless soldiers standing on lookout all over the city. After several years of expansion and renovation, it was as resolute as a stronghold. Within the stronghold were countless rivers, and each river had rows of treasure ships berthed on them.

    There were even more Yin soldiers inside the stronghold. At this point, a million Yin soldiers had already been gathered!

    The entire Hanyang Fortress was brightly lit day and night, and all of the Yin soldiers were training every single day. At the moment, it was 12 AM, the most rxed time of the Yin soldiers'' schedule.

    Inside a barrack, a middle-aged man fanned out a series of cards with a wide smile on his face. "Three to 10 straight."

    The other two yers rolled their eyes in unison upon seeing this.

    "Pass."

    "Pass."

    "10 to Ace straight."

    "Bullshit!"

    "How do you have so many straights?!"

    The round was quickly over, and the middle-aged man epted a few dragon jade for his efforts. "Thank you! Let''s y again!"

    Right at this moment, the sound of urgent footsteps rang out downstairs, and the middle-aged man was in the process of shuffling the cards when he raised his eyebrows with a surprised expression. "What''s going on? Are we going into battle?"

    "I doubt it!" one of the other yers scoffed. "I joined the army because I wanted a piece of the Nipponese Underworld. It''s been a few months since then, and we haven''t done anything!"

    "It''s probably just an act of intimidation." The other yer handed him a cigarette as he said, "It''s just like what Cathay was doing to Formosa in the mortal realm. It''s just not realistic to start a war in this day and age. We''re currently in a peaceful era, so I doubt we''ll be seeing any wars anytime soon. Hell has already copsed once, and we only have a handful of Yama-Kings at the moment. Don''t you remember back in university that they taught us that all of the other three pirs and evenrge alliances like the Northern Europa nations have no fewer Yama-Kings than we do? How are we supposed to start a war under these circumstances? If we take a swipe at the Nipponese Underworld, the Hindustani Underworld and the Russian Underworld are definitely going to step in. If we want to initiate this war, then we''ll make the entire world our enemy, and we don''t have the power to do that yet."

    All of a sudden, the door was flung open violently, and a Yin soldier strode into the room.

    "Captain!" The three Yin soldiers immediately stood up, and only now did they realize that their captain was fully suited up in armor.

    "Put on your armor and gather on the drill grounds! If you''re not there within 10 minutes, prepare to be executed!"

    After that, he immediately turned and departed. The three Yin soldiers faltered slightly before immediately putting on their armor.

    By the time they arrived at the drill grounds, they discovered that the entire city had already erupted into a flurry of activity.

    Beams of red light were shining up from down below, staining the entire sky a blood-red color. One cavalier after another was rapidly rushing toward a certain direction on the roads outside the barracks, and behind them was a long line of beast-drawn carriages carrying military supplies.

    A sense of excitement began to well up in the hearts of all of the Yin soldiers upon seeing this.

    Is it finally about to begin? Is this just a drill, or are we going into battle?

    Right at this moment, the captain yelled, "This is not a drill!"

    He was just as excited as the soldiers as he roared, "The thirdpany of the 17th battalion is fully assembled! We march for Nagasaki!"

 Chapter 1226: Landing at Nagasaki (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1226: Landing at Nagasaki (1)</h4>

    Nagasaki?

    Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which they all turned to stare at the captain with stunned expressions.

    If it weren''t for their discipline as soldiers, they would''ve most likely been screaming out loud!

    They were marching for the Nipponese Underworld!

    The Cathayan Underworld really was going to do it!

    This was not a drill, it was a real war!

    They weren''t the only ones astonished by this announcement, all of the Yin soldiers in the entire city had been stunned into silence. Immediately thereafter, a rush of adrenaline and excitement surged straight into their hearts, causing their souls to tremble with anticipation.

    It was time!

    "Go!" Onerge g after another converged from all directions, gathering under the inky-ck g of the Cathayan Underworld. The sound of rumbling war drums and deafening long horns rang out incessantly, and by the time all of the troops arrived at the coastline, they discovered that the entire surface of the sea had already been illuminated golden and red by countless lights.

    These were the lights of the countless ships that had been painstakingly built by Zhou Yu''s naval forces during the past few years. Under normal circumstances, no one knew just how powerful a force he had gathered, but now that it had been revealed in its full glory, the entire sea was packed!

    All of the soldiers got onto the ships in silence, and only after they had had a chance to process the situation did some of them begin to return to their senses, as if they had just awoken from a dream. "I never thought that I would get to participate in a war against Nippon..."

    "No one could''ve predicted this," a middle-aged Yin soldier said with a wry smile. "We all thought they were just drills. No one had any idea just how many Yin soldiers were gathered in Hanyang, and it''s only now that we''re seeing the full extent of the city''s forces..."

    He cast his gaze out from the cabin at the countless ships that stretched as far as the eyes could see, then sighed, "There must be at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers out there..."

    All of the ships quickly fell silent as an atmosphere of tension and anticipation settled over everyone.

    At the bow of each ship stood amander who was looking out into the distance toward the east.

    Nippon, here wee!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Nagasaki.

    This was the southernmost ind of the Nipponese Underworld, and to be precise, it was called Nagasaki County. In Nippon, the jurisdictive scope of counties and cities was the exact opposite to that of Cathay, so there were 12 cities under Nagasaki County.

    The city of the Sasebo was situated near the northernmost part of Nagasaki, and it neighbored the Strait of Tsushima. The city of Sasebo was situated far away from the maind of the Nipponese Underworld, and it had an important strategic location as it was directly across the sea from the other half of Nagaski County.

    This city was known for abundant production in seafood, but that actually wasn''t the case.

    The second nuclear weapon dropped onto Nippon in the mortal realm was at Nagasaki, and this resulted in pollution ofrge areas of the sea near the county. Due to thews of Yin Yang co-action, the contaminated and mutated souls were also mutated once they entered the underworld. Birds and animals were directly reborn instead of entering the cycle of reincarnation, so there were still many mutated sea beasts in the sea around Nagasaki in the underworld.

    This had a severe impact on the fishing industry of Nagasaki, but there was nothing anyone could do tobat nature. Thus, Nagasaki should''ve been a major producer of seafood, but its fishing industry was actually in a massive slump.

    In a seaside izakaya restaurant in Sasebo, a man heaved a long sigh before setting down his cup.

    He gave a strong scent of the sea, and the same was also true for the two men beside him. The man had a white towel wrapped around his head, and he was looking out through the window at the inky-ck surface of the sea. Only after a long while did he heave a long sigh. "It''s getting harder and harder to earn a living in this industry."

    "Indeed." The man beside him took a sip of sake, and his face was slightly flushed as he said, "Less than half of the things that we catch are actually fit for consumption. If nothing changes soon, I''m going back to Shikoku."

    The final Yin spirit in the group was a short and chubby man, and he also took a sip of sake before chiming, "We can only hope that the heavens decide to grace us with a miracle. Let''s not talk about these things. It''s not every day that we get to gather together like this, so let''s just drink and forget all of that other stuff."

    The other Yin spirits raised their cups with wry smiles. "Indeed, we can only hope for a miracle."

    The three touched their cups with one another, and right as they were about to drink, one of them cast an errant gaze out the window. However, the sight that he was greeted by almost made him spit out his sake, and he immediately sprang to his feet before looking out the window with a horrified expression.

    "What''s wrong, Kameda San?" One of the other Yin spirits turned toward him with a perplexed expression, yet Kameda was too shocked by what he had seen to reply. All he could do was raise a hand before pointing a trembling finger outside, while theherfire in his eyes flickered erratically, and he couldn''t utter even a single word.

    The two Yin spirits turned around with puzzled expressions, and the sight that greeted them made them immediately jump to their feet as well to look out through the window with the same expression that was etched on Kameda''s face.

    They weren''t the only ones. At this point, many of the Yin spirits in the izakaya restaurant had spotted the peculiar scene taking ce outside, and they had all risen to their feet with rmed expressions.

    A sea of gold had appeared on the horizon!

    "That''s not the sea..." Kameda quickly rushed over to the window, then gulped nervously as he said, "Those are ships!"

    All of the Yin spirits in the restaurant became quite curious upon hearing this.

    Indeed, they weren''t nervous, nor were they scared.

    Peace had reigned over the world for so long that no one could''ve anticipated that a war was suddenlying. As such, they were more curious than fearful about where these ships hade from.

    "Are the ships from Tsushima Ind?" A drunk Yin spirit rushed out of the door with a slightly red hue to theherfire in his eyes. Many Yin spirits had already gathered at the railing outside.

    "Who knows?"

    "Surely Tsushima Ind doesn''t have that many ships!"

    "The number doesn''t seem quite right... There has to be over 1,000 ships there! Otherwise, how could they have taken up such arge area of the sea?"

    "Could it be the navy? Since when was the navy of our Nipponese Underworld this powerful?"

    Kameda took a closer look as he leaned against the railing, and his brows furrowed even tighter.

    There was something wrong...

    The ships were traveling very quickly, and at this point, they could already just barely make out the outlines of the ships. As a seasoned sailor, Kameda recognized a problem: since when did the navy have suchrge ships?

    Even though he still couldn''t see them very clearly, he had spent over 100 years as a sailor, and he was willing to bet on all of his experience that every single one of these ships was farrger than the navy''s warships!

    These weren''t ships from the Nipponese Underworld, so where had theye from?!

    Upon making that realization, he was instantly jerked out of his drunken state before turning around and running away without any hesitation.

    There was an ancient lighthouse on the coast of Nagasaki, and despite its age, it was still in use.

    If his memory served him correctly, that lighthouse was home to thergest telescope in Sasebo.

    He rushed all the way to the top of the lighthouse, and sure enough, there was the telescope. He gulped nervously before taking a look through the telescope.

    Initially, the lens was rather blurry, but it quickly focused, and the image rified to reveal a boundless fleet!

    Attached to all of the ships were gs of the Cathayan Underworld, and at the top of each ship was a ck g with arge "Qin" character emzoned upon it.

    <i>Thud... </i>He sat heavily down onto the ground as his lips began to tremble. This was the Cathayan Underworld''s navy!

    The Cathayan Underworld''s navy had appeared in Nipponese waters, and they were no more than several kilometers away from Nagasaki!

    An astonishing realization surfaced in his mind: this was war! The Cathayan Underworld had dered war upon the Nipponese Underworld! But how was that possible?!

    "Everyone!" He leaned over the railing of the lighthouse as he yelled with all his might, "Run! Get away as fast as you can! This is war! This is not a drill! That fleet is from the Cathayan Underworld! Run to the city center and sound the rm! The Cathayan Underworld is attacking our Nipponese Underworld! We must notify..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, a string of loud whooshing sounds abruptly rang out.

    These weren''t arrows. Instead, they were countless massive ck shadows that were hurtling through the air, crossing a distance of several kilometers before crashing violently into the coast of Sasebo.

    Cries of rm and horror instantly rang out as shrapnel and rubble flew in all directions, and all of theherworldly citizens could see that they were being assaulted by a barrage of giant spears!

    The spear tips were over 10 meters in length, and they were attached to ck chains, the other side of which were attached to the dozens of ships at the forefront of the fleet. Right at this moment, all of the chains lit up in unison.

    They were Yin runes!

    In the next instant, the chains began to shorten rapidly like arms that were frantically pulling the ships toward the coast of Sasebo, and in the blink of an eye, the entire fleet''s speed doubled as all of the ships lunged forward at an rming pace!

    Deathly silence.

    In the next instant, a wave of screams erupted from theherworldly citizens gathered on the coastline, and they all rushed back toward the city like the receding tide!

    "Run! This isn''t a drill, it''s war!"

    "The Cathayan Underworld has invaded our Nipponese Underworld! Please tell me this is a dream!"

    "Run!"

    "We have to sound the rm! We can''t allow Nagasaki to fall!"

    No one noticed that the lighthouse had already been destroyed by the flying spears, and everyone also failed to notice that the ships that were approaching the coastline weren''t just normal ships. Instead, they were constructed in the form of irond beasts with battering rams for horns!

    At the bow of the ship at the forefront of the fleet stood Zhou Yu holding arge g, and he yelled with all his might, "Fire!"

    Beside his ship was a row of irond ships, and atop each of the ships was a statue of a Vermilion Bird that was over 30 meters tall with wingspans in excess of 70 meters.

    These A-grade weapons of war, Vermillion Bird Feathers.

    With that order issued by Zhou Yu, all of the Vermillion Bird statues slowly spread open their wings like phoenixes preparing to soar up into the heavens, and countless specks of fiery red light began to glow. Two secondster, countless crimsonherfire arrows shot forth through the air like a swarm of locusts, covering a distance of several kilometers to reach the coastline in the blink of an eye.

    The entire surface of the sea was illuminated bright red as theherfire incinerated everything in its wake, and in the blink of an eye, the entire coastline of Sasebo had already been transformed into a sea of fire.

    Thud... At the peak of the tallest mountain in Sasebo was a Shinto shrine, and inside the shrine was a divine official in a tall ck hat. His legs suddenly gave out from under him as he copsed to the ground.

    From his vantage point at the summit of the mountain, he could clearly see just how many warships there were. There were far too many of them to count, and they were all enormous!

    They concealed the sea and devoured the heavens, speeding along from the Strait of Tsushima, and the Cathayan Underworld gs that they bore were extremely eye-catching.

    This was far too formidable an army for Sasebo to be able tobat!

    He tried to stand back up, but his legs were too weak to hold his weight, thereby preventing him from rising to his feet. Even though he was unable to stand up, he was still frantically inspecting the entire city, which had been plunged into chaos. He looked on as all of theherworldly citizens of the city frantically rushed up the mountain, because the Shinto shrine at the summit of the mountain was the only ce where they could possibly seek refuge and protection.

    All of a sudden, he turned around before rushing toward the back of the shrine like a madman. At the very rear of the shrine was a statue of Yamata no Orochi .

    The Cathayan Underworld is attacking! The Cathayan Underworld is invading the Nipponese Underworld! How is this possible?! Why is this happening?!

    Countless questions were shing through his mind, but this wasn''t the time to be pondering them. He frantically scrambled over to the statue, then lit a stick of incense as he screamed with all his might, "Master of Kyushu, Yamata no Orochi Sama, please perform a divine descent!"

 Chapter 1227: Landing at Nagasaki (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1227: Landing at Nagasaki (2)</h4>

    Right as the divine official''s voice trailed off, the shimenawa in the shrine began to sway violently, and a few secondster, a dark and ancient aura surged forth from behind the shimenawa. In the next instant, a vast expanse of inky-ck Yin energy spread over the entire Shinto shrine, and even thenterns and canopies of the trees outside were rustling incessantly.

    The divine official stood off to the side in a respectful manner, but he was constantly looking behind himself. More and moreherworldly citizens were rushing up the mountain, while the ships on the sea were bing clearer and clearer. One wave of indescribably powerful Yin energy after another was crashing into the coastline with devastating force like a tsunami.

    He gritted his teeth tightly, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Yamata no Orochi. Each passing second felt like an eternity to him. Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire city of Sasebo quaked violently.

    The ground began to tremble forcefully, and the divine official gave an rmed cry as he fell to the ground. All of the artifacts and food items offered up in the shrine were scattered everywhere, and before he had a chance to do anything, a massive golden eye had already appeared behind the shimenawa.

    It was Yamata no Orochi, the yokai and protector of Kyushu. Nagasaki was a province in Kyushu, so this ce was naturally under its jurisdiction.

    "What is it?" A pristine white serpentine head that was over three meters in size slowly extended out from behind the shimenawa. There was a horn that was around half a meter in length growing on its forehead, and it was entirely enveloped in dense Yin energy.

    Even though it was a serpentine head, it wore a very humanized expression of haughtiness and disdain. However, that expression quickly gave way to shock and rm as the two vertical pupils of the serpentine head contracted drastically.

    It cast an astonished gaze forward, following which it abruptly extended forward several meters until it was outside the shrine, sweeping up a fierce gust of Yin wind with its sudden movement. Less than a secondter, it let loose an astonished cry. "Are we being invaded by another underworld?! Such powerful Yin energy... Is this... the Cathayan Underworld''s army?!"

    Countless bursts of Yin energy abruptly converged to form a man wearing an onmyouji robe. The man''s entire body was covered in scales, and he was so horrified that theherfire in his eyes was bright red. He lifted the divine official up from the ground by the cor as he frantically asked, "Have you raised the rm and notified all of the other yokai?!"

    "I... I haven''t had a chance to do that yet..."

    "Useless!" Yamata no Orochi tossed the divine official aside before rushing over to the entrance of the shrine and casting his gaze outside.

    In this short span of time, the Cathayan Underworld''s fleet had already be clearly visible. The surface of the sea had been illuminated gold, while Sasebo had been transformed into a boundless sea of fire!

    His senses were far more acute than others, so he could clearly see a series of giant Vermillion Birds rising up from the mes on the dozens of ships at the forefront of the fleet. The Vermillion Birds spread their wings before rising up into the sky, and bursts of bright red mes were erupting out of their bodies like shooting stars.

    "Those are Vermillion Bird Feathers! They''re A-grade siege weapons!" His teeth were chattering with fear at this point. "How could they go so far?! Do they intend to wipe out our Nipponese Underworld?!"

    Right at this moment, an extremely threatening aura silently locked onto him.

    There''s a Cathayan Underworld Abyssal Prefect here!

    Yamata no Orochi was horrified by this discovery. He naturally didn''t think that he had the power to oppose an Abyssal Prefect from a superior nation, and he immediately flew back into the shimenawa as a burst of Yin energy without any hesitation.

    This is no joke... The Cathayan Underworld is trying to wipe out our Nipponese Underworld! I have to notify Izanami and the rest of the world right away! Otherwise, it''s over for the Nipponese Underworld!

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    The sound of bell chimes rang out across the entire city of Sasebo, immediately following which bursts of mes rose up into the heavens, then exploded to form bright red res.

    All of the underworld emissaries in the Sasebo municipal government building were alerted by the sight of these res, and they immediately rushed toward their posts in a frantic fashion.

    "We are being attacked!"

    "Protect the city at all costs!"

    "We can''t allow the invaders to set foot upon our soil!"

    "We have to stop them, even if we have to form a barricade with our very souls!"

    "Persevere, everyone! Reinforcements will being soon!"

    Groups of spear-wielding foot soldiers wearing conical bamboo hats and suits of armor rushed out of all of the barracks, while the mayor of the city frantically picked up his phone.

    "Connect me to Yomotsu Hirasaka right away! Hurry!"

    The dialing tone quickly rang out, but the mayor wasn''t reassured at all, and each passing second felt like an eternity to him.

    We have to hold back the enemy! If Sasebo falls, the entire eastern region of the Nipponese Underworld will be in grave danger! Damn it, why is the call still not connected?!

    Finally, the call was connected, and he didn''t even ask who had picked up the phone on the other side before yelling with all his might, "Sasebo has been attacked by over 1,000 warships from the Cathayan Underworld! They''re definitely not just here to take over Sasebo! Activate the inter-realm mirrors for me right now! We need reinforcements, fast!"

    The person on the other side of the line faltered slightly upon hearing this, and only after a few seconds did an incredulous male voice ring out in response. "Is this supposed to be a prank?"

    "No, goddamn it!" The mayor felt as if he were about to explode!

    "Make sure reinforcements arrive within 30... No, 15 minutes!"

    After that, he mmed down the phone and grabbed his coat before rushing out of the room.

    There was already a beast-drawn carriage waiting for him outside, and only after rushing into the carriage did he allow himself a moment to catch his breath. "Take me to the center of Nagasaki! Hurry!"

    The beast-drawn carriage began to gallop along the street, and the mayor finally heaved a long sigh of relief.

    The inter-realm mirrors hadn''t been activated in advance, and there were no high-grade underworld emissaries protecting the city. Even Yamata no Orochi didn''t dare to do anything, so there was certainly no point for him to stay in the city!

    The carriage sped along the road, and as they were passing over a cliff, he looked outside to inspect the scenes unfolding down below.

    As a result, he was greeted by a hellish sight.

    There was nothing to be seen aside from a sea of karmic fire, which hadpletely inundated the entire city. However, there were still many Yin soldiers gathering on the coast and on the streets. There were roughly 10,000 of them, and they were all rushing toward the oing ships with their spears raised in resistance.

    "How futile," he sighed as he withdrew his gaze, then massaged his own be with a pained expression. "This is the Cathayan Underworld! There''s no way we can put up any meaningful resistance!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Charge!" A deafening war cry rang out on the coast as over 10,000 spear-wielding foot soldiers converged toward the approaching monstrous ships. Illuminated by the light of the karmic mes, the irond warships of the Cathayan Underworld were given a downright demonic appearance.

    The ships were all interconnected with one another to form an indestructible formation, and with the pulling force generated by the spears that had beenunched earlier, the ships were able to travel at an astonishing speed. At this point, all of the Yin soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld could already see the gs pping in the wind on all of the ships.

    We''re about to reachnd...

    On the ship at the very center of the fleet stood Qin Changxin, Qin Xinzhong, Mori Ranmaru, and all of the other evil ghosts that hade from Obsidian Heaven¡¯s Eye Bowl. All of them were looking on with eager anticipation in their eyes, and Qin Changxin''s expression was already slightly twisted as thoughts of the past, present, and future surged through his mind all at once.

    After several centuries, I have finally returned! This is the day that I exact my revenge!

    "Charge!" He gritted his teeth as he raised an arm, doing his best to make his own voice as calm as possible. With that raised arm as a signal, the sound of long horns rang out over the entire surface of the sea, immediately following which the neighs of at least 30,000 skeletal warhorses erupted in unison. Each warhorse was carrying a Yin soldier on its back, and the entire army was raring to go.

    "Break through their defenses!" Qin Changxin roared with all his might, then shot forth as a streak of light,nding on a giant three-meter-tall skeletal warhorse at the forefront of the army before raising the longsword in his hand. "Follow me! We will take back what is rightfully ours!"

    The sound of countless thundering hooves rang out as all of the skeletal warhorses galloped forward in unison.

    The surface of the sea sshed incessantly as the skeletal warhorses charged over the waves. The sight of tens of thousands of skeletal warhorses on the charge at once was truly an astonishing one to behold, and the entire surface of the sea was swaying like an enormous, shattered gemstone. The entire army was giving off incredible killing intent as they charged toward the coastline with unstoppable might.

    The spear-wielding foot soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld had already set up a defensive barricade, and their spears were gleaming under the moonlight.

    The two sides were about to sh imminently, but no one was taking so much as a single backward step.

    Retreat was not an option!

    "By Hell¡¯s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!" Amid the collective voices of 30,000 troops, the cavalry of the Cathayan Underworld embarked on a ferocious charge. They were like waves of the sea, crashing toward the coastline one after another. During their advance, ck and white light rose up from beneath their feet, and a series of ck characters appeared in the air around them, giving them the appearance of a divine army that had descended from the heavens.

    This was the Wumu military formation!

    The distance between the Cathayan Underworld''s forces and the coastline was quickly being closed down.

    Both sides could see the killing intent in the eyes of the enemy, and right at this moment, someone suddenly eximed, "That''s the Dairokuten Maou!"

    Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a string of rmed cries erupted throughout the Nipponese Underworld''s ranks. "It really is Oda Nobunaga! The Dairokuten Maou has returned!"

    Panic instantly spread through the spear-wielding footsoldiers.

    In Nippon, the Dairokuten Maou was an extremely renowned historic figure, so his presence struck fear into the hearts of the Nipponese Underworld''s Yin soldiers even before the two sides had shed.

    Right at this moment, Qin Changxin roared, "Charge!"

    Countless Nipponese underworld emissaries looked on with stunned expressions as the tens of thousands of cavaliers charged toward the coastline.

    All of a sudden, the skeletal warhorses sprang up into the air in unison, and they were giving off ck and white auras under the enhancements provided by the Wumu military formation. The entire cavalry unit had taken to the heavens and had their longswords pointed directly toward the enemy Yin soldiers down below.

    Yin energy exploded violently as the wave of cavaliers finally reached the shore, and the Nipponese Underworld''s Yin soldiers were vanquished virtually in the blink of an eye.

    This was the difference between their military formations.

    A military formation could enhance a Yin soldier''s offensive and defensive capabilities. With top-tier military formations like Wumu, it would only require tens of thousands of Yin soldiers to oppose a Yama-King. Of course, they wouldn''t be able to kill the Yama-King. Instead, they would only be able to stall for time, just like what had happened back at the Myriad Soul Pagoda.

    In order to kill a Yama-King, an army of millions would be required, even with a top-tier military formation.

    Unfortunately for the Nipponese Underworld, the caliber of its military formations were simply far inferior.

    It was like a sh between eggs and rocks, and the tens of thousands of cavaliers stormed onto Nipponese territory. As soon as they reachednd, countless bursts ofherfire erupted from beneath the hooves of the skeletal warhorses.

    "Those who surrender will be spared!" Qin Changxin roared as he led the charge toward the municipal government building.

    If he could destroy the government building, then he would be able to sever allmunication between Sasebo and the rest of the Nipponese Underworld!

    This war was only just beginning!

 Chapter 1228: Collapse (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1228: Copse (1)</h4>

    Nagasaki.

    The surprise attack had been a resounding sess, and Sasebo wasn''t able to muster up any meaningful resistance before it was conquered.

    The surface of the sea was illuminated by the light of countless mes, and the counties near Sasebo had also sensed that something wasn''t quite right. Nagasaki and Fukuoka were already frantically gathering their troops, preparing to defend theirnd against enemy attacks.

    Sasebo was quickly razed to the ground under the hooves of the Cathayan Underworld''s cavalry, but Qin Changxin didn''t stop there. The army was like an unstoppable wave, charging toward the nearby counties along the main roads.

    Blitzkrieg tactics were being adopted here, and given the abrupt nature of the nature, and the crushing advantage the Cathayan Underworld''s army had in terms of military formations, Qin Changxin''s n was to ride this wave and conquer as much of the Nipponese Underworld as possible in one fell swoop.

    However, right as the lights of the next county appeared in the distance, all of the cavaliers tugged on their reins in unison, and the entire army drew to an abrupt halt amid a string of raucous neighs.

    Qin Changxin''s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked up ahead. In front of each Yin soldier was a mirror that was around 10 meters tall and roughly five meters wide. No matter where they tried to go, the mirrors remained directly in front of them.

    These were inter-realm mirrors, and it was undoubtedly the case that enemy Yin soldiers were already rapidly gathering on the other side of the mirrors.

    The Nipponese Underworld had reacted very quickly, and it was forcing the Cathayan Underworld''s army to face the full brunt of the enemy forces through the use of these inter-realm mirrors.

    This was clearly not the time to be charging ahead.

    The troops on the ships still hadn''tnded yet, and scant preparations had been made. With that in mind, Qin Changxin swiveled around on his horse and ordered, "Let''s go back!"

    Right at this moment, several cavaliers rushed toward Qin Changxin before cupping their fists in respectful salutes. "General Qin, we have received news of resounding victories on the inds of Ukushima, Nakadori, Fukae, and Hirado. At this point, our forces have alreadypletely seized control of the four inds and are awaiting further instructions!"

    Out of those four inds, the first three were situated just outside of Kyushu, forming a barrier on the sea. With those inds under their control, no matter how arduous the invasion turned out to be, it was at least ensured that there was no way the Nipponese Underworld would be able tounch a counterattack.

    "Good!" Qin Changxin replied with a nod. "Instruct all of the troops to assemble at the four inds, and we''ll be holding a meeting between all of the high-ranking military officials right away!"

    "Yes!"

    The sound of wooden clogs on floorboards rang out along the entire corridor as a Yin spirit hurried forward, panting heavily as he did so.

    In front of him was a tall mountain, and there were two shimenawa ropes tied around the entire mountain. The mountain appeared to be over 1,000 meters tall, and it was impossible to calcte its area. A series of timber paths were erected from the ground, leading to all parts of the mountain like stairs to heaven.

    The paths were constructed in a very intricate fashion, and each one was over 20 meters wide, with torii gates positioned at 100-meter intervals. As the paths rose up higher and higher, the torii gates also followed that trend, and at the highest point, the torii gates were close to 1,000 meters tall!

    On either side of the path above the torii gates were countless whitenterns, and there was a giant cave that had been dug onto the mountain peak, within which was a massive rock. Every single part of the entire mountain was constantly being patrolled by Yin soldiers.

    This was the center of power in the Nipponese Underworld, Amano-Iwato.

    The underworld emissary was panting heavily as he rushed toward one of the paths, and just as he was about to step onto it, he was stopped in his tracks by a guard.

    "All of the yokai have already gathered for a meeting three minutes ago. At a time like this, I think it would be best not to make their jobs any more difficult."

    The underworld emissary gulped nervously as he looked up at Amano-Iwato with an uneasy expression.

    Can this conflict really be resolved? This is the Cathayan Underworld, one of the four pirs! What right does the Nipponese Underworld have to negotiate with them?

    Thump! Meanwhile, arge hand mmed heavily down onto a table in a conference hall of Amano-Iwato.

    "Those shameless bastards!" Susanoo-no-Mikoto spat through gritted teeth.

    This was a spacious conference hall with clouds of Yin energy surging through it, and at the center of the hall was a round stone table. At the moment, there were 100 underworld emissaries seated around the table, and they came in all different forms and sizes.

    They were the nine yokai, as well as Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the most powerful group of underworld emissaries in the Nipponese Underworld.

    "How could they attack our nation without any warning like this? They''re not fit to continue as one of the four pirs!"

    Izanami was seated at the head of the table, and all of the Yin energy parted around her. Her ck hair was gently drifting above her, and she was wearing a pristine white kimono. She looked up with a cold expression as he said, "If denouncing the Cathayan Underworld can resolve this issue, then I would be d to join you, but if it can''t do that, then I suggest you stop wasting time and actually do something useful!"

    Her gaze swept over everyone like a pair of daggers as she continued, "Even with the inter-realm mirrors at our disposal, it''ll be very difficult for us to ward off the Cathayan Underworld''s invasion given the massive disparity between our military formations. I''d say that we''ll only be able tost a maximum of six hours, and this is the final period of time we''ll have in which to save ourselves! This is the most shameless invasion to have taken ce in thest century! Our Nipponese Underworld will never yield, but at the same time, we must be objective and concede that our army is definitely no match for the Cathayan Underworld."

    The air seemed to havepletely congealed, and she slowly rose to her feet as she gnashed her teeth together. "We are the only ones here, so I''m going to be candid. Even though we don''t want to admit it, if the Cathayan Underworld is determined to destroy our nation, we''ll only be able tost one or two years at most. The only possible way that we can be saved is to receive international reinforcements before our nation falls! So long as Amano-Iwato doesn''t fall, our Nipponese Underworld will have a chance at making a recovery! Hence, I don''t care who you are, you must listen to my orders from now on!"

    No one said anything.

    No matter how much in-fighting there normally was between them, everyone knew that this was the time to unite as one.

    After around half a minute of silence, Izanami swept a hand through the air, and a map of the Nipponese Underworld that waspletely formed by Yin energy silently took shape.

    The entire map was green, and only the left third of the map that epassed Kyushu was bright red. Furthermore, there were nine arrows on the map, all of which were pointed at the same area.

    "Within three hours, the nine of you must arrive in Kyushu with your armies! I will issue an order to temporarily acquire the cities of Chikuzen, Hyuga, and Satsuma from the daimyos. We''ll use the tenshu pavilions of those three cities as our strongholds, and we must withstand the first wave of the Cathayan Underworld''s assault at all costs!"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, a series of small red dots lit up all over the map, and there were too many of them to count.

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto also stood up as he said, "The fate of our entire nation is at stake, so I want all of you to be present on the front lines in person. I know that the core resistance of our Nipponese Underworld won''te from our Yin soldiers, and we''ve never had many Yin soldiers, either. Hence, we have already issued an order for the four million Kunitsukami to assemble no matter where they are right now. All you need to do is hold on for six hours, and I''m willing to guarantee you that every single one of the four million Kunitsukami will arrive on the scene with no exceptions!"

    "We''ll be counting on you, everyone!" Izanami said as she extended a deep bow. "This is the most peril that our Nipponese Underworld has ever been in, and it''s imperative for us to be united as one at a time like this. Due to the properties of the inter-realm mirrors, there''s no way we''ll be able to reim the territory that''s already been conquered. We have to fight to ensure that we are not enved by the Cathayan Underworld!"

    That night, countless underworld emissaries were sent out with messages to be delivered to all parts of the nation.

    At Feathersheen City.

    The sound of armored boots stomping onto the ground rang out in a passageway at the very top of the city, and a male Yin spirit wearing samurai robes with a katana strapped to his waist was walking toward the door up ahead, apanied by several other Yin spirits in the same attire.

    This man was Yoshizawa Hiroshi, an emissary of the Nipponese Underworld and one of the few daimyos who had submitted himself to the current administration.

    He wore a grim expression, and right as he was about to make it to the door in front of him, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then turned around and took a brief nce at his surroundings.

    Everything in Feathersheen City seemed to be the same as usual, with a spear-wielding footsoldier standing on guard duty every five steps, but for some reason, there seemed to be something different.

    His brows furrowed tightly as a sense of unease quickly welled up in his heart, but after looking a few more times, he still couldn''t sense anything different. Thus, he shook his head and turned around before opening the door.

    Beyond the door was a room, which was separated into small parts by wooden poles. Bamboo curtains were hanging in front of each of these sections, and he could see the outlines of everyone seated behind the bamboo curtains, so he could tell that they were all fully armored.

    That same sense of unease welled up in Yoshizawa Hiroshi once again, and his brows furrowed slightly as he extended a deep bow. "General Honda, the Cathayan Underworld has invaded, and half of Nagasaki County has already fallen! Mistress Izanami wants us to deploy our troops as reinforcements right away!"

    The door was gently closed.

    The sound of the door closing was very faint, but for some reason, Yoshizawa Hiroshi''s soul shuddered slightly upon hearing it.

    The room fell silent, and only after a long while did he receive a response from Honda Tadakatsu. "Alright, I understand."

    "General Honda..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Honda Tadakatsu''s voice rang out once again. "It''s finally begun. I''ve waited so many years for this day toe!"

    Yoshizawa Hiroshi immediately raised his head as an incredulous look appeared on his face, and right at this moment, the bamboo curtain right in front of him was abruptly raised, following which a burst of bright light pierced toward him in a sh.

    It was as fast as lightning, and all of the bamboo curtains in the entire hall were destroyed, while a deep trench appeared on the ground.

    In the blink of an eye, Tonbokiri had already plunged into Yoshizawa Hiroshi''s chest. His lips were trembling, and his eyes were filled with incredulity as he watched Honda Tadakatsu slowly emerge in his full suit of armor.

    "You..."

    Before he had a chance to finish what he was saying, he had already disintegrated into Yin energy.

    Honda Tadakatsu strode over and gently grabbed onto the shaft of his spear, and all of the figures behind the bamboo curtains stood up in unison.

    The first person to open their curtain was Tokugawa Ieyasu.

    He was also wearing a full suit of armor, and his hand was resting on the hilt of his katana as he looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, as if he were desperately trying to remain calm.

    The long-awaited moment had finallye! The history of the Nipponese Underworld was about to be rewritten, and it was no longer going to be Izanami''s divine nation!

    Even having experienced the Sengoku period, Honda Tadakatsu was struggling to maintain hisposure, and his chest was heaving violently as he said in a slightly hoarse voice, "ording to our agreement, the Cathayan Underworld willunch its main assault in five hours topletely conquer Kyushu. After that, their army will cross into Chubu and Shikoku to take over the three eastern regions."

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi was very short, but the killing intent radiating from his body seemed to enhance his stature significantly as he said with a cold smile, "The Nipponese Underworld won''t be able to stop the Cathayan Underworld''s army. At the very most, they''ll only be able to put up some resistance in Kyushu. Once they realize that''s not going to work, they''ll most likely immediately abandon Chugoku and Shikoku to focus their efforts entirely on defending Kanto and Chubu, and that is when we''ll strike!"

    Once the Nipponese Underworld''s forces were all drawn to the front lines, it would be time for Amanozako to make her move.

    There was no way that the Nipponese Underworld would be able to anticipate that there would be a hidden army marching directly toward Hokkaido to deal the nation a lethal blow!

 Chapter 1229: Collapse (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1229: Copse (2)</h4>

    "What is the meaning of this?

    Nipponese Underworld, Tokyo Bay.

    Iwasaki Ky¨­ya had already passed away, and at this moment, he was seated in Takeshiger¨­ as a Yin spirit. Takeshiger¨­ was the Mitsubishi Corporation''s first restaurant, so Iwasaki Yatar¨­ viewed it in very high regard, which was why it had been replicated in the underworld as well.

    A stack of banknotes were ced on the table. Looking out from here, one had a clear view of the vast Tokyo Bay. At this moment, a series of fortress-like pavilions had risen up over the surface of the water, and standing in front of Iwasaki Ky¨­ya was a man in an official''s robe. The man was tapping the center of his own palm with his closed hand fan, looking on with an intrigued expression as Iwasaki Ky¨­ya extended a respectful bow.

    The man picked up his teacup before casually taking a sip. "As I''m sure you''re already aware, the Cathayan Underworldunched a surprise attack on Nagasaki an hour ago, and at the moment, Sasebo and the inds of Ukushima, Nakadori, Fukae, and Hirado have all already fallen. Mistress Izanami has already issued an order to seal off all waterways andnd routes, so you''re putting me in a very difficult position here."

    There was a fawning smile on Iwasaki Ky¨­ya''s wizened face as he said, "Kobayashi San, we wouldn''t want to do things this way either if it isn''t for the fact that our clients are urging us to deliver their goods to Hokkaido. This is the firstrge order our Mitsubishi Consortium has ever received, and we have to fulfill it no matter what!"

    The man heaved a faint sigh as his brows furrowed slightly. "It''s not that I don''t want to help you. The problem is that all of the checkpoints in the waterways are being overseen by the daimyos, so how am I supposed to help you?"

    "All you need to do is sign a clearance notice, and we''ll take care of the rest."

    The man remained silent and offered no response.

    Izanami lowered his head again, and on this asion, he picked up a ck suitcase before cing it onto the table. The suitcase was then opened to reveal orderly stacks of underworld currency.

    "I know that this isn''t much money considering the size and number of our ships, but this is already the most amount of cash that our Mitsubishi Consortium is capable of mustering up at this point. Please grant us your assistance."

    Iwasaki Ky¨­ya extended a deep bow until his forehead was almost in contact with the table, and after a few seconds of silence, the man finally conceded, "Alright, but I''m only making this exception just this once."

    "Yes!" Iwasaki Ky¨­ya immediately extended another respectful bow.

    "Sometimes, I think I''m a little too nice," the man said with a smile, but his smile then immediately faded as he continued, "I can sign the clearance notice, but the cargo of all of your ships must be inspected."

    Iwasaki Ky¨­ya was just about to raise his head again, but he kept it lowered, and even though a cold look had appeared in his eyes, his voice remained as respectful as ever. "Surely there''s no need for that. The Mitsubishi Consortium isn''t the Mitsubishi Corporation of the mortal realm, and we''re only transporting normal cargo."

    "Those are the rules," the man replied in an imcable voice. "We are in times of war. There''s no way that the Cathayan Underworld''s army will be able to reach all the way here, but this is still a matter that has to be taken very seriously. If I don''t examine your cargo, I won''t be able to answer to my higher-ups."

    Silence.

    Only after a few seconds did Iwasaki Ky¨­ya heave a faint sigh. "I see. In that case, there''s no helping it."

    A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in the man''s heart, yet before he even had a chance to stand up, Iwasaki Ky¨­ya abruptly stood up straight and plunged a dagger into the man''s chest like lightning with both hands.

    The man''s expression immediately became twisted with shock and agony, and he stared intently at the dagger protruding out of his chest. His mouth slowly sprang open as if he wanted to say something, but his soul disintegrated intoherfire before he had a chance to say anything.

    At the same time, the door of the room was opened, and several armored warriors stormed in. The leader of the group took a nce at the scene before him, then asked, "Has it been taken care of?"

    Iwasaki Ky¨­ya was still in the same pose as before. He had struck with incredible ruthlessness and precision, but at this moment, his hands were trembling and bulging with veins.

    "It''s alright, the first time killing someone is always the hardest," the man said. "We don''t have any time to waste, Iwasaki San. Everyone''s lives are on the line here! Have you taken care of things or not?"

    "It''s done." Iwasaki Ky¨­ya''s hands were still trembling as he put the dagger away, then picked up an official notice from the table. "Torii San, please get your people to allow the Mitsubishi Consortium''s ships free passage right away. The ships will immediately travel to Aokigahara to wee the troops of the Cathayan Underworld!"

    An hour after thending at Nagasaki, Maeda Toshiie''s tenshu pavilion had be the scene of a horrific ughter. Maeda Toshiie had invited themanders of the Nipponese Underworld''s army in this region under the guise of wishing to discuss countermeasures against the Cathayan Underworld''s invasion. During the meeting, he had in them all and cleared away the first barricade leading to Aokigahara.

    M¨­ri Terumoto''s tenshu pavilion was situated in Brightmoon City, and the 50,000 Yin soldiers under hismand vanquished the local forces with karmic me arrows to open up the second barricade.

    In addition to that, the tenshu pavilions of Kobayakawa Takakage, Ukita Hideie, and Tokugawa Ieyasu had all be sites of bloodshed. They had been nning in secret for years, and they were acting with extreme stealth and caution. Those at Amano-Iwato werepletely oblivious to the fact that their defensive efforts were being undone from the inside.

    "A new era ising." At the top of the tenshu pavilion, Tokugawa Ieyasu was holding tightly onto his hand fan as he looked at the Sanzu River under the moonlight. The river was flowing peacefully past his tenshu pavilion. It was over a kilometer wide and had no end in sight, stretching all the way from Aokigahara straight into the Nippon Sea.

    Amanozako, it''s about time that you made a move!

    In one more hour at most, the Cathayan Underworld''s army of 200,000 was going to enter from the mortal realm through Aokigahara, then travel to the Nippon Sea through the Sanzu River to attack from Hokkaido.

    Once the army of the Nipponese Underworld and the four million Kunitsukami gathered at Kansai and Chubu, the final battle wouldmence.

    He spread his arms open and closed his eyes as he felt the wind blow against his face.

    "Come! Let us see who will have thestugh!"

    Right at this moment, a smoke signal was lit at the foot of the tenshu pavilion, and the me illuminated countless cavaliers, footsoldiers, and artillery troops.

    Their eyes were all glowing with determination and battle intent, and theherfire inside them was like a gxy of stars clustered around the tenshu pavilion.

    Nagasaki.

    Thergest city in Nagasaki, Sasebo, had fallen, and directly neighboring the city were the towns of Hasami and Sechibaru. Thanks to the activation of the inter-realm mirrors, the cavalry of the Cathayan Underworld was temporarily kept at bay, but the atmosphere in those towns was still extremely tense.

    Due to the existence of the inter-realm mirrors and the limited number of Yin spirits that could enter through them at a time, the Nipponese Underworld was extremely difficult to invade, but much easier to defend. It was exactly because of this that the structure of the nation''s military was decentralized, and the number of Yin soldiers directly under the underworld''smand was no more than 200,000. The backbone of the military were the yokai and the four million Kunitsukami.

    The father of the four million Kunitsukami was Susanoo-no-Mikoto, so in the Nipponese Underworld, Susanoo-no-Mikoto was the supreme figure in the military, while Izanami was able to rule with her superior cultivation rank.

    However, the Kunitsukami didn''t have any set areas where they dwelled. Even yokai had to be worshiped, and worship came from humans. Hence, most of the yokai were in the mortal realm. Even though they had already been notified of the situation as quickly as possible, it would still take them at least two to three hours to get to the Nipponese Underworld.

    As a result, the two towns were waiting extremely anxiously, and even the slightest of pin drops would be audibly heard.

    On the border between Hasami and Sasebo, 50,000 Yin soldiers from the Nipponese Underworld were already gathered and prepared for battle. In front of them was a row of at least dozens of inter-realm mirrors. In other words, the Cathayan Underworld would only be able to send through a maximum of several hundred troops at a time, and they would be met by an army of 50,000.

    The footsoldiers were standing at the forefront with their spears raised, and behind them were the archers and artillery soldiers. On either side of the army were the cavalry units, and there was an armor-d general standing atop the tall tform at the center, waiting with a fierce look in his eyes.

    The atmosphere was extremely tense. They knew that the army of the Cathayan Underworld was on the other side of the inter-realm mirrors. The two sides were separated by nothing more than the inter-realm mirrors, and they couldn''t see one another, but they could clearly sense the frosty killing intenting from the other side.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki''s hand was resting on the hilt of his katana, and his chest was heaving violently as he stood atop the tall tform. A strong gust of wind blew past, causing all of the nearby gs to p audibly. The tense and oppressive silence was enough to drive one insane.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, beneath the visor of his helmet, his teeth were tightly clenched, and he was waiting with bated breath for all hell to break loose.

    Right at this moment, a Yin soldier quickly rushed over to his side, then whispered something into his ear, and he gnashed his teeth together forcefully. "Alright, you can go now."

    The daimyos were refusing to follow their orders, despite the dire nature of the situation!

    They had epted Izanami''s edict, but they were making up all types of excuses to buy time for themselves, leaving Ashikaga Yoshiaki on the front lines to face the Cathayan Underworld''s army alone.

    How can they still be ying mind games at a time like this? Do they not know how serious the situation is?

    Right as he was fuming internally, a burst of loud rumbling suddenly rang out from behind him, immediately following which a vast expanse of powerful Yin energy erupted across the entire space.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately swiveled around with an ecstatic expression.

    Behind them were eight massive teleportation arrays, each of which was over 1,000 meters in size. A sea of dense Yin energy had appeared above one of the arrays, forming an enormous cloud of darkness.

    The cloud was divided up into tiers, and it was slowly expanding in all directions. Within the Yin clouds, hundreds of thousands of specks of crimsonherfire were burning in unison.

    At the base of this enormous pir of Yin energy was a woman in a red kimono with her head cocked to the side. Her hair flowed down in all directions like ck silk before vanishing into the Yin clouds.

    She was dressed in a very elegant fashion, but her mouth was split open all the way to her ears. From the back, one would be able to see that the back of her kimono was drooping down slightly to reveal her smooth back, and there was another face on her back, a crimson ghostly face!

    This woman was Futakuchi-onna, a yokai of Shikoku.

    The reinforcements from the Kunitsukami have arrived!

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki heaved a long sigh of relief, and right as he was about to say something, vast Yin energy erupted out of six of the teleportation arrays in unison, surrounding the entire town of Hasami in the blink of an eye.

    One scarlet eye sprang open, followed by a second one, then a third... All of a sudden, thousands of scarlet eyes had appeared within the darkness!

    The Kunitskukami had descended upon the battlefield!

    The war was about to begin, and both sides were already raring to go.

 Chapter 1230: The Battle of Kyushu (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1230: The Battle of Kyushu (1)</h4>

    The eight teleportation arrays trembled incessantly as bursts of dense Yin energy erupted throughout Hasami. Futakuchi-onna, Yuki-onna, Aob¨­zu... One mythical Nipponese yokai after another had arrived in Nagasaki as reinforcements on Izanami''s orders.

    Tens of thousands of yokai had gathered above Nagasaki, and each of them was here with their entourage, which consisted of wandering spirits that couldn''t even be ssified as yokai. Each entourage wasprised of somewhere between three to eight spirits, and together, they formed a boundless sea of wraiths and apparitions.

    However, none of the yokai said anything. Instead, all of them turned toward the center with respectful expressions.

    What are they waiting for?

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki''s brows furrowed slightly as he proceeded to make his way forward, but he had only walked a couple of steps before a burst of Prefect-level Yin energy abruptly descended.

    Circles of Yin energy abruptly exploded, sweeping over the earth like shockwaves. All of the surrounding trees were pressed against the ground, and bursts of Yin energy formed vast pirs that erupted straight into the heavens. Within the Yin energy, the outline of an enormous creature could be seen, and in the next instant, 16 eyes sprang open in unison within the darkness.

    "Looks like everyone''s here." A thunderous voice erupted through the sky, and the Yin energy slowly faded to reveal a massive creature that was over 100 meters tall on the ground.

    It was Yamata no Orochi, a yokao of Kyushu and a nascent Abyssal Prefect!

    Its entire body was of a pure white color, and it was over 200 meters in length. Its eight heads were like eight giant mountains, and it took a deep breath before letting loose a deafening roar.

    The soundwaves swept over Hasami like virtually substantial shockwaves, causing the gs behind Ashikaga Yoshiaki to p audibly. Immediately thereafter, Yamata no Orochi roared, "All troops, heed my call!"

    All of the yokai bowed in unison around Yamata no Orochi, forming a massive circle that presented a breathtaking sight to behold.

    Yamata no Orochi''s 16 golden eyes swept over the entire scene as it instructed, "Defend Hasami with your lives and make sure to keep the Cathayan Underworld''s army out of Chugoku!"

    "Yes!!"

    If Nagasaki were to be conquered, then Kyushu would be as good as exposed, and Kyushu was certainly not far away from Chugoku.

    Yamata no Orochi gritted its teeth with a hateful look in its eyes, cursing the Cathayan Underworld internally as it did so. Kyushu was its territory, so if it were to fall, then it would be the first great yokai in Nipponese history without any territory to its name!

    That would be humiliation of the highest order!

    I didn''t dare to face you at Sasebo, but Hasami and Sechibaru are my territory! Let me see if you can break through these inter-realm mirrors or not. All we need is a single victory to shatter the aura of invincibility around the Cathayan Underworld!

    "Everyone!" It swept its gaze across all of the evil ghosts present as it dered, "The Cathayan Underworld will be sure tounch an all-out attack in the next hour. They''re not going to give our Nipponese Underworld any time to react. I only have two things to say: all deserters will be executed, and no one is to retreat until I do!"

    "Yes!" Countless voices rang out in response across the entire town.

    All of the voices were filled with unprecedented determination, and they were willing toy down their lives to protect their nation, even if it meant opposing the Cathayan Underworld!

    ¡°Good.¡± Yamata no Orochi exhaled before finally turning to Ashikaga Yoshiaki. "Organize your troops, General Ashikaga."

    Time slowly passed by.

    It was as if the very air had congealed, and even through the inter-realm mirror, they could still sense the killing intenting from the other side. Whenever they thought of the fact that on the other side was the Cathayan Underworld, which had once withstood an invasion from seven nations, they would be struck by a sense of fear, yet also a hint of excitement.

    They were both fearful of the enemies, but also relishing the opportunity to face such a formidable foe.

    All of the evil ghosts were staring intently at the inter-realm mirrors in front of them, and their ws and fangs had all been bared as they readied themselves to tear apart any enemies that stepped through the mirrors.

    40 minutes passed by, then 50. Even after an hour, none of the Yin spirits had rxed in the slightest. As time passed, they only became more and more wary. Everyone knew that the longer the enemy took, the more ferocious their attack was going to be. During the past hour, several more groups of yokai reinforcements had arrived on the scene.

    At the moment, it was 1 AM.

    The forces at Hasami were led by Yamata no Orochi and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, with 970,000 Kunitsukami among their ranks, including Futakuchi-onna, Akaname, Inugami, Yamawaro, and Yamabiko, and they were responsible for guarding the inter-realm mirrors.

    Meanwhile, the forces at Sechibaru were led by Ibaraki-d¨­ji, with 860,000 Kunitsukami among their ranks, including Aosaginohi, Shiranui, and Mikoshi-ny¨±d¨­. All of the evil ghosts were enveloped in a sea of Yin energy, and they were prepared to guard the route to Shikoku with their lives.

    At 1:30 AM, cracks suddenly appeared on the inter-realm mirrors in Hasami and Sechibaru.

    The cracking sound wasn''t very loud, but it instantly drew the attention of all of the yokai.

    They''reing! The army of the Cathayan Underworld is finallying!

    Yamata no Orochi gritted its teeth tightly as it stared intently at the inter-realm mirrors, while Ashikaga Yoshiaki gulped nervously as he held onto his hand-fan with a white-knuckled grip.

    The most powerful army in Asia was about to pass through the inter-realm mirrors, and it was as if a nightmare were about to descend upon Nagasaki.

    More and more cracks appeared on all of the inter-realm mirrors, spreading like cobwebs over their surfaces. As the cracks grewrger andrger, the evil ghosts became more and more tensed up. Futakuchi-onna was already crouched down like a leopard about to pounce, while all of the fur on Inugami''s body was standing up on end as it grabbed onto the hilt of its katana.

    Meanwhile, all of the other evil ghosts were also making preparatory gestures, whether conscious or not, and they were all waiting for the moment that the enemy forces emerged through the inter-realm mirrors.

    A loud crack rang out as all of the inter-realm mirrors up ahead shattered in unison, and at the same time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki drew his katana as he roared with all his might, "Defend our soil!"

    "Charge!" Yamata no Orochi also roared with all eight of its giant heads, and in the next instant, the entire earth trembled violently as all of the yokai charged toward the inter-realm mirrors with unstoppable might, vowing to overwhelm the army of the Cathayan Underworld.

    However, no troops of the Cathayan Underworld emerged to meet them.

    The dreaded cavalry units of the Cathayan Underworld failed to show up. Instead, what had appeared was a series of mechanical oxen.

    The army of mechanical beasts wasn''t just limited to oxen, it epassed all of the 12 zodiacs!

    Beneath the hooves of the oxen were countless mice that were rapidly scurrying toward the army of yokai, and they were followed by dragons, horses, goats... All of a sudden, an enormous army of mechanical beasts had emerged.

    What the hell is this?!

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Yamata no Orochi were both staring at the mechanical beasts with perplexed expressions, and out of caution, all of the yokai ceased in their advance before the entire army retreated. There were even several yokai that tried attacking the mechanical beasts with arts, but they were unable to gather any information aside from the fact that the mechanical beasts had extremely resolute exteriors.

    Thus, their raging battle intent subsided, and Yamata no Orochi looked on at the mechanical beasts with a wary expression beforemanding, "Get back!"

    As soon as its voice trailed off, bursts of piercing red light began to radiate out of the connective sections of all of the mechanical beasts.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki drew a sharp breath as a name instantly shed through his mind, following which he frantically waved his hand fan as he yelled, "Retreat! Retreat! Get away from there!"

    All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and his voice abruptly trailed off.

    He had thought of the countless mice that had rushed into their army, and his hands were trembling at the thought.

    The mice had a very pleasant name, which was Lotus Forest.

    However, despite their beautiful name, they were actually moving Yin energy bombs!

    They were always deployed inrge numbers, and when they exploded, they resembled blooming scarlet lotus flowers, hence the name of Lotus Forest. These were A-grade weapons of war that hadn''t been seen in centuries!

    Was the Cathayan Underworld really nning to destroy the Nipponese Underworld?!

    In this perilous situation, there was no time to think about such things. As his order was issued, all of the Yin soldiers were already quickly beginning to retreat, but the backbone of the Nipponese Underworld''s forces wasn''t its Yin soldiers. Instead, it was the Kunitsukami.

    The Kunitsukami mostly resided in the mortal realm, so they hadn''t undergone much centralized military training. In fact, they were unable to evenprehend many of the g signals. Thus, once the g signals for retreat were raised, the retreating Yin soldiers immediately shed with the Kunitsukami, who had no idea what to do, and the formation of the entire army was quickly plunged intoplete chaos.

    In the next instant, a string of earth-shattering explosions erupted.

    Powerful shockwaves swept through the entire town of Hasami, and countless scarlet lotus flowers bloomed on the ground, instantly inundating the army of yokai.

    Taking advantage of the chaos and panic, therger mechanical beasts abruptly elerated and charged directly toward the areas where the most yokai and enemy Yin soldiers were gathered.

    Yamata no Orochi''s mouths sprang wide open as if it wanted to say something, but was unable to utter even a single word.

    Who could''ve anticipated that the leading force of the Cathayan Underworld would consist of machines of war? Without having to expend a single soldier, they had already plunged the entire army of Kunitsukami intoplete disarray!

    More and more mechanical beasts rushed into the Nipponese Underworld''s army, followed by more devastating explosions.

    One scarlet lotus flower bloomed after another, some of which were over 10 meters tall, while others only reached around a meter in height. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold, yet Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Yamata no Orochi felt as if their hearts had been plunged into cial pits.

    Countless specks ofherfire rose up into the heavens in the wake of the explosions, and all Yamata no Orochi could do was helplessly yell for their troops to hold their formation.

    The more powerful yokai were able to survive the explosions, but most of the wandering spirits and weaker yokai had already been erased from existence by the wave of devastating explosions.

    All of a sudden, the sound of a long horn rang out from the other side of the inter-realm mirrors.

    "Fire!" An emotionlessmand was issued, and a series of ck spots rapidly drew closer and closer within the frames of the mirrors. Soon, they were presented clearly before all of the yokai, revealing them to be countless ck spears.

    The spears looked as if they had been fired from arcuballistas, and they were traveling at an rming speed, sweeping up gusts of fierce wind behind them. Their tailends were golden in color, while their tips opened upyer uponyer to form golden lotus flowers, at the center of each of which was a speck of goldenherfire.

    These were A-grade weapons of war, Godyer Spears!

    Bursts of dazzling golden light erupted throughout the entirety of Hasami!

 Chapter 1231: The Battle of Kyushu (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1231: The Battle of Kyushu (2)</h4>

    Amid the sea of golden light and boundless killing intent, Yamata no Orochi finally returned to his senses before letting loose a thunderous roar and viciously mming its tail down onto the ground.

    A burst of shockwaves swept through the air, immediately following a series of huge torii gates erupted out of the ground in front of the inter-realm mirrors amid resounding booms. In the blink of an eye, over 100 torii gates had emerged in front of the inter-realm mirrors!

    As soon as the spears of golden light crashed into the torii gates, they were significantly slowed down as if they had flown into a pool of treacle, and ripples were spreading through the air. All of a sudden, the tips of the spears began to glow brighter and brighter, and the golden flowers opened up further and further. Yamata no Orochi immediately roared, "Run!"

    The Godyer Spears were still advancing, albeit very slowly at this point, and they were most likely going to explode within the next half-minute!

    In this situation, the ws of the Nipponese Underworld''s military system was highlighted once again. The Kunitsukami werepletely incapable ofprehending signals, and as a result, the Yin soldiers at the front were retreating, while the yokai at the back were rushing forward, and the two were getting in each other''s way. Ashikaga Yoshiaki could feel his own skin crawling at the sight of the pandemonium unfolding before him!

    Time seemed to have slowed down, and he felt as if he could hear a countdown timer to destruction ticking down beside his ears. He even raised his hands in a powerless fashion as if he wanted to grab ahold of something, only to put them down again in a defeated manner.

    All of a sudden, he felt as if his world had be impossibly bleak, and his mind waspletely nk. The only thought in his mind was an instinctive one that wondered what the explosion was going to entail.

    30 seconds passed by in the blink of an eye, and countless bursts of golden light erupted over the ground.

    It was like a boundless Buddhist paradise designed to release lost souls from purgatory. A river of golden light exploded between the torii gates and inter-realm mirrors, and all of the nearby Kunitsukami were inundated by the golden light amid anguished screams. As for everyone else, they could only look on helplessly as the light advanced toward them.

    Boundless light filled heaven and earth, sweeping over the ground with devastating power. All of the torii gates copsed amid violent rumbling, and the earth was instantly torn apart by the resulting shockwaves before being reduced to dust by the all-devouring light. In the end, the resulting dust was swept up by the waves of wind to form walls of dust that were hundreds of meters tall before sweeping in all directions alongside the violent storm of light.

    Futakuchi-onna faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediatelyid herself g against the ground without any hesitation.

    Several of the yokai around her drew a sharp breath in unison before fleeing for their lives.

    Countless Godyer Spears flew through the inter-realm mirrors like giant arrows, and the entire town of Hasami was quaking in the face of their formidable might. Only after what seemed like an eternity did the troops of the Nipponese Underworld regain their sense of hearing.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki stood up shakily from the ground. Countless Godyer Spears had exploded at the same time just now, and the resulting power was beginning to resemble that of a forbidden art. As a result, he was unable to remain on his feet and had ttened himself against the ground.

    The golden light slowly dissipated, revealing the entire area to have been severely ravaged. The entire army of Kunitsukami was in tatters at this point, and what little remained of them were slowly gathering together again.

    All of a sudden, Ashikaga Yoshiaki raised his head and peered through the ravaged battlefield, casting his gaze toward the destroyed inter-realm mirrors.

    Amid a cloud of dense Yin energy, he saw a mighty army of cavalry.

    They were the heavy cavalry units of the Cathayan Underworld!

    Not only had he caught sight of them, all of the Yin soldiers defending Hasami could sense as well because the ground was beginning to tremble and quake.

    Fearsome killing intent pierced into Hasami through the broken inter-realm mirrors like sharp swords, and all of the Yin spirits were struck by a sense of impending doom.

    "Engage the enemy!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki raised his sword in a shaky manner before roaring with all his might, "Engage the enemy! Stop these invaders!"

    The 200,000 Yin soldiers of the Nipponese Underworld gritted their teeth before charging toward the mirror frames, and they were met by several hundred heavy cavalry units that were also charging toward them like fortresses within the ck mist.

    "Stop them!" Yamata no Orochi roared. The morale of the troops had to be raised again, and they couldn''t afford to retreat any further. If Hasami were to be conquered, then Nagasaki would bepletely vulnerable and exposed! After that woulde the fall of Kyushu, and beyond that was Shikoku!

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki was frantically using signal gs to rally all of the Yin soldiers and Kunitsukami, and the army was returning to its original formation as quickly as it could, but it was already toote.

    The hundreds of heavy cavalry units had already charged through the mirror frames, and they were giving off boundless Yin energy as they charged into Hasami with unbridled killing intent.

    "Charge!" The cavalier at the forefront had the g of the Cathayan Underworld raised high above his head, and he was charging fearlessly toward the countless spear-wielding enemy soldiers up ahead.

    The Nipponese Yin soldier at the forefront of the army also let loose a fierce war cry as he plunged his spear forward. This was a movement that he had rehearsed countless times, and it had already be second nature to him. In the face of the oing cavaliers, he readied his spear with his wrists and arms before piercing it forward as forcefully as he could.

    Several dozen spears were plunged forward in unison beside him, piercing through the air toward the fearless cavalier.

    However, in the instant that the spears made contact with the cavalier''s armor, they discovered that their spears had been stopped cold in their tracks!

    A burst of gently ck and white light rose up, and a string of loud ngs rang out, but the spears were unable to pierce through the cavalier''s armor.

    As the top-tier military formation of the Cathayan Underworld, the Wumu military formation definitely wasn''t something that the Yin soldiers of a third-rate underworld could contend with!

    The veins on the arms and foreheads of the Nipponese Yin soldiers were bulging as they strained every sinew of their bodies to drive their spears forward, but a sense of despair and powerlessness was quickly taking root in their hearts.

    Is this the power of one of the four pirs? We can''t even pierce through their armor!

    That was thest thought they ever had. In the next instant, their heads flew up into the air, having been decapitated by a sweep of the cavalier''s longsword.

    The first row of foot soldiers were quickly reduced to specks ofherfire that rose up into the air, and the foot soldiers behind them faltered momentarily, but their fury and adrenaline overwhelmed their fear and despair as they continued to rush forward with their spears raised.

    However, the Cathayan Underworld''s cavaliers were just as fierce as they were. After the first row of foot soldiers was vanquished, the cavaliers swarmed upon the remaining foot soldiers with their longswords brandished. They were building up more and more momentum as their warhorses galloped along, and they harbored no fear whatsoever toward the spears directed at them.

    They were willing to use their own lives to open up a path for theirrades!

    Taking advantage of this window of opportunity before the Nipponese Underworld''s forces had recovered their formation, they were going to charge as far as possible!

    After several waves of spear strikes, the defenses of the Wumu military formation was finally pierced through, and the first line of heavy cavalry units were reduced to specks ofherfire that rose up into the heavens. However, all of the foot soldiers discovered that at this point, these cavaliers had already forced them back by around a meter!

    Even though they had just been severely ravaged by the explosions from those A-grade weapons of war, this was still an army of millions, yet they had been forced back by a meter by just several hundred cavaliers!

    Furthermore, this was only the beginning.

    Before the first wave of cavaliers had concluded their charge, the next wave of several hundred cavaliers had already emerged to follow them, and they plunged viciously into the ranks of the Nipponese Underworld''s troops.

    The Nipponese Underworld''s forces were still in disarray, and they were forced back several more meters by this ferocious charge!

    The cavaliers were greatly encouraged by this, and they pulled out therge shields from behind them. The surface of the shields was riddled with hooked barbs, and with the shields held up in front of them, the cavaliers continued to charge onward with unwavering determination.

    "Stop them! Stop them!" Ashikaga Yoshiaki felt as if he were about to go insane. Never did he think that the ws of a decentralized military system would be exposed so severely. From his vantage point, he could clearly see that the group of just several hundred cavaliers had managed to charge over 10 meters through the Nipponese Underworld''s ranks!

    The ground that they had gained on the Nipponese Underworld''s army was like a nightmarish gash that couldn''t be closed!

    However, before the Nipponese Underworld''s Yin soldiers had a chance to assemble, more and more cavaliers emerged in waves.

    In the short span of less than 20 minutes, the Nipponese Underworld''s army wasprehensively crushed. The fearless cavaliers of the Cathayan Underworld had managed to force back the enemy by over 50 meters, and countless Nipponese Underworld Yin soldiers were being trampled to death by the second!

    Furthermore, the fourth and fifth waves of cavaliers werepletely different from their predecessors.

    All of them were wearing suits of armor that were riddled with hooked spikes, and they were riding giant skeletal warhorses that were burning with scorching mes.

    The warhorses raised their heads and neighed toward the heavens, crashing around in a chaotic and frenzied fashion. For the first time, the Nipponese Underworld''s army began to panic.

    "Stop them! Stop them!" All of themanders were yelling with all their might, but the ming warhorses were crashing through the enemy ranks like fiery wrecking balls, and no one could stand in their path!

    How could this be?

    Yamata no Orochi looked on with an astonished expression, scarcely able to believe its own eyes.

    The situation hadpletely spiraled out of control in what seemed like nothing more than the blink of an eye, and the Nipponese Underworld''s forces were beingpletely crushed!

    If things were to continue like this, then defeat would be inevitable!

    No, I can''t allow things to go on like this any longer...

    It gritted its teeth tightly as its massive body abruptly elongated, and its eight heads rushed rapidly toward the inter-realm mirrors.

    If these Yin soldiers and yokai can''t do the job, then I will stop the enemy forces myself! The Cathayan Underworld cannot be allowed to pass Hasami!

    It was traveling extremely quickly, and it paid no heed to the Cathayan cavaliers that were already wreaking havoc within the Nipponese Underworld''s ranks. It knew that all it had to do was cut off the cavaliers that were still toe, and the battle would be as good as won.

    "Yamata no Orochi Sama has joined the battle!" a Yin soldier suddenly yelled, and the morale of the Nipponese Underworld''s army was given a significant boost, allowing them to stop the Cathayan Underworld''s assault cold in its tracks!

    "Victory is ours!"

    "Long live, the Nipponese Underworld! Charge!"

    "Don''t let them get past Hasami!"

    "Force them back!"

    Yamata no Orochi had be the psychological pir of the entire army.

    It was traveling extremely quickly, yet right as it was about to reach the inter-realm mirrors, it suddenly realized that no more Cathayan Yin soldiers wereing through.

    Before it had a chance to consider why this was the case, a burst of Yin energy that wasn''t inferior to its own suddenly erupted through the mirror frames, following which a figure seated on a three-meter-tall warhorse emerged, wielding a longsword in one hand.

    "Long time no see, Yamata no Orochi."

    Yamata no Orochi faltered slightly upon hearing this voice, following which it eximed in an incredulous voice, "Oda Nobunaga?! Why are you here?!"

 Chapter 1232: The Battle of Kyushu (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1232: The Battle of Kyushu (3)</h4>

    There was no answer, only a wave of Yin energy that surged through the air, following which countless heavy cavalry units emerged behind Oda Nobunaga.

    In contrast with the cavaliers from before, these cavaliers were armored to the teeth, as were their skeletal warhorses. Even among the renowned heavy cavalry units, they were considered to be the cream of the crop!

    All of the horses were connected by metal chains, and the chains were riddled with sharp spikes. It was clear to Yamata no Orochi just from a single nce that the Cathayan Underworld really was nning to overwhelm Hasami''s defenses.

    Will we be able to stop them?

    It turned around and looked back with a bitter expression. Just four waves of heavy cavalry units had opened up several dozen meters of space, and the elite heavy cavalry units behind Oda Nobunaga were only going to be more formidable than their predecessors.

    No, I have to do something! It gritted its teeth as it turned around, but in the instant that it turned away, a burst of fearsome killing intent locked onto its body.

    In the face of this frosty killing intent, Yamata no Orochi was forced to turn back around, only to discover that Qin Changxin had produced a bright katana, on the hilt of which was engraved the design of a chrysanthemum flower that was giving off bright blue light.

    At the same time, hundreds of cavaliers rushed past Yamata no Orochi, followed by one more wave, then another!

    The tsunami had risen.

    One wave was crashing down after another, and they weren''t going to rest until they crashed through the dam that was Hasami!

    However, Yamata no Orochi didn''t move. Its gaze shed with the figure within the Yin cloud, and a tense confrontation ensued.

    "I''m sure you recognize it," Qin Changxin said. "This is Kikuichimonji."

    As he was speaking, Oda Nobunaga''s skin slowly split open, and bursts of crimson karmic fire emerged from within the cracks. At the same time, his skin also became charred ck, and after a span of no more than several seconds, he had already transformed into an evil ghost that was burning with karmic fire, and his Kikuichimonji was pointed directly at Yamata no Orochi.

    Damn it!

    Golden light began to glow from Yamata no Orochi''s 16 eyes as it asked, "What are you trying to show me with that sword?"

    Qin Changxin''s finger resembled a pir of magma as it gently stroked the de of Kikuichimonji. "I''m showing you that I''m going to be the new ruler of the Nipponese Underworld!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, he rose up into the heavens before crashing down like a shooting star. His katana was like a bolt of lightning that pierced through the night, and it came crashing down directly toward Yamata no Orochi''s giant serpentine heads.

    Even before the katana had arrived, Yamata no Orochi was struck by a fierce burst of pressure that was threatening to crush its body. Countless cracks ran through the ground beneath it, and all of its scales stood up on end from the sense of overwhelming peril that had welled up in its heart.

    It raised its head with an indignant expression as it roared, "You traitorous dog!"

    It could clearly sense that they were about equal in power, but all of Oda Nobunaga''s equipment had been refined by the Cathayan Underworld. Essentially, they were at the same level, but Oda Nobunaga was equipped with legendary gear, while it was still wearing the default armor provided to the newbies of the game.

    "Die!" it roared with all its might, and its eight heads were like enraged giant dragons as they pounced toward Qin Changxin.

    An earth-shattering boom rang out as the two Abyssal Prefects shed, and shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye surged through the entire town of Hasami. The sh between the two was so powerful that it swept up gusts of fierce wind, causing even the armor of the heavy cavalry units to tter incessantly.

    At this point, thousands of Cathayan cavaliers had already emerged and were surging over thendscape like a formidable ck wave.

    The sound of long horns rang out from within the mirror frames, and at the forefront of the next wave of heavy cavalry units, Wang Meng gritted his teeth as he put on his metal visor. He knew that his peers were also with him. The 12 envoys had already been promoted to be importantmanders of the military, and they were going to charge with him together onto this foreignnd that they had never conquered before.

    The sound of thundering horse hooves rang out like the prelude to a storm, and in the span of no more than 10 seconds, the entire earth was quaking violently under the hooves of all of the galloping warhorses.

    Close to 2,000 heavy cavalry units were charging together, and it was truly a magnificent sight to behold. Behind them were even more heavy cavalry units that were rapidly assembling, as were the footsoldiers who were being protected by the heavy cavalry units.

    Their objective was to conquer Hasami before the Kunitsukami could muster up any meaningful resistance, and speed was of the essence if they wanted to achieve that goal.

    With his ice-cold visor pressed tightly against the skin of his face, Wang Meng let loose a loud roar as he raised his longsword. "Follow me! Let''s take down Nagasaki!"

    Waves upon waves of cavaliers began a ferocious assault, and for the first time, they finally encountered some tenacious resistance.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki was already slumped back in hismander''s chair with cold sweat pouring down his face. In the instant that Yamata no Orochi was stopped by Qin Changxin, he had even thought that Hasami was already doomed. Close to 2,000 heavy cavalry units had already stormed through the inter-realm mirrors, and if they were allowed to build up sufficient momentum, there would be no way for the foot soldiers to stop them. Thankfully, the Kunitsukami were notplete pushovers.

    They had beenpletely disoriented by the two waves of siege weaponry and the subsequent assault from heavy cavalry units, but they were still powerful yokai that were the backbone of the Nipponese Underworld''s military.

    Thus, the 2,000 heavy cavalry units shed with the Kunitsukami, of which there were close to a million.

    Both sides had fierce gusts of Yin wind swirling around them, and they were charging toward one another with vicious looks on their faces.

    In the instant that the two armies shed, hundreds of specks ofherfire rose up into the sky, and in the blink of an eye, the battle had already reached white-hot intensity.

    A cavalier was charging ahead with all his might. He was the leader of this wave, and the heavy cavalry units behind him had already formed a triangle that was destroying everything in its path.

    Thanks to the enhancements they received from the Wumu military formation, the evil ghosts around them werepletely unable to break through their defenses. Just as he was wreaking havoc to his heart''s content, a gust of Yin wind suddenly arrived before him, and a string of loud cracks rang out as the three cavaliers at the forefront of the group were in on the spot.

    The gust of Yin wind then converged to form a humanoid dog who was wearing a samurai''s robe, and the humanoid creature was glowering directly at the oing cavaliers with bloodshot eyes.

    Inugami had entered the fray.

    These legendary Nipponese yokai were by no means a negligible force. There were several dozen Infernal Judges and hundreds of Anitya Hellguards among them, and individual cavaliers were no match.

    On the other side, Aosaginohi let loose a sharp screech as it soared up into the heavens, and balls of scorching fire were raining down from above, transforming an enormous area into a fiery hell. Within the sea of fire, one tongue after another extended out of Futakuchi-onna''s two mouths, and each of them pierced through the chest of a cavalier with unerring uracy.

    Meanwhile, Shiranui had swelled to over 100 meters in stature, and all of the Yin soldiers in its wake, regardless of whether they were from the Nipponese Underworld or the Cathayan Underworld, were crushed into mincemeat.

    At the same time, Yuki-onna raised her sleeves, and the air behind her trembled violently, following which countless sharp arrows of ice shot out of thin air, piercing through all of the Yin spirits in their path.

    In the face of the Cathayan Underworld''s assault, the Nipponese Underworld was also resisting with everything they had, doing everything in their power to stop the Cathayan Underworld''s forces at Hasami.

    In an instant, the battle reached white-hot intensity, and the momentum of the heavy cavalry units was finally stopped. Both sides were fighting on instinct and adrenaline, and on the chaotic battlefield, everyone failed to notice that no more heavy cavalry units were entering through the mirror frames. Instead, there was some enormous creature that was being kept out by the inter-realm mirrors, but it was currently in the process of undoing the restriction.

    Without reinforcements, the cavaliers charging ahead were struggling to hold their own, and the bnce slowly began to tilt in the Nipponese Underworld''s favor.

    This was an incredible turn of events in the eyes of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and all of the Kunitsukami.

    They''re being forced back?! We''ve managed to hold our ground?!

    "Charge!" Never had Inugami felt so exhrated before. This was an invasion from the Cathayan Underworld, one of the four pirs, yet they were being forced back! This was the most monumental victory in the history of the Nipponese Underworld!

    We''ll storm back and recover both Sasebo and Tsushima Ind! We''ll show the Cathayan Underworld that we''re not to be messed with!

    "Charge!" The state of the battlefield was greatly encouraging for all of the Nipponese Underworld''s forces, and they were all charging toward the inter-realm mirrors with renewed vigor. Once they reached the inter-realm mirrors, their victory would be sealed!

    "Charge!"

    "Force them back! It''s time for us to retaliate!"

    "Long live the Nipponese Underworld! Long live Amano-Iwato!"

    "This is supposed to be one of the four pirs? Ha, how pathetic!"

    However, right as the Nipponese Underworld''s troops reached within 500 meters of the inter-realm mirrors, a faint sigh suddenly rang out. "Phew, I finally made it through. I must admit, that array was a little troublesome to deal with."

    The voice was very faint, but it was like rumbling thunder in the ears of all of the Yin spirits on the battlefield. The Cathayan cavaliers that had retreated to the inter-realm mirrors parted immediately parted to reveal a beautiful woman in a ptial dress, holding a soft cushion, atop which was a bleary-eyed pekingese dog that seemed to have only just woken up from a nap.

    Everyone''s attention was immediately focused on the dog. It looked no different from any other dog, but for some reason, just the mere sight of it was enough to send chills running down everyone''s spine.

    That was no dog, it was a hellish vortex filled with the purest Yin energy!

    All of the underworld emissaries present were struck by a sense of awe and veneration, while the yokai below the Infernal Judge level had already copsed onto the ground on all-fours in reverence.

    In the sky above, Yamata no Orochi was locked in a fierce battle against Qin Changxin, and it looked down with an incredulous expression as all of the scales on its body rustled audibly.

    The Harken had arrived! A Yama-King had descended upon this battlefield!

    In that instant, it felt as if it had lost the ability to breathe. All of its pupils contracted violently in horror, and it immediately turned around to flee the scene.

    However, before it had the chance to leave, a massive hole appeared in the clouds, immediately following a paw formed by lightning came crashing down onto Yamata no Orochi, sending its scales flying in all directions.

    Violent tremors ran through the entire town of Hasami as if it had just experienced a massive earthquake, and powerful shockwaves sent dust flying up into the sky by over a kilometer before raining back down from above.

    After that, Yamata no Orochi waspletely silent.

    It had been in by a single strike!

    Inugami''s de ttered onto the ground as it stared nkly at the tiny figure. It was such a small and harmless-looking dog, yet its power was second to none on this battlefield! In this instant, a hint of powerlessness welled up in the hearts of all of the emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld.

    "We surrender..." they murmured in a ck-jawed manner.

    That same phrase swept through the entire army like a contagious virus, and in the blink of an eye, all of the Nipponese Underworld''s troops hadid down their weapons in surrender.

    Only now did they realize just how na?ve they had been in thinking that they were forcing back the Cathayan Underworld''s forces.

    They had thought that the mechanical weapons and the heavy cavalry units would be the worst that they had to face, but there had been something far more terrifying waiting for them all along.

    This was one of the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces, a being that had reigned supreme in Asia for several thousand years, and they couldn''t even muster up any urge to resist it.

    "You surrender?" A faint smile appeared on the Harken''s face, following which a hint of killing intent shed through its eyes. "I''m sorry, but we don''t ept prisoners."

    In the next instant, boundless Yin energy surged into its mouth in a frenzy, forming a terrifying ck hole that was around 10 meters in size before it.

 Chapter 1233: The Battle of Kyushu (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1233: The Battle of Kyushu (4)</h4>

    If an underworld were to bepletely erased, there was no way that the native religion could be allowed to remain.

    Aside from the Shinto religion, either one of Taoism or Buddhism could support the Nipponese Underworld, so the existence of the Shinto religion waspletely inconsequential.

    The important thing was that both Taoism and Buddhism belonged to the Cathayan Underworld.

    In that case, what was to be of the deities that had arisen from the Shinto religion?

    Absorbing them into the Cathayan Underworld would be the equivalent of taking in potential time bombs, so it was better to just destroy them, and the Harken was more than willing to act as the executioner.

    Fearsome suction force drew everything in the surrounding area toward the ck hole in a frenzy. The ground was already riddled with cracks, and chunks of earth were torn up before flying up into the sky as if gravity had disappeared, then sucked toward the ck hole as well. Upon reaching 10 meters of the ck hole, everything waspletely pulverized by some type of invisible force, and even the Yin energy and clothing of the yokai were being directly forward.

    In the instant that their surrender was rejected, all of the yokai immediately raised their heads to stare at the Harken with incredulous expressions.

    Yama-Kings and death gods were all legendary entities, the crown jewels culminating from the underworld''s extensive history.

    Every single death god was vastly renowned and revered in the mortal realm, and any one of them was capable of destroying an entire nation on their own. They were living legends, the witnesses of human history!

    All death gods were cold and aloof, but they never stooped to bullying the weak, so it waspletely unexpected to everyone that the Harken would refuse to ept their surrender.

    Deathly silence descended upon the entire battlefield for a few seconds, immediately following which Futakuchi-onna let loose a horrified scream and fled the scene.

    I have to get away from here! If they''re not epting surrender, then their intention is to destroy this nation! The entire religion of the Nipponese Underworld is about to be purged!

    Her panicked scream rang out across the entire battlefield, and all of the yokai were snapped out of their stunned reverie before fleeing as quickly as they could.

    They didn''t even try to resist as there was simply no point in doing so in the face of a Yama-King.

    The Nipponese Underworld''s forces receded like the tide. Yuki-onna transformed into countless snowkes, while Aob¨­zu fled atop a gust of Yin wind, not even daring to retrieve his staff in his haste to escape. The Kunitsukami were worshiped as gods in the Nipponese Underworld, but in the face of a true death god, they couldn''t even muster up any urge to resist.

    In the next instant, the ck hole that the Harken had conjured up exploded violently.

    Violent tremors ran through the entire town of Hasami, as if an invisible, giant hand had swept over the earth, and the entire world seemed to be blur momentarily before returning to rity again.

    In the next instant, a burst of pure white light exploded over Hasami like the sun rising from the darkness of the night, devouring all of the Nipponese Underworld''s forces that were too slow to escape.

    "Why did you hold back?" Qin Changxin asked with a perplexed expression as he watched the dazzling white light rise up into the sky.

    The Harken was lyingzily on the cushion as it replied, "Mr. Qin, if I recall correctly, you still haven''t directly interacted with the rulers of the three pirs, right?"

    "That''s right."

    "In that case, you wouldn''t know just how cunning and tenacious they are," the Harken said with a cold expression. "If we want them to withdraw their troops, we can''t engage them in direct shes. The only thing that can intimidate them will be the explosion of the second-generation forbidden art in the Nipponese Underworld, but the explosion wouldn''t be very impactful if it didn''t wipe out some powerful yokai, wouldn''t you agree?"

    Finally, the dazzling white radiance in the town of Hasami began to fade.

    Countless Yin spirits had been destroyed, and the Cathayan Underworld''s army advanced in an orderly fashion, iming one city after another and executing all those who dared to resist.

    Despite the resounding victory, Qin Changxin was feeling a chill run down his spine. Even he was quite rmed by how ruthless the Harken was. Was the Cathayan Underworld preparing to decimate all of the Nipponese Underworld''s yokai and deities?

    Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto weren''t enough, and the Harken hadn''t even bothered to finish off Yamata no Orochi. Were they nning to gather all of the Nipponese Underworld''s most powerful yokai in one ce before destroying them in one fell swoop along with all of the native gods?!

    Only after a long while did he manage to calm himself down, following which he cast his gaze toward the north. "I wonder if Amanozako, the Mitsubishi Consortium, and the daimyos have also begun to move. Our fleets should already be on the way to Hokkaido..."

    They had never taken the Nipponese Underworld seriously.

    Conquering the Nipponese Underworld was the easy part, the true battle was against the three pirs and the rest of the world. It was imperative that they figured out how to silence the rest of the world and keep them content.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    "Your Excellency!" Several underworld emissaries rushed into a conference hall in Amano-Iwato, and one of them yelled, "I have terrible news!"

    Izanami, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, and all of the most powerful yokai of the Nipponese Underworld were present in the conference hall, and they had been in here the entire time ever since the invasion had begun.

    A snowy white tail shot forth and wrapped up the group of underworld emissaries before pulling them to the round table at the center of the room. Tamamo-no-Mae was wearing a fox mask that revealed only the bottom half of her face, and she asked through gritted teeth, "What happened? Calm down and tell us clearly!"

    The underworld emissary gulped nervously, and he was on the verge of tears as he reported, "Nagasaki has been conquered!"

    "What?! How is that possible?!"

    "It''s only been less than two hours! How could Nagasaki have fallen so quickly?!"

    "What happened to Yamata no Orochi? Wasn''t he there in person?!"

    "What about Ashikaga Yoshiaki? We gave him an army of 200,000 Yin soldiers and close to a million Kunitsukami! How dare he allow Nagasaki to fall so quickly?!"

    All of the yokai instantly rose to their feet, releasing boundless Yin energy in a fit of shock and rage, and the group of low-grade underworld emissaries almost fell unconscious from the stifling pressure.

    "Don''t panic!" Izanami mmed a palm heavily down onto the table as she said in a cold voice, "Sit back down! They haven''t made it to Amano-Iwato yet! We can''t afford to panic at a time like this!"

    Only then did the yokai withdraw their Yin energy before sitting back down with grim expressions. Izanami turned toward the underworld emissaries before asking, "What happened?"

    The underworld emissary replied in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency, General Ashikaga Yoshiaki has fallen in battle, and 300,000 of the Kunitsukami were decimated! The town of Hasami was reported to have fallen an hour ago, and during the half-hour after that, the Cathayan Underworld''s army swept through Nagasaki with none of the Kunitsukami able to offer up any resistance!"

    Izanami''s eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this, but she knew that she couldn''t allow her emotions to get the better of herself, especially at a time like this.

    "With the inter-realm mirrors in the way, the Cathayan Underworld can only send through several hundred soldiers at a time. In an hour, they would''ve only been able to send through less than 100,000 troops at most. How were they able to overwhelm close to a million Kunitsukami and 200,000 Yin soldiers?" she asked as she stared intently at the underworld emissary.

    The underworld emissary replied in a strained voice, "The Harken of the Cathayan Underworld descended upon the battlefield..."

    The entire hall instantly fell deathly silent in the face of this revtion.

    "Command all forces to retreat," Izanami sighed as she looked up at the sky with a despairing expression. "All forces are to retreat to Chubu and defend Chubu and Kansai with their lives. Susanoo-no-Mikoto, why has the Coalition of Underworlds still not responded?!"

    Just a single Yama-King was enough to destroy a nation like the Nipponese Underworld!

    If the Coalition of Underworlds didn''t step in, then it would bepletely over for the Nipponese Underworld!

    "They''ve already been notified, but they still haven''t made a final decision yet," Susanoo-no-Mikoto replied through gritted teeth.

    In the face of the Cathayan Underworld''s invasion of the Nipponese Underworld, even the three pirs had to carefully consider what stance to adopt.

    All-out war wasn''t an option, considering the Cathayan Underworld was protected by the Array of the Nine Gods.

    In that case, the only thing they could do was intercept the Cathayan Underworld''s forces, but how were they supposed to do that, and to what extent were they supposed to oppose the Cathayan Underworld''s army? What if they went too far and kicked off the next world war?

    Right at this moment, the doors were pushed open again, and another underworld emissary rushed in before extending a deep bow. "Your Excellency, just now, Mistress Erinys has set off for the Strait of Tsushima with her Golden Fleet!"

    A collective sigh of relief instantly rang out, but that wasn''t the extent of the good news.

    "The Hindustani Underworld will be holding a press conference in 30 minutes! At the same time, the Naga Fleet will be setting off to rendezvous with the Golden Fleet in the South Cathay Sea. At the same time, Death God Osiris of the Aegyptian Underworld and several of the Aegyptian Underworld''s elders will also be boarding their fleet!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    At the Argosian Underworld.

    Hypnos was lying on the golden bed at the center of the Temple of Hades with his chin resting on his hand. On either side of him were ptial maidens ying all types of different musical instruments, and there was a path before him that was lined with red spider lily flowers.

    The life of a death god was plentiful from a materialistic perspective, but it was also very boring.

    As a ruler death god, he could literally work constantly and still forever have more tasks toplete, even though some of the duties were being shared by Thanatos.

    However, he didn''t want to do that.

    Aside from asionally lending Thanatos a hand, he spent most of his time pursuing the arts. He was an immortal entity who would continue to exist so long as he was still worshiped by humans, so why would he toil away his entire existence?

    Amid the peaceful environment, a butterfly formed by light flew over to Hypnos beforending on his shoulder, and Thanatos''s voice rang out from within it. "Come to the Courtyard of Truth right away. All of the death gods have already arrived."

    "What''s going on?" Hypnos asked in a displeased voice as his brows furrowed slightly.

    "I don''t care what you''re doing, I need you toe and see me right now!" Thanatos''s voice was extremely serious, and the discontent on Hypnos''s face was also reced by a serious expression. Thest time Thanatos had spoken to him like this was when the seven underworlds hadunched their invasion of the Cathayan Underworld.

    "Tell me what''s going on!"

    The butterfly was silent for a moment before replying, "Half an hour ago, the Cathayan Underworld deployed its troops to the Nipponese Underworld, and at this point, Nagasaki and several inds have already fallen."

    Hypnos instantly rose to his feet as an incredulous look appeared on his face. "Have they gone insane?!"

    "I don''t know the answer to that, but what I do know is that the Nipponese Underworld has already sent out five requests for reinforcements during the past half-hour, so we have to respond," Thanatos said in a cold voice. "The state of the world hinges on whether we can appropriately deal with this situation. I''m sure you understand just how serious things are here."

    Hypnos didn''t say anything further as he transformed into a gust of Yin wind and swept directly toward the Temple of Hades.

    Even on the way there, he was still struggling to believe what he had just heard.

    While it was true that the Cathayan Underworld had been disying plenty of animosity toward the Nipponese Underworldtely, never did he think that they would actually take the final step andunch an invasion!

    They werepletely disregarding the rest of the world!

 Chapter 1234: Condemned by the World

    <h4>Chapter 1234: Condemned by the World</h4>

    Hindustani Underworld, Mahabodhi Temple.

    The sound of uniform footsteps echoed throughout an empty corridor as a man with his palms joined in prayer quickly rushed through the corridor. As soon as the underworld emissaries on either side of the corridor caught sight of him, they immediately extended respectful salutes.

    He was the ruler of the Hindustani Underworld, Yamaraja himself, and no underworld emissary in the entirety of the Hindustani Underworld dared to disy any disrespect to him.

    Furthermore, he wasn''t alone.

    Around a dozen death gods of the Hindustani Underworld were trailing along behind him, and all of them were wearing grim expressions.

    Only after they had passed by did all of the guards heave a collective sigh of relief, and one of them cast his gaze toward the direction that Yamaraja had just departed in with a fearful expression. "What the hell is going on? All of the death gods have been assembled! How long has it been since thisst happened?"

    The other guards shook their heads in response, but it was clear to all of them that something was seriously wrong.

    Earlier the same night, several envoys had arrived, and the Mahabodhi Temple had erupted into a silent yet frenzied hub of activity. Mahamayuri, who was overseeing the Strait of Tsushima, was the first of the death gods to arrive at the Mahabodhi Temple, and he was immediately followed by all of the other death gods of the Hindustani Underworld, as well as many ministers and diplomats, all of whom had arrived within a span of just three hours.

    Yamaraja didn''t know what they were thinking. All he knew was that this was the most important event he had faced in the past 500 years!

    The Cathayan Underworld was invading the Nipponese Underworld, and Nagasaki had already fallen! Kyushu''s fall wouldn''t be far away, and once Kyushu was conquered, Chugoku would be next.

    At the end of the corridor was a golden gate, and with Yamaraja''s arrival, the gate was hurriedly opened by the underworld emissaries standing on either side of it. Inside the spacious hall beyond the gate, several hundred Yin spirits, including reporters, diplomats, and envoys, were already present.

    Of course, included among them was Zhao Zizhen, the Cathayan Underworld''s Hindustani-Underworld-based diplomat, as well as his secretaries and assistants.

    At this moment, there was a bubble of empty space around him, and no Yin spirits dared to approach him.

    Yamaraja made his way onto the stage with a grim expression, and cameras shed incessantly as the dozen or so death gods behind him fanned out in a line, presenting a formidable disy of power. After a few seconds of silence, he began, "A few hours ago, we received a piece of news, and that piece of news has since been confirmed to be true."

    Everyone in the hall already knew what he was referring to, and they turned their attention toward Zhao Zizhen in unison.

    Zhao Zizhen''s expression remained unchanged.

    Several decades ago, Cathay had been invaded by eight nations in the mortal realm, so why couldn''t it get some payback here in the underworld?

    "Three and a half hours ago, the Cathayan Underworld''s navy crossed through the Strait of Tsushima to enter the Nipponese Underworld''s waters,unching an undered attack on the Nipponese Underworld. At this point, the situation in the Nipponese Underworld is already extremely dire. The county of Nagasaki haspletely fallen, as well as the inds of Ukushima, Nakadori, Fukae, and Hirado, and the entire Kyushu region is hanging on by a thread."

    Right at this moment, an underworld emissary entered the hall, then whispered something into Yamaraja''s ear.

    Yamaraja nodded in response, then continued, "I''ve just received word that Kyushu has fallen. All of the Nipponese Underworld''s Kunisukami have already gathered at Chugoku and Shikoku to prepare for the next wave of the Cathayan Underworld''s assault."

    All of the journalists in the hall were astonished to hear this, and they couldn''t help but exchange shocked nces with one another.

    This was the power of one of the four pirs! In the span of less than four hours, Kyushu had already fallen! Wasn''t the Nipponese Underworld supposed to have four million Kunitsukami? How were they unable tost even three and a half hours? Wasn''t the Nipponese Underworld renowned for being difficult to invade due to the inter-realm mirrors? How was this possible?

    "Silence!" Yamaraja made a quieting gesture, then continued, "ording to our sources, Yama-King Harken of the Cathayan Underworld is personally overseeing the invasion, and the Hindustani Underworld is extremely opposed to this. We are in an era of peace and prosperous development, and we cannot allow powerful underworlds to enforce their will on weaker underworlds! As one of the four pirs, the Cathayan Underworld has not fulfilled its rightful duties. In light of this, the Hindustani Underworld has decided to open up the Strait of Tsushima with immediate effect. All underworlds and armies willing to offer reinforcements to the Nipponese Underworld can pass through the Strait of Tsushima once their intentions are verified. The Hindustani Underworld vehemently opposes the invasive behavior of the Cathayan Underworld, and we advise the Cathayan Underworld not to y with fire. The Hindustani Underworld will be deploying its Naga Fleet, led by Mahamayuri and the Sky Serpent King, to the Cathayan Underworld''s waters! At the same time, the Hindustani Underworld will be reinforcing the Nipponese Underworld alongside the Argosian Underworld''s Golden Fleet!"

    The announcement was met byplete silence.

    All of the journalists looked at one another, and they could see their ownplex emotions mirrored in each other''s eyes.

    It was true that the three pirs had responded to the situation, and the Hindustani Underworld was even sending two Yama-Kings with its Naga Fleet.

    However, why were they only deploying their fleets? Why weren''t they using their super long distance teleportation arrays? Why wasn''t the Hindustani Underworld''s renowned Holy Elephant Legion not being deployed?

    Were two fleets really going to be enough to oppose the mighty army of the Cathayan Underworld?

    All of a sudden, a sharp voice rang out. "Objection!"

    Zhao Zizhen was in his seventies, and he once worked in Cathay''s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Due to a heart attack, he entered the underworld 10 years ago. At this moment, he stood up in an unhurried manner, then said, "You im that this is an invasion, but I beg to differ. The Cathayan Underworld has already issued many warnings to the Nipponese Underworld for its unannounced trespassing of Cathayan waters, but we didn''t receive any response, and that''s why we had to take military action to protect the honor of our nation. This is an act of self-defense, not invasion. Everyone knows that the Cathayan Underworld is a peace-loving nation."

    "Yamaraja will be discussing this topic with Yanluo Qin during the next international conference. You''re in no ce to be speaking here, " the Sky Serpent King scoffed. "This is a press conference, not a debate. Sit down!"

    Zhao Zizhen did as he was told.

    He was naturally aware of that, but at a time like this, he had to support the policy of his nation.

    Yamaraja continued, "I will travel to the Coalition of Underworlds right away to discuss the next steps to be taken. Before a definitive conclusion is formed, the Hindustani Underworld announces that we are temporarily entering a state of war."

    After that, he vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind before anyone had a chance to say anything.

    By the time he reappeared, he was already standing next to a giant teleportation array, and standing beside him was Durga.

    Right as Yamaraja was about to step onto the teleportation array, Durga asked, "Your Excellency, are you really going to work with the other nations to stop this war?"

    A bright red eye lit up beneath Yamaraja''s cloak as he replied in a calm voice, "Don''t take jokes seriously."

    Durga nodded in response. "I just wanted to remind you that we''re already saving hundreds of billions per year in our energy resource purchases, and I''m sure the same applies to other underworlds as well."

    Yamaraja didn''t say anything. Only now did it ur to him just how devious the Cathayan Underworld had been during the past few years.

    He had forced everyone onto his side with the reductions in energy resource costs! The meeting between the Coalition of Underworlds was about to begin, and Yamaraja was not optimistic that the entire world woulde together to forcibly put an end to this war.

    Once the Nipponese Underworld fell, the Cathayan Underworld would be the only underworld in the East Cathay Sea. Once that happened, it would be able to venture into the Antic Ocean as it pleased, and no underworld would be able to stop them. However, that had nothing to do with all of the small underworlds that had benefited immensely from the energy resource price reductions.

    The problem was that these small underworlds each held a vote in their hands!

    Even to the Hindustani Underworld, the annual energy resource costs ounted for a massive chunk of their GDP, let alone other underworlds.

    Qin Ye had made his intentions very clear. The entire world had benefited from his kindness, so they had to turn a blind eye to what he was doing now!

    "He''s been plotting this for years... As the saying goes, the quietest dogs bite the hardest," Yamaraja sighed. "They''ve even manufactured an excuse so that their invasion could be categorized as self-defense! How devious..."

    As his voice trailed off, he finally stepped into the teleportation array.

    At the Coalition of Underworlds.

    All of the underworld rulers aside from Izanami had gathered in the tiered conference hall, and all of the death gods had their attention focused on a single figure in the room.

    The ruler of the Cathayan Underworld hade to attend this meeting in person!

    Don''t you feel awkward here? Have you no shame?!

    Three figures appeared beside Qin Ye, and Anubis took a meaningful look at him before giving him a grim nod. "You''re much more ambitious than I gave you credit for."

    Thanatos wore a stony expression as he nodded in the direction of the main stage. "Mr. Chief Secretary, we''re ready to begin."

    Chief Secretary Anador had only taken over this post less than 20 years ago, and she was certainly not prepared to deal with something like this. If there were any alternatives at all, she definitely didn''t want to host this meeting!

    Five years ago, she had persuaded Qin Ye to make the energy resource free of charge to the Coalition of Underworlds and all of the major world organizations. Only now did she realize that nothing in this world was truly free!

    She took a deep breath to steel herself, yet just as she was about to begin speaking, Qin Ye''s voice suddenly rang out. "Before we begin, I''m sure everyone already knows why this meeting is being held. However, you may not be very familiar with the events that led up to this point, so before we do anything else, I''d like to say some things in order to avoid any potential misunderstandings."

    The four pirs naturally had some special rights over other underworlds, and no one objected to this.

    Thus, Qin Ye extended a slight bow with a smile on his face before making his way onto the stage.

    Countless pairs of eyes were focused intently on him from all around the hall, and a reminiscent look appeared in his eyes.

    Back during the Nara conference, no one had paid any heed to him. He had been shunned and neglected, avoided like the gue.

    He couldn''t help but wonder what everyone was feeling toward him now.

    Were they fearful? Were they reverent? Were they concerned?

    The strong never asked to be worshiped. Instead, they were meant to be feared and respected.

    "Now then, allow me to give everyone a brief recount of the situation."

 Chapter 1235: The Complex Circumstances (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1235: The Complex Circumstances (1)</h4>

    Thud... In the Nipponese Underworld, Izanami set her teacup gently onto the table, and the sound was very faint, but it was clearly audible within the deathly silent conference hall.

    No one said anything. It had already been two hours since the fall of Kyushu, and six hours since themencement of the Cathayan Underworld''s invasion. It was already 3 AM, but no one felt like sleeping at all.

    The atmosphere in the room could virtually be sliced with a knife, and the oppressive tension didn''te from the news of the Cathayan Underworld''s invasion. Instead, it arose from the despair and powerlessness that they felt toward the army of the Cathayan Underworld.

    Izanami couldn''t stand the oppressive atmosphere any longer, and she finally broke the silence. "How is the propagandaing along?"

    "We''re already on it," Susanoo-no-Mikoto replied. "Starting from 6 AM tomorrow, you''ll be holding a video conference to issue an announcement to the entire underworld, rallying allherworldly citizens and yokai to fight for the Nipponese Underworld. On the same day, all of the television stations will be ying your address on repeat. On top of that, a nationwide mobilization order will be released by all newspaper and media outlets starting from 7 AM tomorrow."

    Shuten-doji was so numb at this point that he couldn''t even decipher whether this was good news or bad news. He was slumped in his chair with his hand supporting his chin, and there was a vacant look in his eyes as he asked, "So what''s going to be of Shikoku and Chugoku?"

    It was a question that waspletely unrted to the topic at hand, but it was something that everyone was thinking about.

    Indeed, Kyushu had fallen in less than four hours, and the Cathayan Underworld was definitely going to set its sights on Chugoku and Shikoku.

    The great yokai of Chugoku, Susa Boy, had already gone missing in the Cathayan Underworld, so Shuten-doji was the only one overseeing two entire regions, which consisted of eight counties and several dozen cities. Topound the Nipponese Underworld''s woes even further, Yamata no Orochi had gone into slumber beneath Amano-Iwato, and there was no way that it would be able to recover from its injuries without at least several centuries of rest.

    Shuten-doji continued in a despairing voice, "Close to two million Kunitsukami wereprehensively defeated by less than 200,000 Cathayan troops... Morale has already plummeted to the lowest possible point. Who''s going to guard Shikoku and Chugoku?"

    After several minutes of silence, Susanoo-no-Mikoto finally replied, "I''ve already ordered the Kunitsukami not to retreat any further. They are going to join the local daimyos in Shikoku and Chugoku to oppose the Cathayan Underworld''s army with the tenshu pavilions as their strongholds."

    A hint of deep sorrow surfaced in Shuten-doji''s eyes as he scoffed, "So we''re retreating away from the inter-realm mirrors?"

    The inter-realm mirrors were situated at all of the main roads, and they were the only things that could restrict the number of enemy troops flooding into the Nipponese Underworld.

    No one answered his question.

    There was no good answer that they could give.

    The fact that they were setting the tenshu pavilions as their strongholds meant that they had abandoned the inter-realm mirrors. However, even if they were to defend the inter-realm mirrors at all costs, the oue wouldn''t be much different. The Cathayan Underworld''s strategy was very clear: they were going to send mechanical weapons of war to wreak havoc among the Nipponese Underworld''s forces, then deploy troops through the inter-realm mirrors to buy time for the Harken to descend. Once the Harken arrived on the battlefield, it would be all over.

    The Harken had already disyed its powers in the town of Hasami. It was no exaggeration to say that it was like a lethal force of nature, as destructive as it was inevitable. In other words, if they wanted to defend the inter-realm mirrors, they would have to dedicate massive numbers of troops to oppose the Cathayan Underworld''s forces, but it would all be futile anyway once the Harken arrived on the scene.

    In abandoning the inter-realm mirrors, the Nipponese Underworld was giving up its only advantage.

    In this situation, it seemed that no strategy was viable for the Nipponese Underworld.

    It wasn''t because the Cathayan Underworld had a vast array of tactics that it could employ, there was simply an overwhelming disparity in power that made all strategy and tactics meaningless.

    "Are we just going to give up on Shikoku and Chugoku?" Shuten-doji asked through gritted teeth. "That''s my territory!"

    "We can''t make any more concessions!" Izanami dered with a serious expression. "We can''t allow the Cathayan Underworld''s forces to advance any further... Susanoo-no-Mikoto, you and Shuten-doji will be responsible for defending Chugoku and Shikoku!"

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto was struck by a reflexive urge to refuse. There was no way he could oppose the Harken!

    "Take Kusanagi no Tsurugi and Yata no Kagami!" Izanami said as she stood up with tightly gritted teeth. "We have to defend the inter-realm mirrors with our lives! Before the Coalition of Underworlds agrees to send reinforcements, we must fight tooth and nail for any inch of territory that we can! Otherwise, even if reinforcements arrive, we''ll potentially have to sacrifice territory in exchange for a truce."

    She raised her head and swept a serious gaze around the room. "Everyone, this is a crisis the magnitude of which our Nipponese Underworld has never encountered. If the Cathayan Underworld is allowed to establish a foundation on our territory, we''ll be assimted and devoured. Have there not been enough simr examples throughout history? We must defend Shikoku and Chugoku no matter what!"

    She mmed her fist forcefully onto the table as she dered in a decisive voice, "We must protect our nation at all costs! Deploy the remaining two million Kunitsukami! At the same time..."

    "Your Excellency!" Right at this moment, the doors were flung open, and Izanami''s secretary and assistant rushed in frantically. "The Hindustani Underworld has strongly denounced the Cathayan Underworld''s barbaric invasive behavior, and at the same time, they''ve opened up the Strait of Tsushima! The Naga Fleet and the Golden Fleet are already traveling toward the Nippon Sea, and they''re set to arrive within three hours!"

    A collective sigh of relief rang out across the entire hall, and Susanoo-no-Mikoto asked, "How are they able to get here so quickly?"

    "The Golden Fleet has always been docked near the Strait of Tsushima!" the secretary immediately replied, but no one noticed the desperate look on the assistant''s face.

    "Thank the heavens," Tamamo-no-Mae murmured to herself as she joined her palms together, then turned to the assistant and asked, "Is there anything else?"

    The assistant was silent for a long while before finally replying through gritted teeth, "Hokkaido has been attacked by over 200,000 enemy Yin soldiers! Also... Also..."

    Tamamo-no-Mae immediately sprang to her feet.

    Hokkaido was her territory!

    "What else is there?!" Her voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves as she made a grabbing motion, and the assistant was pulled toward her by the cor from afar. "Spit it out!"

    "Also... Also..." The assistant didn''t even dare to look at her, and only after a few seconds of stuttering did he finally manage to squeeze out the words: "The Reincarnation King of the Cathayan Underworld has arrived in Hokkaido in person..."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, his body fell onto the ground, while Tamamo-no-Mae stood rooted to the spot with a vacant look in her eyes, looking as if she had lost her soul. "What''s the situation in Hokkaido currently like?"

    The assistant gulped nervously before replying, "The entire region north of Asahikawa, Biei, and Furano has already fallen..."

    Deathly silence ensued once again.

    Essentially, 60% of the entirety of Hokkaido had already been conquered by the Cathayan Underworld!

    No wonder they hadn''t continued in their assault to attack Chugoku and Shikoku, choosing to continue to apply pressure on the west instead. Their real objective had been Hokkaido all along!

    Their army was advancing from both the east and the west, and eventually, the Nipponese Underworld''s forces would be forciblypressed to Chubu and Kansai!

    Only in this moment did they realize with startling rity that the Cathayan Underworld really did intend to conquer their entire nation.

    Even after the fall of Kyushu, they were still holding onto a shred of hope that the Cathayan Underworld was merely teaching them a lesson, and that once it was content that the Nipponese Underworld had learned its lesson, the Cathayan Underworld would withdraw its troops.

    However, they couldn''t delude themselves any longer.

    It was clear that the Cathayan Underworld was intending to herd the Nipponese Underworld''s forces into Chubu and Kansai, and if they were to seed, that would be the prelude to the fall of the entire nation! There was no way that they would allow the Nipponese Underworld any time to recover!

    "How could this be..." Tamamo-no-Mae finally returned to her senses, and her ck hair and nine tails fanned out behind her as she eximed, "There were no Cathayan forces near Hokkaido! We''ve been monitoring them the entire time! How did they get over there?!"

    The assistant replied in a trembling voice, "ording to our sources, they set off from Tokyo Bay, using the Mitsubishi Consortium''s newest submarines to travel to Hokkaido in secret, and.... and the daimyos in Hokkaido have already surrendered..."

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s hands balled up into tight fists upon hearing this. This was the worst possible news! Hokkaido was the northernmost prefecture of the Nipponese Underworld, and it had never been heavily guarded. In order to ward off the Cathayan Underworld''s troops, most of the Kunitsukami were already on their way to Chugoku and Shikoku. Who could''ve anticipated that this would happen?!

    "Hold on a minute! Even if submarines were used, they would still have to contend with the inter-realm mirrors! Our waters are currently filled with inter-realm mirrors, how were the daimyos unable to muster up any resistance?" Tamamo-no-Mae asked. "With Hokkaido''s defenses, there definitely would''ve been enough time to at least get the word out! Why is it that we haven''t heard anything before most of the prefecture was conquered?"

    The assistant naturally had no answer to that.

    However, everyone else present already knew the answer.

    It was because there were traitors!

    There were traitors who had allowed the enemy to enter the ind sea! At the same time, those traitors had opened up a path between the mortal realm and the underworld! There was no way that these Yin soldiers hade from the underworld as everything around the sea had been under their constant surveince ever since the beginning of the war!

    Who was it that had opened the shimenawa between the mortal realm and the underworld?

    Who was it that had allowed the Cathayan Underworld''s forces to ess Tokyo Bay?

    Izanami''s lips were pursed so tightly that the color hadpletely faded from them. "Amanozako, you shameless bitch! The daimyos must''ve been involved in this as well! I should''ve never allowed those pieces of scum to continue living! Susanoo-no-Mikoto!"

    "I''m here," Susanoo-no-Mikoto replied with a bow.

    "Take 150,000 Kunitsukami and travel to Tokyo right away to decimate all of the daimyos and seal Amanozako''s shimenawa!"

    "Yes!" Susanoo-no-Mikoto departed as a gust of Yin wind.

    Even though it was already too little toote, it was still better than doing nothing.

    "I''ll go as well." Tamamo-no-Mae stood up after taking a moment to calm herself down. "I have to return to Hokkaido right away. Perhaps I can still rally the troops to muster up some resistance."

    Izanami nodded in response, and Tamamo-no-Mae immediately also departed as a gust of Yin wind, following which Izanami closed her eyes in an exhausted manner.

    There was no way that the Cathayan Underworld''s forces could be stopped.

    With two Yama-Kings present on the battlefield, it would only be a matter of time before the inter-realm mirrors were torn wide open. Under normal circumstances, perhaps it would''ve taken the Cathayan Underworld''s army as long as a year to break through the inter-realm mirrors, but with the two Yama-Kings among their ranks, the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld would be conquered within a week!

    At this point, they could only rely on eternal aid.

    Izanami rose to her feet as she said in a cold voice, "Contact all of the underworlds right away! In 30 minutes, our Nipponese Underworld will be holding a press conference to dere an official state of war!"

    They couldn''t delude themselves any longer.

    They could only rely on reinforcements from the rest of the world, pinning their hopes on the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet to resist the Cathayan Underworld''s forces.

    At the very least, they had to preserve Amano-Iwato!

 Chapter 1236: The Complex Circumstances (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1236: The Complex Circumstances (2)</h4>

    Fierce karmic mes swept over Hokkaido, and looking out from Umi no Maru, one could only see a sea of bright red.

    Umi no Maru was the tenshu pavilion of the Matsumae n in the underworld. As a daimyo n that hadn''t been affected during the Sengoku period in the mortal realm, it had continued to maintain a neutral existence even after entering the underworld. As a result, it didn''t take part in the conflict between the daimyos and the gods and demons. Thus, Umi no Maru was expanded further and further over time, and at this point, it was virtually taking up the entire central region of Hokkaido.

    Tall city walls had been erected on either side of Umi no Maru, and they were entirely constructed from the D-grade material, Spirit Devouring Crystal. The city walls extended as far as the eyes could see, and they gave off a warped, semi-transparent ck presentation, much like obsidian. The city walls cut off all paths from Umi no Maru to the southern part of Hokkaido, and the inter-realm mirrors were no more than 10 meters away from the city walls, so cavaliers were unable to charge through the mirrors and siege weapons couldn''t bepletely erected. As a result, it was known as the northern great wall of the Nipponese Underworld.

    The reason why Umi no Maru was so resolute was because Hokkaido neighbored the Cathayan Underworld and the Russian Underworld. In the face of one of the four pirs and a first-rate underworld, the Nipponese Underworld had no choice but to erect the sturdiest of fortresses here.

    It was already 4 AM, but Umi no Maru was still brightly lit and bustling with activity.

    Down below, countless warhorses and foot soldiers had already assembled, and gs bearing the Matsumae n''s emblem were pping in the wind. Over 100,000 yokai and Yin soldiers had gathered in Umi no Maru, and they were all looking on with wary expressions beyond the mountain.

    Several hours ago, the Cathayan Underworld''s Yin soldiers had descended upon S¨­ya-misaki, Wakkanai, and the Shiretoko Penins, seemingly out of nowhere, arriving at over 10 different points on the coastline of Hokkaido.

    Three hours ago, Lake Kussharo was conquered.

    Two hours ago, Lake Mash¨± and Lake Akan were conquered in rapid session.

    Thetest report hade an hour ago, bearing news of the fall of Daisetsuzan.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s forces were unstoppable!

    The Nipponese Underworld''s Yin soldiers and yokai werepletely unprepared, and they were no match for the formidable Cathayan army. Even Tamamo-no-Mae had gone to reinforce Chugoku and Shikoku, and no one could''ve anticipated that the Cathayan Underworld would be attacking from both coasts.

    All of the yokai in the tenshu pavilion had assembled, and soldiers bearing reports were constantlying and going. Even the most ordinary of servants could sense the tension in the air, and they didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly in fear of drawing attention to themselves. In the face of the Cathayan Underworld''s forces, the entirety of Umi no Maru had be eerily silent.

    Onmoraki''s teeth were tightly gritted as he mmed thetest report onto the table. "We can''t retreat any further than this! The entire northern half of Hokkaido has already fallen, yet the Cathayan Underworld''s troops are still advancing! They''re not just seeking to conquer Hokkaido, they want to go even further beyond that and invade the rest of the nation!"

    Wany¨±d¨­ transformed into a menacing face in mid-air as it said, "If Hokkaido falls, then the Cathayan Underworld''s army will seize control over the Tsugaru Straits, which is a natural barricade. If the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t return that territory to us, we''ll never be able to stage a sessful retaliation! If Umi no Maru is lost, then that would be the equivalent of Hokkaido being lost, and our deaths will be inevitable regardless of whether we flee or not. Our best chance now is to rely on Umi no Maru as a fortress. At the very least, we have tost until Mistress Izanami''s orders arrive!"

    "We won''t be able to defend Umi or Maru on our own," Bake-kujira said in a grim voice. "The Matsumae n..."

    "The Matsumae n will defend Hokkaido with our lives!" Before Bake-kujira had a chance to finish, the door was abruptly opened, following which Kakizaki Suehiro entered the room in a full suit of armor with a katana strapped to his waist. Behind him were Matsumae Yoshihiro and Kakizaki Mitsuhiro, both of which were also fully equipped with armor.

    Behind them was a samurai in a suit of red armor, but what was different about him was that instead of the fukikaeshi ps that were customarily present on samurai helmets, his helmet had a swathe of white fur.

    This suit of armor was extremely distinctive and renowned, to the point that all of the gods and demons of the Nipponese Underworld were aware of who it belonged to. In the blink of an eye, several underworld emissaries raised their heads with stunned expressions. "Is that Takeda Shingen?"

    Following their surprise came the tion!

    Chubu and Kansai had deployed their troops!

    Reinforcements had arrived!

    They weren''t reinforcements from the faction of gods and demons, but Takeda Shingen was a vastly renowned daimyo of the Sengoku period! Even in the underworld, the Takeda n was a formidable force to be reckoned with. With their assistance, Umi no Maru would at least be able tost longer than it otherwise would.

    "Takeda San..." Onmoraki made his way over to Takeda Shingen with an excited expression, yet before he had even arrived, he was greeted by a shing de.

    Kakizaki Suehiro, Matsumae Yoshihiro, Kakizaki Mitsuhiro, and Takeda Shingen had drawn their des in unison. Onmoraki''s ted expression was still frozen on its face as its body abruptly disintegrated into Yin energy andherfire.

    Deathly silence.

    This was such an abrupt turn of events that Wany¨±d¨­ was rooted to the spot for three seconds before turning around and fleeing for its life. "Takeda Shingen is a traitor!"

    There were a total of six underworld emissaries in the hall, and they frantically rushed toward the doors. However, in the instant that the doors were opened, they were greeted by the sight of countless foot soldiers standing outside.

    They were foot soldiers that served the daimyos.

    Countless weapons were aimed toward the hall, and as soon as the underworld emissaries rushed out, they were met by a ruthless assault, which was thest thing that they saw before entering the cycle of reincarnation.

    In that instant, they suddenly understood many things.

    Why had the daimyos arrived in full suits of armor? How had the fleets of the Cathayan Underworld arrived at Hokkaido without any warning? Why was it that the Cathayan Underworld''s forces were attacking Umi no Maru when it was one of the most resolute fortresses in the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld?

    In the instant right before their demise, they were all blessed by the gift of hindsight, allowing them to see everything clearly, but unfortunately for them, they wouldn''t be able to tell anyone what they had just figured out.

    "Seize the city!" Takeda Shingenmanded without any hesitation. "Seize Umi no Maru and open the city gates! Kill all of the underworld emissaries in the city with no exceptions!"

    "Yes!!"

    One ship after another sliced through the waves, traveling directly toward the Nipponese Underworld.

    The ships were enormous. Each one was over 100 meters in length, and there were countless Yin soldiers stationed on them, ready for battle. Furthermore, the sides of all of the ships were lined with hooked spikes and cannons.

    There were over 100 ships in total in the fleet, and what was most peculiar about the ships was that they were all of a pure golden color. All of the fleets that they encountered along the way immediately parted to let them through. Everyone knew that this was the Golden Fleet, which reigned supreme in the Mediterranean Sea!

    The Golden Fleet had arrived, and Erinys was also present. That wasn''t even to mention the smaller ships at the center of the Golden Fleet. There were roughly 200 of these ships, and they were entirely ck in color. Furthermore, their design was quite strange, with figureheads depicting creatures with female human upper bodies and serpentine tails. This was the vastly renowned Naga Fleet of the Hindustani Underworld, and no one dared to get in the way of these two formidable fleets.

    The main ship of the Golden Fleet, the Hades, was situated at the very center. It was over 400 meters in size and armed to the teeth. On the top-level deck of the Hades stood Erinys, who was holding a pair of golden binocrs and wearing a pure white cape, as well as a pair of ck gloves and a tricorne.

    As the main ship of the Golden Fleet, the Hades was extremely luxurious. Behind her was the captain of the Hades and a group of high-ranking officials, which amounted to a total of 13 Abyssal Prefects!

    All of them were standing in silence as their clothes pped incessantly amid the passing Yin wind.

    The Cathayan Underworld hadunched an assault on the Nipponese Underworld, and at this point, the entire eastern region of the Nipponese Underworld had already fallen. Erinys had received an order from Hypnos, instructing her to travel to the Nipponese Underworld as quickly as possible, and at the moment, the Spratly Inds were directly ahead of them.

    This was already a part of the Cathayan Underworld''s waters, and Erinys set down her binocrs as shemanded in a thunderous voice that was audible across the entire fleet, "All units, report your positions!"

    One report after another immediately arrived, and no abnormalities were reported. However, not only was Erinys not relieved to hear this, her brows furrowed even further.

    There was clearly something wrong here!

    It was an easy task for the Cathayan Underworld to take down the Nipponese Underworld. The most difficult part of all of this was contending with the Coalition of Underworlds. With that in mind, she was already prepared to engage the Cathayan Underworld''s navy in battle in the South Cathay Sea, but no enemy troops had been stationed here at all!

    Could this be an oversight from the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo?

    Erinys was not convinced of that. She had met the third King Yanluo on several asions, so she knew just how sly and cunning he was. There was no way that he would fail to realize who his true opposition was during this invasion of the Nipponese Underworld.

    "All ships are to continue to remain on high alert!" she ordered. "If any abnormalities are discovered, you have permission to open fire right away without having to wait for my orders!"

    However, the fleet encountered no resistance whatsoever as it passed by the Spratly Inds, the Two Groups Inds, and even the Scarborough Shoal and the Zhongsha Inds!

    They had already entered the Cathayan Underworld''s ind sea, and going any further beyond this point would take them to Formosa!

    Erinys was bing more and more tensed up by the second. The entire fleet had slowed down significantly, and right at this moment, an enormous pir of water suddenly erupted out of the surface of the sea up ahead.

    Immediately thereafter, a series of giant tentacles emerged from the waves like ascending dragons, sending a boundless storm of rainwater crashing down from above. Within the storm was a massive, inky ck ind that was rising up from the depths of the sea!

    It''s here!

    Erinys''s heart immediately leaped into her throat, and she had already identified the emerging ind as the Cathayan Underworld''s marine fortress, the Kraken!

    One of the Abyssal Prefects beside her immediately asked, "What do we do? Do we attack?"

    This was by far the most enormous fortress they had ever encountered on the sea, and it was capable ofpletely destroying their fleet just by crashing into it!

    Of course, the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet wouldn''t just sit there and allow the Kraken to wreak havoc as it pleased. If the two fleets were that vulnerable, then there would''ve been no need for the Kraken to be deployed to intercept them. The fact that the Kraken had appeared here was already an indication that Qin Ye was taking them very seriously.

    "The Kraken has emerged quite far away, so it looks like they don''t want a direct confrontation." Erinys cast a grim gaze toward the horizon, where countless specks ofherfire had already lit up on the ck ind that was the Kraken.

    Those were Yin spirit cannons, indicating that the Kraken was prepared for battle, and that any ships that approached it would be met with an indiscriminate attack from the Cathayan Underworld''s navy!

    "Stop here," Erinys ordered. "They''re issuing us a warning. I''m sure they''ll be sending underworld emissaries to speak to us soon. The Coalition of Underworlds still hasn''t arrived at a decision yet, and if we''re too aggressive in our attack, we''ll be swept up into this war as well. If two of the four pirs get involved, then this could easily escte into a world war, and the consequences of that would be dire."

    The captain was silent for a moment before asking, "So you''re saying we should stop here and wait for a decision from the Coalition of Underworlds?"

    Erinys turned and made her way toward the ship''s cabin with her cape pping behind her like a gorgeous flower in the night.

    "Of course. It''s up to the Coalition of Underworlds to decide whether this will just be a war between two nations or a third world war."

 Chapter 1237: The Complex Circumstances (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1237: The Complex Circumstances (3)</h4>

    "Now then, I will be reading out document number 0000 from the Cathayan Underworld."

    Qin Ye was about to deliver his address at the meeting of the Coalition of Underworlds, and the entire conference hall waspletely silent. Everyone''s attention was focused on the lectern, and Qin Ye suddenly smiled before continuing, "Prior to reading out the document, everyone here has a right to know the circumstances surrounding this invasion. Firstly, I have to make one thing clear: the Cathayan Underworld is not a warmongering nation. Throughout the entire history of the Cathayan Underworld, we have never once activelyunched an invasion on any other nation."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, a death god immediately countered, "That''s only how your predecessors did things, it doesn''t represent your stance on this subject."

    Qin Ye wasn''t flustered at all by this. It was only to be expected.

    In an era of peace, no underworld wanted to see any wars arise. No one wanted to be neighbors with a warmongering underworld as it would be like constantly living next to a ticking time bomb.

    Even the five Northern Europa nations and the Alkebn Underworlds didn''t stick up for the Cathayan Underworld here. Despite the fact that they were close allies of the Cathayan Underworld, they didn''t want to see the underworld ravaged by war, either.

    "I assure you that my stance on war is identical to that of my two predecessors," Qin Ye said. "As I''m sure you''re all aware, the Cathayan Underworld has only deployed its troops to the Nipponese Underworld as thetter had sent armed forces into the Cathayan Underworld''s territorypletely unannounced..."

    "Yanluo Qin," Yamaraja interjected in a cold voice. "We all know that''s just a manufactured excuse to start this war, so let''s not y any more pointless mind games. Even if that''s true, this is only a diplomatic dispute, and it''s certainly not sufficient reason tounch an invasion! What are you trying to do? Are you trying to transform the Cathayan Underworld into a fascist nation? The Nipponese Underworld has existed for close to 2,000 years! It may not be able topare with the top underworlds, but it has still made significant contributions to the cultural development of the underworld! The Coalition of Underworlds won''t ept or condone any invasions, especially onesunched with the intention of destroying a nation!"

    He rose to his feet as he looked directly into Qin Ye''s eyes. "You are seeking to destroy an entire race and culture. This is genocide! It''s no different from what Hitler did in the mortal realm!"

    Thanatos chimed in in a cold voice, "Even though Hitler immediately became a Marquess after entering the underworld, he was ced into a torturous purgatory for all of eternity without any chance for reincarnation. Are you trying to follow in his footsteps to start a third underworld war?"

    With two of the three pirs leading the way, the death gods who were too scared to speak before this immediately made their voices heard as well.

    "Yanluo Qin, the duty of the four pirs is to lead the development of the entire underworld, not wipe out civilizations!"

    "Yanluo Qin, forgive me for being blunt, but I find the Cathayan Underworld''s invasion of the Nipponese Underworldpletely inexplicable!"

    "The Cathayan Underworld''s invasion of the Nipponese Underworld is threatening to tear apart the very fabric of this era of peace and prosperity! As the dominant power in Eastern Asia, the Cathayan Underworld should be taking it upon itself to ensure the peace and stability of the region, not wreaking havoc and chaos!"

    These voices reflected the attitude of the entire world, and it seemed that the entire underworld was against him.

    "Silence!" Qin Ye said in a tranquil voice. "I''ll listen to what everyone has to say after I read out document number 0000."

    He cleared his throat and swept his gaze over all of the death gods present before continuing, "The Cathayan Underworld''s deration of war against the Nipponese Underworld is part of our nation''s domestic politics. Historically speaking, the Nipponese Underworld is a part of the Cathayan Underworld, so this is not an invasion."

    His voice was very calm, yet it immediately sent a massive stir sweeping through the entire hall.

    "The Nipponese Underworld is a part of the Cathayan Underworld?" Yamaraja scoffed. "That''s the best joke I''ve heard this century!"

    Thanatos said in a cold voice, "If your objective for starting this war is to make the Nipponese Underworld a part of the Cathayan Underworld, then I am prepared to exercise my right to defend the civilizations of the world. Yanluo Qin, this is no ce for jokes. Please consider your words carefully before you speak."

    Qin Ye made a quieting gesture before continuing, "To provide context, we must go back to over a century ago. Do you know why the second King Yanluo chose me as his sessor? Also, the Cathayan Underworld was at the height of its powers under the rule of the second King Yanluo, so why was it suddenly isted from the rest of the world?"

    Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.

    Indeed, this was a mystery that had been on everyone''s mind throughout the past century.

    Everyone''s attention was focused on Qin Ye, and he exined in a calm voice, "100 years ago, Ksitigarbha became a true god and ascended to Heaven. His ascension triggered a massive chain reaction that destroyed the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld, and all of the Cathayan Underworld''s emissaries also ascended to Heaven along with him."

    Deathly silence.

    After a few seconds of stunned silence, a string of gasps rang out around the hall, and there were even several death gods who had sprung to their feet. Even the ruler death gods of the three pirs were staring at Qin Ye with incredulity in their eyes.

    "All underworld emissaries?" Yamaraja asked in a strained voice. "Including the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces and the Sixfold Ghost Kings?"

    Everyone waited for Qin Ye''s answer with bated breath. H''s mouth had gaped open in shock, while J?rmungandr was shaking his head as if he were in a trance. Both of them were staring at what they had believed to be a powerful ally. The statement was very brief, and Qin Ye''s voice had also been quite calm, but the information that he had just revealed was nothing short of a bombshell!

    In contrast, the invasion of the Nipponese Underworld was nothing! Theplete decline of the Cathayan Underworld was enough to change the state of the entire world! This really could be the catalyst to the third great war of theherworld!

    "That''s right," Qin Ye replied without any hesitation. "When I took over as King Yanluo, the Cathayan Underworld had no Yama-Kings or Abyssal Prefects, and only a single Infernal Judge."

    Veins were bulging on the backs of Anubis''s hands as he gripped tightly onto his armrests. In this instant, there were so many thoughts shing through his mind that he found himself temporarily at a loss for words.

    He was thinking about what to do next.

    Could he pressure the Cathayan Underworld? It wasn''t like they had the power to resist anyway! They could refuse to pay for the energy resource and even turn the tables on them, seizing the means of energy resource production!

    It was clear that the Cathayan Underworld didn''t have the power to protect the new energy resource, so it couldn''t me anyone else for taking advantage of its weakness.

    In fact, was there a case to be made for invading the Cathayan Underworld? Was there finally a possibility that the four pirs could be the three pirs?

    The main question on Anubis''s mind was why Qin Ye had revealed all of this.

    Did he not understand the consequences of divulging this information? Why had he chosen to do this?

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs wisely chose not to say anything, waiting in silence for Qin Ye to continue.

    "The journey to rebuilding the Cathayan Underworld was a long and arduous one, and during this process, we captured an insubordinate Yama-King by the name of Xu Fu. Through searching his soul, we discovered that he was the first-ever emperor and ruler of Nippon, Emperor Jimmu! Throughout all of history, all underworlds have followed the same process of formation. A nation has to be united, following which a religion arises, and only then can death gods and underworlds emerge. Thus, the Nipponese Underworld has always been part of the Cathayan Underworld''s territory! As such, the war between the Cathayan Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld is an internal affair for the Cathayan Underworld, and all underworlds that dare to intervene in this matter will be viewed as the Cathayan Underworld''s enemy!"

    His voice was like rumbling thunder that rang out across the entire conference hall, but no one said anything on this asion.

    There was too much information to process...

    The fall of the Nipponese Underworld was already a foregone conclusion, but what was much more astonishing to everyone was the knowledge of what had happened in the Cathayan Underworld during the past century.

    It was no wonder that the Cathayan Underworld had isted itself from the rest of the world. Without the Array of the Nine Gods, the Cathayan Underworld would''ve most likely already ceased to exist by now!

    No wonder the Cathayan Underworld had only opened up an outpost in Formosa several decades after it first re-emerged during the conference in Nara! It turned out that Qin Ye had been bluffing all along, and that the Cathayan Underworld had been extremely vulnerable this entire time!

    "How could this be..." H slumped back into her chair as she massaged her own temples with incredulity in her eyes. "How is this possible..."

    During the past few decades, due to the influence of the Cathayan Underworld''s Zhu Rong n, work on the Argosian Underworld''s Prometheus n had ceased indefinitely. Following the emergence of the new energy resource, the five Northern Europa nations had even managed to grab some market share in the Argosian Underworld with its cutting-edge technology.

    However, it turned out that they had been relying on a sinking ship all along!

    The Cathayan Underworld had the new energy resource and Zhao Yun, but all of the other three pirs had a crushing advantage over the Cathayan Underworld regardless of whether it came to wealth or power! At the moment, the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t even fit to be one of the four pirs!

    "Why would he tell everyone that?" H looked up at Qin Ye with mixed emotions in her eyes. "Doesn''t he know the consequences behind his words? The state of the entire world is going to be turned on its head because of this announcement!"

    There were a few seconds ofplete silence, followed by hushed conversations that quickly crescendoed into a sea of discussion!

    All of the death gods were staring at Qin Ye as if they were looking at a delectable piece of meat, and only the ruler death gods of the three pirs were able to maintain theirposure.

    They were weighing up their options. This information was nothing short of a bombshell, and they were scrambling to decide what they were going to do next.

    There was no way that the invasion on the Nipponese Underworld would be able to shake up the state of the world, but news of the reality of the Cathayan Underworld''s internal affairs was certainly something capable of creating a massive stir in the world!

    Not only was the Cathayan Underworld at its lowest point in thousands of years, it had to spare troops and power to invade another nation! Didn''t that leave the Cathayan Underworldpletely vulnerable to attacks?

    What if they were to forcibly step in after the Cathayan Underworld conquered the Nipponese Underworld? Would they be able to seize both underworlds?

    These were the first thoughts that sprang into the minds of the three ruler death gods, but their attention was then quickly turned toward the potential underlying hazards.

    What had given Qin Ye the confidence to reveal such a damning secret? So long as the Array of the Nine Gods remained standing, there was no way that anyone would''ve been able to find out the true state of the Cathayan Underworld, so why had he willingly revealed this information?

    Thanatos was looking up at Qin Ye with a perplexed expression, unable toprehend Qin Ye''s words and actions.

    Qin Ye seemed to be able to see the thoughts of all of the death gods, and he smiled as he suddenly said, "As I''m sure you''re all aware, the current capital city of the Cathayan Underworld is Everburn. You may be under the impression that we simply renamed Fengdu, but that is not the case. All of the old Hell''s resources, cities, and Yin spirits were eradicated during Ksitigarbha''s ascension, so the new Hell was built uppletely from scratch. At the moment, our poption only stands at around 300 to 400 million, while the troops in our army only number in the millions."

    Themotion in the hall crescendoed to even greater heights in the wake of this revtion.

    Even H, J?rmungandr, and all of the Alkebn Mythical Spirits had risen to their feet.

    What is he doing?! Doesn''t this mean that the Cathayan Underworld doesn''t even have any forbidden arts left?! Why is he doing this?!

    "Silence!" Qin Ye''s voice erupted over the entire hall alongside his formidable Yin energy, and everyone quickly fell silent again.

    He smiled as he continued, "Now then, have we arrived at a consensus? Do we all agree that the war in the Nipponese Underworld is a part of the Cathayan Underworld''s internal affairs? Let''s have a vote to settle this. Those who agree that this is an invasion that needs to be stopped by force by the Coalition of Underworlds, please raise your hand now."

    The announcement was met byplete silence.

    Not a single underworld representative raised their hand!

    "Oh? Weren''t you all adamant about protecting the civilizations of the world earlier?" Qin Ye asked with an amused smile. "How about we adjourn this meeting for a short while so everyone can have some time to think?"

 Chapter 1238: Resolution 0000 (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1238: Resolution 0000 (1)</h4>

    Chief Secretary Anador immediately chimed in, "Due to the abrupt turn the proceedings have taken, I suggest we adjourn this meeting for two hours. Please meet back here in two hours. For now, meeting adjourned!"

    After that, she hurriedly left the venue.

    Qin Ye didn''t say anything as he calmly walked down from the stage. Right as he was passing by the ruler death gods of the three pirs, Yamaraja suddenly said, "Given how severely depleted the Cathayan Underworld is, don''t you think you''re biting off more than you can chew by attacking the Nipponese Underworld at a time like this?"

    Qin Ye took a nce at him, then cast his gaze toward Thanatos and Anubis as a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

    "Biting off more than we can chew? I think you''re under the false assumption that taking down the Nipponese Underworld poses a challenge to us. It just so happens that I have a present for all of you that will be revealed in a few days, and you''ll understand everything then. For now, please exercise some patience."

    With that, he departed from the hall, but none of the three ruler death gods left. Thanatos turned to the other two with a smile as he said, "Looks like unwavering confidence is a trait shared by all rulers of the Cathayan Underworld. It just so happens to be the perfect time for breakfast. Would you care to join me?"

    "Of course."

    The construction of the headquarters for the Coalition of Underworlds was funded by all nations, and it wasplete with all types of facilities, including breakfast restaurants of all types of national cuisines.

    The restaurants reserved for the ruler death gods of the four pirs were naturally different from those catering to other death gods. The three ruler death gods soon found themselves in a resplendent hall with bodyguards stationed outside. There were fake mountains and streams, as well as all types of exotic nts in the hall, and as soon as the three ruler death gods sat down, gentle piano music immediately began to y.

    A delectable breakfast was quickly brought to them on beautiful tters one dish after another, and the fragrance of milk, coffee, and freshly baked bread instantly wafted throughout the entire hall.

    "Thinking back now, we really should''ve seen thising," Thanatos murmured as he took a sip of coffee. "Prior to opening up the ind of Formosa as an outpost, most of the Cathayan Underworld''s trade with the rest of the world was conducted in the form of exchanges of goods, rather than transactions involving currency. There''s no way that a normal underworld would''ve done that."

    Anubis clearly had a preference for dairy products, and he raised a cup of milk to his lips with a ck paw, then said, "However, no one suspected a thing just because the Cathayan Underworld is one of the four pirs. Cognitive inertia really is a terrifying thing..."

    "That''s not important," Yamaraja said as he set down his cup of ck tea. "There''s no point in thinking about missed opportunities and crying over spilled milk. The Array of the Nine Gods prevented us from doing anything to the Cathayan Underworld anyway. What we have to discuss now is what we''re going to do next."

    Thanatos downed his coffee in one go, then set the empty cup down onto the table. A server quickly took the empty cup away before recing it with a gold-rimmed crystal cup, which was filled with fragrant green tea.

    "Surely he''s not revealing all of this just because we can''t break through the Array of the Nine Gods. It''s imperative for the Cathayan Underworld to maintain its status and reputation, and those aren''t things that can be protected by the Array of the Nine Gods."

    Yamaraja shook his head in response. "If that was his logic, then he would''ve already revealed this long ago."

    "So why is he only telling everyone this now?"

    "I don''t know," Yamaraja replied with an absentminded expression. "However, I''m almost certain that he definitely has something up his sleeve."

    "Perhaps we can try to probe out exactly what he has up his sleeve," Thanatos suggested.

    The other two ruler death gods'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this. In a rare moment of unity, the three ruler death gods hade together.

    Thanatos picked up a small piece of cake before cing it into his own mouth in an elegant manner. "Erinys''s Golden Fleet is currently locked in a confrontation with the Kraken."

    This statement was met by a few seconds of silence, following which Anubis asked, "Are you of the opinion that the Cathayan Underworld''s current navy isn''t powerful enough to oppose the Golden Fleet? If that''s the case, then we can get the Golden Fleet tounch the first attack under the guise of protesting the invasion of the Nipponese Underworld, and that could force the Cathayan Underworld to reveal its trump card early."

    At this point, the Nipponese Underworld was alreadypletely inconsequential, at least in their eyes.

    All they were interested in was how they could exploit the situation with the Nipponese Underworld to achieve their objectives, no one actually cared about the Nipponese Underworld itself.

    Who had risen up in opposition back when the Argosian Underworld had conquered most of Europa and the Aegyptian Underworld had conquered the Middle East?

    Even the second King Yanluo turned a blind eye to all of that.

    If one of the four pirs were determined to get something, there would be no way to stop them. Thus, seeing as opposing the invasion would be futile anyway, it would be far more beneficial for them to think about how they could use this invasion to their advantage.

    Thanatos nodded with a smile, then dismissed all of the nearby servants with a wave of his hand. At the same time, a Judge-level underworld emissary silently approached him before extending a respectful bow. "What are your instructions?"

    Thanatos turned to the underworld emissary with his eyes slightly narrowed, then said, "Send a message to Erinys right away instructing her to be more aggressive and confrontational with her words and actions. Ultimately, the goal is to find an excuse to open fire on the Kraken."

    Theherfire in the underworld emissary''s eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this, following which he lowered his head in response. "As you wish."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    On the Hades of the Golden Fleet.

    Erinys set down the receiver with her brows slightly furrowed, unable toprehend why Thanatos would issue her such an order.

    She cast her gaze toward the distant horizon, where the Kraken sat on the surface of the sea like an insurmountable ind, cutting off the entire waterway. Even the mighty Golden Fleet would struggle to deal with the consequences of attacking such a monstrosity, and she couldn''t help but wonder what Thanatos was thinking.

    However, it was her duty to follow orders, so she would still do as she was told.

    She returned to the cabin, where all of the high-ranking officials on the ship were already awaiting orders. She took a brief moment to gather her thoughts, then instructed, "Connect me to the Kraken..."

    Right at this moment, her voice abruptly trailed off as she cast an incredulous gaze forward. Furthermore, she wasn''t the only one; all of the underworld emissaries in the cabin were also stunned by what they were seeing.

    It was a small boat in an antiquated Cathayan style, and there were two boatmen paddling the vessel as it slowly emerged from the Kraken, then casually made its way toward the formidable Golden Fleet.

    One of the generals on the Hades looked on with tightly furrowed brows, unable to quiteprehend what he was witnessing.

    The boat moved forward slowly yet steadily, and five minutester, Erinys''s expression suddenly changed slightly as she took a deep breath. "Prepare to wee the Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld!"

    A Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld?

    Everyone turned toward her with incredulous expressions, and she exined, "We are on the sea right now, and there are countless powerful beasts in the sea, yet not a single one has dared to attack that boat! What do you think that entails?"

    Everyone was immediately enlightened upon hearing this, and they quickly departed to make preparations. However, Erinys remained still on the spot, continuing to stare intently at the approaching boat.

    The boat was extremely peculiar.

    Just as she had said, not a single Yin beast dared to appear near the boat, as if there were some type of terrifying monster on it. However, what was most perplexing to her was that she was unable to sense any Yin energy at alling from the boat!

    This meant that there was either really no Yin energy on the boat, or there was a being on the boat that was so far beyond her that she couldn''t even sense their Yin energy!

    As the boat drew closer and closer, the sense of pressure in the air grew more and more oppressive. She was holding onto the railing in front of her with a white-knuckled grip, and she felt as if she were witnessing a boundless abyss slowly making its way toward her over the sea.

    Right at this moment, her secretary quickly approached her. "All preparations areplete... Mistress Erinys?"

    Erinys was still staring intently at the approaching boat, which was no more than two kilometers away from the forefront of the Golden Fleet at this point. She felt as if she were being crushed under a mountain, almost robbing her of her ability to breathe, and she gritted her teeth before abruptly transforming into a gust of Yin wind that sped onto the sea.

    She had intended to wait on the Hades for the opposition''s representative as an act of intimidation. After all, this was the mighty Golden Fleet. However, she didn''t dare to allow them to set foot onto the ship now!

    In fact, she was having to fight back the urge to activate the Golden Fleet''s protective barriers to their full capacity!

    Who exactly was on the boat?

    "Mistress Erinys!"

    "We must protect Mistress Erinys!"

    Erinys emerged in front of the fleet, hovering just above the surface of the sea as she sped toward the boat as a gust of Yin wind.

    The closer she drew to the boat, the clearer she was able to see it, and she finally spotted a spear that was standing upright like a silver pir.

    "That''s the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear!" Erinys eximed as a wary look surfaced in her eyes.

    It was Zhao Yun!

    He was the only being above the Yama-King level that was currently still free to roam the underworld, and even the ruler death gods of the three pirs wouldn''t stand a chance against him unless they used their underworld''s creation-grade divine artifacts!

    Was Zhao Yun the source of the Cathayan Underworld''s confidence in the face of the denouncement of the entire world?

    "What a pleasure it is to meet you here, Ghost King Zhao." She drew to an abrupt halt in front of the small boat, then extended an elegant bow as she asked, "May I ask why you''re here, Ghost King Zhao?"

    Inside the cabin of the boat, the sound of a wine cup being set down onto a table rang out, immediately following which a man in a suit of dashing white armor slowly emerged. He stood at the entrance of the cabin with his hands sped behind his back, looking directly at Erinys, and Erinys didn''t dare to raise her head to look at him.

    Standing in such close proximity to Zhao Yun, every single cell in her entire body was screaming at her to get away as quickly as possible. However, her body waspletely paralyzed as if she were suffering through the most terrifying of nightmares.

    A drop of cold sweat dripped down onto the surface of the sea, creating a series of tiny ripples. Right at this moment, the surrounding pressure abruptly eased, and Zhao Yun said in a cold voice, "You should thank your lucky stars, Erinys. Half an hour ago, Yanluo Qin told me that he strongly suspected that someone was going to open fire on the Kraken. I''m sure you know what the consequences would be if you had opened fire on a naval military base of the Cathayan Underworld."

    He took a step forward, and just this single step was enough to make Erinys feel as if the entire world were copsing in toward her!

    The pressure that Zhao Yun was exuding at this moment was far beyond anything that the ruler death gods of the three pirs could muster up!

    "I understand," she replied in a strained voice.

    At this point, Zhao Yun had already arrived directly in front of her, and through her lowered eyes, she could only see his boots. "Ry a message from me to your ruler death god. Ask him whether he''s prepared for a third great war of theherworld. If the answer is no, then you''d better not try anything funny! If the answer is yes..."

    A gust of fierce wind swept forth, and Erinys abruptly raised her head as she drew a sharp breath, upon which she discovered that she had been blown back by over a kilometer in the blink of an eye!

    The ses in front of her was churning violently, and Yin energy had formed a boundless ck screen around the boat, extending up as far as the eyes could see!

    Zhao Yun had already grabbed onto his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear, and with a gentle flick of his wrist, the tip of the spear was aimed directly at Erinys''s throat.

    "Then feel free to try me."

 Chapter 1239: Resolution 0000 (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1239: Resolution 0000 (2)</h4>

    At the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds, Thanatos ended the call before turning to Anubis and Yamaraja, then shook his head at the two of them.

    "It didn''t work?" Anubis asked with apletely unsurprised expression before taking a sip of tea.

    As one of Qin Ye''s most powerful adversaries, he knew how Qin Ye liked to do things. The fact that he dared tosh out at the Nipponese Underworld meant that he had definitely already made preparations to ward off the pressure from the rest of the underworld.

    "Ghost King Zhao is on the Kraken," Thanatos exined, and Yamaraja heaved a faint sigh.

    Thebination of the Kraken and Zhao Yun was like an insurmountable barrier. A being above the Yama-King level alone wouldn''t be capable of stopping the Golden Fleet, but in order to bypass him, even the mighty Golden Fleet would have to expend a massive price.

    This was a spacious courtyard with a pronounced tropical style, and female servants wearing thin silk scarves were diligently serving the three ruler death gods. The area appeared to be quite open and spacious, but in reality, it had beenpletely surrounded by the bodyguards of the three ruler death gods.

    Anubis set down his teacup, then said, "Given the current situation, we can say one thing for sure: the trump card that the Cathayan Underworld possesses is definitely an extremely powerful one, and it''s also one that can''t be used easily."

    "However, once used, it''ll have a decisive impact," Yamaraja mused.

    "Otherwise, they would''ve already used it on the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet," Thanatos chimed in. "What do you think their trump card is?"

    No one offered a response.

    10 secondster, Yamaraja slowly rose to his feet. "Let''s go. The second meeting is about to begin, and I''m sure the Cathayan Underworld will show us the answer very soon."

    8AM, headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds.

    The gs of all of the underworlds were waving gently at the front of the hall, and all of the death gods entered the building, having already made their decisions. Soon, all 34 of the underworld''s ruler death gods were assembled in the conference hall, preparing to make their final decision.

    Anador didn''t dy the proceedings and immediately asked Qin Ye to deliver his address. Qin Ye naturally wasn''t going to turn down the request, and he stepped onto the stage before extending a slight bow. "Greetings, everyone. I''m very happy to see all of you back here after the adjournment of the meeting. I''m sure all of you have already made a decision, but before we vote, I would like to announce resolution 0000, so please withhold your decisions for now and cast your final vote after hearing what I have to say."

    All of the death gods'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and only then did they realize that the so-called resolution 0000 still hadn''t been announced yet.

    They had forgotten all about this in the wake of the bombshell that had been dropped onto their heads two hours ago! During the two-hour adjournment of the meeting, all of the ruler death gods were frantically getting in touch with their advisors, and resolution 0000 waspletely forgotten about amid the chaos.

    Qin Ye slowly swept his gaze over all of the death gods present, and only after a few seconds of silence did he continue, "The first use of resolution 0000 stages that once the province of Nippon is recovered, the Cathayan Underworld will open up the Array of the Nine Gods to grant the entire world ess to the Nipponese Underworld''s market!"

    All of the death gods immediately raised their heads to stare at Qin Ye with stunned expressions upon hearing this.

    Several hours ago, he had revealed the current state of the Cathayan Underworld to everyone, all but admitting that the Cathayan Underworld was no longer fit to continue as one of the four pirs.

    However, at this moment, he was announcing that the Cathayan Underworld was going to reintegrate itself with the rest of the world again, making itselfpletely vulnerable in the process!

    Was he not afraid that the Cathayan Underworld would be invaded without the Array of the Nine Gods to protect it?

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs stared intently at Qin Ye for a moment before silently lowering their heads in contemtion.

    It looks like the Cathayan Underworld''s trump card is most likely even more fearsome than we imagined.

    Yamaraja was stroking the armrest of his chair in an absentminded manner. The fact that Qin Ye was choosing to open up the Array of the Nine Gods at a time like this meant that he had to have supreme confidence in his trump card.

    This trump card had to be something capable of withstanding the pressure of the entire world! What could it be?

    However, Qin Ye didn''t give them any time to think as he continued, "I''m sure everyone is aware of how massive Cathay''s poption in the mortal realm is. 100 years is a very short time in the underworld, and in 100 years, the Cathayan Underworld will have thergest market in the world! Opening up the Cathayan Underworld''s market to the rest of the world will be immensely beneficial to the global economy. However, we will only be opening up our market to the allies of the Cathayan Underworld, not the underworlds that harbor enmity toward our nation."

    This deration immediately created a massive stir.

    Indeed, given 100 years, the Cathayan Underworld would be perfectly capable of bing the newrgest market in the underworld, and everyone wanted a slice of that pie!

    Qin Ye continued, "The second use of resolution 0000 states that the Cathayan Underworld will share all of the data of its space exploration project with the rest of the world, with the exception of the data rted to the core technology of the project."

    The other death gods didn''t react too strongly to this announcement, but the ruler death gods of the three pirs were astonished to hear this.

    With this announcement, the history of the Nipponese Underworld was essentially over.

    A look of grudging approval appeared in Thanatos''s eyes as he murmured to himself, "Once the opportunity is presented to explore the universe, no one will care about the Nipponese Underworld anymore as it''s far too insignificant inparison. Why would anyone care to squabble over the fate of the Nipponese Underworld when there are potentially others to be explored? As a result of this, the impact of the Cathayan Underworld''s expansion would be minimized. I must admit that I''m very impressed."

    Right at this moment, Anubis suddenly said, "Yanluo Qin, while it is the duty of the four pirs to lead the entire underworld into the space exploration era, I must ask exactly how far your nation has progressed when ites to space exploration."

    In other words: what if this is just a ruse to attract everyone''s attention?

    Qin Ye looked directly at Anubis as he replied, "Firstly, the Cathayan Underworld has already developed a super telescope."

    This announcement was met by a string of surprised gasps, but Qin Ye paid no heed to that as he continued, "Do you all still recall the mysterious crisis that struck our ne during the new energy resource press conference several years ago? Only the Cathayan Underworld is aware of exactly what had happened back then and who it was that had attacked us."

    Yamaraja opened his mouth to say something, but Qin Ye didn''t grant him the opportunity to speak as he continued, "The three pirs also have an idea of what happened, but they definitely aren''t as clearly aware of the exact circumstances as the Cathayan Underworld is. We are the only ones on this ne capable of looking out into space, and we are willing to release the blueprint for the super telescope to the entire world!"

    "Is that true?!" H abruptly rose to her feet with an excited look on her face.

    Space exploration was an unprecedented feat in the underworld!

    The dominance that the four pirs held over this ne was something that could no longer be altered, but space exploration would entail a brand new beginning!

    "Of course!" Qin Ye replied in an imcable voice. "The Cathayan Underworld has never and will never go back on its promises!"

    I''m happy to provide the blueprint, but you''ll have toe up with the skull of a Yama-King yourselves!

    The entire hall quickly erupted into discussion, and Qin Ye made a quieting gesture to silence everyone before continuing, "On top of that, the Cathayan Underworld will be disying ourtest space exploration technology to the entire world during the war to recover the province of Nippon. Our flying shuttles are already able to approach Limbo, and all that''s left is to break through the nar walls! In addition to that, the production of the Cathayan Underworld''s space fortress is about to bepleted!"

    The entire hall fell deathly silent upon hearing this.

    There was no need for excessive words at an international conference of this caliber as every single word spoken by each death god had already been evaluated by their panels of advisors.

    Thus, through a series of concise statements, Qin Ye had alerted the entire world to the fact that the Cathayan Underworld had already imed air supremacy over the entire world!

    "Is this his trump card?" Anubis mused in a low voice.

    A cold look appeared in Yamaraja''s eyes as he said, "That''s probably not the extent of it. iming air supremacy is only one thing, the true trump card lies in what he can and is going to do with this air supremacy!"

    On the main stage, Qin Ye gave all of the death gods present a nod, then concluded, "That''s the end of resolution 0000, and all of the aforementioned uses wille into effect once the matters regarding the province of Nippon draw to a conclusion. Chief Secretary Anador, we can begin the vote now."

    "Yes." As the chief secretary of the Coalition of Underworlds, Anador was naturally aware of just how significant Qin Ye''s statement had been. She heaved an internal wistful sigh for the Nipponese Underworld, then made her way onto the stage in an expressionless manner.

    She swept her gaze across all of the death gods present, then dered, "We will now begin the vote on whether the Coalition of Underworlds should intervene in the war between the Cathayan Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld."

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he watched the unfolding proceedings. He was confident that no one would continue to stand by the Nipponese Underworld following the reduction of the energy resource costs, the opening of the Cathayan Underworld''s market, and the release of its space exploration data!

    Farewell, Izanami!

    "Those who approve of military intervention on the war between the two underworlds, please raise your hand. Those who object to the notion, please keep your hand lowered."

    Anador took a deep breath, then continued, "Let the voting begin. Ruler death gods who approve of military intervention on the East Cathay Sea incident, please raise your hand."

    Silence.

    Qin Ye''s eyes widened slightly upon seeing this. He had a feeling that all of the underworlds would be reluctant to vote in favor of military intervention, but never did he think that not a single underworld would be willing to stand up for the Nipponese Underworld during the final vote!

    They were simply epting the notion that the Nipponese Underworld had always been a rightful part of the Cathayan Underworld!

    Qin Ye was both amused and a little saddened by this.

    At the end of the day, power was still paramount in this world.

    In the face of the massive energy resource cost reductions, the prospect of securing a slice of the massive pie that was the Cathayan Underworld''s market, and the glorious future that would be tapped into by space exploration technology, why would anyone care about the survival of an underworld that didn''t even have a single death god?

    "Thank you for your understanding, everyone." He rose to his feet with a smile, then said, "Also, I prepared a special present for everyone."

    With a wave of his hand, a massive LED screen slowly descended from above the main stage.

    "In five days, the Cathayan Underworld''stest space exploration achievements will be disyed here alongside a grand fireworks disy, so please stay tuned."

    The screen was depicting the war-ravaged Nipponese Underworld.

 Chapter 1240: Bloom of the Death God (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1240: Bloom of the Death God (1)</h4>

    Nipponese Underworld, Yomotsu Hirasaka, Amano-Iwato.

    All of the great yokai aside from the ones overseeing troops on the front lines were gathered in a conference hall.

    "The Coalition of Underworlds has agreed to deploy reinforcements to us!" Izanami dered with an ted smile. "The Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet are approaching our nation as we speak, and the Russian Underworld has also opened up a passageway to the north, granting passage to all reinforcements!"

    The response that she was greeted by was a wave of relieved sighs.

    Facing the Cathayan Underworld was a prospect so daunting that just the mere thought of it was enough to strike despair into their hearts, and they had finally received the news they had been eagerly waiting for.

    Izanami was situated on the main seat as she said, "All of you are to return to your own territory to supervise the Kunitsukami under yourmand. We can''t lose any more territory before the troops of the Coalition of Underworlds arrive!"

    With a dismissive wave of her hand, all of the great yokai promptly departed, but right as Susanoo-no-Mikoto was about to leave, Izanami suddenly said, "Susanoo-no-Mikoto, please stay behind."

    Soon, Izanami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto were the only ones left in the hall. Izanami swept her gaze around the room, and all of the secretaries and assistants immediately departed as well.

    The door was closed, and Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Why did you..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, he felt a hand grab onto his own. The hand belonged to Izanami.

    At this moment, herposure hadpletely shattered. Her face was ashen inplexion, her lips were trembling slightly, and her hands were also trembling uncontrobly.

    Immediately upon seeing this, a sense of despair welled up in Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s heart, and he felt as if the entire world were copsing around him. He slumped back against his chair, then asked in a trembling voice, "Did the Coalition of Underworlds refuse to send reinforcements?"

    Was that a lie told with the sole purpose of boosting morale? Is this the end for the Nipponese Underworld?

    Fear was quickly taking root before spreading like wildfire in his heart, but to his surprise, Izanami shook her head in response.

    His hopes were immediately raised again, and he sat up straighter as an inquisitive look appeared on his face.

    "Something''s clearly not right here," Izanami said in a strained voice. "Only the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet areing... What happened to their super long distance teleportation arrays? You may not have interacted with the four pirs much, but I''m sure that you know that all of the four pirs are trying to recruit as many allied nations as possible so they can set up super long distance teleportation arrays in those nations. For example, the Cathayan Underworld has super long distance teleportation arrays in the Hanyang Underworld all of its subsidiary nations. Our Nipponese Underworld also has those things! 1,000 Yin soldiers can be sent through the Aegyptian Underworld''s super long distance teleportation array on Mount Fuji at a time, so why is that only two fleets areing right now?"

    As soon as her voice trailed off, she picked up a remote control to switch on an LED screen, which was disying Erinys with a grim look on her face. "Mistress Izanami, the Golden Fleet was projected to arrive in Nagasaki in a day, but our fleet and the Naga Fleet have encountered resistance from the Kraken. Please do everything you can to hold on. Once we bypass the Kraken, we''ll reinforce the Nipponese Underworld right away!"

    With that, the screen turned ck.

    "Do you believe them when they say that they''ve been intercepted? Again, why aren''t they using their super long distance teleportation arrays?" Izanami released Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s hand before looking up at the ceiling with a zed-over look in her eyes. "Also, the Russian Underworld told us that they''re going to open up a passageway for reinforcements to the north. Have you thought about what''s up there in the north? There are the Northern Europa nations, which are close allies with the Cathayan Underworld. As for the dic Underworld, they don''t even have an army of 10 million! How will they be able to help us?"

    A look of despair returned to Susanoo-no-Mikoto''s eyes upon hearing this. "Does this mean that the Coalition of Underworlds has abandoned us?"

    Before Izanami had a chance to reply, he abruptly rose to his feet with tightly gritted teeth. "No! There''s no way they would do that! This is an era of peace! There''s no way that the Coalition of Underworlds would abandon an underworld with a history as long and illustrious as ours! If they do that, how will the other underworlds see them? There''s no way that the three pirs would allow the Cathayan Underworld to conquer us! All of the nations in Southern Asia will be sure to reinforce us! There has to be hope!"

    "Wasn''t it also an era of peace leading up to World War 2 in the mortal realm?" Izanami mused in a hopeless voice.

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto had no response to that.

    He was trying to convince himself more than anyone else, but all it took was a slight reality check to burst his illusion of forced optimism like a bubble.

    "Prepare Minakanushi," Izanami instructed as she closed her eyes. The situation couldn''t get any worse than this, and with that in mind, she suddenly found herself to be quite calm and collected. "This is the final trump card that we have. If worsees to worst, we can still activate Minakanushi. At the very least, we must retain control over Kansai and Chubu."

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto pursed his lips tightly, and only after a long while did he heave a long sigh in response. "As you wish."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Once the juggernaut of war was set into motion, it was something that couldn''t be stopped.

    After six hours of silence, the Cathayan Underworld''s forces in Kyushu, led by the Harken, conquered the prefecture of Yamaguchi, then split up into three parts to advance toward Shimane, Hiroshima, and Ehime.

    Shuten-doji resisted with all his might in Shikoku, but in the face of the almighty Cathayan army, he was almost unable to even flee from the battle alive.

    News of one defeat after another quickly made its way to Yomotsu Hirasaka, and five hourster, Shimane and Hiroshima also fell. After that, the Cathayan Underworld''s army advanced toward the final two prefectures in Chugoku, Tottori and Okayama.

    Meanwhile, the other branch of the Cathayan Underworld''s armynded in Ehime, and the Kunitsukami of Shikoku wereprehensively crushed. After that, Kochi, Kagawa, and Tokushima fell in rapid session. 13 hourster, Tottori and Okayama were also seized, and thus, the two branches of the Cathayan Underworld''s army were separated by only the sea.

    Following the fall of Chugoku and Shikoku, there was only one possible target next, and that was Kansai, the originnd of the Shinto religion and the home of Amano-Iwato!

    The prefecture neighboring Tottori and Okayama was Hyogo, which was directly facing Osaka of Shikoku.

    Beyond Hyogo and Osaka was Kyoto!

    "Where are the reinforcements? Why have they still not arrived?"

    "It''s already been over 10 hours! Why are there still no reinforcements?!"

    "Is the Coalition of Underworlds just going to allow this invasion to happen? What have we done to deserve this?!"

    "Is the Cathayan Underworld really trying to take over our nation? Their forces have already reached Hyogo!"

    Amano-Iwato was in a state ofplete pandemonium. As the Cathayan Underworld''s forces reached Nagasaki, they had thought that Hell would be content with conquering Nagasaki alone. After Nagasaki fell, they decided that Kyushu was also expendable. They had always thought that the Cathayan Underworld was only trying to teach the Nipponese Underworld a lesson, and never did they think that the Cathayan Underworld''s aim was to conquer their entire nation!

    Only after the fall of Kyushu did they begin to panic a little, and at the same time, news of the Cathayan Underworld''s troops appearing in Hokkaido also arrived.

    After that, the Cathayan Underworld''s forces continued to advance, conquering Chugoku and Shikoku in less than a day!

    Only now did they truly realize just how dire the situation was.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s forces were right on Amano-Iwato''s doorstep!

    A group of figures were rushing through a courtyard. Ahead of them was a huge imperial pce with guards stationed at the entrance, but at this moment, even the guards didn''t have the spare capacity to pay any heed to the officials rushing into the pce.

    "Your Excellency, it''s time to make a decision!" Izanami was seated on a ck throne with a wooden expression in the pce, and down below were all of the great yokai and high-ranking officials of the nation. All of the past emperors were also present, and even though they were split up into two clear factions, they were all united in their plea for Izanami to do something.

    All of the underworld emissaries were wearing extremely official attire, perhaps because they wanted to treat this situation with the utmost seriousness, or perhaps they already knew, deep down, that there wouldn''t be much time left for them to don this attire.

    "The Cathayan Underworld''s forces are already advancing toward Kyoto! We can''t hesitate any longer!" Emperor Itoku yelled. "We vow to live and die with the Nipponese Underworld! We still have two million Kunitsukami left, as well as Minakanushi! All we need to do is hold on until the reinforcements from the Coalition of Underworlds arrive! So please..."

    He took a deep breath, then spread his arms in an attempt to rally everyone around him as he continued, "Gather all of our forces in Osaka to face the Cathayan Underworld in a final showdown!"

    "That''s utter nonsense!" Emperor Kenz¨­ immediately countered as he rushed forward before extending a respectful bow. "It''s time to surrender, Your Excellency! This is the Cathayan Underworld we''re talking about! Two of their Yama-Kings have already arrived on our soil! We have no chance at all against their amy!"

    "How dare you!" Emperor Itoku turned toward him with a hateful expression. "You were once an emperor of Nippon! How could you say something like this?!"

    Emperor Kenz¨­ paid no heed to him and continued to stare intently at Izanami. Several dozen high-ranking officials emerged from behind him one after another, and their voices rang out in rapid session.

    "I concur!"

    "I also concur!"

    "As do I!"

    There were concepts of patriotism in the mortal realm, but underworlds were only divine nations belonging to ruler death gods, so the sentiments of patriotism weren''t as strong here.

    "We can''t surrender!" At the same time, several dozen more officials emerged to support Emperor Itoku. "So what if we''re facing the Cathayan Underworld? We conquered half of Cathay back in the mortal realm! There''s no need to fear them!"

    "How foolish to you have to be to make such an idioticparison? The four pirs of the underworld are apletely different concept from Cathay of the mortal realm!"

    "So you''re just going to abandon your nation so you can bend over and lick the boots of the four pirs?"

    "If our nation was as powerful as the Russian Underworld, perhaps we''d be able to put up some resistance, but we don''t even have a single Yama-King! How are we supposed to contend with the Cathayan Underworld? If we continue to resist, the entire nation could be wiped out by force! The consequences are far too dire to handle!"

    Each side was attacking the other, and a loudmotion quickly erupted within the pce.

    Izanami looked on in silence, and never had she felt so much despair.

    She didn''t want to surrender.

    This was her divine nation, so she wanted to preserve it more than anyone else.

    She was still holding onto hope, even though the situation was objectively hopeless.

    She could already tell that the Coalition of Underworlds had most likely already abandoned them, but what if they hadn''t?

    What if they really had sent out reinforcements?

    What if the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet were just about to arrive?

    Even if there were only the slightest glimmer of hope, she didn''t want to give up.

    As the heated debate continued to rage, a burst of Yin energy erupted forth violently, and Izanami rose to her feet with tightly gritted teeth. "Activate Minakanushi! We defend Osaka with our lives!"

 Chapter 1241: Bloom of the Death God (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1241: Bloom of the Death God (2)</h4>

    "Yes!" All of the underworld emissaries bowed in unison in the face of Izanami''s orders.

    If they didn''t unite as one, then their demise would be sealed. Thus, they had toe together and work as one for a chance at survival.

    "Meeting over," Izanami dered before giving Susanoo-no-Mikoto a look, then dissipated into a gust of Yin wind.

    By the time she reappeared, she was already in her guest hall, sitting in silence beside a low tea table, upon which were ced two cups of tea.

    A burst of Yin energy quickly converged across from her, and Susanoo-no-Mikoto appeared on the other side. Both cups of tea were left untouched as Izanami asked with a grim expression, "How many troops do we have left?"

    "We still have 3.25 million Kunitsukami left, and all of the daimyos across the nation can muster up an army of around 500,000 to 600,000 troops," Susanoo-no-Mikoto replied. "What are you nning to do?"

    He already had a feeling about what the answer to his question was going to be.

    The topography of the Nipponese Underworld was downright terrible. The nation was surrounded by the sea, and there were countless avenues through which enemy troops could advance. If the Cathayan Underworld were to deploy its troops from Hokkaido, they would be able to quickly conquer the Kanto region.

    There were a total of six prefectures in Kanto, including Saitama, Yamanashi, and Chiba, and it also had a very special administrative area, which was Tokyo.

    Further resistance was clearly no longer an option. During the past few days, the Kunitsukami had been absolutely decimated. Only at the very beginning of the war did the Nipponese Underworld''s forces manage to muster up some effective resistance, but after that, their confidence and morale had been razed to the ground by the Cathayan Underworld''s army.

    There was no way that such a despondent and hapless army could defend anything.

    In this situation, Susanoo-no-Mikoto knew that their best bet would be to gather all of their remaining troops in Kansai, forming a triangr stronghold consisting of Hyogo, Osaka, and Kyoto. The more they spread their troops, the quicker the defeats woulde, and morale would only plummet even further as a result.

    In other words, they had to make preparations to abandon Tokyo at any moment.

    However, that was the capital city of Nippon in the mortal realm! Even in the underworld, Tokyo was a city that ranked alongside Kyoto. It was a super city with close to 100 millionherworldly citizens, and if they were to abandon it, that would be akin to an admission that the Nipponese Underworld had given up all hope.

    He could raise this idea, but he couldn''t make the decision. Even he was afraid of the consequences.

    A corner of the table was reduced to dust by Izanami''s white-knuckled grip, and she pursed her lips tightly as she said, "Abandon it."

    This was the expected answer, but Susanoo-no-Mikoto still shuddered upon hearing this. "Mistress Izanami, this is Tokyo we''re talking about..."

    "Abandon it!" Izanami cut him off in a frantic voice as her chest heaved violently. "We can give up anything aside from Amano-Iwato and Kyoto!"

    Deathly silence.

    Another half-minute passed by before Izanami made a grabbing motion, and a stack of documents fell onto the table. She gently pushed the documents toward Susanoo-no-Mikoto, who picked them up before taking a look, and his pupils abruptly contracted drastically.

    The entire northern and northeastern regions of the Nipponese Underworld had been conquered!

    "When did this happen?!" he eximed in an incredulous voice. "We were still putting up resistance before I came back for this meeting!"

    His mind had gonepletely nk.

    In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Kansai, Chubu, and Kanto were the only regions that remained of the Nipponese Underworld.

    It was like a dream.

    "That''s not all." Izanami closed her eyes with a pained expression. "The Cathayan Underworld''s army is rapidly advancing toward Fukushima and Yamagata."

    "How are they already there?!" Susanoo-no-Mikoto asked in an astonished voice. "Kanto and Chubu are right next to those two prefectures! What happened to the daimyos and Tamamo-no-Mae? Didn''t they try to resist at all?!"

    Izanami opened her eyes as she replied in a wooden voice, "Tamamo-no-Mae has most likely already fallen to the Reincarnation King. As for the daimyo..."

    Yin energy erupted violently out of her entire body as she said with a furious expression, "My only regret is that I didn''t eradicate those traitorous scum when I had the chance! Do you still not understand? Many of the cities invaded by the Cathayan Underworld''s forces already had their gates wide open by the time they made it through the inter-realm mirrors! Who opened those gates? Who else could''ve done this aside from them?"

    Izanami''s expression had be slightly twisted as she spat through gritted teeth, "This is not just a one-sided invasion, we''re being backstabbed from the inside as well! Don''t expect the daimyos to help us. Haven''t you noticed that all of the daimyos in Kansai and Chubu had already left those regions well in advance? They knew what was going on from the very beginning!"

    Their existing woes had beenpounded even further.

    As the war progressed, they were able to see things with increasing levels of rity, but that wasn''t going to help them turn the tables!

    It was already toote.

    Even Susanoo-no-Mikoto could feel his own confidencepletely shattering in this instant, and after a moment of silence, he finally spoke again. "Your Excellency..."

    "Activate Minakanushi," Izanami ordered as she looked up at the ceiling with a nk expression. "I''m going to try and negotiate one final time with the Cathayan Underworld."

    Susanoo-no-Mikoto faltered slightly upon hearing this. "But Your Excellency, once we activate Minakanushi, we''ll bepletely powerless to resist..."

    "I know." At this point, Izanami had alreadypletely calmed down, and she said, "At the very least, we''ll still have a chance for negotiation this way. Either they destroy my divine nation and get nothing, or they leave Kansai to me!"

    Silence.

    "I understand." Susanoo-no-Mikoto rose to his feet as he said, "I''ll issue an order for all troops to gather in Kansai while we wait for Minakanushi to awaken."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..

    In the darkness of the night, Erinys abruptly opened her eyes.

    She was silent for a moment before putting on hermander''s uniform and her tricorne, then quickly made her way toward the deck.

    There were already many Yin spirits gathered on the deck, and they quickly parted to grant her passage. Erinys quickly strode over to the bow of the ship, and the fierce wind out at sea caused her clothes and hair to p incessantly like a pair of bright red wings.

    "When did this happen?" she asked in a grim voice as she cast her gaze toward the surface of the sea.

    There, the seawater seemed to have sprung to life, flowing in an irregr fashion. The flow of seawater was irregr in that the front section was flowing toward the north, while the rear section was flowing toward the south, and the two parts were crashing together to form tall and violent waves.

    It was as if there were something that was slowly awakening beneath on the seabed.

    "It began half an hour ago," an underworld emissary immediately replied.

    Everyone remained silent as they awaited further instructions from Erinys, and right at this moment, what sounded like the chime of a giant bell suddenly rang out on the surface of the sea.

    No, that''s not the sound of a bell... It''s a windchime!

    The sound of the windchime was extremely pleasant, but Erinys was in no mood to appreciate it as she immediately swung around before asking, "What are the readings on the Yin energy detection devices?"

    An underworld emissary immediately pulled out a detection device, and after just a single nce, a stunned look immediately appeared on his face. "It''s 500 million and it''s still going up rapidly! How could this be? Wait... It''s 600 million now! Now 680 million! What on earth is happening?!"

    Erinys offered no exnation. Instead, she turned and yelled, "Activate the Coffin of Hades! No one is to move any of the ships in the fleet without my permission!"

    A circle of inky-ck light quickly appeared around the entire fleet, and the Naga Fleet of the Hindustani Underworld did the exact same thing.

    The Coffin of Hades was the most advanced protective array avable to the Argosian Underworld''s navy, and it had been activated with full force. Erinys''s brows were tightly furrowed as she cursed in a low voice.

    Is the situation already so terrible that they''ve already activated Minakanushi?

    Meanwhile, all of the death gods were gathered in a conference hall in the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds, watching the unfolding scene on the Nippon Sea.

    Whoosh! A burst of pure white light erupted into the heavens, and within the light, an antiquated longsword was revolving while slowly ascending. Countless specks of light were raining down from it, giving it a holy and ethereal appearance.

    This was one of the Nipponese Underworld''s three divine artifacts, Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

    The sword rose up to the highest point in the sky, sending its radiance spilling down all over the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld. Thin veils of white light descended from above like rays of the sun, and Anko closed her eyes as she heaved a wistful sigh. "So it was activated after all... I''m sorry, but your demise was sealed from the very beginning."

    Everyone looked on in silence at the prelude before the demise of a civilization. Right as Kusanagi no Tsurugi rose up into the sky, a pir of silver light suddenly erupted from each of the Nipponese Underworld''s eight regions. It was as if they were resonating with Kusanagi no Tsurugi, and that entire area of the sea began to sway violently.

    Turbulent waves rose up one after another, forming powerful shockwaves that swept up tsunamis rising up to several dozen meters in height.

    Thanatos, Anubis, and Yamaraja turned toward Qin Ye in unison.

    Half an hour ago, all of the ruler death gods had received notification from the Cathayan Underworld to gather in this conference hall.

    <i>Is this what he wanted to show us? </i>

    The activation of the creation-grade divine artifact was a clear sign that the Nipponese Underworld had already backed into a corner, and the invasion had onlymenced several days ago. Was the Cathayan Underworld trying to show off its power through this?

    Of course, in order topletely conquer the Nipponese Underworld, the Cathayan Underworld would still have to deal with many other powers. Defeating Izanami alone didn''t mean that they had defeated the current governing party. Without at least several months, it would be impossible to truly take down the Nipponese Underworld.

    With that in mind, how was this worthy of showing off at all?

    Qin Ye seemed to have gleaned their thoughts, and he said, "Patience, my friends. Just keep watching, I guarantee you won''t regret it."

    As the pirs of light rose up from the eight regions of the Nipponese Underworld, eight pieces of crimson magatama began to rise up, and they ascended higher and higher. As they did so, they became brighter and brighter, forming a crimson ne around Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

    This was Yasakani no Magatama!

    After Yasakani no Magatama rose up into the sky, slight tremors ran through the entire Nippon Sea, following which countless bursts of light rose up into the heavens from beneath the surface like reverse waterfalls of light. Directly above the sword and the magatama, a mirror that was several thousand square kilometers in area began to take shape.

    It was Yata no Kagami!

    The mirror was surrounded by an enormous vortex of clouds with arcs of azure lightning shing through it, forming a spectacr sight of indescribable majesty to behold. All of the underworld emissaries who witnessed the spectacle could only marvel at what they were seeing.

    In the instant that the three divine artifactspletely emerged, a vast expanse of white light swept over the entire Nippon Sea, following which a katana appeared in mid-air. The katana was tens of thousands of meters in size, and it waspletely formed by scintiting radiance!

    Minakanushi, the creation-grade divine artifact of the Nipponese Underworld had beenpletely activated!

 Chapter 1242: Bloom of the Death God (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1242: Bloom of the Death God (3)</h4>

    The Nipponese Underworld had never attracted so much attention from the rest of the world.

    Having already stood for over 2,000 years, it was finally time for the Nipponese Underworld''s illustrious history toe to an end.

    Unbeknownst to Izanami, the rest of the world all had their attention focused on her nation, watching the Nipponese Underworld''s death march in a somber silence.

    She was also unaware of the fact that the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet had already been berthed in the Formosa Strait for several days, but had chosen not to move forward from there.

    It was alsopletely unknown to her that not a single underworld stood up for the Nipponese Underworld during the official vote held at the Coalition of Underworlds.

    She was still hoping against hope that she could protect her own divine nation.

    With theplete activation of Minakanushi, the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld and the Nippon Sea were epassed beneath a pure white light barrier. Minakanushi, which had taken on the form of the giant katana in the sky, was continuing to give off brilliant radiance.

    Inside the conference hall, all eyes were on Qin Ye as the other ruler death gods waited to see what he was going to do next.

    Everyone knew that Qin Ye had to possess an extremely powerful trump card, given that he wasfortable with sharing the current state of the Cathayan Underworld under these circumstances, and Minakanushi was going to be the litmus test for this trump card.

    Soon, everyone was going to witness just how powerful this trump card was. If the Cathayan Underworld couldn''t intimidate the entire world, then it would be doomed to follow in the footsteps of the Nippponese Underworld.

    In the face of all of the pairs of menacing and even sinister eyes focused on him, Qin Ye''s expression remainedpletely unchanged as he pointed at the screen with an assured smile.

    Anubis was seated beside Qin Ye, and his expression suddenly changed slightly as he stared intently at the screen.

    Yamaraja and Thanatos had also spotted what he had seen, and the two of them were also staring at the screen with an unblinking gaze. Soon, all of the other death gods had also seen it, and they involuntarily leaned forward slightly as they tightened their grip around their armrests.

    High up in the sky above Minakanushi, a ck dot had appeared.

    It was extremely tiny.

    In the face of the pure white world created by Minakanushi, it appeared to be nothing more than a tiny needle, but Minakanushi wasn''t disying any reaction to it at all!

    "How could this be?" Anko sped a hand over her own mouth as a stunned look appeared on her face. She then turned her gaze toward Qin Ye with a hint of fear and wariness in her eyes.

    Mythic Spirit ck Mamba was also staring at the ck dot with apletely bbergasted expression, and he finally understood what had given Qin Ye the confidence to reveal everything to the world.

    None of the death gods present were able to remain calm at this moment. They had all failed to fullyprehend the significance of a prior statement that Qin Ye had made, which was that the Cathayan Underworld had maderge strides in the field of space exploration, developing flying shuttles that could already approach Limbo. That announcement had seemedpletely insignificantpared with everything else he had dered, but only now was its significance dawning on everyone.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s flying shuttles were capable of approaching Limbo and avoiding the detection of Minakanushi. This meant that the Cathayan Underworld''s flight equipment could transcend beyond all arrays and national protective arrays!

    "All national protective arrays have a flight restriction element to them," Yamaraja mused as he turned to Qin Ye with narrowed eyes. "Upon entering a foreign nation''s territory or territorial sea, everything will immediately be impacted by their national protective array. However, your flying shuttles can set off from your nation before flying over to other nations, and the flight restriction won''t be triggered due to its altitude, is that correct?"

    So this is the true significance behind the Cathayan Underworld''s flying shuttles approaching the nar walls?

    Essentially, the airspace of the entire underworld was under the Cathayan Underworld''s surveince, and no beings aside from Yama-Kings would be able to reach sufficiently high altitudes to intercept their flight equipment.

    "Yanluo Qin, I think we should immediately reinforce the specific internationalws rted to airspace," the nameless god of death said in a cold voice. "Even if you''ve agreed to share this technology with everyone, before other nations have had a chance to develop it, I think such technology should be banned from usage."

    "Rest assured, our flying shuttles will only remain within the Cathayan Underworld," Qin Ye replied in an indifferent voice.

    A string of faint sighs of relief instantly rang out across the hall, and Qin Ye cast a meaningful nce toward all of the ruler death gods present before lowering his gaze.

    How naive they were!

    Forbidden arts were banned from usage, so perhaps they were of the opinion that the flying shuttles would be stopped by national protective arrays, even if they were carrying siege weaponry. On top of that, all of the major underworlds had at least a death god or two, so they were confident that they would be able to deal with these flying shuttles if required.

    However, what they had failed to realize was that the weapon hanging from the flying shuttle was something they had never seen before.

    Right at this moment, the ck dot swayed slightly, and a figure emerged out of thin air. As soon as the figure appeared, they plummeted straight down from the sky without any hesitation, plunging down like a meteorite from altitudes of thousands of meters.

    It was Arthis.

    She was wearing an inky-ck robe, giving her the appearance of a death god descending from the heavens. Due to the extreme speed of her descent, scorching golden mes had appeared all around her, and these mes were swept up by the fierce wind resistance to form long threads of fire, much like the tailfeathers of a fiery phoenix of death.

    Boundless Yin energy was surging around her entire body, and the juxtaposition of ck and gold presented a stark contrast. Her purple hair was pping in the wind behind her, and she was carrying a massive ymore on her back.

    In the instant that she began to descend, Minakanushi finally sprang into action.

    The eight pieces of magatama suddenly lit up on the katana, and a blood-red eye sprang open on each magatama. The eight eyes were fixed firmly on Arthis, and on the other side of the katana, countless scenes depicting the long history of the Nipponese Underworld were rapidly shing past one after another.

    What is she doing?

    Anubis gently stroked his own chin as he watched Arthis with a grim and perplexed expression. All of the ruler death gods present were aware that she was the Cathayan Underworld''stest Yama-King, but there was no way that a single Yama-King would be able to break through Minakanushi.

    All creation-grade divine artifacts were extremely powerful entities, and Yama-Kings could contend directly against them, but it was exceedingly difficult for Yama-Kings to be able to break through them.

    Is this supposed to be the Cathayan Underworld''s trump card?

    He turned to Qin Ye with a puzzled expression, wondering how this could''ve possibly been considered as a trump card.

    He wasn''t the only one with these thoughts. On the screen, slight tremors ran through Minakanushi, immediately following which a burst of dazzling light swept over the entire screen.

    In this instant, all Yin spirits in Asia were able to see the burst of scintiting light erupting over the sky in the Nipponese Underworld.

    It sliced through the heavens, extending for thousands of kilometers. In the next instant, it split apart down the center, and powerful shockwaves were sent sweeping in either direction. At the same time, a flurry of light swept through the pure white world formed by Minakanushi like countless pristine butterflies, presenting a breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold.

    It was as if the very heavens had truly been sliced open!

    However, at the same time, Arthis also began to move.

    She drew the ymore that had been resting on her back, and in this instant, a thought suddenly urred to the ruler death gods of the three pirs.

    Their mouths sprang open in unison, and they abruptly rose to their feet as they stared intently at the screen.

    Yamaraja could see countless Yin runes lighting upyer uponyer on the surface of the ymore, and it was as if it were resonating with heaven and earth. With the ymore in her hand, all of the white radiance around her that had been released by Minakanushi suddenly began to twist and warp violently.

    It was a sh between two bursts of power, one of which had sliced the heavens apart, while the other was sewing it back together. The entire conference hall had fallen deathly silent. The incandescent white light rising up from down below was met by the violently warping space around Arthis, and it seemed that their sh was going to devour the entire world.

    Even for those watching from the Coalition of Underworlds far, far away, chills were sent running down their spines. A sense of powerlessness and certain destruction welled up in their hearts, and countless armrests were crushed into dust in this instant.

    However, they weren''t the ones directly facing all of this. Witnessing this devastating spectacle in person waspletely different from seeing it through screens.

    The Golden Fleet was situated in the South Cathay Sea, and at this moment, it was being ravaged by a ferocious windstorm.

    Erinys''s hair and clothes were pping wildly behind her, as were all of the gs on the Hades. She had involuntarily lowered her center of gravity slightly as she looked on at the sh that was about to take ce above the Nipponese Underworld, and she opened her mouth several times, but found herself unable to utter even a single word.

    Even for her, this was the first time she had ever seen a creation-grade divine artifactpletely unleashed. However, for some reason, there was a sense of fear in her heart that refused to die down, and her mind was telling her that this fear didn''t stem from Minakanushi.

    Who could it be? Who could be giving off such immense pressure?

    At this moment, she wanted nothing more than to flee this ce right this instant!

    At the same time, she was a little perplexed. She could sense that the Yama-King in the sky wasn''t particrly powerful.

    Right at this moment, Arthis took a deep breath. The ymore in her grasp had alreadypletely transformed into a sword of light, and she raised it high above her own head before plunging it down with ferocious might.

    In this instant, the fear in Erinys''s heart swelled to a peak.

    Amid the prelude of devastation, she was able to catch a clear glimpse of the sword.

    It had split up into sections, but all of the sections were positioned in a neat and orderly fashion. All of the fragments were carrying extremelyplex Yin runes that were glowing like celestial bodies. If the light of Minakanushi were the sun, then these fragments would be a gxy of stars that was outshining even the sun itself!

    BOOM!!

    Devastating shockwaves erupted in all directions, sweeping up gargantuan tsunamis, and the surface of the sea instantly exploded.

    Erinys''s skin was crawling as she frantically yelled, "Get down! This is a forbidden..."

    The entire Golden Fleet was inundated by boundless radiance before she had a chance to finish her sentence.

    She felt as if she were situated at the very center of the Big Bang, and it was as if her body were being torn apart before being reassembled over and over again. She gritted her teeth tightly as she waspletely ovee by fear, and the only question in her mind was why this forbidden art was so much more powerful than its counterparts!

    Internally, she was screaming with all her might, and even though she was a mighty Yama-King, she couldn''t even keep her eyes open. This was most likely what it felt like for an ant to be swept up in a tornado. All she could do was instinctively grab onto the railing before her as tightly as she could, and that was the only thing keeping her from being flung away like a leaf in a storm.

    The second-generation forbidden art had been unleashed!

 Chapter 1243: Bloom of the Death God (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1243: Bloom of the Death God (4)</h4>

    All of a sudden, Erinys heard a tearing sound. There was no pain immediately thereafter, but she was suddenly struck by a burst of scorching pain on her cheek three secondster. Only then did she realize that arge gash had been inflicted onto her face by the ferocious wind.

    She released her Yin energy with all her might in an attempt to protect herself, but all of her Yin energy was rapidly dispersed by the wind. She continued to hold onto the railing for dear life as the sound of her screams were carried away by the howling wind.

    What the hell is this?! There''s no way a forbidden art can be this powerful!

    Just the shockwaves from the explosion alone were enough to reduce a Yama-King to such a helpless state! Nothing in this world could possibly withstand this!

    At this moment, the Nipponese Underworld was the center of scrutiny for the entire world, and all of the Yin spirits in the entire nation witnessed something that they would never forget.

    "It''s so beautiful..." Aherworldly citizen in Kansai was looking up at the sky in a ck-jawed manner, entranced by the breathtaking beauty before him.

    On a mountain in Hyogo, Shuten-doji''s entire body was riddled with injuries. He took a sip of sake, then looked up at the stars that had suddenly be spilling raining down from the heavens.

    He was unaware of the fact that he was witnessing the fragments of the second-generation forbidden art, which had formed a chain of stars that was crashing down toward Minakanushi.

    This was also only his first time ever seeing the Nipponese Underworld''s creation-grade divine artifact fully unleashed. All he knew was that this was the Nipponese Underworld''s greatest trump card, and that it would put the nation in a virtually invincible position.

    In his mind, there was no way that the Cathayan Underworld would attack Minakanushi at the risk of bringing demise to their Yama-Kings.

    Thus, he gulped down another mouthful of sake as an ted look appeared on his face, thinking that the war had finally been won.

    At the same time, countless Kunitsukami were gathered in front of the Port of Osaka.

    They were also very ted. They didn''t know why, but the Cathayan Underworld''s army had retreated. Apparently, they had retreated all the way back to Kyushu, surrendering Chugoku and Shikoku. Otherwise, this would''ve still been a warzone.

    "Is it because of Minakanushi?" Yuki-onna was looking up at the dazzling radiance in the sky with an expression of longing. "Minakanushi is the eternal guardian of the Nipponese Underworld! No one can bypass it, not even the four pirs!"

    In Amano-Iwato, Izanami opened her window and cast her gaze out at the radiant spectacle with a slightly dazed look on her face.

    In a tenshu pavilion in Kanto, Susanoo-no-Mikoto had adopted a dogeza pose as if he were revering a god, and he was praying in silence. Meanwhile, the streets of Kansai, Chubu, and Kanto, which still hadn''t been ravaged by the mes of war, were already packed with Yin spirits.

    "What is that?"

    "It''s Minakanushi! Minakanushi has been activated! The Nipponese Underworld is saved!"

    "My god! It''s exactly the same as how the books described it!"

    "Is this the final trump card of our Nipponese Underworld? It really is beautiful!"

    At this moment, countless Yin spirits, yokai, and Kunitsukami were all looking up at the sky,pletely enchanted by what they were seeing. Further away, all of the daimyos were also looking up at the heavens, but for them, this was like the final countdown before the first nuclear bomb was dropped during World War 2.

    It was a peaceful and poetic moment.

    In the next instant, a burst of dazzling light erupted throughout heaven and earth, filling the field of view of all of the Nipponese Underworld''s Yin spirits.

    It was truly as if the sun had crashed down onto their nation!

    At the Coalition of Underworlds.

    "Is that a forbidden art?!" H eximed as she rose to her feet, and many more death gods also quickly stood up as they stared at the screen with stunned expressions.

    On the screen, the vast expanse of light released by Minakanushi was about to sh with the sea of stars unleashed by Arthis.

    "No, it''s not a forbidden art! This is different from Godyer! I''ve seen records of Godyer in the past, and it''s a vast sword array! This ispletely different!"

    "There seems to be far more Yin runes enclosed in this weapon as well! What on earth is it?!"

    An uncontroble sense of fear toward the unknown welled up in the hearts of all of the death gods. However, before they had a chance to think about anything else, an earth-shattering boom drowned out all of their thoughts.

    BOOM!!!

    Boundless light radiated throughout heaven and earth, looking as if it could pierce through all three realms.

    Not only had the scintiting radiance inundated the entirety of the Nipponese Underworld, even the ruler death gods watching from the screens thousands of kilometers away involuntarily closed their eyes.

    The light was too bright and holy.

    It was as if they were witnessing the Big Bang, and even though light had no substantial form, the radiance had formed an all-devouring vortex, producing a scene so bright that no one could look directly at it.

    Only after a full 10 seconds had passed did all of the ruler death gods reopen their eyes, following which they immediately turned to the screen again.

    "My god..." a death murmured as he stared at the screen with dumbstruck eyes. Minakanushi had disappeared along with the pure white world it had produced, and it was as if it had never existed at all.

    The Nipponese Underworld was trembling violently as if it were about to be shattered, and countless shockwaves were erupting over the ground, spreading from Kansai to Chugoku and Shikoku, then to Kanto and Tohoku.

    Everything in an area of over 100,000 square kilometers had been razed to the ground!

    On the foundation of these shockwaves, another earth-shattering boom rang out, and a second burst of shockwaves erupted forth. One shockwave after another exploded in rapid session before finally forming a dazzling crimson rose at the very top.

    Tsunamis,ndslides, volcanic eruptions... All of the natural disasters that one could think of had been triggered by this explosion. Gargantuan tsunamis had risen up all around the Nipponese Underworld, threatening to devour the nation whole.

    All of the ruler death gods watching from the Coalition of Underworlds had been rendered speechless, and even the ruler death gods of the three pirs werepletely bbergasted.

    Only a forbidden art could''ve produced such power!

    However, this waspletely different from Godyer! It was several dozen times more powerful than Godyer, and it had destroyed Minakanushi in a single strike!

    "Minakanushi has been broken?!" Anubis turned to stare at Qin Ye with an astonished expression, looking like a spluttering fish out of water.

    This wentpletely beyond their imagination!

    Since when did the Cathayan Underworld possess such power? When did they develop the ability to airdrop forbidden arts like this?

    Anubis wasn''t expecting an answer to his question, and sure enough, not a single one of the ruler death gods responded. Instead, they were all staring at Qin Ye.

    However, no one dared to look at him with sinister intentions anymore. Instead, their eyes were filled with awe and veneration.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s flying shuttles were undetectable to national protective arrays, making this lethalbination impossible to ward off!

    It was no wonder that Qin Ye had dered with such absolute confidence that the Cathayan Underworld was going to open up the Array of the Nine Gods.

    The trump card that he had presented was not something that any underworld could contend with, and entirely new international regtions had to be established for it!

    "Was... Was that a forbidden art?" A ruler death god finally found his voice as he stared at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression. "Has Minakanushi been broken?"

    "What the hell is that thing?!" More and more ruler death gods were returning to their senses, and all of them were staring intently at Qin Ye with wary eyes. "If even Minakanushi can''t withstand it, then only the three pirs would be safe from it! That has to be a forbidden art, one that''s never been seen before!"

    "A forbidden art of such devastating power... It shouldn''t exist in this world!" another ruler death god eximed while still reliving the doomsday-like scene he had just witnessed.

    "Forbidden art? I think there''s been a misunderstanding." Qin Ye casually picked up his cup to disguise the fact that his fingertips were trembling with excitement. "Its name is Death God, and it''s just a piece of cutting-edge weaponry that our Cathayan Underworld is currently working on. I signed the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts, and I fully intend to abide by it. The Cathayan Underworld has always ensured the fulfillment of its obligations and responsibilities."

    He slowly rose to his feet before making his way over to the lectern. Anador made a wise decision to vacate the lectern for him upon seeing this.

    Qin Ye casually adjusted the microphone, then said in a calm yet forceful voice, "All of the Nipponese Underworld''s defenses have been decimated. As the suzerain of the Nipponese Underworld, the Cathayan Underworld will exercise its right to incorporate the Nipponese Underworld into our territory. From this point onward, the Nipponese Underworld no longer exists, and there will only be the province of Nippon."

    His gaze roamed over all of the death gods like razor des as he asked, "Any objections?"

    Silence.

    No one wanted to have the second Death God dropped on them. In the face of absolute power, there was no room for resistance.

    "In that case..."

    "Please wait a moment, Yanluo Qin." Thanatos finally spoke up. "I have on intention of raising any objections, but we need to inspect the state of the province of Nippon after the explosion of Death God. At a visual estimate, it seems that Death God is at least 10 times as powerful as a normal forbidden art. When faced with such a weapon of mass destruction, it''s necessary for us to ban it from usage right away."

    "I concur!"

    "It may not be a forbidden art, but that doesn''t make it any less dangerous! It would be irresponsible to the entire underworld if no restrictions are ced on this weapon."

    "Yanluo Qin, as the ruler of one of the four pirs, please consider the greater good of the entire underworld!"

    There were no doubts or objections.

    Just like the Nipponese Underworld''s defenses, everything had been cleared away by the second-generation forbidden art.

    Prior to this, there were some who were doubting the Cathayan Underworld''s ability to continue as one of the four pirs, but after that disy of overwhelming power, all of those thoughts had been well and trulyid to rest.

    "I''m open to that," Qin Ye said with a smile.

    Sealing away Death God was the price that had to be paid for taking down the Nipponese Underworld. Of course, the seal was nothing more than child''s y anyway.

    Even with the restrictions in ce, the entire world would still be intimidated by the weapon itself.

    "Madam Chief Secretary, please broadcast the images we have of Nippon province."

    "Ah, of course." Anador quickly returned to her senses, then took a deep breath before picking up the remote control and switching to a different image.

    Even now, she was still in disbelief.

    It was incredible to her that not a single underworld had raised any objections!

    The Nipponese Underworld had stood for over 2,000 years, yet it had be a province of the Cathayan Underworld! This was downright...

    She was at a loss for words as she bit down onto her own lower lip and pressed a button on the remote control, following which a desert appeared on the screen.

    It was a true desert with countless half-buried giant stone pirs around it, resembling ck rocks amid a sea of yellow.

    At the center of the desert was a kneeling figure.

    They weren''t actually kneeling, it was just that they were too horrified to remain standing.

    Her hair waspletely disheveled, and her lips were trembling as she looked up at the sky, unable to believe orprehend what she was seeing.

    Several secondster, Anubis abruptly drew a sharp breath. "Is that... Amano-Iwato?"

    Indeed, Amano-Iwato, the center of the Nipponese Underworld, had been reduced to a barren desert!

 Chapter 1244: Tranquility

    <h4>Chapter 1244: Tranquility</h4>

    Nipponese Underworld, Yomotsu Hirasaka, Amano-Iwato.

    Izanami was kneeling on the desert, looking up at the sky with a stunned expression.

    Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?

    Just now, she had witnessed all of the Nipponese Underworld''s inter-realm mirrors shatter into countless fragments, which rose up into the air before being reduced to dust.

    She also witnessed Amano-Iwato being torn apart down the center. All of the torii gates and shimenawa ropes were destroyed in an instant, and the earth had shattered violently, allowing a sea of lethal radiance to erupt up from down below.

    She saw countless screaming Yin spirits around her being inundated by the sea of light before they were erased out of existence, following which their souls drifted up into the heavens.

    How is this possible? What have we been attacked by? Even a forbidden art isn''t this powerful! At the very most, a forbidden art would only be on par in power with Minakanushi!

    Never in the past several thousand years of her existence had she been at such aplete loss for what to do.

    Several secondster, she lowered her head in a dazed manner before picking up a handful of sand, then watched as it was swept away in the wind. Only after a long while did her voice return to her. "Itoku?"

    No one answered her.

    The only sound was the fierce wind howling through the vast desert.

    "Hirose? Ichikawa?"

    Those were the names of her secretary and assistant.

    In all honesty, she barely remembered what they were called. They would always appear when she needed them, and they never referred to themselves by their names in her presence.

    There was still no response.

    Izanami''s expression remained unchanged. In the instant that she opened her eyes and saw everything around her, her heart had be as barren as this desert.

    Deep down inside, she had already died, and it was as if she were no longer capable of feeling any emotions.

    She wasn''t an idiot. The scene around her was enough to tell her that the Nipponese Underworld had been attacked by a type of new weapon, one that was even more fearsome than forbidden arts. Kyoto had beenpletely destroyed, and she didn''t know how many other cities had also suffered the same fate. However, she was still holding onto one final shred of hope that this was just an illusion.

    The desert stretched on in all directions as far as her eyes could see, and it was as if Amano-Iwato had never existed at all.

    The streets and buildings that had existed not long ago seemed like memories of the distant past now.

    Izanami''s chest was heaving slightly as she took a moment to arrange her hair, then asked, "Is there anyone here?"

    There was still no answer.

    Izanami remained seated in silence with her legs tucked beneath her on the desert, as if she were reminiscing about her past. Only after a full half-hour had passed did she stand up as she closed her eyes with a forlorn sigh.

    Why did I have to devote myself sopletely to the three pirs? Why did I insist on going against the Cathayan Underworld?

    The two nations were situated so close to one another. If she had chosen the Cathayan Underworld, then both nations would''ve benefitted, but she had chosen the wrong side.

    The fate of the Nipponese Underworld had been sealed from the very beginning. Ever since she took that firm stance during the conference in Nara, the demise of the Nipponese Underworld had already been decided.

    She had tried to mend the fractured rtionship between the two nations, but the Cathayan Underworld had never reciprocated her efforts. She had thought that the Cathayan Underworld''s moves to encourage interaction between civilian-run enterprises would be a catalyst for the two nations toe together again, but it turned out that those measures were just the beginning to a sinister n.

    There was no use in lingering on regrets.

    Izanami picked up the hem of her kimono before slowly strolling along the desert. She was the Nipponese Underworld''s first and final death god, and she had to face the remainingherworldly citizens of her nation.

    Right at this moment, a patch of sand in the desert shifted slightly, and a humanoid figure struggled to their feet. As soon as they caught sight of Izanami, they immediately came stumbling toward her.

    Izanami''s expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this, and she reflexively extended a hand toward them. Even though she didn''t recognize the figure stumbling toward her, it was still some sce for her to see another living Yin spirit.

    In the instant that the Yin spirit grabbed onto her hand, he immediately urged in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency... It''s time to surrender... We can''t resist any longer..."

    What little color that was left in Izanami''s cheeks quickly faded, but a smile appeared on her face as she nodded in response. "Indeed, it''s time..."

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    Cathayan Underworld, Ashmound.

    The city was brightly lit regardless of whether it was day or night. As one of the two major cities of the Cathayan Underworld, Ashmound was the equivalent of Shanghai of the mortal realm.

    The city was also home to the Cathayan Underworld''s naval headquarters. During the past few years, all of the troops that had been sent to the Hanyang Underworld had set off from here.

    "Cheers." Inside the most luxurious booth of one of the most high-end restaurants in Ashmound, a man raised his cup in a graceful manner before extending a slight bow toward the others at the table.

    He was wearing a ck robe with golden chrysanthemum flowers embroidered upon it, and there was a white jade hairpin in his hair. He was quite thin and didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but the servers of the restaurant that were bringing dishes into the booth were taking extra care not to make any sound, and the manager and vice-manager of the restaurant were both standing outside the booth with anxious expressions, overseeing every little detail to ensure that there were no faults with their service.

    Three underworld emissaries were seated around the eight immortal table, and at the head of the table was a slightly rotund elderly man who had a very benevolent appearance. Two middle-aged underworld emissaries, one male and one female, were seated at the table with him.

    The three of them downed the contents of their cups in one go, following which the elderly man stroked his white beard as he chuckled, "This meal isn''t being paid for with public funds, is it, Governor Zhang?"

    "Of course not," the thin man replied with a smile. "Among the new generation of Yin spirits, I''m the only one to have reached this status. There are countless underworld emissaries from the older generation watching my every move, hoping that I slip up, so I certainly wouldn''t dare to do something as foolish as use public funds for my meals. Rest assured, this is alling out of my own pocket, so please go easy on the orders."

    "Haha, of course."

    Shortly into the meal, Governor Zhang filled the elderly man''s cup once again, then finally asked, "Do you know what''s going on here, Director Fang? Why are all provincial-level officials suddenly being examined?"

    Director Fang shook his head in response. "I''m afraid I don''t."

    Before Governor Zhang had a chance to ask any more questions, he continued with furrowed brows, "All of the new generation of underworld emissaries want to see you promoted into the central government, but they''re encountering quite a bit of resistance. After all, the old guard has been with Yanluo Qin from the very beginning, and we don''t have the power to contend with them yet. Among the 50 members of the standingmittee, we only have seven or eight, so we''re not privy to a lot of information. Going by past convention, examinations like this are only conducted once every 10 years, but it''s only been five years since thest examination, and personnel from our organization department were sent to each province to conduct the examinations in person. If you ask me..."

    He took a nce out of the booth, then lowered his voice as he concluded, "I think there''s going to be a very important position vacated soon."

    "What makes you say that?" Governor Zhang asked with a serious expression. "All of the high-ranking provincial officials have undergone countless trials to reach their current positions, and nationwide examinations are only conducted in major cases where all of the officials of a province are involved, but I haven''t heard of any cases of that magnitude recently."

    "That''s what''s strange about this situation," Director Fang sighed. "Unfortunately for us, we don''t have the connections that''ll grant us ess to this information, so we''ll just have to wait and see..."

    Right as his voice trailed off, the doors of the booth were suddenly opened, and the restaurant''s manager carefully made his way into the room. As soon as he arrived at the table, he immediately bowed as he said, "Esteemed guests, I carry some instructions for you..."

    Director Fang and Governor Zhang were astonished to hear this.

    Instructions had been sent to this restaurant? And they were being delivered by the restaurant manager? Was this supposed to be a prank?

    An awkward look appeared on the manager''s face as he exined, "Just now, Department Six informed the entire city that all television stations and screens in shopping malls will be switched to Cathay Underworld Central Television Channel One in 10 minutes. This instruction came from the central government, so I had no choice but toe in and inform you. Please pardon my intrusion."

    Director Fang nodded in response, and the manager pressed a button, upon which a screen was lowered down from one of the walls of the booth.

    "What''s the meaning of this?" Director Zhang''s brows furrowed even tighter upon hearing this. "A special broadcast? Even I haven''t heard anything about this!"

    "That can only mean that the instruction came straight from the central government without passing through any other avenues," Director Fang replied. "There must be an extremely important announcement that''s about to be made. Let''s wait and see."

    10 minutes passed by in a sh, and right at this moment, the screen flickered slightly, immediately following which a woman with a head of white hair wearing a Nipponese kimono appeared on the screen.

    "I am the ruler death god of what was once the Nipponese Underworld, Izanami," the woman said as she extended a slight bow. "I will now be reading out the terms of the Nipponese Underworld''s unconditional surrender."

    Both Director Fang and Governor Zhang immediately sprang to their feet upon hearing this, and theherfire in their eyes sprang up like ming pirs in disbelief.

    They weren''t the only ones shocked to hear this. At this moment, all of the Yin spirits throughout the Cathayan Underworld were staring at their television screens with their jaws on the ground.

    This was a live broadcast of the Nipponese Underworld''s unconditional surrender deration!

    Director Fang and Governor Zhang were both enlightened upon seeing this.

    No wonder a nationwide examination was taking ce! There weren''t just vacancies in a province, there were vacancies throughout the newly conquered Nipponese Underworld that had to be filled!

    The two of them were barely able to repress their excitement as they continued to watch the broadcast.

    "... I hereby dere that the Nipponese Underworld and all of the armed forces in the Nipponese Underworld will be surrendering unconditionally to the Cathayan Underworld..."

    "... I hereby dere that all armored forces andherworldly citizens in the Nipponese Underworld are to cease all resistance. All fortifications, fortresses, tenshu pavilions, and non-military assets are to be preserved. All of the Nipponese Underworld''s government organizations will obey the orders of the Cathayan Underworld''s ruler..."

    "... I hereby announce that all underworld emissary of the Nipponese Underworld, including myself, will immediately enact the duties of a defeated nation, and we invite the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld to delegate duties to us..."

    There were only seven uses, none of which were very long, but it took Izanami over 10 minutes to read them out. In the end, she closed the imperial edict before lowering her head. "The Nipponese Underworld and its government will follow all arrangements set out by the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld. The ruler of the Cathayan Underworld will be free to take all measures that they deem to be necessary toplete the proceedings of the unconditional surrender."

 Chapter 1245: Demise of a Nation

    <h4>Chapter 1245: Demise of a Nation</h4>

    In the mortal realm, Cathay was perhaps the nation that harbored the most animosity toward Nippon.

    During World War 2, the Cathayan Underworld managed to ward off the Nipponese forces after a herculean struggle. At the time, Cathay had been at its weakest and most vulnerable state in a very long time, and Nippon''s soldiers had swept through the entire nation. If it weren''t for the valiant resistance mustered up by the people of Cathay, things would''ve been far different from what they were in the present day.

    It had only been several decades since that war, and many of Cathay''s older generation still remembered those hardships. In addition to that, Nippon had never been sincere in its apology and frequently paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, so even in the newer generations, many of Cathay''s citizens were still very discontent with Nippon.

    However, no one would''ve ever been able to imagine that Cathay would be able to conquer Nippon in the underworld!

    Not long ago, there had been widespread controversy surrounding the Nipponese Underworld, and countlessherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld were urging the central government to attack. However, there was no clear verdict as to whether troops had been deployed as Hell had released no official reports on the matter. However, all of the Yin spirits of Ashmound knew that several dozen warships and hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers had recently set off for the Hanyang Underworld. Some theorized that it was for a military drill, while others spected that the troops had been deployed to patrol the sea. Very few of them were actually convinced that this was the beginning of an invasion against the Nipponese Underworld!

    Furthermore, it had only been a few days, and the Nipponese Underworld had already announced their unconditional surrender!

    Inside a certain restaurant, all of the patrons were staring at the television screen with stunned expressions, and many pairs of chopsticks had already dropped along onto the floor. They were listening to Izanami''s unconditional surrender deration with their mouths gaped wide open, looking as if they were primary school students listening to a lecture on quantum physics.

    "... I hereby dere that the Nipponese Underworld and all of the armed forces in the Nipponese Underworld will be surrendering unconditionally to the Cathayan Underworld..."

    They surrendered? Hold on, we actually invaded the Nipponese Underworld? This isn''t a hoax, is it?

    After 15 minutes, the unconditional surrender deration drew to a conclusion, and all of the Yin spirits in the restaurant looked at one another with nk expressions, feeling as if they were in a dream.

    With the arrival of a new era of peace, it had seemed like the Cathayan Underworld would never be able to exact its revenge on the Nipponese Underworld for what Nippon had done in the mortal realm. However, revenge had apparently just been exacted without any warning!

    The entire restaurant was silent for a full 10 seconds, following which an elderly man abruptly sprang to his feet before yelling in a voice that was on the verge of tears, "Get me the best wine in the house!"

    After that, the elderly man habitually dabbed at his own eyes. Even though Yin spirits had no tears, he was feeling extremely emotional, far more than he had ever felt during his time in the mortal realm.

    He picked up his cup in a shaky manner, then held it up with both hands as he extended a bow toward the west. "Grandpa, Grandma... You can both rest easy now..."

    The poptions of all underworlds primarily consisted of elderly people who had died from old age, while young people who had died from natural causes only constituted a minority. In this restaurant, 90% of the patrons were elderly individuals, and for people of their age, even if they hadn''t participated in the war against Nippon, they would''ve definitely been born not far away from the founding of the new Cathay, which meant that many of their older rtives would''ve been part of the war.

    Thus, memories of those times would''ve still been fresh in their mind.

    His voice seemed to have snapped everyone out of their reverie, and all of the Yin spirits in the restaurant immediately returned to life. Another elderly man mmed a hand down onto his table as he yelled, "Get me the best wine you have as well! Hurry! And give me an order of all your restaurant''s signature dishes! Drink up, everyone!"

    "I never thought I would ever see this day... Manager! Where are you? This calls for celebration!"

    All of a sudden, the entire restaurant had erupted into a frenzy.

    As Cathayans, everyone couldn''t help but be excited to hear this news.

    Even the restaurant patrons who werepletely unfamiliar with one another were gathering like old friends, joining their table together and drinking to their heart''s content. All of a sudden, the entire restaurant was filled with exuberance and vitality.

    This was joy and excitement that came from the bottom of everyone''s hearts!

    "Many years ago, my father said he was going to fight in the war, and he never came back..." An elderly man downed the contents of his cup in one go, and his face immediately became slightly flushed. It was clear that he was not a regr drinker, but at this moment, he was drinking like there was no tomorrow.

    "It''s a simr story in my family. A few of my uncles and aunts were said to have traveled across half the nation with the Red Army, but we never heard from them again."

    "The young people nowadays don''t like to hear these stories anymore. They don''t know what we''ve seen on the battlefields and in the trenches!"

    "Let''s drink to all our lost loved ones!"

    "Cheers!"

    All of the patrons of the restaurant, regardless of whether they knew each other or not, brought their cups together before throwing their heads back and downing their wine.

    Simr scenes were unfolding across the entire nation.

    The entirety of the Cathayan Underworld had erupted into a frenzy, but the city of Jinling was the most boisterous of them all.

    The governor, administrativemissioner, and all of the officials of Jinling rose to their feet in silence, unable to believe what they were seeing.

    On the streets, countless passersby were staring up at the live broadcast ying out on therge screens with dumbfounded expressions.

    Inside a university, a professor''s mouth was gaped wide open as he adjusted his own sses in disbelief, while all of the students in the hall had risen to their feet with their eyes wide open.

    The entire city was silent for a moment, but that silence soon gave way to thunderous cheers.

    Countless elderly Yin spirits rushed home before pulling out the memorial tablets of their passed rtives, clutching the tablets in their arms as they bawled their eyes out.

    Hell had been defunct for a century, so their parents and rtives were unable to enter the underworld, thereby making itmon for them memorial tablets to be kept tomemorate those rtives.

    "Can you see this?" An elderly man was sobbing so vigorously that his voice had turned hoarse. Yin spirits had no tears, but anyone could sense the power of the emotions in his heart. "The heavens have finally answered our prayers!"

    After weeping for over 10 minutes, he suddenly mbered to his feet before pulling a candle out of a cupboard, then rushed toward the city center like a madman.

    However, there were no longer any beast-drawn carriages avable to be hailed at this point.

    Thus, he rushed toward the city center on foot, but he quickly discovered that all of the streets leading to the central za of the city were already packed to the rafters.

    Almost all of the Yin spirits were holding a candle, just like he was, and even though the streets were extremely packed, there was no shoving, and no one voiced any discontent. All of the Yin spirits were silently gathering toward the same ce.

    Only after a full half-hour did the elderly man finally arrive on the za, and at this point, the za was already filled with kneeling Yin spirits who had their palms joined together in prayer.

    No one was saying anything, but gentle sobs could be heard. It seemed that everyone was reminiscing about that horrific era they had lived through, while also praying to their lost rtives.

    At the center of the za was a stone que, upon which was written a line of bright red text in six differentnguages, namely Cathayan, Nipponese, Brittannian, Hindustani, Argosian, and Aegyptian.

    "The resting ce of over 300,000 Cathayan citizens from the Nanjing Massacre."

    Below that was another short message: "Lest we forget."

    The za was surrounded by antiquated tall buildings and shopping malls, but not a single one of the surrounding buildings dared to y any music in this moment. It was as if the entire city were observing a moment of silence in the wake of this historic event.

    In reality, the Yin spirits on the za weren''t in mourning or holding a memorial service. Instead, they were bidding farewell to those unforgettable memories and all of those names that were constantly on their mind.

    This was the day on which all of those lost souls could rest easy in the knowledge that they had been avenged.

    Most of the Yin spirits on the za were at quite an advanced age, and they were gathered before the stone que under a somber atmosphere. Each one was holding a lit candle, and looking down from above, it was as if the entire center of Jinling were a sea of candle mes, illuminating the ck que at the center.

    All of a sudden, the surrounding screens flickered slightly, and the broadcast of the Nipponese Underworld''s unconditional surrender announcement that was ying on repeat finally faded. What had reced it was an image of Qin Changxin.

    "Good afternoon, everyone." Qin Changxin extended a bow toward the camera with a smile on his face. "I will now be announcing our Cathayan Underworld''s intended arrangements after the unconditional surrender of the Nipponese Underworld. Firstly, the former ruler of the Nipponese Underworld, Izanami, and Susanoo-no-Mikoto, will immigrate to Everburn to live out the rest of their days."

    This announcement didn''t trigger any discussion. The general public didn''t care what became of the former leaders of the Nipponese Underworld.

    Qin Changxin seemed to be aware of this as well, and he immediately continued, "Secondly, the Nipponese Underworld will now be a province of the Cathayan Underworld. All of the officials that will be instated to oversee the new province of Nippon will be drawn from the Cathayan Underworld within the next month. In addition to that, I have been assigned with the role of the governor of Nippon province."

    This announcement created a massive stir across the entire Cathayan Underworld.

    The Nipponese Underworld had stood for thousands of years, yet it had ceased to exist! It had be Nippon province, a natural barrier to the east of the Cathayan Underworld, and from this point onward, the entirety of Eastern Asia had been unified!

    "Thank the heavens!" In a small county to the west, an elderly man who appeared to be in his nies was yelling with all his might, and his cheeks were flushed bright red from excitement. "I am so blessed to have been able to witness this!"

    Qin Changxin''s voice continued to echo throughout the entire Cathayan Underworld. "Through our investigation, we have deemed that the seven A-grade war criminals, T¨­j¨­ Hideki, Iwane Matsui, Akira Mut¨­, Seishir¨­ Itagaki, K¨­ki Hirota, Heitar¨­ Kimura, and Kenji Doihara will be relegated to the Path of the Beast of our Cathayan Underworld''s six paths of reincarnation, where they will be confined for 200 years. At the same time, the main perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre, Iwane Matsui and Hisao Tani, will be apprehended and taken to the city of Jinling, where their souls will be crushed beneath thememorative que of the Nanjing Massacre for 300 years."

    All of theherworldly citizens were celebrating to their hearts'' content, while the officials of the Cathayan Underworld were already looking ahead to the new opportunities that could be presented to them.

    From vige heads to provincial governors, there were countless vacant roles in the new province of Nippon! No wonder a nationwide examination was being conducted!

    This was an exciting opportunity for all of the officials of the entire Cathayan Underworld!

 Chapter 1246: The Fourth and Fifth Yama-Kings (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1246: The Fourth and Fifth Yama-Kings (1)</h4>

    The Cathayan Underworld was in a state of nationwide celebration, but not all nations had the same reaction to this event.

    At the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds, everyone was sitting in silence in the wake of Izanami''s unconditional surrender deration.

    They had just witnessed the end of an underworld that had stood for over 2,000 years. If news of this were to be released, there would undoubtedly be countlessherworldly citizens across the underworld denouncing Qin Ye as a dictator and a desecrator of civilizations, but at the very least, no one here dared to speak against him.

    The Cathayan Underworld''s ability to airdrop forbidden arts was a threat that no nations were able to defend against, and in light of that, everyone wisely chose to remain silent.

    In the end, the Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet remained berthed in the South Cathay Sea this entire time, not daring to advance any further.

    Ultimately, none of the underworlds dared to stand up for the Nipponese Underworld.

    No one said anything, not even the ruler death gods of the three pirs. Wherever Qin Ye''s gazended, the ruler death god under his scrutiny would reflexively avert their gaze. A faint smile appeared on his face as he dered, "In an hour from now, the Cathayan Underworld''s army will reach Kyoto and announce the conclusion of this diplomatic dispute."

    All of the death gods in the hall took a silent nce at Qin Ye, fighting back the countless insults that they wanted to hurl at him.

    He had just razed an entire nation to the ground, yet he was ying it off as a diplomatic dispute.

    Qin Ye paid no heed to the resentful eyes aimed at him. He had always been known for his shamelessness, and that was certainly holding him in good stead here as well.

    "If no one would like to say anything, then I''ll be going on ahead," he continued as he rose to his feet. "As for the discussion surrounding the new weapon, my representatives will facilitate the discussion."

    After that, he departed while all of the other ruler death gods looked on in silence.

    Only after over 10 minutes had passed did the ruler death gods of the three pirs stand up before also departing in silence.

    Right as Thanatos arrived at the entrance of the conference hall, he took a nce back at the hall''svish interior. His gaze roamed over the intricately crafted statues, the masterful oil paintings, the resplendent chandeliers, then finally came to a rest on the four sets of tables and chairs at the forefront.

    These four sets of tables and chairs carried a pronounced Cathayan, Hindustani, Argosian, and Aegyptian style. They didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but every single piece of wood used to craft them was extremely expensive, and taking a seat on the red pads of the chairs was an experience so heavenly that it could make one moan out loud.

    These were the seats reserved for the four pirs, the superpowers that reigned supreme at the top of the underworld.

    He knew that the Cathayan Underworld''s hold on its status as one of the four pirs had never been that strong. It had nothing to do with the power of the nation, the problem was its istion. A nation that waspletely cut off from the rest of the world simply couldn''t be expected to lead the rest of the world effectively.

    There had been widespread spection with regard to the reasons behind the Cathayan Underworld''s self-inflicted istion. However, after Qin Ye voluntarily divulged the information that everyone had been dying to hear, and all of the death gods were contemting taking advantage of the situation, the Cathayan Underworld had made a disy of absolute power that granted it the strongest hold it had over its status as one of the four pirs for the past century.

    From this point onward, no one would ever think about knocking them down from their throne again

    He turned and departed as he heaved a faint sigh to himself.

    By the time Qin Ye reappeared, it was already several hourster.

    He had arrived in a massive tenshu pavilion, within which countless daimyos had gathered. Tokugawa Ieyasu was standing at the center of the group of daimyos, and in the instant that everyone caught sight of Qin Ye, they immediately bowed to wee his arrival. Among them, Amanozako''s massive figure was particrly eye-catching.

    "Greetings, everyone," Qin Ye smiled as he said. "I know that all of you are concerned about your fiefdoms. I made a promise to all of you, and I fully intend to keep it. Qin Changxin will be responsible for taking care of everything. I''m sure all of you are already familiar with him, so I won''t make any introductions. Is General Yue up there?"

    It was clear that Qin Ye was in no mood to be seeing these daimyos at the moment, and Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately caught onto that as he smiled and replied, "Of course. General Yue has always been here. Prior to the arrival of the forbidden art, Master Harken and Mistress Arthis had already rescued General Yue. However, the situation was very urgent at the time, and the forbidden art fell right after that, so Izanami didn''t have time to do anything."

    Qin Ye was just about to depart when he paused momentarily, then turned to Tokugawa Ieyasu with a meaningful smile. "It''s not a forbidden art, its name is Death God."

    "Ah yes, please pardon my inurate use of words," Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately replied with a bow.

    Using a forbidden art went directly against the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. As for Death God, it was a new weapon, and strictly speaking, it wasn''t a forbidden art.

    Qin Ye nodded with a smile, then made his way directly toward the teleportation array, followed by arge group of secretaries, assistants, and bodyguards.

    There was a tidy and simple room on the top floor of the tenshu pavilion. Qin Ye instructed his entourage to remain at the entrance of the staircase, then opened the intricately constructed sliding door alone.

    The door was gently opened to reveal an elegant Nipponese-style hall, and beside the table at the center of the room sat a figure.

    He was wearing a long robe, but it could still be clearly seen that his right shoulder was missing. In the instant that Qin Ye strode into the room, the figure immediately stood up before extending a respectful bow. "Yue Fei pays his respects to Yanluo Qin."

    "No need for formalities." Qin Ye was fighting to suppress the excitement in his heart. This was a man revered by virtually all Cathayans. He wasn''t particrly tall or handsome, and his skin was rather coarse. In fact, it could even be said that he waspletely unremarkable, but this man had led an epic life that had given rise to countless legendary tales.

    At the same time, his life was one of tragedy, and it was perhaps because of this that he was easier to sympathize with as the heroic protagonist of the tales of his life.

    Throughout all of history, there had only been six Wumus, namely Li Guangbi, Ma Yin, Gao Huaide, Cao Wei, Liu Qi, and Yue Fei.

    "Sorry to make you wait so long," Qin Ye sighed as he grabbed onto Yue Fei''s hand. "I''m embarrassed to think that it took us several hundred years to rescue you."

    Yue Fei cupped his fist in a salute as he replied, "There''s no need to apologize, Yanluo Qin. I feel extremely honored and fortunate that you made this effort to rescue me at all."

    Qin Ye released Yue Fei''s hand with a smile before withdrawing his own hands.

    He was unexpectedly calm.

    Perhaps he was so tranquil and calm because he had already been waiting for this moment for so long. Furthermore, he couldn''t help but feel as if there were something missing about Yue Fei.

    If he had to pinpoint what that particr thing was, he would say Yue Fei was missing the heroic aura that he expected him to possess.

    Despite this, his expression betrayed nothing as he sat down onto the main seat, then crossed his legs as he picked up his teacup in a graceful manner before taking a sip, following which he asked, "What happened to your right shoulder?"

    "This is because of the Nipponese Underworld''s blood maggot curse," Yue Fei replied in a calm manner. "No one knows where it came from, and Izanami isn''t the true master of the Nipponese Underworld. After she entered the Nipponese Underworld, she ate the food of the underworld, and that was how she became afflicted by the blood maggot curse, forcing her to remain here as the ruler of the Nipponese Underworld. Prior to her arrival here, someone had already created this underworld. Izanami went to great lengths to capture my soul as she discovered that devouring the spiritual body of high-grade emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld can alleviate the symptoms of the curse."

    Yue Fei cocked his head to the side and gently stroked his missing shoulder as he continued, "Having already served as food for her for several centuries, I am but a crippled man with nothing to offer. I heard that our Cathayan Underworld copsed a century ago. May I ask if the six paths of reincarnation have been restored?"

    Qin Ye lowered his head upon hearing this. He finally realized what Yue Fei was missing now.

    It was drive and purpose.

    He felt himself to be useless baggage, that he wasn''t worth being rescued by the Cathayan Underworld. Perhaps he even felt guilty and ashamed.

    With that in mind, Qin Ye stroked his teacup as he heaved a forlorn sigh.

    "You want to enter the cycle of reincarnation?" Qin Ye asked. "You do realize that after you''re reincarnated, you''ll lose your memories from this lifetime, so you''ll no longer be yourself. You were willing to serve the first King Yanluo and the second King Yanluo, so why can''t you serve me as well?"

    "It''s not that I don''t want..."

    Before Yue Fei had a chance to finish, Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off, then looked directly into his eyes as he asked, "A missing shoulder is nothing. Let me ask you just one thing: if your spiritual body is still whole, would you be willing to serve Hell?"

    Yue Fei immediately rose to his feet without any hesitation, then fell to one knee as he replied, "I would want nothing more than to remain as your loyal subordinate and serve Hell with the entirety of my heart and soul!"

    A surprised look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing the decisive tone in Yue Fei''s voice. In this instant, it was as if he had sprung back to life.

    His chest was heaving slightly, and even though there was nothing physically remarkable about him, he was suddenly exuding an extraordinary aura.

    In the abyss of despair, he had been shown a glimmer of hope, and that was more than enough to ignite the ambition and fighting spirit that hadid dormant in his heart for centuries.

    This was the Wumu that Qin Ye wanted. Prior to this, he had even wondered whether the historical records had exaggerated Yue Fei''s exploits, whether the current Yue Fei was still even worthy of receiving the inner demon''s soul. After all, the inner demon''s soul was apletely unique artifact in this world, so he had to be extremely careful with who he decided to give the soul to.

    However, he was certain about what the right decision was now.

    The old Yue Fei had never disappeared, it had merely been suppressed. His heart and spirit had been buried under a veil of despondence and shame, and he didn''t want Hell to waste any more time with him just because he had been a heroic figure during his lifetime. At the same time, he didn''t want to live out the rest of his existence in the underworld as a cripple, so he chose to be reborn.

    Only after Qin Ye told him that his missing shoulder wasn''t worthy of concern did the Yue Fei of old return with a vengeance.

    Qin Ye stood up as he made a grabbing motion, and countless high-grade Yin runes emerged in mid-air, following which a rainbow ball of light appeared above his palm, gently revolving on the spot.

    An aura beyond the Yama-King level slowly spread through the room, and even Yue Fei was barely able to repress his tion upon sensing this.

    For the first time in several hundred years, his cursed shoulder was feeling itchy, and that was only from the smell alone!

    It was as if the flesh there were striving to grow back like countless seedlings fighting to burrow out of the soil.

    "Eat it," Qin Ye instructed as he pushed the ball of light slowly toward Yue Fei, and thetter immediately grabbed it before swallowing it without any hesitation.

    In the next instant, a burst of enormous Yin energy exploded throughout the tenshu pavilion before sweeping in all directions.

    A Yama-King was about to be born!

 Chapter 1247: The Fourth and Fifth Yama-Kings (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1247: The Fourth and Fifth Yama-Kings (2)</h4>

    In this instant, all of the underworld emissaries throughout the entire Nipponese Underworld turned toward the same direction.

    Fearsome Yin energy fluctuations washed over the entire nation, and it was as if a terrifying monster were awakening from a long slumber. Wisps of Yin energy rose up from the ground all over the Nipponese Underworld, then immediately bloomed into a series of ck lotus flowers.

    Honda Tadakatsu drew a sharp breath as he turned around with an incredulous expression to inspect his surroundings. Countless inky-ck lotus flowers had bloomed all around him on the nearby mountains, the moat in front of his tenshu pavilions, and all of the surrounding rock faces! In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the entire Nipponese Underworld had been stained ck.

    Gusts of Yin wind swept past, causing the ck lotus flowers to gently sway amid an unsettling rustling sound.

    Time seemed to have fallenpletely still in this instant, and all of the survivingherwordly citizens and Yin soldiers raised their heads in unison to turn their attention toward the same spot. In the next instant, all of the ck lotus flowers trembled in unison before flying up into the sky as fast as lightning. An imprable screen of Yin energy quickly appeared in the sky, then surged in its entirety toward Tokyo.

    "What on earth is that?!" Tokugawa Ieyasu was looking up at the sky with an astonished expression. In the span of no more than a few minutes, the boundless screen of Yin energy had transformed day into night. It was as if the sun had been devoured, and immediately thereafter, the vast expanse of darkness above the tenshu pavilion beganto revolve and warp before finally forming a massive vortex!

    "What''s happening? What''s going on here?"

    "Who does this Yin energy belong to? It''s bing more and more powerful by the second!"

    "It seems to being from the top floor of the tenshu pavilion! Isn''t that where General Yue is? But he''s lost his Yin energy long ago!"

    All of the underworld emissaries were staring at one another with dumbfounded expressions, while Amanozako began to lower her own massive body to the ground in silence.

    "Someone''s making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King on the top floor!" She was trembling incessantly as she adopted a dogeza pose, but her heart and her eyes were involuntarily looking up toward the top floor of the tenshu pavilion.

    Yama-Kings stood at the very top of the underworld food chain, and not even a single Yama-King had been produced throughout the Nipponese Underworld''s long history, yet one was emerging right before their very eyes!

    Is this the power of the four pirs?

    Yue Fei was nothing more than a crippled shadow of his past self, yet within minutes of being visited by Qin Ye, he was suddenly making a breakthrough to be a Yama-King, transcending beyond the highest cultivation rank he had ever reached even during his prime!

    If only we were also emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld...

    Before they had a chance to think about anything else, the vortex up above suddenly elerated in its rotation, and in the next instant, pirs of yellow light came crashing down from above, illuminating the entire top of the tenshu pavilion a golden color.

    It was as if the light of a new sun had pierced through the dark clouds, basking the tenshu pavilion in its golden radiance, giving it the appearance of a mountain of gold.

    The world seemed to have been sliced apart, and the juxtaposition of the inky-ck sky and the radiant golden tenshu pavilion created such an awe-inspiring contrast that all of the underworld emissaries could only look on in marvel and wonder.

    Before they had a chance to say or do anything, a vast expanse of Yin energy that was as enormous as the heavens suddenly erupted from the top of the tenshu pavilion, and all of the underworld emissaries immediately fell to their knees as their legs gave out from under them.

    "What terrifying power! This is not power that''s achievable through skill and expertise alone!" Honda Tadakatsu had always been extremely confident in his own skills in battle, but at this moment, his forehead was pressed tightly against the ground, and he wanted to stand up, but was physically unable to do so. Never had he felt this type of fear from anyone in the Nipponese Underworld.

    It wasn''t a fear of death. Instead, it was instinctive fear toward a higher life form.

    He wasn''t the only one. All of the daimyos gathered beside him had also crumpled to the ground, trembling uncontrobly in dogeza poses. Even all of the skeletal warhorses around the tenshu pavilion had also knelt down onto the ground, and there was no sound to be heard aside from the howling of the Yin wind.

    Qin Ye hadn''t left.

    Theoretically speaking, the soul of the inner demon would''ve definitely been sufficient for Yue Fei to make a Yama-King level breakthrough on the spot, but Yue Fei''s spiritual body was iplete, so he had to be present to ensure that this breakthrough was sessful.

    "The more powerful I be, the more responsibilities I have to take on. My power is like lightning in the night, as brilliant as it is eye-catching," Qin Ye sighed to himself as he took a seat. However, right at this moment, he suddenly raised his head before casting his gaze toward the west.

    "Oho, and the good news just keepsing."

    Cathayan Underworld, Formosa.

    "What is the meaning of this?! What you''re doing is illegal!" At the Hindustani Underworld''s energy resource outpost in Formosa, a Yin spirit wearing a white turban and a sapphire ne was in the process of yelling at the top of his lungs with an enraged expression. "I''m going to take this matter to court! We issued sufficient fees, so why are we not entitled to receive..."

    Before Ambassador Abduh had a chance to finish, several spears were aimed directly at his throat, and his voice instantly trailed off into silence.

    Outside the Hindustani Underworld''s energy resource outlet, around a dozen Yin soldiers were assembled in a row. They were led by amander who wasn''t particrly tall or physically imposing, but there was no concealing the killing intent radiating from his body, and it was clear that he was a Yin soldier who had been in actual battles in the past.

    Only after Abduh and his peers fell silent did he make a hand gesture, instructing his soldiers to lower their spears. "The province of Formosa will be going into lockdown fro a week. During this time, no Yin spirits are permitted to leave the ind. The Cathayan Underworld will satisfy all of your needs, and all those who attempt to leave the ind without permission will be detained as spies."

    "That''s not fair!"

    "You''re telling me we have to stay in this building for a week?"

    "What''s the reason for this? You have to give us a proper exnation!"

    "I apologize for the inconvenience caused to everyone," themander said with a steely expression. "You will bepensated by the Cathayan Underworld after the event, but for now, you must do as you''re told. During the lockdown period, you''re only restricted in your movement, but there are no restrictions on anything else. As for everyday necessities, those will be delivered to you in half an hour."

    After that, the row of Yin soldiers stationed themselves in front of the entrance, and Abduh could only return to the building with tightly furrowed brows.

    After returning to his office, Abduh nced out his window to find that all of the shops and other national energy resource outposts had also been ced under lockdown.

    The Hindustani Underworld''s energy resource outpost wasn''t just responsible for arranging imports and exports of energy resources. At the same time, it was also coborating with the Cathayan Underworld in new energy resource research. Thus, due to therge number of Yin spirits employed there, the building was very tall. Just like the other buildings belonging to the three pirs, this building towered over all of the other buildings on the ind of Formosa, and from this vantage point, Abduh was able to clearly see every single corner of the ind.

    "What is going on?" Abduh returned to his seat and poured himself a cup of coffee as his gaze roamed over the ind with tightly furrowed brows. There was no way that the Cathayan Underworld would decide to ce the entire ind under lockdown for no reason, so there had to be an exnation for this.

    The jobs of all diplomats had certain areas of ovep with the duties of spies.

    They were responsible for reporting what they learned back to their nation as quickly as possible, so essentially, they were official spies who worked out in the open.

    Abduh had already been working at Formosa for 10 years, and with the experience that he had umted during this time, he had a strong feeling that something big was about to happen on the ind.

    Before he had a chance to think about anything else, the entire world suddenly trembled slightly.

    It was a very strange feeling.

    It was as if the sky had suddenly turned dark before clearing up again in the brief span of a millisecond.

    Abduh faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately sprang to his feet, knocking over his teacup in the process, but he paid no heed to that as he stared intently at the tall mountain range on the horizon. As a Soul Hunter, he could clearly sense a burst of incredibly powerful Yin energy fluctuations surging toward the ind.

    Furthermore, the fluctuations were only growing more and more powerful. It was like the butterfly effect, triggering only a slight breeze in the beginning, only for the breeze to build up into a ferocious storm!

    He looked on with an rmed expression as the clouds near the Alishan Mountains rapidly receded, and the horizon began to blur, much like the visual effect of heat rising up from hot tarmac to warp the air.

    A terrifying thought sprang into his mind, and his throat immediately ran dry as he suddenly stumbled back a few steps. His body was trembling uncontrobly, and he was only snapped out of his stunned stupor as he bumped into his own desk.

    All of a sudden, an all-epassing wave of darkness erupted from the Alishan Mountains.

    It swept over the entire world so quickly that it was as if it had never appeared in the first ce. Perhaps the split-second of darkness was too brief to even be detected by the retinas of normal Yin spirits.

    The darkness disintegrated as soon as it appeared, but it didn''t drift down from the heavens. Instead, it transformed into countless ck butterflies that surged toward Formosa like a river of darkness.

    They were flying extremely quickly, and in the blink of an eye, they had already formed a vast sea of clouds above the ind. The clouds were constantly surging and revolving, devouring the sun and concealing all light. Within the span of less than an hour, the entire sky had been concealed behind a wave of darkness.

    At the center of the darkness was a massive vortex, around which lightning was shing incessantly. All of a sudden, a pir of ck light came crashing down from the vortex, directly striking the Alishan Mountains.

    At this point, Abduh had already seen enough to understand what was happening, and he instantly lost all sense ofposure as he yelled, "There''s a new Yama-King arising in the Cathayan Underworld! My god!"

    After that, he rushed over to his phone like a madman before frantically picking up the receiver. "Connect me to the embassy! Hurry!"

    Of course, he wasn''t the only one witnessing this spectacr scene.

    It was so grand and vast that countless underworld emissaries across the world were able to see the phenomenon that had epassed Foromsa. At the same time, the phones on the desks of all of the death gods began to ring in unison.

    In the Hindustani Underworld, Yamaraja heaved a faint sigh before setting down the receiver of his phone. "Two Yama-Kings, eh?"

    The benefits of war were on full disy here.

    The Cathayan Underworld is making preparations for the opening of the Array of the Nine Gods...

    With two new Yama-Kings soon to join its ranks, the Cathayan Underworld''s power already far exceeded that of the Russian Underworld. In addition to that, there was thebination of super high altitude flying shuttles and Death God, and taking that into ount, the Cathayan Underworld was already infinitely approaching the other three pirs in power.

    The only thing they werecking inparison was their foundation.

    He heaved a long sigh before standing up and making his way to the window, where he looked out at the Hindustani Underworld. "It''ll take the Cathayan Underworld many more centuries to umte the same foundation it had during its heyday, but so long as Death God continues to exist, no one will be able to make a move against it. It has truly risen up again from the ashes."

 Chapter 1248: The Fourth and Fifth Yama-Kings (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1248: The Fourth and Fifth Yama-Kings (3)</h4>

    Formosa.

    All of the Yin spirits on the ind, regardless of their nationality, upation, or status, were kowtowed on the ground, trembling uncontrobly.

    The entire territorial sea of the Cathayan Underworld was churning violently under the two enormous vortexes in the sky, sweeping up enormous waves in all directions. It was like the center between two forbidden arts, and ferocious shockwaves were released one after another. In particr, the Yin energy from both sides were crashing violently against one another between Formosa and the Nippon Sea, as if they were fighting for supremacy.

    "My god..." On all of the ships that were still yet to have reached the shore, the crew members were all kneeling in their cabins with their palms joined together, praying with all their might.

    This was the signal for the Cathayan Underworld''s resurgence.

    The Cathayan Underworld was telling everyone that even after 100 years of istion, it was still a world-leading superpower.

    Qin Ye was able to see all of this as he released his consciousness from the top of the tenshu pavilion, and a pleased smile appeared on his face.

    Several decades ago, he had created the new Hell on his own, and his only ally was Arthis, who bullied him for fun. At the time, the situation had truly seemed dire.

    After that, he had conquered Ashmound and in the daolords to unite the nation. He then re-established the six paths of reincarnation and ushered in the new energy resource industrial revolution, and now, he had conquered the Nipponese Underworld.

    Throughout this journey, he felt that he had done extremely well, and it was exactly because of all of the diligent efforts that he had dedicated that it was all the sweeter for him to finally reap the rewards of hisbor. A sense of overwhelming satisfaction and joy was bubbling incessantly in his chest.

    There was a quote that he had read somewhere. He couldn''t recall who the quote was from, but it went along the lines of: "when there''s no pressure on an individual to survive, they will inevitably begin to pursue spiritual fulfillment."

    On this day, he felt like he had achieved just that.

    As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, every single word that was uttered by him was like an imperial edict. Even throughout the entire underworld, the only beings who could rank alongside him were the ruler death gods of the other three pirs.

    Right as he was basking in his own satisfaction, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted out of his chest, immediately following which an object flew out amid a fluttering sound.

    It was Hell''s Record!

    He stared at the book with a stunned expression.

    Why has this thing appeared? I''ve already reached the pinnacle of cultivation, what can this thing do for me?

    "Hold on!" Qin Ye''s eyes abruptly widened as a thought urred to him. "This isn''t the pinnacle of cultivation! There are beings out there that transcend beyond advanced Yama-Kings!"

    Could it be?

    He wasn''t too fixated on status. After all, there really wasn''t any status in this world higher than the ruler of one of the four pirs. However, additional power was certainly something that he wasn''t going to refuse!

    Right as these thoughts were shing through his head, Hell''s Record sprang open, and lines of golden text began to appear on its pages.

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched slightly as his eyes followed the golden text that was emerging before him.

    Hell''s Record was sparing no praise in its assessment of his achievements, even going as far as to use idioms reserved only for the most heroic of generals in Cathayan history!

    These were des that weren''t even afforded to the likes of Yue Fei in the history books, yet he was now on the receiving end of such high praise!

    "How unexpected," he chuckled to himself. A brainless bully like the second King Yanluo clearly didn''t deserve such titles. Only titles like dictator, barbarian, and ruffian would be fitting to describe him.

    He continued reading.

    "Throughout all of history, not a single general from any era or generation has managed to conquer Nippon, and the same applies in the underworld. However, the third King Yanluo was able toplete this ambitious feat after several thousand years. In doing so, he has unified Easter Asia, as well as granting the Cathayan Underworld a natural barrier against the west. From now on, the provinces of Nippon and Formosa will act as an effective barrier for the Cathayan Underworld against potential invaders. Conquering the Nipponese Underworld allows the Cathayan Underworld to expand its territorial sea eastward to the center of the Antic Ocean and perhaps even beyond that. Regardless of whether it''s in terms of strategic value or for the procurement of resources, this achievement is invaluable. In the history of the underworld, this is a feat second only to the unification of the Cathayan Underworld by the first King Yanluo. Now calcting the des to be rewarded for the sessful takeover of the Nipponese Underworld."

    It really is going to give me something! Can I still be more powerful?

    Qin Ye''s eyes were virtually glowing, and soon, a series of lines of text began to quickly appear in the air before him.

    "For being the first person in the history of the Cathayan Underworld to raise war against the Nipponese Underworld, you will be awarded 100 million merit points."

    "For being the first person in the history of the Cathayan Underworld to capture Ruler Death God Izanami and Death God Susanoo-no-Mikoto of the Nipponese Underworld, you will be awarded 300 million merit points."

    "For being the first person in the history of the Cathayan Underworld to conquer all eight regions and wipe out Kyoto, you will be awarded 500 million merit points."

    "For being the first person in the history of the Cathayan Underworld to decimate all of the Nipponese Underworld''s yokai and Kunitsukami, you will be awarded 500 million merit points."

    In total, there were over 10 reward uses, and after just a brief nce at them, Qin Ye''s heartbeat immediately began to elerate.

    He was being awarded over a billion merit points!

    In the past, he had only awarded merit points in allotments of millions or tens of millions, so this was a massive step up from there!

    Will this be enough to take me beyond the Yama-King level?

    As the final reward use appeared, the total number of merit points awarded to him reached 1.8 billion!

    It was also in the same instant that Hell''s Record exploded again, disintegrating into specks of golden light that lingered in the surrounding air.

    A type of profound power was being released by the golden specks of light, and the power entered Qin Ye''s body in wisps and tendrils. In the next instant, everything before his eyes exploded, and it was as if the entire world had been shattered. A vast expanse of pure golden lightpletely enveloped his entire body.

    At the same time, he was struck by a sense of drowsiness that made him involuntarily want to close his eyes. It was as if he had returned to his mother''s womb, and he felt extremely warm and content. His skin and body also seemed to have returned to their most sensitive state, and a gentle hand was carefully arranging all of his meridians.

    He slowly closed his eyes, so unbeknownst to him, his bones were slowly transitioning toward a pure golden color, while his blood and flesh was also beginning to turn white.

    It wasn''t a deathly white color. Instead, it was like the color of the most premium mutton fat jade, a pure and pristineplexion.

    Heaven and earth seemed to have transformed into his cocoon, and he was being reborn within the cocoon.

    Time quickly passed by, and after an indeterminate period of time, some of Qin Ye''s senses finally returned to him.

    His eyelids were impossibly heavy, but his brain was telling him that it no longer wished to sleep. He slowly opened his eyes, and he could still see that he was basked in a vast expanse of golden radiance.

    He gently exhaled as he attempted to stretch his limbs. He didn''t know how long he had been sleeping for, but as he stretched his own body, all of his joints cracked and popped in quick session.

    The first feeling that had urred to him was that he had grown more powerful.

    If his body had been forged from iron back when he was an advanced Yama-King, then he would be a man of steel right now.

    He had a feeling that even if he had to take a forbidden art head-on, he definitely wouldn''t have to fall into a slumber.

    Despite the significant improvements in his power, he could sense that he still hadn''t reached Zhao Yun''s level yet.

    He was a little disappointed by this observation. At the time, Zhao Yun had devoured the soul of Genghis Khan by chance. Genghis Khan and Izanami were both rulers of underworlds, but they werepletely different in status.

    Izanami was merely the ruler of a third-rate underworld for 2,000 years, while Genghis Khan was the almighty ruler who had led the Mongol Empire to sweep across the entirety of Asia and Europe! There was noparison between the two regardless of whether it came to territory or achievements. Ultimately, Izanami hadn''t even created the Nipponese Underworld, so she was nothing more than an imposter death god.

    However, Qin Ye wasn''t feeling despondent, either.

    After all, as the third King Yanluo, the Harken and Zhao Yun would always be present to protect him from danger. If worse came to worst, he could always rely on the cheat code that was the second King Yanluo, so it wasn''t actually all that important whether he transcended beyond the Yama-King level at all. The only thing that the breakthrough would do for him was afford him an extra degree of safety.

    Space exploration was the final step of his n, and once he opened the nar walls, he would have to face extraterrestrial civilizations, which would also have beings above the Yama-King level.

    With that in mind, he continued to assess his own newfound power.

    He wasn''t beyond the Yama-King level, but at the same time, he no longer seemed to be a Yama-King, either. Instead, it felt like he was somewhere in between the two.

    He could sense some clear differencespared with back when he was a Yama-King, and the most prominent change was that his Yin energy had disappeared.

    An indescribable aura had taken its ce. It was darker than true energy, but brighter than Yin energy, and more profound than immortal energy.

    "What cultivation rank is this?" He tried to stretch out his own body, and right at this moment, a string of loud cracks suddenly rang out around him. Countless fractures appeared on the surface of the surrounding golden cocoon, following which it abruptly exploded and disintegrated into dust.

    A familiar scene appeared before his eyes, and he adjusted his own robes. Right as he was about to take a step forward in a triumphant fashion, an excited voice suddenly rang out from behind him. "Three to King straight! I win!"

    Who is this insolent scum?!

    Qin Ye turned around with a menacing expression, only to be immediately stunned by the sight that he was greeted by.

    The second King Yanluo, the Harken, and Qin Changxin were currently huddled around the table, ying a game of dou dizhu, and it was none other than the second King Yanluo who had ruined this moment for Qin Ye with his excited yelling.

    Qin Ye was so enraged that his lips began to tremble slightly.

    I''m here working my ass off to make this breakthrough, while you ungrateful idiots are here ying dou dizhu?! How dare you?!

    "Ahem!" He cleared his throat to draw attention to himself, but the second King Yanluo didn''t even look up as he waved a hand in response.

    "You there, get me some tea."

    Tea my arse!

    "Ahem!!" Qin Ye cleared his throat more forcefully this time, and the second King Yanluo finally turned to face him.

    There was a toothpick between his teeth, and he looked at Qin Ye for a while before asking, "How do you feel? It''s quite remarkable that you''ve managed to reach this point. Go just a step further from here and you''ll truly be a formidable force in the universe."

 Chapter 1249: Preparations to Open Up the Nation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1249: Preparations to Open Up the Nation (1)</h4>

    My apologies, I want to send the entire nation into space, but I have no intention of venturing into the universe myself!

    Qin Ye took a nce at the second King Yanluo and refrained from articting his thoughts. He had a feeling that he would be asking for a beating if he said that.

    Earth was such a good ce! He was already at the very top of the food chain, and all he wanted was to stay in this safe haven and go into an easy early retirement.

    With that in mind, he quickly changed the subject, turning his attention to Qin Changxin. "Congrattions!"

    Qin Changxin was giving off Yama-King level Yin energy fluctuations, and in contrast with other Cathayan Yama-Kings, his eyeballs hadpletely vanished from their sockets, reced by two specks of bright crimsonherfire, and there were faint shes of electricity asionally arcing over his entire body.

    "It''s all thanks to you, Your Excellency!" Qin Changxin was extremely excited. Never did he think that he would be able to reach such dizzying heights. Just this breakthrough alone made his decision to defect to the Cathayan Underworldpletely worth it.

    After all, even though he held the title of the governor of Nippon, the Cathayan Underworld was still above him, so it hardly mattered.

    He was the one who had truly unified the Nipponese Underworld! Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the others could only wait in the tenshu pavilion down below for their fiefdoms to be assigned, unable to evene to this level!

    "It''s a good thing that Yama-King Qin was in the Cathayan Underworld." The Harken leaped onto Qin Ye''s shoulder in a well-rehearsed motion, then reflexively moved slightly before catching itself. It seemed that its muscle memory involved jumping up a step further onto Qin Ye''s head, but it refrained from doing so considering they were still in Qin Changxin''s presence. "Due to the limitations of the Nipponese Underworld, Yama-King Qin wouldn''t have been able to make his breakthrough there. However, after returning to the Cathayan Underworld, he was able to benefit from the vast Yin energy in the nation, thereby allowing him to make a smooth breakthrough."

    "That''s right." Qin Changxin took a deep breath to repress his own excitement, then cupped his fist in a salute. "I will never forget what the Cathayan Underworld has done for me."

    The Harken didn''t seem to have heard him at all as it continued, "However, even the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t have been able to support two Yama-King level breakthroughs at once prior to conquering the Nipponese Underworld. Thankfully, after the fall of the Nipponese Underworld, there arose a slight chance for such a feat to be aplished. Thus, at the time, I took Yama-King Qin to the nearest ind of Formosa for him to make his breakthrough."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Does he not need to make his breakthrough in the Nipponese Underworld?"

    The Harken replied, "The Nipponese Underworld already belongs to the Cathayan Underworld. Seeing as it''s all part of the same nation, it doesn''t matter where hepletes his breakthrough. However."

    It turned to Qin Changxin with a meaningful expression as it continued, "If the Nipponese Underworld ever bes independent again, it''ll no longer belong to the Cathayan Underworld, and the Yin energy and power of worship there will plummet. If that happens, Yama-King Qin most likely won''t be able to retain his current cultivation rank."

    There were clearly some implications behind its words.

    In saying this, it was telling Qin Ye that it was safe to hand over the reins of the Nipponese Underworld to Qin Changxin. As long as he didn''t want to part with his current cultivation rank, he was never going to betray the Cathayan Underworld.

    At the same time, this was also a subtle warning to Qin Changxin, telling him that any attempt to liberate the Nipponese Underworld in the future would be directly to his detriment.

    Qin Changxin nodded with a smile while heaving a long internal sigh. Ultimately, he still wasn''t a Yin spirit of the Cathayan Underworld. Even though he had been granted the Qin surname, there was no changing the fact that his true name was still Oda Nobunaga.

    If Yue Fei or Zhao Yun had taken on the role of governor of Nippon, the Harken wouldn''t have felt the need to issue that veiled warning. If he wanted topletely integrate himself into the Cathayan Underworld, there would still be several generations of work that had to be done, and during this time, Hell would undoubtedly always remain a little wary of his Oda n.

    Some things were too hurtful to be directly articted, so they were better left implied and unsaid. Thus, the Harken didn''t speak any further on this matter. Instead, it whipped its tail at Qin Ye''s cheek before changing the subject.

    "All new Yama-Kings must be presented to the entire nation for a celebration. Now that we have universities, they will also need to tour the universities and give speeches there. Most importantly, all new Yama-Kings need to have a title assigned to them by King Yanluo in person."

    Qin Ye thought about this for a moment, then said, "Among the Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces of the old Hell, all of them were given titles based on their fiefdoms with a few special exceptions. For example, there was the Chu River King of the second pce, the Biancheng King of the six pce, and the Mount Tai King of the seventh pce. In this case, Yama-King Qin is the governor of the Nipponese Underworld, and the capital city of the Nipponese Underworld, Kyoto, was known in ancient times as Heian-ky¨­. Thus, I give you the title of the Heian King, and it also has a double meaning of peace, so it symbolizes a desire for peace and prosperity. What do you all think?" [In Japanese, heian (Æ½°²) trantes to peace.]

    Everyone turned to Qin Changxin for his opinion, and he immediately cupped his fist in a salute while extending a respectful bow. "I couldn''t think of a more perfect title!"

    Thus, Hell had reinstated two of its Yama-Kings of the 10 Pces in the form of Reincarnation King Arakshasa and Heian King Qin Changxin.

    In fact, there was a third one!

    Qin Ye took a deep breath, then asked, "How long have I been in seclusion for? Where is General Yue?"

    "You''ve been gone for a month," the Harken replied. "General Yue is also in the tenshu pavilion, and he was nning to meet you as soon as you emerged from seclusion, but he''s been dyed by some minor inconveniences."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, it said, "This is something that you have to take care of in person. No one else can help you here."

    After that, it casually swatted its tail against the back of Qin Ye''s head, earning itself an indignant re.

    "General Yue, I''m not to me for what happened back then!"

    Before Qin Ye had even fully made his way down the staircase, he was greeted by the sound of a sobbing voice on the first floor.

    "Think about it, General Yue! During our dynasty, generals weren''t granted any military power! In the early stages after the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty,rge numbers of soldiers were deployed to ensure stability. Once the nation was stabilized, the emperor naturally wanted to kill off some of these armed forces. Generals at the time had an abundance of both wealth and soldiers at the time, so they posed a threat to the emperor himself, and you were one of the leading figures among the generals!"

    Qin Ye had already made his way to the bottom of the staircase, but he stopped there and continued to listen with an intrigued expression.

    There were countless depictions of Yue Fei''s death in different history books, and he wanted to hear the truth.

    The hall fell silent, and only after a long while did Yue Fei''s calm voice ring out in response. "Is that all you have to say?"

    "No, that''s not all!" The sobbing voice rang out again. "After you quelled the rebellions, you epted donations to fund your army. Of course, arge proportion of those funds were provided by the local officials and the general public in the hope that you''ll continue to advance your army northward, but the emperor wasn''t willing to ept that! Also, there was an instance where you spoke directly to the emperor regarding the issue of an heir. His Majesty had no sons, and no one in the imperial court dared to bring up this subject! Please pardon me for being blunt, but you were digging your own grave! "

    There was silence once again.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he turned to the Harken on his shoulder, then asked, "When did Qin Huie here?"

    Before the Harken had a chance to reply, the second King Yanluo''s voice rang out from behind him. "He first came about a month ago, and ever since then, he''s beening every day to cry and repent."

    Qin Ye turned around to find the second King Yanluo eavesdropping with glee in the corner.

    "Do you have to eavesdrop so tantly?" Qin Ye scoffed with a disdainful expression.

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the second King Yanluo gently cleared his throat, and a table in the corner was instantly reduced to dust. He didn''t appear to have done anything, and there were no signs indicating that any power had been released from his body.

    Qin Ye''s eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this, and he immediately put on a fawning smile as he said, "What I meant to say that you shouldn''t be so dashing and handsome even when eavesdropping as that ces undue pressure on your fellow eavesdroppers. You should learn to blend in with the masses and not be so outrageously perfect all the time."

    The second King Yanluo smiled as he patted Qin Ye on the head. "I know none of that was true, but I''ll let you off the hook for now."

    Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything else, the second King Yanluo withdrew his hand, then gestured toward the room as he asked, "What are you going to do?"

    Qin Hui was renowned as a slimy character in history, but he was also very capable of contributing greatly to the construction of the new Hell. Furthermore, he had surrendered himself to the Cathayan Underworld, so killing him would make Qin Ye seem like an ungracious and unforgiving ruler, but leaving him alive could lead to discontent from Yue Fei.

    "It''s not my decision, it''s about what General Yue wants to do," Qin Ye replied.

    The second King Yanluo raised an eyebrow with a surprised expression, then nodded in response.

    Qin Ye''s intentions here were very clear. They were in a tenshu pavilion in the province of Nippon, so if Yue Fei really wanted to kill Qin Hui here, then no one from the Cathayan Underworld would find out. The only witnesses nearby were the daimyos, and they were only interested in securing their fiefdoms, so Qin Changxin would only have to issue a non-disclosure order to silence them in order to prevent them from spreading the news. After that, they could simply proim that Qin Hui had been killed by the residual resistant forces in the Nipponese Underworld.

    Indeed, the Nipponese Underworld had already been conquered, but there were still armed rebellions taking ce in many of the cities, and the Cathayan Underworld''s forces were all waiting for Qin Ye toe out of seclusion to issue them with instructions in how to deal with the rebellions.

    The room was silent for a full 10 minutes before Yue Fei finally said, "I actually already knew all of that."

    The sound of chair legs scraping across the floor rang out, and Yue Fei seemed to have stood up as he said, "During the past few centuries, I''ve been confined to this room, and during that time, I''ve thought about many things."

    Qin Hui offered no reply aside from his incessant weeping.

    "You''re not to me," Yue Fei said, and a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    If Yue Fei really had killed Qin Hui, Qin Ye wouldn''t have punished him, but his image of Yue Fei would be negatively affected as a result.

    If Yue Fei had killed Qin Hui for the sole purpose of exacting vengeance and venting his fury, then Qin Ye would be quite concerned about such a petty and potentially vtile figure serving as one of the Cathayan Underworld''s Yama-Kings.

    Thankfully, Yue Fei hadn''t disappointed him.

    "You were only being used by the emperor at the time. Given my status, there was no way you could''ve killed me without the emperor''s approval, so you were never the true perpetrator."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, Qin Ye burst into apuse and made his way into the room.

    "Yanluo Qin!" In the instant that Qin Ye appeared in the room, Qin Hui rapidly scurried over to him on his knees, then kowtowed onto the floor so heavily that the entire room trembled slightly as he said in a sobbing voice, "I swear that I never resented General Yue! I would''ve never plotted against him had the emperor not exerted so much pressure on me! You have to believe me!"

    "You can get up," Qin Ye said. "Seeing as General Yue has already forgiven you, I''m certainly willing to let things slide. From now on, both of you will be serving Hell, so you have to work together and help one another. Also, who''s overseeing proceedings in the three eastern provinces in your absence? You should go back as soon as possible to resume your official duties."

    Before Qin Hui had a chance to express his gratitude, Qin Ye''s smile faded as he dered, "Get ready. In 10 minutes, we''ll be holding our first meeting between Yama-Kings."

 Chapter 1250: Preparations to Open Up the Nation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1250: Preparations to Open Up the Nation (1)</h4>

    Soon, the tenshu pavilion was cleaned up and ready to act as a temporary meeting room. Qin Ye, Arakshasa, Qin Changxin, the Harken, Yue Fei, and Zhao Yun had all taken a seat.

    This was a very spacious hall with a very pronounced Nipponese-style design, and Qin Ye turned to Qin Changxin with a smile as he said, "Heian King, the Nipponese Underworld may have been conquered, but there''s still a lot of work left to be done, wouldn''t you agree?"

    The first thing to do was to quell all of the rebellions still taking ce in the nation.

    "Of course," Qin Changxin replied in a confident voice. "I''ve decided that as soon as the situation is stabilized, I''ll send out all of the daimyos to quell the rebellions and unrest in the nation. Also, I have a few suggestions to make, and I''d like to humbly present them to you now."

    Qin Changxin had been thinking for several decades about how to rule over the Nipponese Underworld, so he was extremely well prepared to discuss this topic. "The first suggestion rtes to the topic ofherworldly citizens. In order to instill a sense of belonging into theherworldly citizens as soon as possible, I''ve decided to scatter the distribution ofherworldly citizens."

    Qin wasn''t expecting Qin Changxin to be so advanced in his thinking, and he raised an eyebrow as he gestured for Qin Changxin to continue.

    Qin Changxin exined, "From this day forth, the daimyos will be responsible for quelling the nation''s rebellions, while I''ll be overseeing the construction of super long distance teleportation arrays in the eight regions of the Nipponese Underworld. Those teleportation arrays will be connected to eight major metropolitan areas in the Cathayan Underworld. There will be underworld emissaries overseeing seamless soul capturing connections, and all captured souls will immediately be taken to the Cathayan Underworld, while the Nipponese Underworld will temporarily retain only 50 millionherworldly citizens."

    He made a grabbing motion, and a document appeared out of thin air before falling in front of all of the Yama-Kings. "At the moment, there are 350 millionherworldly citizens in the Nipponese Underworld. Aside from the 50 millionherworldly citizens to remain in the Nipponese Underworld, the other 300 million will all be transferred to the major cities across the Cathayan Underworld. From then onward, the Nipponese Underworld will only retain 20% of the newherworldly citizens that enter the underworld every year, and the rest will continue to be moved to the Cathayan Underworld. This arrangement will go on for 200 years.¡±

    This was quite a vicious decision to make, and all of the Yama-Kings silently exchanged a nce upon hearing this.

    Essentially, he was undermining the nation and severing the heritage of the Shinto religion!

    If this were in Usonia, there was no way that this proposal would be approved. Usonia was an immigration nation, so it didn''t have the solidarity built up over the course of thousands of years. However, this was possible in the Cathayan Underworld!

    If there were any nation in the world that would definitely be unified again after beingpletely fractured, then it could only be Cathay!

    The concept of grand unification was one that was deeply ingrained in the hearts of all Cathayans. At the same time, the Cathayan Underworld was also the nation most adept at assimting other cultures. Once the Nipponese Underworld''sherworldly citizens were sent to the Cathayan Underworld, it would only take three generations before the vast majority of them stopped abiding by Nipponese habits and traditions.

    "That''s a good idea," Zhao Yun replied with a nod. "Is there anything else?"

    "Of course," Qin Changxin said. "In order to make thempletely ept their identity asherworldly citizens of the Cathayan Underworld, our Cathayan Underworld needs to be sufficiently powerful. At the moment, we just barely satisfy that prerequisite, but even more importantly, we have to focus on the education sector. I''ll make sure all reaching materials are rewritten, and allws, currency, clothing, and every other integral part of society is changed to match those of the Cathayan Underworld. There will be some resistance to these changes at first, but I''m determined to see them through.¡±

    All of the Yama-Kings nodded in response. These changes had to take ce at the roots.

    They had to erase the roots of the Nipponese Underworld step by step while simultaneously strengthening the influence of the Cathayan Underworld. After three generations, the name of the Nipponese Underworld was going to be erased from the minds of allherworldly citizens!

    "As for those who remain stubbornly devoted to the Nipponese Underworld, they''ll be sent straight to the Cathayan Underworld to be reincarnated," Qin Changxin continued. "Finally, we must address the Shinto religion. So long as the heritage of the Shinto religion remains, the Nipponese Underworld''s deities will not die. I''ll negotiate with the mortal realm to stifle the Shinto religion while promoting Taoism. Once all of these measures are implemented, it''ll only be a matter of time before theherworldly citizens of the Nipponese Underworld are assimted."

    Qin Ye nodded in response.

    "I''ll leave everything to you. Aside from the governors and administrativemissioners, I give you the right to assign all other roles as you please," Qin Ye said. "Setting this subject aside for now, I have something else important that I would like to discuss with you all."

    A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "I n to open up the Array of the Nine Gods within this year."

    None of the Yama-Kings were surprised to hear this.

    Qin Ye continued, "Firstly, our flying shuttles have already reached the nar walls of Limbo, so we should be able to achieve a decisive breakthrough within the next decade. In doing so, we will be taking a gigantic step, one that has never been taken in history. A new chapter in history will be ushered in where some small nations may experience unexpected sess, while some of the four pirs may fall into decline. After we usher in the new era of space exploration, we can''t control how the other underworlds choose to explore the universe. However, during the early phase of that new era, the four pirs will still be the four pirs. We need to establish a strong foundation now so that our economy can continue to be elevated during the space exploration era. Only then will we have the resources required to colonize other nes and develop others. The Array of the Nine Gods has protected us for over 100 years, and it has already fulfilled its duty perfectly. Going forward, it would be more detrimental than beneficial to continue to have it in ce. All it''ll do is obstruct our Cathayan Underworld frommunicating with the rest of the world and reduce the influx of foreign funds. The ind of Formosa alone isn''t enough to satisfy the entire world''s appetite. During thest meeting between world leaders, I''ve already revealed our Cathayan Underworld''s past and current state, so everyone knows that this is and of countless opportunities."

    He rose to his feet, and his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp with a flick of his wrist. "I still haven''t released the news that I n to open up the Array of the Nine Gods. I''m sure that when I do announce it, all of the world''spanies will go crazy! There''s undoubtedly going to be a mad rush from international corporations to enter our nation''s market, so we have to be well prepared for that."

    A thought suddenly seemed to have urred to Qin Changxin upon hearing this, and he suggested, "Yanluo Qin, perhaps we can direct this influx toward the province of Nippon first. That way, we''ll be able to give the maind more time to prepare and react."

    Qin Ye nodded in response with a contemtive expression. "That''s certainly a possibility. After all, if we want to fully connect our Cathayan Underworld with the rest of the world, we''ll need several years to make adjustments and generate momentum. In contrast, everything in the Nipponese Underworld is already prepared, and the situation here is not much different from that in the maind. It''s also a brand new market, so foreign investors should be quite interested in it."

    After discussing several important topics, Qin Ye returned to his own room. As soon as he entered the room, he caught sight of a familiar figure lounging on the sofa, drinking tea by himself.

    "Unannounced entry is the same as trespassing! Do you not know that?" Qin Ye sat down across from him in a grumpy manner, then poured himself a cup of tea before taking a sip. "What do you want now? Why are you still here? Do you want to take over Hell again? I can hand the reins back over to you right now!"

    The second King Yanluo rolled his eyes in response, clearly not interested in that offer at all.

    In contrast with the first King Yanluo, his two sessors were farzier inpleting their jobs. If anyone was willing to ept the role of King Yanluo from them, they would immediately dump the job onto them before going into happy early retirement.

    "There''s only around a century left before the nar scales will be opened," the second King Yanluo said, wasting no time with unnecessary words.

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this, and a slightly tense atmosphere descended upon the room as he set down his teacup. "Is the situation not looking good for us?"

    "Not particrly, I''m afraid," the second King Yanluo replied as he looked up at the ceiling with an absentminded expression. "None of you have experienced internar wars, so you can''t imagine just ruthless wars between races and civilizations can be. No side will rest until the other side ispletely decimated."

    Qin Ye leaned back against the sofa as he asked, "Are you sure you''re not going to participate in this?"

    The second King Yanluo shook his head in response. "Aside from the Heavenly Dao, no one in this ne is aware of my true power, and once the internar wars begin, the Heavenly Dao will most definitely be going into battle as well."

    "Don''t you think that''s very boring?"

    "No. Once the internar wars begin, you''ll feel that those wars are very cruel. However, once you venture into the universe, you''ll find that space is even crueler. Civilizations that aren''t powerful enough should pray that they never step out of their nes. Once they do so, they''ll leave behind traces of themselves in space, and that''ll attract unimaginably powerful enemies to them."

    "Can''t we all always rely on you if all else fails?"

    The second King Yanluo shook his head in response. "My divine nation isn''t over here. My territory is already sufficientlyrge, and ording to the rules enforced by the gods, it would be inappropriate for me to im any more territory than I already have. All of the gods are aware that this is my home, so none of them would dare to attack it. However, only the truly powerful races in the universe are able toe into contact with high-end gods. The civilizations around Earth aren''t even aware of the existence of high-end gods, so they naturally have no such qualms. For them, traveling through the universe is a journey of light years, whereas for us, it''s nothing more than a stroll in the park that can bepleted in a matter of days."

    He turned to Qin Ye with a meaningful expression as he continued, "You think that high-end gods are very far away from you, but how do you know that there are no observers on this ne sent by high-end gods?"

    For some reason, a chill ran down Qin Ye''s spine upon hearing this, and he cleared his throat before asking in a low voice, "Are they really here?"

    The second King Yanluo watched him with a half-smile and offered no response.

    Several secondster, he moved onto another topic. "Seeing as you have the ambition to expand this ne, you''ll encounter these challenges sooner orter. In the grand scheme of things, the underworld ne is nothing more than a vige. If you can''t even make it out of the vige, what right do you have to make it into the city? Why should I go out of my way to protect a bunch of weaklings? The fact that I''m willing to ensure the safety of my home is already the biggest cheat code that you have."

    Qin Ye was developing a headache as he asked, "Then what if you have no choice but to get involved someday?!"

    "I''m open to taking on one or two beings above the Yama-King level for the sake of the ne if required."

    "Then what if they insist on forcing your hand?"

    "I would just fake my own death, and things will be out of my hands," the second King Yanluo replied with a shrug. "Once the nar scale ispletely opened, you''ll encounter more and more extraterrestrial gods. This year alone, we''ve already warded off three probing attacks from extraterrestrial civilizations. You have to make haste in your development. Also, I approve of opening up the Array of the Nine Gods."

    After that, he vanished into thin air, leaving only a parting message behind. "Make sure to prepare extensively. Once the ne is opened up, you''ll face far steeper challenges than you can imagine, so you can never be over prepared."

    With that, the second King Yanluo was gone.

    Qin Ye stood on the spot with his hands sped behind his back, and he was silent for a long while.

    He didn''t think that the second King Yanluo was joking.

    Even though he hadn''t interacted with the second King Yanluo much, he knew that the second King Yanluo was a very strong-minded person. He always seized the initiative and he possessed unfathomable power. If he said that he wouldn''t get involved, then he would definitely follow through with that. Throughout the entire time that Qin Ye had known the second King Yanluo, he had never seen him swallow his words.

    "So we only have 100 years left?" Qin Ye sighed to himself. "That''s not much time at all."

 Chapter 1251: Star Chart (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1251: Star Chart (1)</h4>

    With the Nipponese Underworld conquered, it was time for the Cathayan Underworld to focus solely on its own development.

    No underworlds raised any objections to the Nipponese Underworld''s transformation into a province of the Cathayan Underworld, and three dayster, the Death God weapon was added to the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. After that, the Cathayan Underworld was constantly urged to sign the treaty. After a month of constant nagging from the internationalmunity, Zhao Yun traveled to the Coalition of Underworlds in Qin Ye''s stead to re-sign the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts.

    The Cathayan Underworld was like an intricately constructed machine that was quickly returning to action after lying defunct for over a century. It was doing its best to adapt to its status as one of the four pirs, while also rapidly umting power so that it would be fitting of that title.

    As one generation of university graduates after another transitioned to be public servants, Qin Ye found his own workload to have decreased slightly.

    One day, he finally received the piece of news that he had been eagerly waiting for.

    The newly appointed chief secretary, Secretary Yuan, made his way into Qin Ye''s office, then reported, "Your Excellency, the super astronomical telescope has been assembled."

    After serving Qin Ye for over 30 years, former Chief Secretary Jiang had be the vice-governor of Han River Province, while the former chief of staff of Westriver Province, Yuan Li, had been promoted to take Secretary Jiang''s ce.

    Qin Ye raised his head before adjusting his own sses. "Where''s the data from the Sword Coral Research Institute?"

    "The data hasn''t arrived yet, but Vice-president Li Chun hase here in person," Secretary Yuan replied.

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

    Out of the Cathayan Underworld''s two major projects, the space exploration project and the second-generation forbidden arts project, development on thetter had already beenpleted. At the moment, there were further experiments being conducted to see if the energy fluctuations of the second-generation forbidden arts could be used as a new energy resource. As for the space exploration project, that involved a series of major projects, so it stood to reason that it would take longer than the second-generation forbidden arts project toplete.

    Due to government propaganda and favorable policies, physics and chemistry had be the most popr subjects in universities, and all graduates from those departments were extremely sought after by all majorpanies. It was also because of this that after around a decade of development, the Hou Yi Corporation of Cathay, the Central Starcloud Corporation, and Southwest Osmanthus Moon Technologies had arisen as three major corporations in the technology field, providing arge amount of resources for the Sword Coral Research Institute.

    The Hou Yi Corporation specialized in the production of motors and internalbustion engines, while the Starcloud Corporation produced space shuttle casing, and Osmanthus Moon Technologies produced space exploration materials. However, in contrast with the Starcloud Corporation, they developed internal materials rather than external casings. With so much assistance avable to them, those at the Sword Coral Research Institute were able to focus their attention on calction and experimentation, which were of the utmost importance.

    At the moment, the three corporations were all making losses. After all, the only buyer of their products was the Sword Coral Research Institute, and that wasn''t enough for them to turn a profit. However, the central government was constantly reinforcing the propaganda that the nation''s ultimate goal was space exploration.

    If that goal could be sessfully achieved, then the future potential for growth and development for the three corporations would be unfathomable!

    Thus, even though their annual reports didn''t make for good reading, all of thergest refined electronics corporations, television stations, and many materials corporations in the Cathayan Underworld were more than happy to invest in the trio ofpanies.

    Qin Ye was aware that the most difficult initial stage of space exploration research and development had already been ovee. After the market opened up and a sufficient supply of skilled personnel was gathered, the research would perhaps bepleted in a shorter timeframe than projected. By the time Qin Ye received the final report, it would mean that everything had already been tested and was sessful.

    This meant that they had already used the super astronomical telescope.

    Thus, the standard procedure would be for visual and statistical data to be sent to him, so that he would be able to examine the oues, then announce them to the entire nation.

    However, no data had been sent to him, but Vice-president Li Chun hade to visit.

    Perhaps they saw something when they looked into space for the first time...

    With that in mind, Qin Ye instructed, "Please tell Vice-president Li to wait momentarily, I''ll be with him shortly."

    Soon, Qin Ye was apanied by a secretary to the guest hall that Li Chun was situated in.

    At this point, the North Yin Pavilion had already expanded to several times its original size. Aside from the central buildings that had been present from the very beginning and hadn''t been rebuilt since then, all of the new buildings were extremely spacious. This was to facilitate all of the new officials that were going to visit in the future, as well as for foreign guests visiting after the opening of the Array of the Nine Gods. At the moment, Li Chun was in one of those buildings.

    The secretary opened the door, and Qin Ye made his way into the room with a wide smile before shaking Li Chun''s hand. "Thank you for your hard work, Vice-president Li."

    At the same time, he was observing Li Chun''s expression, and he discovered that Li Chun was looking very excited, but buried deep beneath that excitement was a hint of fear.

    They had to have seen something.

    Qin Ye didn''t immediately begin a conversation. Instead, he instructed everyone to vacate the room, leaving only Wang Chenghao to take notes, then sat down on a chair as he said with a smile, "I didn''t think that you wouldplete development on the project so quickly. So? Have you already tested the telescope? What did you see?"

    Li Chun took a deep breath, then replied in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency... There are other civilizations in space!"

    Wang Chenghao almost dropped his pen upon hearing this, and he immediately raised his head to stare at Li Chun with an incredulous expression. In contrast, Qin Ye nodded calmly in response, then suddenly asked, "How many people were present during the observation?"

    Li Chun didn''t quite know what to make of that question. "There were several hundred people there. Your Excellency, what are your..."

    "I''m going to issue an order to contain this information. Only those who sign non-disclosure agreements can return to work on the project," Qin Ye said in a calm manner. "This is a secret known only by the ruler death gods of the four pirs. Having said that, it''ll be revealed to the entire world within a century, so it''s not overly important."

    The room fellpletely silent.

    Li Chun''s mouth sprang open like a spluttering fish, and his brain was struggling to process what he had just heard.

    He would never forget just how astonished everyone had been when they had seen those extraterrestrial beings through the telescope. The entire Sword Coral Research Institute had been shocked to the core, yet Qin Ye wasn''t surprised nor flustered in the slightest.

    "You... already knew?" he asked.

    Qin Ye didn''t answer that question. Instead, he made a gesture toward Wang Chenghao, and thetter immediately pulled out a remote control, while a disy screen descended on the other side of the table.

    "Let''s examine what you saw first." Qin Ye''s calmness was rubbing off on Li Chun, allowing him to regain hisposure and think about how to deal with these extraterrestrial civilizations. He nodded in response, then handed an optical disc over to Wang Chenghao.

    Wang Chenghao departed from the room, and less than a minuteter, the surrounding blinds slowly descended before closing, plunging the room into darkness. Meanwhile, the screen slowly lit up.

    The footage had been edited so that no sound could be heard, but a dazzling starry sky could be seen.

    The image was a little shaky, but it was very clear. Soon, the shakiness also abated, and it seemed that the adjustments of the recording device had beenpleted.

    This wasn''t the first time that Qin Ye had seen outer space, but on this asion, he was far more rxed, allowing him to more carefully observe what he was seeing in greater detail.

    He could see that the stars wererger and greater in number in the space of the underworld than that of the mortal realm. Just as the second King Yanluo had said, the distance between realms was shorter, and they were more tightly packed together than in the mortal realm.

    However, he couldn''t see any extraterrestrial civilization.

    Right at this moment, the image swiveled around toward another direction, immediately following which the recording device began to shake violently.

    As the image stabilized, Qin Ye couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath, even though he was already mentally prepared.

    Outside the underworld ne, eight nes had linked themselves together in a series, and at the furthest point was a vast ck hole!

    The ck hole was massive,parable in size with the sun, and just as Qin Ye was carefully observing it, Li Chun exined in a grim voice, "This is a ck hole, but also not a ck hole. It has the appearance of a ck hole, but it doesn''t possess any characteristics of a ck hole. Please direct your attention here."

    He pressed the pause button before pointing at a certain spot on the image.

    Qin Ye took a closer look to discover an asteroid belt around the ck hole.

    This was definitely not normal.

    If this were a real ck hole, then it would be impossible for an asteroid belt to exist around it! Nothing could remain in such close proximity to a ck hole!

    "We refer to it as the Eye of the North Star," Li Chun said.

    Just as he was about to continue, Qin Ye raised a hand to cut him off. "There''s no need to go into any technical exnations, just tell me what you think it is."

    Li Chun was silent for a moment before replying, "We think it''s a gate, but we don''t know where it could lead to. There shouldn''t be much difference between the spatial vectors and rate of passage of time between our side and the other side, and that''s why this ck-hole-like phenomenon exists. It shouldn''t possess any suction force, but it''s very difficult to say that for sure. We think that it''s exactly because of the existence of this Eye of the North Star that this extremely rare phenomenon of nine connected stars has emerged. Also, this isn''t the most important point."

    He picked up the remote control and switched through several images. As the final image appeared, a hint of killing intent shed through Qin Ye''s eyes, and Li Chun''s hands also began to tremble slightly.

    There was a hovering rhomboid structure presented in the image!

    It definitely wasn''t a naturally forming structure. Its surface was extremely smooth and riddled with pits and bumps, all of which were clearly spaced out in an orderly fashion, so it was quite obvious that this was an artificial structure.

    The structure was hovering above a ne, and it wasn''t situated very high up, but what was certain was that it was already in space. Furthermore, there were countless weightless materials beneath it, and they seemed to have been strung up into a chain by an invisible rope, connected directly to the rhomboid structure from the ne down below.

    Only after a full minute of silence did Qin Ye ask, "Is that the only one?"

    Li Chun nodded in response. "At the moment, we''ve only discovered that one. Truth be told, the super astronomical telescope was alreadypleted a week ago, but in order to verify this structure, we observed it from several dozen different angles at countless different points in time. As a result, we discovered that the structure has an estimated surface area of over two million square kilometers, and construction on it should bepleted within the next 60 years!"

    A grim look appeared on Qin Ye''s face upon hearing this.

    He wasn''t stunned by the space exploration technology that he was witnessing. In reality, during his first observation of space through the telescope constructed from the body of the fifth sun god, he had already discovered that the extraterrestrial civilizations were only more advanced in their space exploration technology than the underworld ne was.

    What was he stunned by was the fact that they had already begun attempting to assemble their space fortress after only several decades since then!

    While it was true that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa also had a space fortress, their one had been constructed in the ne and was to beunched in the future, yet this space fortress was being directly constructed in space.

    Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but feel a little unsettled upon seeing this.

    Prior tounching the Cathayan Underworld''s space fortress, no one could be sure of whether it would actually be able to reach space, even if the inner demon''s body were capable of warding off astral winds.

    Was research in the underworld ne progressing in the wrong direction?

    Otherwise, why would an extraterrestrial ne with more advanced space exploration technology choose to construct their space fortress in space instead?

    Alternatively, could it be that their choice was the more correct one?

    Another possibility was that the space fortresses being constructed by the two nes were simply different things entirely. After all, a space fortress with a surface area of several million square kilometers could already be referred to as a space station.

    "Leave the data with me, and you can go back for now," Qin Ye finally said. "Don''t make a fuss out of this, and make sure none of the people privy to this information spread it to the outside world. At the same time, tell them that we are already aware of the situation and have prepared countermeasures against it."

    "Yes." Thus, Li Chun departed.

    Qin Ye stared at the image of the rhomboid structure for a long while before finally heaving a faint sigh.

    Immediately thereafter, he made a grabbing motion, and a ck box appeared in his grasp before being ced onto the table with the utmost care.

    "It''s finally time for you to be opened..."

 Chapter 1252: Star Chart (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1252: Star Chart (2)</h4>

    With an injection of Yin energy from Qin Ye, the ck wooden box finally sprang open slowly amid a faint click.

    This was the ck box that had been given to him by the second King Yanluo, and the second King Yanluo had told him to open it when he felt ready. At this point, he felt like it was time. Space exploration was the ultimate objective of the entire ne.

    As the wooden box was opened, a string of mechanical clicks rang out, and Qin Ye was staring intently at it. He also wanted to know the biggest secret of this ne. He wanted to see who its biggest enemy and its biggest threat was.

    Several secondster, the box abruptly sprang open. Right as Qin Ye was staring intently at it with full focus, a spring suddenly erupted out of the box, and on the top of the spring was the smiling face of a huge puppet. At the same time, a line of blood-red Yin energy text quickly appeared in the air: "Surprise!"

    "What the fuck?!" Qin Ye immediately sprang to his feet as if he had been stabbed in the backside, and his heart was pounding like a jackhammer. Countless profanities instantly rushed to the tip of his tongue at once, and he turned to storm away in a fit of rage.

    "Ah, Your Excellency! Where are you going?"

    "Don''t try to stop me! Ain''t nobody gonna stop me today! Where''s my sword? Get my sword! How many times have I told you not to misce my sword? Find it for me right away!"

    "Your Excellency, who''s gotten you so mad?"

    "Shut up! Get the second King Yanluo toe and see me!"

    After over 10 minutes of vehement persuasion and constion from Wang Chenghao, Qin Ye finally gave up on the suicidal idea of challenging the second King Yanluo to a battle to the death. After that, he returned to his office in an enraged manner, and only after massaging his own temples for a long while was he able to calm himself down.

    After chugging down a cup of tea, he viciously swatted the clown''s head away, revealing a dazzling sapphire lying at the bottom of the box.

    In the instant that the sapphire appeared, Qin Ye felt a barely detectable gaze sweep over his own body, and even he couldn''t sense exactly where the gaze wasing from.

    This was most likely a fragment of the second King Yanluo consciousness that he had left in the box to act as a security measure. The sapphire was giving off bursts of golden light that formed a massive screen of light in the air, depicting a vast gxy of stars.

    Every single star was slowly revolving, and asteroid belts were hovering outside of the stars. Everything was extremely beautiful and orderly. Amid this tranquil scene of ethereal beauty, the second King Yanluo''s voice suddenly rang out.

    "Earth''s underworld ne is located in the seventh spiral of the Yin Space River, which is far away from the first and fourth spirals, which are the ones most heavily ravaged by war. Aside from Earth, none of the civilizations in this spiral are considered to be high-end civilizations."

    If it weren''t for that surprise from earlier, the voice would''ve been quite authoritative and majestic.

    "Remember that the space seen from the mortal realm is different from the one seen in the underworld. The mortal realm and the underworld are like two pieces of paper that run parallel to one another, never to intersect. They appear to be quite simr overall with only minute differences, such as the configuration of the stars, the distance between the nes, etc. However, these differences are enough to produce twopletely different universes. However, thews of Yin Yang non-interaction do not apply in space. The space of the mortal realm and the space of the underworld will form a strange parallel configuration with one another countless light years away. Here, I should mention that when I say countless light years away, I''m referring to a ce known as the advanced neb. That is an indescribable ce."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the screen blurred slightly, following which a vast image appeared amid the Yin clouds.

    Qin Ye immediately drew a sharp breath upon seeing this. The impossibly vast space never failed to inspire awe and wonder within the beholder.

    Right before his eyes was a sea of asteroids that spread as far as the eyes could see in all directions, filling the entire gxy!

    They were packed together extremely tightly like a wall in space, keeping out everything. All of the asteroids were clustered together seamlessly, and wisps of blue light were filtering out from behind the wall, forming ethereal bands of light that gave the entire scene an incredibly beautiful appearance.

    In contrast with the nearby nes, this wall was so tall and massive that its dimensions were impossible to calcte. This was because around a dozen asteroidsbined were alreadyparable with the size of a ne, so it was as if this wall were formed by countless nes!

    Even Qin Ye couldn''t help but be inplete awe and astonishment at the sight of it.

    "This ce is known as the eternal corridor," the second King Yanluo''s voice continued. "A light year in front of the eternal corridor is where the mortal realm and the underworlde together. Beyond the eternal corridor is the advanced neb, where only high-end civilizations exist, as well as materials that no longer exist in the outside world and spatial beasts capable of destroying entire nes. That is a ce where opportunities and dangers lie hand in hand. The eternal corridor eternally protects a civilization, which is the first truly powerful high-end civilization that most civilizations encounter, the snakeform race. Their civilization has already existed for 75,000 years, and they are responsible for guarding the eternal corridor."

    Qin Ye was listening intently, and the more he heard, the more he realized just how important this information was.

    Firstly, it rified to him the direction that he was supposed to develop in. It told him how they were supposed to explore or colonize nearby nes once they achieved space exploration and ventured into outer space.

    The right strategy definitely wasn''t to just venture blindly deeper. One could imagine that the deeper one ventured into space, the more dangerous the civilizations that they encountered would be. All of them were civilizations powerful enough to have entered the eternal corridor and set foot into the advanced neb. Given the current power and technology of Earth, there was no way that it would be able to contend with those powerful civilizations. Thus, forging ahead blindly and recklessly would only leave a trail of breadcrumbs for those high-end civilizations to track down the underworld ne.

    The Dark Forest theory was only a fictional theory, but it was one that made a lot of sense.

    Exploration of space was something that had to be advanced in a cyclical fashion. The underworld ne had to strengthen itself and colonize several dozen nes before it could even begin to think about venturing into the eternal corridor, and these were massive projects that would take thousands of years toplete.

    Due to the unpredictable nature of space, every single underworld could potentially be blessed by unimaginable opportunities during this time.

    Small underworlds could encounter multiple nes suitable for colonization and rich in resources, thereby rapidly elevating them to be underworlds as powerful as the four pirs, while the four pirs could lose their advantage over the rest of the world simply due to a sequence of ill-fortune in their space exploration endeavors.

    It was truly an exciting prospect.

    If the four pirs refused to take this step, then they would forever reign supreme over this ne. However, in doing so, they would be reducing the underworld ne to sitting ducks for extraterrestrial nes. In a century, the nar scale was going to be opened, and they would have no choice but to face the outside world!

    As opposed to waiting passively, it was naturally best to seize the initiative.

    He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then continued listening.

    The second King Yanluo''s voice continued, "Now that you understand the structure of space, what I have to tell you next is that all underworld civilizations are born from chaos. As I''m sure you''re aware by this point, prior to reaching the eternal corridor, the distance between underworld nes isn''t that far. It''s roughly equivalent to the distance from Earth to the moon. With two underworld civilizations located in close proximity to one another, it''s very easy for them to discover each other. In order to fight for the right to survive in space, the two civilizations will inevitably have to go to war. This type of situation is not umon."

    In reality, perhaps there was no reason for the two nes to go to war, but once again, it came down to the Dark Forest theory.

    With two neighboring nes, both of which had their own civilizations, both sides would be careful not to reveal themselves, but they couldn''t ensure that the other side would do the same.

    What if the other ne had already forged an alliance with other nes?

    What if the other ne had alreadypleted mass migration of all of its civilizations?

    No one in the entire universe could be trusted or relied on aside from oneself!

    Thus, there was only one possible oue for neighboring nes.

    "Earth''s underworld is both fortunate, but also unfortunate," the second King Yanluo''s voice continued. "It''s unfortunate in that within the same distance between Earth and the sun, there are six nes around the underworld ne, and there just so happens to be another underworld civilization among them. Furthermore, that civilization has also been in existence for over 7,000 years. However, what''s fortunate is that their level of development is quiteparable to that of this ne, and they primarily prioritize strengthening their physical bodies. This will be your first extraterrestrial opponent: the canter civilization. All underworld civilizations evolved ording to their corresponding mortal realm civilization. At the moment, the canter underworld possesses three major alliances. When tranted into thenguage of Earth, they can be read as the Eye of the Thousand Hands, the Tongue of the Thousand Throats, and the Heart of the Thousand Eyes. The canter underworld has a theocratic government system, and this is a result of the constant stream of divine miracles projected by their god of creation, Ansotlini, during the past several thousand years of the ne''s existence. The three major alliances were all left behind by Ansotlini, and they''re split up into his body, his heart, and his spirit. Their ne has a total of three beings above the Yama-King level, cing them at the pinnacle of the underworld civilizations in the chaotic region. On top of that, they have roughly 65 Yama-Kings, as well as roughly 10% more Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges than on Earth. However, their overallherworldly citizen poption isn''t as high as ours. Here is the information I have on their core members."

    Lines of text that were apanied by images quickly appeared on the screen of light, and Qin Ye faltered slightly upon seeing this, then discovered that he could pause and resume the procession of text and images on the screen as he pleased.

    However, the question on his mind was why the second King Yanluo was so familiar with this ne.

    Before he had a chance to ponder this question any further, the second King Yanluo''s rang out again. "I am quite familiar with this ne because I know their god of creation, Ansotlini. He''s in the advanced neb, but he''s not doing so well there. In fact, he''s not even a true god."

    In typical fashion of the second King Yanluo, phrases like "he''s not even a true god" sounded extremely natural when they were spoken by him.

    "Make sure to study this information carefully." The second King Yanluo''s voice was beginning to fade away. "Regardless of whether you can ovee the canter civilization or not, I''m going to leave Earth. I''ve already stayed here for long enough and lost interest in it. I hope to see you all again in the advanced neb, even if that''s going to be thousands of years in the future."

    The screen of light slowly vanished, and Qin Ye was silent for a long time before closing the box.

    After a brief moment of contemtion, he opened the box again before stuffing the spring-loaded clown into it.

    He then cleared his throat, and Secretary Yuan immediately appeared in a wraith-like manner before extending a slight bow. "What are your instructions, Your Excellency?"

    "Contact the three pirs," Qin Ye instructed with a contemtive expression. "Tell them that I have important news from the world''s gate, and that I''m willing to share it with them."

    "Yes!"

 Chapter 1253: Meeting Between the Four Pillars (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1253: Meeting Between the Four Pirs (1)</h4>

    There was no reason for the three pirs to turn down the Cathayan Underworld''s invitation, but the location of the meeting was naturally set at the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds.

    Half a monthter, the ruler death gods of the four pirs were gathered in a conference hall of the highest caliber. Information regarding the world''s gate was about to be shared, and no outsiders could be allowed to hear it.

    The styles of the four pirs were very pronounced in this conference hall, and at its center was a massive round table. This was the private conference hall of the four pirs. Beyond the Coalition of Underworlds, the Six Eyes Conference, and other international organizations, there was an organization of an even higher level, one that could only be joined by the four pirs, and that was the Coalition of Rulers.

    This was the conference hall for the Coalition of Rulers, and under normal circumstances, it could easily go decades, perhaps even centuries without ever hosting a meeting. However, every time it was opened, there was definitely a major event afoot.

    The ruler death gods of the four pirs pressed their palms against the locking mechanism at the entrance in unison, and the doors of the conference hall swung open, following which all of the Yin soldiers behind them extended respectful bows.

    There was not a single Yin spirit in the hall, not even any recorders or servants. The only ones in here were the four most powerful ruler death gods of the underworld, and after taking a sip of tea, Yamaraja smiled and said, "This is the first time you''ve initiated a meeting between the Coalition of Rulers, Yanluo Qin. I hear that you would like to present some news regarding the world''s gate?"

    "That''s right," Qin Ye replied as he set down his teacup. "However, prior to that, I have to raise something that''s been quite perplexing to me. Even though I inherited the ck box, it was passed down to me by the second King Yanluo, so everything was viewed through his perspective. As such, it''s not a true record of history, and he didn''t detail the history of the world''s gate, nor the main distribution of forces in there."

    "Those aren''t secrets to the ruler death gods of the four pirs," Anubis replied. "You can find answers to all of those questions in this very room."

    There was no animosity or tension at all between the four ruler death gods on this asion. After all, the four pirs were on a united front when it came to the world''s gate.

    "Do you know what''s behind here, Yanluo Qin?" Anubis asked as he casually indicated around the hall. There were no windows in the hall. Instead, the entire room waspletely sealed, and abstract reliefs of death gods were carved onto the walls. The reliefs mostly depicted what humans imagined death gods to look at, so there was quite arge disparity between their appearance and the appearances of actual death gods.

    Without waiting for a reply from Qin Ye, Thanatos gently flicked a finger through the air, and a burst of Yin energy was sent flying out. Immediately thereafter, a string of mechanical clicks rang out all around them.

    Qin Ye turned around with a curious expression, and in the next instant, all of the surrounding walls rose up in unison to reveal a giant skeleton.

    Qin Ye stood up from his chair before making his way over to the skeleton, then began to carefully inspect it.

    This was an enormous skeleton. This conference hall had a radius around 10 meters, and the skeleton spanned the length of almost the entire wall, so it had to have been at least 50 meters in length. Furthermore, it didn''t belong to a human!

    Qin Ye made his way around the room, and upon seeing the skeleton''s lizard-like skull and giant bone wings, as well as its long tail bone, he raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Is this a dragon? A western dragon?"

    However, his brows then immediately furrowed tightly as he approached the skeleton and looked carefully at its bone wings. "Hold on, this is a bone dragon? One that''s at the Yama-King level?"

    "Oh? What makes you say that?" Thanatos asked with a smile.

    Qin Ye pointed at the skeleton''s wings as he replied, "These bone wings. If this is the skeleton of a normal giant dragon, the wings of its bones would only form an outline because the wings of normal giant dragons are predominantly formed by flesh. In contrast, there''s a membrane growing from the bone wings of this dragon."

    He reached out to stroke the skeleton''s wings, then continued, "The membrane is very thin and also very brittle, but that''s only because no Yama-King level Yin energy has been injected into it. With an influx of Yama-King level Yin energy, the wings should be able to support it on short-distance flights through space."

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs nodded in unison. As for how Qin Ye was able to identify the creature as a Yama-King level being, that was a question that didn''t need to be asked. Death gods could always sense other death gods, even in the form of remains.

    "So it really dide from space?" Qin Ye asked as he turned around to face the three ruler death gods.

    "Your observation skills are as sharp as ever, Yanluo Qin," Yamaraja replied with a smile.

    He then pointed at a certain part of the giant dragon''s bone wings as he continued, "That is indeed the case."

    In the direction that he was pointing toward, there was a slightly charred section on the giant dragon''s wings. That could''ve only been the result of flying through the atmosphere. Otherwise, nothing would''ve been able to harm the body of a Yama-King.

    "So it came from another ne all the way to our underworld?"

    "It failed to anticipate that this world isn''t weaker than its home world," Anubis said. "We immediately sensed it as soon as it entered our world, and that was 500 years ago. It was very fortunate in that itnded in the Australis Underworld. At the time, the Australis Underworld was only inhabited by a bunch of Aboriginal Yin spirits who didn''t know how to cultivate at all, so it thought that it was invincible in this world. While we were still observing it, it had already taken over the entire Australis Underworld."

    Qin Ye nodded in response as an enlightened look appeared on his face.

    Only with people could there be faith, and only with faith could a religion arise.

    On the Australis Continent, the Aboriginal poption was originally very spread-out. Only in 1770, when the Britannian voyager Captain Cook discovered the east coast of Australis, which he named New South Wales, was the continent of Australis dered to be a colony of Britannia.

    After that, Australis became a ce for Britannia to ship its convicts off to.

    On the 18th of January, 1788, Captain Philips arrived with a fleet of six ships carrying 1,530 passengers at Botany Bay of Australis. This fleet was known as the First Fleet. 736 of the crew members were convicts, and they were eternally banished to Australis. Eight dayster, they officially established the first Britannian colony at Jackson Bay, whichter went on to be the number one city in Australis, Sydney.

    At the time, the Aboriginal poption was still at a hunter-gatherer stage of society. There were over 500 tribes, and there was already a considerable poption of over 750,000, but they were spread out far and wide.

    In the face of the Britannian colonizers, the Aboriginal poption had no advantages to speak of. At the time, Britannia was at the height of its powers. As time passed, more and more of the Aboriginal poption was wiped out until the nation''s poption consisted almost exclusively of only Caucasian Britannians.

    That was why Australis was in a tropical region of the world, but their people werepletely different in appearance from those in the nations around them, including the nearby inders and the Indonesian. Otherwise, it would''ve been impossible for Caucasians to have appeared in ces with that type of climate.

    This death god was extremely fortunate in that it had arrived on perhaps the most vulnerable continent in the entire underworld ne. Without a true death god like the Plumed Serpent God present on the continent, the probability of Mythic Spirits emerging were downright negligible, so as an extraterrestrial death god, it automatically became the most powerful being on the entire continent.

    However, it was naive enough to believe that the entire world was in the same state as the Australis Underworld, and it was no surprise that this false assumption led to its eventual demise.

    "Is this why the world''s gate was established?" Qin Ye asked.

    "That''s part of it," Yamaraja replied. "Back then, it was I who confronted the creature. It was a mid Yama-King, so the battle didn''t take long at all. However, right before its death, it unleashed some type of ability simr to a bloodline curse. We''ve never managed to gather much information on the ne that it came from. This ability allowed a wisp of its soul to escape, and its spiritual energy spread to all parts of the Australis Underworld, making it no longer suitable forherworldly citizen habitation."

    "How is that possible?" Qin Ye asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

    Even the more powerful external force would eventually be assimted by the.

    Even radiation from nuclear bombs would eventually clear up after several decades, and it had already been several centuries since the incident on the continent of Australis.

    "It became an anchor point," Anubis exined. "The entire Australis Underworld was corrupted by the power of that extraterrestrial god, forming a giant rune that we are unable to erase. Once you enter the world''s gate, you''ll constantly hear the voice of a death god, and all beings at or below the Abyssal Prefect level that enter the world''s gate will perish without any exceptions! Care to guess what the voice says?"

    A contemtive look appeared on Qin Ye''s face, following which a harrowing thought surfaced in his mind. "Could it be the coordinates of our underworld ne?"

    "As expected of someone of your intellect, Yanluo Qin," Thanatos said with a cold smile. "Indeed, that''s exactly what it is. Through the Australis Underworld, it''s been constantly transmitting the coordinates of our ne into outer space. Prior to 200 years ago, we hadn''t seen any extraterrestrial gods aside from this one. But recently, starting from around 160 years ago, to be exact, we clearly felt five or six instances of extraterrestrial gods inspecting our ne."

    This meant that after a span of over 300 years, its message had reached its home ne, and the other death gods from that ne had arrived!

    Qin Ye fell into deep thought upon hearing this. This was a lot of information, and it once again confirmed the fact that the other ne was extremely advanced when it came to space exploration, leading Earth''s underworld ne by at least 500 years!

    500 years ago, the skeletal dragon had to have been a part of the canter underworld''s first attempt at extraterrestrial exploration, and the reason for that was very simple: Yama-Kings would''ve only been used for the initial forays into outer space.

    Even Yama-Kings couldn''t fly for long distances in space, but they had to scout out the unknown. Only by sending out scouts would they be able to gather information on the universe, thereby allowing them to map out where they were supposed to go next. However, this skeletal dragon was quite unfortunate. There was no way that they could''ve anticipated that there would be two almost evenly matched underworld civilizations in the same star system.

    In the beginning, sending out Yama-Kings as scouts was the most economical and appropriate course of action. In contrast, it would be far more idiotic to invest massive amounts of resources into constructing a space fortress, then wandering aimlessly through space without any purpose or direction.

    "I see." Qin Ye returned to his seat, then reached out to push the ck box across the table. "Take a look, everyone. This is the opponent that we''ll have to face and the amount of time that we have left."

    A 500-year lead in space exploration was a very terrifying prospect, but it wasn''tpletely decisive because the second King Yanluo had revealed through this message that the other ne didn''t possess any forbidden arts.

    Nuclear weaponry was going to be their final trump card!

 Chapter 1254: Meeting Between the Four Pillars (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1254: Meeting Between the Four Pirs (2)</h4>

    The hall waspletely silent for several seconds before taking the box, then took a deep breath and opened it.

    They were finally about to find out who their extraterrestrial opponents were.

    With the box sitting on the table in front of them, the ruler death gods of the three pirs were already envisioning what their enemies would look like. However, in the instant that the box was opened, a giant clown''s head sprang out amid a sharp scream, and at the same time, the word "Surprise!" was spelled out inrge crimson text in mid-air.

    "!!!" Thanatos was so frightened that he sprang to his feet as if he had been electrocuted. Anubis and Yamaraja were also greatly rmed, and the Yin energy of the three advanced Yama-Kings instantly surged through the entire hall in a violent wave, only to subside again after a few seconds.

    Thanatos had a hand sped over his own chest, which was heaving violently, and he turned to Qin Ye with an enraged expression. "That wasn''t funny at all, Yanluo Qin."

    "Yanluo Qin, you are the youngest of the four pirs'' ruler death gods," Anubis said as he turned to re at Qin Ye. "Please act in ordance with your status."

    Qin Ye waspletely unfazed as he sipped on his tea. "Oh? Why is something like that in there? I''ve never opened this box before."

    The furious look on Thanatos''s face became even more pronounced upon hearing this, and Yin energy was beginning to swirl around him again. "Are you insulting our intelligence?"

    "This box was given to me by the second King Yanluo."

    The Yin energy instantly faded, and Thanatos no longer seemed to be angry anymore.

    His enraged expression was instantly reced by the warmest of smiles, and he returned to his seat before removing the clown''s head from the box with a resigned sigh. "As usual, the second King Yanluo has a unique yet tasteful sense of humor."

    "It''s been a long time since I''ve been surprised like that," Anubis also chimed in with a smile. "As ruler death gods, we''re constantly under immense pressure, so it''s great for us to be pranked every once and a while for rxation and our mental wellbeing. What a thoughtful present this is from the second King Yanluo."

    Qin Ye made an inviting hand gesture as a fake smile appeared on his face.

    With an injection of Yin energy, the light screen depicting the starry sky appeared once again, and as the second King Yanluo''s voice rang out, all of the death gods listened intently.

    The message that Qin Ye had heard earlier was delivered once again, and only after a full 20 minutes had passed did the light screen gradually fade, upon which the conference hall fell silent again.

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs had all fallen into deep thought, and after a long while, Yamaraja asked, "What do you suggest?"

    Qin Ye rose to his feet in response. It had already been half a month since he had seen the canter underworld, and during this time, the Cathayan Underworld''s panel of advisors had already provided their answer. Thus, he was far better prepared than the ruler death gods of the three pirs, who had only just seen this message.

    "We only have 100 years. After that, we are going to face a devastating war. If I were a death god of the canter underworld, I would definitely choose to initiate this war in Earth''s underworld."

    All of the death gods nodded in response.

    This was very normal. War was undoubtedly going to cause widespread damage, so if the battlefield could be set as the enemy''s ne, then that damage would only be inflicted upon them, while one''s own ne would remain unharmed, allowing them to constantly send more reinforcements to join in on the war.

    "Hence, the first thing that we have to do is burst through the canter underworld''s blockade. I''m not sure if all of you noticed that rhomboid fortress. That is perhaps their space fortress, and if that''s the case, then they''re already beginning to prepare for this war! When the timees, we''ll inevitably have to face attacks from their nar siege weapons. Just the four pirs alone won''t be enough to defend the underworld. We must protect every single inch of our territory with everything in our power!"

    Just because the four pirs could defend themselves didn''t mean that the other underworlds would be able to do the same. If an underworld were to be conquered, then that would be a target for the enemy to descend, and the battlefield would well and truly be Earth''s underworld!

    "So?" Thanatos''s brows furrowed slightly. Everyone understood what had to be done, but that didn''t make the task any easier.

    Even if they were willing to share all of their Yin runology and cultivation expertise to the rest of the world, how much would they be able to develop in just 100 years?

    "So, it''s time for us to truly fulfill our duties as the four pirs!" Qin Ye rose to his feet, and among the ruler death gods of the four pirs, he wasn''t particrly tall, but he was standing like a mountain at this moment. Even the other three ruler death gods were sensing an unprecedented aura from their younger counterpart.

    The aura stemmed from the determination to sweep aside all opposition in the universe, and to usher in a brand new era!

    Qin Ye pressed his palms against the surface of the table as he looked around like a prowling tiger. "I genuinely hope that you can all support me in this cause. We only have 100 years left, and during this time, the enemy ne is doing everything in its power to prepare for the uing war. This is not something that we can hide from the world for any longer!"

    Before any of the other three ruler death gods had a chance to say anything, he continued, "Not only can we not hide this any longer, we have to make it public knowledge! I''m not talking about only revealing the existence of the world''s gate, I''m talking about making all information publicly avable, including information pertaining to advanced technologies, arts, and even forbidden arts!"

    No one said anything, but no one turned down this proposal, either.

    The ruler death gods of the three pirs weren''t idiots. They all knew that if they could break through the canter underworld and venture into space, a brand new world would be opened up to them.

    At that point, things like technology, Yin runes, and resources would no longer be important. All of the underworlds could explore different directions, and all of the civilizations could wee brand new developments, perhaps even leading to the rise of more death gods!

    As one ne was conquered after another and assimted into Earth''s culture, the rise of brand new myths and legends would be inevitable. In the 1,000 years after that, there would most likely be a massive increase in the number of death gods in all civilizations!

    "Is the information reliable?" Yamaraja asked.

    "We''ve all heard it just now, so why should there be any doubts?"

    "What do you propose?"

    Qin Ye took a deep breath, then made a grabbing motion to conjure up a stack of documents out of mid-air, which he sent flying into the hands of the three ruler death gods with a wave of his hand.

    The three ruler death gods began to read through the documents, and Thanatos''s eyes narrowed slightly as he mused, "The Genesis n? What an ambitious name."

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Regardless of whether we seed or fail, our ne will be born anew, so I think the name is very apt."

    No one rebuked this statement, and the trio of ruler death gods began to carefully read through the n. The more they read, the brighter their eyes became, and on several asions, they were unable to stop themselves from gasping at what they were seeing. Only after a full hour had passed did they close the documents, only to close their eyes in unison as if they were still reeling from what they had just read.

    "That was truly unexpected." Thanatos was the first one to open his eyes, and he turned to Qin Ye with an intense gaze. "This is a project the magnitude of which the underworld has never seen. If it seeds and we win, then your achievements will at least be able to match those of the first King Yanluo!"

    For any nation, the founder''s achievements could never be surpassed by their sessors, but the ruler death gods of the three pirs felt like an exception could be made here.

    "However, your Cathayan Underworld is still the main beneficiary of this n," Anubis remarked. "If we do as you say, then the Cathayan Underworld will be able to replenish its losses with the entire world''s resources, and you''ll be able to return to your former glory in the next century. How will we stand to benefit from that?"

    Qin Ye looked directly into his eyes and replied, "I don''t think there''s any need for us to continue bickering andpeting with one another in this ne."

    His words weren''t very ttering, but they were definitely reasonable.

    "The outside world is infinitelyrge. How many times have we bickered and quarreled over who gets to secure more interests on this small? Are you not embarrassed when you think back to all of that? If we can venture out into space, there will be peace between us for at least the next several thousand years. In fact, we could even be the closest of allies and advance toward the eternal corridor together. If my n seeds, nothing will be beyond our reach. As the initiator of this n, why can''t we benefit the most from it? Don''t forget that the enemy ne has three beings above the Yama-King level. Our Cathayan Underworld can take care of one on our own, but what can you do?"

    Before they had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye continued, "Also, this n isn''t just beneficial for our Cathayan Underworld. Firstly, this n must be jointly announced by our four pirs for it to have sufficient impact. In other words, the influence of the four of us will be elevated to the max within our respective religions! If we manage to break through the shackles and advance into space, a lengthy era of colonization will follow. Do you want more ruler death gods to appear in the future to potentially undermine our positions in our respective religions? As we colonize more and more nes and get further and further away from Earth, that will inevitably happen, but as long as we can maintain our influence, there''s no way anyone would be able to outstrip us."

    For example, as more and more nes were conquered and Taoism was spread to other nes, unpredictable changes would undoubtedly arise. Some nes would worship one death god, while other nes would worship another. This was very normal. It was just like how in Buddhism, some people believed in the Boddhisattva, some worshiped the Tath¨¡gata, and some revered the Maitreya-n¨¡tha.

    This was controble on Earth due to its limited size, but what about in space?

    Only by ensuring that they would remain as the sole paramount deity of their respective religions could they ensure that they wouldn''t be reced. Otherwise, they would follow the same fate as Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

    After 10 more minutes of silence, Yamaraja said, "This is an extremely important matter, so I need time to think about it. I''ll be returning to the Mahabodhi Temple right away, and I''ll give you an answer in half a month. Also, what are we going to do with Usonia? There''s no way that mad couple in Usonia would be willing to speak to us like this, and there''s no one on the new continent capable of overtaking them. During the attack of the canter underworld, they''re going to be a vtile factor."

    In response to this concern, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face as he said, "How about you leave that to me? I''ll go convince those two, and I''m 90% confident that I''ll be sessful in that endeavor. This will also be a gesture of good faith from me."

    The other three ruler death gods exchanged a nce before epting this arrangement and rising to their feet.

    "Rest assured, we all understand the significance of this proposal, and we''ll be sure to consider it carefully."

 Chapter 1255: Meeting Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa Again

    <h4>Chapter 1255: Meeting Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa Again</h4>

    After parting with the ruler death gods of the three pirs, Qin Ye sped directly toward the new continent as a gust of Yin wind.

    Along the way, fierce wind was swept up all around him, raising enormous waves on either side of his body. He couldn''t help but reminisce about his first visit to the new continent. At the time, he had taken extreme caution not to be detected, yet now, he was able to tantly make the journey, and no one would dare to stop him.

    He had already achieved everything that he could in Earth''s underworld.

    Granted, the Cathayan Underworld still wasn''t the most powerful underworld. In the wake of the fall of the old Hell, several thousand years worth ofherworldly citizens, skilled personnel, and umted wealth and resources had been lost. However, the current Cathayan Underworld already had the right to lead the world forward once again.

    Even looking back now, some of the choices that he had made were still quite harrowing to him. However, it was only due to those bold gambles and all types of fortunate circumstances that he was in his current position, able to fly over the Antic Ocean with reckless abandon, rather than cowering in the second King Yanluo''s array like a scared kitten.

    If Zhao Yun hadn''t transcended beyond the Yama-King level by a stroke of luck, Qin Ye would''ve beenpletely at the mercy of the three pirs during the conference in Nara, allowing them to levy whatever sanctions they wanted against him.

    If it weren''t for that conference in Nara, they wouldn''t have been able to recruit their first allies in the form of the five Northern Europa nations and the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds, nor would they have been able to initiate the new energy resource revolution.

    If he hadn''t made a seemingly reckless move by dedicating the entire nation''s resources into developing the new energy resource, the Cathayan Underworld would''ve been stagnant for much longer.

    All of the steps that he had taken had finally brought him to a point where the entire world was willing toe together and set aside their differences, and only then did the Cathayan Underworld earn itself the right to be the world''s leader.

    As these thoughts were shing through his mind, the enormous Xolotl''s Screen had already appeared up ahead, and all of the guards on the screen were on high alert at the sight of the cloud of Yin energy speeding over the surface of the sea. By the time Qin Ye drew to a halt in front of the screen, countless Eagle Warriors had already raised their crimson shields, while the massive Eye of Xolotl had risen up behind them.

    "Yanluo Qin." Xolotl''s indifferent voice rang out from behind the screen. "I didn''t receive any advance notice of your visit, so you are trespassing on another nation''s territorial sea."

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. He no longer had any qualms facing death gods of Xolotl''s caliber. The only beings in this world who could speak to him as equals were ruler death gods who were also advanced Yama-Kings.

    Xolotl wasn''t happy to see him here because there was a natural conflict of interest between them. He didn''t know what Qin Ye''s intentions were, so he was under the opinion that Qin Ye was helping Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa to extend their lifespans. Little did he know that this wasn''t even Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s objective anymore.

    "We just held a meeting between the Coalition of Rulers. I''m sure you know what that is," Qin Ye said. "The content that was discussed during the meeting is extremely important, and I must ry it to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa in person. At the same time, prior toing here, I already instructed our foreign affairs department to send a message to the new continent''s foreign affairs departments, and this is a private visit from me. Did you not hear about this? I didn''t know that the new continent''s government was so inefficient. Could it be that no central government even exists anymore on the new continent?"

    In a massive Aztec-style temple behind the screen, Xolotl''s expression instantly darkened significantly.

    He certainly didn''t enjoy being spoken to in such a condescending tone. He had naturally already received notification from the foreign affairs department, but he didn''t want to allow Qin Ye into the new continent again.

    This was their continent! Once Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa perished, he and the other death gods would be the rightful heirs! With that in mind, he was naturally very reluctant to see anyone attempt to extend Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa''s lifespans.

    Furthermore, Qin Ye was clearly looking down on him.

    That final question about whether a central government still existed on the new continent seemed to be a joke, but it was actually a threat. ording to international regtion, once a nation had no central government, then the Coalition of Underworlds would have the right to deploy troops to that nation to maintain stability there.

    What does it matter to you if we have a central government or not? Mind your own damn business!

    Xolotl''s rage was constantly building, and a cold smile appeared on his face as his voice rang out like rumbling thunder above Xolotl''s Screen. "Is that right? I''ll immediately contact the foreign affairs department for verification. Prior to that, I must fulfill my duties, so please wait here momentarily, Yanluo Qin."

    His n was to embarrass Qin Ye by making him wait for several hours in a foreign territorial sea.

    He could simply me this on a mimunication from the foreign affairs department, and there would be no way to verify whether that was true or not. In any case, the me would fall upon the foreign affairs department, and he wouldn''t be held ountable anyway.

    Outside Xolotl''s Screen, Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly as he said in a cold voice, "Death God Xolotl, are you refusing a mandate from the meeting between the Coalition of Rulers or are you refusing entry to the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo?"

    "I am simply performing my duty," Xolotl replied. "Let me reiterate that without prior notice, your arrival here will be seen as trespassing upon the territory of the new continent, which can be viewed as an act of war. Do you intend to instigate a war against the new continent just like you did with the Nipponese Underworld?"

    As he was speaking, all of the Yin soldiers on the city wall lowered the tips of their spears, aiming them directly toward Qin Ye.

    Right at this moment, the sound of a cane thudding onto the ground suddenly rang out from outside the temple, and Xolotl faltered slightly upon hearing this sound before immediately turning around.

    The Yin soldiers on either side of the temple''s entrance had already sprawled onto the ground on all-fours, and standing between them was a short and wizened figure.

    The figure had a hunched back and was wearing Aztec-style attire that was teeming with feathers, as well as heavy gold essories. Her wizened face was riddled with liver spots, and she wore a half smile as she gently massaged the human bone ne in her hand while staring intently at Xolotl.

    A sense of foreboding instantly welled up in Xolotl''s heart, and he was scarcely able to believe his own eyes. The Yin energy behind the figure was as vast as smoke, and just being in her presence alone made him feel as if there were a sword hanging above his head, threatening to take his life at any moment.

    It was Mictetikasiwa!

    Why is she here?!

    Indeed, an application for a diplomatic visit from the Cathayan Underworld would definitely have been submitted to Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa by the foreign affairs department, but weren''t they already insane? Why were they still interested in meeting the ruler death god of another nation? And how had she arrived here so quickly?

    Xolotl''s throat instantly ran dry as he greeted in a hoarse voice, "Your Excellency..."

    All of a sudden, Mictetikasiwa''s Yin energy erupted forth violently, and all of the lights in the entire temple were instantly destroyed. Her inky-ck Yin energy formed a boundless realm of death within which countless Yin spirits were howling and weeping incessantly. Inside this domain of death, Mictetikasiwa finally began to move, making her way toward Xolotl one step after another.

    Her footsteps werepletely silent, but with each step she took, Xolotl felt as if his heart were being trampled under the feet of a giant.

    After just a few steps, Xolotl''s legs had already given out from under him, and he scrambled down from his throne before copsing to the ground in a horrified manner.

    His soul was trembling violently, and his heart was filled with fear. Finally, he saw a pair of feet draw to a halt in front of him, following which what felt like a terrifying beast leaned down to observe him in silence.

    At this moment, he felt like a defenseless bunny being scrutinized by a dragon!

    In the face of what was clearly a higher life form, he could only grit his teeth with all his might. He wanted to say something, but was unable to say anything, and in the end, he was only able to force out a hoarse greeting in a trembling voice.

    "I didn''t know that you had the right to intercept a ruler death god of one of the four pirs," Mictetikasiwa said in a cold voice.

    "No, I..."

    "I didn''t know that the central government had already be so inefficient."

    "Your Excellency..."

    Before he had a chance to finish, Mictetikasiwa mmed her cane down onto the ground, and a visible shockwave swept through the entire temple. Xolotl immediately fell silent.

    "Xolotl." Mictetikasiwa stood up straight as she said, "Your brother, the Plumed Serpent God, betrayed the ne, yet we still allowed you to continue overseeing Xolotl''s Screen, and that is a sign of our faith in you. Do you think that without Xolotl''s Eye, we won''t be able to effectively defend our territorial sea? Ah Puch and Supay have been eyeing your position for a very long time. You are the only one with a legitimate excuse to gather an army so that you can fight for our position after we pass away."

    "I..." Xolotl was just about to say something, but Mictetikasiwa''s Yin energy instantly enveloped his entire body like a cocoon.

    "Did I allow you to speak?" Mictetikasiwa asked in a voice that was brimming with cold killing intent. "Don''t try to deny it, we know that you''re all waiting for our deaths. At least five of the world''s top 10 consortiums have invested in you, so you''re clearly the most hopeful candidate in their eyes. Unfortunately, they don''t know anything. I can tolerate the army that you''re gathering here, and I can even tolerate your insubordination. After all, we will be leaving this ne soon, and it''s time that we handed over the reins to the three of you. However, you''ve be too conceited, to the point that you think you''re already the ruler of this continent, that you canmunicate as equals with the ruler death god of one of the four pirs. You''re still not an advanced death god yet, Xolotl."

    Xolotl raised his head in an incredulous manner upon hearing this.

    Isn''t she supposed to be insane? Why is she still so reasoned and logical? This doesn''t make sense!

    He could see that Mictetikasiwa''s werepletely clear and lucid without any hint of insanity in them.

    A terrifying thought surfaced in his mind, yet just as he was about to say something, Mictetikasiwa mmed her cane onto the ground again.

    In the blink of an eye, Xolotl vanished on the spot before he even had a chance to cry out.

    Only then did Mictetikasiwa turn around as she put on her most weing smile. Her voice wasn''t very loud, but it was clearly audible along the entire length of Xolotl''s Screen. "Open the gate and organize a wee of the highest caliber for the Cathayan Underworld''s King Yanluo!"

 Chapter 1256: Revelation (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1256: Revtion (1)</h4>

    Rumble...

    The gate of Xolotl''s Screen was slowly opened, and on the city wall, all of the Yin soldiers lowered their shields and spears. At the same time, a weing party dressed in colorful attire emerged from the gate in a uniform fashion, blowing on trumpets as they emerged.

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in a surprised manner upon seeing this. He didn''t think that Xolotl would change his mind so quickly, and he had even considered adopting his identity as Dax to travel to the Caribbean Sea, but things had suddenly taken an unexpected turn.

    Right at the center of the weing party, Mictetikasiwa slowly emerged with her cane. In front of her was a ship that was entirely constructed from gold, and she stepped onto the ship before it sailed toward Qin Ye.

    "Long time no see, Yanluo Qin." After Qin Ye arrived on the golden ship, she poured him a cup of coffee. "I apologize on behalf of Xolotl for his insolence. I hope that you may forgive him for his transgressions on the basis of our long and fruitful friendship."

    "It''s alright, I''m not bothered," Qin Ye replied with a smile.

    It had always been said that the Aztec civilization was one where gold was vastly abundant, and that was certainly on full disy here. Even the tables and chairs on the ship were constructed from pure gold. In addition to that, due to the massive amount of gold production from the new continent underworld, their craftsmanship was also the best in the world, and every single carving on the ship was extremely intricate and beautiful to behold.

    Mictetikasiwa took a sip of coffee with a smile, then set it down before heaving a faint sigh. "There are always some death gods who don''t know their ce. Even among death gods, there''s a hierarchy. I am sincerely thankful for your graciousness. May I ask why you''vee to our new continent in person?"

    Qin Ye''s smile faded as he inspected his surroundings, and Mictetikasiwa assured him with a smile, "This is a safe ce."

    Qin Ye nodded in response, then looked directly into her eyes as he asked, "What stage has your space fortress progressed to?"

    A serious look also appeared on Mictetikasiwa''s face as she replied, "Everything has been assembled, but..."

    "But you discovered something unexpected through your super astronomical telescope, right?" Qin Ye interjected. "You discovered the nine connected stars and that massive rhomboid space station, right?"

    Mictetikasiwa nodded in response as she heaved a faint sigh. "It''s been another few decades since ourst meeting. Truth be told, the Omeyocan fortress was already ready to take off as far back as 10 years ago. The fact that you know what''s going on in space tells me that the Cathayan Underworld''s super astronomical telescope has also beenpleted, and you''vee to the new continent now, so I presume that assembly of your telescope was onlypleted no more than a year ago."

    At this moment, Mictetikasiwa was disying no signs of insanity at all. Instead, she was as cold and calcting as anyone as she continued, "We actually already discovered the nine connected stars eight years ago. We are the first underworld to have made this discovery, but we didn''t announce it to the world. In the beginning, it was only a case of random movement from the nine nes in our star system, and we couldn''t be sure of exactly what was happening. Only after running calctions for two years were we finally able to confirm that in if the nine nes were to continue on their original trajectories, then they would all form a line after a few decades!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. The second King Yanluo hadn''t discussed this subject in detail through the ck box, but the danger behind this phenomenon was very apparent.

    The canter underworld was situated at the center, and it would use all of the nes ahead of it as outposts to shift the battlefield to the forefront! If their underworld wanted to strike back at the canter underworld, then it would have to break through a series of blockades first.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath, then cast his gaze toward Mictetikasiwa before asking, "Do you still n to go to space?"

    Mictetikasiwa didn''t reply. Instead, she looked back at Qin Ye and asked, "So what exactly was discussed during the meeting between the four pirs?"

    This wasn''t the time to be ying mind games. In the face of the uing crisis, all of the underworlds had to unite as one on the same front, so Qin Ye revealed the content discussed during the meeting in its entirety without any hesitation.

    Silence.

    Only after close to a minute had passed did Mictetikasiwa''s eyes narrow slightly as she asked, "So you want us to pause our space exploration n for now and participate in the internar war in 100 years?"

    "That''s right," Qin Ye replied in an earnest voice. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties. If you go into space now, there''s no way you''ll be able to bypass the blockades of the canter underworld, seeing as they have three beings above the Yama-King level. Hence, it would be nothing short of a suicide mission."

    Mictetikasiwa didn''t reply as she picked up her cup of coffee before taking a sip.

    She understood what Qin Ye was saying, and the reasons he had outlined were the same ones that had led to the temporary discontinuation of the Omeyocan n. The enemy had already begun setting up their blockade, and if they were to venture into space now, it would essentially be the power of a nation pitted against an entire ne, and Earth''s underworld wouldn''t be able to provide them with any reinforcements.

    At the very least, they couldn''t at this point in time.

    "Also, if you leave now, what will be of the new continent under the other death gods in your absence? In Xolotl''s actions today, I''m sure you can see what the future of the new continent will be like. Truth be told, during the meeting, the three pirs already raised the issue of the new continent, and I took it upon myself to pay you two a visit."

    "Everyone thinks that what they''re seeing is reality, but that''s far from the truth," Mictetikasiwa sighed.

    "That''s not important." Qin Ye leaned forward slightly as he looked directly into Mictetikasiwa''s eyes. "What the four pirs need is a peaceful new continent, an ally that we don''t have to worry about. Once the internar war begins, the battlefield will most likely be our ne. When that timees, the entire underworld will be ravaged by war, and we don''t want to see any underworlds conquered by the enemy due to internal problems, thereby allowing the enemy to stake a foothold on our ne."

    Mictetikasiwa was silent for a long while.

    Ever since they discovered the nine connected stars, they had been preparing countermeasures, and they already had their own answer.

    "What do you n to do?" Mictetikasiwa asked in a calm voice. "Do you want us to make the entire Omeyocan n publicly avable? That''s not out of the question, but we need you to promise us one thing."

    "I''m listening."

    "We need a written promise from all underworlds not to spread their religions in all of the nes that we colonize for the next 5,000 years!"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa were turning to space because their religion was about to copse. The colonization war on the new continent in the mortal realm had decimated all of the new continent''s original religions, so staying on Earth would only lead to certain death for them.

    By preventing all other underworlds from spreading their religions in the nes that Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa colonized for the next 5,000 years, their intention was to develop a new poption of followers of the new continent''s three major religions.

    If they could win the internar war, then this opportunity would arise, but under the circumstances where the entire underworld would be colonizing new nes and extending their influence out into space, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa had to re-establish their own religions, which ced them at an inherent disadvantage.

    Qin Ye couldn''t help but heave an internal sigh.

    Who could''ve anticipated that the three religions of the new continent, which had been such a powerful force for several thousand years, would fall behind every other religion in the uing new chapter of history?

    Due to this inherent disadvantage, the new continent would perhaps never be able to join the ranks of the four pirs.

    "Also, we need a promise from the Cathayan Underworld," Mictetikasiwa continued. "From this day forth, the new continent will be the Cathayan Underworld''s eternal strategic cooperative partner."

    Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

    It seemed that Mictetikasiwa had also thought of everything he already had. Given the blockade that was present in space, the only thing that they could do was unite the entire underworld and fight for their lives, even if doing so would make them fall behind all of the other underworlds once the era of space exploration was ushered in.

    Thus, they required a guarantee from the Cathayan Underworld, which had limitless potential.

    "Alright, I ept your condition."

    "Good. After our agreement is officially signed, we''ll publicize all of the details and statistics pertaining to the Omeyocan n," Mictetikasiwa said with a smile. "Now then, tell me exactly what you n to do."

    Qin Ye made a grabbing motion, and a document fell into Mictetikasiwa''s grasp.

    "Genesis n?" Mictetikasiwa looked up from the document with a faint smile. "What an ambitious name this is."

    The room fell silent, and Mictetikasiwa continued reading. However, she had only taken a quick nce at the n before she shuddered noticeably, then abruptly looked up to stare at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression, to which Qin Ye looked back at her with a smile.

    Only after a long while did Mictetikasiwa take a deep breath, then said, "I take back what I just said. This isn''t an ambitious name, it''s extremely fitting considering what you''re aiming to achieve."

    Qin Ye made an inviting hand gesture, urging Mictetikasiwa to read the rest of the document.

    Mictetikasiwa carefully read through the document in silence, and only after over an hour had passed did she close the document with mixed emotions in her eyes.

    Instead of immediatelymenting on the n, she closed her eyes in contemtion for a further half-hour before reopening her eyes. "Looks like I made the correct decision to request the establishment of a strategic cooperative partnership. If you can seed, the four pirs will be immortalized in history!"

    "That''s why the other three pirs will definitely go along with this n," Qin Ye said as he locked onto Mictetikasiwa with an intense gaze. "Also, it''s not a matter of ''if'' we seed or not, our sess is certain!"

    A thought urred to Mictetikasiwa upon hearing this. "You don''t mean..."

    "I said this before: prior to entering this internar war, we need absolute unity. You''re not the only ones who''ll be revealing their secrets, we''ll be doing the same as well! We need all of the underworlds in this entire ne to advance and develop together! An internar war is not something that the four pirs alone can take on," Qin Ye said with a serious expression. "If any underworlds refuse to cooperate..."

    His voice trailed off here, and he didn''t finish his sentence.

    A chill ran down Mictetikasiwa''s spine as she asked, "Death God?"

    Of course, she wasn''t referring to the cultivation rank. Instead, she was talking about the weapon that had stunned the entire world not long ago!

    Qin Ye offered no response, and Mictetikasiwa drew a sharp breath. "No wonder you didn''t attend the conference to include Death God into the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts in person! Did the other three pirs agree to this?"

    A calm smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face, but Mictetikasiwa could sense the ruthless killing intent behind it.

    "They didn''t refuse, at least."

    Mictetikasiwa nodded in response with a grim expression. "Alright, I understand the situation now. We look forward to following the lead of the four pirs and cooperating fully with the Genesis n!"

 Chapter 1257: Revelation (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1257: Revtion (2)</h4>

    Time passed by one day after another. In the prelude to era-defining changes, the leaders were always the ones that made the decision first, following which the rest of the system would be informed one section after another.

    Qin Ye was patiently waiting for a decision from the other three pirs, and 15 dayster, he finally received a call from them.

    "Yanluo Qin," Chief Secretary Yuan approached him before reporting, "The ruler death gods of the three pirs have requested a video conference."

    Qin Ye''s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he immediately traveled to the conference hall.

    The doors were locked, and inside the conference hall, Qin Ye sat on a chair in front of a wall as three screens were slowly lowered before him. After some brief shing and flickering, the faces of Thanatos, Anubis, and Yamaraja appeared on the screens.

    All of them wore serious expressions as they nodded at Qin Ye. They knew that the decision they were about to make was going to impact the entire underworld!

    "Looks like all of you have already made your decisions," Qin Ye said in a serious voice. "I''m sure all of you have already thoroughly studied the Genesis n. Before we arrive at a final verdict, there are some things that I have to say."

    He rose to his feet with a serious expression as he looked directly at the three ruler death gods. "At the moment, our underworld is split up into too many different regions, so there''s no way we can unify all forces. Everyone is developing on their own and looking out for themselves only. If things continue like this, I don''t like our changes in the uing internar war in 100 years. Only by uniting everyone and drawing upon everyone''s resources will we be able to ovee our opponents, who have a 500-year space exploration lead over us. We can''t allow there to be too many voices. If you won''t silence them, then I''ll do it. I''ve already instructed Ghost King Zhao to return to the Cathayan Underworld from the current negotiations to add Death God to the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts."

    This meant that the Cathayan Underworld was refusing to add Death God to the treaty!

    This was an extremely severe matter, yet none of the three ruler death gods said anything. After a long silence, Anubis raised his cup and said in a calm voice, "I can understand that decision. You are even more determined than I imagined, Yanluo Qin."

    A humanized smile appeared on his face as he said, "Now that you''ve shown us your resolve, allow me to be the first one to make my decision known."

    The room fell silent, and even the very air seemed to have congealed.

    Several secondster, Anubis said in a decisive voice, "In light of the massive influence and scope of the Genesis n, I think that it''ll be able topletely transform the state of the entire world. Such a crucial n cannot be implemented by just a single nation or two. Thus, on behalf of the Aegyptian Underworld, I hereby dere that the 50 million troops of my Desert Death God Army and their 34 military bases will all be dedicated to the Genesis n!"

    Qin Ye''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

    The Aegyptian Underworld had approved of the n!

    However, that still wasn''t the end.

    "Including myself, a total of 13 death gods, including Death Gods Osiris, Seth, Geb, Nephthys, Menes, Hathor, Khasekhemwy, Niq¨¡b, and Cleopatra the Seventh, will all be supporting this decision."

    That was all of the major death gods that the Aegyptian Underworld had to offer!

    All of them were extremely renowned historical figures, and just hearing their names was like taking a trip through the history of Aegypt.

    This was the power of one of the four pirs. At the moment, the Cathayan Underworld was still far behind them in terms of power and military prowess.

    Right as Anubis''s voice trailed off, Yamaraja remarked, "I''m quite surprised that you would approve of this. I had thought that you would initially refuse to agree to this n and only change your mind when there are no other alternatives."

    "I''m not as foolish as that," Anubis replied as he took a sip of wine.

    Yamaraja nodded in response, then dered, "The Hindustani Underworld agrees to join the Genesis n."

    Thus, three of the four pirs hade together!

    Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief internally.

    With three of the four pirs united on one front, it was no longer important whether the Argosian Underworld agreed or not.

    Yamaraja continued, "On behalf of the Hindustani Underworld, I hereby dere that the 68 million Yin soldiers and 42 military bases under mymand will all be dedicated to the Genesis n! Including myself, a total of 15 death gods, including Death Gods Durga, Garuda, Mahamayuri, and the Sky Serpent King, will all be supporting this decision."

    Yamaraja''s hood was pping incessantly as he made this decision, and thus, the only one that was still yet to make their stance known was Thanatos.

    A faint smile appeared on Thanatos''s face as he said in a calm voice, "The Argosian Underworld certainly can''t miss out on something as significant as this! On behalf of the Argosian Underworld, I hereby dere that the 49 million Yin soldiers and 35 military bases under themand of myself and my brother, Hypnos, will all be dedicated to the Genesis n. Including myself, a total of 13 death gods, including Death Gods Tartarus, Erebus, Erinys, Nyx, Rhadamanthus, Aeacus, Minos, Aristotle, and Archimedes, will all be supporting this decision."

    It was a unanimous result!

    Qin Ye was a little taken aback by this. He knew very well just how astonishing the Genesis n was, and he didn''t think that the other three pirs would agree to join it unanimously, and that they would be pledging so much to the cause.

    The four pirs had always been fierce in theirpetition with one another for resources, but they would alwayse together in the face of important events that would shape the entire ne.

    "I''m very d to see that we''re all on the same page here. With the four pirs united as one, no one on Earth will be able to obstruct us," Qin Ye said with a serious expression. "Now that we''ve reached an agreement, I''m going to reveal the contents discussed during our previous meeting to the entire world, and on behalf of the Cathayan Underworld, I''ll be inviting all ruler death gods to the ind of Formosa."

    That same afternoon, all of the ruler death gods across the entire world received official letters of invitation from the four pirs, headed by the Cathayan Underworld.

    "They''re going to reveal the contents of thest meeting between the four pirs'' rulers in a month?!" At the Celtic Underworld, Death Goddess Anko had just received her letter of invitation, and she immediately sprang to her feet in surprise at what she was seeing.

    What''s going on? Why would they do that? Why would they reveal the contents of such an important meeting to the entire world? And why was this letter of invitation sent out by the four pirs together? Does this mean that the four pirs have joined forces? Why? What could possibly convince the four pirs toe together as one?

    She could sense that a massive storm was brewing on the horizon. In fact, she wasn''t the only one. All of the ruler death gods who had received the letters were struck by the exact same feeling.

    Meanwhile, J?rmungandr was staring at his letter of invitation with a contemtive expression. "This is the first time in history that the contents of a meeting between the four pirs has ever been revealed to the world."

    After a few minutes of silence, he looked up at H and Fenrir, who were just as silent, then asked, "What do you two think?"

    "There''s something massive going on," Fenrir replied without any hesitation. "It''s something the scale of which we''ve never seen before, and it''s most likely something only the ruler death gods of the four pirs know about. Otherwise, there''s no way that the contents of a meeting between them could be released. The contents of those meetings have always been treated as the most confidential of information, and at no point has this ever happened."

    "All we can do is wait and see," H said. "We all know Yanluo Qin quite well by now. He can be extremely patient, but when he does strike, he always makes it count, and he treats the Cathayan Underworld''s allied nations quite well. However, he hasn''t even given us any advance warning on this asion, so there must be something extremely significant afoot. In any case, all we have to do is wait for a month, and everything will be revealed to us."

    Amid this atmosphere of widespread uncertainty, a month slowly passed by, following which the ind of Formosa waspletely opened up to wee all of the ruler death gods of the entire underworld.

    All of the death gods duly arrived, and everyone was trying to find out more information about one another. However, not even the Cathayan Underworld''s closest allies, including the Alkebn Underworlds and the five Northern Europa nations, knew anything.

    Finally, the chime of a bell rang out, signifying the officialmencement of the conference. All of the ruler death gods quickly entered the newly built conference hall on the ind of Formosa.

    The conference hall was extremely tall and spacious. During meetings between ruler death gods, the rulers of the four pirs were always situated at the front of the venue. After all of the death gods entered the hall, Anko took a nce up ahead to find that the ruler death gods of the four pirs were absent, upon which she raised an eyebrow in befuddlement.

    Why aren''t they here? They invited us to this conference, yet they''re not showing up!

    All of a sudden, the gates of the hall swung shut, following which a golden light barrier abruptly rose up over the entire venue.

    Countless extremely profound Argosian characters were drifting over the barrier while shing incessantly, and the entire light barrier was giving off a sense of strong killing intent.

    H faltered slightly upon seeing this before abruptly springing to her feet. "This is the Argosian Underworld''s Pandora Array of Death! Why has it appeared here?!"

    A string of questions instantly sprang into her mind.

    Why weren''t the ruler death gods of the four pirs here? Why had they chosen to gather all of the underworld''s ruler death gods here? Why were they revealing the contents of theirst meeting, something that had never been done before?

    "Are they trying to kill all of the underworld''s ruler death gods?!" Giltine drew a sharp breath, then immediately stood up in preparation to flee the venue.

    "I wouldn''t do that if I were you." Right at this moment, a calm voice rang out from the main stage. All of the panicked death gods had only just risen to their feet, and they immediately turned toward the direction that the voice hade from.

    The ruler death gods of the four pirs had appeared on the stage, and they were led by none other than Qin Ye. He seemed to be unable to see the array as he sat down calmly, then nodded toward all of the death gods. "Greetings, everyone. I am the ruler death god of the Cathayan Underworld, Yanluo Qin."

    "What is the meaning of this?!" Several ruler death gods immediately turned to him with enraged expressions.

    "Are you trying to take over the whole world?! Why is the Pandora Array of Death here?! You are making severe breaches of a number of internationalws!"

    All of a sudden, a burst of vast Yin energy engulfed the entire venue. The ruler death gods of the four pirs had released their Yin energy in unison, and their advanced Yama-King level auras epassed the entire hall, instantly reducing it to silence.

    "You''re overthinking things, everyone." Qin Ye was the one who had set all of this into motion, so it was only right that he yed the bad guy here. "This world is spectacr precisely because of the existence of all of these cultures and civilizations. We have no intention of wiping out the most integral part of our underworld."

    Anubis said, "With the era of space exploration right in front of our eyes, there''s no need for us to continue to relegate ourselves to Earth. Once we venture into space, every underworld has the chance to rise to unprecedented heights. In the name of the four pirs, I swear to you all that we won''t wipe out any civilizations without just cause."

    However, this didn''t reassure everyone very much at all.

    No just cause? Was there a just cause when the Cathayan Underworld invaded the Nipponese Underworld?

    If they were determined to wipe out a particr civilization, they could just manufacture a "just cause" out of nothing to justify their actions.

    "What exactly is it that you want?" H asked through gritted teeth with a furious expression. "If you actually respect us and wish to reassure us, don''t you think the best way to do that would be to undo this array?"

    "My apologies," Qin Ye said in a calm voice. "If we can all stand on a unified front after all of you hear what I have to say, then I would be more than happy to undo the array and release you all."

    He rose to his feet as he leaned forward lightly, sweeping a serious gaze across the entire venue as he said, "On behalf of the four pirs, I have something that I need to announce, something that''ll transform our ne forever, or lead to its demise! This is something that only the ruler death gods of the four pirs have ever been aware of."

 Chapter 1258: Revelation (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1258: Revtion (3)</h4>

    "No matter how important your announcement is, that has nothing to do with your actions here! You are coercing us!" a ruler death god spat through gritted teeth. "Undo this array right now or our underworlds will be eternal enemies of the four pirs!"

    Thump!

    Qin Ye mmed a palm down onto the table with such force that the table trembled violently. A menacing look appeared in his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the ruler death god who had just spoken. "Eternal enemies of the four pirs? Let me remind you all that I still haven''t signed the agreement to include Death God in the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts!"

    The entire hall instantly fell silent.

    Behind him, the ruler death gods of the three pirs were looking on with mixed emotions in their eyes. No more than a few decades ago, the Cathayan Underworld had been forced to restart from scratch, but now, it had the power to intimidate the entire world!

    "You''re using forbidden arts to ckmail us!" H protested through gritted teeth. She had thought that she would receive special treatment due to the fact that the five Northern Europa nations were close allies with the Cathayan Underworld, but that was not the case. "You are provoking the order of the entire world! This ispletely inhumane behavior that is unbefitting of the four pirs!"

    "That''s not true. On the contrary, we decided to hold this conference precisely on the basis of humanitarian considerations." Qin Ye''s expression remained unchanged, and he made a grabbing motion, upon which a series of contracts flew into the hands of all of the ruler death gods present. "I hope you''ll all change your minds once you read through these contracts."

    Pirs of golden light had formed a cage around the entire venue, and the ruler death gods didn''t dare to resist. Mythic Spirit ck Mamba gave a cold harrumph, then grabbed the contract before beginning to read it.

    The entire venue fell into silence, yet no more than 30 secondster, all of the ruler death gods were staring back up at the rulers of the four pirs with incredulous expressions.

    "Keep reading," Qin Ye said in a calm voice. "On behalf of the four pirs, I assure you that this is not a joke."

    Anko recovered from her stunned stupor and continued to read through the document. The more she read, the more astonished she became, and by the end, she was feeling a little numb.

    Finally, upon reaching the part of the document detailing how the nar walls were going to open up in a century, she couldn''t help but exim, "How is this possible?! Is this why the four pirs have existed all along?!"

    It was no wonder that the four pirs never made their annual expenditure information publicly avable. Every single year, a good portion of their expenses were attributed to the world''s gate!

    No wonder the other three pirs never tried to obstruct the Cathayan Underworld''s space exploration n. This was a necessary step that had to be taken!

    It was also no wonder that the Australis Underworld had always been a forbidden region, and that many vastly renowned figures in history, such as Confucius and Mencius of Cathay, had never been seen in the underworld!

    Anko''s words seemed to have triggered a chain reaction, and all of the ruler death gods in the venue quickly erupted into raucous discussion.

    "I never thought that we would have an enemy outside of this ne!"

    "The canter underworld has three beings above the Yama-King level and a space station! They have a significant advantage over us already!"

    "So we only have 100 years left?"

    The ruler death gods of the four pirs didn''t say anything, and themotion quickly died down. However, one could clearly sense that the atmosphere had be incredibly tense, and the only sound that could be heard in the hall was the flipping of pages.

    Only after a full half-hour had passed did all of the death gods raise their heads, and their anger had already abated significantly, but they were still feeling rather indignant. "Is this why the ruler death gods of the four pirs have imprisoned us here?"

    "No," Qin Ye replied in a calm voice. "This is not the reason. Instead, it''s only the prelude."

    He swept an authoritative gaze over all of the ruler death gods present, then continued, "I will be revealing the reason for all of this now. In order to prepare for the uing internar war, we will be officially initiating the Genesis n."

    Even though Qin Ye was already mentally prepared for this moment, his heart was still thumping violently.

    He knew that what he was about to say next was going to tip the entire history of the underworld on its head!

    He cleared his throat, then continued in a serious voice, "The first use of the Genesis n states that all of the four pirs will make all of their technologies avable to the entire world in a year, and all patent fees will be canceled in order to establish full worldwide technological transparency. That includes forbidden arts."

    Everyone drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

    Theoretically speaking, they should''ve been extremely excited to hear that forbidden arts technology was going to be made avable to everyone, but no one was feeling excited at this moment.

    The fact that the four pirs werefortable with releasing forbidden arts technology to the entire underworld meant that they were confident that the rest of the world wouldn''t be able to overtake them, even if everyone had ess to forbidden arts, and that was definitely not good news to the nations outside of the four pirs.

    "The specific uses will be released to everyer, including a list of all of the patents and technologies that will be made publicly avable, as well as locations where centralized training will be conducted. The second use is that in three months, the four pirs will implement an international no borders n. Borders no longer need to exist between nations! All Yin spirits can go to any underworld to work and join the military. No visas will be required for traveling between underworlds."

    Deathly silence.

    Everyone could see just how determined the four pirs were. This was an operation of unprecedented proportions, and not even the European Union of the mortal realm could hold a candle to this!

    "Now for the third use." Unbeknownst to everyone, Qin Ye was pressing his fingers into the table with such force as he spoke that the color had drained out of all of his fingertips. The ruler death gods of the three pirs also wore solemn expressions, and Thanatos was already prepared to activate the Pandora Array of Death at any moment.

    They were all aware of the fact that the first two uses were only setting up for the third use.

    Three seconds of silence came next, during which all of the ruler death gods involuntarily sat up straighter. They were beginning to realize that a bombshell was about to be dropped onto them.

    Qin Ye took a deep breath before finally revealing what the third use was. "From this day forth, the four pirs will be implementing a system of eight alliances. All underworlds will be dered defunct, and all nations must be part of one of the eight alliances! The eight alliances are the Asian Alliance, the Southern Alliance, the Middle Eastern Alliance, the Europa Alliance, the Northern Alliance, the Mythic Spirit Alliance, the Southern New Continent Alliance, and the Northern New Continent Alliance!"

    Before he had even finished, the entire venue had already erupted into a frenzy.

    All underworlds were going to be abolished, reced by the eight alliances! That would entail aplete reshuffling of all of the forces in the entire underworld!

    All of those underworlds with extensive histories, such as the five Northern Europa nations, the Indonesian Underworld, and the Red Moon Federation were all going to disappear, with the eight alliances all that remained in their stead!

    Once again, Qin Ye had to release his Yin energy throughout the entire conference hall in a formidable wave to silence themotion, and only then did he continue, "Allow me to finish. The Asian Alliance will be overseen by the Cathayan Underworld. The Southern Alliance will be overseen by the Red Moon Federation. The Middle Eastern Alliance will be overseen by the Argosian Underworld. The Europa Alliance, which includes the five Northern Europa nations, will be overseen by the Argosian Underworld. The Northern Alliance, which includes the Celtic Underworld and the Russian Underworld, will be overseen by the Russian Underworld. The Mythic Spirit Alliance will be overseen by a chieftain selected by the Alkebn Underworlds'' Mythic Spirits. The breaking-in period for this change could take five years, 10 years, or even 20 years, but it must be done!"

    To his surprise, none of the ruler death gods said anything. Instead, they began to listen carefully.

    Qin Ye was quite encouraged by this, and he continued, "Over 20 military bases and sanctuaries are to be constructed in each of the alliances. Also, resources, information, and skilled personnel will all be shared in the eight alliances! These alliances will exist until we secure victory in the internar war. Any questions?"

    This was far too astonishing a revtion.

    No one could''ve anticipated that the four pirs would be so determined as to abolish all underworlds to arrange them into alliances.

    They also finally understood why the Pandora Array of Death had been set up here. There was no way that everyone would agree to this arrangement unless their lives were under threat, as was the case right now.

    "I have a question." As soon as Qin Ye''s voice trailed off, Anko rose to her feet before asking, "What is the purpose of these alliances? Why do they need to exist?"

    Qin Ye nodded in response. "Perhaps you''re still all unaware of this, but the Cathayan Underworld and the new continent have already developed super astronomical telescopes. The remains of Yama-King level beings must be used as a foundation for this type of telescopes, and through our observation of space using these telescopes, we discovered signs of the nine stars beginning to align. We are separated from the canter underworld by four of five nes, and the canter underworld has a lead of at least 300 years over us when ites to space exploration technology. They possess sufficient power to transform those nes into military bases, so when the nar walls open up, the first battle that we have to face will be one to protect our ne. I don''t care what size your underworld is or how much power it possesses, if it''s conquered by the enemy, then that''ll be their first foothold on our ne, and we definitely don''t want to see that happen! However, do you think you''ll all be capable of defending your underworlds? Only the four pirs can directly oppose the enemy ne. If we don''t unite as one and share all of our resources, we won''t be able to save you! This is not a joke, everyone! In the face of the enemy''s forces, your underworlds most likely won''t be able tost even a week! Once your underworld is conquered, they''ll be able to set up internar teleportation arrays on our ne to forcibly invade. If that happens, you''ll be indirectly contributing to the downfall of the entire ne! Only by adopting this eight-alliance system and working as one will we have a chance in the uing internar war. Any other questions?"

    Anko sat down, but another death god asked in a cold voice, "What if we don''t agree?"

    Qin Ye turned toward that direction with an indifferent expression before replying, "This is not a request. The internar war will decide the fate of our ne, and there''s no ce for human rights here. This is not some primitive opponent, it''s an enemy that can cross over several nes to attack us, and they have the power topletely destroy us! In addition to that, they''re also standing in our way, preventing us from venturing into space. If you refuse to cooperate, then I''m afraid we won''t be able to allow you to leave Formosa for now."

    This was the benefit of a power system.

    Under special circumstances, those with superior power could simply enforce their will upon others.

    In this situation, the ruler death gods of the underworld essentially had no choice in the matter.

 Chapter 1259: Revelation (4)

    <h4>Chapter 1259: Revtion (4)</h4>

    Everyone remained silent, and all of the death gods were gnashing their teeth together with indignation. No one was going to be pleased with this type of coercion, but rising up in resistance was clearly not a wise option here.

    They only had 100 years left. If all of the underworlds fought on their own, then there was no way that they''d be able to oppose the canter underworld. Once a foothold was established on Earth, the canter underworld would be able to send unlimited reinforcements to support the war effort, and no matter how powerful the four pirs were, their downfall would only be a matter of time.

    At the same time, if they refused to ept this arrangement, then they wouldn''t'' be allowed to leave, and their underworld would be forcibly taken from them anyway. No one was of the opinion that this could''ve been a joke or a prank. The subject matter was simply too serious for jokes to be made here, and the ruler death gods of the four pirs certainly weren''t so bored that they would join forces just to prank the entire underworld.

    What if they were to agree?

    All of the underworlds would receive rapid development, as well as shared resources, skilled personnel, and technology.

    All of those patents and pieces of technology that they had been eyeing with envy in the past, including even forbidden arts, would be shared with them!

    With that in mind, it seemed that this arrangement suddenly wasn''t so difficult to ept.

    The only thing that was preventing them from agreeing right away was the feeling of indignation from being forced into this arrangement, even though they knew the most of them wouldn''t have been willing to ept this if the meeting had been arranged on an amicable basis.

    H took a deep breath, then gritted her teeth as she asked, "What if the ruler death god of one of the alliances has had a major conflict with a member of their alliance in the past?"

    She was naturally referring to the five Northern Europa nations.

    Back when their confrontation with the Argosian Underworld had reached its most severe point, the Argosian Underworld had already begun constructing forbidden arts on their coastline. If it weren''t for the Cathayan Underworld''s intervention, the five Northern Europa underworlds would''ve most likely ceased to exist given another century.

    There were many other simr examples as well. For example, the Red Moon Federation and the Star Cluster Alliance had major border disputes with the Indonesian Underworld. If these issues couldn''t be addressed properly before forcing the underworlds into alliances, then it would only be a matter of time before everything fell apart.

    Even though this wasn''t a direct agreement, the ruler death gods of the four pirs all heaved internal sighs of relief. The fact that this question was being raised at all was already a sign that they were willing to ept this arrangement, and at this point, they were merely negotiating terms.

    A faint smile appeared on Yamaraja''s face. It made sense that the other death gods would be willing to ept this arrangement. They had already been forced into corners, so they had no choice but to ept.

    They were tempting all of the death gods with hefty benefits, but they were also willing to enforce this n through violence. Prior toing here, they had already mentally prepared themselves to destroy a few civilizations should that have been required.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, the armies of the Argosian Underworld, the Aegyptian Underworld, and the Hindustani Underworld had already traveled to the Strait of Tsushima and the Mediterranean Sea. The Golden Fleet and the Naga Fleet could be deployed at any time, and any resistance from the death gods present would be quelled through devastating means!

    Of course, with the four pirs united, no one in the underworld would''ve been capable of opposing them anyway. The Alkebn Underworlds were most likely going to remain neutral, while the new continent also seemed to have approved of this n, so if a war really were to erupt, then the oue of that war would''ve been all but decided from the very beginning.

    "The four pirs will sign Heavenly Dao Contracts with all of the underworlds joining the eight alliances," Qin Ye assured. "There''s no need to worry about prior conflicts. As long as you''re in the eight alliances, you''ll be our allies with whom we''ll oppose the canter underworld together. There''s no way that we''ll do something to whittle down our own power."

    The four pirs are willing to sign Heavenly Dao Contracts with us?

    All of the ruler death gods were truly reassured upon hearing this. Heavenly Dao Contracts were agreements of the highest caliber in this ne, and the fact that they were being offered was a sign of the four pirs'' determination.

    "In that case, a use must be included, stating that after the conclusion of the internar war, the eight alliances will be dissolved, and all of the underworlds will return to their original positions," a death god requested.

    "Of course."

    Silence.

    All of the ruler death gods had fallen into silent contemtion, thinking about what else they could negotiate.

    Qin Ye swept his gaze around the entire venue, then said, "Everyone, this is both a challenge and also an opportunity. Challenges and opportunities have alwayse hand in hand. Regardless of whether you choose to join or not, the oue will not change. The eight alliances will still be formed, and those who refuse to join it will cease to exist. The space exploration era is a brand new beginning. In that new era, any underworld could have a chance of experiencing a meteoric rise. On top of that, in the initial phase of that era, the four pirs won''t impose any restrictions. All underworlds will set off inpletely different directions, and even setting off earlier orter by a single day could yieldpletely different oues. It''s time to make your decisions, everyone. We''ll need to discuss the specific details together, but the decision must be made now."

    Everyone continued to remain silent.

    15 minutes of silence quickly passed by. Only after close to half an hour had passed did Mythic Spirit ck Mamba finally rise to his feet, then took a deep breath as he dered in a solemn voice, "I am willing to join the Mythic Spirit Alliance."

    Right as his voice trailed off, a string of voices rang out at almost the exact same time.

    "I am also willing to join the Mythic Spirit Alliance."

    "As am I."

    "Count me in too."

    All of the ruler death gods turned around with surprised expressions to find that all of the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds had risen to their feet.

    Mythic Spirit ck Mamba, Mythic Spirit Golden Rhinoceros, Mythic Spirit Emerald Hummingbird, Mythic Spirit Phoenix... All of the dozens of Mythic Spirits of the Alkebn Underworlds had stood up at once, and it was as if the entire world had agreed!

    The Alkebn Underworlds'' Mythic Spirits were definitely not the most powerful of death gods. Due to the fact that they had been artificially raised to this level by the Plumed Serpent God, there was no way that they would ever go beyond the initial Yama-King level. Even during international conferences, they only held a single vote between them, but the one thing that they had in their favor was numbers!

    They had dozens of tribes, represented by dozens of Mythic Spirits, and they had all stood up! Even though all of the other ruler death gods knew that the Mythic Spirits only held a single vote, this was still an astonishing sight!

    The Alkebn Underworlds had chosen to cooperate. The entirety of Eastern Asia was under the Cathayan Underworld''s control, while the Hindustani Underworld controlled the Strait of Tsushima and the Maluku Inds. The Middle East was the Aegyptian Underworld''s territory, and then came the Argosian Underworld... Out of all of thend in the entire underworld, they took up over 50%!

    Anko''s fingernails were digging tightly into her palms, and just now, she had almost been swept up by the trend and also agreed to join the eight alliances. However, she was unable to bring herself to do so in the end.

    As a ruler death god, she had her own divine nation! Why should she allow herself to be led by others?

    "Thank you for your understanding." Qin Ye nodded in Thanatos''s direction, and thetter''s fingers moved slightly, upon which the array of death beside the Alkebn Underworlds'' Mythic Spirits silently vanished. The Mythic Spirits exchanged a few nces with one another, then vanished on the spot as bursts of Yin energy. By the time they reappeared, they had already appeared on the main stage, and they sat down in silence onto the dozens of seats that had already been prepared on the stage.

    "Our patience is limited, everyone," Qin Ye said as a cold look appeared on his face. "There are only 100 years before themencement of the internar war. Also, let me reveal one more thing to all of you: the Cathayan Underworld wasn''t the first one to discover the internar threat. Instead, it was the new continent."

    A string of gasps instantly rang out in response, but he ignored everyone''s stunned reactions as he continued, "In order to survive, Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa turned to space. They were the first ones to develop the super astronomical telescope, and it was also them who discovered the internar threat first. They stand with us... Do you understand?"

    "We can give you a final half-hour to make your decision," Anubis said as he also rose to his feet. "I respect all cultures, civilizations, and underworlds, but that doesn''t mean that I''m going to tolerate division andck of cooperation even as the entire underworld is on the cusp of destruction!"

    Yamaraja and Thanatos also stood up in unison, and even though they weren''t saying anything, the Yin energy of four advanced Yama-Kings was as vast as the sea, crashing into every single corner of the conference hall, urging everyone to make their decisions.

    The souls of the Prefect-level and Judge-level ruler death gods present were beingpressed under the immense pressure, and everyone felt as if there were a massive mountain weighing down directly upon them.

    It was as if the sound of a ticking countdown timer could be heard, and finally, after another 10 minutes, H stood up with gritted teeth. At the same time, she was joined by J?rmungandr and Fenrir.

    H opened her mouth. Due to the fact that she was attending an international conference, she had made sure to put on her most splendid makeup. Her lips were gleaming as if they had been dipped in diamond powder, but after opening and closing her mouth several times in session, she was still unable to say anything.

    After a few seconds, J?rmungandr decided to speak up in her stead, setting down all of his pride as he dered, "The five nations of Northern Europa have decided to join the Europa Alliance. I hope you won''t make us regret our decision in the future."

    "The Europa Alliance wees you all," Thanatos said with a smile. "Trust me, you definitely won''t regret this decision. From now on, all of the past differences between the Argosian Underworld and the five Northern Europa underworlds will be seen as bygones."

    The Northern Europa death gods nodded in response, then vanished on the spot before appearing on the main stage.

    Thus far, two underworlds had agreed to join the alliances, and both were significant powerhouses. Their departure seemed to have sent a signal to all of the other death gods, and soon, a figure d in a ck cloak also rose to his feet.

    It was the nameless god of death!

    Everyone''s attention was immediately drawn to him. He was the ruler death god of a first-rate underworld, one that controlled close to 10% of all of the entire underworld''sndmass! What was his decision going to be?

    "The Russian Underworld will join the Northern Alliance." The nameless god of death extended a slight bow toward the main stage as he spoke, and the array of death around him instantly faded.

    All of the remaining death gods heaved a collective forlorn sigh upon seeing this.

    Thus far, around 90% of all of the world''s territory had chosen to join the alliance, so there really was no point for them to hold out any longer.

    "The Red Moon Federation will join the Southern Alliance."

    "The Star Cluster Alliance will join the Southern Alliance."

    "The Lithuanian Underworld will join the Europa Alliance."

    "The Celtic Underworld will join the Northern Alliance."

    In the blink of an eye, one figure after another rose to their feet, and more and more figures were gathering on the main stage!

    In the span of less than 10 minutes, all of the ruler death gods had made their decisions.

    No matter how reluctant some of them were, all of the underworlds of the ne had finally been united as one.

    The ruler death gods of the four pirs turned toward the death gods seated behind them, then extended a bow together.

    "Thank you for your understanding, everyone. From this day forth, you will be our allies in facing the canter underworld. With the eight alliances established, there will no longer be any national borders. We will advance together to usher in a new era for our ne! Everyone, please gather at the Mahabodhi Temple tomorrow for further details to be discussed. We must begin preparations for the internar war in 100 years right away!"

 Chapter 1260: Century-long Upheaval (1)

    <h4>Chapter 1260: Century-long Upheaval (1)</h4>

    At the Russian Underworld.

    On either side of a long corridor in a luxurious white pce were rows of beautiful sculptures and oil paintings. The floor was so clean and bright that it could virtually double as a mirror, and directly above it was a dome roof with intricate reliefs engraved onto it.

    The corridor was lined with rows of soldiers d in full suits of silver armor, wielding spears and swords in a menacing disy like rows of statues. Right between the rows of soldiers, Catherine the Great was quickly rushing along the corridor of the hem of her dress in her hands.

    Her face was rather thin, and her serious expression was causing her nasbial folds to be slightly elongated. With her reddish-brown hair and hervish attire, she was like a noblewoman attending a funeral.

    The truth wasn''t far from that.

    The underworld emissaries following along behind her didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly, and as she opened a wooden door at the end of the corridor, all of the underworld emissaries inside immediately stood up straight, turning toward this unexpected guest with surprised expressions.

    "What? You thought I wouldn''t know just because I wasn''t notified?" Catherine quickly strode over to the head of the round wooden table in the room, and the official who was seated there immediately vacated his seat for her. She was in no mood for any pleasantries, not even bothering to nod in acknowledgment of the official''s gesture. Instead, she took a deep breath and pressed her palms down t against the surface of the table, sweeping a sharp gaze around the entire room.

    This was a luxurious hall with a resplendent crystal chandelier overhead. At this moment, the chandelier had been entirely lit up, making it resemble a gxy of golden stars.

    There were all types of statues ced around the area, as well as oil paintings hanging from the walls. All of the furniture, including the firece and the chairs, had gold-ted edges, and it was a scene sovish that it seemed to belong only in medieval Europa films.

    "Peter the Great will be here soon." A cup of ck tea was carefully ced in front of her, but she didn''t even take a single nce at it as she said, "Before he gets here, I want to know something: how long has it been since the nameless death of god wasst here?"

    No one offered a response.

    "Do you still think you can hide this from me?!" She mmed a hand viciously down onto the table. "Maybe you can fool your own subordinates, but don''t forget that I''m a death god! I can immediately sense it when the nameless god of death is absent! You''ve stopped me on more than one asion from seeing the nameless god of death! Do you think I''m here to seize the throne?! You''re all fools! The core of each underworld is its ruler death god. They are the only ones capable of using their underworld''s creation-grade divine artifacts! Even if I do seize the throne, I''ll just be kicked off again!"

    Catherine and Peter were the only ones who would dare to mention seizing the throne in this conference hall.

    An official with a coarse, white beard heaved a faint sigh, then said, "It''s already been two months. This is something that''s never happened before."

    "What did he say?"

    The official hesitated momentarily before replying, "He says that he''s attending an important world conference and is unable to leave. Also, we''ve confirmed that all of the world''s other ruler death gods are in attendance as well."

    "What is being discussed in the conference?" Catherine asked. "What could be so important that the nameless god of death would abandon his own underworld? What could be so important that he''s not even returning his calls and unable to meet his own subordinates?"

    None of the officials replied. Only after a long while did a portly official ask in a low voice, "What do you think?"

    The answer had already urred to everyone, but no one dared to articte it because it seemed way too far-fetched.

    However, Catherine had no such qualms.

    "He''s been abducted!" Catherine said with a fierce gaze. "For some reason, all of the underworld''s ruler death gods have been abducted by someone in Formosa. We have to resolve this problem as quickly as possible! General Menshchikov, please rally up our troops right away. Also, send a message to the Cathayan Underworld demanding the return of our ruler death god!"

    General Menshchikov was a thin middle-aged man with an impably groomed mustache. Upon hearing Catherine''s instructions, a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "I already thought about doing that 10 days ago, but I did some research, and it turns out that the Cathayan Underworld''s new super weapon, Death God, hasn''t been included into the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts. On top of that, it seems that negotiations have been terminated."

    Catherine was in the process of picking up her teacup, but her hand stiffened in mid-air, following which she mmed her cup back down onto the table in a frustrated manner. "Damn it!"

    Right at this moment, the doors of the conference hall were opened, and a middle-aged Yin spirit in a crisp suit quickly strode into the room. It was clear that he wasn''t expecting Catherine to also be present, and his footsteps drew to a halt as soon as he entered the hall, following which he began to turn back around to leave.

    Catherine didn''t even raise her head as she asked in a cold voice, "Is there something you have to hide from me? If I recall correctly, if our ruler death god has been missing for more than a month, Peter and I have the right to take over his duties during his absence."

    The middle-aged Yin spirit turned toward the officials with a helpless expression, and one of them sighed before giving a nod. The middle-aged man immediately extended a relieved bow, then said, "We are receiving a video conference request from the venue where the conference in Formosa is being held, and the conference is being hosted by the ruler death gods of the four pirs!"

    This very same piece of news was received by all of the underworlds.

    In the Red Moon Federation, a minister was staring at the secretary standing before him with a surprised expression. "The four pirs sent out a video conference request from Formosa? Are you sure?"

    "I''m certain?"

    "When is the conference being held?"

    "Right now!"

    In a pce constructed from snow and ice in the Celtic Underworld, all of the important officials were already assembled, and an LED slowly descended in front of them.

    Simr scenes were unfolding in the supreme conference hall of all of the underworlds, and everyone was waiting for the historic announcement that was about to be made.

    Even the most clueless of officials could sense that some massive change was about to take ce. Every single underworld''s most important officials were gathered in front of each of the screens, looking on with intense, unblinking eyes.

    All of the underworlds'' ruler death gods had been missing for a month, and this was something that had never happened before.

    It was like the prelude to a tsunami. Even though the waves still hadn''t arrived yet, the overwhelming tension in the air had already reduced all of the underworld emissaries to silence.

    A few secondster, the screens in all of the underworlds'' supreme conference halls flickered slightly, following which an image appeared.

    It was a live broadcast. All of the underworld emissaries were carefully watching the screen. The footage was being captured from the highest point of a tiered conference hall, and the ruler death gods of the four pirs were at the very center of the hall, while the rest of the underworld''s ruler death gods were gathered down below.

    Qin Ye was standing in front of a lectern with the ruler death gods of the other three pirs behind him. Having experienced so much, he wasn''t nervous in the slightest, even though this was a live broadcast being seen by the entire underworld.

    There was no turning back now.

    The decision had already been made, and it was time to reveal it!

    In the face of the countless cameras in front of him, Qin Ye wore a solemn expression as he dered, "I am the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, Yanluo Qin. Everything that I say from here onward will be the truth. The Heavenly Dao will bear witness to that."

    This was an extremely serious way to begin an address, and all of the underworld emissaries were looking on with bated breath.

    It seemed that what was about to be announced was something even more serious than they had imagined!

    "During this past month, we''ve revealed a piece of information that had previously only been avable to the ruler death gods of the four pirs," Qin Ye said in a serious voice. "In the past, this information has been kept secret from you all to avoid unnecessary panic, but now, its threat has grown to a point where it can no longer be hidden. Thus, all of the underworlds havee together to make an important decision. The agreements have already been signed in the form of Heavenly Dao Contracts, and all of the ruler death god present have the original copies of the agreements. I hereby dere the official implementation of the Genesis n. From this day forth, there will be no more national borders and no more visas! All personnel, resources, and technology of all underworlds will be shared with everyone!"

    Deathly silence.

    Every single underworld emissary who was watching the live broadcast on their screens had been stunned into silence.

    This was far too astonishing a revtion, so much so that they were unable to process it!

    "How is that possible?!" Several secondster, Catherine suddenly stood up as she stared at the screen with an incredulous expression. "This is impossible! How could this be? Why would the four pirs be open to this? No matter how you look at it, this is clearly detrimental to them!"

    Indeed, with all barriers between nations abolished, the four pirs were undoubtedly going to be worse off.

    They were far ahead of the rest of the world and standing far above everyone else. With resources, technology, and personnel shared between all underworlds, they would be giving so much to the rest of the underworld, while the other nations had very little of use that could be offered to the four pirs!

    "What?!"

    "Are my ears ying tricks on me? That''s what they''ve been discussing over the past month?!"

    "This is impossible! Surely there has to be some type of mistake!"

    Qin Ye seemed to have anticipated themotion that his announcement would cause, and only after pausing for a full minute did he continue, "From now on, all underworlds will cease to exist. Before we secure the ultimate victory, all that will remain in this world will be the eight alliances, which are the the Asian Alliance, the Southern Alliance, the Middle Eastern Alliance, the Europa Alliance, the Northern Alliance, the Mythic Spirit Alliance, the Southern New Continent Alliance, and the Northern New Continent Alliance. No underworlds will exist in these alliances, and all existing governments will be immediately abolished."

    All of the underworld emissaries watching in front of their screens stood up in unison in astonishment.

    "How is this possible?!"

    "Who proposed this?! Why should we conform to this?!"

    "He''s erasing thousands of years of history just like that! They can''t do this!"

    "This is coercion! All of the ruler death gods have been abducted and brainwashed for the past month! Otherwise, there''s no way they would make such a foolish decision!"

    The entire underworld had erupted into a raucous frenzy!

 Chapter 1261: Century-long Upheaval (2)

    <h4>Chapter 1261: Century-long Upheaval (2)</h4>

    One underworld emissary after another rose to their feet to gawk at their screens, and deathly silence had descended upon all of the underworlds.

    Their astonishment had robbed them of their ability to speak. Only after what seemed like an eternity did Catherine return to her senses from her stunned stupor, and her mouth was gaped open slightly as she murmured to herself in a trembling voice, "This is impossible..."

    The underworld had existed for thousands of years, and all underworlds that were still standing had endured the eras of the great wars of theherword.

    They had to fight tooth and nail for their right to survive independently, yet they were going to be abolished all of a sudden!

    No one would be willing to ept this!

    "Silence!" Qin Ye seemed to be able to see themotion ringing out in every corner of the underworld, and he continued, "I understand that you''ll all find this very difficult to believe, but this is a decision made by all of the ruler death gods of the underworld."

    He nodded down at the assembled ruler death gods, and the first ones to stand up were all of the Alkebn Underworlds'' Mythic Spirits. Mythic Spirit Emerald Hummingbird adjusted his own suit, then said in a serious voice, "Just as Yanluo Qin has said, the Alkebn Underworlds are willing to assist the four pirs in establishing the Mythic Spirit Alliance."

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the nameless god of death also rose to his feet with his hands sped behind his back. "The Russian Underworld is also willing to assist the four pirs and adopt the role of chairman of the Northern Alliance."

    Standing in front of the screen, Catherine was staring at the nameless god of death with a stunned expression as she murmured to herself, "They''ve all gone insane..."

    "The Red Moon Federation is willing to act as chairman of the Southern Alliance."

    "The Northern Europa Alliance is willing to join the Europa Alliance."

    "The Lithuanian Underworld is willing to join the Europa Alliance."

    One death god stood up after another, telling all of the underworld emissaries through their actions that this was definitely no joke.

    Once again, the entire underworld was reduced to deathly silence from astonishment. They had all guessed that something massive was afoot, but no one had anticipated something like this!

    The four pirs were forcibly ushering in a new era for the entire underworld!

    The times had well and truly changed.

    Several minutester, all of the ruler death gods had dered their support of the Genesis n. Countless underworld emissaries were staring at their screens from all over the underworld, feeling as if they were reliving the founding of the Coalition of Underworlds.

    "That which is long divided must unify, and that which is long united must divide," the Harken sighed as it looked on from the Cathayan Underworld. "No one knows what the next 3,000 years are going to be like."

    Zhao Yun was standing right beside the Harken, and he said, "All I know is that if we don''t do this, we won''t even have another 3,000 years."

    All of the ruler death gods had made their voices heard, thereby quelling all dissent, and all of the underworld emissaries watching on their screens were at aplete loss for words.

    What could they say?

    All of the ruler death gods had already given their approval, so the opinions of everyone else didn''t matter.

    "I know that all of you must still have a lot of questions on your mind, and those questions will be duly answered by all of your ruler death gods," Qin Ye continued. "Today, all of the ruler death gods here will return to their own respective underworld, and tomorrow at noon, there will be a broadcast yed on repeat on all channels in all underworlds for three days. No channels will be able to broadcast any other content. This may be a bitter pill to swallow for some of you, but it is a necessary step to take for the sake of our home."

    He extended a slight bow toward the camera, following which the screen faded into ck.

    At the Russian Underworld, Catherine exhaled as she massaged her own temples with a weary look on her face. "Alright, let''s leave it at that for now."

    "You''re not going to do some preparatory work?"

    "What am I supposed to prepare?!" Catherine stood up violently, and the legs of her chair scraped along the floor with a noisy screech. "Everything will have to wait until the nameless god of death returns! We have a right to know why he abandoned the honor of the Russian Underworld!"

    On this night, the lights in all of the underworlds'' supreme conference halls stayed lit throughout the entire night.

    The next day at noon.

    Cathayan Underworld, Everburn.

    After several decades of development, Everburn was already filled with tall skyscrapers. One archaic building after another was lining the streets, making one feel as if they had gone back in time. However, in contrast with the ancient past, all of these archaic buildings, zas, and restaurants were fitted with huge LED screens.

    The screens in the shopping malls were disying the new merchandise, the screens in the restaurants were disying their signature dishes and glowing customer reviews, and the screens in the cinemas were disying their new stage ys and movies. All of the businesses were showing off with all their might, hoping to attract passing tourists.

    However, right as the clock struck noon, all of the LED screens in the entire city were suddenly dimmed.

    Not only that but even all of the television and radio stations also fell silent.

    The entire world seemed to have fallen silent, and the first ones to react were naturally theherworldly citizens. One Yin spirit thought that their radio was broken, but they quickly discovered that everyone''s radios had also fallen silent, just like his own.

    "What''s going on here?"

    "The radios have suddenly stopped!"

    "Man, I was just trying to listen to the radio to kill some time. Looks like I''ll have to find something else to do now."

    "Hey, the LED screen at Fortune Restaurant broke down."

    "No way! The LED screen at the Smooth Sailing za is also broken!"

    A loudmotion was ringing out all throughout the city. Unbeknownst to them, all of the television and radio stations across the entire world had also ceased to function, not just the television and radio stations in Everburn!

    A minute passed by, and the image of each nation''s central station news appeared on all of the television screens across the entire underworld.

    Wait a minute, it''s still nowhere near 7 PM!

    Countlessherworldly citizens reflexively checked the time, then switched to other channels, only to find that all of the television channels were broadcasting the exact same thing!

    Furthermore, the seats of the news anchors were being upied by the ruler death gods of their respective underworlds!

    "Daddy, where''s the cartoon?" A little girl was quickly switching from one channel to another with a displeased expression. "I wanna watch cartoons! There''s only 20 minutes of cartoons every day at noon!"

    "Be a good girl now," her father consoled with a smile as he took the remote control from her, but the look in his eyes was very serious. "Something important is about to happen."

    Indeed, it didn''t take long for all of the underworld''sherworldly citizens to realize that something important was about to happen.

    This was clearly a live broadcast. The high-ranking officials of all underworlds, one that could normally only be seen on television, were constantly appearing beside their ruler death gods, then reporting something before quickly departing. In a small box on the upper right corner of the screen, arge guest hall was being depicted, and the cameras of all of the journalists down below were aimed directly at the main stage in the room.

    Right as the clock struck noon, all of the ruler death gods began to speak in unison.

    "Esteemed nameless god of death, I am your ruler death god, the nameless god of death."

    "Esteemed nameless god of death, I am your ruler death god, Giltine."

    "Esteemed nameless god of death, I am your ruler death god, H."

    "Esteemed nameless god of death, I am your ruler death god, Yanluo Qin."

    Some parts of the underworld were still in daylight hours, while others were already enshrouded under the darkness of the night. In any case, the exact same voice rang out from every single screen, radio, television, and anything else capable of receiving signals across the entire underworld.

    "A month ago, the Cathayan Underworld sessfully developed their super astronomical telescope, and through the telescope, we were able to observe another powerful underworld situated in very close proximity to our ne."

    The entire underworld was astonished to hear this.

    The existence of extraterrestrial civilizations had just been confirmed!

    This was something that was still yet to be discovered in the mortal realm and was only depicted in movies and television, but it had appeared in the underworld!

    Before theherworldly citizens had a chance to react, all of the ruler death gods continued, "We call it the canter underworld. ording to our estimates, the canter underworld has already stepped into space as far back as several hundred years ago. 200 years ago, they were able to confirm the location of our ne, and right now..."

    All of the screens instantly turned ck before lighting up again, disying the image of a dazzling gxy on this asion.

    Countless Yin spirits stood up one after another on the streets and zas, and inside all of the tall buildings, countless more Yin spirits stopped what they were doing to gawk at the big screens across from them.

    All of the Yin spirits gathered on the zas had their heads raised, staring at therge screens above their heads as they murmured to themselves, "My god..."

    Many moreherworldly citizens were staying in their homes, watching the live broadcast from their television screens in a stunned silence.

    The image of the gxy on their screens wasn''t just a vast expanse of scattered stars. Instead, they were nine stars that formed a uniform and orderly line!

    This was definitely not a naturally urring spectacle!

    Right above the ne in the middle of the line was an enormous rhomboid structure that was around half the size of the moon, and all types of tools and materials were constantly floating up toward it.

    The entire underworld waspletely immersed in shock, and only after a full minute had passed did the voices of all of the death gods continue to ring out. "This is the canter underworld. Several centuries ago, the four pirs established the world''s gate in the Australis Underworld, and since then, countless attacks from extraterrestrial gods have already been thwarted at the world''s gate. However, the nar walls are about to open up in 100 years."

    In the Cathayan Underworld, all of theherworldly citizens in the entire nation were looking on with dumbfounded expressions as Qin Ye revealed this astonishing truth to them.

    "Construction of the canter underworld''s space fortress is about to bepleted, yet we still haven''t even started."

    All of the death gods stood up with grim expressions on the television screens, then dered, "From this day forth, all of the underworld''s death gods dere that our ne is going into a state of war! All underworlds are to be abolished and reced by the eight alliances until the war is over, and we hope that you can fight for Earth! In 10 years, all of the underworlds are going to advance toward the world''s gate! Now, we will begin a looped broadcast that willst a course of three days, detailing the circumstances leading up to this point and the power of the canter underworld. It is time to fight for the sake of our home, everyone!"

 Chapter 1262: Century-long Upheaval (3)

    <h4>Chapter 1262: Century-long Upheaval (3)</h4>

    Countless Yin spirits littered throughout countless zas all over the world were staring up at the screens above them. No one was mentally prepared for such an astonishing bombshell to be dropped onto their heads.

    Internar war... The concept seemed so far away from them.

    "Did I mishear the broadcast?" In Europa, an elderly Yin spirit wearing a crisp suit had dropped the leash of the dog that he was walking onto the ground, but he was too shocked to even notice.

    This must be a dream...

    This very same thought was passing through the minds of countless Yin spirits, but they quickly discovered that this was most definitely not a dream.

    As soon as the image of the gxy was disyed, a narrator''s voice began to ring out. "The canter underworld is split up into three major alliances, each of which is led by a being above the Yama-King level. Here is an introduction to the canter underworld''s forces..."

    On this day, countless Yin spirits were stunned into silence in front of their television screens.

    One group of Yin spirits left, only for another group to gather before the LED screens. Even more Yin spirits were gathered in their own homes, staring at their television screens and listening to their radios with astonished expressions. Regardless of whether they wanted to ept it or not, they had toe to terms with the fact that war was imminent.

    This was going to be the most brutal and spectacr war in the history of Earth''s underworld!

    A middle-aged man gently stroked his wife''s long hair, and his wife rested her head onto his shoulder with a concerned expression.

    In the face of the uing war, all of theherworldly citizens across the entire underworld had to prepare for hardships and adversity up ahead, all for the sake of freedom and honor!

    The same broadcast was also being yed in all of the underworlds'' military bases. All of the Yin soldiers, regardless of which underworld they came from, were staring intently at the unfolding broadcast with tightly clenched fists.

    After the broadcast on all of the information on the canter underworld waspleted, theherworldly citizens were of the opinion that the broadcast was over, but the image transitioned into a shot of Qin Ye.

    He was the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld, and there wasn''t a single person in the underworld who didn''t know who he was.

    "In order toy everyone''s doubts to rest and assure you all that this isn''t a joke or a drill, I''ll be telling you all about how we discovered the canter underworld."

    All of the Yin spirits across the underworld were glued to their television screens.

    The documentary regarding the canter underworld ran for a full hour, and it was yed on a continuous loop for 24 hours. It started from Qin Ye''s conversation with Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa on the new continent, followed by Qin Ye''s observation into space through the Omeyocan n''s super astronomical telescope, then discussed the remains of the extraterrestrial death god and how it had ended up on Earth.

    After that, the Cathayan Underworld''s space exploration n was detailed, followed by the ck boxes kept by the four pirs...

    As Qin Ye''s voice grew louder and louder, the apanying background music also grew louder in volume, and half an hourter, Qin Ye dered amid a chorus of rousing music, "Everyone, we are far from powerless to resist! For the sake of continuing Earth''s heritage! For the sake of all of your descendants! For the sake of all of the religions that have stood for thousands of years! The four pirs are hereby extending a genuine pledge to allherworldly citizens toe together and fight for Earth!"

    As soon as his voice trailed off, the image of him vanished, only to be reced by a massive factory.

    "My god!"

    "What is that!?"

    "Is that... the emblem of the Cathayan Underworld?"

    "Is this our trump card?! A space fortress?!"

    "I see... This is why the Cathayan Underworld wanted to pursue space exploration! They knew that the threat from space was already dire!"

    The image that had appeared was that of the Cathayan Underworld''s Jade Rabbit space fortress, which was constructed from the inner demon''s body!

    Its appearance didn''t match its name at all, but that hardly mattered. It was extremely grand and majestic, and all of the Yin spirits thatid eyes on it felt as if a jolt of electricity had run through their entire body, while their souls were screaming in awe.

    It was incredibly, unfathomably massive. Countless engineers and engineering vehicles were gathered around it like ants, and countless sparks were shing incessantly. Even further away, the Cathayan Underworld''s flying shuttles had already formed a dense line, and they were ready to be loaded onto the Jade Rabbit at any time.

    Not only were the Yin spirits astonished to see this, even all of the ruler death gods couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath in response to this rousing sight.

    This was the true power of the Cathayan Underworld!

    However, before everyone had even recovered from their shock, the image transitioned once again, and the world''s gate was revealed to the entire underworld, apanied by Qin Ye''s narration once again.

    "This is the world''s gate, where all of the most powerful death gods in the entire underworld are gathered. Here in Earth''s underworld, we do not have just the 60 or 70 death gods that you know of. There are vastly renowned names in history such as Gilgamesh, Napoleon, Confucius, Mencius, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great... All of them are here, and they''ve already served to keep us safe from extraterrestrial invasions for hundreds of years!"

    As the footage continued to y, the grand exterior of the world''s gate was revealed to everyone. There were countless patrolling soldiers, as well as innumerable warships berthed at the ports. The Yin energy above the world''s gate was so dense that it was like a substantial cloud, and this was an extremely rousing image for all beholders.

    This was the power of Earth!

    Finally, the image settled onto the inky-ck world''s gate, which was several dozen meters tall with the head of a lion engraved upon it. At the same time, a line of red text appeared on the screen: "We are now recruiting soldiers from all over the world. Fight for the sake of Earth!"

    After the first round of broadcasts concluded, a line of text appeared: "In five minutes, the rules of the alliances and an announcement for worldwide conscription will be released, alongside the details for joining the military and all of the benefits you stand to receive from doing so."

    Ashmound za was thergest shopping za in Ashmound, and at this moment, there were over 1,000 people gathered there, watching the LED screen intently. As this segment of the broadcast drew to a conclusion, a Yin spirit finally lowered his head as he massaged his won sore neck.

    "I would''ve never seen thising..."

    "Indeed... The mortal realm has been trying to search for extraterrestrial civilizations for a long time without the search bearing any fruit, yet there''s one so close to us, and they harbor animosity toward our ne!"

    "A war ising..."

    Regardless of whether the Yin spirits on the za knew each other or not, everyone was discussing spiritedly among themselves.

    A young Yin spirit shrugged as a wry smile appeared on his face.

    He had been born in a peaceful era, but he had died early from leukemia.

    Due to the fact that he had already died young once, he was even more afraid of death.

    He didn''t think that he would be able to step onto a battlefield. He had heard from many people and seen through many movies that adrenaline and instincts were the things that fueled one on a battlefield, so courage was irrelevant, but just the mere thought of having to rush into battle against enemy soldiers was something that he didn''t think that he would ever be able to do.

    However, that didn''t mean that he couldn''t contribute to this war!

    A determined look appeared in his eyes as he gritted his teeth tightly.

    Even if I can''t go into battle myself, I''ll make sure to support our forces in any way that I can! I''m going to do everything in my power to ensure that our soldiers on the front lines don''t have to worry about their homnd...

    Right as he was consoling himself, his expression suddenly stiffened slightly.

    He wasn''t the only one. All of the Yin spirits on the entire za... In fact, all of the Yin spirits in the entire nation had faltered in unison.

    This was because they had just heard a very clear cracking sound.

    It was as if a panel of ss had just been broken right next to them.

    Countless Yin spirits looked up at the heavens. The sound wasing from the sky, and right in front of their very eyes, the sky was falling apart like a window that had just been shattered!

    Despite the sky''s resemnce to shattered ss, it was dissipating like a white veil, and countless specks of white light were raining down from above before disintegrating into white Yin energy that slowly disappeared.

    Countless Yin spirits were looking up at the sky with their mouths gaped open, and they had no idea what was happening. At the top of the North Yin Pavilion, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were also looking on with solemn expressions.

    "It''s finally over..." Qin Ye sighed as he closed his eyes, and there was a series of mixed emotions surging through his heart.

    The Array of the Nine Gods had just beenpletely opened. It was such an unremarkable spectacle, so much so that everyone would most likely forget all about it in a matter of hours.

    He had envisioned this moment many times, thinking of how much of a marvelous spectacle he wanted this moment to be, but in the end, he had chosen to open up the Array of the Nine Gods in the most peaceful and mundane way possible.

    This array had been like a cocoon, protecting the vulnerable Cathayan Underworld before it was ready to be exposed to the world.

    It allowed him time to develop the nation and gave him the courage to deceive everyone, allowing him to paint a false picture that no one could verify.

    At this point, he was ready to step out into the world, and it was time to say goodbye to the array.

    "I think it''s a new beginning," Zhao Yun said in a calm voice.

    A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye''s face. "Indeed, it is."

    This was indeed a new beginning, the beginning of the most spectacr chapter in the history of the underworld!

    If they couldn''t ovee their enemies, then they would be enved. The internar war in 100 years was going to decide whether they would be able to step out into space or be reduced to a colony.

    This war was perhaps going to rage on for a very long time, perhaps evensting the course of centuries, but they had the determination and resolve to see it through to the very end!

    "I chose this time to open up the array because I don''t want to make any more headlines," Qin Ye said with a smile. "If we wait until the recent storm subsided before officially opening up the array, then our Cathayan Underworld would undoubtedly attract a lot of attention. Now, no one''s going to look at us at all. Let''s go. We''ve already set everything into motion, so we have to dedicate ourselves fully to the cause. Our goal lies among the stars! We can''t allow ourselves to fall before we''ve even reached the first hurdle!"

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    In the short span of just three days, the entire underworld had erupted into a frenzy.

    Even the most reclusive of Yin spirits had heard the news about the imminent war. However, this wasn''t going to be a war between nations. Instead, it was going to be a sh between nes and civilizations.

    There were no tricks involved, just a sh of power and courage. All of the underworlds were going to be united on this asion, directing their swords toward the stars.

    Three dayster, the eight alliances made a joint announcement, dering themencement of development into eight spaceships.

    There was the Asian Alliance''s Jade Rabbit, the Southern Alliance''s Yaksha, the Middle Eastern Alliance''s Winged Dragon of Ra, the Europa Alliance''s Hades''s Judgment, the Northern Alliance''s Veles, the Mythic Spirit Alliance''s Viracocha, and the Southern and Northern New Continent Alliances'' Tecutli and Tikasiwa.

 Chapter 1263: Final Expectations

    <h4>Chapter 1263: Final Expectations</h4>

    The entire world''s resources were being dedicated to the construction of the eight space fortresses, and all of the precious materials of all nations had been made avable for use to those projects. All of the schrs and skilled personnel across the world were also taking part in the projects, working on solutions to all of the difficult issues that would potentially arise along the way. The Cathayan Underworld and the new continent had also made all of their space exploration knowledge publicly avable, and Mtecutli and Mictetikasiwa returned to their posts as rulers of the new continent. In the span of no more than two days, the entire world had been stirred up into a frenzy.

    Never had this world ever been so united.

    Far away in Antarctica, the Celtic Underworld and the Russian Underworld had already begun constructing the three major military bases there. Death Goddess Catherine had arrived in Antarctica in person to establish the defensive arrays and set up all of the defensive infrastructure, all of which referenced the most advanced blueprints that the four pirs had to offer. At the moment, not only were these blueprints essible without patent fees, there was no transaction required to obtain them at all!

    The four military bases spread throughout the Alkebn Underworlds had also attracted countless skilled construction workers.

    Around the world''s gate of the Australis Underworld, the Red Moon Federation, the Star Cluster Alliance, the Indonesian Underworld, the Maluku Inds, and the Antic ind chain had all begun construction on small military bases. At the same time, the two major military bases in the Strait of Tsushima and the Indonesian Underworld had opened up.

    From south to north, from east to west, countless major construction projects hadmenced. At the same time, taxation rates were raised by 1%, but there were very fewints from the Yin spirits.

    Prior to the adjustment in taxation, the entire world had already published a 100-page document detailing all of the defensive construction projects that were set to begin. Furthermore, that was only an overall n, and there was an even more in-depth document that spanned several hundred pages, detailing all of the exact projects to be undertaken in all of the alliances. With all of these massive projects going on at once, theherworldly citizens of the underworld naturally had to make a contribution.

    The times were rapidly changing, and there was no option other than to adapt with the ever-changing situation.

    At a time like this, the entire world had toe together in a single, unified front as any internal conflict would lead to certain destruction.

    The underworld had never been so harmonious and cohesive.

    A weekter, the Cathayan Underworld officially announced the opening of the nation and the withdrawal of the Array of the Nine Gods. In the blink of an eye, investments from the top 10 consortiums and all of the major corporations across the world came flying in. It was also on this day that all of the Cathayan Underworld''s 180 coastal ports, including the ones in the province of Nippon, were divided up into eight clusters of ports, and countless merchant ships traveling to Asia quickly flocked to those ports.

    A yearter, the top 10 consortiums and some of the wealthiest individuals announced the establishment of the Starfire Trust Fund, which offered low-interest loans to all military base construction projects across the world. At the same time, the top 10 consortiums announced that they would construct a military base in the Greend Underworld, as well as participate fully in the space fortress development project.

    Three yearster, worldwide conscriptionmenced, and countless Yin spirits answered the call, thereby significantly strengthening the world''s military forces.

    Time passed by one year after another, and the entire underworld was steadily preparing for the uing war. Countless conferences were being held every single day, and huge numbers of new weapons were being released each year. With the entire world working together, many difficult problems in the field of Yin runology that had stumped all researchers in the past had been ovee.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 38th year of the thirding of Hell, Vice-president Li Chun of the Sword Coral Research Institute restored the siege weapon, the City Vanquishing Crossbow, and made improvements upon it.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 42nd year of the thirding of Hell, President Lu Ban of the Yin Mountains Research Institute developed a brand new siege weapon, the Sunstrike Carriage, using the polymerization effect of Yin runes in the ninth circle, and its power isparable with that of missiles of the mortal realm.

    During that same year, President Aristotle of the Argosian Underworld''s round table used Yin runes in the ninth circle to develop a brand new defensive array, which was named Styx. The power of Styx is around 20% of that of the Array of the Nine Gods, and a joint decision was made by all of the leaders of the eight alliances to send out all death gods aside from ruler death gods to begin establishing Styx arrays on the nar wall right beneath Limbo.

    The vast project was named the Heavenly Wall project, and it was estimated to take as long as 60 years toplete. However, not a single death god refused to ept the task.

    Initially, everyone had been quite disgruntled by the abrupt stripping of their jurisdictive power, but the power of their nations was growing by the day with the influx of all types of knowledge, resources, and technologies from other nations. As a result, they had already cast aside their discontent.

    In any case, there was no going back, so what was the point in fighting against the inevitable?

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 43rd year of the thirding of Hell, Archimedes and the round table joined the presidents of the Cathayan Underworld''s top two state-run research institutes to hold a five-year-long Yin runology seminar, during which they taught the entire world everything they knew. The seminar became a grand event of the scientific world that waster dubbed the World Technology Advancement Summit.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 51st year of the thirding of Hell, the Celtic Underworld became thest underworld to sessfully perform a Death God detonation. From that point onward, all of the underworlds had been equipped with Death Gods.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 60th year of the thirding of Hell, the inte was finally developed, and the leaders of the eight alliances came together at the Mahabodhi Temple to announce this breakthrough. The 10 years after that were projected to be the beginning of the information, and inte technology disseminated across the world as quickly as possible.

    At this point, the mortal realm had already developed 10G and was on the cusp of achieving brain controlled technology.

    The unit of "G" described a type of flow rate and speed. The incredible thing about 5G wasn''t how fast its download speed was. Instead, what was remarkable was the degree of humanputer interaction that could be reached under a 5G environment.

    An example of this was voice controlled cars.

    Back in 2020, this was nothing more than a distant dream, but by 2025, when 5G had be avable to the entire world, researchers were able to tap into the potential for this type of technology.

    Another example was hologram technology, which wasmonly deployed in gaming chambers and gaming helmets. The technology had been sessfully developed during the 7G age in the mortal realm, and it had already be prevalent by the 8G age, but in the same time period, the underworld had only just developed inte technology.

    In the past, suitable routes and materials had proven very difficult to find, and Yin energy had severely hampered the transmission of inte signals. However, this year, Bill Gates, who had already entered the underworld at this point, made another breakthrough, producing inte technology that was both cheap and practical after over 10 years of development.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 61st year of the thirding of Hell, a worldwide intework was constructed, and interactions between the mortal realm and the underworld reached a peak.

    During the same year, the top 10 consortiums founded the Blue Star Corporation, which included the majority ofwork engineers, thereby forcibly seizing this lucrative sector from the jaws of the eight alliances.

    With extremely alluring sries and benefits on offer, the consortiums and wealthy individuals of the world were able to make their wealth talk. Hiring advertisements for the Blue Star Corporation were being broadcast day and night. So long as one could move, there was always a job that they could do in the Blue Star Corporation!

    What was all of this manpower required for? It was forying downworks and constructing base stations! Manpower was required for everything! There was a period of time where Qin Ye was even hoping that some major natural disasters would ur in the mortal realm to im more lives, thereby providing the underworld with morebor resources.

    That same year, the total number of Death Gods in the world reached 43, including those in the world''s gate.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 60th year of the thirding of Hell, the entire underworld entered the information age. Even though the underworld was stillgging far behind the mortal realm, they needed time to digest this new technology. The mortal realm had already reached 11G, while the underworld had also reached 8G.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 61st year of the thirding of Hell, the Cathayan Underworld sessfullyunched the first nar satellite by the name of Kuafu. The satellite orbited the underworld in the gap between the underworld and Limbo, and it was entirely constructed from the S-grade material, Fusang Wood. The entire satellite was engraved with special Yin runes from the 10th circle, and it brought satellite images of the ne to all of the underworld''sherworldly citizens for the first time.

    The following year, the four pirsunched several more nar satellites.

    Two yearster, all of the eight alliances hadunched nar satellites of their own.

    Five yearster, a total of 23 nar satellites were orbiting the underworld.

    The entire underworld was constantly andprehensively disyed to all of theherworldly citizens without any blind spots.

    A special website by the name of Heavenly Eye was set up toplement these satellites by the eight alliances. Images of all parts of the underworld could be viewed at any time of the day, and this would ensure that the eight alliances would be able to constantly monitor every part of the world once the internar warmenced.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 68th year of the thirding of Hell, the Cathayan Underworld''s Jade Rabbit wasunched during a worldwide live stream, and the entire underworld celebrated the historic event.

    This was a monumental moment that told everyone that they were capable of retaliation in the uing internar war. Furthermore, the front line was going to be moved out of the ne, so the underworld wouldn''t be ravaged by the war!

    Of course, the Jade Rabbit alone wasn''t enough.

    A monthter, the new continent''s Tecutli and Tikasiwa wereunched at once, and excitement and anticipation for the uing war reached a peak as a result.

    A weekter, the Starfire Trust Fund established the Airspace Corporation, which specialized in constructing space shuttles to be enclosed in space fortresses.

    That same year, the total number of Death Gods in the underworld reached 53, including those in the world''s gate.

    New Hell''s Legacy: During the 91st year of the thirding of Hell, abnormal phenomena were already beginning to take ce in the world. Countless cloud vortexes had appeared in the sky, but there was nothing inside them. Even normalherworldly citizens could sense a burst of unprecedentedly formidable Yin energy approaching from outside of the ne, and it was already very close.

    Also during that same year, the armies of the eight alliances finally gathered in the Australis Underworld after 60 years of development.

    The massive army filled the entire surface of the sea. Countless warships had gathered, and the Golden Fleet, and the Naga Fleet, and the enormous Kraken formed the centerpieces of this fearsome naval behemoth of 50 million troops!

    At the moment, the underworld had a total of a billion troops, all of which were distributed across all of the major military bases, and this army of 50 million was specifically dedicated to reinforcing the world''s gate.

    This ce was definitely going to be the core of the underworld''s retaliation efforts.

    Qin Ye was standing at the bow of the ship, and his robes were pping incessantly amid the Yin wind. His gaze passed over the dark surface of the sea, looking out at the vast continent beyond.

    It was the Australis Underworld.

    The restrictions around the entire continent had already been removed, and Qin Ye could clearly see the tall world''s gate. It was like an eternal que that was grabbing everyone''s attention.

    We''re finally here...

    Qin Ye heaved an internal sigh as he looked up at the cloud vortexes in the sky, then at the ck fortress up ahead, and countless emotions welled up in his heart.

    In Clear Creek County, he met Granny Meng and obtained two fragments of King Yanluo''s Seal. At the time, he had been so frightened by Dong Zhuo''s forces that he had fled all the way to the City of Salvation, where he underwent an evolution.

    There, he met the Harken, and thus began his journey to rebuild Hell. It was also there that he met Cao Youdao. So many things had happened there, and so many people had been encountered there.

    At the City of Salvation, he became an Anitya Hellguards and attacked Reflection Pce. Thankfully, with the help of the Yang n''s warriors, he was somehow able to capture Reflection Pce, thereby establishing a foothold in the Cathayan Underworld.

    From there onward, he was able to slowly develop his forces, opening up a pathway between the City of Salvation and Reflection Pce as he slowly umted power.

    After that came the grand script of death in the Daehan Underworld and the Russian Underworld incident. Only after he met Zhao Yun, who devoured the soul of Genghis Khan by chance, did he dare to finally make himself known to the world.

    Then came the conference in Nara, the energy resource race...

    In the beginning, he had to cower and hide like a scurrying rat, but now, even though he had opened up the nation to the entire world, no one dared to plot against him.

    He had truly be powerful and risen up as a force to be reckoned with.

    Just like in the mortal realm, Cathay had started from the bottom before rising to the top, step by step. As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, he had led his nation from essentially nothing to a world-leading powerhouse, and he couldn''t not feel proud of himself.

    Every night, when he looked at the thriving cities that he had created with his own hands, his heart would be filled with satisfaction.

    Every conference, when he saw all of the death gods treating him with reverence and respect, he would be ovee by a sense of achievement.

    He cast his gaze toward the sea, where four figures were approaching him, and they were led by none other than the second King Yanluo.

    He was followed by a refined elderly man riding atop an ox. The man was wearing a Taoist robe, and he was stroking his own beard as he smiled at Qin Ye from afar. The Yin energy fluctuations he was giving off were extremely formidable, and Qin Ye could sense that this man was at the same cultivation rank as himself!

    This man was one of the three saints, Lao Tzu, and just like Qin Ye, he was only half a step away from transcending beyond the Yama-King level.

    Standing next to him was a middle-aged man in an azure robe. The middle-aged man also had a smile on his face, as well as a pair of eyes that looked as if they had seen everything there was to be seen in this world.

    It was Mencius!

    The man on the right was a bald figure wearing a white robe, and his disposition didn''t lose out at allpared with the two figures beside him.

    It was Confucius!

    This was a weing partyprised of the three saints, an honor that had been afforded to very few people in history.

    Standing directly across from Qin Ye was the smiling second King Yanluo. To Qin Ye''s surprise, he wasn''t wearing his usual camouge attire. Instead, he was wearing a golden dragon robe just like Qin Ye''s.

    Qin Ye couldn''t repress the wide smile that soon appeared on his face.

    He knew the second King Yanluo extremely well.

    Even though he appeared to be quite calm and cid, he was an extremely proud character, so it was quite remarkable that he was willing toe out with the three saints to greet anyone.

    With that in mind, he transformed into a gust of Yin wind and arrived in front of the three saints.

    The three saints cupped their fists in respectful salutes as they extended slight bows. "We''ve heard much about you, Yanluo Qin, but it seems that even the great stories we''ve heard about you fail to do you justice. Pleasee with us, Yanluo Qin. As themander of the reinforcement army, you deserve a wee of the highest caliber. Once you step through the world''s gate, you will reach the site of the final showdown."

    Qin Ye nodded in response. The four of them were all extremely powerful beings, and it didn''t take them long at all to arrive in front of the world''s gate.

    "I truly didn''t think that you would be able to lead the Cathayan Underworld on such a meteoric resurgence in such a short period of time," Lao Tzu said. "We were already prepared for the possibility that the Cathayan Underworld wouldn''t be able to make it to the world''s gate, and the fact that you are acting as themander of the reinforcements is a huge surprise to all of us."

    Confucius smiled as he said, "We were all taken aback when we first learned that Granny Meng had chosen you. Of course, we could understand her decision. At the time, Hell was going to require a very long time to develop, so it made sense that she would choose someone who had consumed this Taisui fungus. However, what we failed to anticipate was that Hell would rise from the ashes again so soon. To think that in less than 100 years, you''ve already risen to a position where you''re leading the world''s army to this ce."

    "You may not be the founder of the Cathayan Underworld, but having recovered Mongolia and conquered the Nipponese Underworld, your achievements are no lesser than those of the first King Yanluo," Mencius chimed in. "It''s all thanks to your efforts that the Cathayan Underworld was able to continue its heritage andplete its resurgence."

    The second King Yanluo gently cleared his throat in protest, but the three saints didn''t even take a single nce at him. "Now then, are you prepared for the final battle, Yanluo Qin?"

    If they could ovee this hurdle, then they would be stepping into a brand new chapter of space exploration.

    If they couldn''t ovee this obstacle, then the underworld would fall, and they would be eternally enved.

    "Of course," Qin Ye said as a serious look appeared on his face. "I came here for the sole purpose of joining this war! This is a war that we have to win! Losing is not an option!"

    "Good!" The four of them exchanged a smiling nce with one another, following which four bursts of Yin energy surged into the gate. Immediately thereafter, pirs of red light erupted out of the eyes of the lion''s head carved onto the gate, and a burst of violent rumbling rang out.

    After waiting for several centuries, the world''s gate was finally opened again.

    The gate slowly swung open to reveal the scene thatid beyond it, and Qin Ye''s robes were pping wildly in the fierce wind as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

    Come! This is our era! It''s time to ovee these challenges and create a glorious new era!

    He turned around to take one final nce at the thousands of warships behind him, then turned back forward to face the horizon, where a brilliant future seemed to be beckoning to him.

    He took a deep breath as a faint smile appeared on his face.

    The end.

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